iStock/Thinkstock(SAN FRANCISCO) -- Authorities in San Francisco made a gruesome discovery while searching the home of a man who has been missing since the start of summer.

On Aug. 17, investigators found a headless torso inside a fish tank in the home of 65-year-old Brian Egg in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, Police Cmdr. Greg McEachern said at a press conference Tuesday.

Egg had not been seen since late May or early June, and concerned family members and neighbors began contacting police to report that they had not seen or heard from him sometime in late July, McEachern said.

Police officers had responded to Egg's home to conduct welfare checks but did not receive a response when they knocked on the door and saw no "suspicious circumstances," McEachern said.

In addition, investigators did not believe anything suspicious or nefarious was going on because they believed that Egg was out of town, based on a message left on his answering machine, McEachern said.

Egg's sister then created a missing person's report over the phone on Aug. 7, and officers who responded to his home were again met with no response at the door and saw no suspicious circumstances, McEachern said.

The next week, on Aug. 13, a concerned neighbor called 911 to report that a suspicious person -- as well as "a crime-scene cleaning truck" -- were outside Egg's home, McEachern said.

The officers who responded to the scene detained the individual, McEachern said. When they entered the home, they didn't find Egg but noticed a suspicious odor and found evidence of cleaning products, McEachern said.

The police department's missing persons and homicide units then took over the case, and a search warrant was issued for Egg's home.

Cadaver dogs on the scene noticed odors of a decaying body, and a human torso was found on the second day of the four-day search, McEachern said. The fish tank the corpse was placed in was located "in a concealed area of the residence," McEachern said.

The medical examiner is performing a DNA test to identify the body and is trying to determine a cause of death, McEachern said.

Two persons of interest have been identified in the case, McEachern said.

San Francisco resident Robert McCaffrey, 52, was arrested on the day Egg's neighbor called police to report seeing the so-called crime-scene truck, and Lance Silva, 39, was arrested the next day at a hotel on 6th Street, McEachern said. They are both acquaintances of Egg's.

Both McCaffrey and Silva initially were arrested on charges of homicide, identity theft, fraud and elder abuse, according to police. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office later discharged those charges pending further investigation, but Silva remains in custody in Alameda County on charges of violating probation, McEachern said.

ABC News was unable to immediately reach attorneys for McCaffrey or Silva.

Authorities are asking any businesses or entities that were "contacted by anyone purporting to be Brian Egg" or assisted with any financial transactions related to Egg or his residence to contact investigators.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Roy Rogers was one of my many cowboy heroes growing up and the 25 cent movies on Saturdays. Whether it was Roy or Gene or the Red Ryder they were exciting, daring, heroic adventures fighting off bank robbers, cattle rustlers and the other lowly characters in each movie. The hero always won and the bad guy always lost.

Today and for the next few days a celebration of sorts will be aired honoring the life of another, and real hero, John McCain. John McCain wore his hero mantel as did the cowboy heroes of my youth.

We have few characters of such distinction and honor as is John McCain but all seems lost on the twice deferred, bone spurs of Donald J. Trump. Trump bows to the lowest denominator in so many opportunities missed because someone stepped on his ego. Heroes are big people but Trump remains small in my eyes and opinion.

The voters in this country have a great opportunity coming soon to make changes, changes that could honor the great history of a remarkable man, John McCain. I wonder if the voters have a memory that long till November?

Robert BrooksBUCHAREST, Romania  Romania, long considered one of the most corrupt states in the European Union, has made energetic efforts to root out graft, with high-profile lawmakers caught in the crosshairs and concerns about the rule of law prompting rallies attended by tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of protesters.

Now, unexpectedly, Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trumps personal attorney, has waded into the debate, sending a letter to Romanias president, Klaus Iohannis, criticizing the countrys anti-corruption efforts.

The letter, dated Aug. 22, expressed concern about the continuing damage to the rule of law being done under the guise of effective law enforcement in Romania. Giuliani wrote that an amnesty should be given to those who had been convicted in the crackdown, citing the excesses of the countrys anti-corruption agency.

RELATED VIDEO: Thousands of Romanians turn out for Bucharest anti-corruption protest

The letter prompted a raft of comments after it was published in the Romanian news media this week. Its authenticity has not been challenged.

Giuliani said Wednesday that despite representing Trump he was still an independent lawyer and consultant. He said the work involving Romania was through his security company, Giuliani Security & Safety, which had been retained by Freeh Group International Solutions, a security company run by Louis J. Freeh, a former director of the FBI.

It has nothing to do with the U.S. government, Giuliani said, referring to the Romania letter. I advise on security, law enforcement and terrorism in many different countries. Private lawyers for the president have all had private practices.

The Freeh Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Freehs company is known to be representing a Romanian businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in August 2017 in a case centered on a real estate deal in northern Bucharest.

Criticizing the conviction last year, Freeh said the decision against Popoviciu was not supported by either the facts or the law.

In a statement to The New York Times in response to questions about the letter, a representative of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, said that the government did not comment on the views or conclusions of private American citizens.

The representative also pointed to a June 28 statement issued by the embassy, along with the embassies of 11 other countries, which highlighted Romanias considerable progress in combating corruption and in building an effective rule of law. The statement, which came at a time when contentious alterations to the criminal code were moving through Parliament, also called on all parties involved to avoid changes that would weaken the rule of law or Romanias ability to fight crime or corruption.

Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007, has been praised for its efforts to rein in graft in recent years, a drive that has resulted in thousands of convictions, including of former and current politicians.

However, starting in January 2017, the government pushed through measures that many fear will weaken the rule of law. Critics of the anti-corruption drive accuse those involved of using it for political purposes and of relying heavily on the use of court-approved wiretaps, while its defenders say that the effort was under fire because of its success in going after vested interests and powerful individuals.

Last month, Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate, was fired after accusations of overstepping her authority and damaging Romanias image abroad. The tensions have led to major protests, the most recent of which, on Aug. 10, resulted in violent clashes in Bucharest that left more than 400 people wounded.

Giulianis letter was well received by some in Romania. Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the leftist Social Democratic Party, the biggest party in the Romanian Parliament, wrote on Facebook that Giuliani puts his finger on the wound.

Dragnea was sentenced in June to 3 1/2 years in prison after Romanias highest court found him guilty of abuse of office related to the fictitious hiring of two of his partys employees at a public institution. He is appealing the verdict. In a separate case in 2015, Dragnea was convicted of electoral fraud and received a suspended sentence.

Rudolph Giuliani is a famous federal prosecutor of the United States, who has fought with the mafia and corruption, and whose moral and professional probity commands respect all over the world, Dragnea said in a statement, adding that the scrutiny on what he called the serious violation of human rights and of the principles of the rule of law was welcome.

Dragneas party has echoed Trumps rhetoric about a so-called deep state, prompting some to worry that Romania may be poised to follow the path of the likes of Hungary and Poland toward illiberal democracy.

Dan Barna, the leader of the Save Romania Union, a political party that was founded in 2016 to defend the rule of law and that has become the third-largest in Parliament, suggested Giuliani had no official status to justify writing the letter.

I am convinced that President Iohannis is looking forward to the devastating messages that are likely to come from the barber and then from the chef of Donald Trump, Barna said.

On Monday, the Foreign Ministry announced that it was summoning George Maior, the Romanian ambassador to the United States, to explain comments in which he had suggested that the letter from Giuliani was the result of a lobbying campaign by people defending those who have problems with the justice system.

Ambassador George Maior had a stance that was not approved within the Foreign Ministry or within the government, a news release said.

Sebastian Burduja, a Romanian entrepreneur and civic leader, published an open letter in one of Romanias main newspapers, calling for answers from Giuliani.

He said Giulianis letter was based on a seriously flawed understanding of the situation in Romania.

Burduja also asked Giuliani to clarify whether he had written the letter in the capacity of an official representative of the U.S. government and whether it reflected current Washington policies. Burduja also asked Giuliani whether he was representing any Romanian clients or interest groups.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.TALLAHASSEE, Florida  A liberal Florida Democrat pulled off an upset victory Tuesday in the states primary for governor while President Trumps favored candidate cruised to victory for the GOP, setting up a fierce fall showdown in the nations largest political battleground. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who would be the states first black governor, and Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, both defeated opponents aligned with their parties establishment.

In Arizona, Rep. Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to carry the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. That race was shadowed by the death of John McCain, a towering figure who represented Arizona in the Senate for six terms. Gov. Doug Ducey will name McCains replacement after the senators funeral.

Florida and Arizona are both closely watched states, featuring growing minority populations that have bolstered Democratic candidates and Republican electorates that have grown older and more conservative. The fall face-offs could signal how theyll swing in 2020.

In Florida, DeSantis gave Trump credit for his victory, saying that with one supportive tweet, the president kind of put me on the map.

Gillum thanked supporters who embraced our plan for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us.

The results immediately transformed the Florida race into one of the key gubernatorial campaigns in the country. Gillums primary victory could help Democrats boost enthusiasm among minorities who often dont vote in large numbers in years when a presidential candidate isnt on the ballot. Meanwhile, DeSantis will test Trumps grip on a crucial state he won in 2016 and wants to keep in his column.

In Arizona, though McCain has received praise from far and wide this week, the three Republican candidates running to replace his retiring seat-mate, Flake  including establishment favorite McSally  aligned themselves more with the president than the longtime senator.

Election Day in Arizona began with delayed openings at dozens of polling locations in the states largest county. Leaders in Maricopa County rejected calls to try to keep polls open later, saying it might confuse voters and delay returns. No problems were reported elsewhere in the state.

McSally will face Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who easily won her race.

Julie Pace and Brendan Farrington are Associated Press writers.San Francisco police went to a missing mans South of Market home three times amid concerned calls from his neighbors and family before finally going inside and discovering a headless body decomposing inside a fish tank, officials said Tuesday.

The response by police has raised concerns from neighbors who watched as strangers came and went and appeared to be living in Brian Eggs Clara Street home for weeks with no sign of the 65-year-old homeowner.

The police department could have done a lot more in the early stages, said Scot Free, one of several neighbors who called police multiple times in recent weeks. It seemed like they werent taking it very seriously. There was a dead body in there all along and they were standing right next to it. What if we hadnt said anything?

At a news conference Tuesday, San Francisco police officials detailed the investigation and said they had arrested two suspects on suspicion of murder, fraud, theft, identity theft and elder abuse in the missing mans case. However, the district attorney has not filed charges pending further investigation, and the two suspects are no longer in the citys custody.

Police said the suspects are Lance Silva, 39, and Robert MacCaffrey, 52. Silva is being held in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a probation violation charge out of Alameda County. MacCaffrey has since been released from San Francisco jail.

The city medical examiner is using DNA from Eggs family to determine whether the body found in the fish tank is Egg, while pathologists work to find a cause and manner of death. The state crime lab in Richmond is assisting in the investigation.

The case is complicated because of the bodys advanced stage of decomposition, officials said. The head and hands had been removed, and household cleaning products had been dumped into the tank, sources familiar with the investigation said.

Eggs family first called police in July after not hearing from him for several weeks, police said. Officers visited the home that month and again in early August, but received no response at the door and saw no suspicious circumstances, Cmdr. Greg McEachern, who heads the departments investigations bureau, said at Tuesdays news conference.

Several days later, on Aug. 7, Eggs sister made a missing persons report over the phone and officers again went to the home but no one answered, police said.

There wasnt any evidence to the officers that appeared suspicious at the time that would lead them to take further action in this investigation, McEachern said. We dont make entry into houses because someone has made a missing persons report. People have a right to their privacy.

A week after that, neighbors called 911 when a crime scene cleaning truck showed up at the home. Officers swarmed the house, made entry and found cleaning products and suspicious odors, McEachern said.

Police obtained a search warrant and on Aug. 17 found a human torso in a large fish tank inside the home, police said.

MacCaffrey was arrested at the home. Police picked up Silva a day later at a motel on Sixth Street in San Francisco.

Silva has been arrested previously in San Francisco and faced first degree residential burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, and drug charges, court records show.

Before police discovered the body, several neighbors had reported to them that strangers had been coming and going from the home at 228 Clara St. for several weeks. Egg, who was often seen walking his dog on the narrow street, hadnt been seen since early June.

Egg would often invite people who looked like drifters into his home over the many decades he lived there, neighbors said.

Missing persons cases in San Francisco are handled at the station level  where patrol officers are tasked with multiple responsibilities  for the first 30 days after a person goes missing. The case is then handed over to the missing persons unit unless there are suspicious circumstances, officials said.

Patrol officers had responded to Eggs home each of the times before his body was discovered.

McEachern said that police had heard an answering machine message stating that Egg was out of town. But neighbors like Free, and Eggs brother Devon who lives in Florida, said that he did not have an answering machine, and accused investigators of dropping the ball.

Free said at one point when he called police they told him Brian was out of town doing an art project in Truckee.

I think when the community complains or criticizes about our response we have to take a look at it, McEachern said. If theres changes that could be made to our response then we have a responsibility to do that.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffskyNEWTOWN BOROUGH >> The Williams family landed the coveted Mayors Award for their depiction of Amelia Earhart in the group theme category at Saturdays Halloween Parade in Newtown. Jackie, Dan and Margot Williams and their dog, Murphy, celebrated the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937 during an attempt to fly...A Pennsylvania man has been charged with homicide after admitting to cutting the brakes of his girlfriends car so he could obtain a metal pipe to use to smoke crack cocaine, police said.

Tammy Fox died on Aug. 22 after crashing her car into parked cars and a tree in Scranton, WNEP-TV reported.SAN JOSE (BCN)



The bishop of the Diocese of San Jose will no longer live in a $2.3 million home in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood when he retires, the bishop said in a statement today.



The Diocese purchased the real estate for retiring Bishop Patrick McGrath, but community members quickly began raising concerns over the expensive home.



McGrath said the home was purchased using funds from the sale of Bishop Pierre DuMaine's condominium. DuMaine will be relocating due to failing health, according to McGrath.



McGrath will now live in a rectory at one the diocese's parishes. He said he had initially hoped to live at a home owned by the diocese on graveyard property, but the retrofitting was too expensive.



The Diocesan Finance Council and the college of consultors then approved the purchase of the Willow Glen home.



"However, I erred in judgment in the purchase of a 5-bedroom home for $2.3 million," McGrath said. "I failed to consider adequately the housing crisis in this valley and the struggles of so many families and communities in light of that crisis."



He said the diocese will sell the Willow Glen home as soon as possible and any profit will be donated to Charities Housing, which is part of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.



"I assume full responsibility for this decision and I believe that the sale of the house is the appropriate action," McGrath said. "I thank those who have advised me."













Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.A Salinas cardiologist pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison today for touching a patient's breasts while she was sedated after an operation in 2016, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.



Robert Wlodarczyk, 73, did a cardiac catheterization procedure on the victim at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital on Oct. 21, 2016, while she was under the influence of several medications, prosecutors said.



Two medical personnel saw him put his hands on her breasts for about 30 seconds after the procedure was completed and he was speaking to her.



The victim was wearing a medical gown and covered with a blanket and a drape at the time, according to the district attorney's office. She didn't know Wlodarczyk was touching her because she was sedated.



She noticed that the doctor's face was very close to her as he explained the procedure, but did not give him permission to touch her breasts, prosecutors said.



She spoke at a sentencing hearing today and described the "traumatic" effects of sexual assault, prosecutors said. Judge Thomas Wills sentenced Wlodarczyk after he pleaded guilty to one count of committing lewd or dissolute conduct in public.



He will have to permanently relinquish his medical license and is not allowed to make contact with the victim for 10 years, according to the district attorney's office.



Wlodarczyk's defense attorney, Thomas Griffin, could not be reached for comment.









Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.MENLO PARK (BCN)



A 33-year-old man who fled the country after allegedly killing a 6-year-old girl in a crash during a street race in Menlo Park in 2009 was arrested in Guatemala in 2016 and was finally extradited back to the Bay Area on Tuesday night, police said today.



Shannon Steven Fox was wanted in connection with the death of Lisa Xavier in a collision at the intersection of Willow Road and Bayfront Expressway on the afternoon of Nov. 12, 2009.



Fox was allegedly driving a Ford Mustang that was one of two vehicles involved in a street race on northbound Bayfront Expressway when the Ford hit a Toyota Camry carrying Lisa and her parents, Charles Suresh and Shiji Varghese, according to police.



The 6-year-old died a day after the crash and her mother suffered serious injuries but has since recovered. Her father was uninjured.



Investigators determined that Fox was the driver of the Mustang and that he had gotten into the Honda Prelude he was racing with and then fled, police said.



Officers tried to locate Fox, who had an address in East Palo Alto at the time, but learned that after the crash he had traveled to the Mexico border and eventually made his way to Central America.



In June 2010, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office obtained an indictment against Fox for vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run causing death, and participating in a speed contest.



Investigators worked with the FBI, who found that Fox was living in Central America and may have been helped by relatives there.



In December 2016, the FBI was able to locate Fox in Guatemala and he was arrested there. He and his attorneys fought attempts to extradite him back to the U.S., but he lost his final appeal in April to the Guatemalan Supreme Court, police said.



At about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Fox landed at San Francisco International Airport and was taken into custody by San Mateo police. He has since been booked into San Mateo County Jail and is due in court on Thursday morning, according to jail records.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.SAN RAFAEL (BCN)



A Petaluma man was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for the gross vehicular manslaughter of a passenger in his vehicle in Marin County in January.



The prison term is part of a plea agreement between prosecutors and defendant Lucas McFadden, Deputy District Attorney Emily Cordell said.



McFadden, 24, was driving a Honda Prelude at about 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 29 when he drifted to the right on Shoreline Highway in Marshall then crossed the roadway into the path of a Peterbilt dump truck that was towing a small excavator, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The collision killed Ricardo De Santiago, 18, of Marshall.



McFadden pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.PALO ALTO (BCN)



Police are still searching for a 66-year-old woman who was reported missing and at-risk nearly two weeks ago in East Palo Alto.



Wamaitha Kaboga-Miller went to the Country Time Market on University Avenue and was seen driving away heading east on Aug. 17, according to Palo Alto police.



The family reported her missing the next day, but police said they have no new leads and are asking for the public's help.



Kaboga-Miller's family and friends have launched a search effort to find her, circulating several posters and canvassing the area where she was last seen. One poster says she was recovering from surgery and wearing a black back brace when she went to the store.



Kaboga-Miller takes multiple prescription medications but left them at home, according to police. She was last seen driving a silver 2002 Mercedes-Benz with California license plate No. DP241LU.



Police said they have not received any evidence that indicates criminal activity was involved in her disappearance. Anyone with information about the missing woman is asked to call Palo Alto police dispatch at (650) 329-2413.



329-2103





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.ANTIOCH (BCN)



Three people were displaced following a fire at a home in Antioch early this morning, according to Contra Costa County Fire Department dispatch.



The blaze was first reported at a residence in the 2800 block of Gentrytown Drive around 12:40 a.m. A fire dispatcher said the blaze was contained to the attic and nobody was injured.



The American Red Cross was dispatched to the scene to help those displaced, fire officials said.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.American Canyon Road is now open in both directions after a grass fire closed the road around 3:15 p.m., Napa County sheriff's officials said.



The California Highway Patrol closed the road at the westbound Interstate Highway 80 off-ramp because of a grass fire. Cal Fire responded to the blaze.



Sheriff's officials announced the reopening at 4:28 p.m.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.A historic law that abolishes cash bail in California and replaces it with a risk assessment system was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown today.



The California Money Bail Reform Act will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2019. It provides that the determination of whether to grant a criminal defendant release before trial will be based on an evaluation of the risk to public safety and the risk of failure to appear in court rather than the defendant's ability to pay a set bail amount.



The law makes California the first state in the nation to eliminate money bail fully. Several other states have reduced the use of cash bail.



Advocates of reform, including Brown and California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, said the cash bail system was unfair to low-income people and favored rich defendants who could afford to pay.



"Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly," Brown said as he signed the bill in Sacramento with Cantil-Sakauye and the bill's co-authors, Sen. Robert Herzberg, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, at his side. The law is designated as Senate Bill 10.



Bonta said, "For too long, our system has allowed the wealthy to purchase their freedom regardless of their risk, while the poor who pose no danger languish in jail. Freedom and liberty should never be pay to play."



Cantil-Sakauye called the signing date "a transformative day for our justice system," and said, "Our old system of money bail was outdated, unsafe, and unfair."



A yearlong study by a Pretrial Detention Release Workgroup established by the chief justice in 2016 helped to shape the new law. The workgroup recommended that money bail should be replaced with a risk assessment system.



Some critics charged, however, that the final version of the law, as amended in the Assembly last week, could result in more, rather than fewer, arrestees being held in pretrial detention, and gives too much leeway to judges making release decisions.



The leaders of the three California branches of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement, "We are disappointed to see Senate Bill 10 signed into law. SB 10 is not the model for pretrial justice and racial equity that California should strive for.



"It cannot guarantee a substantial reduction in the number of Californians detained while awaiting trial, nor does it sufficiently address racial bias in pretrial decision making," they said.



San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said, "While doing away with the money bail system is a good thing, we remain concerned that this new law gives too much power to the judges by allowing them to decide who remains free and who is jailed."



The law provides that most people arrested on suspicion of misdemeanors must be released within 12 hours, with certain exceptions.



Other arrestees awaiting trial are to be classified as low risk, medium risk or high risk with the use of a pretrial assessment services program established by each county-based superior court. The assessment program can be an arm of the court or an outside public agency.



Most low risk arrestees can be released. Medium risk arrestees can be released with non-monetary conditions or can be detained if a judge believes they are dangerous or a flight risk.



High risk arrestees, including those accused of violent felonies, making threats of violence, or committing a third driving-under-the-influence offense, will usually be denied release, subject to court review.



The law has been fiercely opposed by California bail agents, who stand to lose their livelihoods.



"They're not going down without a fight," said David Quintara, a lobbyist for the California Bail Agents Association, which represents 300 of the state's more than 3,000 agents.



"We're looking at every option on the table. We believe some changes are definitely needed, but we don't think the government has the right to completely erase an industry. I don't think that's ever been done in this country," he said.



Quintara noted that the California Constitution provides a right to "be released on bail with sufficient sureties" except in cases of serious crimes or flight risk.



The fate of two pending state and federal lawsuits challenging the previous money bail system is unclear.



In one case, originally filed by San Francisco robbery defendant Kenneth Humphrey, the California Supreme Court has agreed to review a state Court of Appeal decision that required judges to consider a criminal defendant's financial situation and non-monetary alternatives when considering release on bail.



In another case in federal court in Oakland, arrestees awaiting arraignment have sued San Francisco Sheriff Vicky Hennessy, claiming that their federal constitutional rights are violated when they are held in custody solely because they can't pay a set bail amount.



The federal case is due to go to trial on Sept. 17, but the plaintiffs have asked U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to consider delaying the trial or issuing a summary judgment instead in view of the new law.



The California Bail Agents Association, which stepped up to defend the old law, asked the judge to go ahead with the trial. It noted that the new law does not take effect until next year.



Adachi, whose office represents Humphrey, said he believes both cases still have live issues because the new law is not yet in effect, because the cases also concern judges' power over pretrial release and because of the California constitutional provision allowing financial bail.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Police are awaiting an autopsy report on a human torso that was found earlier this month inside a fish tank at the home of a San Francisco man reported missing, police said today.



In late July, family members and neighbors of Brian Egg, 65, contacted police after they said they hadn't seen him in weeks.



After that, officers responded to his home, located in the 200 block of Clara Street, to conduct a welfare check but, when their knocks went unanswered, officers determined there was nothing suspicious at the scene.



On Aug. 7, Egg's sister called police to make a missing person report and officers once more responded to his home. Again, no one answered the door and officers found nothing suspicious.



Today, Cmdr. Greg McEachern said that a voicemail initially left on Egg's phone indicated that he was out of town.



On Aug. 14, concerned neighbors called police to report that a suspicious person was seen outside Egg's home, along with a crime scene cleaning truck. Officers quickly responded and detained the person and were able to enter the residence.



Once inside, officers became suspicious because of the cleaning products being used and suspicious odors were detected inside the residence.



The following day, on Aug. 15, SFPD Homicide Detail investigators took over the case and obtained a warrant to search the home. With help from cadaver dogs, investigators searched the home over a four-day period, police said.



On Aug. 17, investigators located a human torso inside a fish tank in a concealed part of the home.



The medical examiner's office has taken the remains and are attempting to determine who the torso belonged too and exactly how the person died.



When asked why police did not enter the home during the two previous welfare checks, McEachern said, "We don't just break down doors every time someone reports that someone is missing... Information obtained didn't lead us to believe there were any suspicious circumstances."



Investigators have been able to identify two people of interest in case.



Robert McCaffrey, 52, of San Francisco and Lance Silva, 39, also of San Francisco were initially arrested on suspicion of homicide, fraud, theft, identity theft and elder abuse. The case, however, is not being pursued by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office for the time being, pending further investigation.



Silva is currently in custody in Alameda County on suspicion of a probation violation. According to jail records, he was booked Monday.



As police await the completion of the autopsy, the case remains under investigation.



They're asking anyone with information about Egg or any businesses who may have been contacted by someone pretending to be Egg, or anyone who may have been helped with financial transactions related to Egg to call police at their anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to text a tip to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the beginning of the message.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A 63-year-old woman convicted of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving for the 2013 death of a 16-year-old boy wept today after a San Francisco Superior Court judge sentenced her to six years in state prison.



On Sept. 27, 2013, Jennie Zhu was speeding in her car and weaving in and out of traffic when she rear-ended a minivan near Pine and Gough streets, killing 16-year-old Lincoln High School student Kevin San and severely injuring his mother and sister, prosecutors said.



Zhu's defense attorney Alfred Vea initially asked Judge Samuel Feng for the minimum sentence, saying that Zhu, an immigrant from China, is a model citizen who has no criminal record.



Zhu was arrested following the 2013 crash and a jury convicted her of the charges in June.



Describing the fatal crash as a "horrible accident," Vea said, "I don't believe, despite the verdict, that she had any intention of causing this."



San's parents, visibly emotional, appeared at today's sentencing.



"Has she ever thought about how this has impacted us?" Kevin San's father Hong San said in court via a Cantonese interpreter.



"My family will no longer be a normal family," he said. "The very minimal responsibility you should take is to pay your dues and not run away from your responsibility."



Zhu, who was also assisted by a Cantonese interpreter, was immediately remanded into custody.



Zhu, driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV, was speeding over 40 mph in a 25 mph zone heading west on Pine Street when she crashed into a gold minivan stopped at traffic light at Gough Street, prosecutors said.



The minivan was severely crushed and three other vehicles were damaged. Kevin San suffered a fatal head injury and died at the scene while his mother and sister suffered major injuries and were taken to the hospital along with Zhu.



Assistant District Attorney Rani Singh, who prosecuted the case, said that although San's sister has recovered from her injuries, his mother still suffers from the injuries she suffered in the crash and is unable to work.



"Our thoughts, as an office, go to the family in this case. They've shown remarkable strength and courage," District Attorney's Office spokesman Nikesh Patel said outside of court. "We do hope that today's outcome provides them some level of comfort and relief."



Singh said, "It's very difficult when you have an emotionally charged situation like this. You have two families whose lives have been forever changed and I think it's very difficult to separate the emotion from the legal process. And in this case, having the family support us at every turn was invaluable."





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.Counting down! UB scientists await launch of NASA ice-monitoring satellite

Several UB researchers have projects tied to the satellite  including geophysicist Beata Csatho, who will attend the September launch and helped plan the missions science goals

There is so much that goes into these missions. We all want it to succeed. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  As the Sept. 15 launch date for NASAs new ice-monitoring satellite approaches, University at Buffalo scientists are among many worldwide who are counting down the days.

Theyre excited, but nervous, too. Thats what happens when your future research is reliant on equipment thats going to be hurled, atop a flaming rocket, into the harsh environs of outer space. Or when  as in the case of UB climate scientist Beata Csatho  you actually helped to build the thing thats blasting into orbit.

There is so much that goes into these missions. We all want it to succeed, says Csatho, PhD, chair of geology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. After the satellite makes it into orbit, there is a commissioning period. This is when people will be checking to make sure that the satellite is making accurate measurements.

Csatho  one of hundreds of scientists and engineers who worked on the mission  will be at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the September launch of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2).

From 2011-14, she led the Science Definition Team that helped determine the satellites scientific requirements, such as the precision of the laser-based research instrument on board.The Chattanooga City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution authorizing the administrator for CDOT to apply for and, if awarded, accept a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant from TDOT, said Councilman Darrin Ledford.

The plan is aimed at improving flow of traffic downtown.| BY Kim Shaw |

M&C Saatchi, Sydney has launched Commonwealth Banks latest Business Banking campaign, For however you do business.

Based on the insight that the motivation to go into business is often driven by a desire to do things differently, in your own unique way and on your terms, the spot represents six businesses that march to the beat of their own drum, capturing the energy and spirit of Australia at work.

The campaign speaks specifically to small-to-medium businesses in Australian regional and metro areas and it will roll out across TV, out-of-home, radio, social and digital channels.

Says Tim Green, Creative Director at M&C Saatchi, Sydney: This campaign celebrates what it is to be in Australian business today and CommBank embraces the fact that no two business owners work to the same rhythm.

AGENCY  M&C Saatchi Sydney

Chief Creative Officer: Cam Blackley

Creative Director: Tim Green

Senior Art Director: Luke Simkins

Managing Partner: Amanda Quested

Group Head: Charlie Elliott

Senior Account Director: Caroline Millar

Senior Account Manager: Christina Knox

Project Director: Rachel Strobridge

Strategy Director: Tyler Wilson

TV Producer: Nancy Kellendonk

PRODUCTION COMPANY  Revolver/Will ORourke

Director: Alex Smith

Managing Director/Executive Producer: Michael Ritchie

Executive Producer: Pip Smart

Producer: Alex Kember

Director of Photography: Jordan Maddocks

Editor: The Glue Society Studios  Scott Stirling

Grade/Online  Heckler

EP: Bonnie Law

Producer: Amy Jarman

Colourist: Greg Constantaras

Online Artist: Scott Geersen

Sound Production:

Sound: Otis Studios

Music: Otis Studios & Bonnie Stewart

COMMONWEALTH BANK:

Renee Howie  General Manager, Business & Institutional Bank Marketing

Tamara Carson  Executive Manager, Small Business Marketing| BY Ricki Green |

Global brand Seiko has engaged Initiative Australia for an activations series to promote Seikos investment in ocean research though the Fabian Cousteau Ocean Learning Centre.

Fabian Cousteau is grandson of the famous ocean researcher Jacques Cousteau and has carried on the familys international research and advocacy for greater knowledge and welfare of the worlds oceans.

Initiative has launched a mobile activation that features a large sea-tank that has one half littered by land-based debris and the other revealing how the ocean should appear without human interference.

Seiko is supporting the activation to market its Seiko Prospex Save The Ocean watch range and has committed to donating a percentage of sales to the Fabian Cousteau centre. In addition, Seiko will donate $1 for every photograph of the activation uploaded by people to #DiscoverYourPlanet on Instagram.

Says Stuart Smith, group marketing manager, Seiko Australia: The Initiative activations team have brought our program to life in a very effective way. Its a strong platform for our Seiko divers watches and also fully complements Seikos interest and investment in environmental protection.

Olivia Warren, Initiatives head of brand experience, said the mobility of the activation was key to capturing extended audiences.

Says Warren: We are able to locate the Seiko site in multiple locations close to the ocean on Australias East Coast, which heightens the connection between people and the focus of Seikos marketing.| BY Ricki Green |

Taxi Film Productions latest duo  Stephen Lance and Mairi Cameron, hosted a private screening of The Second in Sydney and Brisbane last week.

Lance has taken on a different role as writer, co-producer and second unit director in his latest feature film.

Lances partner, Mairi Cameron, whose career spans over a decade of directing short films, music videos and TVCs, directed the feature film, which was her debut.

The film explores an authors success following the release of her celebrated erotic memoir which is threatened when her best friend and muse reveals the truth behind the memoirs provenance, igniting an incendiary tale of sex, lies and betrayal.

The conclusion of the film gave audience members the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with the director and producer/writer.

Says Lance: The idea for The Second comes from my long-time collaboration with Mairi. We both share the same love of mysteries and thrillers, and strong, complicated and messy female characters.

The Second is now available to watch exclusively on Stan.

Stephen Lance and Mairi Cameron are available through Taxi via EP Andrew Wareham:| BY Lynchy |

CJ Worx created a store where every product is ready to give you clarity every time that you shop. Here there is a special collection of products that often lure both men and women to impulse buy but with a new name in order to help you think clearly before you buy. Thailand has a soaring high rate of household debt, which partly comes down to lifestyle choices and habits. A big habit that can start small but grow drastically over time is shopping. Many times we fall prey to shopping without planning ahead, seeing that well packaged product and succumbing to impulse buying without considering at all whether we even have the need for said product. Such spending habits can come with far reaching consequences in the long run such as not having emergency funds for urgent situations. Krungthai Bank understand the heart of the issue here and would like to change the products that oftentimes draw you in to buy to instead draw you in to think before you buy under the campaign think before you buy, hold up before you payIn a horrifying scene, the corpses of some 300 endangered sea turtles were found floating in a massive fish net in the waters off southern Mexico.

The Mexican government's Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) reports the olive ridley sea turtles were found three miles off the coast near the beach community of Puerto Escondido in the Oaxaca state.

The agency is investigating the matter and reports the turtles likely drowned in a net used to catch ojoton or scad fish, and researchers are also looking into the possibility of algae killing the specimens.

Scientists at the scene say the turtles were decomposing and likely had died eight days before they were discovered.

VIDEO: Reuters videographer captured footage of the dead turtles that drowned in a fishing net

The dead turtles were removed from the sea and buried and a statement from Profepa says the agency will send officials to speak with fisherman about the damage nets can cause to other creatures.

The news comes days after another 10o olive ridley turtles were found dead in the adjacent Chiapas state.

The turtles live in tropical waters and the World Wildlife Fund says they're the most abundant of sea turtles but their status is considered vulnerable because "they nest in a very small number of places, and therefore any disturbance to even one nest beach could have huge repercussions on the entire population."When an injured golden eagle first came under the care of Walnut Creek veterinarians, they initially thought it had been hit by a car. X-rays later revealed the bird had been shot with a pellet gun.

"We knew right away that the damage to the wing was severe ," said Lindsay Wildlife veterinarian Allison Daugherty in a press release. "I think we were all shocked to find the pellet on radiographs."

The eagle was brought to Lindsay Wildlife, a wild animal hospital and museum in Walnut Creek, on August 21 after it was discovered in Pittsburg, Calif.

Veterinarians operated on the injured animal to repair its wing soon thereafter, though the young adult's future remains uncertain.

"It may be weeks or even months before we know for sure if she will be able to fly well enough to survive in the wild," Daugherty said.

The bird will continue to receive medical care and undergo testing at the wildlife hospital.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the eagle shooting. Due to the extent of the eagle's injuries, officials expect the incident occurred not far from where the bird was found. Those with information are asked to contact Fish and Wildlife at (888) 334-2258.

Golden eagles are protected under the Bald and Gold Eagle Protection Act. The designation was created in 1940 to conserve the species, which were previously at-risk of extinction, and prohibits the hunting, transport, sale and purchase of the animals. The birds remain protected under the federal law, despite having been delisted from the Endangered Species Act.

"It is hard enough to see a beautiful bird like this injured by an accident," Daugherty said. "Realizing that someone may have done this deliberately makes it even worse."

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news.BAGHDAD  Seven people were killed Wednesday in a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State in a former stronghold of the jihadists in western Iraq, a security official said.

The attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 19 miles from the Syrian border, Maj. Gen Qasem al-Dulaimi said.

He said four security forces and three civilians were killed in the blast.

Al-Dulaimi blamed Islamic State for the attack, and the group, through its Aamaq news agency, later claimed responsibility in posts it circulated on social media.

Also on Wednesday, the Criminal Court of Anbar Province, which includes al-Qaim, sentenced three men to death by hanging, finding them guilty of carrying out terror attacks in the province. There was no indication the men were connected to Wednesdays attack.

Judge Abdelsattar Bayarqadar, spokesman for Iraqs Supreme Judicial Council, said the three men were members of Islamic State. Al-Qaim is a former Islamic State stronghold in Anbar province in western Iraq.

A spate of kidnappings and guerrilla style attacks in desert areas in western and central Iraq this summer have stirred security concerns in the country as it seeks to rebuild from its three-year-long war with the militant group.

Iraqi officials declared victory over the jihadists late last year after recapturing Mosul, Iraqs second largest city, in a grinding battle supported by the U.S.-led international coalition against Islamic State.

But heavy-handed tactics by the military and the Shiite-dominated PMF, and faltering efforts at reconciliation between the countrys Sunni and Shiite Muslims, have fueled resentment in Sunni Muslim areas that were most affected by the war, and where Islamic State cells are believed to operate.

Millions of Iraqis have not been able to return to their homes, including hundreds of thousands still living in displaced persons camps.

Iraqs military and the PMF have been using the predominantly Sunni Anbar province as a base of operations against Islamic State in the countrys western desert and for air operations against the group in neighboring Syria.

Qassim Abdul-Zahra is an Associated Press writer.VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis lamented Wednesday how Irish church authorities failed to respond to the crimes of sexual abuse, speaking during his first public appearance at the Vatican after bombshell accusations that he himself covered up for an American cardinals misdeeds.

Francis presided over his weekly general audience in St. Peters Square and spoke about his weekend trip to Ireland, where the abuse scandal has devastated the Catholic Churchs credibility. The final day of the trip was overshadowed by release of a document from a retired Holy See diplomat accusing Vatican authorities, including Francis, of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite knowing for years that he regularly slept with seminarians.

The author of the document  retired Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano  said Francis should resign for his complicity in the McCarrick scandal, which has implicated two decades worth of U.S. and Vatican church leaders.

Francis referred Wednesday to the Irish culture of cover-up, but he omitted from his remarks a line in his prepared text noting how he had prayed in Ireland for the Virgin Mary to intervene to give the church strength to firmly pursue truth and justice to help victims heal.

U.S. bishops, as well as rank-and-file Catholics, have called for an independent investigation to find out who knew about McCarricks abuse and when, and how he was able to rise through the ranks even though it was an open secret that he regularly invited seminarians to his New Jersey beach house and into his bed.

Francis last month removed McCarrick as a cardinal and ordered him to live a lifetime of penance and prayer after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

Viganos 11-page jaccuse alleges that Francis knew of McCarricks penchant for adult seminarians starting in 2013, but rehabilitated him from sanctions that Pope Benedict XVI had allegedly imposed on him in 2009 or 2010. The claims have shaken Francis five-year papacy.

There is ample evidence, however, that the Vatican under Benedict and St. John Paul II also covered up the information, and that any reported sanctions Benedict imposed were never enforced.

Vigano provided no evidence that Francis had lifted the alleged sanctions.

Nicole Winfield is an Associated Press writer.CITY HALL -- As Lyme disease continues to plague the Island, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer has secured $1.3 million more in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fight the disease on Staten Island.

The U.S. Senate passed Schumer's amendment to the upcoming Health and Human Services appropriations bill increasing the federal government's funding to fight Lyme on Staten Island by more than 12 percent over the previous year, bringing the total to $12 million for fiscal year 2019.

The additional funding comes as the borough has seen a 250 percent rise in cases of Lyme disease from 2012 to 2016, which researchers say is linked to the Island's surging deer population.

Meanwhile, diseases spread through deer ticks and locally acquired cases of Lyme disease are also on the rise in the borough.

Schumer's amendment would mark the first increase in the CDC's Lyme disease funding in five years.

"Staten Island has been feeling the brutal bite of Lyme disease and tick-borne illnesses for years now, and thankfully this long-overdue increase in CDC funding will give us the resources we need to strike back," Schumer said. "New Yorkers and their children shouldn't have to worry that spending time outside in their backyards will leave them with a debilitating ailment like Lyme disease, and this funding will help to prevent that."

The New York senator said the additional funding was a "long-overdue increase" to support the "all-out state and local war against tick-borne diseases."

He vowed to pass the funding through Congress and soon have it on President Donald Trump's desk.

Schumer said the additional funding from the CDC will be used to target organisms or animals that spread the diseases in human beings.

The funding increase will also help experts better understand when, where, and how people become exposed to organism-borne pathogens and how to prevent exposure. Additionally, it will help implement disease diagnostics, surveillance, control and prevention programs.

Earlier this year, Schumer said he received a "firm commitment" from CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield that he would work to address Lyme disease in New York State.

CITY STEPS UP FUNDING FOR ISLAND TOO

In recent months, not just Schumer, but Mayor Bill de Blasio has also stepped up funding to fight the spread of Lyme on Staten Island.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last month on Staten Island that the city would increase spending by $600,000 annually to tackle Lyme in the borough.

The city's latest efforts will include stepping up tick surveillance at city parks and doubling the number of surveillance sites on Staten Island from 14 to 28.

Increased funding to fight Lyme on Staten Island follows a tick sweep conducted by researchers last summer which found all of the borough's parks had ticks infected with the Lyme disease bacteria.

The researchers then went on the help launch a tick app and decided to come back to the borough this summer to conduct more fieldwork.

The tick team researchers previously told the Advance that since they started began work in the borough in early June, they surveyed 111 homes in areas near parks, found 151 ticks around people's homes, and 6,728 ticks in Island parks.

Most of those ticks they found were Blacklegged ticks, or deer ticks, which transmit Lyme disease as well as Lone Star ticks.

They said most of the ticks were found in the Mid-Island and South Shore areas of the borough.

FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen implicated his erstwhile boss in felony campaign finance violations, making the president an unindicted co-conspirator. Many are wondering if a sitting president can even be indicted, but legal scholars are split on the issue. Current Justice Department guidance argues "a sitting president can be impeached but not indicted." Others argue this is merely a guideline and has not been tested in court. No one should be above the law. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

The question of whether a sitting president can be indicted on criminal charges is a tangle of legal precedent, constitutional scholarship and Justice Department memos. There are no hard and fast laws or rules on the situation, leaving it an open argument. Pamela Karlan, a Supreme Court litigator and head of Stanford's Supreme Court clinic, explained these issues in an interview with The Atlantic.

Legal scholar Eric Posner agrees the question is open for interpretation, yet he argues in an interview with Pacific Standard that the Justice Department must be able to take action when issues such as these arise.

While he says the Constitution offers no clear rules on this situation, the Justice Department should be able to bring criminal charges against the president.

The Justice Department must operate based on precedent and a series of memos written by members of the department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

The first of these memos, "Amenability of the President, Vice President and other Civil Officers to Federal Criminal Prosecution While In Office," written on the eve of Richard Nixon's impeachment by then-Assistant Attorney General Robert G. Dixon, Jr., argued that indicting a sitting president would be detrimental to the well-being of the government as a whole.

Bob Bauer, White House Counsel to President Obama, disagrees with the premise of this 1973 memo. While he understands the integrity of the presidency should be maintained, he believes if the public knows their president would be indicted if not for his position as commander-in-chief, the damage to the credibility of the office has already been done.

There is concern, however, that allowing for a president to be indicted would open up the possibility that individual states could completely stop the functioning of the government by bringing charges against the president. Per CBS News:

Walter Dellinger, assistant attorney general and head of the Office of Legal Counsel was open to compromise in an op-ed for The New York Times. Dellinger agrees that forcing a president to partake in a full criminal trial is untenable with his responsibilities as president. Yet, a known criminal cannot be allowed to hold the highest office in the nation without repercussions.

However, the framers of the Constitution did put into place a system in which the nation's chief executive can be held accountable for crimes--impeachment. Per The Atlantic:

Dean Obeidallah, a writer and lawyer, argued in a piece for The Daily Beast, that if the Justice Department is trying to avoid sidetracking the entire government with a spectacle, impeachment is not the answer either.

Jennifer Rubin, writing in an op-ed for The Washington Post, argues this specific case is unprecedented even among the unusual circumstances of potential criminal wrongdoing by the president. Rubin says because the alleged crime occurred not only during his campaign, but perhaps enabled him to win the presidency, Donald Trump should not enjoy the immunity that typically comes with the office.

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- State leaders will seek your opinion on the proposed legalization of recreational marijuana.

Four hearings are being planned for this fall by state Assembly members Joseph Lentol, Richard Gottfried, Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Linda Rosenthal. It was uncertain, as of Wednesday, where the hearings will be held.

People-Stokes introduced a bill in 2013 to regulate and tax the adult use of marijuana, while recognizing statistics that show black citizens are disproportionately arrested for marijuana offenses.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he'll appoint a group to study the issue, while the state Health Department has determined that the positives of a legal and regulated market would outweigh the negatives.

Included among the nine U.S. states to legalize adult-use are Massachusetts and Vermont, while lawmakers in New Jersey are expected to do the same. Adult-use is legal in Washington D.C., while medical cannabis is now legal in 21 states

-- Associated Press material was used in this report.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) say the recent scandal at Volunteers of America (VOA) emphasizes more than one crisis their community is facing.

Not only do parents have to worry about how their children, many of whom are non-verbal, are cared for on a daily basis, but parents say they worry about where their children will receive services if a school suddenly shuts its doors.

Classroom instructors at a Tottenville preschool allegedly were caught on secret recordings verbally abusing special-needs students, calling them "morons" and "stupid," and using foul language. Six staff members were fired as a result.

"When everything went down at VOA I was afraid. First I was scared because of what happened [at the school] but there's the feeling of being trapped because he has to stay there. There's only 40 kids in the school and I was nervous that people would pull their kids out and they would close the school because of it and then what would we do," said Stephanie Gallucci.

"Even if we wanted to take our kids out, where would we put them," Gallucci wondered.

Gallucci's 4-year-old son is non-verbal and has been attending VOA for the past year.

The Bay Terrace mom said she had two options for her son, either Gingerbread Learning Center or VOA.

Thankfully, she said, she chose VOA for her son's education because Gingerbread Learning Center's two locations closed their doors on Aug. 10 and displaced 95 students.

"We have enough struggles and difficulties and getting our children in school shouldn't be one of them," she said. "The same way I can go and enroll my other children in any public school without a problem, I shouldn't have to fight to get my son into school."

Stephanie Casertano, whose son Michael, 3, is set to attend VOA in September echoed Gallucci's concern.

"I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. It's so close to the beginning of the school year, where would he go?" Casertano said.

LACK OF SEATS IS NOT A NEW ISSUE

Last year the Advance highlighted the lack of services available to the I/DD community on Staten Island through a project titled "Dignity In Danger."

Dozens of parents, advocates, providers, law makers, and self-advocates told the Advance that lack of funding from the state is preventing new services and programs from opening and stretching what little resources are available extremely thin.

More than one year later, not much has changed when it comes to availability of seats, said one provider who asked for anonymity.

A teacher at one of the borough's early intervention centers -- a position she's held for over a decade -- said parents are turned away daily because "the seats just aren't there."

"Strict guidelines from the city and state prevent classrooms from being overcrowded and when the seats fill up, they fill up and that's it," she said.

"It's terrible because these parents fight so hard for their kids to give them a shot at living a productive life and they shouldn't have too. [The city and state] are failing them," she said.

"And this has been going on for years, and years, and years," she said.

MAINSTREAM ISN'T AN OPTION FOR EVERYBODY

Ben, an Eltingville resident who asked his last name be withheld, has a 5-year-old son who's on the autism spectrum. He began attending VOA when he was 18-months-old.

Ben said there were no issues at the school until January when his son began acting out and begging not to go to school in the morning.

"He would wake up yelling, vomiting, begging us not to take him to school. This came out of nowhere. He was getting physically ill at the thought of going to school," Ben told the Advance.

After getting nowhere with school administrators and with his son's behavior getting worse, he decided to remove him from the school in February.

Because he is verbal, Ben made the decision to place him in a mainstream Catholic school his two eldest daughters attended.

After a brief adjustment period, he's doing much better and can't wait to go to school in morning, Ben said.

While this was an option for Ben and his son, this isn't an option for everybody.

"If I was forced to mainstream him right now, we would have a huge problem. He doesn't speak enough to be in a classroom" Gallucci said.

"These seats are so critical, so critical. He went [into VOA] not saying much and he's now able to give me three-word sentences telling me what he wants. That's something that we did not have before. It's huge," she said.

"There are great programs on Staten Island but there are such strict guidelines because there are so little seats for the population of children that need them. We need more seats, more schools and more options," she said.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A New Brighton man's dispute with his girlfriend three weeks ago turned ugly, culminating with him hitting her with a tire iron and choking her with a cell-phone cord in his car, prosecutors allege.

Carlos Guzman, 27, was arraigned Wednesday on kidnapping, assault, strangulation and unlawful imprisonment charges, stemming from the Aug. 10 incident.

The Pine Street resident pleaded not guilty through his lawyer.

The incident unfolded around 3:40 a.m. when Guzman drove up to the victim's Port Richmond home, court papers said.

The woman was standing outside talking to several male friends, said court documents.

After she entered the car, the woman and Guzman became embroiled in an argument, and the defendant punched her, court papers said.

The woman jumped out of the auto several times; however, the defendant chased her down each time and threw her back inside, said court documents.

"If you want to die, I'll do it," court papers quote Guzman as snarling.

At one point, the defendant grabbed a tire iron from the trunk and hit the woman, said court documents.

He then wrapped a cell-phone cord around her neck and applied pressure, court papers said.

Guzman held the cord while he drove so the victim couldn't escape, authorities allege.

He again applied pressure several times.

Finally, around 6:25 a.m., Guzman drove the woman back to her home and released her, said court documents.

The victim suffered ligature marks on her necks, a swollen eye and lip and back bruising, said Assistant District Attorney Andres Casas.

Guzman was arrested about a week after the episode.

State Supreme Court Justice Alexander Jeong set bail at $25,000 bond or $15,000 cash.

Casas asked that bail, originally set in Criminal Court at $15,000 bond or $10,000 cash, be raised to $100,000.

He said the indictment charges had been upgraded from the original arrest charges. Casas also said Guzman had violated an order of protection by calling the victim from jail after his arrest.

Defense lawyer Gregory C. Clarke reserved a bail application.

The defendant, a small, bearded man garbed in tan institutional scrubs, who required the services of a Spanish interpreter, made no statement.

Jeong ordered him back to court on Sept. 14 for a conference.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A man tried to snatch a cop's gun and bit and threatened to rape other officers during a melee that started with an arrest in New Brighton, authorities allege.

The skirmish began when Freddie Adams, 21, of DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn, allegedly tried to prevent officers from arresting another person, Isaiah Johnson, on Monday shortly after midnight on the 400 block of Jersey Street, according to the criminal complaint and police.

A male officer told Adams to step back and leave.

Instead, Adams, who stands about 5'11" and weighs about 180 pounds, allegedly pushed the chest of the male officer.

While police were trying to restrain Adams, the suspect grabbed the same male officer's firearm and pulled up in an attempt to remove the gun from the holster, according to the criminal complaint and a source with knowledge of the investigation.

The suspect allegedly bit the left arm of a female officer and continued to resist arrest and shove officers, the complaint alleges.

Adams threatened to rape and spit on that female officer and also made the same threats against a second female officer in a holding cell at the 120th Precinct stationhouse in St. George, according to the source and the criminal complaint.

The female officer suffered a bruise and redness where she was bitten, but did not go to the hospital.

Adams has been charged with attempted robbery, assault, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and harassment.

Johnson, 21, of Crescent Avenue in New Brighton, was also arrested.

An officer allegedly saw Johnson driving a black motorcycle recklessly at a high rate of speed southbound on Jersey Street with no license plate shortly after midnight. Johnson refused to show his identification when requested by police, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.

A police officer asked Johnson to step down from the bike, but the suspect allegedly refused.

When officers tried to arrest Johnson, he allegedly swung his arms and stiffened his body in an attempt to prevent being handcuffed.

The investigation revealed that the bike was not insured and that the defendant's license was suspended, the criminal complaint said

Johnson faces charges that include obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, disorderly conduct and driving without a license.To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.

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A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!Mary Fischer won District 1 for the Lee County School Board Tuesday night, and six other candidates in three races move forward to the General Election in November.

There were 12,578 (10.49 percent) of voters who took part in early voting and 76,746 (64.02 percent) that participated in early voting during the 2018 Primary Election. On election day Tuesday, 30,531 (25.46 percent) went to the polls to vote.

Out of 436,915 active registered voters, 119,357 ballots were cast, or 27.32 percent.

Fischer won the School Board District 1 race with 13,328 (55.95 percent) of the votes against Charles B. Dailey who had 10,494 (44.05 percent) of the votes.

Im grateful for the support, honored to keep serving. Im ready to get back to work, Fischer said.

She said she will work on retaining people and making sure students have their needs met. In addition, Fischer said she will work to educate the public on the needs of the half cent sales tax, so facilities are up to speed and ready for the kids.

Dailey said they ran a great race.

The citizens made the decision to keep Ms. Fischer. I am very pleased with all of the hard work that we did. Im blessed and I am fortunate that we had enough of the citizens to deliver the message to and that is what we did, he said.

The two candidates moving forward with the School Board District 4 seat are Don Armstrong with 5,848 (33.71 percent) of the votes and Debbie Jordan with 5,533 (31.90 percent) of the votes. The other District 4 candidates were Geraldine Gerri Ware with 4,042 (23.30 percent) of votes and Louis Navarra with 1,924 (11.09 percent) of votes.

Now is the time to gear up and start running for November, Armstrong said. I appreciate everyones support. Now its time to stand strong together and we win this seat for the kids future.

Moving forward, he said he will not change anything about his campaign. Armstrong will keep putting public education back where it belongs.

In addition, he said he will make sure we tell everyone we are against the (half cent sales) tax. We will start to budget and not borrow money.

Jordan said she is both thankful and grateful for the voters support and she is ready to move onto November.

Jordan shared she was excited about the win Tuesday night.

Its been a long process and a lot of hard work . . . meeting a lot of wonderful people. Im happy to be moving forward, she said.

Jordan said her campaign message will remain the same.

Make sure everything is about the children and kids with special needs. That is why we are here. We have to make sure we have the best educational system that we can offer these kids, she said.

Betsy Vaughn finished on top in School Board District 6 with 28,642 (29.25 percent) of the votes, as well as Nicholas Alexander with 26,394 (26.96 percent) of the votes. Other District 6 candidates included Lori Fayhee with 22,485 (22.96 percent) and Karen Putman Watson with 20,389 (20.82 percent) of the votes.

Im thrilled with the results. I, of course, want to thank my family, my friends and all of my supporters because they were the ones that believed in my message and helped me with the victory tonight to help me move forward to phase two, Vaughn said.

She said moving forward she will continue to connect with the community.

Im going to be announcing a celebration rally very soon right after Labor Day, Vaughn said. Im looking forward to meeting with the two candidates in my race that are not advancing and try to bring everybody together, so their voices and the voices of the people that supported them are also heard. I want to keep moving forward and make a positive impact on Lee County schools.

Alexander said he and his team are very excited about the results.

This is where the hard work really begins. Where we are going to be meeting this week to really be thinking about the next steps and how to get the message out there. It is clear that our message has resonated, he said.

Looking forward to the General Election, Alexander said they will continue to use the same three pillars in his campaigning efforts. Those include increase safety protocols across all campuses, focus on teacher retention, as well as continuing to build schools and increasing the amount of technical and vocational training for high school students.

We have so many children leaving high school that can add value to the community overall, Alexander said.

The candidates moving forward for School Board District 5 include Gwynetta Gwyn Gittens with 4,405 (33.76 percent) and Pamela LaRiviere with 3,747 (28.72 percent) of the votes. The other candidates included Jon Larsen Shudlick with 2,110 (16.17 percent) of the votes, Moses Jackson with 2,038 (15.62 percent) of the votes and Taruas Pugh with 747 (5.73 percent) of the votes.

Im excited. Im very pleased and very happy for the support that I got from the community, Gittens said.

She said with the votes being based on her campaign strategy now, she does not foresee her strategy to change.

Im going to focus on empowerment, accountability and transparency, Gittens said.

She believes her experience, working at Bank of America as the vice president of training and development for 10 years, as well as being a teacher in the district for 13 years, spoke to the community.

I know the needs and desires and people talk to me all the time, Gittens said.

If she wins in November, she said she will make sure the community is heard. For example, she said her district is the fastest growing in Lee County.

There are 220 portables, in Lee County and 116 of those are in my district, District 5, and yet they went and built an $80 million school in Bonita. There are some things that I just cant wait to ask questions of why. Maybe they will have valid reasons, but I think my community and the taxpayers need to know and need to have that transparency and know what is going on, Gittens said.

LaRiviere said she was glad about the results.

Now we start working for the next stage. Im helping people understand all the things that are going on with initiatives. Focus on what we are doing well and the changes that we have made. Share my part of my vision for collaborative working with the county, state and community to bring in some collaborative opportunities for the Lehigh community to further develop Lehigh Acres, so it can become a very special place to live, she said. Its about working to build relationships with all the people in the east and building that community with our partners, with parents and families, so they feel welcomes and part of the school community.

All election results are unofficial until certified.The last two remaining unit blocks at historic Millers Point in Sydney have sold to locally-based Chinese and Singaporean investors for a total of $8.675million.

Located at 27-29A and 31-33A Dalgety Street, the two blocks on the north-western edge of Sydneys CBD were part of the NSW government's housing commission sale program, which has delivered about $600 million for investment in social housing.

The last two remaining unit blocks, 27-29A and 31-33A Dalgety Street, Millers Point have sold for a total of $8.675 million.

The buyers paid $4.35 million for 27-29A Dalgety Street and $4.325 million for 31-33A Dalgety Street.

Selling agents David Hickey and Robert Lowe from Savills said the auction campaign had attracted both local and offshore investors.When shares of AMP plunged earlier this year as the wealth manager found itself engulfed in its fee-for-no-service scandal, the firm was hit within weeks by the first of five separate class action lawsuits.

It wasn't just the seriousness of the situation -- which included an admission that AMP repeatedly misled regulators and charged clients for services they didn't receive -- that prompted the attention of so many law firms. The multiple suits were all supported by external funding bodies, whose coffers have been swelled by a flood of money moving into litigation financing in Australia and elsewhere.

Backing class actions such as that against AMP is becoming an alternative asset class. Credit:Louie Douvis

Endowment funds, family offices and other savvy investors have been allocating cash to lawsuits, attracted by juicy payouts and the sense that -- similar to private equity and real estate -- the returns aren't necessarily correlated to movements in sharemarkets and bonds.

"We believe there is a large amount of capital looking to enter this market," said Michael Peet, an analyst at Goldman Sachs in Sydney. "Litigation funding is rapidly emerging as an alternative asset class."Huawei chairman John Lord has pointed to the National Broadband Network as an example of what happens when Canberra imposes bans on Chinese companies, saying the $49 billion government-owned network is "not a world leader".

In the aftermath of a decision to ban companies like Huawei and ZTE from participating in building the nations 5G networks, Mr Lord has argued the choice will have ramifications for the cost and efficiency of upcoming mobile network builds.

Huawei chairman John Lord said telling the company to sit-out of upcoming network builds would result in the same situation as in 2011. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"I was called in by government in 2011 to be told we could not participate in the NBN," Mr Lord told Fairfax Media, claiming Huaweis proposal cost 25 per cent less than competing equipment providers at the time.

"With all due respect to those who got the NBN working and got it done well, its not a world leader, it would have been a lot better with three top companies competing in price and technology," he said.The Insult is a very clever film, in fact. Volatile car mechanic Toni (Adel Kara) is watering the plants on his balcony and manages to splash the municipal building crew sent to fix things like faulty pipes. Yasser, the works inspector (Kamel El Basha), is Palestinian; Toni is a Falangist who listens to the late Bachir Gemayels fascist speeches while he works. After a couple of arguments, Toni tells Yasser he wishes all his sort had been killed when the going was good, thus pretty much asking to be punched. It is this dispute over nothing a broken pipe  that ends up in court. Everyone is following it; everyone has taken sides. Its us against them, whoever they are.

At one point during the writing, she decided he was defending Lebanons Christian right-wing. And I was, actually, he declares. I wasnt hiding it. She stopped sending over his dinners and had his father tell him her blood pressure was dropping because of him. I dont think her blood pressure was really down; she had the capacity to voluntarily lower the pressure, he says. I said Mum, I dont buy your story. Come back to work. He laughs. By the way, when the film was nominated for the (foreign language) Oscar, she was so proud of it. This is such a personal film, Stephanie!

I have such a manipulative mother, Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri says. My God! She is such an outrageous lawyer. Doueiris doughty ma is still practising law at the age of 80, busy with a campaign to allow children to inherit Lebanese nationality from their mothers as well as their fathers, still working pro bono for the refugees who now make up a staggering 30 per cent of the Lebanese population.

The actual incident over the pipe was real. It was Doueiri who told a Palestinian engineer he wished his people had been wiped out when the going was good; the difference was that he apologised immediately and the situation was resolved. Its a shocking thing to say. Was he shocked at himself? Why? Its my nature. I said what I said because I just say things. I said something very hurtful, but so what? Insulting someone is also a form of expression. Doueiri says he thrives on conflict, which is one reason he keeps returning to his crowded homeland to make films. There are so many stories there. It is so dynamic, it really is. Maybe because I grew up in the civil war in the 1970s, this left me with a taste for where conflict can lead.

That appetite led to a goodly amount of trouble last year, when he returned to Beirut from showing The Insult at the Venice Film Festival  with the film having won a prize for best actor  and was arrested and interrogated at the airport, his Lebanese and French passports confiscated. The authorities were following up charges connected to his previous film The Attack (2012), about a surgeon who finds out that his wife is a suicide bomber. Doueiri had cast some Israeli actors and shot partly in Israel, where Lebanese citizens are forbidden to travel. There was a flurry of protest from the film industry worldwide; two days later, after being cleared by a military tribunal, he was freed. At roughly the same time, The Insult was nominated as Lebanons entry to the Oscars. Of course, thats the kind of story he loves.

Doueiri is 53. He left Beirut during the civil war to study film-making in the United States, then worked as a camera assistant on several films with Quentin Tarantino, whose excitable conversational style seems to have rubbed off on him. After 18 years in the US he moved to France, where he can more readily find funding. Its not really a choice. France is a beautiful museum. A very sane place to live but does it inspire me? Not really. He feels he understands America; his next film will be set there, among Trumps people. Obama was a great president but such a boring guy, there is nothing to write about the Obama era! I find that the Trump era is so rich, Im loving it. People hate it! My friends in California, they want to secede and I am just getting my biggest joy following the news. So his heroes will be Alt-right supporters? With a twist. I like a twist.

The curious thing about all this fighting talk is that Doureiris film is a model of measured control. Hostilities between the two antagonists attain craziness only by tiny, entirely credible increments; reconciliation, of a sort, is reached in a similarly crab-like way, concluding on a hopeful note. Doueiri sighs at this. You know I was told this film is about moderation and conciliation, he says. Its not. I am not a moderate guy. I do take sides; its just that I change sides every 15 minutes of the movie. I started by asking myself whether in Lebanon something so silly could evolve into a national debate, a national crisis. And in Lebanon it can; it is a country sitting on the palm of the Devil, as we say. It ends on a positive note, he says, because nothing else exported from the Middle East is positive. Its nothing but problems. I think its important in this world. Forget about the world, its important for me.

Which makes you wonder where hes really coming from. Doueiri wrote the film with his then wife and regular collaborator, Joelle Touma, at the same time as they were negotiating their divorce. For anyone else, that would be certain hell. It was the best divorce I ever had because we had to deal with some of the problems, but then we had to go back to the scenes, Doueiri told journalists in Venice. Touma comes from a prominent Christian family. I grew up hating the right and 20 years later, I wanted to re-examine the source of this, he says. What happened on the other side? Who were these enemies who were considered the Christian right wing in Lebanon? And I found out by dating women from the Christian world.This documentary about the remarkable career of Australian motorcycle racer Wayne Gardner might better have been called something such as Go Like Stink: The Wayne Gardner Story, or Bat out of Hell, or even Gardner from the 'Gong, him being a proud son of Wollongong  but that is the last critical thing I wish to say about this movie.

Wayne. Really? When Roger Donaldson made his movie about Burt Munro, who rode an Indian motorcycle very fast across the salt lakes of Utah, he didn't call it Burt. He called it The World's Fastest Indian.

Wayne Gardner was methodical and ruthless in his pursuit of success. Credit:Transmission Films

Sims, an actor and director, did not originate the project and has no interest in motorcycles or racing  and that may have helped. Apart from a few comments about why the 500cc racing bike is a wild beast, Sims concentrates on the human drama of Gardner's early years, and his relationship with his Wollongong sweetheart Donna Forbes.

Gardner is an impish, funny presence on screen  a lot more mellow now than he was then. Donna was a surfie girl who thought he looked like teen idol John-Paul Young. She would become as important in his success as any of the bikes.

She became famous in 1990 when Gardner won the first modern Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island. She ran onto the track in high heels as he pulled in at the end  an exuberant and free-spirited gesture, beautifully captured by a cameraman at the time.

It's clear she kept his head in the right place in the early years, when he was simply explosive on the track. He was also brash, unpolished and impulsive. He arrived in England in the middle of winter for his first European campaign wearing stubbies and thongs. He would get drunk the night before a big race and still win: the hangover helped him not to "overthink" it.Katie Senior is a 28-year-old Canberra performer who has been dancing for almost 20 years of her life. She's also an actress, sportswoman and office assistant, and she happens to have down syndrome.

Her dance partner, Liz Lea, is a performer and choreographer whose work has taken her all over the world.

Together, Senior and Lea will take the stage at TEDx Canberra to perform a dance about how down syndrome affects people differently.

Performers Liz Lea and Katie Senior are set to perform at this year's TEDx. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

"I'm trying to get people to understand about down syndrome," Senior said.For the first time in years, U.S. Congressional District 19 had a Democratic Primary to celebrate Tuesday.

David Holden pulled ahead of Todd Truax to secure the Democratic nomination. Holden will go on to challenge incumbent Republican Francis Rooney and write-in Pete Pollard in the November general election.

District 19 includes sections of Lee and Collier counties.

When the polls closed, Holden already had a solid lead. Once all the 113 precincts were tallied, Holden had won in Lee County by 65.21 percent with 18,009 votes, and in Collier County by 76.99 percent and 6,381 votes; Truax received 9,606 and 1,907 votes, respectively.

Holden held a watch party at Landsdowne Street Pub in Bonita Springs. After he secured his victory, he went live on Facebook to thank his campaign team and his supporters  and bolstered getting what he called a slate of Democratic candidates into office this year. He voiced his optimism for electing a Democratic governor and keeping U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in office in November.

The people know what they need  clean water and clean air, he said. We have built a movement here in Southwest Florida that will lead us to victory.

Holden wont be taking a break  he said he and his team will be getting to work again starting tomorrow morning, with the same tactic hes used on the primary trail: spending time in the districts communities and coming up with solutions, together.

District 19 is a strongly Republican district, but Holden said the constituents hes talked to are tired of partisan fighting and bickering on issues that shouldnt be partisan, like the environment and healthcare.

Especially in his district, Holden knows business and environment are woven together.

The environmental crisis with red tide and blue-green algae have woken people up to how precious our environment and our economy is in this district, he said.

Holden said while the current political climate may be favorable for a Democratic win in November, it would be hard work that will make him the winning candidate.

A Harvard masters grad, Holden co-owns a financial planning firm with his wife, Streeter, in Naples. The couple moved to Naples from California a few years ago.

One of Holdens main platforms is protecting the lifeblood of Floridas economy  its pure water, clean air, and pristine beaches; the environment is at the top of his priority list, according to his campaign website. Hes also set his stances on other issues such as education, gun safety and healthcare.

Of the 436,915 registered voters in Lee County, 119,357 ballots were cast, making the voter turnout 27.32 percent.

Its been a great experience, Im happy to have participated, Truax said Tuesday night. Ive met many great people throughout the district, and I appreciate the effort.

Truax said he wished Holden well in November against incumbent Rooney.

Now that the Democratic candidate has been selected, the Lee County Democratic Club will be getting to work.

Yoseph Tedros, the chair of the local club, said having two Democrats running in both District 19 and 17 was unheard of. He was happy to see two qualified candidates, with different points of view, stepping into the ring.

It bodes well for the Democratic party people are stepping up to run, he said.

The Lee County Democratic Party did not endorse a candidate for the primary; it focused on getting party members registered and at the polls to vote.

Now, it has less than three months to hone in on campaigning for Holden.

Talking about environmental issues will be a big part of the coming weeks, Tedros said.

Twenty years of Republican leadership, what have they done to improve the situation? Nothing, he said. I think we need a fresh, Democratic approach.

While Congressman Rooneys first term in office has shown results in gaining support  and funding  in Congress for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, Tedros said he doesnt see Rooney arguing for climate change with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Maybe for the average Republican hes done something, Tedros said. You have to look at the big picture. If you look at the party, which party will be more environmentally conscious.

Tedros thinks the General Election in November could be the chance the Democratic party needs to secure some seats  and, just to give voters strong options on the ballot. The current political climate has Democrats fired up, he said.

Its an exciting time to be a Democrat, Tedros said.

All election results are unofficial until certified.Two Australian Border Force officers and a member of the Jomaa crime family have admitted to their roles in an international smuggling syndicate.

ABF team leader Craig Richard Eakin pleaded guilty for Central Local Court magistrate Megan Greenwood to aiding and abetting the importation of tobacco products and receiving a bribe as a Commonwealth public official.

Craig Eakin leaves Central Local Court on Wednesday Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

His admission of involvement in the smuggling ring with links in Sydney and Dubai follows the guilty plea of his ABF colleague early last week.

Customs officer Johayna Merhi will face a NSW District Court on Friday over bribery, aiding and abetting the importation of tobacco and for dealing with proceeds of crime.A man who police believe poses as a doctor on dating apps has been charged after he allegedly raped a woman he met in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The 37-year-old man met the woman, 26, on dating app Bumble in late January and that same day the pair met at a Maroubra unit.

The 37-year-old man met the woman, 26, on dating app Bumble in late January.

NSW Police allege the man, who they say poses as a doctor, sexually assaulted the woman inside the unit before driving her to Mascot railway station where she caught the train home and reported the attack.

The man was arrested on Wednesday and charged with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of aggravated sexual assault without consent.A Sydney doctor found guilty of murdering his wife suffered a miscarriage of justice as the Crown did not prove she died from insulin poisoning, appeal court judges have been told.

Brian Kenneth Crickitt was jailed for at least 20 years in May 2017 after a judge found he injected Christine Crickitt with a lethal dose of fast-acting insulin on New Year's Eve 2009 or early on New Year's Day 2010 at their Woodbine home.

Murder accused Brian Crickitt with his new wife Julie Crickitt during his trial. . Credit:Daniel Munoz

The now 64-year-old then left their bedroom to spend the rest of the night with his new lover.

His barrister, Gabriel Wendler, on Wednesday told the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal the Crown case "first and last" had been that she died from insulin poisoning.When City of Parramatta councillors met recently to select a chief executive, they had before them a resume that might have seemed fitting for the unprecedented investment flowing into the area.

Mark Stapleton, who had been the councils director of property for the past year, had his hand up for the top job and was touting his experience with "$35bn of tenders & projects."

City of Parramatta mayor Andrew Wilson with CEO Mark Stapleton. Credit:City of Parramatta

In his application, Mr Stapleton recalled standing on the empty slab of concrete that was Barangaroo 10 years ago going through a design & capital raising proposal for $4.5bn with Phil Kearns & David Gonski.

The experience had been an "incredible" one," Mr Stapleton wrote, "where government private sector and a strong team can create an exceptional outcome."The "white sheep" of the infamous Colt* incest family has been refused bail by a Sydney court.

Frank Colt was arrested in April this year, and charged with four counts of inciting a child under 10 to have sexual intercourse.

A caravan on the property where the children were found. Credit:Andrew Meares

He and his sister Rhonda and her son Cliff were extradited from Western Australia, while three other family members were extradited from South Australia.

Alleged intergenerational incest, sexual abuse and paedophilia shocked the world in 2012, when one of the worst cases of child abuse in Australia's history was exposed.Considine joined the Fleet Street press agency Morley Adams (now Press Association) in 1955, and although she wrote in a number of capacities, including horoscopes, theatre reviews and a column on how to achieve a happy marriage, her specialty was crosswords. Without exception, she devised her grids by hand and in pencil. If she ever found herself resorting to some obscure reference or uncommon word, her mantra was, rub out. This tactic, however, never precluded her puzzles from being formidably difficult, with one crossword-solving group so stymied by her clues that they asked for a photograph of The Stinkers setter so they could throw darts at it. The request was politely refused on the grounds the setter was a lady.

For almost 50 years, Considine compiled crosswords with Brian as her constant companion. With his passing in 1996, Considine who was then almost 70, responded by taking on a workload that astonished even her editors. At the time of her death, Considine still had 18 giant crosswords for The Daily Mail waiting for publication. It was only when diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer that Considine slowed her pace, having just returned from her ritual trip to San Diego, which she took every year to avoid the English winter. She admitted to her crossword editor in the last weeks that she was still writing crossword clues in her head as she fell asleep, despite having given up work.

It was Considines wish to be returned to her native Ireland and, as always, there was a tremendous wit that permeated even these darkest thoughts. She wrote to a friend: There is a family plot that houses my parents and sister. My plan is to be buried there but the undertaker said she wasn't sure if another body would fit and wanted to know if I was fat. She wouldn't take my word for it and wanted to inspect me, so I presented myself. Like letting the hangman take a look at the prisoner before execution. She said, 'Oh, you'll be fine. There's room. Take your time'. I said 'Thank you'.

Considines legacy of inquiry and intellectual rigour continues in the immediate family she leaves in Australia including her nieces Carol Kiernan, founder of the Australian Missing Persons Unit and co-founder of the Honour a Woman campaign for equal representation in Australian honours; Margaret Hamilton, Professor of Mathematics at RMIT; and nephew Matthew Kiernan, Bushell Chair of Neurology at the University of Sydney and President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists. Considine also leaves extended family scattered throughout Ireland, England and the US.

* Answer: forsake/for sakeA Brisbane body corporate has been fined $21,000 by a magistrate for 21 breaches of fire safety regulation at a 35-unit Kangaroo Point complex.

Carlisle Community Title Scheme 9233 were taken to court by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services after inspectors found numerous fire risks in the building, including locking a fire door and not attending fire risks to the garbage chute.

Fire inspectors "made repeated attempts" to get the body corporate to fix breaches between August 2017 and January 2018.

The ruling at Brisbane Magistrates Court found that Carlisle did not act quickly enough to comply, with their actions putting residents in danger.

Magistrate Anthony Gett said the notices from QFES should have prompted the body corporate to act.That's all from me and Express for this morning. Thanks so much to everyone who followed along and sent us amazing pictures from the fire - the blog squad is a good one.

Have a great Thursday and I'll see you next week.The owner of some of the 16 polo ponies which died in transit from Devonport to Melbourne is claiming $739,000 in damages from the Spirit of Tasmania's operators.

Court documents sighted by Fairfax Media reveal Andrew Michael Williams filed a civil case with the Supreme Court of Victoria against TT-Line and QUBE Holdings on Friday.

Former Australian polo captain Andrew Williams (in the white on the right), lost 13 polo ponies in January.

Mr Williams is claiming $639,000 in damages as the combined value of 13 of the 16 horses that died, as well as the loss of wages from his polo business, estimated to be $100,000.

The ponies were among 18 in total on a truck being driven by Mr Williams after competing at the Barnbougle Polo event in the Tasmanias north-east.Australias relationship with China has been tumultuous of late: political scandals, security threats, a perceived need for draconian new legislation, angry rhetoric from Beijing. Its not a surprise that officials, including members of the new Australian government, and ordinary people across Australia have struggled to find the right answers to a complex and charged relationship.

But as Australia tries to strike a balance between benefiting from and being threatened by its relationship with Beijing, a key piece of solving this puzzle has largely dropped out of the debate: pressing for better respect for human rights inside China.

A man stands in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square in Beijing China on June 4, 1989. Credit:AP

Since coming to power in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government have directed the most pervasive rollback on rights since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. China has adopted a slew of laws on national security, cyber-controls, and civil society that further restrict everything from the right to a fair trial to privacy rights to freedom of expression and association. Authorities have increased deployed mass surveillance technology to stamp out perceived dissent, and directed particular hostility at ethnic and religious minorities: hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, an ethnically Turkic Muslim minority, are currently being arbitrarily detained for political education without a legal basis for doing so.

Not content to limit human rights at home, Chinese authorities have taken their repressive policies global. Human Rights Watch has documented concerted efforts by China to undermine key United Nations human rights mechanisms, limiting the ability of independent voiceseven those not focused on Chinafrom making use of these global arenas. China is launching its own rights-free institutions, like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and skillfully manipulating existing ones, such as Interpol, to carry out abuses.Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.With all the focus this week on new Prime Minister Scott Morrisons domestic challenges, less attention has been paid to the international impact of the leadership change and any new directions for Australian foreign policy.

Morrisons foreign policy credentials are slim and his interest in foreign policy is low, not rating even a mention in his first speech to the nation as PM.

Illustration: Matt Davidson

As immigration minister, Morrison presided over the stop the boats policy that was so unpopular with Australias neighbours, and negotiated the disastrous and expensive Cambodia asylum deal. He may also be perceived by Muslim-majority nations as unfriendly to Muslims after the 2011 shadow cabinet leak in which he urged his party to capitalise on the electorates growing concerns about immigration and Muslims in Australia.

It is therefore a good idea indeed that Morrison will make his first trip overseas as Prime Minister this week to Jakarta to hasten the Australia and Indonesia free-trade agreement and shore up one of our countrys most crucial relationships.The Morrison government is under pressure from Pacific leaders to sign a pledge of support for the Paris climate accord, and declare climate change the "single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing" of the region.

The joint security declaration from the 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum, obtained by Fairfax Media, will be considered next week as Prime Minister Scott Morrison faces political pressure from conservative MPs to water down or abandon emissions reduction commitments Australia made under the Paris agreement.

As his newly formed government attempts to move past the chaos of last week's leadership crisis, Mr Morrison will not attend the regional leaders meeting in Nauru in place of Malcolm Turnbull, but will instead send new Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

Low-lying Pacific nations like Kiribati are battling rising sea levels as a result of climate change. Credit:Justin McManus

The draft "Biketawa Plus" regional agreement covers a range of issues including crime, humanitarian assistance, and the environment, and has enjoyed the support of the Australian government during recent negotiations.Aboriginal leaders are furious at the appointment of former prime minister Tony Abbott to a newly-created Indigenous role, but Scott Morrison insists he is just the right man for the job.

Mr Abbott was given the role of special envoy for Indigenous Affairs after being left out of the new Prime Minister's ministry, in an effort to heal the wounds of last week's damaging leadership coup.

Mr Abbott cautiously accepted the job after hesitating at first, and expects to make recommendations on improving education in remote areas.

"I've been to a lot of remote schools over the years," Mr Abbott said.

"We need to get attendance up and standards up because there is no better thing we can do for kids than ensuring that they've got the best possible schooling."Im sorry, Ragnar Purje (Letters, August 29), but my definition of democracy has always been based on Abraham Lincolns of the people, by the people, for the people. Nowhere does it include the words the party. - Jo-Ann Brown, Eastwood Poor policy kicks dust in face of frustrated farmers So billions have been wasted in taxpayer-funded packages that do not help farmers (Drought relief blasted, August 29). Why am I not surprised? A government that encourages and subsidises the growth of rice and cotton, which can be produced far more cheaply in our northern neighbourhood, is clearly groping in the dark when it comes to agricultural policies. - James Prior, Sylvania Waters It is impossible for our government to set proper policy if it does not accept that climate change is real. Drought relief is one example. Our previous prime minister often quoted Dorothea Mackellar to say we have always had droughts and flooding rains, but climate scientists have determined that climate change events are occurring with increasing frequency and intensity. The advice of economist Saul Eslake that a consequence of climate change was that agriculture might no longer be sustainable in some parts of this country should be a wake-up call. Climate change is real; countering its impact will be expensive. Australia needs a bipartisan, evidence-based investigation into the risks it poses to our people, environment and economy. - Keith Woodward, Avalon Beach

I cannot let the assertions by Victor Bivell (Letters, August 29) go unchallenged. Australians are not farming in drought-affected areas. These areas are now a result of usually reliable rain-bearing weather patterns drifting south. Less than a year or so ago, most of NSW was drought free. These farmers were producing food for all Australians and even for exports, thus earning income for the nation. I agree that some of their practices should be moderated to reduce the short-term effects of drought, however, and this is where the government can offer practical help. - Michael Hayden, Kiama Downs Australia exports about two-thirds of its agricultural production. So do we, therefore, need as many farms as we have now? Ultimately, it may be better for our farmers, the environment and the economy to let many of these farms close. Some of the billions in drought relief could be spent on shifting these groups to other industries, and a brighter future. - Tim Stone, Oatley On Friday, a fund-raiser at my workplace raised more than $5000 to give to struggling farmers. At the same time, a different group of Australians was voting to entrench unfettered global warming. Those same farmers will now suffer economic losses that will negate our meagre donation thousands of times over. What was the point? We might as well have tipped the $5000 straight onto the parched farmland ourselves, and kicked dust over it. - Richard Ling, Manly Send a message at byelection How disappointing for the voters of Wentworth if they are not given the option to vote for Labor in the upcoming byelection (Two-man race to take over Turnbulls seat, August 29). It is reported that Labor has preselected a candidate, but is weighing up whether to contest the seat.

The byelection is a great opportunity for voters to send a message to the Liberal Party that Australians are disgusted and fed up with the behaviour of its elected members and its inability to run its own party, let alone the country. - Jill Phillips, Ettalong Beach

So Malcolm Turnbull is taking his bat and ball home. It was just over 30 years ago at a Law Ball at Sydney University that a well (midnight) oiled bunch of law students refused to settle down to hear the guest speaker deliver his speech. However, we law students were buoyed by a bar with beer and by the idea we might become Australias finest, at the bar. Our invited guest stood at the lectern, but he could not speak. The crowd prevented him. They yelled insults like merchant wanker. After a number of attempts, this successful lawyer, who had taken time from his busy professional and personal life, leaned into the microphone and declared: You are a drunken rabble, you can all get f---ed, and took off into the night with his speech notes  and with the benefit of his reflections on the law and life. That night, we got a speaker better than we deserved. Some say we get the politicians we deserve. Occasionally we get a politician better than we deserve. We have now lost the benefit of Mr Turnbulls intellect and moral compass. We blame the political parties, but perhaps we should first pick the log from our own eye. We expect respect, we expect loyalty, but give neither at the ballot box. When are we electors going to lift our own game and give the good politicians, those with drive, intellect and a moral compass, what they deserve? - Peter McNamara, Sydney How about instead of resigning, Turnbull starts a new Malcolm in the Middle party to take the centre? Reckon it could go pretty well. - Greg Sanders, Mosman Bishop plays long game

It is interesting to note that the former foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, plans to stay on in Parliament and is keeping her leadership options open (Diplomatic Bishop keeps her powder dry, August 29). One does not need a crystal ball to conclude that the obvious time to throw her hat into the ring for the leadership of the parliamentary Liberal Party will be after the Coalition government is defeated at the next election. Good thinking Julie, if you survive the election. - Terry Hannan, Bowral Undue influence Illustration: Matt Golding Good to see that our government will continue to decide, fairly and openly, which au pairs come to this country and the circumstances under which they arrive (Dutton involved in case linked to AFL boss, August 29). - Tony Letford, Wentworth Falls It is disgusting to have to listen to how influence can be used to allow a person to stay/work in this country. We have friends whose son is not allowed to bring his Kenyan wife to Australia to visit her new in-laws, even though they both intend to return to Austria where he works with refugees. We also have two German-born daughters-in-law who live here and have never had this problem. Is this a black and white issue? - Wendy Martin, Tennyson

The Vietnamese asylum seekers in north Queensland can maximise their chances of staying in Australia by claiming to be au pairs. - Mark Tierney, West Pennant Hills Safety comes first Can Meredith Burgmann please explain why its victim blaming to advise women not to walk through parks at night (Oral sexism: what really gets up womens noses, August 29)?

As a male, I wouldnt walk through a park at night for the simple reason that its dangerous. How is it different from not sticking your hand in the lions cage or not swimming between the flags? - Patrick McMahon, Beverley Park Criminal decision 7-Eleven seems to have no regard for the safety of its staff working in stores that are held up (7-Eleven rejects pleas to close dangerous store at night, August 29). Bet the directors have a safe working environment. - Ingrid Radford, Waverton

If things are as set out in your story: crimes occurring and local police having identified extreme risks of further crimes  isnt the 7-Eleven organisation putting itself in a position where it could be aiding and abetting the commission of future crimes at this store? - David Davies, Callala Beach Testing times (NAPLAN future questioned as results show no change, August 29). One of the most graphic examples of the limitations of the NAPLAN writing test I have seen occurred at my school a few years ago when students were asked to explain what school rules they would like to change.

A very able year 3 student was seen by his teacher to be agitated and perplexed throughout the 45 minute test, at the end of which he handed in a blank test paper. When asked why, he replied, Teachers make rules to keep kids safe so why would I want to change any? - Grant Heaton, Port Macquarie Based on NAPLANs results, what changes have been made to improve education? It seems that concentration is on how best to run NAPLAN, rather than how its helping teaching. - Wendy Crew, Lane Cove North Well written Richard Fry (Letters, August 29). Your years at Balmain Teachers College and in our public schools has benefited all of us. - Bob Hall, Wyoming

Retirement has given me time to enjoy the Herald puzzles each day. On Tuesday, though, I struggled with the crossword that I usually manage fairly easily. Later I discarded draft after draft of a letter I was writing. Just as well it wasnt my NAPLAN day. - Kathleen Chivers, Vincentia Whatsisname for PM Clare Boyd-Macraes article on testing for dementia (Remind me, whos Prime Minister this week?, August 29) reminded me that when my mother was asked the usual question whos the Prime Minister? she said who cares? Bingo! - Vicky Marquis, Glebe Former PM refers to too many currently around. Isnt it time to use a new title after the two previous former PMs? Thus, Turnbull is Former PM; Abbott is pre-Former PM; everyone else is Fred. - Kay Burman, Lighthouse Beach 100 and countingOpposition Leader Bill Shorten has announced he will back Prime Minister Scott Morrison's proposed GST reform proposal and end the political "argy-bargy" between the major parties over WA's share of the tax.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten outlines his promise to match the federal government's GST deal, with WA Premier Mark McGowan at South Metro Tafe Carlisle campus on Wednesday. Credit:AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

Mr Morrison announced he would seek the state's agreement to change the distribution formula so that WA would receive back at least 70 cents in every dollar paid in GST next financial year, rising to a floor of 75 cents in 2024/25.

This would cost the government $4.7 billion.

Mr Shorten said he wanted fighting between Labor and Liberal over WA's share of the GST to end.San Francisco: Another day, another Elon Musk Twitter kerfuffle.

The Tesla CEO has again made implications about a rescue diver who once criticised him.

Elon Musk returned to the controversial - and some would say, counterproductive - topic on Tuesday night, launching a new round of tweets implying that the cave rescuer he accused of being a paedophile might actually be one.

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk Credit:Bloomberg

On Wednesday, a lawyer said he had sent Musk a letter threatening legal action and that he's in the process of filing a libel suit against Musk on behalf of Vernon Unsworth, a diver instrumental in rescuing Thai children trapped in a cave in July.The People's Liberation Army parade at the Zhurihe military training base in China's Inner Mongolia region.

Islamabad: China has denied it plans to build a military base in Afghanistan, after a Hong Kong newspaper said Beijing was constructing a training camp for Afghan troops to which it could also send its own soldiers.

The South China Morning Post, citing unidentified sources with ties to the Chinese military, said China was building the camp in the narrow Wakhan Corridor, in the north-east province of Badakhshan, that links the two countries.

It said hundreds of troops would cross the border from China's western Xinjiang region to carry out counter-terrorism training.Washington: The US military has no plans yet to suspend any more major military exercises with South Korea, the defence secretary said on Tuesday, in the middle of a breakdown in diplomacy with North Korea over its nuclear weapons.

Defence Secretary James Mattis told a Pentagon news conference that no decisions had been made about major exercises for next year but noted that the suspension of drills this summer as a good-faith gesture to North Korea was not open-ended.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis speaks at the Pentagon. Credit:AP

US President Donald Trump's June decision to unilaterally suspend the drills caught many American military planners off guard and was broadly criticised as a premature concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who Trump wants to give up his nuclear weapons.Rome: An Italian journalist who says he helped a former Vatican diplomat pen his bombshell allegation of sex abuse cover-up against Pope Francis says he persuaded the archbishop to go public after the US church was thrown into turmoil by revelations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Marco Tosatti said he helped Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano write, rewrite and edit his 11-page testimony, saying the two sat side-by-side at a wooden table in Tosatti's living room for three hours on August 22.

Pope Francis is caught in pensive mood during his weekly general audience at the Vatican. Credit:AP

Tosatti, a leading Italian critic of Francis, said Vigano had called him a few weeks ago out of the blue asking to meet, and then proceeded to tell him the information that became the basis of the testimony.

Vigano has kept largely quiet since the bombshell testimony on Sunday, and his whereabouts are unknown. As a result, Tosatti's reconstruction provides the only insight into how the document came about.Washington: White House counsel Don McGahn will leave his job after the US Senate votes on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday.

The development comes as legal risks to the President rise, following the conviction of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort last week on fraud charges and his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen's guilty plea to charges of fraud and campaign finance violations.

McGahn "will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump said Wednesday. "I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!"Fresh off an open week, a well-rested Tennessee team was back inside the Anderson Training Center on Monday morning to begin preparations for an important SEC East battle against No. 18 Kentucky this weekend. Head coach Josh Heupel , tight end Jacob Warren and wide receiver JaVonta Payton met with the media on Monday afternoon to preview the Vols' matchup with the 18 th -ranked ... (click for more)

While being able to shoot the ball from deep is what fans love to see, most winning teams have some sort of a great inside presence on both ends of the floor. Chattanooga States Lady Tigers 2021-22 team may be slightly unproven on the perimeter, but they bring back a stable of forwards who should more than make up for that with tough play inside the arc. Right now Im seeing ... (click for more)Lima: Peru has declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing "imminent danger" to health and sanitation, as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated on Tuesday.

A Venezuelan migrant holds her passport while wait in line to take a bus to continue their travel in Tumbes, Peru. Credit:AP

The decree, published in the government's official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants.

Meanwhile, Brazil was sending armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border area, in the state of Roraima.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a "crisis moment" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week.PHILIPSBURG:--- In connection with the shooting that took place in the morning hours on Monday August 6th 2018 on Marigot Hill road in St.Peters, a suspect with initials R.F has been arrested.

R.F. was arrested on Monday August 28th 2018, once in custody the police carried out a search of the suspects home in hopes to collect further evidence in the case.

The victim J.C was found in a grey colored Hyundai SUV with license plate P1554 on the premises of a home shot to death.

Detectives are asking anyone who may have seen what took place or who may have information which can lead to the arrest of those responsible for this shooting to get in contact with the detective department by calling 54-22222 ext. 213/214, the anonymous tip line #9300, and 556-7498 or send a private message to the Police Face book Page.

KPSM Press ReleaseCAYHILL:--- In line with St. Maarten Medical Centers (SMMC) continuing mission of providing Quality Care, Close To Home, a new medical specialty Ophthalmology (Eye Care) will be available at SMMC as per September 3rd 2018.

An impressive team of 8 qualified Eye Specialists have been recruited from Suriname and Holland and are scheduled to deliver the complete Eye Care package to patients on St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius.

In order to establish the in-house Eye Care Clinic, SMMC has purchased brand new, state of the art Eye Care equipment which is installed in the designated Eye Care facility at the SMMC Care Complex.

Ophthalmologist Dr. Jerrel Pawiroredjo and his team are ready to start and look forward to elevating the Eye Care Clinic at SMMC.

Dr. Pawiroredjo explains their mission: Our group consists of 8 Ophthalmologists with an average experience of 10 years (range 2-25 years). The strength of this group is that we all have one or more additional in-depth sub-specializations in, amongst others, Cataract, Diabetic eye disease, Glaucoma, Pediatric eye care, Eyelid and Lacrimal surgery or Corneal disease.

Furthermore, in the past few months, SMMC nurses and Technical Ophthalmic Assistants have been trained in the Suriname Eye Center. This means that a wide spectrum of eye diseases will be diagnosed and treated in the SMMC Eye Care Clinic according to latest standards and developments in eye care, he explains.

Population surveys conducted in the Caribbean have shown that the most common causes of visual disability and blindness are:

1. Refractive errors (people who only need spectacles)

2. Cataract

3. Glaucoma (significant because of irreversible damage)

4. Diabetic eye disease

5. Trauma and corneal scarsPHILIPSBURG:--- UK author Jacky Rom paid a visit to The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle as their guest speaker.

Jacky grew up in Romford Essex and qualified as a hairdresser and makeup artist at the London College of Fashion. It had always a dream of hers to become a film director. Jacky wrote her first play when she was just 17 years old and has written and directed many plays over the years. She has spent many years in TV and film studios with her own up and coming actors before she decided to write her first book.

When Jacky turned 50 years of age in 2008 she decided to take a months vacation in St. Maarten. She began to wonder what she would do to occupy her time while vacationing, thats when she decided to write a book. This turned into a series of 5 books all about the adventures of an 11-year-old detective. She enjoyed every minute of the process. Her adult crime thriller book Make up to Murder was release in 2015, and she already has interest in Hollywood for the film rights. Jackys latest venture has taken place in Las Vegas where she has been filming a documentary called Method of Murder she is currently waiting for the airing dates around the world.

After the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria she was feeling frustrated and helpless back in the UK and she wanted to help. She collected 400 childrens books and with the help of her local Rotary Club and Round table, the books were shipped to SXM.

When Jacky could finally get to SXM she met up with her friends Rotarian Jeff Jhangiani who had been helping the less fortunate in the community after the passing of the hurricanes. With the help from people worldwide, they have received so much to be able to help those in the community. Jacky says its been an emotional journey she has laughed, cried and wept.

The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle meets Tuesday at 7pm at Pineapple Pete in Simpson Bay. For more information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our face book page Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle.General Coral Cover is Reduced, Man of War Shoal Marine Protected Area Shows Greater Resilience than Reefs.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Reef monitoring data has been scientifically analysed to assess the impacts of hurricane Irma and Maria on Sint Maarten Coral Reefs following the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) guidelines. The hurricanes caused reduction in coral cover on St Maarten reefs; however reef health improved due to a decrease in coral bleaching. Unfortunately, macro algae cover increased after the hurricanes. This high algae cover threatens coral recruitment and coral growth. Caribbean coral reefs have been deteriorated to a macro algal state due to several factors such as the die off or overfishing of herbivores (such as parrotfish), climate change, human and natural disasters. Three months after the hurricanes water quality was decreased on all our reefs, water visibility was reduced by about sixteen meters.

Coral cover (hard corals) has been significantly reduced from 6.1 % to 3.7% since the passage of the hurricanes, which is unfortunate but expected considering the intensity of Irma. Coral cover is still higher than observed in 2016 (3.5%). Scientific research found that coral cover mostly declines the year after large hurricanes, therefore we are concerned to observe a larger reduction of coral cover for this year. The decrease in coral bleaching could be favourable for the health of our corals and is likely caused by the lower sea water temperatures and the decreased visibility after the storms. We are worried about the higher algae cover, this could deteriorate our coral reefs even more explained Nature Foundations Projects Officer Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern.

The strong surge and swells of the storms caused gorgonian corals (soft corals) and fleshy algae to be ripped off from our reefs, leading to more exposure of coral recruits, sponges and calcareous coralline algae (CCA). After the hurricanes higher carnivorous fish biomass was found on the reefs. This increase of larger fish, especially groupers and snappers, was found to be extraordinary high in the Marine Protect Areas mostly healthy reefs, such as Proselyte Reef and Mikes Maze. Herbivorous fish biomass did not change significantly after the hurricanes, however fewer fish species were found.

More accessible CCA can be profitable as it is used by juvenile corals to settle on in the future and these juveniles can grow into larger corals and build our next generation of coral reefs. Larger pelagic fish can travel long distances. They may look for the best shelter against the impacts of the hurricanes and therefore moved to the reefs with the highest coral cover to find their needs, stated Achsah Mitchell GCRMN data analyst.

The results of the St Maartens reef monitoring also show the significance of protecting our reefs, as coral reefs in the Marine Protected Area performed better and are healthier, with higher coral, gorgonian coral, CCA and sponge cover compared to other St Maarten Reefs outside the protected area. Reefs outside of the Marine Protected Area had significantly more macro algae cover than reefs within the Park. Also, greater densities of coral recruits, which indicate a greater number of healthy and reproducing corals, were found. Moreover, carnivorous fish and herbivorous fish had a greater biomass within the Marine Protected Area.

If we do not protect our coral reefs, health, fish biomass and coral cover will decrease and our reefs will shift to a macro algae state. Algae cover was the lowest inside the Marine Protected Area, showing us the effectiveness of protecting our coral reefs. Our results demonstrate clearly the importance of our Marine Protected Area Man of War Shoal for our fish stocks and coral reef preservation stated Nature Foundations Projects Officer Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern.

The entire country benefits from reefs with higher coral cover and lower macro algae, these reefs are also more resilient regarding disaster events, such as Hurricane Irma. The reefs in the Marine Protected Area showed greater resilience to hurricanes than reefs outside the protected area. Especially the lower macro algae cover makes reefs better suited for coral growth and recruitment and would therefore have a higher resilience for hurricanes and other threats. I recommend increasing coral reef protection, management and monitoring, especially within the Marine Protected Area explained Achsah Mitchell GCRMN data analyst.

Every year, the St Maarten Nature Foundation monitors St Maartens coral reefs scientifically using the GCRMN method to determine the health, composition and state of St Maarten reefs. With financial support made available by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance the Foundation was also able to monitor and analyze the reefs after the hurricanes in 2017.

Several dive sites in the Man of War Shoal Marine Protected Area and other important dive sites around the island were monitored pre-hurricanes in Augustus and post-hurricanes in December 2017. All measurements were conducted along a transect line and repeated five times on each dive site. First, abundance and biomass of all fish species were determined, secondly the cover of reef organisms (corals) were analyzed based on photo quadrats made during the dives and photo quadrats were assessed for coral health. Monitoring is also done looking for coral recruitments (juvenile corals) and algae coverage and height. Lastly, invertebrate species were counted and water quality was measured. Results were assessed, scientifically analyzed and interpreted by GCRMN data analyst Achsah Mitchell; the full report can be accessed through the Nature Foundations websitewww.naturefoundationsxm.org.EnWave Announces 2018 Third Quarter Consolidated Interim Financial Results

Posted by Publisher Internet

EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE:E4U) (?EnWave?, or the \Company\  http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=298005 ) today reported the Company?s consolidated interim financial results for the third quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Third Quarter Highlights:

Expanded distribution of Moon Cheese? with additional product rotations in a number of Costco divisions; achieved the highest ever single quarter sales for Moon Cheese?.

Expanded its royalty-bearing license agreement with Tilray?, a major Canadian medical cannabis Licensed Producer, to include exclusive rights to REVTM technology for processing cannabis in the country of Portugal for processing cannabis. Tilray? purchased a second large-scale 60kW REVTM machine to be installed in Portugal.

Signed a CLA with Arla Foods (?Arla?), the world?s largest manufacturer of organic dairy products and an innovation leader.??The CLA grants Arla the exclusive right to use REV? technology to process dairy products in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.?Arla purchased a 10kW small-scale machine to initiate commercial production.

Signed a technology evaluation and license option agreement (?TELOA?) with a major Canadian licensed producer of cannabis (the ?Licensed Producer) and granted the Licensed Producer the exclusive option to license REVTM for processing legalized cannabis in a European country. The Licensed Producer is renting a pilot-scale machine during the term of the TELOA to facilitate evaluation of the technology.

Signed a TELOA with a Fresh Business Consulting S.L., (?Fresh Business?) a diversified investment and consulting firm headquartered in Spain, to develop several innovative food products using?EnWave?s technology in Peru. Fresh Business will rent a small-scale REV? machine, which will be installed in Lima, Peru.

Signed a TELOA with a major Australian dairy company to evaluate REV? technology for the development of several dehydrated, premium dairy ingredients.? The Company rent a small-scale REV? machine for use in Australia for a six months, during which time EnWave?s team will work closely to facilitate product development.

Announced the commercial launch of Agropur Dairy Co-operative?s iogo Protein Crunch snack products, an innovative way of enjoying yogurt on-the-go that is processed using licensed REVTM

Signed a Collaboration and License Option Agreement with GEA Lyophil GmbH, (?GEA?), a Liquid Dosage organization of the Business Application Pharma of the GEA Group.?EnWave and GEA will jointly evaluate a potential partnership to facilitate the manufacture and deployment of continuous cGMP REV? lyophilization equipment into the global pharmaceutical sector.

Advanced the fabrication and delivery of the first scaled-up Good Manufacturing Practices (?GMP?) freezeREV? machine by starting factory acceptance testing.

Announced a capital project to expand the Company?s production capacity of Moon Cheese? through the installation of a second 100kW nutraREV? machine and a 10kW REVTM The project has commenced and is expected to be commissioned in early fall, which will facilitate the continued sales growth of Moon Cheese? based on projected demand.

Jointly ended the collaboration agreement with Sutro Biopharma Inc. (?Sutro?) to deliver a commercial powderREV? During factory acceptance testing EnWave and Sutro were unable to satisfy certain quantitative bioactivity measures for the excipient-free, dried cell-free extract formulation. Recorded a resulting impairment charge of $865 to ?Due from customers on contract?.

Sales Pipeline:

Currently, the Company has 11 prospective royalty partners actively engaged in TELOA projects and the U.S. Army in an advanced stage of technology evaluation. In August 2018, the Company announced the U.S. Army?s purchase of a 10kW REVTM machine to facilitate an accelerated path to improved Close Combat Assault Ration deployment.?EnWave?s strategy regarding these projects is to demonstrate the product innovation and attractive processing economics available through the use of REVTM technology, and to ultimately convert them into royalty-bearing commercial license agreements.

EnWave has been growing its prospective royalty partner pipeline as it commercializes REVTM across the food, legalized cannabis and pharmaceutical sectors as part of its strategy to build a large, diversified royalty-bearing portfolio.

Key Financial Highlights for the Third Quarter (expressed in $ ?000s):

Reported the highest quarterly revenue ever for the Company in Q3 2018 of $6,779 compared to $4,674 for Q3 of 2017, an increase of $2,105. Royalty revenues for Q3 2018 increased to $137, compared with $94 for Q3 of 2017.

More than doubling revenues for NutraDried with Q3 2018 revenues of $5,169 compared to Q3 2017 revenues of $1,888, an increase of $3,281 or 144%. NutraDried continues to increase points of distribution for its all-natural, crunchy Moon Cheese?

Achieving gross profit of $2,931 for Q3 2018 compared to $1,622 for Q3 2017, an increase of $1,310. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue was 43% for Q3 2018 compared to 35% for Q3 2017.

Continuing to be cash flow positive with cash flow from operations prior to changes in non-cash working capital(*) of $1,632 for the first three quarters of 2018, compared to $284 for the first three quarters of 2017, showing positive cash flows from operations before taking into account changes in working capital.

Reducing G&A expenses with Q3 2018 G&A expense of $510, compared to $548 for Q3 of 2017, a decrease of $38. As a percentage of revenue, G&A expense was 7.5% for Q3 2018, compared to 11.7% for Q3 2017.

Maintaining R&D expenses with R&D expense for Q3 2018 of $332, compared to $348 for Q3 of 2017, a decrease of $16. The Company continues to invest strategically to strengthen its patent portfolio and to develop new product innovations with commercial potential.

Growing net income at NutraDried of $1,908 for Q3 2018 compared to $167 for Q3 2017, an increase of over 11x. NutraDried continued to contribute significantly to the growth of the Company in terms of revenues and profitability with its growing distribution base and strong profit margins.

EnWave?s interim consolidated financial statements and MD&A are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company?s website www.enwave.net/financials.

(*) Non-IFRS Financial Measures

Cash flow from operations prior to changes in non-cash working capital is not a measure of financial performance under IFRS. This measure is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies and should not be construed as an alternative to net income or cash flow from operating activities as determined in accordance with IFRS. Please refer to the discussion included in the Company?s MD&A for the nine months ended June 30, 2018.

About EnWave

EnWave Corporation, a Vancouver-based advanced technology company, has developed Radiant Energy Vacuum (?REV??) ? an innovative, proprietary method for the precise dehydration of organic materials. EnWave has further developed patent-pending methods for uniformly drying and decontaminating cannabis through the use of REV? technology, shortening the time from harvest to marketable cannabis products.?

REV? technology?s commercial viability has been demonstrated and is growing rapidly across several market verticals in the food, and pharmaceutical sectors including legal cannabis. EnWave?s strategy is to sign royalty-bearing commercial licenses with industry leaders in multiple verticals for the use of REV? technology. The company has signed over twenty royalty-bearing licenses to date, opening up nine distinct market sectors for commercialization of new and innovative products. In addition to these licenses, EnWave has formed a Limited Liability Corporation, NutraDried Food Company, LLC, to develop, manufacture, market and sell all-natural cheese snack products in the United States under the Moon Cheese? brand.?

EnWave has introduced REV? as the new dehydration standard in the food and biological material sectors: faster and cheaper than freeze drying, with better end product quality than air drying or spray drying. EnWave currently has three commercial REV? platforms:

nutraREV? which is used in the food industry to dry food products quickly and at low-cost, while maintaining high levels of nutrition, taste, texture and colour;

powderREV? which is used for the bulk dehydration of food cultures, probiotics and fine biochemicals such as enzymes below the freezing point, and

quantaREV? which is used for continuous, high-volume low-temperature drying.

An additional platform, freezeREV?, is being developed as a new method to stabilize and dehydrate biopharmaceuticals such as vaccines and antibodies. More information about EnWave is available at www.enwave.net.

Safe Harbour for Forward-Looking Information Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking information based on management\-\-s expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Company\-\-s strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, and the expected synergies following the closing are forward-looking statements. All third party claims referred to in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate. All third party references to market information in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate as the Company did not conduct the original primary research. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

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.70 years of inventiveness! The International Trade Fair iENA celebrates an anniversary (1 to 4 November)

The first inventions and new products exhibition took place in Nuremberg in 1948. Since then Nuremberg has established itself as the city of inventors and the iENA as the meeting point of international inventors. Everyday life can no longer be imagined without numerous inventions which were shown for the first time at the iENA, and these inventions have opened up new avenues for industry, technology and medicine. At the 70th anniversary of the iENA, inventors from all over the world will be presenting approximately 800 inventions in Nuremberg.

International meeting point of the inventor scene

Inventors? associations and collectives from all around the world meet at the iENA in Nuremberg to present their innovations, to network and to make contact with partners and investors. The partner of the 2018 iENA is Iran, which will be represented in Nuremberg by numerous inventions. The Iranian inventors? association has already introduced itself with many inventive ideas at the iENA in the past few years. Great potential can be seen particularly in the young inventors, who come to the trade fair in Nuremberg as part of a university participation. The Iranian inventors regularly present very promising innovations, for example from the medicine section.

The iENA cultivates strong partnerships nationally and internationally which promote the offer and potential for inventors. The partnership with the Association of German Engineers (VDI), which has existed since 2017, has already had a positive effect in its first year: thanks to the new collaboration, further target groups like engineers and professional users were able to be reached.

70 years of ideas, inventions and new products

From the first catalyst to the first push-button telephone and the Tipp-Ex correction pen and on to the wheelie suitcase and the insulating emergency blanket, many inventions began at the iENA. Numerous scientific developments for medicine and industry were also presented to the public for the first time in Nuremberg. The iENA?s new products are awaited every year with great excitement. This year the iENA as the first event is moving to the new C3 hall of the Nuremberg exhibition centre, and in addition to the many different inventions will also present the new exhibition hall to the visitors.

Support and inspiration for inventors and creative individuals

The iENA has a broad information offer for inventors and creative individuals on everything to do with patent registration or brand and property rights. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office assists the inventors with questions on patent rights. Entrepreneurs, experts and an enormous potential of ideas come together in the trade fair?s forum.

iENA Innovation congress on 2 November 2018

Innovations count as the most important driving force for the long-term success of companies and thus as the driving force for tomorrow?s growth. The innovation congress under the motto of ?Successful through innovations ? how to manage innovations? will be giving information about innovation management on Friday, 2 November. ?Open innovation? will thus also be a theme: away from conservative idea generation and on to open and efficient innovation processes. The innovation congress is taking place in addition of the iENA, and is supported by the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry user club ?Product and innovation management?.

Ideas and inspiration in the iENA programme

On Saturday, 3 November, the iENA symposium asks the question about the right school education in times of digitalisation. In a Science Slam the VDI Pilots of the future will be presenting their innovations, and iENA inventors can also take the stage to present their inventions personally to the specialist audience. The highlight of the iENA each year is the award of medals: all inventions are assessed by a specialist jury and the most promising ideas, inventions and new products are awarded the sought-after iENA medal.

Women & Work prize for female inventors 2018

From the dishwasher to the world?s first computer language and the basics for the first auto-pilot ? all these inventions come from women. Yet hardly anyone knows them: the past and present female inventors and pioneers. The female spirit of invention is honoured at the iENA: on Thursday, 1 November the Women & Work 2018 prize for female inventors will be awarded in addition of the iENA. Dr. Thomas Zielke, Head of the ?Technology transfer through norms and patents? division of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, will be setting out the central theme. Women from the age of 18 years who have developed an invention in Germany and/or registered it at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office or the European Patent Office can apply for the prize. Prizes will be awarded for the categories of technology, service and social fields as well as for business models and organization.

iENA 2018: A festival for inventors, makers and founders of new businesses

For 2018 the iENA has made it its task to further promote idea potential and the spirit of invention in various fields. The ?Maker Scene? is thus also being given the appropriate framework on 3 and 4 November at the trade fair, and will find tips here on do-it-yourself and making improvements as well as ideas and suggestions for technology enthusiasts. The ?Hack & Make? is a format of Nuremberg?s FabLab, which is directed towards a broad public: technology and computer freaks, visitors with previous knowledge in the maker scene as well as interested students and adults who want to know what is behind the technical appliances ? all are in just the right place at the ?Hack & Make?.

The START Fair Nuremberg likewise accompanies the iENA on 3 and 4 November and assists in all questions to do with setting up in business. The focus here is on the themes of establishing a business, financing it, its succession and also franchising. Anyone with a well thought out idea or a concept ready for marketing will find information and tips here.

The International Trade Fair ?Ideas ? Inventions ? New Products? ? iENA 2018 takes place from 1 to 4 November.

Further information on www.iena.de.You have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseWASHINGTON  In future deliberations over the Trump administration's Space Force plan, the mission of the new branch could become a debate far more contentious than picking the logo or the color of the uniforms.

A report the Pentagon sent to Congress Aug. 9 says the Space Force will "protect our economy through deterrence of malicious activities, ensure our space systems meet national security requirements, and provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces across the spectrum of conflict."

The statement is clear about the Space Force having a dual combat and support role, providing services like satellite-based navigation, remote sensing intelligence and weather data to the other branches of the military. These two key functions  the defense of space assets and the support of the other military services  are now performed by the U.S. Air Force and the intelligence community. Within these organizations, however, there are internal divisions over what takes precedence: war fighting or providing services, said Doug Loverro, an industry consultant and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy. [Trump's Space Force Plan Revealed by VP Mike Pence]

Creating a new service could get messy not just from a political standpoint but also because there are vast cultural gulfs within the space community about what the primary mission of the Space Force should be. "There is true danger that an Air Force-heavy space culture will focus too much on the direct combat side of space, rather than on the support side of space, and that support will begin to erode," Loverro said last week at a panel discussion hosted by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute.

"This is one of the key doctrinal issues that the Space Force is going to have to wrestle with," said Loverro, who is a strong proponent of separating space functions from the Air Force.

He draws a parallel with the creation of the U.S. Air Force more than 60 years ago, when concerns emerged that the new service would concentrate on air warfare at the expense of close-air support to troops on the ground. "There is a risk that we could see, with the separation of a space force, like what we saw happen with the separation of the air force," he said. The space force could end up paying too much attention to the space battle, "which is important but not as important as supporting terrestrial forces."

The Strategic Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee led the push last year to create an independent space corps on grounds that the Air Force was taking resources from space budgets to fund air warfare programs. If the Congress moves to separate space out of the Air Force, Loverro cautioned, it will have to make sure the Space Force does not become too inward looking.

"This will be a big issue going forward," Loverro said.

The Air Force has stepped up its focus on "warfighter requirements as they spent more time, energy and money protecting space assets," he said. If that trend continues to be emphasized in a Space Force, that could detract from the support mission.

The Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force all need 24/7 space-based support services for almost everything they do. "We need to recognize this very important fact," said Loverro. "The Space Force is more powerful when it provides capabilities to other forces, not when it acts alone."

Internal divisions

Not everyone agrees on that point, though. "I can tell you there are absolutely two camps within the space cadre of DoD," said Loverro. "Those who believe that the most important thing for Space Force is to actively defend U.S. space capabilities or attack other nations' space capabilities. and those who believe its most important job is to provide space capabilities to terrestrial forces," he added. "Those two ideas will be in tension" and could create divisions within an independent Space Force.

Loverro said he has seen Air Force Space Command over time retreating from the idea that its main role is support. "They have always embraced the idea that they wanted to be warfighters." That is driven by a culture in the command where there is a mix of space and strategic missile backgrounds.

U.S. Strategic Command on the other hand is populated by joint service officers. "They recognize that the joint force needs space services," said Loverro. "So they pay more attention to that role."

The larger divide is between Air Force Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office, he said. "The NRO views itself as a service provider and takes immense pride in delivering the best overhead space reconnaissance support that can be done."

Loverro also raised concerns that the administrative issues surrounding the Space Force could become a problem. Critics have questioned the need for an expensive bureaucracy that would come with a new stand-alone military service

"We have to be careful about what we include in the Space Force," said Loverro. "We should have a simple mission statement: Protect the national interests from attack and provide support to warfighter," he said. "I would hesitate to give Space Force a law enforcement and regulatory role." And overhead costs should be kept to a minimum. "There is no rule that says every service must have its own academy, its own cooks, cops, or reserve component,' Loverro said. "We need to not fall into the trap that if we create a Space Force, all these things must come with it."

By rough estimates, national security space spending is about $17 billion to $18 billion a year across DoD. How much cost should the Space Force add? If the bureaucracy is kept small, Loverro said, the Space Force could be funded with $500 million a year that would come from savings by eliminating redundant programs that exist today, such as overlapping research and development projects.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.In "1969: The Second Man," folk-rock music is used to convey the heroism and tragedy in Buzz Aldrin's life.

Spoiler Alert: Details about "1969: The Second Man" revealed below.

NEW YORK  Turn back the clock and walk through life with NASA moonwalker Buzz Aldrin in "1969: The Second Man," an inventive new musical that opened here yesterday (Aug. 28). Space.com attended a dress rehearsal of the production on August 23.

Aldrin is more than the second man to step foot on the moon. He is more than an astronaut and more than a hero. "1969: The Second Man" aims to show the man behind the spacesuit and delve beneath the surface of his life.

This musical seems, at first, like a Space Age folk-rock show. The actors take the stage in what look like flight suits, and each assumes a post at a different instrument. There are violinists, a bassist, two guitarists and a drummer. Each performer takes turns singing and re-telling Aldrin's story from a variety of perspectives; "Houston" even entertains the audience with a guitar solo at one point. [In Photos: Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Moonwalker and Astronaut Icon]

In "1969: The Second Man," actors tell Buzz Aldrin's story through music. They do not hesitate to confront some of the darker moments in Aldrin's life. (Image credit: Chad Batka)



In "1969: The Second Man," Aldrin's tale begins with him as an eager young engineer, hoping that his work could one day support human spaceflight. After he is chosen to be an astronaut in the great, 20th-century space race, Aldrin trains relentlessly alongside his fellow astronauts, working tirelessly and forgoing his social life. Then, in the middle of training, his mother dies by suicide.But the show isn't just a flashy, musical re-telling of Aldrin's heroic journey to the surface of the moon. Those who attend the production will learn about some of the darker aspects of Aldrin's life that the show doesn't hesitate to reveal. Jacob Brandt  the musical's creator, writer, and composer  told Space.com that he hopes this production will challenge the "idea that if you achieve something great then you will always be happy," because, as Aldrin's story illustrates, "people will expect you to be happy."

The musical infers the difficulties that Aldrin must have faced throughout this time, unable to express his emotions fully without compromising his public image as a flawless American hero.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses for a photo in the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. A new musical showcases Aldrin's incredible achievements and struggles. (Image credit: NASA)

One aspect of this re-telling, however, doesn't exactly align with the story that Aldrin himself tells. In coming to terms with being known as the "second man on the moon," Aldrin has never stated publicly that he wishes he'd been first. He has remained steadfast in this  though he did tell National Geographic in 2016 that "it does get a little frustrating" being constantly referred to as the "second man on the moon." "Is it really necessary to point out to the crowd that somebody else was first when we all went through the same training, we all landed at the same time and all contributed?"The play continues to peel away the layers of Aldrin's life, re-telling his first moments on the moon, his struggles with depression and his battle with alcohol dependence. Those who know Aldrin solely from glory-driven Apollo 11 documentaries might be surprised by how dark his life has been at times.

Despite his public contentedness with how it all went down on the lunar surface, the version of Aldrin depicted in "1969: The Second Man" is not entirely OK with his "second man" status.

While the play isn't a historical re-enactment nor a complete re-telling of Aldrin's life up until now, the production displays a thought-provoking perspective on a man who came home a hero from one of the most significant events in history.

Brandt  who said he hopes that if Aldrin saw the production, he'd enjoy it  wants the show's audience to "come away with some new and additional perspective on a historical event that we talk a lot about but don't really delve into the details of." He also hopes that the production communicates "the emotional weight of that historical event."

Tickets for "1969: The Second Man" can be purchased online.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her @chelsea_gohd. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.The ALPHA laser experiment, shown here, at the CERN lab in Switzerland is taking aim at antimatter mysteries.

An innovative laser experiment at the CERN lab in Switzerland has brought physicists one step closer to understanding mysterious antimatter.

Antimatter particles have the opposite charge of normal matter particles. When particles of matter and antimatter meet, they destroy each other. Interestingly, however, antimatter behaves similarly to ordinary matter.

In a new study, researchers at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) looked at antihydrogen atoms to learn more about the differences between matter and antimatter. [Will Antimatter Engines Power the First Starships? (Video)]

An antihydrogen atom, consisting of an antiproton and a positron (the antimatter counterpart of an electron), is the antimatter version of a hydrogen atom. Using the Antiproton Decelerator at CERN's ALPHA (the Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) instrument, researchers combined antiprotons with positrons to form antihydrogen atoms, according to a statement from CERN.

Then, the researchers trapped hundreds of antihydrogen atoms in a vacuum and used laser pulses to excite the atoms, prompting them to jump into a higher energy state. Prompting or measuring this change, known as the Lyman-alpha transition, is a method used frequently in astronomy to study dark energy  the unseen, yet abundant force that makes up about 68 percent of the total energy of the universe.

When the antihydrogen atoms drop back down to a lower energy state, they release photons. The researchers measured these photons, which revealed that the antihydrogen emissions were the same as those one would expect from a normal hydrogen atom, according to the study, published Aug. 22 in the journal Nature.

"The Lyman-alpha transition is the most basic, important transition in regular hydrogen atoms, and to capture the same phenomenon in antihydrogen opens up a new era in antimatter science," Takamasa Momose, lead researcher of the experiment and a physicist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, said in the statement.

The ALPHA experiment at CERN. (Image credit: CERN)

Although the study did not reveal differences in the properties of matter and antimatter, the work is still useful right away: The researchers plan to use this approach to cool antihydrogen, "which will greatly improve the precision of our measurements," Momose said.

Next, the researchers plan to use this approach to test how antimatter and gravity interact, according to the statement.

"This gets us just a bit closer to answering some of these big questions in physics," Makoto Fujiwara, a spokesperson for CERN's ALPHA antihydrogen research collaboration, said in the statement. "Over the past decades, scientists have been able to revolutionize atomic physics using optical manipulation and laser cooling, and with this result, we can begin applying the same tools to probing the mysteries of antimatter."

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.The moon's huge South Pole-Aitken impact basin, presented here in false color based on data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia are working together to investigate the moon's resources  specifically, water ice and other volatiles at the lunar poles.

ESA is developing a drilling and sample-analysis payload called the ePackage for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial Exploitation and Transportation (PROSPECT), which will fly to the moon aboard Russia's Luna 27 mission in the 2022-2023 time frame.

PROSPECT aims to assess potential resources on the moon and help prepare technologies that may be used to extract these resources in the future, ESA officials have said. The project will enter its detailed design phase, known as Phase C, at the start of 2019. [Photos: The Search for Water on the Moon]

On Aug. 10, ESA released an "announcement of opportunity" for membership in the PROSPECT science team. The opportunity is available to researchers working in ESA member states..

The Luna 27 mission is being orchestrated by Russia's federal space agency, Roscosmos. Luna 27 features aa lander that's expected to touch down at then South Pole-Aitken basin, an unexplored area on the far side of the moon.

Assessing resources

PROSPECT's drill, known as ProSEED, will nallow the payload to snag subsurface samples, which are expected to contain water ice and other chemicals that can become trapped in the frigid South Pole-Aitken basin. Subsurface temperatures there typically reach minus 240 degrees Fahrenheit ( minus 150 degrees Celsius) and can get lower than minus 330 degrees F (minus 200 degrees C) in some areas.

These samples will then be passed to an onboard chemical laboratory dubbed ProSPA and heated to temperatures of up to 1,830 degrees F (1,000 degrees C) to extract cold-trapped volatiles. This will test processes that could be applied for resource extraction in the future, ESA officials hav said. (A volatile is a substance that changes readily from solid or liquid to a vapor.)

Cold-trapped volatiles at the lunar poles are potential resources for human exploration and provide a record of volatiles in the inner solar system. However, scientists don't understand much about rthe origins, distribution, abundance or extractability of these materials, or the processes that put volatiles in place within the Earth-moon system.

Diagram of Russia's Luna 27 spacecraft, which is scheduled to land on the moon's far side in 2022 or 2023, and some of its European payloads. (Image credit: ESA)

Global effort

PROSPECT is part of a global effort to coordinate prospecting activities at the lunar poles, where extreme-cold conditions can trap water ice. Space exploration planners see these resources as potentially enabling sustainable space exploration..

Luna 27 is part of a grander roster of moon orbiters, landers, rovers and return-sample spacecraft planned by Roscosmos.

The Russian space agency reportedly aims to launch an earlier mission, Luna 25, very soon, perhaps next year. ESA's contribution to Luna 25 includes PILOT-D, a demonstrator "terrain-relative navigation" system. This will act as a precursor to PILOT, which is the navigation and hazard detection and avoidance system included on Luna 27.

Also in the works are Luna 26 in 2022, Luna 27 in 2022-2023, Luna 28 in 2024 and Lunas 29-31 in 2026.

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of the story published on Space.com.If youve been a science fan for the last few years, youre aware of the exciting results to emerge from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which in 2012 found the Higgs boson, the subatomic particle responsible for giving mass to fundamental subatomic particles.

Today, physicists have another exciting announcement to add to the Higgs saga: They have made the first unambiguous observation of Higgs bosons decaying into a matter-antimatter pair of bottom quarks. Surprisingly, the Higgs bosons decay most often in this way.

The new announcement shows a strong agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental data, which could in turn set strict constraints on ideas of more fundamental physics that strive to explain why the Higgs boson even exists.

Field of dreams

In the 1960s, researchers were investigating linkages between the force of electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force, which is responsible for some types of radioactive decays. Although the two forces seemed distinct, it turned out that they both arose from a common and more fundamental force, now called the electroweak force.

However, there was a problem. The simplest manifestation of the theory predicted that all particles had zero mass. Even in the 1960s, physicists knew that subatomic particles had mass, so that was potentially a fatal flaw.

Several groups of scientists proposed a solution to this problem: A field permeates the universe, and it's called the Higgs field. Fundamental subatomic particles interacted with this field, and this interaction gave them their mass. [6 Implications of Finding the Higgs Boson]

The existence of the field also implied the existence of a subatomic particle, called the Higgs boson, which was finally discovered in 2012 by researchers working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research(CERN) laboratory in Switzerland. (Disclosure: I am a collaborator on one of the research groups that made the initial discovery as well as todays announcement.) For their predictions of the Higgs field, British physicist Peter Higgs and Belgian physicist Francois Englert shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics.

Finding the bottom quarks

Higgs bosons are made in high-energy collisions between pairs of particles that have been accelerated to nearly the speed of light. These bosons dont live for very long  only about 10^minus 22 seconds. A particle with that lifetime, traveling at the speed of light, will decay long before it travels a distance the size of an atom. Thus, it is impossible to directly observe Higgs bosons. It is only possible to observe their decay products and use them to infer the properties of the parent boson.

Higgs bosons have a mass of 125 gigaelectron volts (GeV), or one that's about 133 times heavier than a proton. Calculations from well-established theory predicts thatHiggs bosonsdecay into pairs of the following particles in the following percentages: bottom quarks (58 percent), W bosons (21 percent), Z bosons (6 percent), tau leptons (2.6 percent) and photons (0.2 percent). More exotic configurations make up the remainder. One of the key results of todays announcement was to verify that the prediction was correct for bottom quarks. [Strange Quarks and Muons, Oh My! Nature's Tiniest Particles Dissected]



When physicists announced the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, they relied on its decay into Z bosons, W bosons and photons, but not bottom quarks. The reason is actually extremely simple: Those particular decays are far easier to identify.



At the collision energies available at the LHC, Higgs bosons are made in only one collision in every 1 billion. The vast number of collisions at the LHC occur through the interaction of the strong nuclear force, which is (by far) the strongest of the subatomic forces and is responsible for holding the nucleus of atoms together.

The problem is that in interactions involving the strong force, production of a matter-antimatter pair of bottom quarks is really quite common. Thus, the production of bottom quarks by Higgs bosons decaying into bottom quarks is totally swamped by pairs of bottom quarks made by more ordinary processes. Accordingly, it is essentially impossible to identify those events in which bottom quarks are produced through the decay of Higgs bosons. It's like trying to find a single diamond in a 50-gallon drum full of cubic zirconia.

Because it is difficult or impossible to isolate collisions in which Higgs bosons decay into bottom quarks, scientists needed another approach. So, researchers looked for a different class of events  collisions in which a Higgs boson was produced at the same time as a W or Z boson. Researchers call this class of collisions "associated production."

W and Z bosons are responsible for causing the weak nuclear force and they can decay in distinct and easily identifiable ways. Associated production occurs less often than nonassociated Higgs production, but the presence of W or Z bosons greatly enhances the ability of researchers to identify events containing a Higgs boson. The technique of associated production of a Higgs boson was pioneered at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, located just outside Chicago. Because of the facility's lower-energy particle accelerator, the laboratory was never able to claim that it had discovered the Higgs boson, but its researchers' knowledge played a significant role in todays announcement.

The LHC accelerator hosts two large-particle physics detectors capable of observing Higgs bosons  the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) and A Toroidal LHC Apparatus (ATLAS). Today, both experimental collaborations announced the observation of the associated production of Higgs bosons, with the specific decay of Higgs bosons into a matter-antimatter pair of bottom quarks.

Theoretical Band-Aid

While the simple observation of this decay mode is a significant advance in scientific knowledge, it has a much more important result. It turns out that the Higgs field, proposed back in 1964, is not motivated by a more fundamental idea. It was simply added on to the Standard Model, which describes the behavior of subatomic particles, as something of a Band-Aid. (Before the Higgs field was proposed, the Standard Model predicted massless particles. After the Higgs field was included as an ad hoc addition to the Standard Model, particles now have mass.) Thus, it is very important to explore the predictions of decay probabilities to search for hints of a connection to an underlying theory. And there have been more recent and comprehensive theories developed since the 1960s, which predict that perhaps more than one type of Higgs boson exists.

Thus, it is crucial to understand the rate at which Higgs bosons decay into other particles and compare it with the predicted decay rates. The easiest way to illustrate agreement is to report the observed rate of decay, divided by the predicted rate. Better agreement between the two will yield a ratio close to 1. The CMS experiment finds excellent agreement in todays announcement, with a ratio of predicted-to-observed rates of 1.04 plus or minus 0.20, and the ATLAS measurement is similar (1.01 plus or minus 0.20). This impressive agreement is a triumph of current theory, although it does not indicate a direction toward a more fundamental origin for the Higgs phenomena.

The LHC will continue to operate through early December. Then it will pause operations for two years for refurbishing and upgrades. In the Spring of 2021, it will resume operations with considerably enhanced capabilities. The accelerator and detectors are expected to continue to take data through the mid-2030s and to record over 30 times more data than what's been recorded so far. With that increase of data and improved capabilities, it is quite possible that the Higgs boson still has stories to tell.

Originally published on Live Science.

Don Lincoln contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.Gienbra, August 29, 2018 (SPS) - The Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations has asked Morocco for the immediate release of Saharawi journalist Mohamed Bambari, member of the Saharawi journalist group Equipe Media, which reported on violations of rights Humans and the struggle for self-determination of the Saharawi people in the occupied city of Dakhla.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations considers that this journalist detained since August 26, 2015 should receive the corresponding medical treatment.

In recent years, several international human rights organizations have expressed concern over the serious situation of human rights in occupied Western Sahara and, in particular, the repression against journalists such as Mohamed Bambari and Salah Lebsir, who have been harshly sentenced for false accusations.

Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, has said that the Working Group has concluded that Morocco imprisoned Bambari for daring to exercise its right to freedom of expression and association and that there are many more like him in Western Sahara.

For her part, Maran Turner, Executive Director of Freedom Now, the Bambari detention was arbitrary and illegal and indicates how Morocco silences the freedom of expression in Western Sahara and that, as part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Morocco must immediately comply with the decision of the UN and liberate Bambari. SPS

125/090/TRAIf hes elected governor, Democrat Ned Lamont said Wednesday that he would help fight a new federal tax law that will hurt homeowners who pay more than $10,000 in state and local taxes.

Appearing in East Hartford Town Hall with other Democrats, Lamont linked President Trumps budget with Republican candidate for governor Bob Stefanowski of Madison, saying that Trumps plan forces the federal budget into a $800-billion increase in the federal deficit.

Its the middle-class, the working class that gets hammered by a tax bill like this, Lamont said, noting that tax deductions go back to the tenure of another Republican President: Abraham Lincoln. You think about this Trump tax bill. It reminds me a little of the (proposed) Stefanowski elimination of the state income tax. We cannot borrow in this state. We must pay our bills.

State Rep. William Tong of Stamford, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, echoed those sentiments.

If youre a Connecticut taxpayer, the president of the United States and his administration have declared war on you and your family, Tong said. What were seeing now is how the presidents policies are a direct attack on the families here in Connecticut and are doing untold harm and damage.

Tong said the tax bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Trump amounts to the largest tax increase in state history: $2.8-billion. Connecticut taxpayers lost $10.3-billion in deductions under the law, which capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000. Connecticut has joined New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts in suing the Trump administration on the issue.

But Steve Mnuchin, secretary of the United States Treasury recently ruled against two tactics that some states, including Connecticut, have adopted to help their residents avoid tax increases: allowing residents to pay property tax bills by making charitable contributions; and letting limited-liability corporations receive credits for state and local taxes.

Stefanowski disagreed with Lamonts premise.

Ned concentrating on state and local deductions ignores the root of the problem, which is that he and Dan Malloy have supported tax increase after tax increase, said Kendall Marr, Stefanowskis spokesman. Stefanowski wants to completely eliminate the state income tax over the next 8 years, which would actually solve the problem rather than mask it, as Ned Lamont seeks to do.

Staff writer Kaitlyn Krasselt contributed to this report.DARIEN  Hindley Elementary School will start this year with a new principal.

Its with sadness that I must report to you that your Principal, DJ Colella will be on leave at the beginning of the 2018-2019 year, wrote interim Superintendent Elliott Landon in a letter to parents and guardians Aug. 17.

Landon did not go into further detail about his dismissal, but said Droller will serve until her services are no longer needed.

I will update you on Mr. Colellas status as more information becomes available, Landon wrote to parents.

Julie Droller was appointed the new interim principal for the school year. Droller holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Connecticut. She also has a Masters in Education from Sacred Heart University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Business from the State University of New York in Albany.

She previously served as a first and third grade teacher in Ridgefield and then served as K-5 Literacy Coordinator for the Darien Public Schools. In 2006, she became principal of Veterans Park Elementary School in Ridgefield.

Julie is a visionary and lifelong learner with over 20 years of experience in education, Landon wrote.

Droller came to Westport in 2011 as Principal of Saugatuck Elementary School and took on oversight of the elementary literacy program. In 2014 she became Director of Elementary Education in Westport, where she was responsible for PreK-5 teaching and learning, assessment and professional development.

Droller will replace Colella, who was appointed in July 2016. Board of Education Chairman Tara Ochman said they are excited to welcome Droller to the district.

She has worked in Darien before and were happy to welcome her back, said Ochman. We are looking forward to a great school year with her.

dj.simmons@hearstmediact.com, 203-842-2568In the Women Entrepreneur series My Worst Moment, female founders provide a firsthand account of the most difficult, gut-wrenching, almost-made-them-give-up experience theyve had while building their business -- and how they recovered.

A lawsuit and a miscarriage marked the beginning of a tumultuous two years for Samantha Wasser, fast-casual restaurant developer and co-founder of the famous vegan chain By Chloe. The restaurant recently received $31 million to fuel its U.S. and international expansion, but that wasnt the only reason it made headlines. The legal battles between Wasser and her former partner have played out both in the courts and the media. Wasser tells us how the lawsuit affected her both personally and professionally -- and how she moved forward.

What follows is a first-person account of this persons experience. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The last two years were extremely difficult for me both personally and professionally. It started with what shouldve been the happiest time, which was seeing By Chloe open with lines around the block and rave reviews from press, our friends and fans. I dedicated my career and poured my heart into building and growing the brand for almost three years before we even opened our first location. To the public, it appeared like we had it all -- a successful millennial brand built by two women -- but behind the curtain, it was anything but.

While people were congratulating me and telling me how much of a By Chloe fan they were, I had conflicting emotions that I still struggle with today. I wanted to stay positive and to protect the brand, but in reality, it was incredibly difficult to maintain the perfect picture.

My worst moment came in June 2016, when my former partner filed a lawsuit against us. I was at my office when I found out, and I had to go to the courthouse immediately to meet with lawyers. I was shell shocked -- it was a total whirlwind of trying to figure out, Is this actually happening? At the same time, I was going through a lot of emotional difficulty in my personal life. I had suffered a miscarriage right around the same exact time.

I immediately thought, What does this mean for my staff? followed by, What does this mean for the brand? At this time, I sat down with my father, who is the CEO of E2 Hospitality (By Chloes parent company at the time). He asked me if I wanted to sell By Chloe and move on. Without hesitation I said I couldnt imagine walking away from the brand I love and the staff who helped make it what it is today, all of whom are depending on us for their livelihood and families. I remember saying, 'I believe in what were doing, and it would kill me not to support the brand mission.'

When the lawsuit came out publicly, I had people on my personal Instagram making horrible comments and sending me threatening messages. They posted nasty comments asking me how I could live with myself, how I could do something like this and whats wrong with me. The messages criticized my character, which is what hurt the most. Never in my life did I think I would be personally attacked; I never signed up to be in the public eye. Its one thing if someone is saying, 'My meal wasnt amazing,' but its very different when people who actually dont know me or my character ask me, 'How can you wake up in the morning and look yourself in the mirror?'

I allowed myself one day to be a total wreck -- where I didnt speak to anyone and cried my eyes out until I couldnt see straight. The next day, I got dressed, puffy face and all, and shut it down. It was back to work. I had to refocus and think about what I had to do because I knew if I didnt stand up for what I believed in, it wasnt going to get done. When you run a business, you quickly realize you now hold the destiny of a lot of peoples lives in your hand -- how they put food on their tables, pay for school and support their families.

Words can definitely hurt, but I kept telling myself that I was acting in the best interest of the brand and focused on keeping myself distracted. I blocked a ton of people from my social media profiles, and I stopped Googling what other people were saying.

A few months later, we started a 12-day arbitration process as part of the lawsuit. When your lawyers are arguing your different points, its kind of like being in court. That was extremely stressful, and it was difficult for me to just sit there, unable to defend myself. On the 10th day of the arbitration, I found out I was pregnant again, and I thought, I cant do this to myself again. If something happens, I dont think I can handle it. There was a lot going on in the company  we were opening our Williamsburg store, our first bakery, Sweets by Chloe, as well as our first location in Boston -- but I decided to put my health first and let our lawyers handle the remaining days of arbitration. I think it was the first time Ive ever put myself first like that, but I knew I had to refocus my energy.

Unfortunately, I suffered another miscarriage following the arbitration and a slew of other fertility letdowns in the following year. However, I am happy to say my husband and I are expecting a baby boy this December through an incredible surrogate. It was a major decision and the road to get here was not easy, but we are beyond excited for this next step in our lives.

My advice to others facing a similar situation in business or in their personal life is to set a goal for yourself, keep pushing towards it and tune out the noise. You can get so wrapped up in what other people think that it can consume you. Bumps in the road are inevitable and a seemingly never-ending black hole that carries with it a huge emotional toll. Shit happens. And when it does, you just need to trust yourself and most importantly, be yourself.

For a while, I was scared to share anything on social media, but I realized I had to live my life and its no ones choice but my own to share it -- the good and the bad. I was punishing myself for both personal and professional woes, afraid to put myself out there and thats no way to live! One day, it occurred to me: F*ck it. I wont let anyone stand in my way of what I set out to do, which is to open amazing restaurants and continue to grow a brand that stands for positive change and impacts people's lives for the better."

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This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.comA merican private equity firm Apollo made its name in distressed investing; little wonder then that the onetime vulture fund has chosen a Lloyds of London insurer for its latest, 2 billion, investment.

Yesterdays bargain basement take-over of loss-making Lloyds syndicate owner Aspen has sharpened the focus on a growing band of laggards in the venerable insurance market and Lloyds of Londons radical plan to arrest the slide.

The 330-year-old institution, which is currently made up of 95 underwriting syndicates covering everything from marine and airline cargo to pop stars vocal cords, is at a crossroads as it seeks to bounce back from a 2 billion loss, the first in six years.

Lloyds world-renowned capital efficiency and profitability  which has helped attract business from around the globe  are under threat due to spiralling costs and poor underwriting performance.

So, as the bars and restaurants of the French Riviera gear up for the annual reinsurance Rendez-Vous in Monaco next month, once again Lloyds of London will be the shoo-in for after-dinner coffee conversation.

As Lloyds modernises, the headlines have been dominated by a drinking ban for its staff and chairman Bruce Carnegie-Browns cost-cutting ploy to reduce the bundles of paperwork by switching to digital has hit the headlines.

But its the clean-up of poor performing underwriting syndicates that is proving more radical to insiders in the market.

The corporation, which acts a quasi-regulator for the market, has taken the unusual step of warning syndicates  those groups inside the market which underwrite risk  that they face the axe if they carry on making a loss.

The move, a level of interventionism unusual among UK regulators, has triggered a drastic shake-up in syndicate land, with big money backers choosing to wind down loss-making syndicates or put them up for sale.

The corporation has been forced to act by a swathe of syndicates losing money hand over fist in recent years as more money chased the same number of risks to insure. The overcapacity has led to falling rates, and thinner margins of error when it comes to underwriting performance.

Some say virtually every penny of additional new premium written over the past two years has been loss-making and Lloyds needs to cut its premiums by at least 3 billion by 2019.

According to industry trade bible Insurance Insider, 16 syndicates have reported underwriting losses in the past three years, with most of these having been set up within the last eight years.

Aspens Syndicate 4711, for example, made a 15.5 million loss last year, reversing a 6.7 million profit in 2016.

Lloyds has written to syndicates making a loss in three consecutive years asking them to provide a remediation plan or face closure.

We definitely need at least a couple of public executions for the rest of the market to realise that Lloyds is serious, says James Sparrow, managing director of Lloyds members agent Alpha Insurance. You will not change behaviour until these are seen to happen.

Jon Hancock, Lloyds performance management director who is responsible for the markets strategy, said the move was designed to tackle the performance gap in the current challenging market.

Analysis shows that while much of the Lloyds market is profitable, some syndicates and/or classes of businesses written by a syndicate are underperforming and are having a disproportionate impact on the markets profitability, he says.

Our thorough review of underperforming syndicates and portfolios is intended to help return the market to long term and sustainable profitability.

Hancock promised that the many parts of the market which are performing strongly will receive a lighter touch, adding that most of the managing agents spoken to were supportive of the strategy.

City analysts, who track the market, see the crackdown as the right one to reverse Lloyds decline.

To regain its outperformance versus competitor hubs, we believe it must enforce market premium reductions, close syndicates and refocus the business mix away from commoditised lines, UBS analyst Jonny Urwin told clients in a research note.

Already managing agents  the companies that manage the syndicates  are starting to close or put businesses up for sale in response to the move.

Canadian insurer Fairfax, which owns four syndicates at Lloyds, merged one syndicate called Advent - which made a 17 million loss last year - into Brit although insiders played down Lloyds influence.

Other insurers like Liberty Mutual (owner of Lloyds insurer Pembroke), Hanover (owner of Chaucer) and Munich RE (which owns the Beaufort syndicate) have also put some of their loss-making syndicates up for sale amid the focus on profitability.

Some on Lime Street back Hancocks idea as a means to preserve Lloyds reputation. One senior underwriting executive, who asked not be named due to the sensitivity of discussions with the corporation, said the move was unequivocally the right thing to do due to the challenges the market has faced over the past few years.

Theres a certain cachet and a franchise value associated with being part of Lloyds and Lloyds needs to protect that, the executive said. That cachet starts to wane if theyre approving underperforming business and syndicates and haemorrhaging losses. It starts to lose its halo and Lloyds as a marketplace starts to wane.

As the insurance bosses get on their planes to Monaco, there are sure to be a few hopeful that one of global businesss most iconic institutions can solve its headacheT he scandal around City auditors spread beyond the big four on Wednesday as Grant Thornton was slapped with a major fine for serious conflicts of interest with two audit clients.

The Financial Reporting Council fined the professional services firm 4 million, reduced to 3 million after a settlement discount. Three senior staffers and a former partner had admitted misconduct in the handling of financial audits for Vimto drinks-maker Nichols and the University of Salford.

The ex-partner, Eric Healey, was slammed for reckless behaviour after taking jobs on the audit committees of Nichols and the university despite continuing to work as a consultant to Grant Thornton after retirement. The accountancy firm continued as auditor to both, creating serious familiarity and self-interest threats.

The FRC delivered the damning verdicts five years after it opened the probes, which cover 2010 to 2013.

The 4 million penalty is the largest imposed on an accountancy firm outside of the big four  PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY. The costs will come out of partner profits.

It is the latest in a series of reprimands for Britains biggest auditing firms  just last week KPMG was fined 3 million for its audits of Ted Baker  as the FRC faces calls to reduce the big fours dominance.

Healeys simultaneous engagement with Grant Thornton, Nichols and the University of Salford resulted in the loss of independence in respect of eight audits over the course of four years, said the FRC.

It added: The case also revealed widespread and serious inadequacies in the control environment in Grant Thorntons Manchester office over the period as well as firm-wide deficiencies in policies and procedures relating to retiring partners.

Healey, who retired from Grant Thornton in 2009, joined the audit committees of the University of Salford and AIM-listed Nichols in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The former role was unpaid and he got 22,000 per year for the latter.

The FRC said it has issued a 200,000 fine (discounted for settlement to 150,000) to Healey and excluded him from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for five years.

Three senior statutory auditors at Grant Thornton, Kevin Engel, David Barnes, and Joanne Kearns, were reprimanded and fined 75,000, 52,500 and 45,000 respectively (after discount for settlements).S pending the next three years in 40-degree heat hooking up scores of oil wells in the Algerian desert may not sound like everyones cup of tea, but tell that to Petrofacs investors.

The UK energy services group gushed higher on Wednesday after it was provisionally awarded a $600 million (466 million) contract to work on Algerian state energy firm Sonatrachs new energy facility in the town of In Amenas, which sits a few miles from the Libyan border.

The FTSE 250 group, led by Syrian-born Tory donor Ayman Asfari, also pleased investors with a 20% jump in first-half profits to $190 million despite falling revenue.

The double-whammy of good news sent the shares up 10p, or 1.5%, to 670p, the highest level in a year.

The FTSE 100 failed to follow in the footsteps of overnight gains in Asia and America  driven higher by hopes of a fresh North American trade deal  and dropped.

The blue-chip basket of stocks was off 15.57 points to 7601.65, although the FTSE 100s little brother, the FTSE 250, rose 1.66 points to 20,850.90.

In media land, the whims of Silicon Valleys tech giants took another pound of flesh from British newspapers publisher Johnston Press, which slumped by an eye-watering 22% due to online ad woes. Google and Facebook have changed their algorithms on searches and newsfeeds, meaning fewer eyeballs are looking at Johnstons online advertising.

That dented the firms total digital advertising revenues by 7.4% to 12.2 million for the half year, sending the stock down 1.09p to 4p.

Micro Focus, the FTSE 100 giant which serves up old software programmes for companies, was one of the markets biggest risers after starting a buyback plan.

The group will buy an initial tranche of $200 million in a deal led by Citi, a reward for shareholders after Micro Focus sold an old piece of software called SUSE for $2.5 billion this year.

The shares rallied 4.3% to 1343.5p.

Apple iPhones supplier IQE fell after pre-tax profits dropped by a fifth due to extra investment at its Newport foundry.S tandard Chartered could be facing yet more punishment for its extensive dealings with Iran and Iranian clients.

The bank already paid $667 million (518 million) to US authorities in 2012 for Iran business, in what it hoped was the end of the matter.

Now Bloomberg reports that the US Justice Department and other regulators have found more evidence of Iranian dealings and could pursue individuals for wrongdoing.

Standard said: As previously disclosed, we continue to fully co-operate with the investigation regarding our historical sanctions compliance and are engaged in ongoing discussions with the US authorities. While we do not comment on the substance of those discussions, we look forward to the resolution of this matter.

Standards former finance director Richard Meddings allegedly said to prosecutors looking into the original Iran allegations: You f***ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that were not going to deal with Iranians?

Meddings denied making the remark, but it appeared in legal papers.

Under President Trump, the US has continued to view Iran as a terrorist state.W ho is running our world today? Donald Trump on Twitter? Vladimir Putin using corruption and assassination? China through trade? Its hard to be sure. But one thing is clear: international politics matter again now that the kaleidoscope of alliances and agreements has been shaken up.

That uncertainty, confusion even, is a chance for us to shape our future but it could leave us vulnerable. And, most importantly, it forces us to choose. We can either invest in our strategic engagement abroad and shape our future, or sit tight and hope that were lucky. Only by seizing the chance to shape our future do we create the opportunity for taking control.

The good news is that we are already ahead. Our country is at the heart of a network of alliances and partnerships that span the globe but are particularly strong in defence. Over the past decade our armed forces have shown themselves to be an essential cog in the Wests defence machine. We enable others to operate alongside the US behemoth and improve the capability of our alliance. The courage of Estonians, Danes, Czechs and others was clear in Helmand, Afghanistan, when I fought alongside them as part of a UK command.

Nato shows that by pooling our sovereignty we can build up our fortifications. But those fortifications are not cheap and too many of our partners have got too used to not carrying their share of the burden.

The UK is one of only five Nato countries that spend the equivalent of two per cent of our gross domestic product on defence, even though this is a target every member of the alliance has pledged to meet. Others, such as Poland, are on the cusp of doing so, but France owes $7 billion more a year, and Germany, Europes largest economy, is way off. It spends the equivalent of just 1.2 per cent and that shortfall amounts to $30 billion  about half our defence budget.

But thats not all. The German military is creaking with many unserviceable tanks, helicopters, ships, submarines and aircraft. The consequences of that underspend are painfully obvious. But its not just up to the Germans to cough up. If every member met the two per cent target we would have $112 billion more to spend on our security each year.

Britain has shown leadership in this area, but defence isnt just about weapons, its about culture. And there we have our own unique challenges.

Former adversaries, and some current, have been using our own courts against us. Raking over old investigations and hauling servicemen and women back through trials time and again, theyre trying to strike fear into the current commanders at every level and convince ministers that they cant use the armies we have. Enemies are not trying to defeat our armies but instead undermine them, neuter them, and contain them. Few better ways have been found than the use of law.

Now we are unpicking one part of the interwoven fabric of our alliances, and the nature of the European defence is changing, as President Macron made clear in a speech on Monday, with few expecting the US to remain as committed to the continents defence as it has been for 70 years.

Some people think we are witnessing a passing storm, but the truth is we are living through a sea-change and entering an era that will be turbulent. That is why our response to Russian aggression, Chinese expansion, US retraction and European division cannot be just military. We need to bring focus to our overseas strategy. And that demands a revolution at the heart of government.

"A decade ago, on operations in Afghanistan, I saw rival government departments fighting one another"

On operations in Afghanistan more than a decade ago I saw rival government departments spending more energy fighting one another for scarce resources than trying to pull in the same direction. Extraordinarily, one of the great successes claimed by civil servants in Helmand was that they were actually working together. Nothing I have seen in the three years since I left the Army and was elected as an MP tells me much has changed. Were still struggling to co-ordinate among ourselves and thats wasteful and leaves us weaker.

Today, five departments are responsible for how we achieve impact abroad. The Foreign Office runs our embassies but has lost much of its influence in Whitehall. The Ministry of Defence, Department for International Development, Department for International Trade, and, last of all, the Department for Exiting the EU, all have a role in shaping policy and it is often hard to know who leads.

If we are to make the most of our strengths, we need to bring these together before they get to the Cabinet table and are met with 30 other voices competing for space. This isnt a new idea. Its how we delivered many of the successes  and some failures  over decades past. Its how any commander would organise their units.

Thats why when I look at defence, I dont just see warriors and equipment, I see a radical reform. Of course I want to see our allies stump up more soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, and of course they need to invest in equipmentand maintain itbut we need to do more too.

If were going to seize this chance, when the borders of European influence are shifting for the first time in a generation, to see the security of the British people increase, well have to write a single UK strategy designed not to promote fashionable causes best taken up by celebrities and NGOs, but to invest in all our overseas network to influence our alliances and shape the world around us. If we get this right, we wont be hoping for a better future, well be writing it.I t IS hard to take anything positive from the endless succession of stories about violence and degradation in this countrys prisons [Jail chaos hits London as chaplains forced to flee gang fight at Pentonville, August 22]. But at least it is not a secret any more.

The monitoring boards at HMP Pentonville and every other prison in the country do vital work. They see day to day the damage this broken system does, and they have been telling ministers for years about the crisis now making headlines.

Governments from every political party share the blame. For three decades the rate of overcrowding in our prisons has stayed the same. About a quarter of all prisoners share cells they should not. The consequences are all too obvious. But imagine the transforming effect if one cell meant one prisoner, not two, with people busy all day instead of cooped up with a stranger.

Solving this crisis must start with using prison less. In 2017, 71 per cent of the people who went to prison had committed a non-violent offence. Yet the Governments own research shows that community sentences have a better record in reducing offending than short custodial ones. Parliament should change our use of prison and the shameful conditions we can all now see that it creates.

Peter Dawson

Director, Prison Reform Trust

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Peter

I AGREE that the independent monitoring boards do an extremely valuable job in highlighting the often dire state of many of this countrys prisons. Less commendable is the frequent failure of the Government to respond adequately to their findings. You are right that too many inmates are living in unacceptably poor conditions as a result.

Im less convinced that the answer is simply to use jail less, however. Certainly, the use of counter-productive short sentences should be minimised. But one reason for the high prison population is a rise in the number of prolific offenders and the proportion of inmates behind bars for violent and sexual crimes. Putting such people back on the streets more rapidly could be harmful.

What is needed instead is more investment to improve both prisons and community alternatives, as well as preventative schemes to stop offending in the first place.

Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor

Anti-Semitism is driven by Corbyn

As A child, I grew up hearing stories from my father about how he escaped with his parents from Germany to Palestine before the start of the Second World War. The remainder of his family were not so lucky, decided to stay and all perished in concentration camps. He met my mother in Israel, got married and they were posted to London in 1961, and never returned.

Andrew Feldman [Dear Mr Corbyn, Jews wont feel safe until you denounce anti-Zionism, August 24] is right that the problem of anti-Semitism will remain as long as Jeremy Corbyn is Labour leader.

Anti-Semitism is a cancer and threatens to normalise all forms of hate, spreading and engulfing ordinary law-abiding citizens, who know what it is like to be the underdog in multicultural Britain  something that the Labour Party professes to champion.

Ronel Lehmann

Be more aware of disabled people

FURTHER to your report, Majority of Londons disabled adults say they feel excluded from society, August 24, at the Harington we provide training in horticulture, retail and life skills, working with about 50 young people a year with a variety of learning difficulties and disabilities.

We know that our approach works, but its labour and time intensive, and our support has to continue long after our students leave us.

But it doesnt matter how much you want to work when you face so many obstacles. How can you feel part of a society if you cant get there, arent catered for, cant get support or help, and cant pay for it?

Despite the leaps in disability awareness theres still so much to do.T he thought of queueing to visit one of Londons tourist hot-spots is enough to bring some people out in a cold sweat.

Everyone knows London can be headache-inducingly busy and the citys most popular destinations are positively heaving all through the year.

But while skipping the hustle and bustle altogether and finding a quiet place to unwind can be a real joy, visitors and Londons culture vultures alike will always have to fight the crowds to enjoy some of the citys highlights.

These are some of the most popular places that are well worth seeing in London  there's a reason they draw the masses.

The National Gallery

5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures 1 /5 5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures 5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus, 1601 The National Gallery, London 5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838, 1839 The National Gallery, London 5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures Paul Cezanne, Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), about 1894-1905 The National Gallery, London 5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures Paul Cezanne, Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), about 1894-1905 The National Gallery, London 5 paintings you have to see at the National Gallery - In pictures Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin with the Infant Saint John the Baptist adoring the Christ Child accompanied by an Angel ('The Virgin of the Rocks'), about 1491/2-9 and 1506-8 The National Gallery, London

One of the most prestigious galleries in the UK, the National Gallery has been enlightening and entertaining Londons art lovers since 1824. The eclectic guest exhibitions wont be to everybodys taste but the gallerys main collection is staggeringly diverse and wide-ranging. At one turn, visitors can study Byzantine diptychs and on the other enjoy the likes of Titians masterpiece Bacchus and Ariadne, George Stubbs Whistlejacket and a selection of Rembrandts self-portraits. The Portrait Gallery, tucked in right beside it, is always worth paying a visit afterwards too.

Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN, nationalgallery.org.uk

The Tower of London

Shutterstock

Theres a palpable sense of history and character at the Tower of London that visitors cant get anywhere else. It might be packed with people trying to take selfies with Beefeaters, and time observing the crown jewels themselves is a little limited  with a conveyor belt keeping the crowds moving  but this is still one landmark everyone should visit. The darker side of Londons history is always fascinating to discover and while adult tickets are a little pricey at 25, customers can save 15 per cent when booking online.

St Katharine's & Wapping, EC3N 4AB, hrp.org.uk

London Dungeon

Ghost train: the Evening Standards Lauren Pilat, Naomi Ackerman and Michael Howie ride the Necropolis Railway / Nigel Howard

Those with a taste for the macabre are well advised to visit the London Dungeon on Westminster Bridge Road. Its a multi-dimensional attraction, offering a wide variety of live shows, interactive experiences, parties and the more adult-oriented Summer Frights series, featuring cocktails and a terrifying recreation of a live Victorian seance. In 2017, they resurrected the London Necropolis Railway, which for nearly a century once carried Londons dead out of the city.

Riverside Building, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Rd, Lambeth, SE1 7PB, thedungeons.com

Buckingham Palace

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The Changing of the Guard has been taking place at Buckingham Palace since 1873 and is just about as British a tradition as youre likely to find in London. This little slice of history takes place every day weather permitting  at 11am  and is well worth traipsing through St Jamess Park to see. Don't worry if you miss the procession either  the building exteriors themselves are pretty staggering, while certain rooms within the Royal residency are open to the public in the summer.

Natural History Museum

Getty Images

Visitors could spend days inside this cavernous landmark and still not see all of it. The huge, prestigious museum is one of the most-visited tourist spots in the city, welcoming more than five million people a year. Dont let the crowds put you off though  its a fantastic place to take the kids, with the roaring T Rex and the dinosaur exhibit proving hugely popular year after year. The museum's late night sessions go on until 10pm and feature plenty of food and drink, and are a great way for older science fans to explore the space too. Best of all, its totally free.

Cromwell Rd, Kensington, SW7 5BD, nhm.ac.uk

Tate Modern

Getty Images

The Tate Modern, housed in a former Bankside Power Station, looms large over the Thames and marks a giant of Londons art scene. The Tate houses some of the most acclaimed pieces from the likes of Picasso, Monet, Dali and Pollock, drawing in nearly six million people a year. The major Switch House development, which opened in 2016, helped ensure the Tates status as one of the citys most progressive and ever-evolving cultural hubs too. A must see.

Covent Garden

Covent Garden area guide: The Highlights 1 /10 Covent Garden area guide: The Highlights Street performers Getty Images Unit 6 Royal Opera House PA Wire/PA Images The Lyceum Theatre PA Archive/PA Images London Transport Museum TfL, from London Transport Museum Collection Jacob the Angel Jason Lowe The Savoy Grill Seductive: the Grill lives up to its name with a selection of meat and fish cooked in a wood charcoal oven The Barbary Somewhere to cherish: The Barbary The Beaufort Bar and the American Bar at the Savoy Gordon's Wine BarT here's good reason Michael Jackson was crowned the King of Pop.

For at least a decade-and-a-half, he was near-untouchable. His commercial success was wholly dominant: the albums he released from 1979 to 1995  starting with the disco-tinged masterpiece of Off The Wall and ending with the 30-song behemoth HIStory  are all among the highest-selling albums of all time.

And he was an icon, truly. The word is too often attributed without warrant, but with Jackson it was entirely deserved. His music, his fashion, his dance moves  all of it contributed to a cult of personality quite unlike anything before or after it. The public, visceral outpouring of grief in the wake of his passing in 2009 is testament to that.

Today would have been his 60th birthday. To celebrate the landmark, weve put together a rundown of his greatest ever tracks. We havent included any of his work from the Jackson 5 years  they surely deserve their own list  and have instead focused on the solo songs, from the earth-shaking ballads to the perennial dancefloor fillers.

Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy

15. The Way You Make Me Feel (1987)

A masterclass from producer Quincy Jones (the first of many on this list), the glossy rnb of The Way You Make Me Feel fully cemented the commercial success of 1987 album Bad. While the track doesnt necessarily feature the most compelling chord progression or compulsive melody in Jacksons back catalogue, Jones adds a vivacity that few else could. A great, stonking bass line and a drum sound more 80s than Molly Ringwald holding a Rubiks cube gave the track an unmistakable swagger and helped make it one of Jacksons most enduring hits. HF

14. Leave Me Alone (1989)

Only a pop star as great as MJ could make misanthropy so catchy. For us mere mortals, Jacksons angry battle cry to leave me ALONE covered all manner of sins (room tidying, homework completion), but the King of Pop was specifically fulminating against the press.

Just stop doggin me around, he sang, in a video poking fun at the increasingly outlandish headlines published about him. For many, the song stands as a poignant reminder of the fact that Jackson was never able to get the privacy that he craved. JT

13. Bad (1987)

As the title song of his seventh album, Bad sharpened a new edge to Jacksons music. Inspired by the story of a young boys attempt to escape poverty by attending a private boarding school, only to be killed when he returned home, Jackson originally wrote Bad to be a duet with Prince. While Prince passed on the collaboration, he reportedly said he knew it would be a hit without his input. With a West Side Story-esque short film as the video, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring a then-unknown Wesley Snipes, Prince was proved very much right. Musically, Jackson had far brighter moments, but the cinematic fanfare that surrounded it, symptomatic of his absolute stardom, marks it as one of his most iconic moments. ZP

12. They Dont Really Care About Us (1996)

As someone who meant so many different things to so many different people, MJ was always going to be political. But it wasnt until the mid-90s that his music became explicitly so. While Earth Song in its full duration is probably only enjoyed by climate change activists, the clattering drumbeat and eerie choir on They Dont Really Care About Us made this one catchy diatribe.

You know I do really hate to say it/ The government dont want to see, he snarled, before shouting out FDR and Martin Luther King. It was used as an anthem during the 2015 Black Lives Matter protests, indicating its lasting impact. JT

11. Black or White (1991)

The 90s saw a definite shift in the pop music landscape. Following on the synth-driven sounds or the 80s, this new decade brought grunge and rap. Rising to the occasion, MJ brought this banger. The song is composed and arranged by Jackson himself, but with the rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell. The song also has a powerful message for its time  he wont be defined by race or background. In many ways its ahead of its time, both musically and culturally. Plus, its a absolute feel-good banger, one that will compel anyone to jump up and dance. LT

10. Rock With You (1979)

Rock With You is pure seduction, a lustrous piece of soulful disco that is as much a call to the dancefloor as it is to the bedroom. The breathtaking bridge, first arriving just after the 40-second mark, is the songs fleeting, undeniable highlight  the brief ascension is swiftly undressed, leaving nothing but its drumbeat, reducing the song its bare dance-ability. It soon gives way to the divine romance of the chorus, but those few seconds of bliss are what you rewind the song for. JE

9. Human Nature (1983)

Human Nature was a last minute addition to Thriller and came very close to not being included at all. The ballad interestingly contrasts between Jacksons breathy and vulnerable vocals and the lyrics, which tell of a man going out in search of a one night stand. It was actually written by Steve Porcaro from Toto (there are undoubtedly hints of Africa in there), who sent in some ideas for the album. An unfinished version of Human Nature happened to be on the other side of the cassette and Jones snapped it up. Thank goodness for that  its a funky slow dance, doused in synths and gloriously smooth. ZP

8. Thriller (1983)

This was one of the seven top-10 singles from the the mega-selling Thriller album, a release which went 33-times platinum. Musically, this songs conception was a swift one. It was written by English disco pioneer Rod Temperton in a taxi on the way to the studio and only took two takes to commit to tape. Still, the actual song is eclipsed by the enduring iconography of the video. Its slightly shorter than the Bad film  just 13 minutes this time  but there are so many still-relevant pieces of pop culture here: the dancing undead, the overblown spookiness that's inspired countless Halloween parties and, of course, that red suit. JE

7. Smooth Criminal (1988)

Two words: that lean. MJs gravity-defying tilt in this video is iconic. But not only that: the flicks of the crisp white blazer, the toe points, the smooth, seductive brushes of the hat  its a choreographed work of art. Video aside, the song is outrageously catchy, especially the obsessive repetition of Annie are you OK?. It's another example of Jackson proving that pop music videos dont need to be cheesy  they can be incredibly artistic and wonderfully theatrical instead. LT

Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition - In pictures 1 /6 Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition - In pictures Michael Jackson exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery to show how King of Pop influenced art NPG An illuminating path, 1998 by David LaChapelle, which will be displayed during the Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition at the gallery for summer 2018 David LaChapelle/NPG Untitled #13 (Elizabeth Taylor's Closet), 2012 by Catherine Opie, which will be displayed during the Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition at the gallery for summer 2018 Catherine Opie/Regen Projects/NPG Wind (Michael/David), 2009 by Isa Genzken, which will be displayed during the Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition at the gallery for summer 2018 Jens Ziehe/NPG Michael Jackson, 1984 by Andy Warhol, which will be displayed during the Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition at the gallery for next summer 2018 Roland White/NPG Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II (Michael Jackson), 2010 by Kehinde Wiley, which will be displayed during the Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition at the gallery for summer 2018 NPG

6. Dont Stop Til You Get Enough (1979)

Jackson was never given full creative control until 1979, but he proved himself more than capable from the off with this cut of glittering disco. The entire thing is driven by one incessant lyric that is heard in the guitars, the horns and the singing itself. Jackons performance is all falsetto, complete with o-hos and hiccups galore, but its the intricate, knotted guitar lines that chatter underneath it all which really get things going; that is, until the brass fires out a counter-rhythm that lifts the song and carries it into the six-minute mark. The song was proof Jackson was grown: in the video, dressed for prom night, this was his graduation: gone was the sweet child, replaced by a powerhouse of pop-funk. DE

5. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) (1983)

Light and shade: contrast is everything. The opening few seconds, complete with a shudder-inducing voice-over, are quiet, calm  then comes the bassline, a strutting piece of funk with its top lip curled. Its faster than most of his other tracks and absurdly danceable: that Jackson never performed it live is a true shame  we can only imagine him spinning and moonwalking to it. Its a song that layers and layers: by the end, when the chipmunk backing vocals kick in, theyre just another one of countless rhythms stacked up against each other. Its flawless, but he didnt sacrifice any soul. DE

4. Billie Jean (1983)

Billie Jean is all about the inexorably groovy bassline, played by legendary session musician Louis Johnson, which drives the track along and helps make it one of pops ultimate dancefloor-fillers  sure to be a regular fixture at weddings, birthday parties and bar mitzvahs until the end of time. Its just one of the production masterstrokes from Quincy Jones on the song, which marks one of his slickest collaboration with Jackson. Song aside, take a minute to watch the music video again if you can while the clip was synonymous with the success of MTV in the 80s, it seems surprisingly low-budget, featuring a bizarre sequence showing the transformation of a homeless man and various shots of cats jumping around by bins. Still, this is one of Jackson's all-time great songs, and has to be considered among the finest of the decade. HF

3. Man in the Mirror (1988)

The fourth single from Bad, this is another Quincy Jones production marvel, a song that shape-shifts throughout but loses none of its essential essence. The opening is one of saccharine balladry, with descending synths that wouldnt sound too out of place in a Christmas film, before moving into the world gospel and finishing with woozy, late-night drive of an outro. Its the kind of song that could quite reasonably wrap up around the three-minute mark and sounds as if it might  but it doesnt. The thematic effect of the key change  the one that hits like a punch to the stomach at 2:50  is obvious in the context of the song, and transforms Man in the Mirror from very good to truly great. JE

2. Beat It (1982)

In the music video for Beat It, MJ tries to solve a gang war with the power of music and dance. Thank goodness he never ran for office. That aside, this thundering tune is a reminder of how unstoppable MJ was at the height of his powers. As the third single from his non-stop banger-fest Thriller, its a solid gold slice of brash pop. The riff is untouchable, the snares sound like a cracking whip, and Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo is an absolute face-melter. It was Jackson at his absolute boldest. JT

1. Wanna be Startin Somethin (1983)F or those thinking of getting plastic surgery, getting it done abroad may seem like an appealing option.

By travelling abroad, people can save 40 to 80 per cent on plastic surgery, depending on the procedure and the country, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).

But whilst choosing to have a procedure abroad might be an attractive option for many, it's often not as smooth sailing as it sounds and can even prove fatal.

Tragic Brit Leah Cambridge, 29, died in August after suffering complications from a bum lift surgery in Turkey. Now, another British woman has also died after undergoing Brazilian butt lift (BBL) surgery.

Of course, cosmetic surgery both in the UK and abroad have their risks, but it is more difficult to fix complications abroad should they arise.

Here's what you need to know if you're considering cosmetic surgery out of the UK...

Is it safer to have plastic surgery in the UK or abroad?

No surgery is risk-free, however, if you choose to get your surgery done in the UK, then the surgeon will be able to discuss long term aftercare and be on-hand if something goes wrong.

Some overseas clinics may not provide aftercare or follow up treatments.

The British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPAS) encourages patients to make sure they have frequent contact with their surgeon.

They said: "At BAPRAS we believe that patients should be able to see the plastic surgeon who actually carried out the operations if there are any concerns."

What are the risks involved in getting plastic surgery abroad?

As well as various complications that can occur during surgery, there are also risks to consider when travelling back home after having a procedure.

Flying back soon afterwards can leave you vulnerable to deep vein thrombosis (when a blood clot forms in a vein, partially or completely blocking blood flow) and a pulmonary embolism (when a blood vessel supplying the lung becomes blocked by a clot).

BAPRAS advises waiting five to seven days to fly home after procedures such as breast surgery and liposuction, and seven to ten days after facial cosmetic surgery procedures or tummy tucks.

There is also travel insurance to consider. It's rare that a policy will cover you in the event of something going wrong during a planned surgery, so check that you have full insurance cover before you travel.

What is medical tourism?

'Medical tourism' is the term used to describe those travelling to another country to obtain medical treatment.

Medical tourism, which covers all types of procedures including elective plastic surgery, is growing worldwide at an estimated rate of 15 to 25 per cent, according to research firm Patients Beyond Borders.

More specifically, the past few years have seen a rise in cosmetic surgery tourism, which is often sold as a package deal promising surgery and a holiday.

Generally speaking, it's best to approach these kinds of holiday deals with caution.

Woman says Brazilian bum lift that left her thinking she was 'going to die'

Firstly, there's the fact that vacation time and surgery just don't go together. You'll need sufficient time to recover after the procedure, which means avoiding lying in the sun, doing anything energetic or drinking alcohol - which are often the highly anticipated parts of the holiday experience.

The NHS advises avoiding 'meet-and-greet evenings' with salespeople, and instead, meeting with the surgeon who will operate on you.

Also never pay to go a hospital you've never seen with a surgeon you've never met without any real understanding of what the surgeon can provide.

Where are the most popular destinations for cosmetic surgery?

Cosmetic surgery tourism is rife, and there are a variety of places patients are currently flocking to for their procedures.

In Europe, popular destinations include Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey.

Elsewhere, cosmetic surgery is big in Brazil, Thailand, the US and Japan.

How can I minimise the risks?

First, find out as much as possible about the procedure itself.

Then, you need to thoroughly do your research into clinics in your chosen country to find out if they're regulated and have surgeons that are fully trained and can speak English.

Check online reviews and social media to gather independent feedback on the services provided by a specific surgeon or clinic.

Finally, consider the worst case scenario. You need to have a plan in place in case something goes wrong, including insurance arrangements.To the editor:

Send a message to Gov. Rick Scott: No senate seat for you, Floridas environment says you havent earned it.

Heres the highlights of what Scott accomplished for Floridas environment over the past eight years.

 Scott cut the budgets of the states water management districts that manage water issues throughout the state. The states 2012 budget, the first under Scotts administration, cut over $700 million from the agencies.

 Scott gutted the Department of Environmental Protection, all but eliminating enforcement of environmental regulations. In 2010, the year Scott took office, 1,600 investigations into potential environmental violations were initiated. By 2017, that number had dropped to 220 new cases.

 Scott ignored the will of voters who in 2014 approved by a 75 percent vote setting aside one-third of real estate transaction taxes for conservation efforts. A coalition of environmental groups sued the state, saying the money was being used to pay for things normally covered by general funds revenue rather than new conservation efforts. A circuit court judge in June ruled in favor of the environmentalists.

Gov. Scott has repeatedly sided with the corporate polluters above the needs of Floridas environment. Scott aligns with a fringe movement of climate change deniers, has slashed funding for conservation programs, and significantly reduced the enforcement of air, water and climate protections. If you value Floridas natural resources, a strong economy and a safe future for our children, dont waste your vote on Rick Scott.

John Poggi

OkeechobeeN o where does autumnal foliage quite like the northern hemisphere.

And whilst the UK has its fair share of the gorgeous golden hues, the real showstoppers can arguably be found across the Atlantic in the US and Canada.

North America has long been known for it's dramatic seasonal changes and each year, as summer turns to autumn, foliage lovers wait and watch for the leaves to turn their vivid shades of orange, red and gold.

If you're planning a trip stateside in the coming months, SmokyMountains.com have compiled a 'Fall Foliage Prediction Map' for 2018, showing exactly when you can see peak autumnal colours across the US.

Late September and throughout October is when the leaves are predicted to be in their 'prime', but after Halloween, you can expect them to start descending from the trees as the cooler weather sets in.

October is the best time to visit the US to see their gorgeous autumn foliage / Smoky Mountains

The Midwest and North East states will see the colours change first and the rest of the country will follow.P olice desperately trying to track down a cyclist after a hit-and-run in Hackney have released an image of a man they would like to speak to.

A female pedestrian, aged in her 50s, is fighting for life in hospital after she was struck by a cyclist travelling on a "electric-assisted" bike on Tuesday evening in Dalston.

Emergency services raced to Kingsland High Street during rush hour, at about 5.10pm. The pedestrian was struck as she attempted to cross the road.

Police said the male cyclist initially stopped after coming off his bike, but made off a few moments after.

A newly released CCTV image shows a man detectives would like to speak to.

The crash happened during rush hour

Detective Constable Darren Case, Serious Collisions Investigations Unit [SCIU] said: "This is a shocking incident that has left a woman in a life-threatening condition in hospital, whereby the suspect in question fled the scene.

Weve now issued the image of a man we are seeking in connection with the incident, and Im urging the public to take a look at it and get in contact with us if they recognise the man.

Additionally, I would like to reiterate my original appeal for anyone who witnessed the incident, or the cyclist feeling the scene, to come forward and tell us what they know.

Witnesses said she was hit by a man riding a dark red motorised e-bike. Police said a bicycle was recovered in nearby Approach Close and later confirmed it was battery-powered.

Caleb Garba, 30, said: Two cyclists were trying to dodge her but one hit her at the crossing. He must have been going at some speed to do that much damage.

"My colleague brought out towels for her and put her into the recovery position. Her breathing was really bad.

He said other people helped the cyclist get to his feet. He was bleeding from the head and dazed but only wanted to get out of there. He didnt say anything and ran away.

"People were telling him to wait for the police and get treatment. They tried to stop him.

Another witness, who did not want to be named, said: I heard a big bang and saw a guy on a bike on the floor and a lady unresponsive, like she had been knocked out.

"Someone who saw the incident started talking to him. It looked rather confrontational... next minute he had gone.A 5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the main suspect in a mother and daughter's killing - as police said they did their "absolute best" to prevent the attack.

West Midlands Police and Crimestoppers are offering the reward for information leading to the detention of 21-year-old shop worker Janbaz Tarin.

He is currently wanted by the country's second largest police force in connection with a deadly knife attack which claimed the lives of his ex-partner Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49.

The pair were found fatally wounded at Ms Saleem's home in Northdown Road, Solihull, just after 12.30am on Bank Holiday Monday.

A knife, which officers believe to be the murder weapon, has been recovered and a van thought to have been used by Mr Tarin is undergoing forensic analysis.

Double murder: Raneem Oudeh, 22, who was stabbed to death along with her mother / PA

It comes as further details were released by police regarding Ms Oudeh's previous contact with police on the night of the attack, and before, as a domestic abuse complainant.

The force revealed on Wednesday that its officers were at the scene within six minutes, when it became clear in Ms Oudeh's final 999 call that the women were being attacked at home.

Khaola Saleem, 49, who was stabbed to death along with her daughter / PA

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, head of force CID, said: "Unfortunately we can't always be everywhere and on the night in question we did our absolute best, but we weren't able to get there in time to prevent a double murder."

All previous contact between the victim and police has now been self-referred by the force to investigators at the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Ms Oudeh had a two-year-old child - though Mr Tarin is not the father - and her mother had six children, with both victims originally from Syria.

Mr Payne said Ms Oudeh had made "a series of phone calls" to police on Sunday and into the following evening.

He added: "The first call that was made we responded to.

"We went to the location where we believed she was, but unfortunately she'd moved on from there.

"We then had a series of conversations with her, lastly the final conversation.

"We responded immediately to that but tragically we weren't able to get there in time."

Charting the emerging chain of events leading to the deadly attack, Mr Payne said there was "a sequence of calls" between Ms Oudeh and police in the preceding hours.

Officers responded to the first call but by the time they arrived Ms Oudeh had moved to "another location".

He added: "That is why the IOPC are going to have a look at (it), there's no complexity to this, we went to where we thought she was, she then called us again and then we had a further conversation, but she then moved on again.

"We then had a further conversation (with her).

"What we don't know, and what we're looking at, is the exact number of phone calls.

"It's a bit of a confusing picture but what we are able to say is as soon as we realised that Mr Tarin was in the same place as she was, we responded immediately."

Police believe Ms Oudeh kept moving to try to get to a "place of safety".

Mr Payne added that as it was a bank holiday, there were "lots of calls coming in", but that it was "the right thing to do" to respond to the first call, made by Ms Oudeh on Sunday.

The force had in the past logged and responded to calls from Ms Oudeh and visited the couple, with Mr Payne saying her relationship with Mr Tarin "had a footprint in domestic abuse".

"We did the appropriate thing in the circumstances," he said.

"I'm as satisfied as I can be we did the right thing."

He added: "We were working with her to keep her as safe as we could.

"Unfortunately, we can't always be everywhere and on the night in question we did our absolute best, but we weren't able to get there in time to prevent a double murder."

Mr Payne said: "The IOPC - that's their job, whether to look at whether we did the right thing.

"Our job is to investigate the murder."

Officers believe Mr Tarin, an Afghan national who had been in the country legally since Christmas Day 2012, is laying low in the West Midlands.

Offering the reward, they had a warning for anyone shielding the suspect, and again directly appealed for Mr Tarin to hand himself in for questioning.

Mr Payne said: "We are now working with Crimestoppers to offer the 5,000 reward to anybody who might be able to help us locate Mr Tarin.

"I want to appeal to Mr Tarin directly - if you're watching this we will find you, we will arrest you.

"Make it easy on yourself and come and talk to us.

"To anyone who might be harbouring or assisting Mr Tarin, again, we will find you. Don't get yourself in trouble, ring us."

The public has been advised not to approach Mr Tarin and to call 999.O ne of Londons oldest bakeries today appealed for the public to help track down a portly burglar who raided the store and stole its charity box.

The burglar and a skinny accomplice were caught on CCTV as they used a crowbar to break into the 158-year-old Original Maids of Honour in Kew Road, in the early hours of Saturday.

The larger man spent less than 10 minutes rifling through the back office before allegedly stealing about 50 that was due to be given to charity.

Burglars had already targeted the shop and tea rooms four times this year, with small amounts of cash also taken during two of these incidents.

Co-owner Dean Martin, 48, said of the latest raid: There wouldve been cakes in the fridge at the back and he looks like the type who wouldve had a few bites, but they just took a box of change.

A robber was caught on CCTV inside the Maids of Honour bakery

I know these things happen but its very painful for us every time it does. We are not a big business and we make enough to pay staff wages but every time we are burgled we take a big hit.

CCTV footage shows the thieves scouting out the premises before returning an hour later to force through the lock on the front door.

Over the next few minutes the thin man stands guard while his friend rifles through the office, trying to open drawers and failing to rip a safe from the wall. After ignoring electronic items, the larger man can be seen taking the cashbox containing 1p, 2p and 5p coins.

Mr Martin said: This is the fifth time this year that we have been targeted.

The original bakery in Richmond

The first couple of times we lost some money from the till and theres also been times when nothing was taken.

This time they took a box full of loose chang, that may be worth about 50. We were collecting it for charity.

The problem for us is weve had to spend several thousand pounds on repairs. Theyve forced the door with what mustve been a crowbar. If anyone recognises these men please come forward to us or the police. Why protect them? I do not want to see other businesses hit.

The bakery - established as AN Newens confectioners in 1850  has been run by Mr Martin and his business partner for the past nine years. The oldest on-site bakery shop in London, its name comes from the baked tart comprising puff pastry and cheese curds. According to legend, Henry VIII named them after Anne Boleyn introduced him to the treats, and he kept the recipe under lock and key at Richmond Palace.C ars will be banned from part of Londons museums quarter next month as it is given over to arts activities for a major design festival.

Exhibition Road, Britains longest shared space for pedestrians and vehicles, was opened with the aim of making cars and people coexist harmoniously  without the need for signs and protective steel barriers.

But the Victoria & Albert Museum has announced all vehicles will be barred from entering from Cromwell Road to Princes Gate Mews on Sunday, September 23, the closing day of the 16th London Design Festival.

The free all-day event is being held in conjunction with the V&As neighbouring institutions, including the Science Museum and Natural History Museum . Mini-exhibitions, workshops, displays and virtual reality activities will be among the attractions, from creatures that live in the depths of the oceans to examining bias in smartphone apps.

There will also be interactive storytelling, a recording studio, 3D origami and a paper plane throwing contest, plus an attempt to build a pyramid large enough to stand inside using only wooden sticks and rubber bands.

Short design lectures are to be staged throughout the day, including assessing the trustworthiness of robots, deploying intelligent street lighting, and examining how city planners use architecture to deal with waste.

Exhibition Road reopened in 2012 with a clutter-free new look and a high-grade Chinese granite surface, which cost 30 million. The redesign levelled the road and pavement, with no yellow lines or road signs, only textured paving to assist blind people.P rivate landlords are trying to hide the fact that their buildings have the same cladding as Grenfell Tower , according to a director of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Ministers have pledged 400 million to replace potentially dangerous cladding on social housing tower blocks but have said private building owners have a moral duty to pay for their work.

Owners of high-rises have been told to inform the Government if their structures have the same flammable cladding as Grenfell. In June, Housing Secretary James Brokenshire set up a taskforce and inspection team to ensure private blocks have it removed without the costs being passed on to leaseholders. But Gary Strong, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), told a meeting that some owners did not want to disclose they have a really expensive problem, and some were very reluctant even to get their cladding tested.

Referring to aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, which does not meet current building regulations guidance and fuelled the spread of the Grenfell fire, he added: We know from confidential phone calls we have been fielding in our dedicated team at the RICS that people have said, We think we have ACM cladding but we do not want to tell the Government about it.

Inside Grenfell Tower 1 /13 Inside Grenfell Tower Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Sniffer dogs were sent inside to the tower today PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA

There is an issue there where some of these institutional owners do not want to disclose the fact that they might have a really expensive problem on their hands and they do not really know how they are going to resolve it, either.

Asked if owners were playing it fast and loose with safety, he replied: Yes. There is an ethical and moral issue here. Mr Strong, global building standards director at RICS, said the institution believed the problem was much bigger in the private sector than public sector. He suggested the number of private buildings with ACM cladding was about 600  double the official figure.

Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures 1 /14 Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures The top section of the death trap Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn The tower today, after the flames were extinguished Jeremy Selwyn A close up of the tower's damaged windows PA Fire service personnel survey the damage PA The tower today, after it emerged at least 17 were killed Jeremy Selwyn Rows of blackened windows after the fire Jeremy Selwyn Police sent in sniffer dogs today to search for bodies Jeremy Selwyn PA The Grenfell Tower at dawn today Jeremy Selwyn Donations have flooded in for victims Jeremy Selwyn Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower PA Rows and rows of blackened windows. It is feared over one hundred people may have perished Jeremy Selwyn Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Fire crews examine the wreckage PA

Some flats in Greenwich saw their value slashed after Grenfell-style cladding was found. The original developer of a Croydon high-rise paid 2 million to replace cladding after a stalemate between the property manager, residents and Government. According to latest official statistics 159 high-rise social residential properties have ACM cladding, while 293 have been identified in the private sector. The Government said it expects only a small number more are yet to be identified.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: Councils are working with owners of high-rise blocks so every property with affected cladding is identified and interim safety measures can be put in place. Owners have been told to confirm whether or not they have affected cladding.O ne of Londons youngest landladies is fighting to save her East End pub from developers by listing it as an asset of community value.

Kelly McGlynn, 27, aims to stop them knocking down the Dean Swift in Shadwell to build a five-storey block of flats. Last week Tower Hamlets council rejected a planning application for the scheme. Miss McGlynn said four local pubs had shut recently and if the Dean Swift did, her customers would have nowhere else to go.

She added: This is a lovely community pub you dont see much any more.

I have regulars I see every day. At Christmas I cook for 30 or 40 people who wouldnt have a dinner otherwise. Its an amazing place. I dont want to see it destroyed. One pub a week closes in London, according to City Hall.

Community value: the Dean Swift pub in Shadwell (ES Local Feed ) / ES Local Feed

The Mayor has vowed to boost planning protections to keep smaller, independent bars running. Miss McGlynn, who took over the Dean Swift three years ago, hopes Tower Hamlets will list her pub by December: If its listed we will be able to fight future applications more easily.

Developer ENSCO 864 said over 50 people had signed a petition in favour of knocking down the Dean Swift: We are keen to keep a community use on the ground floor.S ir Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC, is spearheading a campaign to get David Dimbleby, the veteran broadcaster, a knighthood. The campaign, which is gathering support across media and politics, is said to be an appropriate tribute for Dimblebys 54 years of service, which include 25 years as the host of Question Time.

This summer Dimbleby announced he was to step down from the flagship politics programme, prompting a mad scramble of presenters throwing their hats into the ring to replace him.

He also fronted the BBCs election programmes including, to the surprise of many  not least Huw Edwards, who was supposed to replace him  the June 2017 election.

However, the campaign has hit a thorny issue: former Cabinet Secretary Gus ODonnell decreed in 2012 that journalists should not be honoured on the grounds that it may affect their impartiality when reporting. This decision was controversial as many newspaper editors  including Sir David English and Sir Peter Stothard had already received KGBs.

It was during the Leveson Inquiry that ODonnell said: There needs to be a formal relationship between politicians and the press, it is best for all sides to maintain an appropriate distance. The public will question motives on both sides of a relationship that is perceived to be too close.

It is understood that he had certain tabloid editors in mind when making the statement. However, many journalists  including Jon Snow, who turned down an OBE in 2000  believe those in the trade should not take honours from those they report on. Dimbleby, who turns 80 this year, certainly sees himself as a journalist. When he stepped down from Question Time in June, he insisted that he had no plans to retire from journalism: Instead, after years in the studio, I now plan to return to my first love: reporting.

Slavery vacancy

Theresa May, in Nigeria this morning, announced another crackdown on modern slavery, her personal crusade since she became PM. Admirable. But it prompts the question: why has the Government still not replaced Kevin Hyland, her Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner, who resigned with immediate effect in May, citing too much interference from above? The Victoria office has been functioning with eight staff as a secretariat since. A source says we are getting everything ready for their new boss. Interviews take place in November, with a new Commissioner announced TBC.

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Tristram Hunt, ex-Labour MP and now V&A director thanks to the Tories, is staging the exhibition Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt in September. Hunts own gaming history? Donkey Kong was my pinnacle, he says. Although, I am learning the loser dancer from Fortnite.

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American novelist Gary Shteyngart enjoyed his time at the Edinburgh Book Festival in part because I love haggis. I wanted to have haggis and whisky for breakfast. He discovered a place called Haggis and Whisky. But they said we cant serve whisky until 12.30pm  its the law. Shteyngart was outraged. He asked: What part of Scotland dont you understand?

Pandora, Sabrina, Steve... it's the last of the summer holidaymakers

Spare a thought for those still on holiday. Journalist and stylist Pandora Sykes is sunning herself on the Italian coast with her baby and pouch pal, Zadie; artist Sabrina Percy is spending her evenings watching the sunset in Toulouse; and actor John Thomson is trekking in the Lake District with a bearded and almost unrecognisable Steve Coogan, appearing not unlike the characters in Withnail & I.

A morning walk with an old friend, said the Cold Feet star. In the Lake District looking for a cave we never found and actually got a bit lost. However, the Billy Connolly disguise worked wonders for Steve.

Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw is being nominated by fans for The Worlds Longest Holiday award. He has spent the past few weeks partying almost constantly with friends such as Alexa Chung and Daisy Lowe. Although Sunday blues beckon for the DJ  he will return to radio on Monday for his new afternoon slot.

SW1A

As politicians and viewers enjoy BBCs new drama Bodyguard, starring Keeley Hawes as the Home Secretary, the Londoner can reveal what political minders actually think. One former personal protection officer to a Cabinet minister told us they preferred looking after Tories because they go to more interesting places and take better holidays.

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Theresa Mays barb to Channel 4s Michael Crick, when he asked why she didnt demonstrate for Nelson Mandela (You know full well that I didnt go on protests, Michael), refers to their Oxford past. After graduation Crick was invited by the Mays for dinner but was three hours late after breaking down on the M1 returning from a Manchester United match. Ive always felt terribly guilty, he said. Nobody would have predicted she would be Prime Minister one day.'

Quote of the day

'The enemy is the French'

Today programme presenter John Humphrys recalls old rivalries in his reporting of the so-called ''scallop wars''

'Tricky' Cher can feel the cold too

Ol Parker, director of Mamma Mia! Here we go Again, says that Cher was a nightmare to work with. There were hassles about this and that  it was all very tricky, he told Edith Bowmans podcast Soundtracking. But she can be as much of a diva as she wants.J eremy Corbyn came under new pressure today as Labour was accused of failing to take action against a former mayor who has shared a Facebook video suggesting that Zionist Jews were behind the 9/11 attacks.

Campaigners against anti-Semitism said Hounslow councillor Nisar Malik should have been suspended immediately when complaints were first made about other problematic social media posts in April.

Instead, they said, he had been allowed to stand again in Mays local elections. The accusation follows claims that Labour under Mr Corbyns leadership has failed to root out anti-Semitism.

As well as sharing the 9/11 post by controversial black nationalist Louis Farrakhan on his Facebook page in 2017, it emerged today that Mr Malik also posted a video about Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad with a comment questioning whether he was really as bad as the media portrayed him. The charge of foot-dragging against Labour came amid claims that its complaints unit was struggling to cope with the volume of reports of anti-Semitic behaviour against members.

The 9/11 Facebook post was brought to Labours attention yesterday. The five months of silence from the party since the original complaint came after Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, Ruth Cadbury, specifically demanded that Mr Corbyn use his powers to speed up its investigation. Euan Philipps, of the Labour Against Anti-Semitism campaign group, said the partys apparent lack of action over Mr Malik was part of a wider problem within Labour.

He said: When evidence emerged about Nisar Malik in April we were assured that the Labour Party would be undertaking a full investigation. In normal circumstances that would mean a suspension pending a formal disciplinary hearing. Now we learn that not only has the Labour Party seemingly failed to act, but that Mr Malik has continued to post problematic content on social media.

Mr Malik, who says he does not hold anti-Semitic views, served as the boroughs first Muslim mayor in 2015/16. He was first reported to the party in April for sharing a post on Facebook in which it was claimed Israel and America created the Islamic State extremist group. He was also reported for a post in which it was claimed that American air strikes on Syria were a ploy to support a Zionist Israel.

The video by Mr Farrakhan, which it has now emerged he shared in August 2017, shows the 85-year-old preacher lecturing about the attacks on the World Trade Centre. He states: It is now becoming apparent that there were many Israelis and Zionist Jews in key roles in the 9/11 attacks. Mr Malik wrote above his post: Is this true, do you think?

Just two weeks ago he posted on Facebook that there should be an investigation into the Israeli lobby and its influence in UK politics.

A Labour Party spokesman said: All complaints about anti-Semitism are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.T he Labour Party has hit back at a former chief rabbi who compared Jeremy Corbyn's comments on Zionists with Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech.

Lord Jonathan Sacks has drawn an angry response after he branded Mr Corbyn an "anti-Semite" who "supported racists, terrorists, and dealers of hate".

The party called the cross bench peers condemnation "absurd and offensive".

Lord Sacks, who served as chief rabbi between 1991 and 2013, made the remarks after footage emerged of Mr Corbyn accusing British Zionists of having no sense of English irony.

The Labour Party branded Lord Sack's comments 'absurd and offensive' / PA

Lord Sacks told the New Statesman: "The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powell's 1968 'Rivers of Blood' speech.

"It was divisive, hateful and like Powell's speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.

Video resurfaces of Jeremy Corbyn saying British Zionists have 'no sense of irony'

He went on to accuse Mr Corbyn of "using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism".

"When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates," he said.

"This is low, dishonest and dangerous. He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.

The condemnation came just a week before Labour's ruling National Executive Committee again considers its code of conduct on anti-Semitism.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.

"Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense, not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.

"Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community."

Jeremy Corbyn who has defended controversial comments he made regarding a group of British Zionists / PA

The footage of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian emerged last week.A former head of the Foreign Office today questioned the value of Theresa Mays trade tour of Africa compared with the potential damage of Brexit.

Sir Simon Fraser pointed out that British deals with the whole of Africa amount to just a thirtieth of the trade enjoyed with the European Unions bloc of 500 million customers.

So far as I can see from ONS [Office for National Statistics] stats, [the] EU accounts for about 45% of all UK trade and Sub Saharan Africa accounts for about 1.5%, he tweeted, adding that the figures were a useful perspective.

Sir Simon was permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office from 2010 to 2015. Mrs May flew to Nigeria today on the latest leg of her tour, also taking in Kenya and South Africa. She was accompanied by business leaders, with talks covering trade and investment deals, security and people-trafficking.

Prime Minister Theresa May gives the bell of the First World War troopship SS Mendi,to South African president Cyril Ramaphosa / PA

She announced Britains first post-Brexit trade pact, with a plan to carry on an EU economic partnership agreement with Mozambique and the countries of the Southern African Customs Union  South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.

The Prime Minister was meeting victims of modern slavery, which she has led moves to eradicate, and will promise UK and French support to help Nigeria and Niger strengthen anti-trafficking measures and train 1,700 migrants and victims. She said: As well as targeting the smugglers and traffickers that cruelly exploit people, its vital we support victims who have suffered enormous trauma and are at high risk of being re-trafficked. That is an important part of the support we are announcing today.

Theresa May speaks to business leaders in Cape Town / AP

Plans to spend 92 million developing an alternative satellite navigation system were confirmed amid EU resistance to Britains post-Brexit involvement in the EUs Galileo programme. Saying she was prepared to leave Galileo unless promised full access to the system, Mrs May said: This is not an idle threat to achieve our negotiating objectives.E lsie Owusu arrives at the Supreme Court Cafe, which she designed, hardly able to contain her excitement. Ive got some really good news, she says, grinning broadly and sitting down.

The 64-year-old Ghanian-born architect, who has been involved in a series of increasingly bloody battles with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)  accusing the august body of institutionalised racism, overpaying its chief executive and misappropriating funds, among other things, claims they have denied  tells me she has a new plan up her sleeve. She cant really talk about it yet, as its still being lawyered up but, she insists, its going to shake things up even more.

This is the latest in a round of spats after RIBA sent her a cease and desist letter earlier this year for going public with some of her gripes and, just this month, failing to be elected as its new president, which went to insider favourite Alan Jones.

Of RIBAs 44,000 members, only 18 per cent bothered to vote, with Jones winning by 2,704 to Owusus 1,673 votes. Still, she says, there are no sour grapes: I was disappointed, but Alan ran a good campaign. Nor will the result deter her from trying again, even though the full-time, unpaid position is, she says, designed for somebosdy who has a private income, is in a practice that can afford to shelter them for the four years, and has no other responsibilities.

Technically, that counts her out. If youre a woman with a child or have an elderly relative, which I have, I dont know how Id have managed with taking my mother to church on Sundays. So why did she run? Thats like being asked what you were going to do when you had a baby, she retorts.

The Progress 1000, in partnership with the global bank Citi, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life and will be announced on October 10. #Progress1000

The truth is that being elected is probably the most effective way to help change a profession that appears to be badly lagging behind when it comes to diversity and equal gender pay, and while Owusu clearly has plenty of enemies, her powerful supporters include Sir David Adjaye and Lord Rogers.

Shes single  lifes too short for a partner  and has a daughter, Kesewa Hennessy, who works at the Financial Times, while her niece is Afua Hirsch, author of the race memoir, Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging. She runs a solo architecture practice in Baker Street and her projects include the refurbishment of the UK Supreme Court and the new entrance to Green Park Tube station, as well as buildings in Accra, Ghana, and a house under construction in Lagos for the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare.

The daughter of a diplomat, she came to the UK when she was eight and studied architecture in the mid-1970s. While opportunities for women architects have improved from being absolutely bloody abysmal to just awful (because of the gender pay gap), Owusu has come up against hostility from some of the older women at RIBA, who, she says, behave like grand memsahibs, pulling the ladder up behind them. Theyre like: Elsie, shouldnt you be in the kitchen cooking something? There was even a campaign during the RIBA election campaign, she adds, snickering, led by a group called ABE: Anybody But Elsie.

The late Zaha Hadid however was not a memsahib. Even with her stature, she still felt as if shed walk into a room and people would look for the man in charge, Owusu says. Among her peers she admires Amanda Levete and there are lots of young women coming through the system now who probably dont even remember a time when it was difficult.

Yet if opportunities for women are improving, the same cant be said for black and minority ethnic architects. Twenty-five years ago the numbers for BAME architects was two per cent; now its 0.9 per cent  and the rate of attrition is terrible. For every 10 BAME students who go in at one end [of architecture training] only one comes out at the end.

Elsie Owusu is part of our #Progress1000 campaign / Matt Writtle

While income rather than skin colour is the obvious barrier  an architecture degree will set a student back 50,000 or more  Owusu says that the continuing culture of unpaid internships and large practices run by mostly older upper-middle-class men contribute to why architecture as a profession is a very unwelcoming place for young black people. In London especially you should be looking at an architectural profession that reflects London. She works closely with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which offers bursaries to help disadvantaged young people qualify as architects (as Stephen Lawrence himself had hoped to).

She tells me a story about a rather different kind of black student. I had this guy called Prince working for me. He hadnt been able to get a job so I was being nice to him. We were working on Yinka Shonibares house [in Lagos]. It was a difficult relationship between me and the team leader so I thought: Prince is from Nigeria. Hes got aunties. He knows about these things. So I said he could work with us. At the first meeting the Lagos architect said: And where are you prince of? in this snooty way, and he said: Funny you should ask because my grandfather is king of Benue State [in Nigeria] and my father was supposed to inherit but hes now High Commissioner to South Africa. Im called Prince because thats what I am. I said: Prince, you never told me that. I thought you were named after the artist formerly known as, she laughs.

The wonderful thing is that there are all these young people in London with the most extraordinary amount of influence in their own countries. Theres Brexit on the horizon and once were out of the EU were going to be cut out of a chunk of work that people have taken for granted. The connection with the Commonwealth is a huge opportunity. This is what we need.A 29-year-old mother has died after travelling to Turkey for a bum lift operation.

Leah Cambridge was undergoing the surgery, made famous by multiple reality TV stars, at Elite Aftercare in Izmir according to reports.

It is thought the mother-of-three died in the operating theatre after collapsing shortly after the start of the procedure  though the exact cause of her death is unknown.

Her partner Scott Franks shared emotional tributes to Ms Cambridge on social media and shared updates of the tragedy.

On Monday he wrote: How can this happen am I dreaming?

Later that day he stated he was going to Turkey to fly Miss Cambridges body back home.

Lauren Goodger of The Only Way is Essex is said to have visited the same clinic. Credit: Dave Benett / Dave Benett

The 31-year-old scaffolder wrote: Two days ago I was happy. Now Im a broken man and will be forever. Im hurt so bad and this is only the start. My life has crashed.

He also added that he and Leah would have been married within the next few years and said: Instead Im gonna have to plan a funeral.

After sharing a video on Wednesday morning, of Miss Cambridge with her sons, Mr Franks wrote: Im absolutely heartbroken.

But said he will stay strong for my boys.

People need to be aware of situations that can happen with this treatment, The Sun quoted him as saying.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "Our staff are assisting the family of a British woman who has died in Turkey and are in contact with the local authorities."

The Brazilian butt lift surgery involves taking fat from other areas of the body, such as the waist or stomach, and then putting it into the buttocks.

A warning posted on the Elite Aftercare website, where it has been reported Miss Cambridge went to for the surgery, reads: "Surgery should not be taken lightly as there are risks in all procedures.

Another post on the website says: Complications can rarely occur. Although uncommon, areas of concern can include; bleeding, infection, anaesthesia problems, fat necrosis and decreased sensation."

Reality TV celebrity Chloe Khan has visited Elite Aftercare as well / Channel 5

According to the clinics site, TOWIE stars Lauren Goodger and Amber Dowding, as well as Chloe Khan, from The X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother, have all undergone cosmetic procedures at the clinic.

Its Instagram page states that the Brazilian butt lift max package costs 5,000 including aftercare.A cage fighter from London who helped to organise a 53 million armed robbery that was Britains biggest cash heist has been secretly let off repaying the fortune he stole.

Paul Allen was jailed for 18 years and was ordered to pay back 1.23 million of the 1.9 million criminal benefit he gained from his part in the violent raid on a Securitas depot in 2006.

Yet a judge in a closed court agreed with prosecutors that he should be let off the hook.

The decision is another blow to efforts to force criminal Mr Bigs to hand back illicit gains. MPs warned today that public confidence in justice was being undermined.

The Evening Standard has uncovered the case through a Freedom of Information request asking about offenders who have been granted a certificate of inadequacy to write off their debts.

Caught: Paul Allen, in the red T-shirt, after being arrested in Morocco with fellow cage fighter Lee Murray, who masterminded the heist

Allen enjoyed a cocaine-fuelled party lifestyle abroad, splashing out on expensive cars, property and breast enhancement surgery for his girlfriend, after helping his best friend mastermind the robbery in Tonbridge, Kent.

The manager of the facility, his wife and young child were kidnapped and subjected to death threats in the raid. Fourteen other staff were tied up, threatened and locked in cages in a brutal, horrific and traumatic ordeal lasting many hours.

Allen fled to Morocco soon after. He was extradited to Britain and jailed in 2009. When he was ordered to pay back the 1.23 million he was given a deadline of July 2010 and was told he would face five more years in prison if he failed to meet it. He handed over only 420 and has now had the remainder written off. The extra five years in jail was never imposed.

In 2016 he was already a free man, having served half his sentence. Soon after his release, he was photographed driving a 40,000 Mercedes convertible and wearing a Rolex with an estimated value of 45,000.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said the case had been handled in line with the relevant legislation. Of the judges secret decision, she said: We are unable to discuss it in detail as proceedings were not conducted in public.

Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons Justice Select Committee, reacted to the case with dismay. We are having a perverse consequence where the spendthrift criminal gets more out of it than the cautious one and I dont think that can be very sensible, he said.

Lee Murray during a fight / Getty images

You can understand the public feeling that the person who has committed a criminal offence and blown it all shouldnt get a greater benefit than the person who happened not to be smart enough to get rid of it.

If someone has blown it all in such a way that theres no hope of getting it back, the presumption ought to be that the default sentence applies.

Mr Neill said that secrecy was also wrong, except in exceptional circumstances, and that confiscation decisions should be taken in public.

He added: On the face of it, this case flies against the presumption of justice being done in public. Thats important for public confidence. It may well be something that the Attorney General needs to look at and the courts need to look at.

The Securitas robbery in February 2006 was masterminded by another south London cage fighter called Lee Murray, who nearly died months earlier when he was stabbed through the heart during a 15-man brawl outside the Funky Buddha nightclub in Mayfair.

For the raid, Murray and Allen teamed up with several men from Kent, including another cage-fighter, Lea Rusha, Albanian-born Jetmir Bucpapa and car dealer Stuart Royle, to carry out the robbery with the assistance of an accomplice working inside the cash storage depot.

Two of the gang used prosthetic disguises to pose as police officers and ambush depot manager Colin Dixon. After, the gang drove their lorry, filled with half a tonne of cash, to a farm near Staplehurst in Kent. Police later recovered 21 million but 32 million vanished.

Allen and Murray fled to Morocco and were arrested at a shopping centre in Rabat. Allen was described by his barrister as having enjoyed the high life in Morocco.

At Woolwich crown court, he admitted conspiring to kidnap, rob and possess a firearm on the basis that he had been Murrays corner man, not the ringleader, and that he had not entered the depot, kidnapped the manager or his family, or handled guns.

During sentencing, Judge David Penry-Davey said Allen had played an active part in preparing the ruthlessly executed robbery. The judge added: This was organised banditry for uniquely high stakes.B aroness Doreen Lawrence said that "there's not much out there" for young people in the capital.

The mother of Stephen Lawrence spoke about the rising levels of knife crime on London's streets during an appearance on Loose Women.

She said: "The youth clubs have gone, when my boys were young, they had clubs and things. Those are the things they need to make sure are there.

"We need to understand from the young people, what is missing in their life. They're on the street. Why isn't there somewhere for them to go ? We need to sort those bits out."

In 1999, Stephen Lawrence was beaten and stabbed to death at a bus stop in southeast London in in an unprovoked attack by a gang of white youths shouting racist abuse.

After his death, she founded the Stephen Lawrence Trust with the aim of transforming the lives of young people and achieving social change.

At least 58 people have been stabbed to death in London so far this year.

Baroness Lawrence called on parents to have dialogue with their children and "have evening meals together."

The 65-year-old also told the panel that there needs to be "role models for kids."

Prime Minister Theresa May stands with Doreen Lawrence as she arrives at a service at St Martin-in-The Fields / REUTERS

She said: "Talk to them about what's happening in their lives, just have a bit more openness with the kids rather than saying this is what we want you to do. Bring back more role models and bring a positive side."

Last week, Metropolitan Police announced its 100th homicide investigation in the capital this year.

A man in his 20s was attacked and stabbed to death in Deptford late on Saturday night.

Police found him suffering from knife wounds in Creek Road, near to the junction with Deptford Church Street at 11.45pm.F ormer Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has resigned from the SNP following allegations of sexual harassment.

In a statement on Twitter, he said: "I truly love the SNP and the wider independence movement in Scotland.

"They have been the defining commitment of my life. But today I have written to the National Secretary of the Party resigning my membership."

Two complaints were raised in January against the ex-SNP leader.

Mr Salmond denies any allegations of sexual harassment.

He added that it was his intention to reapply for SNP membership as soon as he has had the opportunity to clear his name.

"My intention is to secure fairness because that is necessary to clear my name."

Mr Salmond was First Minister from 2007 to 2014 and says he intends to take legal action against the Scottish Government to contest the complaints process activated against him.

The allegations about Mr Salmond's conduct towards two staff members in 2013 emerged last week.

The Daily Record newspaper published what it claimed were details of one of the complaints over the weekend.

Police Scotland confirmed on Friday that the complaints have been passed to the force.

Ms Sturgeon said she was aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Salmond / PA Wire/PA Images

Nicola Sturgeon said last week that she has been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Salmond "for some time" and that it has "been extremely difficult to come to terms with."

She added that complaints made against the former leader "could not be ignored or swept under the carpet."

Mr Salmond said his "entire focus" is now on preparing for the judicial review proceedings at Scotland's highest civil court and he has launched a crowd-funding campaign to help with costs.G oats can tell when humans are happy or angry and they prefer to see people smile, according to a new scientific study.

The Royal Society has published research determining animal intelligence by looking closely at how well goats understand human expressions.

Scientists discovered the farm animals are drawn towards humans who are smiling.

Some 35 goats from the Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats near Maidstone in Kent were used in the study.

The animals were shown images of humans displaying different facial expressions each attached to a wall.

When the goats were released from four metres away, they were free to roam for 30 seconds at a time. Overall, the goats tended to interact with the happy faces - leading researchers to believe they were sensitive to the emotional cues.

Goats prefer when humans smile 1 /5 Goats prefer when humans smile Goats at the Buttercups Sanctuary in Kent have changed our thinking about animal intelligence, as they show not only domesticated animals are affected by human emotional cues. PA/Christian Nawroth Dr Alan Mcelligott. Research conducted at Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent, demonstrated that the goats preferred to interact with the smiling face. PA/Alan Mcelligott Dr Christian Nawroth, shown with a goat at the Buttercups Sanctuary. The team tested the responses of 35 goats to positive and negative images of human faces. PA/Christian Nawroth The findings suggested that goats use the left hemisphere of their brains to process positive emotion, said the team from Queen Mary, University of London. PA/Christian Nawroth A goat looks out from its pen on the first day of The Royal Cheshire County Show at Tabley, near Knutsford, northern England. AFP/Getty Images/Oli |Scarff

The team of researchers, led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London, said in a report: "We show that animals domesticated for production can discriminate human facial expressions with different emotional valences and prefer to interact with positive ones. Therefore, the impact of domestication on animal cognitive abilities may be more far-reaching than previously assumed.

"Domestication has shaped the physiology and the behaviour of animals to better adapt to human environments. Therefore, human facial expressions may be highly informative for animals domesticated for working closely with people, such as dogs and horses."

Dogs and horses, which have long been domesticated for familiar and working relationships with humans, have been known to show a range of understanding of human's emotional expressions. Horses are particularly sensitive to angry expressions, and react with increased heart-rate and diverting their eyes to the left.

Goats have been domesticated for the last 8,000 years, but only for production of food and other materials. This meant they were were selectively bred based on their colour, stature and physical attributes - but not their intelligence.

Dr Alan McElligott who led the study, and is now based at the University of Roehampton, said: The study has important implications for how we interact with livestock and other species, because the abilities of animals to perceive human emotions might be widespread and not just limited to pets.

Co-author Natalia Albuquerque, from the University of Sao Paulo, said: The study of emotion perception has already shown very complex abilities in dogs and horses. However, to date, there was no evidence that animals such as goats were capable of reading human facial expressions. Our results open new paths to understanding the emotional lives of all domestic animals.

Bob Hitch, the founder of Buttercups Sanctuary, said the research backed up what he's always known - as he's watched the transformation of animals rescued from all kinds of abusive backgrounds.

He said: "We let to roam around in a wide area and with the care from the staff here we give them hands on attention and help settle them down.

"One big thing for them is your voice - when we put them to bed at night we're talking to them quietly. But like children you get three or four who like to play around in the haystacks, so you shout "go to bed", and their ears prick up and they scuttle off to their pens.

"Goats are very intelligent animals much like dogs - they love to be touched and stroked, and you can see they're over the moon when you bring out the bag of food.

"So we know now that we have to walk around with smiles on our faces - which we do anyway - its a happy atmosphere which the goats love."T he husband of a British woman being held in jail in Iran has said he "wished she had never been allowed out" on a brief furlough to see her family, following her collapse in prison due to an anxiety attack.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband made the remarks today after it emerged his wife was being treated in the prison's hospital after being taken ill.

Days ago Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taken back into custody following a three-day long furlough from jail.

He said:"We heard because one of her cell mates called in a panic and said listen she's just been taken to hospital. The family have spoken to her this morning, where she told us about the one yesterday.

Gabriella, 4, greeted her mum with a bunch of red flowers / PA

"Clearly, her being back in prison has come as a huge shock for all of us but it was really hard. I spoke to her yesterday morning, she was really down."

He said it was "one of the hardest phone calls I've had in the past two years with her."

Despite a desperate personal plea, the charity worker from Hampstead had an extension to her furlough denied and returned to her cell at sunset on Sunday.

British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella / PA

Her family had expected her to be granted an extension to her leave as other women on her wing at Evin jail had been given more time with their families.

Mr Ratcliffe said her family had been prepared for a rough time following her return to prison.

"It's obviously worrying times. I think we always felt when she was dragged back in, that getting through the next few days was going to be tough," he said.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns to prison after Iran denies extension of her temporary release

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted: "All our thoughts and prayers with Nazanin and her family. Unbearable suffering to be apart from daughter with her hopes raised then dashed. We must redouble efforts to find a way to get her home #FreeNazanin."

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is British-Iranian, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 after being accused of spying by Tehrans hardline regime. She has consistently denied all the allegations, insisting she was on holiday to introduce her daughter to family members in Iran.A top UK consultant surgeon has warned about the dangers of potentially risky bum lift surgery following the death of a 29-year-old mother who travelled to Turkey for an operation.

Leah Cambridge died after travelling overseas for the surgery, made famous by multiple reality TV stars.

Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Breast Surgeon, Gerard Lambe said those undergoing surgery can have complications similar to suffering a stroke.

Mr Lambe, who has been working in plastic surgery since 2000, has warned against the dangerous procedure, explaining how deadly the after-effects can be.

He said: Brazilian Bum Lift (BBL) is a procedure in which fat is taken from another part of the body then injected into the buttocks but it has the highest death rate of all procedures due to the risk of injecting fat into large veins in the buttocks that can travel to the heart or brain and cause severe illness and death.

Mr Lambe said it was like having a stroke and could kill you instantly.

Unlike getting fat injected into a patients face or breast  which Mr Lambe said is fairly common  because of the large veins in the buttocks, the risk of harm is very high.

This, alongside having your surgeon miles away in another country, makes recovery very challenging.

He added: Women are sold this idea that a BBL is a simple procedure like liposuction which it most certainly is not.

Recovery is quite horrendous for many as it requires patients to avoid sitting for weeks to enhance the take of the graft and fat deposits.

It also can require painful top ups if the fat reabsorbs and may only last a few months, yet the patient has risked an embolism for something so precariously successful.

Ms Cambridges cause of death is not known at this stage, but it is thought the mother-of-three died in the operating theatre after collapsing shortly after the start of the operation.

CBB start Chloe Khan reportedly had treatment too / Channel 5

A warning posted on the Elite Aftercare website, where it has been reported Miss Cambridge went to for the surgery, reads: "Surgery should not be taken lightly as there are risks in all procedures.

According to the clinics site, TOWIE stars Lauren Goodger and Amber Dowding, as well as Chloe Khan, from The X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother, have all undergone cosmetic procedures at the clinic.

Mr Lambe said the news of Ms Cambridges death was tragic.

He said: I have two children myself. I feel sorry for people who do not realise the risks that come with it.

Although Mr Lambe said he had only seen a trickle of people requesting BBL procedures here in the UK, the trend of travelling abroad is one he believes may be happening as people may think it is cheaper.

He said: Whenever I receive emails from people, they are always asking about the cost.

Mr Lambe does not carry out the dangerous procedure himself, but said he would urge caution to anyone who may consider it.R ocks were thrown and boats rammed as French and British fisherman clashed in the English Channel in a row over scallops.

Smoke bombs were also among numerous projectiles reportedly hurled at English and Scottish vessels as a long-running "scallop war" reignited in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Reportedly outnumbered by the French one to seven, the British boats were allegedly attacked by a rival flotilla that had gathered overnight in protest over fishing rights.

Dramatic footage of the incident broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as an object was thrown towards them.

Some of the British vessels are said to have later returned to UK harbours with signs of "criminal" damage.

The years-long dispute is over a scallop-rich area of the Channel that French fishermen are prevented from harvesting for a chunk of the year due to domestic environmental laws.

Fishermen hurled rocks at each other / France 3 Normandy

Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermen's association, said the violent scenes "demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change".

"I urge everyone to avoid these situations that endanger men's lives," he said.

One of the British boats involved in the clash is said to be the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association condemned the "vigilante" French fishermen.

"Attacking our vessels is appalling," the group said.

Britain's National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations has appealed for calm, saying the dispute should be resolved through negotiations.

"We have raised the matter with the British Government and asked for protection for our vessels, which are fishing legitimately," its chief executive, Barrie Deas, told the BBC.B attered British fishing boats have returned to their harbours with fishermen saying they were petrified after a being attacked by rival French vessels in a row over scallops .

Smoke bombs and flares were allegedly among items hurled at English and Scottish boats as a long-running scallop war reignited in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Around a dozen British boats were targeted by the rival flotilla in a protest over fishing rights in the scallop-rich waters.

Trawlermen said they were scared for their lives as around 40 French boats became involved in the ruckus.

Crew members clean marks from the stern of the Honeybourne III following the disturbance / PA

One of the British boats involved in the clash was the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger, along with two ships from Brixham harbour, The Golden Promise and Joanna C.

Nathan Clark, who travelled on the three-man boat Joanna C, said his teenage nephew who was also onboard was petrified by the clash.

He told the Sun: "I've never had anything like it before. It was an absolute nightmare.

The Honeybourne 3 was battered in the 'scallop war' / PA

"Luckily the boat only had superficial damage but we're all shook up."

Brian Whittington, skipper of the Golden Promise, vowed not to let the horror deter his crew from their task but called for protection from the Royal Navy.

The boats involved in the clash docked safely at Shoreham harbour / PA

He told the newspaper: It won't stop us - we'll go back. It's international waters - we're allowed there.

"Maybe the Royal Navy could help us next time."

But others vowed not to be scared off by their rivals insisting they will return to the water by the end of the week.

French and British fishing boats collide in the English Channel / REUTERS

The Golden Promise, had a window smashed by an airborne can, while another suffered fire damage after a flare was thrown at it, UK officials said.

The Honeybourne 3 was moored in Shoreham Port on Wednesday morning.

A black spatter mark was visible on the vessel's stern while dents and scrapes marked the port side bow.

The Government said it had contacted officials in France about the matter, adding the vessels were "legally entitled" to fish in the area.

The South Western Fish Producers Organisation, which represents many of the boats and has been negotiating with French fishermen, condemned the behaviour as dangerous.

Chief executive Jim Portus said: "They are endangering life at sea by being unprofessional.

"The French might look like heroes to the French coastal communities but it's really awful to put other mariners in danger."

Fishing boats clash during the 'scallop war' / REUTERS

He claimed to have received a message from the chief negotiator of the French scallop industry on Wednesday morning that said: "I regret the altercations that occurred... it will not happen again."

Maritime authorities in France also sought to soothe tensions on Wednesday morning, decrying the showdown as "very dangerous" and expressing hope that "things will calm down".

The long-running dispute centres on a section of the Channel from which French fishermen cannot harvest scallops until later in the year, due to domestic environmental laws.

Dramatic footage broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as tensions finally boiled over.

Honeybourne 3 crew members pictured mooring in Shoreham harbour / PA

Fears have been raised about the safety of the British fleet going forward, which the Government said was its "highest priority".

Sheryll Murray, MP for South East Cornwall, claimed Environment Secretary Michael Gove had assured her that "appropriate measures" were in place to protect fishermen.

She also criticised the response of the French authorities, saying there was "no evidence whatsoever" that they had taken action against the vessels.

Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermen's association, said the violent scenes "demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change".

But it is not the first time such an encounter has taken place, according to the owner of one of the Brixham boats.

Derek Meredith told the BBC: "It's happened in previous years, two years ago it happened to us - not as forceful as this time I wouldn't have said - but the same thing, the French navy were there on site and never done a thing.

"We reported it to the (Marine Management Organisation), nothing happened, it just went on deaf ears."E lon Musk has revived his bizarre claim that a British cave diver who helped rescue trapped Thai children is a pedo.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss seemed to have resolved the matter last month when he apologised to diver Vernon Unsworth for his extraordinary social media outburst.

But he brought up the claim once again when replying to a Twitter user who had criticised the remark.

Mr Musk wrote: You don't think it's strange he hasn't sued me? He was offered free legal services.

This sparked a back-and-forth in which Mr Musk repeatedly asked the Twitter user, a former TechCrunch writer, whether he had investigated the matter.

Mr Musk asked: Did you investigate at all? I'm guessing answer is no. Why?

Answer the question, Mr Musk added. You brought it up, not me. Did you investigate or not? If so, what did you actually do?

Mr Unsworth said last month that he was considering suing Mr Musk over the insult and, amid a huge backlash, the billionaire business magnate tweeted his apology.

He said: My words were spoken in anger after Mr Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader.

Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologise to Mr Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.

I am truly sorry if I offended anyone.

Mr Unsworth, whose knowledge of the cave was crucial in freeing the boys, had told CNN Mr Musks prototype would have had absolutely no chance of working.

He can stick his submarine where it hurts, he said. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like. The submarine, I believe, was about 5ft 6in long, and rigid, so it wouldnt have gone round corners or obstacles.

It wouldnt have made the first 50 metres in from the dive start point. Just a PR stunt.

Elon Musk apologised last month for calling diver Vernon Unsworth a "pedo guy" / REUTERS

Mr Musk responded to Mr Unsworths comments in a series of now deleted tweets referring to the cave expert, without using his name, as pedo guy.

He said he would make a video proving the submarine would have worked, adding: Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.A tourist ferry with more than 1,000 passengers on board has caught fire at the port of Piraeus, in Greece.

The Eleftherios Venizelos, carrying 875 passengers and 141 crew, was sailing off the island of Hydra when it notified the coast guard around midnight on Wednesday that a car parking compartment was alight.

The ship was on its way to popular holiday destination Crete, a coast guard has said.

Images posted to social media showed scores of passengers crowded on decks wearing life jackets.

Passengers arrive to the terminal at the port of Piraeus, in Athens, on Wednesday morning / AFP/Getty Images

One passenger, only identified by her first name, Natassa, told Skai TV: It was difficult to breathe for the smoke.

While another reported hearing a big noise, before being advised to move to an assembly area.

A coast guard official has told news agency, Reuters, that there are no immediate reports of injuries from the ferry.

Dramatic photos from the fire / AP

Following the fire, the ship was escorted back to Pireaus after authorities scrambled air and sea assets to the area.

Nikos Lagdianos, a spokesman for the coast guard, said: It was a huge operation and everything went to plan.

At this stage, the cause of the fire is not immediately clear, but authorities were investigating the possibility it may have started from a vehicle.M ore than 20,000 revellers took part in the epic Spanish street festival known as Tomatina, throwing tomatoes at each other until they were red in the face.

The streets of Bunol were painted red with tomato pulp as huge crowds frolicked in over-ripe tomatoes for several hours.

Around 160 tonnes of the fruit was brought to the town, near Valencia, for the annual event dubbed the worlds biggest food fight.

Thousands of tourists were among the scantily-clad crowd, with many opting to wear goggles to protect their eyes from flying pulp.

Around 150 tonnes of tomatoes are used in the annual festival / EPA

Wary residents used plastic sheets and large pieces of board to cover balconies and signs before the carnage kicked off at around 11am.

The festival, which in recent years has become ticketed, only stopped when the streets were flowing with red pulp and juice.

Thousands of tourists head to the town near Valencia for the street battle / AFP/Getty Images

Organisers then hosed the streets down within minutes of the event's end at noon, while participants made use of public showers.

The event, which costs about 10 (9) to attend, was inspired by a food fight between local children in 1945 in the tomato-producing region.

The festival ends when the streets are flowing red with juice and pulp / AP

London is set to get its own version of the legendary festival, involving unwanted tomatoes that would otherwise have gone to waste.E motional photos show Meghan McCain breaking down in tears as the body of her father John arrives at the Arizona State Capitol.

Heartbreaking images show the family of Senator McCain saying their farewells after the 81-year-old died of brain cancer on Saturday.

Family, former colleagues and other dignitaries filed past the flag-draped casket inside the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday.

They were led by Mr McCain's wife Cindy who walked up to the casket, patted it and laid her cheek on it.

Cindy McCain places her cheek on the side of her husband's coffin / AP

The rest of his children then filed past the casket and touched it including his sons in uniform and a weeping Meghan McCain.

It marks the first of several memorial ceremonies before he is laid to rest at a US Navy Academy at Hospital Hill, Maryland.

An Arizona National Guard team carried the coffin into the centre of Capitol rotunda, followed by family members, the governor and other politicians and guests.

Jack McCain, son of U.S. Senator John McCain touches the casket (REUTERS) / Reuters

Speakers paid tribute for about 30 minutes to Mr McCain's life and legacy.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said during the ceremony: "He fought like hell for the causes he believed in.

"But along the way he did it with humour and humanity and without compromising the principles he held so dear."

Members of the Arizona Army National Guard Honor Guard carry the body of Sen. John McCain to the Arizona State Capitol / Getty Images

Members of the public began lining up hours in advance for a casket viewing that begins in the afternoon.

Linda Gordon, 58, said: "I want to pay my respects because he deserves it. He represents what our country should be."

Kassandra Morales, a Democrat, brought her two sons. She said that she had always looked up to the Republican senator.

Meghan McCain, daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain touches the casket during a memorial service (REUTERS) / Reuters

The 44-year-old said she had been following the longtime senator since she was 18 and had brought her children "to show them what a real hero was."

Senator McCain, a former US navy pilot endured five years as a prisoner of war after his aircraft was shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War. He went from military service into a decades-long political career.

Over the past two years he stood out as sharp critic of President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican.

The children of John McCain (L-R) Sidney McCain, Meghan McCain and her husband Ben Domenech, Bridgett McCain, and daughter-in-laws Holly McCain and Renee Swift / AP

The bad blood between the two persisted after Mr McCain's death, with his family asking President Trump not to attend the funeral and the White House fumbling the formal response to the death of a prominent senator.

Following a Phoenix church service on Thursday, Senator McCain's body will be flown to Washington where he will lie in state on Friday at the U.S. Capitol before a funeral on Saturday at the Washington National Cathedral.

He will then be buried on Sunday.T he mother of a nine-year-old boy who reportedly killed himself over homophobic bullying has urged parents to teach their children compassion.

Leia Pierce said: "Regardless if theyre gay or not, we should all feel welcomed.

She found son Jamels body a week after he came out to her during the summer break. He later told classmates he was gay, according to local reports.

Ms Pierce claimed pupils at Jamel's school in Denver, Colorado, had urged him to kill himself.

Jamel Myles died aged nine / KDVR-TV

In a heartbreaking interview on Wednesday's Victoria Derbyshire show, Ms Pierce asked: Do you wanna know what its like to be dead, while youre still alive?

My heart breaks every second. I dont know what to do any more because someone that I was used to having around, isnt around no more. Life isnt fair any more.

Asked by Ms Derbyshire how she was coping, Ms Pierce, who was holding one of Jamels toys, said: Im a mess. If it wasnt for my daughters and my mom, I honestly dont know what Id do.

He was magic. This little boy could walk into any room and make any person feel so loved and so special. If you felt bad hed do anything to take your pain away just to make you happy.

The heartbroken mother explained her son was "proud" to come out as gay: He just said he was proud of who he was, and he didnt mind telling people.

A screen grab from Leia Pierce's interview on the Victoria Derbyshire Show, in which she urged parents to teach their children compassion after her son killed himself, reportedly over homophobic bullying / Victoria Derbshire Show/BBC

Im pretty sure he told someone who had that whole persona of it not being OK, and decided to pick on him. Im pretty sure it spread and it became a worse situation.

That image of seeing [his body] like that is burned into the back of my brain. Its not right.

Ms Pierce said Jamel had reported the bullying to her elder daughter: My son came home and told her that kids at school were telling him to kill himself.

He didnt come to me and it hurts because I would have defended him. But he and his older sister were so close, he would tell her everything.

The school called me today and they said they are going to work on suicide prevention. But we need to stop the bullying, because the bullying is leading to the suicide. We need to stop at the bullying and correct it.

Leia Pierce speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show on Wednesday morning / Victoria Derbshire Show/BBC

They were very aware he was being bullied.

In a heart-breaking message to young LGBT viewers, Ms Pierce said: I would tell them they are beautiful, special and theres nothing different about them that should be pointed out and make them feel any other way than loved.

We are all different and our differences are what make us equal because its the one thing we have in common. Were supposed to embrace each other. Regardless if theyre gay or not, we should all feel welcomed.

Teach your kids love. Teach them its OK to have differences. Teach them compassion, respect, to be accepting of each other. You dont have to say mean things to people. Everyone needs words of encouragement.

I dont want anyone else to feel my pain. I never want anyone to experience this.F oreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt today pledged to intensify efforts to free British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after she collapsed in her Iran prison cell.

The charity worker from Hampstead was taken to the hospital wing after suffering an anxiety attack and blacking out, according to her husband Richard Ratcliffe.

A desperate personal plea to prosecutors for an extension to the furlough was rejected and she returned to her cell at sunset on Sunday.

It comes just days after Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was reunited with her family / PA

Mr Hunt, who has been praised by the family for his efforts to resolve her plight since becoming Foreign Secretary last month, today tweeted: All our thoughts and prayers with Nazanin and her family. Unbearable suffering to be apart from daughter with her hopes raised then dashed. We must redouble efforts to find a way to get her home #FreeNazanin.

Mr Ratcliffe told the Evening Standard today: She was passing out. The last time that happened was in February 2017 when a neurologist recommended she be hospitalised. I think the fallout of the furlough being taken away has hit her hard.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is British-Iranian, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 after being accused of spying by Tehrans hardline regime. She has consistently denied all the allegations, insisting she was on holiday to introduce her daughter to family members in Iran.

Mr Ratcliffe said: Were clearly very, very worried. When I spoke to her on the phone yesterday morning she was devastated and it was amongst the hardest phone calls Ive had with her  just really sad.

He added: Its been such a whirlwind this past few days, just keeping up with events. Theyll be trying to assess how serious they think it is but the fact that ... she passed out ... theyll be worried, as are we.

Mr Ratcliffe said his wife had complained of numb legs, painful headaches and rashes. I think it feels like the physical symptoms of crushing disappointment since she went back into prison, he said.

Yesterday the head of the prison was worried enough to come down and see her and ask whats going on. He was clearly very surprised that shed been brought back.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 39, had been expecting Iranian officials to extend the furlough period as other women on her wing at Evin jail have been given more time with their families. Both her father and lawyer made a request to a judge on Saturday but it was turned down.A teenage boy who disappeared after reportedly witnessing the killing of his father more than a year ago has been found alive in a basement.

Jacob Caldwell, 15, had ran away from the home of his grandparents after he and his brothers had temporarily been placed in their custody.

He had been last seen in front of a Walmart in Sugar Creek Township, Ohio, United States, on August 21 last year.

This was just days after the death of his father who was allegedly shot and killed six days earlier.

The new information was shared by Sugar Creek Township Police Chief Michael Brown at a press conference Tuesday, the morning after the teen was found, according to WKEF.

He explained that the discovery came after a tip that seemed very credible was received following billboards being put up asking for information tracing young Jacob.

A missing poster that had been issued for Jacob Caldwell / FBI

The teen was found in Miami Township, also in Ohio, around 40 miles from where he went missing.

According to the authorities there were four adults, who were not related to the boy but were apparently linked to his mother, living inside the home and Jacob was in the basement.

Chief Brown said it appeared Jacob was free to go where he pleased in the home and was not "secured or locked in" the basement.

Though he stated that it did not look like he left the property or socialised with other children.

He looked healthy when he was escorted from the premises, Chief Brown said, though he could not comment on the mental state of the boy.

"Traumatized, I don't know, someone else is going to have to make that evaluation," he said.

Authorities said he was not abducted but had been encouraged to run away by some family members.

Jacob was taken to the Greene County Juvenile Detention Center, held on a warrant, after leaving the premises.

Digital billboards which said he was missing had been updated to have found across them in red letters.

The FBI had previously offered $15,000, approximately 11,650, reward money for any information leading directly to his location.

It is said that the adults in the home were surprised to see police at their door.

CCTV showing Jacob Caldwell around the time he went missing / FBI

It is unknown what charges they may face.

Jacobs father Robert Caldwell had won custody of his children from his ex-wife before he was killed.

In March authorities announced indictments against six people in connection with his death, including his ex-wife Tawney Caldwell and her new partner Sterling Roberts, who is accused of firing the bullets which caused the fatality.S hocking images showed thousands of bees swarm a hot dog van in New York's Times Square.

NYPD officers came to the rescue of the "sweltering" swarm after they "relocated" to the tourist hotspot amid high temperatures in the city.

More than 40,000 bees swarmed the food stall at the corner of Broadway and West 43rd Street, causing quite a buzz with tourists in the area.

An NYPD beekeeper was forced to move the "absconded hive" along.

Officer Darren Mays said: "The hive got overcrowded because it was hot and humid and they just needed a new place to go so they can keep cool.

"Our buzzing friends just stopped by the hot dog vendor for a refreshing drink and to take a quick break before moving on to a new home," he also tweeted on the force's "NYPD Bees" Twitter account, which has attracted in a lot of attention when New Yorkers heard that that the police employed beekeepers.

The officers have been bombarded with questions from the public, and had to clarify that they are a sworn officers first and beekeepers by choice. "Our primary jobs are beat officers that serve and protect. We respond to remove bees and relocate them when called upon," said Officer Mays. "We do take pride in removing and relocating our precious pollinators."

Officer Michael Lauriano responded to the scene in full protective gear, including a netted bee helmet and spent 45 minutes vacuuming the bees into a safe container to be relocated to an apiary on Long Island.F or older children, the publishing sensation of the year, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls (Particular Books, 20, Amazon, Buy it now ), by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, is a series of uplifting stories of feminist role models suitable for little girls. What struck me was the resemblance to the collection of saints stories I had as a child, with precisely the same edifying and didactic purpose.

These secular saints include Malala Yousafzai (whom I am afraid my daughter took against on account of her liking school so much), Hatshepsut of Egypt, the Saudi girl who took to driving in defiance of unspecified religious authorities and, er, Margaret Thatcher, whose biog seems to have been written with gritted teeth. Im not sure rebel is the word for impeccable cultural conformism.

I am sorry to say that my daughters preferred reading this season was a little book called Christmas Dinner of Souls by Ross Montgomery (Faber, 6.58, Buy it now ), about a secret society whose members despise children, happiness and Christmas and who compete to tell the most gruesome tales they know. She loved it.

Its hardly worth mentioning David Walliamss Bad Dad (Harper Collins, 6, Buy it now ), on the basis that his fans, who are legion, will have it. But its funny and poignant about a boy and his loving but ill-starred dad, a Top Gear racing driver with a wooden leg (theres a nice Italian Job scene) who falls into poverty and crime after mother leaves home to live with Mr Big. Given Walliamss own story, the ending is rather moving. Oh, and theres a happy ending for the lesbians. Just saying.

Same goes for the latest Tom Gates, Epic Adventure (Scholastic, 7, Buy it now ), and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway (Book 12) (Penguin, 5, Buy it now ) by Jeff Kinnear; these series are so popular they need no support from mere reviewers, other than to observe that theyre really funny: inspired doodling.

Chris Riddell is a marvel  his exquisite line drawings are extraordinarily delicate and idiosyncratic. Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony (Macmillan, 8.99, Buy it now ), like others involving his heroine Ada Goth, features a series of merciless puns, in this case on the life and works of Lord Byron (Adas dad writes about Don Jumpy, an amorous mouse). Theres something here for the knowing adult reader as well as the child. Genius.

David Almonds book about a curious angel, Skellig, was a sensation. Hes returned to the angel theme with an altogether different book for younger readers, The Tale of Angelino Brown (Walker, 8, Buy it now ), about a little flatulent angel who falls to earth into a bus drivers pocket and gets adopted by him and his warm-hearted wife, Betty. This is classy whimsy  ditto the illustrations by Alex T Smith. Its wonderfully remote from the social media age  what would actually happen to an angel who turned up in a modern school is that hed be on YouTube in minutes.

The Night of Wishes by Michael Ende (NYRB Childrens, 11.99, Buy it now ) is a curiously old-fashioned fable about two sorcerers apprentices, a cat and a raven, whose patrons are doing their utmost to wreak environmental and economic havoc on the world before they are claimed by Beelzebub. The German author is keen to alert young minds to the perils of capitalist exploitation: this little story is engagingly fantastical.

Twenty-two years after the first instalment of His Dark Materials, notable for including the death of God, Philip Pullman has returned to the world of Lyras Oxford with the first instalment of a trilogy called The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage (David Fickling Books, 10, Buy it now ). Here Lyra, his heroine, is a baby raised by nuns. Pullman is an interesting phenomenon: as a storyteller, hes tells a cracking tale  this is a fabulously self-indulgent flight of fantasy set in Fifties England  but the metaphysics under his work remain incomprehensible.

Norse myths have been quite a thing in childrens fiction lately; now the splendid Kevin Crossley Holland has returned to the originals with Norse Myths (Walker, 8, Buy it now ). Its very good.

Frances Hardinges new novel, A Skinful of Shadows (Macmillan, 8, Buy it now ), is an extraordinary fantastic adventure set in the English Civil War in which a young girl returns to her fathers home to find she shares the family capacity to play host to several other souls within her body. Its a tricky concept to carry off but she does it convincingly, and with a sense of period. A feat.

The last of Jonathan Strouds fabulous Lockwood and Co series was a cue for the usual fight between me and my son as to which of us could read it first. The Empty Grave (Penguin, 7.43, Buy it now ) is a terrific read, bringing to a conclusion a series based on the premise that London is victim to a plague of ghosts, with our four heroes a kind of teenage spectral Rentokil. Quite, quite, brilliant.R yan Gosling and Claire Foy walked the red carpet on the opening day of the Venice Film Festival ahead of the premiere of First Man.

The stars stunned as they stopped for photos on Wednesday on the first day of the prestigious film festival, both leads in Damien Chazelles film First Man.

Gosling looked as handsome as ever in a monochrome suit, complete with a crisp white shirt and while Foy wore a pink dress with a red detail over her shoulders.

The pair were joined by co-stars Jason Clarke and Olivia Hamilton in front of the worlds media alongside director Chazelle.

Star: Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong in First Man / Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Earlier in the day, Gosling praised the directors ability to bring people together at the press conference and photo call for First Man.

The Notebook star plays astronaut Neil Armstrong in the movie, based on the book of the same name by James Hansen.

First Man - Trailer

Talking about the patriotism of the film, Gosling said (via Variety): Full disclosure: Im Canadian. I think that what Neil achieved was widely regarded as a human achievement, and thats how we chose to view that.

Neil was extremely humble. He deferred the focus from himself to the 400,000 people who made the mission possible. He repeatedly said he was just the tip of the iceberg.

He didnt view himself as an American hero, and we wanted the movie to reflect Neil[and] honour the way Neil presented himself.

First Man will be released in cinemas on Friday 12 October.M ichael Jackson well and truly earned his title of King of Pop during an illustrious career that spanned the course of three decades.

Jackson, who today would have turned 60, took the music industry by storm with his powerhouse vocals which gave him the ability to bridge multiple genres.

Even if you werent a Michael Jackson fan, you couldnt escape the Californian king, wherever you were in the world.

As much as Jackson was praised for his talent and humanitarian efforts, his life and career was not without its controversies.

Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy

Here is a look back on Jacksons life:

Early Years

Jackson rose to fame as part of the Jackson 5, alongside elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon.

The Jackson Five: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Michael and Randy in London, October 1972 (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) / Getty Images

The group debuted as Motowns newest act in 1969, with their first taste of success following just a year later after hits ABC, The Love You Save and Ill Be There all reached number one on the Billboard charts.

1979 saw Jackson catapult to fame on the back of his first solo album Off the Wall.

Superstar Status: Jackson shot to fame in the 80s / AFP/Getty Images

The King of Pop is born

The early 80s saw Jackson cement his superstar status.

In 1982 he released the iconic Thriller, which eventually ended up selling more than 100 million copies making Jackson the biggest pop star of the decade.

A special broadcast of Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever in 1983 saw Jackson stun the audience with a rendition of Billie Jean.

However, despite Jacksons vocals taking centre stage the date is more notably recognised as the birth of the jaw-dropping moonwalk.

Michael Jackson Back in the Day

The decade also saw the memorable release of Jacksons 1987 record Bad, which sold more than eight million copies.

In 1988 Jackson fronted a campaign to kick-start fundraising to preserve and improve the Motown Historical Museum in America by donating $125,000.

Later Life

In the years to follow Jackson released 1991 album Dangerous which was certified for seven million in sales.

1993 saw Jackson conduct his first TV interview in 14-years with Oprah Winfrey. He reveals that the change in his skin complexion is due to skin condition vitiligo.

Children: Jackson had three children in his latter years / PA

In 1994 Jackson married Elvis Presleys daughter Lisa Marie Presley. The couple divorced two-years later.

That same year Jackson wed nurse Debbie Rowe and the couple welcomed son Prince Michael.

In 1997 the Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame cementing their status in music history.

Just a year later Jackson welcomed daughter Paris and his third final child, Prince Michael II, was born four years later.

King of Pop: Jackson earned his title in the industry / AP

In the years before Jacksons death he was plagued with allegations of child molestation, to which he plead not guilty.

In June 2005 Jackson was acquitted of all charges following an 18-month trial.

On June 25 2009, Jackson was found dead following cardiac arrest due to acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication.

The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide and Jacksons physician Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Jackson was honoured in a star-studded memorial including Kobe Bryant, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Stevie Wonder.B ritain's chances of a second heatwave have apparently been dashed with forecasters predicting gloomy clouds, sweeping showers and even frost.

The north of England and southern Scotland however are set to enjoy clear sunny skies today, while London and the southeast is hit by thundery rain. And later tonight, frost will hit in some areas as temperatures dip towards zero.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said most of England will remain dry after the morning rains clear, with clouds breaking in the southwest over Devon and Gloucestershire, and some ample sun in the northernmost parts of England and southern Scotland.

He said: "It's a brighter day today compared to Tuesday. Most places will be dry for much of the day, with some places starting off with a bit of rain."

The Met Office's Alex Deakin updates us on the weather for Wednesday, August 29 / Met Office

A band of rain will clear away from Scotland overnight, he added, with southern Scotland having some sunny spells, and a scattering of showers over the highlands. A lot of cloud coverage over Northwest England, parts of Wales and Southwest England. Thundery showers hitting East Anglia, London and the southeast will clear by Lunch while elsewhere, the band of rain fizzles out, clouding over the midlands and East of England.

Mr Deakin added: "Although its sunnier than Tuesday it's not necessarily warmer, with temperatures in the mid teens - a fresh feel, particularly in the far north."

But this evening - as clouds clear away across the UK, most can expect a fine evening.

"But the clear evening allows the temperatures to fall - it's going to be a chilly night on Wednesday with temperatures getting down into single figures, especially in the rural north, and the possibility of a touch of frost."

Tomorrow will open up to a similarly miserable start - but most areas enjoying sunny spells.

Chilly nights will be a feature for the rest of the week, said the forecaster, however the days will warm up, especially in the southeast where temperatures reach the early to mid 20s - and the rest of the UK following with increasingly dry weather y Sunday.T he internet is a wonderful place, full of interesting information and things to do.

But for many, it can be a dark and scary place, with known and anonymous trolls using the many social media platforms to reign down their abuse.

A survey by the Pew Research Centre last year found that 73 per cent of adults had seen someone harassed in some way online, with 40 per cent personally experiencing abuse on the internet. In recent years, celebrities and actors, including Ghostbusters Leslie Jones and Star Wars Kelly Marie Tran have deleted their social media accounts after receiving abuse.



The director of Public Prosecutions in the UK, Alison Saunders, said online abuse can fuel dangerous hostility and has called for online hate crimes to be treated as seriously as attacks that take place offline.

When youre facing abuse online, it can feel overwhelming and you may not be sure how to report an issue such as this.

Heres a handy guide on how to deal with abuse on the main social media platforms and how to report incidents.

Facebook

Of all the social networks, Facebook is the one that has gone all in on offering advice for reporting online abuse.

It says it has been working to "strengthen the reporting of abuse over the past few years".

"If you receive nudity, hate speech or threats on Facebook you can go to the Report link near the post or comment to report it to us," it says.

Messenger is a bit of a different ball game. If youre receiving uncomfortable messages on Facebook Messenger, you can block the messages using the settings cog in the top right of the chat block.

However, this doesnt mean they are blocked on Facebook completely: they are only blocked from contacting you on Messenger. To block them from Facebook entirely, you would have to do that separately.

As well, you can report the messages, ignore the conversation and delete the conversation. This wont delete the conversation from their inbox, only yours, so you dont have to see it. However, if you want to report the chat, you will need to take a screenshot before you delete it.

The Zuckerberg-owned platform has been doing a lot to tacle revenge porn or 'non-consensual sharing of intimate images' (NCII) as the company calls it.

Love, lies and nudes - revenge porn documentary trailer

If you fear you will be a victim of revenge porn or NCII, you can actually upload the intimate images of yourself to Facebook Messenger, which is secure and encrypted. Facebook then hashes these images (turns them into a numerical fingerprint), stores the code in its library, and deletes the images.

In the eventuality that one of these images is uploaded to Facebook, the company uses artificial intelligence (AI) for photo matching technology so it can cross-reference this to the numerical code and remove it straight away.

This is currently in a pilot stage around the globe but its a smart and secure way to tackle an issue that predominantly affects women on the internet.

Google - YouTube

Google says to use its reporting feature on YouTube with 'extreme caution' (Shutterstock ) / Shutterstock

Google warns that you should use their report tool with extreme caution. If you misuse it, you may be prohibited from using YouTube, they say.

However, it is important to flag abusive content on the platform, and the company says this tool is the best way to do so if youre being targeted.

To report a comment on a video, tap More below the comment, click report, and leave the reason for reporting.

A few accounts need to report a comment before it will be hidden under a Marked as Spam link.

Reporting comments in a live stream requires a similar process: click the More feature below the comment, select report, and write the reporting reason.

Instagram

When reporting messages on Instagram, its a little bit trickier than the other platforms, something that has been highlighted in the past.

If you want to file a report, you need to do it through Instagrams online help centre, via a form that requires you to input your email address.

If you dont have an Instagram account but see something that is abusive or defies the networks community guidelines, you can do it through an online form.

For instance, if you discover someone is impersonating you with a false Instagram account, you can report it to Instagram through a form and make sure you have a photo of your government-issued ID to prove you are real.

What is good about Instagrams offering is that it offers a lot of advice on how to block people so they cant see your photos or videos, as well as how to report messages and accounts.

To block someone on Instagram, tap their username and go to their profile, before tapping the three dots that denote settings and hitting Block.

As well as blocking, you can report an account by clicking settings and tap report.

If its an individual message you want to report, then open up the conversation. Tap and hold the individual message and select report.

In general, with Instagram, you can report abuse and spam within the app using these methods.

Snapchat

Given that Snapchats predominant users are Generation Z and below, this platform needs to be hotter than most when it comes to reporting tools for abuse.

Snapchat offers advice to parents on what to do about online abuse

The platforms red flags include nudity or sexually suggestive content, invasions of privacy, threats and violence, harassment and bullying, as well as hate speech and terrorism.

If youre unhappy with a particular Snap or Story, hold down on the content until a white flag button appears in the bottom-left corner. You can use this little tool to report the story.

To report a particular account, press and hold down on the account's name, until a settings cog symbol appears. Tap this button, before selecting report to report the account.

As well as reporting issues in the app, Snapchat also hosts a support site, where you can contact the company using its I need help page.

The platform also offers advice to parents about what to do if their child is being bullied online, as it also has links to NetSmartz, a US-based education programme which focuses on internet safety for young people.

Twitter

Probably due to the constant criticism about the level of abuse on the platform, Twitters reporting tools are pretty comprehensive.

You can report individual tweets by designating that they are abusive or harmful. As well, you can report individual accounts for abusive behaviour, and report individual message or conversations.

In all instances, Twitter will send you follow-up emails to you about the tweets, but if you dont want to receive this information or see the messages again, then you can uncheck the box which says Updates about this report can show these tweets.

As with other platforms, Twitter isnt promising to act on the content thats been flagged but it offers advice on what to do if you receive a threat that you feel is credible or fear for your own or someone elses life.

The platform recommends contacting law enforcement to raise any credible issues with them. As well, you can get a copy of the report of a violent threat by asking Twitter to email the report to you.

Its difficult when facing abuse on social media, not least because a lot of the time law enforcement isnt yet treating it like a proper crime.Countries & Areas

Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia ZimbabweThe French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania (CCIFER) expresses its concern concerning the negative impact on foreign partners, investors and employees, after the recent statements against multi-national companies, according to a press release sent by the organization.

"We are confident in the proper functioning of the rule of law. If there is any evidence concerning the implication of some companies in illegal activities, then they need to be sanctioned according to the current legal mechanisms in force. The general statements in the media create an untrustworthy climate, both internally, and internationally, with immediate consequences. These are already harmful to both current and future investments, as well as the image of a democratic state that Romania needs to project at a European and international level," CCIFER representatives stated.

The private sector has proven in time its availability in being a constructive dialogue partner of public authorities, in building an efficient business environment, transparent through its direct contributions to the Romanian economy, but also through the active implication in public consultations, with all Governments that have led the country.The continuous investments made by the private sector and the stability of big companies project an image of external credibility, contribute to the development of small and medium-sized companies and of local entrepreneurs, having a determining role in raising the Romanian economy's productivity and competitiveness. Taxes and duties paid, the companies' contribution of technology and expertise, but also the number of employees in an already tense market and a state budget that is searching for a long term balance, are just as many reasons for responsibility in statements and actions."In a moment where Romania is on the verge of assuming grand European responsibilities, the quality of dialogue between the private and public sector is essential in order to ensure a successful leadership and durable results, both locally, as well as regionally. CCIFER reaffirms its availability of actively contributing with the expertise of its members to developing public policies, favorable to Romania's economic growth and global competitiveness of the business environment," reads the press release.CCIFER is a business association that represents the interests of the Romanian-French business community, reuniting over 3,000 companies, totalling 17 billion Euro in turnover and 120,000 jobs. Member in the steering committee of the Association for Romania's Development, since 2016, CCIFER ensures during the period of July-December 2018 the coordination of this dialogue platform, that reunites 45 business organizations, representative for Romania's economy.Several members of the Superior Council of the Magistrates (CSM) are publicly asking the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) to submit to the CSM the protocol between the Judicial Inspection and SRI and inform about the progress with the document's declassification.

"Having in view the public interest expressed for the protocols signed by judicial authority institutions with the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Superior Council of the Magistrates, in its capacity as guarantor of justice independence, requested all judicial institutions to submit for examination all the relevant protocols, before the completion of declassification procedures. The High Court of Cassation and Justice and the General Prosecutor's Office have promptly referred the requested protocols, although they had not been declassified at that time. Despite confirming the conclusion of such a protocol, the Judicial Inspection is the only institution that refused without any justification to refer the document to the Council, despite the latter having requested it twice, on 27.03.2018, and 12.04.2018, respectively," the CSM members write in a letter to SRI Director Eduard Hellvig.

Given the importance of CSM "in the architecture of the judiciary system, considering its legal responsibilities that also engage the disciplinary responsibility of the magistrates - judges and the prosecutors, and their complying with the deontological ethics," the Council members "publicly ask the Romanian Intelligence Service to immediately send the protocol between the Judicial Inspection and SRI, to inform about the stage reached by the declassification procedure and speed up the process."The letter to the SRI is signed by judges Mihai Andrei Balan, Andrea Annamaria Chis and Mihai Bogdan Mateescu, and prosecutors Cristian Ban, Florin Deac, Nicolae Andrei Solomon and Tatiana Toader.Arts education non-profit, Art 120, and Creative Discovery Museum are bringing Pakistani truck artist, Haider Ali, to Chattanooga in September. During his visit, Mr. Ali will share his joyful form of indigenous art by transforming Art 120s school arts outreach vehicle into a mobile work of art.

The Art 120 truck will be featured for one week on Creative Discovery Museum's plaza beginning on Sept. 13. From 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through Sept. 21, children and families will have the opportunity to view the process, interact with Mr. Ali and see the transformation right before their eyes. Once the artwork is complete, Art 120s Mobile arts outreach vehicle will be exhibited at local public events and available for school visits, starting with her first public debut at the Levitt Amp Concert series on Sept. 27.

Through this partnership with Art 120, we are able to bring a unique cultural and arts experience to our community, said Henry Schulson, executive director of Creative Discovery Museum. Haider Alis work is admired across the country. We are honored to host him during his time in Chattanooga.

Hand painted trucks (aka Jingle Trucks), are a popular form of indigenous art in Pakistan. These vehicles feature vibrant floral designs, nature scenes and poetic calligraphy. Because these truck drivers are often away from home for 60 days or more, their artwork reflects symbols and landscapes from their hometown. Likewise, Art 120s jingle truck will have local landscapes, the state bird, and other icons that connect the community.

Mr. Ali is best known for his commission to create an authentic jingle truck for the Smithsonian Museums collection in 2002. Mr. Ali later founded Phool Patti, an art collective designed to bring the message of peace, love, harmony and respect across the globe through the traditional art of Pakistani Truck Painting.

Local sponsorship for this project is provided by Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, ArtsBuild and the Tennessee Arts Commission.Former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) George Maior, Romanian Ambassador to the United States, will be heard on September 4 in the Joint Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate for exercising parliamentary control upon SRI's activity, announced Claudiu Manda, the chairman of the committee.

"I signed an address and tomorrow [Wednesday ed.n] it will leave towards the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I had a dialogue with him through messages, telling him this (...) He has yet to confirm, but I believe he will come," Manda told AGERPRES on Tuesday.

He specified that the subjects of the talk with George Maior revolve around the topics that were brought into discussion by the former head of the National Integrity Agency, Horia Georgescu, after the hearing of former SRI head."We want to see if Mr. Maior confirms them or not and what is Mr. Maior's stance. I say that it is important for mr. Maior to come and I believe that it's in his best interest to come and clarify all aspects that concern him, which is why I believe that he will come to the committee," the chairman of the committee affirmed.Manda said that the discussions will not be about the most recent statements made by George Maior, as ambassador to the United States."The statements that he made during this period does not concern the activity of the SRI control committee, so it is not up to us to discuss this topic. I understand that there are discussions at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it is not a matter that we, the committee, can comment upon," the Social-Democrat specified.The government approved on Wednesday technical and economic indicators for a strategic infrastructure development programmme for the Henri Coanda International Airport, under which a new passenger terminal is being built.

"The programme provides for investment in developing the infrastructure of the Henri Coanda International Airport and consists mainly of the construction of a new passenger terminal capable of accommodating existing and projected passenger traffic, new runways, aprons and related airport infrastructure," governmental spokesman Nelu Barbu said Wednesday after a government meeting.

He added that the new airport access infrastructure will be developed in the eastern area, as well as other infrastructure adjacent to the airport."The new modular passenger terminal will cover 100,000 square metres, with two modules of 1,500 passengers per hour, 25 boarding gates. The apron will cover 650,000 square metres and provide 56 new parking spots for the aircraft; there will be new runways of 266,000 square metres and 9,600 car parks," Barbu explained.According to him, the investment will be implanted in 60 months counting from the signing of the contract, and the necessary funds will come from the airport's own sources. The budget of the Ministry of Transport will provide the money for expropriations, as required by law.The Government included on Wednesday's meeting agenda a memorandum on contracting a loan worth 450 million euro from the European Investment Bank (EIB), in order to continue some investments in rural development, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila announced.

"In respect to the continuation of some important investments in rural development, we have included on today's agenda a memorandum regarding a loan from the European Investment Bank, worth 450 million euro. The funds are meant to ensure the co-financing of projects supported by European funds, through the National Rural Development Program 2014-2020, respectively," Dancila said at the beginning of the Government sitting.

According to the PM, the loan agreement was negotiated with the support of the Public Finance Ministry "under favorable conditions for Romania."Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Wednesday that direct payments granted to farmers in a timely manner have produced the expected effects, mentioning that Romania has obtained for the first time more that 10.2 million tonnes in summer wheat crops, with the estimates of autumn crops being encouraging.

"In the first seven months of the year, Romanian farmers got 2.29 billion euros worth of European funds that were actually invested in agriculture and rural development. By the end of the year, another billion euros will be ploughed into the Romanian agriculture, and this year we will reach 3.29 billion euros of worth of European funds for the financing of agriculture. The results of the good measures in this sector are already evident. As far as the summer harvest is concerned, Romania obtained for the first time more than 10.2 million tonnes of wheat although, as we know, this has not been a good year for agriculture in weather terms," Dancila said at the beginning of a government meeting on Wednesday.

The prime minister said that estimates of the autumn crops are encouraging, with a beneficial impact on community food security, and also in terms of the weight of this sector and the food industry in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."Last year, for example, agriculture contributed 0.7 percentage points to achieving Romania's economic growth of 6.9 percent. We are expecting this sector to contribute to a growth in the Gross Domestic Product this year," added Dancila.She pointed out that during the first five months of this year Romania recorded a surplus of 150 million euros in its foreign trade in agricultural products, while agriculture making up 8.2 percent of Romania's total exports."That is another reason to support investments in this sector with national and European funds," Dancila said.The government will approve on Wednesday a background study for the construction and operation of the Ploiesti - Comarnic - Brasov motorway segment and the operation of the Bucharest - Ploiesti motorway, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said Wednesday.

"Today we approve a background study on the construction and operation of the Ploiesti - Comarnic - Brasov motorway segment, as well as the operation of the Bucharest - Ploiesti motorway. The study was drafted in accordance with the provisions of Emergency Ordinance 39 of 2018 on public - private partnership (...) We discussed the study for this strategic investment project, to be carried out under a public-private partnership, in a first reading in a previous government meeting," Dancila said at the beginning of a government meeting on Wednesday.

According to the head of the government, the award procedures and the competitive dialogue with the investors will start in September, so that this contract will be signed by the end of the current year."The motorway links Bucharest to Brasov, crossing the Sinaia-Busteni-Azuga-Predeal tourist axis. The design and execution is set at four years, at the latest, starting in 2019. At the same time, public bonuses are provided if the execution of works is done in advance, it the works are competed ahead of schedule, but there are also penalties for possible delays," said Dancila.At the same time, the prime minister specified that the term of the private investor's operation of the motorway is 20 years."The estimated total costs for this investment amount to about 1.36 billion euros," said Dancila.According to Dancila, the National Strategy and Projection Commission also has other background studies for public-private partnership projects that will be approved in the Government as they get completed.Romania allocated only 0.48 percent of its GDP for Research and Development, well below the average of 2.03 percent of the GDP spent at the level of the EU, ranking on the second to last place, before Latvia, according to data published by Eurostat on Wednesday.

Moreover, Romania ranks second to last in the EU when it comes to the number of people hired in research and development, 0.3707 percent from the EU total active population in 2016.

The Eurostat report covers other sectors, such as patent applications, where Romania is once again on the second to last place in the EU, with 5.11 patent requests to 1 million people, well below the average of 111.97 patent applications to one million people in the EU.The only indicator in which Romania is well above the EU average is the share occupied by railway and internal waters in freight transport, 59.7 percent of the total internal freight transport in Romania, as opposed to 23.6 percent in the EU.The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will participate in air policing missions in Romania over the next four months.

According to a press statement released by the Romanian Defence Ministry (MApN), the Canadian Royal Air Force is sending approximately 135 personnel and five RCAF CF-188 Hornets to 57th Air Base Mihail Kogalniceanu, Constanta, Romania, to participate in NATO Enhanced Air Policing from September to December 2018.

The Air Task Force (ATF) in Romania is composed mainly of personnel from 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, supported primarily by members of 2 Wing (the RCAF's air expedition wing) and 3 Wing, all based in Bagotville, Quebec."The joint missions will contribute to the development of the reaction and deterrence capacity as well as to the enhancement of interoperability between the Romanian Air Force and the Canadian Air Force," said MApN.RCAF on Wednesday took over the Enhanced Air Policing mission from the UK Royal Air Force at a ceremony hosted by the Romanian Air Force 57th Air Base.The ceremony took place in the presence of the British ambassador to Romania Andrew Noble, and Canadian ambassador Kevin Hamilton, with MApN being represented by Chief of the Air Staff Viorel Pana.NATO Air Policing is a peacetime mission that aims to preserve the security of Alliance airspace. RCAF takes part in this mission on a rotation basis with other NATO nations as part of the Operation Reassurance.Operation Reassurance refers to the RCAF's activities in support of NATO's assurance and deterrence measures through the provision of military capabilities for training, exercises, demonstrations of collective resolve and assigned NATO tasks.This is RCAF's fourth mission in Romania, after the ones conducted in 2014 at the 71st Air Base General Emanoil Ionescu at Campia Turzii, and in 2016 and 2017 at the 57th Air Base Mihail Kogalniceanu.Save Romania Union (USR, opposition) Deputy Stelian Ion on Tuesday announced in front of the Ministry of Justice that his party has demanded the resignation of Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, and that his party will table a simple motion at the beginning of this parliamentary session, a release by USR sent to AGERPRES informs.

'We made that assessment of the Justice Minister and found he is a mark 4 [equivalent of E, ed. n.] minister. Therefore, we have bluntly demanded he should resign from this position. We have explained why we have come to this conclusion, of a mark 4 minister, saying that he has promoted certain pieces of legislation that are criticized by most of the Romanian magistrates, by the Venice Commission, by the European Commission, by the GRECO. He has promoted a text of the abuse of office that serves the criminals' interests. He has repeatedly lied when saying that was not the form for the abuse of office and that he has not excluded the third parties from the text of this piece of regulation. He has lied when he said he didn't know about the December 2016 protocol and was demonstrated with papers that he did know. He was criticized several times by the Superior Council of Magistracy [CSM, ed. n.] for his irresponsible statements at the justice system,' the deputy said.

'Minister Tudorel Toader is a hazard to the rule of law and to the normal activity of the judiciary, therefore his urgent resignation is paramount,' the deputy pointed out.Stelian Ion added that he has not discussed yet with other political parties about the simple motion, only inside his party.According to the source, Tudorel Toader became a submissive tool of Popescu-Tariceanu (Senate's President, ed. n.) and Dragnea (Chamber's Speaker, ed. n.) and endangers the judiciary's stability and independence.'By kicking off the procedure of revoking the Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar, Tudorel Toader wishes to halt the investigation started by the General Prosecutor's Office on the repression of 10 August [when a rally of the Diaspora and Romanians inside the country took place in the Victoriei Square, ed. n.] and bury the truth regarding the political responsibility for the gassing, hitting and injuring of the peaceful protesters. There is no other explanation to the fact that the Justice Minister, who has already known about the protocols between the SRI [Romanian Intelligence Service, ed. n.] and the General Prosecutor's Office, is only using them now, as a motive for the so-called assessment of the Prosecutor General's activity. The explanation offered today [Tuesday, ed. n.] by Tudorel Toader is ludicrous: that they were secret until Liviu Dragnea and Darius Valcov [Prime Minister's adviser, in a first court sentenced to 8-year imprisonment for influence peddling, pending appeal, ed. n.] talked about them! Once again, the Justice Minister is lying to serve the PSD-ALDE [ruling coalition alliance made up of the Social Democratic Party, PSD, major, and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, ALDE, minor] interests!" the USR release reads.USR says that 'all of the diplomas and professional merits count for nothing and do not compensate for the lack of character and the ill intent of the most despicable Justice Minister from the communist dictatorship on.'According to the communique, several representatives of the USR wished to participate on Tuesday in the news conference of the Justice Minister so as to demand the resignation of Tudorel Toader, but say they, Toader 'would have given the order for them not to be allowed to enter the building.'Raw video by CTV Vancouver

1:55 a.m. update: Highway 5 is now open after the route was closed due to a bus crash, 30 km south of Merritt, Thursday afternoon.

UPDATE 9:55 P.M.

At this time, Interior Health has received 43 patients from todays bus accident on the Coquihalla Highway, south of Merritt.

Of those, 10 were sent to Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) in Kamloops, 22 to Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) in Kelowna, and 11 to the Nicola Valley Hospital & Health Centre in Merritt.

Of the patients received in IH hospitals, patient conditions are as follows:

five are in critical condition

ten are in serious condition

28 have non-life threatening injuries

All three Interior Health hospitals initiated a Code Orange response to this situation. Through the Code Orange response the facilities brought in additional staff and physicians to support patient care.

The next update will be issued at approximately 10 a.m. Friday, August 29.

Photo: Contributed

UPDATE 7:30 P.M.

The bus has been identified as an Asian tour bus headed to Vancouver. The tour company has been identified as Super Vacation which has an office in Richmond.

All 56 passengers on board the bus suffered varying degrees of injury. Six of those are in critical condition and have been airlifted to hospital.

Photo: Contributed - Karlene

UPDATE 4:55 P.M.

Both Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and Kelowna General in Kelowna are on Code Orange which means a disaster or massive casualty incident..

According to Interior Health, Royal Inland is preparing for 40 patients while KGH is expecting up to 20.

UPDATE 4 P.M.

Six people are in need of immediate medical attention after a tour bus carrying Asian passengers rolled over on the Coquihalla Highway, 30km south of Merritt.

The incident occurred shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday.

According to Sgt. Norm Fleming with the Merritt RCMP, 56 people were on board the bus heading from the Okanagan to Vancouver.

"There were 35 that have suffered a minor level of injury, basically, ambulatory, non emergency...15 of them have what would be considered a more major injury, compound fractures and serious broken bones.

Six are being considered as a Code Red requiring an immediate air lift to a hospital for emergency services. Nobody is at this point a fatality."

Fleming says he does not have information as to where those needing more urgent care are being taken.

BC Ambulance has dispatched numerous people to the scene.

"We have sent six helicopters and 19 ground ambulances to the scene, says Kelsie Carwithen, BC Emergency Health Services spokesperson. We are currently on the scene and accessing the situation.

The entire highway has been shut down for the time being.

Fleming says the northbound lanes are being used as staging for air ambulances and should be open soon.

The southbound lanes are expected to remain closed for some time. Traffic is being rerouted to either highway 1 or 8 at Merritt.

At this point there is not an estimated time of opening.

UPDATE 3:25 P.M.

The Coquihalla Highway is closed southbound at Merritt due to a tour bus accident 30km south of the city. According to DriveBC, detours are available via Highways 1 and 8. No estimated time of re-opening is not available at this time.

Details of the crash involving the tour bus are still sketchy.

It is believed the bus did flip over and catch fire.

Sgt. Norm Fleming with the Merritt RCMP Detachment says he does not know how many passengers were on board, how many were injured or the seriousness of those injuries.

Fleming says he believes triage will be performed on the injured passengers at the scene.

Patients would then be sent to hospital either by ground ambulance or air.

A witness of the accident tells Castanet that it appears multiple people are injured and there is visible blood on the side of the bus.

We will have more details when they become available.

Send pics, video to [email protected]

There are reports of a possible crash involving a tour bus on the Coquihalla Highway south of Merritt.

This has been confirmed by Merritt Fire Rescue, who say that one of their rescue trucks and five members are headed to the scene.

It's believed the crash happened about 20 kilometres south of the town.

Multiple ambulances are also believed to be en route.

No further details are available at this time.Photo: The Canadian Press Porsche Taycan is shown in Stuttgart, Germany.

While Tesla grapples with internal issues like production delays, a sometimes-erratic CEO and a recent about-face on whether to go private, its rivals are moving aggressively into the luxury electric vehicle space.

In the next few days, German competitors Mercedes-Benz and Audi, the luxury arm of Volkswagen, are both showing off production-ready electric sport-utility vehicles aimed at Tesla's Model X.

Meanwhile Jaguar Land Rover offers the I-Pace electric SUV while further out, Porsche is taking on Tesla's Model S high performance luxury car with the Taycan, expected to reach the market in late 2019.

The established carmakers have multiple motives. They need zero driving emissions vehicles to meet tougher greenhouse gas limits coming into effect in Europe in 2021. Diesel is in the doghouse. And China, a major market, is pushing hard for more electrics.

But the new models will also aim to win back some of the luxury customers drawn away by Tesla's electric vehicles at a time when the company is consumed by multiple distractions . Its CEO, Elon Musk, took to Twitter on Aug. 7 to abruptly announce he had secured funding to take his company private, only to turn around 17 days later to say that Tesla would remain public . The electric carmaker is also facing financial pressure, with a $230 million debt payment that's due in November on top of the $920 million that must be paid off three months later. And it has only recently hit production targets for its Model 3 mass-market vehicle.

In the meantime, its rivals  who had emphasized diesel and hybrids  are finally rolling out the leading edge of what they say will be a slew of all-electric models. Their latest offerings are "the vanguard" of more to come, said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

"By 2020, Tesla must stabilize itself or be overtaken," he said.

The new entrants challenge what has been one of Tesla's key selling points: range. The EQC sport utility crossover from Daimler AG's luxury brand Mercedes, for instance, should go up to 500 kilometres on a single charge. That's comparable to Tesla's SUV, the Model X, which has a range of up to 295 miles. The EQC, to be unveiled outside of Stockholm on Sept. 4, is the first in the Mercedes EQ sub-brand that bundles the company's efforts in electric, connected and autonomous driving.

Volkswagen's Audi will show off its e-tron in San Francisco on Sept. 17. It offers more than 400 km on a single charge. The company says the e-tron should be able to use high-speed charger facilities  if they're available  to charge in less than 30 minutes. The German price will be around 80,000 euros ($93,000) and it should go on sale near the end of the year in Europe, and next year in the U.S.

The Porsche Taycan will also pose a stiff challenge to Tesla's Model S in terms of range: Porsche claims it can load enough power for 400 km in just 15 or 20 minutes. The company hasn't announced a price. The I-Pace, whose price starts at $69,500 before local and federal incentives, offers 470 km under the tougher European Union standard. The Model S, meanwhile, has a range of up to 335 miles.

The starting price for Tesla's Model X is around $80,700 while the Model S is around $74,500.

Not that Tesla is standing still while the competition laps it. Musk has said the company intends to develop a Model Y, a small SUV to be unveiled in the first half of next year  a growing sales category that other carmakers have been piling into as fast as they can.

But Tesla's ambitions go way beyond the luxury electric vehicle market. That's the whole point of the Model 3, which is aimed at the mass market with a starting price of $35,000 and an EPA range of 498 km. But there, too, the company must go head to head with rivals. They include the BMW i3 with a starting price of $44,500 and an EPA range of 114 miles; the Nissan Leaf with a starting price of $30,000 and an EPA range of 151 miles; and the Chevrolet Bolt with a starting price of $37,495 and an EPA range of 238 miles. Nissan promises a longer range version of the Leaf for 2019 and in 2020, Volkswagen plans to launch a compact version of its all-electric ID lineup.

Tesla's Supercharger network has a big advantage over competitors. The company's website says it has 1,332 fast-charging stations with 10,901 charging units worldwide. Electric cars made by other manufacturers can't use Tesla stations and public and private charging stations are sporadic.Photo: The Canadian Press/file

Nunavut officials are investigating a polar bear attack that killed an Inuit hunter and injured two others.

RCMP say the three from the community of Naujaat were discovered off White Island, about 80 kilometres away, on Tuesday.

The two survivors had minor injuries.

The hunters left Naujaat, which is on the northernmost shore of Hudson Bay, Aug. 21 to hunt narwhal and caribou. They were expected home on Thursday.

Police say they were notified when the trio hadn't shown up by Sunday. Search efforts by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, the Nunavut Emergency Management office and a local search team began Monday.

Resources included a Hercules airplane and boats from the Naujaat search-and-rescue team. The boats weren't able to reach where the hunters were believed to be when sea ice blocked the way.

A second Hercules as well as a helicopter-equipped icebreaker joined the search on Tuesday.

White Island is an uninhabited island of low peaks and frozen lakes at the mouth of Repulse Bay.

RCMP continue to investigate the death. A team from the Nunavut Environment Department is also on the site.

Department spokesman Dan Pimentel said a report on the death should be available in the next few days.

It's Nunavut's second fatal polar bear attack this summer.

In early July, a man from Arviat was killed when a bear appeared during a family outing on an island near the community. Aaron Gibbons, 31, died after he placed himself between the bear and his children, who were able to run to safety.

That bear was subsequently killed. A report on its condition has not been made public.

Fatal polar bear attacks on humans are rare despite the animals' fearsome abilities.

Pimentel said the last fatal mauling before this year was in 2000 near Rankin Inlet.Regional international organizations formed to keep the peace are loathe to adjusting borders, even if such changes maintain the peace. For example, when Kosovo President Hashim Thaci recently proposed a correction of its border with Serbia, active and retired diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic warned against the idea. Their reasoning is flawed.

In an interview with the Albanian service of the Voice of America, Thaci supported a joint Serbia-Kosovo agreement that would redefined their 250-mile long border. A corrected border may allow 55,000 ethnic Albanians currently living in Serbias Presevo Valley to join Kosovo. In return, 50,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo north of the Ibar River in northern Mitrovica would be permitted to join Serbia.

Warning against such a redefinition of the Serbia-Kosovo border was the European Union. Thaci and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic are scheduled to meet in Brussels in September under the auspices of the EU. However, EU and US diplomats are already nixing any idea of a border alteration, even though it might ensure long-lasting peace between the former warring parties.

Former US special envoy to the Balkans, Daniel Serwer, told the VOA that adjusting borders was a bad idea. He believes that alteration of the Serbian-Kosovo border would result in Kosovo Albanians pushing for a union with Albania. But Serwer was being disingenuous. He indicated his real worry was a push to change the Serbian border with Bosnia-Herzegovina to include the Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina inside Serbia. And Serwer did not miss a chance to warn about border alterations leading to the union of South Ossetia with Russia. He said such border realignments would open a Pandoras box. This is the same sort of status quo enthusiasm that has led to international organizations opposing aspirant nations attempting to secede from colonialist-minded countries.

Another regional international organization that joins the EU in generally opposing border changes in the African Union (AU). Until recently, Ethiopia and Eritrea both claimed ownership of the border town of Badme. In 2002, a joint border commission awarded Badme to Eritrea. The decision resulted in Ethiopia refusing to recognize the decision and a prolonged border conflict ensued between the two countries. In July, Ethiopias reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, traveled to Eritrea to meet with that internationally-sanctioned president, Isaias Afwerki. Ethiopia has agreed to withdraw its troops from the contested border region. However, as of the end of August, Ethiopian troops remain in the contested region. Part of the reluctance by Ethiopia to officially disengage from Badme may be due to the country hosting the headquarters of the AU. If Ethiopia goes along willingly with a border demarcation change, the status quo enthusiasts within the AU may fear a domino effect across the continent. This is the same mindset that prevails in Brussels and Washington. While border changes are always welcome by atlas publishers and cartographers, they are anathema to diplomats who constantly adhere to the party line of the world order, whatever it may constitute at any given time.

The Sudan-South Sudan border has been contentious ever since South Sudans independence from Sudan in 2011. Both nations claim the areas of Abyei, Heglig, Jodha, Kafia Kingi, and Kaka. Because there are petroleum reserves in the disputed regions, Sudan took advantage of South Sudans civil war to militarily occupy Abyei and Heglig. Border discussions between the two sides are ongoing.

When internationally-monitored border disputes become resolved, a big loser is the international peacekeeping industry. Peacekeeping is handled by several international organizations, including the United Nations, AU, EU, NATO, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Arab League, and Organization of American States. In some cases, individual countries step up to provide peacekeepers, as was the case with Qatars troops monitoring the disputed Dumaira Mountains on the Eritrea-Djibouti border. The Qatari forces remained in the disputed border region until June 2017, when Djibouti, under Saudi Arabian pressure, expelled the Qatari peacekeepers. The Saudi dispute with Qatar resulted in the Saudis pushing to limit Qatars international profile, even as a neutral peacekeeper.

Nations that benefit financially from providing peacekeepers, mostly to the UN, are Fiji, Nepal, Philippines, and Bangladesh. Peacekeepers from these and other countries are found from Syrias Golan Heights and south Lebanon to Kashmir and Cyprus. With nations like Fiji and Nepal earning revenue by seconding their troops to UN peacekeeping operations, mission creep often extends the life of some peacekeeping deployments. For example, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has been in operation since 1964. However, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has been around since 1949. If the Cypriot and Kashmir situations were settled tomorrow, the UN, Fiji, Nepal, and various aid organizations would be saddled with the problem of how to compensate for a loss of mission and financial resources. No wonder professional diplomats are so keen on not resolving border conflicts. A peaceful resolution to border quarrels might result in unemployment for diplomats.

Maintaining the status quo regarding border disputes is also attractive to the private mercenary business. These firms earn more than $200 billion annually by providing security services to governments, private corporations, and international organizations like the UN and International Committee of the Red Cross. It is a lucrative business that finds the more trouble spots there are in the world, the better it is for their bottom lines. In what could be called the misery industry, there are profits to be made.

There are hundreds of border disputes around the world. These range from hot conflicts, such as the India-Pakistan front lines in Kashmir and lukewarm conflicts,  as seen in the South China Sea  to dormant conflicts, such as those that exist between the United States and Canada over Machias Seal Island, which saw tensions recently flare as hostility grew between the Trump administration and the Canadian government.

As seabed mother lodes of rare earth minerals and oil reserves are discovered, we can look forward to dormant claims for islands and marine territory becoming active, thus providing inroads for international peacekeeping interests. We have already seen a military scramble for islands in the South China Sea between littoral stakeholders, including China, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia and non-regional players, like the United States, India, and Japan. Few would believe that Spain has a claim for the island of Kapingamarangi in Micronesia; Indonesia for the Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Timor Sea between Australia and East Timor; and Canada for Hans Island, a Danish-claimed spot of land located between Greenland and Canadas Baffin Island.

Two vested interests threaten to keep as many border conflicts at a hair-trigger from armed skirmishes. The first is the bureaucracy that has been built up around international peacekeeping, one that has covered up egregious rapes of women and children in countries ranging from Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Bosnia and the Central African Republic. The second is private military contractors that are anxious to receive outsourcing contracts from organizations and countries to maintain the peace. If the international peacekeeping bureaucracy has enjoyed relative immunity from being held accountable for the abuses committed by their forces in world hot spots, the private military contractors are practically held free and clear of any responsibility. This was on display in Iraq and Afghanistan by the US firm Blackwater, which avoided being held criminally responsible for several civilian deaths.

If Blackwater founder Erik Prince has his way, the Trump administration will assign his teams of mercenaries, based in the United Arab Emirates, Somaliland, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Libya, a greater role in peacekeeping in battle zones like Afghanistan, Syria, northern Iraq, and South Sudan. War is now a commodity that has investors ready to trade shares in a virtual market that includes peacekeeping bureaucracies and private contractors. The privatization of war has always been a goal for the anti-government libertarians who have embedded themselves in the Trump White House. These ghoulish marketers of death and destruction have finally achieved their nirvana in the Trump administration.Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami visited Damascus Aug. 26-27 in order to have a new military cooperation agreement signed. The move is evidently a response to US and Israeli demands to withdraw Iranian forces from Syria. No details have been provided about the documents content but its logical to surmise it contains a list of mutual obligations in the event that the Iranian military is attacked in Syria.

The deal mentions Irans role in the reconstruction of Syrias defense industry, thus ending any hopes that its military presence in that country will end. According to the Iranian defense chief, the "defense and technical agreement" provides for the continued "presence and participation" of Iran in Syria. He added that an agreement had been reached with Syria that Iran would have presence, participation, and assistance in the reconstruction and that no third party will be influential in this issue.

The agreement was signed just as the Russia-Turkey-Iran summit was announced, which is scheduled for Sept. 7 in Tehran. Such events normally require thorough preparations. The parties are expected to reach an agreement on further joint steps to achieve progress in Syria. Its important to align their positions before the UN talks in Geneva, which are slated for Sept. 11-12. UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the big three to participate. They can come up with joint initiatives while the US has nothing to offer but its demands for Irans withdrawal. It risks being left out in the cold, while diplomatic efforts initiated by other states bear fruit.

This turn of events will hardly be welcome news for those who would like to stymie the peace efforts and impose their own conditions for reaching any settlement of the problem.

The need to end Iranian assistance to Lebanons Hezbollah was emphasized during last weeks visit of US National Security Adviser John Bolton to Israel. The parties did not declare war on Iran, but there is no way to stop the supplies from reaching Hezbollah in Lebanon without cutting off the land routes going through Syria. The US official insisted before the visit to Israel that the withdrawal of Irans forces from Syria is a prerequisite to any resolution of the conflict.

The US and its allies in Syria find it important to scuttle Syrias plans to liberate the province of Idlib from the rebels. A false-flag chemical attack is expected to be staged soon, to create a pretext for military action. Once Syria and Iran are in the same boat, it makes no difference which of them is attacked first or where. There have been media reports that a large-scale military operation is in the works and can be expected in August or September.

There is no way to know what exactly Mr. Bolton discussed with the Israeli authorities during his visit to Jerusalem on Aug. 19 but the reports about the military activities at the US al-Shaddadi base in the Syrian province of al-Hasakah emerged soon afterward. The facility has been reported to have been updated to enable the landing and takeoff of heavy cargo aircraft. Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) has also been expanded. In August, shipments of ammunition and military hardware were delivered to several US-controlled facilities in Syria and Iraq. Radars have been transported to the SDF-controlled areas east of the Euphrates River.

Meanwhile, several thousand militants with heavy weaponry and armored vehicles in Syrias Idlib province are getting ready to launch an offensive against government-controlled regions of Hama and Aleppo. The attack will be targeted at Syrian as well as Iranian and pro-Iranian forces that have been invited in by the Syrian government.

It looks like plans are underway to force Syria to plunge into turmoil once again. In reality, the combat actions have already started. The US and Israel conducted their first joint operation against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force and the Iraqi Shiite Khataib Hezbollah, their allies, on Aug. 23 near Abu Kamal, which is situated on the highway between Syria and Iraq. President Trump has said so many times and on so many occasions that he wants the Americans to leave Syria but US foreign policy is known for its flip-flops. Whatever is said today may be forgotten tomorrow.

This time, Lebanon may become a new front. Its widely believed that a war between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable. In February, US and Israeli troops held an exercise to practice for a potential war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, a country that holds a military agreement with Russia. The offshore drilling contracts Lebanon has signed with other countries, without solving its border dispute with Israel, are spurring the war preparations.

Syria and Iran have defied pressure and demonstrated their resolution not to bow but to protect their right to make independent decisions. They are offering a challenge. If the defense agreement just signed between those two allies provokes a military conflict, it will most certainly spill over to other countries, such as Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq. It would lead to a long, protracted, and costly war.William Engdahl

I recently returned from a fascinating two week speaking tour in China. The occasion was the international premier of my newest book, One Belt, One RoadChina and the New Eurasian Century.

In the course of my visit I was invited by Chinas Northwest University in Xian to give a lecture and seminar on the present global political and economic situation in the context of Chinas New Economic Silk Road as the One Belt, One Road project is often called.

What Ive seen in my many visits to China, and have studied about the entirety of this enormously impressive international infrastructure project convinces me that a Eurasian Century at this point is unstoppable.

The idiotic wars of the Washington war-hawks and their military industryin Syria, in Ukraine, Libya, Iraq and now the South China Sea provocations against Chinaare not going to stop what is now clearly the most impressive and economically altering project in more than a century.

The term American Century was triumphantly proclaimed in a famous editorial in Life magazine in 1941 in the early phase of World War II, before the United States had even entered the war, to describe the system publisher Henry Luce saw dominating the postwar world after the fall of the rival British Empire.

The American Century has lasted a mere seven decades if we date from the end of the war. Its record has been one of dismal failure on balance. The industrial base of the United States, the predominant leading industrial nation and leading scientific innovator, today is a hollowed, rotted shell with once-booming cities like Detroit or Philadelphia or Los Angeles now burned-out ghettos of unemployed and homeless.

The Federal Debt of the United States, owing to the endless wars its Presidents engage in, as well as the fruitless bailouts of Wall Street banks and Government Sponsored Enterprises like Fannie Mae, is well over 103% of GDP at an astonishing $19.5 trillion, or more than $163,000 per taxpaying American and Washington is adding to the debt this year at near $600 billion. Countries like China and Russia are moving away from subsidizing that debt at a record pace.

Americas economic basic infrastructurebridges, sewer and water treatment plants, electric grid, railways, highwayshave been neglected for more than four decades for a variety of reasons.

The American Society of Civil Engineers recently estimated that gross domestic product will be reduced by $4 trillion between 2016 and 2025 because of lost business sales, rising costs and reduced incomes if the country continues to underinvest in its infrastructure. That is on top of the fact that they estimate the country at present urgently requires new infrastructure investment of $3.3 trillion by the coming decade just to renew.

Yet US states and cities are not able to finance such an investment in the future in the present debt situation, nor is the debt-choked Federal Government, so long as a cartel of corrupt brain-dead Wall Street banks and financial funds hold America to ransom.

This is the sunset for the American Century, a poorly disguised imperial experiment in hubris and arrogance by a gaggle of boring old patriarchs like David Rockefeller and his friends on Wall Street and in the military industry. It is the starkest contrast to what is going on to the east, across all Eurasia today.

Flowing the Thought to Transform

The Eurasian Century is the name I give to the economic emergence of the countries contiguous from China across Central Asia, Russia, Belarus, Iran and potentially Turkey. They are being integrally linked through the largest public infrastructure projects in modern history, in fact the most ambitious ever, largely concentrated on the 2013 initiative by Chinese President Xi Jinping called the One Belt, One Road initiative or OBOR.

The project and its implications for Europe and the rest of the world economy have been so far greeted in the west with a stone silence that defies explanation.

Its been now three years that have transpired since then-new Chinese President Xi Jinping made one of his first foreign visits to Kazakhstan where he discussed the idea of building a vast, modern network of high-speed train lines crossing the vast Eurasian land space from the Pacific coast of China and Russia through Central Asia into Iran, into the states of the Eurasian Economic Union, principally Russia and potentially on to the select states of the European Union.

That initial proposal was unveiled in detail last year by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinas economic planning organization, and the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Commerce.

Its a useful point to look now more closely at what has transpired to date. It reveals most impressive developments, more because the development process is creative and organic. The great project is no simple blueprint made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and then simply imposed, top down, across the so-far 60 countries of Eurasia and South East Asia.

An international conference was recently held in Xian, origin of the ancient version of One Belt, One Road, namely the Silk Road. The purpose of the international gathering was to review what has so far taken place.

Its fascinating, notably, in the care thats being taken by China to do it in a different way, as indications so far are, different from the way American Robber Barons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, E.H. Harriman, Jay Gould or Russell Sage built rail monopolies and deluded and defrauded investors with railroad monopolies more than a century ago.

The seminar, titled the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): Shared Memory and Common Development, on September 26th, brought together over 400 participants from more than 30 countries including government officials, universities, corporations, think tanks and media.

A key role is being played by Renmin University of Chinas Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies to identify progress and problems of the OBOR project. Their report in Xian presented principles underlying the OBOR international project: It adheres to the principles of the UN Charter; it is completely open for new participant nations to cooperate; it will follow market rules and seek mutual benefit of participating countries.

Those are noble words. Whats more interesting is the flow process underway to realize such words and to build the mammoth game-changing infrastructure.

Notably, Chinas Xi Jinping decided to encourage input from sources other than the state central planning agency or the Communist Party for the complex OBOR. He encouraged creation of private and independent think-tanks to become a source of new creative ideas and approaches.

Today there is a Chinese Think Tank Cooperation Alliance group coordinating efforts around OBOR headed by the dean of the Renmin University. In turn they partner with think tanks along the OBOR route including think tanks in Iran, Turkey, India, Nepal, Kazakhstan and other countries.

There will be two main routes of the OBOR. On land there are several routes or corridors in work. The Initiative will focus on jointly building what is being called a new Eurasian Land Bridge from China via Kazakhstan on to Rotterdam. Other OBOR land rail corridors include developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia, China-Pakistan, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar, and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors.vThis is huge.

It will build on international transport routes, relying on core cities along the OBOR route and using key economic industrial parks as cooperation platforms.

At sea, the Initiative will focus on jointly building smooth, secure and efficient transport routes connecting major sea ports along the Belt and Road including modern upgraded super port construction that will link present China ports at Haikou and Fujian with Kuala Lumpurs port in Malaysia at the Malacca Strait passage, Calcutta in India, Nairobi in Kenya and via the Suez Canal to Athens and beyond. Crucial is that land and sea parts of OBOR are seen as one whole circulatory system or flow of trade.

The OBOR Initiative will link key Eurasian ports with interior rail and pipeline infrastructure in a way not before seen

To date China has signed memoranda of understanding with 56 countries and regional organizations regarding OBOR. Since his initial proposal in 2013, President Xi Jinping has personally visited 37 countries to discuss implementation of OBOR. China Railway Group and China Communications Construction Company have signed contracts for key routes and ports in 26 countries.

Power plants, electricity transmission facilities and oil and gas pipelines, covering 19 countries along the Belt and Road in some 40 energy projects have begun. China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile are speeding up cross-border transmission projects in countries along the Belt and Road to expand international telecommunication infrastructure.

Already, taking the full sea and land routes of OBOR, some $3 trillion of China trade since June 2013 has flowed over the route, more than a quarter of Chinas total trade volume.

To date China has also invested more than $51 billion in the countries along the present OBOR route. The new land rail routes will greatly reduce transportation costs across Eurasia, enable formerly isolated regions to connect efficiently to sea and land markets and ignite tremendous new economic growth across Eurasia.

The effects of the OBOR are already beginning to appear. Earlier this year an Iranian container ship arrived at Qinzhou Port in China with 978 containers from several countries along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road opening the first shipping route linking the Middle East and the Beibu Gulf or Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnamese.

In February 2016 a container train with Chinese goods took only 14 days to complete the 5,900 mile (9,500km) journey from Chinas eastern Zhejiang province through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

That was 30 days shorter than the sea voyage from Shanghai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, according to the head of the Iranian railway company. China and Iran, now formally part of the OBOR, have targeted bilateral trade, none in US dollars by the way, to exceed $600 billion in the coming decade.

China is presently in negotiations with 28 countries China is in talks with 28 countries including Russia, on high-speed rail projects, Chinas train maker, China CNR reports.

It includes a major joint China-Russia $15 billion high-speed Kazan to Moscow line. The 770 kilometers of track between Moscow and Russias Tatarstan capital, Kazan, will cut time for the journey from 12 hours now to just 3.5 hours. China has agreed to invest $6 billion in the project which would become a part of a $100 billion high-speed railway between Moscow and Beijing.

Notably, for the new high-speed track being laid, China is developing a new generation of trains capable of reaching speeds of 400 kilometers per hour. And the new trains will solve the costly rail gauge switching problem between China rails and Russian.

Trains in Russia run on a 1520mm track, compared to the narrower 1435mm track used in Europe and China. Jia Limin, the head of Chinas high-speed rail innovation program told China Daily that, The train will have wheels that can be adjusted to fit various gauges on other countries tracks, compared with trains now that need to have their wheels changed before entering foreign systems.

Given its strategy of building thousands of kilometers of high-speed railways and developing its domestic Chinese rail sock manufacture as well as other rail technology, China today is the worlds leading producer of rail technology.

Financing the moving

Impressive is that China has secured capital commitment for the OBOR from various sources including the China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China, the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS New Development Bank and other sources including its Silk Road Fund to finance the huge undertaking.

The Silk Road Fund has posted $40 billion to fund the OBOR projects. So far close to a quarter trillion US dollars of ready money and another half trillion in supranational institutional working capital is reasonably within reach.

The Western doomsday reports of Chinas economy going down the tubes are simply either self-serving propaganda of hedge funds or speculators or fed by lack of understanding of the profound transformation in the entire structure of not only Chinas but all Eurasias economy through the One Belt One Road initiative. China is undergoing a major transformation from a cheap-labor screwdriver assembly nation to a high-value-added high-tech manufacturer.

Geopolitical transformation

The One Belt, One Road initiative of Xi Jinping and the Eurasian partners, especially Russia, also has strategic dimensions of major import. The construction of new infrastructure corridors spanning across the Eurasian landmass in the form of highways, railways, industrial parks, and oil and gas pipelines, OBOR is connecting for the first time in the modern era landlocked regions of hinterland China and Russia and Central Asia republics with the sea ports.

Linking key Eurasian industrial hubs to ports with efficient transportation will revolutionize connectivity of hinterland industrial products and raw materials of every kind. The Russian and Eurasian lands, including China, contain perhaps the richest untapped concentration of every raw material known.

The One Belt, One Road also includes oil and gas pipeline transportation corridors. In January 2015 the Myanmar-China Pipeline project, 2400 km long, was completed, linking Myanmars deep-water port of Kyaukphyu on Maday Island in the Bay of Bengal with Kunming in Yunnan province in southeast China near Myanmars border.

Its a joint project of the China Development Bank and Myanmar Foreign Investment Bank. The new pipeline allows China to import up to 400,000 barrels a day of Middle East oil over a route 1100 km shorter than the previous Malacca Strait sea route, reducing time to reach the large industrial hub city of Kunming by 30%, major economic gains, and avoiding the strategic chokepoint of the Malacca Strait where the US Navys Sixth Fleet dominates.

Previously, 80% of Chinese oil and gas imports crossed the Malacca straits and were subject to US controls. Were the present escalating tensions between Washington and China over the South China Sea or other issues to escalate, China would be brought to her knees much like Japan prior to declaring war in 1941, when the USA embargoed her oil. A second pipeline brings natural gas from Qatar and Myanmar gas fields to China.

The OBOR includes oil and gas pipelines that reduce time and distance to imports of Middle East oil and gas

China will pay $53 billion to Myanmar in pipeline royalties over 30 years. They will also invest $25 million in schooling and other social development projects along the pipeline and 10% of the gas will stay in Burma.

Mackinder Outflanked?

The totality of the strategy behind Xi Jinpings Eurasian One belt, One Road rail, sea and pipeline initiative, which is moving quietly and impressively forward, is transforming the world geopolitical map. In 1904 a British geographer, Sir Halford Mackinder, a fervid champion of the British Empire, unveiled a brilliant concept in a speech to the London Royal Geographical Society titled the Geographical Pivot of History.

That essay has shaped both British and American global strategy of hegemony and domination to the present. It was complemented by US Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahans 1890 work, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, which advocated sea power, stating that nations with domination of the seas, as the British Empire or later the USA, would dominate the world.

The One Belt, One Road, by linking all the contiguous land areas of Eurasia to the related network of strategic new or enlarged deep-water ports of OBORs Maritime Silk Road, has rendered US geopolitical strategy a devastating blow at a time the hegemony of America is failing as never in its short history.

The Eurasian Century today is inevitable and unstoppable. Built on different principles of cooperation rather than domination, it just might offer a model for the bankrupt United States and the soon-bankrupt European Union, to build up true prosperity not based on looting and debt slavery.

4thmedia.orgSo our prime minister will always call out hate speech.

That's what he says, but does he? No!

When Sheikh Shafiq Huda gave a speech in a public park in Ontario calling for the mass murder of millions of people, our leader, Justin Trudeau, would not call him out. He gives our tax dollars to this man's group and defends them.

Yet when a woman questions him about when money is coming to deal with illegal immigrants, he brands her a racist. Mr. Trudeau, you're a hypocrite and a liar.

Search for the speech yourself online, because you won't find it at the CBC, or CTV or Global or Castanet or the Vancouver Province.

See for yourself what this man and his followers said.

The only place I can find it is at Rebel Media. The Liberals call them Alt-Right and racist because they don't want you watching, so they lie.

All I ask is as a rational Canadian is that you make that decision on your own.

Keith Gossen, West KelownaNew Zealand Firsts outspoken regional development minister came to town this morning and told an elderly audience at the Tauranga Citizens Club exactly what they wanted to hear.

He kicked off with State Highway 2. Shane Jones got a firsthand experience of the controversial highway in the worst of weather because it forced the cancellation of his flight and he had to drive to Tauranga.

I finally got to see that dodgy piece of road that Clayton Mitchell has been telling me all about and something needs to be done about it.

That drew a loud round of applause from his audience. Then he moved onto another potboiler  employment.

If you are fit and able to work, you should go out and work, the Minister told the Cits Club. Adults and parents need to set a good example for the younger generation by going out and working instead of relying on the government."

There was another spontaneous burst of applause and cheering.

He says with his one billion trees scheme he aims to get people out working and planting trees.

A total of 485 million dollars is already invested into the scheme and 50 million trees are planted each year.

Shane says that the funds are there to do the projects.

We just need to groom up the proposals so that they pass muster and that the public can see the value within them as we approve them.

But what is in the pot for the Bay of Plenty is unclear.

I dont know exactly at this stage what the future projects of the Bay of Plenty are. Im relying on civic leaders to lead the way.Click the image above to watch the video

The weather forecast today is for rain developing in the morning, with a chance of it turning heavy, but clearing in the evening. Also southwesterlies.

Its a two-clothing layer day today with a high of 17 and an overnight low of 8 degrees. Humidity is 94 per cent.

High tide is at 9.10 am and low tide at 3.20 pm (Tay Street tide times).

Theres a sea swell of 1.0 and sea temperature is 14 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 5.48pm.

If youre going fishing today the next best fishing time is between 2 and 4pm.

In New Zealand history on this day in 1903 four people were killed by a Rotorua geyser. Guide Joseph Warbrick and three tourists were killed instantly when the Waimangu geyser erupted unexpectedly.

In 1926 the Kawarau Falls dam became operational. Hundreds attended the opening ceremony for a dam above the Kawarau Falls which was to temporarily block the outlet from Lake Wakatipu and hopefully expose gold-bearing rock to prospectors.

In world history on this day in 1963 a Hot Line communications link was installed between Moscow and Washington, DC.

Today is the birthday of Ernest Rutherford, NZ physicist who discovered and named alpha, beta and gamma radiation and was the first to achieve a man-made nuclear reaction. A Nobel Prize winning nuclear physicist, he was known as the "father" of nuclear physics. Born on this day in 1871 he once said We're like children who always want to take apart watches to see how they work and We've got no money, so we've got to think.

To check out activities on today please go to our Whats On page.

Have a great day!Photo: Wayne Moore - File Photo

Tracy Gray's political future will come into focus next week.

There has been speculation Gray, a first-term city councillor, would forgo running for re-election in favour of a run at federal politics.

She will put that speculation to rest next Thursday, when it's expected Gray will announce her candidacy for the Conservative Party nomination in the Kelowna-Lake Country riding.

If Gray does indeed take the federal plunge, she would be the second prominent Kelowna businesswoman to go after the nomination. Developer Renee Wasylyk threw her hat into the ring earlier this month.

Ron Cannan held the Kelowna-Lake Country seat for the Conservatives for three terms before going down to defeat as part of the Liberal wave in 2015.

The riding nomination meeting is expected to be held later this fall.

Voters in Canada won't go to the polls to elect a new federal government until next October.Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Marriott Syracuse Downtown has placed fourth in USA Today's Readers' Choice contest for the title of Best Historic Hotel.

The former Hotel Syracuse was nominated for the award earlier this summer by a panel of hotel experts. Visitors to the 10Best travel website were asked to vote for their favorite.

Opened in 1924 at the southwest corner of South Warren and East Onondaga streets, the hotel closed in 2004 and sat vacant for 10 years before Ed Riley bought it in 2014. Riley spent $82 million restoring the hotel to its former glory and reopened it in 2016.

"During its nearly a century of welcoming guests, famous visitors have included Charles Lindbergh, Elvis Presley, John Lennon and three U.S. presidents," USA Today said about the hotel. "Guests will note that while there are 261 rooms in the hotel, there are 600 guest room doors; these were left to keep the historic integrity of the property when it was restored in 2014."

The Peabody Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, was named the nation's top historic hotel.

Here is the complete Top 10 list:

1. The Peabody Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee

2. Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, Michigan

3. The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado

4. Marriott Syracuse Downtown, Syracuse

5. Deer Path Inn, Lake Forest, Illinois

6. Hotel Emma, San Antonio, Texas

7. West Baden Springs Hotel, French Lick, Indiana

8. Zero George Street, Charleston, South Carolina

9. Wentworth Mansion, Charleston, South Carolina

10. The Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu, Hawaii

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148NEDROW, N.Y. -- The town of Onondaga is in the process of approving plans for a Planet Fitness to open in Green Hills Plaza in Nedrow, according to a town official.

Town of Onondaga Code Enforcement Officer Ben Vincent said the town's approval process should be complete next month. The gym is planning to open by the end of the year, Vincent said.

There are currently three other Planet Fitness locations in Onondaga County. The clubs are in DeWitt, North Syracuse and Westvale.

The proposed gym would occupy 16,000 square feed in Green Hills Plaza next to the former M&T Bank location. The plaza is located at 5957-6003 S. Salina St.

Vincent said the town zoning board is expected to approve the gym's special use permit in mid-September. Vincent said the permit is expected to be approved because a fitness club, Curves, was previously located in the plaza.

The plaza has had major vacancies since the late-1990s when Kmart closed. Other businesses, including Family Dollar and a roller skating rink, opened and closed over the years. Most recently, M&T Bank closed in late-July.

Jamaican Finger Lick Restaurant, State Farm and Saltbox Boutique/Valley Hair Connection are currently located in the plaza, which is near Green Hill Farms grocery store. Vincent said he hopes the addition of Planet Fitness will draw new businesses to the community.

Samuel Vulcano, a salesperson for the Pyramid Brokerage Company, said the plaza is seeking new retail and services tenants, such as a cellular phone sales store, a nail salon, dental office or others.

The plaza's owner is currently making improvements to the plaza, which includes a new parking lot, facade and sidewalks.

View the real estate brochure promoting the Green Hills Plaza:



6003 South Salina Street - Flyer 2018 by The Post-Standard on ScribdThis article by Sarah Moses, Chris Libonati and Samantha House.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse firefighters are continuing to battle a stubborn, smokey fire in a building on North Salina Street on the city's North Side.

Shortly after 4:30 p.m., flames could be seen breaking through the roof of the building at 719 N. Salina St. as firefighters continued to try to put out the blaze.

As of 6:30 p.m., firefighters were still fighting the fire in the three-story brick commercial and apartment building. The fire was called in at 2:32 p.m. at the business, Cities Leather & Luggage.

The smoke can be seen from the SU campus and Interstate 690. The smoke was so thick at times bystanders could barely see across the street.

The wind from a passing storm appeared to fan the flames along the roof.

It appears the fire had spread to adjacent buildings.

At 7:30 p.m., firefighters were still battling the blaze.

At about 6:30 p.m., there was the sound of an explosion from the building as firefighters continued to pour water in through the windows and the roof. Firefighters were working from the ground and aerial trucks.

Crowds had gathered across the street but at 6:15 p.m. firefighters cleared the area on the opposite sidewalk from the fire.

Mayor Ben Walsh briefly arrived at the scene after 5:30 p.m.

Shortly after arriving, firefighters were told to evacuate the building, according to police scanner reports.

Behind the building, firefighters could be seen evacuating residents from apartments in buildings next to the one that was burning.

The business is close to Biscotti Cafe.

The Syracuse Fire Department, American Medical Response and the Syracuse Police Department are responding to the fire.

The firefighters were working in sweltering temperatures. The heat index in Syracuse was hovering around 99 degrees.

One firefighter was taken from the scene on a stretcher.

North Salina Street is closed at East Division Street.

A crowd of onlookers gathered in the street, taking photos and videos of the fire.

More information will be added when it is available.NEW WOODSTOCK, NY - Central New York's newest park - Delphi Falls County Park - is now open to the public.

The 60-acre park, which includes a spectacular two-tiered waterfall, opened without fanfare Sunday. The park, at 2006 Cardner Road in New Woodstock, plans a grand opening celebration this fall, Madison County officials told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard this week.

Retired Syracuse University professor Harold Jones purchased the park for $900,000 and then sold it to Madison County for $150,000 in January.

Jones, 77, said he was awestruck by the beauty of the waterfalls, and wanted the property to be turned into a public nature preserve so everyone could enjoy it. Prior to that, it was owned by a private individual and the public didn't have access to the falls.

Crews have been working to ready the park for public use, and have added handicapped parking, a parking lot, overflow parking and an handicapped-accessible trail that leads right to the base of the lower falls.

Madison County plans to take several years to fully develop the park, said Scott Ingmire, director of the Madison County Planning Department.

"Currently we are in the planning process, but we wanted to open the park for all to experience its wonder,'' he said.

One couple who has experienced the park's beauty already are Travis and Allie Drexler, who were married before the park opened on Aug. 8 at the base of the lower falls.

Allie and Travis Drexler were married at the base of the lower falls in early August.

The couple, who were featured on Syracuse.com for Travis' corn maze wedding proposal, asked Madison County for permission to get married at the waterfalls.

"When Allie approached us about wanting to share her special day at our newest park, we just couldn't say no," said Mark Scimone, Madison County Administrator. "This is just the first of what we hope to be many more weddings here at the falls."

Allie Drexler is from Delphi Falls, and the couple enjoyed a small, private ceremony at the park.

"We are grateful to the county for making it happen,'' said Travis Drexler.

The park is now open, with picnic tables, but no permanent restroom facilities yet, although there is a portable bathroom on site.

The carry-in, carry-out park is open year round from sunrise to sunset. Fishing is permitted, but there is no swimming allowed.SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A national legal group that works to end homelessness has contacted Onondaga County legislators urging them to reject a proposed law against aggressive panhandling.

In a letter emailed today, an attorney from the nonprofit National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty warned county lawmakers that a proposed law against "aggressive solicitation'' is misguided policy that violates the right to free speech.

"This proposed law is unconstitutional (and) fails to address the underlying causes of people needing to ask for donations,'' wrote Eric Tars, a senior attorney for the organization. The law would be ineffective and costly to enforce, Tars said.

Legislature Chairman Ryan McMahon, sponsor of the proposed law, said he will continue to promote the legislation.

County attorneys are tailoring the law narrowly to address threatening or harassing behavior, not simple panhandling, McMahon said. Enforcement of the law, together with new efforts to find services and employment for panhandlers, should help address specific public safety concerns related to panhandling, he said.

The proposed law has been pulled from the agenda for Tuesday's legislature meeting while lawyers continue to tinker with the language. The legal review was under way before the National Law Center expressed its concerns, McMahon said. The earliest the law could be put to a vote would be Oct. 2.

Coincidentally, the National Law Center on Tuesday launched a nationwide campaign to repeal anti-panhandling ordinances in more than 240 communities. A Supreme Court decision in 2015, "Reed vs. Town of Gilbert,'' made clear that panhandling is protected by the constitutional right to free speech.

Since then, 25 local panhandling bans have been overturned in court and at least 31 others have been repealed, the Law Center reports.

In his letter to Onondaga County lawmakers, Tars said even laws targeting "aggressive'' panhandling are likely to lose in court. He cited a 2016 federal case in Florida, in which a judge struck down a Tampa law similar to the proposed Onondaga County legislation.

"The strength of this precedent . . . suggests Onondaga County's ordinance will likely meet a similar fate,'' Tars wrote. "It would be an unfortunate misuse of resources for the county to invite losing litigation.''

McMahon said his legislation is intended to be part of a solution, combined with outreach efforts including a proposed day-labor program. He anticipates legal opposition, which is why county lawyers are still tinkering to strengthen the proposal against potential legal challenges.

"We know that there's folks out there looking to beat this thing up. We want to make sure everything's been looked at and that it's going to be effective,'' he said.

Contact reporter Tim Knauss | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023

National Law Center letter by Tim Knauss on ScribdFloyd Abrams is the author of "The Soul of the First Amendment."

By Floyd Abrams | The Washington Post



President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, announced Tuesday that the administration is "taking a look" at regulating Google's conduct, given Trump's complaints earlier in the day that the company's search results suppress conservative views. Kudlow's statement raises First Amendment concerns of the highest magnitude.



According to the president's predawn tweets, Google's supposed bias is revealed by the too "prominent" role it affords to "Fake CNN" while shutting out "Republican/Conservative & Fair Media."

Responding to the criticism, Google said: "When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds. Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology."

Google's fairness is not only an apt topic for public debate but also an essential one. If it were true, as the president claims, that with biased search results the company is "hiding information and news that is good" about his administration, Google would deserve harsh criticism. And if, on the contrary, the president's tweets were themselves not only unsubstantiated but simply a reflection of the fact that more critical than supportive articles appear in major media, so would he.

That sort of debate is healthy. What is potentially dangerous is the assertion in the president's tweets that "This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!" and Kudlow's intimation that a regulatory response was actually being considered. Of course, Trump and Kudlow may not mean it. Or they may mean it and will not pursue it further. But one cannot tell, and so when such statements are made, it is worth responding immediately: Any such government action would constitute a particularly egregious violation of the First Amendment.

Think of it. Shall we really allow the government, any government, to pass judgment as a matter of law on the choices made by Google and Facebook and the like in providing information to people who seek news about a public official? The very search results objected to by Trump were in response to the words "Trump News." Is it conceivable that we would allow a Trump administration-appointed official body of some sort to decide whether the president was accurate in his complaints that "bad" news about his administration was being exaggerated while "Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good"? Or that "96% of results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media"? More broadly, how could any such governmental action be consistent with the First Amendment, which was adopted as a protection against government itself?

There are, of necessity, some ambiguities in First Amendment law. Times change, and we cannot know what Madison, Jefferson and their colleagues would have made of cases involving bakers of wedding cakes who choose not to sell them to gay couples. What we do know is that, as Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson put it in 1945, the core of the First Amendment is rooted in the view that "every person must be his own watchman for truth, because the forefathers did not trust any government to separate the true from the false for us." And that, as Justice William Douglas observed in 1973, "the struggle for liberty has been a struggle against Government. The essential scheme of our Constitution and Bill of Rights was to take Government off the backs of people."

So let the debate continue about what news is fake and what real, and about whose search engines provide the most reliable responses. But let's leave any government regulation out of it.HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he'll serve a full four years and not seek the White House in 2020 if he's elected to a third term.

The Democrat made the promise Wednesday during a debate at Hofstra University with former "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon ahead of next month's Democratic primary.

Cuomo has been considered a possible presidential contender. He said Wednesday that death would be the only reason he wouldn't serve out a full third term.

Cuomo argues he's better qualified to lead the state, but Nixon says he's a political insider who hasn't addressed corruption or New York City's aging subways.

The winner of the Democratic primary faces Republican Marc Molinaro and independent Stephanie Miner in November.WASHINGTON -- The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled Wednesday against an American paper mill's complaint that it was harmed by cheap imports of Canadian newsprint, effectively ending temporary tariffs imposed by the United States.

The decision is a victory for U.S. newspapers and publishers and more than 100 members of Congress who had argued against the tariffs on uncoated groundwood paper from Canada. The paper is used as newsprint by American newspapers.

"Today is a great day for American journalism," David Chavern, president and CEO of the News Media Alliance said after the decision. The alliance represented American newspapers in the trade case.

"The ITC's decision will help to preserve the vitality of local newspapers and prevent additional job losses in the printing and publishing sectors," Chavern said in a statement. "The end of these unwarranted tariffs means local newspapers can focus once again on playing a vital role in our democracy by keeping citizens informed and connected to the daily life of their communities."

The U.S. Department of Commerce said Aug. 2 that it wanted to make the tariffs permanent but agreed to reduce the maximum duties from 22.16 percent to 16.88 percent.

Both the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission would have had to rule in favor of the complaint filed by a single American paper mill in order for permanent tariffs to be imposed on Canadian imports.

North Pacific Paper Co. in Longview, Washington said that it couldn't compete against Canadian paper mills, which it claimed received government subsidies and sold paper at below-market prices to U.S. customers.

No other American paper mills supported the company's complaint.

Opponents of the tariffs said it would cause unintended harm to the U.S. economy, threatening 600,000 American jobs in the newspaper, retail, printing and publishing industries.

The North Pacific Paper Co., or NORPAC, employs about 385 people. The mill is owned by a private equity firm in New York City.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader, was among the members of Congress who asked both the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission to stop the tariffs.

"The International Trade Commission made exactly the right decision today to completely eliminate them," Schumer said after the vote Wednesday. "I will remain vigilant to make sure that they never return."

The International Trade Commission members did not explain the reasons behind their decision today. The independent federal agency must submit its written determination and views to the Commerce Department by Sept. 17.

The two agencies by federal statute have different roles in determining tariffs. The Commerce Department determines whether other nations have subsidized products or if companies have dumped products below cost into the United States.

The International Trade Commission determines whether U.S. firms have been economically harmed or "injured" by unfair trade practices.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Say Yes to Education program has launched a new scholarship program for students who want to attend a historically black college or university.

Two city students have been awarded $10,000 annual scholarships through the program to attend black schools this fall.

Christian Curry, a graduate of Corcoran High School, will attend Virginia State University and Florence Mihigo, a graduate of Nottingham High School, will attend Tuskegee University in Alabama.

The scholarships are funded by Key Bank Foundation and BMO Capital Markets. They are separate from the Say Yes tuition guarantee program that provides full tuition scholarships to about 100 public and private schools. In addition to Syracuse, Say Yes has chapters in Buffalo and Guilford County, North Carolina. Say Yes also awarded 11 other HBCU scholarships to students in Buffalo and North Carolina.

Historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. There are 101 HCBUs nationwide.

The scholarship recipients were selected by representatives of the scholarship boards in each of the three Say Yes chapters and staff from the national Say Yes office.

Most HCBUs are not in the coalition of schools that participate with Say Yes.

Many Syacuse students are interested in attending HCBUs, said Ahmeed Turner, executive director of Say Yes in Syracuse. "I can't tell you how many times we've been asked about HCBUs," he said.

Say Yes to Education was founded in 1987 by businessman and philanthropist George Weiss, who promised 112 sixth graders from a poor Philadelphia neighborhood he would pay for their college education if they graduated from high school.

After starting chapters in several cities, Weiss adopted Syracuse in 2008 as the first citywide Say Yes chapter. Since then the program has helped more than 3,800 city school graduates go to college.

Say Yes Syracuse raised $30 million for a self-sustaining scholarship fund.By Joseph A. Gambardello, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Federal officials are investigating whether a fugitive Malaysian financier laundered tens of millions of dollars and used the funds to pay a legal team that includes former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Marc Kasowitz, an attorney for President Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The financier, Jho Low, allegedly played a central role in the embezzlement of $4.5 billion from a Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Bhd, according to U.S. court filings cited by the Journal. Low also is wanted by Malaysian authorities in connection with the scandal.

There is no indication anyone paid with the allegedly laundered funds knew the money was tainted, according to the newspaper.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed civil lawsuits in federal court in California seeking to recover assets from Low, including mansions, artwork and a yacht bought with the allegedly pilfered funds and is now pursuing a criminal investigation against Low, the newspaper said.

Citing "people familiar with the matter," the Journal says the Justice Department is investigating Low's potential use of two intermediaries to facilitate the payments using allegedly stolen funds through the international financial system.

Wary banks have sharply curtailed Low's access to the global financial system, making it hard for him to directly pay bills for such things as lifestyle expenses to legal and advisory services, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for Christie told the Journal that the former governor, who was a U.S. attorney before seeking elected office, is representing Low in the asset-forfeiture cases in California.

"There has been no communication by Governor Christie with any other area of government on Mr. Low's behalf," the spokesman said, adding there has been "no inquiry made to him by the Department of Justice with regard to any other investigation regarding funding or otherwise."

A spokesman for Kasowitz Benson Torres, Kasowitz's New York law firm, confirmed the firm represents Low, the Journal said.

"Here, as with all of our clients, our job as attorneys is to represent and vindicate our clients' interests; and here, as with all of our non-pro-bono clients, we are paid for the legal services we provide," the spokesman said in a statement.Perhaps organizers of the Kelowna Ribfest were unaware that the World Health Organization says processed meat (such as bacon) causes cancer.

Unfortunately, poor food choices are often tasty and even addictive. It is up to promoters of events using food as a draw to select something that will not contribute to the cost of future healthcare.

The Globe and Mail recently reported on a survey that revealed nearly 10 per cent of Canadians are either vegetarian or vegan. Most of the respondents in the survey were under 35.

Canada's youth, having a great deal to lose if their planet's ecosystem is destroyed by the negative impacts of intensive livestock operations, have recognized the danger and are willing to change. They just need a little help from organizations that promote business as usual, even when such a business is harmful to life on Earth.

Then there's the brutality endured by animals who end up at the back isles in our supermarkets. They paid the ultimate price, having suffered from birth to death. The living being that was bred to suffer and to be killed is never in the purchasers' thoughts. Those body parts are just pieces in the supply chain, neatly wrapped in cellophane.

I find promoting bacon a disgusting way to raise money for a worthy organization.

Helen Schiele, KelownaWASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is accusing Google and other U.S. tech companies of rigging search results about him "so that almost all stories & news is BAD" -- and though he is offering no evidence, a top adviser says the White House is "taking a look" at whether Google should face federal regulation.

Google is pushing back sharply, saying Trump's claim simply wasn't true: "We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

The president's tweets Tuesday echoed his familiar attacks on the news media -- and a conservative talking point that California-based tech companies run by CEOs with liberal leanings don't give equal weight to opposing political viewpoints. They also revealed anew his deep-seated frustration over not getting the credit he believes he deserves.

The president, who has said he runs on little sleep, jumped onto Twitter before dawn Tuesday to rehash his recent complaints about alleged suppression of conservative voices and positive news about him.

He followed that up with vague threats in Oval Office comments.

"I think Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people, and I think that's a very serious thing. That's a very serious charge," Trump said, adding that Google, Twitter, Facebook and others "better be careful, because you can't do that to people."

Trump claimed that "we have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in. ... So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, they're really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful."

Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic adviser, told reporters later that the White House is "taking a look" at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation. Trump often points proudly to his cutting of government regulations as a spur for economic gains.

In his tweets, Trump said -- without offering evidence -- that "Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?"

He added, again with no evidence, that "96% of results on "Trump News" are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous."

A search query Tuesday morning, several hours after the president tweeted, showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others. A similar search later in the day for "Trump" had Fox News, the president's favored cable network, among the top results.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, said its aim is to make sure its search engine users quickly get the most relevant answers.

"Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," the company said in a statement. "Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

Experts suggested that Trump's comments showed a misunderstanding of how search engines work.

Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a user's query, even before he or she finishes typing. The answers that appear first are the ones Google's formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant. Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well it's designed and more.

Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. While some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias.

Media analyst Ken Doctor said it doesn't make sense for mass-market businesses like Google to lean either way politically. He characterized the complaints as a "sign of our times," adding that, years ago, if the head of General Electric was supporting a Republican candidate, people who disagreed wouldn't then go out and boycott GE products.

"The temperature has risen on this," Doctor said.

Steven Andres, who teaches about management information systems at San Diego State University, said people often assume that if you give a computer the same inputs, no matter where you are, that you "get the same outputs."

But it doesn't work that way, he said. "You're seeing different things every moment of the day and the algorithms are always trying to change the results."

Trump didn't say what he based his tweets on. But conservative activist Paula Boylard had said in a weekend blog post that she found "blatant prioritization of left-leaning and anti-Trump media outlets" in search results.

Boylard based her judgments on the political leanings of media outlets on a list by Sharyl Attkisson, host of Sinclair Television's "Full Measure" and author of "The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, Think, and How You Vote." Sinclair is a significant outlet for conservative views.

Trump began complaining about the issue earlier this month as social media companies moved to ban right-wing "Infowars" conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms. The president also argues regularly -- and falsely -- that the news media avoid writing positive stories about him and his administration.

Jones is being sued for saying the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged. Jones has since said he believes the shooting did occur and has argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because he was acting as a journalist.

Trump has praised Jones' "amazing" reputation.

The issue is also of concern on Capitol Hill, where the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., recently announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is scheduled to testify before the panel on Sept. 5 about the platform's algorithms and content monitoring.SAN JUAN, P.R. - Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico led to a spike in mortality across the U.S. territory, with an estimated 2,975 excess deaths in the six months after the storm made landfall in September 2017, according to a sweeping report from George Washington University released Tuesday.

The government of Puerto Rico on Tuesday officially embraced the GWU estimate as the official death toll, ranking Maria among the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history. For much of the past year, the government had formally acknowledged just 64 deaths from the hurricane, which ravaged much of the territory and destroyed critical infrastructure. The spike in mortality came as the territory dealt with widespread and lengthy power outages, a lack of access to adequate health care, water insecurity and diseases related to the crisis.

The new study, requested by the governor of Puerto Rico, examined an unusually long period of time following the storm - six months - in an attempt to detect the hurricane's lingering, indirect effects on mortality. The investigation looked at the total number of deaths from September 2017 through February 2018, and compared it with typical death rates, adjusting for many variables, including the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who evacuated the territory after the storm struck on Sept. 20.

People continued to die at anomalous rates long after the storm, as the territory struggled with infrastructure failures and political infighting. Nearly 900 excess deaths were reported in January and February of this year. The mortality rates remained high in the poorest areas, the study found.

The GWU report has a limitation: It does not specify how people died. It is a statistical study based on death records and expected mortality rates. The researchers said they hope to conduct a more detailed investigation in the future.

"We can come up with a hundred different hypotheses," said Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health. She offered as an example the long-term lack of electricity, which prevented the use of some medical devices. "What we don't have is the ability today to tell you these are the factors that caused this."

The GWU researchers decided to look at six months of data because they assumed that, during that time period, the elevated mortality rate would return to a normal level. But in a briefing at the university Tuesday, the leaders of the research effort said that in low-income areas the mortality rate remained somewhat elevated even after six months. They said further investigation of mortality rates after February could push the estimate even higher.

The GWU report estimates that between 2,658 and 3,290 excess deaths occurred from September through February. The poorer and older the resident, the higher the risk for death, especially among men older than 65.

Residents of Puerto Rico had been eagerly awaiting the GWU report as a corrective to the implausible official death toll originally embraced by the administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello. Rossello called a news conference Tuesday at the former Spanish colonial fortress that now serves as the governor's mansion. Journalists packed a room where Rossello stood flanked by his public safety chief, Hector Pesquera, who had been the target of public rage for dismissing reports of higher death counts.

The governor accepted the GWU report, which portrayed his administration as unprepared. He acknowledged the government's shortcomings after the storm and said it is "time to correct what we didn't do well." He said he would sign an executive order to revise and reform the government's protocols for catastrophes and would ask architects at the University of Puerto Rico to design a memorial to honor the hurricane victims.

"I agree I've made mistakes," Rossello said. "But I reject the notion that this was at all connected to any political consideration. My only consideration was the well-being of the Puerto Rican people."

The new estimate for Maria's death toll is significantly higher than the death toll attributed to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in August 2005 - 1,833, according to a National Hurricane Center report published that December. Many people drowned in sudden urban flooding there.

In Puerto Rico, the deaths were spread across 18 municipalities, with metropolitan San Juan, western Puerto Rico and the island of Vieques experiencing some of the highest increases in mortality, according to the GWU study.

Many residents were outraged by the government's intransigence in amending the official toll, even after far higher estimates were released, including a Harvard University survey estimate in the spring that put the number within a range of 800 and 8,000 deaths. The midpoint, 4,645, became a rallying cry for Puerto Ricans who demonstrated on and off the island, most notably by setting thousands of pairs of shoes in front of the Capitol building in San Juan with notes bearing the names of the dead.

Among them was a pair of brown sandals for Teresa Rios Baco, who died Nov. 12 after contracting a mysterious illness in the days after the hurricane. The 62-year-old had been clearing debris in front of her home before she started complaining of severe stomach pain.

At the hospital, she was told she had gastroenteritis and was given antibiotics. Then doctors on the USS Comfort medical naval ship diagnosed bronchitis. She didn't respond to treatment.

At Puerto Rico's main public hospital, Centro Medico, doctors watched as Rios Baco's skin yellowed, indicating a problem with her liver. Just as doctors sat down to talk to her husband and sons, Rios Baco died. The cause, records show, was unspecified liver disease. She was cremated without an autopsy.

Her husband, Enrique Nelson-Landron, still has no idea what killed her, but he has his suspicions. His wife, who worked for Puerto Rico's celebrated music conservatory and led recruitment for its music education programs, showed symptoms of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease found in animal urine, probably rats - a disease that killed at least two dozen people across the territory.

"You don't know what to believe. It's the uncertainty that worries me, because of the government's history of lying," Nelson-Landron said. "How it happened is important for me, but she's still dead."

Rios Baco's death was not counted among the government's initial tally of 64 hurricane deaths, and it remains under investigation.

Another person who fell victim to the storm's aftermath was Ricardo Garcia Delgado, 80, who died four days after Maria hit. He had been in a hospital in the eastern town of Humacao, receiving treatment for a hernia, when the storm knocked out the hospital's power, which made it impossible for him to receive his life-sustaining dialysis. Three times, medical staff tried to transport him to a different center for dialysis. Hospital officials believe he died en route to Centro Medico in San Juan, said his son, Ricardo Garcia Nieves.

Finding the body and verifying the cause of death proved to be a nightmare for Garcia Nieves and his family. Eventually, Garcia Nieves's brother found their father's body in a morgue associated with Centro Medico. The body was then cremated, and Garcia Nieves was unable to confirm how his father died until the hospital mailed him the medical records - about four months after his death.

Garcia Delgado had been the primary caretaker for his wife, who suffered from severe Alzheimer's. After his death, the family had to place her in a care facility. She died five months later.

Hearing government officials announce the early, low death count in the months after the storm felt "absolutely dismissive," Garcia Nieves said.

"They're not even recognizing the real number of people who lost their lives, when we went through the crisis with my father's body in a freezer," Garcia Nieves said. "Why, why did they want to downplay the number of people that died?"

The GWU report found that communication problems led to failures in certifying deaths properly during the disaster. Physicians across the territory were not trained and did not know how to appropriately complete death certificates. The government's failure to communicate proper protocols led to the initial undercount, and the lack of transparency fueled suspicions and rumors.

Planning for communication during a crisis "was very poor," said the principal investigator of the GWU study, epidemiologist Carlos Santos-Burgoa.AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The owner of a Texas company that makes untraceable 3D-printed guns said Tuesday that he has begun selling the blueprints through his website to anyone who wants to make one, despite a federal court order barring him from posting the plans online.

Cody Wilson said at a news conference that he started selling the plans Tuesday morning and that he had already received nearly 400 orders. He said he'll sell the plans for as little as a penny to anyone in the U.S. who wants them.

"Anyone who wants to get these files is going to get them," Wilson said, noting he can only sell to U.S. customers. "They can name their own price."

Wilson said that blueprints purchased through his company's website could be downloaded on a thumb drive and shipped to buyers by standard mail, sent by email or sent by some other secure download transfer. Some of his first sales included purchases made with crypto currency, he said.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia had sought an injunction to stop a settlement that the State Department reached with Wilson's Austin-based company, Defense Distributed, after the agency removed the 3D gun-making plans from a list of weapons or technical data that are not allowed to be exported. The states argued that online access to the undetectable plastic guns would pose a security risk and could be acquired by felons or terrorists.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle blocked Defense Distributed from posting the blueprints online, saying, "It is the untraceable and undetectable nature of these small firearms that poses a unique danger."

Wilson said he believes the ruling allows him to sell the blueprints even if he can't post them online for free, widespread distribution.

"Regulation under the (law) means that the files cannot be uploaded to the internet, but they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States," the ruling said on its final page.

"I'm following yesterday's orders that direct me to sell the files," Wilson said. "The judge was very gracious to put that in black lettering."

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office oversaw the federal lawsuit, said Tuesday that he believes the judge's ruling makes Wilson's latest actions illegal.

"Because of our lawsuit, it is once again illegal to post downloadable gun files to the internet. I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson, a self-described 'crypto-anarchist,' accountable to that law," Ferguson said. "If they don't, President Trump will be responsible for anyone who is hurt or killed as a result of these weapons."

Andy Reuss, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman, declined to comment.

Wilson said he anticipates that states may try to sue to stop him from selling the plans, but that he is raising money for his legal defense. He also said he will continue to challenge the Monday court order.

Wilson said he believes he could have previously sold the blueprints but didn't because he wanted to be able to post them online for widespread, free distribution.

"For many years I chose not to sell these files. I was an open source advocate," Wilson said. "I don't expect to make money on it."Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.Photo: Oliver Daily News A crowd of national park opponents met Richard Cannings in Oliver on Tuesday afternoon.

A group of opponents to a proposed national park in the South Okanagan met local MP Richard Cannings in Oliver on Tuesday afternoon along his 'Ride the Riding' tour.

Cannings stopped at Medici's Gelateria on Fairview Road at 1 p.m. as part of his six-day ride, where about 60 people were waiting to voice opposition to the plans, some holding "no national park" signs.

Residents in the area have long been divided on a national park. As plans have picked up again, many signs for and against the park have been placed on many private properties.

Opponents are concerned about the impact on cattle grazing and backcountry access, among other issues.

Cannings told the crowd the positives of conservation outweigh any negatives of a national park in the area.

Talks on boundaries for the proposed park are currently centred around areas west of Oliver and Osoyoos, including lands surrounding Mount Kobau and the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area.

Parks Canada is hoping to have a proposed boundary confirmed by next spring or summer, and for negotiations with the province and First Nations to be done by early 2020.

In a media conference earlier this month, a Parks Canada staff member stressed there will be no expropriation of private property and said they're "considering" allowing access to ranchers.

with files from Oliver Daily NewsWhy it matters: Judge rules that copyright trolls need more than just an IP address if they want to go after copyright infringement. An IP is not enough proof to tie a person to a crime.

In a win for privacy advocates and pirates, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an IP address alone is not enough to go after someone for alleged copyright infringement. They ruled that being the registered subscriber of an infringing IP address does not create a reasonable inference that the subscriber is also the infringer.

The case began back to 2016 and has been playing out in the legal system ever since. The creators of the film 'The Cobbler' alleged that Thomas Gonzales had illegally downloaded their movie and sued him for it.

Gonzales was a Comcast subscriber and had set up his network with an open Wi-Fi access point. At some point, someone had used his network to download the movie and the film creators captured Gonzales's IP address.

The judge stated that in order for a proper case, the copyright owners would need more than just an IP address. This is often difficult to provide since it is challenging to prove who was connected to what and when. This case is made even more challenging since Gonzales's network was open and anyone could have downloaded the movie.

The new ruling upholds a previous ruling by a lower district court on the same case. The Appeals Court issued the following statements:

In this copyright action, we consider whether a bare allegation that a defendant is the registered subscriber of an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with infringing activity is sufficient to state a claim for direct or contributory infringement. We conclude that it is not. The direct infringement claim fails because Gonzaless status as the registered subscriber of an infringing IP address, standing alone, does not create a reasonable inference that he is also the infringer. Because multiple devices and individuals may be able to connect via an IP address, simply identifying the IP subscriber solves only part of the puzzle. A plaintiff must allege something more to create a reasonable inference that a subscriber is also an infringer.

In addition to direct infringement, the copyright owner also attempted an indirect infringement claim. They alleged that Gonzales had encouraged users of his network to download the movie but this failed as well since they were unable to provide any proof. Finally, the judge ordered Cobbler Nevada LLC, the copyright holder, to pay more than $17,000 in legal fees for Gonzales.Forward-looking: ZTE still faces intense scrutiny from the United States and its allies. Even though the company has gotten past the temporary trade ban implemented by the US, there will be many more roadblocks in the way as ZTE makes bids to build 5G networks.

China's number two telecommunications OEM is now back to normal following the end of a ban against doing business with ZTE by the United States. According to the new CEO, the company will see continued growth again in 2019.

Chairman Li Zixue says, "As of today, the main operating business has resumed completely. The production mission for August has resumed to normal and R&D is resuming rapidly."

The company will aim to place focus on chips that are essential to product offerings such as 5G-enabled components. Additionally, risk mitigation with third-party chip manufacturers will be investigated to ensure there are no long-term problems with supply chain partners.

After paying out $1.4 billion in fines, ZTE was able to resume its normal operating procedures in July. As another condition of lifting the ban, ZTE was forced to form a new management team to report to a new chairman and chief executive.

Last year during the first half, ZTE reported profits of $336.8 million compared to net losses between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion this year. A finalized earnings call for the first half will be available August 30. As a result of the temporary ban, ZTE lost approximately $3 billion in market value. Today in Hong-Kong, ZTE's shares are on the rise with a three percent day-to-day increase. Similar businesses have remained stable on the market with few changes.

Even though the United States has backed off and is allowing ZTE to resume normal operations, the Chinese telecom is not out of hot water yet. Australia has already put the kibosh on Huawei and ZTE for any construction of 5G networks over concerns of counter-intelligence operations.A hot potato: Missouri has potentially set a precedent for others in the nation to follow but there are multiple sides to the argument. Is it about protecting a long-standing industry, reducing consumer confusion or stifling competition?

Missouri on Tuesday became the first state in the country to enact a law preventing companies from misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry. Those in violation of the law face up to a $1,000 fine and a year behind bars.

Non-meat products have been available for years but as Mike Deering, the executive vice president of the Missouri Cattlemens Association, highlights, the law has come about due to the recent influx of lab-grown meat products.

The Food and Drug Administration last month declared the meat-free Impossible Burger safe to eat.

Naturally, there are opposing views to the new restriction. Proponents of the law, like Todd Hays, who runs a hog farm in Monroe City, Missouri, said that once they lose the trust of consumers and they dont believe what labels tell them, theyre on a slippery slope they dont want to go down. Once you lose trust in an industry, its extremely hard to gain that back, Hays said.

Hays and others are clearly looking to protect their livelihood, an industry that has provided income to their families for decades.

Others, like Tofurky CEO Jaime Athos, believe the law stifles competition from those who are making plant-based protein products.

If we describe something as meaty, is that a problem? If we compare the flavor to bacon, is that a problem? If were able to say soy chicken, they can imagine how that might fit into the recipes and food they enjoy already, Athos said.

Tofurky, along with the Good Food Institute, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, have sued the state over the new law.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Should companies that make plant- or lab-grown meat substitutes be allowed to use the word meat in their marketing? Will other states follow Missouris lead or is this likely to get shot down?Many people in British Columbia have spoken out about the pipelines, opposing them, referencing unproven studies that conclude pipelines are bad for the environment.

The delays caused by the righteous in B.C. have cost Alberta, Saskatchewan and the rest of the country billions.

They say it is about the rights of the people of B.C., the legacy for future generations. Yet, the reports are theoretical only. Pipeline spills in Canada have historically been well attended and their impact minimal.

The facts are blurred.

The regulations for pipelines are hundreds of times more stringent than they were 25 years ago, now that a company is bonded and required to clean up and to ensure safety. They are held accountable  and they should be.

Well, here in Saskatchewan, I am coughing, my pets are coughing, my vehicle and my home smell like smoke, billions of dollars in damages are occurring right now because the people of B.C. do not have stringent forest firefighting policies.

The budget is laughable and the commitment atrocious.

Why shouldn't every citizen of British Columbia be held to the same standard they hold pipeline companies to? The negligence is unforgivable. If an oil company undertook this much pollution, they would be put out of business.

The pollution is apocalyptic and should never have occurred. The people of B.C. are not responsible caretakers of the land.

Where is your action to prevent pollution like this? Where are your protests over the inaction of your government? Where is your concern for the health of the rest of Canada that you so boldly push on us as you oppose pipelines?

Do you only care for yourselves? Is the greater good only a reality if made by you?

David Greenwood, SaskatchewanIn brief: Students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts are working on a submersible robot that hunts Lionfish autonomously. The device is a multi-year project with undergraduates working on it as part of their Major Qualifying Project (MQP) required for graduation.

The Lionfish, which is native to the southern Pacific Ocean, is an invasive species that is wreaking havoc in the eastern Atlantic from the Caribbean to the coral reefs off the coasts of Florida and Georgia. Since the fish has no natural predators in this region, ecologists are concerned about the effects it has on the costal ecosystems. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls the Lionfish the poster child for invasive species because of its ability to decimated a population of other fish in a matter of weeks.

Members of the Robotics and Engineering Program at WPI started working on a solution to the problem last year as part of their MQP. Their idea is to build a robot that can be dropped in the water that will hunt down the invasive pests and harvest them with buoyant speartips that pull the Lionfish to the surface for fishermen to scoop up.

Undergraduates of the class of 2018 spent last year developing the software for the bot including a machine-learning vision system. They trained the AI by showing it thousands of pictures of different colored Lionfish from various angles. Senior Instructor of Computer Science Craig Putnam says the system is capable of recognizing Lionfish with 95-percent accuracy. They also trained the system what not to hunt  primarily divers.

The students also engineered buoyancy control and spearing systems. The spears reside in a carousel, and each is negatively buoyant, so when they spear a fish, it rises to the surface. Of course with each shot, the robot loses buoyancy. So the team developed a chamber behind one of its two cameras that expands each time a spear is fired keeping the rig neutrally buoyant.

Designing a watertight compartment for the logic board and other electronics was a challenge for the team as well.

In many ways, this was the hardest part of the project, said William Godsey, an undergrad who worked on the systems buoyancy and electronics chambers, along with its shooting mechanism. Just because something is waterproof doesnt mean it will work in salt water, which is an incredibly corrosive substance.

Even though the robot can recognize Lionfish as well as divers, it still has a ways to go before it is ready to go fishing. Class of 2019 students will be working on a 3D-GPS navigational system so that the robot can plot a search grid for hunting. The team will presumably also develop sophisticated object avoidance to prevent the robot from colliding with the fragile coral reef.Grabbing a cup of coffee every morning has become an essential part of the daily routine for many workers around the world.

With so many varieties available and in increasing accessibility, demand for the steaming brewed beverage continues to rise globally. However, where exactly does coffee come from?

Where Does Coffee Come From?

While coffee cups are readily available from local coffee shops, the process from plant to cup is quite complicated. The coffee plant is typically grown along "The Bean Belt," a zone near the equator which provides the perfect climate for the bean to grow.

The chemistry of the soil, the weather (amount of sunshine and rain), and altitude also contribute to coffee production. These factors, together with how the cherries are processed after being picked, affect the variation of quality and taste of coffee.

For example, the popular Arabica, which makes up 70 percent of the world's coffee, grows best at higher altitudes in rich soil. In comparison, the Robusta can thrive in colder temperature and lower altitude.

More than 50 countries  including the United States  grow the coffee plant and supply coffee beans to the rest of the world.

According to the World Atlas, Brazil remains to be the top coffee-producing country with 2.59 million metric tons of beans contributed to the market. Next comes Vietnam with 1.65 million metric tons, Colombia with 810,000 metric tons, Indonesia with 660,000 metric tons, and Ethiopia with 384,000 metric tons. Honduras, India, Uganda, Mexico, and Guatemala make up the Top 10 Coffee Producing Countries.

Hawaii is the only state in the United States that contribute to the global demand for coffee beans.

Coffee And Climate Change

While people from around the world continue to consume coffee, production of coffee beans is threatened by the warming planet. As was mentioned, the coffee plant does not just grow anywhere; the weather and the chemistry of the soil contribute to the taste of one's morning cup of joe. With the changing climate, finding good coffee will become increasingly difficult in the coming years.

"The threat from climate change is real on our farm," said Masataka Nakano, a deputy general manager of Key Coffee Inc. in Japan. "As the difference between the rainy and dry seasons is becoming unclear, and the amount of rain is getting unstable, our crops are vulnerable to damage."

A report released in Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences last year predicted a massive decline in coffee production around the world due to global warming. Regions in Latin America, suitable to grow coffee plants, could decrease to up to 88 percent by 2050.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Google has intensified its "Grow with Google" program following the release of tools that will help military veterans find a job after their service.

Erstwhile members of the military can now look for "jobs for veterans," by indicating the military branch they served in and go after job openings that match their skills. In addition, Google will also let companies categorize themselves whether as "veteran-owned" or "veteran-led" in Google Maps and mobile search results.

Pepsi, FedEx, and the Getting Hired employment firm have already included Google's military feature on their career sites. Google became the third major company after Walmart and Home Depot to concentrate efforts in assisting veterans to transition to new careers.

"The transition process is complex, and we hope Grow with Google's new tools and resources can play a part in making that easier. At Google, we believe technology has the power to improve lives. With today's announcement, we look forward to working with America's transitioning service members to help them succeed in civilian life," Lisa Gevelber, Google's vice president of Grow with Google, said in a statement.

Google reiterated that roughly 10 percent of the total number of small businesses are owned or majority owned by military veterans. Consequently, Google also donated a $2.5 million grant to the United Service Organizations with the hopes of helping the nonprofit organization provide in-depth IT support to military veterans and their spouses.

New Google's Tools To Decrease Military Underemployment

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, military veterans often struggle to find high-paying civilian jobs once they decide to leave active duty. In a survey conducted by ZipRecruiter and nonprofit organization, Call of Duty Endowment, results showed that one in three veterans said they are "underemployed" or working at a job subordinate to their talent level.

Matthew Hudson, a program manager for Google Cloud and an Air Force veteran, mentioned that they are hoping to use their tools in helping veterans maximize the opportunities available to them in various fields. The unemployment rate among military veterans stood at 3 percent as of July this year.

"I'm proud that my fellow veteran Googlers and I had the chance to provide input on these tools to make sure we're best serving those who so dutifully served our country," Hudson said.

Apart from veterans, military spouses have also struggled to find a job as 16 percent of them are experiencing unemployment, which is four times the national average for women. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump announced an executive order to help military spouses find a job in federal agencies.

Photo: The U.S. Army | Flickr

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Ancient parasitic wasps that were discovered still inside fly fossils were appropriately named Xenomorphia, after the terrifying creatures that ravaged the silver screen in the Alien movies.

Parasitic wasps are creatures that fit the mold of horror movie monsters, which makes the Xenomorphia name a fitting one. Apparently, the horrific practice of parasitic wasps dates as far back as millions of years ago.

Ancient Parasitic Wasps Discovered, Named After 'Aliens' Monsters

A new study published in the Nature Communications journal detailed the discovery of new species of ancient parasitic wasps, after a thorough examination of more than 1,500 fly pupae fossils, dating back between 66 million and 23 million years ago.

The team of researchers, led by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Thomas van de Kamp, used a powerful scanning method to look inside 1,510 mineralized fly pupae. They discovered that 55 of them contained parasitic wasps, and also identified four previously unknown species of the insect. The scientists were even able to carry out physical examinations on the new species of parasitic wasps, even while trapped within the fly pupae fossils.

The discovery presents evidence that wasps have been infesting other insects for tens of millions of years. The parasitic wasps, much smaller than the yellow jackets, have needle-like ovipositors that allow them to inject their eggs into other insects. As the wasps grow, they eat their hosts from within and kill them, eventually bursting out of their abdomens.

If that image is a familiar one, that is because one of the most iconic scenes in the Aliens movies involves one of the creatures bursting through the abdomen of a human victim. One of the new ancient parasitic wasp species was named Xenomorphia resurrecta, with the genus Xenomorphia named after the Aliens creatures.

Learning From Ancient Fossils

Studying ancient fossils has continued to provide scientists with a clearer picture of what the Earth looked like millions of years ago. The new species of ancient parasitic wasps is just one of many important discoveries that have recently been made through fossils.

Men working underground in Florida recently unearthed a fossil that may belong to a mammoth or mastodon. The discovery is a significant one because it predates human life in the state.

"Dragon" fossils that were found in China have rewritten the history of long-necked dinosaurs, as they suggest that sauropods emerged 15 million years earlier than previously thought. Meanwhile, a baby snake fossil trapped in amber, acquired from Myanmar, suggested that snakes moved to forests from coastal regions at an earlier time than believed.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Chinese smartphone maker Huawei outsold Apple in the second quarter of 2018, according to a report by a United States-based research and advisory company.

In its report, Gartner said Huawei sold 49.8 million devices in the second quarter to clinch around 13.3 percent market share. The number of units sold by Huawei was higher compared to the 9.8 percent or around 36 million units sold in the second quarter of 2017.

Huawei edged Apple, which sold around 44.7 million phones, or equivalent to 11.9 percent market share. The number was slightly lower compared to the 12.1 percent market share that Apple got in the second quarter of 2017, where the iPhone manufacturer placed second.

According to research director Anshul Gupta, Huawei's key in overtaking Apple for second place is the Chinese company's ability to introduce new and interesting features to its smartphone line. Gupta also said that Huawei has successfully expanded its smartphone line to cover large consumer segments.

One of Huawei's key products  the mid-range Honor smartphones  is being sold to 70 markets worldwide, boosting the company's sales by targeting another important segment of smartphone users. Gupta added that Huawei is also performing well when it comes to high-end smartphones with its P20 model that directly competes with Apple's iPhone.

Samsung Still Ahead Of The Pack

Samsung remained the leader when it comes to smartphone sales, selling 72.3 million units in the second quarter for a market share of 19.3 percent. However, Samsung's number in the second quarter of 2018 was lower than the 22.6 percent market share, or around 82.8 million units sold in the second quarter of 2017.

Also, Gartner said Samsung's dominance is being threatened by the growing competition from Chinese smartphone manufacturers. In addition, Samsung's slowing demand for its flagship is affecting the company's profits.

Overall, Gartner said smartphones sales worldwide grew 2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, reaching 374 million units sold compared to 366 million in the second quarter of 2017.

Recently, multiple research outlets reported that Huawei grabbed second place in terms of the number of units shipped in the second quarter of 2018. During that time, Huawei shipped around 54.2 million smartphones, while Apple managed only 41.3 million, good for third. Samsung, for its part, is way ahead with 71.5 million devices shipped.

Xiaomi Putting Pressure On Other Smartphone Players

Gartner said Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is slowly emerging as a threat to other smartphone companies. In the second quarter, Xiaomi sold around 32.8 million devices for a market share of 8.8 percent. The number was up from 5.8 percent from the same period last year.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.China has refused to share laboratory samples of the bird flu virus with the United States, a move that may be placing thousands of lives in danger.

Despite political tensions, medical professionals in the United States and China have had no trouble working together to tackle global health problems. However, things have apparently changed.

China Not Sharing Bird Flu Virus Samples

Countries usually share viral samples with each other, under an agreement that was established by the World Health Organization. It is important to study the samples to be able to understand the different viruses, and to develop treatments and vaccines against them to prevent outbreaks or pandemics.

China, however, has withheld samples of the bird flu virus, H7N9, from the United States for over a year, despite persistent requests from research institutions and government officials.

"Jeopardizing US access to foreign pathogens and therapies to counter them undermines our nation's ability to protect against infections which can spread globally within days," said Harvard Medical School infectious disease specialist Michael Callahan.

The United States and China are both members of the World Health organization, and mutually benefit from sharing medical knowledge and samples with each other. With citizens from both countries regularly visiting the other one, the governments will likely want to keep the population of the other nation healthy too.

However, with the increased tension over trade between the United States and China, its effect on the medical community may be starting. Unfortunately, it will be the general public who will pay the price.

The Next Global Pandemic: Bird Flu?

Medical experts believe that the next major global pandemic will come from the flu virus, with the H7N9 virus one of the candidates.

The H7N9 virus first appeared in China in 2013, and has resulted in a series of sporadic epidemics in Asia. However, in the outbreaks so far, the virus did not spread quickly between people, limiting its reach.

The H7N9 virus is deadly though, with 39 percent of cases resulting in the death of the patient. Also, like many flu viruses, it is capable of rapidly mutating. Patients who fell ill to the virus usually report that they were recently exposed to birds or poultry, resulting in the name bird flu.

The bird flu virus is scary one, and countries around the world should be working together to prepare for it. However, with China refusing to cooperate with the United States, the H7N9 virus may indeed be the next global pandemic, and may claim thousands of lives.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.For years, U.S. officials have complained that Chinese laboratories are a major source of illicit fentanyl, the potent opioid that has driven a stunning increase in overdose deaths on this side of the Pacific.

On Wednesday, Chinese and American law enforcement officers stood side-by-side at the U.S. Custom House in New Orleans to announce what they billed as a first-of-its-kind joint investigation into fentanyl production.

The operation began with a suspect in New Orleans and ended at a laboratory in the Chinese province of Jiangsu.

Officials said that between November and January, Chinese investigators arrested 21 people and halted the export of more than 20 million doses of fentanyl.

This is the first case of its kind, with China and the United States working together to identify a transnational crime organization. Its a good news story, said Shawn Harwood, a Department of Homeland Security Investigations attache in China.

Accidental drug deaths in New Orleans rose again in 2017, coroner's report finds The number of accidental drug-related deaths in New Orleans rose last year, and there were increases in the numbers of those cases involving c

Observers said the investigation, which has yet to result in any federal prosecutions in the U.S., could herald a new era of cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the two countries. Yet they cautioned that it could also be the last of its kind if a trade dispute, sparked by President Donald Trumps tariffs on Chinese goods, escalates.

The operation occurred as the U.S. grapples with a crisis of drug overdose deaths. More than 72,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2017, a 9.5 percent increase from the year before. Nearly 30,000 of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

A congressional commission said last year that fentanyl often begins its journey to the U.S. in Chinese labs. Although China has banned fentanyl production in response to U.S. pressure, Chinese chemists have been engaged with a cat-and-mouse game with their own government by creating variations of the drug that are subsequently banned.

Chinese officials, who deny that their country is a major source of fentanyl, announced Wednesday that they will ban 32 new substances starting on Sept. 1, including two fentanyl variants.

Officials were vague on the recent investigations origins in New Orleans. But they said agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, identified a suspect in New Orleans connected to fentanyl trafficking in August 2017.

Information from that investigation led agents to China, the presumed source of the fentanyl. U.S. officials said they referred the case to their Chinese counterparts.

The Chinese National Narcotics Control Committee and Narcotics Control Bureau created a special task force of 100 officers to investigate, officials said. Ultimately, they dismantled a lab and recovered the equivalent of millions of potentially fatal doses of fentanyl or fentanyl precursors.

+2 Growing number of overdose deaths in East Baton Rouge linked to opioids, officials say Overdose deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish increased in 2017 by 25 percent compared to the previous year, a harrowing upward trend that offici

Despite the labs immense output, its size was closer to a small methamphetamine operation than a large pharmaceutical lab, said Thomas M. Annello, the HSI deputy special agent in charge in New Orleans.

The investigation in China has now circled back to the United States. Officials said they are working to connect suspects to 35 U.S. addresses where distributors mailed or attempted to mail illicit drugs.

U.S. officials declined to disclose the fate of the initial suspect from New Orleans, who was not a Chinese citizen.

I would say theyre in custody, but I cant give you any information beyond that. I can tell you theyre not free and roaming the neighborhood, said Bryan Cox, the southern region communications director for ICE.

The U.S. officials said they still hope to initiate prosecutions here. Their Chinese counterparts were in New Orleans this week with the aim of further developing the case.

Even if the case results in no more arrests, it could still have important diplomatic implications. Notably, the operation in China began the same month that Trump complained about a flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl that was manufactured in China.

Trump also promised to bring up the issue during his state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing that month.

Markos Kounalakis, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, said he suspects that pressure from Trump played a role in Chinese authorities rare cooperation on this case.

+2 True number of Louisiana opioid deaths? Initiative spikes 2016 total by 84 percent Louisiana has for years been drastically undercounting the number of people who die with drugs like heroin in their bodies, but a new project 

It seems to square with the timing from that last year, he said. I would say that it is recognizing one of the presidents priorities, something he brought up with President Xi personally.

However, Kounalakis warned that cooperation could fall victim to larger issues like the tariff dispute or national security tensions. He noted that, for unclear reasons, China has recently withheld samples of a dangerous avian flu virus, despite an international health agreement.

Kounalakis added that Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that the real drug problem begins with demand in the U.S.

Chinese officials promised more cooperation in the future as they spoke Wednesday in the Custom Houses ornate Marble Hall.

The success of this case has demonstrated a commitment to crack down on fentanyl crimes by law enforcement officials in both countries, said Chen Shaoujun, who helped lead the operation as a vice mayor in the Chinese city of Xingtai.

Speaking through an interpreter, Chen added, I believe that with close law enforcement cooperation between the United States and China, we will make great new achievements fighting narcotics crimes.Rhinogram, a producer of cloud-based, HIPAA-compliant, telehealth communications, today announced the appointment of Kathy Ford as president. Ms. Ford, who has spent more than 20 years driving strategic business development and solution commercialization in the global healthcare IT and medical device sectors, will be joined by Shannon Hastings who will lead the companys technology architecture, integration, methodologies, engineering and operations as chief technology officer.Both Kathy and Shannon bring vast expertise and innovative approaches to solving healthcare IT challenges and I am delighted to have them join the Rhinogram family.With their proven industry track records, we are poised  now more than ever  to drive our mission of making healthcare conversations simple, efficient and secure, said Keith Dressler, DDS, MSD, founder and CEO of Rhinogram. These appointments pave the way for our expansion into the medical practice space as the company works to remove the barriers between patients and care teams.Ms. Ford previously held roles in sales, marketing leadership and executive level portfolio ownership, as well as merger and acquisition responsibilities at GE Medical Systems, McKesson, Siemens Medical, Carestream Dental, NantHealth and others. She has led the ideation and commercialization of more than 100 clinically impactful solutions.Mr. Hastings brings with him more than 20 years of experience in healthcare technology, along with a knowledge in software-as-a-service, secure and scalable platforms, service-oriented architectures, distributed computing, technology evaluation and product engineering and operations. He has held leadership roles at healthcare technology organizations such as NantHealth, iSirona, Inventrio and the Software Research Institute at the Center of IT Innovations in Health Care at the Ohio State University.Photo: Contributed

Vernon's Historic O'Keefe Ranch is hosting their annual fundraiser next month that will knock your socks off.

This year, the Ranch has decided to test out a fresh new event by the name of Buckaroos & Brews."

Instead of the typical gala-style event, Buckaroos & Brews will feature everything from line dancing lessons and food trucks to a smores bar.

The evening will also include the musical debut of Tennessee Walker, made up of members Tanner Dawson and Shawna Palmer, as well as Vernons favourite, The Volunteers.

There will even be a silent auction as well as tastings from the Vibrant Vine, Okanagan Spirits, and BX Press.

Funds raised at this event will go towards the maintenance of O'Keefe Ranch's signature building - the O'Keefe Mansion. This Queen-Anne style home was built in three phases beginning in 1886.

In partnership with Okanagan College's ENACTUS group, the team at OKeefe Ranch will be hosting this event on Sept. 15 from 6 p.m. to midnight.

Tickets are $45 per guest and available at ticketseller.ca. This event is 19+ and outdoors, please dress accordingly.ExxonMobil's facility on Scenic Highway. Teachers and representatives from Together Baton Rouge have asked the East Baton Rouge Parish assessor to add several hundred million dollars worth of capital improvements to ExxonMobils property tax assessments, alleging the oil and gas giant is being under-assessed for its 2018 bill.As a daughter and sister of active military personnel, I spent some time this Veterans Day reflecting on how the military has directly affecteAnxious residents got their first detailed look Tuesday night at state plans to widen Interstate 10 between the Mississippi River bridge and the I-10/12 split.

The gathering, the first of three meetings this week, included a 30-minute overview of the project by officials of the state Department of Transportation and Development, and a chance for members of the public to study maps and exhibits and ask questions.

"It is not necessarily our choice," Shawn Wilson, secretary for DOTD, told about 200 residents who gathered in the auditorium at McKinley Middle Magnet School.

"We want your input," Wilson said.

+2 I-10 widening to dramatically improve traffic, but impact 17 homes, 4 shops, officials say The $360 million widening of Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge means the state will buy at least 17 homes, add up to nine new sections of sound wal

The work includes new lanes in each direction along the 3 1/2 mile corridor, one of the most congested in the Baton Rouge area.

"While it is hard to believe congestion can get worse, it can," Wilson said. "Doing nothing is not an option."

But the project is sparking push-back.

East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court Judge Pamela J. Baker, who lives on Fiero Street, said she faces a huge problem at her home.

"If you widen the interstate we can't live there," Baker said. "They said it is acceptable. It is not."

Plans for a sound wall, she said, would only add to the mess.

"And it is not going to solve Baton Rouge's problem," she added.

Al Phillips backs the project.

"They should have done it 20 years ago," Phillips said, a reference to a $200 million widening plan that died nearly two decades ago.

But Phillips said Baton Rouge also needs a loop to route big trucks and other traffic around the city, like most similarly-sized cities have.

Joshua Joseph, who lives on Fiero Street two doors from Baker, said the I-10 expansion is needed but he is worried about the work, and what it could mean for his six-year-old child's ability to play outside.

"It would have some impact," Joseph said.

DOTD officials said Monday that at least 17 homes and four businesses will be impacted by the construction, including the popular Overpass Merchant restaurant on Perkins Road.

Ross Reilly, co-owner of the building that houses the restaurant, said he thinks it will remain in its current location, with only some awning being removed during the widening work.

Reilly said foot traffic  customers navigating construction  is expected to be the biggest impact of the work.

Eric Kalivoda, deputy secretary for DOTD, said while the building can remain during construction an extension to it, as well as the awning, will have to be removed.

What impact the work will have on restaurant operations is unclear.

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Business owners in the Perkins Road overpass area have long been among the most vocal opponents of widening I-10.

+5 I-10 widening? Some residents fear project's potential effect on Baton Rouge businesses Gov. John Bel Edwards' $350 million plan to widen Interstate 10 from the Mississippi River bridge to the I-10/I-12 split in Baton Rouge has re

But DOTD officials said they are working with merchants to minimize the effects to their businesses.

Metro Councilwoman Barbara Freiberg, who attended the meeting, said when the plans first surfaced she got lots of calls from constituents but not many lately.

"I think they have done a good job of explaining what they are doing," Freiberg said of DOTD officials. "I think the Perkins Road merchants feel better."

Some left the meeting undecided.

Gigi Grimes, who lives in University Gardens, said she understands the need for traffic relief.

"But let's just be real careful how we do it," Grimes said.

Larry Pitcher, who lives on Utah Street, about 100 yards west of I-10, said he is torn on the project.

The work is needed, he said.

But 40- and 50-year-old homes that already suffer from vibrations from daily interstate traffic will face more damage, Pitcher said.

His home needs work but he is hesitant about making the investment.

"I am undecided on where I need to go with this," Pitcher said.

The project is being launched even as Louisiana has a roughly $14 billion backlog of road and bridge needs, and a state gasoline tax that has not been changed in nearly three decades.

A bid by the Edwards administration to boost the tax by up to 17 cents per gallon, and raise about $510 million per year, failed in the Legislature last year.

The work would be financed through a borrowing plan using what is called Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle Bonds, or GARVEE bonds.

Becca Behrnes called the expansion unnecessary.

"Financially it costs too much and I don't believe it is going to relieve the traffic congestion like they say it will," she said.

Under the plan, the state would repay the money over 12 years using a portion of annual federal aid for state road and bridge projects.

+2 Major financing plan to widen I-10, improve N.O. airport access coming together; here are next steps The state of Louisiana expects to finalize a borrowing plan with federal officials this year to widen Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge and other w

The I-10 widening in Baton Rouge is scheduled to start next year and take 5-7 years to finish.

Wilson has said at least three lanes of traffic will be open during construction, with the work being done in phases of between six months and three years.Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asks a question of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as he testifies before a joint hearing of the Commerce and Judiciary committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 2018, about the use of Facebook data to target American voters in the 2016 election.Photo: The Canadian Press Christopher Garnier

A Halifax man convicted of strangling an off-duty police officer and using a compost bin to dispose of her body is receiving treatment in prison for post-traumatic stress disorder  and it's being funded by Veterans Affairs Canada.

The arrangement has drawn criticism from the victim's aunt, Mandy Reekie Wong, who says veterans should be outraged that Christopher Garnier is getting funded treatment  even though he is not a veteran.

"There are actual veterans who returned from war, or multiple wars, and they are killing themselves because they can't get help for the PTSD they suffer from through no fault of their own," Reekie Wong said in a recent Facebook post, which she later confirmed in a direct message.

At a court hearing earlier this month, Crown lawyer Christine Driscoll confirmed the convicted murderer is being seen by a private psychologist, and that Veterans Affairs is covering the cost because Garnier's father is a veteran who has also been diagnosed with PTSD.

Driscoll said any offender with an illness, whether physical or mental, has to be treated while in custody.

Garnier was convicted in December of second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body in the September 2015 death of 36-year-old Catherine Campbell.

On Aug. 13, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge decided Garnier would be able to apply for parole after serving 13.5 years  less 699 days for time served.

Garnier's lawyer has argued that his client's mental illness was brought on by the murder.

In submissions filed with the court, defence lawyer Joel Pink said a psychiatrist hired by the defence, Dr. Stephen Hucker, said in a report that Garnier suffered from acute stress disorder immediately following Campbell's death.

"The testimony of Dr. Hucker clearly indicates that there is a strong link between Mr. Garnier's illness and his interference with human remains; therefore, it should be considered a mitigating factor in his sentencing (on that charge)," Pink said in his submissions to Justice Joshua Arnold.

Garnier repeatedly told the jury he did not remember using a large green compost bin to dispose of the woman's body near a Halifax bridge, where it stayed undetected for nearly five days.

During Garnier's trial, the jury was told Garnier met Campbell for the first time at a downtown Halifax bar on Sept. 11, 2015. Hours later she was dead in a north end apartment.

In his decision regarding parole, Arnold said Campbell was expecting romance and affection that night, but "for reasons unknown, Mr. Garnier punched her in the face, broke her nose, strangled her to death, and then, in an effort to hide his crime, treated her remains like garbage."

Veterans Affairs issued a statement Tuesday saying it couldn't comment on any specific case, but it confirmed the relatives of veterans are eligible to apply for PTSD treatment.Musk's personal life is no less chaotic. He was dating Grimes, the Canadian pop musician, but the two stopped following each other on social media last week, leading gossip blogs to speculate they had broken up. That followed a bizarre run-in with the rapper Azealia Banks, who intimated that Musk had written his going-private tweet while on acid. (He denied it.) Amid the fallout, he took to Twitter, posting cryptic messages about love and quoting T.S. Eliot. And at the office, he is hardly a typical chief executive. Racing to resolve critical production issues, he can often be found on the factory floor, working to fix robots. At night, he sometimes sleeps under his desk. All the while, he has been confronting an exodus of senior employees, preparing to be interviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and was working with Goldman Sachs and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to take Tesla private  until he wasn't.

Some board members have been dismayed at Musk's behaviour, according to people familiar with the directors' thinking, but no active search is underway for a replacement  although there have been fitful efforts to find a top lieutenant. James Anderson, the head of the asset management firm Baillie Gifford, Tesla's biggest shareholder after Musk, said he still had faith in the 47-year-old chief executive, calling him a "visionary leader" who had unmatched technical expertise and remained "obsessive about the details." Yet Anderson said he had grown increasingly worried about Musk, believing that his volatile personal life and intense work ethic were taking a steep toll. "He is so demanding, so driven by the imperative to do something good for the world," Anderson said. "You could always see something like this happening." 'We feel like we are at war' At 6:30 am on August 18, three robots in the paint shop at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, started malfunctioning. The incident forced a production halt on the Model 3, the key to the company's future.

Made aware of the stoppage, Musk went to the factory and worked into the night. The problem was resolved, but Tesla reached a troubling conclusion: The robots had been infected with malware in an act of industrial sabotage. And though they could not prove it, and did not level any specific allegations, executives suspected they knew the culprit: a rogue employee, working at the behest of short-sellers. Tesla is among the most shorted stocks, meaning that hedge funds are betting against it and quick to note a missed production goal or cash shortfall. David Einhorn, the billionaire founder of Greenlight Capital, is in that camp. In a letter to investors last month detailing his argument, Einhorn wrote, "Elon Musk appears erratic and desperate." Loading Musk believes that the short-sellers spread misinformation about the company, and perhaps much worse. In June, Musk accused an employee of sabotage that had slowed Model 3 production, and suggested short-sellers might be to blame. Kimbal Musk, reflecting on the battles with short-sellers, said, "We feel like we are at war."

Plenty of other companies face the wrath of short-sellers. The issue at Tesla seems to be that for Musk  who talks earnestly about weaning the world off fossil fuels with Tesla, and colonising the solar system with SpaceX  these attacks are not just the cost of doing business. They are malicious and misguided efforts to derail his efforts to help humanity. "Tesla is his baby," said Deepak Ahuja, Tesla's chief financial officer. "He takes it extremely personally." The most difficult time But with Tesla now staying public, Musk will have to continue to contend with those who doubt his vision and are rooting for Tesla to fail. When Musk ceremonially unveiled the Model 3 last summer, he billed it as the first mass-market electric vehicle, and predicted monthly production of 20,000 by year's end. But in the final three months of 2017, just 2,425 were completed.

The delays were a result of what Musk called "manufacturing hell," an inferno that has preoccupied him for much of the past year. "This has been the most difficult time for Tesla," said JB Straubel, the company's chief technical officer. "We knew this was going to be the case, but it's been even harder than any of us expected." Flufferbot Some of the wounds were self-inflicted. In preparing the assembly lines, Musk became convinced that the process should be close to fully automated, using robots rather than humans whenever possible. Doing so, he believed, could make cars move through the factory at one metre per second, 10 to 20 times the speed of existing lines. He is absolutely working incredibly hard, but Elon has always worked incredibly hard. He's very tough, too. He can eat glass. Tesla CFP Deepak Ahuja

So Tesla built a factory with hundreds of robots, many programmed to perform tasks that humans could easily do. One robot, which Musk nicknamed the "flufferbot," was designed to simply place a sound-dampening piece of fiberglass atop the battery pack. But the flufferbot never really worked. It would fail to pick up the fiberglass, or put it in the wrong place, frequently delaying production. It was eventually replaced by factory workers. Musk has accepted responsibility for some of these missteps, occasionally with humour. In late June, he wore a T-shirt depicting a robot that passes butter. It was an inside joke, lampooning the notion of technology for technology's sake. After the debacle, Musk tweeted: "Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated."

As the challenges have mounted, Musk has thrown himself into his work, spending hours each week walking factory floors, trying to diagnose and fix various problems on the assembly line. "He demands personal accountability from the people that are closest to the machines," Straubel said. "This freaks people out. They are worried that he will come to their area and start asking questions." Yet Musk's micromanaging has taken a toll on Tesla's executive ranks, with more than 30 senior employees having departed since 2016, according to a list compiled by Reuters. Among the departed are the director of battery engineering, the vice president for autopilot and the director of manufacturing engineering, all positions crucial to Tesla's future. Fixing machines Amid the turnover, Musk has become even more hands-on. Recently, he and Straubel were at the Gigafactory, assessing a bottleneck in the manufacturing process. A machine that wound electrodes into formations known as jelly rolls was too slow, and employees could not figure out a remedy.

Then Musk intervened, suggesting that the machine be reprogrammed to work more rapidly. By the end of the day, the machine was 10 per cent faster. It was a small victory, and a reminder of Musk's technical acumen. But it was also a stark example of how he operates. Apparently unable or unwilling to delegate, the chief executive has embedded with the line workers. "A CEO's most important job is build a great team around you," said Bill George, the former chief executive of the medical device maker Medtronic and a Goldman Sachs board member. "He shouldn't be sleeping on the factory floor. I'd rather have him sleeping at home." 'Physically exhausted' Musk has increasingly complained about his lifestyle's physical toll. He has said he works 120 hours a week, sometimes not going outside for days at a time. At a meeting last week at SpaceX, he was lying on the floor in his cubicle, using a foam roller to relax his back muscles.

"He is absolutely working incredibly hard, but Elon has always worked incredibly hard," said Ahuja, Tesla's chief financial officer. "He's very tough, too. He can eat glass." In an attempt to force his body to sleep, Musk sometimes takes Ambien, something he has discussed publicly on Twitter and that has raised concerns among some Tesla board members. He often spends Sunday nights at the Tesla factory, then flies to Los Angeles for the 10 am executive meeting at SpaceX. (SpaceX, in contrast to Tesla, is a bastion of stability, and earlier this year successfully launched the world's most powerful private rocket, the Falcon Heavy.) "I know that it has been a difficult year for him," said Gwynne Shotwell, the SpaceX president and chief operating officer. "Not because he's frowning or throwing things, but because I can tell he's physically exhausted." Musk's personal life also seems in turmoil, with speculation he and his girlfriend, Canadian musician Grimes, have split up. Credit:AP Touring 'Game of Thrones'

In the interview with The Times, Musk said his work had been so consuming that he nearly missed Kimbal's wedding in Spain this summer. "I got there two hours before the ceremony," he said. "I left directly from the factory. And then I went straight back." But while Musk is clearly working hard, his recounting paints an incomplete picture of his travels. He was away for five days during his trip to Spain, and on the way back, he stopped with his children in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to tour the "Game of Thrones" set. Musk also told The Times that he had not taken a full week off since 2001, while recovering from malaria. But he has made time for memorable holidays over the past year. A few days before New Year's Eve, he boarded his jet with Kimbal, their families and another close friend, Bryn Mooser. The plan was to go to Antarctica. But on the way there, weather worsened, and they had to land in Santiago, Chile. He cares deeply about the world and the people on it. His fault is that he cares too much, sometimes. Musk friend Bryn Mooser

Realising they would not make it to Antarctica, the group laid new plans. They would party in Rio de Janeiro on New Year's Eve. But first, they took a day trip to Easter Island to visit the mysterious statues left by an ancient civilisation. While there, Mooser recalled, they discussed aliens, Musk's plan to colonise Mars, and how Easter Island, threatened by climate change, could be viewed as a cautionary tale. "He cares deeply about the world and the people on it," Mooser said. "His fault is that he cares too much, sometimes." Dark clouds still looming On Thursday morning, Musk addressed his board at a hastily convened meeting in a conference room at the Tesla factory. His sleeping bag was still on the floor. When he announced that Tesla would be staying public, at least one director cheered out loud. Musk's stunning reversal came about after he realised that while going private would remove some headaches  such as short-sellers  it could introduce others, including entanglements with conventional auto companies or oil kingdoms that hardly symbolise an all-electric future.

But the move didn't provide a full reset. There is a looming investigation by the SEC over the circumstances of his August 7 tweet announcing that he had "funding secured" to take the company private, an assertion that proved shaky. Peter Henning, professor of law at Wayne State University, said Musk's tweet was "clearly incomplete disclosure," adding that if the SEC decided to pursue a fraud case, the consequences could be severe. "The penalty that scares everyone is a director and officer bar," Henning said. "If you are found to have misled investors, the SEC can seek to bar you from serving as an officer or director of a public company. That could remove Elon Musk from Tesla." Loading Musk also must contend with a shareholder lawsuit that challenges Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity, his solar panel business. And he must try to replenish the executive ranks and stabilise Model 3 production, all while managing his volatile social life.Virgin Australia has reported its sixth consecutive full-year after-tax loss as asset write-downs drove it $653 million into the red, compared to a $185 million loss a year ago.

On an underlying level, which strips out the impact of impairments and the costs of Virgin's three-year business restructuring and turnaround plan, the airline reported a $109 million profit - up from a $3.7 million loss in 2017.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said it was the group's strongest underlying result in a decade, and was driven by record-high earnings in its core domestic business.

"Todays financial results show that the business is in a good position to achieve sustainable profitability going forward," Mr Borghetti said.Virgin Australia's outgoing boss John Borghetti says the airline is finally on solid financial ground and on track to sustainable profitability after delivering net losses for six consecutive years, even as operations outside its core domestic business face new headwinds.

Ive always been optimistic but now Im super optimistic," Mr Borghetti said on Wednesday after handing down what could be his final set of full-year results.

"Were ahead of where I thought wed be. We have confidence in the group," he said.

The airline on Wednesday reported a $653 million net loss for 2018, compared to a $185 million loss a year ago, driven by the writedown of $452 million worth of deferred tax assets from its balance sheet.Photo: The Canadian Press A sinkhole is shown in Oxford, N.S. on Aug.27, 2018 in a handout photo. A Nova Scotia town is urging the public to take caution as officials scramble to assess the massive, expanding sinkhole that has sucked up surrounding trees and picnic tables.

A small Nova Scotia town is urging public caution as officials scramble to assess a large, fast-expanding sinkhole that has sucked up trees and picnic tables.

An Oxford, N.S., park has been roped off while geologists and emergency management officials assess the stability of the surrounding area, which includes a community centre, gas station and a Tim Hortons.

"It's just amazing what Mother Nature can do," Linda Cloney, public relations officer for the town, said Tuesday.

Town officials say the hole grew considerably overnight Monday.

The sinkhole was measured on Tuesday morning at around 34 by 29 metres - about five metres wider than the previous night's measurements.

Cloney said stability around the growing sinkhole is one of the biggest safety concerns, as scientists and officials still aren't sure what is causing the sinkhole to grow, or how fast.

"It really is a day by day, unpredictable event," said Cloney.

By Tuesday morning, the edge of the hole had expanded to the pavement of the Lions' Club parking lot.

Geologists and emergency management officials say they have no idea how deep the hole is.

Last week, a 40-foot spruce tree was sucked into the hole. Playground equipment at Oxford and Area Lions Parkland was dismantled and moved to storage, as officials were unsure as to whether it would be safe to remove them in the coming days.

Security is on site around the clock to keep people out of the park while assessment work is ongoing.

The town is keeping security measures in place until the geologists' report can offer a better picture of how stable the surrounding area is.

"We're letting it do its thing, watching and monitoring, and also learning from this," said Cloney.

Regional provincial geologist Amy Tizzard has been assessing the site over the last few days, and said the likeliest cause is an underground cavern caving in the soft gypsum rock that's common in the region.

Tizzard said the sinkhole was less active on Tuesday than on Monday, but it's impossible to say what happens next.

"These sinkhole features are unpredictable so we really can't speculate how big it could get or if it's starting to stabilize at the moment," said Tizzard.

Staff at the nearby gas station and Tim Hortons said they are still open for business, though the massive hole can be seen from the coffee shop's window.

The growing natural phenomenon has also attracted a growing number of visitors.

Cloney said the sinkhole has also become a bit of a tourist attraction as people drive in for a glimpse, resulting in a few minor "fender benders" over the last few days.

"People are stopping in, they're curious. You hear of sinkholes but this one is rather large," Cloney said.It has been a bumpy ride at times, but Virgin Australia appears to have emerged through the clouds to produce a strong rise in underlying profit that its chief executive, John Borghetti, declares is sustainable.

Virgin's headline figures showed it posted the best underlying earnings in ten years of around $110 million pre tax, its highest-ever earnings before interest and tax, and its best profit margin.

John Borghetti delivers what might be his last result Credit:Jim Rice

So it did feel somewhat ironic that amid all this talk of record earnings the major reason the airline reported a statutory loss of $653 million was that in accounting land, Virgin may not make enough money in future years to use up all those deferred tax losses it has sitting in its books.

It is an accounting treatment, thus these accumulated tax losses can still be used, but they are unable to be recognised as an asset.The revelation became an Australian-first project, using cow manure to generate green electricity, and meet 100 per cent of its power needs.

Moxey Farms, near Cowra, is turning the waste of its 6000 cows into something useful. Credit:Moxey Farms

We started looking at ways to drive down costs when we realised we were sitting on a source of energy: cow manure.

Power costs have just been increasing rapidly and theyve been trending upwards, Mr Moxey, the owner of Moxey Farms, told Fairfax Media.

Faced with the universal business problem of rising power costs, dairy farmer Quentin Moxey struck on a novel solution.

While a number of Australian farms have installed solar panels, with dairy farms in Victoria developing a solar energy microgrid trading electricity through by blockchain processes and a NSW abattoir using rotting meat, manure and offal to generate electricity, this is the largest solely poo-powered generator.

The dairy at Gooloogong, just west of Cowra in New South Wales Central West, has 6000 head of cattle. These cows are each capable of producing around 30 kilograms of waste a day. This equates to around 5700 tonnes of dung a year.

Under the process to be used at Moxey, the manure is flushed into specially built pits where the liquids and solids are separated and processed through anaerobic fermentation, which uses micro-organisms to break down the waste and acts like a giant stomach.

This is equivalent to taking over 3600 homes or a large suburb off of the electricity grid. Quentin Moxey

The system captures the methane released during this biodigestion process as a burnable gas. The project will produce three megawatts of renewable energy, displacing the equivalent of about 25,000 tonnes of carbon emitted through traditional coal-fired energy production.Scott Morrison has given his new Education Minister, Dan Tehan, the task of sealing a deal on school funding. Heres how Minister Tehan can pull it off, to the benefit of all Australian students and without resorting to special side deals.

New Education Minister Dan Tehan. Credit:AP

Step one: focus on what matters most. The gap between Australias educational haves and have-nots is getting wider. The brutal reality is that, on average, disadvantaged students learn less during school than their more advantaged peers. Attending a disadvantaged school compounds the loss.

Disadvantaged year 9 students (for example, whose parents didnt finish school) are on average three years behind in NAPLAN reading, writing and numeracy compared with those from advantaged families (e.g., whose parents have a bachelor degree).

Disadvantaged schools typically find it harder to attract well-qualified teachers or provide adequate educational resources, and this resource disparity is bigger in Australia than any other country in the OECD.Caitlyn Walker and Amelia Lai, both 10, have gone from knowing next to nothing about bees to donning bee suits, building bee hotels around their neighbourhood and winning a Eureka Prize for their research on the declining species.

"We didn't know much about bees except that when they're aggravated, they sting and get beheaded and die," said Caitlyn, who is in year 5 at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney.

Amelia Lai and Caitlyn Walker have won this year's Australian Museum Eureka Prize for primary school science. Credit:Marcia Lai

"So we learnt a lot during the project. They pollinate one-third of our plants and without them we'd be eating rice, wheat and corn.

"And they're becoming endangered because they have a loss of habitat and a loss of biodiversity and people are using pesticides."Whiteleys famous Christie series is included, as well as My Armchair, the second-highest grossing Australian artwork sold at auction. But the once-in-a-lifetime drawcard is his 22-metre The American Dream , painted when he and Wendy lived in New York during the Vietnam War.

They are arranged, says Grishin, not by chronology but by theme - such as both artists' explorations of the divided self.

It will be on display with some of Baldessins better known works - including his iconic pear sculptures that greet visitors at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra - and interspersed with Whiteleys works, both well known and rare.

Grishins idea was a surprise to Edwards-Baldessin but she dusted off some of Georges works - including one painting that had been in storage for decades, which has been restored for the exhibition and is "breathtaking", according to Grishin.

It was way too political for [Whiteley's US] gallerist - not only way too political but way too big, says Wendy. The work was never shown in the US and while it has been displayed a handful of times since, it has never been shown in the round apart from when he assembled it in his studio. It will be mounted as it was originally intended at Baldessin/Whiteley.

He spent quite a lot of manic time on it, he drove himself into psychological corners with it, says Wendy. He was anxious about the state of America - as we all were at the time, at the end of the '60s  Vietnam was getting worse, there were race riots - all kinds of things going on.

Giovanni Di Dio, acting manager of exhibitions at Art Gallery of Western Australia, installing Brett Whiteley's The American Dream. Credit:NGV

Grishin says pairing Baldessin with the better known Whiteley is not just about pitching them as equals.

I dont think Baldessin requires me to raise his profile, he says. The work will do that. The quality of the work is undeniable. [But] by juxtaposing the two it brings out qualities we didnt expect in the other.Tears for Tarshiha

Olfat Mahmoud

Tears for Tarshiha. By Olfat Mahmoud.

Wild Dingo Press, $29.95

What is called in Arabic al-Nakbah (the catastrophe) was the exodus of Palestinians during the 1948 Palestine war. For Olfat Mahmoud, it was the flight of her grandmother, Alia, and her family from their home village of Tarshiha after it was bombed by Israeli planes and later subjected to an artillery barrage. With most of the villagers she went to Lebanon. She never returned; subsequent Israeli government legislation prevented the return of Palestinian refugees. Mahmoud was born in Lebanon, and this book traces her life from its beginning in a refugee camp through civil war and the horror of attacks on the Burj Barajneh and Shatila camps, to becoming a trained nurse, passionate advocate for Palestinian refugees, and director of NGO Palestinian Women's Humanitarian Organisation. Her story puts a human face on what many of us, if we understand it all, see as a set of historical events.The 80-year-old is in Australia just days after her latest movie, Book Club, hit Australian cinemas.

Jane Fonda - whos the first to admit that money and the colour of her skin have helped propel her success - delighted audiences during a rare sit-down appearance at Hamer Hall.

But the release of her 49th film was barely mentioned; instead, she took the audience on an inspirational journey through what she calls the three, 30-year-long acts of her life.

Fonda seems to have dodged the ageing gene. She appeared as radiant and youthful as ever, complete with her renowned bombshell hair, and spoke openly about how shes embracing her 80s with gusto and is determined to leave the earth with no regrets.

I want to give a cultural face to older women who are living robust lives, she said.

The crowd was a mix of ageing men and women and the next generation of young activists, who cheered as Fonda spoke of everything from her Barbarella days to her hit television series Grace and Frankie.

Fonda took the audience on a raw and honest look at what keeps her motivated and how Donald Trumps presidency has led her to return to doorknocking homes in Michigan to expose Americas current health crisis, and fighting for the rights of restaurant workers.Bang on a Can All-Stars Credit:Lisa Bauso

MUSIC

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS 

Melbourne Recital Centre, August 28

For more than 25 years, Bang on a Can  and the All-Stars touring group that it spawned  have championed adventurous new music from the US and beyond. And while the ensembles founding members (David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon) are not part of the travelling sextet, their creative spirit resonates through every Bang on a Can project.

This weeks Melbourne concert by the All-Stars paid tribute to Lang, Wolfe and Gordon (who are still the groups artistic directors) by including compositions by all three in the program. Langs dramatic Cheating, lying, stealing set the tone for the evening, its choppy rhythmic accents and frequent tonal shifts requiring incredible precision on the part of the players.

Wolfes Believing featured Gregg Augusts propulsive, jazz-inflected double bass and a virtuosic solo from Ashley Bathgate on cello and wordless vocals.The federal agency in charge of environmental water purchases has rejected calls by the Morrison government's special drought envoy Barnaby Joyce to divert flows to help graziers hit by the big dry.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, which holds about $4 billion worth of water secured to protect the health of river systems, told Fairfax Media "a number of state and federal members of Parliament along with peak irrigation groups" had asked it to investigate options to help irrigators finish winter fodder crops.

Go with the flow: The Murray River near its juncture with the Goulburn River earlier this year. Credit:Peter Hannam

However, the agency said it was obliged under the 2007 federal Water Act "to use the water first and foremost to get benefits for the environment", adding its water "was purchased by the taxpayer for the sole purpose of protecting and restoring the environmental assets of the [Murray-Darling] Basin".

"Water for the environment managed by the [agency] is supporting the health and survival of critical habitats and important native species across the Murray-Darling Basin," it said.However, a drawn-out spat between the privately owned plant and insurers - after the tornado tore through the control room at the Kurnell site three years ago - has meant it can't even be turned on until this December. "The testing phase is due to be completed by December 13," a spokesman for the plant said. Drinking water would then take "four to five months" from the restart to be produced, and full production would only be reached "by month seven and eight", he said. Nosedive

"If there's a hiccup or two in the plan, we do need to reconsider bringing the [stage one] water restrictions sooner," Stuart Khan, a professor at the University of NSW's School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, said. "The nosedive [in water storage levels] is even steeper than going into the Millennium Drought." Utilities Minister Don Harwin said "Greater Sydneys water supply is robust and secure and we are confident that, despite the dry conditions, no homes or businesses will go without water". Storages held enough water to supply the citys population "for another two years - even without any rain at all over that period," he said, adding that authorities "have planned for drought conditions". Determining how fast dam levels will drop hinges on water use, catchment rainfall and evaporation losses. At current rates, that 50 per cent level for stage 1 restrictions would be reached in about six months but at 0.8 percentage-point rate, it would be hit by early January - both before the desal plant will produce water.

Warragamba Dam, which supplies about 80% of Sydney's water, when it was near full in late 2016. Credit:Wolter Peeters 'Chronically underestimated' Both Labor and the Greens blasted Mr Harwin for failing to act sooner. Chris Minns, the Labor water spokesman, pointed to comments Mr Harwin made a year ago today when dam levels were much higher. "If the dams weren't full, we might need to do [the plant repairs] faster, but we don't need to, so it's good," Mr Harwin told Seven News.

Last September, Mr Harwin told state parliament it was unlikely the 60 per cent trigger "will be reached in the next five years". The minister "has chronically underestimated the threat and risks of drought", Mr Minns said. "Labor is demanding clarity on the water restrictions timetable." Justin Field, the Greens water spokesman, said "It makes sense to bring in stage 1 water restrictions earlier to reduce the likelihood of more extreme restrictions down the track". He said the existence of the desal plant "seems to have created a false sense of security that has meant government and Sydney Water have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to water efficiency". "The result is even more cost on the consumer in the long term and potentially crippling water restrictions in the future."

'No cause for concern' WaterNSW Chief executive David Harris said storages had enough water to ensure supplies until at least mid-2020 "even under the continuing drought". There is cause for the precautionary planning that is taking place by the NSW Government,

WaterNSW and Sydney Water, but there is certainly no cause for concern, Mr Harris said. We have about two years supply banked in our dams, an adaptable network with the ability for

internal transfers to tackle pressure points, and a dependable, well-tested plan to guarantee supply," he said. A WaterNSW spokesman said transfers from Tallowa Dam had not been possible earlier due to major upgrade works being undertaken on the Burrawang Pump Station. The scheme was returned to service today.Photo: The Canadian Press United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett, left, hands a glass of water to Bangladeshi Ambassador to the U.N. Masud Bin Momen during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Myanmar, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that nothing prepared her for "the extent and depth of suffering" she saw when she visited camps in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar's military.

In her very different role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, Blanchett said she heard "gut-wrenching accounts" of torture, rape, people seeing loved ones killed before their eyes, and children thrown into fire and burned alive.

"I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every single refugee child I met," she said. "I saw myself in every parent. How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire?"

The two-time Academy Award winner said: "Their experiences will never leave me."

The Rohingya have long been treated as outsiders in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and they are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.

The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel last August in northern Rakhine State.

Myanmar's military responded with counterinsurgency sweeps and has been accused of widespread rights violations, including rape, murder, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes and villages  leading about 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The Security Council meeting on Tuesday commemorated the first anniversary of the crackdown.

Blanchett, who visited refugee camps in Bangladesh in March, recounted stories that were told to her and said it was important to recall that last year wasn't the first attack on the Rohingya.

In 1978, she said, Gul Zahar told her she was a young woman among 200,000 Rohingya refugees who streamed into Bangladesh "fleeing brutality and widespread abuse." In 1992, Gul was again among another 250,000 stateless Rohingya who sought safety in Bangladesh. And now at age 90, Blanchett said, Gul is "sadly" a refugee again living in poverty in Bangladesh "with the sole wish that her great grandchildren will have a better future."

"The need for this future to transpire inside Myanmar has never been more urgent," Blanchett said. "If we fail to act now, Gul's grandchildren, like thousands of others, will be unable to escape this relentless cycle that generations of Rohingya have experienced."

The Australian actress said women who were raped by Myanmar security forces are now giving birth to children who are not only stateless but "are likely to carry this stigma for the rest of these lives."

She urged support for the refugees and Bangladeshi host communities, and she implored the Security Council to help the Rohingya return with "a clear pathway to full citizenship."

"We have failed the Rohingya before," Blanchett said. "Please, let us not fail them again."Serena Williams may be facing a ban on her famous "catsuit" at future French Opens but on Monday, New York time, all eyes were on her "tutu" at the US Open.

Et tutu ... Serena Williams in her new look at the US Open. Credit:AP

The 23-times grand slam champion made her round one appearance against Poland's Magda Linette in a black tutu-style dress designed by Virgil Abloh for Nike.

The one-shoulder dress, which is retailing to fans for $700, features a full tulle skirt, the Nike swoosh and the word "LOGO" - the all-caps wording a trademark of Abloh's own label, Off-White.This generation could be the last to know the thrill and discipline of waiting for the weekly pocket money in the form of a bundle of crumpled notes and warm coins.

In a world of apps, e-books and online games, more children than ever are asking for their weekly allowance digitally to fuel modern-day spending.

Piper (front), Mackenna and Kristy Robertson doing the dishes as part of their pocket money scheme. Credit:Staff reporter

For many parents, pocket money has become a source of mild anxiety with the added complexity of the digital age: when should it start? How much to pay? Should it be in return for doing chores, or handed over with no strings attached?

According to the survey of more than 1000 parents for the Financial Planning Association of Australias Share the Dream: Raising the Invisible-Money Generation report, 28 per cent of Queensland parents are reluctant to discuss money with their kids for fear they will worry.Maree Cook is a well-dressed, articulate disability support worker, living in a stable home and dedicated to social justice.

But just three years ago, at the age of 45, she was unemployed and at her lowest ebb.

Worst of all, she was homeless, a situation she found harder than anything she had ever experienced, in a life already filled with adversity.

Maree Cook, who was recently homeless. She says finding accommodation in a women's home run by the YWCA saved her. Credit:Karleen Minney

Living in a small country town and working as a cleaner, shed only recently moved in with her partner when her job fell through.The desperate father of a missing six-year-old Canberra boy has appealed for help to bring his son home.

Cliff Mapham dropped his son Phoenix off at Orana Steiner School in Weston last Thursday and hasn't seen him since.

Cliff Mapham and his missing six-year-old son Phoenix.

Police believe Phoenix's mother, Tessa Woodcock, who does not have custody of the boy, unlawfully took him from Hickey Court in Weston, about 1.30pm last Thursday.

While police have refused to discuss the circumstances around Phoenix's disappearance, Mr Mapham said the six-year-old was taken from the school oval in front of other children.American whistleblower and activist Chelsea Manning is facing the prospect of having her visa application denied by the Australian government just days before her speaking tour  which includes an appearance at the Sydney Opera House  is due to start.

Fairfax Media understands the Australian government is considering refusing entry to Manning, who was released from military prison in 2017, under s501 of the Migration Act.

Chelsea Manning may not be granted a visa in time for her speaking appearance at the Sydney Opera House. Credit:AP

Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the US Army, had been sentenced in 2013 to 35 years prison over the 2010 leak of classified information to WikiLeaks.

In January 2017, then-president Barack Obama commuted her sentence and she was freed the following May.Reverend Robert Wood. Credit:Equality Forum.

The Reverend Robert Wood, who boldly urged Christian clergymen in a 1960 book to welcome gay men and women to their churches in a time of widespread prejudice against them, and went on to march in early gay-rights protests, died on August 19 at his home in Concord, New Hampshire, aged 95.

Woods book Christ and the Homosexual was a rare plea by a gay clergyman for equality at a time when local and state laws criminalised the sexual acts of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, and churchmen condemned homosexuality from pulpits.

Wood was a United Church of Christ minister in Spring Valley, New York, when he decided to write the book. He was reluctant at first, believing there were others more qualified. But when no one else wrote such a book, he borrowed against his life insurance policy to pay for the publication of a few thousand copies by a vanity press.

Blending social science and cultural analysis with his experiences ministering to closeted gay men, Wood made a powerful appeal for the full acceptance of gay people by churches and American society.Professional boxer Lauryn Eagle has faced a Sydney court over allegations she drove under the influence and refused a breath test after driving the wrong way down a Bondi Beach street.

Ms Eagle, 30, a former TV presenter, said nothing as her lawyer Adam Houda told Waverley Local Court on Wednesday there were issues with the way the charges and associated facts had been written.

Professional boxer Lauryn Eagle arrives at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday. Credit:AAP

But ultimately there would be a plea to the charges, Mr Houda said.

The lawyer insisted the court note the model had on Tuesday "signed in for the traffic offenders' program".Despite bearing the scars from where her husband rained knife and hammer blows upon her, Robynne Fraley can't remember a thing.

The mother-of-four doesn't know how or why she suffered the life-changing injuries to her head, neck, chest and hand.

Courtney Khannara (centre) leaves court with supporters after giving evidence on Wednesday. Credit:Nick Moir

"We've been advised not to tell her," her daughter Courtney Khannara told a NSW District Court jury on Wednesday. "Until she asks us, we do not bring up anything."

Mrs Khannara was the second of the daughters of Robert and Robynne Fraley to give evidence in the Crown case against their father yesterday over the sudden and brutal attack in the early afternoon of April 4, 2016.One of three men accused of preparing for a jihad-inspired terror attack on Melbourne urged arresting police to make him a martyr and told them they would all die, a trial has heard.

Prosecutors allege Ahmed Mohamed, 25, Abdullah Chaarani, 27, and Hamza Abbas, 23, conspired to plan to use improvised explosive devices and other weapons to "maximise casualties" at Federation Square, St Pauls Cathedral, Flinders Street Station and the Young & Jackson hotel around Christmas 2016.

The accused men Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullah Chaarani and Hamza Abbas in court. Credit:Jeff Hayes

The three men have each pleaded not guilty to conspiring to plan or prepare for a terrorist act at their Supreme Court trial. The trios lawyers dispute their clients ever entered an agreement to prepare for an attack.

As prosecutor Nick Papas, QC, continued outlining the case against the men on Wednesday, he told the jury that Mr Chaarani and Mr Mohamed were in "excited discussion" as they watched Islamic State martyrdom videos online while in a car in Springvale on December 22, 2016.We will be here well into the night," Mr Leach said. We will be here for many days cleaning up the site and making sure the fire is completely blacked out." Students from Kingsville Primary school were taken home after the school was closed due to the fire. Credit:Jason South Mr Leach said it was possible some fumes from asbestos sheeting in the warehouses roof could have drifted in the air over Melbournes suburbs. We think the heat of the combustion has been such that most of the risk has been eliminated, he said. Because if the intensity of the fire, much of that asbestos is going to have been consumed by the fire in the early stages.

Mr Leach said firefighters initially had difficulty getting into the area to tackle the blaze and only started to have an impact on extinguishing it in the early afternoon. He said "hot spots" were still burning in the centre of the site where a 120 x 70 metre warehouse once stood. Mr Leach said it was hoped the fire would be brought under control on Thursday afternoon and that it was not likely to grow or spread. Well be here for many days cleaning up the site, until the fire is completely blacked out, he said. Mr Leach said firefighters would continue their efforts well into the night, blasting the blaze with water and foam.

Smoke from the factory fire in West Footscray continued to drift across the city's western suburbs on Thursday afternoon. Credit:Eddie Jim Firefighters were still hopeful they could bring the fire under control this afternoon, MFB Acting Deputy Chief Officer Ken Brown said, which would also reduce the smoke, but Mr Brown warned it was unlikely the fire would be completely extinguished until Friday. Authorities extended a "Watch and Act" warning for residents to include Altona, Newport, Port Melbourne, Seaholme, Seddon and Williamstown. An earlier alert was also issued for Altona East, Altona Gate, Altona North, Brooklyn, Footscray, Kingsville, South Kingsville, Spotswood, Sunshine, Tottenham, West Footscray, Williamstown North and Yarraville. Anyone within the vicinity of the fire or the smoke plume is urged to shelter indoors.

Mr Brown confirmed the smoke was toxic. 'Toxic' plume "Ill reinforce that all smoke is toxic, and if people are inside the plume they shouldnt be there, they should avoid it at all costs," he said. "We are working with the EPA and are looking at the monitoring stations. We've also got our scientific officers and hazmat technicians going around, with crews visiting schools and taking readings.

"We've had no spike outside the area that we are concerned about at the moment but with the weather moving in and changing we've got to start looking at a strategy to minimise as much smoke impact on the community over the next couple of hours." The MFB were warning those in the area that they should expect to smell acrid smoke that may smell like nail polish as the afternoon showers brought the smoke down.

Mr Brown said particles other than asbestos in the smoke were more of a concern. "It's not the asbestos particles, it's the particles of dust that sit in there, what we call PM2.5 particle matter. That's the products of combustion that are actually burning in the cloud," he said.

Mr Brown earlier told ABC Radio that the structure was made of asbestos.

"Very early, we identified the asbestos and put asbestos protocols in and we're keeping it as wet as we can in the area to minimise any exposure risk." He said the building's owner and occupier were both working with authorities to determine exactly what was inside. On radio station 3AW Mr Brown had said "there is obviously oxyacetylene and acetone, and other goods we are still trying to identify". "It's causing us grief with the explosions, which we are not happy about," he said.

The perimeter of the fire has now been brought under control, but a large fire is still burning in the centre. An aerial appliance will spray foam over the site this afternoon, and firefighters expect to be there overnight. Smoke has been pouring out of the burning factory for hours. Credit:Jason South 'It's a big one': Schools, childcare centres closed At least 27 primary schools and another 27 early childhood centres were closed, while other schools across the western suburbs kept children indoors. "As a precautionary measure, the Department of Education is conducting an orderly closure of 13 government schools and 27 early childhood centres in the area directly impacted by the West Footscray fire," a spokesman said.

"We understand a further 14 Catholic schools are also closing. We have asked parents to pick up their children from these sites if possible. These schools and centres will remain open for children whose parents are unable to pick them up." The department expected the schools would open on Friday as normal. "Melbourne Fire Brigade have advised they expect to have the fire under control by the end of today, as such we anticipate all affected schools will be able to operate as normal tomorrow." Premier Daniel Andrews tweeted that the "EPA attended the scene as soon as requested and will remain on site as long as required".

He also thanked the 145 firefighters on the scene and advised residents to heed advice and stay indoors. West Footscray resident Kerry Bellis, who runs her family daycare service on Indwe Street, around the corner from the Paramount Road blaze, said parents had agreed with her decision to close. Fire crews battle to control a blaze at a factory in West Footscray, Melbourne. Credit:AAP/David Crosling "You can smell [the smoke], you can see it quite clearly. I've decided to go away for the day because my son has asthma and it's best to get him away from it." Meanwhile, residents at Royal Freemasons Aged Care Footscray were told to stay indoors and management cancelled all outings and outdoor exercise classes.

At Doutta Galla Aged Services in Yarraville, residents were also staying inside and all windows and doors were closed. Management confirmed they would send an email to families assuring them of residents' safety. And Uniting AgeWell on Geelong Road, Kingsville, was also keeping residents indoors and conducting welfare checks on clients who lived nearby. Spokesperson Charisse Ede said a plan was in place in case emergency services told them to evacuate. Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp told radio station 3AW said the site had acetone, aerosol cans and oxygen cylinders which had exploded throughout Thursday morning.

"At this stage we don't believe [evacuation] will be needed in that immediate area, the plume is up and the smoke is blowing south. As part of a checklist in relation to think through what we plan... we certainly have to look at evacuation, but again no definite plans around that," he said. The fire has been categorised as an eighth alarm, which is about the same size as the fire at the Coolaroo recycling plant last year. Melbourne Water has also warned that runoff from the fire has entered local waterways such as Stoney Creek, which could include chemicals and firefighting foam residue. The public is advised to stay clear. Smoke billows from a West Footscray factory, seen from Kingsville. Credit:Benjamin Millar

Fire crews battle to control a blaze at a factory in West Footscray, Melbourne. Credit:David Crosling/AAP 'I woke up to a popping noise' Witnesses have revealed they woke to 'popping noises' and views from their windows of smoke and flames. One caller to 3AW said the sound was like "rolling thunder with explosions in between". Brooklyn resident Toby Bell told The Age he woke to the sound of small explosions.

"I woke up to a popping noise. I initially thought it was gunshots or something like that. So I went outside and could see a lot of red haze [in the] sky, so I jumped in the car and followed the noises and they led me right to the factory," he said. "I then watched up to at least 15 fire trucks race to the location. When I left and went home I could still hear emergency services racing there." David McKelson, who owns Pro Dog Daycare on Paramount Road, said he would not be opening on Thursday given the "constant" smoke. "The smoke is so thick and I was there for about 15 minutes, and you can already hear it in my voice. I closed the business for the day, my concern is that the smoke could be toxic," he said.Photo: The Canadian Press

British Columbia maintained its budget surplus in the last fiscal year even though it boosted spending on government programs by almost $3 billion and covered significant expenses from disastrous wildfires in 2017.

Finance Minister Carole James said the government reduced its debt and achieved a balanced budget despite historic losses at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.

Read morePolice have charged a man over a sexual assault on a young mother in North Melbourne five years ago.

Detectives from the Sexual Crimes Squad arrested a man on Wednesday as part of their investigation into an alleged sexual assault in North Melbourne in the early hours of June 30, 2013.

He has been charged with one count of rape and one count of intentionally cause serious injury and will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday evening.

Earlier this month, a $500,000 reward was announced for information in relation to the incident.

No one had been charged over the sexual assault, despite a public call for information at the time, but police revealed weeks ago that they were close to making an arrest.Crossrail, a 118 kilometre rail line through London  21 kilometres of it in underground tunnels  is due to open in December, 11 years after work began.

The Channel Tunnel, a 50 kilometre rail tunnel beneath the English Channel linking Britain with northern France was dug in six years.

It took 11 years to complete London's mammoth Crossrail project. Credit:Bloomberg

And the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a 60-kilometre rail tunnel carved through the Swiss Alps took 17 years to complete.

So why will it take 28 years for a project of a similar scale to be bored beneath suburban Melbourne?The man who found the body of Splash the dolphin calf floating near Perth Flying Squadron Yacht Club on Monday has urged people to take better care of our Swan River.

It was only last week that the body of Splashs mother Highnitch washed up along the Swan tangled in fishing line with a plastic bag caught in it. Rangers had been looking out for her 18-month-old calf who also had fishing line wrapped around her tail fluke and was known to be struggling.

Splash's body was found on Monday evening. Credit:DBCA.

William Langley and his girlfriend Sasha had heard the public appeal for information about Splash and were walking their dog as they often do in the early evening, keeping one eye on the water. On Monday they saw something in the water that didnt look right and Mr Langley walked to the end of the jetty.

When he saw Splash floating nearby the couple called the Wildcare helpline and Parks and Wildlife rangers, who came and retrieved the body.Theyre way in front of us in terms of the volume of supply, theyve got much larger resource than we have. But the point is if you know youre buying WA cobalt or a battery that has WA cobalt in it then you can justify to your customers that youve had proper ethical supply. WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston inspecting a Tesla vehicle at a lithium event in May. Credit:Hamish Hastie Whereas getting supply out of the DRC its more problematic. That is a genuine opportunity for WA. "The world now does look at these things. What is your carbon footprint, what was your ethical supply chain?

Thats to our advantage. Down, down, downstream One of the biggest questions over the lithium battery sector was how far could WA move down the battery supply chain to meet the growing demand in batteries driven by electric vehicles and utility energy storage. Chinese lithium giant Tianqi was building a $700 million lithium hydroxide processing plant in Kwinana and at least four more plants are in the pipeline from international and WA companies. However, there were still three to four steps WA needed to take before it could become a bona fide home of battery manufacturing.

Mr Johnston said he was confident the state could convince someone to build a precursor battery chemical plant in WA. Loading One of the things I think needs to be emphasised is that if somebody turned up tomorrow and set up a battery factory they would have to import all of the components, he said. Lithium hydroxide doesnt go into a battery, it goes into precursor chemicals, which then go into cathodes and then that goes into a battery. The good thing is the other materials that go into a battery are all available here.

So now thats the trick, can we get somebody to invest in the precursor chemical plant? We think we can, we think there is a good business case to make for investors to make that decision and if that happens then we can start talking about the next step which is the anodes and cathodes and then if we can get that then we can start talking about batteries. Mr Johnston confirmed he had met with Tesla representatives, but would not reveal the details of their conversations. He said he had also met with other energy storage and battery companies. Mr Johnston said the further down the supply chain WA got, the better it would be for the WA job opportunities.

"It's clearly a very important opportunity. The great thing about these jobs is they are high skill, high wage jobs," he said. "This is not about a race to the bottom, this is about providing genuine opportunities for West Australians to have strong careers both in advanced occupations as well as process workers. "The good thing is many of the industries we have in WA today, the skills needed for those industries are transferable to this industry. "We are the world's number one resources jurisdiction, not because we're good at quarrying, because we're good at tech. "Now we want to apply the tech we have in the resources sector so a new activity, which is the downstream processing activity."

Getting the eye of the feds Loading Awareness of the potential multi-billion dollar economic injection and jobs boom that would come with a strong lithium industry was lacking in federal circles, Mr Johnston said. He said they were going to lobby the government to reverse its decision to cap research and development tax incentives for companies in the battery metals industry. Mr Johnston said he was also concerned federal political instability would hurt the states bid at establishing a lithium and battery metals cooperative research centre in WA.

The state has offered a $6 million contribution while the private sector has committed to a whopping $27 million to establish the centre here. The centre would conduct battery research in collaboration with the private sector with a view to commercialising it. Mr Johnston said he was very concerned that the current political chaos might get in the way of them making a good decision. I think it is generally understood that WA's CRC bid is above any other state, he said. One of the risks is they might combine it with another industry. For example they might say rather than battery metals and new energy they might go battery metals, new energy and LNG. So they might combine it as something else and then say well thats a reason not to do it in WA.Perth is about to say goodbye to the wettest winter in 15 years as a severe weather warning with damaging winds and buckets of rain has been issued for large parts of the state on Wednesday.

Rain lashed Perth for most of the day as the state records the wettest August in 53 years.

It has been the wettest August in Perth since 1965, with the Mount Lawley gauge recording 184.8 millimetres for the month so far.

Margaret River recorded a whopping 51 millimetres of rain for the day since 9am, according to Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Mark Paul.

In the metro area Pearce gauges collected 18 millimetres and the city of Perth 9.4 millimetres after heavy rain for most of the day.The Morrison government has taken another blow in the aftermath of last week's leadership spill, with Liberal backbencher Julia Banks declaring she will quit Parliament at the next election in a decision that puts a key marginal seat in play.

Ms Banks blasted the "vindictive" behaviour of the Liberal Party's factional powerbrokers in a thinly veiled attack on those who pushed for Peter Dutton to replace Malcolm Turnbull in last week's chaotic spill.

Julia Banks will not contest her marginal Victorian seat in protest at the dumping of Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Eddie Jim

Her decision is a devastating blow for the government because its survival depends on its ability to hold ground in seats such as her electorate of Chisholm in suburban Melbourne, which she won by a margin of just 1.6 per cent at the last election after leaving a successful career in business.

"I have always listened to the people who elected me and put Australia's national interest before internal political games, factional party figures, self-proclaimed power-brokers and certain media personalities who bear vindictive, mean-spirited grudges intent on settling their personal scores," Ms Banks said in a statement.Queensland's attorney-general doesn't want convicted sexual predator Robert John Fardon to be released unsupervised into the community, but may not have any legal means to stop it happening.

A Brisbane Supreme Court decision earlier this week dismissed a Queensland government attempt to extend a supervision order against Fardon.

Sexual predator Robert John Fardon is due for release. Credit:Nine News

It means the 69-year-old, who has a history of attacking females dating back to the 1960s, will be released unmonitored into the community when the order expires in October.

Among his reasons for dismissing the government's bid, Justice David Jackson said the risks of rapists re-offending "becomes very low after the age of 65".The Victorian government has warned Australias new energy minister Angus Taylor not to try to pressure it to reverse its gas fracking ban.

The state Labor government issued the warning in a strongly worded letter signed by Treasurer Tim Pallas and energy minister Lily DAmbrosio.

It permanently banned coal-seam gas extraction  also called fracking  in Victoria two years ago and has also imposed a moratorium on conventional onshore gas exploration until mid 2020.

The Andrews government has banned fracking in Victoria. Credit:Bloomberg

The state opposition supports the fracking ban but has pledged to overturn the moratorium on conventional onshore gas, arguing it is restricting supply and pushing up prices.The Andrews government's decision to bypass Infrastructure Victoria on its $50 billion Melbourne rail loop risks costing taxpayers much more for the project, an expert has warned.

Labor created Infrastructure Victoria  a $10 million a year agency  less than three years ago, promising it would remove political interference from decisions on major projects.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan announce Labors plan for the suburban rail loop in Box Hill. Credit:Joe Armao

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The new independent body will ensure that Victorias immediate and long-term infrastructure needs are identified and prioritised based on objective, transparent analysis and evidence, the government said in October 2015.Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Somewhere in Melbourne, theres a public hospital where the risk of something going wrong is much greater than in another hospital across town. But youre not allowed to know which hospital it is  because this type of data is hidden from patients and doctors. A few kilometres away, buried in the files of the state Education Department, an explosive police report exists with allegations of a sex grooming ring linked to a suburban school. Just dont expect the government to release it because, bureaucrats claim, the report is exempt under Freedom of Information laws from ever being disclosed. I think there is still very much a culture in large parts of the [government] sector thats more about, How can I refuse disclosure?' Victoria's Information Commissioner, Sven Bluemmel And in the corridors of power at Town Hall, important decisions are being made about the City of Melbourne  about everything from new developments and contracts to transport improvements and rates. The trouble is, more than a quarter of those decisions are made behind closed doors  and some remain confidential indefinitely.

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Increasingly, Victoria is a secret state. Almost every aspect of our government, our legal system, and our public services is pervaded by a creeping lack of transparency. From the Premiers Office at Treasury Place to police departments, health, schools and the courts, a veil of secrecy is undermining democracy and having an impact on how we live. Whats more, the laws that are supposed to ensure transparency  from the Freedom of Information Act to the Open Courts Act  are, in fact, resulting in exactly the opposite. As Victoria's Information Commissioner, Sven Bluemmel, says, "I think there is still very much a culture in large parts of the [government] sector thats more about, How can I refuse disclosure?'". In coming days, an Age investigation will examine how Victorians are being kept in the dark and the effect this is having on the public debate. Well also ask to hear your stories. ... cabinet always meets in secret; cabinet documents tend to be secret; and the public service is beholden to government of the day Monash University politics lecturer Nick Economou The notion of a secret government is not unique to Victoria. Its genesis goes back centuries to a time when monarchs protected themselves against rivals and official information was considered the property of the Crown.

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In Australia, it was the colony of Victoria that set the pattern, according to an Australian Law Reform Commission report: in 1867, Victoria created the first secrecy provision in Australia, forbidding public servants from giving out information without the permission of a minister. Its a throwback to the origins of our Westminster system  cabinet always meets in secret; cabinet documents tend to be secret; and the public service is beholden to government of the day, says Monash University politics lecturer Nick Economou, who has been an observer of the states political landscape for decades. Since then, various pieces of legislation have tried to cut against the grain and reverse the culture of keeping things hidden. The Freedom of Information Act, for instance, was introduced in 1982 to extend as far as possible the right of the community to access to information in the possession of the Government of Victoria. The Open Courts Act was created to strengthen and promote the principles of open justice and free communication of information. Both, largely, have failed. The Age has uncovered:

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Can any of this change? Monash Adjunct Professor Colleen Lewis, an expert on public sector integrity, says there have been steps taken to improve the situation  but whether they're enough is open to debate. Among Victorias public watchdogs, there is now an Ombudsman to deal with public sector complaints; an anti-corruption commission to tackle police misconduct and government corruption; an auditor-general to scrutinise the spending of taxpayer funds; and a local government inspectorate to oversee councils. But, according to Dr Lewis, these integrity bodies are often hampered by lack of powers and resources, and are subject to the whims of politicians keenly focused on self-preservation and media pressure. And all of this is happening in an age where we trust institutions less: of the 28 countries surveyed for the annual Edelman Trust Barometer published in February, Australia ranks 21st for the people's overall level of trust in institutions of all kinds, including government, business, the media and NGOs. "One of things that would help with the lack of trust would be more accountability, more openness, more transparency, says Dr Lewis.

AdvertisementPhoto: The Canadian Press A Bombardier turboprop passenger plane sits in a hangar at the Bombardier facility in Toronto.

Bombardier says a Chinese leasing company has changed its aircraft order for 10 regional jets by swapping half of the CRJ 900s for five 90-seat Q400 turboprops.

Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier's commercial aircraft division, says the deal is part of a fleet expansion plan in Asia.

The Montreal-based transportation giant entered into an agreement in June 2016 with a subsidiary of Chinese financial institution, Industrial Bank Co. Ltd.

The revised order would have a list-price value of US$420 million, although it's typical for purchasers to get discounts based on order size and other factors. The new list price compares to US$472 million in the original 2016 deal.

The Q400 typically flies routes that range between 300 and 800 kilometres, while CRJ 900s cruise on flight paths between 2,500 and 3,000 kilometres, industry experts say.Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is standing by his decision to withdraw support from Malcolm Turnbull in the wake of a leadership ballot brought on without notice last Tuesday by the former Prime Minister.

Senator Cormann also rejected media reports he relied on incorrect advice about the level of party room backing for Peter Dutton before shifting his support away from Mr Turnbull.

WA Senator Mathias Cormann is standing by his decision to withdraw support from former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:AAP Image/Lukas Coch

"I was the leader of the government in the Senate last week who, in the wake of a leadership ballot initiated without notice by the former Prime Minister, was presented with information by colleagues which I felt duty bound to share with Malcolm Turnbull, which I did share with Malcolm Turnbull," he said.

"The judgment I formed was that the party room had lost confidence in the former Prime Minister, that there was a view that there was a need for change.He has struggled physically and spiritually for social benefit, Sam Onn said. There is no evidence to prove he is guilty based on this charge. Ricketsons lawyer peppered his impassioned speech with rhetorical questions: How can James be accused of poisonous activity?, How does he harm the national defence? and An undercover spy for the state? Its impossible, he said. James is a humanitarian... he has nothing to hide. I believe his detention is not appropriate.

He said the key question was whether the information Ricketson gathered while filming could jeopardise national defence. Sam Onn said such a charge could be leveled if Ricketson was gathering surveillance on a battlefield, but not filming Cambodias poverty-stricken communities. Ricketson had a political right to express his opinion, even if the criticism stung, Sam Onn said. Ricketson was not perfect, he added, and his client admitted to flying a drone above an opposition party rally without permission. But his behaviour did not warrant a charge of espionage, he said. Sam Onn concluded by saying there was no concrete evidence against Ricketson.

Drop the charges against James ... and release him, he said. Ricketson, who yesterday was grilled on his letters to Mr Turnbull and emails to Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy, on Wednesday adopted contrite tone. He repeated his apology to Hun Sen for any pain, offence or embarrassment his letter to Malcolm Turnbull provoked. Ricketson said the letter was probably ill-advised and that he wrote it when he was upset following the 2016 assassination of beloved analyst Kem Ley, whose wife and children received asylum in Australia. I expressed myself in words that were probably too strong, he said.

It was a letter that I did not believe would become the subject of a court case...I should not have expressed my feelings at the time to my own Prime Minister in the strong words that I used. Ricketson added that he aimed to respect the ways in which Cambodian culture differed from Australian customs, but he sometimes forgot. In his final statement before the court, Ricketson said the suggestion he had been pretending to be a filmmaker as a cover for espionage was nonsensical. He said it was ludicrous that a spy would communicate with the Prime Minister through gmail.

I do not know what I have done to deserve this vexatious treatment I have been subjected to by the prosecutor, Ricketson said. One possible reason for my prosecution is to silence a critic of the government, sending a message to other journalists, both Khmer and non-Khmer. Ricketson reiterated that he loved Cambodia and the Cambodian people and did not intend to defame the government. Journalism is not a crime and documentary filmmaking should not be confused with espionage, he said. Ricketsons adopted daughter Roxanne Holmes wrote from Australia that Ricketson was an innocent man whose only crime is kindness.

He is above all a man who has saved many lives through his kind and compassionate heart, she said. James saved my life, he brought me out of the darkness and into the light. We are praying for justice for James. Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, slammed the Cambodian judicial process. "This trial really was an expose of everything that's wrong with the Cambodian judicial system: bogus and unsubstantiated charges, over a year of arbitrary pre-trial detention, prosecutors with little or no evidence, and political hacks serving as judges who rule as ordered rather than based on what happens in their court, he said. From day one, James Ricketson has been a scapegoat in Hun Sen's charade of a 'colour revolution' aimed at toppling the government.Washington: French President Emmanuel Macron joined a challenge issued by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, saying that Europe's populist forces were right to see him as their "main opponent."

Macron was speaking after Orban and Italy's Matteo Salvini met in Milan on Tuesday evening to discuss creating a united front of Europe's anti-immigrant political forces ahead of elections to the European Parliament next May. Orban singled out Macron, calling him leader of a "pro-migration" camp.

French President Emmanuel Macron. Credit:AP

Macron, speaking in Denmark on Wednesday, said the populists are right to regard him as their chief adversary in the European Union.

"I won't retreat in front of the nationalists and those preaching hatred," Macron said in Copenhagen. "If they want to see me as their main opponent, they're right."The New York Public Library has announced a new, free multimedia exhibition, Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York, to celebrate the legendary choreographer's centennial. The exhibition opens at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Wednesday, September 26, and runs through Friday, March 30, 2019, in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, Shelby Cullom Davis Museum.

Voice of My City, according to a press release, "traces Robbins' life and dances alongside the history of New York, inspiring viewers to see the city as both a source of inspiration and a confidante in their daily lives." Curated by Julia L. Foulkes, professor of history at the New School and author of books including To the City: Urban Photographs of the New Deal and A Place for Us: "West Side Story" and New York, the exhibition will include Robbins's sketches, rare photographs of his life and productions, personal ephemera, costumes, and other artifacts, drawn almost exclusively from the library's collections.

There will also be a slew of free public programs in conjunction with Voice of My City, including concerts; talks; screenings; and even a four-part mini-festival devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg" Variations, inspired by Robbins's famous 1971 ballet work set to the piece and his lifelong love of Bach.

For more details, click here.TORRANCE, Calif. August 28, 2018;

Insight earns top ratings in all IIHS crashworthiness evaluations

Collision Mitigation Braking System feature of standard Honda Sensing rated "SUPERIOR" by IIHS

The all-new 2019 Honda Insight has earned the 2018 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) highest overall safety rating of TOP SAFETY PICK+. The award is thanks to top ratings of "GOOD" in all crashworthiness tests, a standard "GOOD" rating for the Insight's LED headlights and a "SUPERIOR" rating for the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) feature of the standard Honda Sensing suite of advanced driver-assitive and active safety technologies.

"Insight continues to prove that it's much more than just a pretty face with great fuel-efficiency ratings." said Ray Mikiciuk, assistant vice president of Honda Automobile Sales. "With standard Honda Sensing active safety tech and a TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating, Insight is a hybrid with some serious safety chops."

To qualify for the 2018 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award, a vehicle must earn "GOOD" ratings in the driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests and an "ACCEPTABLE" or "GOOD" rating in the passenger-side small overlap test. It also needs an available front crash prevention system that earns an "ADVANCED" or "SUPERIOR" rating and available good-rated headlights.

On sale since June 29, the 2019 Honda Insight offers class-leading power and passenger space, universally appealing styling, and an EPA fuel economy rating of 55 mpg1 city (LX/EX), while simultaneously bringing a new level of driving sophistication and style to the compact hybrid market. All 2019 Insights are equipped with the Honda Sensing suite of active safety and driver assistive features as standard equipment.

Insight was engineered to earn top-of-class collision safety ratings, which is proven true by the top rating from IIHS. In addition, Honda expects Insight to earn a 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP)2.

Insight's standard Honda Sensing helps provide greater awareness of driving conditions around the vehicle, in some cases helping drivers maintain lane position and, under certain conditions, is capable of slowing or even stopping the vehicle if it detects a potential front collision. Comprising the Honda Sensing suite are Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) with Forward Collision Warning; Road Departure Mitigation (RDM) incorporating Lane Departure Warning (LDW); Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS); and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC).

# # #

About Honda

Honda offers a full line of reliable, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles with advanced safety technologies sold through over 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. The Honda lineup includes the Fit, Civic, Insight, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V and Pilot sport utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan.

Honda has been producing automobiles in America for more than 35 years and currently operates 19 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2017, more than 90 percent of all Honda brand vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

About Honda Safety Leadership

Honda has a long history of leadership in the development and application of advanced technologies designed to enhance the safety of all road users, including automobile occupants, motorcycle riders and pedestrians. The company operates two of the world's most sophisticated crash test facilities, in Ohio and Japan, and is responsible for numerous pioneering efforts in the areas of crashworthiness, airbag technology, collision compatibility and pedestrian safety.

Toward Honda's goal of a "zero-collision society," the company is broadly applying Honda Sensing and AcuraWatch advanced safety and driver-assistive technologies, now on more than one million combined vehicles on U.S. roads today. These technologies can significantly reduce the likelihood or severity of a collision and also serve as a bridge to highly-automated vehicles of the future. Honda is targeting 2020 for the deployment of vehicles with highly automated highway driving capability and 2025 for the technological achievement of SAE Level 4 automated vehicles for personal use.

1. Based on 2019 model-year EPA ratings for LX/EX models. Use for comparison purposes only. Your MPG will vary depending on driving conditions, how you drive and maintain your vehicle, lithium-ion battery pack age/condition and other factors.

2. Government 5-Star Safety Ratings are part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) New Car Assessment Program (www.SaferCar.gov)SOURCE: Lamborghini Lamborghini Stages Global Debut of Aventador SVJ Launches Lamborghini Lounge at Monterey Car Week

MORE: Five Days of Heaven - Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder Meets Big Brother Avantador S

Carmel, California, August 28  Lamborghini marked Monterey Car Week with the inauguration of its newest villa outpost on the Peninsula  the Lamborghini Lounge Monterey. The modern villa featuring the latest product on showcase was transformed into an immersive brand experience which included live sketching from Lamborghinis Centro Stile, dedicated Ad Personam customization area, Roger Dubuis display and workshop. Authentic cuisine by Lamborghinis resident Italian Chef Andrea Zanin was served up all weekend highlighting the best of made in Italy. The Lounge was home to exclusive test drives in the latest Lamborghinis products and featured private unveils with unprecedented access to the companys key executives.

Lamborghini kicked off the weekend with an exclusive event to unveil the newly minted private home. At the inauguration event, held on August 24, more than 500 VIPS, guests and influencers from all over the world were joined by the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco to toast to Italian excellence. Lamborghinis Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Stefano Domenicali, was in attendance for the events which also included an homage to the 50th anniversary of the Espada and Islero models and a nod to 1963, the year Lamborghini was born.

We are living a very exciting time for our company, says Stefano Domenicali, Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. At this edition of Monterey Car Week, we celebrate all things Lamborghini and we have much to be proud of such as our recent sales record, the successful entree of the Urus Super SUV into the American market and our record-breaking V12 super car the Aventador SVJ. Its a truly energizing time for the iconic marque.

The new Aventador SVJ was officially uncovered at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering and a limited-edition Aventador SVJ 63 was presented on the Concept Lawn of the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance on Sunday, August 26 for spectators and collectors musing.

With its sights set on the future as well as the past, Lamborghini raised the excitement with the unveiling of the new Aventador SVJ, the newest and most technologically advanced version of the flagship V12 model to date, which is now the fastest production car to lap the Nurburgring-Nordschleife circuit (6:44.97 minutes).

To add to the exclusivity of the Aventador SVJ, audiences on the Concept Lawn of the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance witnessed the introduction of the limited edition Aventador SVJ 63. Only 63 examples of this masterpiece will be produced, commemorating Lamborghinis inaugural year of 1963 as well as keeping in line with the Italian brands dedication to limited and special-edition vehicles. The Aventador SVJ 63 is unique due both to its full carbon fiber body and monocoque.

Looking in the rearview mirror to recognize the rich heritage of the Bologna-based brand, Lamborghini also honored the 50th anniversary of the magnificent Islero and Espada vehicles by wowing audiences at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, with a stunning collection of rare examples.

Produced beginning in 1968, the Islero offered contemporary design when it was introduced, featuring crisp edges and pop-up headlamps. Only 225 examples of the beautiful vehicle were manufactured. The Espada, also born in 1968, was an extreme design for its time with a rakish fastback and plentiful glass looking forward to the future when it debuted. The Espada was produced for ten years and factory production reached a total of 1226 now-rare units.

More than 20 examples of the Islero and Espada graced the green of The Quails show area, attracting enthusiastic gazes from attendees of all ages who were eager to experience first-hand, the exotic heritage of Lamborghini.Kia Teases New 2019 ProCeed

LONDON - August 29, 2018: Previewed in a new sketch released today, the new Kia ProCeed merges stunning design with the space and versatility of a tourer in a five-door shooting brake body.

The new ProCeed follows the design blueprint laid down by the 2017 Kia Proceed Concept, and will offer drivers an unparalleled combination of design and versatility. Designed, developed and engineered exclusively for Europe, it represents a unique proposition in the mid-size family car segment.

The new Kia ProCeed will be revealed at an event on 13 September, and make its public debut at the 2018 Mondial de lAuto in Paris on 2 October.Photo: The Canadian Press Meghan Markle arrives for her wedding ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England.

The outfits Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wore at their wedding are to go on public display later this year at the ceremony's venue, Windsor Castle.

Royal fashion fans will be able to get a close look at the bride's silk Givenchy wedding dress and 16-foot (5-meter) veil, as well as the diamond-and-platinum tiara loaned to Meghan by Queen Elizabeth II.

There will also be a copy of the frock-coat uniform of the Blues and Royals regiment that Harry wore for the May 19 service, which was watched by millions around the world.

The exhibition "A Royal Wedding: The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex" will be at Windsor Castle from Oct. 26 to Jan. 6, and at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland, from June 14 to Oct. 6, 2019.Andrew Cuomo. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In late June, New York governor Andrew Cuomo quietly ordered the suspension of an ongoing investigation into whether the Manhattan District Attorneys office had mishandled sexual-assault allegations made against Harvey Weinstein in March of 2015. As it turns out, this decision came just a few days after Weinsteins former lawyers firm donated $25,000 to Cuomos reelection campaign, according to an illuminating new report.

According to the report, which was published on Capital & Main, Cuomos campaign received a $25,000 donation from Weinsteins former laywer David Boiess firm on June 20. On June 26, Cuomo ordered the investigation into the DAs handling of the Weinstein case to be halted for six months  an investigation, notably, that stemmed from the fact that Boies had donated $10,000 to District Attorney Cy Vance before Vances office dropped the Weinstein case. (Per a letter obtained by Page Six, Cuomos justification for halting the probe was that it could potentially obstruct the criminal case against Weinstein.)

A spokesperson for Boies, Schiller & Flexner also denied any sort of arrangement between the governor and Boies, telling Capital & Main in a statement that, since 2009, the law firm has donated more than $245,000 to Cuomos gubernatorial campaigns.

Neither Mr. Boies, nor anyone from his firm, ever discussed Harvey Weinstein or Mr. Vance with Mr. Cuomo, or anyone from his office, at any time, the spokesperson said. Mr. Boies is a longtime supporter of Mr. Cuomo and his contribution in June was consistent with his contributions to Mr. Cuomo over years past.

Update, August 30: In a statement to the Cut, Cuomos press secretary Dani Lever stressed that no contribution of any size influences any government action.

The reported story about a recent contribution from David Boies firm to Governor Cuomo is completely irrelevant to any pending Attorney Generals investigation or prosecution because Boies stopped representing Harvey Weinstein as early as November of 2017, she said.Photo: Contributed Autumn Taggart

A man accused of raping and killing a Windsor, Ont., woman while her nine-year-old son lay frightened in the next room has been arrested in the U.S., according to documents filed in an American court.

Jitesh Bhogal, 27, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault and break and enter in the death of Autumn Taggart on June 10. He was arrested in Washington state this month, and Windsor police said they are seeking his extradition to Canada.

"Our investigators did a tremendous amount of round-the-clock work on this case," said Windsor police Sgt. Steve Betteridge. "Teamwork with our counterparts in the U.S. ultimately ended with a successful arrest."

Betteridge declined to discuss particulars of the force's investigation but documents filed by American attorneys in Washington state contained detailed allegations that have yet to be tested in court.

In a complaint filed the day before Bhogal was taken into custody, State Attorney Annette Hayes mapped out a chronology that she attributes largely to the Windsor police.

According to that document, 31-year-old Taggart, who police said was also known as Maya Madolyn, was last seen alive on June 9 when she went shopping with her son and her son's father.

After being dropped off at home with her child, Taggart continued to exchange text messages with her son's father throughout the evening, the complaint said. There was no evidence to suggest she left her home later that day.

According to statements Taggart's son provided to police, someone entered the apartment at some point before Sunday morning, the complaint alleged.

"An unknown male entered his bedroom and told him to stay in bed and go to sleep," the complaint alleged. "(The boy) had never seen the man before ... (The child) heard a girl screaming sometime after the man entered his room, but did not get up to investigate because he was scared."

When Taggart's son eventually got up for the day, according to the complaint, he found his mother still in bed. He spent the day eating cookies and watching videos, but eventually texted his father on Sunday evening to say that "mommy won't wake up," the complaint said.

The boy's father came to the apartment and was among those who reported Taggart's death to police, the complaint said.

The document also contains details of an interview conducted with Taggart's neighbour days after her death. The woman told police that she and her boyfriend purchased and used cocaine with Bhogal in the early hours of June 10, the complaint alleged.

The phone number used during the drug transaction was later matched to one registered to Bhogal, the complaint alleged.

Bhogal, a Canadian citizen, lived and worked in Michigan just over the border from Windsor, the complaint said. He allegedly travelled to Washington state where his parents live near Seattle and expressed a desire to relocate there soon after Taggart's death, even going so far as to obtain a state driver's licence, the document said.

Meanwhile, investigators in Windsor performed an autopsy on Taggart and found evidence of blunt-force trauma, sexual assault and possible neck compression, the complaint said.Photo: True Leaf

True Leaf Medicine International Ltd is boasting its best-ever quarter in the three months ended June 30, 2018.

"Sales of the products totalled $491,334 (CAD) in the quarter, an increase of 70 per cent over the $289,494 recorded for the same period last year," the company stated in a press release to media.

"This figure also represents an increase of 28 per cent over revenue of $383,844 for the three months ended March 31, 2018."

True Leaf is attributing the rise in sales to the growth of its pets division.

"Revenue growth has been fuelled by the Companys investment in its international sales team. The expanded team of pet industry sales experts in Canada, the United States, and Europe has significantly increased the reach of the Companys True Leaf Pet division to new locations in-store and online."

True Hemp products are now sold in more than 2,000 stores across North America and Europe through retailers such as PetSmart Canada, Pet Supplies Plus US, Pets Corner UK, and Amazon.

"This record quarter for True Leaf is further evidence that there is a growing interest and demand for medicinal cannabis products for pets," stated Darcy Bomford, founder and chief executive officer of True Leaf.

"Our strategy, unique among Canadian cannabis companies, is paying off by establishing True Leaf as a world leader in hemp-based products for pets."

Meanwhile, construction of the 40-acre True Leaf Campus site in Lumby is expected to be complete in fall 2018.Electric energy generating wind turbines are seen on a wind farm in the San Gorgonio Pass area on Earth Day, April 22, 2016, near Palm Springs, California. (DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images)

A Carbon-Free California Requires a Lot More Cheap Batteries

Californias push to use only carbon-free electricity hinges on a big betthat battery costs will plunge.

Lawmakers are expected to vote this week on a bill mandating that power generation come entirely from clean sources like wind and solar by 2045. But without cheap batteries, that could cause power prices to soar. Thats because it could spell the end for natural gas plants which currently generate about a third of the states electricity and are critical to keep the grid stable.

California would need to install more than 200 times as much energy-storage capacity than it has now to make up for the loss of gas plants, according to the Clean Air Task Force, a Boston-based energy-policy nonprofit. Gas plants both provide steady power output and can react quickly when there are supply constraints. The availability of renewables can be intermittent, making the ability to store power key.

It could happen, but you are taking a gamble, said Toby Shea, a New York-based analyst at Moodys Investors Service. Cutting out gas entirely will require battery costs to continue to decline precipitously.

Proponents of the bill say solar and wind energy already compete in price with fossil fuels and that costs are expected to decline further. In addition, the proposal allows for the state to meet the target with a mix of clean-energy resources, including large hydroelectric dams. The bills sponsor, California state Senator Kevin De Leon, said critics have predicted time and again that clean energy initiatives would drive up costs.

They were wrong, De Leon, a Democrat, said in a statement. California has the fastest growing economy in Americaand the fastest growing jobs sector in our economy is in clean energy.

The measure makes clear, he said, that the state will only move toward generating all its power from clean sources if it can be done in a cost-effective way.

Renewables are already closing in on gas as the states dominant source of electricity. At times, so much solar and wind power is generated that excess supplies cause prices to plunge to negative levels, forcing the grid operatorand consumersto pay to curtail their output. Gas plants are being crushed by low prices and the grid has had to enter into contracts to keep some of them running so the lights stay on.

Even so, eliminating gas in the states power-generation mix wont be easy. California consumed about 2 trillion cubic feet (57 billion cubic meters) in 2016, accounting for 7.9 percent of total U.S. gas demand that year, according to the most recent government data.

Replacing Gas

Achieving a 100 percent renewable energy target in California would require 36.3 million megawatt hours of energy storage, assuming the goal is met mostly through wind and solar, according to the Clean Air Task Force. That compares with 150,000-megawatt hours of storage available in the state including pumped-hydroelectric facilities, according to the group.

If you dont solve the storage problem, you will end up with more solar dumped in the middle of the day and negative prices, said Sharon Tomkins, vice president, customer solutions and strategy for Sempra Energys Southern California Gas utility serving households to industrial consumers.

Battery prices are expected to fall 67 percent from current levels by 2030, according to a Bloomberg NEF forecast.

Even then, California power prices would be astronomically high if a 100 percent renewables target goes into effect, Stephen Brick, a senior adviser at the Clean Air Task Force, said in an interview. A clean-energy standard that included other carbon-free technologies would be less expensive, Brick added.

The clean energy bill, which is opposed by Californias investor-owned utilities  PG&E Corp., Edison International, and Semprahas been passed by the Senate and needs to clear the assembly and be signed by the governor to become law. Governor Jerry Browns staff said he doesnt take positions on pending legislation.

Climate Leadership

The push toward more clean-power sources is nothing new for the Golden State. California is positioning itself to lead the battle against climate change by cutting emissions even as the Trump administration works to prop up coal-fired power plants.

Already, California has set a goal of cutting carbon emissions by 2030 to 40 percent below 1990 levels and has set stringent standards for auto pollution that are now being contested by President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica and San Jose just pledged they would convert all buildings to zero-carbon sources by 2050. While Hawaii was the first state to set a 100 percent clean energy target, California would be by far the biggest to do so.

By Naureen S. Malik & Mark ChediakPigs in a pen at a pig farm in Yiyang County, in China's central Henan province, on Aug. 10, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

African Swine Fever Detected in South Korea as UN Warns of Spread From China to Other Countries

South Korea says some pork products brought into the country by people returning from China have tested positive for African swine fever (ASF).

Hong Nam-ki, chief of South Koreas Office for Government Policy Coordination, confirmed the detection at an interagency meeting, according to an Aug. 27 report by South Korean media Yonhap News Agency. The meeting was called to discuss preventive measures following the confirmation.

According to Hong, ASF was found in dumplings and other foods containing pork that were brought back from China by several South Koreans on Aug. 3. They had visited Shenyang, the capital of northeastern Chinas Liaoning Province.

It will take a few more days to confirm the exact strain of the virus, but it will be coming soon, said Hong, adding, We have to further strengthen preventive quarantines at ther borders.

The virus detection in South Korea was followed by an online announcement by the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the very next day.

FAO warned that ASF, which has prompted Chinese authorities to cull more than 24,000 pigs in four provinces, could spread to other Asian countries at any time.

Shenyang was the first city in China to have reported an ASF outbreak. Since then, the disease has been detected in multiple cities, including Zhengzhou, the capital of central Chinas Henan Province, and Lianyungang, a city in Jiangsu Province. While ASF is highly contagious and almost always fatal for pigs and wild boars, it isnt harmful to humans.

Juan Lubroth, FAOs chief veterinarian, warned that pig products, rather than live pigs, has caused the spread of ASF in China.

So far, Chinese authorities havent identified what caused the outbreak in the first place. However, there is evidence indicating that the outbreak was caused by imported pork, with the latest evidence being an Aug. 29 announcement by Chinas Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

In the announcement, an unidentified ministry official said that there is a possibility of a new outbreak in China. The official explained that because ASF has been prevalent in countries that are Chinas neighbors, the risk of an outbreak is high. The official didnt identify the countries.

More specifically, there is evidence that Russian pork was the culprit. Scientific journal Science reported that the virus found in China is closely related to a strain circulating in Russia.

Russia first reported an ASF outbreak in 2007. Since then, more than 2 million pigs have been culled.

In Taiwan, local authorities have taken preventive measures. In southern Taiwan, the county government of Pingtung, which has a large number of pig farms, that raise about 1.24 million pigs in total, is suggesting that local citizens take extra precautions, according to Taiwanese newspaper the Liberty Times. For example, locals who go to ASF-infected areas in China should voluntarily impose self-isolation upon their return to Taiwan, before they go to work in pig farms.

The U.S. Embassy posted the FAO announcement on its Weibo page, a social-media platform similar to Twitter, and many Chinese netizens have left comments.

A netizen with the moniker Duoduo Guanzhao P wrote, I heard that because of the trade war with the United States, China doesnt import pork from the U.S. anymore. Instead, we import from Russia.

Chinese netizens have a tendency to leave remarks on the U.S. Embassys Weibo page because comments are less likely to be censored or removed by Chinese authorities.All Pennsylvania State Prisons Placed on Lockdown

All Pennsylvania state prisons have been locked down after staff members at a prison got treatment from an unknown substance, possibly an opioid.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced the move on Aug. 29. It came several hours after two guards and three nurses at Albion state prison said they felt sick and required medical attention.

Pennsylvania said it previously had five separate similar incidents from Aug. 6 to Aug. 13. Eighteen employees at several western Pennsylvania prisons needed medical treatment, The Associated Press noted.

#BREAKING: Pennsylvania state prisons placed on lockdown as mystery illnesses probed: https://t.co/NRQvYXZ1Yl  KDKA (@KDKA) August 29, 2018

The state agency said that also 20 correction officers and inmates at Ross Correctional Institution (Ohio) experienced possible opioid overdose symptoms as well.

The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern, Wetzel said in a statement. Our state prisons, especially those in the western part of the state, have experienced recent incidents in which employees have been sickened and we need to get to the bottom of this issue now.

The department didnt say when the statewide lockdown would be lifted.

The prison system is suspending prison visits, closing down mailrooms to non-legal mail, and is requiring employees to wear gloves and protective gear.

We will do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of our staff, Wetzel said. The steps taken today, in addition to those announced last week, demonstrate the Wolf Administrations commitment to the safety and security of all commonwealth employees. 

He added: The states Opioid Command Center is giving complete support to this action. And Corrections thanks all state agencies for their support, especially the Pennsylvania Department of Health, for providing additional gloves and personal protective equipment.

The Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association president, Jason Bloom, told Philly.com that his organization is monitoring the lockdown. Corrections officers already work a very dangerous job, he said. We expect the department to do all that it can to ensure this issue is eradicated in state prisons.Around 300 Endangered Sea Turtles Killed in Mexico

Some 300 endangered sea turtles were found dead floating in the waters off Mexicos southern coast on Tuesday, Aug. 28, after they were caught in fishing nets.

The deaths come days after more than a hundred of the same species perished due to unknown causes.

The dead olive ridley sea turtles were discovered by fishermen in the southern state of Oaxaca on Mexicos Pacific coast in a sector called the Barra de Colotepec, Oaxacas civil protection coordinator Heliodoro Diaz told Reuters.

Images captured by Reuters showed dozens of dead turtles, many of them in a state of decomposition, lined up through what looked like a mesh or in groups.

The olive ridleys, which are in danger of extinction, measure about 75 centimetres (29 inches) and weigh around 45 kilos (99 pounds). They arrive en masse on Mexicos Pacific coast every year to spawn between June and September, with some arriving as early as May.

The Latin American country, where six of the seven species of marine turtles that exist in the world nest, has a permanent protection program for the reptiles. This includes a complete ban on killing turtles, use of turtle excluder devices in trawl nets, and protection of spawning areas, among other measures that include prison sentences for those who kill them.

Mexicos office of the federal attorney for environmental protection (PROFEPA) said it was investigating the case.

In another case, authorities said they are investigating the deaths of 113 endangered marine turtles  102 olive ridleys, six hawksbills and five of the species known as prieta, found in a sanctuary in Chiapas state, which borders Oaxaca.Photo: The Canadian Press The bow of the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger, in dock at Shoreham, south England, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2018, following clashes with French fishermen in the early hours of Tuesday morning off France's northern coast.

It won't be remembered as one of the great naval encounters between France and England but, unlike at the Battle of Trafalgar, this time French mariners felt they won.

Fishermen from rival French and British fleets banged their boats in ill-tempered skirmishes this week over access to the scallop-rich waters off France's northern coast.

French maritime official Ingrid Parrot described the muscular confrontation between 35 French boats and five British ones in international waters on Tuesday morning as "very dangerous," although there were no injuries.

"It was very, very tense," she said. "We really hope things will calm down."

Every year sees problems between French and British fishermen over access to lucrative scallops, she said. But it's usually without the violence that was captured by a French TV crew. Their video showed boats banging hulls and at least one firework rocket being launched.

A British trade group, the South Western Fish Producers Organization, accused French fishermen of putting lives at risk.

"The French might look like heroes to the French coastal communities but it's really awful to put other mariners in danger," said its chief executive, Jim Portus.

He said a window was smashed on one British boat and that another suffered fire damage from a flare.

French law prevents French boats from fishing for scallops during the summer months before Oct. 1, to help preserve the stocks, Parrot said.

But British ships can still fish for the prized delicacies in international waters off the French coast. That makes French crews "feel that the resources are being pillaged, when they are preserving them," Parrot said.

In previous years, the two sides struck deals to limit the scope of British scallop fishing off French waters but haven't managed to do so this year, she said. More talks are expected in mid-September.Australian Academic Investigated by University for Misconduct Relating to China Organ-Harvesting Research

An Australian academic with a history of making defamatory comments about the Falun Gong spiritual group is under investigation by his university over allegations of academic misconduct.

Campbell Fraser, a senior lecturer at the Griffith Universitys department of international business and Asian studies, who has conducted research on organ transplant abuse in recent years, is often quoted in Chinese state media to bolster Beijings claim that organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience doesnt exist.

According to a recent report by The Australian, a member of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia formally complained about Frasers academic claims during testimony given at an Australian Parliament hearing on the subject of organ trafficking and organ-transplant tourism in June.

Now, he is under investigation by the university for a third time, according to The Australian. The newspaper reported that the university is looking into a 2016 incident in which Fraser interviewed 11 Falun Gong practitioners in Sydney for an academic project, but dismissed their testimony as not credible.

In addition, during a February 2017 segment aired by CCTV, the Communist Partys mouthpiece broadcaster, Fraser sought to discredit research conducted by experts in the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China. Clearly, they are using the so-called organ harvesting to procure a particular political objective, he said.

Fraser, who says he continues to doubt that forced organ harvesting is conducted on a large scale in China, is currently barred by the university from traveling abroad or talking to the media, according to The Australian. He told The Australian that the current investigation into misconduct is his third, and that he was cleared in the first two.

When contacted by The Australian, Fraser said that China had invited him to speak at international conferences on organ trafficking and that the regime paid for his travel and accommodations. However, he denied that he is in Chinas pocket.

Meanwhile, the university told The Australian that it doesnt comment publicly on ongoing investigations, but added that: We support the right of our academics to talk publicly on their area of expertise. Falun Gong is outside of Dr. Frasers area of academic expertise the university would not support any commentary from an academic that is unsubstantiated or potentially defamatory to another organisation or individual.

As an example, in an August 2017 article in China Daily, an English-language state-run newspaper, Fraser was cited as an expert who believes previous research on organ harvesting was falsified and that Falun Gong practitioners had made up the claims. We cannot let cults stand in our way, he is quoted as saying, repeating a key plant of the Chinese regimes propaganda.

This is despite multiple independent studies by human-rights experts and medical professionals that find ample evidence that prisoners of conscience continue to have their organs harvested. A July report by the China Organ Harvest Research Center, for example, cites as evidence the fact that the number of transplants continues to outpace the number of legal donations, organs are still available on demand to foreign medical tourists, and there is still almost no oversight over the transplant system.

Falun Gong is a meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was banned by the Chinese regime in July 1999 after then-Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin felt the popularity of the groupwith 100 million adherents, according to state estimatesthreatened the partys authority, and launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice.

Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China have since been arrested and detained, with a confirmed 4,251 deaths as a result of the persecution, according to Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website dedicated to documenting the Falun Gong persecution in China. The actual number is feared to be much larger due to the difficulty of transmitting sensitive information out of China.

In recent years, several independent researchers have conducted studies showing there is widespread organ harvestingthe forced removal of organs from unwilling donorsfrom Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience in China.An advertisement of Paytm, a digital wallet company, is pictured at a road side stall in Kolkata, India, January 25, 2017. (Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri).

Berkshire Hathaway Buys Stake in Indias Paytm

Berkshire Hathaway Inc has acquired a 25 billion rupees ($356 million) stake in the parent of digital payments company Paytm, a source said, its first investment in an Indian startup as it moves into the financial payments sector.

The conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett confirmed in an email that Berkshire had invested in One97 Communications Ltd. Buffett was not involved in the transaction, his assistant Debbie Bosanek said in the email, without giving more details.

Indias Economic Times had reported on August 27 that Berkshire was in talks for a 3-4 percent stake in a deal valuing Paytm at more than $10 billion, citing people familiar with the matter.

The investment is a major endorsement for Paytm that has grown to become Indias leading digital payments platform in just eight years.

For Berkshire, which is under pressure to find investments and whittle down a $108.6 billion stockpile of cash, this marks a rare shift in strategy. Buffett has traditionally invested in consumer, energy and insurance companies.

The foray into Indias ultra-competitive digital payments space is not without risks. The market is expected to grow five-fold to $1 trillion by 2023, but the rivalry is intense, with several players  including the state-backed Unified Payment Interface (UPI), in the fray.

Unlike digital wallets, which do not earn users any interest, UPI apps simplify interbank transfers, making it a preferred option for some.

Paytm and other mobile wallet companies have been forced to offer more services to retain customers.

Google earlier rebranded its Tez app as Google Pay, adding that it was teaming up with four top Indian banks, including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, to offer instant, pre-approved digital loans to customers.

Google has more Internet users data than any other tech company so they can work with banks to offer solutions to these customers, said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research.

Googles partnership with Indian banks to offer loan products is going to be a challenge for Paytm and even WhatsApp, which is yet to formally launch its payments service.

In May, Buffett had indicated an interest in the financial payments industry at an annual shareholders meeting, saying the sector was a huge deal around the world and that many companies were working to reinvent the space.

One of Buffetts investment deputies, Todd Combs, seen as a potential chief investment officer at Berkshire, was leading the Paytm deal and has been given a seat on its board, the company said on August 28.

Combs has also led Berkshires efforts to start a healthcare joint venture with Amazon.com Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Paytm, founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2010, counts Chinas Alibaba Group and its financial services arm Ant Financial Services Group among investors.

Alibaba and Ant Financial, which runs Chinas top payment system Alipay, jointly own about 40 percent of Paytms parent after an investment in September 2015, Reuters has reported.

Japans SoftBank also became a shareholder in May 2017, injecting $1.4 billion in Paytms parent company for a 14.2 percent stake and some existing shares. That investment would value Paytm at about $7 billion.

One97 Communications and SoftBank did not respond to requests seeking comment. A spokeswoman for Alibaba referred Reuters requests to Paytm.

($1 = 70.16 Indian rupees)

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Sankalp Phartiyal.California Student Charged With Assault After Ripping MAGA Hat Off Classmates Head

A California high school student is facing assault charges after knocking a Make America Great Again hat off the head of a classmate and later slapping a teacher who intervened in the altercation.

Video footage captured on a cell phone in the classroom showed Jo-Ann Butler, 17, going on a profanity-laden rant during the assault at Union Mine High School in El Dorado on Monday, Aug. 27.

Butler was arrested after verbally berating another student because they were wearing a Make America Great Again hat, according to the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office.

The suspect grabbed the hat off of the other students head and threw it to the ground. The teacher told the upset student to leave the classroom, the office added. The suspect shortly returned to the classroom and escalated the argument for a second time, again removing the victims hat. When the teacher held out his arm to keep the upset student away from the victim, the suspect slapped the teachers arm.

The high schools school resource officer, a sheriffs deputy, then responded to the classroom and arrested the suspect, transporting her to the countys juvenile hall.

Racist Symbol

Butler claimed the hat was a racist symbol and refused to apologize for the assaults.

Thats a racist and hateful symbol, Butler said in the video. She added to CBS when asked about her motive in committing the crime, Maybe just wake people up in some type of way, because its not cool the environment our classroom is in.

Her father said the situation escalated out of control but seemed to agree with his daughter on some points.

I dont agree with grabbing someones hat and verbally talking to them in that way, Chris Butler said. But as far as the issue being brought up, maybe this is something that needs to be brought up.

The El Dorado Union High School District noted that it allows students to wear political symbols in its clothing policy. Butler has been suspended from school for a week as the District Attorney decides whether or not to formally charge her.

MAGA Hats

Wearing a Make America Great Again or MAGA hat has become a proud symbol of support for President Donald Trump; Trump wore various colors of the hat throughout his campaign and the hats are sold through his official online store.

However, people who are against Trump have regularly assaulted Trumps supporters, including those wearing the hats.

On July 4, Hunter Richard, 16, was at a San Antonio Whataburger fast food restaurant with two of his friends when a man approached the table, stole Richards hat, took a drink from the table a threw it into Richards face.

In May, a Trump supporter wearing a MAGA hat was celebrating Mothers Day with his girlfriends family when employees at the Florida Cheesecake Factory they were at verbally attacked and threatened him.

In early July, a Canadian man wearing a MAGA hat was denied service at a restaurant, prompting the establishment to fire the employee involved.

Just a few days later, a Texas man was caught on camera assaulting a teenager wearing a MAGA hat. That same month, a teen visiting Seattle from elsewhere in Washington state posted video footage of a man with green hair knocking his MAGA hat off and spitting on it.

From NTD.tv

If you enjoyed reading this article, please continue to read more stories here.

Sign up for our free newsletters here.Candidate for Treasurer in California Pushes Public Pension Reform

Greg Conlon, the Republican candidate for California state treasurer, is pushing for changes to the public employee pension system in order to try to save Californias credit rating.

We [California] have the fourth-worst credit rating in the United States, while we are the wealthiest state in the Union, Conlon told The Epoch Times. It is really a disgrace to be the fourth from the last. Only Kentucky, Illinois, and New Jersey have worse ratings than we do.

Based on the Standard and Poors credit-rating system, Californias grade in 2017 was AA-. Kentuckys was A+, New Jerseys was A-, and Illinoiss was BBB-. The other five states with the same grade as California (AA-) are Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Californias credit rating has held steady for three consecutive years.

If elected, Conlon says he plans to make improving Californias credit grade his No. 1 job. He believes that it will be his responsibility to educate the governor and legislators about the importance of the states credit rating.

Most of the people [who] run for state treasurer are really in the running for governor four years from now or eight years from now, so their primary objective is to become governor, Conlon said. I want to be the treasurer, and that is going to be it.

If the states credit rating were higher, the state could spend less money in interest on government debts, thereby saving taxpayers money.

When asked about the states indebtedness, Conlon answered: We are talking about $300 billion in unfunded pension liability. In addition to that, we have $85 billion worth of long-term general obligation bonds, so, between the two, we have almost half a trillion dollars [in debt], Conlon said.

The states actual total debt is very difficult to estimate because there are different ways to calculate the numbers, Konstantinos Roditis, a candidate for California state controller, said.

The biggest thing is the rate of return, or the discount rate, Roditis said, when commenting about the unfunded pension liability. California is saying were having a rate of return of 7.5 percent, and were not anywhere near 7.5 percent.

The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research published two estimates for the unfunded liability from the State Public Pension System: a total pension debt of $992.4 billion, based on a discount rate of 3.25 percent, and $247.6 billion, based on 7.5 percent.

Conlon aims to make the reform of the State Public Pension System a major priority if he is elected. His plan would involve leaving alone the current public employees pension plan, but changing all the new employees pension plans to a defined contribution plan that would be very similar to 401(k) plans offered in the private sectors.

The current public employee pension system can be called a defined benefit system, which calculates the retirement benefits using a pension ratio multiplied by the number of years in service. For example, most public employees in California have a pension ratio of 2.5 percent annually, meaning that for a public worker who has worked for 20 years before his or her retirement, his or her pension will be 20 x 2.5 = 50 percent of his salary before retirement.

In a defined benefit pension system, the government promises the retirement benefit to the employees when they are first hired, and the government puts aside a portion of the employees pay each year into a retirement saving system. The money in this system is invested, and the retirees can withdraw money after retirement.

A drawback of this system is that the government has no way to know the future investment return rate at the time of hiring an employee. If the investment return falls short of projections, the government will be left with unfunded liabilities.

However, in a defined contribution plan similar to a 401(k), a public employees total retirement will basically be the employees own retirement savings, which are equal to his or her own total contribution, plus the employers matching fund and the plans investment returns.

In the defined contribution plan Conlon has proposed, public employees will manage their own retirement plans with their own risks, the same way as people who work in private sectors. The government and taxpayers are therefore free of possible unfunded liabilities.

Conlon has three decades of experience in accounting and finance in both public and private sectors, as well as with non-profit organizations. He has run for treasurer twice before.

Although he lost the 2014 election for treasurer, he received 41.19 percent of the vote; that makes him optimistic this time.

Conlon received about 20.9 percent of the total votes in this years primary election, trailing only Democratic candidate Fiona Ma, who captured about 44.5 percent, in a field of five candidates. Conlon and Ma will face off in Novembers general election.Canada Joins in Talks to Replace NAFTA after US, Mexico Reach Deal

WASHINGTONCanadas top trade negotiator joined her Mexican and U.S. counterparts in Washington on Aug. 28 in a bid for Ottawa to be part of a revamped North American trade pact, as U.S. officials expressed optimism a deal could be reached this week.

But Canada will be under pressure to accept new terms on auto trade and dispute settlement rules after the United States and Mexico agreed on Aug. 27 to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

President Donald Trump said the United States would proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board with the revised trade deal. He spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shortly after the announcement, and both agreed to continue the conversation on trade.

A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was due to arrive in Washington on Aug. 28 for the talks, said Canada would only sign a new agreement that is good for the country.

Freeland rejoins year-long talks following a hiatus of several weeks as the United States and Mexico ironed out outstanding bilateral disagreements, in renegotiating the 24-year-old accord.

While details of the agreement are still under wraps, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative put out select details, which include enforceable provisions on labor requirements, zero tariffs on agricultural products, enhanced protection on intellectual property, the liberalization of financial services, and a requirement that 75 percent of automobiles be made in the United States or Mexico.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Aug. 28 that he believed the United States could also reach a trade deal with Canada this week.

The U.S. market and the Canadian markets are very intertwined, Mnuchin said. Its important for them to get this deal and its important for us to get this deal.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Mexican television on Aug. 28 the three sides would work for a three-way deal.

We are now going to devote long hours to the negotiation with Canada, he said.

Mexicos president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has also said he wants Canada to be part of the deal.

Were very interested in it remaining a three-country deal, he said, according to AFP. The free-trade agreement should remain as it was originally conceived.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called the deal an important step toward modernizing NAFTA, but also said that the final deal should include Canada.

I look forward to reviewing the details of todays announcement and continuing to work with USTR [United States Trade Representative] to resolve these issues so that a revamped NAFTA can pass Congress and become law, he said in a statement.

Negotiations among the three partners, whose mutual trade totals more than $1 trillion annually, have dragged on for more than a year, putting pressure on the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar. Both currencies gained against the U.S. dollar on Aug. 27, but the peso weakened the next day.

Canadas main stock index opened higher on Aug. 28 on the prospect of Ottawa reaching a deal this week, before dipping.

A sticking point for Canada is the U.S. effort to drop the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Aug. 27 that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.

Trump says he still could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada didnt join its neighbors, and warned he expected concessions on Canadas dairy protections.

Canadas dairy farmers operate under a protectionist system that manages supplies and prices, and imposes high tariffs to limit imports. U.S. demands have ranged from ending those tariffs to scrapping a milk ingredient pricing system called Class 7.

It seems like a pretty steep challenge to now resolve these issues in three days, said David Wiens, a Manitoba dairy farmer and vice president of industry group Dairy Farmers of Canada.

If a deal isnt reached with Canada, Mnuchin said, the United States would proceed with a separate trade agreement with Mexico. The Mexican government has also taken that position, even as it says it wants a trilateral deal.

Videgaray said in Washington on Aug. 27 that the scope for making changes with Canada to what the United States and Mexico had agreed to was significantly larger this week, though he didnt rule out alterations after that.

But it would certainly be much better to have an understanding by the end of the week, he told reporters.

If talks with Canada are not wrapped up by the end of this week, Trump plans to notify Congress that he has reached a deal with Mexico, but would be open to Canada joining, Lighthizer said on Aug. 27.

This wasnt designed to put pressure on anyone or anything like that, a senior administration official told reporters in a conference call on Aug. 27. We decided we were better off to try to get a deal with one party and then hopefully the other.

The president must notify Congress 90 days in advance of a trade deal being signed, and the White House said Trump will sign the deal if Congress approves it.

By Julie Gordon & Sharay Angulo. Epoch Times staff member Holly Kellum contributed to this report.Child on Tricycle Rides Into California Rush-Hour Traffic

A child on a tricycle was seen riding into Southern California traffic in a dash camera video.

The incident was captured on camera at around 5:30 p.m. in Santa Ana during rush hour on Aug. 27, a witness told Fox11.

The vehicles missed the toddler, but it left one woman shaken.

I think hes so lucky, Sarah Tran told the Fox affiliate station. Hes so lucky that nothing happened to him, especially on this busy day.

Tran captured the moment on her dash camera, and she said she stopped her vehicle, ran out, and grabbed the child before bringing him to safety.

He was determined to go into the middle of the road, she added. I was so afraid of cars just not seeing him because hes so small and bolting into him.

Santa Ana PD Corporal Anthony Bertagna said the incident was not reported to local police. Was the kid supervised? How did the kid get out into a busy street like that, that would be evaluated, he told Fox11. These incidents are on a case-by-case basis.

On Aug. 24, the Hancock County Sheriffs Office in Mississippi released video footage of a K-9 vehicle striking a 7-year-old girl on a bike to show that the incident was an accident. According to local reports, the girls injuries are not life-threatening. Sabrina Nixon, the mother of the girl, accused the deputy of speeding while hitting the girl, reports said.

It is my opinion that once the public sees the video, it will be agreed by most that this accident was not only unavoidable by my deputy, but the statements made about speeding, leaving skid marks and having to be flagged down are utterly false, Adam said in a statement. He said the video was released in light of multiple inaccurate statements made about the Aug. 22 incident.

There was nothing anybody could do about it, Adam said. It was completely unavoidable.

But he stressed the accident is a reminder to keep a close eye on their kids, especially when theyre near a road.

This same diligence should be had when our children are swimming, near flames at cookouts, or there are firearms in a home. Many children experience injuries, minor and major, from incidents that could have been avoided with proper parental supervision. We are all very blessed that this incident did not have a more disastrous outcome, he said.

Child Safety

According to the U.N. World Health Organization: Children are at risk for road traffic injuries for a number of reasons. Younger children are limited by their physical, cognitive and social development, making them more vulnerable in road traffic than adults. Because of their small stature, it can be difficult for children to see surrounding traffic and for drivers and others to see them. In addition if they are involved in a road traffic crash, their softer heads make them more susceptible to serious head injury than adults.

It says that younger children can have difficulty interpreting sights and sounds, which might affect their judgment on the proximity of moving vehicles.

Globally, around 186,300 children under 18 years die from road traffic crashes annually, and road traffic injuries are the leading killer of children aged 15-17 years worldwide. Two times as many boys as girls die in road traffic crashes. In addition, rates of road traffic death among children are 3 times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries, WHO says on its website.The sun rises behind the Shanghai skyline, overlooking the Pudong district on Nov. 11, 2016. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Labor Academic Visits US, Seeks to Build China-US Labor Ties

The current U.S. tour by leading Chinese labor academic Liu Cheng, Professor of Law and Politics at Shanghai Normal University, signals increased contacts between Chinese and American organized labor.

It also indicates a greater alignment between the American and Chinese Communist parties, and the return of the Chinese Communist Party to a more traditional interpretation of classical Marxism, and an emphasis exporting more revolution and fewer consumer goods.

According to the Communist Party USA publication, Peoples World, Liu is meeting with top labor activists, government officials, and academics, promoting what he describes as a much-needed labor exchange effort to familiarize union workers from China and the U.S. with each other and with their shared challenges.

Lius Aug. 5 to Sept. 1 tour began in California, visiting the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley. From there, Liu visited the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association, the Communist Party USAs Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library in Oakland and the UCLA Labor Center in Los Angeles. From August 12-18, Liu held meetings in Washington, D.C. with officials from the Department of Labor, the U.S. State Department, the AFL-CIO, and Americas largest private sector union, SEIU.

Professor Liu is Director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Labor Issues and President of the Asian Society of Labor Law. He served as an adviser to the Chinese Communist government during the drafting of the 2008 Labor Contract Law, which was adopted by the National Peoples Congress in 2007 and went into effect the following year.

Liu claims that this law tightened restrictions on private companies and boosted the power of labor unions throughout China.

Liu previously served on the Binzhou Municipal Planning Commission in Shandong Province and later in the Shandong Provincial Auditing Office. Liu has enjoyed a close working relationship with the Communist Party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions for over thirty years.

When U.S business organizations tried to lobby the Chinese regime against the new law, Liu testified before the U.S. Congress in its defense.

Lius visit to the Boston area included a special presentation on the conditions and consciousness of the Chinese working class at the Communist Party USAs Center for Marxist Education in Cambridge and a dinner hosted by the Walden Workers Club of the Communist Party USA in Central Massachusetts.

During his presentation at the Center for Marxist Education, Liu told the assembled labor academics and officials: Capital moves freely across national boundaries, but the workers fight each other! He continued:

Workers of the world really do need to unite. The good news is, I think there is a willingness and the resources available to begin a U.S.-China labor exchange program that can help to unite workers, but this work takes patience.

When U.S. labor activists ask Liu what model needs to be embraced to make change, he replied, [L]ets go back to examining the Labor Theory of Value contained not only in the work of Marx, but also Adam Smith. Liu emphasized  the importance for U.S. and Chinese workers to understand and revisit the growth of inequality.

According to Liu, alleged inequality is one of the reasons more labor exchanges are needed.

At a meeting with Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH), Liu indicated his intent to convene a conference in Shanghai to advance international labor cooperation around occupational safety and health tasks, and to invite MassCOSH and U.S. unions to send representatives.

MassCOSH, incidentally was co-founded by Ed Collins, a former Executive Vice President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and a long-time member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The involvement of the Communist Party USA Liu Chengs tour marks a significant change over his last U.S. tour in 2007.

That tour was organized by Vermont-based labor activist Ellen David Friedman, a Marxist and early Bernie Sanders supporter who has spent the last several years working with grass-roots Chinese labor groups in the Pearl River delta region, while her husband Stuart taught at Guangzhou University.

Friedman raised funds for the 2007 tour, which included more than 40 meetings with trade union leaders, activists and government officials. Liu met with AFL-CIO leaders Richard Trumka and Barbara Shailor, SEIU leader Andy Stern, State Department officials James Viray and Samuel Chang, Pete Hoefer and Pat Greenfield of the National Labor College, and representatives of North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan and the House Progressive Caucus.

Ellen David Friedman has close ties to Maoist-leaning radicals from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and with Democratic Socialists of America, and Lius grass-roots meetings reflected this.

Liu paid visits to the pro-China Chinese Progressive Associations in San Francisco and Boston, and several Freedom Road-linked organizations including the IUE-CWA Local 201 in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Jobs with Justice in New York and Massachusetts.

He also met with Harvard Law School, Labor and Worklife Program head, and Democratic Socialists of America comrade Elaine Bernard, and DSA labor officials Steve Early and Rand Wilson.

The Communist Party USA was nowhere to be seen during the 2007 visit. The organization was still mourning the loss of its beloved Soviet Union and was not yet ready to transfer allegiance to the Communist Party of China.

Liu Chengs visit almost certainly signals increased China U.S. labor ties, which will be exploited by the Chinese Communist Party in their economic war against the Trump Administration.

This program will be aided and facilitated by the Communist Party USA, playing the roleas a loyal 5th column for the Communist Party of Chinathat it once played for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies are seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture, February 13, 2018. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration).

Crytocurrency Storage Firm Kingdom Trust Obtains Insurance Through Lloyds

Kingdom Trust, a company that stores digital currency for investors, has secured insurance coverage through Lloyds of London to protect against theft and destruction of those assets, the company said on August 28.

The move by Kingdom Trust, which has $12 billion in assets, is the latest example of a once-reticent insurance industry stepping up to offer protection to companies that store cryptocurrency, a volatile and loosely regulated, but rapidly growing business.

Kingdom Trust, which has offices in Kentucky and is regulated as a trust company by South Dakota, has been looking for insurance since it launched in 2010 but more actively pursued coverage during 2017, said Chief Executive Officer Matt Jennings.

From the very beginning we saw insurance as a key factor to bring institutional investors into the marketplace, Jennings said in an interview.

A spokesman for Lloyds, the worlds largest insurance marketplace, declined to comment.

The move comes as the nascent cryptocurrency industry looks to attract more mainstream investors, the majority of which have steered clear so far because of concerns about lack of traditional safeguards. Large custodian banks do not yet handle crypto assets, and brand-name auditors are seldom disclosed as being involved with companies in the space.

Kingdom Trust says it is qualified under U.S. financial regulations to hold assets on behalf of investment advisers, securities brokers, and retirement plans, according to its website.

Some insurance companies have been reticent to publicly disclose that they are covering digital currency businesses, an industry in which investors have lost billions from dozens of cryptocurrency hacks, technical errors, and fraud. Many hacked exchanges later shuttered.

The young cryptocurrency industry also lacks troves of data that insurers usually rely on in designing and pricing coverage.

Jennings declined to comment on the identity of the insurer that underwrote Kingdom Trusts coverage through Lloyds marketplace or the policys cost and specific terms.

But Kingdom Trust received a drastic discount because of its technology, a type of cold storage, in which digital coins are stored offline, Jennings said.

Most insurers in the cryptocurrency market avoid coverage for coins kept online, or in hot storage, because of the high risk of hacking and will only cover offline cold storage, which is also generally preferred by cryptocurrency companies.

Kingdom Trust provides storage services for over 30 digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and ZCash, the company said.

By Suzanne Barlyn and Anna Irrera.Swar creek bridge is seen damaged after flooding at the Yangon-Mandalay express highway in Swar township, Myanmar, August 29, 2018. REUTERS/7Day News

Dam Breach Floods Communities in Central Burma, Blocks Highway

YANGONWater from a breached dam flooded communities on Aug. 29 in central Burma, also known as Myanmar, and blocked part of a highway linking the main cities of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw, fire officials said.

A fire brigade was dispatched to the Swar irrigation dam after it breached at 5:30 a.m. (2300 GMT), sending water into the nearby town of Swar and two villages.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The (spillway) of the dam was broken and flooded the two villages close to the highway road, the fire department said on its Facebook page. The water also affected parts of Swar town, it said.

Fire officials closed the Yangon-Mandalay highway bridge in the Swar area. Pictures posted on the departments Facebook page showed water rushing within a few feet of the underside of the bridge.

The local Kumudra newspaper posted a video on Facebook showing the commander-in-chief of Burmas army, Min Aung Hlaing, visiting the flooded area.

The team there is working now for rescue and necessary actions, said a fire department official who declined to give his name.

Burmas heavy annual monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding that displaced more than 100,000 people and killed at least 11 in July this year.

The government of Burma is weighing a number of dam projects that would generate electricity to address chronic power shortages, but the projects are controversial due to their potential environmental impact.

A hydroelectric dam collapsed in neighboring Laos last month, displacing thousands of people and killing at least 27, highlighting the safety concerns over many dams in Southeast Asia.

By Yangon bureauExchange Student Pleads Guilty to Firearm Charge for Threat

PHILADELPHIAA Taiwanese exchange student accused of threatening to carry out a shooting at his suburban Philadelphia high school pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge on Tuesday.

An-Tso Sun was arraigned in federal court, where he entered the guilty plea. A judge scheduled sentencing for December, but Suns attorney Robert Keller asked that the date be moved up once the pre-sentencing report is finished.

Sun, 18, has agreed to be deported and to not re-enter the U.S. without permission.

He previously pleaded guilty to state terroristic threat charges and was sentenced to four to 23 months. He was immediately paroled and remanded to federal custody to face a charge of an alien in possession of ammunition.

The judge could sentence Sun to up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Keller said after court Tuesday that he hopes to show up for the sentencing hearing with a plane ticket.

Thats going to be the mantra, the cry, when he gets to sentencing. Let this boy go home, he said.

School authorities were alerted in March that Sun talked about a May 1 shooting at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast High School in Upper Darby, about 7 miles west of Philadelphia. The teen called the talk a joke, but authorities found more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, as well as weapons, in his home.

Keller objected Tuesday to the U.S. Attorneys office including the allegation that Sun had told a classmate not to come to school on May 1 because he was planning a shooting. The judge overruled his objection, but Keller said after court Tuesday that he will raise it again during sentencing. He accused prosecutors of going overboard in trying to prove their case.

Keller previously said Sun had no intention or plans to commit a school shooting and many items found were what he wore to school for a Halloween costume contest.

A military-style ballistic vest, ammunition clip pouches, a high-powered crossbow and live ammunition were found in Suns bedroom in Lansdowne, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. A search of his school-issued iPad indicated searches on how to buy an AK-47 or an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, police said.

Suns parents are actor and assistant film director Sun Peng and actress Di Ying.

Keller said they were in Philadelphia and had been visiting their son weekly but chose not to come to court Tuesday to try to remove some of the spotlight from their son. He said they have been upset because their son was expelled two months before graduating high school and had been accepted to Temple University.

We can understand why the government is taking these matters so seriously, and I think the huge mistake that this young child made was he didnt understand the dynamics of whats going on in the United States, Keller said after court. He now gets it and its time for this kid to go home.Donna Brogdon, associate professor of business and management, was selected as the 2018 Service-Learning Champion at CSCC.



The Service-Learning Champion Award is an annual faculty-staff nominated award honoring a colleague who has demonstrated commitment to the promotion of service-learning.After two months, investigators have been unable able to indentfy the cause of a deadly Vancouver apartment complex fire.

Photo: Contributed

After two months, investigators have been unable able to indentfy the cause of a deadly Vancouver apartment complex fire.

A mother and her young son died in the June 11 blaze.

"Fire inspectors, from both the North Vancouver RCMP and the District of North Vancouver Fire Department, methodically went through the Whitley Court fire scene, examining all aspects of the fire," stated Cpl. Richard De Jong.

"It was jointly determined by the inspectors that the causality of the early morning blaze remains undetermined."

According to De Jong, investigators left no stone unturned in their investigation.

"Investigators sifted through fire debris; both structural and electrical engineers were utilized to examine the site; drone aerial photographs were taken to help assist in the investigation; police conducted numerous neighbourhood inquiries and carefully reviewed local video surveillance footage searching for anything suspicious. Any potential evidence was sent to the lab for forensic examination. All information tips received from the public were investigated by the police".

Police investigators have said they will keep the file open and will follow up on any new information that may come forward.Fugitive Paul Ceglia is shown in this U.S. Marshals photo released on March 10, 2015. (Courtesy U.S. Dept. of Justice/Handout via Reuterse).

Facebook Fugitive Fights U.S. Request to Extradite Him From Ecuador: Lawyer

A New York man charged with trying to defraud Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg is fighting extradition from Ecuador where he was arrested after fleeing before his trial in the United States more than three years ago.

Paul Ceglia, 45, a wood pellet salesman, faced charges of mail fraud and wire fraud over his alleged forging of documents to extort Facebook and Zuckerberg. In March 2015, he removed his ankle bracelet and disappeared with his wife, two kids, and dog.

His arrest in Ecuador was announced on August 23.

Ceglia in a court hearing on August 25 said he did not want to be extradited, arguing his life was at risk.

The judges resolution indicates that the extradition process continues and that he is still detained, said Ceglias lawyer Roberto Calderon by telephone. I think the process will last 45 days.

He said the extradition treaty between the United States and Ecuador does not cover the crimes of which Ceglia is accused.

The criminal case arose from Ceglias conduct related to a 2010 civil lawsuit he had filed against Zuckerberg.

Ceglia claimed that Zuckerberg had, while a student at Harvard University, signed a 2003 contract giving him half of a planned social networking website that later became Facebook.

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara in Buffalo dismissed Ceglias lawsuit after another judge said the contract was doctored.

The market value of Menlo Park, California-based Facebook is about $500 billion, and Forbes magazine said Zuckerbergs own net worth is about $64.8 billion.

Ceglia was criminally charged in November 2012.

By Alexandra Valencia.French and British fishing boats collide during a scrap over scallop fishing rights n the English Channel on Aug. 28, 2018. (France 3 Caen/via Reuters)

French, British Fishermen Duel in Channel Over Scallop-Fishing Rights

LONDONBritish and French fishermen have clashed in the English Channel over rights to fish for scallops, with stones thrown and some boats colliding in the escalating situation.

British boats are legally allowed to fish in the area, which is about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Normandy, near the Bay of Seine.

But 40 French vessels surrounded two British boats on Aug. 28, with rocks and smoke bombs being thrown. A French police boat failed to intervene although it was present on the scene, the British crews said.

The French accuse the British of depleting shellfish stocks in what are historically French waters, according to Dimitri Rogoff, the chairman of the French Regional Fisheries Committee.

The French went to contact the British to stop them working and they clashed with each other, Rogoff told the BBC. Apparently there was stone-throwing, but no injuries.

But British boat owner Derek Meredith told The Times of London that their crews were petrified by the aggression of the French fishermen.

The French crews were throwing rocks, shackles, and flares onto the boats, Meredith said. They were throwing ropes in the sea to try to stop our boats escaping. Our crews were petrified.

One of the shackles smashed a galley window, which is serious because it means the boat isnt watertight. There has been a bit of trouble over the past couple of years but nothing as serious as this.

Video footage taken from one of the French boats shows that some vessels were damaged during the skirmish.

One video broadcast by French media appears to show a Scottish boat colliding with other vessels.

Historical Tensions

There have been tensions in the area for about 15 years, with an agreement in place that larger British boats would remain out of the area in exchange for more fishing rights.

The British are allowed to gather scallops all year round, but French law dictates fisherman can only catch scallops between Oct. 1 and May 15.

Rogoff expressed the fishermens frustrations in his comments to the BBC.

For the Brits, its an open barthey fish when they want, where they want, and as much as they want, Rogoff said. We dont want to stop them from fishing, but they could at least wait until Oct. 1 so that we can share.

Scallops are a flagship product for Normandy, a primary resource, and a highly sensitive issue.

Jim Portus, chairman of the scallop industry consultation group, called on the Royal Navy to protect the British boats.

We should have had a Royal Navy Fisheries Protection on standby, at least in the area, to intervene if it had got any worse, he told Reuters.

You know, there was a possibility of people getting injured, possibly even killed, because of the actions of the French fishermenIm not exaggerating with that, Portus said.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association, which represents one of the boats present, called the incident appalling.

We have asked to discuss like grown-ups but non [sic]. Doesnt bode well for the future. French navy complicit as they stand by and watch the criminal damage, they tweeted.

Nosheena Mobarik, a Conservative lawmaker for the European Parliament, said in a letter to the European fisheries commissioner that the French aggressiveness was truly shocking.

Fishing vessels have no right to damage the livelihood of other fishing vessels, Mobarik wrote.

French fishermen receive considerable quota in British and Scottish waters and they are not subject to this kind of violent reaction by British fishermen, she added.

The incident ended when the British boats, outnumbered by the French, left the zone and the French returned to port.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please continue to read more stories here.

Sign up for our free newsletters here.Policemen stand in front of a statue of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during the art exhibition "Wiesbaden Biennale" in Wiesbaden, Germany, Aug. 28, 2018. (Reuters/Ralph Orlowski)

Germany Removes Golden Statue of Erdogan After Protests

BERLINGerman firemen on Wednesday removed a golden statue of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on security grounds after it provoked an angry response from local people.

Organizers of an arts festival whose theme this year is Bad News had installed the four-meter statue of Erdogan, with one arm outstretched, on a plinth in the central Square of German Unity in the western town of Wiesbaden on Monday.

But the statue got daubed with graffiti, including the slogan Turkish Hitler, German media reported, and a few hundred residents had protested against it.

Police said they could no longer guarantee peoples safety so firemen used a large crane to take away the statue under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Wednesday.

Some three million people with Turkish roots live in Germany. Erdogan, who in June won re-election with expanded powers, is due to make a state visit to Berlin on Sept. 28-29 as part of efforts to improve relations strained by years of disagreement on a range of issues.

Germany condemned Turkeys arrest of some 50,000 people and the suspension or firing of 150,000 others including teachers, judges and soldiers, after a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016. Berlin says the crackdown was excessive and harmed basic freedoms. Ankara says it acted to safeguard national security.

It is certainly appropriate to conceive of Erdogan as a controversial figure, and one that we are allowed to discuss freely here in this country, the director of the biennial festival, Uwe Eric Laufenberg, told Reuters when the statue was erected on Monday.

We can have a discussion about this statue and this man.

While some residents liked the statue, others objected.

This is a man who has hundreds of people on his conscience because he has lied and bought his way to power. Hes a dictator, said resident Werner Starotsta.Greek Passenger Ferry Catches Fire, Prompting Evacuation

A passenger ferry with 1,016 people onboard returned safely to the port of Piraeus in the early hours on Wednesday after it reported a fire while en route to Crete, the Greek coast guard said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, a coast guard official told Reuters.

The Eleftherios Venizelos, carrying 875 passengers and 141 crew, was sailing off the island of Hydra when it notified the coast guard around midnight (2100 GMT) that a car parking compartment had caught fire.

It was escorted back to Pireaus after authorities scrambled air and sea assets to the area.

It was a huge operation and everything went to plan, said Nikos Lagdianos, spokesman for the coast guard.

At Pireaus a Reuters witness saw passengers in lifejackets walking down a sideway staircase, while smoke billowed out of the ship. Firefighters were deployed at the pier.

People posted pictures on social media of individuals crowded on decks wearing red life jackets.

It was difficult to breathe from the smoke, one passenger identified only by her first name, Natassa, told Skai TV. Another reported hearing a big noise before passengers were advised to wear lifejackets and head to assembly areas.

Disembarkation of all passengers was completed around 0700 am (0400 GMT).

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but authorities were investigating the possibility it may have started from a vehicle. There were more than 200 vehicles, including trucks, on the vessel.Ontario Education Minister Lisa Thompson scrums with reporters at the legislature in Toronto on Aug. 9, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)

Groups Raise Concerns About Ontarios Interim Sex-Ed Curriculum

As children across Ontario prepare to return to school next week, some groups say the PC governments interim sex-education curriculum doesnt go far enough in getting rid of some of the more controversial topics from the previous governments curriculum.

Premier Doug Ford promised during the election that he would repeal the Wynne governments curriculum until province-wide consultations could be conducted and a new curriculum createda move that was denounced by the NDP and Liberals but drew praise from parents who were against the 2015 curriculum.

Meanwhile, a revised version of the 2010 sex-ed curriculum is to be taught, but its also not satisfactory, says Jack Fonseca of the Campaign Life Coalition.

[The interim curriculum] has retained some of the more controversial elements of the Kathleen Wynne sex curriculum, including the theory of gender identity, and thats a very serious problem. Thats not what we voted for and it goes against the wishes of parents, Fonseca says.

Were glad that it has some of the things removed like masturbation and a couple of other things that parents objected to, he adds, but the most dangerous thing of all is still there which is teaching the theory of gender identity, which is anti-scientific and harmful to children.

On Aug. 24, the Toronto District School Board issued a statement saying we expect all educators to teach the 2010 Health and Physical Education Curriculum (Grades 1-8). The HPE curriculum includes sex education.

Some controversial topics remain in the 2010 curriculum but are now covered under prompts as opposed to expectations. Prompts refer to suggested teacher responses to questions that students may ask, and they are not required content that students are expected to learn.

Education Minister Lisa Thompson said in the legislature on July 16 that certain parts of the previous governments curriculum would remain, while the portion being replaced deals with developing sexual relations.

Thats the part in the curriculum that well be taking a look at, she said.

Tanya Granic Allen, president of Parents as First Educators, says the definitions of gender and gender identity that appear in Thompsons interim curriculum amount to nothing more than the liberal ideology that Ford criticized earlier this year.

The Wynne sex-ed will continue to be taught this fall to high school students. There has been absolutely no repeal there. Gender identity theory is still present. This is of grave concern to parents, she said in a press release.

Changes to Ontarios sex-education curriculum have drawn controversy since 2010, when the then-Liberal governments plan to update the 1998 curriculum by teaching younger grades about topics such as masturbation, anal intercourse, oral sex, and the idea that being male or female is merely a social construct drew such backlash that the plan was shelved.

That same curriculum was put in place in 2015 by the Wynne government, again drawing an outcry from parents who were concerned that these topics were being taught at too young an age. There were several protests against it, and some parents even kept their children out of school.

Fonseca says parents are also planning to protest against the interim curriculum, and there are other plans in the works as well.

We cannot give up the fight. Parents must not give up the fight for the sake of their children, he says. We cannot allow this interim child sexualization curriculum to stand, either.ICE Arrests 160 Illegal Workers at Texas Plant

Texas company Load Trail has a history of hiring illegal immigrants

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that 160 illegal immigrants were detained on Aug. 28 as part of a surprise raid at a Texas manufacturing facility.

The 160 workers were detained at Load Trail, a trailer making firm that had been previously charged with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, officials said.

Businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens create an unfair advantage over their competing businesses, said ICE Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger in a statement. In addition, they take jobs away from U.S. citizens and legal residents, and they create an atmosphere poised for exploiting their illegal workforce.

ICE said it received information that Load Trail might have been hiring illegal aliens and many were using fraudulent documentation.

All of the immigration status violators arrested on Aug. 28 will be interviewed by ICE staff and Department of Health and Human Services Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS) staff to record any medical, sole-caregiver or other humanitarian situations, added ICE in a statement.

Based on these interviews, ICE will determine if those arrested remain in custody or are considered for humanitarian release. In all cases, all illegal aliens encountered will be fingerprinted and processed for removal from the United States, the statement continued.

Prior Violations at Load Trail

Load Trail was established in 1996 as a family-owned business with approximately 30 employees, according to the firms website, adding that it now employs about 500 people. Today, we are still family owned and operated, our facilities have grown to include over 420,000 square feet, 100 acres, and more than 500 employees. We offer a variety of models that will fit any and every haulers needs from goosenecks to single axles, the firm said.

But The Texas Tribune reported that the company was fined about $450,000 in 2014 for hiring more than 179 unauthorized foreign workers. The company didnt comment on the recent raid in the Tribune report.

Read More New Study Rejects Idea That Americans Wont Do Certain Jobs

ICE said that the raid at Load Trail might be one of the largest in Texas state history, reported The Dallas Morning News.

Berger told the paper that the raid is a message to any companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Were watching. And were coming, she said.

Dennis Perry, a worker at Load Trail, told the paper that ICE agents just came and raided from every entrance there was. He said that some workers went running, and some tried to hide.

Many of the workers were administratively arrested and were processed for immigration violations, according to Berger, who told the Morning News that no criminal arrests were made on Aug. 28.

Many of the undocumented immigrants were given notices to show up in immigration court, and many are expected to be released until the hearings start, the paper reported.

In June, ICE arrested more than 100 workers who were suspected of being in the United States illegally. Officials said that 146 were detained in the raid at Fresh Mark facilities, and they were carried out with no prior notice.

The enforcement action is part of a yearlong, ongoing HSI investigation based on evidence that Fresh Mark may have knowingly hired illegal aliens at its meat processing and packaging facility, and that many of these aliens are utilizing fraudulent identification belonging to U.S. citizens, said ICE in June after the Fresh Mark raid.

ICE noted that unauthorized workers often use the stolen identities of legal U.S. workers, and it can destroy the  identity-theft victims credit, medical records, and other aspects of their everyday life.A view of brine pools of a lithium mine on the Atacama Salt Flat in the Atacama Desert, Chile August 16, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

In Chilean Desert, Global Thirst for Lithium Is Fueling a Water War

SANTIAGOOn Chilean water regulator Oscar Cristis desk, a small white espresso cup teeters atop piles of documents and loose folders that appear on the point of collapse, perhaps an apt metaphor for the growing water crisis in parts of the Andean country.

Sitting in his eighth-floor office adjacent to the presidential palace, Cristi, a Ph.D. economist, lays out a map of Chile showing key watersheds for mining. Swaths of the mineral-rich north are colored blue, denoting areas where aquifers are over-exploited.

Soon, if Cristi gets his way, they will be red, meaning new water rights will be banned.

Reams of water rights were granted by Chilean governments over decades with little consideration for their cumulative impact as miners scrambled to stake claims on the small pockets of water available in the salt flats of the Salar de Atacama.

The Salar sits in the worlds driest desert. The water trapped beneath the salt pan feeds the worlds biggest copper mine and holds in suspension more than one-third of the worlds current supply of lithium, the ultra-light metal used in electric car batteries, mobile phones, and laptops.

With demand for water growing in a region economically vital to the country, Cristi is now taking steps to rein in usage. But there is a problem. No one really knows how much water there is. Cristi said Chilean development agency Corfo, which helps oversee lithium extraction in the Salar, hopes to provide a better picture in a study due in December.

The state has been very reluctant to draw up bans on water extraction, said Cristi, who was only recently appointed head of the water authority. We want to take much more diligent approach in decreeing prohibited areas.

Cristi did not say why past governments had been hesitant to declare bans.

In Chile, threats of a government crackdown on over-usage of water often ring hollow. Mines need water, and the countrys copper-driven economy needs mines. A sweeping overhaul of Chiles dictatorship-era water code proposed in 2014 has languished in Congress, slowed by intense lobbying by industry.

Now though, the mining industry is paying close attention to Cristi. Earlier this month his agency imposed a rare ban on new permits to extract water from an aquifer that is a critical water supply for BHPs Escondida, the worlds largest copper mine.

The agency is also preparing to create a drinking water reserve nearer the operations of top lithium producers SQM and Albemarle that would allow the government to further restrict water use there.

SQM and Albemarle say they have all the water rights they need and do not expect new restrictions to impact their current or future production of lithium.

Water War

A global boom in demand for lithium has set off a scramble in Chile, which is home to nearly 50 percent of the worlds reserves of the metal.

Local indigenous groups, SQM and Albemarle, regional copper miners and newcomers to the region are all competing for water.

What we have is a water war in the salt pan. Theres a huge crush on water and nowhere to get it from, said Alonso Barros, an attorney with the Atacama Desert Foundation, an NGO that works with indigenous groups in the region.

SQM and Albemarle both recently signed deals with the government to sharply increase their quotas for extracting lithium from the Salar, although they say they will not use any more water than they have already been granted. Newcomers like Wealth Minerals, New Energy Metals, and Lithium Chile have also announced projects in the salt flats.

Wealth Minerals, New Energy Metals, and Lithium Chile did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Data Drought

On a computer screen, Cristi scrolls through a spreadsheet showing row upon row of water rights granted decades ago in the southernmost sector of the Salartotaling six times more than the government now believes availablewith little more than each companys own data to support their sustainability.

Past governments did not adequately map how much water is available, says Cristi. Now monitoring wells are being installed in some areas, but baseline data is still lacking.

Our (understanding) continues to be limited now, but back then, it was very limited, he said.

The cumulative impact of water rights granted over the years to copper and lithium miners in the worlds most arid desert has never been considered, according to Ingrid Garces, a professor who studies salt flats at Chiles University of Antofagasta.

Were managing lithium as though it were a type of hard-rock mining, said Garces. But were mining water, not rock. This is a watershed.

Take too much water from one place, she says, and it may impact another, comparing it to sucking water from a glass with a syringe.

Even if youre drawing from just one area, the whole is still reduced, she said.

Sorting out the water crisis at Atacama is complicated by a lack of data, but also a jurisdiction issue.

The brine from which miners extract lithium is water, but in Chile, it is regulated as a mineral like copper or iron. Environmental regulators handle permits for brine, while the water authority permits freshwater pumping.

A lack of communication between the two, combined with a lack of understanding about how freshwater and brine interact beneath the Salar, has left authorities hamstrung, says Cristi.

There may be an imbalance that were not accounting for, he said.

By Dave SherwoodIn Latest Bid to Marginalize Taiwan, Beijing Requires Exporters to Discard Made in Taiwan Label

Beijing appears to be amping up its efforts to delegitimize Taiwan.

Even though the self-ruled island has its own democratically elected government, military, and currency, Beijing insists on claiming sovereignty and regards Taiwan as a Chinese province that will be reunited with the mainland one day.

In recent months, the Chinese regime has aggressively pressured companies, countries, and airlines to adopt Beijings political agenda: recognizing only one China and marginalizing Taiwan on the international stage.

Now, news has emerged that Chinese authorities are forcing Taiwanese companies that export goods to China to recognize Beijings sovereignty claims.

An unidentified CEO of a Taiwanese biotech firm told Taiwan newspaper Liberty Times in an Aug. 27 report that distributors in China told him that Chinese authorities are requesting all products that are labeled made in Taiwan to be taken off the shelves immediately. They would only be returned to shelves if the company agreed to change the label to China Taiwan region, implying that Taiwan is an administered region under Beijings purview.

Liberty Times reached out to traders in China, who said that since the latter half of this year, made in Taiwan products for export to China have been stopped at customs. Officials asked for the goods to be labeled with China Taiwan or China Taiwan region, or they would be turned back, they said.

The biotech CEO expressed concerns that his firms products have a short shelf life and cant sit for too long. Some Taiwanese businesses already have complied with the request.

Meanwhile, some biotech industry insiders told Liberty Times that China has been trying to lure Taiwanese biotech firms to set up factories in China. Some have mandated that, in order for a companys new medicines to enter the Chinese market, the company must conduct clinical trials in China. As a result, some companies have been forced to choose between setting up factories in China, or complying with the new labeling rule.

Several Taiwanese media say that this is in violation of a 2001 notice issued by Chinas Ministry of Commerce. That notice stipulated in the seventh provision that products from Taiwan be labeled as from Taiwan, the Republic of China, or Republic of China Taiwan. This was the standard practice, until now.

Another Company In Trouble

Meanwhile, China continues to harass international companies for not subscribing to Beijings sovereignty claims. In February, Japanese retailer Muji was forced to destroy copies of a product catalog after Chinese authorities discovered that a map appearing on them didnt include the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands and several islands in the South China Sea under Chinese territory. Beijing has claimed sovereignty, despite claims from other Asian countries.

In April, Chinas aviation regulator gave international airlines a May 25 deadline to remove references on their websites or in other materials that suggest Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are independent from China, a move that the United States White House has described as Orwellian nonsense. Several airliners have since complied with the request.

In May, clothing retailer Gap apologized for selling a T-shirt with a map of China printed on it that didnt include Taiwan and islands in the South China Sea, even though the T-shirt wasnt being sold within China.

Menwhile, an Aug. 27 article by the Global Times, a hawkish state-run newspaper, criticized the Swedish-based furniture and home appliance manufacturer Ikea for including references to Taiwan as separate from China on its website and product manuals. The article argued that Ikeas actions violated the one China principle and that Ikea should fix its mistake, since China is one of the campanys biggest markets.

Chinese netizens soon left angry comments on Ikeas account on Sina Weibo, a platform similar to Twitter, telling the company to get out of the Chinese market, expressing regret for purchases from Ikea, or accusing the company of supporting Taiwan independence.

As of Aug. 28, the majority of more than 2,300 comments on Ikeas latest post are related to the Taiwan issue. Ikea hasnt commented about the criticism.Photo: CTV

Police are warning the public after a rise in incidents in Burnaby, B.C., involving sextortion.

The RCMP say they've seen two different scenarios of sextortion so far.

One is where victims receive unsolicited friend requests on social media and prompts for video chats, and the second involves unsolicited emails from someone claiming to have a sexually explicit video of the victim or information about the use of pornographic websites.

Typically, the victims are threatened with the release of intimate videos or images, and asked to make a payment, usually in the form of a money transfer or Bitcoin.

The RCMP say they've investigated 24 incidents of sextortion since May, including cases where money has been transferred to strangers.

Police say all internet users should be careful and not accept friend requests from unknown individuals via social media.

Anyone that has been targeted should stop communicating with the individuals, save any existing correspondence and immediately report the incident to police.A pedestrian walks past an electronic board showing the share prices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (L) and the foreign exchange rate between the yen and the US dollar (R) in Tokyo on Aug. 13, 2018. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)

Japanese Companies Shift Manufacturing Operations Out of China Due to Sino-US Trade War

Four Japanese companiesAsahi Kasei, Komatsu, Iris Ohyama, and Mitsubishi Electricare moving production out of China, in response to the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, according to two recent articles by Japanese media Nikkei.

Asahi Kasei, a chemical company, shifted production of a plastic material that is shipped to the United States from China, to a plant in Japan. The decision to bring production home was made after the plastic, which is used in auto parts, was among products the Trump administration said would be subject to tariffs.

Komatsu, a manufacturer of construction, mining, and military equipment, said its current China-based production of certain parts for hydraulic excavators will be relocated to facilities in the United States, Japan, and Mexico.

Iris Ohyama, a consumer plastic maker, plans to move its production of air purifiers, electric fans, and other appliances bound for the U.S. market to a new plant in South Korea, which is scheduled to be completed next year. The production shift is a precautionary move, since those products havent been hit with U.S. tariffs yet, the company said.



Mitsubishi Electric, which makes electrical equipment, said its U.S.-bound electrical-discharge and laser-processing machines are on the United States tariff list. As a result, these products, which were originally produced in Dalian, a port city in northern Chinas Liaoning Province, will be manufactured in Nagoya, Japan, instead. The Dalian site will continue to make products that are destined for the Chinese market.

On Aug. 23, the United States and China slapped 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of each others goods, bringing the tariffs to a total combined value of $100 billion of products since July.

A Trend

China and the United States are Japans two biggest trading partners. Japanese companies exported a combined $300 billion worth of products to China and the United States in 2017, according to an Aug. 24 article by the Japan Times newspaper, citing data from the Japan Foreign Trade Council.

In a monthly report on the Japanese economy issued Aug. 29, the government downgraded its assessment of exports to stalling from being in recovery, citing concerns about the impact of SinoU.S. trade war on the Japanese economy, according to Reuters. Its the first time in three years that the export assessment has regressed.

There is a risk that Japans exports will suffer if trade friction between the United States and China continues, a Japanese government official told reporters.

Some Japanese companies have turned to Vietnam for business, instead. According to the business newspaper Vietnam Investment Review (VIR), a recent survey of 4,630 Japanese firms conducted by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), a government organization, showed that 70 percent of Japanese firms had an interest in expanding their business in Vietnam, compared to 48 percent for China.

Also according to VIR, 72 Japanese companies visited the Quang Ninh government, seeking investment and business opportunities last week. Quang Ninh is a coastal province in northeastern Vietnam.

Japanese firms want to expand their investment markets out of China to shun risks caused by the nations rising production costs and by the U.S.China trade war, which is making it hard for Japanese firms to export their products to the U.S. from China, said Nguyen Duc Tiep, a representative of the Quang Ninh Investment Promotion Agency, a government agency, in an interview with VIR.French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his New Year wishes to the press at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Jan. 3, 2018. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)

Macron Imposes Travel Ban to Iran for French Diplomats

The move follows a foiled plot to bomb a rally held by exiled Iranian group in Paris

PARISFrance has told its diplomats and foreign ministry officials to postpone indefinitely all non-essential travel to Iran, citing a foiled bomb plot and a hardening of Tehrans attitude towards France, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Any hardening of relations with France may have wider implications for Iran. France has been one of the strongest advocates of salvaging a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which President Donald Trump exited in May.

Irans economy has been hammered by the prospect of the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions that had been lifted under the deal. European countries, including France, have pledged to try to soften the economic blow, but have been unable so far to persuade their firms to defy Washington and stay in Iran.

French oil and gas major Total and its carmakers PSA and Renault have led an exodus of European companies from Iran, fearful of the extra-territorial reach of Washingtons sanctions.

The memo cites a foiled plot to bomb a rally held by an exiled Iranian opposition group near Paris that was attended by Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani as a sign of Tehrans more aggressive stance towards France.

The behavior of the Iranian authorities suggests a hardening of their position vis-a-vis our country, as well as some of our allies, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, the ministrys secretary general, wrote in the notice dated Aug. 20.

Given the known security risks  all departmental officers, whether from headquarters or [overseas] posts, are required to defer until further notice, except for urgent work, any travel plans in Iran, Gourdault-Montagne added.

The instructions also were relayed to officials in government departments outside the foreign ministry to be shared with staff who intended to travel to Iran, a separate memo obtained by Reuters showed.

The French foreign ministry declined to comment on the memo or say whether embassy staff had been asked to repatriate their families.

Iranian officials at the Embassy in Paris didnt respond to a request for comment on Aug. 28, but Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Aug. 29 that Iran should be vigilant against enemies trying to affect ties between the countries.

The relations between Iran and Europe, especially Iran and France, have some enemies, and we should be vigilant against their actions, Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. The restriction on the French diplomats travel [to Iran] is not correct.

Frances latest travel advisory for its citizens, published May 10, cautions against visitors entering Iran with electronic equipment such as drones and walkie-talkies and taking too many photographs.

Relations Sour

The memo underscores how confidence in the Tehran government has eroded in Paris, as relations between the two become increasingly strained, even as President Emmanuel Macron talks up preserving the nuclear accord.

Iran has said it had nothing to do with the alleged plot to attack a National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) meeting on June 30. Germany has detained an Iranian diplomat based in Austria.

Belgium, where the plot was uncovered, has sought the diplomats extradition.

French officials havent commented on the matter but diplomatic sources have said privately that if Irans involvement were proven, then it would be difficult for France not to react strongly.

Since pulling out of the nuclear accord, Trump has expressed a readiness to negotiate a new deal while warning Tehran of dire consequences the like of which few throughout history have suffered before if it threatens the United States.

It was Macron who led efforts to persuade Trump to stick with the agreement, arguing it was the best means Western powers had to check Irans nuclear activities.

Rouhani on Aug. 27 urged the remaining signatories to the nuclear agreement to act to save the pact. While Macron reiterated Frances commitment to maintaining the accord, Europes leaders have appeared powerless to prevent the U.S. sanctions from inflicting pain on Irans economy.

The ministry memo said any staffer who traveled to Iran for personal reasons wouldnt be shielded by diplomatic immunity, even if holding a diplomatic passport. It made specific reference to tourism and language classes.

Britains foreign ministry said its advice on Iran to diplomats was the same as to the British public. It flags the risks of terrorist attacks and arbitrary detentions, and advises against all travel to the frontiers with Iraq and Afghanistan.Man Walks Into Sheriffs Office, Shoots Two Deputies

A man suspected of shooting and wounding two Kansas deputies on Aug. 28, and then turning the gun on himself has died, and investigators are trying to unravel a motive for the shooting.

Jason L. Whitson of Mankato, 40, walked up to the dispatch desk at the Jewell County Sheriffs Office at about 7:49 a.m. and requested to talk to a deputy, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a news release. As a deputy approached to speak with him, Whitson fired multiple times through a door that led to the dispatch room. No law enforcement officers fired their weapons.

He walked up to the dispatch desk and requested to talk to a deputy. As a sheriffs deputy approached to speak with him, Whitson fired multiple times through a door that led into the dispatch room. Two deputies were injured during the shooting. No law enforcement officers discharged their firearms, according to a news release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, WIBW-TV reported.

One of the injured deputies was released from the hospital. The other deputy is out of surgery and in stable condition, according to local news reports.

Whitson then fled from the office. Sheriffs office personnel recognized Whitson, setting off a search for him and the vehicle he was presumed to be driving, the KBI said.

Governor Jeff Colyer tweeted: Im praying for a full recovery for the two Jewell County deputies shot in the line of duty earlier this morning. We appreciate the service rendered by all law enforcement officers, and thank them for their bravery.

The Jewell County Courthouse was closed for the remainder of the day and is expected to be open again on Aug. 29, Fox4 reported.

The superintendent of Rock Hills Schools told WIBW that their district was placed on lockdown over the shooting, and the schedule returned to regular procedures at around 9:30 a.m.

Mankato is located around 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Wichita.

Suspect in the Jewell County shooting has been located. More information forthcoming.  KS Highway Patrol (@kshighwaypatrol) August 28, 2018

Colonel Bruce welcomed attendees to #SPPPOS18. Led a moment of silence for all involved in the Jewell County shooting. pic.twitter.com/n5b3IKAe14  KS Highway Patrol (@kshighwaypatrol) August 28, 2018

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Maria Passes Katrina as Deadliest US Hurricane

Puerto Ricos governor has raised the official number of people who died due to Hurricane Maria to 2,975, making the storm the deadliest in U.S. history.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello commissioned an independent report from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

Those researchers found that nearly 3,000 people had died in the six months following the storm, which wiped out the islands entire electrical grid and left many residents without even basic necessities.

Worse Than Katrina

Prior to Maria, the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States had been Hurricane Katrina. That storm slammed into the Gulf Coast, primarily New Orleans, Louisiana, in October 2005, and caused about 1,200 deaths.

That tally does not include people who died not from the storm itself but from the aftermath.

The death toll for Maria is higher because aid and assistance took longer to arrive across the intervening ocean, while bringing emergency equipment and supplies to and people away from New Orleans.

The Milken Institute report follows a report released in May by a team of Harvard researches that estimated the number of dead at 4,600.

Donald Berry, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told AP that the number announced by The Milken Institute is closer than the Harvard estimate, but its accuracy is not as great as they [the Milken researchers] advertise.

If the true number of deaths attributable to Maria turns out to be 2,000 then I would not be surprised, he said.

Even Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, admitted that the figure is uncertain.

I do think this study helps to validate that sense that many people had that there were just too many deaths, she told CNN.

However, this was just the first phase of the study, she said.

We would like to dig down deeper into that number to understand among all the deaths that occurred, which of them were related to Maria, which of them would not have occurred if it hadnt been for the storm? Were not able to say that now, Goldman said.

I Made Mistakes

Rossello said that the Milken estimate would be accepted as the official figurethe time had passed for counting the dead, and from now on efforts had to focus on improving disaster response.

It is a time to show solidarity with all of those who have lost family and friends, it is also a time to reflect on what we did well and what we did badly so that we have a better response in the future, he stated, according to Reuters.

The governor admitted that his administration had been unprepared for a disaster of the magnitude of Hurricane Maria.

We never anticipated a scenario of zero communication, zero energy, zero highway access, Rossello said, according to Fox News. I think the lesson is to anticipate the worst.

Rossello told AP, Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, in hindsight, things couldve been handled differently.

The governor is commissioning another study to create a list of which Puerto Rican residents are most vulnerable to another natural disaster, so that those people can get the extra attention, which might save their lives.

A lesson from this is that efforts for assistance and recovery need to focus as much as possible on lower-income areas, on people who are older, who are more vulnerable, said Goldman the Milken Institute, AP reported.

Rossello said that the government had improved its emergency communications system, and had created more secure routes to distribute emergency aid to impacted regions, but there was more to do, and that many Maria victims were still suffering.

Rossello noted that some 60,000 Puerto Ricans still had shelters with leaking roofs, and that the power grid was still unstable.

From NTD.tv

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Sign up for our free newsletters here.Cindy McCain, wife of U.S. Senator John McCain, touches the casket during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., August 29, 2018. Ross D. Franklin/Pool via REUTERS

Memorial Tributes to Sen. John McCain Open in Arizona Capitol

PHOENIXFamily, former colleagues, and other dignitaries filed past the flag-draped casket of Sen. John McCain inside the Arizona Capitol on Aug. 29 for the first of several memorial tributes planned for the war hero and two-time Republican presidential candidate.

A hearse bearing McCains body arrived at the Phoenix statehouse with a police motorcycle escort for a brief ceremony honoring the Arizona senator, who died of brain cancer on Aug. 25 at age 81.

Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife greeted the hearse along with a phalanx of military personnel, war veterans, law enforcement officers and firefighters in dress uniform.

An Arizona National Guard team carried the coffin into the Capitol rotunda, followed by family members, the governor and other politicians and guests. Speakers paid tribute for about 30 minutes to McCains life and legacy.

He fought like hell for the causes he believed in, Ducey said. But along the way, he did it with humor and humanity, and without compromising the principles he held so dear.

Attendees included three of McCains onetime Republican colleagues from Arizonas congressional delegationretiring Sen. Jeff Flake, former Sen. Jon Kyl, and former Congressman James Kolbe.

McCains wife, Cindy, widely seen as a possible candidate for appointment to succeed her husband, led a procession of relatives and dignitaries past his casket. She paused briefly, stooping down to rest her cheek on the coffin, then patted it gently and moved on.

Her daughter Meghan McCain, co-host of the television talk show The View, sobbed openly.

The ceremony marked the start of five days of tributes in Phoenix and Washington for McCain, who would have turned 82 on Aug. 29. Members of the public began lining up hours in advance for a casket viewing that was to begin in the afternoon.

McCain, a Navy pilot who endured 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war after his aircraft was shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War, went from military service into a decades-long political career.

Following a Phoenix church service on Aug. 30, McCains body will be flown to Washington where he will lie in state on Aug. 31 at the U.S. Capitol before a funeral on Sep. 1 at the Washington National Cathedral. McCain will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Aug. 2.

Ducey has said he will wait until after McCains burial to name an immediate successor.

By David SchwartzMeteor Lights Up Sky Over Perth, Loud Boom Reported

Dozens of people witnessed a meteor lighting up the night sky in Mindarie, Western Australia.

Last night at around 7:40 p.m. local time, many people called various authorities to report that a blue light was streaking through the sky before it became really bright and hit the ground, Perth Now reported.

Robyn Garratt witnessed the event from York, a town 100 kilometers east of Perth, the ABC reported.

When he initially saw the light, Garratt thought it may have been lightning. But that guess went out the window when he heard the boom that came afterward.

It shook the whole house, the windows, the dog went psycho, said Garratt. They all went running outside thinking the sky was falling.

Matt Woods from the Perth Observatory, which posted all the video submissions they received over the night to their Instagram account, said that based on the objects trajectory and speed, the object was most likely to be a meteor.

Where Did the Meteor Land?

Curtin University scientists are trying to find out whether the meteor hit the ground and where it landed, the ABC reported.

According to Purdue University, when meteors enter the atmosphere, high-pressure air enters into the cracks and pores which can cause it to break apart and explode before it lands.

Professor of Planetary Science Phil Bland, leader of Curtin Universitys Desert Fireball Network, told PerthNow that it is likely that this meteor landed.

People reported sonic booms, said Bland. You only get that if it goes through the atmosphere low down in the atmosphere, which is a very good sign.

Bland also said that by using the different angles from the camera recordings, his team may be able to triangulate the location of the meteor, if it landed at all.

They would also attempt to estimate the size and speed of the meteor, and where it came from within the Solar System.

Most meteors travel at very high speeds ranging between 15 to 20 kilometers per second, Bland told PerthNow. He added that only two to three percent of meteors remain mostly intact by the time they reach the ground.

He told the ABC that an intact meteor would have to be quite big and be moving slower than 4 kilometers per second.

Bland said that The Desert Fireball Network expected to finish their calculations by the end of the day on Aug. 28.

After the calculations, they would attempt to find the meteorite in the hopes of being able to study it.

Meteorites are a great scientific resource in terms of working out how the solar system formed and how it evolved, Bland told the local media.

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Sign up for our free newsletters here.Memory chip parts of U.S. memory chip maker MicronTechnology are pictured at their booth at an industrial fair in Frankfurt, Germany, July 14, 2015. (Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Micron Technology Plans $3 Billion Expansion of Virginia Plant

Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. said Aug. 29 it plans to spend $3 billion over the next 12 years to expand a plant in Virginia about 40 miles (64 km) west of Washington, D.C.

Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said the expansion aims to meet increasing demand for chips in automobiles, which are gaining more computer power for features such as collision avoidance systems or lane departure warning systems. The company expects that market to double to $6 billion by 2021.

Think of the automobiles of the future as data centers on wheels, he said.

The money will be spent to build about 100,000 square feet of additional clean room space for making memory chips at Microns existing Manassas, Virginia factory, which employs about 1,500 people. Micron expects the expansion to create 1,100 permanent jobs for engineers and technicians once complete.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron, the worlds fourth largest semiconductor firm by revenue according to research firm Gartner, differs from much of the chip industry in that it still makes its own chips rather than farming the work to contract factories and that it still makes many of its chips in the United States. It also makes chips in Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan, but only performs assembly and test work in China.

The company has become a prominent point in trade relations between China and the United States. Micron in 2015 rejected a takeover bid made by a state-backed Chinese company as China was trying to build out its chip industry, a development that the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer highlighted in a report in March about Chinas trade practices.

Micron later alleged in a U.S. lawsuit that a different Chinese firm stole its trade secrets. That firm, in turn, sued Micron in a Chinese court alleging Micron violated its patents, and the Chinese court banned some of Microns chips while the trial proceeds.

U.S. officials brought up Microns story during trade talks with Chinese trade officials earlier this month, according to two people familiar with the talks.

Mehrotra said the decision to expand in Virginia really does not have anything to do with the recent discussions with China on various trade matters. Instead, he said, Virginia was chosen for expansion because it has been making chips for 15 years there for car makers, who demand higher levels of durability and reliability than gadget makers.

We have a deep culture in the Manassas facility of supporting the demanding requirements of these customers, he said.

By Stephen NellisLIFE MAP: A digital representation of the human genome at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Each color represents one of the four chemical components of DNA. (Mario Tama/Getty Images )

Murder Conviction Upheld for Man Charged 13 Years After Crime as Result of DNA Cold Hit

A state appeals court August 28 upheld the second-degree murder conviction of a man who was charged as a result of a cold hit DNA match 13 years after he fatally stabbed a San Francisco woman.

Anthony Hughes, now 59, was arrested in San Francisco in 2011 on charges of murdering Lisa Valdez, 32, in her studio condominium in the Diamond Heights neighborhood of the city in 1998.

He was convicted of second-degree murder in San Francisco Superior Court in 2016 and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the conviction, rejecting Hughess claim that the delay in prosecution violated his state and federal constitutional rights to a fair trial.

Valdez, a computer programmer, was last seen on May 16, 2011, at a dinner, she prepared in her condominium for her mother and three other people. Her body with 21 stab wounds was found in her studio on May 20, 2011.

Hughes was identified as a suspect in a match of bloodstains on two pillows with a sample in a national database maintained by the FBI. The identification was made possible through advances in technology. Hughes was also matched to a fingerprint in the victims bathroom.

The appeals court said the delay didnt substantially harm Hughess defense case and that prosecutors justification for the delay was compelling because of the new DNA evidence.

Justice Terence Bruiniers wrote for the court, This new evidence amply justifies the delay and outweighs any minimal prejudice Hughes has presented.

By Julia Cheever.NAFTA Talks With US Very Constructive: Canada

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday, Aug. 28, called her her first negotiating session with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer very constructive.

Freeland said talks aimed at forging a new North American trade agreement would continue.

What has really paved the way for what Canada believes will be a good week is the fact that Mexico has made some significant concessions, particularly in the area of labor and of rules of origin on cars, Freeland told reporters outside Lighthizers office.

Freeland said Canadian officials would meet with Mexico on Tuesday evening before resuming talks with Lighthizer on Wednesday morning.

Canada is under pressure to accept new terms on auto trade and dispute settlement rules after the U.S. and Mexico agreed on Aug. 27 to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

President Donald Trump said the U.S. would proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board with the revised trade deal. He spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shortly after the announcement, and both agreed to continue the conversation on trade.

Select Details of the Agreement

While details of the agreement are still under wraps, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative put out select details, which include enforceable provisions on labor requirements, zero tariffs on agricultural products, enhanced protection on intellectual property, the liberalization of financial services, and a requirement that 75 percent of automobiles be made in the United States or Mexico.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Aug. 28 that he believed the United States could also reach a trade deal with Canada this week.

The U.S. market and the Canadian markets are very intertwined, Mnuchin said. Its important for them to get this deal and its important for us to get this deal.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Mexican television on Aug. 28 the three sides would work for a three-way deal.

We are now going to devote long hours to the negotiation with Canada, he said.

Mexicos president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has also said he wants Canada to be part of the deal.

Were very interested in it remaining a three-country deal, he said, according to AFP. The free-trade agreement should remain as it was originally conceived.

Prolonged Negotiations

Negotiations among the three partners, whose mutual trade totals more than $1 trillion annually, have dragged on for more than a year, putting pressure on the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar. Both currencies gained against the U.S. dollar on Aug. 27, but the peso weakened the next day.

Canadas main stock index opened higher on Aug. 28 on the prospect of Ottawa reaching a deal this week, before dipping.

A sticking point for Canada is the U.S. effort to drop the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Aug. 27 that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.

Trump says he still could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada didnt join its neighbors, and warned he expected concessions on Canadas dairy protections.

Canadas dairy farmers operate under a protectionist system that manages supplies and prices, and imposes high tariffs to limit imports. U.S. demands have ranged from ending those tariffs to scrapping a milk ingredient pricing system called Class 7.

It seems like a pretty steep challenge to now resolve these issues in three days, said David Wiens, a Manitoba dairy farmer and vice president of industry group Dairy Farmers of Canada.

If a deal isnt reached with Canada, Mnuchin said, the United States would proceed with a separate trade agreement with Mexico. The Mexican government has also taken that position, even as it says it wants a trilateral deal.

The president must notify Congress 90 days in advance of a trade deal being signed, and the White House said Trump will sign the deal if Congress approves it.

Julie Gordon & Sharay Angulo, as well as Epoch Times staff member Holly Kellum contributed to this report.State Lawmakers Pass Bill to Encourage Media Literacy in Schools

A bill from a Napa state senator to encourage media literacy in students is likely headed soon to the governors desk for approval after the state Assembly passed it on August 27.

Senate Bill 830, which was introduced by state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, would require the states Department of Education to provide online access to resources and instructional materials on media literacy for use by school districts.

The bill was inspired by a 2016 Stanford University study that found that 82 percent of middle school students struggled to distinguish advertisements from news stories.

The rise of fake and misleading news is deeply concerning. By giving students the proper tools to analyze the media they consume, we can empower them to make informed decisions, Dodd said in a statement.

The bill was passed by the state Senate in May and will return to the Senate this week for a concurrence vote before going to Governor Jerry Browns desk for his signature, according to Dodds office.

By Dan McMenamin.Photo: The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it is obvious the Trump administration is intent on dismantling Canada's supply management system.

But he says Canada won't buckle on the issue at the NAFTA talks.

The vexing question of greater U.S. access to the Canada's protected dairy sector is now pivotal as the NAFTA negotiations in Washington draw closer to President Donald Trump's Friday deadline for a three-country deal.

A concession on dairy  which is explosive politically in Canada  is one of the few cards the Trudeau government has left to play at the bargaining table after the U.S. and Mexico reached their own side deal on Monday.

Experts say Trump has not specifically set his sights on dismantling supply management, and is more angry with a new classification of milk products that Canada introduced two years ago that he says has undercut U.S. exports and hurt his country's farmers.

Trump says he's optimistic a deal can be worked out with Canada by the end of week.New Brain Cell Found in Area Responsible for Human Consciousness

Neuroscientists have discovered a new type of brain cell in a region of the human brain thought to be responsible for human consciousness.

The researchers are speculating that the brain cell may be unique to humans as it has never been seen in lab rodents. Researchers think that the intriguing cells may comprise one of the characteristics that set humans apart from animals.

While the study, published Aug. 27 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, has not confirmed that the newly discovered cell, dubbed the rosehip cell, exists only in humans, the fact that the cell has features never described in rodents reinforces the idea that studies on laboratory mice cannot stand as adequate models for human disease, especially human brain diseases, the researchers explained in a press release.

Its too early to say that this is a completely unique cell type because we havent looked in other species yet, researcher Ed Lein from the Allen Institute for Brain Science told Wired.com.

But it really highlights the fact that we need to be careful about assuming that the human brain is just a scaled-up version of a mouse.

Many of our organs can be reasonably modeled in an animal model, Gabor Tamas, a neuroscientist at the University of Szeged, Hungary, said in the press release.

But what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is the capacity and the output of our brain. That makes us human. So it turns out humanity is very difficult to model in an animal system.

Rosehip Neurons in the Neocortex

Researchers examined tissue samples from the brains of two men who had died in their 50s and donated their bodies to research. The tissues were taken from the top layer of the cortexknown as the neocortex, thought to be responsible for human consciousness and other characteristics considered to be unique to humans.

Its the most complex part of the brain, and generally accepted to be the most complex structure in nature, Lein said.

In a stroke of serendipity, two different groups of researchersone from the Allen Institute in Seattle and another from the University of Szeged in Hungaryfound that they had been studying the same type of cell from the tissues of the neocortex, albeit via different methods and while focusing on different characteristics of the cell.

And so they decided to collaborate and consolidate their findings. Thats when they realized that such a cell had never been found in the brains of laboratory mice.

Defining the Cell and Future Steps

The newly-discovered cell is being dubbed by researchers as a rosehip neuron, owing to its shape which looks like a rose that had shed its petals.

Neurons, or nerve cells, are classified into excitatory cells or inhibitory cells. Excitatory cells carry information while inhibitory cells slow down or stop excitatory cells from acting. Researchers found that the rosehip neuron cells belong to the inhibitory category.

We all have inhibitory neurons and excitatory neurons, Trygve Bakken, co-author of the paper and a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, told Forbes. But this particular type of inhibitory neuron is whats new in this study. Its special based on its shape and its connections, and also the genes that it expresses.

Rosehip neurons turn on a unique set of genes, which is what enabled the scientists to distinguish it from other types of cells.

Researchers also found that rosehip cells link with another type of brain cellthe pyramidal neuronsin a different part of the human cortex and appear to attach to only one specific part of that cell. This suggests that the rosehip neurons may be controlling information flow in a unique manner.

Researchers plan to see whether rosehip neurons can be found in other regions of the brain, or in the brains of people with neuropsychiatric disorders, to see whether these cells may be different in those with brain or neurological diseases.New Mexico Judge Drops Charges Against 3 Suspects in Extremist Muslim Compound Case

A district judge in New Mexico dropped charges against three people who were linked to a compound where alleged Muslim extremists held starving children and were allegedly planning to carry out attacks.

District Judge Emilio Chavez dismissed charges against three of five defendants, citing the New Mexico state 10-day rule, Fox News reported on Aug. 29.

Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj, and Hujrah Wahhaj were facing child abuse charges in the case. Prosecutors missed the 10-day mark for an evidentiary hearing to establish probable cause against the suspects, and the charges were dropped, the report said.

The judge added that it is very difficult decision to drop the charges, but he said the states rule left him with no option.

They could be released as early as the afternoon on Aug. 29, The Associated Press reported.

Charges dropped against 3 of 5 suspects arrested at New Mexico compound. Judge says Lucas Morten, Hujrah Wahhaj, and Subhannah Wahhaj cant be kept in custody as prosecutors missed 10-day limit to establish probable cause for neglect charges. https://t.co/Ex236mMf5w  Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) August 29, 2018

Prosecutors can still seek charges for the suspects by going to a grand jury to indict them but offered no immediate indication on what they are planning to do.

Charges against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Jany Leveille, the two other suspects, remain.

Health officials confirmed in early August that remains were found on the property, and they belonged to a missing 3-year-old boy from Georgia.

Wahhaj, the childs father, and Leveille received charges on Aug. 24 of abuse of a child resulting in the death of a child and conspiracy to commit abuse of a child, Fox reported, citing Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe.

Hospital Attack?

Leveille Wahhaj wanted to confront and attack corrupt institutions, including a hospital in Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Aug. 26.

A specific corrupt institution named by one of the children was Grady Hospital, according to a court document.

Meanwhile, the children on the compound told police that Leveille intended to confront corrupt institutions or individuals, such as the military, big businesses, CIA, teachers/schools, and reveal the truth to these corrupt institutions or individuals, the document said, CNN reported.

The couple planned to shoot or otherwise attack individuals they failed to persuade with their message, the court documents said, the paper reported.

CNN reported that a document found on the property was titled, Phases of a Terrorist Attack, which had instructions for The one-time terrorist, instructions on the use of a choke point, a location called the ideal attack site, the ability to defend the safe haven, the ability to escape-perimeter rings, and sniper position detection procedure, according to the court filing.

Several children who lived at the compound told police that Morten allegedly stated he wished to die in Jihad, as a martyr, prosecutors said. At times, Jany Leveille would laugh and joke about dying in Jihad as would Subhanna Wahhaj, said the court document.

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Sign up for our free newsletters here.Nicaraguan Government Committed Widespread Human Rights Violations: UN

Nicaraguas government committed human rights violations and turned a blind eye while armed mobs rounded up protesters, some of whom were later raped with rifles and tortured in detention, the United Nations (U.N.) human rights office said on Aug. 29.

It documented human rights violations between April 18 and Aug. 18, including the disproportionate use of force and extrajudicial killings by the police, disappearances, widespread arbitrary detentions, and instances of torture and sexual violence in detention centers.

Report Documents Persecution

Weve issued a report calling for urgent action to address the human rights crisis in Nicaragua, where the level of persecution is such that many of those who participated in the protests that erupted in April, defended protesters or riots, or simply expressed dissenting views, have been forced to hide, have left Nicaragua or are trying to do so, outgoing U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein told reporters in Geneva during his last news conference as High Commissioner of human rights.

Repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away. The violence and impunity of these past four months have exposed the fragility of the countries institutions and the rule of law and created a climate of fear and mistrust and just the numbers of those leaving Nicaragua is testimony to that.

He urged the U.N. Human Rights Council, which meets next month, to consider setting up an international inquiry or truth commission to prevent the situation getting worse and to ensure accountability for human rights violations and abuses.

Repression & retaliation against demonstrators continue in #Nicaragua as the world looks away. I urge @UN_HRC & the int'l community to take concrete action to prevent the crisis from descending into deeper social & political turmoil  UN rights #Zeid: https://t.co/V7JD6kBtib pic.twitter.com/OBqD1odKBh  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 29, 2018

#HumanRights crisis in #Nicaragua  some 300 people have reportedly been killed and 2,000 others injured, according to various sources. Most of the violence took place from mid-April to mid-July 2018. Read: https://t.co/V7JD6kBtib pic.twitter.com/Eu63qeVtZD  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 29, 2018

Crackdown on Protests

The violent crackdown on protests against President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, has drawn international condemnation. The U.N. report said over 300 people had been killed and 2,000 injured.

Zeid also warned on a possible refugee crisis as people are fleeing persecution.

If we dont stem this, stop this, you know, how many other countries are going to be placed under severe pressure from the outflow of refugees who are fleeing and then, there will be a knock-on effect, he said, noting the current outflow from Venezuela.

From NTD.tvA group of friends gather for a reunion in Linkoping, Sweden. Young people are increasingly unhappy in Nordic countries, according to a study released on Aug. 22, 2018. (Johanna Dahlberg/Unsplash)

Nordic Countries Might Not Be as Happy as We Thought

Young people are suffering in the 'happiness superpowers'

STOCKHOLMThe Nordic countries are well-known for finding themselves at the top of international studies about happiness.

But a recent study finds a slightly different view of life than the widely accepted rosy image of people in that part of the world: There appears to be a happiness gap, in which young people in particular are growing increasingly unhappy.

The study, In the Shadow of Happiness, by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, found that subjective well-being is unevenly distributed in the otherwise egalitarian Nordic countries.

While the general level of happiness is still highFinland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland top the World Happiness Report of 2018, with Sweden in 9th place12.3 percent of the people in the Nordic region fall in the struggling or suffering categories. On a scale of zero to 10, these groups had a self-reported score of zero to four (suffering) or five to six (struggling). Seven and above is defined as thriving.

In this study, the Danes were the happiest, with 91.9 percent thriving, and the Swedes the least happy, but still at an impressive 85.1 percent thriving. The UK, by comparison, has 74.9 percent thriving, and Russia a mere 38.4 percent.

One observation that the authors make is that the Nordic countries defy a common distribution pattern across age groups worldwide. Typically, people are happier in their youth, and then again in their old age, with a dip in the middle, in a kind of U-shape. But for the Nordic countries, this shape is now almost inverted, where the young and the very old being the least happy.

Poor Mental Health

One reason for this is that the main two factors for unhappiness in the Nordic countries are general health and mental health. While general health, for natural reasons, will decline sharply among the oldest, poor mental health among the young has become a big problem. The study found that especially young women were unhappy. In Sweden, almost 20 percent of women aged 18-23 were struggling or suffering.

Ulf Andreasson, one of the editors of the report, told Swedish Television that the Nordic countries might, in fact, not be as happy as the study suggests.

There is some concern that the figures might be higher, that were such a happy region that it would be a social stigma to tell people that youre unhappy, he said.

Suicide among young people is a big problem in the Nordic countries, especially in Finland, where its responsible for one-third of all deaths among 15-24-year-olds, according to other statistics from the Nordic Council of Ministers that are cited in the report.

Another find was that highly religious people tended to be significantly happier than non-religious people. All of the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, are among the most secular and rational and least traditional in the world, according to the World Values Survey.

Among the negative consequences of unhappiness is a loss of trust, the Nordic Council of Ministers report says. The Nordic communities report higher levels of social trust than the rest of the world, which, in turn, has a positive socio-economic effect.

Studies have shown that inequality in subjective well-being has a greater impact on trust than income equality, according to the report.One Mans Quest to Make Socially Responsible Investing More Responsible

Its an age-old investing question. Can you do good and do well at the same time?

Ethan Powell is on a mission to prove that you can.

The 43-year-old former hedge funder is using his non-profit finance firm, Impact Shares Corp., to create a new way of doing socially responsible investing. From his office in Frisco, Texas, hes setting up funds that eschew popular one-size-fits-all ESG modelswhich stands for environmental, social and governancefor ones that not only are built hand-in-hand with specific charities but also fork over the bulk of their fees to those organizations.

Impact Shares NAACP Minority Empowerment ETF started trading in July under the ticker NACP, and its YWCA Womens Empowerment ETF, or WOMN, launched on Aug. 27.

Values investing is hot, as the number of ESG funds has more than tripled over the last four years. Still, total assets are slightly less than $7 billion, a blip in the $3.7 trillion U.S. ETF market.

But assets arent Powells main gripe. ESG methodology is.

The way theyre interpreting social responsibility is very suspect, he said. And even if its not suspect, its very difficult to understand.

In particular, the catch-all nature of ESG strategies can leave some portfolios with strange positions. For example, the second-largest holding in BlackRock Inc.s iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF, known by its ticker DSI, is Facebook Inc., which is in a battle over the types of content posted on its website, from child abuse videos to hate speech.

Who Cares?

But the real question facing Powell and his competitors is whether investors actually care about doing good. More than half of those recently polled for a Charles Schwab Corp. study said performance was among the most important factors when considering a socially responsible investment. To woo buyers, fund companies have transformed ESG into a broad, money-making, church that allows investors to feel good without sacrificing returns.

ESG is not dont invest in oil and gas or dont invest in coal, said Aniket Shah, head of sustainable investing at OppenheimerFunds Inc. This isnt about totally greening your portfolio, whatever that may mean, but are you weighting your portfolio toward companies that are proactively improving their risk profile against the issues?

In other words, these positions are hedges against bad behavior. The approach more closely mirrors benchmark indexes and helps with returns. But it risks rendering the term ESG meaningless.

Not Cheap

Thats what Powells approach seeks to avoid.

Impact Shares and a handful of others want to keep the focus on social responsibility while remaining commercially viable. Issuers are starting targeted funds that fit the zeitgeist; think gay rights in the workplace, help for veterans, women on corporate boards and so on. UBS Group AG is donating 5 percent of the fee from its InsightShares ETFs, with a minimum floor donation if the funds are slow to catch on. Grants will be made through the banks foundation and the first beneficiaries will be announced at the end of the year.

Its about engagement and providing a new set of tools to non-profits for their advocacy, said Powell, who received startup capital from the Rockefeller Foundations $4.1 billion endowment.

Of course, none of this comes cheap. Powells funds cost about $7.50 a year for every $1,000 invested, roughly $5 of which flows back to the partner charity once the costs of maintaining the fund are accounted for by Impact Shares. Thats $5 more than BlackRock charges for a broad ESG fund. However, the NAACP ETF is outperforming over its first six weeks, up 4.4 percent compared with BlackRocks $780 million iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF, which has returned 2.9 percent since July 19. The funds have two top 10 holdings in common: Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Seeking Engagement

Beyond collecting fees, Powell also believes stock ownership empowers charities by giving them a voice in the room when companies mess up. But some long-time managers say the difficulty of indexing good behavior shows how hard it is for passive strategies to thrive in such a specialized niche.

Deep integration of ESG implies active management, said Erika Karp, chief executive officer of Cornerstone Capital Group and a founding member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, which works to standardize how companies report their efforts on sustainability. When we think about the index, its as good as the analyst that put it together.

Powells funds wont change things overnight. Theyll only start generating capital for the NAACP and YWCA when they manage enough assets to cover costs about $20-30 million each. The minorities and womens funds currently have a little more than $2 million each. Still, from the get-go, these charities will gain a new way to lobby the companies in their name-sake ETFs. Powell plans to have fund co-managers whose sole purpose is that engagement on behalf of the charities, he said.

Black Sheep

Other asset managers have made some efforts to hold companies accountable. Vanguard is ramping up engagement on gun violence, opiates, and climate change, while BlackRock wants businesses to tell them how they positively contribute to society. But many take firm-wide positions, rather than reflecting different funds strategies, during shareholder votes.

For Powell, that isnt good enough. The son of academics, he was the black sheep of the family when he chose to pursue finance. But after giving up a career at the Dallas hedge fund Highland Capital Management, hes now using his Wall Street chops to make products that work for people like his parents. Impact Shares is developing other ETFs with the United Nations, the American Heart Association and Facing Addiction in America.

We as investment professionals really need to take the narrative back a little bit and say, Look, were not all wolves on Wall Street, Powell said. Its all about execution and being truthful in the intent.

By Sarah Ponczek & Rachel EvansDavid Kilgour (4th L), Gao's wife Geng He (5th L), and Geo Saba representing Rep. Rohit Khanna (7th L) at the awarding of the Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award to Gao Zhisheng, in Cupertino, Calif. on Aug. 24. (Nathan Su/The Epoch Times).

Persecuted Chinese Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Awarded Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award

CUPERTINO, Calif.A crowd of people in front of Cupertino City Hall in California watched and celebrated as the First Step Forum awarded the Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award to renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

David Kilgour, a goodwill ambassador and a board member of the First Step Forum, presented the award to Gaos wife, Geng He, on Aug. 24. Kilgour is a former Canadian member of parliament and served as Canadian Secretary of State, Asia-Pacific.

Gao reportedly was disappeared by Chinese authorities on Aug. 13, 2017, over a year before the award day.

The First Step Forum is a Finland-based international NGO that monitors religious and human rights abuses worldwide. Gao won the award for his dedication to Chinas religious freedom and human rights.

The award was named after Clement Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistans first federal minister of minorities affairs, who was assassinated on March 2, 2011. Among the previous winners of this award were Pope Francis and Egyptian Dr. Hany Hanna.

Lawyer Gao is internationally respected enormously, Kilgour said at the event. He was first targeted by the Party and the state in China in 2005 for standing up for various oppressed communities in China, including Christians, coal miners, and Falun Gong.

Gao has been repeatedly detained, arrested, jailed, placed under house arrest, and reportedly disappeared by the Chinese communist regime since 2006.

International human rights groups and media have reported that Gao has suffered brutal torture at the hands of the Chinese regimes security officials.

Kilgour said this included three years in solitary confinement with no lights in a room.

Can you imagine what it would be like without lights? Kilgour said. He [Gao] writes that he was sustained by his faith and hopes for a different China.

Gao lost most of his teeth at the age of 53 and reportedly suffers from other medical conditions as a result of years of physical and psychological abuse.

Geng gave an acceptance speech for her husband. She said that Gao prayed a lot, but 99 percent of his prayers were for the people who were persecuted in China, and for changes to take place in China.

In 2001, Gao was recognized by Chinas Ministry of Justice as one of the 10 best lawyers in the country for his work defending victims of medical malpractice and dispossessed landowners.

However, in 2005, after Gao sent an open letter to Beijings leadership exposing the torture and inhuman treatment inflicted by the regime on practitioners of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, Gao and his family were put under 24-hour police surveillance.

In November 2005, after Gao sent out his second open letter about Falun Gong legal cases, Gaos law firm operations were suspended. Gao was arrested in September 2006 and was sentenced to three years in prison on Sept. 22, 2006.

After he was released from jail, Gao continued his work on Chinas religious freedom and human rights. He published the books Unwavering Convictions and 2016 Human Rights Report for China, and a draft constitution for a future China.

In January 2009, Gaos wife and two children escaped China with the help of underground faith groups. Since they left China, they have had a difficult time reaching Gao and their own families in China.

His family hasnt been in touch with Gao since Aug. 13, 2017, and his whereabouts is unknown.

Why has Gao today been missing for more than a year? Why is he disappeared? Why are none of his family members in China able or willing to answer their phones when Geng He calls them from America? Kilgour asked in his speech. Why were the identification papers for all of Gaos family in Xinjiang taken away?

Gao is Chinas Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Kilgour said in an interview after the award event.

Gao has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Rep. Ro Khannas (D-Calif.) aide, Geo Saba, presented recognition from Khannas office at the event.University Professors Lend Their Talents to Left-Wing Hate Group

Academics publish personal information of those Antifa considers to be enemies

News Analysis

Two university professors are assisting the radical left-wing Antifa movement by compiling and publishing personal information about its perceived enemies online, in a practice known as doxxing.

Doxxing is publishing an individuals private information such as a home address, workplace, date of birth, schools attended, telephone number, or Social Security number. Some consider doxxing an act of terrorism because the goal isnt merely to inconvenience, shame, or embarrass the victim but also to intimidate. Doxxing sometimes also leads to loss of employment, housing, and reputation.

Antifa is short for anti-fascist. Despite its name, Antifa uses heavy-handed fascistic tactics and is notorious for physically assaulting conservatives, Republicans, and those who identify with the so-called alt-right. These violent modern-day agitators trace their roots to Weimar Germany, where they assaulted Nazi brownshirts and emulated their tactic of using force to silence political rivals. The anarchists and communists of the Antifa movement typically smear their victims as fascists, Nazis, and racists.

The doxxing activities of computer science professor Megan Squire of Elon University in North Carolina are celebrated by the left. Wired magazine offered a profile of Squire, a data-mining expert, earlier this year that depicted her heroically. The article bore the flattering title, Meet Antifas Secret Weapon Against Far-Right Extremists, and hailed her as a purveyor of vigilante justice.

Squire has created a database she calls Whack-A-Mole that consolidates information she has gathered about those she deems right-wing extremists. An online activist who uses the pseudonym Robert Lee describes Whack-A-Mole as very helpful and a new way to research these people that leads me to information I didnt have.

Squire sorts those on the radical right into various subgroups such as Neo-Nazi, Alt-Right, White Nationalist, Neo-Confederate, No Sharia Law, and Anti-Government. Based on little more than the use of flagged keywords such as patriot, anti-SJW (anti-social justice warrior), and anti-Obama, Whack-a-Mole tracks an estimated 400,000 accounts of suspected white nationalists on Facebook and other websites. In other words, anyone who deviates from leftist orthodoxy by having an online discussion might find themselves monitored and doxxed.

Squire feeds the information she finds to the mistake-prone radicals of the Southern Poverty Law Center. In June, the SPLC agreed to pay almost $3.4 million to British politician Maajid Nawazs Quilliam Foundation after admitting it erred in labeling his advocacy group extremist in a publication titled, A Journalists Manual: Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists. Nawaz earned the enmity of many on the left for urging that Muslim extremists be investigated by authorities.

Squire also hands the data she acquires to activists who are then free to post it online in a bid to get Antifas enemies fired from their jobs.

Unlike the Antifa movement she supports, Squire doesnt attempt to hide her identity.

We shouldnt have to mask up to say Nazis are bad. And I want them to see I dont fit their stereotypesIm not a millennial or a snowflake.

Squire was pleased when the Antifa movement emerged in the U.S.

They were a level of mad about racism and fascism that I was glad to see, she told Wired. They were definitely not quiet rainbow peace people. Squire refuses to condemn Antifas violent tactics.

Squire is listed as a fellow on the website of something called the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. The first blog entry on the website goes back to March of this year. It is unclear if the Centre is associated with any actual institutions of higher learning. No physical address for the Centre appears on the website. The only means of contacting it is a templated web form. Efforts to obtain a comment from the Centre werent successful as of press time.

Targeting ICE

Another academic doing Antifas dirty work is Sam Lavigne, whose online biography describes him as an Adjunct Professor at ITP/NYU, The New School, and the School for Poetic Computation, a 2016/2017 Magic Grant fellow at the Brown Institute at Columbia University, and Special Projects editor at the New Inquiry Magazine.

Lavigne participated in the publishing of the names and personal information of almost 1,600 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Lavigne started his database of ICE officials as a protest against what he terms ICEs inhumane efforts at the border that sometimes involve temporarily separating family members while the parents are prosecuted for violating the law.

As ICE continues to ramp up its inhumane surveillance and detention efforts, I believe its important to document whats happening, and by whom, in any way we can, Lavigne said.

Ive downloaded and made available the profiles of (almost) everyone on LinkedIn who works for ICE1,595 people in total. While I dont have a precise idea of what should be done with this data set, I leave it here with the hope that researchers, journalists, and activists will find it useful, Lavigne wrote in a post on Medium.

Lavigne also tweeted a photo of ICE Chief Technology Officer David Larrimore enjoying Fathers Day.

Nothing wrong with doxxing people who operate concentration camps[,] Twitter user Pierce Nichols (@nocleverhandle) commented.

Because members of Antifa lump ICE officers in with fascists and Nazis, there is no telling what they may do next to those ICE employees.Russia to Hold Its Biggest War Games Since Fall of Soviet Union

MOSCOWRussia will next month hold its biggest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union, a massive military exercise that will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Aug. 28.

The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russias naval fleets, and all of its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement.

The maneuvers will take place at a time of heightened tensions between the West and Russia, which is concerned about what it says is an unjustified build-up of the NATO military alliance on its western flank.

NATO says it has beefed up its forces in eastern Europe to deter potential Russian military action after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.

The exercise, which will take place from Sept. 11-15, are likely to worry Japan, which has already complained about a Russian military build-up in the Far East, something Moscow has linked to Tokyos rollout of the Aegis U.S. missile system.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to attend a forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok over the same period, and a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Aug. 28 that Tokyo always pays attention to shifts in Russian-Chinese military cooperation.

Shoigu said the war games would be the biggest since a Soviet military exercise, Zapad-81 (West-81), in 1981.

In some ways, they will repeat aspects of Zapad-81, but in other ways, the scale will be bigger, Shoigu told reporters while visiting the Russian region of Khakassia.

Shoigu said that both Russias Pacific and Northern Fleets would take part, while the Russian Ministry of Defense has said that Chinese and Mongolian military units also will participate.

A More Assertive Russia

Asked if the cost of holding such a massive military exercise was justified at a time when Russia is faced with higher social spending demands, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such war games were essential.

The countrys ability to defend itself in the current international situation, which is often aggressive and unfriendly towards our country, means (the exercise) is justified, Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

When asked if Chinas involvement means that Moscow and Beijing were moving towards an alliance, Peskov said it showed that the two were cooperating in all areas. China and Russia have taken part in joint military drills before, but not on such a large scale.

NATO spokesman Dylan White said that Russia had briefed the alliance on the planned exercise in May and that NATO would monitor it. Russia has invited military attaches from NATO countries to observe the war games, an offer he said was under consideration.

All nations have the right to exercise their armed forces, but it is essential that this is done in a transparent and predictable manner, White said in an emailed statement.

Vostok demonstrates Russias focus on exercising large-scale conflict. It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time: a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defense budget and its military presence.

Shoigu this month announced the start of snap combat readiness checks in central and eastern military districts ahead of the planned exercise.

Imagine 36,000 armored vehiclestanks, armored personnel carriers and armored infantry vehiclesmoving and working simultaneously, and that all this, naturally, is being tested in conditions as close as possible to military ones, Shoigu said on Aug. 28.

By Andrew OsbornSan Diego Father Picks up Daughter on First Day of School on Horseback

School season has begun and many parents might not enjoy the process of sending and picking up their children from home and school. But a San Diego father made a very interesting commute for his daughter by picking her up on horses.

The father and his daughter are from Rancho Santa Fe, California. In the video, his daughter, who attends a local elementary school, was excited and reached out her hand to greet her dad and a pony brought by her father. The father also brought flowers to congratulate his daughters first day of school.

Another nine cowboys showed up with the father, who is a retired marine and now owns a horse training facility.

Last year, the father picked up his daughter in the same way.San Francisco Bartenders Body Believed Found in Fish Tank

A headless and handless body found in the fish tank of a home in San Francisco is believed to belong to a missing area man Brian Egg, multiple media sources reported, but police have yet to positively identify the corpse due to the advanced state of its decomposition.

Scott Free, a neighbor of the 65-year-old Egg, told reporters at the San Fransico Chronicle that he felt something was amiss after he stopped seeing Egg walking his dog or watering the plants around his home.

Egg was known to have let drifters stay at his house, Free said.

Police Made Three Welfare Calls to the House

Free finally called the police after becoming suspicious when two strangers began to answer the door to Eggs home, located in San Franciscos South of Market neighborhood.

Eggs family, too, called the police in July after not hearing from him for some time.

Officers visited the home in July and again in early August, but received no response at the door and saw no suspicious circumstances, said Greg McEachern, who heads the departments investigations bureau, according to the Chronicle.

In total, police carried out a total of three welfare calls to Eggs home.

On one of the occasions, the men who answered the door at Eggs house told officers that he had gone away on vacation.

A Gruesome Discovery

He was kind of fringe, Free told the Chronicle. He had no job and lived on the margins. He was eccentric. A vacation seemed very implausible.

Free told the Chronicle that Egg had long ago worked as a bartender, but had not been steadily employed in recent years.

Then, on Aug. 15, Free saw a private crime-scene cleanup crew outside Eggs home, and again called the police.

Officers arrived with cadaver dogs and made the gruesome discoverya headless body with no hands, decomposing inside a fish tank.

Its horrifying, Free told the Chronicle. A dead body was in the house this entire time.

The police department could have done a lot more in the early stages, said Free. It seemed like they werent taking it very seriously. There was a dead body in there all along and they were standing right next to it. What if we hadnt said anything?

Police Reveal More Details in the Investigation

At a news conference on Tuesday, Aug. 28, law enforcement officials provided further details into the investigation.

The medical examiner is carrying out an autopsy on the body to determine whether it belongs to Egg.

A pathology lab is working to figure out how the victim died.

We have recovered remains during the investigation, and we are awaiting the autopsy report, said David Stevenson, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, the Chronicle reported.

An open and active investigation continues regarding the missing person, he said.

The police also said they had arrested two suspects on suspicion of murder, fraud, theft, identity theft, and elder abuse in connection with the case.

The suspects are Lance Silva, 39, and Robert MacCaffrey, 52, according to the police.

Silva remains in custody due to a probation violation, while MacCaffrey has been released.

No homicide charges have been filed in the case.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please continue to read more stories here.

Sign up for our free newsletters here.I suspect the story about a boater hitting the rocks may have been a tourist without a boat licence.

Reading it made me mad about another incident I saw first-hand at the city docks in Kelowna. We were sitting in our docked boat by the gas pumps when a rental boat came in way above wake speed. It flew past the little round BBQ boat, almost upsetting it while the driver was happily waving at what appeared to be his friends.

Full of family and young children, the boat sped towards the gas pump, terrifying friends of ours who were refuelling, and coming within six feet of colliding with a parked boat. The dock employees started yelling at the driver, who didnt seem to understand the concern.

It was then that I noticed one of the employees running full speed towards the end of the dock. He literally risked his life as he jumped fully clothed right off the end of the dock and landed inside the back of the boat. He then wrestled control from the driver, who sheepishly sat back and let the employee dock the boat.

I am not fully supporting those boat licences we had to get a few years back, they do not speak to a driver's abilities. But this person clearly didnt know about Canadian law, B.C. law or common sense  and he didn't have a licence.

The young man who dove into the boat should never have been put in that situation.

The government allows people to rent boats who do not have a boating licence. At the same time, making all of us have one. Why they allow this is beyond me.

And this isnt the first time I have witnessed this lack of common sense from visitors.

Enough is enough!

Bill Ferguson, KelownaChinese monks attend a ceremony at Shaolin Temple to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, China, on January 28, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Shaolin Temple Raises National Flag in High-Profile Ceremony, Signaling Beijing Control

Shaolin Temple, possibly the worlds most famous Chinese Buddhist monastery and the fabled birthplace of kung fu, announced in a flag-raising ceremony that it now belongs to the Communist Party (CCP).



The event on Aug. 27 marked the first time in the temples 1,500-year history that it formally declared a political stance. The temple is located atop one of the peaks of Mount Song, a sacred mountain, in Dengfeng County, Henan Province. It dates back to the year 495 and has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site.



For years, the temple had been veering from its Buddhist origins, with commercial ventures to capitalize on its kung fu fame and Abbot Shi Yongxin serving as a representative for Chinas rubber-stamp legislature. Today, the Shaolin Temple is a massive business empire, with a film and television company, a painting academy, a publishing house, and a performing troupe.

At 7 a.m., a dozen monks marched in carrying one red flag across their shoulders, entering the mountain gate of the temple to the applause of more than 100 spectators, including local CCP officials, the temples leading monks, and their foreign disciples.

In recent years, the atheist Communist Party has tightened its ideological grip over religious faiths. In March, the regime started a campaign to force all religious venues to include the national flag, the constitution, socialist core values, and traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese regime has called this campaign the Four Enters.

In hopes that complying with the campaign will ease tensions, many Islamic mosques have been raising the national flag since May.

To advance this campaign, the CCPs United Front Work Department, an agency dedicated to influencing groups inside and outside China to support the partys agenda, organized a religious affairs conference in July.

The party decided that all religious venues should raise the national flag at important eventssuch as religious festivals and traditional Chinese festivalsand also on National Day, a public holiday that commemorates the day the CCP took over China.



Shaolin Temple is the first Buddhist monastery to raise the national flag in such a high-profile ceremony, and Abbot Shi Yongxin has called for other monasteries to follow. Shi serves as vice president of the state-run Buddhist Association of China, an organization through which the Chinese regime monitors the activities of all Buddhist practitioners in the country.

News of the flag ceremony sparked Chinese netizens to criticize the temple for mixing religion and politics.

Laozhou, a user of Weibo, a social-media platform similar to Twitter, wrote: Dont believe in Buddha but Marxism. Dont read the Buddhist scriptures but pray to the party. A bunch of shams.

Another Weibo user, quoted by the South China Morning Post, wrote: The Buddha and Marx have shaken hands.  Buddhism is meant to cultivate the mind, body and spiritwhat has it got to do with politics? Havent the monks in the monastery renounced worldly living? I feel uncomfortable and just think that raising the national flag at the temple is simply not appropriate.

Dr. Chan Sze Chi, a senior lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University told Radio Free Asia in an Aug. 28 interview that Buddhism has a large number of followers in China, so the regime first forced the Shaolin Temple to adopt such a stance as a warning to other temples.

To find an example from Buddhist monasteries, Shaolin Temple is the best one because its very famous and has kung fu monks as its symbol. The most ambitious Shaolin Temple kneeled down [raised the national flag], so the others will follow, Chan said.Tesla, Apple Should Disclose Labor Policies, Activist CtW Says

An activist firm is asking more than 30 big-name companies from Tesla Inc. to Apple Inc. to disclose more information about employment practices that the firm says may be anti-competitive.

CtW Investment Group, which works with a coalition of union pension funds with more than $250 billion in assets, is sending letters to the companies, seeking disclosure on their policies that it says can set workers up for reduced mobility, lower pay or even the inability to escape workplace harassment. The letters target non-compete agreements, no-poaching rules, mandatory arbitration or non-disclosure pacts, and ask directors to ultimately provide reports to shareholders about the practices.

Investors increasingly recognize that for companies to succeed over the long term, theyve got to be investing in their own workforce, said Richard Clayton, research director at CtW, which works to promote shareholder activism in areas including governance and labor policies.

A company that isnt investing in that workforce faces a significant risk of falling behind, he said.

CtW argues that requiring workers to solve conflicts through arbitration, instead of in a judicial court, might mean practices such as wage theft and discrimination arent detected or stopped.

More Scrutiny

Such agreements have all come under harsher scrutiny in recent years, amid the rise of the #MeToo movement and the sluggishness of wage growth. Last week, the Economic Policy Institute, whose board is chaired by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, released a proposed workplace-reform agenda for Congress that includes banning forced arbitration, as well as almost all non-competes.

Massachusetts recently signed a law restricting enforcement of companies non-compete clauses, while earlier this month, the Washington State Attorney General announced agreements with eight restaurant chains, including Applebees and Panera Bread, to remove clauses from their contracts with franchisees that prevent them from hiring away each others employees.

CtW is also sending letters to companies such as McDonalds Corp., Intel Corp., and Amazon.com Inc. While McDonalds has agreed to remove no-poach provisions from its franchise agreements and wont include them in any new contracts, CtW said its looking for more transparency from companies on how they plan to monitor businesses to make sure anti-competitive practices arent happening on an informal level.

CtW in the past successfully lobbied Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. investors to reject certain pay plans, arguing that the companys recent stock performance didnt justify its executive compensation. And Amazon earlier this year formally adopted a policy to consider women and minorities for all open board seats after advocacy from shareholders, including CtW.

Tesla NDA

A confidential Tesla severance agreement obtained by Bloomberg News in June included clauses that would bar a worker being dismissed from disclosing business-related information, and required that disputes be handled in individual arbitration rather than via class-action lawsuit.

That agreement, which was presented to one of the more than 3,000 workers the company dismissed that month, required acknowledgement that the worker had the opportunity to raise any safety concerns, safety complaints, or whistle-blower activities against the company, and that if any were raised during your employment, they were addressed to your satisfaction.

Labor advocates said such terms could chill ex-employees from publicizing problems. But a Tesla spokesman said at the time that the language about safety matters was meant to ensure that any outstanding issues get addressed.

The non-disclosure issues at Tesla are key, Clayton said. It may be limiting what people on the outside know, and it may even be limiting what the board of directors knows.

By Leslie PattonIts also slow work. Cheese takes time to age, after all. Much of it comes down to faith and patience. (Stockinghall Cheddar)

The Art and Science of Aging Cheese

In Murrays urban caves, expert hands transform young wheels into glorious cheeses

NEW YORKIn Hunters Point, Queens, in a building tucked among derelict warehouses and factories, remnants from the Long Island City neighborhoods industrial past, hundreds of wheels of cheese are quietly coming of age.

They sit silent and still, but imperceptible to the human eye, theyre bustling with activity. Whole communities of living microbesmold, bacteria, yeastare busy at work on their surfaces. Human hands fuss over them, too, intervening to flip, brush, or wash them every few days. With time, the cheeses grow rich with flavor.

This is the ancient art of affinage, or cheese aging, and its happening here at Murrays Cheeses cheese caves, an expansion of their beloved Bleecker Street retail store in Manhattan. In its Cave Aged program, Murrays imports high-quality cheeses from across the country and the world, and then sends them to their caves to ripen and mature to their full potential. Days, months, or even years later, they resurface onto Murrays shop counters completely transformed.

Cheese has been aged in this way for centuries. Natural caves, being cool in temperature and high in humidity, have long provided an ideal environment for aging.

Thats how it started, said Murrays cavemaster Peter Jenkelunas, and there are still some out there.

Murrays caves, however, are man-made. The state-of-the-art, temperature- and humidity-controlled chambers are designed to imitate cave environments as best as they can, with porous, limestone-coated walls that promote microbial growth; sensor-regulated humidifiers; and low-velocity fans that ensure proper airflow. Each of the four cavesplus a drying roomis carefully calibrated to maintain its resident cheeses optimal environment.

Murrays operation is a bit of an anomaly in the United States.

Usually, in the U.S., the system is that the cheesemaker also ages the cheese. There are quite a few cheesemakers out there that have something similar to what we have, Jenkelunas explained.

Whats unusual is for a place to specialize purely in affinage; Jenkelunas can name only a few others in the country. (One is also in New York City: Crown Finish Caves, which ages cheeses in a repurposed 1850s lagering tunnel, once used to brew beer, 30 feet below-ground in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.)

The practice is much more common in Europe, where everyones a little more specialized, so [aging] is seen as a completely different part of it, Jenkelunas said.

But there are perks to having a dedicated facility right in New York City. Look at soft-ripened cheeses, like creamy brie or valencay, for instance.

If youre importing from Europe, there are a lot of obstacles theresofter cheeses dont hold up as well, Jenkelunas said. Murrays, however, imports them fresh and unripened, and then matures them in their own caves, to ensure that theyre kept in good condition and sold at the peak of ripeness.

The caves were initially constructed in the basement under their retail store in 2004, with the simple purpose of providing better storage for Murrays collection. (They expanded to their Long Island City location in 2013, and the basement caves were recently demolished.)

Over time, curiosity and creativity inevitably snuck into the mixwhy just preserve the cheese when you could also better it?giving rise to their special Cave Aged selections.

Its become more about doing unique things, Jenkelunas said. Were trying to have special products for Murrays. Its evolved.

Coming of Age

So how does it all work? A visit to the cheese caves is a fascinating peek into the process.

Simply put, aging is the natural breakdown of cheese, the work of the scores of microbes growing on the surface. Microbes all have their own optimal conditions, including cheese makeup, moisture level, and pH, to name a few, so different cheeses in different environments will give rise to different microbial communities.

In turn, those microbes have unique sets of enzymes, [which] are going to break down proteins and fats in different ways and create different flavors, Jenkelunas explained. Details of the process, from aging time to treatment of the cheese (a dusting in vegetable ash, perhaps, or a bath of white wine), also impact the final result.

You can age [the same] cheese in a different way and itll taste completely different, Jenkelunas said.

Murrays makes four distinct styles, each housed its appropriate cave: bloomy rind, washed rind, natural rind, and alpine.

The Bloomy Rind Cave is home to their youngest and softest cheeses, mostly sheeps and goats milk varieties imported from France. These cheeses are inoculated with mold spores during the cheesemaking process, and the cave simply provides the best environment for them to grow.

They arrive fresh and rindless but soon bloom into works of art. Some develop wrinkly, fuzzy rinds that give them the appearance of tiny, gray brains; others turn chalky white, like familiar brie and camembert. For others, the art is human-craftedthe Hudson Flower, for instance, is coated in a colorful mosaic of rosemary, lemon thyme, marjoram, elderberries, and hop flowers.

After 10 days of aging, theyre ready to enjoy.

Residents of the Alpine Room, on the other hand, come here and stay quite a while, Jenkelunas said. These nutty, grassy Alpine-style cheeses, traditionally made high in the Alps, are Murrays heavyweightsthe European wheels weigh anywhere from 10 to 200 pounds. They ripen more slowly, with less active rinds, and make themselves comfortable for a year or more.

One wall of the room is completely stocked with hefty wheels of Murrays Annelies, one of its flagship cave-aged cheeses, a raw cows milk wheel made in northern Switzerland and sent exclusively to Murrays to age for 912 months.

Organized by age, the wall of cheese is really a visual timeline of its life. Starting from the farthest end, columns of wheels proceed in a gradient of pale, snowy beige to rich, mottled bronzefrom three months old, as the producer sells it, to maturity, at least nine months later.

It transforms on the inside, too, from what Jenkelunas describes as a mild, everyday cheese to something completely differentintensely savory and grassy, redolent with hazelnuts and butterscotch.

Next, theres the Washed Rind Cave, lovingly dubbed the stink tank. This is where youll find all your pungent, meaty varietiesthink stinky taleggio and morbier. Those flavors come from diverse bacterial communities, which flourish in the caves warmer temperatures.

For washed rind cheeses, you want a lot of variety, and a lot of that variety comes from the environment, Jenkelunas said.

Most of these wheels come already aged; Murrays job is to maintain and further push along their rind development. They do that by washing the rinds three times a week with different brines, beers, wines, or ciders, which can also contain added yeast or bacteria to alter the microbial community. The washes prevent moisture loss, impart different flavors into the cheese, and help push them in the right direction.

Finally, in the Natural Rind Cave, home to mostly cheddars, variety is also key. But the approach is much more relaxed.

Jenkelunas calls this their wildest room. Were letting pretty much whatevers in the room grow on these cheeses, he said. As a result, they develop rustic, multi-colored rinds, thanks to the work of the varied and colorful collection of microbes populating the cave. One particularly striking specimen is ashy-black mottled with orange specks, as if someone had flicked a paintbrush dipped in paint in its direction.

Relaxed, however, does not mean hands-off. The cheeses are often treated before beginning the process (like the Stockinghall cheddar, which is wrapped in cheesecloth and coated in lard, the traditional English way); the environment remains strictly controlled; and the cheeses are regularly and meticulously maintained.

A Labor of Love

All in all, affinage is a high-maintenance art.

You have to take care of the cheese, Jenkelunas said. Doing it this way, its a lot more work.

With so many variables in the mix, a lot can go wrong in the process, and the easiest way to mess it up is to not tend to the cheeses often enough.

Washed rind and Alpine styles, for instance, must be washed regularly, to prevent them from drying out and cracking. Most wheels must also be frequently turned, else they settle for too long and end up misshapen or split.

Then, there are cheese mites. The pesky bugs only affect natural rind cheeses, as theyre drawn to certain types of molds, and once they show up, usually when the cheeses are three to four months old, theyll eat away the rinds.

Murrays solution: once a week, take to the wheels with a Shop-Vac vacuum cleaner. Each wheel is then also brushed, to spread around the mold, and turned, to prevent settling. Its long, monotonous work; it would take one person a full eight-hour day to handle all the cheddarsabout 350, Jenkelunas estimatesin the Natural Rinds Cave. There are five on the cheese caves team.

Its also slow work. Cheese takes time to age, after all. Much of it comes down to faith and patience.

You just kind of trust that things are moving in the right direction, even if you dont see it happening right in front of your face, Jenkelunas said.

If it doesnt work out, it becomes a learning experience. Jenkelunas credits much of his knowledge to doing things over and over, seeing what went wrong. And when each round can take months or years to complete, that adds up to a lot of time.

But that time, effort, and extraordinary care are exactly what make Murrays cheeses stand apart. The caves team works behind the scenes, but the clear proof is in the taste.

Murrays cheeses can be found at Murrays Cheese Shop and Grand Central Market in New York City, at Murrays cheese counters in over 400 Kroger locations across the United States, and online at MurraysCheese.comJohn Brennan: American Hero or Communist Traitor?

Commentary

John Brennan, who was the director of the CIA from 2013 to 2017, now works as a media pundit, and has accused President Donald Trump of treasonous behavior. Trump responded by revoking Brennans security clearance.

This has touched off a hue and cry: Its a violation of free speech, some say, while others point to brazen intimidation.

On Aug. 19, Brennan appeared on Meet the Press, where he affirmed the charges against the president by saying, I called his behavior treasonous, which is to  aid and abet the enemy. And I stand very much by that claim.

It is noteworthy that Brennan, who also served as a top counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, offered no proof of the charge.

Accusations of treason against presidents have occurred throughout U.S. history. Thomas Jefferson once accused George Washington of colluding with harlot England. Ironically, Jefferson, while serving as secretary of state, colluded with revolutionary France.

What makes the current controversy so confusing, and difficult to parse, is the way in which the American left has turned itself upside-down over the question of Russia. The left has mocked the idea of a Russian threat since 1917; but now, the left talks incessantly of Russia.

Whereas Obama criticized Mitt Romneys forwarning about Russia in 2012, we are now asked to believe that Obamas party has always been the party of vigilance.

Readers may remember that Obama was caught on camera telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in 2012: This is my last election. After my election, Ill have more flexibility. Medvedev warmly responded: Yes, yes, I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir [Putin].

Prior to that, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ushered in her Russian reset, replete with technology transfers to Russia, marked also by the Uranium One deal (coinciding with various donations to the Clinton Foundation and a $500,000 speaking fee paid by Russia to former President Bill Clinton).

In all this, the deception is palpable. The American left has always aided and abetted the Soviet Union and the Russian successor state. For those who carry the banner of the left, and the banner of the Democratic Party, to now accuse a Republican president of collusion with Russia, is an astonishing piece of hypocrisy. If they were sincere, they would have to rebuke their own icons, denouncing FDR and Truman for harboring hundreds of Moscows agents in the 1930s and 40s. They would also have to denounce John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson for opposing the security barriers erected by Republicans to keep communists out of sensitive government jobs.

For those of us who know this history, the present scandalizing of the country with unsupported allegations of treason is alarming. Russias old friends are pretending to be stalwart Cold Warriors. It is a deception, outrageous as it is disorienting to the public. During the election campaign of 2016, Clinton opposed any strengthening of the U.S. strategic posture vis-a-vis Russia.

The last thing we need, she told one audience, are sophisticated cruise missiles that are nuclear armed.

A true opponent of Russia would have championed a stronger U.S. nuclear deterrent. Clinton didnt. As a nuclear war expert with long experience in government told me, our nuclear arsenal is so badly deteriorated after eight years of Obama, we wont see a new replacement warhead until after Trump completes his second term in office. That is the extent to which Obamas stewardship effectively sabotaged our strategic deterrent. And Hillary Clinton would have extended that sabotage.

Brennan, as Obamas CIA director, was an integral member of the Obama/Clinton clique. It is a clique whose origins, however shrouded, can be traced to the Marxist left; that is, to Obamas communist mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, and to Hillary Clintons radical mentor, Saul Alinsky. Brennan emerged from the same milieu, only his career path was routed through the CIA.

It would be a mistake to think the CIA is hostile to leftists, or to persons of Marxist background. Decade after decade, the CIA has recruited leftists. The CIA isnt a right-wing organization. It is akin to other institutions staffed from American universities. And make no mistake, universities in the United States are dominated by the left.

It should not surprise us, therefore, that former CIA director Brennan made a shocking admission while attending a panel discussion at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundations annual conference in September 2016. The panel discussion was on recruiting diverse candidates for agencies like the CIA. Brennan was eager to clear up a prevailing misunderstandinga fear, indeedthat U.S. intelligence agencies would reject leftist or radical applicants.

Someone asked whether a past record of activism could hurt someone applying for a security clearance later in life. Brennan replied, I would not be up here if that was disqualifying.

Brennan was admitting, straight up, that he was the same kind of left-wing activist that the Black Caucus routinely cultivated. In fact, conservative blacks who joined the Caucus in years past have been excluded from the leadership and kept out of strategy meetings. According to Investors Business Daily, the Congressional Black Caucus includes some of the most radical people in Congress. It uses race-baiting to shake down corporate donors who unwittingly fund a war chest for Marxist causes, and is run by racial arsonists spewing dangerous rhetoric.

This was the group Brennan was giving advice to.

In 1980, Brennan applied for a job with the CIA. When he was polygraphed by a CIA examiner, Brennan was asked if he had ever worked with a group dedicated to overthrowing the government.

I froze, Brennan admitted, because I was getting so close to coming into CIA and said, OK, heres the choice, John. You can deny that, and the machine is probably going to go, you know, wacko, or I can acknowledge it and see what happens.

So how did he acknowledge his guilt?

He admitted to voting for a communist presidential candidate, Gus Hall. I said I was neither Democratic or Republican, but it was my way, as I was going to college, of signaling my unhappiness with the system, and the need for change.

The usual way of registering dissatisfaction is to abstain from voting, not to vote for a party allied to Moscow. And the main point of the story, which nobody in the media noticed, was Brennans admission that he didnt really answer the question. If you are asked whether you did something, the answer is either yes or no. And he didnt give such an answer. His answer, as forthcoming it appeared, was evasive.

There is no way around Brennans unsolicited confession. He told on himself to encourage young Marxists to join the intelligence community.

So, if back in 1980, he said, John Brennan was allowed to say, I voted for the Communist Party with Gus Hall  and still got through, rest assured that your rights and your expressions and your freedom of speech as Americans is something thats not going to be disqualifying of you as you pursue a career in government.

Brennan now uses his status as a former spymaster to abuse the president of the United States. Trump, he says, is a traitor. Why? There is no evidence of treason. What there is, of course, is a passionate American nationalist in the White House. A man who wants to preserve his country.

And here is the real definition of treason that Brennan is promoting. Love of country is treason for Brennan. After 18 months of intensive investigation, there is no evidence that Trump colluded with Americas enemies. Rather, all the evidence points in the direction of Brennan and Obama and Clinton.

What ought to happen is an investigation of Brennan.

J.R. Nyquist has been a columnist for WorldNetDaily, SierraTimes, and Financial Sense Online. He is the author of the books Origins of the Fourth World War and The Fool and His Enemy, as well as co-author of The New Tactics of Global War.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.FILE PHOTO: A man walks inside the flooded Cochin international airport after the opening of Idamalayar, Cheruthoni and Mullaperiyar dam shutters following heavy rain, on the outskirts of Kochi, India, August 15, 2018. REUTERS/Sivaram V/File Photo

Tourism in Indias Kerala Left Mud-Bound by Devastating Floods

NEW DELHI/ALAPPUZHA, IndiaMore than a week after the flood water began subsiding, animal carcasses are still floating in Keralas backwaters, and in places, a nauseating stench rises like a wall when the wake of a passing boat breaks the surface.

While these inland lagoons that run parallel to the coast are one of the biggest tourist draws in Indias most southwesterly state, the stain of death and devastation wrought by Keralas worst flooding in a century will take longer than a season to wash away.

The quaint towns and villages scattered between the lush forests and paddy fields bordering the backwaters are now communities in despair.

Houses in low-lying areas are still submerged, roads are waterlogged and the sewage from drains have washed into channels that are too slow-moving to effectively flush out the effluent.

Sudarsanan T.K., a houseboat owner in the town of Alappuzha, had been looking forward to the peak tourist season, but as his home disappeared under 2.5 meters (eight feet) of water, his family now have to live aboard the boat he would otherwise be renting to tourists from Europe, China, Malaysia, and India.

Ive nothing left but this houseboat. I dont know how I can repay my bank loan in this condition. The bank may take back my boat. I will have nothing at all then, Sudarsanan, a 64-year-old father of two, told reporters.

Some 1,500 houseboats are tied up at Alappuzha, going nowhere, with many of the owners still paying off loans taken to buy the boats.

Sudarsanan, who owes about $8,600 on the loan taken eight years ago to buy the boat, says he could have earned as much as $7,000 by December if not for the deluge.

Hundreds of people perished in the flood and more than a million of Keralas 35 million residents were forced to abandon their homes and take shelter in relief camps.

Blessed with natural beauty, fertile land, and bountiful seas, Kerala has been dubbed Gods own country by its people, but the Marxists running the state government say that $3.57 billion will be needed to rebuild over the next two years.

Keralas GDP growth may fall by 2 percent, state Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told reporters, forecasting growth of 6 percent for the financial year ending next March.

Crops have been lost, the construction industry was dead for a month, and tourism, which contributes 10 percent of the states economy but accounts for about 25 percent of job creation, also has been badly hit.

Festival Washout

For discerning tourists looking for a more laidback Indian experience, Kerala has it alllong sandy beaches, lazy waterways, charming, historic towns such as Kochi and the cool, forested hills of the Western Ghats.

Kerala doesnt draw numbers like the northern tourist circuit, the so-called Golden Triangle that runs from New Delhi to the Taj Mahal in Agra, and Jaipurs palaces in the desert state of Rajasthan, but it has carved out a sizable niche.

Last year, a million foreigners visited Kerala, along with 15 million domestic tourists, but state government and industry officials think the flooding will result in losses for the tourism sector of $357 million.

The floods struck just as Kerala was gearing up for Onam, the harvest festival which is one of the highlights of the states cultural calendar.

Festivities that include the spectacular Vallam Kali races, which involve traditional war canoes that might be manned by more than 100 paddlers, were postponed.

Kerala has lost out on one of the best seasons, as the calamity struck during the 10-day run-up to Onam, said Ranjini Nambiar, who heads a travel consultancy.

Thousands of volunteers have joined a clean-up campaign mounted by the state, and Shilendran M., an executive with the CGH Earth luxury hotel chain, expected some kind of order to be restored within the next few weeks.

The state administration is working on a war footing, said Shilendran, whose group has more than a dozen properties in Kerala. We are limping back to normal.

Hardly anywhere in the state escaped the calamity.

Ernakulam district, the biggest industrial and tourism contributor to Keralas economy and home to the historic city of Kochi, suffered major damage, and its busy international airport was shut for nearly two weeks.

Munnar, a hill resort overlooking the tea and cardamom plantations high in the Ghats was cut off, as bridges were washed away and landslides blocked roads.

Once every dozen years, a bright purplish-blue bell-shaped flower called the Neelakurinji, blossoms on the slopes around Munnarand this was one of those years.

The state tourism agency had marketed 2018 as the Kurunji year, but people in Kerala are more likely to remember the mud.

By Malini Menon & Sivaram VenkitasubramanianMcGahn to Exit Job as White House Counsel, Trump Says

WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump announced on Twitter that White House counsel Don McGahn will leave his post in the fall, after he shepherds the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

McGahn has been working to appoint judges, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, to federal courts. Last year, he helped fill a record 12 appeals-court positions.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, Trump wrote on Twitter. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

He later told reporters that McGahn would likely be going to work in the private sector.

The news comes after The New York Times published a story alleging that McGahn had turned against the president in his talks with special counselor Robert Mueller on his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Trump said that that story was fake news. He said he knew that McGahn was talking to Mueller, and Trump said he had nothing to hide.

The failing [New York Times] wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel [sic] Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel [sic], he must be a John Dean type RAT. But I allowed him and all others to testify  I didnt have to, Trump wrote.

I have nothing to hide and have demanded transparency so that this Rigged and Disgusting Witch Hunt can come to a close, he added. So many lives have been ruined over nothing  McCarthyism at its WORST! Yet Mueller & his gang of Dems refuse to look at the real crimes on the other side  Media is even worse!

Since last year, investigators in Congress probing allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia have unearthed voluminous evidence that a small group of senior officials at the FBI and the Justice Department colluded to investigate the Trump campaign. The officials used evidence from a dossier of unverified opposition research compiled by a former British spy and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Before joining the White House, McGahn served as chief counsel to the Trump campaign.

Epoch Times staff member Ivan Pentchoukov and Reuters contributed to this report.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please continue to read more stories here.

Sign up for our free newsletters here.A man cuts a piece of steel pipe to make into a bracket at a workshop in Beijing on July 27, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

US Will Impose Import Duties on Subsidized Chinese Steel Wheels

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Commerce Department said on Aug. 27 it had made a preliminary determination that imports of certain steel wheels from China were subsidized at rates ranging from 58.75 percent to 172.51 percent, and hence, would impose countervailing duties on the product.

As a result of todays decision, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of certain steel wheels from China based on these preliminary rates, the department said in a statement.

It estimated the value of U.S. imports of steel wheels from China in 2017 at $388 million.

The department opened the investigation based on complaints by Accuride Corp of Evansville, Indiana, and Maxion Wheels Akron of Akron, Ohio. It said in a statement it was scheduled to issue its final determination in the case around Jan. 7, 2019.

The Commerce Department assigned a preliminary subsidy rate of 58.75 percent for Xiamen Sunrise Wheel Group, and a subsidy rate of 172.51 percent to Zhejiang Jingu Company and Shanghai Yata Industry Company. The preliminary rate for other Chinese producers and exporters was 58.75 percent.

If the Commerce Department makes a final determination affirming its decision, the International Trade Commission will make a final injury determination by about Feb. 21, 2019, the statement said.

By Mohammad Zargham and David Alexander.The secluded resort island of Wakaya in Fiji on May 9, 2006. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

West Seen Planning Bigger Footprint in Pacific to Counter Chinas Influence

SYDNEYThe United States, Australia, France, and UK will open new embassies in the Pacific, boost staffing levels, and engage with leaders of Pacific island nations more often in a bid to counter Chinas rising influence in the region, people familiar with the situation have told Reuters.

The battle for influence in the sparsely populated Pacific matters because each of the tiny island states has a vote at international forums such as the United Nations. They also control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean.

China has spent $1.3 billion on concessionary loans and gifts since 2011 to become the Pacifics second-largest donor after Australia, stoking concern in the West that several tiny nations could end up overburdened and in debt to Beijing.

In response, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States say they will increase economic aid and expand their diplomatic presence to countries in the region, government officials and diplomats told Reuters.

We are concerned about Chinese practices that lead to unsustainable debt, according to a U.S. government source with direct knowledge of Washingtons plan for the region, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. official said Washington needs to have adequate representation in Pacific countries to let their governments know what options were open to them, and the consequences of taking offers from elsewhere.

Representatives for the governments of Australia, Britain, France, and the United States in Canberra didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Washington aims to boost diplomatic staffing numbers in Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and potentially Fiji within the next two years, the U.S. government source said.

Australias government is expected to name its first high commissioner to Tuvalu within weeks, rushing to fill a post that Canberra decided on establishing only several months ago, a government source told Reuters. He declined to be identified as he isnt authorized to talk to the media.

Britain will open new high commissions in Vanuatu, Tonga, and Samoa by the end of May 2019, while French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to organize a meeting of Pacific leaders early next year, diplomatic and government sources told Reuters.

Earlier this month, Tongan Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva sought support from other governments in the region to make a coordinated request for China to forgive mounting debts. The Pacific leader then abruptly backed down after Beijing complained about the plan.

Palau and Tuvalu both recognize Taiwan. Though Taiwan is a self-ruled island, Beijing claims it is a renegade province that will one day be reunited with the mainland. China has pressured many of Taiwans diplomatic allies to drop ties with the island in an effort to push its one China principle.

China isnt only offering funds to build influence. By the end of 2018, Fiji expects to receive a Chinese hydrographic vessel that can map the seabed, Viliame Naupoto, the head of Fijis armed forces, told Reuters. It will be the first military gift to a Pacific nation from China, and Western diplomats see that as an attempt by Beijing to curry favor with Fiji, one of the regions larger economies.

By Colin PackhamA logo of U.S. co-working firm WeWork is pictured during a signing ceremony in Shanghai, China April 12, 2018. Picture taken April 12, 2018. (Jackal Pan via Reuters).

WeWorks Flatiron School Acquires Chicago Design School Designation

WeWorks Flatiron School, the coding boot camp purchased last year by the $40 billion co-working startup, has acquired Designation, a Chicago-based, for-profit design education school, the company told Reuters on August 28.

The deal is WeWorks latest expansion into education as the New York-based coworking company continues to broaden its offerings beyond office space.

The decision to acquire Designation was driven by a growing demand for digital designers, Flatiron Chief Executive Adam Enbar told Reuters. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Design is becoming the competitive advantage within companies, Enbar said. We see that trend continuing.

Designation, which has a team of eight and has been bootstrapped since its founding in early 2014, will continue to operate out of WeWorks Chicago State Street location, offering classes in person and online. Designation will also maintain its own brand for the foreseeable future.

Flatiron School will over time announce how Designations services will be offered to WeWork members, Enbar said.

Were really excited to join the Flatiron team and the greater, larger WeWork family, Designation CEO Aaron Fazulak told Reuters.

The acquisition of Designation comes as consolidation increases among coding boot camps. Last month Denver-based Galvanize acquired San Franciscos Hack Reactor.

WeWork purchased Flatiron School last October in a mostly stock deal worth more than $40 million at the time, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. WeWork and Flatiron declined to comment on the deal size.

Since then, Flatiron has added branches in Atlanta, Houston, Washington, and London. WeWork has given Flatiron the time and space to grow at a pace that works for the coding boot camp, Enbar said.

Thats why this partnership with WeWork and Flatiron has been so successful, and were hoping to do the same with Designation, he said.

WeWork is an eight-year-old, venture-backed startup that leases commercial office space to companies in 77 cities on a month-to-month basis.

The company this month disclosed its financial results for the first time, saying it had more than doubled revenue from $198.3 million during the second quarter of 2017 to $421.6 million for the same period in 2018. Net losses, however, hit $723 million for the first half of this year compared with $154 million in the year-ago period.

You can see how thematically they are out there seeking out new revenue opportunities because they have to, said Johnny Won, founder of Hyperstop, a tech consultancy firm.

WeWork members receive 50 percent discounts on Flatirons $3,500, 10-week, on-campus courses while Flatiron online students have WeWork desk memberships included in their tuitions.

Flatiron Schools expansion showcases WeWorks long-term strategy of making itself the one-stop shop for startup services, said Ilan Nass, chief strategist of Taktical Digital, a tech consulting firm that has previously worked with WeWork.

They see themselves as the all-encompassing company for entrepreneurship, Nass said. Imagine being able to send your employee to coding school right inside of your office building.

By Salvador Rodriguez.Photo: RDKB

An evacuation alert has been rescinded by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary over a fire burning near the U.S. border.

The alert was lifted Wednesday for 33 addresses near the Santa Rosa Fire.

Also known as the Horns Mountain fire on the U.S. side of the border, it is now fully guarded, and will be classified as under control by the BC Wildfire Service by this evening.

Addresses no longer on alert include all properties within the Big Sheep Creek drainage southwest of Rossland, including Hadley Road, Thompson Road, Big Sheep Creek Road, and the portion of the Old Rossland Cascade Highway in the Sheep Creek area as well as properties east of kilometre 2 on Santa Rosa Road east of Christina Lake.

While conditions remain dry and the fire danger rating remains moderate to high, cooler temperatures and some precipitation have helped keep fire activity minimal and has allowed fire crews to gain control of area wildfires.Social Media is still a relatively new concept, problems with new technology regularly occur and will eventually be solved. (Rawpixel Ltd/iStock)

What Has Happened to Social Media?

After the hype, we are still waiting for solutions to difficult problems

The first lady of the United States has decried social medias potential to be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly, particularly for children. Many people agree, especially those who have followed trends over the past year. What a gigantic change.

These platforms were once loved and celebrated as major innovations that made life better, but no longer.

Lets be clear on what were talking about. The big controversies are over Facebook and, secondarily, Twitter. They stand accused of violating privacy, empowering online harassers, allowing elections to be manipulated, coarsening public debate, giving hate a platform, censoring dissent, and just about every awful thing you can think of.

Other major platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram are faring much better. And there are thousands of competitors to each of them.

Its true that the advent of social media was one of the great moments in modern life. It opened up the world in ways previously unimaginable. It gave rise to beautiful predictions of the future: Everyone could reach everyone. New friendships would be born. Media hierarchies would be flattened. We would find out more truth about the world. Information flows would end censorship, empower new talent, and put control in the hands of citizens instead of elites.

Over the last 15 years, Ive written my fair share of tributes to various platforms and their promise. What we often forget is that new technologies are iterative. They come to us raw, even uncivilized, without an ethos or etiquette, with a presumption that everyone who uses them is acting in good faith and the proprietors of the product are seeking to profit from improving the world with better ideas. Then, the learning begins.

Too Much Exuberance Too Soon

The optimism about the platforms was too short term. In the early days of email, users were overjoyed at the idea that email provided a free and instant alternative to the paper letter. It was glorious. Then came the spam. There were a few years there when the inbox was nothing more than spam, viruses, malware, and scams. It was devastating to behold.

But then came the fix. Todays new users of email dont have much of this to deal with at all. So it is with social media. It was glorious but then came the trouble. The fixes are only now being rolled outand, just as with email, they include decentralization and experimentation.

The Power of Trolls

Web developers have always underestimated the power of trolls, that is, people who obtain personal satisfaction by despoiling a venue with ill will and malice.

I recall opening a regular forum for conversation in the late 1990s. I was stunned to discover that openness to everyone couldnt work. There were always people who joined in order to ruin, not to construct, and I developed an informal rule that trolls constitute 3 percent of the human population. I quickly worked to educate myself on how to hunt them down and ban them. In every single case, I was accused of censorshipand administrators have to think about whether that is true.

But what the admin ultimately decides is that the value of the whole is more important than the right of anyone to ruin things for everyone else. If you let the people who are motivated by malice run free, the good people will leave. This is still a problem for all social media today. It is too easy to accuse them of censorship when the major goal is simply to provide a valuable service.

Even apart from trolling, there is the persistent problem of internet courage, ways that people behave when they are anonymous and never have to face the people they demoralize and dehumanize. Its a constant hit and run. These people might not be trolls as such; they might just be in a bad mood. They enjoy the sense of power they get from being able to reach anyone with a direct hit.

The great challenge today of running a social-media platform, given the sheer volume of users, is programming algorithms that can detect and silence people who want to use the venue to cause harm to others, without driving off people of good will. There are huge imperfections in this process. Every mistake has the potential of going viral and bringing world opinion crashing down on your head.

Business Dependency

Whats more, many online businesses, including sites for independent journalism, over the past 10 years have started and thrived on their social-media reach. They start a website, open the normal social channels, start to publish, and enjoy advertising revenue.

For a while, everything worked. It was hugely addictive but many managers of web spaces didnt entirely realize it. What many of these entrepreneurs didnt appreciate is the extent to which they depended upon reach and traffic from Facebook. Once Facebook (which faced its own problems in finding a revenue model) turned down their reach, moving instead of pay to play, these venues faced declining traffic.

Many have shut down this year. This has affected many nonprofits and many businesses. They thought they had a model of success. Then, out of nowhere and due to no real errors on the part of the admins, their path to success was blocked. Many came crashing down, ending dreams of an independent source of research and information.

Social Bubbles

Other social and cultural factors played into the loss of trust in dominant platforms of social media. They were based on a model that cobbled together your friend circle for you. Your feed became filled up with opinions being expressed by a small sect of opinion, and then fights among your circle began to break out routinely. The happy world of your Facebook feed turned into bitter acrimony, with factions, splits, meanness, and nastiness all around.

Because this was the information being fed to you, it was easy to mistake your feed for access to the real world. It was the social-media world, curated just for you, that was occupying your mind space. Users forgot that it was entirely artificial. Social media isnt the real world.

Media Consolidation

At the very time this was happening, free information began to replace paid information. Mainstream media became consolidated. They scrambled hard to figure out how to survive without entirely gutting staff and without becoming completely dependent on so-called click bait. The Washington Post sold out to Jeff Bezos. The Wall Street Journal struggled for years to get subscribers. The New York Times is still trying to figure out the new economics of media.

In general, and for purposes of survival, consolidation has been the defining mark of legacy-media channels, while at the same time, independent journalism was squeezed out.

Trump Panic

In the midst of all of this, there was the political question. To the shock of nearly everyone, Donald Trump won the presidency when every mainstream source predicted that he wouldnt. For many people, it seemed obvious that something, somewhere, somehow had broken down the democratic system that had thus far seemed a reliable partner with ruling-class priorities. Panic ensued. A witch hunt began. Who is at fault? The Russians? Facebook? A failing of the mainstream media? Someone had to take the fall.

The hunt began immediately and continues to this day. The mainstream press and social media, in particular, was on the hot seat to do what everything possible to prevent a repeat of such an upset in the future.

Centralization Versus Decentralization

A more fundamental problem is that the network effect led to an unsustainable centralization of the product. Facebook displaced everyone else and began to rule all. Every user began to believe that he or she should be in charge, forgetting that the core model is that every user is being asked to provide content that the enterprise then sells to advertisers. Today, the revolt against centralization is on.

The social-media world of the future wont be centralized. It will take many different forms, and the replacement for Facebook isnt likely to be a copy. It will be something else entirely, and we can see this already happening. This realization will force us all to come to terms with a reality of the world that social media has heretofore led us to deny: its a huge world out there and the varieties of social experience are infinite.

Not one of them is perfect; not one of them is permanent.

Jeffrey Tucker is the editorial director of the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the author of five books, including Right-Wing Collectivism: The Other Threat to Liberty. This article was first published on AIER.org

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.One of the states largest credit unions has added another branch to its list.

Connex Credit Union opened its newest full-service location in Monroe on Friday at 155 Main St. It is Connexs eighth location and its first in Fairfield County.

It joined branches in North Haven, Hamden, Meriden, Orange, Branford, New Haven and Guilford.

Today marks a milestone in the history of Connex Credit Union, said President and CEO Frank Mancini in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media. In essence, it is the perfect example of an organization responding to the needs of its customers to better serve them.

The addition of the Monroe location is part of a growth strategy to add value for existing members while attracting new ones, according to a news release.

The new location offers on-site parking, walk-in and drive-up ATM, coin cashing machines that support the ConnexCares Coins for Change community program, and more.

This is also the latest branch to embrace Connexs Interactive Teller Machines, or ITMs, which allow members to perform most teller transactions from the lobby.

Through careful research and listening to our members, we found that opening our new branch in Monroe, our eighth and first in Fairfield County, would provide more convenience to our existing members and attract new members, Mancini said. We look forward to serving the Monroe community and meeting their financial needs well into the future.

The North Haven-based credit union serves more than 50,000 people in the New Haven area with an array of financial services and products.

It was chartered in 1940 to serve Southern New England Telephone employees and their families. Since then, Connex has extended its reach to a community field of membership that includes residents in Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and Hartford counties.

Live tellers will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Jordan.grice@hearsmediact.comNORWALK  A change to the Norwalk Housing Authority policy to allow 21 project-based voucher units in the Washington Village redevelopment has been approved by the Board of Commissioners.

The project-based voucher units are classified as Section 8, based on the Housing Act of 1937. Another 21 units will be built according to Section 9 public housing standards.

Most people are familiar with Section 8, which is a housing choice voucher, a type of rental subsidy. Its a very similar outcome as Section 9, said Adam Bovilsky, executive director of the Norwalk Housing Authority. The tenant pays 30 percent of their income toward rent in either case, generally speaking, and the rest is picked up by the federal government. Section 9 youre in a specific unit, in public housing. With Section 8, you can take that voucher anywhere in the private sector as long as its under the fair market rent price.

The Housing Authority had approved the concept of the units at its April 24 meeting. The adjustments to policy approved Monday will merely enable the Housing Authority to carry it out. The amended policy will now pass to the Connecticut branch of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The mount of money the developer, Trinity Financial, will receive in subsidies from the federal government is more than developed when building Section 8, as opposed to Section 9, housing, Bovilsky said.

The amendment was presented as a win-win. If a tenant is approved for the Section 8 housing, he or she could live in Norwalk for a minimum of a year and then use the voucher to live in another locale, Bovilsky said.. Tenants would pay the same amount of their rent as they would have in a Section 9 unit.

The benefits to the tenants is unquestionable, Bovilsky told the Board of Commissioners Monday.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586Editors Note: In this series, The Way We Work, Entrepreneur Associate Editor Lydia Belanger examines how people foster productivity, focus, collaboration, creativity and culture in the workplace.

Its time for your companys annual benefits meeting. Chances are, you and your colleagues all have access to the same medical, dental, maybe vision, life insurance and retirement savings options -- just the basics.

The fact that every employee gets the same rigid benefits might be something you take for granted. But not everyone has the same life circumstances. Someone in their 20s may be trying to get their student loans paid off, whereas someone in their mid-30s may prioritize child care. Thats why some companies offer employees help covering these costs as a benefit.

Of course, not everyone in their 20s has loans, and not everyone in their 30s has kids. But this generalized example illustrates the reasoning behind one model that many companies are experimenting with: personalized benefits. Its the opposite of the traditional group benefits most companies provide. With personalized benefits, employees get to cherry-pick which they enroll in based on their personal needs and preferences.

Related: There's a Good Reason You Should Think About Offering Voluntary Benefits

More than 5,000 businesses use the personalized benefits model today. Meanwhile, only 2.7 million of Americas 5.7 million small businesses (those with less than 50 employees) offer any sort of benefits because of the cost, complexity and rigidity, according to PeopleKeep, a company that provides software to facilitate personalized benefits.

However, according to a recent MetLife survey, 60 percent of employees are willing to bear more of the costs of benefits in exchange for the ability to customize and choose among them.

Entrepreneur spoke with three personalized benefits experts about what companies considering them should keep in mind.

How do personalized benefits work?

For most people, looking at their pay stubs is the only way to see how much comes out of their checks toward their benefits. With personalized benefits, each employee gets an equal allotment of pre-tax dollars to allocate toward whatever sorts of benefits they choose. And that means they can choose non-traditional benefits, from pet insurance to student loan repayment to wellness classes.

Some companies that offer those benefits curate them for employees, while others offer no limitations and guide employees through the consumer market.

The only thing you cant do is go to the ATM and withdraw this money, says Jeff Oldham, SVP of global and institutional markets at benefits enrollment software company Benefitfocus, when describing the latter approach.

But you cant just give people the money and leave them on their own for decision-making, says David Feinberg, VP of operations and risk at HR platform Justworks. Employees need help learning about their options and figuring out what may be best for them.

You cant be everything to everyone, but it is important that youre satisfying the greatest number of your employees, Feinberg says.

What makes personalized benefits attractive to companies?

Especially when the unemployment rate is low, as it is now (3.9 percent), companies have to compete for talent in new ways. Personalized benefits may entice new hires while boosting retention, when people see that a company has options that can apply more directly to their needs.

Companies can even tailor benefits to correspond with the general needs of a certain demographic. For example, Benefitfocus helped design a plan tailored to retailer American Eagles predominantly millennial workforce.

Feinberg and Oldham both emphasize that when employees needs are met, theyre less likely to be distracted by any sort of struggle in their personal lives. When an employees personal stress preoccupies them during the workday, its bound to harm their productivity.

Related: Here's What Companies Are Doing Wrong When Hiring -- and 4 Ways to Fix It

Doesnt everyone just put a big chunk of their allocation toward health insurance?

Commonly, yes, but not everyone, explains PeopleKeep CEO Rick Lindquist, who is also the author of The End of Employer Provided Health Insurance.

Health is by far most popular use case for this, he says, But if you just want to use this money for medical expenses? Thats up to you. Some people might have health insurance coverage through a parent, spouse or Medicare. Others may just not believe they need it, or may not believe in it, period, choosing instead to pursue strictly alternative medicinal therapies.

Lindquist also explains his view that the individual market for health insurance needs more healthy people that can afford to buy in (read: with money allocated to health insurance as a personalized benefit). Because it can be cost prohibitive to purchase health insurance in the individual market, it attracts a disproportionate share of unhealthy individuals. People who are less healthy, dont have group benefits through an employer or cant pay for treatment out of pocket or with an HSA are more likely to buy insurance through the individual market, given the current system.

It is a good thing for the individual market, because healthy people work, Lindquist says of personalized benefits.

How can companies figure out what their employees need?

Dont make assumptions about what benefits your employees need as a collective or individually, Oldham advises. That goes for hybrid and unlimited models. If youre offering a selection, take the opportunity to form an ongoing dialogue with employees. (So, that once-a-year benefits meeting is out the window.)

I would ask your folks what theyre looking for, he says. Survey them and ask, What are we not offering that may be of interest to you?

Oldham makes the point that if, for instance, employees arent coming forward saying that microloans are a type of benefit they might want, that may be because they dont want their employer to know theyre suffering from financial hardship.

But what happens if employees themselves arent sure what benefits are in their best interests? On the flip side, unlimited benefits can be overwhelming. Thats, of course, where platforms such as PeopleKeep and Benefitfocus come in.

Oldham calls it the social responsibility of tech partners to consider everything thats going on in someones life, take into account any changes that could occur and advise accordingly, making sure that the employee knows what theyre effectively paying for.

We cannot make assumptions that Americans understand health care or that Americans understand benefits, Oldham says. The statistics clearly show otherwise.

How will technology help people make decisions about benefits in the future?

So many online services today automatically analyze user data to predict preferences and personalize (e.g. Spotifys playlists, Netflixs recommendations, etc.). The HR version of this sort of tech-assistant decision-making is potentially the future of personalized benefits.

It will ultimately end up to where we will have a catalog of benefits that an employee will never see, and then, based upon questions that we ask them, based upon the demographic data, well be able to offer up suggestions, Oldham says.

Companies such as Benefitfocus are already thinking carefully about how to ethically and responsibly help employees prioritize benefits based on data. Oldham presents the following hypothetical scenario a benefits facilitator might weigh:

In our world, with your permission, we would know if youre an asthmatic, with medical claims data. So, should we be offering you benefits or programs to ensure that you are remaining compliant with your medication? Or should we be texting you when we can see that tomorrow youre going to have heavy pollen in your area, Hey, dont forget your inhaler?

Related:

Netflix-Like Recommendations May Be in Store for Workplace Benefits

10 Things to Know About Association Health Plans, a Potential Solution to Entrepreneurs' Healthcare Problem

What Employees, Employers and Job Hunters Should Look for When It Comes to Workplace Harassment Policies



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedAfghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Tuesday said that Russia and Afghanistan are set to co-chair proposed future talks in Moscow.

ToLo News reported MoFA as saying, the Moscow talks should be held the leadership of the Afghan government.

The Acting Deputy Foreign Minister for Management and Resources Nasir Andisha said that schedules are being drawn up by the representatives of the two countries for the future talks aimed at encouraging political support for intra-Afghan dialogue.

Andisha said, "Delegations from Afghanistan, the Russian Federation, the Central Asian countries and Afghanistan's partners are working on a timeline and agenda for the meeting. We will determine the time based on a consensus."

This comes following the announcement by the Afghan government on Monday regarding the postponement of the Moscow talks which were to happen on September 4.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had announced that members of the Taliban would visit Russia next month to discuss on a peace strategy in Afghanistan.

Though Russia does not share any border with Afghanistan, Moscow has stepped up efforts in recent times to reach out to the Taliban, to enter into peace negotiations with the US-backed Afghan government. The group is banned in Russia.

For years, Taliban militants in Afghanistan have been using suicide bombers to create unrest in the region, claiming that their struggle is a holy war to impose Islamic rule.

(ANI)External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday held bilateral talks with the Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prak Sokhonn.

The EAM is also scheduled to meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of Senate Say Chhum as part of her two-day visit to the South-East Asian nation.

On Tuesday, Swaraj co-chaired the 16th meeting of the Joint Commission along with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. Several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were also signed between the two countries.

Swaraj also met several foreign dignitaries from Bangladesh, Japan and Sri Lanka in order to strengthen strategic partnership and bilateral relations with the respective nations.

On Monday, the EAM inaugurated the third Indian Ocean conference, asserting that the Indian Ocean is a central component of a free and fair Indo-Pacific region.

She underscored that a nurturing climate of peace and stability need to be ensured in the region.

(ANI)For the Telegraph

ALTON  The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently recognized OSF HealthCare Saint Anthonys Health Center with its Mission Award for support of the societys fight against cancer, assisting individuals before, during and after their diagnosis. The American Cancer Society is the nations largest community-based voluntary health organization playing a vital role in advocacy and cancer research.

OSF Saint Anthonys Health Center is a collaborative, engaged, and supportive partner of the American Cancer Society, said Linda Schulz, health systems manager for hospitals in the North Central Region for the American Cancer Society. Leading the fight against cancer, whether it be in the Riverbend or across Illinois, it is an honor to work with Saint Anthonys as such a strong partner to focus on a mission of caring for individuals with cancer and their families.At a moment when community-police relations in Chicago are in the spotlight, a video that appeared to show officers arresting a man after he allegedly broke into a bait truck has gone viral.

Charles Mckenzie, an Englewood resident and activist, was driving around the neighborhood when he saw numerous squad cars and heard people saying, Its a bait truck. He pulled over and took out his phone to begin recording. His video of what happened would later go viral, further fragmenting the relationship between police and African-American communities.

How can we trust CPD and they are doing stuff like this in our community? Mckenzie said. It hurt me because I try to help these guys get jobs.

The joint investigation by Chicago police and Norfolk Southern Railway that used the truck was blasted by aldermen, community activists and the American Civil Liberties Union.

But police have used bait vehicles for years, and Susan Terpay, a spokeswoman for the Norfolk Southern Railway, defended the Englewood investigation. She said the two agencies were going after people who have been breaking into freight containers in rail yards and nearby areas on the South Side and three people, ranging in age from 21 to 59, were arrested during the operation.

The operation was part of a larger investigation looking into thefts of firearms and other products from freight trains, with Chicago officers helping with manpower, said Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for Chicago police.

Norfolk Southern Railroad has since apologized for using a bait truck, and prosecutors have dropped charges against three people arrested during the sting.

Norfolk Southern issued a statement saying it recognized the recent operation eroded trust between law enforcement and the community and says it doesnt plan to use this method in the future.

In the video, people argued that community members are being set up for arrest.

Its a setup, man, someone said. Thats how they do us.

Even though the practice is legal, Jedidiah Brown, another activist who posted a video on social media, said the operation obliterated any progress Chicago police had made to repair its relationship with the minority community.

The use of the bait car is deeply troubling, both from a legal perspective and also from the perspective of the use of police resources, said Sheila Bedi, a clinical associate professor of Law at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

A good criminal defense attorney is going to get this case kicked, Bedi said.

Brown said he feels like there is a greater amount of unrest in the community now that the operation has been made public.

Rahm Emanuel and the superintendent owes the citizens of this city an apology, and  resources to address the plight that contributes to criminal behavior, Brown said.

When asked about using the tactic although some think it exacerbates distrust of the police, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that Were going to take a hard look at it.

But now, conversely, Ive had a lot of people say to me Superintendent, they shouldnt have been out there doing what they were doing, Johnson said.

For now, Brown said he and other activists are trying to gather more information on whether similar operations have taken place in other parts of the city, legal help for anyone arrested through the operation and how to get the practice banned.Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday added Illinois to a growing number of states that permit growth of cannabis cultivated for non-drug uses such as paper- and fabric-making, biodegradable plastics, construction materials and health food.

In addition to signing the Industrial Hemp Act  Senate Bill 2298  the governor also approved House Bill 5749, easing weight-limit restrictions on state highways during harvest time.

Legalizing the farming of industrial hemp just makes good sense, Rauner said. Roughly 38 states  including our neighbors in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee  have allowed or are considering allowing cultivation of this crop for commercial, research or pilot programs. Our farmers should have this option as well. This new state licensure program begins that process.

The Illinois Farm Bureau has long supported the production of industrial hemp, according to Richard Guebert Jr., president of the farm bureau.

We are excited that Gov. Rauner is signing into law a bill that will bring a new sustainable agriculture industry and millions of dollars in investment and economic growth to Illinois, said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council. Industrial hemp will bring new opportunities to Illinois farmers.

The Industrial Hemp Act, effective immediately, creates a state license program through the Department of Agriculture that enables those who want to grow the crop to do so. The state Department of Agriculture will establish rules for THC-level testing of industrial hemp crops.

HB 5749 allows haulers to seek and obtain annual permits from the Illinois Department of Transportation and local authorities to exceed gross axle and gross vehicle weight limits by no more than 10 percent. Permits are to cost $500 with a total combined permit fee of no more than $1,000. State permit fees will go to the State Construction Account Fund.

Neighboring states allow higher weight limits during harvest time without the requirement of having a harvest emergency declared, Rauner said. Illinois has an agriculture workforce that is second to none, and this legislation will help them to more efficiently get their crops to market.

Agriculture and trucking industry leaders will welcome the change, legislators said.

Local grain elevators will receive more business and farmers wont have to worry about losing their crops due to the unreasonable hauling limits that were in place before, said Rep. Phelps Finnie, D-Elizabethtown, chief sponsor of the bill in the House. This initiative was brought to me by farmers who were facing steep fines just for doing their jobs, and grain elevator operators who were losing business to our neighboring states that were less restrictive. This law will even the playing field so Illinois farmers can do their work to feed America with less government intrusion.The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Engineerings (SOE) Student Design Center (SDC) will be filled with an entrepreneurial spirit as the center for engagement and creativity features the names of a distinguished alumnus, who has contributed a total of $1 million, and his two most inspiring educators.

Civil engineering alumnus Ed Grady 72 recognized how the SDC would raise the national profile of the School and the incredible impact it would make on students. He demonstrated his support of the SDC and laid the foundation for its success, giving the SOE $300,000, its first private donation toward the project.

Now, he has contributed an additional $400,000 in support of Phase II of the SOEs state-of-the-art SDC including the reconceptualization and design of the Student Design Lab/Innovation Suite. Grady has acquired interior naming rights of the SDCs second floor. Rooms will be named after him, and by his request, pioneering SIUE faculty Dr. Alfred Korn and Dr. Harry Duffey.

Grady has also graciously donated $300,000 to create two endowed scholarships that will support entrepreneurship among engineering professionals.

The advancement of the SIUE School of Engineering is propelled by the incredible contributions and faithful support of distinguished alumni like Mr. Ed Grady, said SOE Dean Cem Karacal, PhD. Our School has continuously strived to distinguish itself as a center of excellence in engineering education in the region. Mr. Gradys support will help us excel in the effective development of future technological leaders.

I am a strong supporter and believer in the value of hands-on experience in engineering, Grady said. It was key in my personal situation at SIUE as I tend to learn the most and the fastest by doing. Of course, knowing the theory and methods is equally important, but applying them solidifies the learning experience.

The SOEs 14,000-square-foot facility is a hub for the applied learning environment that Grady finds most beneficial.

It features design team workspaces, project prototyping workspace, a large conference room and innovative design labs that encourage collaboration and interaction among students.

The SDC expands opportunities for students to gain valuable hands-on experience, said Grady. In industry, it is also important to know how to work in teams and leverage team problem solving. The SDC is designed to enhance the team and individual learning experience.

Grady has been an enthusiastic and consistently involved alumnus. Karacal emphasizes his leadership on the SOE Advisory Board and his lifetime membership with the SIUE Alumni Association.

With his support, Grady is naming two of the faculty office spaces on the second-floor of the SDC after inspiring professors who made a positive impact on his life and the School in its formative years.

Dr. Korn and Dr. Duffey were two of the people, along with others, who proved the value and viability of the SIUE School of Engineering, Grady recalled. Both were key in my personal success at SIUE. They pushed and encouraged me when things were tough, and were engaged in my learning experience.

Grady is paying forward that type of motivating support to students with an entrepreneurial spirit and drive through a gift of $300,000 to the SOE and the SIUE School of Business. His contribution will provide scholarships with an emphasis in entrepreneurship to engineering and business students.

My career experience has shown that no matter what engineering discipline one chooses, one can get the most of this engineering education if one has a basic understanding of business practices, Grady explained. History shows that many of the inventions and technologies we enjoy commercially today were invented or developed by people with engineering or technical training. However, the individual rewards vary vastly based on whether or not the person knew how to manage business activities.

According to Karacal, endowed student scholarships allow the University to attract and retain high-quality undergraduate and graduate students who want to make SIUE their top choice school, while also granting them the financial freedom to focus on their schooling and get involved on campus.

Gradys support will provide two sizable scholarships, one in the School of Engineering and one in the School of Business, both named on behalf of the Grady Family Foundation.

As the culture in technology-related industries is rapidly shifting toward innovation and entrepreneurship, it is extremely important for our School to keep up with the trend and continue our student success stories, Karacal said. Providing a culture of creative thinking and innovation to produce new products or services is an integral part of the early engineering education we offer. That is how we prepare outstanding alumni such as Mr. Grady, who can take the initiative to start several successful companies.

Grady has high hopes for SIUE engineering students and boasts the Schools SDC will elevate the School as a premier educational institution across the nation.

The Student Design Center is a major selling point to attract the best students and faculty, he said. It is my belief that through the scholarships that promote entrepreneurship, along with the enhanced Student Design Center, SIUE School of Engineering students will have the opportunity to achieve success and be the next generation to pay it forward.WEST ALTON  TreeHouse Wildlife Center is set to release a bald eagle that has been nursed back to health more than a year after it was found in Calhoun County with a severely broken leg.

The bird will be freed on Labor Day, when its released into the Audubon Center at the Riverlands.

Paul Myer, owner of Hawthorne Animal Hospital in Glen Carbon, will do the honors. He saved the eagles life by performing surgery on its leg after being rescued and taken to TreeHouse in March 2017. The Angel Fund covered the cost of the surgery.

We are unsure how the injury occurred as is with most injured animals we receive, but assume it was hit by a car, said Kelly Vandersand, funding coordinator at TreeHouse Wildlife Center. We asked Dr. Myer to release the eagle and hope Dr. Myer and the Angel Fund will receive recognition for everything they do to help save wildlife. While rehabbing animals involves many individuals and many stages, without the surgery Dr. Myer performed, this eagle would have had to be euthanized.

Myer inserted pins to set the birds fractured leg. The pins remained for 15 weeks.

Vandersand said the eagle is in its final stage of rehabilitation, spending its time in a flight cage that allows it to practice changing elevations during flight and to improve overall mobility.

In 2016, Hawthorne Animal Hospital created the Angel Fund to improve the quality of life for animals.EDWARDSVILLE  A woman has filed suit against First Student, Inc., school bus company, and one of its drivers, claiming the bus driver pulled out in front of her, causing an accident with injuries.

Susan Sleczka, has named driver Barbara Laramie, along with the company, claiming Sleczka was driving a car eastbound on Illinois Route 140 in Hamel Aug. 25, when Laramie allegedly failed to yield right-of-way. The driver was given a ticket for failure to yield, the suit claims.6 minutes ago

Worlds biggest shipper Maersk reports 68% rise in revenue

COPENHAGEN (AP)  The worlds biggest shipping company, Denmarks A.P. Moeller-Maersk, reported Tuesday a sharp rise in earnings amid strong worldwide demand for shipments of goods as the economy bounces back from the coronavirus pandemic. The Copenhagen-based company said revenue grew nearly 68% in the third quarter, to a record-high $16.6 billion, up from $9.9 billion in the same three-month period last year.

Read ArticleMayor Tom Rowland's office furniture and memorabilia will be donated to the Museum Center at 5ive Points

The Cleveland City Council unanimously voted to donate Mayor Tom Rowlands office furniture and memorabilia related to his distinguished tenure as the longest serving mayor in Clevelands history. Mayor Rowland has been a dedicated public servant for Cleveland for more than 27 years and is currently Tennessees longest sitting mayor.

The Museum Center at 5ive Points will work with Mayor Rowland, his supporters, and city officials to create a permanent exhibit at the Museum using the mayors furniture and memorabilia to preserve and share his historic accomplishments with current and future residents, as well as to visitors to the Ocoee Region.

Mayor Rowlands foresight and leadership were instrumental to the founding of the Museum 20 years ago, said Joe Mason, president of the Museums Board of Trustees.

As a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Ocoee Region, it is fitting to create a permanent exhibit highlighting Tom Rowlands accomplishments that will benefit the region for generations, said Janice Neyman, executive director.

Mayor Rowlands leadership and influence have improved the lives of Cleveland residents for decades and we are excited to help future generations learn how his accomplishments paved the way for our citys continued growth and success, said City Manager Joe Fivas.

Mr. Mason added that after consulting with the mayor and others interested in preserving the history of his administration, the Museum will soon announce more details about the exhibit.

There is obviously a great deal of excitement and interest around this project, said Mr. Mason. Mayor Rowland is an icon not just in Cleveland but throughout Tennessee.

Cleveland City Manager Joe Fivas also presented farewell gifts Monday to Mayor Tom Rowland who is retiring after 27 years in office and to Cleveland City Councilman At Large Richard Banks who is stepping down after 15 years on the Council. The presentations were given on behalf of the city.









Thousands of mid-Michigan residents -most in Clare County- and many more across the state remain without power after a third night in a row of strong storms knocked down down more than 600 electric lines.

About 100,000 Consumers Energy customers woke up without power again Wednesday most along the storms path from Ludington to Tawas; since Sunday, 211,000 customers reported outages, the company reported.

Much of Clare County -right is the middle of that path- faces outages that may not be repaired until late Friday night or even Saturday, according to media releases from Consumers and Great Lakes Energy.

In total, outage maps indicate nearly 7,000 customers were without power Wednesday afternoon in Clare, while Isabella and Gratiot Counties have just a few hundred reports scattered throughout.

Clare County residents who need assistance or referrals to resources are encouraged to call 211, where damage repots can also be made, according to Clare County Emergency Management.

Several roads in Clare County were closed Wednesday morning, and an emergency shelter is open at the Hayes Township Governmental Complex/Center in Harrison, where bathrooms, showers and cell phone charging services are available.

Tuesday nights storms came as crews were wrapping up a second day of restoration across Michigan from outages that had already affected nearly 100,000 Consumers customers since Sunday evening.

The energy company recruited crews from Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois to assist the 1,500 employees already working to restore power.

As we restored power earlier Tuesday, we were anticipating this storm and making sure workers and equipment were in place to respond, said Tim Sparks, Consumers Energy vice president of electric grid integration. We will work safely around the clock until every customer is restored.

The most up-to-date restoration estimates can be found on the companys outage map at www.consumersenergy.com/outagemap#.When I retired after 21 years in USAF (honorably, believe it or not), I did not lose my security clearance. Getting one is a long, difficult process. At the Pentagon, I and other analysts listened to three classified briefings each workday. Three agencies with different sources and topics provided a lot of data. It was up to us to glean what we needed for the topics we were working on. Clearance is not an honor or worth a lot of money, as DonnyT would have it. It is a duty, a responsibility, a tool to get a job done. A retiree can be called into a classified session to add knowledge in an area of expertise.

That Donald J. Trump revoked the clearance of John Brennan as revenge for Brennans opposition to him is one more indication of how corrupt DonnyT is. He ignored the procedure for such withdrawal because none of the reasons listed were appropriate. He then followed Fox News host Sean Hannitys lead and threatened to withdraw clearances from former DNI James Clapper, former head FBI James Comey, Ret. Gen. Michael Hayden, FBIs Andrew McCabe, FBIs Bruce Ohr, FBIs Lisa Page, NSAs Susan Rice, Ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok, and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates. It is curious that Republicans didnt call for Lt. Gen. Michael Flynns clearance to be pulled.

The formal procedure has 13 reasons for pulling clearance. They do not include exercising ones First Amendment rights, or because the Prez is peeved. As in so many instances, Trump ignores protocol, rules, laws, and speed limits whenever it suits him. In excusing him, his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, says truth isnt truth. Sorry, Rudy, there is no my fact vs your fact. The Earth is not flat; we evolved over millions of years; humans are polluting the ecosystem; Trump is unworthy of being president.

In response to Trumps action, Brennen offered to sue to reverse it. Over 170 Intelligence officers have supported Brennen. Retired Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed bin Laden, wrote an open letter to the president, John is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who dont know him. He further said Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.

Then came August 21! Happy days are here again!! Microsoft discovered Russian hacks against two Democratic candidates and two Republican think tanks that are anti-Russian. The next day they were joined by Facebook and Twitter. The 2018 elections are under attack despite what Trump says. Republican Representative Duncan Hunter from California and his wife Margaret were indicted on charges of wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations and conspiracy. Hunter joins Republican Representative Chris Collins (New York) to be indicted with his son on charges of securities fraud in connection with a pharmaceutical company.

Better yet: Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight of eighteen counts of false tax returns, failure to report foreign income, and bank fraud. One juror held back on ten counts. Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, two of which were directly tied to Trump. The news pours in. Whoopie!

Ding, dong. The Witch in Chief is an unindicted co-conspirator! Lock him up? Wait for the Mueller probe to finish. As Trey Gowdy says, If you have an innocent client, why doesnt he act like it?

Ed Fisher writes a weekly column for The Morning Sun.Army steps in to clean Surin Beach, police helicopter landing for convenience

PHUKET: The Royal Thai Army has stepped in over the appalling state of Surin Beach, with it piles of rubbish growing higher and litter strewn along the sand, and dilapidated food stalls creating an eyesore for tourists.

tourismpollutionenvironment

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Wednesday 29 August 2018, 06:42PM

Broken concrete has left dangerous rusting steel reinforcement bars exposed that visitors may easily be injured by. Photo: Supplied

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon. Photo: Supplied

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon. Photo: Supplied

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon. Photo: Supplied

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon. Photo: Supplied

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon. Photo: Supplied

Broken concrete has left dangerous rusting steel reinforcement bars exposed that visitors may easily be injured by. Photo: Supplied

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon. Photo: Supplied

The Royal Thai Police helicopter landing on the football field at Surin Beach this morning (Aug 29) was no cause for alarm, The Phuket News was told. Photo: Supplied

A contingent of soldiers carried out an inspection of the beach late yesterday afternoon (Aug 28).

We were there with municipal officials because we want to show them, the officials, that we were not impressed about the messy area and the rubbish throughout the area, Col Santi Sakuntanark, Commander of the 25th Military Circle and the highest-ranking army officer stationed in Phuket, told The Phuket News today (Aug 29).

The beach over recent months has become a dumpsite for rubbish left behind by visitors and locals, with more washed ashore by the surging waves of the southwest monsoon.

Also, broken concrete has left rusting steel reinforcement bars exposed that visitors may easily be injured by.

We want them to make it clean and neat. I understand they need time for everything they do. I just want to see the result of their working at every beach in the Cherng Talay area, he added.

I will follow up with them on this again next week, and will keep following up on this, Col Santi said.

Asked if he had raised the issue with Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) Chief MaAnn Samran, Col Santi simply said, Everyone knew about this.

Meanwhile, Capt Ekkachai Siri of the Phuket Tourist Police told The Phuket News today that a Royal Thai Police helicopter that landed at Surin Beach this morning was no cause for concern.

The helicopter was made available Pol Gen Rungroj Saengkram, Deputy Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police, who was in Phuket on Monday (Aug 27) to confirm additional charges being pursued over the Phoenix tour boat disaster. (See story here.)

Gen Rungroj had an important meeting in Nakhon Sri Thammarat to attend. The helicopter was made available for him, Capt Ekkachai said.

Meanwhile, Thalang Traffic Police today issued a notice to announce that they were holding a meeting today to prepare for a visit to Phuket by a member of the Royal Family.

No other details were forthcoming.Aussie jumps bail for assaulting female cabin crew, steals Phuket yacht to sail home

PHUKET: An Australian already on the run for assaulting two air stewardess on a flight from Sydney to Bangkok last year has been arrested and released in Darwin after fleeing Thailand on a yacht chartered out of Phuket.

crimeviolencetourismmarine

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 29 August 2018, 05:14PM

The poster posted online when concerns ran high for the missing brothers safety. Image: Supplied

Owen Van Duren, 37, and his ex-special forces brother Shane, 43, arrived in Darwin last Sunday (Aug 26) after sailing for six weeks, reports the Daily Mail. (See story here.)

The pair had departed Phuket on July 7.

Van Duren had been in a Thai jail for six months, and fled on the yacht, a Nautitech Open 40 sailing catamaran built in 2015 named Pina Colada, while on bail.

The boat had been chartered from Elite Yachting at Phuket Boat Lagoon and was to be returned on July 21.

We are obviously very concerned for the well-being of the crew, Jurg Hofer, Managing Director of Elite Yachting Co Ltd, told The Phuket News at the time as the heavy weather was the tail end of the storm squalls that sank the Phoenix on July 5.

The guests went out sailing on the 7th of July with an expected return date of the 21st of July and did not return.

All the authorities have been informed in Thailand and other countries  but we have not any further information, he added, noting that a lot information had already been posted through social media, Mr Hofer said.

According to the Daily Mail, local Darwin news portal NT News reported that Owen Van Duren was taken into custody by Northern Territory Police when he arrived in Darwin on Sunday, but was soon released.

Australian authorities had also accused Van Duren of the mid-flight assault, but prosecutors withdrew the charges on Friday and sealed his freedom, said the report.

Thai prosecutors are believed to have prevented Australian authorities from proceeding with the charges, News Corp understands, the report added.

It is not clear if Thai authorities will apply to have Van Duren extradited to face the assault charges, noted the Daily Mail.

A Border Force spokesman said the catamaran had been tracked for weeks before it arrived in Darwin, adding, The vessel in question may have been stolen.

BROTHERS

Owens brother Shane, a former Australian soldier, is currently serving a suspended sentence following a violent confrontation with police and the RSCPA in 2015, the Daily Mail added.

Van Duren, 41 at the time, broke into the RSPCA centre in the Canberra suburb of Weston to claim his black Belgian shepherd, Kalu.

The dog, which he uses as an assistance animal for post-traumatic stress disorder, had been removed from his care due to neglect concerns.

In the ensuing trial, the prosecutor said Van Duren was on the RSPCAs radar after his last dog was put down due to neglect, reported the ABC. (See story here.)

Van Duren allegedly cut through three fences to get to the dog.

Police and an RSPCA inspector went to Van Durens home, where they found the dog, but Van Duren allegedly refused to hand over the animal and ran out of the back door with it.

You're not getting the dog, he told them, according to court documents.

When police tried to arrest him, Van Duren allegedly punched Constable Daniel Neit twice in the jaw, after which the pair wrestled on the ground.

RSPCA senior inspector Catherine Croatto then stepped in, but Van Duren allegedly put his arm around her neck and put her in a choke hold, saying he would kill her, the ABC reported.

Im going to f****** kill you, he said.

Youre dead b**** dead inside a year.

Shane Van Duren spent 46 days in custody, and later plead guilty to assault and strangulation charges, report the Daily Mail.

The dog was later returned to Van Duren, who received a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence.

He's where he should be, hes where he belongs. Hes good. The family are happy,' he told the ABC outside court.

Van Duren served in East Timor where he was confronted with traumatic experiences  including the death of personnel in 1999 and 2000, Chief Justice Helen Murrell told the ABC last year.

Magistrate Beth Campbell in hearing the initial trial, described Van Durens actions as an explosive loss of self control.

Something is wrong for this man to act with so much aggression, she said.French and British fishermen clash in scallop war skirmish

FRANCE: Stone-throwing, insults and dangerous manoeuvres on the high seas: French and British fishermen clashed in the English Channel over a hoard of scallops yesterday (Aug 29), the latest flare-up in a years-long war over the prized shellfish.

Wednesday 29 August 2018, 09:29AM

Scallops shell are seen onboard a fishing boat off Port-en-Bessin, northwestern France. Photo: Charly Triballeau

The British were heavily outnumbered at five boats to around 35 French vessels, according to maritime official Ingrid Parot, and were eventually chased from the scallop-rich waters of the Baie de Seine area of Normandy.

The skirmish took place more than 12 nautical miles out to sea where the British are legally allowed to fish all year round.

But their French counterparts, restricted to fishing for scallops between October 1 and May 15, have accused the British of depleting stocks and want them to face the same rules.

The French went to contact the British to stop them working and they clashed with each other. Apparently there was stone-throwing, but no injuries, said Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff.

Rogoff said around 40 French boats had gathered overnight in protest at British pillaging of the scallop supply.

Some of the boats rammed others  leaving holes in three vessels, footage from local channel France 3 Normandie showed  as the angry French fishermen threw smoke-bombs and hurled insults at British rivals.

We are advising all parties to be calm as from the video clips some vessels are manoeuvring very dangerously, Barrie Deas, chief executive of Britains National Federation of Fishermens Organisations, said.

We have raised the matter with the British government and asked for protection for our vessels which are fishing legitimately, he added.

The deeper issues behind the clashes should be settled by talking around the table, not on the high seas where people could be hurt.

Tensions have been high between British and French fishermen for some 15 years over the issue, leading to angry disputes that have been dubbed Scallop Wars.

The two sides have reached annual agreements over the past five years but the French blocked a deal this year, according to Rogoff, who said they had had enough.

For the Brits, its an open bar  they fish when they want, where they want, and as much as they want, he complained.

The problem has grown worse over the past 15 years as English, Scottish and Irish boats have upped their catches considerably, he added.

We dont want to stop them from fishing, but they could at least wait until October 1 so that we can share, he said.

Norman fishermen also complain that the British use much bigger trawlers  30 metres or more  around double the size of their own, which use more artisan techniques.

The biggest British vessels can freeze the scallops directly on board.

Scallops are a flagship product for Normandy, a primary resource and a highly sensitive issue, said Rogoff.

If Britain crashes out of the European Union next year without a deal, this would solve the problem for the Normans, he added.

After March 29, 2019 they would be treated as a third party and would no longer have access to these areas, he said.

The pro-Brexit organisation Fishing for Leave has however denounced the hypocrisy of French fishermen, charging that they have caught 60% of the fish in British waters over the past 40 years.Police search for suspect as 80ft tour boat sunk in Chalong Bay

PHUKET: Police are investigating possible sabotage the led to an 80-foot Phuket tour boat moored in Chalong Bay to be sunk this morning (Aug 29).

marinepolicecrimetourism

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 29 August 2018, 01:04PM

The 80-foot tour boat Dragon Boy, better known as the Lady Andaman, in Chalong Bay this morning (Aug 29). Photo: Supplied

Marine Police have been notified, the boat's former owner, who goes by his nickname Sando, told The Phuket News just after midday.

The boat, now registered as Dragon Boy, is better known as the 80-foot (about 24.3 metres long) Lady Andaman.

The boat was valued at about B6 million and was recently sold, Sando said.

But it had no insurance because the boat was already under contract and had been sold. It was just waiting to go into dry dock in two to three weeks to be converted into a liveaboard dive boat for the coming high season, he explained.

The boat sank at about 11am, Sando told The Phuket News.

Police say they have been told that a man was seen taking a dinghy out to the boat and boarding it at about 8am, he said.

We went out later this morning to fix the bilge pumps because we were told that the boat was taking on water. We came back on shore and then I got a call telling me that the boat had sunk, he added.

Police have checked CCTV but there is no coverage in that area, Sando said, adding that police were continuing their investigation with one suspect in particular in mind.

The boat last made headlines in 2014 as the Lady Andaman when it sank in Chalong Bay after it struck a concrete mooring block placed in the middle of the approach channel to Chalong Pier. (See story here.)

The same concrete mooring block sank another tour boat with 19 Russians on board for a booze cruise nearly a year earlier, with the Phuket Marine Office defending the location of where the morring block had been placed. (See story here.)How to make sure you leave inheritances that are helpful, not harmfulThere are people in Washington who hate each other but who, for public consumption, pretend not to hate each other. What was almost refreshing about the relationship of Sen. John McCain and President Trump was that there was no such pretending.

A number of Trumps 2016 Republican primary rivals who serve in the U.S. Senate  Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul  said some pretty vicious things about Trump during the campaign, and of course, Trump said vicious things about them. Now, some of them have future political ambitions that would not be served by feuding with a president of their own party. Others are just trying to get things done and recognize the will of the voters. Whatever the reason, all have made their peace with Trump. Some are actually friendly with him.

The notable thing about McCain, who even before he fell ill was approaching the end of his Senate career and whose own runs for the White House were in the past, was that he never felt the need to even feign positive feelings for his partys leader.

In a way, the two men together, McCain and Trump, struck a blow for genuineness amid the phoniness of official Washington.

Their antipathy played out in a series of escalating attacks on each other in 2015, as Trump began to make waves in the Republican presidential primary.

It started when Trump announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015. He pounded on Mexico, accusing the country of taking American jobs and giving little in return. When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best, Trump said. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

That did not sit well with McCain, the longtime comprehensive immigration reform advocate and moving force behind the Senates Gang of 8 immigration bill. During a June 30 town hall in Arizona, McCain was asked about Trump. I dont pay much attention, McCain said, according to an account in the Arizona Republic. (Some of this column is based on the Republics helpful timeline of the McCain-Trump relationship.) Later, McCain said he didnt think Trumps campaign would last and added, I just disagree with his comments about the, quote, Mexicans.

The papers headline was, John McCain the latest to pummel the Donald. It wasnt much of a pummeling, but Trump no doubt took notice.

Trump scheduled a rally in Phoenix on July 11. Two days before, the Republic ran a story headlined, Trump shunned by Arizonas GOP establishment ahead of Phoenix visit. McCain went on MSNBC to tell host Andrea Mitchell that he found Trumps rhetoric offensive.

When he comes to Arizona, he will find that we Arizonans cherish our Hispanic heritage and influence, McCain said. We cherish the music, the culture, the food.

While McCain stayed away, Trumps rally was big. And of course, Trump fired back at McCain. We have incompetent politicians, not only the president, Trump said. I mean, right here, in your own state, you have John McCain. Trump later told reporters that McCain was very weak on immigration and could be beaten for re-election if the right person ran against him.

Of course, McCain struck back. On July 16, talking to The New Yorker, McCain said, This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me, because what he did was he fired up the crazies.

That same day, an enraged Trump, via Twitter, demanded that McCain apologize to the amazing Americans who attended the rally. And then: @SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the primaries. Graduated last in his class at Annapolis  dummy!

In retrospect, all that was just setting the stage for the nuclear explosion that occurred two days later, on July 18. At an event in Iowa, Trump, who never served in the military, disparaged McCains experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Hes not a war hero, Trump said. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.

Trumps remarks set off a huge uproar, with some in the press expressing outrage on McCains behalf. (McCains own public reaction was subdued.) The conventional wisdom was best captured by Politico, which declared, Donald Trump might finally have crossed the line.

Of course, he had not. Trump went on to win the GOP nomination and the White House. But the captured remarks thereafter defined the McCain-Trump relationship in the public eye. The two went on to take more shots at each other, and sometimes to make conciliatory remarks. (John McCain is a hero, Trump said in May 2016.) McCain later refused to attend the Republican convention. In August 2016, McCain endorsed Trump, but in October withdrew the endorsement after the Access Hollywood matter.

Finally, there was July 27, 2017, the night McCains thumbs-down vote killed the GOPs long-held hope  and Trumps campaign promise  to repeal Obamacare. The irreparable breach between McCain and the president became even more irreparable. A dying McCain specified the president be excluded from his funeral, and when McCain passed away, the president delayed releasing a routine proclamation in recognition of his life.

The relationship between the two men ended as badly as it began. But always  and rarely for Washington  without pretense.

(Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.)WASHINGTON  For the first time, I understand how the Reformation happened.

Reading the stunning letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano  in which the former papal nuncio says he had personally informed Pope Francis five years ago about the serious accusations against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick  is both heartbreaking and enraging. If Vigano is right, it means the corruption in the Catholic Church has reached not just the highest levels of Roman Curia but the papacy itself.

Last week, Vigano effectively nailed his 95 theses to the door of St. Peters. The archbishop call out not only the Holy Father but also more than a dozen cardinals he says covered up McCarricks alleged abuses, including three successive Vatican secretaries of state  and calls for Pope Francis to step down. It is virtually without precedent for a Vatican insider to make such serious charges against a sitting pontiff and members of the Curia  much less to call for the popes resignation. Viganos allegations need to be investigated, the documents he cites need to be released, and the pope needs to answer these charges.

Vigano said he twice wrote to his superiors in Rome, in 2006 and 2008, explaining that McCarrick had, among other things, requested depraved acts of seminarians and priests, had derided a young seminarian who tried to resist and engaged in the sacrilegious celebration of the Eucharist. He got no response. Eventually, he learned that Pope Benedict XVI had ordered that McCarrick be forbidden to celebrate [Mass] in public, to participate in public meetings, to give lectures, [or] to travel. Vigano said he personally discussed the sanctions in his first meeting with McCarrick at the Nunciature.

After Benedict resigned, Vigano was granted a private audience with the new pope on June 23, 2013, during which Francis asked him about McCarrick. Vigano wrote that he told Francis, Holy Father, I dont know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance. Francis soon lifted Benedicts sanctions, Vigano said, and made McCarrick a trusted adviser. He knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator, Vigano wrote. It was only when he was forced by the report of the abuse of a minor  that he took action.

Vigano also wrote that he discussed the sanctions on McCarrick several times with McCarricks successor as archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who Vigano said lies shamelessly in denying knowing about them. In one instance, Vigano wrote that he saw an announcement in an archdiocesan publication inviting young men interested in the priesthood to a meeting with McCarrick  a man who is alleged to have sexually abused seminarians! I immediately phoned Cardinal Wuerl, who expressed his surprise to me, telling me that he knew nothing about that announcement and that he would cancel it, Vigano wrote. If, as he now continues to state, he knew nothing of the abuses committed by McCarrick and the measures taken by Pope Benedict, how can his answer be explained? On Monday, a spokesman confirmed that Wuerl did cancel the event at the nuncios request.

Viganos accusations are serious and credible. He has everything to lose by making them public. He cited specific letters and documents that he and others sent to Rome  which he said are readily available in the files of the Holy See and the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington. The Vatican must now release them. And his account was backed on Monday by Monsignor Jean-Francois Lantheaume, the former first counsellor at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, who said Vigano tells the whole truth. I am a witness. Most importantly, in his letter the archbishop declared that he is ready to reaffirm them under oath by calling on God as my witness  which means he is calling for his own eternal damnation if he is lying. Is Pope Francis willing to do the same?

Vigano is courageously sacrificing his own episcopal career to expose the truth. Now is the time for others with inside knowledge to step forward and do the same. Catholic cardinals wear a red hat to symbolize their willingness to shed the blood of martyrdom for Christ and His church. Sadly, few seem willing to risk their own position, much less their lives.

On his flight back from Ireland, Pope Francis responded to Viganos testimony by declaring, I will not say a single word on this. Sorry, thats not good enough. Five hundred years ago, faithful Catholics waited too long to root out corruption in the Vatican  with disastrous consequences. We cant make the same mistake again.

Follow Marc A. Thiessen on Twitter, @marcthiessen.

(c) 2018, The Washington Post Writers GroupLONDONA company that wants to help you sell your DNA data is getting backing from venture capital investors.

Nebula Genomics, co-founded by Harvard Medical School professor George Church, said 10 firms invested $4.3 million that it will use to create a secure marketplace for individuals genomes, the chemical codes that govern how organisms grow and operate, according to an emailed statement.

The backers include Khosla Ventures, Arch Venture Partners and Fenbushi Capital, and Nebula is working with genome sequencer Veritas Genetics International Ltd.

Thanks to genomic research, companies such as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. have been able to design drugs that precisely target flawed genes. Food giant Nestle SA wants to use genetic data to help design nutritional programs for customers. Yet developing and refining such products often requires access to massive stores of data that consumers and patients may be reluctant to part with because of concerns about privacy or whether their co-operation will be rewarded.

Our investors, along with Veritas, share our commitment to lowering access barriers to genomic data and solving one of the primary roadblocks preventing personalized medicine becoming a reality today, said Kamal Obbad, Nebulas chief executive officer and co-founder. With this funding, we are moving closer to a new age in personalized medicine.

Health data, especially genomic information, is seen as a gold mine for the companies that collect it as part of their business. Drug makers including GlaxoSmithKline PLC are buying access to data from 23andMe Inc., a seller of DNA testing thats created one of the worlds largest genetic databases. Englands National Health Service is working with Sensyne Health, started by former U.K. science minister Paul Drayson, to market anonymized patient data for research.

Nebula uses blockchain  a technology for recording and verifying online transactions  along with a platform developed by Veritas to allow individuals to upload genomic data and then share it with specific companies, researchers or other parties. Clients can also receive compensation for sharing their data through a cryptocurrency token-based system created by Nebula.

This directly addresses consumer concerns over the practice of medical and genomic data brokers to sell personal health data to third parties, according to the statement.

Church, a geneticist and leader of the Personal Genome Project that sequences peoples DNA for public use and research, has started up numerous genetics companies, including Veritas Genetics. Hes known for his labs contributions to the development of CRISPR, a technique for editing genomes, and his Jurassic Park-like proposal to create hybrid embryos of the extinct woolly mammoth in the laboratory.

More than a decade ago, he predicted that a rapid descent of costs to decode peoples DNA would revolutionize science and medicine. Insurers may find ways to use Nebula to reduce the number of infant births with rare genetic disorders through preventive matchmaking, Church said. For drug makers, it might smooth the path to decoding the DNA of people with genetic diseases they want to address.

Hopefully this will result in people not paying to get their genome and instead being paid for their genome, he said in a telephone interview.

Other investors in the company are Mayfield, F-Prime Capital Partners, Great Point Ventures, Windham Venture Partners, Hemi Ventures, Mirae Asset, Hikma Ventures and Heartbeat Labs, according to the statement.CALGARYVictoria removed its John A. Macdonald statue on Aug. 11. A man is facing charges in Regina after a Macdonald monument there was vandalized last week. Now, Scotland  Macdonalds native land  is removing all references to Canadas first prime minister on its government websites.

But as far as Garret Smith is concerned, John A. can stay.

The Calgary-based First Nations advocate says the fight to purge public spaces of Macdonalds likeness misses the point of reconciliation.

Statues are at the bottom end of a list of things that we need to tackle, said Smith, a Siksika (Blackfoot) man from the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta. Focusing only on statues and their placement in public spaces ignores the lived experiences of Indigenous people today, he said.

As founder and organizer of the citys Mohkinstsis healing camp (the Siksika name for Elbow River), Smith contends its more important to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

That includes providing opportunities to learn about Indigenous history and culture, something hes trying to do at the downtown Calgary teepee camp.

For us, its very simple: Keep the statues, keep them, Smith said. But if you want to keep the statues, our point of view is erect monuments or statues of the children or of the First Nations leaders who were affected by those policies.

Put a statue up next to John A. Macdonald, have the Indian Act right next to him and have a pile of children in a monument that were murdered right next to him, he said.

Smiths comments follow a pair of events in Canada demonstrating the controversy over Macdonalds legacy.

On Aug. 11, the City of Victoria stored away its statue of John A. Macdonald, two days after its city council voted seven-to-one to remove it. The city started discussing the idea in 2017 as part of a reconciliation process with the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, according to The Canadian Press.

In Regina, police have charged 47-year-old Patrick Johnson with one count of mischief for allegedly vandalizing that citys John A. statue in its downtown Victoria Park. On Aug. 21, the statue was found with red paint covering its hands; a day later Johnson contacted the Regina Leader-Post to claim responsibility.

Read more:

Calgary teepee camp opts for bridge-building over protest, its founder says

Statue of John A. Macdonald removed from Victoria City Hall in act of reconciliation

Sir John A. Macdonald: Architect of genocide or Canadas founding father?

University of Regina health studies professor James Daschuk acknowledges that Macdonald is a problematic figure for Indigenous people.

He was the longest-standing, basically the de facto, minister of Indian affairs, Daschuk said. For at least a decade, he was the minister of Indian affairs at the time when residential schools were imposed, at the same time as the illegal pass system was imposed, and that kept incarcerated treaty Indians on their reserves up until the 1950s. He personally oversaw those programs.

In his 2014 book Clearing the Plains, Daschuk shows how Macdonald implemented starvation policies on the Western Canadian prairies to clear out its First Nations peoples and make room for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Calgarian Michelle Robinson, a Dene woman whos a descendent of residential school survivors, takes the same approach as Smith.

She referenced the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions calls to action, starting at No. 79: Theres a call to action for Canadians to properly memorialize in every single municipality and place Indian residential school survivors.

Macdonalds statues are a starting point, she said.

Its actually a great opportunity to fulfil those calls to action by adding those plaques (beside current monuments), saying, Hey, did you know that John A. Macdonald implemented (residential schools)? Robinson said.

By doing that, she said, We are honouring the fact that this many Indians died to go to the residential schools ... Ultimately, Canada is a symbol of Indigenous oppression and genocide ... If we already have those statues there, its just giving a bigger history, not just such a one-sided history.

Shannon Stunden Bower says Smith is correct to look beyond the statue debate. The University of Alberta history professor says that in some ways, in dealing with names and statues, were actually dealing with the easy stuff and we need to tackle the hard stuff, too.

That includes providing enough money for on-reserve services, like water and education, and acknowledging the effects of Canadas colonial-settler history, she said.

A discussion needs to take place regarding what John A.s statues commemorate, University of Calgary history professor Nancy Janovicek said.

We need to think about whats being celebrated. And a lot of the defences of these statues and my understanding of the debate is people still want to celebrate a narrative that was never true, she said.

Janovicek said the current crop of Macdonald statues in Canada were built shortly after Canadas centennial in 1967. Heritage groups commissioned the statues as a way to turn from colonial, imperialist narratives to what they saw as Canadian narratives, and Macdonald was an alluring Canadian figure, she said.

I respect what Garret is saying about needing to speak about the past, Janovicek said. It depends on whos saying it. That context matters.

Read more about:CALGARYA pregnant Indigenous woman is demanding an apology and more cultural awareness from GlobalFest organizers after she alleges she was harassed and intimidated by a volunteer security team.

Shalome Hope, who identifies as Cree from Thunderchild First Nation/Metis, performed at the Calgary festival in a production of TRUTH, an artistic portrayal of decolonization in Canada, on Aug. 16. When the show ended, she walked to the border of the VIP section reserved for performers to meet her son and her partner.

Hope said thats when a volunteer security guard tailed her.

I was hugging them and asked how they thought it went, she said, referring to her son and partner. As I turned around, the security guard looked at me and I could see him zero in, and he looked at me and I saw him walking straight at me.

She said the first thing the security guard said after he approached her was, Youre not supposed to be here, are you?

As I started to leave, he started chasing me and grabbed my arm, she said. I put my hands up and said, Dont touch me.

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She said people have questioned whether the guards actions point to anti-Indigenous racism.

A common response is hes not overtly racist. We dont know that, hes not going to carry a sign, she said. What I keep coming back to is our people have experienced systemic violence on every level since colonization.

Its the microaggressions, Hope added. Its the way it was fine for everybody else to walk around that VIP area unapproached by anyone, not detained at the gate, free to come and go.

She said that her friends started asking other GlobalFest attendees if they had been flagged by security at the VIP entrance. They couldnt find anyone else who was targeted the way Hope was, she said.

Whether or not it was super conscious, I think it is a very engrained way of thinking, that for some reason, I (an Indigenous woman) shouldnt be there and everyone else should be, Hope said.

The organizers of GlobalFest, a fireworks festival that celebrates multiculturalism, did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the specific allegations, but the festivals producer, Ken Goosen, issued a statement to StarMetro saying the organization takes these allegations seriously.

There are take-aways from this we are addressing internally to provide refinement to processes and structures within the park and the festival as a whole to ensure clarity, Goosen said.

He added that GlobalFest remains committed to diversity and inclusion and will ensure more specific guidelines and procedures will be provided to our volunteers on how to proceed when challenging situations arise.

As of Tuesday, Hope said GlobalFest hasnt responded to her requests for an apology.

In a video of the incident posted online, Hope can be seen trying to circumvent the volunteer and a colleague multiple times, but they wouldnt let her pass.

At one point, the volunteers  who were wearing bright orange safety vests and lanyards  tried to physically block her as she made her way back to her crew, Hope said.

It was scary, she said. Theyre supposed to be there and were supposed to recognize a uniform as a support and thats just not the reality.

She added that her 19-month-old son watched the altercation.

Hes old enough to pick up on emotions, hes very intuitive, he can hear the tone of our voices, and I was afraid of what the volunteer was going to do to me, Hope said. Im also pregnant, so Im taking care of myself and my body, and it was kind of uneven footing.

Hope said she managed to make her way back to her team after her partner and a friend distracted the volunteers.

By the time I returned, the security guy was still arguing with my partner, Thomas, and Thomas was asking to speak to a supervisor because of what had happened, she said.

Hope added that requests to speak to GlobalFest supervisors were ignored.

We asked for an apology and his response was, Well, do you want a heartfelt one or do you want me to just say Im sorry? Hope said. He had asked me to go somewhere by myself to talk and that scared me more.

I wasnt comfortable going anywhere with him ... for one, he was harassing me and grabbing my arm  but just as importantly, they werent treating me as a human being.

Hope said it took her two days to calm down, describing the experience as absolutely scary and emotional.

Evoking the spirit of truth and reconciliation, Hope said she and her loved ones want GlobalFest organizers to learn from this alleged interaction and acknowledge its racist undertones.

In this situation, I was wronged, but just to acknowledge that, thats one step. Its like the truth step, Hope said. The reconciliation part looks like making amends. How can we make sure this doesnt happen again moving forward? How can I protect my sisters, my family from encountering the same individual at the same place?

In addition to pushing for an apology, Hope urged GlobalFest to incorporate sensitivity training and Indigenous cultural awareness before future iterations of the event take place.

She also believes GlobalFest should acknowledge its festival grounds sit on Treaty 7 territory.

They need to really respect the territory theyre in in the first place, and who the actual hosts are, Hope said. To do that in an appropriate way would mean asking about protocol, inviting ceremonialists in to have opening ceremonies, and open the event with a pipe ceremony, and invite the community so its inclusive.

For now, GlobalFest hasnt implemented formal changes to staffing or programming plans, Goosen said in the statement.

GlobalFest has worked closely with our Indigenous community partners, as with our many ethno-cultural community partners, for many years and we look forward to continuing our partnerships and diversity programming as we have in the past, he said.

Read more about:CALGARYAn Alberta judge has issued a no-contact order for a Calgary man charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, mother and stepfather.

Dustin Duthie, 25, made a brief court appearance via closed-circuit TV Wednesday as Crown prosecutor Shane Parker requested an order prohibiting him from contacting five people, including members of both families.

While hes in custody, we would be asking there be a no-contact provision put in place, said Parker.

Judge Lloyd Robertson granted the order.

Court also heard that Legal Aid Alberta has not yet appointed a lawyer for Duthie, so his case was adjourned until Sept. 12.

The bodies were all discovered July 31, but investigators say they believe Duthies girlfriend, Taylor Toller, died around July 26 in her condo.

His mother, Shawn Boshuck, and his stepfather, Alan Pennylegion, were found in their home and court documents allege they were killed July 31.

Duthie has already been found fit to stand trial after an examination by a forensic psychiatrist.

Police issued a public appeal earlier this month for details about the days leading up to the discovery of the three victims.

Theyve asked anyone who had contact with Duthie between July 26 and July 31 to speak to investigators if they have not done so already.

Police have said it appeared the deaths were connected, but no motive has been confirmed.

Read more:

Calgary police seek more witnesses in triple homicide case

Calgary man charged with killing his parents and girlfriend found fit to stand trial

Public conversation about domestic violence needs to shift, advocates say

Read more about:CALGARYDale Freeborn still gets choked up when speaking about the impending closure of the Veterans Food Bank.

Im 75, Im retired, I live in Forest Lawn, and I own my own place, but without the help, its tough, Freeborn said.

Freeborn, who served eight years in the Royal Canadian Navy, said its been tough living with the uncertainty of what will happen when the Veterans Food Bank closes its doors at the end of January.

We need a break. We dont need this stress or confusion, Freeborn said. We cant have a bunch of people coming down to tear that place down.

Freeborn said its not just the food hampers the community is worried about losing.

If they had doctors appointments and they couldnt drive, theyd be given taxi vouchers, Freeborn said.

If the light bill was screwed up, (the food bank) would pay it. If you were struggling with rent, (the food bank) would pay it.

But on Tuesday evening, Freeborn donned his best suit to meet up with other veterans for an announcement that gave him a bit of hope  a group of veterans is creating a new food bank for veterans.

Read more:

Calgarys veterans worried about a future without the Veterans Food Bank

Calgary Veterans Food Bank closing early next year

In July, it was announced that the Veterans Food Bank in Calgary would close its doors for good in early 2019.

At the time, the Poppy Fund, which managed the food bank, said it would be taking over supplying the veterans with food through its Royal Canadian Legion branch service officers.

But veterans in the city have remained wary of what this would mean for their futures, which is why they decided to take action into their own hands, said spokesperson and board member of the new food bank Eric Nauss.

The biggest challenge for the veterans is dealing with people who havent been where theyve been, Nauss said. With the Poppy Fund shutting it down, they realized they needed to stand up to the plate and take ownership of it.

Having veterans in charge of the new food bank is vital, said Paul Hughes, a veteran and the president of Grow Calgary, a non-profit organization that grows fresh produce for social agencies in Calgary with food access programs.

Veterans should run the food bank. We should be a part of it and there are a lot of capable people, Hughes said. We can help ourselves ... we can handle this, we just need some support.

Currently, Hughes is working on programs to connect veterans with nutritionists and food boxes with healthier options.

Although there is no set location or name for the new food bank, Nauss said the group is confident they will secure a site in the following weeks.

It will be completely separate and not affiliated with anything. Its going to be their own designated charity and a stand-alone organization, Nauss said.

Were working with a lawyer to determine what well need, what kind of budget, and then the fundraiser starts.

The group hopes to have the new food bank up and running by Oct. 1.

Freeborn said it relieves some stress knowing veterans are working on this new venture.

It will carry on. I dont know who intervened, but do not mess with a bunch of veterans. Well make sure this is taken care of.

Read more about:EDMONTONA University of Alberta graduate student went to IKEA over the weekend to look at some furniture, but instead found herself staring directly at what looked like a bedbug on a pillow.

I stepped on some mattresses and checked everything and I just noticed that theres a bug crawling on one of the pillows, so I just took a picture and notified the staff nearby, Hongyi Gong said in an interview with StarMetro on Tuesday.

She quickly went to the washroom to wash off, but said she was pleased at how quickly IKEA staff responded and dealt with the situation.

IKEA Canada sent a statement to StarMetro calling the incident isolated and that a third-party pest control party was contacted to immediately begin an investigation.

The product in question was also immediately removed from the floor, the statement read. The results of our initial investigation found no evidence of bedbugs on the product or within the area. We then had a second investigation method performed via K9 detection, which also determined no trace of bedbugs in any place mattresses are sold in the store.

Tom Schultz, owner of Edmonton Exterminators Ltd. and a 40-year veteran in pest control, said its extremely rare to find bedbugs in a commercial space like IKEA. (His company did not particpate in the investigation of the store.)

They were probably brought in by a patron on something they were carrying, and, normally, in a case like that, it would just be monitoring to start with, he said. He also added that he wouldnt at all be concerned about shopping at IKEA after this incident since a commercial space doesnt provide a good home for the bugs, which need a constant supply of food from humans.

However, cases of travelling bedbugs have caused him to be somewhat mystified in recent years, he said.

Its not a common occurrence, but in the past 12 to 15 years, Schultz said hes noticed new behaviours among bedbugs that suggest they arent as scared of movement as they once were.

Its almost like when you live around wildlife and they become accustomed to you, he said. The bedbugs have become more adapted to being around closer to people.

In the early days of his career, bedbugs would scatter when Schultz would flip a mattress to deal with an infestation  now they just sit there, he said.

Theyve also become much more aggressive as their population has increased in the Edmonton area, he said.

Hes seen badly infested downtown Edmonton units where theyre literally crawling on the people, its just that bad.

Im not kidding or exaggerating when I say I saw thousands, he said, and added that its certainly not the norm he was used to early in his career.

Ive never seen numbers like what were seeing now, he said. There are more demands for feeding  what thats doing is its making them more aggressive to peoples habits and things like that.

Part of the catalyst is more international travel, multi-family units and under-reporting of bedbugs. But the growing population is also a result of past decisions when the problem wasnt so pervasive, said Schultz.

(Over) 10 years, Ill bet you I was lucky if I did 10 jobs for bedbugs and now we can do 10 in a couple days, so thats changed dramatically, he said of the time before the recent population increases hes noticed over the past decade.

A lot of that is due to unsafe chemicals being phased out, he said. Since companies didnt deal with bedbugs as often as they do now, the chemicals  while very effective for dealing with bedbug infestations  were deemed unsafe for humans and done away with.

The new chemicals arent as effective and play a part in the bedbug population remaining large over the past few years, Schultz said.

While all of this means bedbugs do travel on humans sometimes  in folds of jackets, suitcases or purses  Schultz doesnt think the problem is overly concerning to the point that people need to take extra precautions.

Personally, I would just suggest that (IKEA) do some monitoring in there, but I certainly wouldnt panic over it, he said.

Read more about:The family of a caregiver who died in a foster-home fire is accusing the Ontario government in a $5-million lawsuit of licensing a firetrap.

Andrea Reids family alleges that the home, near Lindsay, Ont., should have never been allowed to care for children, citing poorly trained staff, the lack of a fire plan or escape routes in the event of an emergency, unbreakable windows, and incompetent government inspectors that failed to catch the danger signs.

The whole situation is outrageous, says lawyer Kevin Henderson, who represents the Reid family and has filed the lawsuit in Superior Court.

The family seeks damages of $5 million from four parties  the government, a numbered company that owned the home, the company that operated the foster home  Connor Homes  and the 17-year-old girl who set the February 2017 fire. The girl, who has severe mental health challenges, is now 18 and serving a three-year-sentence for the fire that killed Reid and a resident of the home, 14-year-old Kassy Finbow.

Henderson said the Reid family hopes the suit forces regulatory changes that improve the safety of caregivers and vulnerable children in foster and group homes run by private, for-profit companies. They dont want another family to go through this, he said. The plaintiffs in the suit are Reids husband, Robert, and her three children.

Read more: Caregivers at group homes face stress, violence

During the fire, 43-year-old Reid was trapped with Kassy and another caregiver in her second-floor bedroom at the foster home on Quaker Rd. in rural Oakwood. The girl who set the fire was also a resident of the home. She lashed out after learning she would not be going home to the northern Ontario reserve of Grassy Narrows when she turned 18. She used a lighter to set fire to books, cardboard and a couch, according to evidence presented at her trial in March.

The lawsuit alleges employees of the home should have known better than to give the girl a lighter sometime before she set the fire. It also claims caregivers did not have the skill or training to supervise the girl  who suffered from schizophrenia and severe developmental delays  and that the home had insufficient staff to control violent outbursts.

The upstairs bedroom filled with smoke shortly after the fire started. The only window was too small to squeeze out of, a sliding door was bolted shut and the people trapped were unable to break its glass panes.

The deaths have sparked investigations by police, government officials, the coroners office, childrens aid societies and the Star. They reveal a child protection system that doesnt know if minimal standards of care are being met, has no qualifications for caregivers, and is governed by a childrens ministry scrambling to perform its oversight role.

Asked by the Star to comment on the lawsuit, the provinces Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services said in a statement that it continues to focus on creating better outcomes for children and youth, but is unable to comment further on matters that are or may be before the courts.

The ministry spends $1.5 billion annually on a child protection system that serves some 14,000 kids taken from abusive or neglectful parents, and helps many more in their own homes.

Bob Connor, president of Connor Homes, said he could not comment because his company has yet to be served with the lawsuit. (Henderson said a Robert John Connor was served with the statement of claim on July 11.) In a previous interview with the Star, Connor said the home complied with all ministry regulations and fire codes. The home had a fire plan, he added, and a plan for dealing with the girl who set the fire when she had violent outburts.

I complied with everything, Connor said in an interview last year, with every rule there is, and I have higher standards than any of them.

At the end of September 2017, Ontario had 389 licensed group homes with 2,914 beds, almost one-third operated by private, for-profit companies. Another 2,005 beds were in foster homes run by companies, such as the one on Quaker Rd., where the limit is four kids to a home.CHARLOTTETOWN The case of two Charlottetown hoteliers who are charged with helping set up fake addresses for Chinese immigrants who entered Prince Edward Island under a business program is expected back in court today.

The Canada Border Services Agency has charged 60-year-old Ping Zhong with three counts of aiding and abetting misrepresentation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and five counts against her 58-year-old brother, Yi Zhong.

The siblings are alleged to have assisted business immigrants seeking permanent residency to provide residential addresses in P.E.I. though they didnt really live there, as required under the provinces immigration system.

The Canada Border Services Agency says 566 immigrants used the same addresses between 2008 and 2015  the siblings Sherwood Motel and Ping Zhongs Charlottetown home.

Nearly all of the immigrants eventually were granted permanent residency under the provincial nominee program, the Islands main business immigration program.

Lee Cohen, the defence lawyer for the siblings, says in an email that the court hearing today at the Charlottetown provincial court is for the purpose of entering pleas.

The case was adjourned on July 26 after Cohen requested further disclosure of the federal prosecutors case.WINNIPEGDane Bourget never thought his life would spiral into addiction.

But when his roommate brought methamphetamine into their home, it started a decade-long journey in and out of treatment centres throughout Manitoba.

I tried it one time and then, before you know it, its been years, said the 36-year-old. I often say I tried meth once for 12 years.

Bourget has been sober since 2014 and now volunteers with a self-help group for people who have struggled with methamphetamine. He has seen how the drug that brought chaos into his own life is taking over the streets of Winnipeg and destroying families.

While other regions of Canada are coping with an opioid epidemic, crystal meth has become the drug of choice in Manitoba.

The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba says meth use increased by more than 100 per cent in adults and nearly 50 per cent in youth since 2014.

Read more:

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The provinces chief medical examiner says meth was involved in 35 overdose deaths in 2017, up from 19 the year before. In contrast, fentanyl was involved in 14 fatal overdoses and carfentanil, a synthetic opiate about 100 times more powerful, was involved in 32.

We are seeing an unprecedented amount of methamphetamine that has come into our city, said Insp. Max Waddell with Winnipegs organized crime unit.

The drug is appealing because its cheap, available, easy to make and it gets people high for significantly longer  it can last 14 hours while crack cocaine lasts only about 45 minutes.

The effects of the drug can be devastating for everyone who encounters it, including police.

A Winnipeg police officer was sitting in his patrol car recently when a man suspected to be high on meth threw a propane tank through the rear window of the cruiser. The same day, another man who police suspect was high on meth had to be shot with a Taser after he allegedly assaulted someone with a screwdriver and threw a shovel at a police officer.

Another man suspected of coming down off a meth high taped machetes to his hands before calling 911. When officers arrived, he advanced on them yelling that he wanted to be shot. He was taken into custody unharmed.

Methamphetamine makes people very unpredictable and when people are unpredictable that means they are not in control of themselves, Waddell said. They become in a state of ... psychosis where they are seeing and hearing things that are not real.

Possession charges for meth increased by 890 per cent since 2012, police numbers show.

In 2017, more than 12,000 grams of meth was seized by police. In January 2018 alone, more than 5,800 grams was taken off the streets.

Police are also seeing a significant increase in other crimes associated with methamphetamine  property crime, drug crime and violent crime all increased in 2017.

Police have a strategy that includes enforcement, intervention and education, but Waddell said authorities cant deal with the situation alone.

At Morberg House, a 10-bed transitional housing facility in Winnipeg, nearly every person is struggling with a meth addiction. Founder Marion Willis said her clients are different ages and come from various backgrounds, but they all have an underlying mental-health issue and use meth to cope.

Most of the country has acknowledged an opioid crisis, she said. Theres been a federal response and a national fund available so organizations can develop and deliver programs. The same cant be said for meth.

Its like fighting a war with a water gun, she said. Its very frustrating.

Robert Lidstone was a graduate student dealing with undiagnosed bipolar disorder in 2006 when he first tried methamphetamine.

It had a hold on me, said the 37-year-old. Once I became addicted, it was just an incredible battle.

Hes been to treatment a few times and has relapsed, but said its vital to support people trying to get clean. For some families affected by meth addiction, the cost of treatment is just too high.

So far the institutional response is not able to catch up, Lidstone said. We are falling way behind very quickly because this crisis is moving faster than police and first responders, faster than the health-care system and the addiction and mental-health system.

Read more about:Two injured Inuit hunters huddled for three days with the body of their friend who was killed by a polar bear, four other bears circling their camp.

They had to sit tight, said Rob Hedley, administrator for the hamlet of Naujaat, Nunavut, where the hunters were from.

It was pretty scary. They didnt sleep and they were out there for a while.

Nunavuts second polar bear death this summer sparked widespread outrage Wednesday among Inuit, who feel their lives are being endangered by hunting restrictions imposed by southerners.

The hunters left Naujaat on the northernmost shore of Hudson Bay on Aug. 21 to hunt narwhal and caribou. They were expected home on Thursday.

Police said they were notified when the trio hadnt shown up by Sunday.

Read more:

One dead, two injured after Nunavut polar bear attack

There are parallels between the polar bear shot dead and the perils of climate change, University of Alberta researcher says

Recent close encounters with bears show humans are too cavalier around wildlife, says professor

A search began Monday with federal, territorial and local teams. Although rescuers knew roughly where the hunters were headed, search boats were blocked by heavy sea ice.

The Coast Guard icebreaker Louis St. Laurent joined the search and its helicopter found the hunters early Tuesday about 100 kilometres east of Naujaat near Lyon Inlet.

It looks like it was a mother and a cub, said Hedley. The mother and the cub were killed.

(The hunters) killed at least one more. There were multiple other bears in the area that were attracted by blood and scent.

The two injured hunters werent badly hurt and were treated and released.

In early July, an Arviat man was killed when a bear appeared during a family outing on an island near the community. Aaron Gibbons, 31, died after he placed himself between the bear and his children, who were able to run to safety.

Social media was alive Wednesday with posts from one end of the Arctic to the other expressing anger over the deaths. Inuit have long held that theyre having more interactions with bears on the land.

I cant even describe the pain were feeling right now, said Helena Malliki from Naujaat.

Quotas that limit the numbers of bears that can be killed in each region prevent Inuit from thinning the population, she said.

Those (bears) could have been caught if we didnt have these laws from the government, she said.

(Bears) are in our land and they are very, very dangerous. I just want Inuit to kill all the bears they see.

Gordy Kidlapik of Rankin Inlet  Aaron Gibbonss uncle  said polar bears have always presented a threat. But its different now.

The past few years, sightings and encounters have been rising. Were at a different level now.

The guys Ive been talking to say the bear population is at a level where its safe to not have a quota.

Inuit have managed their wildlife successfully for generations, said Shelly Woodford from Rankin Inlet.

We always treat the animals with respect. Were not going to go overboard.

Andrew Derocher, a polar bear biologist at the University of Alberta, pointed out that quotas are set in Nunavut after consultation with hunters.

He warned that without careful management of the animals, the international community would be likely to ban exports of polar bear products and trophies from Canada, wiping out important income for Inuit.

That could leave Inuit killing even fewer bears, much like when the European ban on seal fur destroyed that market.

The seal harvest dropped dramatically, Derocher said.

He argued quotas arent the problem. Local hunters didnt even take their allotted 100 bears last year, he said.

The Foxe Basin bear population around Naujaat has lost about 30 days of sea ice cover over the last several decades in the area where it hunts.

Bears start to move ashore, Derocher said. Once all those bears are on shore, the likelihood of them coming into conflict with people increases.

The ecosystem is changing. People in polar bear habitat have to look at changing some of their behaviour.

Read more about:CALGARYRichard Harvey has been in the wine trade for a long time.

Since 1996, hes owned a little wine shop in downtown Calgary called Metrovino Fine Wines, selling mainly European vintages. He has no plans to get into the cannabis trade when it becomes legal in Alberta in October. But he has some advice for prospective budtenders.

If you have stars or dollar signs in your eyes, you havent really explored the situation, he said. Its going to be fierce.

Cannabis and alcohol are very different drugs. One is still illegal to use (nonmedicinally), the other hasnt been since Prohibition. But Albertas decision to sell booze privately  and how liquor stores handled it  is surprisingly similar to how the cannabis business is shaping up today. September marks the 25th anniversary of the announcement of full alcohol privatization in Alberta. To this day, Albertas still the only province or territory in Canada to handle liquor sales this way.

Read more:

Edmonton reopens cannabis retail applications as business prof warns quite a few will fail

Why it will be another year before cannabis edibles come on the market

Calgary exploring public pot spots in Inglewood, Ogden and Bridgeland

In just over two months, Wild Rose Country will follow suit for weed. And  as of next spring  so will Ontario. Cannabis producers and retailers across the country are flocking to the province after Ontarios provincial government announced it would be changing tack from public to privately run stores.

Liquor store owners and retail experts told StarMetro Calgary how cannabis store owners can learn from Albertas foray into the private booze trade nearly 25 years ago  and whats changed:

Proceed with caution

Since April, hundreds of applications for cannabis stores have landed on the desks of Calgarys city planning staff. Entrepreneurs of all stripes  from one- or two-store owners to the CEOs of major companies  are surging into the provinces major cities and have plans to expand into smaller towns across Alberta. The same phenomenon happened in 1993 with fully privatized liquor stores. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and a significant number have gone out of business.

If we go back to when liquor stores became retail-oriented in Alberta, and not all just government outlets, we had a ton of them open up, said Lynne Ricker, a marketing professor at the University of Calgarys Haskayne School of Business. And then you had some fallout in the market. Not everybody is going to make it.

Before the move to full privatization, about 200 government-run liquor stores existed in Alberta. Today, Alberta has around 1,500 private liquor stores, many owned by a single company  Alcanna. The liquor store chain claims to be the largest company of its kind in Canada.

The same is true in cannabis. While the province has set limits on the number of cannabis stores any one company can own, firms like 420 Premium Market, Calgary Co-op, and Alcanna (thanks to a partnership with Aurora Cannabis Inc.) are quickly moving into the Alberta market.

Its kind of the same in any retail business, said Kyle Murray, vice-dean and professor of marketing at the University of Calgary. You tend to have a few big winners. Thats what gives us the Walmarts and the Apples of the world.

However, Harvey said failed liquor stores in Calgary tend to get replaced fairly quickly. When one closes or goes out of business, another tends to fill the void. He expects the same will happen in the cannabis trade.

It seems like theres no end to replacement, he said.

Sell trust

Say you run a liquor store ... how do you sell more Pinot Grigio than your competitor across the street, when youre effectively selling the same bottle of wine? It all comes down to how you bring a customer in, entice them, make them feel as though youre the most trusted wine seller they know. According to Harvey, the same will also apply to cannabis stores.

Every one of them is going to have to find their niche and clientele, as we do, he said.

This goes back to a basic point any retailer should know, Murray said.

The product, obviously, is important, but in modern retail you can hardly ever compete on product. It really comes down to service, he said. Of course, he added, catering to a certain crowd always helps, but the business is all about retaining a following  not only bringing customers back, but making yourself useful to them.

At Metrovino, Harvey said, they make a point of sourcing wines from small vineyards in France, Italy, and Spain  wares not typically carried by major liquor stores. And Harvey said his staff are also trained in how to pair specific wines to specific foods, something he said a cashier at a major chain might not know how to do.

I would hope and expect these cannabis retailers would have that, Harvey said.

But its still something of an unknown

Ultimately, theres one major difference with selling cannabis recreationally in Alberta: nobody really knows how many people will line up at cannabis stores when they open. While Statistics Canada has estimates of the percentage of Canadians whove used cannabis within the past three months (about 14 per cent), its far more difficult to gauge the recreational retail markets size.

We knew exactly what liquor sales were like in the province before liquor was privatized, Murray said. We have only a vague notion of what cannabis sales are like.

Cannabis is undoubtedly a popular drug in Canada, and cannabis businesses are anticipating theyll make a profit, but it remains to be seen how exactly itll all play out on Oct. 17.

I think if youre growing your own cannabis retail biz  good luck to you, Harvey said.

Read more about:VANCOUVERQuestions around how consumer data will be protected by cannabis retailers continue to loom large for some Canadians.

And those questions are becoming more complicated as legalization approaches and a number of key concerns remain unanswered.

Peter, a web specialist living in Victoria, B.C., who asked his name be withheld for fear that admitting to being a cannabis user would affect his business relationships, said that, as with all online and electronic purchasing, consumers are right to worry about how their data is being protected.

Your information is being passed over secure connections, but theyre only so secure, he said in an interview. You can build the best website with the best security and there are always bigger and better hackers than there are security (measures).

But, he added, the cannabis industry faces a further challenge that tends to exacerbate consumer fears about data breaches: stigma.

Peter, who used to manage a marijuana dispensary, said many of his former customers did not want to be identified as cannabis users in any way. They would pay cash, he said, and shy away from any transaction that would create a paper trail. Regardless of the legal status of the plant, he said, stigma around cannabis use remains.

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Opinion | Allowing homegrown marijuana is the right thing to do

Careless online conduct on behalf of either a consumer or retailer, he said, might result in a breach or disclosure that could have unforeseeable effects on a persons job prospects or insurability.

Cybersecurity and protection of sensitive consumer information is the No. 1 concern cited by Canadians regarding cannabis purchasing, according to a June report from Deloitte. One-third of cannabis consumers, the report states, would prefer to purchase pot online.

The report also notes that even in-store pot buyers will be sharing personal information with retailers, such as allowing their ID to be scanned at point-of-sale terminals and their image captured on security cameras. Cybersecurity will therefore be as much of a concern for brick and mortar retailers as for online operations.

The apprehensions identified in the report are reflected very clearly in the minds of current and potential Canadian cannabis consumers.

Nearly a dozen individuals with whom The Star spoke noted they were deeply anxious about being outed as cannabis users to their families or colleagues through data breaches or leaks. These same individuals were unsurprisingly reluctant to go on the record for that same reason. They wish to keep their cannabis consumption private, even once recreational use becomes legal.

Caryma Sad, an Ontario criminal defence lawyer, said she hears from people who have these concerns all the time. As with any online database of private information, she said, when data is leaked, its extremely hard to unring the bell.

Once (data) is shared out there, its not easy to bring it back in, she said. It takes one breach and thats all it takes.

And with few details being released regarding what kinds of safety measures will be installed to protect consumer privacy  including where, exactly, the government servers storing customer information will be located  its impossible to assuage Canadians fears around cybersecurity and privacy protection, said Sad.

Michael Zmuda, an information security consultant in Edmonton, said that, in the wake of recent data breaches with trusted corporations such as Equifax, people are very concerned about their privacy.

Have Your Say

Breaches dont require a court order or an exchange of information on a server to make private information public. And breaches make stock prices drop dramatically, he added.

Given that there remains a lack of clarity on how regulations will take shape once legalization rolls around, Zmuda said, private retailers may be able to choose their point-of-sale systems.

That could be a cloud system like a tablet, which sends information to a server somewhere. Is that server in Canada or is it in the United States? Zmuda said, pointing to cannabis security companies already suggesting similar systems to what is used in bars and clubs: scanning identification. Thats the same thing  will there be a data breach?

And, Zmuda said, companies are under no obligation to explain how and where they transfer information, especially across borders.

That method of holding companies accountable should be done on the governments side, Zmuda said, suggesting legislation needs to be developed which would require information exchanged on servers to remain within Canada.

Canadian parents also say theyre concerned about how legalization will affect their kids exposure to cannabis. And while underage access to online pot is on the list, for a number of parents, it isnt the most worrisome prospect.

Michael Bramwell, a Vancouver father who works in law enforcement, said the online market offers any number of restricted or prohibited items for sale if a person looks hard enough. Cannabis, he said, is certainly no worse than the kinds of weapons a young person can find online.

Bramwell said he is more worried about whether his teenage son will know what cannabis use could mean for his development and for his future, but hopes legalization will make tough conversations about substance use easier.

If we take out the taboo of (cannabis), it makes it less exciting, he said.

Jo Dworschak, Bramwells ex-spouse and mother to his son, agreed, saying the online conduct of young people in general was the issue at hand.

Everything online could come back to him, she said of her son. Anything hes doing online is a concern for me.

Peter, the web specialist, said if a child was to surreptitiously access a parents credit card for an online cannabis purchase, it would still be a safer scenario than resorting to the black market.

But there is one issue all of these individuals cited as being at the forefront of their concerns over how online activity and data breaches might intersect with cannabis legalization: the ongoing practice of United States border agents giving lifetime bans to Canadian citizens who are found to have used cannabis in the past.

One immigration lawyer told The Star in July that the number of Canadians seeking temporary exemptions for lifetime bans acquired after admitting past cannabis use to U.S. border agents has risen from one or two per year 15 years ago to one or two per week.

Both Bramwell and Dworschak said they fear their son might not realize cannabis use could carry consequences as serious and long-term as inadmissibility on travel to the U.S. And this concern takes on even greater consequence, they said, when one considers that border guards are entitled to search electronic devices for evidence of what U.S. federal law considers criminal activity.

And Sad, the defence lawyer, said border bans may be the most alarming issue currently facing Canadian cannabis consumers. If a Canadian retailer stores its data in servers located in the U.S., for instance, American law enforcement agencies might determine they have a right to search that data, she said. Such a search, she added, would provide a detailed list of Canadians who are eligible for a lifetime ban on entry to the U.S..

And if a child were to make a furtive cannabis purchase on a parents credit card, said Sad, that parent could be permanently banned from the U.S. for a purchase they never personally made.

Stigma within Canada itself, she said, will likely work its way out of favour once legalization is behind us, she said. Canadians who worry about being outed as cannabis users  and institutions which judge clients or employees for cannabis use  will likely relax as pot consumption becomes as commonplace as drinking beer or wine.

But the consequence of receiving a ban on entry to the U.S. shows no sign of changing, she said, and as far as data an online privacy are concerned, this issue should be the one Canadians are focused on addressing.

Thats my prevailing concern, said Sad. Everything else remains to be seen.

Read more about:PHILADELPHIAA Philadelphia law firm has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against a number of opioid manufacturers, alleging that they are responsible for the medical needs of babies exposed to opioids before birth.

John Weston, the attorney at Sacks Weston Diamond who brought the suit Friday on behalf of an anonymous baby boy and his mother, said he believes the case is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania. Lawsuits on behalf of babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, have been filed in several other states, but are not as common as the wave of litigation against pharmaceutical companies, often filed by state and local governments seeking to recover costs related to the opioid epidemic.

Its basically the same theory as all of the other opioid cases, which allege that pharmaceutical companies sparked the opioid crisis by aggressively marketing opioid pain medications and downplaying their addictive properties, Weston said. Its just a different group of plaintiffs children exposed to opioids in the womb who display symptoms of withdrawal at birth.

You can argue about whos at fault, he said, but its certainly not the kid.

If the suit is successful, Weston said, the class of plaintiffs who stand to benefit would be limited to children whose mothers could prove their own addiction began with prescription opioids.

Though the suit claims that newborns with NAS face long-term adverse health outcomes, questions about lasting harm are far from settled because unbiased studies are hard to do. While the symptoms of newborn withdrawal such as excessive crying, fever, tremors go away within days or weeks, some studies suggest opioids can leave children with behavioural, cognitive, vision and movement problems.

But researchers say the effects of licit and illicit opioids are hard to isolate from the effects of other substances mothers might have used, such as alcohol, and from the impact of factors such as poverty and poor prenatal care.

Another obstacle to holding companies liable for childrens long-term problems is that many women trying to control their addiction are prescribed milder opioids, either methadone or buprenorphine, that cut cravings without delivering euphoric effects. Abruptly quitting opioids increases the risk of miscarriage, so pregnant women are urged to continue or begin such medication-assisted treatment.

Pennsylvania Medicaid data consistently show that the majority of pregnant women taking prescribed opioids are on buprenorphine or methadone. In Tennessee, which collects data on the sources of neonatal drug exposure, 70 per cent of cases were linked to the mothers medication-assisted treatment in 2017.STARRUCCA, PA.OK, campers, everyone into the pool for fourth-period mermaiding. Or, merfolking, if you prefer.

We are sirens of the sea! Lie on your back and make love to the sky, instructed Amber Kofman, waving her high-waisted aqua tail above the water. She fluttered her hands to urge on the campers: Everyone give a bloop, bloop, bloop wave.

Epic Nerd Camp is designed for grown-ups who have no intention of growing up, who want to feast on the fantastic  the less grounded in reality the better.

ENC offers all the splendours of overnight camp (bugs, bug juice, cafeteria mystery meat) for men in kilts and women with hair stained all the colours of Disney. Costumes are worn with Cher-like vigour. Medieval times reign, as do unicorn onesie pyjamas. Jon Luke, who goes by Ouch!  fire performer by passion, pension administrator by day  and his wife, Jen Lavado, brought seven costumes each.

Nerds have taken over. Tech culture has made it so much easier, said Kofman, 30, of Chicago, a graduate student in public health who, when on dry land, favoured pirate regalia. Whatever your passion is, you can nerd out here.

There are nerds  you may consider yourself one  and then there are nerds. They are precisely who assembled for five days and four nights at this camp in the Poconos where shame was shunned and freak flags were happily flown.

Celebrating its third summer, ENC featured live action role playing (LARP), role-playing games (RPG) and cosplay. Confuse them at your peril. Also, wandmaking, sword fighting, boffer games, Quidditch, wizarding, chainmaille, escape rooms and FX makeup.

If you need to Google half these things, this camp is not for you. For 200 campers and volunteers from 31 states, plus Canada and Sweden, it was nirvana, their nerd Brigadoon.

During the off-season, Bunny Smith, 34, spends up to five hours a day on the camp Facebook page. This is my cruise, said the corporate attorney from Chicago, while balancing atop a large rubber ball in the circus barn. This is my happy place. There is no level of nerd you need to hit to be here.

ENC was the brainchild of Kim Kjessler, 37, a former dolphin trainer, and her 26-year-old chef husband, Bentley. I designed a camp that I wanted to go to, she said in the Arts and Crafts shed, where campers created wizard staffs, leather apothecary cuffs and Edvard Munch-like portraits of a Last Jedi porg.

She was inspired by gaming gatherings such as BlizzCon, where she met Bentley five years ago. I love conventions but theyre not tailored to making friends. Its hard to make friends as adults. She wanted camp activities and camaraderie. A sort of Burning Nerd.

That first summer a group of Russian models appeared  drawn to the circus activities yet confused as to what a nerd might actually be. Said Bentley, they didnt jibe much with the other campers.

Specifically, the Dungeons & Dragons nerds, the Magic: The Gathering nerds, the Jane Austen nerds, the Star Wars nerds and Star Trek nerds and, yes, there is a difference. (Star Trek is a meritocracy about who we want to be, explained Alex Meng, 38, of Boston, while Star Wars is about the conflict in humanity. Plus, it says wars right there in the title.)

There were campers, such as Smith, who hold four degrees, while others barely completed high school. There were outdoor nerds who revelled in full-costume fantasy fights and indoor nerds devoted to board games.

Actually, everyone seemed delighted to play board games, more than 300 of them stocked in the cafeteria which, rain or glorious sun, was always home to campers mastering the labyrinthine rules of some game or another.

Nerd campers love rules, as long as theyre of their own choosing.

Technically speaking, and to be completely honest, almost everyone at ENC was more of a geek than a nerd. Its just that Kjessler believed, correctly, that Epic Geek Camp is a terrible name.

Frequently used interchangeably, as they were at ENC, the terms were once distinct. Nerds are specialists, big brains like their hero Bill Gates. Geeks are enthusiasts, hardcore fans of the stuff often created by nerds. (Dorks are another beast entirely. Few people admit to being a dork.)

Nerds have been with us forever, but the term seems to have been coined by Dr. Seuss, circa 1950. (From If I Ran the Zoo: And then, just to show them, Ill sail to Ka-Troo/And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep, and a Proo,/A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too.)

The word gained further popularity on TVs Happy Days, where the Fonz applied it to almost any young person who was not the Fonz. Around the same time, geek  once the name for carnival performers who bit the heads off live chickens  came into its modern interpretation, referring to intense enthusiasts.

But usage of the terms got sloppy, which will happen with language born of nonsense and burnished by pop culture. Nerd culture came to include almost everything and everyone. A lot of cool people, blessed with mainstream social graces  starlets, titans, TV hosts, politicians  claimed to be nerds. The kind of people you wouldnt find anywhere near Epic Nerd Camp.

Still, geeks are fortunate to live in a time of extreme fandom for almost everything. Geek passions have been catered to and monetized (so many Cons), stoked by social media, especially their profound love of story and fantasy  the rich, unfurling places where they can escape the real world.

Many campers carried Dungeons & Dragons player handbooks plastered with sticky notes, but these days, the favourite sport of nerd campers is Quidditch. Harry Potter is their NFL.

The surprise is not why theres a camp that caters to these folks, but why it took so long for someone to create one.

Growing up, we were the weird ones, said Edward Cohen, 30, of Montreal, who trained in musical theatre and works in a doctors office. A lot of us are neuroatypical. Its a term frequently uttered at ENC. Like other campers, Cohen readily volunteered his physical and emotional issues: arthritis, depression, ADHD. I might also be autistic.

ENC promotes two overarching tenets: Youre free to be who you are, and this is a no-judgment zone. If youre looking for some nerds to troll/bully, ENC is not for you, the camp website states. Well boot you out and keep your money.

Participants described middle and high school as an interminable hell. They had to become adults, and wait for the world to change, to gain acceptance, and find their tribe. Yet it can still be hard to fully unleash their inner geeky selves.

You realize how guarded you are in your daily life, said Luke Richard, 41, who had returned for his third summer. Hes a former truck driver who works as a software developer in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Returning to the real world after camp last summer proved a challenge. I felt naked because all my guards were down. Depression became an issue.

Many couples enrolled here, including Richard and his wife, Angie. Lidia Coe and Evan San Giacomo fell in love here last summer; she moved from Las Vegas to New Jersey to be with him. And when Caitlin OBrien, of Des Moines, first met now-boyfriend Matt Slocum, she suggested a romantic trip to ENC, the nerd equivalent of a weekend in Vegas.

I want to bring people together through activities and cabins, said Kjessler, sitting at the horror makeup table with a giant jug of red-dyed Karo syrup. Some campers arrived alone and petrified, including a young woman who, before arriving in the Poconos, had never travelled alone before or flown anywhere.

No problem, Kjessler told new campers, I will put you in the social anxiety cabin.

The truth is, she said, all the cabins are social-anxiety cabins. I know my people.

Camp cost $599 (U.S.), but a quarter of attendees paid far less by signing on as volunteers and staff. Its clear the Kjesslers arent getting rich from this endeavour; to cover bills, Bentley works part-time as a maintenance technician. Were good at fun, Kjessler admitted. Were not so good at funding.

Kjessler created ENC ultimately so I can make friends, she said. I really wanted to build a community. I think I have.

Her dream is to extend that community beyond five days in August. Kjessler wants to purchase a sylvan parcel of land and create a year-round destination with activities to attract more nerds.

She can always use more nerds.WASHINGTONCanada, the U.S. and Mexico might be able to make an agreement on trade by the U.S. deadline of Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump both said on Wednesday in their most optimistic comments to date about the year-old negotiations.

We gave till Friday and I think were probably on track, Trump said at the White House.

We recognize that there is a possibility of getting there by Friday. But it is only a possibility, because it will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada, a good deal for Canadians, Trudeau said in northern Ontario.

Neither leader had previously suggested a deal could be imminent. The eruption of positivity came just two days after Trump announced a preliminary deal with Mexico alone and threatened to leave Canada out.

A Canadian government official said the resolution of the negotiations would likely come down to a trade: Canada would give the U.S. some more access to its tightly protected dairy market, while the U.S. would agree to preserve NAFTAs current exemption for cultural industries and the current Chapter 19 system for resolving certain tariff disputes.

Theyre talking very tough on Chapter 19. And that, they know, is a red line for us, said the official. So at a certain point theyre going to have the same discussion internally  about 19 and the cultural exception as well, and decide whether they want to swallow hard and make a deal  that were going to have with dairy.

Trump said Wednesday afternoon that the talks were going really well. He revealed that Canadian officials had visited the White House on Tuesday night.

I think Canada very much wants to make the deal and I think its going to be obviously very good for Canada if they do, and I think its probably not going to be good at all if they dont, he said in the Oval Office.

Trudeau, who was in Kapuskasing, said he understood that the Americans and the Mexicans very much want to try and get things done by Friday. Were seeing if we can get to the right place by Friday. But as Ive said all along, it has to be the right deal for Canada and thats what were staying firm on.

In another hint of progress, Trudeau scheduled a call with provincial premiers on Thursday to discuss the state of the negotiations.

Any NAFTA deal would soothe investors, businesspeople and citizens worried about Trumps frequent threats to terminate the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. But the precise details on how the three countries plan to change the rules that govern dozens of industries and more than $1 trillion in annual trade might not be released immediately.

The deal would not come into force until it was ratified by the legislatures of all three countries, including both chambers of the U.S. Congress. Congressional approval could take years and it is no sure thing. Members of both parties have slammed parts of the preliminary U.S.-Mexico deal.

Read more:

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The Canadian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said a deal would retain Canadas system of dairy supply management, which shields dairy farmers from foreign competition through a system of quotas and tariffs, but make incremental tweaks to satisfy the U.S. In negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, Canada agreed to open up 3.25 per cent of the domestic dairy market.

Trudeau has vowed again this week to defend supply management, but he has not ruled out making concessions within the system.

There are a lot of options that involve access and quota, and all the instruments we can use to give the Americans what they want, the official said.

Trump has repeatedly complained to Trudeau about Canadas dairy tariffs. Trudeau faces political pressure, in Quebec in particular, to give no ground. The province is in the middle of an election campaign and all of the major party leaders are urging him to stand firm.

We are opposed  not just my party, but the majority of the Quebec population  are opposed to concessions on supply management. If there are some who think they can go around Quebec  there will be serious political consequences, Liberal Leader and Premier Philippe Couillard said Wednesday, the Montreal Gazette reported.

The Canadian official said a dairy concession from Trudeau would require the U.S. to make two commitments.

First, the U.S. would agree to keep the NAFTA Chapter 19 system, which allows companies to appeal anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs, such as those on softwood lumber, to an independent panel composed of people from the two countries involved, rather than in the domestic courts of the tariff-imposing country.

Second, the U.S. would continue to allow cultural industries to be exempt from the agreement. NAFTAs cultural exemption allows the Canadian government to maintain a variety of rules and subsidies designed to support Canadian content. Such interventions would not normally be allowed under a free-trade regime.

Trump threatened Monday to do a deal with Mexico alone if Canada does not make concessions, prompting a debate in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere about whether he would have the legal power to abandon Canada after notifying Congress about a negotiation that involved Canada.

Members of Congress, including senior Republicans, have pushed back, saying they want Canada involved. So has the U.S. business lobby, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And the Canadian official said people have gotten lost in a procedural argument. There is no doubt, the official said, that Canada will be part of the final agreement.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland held two meetings Wednesday with her U.S. counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

She said she was encouraged and optimistic upon her departure from the morning meeting but she did not provide details. After the evening meeting, she said some Canadian and U.S. officials might work through the night.

The negotiations unfolded as the Trump administration suffered a trade defeat to Canada on a separate matter. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled 5-0 to overturn Trumps tariffs on Canadian newsprint, finding that Canadian imports are not causing significant harm to U.S. producers.

The tariffs, imposed at the request of one U.S. company that owns a paper mill, had raised costs to struggling American newspapers, some of which laid off employees as a result.

According to U.S. officials, the preliminary deal between the U.S. and Mexico includes a 16-year expiration date on a new trade agreement. After six years, though, the countries could decide to renew the agreement for an additional 16 years.

Trudeau has previously said he could not sign a deal that has an expiry date on it, but that was when the U.S. was proposing a five-year termination date. The Canadian official said Wednesday that they were still seeking to precisely understand what the U.S. and Mexico are proposing, but they do not currently see the modified kind of sunset provision as a deal-breaker.

The first read is that it means very little and that its basically a glorified review clause, which of course is something we can live with, the official said.

The three countries want to come to an agreement by Friday so they can start the mandatory 90-day waiting period in time for outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to sign the final agreement. His left-wing successor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, takes office at the beginning of December and is seen as more unpredictable.

Read more about:CAMEROON, CAMEROONOscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that nothing prepared her for the extent and depth of suffering she saw when she visited camps in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled a violent crackdown by Burmas military.

In her very different role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, Blanchett said she heard gut-wrenching accounts of torture, rape, people seeing loved ones killed before their eyes, and children thrown into fire and burned alive.

I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every single refugee child I met, she said. I saw myself in every parent. How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire?

The two-time Academy Award winner said: Their experiences will never leave me.

The Rohingya have long been treated as outsiders in Buddhist-majority Burma, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and they are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.

The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Burma security personnel last August in northern Rakhine State.

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Burmas military responded with counter-insurgency sweeps and has been accused of widespread rights violations, including rape, murder, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes and villages  leading about 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The Security Council meeting on Tuesday commemorated the first anniversary of the crackdown.

Blanchett, who visited refugee camps in Bangladesh in March, recounted stories that were told to her and said it was important to recall that last year wasnt the first attack on the Rohingya.

In 1978, she said, Gul Zahar told her she was a young woman among 200,000 Rohingya refugees who streamed into Bangladesh fleeing brutality and widespread abuse. In 1992, Gul was again among another 250,000 stateless Rohingya who sought safety in Bangladesh. And now at age 90, Blanchett said, Gul is sadly a refugee again living in poverty in Bangladesh with the sole wish that her great grandchildren will have a better future.

The need for this future to transpire inside (Burma) has never been more urgent, Blanchett said. If we fail to act now, Guls grandchildren, like thousands of others, will be unable to escape this relentless cycle that generations of Rohingya have experienced.

The Australian actress said women who were raped by Burma security forces are now giving birth to children who are not only stateless but are likely to carry this stigma for the rest of these lives.

She urged support for the refugees and Bangladeshi host communities, and she implored the Security Council to help the Rohingya return with a clear pathway to full citizenship.

We have failed the Rohingya before, Blanchett said. Please, let us not fail them again.

Read more about:CAIROLibyas coast guard says it has intercepted about 400 Europe-bound migrants off the Mediterranean coast.

Spokesperson Ayoub Gassim said Wednesday that a rubber boat carrying 84 passengers, including six women and five children, was stopped Monday off the town of al-Maya/Al Mayah, 27 kilometres west of Tripoli.

He said that another two boats, carrying 146 passengers, including 26 women and four children, were stopped Monday off the coast of the southwestern town of Abu Kammash.

He said that 162 Europe-bound migrants have been intercepted last week. He said the migrants were given humanitarian and medical aid, and were taken to refugee camps in the towns of Zawiya and Tajoura.

Libyan authorities have stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants, with European assistance.

Read more about:BRUSSELSNATO says the Russian navy is building up its presence in the Mediterranean Sea amid growing tensions over the war in Syria.

Russia has provided crucial military support for Syrian government forces, which are expected to mount an offensive in the northern Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.

We will not speculate on the intention of the Russian fleet, but it is important that all actors in the region exercise restraint and refrain from worsening an already disastrous humanitarian situation in Syria, NATOs chief spokesperson, Oana Lungescu, said Wednesday.

She says several of the Russian ships are equipped with cruise missiles.

Russian defence officials could not be reached for comment. At least eight ships, including a missile cruiser and two missile-carrying submarines, have joined the Russian flotilla over the past three weeks. Russian media reports indicate there are around 15 Russian navy vessels in the Mediterranean overall.

Moscow has repeatedly alleged that Syrian rebels are preparing a chemical weapons attack in Idlib as a provocation to bring a Western attack on Syrian forces.

The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets said the naval buildup was connected to that prospect. The United States and its allies have forced Russia to send a powerful sailing group to the Mediterranean, it wrote on Tuesday.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert called the Russian reports false-flag-type reporting.

Weve seen that before where they try to put the blame  they try to put the onus on other groups and we dont buy into that, she said Wednesday during a regular briefing with reporters in Washington.

Western countries and independent analysts say Syrian government forces have carried out a number of chemical attacks over the course of the seven-year civil war. The U.S. has vowed to respond if Syrian forces use chemical weapons in Idlib. Western countries carried out strikes on Syrian government forces after an alleged chemical attack earlier this year.

Both Syria and Russia deny that government forces have ever used chemical arms.

Read more about:ROMEAt 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano showed up at the Rome apartment of a conservative Vatican reporter with a simple clerical collar, a Rocky Mountains baseball cap and an explosive story to tell.

Vigano, the former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, spent the morning working shoulder to shoulder with the reporter at his dining room table on a 7,000-word letter that called for the resignation of Pope Francis, accusing him of covering up sexual abuse and giving comfort to a homosexual current in the Vatican.

The journalist, Marco Tosatti, said he had smoothed out the narrative. The enraged archbishop brought no evidence, he said, but he did supply the flair, condemning the homosexual networks inside the church that act with the power of octopus tentacles to strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations.

The poetry is all his, Tosatti said.

When the letter was finished, Vigano took his leave, turning off his cellphone. Keeping his destination a secret because he was worried for his own security, Tosatti said, the archbishop then simply disappeared.

The letter, published Sunday, has challenged Francis papacy and shaken the Roman Catholic Church to its core. The pope has said he wont dignify it with a response, yet the allegations have touched off an ideological civil war, with the usually shadowy Vatican backstabbing giving way to open combat.

Read more:

Popes alleged coverup pivots on when, if sanctions imposed

Pope accepts resignation of Theodore McCarrick in wake of sexual abuse allegations

Pope Francis apologizes for Catholic Church 'crimes' in Ireland

The letter exposed deep ideological clashes, with conservatives taking up arms against Francis inclusive vision of a church that is less focused on divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality. But Vigano  who himself has been accused of hindering a sexual misconduct investigation in Minnesota  also seems to be settling old scores.

As the papal ambassador, or nuncio, in the United States, Vigano sided with conservative culture warriors and used his role in naming new bishops to put staunch conservatives in San Francisco, Denver and Baltimore. But he found himself iced out after the election of Pope Francis.

Then in 2015, he personally ran afoul of Francis. Viganos decision to invite a staunch critic of gay rights to greet the pope in Washington during a visit to the United States directly challenged Francis inclusive message and prompted a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip.

Juan Carlos Cruz, an abuse survivor with whom Francis has spoken at length, said the pope recently told him Vigano nearly sabotaged the visit by inviting the critic, Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who became a conservative cause celebre when she refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

I didnt know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me, and of course they made a whole publicity out of it, Francis said, according to Cruz.

And I was horrified and I fired that nuncio, Cruz recalled the pope saying.

Now, three years later, Vigano appears to be trying to return the favour.

Known for his short temper and ambition, Vigano has clashed with superiors who stunted his ascent in the church and has played a key role in some of the most stunning Vatican scandals of recent times.

While Vigano, who was once criticized by church traditionalists as overly pragmatic, has aligned himself with a small but influential group of church traditionalists who have spent years seeking to stop Francis, many of his critics think his personal grudges are central to his motivations.

After one church leader shipped him out of the Vatican to America, thwarting his hopes of receiving a scarlet cardinals hat, Viganos private 2011 memos  many of them deeply unflattering to the leader responsible for his ouster from Rome  were leaked and splashed around the globe.

Supporters of Vigano, who did not return a request for comment, bristle at the notion that his letter calling on the pope to resign represents the fury of a disgruntled excellency. They portray him as principled and shocked by what he sees as the destruction of the church he loves.

Tosatti said the archbishop had explained to him that, as a bishop, he felt a deep responsibility to the church and that, as a 77-year-old man, he wanted to clear his conscience for when his moment came. But he said the archbishop was also infuriated by a recent article in the Italian press sympathetic to Francis and critical of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI  and felt he needed to retaliate.

Vigano is well versed in Vatican infighting. In 1998, Vigano became a central official in the Vaticans powerful office of the secretary of state. In the letter, he writes that his responsibilities included overseeing ambassadors out in the world but also the examination of delicate cases, including those regarding cardinals and bishops.

It was then he says he first learned of the abuses committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the American Catholic leader whose history he says Francis knew about for years  and covered up.

In 2009, then-Bishop Vigano was moved to another job in the Vatican City State, a job with less influence over policy but with power over some of its revenue.

Known as parsimonious, he turned Vatican Citys deficit into a surplus. But his hard-management style prompted complaints, and anonymous emails alleging he was inappropriately promoting the career of his nephew began making the rounds in the Vatican. His style and rigour on vetting Vatican contracts also bothered some leaders, including Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and an anonymous report in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale claimed he had designs on the Vaticans security services.

Cardinal Bertone, who Vigano writes in the letter notoriously favoured promoting homosexuals, banished him to the United States.

Throughout his power struggle, Vigano wrote urgent appeals to Benedict to stay in the Vatican.

He said he needed to stay because his brother, a Jesuit biblical scholar, was sick and needed care, and he accused Bertone of breaking his promise to promote him to the rank of cardinal.

In 2012, when he was already in the United States as nuncio, or ambassador, the letters started appearing in leaks eventually pinned on the popes butler. The scandal consumed the Vatican and prompted intense blowback.

But Viganos brother, Lorenzo Vigano, told Italian journalists that his brother lied to Benedict that he had to remain in Rome because he had to take care of me, sick. To the contrary, he said he had lived in Chicago and was fine and hadnt talked to his brother in years over an inheritance dispute.

Vigano maintained his position as ambassador in the United States after the election of Francis. But in the letter published Sunday, he alleged the former Cardinal McCarrick orchestrated the selection of bishops blinded by a gay ideology that he blames for the sex abuse crisis.

Yet Vigano has been accused of covering up misconduct as well. According to documents disclosed as part of a criminal investigation into the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, he ordered bishops in April 2014 to quash an investigation into accusations that Archbishop John Nienstedt engaged in sexual misconduct with adult men and adult seminarians.

Vigano, anticipating the criticism, gave Tosatti a statement denying those reports Wednesday.

After angering Francis during the Kim Davis episode, Vigano was called back to Rome to explain himself. In a sign of his desire to move back permanently, he refused to give up his Vatican apartment. Reports in the Italian media this week asserted that after removing Vigano from his position, Pope Francis also kicked him out of the apartment.

But Vigano returned from his Milan home often enough, joining forces with traditionalists antagonistic to Francis.

And he returned this summer to get working on the letter.

About a month ago, Tosatti said he received a call from the archbishop, asking if he could meet with him in a discreet place. Vigano told the reporter his story but said he wasnt ready to go on the record.

But when news of decades of widespread clerical abuse in Pennsylvania broke, Tosatti urged the archbishop to tell his story. On Aug. 22, he returned, this time with a written statement.

Tosatti said that he saw no documents or other evidence, and after three hours, they finished.

The archbishop asked Tosatti if he knew anyone who could publish it in English and Spanish. Tosatti sent the letter to the National Catholic Register, which is owned by a company that runs several conservative Catholic platforms often critical of Francis.

They are all tied, said Tosatti, who said he alone helped draft and distribute the letter.

Its publication was delayed, not so that it would blow up Francis trip to Ireland over the weekend amid the sexual abuse crisis, he said, but so that it could be translated.

After they were done writing it, Tosatti said he accompanied Vigano to the door and bowed to kiss his ring, only to see the hand pull back.

Tosatti explained that it wasnt a personal respect he wanted to show, but respect for his office and authority.

Its not for you, Tosatti recalled telling him as tears welled in the archbishops eyes. Its for the role you have.

The archbishop told him, Now that I have finished, I can leave, and leave Rome, too, according to Tosatti.

Where will you go? Tosatti recalled asking.

I will not tell you so that when they ask you, you will not have to lie  and I will shut off my phone, the archbishop said, according to the reporter, who said that both men suspected the Vatican of tapping their phones.Its a time of reckoning for Canadas commitment to diversity and inclusion as a new poll shows that many among us want to see the number of immigrants coming into our country reduced.

According to the Angus Reid Institute, 49 per cent of surveyed Canadians want to see the federal governments 2018 target of 310,000 immigrants reduced.

This statistic is both startling and revealing because this is the first time since Justin Trudeau became prime minister that such a large number of Canadians are saying there should be fewer immigrants to Canada.

The Liberal government under Prime Minister Trudeau has raised the target for new permanent residents from approximately 250,000 under the Conservative government of former prime minister Stephen Harper. The target for 2017 was 300,000, rising to 310,000 for this year and increasing incrementally in the coming years to 340,000 in 2020.

Extrapolate this poll finding and you will find a troubling consensus building across the political spectrum. Past Conservative voters are most critical of immigration levels, past Liberal supporters are four times more likely to prefer a reduction to an increase, as are past NDP voters.

What is even more of a concern is that Canadians seem to be shying away from providing hope and a safe haven for the worlds most vulnerable.

While the global refugee crisis worsens and the need for humanitarian aid increases, a significant number of Canadians want to see Canadas helping hand pull back.

Encouragingly, the other half of Canadians say we should accept more refugees and humanitarian-class immigrants, or at least maintain the current levels.

While the politics of hate and division continue to be fuelled by the current leadership of our southern neighbour and by the far-right movements in Europe, it is imperative for our political leaders to continue being strong custodians of Canadas pluralistic identity.

This new poll shows a fraying of our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

It is also a clarion call that we cannot take diversity and inclusion for granted.

If we want to continue to stand out as a beacon of pluralistic values, we need to find out why an increasing number of Canadians want to shut the door on newcomers.

At the same time, we need to empower the other half of Canadians whose thoughts, word and actions personify that diversity is Canadas main strength.

If we help Canadians consider perspectives other than their own and encourage civil debate, it will broaden the basis for critical thought and promote cultural understanding.

It will also bring attention to Canadian competencies that have helped remove racial tensions, barriers to entry into the job market and the development of policies on integration, immigration and acceptance of refugees.

Our pluralistic values didnt happen by accident, and wont continue without concerted and increased efforts to showcase civility over divisiveness, compassion over tolerance and love over hatred.

That will illustrate that Canadians cherish the fact that the strength of any majority is how it treats its established minorities and newcomers.

And it will ultimately show that diversity in Canada has the capacity to inspire the world.

Olga Stachova is the chief executive officer of the Multi-lingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities (MOSAIC), which has served immigrant, newcomer and refugee communities in Metro Vancouver for the past 42 years.

Read more about:In the early days of Canadas public conversation about Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), Dr. Jeff Blackmer, then vice president of the Canadian Medical Association, expressed the gravitas of the policy choices that lay ahead as no less than a sea change to the ethos and culture of the medical profession.

That was in 2016, after the Supreme Court had issued its landmark decision to authorize physicians to end the lives of consenting patients under certain strict conditions, but before the government of Canada had settled on its legislative response. In the two years since Dr. Blackmers assessment, a federal law on assisted dying has been enacted and operationalized, procedures and protocols are in place, and numerous court challenges and academic studies are underway.

As of year-end 2017, more than 3,700 Canadians have died as a result of our new medically assisted dying policy. Yet an appropriate monitoring system is not yet in place.

On the surface, one might venture that this radical transformation to the Canadian health landscape has been made without a hitch. We have, it appears, moved on from moral angst and heated debate to second-tier concerns.

Rules to protect vulnerable persons are etched into the federal law and professional authorities in each Canadian province and territory have issued practice directives and educational resources on MAID. A new professional body, the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers, has emerged and is focusing attention on refinements, such as whether practitioners are adequately compensated, or if MAIDs bureaucratic requirements need streamlining.

But too little is known about how persons who are eligible for MAID actually experience this new choice. And nothing is known about how those of us who care for those persons may have begun to calculate the value of their lives differently.

That is why the federal governments new Regulations for the Monitoring of Medical Assistance in Dying, published mid-summer and scheduled to come into effect in November, are deeply disappointing. The regulations fall short of a good-faith effort to understand the role that social determinants of health, such as poverty, insecure housing, isolation or social stigma, may play in motivating a request to die.

The monitoring promised to Canadians when the law was passed, remains elusive, failing to provide the needed assurance that MAID must never become a replacement for shortcomings in other care.

There have been warning signs.

When Archie Rolland requested and received a medically assisted death in Quebec in 2016, he made it clear that it was not his illness, but rather the distress and deprivations of inadequate care that had made his life intolerable.

More recently in Ontario, Roger Foley has reported that although his claims for disability support arrangements of his choosing have been denied, he is free to pursue a medically assisted death. Assisted life, no. Assisted death, yes.

Are these isolated cases? Or are they the tip of the iceberg? Genuine, comprehensive monitoring could help us know. But its not in place.

Nor will it be, under the new regulations. The Impact Assessment report appended to the new regulations make clear that the governments expectation is that approximately 10 minutes are required to electronically file each report submitted by a practitioner familiar with the reporting requirements for MAID.

Because medically assisted dying is, in fact, a narrow exemption to the criminal prohibition of homicide, and represents a departure from the Hippocratic oath by which physicians are bound, assessing its impacts must be infinitely more thorough than an electronic form where boxes are checked and cases are reported in 10 minutes or less.

MAID monitoring must be far more than an administrative exercise.

The act of ending the life of another human being raises fundamental questions of human dignity and rights. How will the most vulnerable members of our community be protected from the ultimate harm? How will persons with authority and power be held accountable? How will the kindly but insidious forces of inducement to MAID be kept in check?

How will we ensure that the cost effectiveness of MAID will not override our social commitment to shoulder the costs of care and to promote equity and human flourishing? How will we track and correct for any slippage in human rights norms and our collective notions of a life worth living?

To monitor MAID responsibly, we must hear more voices, consider more perspectives, probe for more answers and be more fearless in the face of what those answers might reveal.Grassroots Tories target carbon taxes, Aug. 26

Journalist Alex Boutilier makes it apparent that grassroots Conservatives are greedy and selfish people who would rather let future generations clean up the mess of climate change, prevent migrants from seeking refuge here and cut foreign aid for maternal and newborn health.

With these party members, most issues boil down to the money. They are unable or unwilling to see past their noses to realize that there might be a financial reward down the road. One perfect example is how they opposed raising minimum wages in Ontario for fear that an increase would drive out jobs and hurt the economy. Recent statistics prove that belief to be totally wrong.

Will reason prevail as the Tories come up with party policy? Ed Fast, Conservative shadow minister for the environment, gives little hope when he categorically states that carbon taxes are toxic to our economy, to our competitiveness as a nation.

J.R. Cousins, Bowmanville, Ont.

What year is this? Once again, in a country with serious problems to address, we have a group focused in typical right-wing religious fervour on womens uteruses. Too blunt?I lived and died a proud American.

The late Sen. John McCain, in a poignant farewell message to his country.

The world is full of heroes, many of whom are never known beyond their families, their communities.

John McCain, who was first to admit his own flaws and frailties, was a colossus of valour.

Not just because he spent five and a half years as a tortured prisoner of the North Vietnamese  shot out of sky, breaking both arms and a leg when he parachuted into a lake, later refusing an offer of release unless fellow American POWs were set free first  but because, when it mattered most, he rose above partisanship and rabid polarizing animus.

A political maverick who twice failed in a bid for the U.S. presidency  his selection of Sarah Palin for VP among his most ill-advised gambits  McCain spent six decades serving his nation, as a Navy pilot from a dynastic military family, and through six terms as Arizona senator.

We are citizens of the worlds greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world.

McCain: Hero.

Donald Trump: Zero.

What a shallow, petulant wreck of a man is the president of the United States.

Bitter and vengeful to the end.

It may indeed have been hypocritical for Trump  his initial response to McCains death from brain cancer on Saturday limited to a 21-word tweet that made no mention of the senator as either a war hero or decades of public service  to have waxed more eloquently. But only the most churlish  and Trump knows churl  would have criticized him for it.

Instead, Trumps niggardly behaviour served as a metaphor for the demise of civility in a country seized by unprecedented divisiveness and lowbrow vitriol.

He is congenitally incapable of unifying. He revels in chaos. He is a pathological liar. His pettiness is exceeded only by his deceitfulness, zigzagging with dodges and denials, endlessly fulminating or praising himself on Twitter in the early morning hours.

On Monday, during a media session announcing a new trade agreement with Mexico  Canada on the NAFTA negotiations sideline  Trump, stone-faced, studiously ignored shouted questions from journalists about McCains legacy, while aides drowned out the questioning, much the same way that clap-out minions step on reporters at Premier Doug Fords press conferences.

Not until late Monday, after two days of intense blowback, including scathing admonishment from veterans groups, did Trump grudgingly offer a more fulsome tribute, also signing a proclamation to fly the flag over the White House at half-mast until McCain is interred on Saturday. That flag  which represents the country, not Trump  had been lowered Saturday and raised to full-staff Monday morning.

Trump never misses an opportunity to debase himself and that flag.

Yet even then, Trump led with himself  despite our differences on policy and politics  because he never takes the high road.

We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down. When we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.

This, the president who disputed McCains warrior courage during the presidential campaign, deriding the decorated veteran as not a war hero because hed spent all those years in captivity. I like people that werent captured.

But that was not the first time Trump  who five times deferred the Vietnam War draft, once on medical grounds for bone spurs in his feet  had mocked McCains war record. A video has recently resurfaced, from a 1991 interview with Dan Rather, in which he stated: He was captured. Does being captured make you a hero? I dont know. Im not sure.

In these recent days, the president has single-handedly turned McCains death into a political firestorm all about Trump. That may have briefly pushed his tangle of legal issues off the front pages  last week was a disaster for the White House  but he actually antagonized the ultrapatriotic base that helped secure his presidential victory. Hence the rare reversal.

McCains death is a tremendous loss for his family, friends and colleagues. Almost as significantly, however, death silenced a voice which continued to speak for the integrity of a Republican Party that has woefully lost its way, all those pols who lack the stones to utter a peep of resistance, a whiff of ideological challenge.

It was McCain  belittled by many Republicans as a Rino (Republican in name only)  who walked slowly onto the floor of the Senate chamber last July, after hed been diagnosed with brain cancer, and voted thumbs-down to permanently repeal Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act, leaving Trumps signature legislation in tatters.

It was McCain who fought to have a report on American use of torture after 9/11 released because the American people have a right  indeed a responsibility  to know what was done in their name.

It was McCain who memorably released a statement to the Pakistani-American Khans, who son was killed in Iraq and then found themselves attacked by Trump: Thank you for immigrating to America. Were a better country because of you.

It was McCain who championed bipartisan immigration reform that offered a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants without legal status, which put him at odds with his own party.

There were demerits on the other side of the ledger, of course. But McCain was usually a voice of sanity within a party that has lost its marbles.

We are 325 million opinionated vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.

Trump came to loathe McCain. Two weeks ago, in front of a military audience, he formally signed a defence bill known as the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, without ever using McCains name.

It should be said, McCain often gave as good as he got.

In July, following Trumps meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, McCain slammed that awful joint press conference as one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in history.

The damage inflicted by President Trumps naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake. President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.

Do not despair of our present difficulties. We believe always in the promise and greatness of America. Because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit, we never surrender, we never hide from history. We make history.

McCain left express instructions that Trump not attend his funeral. He asked that presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama deliver eulogies.

How will Trump be remembered, when his time comes?

Farewell fellow Americans. God bless you and God bless America.

Correction  Aug. 30, 2018: This column was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said John McCain was an Air Force pilot. In fact, he was a Naval aviator.

Rosie DiManno is a columnist based in Toronto covering sports and current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno

Read more about:Every premier has a stake in the latest episode of the NAFTA political drama. But as a make-or-break round of Canada/U.S. negotiations unfolds in Washington this week, one stands more directly in the line of fire.

Quebecs Philippe Couillard already faces long odds as he campaigns for re-election on Oct. 1.

At last count, the Liberals were still lagging well behind the leading Coalition Avenir Quebec among the francophone voters who will determine the outcome of the vote. A Leger poll published in Le Devoir and the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday showed a 19-point gap between the two.

With barely four weeks left to reverse his partys fortunes, the last thing Couillard needs is for the federal government to make major concessions on the front of the supply management system in exchange for a resolution of the NAFTA quandary.

No Quebec premier has ever been keen to take on the provinces dairy lobby in a re-election campaign. But if that were the only issue, it could be manageable.

Read more:

Opinion | Philippe Couillard picks a bad time to break a promise

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard stays positive as he falls behind in opinion polls

Opinion | Unlike Ontario, there is a path to power for Liberals in Quebec

Like every other lobby, this one is more efficient within the narrower confines of party politics than on the larger electoral stage. It takes a lot more foot soldiers to change the outcome of a general election than to influence the choice of a federal opposition leader.

Quebec voters are more ambivalent about the quota system that protects Canadas dairy and poultry industries from foreign competition than the unadulterated support of the provinces political class would suggest.

An Angus Reid poll published on Wednesday pegged the proportion of Quebecers that would rather sacrifice NAFTA than eliminate Canadas supply management system at about one third. Another third would give up the policy and the rest were undecided. That puts the province in the same ballpark as Ontario and British Columbia.

Support for the policy is mitigated by support for NAFTA.

Going all the way back to former prime minister Brian Mulroneys initial agreement with the U.S. in the late 1980s, Quebec has been a staunch free trade supporter.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau again repeated that he was not interested in negotiating away Canadas protected dairy market. But in the big picture, Trudeau could pay a higher political price in his home province for failing to keep Canada under the NAFTA umbrella than for opening a big breach in the supply management system.

The reverse may be true of Couillard. There are few more lethal charges that can be levelled at a Quebec premier seeking reelection than the contention that he has failed to defend the provinces interests.

That is the perception he will have to fend off should a diluted supply management system be the price Canada agrees to pay to get to a NAFTA deal.

Earlier this week, the premier said he would not support a deal struck on the backs of the provinces dairy and poultry farmers. The initial inference was that Quebec could veto the outcome of the NAFTA talks. It cannot.

Given that, Couillard was asked on Wednesday what contingency response he had in mind should Canada cross his red line. Just watch me, he answered.

But in contrast with the late Pierre Trudeau, who famously delivered that line to a journalist before sending the armed forces into Quebec during the October crisis of 1970, Couillard lacks the actual means to prevent Ottawa from opening the countrys dairy market to more American competition.

Even if droves of Quebecers were inclined to go to the barricades over the issue, it is not a given that they would want a premier on whose watch the system would have been used as a bargaining chip to curry favour with the U.S. A plurality of voters already perceives CAQ Leader Francois Legault as a better champion of Quebecs interests.

There was a time when saving Quebecs main federalist party from electoral defeat was a top priority on Parliament Hill. In 2007, Stephen Harpers Conservative government gave an embattled Jean Charest a timely helping hand by presenting a federal budget  in the very last stretch of the provincial campaign  that included measures the then-premier could claim as significant wins for Quebec.

Harper was driven more by aversion for a return to power of a referendum-bent sovereigntist government than by affection for his Quebec ally. Such a return is unlikely to be in the cards this year. A week in the campaign, the polls still show that the PQs official party status in the National Assembly could hang in the balance of the October vote.

From a unity perspective, and notwithstanding the premiers fighting words, the Quebec Liberals have rarely been more expendable than this fall.

Chantal Hebert is a columnist based in Ottawa covering politics. Follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert

Read more about:VANCOUVERClaire Dooley was 13 when climate change first hit home. It was 2015, and the first year she saw the wildfire smoke blanketing her Vancouver neighbourhood.

It was scary to look outside and see the smoke invading my childhood memories, she said. Its everywhere in my hometown and the place I grew up, where all my childhood memories are  its almost claustrophobic.

Now 16, Dooley has been increasingly worried about the changing climate, fearing the world may be completely different only a few years from now when she embarks upon adulthood.

I think in todays world of climate change, its terrifying to be growing up in it ... I just feel like its this thought thats in my mind all the time, she said. I have two years until I graduate and its really hard to try and follow my dreams when I dont know what the world will look like.

Claire is one of a new generation determined to love the Earth while they can because they believe it will be gone all too soon. Climate change has created a generation that feels what experts are calling ecological grief.

More researchers have been looking into the psychological effects of climate change, especially since experts have warned that the cycle of fires and floods in B.C. appear to be here to stay. A 2017 recent study on health impacts of a smoky summer in Yellowknife showed that people demonstrated feelings of fear and isolation due to the rapidly changing climate, calling the feeling ecological grief over the loss of the environment they once knew.

Byran Buraga, a 19-year-old public policy student and former director of Kids for Climate Action, has seen the B.C. climate shift in a worrying direction in the past few years, and said he is absolutely concerned about climate change.

He grew up in Vancouver, and while he is now going to school in Montreal, he has returned to B.C. for the past two summers expecting a season of beautiful weather. But now memories of wildfire smoke are prominent in his mind, prompting fears that the summer climate in B.C. may be forever changed.

This year, once again near the tail end of the summer, one the of last memories I had was super-smoky conditions and not being able to enjoy the B.C. environment, he said. Im worried this indicates the start of a new pattern and it will affect the way of life and increased health problems for people.

One of the things Buraga enjoyed was going out to Kitsilano Beach with his family. He worries those beach days may now be a rarity, for him and future generations.

I liked just laying down a mat and taking in the sights in the water from the beach, having a nice picnic and seeing the view, he said. But because of the wildfires, theres no more sun and you cant do that. Those experiences of going out to enjoy nature, Im worried I wont be able to share that with my kids.

Dooleys view of the world is wildly different from just two generations before, when the major generational fear was the threat of nuclear invasion. Jean Swanson, a 75-year old anti-pipeline protester and Vancouver city-council candidate, said that climate change is one of the many issues that the current generation has inherited from the past.

I remember hiding under desks. That was my generation, said Swanson, remembering the looming Cold War threat of being bombed, where schoolchildren were instructed to duck and cover for safety.

Swanson said things have not necessarily gotten better. Instead, these things are compounding with the threat of climate change, as well as war, economic failure, and other issues being inherited by the current generation instead of fixed.

For Swanson, the fear is that she will not be able to share the wonders of the world with her grandchildren.

I want my grandson to see the glaciers before they are lost, she said.

This sense of anxiety and tension around climate change is beginning to be studied more in-depth by researchers looking into the health of people closely impacted it.

Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo, director of the Labrador Institute at Memorial University, recently coined the term ecological grief to describe an emotion that kept coming up in her work with Inuit communities in Northern Labrador. She was looking into how climate change was impacting these remote communities, interviewing more that 90 people about the ways in which the changes to the land had impacted their health.

The mental health impacts were actually what people were identifying as their biggest concern, she said.

Surprised by this finding, she began to delve more into the topic, looking into how people were affected by the summer of smoke in Yellowknife in 2014 and partnering with Australian researchers looking into farmers dealing with drought. She found that a sense of loss was increasingly common.

Theres been an evolution where a lot of people were talking about grief and mourning related to a changing climate. There are a whole range of emotions, like grief, with the sense of losing something special, and something beloved.

While her research has been focused on a select few remote communities, Cunsolo said that the sense of grief and anxiety around climate change can affect everyone because we are all impacted by the climate.

People are differently vulnerable but we are all vulnerable to the various impacts of climate change.

Cunsolo said that young people arent alone in their worries about the future. When her paper on ecological grief was first published, she said she was inundated by readers who told her that she had touched on a feeling they had been unable to describe.

This is something so many people are experiencing, and likely will continue to experience, she said.

But the wildfires, and climate change in general, are also impacting mental health in more urgent ways.

Sarah Hamid-Balma, the director of mental health promotion at the B.C. Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said that she has seen climate change impact mental health on two levels: the immediate mental distress caused from being forced to evacuate, and the more subtle, prolonged feeling of anxiety or loss for people who are seeing the smoke and watching the crisis unfold from afar.

To help people dealing with emotions related to the first situation, the CMHA has launched a confidential help line  Talk in Tough Times  for people who may be struggling to recover from the trauma of the 2017 wildfires evacuations.

For people who have been evacuated or were on alert last year, the news is reminding them or triggering a sense of loss. For some people the stress can also be a huge trigger, said Hamid-Balma.

She also said that while there isnt any data available for how the wildfire smoke has impacted peoples overall mental health or worries about the climate, it is an issue something they are interested in studying. Hamid-Balma said that most people in her office have at least one or two people talk to them about these types of worries and more information is needed to understand the phenomena.

Young people are finding their own ways of dealing with their feelings. This past spring Dooley joined her high school classmates in a production of Happy Thoughts, a play that explored an end-of-the-world scenario where people had been oblivious to global warming and climate change until the world was destroyed. She said the idea for the story immediately resonated with her peers, who tried to inject the scenario with a bit of humour.

But Dooley said that it seems like the world has already changed for good. Climate change looms so large, that she said its hard to just be a young person without worrying about how she can help the planet.

We have such a big obligation to the world around us, we cant even be kids anymore, she said.

Read more about:GODFREY  Leah Becoat and 3 Purple Coats Productions are at it again, with a play that not only has a moral, it makes the cast and audience members think about the plight of others  and the future.

Andy the Dreamer is the story of a 14-year-old boy (played by Jaron Ammons), who is homeless and struggling to keep his dreams alive. He, along with his best friend, Brandon (Garland Moore) deal with hunger pangs, street bullies and more. The play will be presented the third weekend of September at Hatheway Cultural Center in Godfrey.

It is a story that speaks to the dreamer in us all, said Becoat, who not only wrote, but directs the production. Im a teacher, so its natural for me to try and teach a lesson. Open your heart. Show compassion. Be known for good works.

The story follows the two boys, who dream of eating real food, having a home and going back to school alive, all while trying to evade Officer Donut (Tracy Webster Cooley) and Dirty Darryl (Tahler Holloway). Andy is also estranged from his big sister, Andrea, and hopes to one day find her. Ammons real-life twin brother, Jovon Ammons, helps the audience take a look at future Andy.

Other characters and cast members include, Deputy Rich (Gerad Bruce); thug 2 (Courteney Wilson, also the student director); Lenise (Angelica Jones); Kita Shelton (Debbie Riddlespriger); Momma T (LaFondria Toni Booth) and John Storebucks (Darrel McCrady). The ensemble is made up of Heaven Everage, Kennedy Lacey, Eniyah Fields, Sinaya Bruce, AMyiah Pittman and Aaliyah Meeks.

This years entire cast is devoted and dynamic, Becoat said. Many of them have never missed a rehearsal.

Becoat has written poems, short stories and plays, and likes for her writing to deliver a message.

And, I want my plays to be diverse and appeal to everyone; to involve everyone  black, white and all ages, she said. I feel like Andy the Dreamer contains a little bit of every play I have written since 2013. This story was very difficult to write, partly due to the subject matter  homelessness.

More Information If you go: What: "Andy the Dreamer," presented by 3 Purple Coats Productions When: 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 15 & 3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 16; doors 6:30 p.m. Where: Hatheway Cultural Center, Lewis and Clark Community College campus, Godfrey Info: Tickets cost $15 in advance; $20 at the door; always $10 for those age 16 and younger. Advance ticket locations are Today's Beauty Supply, 1415 Central Ave., and the YWCA of Alton. For more information call 618-670-2395. See More Collapse

One in ten teens is homeless in America. New York, which happens to be the setting for Andy, has the highest number of homeless persons. Last year, I had an opportunity to work with troubled teens, many of whom had been homeless. Their stories touched my heart in a very profound way. So often, people become consumed with their lives and its easy to forget about the people who have not. They are all around us.

Becoat studied English at the University of Missouri St. Louis, and she and her two sisters, Dee Dee and Nana, formed the theater company, 3 Purple Coats Productions (using wordplay on their last name and their mutual love of all things purple). And, always inventive, most recently in response to her own personal need, Becoat created Manus Magic, a cream made specifically for dry, itchy skin, available via Manus Magic Facebook page.

Also, for the first time, 3 Purple Coats Productions will be giving away two monetary college scholarships following the Sunday, Sept. 16, performance.

With some of the current cast members attending college this fall, we knew the time was right, Becoat said. We plan for it to be an annual tradition.

The YWCA of Alton and Dorothy Hummel provided space to 3 Purple Coats for Andy the Dreamer rehearsals, as the production company continues to grow.

This summer, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville graduate Sarah Goins, with a background in dance and theater, joined the current production as lead choreographer.

And, this is our second year of having a live band in the production, Becoat noted. Our music director is Brenda Mack Lancaster, an instructor at Lewis and Clark Community College, who comes with over thirty years experience.

Andy the Dreamer will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, at Hatheway Cultural Center on the Godfrey campus of Lewis and Clark Community College. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.. Tickets cost $15 in advance; $20 at the door; always $10 for those age 16 and younger. Advance ticket locations are Todays Beauty Supply, 1415 Central Ave., and the YWCA of Alton. For more information call 618-670-2395.

Reach writer Vicki Bennington at vbennington@sbcglobal.net and Twitter @vicben1.ALTON  Edwardsville/Collinsville-based Curtains Up Theater Company and Alton Little Theater joined together to pay tribute to late playwright Neil Simon, just days since his passing.

This past Sunday, Curtains Up Theater Company, along with people all over the world, mourned the loss of one of Americas finest playwrights, a Curtains Up Theater Co. member stated in a news release.

Curtains Up and Alton Little Theater will present one of Simons most lauded comedic plays, Gods Favorite, Friday, Sept. 14, through Sunday, Sept. 16, and Friday, Sept. 21, through Sunday, Sept. 23, at Alton Little Theaters Showcase stage, 2450 N. Henry St., in Alton. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. for Friday and Saturday performances and 2 p.m. for Sunday performances. starts at

Simon, who died Aug. 26, is considered a comedic genius by his industry and fans. He gave laughter to millions through his movies and work for television, including The Odd Couple, The Goodbye Girl, Brighton Beach Memoirs and California Suite, to name just a few.

Simon also tackled drama with aplomb, winning the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Lost in Yonkers. The award is designated for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.

Gods Favorite, produced on Broadway in 1974, is Simons play loosely based on the biblical Book of Job. The story depicts a (rare) devout multi-millionaire, whose faith is tested. One night a messenger from God arrives, and, as in the biblical story, goes through all manner of temptations to get him to renounce God. When he refuses, he is visited by all the afflictions imaginable. He encounters every malady and yet stands firm in the midst of collapsing real estate around him. Gods Favorite is often described as Simons most imaginative play. It was a big hit at Alton Little Theater 20 years ago and the story begs for revival, Alton Little Theaters Lee Cox said.

Alton Little Theater, established in 1934, is a nonprofit community theater located in Alton, traditionally producing five shows a year from September to May.

Curtains Up Theater Co. is a community theater company that performs in Madison County area, primarily in Collinsville and Edwardsville. It also is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a variety of quality theatrical experiences to the community.

Tickets for Gods Favorite are available at www.altonlittletheater.org.Thirty-five local college students received Jacksonville Promise scholarships during a ceremony Tuesday at MacMurray Colleges Putnam-Springer Center.

The 2018 award recipients received scholarships of up to $2,500 to cover tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year. This marks the third year of the Jacksonville Promise program.

Jacksonville Promise is a locally established scholarship meant to promote the educational opportunities available in Jacksonville and make them more accessible for students with roots in the community, said Dr. Charles Sheaff, president of Jacksonville Promise.

The anticipated impact of the organization on the local community includes increased academic performance in primary grades, college enrollment and college retention, as well as decreased truancy and juvenile crime, Sheaff said. The objective of the program is the economic growth of our community, the support of our local students, and the support of our colleges.

Scholarships were awarded Tuesday to 20 Illinois College students, 14 Lincoln Land Community College students and one MacMurray College student.

In 2016, Jacksonville Promise awarded 17 scholarships; 19 scholarships were presented last year.

This years dramatic increase in scholarships was due to increased community awareness and the major efforts of high school counselors to direct students to this opportunity, said Lynne Sheaff, a member of the Jacksonville Promise board of directors.

In Jacksonville Promises first year, 2016, the organization raised $40,000. Last year, it raised $60,000, and this year, $80,000.

The increase in contributions is largely due to grants from the Tracy Family Foundation and the Findley Family Foundation, Lynne Sheaff said. Thanks to these foundations, every dollar contributed by the general public goes toward scholarships.

The 2018 recipients are Ellie Abell, Alex Anderson, Nicholas Bauer, Anna Bezler, Kaleb Birdsell, Andrew Blue, Hunter Chumley, Ashton Jane Cook, Jacie Coultas, Delani Dillard, Ethan Elmore, Megan Evans, Haley Haarmann, Sydney Hembrough, Allyson Huffman, Breanne Kaufmann, Erica Lay, Joshua Lewis, Mallory Martin, Tyler Maul, Brennan Moore, Brooks Moore, Elysia Moore, Ragen Myers, Jonah Pattie, William Peak, Alaina Plowman, Kourtney Pollitt, Ryley Savage, Chase Tomhave, Jaiden Valentine, Ethan Welch, Klay Wood, Chloe Woods and Billie Grace Wooldridge.

The scholarship is available to public or private school graduates who attend at least ninth through 12th grades at a school in the geographic boundaries of Jacksonville School District 117 and choose also to pursue their higher education in Jacksonville.

Information about donating and the scholarship application can be found on the Jacksonville Promise website.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.EDWARDSVILLE  A man charged with the first-degree murder of a Wood River woman in a downtown Alton parking lot was warned to leave the premises prior to the incident, according to a lawsuit recently filed by a surviving victim.

Ashley Allgood, who was in the parking lot with the fatally struck victim Katie Bunt of Wood River, claims in her suit that defendant Caleb Lenhardt had been told by police to leave the premises on July 22 when the killing occurred.

The defendants behavior was beyond mere negligence and was willful and wanton. Defendant departed only to return later to terrorize, torment, taunt and irritate persons in the parking lot.

Defendant was also subject to multiple orders of protection that he violated on the day in question. Further, defendant had previously posted his plans to engage in bad acts prior to his injuring plaintiff, the suit alleges.

Lenhardt allegedly drove directly into Allgood, who sustained severe injuries and has experienced great pain and suffering which is likely to continue into the future, the suit claims. Allgood is represented by Brian M. Wendler of Edwardsville.

Lenhardt, 21, of the first block of Sycamore Street, Alton, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly backed a vehicle at a high rate of speed into a group of people in the pre-dawn hours.

He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of failure to report a traffic crash involving injury or death, and aggravated battery for allegedly injuring Allgood.

Lenhardt allegedly fled the scene in his vehicle, then on foot. He was later located by an Alton police K-9 unit.

The facts alleged in these charges are the result of an extensive, well-executed investigation by the Alton Police Department and assisting agencies. What they found reveals a brutal intent to cause death and destruction. In a matter of seconds, so many young lives were devastated and damaged forever, said Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons in a press release July 23.EDWARDSVILLE  Administrative hearing on Madison Countys 911 consolidation plan is now scheduled to take three days in mid-September, but is likely to be put off until at least October.

At a hearing Tuesday afternoon on whether a Madison County judge has jurisdiction on hearing a lawsuit over the plan, it was noted that the state-level hearings reset Monday for Sept. 19-21 will probably be put off for at least several weeks because of scheduling problems.

The hearing before Circuit Judge David Dugan was over the local courts jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit filed by Madison Countys Emergency Telephone System Board seeking to bar St. Clair County 911 from intervening in the state hearing. Madison County had sought an emergency injunction delaying the state hearing until the local case could be heard.

Dugan and the attorneys for all sides noted that the rescheduling of the state hearing to mid-September made the injunction a moot point right now, but he would have a ruling on jurisdiction within about 10 days.

Attorneys for both counties 911 systems, and the Illinois Attorney Generals Office, argued in front of Dugan.

Madison County was to have implemented its 911 consolidation plan by Aug. 1, but delays in holding the administrative review hearing in Springfield have caused it to miss that deadline.

St. Clair County has challenged the legality of Madison Countys 911 plan, which calls for reducing 911 call centers, called pubic service answering points, to eight from 16. St. Clair County went to a single call center.

Madison County 911 has filed a suit in Edwardsville seeking a determination that St. Clair County has no legal standing in the state hearing.

Before that can be settled, the local court must determine whether it can hear the case.

All sides appear to agree that normally the local court would not have jurisdiction until after the administrative law judge has made a ruling.

However, Madison County ETSB attorney Ben Marble argued that there were six separate exceptions to that general rule that this case fell under, including a lack of language in the state law covering the hearing allowing St. Clair County to intervene and irreparable harm done to ETSB.

Assistant Illinois Attorney General Anapama Paruchuri argued that they had to wait until the administrative law judge ruled, and that under sovereign immunity the Circuit Court cant overrule the administrative law court.

St. Clair County 911 attorney Kevin Kaufold argued that because the two 911 agencies are connected through intergovernmental agreements that the administrative law judge had originally given them several minutes to comment, then extended that time and eventually ruled they had standing to intervene.

That kind of interconnection  established our interest, Kaufold said, adding the Madison County plan would have substantial impact on St. Clair County.

Dugan asked a few questions as the attorneys made their arguments. Before announcing his decision to issue a ruling in about 10 days, he asked if that would impact Madison Countys 911 operations, and was told it would not.

Well give it priority, Dugan said, also noting he wants to consider separately the issues of jurisdiction and standing.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.ALTON  The Civil War prison at Alton was guarded by a variety of regiments. One was stranger than the others.

The 37th Iowa, which was stationed at Alton for six months in late 1863, was unusual for several reasons, mainly because of the age of its recruits. Over half were older than the traditional Civil War service cutoff of 45, leading to the unique nickname of the regiment  the Greybeards.

The idea for the 37th was concocted by George Kincaid, a 50-year-old farmer from Muscatine, Iowa who was described as a tall, rawboned, gray-haired man of stern principles and a devout teetotaler.

Kincaid not only believed older men in the ranks could be of service, but that younger men would be inspired  or shamed  into joining the Union effort themselves. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton agreed, and approved the odd plan. The regiment was mustered in December 1862.

Overall, only six percent of Union soldiers were conscripted, said George Eaton, historian for the Army Sustainment Command at the Rock Island Arsenal, where the regiment was stationed after coming to Alton. I think Kincaid and the Iowa governor used the 37th as a way to goad younger men into enlisting and avoiding a conscription.

Traditionally, Civil War service was limited to men ages 18-45. Of the 914 men in the 37th, almost 600 were at least fifty years old, and forty-eight were sixty or over.

Nine were seventy or older, including Curtis King, 80, who nonetheless had five children under the age of sixteen. Most were farmers and some were veterans of the War of 1812, a half-century earlier.

On the flip side, Kincaid also ignored the age minimum. Eighty-six recruits were underage, including one who was fifteen years old.

The adjutant general of Iowa wrote that Kincaid was large as life, happy as a clam, and proud as a peacock of his new unit, which may have been an omen. The late scholar Benton McAdams declared that in (Kincaids) estimation, he was now half a step below God, and beholden to no one.

Prior to their transfer to Alton, the Greybeards were stationed at the notorious Gratiot Street prison in St. Louis. There, Kincaid informed a group of Confederate officers that all women of the South, including their wives, were prostitutes of the very lowest class.

Kincaid also had his own form of waterboarding. One recruit in the 37th remembered that any errant soldier would be placed  under a (hydrant) and have the water let upon his face, eyes, and mouth until he was perfectly suffocated and apparently dead. One man was left partially deaf from the experience, while another died from it. Such brutality was ordered even for trivial offenses.

Not surprisingly, desertions in the 37th were high, and, owing to age, many were unable to complete their three-year enlistments. None of the men seventy or older made it through the war, and almost 350 men of the regiment were eventually discharged for disability. The erstwhile King died in July 1863, seven months after joining the service.

As soldiers, I think the 37th was initially adequate, but declined to marginal, remarked Eaton. At their age, roughing it was hard. There was little combat excitement to inspire them to stay at peak form.

Something of chaos

In late July 1863, the Greybeards were sent to Alton, where their ineptitude remained intact. During the span of one month, the Greybeards somehow let twenty-three Confederates escape.

I think that when the POWs consider the guards as kindly gentlemen, they were not enforcing the rules, and were not a feared force, said Eaton. The number of escapes is a good indication they were not paying attention.

Don Huber of Alton has extensively researched the Civil War in the Riverbend. He describes the Greybeardss time in Alton as something of chaos.

The inspector generals reports indicate that the 37th didnt do a good job of running the show, commented Huber. There were problems with logistics, food, clothing, and supplies that werent accounted for. Their books didnt balance.

Kincaid, though, found a way to make it all worthwhile. New prisoners at Alton were required to turn in their money, expecting to be repaid when they were released. If they turned in gold, Kincaid paid them back in greenbacks. He kept the gold himself, and reaped the benefits of any increase in its value.

During August and September, Kincaid was on leave for a total of forty-five days. Meanwhile, he managed to find a commission in an African-American regiment for his nineteen-year-old son, Charles, who served as quartermaster sergeant of the 37th despite never being approved by Stanton. Charles later received three dishonorable discharges during his service.

Best of times, worst of times

Huber says that thirty-seven men of the regiment died at Alton, mainly of disease. Among them was sixty-five-year-old Jacob Neely of Knoxville, Iowa, who died on Oct. 8, 1863 and was buried in the Alton National Cemetery.

Smallpox, which ravaged the prison and created the need for quarantine on Smallpox Island in the Mississippi, also afflicted the 37th. In September 1863, one man of the unit wrote that our regiment has almost as many (13) on the island as the rebels (15).

A lot of the deaths in the 37th at Alton were from September to December in 1863, remarked Huber. That was the prime time for smallpox at the prison. So a lot of those deaths may have been from smallpox.

At least one account implies that the city of Alton was satisfied with the 37th. In December, the Telegraph criticized reports of an impending transfer of the unit. Likewise, the men of the 37th expressed a desire to stay in Alton.

Some residents of Alton, though, had at least one gripe with the 37th. The regiment didnt have a very good band, laughed Huber. By comparison, the 10th Kansas, which came next, was a battle-hardened regiment and had a great band, and people liked that.

On Jan. 17, 1864, the Greybeards were sent to the newly established prison camp at the Rock Island Arsenal, where Kincaid clashed with prison authorities. By then, the regiment was largely spent.

I have always felt a little sorry for the 37th for being guards at Rock Island, commented Eaton. They were already worn out, and their discharge station was in Davenport, just across the river. They could see the end of their military service, but could not take advantage without deserting.

The 37th was eventually sent to Tennessee, where they performed guard duty around Memphis. On July 5, 1864, they were involved in its only combat, a minor skirmish near LaGrange, Tenn. in which two Greybeards were mortally wounded.

In time, Kincaid lost interest in the regiment, and was not present when the 37th was mustered out in May 1865. He died in 1876 and is buried in Muscatine.

Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.JERSEYVILLE  A Florissant, Missouri man caught speeding in Jerseyville also faces felony weapons and misdemeanor drug charges.

Eddie James Quinn, 31, of Florissant, was charged Aug. 27 with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 4 felony; unlawful possession with intent to deliver cannabis, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, both Class A misdemeanors.

He was also charged with speeding and driving with a suspended license.

The incident occurred Aug. 27 when a Jerseyville police officer stopped Quinn for speeding and driving with a suspended license. According to court records, he was allegedly going 86-miles-per-hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone.

Police also discovered between 2-10 grams of cannabis, a scale and grinder, and a loaded .40 caliber handgun.

Bail was set at $15,000.

In other felony filings, Joseph Whitehead, 20, of the 500 block of Horn Drive, Jerseyville, was charged Aug. 27 with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony, after police allegedly found less than 15 grams of cocaine on July 16.

No bail was set.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.EDWARDSVILLE  Edwardsvilles Goshen Market Foundation is bringing tasty treats, healthy produce, flowers and other homemade items to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 3:30-5:30 p.m. every Tuesday through October.

We wanted to bring the market to SIUE to connect the Edwardsville community with the campus community, said Goshen Market Manager Tara Pohlman. This is a convenient way for students and others on campus to access the many items our various vendors offer.

Junior computer science major Asija Watson, of Chicago, was excitedly surprised to find the market on SIUEs Stratton Quadrangle last week. It marked her first farmers market experience.

I was walking with my roommate through campus, we saw the vendors and had to stop, she said. We bought blueberries, cucumbers and peppers.

This is a great offering to have on campus, added junior computer science major Jaylen Robertson. The transfer student expressed his appreciation for a University that has such good energy and vibrancy.

Instead of going away from the University to have fun, it comes to you, Robertson said. I checked out the flowers one vendor was selling and considered buying some for my room. I also liked the handmade jewelry.

Skye Odelehr, of Brussels, a junior studying nutrition, enjoyed seeing the locally grown and produced items being made accessible for students.

I appreciate the hard work these vendors put in, Odelehr said. This is incredibly convenient for students to stop by, pick up fresh produce to take back to their room or apartment and use it to make a healthy meal.

Community members are welcome to attend the market on SIUEs campus. Parking is available in Lot B.

Goshen Market customers can use their Illinois Link Card and receive matching coupons of up to $25 to purchase additional fruits and vegetables.The Illinois Department of Transportation plans to reopen lanes where possible for the Labor Day holiday to minimize travel disruptions.

Non-emergency work will be suspended from 3 p.m. Friday through 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, when construction will resume.ST. LOUIS  United Way of Greater St. Louis today announced its 2018 community campaign goal of $76 million. Campaign co-chairs Dr. Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor at Washington University, and Jeff Fox, chairman and CEO of Harbour Group, made the announcement.

United Way is woven into the fabric of our community, helping residents on both sides of the river through education, financial stability, health and basic needs, said Chancellor Wrighton. Having lived in St. Louis for more than two decades, Ive seen the people of this region come together time and time again to help one another. Jeff and I are inspired by this and excited to champion United Way and all that it does for our community.President Trumps bold action in renegotiating NAFTA with Mexico caught his critics and hostile Canadian officials off guard. Short for the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA has been a mistake plaguing us ever since the Clinton Administration pushed it into law in 1993.

The Canadian government has been pursuing an anti-Trump agenda, but now they are begging to be included in the new deal with Mexico. Trump has responded that Canada will be allowed into the deal on terms that are good for America, but Canada will get slapped with tariffs if it insists on the favoritism that it received in the past.

Trump is reportedly limiting a massive loophole which has cost us auto manufacturing jobs. He is requiring that 75 percent of a cars value be made in North America in order to qualify for the exemption from tariffs, up from the lax 62.5 percent threshold allowed by NAFTA.

Trump is also properly insisting that cars contain a greater amount of American aluminum, steel and other essential parts. The new deal will require that 40 to 45 percent of cars be manufactured by workers who are paid at least $16 an hour, which would reduce reliance on cheap foreign labor.

NAFTA has been a scourge on our country perpetrated the globalists, who hide behind the misleading term free trade to justify their destruction of American jobs. Real wages in the United States have not improved for workers in many decades, and the offshoring of manufacturing under NAFTA is a big reason why.

It is not free trade to export American technology to foreign countries for manufacturing there, and to give away our American trade secrets as many companies have been doing with China. Corporate executives enrich themselves with this approach and create a two-tier society having a massive gap between the rich and poor, as exists in Silicon Valley today.

NAFTA narrowly passed 234-200 in the House of Representatives despite opposition by both liberals and conservatives. NAFTA fell far short of the two-thirds vote needed to ratify a treaty, but President Bill Clinton signed it into law anyway.

Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the Michigan Democratic primary for president in 2016 by pointing out that NAFTA and other disastrous trade agreements are what destroyed Detroit. Then Donald Trump defeated Hillary in that same traditionally Democratic state to win the presidency, again by criticizing Hillarys support of bad trade deals like NAFTA.

NAFTA has been a job-killer and worse. NAFTA has flooded our communities with illegal drugs and illegal aliens, as far away from the southern border as New Hampshire and Iowa.

Due primarily to NAFTA, imports to our country from Mexico increased more than five-fold in the first two decades after NAFTA became law. But it is inevitable that this massive increase in legal imports from the crime-ridden foreign country would bring in much that is illegal and harmful, too.

In 2015, despite the failure of a pilot test program, President Obama extended NAFTA to allow Mexican trucks to carry loads deep into the United States with drivers having only a Mexican, not American, drivers license. This has harmed towns near the border that had nice businesses to transfer truckloads of Mexican shipments to qualified American drivers for delivery throughout the United States.

President Trump should completely end the invasion of Mexican trucks in the United States, and not merely modify it. Mexican trucks are not as safe as American ones, and Mexican drivers have been involved in horrific crashes possibly caused by their limited English ability.

One can only guess at how much in illegal drugs flows into our Nation from Mexico due to NAFTA, because only a tiny fraction of all incoming containers are actually inspected. Moreover, drugs are cleverly concealed in other shipments such that they can escape detection even when their containers are the subject of inspection.

The rise in vicious drug lords and gangs that render Mexico so dangerous today coincided with NAFTA and the increase in drug importation into the United States. It is a myth perpetrated by globalists in claiming that NAFTA has been beneficial to Mexico, when in fact it has resulted in uncontrollable murders by drug gangs there.

Few remember presidential candidate Ross Perot, but in 1992 he attracted 19% in the presidential election by talking about the giant sucking sound going south if NAFTA became law. The loss of manufacturing jobs has indeed resulted, as American companies used NAFTA to move good jobs to Mexico.

Now many of those jobs should be coming back, thanks to President Trumps tough approach to negotiations with Mexico and Canada. If he can also keep the Mexican trucks off our interstate highways then that will be an added bonus for all Americans.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.The United Nationsis an impartial and trusted partner in Uganda, supporting the Government toachieve its development goals. The United Nations Country Team (UNCT), iscomprised of 22 resident and non-resident UN agencies. The UN ResidentCoordinator/UNDP Resident Representative (RC/RR) leads the UNCT and is thehighest representative of UNDP in Uganda. The RC/RR is also the DesignatedOfficial for security for UN Uganda. The UN Resident Coordinator is assisted inher coordination role in the field by United Nations Area Coordinators (UNACs)in the areas where the UN has a strong presence on the ground. The UNAC systemis a UNCT-integrated coordination system at the field level that convenes UN agencyrepresentatives through regular Area Coordination Team meetings. The UNACsystem seeks to accelerate the implementation of Delivering as One at the fieldlevel in Acholi and West Nile, Karamoja and South West.The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...On Twitter, actress Radhika Apte was trolled relentlessly for her perceived omnipresence on Netflix; she recently starred in three Netflix India projectsSacred Games, Lust Stories and Ghoul.

"I was very happy. I think it is a great compliment because it is such a great platform. Who would not like to be a part of the projects from Netflix", Apte told PTI, in response.

The 32-year-old actress further added, "With Netflix, what happens is that they stress on the quality because it is a global platform. They will give you the freedom to choose topics, projects and creative control, but they are very particular about the quality."

In response to the memes circulating on social media, Radhika Apte and director Vikramaditya Motwane collaborated with Netflix to create a spoof video titled Omnipresence. The short clip is shown to be a behind-the-scenes view of an upcoming show titled Omnipresent that will have Radhika playing every role. The video ends with Netflix calling itself 'Radflix'.

The actress shared the video on Instagram on Tuesday. Netflix shared the video on Twitter with the caption, "Whatever the role, Radhika apt hai."

Radhika Apte first featured in Netflix's anthology Lust Stories, in a segment directed by Anurag Kashyap. Apte later appeared in the first season of Sacred Games, a show that has received impressive ratings. She currently stars in the web series Ghoul, in which she plays the role of a trainee soldier at the National Protection Squad's academy.

Radhika Apte will next be seen in projects such as Gauravv K. Chawla's Baazaar, an Indian-American fantasy thriller The Ashram, Tamil film Ula and mystery thriller Andhadhun.

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Late actor Sridevis younger daughter Khushi Kapoor is getting ready to make her Bollywood debut. Khushis elder sister Janhvi Kapoor was paired opposite Ishaan Khatter in the movie Dhadak, with Janhvis performance garnering rave reviews.

Media reports suggest that Khushi Kapoor is being groomed for an early debut opposite Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan. The reports further suggest that though Khushis debut is a well-guarded secret, suitable scripts are being examined. The project is said to be Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johars idea. The filmmaker had also previously shown interest in launching Shah Rukh Khans daughter Suhana Khan.Hours after five activists were arrested by the Pune Police in coordinated operations in multiple cities on Tuesday for allegedly having ties to the Maoists, the issue has triggered a political slugfest between the Congress and BJP.

As Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had declared that Maoists are No.1 threat to India's internal security. Now the Congress president openly supports the front organisations & sympathisers of the

Maoists.

Keep national security above politics  Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) August 29, 2018

Union Minister of State of Home Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday tweeted that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was openly supporting front organisations and sympathisers of the Maoists. Rijiju reminded the Congress that Manmohan Singh had called Maoists India's number 1 internal security threat in 2009 and 2010 when he was prime minister.

Gandhi had tweeted about the arrests on Tuesday night, There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain.

The draconian arrests of Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves & other human rights activists further substantiate the anti-democratic actions of the ruling govt. PM Modis New India is nothing but a dictatorship wrapped in expensive advertising. #BhimaKoregaon  Congress (@INCIndia) August 28, 2018

The Congress's official Twitter handle also referred to the arrests of the activists, noting that the actions showed, PM Modis New India is nothing but a dictatorship wrapped in expensive advertising. The tweets by the Congress and Gandhi used the term 'new India' and the hashtag 'Bhima-Koregaon'.

The Pune Police on Tuesday raided homes of prominent leftwing activistspoet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between dalits and the upper caste groups at Bhima-Koregaon village near Pune after an event called the Elgar Parishad on December 31 last year.

A police official said all the five, who were arrested later, are suspected of having Maoist links and had allegedly funded the Elgar Parishad conclave.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court late on Tuesday night barred the Pune Police from taking Bhardwaj to Pune and ordered that she be kept under house arrest till August 30.

In June, five other activists were arrested in a similar operation across India. The Pune Police claimed to have discovered a plot by Maoists to target the roadshows of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an attack similar to the suicide bombing that killed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. However, opposition parties and critics dismissed the threat as being concocted.

(With agency inputs)A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said the anti-BJP party that gains the maximum number of seats in the next Lok Sabha elections can stake claim for the post of prime minister, the Congress on Tuesday said it would strive to ensure that party president Rahul Gandhi becomes prime minister.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said there was no formal proposal from the NCP yet about a 50:50 seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Maharashtra has 48 parliamentary constituencies.

Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge also made a pitch for the like-minded parties to put up a united show to stop the BJP from forming a government and said there should be "no ego" in that.

"What Pawar said is his opinion. I am the general secretary of my party. We are trying to ensure our party gets maximum seats and Rahul ji becomes the prime minister... we want our party to come back to power and our leader becomes the PM," Kharge was quoted as saying in a party statement.

He made the remarks after a nearly five-hour-long meeting in Mumbai with the Maharashtra district chiefs of the Congress in view of next year's general elections.

Kharge also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of implementing the ideology of the RSS. "We are fighting against the ideology that is vicious from the country's point of view," he added.

MPCC chief Ashok Chavan said, "The Congress is positive towards forging an alliance with the like-minded parties in Maharashtra. Discussions are on over forming a grand alliance with NCP, BSP, PWP, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, RPI (Kawade), RPI (Gawai), Left parties and other like-minded parties."

"There is no formal proposal from the NCP about 50:50 seat sharing. The alliance would be formed respectably," he said.

According to the party sources, the Congress rank and file welcomed Pawar's remarks at the meeting chaired by Kharge given the probability that the Congress would emerge as the "single-largest party from among the opposition parties" in the election.

"It is implied that the Congress would emerge as the single-largest party and can stake claim for the prime minister's post," a leader said, requesting anonymity.

The leader said that opinions of the party's district presidents were heard in view of the election and also forging alliance with the NCP for the polls.

"The party would also work out its policies for the urban and rural areas in the coming few days," the source said.

The Congress is all set to fan out to parts of the state region-wise, beginning its drive in Western Maharashtra's Kolhapur on August 31 to tell people about the "failures" of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state.

Expressing happiness that Gandhi has made it clear he was not driven by prime ministerial ambitions, Pawar had on Monday said the aim should be to vote out the BJP and added that any party in the opposition getting maximum seats after the 2019 polls could claim the top post.

Gandhi had two days ago said he was not driven by an ambition to become the prime minister.'

"I don't have these visions. I view myself as fighting an ideological battle and this change has come in me after 2014. I realised that there's a risk to the Indian state, to the Indian way of doing things and I'm defending that," Gandhi had said.Four policemen were killed in a militant attack at Arhama in Shopian in south Kashmir on Wednesday. The personnel who came under attack were part of the the escort of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), Shopian.

Sources said the policemen were repairing their vehicle when they were attacked. While two policemen died on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries in a hospital.

The militants also took away three AK-47 rifles of the police team.

Minutes after the attack, the police and para military forces cordoned off the area.

The attack came hours after two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including senior commander Altaf Ahmed Dar alias Kachroo of Hawoora, were killed on Wednesday morning in Anantnag.

Police said Dar had escaped from a cordon and search operation at Batamaloo in Srinagar earlier this month. The other militant was identified as Abdul Rashid Wani of Khudwani.

The latest killings have come ahead of the hearing in Supreme Court on Article 35 A on August 31. The separatists have called for a two-day strike in protest against attempts to get the Article, which bars outsiders from settling in Jammu and Kashmir, scrapped by the Supreme Court.The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest till September 6, saying dissent was the "safety valve" of democracy.

The five activists will now not be sent to jail till September 6 but will remain in house arrest under police watch.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the Maharashtra police for arresting these persons after around nine months of the Bhima-Koregaon incident.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

The top court also issued notice to the Maharashtra state government and the state police on the plea filed by five intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, against the arrest of the rights activists yesterday in connection with the case.

The counsel, appearing for Maharashtra, raised the issue of maintainability of the plea, saying a "stranger" cannot seek relief for the activists who have already approached the high courts.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, while activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

The Maharashtra Police had arrested them in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) -- held on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 6.Prakash Raj, who is known for his austere anti-BJP stance, has once again landed in legal trouble, but this time, in a bizarre case. The actor-activist is accused of having mocked cow urine and cow dung and there by hurting the Hindu sentiments!

Kiran N., a Bengaluru-based lawyer, has filed a private complaint in a local court against the actor. The lawyer moved the court since the Hanumanthanagar police failed to take action on his complaint.

"By depicting it (cow excretions) as detergents or washing agents, with malafide intention and ulterior motive to insult the religious feelings of the complainant as well as the entire followers of Hinduism," the petitioner argued, as per reports.

The actor, however, hit back on Tuesday saying attempts are on to portray him as an anti-Hindu.

In a strongly-worded tweet laced with sarcasm, he said: You..Frustrated..Filthy..Cheap..LIARS. your GAME of just foisting such FAKE CASES..to create an Anti Hindu image of the ME because I dare to question you..and MILK on the hatred you have instilled . How long will your HATE n FAKE politics work ..#justasking try harder COWARDSThe Congress will refund the examination fees of millions of youth of Madhya Pradesh who had appeared for various recruitment tests held by Vyapam, the state's professional examination board, in the last 10 years.

In Madhya Pradesh, the recruitment to medical, engineering and other professional courses is conducted by the government's Professional Examination Board that is often referred to by its Hindi acronymVyapam.

Some 49 lakh candidates appeared in 59 examinations of Vyapam during the period when a scam came to light in 2013.

Former Union minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath said that a whole generation of youth had been affected in Madhya Pradesh due to the Vyapam examination scam, which saw fudging of results. The Congress, in an election year, wants to make Vyapam a poll issue and wants to target the youth of the state, who account for nearly 55 per cent of the total electorate.

In 2015, the BJP government in the state agreed to a CBI inquiry after the names of top politicians including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister Uma Bharti, former state higher education minister Laxmikant Sharma, Governor Ramnaresh Yadav and several RSS functionaries came up in connection with the Vyapam scam.

Since then, over 3,000 accused, including Sharma and other kingpins, have been arrested. The CBI has registered over 55 FIRs and 20 specially designated courts were created by the High Court for trials in the Vyapam scam. However, judgement in none of the cases has been pronounced.

Established in 1982 for conducting exams to engineering colleges and government medical colleges, Vyapam in 2008 started organising examinations for recruitment to posts such as teachers, police constables, sub-inspectors, forest guards, jail guards and food inspectors as well as vacancies in the excise department and dairy federation.

After the Vyapam scam came to light, it was learnt that all recruitment examinations had seen fudging of results and those who paid hefty bribes cleared examinations at the cost of meritorious students.Myanmar on Wednesday rejected a report by United Nations invesitgators that called for the top generals to be prosecuted for genocide, saying the international community was making "false allegations".

Our stance is clear and I want to say sharply that we dont accept any resolutions conducted by the Human Rights Council, government spokesman, Zaw Htay, said in an interview.

The fact-finding mission on Myanmar was established in March 2017 by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Myanmar did not allow U.N investigators to enter the country, Zaw Htay said, adding: Thats why we dont agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council.

He said the country has zero tolerance to any human rights violation and had set up a Commission of Enquiry to respond to false allegations made by the UN and other international communities.With education on the forefront of conversations in our community, it is now more urgent than ever that we send passionate teachers into the classroom with the knowledge, resources, and drive to lead our schools through this transformation.

As director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Education, I am charged with providing our students with a high-quality education and preparing them for the classroom. Our program trains and prepares the bulk of teachers entering Hamilton County Schools from high school to their own classrooms and beyond.

We begin by reaching the students before they enter college. Each summer, as part of the Tennessee Governors School for Prospective Teachers, we welcome approximately 25 high school students who have an interest in a teaching career to prepare them for collegiate and career success. Throughout their four weeks on campus, students take our Foundations of Education course and receive college credit. By creating and teaching lesson plans to children in local summer camps, students gain first-hand experience of the preparation and hard work teachers pour into the classroom every day.

Governors School participants also spend time in our labs and interact with faculty from different departments. We encourage students to think about different content areas they might wish to explore, specifically promoting STEM-related fields to fill the growing need in our local schools. These efforts give our future teachers a strong foundation and strengthen our teaching talent pipeline, supporting the ongoing work of Chattanooga 2.0 and other community partners to ensure our graduates are workforce ready.

Once on campus and enrolled in the UTC College of Education, we are implementing a full year of student teaching in place of the traditional semester-only term in order to better prepare our future teachers. Working in partnership with Hamilton and Marion County schools, UTC education students are now being placed for a full-year with teachers deemed as highly-effective by school and district leadership. This gives students a more realistic glimpse into the daily grind and challenges of teaching, from the beginning of the school year to the end. Students also gain a mentor and role-model inside our local schools, who is impassioned, committed, and successful.

We capped the first year of this new student teaching model in May and, while transitions come with challenges, our students, their mentor teachers, and school leaders have all praised the experience and look forward to another round of student teachers in the fall.

Our students are also receiving a head-start through our early implementation of edTPA standards. This Teacher Performance Assessment program is similar to a national board certification and is aligned with state and national standards. edTPA guides the development of our curriculum and practices to ensure our teachers enter the classroom able to teach each student effectively and improve student achievement.

Through this certification, our students are required to pass a subject-specific assessment, develop full lesson plans, videotape lessons, and complete other requirements to demonstrate their teaching ability and effectiveness. Beginning in January 2019, Tennessee will begin requiring passage of edTPA for all teacher licensure. UTC students are now entering the workforce with this qualification already in hand.

But our work does not stop in the classroom.

Beginning this fall, UTC is launching Chattanooga Teaching Fellows, a partnership with Lee University and Hamilton County initiated through the work of Chattanooga 2.0 and funded by the Smart City Venture Fund. In return for guaranteed job placement and a $20,000 stipend, Teaching Fellows will serve their teaching residencies in urban Title I schools, participate in additional targeted trainings in the summer, and commit to serving in Hamilton Countys highest need schools for four years after graduation.

We are excited to work hand-in-hand with Hamilton County Schools to meet the demand for effective teachers in these classrooms with highly-qualified candidates prepared to make a real impact in our neighborhood schools.

Teaching is one of the most prestigious professions in our society. The call to train and prepare our future teachers is not one that I take lightly. We are confronting the demand for a qualified, impassioned, diverse pool of teachers through aggressive strategies to recruit, train, and continue developing the best leaders for our students.

Education is an extremely demanding and challenging line of work, but the job perk of changing lives every day is like no other.

Renee Murley, Ed.D.

Director of the School of Education at UTCIsrael expecting 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018-19

Kolkata, Aug 29 (PTI) Israel is expecting 90,000

Indian tourists in 2018-19, up from 60,000 who visited it in

2017-18, a top Israel tourism ministry official said today.

The Israel tourism ministry is hopeful that the number

could reach 2-3 lakh in next two-three years, Director of

Tourism (India and Philippines) Israel Ministry of Tourism

Hassan Madah said.

"Of the 3 million foreign tourists who visited Israel

in 2017-18 only 60,000 were Indians. We are hopeful with the

rise in number of flights and more people to people contact in

recent years, the figure could be 90,000 by 2018-19," Madah

told reporters on the sidelines of a roadshow by the Israel

Ministry of Tourism here.

Asked about the reason behind lesser number of Indian

tourists visiting Israel in the past, Madah said that the

the media had not properly projected the safety and security

image of the country and there were not many travel agents to

promote Israel tourism.

"Now the scenario is poised for change. We have more

AI flights connecting Tel Aviv and Delhi and there are talks

of direct flights between the southern Indian states and Tel

Aviv by Arkia Israel Airlines by the end of this year. These

will help the number of tourists to rise," he said.

In addition to AI, Israeli airline E1 A1 is already

operating non-stop flights between Mumbai and Tel Aviv while

Arkia has expressed interest to start operations at the end of

this year.

"While the direct AI flight, introduced since March

this year, are always full, the greater number of Christians

living in southern states have always been willing to visit

the Holy Land. We want to tap that segment and the response

has been quite encouraging," he said.

He said besides Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea

were among the major tourist highlights offered by Israel.

Madah said the opening of the Israel visa application

centre in the city for West Bengal and north eastern states

will foster interest among travellers from eastern part of

India to his country. "We want to have people to people

contact in a bigger way."

He said of the total foreign students in Israel,

around 10 per cent were Indians.

"There are lots of start-ups and new companies coming

up in Israel and there are several collaborations between

companies in this sector. India has an important role in this

regard," Madah said.

He said there are one lakh India-born people living in

Israel for ages and a large number of them hail from the

Jewish community.

"A section of that Jewish community hail from Kolkata

and this shows our ties run through deeply," Madah added. PTI

SUS

KK KK(Eds: Adding comments of more Congress leaders)

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) The war of words between the Congress and the government over Rafale deal intensified today as the opposition party rejected Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies and renewed its demand for a JPC probe into the matter.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to say that Jaitley's defence has brought the focus back on the Rafale deal, which he dubbed as a "robbery", and sought a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe.

"Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the 'GREAT RAFALE ROBBERY'. How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your 'Supreme Leader' is protecting 'his friend', so this may be inconvenient. Do check and revert in 24 hours. Were waiting," Gandhi said on Twitter.

At the AICC briefing, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari raised the party's demand for a JPC probe saying "if the government and prime minister have nothing to hide on this, why are they scared of a JPC probe:.

He also wondered if the finance minister was trying to "cover up one scandal with another scandal", and said all questions raised by Jaitley were primarily "a smoke screen to obfuscate the issue".

"We have been constantly and consistently demanding that a Joint Parliamentary Committee should be constituted to probe in the Rafale matter. If the Government has nothing to hide, if the Finance Minister or the Prime Minister feels that everything is above board, why are they scared of facing a Joint Parliamentary probe?

"Congress party has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Probe (JPC) in the Rafale Scam. We shall continue to make the Modi Government answerable on this," said party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said vendors have to disclose how the offset contracts would be discharged under the defence procurement policy. "For him (Jaitley) to say that offset is not part of the contract is wrong," he said and demanded a probe alleging that Anil Ambani's Reliance Group had prior information that PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would not get the offset contract.

The Congress' reaction came after Jaitley accused the opposition party and its leader Rahul Gandhi of "peddling untruth" on the deal and seriously compromising national security.

In a Facebook blog, Jaitley today refuted Congress' allegation that the government had benefited Anil Ambani's Reliance group, saying "Government of India has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies". He said any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) under the offset policy of the UPA can select any number of Indian partners, both from the private sector and the public for offset supplies.

"This has nothing to do with the Government of India and, therefore, any private industry having benefitted from the Government of India is a complete lie," he said.

Anil Ambani's Reliance group, which has slapped "Cease and Desist" notices on many Congress leaders asking them not to make false and defamatory statements on the deal, had also earlier asserted that Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets, choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and the Defence Ministry has no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.

The company has also rejected allegations that Reliance Defence was incorporated days before announcement of the Rafale deal.

But the Congress today dismissed Jaitley's assertions. Sharma said that under the defence procurement policy it is very clear that the vendor has to notify how the offset liability will be discharged.

"You left out HAL, violated the Official Secrets Act, did not seek the mandate of CCS and conducted no price determination for reducing the aircraft purchase from 126 to 36 aircraft. So there should be a probe into this. They may deny whatever, but the truth will come out," Sharma told reporters.

He also said that the defence procurement policy makes it clear that the offset contract has to go to a defence PSU with experience in the sector.

"Only the prime minister knew that the offset contracts would not be given to HAL and he violated the oath of secrecy taken on the position he holds," he said, adding "the Official Secrets Act says such things are not to be disclosed. How did Anil Ambani know that HAL will not get the contract and he set up his company 10 days before?"

He said under the UPA, offset was 50 per cent of the contract and HAL did not get the contract or transfer of technology. "The finance minister has not talked about it."

"When the prime minister went abroad, did he take the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding cancellation of the earlier contract," he asked.

Tewari said this is a "very funny" Government where finance minister speaks on defence affairs and defence minister holds fort for finance affairs.

"They have completely redefined what collective responsibility means? In Narendra Modis Government, collective responsibility is that no minister has responsibility of his own ministry," he said, taking a swipe at the government.

Countering Jaitley's charge that national security was compromised by the Congress, Sharma said, "Does national security say that there should be corruption and a wrong decision." PTI SKC RT(Eds: Adds tweets of Rahul Gandhi, Arun Jaitley)

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress president Rahul Gandhi today battled over the Rafale deal with the former accusing the opposition party of "peddling untruth", and the latter responding by calling it "the Great Robbery".

It all started with Jaitley, in a Facebook blog, posting a set of 15 questions for Gandhi in response to Congress posers on the multi-billion dollar deal.

He said the 36 Rafale fighter jets which the BJP-led NDA government is purchasing are 20 per cent cheaper than the ones the previous UPA government had received offers for.

Charging Congress with carrying out a "false campaign", he sought Gandhi's response on questions varying from delays in finalising the fighter jet order to procedural knowledge and foreign supplier being allowed freedom to choose private partner to meet offset requirement.

He also sought to bring up the Bofors ghost, asking if delays in decision on buying fighter jets during the Congress regime were based on collateral considerations like the ones witnessed in the purchase of Bofors guns. He asked Gandhi to respond, failing which he would come up with "further specific facts" that they were "merely peddling falsehood".

Gandhi responded by calling the deal "the Great Rafale Robbery" and alluded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to protect his business friend.

"Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!," he tweeted.

Jaitley replied to this by stating that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Bofors deal had called kickbacks "winding up" charges and the whole world rejected the findings.

"Mr. Gandhi, you have not attempted to answer my questions on the Rafale purchase in the interest of national security. When no answers are given, obviously no answers could have been given by those who resort only to falsehood," he tweeted. "Mr. Gandhi, truth holds together, falsehood falls apart  that is the fate of your Rafale falsehood."

In another tweet he said: "Let me remind you of a JPC the Congress Government appointed in 1987 on the Bofors deal. It was headed by Mr. Shankaranand. It gave a report that the kickbacks were winding up charges. The whole world rejected the findings of that JPC. Why a JPC to satisfy your falsehood?"

Earlier in the day, Jaitley said in the Facebook blog that the deal NDA government had entered into with France on April 10, 2015 for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets was on better terms than the one agreed to in 2007 under the UPA regime.

French manufacturer Dassault had offered to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft in 2007.

Refusing to disclose details of the deal such as the price of the aircraft, due to constraints placed by "secrecy clause" in the contract, he said the Congress allegations that NDA government agreed to pay a higher price and is favouring a private industrialist are "complete falsehood".

He then went on to pose 15 questions that included one about the decision-making paralysis under the UPA regime which led to the delay of over one decade in ordering the aircraft, which compromised national security.

"Can Rahul Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Indian government has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these aircraft in India," he said.

Congress has repeatedly alleged a "scam" in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets claiming the cost per aircraft in 2012 was agreed at Rs 526.10 crore while the one signed by the Modi government costs Euro 7.5 billion (Rs 1,670.70 crore per aircraft).

Its leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa had on Sunday called the deal as the "biggest scam in country's defence sector post independence."

Stating that the Rafale controversy was based on "complete falsehood", Jaitley said it was expected from national political parties and their responsible leaders to keep themselves informed of the basic facts before they enter a public discourse on defence transactions.

"Congress party's false campaign launched on Rafale aircraft deal based on peddled untruth has been casting a cloud on the Inter-Governmental agreement & seriously compromising national security," he said.

Jaitley said Congress and Gandhi were guilty on three counts - delaying the deal by over a decade compromising national security, speaking of falsehood on pricing and procedure, and further delaying the defence procurement by raising these issues.

"Rahul Gandhi deny that when the add-ons such as India-specific adaptations, weaponry, etc. are installed on the basic aircraft, the UPA price, which was mentioned in the 2007 L1 offer, would be at least 20% costlier than the more favourable price negotiated by the NDA?," he added.

Jaitley asked if Gandhi was aware that there was a price escalation clause in the bid received during UPA regime, and if the Congress was aware that basic aircraft price is 9 per cent cheaper under the NDA than it was under the UPA.

Other questions pertained to Gandhi's knowledge of defence procurement procedure and on offset policy that allows a supplier to select any number of Indian partners. PTI ANZ SAPhnom Penh, Aug 29 (PTI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhon and discussed bilateral, multilateral and key international issues.

Swaraj, who is in Cambodia on the concluding leg of her four-day two-nation tour, was received by Sokhon.

The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important international issues at delegation-level talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted that Swaraj was warmly received by Sokhon.

"The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important International issues today at delegation level talks at MOFA," he said in the tweet.

She will call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of the Senate Say Chhum.

Swaraj reached here yesterday from Vietnam where she held wide-ranging talks with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh and discussed steps to boost bilateral trade, investment, maritime and defence cooperation.

India's ties are on an upswing with Vietnam and Cambodia -- the two major countries in the powerful Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping.

India and Cambodia have enjoyed friendly relations for a long time. Both the countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1952. In 2000, Cambodia vowed its full support for India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Swaraj's visit to the two key ASEAN nations is seen as India's attempt to balance China's rising influence in the Southeast Asian region. PTI CPS AKJ CPSJammu, Aug 29 (PTI) Several industrial areas in Jammu and Kashmir are facing unscheduled power cuts over the past fortnight resulting in huge financial losses to business units, an industry body said today.

The Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) urged state governor Satya Pal Malik's to intervene for ensuring uninterrupted power supply to industrial areas like Bari Brahmana, Birpur and Gangyal in Jammu region.

The acute power crisis is being faced by the industrial units over the past 15 days, bringing industrial activities to standstill and resulted in huge financial losses to unit holders, BBIA said in a statement after a meeting here.

Despite repeated requests and reminders to the department, no action has been taken, the association said adding the frequent and unscheduled power cuts have disturbed the production process.

It said Bari Brahmana industrial complex is contributing about Rs 160 crore annually for the power supply to the industrial units.

The association appealed to the Governor to intervene into the matter and issue immediate orders for the restoration of uninterrupted power supply to the industrial sector. PTI TAS AB

MRMumbai, Aug 29 (PTI) Top stories from the Western

Region at 1700 hrs.

BOM 8 2NDLD ACTIVISTS

New Delhi/Pune: A day after the pan India crackdown on

Left-wing activists, the action shifts to courts with the

Supreme Court giving an urgent hearing to a plea against the

arrests and three of the five who were nabbed to be produced

before a Pune court.

BOM 9 GA-2NDLD PARRIKAR

Panaji/Mumbai: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar,

currently admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai, to fly to

the US this evening for further medical treatment as he has

developed "some complications", state Assembly Speaker Pramod

Sawant says.

BOM 6 MH-ACTIVISTS-GOVT

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government defends the arrest

of five Left-wing activists in multi-state raids, saying the

action was based on "proof" about their "links with the Naxal

movement".

BOM 7 MH-ACTIVISTS-AMBEDKAR

Mumbai: Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash

Ambedkar terms the arrests of Left-wing activists for

suspected Maoist links as an attempt to "silence" the masses.

BOM 5 MH-SENA-FUEL PRICES

Mumbai: In view of soaring petrol and diesel prices,

the Shiv Sena asks its senior alliance partner BJP to ensure

citizens have a stable life even if it cannot bring "acche

din" (good days) for them. PTI

GK GKPanaji, Aug 29 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted at a private hospital in Mumbai, would be flown to the US tonight for further medical treatment, his office said today.

Parrikar, 62, underwent treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June. He went there again for a follow-up earlier this month.

He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health checkup on August 23, a day after he returned from the US, and was scheduled to return to Goa today.

However, a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office said Parrikar will leave for USA from Mumbai in a flight tonight.

The official refused to divulge any further details about the chief minister's health.

He said, "The official charge of the post of chief minister will remain with him (Parrikar). There is no need to hand over the charge to anyone."

Parrikar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 7 and sought his intervention to address the current crisis in the state's mining sector. PTI RPS GK RCJ

RCJBarasat(WB), Aug 29 (PTI) Three persons were killed and 10 others injured in group clashes over formation of a panchayat board in North 24 Parganas district, the police said today.

The two groups hurled bombs and fired bullets at each other at Amdanga block last night, they said.

The situation was now stated to be under control, police said.

The president of the district Trinamool Congress Jyoti Priya Mallick claimed that two of the deceased belonged to the Trinamool Congress and one was a CPI(M) supporter.

He further claimed that 15 Trinamool Congress workers were injured in the clash.

CPI(M) leaders could not be contacted for their version.

The violence followed similar clashes in North Dinajpur, Malda and Purulia districts since Monday in which four persons were killed and several injured. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed for peace following the incidents. PTI COR MM

DV

DVChandigarh, Aug 29 (PTI) US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster today called on Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and appreciated the state government for taking various effective measures to keep a check on air pollution caused due to vehicular traffic and stubble burning.

Juster said the US and Haryana could work together on this issue of great

importance which would go a long way in making the entire state pollution free. "This would be a great achievement," he said in an official statement issued here.

He also commended the state government for declaring Haryana as kerosene free and Open Defecation Free (ODF) state.

Apprising Juster about the initiatives planned by the state government, Khattar said, "We are soon going to launch a fleet of 200 buses of clean fuel in Gurugram under the city bus service scheme."

The chief minister said the state government is planning to develop an aero space manufacturing hub at Hisar for which Pratt & Whitney, an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations, could provide its technology and expertise.

Khattar said during his visit to the US in 2015, Pratt & Whitney had shown interest in developing research and development (R&D) facilities in the state.

The ambassador said exchange of technology and expertise would further help strengthening the bilateral relations between the US and India and particularly Haryana. PTI SUN SNE

SNE\R New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) The Women and Child Development Ministry has summoned the in-charge of a Madhya Pradesh adoption agency next week, after reports emerged that a girl adopted from there was later abandoned in Spain, an official said today.

A Spanish couple had abandoned the 13-year-old girl after they were allegedly deceived by the Bhopal-based institution, which reportedly told them that she was seven-years old at the time of adoption earlier this year. The girl is currently living at a government home in Zargoza in Spain.

The Udaan institution has been accused of defaulting under various provisions and not responding to show-cause notices. An inquiry has been initiated and its in-charge, Apoorva Sharma, asked to appear before the ministry on September 6, the official said.

WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi has also asked the Indian envoy in Spain, D B Venkatesh Varma, to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to bring her back to India. "While we are in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the Child Care Institution in Bhopal, I am worried about the state of the girl," she had said yesterday.

The Union minister said the girl, on her return, would be placed under care and protection in a local agency. In her letter to Varma yesterday, Gandhi said, "I also understand that the Centre Adoption Resource Agency is in touch with you. It has been ascertained that the girl wants to return to India.

"I request you to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to send her back to India where we will place her under care and protection of a suitable local agency." PTI UZM HMBLucknow, Aug 29 (PTI) Sidelined Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav today announced formation of a Samajwadi Secular Morcha and said he would try to unite smaller parties under it.

However, Shivpal, who is still a SP legislator, refused to answer whether the Morcha will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"I have formed Samajwadi Secular Morcha. I was neglected in the Samajwadi Party and waited for two years. I was neither informed nor invited in party programmes and no resposbility was given to me," Shivpal, uncle of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav, told reporters at his

residence here.

"There are many neglected workers in the SP. They will be assigned responsibilities and asked to strengthen our Morcha. I will also try to unite smaller parties under the Morcha," he said

Asked whether SP founder and his brother Mulayam Singh Yadav will be part of the Morcha, Shivpal said, "We will give him due honour and ask others also to do the same." PTI ABN SAB DV

DVCentre to consider Kerala demand to enhance borrowing limit

(Eds: Adds Union minister and CM's statements)

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29 (PTI) With flood-ravaged

Kerala now focusing on rebuilding, the Centre today said it

would favourably consider the state's demand to enhance the

borrowing limit.

As part of efforts for resource mobilisation,

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held discussions with World

Bank officials and said their help was necessary to rebuild

the state.

Roads and bridges have been destroyed and small

traders and businessman were facing grave crisis and so the

present bank schemes alone were not enough, Vijayan said and

sought aid from the World Bank.

The centre said more assistance would be provided

after a fresh memorandum is submitted on the loss and damage

caused due to the deluge.

According to a preliminary estimate, the loss and

damage due to the rain fury was Rs.20,000 crore, but Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said it would be much more.

The deluge in the state, the worst in a century, had

claimed over 320 lives since August 8 besides causing

widespread destruction.

At the State Level Bankers meet, Union minister of

state for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan said the Centre would

consider all demands, including increasing the borrowing limit

of the state, to raise funds for rehabilitation of flood

vicitms and rebuilding the state.

The state had asked the Centre to enhance the

borrowing limit from 3 per cent State Gross Domestic Product

(SGDP) to 4.5 per cent and had sought permission to impose a

cess of 10 per cent on state GST.

Later, talking to reporters, Radhakrishnan said the

state had informed the Centre that a fresh memorandum was

under preparation.

A central team would again visit Kerala to assess the

damage caused and a decision on the assistance would be made

after its report.

The centre would extend necessary funds for the state

after the assessment by the team, Radhakrishnan said.

Radhakrishnan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was

constantly monitoring the state's flood situation and had

asked Cabinet colleagues to extend all support to Kerala to

tide over the situation.

Banks in Kerala have decided to reschedule repayment

of loans of the rain-hit people, Radhakrishnan said.

Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said the meeting

was very cordial and the union minister had taken a positive

stand on the issues raised by the state.

The centre had already allotted Rs 600 crore for

flood-relief activities after Modi's visit to the affected

areas.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who concluded his

two-day visit to the flood affected areas, attacked the Centre

for not extending adequate financial assistance to Kerala.

Gandhi also said he was in favour of accepting foreign

aid from countries like the UAE for rebuilding the

flood-ravaged state.

A release from the chief minister's office said the

world bank team would conduct the Rapid Damage Assessment and

Needs Analysis within ten days,

Public sector insurance companies said they have

received more than 11,000 claims worth an estimated Rs 1,200

crore in the aftermath of the deluge.

With more people returning home, the number of those

lodged in relief camps have down to 98,000, officials said.

There were more than 14.50 lakh people housed in camps on

August 21.

In a significant indication of life returning to

normal after the torrential rains, schools and colleges

reopened today.

The Cochin International Airport, which remained shut

for two weeks, started its operations.

The cleaning drive initiated by the government with

the help of volunteers continued in parts of Kuttanad in

Alappuzha where some places were still under water.

As a precautionary steps, the government issued alert

on the possibility of outbreak of leptospirosis in Thrissur,

Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malapuram and Kannur districts.

The state honoured fishermen who participated in

rescue operations with the chief minister saying the state

owes a big salute to the fisherfolk.

With more donations towards the Chief Minister's

Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) pouring in, CBSE schools in

Kerala have been directed to handhold one flood-hit family for

a year.

There are 1350 CBSE schools in the state with ten lakh

students.

The Amirthanandamayi Math donated Rs 10 crore, while

a group of Keralities in the US have raised Rs.9.8 crore

through Facebook and donated it to the CMDRF.

According to the Disaster Management's state control

room, 474 people have died in rain-related incidents since May

29 when the southwest monsoon set in over Kerala. PTI UD JRK

LGK BN

BN BN\R Kota (Rajasthan), Aug 29 (PTI) The Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau arrested five officials of a 'mandi' in Kota district this evening for allegedly taking a bribe from a contractor.

The accused had demanded a bribe of nearly Rs 4 lakh from the Jaipur contractor for clearing a Rs 2-crore bill for a road he had constructed in the mandi premises, said Narottam Lal Verma, additional superintendent of police (ASP), Jaipur-Rural.

The contractor had lodged a complaint with the ACB in July, following which, after verification, a trap was laid today. The five were arrested from their office and the renegotiated bribe of Rs 1.40 lakh was also recovered from their possession, Verma said.

The officials have been identified as secretary Rampal Kumawat, executive engineer Pyarelal Meena, assistant engineer Amar Singh, junior engineer Somesh Agrawal and cashier Sazeed Husain, the ASP said.

A search operation is underway at the officials' residences in Kota and Jaipur. They will be produced before a court tomorrow, the officer added. PTI CORR HMBNew Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) A day after a 55-year-old man allegedly killed his daughter with an iron rod, his wife, who was grievously injured in the attack, succumbed to injuries in the early hours today, the police said.

The man had attacked his wife and two daughters with an iron rod while they were sleeping. Police said he was depressed because of his inability to arrange money for his daughters' marriages. The incident was reported from south Delhi's Sangam Vihar area yesterday.

Nand Kishore, attacked his wife Vidyawati, two daughters Kavita (22) and Suman (24) with an iron rod.

At the time, Kishore's three sons were present in another room of the house, they added.

Kishore told police that he was under depression due to his poverty and inability to get his daughters married.

He then started hitting his wife and two daughters with an iron rod and hearing the cries of the women, one of his sons woke up and tried to stop him but he could not. The son also sustained minor injuries, police said.

Kavita was declared brought dead to the hospital while Vidyawati and Suman were undergoing treatment.

Vidyawati succumbed to injuries today at 2.45 am while her daughter Suman is in a critical condition. The accused has three sons and had three daughters. PTI SLB SLB DIP TIR

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Inc., Virginia Power Services LLC, Virginia Solar 201 Projects LLC, Wakefield Solar LLC, Wexpro Company, Wexpro Development Company, Wexpro II Company, Wilkinson Solar LLC, Wrangler Retail Gas Holdings LLC, and Yemassee Solar LLC.CONSOL Coal Resources LP produces and sells high- British thermal unit (Btu) coal in the Northern Appalachian Basin and the eastern United States. It owns a 25% undivided interest in the Pennsylvania mining complex, which consists of three underground mines and related infrastructure that produce high-Btu thermal coal located primarily in southwestern Pennsylvania. The company markets its thermal coal principally to electric utilities. CONSOL Coal Resources GP LLC operates as a general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as CNX Coal Resources LP and changed its name to CONSOL Coal Resources LP in November 2017. CONSOL Coal Resources LP was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Read MoreWeatherford International plc, an oilfield service company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere. It offers artificial lift systems, including reciprocating rod, progressing cavity pumping, gas, hydraulic, plunger, and hybrid lift systems, as well as related automation and control systems; pressure pumping and reservoir stimulation services, such as acidizing, fracturing and fluid systems, cementing, and coiled-tubing intervention; and drill stem test tools, and surface well testing and multiphase flow measurement services. The company also provides safety, downhole reservoir monitoring, flow control, and multistage fracturing systems, as well as sand-control technologies, and production and isolation packers; liner hangers to suspend a casing string in high-temperature and high-pressure wells; cementing products, including plugs, float and stage equipment, and torque-and-drag reduction technology for zonal isolation; and pre-job planning and installation services. In addition, it offers directional drilling services, and logging and measurement services while drilling; services related to rotary-steerable systems, high-temperature and high-pressure sensors, drilling reamers, and circulation subs; managed pressure drilling, conventional mud-logging, drilling instrumentation, gas analysis, wellsite consultancy, and open hole and cased-hole logging services; reservoir solutions and software products; and intervention and remediation services. Further, the company provides equipment and drilling tools; tubular handling, management, and connection services; equipment rental services; and onshore contract drilling and related services through a fleet of land drilling and workover rigs. Weatherford International plc was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.

Read MoreHelix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. is an international offshore energy company. It focuses on subsea construction, maintenance and salvage services to the offshore natural gas and oil industry. The firm also provides specialty services to the offshore energy industry, with a focus on well intervention and robotics operations. The company operates through three segments: Well Intervention, Robotics and Production Facilities. The Well Intervention segment offers vessels and related equipment that are used to perform well intervention services primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea regions. The Robotics segment involves four chartered vessels and also includes ROVs, trenchers and ROVDrills designed to complement offshore construction and well intervention services. The Production Facilities segment includes its investment in the Helix Producer I and Kommandor LLC. Helix Energy Solutions Group was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Read MoreALBANY  The teenager who was paralyzed in last week's police shooting on Elk Street allegedly ran toward a detective while holding a knife and refused to drop the weapon before he was shot, police said in court documents.

Ellazar Williams "produced" a knife and ignored Detective James Olsen's commands to drop it on Aug. 20, police said in the criminal complaint in City Court.

Around 4:30 p.m. that Monday afternoon, officers responded to reports of a man with a gun at a Central Avenue convenience store. An employee said a group of men had been kicked out of the store earlier that day and later returned with weapons.

The men fled when three detectives, Olsen, Lawrence Heid and Christopher Cornell, pursued Williams to the rear of the Tony Clement Center for Education.

The criminal complaint states that Williams, holding the knife, began to run toward Olsen, who was "in fear of physical injury, serious physical injury and death by displaying a knife at the victim."

Olsen shot twice at Williams, police spokesman Officer Steve Smith said Tuesday, but he did not say how many bullets hit Williams.

A bullet is lodged in Williams' spine, and he remains in Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he is paralyzed from the waist down, said Alice Green, executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, a civil rights organization. She said he is not expected to walk again.

Police said the officer-involved shooting, the second in Albany in the last two months, was caught on video surveillance. Smith would not comment on what is in the video.

Surveillance cameras surround the Tony Clement Center. The Albany school district is cooperating with police, said Lisa Angerame, assistant director of communications. She declined to comment on the surveillance video.

Williams was charged Monday in his hospital bed with felony menacing and misdemeanor weapons possession. A criminal probe into his actions before fleeing police and whether detectives were justified in shooting is being conducted.

The three detectives involved are on paid administrative leave.

Olsen, who shot Williams, was named in two brutality claims in the past.

In 2004, a 21-year-old University at Albany student said Olsen beat him following a foot chase through Pine Hills over a bottle thrown through a window. The student, Diego Jaramillo of Putnam County, alleged that Olsen jumped on his back and pummeled him and other officers joined in.

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Jaramillo was charged with felony assault, resisting arrest and trespassing. The results of the case were not immediately known.

In a $6 million federal lawsuit he filed in 2005 against Olsen and the city police department, a judge ruled against Jaramillo and sided with the city.

In 2005, Olsen's name was brought up in a brutality claim. David Lust, a member of the Hells Angels, alleged that several city police officers, including Olsen, had dragged him behind a curtain during a rock concert at the Pepsi Arena, now called the Times Union Center, and beat him up using their boots, fists and nightsticks.

Lust had been charged with menacing, possession of a weapon and resisting arrest.

The disposition of his cases was not immediately known.

Olsen joined the department in the mid-1990s and has received several commendations, including lifesaving awards.

He and Cornell were the city's top overtime earners in 2017 with $78,217 and $73,709 in overtime pay, respectively. Lawrence Heid also made the top 10 list.Editor's note: An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of the award.

Watervliet

The Arsenal Business & Technology Partnership has been awarded a $1.5 million U.S. Small Business Administration grant to continue operating its Veterans Business Outreach Center for another five years. The center provides entrepreneurial training, mentoring and other services to veterans and military spouses interested in starting or growing a business.

"These federal funds will give our veterans in the Capital Region and throughout New York State new opportunities to start businesses and create jobs," said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.ALBANY  The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday voted to strike down tariffs on Canadian newsprint imports, concluding the foreign imports did not harm U.S. industry.

The move signals a victory for newspapers, which in some cases had been forced to cut staff and roll back local coverage in recent months to absorb the higher price of newsprint, already considered the second-biggest expense for papers behind personnel.

Diane Kennedy, president of the New York News Publishers Association, said the vote was important for rural newspapers.

"These tariffs would have caused massive layoffs in the entire newspaper industry," Kennedy said, adding that in small towns it "would have meant the end of delivered papers."

The tariffs, proposed by the Trump administration, were enacted in January of this year after the North Pacific Paper Company, a hedge-fund-owned, Washington state-based paper mill, argued Canadian imports were unfairly priced and disadvantageous to U.S. paper producers.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that the tariffs would be reduced to 20 percent from a rate that had topped out at 32 percent.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer appeared last month at Quad Graphics, a high-end printer in Saratoga Springs, to protest what he called the "goofy" tariffs.

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Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo released a statement at the time that was critical of the Trump administration for the tariffs, calling them "an obvious economic attack on the First Amendment from an administration unable to hide its contempt for the media."

Following Wednesday's vote, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, hailed the decision. "Our district is home to a thriving local press corps that would be unfairly burdened by these costs, harming local journalism and the families across our district that rely on these important organizations," she said.

The Tampa Bay Times in April announced they would be laying off 50 employees in response to the tariffs, and Kennedy believes other newspapers, in an already struggling industry, could have folded had the tariffs continued.

"It did actual, tangible harm to newspapers," Kennedy said. "But it could've been just devastating."Frankfurt, Germany

While Tesla grapples with internal issues like production delays, a sometimes-erratic CEO and a recent about-face on whether to go private, its rivals are moving aggressively into the luxury electric vehicle space.

In the next few days, German competitors Mercedes-Benz and Audi, the luxury arm of Volkswagen, are both showing off production-ready electric sport-utility vehicles aimed at Tesla's Model X.

Meanwhile Jaguar Land Rover offers the I-Pace electric SUV while further out, Porsche is taking on Tesla's Model S high performance luxury car with the Taycan, expected to reach the market in late 2019.

The established carmakers have multiple motives. They need zero driving emissions vehicles to meet tougher greenhouse gas limits coming into effect in Europe in 2021. Diesel is in the doghouse. And China, a major market, is pushing hard for more electrics.

But the new models will also aim to win back some of the luxury customers drawn away by Tesla's electric vehicles at a time when the company is consumed by multiple distractions. Its CEO, Elon Musk, took to Twitter on Aug. 7 to abruptly announce he had secured funding to take his company private, only to turn around 17 days later to say that Tesla would remain public. The electric carmaker is also facing financial pressure, with a $230 million debt payment that's due in November on top of the $920 million that must be paid off three months later. And it has only recently hit production targets for its Model 3 mass-market vehicle.

In the meantime, its rivals  who had emphasized diesel and hybrids  are finally rolling out the leading edge of what they say will be a slew of all-electric models. Their latest offerings are "the vanguard" of more to come, said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

"By 2020, Tesla must stabilize itself or be overtaken," he said.

The new entrants challenge what has been one of Tesla's key selling points: range. The EQC sport utility crossover from Daimler AG's luxury brand Mercedes, for instance, should go up to 300 miles on a single charge. That's comparable to Tesla's SUV, the Model X, which has a range of up to 295 miles. The EQC, to be unveiled outside of Stockholm on Sept. 4, is the first in the Mercedes EQ sub-brand that bundles the company's efforts in electric, connected and autonomous driving. Media representatives didn't provide a price ahead of the unveiling.

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Volkswagen's Audi will show off its e-tron in San Francisco on Sept. 17. It offers more than 248 miles on a single charge. The company says the e-tron should be able to use high-speed charger facilities  if they're available  to charge in less than 30 minutes. The German price will be around 80,000 euros ($93,000) and it should go on sale near the end of the year in Europe, and next year in the U.S.

The Porsche Taycan will also pose a stiff challenge to Tesla's Model S in terms of range: Porsche claims it can load enough power for 248 miles in just 15 or 20 minutes. The company hasn't announced a price. The I-Pace, whose price starts at $69,500 before local and federal incentives, offers 292 miles under the tougher European Union standard. The Model S, meanwhile, has a range of up to 335 miles.

The starting price for Tesla's Model X is around $80,700 while the Model S is around $74,500.

Not that Tesla is standing still while the competition laps it. Musk has said the company intends to develop a Model Y, a small SUV to be unveiled in the first half of next year  a growing sales category that other carmakers have been piling into as fast as they can.

But Tesla's ambitions go way beyond the luxury electric vehicle market. That's the whole point of the Model 3, which is aimed at the mass market with a starting price of $35,000 and an EPA range of 310 miles. But there, too, the company must go head to head with rivals. They include the BMW i3 with a starting price of $44,500 and an EPA range of 114 miles; the Nissan Leaf with a starting price of $30,000 and an EPA range of 151 miles; and the Chevrolet Bolt with a starting price of $37,495 and an EPA range of 238 miles. Nissan promises a longer range version of the Leaf for 2019 and in 2020, Volkswagen plans to launch a compact version of its all-electric ID lineup.Albany

Under the Trump administration's plan to compensate America's farmers for exports lost to an abrupt trade war, New York's dairy farmers will get less aid than the much-smaller soybean sector.

Dairy farmers, who produce $2.7 billion annually in the state's economy, would get about $9 million in federal payments to make up for lost exports, according to a Times Union analysis of aid figures released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In comparison, the state's soybean farmers, which produced $111 million in crops last year, would get nearly $10 million under the program, according to the Times Union analysis of the $4.7 billion federal Market Facilitation Program.

That analysis was based on the amount of dairy and soybeans produced in New York and the compensation rates being paid for each product under the federal aid program.

"Dairy farmers in New York and across the country have borne the brunt of the back and forth between the United States and our trading partners." said U.S. Rep. John Faso, who met last week with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in Columbia County. "Our dairy farmers have lost and will continue to lose, more than this aid package will compensate for their losses."

New York exports more than $400 million in dairy products annually, according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council, a national advocacy group. Much of that has been going to Mexico and Canada, which have been hit with trade tariffs by President Donald J. Trump.

President Trump has complained that Canada, which has a system to limit dairy production and limit U.S. imports through tariffs as a way to sustain dairy prices and preserve Canadian farmers, should allow more U.S. imports.

After campaigning repeatedly on the dairy issue, the Trump administration last month announced a $12 billion aid package to compensate farmers. This week's USDA announcement was for the first half of that package, which would start being paid next month. A decision on when the remainder of the $12 billion would be paid out will be made later.

The majority of this week's aid package  more than $3.6 billion  is earmarked for soybean growers, which are predominantly located in the Midwestern states that supported Trump in the 2016 election. Soybeans exports have plummeted since China imposed tariffs on imports in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese goods.

"Trade wars are difficult to win," said Faso, in an apparent contrast to Trump's past statements that such disputes were "good" and "easy to win."

Faso said while this week's tentative trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico was "encouraging," the administration "must work with our Canadian allies to achieve a complete NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) which creates fair trade for agriculture and other industries in the U.S."

Canada is New York's largest single trading partner, and business lobbying groups on both sides of the border have cautioned the Trump administration against sparking a protectionist trade war.

When asked for comment on the size and impact of the the dairy aid package, the New York State Farm Bureau reissued a month-old statement given before details of payment levels for specific farm commodities were known.

That statement indicated the general plan showed that the federal government recognized "the dire need for some relief." It also also called for the dispute to "quickly be resolved because short term relief can only go so far when farmers need to plan for the long term."

Milk prices have been declining in New York as the amount of milk produced continues to climb. New York farmers produced nearly 15 billion pounds of milk last year, according to USDA figures, up from 13.4 billion pounds in 2013 and 12.8 billion pounds in 2011. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.6 pounds.

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During his visit, Agriculture Secretary Perdue said that American dairy farmers were "victims of our own success" as milk production increases, leading to a glut and depressing prices. He supported the Trump tariffs as a way to gain more U.S. access to foreign markets.

Canada and Mexico are major export destinations for American dairy products, at $1.3 billion and $636 million, respectively, according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Other major destinations are Southeast Asia ($690 million), China ($577 million), and Japan ($291 million).

According to the council, U.S. dairy exports have quadrupled since 2000 to more than $5.5 billion last year.

The head of a nationwide dairy group said the federal package does not begin to cover lost exports.

"The tariff mitigation plan falls far short of addressing the losses dairy producers are experiencing due to trade retaliation resulting from the Trump administration's imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs," said Jim Mulhern, chief executive officer of the National Milk Producers Federation.

"The dairy-specific financial assistance package provided by USDA  centered on an estimated $127 million in direct payments  represents less than 10 percent of American dairy farmers' losses caused by the retaliatory tariffs imposed by both Mexico and China," he said.

Mulhern said dairy farmers nationwide will lose $1.5 billion this year if the tariffs remain in place. Founded in 1916, his group represents farmer-owned dairy cooperatives that produce the majority of milk in the U.S.

Calls to two New York state dairy cooperatives, the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, based in Geneseo, and the American Dairy Association Northeast, based in Syracuse, were not returned.Dan Conner had a heart attack in the second-to-last season cliffhanger of "Roseanne." He survived. Until he didn't.

John Goodman's character, it was revealed by Roseanne in the last season's closing minutes in 1997, had really died at his daughter's wedding. The audience spent 24 episodes believing he pulled through. Roseanne's narration explained she constructed a fantasy to cope.

It was one of the most divisive moments in recent television history when the show ended, but in this year's short-lived revival, Dan was very much alive after the show opened with a self-aware joke about the controversy.

Now, following Roseanne Barr's racist Twitter rant in May that prompted ABC to cancel the revival midseason, and spin off the series in "The Conners," Goodman has said how the show will address the matriarch's absence.

She's dead, Goodman explained.

And this death might finally stick.

"I guess he'll be mopey and sad because his wife's dead," Goodman said of his blue-collar hero character Dan, in an interview with the Sunday Times.

The often media-shy Goodman opened up about Barr's controversial departure that drew reactions from President Donald Trump, whom Barr supports.

In May, she made references to President Barack Obama's former adviser Valerie Jarrett and apes. Jarrett is black. The tweet in late May read: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

ABC canceled her show a day later, and the network's president, Channing Dungey, called her tweet "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." Trump appeared to reference the cancellation days later, calling it a "double standard" for conservatives after comedian Samantha Bee made a vulgar comment about his daughter, Ivanka.

Barr later apologized and blamed Ambien for her tweets. Her representative did not return a request for comment.

But months after the fallout, Goodman revealed a shock that still lingers. The popular show revitalized characters dormant for two decades, and nearly as quick as it came back, the show ended.

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"I was surprised. I'll put it this way, I was surprised at the response," he told the Sunday Times. "And that's probably all I should say about it."

He paused for a long moment and thought about all that came before. "I know, I know, for a fact that she's not a racist," he said.

The new show, "The Conners," will premiere in October. It will feature the core Conner family, but Barr will have no financial or creative ties to the series, ABC has said.

It may be difficult for Barr to see her characters animated on screen without her control. "Roseanne" was one of the biggest shows of the 1990s, and it brought Barr commercial and critical acclaim with her depiction of a struggling working class family.

In the closing minutes of the series finale, after she revealed Dan had died and wielded the power of her character's fate like a god, Roseanne wrote in her book that love is stronger than hate. But she also wrote more prescient words: "I learned that no one can stop me but me."Upscale 1980s-style club opening near Northway Exit 13

Michael Barry, a nearly 40-year veteran of the restaurant and club scene, on Saturday opens Glory Dayz, which he's billing as "an 80's nitelife club," at 2955 Route 9 in Malta, just north of Northway Exit 13.

The building, located behind 13 North Restaurant, has long been empty, Barry said. The buildings are part of the Roosevelt Inn & Suites property, which a few years ago was also home to a failed relaunch of the former Orchid's Caribbean Restaurant & Lounge after a move from Schenectady, but it's not immediately clear if Glory Dayz is in yet another structure on the grounds.

Featuring exclusively 1980s music, a 25-and-up admission policy and high-end touches like Veuve Clicquot Champagne by the glass, the club's official name is Glory Dayz  A Copa Cabana. (Barry prefers the two-word spelling; the famed Rio de Janeiro beach is spelled as one word.) The club does not yet have an online presence.

It will be open from 5 p.m. daily starting Saturday. Food  chicken teriyaki, sausage and peppers, other bar grub  will be secondary until Oct. 1, when a full kitchen will open with small-plate fare designed to be paired with wine flights, said Barry, whose most recent job was as a wine rep.

The general manager of Glory Dayz is Ralphie Balsamo, who was a waiter at Angelo's 677 Prime in Albany for about a decade and was a founding partner at R&R Kitchen + Bar in Saratoga Springs last year but left four months after opening. (His family long owned the former Villa Balsamo, on Route 50 between Ballston Spa and Saratoga; his father, Joseph, the restaurant's patriarch, died last week.)

Barry said Glory Dayz is his ninth bar/club/restaurant. His hospitality resume stretches back to area nightspots, including the Rafters in Saratoga and Charades in Colonie. He ran The Castaway restaurant in Troy for a couple of years in the early 1990s and, in 2009, tried a quickly abandoned plan to take over the former Vin Santo wine bar in Latham.

Franklin Alley Social Club holding clambake on Friday

Franklin Alley Social Club in Troy will hold another outdoor party in Franklin Alley from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday during Troy Night Out. This one will include a clambake provided by Savoy Taproom in Albany and live music featuring a Michael Jackson tribute set. Admission is free.

The a-la-carte clambake menu: Steamers or white wine-thyme mussels ($12), mushroom poutine ($10, vegan available), side of salt potatoes and corn ($5), side of dill red potato salad ($4).

Franklin Alley Social Club, with cruise-ship decor, offers indoor shuffleboard, bocce, classic arcade games, drinks and a food menu of variously sauced and topped hot dogs and tater tots. It opened late last year in the basement of the event venue Takk House at 55 Third St. in downtown Troy, a building that was once a Knights of Columbus hall. As the name suggests, the entrance is at the back of the building, accessed via Franklin Street (alleys in Troy have street names), between Second and Third streets.

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Chefs & Vintners Harvest Dinner for food bank Sept. 27

The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York will host its 24th annual Chefs & Vintners Harvest Dinner on Thursday, Sept. 27, at Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia.

The event begins at 5 p.m. with cocktails, food and wine tastings, silent auction and cooking demo, followed by a six-course meal prepared by area chefs using fare from New York growers and producers, paired with New York state wines.

Because the dinner historically sells out in advance, early reservations are strongly recommended. Tickets cost $150 per person; call 518-786-3691. Glen Sanders is at 1 Glen Ave.

Compiled by Steve Barnes. Items to be considered for publication must be submitted to sbarnes@timesunion.com. Visit his blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.ALBANY  A fire inside a Clinton Avenue home Tuesday afternoon made an adult and a 9-year-old child homeless, the American Red Cross said.

The Northeastern New York Chapter of the Red Cross was on scene to give the displaced family the money they needed for shelter, food and clothing. Local volunteers also delivered comfort kits containing personal care items and a stuffed animal for the child.GLENVILLE  A Broadalbin man is facing felony charges after he was arrested on Aug. 18.

Ryan Cionek, 37, was stopped on Route 5 in the Town of Glenville for a traffic violation, State Police said in a release. While interviewing Cionek, the odor of alcohol was allegedly detected. After failing roadside sobriety testing, Cionek was arrested for DWI.

Trooper also determined that Cionek was required to have an interlock device on his vehicle, which was not installed. He also had outstanding warrants from Schenectady and Amsterdam for previous DWI arrests.

Cionek was convicted for DWI in Amsterdam in 2014.

After last week's arrest, Cionek was charged with felony DWI and delony aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was arraigned in the Town of Glenville court and held without bail.Albany

Curious to see how much money goes to, say, Troys School 2 compared to the Middle School? Or how much is spent in Schenectadys Hamilton Elementary school vs. Lincoln Elementary ?

That information will soon be available through a new mandate that school districts must outline and report how their budgets are allocated on a building-by-building basis.

Pushed through at the end of the last legislative session by Gov. Andrew Cuomo the mandate is being phased in and its being run through the governors Budget Division, rather than the state Education Department.

Eventually, the new Funding Transparency program could spark some lively local debates about how school districts create their budgets. In some districts, parents have long wondered if their neighborhood school gets the same amount of resources that those across town receive.

The disclosures could also reveal if schools with, say, a majority of white or African-American students, get more funding within a given district.

This year, 76 districts are required to submit the reports, while all will have to do so by 2020. The first 76 must have four or more school buildings and get more than half of their funding from the state.

In that Capital Region, the Troy, Schenectady, Lansingburgh and Amsterdam districts are among those 76 which must submit their funding reports by Friday.

Much of the education establishment opposed the plan, noting that a similar federal requirement will take effect in 2019.

Its duplicative, said Michael Borges, executive director for the New York State Association of School Business Officials.

Supporters, though say, the reports will bring a measure of transparency to school spending.

While much attention deservedly goes to funding gaps between districts, how resources are allocated within school districts currently often remains hidden, noted Ian Rosenblum, executive director for The Education Trust-NY which works to bolster learning opportunities for minority and disadvantaged students.

These reports are critical to shine a light on whether and where these intra-district inequities exist, he added.

More for you Budget battle could include fight over school spending disclosures

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The measure also represents what has been an on-again, off-again tension between Cuomo and the state Education Department. While its a major state agency, the Education Department isnt controlled by the governor but is instead overseen by the Board of Regents, whose members are elected by the legislature, which is numerically controlled by Assembly Democrats.

Even though the federal reporting requirement comes from Washington it would be administered through the state Education Department. The federal plan calls for disclosure of actual spending, while the state plan reflects what is in school district budgets. Either way, the state plan should provide access to the data earlier since the federal deadline for reporting comes in December 2019.

Others have noted that building-by-building spending comparisons could contain some surprises or unexpected results. For instance, buildings with a lot of senior or longtime teachers could reflect substantially higher costs since teachers in New York generally receive annual longevity raises each year for up to 20 years.

Or a small school could require proportionately more funding since each building typically requires a principal or a certain number of administrators which adds to the cost.

We know there will be things that are surprising, said Robert Lowry, deputy director at the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTUNISKAYUNA - The Town Board unanimously approved leasing land for construction of a cell phone tower Tuesday despite past protests from residents.

The 120-foot tower will be built by Florida-based Tarpon Towers beside WTRY Road to fill gaps in wireless coverage for residents and emergency responders. Verizon and AT&T have significant gaps in the area, which could be dangerous during emergencies, the town Planning Board reported.

Police currently use Verizon wireless transmitters along the highway and residents depend on wireless to dial first responders. The Planning Board reported 64 percent of all 911 calls are made from wireless devices and 76 percent of wireless subscribers used their devices in an emergency.

The Planning Board and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the tower on June 25.

At the July 24 Town Board meeting, some residents opposed the project, saying that it would change the residential neighborhood and bring down property values. Others voiced fear that signals from the tower could cause cancer. The board tabled a resolution to lease the land at the meeting.

Niskayuna Councilman John Della Ratta, who chairs the economic development committee, told the Times Union that federal authorities cleared the tower of potential health concerns.

At Tuesday's meeting, the Town Board voted 5-0 in favor of the tower plan. Supervisor Yasmine Syed said the board accepted the Planning Board's report on the condition that the town use revenue from the tower to beautify the area and try to increase the buffer between the neighborhoods and the tower.

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"We're going to do everything we can to shield that residential area so that we can preserve the character of the neighborhood," Syed said. "As much as possible we are going to do that."

Tarpon Towers will lease the land for the tower. The company manages over 12,000 wireless communications towers across the country. Two of its three most recent acquisitions are in upstate New York.

Construction will start immediately.ALBANY  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon sparred over corruption, their tax disclosures and a handful of progressive issues during the lone Democratic gubernatorial debate on Wednesday.

The hour-long, one-on-one matchup at Hofstra University on Long Island was a contentious affair that often devolved into personal attacks, allegations of lying and canned one-liners. Nixon sought to score a knockout punch that would elevate her outsider campaign and Cuomo played defense from a position of strength in the polls. Both candidates expressed support, at least in principle, for a liberal wish list in New York that includes legalized marijuana, single-payer health and campaign finance reform.

From the onset, Nixon aggressively challenged the governor's record in office and touted her experience as an activist on education funding, LGBTQ issues and women's rights.

"I'm not an Albany insider like Gov. Cuomo, but I think that experience doesn't mean that much if you're not actually good at governing," she said, faulting him for the conditions of the subways in New York, Republican control of the state Senate and scandals in the state's economic development sector.

Cuomo brushed off the criticisms, saying the stakes of the job require a qualified candidate.

"The governor of New York is not a job about politics," he said. "It's not about advocacy. It's about doing."

A recurring feature throughout the debate was President Donald J. Trump, who poses the largest threat to New York, according to Cuomo. He cited a litany of state legal challenges to Trump's administration as evidence of his opposition to the president, but Nixon said he mostly just engaged in "rhetoric."

The candidates repeatedly talked over each other from their separate tables on the debate stage, including during a prolonged exchange about disclosing their personal taxes. The governor accused Nixon of not releasing enough of her taxes  she has released five years  while Nixon noted that Cuomo didn't release his 2009 taxes until weeks after winning his first term in office in 2010.

During a back-and-forth about corruption, the debate took a surreal turn.

"You are a corporation," Cuomo said to Nixon, who files taxes as a pass-through corporation. "When you file taxes as a corporation, you are a corporation."

He then asked Nixon if she is a corporation. "I am a person," she replied.

Nixon threw her full support behind a state takeover of health insurance, while the governor expressed concern about the state's implementation costs and suggested the federal government should take the lead.

"It's the right idea," Cuomo said. "It should be explored."

To address corruption in the state Capitol, the governor said he backs a ban on outside income, increased financial disclosure for state officials and campaign finance reform. Nixon said Cuomo hadn't made any progress on cleaning up state government during his time in office, and had instead disbanded an independent commission that was unearthing widespread corruption. The ensuing convictions of top state lawmakers and their conspirators, she said, have overshadowed his administration.

While talking about recreational marijuana, the governor acknowledged experimenting with it in college. Nixon previously said she tried it twice.

The debate also forced the governor to address speculation about his interest in a 2020 presidential run, and he responded that he will serve another four years as governor if re-elected in the fall. "The only caveat is if God strikes me dead," Cuomo said.

The crowd of about 150 people, which included supporters for both candidates, made enough noise during the debate that a moderator had to remind them to be quiet at one point.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro said the Democratic candidates appeared to be running for mayor of New York City against Trump. Independent gubernatorial candidate Stephanie Miner lamented the lack of questions about upstate job creation or the governor's economic development policies.

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Before the debate, Baruch College Professor Douglas Muzzio said he was skeptical it would affect the race at this late stage.

"It may already be the bottom of the eighth and [Nixon is] down six to one," he said.

The governor has consistently led in the polls, enjoys a massive fundraising advantage that allows him to spread his message across the state, is backed by the Democratic establishment, and labor organizations are in his corner.

Based on the dynamics of the race, Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said, the stakes were different for each candidate heading into the debate. He said Nixon needed to change the narrative of the race while Cuomo had to avoid disrupting the status quo.

Surrogates for the two sides began sparring in the weeks leading up to the debate.

Nixon's campaign lambasted Cuomo for turning down additional opportunities to meet in a public forum and only agreeing to a format that met his demands, which included no opening or closing statements and that the candidates remain seated. Cuomo campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith shrugged off the concerns as "silly accusations" from a campaign that she said "thrives on paranoia and melodrama."

In 2014, Cuomo had refused to debate his primary opponent and was non-committal after Nixon first challenged him to a televised debate in May.

The primary will take place on Sept. 13.

David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87ALBANY - What if the Arbor Hill thoroughfare into the city welcomed people with local entrepreneurs offering a tapestry of cultural foods and goods rather than the current array of vacant lots and buildings?

With nearly 20,000 cars driving along Henry Johnson Boulevard each day, Albany business owner Kizzy Williams wants to transform vacant land along the corridor into an outdoor mall, providing space for local vendors to set up tables, tents and carts to sell ethnic food, clothes and other goods.

The vacant lots are between Clinton Avenue and First Street on Henry Johnson, a main gateway into the city that divides the Arbor Hill and West Hill communities.

With the Henry Johnson Outdoor Mall, it will provide these vendors with a full-year job, she said. They will feel confident because they actually own their own business, they own their own spot.

When Williams, owner of Allie Bs Cozy Kitchen at 353 Clinton Ave. in West Hill, was a teen in Harlem, she watched the Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market flourish with its vendors selling food and other goods that are the hallmark of African culture.

Emulating what was done in the 1990s in Harlem under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Williams said Albanys outdoor mall would provide a daily, year-round outlet to sell food, art, or clothing that underscore the diversity in the capital city.

What the city did is they had this open lot, gave the lot to the people and then the people were able to become legit, pay taxes and sell their things on this lot, Williams said. I know thats what (Giuliani) did for the people of Harlem, and thats what I want to do for the people of the Capital Region.

It would provide Albany resident Elena Hinds, who runs Pops Dawg with her boyfriend Steven Wilkes during the warmer months outside the Albany County Department of Motor Vehicles on South Pearl Street, with a year-round location to run their business.

This would actually give me the opportunity to make a dream come true, Hinds said. You have to crawl before you even start walking or running.

Hinds sells hotdogs and shish kabobs but could expand her menu with a year-round space.

Currently, the city only allows cart vendors outside the DMV and around the Lincoln Park pool, and only one vendor at either location. Theyre further limited by only being able to operate between March and August.

While food trucks are permitted around the Capitol, Hinds said purchasing a truck is expensive and youd be put on a wait list to get a spot around the state buildings.

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The proposal is in the early stages, with Williams meeting with entities  from city planners to the Albany County Land Bank  to discuss best use of the vacant land and logistics.

Faye Andrews, director of the Albany Community Development Agency which owns most of the vacant lots along with one lot in land bank hands, said in the coming weeks everyone will be meeting to discuss a firmer business plan and how the land will be acquired.

We love the concept of the outdoor mall. I think its cool, and something thats never been done in Albany, and certainly could be a fun and economic adventure for the city, Andrews said. Well sit down with them and hopefully get a good plan together so they can be successful.

While Arbor Hill and West Hill have seen a spike in violence this summer, Williams said theres promise of new life coming to the community that has suffered neglect.

A multi-million-dollar project to rehabilitate dozens of buildings on lower Clinton Avenue into affordable housing by Rochester-based Home Leasing and Mayor Kathy Sheehans purchase of a Ten Broeck home on First Street this year are just some examples of that change, Williams said.

Were going to have so many different people moving here, and this market would promote other people to move here because we can showcase the different groups that are here, she said. I know whats coming because I came from Harlem. Ive seen it.

Williams said her family didnt capitalize on the transformation that swept through Harlem, but this time around, she isnt going to miss out.

They didnt understand it, the same way so many people here dont understand it, but I understand it, she said. Thats a chance for you and your family to build off of, to make change.ALBANY  "The whole world is watching!"

Jeff Jones swears that famous chant outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was not concocted in any left wing meeting, not by the Black Panthers, not the Yippies. His own organization, Students for a Democratic Society, wanted to yell: "Vote with your feet in the streets" as the galvanizing mantra of anti-Vietnam War demonstrators who surged into Michigan Avenue.

In the first two days of the convention, there were scattered fistfights, crowds cheered for Pigasus the pig as a U.S. presidential candidate and thousands of protesters filled Grant Park.

On Aug. 28, Jones saw Illinois National Guardsmen with machine guns mounted on their Jeeps and police shooting in the air. He was an SDS national officer who helped forge alliances with countercultural, satitrist Yippies (who brought Pigasus) and the Black Panthers. He remembers that night for the protesters' wild hope that the end of the war was within grasp.

Today an environmental activist and consultant in Albany, Jones believes that August 28, 1968 might offer some useful lessons for March for Our Lives gun-control activists.

"We were recovering from the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. A lot of SDS members privately believed he would have ended the war if he were elected," Jones said. "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. Riots broke out in cities and people, mostly black, died. But people were changing their mind about the war after the Tet Offensive."

Timed to the Vietnamese New Year (known as Tet), North Vietnam's wave of attacks on U.S. and military and civilian sites in South Vietnam shocked Americans. The Tet Offensive prompted the trusted CBS anchor Walter Cronkite to go to Vietnam to investigate. His report was devastating. He told Americans that as an "honorable people" must admit they had done their best, but the war was a stalemate.

Jones says the SDS had a printing press in a nearby church basement where it printed a daily news sheet. But on this third night, protesters clustered around battery-powered radios listened to the convention.

Then twilight fell.

Word that Vice President Hubert Humphrey was the nominee rustled through the crowd. Police felt the need to clear Michigan Avenue before the mood became angry.

Federal investigators would describe what happened next as a "police riot" as officers beat and bloodied unarmed protesters and reporters. A policeman swinging his baton chased Jones and his girlfriend down an alley.

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Suddenly, Jones heard masses of people scream a chant until it filled the air: "The whole world is watching."

"I think it was spontaneous," Jones said, noting that in the era before social media, it was harder to coordinate a mantra that could sweep through a crowd. "I'd been in protests at the Pentagon. I'd been arrested. I was a pacifist at that time and accepted I might get beaten up."

But the chant was so empowering, he stood his ground.

The coverage by the print and broadcast press was astonishingly global. The world was indeed watching.

But did that night accomplish its goal? Richard Nixon defeated Humphrey, and the war dragged on till 1975 claiming 58,220 American lives.

Jones went on to join the revolutionaries known as the Weather Underground because he no longer trusted the political system to respond to most Americans wanted. If Jones could go back in time, he said, there is one mistake he would tell his younger self not to make.

"The SDS decided not to support any presidential candidate and that was a mistake," Jones said. "The last election showed us it matters who gets elected president even if the choices are not enthusing. I love the new Generation Z activists. They're wonderful. Here's what I'd tell them August 28th taught me: There's not going to be one clear moment when you can say the battle is won. You will win some big victories. But protecting them is a lifetime commitment."There would be no need for the plan to pump water from Tipperary to Dublin if Irish Water corrected the mathematical errors in its proposal, a public meeting by those against the plan was told in Nenagh.

The meeting in Nenagh Arts Centre, which attracted over 200 people, was organised the River Shannon Protection Alliance, the Kennedy Analysis and Fight the Pipe.

The three groups are opposed to the 1.2bn plan to take 330 million litres of water daily from Parteen Basin and pump them through a 170km pipe to a new reservoir in Dublin.

The Irish Water figure for demand includes leakage. If they corrected the maths errors they will have a surplus of water, said Emma Kennedy of Kennedy Analysis.

She pointed out that Irish Water's leakage figure of 50 per cent in Ireland did not include leakage from household pipes.

If that is included, the average is 60 per cent. There is not another country in Europe like this. Ireland is among the worst on the planet, she said.

Ms Kennedy said that taking the water to Dublin would be the equivilent of pumping 200 million of bathtubs of water on to the streets of Dublin each day.

She claimed that the extent and expense of the proposed Shannon scheme was not needed.

Spending this money means losing money that is needed elsewhere, she said.

Kennedy Analysis was seeking an independent analysis and questioned why Irish Water was not prepared to sit down with them.

This needs to become political. Politicians need to be under pressure from voters, said Ms Kennedy.

She pointed out that the problem the three groups had was they were up against an organisation with deep pockets and a huge PR machine.

Gerry Siney of the River Shannon Protection Alliance said the project would have social collateral through the loss of local employment opportunities and tourism and would do nothing to get rid of the East / West divide.

Irish Water is pulling the wool over people's eyes with this project through scaremongering and misleading statements, he said.

Liam Minihan of Fight the Pipe said politicians needed to talk about the plan and say it needed to be revisited.

If it is revisited, we are 100 per cent sure it will fail, he said.ICSA rural development chairman Seamus Sherlock has said members of the public should not assume that they can use farmland for recreational purposes.

Mr Sherlock was speaking following an incident in Waterford where an ICSA member discovered part of their farm had been left damaged following an unsanctioned party around a campfire.

In this case, electric fencing was pulled down and the posts then used in the campfire. Removing fencing is no joke and could easily have caused harm to livestock or indeed to other members of the public, said Mr Sherlock.

In addition, the fire was set close to gorse which could have ignited given the dry weather. Bottles and the remnants of sleeping bags were also left behind.

Mr Sherlock said that the incident illustrated the difficulties facing farmers when members of the public used farmland for leisure purposes without consent.

While ICSA is very open to negotiated access, a farm is a workplace and there is no right to trespass on it, he said.

Mr Sherlock said that ICSA was in favour of bringing the countryside to life and for as many people as possible to enjoy all that rural Ireland has to offer.

To this end, ICSA will be involved in formulating the Code of Best Practice for Greenways over the coming months.

As we know from experience with Greenways, goodwill on behalf of landowners is paramount, but incidents like this will no doubt make farmers even more wary. It also is a reminder to policy makers that you cannot go down the road of CPOs and disregard the legitimate concerns of landowners, he said.

Mr Sherlock encouraged all those enjoying rural Ireland for recreational purposes to be mindful of livestock and property around them.

The business of farming is going on all around them so it is essential that farmland is respected and not treated as a playground, he said.Independent TD for Tipperary Mattie McGrath has called on local Fianna Fail Dail colleague Jackie Cahill and the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party to intervene on plans by An Post to close up to eight post offices in rural parts of Tipperary.



"While I fully understand and recognise the tremendous service and dedication of all post-mistresses and post-masters throughout their years of service to their individual communities and who are indeed entitled to retire, we need to see a plan put in place," he said.

Deputy McGrath said that this must facilitate a location where alternative people and / or businesses can continue to administer the needs of many people in rural communities who, on a daily basis, use their local post pffice as an area to connect, receive payments, pay certain bills and as a point of social interaction.



"I am calling on Fianna Fail to now, use their influence as a prop-up for what is a minority Government, to call on Fine Gael and the supporters of Government to ensure that there will be no rural community left without a postal office," said Deputy McGrath.



He said that though a Rural Independent Groupings Dail motion was unanimously supported by members of the Dail, they had seen no action whatsoever by the Government to implement a robust extension of services to ensure the viability of the post office network.



"It is a sad indictment of this Government, and those who support them at parliamentary level, that they continue to fail to recognise and realise that their ongoing policies continue to hit those who are most vulnerable in our rural communities, many of whom have built our society," he said.

"Ultimately, those who support this Government, in whatever role and who claim to champion the cause of rural Ireland need to look deeply into their conscience, said Deputy McGrath.Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

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Support our mission and join our community now.[August 28, 2018] INEOS Styrolution's Novodur P2H-AT selected by Vorwerk for its new Temial tea maker

SHANGHAI, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Novodur  P2H-AT selected exclusively for use on the new Temial tea maker

P2H-AT selected exclusively for use on the new Temial tea maker Combination of excellent surface gloss, high flowability and good stiffness, making it an ideal polymer for household applications INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has been selected by Vorwerk as the thermoplastic supplier for its newly launched Temial tea maker, which was introduced in Germany and China in August 2018. Founded in Wuppertal, Germany, in 1883, Vorwerk's core business encompasses both the production and sale of high quality household products (Thermomix kitchen appliance, Kobold vacuum cleaner, Twercs tools, Temial Tea maker, Lux Asia Pacific products) and cosmetics (JAFRA Cosmetics). INEOS Styrolution's Novodur P2H-AT had been selected for the housing of the Temial tea maker due to its excellent surface gloss and high quality appearance, as well as its processability and good color consistency. This mateial also contains an antistatic additive, reducing or eliminating the building up of static electricity and collection of dust. Novodur P2H-AT is also currently used for Vorwerk's Thermomix kitchen appliance and Kobold vacuum cleaner.



Novodur is INEOS Styrolution's brand of specialty acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) copolymers. This product line contains grades with a well-balanced mix of properties for injection molding, including good impact strength, dimensional stability and heat resistance. It is easy to process and gives a high aesthetic colorful surface appearance, thus making it an ideal polymer for a wide range of applications across various industries, including Automotive, Electronics, Household, Construction, Healthcare, Packaging and Toys/ Sports/ Leisure. "We have been working closely with Vorwerk for more than 20 years and we are very pleased with our long-standing cooperation with one of most iconic and innovative household brands in the world, and providing the best solution for the new Temial tea maker," comments James Wang, Head of Electronics & Household, Asia Pacific, INEOS Styrolution. "We believe in partnering with our customers to select the best material and provide the best technical service and support throughout the entire project."





About INEOS Styrolution INEOS Styrolution is the leading, global styrenics supplier with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 85 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering the best possible solution, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including Automotive, Electronics, Household, Construction, Healthcare, Packaging and Toys/ Sports/ Leisure. In 2017, sales were at 5.3 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,300 people and operates 18 production sites in nine countries. More information: www.ineos-styrolution.com CONTACT Hui Boon Kwa

Senior Communications Manager, Asia Pacific INEOS Styrolution APAC Pte Ltd.

111 Somerset Road

#14-16 to 21 TripleOne Somerset

Singapore 238164

Phone: +65 69338393

Email: huiboon.kwa@ineos.com

Internet: www.ineos-styrolution.com Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180824/2220133-1 SOURCE INEOS Styrolution

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 28, 2018] FARMLAND PARTNERS SHAREHOLDER ALERT: ClaimsFiler Reminds Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Farmland Partners Inc. - FPI, FPI-PB

ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until September 10, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE: FPI, FPI-PB), if they purchased the Company's securities or preferred securities between the expanded period of March 16, 2016 and July 10, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Get Help Farmland investors should visit us at https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-armland-partners-inc-securities-litigation or call to speak to our claim center toll-free at (844) 367-9658.



About the Lawsuit Farmland and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On July 11, 2018, a report by Seeking Alpha revealed allegations that the Company had increased its revenues artificially "by making loans to related-party tenants who round-trip the cash back to [Farmland] as rent" and that "310% of 2017 earnings could be made-up." Further, the Company had allegedly "neglected to disclose that the majority of its loans have been made to two members of the management team." On this news, the price of Farmland's shares plummeted. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. ClaimsFiler's team of experts monitor the securities class action landscape and cull information from a variety of sources to ensure comprehensive coverage across a broad range of financial instruments. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180828005591/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] eDataSource Partners With Kenscio Digital to Launch the Enhanced Suite of Competitive Tracker and Inbox Tracker Solutions With Subject Line Advisor and Subject Line Predict Features

BENGALURU, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- eDataSource and Kenscio Digital have partnered to launch the upgraded Email Analyst Suite of Solutions - Competitive Tracker, Inbox Tracker with Subject Line Advisor and Subject Line Predict. These new features are powered by Persado, the 'Marketing Language Cloud', which comprise of one of the world's largest language databases with over a million words & phrases tagged and scored for consumer marketing. eDataSource and Kenscio leverage Persado's AI-enabled language database to generate engaging email subject lines with high open rates. Subject Line Advisor This new feature enables email marketers to understand the emotional profile of their target audience, improve subject lines in real time, and make data-driven improvements to their marketing messages. It maps performance through open/read rates over adjustable periods of time and recommends emotional triggers/themes that drive engagement. The Subject Line Advisor also enables marketers to correlate among open rate performance by emotion and its frequency, deliverability & subjectline themes and understand how character length affects subject line performance.



Subject Line Predict This feature allows the pre-testing of subject lines and predicts read rate before deploying emails. It enables the comparison of subject lines against competitors within the industry, recommends alternate phrases based on the emotional themes within the subject line and predicts new results.

The Subject Line Predict enables marketers to create new email test campaigns within the Design Tracker's dashboard, plug-in upcoming campaign details such as the sender's name, subject line, preview text and predict open rates. About eDataSource eDataSource is a leading global provider of performance insight and analysis for email marketing, inbox delivery, and eCommerce activity, tracking over 60 million emails daily across 190,000 brands. eDataSource provides strategic tools and services for digital marketers, publishers, and marketing service providers. About Kenscio Kenscio offers innovative marketing technology solutions to brands and enterprises by enabling personalisation and one-to-one communication through Digital Marketing, Big Data, Analytics and creative-based solutions and services. This multiple award-winning agency has developed a strategic global delivery network to cater to businesses and enterprises across the globe. Media Contact :

Rohini Mohan

rohini.m@kenscio.com

+91-7022741146

Marketing Manager

Kenscio Digital Marketing Private Limited



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018]

Desmond Stinnie Recognized as a Top 100 MBE

BALTIMORE, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council (CRMSDC) announced that Desmond Stinnie, president, Opulent Cloud, was named a 2018 Top 100 MBE winner. This prestigious award recognizes owners of minority business enterprises in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia who have demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial accomplishments, a high level of professionalism and have made substantial contributions to their community.

Established in 2007, the Top 100 MBE Awards ceremony welcomes nearly 1,000 attendees in celebration of the creativity and innovation of regional MBEs who are role models and inspire the entire community.

Sharon R. Pinder, CRMSDC's president and CEO, says, "Our board of directors and our corporate members congratulate the 2018 Top 100 MBEs on their stellar ccomplishments. We are proud to add this year's class of winners to our circle of leadership."







The Top 100 MBE Awards will be presented at the CRMSDC's 37th Annual Leaders and Legends Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, at the MGM National Harbor.

Desmond Stinnie, Opulent Cloud CEO, says, "I am honored and excited to be recognized and to be among such an outstanding group of awardees. I am grateful to our staff, clients, partners and family for their commitment to Opulent Cloud's success."

Contact: Desmond Stinnie

Telephone: 800-611-8763

Email: sales@opulentcloud.co

Website: www.opulentcloud.co

Related Files

PRelease.pdf

Dez_Top100.pdf

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/desmond-stinnie-recognized-as-a-top-100-mbe-300703872.html

SOURCE Capital Region Minority Supplier Development CouncilRepRisk Releases Special Report on Migrant Labor

RepRisk, a leading business intelligence provider specialized in ESG and business conduct risk, has released its Special Report on migrant labor, highlighting the kinds of abuses suffered by migrant workers in the food and beverage, construction, and industrial transportation sectors in the past two years.

The report was compiled using RepRisk's combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human analysis to translate big data in 16 languages into curated research and analytics.

With this report, RepRisk aims to shed some light on the scale of migrant labor-related challenges in the three sectors as it continues to be identified by RepRisk as an ESG "hot topic" in an increasingly globalized world.

To read the full report, click here.







About RepRisk

RepRisk is a leading research and business intelligence provider, specializing in ESG and business conduct risks.

As a premium due diligence solution, RepRisk helps clients prevent and mitigate business conduct risks related to their operations, business relationships, and investments.

Since 2006, RepRisk has leveraged artificial intelligence and human analysis to translate big data into actionable analytics and metrics. With daily updates, universal coverage, and curated adverse data on companies, projects, sectors, and countries, RepRisk offers a suite of a powerful risk management and compliance services.

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, RepRisk serves clients worldwide, enabling them to reduce blind spots and shed light on risks that can have reputational, compliance, and financial impacts on a company.

For more information, please visit www.reprisk.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180828005560/en/[August 29, 2018] Dell Brings New Modern, Innovative Devices for Consumers and Small Businesses at IFA 2018

BERLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IFA 2018 News summary New Inspiron 2-in-1s elevate brand portfolio with performance and design at incredible value

First Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1 combines upscale design and premium features with the simplicity of Chrome OS

XPS 13 2-in-1 with new 8th Generation Intel Core processors and updated XPS 13 with i3, continue to deliver outstanding computing experiences

New Vostro 5000 laptops combine power, security and design for small businesses

Dell Mobile Connect now offers seamless integration of phone and PC for Android and iOS apps, texts and calls

New Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin monitor shines with beautiful aesthetic and functional attributes Full story Straight off the heels of Gamescom 2018, where Dell announced their new gaming monitors and the refresh of their Alienware desktops, the excitement continues at IFA 2018. Dell is unveiling a new suite of innovative devices that elevate the computing experience for the everyday consumer, mobile professional and fast-paced small business owner. The enhanced Inspiron, XPS and Vostro portfolio is built with a combination of beautiful design, superior materials and top performance dedicated to deliver a device for every function and user. In addition, Dell is expanding its monitor leadership with a stunning new Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor built with beauty and function. Dell's commitment to thoughtful design and truly immersive cinematic experiences on the PC continues with this generation of new products. Launched at CES 2018, Dell Cinema is the combination of several cutting-edge technologies all working in concert to give the viewer an immersive, captivating experience on their PCs. Dell Cinema is available across the XPS portfolio and new Inspiron products starting this autumn. Every Dell Consumer and Small Business PC also comes with Dell Mobile Connect2, which allows users wireless access to their smartphones on their Dell PCs. More than 10 million phone calls and text messages have been made using Dell Mobile Connect since January 2018 and beginning this autumn, the software will bring a new level of iPhone-to-PC integration beyond text and calls. Integration with iOS apps notifications, such as WhatsApp messages, calendar reminders, and more, will be shown on a Dell PC through Dell Mobile Connect. "We are excited to be at IFA again this year to showcase our technology innovations that continue to enhance the computing experience," said Ray Wah, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer and Small Business at Dell. "We've invested in redesigning our portfolio of mainstream laptops and 2-in-1s with beautiful designs, premium materials and thoughtful features, illustrating our ongoing dedication to deliver quality devices every user is proud to carry." Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s combine performance and premium design The new Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 family delivers sophistication with a cool brushed aluminum exterior with a smooth feel and sleek design. Available in 13-, 15- and 17-inch sizes, the 2-in-1s leverage premium features, including Intel 8th Generation U Series processors, optional 4K UHD screens, and a thermal flow to move hot air out through hidden vents, providing top performance and a comfortable experience during extended computing sessions. The 13- and the 15-inch versions have three-sided narrow borders thanks to a new 2.7mm miniaturized webcam that offers greater performance in low light with Temporal Noise Reduction - the first PC-integrated USB camera to use this technology3. Plus, the 15- and 17-inch versions offer optional NVIDIA GeForce MX150 to boost graphics quality, as well optional Intel OptaneTM Memory to increase single-drive performance. Dell Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s are Alexa-ready4 so PC so users can create lists, set reminders, ask for the weather, play music, manage appointments and more  all with their voice. Alexa support will be available this autumn. Inspiron 5000 2-in-1s - flexibility and function at incredible value The Inspiron 14 5000 2-in-1 boasts many of the top line enhancements of the 7000 series, including thermal routing and narrow borders. The two versions of the Inspiron 14 5000 2-in-1, 5481 and 5482, offer new Intel 8th Generation U Series processors, choice, flexibility and value to fit the varied needs of today's consumers. The 5482 2-in-1 includes a USB Type-C port with power delivery and display support, for the first time standard in the Inspiron 5000 series, and an optional NVIDIA GeForce MX130 discrete graphics card. Concurrently, the 5481 2-in-1 delivers reliable features at a fantastic value. It includes a full-size HDMI port, a full-size SD card reader, two USB 3.1 Generation 1 ports, one USB 2.0 port for easy connectivity and the option of Windows 10 in S mode in select regions. Dell's first premium consumer Chromebook Dell is enhancing the Inspiron lineup with its first premium Chromebook, the Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1. It's built for customers who want a premium 2-in-1 convertible, upscale features, thoughtful design, roomy 14-inch FHD IPS display and seamless integration with Google applications and ecosystem. An aluminum, narrow side-bezel design delivers sleek looks and a compact footprint that bolsters mobility with to up to 15 hours6 of battery life. The 8th Generation Intel Core i3-8130U CPU and up to 128GB of onboard eMMC storage ensures quick, responsive performance, while the USB Type-C ports, standard backlit keyboard and standard EMR pen with its own garage bay in the system base deliver the latest in convenience. Combined with speed, simplicity, security of Chrome OS and access to millions of Android apps on Google Play, the new Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1 is built with style and power, delivering flexibility and productivity for today's mobile consumer. XPS 13 family updates Dell's flagship XPS 13, the smallest 13-inch laptop7 and the most powerful in its class8, now offers the new Intel 8th Generation i3 processor, delivering a more affordable option for consumers. And the XPS 13 Developer Edition is available now with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (long-term support), an update that provides support for up to five years. In addition, the XPS 13 2-in-1, the smallest 13-inch 2-in-1 on the planet9 now offers Intel'slatest 8th Generation processors. The 2-in-1 comes with Dynamic Power Mode to extract maximum performance from the processor, as well as up to 15 hours10 of battery life and a stunning viewing experience with UltraSharp QHD+ InfinityEdge touch display.



Vostro 14 and 15 5000 laptops for the growing small business Dell has never left behind its small business roots. Founded in Michael Dell's dorm room more than 30 years ago, Dell is committed to providing the right technology for small businesses and offers dedicated, free small business advisors.

Dell continues to expand the Vostro line with new Vostro 14 and 15 5000 laptops, focused on providing productivity and security features small businesses demand. The laptops include 8th Generation Intel Core processors, USB Type-C port that provides power delivery and display support, optional Single-Sign-On fingerprint reader and two-sided narrow border that helps focus on the screen and therefore the task at hand. Built on the needs of this audience, the new Vostro laptops also offer hardware TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0, which provides commercial-grade protection and storage for encryption keys to verify a device, and Bitlocker to configure security settings. Combined with Peak Shift, which reduces power consumption by automatically switching the system to battery power during certain times of the day, these simple but crucial features help small businesses operate efficiently and smoothly. Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor perfection from every angle

Continuing to lead the industry in displays, Dell is unveiling the newest member of its Ultrathin family and the world's brightest 27-inch USB-C ultrathin monitor in its class11. Featuring up to 600 nits peak brightness, the Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin (S2719DC) is a premium HDR monitor with VESA-certified DisplayHDR 600 and integrated with Corning Iris Glass light-guide plate (LGP) technology. It is equipped with a USB Type-C connector that transmits video, data and power, all from one single source offering a fuss-free single cable solution. The cutting edge design is remarkably thin from every angle with its thinnest profile at 5.5mm making it a perfect fit for workspace or home setup to create a beautiful aesthetic. With a minimalist and InfinityEdge design in a seamless chassis of silver satin finish, the S2719DC lends a timeless and premium feel. Enjoy strikingly realistic images on this ultrathin beauty through remarkable clarity, vivid contrast and wide color gamut. Dell also is introducing a new line of SE Monitors with essential features for everyday computing. The new FHD monitors (SE2219H, SE2419H and SE2719H) come with thin bezels and are available in 21.5-inch, 23.8-inch and 27-inch screen sizes. Built with IPS panel, enjoy color consistency and accuracy across wide viewing angles. Each of the SE monitor also comes a flicker-free, low-haze screen atop a compact, space-saving base. With this new line, Dell now has a full refreshed range of consumer monitors. "One challenge for the PC industry has been creating a product that marries innovation with quality form factors, materials and features at a price point for every audience. To thrive in a competitive PC landscape, a company needs to deliver premium design as well as innovation for a mainstream audience," said Maribel Lopez, founder and principal analyst at Maribel Research. "Dell's expanding consumer portfolio revealed at IFA this year highlights how the company continues to support a vision of developing devices that fit the needs of every user." Legacy of Good Dell believes technology has a critical role in driving human progress. Technology and expertise can be put to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. As part of that commitment, Dell is using "Circular Economy" principles, designing out inefficiencies and turning "waste" into valuable resources. In India, air pollution can be extreme, and in 2017, air quality in the city of Delhi in November 2017 was so poor that it was akin to smoking 50 cigarettes12 per day. To combat this, Dell partnered with a small India-based start-up, Chakr Innovation, to capture soot from diesel generators and transform it into ink for printing on packaging. Dell has since shipped approximately 150,000 boxes printed with pollution ink. As part of Dell's Legacy of Good commitment to achieve 100% sustainable packaging by 2020, majority of its XPS portfolio now ships with ocean-bound plastics packaging, with plans to expand this across other product lines. At the same time, the company is reducing use of single-use plastics by going strawless at global facilities. Dell is committed to applying its expertise, technology and resources toward addressing global challenges like the ocean plastic pollution crisis, which is featured at IFA this year. Join Dell at IFA 2018 Dell is hosting an interactive art-gallery showcasing its new innovative consumer, gaming and small business PCs and beautiful displays. Experience Dell Cinema via a living orchestra of laptops, a light installation and dramatic color experience. Check out a recyclable plastics installation demonstrating Dell's work to reduce single use plastics. Visit the Dell Small Business Cafe for coffee art and tech advice. And for the ultimate gaming and VR experience, test your skills in a McLaren race car simulator, Beat Saber VR and Dauntless all powered by Alienware and Dell G Series. The #DellExperience is located in Stand 101 in Hall 16 and is open to press and analysts on Aug. 29- 30 and to all IFA badgeholders Aug. 31  Sept. 5 from 10 a.m.  5 p.m. Berlin time. Follow the Dell news and updates from IFA at #IFA18 and #DellExperience. U.S. Availability XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is available now starting at $949.99 .

. XPS 13 with i3 will be available Aug. 28 in U.S. starting at $899.99 .

in U.S. starting at . XPS 13 2-in-1 with Intel 8th Generation processors will be available Sept. 11 starting at $999.99 .

starting at . Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor will be available Sept. 20 starting at $549.99 .

starting at . Dell 22/24/27 SE Monitors will be available Sept. 25 starting at $169.99 (22-inch), $199.99 (24-inch) and $249.99 (27-inch).

starting at (22-inch), (24-inch) and (27-inch). Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s will be available on Oct. 2 starting at $879.99 (13-inch), $849.99 (15-inch) and $1,099.99 (17-inch).

starting at (13-inch), (15-inch) and (17-inch). Inspiron 5000 2-in-1 (5482) will be available on Oct. 2 starting at $599.99 .

starting at . Inspiron 5000 2-in-1 (5481) will be available on Oct. 2 starting at $459.99 .

starting at . Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1 will be available on Oct. 23 starting at $599 .

starting at . Vostro 5581 will be available Nov. 9 starting at $579 .

starting at . The Dell Mobile Connect update will be available for free in autumn on all consumer Windows 10 XPS, Inspiron, Vostro, and Alienware PC purchased after January 2018 .

. Vostro 5481 will be available on Jan. 2, 2019 starting at $669 . Additional resources Connect with Dell via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn

Online Press Kit: http://bit.ly/Dell_IFA18

Follow the latest news on Twitter from @Dell About Dell With award-winning desktops, laptops, 2-in-1s and thin clients, powerful workstations and rugged devices made for specialized environments, monitors, endpoint security solutions and services, Dell gives today's workforce what they need to securely connect, produce, and collaborate from anywhere at any time. Dell, a part of Dell Technologies, services customers from consumers to organizations of all sizes across 180 countries. Copyright  2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. 1 Based on Dell internal analysis, August 2018 2 Available on Dell consumer XPS, Inspiron, Vostro, and Alienware PCs with Bluetooth purchased in January 2018 or later. PCs purchased before January 2018 are not supported to ensure the highest level of quality you expect from Dell. Expanding to machines purchased before January 2018 is under investigation. The companion mobile app is compatible with iOS 10 and above and Android 5 and above. 3 Based on Dell internal analysis, July 2018 4 To enable Alexa Ready devices, download the Microsoft update and Amazon package via Support.Dell.com, available this autumn; only available on Inspiron models 7386, 7586, 7786, 5482 5 System memory may be used to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors. 6 Battery life is based on Google Chrome Power LoadTest available at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-testing . Test results are for comparative purposes only. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time. 7 Based on an April 2018 Principled Technologies Report sponsored by Dell, "Comparison of 13-inch-class laptops". Full report: http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/XPS_13_comparison_0418.pdf 8 Based on Principled Technologies Report commissioned by Dell, December 2017, using the Cinebench multi-core CPU benchmark test comparing the Dell XPS 13 against competitive products with similar configurations. Actual performance will vary based on usage, configuration, and manufacturing variability. See report here: http://facts.pt/Vm8PAx 9 Based on an April 2018 Principled Technologies Report sponsored by Dell, "Comparison of 13-inch-class 2-in-1 laptops". Full report: http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/XPS_13_2in1_comparison_0418.pdf 10 MobileMark 2014 battery benchmark: XPS 13 2-in-1 tested with 7th Gen Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD and FHD display. Based on testing using the Mobile Mark 2014 battery life benchmark test. For more information about this benchmark test, visit www.bapco.com. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time. 11 Source: April 2018 internal analysis comparing brightness (cd/m) on competitive 27-inch QHD USB-C monitors. 12 Based on these articles: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi and https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/guess-how-it-feels-like-smoking-over-50-cigarettes-a-day-inhale-delhi-s-air-and-you-ll-know-it-333213.html View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dell-brings-new-modern-innovative-devices-for-consumers-and-small-businesses-at-ifa-2018-300703873.html SOURCE Dell

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Livinup Partners With CMoo Systems for Their Next Generation of Products

BERLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Livinup and CMoo Systems have partnered to develop the most advanced No Neutral smart product. Livinup is a leading home automation developer for a variety of wireless light control and security applications. The company has more than 20 years of experience and offers comprehensive home automation systems designed for modern living requirements. Livinup utilized CMoo Systems PeX breakthrough technology for smart homes for their next generation of products. "CMoo patented technology was chosen by us because it had the best performance among the other technologies available," says James Wang, president of Livinup. "We are thrilled and excited to use PeX technology in our product." CMoo Systems products for smart home automation simplifies the way to control and monitor residential homes. CMoo Systems develops and sells PeX (Power eXtractions) modules that utilize existing infrastructure (no-new-wires) at an affordable cost and easy installation. The patented technology allows one to design new smart switches and bulbs to be an IoT device without the need to change wires or use a battery. The ability to control lights and legacy devices from anywhere and to use the wall switch at any time is one of the technology's best features. It also allows the addition of senors, voice activity and thermostat functions at the switch and bulb side.



"CMee is the technology of choice for smart connected residential homes to power up a wide range of IoT applications," says Eli Ofek, CEO, and co-founder of CMoo. "We are very pleased to work with Livinup and welcome them to the adoption of CMoo's PeX technology." CMoo and Livinup will showcase the most advanced True No Neutral smart product using CMoo's technology at IFA, the world's leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances. Livinup and CMoo will be at IFA in Berlin, Germany from August 31 to September 5. For those interested in the product, visit them at G-Light booth#138 Hall 6.2 at the event.

About Livinup Livinup is a leading home automation developer for a variety of wireless light control and security devices by applying its wide experience and advanced technology. With more than 20 years of experience and comprehensive home automation system which is designed for modern living requirements. For more information, visit Livinup.com.tw/en or contact service@tgmtek.com. About CMoo Systems CMoo Systems develops and sells CMee products for the smart home automation. The technology simplifies the way to control and monitor residential homes, utilizing existing infrastructure (no-new-wires), at an affordable cost and easy installation. For more information, visit CM-OO.com or contact info@cm-oo.com. Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE43IP3wZyI View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/livinup-partners-with-cmoo-systems-for-their-next-generation-of-products-300703206.html SOURCE CMoo Systems

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Planday Raises 35 Million Euros in One of Largest Funding Rounds in Danish History

LONDON, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UK is a strategic growth market with investment in sales, customer support and a new London development team planned Planday, the workforce collaboration platform has announced today that it has closed its Round C fundraising of 35 million Euros. The lead investor is SEB Private Equity, with additional investment from investors in previous funding rounds, including Creandum and Idinvest. This investment will be used to both extend the platform and accelerate expansion into new markets across Europe and North America. In the UK, where it is estimated that 26% of all work is shift-based, Planday is growing its user base at over 250% annually. This investment will enable Planday to establish a UK-based technology development hub, as well as to grow sales and customer support teams from its London office. Over the last year alone, Planday has quadrupled it's UK employee base and is positioned to become the company's most significant hub. Planday has developed a flexible rota scheduling platform that ca be used by businesses managing shift workers to enable real-time, contextual communication between employees, managers and co-workers in industries that have been traditionally underserved by technological solutions.



Christian Brndum, Chief Executive Officer for Planday commented: "We are proud to collaborate with a broad global customer base, including brands such as Barry's Bootcamp, Ottolenghi, and St Pancras Hotel. This investment will further enable us to help customers automate their business processes and save administrative time through our partnerships with industry leaders such as Apple, Lightspeed, Intuit and Sage. Our mission is to deliver fully integrated solutions that provide a seamless experience for our customers." Planday allows businesses to optimise administration of employees and integrate seamlessly into their payroll processes. Planday's customer base already spans 39 countries, and this investment will enable further global expansion, as the global workforce management market is expected to reach USD 11.09 billion by 2025.

Victor Lang, Chief Investment Officer at SEB Private Equity, adds to this, "we have backed companies in several traditional industries that have been revolutionized by cloud-based SaaS technology. We believe Planday is well positioned to spearhead automation and simplicity within workforce management, which is why we are excited to lead this round of funding for Planday, as well as team up with the Planday management team to continue scaling new ways of collaboration for shift-based businesses." Johan Brenner, General Partner at Creandum and Chairman of the board for Planday commented: "We are as excited to invest in Planday as we were to invest in iZettle and Spotify. We can see a huge market opportunity for Planday as they continue to grow internationally to improve the lives of 1 billion shift workers across the globe. Planday paves the way for a digital revolution for shift workers and their managers."



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Granicus Releases Benchmark Report on Citizen Engagement Across Government's Top Digital Channels

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Granicus, the leading provider of cloud-based software solutions to government, today released its 2018 Benchmark Report that arms public sector leaders with proven metrics to enhance digital strategies and engage more people. Based on an in-depth analysis of the engagement metrics of more than 4,000 organizations that use Granicus solutions, the report focuses on the top three channels used by governments to communicate with citizens - email, websites and social media. Now in its third year, the 2018 Granicus Benchmark Report analyzed 1.6 million emails, activity from 185 million citizen subscribers, and visitor behavior on over 400,000 web pages over a one-year period (June 2017- June 2018). "In today's data-rich environment, public sector communicators are turning to digital platforms that generate real-time performance metrics and deliver insights that can enhance their approach to citizen engagement," said Granicus CEO Mark Hynes. "Measured across 4,000 organizations, the Granicus Benchmark Report provides industry metrics for engagement metrics so that communicators can iterate on the strategies that are working in the public sector. Better engagement translates into better outcomes for organizations and theirpriorities such as program adoption, participation in public meetings, or voter turnout."



Key findings in this year's Benchmark Report include: Government Email Leads the Way: Emails sent by the public sector regularly meet or exceed private and nonprofit sector benchmark metrics. Granicus found an overall open rate for government emails of 21 percent, a rate that has remained constant over the past three years. That compares to approximately 18 percent for the private sector and 16 percent for the nonprofit sector.

Emails sent by the public sector regularly meet or exceed private and nonprofit sector benchmark metrics. Granicus found an overall open rate for government emails of 21 percent, a rate that has remained constant over the past three years. That compares to approximately 18 percent for the private sector and 16 percent for the nonprofit sector. Email Engagement is Trending Upward: The median engagement rate increased slightly to 47 percent this year, compared to 45 percent in 2017, meaning that government communications teams are better targeting and accurately messaging to citizens needs.

The median engagement rate increased slightly to 47 percent this year, compared to 45 percent in 2017, meaning that government communications teams are better targeting and accurately messaging to citizens needs. Twitter Gets Shared Most Often, YouTube Gets Clicked: Government agencies have realized the power of social media to convey messages and deliver customer service. Granicus research finds that links to Twitter were the most likely to be shared in government emails, however, YouTube links were the most likely to be clicked, clearly demonstrating the power of video.

Government agencies have realized the power of social media to convey messages and deliver customer service. Granicus research finds that links to Twitter were the most likely to be shared in government emails, however, YouTube links were the most likely to be clicked, clearly demonstrating the power of video. The Future is Mobile: The 2018 analysis revealed that half of all traffic to government websites comes from mobile devices, a number that has increased nearly 10 percent since 2016 is only expected to grow in the future; yet, most government websites are not mobile enabled.

The 2018 analysis revealed that half of all traffic to government websites comes from mobile devices, a number that has increased nearly 10 percent since 2016 is only expected to grow in the future; yet, most government websites are not mobile enabled. Strong SEO is Critically Important: Sixty percent of traffic comes from organic search, so the continued emphasis on search engine optimization is vital. Included with the Granicus 2018 findings are tips for improving each metric and an example of an organization that is performing well in that area. Granicus drew on the best practices of the current clients including the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (overlay impact), Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (email subscription per subscriber) and Calcasieu Parish, La. (mobile-responsive website design).

"As our client base grows, so does the level of insight we have into the alternatives to expensive traditional marketing methods. Using email campaigns, mobile-enabled websites and social strategically can improve citizen reach and drive better connections between government and the people they serve," added Hynes. Methodology

The metrics in 2018 Benchmark Report are based on annual data of the 4,000 federal, state, and local, and U.K. organizations that use Granicus' solutions. About Granicus

Granicus provides technology that empowers government organizations to create better lives for the people they serve. By offering the industry's leading cloud-based solutions for communications, meeting and agenda management, and digital services to more than 4,000 public sector organizations, Granicus helps turn government missions into quantifiable realities. Granicus products connect more than 185 million people, creating a powerful network to enhance government transparency and citizen engagement. By optimizing decision-making processes, Granicus strives to help government realize better outcomes and have a great impact for the citizens they serve. Learn more at granicus.com. Media Contact:

Lynette Viviani

(973) 534-1004

lynette.viviani@vivianipr.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/granicus-releases-benchmark-report-on-citizen-engagement-across-governments-top-digital-channels-300703869.html SOURCE Granicus

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] $7K Grant from ARVEST Bank and FHLB Dallas to Help Disabled Veteran

ARVEST Bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) will award a $7,262.50 Housing Assistance for Veterans (HAVEN) grant to Jared Bishop, a disabled veteran who will use the funds for plumbing repairs for his home, as well as upgrades to the bathroom. Bank representatives will award the funds at a check presentation at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 29, 2018, at 18616 Bug Scuffle Road in West Fork, Arkansas. The media is encouraged to attend. HAVEN funds assist with necessary modifications to homes of U.S. veterans and active-duty personnel, disabled by active military service since September 11, 2001. Necessary home repairs and/or modifications are covered under the grant program and funds may be used to modify an existing home to meet the needs of a U.S. veteran or service member, offset construction costs of a newly constructed home or help pay for a third-party inspection. For more information about HAVEN, visit fhlb.com/haven.







WHAT: Check Presentation WHEN: 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 29, 2018 WHO: Morgan Farmer, Field Representative, Office of U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) Bootsie Ackerman, District Director, Office of U.S. Representative Steve Womack (AR-3) Jeff Thacker, Field Representative, Office of U.S. Representative Steve Womack (AR-3) Aaron Mankin, Military Liaison, Office of U.S. Representative Steve Womack (AR-3) Virgil Miller, Group CRA Director, ARVEST Bank Crawford Sebastian Community Development Council Jared Bishop Bruce Hatton, Vice President, Affordable Housing Program Manager, FHLB Dallas WHERE: 18616 Bug Scuffle Road West Fork, Arkansas 72774

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005083/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] VirtualArmour Reports Q2 2018 Results; Managed and Professional Services Revenue up 78%

CENTENNIAL, Colo., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VirtualArmour International Inc. (CSE:VAI) (3V3:F) (OTCQB:VTLR), a premier cybersecurity managed services provider, reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018. Financial results are in U.S. dollars, with comparisons made to the same year-ago quarter unless otherwise noted.

Q2 2018 Financial Highlights Revenue increased 50% to a record $4.0 million, driven by growth in the number of customers served as well as the size of orders from new and existing customers.





Managed and professional services revenue increased 78% to a record $1.2 million, due primarily to the addition of 17 new clients signed under contracts over the last 12 months.





Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased to 27.1% from 17.6% due to a favorable shift in revenue mix to higher margin managed and professional services revenue.





Adjusted EBITDA was a positive $104,000.





Annual recurring revenue (ARR) totaled $498,000 at June 30, 2018, up from $157,000 at June 30, 2017. The company defines ARR as the value of its service contracts normalized to a one-year period.





Total contract value (TCV) was $10.7 million at June 30, 2018, up 282% from $2.8 million at June 30, 2017. The company defines TCV as the total value of its service contracts including one time and recurring charges. Q2 2018 Operational Highlights Expanded growth into hospitality and manufacturing sectors with $1.1 million in new contracts.





Received a three-year managed security services and hardware contract, valued at $250,000, from a large retail wellness brand. The customer was introduced to VirtualArmour through its new reseller partnership with Alacrinet, a leading IT solutions consultancy, which was announced in January.





in January. Established the VirtualArmour Academy, a new institution for cybersecurity education and training, with the grand opening of the academy at its security operations centers in Salt Lake City, Utah and Middlesbrough, England.





Maintained a customer retention rate of 100% in Q2, following the 100% retention rate in the full year of 2017 and Q1 2018.





Named to Cybersecurity Ventures' Cybersecurity 500 list as one of the worlds hottest and most innovative cybersecurity companies to watch in 2018, as well as named to Branham300 2018 Edition as one of the top 250 public and private technology companies in Canada.





Promoted Russ Armbrust to CEO and Andrew Douthwaite to CTO. Q2 2018 Financial Summary Revenue totaled a record $4.0 million in the second quarter of 2018, as compared to $2.7 million in the same year ago quarter. The increase was due to managed and professional services revenue increased 78% to $1.2 million and product sales (hardware and software) increased 41% to $2.8 million. Cost of sales were $2.9 million in the second quarter of 2018 as compared to $2.2 million in the same year ago quarter. The increase in cost of sales was due primarily to corresponding increase in revenue. Gross profit was $1.1 million or 27.1% of revenue in the second quarter of 2018, as compared to $471,000 or 17.6% of revenue in the same year ago quarter. The increase in gross profit and gross profit as a percentage of revenue was due to a favorable shift in revenue to higher margin managed and professional services revenue. Total expenses were $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2018, as compared to $827,000 in the same year ago quarter. The increase was primarily due to an increase in depreciation and amortization expense of $81,835 from the year-ago quarter, and to a lesser extent an increase in salary expense of $44,122 and R&D increasing by $26,385. Net and comprehensive loss improved to $119,000 or $(0.00) per share in the second quarter of 2018, as compared to a loss of $411,000 or $(0.01) per share in the year-ago quarter. The loss was primarily due to the increase in depreciation and amortization expense in non-cash expenditures. Adjusted EBITDA was a positive $104,000 in the second quarter of 2018, improving from a negative $390,000 in same period in 2017 (see definition of adjusted EBITDA, a non-IFRS term, and reconciliation to IFRS, below). Cash totaled $191,000 at June 30, 2018, compared to $361,000 as of March 31, 2018. The decrease was primarily due to the timing of changes in working capital including the payment of payables net of collection of receivables. As of August 24, 2018, cash totaled approximately $423,000, with the increase due primarily to the collection of receivables. Management Commentary In Q2, our record top-line growth, expanding margins and positive adjusted EBITDA were driven by a growing revenue stream from managed and professional services, said Russ Armbrust, CEO of VirtualArmour. This was achieved by a combination of signing several multi-year recurring revenue engagements and increasing the level of our services utilized by our existing customers. New customers added during the quarter were from multiple sectors, including healthcare, transportation, hospitality, and non-profit. Our expansion into the hospitality and manufacturing sectors resulted in $1.1 million in new contracts for managed and professional services combined with hardware and software. We were also engaged by a prominent wellness brand customer for managed security services in partnership with Alacrinet. The company maintained a 100% customer retention rate, which has now continued over the last six quarters. Throughout the first half of 2018, our channel partner program has proven to be effective way to grow our customer base and managed services contracts, with this leading to increased monthly recurring revenue. Looking ahead, we are very optimistic for the second half of 2018 because we see the growing threat of targeted breaches across all industries and business sizes driving increased cybersecurity budgets as companies prepare for 2019 and beyond. We also see our growing sales, marketing, and service organization driving a continued ramp up in our managed services sales and margin growth as we expand into new markets. We anticipate a continued favorable shift to higher margin managed and professional services in the second half of 2018. Combined with ongoing growth in customer acquisition and an increasing number of customers on our recurring revenue model, we are firmly on track for another record year of operational and financial performance. Cybersecurity Outlook Opportunities for specialist service providers in the cybersecurity sector have grown in line with the increased volume of cyber-attacks being encountered by businesses, non-profits, and government institutions and covered by global media. This shift has not only led to increasing enterprise budgets being allocated to cyber protection but also increased interest in investment opportunities in what is a high growth sector. According to Cybersecurity Ventures recent quarterly report, global cybersecurity spending is predicted to exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next five years, from 2018 to 2021. In 2004, the global cybersecurity market was worth $3.5 billion. In 2018 spending is expected to reach $120 billion. VirtualArmour is well positioned to capitalize on this growth opportunity and continues to deepen its penetration into the healthcare, financial, retail and service provider industries. About VirtualArmour VirtualArmour International is a global cybersecurity and managed services provider that delivers customized solutions to help businesses build, monitor, maintain and secure their networks. The company maintains 24/7 client monitoring and service management with specialist teams located in its U.S. and UK-based security operation centers. Through partnerships with best-in-class technology providers, VirtualArmour delivers leading hardware and software solutions for customers that are both sophisticated and scalable, and backed by industry-leading customer service and experience. The companys proprietary CloudCastr client portal and prevention platform provides clients with unparalleled access to real-time reporting on threat levels, breach prevention and overall network security.



VirtualArmour services a wide range of clients, which include Fortune 500 companies and several industry sectors in over 30 countries across five continents. For further information, visit www.virtualarmour.com . Supplemental Non-IFRS Financial Measures In addition to IFRS financial measures, management uses non-IFRS financial measures to assess the company's operational performance. It is likely that the non-IFRS financial measures used by the company will not be comparable to similar measures reported by other issuers or those used by financial analysts as their measures may have different definitions. Generally, a non-IFRS financial measure is a numerical measure of an entity's historical or future financial performance, financial position or cash flows that is neither calculated nor recognized under IFRS. Management believes that such non-IFRS financial measures can be important as they provide users of the financial statements with a better understanding of the results of the company's recurring operations and their related trends, while increasing transparency and clarity into its operating results. Management also believes these measures can be useful in assessing the company's capacity to discharge its financial obligations. In Q1 2018, management began assessing its operational performance using supplemental non-IFRS statement of income, adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as loss for the period as reported excluding depreciation and amortization, change in fair value of warrant derivative liabilities, share-based compensation and interest expense. Adjusted EBITDA is not a term recognized under IFRS and non-IFRS measures do not have standardized meaning. Accordingly, non-IFRS measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The table below provides a reconciliation of net (loss) for the period as reported to non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017: Three Months Ended

June 30, Six Months Ended

June 30, 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income $(119,199 ) $(410,694 ) $(246,411 ) $(900,524 ) Depreciation and amortization 116,894 35,059 149,634 68,469 Interest expense 57,396 43,257 96,397 55,123 Change in value of warrant derivatives 0 11,045 (2,589 ) (17,626 ) Share-based compensation 49,093 (68,548 ) 122,064 6,179 Adjusted EBITDA $104,184 $(389,881 ) $119,095 $(788,379 )



Important Cautions Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and U.S. securities laws. This press release includes certain forward-looking statements concerning a service contract VirtualArmour has entered into with a current client, VirtualArmours continued relationship with various suppliers, the future performance of our business, its operations and its financial performance and condition, as well as managements objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of VirtualArmour. Although VirtualArmour believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information as VirtualArmour cannot provide any assurance that it will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as may, will, plan, expect, anticipate, estimate, intend and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the success of the Company in performing the IT implementation and migration, performance under the contract by all parties, the ability of VirtualArmour to meet timelines, the continued availability of necessary hardware, the absence of any trade war or tariffs affecting VirtualArmours ability to perform, competitive risks and the availability of financing. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and VirtualArmour disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

VirtualArmour International Inc.

Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss

For the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017

(Unaudited - Expressed in U.S. Dollars) Three months ended

June 30

Six months ended

June 30

2018

2017

2018

2017

$ $ $ $ Revenue 4,003,090 2,673,310 7,270,743 5,831,292 Cost of sales (2,918,624 ) (2,202,249 ) (5,267,609 ) (4,821,402 ) Gross Profit 1,084,466 471,061 2,003,134 1,009,890 Expenses General and administrative 522,415 253,968 948,198 682,769 Research and development 52,701 26,316 88,380 58,336 Sales and marketing 571,153 547,169 1,119,159 1,131,812 Total Expenses 1,146,269 827,453 2,155,737 1,872,917 Loss from Operations (61,803 ) (356,392 ) (152,603 ) (863,027 ) Other Income (Expenses) Interest expense (57,396 ) (43,257 ) (96,397 ) (55,123 ) Change in fair value of warrant derivative liabilities - (11,045 ) 2,589 17,626 Net and Comprehensive Loss for the period (119,199 ) (410,694 ) (246,411 ) (900,524 ) Loss per share  basic and diluted (0.00 ) (0.01 ) (0.00 ) (0.02 ) Weighted average number of shares outstanding  basic 63,501,535 55,769,447 60,734,198 55,769,447



VirtualArmour International Inc.

Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Financial Position

As at June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017

(Expressed in U.S. Dollars) June 30,

2018

$ December 31,

2017

$ (unaudited) ASSETS Current Cash 191,173 46,795 Accounts receivable 2,453,665 727,618 Other receivables - 44,300 Prepaid expenses 212,916 196,938 Total Current Assets 2,857,754 1,015,651 Office facilities and equipment 623,795 520,062 Intangible assets 69,261 77,175 Total Assets 3,550,810 1,612,888 LIABILITIES Current Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 3,249,885 2,821,038 Deferred revenue 184,497 80,105 Warrant derivative liabilities - 2,589 Debt 66,795 - Leases 246,092 154,580 Due to related parties 248,861 455,162 Total Current Liabilities 3,996,130 3,513,474 Leases 238,358 224,645 Total Liabilities 4,234,488 3,738,119 SHAREHOLDERS DEFICIT Share capital 7,850,318 6,284,418 Contributed surplus 1,947,193 1,825,129 Deficit (10,481,189 ) (10,234,778 ) Total Shareholders Deficit (683,678 ) (2,125,231 ) Total Liabilities and Shareholders Deficit 3,550,810 1,612,888

Company Contact

Russ Armbrust

CEO

VirtualArmour International Inc.

Tel (720) 644-0913

Email Contact Investor Relations:

Ronald Both or Grant Stude

CMA

Tel (949) 432-7566

Email Contact



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] iProspect Canada appoints Dan Kalinski as Chief Executive Officer

Part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, iProspect works as an extension of their clients' teams to transform businesses at the global, regional and local level TORONTO, Aug. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - iProspect Canada names Dan Kalinski Chief Executive Officer. Kalinski joins iProspect Canada after more than 6 years leading a team of over 200 employees at iProspect Australia and New Zealand. "I'm very excited to be joining our talented Canadian team and work in a dynamic, innovative market such as Canada. In times of technological disruption, geopolitical uncertainty and an unpredictable business environment, iProspect's proposition of driving business growth, has never been more relevant," says, Dan Kalinski, CEO, iProspect. "I'm looking forward to leveraging the talent throughout the Dentsu AegisNetwork and delivering even greater value to our Canadian clients as we work towards transforming their businesses and better position them for future growth."



With over 18 years of experience working in the EMEA and APAC markets, Kalinski has worked on both the client and agency side across multiple sectors for global brands such as Coca Cola, FedEx, PayPal, Burberry, Lenovo, HSBC, Microsoft and GM among others. "Dan's understanding of how talent, culture, technology and media intersect as key aspects of the digital marketing is truly unique and will help to further elevate the work iProspect delivers to clients every day," says Annette Warring, Chair, Dentsu Aegis Network Canada. "He is passionate about nurturing and developing industry-leading talent while also being relentlessly focused on innovation through product development and value creation."

About iProspect Canada

iProspect is a global, award-winning agency  driving business performance for the world's largest brands including General Motors, Loblaws, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Subway, Mattel and AccorHotels. The global iProspect team works across a network of 4,300 employees spread over 93 offices in 55 countries. The Canadian market is served by both Toronto and Montreal offices and includes more than 80 performance marketing specialists.

About Dentsu Aegis Network Canada

Dentsu Aegis Network Canada Innovates the Way Brands Are Built for clients through best-in-class capabilities in media, digital, data and creative communications services. The network's focus on the digital economy and the distinctive products and services are delivered through agencies Amnet, Amplifi, Carat, Cardinal Path, DentsuBos, dentsu media, D2D, GRIP, ICUC, iProspect, Isobar, MKTG, The StoryLab, Vizeum and 360i. As one of the top ten global Dentsu Aegis markets, the Canadian team is headquartered in Toronto and serves clients through a national network of offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Saint John and Halifax with more than 1,400 dedicated specialists. www.dentsuaegisnetwork.ca SOURCE Dentsu Aegis Network

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Blue Prism First to Deliver RPA Platform that Enables Secure Deployment of Digital Workers Across Multiple Business Units within a Single Environment

LONDON and AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Prism (AIM: PRSM), today announced a new release of its Digital Workforce platform that includes features delivering secure Multi-Team Environments (MTE), native support for Google Chrome and a new Microsoft Outlook E-mail Visual Business Object (VBO). Innovations in Blue Prism v6.3 deliver a level of unprecedented granular control and auditability that no other Robotic Process Automation (RPA) offering on the market can provide. Delivering peace of mind to automation teams by reducing duplication of work and IT support, maximizing operational efficiency and significantly improving compliance are some of the benefits that this version brings to the RPA market. This new version takes the unique "Blue Prism Scales" commitment to new heights. Prior to MTE, customers would have to support separation of duties across departments with duplicate objects in multiple environments, as is the case with most RPA solutions today. The new version eliminates having to move objects to multiple locations, and by enabling objects to be shared or secured within or across teams, v6.3 significantly improves manageability and lowers the total cost of ownership for customers. "As more mainstream enterprises adopt and expand on their RPA initiatives they seek technology that can provide varying degrees of access and permissions, natively protects against growing security and compliance mandates and advances their digital transformation efforts with innovations in intelligent automation," said Dave Moss, Blue Prism co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. "The ability to deliver an intelligent, connected and easy to control digital workforce is a true game changer. With this latest release we've added greater control, flexibility, scalability and security to our platform that makes the process of sharing resources across multiple business units easier and more secure." Greater Scalability, Flexibility and Control

With the availability of v6.3 Blue Prism is adding the following capabilities: Multi-Team Environments (MTE) delivers new level of security and scalability. Enterprise users can segregate duties for greater control of Blue Prism's digital workers andprocesses across multiple business units within a single environment. This new feature also allows customers to create multiple teams with varying levels of permission and access to processes, objects and resources, core elements of the Blue Prism platform that make automation safer and scalable across the enterprise. It delivers granular control so only certain specified users can build and access processes based on permissions, ensuring compliance.

Enterprise users can segregate duties for greater control of Blue Prism's digital workers andprocesses across multiple business units within a single environment. This new feature also allows customers to create multiple teams with varying levels of permission and access to processes, objects and resources, core elements of the Blue Prism platform that make automation safer and scalable across the enterprise. It delivers granular control so only certain specified users can build and access processes based on permissions, ensuring compliance. Native Google Chrome support expands opportunities for automation. Enterprise users can now directly automate the Chrome browser in a purpose-built solution. This allows RPA to be used to automate web pages and applications that are best displayed/designed to work in Chrome, including internal web-based apps that are hosted in the browser. The Blue Prism Application Modeller wizard has also been updated with a new additional Browser-based Application (Chrome) application mode that enables Chrome elements to be spied and used within Business Objects.

expands opportunities for automation. Enterprise users can now directly automate the Chrome browser in a purpose-built solution. This allows RPA to be used to automate web pages and applications that are best displayed/designed to work in Chrome, including internal web-based apps that are hosted in the browser. The Blue Prism Application Modeller wizard has also been updated with a new additional application mode that enables Chrome elements to be spied and used within Business Objects. New Microsoft Outlook Email VBO democratizes AI across the enterprise. Users can easily automate any email process that used Outlook as its foundation. It provides several actions for processing emails within Outlook such as sending, deleting, retrieving, and saving emails and attachments. This new VBO provides drag-and-drop simplicity to email automation within business processes.



"Blue Prism has introduced new capabilities fostering better utilization of RPA resources and greater visibility into and control over RPA platform operations and task/process automations, thereby driving greater scalability and agility of the digital workforce delivered as part of RPA engagements," said Saurabh Sharma, Principal Analyst at Ovum.

Blue Prism complements the workplace with an elastic, multi-faceted and multi-talented digital workforce, helping organizations automate and scale business processes via AI, machine learning, intelligent automation and sentiment analysis. This digital workforce, being utilized by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide, eliminates vendor lock-in by providing access to the best of breed AI technologies and Intelligent Automation skills through the company's Technology Alliance Program (TAP) that transforms how organizations can leverage technology to deliver true operational agility. The new release also advances the company's vision of extending RPA capabilities through the use of six intelligent automation skills that augment human talent while helping organizations automate and quickly scale business processes. According to Blue Prism customers, these six intelligent automation skills are critical for comprehensive RPA deployment inside the enterprise and include knowledge and insight, planning and sequencing, visual perception, problem solving, collaboration and learning, which mark a clear line of delineation over desktop-based and other automation tools. About Blue Prism

As the pioneer, innovator and market leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Blue Prism delivers the world's most successful Digital Workforce. The company's intelligent digital workers provide business leaders with new operational capacity and intelligent skills to automate mission critical business processes, while meeting the requirements of the most demanding IT environments, where security, compliance and scalability are paramount. Blue Prism provides a scalable and robust execution platform for best-of-breed AI and cognitive technologies and has emerged as the trusted and secure RPA platform of choice for the Fortune 500. Billions of transactions and hundreds of millions of hours of work are executed on Blue Prism robots from renowned companies including Aegon, BNY Mellon, Coca-Cola, Commerzbank, IBM, ING, Maersk, Nokia, Nordea, Procter & Gamble, Raiffeisen Bank, Siemens, Westpac and Zurich. For more information about Blue Prism (AIM: PRSM), visit www.blueprism.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-prism-first-to-deliver-rpa-platform-that-enables-secure-deployment-of-digital-workers-across-multiple-business-units-within-a-single-environment-300703736.html SOURCE Blue Prism

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Flux7 Wins 2018 Stratus Award for Cloud Integrator

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flux7 , a services and technology company that specializes in extreme automation on top of cloud, today announced it was named the winner of the 2018 Stratus Award for Cloud Integrator, Small Company from The Business Intelligence Group. The Stratus Awards honor the companies, products and people that offer unique solutions that take advantage of cloud technologies. Flux7 helps enterprises rapidly integrate new technologies such as cloud, containers, CI/CD and configuration management, and adopt approaches including DevOps in order to improve the ease and elasticity with which IT services are delivered.

Enterprises often know they need to make changes to ensure their infrastructure and processes can support business and technology goals, but exactly how to do that can still be a mystery. The first thing we do is change that into a solvable puzzle, where we work together to identify the pieces and sequence that fits their pace and business objectives, said Aater Suleman, Flux7 CEO. Solving a point in time problem, such as application modernization, is often the first step on a broader journey to transform IT service delivery with extreme automation. An AWS Premier onsulting Partner, Flux7 helps establish enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure with AWS Landing Zones , a prescriptive process to create multiple AWS accounts that are security-hardened and can include capabilities including Transit VPC to provide a highly automated and scalable approach to connect AWS VPCs to on-premise networks. Customers gain rapid, tangible ROI from application migration to the cloud with Flux7 Renovate prescriptive application replatforming solutions.



Flux7 is clearly ahead of the pack helping to drive practical innovations in the cloud, said Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer of Business Intelligence Group. The cloud is now part of all of our daily lives and the staff and volunteer judges are pleased to shed a little light on these innovative services, organizations and executives. Were honored to receive the 2018 Stratus Award for Cloud Integrator as recognition of our unique approach to helping customers transform and scale IT modernization initiatives, added Aater Suleman, CEO of Flux7.

Flux7 solutions integrate technology from leaders including Amazon Web Services, CloudBees Jenkins, HashiCorp, Red Hat and Atlassian. About Flux7

Enterprises bring solutions to market faster and provide better customer experiences with Flux7 services and technologies for extreme automation. Gain access to knowledge experts in cloud, containers, CI/D and configuration management to adopt approaches including DevOps and Agile, in order to improve the security and efficiency with which IT services are delivered. Flux7 customers accelerate DevOps adoption and IT modernization projects through our modular service structure and Enterprise DevOps Adoption Framework and platform which provides guidelines and principles to consistently meet business and technical requirements. Learn more at https://www.flux7.com, and subscribe to Flux7s DevOps blog at https://blog.flux7.com/ or follow us on Twitter @Flux7Labs. About Business Intelligence Group

The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry and business award programs , business executivesthose with experience and knowledgejudge the programs. The organizations proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers. Media Inquiries, please contact: Flux7 Heather Racicot PR & Marketing heather@flux7.com 360-632-5616

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Biodesix Confirms Prognostic Value of VeriStrat Testing in Phase 3 Study of Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer

BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new study published in The Oncologist demonstrates the objective prognostic value of the Biodesix VeriStrat  test in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Researchers utilized samples from the Phase 3 MARQUEE trial and found that the VeriStrat (VS) test was a significant predictor of outcomes, independent of ECOG Performance Status categories, patient EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) mutation status, treatment received, and other clinical variables.

The present data confirm that VeriStrat results provide information that can impact treatment decisions for both EGFR mutated and non-mutated patient populations. Additionally, VeriStrat results can be combined with performance status to create a stronger prognostic indicator for forming treatment strategies. While further validation studies are needed, this data adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the utility of VeriStrat results in patients with NSCLC, said Giorgio V. Scagliotti, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the study. Dr. Scagliotti is chief of the Medical Oncology Division at the San Luigi Hosptal, Orbassano and former head of the Department of Oncology at the University of Torino, Italy.



The study of 1,048 patients, entitled Retrospective assessment of a serum proteomic test in a Phase 3 study comparing erlotinib plus placebo to erlotinib plus tivantinib (MARQUEE) in previously treated patients with advanced NSCLC, demonstrated that patients with VS Poor results and a better ECOG PS (PS 0) have worse OS compared to VS Good patients with a worse PS (PS 1). Additionally, VS is applicable to predicting response differences in EGFR mutation-positive patients as well as those that are EGFR wild-type. In the EGFR mutation-positive subgroup, patients with a VS Good result experienced improved overall survival as compared to patients with a VS Poor result when treated with a single-agent EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI). When the combination of two EGFR-TKI therapies was used, patients with VS Good results still outperformed those with VS Poor results, but those with VS Poor results performed better on the combination therapy than on erlotinib alone, thus indicating the need for an alternative treatment strategy, which may include novel combination therapies. In contrast, the patients with a VS Good result did not receive significant benefit from the additional agent.

This analysis provides further evidence that VeriStrat testing can enhance the prognostic evaluation of patients with advanced NSCLC and guide patients and physicians in making effective treatment decisions, said Linda Traylor, Ph.D., vice president of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs for Biodesix. The study also indicates VeriStrat testing may be used as an additional prognostic tool for EGFR-mutated patients. Results suggest that patients with an EGFR mutation and a VS Poor result may benefit from an alternative, potentially more aggressive treatment strategy. This is the second published study to indicate that TKI combination therapy may salvage patients with a VS Poor result. Further research in this patient population is a high priority for Biodesix. VeriStrat is a multivariate, mass-spectrometry based test that measures circulating proteins in the blood serum or plasma of patients with NSCLC. Test results assign a good (VS Good) or poor (VS Poor) classification to patient samples. Multiple studies support that patients with a VS Good result have a better prognosis than patients with a VS Poor result, independent of current clinical prognostic indicators and treatment choice. About Biodesix Biodesix is a molecular diagnostics company advancing the development of innovative, multi-omic blood tests in oncology to enable precision medicine. Biodesix discovers, develops and commercializes multivariate protein and genomic liquid biopsy tests, including the GeneStrat and VeriStrat tests, that deliver results within 72 hours. The company is changing the standard of care by providing physicians with diagnostic tests and with the Biodesix Lung Reflex testing strategy, for better therapeutic guidance, more accurate prognosis and enhanced disease monitoring to improve patient outcomes. At the forefront of personalized medicine, Biodesix is developing new tests to identify patients who may benefit from immunotherapies. In addition to developing novel diagnostics independently, the company partners with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop companion diagnostics for use with therapeutic agents. Media Contact:

Kena Hudson for Biodesix

Kena@HudBio.com

(510) 908-0966

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Envoc Launches Person-to-Person Digital Credential Verification for LA Wallet App

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LA Wallet is already getting a major update after launching July 4. Release 1.3 includes some top user-requested features to make it more powerful and easier to use. With a built-in license verification module, Touch ID and Face ID compatibility, and a few bug fixes, LA Wallet is on its way to become Louisiana's preferred method of identification. The newest functions are part of LA Wallet's mission to make the app more widely and easily accepted by users, officials, and businesses as well as more secure for users. The VerifyYou feature creates a unique encryption code for each verification instance, ensuring the code cannot be counterfeited for verification. The feature allows anyone with the LA Wallet app to check the authenticity of another LA Wallet digital driver's license. Businesses that deal with age-restricted services can be more confident that they are not serving to underage patrons with forged identification, while users themselves can verify scheduled personal services. LA Walet now also includes the AAVMA code, the barcode on the back of a physical license, so that officials and businesses can use a barcode scanner to verify a user's license. The barcode is enlarged to allow an easier scan. Added security features include Touch ID and Face ID, which serve as an alternative to the PIN code.



The new version of LA Wallet also includes many helpful tips to assist users during purchase, such as locating the audit number. As a bonus feature for users who want to share the link to download LA Wallet with friends and family, a social media sharing option is now available. Additionally, the small hiccups in some of LA Wallet's functions have been fixed, including displaying Wildlife and Fisheries endorsements. With more features to come, LA Wallet is striving to improve its experience and capabilities with each release. Louisiana citizens are encouraged to leave their feedback via https://feedback.lawallet.com/. Louisiana business owners interested in accepting LA Wallet can email info@lawallet.com for more information.

Media Contact:

Calvin Fabre

200793@email4pr.com

225-263-4488 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/envoc-launches-person-to-person-digital-credential-verification-for-la-wallet-app-300703514.html SOURCE Envoc

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Internet Travel Solutions Releases TripBank Product Update

DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet Travel Solutions (ITS), a leading travel technology company, announces the upgrade of its ticket savings product TripBank. TripBank's most powerful feature allows travel managers to recoup unused tickets and bank them for future use. Business travelers frequently book trips last minute and change or cancel reservations, incurring significant and unnecessary costs to their companies. When a traveler fails to show up for a flight and forgets to cancel, TripBank automatically checks the travelers' flights to verify if their tickets are used, and if not, it saves the unused tickets for future use. Any accompanying hotel will be cancelled to prevent no-show penalties. TripBank automatically applies previously banked tickets to new reservations. It is proven to save travel managers up to 22% whether booked online or through an agent. The software further manages tickets that are cancelled, lost and found, and those set to expire soon. Travel managers can then issue name changes to reuse the ticket credit with other travelers as needed. "TripBank shows me the number of tickets that have cancelled, no-showed, been utilized or might be expiring soon. Best of all, we know our ticket credits are being used and our money is not wasted," said Justine S., Travel Manager. "This heps tremendously in keeping our travel budget in check."





Key product features of TripBank include the following:

-Prevent personal travel fraud

-Email ticket expiration reminders

-Recycle unused tickets automatically

-Conduct lost ticket search

-Search no-shows in real time

-Monitor banked tickets for reissue

-Bank voided and cancelled tickets

-Identify name-change opportunities TripBank has a memory so you don't have to, making it the smartest investment for your company. With TripBank, you can count on maximizing travel spend while preventing employees from gaming the system. It is cash in your company's wallet with an ROI of solid gold.

For more information on ITS' technology, products and services, visit http://www.its.com/products/tripbank.html. About Internet Travel Solutions

Internet Travel Solutions, LLC (ITS) was officially formed in 2005 as a result of several opportunities to leverage technology built for existing and new clients in the consumer, corporate, convention, private aviation, cargo, charter, passenger airline, crew hotel accommodation, hotel aggregation and hotel event meeting space. With respect to our airline services, our goal is to continue leveraging and building on these technologies and our fulfillment infrastructure to offer robust operations and distribution solutions (including SMB booking solutions) that drive efficiencies, cost savings and an improved customer (both internal and external) experience. In addition, several airlines have customized and private branded solutions around ITS' IROP, Crew, Corporate Direct, Event, and Candidate technology services. Media Contact:

Emily Sears

214.915.9462

200807@email4pr.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/internet-travel-solutions-releases-tripbank-product-update-300703915.html SOURCE ITS

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Ooma to Present at the 7th Annual Liolios Gateway Conference on September 6, 2018

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ooma, Inc. (NYSE: OOMA) has been invited to present at the 7th Annual Liolios Gateway Conference, which is being held on September 5-6, 2018 at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco, CA.

Ooma management is scheduled to present on Thursday, September 6 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time, with one-on-one meetings to be held throughout the conference. The presentation will be webcast live and available for replay from the Events & Presentation page of the Investor Relations section of Oomas website at ooma.com or on the Gateway Conference website at www.gateway-conference.com/presenters . To receive additional information, request an invitation or to schedule a one-on-one meeting, please email gateway@liolios.com . About the Gateway Conference

The 7th Annual Gateway Conference is an invite-only conference presented by Liolios, which brings together the most compelling companies with the nations top institutional investors and analysts. This years event features approximately 100 companies fom a number of growth industries, including technology, business and financial services, consumer, digital media, clean technology and life sciences. The format has been designed to give attendees direct access to senior management via company presentations, Q&A sessions and one-on-one meetings. For more information, visit www.gateway-conference.com or www.liolios.com . To receive updates and highlights from #LioliosGateway, make sure to follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook .



About Ooma

Ooma (NYSE: OOMA) creates powerful connected experiences for businesses and consumers, delivered from its smart cloud-based SaaS platform. For businesses of all sizes, Ooma provides advanced voice and collaboration features that are flexible and scalable. For consumers, Ooma provides PureVoice HD voice quality, advanced functionality and integration with their mobile devices. Oomas groundbreaking home security solution delivers a full range of wireless security sensors and a smart video camera that put consumers in charge of protecting their homes. Learn more at www.ooma.com. Ooma, PureVoice HD and the Ooma logo are trademarks of Ooma, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. The detailed terms and conditions of Ooma's products, services, and support are fully set forth in the Terms and Conditions, available online under the "legal" tab on the bottom navigation bar of the Ooma Web site.

CONTACT: Investors

Matthew S. Robison

Director of IR and Corporate Development

Ooma, Inc.

ir@ooma.com

(650) 300-1480 Media

Mike Langberg

Director of Corporate Communications

Ooma, Inc.

mike.langberg@ooma.com

(650) 566-6693

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] EVERTEC Announces Annual Scholarship Awards

EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) ("Evertec" or the "Company") recently celebrated the 4th edition of its Scholarship Program awarding 102 scholarships to outstanding college students who demonstrated a solid commitment to community service. Of these scholarships, 80 were awarded to students from Puerto Rico who will also have the opportunity to apply for Evertec's Internship Program. Through this grant, Evertec recognizes its strong commitment to education. Evertec launched its Scholarship Program in 2015 and, has awarded a total of 233 scholarships to students in Puerto Rico and Latin America with a total investment of $346,000. Mac Schuessler, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are pleased to expand our Scholarship Program this year, doubling the number of grants. We expanded the program to countries in Latin America by offering our employees and their children the opportunity to participate in the Program. We recognize the importance of education to support economic development and want to be able to give back to the communities where we work." Evertec's Scholarsip Program not only supports college students in achieving their goals, but also, boosts the technology sector in Puerto Rico. This Program is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students whose studies are related to technology, demonstrate academic excellence and have a strong commitment to community service. Through this program, Evertec contributes to the future generation of leaders and professionals in the technology industry of the countries in which it operates.



The Program is funded by donations from members of Evertec's Executive Team and Board of Directors as well as with matching funds from the company. About Evertec

EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) is a leading full-service transaction processing business in Latin America, providing a broad range of merchant acquiring, payment processing and business solutions services. The Company manages a system of electronic payment networks that process more than two billion transactions annually and offers a comprehensive suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. In addition, Evertec owns and operates the ATH network, one of the leading personal identification number ("PIN") debit networks in Latin America. Based in Puerto Rico, the Company operates in 26 Latin American countries and serves a diversified customer base of leading financial institutions, merchants, corporations and government agencies with "mission-critical" technology solutions. For more information, visit www.evertecinc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005095/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Sanford Heisler Sharp Wins Class Certification On Behalf Of Alaska Telecom Sales Employees Suing For Unpaid Overtime

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys at Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP today announced the certification of an overtime class action brought against Alaska Communications Systems ("ACS"). An Alaska federal judge yesterday certified a class of 67 sales employees who were denied overtime pay by ACS over more than eight years. The sales employees allege that the telecommunications company misclassified them as exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and the Alaska Wage and Hour Act ("AWHA"). They seek to recover damages totaling upwards of $10 million. In a 39-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess ruled that Plaintiff Laura Lee Peterson and her counsel had satisfied the requirements under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and demonstrated that class certification of the AWHA claims should be granted. The decision was the second time that the court had granted class certification in the case. On December 17, 2014, Judge Burgess conditionally certified an FLSA collective action. Yesterday's decision is expected to vastly increase the number of claims facing ACS. "It's a huge win for the Plaintiff and the class," said Michael Palmer, co-chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp's wage and hour practice. "Ms. Peterson has been tenaciously litigating this case for years to get justice for ACS workers. This decision moved us one enormous step closer to that goal." The case originally began with the filing of a charge in the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. On November 1, 2011, the agency notified ACS that it had misclassified Ms. Peterson as an exempt employee nd owed her unpaid overtime compensation totaling more than $100,000. After ACS refused to accept responsibility, Ms. Peterson filed a lawsuit against ACS on behalf herself and similar sales employees, alleging both federal and Alaska state overtime claims.



"Despite having more than eight years to fix the problem, ACS continues to refuse to pay workers for their overtime," said David Sanford, chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp. "This litigation seeks to end Alaska Communications Systems' illegal practices." The court ordered counsel to submit a proposed class notice and scheduling order within 14 days.

"We look forward to notifying the class of Judge Burgess's decision and moving forward to trial," said Nicole Wiitala, an attorney at Sanford Heisler Sharp. The Plaintiff and the class are represented by Michael Palmer and Nicole Wiitala of Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, as well as Lee Holen of Lee Holen Law Office. About Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP is a public interest class-action litigation law firm with offices in New York; Washington, D.C; San Francisco; Nashville; San Diego; and Baltimore. Our attorneys have graduated from the nation's top law schools, clerked for judges throughout the United States, and amassed extensive experience litigating and trying cases that have earned over one billion dollars for our clients. The Firm specializes in civil rights and general public interest cases, representing plaintiffs with claims of employment discrimination, sexual violence, labor and wage violations, predatory lending, consumer fraud, and whistleblowing, among other claims. Along with a focus on class actions, the Firm also represents individuals and has achieved extraordinary success in the representation of executives and attorneys in employment disputes. For more information go to www.sanfordheisler.com, call (202) 499-5200, or email mpalmer@sanfordheisler.com. For the latest news, visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @sanfordheisler. Media Contact: Jamie Moss, newsPRos, 201 788-0142, Jamie@newspros.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sanford-heisler-sharp-wins-class-certification-on-behalf-of-alaska-telecom-sales-employees-suing-for-unpaid-overtime-300704192.html SOURCE Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Farm At Hand users can now integrate their John Deere Operations Center field information

VANCOUVER, Aug. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Farm At Hand announces its integration with the John Deere Operations Center. Users will be able to import their field information from their Operations Center organization into their Farm At Hand account, allowing them to manage their field activities in one easy-to-use place. "We recognize that many farmers are using a few different software programs on their farms," says Mark Lepp, CEO at Farm At Hand. "We want to be able to collaborate with different programs to ive the farmer the easiest solution for managing their farm information."



Farm At Hand allows farmers to enter their field activities into an online and mobile app. Farmers can track their farm operations from seed to sale with information at their fingertips. "We believe in the future of technology in farming," says Glen Kroeker, VP of Innovation and Operation at Farm At Hand. "With the John Deere Operations Center integration, users can maximize the use of technology on their farms to help them become more profitable growers."

The integration with John Deere Operations Center information helps to make farm management easier  allowing farmers to do what they do best: farm. About Farm At Hand

Farm At Hand is a cloud-based farm management program that focuses on making managing your farm easier. The program helps farmers keep track of everything from seeding to sale on their farm in an organized, won't lose it place, accessible from an iOS device, online or offline. It offers advanced tools that allow growers to get the most value and convenience out of the information they track. Farmers can quickly plan their crop year and input needs from overall crop mix to field-specific fertilizer blends. Users can share the information they track by collaborating with trusted service providers such as a sales advisor, agronomist or their farm team. SOURCE Farm At Hand

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] The Government of Canada invests in environmental and clean-technology jobs for youth in Alberta

EDMONTON, Aug. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - The global economy is shifting toward clean growth and renewable energy. By investing in environmental and clean-technology jobs for today's youth, the Government of Canada is helping tackle climate change, protecting the environment, and creating jobs for Canadians. Giving Alberta youth a real and fair chance at success means helping them get the skills and training they need to get good jobs now and prepare for tomorrow. Today, the Minister of Natural Resources, Amarjeet Sohi, on behalf of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced that the Government of Canada is helping young graduates in Alberta gain valuable work experience in the clean-growth economy, through the Science Horizons Youth Internship Program. Science Horizons provides wage subsidies to eligible employers in the environmental and clean-technology sectors to hire recent college and university graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Interns gain experience working on environmental projects lasting 6 to 12 months. Up to $15,000 in Science Horizons funding is available to employers for interns they hire.



Quotes "Through the Science Horizons Youth Internship Program, the Government of Canada is taking action to help young people obtain meaningful work experience in the environmental and clean-growth sector here in Alberta."

 Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Natural Resources

"I am proud that our government is investing in the future of our kids and grandkids while protecting the environment, growing the economy, and creating good jobs. The Science Horizons Youth Internship Program will help youth get ahead in the environmental, clean-tech, and innovation sectors."

 Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Quick Facts This funding is part of Budget 2017's additional $395 .5-million investment over three years, starting in 20172018, for the Youth Employment Strategy.

.5-million investment over three years, starting in 20172018, for the Youth Employment Strategy. Environment and Climate Change Canada is one of 11 federal departments and agencies committed to providing opportunities for Canada's youth, under the Youth Employment Strategy.

youth, under the Youth Employment Strategy. This year, Environment and Climate Change Canada will be providing $14 million in wage subsidies to employers across Canada , through the Science Horizons Youth Internship Program. The Program's funding will support at least 950 internships, including over 65 internships in Alberta . Related Products Science Horizons Youth Internship Program 2018-2019 Associated Links Science Horizons Youth Internship Program Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page Environment and Natural Resources in Canada's Facebook page SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Viability of Open Access Books Remains Uncertain

ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Two years after Simba Information published its first report on the subject of open access (OA) books, the collective business model remains unproven. The latest edition of Open Access Book Publishing 2018-2022 found that despite multiple years of growth at more than 30% CAGR, total revenue generated from book processing charges (BPC) remains small, well under 0.5% of total book revenue, comparable in size to a single university press book publisher or a single open access journal publisher. On the "glass half-full" side of the equation, growth by any metric remains strong. Every company, every program and the overall market continue to grow. The market is comparable to OA journal market sales in the early 2000s and while there are forces through mandates to accelerate progress on that path, OA books remain more than a decade behind journals. An important difference between OA books and journals is that the overall market for journals, particularly life sciences, remained stable through OA's development. The current book market is troubled,which will impact OA books' ability to progress as OA journals did. OA books may become "a" response, not "the" solution, to a crisis in social science and humanities (SSH) monographs that preceded OA books.



A willingness to experiment has become established in OA book culture. New trials in search of a viable future business model continue to be launched. Cooperative ventures include Knowledge Unlatched and MUSE Open. Bookboon.com uses advertising, but this only works for widely viewed topics such as textbooks or health titles directed at patients. punctum books calls for donations or subscriptions to gain early access. While journal publishers like MDPI and Frontiers depend on support for the original journal article, Australian National University Press relies on print sales. But, like journal APCs, most still rely on book or chapter charges. The business models are very diverse, particularly considering the relatively small number of titles involved. Open Access Book Publishing 2018-2022 provides detailed market information for this segment of scholarly book publishing. It analyzes trends impacting the industry and forecasts market growth to 2022. The report includes a review of more than 20 notable OA publishers and programs, including InTechOpen, Bookboon.com, Frontiers Media, SciELO, De Gruyter, Brill, Knowledge Unlatched and Springer Nature.

About Simba Information Simba Information is widely recognized as the authority for market intelligence in the media and publishing industries. Its extensive information network delivers top quality, independent perspectives on the people, events and alliances shaping the industry. Simba routinely assists clients and the press with publishing and media industry analysis. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Please direct all media inquiries to:

Dan Strempel

dstrempel@simbainformation.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/viability-of-open-access-books-remains-uncertain-300704317.html SOURCE Simba Information

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] $5.91 Billion Opportunity in the Global IR Camera Market by 2023: Military & Defense Sector to Witness Huge Demand - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Global IR Camera Market 2018-2023 - Segmented by Type of Detector, Material, Type, and Application" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The IR camera market was valued at USD 3.77 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach a value of USD 5.91 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 7.72%, over the forecast period (2018-2023). The industries heavily relying on IR cameras are military and defense and automotive. Factors such as rising demand for surveillance across various verticals, gradually decreasing costs of thermal cameras and rapid development of high speed infrared cameras are leading to an increasing demand for IR cameras across various industries, consequently driving the market growth. However, inaccurate measurements and image color issues associated with the cameras are challenging the market growth. Key Highlights Gradually Decreasing Costs of Thermal Cameras will Drive the Market Growth

Military & Defense Sector to Witness Huge Demand in the Market

United States to Dominate the North American Market



Notable Developments in the Market FLIR Systems launched a high-resolution Thermal Vision Automotive Development Kit featuring the high-performance FLIR Boson thermal camera for automakers, tier-one automotive parts suppliers, and innovators of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).



Teledyne DALSA, launched its Calibir GX series of long wave infrared (LWIR) cameras for industrial vision applications. Key Topics Covered

1. Introduction 2. Research Approach and Methodology 3. Market Insights 4. Global IR Camera Market Segmentation 5. Competitive Intelligence - Company Profiles FLIR Systems Inc.

SPI Infrared

Opgal

Raytheon (News - Alert) Company

Seek Thermal Inc.

Fluke Corporation

Testo AG

HGH-Infrared

Teledyne Dalsa

Leonardo DRS

Optris Infrared Sensing LLC

Xenics N.V. 6. Investment Analysis 7. Future Outlook of the IR Camera Market For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5kmgd7/5_91_billion?w=4 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005634/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Transport Canada announces support for connected and automated vehicles and for research and development to reduce air emissions from rail transportation

OTTAWA, Aug. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is protecting air quality so that Canadians have healthy communities in which to live, work and raise their families, while investing in innovation that will create Canada's transportation system of tomorrow. The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, was in Ottawa today to announce funding under two Transport Canada programs. An investment of $265,000 through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System will help Canadian jurisdictions prepare for connected and automated vehicles. An investment of $50,000 funded under the Clean Rail Academic Grant Program will support academic research programs that are developing technologies and practices to reduce air emissions from the rail sector. The recipients are: City of Ottawa

To install smart traffic signals to reduce vehicle emissions and improve traffic flows - ( $140,000 through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System)

through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System) Canadian Automobile Association

To educate consumers about new connected and automated vehicle safety technologies - ( $25,000 through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System)

through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System) Unmanned Systems Canada

To launch a competition to help students learn about automated vehicle technologies - ( $50,000 through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System)

through the Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System) Carleton University

To evaluate how connected and automated vehicles will influence infrastructure design and planning - ( $50,000 through the Progrm to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System)

through the Progrm to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System)

To assess how new lightweight materials can improve the safety, efficiency and environmental performance of the rail transportation system (up to $25,000 through the Clean Rail Academic Grant Program)

through the Clean Rail Academic Grant Program)

To create a railcar design that will reduce fuel consumption and emissions, while being cost effective for industry to use (up to $25,000 through the Clean Rail Academic Grant Program)



Quotes "Our clean transportation efforts will achieve emission reductions, improve human health, and provide environmental benefits, while supporting clean growth and generating jobs for Canadians. We all benefit by supporting research of new and emerging technologies."

The Honourable Catherine McKenna

Minister of Environment and Climate Change

"Connected and automated vehicle technology has immense potential and will have a tremendous impact on our transportation system, while our clean technologies are a key part of Canada's approach to sustainable economic growth. Through projects like these, we develop technologies and practices that will generate new economic opportunities for middle-class Canadians."

The Honourable Marc Garneau

Minister of Transport Quick Facts Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System: From September 28, 2017 , to November 30, 2017 , provinces and territories, municipalities, Indigenous peoples, academia, and not-for-profit organizations were eligible to submit proposals for grants and contributions through the program. All projects will be completed by March 31, 2022 .

, to , provinces and territories, municipalities, Indigenous peoples, academia, and not-for-profit organizations were eligible to submit proposals for grants and contributions through the program. All projects will be completed by . Connected and automated vehicles use technology, such as on-board sensors, cameras, global positioning systems, and telecommunications to provide warnings and assist with driving.

Many of today's vehicles already feature partial automation, including speed control, and braking and steering assist. Transport Canada has for many years been assessing some of the components of automated vehicles and continues to assess their benefit to the overall safety of Canadians.

has for many years been assessing some of the components of automated vehicles and continues to assess their benefit to the overall safety of Canadians. Transport Canada is working with international governments through the United Nations to develop guidelines and regulatory requirements that facilitate innovation and aid in the safe deployment of automated features.

is working with international governments through the United Nations to develop guidelines and regulatory requirements that facilitate innovation and aid in the safe deployment of automated features. Transport Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada are working in close collaboration and with other federal departments and provincial and territorial governments to develop a coherent national approach that will facilitate the safe introduction of these technologies on Canadian roads. Clean Rail Academic Grant Program: The Clean Rail Academic Grant Program provides funding to support academic research programs that are developing new technologies and practices that reduce air emissions from the rail sector.

Under Round 5 of the Program, 10 research projects will receive a grant of up to $25,000 . Associated Links Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System

Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative

Clean Rail Academic Grant Program SOURCE Transport Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] VMG Completes Sale and Purchase of the Automobile Association Building at 888 S. University Park Blvd. Clearfield, Utah

Vectra Management Group (VMG) today announced the completed sale of 888 S. University Park Blvd. in Clearfield (News - Alert) , Utah. VMG represented the buyer, Clearfield 888, LLC, a real estate holding company owned by Philadelphia attorney and real estate investor Victor F. Keen. VMG also secured the financing for the transaction from Key Bank's Salt Lake City commercial banking division. VMG and CBRE represented the seller, 888 Associates, LLC, a VMG sponsored company that acquired the property in November 2015. Managing Director Raju Shah and Director Bryan Barnes led the VMG team on the purchase and financing. "This property is a solid investment with high-quality NNN tenants on long-term leases. The dynamic growth in this market makes for an ideal acquisition and will complement the rest of my portfolio," said the buyer, Victor Keen. Mr. Shah added, "The building offers great access in a high-quality labor market with a parking ratio in excess of 8:1,000; which is ideal for the 24/7 call center environmnt of our two tenants. With spectacular views over the valley to the west and the mountains to the east, the property is highly desirable. Debt capital continues to be available for high-quality sponsors investing in superior assets like this one."



The Buyer, Clearfield 888, LLC, retained VMG for property and asset management services. Chloe Gehrke, Director and Principal Broker for VMG's Utah-based property management division, stated, "We are honored to be entrusted with the continued management of this property. We look forward to efficiently maximizing the asset's value and exceeding the expectations of our tenants." The 129,949-square-foot Class A office building located on 11.32 acres is located in the "red-hot" Davis County market just south of Hill Air Force Base. The building was constructed from 1999 to 2001, and fully renovated from 2014 to 2016. It is comprised of one building with a two-story north wing and a three-story south wing.

About Vectra Management Group Vectra Management Group (VMG) is a full-service commercial real estate investment, development and management company specializing in office, retail and industrial properties with offices in Salt Lake City, New York and Los Angeles. Vectra Management Group is an active member of BOMA Utah, CCIM and IREM. For further information, visit www.vectra.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005645/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Raytheon Company Appoints Roy Azevedo President, Space and Airborne Systems

WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) Chairman and CEO Thomas A. Kennedy announced today the appointment of Roy Azevedo as President, Space and Airborne Systems, effective September 1, 2018. Azevedo, 57, has been elected a corporate officer and has been named to the Raytheon Corporate Leadership Team. He succeeds Richard R. Yuse, who informed the company of his intention to retire from Raytheon on December 31, 2018. Yuse will serve as a senior advisor to the company during the interim period prior to his retirement. "We have entered a period of significant change and opportunity in the space and airborne systems area, fueled by global demand and exponential advancements in technology," said Thomas A. Kennedy, Chairman and CEO of Raytheon. "Over the course of his nearly 30-year career at SAS, Roy has developed a deep understanding of our SAS portfolio and customers. This, combined with his extensive experience in leading new and emerging strategic technologies in the company, will serve us well as we grow this mission area globally." Azevedo most recently served as vice president and general manager of the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems mission area within SAS, where he was responsible for electro-optical/infrared sensors, active electronically scanned array/scanning radars, and various special mission aircraft solutions to provide customers with actionable information for strike and persistent surveillance. Since joining Raytheon in 1989, Azevedo has served in roles of increasing responsibility for the Space and Airborne Systems business. He has held several Raytheon leadership positions over the course of his Raytheon career, including vice president and general manager of the Secure Sensor Solutions mission area, where he oversaw development and production of airborne fire control radars, GPS/GNS products and secure processors. Prior to his role at S3, he was vice president of Advanced Concepts and Technology, a focus area within SAS responsible for the development and implementation of new and emerging system concepts, products and strategic technologies. Earlier, Azevedo served as deputy vice president and general manager for the Electronic Warfare Systems business area within SAS. EWS is a world leader in the development and production of electronic warfar solutions for strategic and tactical aircraft, helicopters and surface ships for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, and their international counterparts. While serving in EWS, Azevedo oversaw product lines including towed decoy systems, radar warning receivers, self-protect jamming pods, infrared missile warning sensors and integrated electronic warfare suites.



Azevedo received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University in Boston. He currently serves on the board of directors for Raytheon Saudi Arabia. Richard R. Yuse to Retire from Raytheon

Azevedo succeeds Richard R. Yuse, who has announced plans to retire from the company at the end of the year.

"For more than four decades, Rick Yuse has served our customers and company with distinction. His contributions are too vast to capture in any simple statement; simply put, his work has helped transform Raytheon into the global technology and cybersecurity leader it is today," said Kennedy. "On behalf of our Board of Directors and our global team, I want to thank Rick for his outstanding leadership and immeasurable dedication to our customers and our employees. We will miss him, and wish him all the best." Yuse joined Raytheon in 1976, holding positions of increasing responsibility on a variety of programs. He began his career with Raytheon's Equipment Division business, working on assignments ranging from system architecture and design, to flight test director and program manager, including managing the Cobra Dane program, the world's first phased array radar. He was named vice president of Raytheon's Missile Defense business area in 2002, where he was responsible for programs such as the Ballistic Missile Defense System, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, known as THAAD, Upgraded Early Warning Radar, and the Sea-Based X-Band Radar. He was ultimately named vice president of Integrated Air Defense for Integrated Defense Systems, responsible for all air defense programs on a variety of domestic and international programs. In May 2007, Yuse was elected a corporate officer by the Raytheon board of directors and named President, Raytheon Technical Services Company, where he helped establish Raytheon's position as a global leader in training services and mission support for government and commercial customers. In 2010, Yuse was named President of Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business. Yuse earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, where he is now a member of the university's Corporation Governing Board. Since 2015, Yuse has served as the director of the Space Foundation Board. About Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business

Headquartered in McKinney, Texas, Space and Airborne Systems is a leading provider of radar and sensor systems on airborne and space-based platforms. The business also provides communications, electronic warfare, high-energy laser solutions and special mission aircraft for the network-centric battlefield. Research advancements range from linguistics to quantum computing. The business employs 13,300 employees and had revenue of $6.430 billion in 2017. About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2017 sales of $25 billion and 64,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 96 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter. www.raytheon.com Media Contact

Raytheon Company

Kevin Wynn

+1.781.522.5186

corporatepr@raytheon.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/raytheon-company-appoints-roy-azevedo-president-space-and-airborne-systems-300704345.html SOURCE Raytheon Company

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] HDR to Help Identify Site/Plan Space for Wounded Combat Vets' Residence

Wounded Warriors Family Support, an Omaha-based national nonprofit, has retained HDR (News - Alert) to help identify the space planning and site requirements for a new residential home in rural Douglas County for those wounded in combat. The residence, called the Dunham House, will accommodate combat-wounded veterans who require various levels of care resulting from traumatic brain injuries. Design elements will focus on health and wellness, views of the rural landscape, accessibility and family living-all in a campus-like setting. "Many young soldiers' and Marines' mothers are their primary caregivers. What will happen to them when their mothers can no longer care for them? Where will they go?" asked Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. John Folsom, who founded Wounded Warriors Family Support and is spearheading the project. "We have identified an emerging and urgent requirement and we will meet it head on. With the support of Americans, we will provide a home for our combat-wounded veterans who need our help." Current alternatives for combat-wounded veterans with no family support are assisted living centers and veterans' homes, which tend to be populated by older residents and those who don't have the same combat experience. "HDR is excited to partner with Wounded Warriors Family Support and Project Advocates on this very important project that embraces our local disabled veterans," said Robert Hailey, lead architect and project manager. "In fact, HDR's leaddesigner, Michael Hamilton and I are both war veterans ourselves. We're excited to lead the charge on the design of this residence, which will provide disabled veterans with the best quality of life for their unyielding sacrifice to our country."



Hal Daub, who serves on Wounded Warriors Family Support's board and building committee, said he's confident that the organization will be able to raise an estimated $6 to $10 million to cover the cost of building the residence and to create an endowment for ongoing operations. The organization has committed up to $150,000 for the initial planning and preparation stages, and has hired Project Advocates, a project management firm, to work alongside HDR during the planning phase. The Dunham House was named in honor of Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, who served with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines,1st Marine Division. A recipient of the Medal of Honor, he died in 2005 of injuries he suffered when protecting fellow Marines in Husaybah, Iraq.

About Wounded Warriors Family Support

Our mission is to provide support to the families of those who have been wounded, injured or killed during combat operations. The families of our casualties suffer in many ways: some financially, some psychologically. More information can be found at wwfs.org and dunhamhouse.org. About HDR

For more than a century, HDR has partnered with clients to shape communities and push the boundaries of what's possible. Our expertise spans nearly 10,000 employees, in more than 200 locations around the world - and counting. Our engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services bring an impressive breadth of knowledge to every project. Our optimistic approach to finding innovative solutions defined our past and drives our future. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005690/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Tilly's, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter Results

Tilly's, Inc. (NYSE:TLYS) today announced financial results for the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2018 ended August 4, 2018. "Tillys delivered its strongest comparable store net sales result since the third quarter of fiscal 2016, and we believe we have our e-com business back on track," commented Ed Thomas, President and Chief Executive Officer. "The back-to-school season is off to a strong start, and we feel optimistic about the back half of fiscal 2018." Second Quarter Results Overview The following comparisons refer to operating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 versus the second quarter of fiscal 2017 ended July 29, 2017: Total net sales were $157.4 million, an increase of $18.6 million, or 13.4%, from $138.8 million last year. As a result of the calendar shift impact of last year's 53rd week in the retail calendar, which caused a portion of the back-to-school season to shift into the second quarter, approximately $12.3 million of comparable net sales were realized in the second quarter this year rather than in the third quarter. The remaining net sales increase of approximately $6.3 million was primarily attributable to increased comparable store net sales and net sales from five net new stores.

Comparable store net sales, which includes e-commerce net sales, increased 4.4% in total. Comparable store net sales in physical stores increased 3.8%. E-commerce net sales increased 8.1%. Comparable store net sales increased 2.1% in the second quarter last year.

Gross profit was $50.1 million, an increase of 22.4% from $40.9 million last year, primarily due to the calendar shift noted above and increased comparable store net sales. Gross margin, or gross profit as a percentage of net sales, increased to 31.8% from 29.5% last year. This 230 basis point improvement in gross margin was primarily attributable to leveraging lower total occupancy costs on higher total net sales. Product margins were approximately flat.

Selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A") were $37.6 million, or 23.9% of net sales, compared to $42.2 million, or 30.4% of net sales, last year. Last year's SG&A included an estimated $6.2 million provision related to a legal matter. This year's SG&A includes a $1.5 million reduction to this same provision as a result of the final settlement of the related legal matter in early August 2018. Taken together, these legal matter impacts accounted for 540 basis points of the total 650 basis point improvement in SG&A. The remaining 110 basis point improvement in SG&A was primarily due to leveraging store and corporate payroll costs against higher total net sales. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the noted legal matter impacts from both years, SG&A increased to $39.1 million, or 24.8% of net sales, compared to $36.0 million, or 25.9% of net sales, last year. Primary dollar increases in SG&A were attributable to certain marketing and other selling expenses associated with a portion of the back-to-school season shifting from the third quarter to the second quarter, store payroll increases due to higher net sales and minimum wage increases, and corporate bonus provision increases due to improved year-over-year operations.

Operating income was $12.5 million, or 7.9% of net sales, compared to an operating loss of $(1.2) million, or (0.9)% of net sales, last year. Of this $13.7 million improvement in year-over-year operating income, approximately $7.6 million was attributable to the aggregate year-over-year impact of the legal matter noted above, approximately $4.2 million was attributable to the retail calendar shift impact noted earlier, and approximately $1.9 million was attributable to increased comparable store net sales results. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the legal matter impacts from both years, operating income was $11.0 million, or 7.0% of net sales, compared to $4.9 million, or 3.5% of net sales, last year.

Income tax expense was $3.3 million, or 25.3% of pre-tax income, compared to income tax benefit of $(0.4) million, or 42.8% of pre-tax loss last year. Income tax expense/(benefit) includes certain discrete items associated with employee stock-based award activity in both periods.

Net income was $9.7 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $(0.6) million, or $(0.02) per share, last year. Of the $0.35 improvement in year-over-year earnings per share, approximately $0.17 was attributable to the aggregate legal matter impacts noted above, approximately $0.10 was attributable to the retail calendar shift impact noted earlier, and the remaining $0.08 was due to improved operating results. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the impacts of the legal matter from both years, net income was $8.6 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, compared to net income of $3.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, last year. First Half Results Overview The following comparisons refer to operating results for the first half of fiscal 2018 versus the first half of fiscal 2017 ended July 29, 2017: Total net sales were $281.0 million, an increase of $21.3 million, or 8.2%, from $259.8 million last year. As a result of the calendar shift impact of last year's 53rd week in the retail calendar, a net increase of approximately $15.2 million of comparable net sales were realized in the first half. The remaining net sales increase of $6.1 million was primarily attributable to increased comparable store net sales and net sales from five net new stores.

Comparable store net sales, which includes e-commerce net sales, increased 2.4% in total. Comparable store net sales in physical stores increased 2.7%. E-commerce net sales increased 0.9%. Comparable store net sales increased 1.4% in the first half last year.

Gross profit was $85.1 million, an increase of 15.2% from $73.8 million last year, primarily due to the calendar shift noted above and increased comparable store net sales. Gross margin increased to 30.3% from 28.4% last year. This 190 basis point improvement in gross margin was primarily attributable to leveraging lower total occupancy costs on higher total net sales. Product margins were flat.

SG&A was $71.3 million, or 25.4% of net sales, compared to $75.4 million, or 29.0% of net sales, last year. Last year's SG&A included an estimated $6.2 million provision related to a legal matter. This year's SG&A includes a $1.5 million reduction to this same provision as a result of the final settlement of the related legal matter in early August 2018. Taken together, these legal matter impacts accounted for 290 basis points of the total 360 basis point improvement in SG&A. The remaining 70 basis point improvement in SG&A was primarily due to leveraging store and corporate payroll costs against higher total net sales. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the legal matter impacts from both years, SG&A increased to $72.7 million, or 25.8% of net sales, compared to $69.2 million, or 26.7% of net sales, last year. Primary dollar increases in SG&A were attributable to store payroll increases due to higher net sales and minimum wage increases, certain marketing and other selling expenses associated with a portion of the back-to-school season shifting from the third quarter to the second quarter, and corporate bonus provision increases due to improved year-over-year operations.

Operating income was $13.8 million, or 4.9% of net sales, compared to an operating loss of $(1.6) million, or (0.6)% of net sales, last year. Of this $15.4 million improvement in year-over-year operating income, approximately $7.6 million was attributable to the aggregate year-over-year impact of the legal matter noted above, approximately $5.2 million was attributable to the retail calendar shift impact noted earlier, and approximately $2.6 million was attributable to increased comparable store net sales results. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the legal matter impacts from both years, operating income was $12.4 million, or 4.4% of net sales, compared to $4.6 million, or 1.8% of net sales, last year.

Income tax expense was $3.8 million, or 25.7% of pre-tax income, compared to income tax benefit of $(0.4) million, or 33.2% of pre-tax loss, last year. Income tax expense/(benefit) includes certain discrete items associated with employee stock-based award activity in both periods.

Net income was $10.9 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $(0.8) million, or $(0.03) per share, last year. Of the $0.40 improvement in year-over-year earnings per share, approximately $0.17 was attributable to the aggregate legal matter impacts noted above, approximately $0.13 was attributable to the retail calendar shift impact noted earlier, and the remaining $0.10 was due to improved operating results. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the impact of the legal matter from both years, net income was $9.8 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to $3.0 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, last year. Balance Sheet and Liquidity As of August 4, 2018, the Company had $124.2 million of cash and marketable securities and no debt outstanding under its revolving credit facility. This compares to $109.6 million of cash and marketable securities and no debt outstanding under its revolving credit facility as of July 29, 2017. The Company paid special cash dividends to its stockholders of approximately $29.1 million and $20.1 million in the aggregate during February of 2018 and 2017, respectively. Fiscal 2018 Third Quarter Outlook As a result of the calendar shift impact of last year's 53rd week in the retail calendar, the Company expects its third quarter total net sales to range from approximately $145 million to $151 million based on an assumed three to six percent increase in comparable store net sales. We expect this calendar shift to result in a net decrease of approximately $13.9 million in last year's comparable sales base and approximately $0.11 of diluted earnings per share for third quarter comparability. This is due to a portion of the back-to-school season shifting into the second quarter this year versus being in the third quarter last year. The Company expects third quarter operating income to range from approximately $8.0 million to $9.5 million, and earnings per diluted share to range from $0.20 to $0.24. This outlook assumes an anticipated effective tax rate of approximately 27% and weighted average shares of approximately 30.0 million. Pursuant to the settlement terms of the previously noted legal matter, the Company will be issuing non-transferable discount coupons to approximately 612,000 existing Tillys customers in early September 2018 which will allow for a one-time 50% discount on a single, future purchase transaction of up to $1,000. Any unused coupons will expire upon the one year anniversary of coupon issuance. We cannot reasonably estimate the number of coupons that will be utilized, the timing of any coupon usage, the average transaction value utilizing these coupons, or the potential impact of their usage on our reported comparable store net sales, product margins and earnings per share over the course of the next twelve months, but the potential impact could be material and adverse. In particular, we generally expect that the usage of these coupons will have a positive impact on our comparable store net sales, and a negative impact on our product margins, although we cannot reasonably estimate the magnitude of such impacts. The potential impact on our operating income will depend on a variety of factors that cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, including but not limited to the factors described above. As a result of the uncertainty related to the potential impact of these coupons, our third quarter outlook does not contemplate any projected impacts from the future usage of these coupons. Non-GAAP Financial Measures In addition to reporting financial measures in accordance with GAAP, the Company is providing certain non-GAAP financial measures including "non-GAAP SG&A," "non-GAAP operating income," "non-GAAP income tax expense," "non-GAAP net income," and "non-GAAP income per diluted share." These amounts are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, the corresponding financial measures reported in accordance with GAAP. The Company's management believes that these measures help provide investors with insight into the underlying comparable financial results, excluding items that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, the Company's core day-to-day operating results. For a description of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, please see the accompanying table titled "Supplemental Financial Information; Reconciliation of Select GAAP Financial Measures to Non-GAAP Financial Measures" contained in this press release. Conference Call Information A conference call to discuss these financial results is scheduled for today, August 29, 2018, at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT). Investors and analysts interested in participating in the call are invited to dial (877) 407-4018 at 4:25 p.m. ET (1:25 p.m. PT). The conference call will also be available to interested parties through a live webcast at www.tillys.com. Please visit the website and select the "Investor Relations" link at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to register and download any necessary software. A telephone replay of the call will be available until September 12, 2018, by dialing (844) 512-2921 (domestic) or (412) 317-6671 (international) and entering the conference identification number: 13682205. Please note participants must enter the conference identification number in order to access the replay. About Tillys Tillys is a leading specialty retailer of casual apparel, footwear and accessories for young men, young women, boys and girls with an extensive assortment of iconic global, emerging, and proprietary brands rooted in an active and social lifestyle. Tillys is headquartered in Irvine, California and currently operates 226 total stores, including three RSQ pop-up stores, across 31 states and its website, www.tillys.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release and oral statements made from time to time by our representatives are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In particular, statements regarding our future financial and operating results, including but not limited to future comparable store sales, future operating income, future net income, future earnings per share, future gross, operating or product margins, anticipated tax rate, future impacts of legal settlements, future inventory levels, and market share and our business and strategy, including but not limited to expected store openings and closings, expansion of brands and exclusive relationships, development and growth of our e-commerce platform and business, promotional strategy, and any other statements about our future expectations, plans, intentions, beliefs or prospects expressed by management are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, but they involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, our ability to respond to changing customer preferences and trends, attract customer traffic at our stores and online, execute our growth and long-term strategies, expand into new markets, grow our e-commerce business, effectively manage our inventory and costs, effectively compete with other retailers, enhance awareness of our brand and brand image, general consumer spending patterns and levels, the effect of weather, and other factors that are detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including those detailed in the section titled "Risk Factors" and in our other filings with the SEC, which are available from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and from our website at www.tillys.com under the heading "Investor Relations". Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake any obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This release should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and notes thereto contained in our Form 10-K.







Tilly's, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheets (In thousands, except par value) (unaudited) August 4,

2018 February 3,

2018 July 29,

2017 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 45,638 $ 53,202 $ 43,567 Marketable securities 78,588 82,750 66,064 Receivables 11,182 4,352 6,829 Merchandise inventories 74,815 53,216 75,033 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 9,062 9,534 9,391 Total current assets 219,285 203,054 200,884 Property and equipment, net 78,906 83,321 89,130 Other assets 3,391 3,736 6,843 Total assets $ 301,582 $ 290,111 $ 296,857 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 42,786 $ 21,615 $ 41,729 Accrued expenses 29,521 22,731 29,097 Deferred revenue 7,193 10,879 9,277 Accrued compensation and benefits 7,392 6,119 7,834 Dividends payable - 29,067 - Current portion of deferred rent 5,868 5,220 5,836 Current portion of capital lease obligation - - 386 Total current liabilities 92,760 95,631 94,159 Long-term portion of deferred rent 31,239 31,340 33,080 Other 2,236 2,715 - Total liabilities 126,235 129,686 127,239 Stockholders' equity: Common stock (Class A), $0.001 par value; 100,000 shares authorized; 15,599, 14,927 and 13,864 shares issued and outstanding, respectively 15 15 14 Common stock (Class B), $0.001 par value; 35,000 shares authorized; 13,708, 14,188 and 14,958 shares issued and outstanding, respectively 14 14 15 Preferred stock, $0.001 par value; 10,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding - - - Additional paid-in capital 146,476 143,984 139,479 Retained earnings 28,756 16,398 30,008 Accumulated other comprehensive income 86 14 102 Total stockholders' equity 175,347 160,425 169,618 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 301,582 $ 290,111 $ 296,857

Tilly's, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Operations (In thousands, except per share data) (unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended August 4,

2018 July 29,

2017 August 4,

2018 July 29,

2017 Net sales $ 157,406 $ 138,810 $ 281,040 $ 259,757 Cost of goods sold (includes buying, distribution, and occupancy costs) 107,301 97,881 195,957 185,923 Gross profit 50,105 40,929 85,083 73,834 Selling, general and administrative expenses 37,627 42,168 71,275 75,402 Operating income/(loss) 12,478 (1,239 ) 13,808 (1,568 ) Other income, net 490 197 873 435 Income/(loss) before income taxes 12,968 (1,042 ) 14,681 (1,133 ) Income tax expense/(benefit) 3,279 (446 ) 3,770 (376 ) Net income/(loss) $ 9,689 $ (596 ) $ 10,911 $ (757 ) Basic income/(loss) per share of Class A and Class B common stock $ 0.33 $ (0.02 ) $ 0.37 $ (0.03 ) Diluted income/(loss) per share of Class A and Class B common stock $ 0.33 $ (0.02 ) $ 0.37 $ (0.03 ) Weighted average basic shares outstanding 29,209 28,751 29,145 28,728 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 29,681 28,751 29,567 28,728 Tilly's, Inc. Supplemental Financial Information Reconciliation of Select GAAP Financial Measures to Non-GAAP Financial Measures (In thousands, except per share data) (unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended August 4,

2018 July 29,

2017 August 4,

2018 July 29,

2017 Selling, general and administrative expenses, as reported $ 37,627 $ 42,168 $ 71,275 $ 75,402 Adjustment for legal settlement benefit/(provision) 1,458 (6,166 ) 1,458 (6,166 ) Non-GAAP selling, general and administrative expenses $ 39,085 $ 36,002 $ 72,733 $ 69,236 Operating income/(loss), as reported $ 12,478 $ (1,239 ) $ 13,808 $ (1,568 ) Adjustment for legal settlement (benefit)/provision (1,458 ) 6,166 (1,458 ) 6,166 Non-GAAP operating income $ 11,020 $ 4,927 $ 12,350 $ 4,598 Income tax expense/(benefit), as reported $ 3,279 $ (446 ) $ 3,770 $ (376 ) Adjustment for income tax effect of legal settlement (benefit)/provision (1) (385 ) 2,447 (385 ) 2,447 Non-GAAP income tax expense $ 2,894 $ 2,001 $ 3,385 $ 2,071 Net income/(loss), as reported $ 9,689 $ (596 ) $ 10,911 $ (757 ) Adjustment for legal settlement (benefit)/provision (1,458 ) 6,166 (1,458 ) 6,166 Adjustment for income tax effect of legal settlement benefit/(provision) (1) 385 (2,447 ) 385 (2,447 ) Non-GAAP net income $ 8,616 $ 3,123 $ 9,838 $ 2,962 Diluted income/(loss) per share, as reported $ 0.33 $ (0.02 ) $ 0.37 $ (0.03 ) Adjustment for legal settlement (benefit)/provision, net of taxes (1) (0.04 ) 0.13 (0.04 ) 0.13 Non-GAAP diluted income per share $ 0.29 $ 0.11 $ 0.33 $ 0.10 Weighted average basic shares outstanding 29,209 28,751 29,145 28,728 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 29,681 28,923 29,567 28,912 (1) The effective tax rate applied for the three and six months ended August 4, 2018 was 26.4%. The effective tax rate applied for the three and six months ended July 29, 2017 was 39.7%. Tilly's, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (In thousands) (unaudited) Six Months Ended August 4,

2018 July 29,

2017 Cash flows from operating activities Net income/(loss) $ 10,911 $ (757 ) Adjustments to reconcile net income/(loss) to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 11,503 11,904 Stock-based compensation expense 1,127 1,195 Impairment of assets 786 451 Loss on disposal of assets 17 16 Gain on sales and maturities of marketable securities (599 ) (266 ) Deferred income taxes (203 ) (364 ) Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Receivables (6,830 ) (2,840 ) Merchandise inventories (21,789 ) (27,265 ) Prepaid expenses and other assets 461 (280 ) Accounts payable 21,571 24,116 Accrued expenses 4,688 (74 ) Accrued compensation and benefits 1,273 575 Deferred rent 547 (2,617 ) Deferred revenue (1,513 ) (926 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 21,950 2,868 Cash flows from investing activities Purchase of property and equipment (6,668 ) (6,954 ) Purchases of marketable securities (79,822 ) (62,898 ) Proceeds from marketable securities 84,678 52,082 Net cash used in investing activities (1,812 ) (17,770 ) Cash flows from financing activities Dividends paid (29,067 ) (20,080 ) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 1,476 105 Taxes paid in lieu of shares issued for stock-based compensation (111 ) (101 ) Payment of capital lease obligation - (449 ) Net cash used in financing activities (27,702 ) (20,525 ) Change in cash and cash equivalents (7,564 ) (35,427 ) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 53,202 78,994 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 45,638 $ 43,567 Tilly's, Inc. Store Count and Square Footage Stores

Open at

Beginning of

Quarter Stores

Opened

During

Quarter Stores

Closed

During

Quarter Stores

Open at

End of

Quarter Total Gross

Square Footage

End of Quarter

(in thousands) 2017 Q2 222 - 1 221 1,690 2017 Q3 221 - 1 220 1,681 2017 Q4 220 2 3 219 1,668 2018 Q1 219 4 1 222 1,675 2018 Q2 222 4 - 226 1,698 Note: Total stores opened during the first quarter of fiscal 2018 includes three RSQ-branded, pop-up stores. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005715/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Rogers Purchases Dielectric and Lamination Manufacturing Assets in Chandler, Ariz.

Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG), a global leader in engineered material solutions, announced the purchase of certain dielectric and lamination manufacturing assets located in Chandler, Arizona from ISOLA USA Corp. Rogers intends to use the purchased assets, which include real estate, buildings and specified equipment, for capacity expansion for its Advanced Connectivity Solutions ( ACS (News - Alert) ) business. The purchase did not include products, technology or other assets related to the seller's continuing business operations. "This asset purchase is part of our strategic expansion in ACS to meet the expected demand growth in our Advanced Connectivity and Advanced Mobility markets," said Bruce Hoechner, Rogers' President and Chief Executive Officer. "We considered various global locations for our ACS expansion, but the proximity of these assets to ACS' headquarters and existing ACS manufacturing operations, plus the continuing support of the city and state, drove our decision to select Chandler. We plan to start upgrading the facilities and equipment immediately, and to have the site ready for commercial production in 2019 to meet the expected additional demand from our 5G and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) customers." The transaction closed August 28, 2018. Terms were not disclosed. About Rogers Corporation (News - Alert)

Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) is a global leader in engineered materials to power, protect, and connect our world. With more than 180 years of materials science experience, Rogers deliver high-performance solutions that enable clean energy, internet connectivity, and safety and protection applications, as well as other technologies where reliability is critical. Rogers delivers Power Electronics Solutions for energy-efficient motor drives, e-Mobility and renewable energy; Elastomeric Material Solutions for sealing, vibration management and impact protection in mobile devices, transportation interiors, industrial equipment and performance apparel; and Advanced Connectivity Solutions for wireless infrastructure, automotive safety and radar systems. Headquartered in Arizona (USA), Rogers operates manufacturing facilities in the United States, China, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and South Korea, with joint ventures and sales offices worldwide.



Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements, which may concern our plans, objectives, outlook, goals, strategies, future events, future net sales or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, future restructuring, plans or intentions relating to expansions, business trends and other information that is not historical information. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us on the date of this release and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Risks that could cause such results to differ include: failure to capitalize on, and volatility within, the Company's growth drivers, including advanced mobility and advanced connectivity; business, economic and political conditions in the United States and abroad, particularly in China, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Belgium, where we maintain significant manufacturing, sales or administrative operations; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; research and development efforts; competitive developments; business development transactions and related integration considerations; the outcome of ongoing and future litigation, including our asbestos-related product liability litigation; inability to obtain raw materials from single or limited source suppliers in a timely and cost effective manner; and changes in laws and regulations applicable to our business. For additional information about the risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect our business, please see our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on forms 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Rogers Corporation assumes no responsibility to update any forward-looking statements contained herein except as required by law. Additional Information

For additional information, please contact the Company directly, via email or visit the Rogers website.

Website: http://www.rogerscorp.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005760/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][August 29, 2018]

Videon Announces Interoperability of Greylock 1080p H.264 Encoder/Decoder With AWS Elemental MediaLive

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Videon, a leader in live streaming video encoding technology and cutting-edge 4K HEVC/H.264 solutions, is integrating its solutions with offerings from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to ensure interoperability between its Greylock and Sonora products (1080p, H.264 encoder/decoder) and AWS Elemental MediaLive video processing.

Together, the two solutions support broadcast-grade live video processing for the professional AV and IT markets as the need for live streaming of events rapidly accelerates.

"By bringing together the power of AWS Elemental MediaLive and Amazon CloudFront, the AV/IT market now has access to a product that is simple to set up, easy to use, and enables confident delivery of live streamed events. Simply put, it is an opportunity for end users to experience live streaming with quality and confidence that is not typically possible," said Todd Erdley, CEO of Videon Central.

Interoperability with AWS Elemental MediaLive is enabled through a RTMP output fromVideon's encoder products. AWS Elemental MediaLive creates multiple video streams for delivery to other AWS Elemental Media Services including AWS Elemental MediaStore and AWS Elemental MediaPackage and then is distributed to end users via Amazon CloudFront.







Videon will demonstrate its entire line of live streaming encoding solutions, including Shavano, a 4K HEVC/H.264 encoder, during IBC 2018 from Sept. 14 -18 in Amsterdam at the RAI. Videon's team will be available for product demonstrations and meetings in booth 9.LP9.

About Videon

Videon Central, Inc. creates cutting edge streaming products that directly address industry needs. Our 4K and HD streaming products move media from any source to any screen, while our modules and services help manufacturers bring their products to fruition. Thanks to partnerships with leading silicon and software companies, Videon technology has been incorporated into more than 30 million devices. Videon simply moves media.

Videon's product information and sales channel information can be accessed at www.4Kunder2k.com.

Media Contact: Mary Elder | 814.235.1111 x333 | mary.elder@videon-central.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/videon-announces-interoperability-of-greylock-1080p-h264-encoderdecoder-with-aws-elemental-medialive-300704372.html

SOURCE Videon Central[August 29, 2018] Children in Phoenix Receive Free Comprehensive Eye Exams and Prescription Glasses as Part of Back-to-School Public Health Event

Phoenix-area children received free comprehensive eye exams and glasses donations as part of a back-to-school eye-health event. The exams were conducted by board-certified optometrists at the Alhambra Family Resource Center using the Eye Care 4 Kids mobile clinic, and any child with the need for prescription eyewear will receive a free pair of glasses during a follow-up visit. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005801/en/ UnitedHealthcare mascot Dr. Health E. Hound greets kids from the Alhambra School District as they get ready to receive a no-cost comprehensive eye exam as part of a back-to-school eye-health event at the Alhambra Family Resource Center using the Eye Care 4 Kids mobile clinic. The event is part of a nationwide grant program by UnitedHealthcare. Eye Care 4 Kids in Arizona received a $5,000 grant for the local event (Photo: Mark Peterman). The event is part of a grant program from UnitedHealthcare to nonprofits in cities acros the country to coordinate free comprehensive eye exams, vision screenings and glasses donations. Eye Care 4 Kids in Arizona received a $5,000 grant for the local event. This builds on an existing community investment in Arizona to improve eye care with VisionQuest 20/20, which showcased its "gamified" screenings at the Alhambra event.



About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.2 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter (News - Alert) . Click here to subscribe to Mobile Alerts for UnitedHealth Group.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005801/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Chattanooga State Community College will host its second annual carnival-themed Volunteer Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 5, from 10 a.m. to noon in the amphitheater on the main campus. In case of rain, the event will be held in the main hallway of the OMN building.

Designed as an interactive, fun networking event, the goals of the fair are three-fold:

1. Help connect students with non-profit organizations they are interested in volunteering and/or interning with (all first-year students and TN Promise students have a community service hours requirement).

2. Connect faculty with local organizations so that, together, they can brainstorm ways to serve the community via service/community-based learning assignments and curriculum.

3. Encourage the Chattanooga State campus community to give their time (and dollars!) to support the work of the great organizations that serve the Chattanooga community.

For more information on Chattanooga States Volunteer Fair, contact Cadina Douglas at (423) 697-5543 or email cadina.douglas@chattanoogastate.edu.MacBook Air Alternatives

As much as Apple would like you to believe the MacBook Air is the only notebook of its kind, theres a whole world of Ultrabook alternatives out there.The long-rumored Google Pixel Watch could be on the way. Since Google has thrown its efforts behind a new version of Wear OS with features from Tizen and Fitbit, it could make hardware to match.

If Google does have a Pixel Watch planned, it could take on the Apple Watch 7, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and all the other best smartwatches on the market this year.

The best cheap smartwatches we've tested

Everything we know about the Google Pixel 5

Although Google has shot down speculation about in-house smartwatch, a number of patents and acquisitions in the wearable space (ahem, Fitbit) point to the Pixel Watch debut being a matter of when, not if.

Google also knows smartwatches and fitness trackers comprise one of the fastest growing consumer tech categories. It would be wise to put out a model of its own out as an accessory for its Pixel smartphones, like the upcoming Google Pixel 6.

So when will the Pixel Watch arrive? And what will it look like? What features will make it stand out? Here are all the rumors we know about the Google Pixel Watchs release date, price, design and more.

Rumors of the Google Pixel Watch have been circulating for years, but there's not been a great deal of concrete information. It was thought that Google's Pixel 6 launch event, which is upcoming at the time of writing, would see the reveal of a Google smartwatch. But that now looks unlikely.

The latest Pixel Watch rumor has Google set to launch the wearable early 2022, as least going by regular leaker Jon Prosser. How likely this rumors is isn't clear, but we's suspect that if Google is indeed working on the Pixel Watch, it will arrive in the next six to 12 months rather than a year or two,

Google Pixel Watch price

How much will the Google Pixel Watch cost? Not as much as an Apple Watch, if we had to guess. There arent many Google Pixel Watch cost leaks to reference, but wed place it in the mid-priced category. The Apple Watch Series 6 and Galaxy Watch 3 both start at $399, so we'd expect Google to try and undercut these two watches slightly.

It wont be the cheapest option on store shelves, but it could fall in the $200-$350 price range depending on size and LTE variants. Again, this is just speculation based on what we know about Googles pricing strategy for the rest of its hardware division.

Google Pixel Watch design

Interestingly, we've heard absolutely nothing about the Pixel Watch's design. Since May when news of the smartwatch broke, we haven't seen any credible design leaks, renders, or even CAD drawings.

We have seen some awesome concept art, though. These images come from designer James Tsai. Inspired by the company's Made By Google devices, Tsai delivered a playful set of renders that even have Google-esque names like milk white, sweet papaya and boba black.

(Image credit: James Tsai)

Regular tech leaker Jon Prosser recently tweeted a leaked image of what he claims is the Pixel Watch, showing off a rounded design with what appears to be a physical crown.

This tracks with the above rumors, so we'd be reasonably certain that if the Pixel Watch is real it'll have a round face.

(Image credit: @jon_prosser x @rendersbyian)

Google Pixel Watch specs

German publication WinFuture reported that Google is working on three Pixel Watch models, code-named Ling, Triton and Sardine.

Exactly what these Pixel Watch code names mean, however, is unknown. It seems plausible, given the names, that the devices will come in different sizes, and possibly different specs.

One could be lifestyle focused, making use of the $40 million of Fossil's smartwatch technology it acquired last year. Another could become one of the best fitness trackers, benefiting from Googles ownership of Fitbit .

On that note, its worth casting a glance at this report from ET News which states Google has placed a large order for body movement tracking sensors from Samsung. Those, in hand with Qualcomms latest smartwatch chip and rumors of on-board storage and LTE connectivity, could make for a well-specced Pixel Watch.

Google Pixel Watch Wear OS

This one is no surprise, but Google will bundle its own Wear OS platform in the Pixel Watch. But what could make the software different or, should we say, better?

Popular Wear OS features on third-party smartwatches include continuous heart-rate monitoring via Google Fit, contactless payments with Google Pay and hands-free Google Assistant access.

On Googles own smartwatch, wed expect to see better integration with Googles ecosystem of hardware.

Whenever the Pixel Watch comes, itll have to compete with some of the most advanced devices around. Keep it locked to Toms Guide for the latest updates on how the Pixel Watch is stacking up.Sony's Xperia XZ2 line has been on the market for barely three months, but it seems the company could already be gearing up to roll out a successor.

On Tuesday (Aug. 28), Sony teased an Xperia-related announcement from its official Twitter account. The short video embedded in the tweet mentions the date Aug. 30, as well as the hashtag #SonyIFA. The IFA conference just kicked off in Berlin earlier this week, and runs until Sept. 5.

(Image credit: MySmartPrice via SlashLeaks)

If it is indeed the Xperia XZ3 that Sony plans to unveil at the IFA stage, we actually have a fair idea of what to expect.

We've received a couple leaks of the device thus far  somewhat surprising, given Sony's short turnaround  and they mostly pertain to the handset's design.

Remember that crazy 48-MP image sensor Sony announced a few weeks ago? It's expected to debut in the XZ3, based on a Geekbench spec sheet obtained by Japanese blog Sumaho Info. The IMX586 sensor would allow the XZ3 to take incredibly crisp shots in the daytime, while its pixel-binning tech should let more light in for dark scenarios.

MORE: New iPhones Will Bring Biggest Changes in a Decade

Sony also tells us the IMX586 is capable of capturing 4K video at 90 frames per second, and it's relatively compact compared to sensors found in other flagship handsets.

In an image shared by MySmartPrice on Aug. 24, renders of a device with Xperia branding show off a series of color options, including burgundy and a dark teal. Sony is expected to offer the XZ3 in these hues. But what's more interesting is the phone's striking similarity to the XZ2: the curved, polished glass back is still present, as are bezels of similar size to what we see on the current generation device.

(Image credit: OnLeaks and CompareRaja)

There's only one camera at the back of this XZ3 render, and the rear-facing fingerprint sensor once again looks to have been placed quite low. Previously, Sony has claimed that unusual design choice maximizes comfort, but we found it caused more harm than good when we reviewed the XZ2 back in May.

Another render produced by OnLeaks and CompareRaja and reportedly based on official CAD renders shows off the black variant from both sides. From this image, it's clear to see that Sony has followed the lead of many phone makers now by rounding the corners of the display  although the company is apparently continuing to resist the trend toward notches. Also, note the bit of trim on the bottom of the backside surrounding the USB Type-C port. It's a small change, but it's present in all the leaks shown above, and it adds credence to their legitimacy.

We're very excited to see what that new camera can do, and seems like we may get our first hint tomorrow. Tom's Guide is covering all the news from the IFA show floor, so be sure to check back on Thursday to find out what Sony has in store.WhatsApp recently announced that users will soon be able to backup all of their data to Google Drive without that storage eating into their allocated Drive storage. What the company ommitted to say at the time was that the data backed-up to Drive will be stored in plaintext, without any encryption.

Google Drive Backups Not Encrypted

Starting November 12, WhatsApp backups to Google Drive will not be counted towards users storage quota. This is the result of a deal made between Google and Facebook, which owns WhatsApp. Google already analyzes its users' Drive accounts for targeted advertising purposes, so it was to be expected that if Google is going to store WhatsApps data for free, the company is going to get something in return (such as access to WhatsApp users data).

WhatsApp confirmed in its FAQ that the data that is backed up to Google Drive will not benefit from the same default end-to-end encryption implemented for real-time conversations, with the following line: Media and messages you back up aren't protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encryption while in Google Drive.

How WhatsApp Could Have Encrypted The Data

When a communications service is end-to-end encrypted, the users are in full control because they own the private key that is used to encrypt the communications. This key normally stored locally on the device in a secure environment such as a hardware security module. However, if the users want to change their devices and then access that data, theyd first need to transfer their private key, too. The vast majority of users dont know how to do that or don't want to do it.

Data stored in the cloud isnt normally encrypted with the users private key for the same reason. It's easier to transfer and access unencrypted data. This may also be part of the reason why WhatsApp disabled end-to-end encryption for backed-up data.

However, WhatsApp had another option here it could have easily implemented, which is allowing the user to encrypt the data with a password, just like you would normally encrypt a .zip file. The password could be required only during the setup of the Drive backup, and then it could be stored safely on the device, the same way private keys are stored, so that new messages are backed up automatically. In this case, neither Google, nor anyone else breaking into your Google Drive account would have access to that data.

On the other hand, if WhatsApp had done that, Google would have had little reason to negotiate this deal with the company. We suspect WhatsApp not encrypting the backups was likely not a technical issue primarily, but a business one.

Moving on From End-to-End Encryption

WhatsApps last remaining co-founder, Jan Koum, quit earlier this year after allegedly clashing with Facebook leadership, which apparently wanted to cripple the apps encryption in order to implement more business-friendly tools into the app.

With both co-founders and many of the original employees quitting WhatsApp, Facebook may start looking to recuperate its $22 billion investment. End-to-end encryption could be in the way of doing that, as it doesnt allow Facebook to look into users private messages or for the company to interpose itself in between users conversations. Time will tell how far Facebook will be willing to go with its plans.Toshiba's OEM XG6 comes packing the goodness of 3D TLC BiCS flash and a five-year warranty, but you can't buy it at retail. We'll see this design ported over to Toshiba's consumer lineup soon. Toshiba sells flash to other SSD vendors, so we'll see enthusiast-class models with the same flash soon. In the meantime, you can find this drive in an OEM laptop or desktop near you.

Toshiba's OEM XG6 comes packing the goodness of 3D TLC BiCS flash and a five-year warranty, but you can't buy it at retail. We'll see this design ported over to Toshiba's consumer lineup soon. Toshiba sells flash to other SSD vendors, so we'll see enthusiast-class models with the same flash soon. In the meantime, you can find this drive in an OEM laptop or desktop near you.

Features and Specifications

SSDs are steadily displacing HDDs in the consumer market, but progress is slow in some areas. Yes, more notebooks are coming with SSDs by default, but adoption in OEM desktop PCs has been slower. Today we take a close look at Toshibas latest OEM-oriented SSD. Toshiba designed the XG6 for desktop PCs, mobile systems, embedded systems, and even data centers.

That means the XG6 could power your next laptop or pre-built PC. More importantly for us, the XG6 comes with Toshiba's new 96-Layer TLC BiCS flash that will soon power the newest enthusiast-class SSDs from multiple vendors. The new flash promises more performance and efficiency at a lower price point, and based on our testing, it delivers.

As mentioned, the Toshiba XG6 is the industrys first SSD with Toshibas latest 96-Layer 3D TLC flash. Toshibas new 512Gbit die provides a 40% capacity increase over the company's previous-gen 64-layer flash. The increased density results in lower manufacturing costs, which in turn allows Toshiba to be more aggressive with its SSD pricing.

Toshiba's new flash supports Toggle 3.0 speeds (667-800 MT/s), which means its program and read latency is lower than the company's previous-gen Toggle 2.0 flash (400 MT/s). Toshiba's new flash is not quite as fast as Samsungs latest 256Gbit 3D flash that supports Toggle 4.0, but Toshiba's increased capacity is the big attraction.

We normally expect new flash to be paired with a new SSD controller, but the XG6 uses the same controller as the XG5. Toshiba's firmware and flash improvements, update to the NVMe 1.3a spec, and focus on improved power efficiency have yielded tremendous improvements, though.

Toshibas XG6 uses an enhanced SLC write buffer to provide higher sequential write speeds than the XG5 and up to twice the performance in random workloads. That's a surprisingly big improvement considering the SSD uses the same controller, but it's clear the advantages of the much faster 96-layer flash are shining through.

Specifications

Product Toshiba XG6 256GB Toshiba XG6 512GB Toshiba XG6 1TB Pricing N/A N/A N/A Capacity (User / Raw) 256GB / 256GB 512GB / 512GB 1024GB / 1024GB Form Factor M.2 2280 S2 (Single-sided) M.2 2280 S2 (Single-sided) M.2 2280 S2 (Single-sided) Interface / Protocol PCIe 3.1 x4 / NVMe 1.3a PCIe 3.1 x4 / NVMe 1.3a PCIe 3.1 x4 / NVMe 1.3a Controller TC58NCP090GSD TC58NCP090GSD TC58NCP090GSD DRAM NANYA LPDDR3 NANYA LPDDR3 NANYA LPDDR3 Memory Toshiba BiCS FLASH 96-layer 3D TLC Toshiba BiCS FLASH 96-layer 3D TLC Toshiba BiCS FLASH 96-layer 3D TLC Sequential Read Up to 3,180 MB/s Up to 3,180 MB/s Up to 3,180 MB/s Sequential Write Up to 2,960 MB/s Up to 2,960 MB/s Up to 2,960 MB/s Random Read Up to 355,000 IOPS Up to 355,000 IOPS Up to 355,000 IOPS Random Write Up to 365,000 IOPS Up to 365,000 IOPS Up to 365,000 IOPS Encryption TCG Pyrite and OPAL 2.01 as an option (TCG Pyrite: x = 0, TCG OPAL: x = A) Endurance N/A N/A N/A Part Number KXG6xZNV256G KXG6xZNV512G KXG6xZNV1T02 Warranty 5-Years 5-Years 5-Years

The Toshiba XG6 comes in three capacities of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The drive offers up to 3.18/2.96 GB/s of sequential read/write throughput and up to 355,000/365,000 random read/write IOPS. Toshiba measures performance when the data lands in the SLC cache, a fast buffer that absorbs incoming data, which means these measurements are peak values. We recorded ~1.6 GB/s of throughput when data spilled over to the native TLC flash. That's actually very competitive compared to other SSDs.

Power consumption is one of the most important considerations for OEM devices. Toshiba's new flash features a 1.2V I/O rating. That's 33% lower than the previous gens 1.8V, which equates to big power savings. The XG5 is rated for 4.2W of active power consumption and falls to just 3mW in its lowest power state (L1.2). We'll put those claims to the test.

The XG5 is an OEM-oriented product, so pricing varies based on the customer. Toshiba also offers models that support either TCG Pyrite or TCG OPAL 2.01 encryption. Toshiba backs the XG6 with a five-year warranty, but OEMs have wide latitude in how they pass that warranty down to their customers. Toshiba didn't provide us with an endurance rating because the OEM also dictates it.

A Closer Look

Image 1 of 4 Image 2 of 4 Image 3 of 4 Image 4 of 4

The XG6 comes in an M.2 2280 S2 single-sided form factor with the Toshiba TC58NCP090GSD SSD controller. This controller communicates with the host over a PCIe 3.1a x4 interface with the NVMe 1.3a protocol.

The 1TB XG6 has a 512MB Nanya DRAM buffer. Most SSDs have a 1MB-to-1GB DRAM-to-NAND ratio, but recent SSD designs appear to signal a move to lower ratios. For instance, the 1TB Intel 660p only comes with 256MB of DRAM.

The XG5 packs 1TB of storage into just two flash packages. That equates to 953GB of usable space after you format the drive in Windows. Laptop makers are intensely focused on reducing weight, and the XG6's 7.3 grams is much more palatable than the typical 40-70 grams for a SATA SSD.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD ContentHerspace - a freshly renovated wing at Plexpod Westport Commons, part of the KC-based Plexpod coworking community - is designed for women, said Gerald Smith, and it's a long time coming. "This is front and center. It isn't tucked away in some far away corner of an upper floor," said Smith, noting 90 percent of Plexpod employees are women.The BMW Z4 has been in the news for as long as we can remember. Last week, the car was finally launched, and it took the automotive world by storm. The flagship product from the German automaker was the talk of the town for its looks, the Toyota-BMW collaboration, the launch event, and literally everything surrounding it. However, what caught our attention was the discrepancy in the American and European engine specifications. But before we get to that, lets get to know the new Z4.

You get to hear it run too

Its Finally Here

In this video, Shmee150 shows us the Z4 M40i in Frozen Grey color. The video is recorded in a BMW-owned studio in Munich. It essentially retains its classy looks, albeit looking more modern when compared to the previous Z4. The car gets a soft convertible rooftop this time, thus saving 50 kilos. The interior gets dual tone colors and a new dual-display speedometer. At the end of the video, we can hear the Z4 roar in all its glory as well! Thats soothing.

Heart Of The Matter

The Z4 gets the same engine as the X3 M40i - A 3.0-liter, six-cylinder, twin-turbocharged engine that produces 340 horses and 540 pound-feet of torque.

Now, heres the catch - The European press release claimed a 4.6 second 0-100 kph time, whereas the Americans quoted 4.4 seconds to 60 mph. Was it an innocent mistake? We dont expect a major automaker committing such blunders. Also, the U.S. press release did not reveal the actual horsepower number.

So, clearing the air on this, Shmee says that the U.S.-spec Z4 could get 382 ponies under the hood  which is a cool 42 horses more than the Euro-spec Z4; or statistically speaking, almost 12% more! In the video, we find out that the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure) could be the reason for European Z4s lesser power figure. The deletion of a filter used to pass WLTP rules means that Euro car gets 42 fewer horses.

A YouTube video cannot be trusted completely; but given that this video was shot in a BMW-owned studio, you never know. All we can do is wait till the actual specs are revealed (or, leaked!). Share your thoughts on this in the comments section below.

Further Reading

Read our review on the 2019 BMW Z4.

Read our full review of the 2017 BMW Concept Z4.

Read our driven review on the current BMW Z4.

Read more Pebble Beach Concours dElegance news.

Top Selling Model: BMW 3 Series

Read more BMW news.Without further ado on this sad proposition, I am giving you five two-door SUVs you may have forgotten about.

Probably because they do not offer the utility and convenience of four-door SUVs and because SUVs arent made for fun adventure seekers anymore. Ever since people with kids decided they want to remain cool despite having three child seats in the back, a backpack full of diapers and wet wipes for all the wrong reasons, SUVs started their sales ascent. Now, they are so well endowed with convenience, that four-door SUVs are devouring everything else - sedans, minivans, and hatchbacks. With that, two-door SUVs became even more niche.

I started my research on this topic by entering three words in the google search bar - Two Door SUVs - and the first result that came out is a story authored by Doug DeMuro titled Every Single Two-Door SUV Has Failed. I feel that the guy is right. Like 100 percent right. Especially after reading a freaking list of two-door SUVs that actually existed and that still exist in this world of ours. While DeMuro really did provide an extensive list mentioning 29 different two-door SUVs, I managed to find a few more of them, that, of course, failed. Now, I will not list all of them, but I will mention five interesting two-door SUVs that we may have forgotten about. I am writing about them only to show you that modern two-door SUV interpretations are probably doomed and destined to fail.

Plymouth TrailDuster

Ok, I could have written the Dodge Ramcharger here and youd know right away all about the car, but wheres the fun in that?!

The Plymouth TrailDuster is the only Plymouth SUV, but the name may actually lead you to think that this is a Plymouth-only endeavor.

Well, it is not. The TrailDuster is actually a rebadged Dodge Ramcharger. The two are built on the same platform and share virtually everything.

Available from 1974 to 1981 in its first generation, the TrailDuster was a large SUV competing with the likes of full-size Ford Bronco, or the K5 Chevy Blazer.

Yup, this was yet another competitor in this segment.

It is a bit sad that all of the cars from this segment actually died off, with Chevy only now revealing the Blazer (as a crossover) and Ford announcing the Bronco for 2020 (as a proper off-roader). Nevertheless, the Plymouth is no more. Not only as in the TrailDuster, but as the car manufacturer as well.

The RamCharger and the TrailDuster are, unfortunately, icons of two-door SUV failure as they werent able to attract enough buyers and actually werent as profitable as they should have been to justify the development of new versions.

That said, they werent bad cars, either. Heck, Plymouth went so overboard with power that it even offered a 7.1-liter V-8 at the very start. Along with a 5.2-liter and a 5.9-liter V-8.

Jeep Commando

Based on the Jeepster vehicle of the same name and design, the Jeep Commando was a two-year effort by a young Jeep company to offer a captivating vehicle and cash in on the SUV-barren marketplace in 1971 and 1972. The effort ended swiftly despite the Jeep Commando actually being powered AMC engines that developed between 100 and 210 horsepower. Codenamed the C104, the Jeep Commando was never among the beloved in the stardom of Jeep enthusiasts, but the fact is that Jeep Commando clubs do exist and guard the memory of the Commando from the depths of oblivion.

With only 9,837 units sold in 1973, the Commando simply wasnt popular enough for Jeep to keep it in production.

It was replaced by the Cherokee. Interestingly enough, the Cherokee that replaced it was a two-door SUV that Jeep actually kept in one form or another for a long time. Nevertheless, despite the dashing looks of the two-door Cherokee, Jeep had to discontinue it. Actually, right now, apart from the two-door Wrangler, Jeep does not actually have a two-door SUV. Would a two-door Cherokee do any good? Probably not considering that all modern two-door SUVs did poorly - the Evoque, the Paceman, or, say, that quirky Nissan Murano Cabriolet. I know it is not exactly the best representative of the group, but I had to mention it because it is so bonkers.

Suzuki X-90

Trying to replace the Samurai, Suzuki revealed a quite astonishing X-90. It was a small coupe/sedan thing taking the shape unlike any other car of the time. With two doors, two seats, a coupe-style roof, and raised clearance, I feel that the X-90 was more like an off-road Miata than an actual replacement for the Suzuki Samurai.

Nevertheless, the Japanese found out soon enough that the strange looks and extreme layout werent exactly on par with anyones taste.

In fact, Suzuki couldnt sell enough of them to justify keeping it on the market for more than two years.

In that time, Suzuki imported exactly 7,205 units in the U.S. With a 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine, the X-90 was more like a quirky niche car than a serious effort by a serious car company.

The thing is that Suzuki wasnt exactly basking in money at the time which means that it used the Suzuki Vitara basis for the development of the X-90. No one bought it. Well, not no one, but not enough for sure. Now, they are considered something like oddballs from the Nineties - cars capable of making serious strides into the collectors hands as not many of them were actually preserved. Those that have been preserved arent expensive but are misfits nonetheless.

Ford Bronco

The new Bronco is coming soon. It will be a proper off-roader and a car designed to specifically appeal to purists. How else could one explain such rich development and numerous Ford announcements noting its off-road credentials?! Yet, in order to create such car, Ford had to reinvent its whole approach to designing an SUV.

That happened in 1966 with the introduction of a small, tiny, two-door, 151-inch long Bronco.

A legend started. A legend so powerful that it inspired a dramatically different approach to SUV design within Ford.

The car considerably grew in size becoming a proper family compact SUV with some serious off-roading pedigree over the years. Up to all 1996 that is, as Ford pulled the plug on the Bronco and its two-door versions at the time. Sure, the OJ Simpson chase furthered the marketing cause of the Ford Bronco, but even that wasnt enough to make the powerful icon of the free world capitalize. Instead, the Bronco lost. Not forever though as we are eagerly waiting for the new car to appear.

Chevrolet Blazer K5

It is quite sad that Chevrolet unveiled the new Blazer, but only to sell it as a family SUV. Ok, the way of the market is like that, but Ford found a way to offer their Bronco in its pure off-roading form. Or, at least, we are led to believe that Ford will do just that. Nevertheless, the 1969 - 1972 K5 Blazer is considered to be one of the most alluring cars of the last century.

Back in the day, it was just right in terms of size and utility, with Chevrolet producing the Blazer K5 until 1991. With various updates, of course.

The new car pales in comparison with the old one, although, it must be said - it should be great at what it was made to do - be an awesome family car. Its two-door version died with the last generation of the S-10 based Blazer. Now, the new car is far away from that kind of flamboyance, although fans would definitely like to see Chevy reinvent the wheel with the two-door Blazer.

Conclusion

While I could list all the two-door SUVs that have ever existed, I dont think that would bring us anywhere. Instead, I will tell you that the best off-roaders which actually built a cult following and provided the basis for the growth of brands were all two-door machines. I am talking here about the Gelandewagen, about the Toyota FJ Cruiser, or the Suzuki Samurai. All of them were simple machines built with passion,... and mud. A lot of mud.

Nevertheless, two-door SUVs arent gonna rule the world.

Despite the cool Blazer K5 or the madly cool S-10, the Blazer has been resurrected as a freaking crossover. While we can expect the new Bronco, it will probably be a five-door, although that picture we shared some time ago did raise some eyebrows. Despite being some of the biggest names in the business, I have to note the failures of famous manufacturers and vehicles like the Mini Paceman, the Range Rover Evoque Coupe, or the Toyota Land Cruiser two-door.

List of two-door SUVs (with some help from Doug DeMuro article)

Mini Paceman, Range Rover Evoque, Chevrolet Blazer K5, Chevrolet Blazer S-10, Chevrolet Tahoe, Daihatsu Rocky, Dodge Raider, Dodge Ramcharger, Ford Bronco, Ford Explorer, GMC Yukon, Isuzu Amigo, Isuzu Trooper, Isuzu VehiCROSS, Jeep Cherokee, Kia Sportage, Land Rover Defender 90, Land Rover Freelander, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, MINI Paceman, Mitsubishi Montero, Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, Nissan Pathfinder, Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque, Suzuki Samurai, Suzuki Sidekick/Vitara, Suzuki X-90, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota RAV4.Back in 16, Ducati pushed the supersport envelope with its super-middleweight Panigale 959, and since you cant argue with success, the Italian marque carries that original model straight over into MY2018. The engine clocks in at nearly a liter with all the performance youd expect, plus some electronic safety equipment to help you keep it under control and make riding the 959 a user-friendly affair. Race fans find plenty to be excited about, as well, since the Panigale rocks some track-tastic features to go with its already-sporty mien for a look that says serious business to all who behold it. It seems the Panigale has the look with the appropriate under-the-hood gear, but how does it stack up against the well-populated market segment in which it falls? Thats what I aim to find out today.

Ducati Panigale 959 Design

The Panigale puts off a very race-tastic vibe that isn't just for show; you can leave some of your knee/elbow pad shavings on the track if you've the nerve for it.

The 959 leads the way with its characteristic, angry-bird fairing that divides the light bar with a central ridge for a visage that makes an instant family connection. Windtunnel-tested body panels extend the nose on back to cover most of the powerplant with two large vents strategically located to re-integrate the hot air from the radiators with the slipstream, hopefully without transferring too much heat to the riders legs on the way by.

You gotta have blinkers, and you gotta have mirrors, but the factory tidied things up nicely by integrating the two. Im a fan of this setup because of the obvious aesthetic benefits to be had from cleaning up the front end, of course, but elevating the turn signals thusly makes it easier for everyone else in front of you to see you and make note of your intentions, and that increases your overall safety. Anything that does that is good, mkay?

A bubble screen tops the front fairing to punch a minimal hole in the wind, but dont you worry; the clip-on bars and jockey-mount foot controls encourage an aggressive posture that puts you right in the pocket. Generous shoulders give the 4.5-gallon fuel tank nice knee pockets that taper down to a narrow waist making it easy to deploy your training wheels at stops, and throw around some body English as your nerve will allow.

Nose-down / tail-up is in these days, and the Panigale toes the line with an upswept subframe section that lofts your (very brave) passenger a bit and forms a definite butt-stop so you dont drive the bike right out from under yourself. As for the p-pad, well, it kind of falls under the minimal compliance category, more of an if I have to type of thing that will pad your lucky passengers tailbone and naughty bits, but little else.

The tail section itself tapers off to nothing above a minimal rear mudguard that pulls extra duty as a tagholder and turn-signal mount for more of that integrated yummy-goodness like we had up front. Overall, the Panigale puts off a very race-tastic vibe that isnt just for show; you can leave some of your knee/elbow pad shavings on the track if youve the nerve for it.

Ducati Panigale 959 Chassis

It ain't just a pretty face; all the metrics point to a very agile ride.

It aint just a pretty face; the skin that forms the fairing, cowl and the rest is actually a stressed unit that relies on the rigidity of the aluminum sheet goods to provide the necessary structural rigidity, kind of like a Vespa, but at the top of the foodchain. The engine is used as a stressed member to complete the structure with a pair of aluminum bushings that replace the steering head and a steering damper to tame the occasional kickback. It establishes a rake angle of 24 degrees with 3.78 inches of trail over a 56.34-inch wheelbase, and these figures point to a very agile ride.

Partial credit for that agility is owed to the light overall weight that clocks in at 387.2-pounds dry, and while the monocoque skin does its bit toward that end, it also solves other problems along the way. Hot fuel is weak fuel, and it can be difficult/impossible to prevent the gas from cooling on top of the engine, but Ducati solves that problem by using the skin to form the airbox, which in turn serves to partially decouple the fuel tank from the heat washing up from the engine. Pretty nifty stuff, huh?

Showas Big Piston Forks make an appearance at the front end with a Sachs suspension unit out back and full adjustability all around with an aluminum, yoke-style swingarm to articulate the rear wheel and help keep unsprung weight down. Symmetrical, 17-inch cast rims do their bit toward that end as well with a 120/70 and 180/60 Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa tire on the front and rear, respectively.

When it comes time to haul it down, you call upon the Brembo brakes with dual, 320 mm discs and monobloc, M4.32 four-piston calipers ahead of a 245 mm disc and twin-pot anchor. On top of all that, Bosch makes sure you can safely get the most out of the system with its ABS coverage that serves as the first safety-net layer.

Frame: Monocoque Aluminum Front suspension: Fully adjustable Showa BPF fork. 43 mm chromed inner tubes Rear suspension : Fully adjustable Sachs unit. Aluminum double-sided swingarm Rake: 24 Trail: 96 mm (3.78 in) Front brake: 2 x 320 mm semi-floating discs, radially mounted Brembo monobloc M4.32 4- piston calipers, with Bosch ABS as standard Rear brake: 245 mm disc, 2-piston caliper, with Bosch ABS as standard Wheel travel: (front/rear) 120 mm (4.72 in) - 130 mm (5.12 in) Rear wheel: 10 spokes light alloy 5.50 x 17 Front tire: Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa 120/70 ZR17 Rear tire: Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa 180/60 ZR17

Ducati Panigale 959 Drivetrain

The DQS provides clutchless, push-button shifts up the range with a slipper clutch that prevents loss of traction at the rear wheel by limiting backtorque.

Further layers are found in the engine-control department. A full ride-by-wire throttle control works with an Engine Brake Control feature and variable-performance Riding Modes to name a couple more, and the safety package is capped off by Ducatis proprietary Traction Control that monitors wheel slip with eight levels of intervention.

This is all good stuff to have on board in light of the performance you can expect from the L-twin powerplant. Ducatis Superquadro, so named for its four-valve heads, churns out a total of 150 horsepower at 10,500 rpm with 75 pound-feet that top out at 9 grand even, and believe you me, that is plenty of power for this lightweight ride. A desmodromic valvetrain actuates the poppets with a pull-closed cam lobe that delivers positive closure of the valves sans springs and prevents the dreaded high-rpm valve float.

Power flows to the rear wheel via a six-speed transmission that benefits from the Ducati Quick Shift feature. The DQS provides clutchless, push-button shifts up the range with a slipper clutch that prevents loss of traction at the rear wheel by limiting backtorque in the drivetrain.

The water-cooled plant runs a massively oversquare layout with 100 mm bores and a 60.8 mm stroke for a total displacement of 955 cc and relatively-hot, 12.5-to-1 compression ratio, and it meets Euro 4 emissions standards, so you can expect to use it anywhere in the U.S.

Engine: Superquadro: L-twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder, Desmodromic, liquid cooled Displacement: 955 cc Bore X stroke: 100 x 60.8 mm Compression ratio: 12.5:1 Power: 110 kW (150 hp) @ 10,500 rpm Torque: 102 Nm (75 lb-ft) @ 9,000 rpm Fuel injection : Mitsubishi electronic fuel injection system. Twin injectors per cylinder. Full Ride-by-Wire elliptical throttle bodies Exhaust: 2-1-2 system with catalytic converter and 2 lambda probes. Stainless steel pre- silencer + twin aluminum side mufflers Gearbox: 6 speed with Ducati Quick Shift (DQS) Primary drive: Straight cut gears; Ratio 1.77:1 Clutch: Slipper and self-servo wet multiplate clutch with hydraulic control

Ducati Panigale 959 Pricing

The pricetag doesn't exactly serve as a firewall here, so the Panigale 959 is within reach of a fair number of prospective sportbike riders.

The pricetag doesnt exactly serve as a firewall here. At $15,395, the MY18 Panigale 959 is within reach of a fair number of prospective sportbike riders, and it comes in a color choice of either Ducati Red or Arctic White Silk.

Instrumentation: Full LCD display Safety Equipment: ABS, Ducati Traction Control (DTC),Engine Brake Control (EBC), Riding Modes Standard Equipment: Power Modes, DQS, Fully RbW, Steering damper Warranty: 24 months unlimited mileage Color: Ducati Red, Arctic White Silk Price: $15,395

Ducati Panigale 959 Competitors

While Honda's race-tastic goodies are nice, most riders will not get any benefit from the race-tastic features the CBR brings to the table.

Ducati is, unequivocally, one of the undisputed European heavyweights, but its not the only one on the world stage, not by a long shot. I decided to go for one of the top-shelf Japanese bikes this time for my head-to-head  the CBR1000RR from Honda  because of its obvious trackside appeal and capacity to deliver the goods to an increasingly demanding sportbike crowd.

Right off the bat, its clear that the CBR has every ounce as much race-day juice as the Panigale with a slightly cut-down cowl and integrated mirror/turn-signal units. Frame members hide most of the mill, and Honda scores some early points with its electronically-variable steering damper that reacts to vehicle speed when setting the resistance values.

Hondas ABS is also a cut above with a gyro-assist feature that takes into account the shared traction between steering- and braking-moments. Honda scores again with its four-bore, 998 cc powerplant that claims a whopping 189 ponies and 84 pounds o grunt versus 150/75 from Ducatis similarly-sized L-twin, and it comes with Riding Modes, Power Modes and Torque Control for an equivalent electronics suite.

While all these race-tastic goodies are nice, lets be honest; most riders will not get any benefit at all from the extra yummygoodness the CBR brings to the table, and so the $16,799 pricetag on the ABS version will definitely be a factor at the checkout.

He Said

Sweet! Ducati doesnt disappoint, and even though the CBR wasnt kind to it, you have to ask yourself How much is enough? At the end of the day, the Ducati Panigale 959 delivers on its promise of race-day performance in a package geared toward the everyriders among us, and is racy enough for all but the most hardcore.

She Said

My wife and fellow motorcycle writer, Allyn Hinton, says, This is probably the most comfortable supersport as far as the seat and seating position. The bars are narrow and just sitting on it makes you feel aggressive even before you get rolling. Its very lightweight and underway, it is a smooth ride. If theres a negative to say, its that theres a lot of heat washing up your legs even when moving. Id have to cross this off the list of possible commuters if you cant keep rolling the whole way. It would be quite uncomfortable if you couldnt filter through slow or stopped traffic.

Ducati Panigale 959 Specifications

Engine & Drivetrain: Engine: Superquadro: L-twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder, Desmodromic, liquid cooled Displacement: 955 cc Bore x Stroke: 100 x 60.8 mm Compression ratio: 12.5:1 Power: 110 kW (150 hp) @ 10,500 rpm Torque: 102 Nm (75 lb-ft) @ 9,000 rpm Fuel injection : Mitsubishi electronic fuel injection system. Twin injectors per cylinder. Full Ride-by-Wire elliptical throttle bodies Exhaust: 2-1-2 system with catalytic converter and 2 lambda probes. Stainless steel pre- silencer + twin aluminum side mufflers Gearbox: 6 speed with Ducati Quick Shift (DQS) Primary drive: Straight cut gears; Ratio 1.77:1 Ratio: 1=37/15 2=30/16 3=27/18 4=25/20 5=24/22 6=23/24 Final drive: Chain; Front sprocket 15; Rear sprocket 43 Clutch: Slipper and self-servo wet multiplate clutch with hydraulic control Chassis: Frame: Monocoque Aluminum Front suspension: Fully adjustable Showa BPF fork. 43 mm chromed inner tubes Rear suspension : Fully adjustable Sachs unit. Aluminum double-sided swingarm Rake: 24 Trail: 96 mm (3.78 in) Front brake: 2 x 320 mm semi-floating discs, radially mounted Brembo monobloc M4.32 4- piston calipers, with Bosch ABS as standard Rear brake: 245 mm disc, 2-piston caliper, with Bosch ABS as standard Wheel travel (front/rear): 120 mm (4.72 in) / 130 mm (5.12 in) Rear wheel: 10 spokes light alloy 5.50 x 17 Front tire: Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa 120/70 ZR17 Rear tire: Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa 180/60 ZR17 Dimensions & Capacities: Seat height: 830 mm (32.48 in) Wheelbase: 1,431 mm (56.34 in) Fuel tank capacity: 17 l - 4.5 gallon (US) Fuel economy: 5.6 l/100 km (42 mpg) Number of seats: Dual seat Details: Instrumentation: Full LCD display Safety Equipment: ABS, Ducati Traction Control (DTC),Engine Brake Control (EBC), Riding Modes Standard Equipment: Power Modes, DQS, Fully RbW, Steering damper Warranty: 24 months unlimited mileage Standard: Euro 4 Color: Ducati Red, Arctic White Silk Price: $15,395

Further Reading

Honda CBR1000RR

See our review of the Honda CBR1000RR.

Read more Ducati news.The US-Kenya Strategic Partnership: 55 Years of Diplomatic Relations

On 27 August 2018, United States President Donald J. Trump welcomed Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta to the White House. President Kenyattas visit to Washington marked 55 years of diplomatic relations between the US and Kenya, and the start of a new US-Kenya Strategic Partnership. This strategic partnership will address counter-terrorism collaboration, defense and security cooperation, support for greater accountability, transparency, and institution building, and economic cooperation, amongst other topics.

Following the White House visit, President Trump and President Kenyatta issued the following joint statement:

President Donald J. Trump welcomed President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya to the White House today. In marking 55 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Kenya, and in recognition of the growing scope and depth of the engagements between the two countries, the leaders resolved to elevate the relationship to a Strategic Partnership, affirming it as a cornerstone of peace, stability and good governance in Africa and the Indian Ocean region. This United States-Kenya Strategic Partnership will include an annual dialogue to advance mutual prosperity.

President Trump commended the Kenya Defence Forces for their service and sacrifice in combatting al-Shabaab and ISIS in Somalia. President Trump also lauded Kenya for taking a leading role in the East African fight against terrorism and for its sustained dedication to this effort.

The leaders reaffirmed and strengthened their commitment to continued counterterrorism cooperation against violent extremists who seek to take innocent lives and deny fundamental human rights. To further enhance this counterterrorism collaboration, President Trump welcomed Kenyas decision to join the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. President Trump also thanked President Kenyatta for his diplomatic efforts to bring peace to South Sudan and to the region more widely.

The leaders pledged to deepen defense and security cooperation, building on the recent acquisition of military equipment made in the United States and committed to further enhance Kenya Defence Forces capabilities. Further, the United States pledged to strengthen Kenyas national disaster and crisis response capacity.

President Kenyatta thanked President Trump for the United States continued support of the Kenyatta administrations efforts towards greater accountability, transparency, and institution building. As democracies committed to a rules-based international order, the United States and Kenya share a common vision for free and open societies. This includes global freedom of navigation, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

The leaders committed to expand their economic cooperation aimed at making their nations stronger and their citizens more prosperous. In this regard, President Trump thanked President Kenyatta for hosting the United States delegation of the Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.

To further enhance the economic partnership, the two leaders agreed to establish a United States-Kenya Trade and Investment Working Group to explore ways to deepen ties between the two countries.

Further, the Presidents are pleased to announce that their governments established direct flights between Nairobi and New York City, a move that will expand the economic and cultural ties between the two great countries.

Recognizing the importance of high-quality infrastructure, President Trump and President Kenyatta welcomed the proposal by United States engineering and construction firm Bechtel Corporation to build a modern superhighway from Nairobi to Mombasa. Both sides agreed to undertake further consultations to conclude the terms of the financing agreement.

This and nearly $900 million in other commercial deals and engagements announced during the visit are expected to create thousands of American and Kenyan jobs, further enhancing the prosperity and economic competitiveness of both nations.Joint meeting of the United Kingdom (UK), Southern African Customs Union member states (SACU) and Mozambique trade ministers on a future UK, SACU and Mozambique Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

The Honourable Ministers responsible for Trade in the UK, G. [George] Hollingbery and in SACU and Mozambique, herein represented by B.J. [Bogolo Joy] Kenewendo of Botswana, met in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, today, 28th August 2018.

We welcomed the significant progress made on a future UK, SACU, and Mozambique EPA that will ensure that the parties maintain the current market access and replicate the effects of the existing EU-SADC EPA, which will ensure continuity of trade relations between the UK, SACU and Mozambique once the EU-SADC EPA no longer applies to the UK. In this regard therefore:

We set out today our shared understanding that inclusive trade is essential for poverty eradication and sustained growth. We agreed that the UK-SACU and Mozambique EPA must promote development and support the integration efforts of the African Continent.

The two sides commit to continue to work together towards the conclusion of a future UK, SACU and Mozambique EPA that ensures continuity in the trade relationship once the EU-SADC EPA no longer applies to the UK.

We recalled our roundtable discussions on trade relations post-Brexit on the 19th July 2017, wherein we agreed to explore ways to ensure that the existing trade arrangement between the UK, SACU and Mozambique currently governed by the EU-SADC EPA, will not be disrupted by the UKs departure from the EU. The UK re-affirmed its commitment to ensuring continuity of the effects of the EU-SADC EPA following the UKs withdrawal from the EU, in particular maintaining the current market access for SACU and Mozambique into the UK.

We welcome the significant progress our officials have made since then in the discussions on a future UK, SACU, and Mozambique EPA, that will replicate the effects of the existing EU-SADC EPA which has strong aspects of reciprocity. During this process, we recognise the UKs continuing obligations while it remains an EU Member State.

We have today confirmed that we will be in a position to ensure that an Agreement can be in place between the UK, SACU, and Mozambique, as soon as the EU-SADC EPA no longer applies to the UK. This confirmation, and the future UK, SACU and Mozambique EPA, are without prejudice to the terms of the EU-SADC EPA.

We take note of the progress achieved regarding the UK and EUs agreement on a time-limited implementation period between the EU and UK following the UKs departure from the EU, and in particular the intention for the UK to be treated, for the purposes of EU international agreements, as an EU Member State for the duration of the implementation period between the EU and UK. The SACU and Mozambique Trade Ministers indicated that they look forward to receiving formal confirmation of the same via the proposed notification, and to continuing to receive regular updates on progress from the UK on the EU-UK negotiations under Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union on the UKs withdrawal from the EU. SACU and Mozambique emphasise the importance of continued cumulation between all the parties in promoting continuity and to avoid disruption in trade, and urge both the UK and the EU to recognise the importance of cumulation in the discussions on a post-Brexit EU-UK arrangement.

Nevertheless, we recognise that it is responsible to prepare for all potential outcomes. We confirm that we are therefore taking steps to ensure that our replicated agreement can be in place, if required, immediately upon the UKs withdrawal from the EU in March 2019, in the event that no agreement is reached between the UK and EU.

We re-affirm that we share a strong ambition to further strengthen our partnership in the future, in order to further benefit both parties. Our EPA will form the core basis of our future economic and development relationship. We recognised that some issues have been identified that will require consideration after the UKs withdrawal from the EU in March 2019 and therefore direct our officials to prepare a built-in agenda on those outstanding issues for expeditious conclusion. We also acknowledge a range of potential issues which could help us further strengthen our partnership, and look forward to discussing those at the most appropriate time.

We re-affirm our intention to cooperate closely in order to ensure that the mutual benefits of a UK, SACU and Mozambique EPA are fully realised.

In addition, we reiterate support for a rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, reaffirm the centrality of development in the WTOs work and the need to continue to fight WTO non-compliant measures that lead to protectionism and unilateralism. We remain committed to a rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, open and inclusive multilateral trading system and are determined to work together to further strengthen the WTO and ensure that it facilitates effective participation of all countries in the multilateral trading system.12 Ministers from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda called on Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana on Tuesday.

The Ministers were in Singapore from 27-28 August 2018 to attend the Third Singapore-Sub-Saharan Africa High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit hosted by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

During the call, PM re-affirmed Singapores commitment to strengthening ties with Sub-Saharan Africa. PM and the Ministers also discussed ways to harness the power of technology and innovation to further economic growth, prepare our youths for jobs of the future, and create sustainable and liveable cities and communities.

PM also noted Africas positive growth trajectory and commitment to greater economic integration, and encouraged both sides to seize the growing economic opportunities in our respective countries and regions.

The Ministers expressed appreciation for Singapores continued efforts in sharing its developmental experience through the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP). Since its inception in 1992, over 9,000 officials from across Africa have participated in SCP training courses in areas such as urban management, economic development, and public administration.

Welcome Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

A very warm and sunny good morning to all of you. We have arranged for the sunshine and the skylight here as a symbol of the warm relations between Singapore and Africa!

Welcome to the third iteration of the Singapore-Sub-Saharan Africa High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit. We are very honoured that this time we have Ministers from twelve countries across Africa. I know many of you have made a long journey, some taking up to fifteen to twenty hours.

Singapore-Sub-Saharan Africa Relations

Singapores engagement of Africa has been longstanding. In 1964, even before Singapores independence, when Singapore was still part of Malaysia, our first Prime Minister, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, led a mission to Africa to explain the concept of Malaysia to our African friends. In that trip, he visited 17 African capitals over 35 days  a hectic schedule that so far has not yet been surpassed by anyone here.

In 1965, when we achieved independence, we were gratified that many of our African friends and leaders  many of whom had in fact just gained independence or were in the midst of their own independence struggles, stood in solidarity with Singapore, a tiny island city state.

Opportunities and Challenges in Africa

The world has changed radically since then. We have seen Africa develop at an impressive pace, and demonstrate incredible potential. Within the next two decades, Africa will possess the worlds youngest population. By 2030, Africas GDP is expected to reach US$3 trillion, buoyed by a rising middle class with strong consumption and of course, a very young, productive population.

However, the challenges confronting Africa are also more complex today. With over half of Africas population set to urbanise by 2050, urbanisation will be both an opportunity as well as a key challenge that many governments would have to face.

In fact, sustainable development is a universal imperative. A key political question confronting all governments would be: how do we ensure economic growth, how do we provide decent work, with good pay, and how do we develop sustainable smart cities, to meet the rising aspirations of our citizens?

Overview of 3rd Exchange Visit

This is why the theme for this years Exchange Visit, which is Singapore and Africa: Partners for Smart Cities, is so apt.

Building a smart city is not just about providing infrastructure or Internet connectivity. It is about harnessing the new tools that the digital revolution is providing in order to improve living standards for every single citizen, to expand economic opportunities in new industries, and while all this is happening, to also maintain a cohesive and sustainable sense of community amongst all our citizens.

This is why we have structured your visit around three of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These three goals are: first, decent work and economic growth; second, industry, innovation, and infrastructure; and third, sustainable cities and communities.

Singapores own development story underscores the salience of these three themes. When independence was thrust upon us in 1965, we faced many existential challenges. We are a tiny island, we had no natural resources, unlike almost all of you in Africa, and we had lost our hinterland. We had to build our armed forces, attract investments, create jobs, house our population, educate our young, and to do all these urgently and simultaneously. The future was uncertain, and many were sceptical that Singapore could survive on its own, let alone thrive. But our leaders and people understood the need to look beyond these immediate and urgent problems, but also to prepare for a more distant future and to have a vision. They did so with sustainable development in mind, long before sustainable development became popular, or enshrined in the United Nations agenda.

You need to understand that Singapore is an incredibly tiny barren rock  which has to create jobs, food, water and opportunities for five and a half million people. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. What you see in Singapore is the result of necessity, but it has been a response based on imagination. Indeed, what you see all around you here is in a sense an act of desperate imagination, in order to overcome our existential challenges.

At 700 square km, Singapore could easily fit into one of the lakes in Africa. That is why land is so precious to us and why therefore we are obsessive about master planning every square foot of our precious, small, tiny island. Our existential shortage of land and water also meant that we could not afford to pollute our surroundings. Mr Lee Kuan Yew insisted that we plant trees, maintain clean streets, and clean up the heavily-polluted Singapore River  which in the decades past was in fact an open sewer. Today, you will spend some time on the river, and you will be amazed at the transformation.

But again, the point was that all this was done because we had to overcome existential challenges. Hence you see well-regulated environments, you see detailed plans and you see how pollutive industries have been phased out, transferred or re-created so that they no longer pollute the environment, the air, and the water that we depend on. So today, Singapore is a liveable and sustainable city. It houses five and a half million residents, and our people enjoy a high quality of life despite a high population density.

Also in this day and age, people are worried about re-employment. It is well worth remembering that a dense, compact city in fact has to ensure an equally high standard of environment, hygiene, healthcare and opportunity for everyone. Another aspect beyond the environment and sustainable development is the fact that practically the most crucial ingredient to success is people, and the quality of their minds and skills. Hence the need to create opportunities for people to thrive in. That is why our pioneer leaders saw and recognised the need to have a skilled, technically proficient workforce. This is why we will bring you to visit the Institute of Technical Education tomorrow. You will see that it is not just a matter of what we provide for the top five percent of academic high performers, but the degree to which we have invested in ensuring that everyone will have opportunities and skills relevant for future jobs. This is even more salient when we now live in and confront the digital revolution, making it all the more important to ensure that no one gets left behind. So what you will see in Singapore is a continuous, dedicated and concerted effort on skills training, and upgrading so that everyone can move ahead.

I think that this is also relevant for Africa as well. Africa has also been working to leapfrog the limitations of the last Industrial Revolution, and take advantage of the new opportunities that the digital revolution provides. We learned about mobile payment systems such as M-Pesa which are already widely used in Africa, and I have also been reading about the increasing use of block chain technology to facilitate more secure business transmissions.

As we seek to build Smart Cities in both Singapore and Africa, we believe our people will be the foundation of a vibrant and innovative digital economy, and this will ultimately be critical to ensuring economic competitiveness of our countries, and also to reduce inequality.

Singapore Cooperation Programme and Africa

We believe that no single country, let alone a tiny city-state, has a monopoly on the answers to the challenges we face. We also do not believe that there is a single universal model of development that is applicable to all. All of us have our own unique history, geography, societies, and our own unique set of challenges. We believe that by coming together, on occasions like this, we can exchange ideas and perspectives, synthesise them and come up with something that works in our own unique national circumstances.

For this reason, we have sought to share our own development journey through the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) over many decades. In fact, since 1992, over 120,000 officials from 170 countries, including 9,000 from Africa, have attended our SCP courses. We continue to welcome your officials to participate  our doors remain open.

Singapore is also working with UN-Habitat to organise the International Leaders in Urban Governance Programme (iLUGP). This programme brings together federal- to municipal-level leaders from various African countries, including experts from UN-Habitat, and experienced practitioners from the Singapore Government for a vibrant exchange of ideas on key urban issues including sustainable environment and dynamic urban governance. In fact, Singapore is hosting the second run of the programme this week and this is an opportunity for me to acknowledge and welcome all the iLUGP participants to Singapore.

Deepening Economic Relations

I am happy to note that since the last Exchange Visit in 2016, our economic ties have further deepened. Singapores trade with Africa has grown exponentially: it is now US$8 billion in 2017, a 13 percent increase from the year before. But frankly, these trade figures are nowhere near their true potential. To this end, we have put in place several economic frameworks with several of our close African partners, such as Bilateral Investment Treaties and Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements, in order to open up more business opportunities and to encourage more investments both ways. Singapore is also hosting the 5th Africa-Singapore Business Forum tomorrow, which since 2010, has brought together more than 2,000 business and government leaders from over 30 countries to explore opportunities and partnerships between Singapore and Africa.

Singapore has also been strengthening our air and maritime linkages to Africa. For now, Singapore only has direct flights to three African countries  South Africa, Ethiopia, and Mauritius. I hope that by the time we host the 4th Exchange Visit, we will see more connections to Africa, making it easier for you and your colleagues to visit again. It should not take fifteen to twenty hours in the future!

Conclusion

In the coming days, my Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet colleagues and officials are looking forward to meeting all of you. You will also make several site visits, which have been specially selected to showcase Singapores use of new and innovative technologies in order to promote sustainable development, in areas such as education, housing, industry, and tourism. I hope that beyond your formal programmes you will also have sufficient free time to walk around and get a feel of the place and to understand Singaporeans and our attitude to life.

I just want to end with one of my favourite anecdotes. Years ago, I was on a boat with the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. This was before the Marina Barrage was built, and we were sailing into Marina Bay and saw our beautiful landscape. I asked Mr Lee, When you see our city, this beautiful, magnificent city, what goes through your mind? I hoped that he would give me some poetic line to summarise what he felt. He just looked at me in his usual direct way and said, A hardworking and disciplined people built all this. As we wander through the streets of Singapore, we all have a deep sense of gratitude to the pioneers, but also remember that a hardworking and disciplined people built all this.

Thank you all very much, and welcome to Singapore.Africas trade and investment relations: selected updates from recent events

Prime Minister Theresa May in Cape Town

(i) Joint statement by UK, SACU and Mozambique on a future EPA: Ministers responsible for Trade in the UK (G Hollingbery) and in SACU and Mozambique (represented by B.J. Kenewendo of Botswana) met in Cape Town yesterday. We take note of the progress achieved regarding the UK and EUs agreement on a time-limited implementation period between the EU and UK following the UKs departure from the EU, and in particular the intention for the UK to be treated, for the purposes of EU international agreements, as an EU Member State for the duration of the implementation period between the EU and UK. The SACU and Mozambique Trade Ministers indicated that they look forward to receiving formal confirmation of the same via the proposed notification, and to continuing to receive regular updates on progress from the UK on the EU-UK negotiations under Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union on the UKs withdrawal from the EU. SACU and Mozambique emphasise the importance of continued cumulation between all the parties in promoting continuity and to avoid disruption in trade, and urge both the UK and the EU to recognise the importance of cumulation in the discussions on a post-Brexit EU-UK arrangement. Nevertheless, we recognise that it is responsible to prepare for all potential outcomes. We confirm that we are therefore taking steps to ensure that our replicated agreement can be in place, if required, immediately upon the UKs withdrawal from the EU in March 2019, in the event that no agreement is reached between the UK and EU.

(ii) South Africa-UK Business Forum: speech by Prime Minister Theresa May. So a driving focus of our development programme will be to ensure that governments in Africa have the environment, knowledge, institutions and support to attract sustainable, long-term investments in the future of Africa and Africans. And to help bring those investments about, I can today announce an additional 4bn programme of UK investment in African economies that will pave the way for at least another 4bn of private sector financing. This includes, for the first time, an ambition from the UK governments Development Finance Institution, CDC, to invest 3.5bn in African nations over the next four years. And next year London will host an Africa Investment Summit, helping investors and African governments forge closer ties with one another. And because markets and economies need people as well as capital, we will also be sharing our expertise  supporting partner countries in developing their business environments and institutions, integrating into global value chains, building ties with investors and tackling barriers to growth. To do so, we will radically expand the UK governments presence in Africa, opening new missions and bringing in trade experts, investment specialists, and other policy experts.

(iii) : Earlier this year, we announced an ambitious investment drive that aims to generate at least $100 billion in new investment over the next five years. This drive will culminate in an Investment Conference on 25-27 October, which will bring together investors both from within South Africa and from other parts of the world. We are looking forward to welcoming British investors to this Conference, both those who have long been invested in South Africa looking to expand their operations and those who would be investing here for the first time. We are encouraged by the fact that the UK is one of the largest foreign investors in the South African economy with more than 650 British firms present in the market. This means that there are many British business leaders who have a good understanding of the South African market and recognise its potential, and who are also able to identify constraints to growth and development. [President Cyril Ramaphosa and UK Prime Minister Theresa Mays President Cyril Ramaphosas remarks at SA-UK Investor Roundtable : Earlier this year, we announced an ambitious investment drive that aims to generate at least $100 billion in new investment over the next five years. This drive will culminate in an Investment Conference on 25-27 October, which will bring together investors both from within South Africa and from other parts of the world. We are looking forward to welcoming British investors to this Conference, both those who have long been invested in South Africa looking to expand their operations and those who would be investing here for the first time. We are encouraged by the fact that the UK is one of the largest foreign investors in the South African economy with more than 650 British firms present in the market. This means that there are many British business leaders who have a good understanding of the South African market and recognise its potential, and who are also able to identify constraints to growth and development. [President Cyril Ramaphosa and UK Prime Minister Theresa Mays press statements

President Uhuru Kenyatta in Washington

(i) Joint statement by Presidents Trump, Kenyatta: The Presidents are pleased to announce that their governments established direct flights between Nairobi and New York City, a move that will expand the economic and cultural ties between the two great countries. Recognizing the importance of high-quality infrastructure, President Trump and President Kenyatta welcomed the proposal by United States engineering and construction firm Bechtel Corporation to build a modern superhighway from Nairobi to Mombasa. Both sides agreed to undertake further consultations to conclude the terms of the financing agreement. This and nearly $900m in other commercial deals and engagements announced during the visit are expected to create thousands of American and Kenyan jobs, further enhancing the prosperity and economic competitiveness of both nations.

(ii) On the establishment of a US-Kenya Trade and Investment Working Group: USTR Robert Lighthizer, Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Peter Munya - our two countries will work together to explore a mutually beneficial trade and investment framework to guide our relationship moving forward, including by maximizing the remaining years of AGOA and looking ahead to the next steps

(iii) President Kenyatta at the Business Council for International Understanding: The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Kipeto Wind Energy Company signed documents to close a $232m deal in financing for the construction and operation of a 100-megawatt grid-connected wind power plant south of Nairobi. The second agreement signed was a $5m letter of commitment in financing to expand the distribution network of Twiga Foods and improve food security and agricultural wages in Kenya.

(iv) US Trade and Development Agency and Kenya: The upcoming visit will connect leading US manufacturing and technology providers to Kenyan officials that are responsible for enhancing Kenyas communication capabilities in fire, health, or weather-related emergencies and improving access to emergency responders for all Kenyan citizens.

(v) Related: USTDA announces call for African USTDA announces call for African transportation project proposals; ICT project proposals; and energy project proposals

Africa-Singapore Business Forum

(i) Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing calls on African businesses to make Singapore a base and a partner in South-east Asia and beyond. Even as some developed economies pull back from the world stage, Africa and South-east Asia can work together more closely and promote economic integration, Mr Chan told an audience of some 600 delegates, in a keynote address at the biennial Africa Singapore Business Forum. At Tuesdays forum, an avoidance of double taxation agreement was inked between Singapore and Gabon - the 13th such deal with an African country. Five other pacts were also signed at the event, which was held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and organised by government agency Enterprise Singapore. The agencys Singapore Cooperation Enterprise arm and the Mozambique Investment and Export Promotion Agency have agreed to work on exchanging consultancy, advisory and training services for urban master plans and special economic and industrial zones, while the Singapore Manufacturing Federation and Egyptian Businessmen Association will work to match companies in each country with their counterparts. Enterprise Singapore said it has successfully facilitated close to 50 projects for Singapore companies in Africa in the last two years, 80% of which were undertaken by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Over 60 Singapore companies are present in Africa, operating across more than 40 African countries and multiple industries. [Decoding development: Insights from Singapores Economic Development Board]

(ii) Enterprise Singapore supports companies in Africas Digital Economy: In the last year, Enterprise Singapore has helped more than 10 Singapore companies to break into Africas digital technology space including e-Government services, e-commerce platforms and cross border payments. According to Singstat, foreign direct investment from Africa into Singapore amounted to S$27.4bn in 2016. In 2017, trade between Singapore and Africa amounted to S$9.78bn according to data from Enterprise Singapore, while Singapore investment into Africa reached S$18.5bn in 2016, making the republic its 7th largest trading partner.

(iii) Singapore and Africa  partners for Smart Cities: theme of the Third Singapore-Sub-Saharan Africa High-Level Ministerial Exchange. Remarks by MFA, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on Singapore Cooperation Programme and Africa: We believe that no single country, let alone a tiny city-state, has a monopoly on the answers to the challenges we face. We also do not believe that there is a single universal model of development that is applicable to all. All of us have our own unique history, geography, societies, and our own unique set of challenges. We believe that by coming together, on occasions like this, we can exchange ideas and perspectives, synthesise them and come up with something that works in our own unique national circumstances. For this reason, we have sought to share our own development journey through the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) over many decades. In fact, since 1992, over 120,000 officials from 170 countries, including 9,000 from Africa, have attended our SCP courses.

(iv) Related: Inaugural Session of the 3rd Indian Ocean Conference. Let me share a couple of principles which shape Singapores views of the Indian Ocean, which are drawn from our experience at the tip of the Straits of Malacca. The first thing which we in Singapore believe  and I think I can speak on behalf of ASEAN  is that we need an open and inclusive regional architecture. The key words here are open and inclusive. This brings me to my second point today. ASEAN has always sought a regional architecture that articulates a complete, coherent, and consistent economic strategy. In other words, trade is strategy. We must look for every opportunity to facilitate trade and mutual investment, enhance connectivity, and invest in infrastructure. The global consensus for free trade and economic integration is fraying.

My third point is a rules-based world order. This again comes from the perspective of a small, tiny, city state. By definition, we cannot believe that might is right. We have to believe in a rules-based world order with multilateral institutions setting multilateral rules and having access to peaceful resolution of disputes. In the maritime field, you will understand why, therefore, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is such a sacred document for Singapore. It keeps the sea lanes free, open, peaceful, and allows small states like Singapore as well as Sri Lanka to have an equal say even when we are dealing with much bigger political and economic entities.

In other news

Rwanda Development Board Annual Report 2017: selected highlights (pdf)

Total exports increased by 36% compared with 2016, almost reaching$2bn as merchandise exports grew by 58%; In 2017, the main export destination regions for Rwandan goods were the Middle East, Africa (without close neighbours) and Europe while major country destinations were UAE, Kenya & Switzerland; RDB supported promising exporters as well as SMEs - yielding a 43% export increase for 8 leading manufacturing and agro-processing companies; Service exports grew by 20% as tourism exports continued on a growth trajectory increasing by another 12% from 2016-2017; As the chief negotiator for the Government of Rwanda, RDB closed 8 strategic deals in 2017, resulting in the registration of $588m new investments. [Rwandas Greens pledge to push for import-export bank]

International tourism arrivals hit record high in 2017 (UNWTO)

The latest edition of its Tourism Highlights, published on Monday, shows international arrivals reached 1.323 million last year. The figure represents an 84 million increase over 2016, and a new record, with the sector also recording uninterrupted growth in arrivals for eight consecutive years. Europe and Africa led the regions with increases in arrivals, with growth of eight per cent and nine per cent, respectively. WTO added that tourism is the worlds third largest export category, earning $1.3 trillion in receipts in 2017: an increase of five per cent. Meanwhile, total exports from international tourism stood at $1.6 trillion, or an average of $4 billion a day: that is, seven per cent of the worlds exports. Extract: Africa regional results (pdf):

International tourist arrivals in Africa are estimated to have increase by 9% and receipts at the same level (+8%). Results were driven by the continued recovery in North Africa and the solid growth in most destinations that reported data. Tunisia continued to rebound strongly in 2017 with a 23% growth in arrivals, while Morocco also enjoyed better results after weaker demand in the previous year. Growing demand from European source markets and a more stable environment contributed to the subregions positive results. In Sub-Saharan Africa, strong performance continued in large destinations Kenya, Cote dIvoire, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. The subregions top destination South Africa reported slower growth in arrivals though a strong increase in receipts. Island destinations Seychelles, Cabo Verde and Reunion; all reported double-digit growth in arrivals, benefiting from increased air connectivity. [AfDB: Africa Tourism Monitor 2018]

South Asias transport corridors can become engines of growth (World Bank)

The report The web of transport corridors in South Asia (pdf)  jointly produced with the ADB, DFID and JICA  argues that the many transport corridors proposed across Asia would cost trillions of dollars to implement, far exceeding the financing resources available. Hence, countries need to prioritize the most promising corridors that will deliver transformative impacts on economies and people  or, in the terms of the title of the report, will offer wider economic benefits. And while engineering designs and geopolitical considerations are important factors in the decision, sound economic analysis is key to designing truly successful corridors, the report notes.Missouri just became the first (and hopefully last) state in the country to ban the word "meat" on veggie products. Even using the term "plant-based meats" can land you in jail for a year.

Guess which industry pushed this bill through. Go ahead, guess.

 Anan Kaewkhammul/ShutterstockIt's the beef industry (shocker). The Missouri Cattlemens Association, to be specific.

This isn't just happening in Missouri. The American beef industry has been trying to get the word "meat" banned from veggie products for years, and it's trying to make this a country-wide rule.

"Our goal is to head off the problem before it becomes a larger issue," Lia Biondo, the U.S. Cattlemen's Association policy and outreach director, told CNBC a few months ago.

"While at this time alternative protein sources are not a direct threat to the beef industry, we do see improper labeling of these products as misleading," added Biondo, not sounding defensive at all. Because that's what people who don't feel threatened do, right? They go around telling everyone that they don't feel threatened.

In all seriousness, the beef industry probably should be scared. Americans ate 20 percent less beef in 2014 than they did in 2005. Veggie meat substitutes, by contrast, are a growing industry. And who knows what'll happen when lab-based meats start making it into grocery stores.

Other companies that make animal products are also getting scared. A few years ago, the egg industry tried to sue a vegan mayonnaise company for calling itself "mayonnaise" despite having no eggs. This proved just a tad too convoluted though, and it didn't go through.

Despite the Missouri bill's success, I'm not sure it'll send the message the beef industry wants. I've never heard of a shopper not being able to distinguish between Tofurky and turkey. The Missouri government isn't protecting the people of Missouri; it's just calling them stupid. And in my experience, people don't like being called stupid.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Mumbai, August 29

AirAsia India on Wednesday announced the induction of 19th aircraft in its fleet and said it would add two new routes in its flight network from October.

With the induction of the latest Airbus A320, the Tata Sons-AirAsia group joint venture airline is now just one plane short of the mandatory 20 aircraft for starting international operations by a domestic carrier.

The 19th aircraft will be based at AirAsias Kolkata hub and will be deployed for operating daily flights on Hyderabad-Kolkata and Hyderabad-Indore routes, which are being launched from October 1, the airline said in a statement.

The bookings for new routes are open from today.

The airline is focused on expanding its presence in tierII/III cities, providing affordable airfares and improved services for flyers, the budget carrier said.

The new aircraft will also help the airline enhance the frequency of flights between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, it said, adding in addition, guests can travel from Indore to Kolkata through Hyderabad as well.

The Bengaluru-based airline currently flies to 21 destinations, from its three hubs  Bengaluru, New Delhi and Kolkata - covering Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Indore, Surat, Amritsar and Chennai. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

London, August 29

A gurdwara in the British city of Leith has been severely damaged in a suspected arson attack with the police treating the suspicious act as a hate crime, according to a media report.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sahib in Leith city, Scotland, was set on fire in what was believed to be a deliberate act at around 5 am on Tuesday, the BBC reported.

No-one was injured in the incident but the building was severely damaged. Police in Edinburgh are investigating the suspected arson attack as a hate crime.

It is believed that whoever was responsible deliberately targeted the temple and police said they were treating the incident at the temple in Leith as suspicious, the report said.

A post on the temples official Facebook page said: We regret to inform you that Guru Nanak Gurdwara suffered an arson attack this morning at 5 am.

Someone tried to burn down the front door. Theres a lot of internal smoke damage, and access to Gurdwara Sahib has been denied by police until smoke clears and it is safe to enter, the post read.

Detective Inspector Clark Martin of Police Scotland said: Fortunately, the fire was extinguished relatively quickly and no-one was injured, but nevertheless we are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness.

A committee member at the temple said, The Gurdwara Sahib enjoys a good relationship with the local community here and Im quite surprised at this attack.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish governments justice secretary, said he was saddened at the news that a Sikh temple in Edinburgh was petrol-bombed.

However, a spokesperson for Police Scotland insisted the exact cause of the blaze was still under investigation and refused to confirm that it was the result of a petrol bombing, the report said. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Jammu, August 29

The Border Security Force (BSF) troops foiled an exfiltration bid and arrested three Bangladeshi nationals, including two teenagers, along International Border (IB) in Jammu district, police said on Wednesday.

BSF troops guarding IB in RS Pura sector observed some movement of the people on Tuesday and later arrested three people, who turned out to be Bangaldeshi nationals, police officials said here.

They were trying to exfiltrate to the Pakistan side. The BSF handed them over to the police, which registered a case and grilled the foreigners, the officials said.

A mobile phone, 2 SIM cards and over Rs 600 in Bangladeshi currency were recovered from their possession. They have been identified as Abdul Kareem (20), Mohmmad Ali (18) and Mohmmad Jahangir (18).

As per reports, they had taken a train to reach Jammu and from there they headed to the border to cross over to Pakistan under the guidance of a guide.

The trio have been sent to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) to carry out a thorough investigation about the purpose, police added. PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

The J&K Government on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court seeking adjournment of the August 31 hearing on the petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A of the Constitution, citing upcoming local elections in the state.

In the letter, which was circulated on Wednesday by J&Ks Standing Counsel M Shoeb Alam before the Registrar, Supreme Court of India, adjournment has been sought on account of the ongoing preparations for the upcoming panchayat and municipal elections in the state.

The Tribune had already reported on August 28 that the change of Governor notwithstanding, the state government would press for the deferment of the hearing into the petitions citing the forthcoming panchayat elections.

The undersigned will be seeking an adjournment in the aforementioned matter on August 31, 2018, on account of the ongoing preparations for the upcoming panchayat and municipal elections in the state. This letter may kindly be circulated to the honourable judges so as to avoid any inconvenience to them in reading their briefs, the letter said.

On August 3, when NN Vohra headed the state administration as the Governor, a similar letter was addressed to the Registrar by the Standing Counsel seeking an adjournment in the five petitions that were scheduled to be heard on August 6 on similar grounds.

Article 35 A of the Constitution, which provides protection to the hereditary state subject law, gives the J&K Legislature the power to decide who are permanent residents of the state.

However, the petitions filed in the top court challenge Article 35A, contending that the provision was illegally added because it was never proposed before Parliament.

The writ petitions challenging Article 35A were adjudicated by the Supreme Court in Purandal Lakhanpal versus President of India and others in 1962 and Sampat Prakash versus the State of Jammu and Kashmir and others in 1969. The contentions were rejected in both cases.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Anantnag, August 29

Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Kachroo, one of the longest surviving militants and divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Anantnag, 45 km from Srinagar, on Wednesday. His aide Umar Rashid Ganaie was shot dead too. The gunfight on the outskirts of Anantnag, lasted four hours.

The operation was launched at about 2 am following inputs on the presence of militants in the area, a senior police official said.  The militants fired from their hideout at about 6 am. Local sources said the house where the militants were holed up was reduced to a rubble.

Minutes after the encounter, the authorities snapped mobile/internet services in Anantnag and Kulgam. Also, train services on the Banihal-Srinagar track were suspended for a day. Restrictions were imposed in most parts of Anantnag town and its periphery. Despite that clashes broke out in Qaimoh and Khodweni areas of Kulgam, district the area to which the slain militants belonged. Several civilians were hurt.

Kachroo joined the Hizb in 2007. He recruited local youths and engineered attacks on security installations and civilians. His death is a huge success for the forces and will help restore normalcy in the state, a police official said. Several militants are reported to have attended Kachroos funeral.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Senior Congress leader and former Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Karan Singh on Wednesday demanded that the Himalayan state should observe a gazetted holiday every year on the birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh.

In a letter to newly appointed Governor Satya Pal Malik, Singh contended: For many years there has been a strong demand from the people of Jammu that if Sheikh Abdullahs birthday is a gazetted holiday in the state, the birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh, who ruled the state for 22 years and signed the Instrument of Accession to India, which falls on September 23, should also be declared a gazetted holiday.

Noting that the demand has been growing over the past three or four years, Singh insisted that it would be an important gesture of goodwill if under Governors Rule, Maharaja Hari Singhs birthday is also declared a gazetted holiday in the state.

In the letter while congratulating Malik for being appointed Governor, Singh said, I am well aware of the delicate and complex nature of the problems facing the state, and wish you well in your assignment.

He said that soon he would write to Malik on several other issues confronting the state.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

M Aamir Khan

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president GA Mir on Wednesday said the government should hold Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections only after giving security assurance to political parties and individual candidates.

You are talking about bringing 22,000 security personnel for security.that is one aspect but they (government) have to give all political parties an assurance. Once an assurance is given, we will take part. But if they say nothing about security scenario, it will be difficult for individual leaders to come forwardyou assess the situation and then give us assurance, Mir told reporters.

He made the comments when asked if the Congress was ready for the ULB and Panchayat elections that are expected to be held in September-October and October-December, respectively.

However, Mir was quick to add that the Panchayat elections would be held on non-party basis and that the Congress was not running away from the polls. We believe in democracy and we dont believe in running away from pollsand political parties are not involved in Panchayat elections. But the situation in J&K for the past 3-4 yearsand situation post-2016 (unrest) is still not under control. They (previous PDP-BJP coalition) announced elections unilaterally last year in August-September but then deferred the same(then) CM called for an all-party meeting after finding the ground situation was not conducive, he said.

Mir also urged Governor SP Malik to consult the political parties in this regard.

On the Article 35-A row, the JKPCC president said the Congress stand on the issue was always clear even as the BJP was trying to gain political mileage out of the controversy.

Our position is clearArticle 35 A is an important ingredient of Article 370. Our leaders have termed Article 370 only and strongest bridge between the Centre and the State. Therefore, the Congress does not need to present another stand. History is witness that in 1960s the Supreme Court observed that the relation between the Centre and the State will end if the Act is tampered with. We have faith in the Supreme Courtbut as the BJP has no achievement to list, it is raking up the issue, he said.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.

Sources say one of the slain militants was Divisional Commander of Hizb, Altaf Kachru. He was active for the past 15 years and was an A++ category militant.

Giving details, a spokesman of the police said that based on a specific intelligence, Jammu and Kashmir Police along with other security forces launched a search operation at Muniward village of Khanabal area in the district at the crack of the dawn.

During the searches, terrorists fired on the search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter and in the ensuing encounter two terrorists were eliminated. The killed terrorists were identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Ataf Kachru alias Moin of Hawoora Mishipora and Omar Rashid Wani of Khudwani Kulgam, the spokesman said.

He said Dar, who also hails from Kulgam in South Kashmir, was currently operating as a one of the most important terrorist commanders of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and had a long history of criminal records since 2007.

It was a specific operation carried out swiftly by the security forces. In the action both terrorists, who were involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen, were eliminated, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said here.

Considered as a long-time surviving terrorist in the area, Dar was involved in series of terror incidents in the area, which included attacks on security forces and killings of civilians and policemen in South Kashmir.

One of the police officials, who was involved in the operation, described him as a chief architect of attacks on policemen.

The police spokesman also said that Dar along with his associate Yasin Itoo played a major role in instigating people during 2016 unrest which was sparked after the death of Hizbul Mujahideens poster boy Burhan Wani.

The other militant killed in the encounter was Omar Rashid Wani, who had become active since last year.

The spokesman said he was involved in many civilian atrocities and attacks on security establishments.

Wani was also involved in killing of policemen at Anantnag and recently he had carried out an attack on the CRPF in Srinagar and managed to give a slip during the recent Batmaloo encounter site.

The spokesman said though the two were part of the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group, they managed to keep close coordination with other outfit for unleashing terror. With PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Two pro-Khalistan supporters, Sukhwinder Singh and Gurdeep Singh, have been charged for the attack on DSGMC chief and Akali leader Manjit Singh GK by Californias Sutter County Sheriffs office.

The two men, residents of California, have been closely working with the Referendum 2020 campaign seeking a separate Khalistan.

California police have brought charges of offence of battery against the two for reportedly attacking GK during his visit to the Yuba City gurdwara on August 25.

The next day, GK and his delegation, which was visiting the US to spread the message of Sikhism to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, were also attacked and stopped from entering a gurdwara in San Jose by pro-Khalistan campaigners.

However, Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal, who led a delegation on Monday to meet with US Ambassador Kenneth Juster to seek action against perpetrators of the attacks , blamed Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party for inciting violence against the delegation led by GK.

He was also scheduled to interact with SAD workers at the San Jose gurdwara.

Steering away from the internal political bickering, Ambassador Juster later tweeted, We assured Minister Badal that incidents of violence in the United States are taken seriously and fully investigated by local law enforcement authorities.

Sukhwinder Singh and Gurdeep Singh, residents of California, have been charged with the offence of battery under Section 242 of Californias Penal Code involving any wilful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.

Under Californias law, battery is punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000) or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or both.

The date for first hearing has been set for October 15 before Sutter County Superior Court, Yuba City, in California.

However, the Sikhs for Justice, a pro-Khalistan outfit, has cried foul and said it will defend the two accused in a court of law.

In a statement issued, SFJ legal attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who operates out of New York, said, All evidence and videos show that GKs henchman Puneet Chandok instigated the violence against the referendum campaigners who were exercising their right of protest protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Earlier on Monday, in a representation to Kirstjen M. Nielsen, Secretary Department of Homeland Security, SFJ urged that visa of GK, head of Delhi wing of SAD-Badal, should be revoked for engaging in political propaganda on behalf of a foreign principal without registering as required under Foreign Agents Registration Act (22 USC Section 611(C)).rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi/Pune, August 29

The Maharashtra Police's move to arrest five well-known activists was punctured on Wednesday when the Supreme Court questioned the lapse of time between January violences in Bhima Koregaon and the arrests.

The five peoplepoet and intellectual Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakhawho were arrested after the pan India crackdown on Tuesday will not be sent to jail but be under house arrest until September 6, the court ruled.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves it will burst," a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said.

Dealing a blow to the Maharashtra Police, the apex court questioned it for arresting the activists nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper caste Marathas in Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune following the Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

An FIR at a Pune Police station blamed provocative speeches made at the Elgar Parishad triggering the violence.

The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra Government and the state police on the plea by five leading intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, against the arrests in connection with the case.

"The Supreme Court order has passed an order that covers all who were arrested," said lawyer Vrinda Grover after the ruling.

She added that they would be taken back to their homes.

While trade unionist and lawyer Bharadwaj is confined to her home in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Navlakha to his Delhi residence, Telugu poet Rao and activists Gonsalves and Ferreira were taken to Pune late last night.

They were arrested for their suspected links to Maoists following near simultaneous searches at Rao's home in Hyderabad, Gonzalves' and Ferreira's houses in Mumbai, Faridabad and Delhi, officials said.

They were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed, along with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for their "alleged naxal activities", an official said, without elaborating.

HC questions arrest

Also on Wednesday, the Delhi High Court questioned the legality of the Maharashtra Police's decision to arrest rights activist Gautam Navlakha and the transit remand order to take him to a Pune court in connection with a case relating to the Bhima-Koregaon violence of last year.

However, after the Supreme Court directed that Navlakha and four other activists would be kept under house arrest till September 6, the high court said it would pass an direction only after going through the top court's order on Thursday.

"Every minute of a person put into custody is a matter of concern," a high court bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel observed, while questioning the Maharashtra Police for not providing all documents, translated from Marathi, to Navlakha, who was arrested for alleged unlawful activities.

The high court said it "will examine the legality" of the state police's action to arrest Navlakha and the transit remand order passed by a magisterial court here.

But the proceedings took a turn when the Bench was in the middle of dictating the order and was informed by the Maharashtra Police counsel that the Supreme Court has stayed the transit remand orders of all the five arrested activists, including Navlakha, and directed that all of them would be kept under house arrest till September 6.

The high court posted the matter for Thursday afternoon saying it will pass a direction only after going through the Supreme Court order.

Navlakha's counsel maintained that they have not approached the apex court and the order would not be applicable on him.

During over one-and-a half-hour long hearing, the high court was informed by advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, that despite the court order, they hadnt been provided with complete translated documents by the Maharashtra Police.

The Bench questioned the legality of the transit order, saying it was apparent that the magistrate could not have applied its mind.

"Without translated documents, how could the magisterial court have applied its mind to issue transit remand order, it said, adding: "The practical issue is, if the court could not understand what is there in the documents, how could the remand order be passed.

When Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, representing the Maharashtra Police, sought some time to translate the required Marathi documents, the court asked: "When will you be able to give complete translation of the documents? Because the question is of personal liberty of a person".

During the proceedings, the bench said "even if all other arrests in the matter are valid, it would not lend validity to this (Navlakhas) arrest".

NHRC issues notices

The National Human Rights Commission also stepped into the controversy, saying "it appears" standard operating procedure was not properly followed and this may amount to a violation of the human rights of those arrested.

It issued notices to the Maharashtra Government and the state's police chief and asked for a 'factual report' within four weeks.

As the courts gave their ruling in Delhi, police in Pune said it had "evidence" suggesting a plan to target the "highest political functionaries".

Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists. The Elgar Parishad, he told reporters, was funded by the Maoists.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said all procedures were followed before conducting the raids against the activists.

"It is due to their links with naxal movements that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action," he said.

The others whose premises were reportedly searched were Father Stan Swamy, Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde.

"The entire case is a political ploy against political dissent by this vindictive and cowardly government," Navlakha said in a statement issued by civil rights group People's Union for Democratic Rights of which he is a part.

Navlakha's transit remand was secured from the Saket district court to take him to Pune. The order, however, was stayed by the high court.

It was a night of dramatic developments for those following Bharadwaj's case. The chief judicial magistrate of Faridabad had granted Bharadwaj's transit remand to the Maharashtra police. However, it had to reverse its order in the early hours of Wednesday in keeping with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had stayed her transit remand for three days.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit historyit witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on January 1, 1818, by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Tuesday's events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in June. PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

Ravi S.Singh

Tribune News Serive

New Delhi, August 29

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Chief Secretary of the Maharashtra and the state DGP asking for report within four weeks in connection with the arrest of five activists.

The activists were arrested by Maharashtra Police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence which occurred in Pune in the beginning of this year.

Lawyer activist Sudha Bhardwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Varavara Rao had been arrested by the police yesterday.

In a communiqu, the Commission said the "police has apparently not properly followed the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests, which may amount of the violation of human rights" of the activists.

It may be noted that the Delhi High Court has stayed the transit remand for Navlakha observing that police have not been able to satisfactorily explain his offence.

The decision on a transit remand for Sudha Bhardwaj was also pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Faridabad. The activist has told the court that she had nothing to do with the incident for which she had been arrested. According to her, the FIR did not even name her and she was being harassed and arrested only because of her ideology.

The communiqu also said that in the case of Navlakha, reportedly, the court has questioned how Pune Police managed to get a transit remand from a Delhi court without any local witness. The High Court has also directed translation of the police document into English which are in vernacular language.

"Earlier it had received a complaint from an NGO from Geneva regarding illegal arrest of five human rights defenders namely Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut by Maharashtra Police in the month of June, 2018," the Commission observed.

In this matter also the Commission had issued a notice to the DGP Maharashtra calling for a report in the matter.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Naveen Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 29

TDP founder NTR's son and actor-politician N Harikrishna died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district early on Wednesday, doctors said. He was 61.

Harikrishna sustained critical head injuries when the car in which he was travelling along with two others overturned while overtaking another vehicle near Anneparthi. The vehicle hit the divider and collided with another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

He was shifted to Kamineni Hospital at Narketpally, where he succumbed.

Harikrishna, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, was on his way to Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a marriage.

He was a member of the TDP politburo and brother-in-law of TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

He is survived by two wives Lakshmi and Shalini, two sons Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram and daughter Suhasini.

His eldest son Janki Ram was also killed in road accident in 2014 in the same district.

With IANS inputsmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Panaji, August 29

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai, would fly to the US this evening for further medical treatment as he has developed some complications, state Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.

Parrikar, 62, will be flying to the US at 5 pm, Sawant told reporters here.

Some complications have developed due to which Parrikar is going to the US for treatment. His condition is stable and we need not worry, he said.

Sawant said the chief minister is expected to be back in Goa within a week.

The chief minister underwent treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June. He went there again for a follow-up earlier this month.

He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health checkup on August 23, a day after he returned from the US, and was scheduled to return to Goa today.

A senior official in the Chief Ministers Office said this morning that Parrikar will leave for the US from Mumbai in a flight later today.

The official charge of the post of chief minister will remain with him (Parrikar). There is no need to hand over the charge to anyone, he said.

BJPs Goa spokesman Siddharth Kuncolienkar said Parrikar developed some indigestion problem while travelling and that is why he is going to the US.

He will go to the US, consult doctors and will return soon. I believe he will be there for a short stay, he said.

Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik said BJP Goa unit chief Vinay Tendulkar will meet Parrikar at the Mumbai-based hospital to get some clarity on who would be holding the charge of the state in his absence.

It is the chief ministers prerogative and there is no clarity on who would hold the charge in his absence. Vinay Tendulkar will be going to Mumbai to meet Parrikar and only after that we will get clarity on it, Naik said.

He said Parrikars condition is stable and he is flying to the US for medical advice.

Parrikar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 7 and sought his intervention to address the current crisis in the states mining sector. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, August 29

The Prime Ministers Office received over 12,500 RTI applications during 2016-17, highest since 2012, according to an official data.

There has also been an increase in number of appeals filed by citizens, aggrieved over initial response to their applications from the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), it said.

A total of 12,787 applications were filed with the PMO in 2016-17 as against 11,138 in 2015-16 and 12,674 during 2014-15. As many as 7,077 such queries were raised in 2013-14 and 5,828 during 2012-13, the PMO said in response to the RTI query filed by this PTI correspondent.

The PMO was asked to provide details of RTI applications and appeals received by it and also those rejected by it between 2013 and 2018.

A total of 1,306 RTI applications were rejected during 2016-17 as against 2,234 and 2,795 in 2015-16 and 2014-15 respectively. As many as 1,450 such queries were rejected in 2013-14 and 1,130 in 2012-13, according to the data.

It is stated that the rejection of applications is done as per provisions prescribed in the Right to Information Act, the PMO said.

The RTI Act allows Indian citizens to seek governance-related information from government departments in a time-bound manner. The Act has provisions to raise appeal in case the applicant is not satisfied with the response provided by the government department concerned.

As many as 1,592 appeals were received by the PMO during 2016-17, 1,478 in 2015-16, 1,306 during 2014-15, 701 in 2013-14 and 632 in 2012-13. Of these, 1,098 appeals were rejected in 2016-17, 1,155 in 2015-16, 1,035 during 2014-15, 506 and 493 in 2013-14 and 2012-13 respectively, the PMO said.

It is stated that appeals filed with this office under the RTI Act are decided on merit of each individual case, it said.

The PMO, however, refused to share total number of RTI applications and appeals pending disposal, saying the compilation of information will disproportionately divert the public resources. PTIvermaajay1968@gmail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad Ajay Bisaria on Wednesday visited Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistans Narowal, bordering Gurdaspur in Punjab.

This comes just days after Punjab minister Navjot Sidhu visited Pakistan to attend the oath ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sidhu had later mentioned that Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa suggested that they were considering opening up the Kartarpur corridor to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year.

The 4-km corridor, if opened, would connect Kartarpur Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years, to Dera Baba Nanak Dev in Gurdaspur on the Indian side.

According to sources in Pakistan, the envoy during his visit looked towards the Indian border visible from the gurdwara rooftop, interacted with caretakers and explored the possibility of the corridor. We hope to bring this longstanding proposal to fruition with focused follow up and coordination with the Pakistan side. This corridor will have a special appeal and significance for devotees as we celebrate 550 years of Guru Nanak Devs birth next year, Bisaria told The Tribune.

The proposal of the corridor first came up during the Musharraf era, but was never actively followed up.

Sikh pilgrims from India visiting Pakistan have been provided access to Kartarpur Sahib over the years through Wagah and Lahore.

However, a direct corridor from Punjab would be very different. Kartarpur Sahib was the resting place for Guru Nanak Dev for several years. It will be an important gesture from Pakistan for the pilgrims if it happens. It will be significant for devotees, said Sarat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan.

There is no clarity yet on the modalities and logistics under discussion and if the corridor could be opened for a few days next year or for the long term.

Meanwhile, Bisaria who was stopped by the Pakistan authorities from entering gurdwaras, including Nankana Sahib, during recent visits, was accorded a warm welcome at Kartarpur. However, he was not presented a robe of honour (siropa), as per sources.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad Ajay Bisaria on Wednesday paid a visit to Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara at Narowal in Pakistan bordering Gurdaspur in Punjab.

The visit comes just days after Punjab Minister Navjot Sidhu attended the oath-taking ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan Prime Minister. Later in a media interaction, Sidhu had mentioned that Pakistan Army chief Qamar Bajwa suggested that the possibility of opening up the Kartarpur corridor to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year is under consideration. The nearly 4km corridor if open would connect Kartarpur Sahib -- where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life -- to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur on the Indian side.

According to sources in Pakistan, the envoy during his visit looked towards the Indian border visible from the Gurdwara rooftop, interacted with the caretakers and also explored the possibility of the corridor."We hope to bring this longstanding proposal to fruition with focused follow-up and coordination with the Pakistan side. This corridor will have a special appeal and significance for devotees as we celebrate 550 years of Guru Nanak Ji's birth next year," said envoy Ajay Bisaria speaking exclusively to The Tribune.

The proposal of the corridor first came up during the Musharraf era sometime in 2000 but was never actively followed up after sometime. Sikh pilgrims from India visiting Pakistan have been provided access to Kartarpur Sahib over the years through Wagah and Lahore. However, a direct corridor from Punjab would be very different. "Kartarpur Sahib was the resting place for Guru Nanak Dev for several years. It will be an important gesture from Pakistan for the pilgrims if it happens. It will be significant for many devotees," Sarat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan told The Tribune.

There is no clarity yet on the modalities and logistics under discussion and if the corridor could be opened for a few days only next year or for the long term.

Meanwhile, Bisaria who was stopped by Pakistani authorities from entering gurdwaras, including Nankana Sahib during recent visits, was accorded a warm welcome at Kartarpur . However, he was not presented a robe of honour (siropa), as per sources.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Lima, August 29

Brazil said it was sending armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border area, while Peru declared a health emergency, as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated on Tuesday.

In Brazil, where residents rioted and attacked Venezuelan immigrants in a border town earlier this month, President Michel Temer signed a decree to deploy the armed forces to the border state of Roraima. He said the move was aimed at keeping order and ensuring the safety of immigrants.

Peru, meanwhile, declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing imminent danger to health and sanitation. The decree, published in the governments official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a crisis moment comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week.

Temer blamed the socialist Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro for the migration crisis.

The problem of Venezuela is no longer one of internal politics. It is a threat to the harmony of the whole continent, Temer said in a televised address.

Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil met in Colombian capital Bogota for a summit to discuss how to cope with the influx.

There are close to 1 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and more than 400,000 in Peru, the countries said in a joint statement after the meeting on Tuesday. Just 178,000 of those in Peru have legal permission to stay or are being processed.

In an attempt to track arrivals and distribute aid, Colombia and Peru said they would share information about migrants in a database.

Maduro has warned migrants they face difficult conditions abroad and invited them to return home. On Tuesday, Venezuela said it had repatriated 89 citizens who had migrated to Peru but sought to return after suffering cruel treatment. They listened to the siren call from abroad ... and all they found in Lima was racism, disdain, and persecution, Maduro told a news conference.

He said Venezuelans should stop leaving the country to clean toilets and return to the country of opportunity. Oscar Perez, an activist who works with Venezuelan migrants in Peru, said the repatriation was a publicity stunt by the Venezuelan government.

An official at Perus Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the repatriation, saying the country was focused on regional solutions to address the situation.

This month, Peru and Ecuador began requiring passports instead of national ID cards from Venezuelan migrants. Peru has also tightened deadlines for Venezuelans to sign up for a temporary residency card that lets them work in the country legally.

On Saturday, the first day Peru imposed its passport rule, the number of Venezuelan migrants entering the country fell by more than half to 1,630, according to Perus immigration agency.

But hundreds more without passports entered the country by seeking asylum.

Foreign ministers from Ecuador and Colombia, and possibly Peru and Brazil, will meet to discuss Venezuelan migration in Ecuador next week, said Christian Kruger, the head of Colombias migration agency. Reuterspardeepdhull@gmail.com

Athens, August 29

A passenger ferry with 1,016 people onboard returned safely to the port of Piraeus in the early hours on Wednesday after it reported a fire while en route to Crete, the Greek coast guard said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, a coast guard official told Reuters.

The Eleftherios Venizelos, carrying 875 passengers and 141 crew, was sailing off the island of Hydra when it notified the coast guard around midnight (2100 GMT) that a car parking compartment had caught fire.

It was escorted back to Pireaus after authorities scrambled air and sea assets to the area.

It was a huge operation and everything went to plan, said Nikos Lagdianos, spokesman for the coast guard.

At Pireaus a Reuters witness saw passengers in lifejackets walking down a sideway stair, while smoke billowed out of the ship. Firefighters were deployed at the pier.

People posted pictures on social media of individuals crowded on decks wearing red life jackets.

It was difficult to breathe from the smoke, one passenger identified only by her first name, Natassa, told Skai TV.

Another reported hearing a big noise before passengers were advised to wear lifejackets and head to assembly areas.

Disembarkation of all passengers was completed around 0700 am (0400 GMT).

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but authorities were investigating the possibility it may have started from a vehicle. There were more than 200 vehicles, including trucks, on the vessel. ReutersROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Islamabad, August 29

The Interpol has rejected Pakistans request to arrest General Pervez Musharraf as it does not want to interfere in cases of political nature, the government on Wednesday informed a special court hearing the high treason case against the former military dictator who is now in Dubai.

The governments reply came as the tribunal resumed hearing in the treason case against the former President for suspending the Constitution in 2007 by imposing Emergency. Gen (retd) Musharraf, 75, was indicted in the case in March, 2014, after he appeared in the court and rejected all charges.

Interior Secretary Yousuf Naseem Khokhar in his reply on efforts to bring Musharraf back to the country informed the court that a letter was written to Interpol to issue a Red Warrant. But it returned the letter by refusing to interfere in cases of political nature.

Khokhar appeared before a two-judge Bench headed by Lahore High Court Chief Justice Justice Yawar Ali awhich heard the high treason case against Musharraf.

The government had approached Interpol to bring back Musharraf, however, they rejected the request, the Interior Secretary said. Interpol officials had said that the high treason case does fall under their legal ambit, he was quoted as saying. To this, the court asked the Interior Secretary to submit Interpols reply to the court.  PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Lahore, August 29

An Islamist party in Pakistan called for the expulsion of the Dutch ambassador on Wednesday as it launched a protest against a far-right Dutch politicians plan for a cartoon competition featuring caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.

Several thousand activists gathered in the eastern city of Lahore for the demonstration organised by Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a party that amassed the fifth largest number of votes in a general election last month having campaigned as a defender of the laws and punishments for crimes of blasphemy.

Party leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi set out from Lahores historic centre at the head of a protest he aims to take through the towns of Punjab province to the capital Islamabad, where protesters will stage a sit-in to pressure Pakistans new Prime Minister Imran Khan to cut diplomatic ties with the Netherlands.

The Dutch ambassador should be immediately deported, Labbaik spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi said. We will only stop when the government meets this demand.

Pakistan has already complained to the Dutch government about far-right parliamentarian Geert Wilders plans for a cartoon contest that will upset and provoke Muslims. Wilders intends to display the cartoons on the walls of his political partys room in Parliament. He says hes had hundreds of entries. The Foreign Office called the charge daffaires of the Netherlands and issued him a Demarche to record a protest, the PMO said on Wednesday.

The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said last week that the cartoon competition was not something I would do and his government was not associated with it. Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he planned to take up the issue with the UN and several world leaders.  Reuterspardeepdhull@gmail.com

Milwaukee, August 29

US President Donald Trump said on Twitter early on Wednesday China hacked the emails of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but did not offer any evidence or further information.

Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone! he tweeted a little after midnight on Wednesday.

US intelligence officials have said Russia orchestrated the hacking of Democratic officials to meddle with the 2016 presidential election.

A US federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in July on charges of hacking the computer networks of Clinton and the Democratic Party.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russias role in the 2016 election and whether the campaign of Republican candidate Trump colluded with Moscow. Russia denies meddling in the elections, while Trump has denied any collusion.

Trump said in April 2017 China may have hacked the emails of Democratic officials to meddle with the 2016 presidential election. He also did not provide any evidence backing his allegation at that time. Reutersshalender@tribune.com

New York, August 28

Two Indian nationals are among 19 persons arrested by the US border patrol officials in California for entering the country illegally by boat from Mexico.

The US Border Patrol agents working in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement partners, arrested 19 persons on Monday, a press release from the US Customs and Border Protection said.

Late Sunday night, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) aircraft spotted a vessel enter US territorial waters from Mexico with multiple people on board. The AMO notified the US Coast Guard and they interdicted the panga approximately 24 km west of Point Loma, California.

A total of 19 persons were intercepted, of which two were identified as suspected smugglers. The other 17 were passengers illegally present in the US.

All 19 men were arrested and taken to a nearby border patrol station for processing. Agents determined that two of the passengers were Indian nationals, while all others were Mexican nationals, the release said. It did not give any details of the two Indian nationals.

The suspected smugglers are in the DHS custody and may face human smuggling charges.

Since 2013, the US has admitted more than half a million illegal immigrant minors and family units from Central America, most of whom are at large in the US.  PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Dhaka, August 29

A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh has been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, media reports said on Wednesday.

Subarna Akter Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private news channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla, bdnews24.com reported. She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 km from here.

Nodi, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house around 10.45 pm on Tuesday, it said. When she answered the bell, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, the police said. Some locals rushed her to hospital where she was declared brought dead. The police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, Additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said.

Meanwhile, Nodis family said they suspect her ex-husband Rajib Hossain and father-in-law Abul Hossain are behind the killing, Dhaka Tribune reported. Nodi had sued Rajib in a dowry case.  PTIOver 630 people have registered to attend the Trinidad and Tobago Investment Forum which takes place virtually tomorrow and Wednesday.

The two-day forum is a high-profile event dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade in Trinidad and Tobago and is a collaborative effort between the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) and InvesTT.Sponsored: Ministry of Planning

Climate Change and Land Degradation are two significant environmental issues facing the world today. We see many countries in the news talking about their strategies towards dealing with these, but what is our country doing?

More here" is it best for us to buy point-to-point tickets for the Amsterdam to Pairs and Paris to Germany "

Yes, buy as early as possible, that means as soon as the train company releases the tickets for your particular date. Thalys (Amsterdam to Paris) releases tickets about 120 days in advance, roughly the same for Paris to Germany.

For example, for early Dec, the cheapest fare is about 35, buying it close to the day would be around 90

Amsterdam Paris, book with

Paris - Frankfurt, book with

" buy a 10 consecutive rail pass from Deutsche Bahn or just buy a Eurail Pass? "

" saving money is my priority "

Eurail Pass NEVER ever consider that !

German railpass, only consider if you do a lot of intercity travel, e.g. Berlin to Munich, etc.

for what I can gather from your plans (regional travels), just use Regional train tickets, see

For example, from Bonn along the Rhein river, utilise the

This allows you to travel to Koblenz, Bacharach etc. along the river, for a small 24+5 for two personsYou have a good split of time (although not sure on the train between AB and Cairns) and you could actually make a nice road trip over three nights visiting Bowen, Townsville and Magnetic Island on that leg.

I personally would drop Brisbane back to two nights (but Brisbane Festival is on so lots of Arts stuff happening in the city if that interests you) and do three days in Noosa and three days in Byron Bay (or my preference Lennox Head with just a day trip to Byron).

Also, swap your order of places around, starting in Cairns, then SEQ, then Sydney, then Melbourne.

If you can fly from Cairns to the Gold Coast, it makes sense to do Byron-Brisbane-Noosa then fly from Sunshine Coast to Sydney - this will save you a heap of back-tracking.

It is a two hour drive from Brisbane to BB and from Brisbane to Noosa Heads.

Cheers.OK, Im awake thanks to dog go wanting to chase a roo in the back yard!

In my earlier post I suggested flying from Cairns to the Gold Coast for Lennox Head/BB etc, then move on to Brisbane, then Noosa, flying out of Maroochydore Airport (Sunshine Coast) direct to Sydney or s is very doable so long as you have the time to put in to it.

Is it worth seeing both? Well, beautiful beaches exist everywhere and Noosa is one of my favourites anywhere in the world, and I adore being on/near Noosa River for cruises, water sport, afternoon views from the Yacht Club, as well as all the local walks. That said, the hinterland/Northern Rivers region inland from Lennox/Byron etc it beautiful rolling dairy country and gives you some beautiful country drives out to Nimbin and the back way through to Murwillumbah (excellent art gallery there). There is a gin distillery I am yet to do a tour of but have tasted their product and enjoyed, some farm tours, and of course the beaches - Broken Head is worth a visit and a walk, as of course is the walk out to the Lighthouse at B.B. and I love walking from Lennox Head surf club up to the headland there and back.

I think you would need to add an extra day to both Noosa and Lennox to get the most out of this - dropping a day each from both Sydney and Melbourne would be ok - five days is a good amount of time in each of those cities.

That, or drop Lennox etc and spend your time in Noosa and its River/hinterland and all there is to explore there.

Cheers.Re: Few days away from Sydney on Coast highway

1. Re: Few days away from Sydney on Coast highway

Hi,

There are hundreds of options both North and South of Sydney. However like most things in life you get what you pay for.

Within an easy drive of Sydney I would suggest Mollymook on the South Coast and Terrigal on the Central Coast.

Cheers,-:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:-

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We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.I would go with itinerary 2, S. Caribbean first, then Arenal, simply because I like to start with the farther from the airport area. Depending on the times of your flights, you might need to spend the 1st and/or last night(s) closer to the SJO airport, thus leaving you less time at the destinations.

While no one can guarantee the weather for the particular dates when you r in each of your 2 areas, you can see here that in average, Sept. has the lowest amount of rainfall on S. Caribbean: .

We used a prepaid shared shuttle from Interbus to get from Cahuita to a hotel near Arenal volcano and it took us over 6 hrs, with 2 stops, one of which was close to an HR long. So the 2 areas you are thinking about are not close. We loved the views of Arenal area, but note that even when it is not raining, the volcano itself might be hiding in the clouds, so make sure you are ok with not seeing it once. We were in Arenal area at the end of last August and spent 4 nights there. We got clear views of the volcano for one full day. It was a combination of sun, clouds, rain on and off the rest of the time. We still enjoyed our stay.

CR is not ideal destination for scuba diving anyway.

Yes, you need SJO airport for the above itinerary.

Edited: 3 years agoNew telecom laws now require that everyone show ID in order to buy a sim card--which are very affordable in VN. This means for the sim to work, someone had to sign up for them in advance which means that by the time you buy that sim card, you've already lost a few days of it.

On Aug. 5th I landed into SGN, because my trip would only be for 30 days I decided to procure a sim at the airport. 20 days later, I get a message from Vinaphone that the sim will be expiring unless I add more money. I called their customer service to discovered that the sim was registered registered in JULY! Under the new Communication law, registering a sim is the same as activating it, Even though I got to scratch for the codes and did all the usual nonsense of activating a sim on the 5th of Aug, according to Vinaphone, the sim had been technically in use since July.Hi Mary,

"Would we be able to arrive there early enough to get on the cruise around noon? Or would we have to spend the night in Hai Phong and curt an overnight cruise the next day,"

Vietjet have flights each day leaving Danang at 8.25am and arriving in Haiphong at 9.40am, so should give you enough time to get to a cruise leaving from Haiphong. Or perhaps even Cat Ba Island.

Vietnam Airlines also have a 6.30am flight, but not every day.

One other thing to consider if you fly direct to Haiphong, is that you'll have all your bags with you, as opposed to possibly leaving the excess in Hanoi while you're off doing HB and Ninh Binh.

Not sure if that could be a potential issue.

"I thought I remembered reading here that they didnt fly everyday- is that corr3ct or do they have a daily flight?"

Well, while I was on Vietjet's site, and using a random week during November, (they don't have flights up for 2019 yet, so can't check for February at the moment) they had a flight each day.

And for what's it worth, and if you can fit it in, I would be trying to find at least a couple of nights for the Mekong.

ScottDirect departure from Kyoto Station to Hiroshima Station without any transferring:

07:20 - 09:05, 08:00 - 09:56, 08:23 - 10:35

I took the 07:20 out of Kyoto and returned back to Kyoto (w/transfer at Shin-Osaka) at 21:20 (departed Hiroshima at 19:22). It helped that my hotel was less than 5 min walk from Kyoto Station.

After arriving in Hiroshima, I quickly transferred to a train bound to Miyajimaguchi and arrived on the island around 10:00A. I started the day taking pics at the Torri Gate. I just missed low tide to walk out to Gate, water was slowly coming back in. Well, technically I could have walked out, water would have been knee deep. I then walked towards the Ropeway and took shuttle to first station. Went to Shishiiwa Observatory (didn't do the hike up to Mt. Misen). I stayed there for maybe 45 mins before heading back down. Shuttle back to town was on break so walked through the park to town. Had some fries, fried oysters and grilled oysters for lunch. Took pics of deers. Left the Island around 1:30p. From Hiroshima Station I took the Maipurupu (Tourist Loop Bus) and got off at A-Bomb. Took pics and observe area. Walked through Peace Park towards the Museum. Stayed in there less than an hour (parts under renovations). Walked back towards the Dome and had Okonomiyaki at Nagataya. Took the 6:00p Loop Bus back to the Station. Did some gift shopping at the Station while waiting for my 7:22p Shinkansen back to Shin-Osaka/Kyoto. All this with a JR-Pass. In all, I was satisfied with my time spent there.

If you want to leave Kyoto at 8:00A and back in Kyoto by 7:00P, it may be difficult but doable. Just need to cut going to the Ropeway completely or just do a brief visit up there (I stayed 45 mins, so you can stay less). I also took my time eating on the island and took a lot of pics. Check the ferry departure times and keep track of time so you know when to return to the port.

Edited: 3 years agoThe 2 days would be Thursday, Oct 11 and Friday, Oct 12.

Last day to use 7-day JR-Pass will be on the Thursday for a family of 4 (2A + 8 yo boy, 11 yo girl) while mines will still be active till Sunday. Our hotel is near JR-Namba.

According to the USJ crowd calendar ( ), Thursday would be at 16 (less crowds) while Friday would be at 20 (normal crowds).

Option 1 - Waste the JR-Pass on Thursday and go to USJ for less crowds. Go to Kyoto/Arashiyama via Hankyu from Umeda using ICOCA/Suica.

Option 2 - Use JR Pass to go to Kyoto/Arashiyama via JR from Osaka Station (also use ICOCA/Suica for non-JR lines within Osaka/Kyoto) on Thursday. Go to USJ on Friday and deal with the crowds using IC.

USJ - the family of 4 isnt big on major roller coaster rides so Flying Dino & Hollywood Dream both versions are out. Main attractions they want to see/do would be Harry Potter World & Forbidden Journey and Minion area & ride and Spiderman ride. Anything else will be a plus.

Kyoto (unfortunately only 1 day in Kyoto) - head to Arashiyama early in the morning (aim to arrive before 8:00A). Bamboo Forest because the sister insists. Then leisure stroll at Park from the Bamboo Forest towards the river/Togetsukyo Bridge. The main attraction would be the Monkey Park for the kids (which should be an easy hike for them since they did the Coron Mt. Tapyas hike 2 yrs ago). After Arashiyama, it is a toss-up for now (go to Kiyomizudera and walk towards Yasaka Shrine or vice versa).

Rough Itinerary so far:

Oct 04 Thu - arrive KIX after 8P; overnight

Oct 05 Fri - early departure from Osaka to arrive Tokyo (stay in Shinjuku) by Noon; rest of day in Shinjuku area (Hedgehog, Robot R, shopping, Tokyo Govt Bldg); 1st day use JR-Pass

Oct 06 Sat - early morning to Tsukiji just to eat and browse outer market (aim to arrive by 8:00A); leave Tsukiji before 10:00A for Odaiba (got tickets to Mori Digital Art Museum); after MDAM, other parts of Odaiba like Miraikan, Gundam, malls, etc.; evening in Shibuya; I fly out this day from home

Oct 07 Sun - morning at Yoyogi Park and/or Meiji Shrine; Harajuku (Takeshita Dori and Omotesando); Asakusa - Sensoji/Nakamise Dori; possible SkyTree area or to Akihabara; I arrive late evening, overnight in Osaka

Oct 08 Mon - Disneysea (unfortunately, a National Holiday) until 6P; Ill take early Shinkansen out to Tokyo (staying same hotel as sis/fam) but after arriving in Shinagawa Ill go to Odaiba (I have ticket to MDAM also) then quick stop to Asakusa or Akihabara then to Shinjuku to meet up with them after Sea; Ill be babysitting kids while sis/hubby have upscale dinner

Oct 09 Tue - Disneyland all day

Oct 10 Wed - early departure from Shinagawa to Osaka with stopover at Nara via Kyoto; after arriving in Kyoto before 10:30A, go to Nara (possible stopover at Fushimi Inari or this may move to Kyoto day if can) and rest of day in Nara; leave Nara around 6:00P for Osaka (staying near JR-Namba); evening around Shinsaibashi/Dotonbori area

Oct 11 Thu - USJ or Kyoto (*last day to use JR-Pass for family)

Oct 12 Fri - USJ or Kyoto

Oct 13 Sat - possible visit to Osaka Castle; last minute shopping at Osaka/Umeda Station area; Shinsaibashi area; Kuromon Market; late evening departure for family of 4 (leave via OCAT between 5:30-6:30P).

Oct 14 Sun - early Shinkansen to Kurashiki for half day; after ???

Oct 15 Mon - ???; late evening departure (leave via OCAT around 6P).I have so far spent time in Japan twice on solo independent trips. Once was during cherry blossoms in March.

I think seeing Japan on land is the way to really get to know the country but that is up to you! You don't have to just stay in the large cities. It is really easy to get around by train.

I would urge you to get out into the countryside!

Edited: 3 years agoBula all, we are scheduled to land in Nadi at 5:50 AM Friday, Sept 28, on a direct flight on Fiji Airways from LAX. The shuttle for that morning's Yasawa Flyer leaves the airport at 6:50 AM, and the boat leaves Denarau at 8:30 AM.

So, 2 questions. How realistic is it to expect to be able to land on time and collect baggage to catch the 6:50 AM shuttle? If we can't do that, how realistic is it to land on time, collect baggage, and catch a taxi to Denarau for the 8:30 boat departure?

We want to try to schedule most of our stays in the Yasawas ahead of time, but is it worth leaving that first day open and either 1) booking a place from the Yasawa Flyer en route if we catch it or 2) finding a place in Denarau for 1 night before heading to the Yasawas? Or is that pushing it, and should we instead just find a place on Vitu Levu for that first night to recharge before heading island hopping?

(By the way, thinking 2-3 days at Blue Lagoon Resort, 2-3 days at Barefoot Manta or Mantaray Resort, 2-3 days at Octopus [but that seems like slimmer pickings]. Open to suggestions, though. We land Sept. 28 and fly out Oct. 7.)Im alive. Im home. We survived a night at Circus Circus.

It wasnt THAT bad. My mom had a great time there with our kids - full disclosure, she lives 1500+ miles away from her grandkids. So, I suppose that it is safe to say that shed have fun anywhere with them. My kids (almost 5 and 6.5yrs) had an absolute blast with their cool Granny at the Adventure Dome. I did not step foot in there, so I cant speak from experience. They didnt love the pool area - it was too busy for them, which they can struggle with. So Adventure Dome it was for them! Granny also took them to the Circus Circus buffet for dinner and according to my kids - they have the best ham and their waffles are too hard and Granny let them have orange juice for dinner. What happens in Vegas...

The overall crowd was different than Ive experienced in Vegas and I dont mean this as a bad thing. My experience with visiting Vegas involves me taking the opportunity to be a little fancier than in my regular life and such. I like to dress up a bit more, etc. This didnt appear to be the general choice of those I encountered in the hotel halls or casino. A very casual environment. It wasnt uncommon to see bathing suit coverups in the casino. Hey, fine - you do you. Theres no shame in a laid back side of Vegas for those that desire that.

Husband and I escaped and only spent from 11pm-4:30am in our hotel room. We all stayed in the West Tower which was fine. Quilts were a little worn and there was a hint of cigarette smoke in the air, but nothing at all terrible. Sheets were crisp and clean, bathroom was basic but clean and good shower pressure. Sink drainage not great. It was clean and fine.

Id stay there again with kids and granny in tow! I would not stay there for any other reason personally - but it really did suit our specific needs this trip.

I didnt find it terribly unsafe walking back late at night at all. I think this all depends on what youre used to. It was gorgeous out last night and we opted to skip the cab back. We had dinner at the Venetian and walked back - if youre in relatively good shape, its an easy walk. I had never walked that end of the strip and I enjoyed the experience.

I dont regret my choice! It all worked out and everyone was happy. Thanks again for all the the helpful comments and suggestions.- Melania Trump expressed joy after learning about the Beyond Zero initiative by the Kenyan First Lady

- The American citizens accused Melania of pretending to care for children yet White House was splitting families

- The two first ladies met at the White House during President Uhuru's historic visit to the United States

A section of American citizens have harshly criticised the country's First Lady Melania Trump following her meeting with Kenya's First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Monday, August 27.

Melania Trump found herself on the receiving end for lauding the Beyond Zero campaign, an initiative of Kenya's First Lady aimed at mitigating health challenges facing mothers and children in Kenya.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Kenyan delegation attends Donald Trump meeting without notebooks

Kenya's First Lady Margret Kenyatta and United States First Lady Melania Trump are among the key leaders who were included in the bilateral talks.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: President Kenyatta witnesses signing of investment deals worth KSh 23.9 billion in Washington DC

In a Twitter statement shared by the American First Lady, moments after she met her Kenyan counterpart, Melania disclosed she enjoyed learning about the Beyond Zero campaign and claimed US and Kenya shared common concerns as far as well being of children goes.

"It was a pleasure having First Lady of Kenya at the White House today. I enjoyed learning about the Beyond Zero campaign and discussing our shared concerns for the well-being of children," Melania said in a tweet seen by TUKO.co.ke on Tuesday, August 28.

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

Melania's remarks sparked a backlash on social media with many accusing the First Lady of preaching water and drinking wine, citing separation of children from parents seeking asylum in America.

The parents of the separated kids are reportedly labelled criminals because of crossing the US borders illegally.

READ ALSO: Foreign affairs CS in US ahead of Uhurus historic meeting with Donald Trump

Others, however, came to the defense of Melania and blamed the parents of the affected kids for putting their children in the difficult situation.

According to a report by America's Vox Media, at least 2,700 children were forcefully taken away from their parents between October 2017 and May 2018 by the Trump administration.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Phenny Awiti Story: Meet HIV Positive Mom Raising HIV Negative Kids - On Tuko TV

Source: Kenyan Breaking News- The court had earlier denied Swazuri access to his office and he was replaced by his Deputy Abigael Mbagaya

- He must however now inform EACC before he accesses his offices. Those accused alongside him remain barred from their offices

- The NLC Chair was accused of leading a process that saw at least KSh 221 million lost

- Swazuri denied the charges leveled against him and was released on a KSh 3.5 million cash bail

- The decision by the Anti-Graft court left a bitter taste in the mouths of many who have since protested against it

The Court on Tuesday, August 28, allowed National Land Commission (NLC) Chairman Muhammad Swazuri access to his office stating that it could not removed him from office.

The court however ruled that Swazuri could only visit his office after seeking consent from from the Commission's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and also the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens.

READ ALSO: Standard Gauge Railway registers KSh 1 billion in revenue one year after launch by Uhuru

Swazuri denied the charges leveled against him and was released on a a KSh 3.5 million cash bail. Photo: Coro FM

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

TUKO.co.ke, had earlier reported that the embattled NLC chair was arrested on Saturday, August 11 and charged in court alongside six other officials with counts linking them to fraudulent compensation of land purchased for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

Ruling on the case, Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi stated that the court had no mandate to suspended him from accessing his office, a decision that has irked many.

Those whom the ruling offended, took to various social media forums where they shared their displeasure claiming the judiciary had become a stumbling block on the war against corruption in the country.

These are some of comments of those who commented on the ruling after activist Boniface Mwangi claimed that the decision had largely sabotaged the judiciary.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenyans Demand for the Release of Bobi Wine | Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko.co.ke- The National Social Security Fund (Amendment) Bill 2013 sought to make pension contribution mandatory

- The Bill targeted all employees, both in formal and informal sectors, including boda boda operators and domestic workers

- Retirement Benefits Authority argued the Bill would ensure all Kenyan workers are covered by the pension fund

- The proposal was however rejected by COTU, Federation of Kenya Employers and other stakeholders

- The stakeholders argued the Bill was not good for their members majority of whom are employed in the private sector

- They moved to court and managed to block the National Treasury from adopting the new law

The government's push to have all Kenyan workers pay 6% of their monthly income as pension contribution to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has suffered a major setback after key stakeholders ganged up to block the Bill.

The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU), Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), Association of Retirements Benefits Schemes (ARBS) and others opposed the proposed law on grounds that it was not good for the Kenyan employees.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

The Central Organisation of Trade Unions, Federation of Kenya Employers, Association of Retirements Benefits Schemes argued the new Bill was bad for their members.Photo: CapitalFM.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: How to get the NSSF Kenya statement

TUKOC.co.ke on Tuesday, August 28, established more stakeholders had joined COTU and FKE in rejecting the National Social Security Fund Amendment Bill 2013 despite the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), pension industry regulator, insisting the new law was good for Kenya.

It is unfortunate the Treasury has not been able to table the Bill. A few things can be changed, but what matters is that a majority of Kenyans are covered by the pension fund. This can only occur if pension contribution is made mandatory, RBA boss Nzomo Mutuku said as quoted by the Standard.

READ ALSO: NSSF self service - how to pay online

Under the proposed NSSF law, the government was seeking to slap Kenyan workers, including boda boda (motorbike taxi) operators and domestic workers, with a 6% pension contribution, instead of KSh 200 monthly contribution to NSSF.

The regulator argued the law would ensure more Kenyans are covered by the Fund.

However, court issued interim orders blocking the Treasury from implementation of the law after COTU and FKE protested the proposed law.

READ ALSO: Importance of communication

The unions argued the NSSF law was bad for business and their members most of whom were employed in the private sector.

In addition, COTU accused the Treasury of trying to implement the law without taking into consideration input of all the key stakeholders.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Small Business Ideas for Kenyans With Low Investment - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- The first DCJ Nancy Baraza lost her job in 2012 after she pinched the nose assaulted a mall security guard

- Kalpana Rawal was kicked out of office in 2013 after it emerged she was above the retirement age of 70

- Ngunyi claims the office could be jinxed and needs cleansing to stop stalking its occupants

Political Analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has claimed that a curse could be dogging the Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) office as none of its occupants has ever finished their terms clean since the adoption of the Constitution of Kneya 2010.

Ngunyi was reacting to DCJ Philomena Mwilus arrest and arraignment in court on Tuesday, August 28, following accusations that she allegedly used her office to obtain a KSh 12 million non-taxed loan from collapsed Imperial Bank of Kenya.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens.

READ ALSO: Charge sheet reveals how Philomena Mwilu received KSh 12 million bribe

DCJ Philomena Mwilu is said to have used her office to obtain a KSh 12 million non-taxed loan from collapsed Imperial Bank of Kenya. Photo: UGC

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

Through his Twitter account, Ngunyi advised Justice David Maraga to be on the lookout as the office immediately after his, seems to be polluted.

If former Deputy Chief Justice lost her job for slapping a female security guard, will Mwilu Survive? Maraga should watch his back as well, wrote Ngunyi.

READ ALSO: 20 extremely epic reactions from Kenyans following surprise arrest of DCJ Philomena Mwilu

A background check conducted by TUKO.co.ke, has established that since the adoption of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, three DCJ's have served in the office but their terms have been characterised by stormy moments ending their tenure prematurely.

DCJ Mwilu being the latest casualty, has been accused of abuse of office when she served as a Court of Appeal Judge.

Mwilu is set to take a plea to the allegations leveled against her on Wednesday, August 29.

Former DCJ Nancy Baraza lost her job in 2012 after she allegedly assaulted a security guard at Nairobis Village market mall.

READ ALSO: Former President Daniel Moi cannot bless an aspiring future leader - Lawyer Ahmednasir

TUKO.co.ke understands that the guard, Rebecca Kerubo, claimed that Baraza slapped her and also drew a pistol when she (Kerubo) required that the DCJ goes through a regular thorough security screening.

The second DCJ Kalpana Rawal also did not finish her term after it was established that she was above the stipulated retirement age of 70 for the position.

This happened shortly after Rawal took over the office 2013.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Top supermarket Burns Down in Nairobi CBD | Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko- Mboko revealed she was divorced after venturing into politics

- The MP admitted she was now ready to get married to another man

- Mboko said she was willing to marry a Pokot man as his qualities were favorable to her

One of the most fascinating developments in African politics has been the increase in womens political participation since the mid 1990s.

While women are becoming more engaged in a variety of institutions, the decision by one Likoni Member of Parliament (MP) Mishi Mboko to join politics cost her her marriage.

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READ ALSO: Kericho school locks students out over undone holiday homework

My husband dumped me due to politics - MP Mishi Mboko

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

Speaking in Baringo county on Sunday, August 26, while accompanying Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho during a rally after meeting former president Daniel Arap Moi, Mishi revealed she separated with her husband because of politics.

Kamnget has enabled me to set foot in Pokot land, I will not go back empty handed! I was once married from our side but my husband said I was always on the move, every other time on the move because of politics, so we separated," narrated Mishi

READ ALSO: Charge sheet reveals how Philomena Mwilu received KSh 12 million bribe

The legislator was however confident the Pokot community would give her another husband.

According to the Women Rep, a Pokot man would understand her better since they are always on the move by nature.

But I know Pokots are naturally runners, they like being on the move, every time they are just on the move, With that, can you not handle me?" she posed

READ ALSO: Maraga should be carefull with the arrest of his deputy - Mutahi Ngunyi

The daring lawmaker went on to ask the area MP to find her a suitable suitor from the Pokot community.

"Kamnget nimpe mchumba leo, sitatoka bure hapa,(Kamnget get me a partner today, I will not leave this place empty handed.)," she noted

READ ALSO: Arrest of Deputy Chief Justice means William Ruto can be arrested - Gladys Wanga

In 2017, Mishi was among the women who joined Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga in calling on women to abstain from sex till their partners were registered to vote.

The Woman Rep however noted then that in her household, things were hot and steamy because her better half was registered as a voter.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Ex-Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero Arraigned in Court Over Corruption Charges - On Tuko TV

Source: Kenya Breaking News Today- The accident happened a few minutes to 11pm along the Nairobi-Naivasha highway

- The accident involved a 14-seater shuttle which collided head-on with an oncoming lorry

- Nine of them died on the spot while three others were pronounced dead on arrival at the hoospital

- Among those who lost their lives are pupils who were returning to school after the August holiday

Twelve people have died and several others injured in a tragic road accident at Kimende town on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

Reports gathered by TUKO.co.ke indicated among those who died were primary school pupils whose books and uniform were strewn at the scene.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

READ ALSO: Kericho school locks students out over undone holiday homework

The accident involving a 14-seater matatu and a lorry happened a few minutes before 11pm on Tuesday, August 28.

It was confirmed by Lari Traffic Police Base Commander Ahmed Mohammed.

The matatu, according to witnesses, was heading to Nakuru when it collided head-on with a Nairobi bound lorry.

READ ALSO: Charge sheet reveals how Philomena Mwilu received KSh 12 million bribe

Nine people died instantly while three others were pronounced dead on arrival at the Kijabe Hospital.

The public service vehicle was enroute to western Kenya from Nairobi when it hit the lorry.

The matatu belonging to Royal Mirage Sacco and the lorry fell off a cliff due to the impact of the collision.

READ ALSO: 10 children returning home from school trip perish in accident along Mwingi-Garissa Road

The accident happened barely three weeks after another one claimed the lives of 10 pupils returning from a trip along Mwingi-Garissa Road at Kanginga near Tyaa River in Kitui County.

Prior reports by TUKO.co.ke indicated the school bus belonging to St Gabriel Academy was traveling from Mombasa when it collided head-on with an oncoming truck.

The bus reportedly rolled several times and plunged into Tyaa River, killing eight of the pupils on the spot.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Top supermarket Burns Down in Nairobi CBD| Tuko TV:

Source: Tuko Breaking News- President Museveni claimed monogamous marriages were the silver bullet to poverty in Uganda

- Men who marry many wives, he said, only ended up creating careless resource spillage

- He said the recent great business investor in Uganda had vowed to only stick to one wife

President Yoweri Museveni has urged Ugandans to only embrace monogamous families if they envisioned being rich and economically stable.

Museveni made the remarks, which have since left tongues wagging, on Tuesday, August 28 after he commissioned a local cement factory.

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READ ALSO: Museveni sacks top security chiefs

Museveni (r) claimed the investor of the Simba factory in Uganda, Guru Narendra Ravel (l), had told him that he would only stick to one wife. Photo: President Museveni

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Yoweri Museveni boasts of how Uganda exports more goods to Kenya than the reverse

Writing both on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, he claimed the investor of the factory, Guru Narendra Ravel, had told him that he would only stick to one wife, a decision that has seen him invest heavily across the world.

"Guru here said he cannot marry a second wife. It is not accidental. Many wives can be a problem. Instead of consolidating resources, you scatter them," shared Museveni.

READ ALSO: Museveni's brother accused of grabbing wetlands along shores of Lake Victoria

Museveni stated the investor had a hardworking spirit, which he said was imperative for all Ugandans to emulate for a brighter future to be guaranteed to them.

"I encourage Ugandans to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Guru here was born very poor, living in temples. But he has worked hard and just in his fifties, he has a business empire spanning continents," advised Museveni.

He further charged that the citizens abandoned cultivation of rice in the wetlands for a while and venture into fish farming stating it was very lucrative.

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

On his part, Museveni said he practiced fish farming and it earned him at least KSh 17 million every month.

Thousands of social media users have since trolled and also echoed Museveni's advise that Ugandan's embrace monogamous marriages.

A Facebook user by name Armsliase Love Bubu stated Museveni said the truth but he needed to revise the social media tax as many people risked missing his counsel on the subject.

Ronald YB echoed Museveni's sentiments stating that marrying many wives indeed was a great problem claiming even the Bible had the same counsel, though he never quoted the verse.

Others however faulted Museveni's advise claiming the problem of Uganda was not marriage to many wives but leadership.

"We continue to fight hard to be like or even more than Guru but our economic status pulls us down like gravity," one by name BobWayneWonders wrote.

Museveni made the remarks, which have since left tongues of many wagging, on Tuesday, August 28 after he commissioned a local cement factory. Photo: President Museveni

Source: Facebook

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenyans Demand for the Release of Bobi Wine | Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko Kenya- The soldiers died after their vehicle ran over an Improvised Explosive Device

- They were on a humanitarian civil assignment to fetch and distribute water to the residents

- In the month of August 2018, 10 soldiers have been killed in IED attacks in Lamu County

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack has left five Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers dead and ten others seriously injured on the Kiunga-Sankuri road in Lamu county.

The Wednesday, August 29, incident happened at 8am when the soldiers were going on a humanitarian civil assignment to fetch and distribute water to the residents.

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READ ALSO: KDF soldiers killed in IED attack near Kenyan border

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack has left five Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers dead and ten others seriously injured along Kiunga- Sankuri road in Lamu county. Photo: UGC

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Mwanamke aliyenaswa akimbusu mwanariadha Asbel Kiprop anywa sumu

Confirming the incident, the Ministry of Defence in a statement said the 10 injured soldiers are receiving medical attention.

"We thank the residents who offered assistance to the soldiers and call upon them to assist in weeding out lurking terror elements in their midst, in order to assist in progressive pacification of Lamu County," the Ministry said in a statement.

READ ALSO: 5 KDF soldiers killed, 6 injured in suspected al-Shabaab attack in Lamu

The attack increased the number of soldiers who have died in IED attacks in Lamu County to 10 in August alone.

Early August 2018, five soldiers were killed and six others injured at Bodhei area in Boni Forest.

In the past three years, over 110 security agents have been killed through IEDs in Lamu, Wajir, Mandera and Garissa counties.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news

Kenya News: Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero Arraigned in Court Over Corruption Charge| Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- Last Point of Departure clearance was the last stage to grant Kenya's airports direct flights

- Kenya had already obtained a Category One status from the American government

- The first direct flight from Nairobi to New York is scheduled on October 28 2018

- The clearance comes hours after Uhuru arrived back in the country from a historic trip to America

After years of spirited push for direct flights from Kenya to the United States, Nairobi has received the green light allowing the country's airlines to fly directly from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to any destination in America.

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) received the Last Point of Departure (LPD) clearance, effectively granting Kenya Airways permission to land in any airport in the US.

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READ ALSO: Kenya Airways suffers KSh 4 billion loss in 2018 half year results

The Government of Kenya has for years been pushing for direct flights from Kenya to the United States. Photo: Kenya Airways.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Cash-strapped Kenya Airways increases flights across Africa as it struggles to restore profitability

TUKO.co.ke understands the Last Point of Departure clearance was the final stage that was left for the local airlines to commence direct flights to America.

According to KAA, the first direct flight from Nairobi to New York is scheduled for October 28, 2018, following the LPD clearance, which also made JKIA one of the elite airports in Africa.

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

Kenya graduated to a Category One status in 2017 which paved way for direct flights from the country to America.

Whereas the Category One status is granted to a country, the LPD clearance, KCAA's Director General Gilbert Kibe explained, is given for the airports within the country.

READ ALSO: Kenya Airways cabin crew salary

The final clearance came hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta jetted back from a historic trip to the US where he held fruitful trade talks with President Donald Trump.

The US trip ended with the signing of a KSh 23.9 billion investment deals.

The multi-billion agreement will see US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Kipeto Wind Energy Company finance the construction and operation of a 100-megawatt grid-connected wind power plant south of Nairobi.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Small Business Ideas for Kenyans With Low Investment - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko- Ngunyi challenged the president to take extra legal measures if he wants to win war against corruption

- He argued the High Court ruling that suspended prosecution of Justice Mwilu was a civilian coup

- Justice Chacha Mwita issued temporary orders barring Mwilu from taking plea over corruption charges

- Mwita said a counter petition filed by Mwilu raised significant Constitutional issues which needed to be addressed first

- Mwilu was arrested and arraigned before Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi but she did not take plea

Controversial political analyst, Mutahi Ngunyi, has expressed deep disappointment in the High Court ruling that suspended criminal prosecution of Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) Philomena Mwilu who is facing a litany of charges.

In light of the High Court ruling, Ngunyi challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to take extra legal measures and push for Mwilu to be tried in a military court, arguing corruption had become a 'state of war'.

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READ ALSO: Blow to DPP as High Court suspends criminal prosecution of DCJ Philomena Mwilu

Mutahi Ngunyi suggested that Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu be tried in a court martial after High Court suspended her prosecution on graft charges. Photo: The 5th Estate/Youtube.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Charge sheet reveals how Philomena Mwilu received KSh 12 million bribe

In a statement shared on Twitter shortly after the court verdict, Ngunyi appeared to accuse the Judiciary of frustrating war on corruption by failing to prosecute graft suspects, especially the high profile members of the society.

"Uhuru Kenyatta should evoke the 'Doctrine of Civil Necessity' and have Justice Mwilu 'court martialed'. Corruption is a 'state of war' and the Judiciary continues their civilian coup. They should be stopped," he said in the tweet seen by TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, August 29.

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

The High Court in Nairobi temporarily suspended criminal charges levelled against Mwilu.

The DCJ who was arrested by officers from Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Tuesday, August 28, and arraigned before the Chief Magistrate's court with corruption charges involving KSh 12 million had filed a counter petition to stop her prosecution.

In the application, Mwilu through her battery of 32 lawyers argued charges of abuse of office, tax evasion and obtaining loan through false pretense from Imperial Bank were not of criminal nature.

DCJ Philomena Mwilu found temporary reprieve after High Court suspended criminal charges levelled against her after a counter petition. Photo: The Star.

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: ODM pokes holes into arrest of deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu

Mwilu sought orders to allow her not to take plea on the matter before the magistrate's court and sued DCI, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), anti-corruption court and Attorney General for scheming to embarrass her.

Justice Chacha Mwita consequently granted temporary orders barring Mwilu from taking plea.

"The petition filed in dispute the applicant's prosecution raises significant questions which need to be addressed first," read part of Mwita's ruling.

READ ALSO: Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu arrested

Mwilu would be free until Tuesday, October 9, 2018, when the petition is set to be heard in detail and further directions given.

Meanwhile, Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi was set to give a ruling on whether or not the matter would proceed before the court after the High Court issued the order against Mwilu's prosecution.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Ex-Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero Arraigned in Court Over Corruption Charges - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko Kenya- Amber Ray stated her son was insulted for long before she parted ways with her hubby

- According to the mother of one, she was done with her marriage and desperately wanted to move on

- Amber stated she had even denounced her muslim faith

Twenty six-year-old socialite Faith Makau aka Amber Ray has finally dropped her position as a second wife after deciding to divorce tycoon hubby.

The curvaceous beauty stated she was no longer married to former political aspirant, Zaheer Jhanda, and even revealed she was officially done being a Muslim.

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READ ALSO: Socialite Amber Ray steps out in see through dress leaving nothing to imagination

READ ALSO: Nairobi businessman confirms his relationship with socialite

Through an Instagram post seen by TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, August 29, the mother of one apologised to her son and family for having to withstand insults from her hubby's side.

"It is about time I share with you this very important move in my life which will also set some of you free because you have been waiting for this day for way too long. I do not want to continue holding you hostage. Feel free to keep the screenshots, keep the receipts for future use," she wrote.

READ ALSO: Socialite Amber Ray confirms she is wife number 2 and its not easy for her

Amber stated although she had a great run during her marriage to Zaheer, it all had to come to an end.

"I would like to inform you that I am no longer married to Zaheer Merlahi Jhanda and no one should link me to him or his family in whatever way," the beauty wrote.

The socialite's fans poked fun at her stating she deserved every ounce of pain she was experiencing because she chose to be a homewrecker.

According to them, Amber deeply hurt Zaheer's first wife and broke the hearts of her children when she decided to marry into their family.

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

In 2017, Zaheer's first wife came forward to accuse Amber of using witchcraft to charm the politician.

Apparently, the bodacious socialite was caught in a dingy den clutching onto two chickens, one white and one black, as she waited for the witchdoctor to prepare a love potion for her.

She however denied all the allegations.

Aaliyah Zaheer, the tycoon's first wife, further stated she found out about her husband's affair with Amber while she was on a trip in China.

According to the mother of four, her neighbours notified her of a woman who frequented her home while she was still abroad.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Top supermarket Burns Down in Nairobi CBD| Tuko TV:

Source: Tuko Breaking News LatestComedian and radio presenter Felix Odiwour commonly known as Jalang'o has opened up to his fans in an emotional story, telling how he missed to join Maseno School because of poverty despite having scored 442 marks.

In his Instagram post seen by TUKO.co.ke, Jalang'o narrated how his father tried to raise money for him to join the prestigious school after he passed very well in his Class Eight exam at Homabay Lake Primary School.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

Comedian and radio presenter Felix Odiwour commonly known as Jalang'o has opened up to his fans in an emotional story. Photo: UGC

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Jalang'o shows off his Nairobi mansion and we are all impressed

"My dad ( God Rest his soul in peace) organised several fund drives and by the time he was getting the money, I was two weeks late from reporting day," said Jalang'o.

He said when they reported to the school, his father tried to plead with the school principal but with no success as they were later sent out of the school.

"I had never seen my dad cry but that day we cried together! We walked to the main road, got in a Marathi and went home," added the now well monied comedian.

I had never seen my dad cry but that day we cried together! We walked to the main road got in a Marathi and went home - Jalang'o

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Jalang'o bows down to fans pressure, makes a dramatic U-turn on Radio station

The radio host narrated how he later joined Baraka Nyange Secondary School while wearing a Maseno School uniform.

"My old man could not afford another pair of school uniform. So for the whole of Form One, I was in a different uniform in a different school," he said

Jalang'o was later transferred to Nyang'oma Boys High School where his father used to pay school fees using maize.

The corporate mcee managed to score a C+ (plus) and later came to Nairobi where he started hustling before his breakthrough in comedy. Photo: UGC

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Jalang'o finally confirms exit from Hot 96, one and a half years after joining

"At Nyang'oma Boys, we only saw a Bunsen burner at the exam room but we managed to sit for the exam," he added.

The comedian managed to score a C+ (plus) and later came to Nairobi where he started hustling before his breakthrough in comedy.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news

BEEF STEW. Tuko Bites with Chef Rachel | Tuko Lifestyle

Source: Tuko.co.ke- A lady brought social media to tears after narrating the final hours of her elderly mother

- Hannah Njoki allegedly passed away due to negligence from nurses at the Kenyatta National Hospital

- The hospital management responded to the allegations claiming the family refused to transfer the patient

- According to KNH, ICU beds were fully occupied therefore making it impossible to help the patient

Kenyatta National Hospital management has once again found itself under heavy criticism over the death of a 68-year-old woman on Tuesday, August 28.

The issue was made public by a Facebook user believed to be the deceased woman's daughter who strongly accused the hospital of negligence.

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

Kenya National Hospital on the spot after woman dies waiting for emergency services

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Chief Magistrate rejects High Court order stopping prosecution of DCJ Philomena Mwilu

In the video which has fast gone viral, the distraught lady decried the death of her mother whom she said would have been saved.

The lady accused the hospital staff of openly declining to attend to her mother who was brought to the there in critical condition following an accident.

She needed to be taken to Intensive Care Unit.

Photo of the lady who cried foul against poor services offered at the Kenyatta National Hospital

Source: Original

READ ALSO: Relief for Kenyans as MPs suspend implementation which would have pushed fuel prices up

Her teary narration took yet another sad twist as she alleged the hospital only decided to engage with her after the death of her mother.

Amid heavy fire that came the way of KNH following the viral video, the hospital through a statement seen by TUKO.co.ke denied the negligence allegations.

While the hospital administration did not deny most of the ladys allegations, KNH was adamant that Hannah did not pass away as a result of negligence but due to lack of facilities.

READ ALSO: Doctors at KNH reattach 17-year-old Kiambu man's arm that was stored in cool box

The statement further said at the time the deceased was brought to hospital, the ICU wing which consists of 29 beds was fully occupied.

The relatives were informed of the lack of available beds in ICU and were advised to seek an ICU bed in another hospital which they declined citing lack of money to facilitate the transfer. It is regrettable that the patient passed away on August 28 while still waiting to get a bed in the ICU wing, the statement read.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Top supermarket Burns Down in Nairobi CBD| Tuko TV:

Source: Tuko.co.keThe land mark arrest of the Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) Philomena Mwilu over corruption allegations has elicited mixed reactions from Kenyans across the spectrum.

Mwilu was on Tuesday, August 28, accused of abusing office in contravention with section 46 and 48 of the Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Act of 2003.

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READ ALSO: Chief Magistrate rejects High Court order stopping prosecution of DCJ Philomena Mwilu

Mwilu was accused of allegedly using her office to obtain a KSh 12 million non-taxed loan from Imperial Bank of Kenya.

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

According to the prosecution, she allegedly used her office to obtain a KSh 12 million non-taxed loan from Imperial Bank of Kenya which is now under receivership.

With now the third arm of government on the spot, a number of people who supported the arrest of the deputy CJ have been calling for her to be kicked out of office.

But just what would it take for Mwilu to be kicked out of office? We have outlined it for you.

According to Article 168 Section 1 of the Constitution, a judge of the Supreme Court may be removed from office on several grounds.

READ ALSO: COTU boss Francis Atwolis nominee to SRC rejected by MPs

This could be inability to perform the functions of office arising from mental or physical incapacity and breach of a code of conduct prescribed for judges of the superior courts by an Act of Parliament.

Others include, bankruptcy, incompetence, gross misconduct or misbehavior.

READ ALSO: Kalonzo seen for the first time appearing as a lawyer in court

The ousting can, however, only happen under specific process as described in the constitution.

1: Initiated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)

The DCJ can only be removed from office if the process is initiated only by the Judicial Service Commission acting on its own motion, or on the petition of any person to the JSC.

2: Petition by a person to the JSC

A petition by a person to the JSC under clause (2) can be in writing, setting out the alleged facts constituting the grounds for the judges removal.

READ ALSO: 27-year-old slaughterhouse man from Eastleigh wins Safaricom's KSh 7.8 million M-PESA Tu house

The JSC can consider the petition and if it is satisfied that it has a solid ground for the removal of the DCJ under clause (1), it can then send the petition to the president.

The president shall, within 14 days after receiving the petition, suspend the judge from office, acting in accordance with the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenya Marks 20th Anniversary of Embassy Bombing | TUKO TV.

Source: Tuko- Jeff took to social media to warm up his fans ahead of his interview with Anne Waiguru

- Kenyans were not pleased by Jeffs choice of guest and trolled him on Twitter

- Most people claimed the media personality was using his show to cleanse alleged scandalous leaders

Well-polished media personality Jeff Koinange has received tonnes of insults from Kenyans barely minutes after announcing he will be hosting Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru on his show JKL.

An innocent Koinange had taken to social media to warm up his followers for the interview with the former devolution minister set for Wednesday, August 29, night.

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READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

READ ALSO: Waiguru will beat Karua in Kirinyaga governor race in the morning  Vocal women leader predicts

If it's Wednesday you know its #JKLive at Citizen Tv Kenya at 9pm. Tonight, why is it that Kenyans love to hate Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru? Is she the proverbial 'Scape Goat' or is she next in line on the DPP's list? Spread the word! he tweeted.

Koinanges tweet however rubbed a cross section of Kenyans the wrong way and out they came in large numbers to maul him.

READ ALSO: Nairobi family offers KSh 50k to whoever finds their lost cat

Taking to different social media platforms, Jeffs critics faulted his show claiming it has nowadays lost its uumph.

Most of them trolled him for always hosting people with numerous scandals and giving them the opportunity to cleanse their names.

Among people said to have been previously hosted by the journalist to allegedly get dirt off their names on several occasions include Waiguru.

READ ALSO: Lovely couple who broke internet with Wakanda-themed baby bump shoot unveil baby's face

Waigurus interview on JKL came barely a fortnight after the former was listed as one of the most corrupt leaders in Kenya by an Ipsos Synovate survey.

Deputy President William Ruto, hosted by Jeff in the past severally, also made it to the Ipsos list.

Waiguru and the DP however trashed the poll citing it a witch hunt by political rivals.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

ALSO WATCH: Lady In a Groceries Shop (Animated Video Joke) | Tuko TV

Source: Tuko- She argued there was no way she could have stolen more than former President Moi

- Waiguru also noted the report by IPSOS that she was among the most corrupt was not factual

- She was ranked second most corrupt politician after Deputy President William Ruto

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has hit back at an IPSOS poll which showed Kenyans perceived her as the second most corrupt politician in the country.

She, however, rubbished the research results noting there were other people who had milked public coffers yet they were ranked lower than her.

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READ ALSO: Former MP opens fire at Nairobi county staff demolishing illegal structures

She suggested the retired President Daniel arap Moi had stolen more than her.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Je, wamfahamu babake Gavana Joho? Picha yake tumeipata

The governor was speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Wednesday, August 29, when she suggested the retired President Daniel arap Moi had stolen more than what was claimed she took from public coffer during her reign as Devolution Cabinet Secretary.

"This poll ranked me above former president Moi who ruled this country for 24 years, everybody knows what we think about the Moi era," claimed Waiguru.

"Are you saying that I stole more than Moi so that you can make me more corrupt? " she posed.

READ ALSO: Uhuru explains why he has no issue with Donald Trump's 'shithole' remarks

Waiguru rubbished being ranked in the second position noting there were other people who had stolen more than her.

Source: UGC

She further noted the report by IPSOS placing her second after Deputy President William Ruto as the most corrupt politicians was not a fact.

While unveiling the poll results on August 22, 2018, IPSOS Research Analyst Tom Wolf said they asked the participants generally who they considered among all present and (still living) past leaders as most corrupt.

Ruto and Governor Waiguru were polled as the most corrupt at 33% and 31% respectively.

READ ALSO: 27-year-old slaughterhouse man from Eastleigh wins Safaricom's KSh 7.8 million M-PESA Tu house

Prior reports by TUKO.co.ke indicated the governor later on threatened to sue the research institution while rubbishing the survey as political propaganda.

She also asked the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the EACC to urgently make public the contents of an affidavit which was sworn by the first NYS scandal mastermind, Josephine Kabura.

Wiguru claimed the affidavit was crafted by certain individuals who did not wish her well and was meant to taint her image.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news

Top supermarket Burns Down in Nairobi CBD| Tuko TV

Source: Tuko NewsForensic and Fraud Investigations PLLC, a forensic accounting and consulting firm, announced that Amie Haun, CPA, CFE, CMA, EMBA, has joined the firm as an investigator and director of Training and Education.

Amie is a lecturer for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Gary W. Rollins College of Business, Department of Accounting faculty. She holds a bachelors in business administration, concentration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and an executive masters in Business Administration from Auburn University.



She is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA), The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), Chattanooga Womens Leadership Institute (CWLI), and the FBIs InfraGard. She currently serves as the chair of the city of Chattanooga Audit Committee and on the board of the Chattanooga Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.



We are very pleased and honored to have someone of Amies caliber join our investigative firm. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our firm which will serve the needs of our clients, said Bill Acuff, managing principal for Forensic and Fraud Investigations PLLC.



In addition to providing various consulting services for the prevention and detection of fraud, including fraud awareness and training programs, Forensic and Fraud Investigations PLLC provides targeted and focused services involving financial transactions and the flow of monies to bring about financial clarity helping to resolve questions of financial performance and improprieties using investigative techniques, data analytics and accounting and auditing procedures.

Ukraine filed a request to the official Washington regarding the purchase of air defense systems worth $750 million a unit.

"In my opinion, our needs for the next period are the maritime space and air space, which are indispensable for ensuring the countrys defense," Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United States Valery Chaly said on the air of the Novoye Vremia Radio.

Ukraine also needs UAVs, counter-battery radars and counter-sniper systems, Chaly noted.

The ambassador added that the corresponding request had been presented at the "high and the highest level", namely at the meetings of the presidents of Ukraine and the United States in Brussels, as well as at the meetings of the Ukrainian side with the U.S. national security adviser John Bolton.

In March, the U.S. Department of State has approved the decision to supply the Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine for $47 million.

olThese August days of 2014 witnessed the climax of the Ilovaisk tragedy, when the Ukrainian armed units were surrounded as a result of the confrontation with the Russian troops.

The fighting for the important strategic object of Donbas, the town of Ilovaisk, lasted from mid-August. The Ukrainian servicemen almost managed to seize the city, but the Russian army intervened. Moscow did not plan to surrender the important strategic object, so it threw the regular army against the Ukrainians.

The battalions of the Ukraines Interior Ministry "Dnipro-1", "Myrotvorets", "Svityaz", "Kherson", "Ivano-Frankivsk", National Guards battalion Donbas and sector B forces were besieged as a result of invasion of regular units of the Russian Armed Forces and their march in the direction of Ilovaisk town. August 28, the situation of our military became critical.

The same day, President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia of the open armed invasion of Donbas. According to the report of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, the invasion of Russian troops of the territory of Ukraine took place during August 24-29, 2014 and the contingent included 3,500 servicemen, 60 tanks, 320 airborne armored infantry fighting vehicles (infantry fighting vehicles), 60 units of weaponry, 45 mortars, 5 anti-tank missile systems.

Meanwhile, August 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin, pretending to be a peacemaker, suggested that the Russian-backed militants would open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian servicemen, which they could escape the siege through. In fact, Putin's "green corridor" became the road of death for Ukrainian troops as a lot of soldiers were killed in it.

The death toll varies even today. On August 14, 2018, the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine reported that 355 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, 429 soldiers were wounded and 300 more had been taken captive. The soldiers, who survived those hellish August days, speak about even greater losses.

olPrincipal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Alexander Hug calls on the parties to honour their commitments on ceasefire regime in Donbas.

"Since 00:01 SMM registered more than 70 ceasefire violations. Sides need to honour their recommitment. Firing has to stop now. To protect Ukrainians on both sides of the contact line, Hug wrote on Twitter.

As reported, on August 22, in Minsk, at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas, the parties agreed on a new ceasefire regime. The so-called "school ceasefire" has begun on August 29.

ishAustrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz welcomed a new ceasefire agreement in Donbas in connection with the start of a new school year and called on the parties to observe it.

In a post on his Facebook page, he wrote: I am glad that a school truce ceasefire has been reached in eastern Ukraine and I call on the parties to observe it and continue working on the implementation of the Minsk agreement.

The politician also stressed that the OSCE is carrying out an important work, which Austria strongly supports.

As reported, the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas at its meeting in Minsk of August 22 agreed on a new ceasefire regime - the so-called school truce starting at 00:01 a.m. on August 29.

At the same time, OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug reported that since 00:01 SMM registered more than 70 ceasefire violations.

iyAccording to preliminary estimates, 366 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, more than 450 were wounded, 300 were taken captive and 84 soldiers are still considered missing after the Ilovaisk tragedy in August 2014.

"In August 2014, around Ilovaisk and in the town, according to preliminary estimates, 366 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, more than 450 were wounded, 300 were taken captive and 84 soldiers are still considered missing," Ukraines Deputy Interior Minister Vadym Troyan said, the Ministrys press service reports.

Eleven Interior Ministry officers are still missing, he noted.

These August days of 2014 witnessed the climax of the Ilovaisk tragedy, when the Ukrainian armed units were surrounded as a result of the confrontation with the Russian troops.

August 29, Ukrainians honor the soldiers who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war for Ukraines integrity and sovereignty.

olPresident Petro Poroshenko states that Ukraine should seek ways to cooperate with other states and coordinate efforts to create a mechanism for preventing outside interference in the electoral process.

He stated this at the 13th meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine on August 28, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The Kremlin skillfully covers its subversive activities with democratic values and principles. We have to look for the ways to cooperate with other states and coordinate efforts to develop a reliable mechanism for preventing third-party interference in the electoral process and ensuring the free expression of will of our citizens," the President said and added that special attention should be paid to the countries that already have relevant developments.

As an example, the President noted the experience of Paris and Berlin.

I ask you to work out the possibility of involving German, French and American experts in the development of a similar legislative initiative in Ukraine, he said.

Poroshenko noted that the last 4.5 years were not easy, but now one of the most critical periods is coming - the democratic world is entering a new electoral cycle.

According to him, leading IT companies have already recorded the creation of thousands, tens of thousands of fake accounts with Russian roots.

"Russia is preparing for a new powerful manipulative campaign - fake news, undermining stability. I have no doubt that Moscow will not lose any opportunity to discredit our achievements to sow disillusionment among citizens in the future and fatigue of European choice. We must be ready to respond. Although this is not a simple task. We must learn the experience in each country of residence - legal, executive experience, steps of efficiency.

According to Petro Poroshenko, Russias tentacles are very firmly penetrated into social networks, they hold separate media, they are present in cyberspace.

iyAustrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will pay a visit to Kyiv on September 4.

"Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will visit Ukraine next Tuesday," the Kleiner Zeitung newsportal reported on Wednesday.

The chancellor on the eve of the trip noted that his visit to Ukraine "seeks to deepen good bilateral political, economic and cultural relations."

"Within the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU, our goal is to make a positive contribution to reducing tensions in our continent. Security and stability in Austria and the EU also depend on stability in our neighboring regions, which, of course, Ukraine belongs to," the head of the Austrian government added.

In Kyiv, Kurz intends to meet with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The agenda of the talks includes Vienna's presidency in the EU, bilateral relations, the internal situation in Ukraine, namely in Donbas. In addition, Kurz also plans to meet with Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko.

ishUA|TV Ukraines international broadcasting TV channel has appeared in the network of StarNet cable TV and Internet provider of Moldova.

"Our international broadcasting TV channel expands its presence in neighboring Moldova, where hundreds of thousands of ethnic Ukrainians live. We continue to increase actively the UA|TV coverage network throughout the world," State Secretary of Ukraines Information Policy Ministry Artem Bidenko said, the Ministrys press service reports.

StarNet is the second largest telecommunications operator in Moldova, which provides Internet, telephone and television services throughout the country.

UA|TV was launched on October 1, 2015. The channel broadcasts news reports and programs of its own production via satellite and cable networks in five languages: Ukrainian, English, Russian, Arabic and Crimean Tatar.

olThe ambassador says the army needs at least three air defense systems.

Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly says Ukraine has formally appealed to the United States with a request to buy air defense systems.

According to the ambassador, the army needs at least three air defense systems. The cost of each is about $750 million, so the total amount of the possible transaction will exceed $2 billion, the Novoe Vremya weekly reported.

Read alsoCrowd excited to see U.S.-supplied Javelins at Independence Day parade dress rehearsal in Kyiv

"To my mind, our needs for the next period cover the maritime area, airspace. This is something without which we simply cannot ensure the country's defense," the ambassador said.

Chaly also said that Ukraine needs drones, counter-battery radars and anti-sniper systems. According to him, a request for the purchase of such military equipment was voiced at high level. In particular, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko mentioned this when meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton.The CIS is a loose grouping of former Soviet republics.

Ukraine has shut down its representative offices in member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The CIS is a loose grouping of former Soviet republics, RFE/RL wrote.

CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev said on August 28 that the Ukrainian offices were closed earlier this month, adding that the grouping's ties with Kyiv are being maintained through the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk.

"I still hope that Ukraine will preserve its presence within the [CIS]," Lebedev said.

Read alsoPoroshenko signs decree on final termination of Ukraine's participation in CIS statutory bodies

The Ukraininan move came after President Petro Poroshenko earlier this year signed a decree recalling Kyiv's envoys from CIS bodies and announced plans to quit the organization, criticizing its "failure to denounce Russia's aggression [in Ukraine]."

Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014 and is backing separatists in the country's east in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.

Poroshenko, who was elected after Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych fled in February 2014 following months of mass street protests, has repeatedly said that Ukraine's future is in Europe, and not with Russia.

Ukraine has been an associate member of the CIS since the grouping was established following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Full members include Russia and eight former Soviet republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.Poroshenko said that dialogue between Warsaw and Kyiv should focus on shared challenges and disputes over the past should be left to historians.

Poland is a friend of Ukraine, said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with the country's ambassadors, adding that past disputes should not overshadow common aims.

The neighbouring countries ties have been thorny over because of their shared troubled history, Radio Poland reported.

Last year, Ukraine blocked the exhumation of Polish victims of a WWII massacre.

Read alsoPolish society generally positive toward Ukraine: Ambassador

Some media reported that this was seen as a response to the removal of a monument to the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from eastern Poland.

Tensions were further fueled by a Polish anti-defamation law that was introduced earlier this year which potentially meant fines and jail terms for people who denied the wartime crimes of Ukrainian nationalists.

But Poroshenko told ambassadors that, in spite of these differences, Poland remains a true friend and an advocate for Ukraine's future in the European Union.

He added that dialogue between Warsaw and Kyiv should focus on shared challenges and disputes over the past should be left to historians.Recent meetings have yielded no results.

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nation Volodymyr Yelchenko says negotiations on Donbas between U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov are "on the verge of collapse."

Read alsoU.S. negotiator for Ukraine: Russia could end fighting in Donbas at any time

"There is no unity and progress there. And the progress also depends on the Surkov-Volker track, which seems to be on the verge of collapse. They have not met since January. No decisions have been made... If six or seven meetings have been held without result  something needs to be changed. I'm not able to peer into Surkov's soul, but until real action is taken we cannot do much about it," Yelchenko said at a press conference in Kyiv, the news outlet Hromadske reports.

According to him, it will take at least six months after a UN decision to deploy a peacekeeping mission to occupied Donbas. Surkov and Volker held four meetings: in Minsk on August 21, 2017, in Belgrade on October 7 and November 13, in Dubai on January 26, 2018. The negotiators discuss ways to implement the Minsk agreements and the possible introduction of a peacekeeping mission to Donbas. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, no result was achieved at the last meeting.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on August 21 announced that a new meeting between Volker and Surkov would take place "in the foreseeable future."The effort includes involving provocateurs acting as "Ukrainian radicals."

In the view of the visit of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church (headed either by Patriarch Kirill or Metropolitan Hilarion) to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople on August 31 for a meeting with the Patriarch Bartholomew on the issue of preventing the granting of the "tomos on autocephaly" for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Russian special services (FSB and SVR) are setting up in Ukraine a number of provocations to shape up an agenda favorable to Moscow, as well as planning destructive measures in Istanbul, Ukrainian OSINT analysts say.

According to sources of Ukraine-based Information Resistance community, the FSB has formed several groups of people under the guise of "Ukrainian pilgrims," the IR coordinator, Dmytro Tymchuk wrote on Facebook Wednesday.

These groups are set to arrive in Istanbul and, under the coordination of the SVR intelligence agency's field office in Turkey, to carry out provocations against the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, including those of a violent nature, with the acts intended to be portrayed as those performed by "patriotic and radical Ukrainians."

Read alsoNothing sacred: Russian spies tried hacking Orthodox clergy - AP

Later, according to the plot elaborated by the Russian special services, once "Ukrainian patriots and radicals" are detained by local law enforcers, they will voice, including on cameras, the claim that that "they arrived in Turkey and carried out provocations upon the instructions of Ukrainian security services, while the entire mission is coordinated directly by Ukraine's Presidential Administration."

Russia intends to achieve the following key objectives:

Read alsoRussia plans to aggressively exploit "political Orthodoxy" factor in Ukraine  analyst

- to try to discredit the Ukrainian authorities before the Ecumenical Patriarch, international community, and other local churches worldwide; and

- to form an additional narrative and strengthen the position of the ROC delegation ahead of the meeting, claiming that "the Ukrainian government and radicals persecute and intimidate representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate both in Ukraine and even in the Holy of Holies."The diplomat explained that he had been asked a "theoretical" question about how many the U.S.-made air defense systems cost today.

Information about Ukraine's request for procurement of air defense systems in the United States, their specific number, and price were misinterpreted in the media, says Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S., Valery Chaly.

"Such information is classified, although work is ongoing between Ukraine and the United States in the field of military-technical cooperation, and it will continue," Chaly told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Bureau.

"Unfortunately, many media outlets misinterpreted what I was saying by linking pieces from different parts of the interview. Indeed, it's true that we are constantly doing this work. But [it is wrong] to say that we have specifically requested [air defense systems] and claim how many. Firstly, this is classified information, but work is underway and it will continue," said Valery Chaly.

Read alsoU.S. companies show interest in producing gas in Ukraine  Ambassador Chaly

He explained that he had been asked a "theoretical" question about how many the air defense systems cost today.

"I said that you can't buy such systems in stores and named their approximate cost," the diplomat said.

Earlier, Novoye Vremya reported that, according to the Ambassador, Ukraine has formally appealed to the United States with a request to buy air defense systems. The publication said Chaly claimed the Ukrainian Army needs at least three air defense systems, while the cost of each U.S.-made system is about $750 million, so the total amount of the possible transaction will exceed $2 billion.

At the end of 2017, the Donald Trump Administration allowed the sales of lethal weapons to Ukraine, including Javelin ATGMs.

On March 1, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 210 Javelin missiles to Ukraine and 37 launchers for a total of about $47 million.The channel's owner, Volodymyr Muraev, has signed a relevant contract for a three-year term.

Former deputy chief of administration of a disgraced ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, has become a top manager of NewsOne TV channel, of which he, himself, reported on Facebook.

"I'd like to report that the day before yesterday in Vienna I signed an agreement on managing NewsOne TV channel. The owner of a 100 percent of the company's statutory fund, Volodymyr Muraev, handed me the TV channel to manage it for a period of three years," the statement says.

According to the agreement, Muraev has no right to interfere with Portnov's activities in the outlet's management, and neither shall he terminate the contract unilaterally. If Muraev wants to sell the channel, Portnov shall be the first in the line to buy, the contract says.

Read alsoPro-Putin politician Medvedchuk gains control over 112 Ukraine TV channel - media

"I plan to show respect to all those who are involved in the channel's creation and operation, its management and journalists; to ensure their maximum independence and protection from the pressure of law enforcement and Presidential Administration, access of all political forces and presidential candidates to the channel's media opportunities," Portnov wrote .

As UNIAN reported, the Security Service of Ukraine launched criminal proceedings against Andriy Portnov. According to People's Deputy Levus, Portnov is allegedly involved in the occupation of part of Ukraine by Russia. This is reportedly evidenced by the recording of a telephone conversation between Russian presidential adviser Glazyev and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea Konstantinov, which was recorded by Ukrainian intelligence on March 1, 2014.

Muraev earlier said he had obtained a residence permit in Austria.This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questionsThe gathering lasted exactly 107 minutes, symbolizing the 107 days that Sentsov has been on a hunger strike in a Siberian prison

Dozens of people gathered outside the Russian embassy in Prague on Tuesday to demand the release of jailed Ukrainian film maker Oleh Sentsov and other prisoners of conscience.

The gathering lasted exactly 107 minutes, symbolizing the 107 days that Sentsov has been on a hunger strike in a Siberian prison, Radio Praha reported.

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who was involved in supporting the Maidan protests in Kyiv and who publicly opposed Russia's annexation of Crimea, was arrested by Russian police in May of 2014. A year later, following what Amnesty International described as "an unfair trial in a military court" Oleh Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He says the evidence against him was fabricated and has been on a hunger strike for over three months now calling not only for his own release but the release of another 64 fellow Ukrainians who he considers prisoners of conscience.

Read alsoSlovak personalities demand freedom for Oleh Sentsov  media

His deteriorating health has raised concern for his fate and that of other political prisoners held in Russia the world over. Members of the art and film world have been particularly active in drawing attention to his plight. On the 100th day of Sentsov's hunger strike Czech film makers launched a chain hunger strike in support of his release. Originally it was to have been a week-long protest by film director Radim Spacek and six other colleagues from the film world, but more and more people have asked to join in the fast. Radim Spacek says Sentsov's state of health gives reason for extreme concern.

"There have been proclamations and calls for Sentsov's release the world over, from film director Agnieszka Holland and many other renowned directors, actors and producers all to no avail. So this is a last-ditch attempt to draw attention to Sentsov's plight."

Radim Spacek is calling on Czech politicians, particularly on President Milos Zeman, to use what influence they have to try to secure Sentsov's release before it is too late.

Moral support has come from many sides. The Czech NGO People in Need, recently launched a campaign in support of the Ukrainian film maker, asking people to take a picture of themselves and add the hashtag 'Oleg in Need' which they sent to Sentsov's jailhouse in Siberia. Earlier this year the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival also called attention to his plight with a huge photo of Sentsov prominently placed where international stars and visitors to the festival could see it. Hundreds signed a petition for his release titled Do Not Let Sentsov Die, which was later handed over to the Russian embassy. The Czech Film Academy has called on the Czech foreign and culture ministers to use all available diplomatic channels to try to help Sentsov.

Tuesday's gathering outside the Russian embassy in Prague  at which around 60 demonstrators stood in a silent protest holding up Sentsov's photo  took place before midday and was timed to end precisely at five minutes to twelve  a time symbolizing the growing urgency of the case.The Joint Forces have reported no casualties over the past 24 hours.

Russian-led forces mounted 32 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past day.

"No casualties among the Ukrainian troops have been reported over the past day. According to intelligence reports, three occupiers were killed," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on August 29, 2018.

Read alsoRussia sending newest weapons to Donbas  Ukrainian officer

Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from cannons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of the towns of Popasna, Avdiyivka, Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Krymske, Troyitske, Novoluhanske, Mayorsk, Pivdenne, Novhorodske, Novomykhailivka, Chermalyk, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Lebedynske, Vodiane and Shyrokyne. In certain areas, the enemy employed tank guns, 122mm cannon artillery systems, as well as 82mm and 120mm mortars.

In particular, the invaders carried out nine attacks on the Ukrainian positions near Troyitske, Novoluhanske, Novhorodske, Novomykhailivka, Chermalyk, Hnutove, Lebedynske, and Vodiane, using proscribed artillery systems and mortars. In addition, the Ukrainian positions near Lebedynske were attacked by main battle tanks.

Units of the Joint Forces fired back to suppress the enemy's fire activity amid escalation.

"Since Wednesday midnight, Russian-led forces have already mounted two attacks from heavy machine guns on the Ukrainian positions outside the villages of Hnutove and Talakivka," the report says.The drills are performed in two stages  the management of troops in the course of air defense and stabilization actions and during the defense of the Black Sea coast.

Ukrainian Vice-Admiral Ihor Voronchenko, the Commander of the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, says Ukraine will soon boost its naval grouping, as well as marine and artillery forces in the Sea of Azov.

Speaking at the Storm 2018 joint exercises of the Navy with other military formations and law enforcement agencies, he said these drills held under the leadership of the General Staff of the Armed Forces involve the units of the Land Forces, Air Force, special operations forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine and the State Special Transport Service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the press center of the command reports.

Read alsoRussian-led forces step up training of units along Azov Sea coast  Ukraine Def. Ministry

The drills, which began on August 28, are performed in two stages  the management of troops (forces) in the course of air defense and stabilization actions and during the defense of the Black Sea coast.

According to Voronchenko, "exercises to manage a certain set of troops in repelling armed aggression from the naval direction are conducted to improve the practical skills of command staff in the course of making decisions while working out the said tasks."

"An important element is the improvement of the work of the control command post and compatibility with other command facilities," he said.

The units conduct stabilization operations, repel enemy air attacks, regroup troops, prepare areas for tasks, take anti-subversive and sabotage defense measures, and handle enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The relocation of naval aviation units to a military airfield and the replenishment of all types of ammunition by support units have also been carried out.The elections will not be held not to violate the Minsk agreements, a local resident said.

The so-called elections of the "Luhansk People's Republic" ("LPR") terrorist organization in temporarily occupied Donbas, which were originally scheduled for autumn this year, have been postponed.

Read alsoJournalist explains why Russia not to leave Donbas

"The elections will not be held not to violate the Minsk agreements," a local resident Sergey said, whose name was changed for security reasons, the Ukrainian news outlet LIGA.net reports.

Another source added there were no pre-election billboards in the city. "There is nothing like that. They will do as they are told by Russia. Nothing depends on us here," he said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, military columnist Yuriy Karin said the Kremlin would likely appoint someone more convenient for further negotiations with Ukraine instead of head of the "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") terrorist organization Alexander Zakharchenko in September.

UNIAN note. Two self-proclaimed republics  the "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") and the "Luhansk People's Republic" ("LPR")  were created as a result of Russian occupation of Ukraine's east, Donbas, since spring 2014. The Minsk peace agreements on Donbas, brokered by France and Germany, were signed by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the "DPR" and "LPR" in two stages  in September 2014 and in February 2015. They are designed to halt hostilities between the Ukrainian army and Russian-led forces in the east of Ukraine.Skype logs and other documents obtained by BuzzFeed News offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Kremlins propaganda machine.

The Russian government discreetly funded a group of seemingly independent news websites in Eastern Europe to pump out stories dictated to them by the Kremlin, BuzzFeed News and its reporting partners can reveal.

Russian state media created secret companies in order to bankroll websites in the Baltic states  a key battleground between Russia and the West  and elsewhere in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Buzzfeed.

The scheme has only come to light through Skype chats and documents obtained by BuzzFeed News, Estonian newspaper Postimees, and investigative journalism outlet Re:Baltica via freedom of information laws, as part of a criminal probe into the individual who was Moscows man on the ground in Estonia.

The Skype logs and other files, obtained from computers seized by investigators, reveal the secrets and obfuscating tactics used by Russia as it tries to influence public opinion and push Kremlin talking points.

The websites presented themselves as independent news outlets, but in fact, editorial lines were dictated directly by Moscow.

Raul Rebane, a leading strategic communications expert in Estonia, said that this scheme and others like it are systemic information-related activities on foreign territory. In other words  information warfare.

Read alsoRussia's hybrid tools of influence: "Dialogue of ivilizations" as cover

Long before Russian interference in the 2016 US election became one of the biggest stories in the world, and Kremlin disinformation campaigns became a household issue, Moscow faced accusations of trying to influence public opinion in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which are all members of NATO.

The revelations about the websites in the Baltic states provide a rare and detailed inside look into how such disinformation campaigns work, and the lengths to which Moscow is willing to go to obscure its involvement in such schemes.

In the Baltics, Russia directly borders the European Union, and NATO has a big military presence, but perhaps most importantly the region is home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians, mostly in Estonia and Latvia.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, he did so under the pretext of protecting the interests of Russian speakers. So in the Baltic states, Russian propaganda is a real and present fear, and explains why attempts by Moscow to influence public opinion are treated so seriously.

In early October 2014, Aleksandr Kornilov  a member of the Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots in Estonia, an organization known by its Russian acronym, KSORS that appears to be dealing with minority rights, such as Russian-language education, but is seen by Estonias counterintelligence agency as a tool of the Kremlins foreign policy  gave an interview to a news website in Lithuania called Delfi.lt, about the launch of three new websites in the Baltics, all called Baltnews.

Kornilov told the interviewer that the websites, being launched separately in Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, would be independent portals steering clear of politics.

Read alsoPro-Putin politician Medvedchuk gains control over 112 Ukraine TV channel - media

But the reality was very different. In fact, the websites were funded and directed from Moscow, by one of Russias largest state media agencies.

In a Skype chat obtained by BuzzFeed News and its reporting partners, Kornilov is ordered by an employee of Rossiya Segodnya  which runs the website and news agency Sputnik and the news agency RIA Novosti, and is closely connected to RT (formerly known as Russia Today)  to comply with a list of approved topics to cover.

The Skype logs suggest that Aleksandr Svyazin was Kornilovs main point of contact throughout the scheme, as they sent each other thousands of messages over a two-year period and spoke with each other regularly concerning editorial matters for the website.

When contacted on Facebook by BuzzFeed News, Svyazin denied any connection to Sputnik or Baltnews. Svyazin did not respond when presented with a screenshot of a Skype chat  where his Skype avatar is visible  between him and Kornilov. However, in a subsequent Facebook message to a BuzzFeed News reporter, Svyazin referred all queries to the press office of Rossiya Segodnya.

This exchange between Kornilov and Svyazin, one of many revealed by the Skype logs, indicates the lack of independence of the websites, which, as the documents show, formed part of a propaganda operation orchestrated, funded, and managed by Rossiya Segodnya, as it set up outlets that acted as mouthpieces for Moscow in Europe.

Read alsoFacebook uncovers active influence operation

The scheme worked like this: Money was channeled through shell companies outside of Russia, direct editorial orders were delivered via Skype, and the sites reported back the headlines they published, while they also bought clicks and tested buying comments from Russian troll factories to boost numbers.

The story and the true nature of the websites only came to light via a tax evasion and forgery criminal investigation into Kornilov  a 55-year-old Russian citizen described in public reports by Estonias counterintelligence agency KAPO as a Russian propagandist  and a freedom of information request in that country. Kornilov wasnt convicted personally, but the NGO he set up and used in the schemes was, under Estonian law that allows for companies and other bodies to be prosecuted and convicted.Experts at a media workshop here Wednesday stressed that it was vital to turn Pakistan's strategic location from being a liability to a major driver of its economic uplift by overcoming political expediencies.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Experts at a media workshop here Wednesday stressed that it was vital to turn Pakistan's strategic location from being a liability to a major driver of its economic uplift by overcoming political expediencies.

The second one-day media workshop titled "Pakistan's Relations with US, China and Russia" organized by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) was attended by a large number of journalists.

According to a IPRI press release, the experts were of the view that the Government of Pakistan (GoP) needed to remove the choke points at Gwadar (Balochistan) by taking the Baloch and Iranians into confidence on the mutual use of Chabahar and Gwadar ports.

It was highlighted that as the United States (US) and India were uncomfortable with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), hence were spreading misperceptions and propaganda, especially against CPEC to subvert the projects and foment political instability in Pakistan.

The US was exploiting Pakistan's economic vulnerability through the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF); while India was using hybrid warfare techniques to subvert CPEC projects, the experts added.

Ambassador (R) Tajammul Altaf, in his presentation on 'Pakistan-China Relations in the perspective of CPEC Strategic Partnership', provided a brief overview of China's economic and political history from 221 BC when it emerged as a unified state to the modern-day vision of President Xi Jinping to make his country a number one economic power by 2030 and military power by 2050.

Ambassador Altaf explained that Pakistan considered its friendship with China the 'cornerstone of its foreign policy' since it was a friendship which had stood the test of time. 'Both countries enjoy very close people-to-people, friendly, friction-free, robust, unique and pragmatic relations,' he added.

He said CPEC was aimed at China's development pathway through BRI and uplifting of Pakistan's economy through development of the Gwadar Port which would be the second deepest port in the world; energy projects of 17,000 MW; infrastructure and data communication projects; construction of Industrial Parks and 26 Special Economic Zones (SEZs), apart from enhancing the agriculture and tourism sector.

He explained that Pakistan's GDP growth was expected to rise to 7 per cent by 2020. About 80,000 trucks would transport oil & gas, agricultural, industrial products and natural resources daily from Central Asia and Russia to China, Asia, Africa and Europe via Gwadar Port, with expected annual earnings of USD 5 billion by 2022 from toll collection, which would ease out the balance of payment.

The relocation of light engineering sector industries from China and international foreign direct investment in SEZs would be a major contributor to revenue, jobs and GDP growth worth USD 20 billion annually, he added.

Ambassador (R) Fauzia Nasreen gave a comprehensive presentation on 'Pakistan's Relations with Russia'.

Discussing 'Pakistan's Relationship with the US', Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director, Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), said the US' super power status had led to arrogance, however, Washington had lost whatever leverage it had over Islamabad.

Despite that, the world continued to view Pakistan through a US lens, which needed to be countered, he added.

Imtiaz Gul said Pakistan's biggest challenge was to create a balance between its relations with the US and strategic partnership with China, while simultaneously maintaining good relations with its neighbours.

Earlier, IPRI President Ambassador (R) Abdul Basit, in his opening remarks, said IPRI had initiated the workshops to build the capacity of young media professionals, as well as polish the skills of veterans about Pakistan's foreign relations and policies since there was a critical need to accelerate efforts to train the next generation of media leaders.

"We live in a world of fast and dramatic global changes and in order to stay abreast of and understand the nuances of foreign policy changes, in-depth understanding of key issues and relationships is required. I hope that such workshops will fast-track the transfer of knowledge and inspire and engage media professionals about Pakistan's foreign policy issues," he said.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is interested in purchasing and promoting vehicles of the Russian luxury car brand Aurus, part of the Kortezh series, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is interested in purchasing and promoting vehicles of the Russian luxury car brand Aurus, part of the Kortezh series, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told Sputnik.

In July, the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry announced that the defense, security and development fund (DSDF) of UAE company Tawazun signed an agreement on entering a joint venture for manufacturing Aurus vehicles, in which it would invest 110 million Euros ($128.5 million).

"If you remember, we have signed an agreement with a UAE company on joining the project. They are interested in promoting and buying cars," Manturov said.

The minister noted that contracts on cars supplies would be signed starting September.

"As regards the commercial segment, we have already received bids, there are a lot of them, more than a hundred, but the signing of supply contracts will begin after the presentation at the Moscow automobile Salon. The signing of the documents will begin in September," Manturov said.A group of seven Chinese students from Beijing Foreign Studies University's Urdu Department left here for Islamabad to attend a programme at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) to further enhance their Urdu language proficiency.

BEIJING, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :A group of seven Chinese students from Beijing Foreign Studies University's urdu Department left here for Islamabad to attend a programme at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) to further enhance their Urdu language proficiency.

"The students selected from a batch of 22 students currently studying Urdu at the university will attend the NUML, Islamabad for six months to improve their Urdu language skills," Head of Urdu Department, school of Asian and African Studies, BSF University, Zhou Yuan said here on Wednesday.

"This activity will provide a chance to our students to not only upgrade their spoken Urdu but also aware them about Pakistan, its people and culture," she told APP.

Zhou Yuan said that many Chinese students were learning Urdu at different universities and institutes around the country, including Beijing.

To cope with the demand owing to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, several universities in Shanghai, Tianjin, Kunming, Urumqi and Inner Mongolia were considering setting up Urdu departments, she added.

Zhou Yuan, who has adopted a Pakistani name 'Nasreen' informed that the students who would study Urdu in Pakistan had also adopted Pakistani Names.

These students included Wu Jiahao (Amber), Wang Jingjiu (Junaid), Zhu Liyuan (Sehrish), Lu Dongxin (Sadaf), Xu Yichen (Sahar), Chen Qiyuan (Musa) and Fan Siyuan (Mehtab). These students would continue their study in China after completing one semester at NUML.Recently upgraded COMSATS University Islamabad, a public sector university under Ministry of Science and Technology, was rated first in Pakistan and amongst 601-700 ranked university of the world by Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) prestigious Shanghai Ranking.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Recently upgraded COMSATS University Islamabad, a public sector university under Ministry of Science and Technology, was rated first in Pakistan and amongst 601-700 ranked university of the world by Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) prestigious Shanghai Ranking.

CUI is followed by QAU at 701-800, University of Punjab in the 801-900 band and Aga Khan University in the 901-1000 band. Only four universities from Pakistan were ranked among the top 1000 universities of the world, a press release issue here on Wednesday said.

The Shanghai Rankings considered, among other factors, the 2000 impact factor publications in a Calendar year (2017) along with over 54 patent filing by COMSATS University Islamabad in the recent years.

This is first time that a university from Pakistan has been ranked in such a higher band among the worlds' top universities.

In his congratulatory message to all faculty, staff and students of CUI, Rector Prof. Dr. Raheel Qamar urged everyone to play their role in institutional building in Pakistan.

He further emphasized community building and environment protection efforts of the CUI family as shown by over 30,000 tree plantation drive at all CUI campuses.

The rector also encouraged all members of the CUI community to support efforts to conserve water and help in building the Diamer-Bhasa Dam by financially supporting the government efforts.

Shanghai Ranking Consultancy is a fully independent organization dedicated to research on higher education intelligence.

It has been the official publisher of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) since 2009.DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 29th Aug, 2018) Emirates Green Building Council, EmiratesGBC, an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, has called upon all businesses, entities, and cities in the UAE and the region to formally endorse and sign the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.

Announced globally by the World Green Building Council, WorldGBC, the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment challenges businesses and organisations across the world to take advanced climate action by setting ambitious targets to eliminate operational carbon emissions from their building portfolios by 2030 and to advocate for all buildings to be net zero in operation by 2050.

These targets are set to meet the Paris Agreement ambition of below 2 degrees of global warming. This month, 19 global cities, representing 130 million urban citizens, committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring that new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030.

The commitments aim is to generate the next wave of high momentum to cut down global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and inspire national governments to step up national climate action plans over the next two years.

More cities, states and regions are set to commit to enacting regulations or planning policy to drive construction of new buildings operating at net zero carbon from 2030 and enable all existing buildings to operate at net zero carbon by 2050.

This will spur the market to develop the capacity to meet this increased demand and demonstrate market readiness for a more aggressive national strategy.

Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of the EmiratesGBC, said, "We will not have sufficient time to reach the Paris Agreement targets, which calls on decarbonising the global economy within 20 to 30 years if we delay action. We need to achieve tangible results and the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment is a unique opportunity to ambitiously work toward reducing energy demand and controlling carbon emissions.

"This calls for the concerted efforts of all governments, businesses, civil society organisations and the public at large to achieve the significant milestone that will be our true investment in the future for our upcoming generations. I am very proud that Majid Al Futtaim, who are active board members of the EmiratesGBC, are among the first three organisations globally to sign up the commitment, thus demonstrating the UAEs global leadership in sustainable development. I encourage the private sector to follow this lead and position their organisations as global leaders in sustainability."The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi, has designated India as the guest of honour for the 29th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, ADIBF, which will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 29th Aug, 2018) The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi, has designated India as the guest of honour for the 29th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, ADIBF, which will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

Set to run from 24th to 30th April, 2019, the fair aims to highlight the UAEs rich heritage, showcasing its authenticity and modernity, as well as its cultural and literary output.

Indias participation in the fair is expected to attract significant visitor numbers with various events and activities held throughout the entire duration of the ADIBF. These activations will embrace the fields of literature, culture, art, music, cinema and dance.

Indias participation will also provide a chance for investors wishing to explore and capitalise on opportunities offered by Indian groups and publishers that are present in the GCC. The Indian pavilion will also host Indian writers, authors and literary scholars who will serve as ambassadors for the literature and art of their country.

Saif Saeed Ghobash, Under-Secretary of DCT Abu Dhabi, said, "Indias selection as the guest of honour of the 29th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair underscores the deep ties between India and the Arab world and the long-standing UAE-India relationship, which preceded the UAEs foundation in 1971.

"Inspired initially by trade, these relations expanded to encompass cultural and literary products and scientific and artistic marvels, offered by a country in which 24 official languages and hundreds of dialects coexist.

"

"Indias power is not limited to its economy or its universally admired film industry; there is a great strength in its cultural output, boasting as it does some 16,000-plus publishers.

"Following the directives of our wise leadership, we are tireless in pursuing cultural openness and the celebration of other cultures. This comes as part of our efforts to accelerate our transformation into a knowledge-based economy and to promote cultural tourism."

Abdullah Majed Al Ali, Director of the ADIBF, said, "The 29th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair will celebrate India, with its authentic culture, arts, heritage and knowledge-based traditions. These credentials are deeply rooted in its history, which spans more than 8,000 years and offers a wide variety of cultural and creative products in the fields of art, authorship, publishing and knowledge.

"Celebrating India also reflects the UAEs long-term vision of establishing bridges of communication with other world cultures.

"ADIBF 2019 is expected to be a vibrant cultural event and an art and folklore festival with Indias presence showcasing its languages, creative products and publishing industry. We are looking forward to welcoming Indian artists, creative minds and renowned influential authors.

"We hope that this cultural gathering will result in a joint publishing industry that benefits from the publishing markets of both countries, offering professional development opportunities and unique knowledge-based products to the intellectuals and writers of both countries."The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has signed public sector loan agreements totaling US$37.5 million with Guinea Bissau, Burundi and Uganda to support socio-economic development and living standards in the African continent.

VIENNA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 29th Aug, 2018) The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has signed public sector loan agreements totaling US$37.5 million with Guinea Bissau, Burundi and Uganda to support socio-economic development and living standards in the African continent.

OFIDs US$20 million loan to Burundi will help fund the Rumonge-Nyanza Lac Road Rehabilitation Project. Improvements to the 52 km stretch of road will promote development in Burundis southwest region and strengthen regional integration with Tanzania. Some 340,000 people will benefit.

At the signing ceremony, OFID Director-General Suleiman J Al-Herbish emphasised the crucial role of transport infrastructure in socio-economic development. Burundis Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Development Dr. Domitien Ndihokubwayo, signed the agreement on behalf of his country.

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the Saudi Fund for Development are also supporting this project, which represents OFIDs 29th loan (totaling US$212 million) to Burundi since 1977. The country has also benefited from OFIDs Technical Assistance grants at both national and regional levels.

OFID also extended a US$11.5 million loan to Uganda to co-finance the Luwero-Butalangu Road Project. The road, when completed, will improve access to markets, social and health services, and employment opportunities. Primary beneficiaries  estimated to be in the region of 677,000 people  will be farmers and businesses in Luwero, Butalangu and other communities in central Uganda.

Al-Herbish commended the government of Uganda for the great strides it has made in social and economic development.

Ugandas Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Matia Kasaija, signed the loan agreement on behalf of his country and thanked OFID for its support.

Cooperation between OFID and Uganda began in 1976. Since then, OFID has approved 16 public sector loans totaling US$163 million and grant funding exceeding US$3.3 million to support the nations development priorities. Currently, OFID is co-financing five ongoing projects in the energy, transport, health and education sectors.

Al-Herbish and the Ambassador of Guinea Bissau to Germany, Rui Domingos Batica, signed a US$6 million loan agreement that sees OFID support the Economic Development Project for the Southern Regions of Guinea Bissau, also referred to as PADES.

PADES is financed in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the government of Guinea Bissau. It aims to alleviate poverty and enhance food security in the rural communities of Tombali, Quinara and Bolama-Bijagos by increasing rice production and modernizing 33 km of rural roads. The project will also encourage the participation of young adults and women in the processing and marketing of crop and livestock production.

Al-Herbish said this agreement represented the tenth public sector loan extended by OFID to Guinea Bissau to date, amounting to US$19.9 million of development funding. Previously, the country has also benefited from the proceeds of two national grants (totaling US$1.5 million) and eight regional grants (amounting to US$14.1 million) to support rural electrification, health and education, as well as food security programmes.(@FahadShabbir)

Ammar Omar Al-Breiki, Acting Charge d'Affairs at the UAE Embassy in Kazakhstan, attended on Wednesday the opening ceremony of the 'Peace Wall' in the presence of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana.

ASTANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 30th Aug, 2018) Ammar Omar Al-Breiki, Acting Charge d'Affairs at the UAE Embassy in Kazakhstan, attended on Wednesday the opening ceremony of the 'Peace Wall' in the presence of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana.

A number of Kazakh senior officials and heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations accredited to Kazakhstan, were also present.

The opening of the Peace Wall coincides with the International Day Against Nuclear Tests that falls on 29th August every year.

The event, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2009, was initiated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.The UAE Embassy in Vienna has participated in the "International Storytelling Festival" that was held in the Austrian province of Styria.

VIENNA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 29th Aug, 2018) The UAE Embassy in Vienna has participated in the "International Storytelling Festival" that was held in the Austrian province of Styria.

The festival invited the "Queen of Sands," Shayma Al Mughairy, to participate in the event, as the first artist to represent the Arab world.

The festival, which hosted 83 artists from over 20 countries, is unique in Austria, is a major festival in Europe, and is the second oldest storytelling festival in the world.

Folke Tegetthoff, Director of the Festival, welcomed the embassys participation and praised the performance of Al Mughairy.

During her performances over two nights, Al Mughairy charmed the audience with her talent and transported them to the Arab world through the art of drawing on sand. She also demonstrated the history of the UAE and highlighted its close friendship with Austria.

"Our close cooperation with the UAE Embassy in Vienna and our friendship with Hamad Ali Al Kaabi, UAE Ambassador to Austria, have made the festival and the participation of the Arab artists possible. We hope to cooperate and work together in the future," Tegetthoff said.

During the festival, Al Kaabi highlighted the importance of the art of storytelling in his opening speech, where he described the art of storytelling as a wonderful tool that requires the use of hearing, sight and feeling to promote understanding and create cohesion. He added that storytelling is an important part of Emirati culture, as it was practised by the residents of the desert in the Arabian Gulf for 500 years.

He also expressed his happiness at the presence of Al Mughairy at the festival.

The festival was established in 1988, attracts around 15,000 visitors annually, is held in four Austrian provinces in Austria over three weeks, and features around 70 shows. Artists from around the world can tell their stories in different ways, including through classical storytelling or combined with other art forms, such as music, dance, comedy and silent acting.

The UAEs participation is part of its celebration of the Year of Zayed, which is dedicated to reviving the memory of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, as well as his values and accomplishments and the UAEs culture.Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday said that government was making a comprehensive education policy that will address the challenges in education sector.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday said that government was making a comprehensive education policy that will address the challenges in education sector.

He stated this during a called on meeting with Country Director Asian Development Bank (ADB) Xiaohong Yang, said a press release.

The meeting was also attended by Federal Secretary Education, Arshad Mirza.

The minister further said that "we will ensure quality education and will provide level playing field and equal opportunities to everyone".

The Minister welcomed the country director, ADB and said that Pakistan is currently facing various challenges in Education sector and that the Government is fully committed to resolve these challenges.

Shafqat Mahmood said that among the various challenges are different streams or systems of education that are Private Schools, Government Schools and then Religious Schools or Madrassah.

There is also the challenge of providing Quality Education and removing discrimination in education system.

He further said that government's main focus will also be on the skill and human development.

Vocational and Technical training is must and we are in the process of setting up Skill Universities, he said adding that we are in close liaison with all the chambers of commerce and other stakeholders in this regard.

The Minister also suggested that the Asian Development Bank should work on Skill Development in Pakistan.

Country Director ADB, Xiaohong Yang congratulated the minister on his appointment and reiterated ADB's commitment to support Pakistan to improve its economy, reduce poverty and achieve development goals.

While appreciating the steps taken by the Government of Pakistan for promotion of Education and offered ADB's help and support in this regard, she said that we are looking forward to work closely with the government of Pakistan for the progress and prosperity of the People of Pakistan.

Later, the minister was also called on by Mr. I. Mustafa Yurdakul, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey.

The Turkish ambassador congratulated the new Federal minister. Matters of Bilateral Interest were discussed in the meeting.(@rukhshanmir)

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday said the report of United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) with its categorical focus on human rights abuses in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir caught India completely off-guard.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday said the report of United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) with its categorical focus on human rights abuses in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir caught India completely off-guard.

The foreign minister stated this during a meeting with Azad Jammu and Kashmir AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider. Both the leaders discussed the current situation in the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

The AJK prime minister congratulated Qureshi on his appointment as foreign minister and briefed him about the human rights situation in IoK.

Highlighting the findings of the OHCHR report, the AJK prime minister regretted that instead of addressing the concerns raised in the report on human rights violations in IoK perpetrated by the occupation forces, India had exacerbated its repression there with the imposition of governor rule and brutal use of force.

He said the assassination of veteran Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari just hours after his tweet in favour of the OHCHR report was yet another proof of Indian atrocities in IoK.

The foreign minister welcomed the recommendation of the OHCHR report to constitute a commission of inquiry (COI) to investigate gross and systematic human rights violations in IoK. He said if India really had nothing to hide, then it should allow access to the COI and OIC IPHRC (Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) to the IoK.

The minister also highlighted the steps taken by the Foreign Ministry and Pakistani missions aboard to underscore the importance of the OHCHR report and stated that Pakistan would continue to draw attention to the findings of the report at international forums.

He affirmed that the government and the people of Pakistan would continue to give full moral, diplomatic and political support to the people of IoK in their legitimate struggle to attain their inalienable right to self-determination.The Saudi Arabian authorities have started preparations for next year's Haj with a decision to hold the Haj workshop to discuss all the aspects of the operation of the annual pilgrimage in the end of the coming month of Muharram.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :The Saudi Arabian authorities have started preparations for next year's Haj with a decision to hold the Haj workshop to discuss all the aspects of the operation of the annual pilgrimage in the end of the coming month of Muharram.

According to Saudi Gazette, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah, advisor to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and chairman of the Central Haj Committee, approved holding the Haj workshop, in preparations for the next Haj season. Meanwhile, the Haj Housing Committee in Makkah will start receiving from Muharram 1 applications from citizens who want to rent out their residential buildings for the accommodation of the pilgrims for the Haj of 2019.

Prince Khaled made the approval while chairing the meeting of the committee at the emirate office in Makkah on Tuesday. The meeting reviewed the operation of the Haj of 2018 and making arrangements and preparations for the next Haj. At the outset of the meeting, Prince Khaled thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, and Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Saud Bin Naif, minister of interior and chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee, for the resounding success of this year's Haj. He said that as of Tuesday morning, 207,000 out of the total foreign pilgrims of 1,760,486 have left the Kingdom.

According to the emir, the meeting observed several positive factors that contributed to making the Haj operation a great success.

"There has been a qualitative leap in the Haj operation with complete coordination of all the concerned departments and agencies, and deployment of huge number of human and material resources, and a sharp decline in the number of those who infiltrated to the holy sites to perform Haj without a permit. These were some of the positive factors in addition to the overall sound health condition of the pilgrims."Prince Khaled said that the Haj season was completely free from epidemic or contagious diseases, and there were isolation rooms at the hospitals in Makkah and the holy sites. More than 333,000 pilgrims received treatment at these hospitals during Haj. "The dramatic improvement in the system of crowd control and grouping of pilgrims, smooth flow of traffic, running of Mashair Train on time, and implementation of Makkah Road initiative for immigration pre-clearance facility for over 100,000 Malaysian and Indonesian pilgrims are some of the other positive factors," he added.

The meeting also discussed the plan for starting preparations for the Haj of 2019. In a related development, the Haj Housing Committee in Makkah urged the citizens who want to get issuance of licenses for accommodating pilgrims in their residential buildings to approach the concerned engineering offices, approved by the Makkah municipality, at the earliest. The engineering offices and the Civil Defense teams will inspect the buildings and issue fitness certificates before the committee issuing licenses for these buildings.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Total liabilities of Pakistan Railways remained Rs 82.899 billion during the financial year 2016-17, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Senate.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Total liabilities of Pakistan Railways remained Rs 82.899 billion during the financial year 2016-17, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Senate.

Answering the question of Senator Mohsin Aziz, he said total current liabilities of Pakistan Railways were Rs 12.415 billion, security and deposits' liabilities were Rs 11.

755 billion, while accrued liabilities were Rs 0.092 billion in 2016-17.

Foreign Loans/Credits of Railways are Rs 29.348 billion, overdraft of State Bank of Pakistan was Rs 34.519 billion, staff benefit and Provident funds were Rs 6.617 billion during the aforementioned period.

He said the Accounts of Pakistan Railways for Fiscal Year 2017-18 would be finalized by July 31, 2018.

The overdraft taken from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is alsonot being repaid to SBP.A dialogue session "Re-imagining Democracy" was organized here on Tuesday by Blue Veins in which representatives from vulnerable communities including transgender, people with disabilities; religious minorities participated to give their view on democracy, its impact on society and expectations from a democratic and just society.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Aug, 2018 ) :A dialogue session "Re-imagining Democracy" was organized here on Tuesday by Blue Veins in which representatives from vulnerable communities including transgender, people with disabilities; religious minorities participated to give their view on democracy, its impact on society and expectations from a democratic and just society.

Program Coordinator Blue Veins, Qamar Naseem said despite elections after every five years, freedom and democracy are actually in retreat as it has become only a mechanism for the peaceful arbitration of political rivalries, said a press release.

President Chairperson of the District Committee on the Status of Women Peshawar, Shaheen Quresh said democracy is more likely to develop and endure when marginalized segments of a society are free to participate and influence political outcomes without suffering discrimination or reprisal. But unfortunately, they are excluded in Pakistan based on their gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender identity or other identity factors".

Coordinator of the Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network, Taimur Kamal said, "Pluralism must be essence of the democracy which should include political pluralism, peaceful rotation of power, the right of all political parties to exist and organize cultural pluralism, religious pluralism, and gender pluralism. Pakistan is blessed with diversity and it must be seen as a strength not a weakness".

President of the Transgender Community, Farzana Riaz said, "People with gender variant identities in Pakistan are still struggling to be recognized as human beings in this society. The democracies of today can remain democracies only if they are able to negotiate pluralism and communality, conflict and justice, rationality and identities" A renowned religious scholar Mufti Jamil said: "Religion, pluralism and democracy are compatible they should be mutually reinforcing foundations of healthy, stable, and prosperous societies as religion and faith have provided humanity with ethical codes and spiritual guidance and comfort and has been a driving force for personal and social progress." Ayaz Khan a disability rights activist said lack of representation of People With Disability (PWD) is a serious threat to the inclusion of disabled people in policy matters, continuing barriers surrounding disabled people's equitable participation in social and economic life, means promises are not resultingin action. The participation of persons with disabilities in decision making processes is crucial"Coordinator, Bridge Organization, Shams Naveed said: "The minority's rights must be protected no matter how alienated a minority is from the majority society; otherwise, the majority's rights lose their meaning".A three-day "Thailand Exhibition" will be opened on Saturday (Sept 1) aimed at enhancing existing US $1 billion bilateral trade at a hotel.

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :A three-day "Thailand Exhibition" will be opened on Saturday (Sept 1) aimed at enhancing existing US $1 billion bilateral trade at a hotel.

Around 50,000 visitors are expected from all walks of life to attend the exhibition, said a statement issued here on Wednesday.

President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Muffasar Atta Malik will inaugurate the exhibition as a chief guest along with Consul General of Royal Thai to Karachi Suwat Kaewsook and Director Thai Trade Centre Suebsak Dangboonrueng, Department of International Trade Promotion, Royal Thai Ministry of Commerce.

The exhibition is being organized by Department of International Trade Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, Royal Thai Government with the support of Royal Thai Consulate-General to Karachi and being managed by Event and Conference International.

Trade Advisor to Ministry of Commerce, Royal Thai Government Arif Suleman informed that the exhibition will accommodate 50 companies with more than 10 categories of products including hardware, car paint, machinery/rice mill, food & beverage, household products, water purification, home textile products, footwear, health & beauty products, medicine & herbal products, motorbike parts, party accessories, jewelry cleaner and electrical appliances.

He said that this exhibition is a distinctive effort of the department to create opportunities for the business communities of both the countries.

He further said that there is immense potential in trade between the two countries and trade has increased to US $1 billion so far.

Major Export from Pakistan to Thailand is yarn and fibers, chemicals, finished oils, edible meatetc. Main import from Thailand is household products include food items, beverages, medicines, cosmetics, herbal products, motorcycles & auto parts, rubber products etc, Arif Suleman added.(@mahnoorsheikh03)

People from all walks of life are condemning the blasphemous cartoons contest in Netherlands

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News  29th August, 2018) A Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders' had announced to hold the blasphemous cartoon competition in the garb of freedom of expression, igniting Muslims across the world.

Muslims across the world are condemning the announcement and discussing various measures to sensitize the non-Muslims on the sensitivity of the issue and to prevent the event from taking place.

In this bid, #WeLoveMuhammad was started on micro blogging website Twitter which has now become the top trend in Pakistan.

People from all walks of life are condemning the blasphemous cartoons contest.(@mahnoorsheikh03)

Plays the song in his car, says it is very popular in all of Azerbaijan these days

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News  29th August, 2018) A taxi driver in Baku, Azerbaijan is also a fan of Imran Khans Tabdeeli songs.

According to media reports, a Pakistani couple who was on a trip to Azerbaijan came across a local taxi driver who was listening to the Tabdeeli song of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Upon hearing the song, Pakistani tourist Salman Raza asked the taxi driver about it. The taxi driver said that he does not know much about this song but it is very popular in all of Azerbaijan and Baku these days.

He said that people there like this song a lot.

Salman Raza thought that the driver must be a Pakistani as he was listening to this song but when he spoke to him, he found out that the taxi driver was an Azerbaijani.

The Pakistani citizen told him about Imran Khan and his party and also told him the meaning of the song upon which, he expressed good wishes for a positive change in Pakistan.

The Azerbaijani taxi driver said that he is very happy about the change in Pakistan and is hopeful for the countrys development.(@rukhshanmir)

Americans should reconsider traveling to Burundi due to crime and armed conflict, the US State Department said in a travel advisory on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Americans should reconsider traveling to Burundi due to crime and armed conflict, the US State Department said in a travel advisory on Wednesday.

"The Department of State renewed its Travel Advisory for BURUNDI on August 29, 2018. The Department continues to advise travelers to reconsider travel to BURUNDI," the advisory said.

Violent crimes are common in the country, and even though Westerners may not be specifically targeted, they could be in the wrong place at the wrong time, it added.

Burundi is also dealing with ongoing political tension, which has resulted in frequent gunfire and grenade attacks throughout the country, the advisory said.

Armed groups also occasionally conduct cross-border raids from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the provinces of Cibitoke and Bubanza, it added.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The Arab Coalition said in a statement on Wednesday that it was committed to ensuring prevention of civilian casualties in its military operations in Yemen, as well as to contributing to civilians' protection in accordance with the international humanitarian law.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The Arab Coalition said in a statement on Wednesday that it was committed to ensuring prevention of civilian casualties in its military operations in Yemen, as well as to contributing to civilians' protection in accordance with the international humanitarian law.

"The Arab Coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen affirms its continued commitment to take all steps to ensure that civilian casualties in its military operations are prevented and that civilians and civilian objects are protected in accordance with the principles of international humanitarian law," the statement, published by Al Arabiya news outlet, read.

The statement is a reaction to the recent report by the UN Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen. The 41-page report, published on Tuesday, stipulates that most of the direct civilian casualties from September 2014 to June 2018 in Yemen have been caused by the coalition's airstrikes. The group also accused the Arab Coalition of violating international humanitarian law by imposing naval and air restrictions in Yemen, and of restricting human rights activists' and journalists' freedom of expression.

The Arab Coalition said that it had been cooperating with the group "in an open and transparent manner" since the group's establishment in December 2017.

"The Coalition also facilitated the team's work in visits to Yemen and meeting its requirements, as well as providing information in a comprehensive report to the Office of the High Commissioner which includes answers to all queries submitted to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Yemen," the statement read.

The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations engaged in the armed conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels in March 2015 and has since then been carrying out airstrikes against Houthis.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, the conflict in Yemen has left 6,660 civilians dead and 10,563 injured from March 2015 to August 2018.(@FahadShabbir)

Argentine's ex-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said that her rights were violated during searches in her house as part of a bribery probe.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Argentine's ex-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said that her rights were violated during searches in her house as part of a bribery probe.

"I have just learned that among the items ordered to be confiscated by [judge Claudio] Bonadio from my home in El Calafate, there were the presidential ribbons and rods of [former president of Argentina] Nestor [Kirchner] and mine. The unlimited violation of human rights and guarantees," the former president wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

The searches took place last week.

A new bribery case was brought against Kirchner after the notes of an Argentinian businessman's driver, alleging the massive corruption by state officials, surfaced in the media in early August.

The notes claim that the country's businesses paid millions in bribes to officials of the Argentinian Ministry of the Interior, Public Works and Housing.

On August 13, Kirchner appeared before court and demanded to close the bribery case against her as well as to dismiss the judge and prosecutor responsible for the investigation into the case.

In May, Kirchner was questioned by the court as part of a separate money-laundering case. She, along with other high-ranking officials of her administration, is also under criminal prosecution over the suspected cover-up of details of the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires.Around 17,000 cases of colic and diarrhea have been reported in Iraq over the past two weeks due to the water contamination crisis affecting the country, especially its southern Basra province, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing the Iraq Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate's Basra director, Riad Abdul-Amir.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Around 17,000 cases of colic and diarrhea have been reported in Iraq over the past two weeks due to the water contamination crisis affecting the country, especially its southern Basra province, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing the Iraq Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate's Basra director, Riad Abdul-Amir.

"The hospitals in Basra receive about 1,500 such cases on a daily basis," Abdul-Amir said, as quoted by the media outlet.

He went on to say that 20 percent of the 17,000 reported cases had symptoms of cholera, which meant that the threat of an outbreak in the region was high.

According to Asharq Al-Awsat, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi has called on local authorities to address the issue by providing safe water, and also urged the country's Ministries of Defense, Transportation and Energy to contribute to ensuring water supplies.

In addition, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights in Basra has voiced its concern over the fact that there was only one hospital in the region where cases related to polluted water poisoning could be treated.

Asharq Al-Awsat added, citing anonymous sources in Basra, that local citizens had organized a rally in order to voice their protest over lack of progress in resolving the problem. Basra's Syndicate of Journalists staged another rally, calling on the central and local governments to find a solution.

According to media reports, people living in Basra have long been suffering from salty and polluted water, as desalinization facilities failed to provide them with sufficient amounts of safe drinking water. In July and early August, mass protests were held in Basra and other southern provinces. Finding a solution to the water crisis was just one of the demands of the protesters, who also called on the government to address unemployment and the electricity shortage.Australian authorities are considering the possibility of denying entry to Chelsea Manning, the former informant of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, Australian media reported Wednesday, citing an official notice addressed to Manning.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Australian authorities are considering the possibility of denying entry to Chelsea Manning, the former informant of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, Australian media reported Wednesday, citing an official notice addressed to Manning.

"On 8 August 2018 you applied for a Temporary Activity (Class GG) visa. The purpose of this notice is no notify you that consideration is to be given to whether this visa application should be refused under s501 (1) of the Migration Act," the document, emailed to the ABC news broadcaster, read.

This particular section of the law empowers the immigration minister to deny an entry visa to any individual who does not pass the so-called character test. The Australian Home Affairs Department told the outlet that a person must first meet specific character requirements before being allowed to enter the country.

Manning is planning to give a speech in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Suzi Jamil, the director of Think Inc., the company which organized Manning's Australia tour, told ABC News that it was seeking support from organizations and politicians so that it could send the appropriate request to Australian Immigration Minister David Coleman.

Chelsea, formerly known as Bradley Manning, was released from a US prison in May 2017 after serving seven years of her 35-year term. Manning was convicted after she leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning's sentence was commuted by former US President Barack Obama during his final days in office in early 2017.

In September of the same year, Manning was denied entry to Canada over her prior conviction.Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz urged the sides to the conflict in eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas to adhere to the truce for the new school year, which entered into force on Wednesday, and to work on the fulfillment of the Minsk peace accords.

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz urged the sides to the conflict in eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas to adhere to the truce for the new school year, which entered into force on Wednesday, and to work on the fulfillment of the Minsk peace accords.

"I am glad about the truce that was agreed ahead of the new school year in eastern Ukraine and urge all parties to adhere to it and continue to work toward the implementation of the Minsk agreements. The OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] is doing an important job, which we fully support," Kurz said on Twitter.

Alexander Hug, the principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM), said on Wednesday that the mission had registered over 70 ceasefire violations in the conflict-torn region of Donbas overnight, and urged the conflicting sides to cease hostilities.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014, when Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics that refused to recognize the new government in Kiev, which came to power after what they considered to be a coup.

In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end the hostilities in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire breaches.

The new truce was agreed on by the Contact Group on Ukraine, comprised of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, on August 22.The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied media reports stating that Beijing was constructing a military base in Afghanistan to combat terrorism

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied media reports stating that Beijing was constructing a military base in Afghanistan to combat terrorism.

On Tuesday, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing sources that China had started building a training camp for Afghan servicemen to support Afghanistan's counterterrorism efforts.

"These reports are not true," Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the ministry, told a briefing.

According to the newspaper, the rumored base in an isolated Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan is said to be fully funded by Beijing.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2018) French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday in his address to French ambassadors that he believed it was too early and counterproductive to discuss the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the moment.

Kiev has long been seeking the deployment of the UN peacekeepers in Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his support for the idea, but stressed that peacekeepers should only ensure the security of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring staff. Meanwhile, Kiev has advocated wider powers of peacekeepers and their deployment on a large territory up to the Ukrainian border with Russia.

"Without political will on the ground [in Ukraine] it is too early and even counterproductive to discuss the possible [deployment] of the UN mission. We cannot carry out an operation to maintain peace, if peace is yet to be achieved," Le Drian stressed.

The French foreign minister underlined that the conflict in eastern Ukraine remained a stumbling block in the EU-Russian relations, which was reflected by extension of sanctions targeting Moscow.

"During a governmental meeting in June we with Germany pledged to mobilize the parties [to the conflict] to achieve progress, to try to restore confidence. This means to cease fire, withdraw heavy weapons and make progress in political terms," Le Drian said, stressing once again the importance of the Minsk agreements' implementation.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014, when Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics that refused to recognize the new government in Kiev, which came to power as a result of what Donbas residents considered to be a coup. In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end the hostilities in the region. Despite this, the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.Climeworks AG announced it has raised CHF 30.5 million in equity funding, from a group of existing and new private investors as well as Zurich Cantonal Bank. The successful financing round brings the Swiss company another step closer to achieving its vision of capturing one percent of global CO 2 emissions by 2025.

Funds will be used to further industrialize Climeworks unique, modular and scalable direct air capture (DAC) technology, reduce costs significantly and prepare for mass production. Climeworks plans to expand its presence in all pioneering markets and strengthen its pole position within the direct air capture industry. Expansion of the team, today consisting of 60 highly skilled employees in Zurich, strengthening development capabilities and supporting commercial deployment is foreseen.

The new investment comes from a consortium of existing and new private investors and Switzerlands largest cantonal bank, Zurich Cantonal Bank. With this financing round, investment in Climeworks AG and its pioneering DAC technology totals more than CHF 50M worth of private equity and public grants.

Since the beginning of 2017, Climeworks has grown from 30 to 60 employees. The company has built nine direct air capture plants for three different market segments in 6 countries. Two of those plants marked milestones in the DAC industry last year: in May 2017, Climeworks launched the worlds first commercial DAC plant in Hinwil, Switzerland, selling air-captured CO 2 to a greenhouse owner. Later that year in November Climeworks opened the worlds first DAC plant in combination with underground sequestration of CO 2 in Iceland.

Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks AG: Our direct air capture plants serve markets ranging from Food, Beverage and Agriculture, through Renewable Fuels and Materials to Carbon Dioxide Removal. In the latter, companies and individuals can reverse their unavoidable emissions via Climeworks. All three markets are set to grow, and with this latest investment Climeworks is well-positioned with a strong base for further growth.

Christoph Gebald, co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks AG: Besides assembling an exceptional team, we are happy and thankful that we were able to establish an excellent shareholder structure over the last years, supporting us to pioneer the creation of a new, timely and relevant industry.The District Court in Amsterdam ordered to seize the shares of Blue Stream Pipeline Company B.V., owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, and the company's debt to Gazprom, as part of the $2.56 billion damages that the Russian company has to pay after losing to Ukraine's Naftogaz in court, Gazprom said Wednesday in an International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) report.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The District Court in Amsterdam ordered to seize the shares of Blue Stream Pipeline Company B.V., owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, and the company's debt to Gazprom, as part of the $2.56 billion damages that the Russian company has to pay after losing to Ukraine's Naftogaz in court, Gazprom said Wednesday in an International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) report.

"On 30 May 2018 the shares in Blue Stream Pipeline Company B.V. owned by PJSC Gazprom and the debt owed by Blue Stream Pipeline Company B.V. to PJSC Gazprom were seized pursuant to the judgment of the District Court of Amsterdam dated 30 May 2018," the report read.

Blue Stream Pipeline Company B.V., a joint venture of Gazprom and Italy's Eni, was set up to build the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia to Turkey. Blue Stream Pipeline Company owns the offshore stretch of the pipeline, while Gazprom is the owner and operator of the onshore part.

In February 2018, the Stockholm arbitration court ordered Gazprom to pay $2.56 billion in compensation to the Ukrainian company over the 2014 breach of contractual obligations. Gazprom appealed the decision, but Ukraine said it would start claiming the damages via asset freezes in Switzerland, the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom.HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2018) Helsinki supports Paris' efforts in stepping up European security and defense, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Wednesday.

"Finland and France are members of the group that wants to strengthen the European security and defense policy. Tomorrow, our countries will make a joint statement on the protection of Europe. We consider your European initiative to create a rapid deployment force an important part of this development," Niinisto said during a solemn welcoming ceremony dedicated to French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Finland.

Niinisto continued by outlining the need to re-energize the French-Finnish defense cooperation.

The Finnish president also expressed support for France's initiatives to improve the environment.

Niinisto called on the global community to meet obligations under the Paris climate deal, and underlined the need for other measures to prevent environmental catastrophe.

Macron's trip to Finland is his first official visit to the country. On Thursday, the French president is scheduled to hold talks with Niinisto and Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

Macron has been voicing the idea to create a rapid European intervention force to prop up EU defense since he took office in 2017. The French president has also been an advocate of fighting climate change, especially in light of the US pullout from the Paris climate accord.French diplomats have no reason to postpone trips to Iran on security grounds, Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) French diplomats have no reason to postpone trips to Iran on security grounds, Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported, citing an internal memo, that France asked its diplomats and the Foreign Ministry to delay non-essential trips to Iran for security-related reasons.

"I have not been given this information by any trustworthy source from the French government and I see no reason and no necessity for the French Foreign Ministry to make such a decision," Qassemi said in a statement published on the ministry's website.

According to the agency, the decision was connected with arrests made in France and in Belgium earlier this year. The detainees were suspected of planning an attack on exiled Iranian opposition figures.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

French President Emmanuel Macron will start his two-day visit to Finland on Wednesday, during which he is set to meet with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) French President Emmanuel Macron will start his two-day visit to Finland on Wednesday, during which he is set to meet with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

The French leader will attend a welcoming ceremony and a solemn dinner on Wednesday evening,

On Thursday, Macron and Niinisto are set to hold talks on the issues of security, relations with Russia and the United States as well as the Arctic and environmental concerns.

They will hold a joint press conference after the meeting.

After the talks, the French president will discuss the EU migrant crisis and the bloc's defense policy with the Finnish prime minister.

French First Lady Brigitte Macron will accompany her husband during the trip. It will be their first official visit to Finland.Jerusalem, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2018 ) :Employees of an Israeli drone manufacturer are facing charges for reportedly demonstrating weaponry on Armenian soldiers at the request of Azeri clients, the justice ministry and media said Wednesday.

"Aeronautics and 10 of its employees were informed that they were set to be charged, pending a hearing," the justice ministry said of the company based in the central Israeli town Yavneh.

Aeronautics chief executive Amos Mathan and other senior employees were suspected of "fraudulently obtaining something under aggravated circumstances" as well as violations of Israel's security export control law, the ministry said.

"The employees were investigated about a deal the company made with a substantive overseas client," the statement read without providing further details, noting a gag order over the affair.

According to Israeli media, in 2017 representatives of Aeronautics were working on a deal in Azerbaijan, where they were asked by their hosts to demonstrate their Orbiter 1K drone on Armenian soldiers.

The Orbiter 1K is a drone capable of hitting targets with a small explosive payload.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a bitter dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, with frequent exchanges of fire along the volatile front line nearly spiralling back into all-out war in 2016.

According to the reports, two Aeronautics employees refused the request before a more senior official in the firm acquiesced, lightly wounding two Armenian soldiers.

Aeronautics did not immediately reply to queries on the affair, but are reported to have denied targeting Armenian soldiers.

Karabakh has been under Armenian control since it was seized in the early 1990s after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The international community still views Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and no country has recognised it as independent.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the region by force.

Moscow-allied Armenia has vowed to crush any military offensive.

Azerbaijan, a Muslim state open about its ties to Israel, is a major customer of the Jewish state's weapons and military technology.(@FahadShabbir)

Kazakhstan hopes that the rapprochement of South Korea and North Korea will lead to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and is prepared to support this process, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Wednesday.

ASTANA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Kazakhstan hopes that the rapprochement of South Korea and North Korea will lead to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and is prepared to support this process, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Wednesday.

Abdrakhmanov spoke at the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CBTO) conference dubbed Remembering the Past, Looking Forward to the Future in Astana.

"We are closely monitoring the latest developments related to the Korean Peninsula that started at the inter-Korean summit and the first meeting between the United States and North Korea. I hope that these events can lead to complete denuclearization of the peninsula," Abdrakhmanov said.

The Kazakh minister stressed that Astana stood ready to provide its support bearing in mind its "unique experience of giving up nuclear weapons" that were inherited following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

On June 12, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore where they agreed to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Kim also confirmed his desire to denuclearize and signed a corresponding agreement with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the inter-Korean summit in late April.The Lithuanian government has switched its position and has decided to appeal the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that Lithuania hosted a secret jail of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where terrorism suspects were held and interrogated, the country's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said on Wednesday.

VILNIUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The Lithuanian government has switched its position and has decided to appeal the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that Lithuania hosted a secret jail of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where terrorism suspects were held and interrogated, the country's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said on Wednesday.

On August 23, the press service of Lithuania's representative in the ECHR said that the country would not appeal the ECHR ruling, made on May 31 and stipulating that Lithuania was responsible for violating the rights of Abu Zubaydah, suspected of ties to Al Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), as he was mistreated in the CIA jail that the country hosted between February 2005 and March 2006.

"We should act consistently and stick to the position, which we had formed earlier, to the end. We will address the Grand Chamber," Skvernelis told reporters.

According to him, the investigation that is currently underway in Lithuania has not revealed the facts that the ECHR established.

The ECHR ruled on May 31 that Lithuania violated a number of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, and that it should pay 130,000 Euros ($152,000) to Zubaydah.

The court also concluded that there was a secret CIA jail in Romania, and the country was responsible for the violation of rights of Abd Rahim Nashiri, a terror suspect who had been held there from 2003 to 2005. Both Nashiri and Zubaydah are now being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

A parliamentary inquiry that Lithuania made in 2010 found that local security forces had helped the CIA establish a facility in the country's capital of Vilnius, although there was reportedly no proof that this was specifically a prison. In 2015, an investigation into the matter was relaunched in Lithuania.Nearly three months after a disputed presidential run-off, Malians will go to the polls again in legislative elections on October 28, officials announced on Tuesday.

Bamako, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Nearly three months after a disputed presidential run-off, Malians will go to the polls again in legislative elections on October 28, officials announced on Tuesday.

"The electoral college has called for the election of deputies to the National Assembly on October 28, 2018, throughout the national territory," the government announced.

A second-round election is scheduled for three weeks later on Sunday November 18 in Constituencies where no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes.

The announcement comes after the opposition candidate for the presidency refused to accepted the results that handed a second term to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, 68, slammed the August 12 run-off election, charging voter fraud.

But the Constitutional Court rejected Cisse's petition against the result as being inadmissible or unsupported by evidence.

In a letter Tuesday, Cisse's top aide Tiebile Drame protested what he called "extrajudicial arrests" of opposition partisans for several weeks.The recently completed new headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels should be named after the late US Senator John McCain as per a request of a British Member of Parliament, the US media said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The recently completed new headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels should be named after the late US Senator John McCain as per a request of a British Member of Parliament, the US media said on Wednesday.

NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said NATO has received the request and will be carefully considered by the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, CNN reported.

Conservative UK parliamentarian Tugendhat sent earlier this week a letter to Stoltenberg, requesting the new facility to be dedicated to the late US Senator from Arizona.

"Very few people have embodied the values that NATO is built on in the way Senator John McCain III did," Tugendhat said in his letter dated August 26.

McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain cancer in 2017, died on Saturday at the age of 81.

In a statement after his passing, Stoltenberg called McCain a strong supporter of NATO and someone who will be remembered for his courage and character.

NATO's new $1.45 billion headquarters opened in late April.The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) has registered over 70 ceasefire violations in the conflict-torn region of Donbas overnight, the organization urges sides to cease hostilities, Alexander Hug, the principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE SMM, said on Wednesday.

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) has registered over 70 ceasefire violations in the conflict-torn region of Donbas overnight, the organization urges sides to cease hostilities, Alexander Hug, the principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE SMM, said on Wednesday.

Last week, the Contact Group on Ukraine, comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, agreed on the new so-called "school ceasefire" in Donbas, which began on Wednesday.

"Since 00:01 [August 28 21:01 GMT] SMM registered more than 70 ceasefire violations. Sides need to honour their recommitment.

Firing has to stop now. To protect Ukrainians on both sides of the contact line," Hug said, as quoted by the mission's Twitter account.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation against self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics after they refused to recognize the new government in Kiev that came to power after what they considered to be a coup. In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end the hostilities in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.Model of the perfect inversion of a magnetic or electric structure. The bottom layer contains the information on the structure. The intermediate layer can be switched with the applied field. The reversal is depicted from left to right. The top layer shows the distribution of magnetization or polarization in the material.

Perfectly inverting complex structures is of great technical importance. Researchers at ETH have now succeeded in turning the magnetic and electric structure of materials into their opposites using a single magnetic field pulse.

Whenever it gets unpleasantly loud, active noise reduction has been used in earphones or luxury cars in recent years. A microphone picks up the disturbing noise, from which a computer chip calculates the appropriate countermeasures: sound waves whose phases are exactly opposite to those of the ambient sound. The interference between those waves effectively erases the noise. Physicists and engineers would be all too happy to apply this principle of perfect inversion to other technologies, too, for instance to the magnetic structure of a material. ETH professor Manfred Fiebig and his collaborators at the Department of Materials in Zurich have now succeeded in doing just that, with support from scientists in Europe, Japan and Russia.

Magnetic and electric at once

Fiebigs team used so-called multiferroics for their experiments. Differently from many other materials that have either magnetic or electric order, multiferroics possess both: they are magnetically and, at the same time, electrically polarized and, as a consequence, align themselves both along magnetic and along electric fields. The physical mechanisms that bring about the magnetic and electric order inside the material are subtly coupled to each other.

This makes it possible, among other things, to influence the magnetization not through magnetic fields, as is usually done, but using electric fields. Thats much more efficient, as one needs electric current to create magnetic fields, and that costs a lot of energy and creates annoying waste heat, explains Naemi Leo, a former PhD student in Fiebigs laboratory. In computers, for instance, where data have to be constantly written on magnetic hard drives, multiferroics could be the key materials for significant energy savings.

Inspiration from Tangram shapes

At ETH, which has been an international leader in multiferroics research for quite some time, scientists immediately took this idea one step further. A material that allows one to control its magnetization using electric fields must necessarily have a rather complex structure, says Fiebig. He uses the Chinese Tangram puzzle to illustrate that principle: the more pieces one has triangles, squares and a parallelogram , the more elaborate shapes one can compose with them. In the case of multiferroics, the shapes correspond to the symmetries of the material, which determine its physical properties. The more complex those symmetries, the more varied are the so-called order parameters. They describe the direction in which the magnetization points inside a multiferroic, and how the magnetization is coupled to the electric order.

Unexpected properties

Now, if the atoms inside a material are arranged in such a complicated way, it is also very likely that it has other properties that are not obvious at first sight. Thats why we didnt want to limit ourselves to the well-known phenomena that have been studied for a long time, but rather try to see what other useful things multiferroics can do, Fiebig explains and illustrates his research approach: How can we recombine the pieces of the puzzle  that is, the order parameters  in different ways than those already known and thus obtain new and useful properties?

This openness towards the unexpected has paid off. Fiebig and his co-workers eventually found a multiferroic in which the overall magnetization is not just, as usual, evenly oriented by an applied field. Clearly, that would erase any magnetically stored information  the distribution of positively and negatively magnetized regions inside the material. Rather, they used the field to invert the magnetization in each individual region of the material. Positively magnetized regions were, therefore, turned into negatively magnetized ones, and vice versa. The magnetic information contained in the arrangement of the regions, however, remained intact in the process. Thats as if we inverted every single bit on a hard disk in one go, Fiebig explains. Normally, one would have to re-write each bit individually, but we can do it with a single magnetic field pulse.

Inversion in a single go

The researchers at ETH found this magnetic equivalent of active noise reduction in a multiferroic composed of cobalt, tellurium and oxygen. Owing to its complex crystal structure, not only can that material at once be magnetically and electrically polarized, but it can also have several order parameters describing its magnetization: one that determines the magnetic orientation of a single region, and another one that remembers the shape and arrangement of those regions inside the whole material.

Using a specialized imaging technique, whereby polarized laser light is sent through the crystal and changes its colour in the process, the researchers could directly make the inversion process spatially visible.

Role reversal

As if that was not enough, the physicists were also able to accomplish a similar feat with reversed roles. In a multiferroic containing atoms of manganese, germanium and oxygen, the magnetic field now inverted not the magnetization, but the electric polarization of the material. For the researchers, that is further proof that multiferroics still hold many surprises. There is probably much more to be discovered that we cant even imagine today, Fiebig says.Parliamentary elections in Mali have been scheduled for October 28, the country's Council of Ministers said in a statement on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Parliamentary elections in Mali have been scheduled for October 28, the country's Council of Ministers said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The voters will convene on Sunday, October 28, 2018, throughout the country to hold elections of the National Assembly's lawmakers," the statement reads.

If no candidate or list of candidates receives an absolute majority during the first round, the second round will be held on November 18, according to the council.

The election campaign for the first round will open on October 6 and will last until October 26.

Earlier in August, Mali held the presidential election, with incumbent President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita winning the second round with around 67 percent of the votes.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Peru authorities are calling for an emergency meeting of the Migration Services Committee of the Andean Community regarding the large migration outflow from Venezuela to be held Wednesday, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Peru authorities are calling for an emergency meeting of the Migration Services Committee of the Andean Community regarding the large migration outflow from Venezuela to be held Wednesday, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said.

"Peru has called for an emergency meeting [of the committee] including Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru to be held on August 29. The main goal of the meeting is to coordinate actions to ensure orderly, safe and responsible access for the mass inflow of migrants from Venezuela," the ministry said, according to the statement published Tuesday.

According to the statement, the officials will discuss the necessary documents, security and sanitary issues as well as possible allocation of humanitarian aid.

On Tuesday, Brazilian President Michel Temer said his government sent troops to the country's northernmost state of Roraima to ensure security amid migrants' arrivals. Ecuador, too, introduced the state of emergency in several provinces.

According to the United Nations, more than 1.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country, struggling to overcome the economic crisis, since 2015.WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Russia will provide humanitarian assistance to Myanmar and Bangladesh in the amount of $1 million, Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said.

"In 2018-2019 Russia will [provide] 1 million Dollars for both countries through the World food Program," Nebenzia told the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar on Tuesday.

Nebenzia called on the international community provide assistance to both countries in equal amounts.

"We assume there is need to provide hope to Bangladesh and Myanmar," Nebenzia said.

Rohingya started leaving for Bangladesh after Myanmar security launched a crackdown on insurgents following an attack on the police posts in Rakhine State in which 12 servicemen were killed.

The Myanmar government claims the Rohingya are migrants from Bangladesh who occupied territory in Rakhine state.

Neighboring Bangladesh now shelters more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees.MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2018) A Russian investigative media outlet that sent three journalists on a doomed mission to the war-torn Central African Republic announced Wednesday it was shutting down.

The Investigation Control Center (Tsur) admitted previously that Orkhan Dzhemal, Kirill Radchenko and Alexander Rastorguyev were on a privately organized mission to shoot a documentary about Russian military trainers when they were killed in an ambush on July 30. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it made no secret of military presence in the car. Russia opened a criminal probe into a suspected murder.

"There is no more Tsur," the outlet's editor-in-chief announced on Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app.

"I cannot write a word that is unrelated to the murder of our friends in Africa."

The Central African Republic has witnessed years of ethnic and religious conflict since Muslim seleka rebels deposed its president in 2013.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the three slain journalists had not sought accreditation with local authorities. The ministry shared a warning before the tragedy that travelers should not rely on Central African police, which it described as "basically defunct."The Alliance of the Century, advocating unification of Moldova and Romania, said on Wednesday that it will hold a mass rally in the Moldovan capital city Chisinau on Saturday.

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) The Alliance of the Century, advocating unification of Moldova and Romania, said on Wednesday that it will hold a mass rally in the Moldovan capital city Chisinau on Saturday.

"The Alliance of the Century is organizing a very important event for all citizens of Moldova ... We promised on March 25 that we will return to the Great National Assembly square in Chisinau on September 1 at 12:00 p.m. local time [09:00 GMT].

The time has come," the organizers said in a post on Facebook.

A rally in support of Moldova's unification with Romania was held in Chisinau on March 25, and ended with protesters adopting a declaration in favor of reunification. Moldova's General Police Inspectorate (GPI) Deputy Director Gheorghe Cavcaliuc told Sputnik that approximately 7,000 people took part in the rally.

Moldovan President Igor Dodon earlier suggested to hold a referendum banning the idea of unification.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Tehran should stop cherishing hopes in negotiations with Europe on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or on economic cooperation, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Tehran should stop cherishing hopes in negotiations with Europe on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or on economic cooperation, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.

"It is fine to establish ties, continue negotiations with Europe; however, meanwhile you should stop having hopes in them on the issues like JCPOA or economic matters. You should strictly watch over the process of dealing with the matters, approaching their promises with wariness," Khamenei said at a meeting with Iranian cabinet members and President Hassan Rouhani as quoted by his press service on Twitter.

Khamenei added that Iran will not negotiate with the United States at any level after Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, and reinstatement of sanctions against Tehran.

"JCPOA is not a goal but a means; naturally, if we conclude that it is impossible to protect national interests with JCPOA, we will put it aside," the supreme leader stressed.

In May, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to leave the JCPOA, or the Iran nuclear deal, and reimpose sanctions against Tehran and third states doing business with Iran. The first set of restrictions, which include a ban on purchasing US Currency, trading in gold and other precious metals, buying aluminum and steel for industrial purposes, and performing activities related to Iran's sovereign debt, took effect on August 7. The second portion, including sanctions on Iran's port operations, energy sector and foreign transactions, will be effectuated in November.

Following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the European Union along with other signatories to the accord has repeatedly stressed their interest in preserving ties with Iran. Since then, the European Union has amended its Blocking Statute to protect the interests of EU companies doing business with Iran.(@rukhshanmir)

US President Donald Trump lashed out at the press on Wednesday, saying that many of the anonymous sources reporters use in their stories do not exist and reiterating his view that the media is the enemy of the people.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) US President Donald Trump lashed out at the press on Wednesday, saying that many of the anonymous sources reporters use in their stories do not exist and reiterating his view that the media is the enemy of the people.

"The fact is that many anonymous sources don't even exist.

They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters... Enemy of the People!" Trump said in a Twitter message.

In a second post, Trump suggested that when readers see anonymous sources in a story, they should stop reading, because such reports are nothing but fiction.

Trump has repeatedly called the US press "the opposition party," and refers to certain media outlets as "fake news."Ankara and Baku need to increase solidarity and collaboration in the region, Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim said Wednesday during his ongoing official visit to Azerbaijan.

ANKARA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2018 ) :Ankara and Baku need to increase solidarity and collaboration in the region, Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim said Wednesday during his ongoing official visit to Azerbaijan.

"Turkey and Azerbaijan share the same faith in the same region. There are some serious plans in our region nowadays," a statement from the parliament quoted Yildirim as saying at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Oktay Asadov.

"We need to increase our solidarity and collaboration against these plans.

We need to have a firm stance against those who want to destabilize our region." Asadov said Azerbaijan wants to further increase the bilateral relations with Turkey.

"Last year, the bilateral trade volume was $2.6 billion and it was $1.9 billion in the first half of this year. Our presidents ordered the increase of these number. We will work more for this," Asadov added.

Yildirim said these numbers are low considering the potentials of the two countries. "We need to increase trade. For this, it is beneficial to have more mutual talks," he added.(@FahadShabbir)

UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday announced that the United Kingdom would open two new embassies in Chad and Niger to replace existing diplomatic offices, the UK government said Wednesday in a press release.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday announced that the United Kingdom would open two new embassies in Chad and Niger to replace existing diplomatic offices, the UK government said Wednesday in a press release.

"She [May] announced that the UK will expand its diplomatic presence in the Sahel, opening two new embassies in Chad and Niger and increasing the UK footprint across the region. The two new embassies will replace existing offices in Chad and Niger," the press release read.

The United Kingdom is planning to expand its presence in the Malian Embassy as well, the press release said.

"We must not allow instability across the Sahel, exacerbated by regional conflicts, to continue to hold back development and to spill over into the rest of Africa or into Europe," Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin was quoted as saying.

May made the announcement during her three-day trip to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

The countries of the Sahel region in Africa are facing numerous challenges, including political instability and economic hardship.August 29, 2018

18-174

Deborah Davis Honored with Presidential Excellence Award for Service

Pictured left to right are President Richard A. Carvajal, Deborah Davis, and Dr. Robert Smith, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.

VALDOSTA  Deborah Davis is the recipient of Valdosta State Universitys 2017 Presidential Excellence Award for Service.

The Presidential Excellence Award for Service recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated a strong and consistent commitment to service at VSU and to the local community. Davis, director of VSUs Archives and Special Collections, was chosen for her extensive service at the university, community, state, national, and international level over the last 25 years.

Deborahs service has not been episodic but rather sustained at a very high level for several decades at VSU, said Dr. James LaPlant, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, interim dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, and vice president for research. A list of all of her service contributions would be its own significant collection in the archives. [She] is genuinely a role model for service at a regional comprehensive university and a tremendous asset to VSU.

Daviss most notable service to VSU is her work in the last 20 years to make the VSU Archives and Special Collections what it is today. She transformed the office from a few hundred boxes in a basement room to the current mid-size archives with 4,000 linear feet of processed materials and five terabytes of electronic files, in a big area with two climate-controlled vaults, a special collections room that doubles as a classroom, and exhibits across five buildings on campus.

Davis received more than 15 grants to develop the archives and has worked intently to attract student workers and staff of high quality. As a result, the VSU Archives and Special Collections has developed a positive reputation that extends across the state.

Davis has found many innovative ways to utilize the resources of her office. The History Volunteer Program, in place for 15 years, allows students who are performing poorly in history classes to acquire extra credit by working in the Archives and Special Collections for a set number of hours. The students read and summarize historical data before entering it into a digital database.

This work has resulted in three databases  ranging from births and deaths in the Valdosta area to scrapbook clippings and newspaper articles from VSUs earliest decades  that are used by researchers around the country who are seeking information on South Georgias history.

The professors who participate in this program swear by its effectiveness and its importance to retention, Davis said.

Davis received the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Award for Excellence in the Educational Use of Historical Records in 2004 for the program.

Davis led the creation of a permanent museum in Odum Library in 2006 to celebrate VSUs centennial year. The museum includes 21 panels, nine presidential portraits, and multiple display cases showcasing VSUs history. She was also a member of the VSU Centennial Steering Committee from 2005 to 2008 and helped to plan a large campus-wide event to mark the centennial.

In 2011, Davis established the VSU Archives and Special Collections Art Program through her role as chairwoman of the Library Art Committee, which she first joined as a member in 2004. The program has resulted in seven art galleries within Odum Library as well as art installations in four other buildings throughout campus. The galleries feature a wide variety of art from around the world, and Davis often coordinates events that allow the South Georgia community to hear from the artists.

Davis was also instrumental in creating the Vtext Institutional Repository, an open access digital storeroom that contains more than 2,500 files on VSUs past and present. The initiative, coordinated by VSU Archives and Special Collections and the Department of Library and Information Studies, is meant to collect, preserve, and distribute the universitys intellectual capital.

Davis has served and currently serves on numerous library and university committees, including the Academic Scheduling Committee (2017); Faculty Senate (2016-present); Internationalization and Globalization Committee (2015-2016); Minority Affairs Committee (2013-2015); 50 Years of Integration Planning Committee (2012-2015); Library Strategic Planning Committee (2012-present); University Assessment Committee (2012); Art Collection Committee (2009-present); University Promotion and Tenure Committee (2009-2012); Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Quality Enhancement Plan Committee (2009-2010); Faculty Scholarship Committee (2008-2010); Library Web Committee (2004-present); Hub Cooperative (2004-2008); Faculty Excellence Award Committee (2004-2005); Strategic Grant Task Force (2004); Library Affairs Committee (2003-2005); Records Management Group (2003); House in the Woods Alumni Luncheon Planning Committee (2002-2006); and Presidential Inauguration Steering Committee (2002).

Service is one of the big opportunities that you have when youre a faculty member, Davis said. To find service that you love and that you can throw yourself into and be engaged with is a gift.

Davis has also expanded her service efforts to the community. Through multiple grants from the Georgia Humanities Council and the Georgia Council for the Arts, she has traveled to high schools in surrounding counties and explored various written works with students; archived local materials pertaining to South Georgias folk life and coordinated folk music performances; and coordinated discussions between VSU and community scholars on the Civil War and the Souths connection to it.

She also served as vice president of the Valdosta Asian Culture Association from 2000 to 2015. In that role she helped to coordinate a yearly exposition showcasing Asian and African culture that attracted thousands of middle school students from across Georgia.

She has taken her work to the international level by working with the Consortium of Belize Educational Cooperation, which seeks to further tertiary education and professional development in Belize. Davis, a member of the consortium since 2006 and its treasurer from 2013 to 2017, has traveled to Belize and facilitated workshops with librarians on cataloging, archives, advanced preservation, and digital preservation.

Davis is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists, Georgia Library Association, and Society of Georgia Archivists. She has published numerous professional articles and given more than 70 professional presentations at local, state, and national conferences and events.

Its exciting to do more, to start new projects work with new groups, she said. If I did the same thing every day, I would be bored. This work is fun, and its worth doing.

Because of her work and service, Davis has received the Collegiate Women of Valdosta State University Award for Outstanding Staff Member (2014); African American Studies Program Community Servant of the Year Award (2014); Lowndes County Historical Society Keeper of History Award (2002 and 2008); Brenda McCallum Award from the American Folklore Society (2007, along with her colleagues); and four VSU I Caught You Caring Awards (2004, 2011, 2016, 2017).

Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Arts in Teaching in English from the University of Georgia, as well as a Master of Library Science from the University of Maryland.

She joined VSU in 1993 as an instructor of library science. She became an assistant professor in 1997, an associate professor in 2002, and a professor in 2013.Should Dortmund take up the option to keep the player, he will be tied to the club for a further four years after the one-year loan spell.

In show of support for the victims, families and first responders of 1 October, the Southern Nevada Harley-Davidson Dealers have announced the Vegas Strong Run and After Party to take place Saturday, Sept. 29 starting at 9 am. All proceeds from the run will benefit the Injured Police Officers Fund (IPOF) and the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation (Disclaimer: S.N. Harley-Davidson Vegas Strong Runs exact door prize winners motorcycle may or may not be shown in photo).

The event will begin at Las Vegas Harley-Davidson on The Strip, where riders will gather for an escorted ride down the Las Vegas Strip, which will be led by local law enforcement officers. Riders will then continue to roll on to Red Rock Harley-Davidson and Henderson Harley-Davidson to collect a Vegas Strong pin, bandana, T-Shirt and poker chip before returning to Las Vegas Harley-Davidson on The Strip.

Registration is $58 per participant, which will include a Vegas Strong T-shirt, pin, bandana, and poker chip, and access to the after party. The After Party will feature live music, food, drinks, raffles and a door prize giveaway for a chance at a new 2019 Harley-Davidson Sportster. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to get a Vegas Strong tattoo.A former opposition official who was released from prison this week has said he will return to politics and challenge the unopposed rule of the Cambodian Peoples Party.

Meach Sovannara, the former public affairs chief of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was released from prison along with 13 fellow party activists on Tuesday.

The CNRP supporters and former officials were jailed on various charges for taking part in anti-government protests after the 2013 election. In November, the CNRP was dissolved and its leader, Kem Sokha, jailed on treason charges. The CPP won all 125 seats in parliament in a general election last month, making the first time since 1993 that a Cambodian government will be formed in the absence of an opposition voice in parliament.

We do politics ... and challenge each others policies for the national interest and political economy, Sovannara said. We do not abuse [each other] nor arrest people and jail them. From now on, I would like to call on Prime Minister Hun Sen to end the culture of [politically motivated] arrest and prison.

He added that he plans to seek a meeting with King Norodom Sihamoni, Hun Sen, and Interior Minister Sar Kheng to discuss the treatment he received in prison.

A CPP spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Sovannara praised Hun Sen for ordering the release of the 14 CNRP members but added that Sokha should also be released.

"I call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and the King with a smile. I hope that Prime Minister Hun Sen will consider even through rule of law or the court, but I hope that my party leader Kem Sokha will be released without charge, he said.

Sovannara and the 13 other CNRP members were arrested in 2014 for leading a protest at Phnom Penhs Freedom Park, which became a center-point for anti-government rallies after the disputed 2013 election. Sovannara was sentenced to 20 years while the other CNRP members received sentences ranging from seven to 20 years.

Several other high-profile public figures jailed by the CPP have also been pardoned since the election in July, notably Tep Vanny, a prominent land rights activists, and two former journalists for Radio Free Asia, Oun Chhin and Yeang Sothearin. Kim Sok, an outspoken government critic, was also released last week, along with Sourn Serey Rotha, a former opposition party leader, and Um Saman, a former CNRP lawmaker.Japan remains concerned of North Korean threat. Cleaning Indonesia's plastics with seaweed. New interest grows on Indian farms. A fruit may juice up a local economy. A Genetic Disorder no match for crazy socks, and spying on the history of spies.Shaka Ssali discusses the arrest, detention and release of Bobi Wine and the legacy of the late Kofi Annan with Stephane Dujarric, UN Spokesperson, Mildred Tuhaise, a Senior Reporter at NBS TV, Jeffrey Smith, Executive Director of Vanguard Africa, and Daniel Kawuma, Chairman of the Uganda Diaspora Investment Company, USA.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country will negotiate new trade terms with the United States, but will only accept a deal that serves Canada's interests. Speaking after the United States reached a tentative deal with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Trudeau said negotiators have made some progress. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to increase U.S. tariffs on Canada's auto imports if a deal is not reached. VOA's Zlatica Hoke has more.The URL has been copied to your clipboard

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Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is slamming Russias role in Syria's civil war as the State Department presses Moscow to stop the Syrian regime from launching more chemical attacks on its people. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has details.British officials have been turning to Japan for tips on how to dodge American sanctions on Iran, according to local media.

Britain is already seeking from Washington exemptions from some U.S. sanctions, which are being re-imposed by President Donald Trump because of the U.S. withdrawal earlier this year from a controversial 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. The British are especially keen to maintain banking links with Iran and to import Iranian oil.

According to local media, U.K. officials have been asking their Japanese counterparts how they managed in the past to sidestep some aspects of the pre-2015 sanctions regime, which allowed Tokyo to sign oil deals with Iran as well as insurance contracts without incurring U.S. penalties.

Re-imposed U.S. sanctions penalize any foreign companies that deal with Iran by barring them from doing business in America. That threat has already persuaded more than 50 Western firms to shutter their operations in Iran, including French automakers Renault and Peugeot and the French oil giant Total as well as Germanys Deutsche Bahn railway company and Deutsche Telekom.

Seeking waivers



British ministers have publicly announced that they are hoping to secure waivers from sanctions for oil imports, tanker insurance and banking. There is particular concern, say British officials, about the position of a gas field 240 miles from Aberdeen which is jointly owned by BP and a subsidiary of Irans state-controlled oil company.

According to The Times newspaper, British diplomats and Treasury officials have discussed with their Japanese counterparts what options they may have of evading penalties, if British firms continue to trade with Iran. Britains Foreign Office hasnt commented on the specific claims in report. But in a general statement it says: We are working with European and other partners, to ensure Iran continues to benefit from sanctions relief through legitimate business, for as long as Iran continues to meet its nuclear commitments under the deal.

Faltering Iranian economy

On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani was grilled by the countrys lawmakers, who for the first time in his five-year tenure called him before parliament to answer questions about the countrys faltering economy amid the tightening U.S. sanctions.

They asked him about high unemployment, rising food prices and the collapsing value of the Iranian currency. Rouhani, who overcame the opposition of hardliners in the first place to sign the 2015 nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers, insisted Iran would overcome the the anti-Iranian officials in the White House.

He added: We are not afraid of America or the economic problems. We will overcome the troubles. His answers didnt reassure lawmakers, who voted to reject most of them. Earlier this month the parliament impeached the economy and labor ministers amid growing anger about the economy.

In order to try to keep open financial channels with Tehran and facilitate Iran's oil exports, the European Union has taken steps to counter renewed U.S. sanctions, including forbidding EU citizens and firms from complying with them.

The European Commission updated a blocking statute on August 7, which bans companies from observing the sanctions  unless expressly authorized by Brussels to do so. It would allow EU firms to recover damages arising from the sanctions. But many companies say they are fearful of losing current or potential business in the U.S.

Under these conditions it is very difficult, according to the Director for International Relations at BusinessEurope, a lobby group, Luisa Santos. She says even small and medium-sized businesses which dont trade with U.S. will face significant challenges because they will need financing from Western banks.

The first round of U.S. nuclear sanctions on Iran officially snapped back into place earlier this month but the more biting sanctions will be re-imposed on November 4 as Washington seeks to pummel the Iranian economy. The first phase U.S. sanctions prohibit any transactions with Iran involving dollars, gold, precious metals, aluminum, steel, commercial passenger aircraft, shipping and Iranian seaports.



Earlier in August, Woody Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Britain, cautioned there would be trade consequences for Britain, which he described as the closest U.S. ally, unless London breaks with the EU and abides by the re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

The envoy also delivered a clear ultimatum to British businesses, instructing them to stop trading with Iran or face serious consequences.

Trump's decision in May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, in which Tehran agreed to nuclear curbs in return for sanctions relief, paved the way for the restoration of unilateral American economic penalties on Iran.

The U.S. administration blames Iran for fomenting instability in the Middle East and encouraging terrorism. Trump has described the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as a "horrible, one sided" agreement.

U.S. officials say Iran has used the money going into the country after the 2015 deal, when sanctions were eased, not to improve the lives of ordinary Iranians but to increase spending on the military and proxy forces in the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and militants in Yemen.Seven people were killed Wednesday in a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in a former stronghold of the jihadists in western Iraq, a security official said.

The attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Syrian border, Maj. Gen Qasem al-Dulaimi said.

He said four security forces and three civilians were killed in the blast.

Al-Dulaimi blamed IS for the attack, and the group, through its Aamaq news agency, later claimed responsibility in posts it circulated on social media.

Also on Wednesday, the Criminal Court of Anbar Province, which includes al-Qaim, sentenced three men to death by hanging, finding them guilty of carrying out terror attacks in the province. There was no indication the men were connected to Wednesdays attack.

Judge Abdelsattar Bayarqadar, spokesman for Iraqs Supreme Judicial Council, said the three men were members of IS. Al-Qaim is a former Islamic State group stronghold in Anbar province in western Iraq.

A spate of kidnappings and guerrilla style attacks in desert areas in western and central Iraq this summer have stirred security concerns in the country as it seeks to rebuild from its three-year-long war with the militant group.

Iraqi officials declared victory over the jihadists late last year after recapturing Mosul, Iraqs second largest city, in a grinding battle supported by the U.S.-led international coalition against IS.

But heavy-handed tactics by the military and the Shiite-dominated PMF, and faltering efforts at reconciliation between the countrys Sunni and Shiite Muslims, have fueled resentment in Sunni Muslim areas that were most affected by the war, and where IS cells are believed to operate.

Millions of Iraqis have not been able to return to their homes, including hundreds of thousands still living in displaced persons camps.

Iraqs military and the PMF have been using the predominantly Sunni Anbar province as a base of operations against IS in the countrys western desert and for air operations against the group in neighboring Syria.The revised proposal  comes after more than a year of thoughtful dialogue with Ald. Reilly, neighboring residents and other community stakeholders, Tom Weeks, executive general manager of development at Lendlease, said in a statement. Through this collaborative process, we believe we have identified the highest and best use for one of the final phases of the Lakeshore East master plan, building on its reputation as a model for urban regeneration.Faced with plunging U.S. orders, surgical glove maker Ren Jiding is hunting for new markets amid Chinese government calls to reduce reliance on the United States. But no other market can absorb the 60 percent of his sales that went to American customers last year.

"Other countries import much less than the United States,'' said Ren, a co-owner of Hongyeshangqin Medical Science and Technology Co. Ltd. in the eastern city of Zibo.

From medical products to smartphone chips to soybeans, Beijing is responding to President Donald Trump's tariff hikes by pushing companies to trade more with other countries. But there are few substitutes for the United States as an export market and source of technology for industries including telecom equipment makers that Chinese leaders are eager to develop.

Beijing has announced tariff cuts and other changes while rejecting U.S. demands to scale back plans such as "Made in China 2025,'' which calls for state-led creation of Chinese champions in robotics, biotech and other fields. American leaders say those violate Beijing's market-opening promises and might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

The response highlights the cost the ruling Communist Party is willing to pay in lost sales and jobs to stick to plans that are fueling conflict with Washington, Europe and other trading partners.

'Fundamental' to growth

"China sees its technology and industrial policies as fundamental to its growth,'' Tianjie He of Oxford Economics said in an email. "It is thus hard to see China's leadership committing to significant changes.''

Trump has raised duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, including ultrasound scanners and industrial components that Washington says benefit from improper policies. China retaliated with similar penalties.

The U.S. is poised to raise duties on $200 billion worth of imports, including the gloves made by Ren's company. Beijing has issued a list of American goods for retaliation.

The impact on China is "small and is containable, at least for the time being,'' said Vincent Chan of Credit Suisse. He said the "worst case'' outlook if all threatened U.S. tariff hikes go ahead would cut China's growth by 0.2 percentage point this year and 1.3 percent in 2019.

Chinese leaders have tried to cushion the blow to their own economy by targeting American goods its importers can get from other countries  soybeans from Brazil, gas from Russia, cars from Germany and fish from Vietnam.

Beijing has promised to use revenue from the higher tariffs to help struggling exporters and has ordered banks to lend more freely to them.

The biggest jolt so far came from Beijing's cancellation of orders for soybeans, the biggest American export to China at $21 billion last year. That hammered farm states that voted for Trump in the 2016 election. It also pushed up prices for Chinese farmers that use soybeans for animal feed and food processors that crush them for cooking oil.

That could be a windfall for Brazil. But China already is its top market and consumes two-thirds of the global supply. Chinese total imports last year of 95 million metric tons were 50 percent more than the South American giant's entire exports.

Few sources

"The Chinese can talk all they want about finding other sources of soybeans,'' but 80 percent come from the United States, Brazil and Argentina, said Michael Cordonnier, president of Soybean & Corn Advisor Inc., a U.S. research firm.

"If you want to import soybeans, it generally must be from one of those three countries,'' Cordonnier wrote in an email.

Regulators also cut import duties on automobiles on July 1 but raised them on vehicles from the United States. That helps luxury brands that import from Germany and Japan.

Replacing markets for Chinese exporters that support tens of millions of jobs will be harder.

The United States bought $430 billion of China's exports last year, or 20 percent of the $2.2 trillion total. The No. 2 market was the 28-nation European Union at $370 billion.

"We can't afford to lose the U.S. market,'' said David Hu, general manager of Sinohood Bags Factory Ltd. in the southeastern city of Yiwu.

Americans bought 40 percent of Hu's canvas tote bags last year, including the most profitable customized versions with Christmas and other designs.

"What we export to Europe is lower-end products with lower prices,'' said Hu. "We could explore the Indian, Vietnamese or Philippine markets. But the prices they offer would be too low.''

Chinese officials point to potential markets in the Belt and Road Initiative, a multibillion-dollar plan led by President Xi Jinping to boost trade by building ports, railways and other infrastructure across Asia to Europe.

That has brought a flood of contracts to Chinese state-owned builders, but complaints about costs have hurt its appeal. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia announced this month the cancellation of plans for Chinese-built projects, including a $20 billion rail line.

"There is potential for development in areas such as Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. But their problems are development imbalance and economic instability,'' said Li Yong, a senior fellow at the China Association of International Trade, an industry group.

Focus on diversification

Local officials have met with exporters to exhort them to "diversify markets,'' according to the state press.

Authorities in the central city of Jingzhou visited exporters to help with customs forms, financing and other details, the website China Industry and Commerce News said.

Ren, the surgical glove maker, said his 300-employee company was looking at Europe and developing countries, but demand was sluggish.

Some companies are confident of keeping their U.S. market share. That reflects the possible success of official efforts to develop higher-tech goods instead of competing on price alone.

The general manager of Yihua Electronic Equipment Co. in southern China's Guangdong said the tariffs should not affect sales of its digital soldering guns, one-fifth of which are sold to the United States.

"With the 25 percent tariffs, ours still are cheaper than similar German- or Japanese-made products,'' said the manager, who would give only his surname, Gou. "We are not producing something like shoes and clothing that could be easily replaced.''

Trump's pressure could encourage Beijing to throw even more resources at nurturing its own technology creators.

China's search for non-U.S. suppliers could help companies such as Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek Inc. But redesigning a phone or network gear and then gaining regulatory and customer approval can take a minimum of three to five years.

"For now,'' said He of Oxford Economics, "China remains technologically dependent on the U.S.''In the Democratic Republic of Congo, supporters of former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba are demanding he be allowed on the ballot for the December 23 presidential election.

Congo's electoral commission disqualified Bemba because of his 2016 conviction by the International Criminal Court. The court said Bemba was responsible for war crimes committed by his militia in the Central African Republic.

But in June, the court overturned the conviction and released Bemba from prison. His party, the Movement of the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), argues that the ICC case is finished and Bemba should be allowed on the ballot.

Political commentator Delphin Kapaya says the way the court handles the case will determine the reaction of Bemba's supporters.

"There can be a problem because he enjoys a lot of support," Kapaya said. "If he is disqualified and it's seen he has been barred in accordance with the law, then there will be calm. But if it's seen that he is disqualified because of politics, then his party and his supporters will not accept that. Then that will be the beginning of troubles."

Congo's highest court is expected to issue a ruling on Bemba's candidacy on September 19.

Researcher and political analyst Ntanyoma Rukumbuzi says the court's decision will impact the next president, regardless of who is elected.

"The Constitutional Court may still overrule the electoral decision, but in case he doesn't run [because] the Constitutional Court considers him as not qualified, it affects the legitimacy at some point," Rukumbuzi said.

For decades, DRC politics has been characterized by violence, coups and rights abuses committed by those in power.

Human Rights Watch has accused the government of restricting the movement of opposition leaders and supporters.

The MLC's secretary general, Eva Bazaiba, says her party is not ready for violence with its political opponents.

"We don't want violence, because if you use violence they will say that 'You see, Mr. Bemba was in the jail, now he is free, he came to Congo with violence.' We say that we have to wait for the last decision of the court and we hope that everything will be fine because we need free and fair election," she said.

After many months of tension, President Joseph Kabila recently agreed to step down after 17 years in power. Kabila defeated Bemba in the 2006 election. He has now thrown his support behind close ally Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.A Florida congressman with strong backing from U.S. President Donald Trump and an African-American mayor who thinks Trump ought to be impeached are set to square off in the November election for the Florida governorship in the key political battleground state.

The coming political contest between Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, who has Trump's staunch support, and Democrat Andrew Gillum, now mayor of the state capital of Tallahassee, was set Tuesday when both won their parties' primary elections.

DeSantis had been expected to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but Gillum pulled an upset, marshaling the support of minority voters to surge past better-financed Democratic opponents after trailing them in pre-election political surveys of voters. Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist who unsuccessfully sought the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, had endorsed Gillum's candidacy.

The DeSantis-Gillum race is likely to be one of the most closely watched elections in the Nov. 6 voting for what it might portend about the 2020 presidential election when Trump seeks another term in the White House.

Trump won the southeastern state of Florida in 2016, but it is a politically divided state that both Republican and Democratic contenders have won in recent elections. The outcome of the governor's race could give a hint whether Trump's political fortunes have changed.

Trump wasted no time assailing Gillum, saying Wednesday on Twitter that he has "allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city."

Even before the voting ended the night before, Trump said, "Such a fantastic win for Ron DeSantis and the people of the Great State of Florida. Ron will be a fantastic Governor. On to November!"

DeSantis paid tribute to Trump at his victory party, saying, "I'm not always the most popular guy in D.C., but I did have support from someone in Washington. If you walk down Pennsylvania, he lives in the white house with the pillars in front of it. I was able to talk to the president, and I want to thank him for his support."

Gillum, who would become Florida's first black governor, has criticized Trump as far back as last December.

"This president is wrong for Florida on almost every issue, and as governor, I will fight against each and every one of his wrong-headed, racist and sexist policies," Gillum said in a video. "The Donald Trump presidency shouldn't even make it through 2018. He should be impeached now."

Arizona race

Trump also weighed in with strong support for Congresswoman Martha McSally, who won a three-way Republican primary for a Senate nomination in the southwestern state of Arizona. McSally aligned herself with Trump as she defeated two other conservatives who also voiced support for the president.

McSally now will face Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, who has been running a centrist campaign, to replace incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Flake. Flake declined to seek re-election after losing support, largely because many Arizona Republicans disapproved of his attacks on Trump.

Sinema has taken a small, early lead in voter surveys over McSally, but University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato told CNN that the Arizona contest will be "very, very competitive. It'll go right down to the wire."Germany announced a new agency on Wednesday to fund research on cybersecurity and to end its reliance on digital technologies from the United States, China and other countries.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters that Germany needed new tools to become a top player in cybersecurity and shore up European security and independence.

"It is our joint goal for Germany to take a leading role in cybersecurity on an international level," Seehofer told a news conference with Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. "We have to acknowledge we're lagging behind, and when one is lagging, one needs completely new approaches."

The agency is a joint interior and defense ministry project.

Germany, like many other countries, faces a daily barrage of cyberattacks on its government and industry computer networks.

However, the opposition Greens criticized the project. "This agency wouldn't increase our information technology security, but further endanger it," said Greens lawmaker Konstantin von Notz.

The agency's work on offensive capabilities would undermine Germany's diplomatic efforts to limit the use of cyberweapons internationally, he said. "As a state based on the rule of law, we can only lose a cyberpolitics arms race with states like China, North Korea or Russia," he added, calling for "scarce resources" to be focused on hardening vulnerable systems.

Germany and other European countries also worry about their dependence on U.S. technologies. This follows revelations in 2012 by U.S. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden of a massive spying network, as well as the U.S. Patriot Act which gave the U.S. government broad powers to compel companies to provide data.

"As a federal government we cannot stand idly by when the use of sensitive technology with high security relevance are controlled by other governments. We must secure and expand such key technologies of our digital infrastructure," Seehofer said.Authorities in Greece have arrested three members of a charity helping migrants on the eastern island of Lesbos for allegedly belonging to a criminal organization that directly facilitated migrant smugglers for financial profit.

Police said Wednesday that a total of 30 Greek and foreign nationals, all members of the Greek non-governmental organization, are suspected of involvement.

The three people  a Syrian, a German and a Greek national  arrested on Lesbos and in Athens on August 21 and on Tuesday are accused of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering, espionage, forgery and breaches of immigration laws.

Police said they allegedly facilitated the illegal entry of migrants to Greece for profit, to raise donations or subsidies for the NGO's activities, had advance notification of smuggling boats' routes and numbers of passengers, and illegally monitored Greek and European coast guard radio traffic.

A Greek lawyer representing two of the suspects  German-based Syrian refugee Sara Mardini and German national Sean Binder  said his clients were doing volunteer work on Lesbos for the Emergency Response Centre International organization, and denied the charges.

"There is no evidence whatsoever that they have committed even one of the offenses they are accused of," Haris Petsikas told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "On many of the dates when they are supposed to have committed offenses they were not even [in Greece]."

Mardini and her sister Ysra  both competitive swimmers  arrived in Greece in 2015, swimming for their lives after jumping off an inflatable boat that began taking on water. Ysra was a member of the refugee team at the Rio Olympics.

Lesbos is a major entry point for migrants and refugees illegally crossing over from nearby Turkey. Since Europe's migration crisis hit a peak in 2015, it has become a base for many charities helping migrants. More than 10,000 migrants are currently stranded on the island.

Petsikas said there was no proof that ERCI members were in contact with migrant traffickers.

The arrests followed an investigation launched in February, after two members of the NGO were stopped on Lesbos in a jeep with fake Greek military number plates under its own license plates.The United States cannot guarantee that it will provide India a waiver from sanctions if it purchases major weapon and defense systems from Russia, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday, ahead of a high-level dialogue between Washington and New Delhi.

The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, under which any country engaged with its defense and intelligence sectors could face secondary U.S. sanctions.

However, a new defense bill gives the president the authority to grant waivers in case of national security interests.

Randall Schriver, the Pentagons top Asia official, said there was an impression that we are going to completely protect the India relationship, insulate India from any fallout from this legislation no matter what they do.

Media reports from the region have suggested that India would get a waiver.

I would say that is a bit misleading. We would still have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems (from Russia), Schriver said at a think tank event.

I cant sit here and tell you that they would be exempt, that we would use that waiver, that will be the decision of the president if he is faced with a major new platform and capability that India has acquired from Russia, he added.

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has publicly been a strong proponent of granting India waivers.

The United States is concerned about Indias planned purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, Schriver said. Russia has said it expects to sign a deal with India later this year on the sale.

On Tuesday, Mattis said the United States was also concerned about Turkey's purchase of the Russian missile defense system, which cannot be integrated into NATO. Schriver said the United States was willing to talk to India about potential alternatives.

Senior U.S. officials are expected to go to India next week for high level talks, agreed upon by U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

The meeting was originally planned for April but was postponed after Trump fired Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Washington put off the meeting for a second time in June.Senior U.S. officials have dismissed Irans latest assertion of authority over the Persian Gulf, saying Washington will keep the waters open, including major oil export routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

One such dismissal came Tuesday from U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook at a Washington conference hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). "The Iranians for many years have made threats about closing the Strait of Hormuz," he said. "The U.S. and its partners will ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial navigation and that it maintains its current and future status as an international waterway." One third of all oil traded by sea passes through the strait.

A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a similar rejection of recent Iranian statements about the Persian Gulf, posting a tweet that said Iran "does not control" the Strait of Hormuz.



Irans latest declaration regarding its Persian Gulf role was published in a Tuesday report by Iranian state-controlled news site Tasnim. The report quoted the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) navy Ali Reza Tangsiri as saying: "The Persian Gulf is our home, so we can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf, and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the U.S. and the countries whose home is not here." Tangsiri was speaking on Monday at a ceremony marking his inauguration in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Irans Young Journalists Club news outlet published another Tangsiri quote from the ceremony, at which he said: "The IRGC naval force and the navy have the readiness to defend the blue waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman respectively. Such a readiness  includes full information on the enemy and monitoring the enemy's physical presence."

Speaking to VOA Persian on the sidelines of Tuesdays conference, FDD analyst Behnam Ben Taleblu described Irans latest comments about the Persian Gulf as bombastic rhetoric rather than an indication of imminent Iranian action against the naval forces of the U.S. and its allies.

"Traditionally, the IRGC navy has been prone to taking risks in the Persian Gulf," Taleblu said, referring to Iranian gunboats that occasionally harassed U.S. warships in the area in previous years. But he noted that the U.S. Navy has recorded no instances of such harassments in 2018 and said that suggests the IRGC navy has become risk averse.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis issued stark warnings to Iran not to threaten the United States.

Trump said in a tweet that Iran would suffer consequences "the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered" if it threatened the U.S. again  an apparent response to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani saying a U.S. war with Iran would be "the mother of all wars."

Mattis said an Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz would amount to an attack on international shipping and provoke "an international response to reopen the shipping lanes with whatever it took."

This report was produced in collaboration with VOAs Persian Service.Iraqi health officials say that a health crisis stemming from water pollution and a shortage of clean drinking water has worsened in recent days, as hospitals in the southern port city of Basra treat more than 1,000 cases of intestinal infections on a daily basis. The problem was exacerbated several months ago when Turkey cut back on water distributed to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.



A crowd of young men took to the streets on in the southern port city of Basra Tuesday, demanding the central government and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi increase the quantity of clean drinking water allotted to their province. Abadi vowed to increase spending on infrastructure for the province during a visit to Basra in July.

A young man, whose friend was killed during a rally several weeks ago, broke down and sobbed over the protesters' inability to force Iraqi leaders to improve the condition of public services in Basra, especially the region's worn-out water infrastructure and insufficient quantities of drinking water allotted by the central government.

Some health officials in Basra warn that a cholera outbreak is possible due to water pollution and water-borne parasites that have made thousands of people sick in recent days. The director general of the Basra Health department, Riad Abdul Amir, told Al Hurra TV the situation continues to worsen.

He says more than 17,500 cases of intestinal ailments, resulting from contaminated drinking water, have been treated by Basra hospitals during the past two weeks, alone.

Abdul Amir says the problem stems from insufficient fresh water supplies coming into the city via canals and water pipes from the north.

"Salty water [which has infiltrated the water network]," he asserts, "is known to reduce the efficacy of chlorine used to treat and kill bacteria in drinking water," he said.

Safaa Kazem, a docotor who has been treating dozens of cases of intestinal problems and diarrhea in Basra's Sadr Teaching Hospital each day, says water from the city's supply is not safe to drink.

She says the degree of water sterilization is minimal and that Basra's water is very salty and has an extremely high level of microbes in it, along with a high degree of chemical pollution.

Basra Governor Assad al Edani told Al Hurra TV that his province has been suffering from numerous infrastructure problems for a long time.

He says the water network in Basra hasn't been updated in at least 30 years and the old pipes often break, mixing drinking water with sewage.

Edani says "not enough fresh water is arriving via the region's only canal from Thi Qar province to the north." He thinks a "strong current of fresh water will flush out salty water seeping into the water network from the sea."

Edani adds that the population of Basra has "more than doubled since the water network was last updated in the early 1990s."

Iraq's individual provinces have been fighting for water, amid a general shortage, since Turkey in early June severely curtailed the number of cubic meters of water it funnels into both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.Ugandan farmer James Mubona, 73, looked pensive as he sat in a blue plastic chair under a mango tree next to three of his four wives, one breastfeeding a five-month-old baby, contemplating the imminent loss of his 22-acre farm to an oil pipeline.

The government is set to take about half of the land, which feeds Mubona's 20 children and numerous grandchildren, to build the world's longest electrically heated oil pipeline from northwest Uganda to Tanzania's Tanga port on the Indian Ocean.

"I am worried because I don't know where to go when this land is taken," Mubona told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Kyakatemba village in Hoima District, a poor region along Uganda's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. "When the pipeline takes a bigger portion of your land and you remain with a small portion, what do you do with that small portion?"

Uganda discovered crude reserves estimated by government geologists at 6.5 billion barrels in the Albertine rift basin more than 10 years ago.

The east African country aims to refine crude oil domestically and export some via a 1,445-km (900-mile) pipeline through neighboring Tanzania by 2020.

An energy ministry official told Mubona that a chunk of his land will be used to run a 30-meter-wide pipeline, road and power line from the refinery to the sea.

Uganda signed an agreement in April with a consortium, including a subsidiary of General Electric, to build and operate a 60,000-barrel-a-day refinery that will cost up to $4 billion, the president's office said.

Yusuf Masaba, a spokesman for Uganda's energy ministry, said the entire pipeline route had been mapped out and plans to compensate and resettle people were at an advanced stage.

"Once the government valuer is done with valuation, then compensation will be done. I cannot say when they will be compensated," Masaba told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"We are not going to break people's homes to pass the line.

There are no settlements in the areas that the pipeline is going to pass," he said, emphasizing that the government is only going to acquire farmland, not houses.

Empty

Mubona will not be the first Ugandan to lose land to the oil project, which the government hopes will spur economic growth, pay down the national debt and reduce poverty.

More than 7,000 people were evicted from 13 neighboring villages in Hoima District in 2012 for the refinery and a new international airport, which will fly in oil equipment, according to the energy ministry.

In Kyakaboga resettlement village, some 50 km west of Mubona's family, about 50 concrete, three-bedroom houses with red iron roofs stood in neat lines.

More than a dozen lay empty.

The urban-style houses were built for families that lost their land and homes to the refinery and opted to be compensated with an equivalent amount of land, rather than cash.

"I can't live here," said Christop Opiyo, one of the small minority who chose resettlement over money when the government acquired his land in Kabaale for the airport.

"It looks like a camp and there is no privacy. All houses are so close together," he said, gesturing at the two rows of houses, as construction workers in orange and red reflector jackets laid stones to build a police station in the midday sun.

Many families who have been resettled on the 530-acre plot complained that they could not keep livestock at the tightly-packed modern houses, unlike at their old rural homes, and that their new farmland was too far away, he said.

Red Crosses

The families who chose cash compensation have not fared much better, activists said.

Innocent Tumwebaze, chairman of the Oil Refinery Residents Association, which represents evictees, said the 4.5 million shillings ($1,230) per acre compensation was too little to buy land in the same area.

"We were compensated using outdated rates," he said, standing outside his house in Kyakaboga resettlement village.

Masaba said land is valued according to the market price in the area and that people who choose to receive cash compensation agree to the rate before accepting the money.

"There is no one who is forced to take compensation they don't agree to. We have a grievance mechanism and they can also go to court," he said by phone.

Some men who received the cash, as the customary landowners, deserted their families and disappeared to towns, abandoning their wives and children, who are staying with relatives.

"Issues of compensation have broken up many families," Tumwebaze said.

Back in Mubona's village, red crosses, painted by government officials in April, mark the doors of five mud-walled houses.

"I was told that an oil pipeline is going to pass through here," said Jacinta Kyomukama, 48, whose house is marked, adding that she is unsure whether to plant for the next season in case she is moved.

Masaba said the marks did not mean those houses would be demolished, as the pipeline's final route has not been decided.

"I expect to be compensated and then go and buy land elsewhere," said the mother of seven, as her grandchildren milled around her. "I don't intend to go very far from here."

($1 = 3,695.0000 Ugandan shillings)President Donald Trumps administration killed Puerto Ricans through neglect, the mayor of the islands capital said Wednesday, a day after the official death toll for Hurricane Maria was raised to nearly 3,000.

Trump defended his handling of the crisis, claiming that his administration did a fantastic job and that Puerto Ricans are still being helped, but Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, had a different view.

The administration killed the Puerto Ricans with neglect. The Trump administration led us to believe they were helping when they werent up to par, and they didnt allow other countries to help us, Cruz told CNN.

Shame on President Trump. Shame on President Trump for not even once, not even yesterday, just saying, Look, I grieve with the people of Puerto Rico.

After nearly a year of controversy over the death toll from the September 2017 storm, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said Tuesday that the new estimate of 2,975 dead would be considered the official figure.

The Puerto Rican governments longstanding official death toll from Maria had been 64.

Hurricane Maria wreaked widespread devastation and caused $90 billion in damage when it tore across Puerto Rico, and is ranked as the third-costliest storm in the United States since 1900.

Households on the island went for an average of 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage after the storm.

WATCH: Trump: 'We Did a Fantastic Job In Puerto Rico'

In comparison, the death toll from 2005's Hurricane Katrina  the costliest hurricane in U.S. history  was significantly lower, estimated at 1,833.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that his administration is doing a fantastic job in Puerto Rico, and that governor Rosello has done an excellent job.

Assistance to Puerto Rico was more difficult because  unlike Texas and Florida, also struck by hurricanes last year  its much harder to get things onto the island, Trump said.

The island was also deeply in debt, and its power grid was crippled by neglect even before the hurricane, he said.

I think most of the people in Puerto Rico really appreciate what we have done, said Trump.

Stain on Trump presidency

One month after Maria, when the official number of people killed stood at 16, Trump said that the disaster was nothing compared to Hurricane Katrinas death toll.

That shaped and hampered the type of response that we got, federal assistance, federal deployment and assets, to Puerto Rico, said New York lawmaker Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat of Puerto Rican descent.

It is indisputable that thousands of people died because of the disastrously inadequate response, Velazquez told CNN.

The presidents comments, plus images of Trump throwing paper towels at hurricane survivors, outraged Puerto Ricans.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that the president is proud of all of the work the federal family undertook to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico.

Cruz was having none of it: What is there to be proud of? she asked CNN, mentioning the death toll. Is that what hes proud of?

Puerto Ricans are going to remember this forever.Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- As the rift between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to grow, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday appeared to suggest that their problems are "deeper" than Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Justice Department's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election.



"It's much deeper than that," Graham told NBC News.



"We won't say on this show, but it's a pretty deep breach," he said, refusing to elaborate. "This relationship is beyond repair."



But Graham now seems to be backing away from those comments, telling reporters on Tuesday that he wasnt referring to any one particular incident that resulted in a "deep breach."



"There's nothing unethical, nothing like that," Graham said. "It's no one thing, it's just a series of things. I see a relationship that seems to be deteriorating by the minute, and we need an attorney general that has the confidence of the president."



Simply put, Graham said: "Trump don't like him."



The South Carolina Republican's comments are a significant departure from his previous statements last year, when he threatened "holy hell" if Trump were to fire Sessions.



He went on: "I hope I'm wrong. But we're not going to get a new attorney general unless they're highly qualified and will let Mueller do his job. That's sort of the deal."



Some Republicans think Trump and Sessions should try and hash out their differences.



"I don't understand why the president's doing it the way he's doing it in terms of just not making the change if he's not happy," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters. "But that's the president's prerogative."



"Lindsey probably has information that I don't have," Kennedy added.



Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell strongly reiterated his support for Sessions.



"I have total confidence in the attorney general," McConnell said. "I think he ought to stay exactly where he is."



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The 15th annual General Assembly of the Zion Assembly Church of God will convene starting Tuesday at the United Christian Church, 2200 Peerless Road, Cleveland.



The theme for the Assembly will be Pressing Forward, according to Presiding Bishop Wade H. Phillips.



Mr. Phillips said, This Assembly is a special meeting --- indeed a meeting ordained by the Lord so that we might counsel together with Him, and chart a course for the church to follow in the months and years ahead. This grand event provides a forum for us to rekindle the fires of holiness and Pentecostal power; to fan the flames of any flagging tendencies; to stir our affections and sharpen our sights to fulfill the ministry and mission that has given to us --- namely, to be instrumental in converting and sanctifying souls and planting churches in every nation and city on earth.



The Abstract of Faith of Zion Assembly Church of God states, The General Assembly is the highest tribunal of authority in the church for the interpretation of the Scriptures (Acts 15;16:4,5). The purpose of the General Assembly is to promote unity and fellowship among the saints, to search the Scriptures for additional light and understanding, and to resolve differences in interpretations which tend to be divisive among the ministers and churches. All matters of faith, government, and discipline are discussed before the entire body of the church assembled, and resolved in one accord with the manifest approval of the Spirit (vv.12, 22, 28), based on the precedent: For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.



The Assembly will begin Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. with praise and worship by the Erwin Family of Cleveland.



Following the opening of the Assembly, Derrick McBride of Mississippi will deliver the message, Pressing Forward Violently. Donna Pounders will conduct the Ladies Ministries Program. Ricky Graves of Kentucky will deliver the message, Pressing Toward the Mark for the Prize.



Wednesday morning at 15, the services continue with the message to be delivered by J.J. Davis of West Virginia. His topic is Pressing Forward in Divine Order.



The International Leaders and general treasurers reports will be given before the lunch break.



At 2 p.m. there will be reports from around the world.



Worship service reconvenes at 7 p.m. with the a sermon on Pressing Forward Together with God by Allen Thompson of Mississippi. Ruth Tingler will conduct the Senior Ambassadors Program. Roberto Lopez of California will deliver the message, Pressing Forward in Victorious Faith.



Thursday morning highlights include camp report and program by Miguel Garcia Jr.



Anton Burnette, pastor of Zion Assembly Church of God in Cleveland, will be delivering the message Pressing Forward in Education and Ministerial Development. Pastor Burnette also serves as the Director of Education for Zion Assembly Church of God.

Trevor Graves of Kentucky will deliver the message, Pressing Forward in Truth and Love.

Macys Inc. has been reviewing its real estate portfolio across the country to see if there are opportunities to improve the use of our assets, Schwartz said in an email. After careful consideration, the company is marketing the potential sale of the long-term ground lease of its Bloomingdales Home Store at Medinah Temple.Days of tribute to the late U.S. Senator John McCain began Wednesday, his body lying in state under a flag-draped coffin in Phoenix, the capitol of his home state of Arizona.

His widow, Cindy McCain, gently touched his casket and knelt silently to rest her cheek against the U.S. flag before other family members and mourners walked by to pay their respects on what would have been the lawmaker and war hero's 82nd birthday. McCain's sons were in their military uniforms and his daughter, Meghan McCain, wept as the tribute unfolded.

In a brief eulogy, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey described McCain as one of the few politicians who could get other lawmakers to set aside their differences in the interest of compromise. He said life in the state without McCain would be like imagining Arizona without its world-famous landmark, the Grand Canyon.

Later, the public began filing past the casket bearing the remains of the man who represented the state in Congress for more than three decades, a political life that led to his unsuccessful 2008 run for the presidency as the Republican party nominee. Decades before, McCain first drew the attention of Americans as a naval aviator who was shot down in a bombing run over Hanoi at the height of the Vietnam War and held by his North Vietnamese captors for 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war.

After a memorial service Thursday in Phoenix, McCain's body will be flown to Washington, where he will lie in state Friday in the Capitol Rotunda after another ceremony remembering his life and government service.

The remembrances continue Saturday at Washington's National Cathedral, where speakers will include former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

McCain is to be buried Sunday at his college alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

He died last Saturday after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal late Wednesday on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration.

Merkel is meeting with the presidents of Senegal, Ghana and then Nigeria as she presses for further investment in a region that is a source of many of the migrants who make their perilous way toward Europe.

Migrant arrivals in Europe across the Mediterranean from Africa and Turkey are at their lowest level in five years, but the issue remains sensitive. Merkel, who refused to close Germany's borders at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, has toughened her stance recently to salvage her government from a rift over the issue.

Some in Europe hope that investing more in West Africa will help keep people in a region plagued with unemployment, dodgy infrastructure, rising extremism and now the effects of climate change from leaving.

"We must fight illegality but also create legality and conditions for work here on the ground," Merkel said after meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall, according to her spokesman Steffen Seibert. "We want to help with the future."

A day before leaving for Africa, the German leader hosted U2 frontman Bono for a discussion on Africa and its "development opportunities," the Chancellery said in an Instagram post .

Senegal and Ghana are two of Africa's fastest-growing economies and among its most stable countries. Both have signed on to the Compact with Africa initiative to promote private investment that Germany launched last year during its presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations.

Nigeria is West Africa's regional power, Africa's most populous country and one of the continent's top oil producers. It is plagued, however, by widespread corruption and security threats that include Boko Haram and Islamic State-linked extremists in the north, violent clashes between herders and farmers in the central region and oil militants in the south.

Merkel on Tuesday spoke with the new leader of another of Africa's top economies, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and invited him to visit, his chief of staff Fitsum Arega said on Twitter. Germany is just one of the countries responding with curiosity to the recent reconciliation between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea, with Germany's development minister visiting the long-reclusive country last week.Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday again defended the widely criticized original investigation of the 2014 disappearance of 43 students, an apparent massacre that shook confidence in his government.

In a short video released via Twitter, Pena Nieto said he remained convinced that the students from the teachers college at Ayotzinapa were killed by a drug gang and incinerated in a massive fire.

The September 26, 2014, incident in Iguala, Guerrero, knocked Pena Nieto's administration off its axis after early success passing structural reforms, and it never appeared to regain balance as the country's crime rate soared.

The case was especially damaging for public confidence in officials because local police allegedly turned the students over to the gang and later investigators found that an army base in the town had been closely monitoring the situation and at best did not intervene.

International experts cast doubt on what the then-attorney general had called the "historic truth" and the students' families never accepted it. The investigation has been strongly criticized inside Mexico and abroad for the alleged use of torture to coerce confessions and failure to follow leads.

In June, a federal court ordered a new investigation into the students' disappearance that would be supervised by a truth commission. The Attorney General's Office challenged the court's decision.

"Personally, and with the pain it causes, and the sorrow it signifies for the families, I'm convinced that unfortunately it happened just like the investigation showed," Pena Nieto said.

Amnesty International Americas director Erika Guevara Rosas called Pena Nieto's defense of a discredited investigation "negligent."

"It is another sign of the political decision of President Pena Nieto's government to invest all available resources in hiding the facts instead of guaranteeing truth, justice and reparations for the victims and their families," Guevara Rosas said in a statement.

Pena Nieto went on to say that he will leave office unsatisfied with Mexico's security situation.

"Regrettably, at the close of this six-year term, there was a rise in criminality," he said. "We have not achieved the objective to give Mexicans peace and calm in any part of the national landscape."

Three months remain in Pena Nieto's term and he appears to be trying to give some final framing to key moments of his presidency. His party's candidate was soundly defeated in the July 1 election in what many saw as a referendum on his administration.

In another video released Tuesday, Pena Nieto defended his decision to host then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. He conceded that he had underestimated how angry Trump's candidacy had made Mexicans, but said ultimately the meeting opened a line of communication that has served Mexico.

On Monday, the U.S. and Mexico announced that they had reached a bilateral agreement that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexican officials say they expect Canada to join as well.The U.N. refugee agency reports 4 million refugee children are missing out on an education, a situation that bodes ill for their future and for the well-being of the communities in which they live. The UNHCR has launched a new report Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis.

The U.N. refugee agency reports enrollment of refugee children in school is not keeping pace with the growing refugee population, which has reached unprecedented levels. Globally, the UNHCR cares for nearly 20 million refugees, and more than one-half are children.

This means the number of refugee children needing to go to school also has risen. But this is not happening.

UNHCR Senior Education Advisor Ita Sheehy says 61 percent of refugee children are attending primary school, dropping dramatically to 23 percent for secondary school. This, she underscores, is compared with 84 percent of children globally.

So, if we put those figures together, we know that a refugee child is five times more likely than any other child not to be in school," said Sheehy. "This gets much worse as we get up to higher education levels, and we are again seeing that the percentage of one percent of refugees going to university has not increased in the past year despite all of the efforts.

The report notes 92 percent of all refugees are hosted in developing countries. It says this poses problems because these poor countries have little money to provide quality education for their own children, let alone for refugee children.

The UNHRC is urging host countries to enroll refugee children in their national school systems. It says putting these two groups together will result in a better educational result rather than keeping them in separate, parallel systems.

The agency is calling on the international community to invest in refugee childrens education. At the same time, it urges donors to provide sustained financial support to improve the school systems in the developing host countries.Five moderate parties have signed an agreement to form a center-left government in Slovenia, sidelining a right-wing group that won most votes during an inconclusive election in June.

The parties formally signed a coalition deal Wednesday to join a minority government led by Prime Minister-designate Marjan Sarec, a former comedian-turned politician.



The parties together have support from 43 lawmakers in the 90-member assembly, while also enlisting backing from a separate leftist party for a minority government that should take office in mid-September in the European Union nation.



Analysts have predicted that such a government would be unstable.



The June 3 election winner, the anti-immigrant Slovenian Democratic Party of former PM Janez Jansa, had failed to garner support for a ruling coalition in traditionally moderate Slovenia, the home nation of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.Myanmar is rejecting the findings of a special United Nations investigative panel accusing the military of genocide and other human rights abuses during last year's crackdown against the minority Rohingya Muslims.

The fact-finding mission issued a scathing report Monday on the military's crackdown on the Rohingya in northern Rakhine state last August. The investigators have called for General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar's army, and five other generals, to be tried for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

But Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay told state-run media Wednesday that "we don't agree and accept any resolutions" by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, which sanctioned the report, because it refused to allow the investigators to enter the country.

Zaw Htay said the government had established its own Commission of Enquiry to respond to "false allegations" made by the U.N. and "other international communities."

The spokesman also denounced Facebook's decision to shut down the pages of General Min Aung Hlaing and other top military officials. The social media giant accused the military leaders of using the platform for spreading hateful and misleading information about the Rohingya.

The UN panel based its report on interviews with hundreds of the 700,000 Rohingya refugees forced to flee across the border into Bangladesh after the military launched an offensive in response to a series of attacks by Rohingya militants on security outposts. The witnesses revealed numerous atrocities including gang rapes, the torching of entire villages and extrajudicial killings.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told a Security Council meeting Tuesday that a separate investigation carried out by the U.S. State Department on the Rohingya crisis echoed the findings from the independent U.N. mission.

The attacks were planned, premeditated and coordinated," Haley said. "The perpetrator was the Burmese military and security forces." Burma is the former name for Myanmar, but is still used by other countries.Negotiators from Canada and the United States are holding detailed trade negotiations in Washington as they seek to work out a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The talks come after the United States and Mexico agreed to a bilateral trade deal this week while leaving the door open for Canada to join and preserve what has been a trilateral trade relationship for more than 20 years.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday for what she said were "very constructive" initial talks before more specific negotiations between the two sides on Wednesday.

Freeland said some of the details of the U.S.-Mexico agreement, particularly what she called "significant concessions" by Mexico on rules regarding automotive labor and parts origin, have given Canada optimism about the talks in Washington.

"The fact that Mexico was able to do something that I think must have been quite difficult for Mexico and make those concessions does really set the stage for some productive conversations for us here this week."

It is unclear if the United States and Canada will resolve their long-standing disputes over duties on automobiles and dairy products that have persisted through months of NAFTA negotiations.

Freeland was also due to meet with Mexican trade officials who were still in Washington.

Final details of the U.S.-Mexico deal have yet to be worked out, but Lighthizer said he believes the tentative agreement is a win for both countries that creates more jobs for farmers and other workers.

To escape tariffs, the deal calls for 75 percent of "auto content" - parts and amenities - to be made in either the U.S. or Mexico, up from the current 62.5 percent North American content. In addition, 40 to 45 percent of the auto content must be produced by workers earning $16 or more an hour.

The average hourly pay for U.S. auto workers is more than $22 an hour, but in Mexico it is now less than $3.50 an hour. With the increase in labor costs, it likely will boost the cost of buying a vehicle.

"I think it's going to modernize the way we do automobile trade, and I think it's going to set the rules for the future at the highest standards in any agreement yet negotiated by any two nations for things like intellectual property, and digital trade, and financial services trade, and all of the things that we think of as the modernizing, cutting-edge places that our economy is going," Lighthizer said.

"So this is great for business," he said. "It's great for labor. It has terrific labor provisions in it. Stronger and more enforceable labor provisions than have ever been in an agreement by a mile. Not even close."

However, lawmakers in both countries still need to approve the pact in the coming months.

Some of the agreement mirrors elements contained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact that Mexico and the U.S. both agreed to, before President Donald Trump withdrew the United States. It requires Mexico to allow more collective bargaining for workers and calls for more stringent air quality and marine life protections.

The accord is set to last for six years, at which point the United States and Mexico will review it, and if both sides agree, they would extend it for 16 more years.

But the agreement does not end steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed on Mexico earlier this year, leading to Mexican levies on U.S. imports.

Trade between the U.S. and Mexico totaled an estimated $615.9 billion in 2017, with the U.S. exporting $63.6 billion more in goods and services than it imported.President Donald Trump has been accused of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, passing on inaccuracies and being loose with the truth. But does he lie?

It's a loaded word, and some Trump critics believe major news organizations are too timid to use it. The Washington Post, which has documented more than 4,000 false or misleading claims by the president, declared for the first time last week that a Trump misstatement was a "lie."

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's plea deal provided "indisputable evidence that Trump and his allies have been deliberately dishonest" about hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. The Post put Kessler's assessment on its front page, and it was the newspaper's most-read story online.

Not only was it the first time the Post said Trump had lied, it was the first time the newspaper used the word for any politician since Kessler began his fact-checking operation in 2011.

Many news organizations resist using the word because of the question of intent. Editors feel it's important to establish whether someone is spreading false information knowingly, intending to deceive, and it's hard to get inside a person's head.

While Kessler's team has found 98 instances where Trump falsely claimed responsibility for the largest tax cut in U.S. history, the president may sincerely believe it, Kessler said.

At The Associated Press, "we feel it's better to say what the facts are, say what the person said and let the audience make the decision whether or not it's an intentional lie," said John Daniszewski, the news cooperative's standards editor.

Several readers told Kessler, in effect, that it's about time. One critic, Paul Blest of the website Splinter, wrote, "Can you imagine any other politician being held to this comically low standard?" The Post's milestone represents an abject failure, he wrote.

"It's sort of a cover-up for those in power when you don't call it a lie," said Jeff Cohen, a just-retired journalism professor and a producer of the documentary "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone," about the late journalist. He said journalists need to cut through the fog, and the word "lie" is an effective tool.

Yet one prominent editor wonders whether the whole discussion misses the point.

"I hate the fact that the debate and discussion over the word `lie' has obscured a larger truth, if you will," Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, told CNN earlier this month. "Does it matter if The New York Times or The Washington Post uses the word `lie' three times, seven times, 10 times, 20 times? Or does it matter more that the fact-checker has found 4,229 misleading statements?"

Trump's birther movement questioning former President Barack Obama's citizenship led both the Times and AP to use the word "lie." In January 2017, the Times headlined a story "Trump repeats lie about popular vote in meeting with lawmakers," to refer to his claim that immigrants illegally voting prevented him from receiving more of the popular vote than Hillary Clinton. While "lie" was in the headline, it wasn't in the body of the story.

CNN's "New Day" anchor John Berman said on the air that Trump had lied about his policy of separating families at the U.S. border. Stories surrounding the pre-election meeting between the president's son and Russians about information damaging to the Clinton campaign were "a writhing hydra of dishonesty. You chop off one lie, and two emerge in its place," Berman said.

Cohen said the Post's decision to use the word last week could influence others in the media to do so more often. The night the story appeared, CNN's Chris Cuomo pressed Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to admit the administration lied and that's why people didn't trust Trump. Not surprisingly, Conway demurred.

Kessler urged caution.

"It just seems like a moment," he said. "It's not something we plan to do on a regular basis. You can't speak too soon, but I'd be surprised if it was more than a once-in-a-presidency case."

Using "lie" casually or imprecisely could strike readers more as opinion than fact, said the AP's Daniszewski.

That's a major consideration when Trump rails against the "fake news" media. He has called fact-checkers "dishonest scum" and "crooked as hell" and this month referred to the Post's "Pinocchio" scale measuring the egregiousness of misstatements. "If I'm right, or if I'm 97.3 percent right, they will say, `He's got a Pinocchio' or `He's lying,"' Trump said. "They are bad people."

The result is fact-checkers are as concerned about an erosion of public trust in fact-checking as the media in general are about their coverage. The independent Politifact has tried to build trust among Trump voters by fact-checking politicians in West Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma, said Aaron Sharockman, the organization's executive editor.

Politifact avoids the use of "lie," though it does proclaim a "lie of the year." Trump "won" in 2015 and 2017. Its rating for the worse misstatements  "pants on fire"  certainly implies the word. Trump has been awarded a total of 85 "pants on fire" designations.

"It doesn't benefit Politifact to call someone a liar," Sharockman said, "because it's not our aim to play `gotcha."'Brazil said it was sending armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border area, while Peru declared a health emergency, as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated on Tuesday.

In Brazil, where residents rioted and attacked Venezuelan immigrants in a border town earlier this month, President Michel Temer signed a decree to deploy the armed forces to the border state of Roraima. He said the move was aimed at keeping order and ensuring the safety of immigrants.

Peru, meanwhile, declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing "imminent danger" to health and sanitation. The decree, published in the government's official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a "crisis moment" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week.

Temer blamed the socialist Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro for the migration crisis.

"The problem of Venezuela is no longer one of internal politics. It is a threat to the harmony of the whole continent," Temer said in a televised address.

Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil met in Colombian capital Bogota for a summit to discuss how to cope with the influx.

There are close to 1 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and more than 400,000 in Peru, the countries said in a joint statement after the meeting on Tuesday. Just 178,000 of those in Peru have legal permission to stay or are being processed.

In an attempt to track arrivals and distribute aid, Colombia and Peru said they would share information about migrants in a database.

Maduro has warned migrants they face difficult conditions abroad and invited them to return home. On Tuesday, Venezuela said it had repatriated 89 citizens who had migrated to Peru but sought to return after suffering "humiliation and cruel treatment."

Oscar Perez, an activist who works with Venezuelan migrants in Peru, said the repatriation was a publicity stunt by the Venezuelan government.

An official at Peru's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the repatriation, saying the country was focused on regional solutions to address the situation.

This month, Peru and Ecuador began requiring passports instead of national ID cards from Venezuelan migrants. Peru has also tightened deadlines for Venezuelans to sign up for a temporary residency card that lets them work in the country legally.

On Saturday, the first day Peru imposed its passport rule, the number of Venezuelan migrants entering the country fell by more than half to 1,630, according to Peru's immigration agency.

But hundreds more without passports entered the country by seeking asylum.

Foreign ministers from Ecuador and Colombia, and possibly Peru and Brazil, will meet to discuss Venezuelan migration in Ecuador next week, said Christian Kruger, the head of Colombia's migration agency.The abrupt cancellation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang reflects growing concern in the Trump administration about North Korea's unwillingness to denuclearize, experts said.

President Donald Trump on Friday called off Pompeo's visit to North Korea, days before it was set to begin, because of what the president felt was a lack of progress in denuclearization talks.

"I don't think the North Koreans were prepared to do what we needed to do. which was to have some kind of declaration [on their nuclear program] or some tangible sign that they were moving ahead," said Christopher Hill, a chief negotiator with North Korea during the George W. Bush administration.

"They were not moving ahead, so I think rather than having the secretary of state come back empty-handed, the president canceled it," Hill said.

WATCH: US reason for cancellation

North Korea is believed to be demanding an official end to the Korean War before taking steps toward denuclearization. The U.S., however, wants North Korea to make concrete steps toward denuclearization, starting with a declaration of its nuclear weapons arsenal, before signing an official peace treaty to end the Korean War. An armistice signed on July 27, 1953, by Chinese, North Korean and United Nations forces ended fighting and established the Demilitarized Zone, which has since separated the two Koreas.

The Washington Post reported Monday that two U.S. officials said Trump canceled Pompeo's trip after receiving a hostile letter from Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee. He had met previously with Pompeo in New York City and in Pyongyang.

The letter stated Pyongyang could not move forward with denuclearization because the U.S. was not ready to step toward a peace treaty, according to a CNN report Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter.

No 'meaningful steps' seen

Rob Rapson, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, said, "The secretary stands ready to go, but only when the other side is ready." But for now, Rapson said, North Korea is "not yet prepared to take meaningful steps toward denuclearization."

Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang would have been the fourth this year and the second since Trump's June summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which has been criticized as having produced no framework for a denuclearization process.

Experts said the lack of movement in the talks resulted from the contrasting expectations that Washington and Pyongyang have about denuclearization.

Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses, said North Korea would not relent on its demand for a peace treaty before moving toward denuclearization.

He said Pyongyang would not give up nuclear weapons "within the framework of denuclearization," and the only way to have North Korea denuclearize was to "couch it in terms of confidence-building measures toward a peace regime."

Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction in the Obama administration, said, "It's not clear  that the Trump administration has been able to come up with new proposals."

He continued, "As you know, the whole question of issuing a peace declaration is very controversial in Washington."

When announcing the cancellation of Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang, Trump said China was not helping with denuclearization because of its trade disputes with the U.S.

Although Hill said he thought the canceled trip was not particularly related to China's stance, he said the U.S. should focus on applying pressure to enforce full implementation of sanctions.

"I think it's an issue where the U.S. lost a lot of its leverage by focusing on the negotiating track to the exclusion of the sanctions track," said Hill, stressing, "I think it's time to work full time on ramping up the pressures. I think they lost too much [leverage] because of Singapore."

China has been calling for sanctions relief for North Korea since the Singapore summit, and its implementation of sanctions has been relaxed, especially along the border it shares with North Korea.

Resumption of trade seen

William Tobey, who participated in the Six Party Talks with North Korea, said calling for sanctions relief was a sign that China will start trading with North Korea.

"Beijing has mostly coddled its ally, and responded to the Singapore summit by calling for an ease of sanctions, which was probably code for, 'We are going to resume trade with North Korea.' "

Because of "huge, gaping holes" in sanctions enforcement, Gause believes Trump's maximum pressure policy will not work in denuclearizing the North, and because denuclearization is "not a primary issue for China, he said, expecting China to help solve the denuclearization issue is a "non-starter."

"They have no incentive even  in normal times to put that much pressure on North Korea. And given the trade war that we have now, they're going to have even less incentive to play ball on sanctions," said Gause.

Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a foreign policy think tank in Washington, said he thought Beijing, which has quietly eased sanctions and reduced U.S. leverage over Pyongyang, "will not deliver North Korea."

In a signal of a reversion to its stance before detente with Pyongyang, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told reporters on Tuesday that there were "no plans, at this time, to suspend any more exercises" on the Korean Peninsula. The Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises that usually take place in August were halted as a goodwill gesture toward Pyongyang after the summit in Singapore.

Lee Yeon-cheol and Kim Young-nam of VOA's Korean service contributed to this report.Im grateful for the opportunity, but I still miss my uncle, Costello said. I wish he was here, but I know hes looking down on us and hes prepared us for this and hes expecting us to carry forward, so thats what were going to do.Pope Francis lamented Wednesday how Irish church authorities failed to respond to the crimes of sexual abuse, speaking during his first public appearance at the Vatican after bombshell accusations that he himself covered up for an American cardinal's misdeeds.

Francis presided over his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square and spoke about his weekend trip to Ireland, where the abuse scandal has devastated the Catholic Church's credibility.

The final day of the trip was overshadowed by release of a document from a retired Holy See diplomat accusing Vatican authorities, including Francis, of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite knowing for years that he regularly slept with seminarians.

The author of the document  retired Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano  said Francis should resign for his complicity in the McCarrick scandal, which has implicated two decades' worth of U.S. and Vatican church leaders.



Francis referred Wednesday to the Irish culture of cover-up, but he omitted from his remarks a line in his prepared text noting how he had prayed in Ireland for the Virgin Mary to intervene to give the church strength to "firmly pursue truth and justice" to help victims heal.



U.S. bishops, as well as rank-and-file Catholics, have called for an independent investigation to find out who knew about McCarrick's abuse and when, and how he was able to rise through the ranks even though it was an open secret that he regularly invited seminarians to his New Jersey beach house and into his bed.

Francis last month removed McCarrick as a cardinal and ordered him to live a lifetime of penance and prayer after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.



Vigano's 11-page j'accuse alleges that Francis knew of McCarrick's penchant for adult seminarians starting in 2013, but rehabilitated him from sanctions that Pope Benedict XVI had allegedly imposed on him in 2009 or 2010. The claims have shaken Francis' five-year papacy.



There is ample evidence, however, that the Vatican under Benedict and St. John Paul II also covered up the information, and that any reported sanctions Benedict imposed were never enforced since McCarrick travelled widely for the church during those years, including to Rome to meet with Benedict and celebrate Mass with other U.S. bishops at the tomb of St. Peter.



Vigano provided no evidence that Francis had lifted the alleged sanctions, saying only that McCarrick announced after a meeting with the pope that he was going to China.



But he said McCarrick had become a close adviser to Francis, who was seeking to appoint more pastorally-minded bishops to the U.S. church, which he believed had become too ideologically driven by right-wingers.The coalition of Arab states fighting against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Wednesday denounced as inaccurate and biased a report by U.N. human rights experts that said some of its airstrikes may amount to war crimes.

The experts' report, released a day earlier, said that the bombardment has caused heavy civilian casualties, raising concerns about the coalition's targeting process, while severe restrictions on Red Sea ports and Sanaa airport had deprived Yemenis of vital supplies.

The panel said Houthi fighters may also be guilty of war crimes, accusing them of restricting access for humanitarian aid and conscripting child soldiers.

The Houthis, who control the capital and most of the west of the country, regularly fire missiles on southern Saudi Arabia and occasionally aim for higher-value targets, such as the capital Riyadh or facilities of state oil company Aramco.

"The report had several methodological fallacies and misconstrued the facts of the conflict... ignoring the true reasons for the conflict which are the coup of the Iran-backed Houthi militias against the legitimate government in Yemen," said a statement published by the Saudi state news agency SPA.

Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed alliance of Sunni Muslim Arab states trying to restore the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in 2015.

The report was the first United Nations investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen although international human rights groups have regularly documented abuses. It was released ahead of U.N. peace talks between Hadi's government and the Houthis scheduled for September 6 in Geneva.

The coalition said it would provide a "comprehensive and detailed legal response" at a later time. It rejected the report's assertion that it had not cooperated or provided information to the panel.

'American complicity'

The experts said they did not examine the United States and Britain, who supply weapons and intelligence to the alliance, or Iranian support for the Houthis, but other U.N. bodies were doing so. They urged all states to restrict arms sales to help end the war.

The United Nations considers Yemen to be facing the most urgent humanitarian crisis in the world, with millions of people potentially facing starvation if the war disrupts supply lines needed to bring in aid.

The war has so far garnered relatively little public attention in Western countries, but there are signs that is starting to change, particularly because of the role Western governments play supplying arms to the coalition countries.

A New York Times editorial on Wednesday condemned what it called "American complicity" in civilian casualties - including dozens of children killed earlier this month in an airstrike on a bus - and urged Congress to cut military aid to Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia and its allies seem to have little compunction about slaughtering children as long as more bombs can be bought, so it's up to the enablers to call a halt," it said.

In Washington on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition was not unconditional, but suggested the United States would continue to support the alliance as it worked to reduce the impact on civilians.

Amnesty International called on Washington, London and others to "do everything in their power to prevent further violations [including] immediately stopping the flow of arms to the country and end the Coalition's arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian assistance and essential imports.

The Houthi-controlled al-Masirah TV said earlier on Wednesday that the group had fired a ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia's Najran region near the border between the two countries, causing no apparent casualties. Saudi air defenses intercepted a missile fired towards the southern city of Najran on Tuesday.A Sudanese negotiator says South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar has decided to sign the latest draft of a revitalized peace deal to end the country's devastating five-year old civil war.

Machar had signed the initial draft of a power-sharing deal earlier this month in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Kiir signed a revised draft of the agreement earlier Tuesday in Khartoum, but Machar refused, due to questions over the number of states and their boundaries. The Kiir administration changed the number of original states in 2015 from 10 to 32.

But just hours later, Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed told reporters that Machar had changed his mind and will sign the accord on Thursday after "intense" discussions with Sudanese negotiators.

President Kiir and Machar, his former deputy, have signed several peace deals since fighting broke out in late 2013 as a result of a power struggle between the two, just two years after South Sudan gained independence from neighboring Sudan. Each peace deal has failed, and the fighting has left has left tens of thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced millions of its citizens to flee their homes.

The new pact will see Machar return from exile in South Africa as the first of five vice presidents under a transitional government of national unity.A small Swiss company won $31 million in new investment on Tuesday to suck carbon dioxide from thin air as part of a fledgling, costly technology that may gain wider acceptance from governments in 2018 as a way to slow climate change.

Climeworks AG, which uses high-tech filters and fans to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a cost of about $600 a ton, raised the money from investors including Zurich Cantonal Bank.

"It's all about cost reductions," Jan Wurzbacher, a co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks, told Reuters of how the company would use the funds.

Extracting vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could help to limit global warming, blamed for causing more heatwaves, wildfires, floods and rising sea levels.

The company says it has a long-term "vision" of capturing one percent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions by 2025.

But that is a far off. Its capacity is just 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year while global emissions totalled 32.5 billion tons in 2017, according to the International Energy Agency.

And costs are now too high.

In June, however, Climeworks' main rival, Canadian-based Carbon Engineering, outlined the design of a plant that it said could extract carbon dioxide from the air for perhaps as little as $94 a ton.

That could make the technology more feasible if governments jack up penalties for carbon emissions this century. In a European market, carbon emissions prices are now about 21 euros a ton.

Climework's industrial plant in Switzerland now sells carbon dioxide to nearby greenhouses as an airborne fertilizer for tomatoes or cucumbers. It also has a project in Iceland where the gas is buried deep underground.

After the new round, investments in Climeworks's technology total about $50 million, it said. The company has expanded to 60 employees from 30 since the start of 2017.

A draft U.N. scientific report, due for publication in October about ways to achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, is likely to boost such "carbon dioxide removal" (CDR) technologies.

Until now, such CDR has often been bundled with other more exotic and risky "geoengineering" technologies such as spraying chemicals into the upper atmosphere to dim sunlight.

But the draft by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, seen by Reuters, categorizes CDR for the first time as "mitigation," the mainstream term used for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

($1 = 0.9957 Swiss francs)An official says South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar has agreed to sign a final peace deal with the government to end the five-year civil war, one day after refusing to do so.

Machar's SPLM-In Opposition and mediators for President Salva Kiir have held several weeks of talks in Khartoum to finalize a a comprehensive peace deal to end the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and left more than four million displaced from their homes.

The warring parties have signed several agreements, including a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing deal in June, which allow Machar to return to Juba as South Sudans first vice president.

On Tuesday, Machar refused to sign the final deal after the government signed it.

But Sudanese Foreign Minister Al Dirdiri Mohammed Ahmed said Wednesday Machar will sign the agreement Thursday in Khartoum.

Earlier, Machar and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance said they refused to sign the draft because it had not spelled out the number of states South Sudan will have or their boundaries. It is unclear whether the other opposition groups will sign the deal tomorrow.

Sources close to the mediators say Sudans President Omar al Bashir promised Machar the issues raised by the opposition will be discussed and considered by the regional bloc IGAD (intergovernmental authority on development) heads of state.John McCain's close friend Lindsey Graham mixed laughter and tears on the Senate floor Tuesday as he remembered "Operation Maverick," which he described as lessons in choosing "what's right at your own expense.''



"He taught me that honor and imperfection are always in competition," Sen. Graham said, reading from a handwritten outline next to McCain's empty desk, now topped with roses. "I do not cry for a perfect man. I cry for a man who had honor and always was willing to admit to his imperfection."



The South Carolina Republican added, "There's a little McCain in all of us."



Graham's tears were the rawest point in a day in which members were still coming to grips with a Senate now permanently without McCain's wily, white-haired presence, something that had been a constant feature of the institution for more than 30 years.



At one point, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia stepped behind the desk, crossed himself, kissed his fingers and touched the black draping. At another, Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Manchin formed a tight circle around McCain's spot and admired the roses.



McCain died Saturday at home in Arizona after 13 months battling brain cancer. He had not been back to Washington since December because of his illness, but stayed engaged in policy debates and expressed his disdain for President Donald Trump in their ongoing feud.



But now he was truly gone, his absence confirmed by his empty chair and desk along a much-traversed aisle.



"When you walk by Sen. McCain's desk and you see the black drape and the bowl of white roses, it really underscores the loss," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

As the Senate churned though business Tuesday, McCain's death sat very much at the center of proceedings and at the front of his colleagues' minds. Only four of them know a Senate without McCain, who was elected in 1986 and had become a mentor and moral compass to newcomers. Several defended him against attacks from Trump, who questioned McCain's heroism as a prisoner of war and chafed over McCain's thumbs-down vote that sank the repeal of national health care.



"No one is more worthy of the word `hero' than John McCain," Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the Senate, said in his own speech.



Graham's eyes and nose were red when he entered the chamber, and he unfurled his sorrow with emotion rarely seen on the televised Senate floor.



"I have been thinking about this. I have been dreading this. And now I'm going to do this" eulogy, Graham said, identifying himself as McCain's "political wingman, code name Little Jerk."



He said his speech would resemble an "after action report" and be titled, "Operation Maverick," for McCain's unconventional path and his rebellious streak.

He said McCain's ultimate lesson is forgiveness and love. He remembered McCain's role as national healer on the night in 2008 when McCain conceded the presidential race to Democrat Barack Obama by saying that Obama was now his president.

Graham also said he hopes people remember one thing "when it comes to the life of John McCain: that it's okay to say, 'I screwed up. I got this wrong,'"  as McCain did after the Keating Five savings and loan scandal, after the presidential race and even after cursing too much.



"Honor is, in my view, doing the right thing at your own expense. And he did that time and time again," Graham said.



Later, Graham said he planned to honor McCain's commitment to immigration issues, vowing to get some form of immigration reform passed "or die trying."



The intractability of that issue vexed McCain, who also was an expert on veterans and the armed forces, Russia and campaign finance reform.



Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., recalled McCain's expertise and knowledge. The Arizona senator had indeed "peeled the paint off the wall behind me with a fiery stream of profanity-laced invective," Coons recalled, describing the McCain experience of several senators, but he almost always apologized. McCain, Coons said, "was a treasure and a challenge."

McCain's funeral procession will begin Wednesday in Phoenix, where he'll lie in state at the state Capitol. Services will be held Thursday. He arrives back in Washington on Friday to lie in state under the Rotunda for public viewing and a formal ceremony. His casket will then pass the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and be moved to Washington National Cathedral for a service expected to include remarks by former Presidents Barack Obama and President George W. Bush.



People close to the McCain family and President Donald Trump said the family had asked the president to stay away. Trump announced Monday that he would send others to represent his administration.



Speeches by Graham and other senators were effectively the first public farewells of the procession.



Graham told reporters afterward that "what killed me was the black" on McCain's desk.



"I thought I would do much better than I did," he said.Thousands of revelers hurled at least 145 tons of tomatoes at each other Wednesday during the annual "Tomatina" festival in the eastern Spanish town of Bunol.

With a firecracker blast marking the start of "La Tomatina" shortly before noon local time, at least six trucks loaded with tomatoes drove through Bunol's main street, providing red ammunition for the revelers to fight each other for the next hour.

The event takes its origins from a spontaneous food fight that broke out amongst villagers in 1945. It was banned for a time during the 1950s at the height of General Francisco Franco's dictatorship, but has gained popularity again since it was reinstated, drawing a huge international crowd.

The Tomatina attracts thousands of participants and onlookers from Spain and around the world to Bunol, one of the country's prime tomato-producing areas. The Reuters news agency reports that at one time, the festival involved up to 45,000 participants. Now, it has become a ticketed event with only 22,000 available slots, 5,000 of which go to local residents.U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Google, Twitter and Facebook were "treading on very, very troubled territory" and warned them to "be careful."

Trump made the comments just hours after igniting controversy with a series of early-morning tweets claiming Google search results are "rigged" to turn up news unfavorable to the president's administration.

The president asserted that people were complaining about biased results from social media searches.

"We have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in," the president said. "You just can't do that."

In response to a reporter's question in the Oval Office, Trump singled out Google, Facebook and Twitter for criticism and said, "You can't do that to people."

"Google is really taking advantage of a lot of people," the president said. "They better be careful."

Google responded to Trump's earlier criticism by saying its search engine is not used to promote any political agenda.

The company's statement Tuesday said, "We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment." It also said its major goal was to give users "the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds."

'Hiding information'

In the early-morning tweets, Trump said Google was "suppressing" conservative voices and "hiding information" that would be more flattering to the president. He also said, "This is a very serious situation  will be addressed!"

Trump tweeted that a search for "Trump news" "shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media [sic]. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD."

In addition, the president said 96 percent of those search results were from "National Left-Wing Media." He did not cite a source for that statistic.

New York Times reporter Adam Satariano wrote Tuesday that Trump might have based his claims on comments that Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs made late Monday. Dobbs reported on comments by the conservative website PJ Media, which said it had conducted an "unscientific study" showing 96 percent of Google search results for the word "Trump" came from what it called "left-leaning sites."

Questioned later in the day about the president's allegations, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters, "We're taking a look at it."

U.S. Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who is a frequent critic of the president, responded to Trump's comments by tweeting, "House Judiciary Committee held two hearings on this issue ... Private companies can do whatever they want with speech. What would be illegal is government regulating speech content or speech algorithms."

Zach Graves, head of policy at Lincoln Network, a think tank in Washington, said PJ Media had drawn flawed conclusions about Google in its unscientific study.

Results 'not surprising'

"I think the mistake they make is not understanding how search engine algorithms typically work," Graves told VOA on Tuesday. He said one of the ways the sites are ranked in search results is the number of other web pages that link to it  a measure of how well-used a site is and how many other sites trust its information.

"With that in mind," Graves said, "it's not surprising at all that these big popular media outlets" such as CNN, The New York Times and Fox News "are outranking more niche conservative platforms like Hot Air, the Blaze, and so on."

Data from media analysis firm Alexa.com, a subsidiary of media giant Amazon, show that 303,995 other sites link to The New York Times  the term is "backlink"  while CNN has 210,373 backlinks and Fox News has 76,164. The conservative Wall Street Journal has 128,015 backlinks, while PJ Media itself has 3,807.

"The interpretation is that there's some kind of conspiracy, that Google's coming in and manipulating these results for political reasons," Graves said. "I think the correct interpretation is that this is a natural byproduct of the metrics that the algorithm uses."

He added, however, that he thought Google would do itself a favor to be more transparent about its search algorithm and reach out to conservative groups to assuage their concerns about bias.

VOA's Steve Herman contributed to this report.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern Wednesday that there could be a humanitarian catastrophe in the Syrian province of Idlib if there is a full-scale military operation there.



The government of President Bashar al-Assad, with support from Russia, has said it plans to clear the area of militants from the Nusrah Front. There has been a surge in air strikes and shelling in the area this month, raising fears of an all-out offensive similar to what happened previously in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta.

"Idlib is the last major stronghold of terrorists who are trying to gamble on the status of the de-escalation zone and hold civilians as human shields and bring the armed formations ready for negotiations with the Syrian government to their knees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Moscow earlier Wednesday according to the state-run Itar-Tass news agency. So, from all standpoints, this abscess has to be liquidated," he added.

Some 3 million people live in the northwestern Idlib governorate, including more than a million who were displaced from other parts of Syria. The U.N. says more than 2 million people in Idlib need humanitarian assistance and that aid agencies are prepositioning supplies to prepare for a further deterioration in the situation.

The secretary-general urgently appeals to the government of Syria and all parties to exercise restraint and to prioritize the protection of civilians, said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. He calls on the Astana guarantors to step up the efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib, the last remaining de-escalation zone.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are the guarantors of the de-escalation zones. The Russian and Turkish foreign ministers met August 24 to discuss the issue.

Russia and Syria have accused the West of planning to carry out a chemical weapons attack in Idlib with the help of the Syrian civil society group the White Helmets and to blame it on the Assad regime.

A report from the Syrian news agency SANA Wednesday claimed that Turkish trucks under the supervision of foreign mercenaries and with help from the White Helmets were transporting gas cylinders into Idlib. The report said, About 20 people with dark brown skin who speak French and English took part in the operation.

The United States has warned that it will hold the Assad government and Russia accountable for any escalation in Idlib, including the use of chemical weapons.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters Tuesday that senior administration officials have spoken with their Russian counterparts, to make it very clear that the United States government and its partners would respond to any verified chemical weapons use in Idlib, or elsewhere in Syria for that matter, in a swift and appropriate manner, she said.The United Nations is urging the international community to intervene in Nicaragua to prevent it from falling further into political and social chaos.

The U.N.'s human rights office issued a report Wednesday detailing numerous violations carried out by the government since April 18, when protests broke out over President Daniel Ortega's plan to cut social security benefits. Authorities launched a crackdown against the demonstrators, aided by armed civilian supporters of Ortega who were mobilized into "shock forces" or "mobs" who attacked and harassed protesters, "often in a joint and coordinated manner" with police.

The report says more than 300 people have been killed and 2,000 injured since April, and at least 300 others are being prosecuted for participating in or supporting the protests.

Investigators have also documented numerous reports of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and instances of torture.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein is urging the Human Rights Council to establish an international inquiry or truth commission "to ensure access to truth, justice and reparation for victims."Still, the beacons will help make better use of the citys infrastructure, said Rob Wolcott, clinical professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. In our age of constant connectivity, people avoid what they cant see on their apps or navigation systems, he said. If the purpose of the underground roadways is to ease congestion above ground, people arent making the best use of those streets if theyre avoiding them.A United Nations report released Wednesday on four months of unrest in Nicaragua describes a comprehensive repression effort by the government that extends from the streets to the courts.

The report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the government of President Daniel Ortega to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for many of the killings and arbitrary detentions.

More than 300 people have been killed in violence since mid-April in this Central American nation. Neighboring Costa Rica has been flooded with thousands of requests for asylum by people fleeing Nicaragua.

The report describes illegal arrests, torture and closed trials. Doctors, professors and judges who have spoken out or protested have been dismissed from their jobs to discourage people from participating in or supporting the protests.

The level of persecution is such that many of those who have participated in the protests, defended the rights of the protesters, or simply expressed dissenting opinion, have been forced to hide, have left Nicaragua or are trying to do so, according to the U.N. report.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the U.N. human rights chief, told reporters in Geneva that repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away. He urged the international community to take concrete action to prevent the current crisis in Nicaragua from descending into deeper social and political turmoil.

In mid-April, retirees and students marched to protest cuts to Nicaragua's social security benefits decreed by Ortega. They were met with violence from young government supporters and riot police. The president eventually retracted the changes, but protests quickly evolved into calls for him to step down.

University students across the country led the protest effort and took over a number of campuses. But in July the government unleashed heavily armed civilian forces that worked with police to clear the barricades that had been erected on strategic highways and throughout some neighborhoods.

There was a short-lived dialogue between the government and opponents, but Ortega accused the Roman Catholic bishops mediating the talks of being part of a coup conspiracy and talks have not resumed. Ortega has blamed international agents and internal enemies of conspiring to overthrow his government. He has said he will not step down before his term ends in 2021.

Protests continue, but they are smaller as student leaders have been arrested or forced into hiding or exile.

There are currently no conditions for the free and safe exercise of the rights to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association, the U.N. report said.

The U.N. team reached its conclusions despite government obstacles thrown in its path. Team members could not access relevant government agencies or observe court hearings for those accused of crimes ranging from organized crime to terrorism for participating in the protests. When the team attempted to travel outside the capital, the foreign ministry forbid it for security reasons.

Arbitrary arrests are conducted without arrest or search warrants, the team found. Detainees are typically held incommunicado for days before their families find out where they have been taken.

This month The Associated Press reported on student protesters who were arrested, beaten and tortured by police and armed civilians. One pregnant student was beaten, despite making her condition known to her captors, and eventually lost her pregnancy.

When some families made habeas corpus filings with the courts in an effort to locate their missing relatives, the petitions were initially assigned to dead judges, the U.N. report said. U.N. investigators believe it was an effort to delay the proceedings.

On Monday night, a judge convicted two young men in the April 21 killing of journalist Angel Gahona in Bluefields. His widow, Migueliuth Sandoval, said Tuesday that the two men are innocent.

This decision is humiliating, it doesn't give us justice. Because we know that these guys didn't kill my husband, that those who really did it are riot police, because there are videos indicating it, that my husband was surrounded by police, Sandoval said.A top U.S. military official is pushing back against the Pentagon's own estimates which suggest the Islamic State terror group has retained significant capabilities in Iraq and Syria, and is "well-positioned" to rebuild its lost caliphate.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, challenged recent estimates from both the U.S. Defense Department and a United Nations report, indicating IS still has anywhere from 20,000 to 32,000 fighters in the two countries despite the collapse of its self-declared caliphate.

"I saw the recent reports of over 30,000 fighters," Dunford told reporters Tuesday during a rare news conference with Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon. "I don't have high confidence in those particular numbers.

"We're focused on dealing with what remains a threat in [the] Euphrates River Valley. We know there are remaining residual pockets of ISIS inside Iraq," Dunford added, using an acronym for the terror group. "But I certainly would not say ISIS has the same strength that it had at its peak."

WATCH: Dunford Discusses IS Numbers

Defense and intelligence officials have long been wary of using numbers alone to measure the effectiveness of the campaign to destroy IS, calling any such effort, at best, an imperfect science. And some senior officials have likewise voiced concerns, internally, that the newest estimates may be misleading, possibly counting family members or others with strong connections to IS, though not themselves likely to fight.

Iraq, Syria IS force strength

But the new estimates, contained in a report issued by the lead inspector general for Operation Inherent Resolve, along with a subsequent report from the United Nations, have raised concerns.

The inspector general report, citing Defense Department figures, said IS likely had more than 17,000 fighters in Iraq and another 13,100 to 14,500 in Syria, only 4,000 to 6,000 "remained in the U.S. military's areas of operation."

Together, the numbers come close to the U.S. Defense Department estimates of the size of the IS fighting force at its peak in 2015, when officials said the group had about 33,000 fighters at its disposal.

When questioned about the new estimates, the Pentagon told VOA via an emailed statement that IS "is well-positioned to rebuild and work on enabling its physical caliphate to re-emerge."

Such assessments are a dramatic departure from previous characterizations of the scope of the IS threat, in which collation officials have described a terror organization in "disarray" with fighters "hiding in onesies and twosies amongst the population."

The new estimates have been even more alarming given that, to date, the U.S.-led coalition has carried out about 24,000 airstrikes, killing close to 70,000 IS fighters, according to some U.S. military officials.

Still, Dunford on Tuesday downplayed the significance of any estimates regarding the number of IS fighters.

"Here's what I'm confident of  that over the last two-and-half years, ISIS has lost about 98 percent of the ground that they've held," he said. "They've lost significant access to resources and the flow of foreign fighters has been significantly reduced. Those are all quantifiable."

'Fight is not over'

Dunford said, for now, the U.S. focus is on clearing out the last remaining "significant" pocket of IS fighters, cornered in a small area of Syria's Middle Euphrates River Valley, an operation slated to get under way shortly with the help of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

WATCH: Syrian civil war

Once that is done, the challenge will be to stabilize the area so that IS cannot return, which Dunford said, "is going to take some time to do."

"We recognize the fight is not over," Defense Secretary Mattis said, standing alongside Dunford, adding the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria will stay there until ISIS is "taken out."

"If the locals are able to keep the security, obviously during this time we might be reducing our troops commensurate with their ability to deny ISIS a return," he said.

Yet aside from numbers of fighters, there are other indications the terror group is far from destroyed.

Just last week, IS's reclusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, broke his silence for the first time in almost a year, urging his followers to be patient.

"For the mujahedeen, the scale of victory or defeat is not dependent on a city or town being stolen or subject to that who has aerial superiority, intercontinental missiles or smart bombs," Baghdadi said in a recording released on social media.

There have also been more reports of a resurgent IS force in Iraq, with attacks reported in recent weeks in Diyala, Salah ad-Din and Kirkuk.

"It would be a mistake to think that the threat has dissipated and that this is just a mop-up operation at this point," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA.

Gartenstein-Ross has long thought the initial U.S. estimates for IS fighters in 2014 and 2015 were far too low, arguing the terror group likely had close to about 100,000 fighters at its peak.

But he said the newer estimates of up to about 32,000 IS fighters could well be accurate.

"They have lost territory. There's no question. They have fewer resources," he said. "The flipside is we've seen this before. Groups like ISIS, after they reach a point where they can no longer control territory, try to come back as insurgent forces, and that's where numbers matter."President Donald Trump's trade deal with Mexico could struggle to win approval from Congress unless Canada comes on board, lawmakers from both parties said on Tuesday, saying support from Democrats would be needed to pass a purely bilateral deal.

Trump unveiled the Mexico deal on Monday and threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada did not join the revamp of the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has long criticized.

If Trump, a Republican, tries to get the Senate to vote in favor of a bilateral deal as a replacement for NAFTA, he will face an uphill struggle to win passage, lawmakers said. Some lawmakers said only a trilateral pact would be eligible for fast-track, 51-vote Senate approval.

A bilateral deal, on the other hand, would need 60 votes and that would require some support from Democrats, who likely would be reluctant to help Trump, they said. There are now 50 Republican-held seats in the 100-member Senate.

To get fast-track Senate ratification, the administration must also reach an agreement with Canada, said Republican Senator Pat Toomey in a statement.

NAFTA was a tri-party agreement only made operative with legislation enacted by Congress, said Toomey, a member of the committee that oversees trade policy.

Any change, such as NAFTAs termination, would require additional legislation from Congress. Conversion into a bilateral agreement would not qualify for ... fast track procedures and would therefore require 60 votes in the Senate.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fast track treatment for the Mexico deal. Canada's top trade negotiator arrived in Washington on Tuesday for talks with her Mexican and U.S. counterparts, in a bid to remain part of the trade pact.

Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said a bilateral deal would face serious legal concerns, while he also questioned a lack of details on the terms of the Mexico pact

Im a little worried that this one is like North Korea. They have a nice announcement, but then we dont see the details, Schumer told reporters in a Capitol hallway. U.S. stock markets surged on Monday after Trump said he had reached an understanding with Mexico. On Tuesday, stocks had given up some of their early gains by the closing bell.

Senator Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the trade committee, said: We know very few details right now. There are real questions about whether this is even enforceable ... We are far from being done on this and the fact is you cannot really move this substantively without the Canadians.

In the House of Representatives, Democrat Bill Pascrell urged Republicans in a statement to convene a bipartisan House trade council to advise the White House.A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called Wednesday for the United States to impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for human rights

abuses against minority Muslims in China's Xinjiang region, saying it was being turned into a "high-tech police state."

The group, led by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, Republican co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Executive Commission on China, made the call in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Muslims in Xinjiang, China's western autonomous region, were "being subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, egregious restrictions on religious practice and culture, and a digitized surveillance system so pervasive that every aspect of daily life is monitored," the lawmakers said in their letter, which in addition to Rubio and Smith was signed by 15 U.S. senators and

representatives.

The letter, signed by nine Republicans, seven Democrats and one independent, called for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against senior Chinese government and Communist Party officials overseeing the policies, including Xinjiang party chief Chen Quanguo, and for other measures to be considered.

The Magnitsky Act was originally designed to target Russian rights violators but has been expanded to allow sanctions for abuses anywhere in the world.

"The Chinese government is creating a high-tech police state in [Xinjiang] that is both a gross violation of privacy and international human rights," the letter said.

Militant threat

China has said that Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tensions between the mostly Muslim Uighur minority who call the region home and the ethnic Han Chinese majority. Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in Xinjiang in recent years.

Critics have said the security and surveillance steps in Xinjiang have created near martial law conditions, with police checkpoints, re-education centers and mass DNA collection.

The U.S. lawmakers, in their letter, said as many as a million or more Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities were being detained in re-education centers or camps, saying this required "a tough, targeted and global response."

"No Chinese official or business complicit in what is happening ... should profit from access to the United States or the U.S. financial system," the letter said.

The U.S. State Department has said that it is deeply troubled by Beijing's crackdown in Xinjiang, but has declined to comment on the possibility of future sanctions on Chen and others.A year after the mass exodus of minority Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, the U.S. State Department has gathered information from survivors that substantiates accusations that the Myanmar military and security forces perpetrated atrocious human rights violations.

"The firsthand accounts of the survivors reveal that a majority of the Rohingya directly experienced violence, either to their homes, to their families, or to both," U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told a Security Council meeting on the situation. "Most importantly, the report identifies one group as the perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of these crimes the Burmese military and security forces," she said, using the other name for Myanmar.

Haley said the State Department's findings are based on more than 1,000 interviews with randomly selected refugees in camps in Bangladesh. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled there following a brutal military crackdown after Rohingya militants attacked and killed a dozen Myanmar security forces.

Haley listed details from the report that have not yet been publicly released. Among its findings:

* One fifth of all Rohingya surveyed witnessed more than 100 victims being killed or injured;

* 82 percent of refugees saw their home or village destroyed;

* 51 percent said they witnessed sexual violence;

* 65 percent watched a family member or fellow villager be injured.

"Children, babies, women and men suffered unspeakable crimes," Haley said. "The attacks were planned, premeditated and coordinated. The perpetrator was the Burmese military and security forces."

Role of military leaders

Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed targeted sanctions on five Myanmar military commanders and two units of the army for their involvement in the atrocities.

The State Department findings echo those of an independent fact-finding mission established by the U.N. Human Rights Council. That panel released its report Monday.

The panel concluded that the Myanmar military's response to attacks by Rohingya militants was "immediate, brutal and grossly disproportionate." The panel said it was also likely pre-planned. It named six Myanmar military officials, including Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, urging investigation and prosecution for crimes against humanity, including genocide.

The panel urged the Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. However, veto-wielding council members Russia and China are unlikely to let that happen.

Myanmar's U.N. envoy Hau Do Suan told the council that the militants' attacks and the inevitable military response and displacement were "carefully calculated, instigated and created" by the militants to undermine the government's efforts to find a lasting solution to the situation and to advance their own political goals.

He said the government is ready to start receiving returnees but said none have returned.

"It will take time and patience to build trust and confidence among communities," he acknowledged.

Dire camp conditions

In the meantime, the Rohingya refugees live in dire conditions in what is now the world's largest refugee camp. The U.N. said conditions are not yet in place for them to return home in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner.

U.N. Refugee Agency goodwill ambassador actor Cate Blanchett told the council that refugees will move back home only when it is safe to do so.

"The Rohingya cannot return to the very conditions they were forced to flee," she warned. "They cannot settle for half-solutions."

Blanchett visited the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh in March. She said nothing prepared her for the extent and depth of suffering that she saw. She implored the international community to take action to end the crisis.

"We have failed the Rohingya before, please let us not fail them again," she said.U.S. news reports Thursday said President Donald Trump might have promised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he would sign a declaration to end the Korean War soon after their meeting.

Investigative news outlet Vox cited "multiple sources familiar with the negotiations" as saying Trump made the promise during his summit with Kim in Singapore in June.

The report said Trump made the promise and later qualified it by asking North Korea to dismantle most of its nuclear arsenal first.

The Vox report speculated that the change in terms had caused an increase in hostile rhetoric from North Korea.

"It makes sense why the North Koreans are angry," Vox quoted a source as saying. "Having Trump promise a peace declaration and then moving the goal posts and making it conditional would be seen as the U.S. reneging on its commitments."

The Trump administration has not commented so far on the report.

Military exercises

On Wednesday, Trump warned that the United States could at any time restart joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan if progress stalled on North Korean denuclearization. He warned that if continued, the exercises "will be far bigger than ever before."

Trump issued the White House statement via Twitter, blaming China for difficulties in the U.S.-North Korea relationship.

President Donald J. Trump feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese government. At the same time, we also know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful! he said in a series of tweets.

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for Chinas Foreign Ministry dismissed Trumps remarks as irresponsible and confusing. Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing that the U.S. should first look at itself before casting blame on the impasse with Pyongyang.

The president, however, also indicated that there was still a possibility for diplomatic progress because he believes his relationship with Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and sees no reason at this time to spend money on joint military exercises with South Korea.

At the Singapore summit, Trump made the surprise decision to suspend the joint drills after Kim made a broad commitment to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trumps tweets came a day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon was considering resuming joint military exercises with South Korea next year.

'Good-faith gesture'

Mattis told a Pentagon news conference that the suspension of drills this summer was a good-faith gesture to North Korea, but that it was not an open-ended commitment.

We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises, he said.

But Mattis later clarified that no decisions had been made about major exercises for next year.

Our forces maintain a high state of military readiness and vigilance in full support of a diplomatically led effort to bring peace, prosperity and stability to the Korean Peninsula, he said.Vietnam is demanding compensation from manufacturers of Agent Orange in what experts describe as a last resort for helping citizens who still fall sick or face disabilities linked to the defoliant the United States used during war in the country five decades ago.

The foreign ministry in Hanoi asked Thursday that Monsanto and other U.S. firms compensate victims of Agent Orange, the Vietnamese news outlet VnExpress International reported.

Vietnam made the demand after a U.S. jury ordered Monsanto to pay damages to an American cancer patient with claims that he was exposed to a weed killer produced by the same company.

Vietnams latest demand, emboldened by the U.S. jurys decision, follows the 2005 loss of a class action lawsuit brought by Vietnamese citizens to a federal judge in New York.

The government also hopes to avoid a world court filing, which would be state-to-state rather than aimed at a company and could hurt otherwise stable political relations with the United States, said Trung Nguyen, director of the Center for International Studies at Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Vietnam sees the verdict against Monsanto as setting legal precedent which overrides previous claims that the herbicides made by Monsanto are harmless, said Murray Hiebert, deputy director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Previously, legal efforts to link dioxin and birth defects failed in the U.S. courts.

American military aircraft used Agent Orange to clear jungles in Vietnam and expose enemy soldiers from 1961 through 1971. Its residue dioxin is believed to be a "risk factor" for health problems, said Charles Bailey, author of the book From Enemies to PartnersVietnam, the U.S. and Agent Orange. About 800,000 Vietnamese people get assistance now for illness and disabilities because of exposure, he said.

New evidence for Vietnam

Vietnam once found it hard to get scientific evidence for showing the health impacts of Agent Orange, said Carl Thayer, a Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Plaintiffs lost the 2005 suit because they could not prove violation of the ban on toxic weapons during the war or a link to health problems.

Vietnam may be able to build a case if it turns out that Roundup, the Monsanto weed killer the U.S. jury ruled on this month, and Agent Orange contain similar toxins, Thayer said.

Agent Orange remains volatile at some hotspots where it was stored during the war that ended in 1975, he said.

Its not as effective as before, but its still deadly or it still produces birth defects, Thayer said. The issue in Vietnam are families, who have children, that feel they were never compensated or treated fairly.

Monsanto, Dow Chemical and other American firms made the defoliants and have been sued in the past.

Monsanto did not answer a request this week for comment.

Courts have found that wartime contractors that produced Agent Orange for the U.S. government are not responsible for damage claims associated with the chemistry, the Monsanto website says. It plans to appeal the August 10 verdict, media reports in the United States say.

"We believe Monsanto should be held responsible for compensating Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange for the damage caused by the company's herbicides," deputy foreign ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Tra was quoted saying Thursday.

U.S. aid, modern political relations

The U.S. government gave $230 million to Vietnam to clean up dioxin-contaminated soils at Vietnams Da Nang airport and help tens of thousands of young Vietnamese with severe disabilities in the areas that were the most heavily sprayed, Bailey said. The airport and a second site have been cleaned, he said, and cleanup of a third will take 10 years plus $500 million.

Vietnam has sought assistance for many years for those impacted by the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Bailey said. It continues to be a problem.

But the U.S. cleanup aid and Vietnams upbeat ties with the United States now make it hard for the government in Hanoi to push Washington itself, scholars say.

Vietnamese officials still hope to show legitimacy to their people, however, Nguyen said.

I think (compensation demands are) just the relationship between the Vietnamese government and the company, but maybe they want to remind the Vietnamese people that they have the legitimacy in the victory against the U.S. government during the Vietnam War, he said. If they want to bring it to the international court, this is another story, he added.

U.S. troops withdrew in 1973 and the Vietnamese communists later took control of what was then South Vietnam. An estimated 58,000 Americans died in action, mostly between 1965 and 1972, along with more than 400,000 Vietnamese fighters and hundreds of thousands of civilians.South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar and other opposition party leaders have refused to sign the latest draft of a Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) to end a five-year civil war.

Machar and President Salva Kiir signed a cease-fire and power-sharing deal last month in Khartoum, but put off making a decision on the contentious issue of the number of states and their boundaries. One delegate at the talks Monday night confirmed the issue has been referred to the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) heads of states to make a final decision.

Rita Lopidia, a member of the South Sudan women's coalition, said after the talks resumed last weekend the parties could not agree on Article 4 of the revitalized 2015 peace deal because each party insisted on its previous position regarding states and their boundaries.

"The opposition, including the government, have not agreed on some of these articles that have been introduced. That is why it has been referred to the IGAD heads of state to look into it. And a letter has been drafted by the special envoy today, " Lopidia told South Sudan in Focus.

Lopidia said the parties did make progress on other disputed issues, including the responsibility of the first vice president, naming of the new five ministries, and the National Constitution Review Commission and issues related to the judiciary reforms.

The parties have held several weeks of talks in the Sudanese capital in an attempt to reach a comprehensive peace agreement to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Lopidia said Monday that despite the drawn-out peace negotiations and the challenges that remained during the latest round of talks, all parties have shown a commitment to achieving lasting peace in the country.

"It has been a very tedious process and a very difficult one. But eventually after a very tough time and tough negotiations, parties have really reached some sort of compromise to get to where it is today. But still a lot of work needs to be done because there still is a need to build trust among the parties," Lopidia said.

'Confusing peace process'

A spokesman for the SPLM In Opposition said the group is eager to end the civil war. But Mabior Garand De Mabior told VOA the government has not been negotiating in good faith.

"It has been a very confusing peace process for many people. I can only tell you what we know as the facts. We are dealing with Chapter 1 and 2 of the revitalized ARCSS and are waiting for IGAD to give us direction on what we are going to do with the rest of the chapters," Mabior told VOA.

The parties signed an agreement in June aimed at ending the fighting, but Machar opposed a proposal to have three different capitals in order to distribute power.

In 2015, the Kiir administration changed the number of original states from 10 to 32.

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who on Monday met in Washington with President Donald Trump, said he and other IGAD leaders are committed "together with our brothers and sisters to ensure that peace and stability returns to South Sudan."

In an exclusive interview with VOA, Kenyatta said, "We will try anything that will achieve that because for most of us in the region, our greatest concern is not about the leadership of the country, but to ensure the people of South Sudan, who have had to endure untold suffering for many years after struggling to achieve their independence," are able to be free.

He said IGAD leaders will continue to pressure the leadership of South Sudan to acknowledge that it is their responsibility to "ensure they come together and find a framework that works to restore peace, stability, and human dignity to the people of South Sudan."Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

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We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team.If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently:In an industry that mostly  though certainly not entirely  leans left, the political phenomenon is hardly restricted to Chicago. The People Power project originated with Threes Brewing in Brooklyn and has been adopted so far by 75 breweries in 31 states. Each brewery is making its own version of a People Power beer  it can be any style, and served in any package and with any label. The commonality is the name and 10 percent of sales going to the ACLU.Canadian business leaders suggested that it would be difficult to eliminate the dedicated NAFTA dispute resolution process. We cant have the U.S. Commerce Department deciding our trade disputes with the U.S. Theyre the prosecutor, judge and jury in every case that they advance, and thats just not acceptable, said John Manley, president of the Business Council of Canada, an industry organization.Free and open to the public, YAS! Fest will highlight the contributions made by participating youth through dozens of events throughout the day, while radio personality and Hyde Park native, DJ Mike P of WGCI-FM 107.5 hosts and holds down the mainstage at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Scheduled performers include Young Chicago Authors Louder than a Bomb squad, Chicago Childrens Choir and Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras in a classical music concert, Little Kids Rock, Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater, renowned Hiplet Ballerinas along with students from Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, the annual Teens in the Park show and many more.On Sunday, McCain is to be buried in a private ceremony at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he graduated in 1958. He then trained to become a Navy fighter pilot. McCains plane was shot down in 1967 during the Vietnam War. He spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, where he was tortured.Nixon was brazenly asking the world to reckon with a fact well-known but rarely addressed  that the standard business-world thermostat setting is polar for a lot of women. But this reminded me, somehow, of a complaint from a male friend: He cant get his kids school to add him on their email list. Despite repeated requests, they send everything only to his ex-wife, though the two share custody. When he does manage to get his hands on an errant notice, he says, its addressed to Moms.Has the politician been snapping photos of his own genitals and texting those photos to a 15-year-old girl? Has the politician admitted to similar behavior repeatedly? Was the politician married with a young child at the time of the sharing of the genitals? Was the politician married to a woman charged with running another womans presidential campaign at the time of the sharing of the genitals? (Former U.S. representative and onetime New York mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner)Todays Headlines

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By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyAlso Wednesday, prosecutors faced a deadline in Virginia set by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III to declare whether they would retry Manafort on the 10 counts on which the Alexandria jury couldnt agree. The judge declared a mistrial on those counts. But prosecutors asked Ellis for more time to make their decision, noting that Manaforts attorneys havent filed their post-trial motions and Ellis hasnt ruled on them, which could change how many of Manaforts convictions stand.In an apology that went online Monday, Stawinski said that the officer, who is a dog handler in the departments K-9 unit, misspoke and that he had talked to the officer. Stawinski said the officer is very troubled by the response that this has elicited in comparison to his record of service to the community.Prince William Board of Supervisors Chair Corey A. Stewart (R) said he also supports restoring the road funding but did not say whether he would back tax increases to do so. He said the money that was diverted was raised by a 2013 tax increase that Northern Virginians supported because they were promised it would go to fix roads."There are currently zero U.S. State Department Travel Warnings against any destination in the state of Quintana Roo and there are zero Travel Warnings against any international tourist destination in Mexico," it read. "Unfortunately, there have been episodes of violence between criminals in remote areas of Quintana Roo and elsewhere in Mexico. . . . The State Department travel advisory for Mexico does not include any tourist or beach areas and reaffirms that all major tourist destinations in Mexico are safe."While there are currently 41 split precincts, Toscano said, the Democrats plan shrinks that to 14. He said that delegates had assembled the plan with cooperation from Democratic Gov. Ralph Northams office but that they had not yet run it past Senate Democrats. The Senate would have to sign off on any plan.In July, the politically influential McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, resigned from the College of Cardinals amid other allegations reported on by The New York Times and other news outlets. The allegations were that for decades, McCarrick had preyed upon young men in the seminary, and that church hierarchs knew about it for years and were silent.So a little before 9:30 on Monday evening  likely a little later than is fair to an elderly man, I admit  I knocked on his door. I was dismissed by another person, via a muted conversation through a windowpane, but left a note and a business card. Hearing no word, I returned Tuesday afternoon and found my card still on the windowsill where I had left it. I suspected my efforts to contact the former cardinal might not be getting through, and so resolved to try a little more persistence this time, waiting on his doorstep for roughly an hour, with a letter I had brought.Criticized for failing to nominate enough women, McGahn and Leo ordered up two from the factory this week. Allison Jones Rushing, of the Washington superfirm Williams & Connolly, was tapped for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Her resume includes clerkships with not one, not two, but three pillars of the conservative judiciary: Justice Clarence Thomas, Judge David Sentelle of the D.C. appeals court and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch (when he was serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ).In a factual and dispassionate way, Strossens book demolishes the case for government censorship of hate speech. Laws that attempt to block it are unavoidably overbroad and vague from a constitutional standpoint. Such speech causes little or no real harm, let alone that serious, imminent injury that justifies government limitation. There is no justification for having one rule for some identity groups and a different rule for everyone else. Such censorship may imagine that it acts on behalf of minorities, but invariably it endangers minority rights and sooner or later is likely to be used against them.There is no easy answer to this problem. But perhaps a better approach would be for consumers to refuse to let big tech companies dictate what news they see. These companies  cocooned in their Silicon Valley bubble where tech leaders are, by and large, liberal  dont understand the flyover states and the people who live there. Im not optimistic that these companies are motivated to fix this problem on their own or change their hiring practices to include a balance of liberal and conservative voices. And they shouldnt have to."I knew nobody else was going to take me," Plummer said of the job fair, adding that the baby's father, who is 17, works at UPS and wasn't available to help. "During my pregnancy, nobody was helping me but her. She never fails me."The trouble is how  or, really, when  to address North Carolinas absurd map. The judicial panel is seeking immediate changes to the states map. North Carolina voters now have been deprived of a constitutional congressional districting plan  and, therefore, constitutional representation in Congress  for six years and three election cycles, the judges noted. Yet the states primaries have already occurred, and it is only a bit more than two months before Election Day. The judges suggest that elections could occur without primaries, as North Carolina allows for other offices, which would upend the way voters expect to choose representatives and threaten to deprive parties of their say in narrowing the field of candidates. The judges also raised the possibility of using the November vote to conduct makeup primaries, with the general election to be held at a later date, before the next Congress sits. This is a recipe for a low-turnout general election vote, which raises its own prospect for skewed results.Think of it. Shall we really allow the government, any government, to pass judgment as a matter of law on the choices made by Google and Facebook and the like in providing information to people who seek news about a public official? The very search results objected to by Trump were in response to the words Trump News. Is it conceivable that we would allow a Trump administration-appointed official body of some sort to decide whether the president was accurate in his complaints that bad news about his administration was being exaggerated while Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good? Or that 96% of results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media? More broadly, how could any such governmental action be consistent with the First Amendment, which was adopted as a protection against government itself?Asiri was born in Saudi Arabia, but has been in Yemen as a leader of al-Qaedas affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula for many years. He was the mastermind behind a number of explosive devices that were able to evade security checkpoints. He was well known as a master of his craft, and was as intelligent as he was evil. When I left government in 2013, I considered him the most dangerous terrorist on the planet. His removal leaves the world a safer place.The best evidence we have to assess either set of claims comes from a report done by criminologists at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2011. What that evidence suggests is that both sides are wrong. The timing of the abuse, which rose in the 1960s and started to decline in the 1980s, doesn't support causation by ancient prohibitions on married or female clergy. But the timing also can't be explained by what seems to have been a late-1970s influx of gay-identified seminarians. Both explanations nonetheless retain a certain intuitive appeal for those who have not read the report, or have done so with a dogmatic rather than disinterested eye.Heres what the county-level data show: From September 2005 to Aug. 25, 2017, ICE issued 24,269 detainers for people in Travis County custody. In 228 of those cases  almost 1 percent of the detainers  the person claimed U.S. citizenship and presented a Social Security number. ICE then subsequently declined to execute the detainer either by formally canceling it (as the agency did in 156 cases) or by declining to execute it when the person came up for release (which happened in the remaining 72).There have been many attempts to put both the 1960s and the 1980s, bookends of the same struggle, behind us. Barack Obama frequently expressed impatience with the chains this past latched on to our politics. He tried to honor the best of the 60s, the triumph of the civil rights movement especially, while seeking to turn our sights forward to the coming half-century rather than backward.Dr. Terry Cross was awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology by the Lee University Board of Directors. This title is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a member of Lees faculty.

Dr. Cross is one of only seven professors in Lees history to be awarded the title of Distinguished Professor.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Cross serves as dean of the School of Religion. He has been on Lees faculty since 1997. Prior to his work at Lee, Dr. Cross was a pastor for 12 years, pastoring churches in Ohio, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He was also a high school teacher of Latin and history.

Originally from Big Rapids, Michigan, Dr. Cross has spent over 17 years at Lee dividing his time between teaching and administrative duties. He also oversees the religion graduate programs from Lee at the European Theological Seminary in Germany and at SEMISUD in Ecuador, traveling to Germany almost annually to teach.

He is an ordained bishop in the Church of God (Cleveland) and serves on the Doctrine and Polity Committee as well as the Standing Committee on Certification for educational institutions for this body.

Dr. Cross was awarded the Lee University Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000 and the Excellence in Scholarship Award in 2001. He is also listed in Whos Who Among American Teachers.

In April 2000 a book edited by Cross and Emerson Powery, was published by University Press of America in honor of their former teacher, Dr. Donald N. Bowdle, titled The Spirit and the Mind: Essays in Informed Pentecostalism in Honor of Donald N. Bowdle.

Dr. Cross has authored books such as Dialectic in Karl Barths Doctrine of God and Answering the Call in the Spirit: Pentecostal Reflection on a Theology of Vocation, Work, and Life. He is currently completing a two-volume work on ecclesiology titled, The People of Gods Presence: An Introduction to Ecclesiology, which will be published by Baker Academic Press in early 2019.

Dr. Cross received his Doctorate of Philosophy in Systematic Theology and his Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, his Master of Divinity and his Master of Arts in church history from Ashland Theological Seminary, and his Bachelor of Arts in biblical education from Lee.

Dr. Cross and his wife, Linda, have one daughter, Tara, who is married to Kevin Snider, and one grandchild, Luke Edward Snider.Environmental groups had complained that the state EPA developed its prior plan for the funds without the same opportunities for public comment offered in other states. Environmental advocates also wanted more money spent on electric technology, like charging stations and electric school buses, and argued that spending money mostly on switching old diesel engines for new would help business more than the general public.The Florida race now stands as a national test for the base of each major party. Gillum, who won with the support of an array of liberal activists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, and billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros, will face off against Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis. He secured his partys nomination on the strength of an endorsement from President Trump and allies such as Fox News host Sean Hannity.They will overturn everything that weve done, and theyll do it quickly and violently, and violently, Trump told the assembled leaders at the White House dinner, according to reports Tuesday by NBC News and the New York Times. Theres violence. When you look at antifa, and you look at some of these groups  these are violent people.Her vehicle was trailing a friends car just ahead of hers headed south on Yates when a dark SUV sped around Hobsons vehicle so that it was between her and her friends car, police said. After Hobson sped up to pass the SUV and was again behind her friends car, the SUV pulled up alongside Hobsons auto in the 7400 block of South Yates, and an occupant inside opened fire, striking Hobson twice in the head police said.McGahn has worked with the conservative Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation to select the nominees. He told the Federalist Society last fall that the Trump administration would not waste the opportunity to stock the federal judiciary with judges who take an originalist approach to constitutional interpretation that closely follows the text of statutes and looks at the context of laws at the time when they were written.Whether its a Democrat or a Republican representing Arizona, its going to be the first female senator in Arizonas history, Flake said subsequently on MSNBC. Thats a wonderful thing. We all ought to celebrate that. . . . I hope that we can get away from the vitriol that usually accompanies these kinds of contests and celebrate the fact that were going to have a change. . . . I wish them both well.

In a July 2016 statement, Comey said the FBI did not find direct evidence that Secretary Clintons personal e-mail domain, in its various configurations since 2009, was successfully hacked. But, he added: Given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved, we assess that we would be unlikely to see such direct evidence.Theyre going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state, whos going to talk about what it means to build a Florida that makes room for all of us and not just some of us, Gillum continued. DeSantis can do the bidding of big business and big lobbyists and Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric. Im going to be here to do the business of the people of the state of Florida.The dissident, Vladimir Kara-Murza, is an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who suffered organ failure and fell into a near-fatal coma after being poisoned with an unknown toxin in Moscow in early 2017. The incident was the second time he had been poisoned in two years. The doctors say, if there is a third time, thatll be it, the 36-year-old said then.African swine fever has no impact on humans, unlike the avian flu and other viruses that cross between species. But swine fever is deadly in pigs  the most virulent strains of the virus kill nearly 100 percent of infected hogs. No vaccine or treatment exists, and the virus is tough to eradicate. It can survive for several weeks in cold or warm weather, in pork products and on surfaces in slaughterhouses and in the trucks used to transport swine.Edward Love, Jr., 14, was seated in the back seat suffered blunt head trauma and was pronounced dead, according to police and the medical examiner. Another teen, 14, suffered an injury to his shoulder, and a third victim, also 15, hurt his jaw. Both of those teens were taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center where their conditions were stabilized, police said.Pentagon officials said there wasnt a contradiction between Trumps tweets and the comments by Mattis. The three exercises with South Korea that the U.S. military suspended have yet to take place, they said, so theoretically Trump could be talking about restarting them. Trumps comments about the cost of the exercises, however, clearly referred to all such war games with South Korea.Under the law, the United States is required to impose new sanctions on Russia unless the president can certify in less than 90 days that Russia is no longer using chemical weapons, has provided assurances that it wont engage in such activities in the future and will allow on-site inspections by international observers to ensure that it is not engaging in such activities.Editors note: After this story was published on Aug. 29, the State Department issued a statement challenging the accuracy of the article and provided previously unreleased data on passport denials. That information has been added, as was indicated in a Sept. 1 editors note. On Sept. 13, the story was updated to include comments from the daughter of Jorge Trevino, who had contacted The Post immediately after the story was published. Additional changes have been made to clarify that an affidavit about Trevino was submitted as part of an Obama-era case and to correct a reference to his profession  he was a general practitioner, not a gynecologist. As was noted in an Aug. 31 correction, the State Department began denying passports during the George W. Bush administration, not the Obama administration.Any loss of life was extremely difficult. Its something you try to mentally prepare yourself for just in case.  You dont ever want to shoot your gun. It doesnt matter if its to put down a stray animal or something like that. Nobody wants to shoot their gun, he told the Tribune. I never would have fired my gun if I didnt think my life was in jeopardy or another citizens life was. Its something you have to live with forever.You have got to admire Gina Rineharts confidence in buying a significant chunk of Canuk coal miner Riversdale Resources for a reported $69 million.

Gina Rinehart. Illustration: John Shakespeare

If the name of the company sounds familiar, it should.

The aspiring coal miner is run by Michael OKeeffe and Steve Mallyon.

These are the same guys who set up Mozambique coal play Riversdale Mining and sold it to Rio Tinto for $US3.7 billion in 2011. The miner then offloaded it in 2014 for just $US50 million after a disastrously short 18 months which included an attempt to barge coal down the Zambezi River.On a global scale, Australia does well. There is no minimum annual leave in the US, Canada has only 10 days and the UK leads developed countries with 28 days, or more than five weeks. Who takes all their leave? However, in general Australians tend not to take the full complement of four weeks each year. Some put that down to a touch of fear. What will happen when I am away? Will they discover that Im not that essential? A study in 2016 found that Australians on average have almost 16 days each of unused leave.

Other research shows 2.4 million full-time working Australians have gone over a year without taking leave, with 86 per cent experiencing a level of burnout as a result of not taking enough. Global jobs site Indeed has unlimited annual leave for employees here and in the US. Indeed began offering employees unlimited leave two and a half years ago, Paul Wolfe, Head of Global Human Resources at Indeed, told Business Insider. Inventium's Amanda Imber says the policy is not being abused. While the company experienced a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in leave days taken, 2017 saw an incredibly productive year with record company growth. Whats more, Indeed enjoys low staff attrition and high levels of employee engagement.

As a company we believe that trusted, empowered and rested employees have a better chance of being happier and also performing better. Paid time off is one of the most coveted employee benefits and yet, as much as people value annual leave, research suggests that many people dont fully use their allowance. Thats why we dont just provide an unlimited paid annual leave policy, but actively work with managers to encourage employees to take time off. The benefits, both mental and physical, of annual leave are long and enticing. The value of work Bendelta, an Australian strategic leadership firm, says there is strong evidence that more leave increases productivity.

This is because employees feel more able to put more energy into each working day, as they see that this will be balanced out by some respite on the horizon, says Anthony Mitchell, the co-founder and chief potential officer at Bendelta. Every employee at Bendelta, no matter what their role, gets 27 days leave. Anthony Mitchell, the co-founder and chief potential officer at Bendelta. Credit:Louie Douvis This includes Bendelta Day  a public holiday for anyone employed by Bendelta  placed in the middle of winter to make up for the lack of public holidays at that time of year. The last working day before Christmas Day is also a public holiday, so that people have a gap between the end of work and the start of the festive season.

Bendelta believes deeply in the power and value of annual leave, says Mitchell. However, we also believe in the value of work. Too often, while holiday is portrayed positively, work is portrayed as something negative, which is done only because we need money. Holidays are of greatest benefit when they feel very different from ones day job. In fact, research clearly shows that work, if designed in the right way, is vital to our sense of meaning and purpose and drives happiness, health and life expectancy. The key is how the work is perceived by the employee (which the company and its leaders greatly influence). If it is seen as providing opportunities for autonomy, mastery, stretch, purpose and connection to other human beings, then it is as valuable as holidays, and probably more so.

Time off is important but, like work, is of greatest benefit when framed effectively. Loading Holidays are of greatest benefit when they feel very different from ones day job, but still have some of the same ingredients  stimulation, discovery and human connection, he says. Doing nothing on holiday may seem good at the time, but a full holiday occupies more mental time in our brain and thus feels like it was longer and more restorative. Some companies dont give more time off but allow staff to buy more holidays. At HSBC Australia, staff can buy up to two weeks extra.

So basically we offer our people the chance to buy five or ten days extra leave per year, and they can then either opt in, opt out as they wish, says Paul Murphy, Head of Human Resources, HSBC Australia. The buy rate is at an individuals pay rate. And if they want, the money can come out of monthly pay over 12 months. They still get sick leave and accumulate long service leave as normal. At HSBC Australia, staff can buy up to two weeks extra leave. Credit:Glenn Hunt We also offer a holiday loan for people who want to take that up where its just a very modest interest free loan, where people can take $1200 in advance on the month theyre going on holiday, and they can pay that back over a period of 12 months, says Murphy. Murphy buys additional leave each year.

I had to get to a family wedding, just got back last week, and before that I was in Japan for three weeks on holiday, and at the start of the year I had a good friend over from the UK, and it enabled me to take a couple weeks off to spend some time with him, he says. Ive managed to achieve that balance as you get the family commitment, having the holiday, and seeing friends as well. Why arent more companies doing it? Ross Reekie, the Founder of Rise, a workplace meaning and happiness consultancy, says flexible working and unlimited paid annual leave is not new. Its been around for years, with big brand companies such as Virgin, a company which advocates employee well-being, having introduced this policy, he says.

The real question is, why arent more companies doing it when the policy will make employees happier and help them find more meaning in their work? Rise has introduced an unlimited paid leave policy, to give employees the opportunity to pursue their passions, by giving them the freedom and flexibility to do the things they love. Time off is important but, like work, is of greatest benefit when framed effectively. Credit:Greg Newington There was shock in the room when Reekie announced the new leave policy. People wondered if theyd heard the announcement correctly, he says. One member of the team even burst into tears as she said the policy would take so much pressure off her shoulders.

He says the policy has also brought the Rise team closer because it demonstrates that they care about each others lives and that everyone is valued. It has increased trust and, surprisingly, it makes me feel better about being a boss and has increased my level of work satisfaction too, he says. He likens Australias annual leave policy, while better than some countries, to a prison sentence; if you work hard, you get some time off for good behaviour. I introduced the policy as I wanted to find a way to improve the well-being of our employees while positively impacting peoples lives, he says. It also differentiates our business from others and strengthens our culture by helping to instil happiness in the workplace.

Technology, in the form of email, text and smartphones, has created an always on expectation which has led to a change in the work relationship. Loading Happiness Businesses are starting to realise that it cant be all take from their side and they need to give something back to employees to avoid burnout and disengagement, says Reekie. Businesses now want more engagement from staff and discretionary effort to drive bottom-line performance. Put simply, they want our hearts and minds, not just our time.

Research also confirms the huge productivity, creativity, customer service, cultural, and financial benefits that come from increased meaning and happiness of employees. If businesses want to access the benefits from eliciting a deeper, more meaningful connection between happy employees and their work, it demands a big shift in mindset and discarding traditional management paradigms. This is fundamentally about trust and care, and wanting the best for your employees, not just the best from them. We must treat workers as responsible people who want to help us succeed and be part of the journey in a meaningful way. Having more annual leave isnt a guarantee of happiness but it helps. An unlimited paid leave policy values the employee and validates their self-worth, he says. This helps people find more meaning in their work and feel happier as they have a higher sense of self-esteem and authenticity.A Goldman Sachs analyst leaked nonpublic information about upcoming mergers to a National Football League linebacker in return for cash and tickets to Philadelphia Eagles games, the Justice Department said in announcing criminal charges against the two men.

Kendricks, who is facing 25 years in jail and a $US5 million fine., will not play in Cleveland's season-opening game next weekend. Credit:AP

Damilare Sonoiki, who worked for Goldman until 2015, passed the information to his friend Mychal Kendricks during a months-long scheme starting in 2014 that earned the football player about $1.2 million ($1.6 million), federal prosecutors in Philadelphia said Wednesday.

The two men, both 27 years old, exchanged nonpublic information through coded text messages and FaceTime video conversations, according to a parallel civil lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Kendricks invested in companies that were about to be bought out, and in one instance pocketed a return of almost 400 per cent on an investment in just two weeks.

"Kendricks paid cash and shared celebrity perks for illegal tips that enabled him to trade and profit on confidential information that the rest of the investing public didn't have," Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, said in a statement.A change in leadership at AGL is unlikely to reverse the closure of the Liddell power station raising the prospect of renewed tensions with the federal government.

In 2015, AGL announced it would shut down its Liddell coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley in NSW in 2022, as the 1680 megawatt plant  built in the early 1970s  reached the end of its life.

AGL interim chief executive Brett Redman, who replaced Andy Vesey earlier this month. Credit:Louise Kennerley

The Turnbull government fought to keep it open beyond 2022 as part of its new energy policy while AGL chief executive Andy Vesey rejected their overtures.

Brett Redman was last week announced as Mr Vesey's interim replacement prompting commentary that his relationship with the government was a contributing factor.Screaming in pain by the side of the road, a severely burnt Wade Still made a "dying declaration" that the man who "poured petrol" on him was David McCauley, detectives allege.

Mr Still, 23, was found by a passing taxi driver by the side of Oakdale Road at Whitebridge, south of Newcastle, in the early hours of August 20.

Police found Wade Still (inset) badly burnt on the side of a road in Whitebridge, Lake Macquarie, on August 20. Credit:Newcastle Herald

He repeatedly told a Fire & Rescue NSW officer that "David McCauley did it", police have alleged in documents submitted to a court.

David John McCauley, 35, has been charged with Mr Still's murder. The two men, described by police as "low-level career criminals", lived in the same Belmont unit complex and had known each other for years, including periods during which they had been "in conflict".Scott Morrison was much relieved as Christmas 2014 loomed when, with the gift of an Abbott cabinet reshuffle, he was able to bequeath Operation Sovereign Borders to Peter Dutton. Morrison had delivered on the Coalitions key election promise of "stopping the boats", however he was also aware the operation had not put an end to the threat of globally displaced people looking for haven or a better life, both of which Australia offers in spades.

Police inspect a sunken fishing vessel, believed to be carrying Vietnamese asylum seekers, at Cape Kimberley at the mouth of the Daintree River in Queensland on Monday. Credit:AAP

Peter Duttons apprehension coming into the portfolio was palpable - for the same reason. A single asylum-seeker venture bumping into Australias remote coastline or, as happened before, steaming undetected into a West Australian regional port after he took over the reins would be seen politically and electorally as a massive fail. Duttons neurosis translated into Napoleonic decrees to the operation team as he moved to satisfy himself that the OSB shield was as watertight as possible.

Loading

To Duttons immense relief, the shield held over the next few years. As treasurer, Morrison kept his hand in border security through his membership of the powerful National Security Committee of Cabinet, but after last weeks Bradbury-esque performance he finds the issue firmly back under his stewardship as the newly minted Prime Minister.The former minister responsible for the Pacific says the Morrison government is jeopardising Australia's influence in the region at a time when China is wooing island nations with infrastructure and loans.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who last week criticised the direction of the Coalition government under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his foreign minister Julie Bishop, has also called for the Coalition to reverse cuts to the aid budget and increase its $1.3 billion spend in the region.

During last week's leadership spill Senator Fierravanti-Wells dramatically quit Mr Turnbull's ministry and was subsequently relegated to the backbench by incoming Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The new ministry no longer includes a dedicated minister for the region.

Former minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Instead, Mr Morrison named Anne Ruston as an "assistant minister"  a role formerly known as parliamentary secretary  for international development and the Pacific."We have been working with the Chicago Police Department and the community about the trial process, ensuring that individuals and groups who want to exercise their constitutional right to demonstrate have the opportunity and place to do so without interfering with the defendant, witnesses and the fairness of trial proceedings," Nelson said.Former Victorian Liberal premier Ted Baillieu has slammed his party for its "problem" with women, labelling the resignation of federal MP Julia Banks a "wake-up call" for Liberals and their leadership.

Ms Banks announced on Wednesday she would quit Parliament at the election, citing "intimidation", "bullying" and "bad behaviour" by colleagues who rallied the numbers to oust Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister.

"Last week's events were the last straw," she said in a statement, which sparked internal debate on the position of women in the Liberal Party, particularly in Victoria.

Senator Jane Hume and Liberal MP Julia Banks welcomed by colleagues after the 2016 election. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In what appeared to be a thinly-veiled swipe at state president Michael Kroger, Mr Baillieu said there was a "hang up" about women in some components of the Liberal Party and its leadership.The "agreement" on free trade between Australia and Indonesia that Prime Minister Scott Morrison hopes to sign this week is just one page long, and was still being negotiated late into the night on the eve of his visit to Jakarta.

Mr Morrison will make Indonesia his first foreign trip on Thursday. He will dine on Friday with President Joko Widodo in the hopes of striking up a good personal relationship and broadening the relatively weak trade ties between the two countries.

But an Indonesian foreign ministry briefing late on Wednesday confirmed that the agreement Mr Morrison hopes to sign on Friday will only be a preliminary one along the way to the full Indonesia Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or IA-CEPA.

"[The] IA-CEPA declaration is only of one page, and it is still now at negotiation stage," said Edi Yusuf, Indonesia's director of East Asia and Pacific affairs.London: A British swimming association says endurance athlete Lewis Pugh has completed his 330-mile (530-kilometre) swim along the length of the English Channel from Land's End to Dover - the first swimmer to do so.

Lewis Pugh arrives at Shakespeare Beach to complete his "Long Swim" from Land's End to Dover, England. Credit:PA

The Channel Swimming Association, which authenticates cross-Channel swims, says the 48-year-old covered between 10-20 kilometres a day for 49 days. After finishing the challenge that began on July 12, he told the crowd cheering his arrival Wednesday that he was "exhausted and exhilarated in equal measure."

The so-called Long Swim was a bid to raise awareness about ocean pollution and rising water temperatures because of climate change.

Members of the group Surfers Against Sewage joined him on the beach after taking part in a litter-picking exercise in anticipation of his arrival.Geneva: The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and supported by the United States in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians in airstrikes, tortured detainees, raped civilians and used child soldiers as young as 8  actions that may amount to war crimes, UN investigators said in a report issued on Tuesday.

The report singled out Saudi and Emirati airstrikes for causing the most civilian casualties, saying they had hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, jails, boats and medical facilities.

Charles Garraway, member of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen. Credit:AP

"There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimise civilian casualties," Kamel Jendoubi, the chairman of the panel of experts that produced the report.

The report also said that the Houthi rebels, who control northern Yemen and are fighting the Saudi-Emirati coalition, may have committed war crimes. They were accused of shelling civilians, torturing detainees, recruiting young children to fight and blocking access to humanitarian agencies.In a study published this month, a University of Connecticut economist casts doubt on state incentives as a tool to spur the relocation or expansion of existing businesses, suggesting regions fare better in supporting homegrown businesses and technology.

Mary Donegan and co-authors William Lester and Nichola Lowe of the University of North Carolina published their findings via the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, with the study supported by a grant from the Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In the paper, the researchers suggest states strike a better balance in investing in startups versus spending big to attract corporate relocations.

State and local incentive use in the United States has seen a notable uptick in the wake of the 2008-2009 Great Recession ... reflecting increased desperation for additional jobs, Donegan, Lester and Lowe wrote. We need to look no further than ... Amazon and Googles decision to establish a second U.S. headquarters to see that communities throughout the country and decision makers within them are willing to pull out all the stops.

Correlating deal-flow data tracked by Good Jobs First, Donegan and her co-authors studied more than 11,000 economic incentive deals nationally that resulted in commitments for at least 100 new or relocated jobs. The study found little evidence that incentive grants generated much in the way of new jobs or other direct economic benefits to the states that issued them, though Donegan established that incentives for small businesses tend to have a positive effect.

Incentive use for smaller firms appears to be less risky, the UConn and UNC researchers stated. It could be that large firms that seek incentives are moving activity from one state to another in a process of consolidation that is proximate in time with an overall downward trend in business activity. Alternatively, large establishments may simply be more likely to play the incentive game and are less likely to be experiencing a positive growth cycle or inventing new goods and services.

Southwestern Connecticut has had its share of success stories and cautionary tales. In 2012 under Gov. Dannel P. Malloys First Five program that awards incentives to companies adding at least 200 employees, Stamford attracted in the headquarters of Charter Communications, which after acquiring Time Warner Cable is planning a larger campus in downtown Stamford to accommodate more employees than originally envisioned.

Across the citys South End, however, Marriott International is subleasing out the huge waterside office complex it inherited in the 2016 acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, with Connecticut incentives having bought the state less than a decade of Starwood as a major corporate employer after its 2012 relocation from Westchester County, N.Y.

Norwalk, meanwhile, continues to benefit from a pair of homegrown companies in Booking Holdings and Datto that generated exponential growth on the dime of outside investors, with both having recommitted to their Norwalk headquarters the past few years.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulmanAs many people who ride the Brown Line regularly can attest, the mural had quickly become a beloved part of the neighborhood and we were devastated to see it removed, according to a statement from the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce. Lakeview has a strong commitment to public art and we are working with the City of Chicago to resolve this issue. Well provide an update when we have more information on the resolution and next steps.Anthony Olympia and Brent Rupard were both into music while growing up in Kentucky. But they didnt meet until the age of 21, when Rupard took a guitar lesson from Olympia.

I was giving guitar lessons at a church I went to, Olympia said. Brent and I had a mutual friend who said he should take lessons from me. We were jamming and hanging out.

Their friendship and musical chemistry grew from there. Fast forward a few years and the two are on tour as Everette, a country band known for such catchy tunes as Slow Roll, from its debut EP of the same name.

I feel like in todays society we are all so busy running around, trying to get to the next thing, Rupard said. This song is an invitation to take off and leave your troubles behind you.

While the two write songs about themselves, theyre really about everyone. They call it bonfire music, because of its communal nature. Honest and relatable, their tunes are filled with a mix of bluesy guitar licks, harmonica chords, melodic hooks and harmonies.

Everette will perform at Stamfords Palace Theatre on Friday, Sept. 7. Rupard and Olympia spoke about it in a phone chat. Well have three more musicians on stage, so five in all, Rupard said. Were super excited and cant wait to meet people after the show.

He said the band will play Slow Roll among others from their album. Theyll also do a few covers, so there will be some surprises. John Mayer, Tom Petty, Ray Charles and the Eagles are among the bands influences.

We have one song that is not on the EP, but well release it later, Olympia said, of the tune called Way Back, about what it was like when he met his wife. I met her and I felt like Id known her forever. People say that, Oh, we go way back. Were kind of playing off that.

Rupard said they always try to shoot for a kind of community experience at their shows, where everyone can relax and enjoy themselves. We speak about the songs and how they came about. We feel the audience out. If they seem really engaged... we talk more. If it seems like they just want to hear the music, we go with that.

Olympia said he and Rupard are working on their dance moves for this show, then made it clear he was joking. But seriously, he said he approaches each gig with the idea that its a mix of giving and receiving. We want to give a piece of ourselves, he said, so if people need to be lifted up, they get a bit of that. The hope is that people are positively affected, and it inspires us to go back to Nashville and write better songs and get pumped up to play the next town.

More Information The Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford. Friday, Sept. 7, 8 p.m. $10. 203-325-4466, www.palacestamford.org See More Collapse

You can get high on music and it can be a spiritual experience, Rupard said. When Im at a show I feel that its almost like a drug.

Rupard and Olympia have been playing together for over a decade. That creates a chemistry that happens, Rupard said. When people talk about chemistry onstage, its not a myth, its a true thing. We feel that chemistry. Hopefully people out there feel it as well.

lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter: @LindaTKoonzSTAMFORD  Outside Sarah Sweenys classroom at Newfield Elementary School is a sign that reads throw kindness like confetti.

Its a nice message to see when you come into the room, she said. Its important to be kind to each other, to be kind to the kids. Its really what makes things a pleasant place to be and what you want to be greeted by.

Like many of her incoming students on Thursday, this is Sweenys first year in the citys school system. A Stamford native and graduate of the local Catholic schools, Sweeny brings a special kindness to her classroom as a teacher for kindergartners on the autism spectrum. The 29-year-old understands what its like living with special needs, thanks to her late brother C.J., who had down syndrome.

When you have a family member, you can bring something personal to this career, she said. You can understand it from both perspectives. You want to treat these children as your family member was treated or as you would treat your own family member.

C.J., who died at age 14 while Sweeny was a freshman at UConn, was the inspiration to focus on special education, she said. Her late brother went through Stamford Public Schools, attending Stillmeadow Elementary and Scofield Magnet Middle School and as his big sister, Sweeny was moved by the way the community helped him.

Having a sibling with special needs, it made me always want to give back to that community, she said. He had a wonderful community of people, whether it was in the schools or at our summer camp, at our church. There were always people who were there to help us, to help him, to help me and I just always knew I wanted to be a part of that community.

Sweeny went to the University of Connecticut and got a bachelors in communication disorders before attending Central Connecticut State University and getting a masters in special education. She spent two-and-a-half years working with students with autism in Waterbury before moving home to Stamford this year.

Her classroom is filled with little things to appeal to her students, such as bright colors, shaving cream for sensory play and sensory bins filled with different seasonal objects. Its a classroom that emphasizes play and the space to learn.

For me, the most rewarding things are really the little things, Sweeny said. It can be something as simple as they zip their coat for the first time or they have a three-word sentence. I celebrate those tiny little things that just happen during the day that you wouldnt normally think are such a big deal but for this group of children, its a huge deal. At the end of the day, thats what makes it all worth it to me. The big things are exciting too, but its the little things that I love to see.

erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayataNearly 50 Connecticut towns will benefit from a wave of funding for schools that took in students displaced by last years natural disasters.

Connecticut earned $10.6 million of the $359.8 million the U.S. Department of Education gave to 20 states and the Virgin Islands to cover the cost to educate students who were displaced by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as the 2017 California wildfires.

The money is meant to reimburse the districts for what they spent on these students last academic year.

The impact of natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires goes beyond the disaster area Betsy DeVos, U.S. secretary of education, said in a statement. The effects are felt nationwide, especially in those communities that take in displaced students and families. This additional funding will ensure schools serving displaced students are able to meet their unique needs under such difficult circumstances.

The state Department of Education dispersed the money based on the number of displaced students in the districts, with the bulk of funding going toward bigger cities.

Hartford received the largest grant of $2.22 million, with New Haven receiving $1 million, Bridgeport $790,000, Stamford $96,600, Norwalk collecting $65,000 and Stratford $60,000.

In Danbury, the district recieved $9,250, less than Superintendent Sal Pascarella had expected. He said the district had about 20 students who came in and out of the schools last year, but the Department of Education only considered students who stayed.

They didnt count them as permanent, which was kind of disappointing to me, he said.

Pascarella said some of these students could return this year, too, but estimated six to seven kids have remained in the district.

He said the district already paid the bills for any extra costs from the students, but that it would put this money in the salary budget for this year.

The impact would have been in salaries, so thats the most logical place to put it, Pascarella said.

Meanwhile, Brookfield earned $9,750, slightly more than Danbury.

We welcome these students, said Christine Sipala, director of special education. The funds will be used to support those students.

In Bethel, the district received $4,500 for the two students it took in.

Christine Carver, superintendent in Bethel, plans to use the money for its program for English learners, a population that is growing in the district.

Weve seen an increase in our English learner students, so any types of resources we could purchase for them would be wonderful, she said.GREENWICH  Summer vacation is coming to a close, including at Greenwich Library where the Authors Live series is scheduled to kick back into action.

On Sept. 27, the library will host Stan Litow, the former vice president of corporate citizenship and affairs for IBM. Litow still serves as president emeritus for the IBM Foundation and has written a new book called The Challenge for Business and Society: From Risk to Reward.

His appearance will take place at 7 p.m. inside the Cole Auditorium. There is no charge to attend but space is limited for the event. People can register online by using the librarys calendar at www.greewichlibrary.org.

We are most fortunate to have Stan Litow, a leader in corporate responsibility speaking at Greenwich Library, Nancy Klein, Greenwich Librarys development director, said Wednesday. Stan had a remarkable career at a leading multinational technology company headquartered right in our backyard. Hes an exceptional speaker and the role of corporations in todays society could not be more relevant.

Klein said Litow is expected to focus on how business involvement can help address critical societal problems.

In addition to his work at IBM, Litow is also a former deputy chancellor for the New York City Public Schools.

With Stans guidance, IBM developed innovative voice recognition technology to help children and adults learn to read, and the World Community Grid humanitarian virtual supercomputer to speed research on cancer and AIDS, library officials said in a statement.

He was also praised for his role in devising IBMs Corporate Service Corps, which was designed to be a corporate version of the Peace Corps.

Litow has received the title of CEO of the Year twice by Corporate Responsibility Magazine.

We are delighted to welcome Stan Litow to Greenwich Library, said Robert Marks, president of Greenwich Librarys Board of Trustees. Stan has a deep understanding of the role of corporations in society and has been a leader in public and private environmental, labor, and education initiatives, domestically and around the world. This promises to be a very informative and stimulating evening.

After his remarks, Litow will be signing copies of his book, which will be available for purchase at the event through Dianes Books.

Doors for the event will open at 6:15 p.m.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.comSTAMFORD  A 15-month fight between residents and an office park owner seeking to build a fitness complex is going to court.

The owner, George Comfort & Sons, a Manhattan-based real estate investment firm, is appealing a Board of Representatives decision to reject a zoning change that would have allowed a Life Time Fitness center to be built in High Ridge Office Park.

The board agreed with residents that the change, approved by the Zoning Board, would have opened the door to projects that could harm the character of neighborhoods surrounding half a dozen office parks on High Ridge and Long Ridge roads. Representatives overturned the Zoning Board ruling on Aug. 6.

In the complaint, filed Aug. 17, George Comfort & Sons, identified in court papers as High Ridge Real Estate Owner LLC, asserts that the company has been aggrieved by the Board of Representatives purported acceptance of an invalid protest petition.

Its a reference to signatures residents gathered after the Zoning Board approved changing regulations so that freestanding fitness centers could be built in office parks, which are struggling for tenants and  city planners have said  must be adapted for new uses. The Planning Board, however, also rejected the change.

Residents collected hundreds of signatures but city attorney James Minor rejected most of them, saying those who signed were not landowners as defined by state law and the city Charter. Condo owners, for example, are not landowners, Minor said, and in cases in which two or more people own a property, all must sign for it to be counted.

Residents then asked the Board of Representatives to determine the validity of the petition under authority of the city Charter. Representatives decided the petition had 300 valid signatures, meeting the requirement.

Not so, the High Ridge Office Park owner alleges in the complaint.

The Board of Representatives imputed their own definition of landowner against state law and Minors advice, the complaint alleges.

These actions of the board and (its) Land Use Committee are beyond the scope of their authority as set forth in the Stamford Charter, it states.

It alleges that, during public hearings, city reps exhibited clear and continual support for the petitioners that demonstrated their predetermination on the matter, as (representatives) ignored the advice of legal counsel, the Zoning Board findings letter, conclusions from their own legislative officer, the (boards) own practices and procedures, and the standards prescribed for a Zoning Board that (representatives) are required to follow.

Representatives voted based upon political or other arbitrary or improper reasons or motivation, the complaint alleges, and they failed to follow and apply the zoning standards set forth in the city Charter.

The office park owner is asking the court to find that the Board of Representatives had no jurisdiction over the petition because it had an insufficient number of signatures, and to overrule its rejection of the zoning change.

Attorneys for the Board of Representatives must appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Sept. 18, according to a summons attached to the complaint.

Director of Legal Affairs Kathryn Emmett refused to comment on the pending litigation.

The Board of Representatives will be represented in the lawsuit by outside counsel, Emmett said Tuesday. Beyond that, there is not anything I can say at this point.

Emmett did not explain why the city will hire outside attorneys to represent the board, instead of the law department. The presumption is that the complaint presents a conflict, since it cites advice provided to the board by Minor, a law department employee. Minor voided 560 of the 700 signatures, leaving residents 60 short of the requirement.

In a memo during the hearings, Minor wrote that a condominium owner does not own the land upon which the condominium is built because the association owns it. A petition would have to include the names of all owners in a given association for it to count as one signature, he wrote.

Representatives countered that the city Charter fails to define landowner. They also questioned how a condo association can be a landowner, since associations are not listed on the tax rolls, and why individual condo owners cant be counted when they pay taxes.

Residents opposed the high-end Life Time Fitness center because it was proposed as a 100-square-foot, indoor-outdoor complex that would operate from early in the morning until late at night, seven days a week. They were concerned about lights, noise, and traffic that the planned 5,000 gym memberships would bring, and that the big new building would ruin the character of their neighborhood.

Steve Grushkin, the Stamford attorney hired by the Sterling Lake Association - condos adjacent to High Ridge Office Park - could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296.SOLICITING IS A CRIME that can result in arrest and significant fines, the text states, according to a copy provided to the Tribune. Buying sex can also cause serious long-term harm to victims, as well as furthering the cycle of human trafficking. Details of this incident will be reviewed further and you may be contacted by law enforcement. Buying sex will not fulfill what you are searching for.Voters will have a third choice for governor in November  Oz Griebel, an independent candidate, and his running mate, Monte Frank, have been certified by the Secretary of the State to appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Monte and I have emphasized from the outset that the two-party system is broken and only an independent Executive can create the partnerships among the Connecticut legislature, municipalities and leaders in our education, financial services, health care, labor, manufacturing and not-for-profit service sectors that are necessary to grow the jobs we need in this state, Griebel said in a statement.The car exited and got back on the expressway at least once before the suspects ditched it near Oak Park Avenue, according to police and a witness. They ran across six lanes of the highway, hopped over fences, crossed the CTA tracks and started running west on another set of railroad tracks to the south of the CTA line.Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives at the Office Of The United States Trade Representative, Tuesday.SCANTERBURY  A project to provide high-speed internet to all Manitoba First Nations using fibre-optic cables is hung up over who should be awarded the contract.

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This article was published 29/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SCANTERBURY  A project to provide high-speed internet to all Manitoba First Nations using fibre-optic cables is hung up over who should be awarded the contract.

Ottawa is expected to announce as early as this Friday it plans to proceed with a telecommunications firm that excludes all but one First Nation from the process.

That has the more than 60 other First Nations upset. There was originally a plan in place that would include the other First Nations, allowing them to share in future revenues and ensuring that Indigenous people have first dibs on jobs.

A company with First Nation ownership would also give First Nations a say in the setting of rates for internet services, said David Crate, chief of Fisher River Cree Nation.

"This is unfair and uncalled for," said Crate, of the lack of First Nation control over the project.

Crate, vice-chair of the First Nation board for the project, made the comments at a press conference Tuesday at the South Beach Casino Hotel in Scanterbury.

"We have come to an impasse and cannot enter into an agreement that will not benefit First Nations economically," he said.

A spokesman for the federal government said representatives are only meeting with stakeholders in Manitoba on Friday and the government will not be making an announcement.

Ottawa agreed in January to give $30 million to a group made up of the Manitoba First Nations and a partnership between Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and Virden-based telecommunications firm RFNOW Inc.

The money is from Ottawas $500-million Connect to Innovate fund to bring high-speed internet to rural and remote communities. But the group has since fallen apart because the First Nations say RFNOW wanted too much control over the project.

What bothers the First Nations is the federal Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development remains committed to the RFNOW-Mathias Colomb partnership.

Meanwhile, the other First Nations have formed a new partnership that includes Broadband Communications North, a company that already provides internet to numerous remote First Nations using towers to send telecommunication signals off existing Manitoba Hydro fibre-optic cables.

Further complicating matters is the RFNOW-Mathias Colomb entity has kept most of the original name of the former alliance.

The original name was Clear Sky Connections, collectively owned by the more than 60 Manitoba First Nations. The RFNOW-Mathias Colomb partnership has only changed the last word to form Clear Sky Communications.

"We actually asked them recently to stop using that name," Crate said.

Manitoba chiefs have sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Brian Pallister that outlines their concerns and requests a meeting.

The project is estimated to cost in the $300-million range. It would use some of Manitoba Hydros fibre-optic lines that provide broadband services to its hydroelectric dams.

That is being done now using telecommunication towers.

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However, the project would run cable over rugged Canadian Shield terrain.

Clear Sky Connections is the largest Indigenous-owned telecommunications network in Canada.

Many First Nations lack adequate, affordable and reliable internet connection, said Betsy Kennedy, chief of War Lake First Nation near Gillam.

"It would make a real difference in our community. Not too long ago it took six days to download a movie," she said.

Internet is improved now but still lacking by using telecommunications towers to relay signals from Manitoba Hydro fibre-optic cables.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.caThe robber, described as a white man in his late 40s who stands about 5-foot-11 and weighs between 240 and 250 pounds, displayed a handgun when he demanded cash. The robber, who wore sunglasses, was further described as being clean shaven and having white hair that was balding on top. He was wearing a blue short-sleeve Polo shirt, black shorts and black gym shoes with white soles.He became the breakout star of 2015, setting social media ablaze thanks to a heart-tugging viral video and an extra-large slice of pizza.

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This article was published 29/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

He became the breakout star of 2015, setting social media ablaze thanks to a heart-tugging viral video and an extra-large slice of pizza.

As anyone with a computer or a smartphone already knows, Im talking about Pizza Rat, who became the symbol of the Ultimate New Yorker after being spotted bravely dragging a huge slice of pizza down the stairs of a subway platform in the Big Apple.

A seagull attempts to eat a starfish on the docks at Granville Island in Vancouver, Wednesday, March 23, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

It was September 2015 when a subway rider recorded a video of this determined rat wrangling a pizza slice bigger than itself down the stairs at the First Avenue L train station in Manhattan, then uploaded the video to his Instagram and YouTube accounts.

Within the first 24 hours alone, the video of this plucky pizza-loving rodent had more than two million views and Pizza Rat skyrocketed to fame.

As millions around the world watched the little guy drag his oversized slice to his squalid rat hole, Pizza Rat became the embodiment of the grit and tenacity required to succeed in New York City.

"It can be argued that there are few things more New York than a slice, the subway and a rat," a CNN news story declared at the time. "Combine the three and its magic."

In a New York minute, the world was inundated with Pizza Rat T-shirts, coffee mugs, Halloween costumes and bizarre online tributes on a plethora of image-sharing sites.

Pizza Rat became the Big Cheese in the waning days of 2015 and, naturally, he got his own Twitter account, where he offered inspiring observations such as: "Wasnt trying to make a statement, humans. Just trying to get some damn pizza down some subway stairs."

Or my personal favourite: "Im saving for a house and cant afford avocado."

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried, famed for his loud, grating voice, tweeted: "Im impatiently sitting by the phone to see if I get hired as the voice of #PizzaRat."

Anyway, Im giving you this mini-history lesson because last week, while vacationing in Vancouver with my beloved spouse, She Who Must Not Be Named, I came face-to-beak with a creature who makes New Yorks beloved Pizza Rat seem like a rank amateur when it comes to snitching snacks.

No one was quick enough to record the action on cellphone video, otherwise Vancouvers Slice-Stealing Seagull would be a household name throughout the world as I write these words.

What happened was: my wife and I were on the West Coast to celebrate my beloved great aunts 98th birthday, but we had a bit of free time, so we hopped on a water taxi for the ride across False Creek to Granville Island, home to hundreds of artists, craftspeople, boutiques, restaurants, a sprawling public market and an impressive food court.

At this point, I would normally regale you with a few paragraphs about how gorgeous the scenery was. But, tragically, we could barely see our noses in front of our faces because of the blanket of smoke that had settled over the city thanks to the hundreds of wildfires burning in the province.

After consuming a healthy lunch  I had a huge helping of fish and chips, whereas my wife had something containing quinoa  we wandered outside the market into a wharfside area jam-packed with people trying to enjoy snacks while parked at picnic tables or simply standing up trying to spot the mountains through the mist.

Which is when it happened. A stylish 20-something woman was standing next to me, holding up a paper plate on which rested a large slice of pepperoni pizza, when  yes, this was suddenly and without warning  a seagull the size and shape of Hulk Hogan swooped out of the steel-grey sky, emitted the Screech of Doom, then seized the slice of pizza in its beak and flapped away with its greasy prize.

"EEEEEEK!!!" shrieked the girl beside me.

"EEEEEEK!!!" shrieked my wife, who feels about birds the way I feel about bears and lions and other creatures blessed with teeth like steak knives.

"EEEEEEK!!!" I shrieked, because everyone else was doing it and also because I startle extremely easily for someone the size of a major kitchen appliance.

All us bystanders comforted the young woman  "It just came out of the blue," she squawked  then looked on with fascination as the Slice-Stealing Seagull struggled to make off with his piece of purloined pizza.

Unlike Pizza Rat, who was apparently a lone gunman back in 2015, the Slice-Stealing Seagull was instantly accosted by dozens of other seagulls who were apparently being driven insane by the scent of freshly stolen pizza.

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But this daring seabird was not to be denied. After more screeching than you would endure at a heavy metal concert, the airborne bandit was able to flap away, albeit quite slowly, with his cheese-intensive lunch in tow.

It was a deeply moving scene and Im sure it was symbolic of something about Canadas West Coast, although at the moment I have no idea what that might be.

But thats not important. Whats important is that, after watching the seagull and his slice vanish into the smoky distance, my wife laughed and pointed at a large sign erected on the wharf directly in front of us.

Heres what the sign chirped at the throng of onlookers: "If you want to help the birds, let them find their own food!"

The problem is, thats exactly what the birds do. Ditto the rats. Not that I personally blame them for stealing delicious pizza. Because if you think about it, they clearly knead the dough.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.caBRANDON  The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is calling on the City of Brandon to do more to find the graves of approximately 50 residential schoolchildren buried in the Turtle Crossing campground, despite assurances work is underway to do just that.

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This article was published 29/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON  The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is calling on the City of Brandon to do more to find the graves of approximately 50 residential schoolchildren buried in the Turtle Crossing campground, despite assurances work is underway to do just that.

In a statement released on Tuesday, AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas called the situation of people camping on the unmarked graves of innocent children "unacceptable" and referenced the campground owners, Mark and Joan Kovatch, by name.

"It is imperative that the City of Brandon work towards truth and reconciliation by ensuring that these children are identified and given a proper burial," he said.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Chief Vincent Tacan, whose community is helping lead efforts to find the gravesites, said he has not spoken with the AMC. Sioux Valley, which is not a member of the AMC, owns the former Brandon Indian Residential School site northwest of the city, whose students are believed to have been buried in the area of what is now a campground.

"I dont think we need the AMC," Tacan said. "Ive offered to talk to them on other issues regarding Child and Family (Services) and I was turned away, so I think thats my answer. I think we can resolve this ourselves."

In a statement, Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest said both governments, along with the landowner, have been meeting to find the "most appropriate and dignified solution."

"The city and our Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples Council has been facilitating communications, and we will continue to stay involved to affect an outcome in keeping with the wishes of the First Nation and respecting the aspirations put forth in the Truth and Reconciliation (Commission of Canada) report," Chrest said.

The mayor said he anticipates having the co-operation of senior levels of government and the AMC, as well. The parties plan to hold another meeting in mid-September.

"The city and Sioux Valley... have a constructive and positive framework to work together on this important matter, and Im optimistic solutions can be found," Chrest said.

Phone messages and emails requesting comment from Dumas were not returned.

Tuesdays statements come on the heels of Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair addressing the Brandon matter in a column this past Saturday.

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Tacan said he was upset about the column given discussions are happening with the city and others, and hoped it wouldnt affect their ability to find a resolution.

"The cemetery thats there was threatened once before, and now its degraded to the point where theres no headstones, no crosses, no nothing," he said. "So we need to fix that, and if people are putting up walls because of the article, then I dont think thats helpful."

Turtle Crossing campground co-owner Mark Kovatch offered a similar take. "Any comments saying that nobody wants to do this or holding it up is just false. Everyone is working together to try and resolve the issue as best as possible."

Turtle Crossing campground was previously owned by the City of Brandon, as Curran Park from 1972 to 2001. Kovatch and his wife, Joan, took ownership of the land in 2007.

The gravesite, believed to have been in use from 1895 to 1912, may hold as many as 51 students, according to a 2015 thesis from University of Manitoba student Katherine Lyndsay Nichols.

 Brandon SunAs federal and provincial governments plan to overhaul laws for divorce, custody battles and child-support disputes, one of Manitoba's top judges says the family court system needs to shape up and speed up.

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This article was published 28/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As federal and provincial governments plan to overhaul laws for divorce, custody battles and child-support disputes, one of Manitoba's top judges says the family court system needs to shape up and speed up.

"Its a system right now that is too complicated; its too slow and its too expensive," Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said in an interview Tuesday, as he announced a stricter scheduling regime that aims to stop family cases from languishing in court for years only to rack up enormous legal bills for those involved.

"Families are going through trauma when they break down. They shouldnt be traumatized a second time by a system that can be improved."

For the first time "in many, many years," Joyal said, Manitoba's superior court is updating its family division schedules and enforcing new rules that will triage cases to save judges' time and point families toward a clear finish line.

"Families are going through trauma when they break down. They shouldnt be traumatized a second time by a system that can be improved."  Chief Justice Glenn Joyal

It's not uncommon to see cases stay in family court for three or four years without a trial date being set, Joyal said, but under new rules and a new schedule expected to come into effect next year, trial dates will have to be set within a year to 15 months.

While "the vast majority" of family law cases fold before getting to trial, the court needs to better manage its limited resources, Joyal said. Anyone who wants to adjourn a case leading up to the trial will have to answer to the chief justice.

"Families are going through trauma when they break down. They shouldnt be traumatized a second time by a system that can be improved," Joyal says. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

"The key is to bring these things -- to the extent that we can -- to an end earlier. And if you dont want that, stay out of the court as long as you want. We wont be chasing you down," Joyal said.

The court scheduling changes and a push outside of the courthouse come as the province prepares new legislation expected to create an out-of-court system to deal with certain family law cases.

Earlier this summer, a provincially appointed committee of sitting judges, experienced lawyers and community representatives released a report recommending sweeping changes to Manitoba's family law system.

They want to start a three-year pilot project that would be the first of its kind in Canada. The pilot project calls for setting up an administrative system to deal with family disputes, including child-custody cases, and implementing mandatory mediation in some cases to avoid going through the courts.

Veteran lawyer Allan Fineblit chaired the family law reform committee that reported to Manitoba Justice. He said the court "is simply, right now, too busy to deal with things in an expeditious way. And the result is that its not serving the public very well on these types of matters."

The committee heard from hundreds of Manitobans who complained about the delays and costs of their family cases, which Fineblit said often shouldn't be dealt with in a win-lose system.

"I think youd find many of the judges whod agree with what Im about to say: the court system is not a good system for solving family disputes, because they are fraught with emotion," Fineblit said. "They deal with some of the most important things in peoples lives, and to deal with it in a traditional, adversarial way is often a recipe for failure."

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Justice Minister Cliff Cullen

Manitoba's justice minister is expected to introduce new legislation later this year in line with the committee's recommendations, according to a statement from the office of Justice Minister Cliff Cullen.

"Our government is committed to being a Canadian leader in modernizing our family law system, making it more accessible, efficient, and effective for families and children. Work is underway to move forward on recommendations made in the family law reform committee report and we plan to introduce legislation later this year," the statement said. Federal legislation, which covers divorce proceedings, is already pending to reform federal family laws for the first time in 20 years.

Joyal said the court scheduling changes will happen regardless of whether the province implements an out-of-court family law system, but he said he supports the move toward an administrative system.

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"I think an administrative model is an important new dimension to dealing with family breakdown, and I dont think the court should pretend that we have the only or best wisdom to impart in that regard," he said.

The Court of Queen's Bench, which deals with the most serious criminal cases as well as civil litigation, child-protection issues and family disputes, has already revamped its schedules in other areas of law following the July 2016 Supreme Court's Jordan decision that set national deadlines to curb criminal court delays.

Manitoba's courts then had to tackle widespread delays in child protection and civil cases, which Joyal said have since been reined in. He said it's time now to deal with family law.

"Its the area that screams out right now for the most important and significant improvement. Its just that we had so much else that was pushing us."

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemayA man has been killed by a polar bear in a Nunavut community for the second time in two months.

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This article was published 28/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man has been killed by a polar bear in a Nunavut community for the second time in two months.

The man, one of three members of a hunting party, was found dead and the other two hunters were found with minor injuries Tuesday on White Island near the hamlet of Naujaat (formerly Repulse Bay), Iqualuit RCMP said in a statement.

The two survivors and the body of the other man, all local residents, were brought by helicopter in the early hours of Tuesday morning to Naujaat, about 960 kilometres north of Churchill.

On July 2, Aaron Gibbons, 31, was killed by a polar bear near Arviat, a Nunavut community located about 260 kilometres north of Churchill, while he was egg picking with his two young children. He put himself between the bear and the children, who were not harmed.

Prior to the recent attack, three hunters had left Naujaat, a hamlet of about 1,050 people located on the northwestern shore of Hudson Bay, on or about Aug. 21 to go caribou and narwhal hunting.

By Aug. 23, the hunters had not returned and were reported to the Naujaat RCMP as overdue.

The three hunters were found by a joint search-and-rescue mission, which involved the Canadian Armed Forces and local search teams. The search began Monday with a CAF Hercules aircraft and numerous boats from the Naujaat Search and Rescue group. After ice blocked the way to where the hunters were believed to be, the CAF sent in a second Hercules aircraft and an icebreaker ship with a helicopter on Tuesday.

The RCMP said the initial investigation determined the hunters had been attacked by a polar bear.

A spokesman from the hamlet of Naujaat said the community is in mourning. He said a statement with more information is expected to be released on Wednesday by Mayor Solomon Malliki.

"The other hunters are okay and have been treated," said Robert Hedley, the senior adminstrative officer from the Hamlet of Naujaat. "We are constantly dealing with polar bear incursions although in this case they were quite far away from the community  it really all depends on the ice conditions and the availability of food."

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Gibbons' death, the first in Nunavut involving a polar bear since 2000, had prompted members of his community to criticize tourism practices that promote close encounters for people with polar bears, saying these are causing the giant carnivores to lose their fear of humans.

"We are just north of Churchill and the same bears you allow to approach close to the tourists migrate through our town when coming from south," Gordy Kidlapik said. "You'll see pictures of tourists touching a bear through the fence. That's not right. I was quite angry (July 2) knowing it could have been a factor in the number of bears that get that close."

An Iqaluit RCMP spokesman said further details surrounding the recent attack on the hunters could not be released at this time.

The territory's chief coroner's office and the Nunavut Department of the Environment are also looking into the death.

After Gibbons was attacked last month by a polar bear, his children were able to use a CB radio to call for help and the bear was killed by another adult.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.caIn 2016, some Manitoba Hydro employees called the camp Keeyask-atraz and described prison-like conditions, alcohol and drug abuse, favouritism in the workplace and discrimination between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees.

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This article was published 28/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 2016, some Manitoba Hydro employees called the camp "Keeyask-atraz" and described prison-like conditions, alcohol and drug abuse, favouritism in the workplace and discrimination between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees.

Many seemed unhappy and felt their grievances werent followed up on by management. One worker reported being called racial slurs such as "Pocahontas," "seal eater" and "squaw," and another was warned by a friend who previously worked at the Keeyask Generating Site that the experience was "a total gong show."

"We found that many people bring their preconceived notions of race to the work force and when the work environment is difficult, these biases find expression through verbal abuse of construction coworkers and workers employed by other contractors/" 2017 report

But Hydro says the working environment has improved drastically at their construction site near Gillam, about 1,100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, since those allegations were levelled almost two years ago.

After hearing about problems at Keeyask, the parties involved in the megaproject  including Hydro, Tataskweyak Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation, York Factory First Nation and Fox Lake Cree Nation  asked an independent third party to investigate.

D. Carriere & Associates, a First Nations-owned and operated human resources consulting firm, conducted 180 interviews with employees from October to December 2016 by phone, online and in person. The consultants also did an extensive review of documents and processes for making workplace complaints.

A report outlined abuse suffered by northern Indigenous people  whose communities are near Hydro projects, such as the Keeyask generating station  at the hands of Hydro workers. (Supplied)

The assessment team "found a high level of fear of retaliation and retribution at the site among those interviewed," according to its report. Many interviewees were nervous and some "broke down" emotionally during conversations with the consultants.

"There exists a mistrust of Manitoba Hydro. Obviously, this becomes a serious issue when attempting to identify ways to move forward in addressing discrimination and harassment at the Keeyask site," the report states.

The 2017 report came to light after the province released a damning Clean Environment Commission report last week that included historical allegations of sexual violence perpetuated by Hydro workers in the North. RCMP and the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba are determining next steps for a probe into allegations of sexual assault, which began in the 1960s, reported by members of Fox Lake Cree Nation.

Download Keeyask Workplace Culture Assessment Final Report

The Keeyask workplace culture report cites many instances of discrimination between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees, including a perceived lack of advancement and training opportunities for Indigenous people. Racism and harassment were reported by both camps.

The Keeyask Dam project site near Gillam. (Trevor Hagan / Winnipeg Free Press files)

"We found that many people bring their pre-conceived notions of race to the work force and when the work environment is difficult, these biases find expression through verbal abuse of construction co-workers and workers employed by other contractors," the report reads.

"Differing worldviews" became evident in interviews, the consultants wrote. Some employees thought Indigenous workers "are allowed to "get away" with (a) lot more than non-Indigenous workers. Examples provided included no punishments for absences, tardiness, and "running to Chief and Council," with concerns, the report states.

Some Indigenous workers thought it only natural to approach their chiefs and councils with concerns first, as is the cultural norm in many Indigenous communities. Many weren't accustomed to unions and filing grievances with onsite management.

Drug, alcohol issues reviewed

The assessment team also recommended Keeyask's drug and alcohol policy be reviewed.

While there was a lounge adjacent to the main workers' camp with a limit of three alcoholic drinks per person, those found intoxicated or in possession of other drugs or alcohol were to "be immediately removed from site and subject to a one-year ban from all Manitoba Hydro sites," according to the policy.

"Many expressed that managers appear to be exempt from the immediate removal provision of the policy. For example, we heard from various participants that despite evidence of empty liquor bottles in management rooms being given to security, no managers were removed from site. We were told: 'Hydro employees say no drugs or alcohol, but are selling mickeys for $40 or $50.'" 2017 report

The rationale for the requirement was safety on the job.

"Concerns were raised that the security searches of baggage do little to deter the importing of drugs and alcohol at the site, as body searches are not allowed and it is through this method that many smuggle in drugs or alcohol," the report reads. "Others indicated that individuals find alternate means for smuggling such as drop zones."

The consultants called a one-year ban from work "harsh" and said it had a disproportionate effect on Indigenous and northern Manitoban employees, who often didn't have other job opportunities besides Hydro. The consistency of how the drug and alcohol policy was applied was also called into question.

"Many expressed that managers appear to be exempt from the immediate removal provision of the policy. For example, we heard from various participants that despite evidence of empty liquor bottles in management rooms being given to security, no managers were removed from site. We were told: 'Hydro employees say no drugs or alcohol, but are selling mickeys for $40 or $50.'"

Most of report's recommendations implemented

On Tuesday, Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said the one-year ban is still in effect for those who violate the policy. The rule, he said, is "reasonable and relatively aligned with similar projects."

"The policy is stringent because the potential consequences of reporting to work in an unfit condition are serious," Owen said in an email. "A strong deterrent is viewed as necessary to protect the safety of all workers.

He added that in situations where an addiction is diagnosed by an expert, individuals may be reinstated inside of a year if they complete treatment programs.

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The report also detailed concerns from employees about working long stretches at a time  often 21 days on and seven days off  leading to stress on family life. One worker wrote: "Work rotation IS TOO LONG, 21 days is TOO LONG TO BE AWAY FROM HOME."

Hydro said 63 of the 64 recommendations for improvements outlined in the report have been completed. (Trevor Hagan / Winnipeg Free Press)

Hydro said 63 of the 64 recommendations for improvements outlined in the report have been completed. The one remaining  that conflict-resolution training is made mandatory for all managers  is underway.

"We continue to monitor the outcome of the implementation of all recommendations and work with our partners and contractors to find solutions to these complex and challenging issues," Owen wrote.

Calls to three Keeyask partners  Tataskweyak Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation and Fox Lake Cree Nation  were not returned Tuesday. York Factory First Nation Chief Leroy Constant answered the phone, but declined a request for comment.

"I'm familiar (with the report). This is a touchy one for us," he said, but added he would comment after establishing a group response.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @_jessbuRESEARCH tells us that bilingual education is the best possible education, but Canadian census results and parents experiences suggest that some Indigenous children educated in an Indigenous language are struggling.

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This article was published 29/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

RESEARCH tells us that bilingual education is the best possible education, but Canadian census results and parents experiences suggest that some Indigenous children educated in an Indigenous language are struggling.

For example, education in Inuktut is a right that some Inuit parents and governments are giving up, and I understand. We want children to succeed and some have believed the myth that English language education is the only way to get there.

But before we blame the language of instruction, here are five truths about Indigenous bilingual education:

1. Indigenous-language education is a right.

Indigenous parents and leaders fought for their children to go to school in their own language. Inuit land claims agreements, for example, include the right to protect Inuktut and control Inuit schools.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples guarantees these rights.

And Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that protecting language rights is part of healing from the devastation of residential schools.

2. Learning in two languages is the best possible education.

Whether its Indigenous children learning in their mother tongue, English mother-tongue children in French immersion or Indigenous children learning their ancestral language through immersion, children ultimately learn more  and learn better  when taught in two or more languages.

Research has shown, around the world, that the most important factor in how well children who arent part of the majority culture do in school is how long they receive education in the language they use at home.

Contrary to common belief that more and earlier schooling in English will lead to better English skills, children learning in two languages end up with equal or better skills in English when compared to those learning in English only. By middle school, they also have equal or better outcomes in math and stronger problem-solving skills.

The research is so strong that some have concluded that "Bilingual brains are better." However, because these benefits dont show up until middle school and most Indigenous bilingual education programs only run in elementary school, these benefits arent always evident.

Although Canada led the way in proving bilingual education works and bilingual education is the norm in many countries, Canadian educational policies and practices reflect a unilingual bias.

3. Knowing two languages leads to better futures.

Inuit youth who have opportunities to learn their language and culture have higher self-esteem, a stronger sense of identity and are more likely to stay in school, even through post-secondary school.

Knowing their language and culture reinforces Indigenous youths sense of belonging to family, community and culture. Its important for personal well-being and its a protective factor against suicide. Bilingual education supports hopeful futures.

4. Bilingual education is lifelong.

Research shows that anything we learn, in any language, becomes a building block for more language learning.

The abstract language thats used to talk about concepts and ideas in school takes five to seven years to develop. No wonder bilingual schooling seems to be failing students when they only have the opportunity to learn their Indigenous language for the first few years and then are lumped in with English stream learners, without any more attention to their own language, or to the fact that theyre learning in a second language.

Reaping the benefits of bilingual education requires continuous support for both languages.

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5. Bilingual education is about more than language.

When schools use the communitys language, parents become more involved and children become more confident and proud of who they are. Some researchers believe that embracing students identity is the most important reason why bilingual education has helped so many children succeed.

Respecting and valuing Indigenous languages and cultures are things all teachers and administrators can bring into schools, whether Indigenous or not. Teaching in and about Indigenous languages and cultures helps rebalance the power between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants in school systems.

Parents are the best people to choose which type of learning is going to work for their child. But before parents and policy-makers reject Indigenous bilingual education on the basis that it wont lead to the best future, lets pay attention to the real issues.

Lets make sure the best possible education is available for all children.

Shelley Tulloch is chair and associate professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Winnipeg and a contributor with EvidenceNetwork.ca, which is based at the University of Winnipeg.

 Troy MediaIn mid-August, Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabias energy minister, announced that the diplomatic rift with Canada wouldnt affect the flow of Saudi crude oil to the Irving refinery in Saint John, N.B.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

In mid-August, Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabias energy minister, announced that the diplomatic rift with Canada wouldnt affect the flow of Saudi crude oil to the Irving refinery in Saint John, N.B.

There are at least two reasons why this decision should not have come as a surprise:

Firstly, in 2017, Saudi crude exports to the Irving refinery netted Saudi Arabia about $2.5 billion. This was a small but undoubtedly useful contribution towards their support of pro-government forces in the Yemeni civil war.

Secondly, more than half of the Irving refinerys production is exported to the United States. Cutting supplies to the refinery would have caused shortages of gasoline and other fuels in the U.S. and resulted in unnecessary friction between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

Although Saudi exports of crude oil to the Saint John refinery are small (37.3 million barrels in 2017) compared with their exports to other countries, theyre significant for the Maritimes. For example, in 2017, Saudi Arabia exported 346 million barrels to the U.S. and about 465 million barrels to Japan. Yet the contribution to the Saint John refinery amounts to almost 40 per cent of the refinerys supply.

The region needs to think more seriously about its reliance on Saudi crude oil and consider replacing these supplies with those from trusted sources.

Maritime oil demand

On the downstream side, approximately one-third of the refinerys output meets most of the Maritime provinces demand for refined petroleum products such as gasoline, home-heating oil and diesel fuel. While unlikely, if Saudi Arabia ever did cut off its oil exports to Canada, the impact would be felt across the Maritime provinces.

In the immediate aftermath of such an event, demand would have to be met from existing stocks of crude oil at the refinery and with refined product stored within the Maritimes. Any threat of shortages would have to be managed by several different levels of government.

To relieve these shortages, crude oil or refined product  or both  would need to be purchased on the spot market, probably resulting in higher prices for petroleum products for consumers.

Pipeline to the east

Prior to the Saudis announcement, a number of political pundits suggested that improving the East Coasts energy security would simply be a matter of reviving the Energy East pipeline. Once built, Western Canadian crude could then reach the Saint John refinery to help meet the oil demand in the Maritimes and other countries.

This argument overlooks the fact that it will take years to get the necessary federal and provincial approval before construction of the pipeline could begin. At present, there are very few ways in which Canadian crude oil could improve energy security in the Maritime provinces.

One could be Enbridges Line 9B pipeline, which sends 300,000 barrels per day from western Canada via Westover, Ont., to Montreal. About one-third of Line 9Bs daily capacity, shipped by tanker from Montreal to Saint John, would be sufficient to replace Saudi supply.

Despite this, Line 9Bs entire supply is destined for refineries in Quebec: Suncor in Montreal, and to the Valero refinery in Levis, by a pair of Panamax ice-certified tankers that operate year-round.

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Other Canadian sources

With Line 9Bs supply spoken for, the Maritime provinces are limited to two other possible sources of Canadian crude: Western Canada (by rail) and offshore Newfoundland and Labrador (by ship). The Irving refinery has a railway yard with capacity for rail tank cars holding about 145,000 barrels of crude oil. Since the railway yard already handles crude from across North America, there may be limitations on how much additional crude-by-rail it could deal with safely.

Over half of Newfoundland and Labradors annual production of about 80 million barrels of crude oil is exported to the U.S. and elsewhere. However, contractual obligations mean that very little of this oil is available to the Maritimes.

Events of the past few weeks have shown that the Saudis can act unpredictably. Had maintaining a supply of crude oil to Canada not been in the Saudis interest, the situation in the Maritime provinces would be quite different today.

The reliance on Saudi crude oil continues to threaten energy security in the Maritimes. The region needs to improve its energy security by replacing Saudi crude oil with supplies from Canadian and other trusted sources.

Larry Hughes is a professor at Dalhousie University.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations continue to roller-coaster.

The United States administration this week announced a new side deal on trade with Mexico.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump threatens Canada with new auto tariffs and inflicts the silent treatment. And a Democratic governor calls on the president to cease his "childish" tweets at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Indeed, these NAFTA talks have been a wild ride, with more surely to come.

It appears the U.S. wants its separate deal with Mexico as leverage to extract concessions from Canada. This comes on the heels of the U.S. restarting negotiations with the European Union with a moratorium on auto trade tariffs.

While Canada and Mexico have insisted they were in this together and should form a united front, the election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as Mexicos president appears to have thrown a new wrinkle into the process.

Canada is in a pickle. While our united-front strategy with Mexico could have been interpreted as ends against the middle, it turns out the ends dont really have the combined clout they imagined. The U.S. is playing hardball and our broad lobbying of U.S. congressmen, senators and state governors apparently hasnt impressed Trump, who still wants substantive concessions.

Moreover, while it may be a negotiating ploy, the Trump administration has seemingly taken a dislike to Trudeau in the wake of the G7 summit.

Many American businesspeople and politicians realize the potential damage to the American economy if NAFTA founders.

But Trump is a mercantilist, pure and simple  that is, he wants U.S. exports up and imports down. His main targets are the five top U.S. trade partners: the EU, China, Canada, Mexico and Japan. However, Canada and Mexico are the weakest links in this trade chain as China, Japan and the EU are nowhere near as dependent on the U.S. economy as Mexico and Canada are.

Consequently, Canada and Mexico have the least leverage against the U.S. While the growth in trade since NAFTA came into effect in 1994 has been a source of prosperity, it has also made Canada and Mexico more dependent on the American economy  more than 75 per cent of each countrys exports go to the U.S., with exports comprising 30 per cent of Canadas economy and nearly 40 per cent of Mexicos. On the other hand, only about 18 per cent of American exports go to Canada and about 16 per cent to Mexico.

Clearly, Canada and Mexico are more desperate for a deal than the U.S.  and that desperation will be used against us and the Mexicans.

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Whats Canada to do? There are short-run and long-run options. First, we need a deal with the U.S. and to get that deal, we must make a major concession, whether we like it or not, to protect the auto sector. That concession may be phasing out our supply-management system in agriculture. We should give Trump a visible public victory he can crow about.

In the long run, we should ensure our trade is more diversified with new trade arrangements for our products with as many other countries as possible. The seeds for this new normal are already in place with the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Europe and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. But we must do more. Canadians have grown complacent with their easy access to the U.S. market and we must sell ourselves and our wares with a new intensity.

As part of boosting our trade with other partners and reducing our dependency on the U.S., we should boost the demand for Canadian resources in other countries. Much of our negotiating strategy on NAFTA has involved quiet assertions about the importance of our bilateral trade with the U.S. and how Canadian resources  such as energy  help drive U.S. prosperity. The Americans under Trump dont seem to care. They take Canada for granted. We must find new customers for our natural resources, particularly oil and gas, and have the Americans compete for our business.

In the end, competition is not only good for small open economies, its good therapy for trade bullies.

Livio Di Matteo is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and professor of economics at Lakehead University in Ontario.

Troy MediaHey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/8/2018 (1161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was the ugliest of secrets, hidden in plain view.

There was initial shock when, last week, the province released a report from Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission on the impact of Manitoba Hydro development in northern Manitoba that included allegations of rampant racism, violence and rape in the 1960s and 1970s, some of which may have involved members of the RCMP.

GRAEME BRUCE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS / MAPBOX

After reading graphic tales of indigenous women being taken for organized "gangbangs" involving Hydro workers, Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires immediately referred the report to the RCMP for further investigation. "I believe that we have unveiled years and years of silence from many of these communities who have suffered a lot of abuse," Squires said.

Perhaps. But a closer examination of the events of the past nearly 20 years shows that, remarkably, this was not the first time these allegations were unveiled.

In fact, the witnesses and victims from Makeso Sakahikan Inninuwak-Fox Lake Cree Nation have been putting their stories on the record in a variety of forums for decades. The people who heard those stories included environmental activists, lawyers, interveners, politicians and the members of various government regulatory bodies.

In 2001, the Interchurch Inquiry into Northern Hydro Development released a report  "Let Justice Flow"  which included a handful of general references to sexual violence against women and children by Hydro workers. The report was, for reasons that are not entirely clear, almost entirely ignored by government, news organizations and the public.

In 2012, the Fox Lake Cree Nation provided a report to the CEC that included several brief references to "rapes and sexual assaults" committed by Hydro workers living in and around the Town of Gillam, a community that for decades has served as a staging point for dam construction crews.

Again, for reasons that no one seems able to explain, the report garnered almost no attention by anyone outside the CEC, despite the fact the hearings on the social and environmental impacts of new generating stations were public and available to news organizations, many of which closely followed the work of regulatory agencies.

In fact, the Fox Lake report has been freely available since 2012 on a website dedicated to the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership, a consortium of four First Nations (including Fox Lake) that partnered with Hydro on construction of the Keeyask generating station.

In 2013, Manitoba's Public Interest Law Centre, an intervener in CEC hearings on the Keeyask dam, hired a consulting firm to review the impact of Keeyask generating station construction on the health of northern communities. In that report, also freely available online, the consultants noted that the presence of Hydro workers in northern communities had contributed to an increased incidence of alcohol-related violence, drug sales, sexual assault, infidelity, pregnancy and paternal abandonment.

With an extensive body of alarming, publicly accessible allegations about crimes committed against Fox Lake residents, one is left to wonder how and why no formal police investigation was ever launched? That is certainly the question being asked by some of those most directly responsible for exposing these incidents.

Will Braun, a member of the Interchurch Council into Northern Hydro Development, told the Free Press last week that he and others are second guessing themselves about whether they should have insisted on a more robust response from government and police.

Braun suggested that he and others may have suffered from a systemic despondency. "Why didn't we push harder for this to be pursued?" he said. "I mean, we were guilty as well of saying, 'That's what happens up north. I guess there's not much that can be done.'"

Whatever the cause, the crimes committed against Fox Lake women and children somehow managed to exist in a place where they were acknowledged but never acted upon. They were not swept under the rug, nor was there any conspiracy to keep them from public view.

In fact, the details of the horrible events authored by Hydro workers and others were always available to journalists and members of the general public. It was just that no one paid any attention.

Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

If that seems unthinkable now, we can thank the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which in 2008 released a detailed investigation into the dark history of Indian residential schools.

In its exhaustive, almost forensic scope, the TRC set a new standard for examination of the past wrongs committed against Canada's indigenous people. There was no past misdeed that escaped the TRC's gaze. It now serves as the point of reference for assessing whether our response to other, similar crimes against humanity has been sufficient.

It goes without saying that our response to the Fox Lake allegations has not even come close to sufficient.

We must never blame the victims for failing to draw more attention to their pain and suffering. The people of Fox Lake told their stories to people who they believed  mistakenly it seems  would take up their cause and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The collective 'we' failed to act. We should never make that mistake again.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.caPolice allege that Carson followed the woman from the station, grabbed her from behind, pulled her into an alley and assaulted her around 7 a.m. in the 1200 block of West Ohio Street on the Near West Side.Of all the indignities that come with aging, excessive earwax may be the most insidious. Dont laugh.His decision to run again prevented political jockeying for the seat within the Democratic Party, as others could have looked to move up to the high-profile office. And his popularity also could help boost other Democrats at the polls. White has consistently received the most Democratic votes statewide, often winning even Republican strongholds such as DuPage County.Nabors Industries Ltd. engages in the provision of platform work over and drilling rigs. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. The U.S. Drilling segment includes land drilling activities in the lower 48 states and Alaska, as well as offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment consists of land-based drilling rigs in Canada. The International segment focuses in maintaining a footprint in the oil and gas market, most notably in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. The Drilling Solutions segment offers drilling technologies, such as patented steering systems and rig instrumentation software systems that enhance drilling performance and wellbore placement. The Rig Technologies segment comprises Canrig, which manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools. The company was founded by Clair Nabors in 1952 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Stryker: ActiViews, Aimago SA, Alcott Indemnity Company, Arrinex Inc, Arrinex Inc., Ascent Healthcare Solutions, Berchtold, Berchtold + Fritz GmbH, Berchtold Consulting GmbH, Berchtold Corporation, Berchtold GmbH & Co. KG, Berchtold Holding Switzerland GmbH, CHG Hospital Beds, Cactus LLC, Cardan Robotics, Changzhou Orthomed Medical Instrument Company Limited, Concentric Medical, Concentric Medical Inc., Entellus Medical, Entellus Medical Europe Ltd, Entellus Medical Inc., GYS Tech LLC, Gaymar Industries, Gongping (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., Groupe Bertec, HeartSine Technologies LLC, HeartSine Technologies Limited, Howmedica International S. de R.L., Howmedica Osteonics Corp., Hygia Health Services, Hygia Healthcare Services Inc., HyperBranch, HyperBranch Technology Inc., ITAPCo Limited, Image Guided Technologies, Imorphics Limited, Infinity MSD Corp., Infinity MSE Corp., Infinity MSF Corp., Infomedix Communications, Instratek, InstruMedics L.L.C, Invuity Inc., Ivy Sports Medicine, Ivy Sports Medicine LLC, Jiangsu Chuangyi Medical Instrument Company Limited, Jolife AB, K2M Germany GmbH, K2M Group, K2M Group Holdings Inc., K2M Holdings Inc., K2M Iberia Medcomtech S.L.U., K2M Inc., K2M Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, K2M Spine Solutions (Schweiz) GmbH, K2M UK Limited, Loon Intermediateco LLC, MAKO Surgical, MAKO Surgical Corp, Memometal Technologies, Mobius Imaging, Mobius Imaging LLC, Muka Metal, Muka Metal Ticaret ve Sanayi Anaonim Sirketi, NV Stryker SA, Nettrick Limited, Novadaq Corp, Novadaq Hong Kong Ltd, Novadaq Technologies, Novadaq Technologies ULC, OOO "Stryker", Orneo Ozel Saglk Hizmetleri Medikal Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, OrthoSpace, OrthoSpace Ltd., OrthoSpace US Inc., Orthomed (Hong Kong) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Orthovita, Orthovita Inc., OtisMed, P.C. Sweden Holding AB, Patient Safety Technologies, Patton Surgical, Pficonprod Pty. Ltd., Physio-Control, Physio-Control (Shanghai) Sales Co. Ltd., Physio-Control Brazil Vendas Ltda., Physio-Control Czech Sales s.r.o., Physio-Control Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Physio-Control Holdings Inc, Physio-Control Hungary Sales Kft, Physio-Control Inc., Physio-Control India Sales Pvt. Ltd, Physio-Control Investments LLC, Physio-Control Lebanon Sales Offshore s.a.l., Physio-Control Manufacturing Inc., Physio-Control Operations Netherlands B.V., Physio-Control Sales Limited Liability Company, Physio-Control Singapore Pte. Ltd., Physio-Control South Africa Sales Pty. Ltd., Physio-Control UK Sales Ltd., Pivot Medical, PlasmaSol, Porex Technologies, SSI Divestiture Inc., SYK Costa Rica Services Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, SafeAir AG, SafeWire, Sage Products, Sage Products Coperatief U.A., Sage Products Holdings II LLC, Sage Products Holdings III LLC, Sage Products LLC, Scopis GmbH, Sightline Technologies, Small Bone Innovations, SpineCore, Spirox Inc., Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Stanmore Implants Worldwide Limited, Stanmore Inc., Stryker (Barbados) Foreign Sales Corporation, Stryker (Beijing) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Shanghai) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Suzhou) Medical Technology Co Ltd, Stryker (Thailand) Limited, Stryker AB, Stryker Acquisitions BV, Stryker Asia Holdings CV, Stryker Australia LLC, Stryker Australia Pty. Ltd., Stryker Austria GmbH, Stryker B.V., Stryker Berchtold BV, Stryker Beteiligungs GmbH, Stryker Canada GP ULC, Stryker Canada Holding Company, Stryker Canada Manufacturing ULC, Stryker Canada ULC, Stryker Canadian Management ULC, Stryker Canadian Sales Holding Company ULC, Stryker Capital BV, Stryker China Limited, Stryker Colombia SAS, Stryker Communications Inc., Stryker Corporation (Chile) y Compania Limitada, Stryker Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Stryker Customs Brokers LLC, Stryker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stryker Delaware Inc., Stryker EMEA Supply Chain Services BV, Stryker Employment Company LLC, Stryker European Coordination Center BV, Stryker European Holdings Cooperatief U.A, Stryker European Holdings I LLC, Stryker European Holdings II LLC, Stryker European Holdings LLC, Stryker European Holdings V LLC, Stryker European Operations B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings I BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings II BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings III BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations Limited, Stryker European Technologies C.V., Stryker Far East Inc., Stryker Foreign Acquisitions Inc., Stryker France Holding SNC, Stryker France MM Holdings SAS, Stryker France SAS, Stryker Funding B.V., Stryker GI Services CV, Stryker Global Technology Center Private Limited, Stryker GmbH, Stryker GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Grundstucks GmbH & Co KG, Stryker Grundstucks Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Holdings BV, Stryker IFSC Designated Activity Company, Stryker Iberia SL Unipersonal, Stryker India Private Limited, Stryker International Acquisitions BV, Stryker International Holdings BV, Stryker Investment Holdings B.V., Stryker Ireland Holding Unlimited Company, Stryker Ireland Limited, Stryker Italia S.r.l. S.U., Stryker Japan Holdings BV, Stryker Japan K.K., Stryker Korea Ltd., Stryker Lebanon (Offshore) S.A.L., Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Stryker Luxembourg Sarl, Stryker Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Mauritius Holding Ltd., Stryker Medical London LP, Stryker Medtech K.K., Stryker Medtech Limited, Stryker Mexico Holdings B.V., Stryker Mexico SA de CV, Stryker NV Operations Limited, Stryker Nederland BV, Stryker New Zealand Limited, Stryker Osteonics AG, Stryker Pacific Limited, Stryker Performance Solutions LLC, Stryker Polska Sp.z.o.o., Stryker Portugal - Produtos Medicos Unipessoal Lda., Stryker Professional Latin America S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Puerto Rico Limited, Stryker Romania SRL, Stryker Sage Inc., Stryker Sales Corporation, Stryker Servicios Administrativos S.de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Singapore Private Limited, Stryker South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Stryker Spine SAS, Stryker Spine Sarl, Stryker Sustainability Solutions Inc., Stryker Tibbi Cihazlan Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stryker Trauma GmbH, Stryker Turkish Holdings BV, Stryker UK Ltd, Stryker Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Vietnam Company Limited, Stryker do Brasil Ltda, Surpass Medical, Synergetics, TG SP Holdings Corp, TSO3 Corp, TSO3 Inc, Trauson, Trauson (China) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Trauson (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (BVI) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings Company Limited, VEXIM SA, Vexim, Waterloo Bedding Co., Wright Medical Group, ZipLine Medical Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ZipLine Medical Hong Kong Limited, ZipLine Medical Inc., and eTrauma.com.AirBoss of America Corp., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets rubber-based products for automotive, heavy commercial, construction and infrastructure, oil and gas, and defense industries in Canada and the United States. The company operates through three segments: Rubber Solutions, AirBoss Defense Group, and Engineered Products. The Rubber Solutions segment is involved in the development and manufacture of custom rubber compounds, calendered and extruded materials, and molded products for use in various applications and industries, including mining, transportation, industrial rubber products, military, automotive, conveyor belting, and oil and gas; and sources chemicals. The AirBoss Defense Group segment develops, manufactures, and sells chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive protective equipment and products for military, first response, and healthcare applications. The Engineered Products segment designs, engineers, manufactures, and sells rubber, synthetic rubber, and rubber-to-metal bonded products that are used to eliminate or control undesired vibration and noise. The company was formerly known as IATCO Industries Inc. and changed its name to AirBoss of America Corp. in April 1994. AirBoss of America Corp. is headquartered in Newmarket, Canada.

Read MoreManulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP II Pte. Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, ASPF II Management GmbH, ASPF III (Scots) L.P., ASSURANCE, AST Investment Services Inc., Adlerwerke CB Investment LLC, Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Habitat S.A., Administradora de Inversiones Previsionales SpA, Aoba Life Insurance Company, Asia Property Fund III GP S.a.r.l., Assurance IQ LLC, Assurance Intelligence LLC, BSC CP LP, Braeloch Holdings Inc., Braeloch Successor Corporation, Brazilian Capital Fund GP Limited, Broad Street Global Advisors LLC, Broome Street Holdings LLC, CB German Retail LLC, CLIS Co. Ltd., COLICO INC., Campus Drive LLC, Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Chadwick Boulevard Investment Holdings Co. LLC, Cibecue LLC, Coconino LLC, Colico II Inc., Columbus Drive Partners L.P., Commerce Street Holdings LLC, Commerce Street Investments LLC, Coolidge LLC, Coral Reef GP, Coral Reef L.P., Coral Reef Unit Trust, Cottage Street Investments LLC, Cottage Street Orbit Acquisition LLC, DHFL PRAMERICA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, DICKENS AVENUE HOLDINGS VI LLC, DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI (Ireland) L.P., DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI (US) L.P., Don Cesar Investor LLC, Dryden Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Dryden Finance II LLC, EVP II GP S.a r.l., EVP II Sweden Resi I GP S.a r.l., Edison Place Senior Note LLC, Essex LLC, EuroCore GP S.a r.l., European Value Partners GP S.a.r.l., Everbright PGIM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Flagstaff LLC, GA 1600 Commons LLC, GA 333 Hennepin Investor LLC, GA BV LLC, GA Bay Area GP LLC, GA Bay Area Investor LLC, GA Belden LLC, GA CLARENDON LLC, GA Cal Crossings LLC, GA Collins LLC, GA E. 22nd Street Apartments Holdings LLC, GA East 86 Street LLC, GA JHCII LLC, GA MENLO PARK INVESTOR LLC, GA Manor at Harbour Island LLC, GA Metro LLC, GA Mission LLC, GA TRITON INVESTOR LLC, GA W Paces LLC, GA/MDI 333 Hennepin Associates LLC, GIBRALTAR BSN HOLDINGS SDN BHD, GIBRALTAR INDIA SOLUTIONS LLP, Gateway Holdings II LLC, Gateway Holdings LLC, German Retail Income CP LP, Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad, Gibraltar International Insurance Services Company Inc., Gibraltar International Service LLC, Gibraltar Reinsurance Company Ltd., Gibraltar Universal Life Reinsurance Company, Glenealy International Limited, Global Portfolio Strategies Inc., Gold GP Limited, Gold II L.P., Gold L.P., Graham Resources Inc., Graham Royalty Ltd., Green Tree GP, Green Tree L.P., Greenlee LLC, Halsey Street Investments LLC, Hirakata LLC, IVP Fund GP LLC, Impact Investments Bridges UK S.a.r.l, Inter-Atlantic G Fund L.P., Inversiones Previsionales Chile SpA, Inversiones Previsionales Dos SpA, Ironbound Fund LLC, Jennison Associates LLC, Kyarra S.a r.l., Kyoei Annuity Home Co. Ltd., LINEUP LLC, Lake Street Partners IV L.P., MC GA COLLINS HOLDINGS LLC, MC GA COLLINS REALTY LLC, MC Insurance Agency Services LLC, Manor at Harbour Island LLC, Marble Canyon LLC, Maricopa LLC, Market Street Holdings IV LLC, Morenci LLC, Mulberry Street Holdings LLC, Mulberry Street Investment L.P., Mulberry Street Partners LLC, Mullin TBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services, National Family Assurance Group LLC, New Savanna, Orchard Street Acres Inc., PAI Bay Farm LLC, PAI Bayrock Groves LLC, PAI Belvidere Farms LLC, PAI Big Cypress Farm LLC, PAI Corcoran 640 Ranch LLC, PAI DeKalb Farm LLC, PAI Delano 1500 Ranches LLC, PAI Flicker Orchard LLC, PAI Good Hope Farm LLC, PAI Hawk Creek Ranch LLC, PAI Hills Valley Ranches LLC, PAI Holly Hill Groves LLC, PAI Hunt Farm LLC, PAI Jackson Bayou Farm LLC, PAI Lake Placid Groves LLC, PAI Wallula Gap Vineyard LLC, PCP V Cayman AIV GP L.P., PEREF II Co-Invest 1 GP S.a r.l., PEREF II GP S.a r.l., PEREF II PV S.r.l, PFI EM-Tech Fund I LLC, PG Business Service Co. Ltd, PG Collection Service Co. Ltd., PGA Asian Retail Limited, PGA European Limited, PGI Co. Ltd, PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd, PGIM (Hong Kong) Ltd., PGIM (Scots) Limited, PGIM (Shanghai) Company Ltd., PGIM (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PGIM AVP IV GP S.a r.l., PGIM Advisory (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PGIM Agricultural Investments GP LLC, PGIM Agricultural Investors LP, PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Fund L.P., PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Partners LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management (Feeder) VI LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management Fund VI L.P., PGIM European Financing Limited, PGIM European Services Limited, PGIM Financial Limited, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund II L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives GP LLC, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives II GP LLC, PGIM Foreign Investments Inc., PGIM Holding Company LLC, PGIM INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM INDIA TRUSTEES PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM Inc., PGIM International Financing Inc., PGIM Investments LLC, PGIM Japan Co. Ltd., PGIM Korea Inc., PGIM LTIF Berlin GP S.a r.l., PGIM LTIF Berlin MLP S.ar.l., PGIM LTIF GP S.a.r.l., PGIM Limited, PGIM Loan Originator Manager Limited, PGIM M Campus GP S.a r.l., PGIM Management Partner Limited, PGIM MetaProp Investor LP LLC, PGIM Netherlands B.V., PGIM Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Company Ltd, PGIM Private Capital (Ireland) Limited, PGIM Private Capital Limited, PGIM Private Placement Investors Inc., PGIM Private Placement Investors L.P., PGIM REF EUROPE SCSp, PGIM REF Europe GP S.a r.l., PGIM REF Europe Member LLC, PGIM REF Intermediary Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate (Japan) Ltd., PGIM Real Estate (UK) Limited, PGIM Real Estate CD S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Capital VII GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest L.P., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Co-Invest Holdings LLC, PGIM Real Estate Debt GmbH, PGIM Real Estate Finance Holding Company, PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC, PGIM Real Estate France SAS, PGIM Real Estate Germany AG, PGIM Real Estate Global Debt GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles S. de R.L. de C.V, PGIM Real Estate Italy S.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Loan Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate Luxembourg S.A., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C., PGIM Real Estate S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate U.S. Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management (Feeder) I LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management Fund I L.P., PGIM Strategic Financing LLC, PGIM Strategic Investments Inc., PGIM USPF VI Manager LLC, PGIM Warehouse Inc., PGLH of Delaware Inc., PIFM Holdco LLC, PIIC Limited, PIISC Holdings (UK) Limited, PIM KF Blocker Holdings LLC, PIM KF Blocker V Holdings LLC, PIM USPF V Manager LLC, PLA Administradora Industrial SRL, PLA Administradora LLC, PLA Administradora S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional II S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional S.de R.L. de C.V., PLA Co-Investor LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager I LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager II LLC, PLA Mexico Residential Manager I LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Limited Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Blue LP, PLA Retail Fund I LP, PLA Retail Fund I Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Red LP, PLA Retail Fund II Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LP, PLA Retail Fund II Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II U.S. Carry/Co-Invest LP, PLA Services Manager Mexico LLC, PLAI Limited, PMCF Holdings LLC, PMCF Properties LLC, PPPF General Partner LLP, PR GA SCP Apartments LLC, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP (SCOTS FEEDER) LLP, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP LLP, PRECO ACCOUNT III LLC, PRECO ACCOUNT PARTNERSHIP III LP, PRECO Account IV LLC, PRECO Account Partnership IV LP, PRECO III GP LLP, PREFG Hanwha Manager LLC, PREI Acquisition I Inc., PREI Acquisition II Inc., PREI Acquisition LLC, PREI HYDG LLC, PREI International Inc., PRIAC Property Acquisitions LLC, PRICOA Management Partner Limited, PRISA Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Pooled Manager LLC, PRISA III Fund GP LLC, PRISA III Fund PIM LLC, PRREF II Fund Manager LLC, PRU 3XSquare LLC, PRUCO LLC, PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL ENERGY PARTNERS MANAGEMENT (FEEDER) LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP MEMBER LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP REIT LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE 2 LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE LLC, PT PFI Mega Life Insurance, Passaic Fund LLC, Pine Tree GP, Pine Tree L.P., Platinum GP Limited, Platinum II L.P., Platinum L.P., Pramerica (Hong Kong) Holdings Limited, Pramerica (Luxembourg) CP GP S.a.r.l., Pramerica (Scots) CP GP LLP, Pramerica Business Consulting (Shanghai) Company Limited, Pramerica EVP CP LP, Pramerica Financial Asia Headquarters Pte. Ltd., Pramerica Financial Asia Limited, Pramerica Fixed Income Funds Management Limited, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Pramerica General Partner LLP, Pramerica Holdings Ltd, Pramerica Insurance Agency (China) Company Ltd., Pramerica PRECAP I GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP II GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP III GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP IV GP LLP, Pramerica Pan European Real Estate (Scots) LP, Pramerica Property Partners Fund (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital II (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital III (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Limited, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Netherlands) GP LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital VI (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica SGR S.p.A, Pramerica Systems Ireland Limited, Preco III (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pru 101 Wood LLC, Pru Alpha Partners I LLC, Pru Fixed Income Emerging Markets Partners I LLC, PruVen Capital Partners Fund I L.P., Pruco Assignment Corporation, Pruco Life Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, Pruco Securities LLC, Prudential 900 Aviation Boulevard LLC, Prudential Affordable Mortgage Company LLC, Prudential Agricultural Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Annuities Distributors Inc., Prudential Annuities Holding Company Inc., Prudential Annuities Inc., Prudential Annuities Information Services & Technology Corporation, Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Captive Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Universal Company, Prudential Bank & Trust FSB, Prudential Capital Energy Opportunity Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners Management Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Partners Management Fund IV L.P., Prudential Capital and Investment Services LLC, Prudential Chile II SpA, Prudential Chile SpA, Prudential Commercial Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Customer Solutions LLC, Prudential Equity Group LLC, Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, Prudential Fixed Income Global Liquidity Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Fixed Income U.S. Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Funding LLC, Prudential General Services of Japan Y.K., Prudential Gibraltar Agency Co. Ltd., Prudential Global Funding LLC, Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates LLC, Prudential IBH Holdco Inc., Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Debt LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Equity LLC, Prudential Industrial Properties LLC, Prudential Insurance Agency LLC, Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd., Prudential International Insurance Service Company L.L.C., Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, Prudential International Investments Company LLC, Prudential International Investments LLC, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, Prudential Japan Holdings LLC, Prudential Legacy Insurance Company of New Jersey, Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc., Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 1 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 2 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Capital Asset Holding Company LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC, Prudential Multifamily Mortgage LLC, Prudential Mutual Fund Services LLC, Prudential Newark Realty LLC, Prudential QOZ Investment Fund 1 LLC, Prudential Realty Securities Inc., Prudential Retirement Financial Services Holding LLC, Prudential Retirement Holdings LLC, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Prudential Securities Secured Financing Corporation, Prudential Securities Structured Assets Inc., Prudential Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., Prudential Seguros S.A., Prudential Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Prudential Structured Settlement Company, Prudential Systems Japan Limited, Prudential Term Reinsurance Company, Prudential Trust Co. Ltd., Prudential Trust Company, Prudential Universal Reinsurance Company, Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services LLC, Prudential do Brasil Seguros de Vida S.A., Prudential do Brasil Vida em Grupo S.A., Prudential/TMW Real Estate Group LLC, Pruservicos Participacoes Ltda., QMA JP EM All Cap Equity Partners LLC, QMA LLC, QMA Wadhwani LLP, Quartzsite LLC, Residential Services Corporation of America LLC, Rio CP LP, Rock European Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock Global Real Estate LLC, Rock Kensington Limited, Rock Marty GP S.a r.l., Rock Oxford S.a r.l., Rock UK Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock UK Real Estate II S.a.r.l., Rockstone Co. Ltd., Rosado Grande LLC, Ross Avenue Energy Fund Holdings LLC, Ross Avenue Minerals 2012 LLC, SCP Apartments LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERS VI GP LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERSHIP FUND VI GP LLC, SHP IV Carried Interest LP, SHP V Carried Interest L.P., SMP Holdings Inc., SVIIT Holdings Inc., Sanei Collection Service Co. Ltd. (Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service), Senior Housing Partners IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TF Proveedora S.C., TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Keynes Dynamic Beta Strategy (US) Fund GP LLC, The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Home Mortgage Company Inc., The Prudential Insurance Company of America, The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., The Prudential Real Estate Financial Services of America Inc., The WMF Group, Thurloe Commercial Guernsey Limited, Times Square Center Associates, USPF V - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Wadhwani Capital Limited, Waveland Avenue Holdings I LLC, Waveland Avenue Partners I (Ireland) L.P., Waveland Avenue Partners I (US) L.P., Wellness Services Ecossistema De Bem Estar Ltda., Wellness Services SRL, Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC.The following companies are subsidiares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.: 2235158 Alberta Limited, A.J. Amer Agency, AHC Digital LLC, AIX Limited, AJG Coal LLC, AJG Financial Services LLC, AJG Meadows LLC, AJG North America ULC, AJG RCF LLC, AJGRMS of Louisiana LLC, ARM RE Ltda., AVIATION INSURANCE SERVICES, AVRECO, Ace IRM Insurance Broking Group, Acumus Holdings Limited, Acumus Interco Limited, Acumus Ltd, Adams & Associates International, Adaptive Marketing LLC, Adco General Corporation, Advanced Benefit Advisors, Aequus Trade Credit, Affinity Marketing Group, Ahrold Fay Rosenberg, Aires Consulting Group, Alesco Risk Management Services Limited, Alize Limited, Allied Claims Administration Inc., Alternative Market Specialists, Altman & Cronin Benefit Consultants, American Freedom Carriers Inc., American Security Services Corp., American Wholesalers Underwriting Ltd, Andrew-Anthony Insurance Agency, Anthony Hodges Consulting Limited, Antrobus Investments Limited, AquaSurance, Argentis, Argentis Financial Group Limited, Argentis Financial Management Limited, Argus Benefits, Armstrong/Robitaille/Riegle, Artex (SAC) Limited, Artex Cedar Hill, Artex Corporate Services (Malta) Limited, Artex Corporate Services Limited, Artex Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Artex Holdings (Malta) Limited, Artex Insurance (Guernsey) PCC Limited, Artex Insurance (Tennessee) PCCIC Inc., Artex Insurance Brokers (Malta) PCC Limited, Artex Insurance ICC Limited, Artex Intermediaries Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Bermuda) Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Cayman) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Gibraltar) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Guernsey) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (International) Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Malta) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (UK) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions Inc., Arthur J Gallagher (Norway) Holdings AS, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AUS) Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Bermuda) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Illinois), Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Insurance Brokers of California Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher (Aus) Pty Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (Bermuda) Holding Partnership, Arthur J. Gallagher (Life Solutions) Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (U.S.) LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher (UK) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Asesoria S.A.C., Arthur J. Gallagher Australasia Holdings Pty Ltd., Arthur J. Gallagher Brokerage & Risk Management Services LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Broking (NZ) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Financial Services Professionals Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Group Quebec ULC, Arthur J. Gallagher Holdings (UK) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Latin America LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Management (Bermuda) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Real Estate Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services (Hawaii) Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services of Utah Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher School Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Service Company LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Services (UK) Ltd, Ashmore & Associates Insurance Agency, Atlantic Risk Management Corp., Atrex Insurance (Cayman) SPC Limited, Avantek Pty Ltd, Axe Insurance PCC Limited, BIS Insurance Services, Baker - Tillys employment benefits solutions, Ballard Benefit Works, Bankers Financial Benefits, Barmore Insurance Agency, Behnke & Co. Inc., Bellisle Pty Ltd, Belmont Associates Consultants, Belmont Insurance Holdings Limited, Belmont International, Belmont International Limited, Benefit Development Group, Benefit Management Group, BenefitLink Resource Group, Benefits Planning & Insurance Agency, Benefits Unlimited, Bennett & Shade Co., Bergvall Marine, Bergvall Marine A.S., Besselman & Little Agency, Big Savings Insurance Agency Inc., Blenheim Park Ltd, Blenheim Park Services Limited, Blue Holdings Pty Ltd, Blue Horizon Insurance Services, Blue Water Benefits, BluePeak Advisors, Blueleaf Consulting Pty Ltd., Bluewater Incorporated Cell Insurance Company, Bollinger Inc., Bollinger Insurance Services Inc., Bowen Miclette Britt & Merry of Arkansas Inc., Brendis & Brendis, Brim AB, Broker Benefit Services, Brokerage Professionals, Brown Hobbs & McMurray Insurance, Bultman/Bell Associates Inc., Burkwald & Associates, Burns-Fazzi Brock & Associates, Bushong Insurance Associates, C&B Consulting Group, CGM Gallagher Insruance Brokers (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited, CJM Solutions Inc., CMA Solutions LLC, Cairnstone Financial, California Insurance Center, Capital Bauer Insurance Agency, Capitol Benefits Group, Capsicum CRLA LLP, Capsicum Re Brasil Participacoes Ltda, Capsicum Re Latin America Corretora De Resseguros Ltda, Capsicum Reinsurance Brokers Bermuda Limited, Capsicum Reinsurance Brokers Miami Inc., Carefree Marketing Inc., Carpenter Cammack & Associates, Cashan & Co., Castle Insurance Associates, Centennial Insurance Agency, Charity First Insurance Services Inc., Charles Allen Agency, Charter Lakes Insurance Agency, Chris Schroeder Insurance, Christie-Phoenix, Cintran Claims Canada Limited, Classic Insurance Services, Cleaveland Insurance Group, Cohen & Lord Insurance Brokers, Cohn Financial Group, Coleman Group Holdings Limited, Coleman Holdings Limited, College and University Scholastic Excess Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Commercial Insurance Brokers, Complete Benefit Alliance, Complete Financial Balance, Complete Financial Balance Pty Ltd, Consolidated Casualty Specialties LLC, Construction Risk Solutions, Contego Underwriting Limited, Contego Underwriting Ltd, Continental Excess & Surplus, Convergence Risk Services Ltd, Copper Mountain Assurance Inc., Cornwall & Stevens Co., Corporate Benefit Advisors, Corporate Life Consultants, Countrywide Accident Assistance Limited, Coverdell & Company Inc., Coverdell Canada Corporation, Cowles and Connell, Craig M. Ferguson & Co., Crist Elliott Machette Insurance Services, Crombie Lockwood (NZ) Limited, Davis-Poston & Associates, Denman Consulting Services, Detlefs Johnson & Partners, DiBrina Group, Dickinson & Associates, Discount Development Services L.L.C., Discovery Benefit Solutions, Dodson-Bateman & Co., Donald P. Pipino Co. Ltd., E. S. Susanin Inc., EHE Holdings LLC, EHS Holdings Limited, Elantis Premium Funding (NZ) Limited, Elantis Premium Funding Limited, Elite Benefits Insurance Marketing Services, Employee Benefits Analysis Corp., Employee Benefits of The Carolinas, Encore Insurance & Bonding, Everett James, Evolution Risk Services Limited, Evolution Technology Services Limited, Evolution Underwriting Group, Evolution Underwriting Group Limited, Evolution Underwriting Limited, Excel Insurance Services, FYI Direct Canada Corporation, FYI Direct LLC, Farallone Pacific Insurance Services, Fenchurch Faris Limited, Fidelity Benefits & Insurance Services, Financial Profiles Inc., Finergy Solutions Pty Ltd, First Agency, First Iowa Insurance Agency, First Premium Inc., First Premium Insurance Group, Fish & Schulkamp, Fishermans Insurance Services, Foley Healthcare Limited, Fortress Financial Solutions Pty Ltd, Fortress Insurance LLC, Foundation Strategies, Fox Lawson & Associates, Franklin-Case Agency LLC, Fraser MacAndrew Ryan Limited, Friary Intermediate Limited, Fuller & O'Brien, G.S. Chapman & Associates Insurance Brokers, G.S. Levine Insurance Services, GBS (Australia) Holdings Pty Ltd, GBS Administrators Inc., GBS Insurance and Financial Services Inc., GBS Retirement Services Inc., GBS Specialty Markets LLC, GGB Finance 1 Limited, GGB Finance 2 Limited, GGB Finance 3 Limited, GGB Finance 4 Limited, GPL Assurance, GPL Assurance Inc., Gabor Insurance Services, Gale Smith & Co. Inc., Gallagher (Bermuda) Insurance Solutions Ltd., Gallagher - Grace/Mayer Insurance Agency, Gallagher Bassett Aires Inc., Gallagher Bassett Canada Inc., Gallagher Bassett Insurance Services Ltd., Gallagher Bassett International Ltd., Gallagher Bassett NZ Pty Ltd., Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. , Gallagher Bassett Services Pty Ltd., Gallagher Bassett Services Workers Compensation Victoria Pty Ltd., Gallagher Benefit Services (Canada) Group Inc., Gallagher Benefit Services (Holdings) Limited, Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., Gallagher Benefit Services Management Company Limited, Gallagher Benefit Services Pty Ltd, Gallagher Benefits Consulting Limited, Gallagher Bomford Couch Wilson, Gallagher Burgess, Gallagher Canada Acquisition Corporation, Gallagher Caribbean Group Limited, Gallagher Clean Energy LLC, Gallagher Communications Limited, Gallagher Community Clinic RPG LLC, Gallagher Consulting Ltda, Gallagher Corporate Services LLC, Gallagher Coyle, Gallagher CyberRisk, Gallagher Energy Risk Services Inc., Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC, Gallagher Holdings (UK) Limited, Gallagher Holdings Bermuda Company Limited, Gallagher Holdings Four (UK) Limited, Gallagher Holdings Three (UK) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (Barbados) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Kitts & Nevis) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Lucia) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Vincent) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers Jamaica Limited, Gallagher International Cash Management s.r.l., Gallagher International Holdings (US) Inc., Gallagher Investment Advisors LLC, Gallagher Inwest Group, Gallagher Koster, Gallagher Lambert Group, Gallagher Madison Risk & Insurance Services, Gallagher Mauritius Holdings, Gallagher Mississippi Brokerage LLC, Gallagher RE Colombia Ltda Corredores de Reaseguros SA, Gallagher Risk & Reward Limited, Gallagher Risk Group LLC, Gallagher Risk Placements Pty Ltd, Gallagher SKS, Gallagher Service Center LLP, Gallagher-Tarantino, Galtney Group, Game Day Insurance Inc., Gardner & White Corp., Gardner Marine Agency, Garza Long Group, Gatehouse Consulting Limited, Gault Armstrong Kemble Pty Ltd, Gault Armstrong SARL, Giles Group, Giles Holdings Limited, Giles Insurance Brokers, Gillis Ellis & Baker Inc., Goodman Insurance Agency, Grandy Pratt Co., Greenseed Alternative Mangaers Platform Ltd, Grossman & Associates, Group Benefits of Arkansas, Group Insurance Associates, Gruppo Marcucci, HLG Holdings Limited, HMG-PCMS Limited, HPF Investments LLC, HR Owen Insurance Services Limited, Hagan Newkirk Financial Services, Hagedorn & Company, Hardman & Howell Benefits, Harlequin Insurance PCC Limited, Hartstein Associates Inc., Healthcare Professionals Purchasing Group LLC, Healthcare Risk Solutions, Heath Lambert Group Ltd., Heath Lambert Limited, Heath Lambert Overseas Limited, Heiser Insurance Agency, Henderson Phillips Fine Arts Insurance, Herbruck Alder & Co., Heritage Insurance Brokers (CI) Limited, Hesse & Partner AG, Hesse Consulting, Hexagon ICC Limited, Hexagon Insurance PCC Limited, Hill Chesson & Woody, Hogan Insurance Services, Home & Travel Limited, Honour Point Limited, Horseshoe Corporate Services Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services (Cayman) Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services USA Inc., Horseshoe ILS Services UK Ltd, Horseshoe Insurance Advisors US LLC, Horseshoe Insurance Advisory Ltd., Horseshoe Insurance Services Holdings Ltd, Horseshoe Insurance Services Holdings US Inc., Horseshoe Management (Gibraltar) Limited, Horseshoe Management (Ireland) Ltd, Horseshoe Management Ltd., Horseshoe PCC Limited, Horseshoe Re Limited, Horseshoe Services (Cayman) Ltd, Horseshoe Services (Pty) Ltd, Horton Insurance Agency, Housing Authorities Services Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Human Resource Management Systems, I-Protect Underwriting Pty Ltd, IBIS Advisors, IBS Reinsurance Singapore Pte Ltd, ILS Fund Services Ltd., ISG International, ITI Solutions, Igloo Insurance PCC Limited, Independent Benefit Services, Independent Fiduciary Services, Ink Underwriting Agencies Limited, InsSync Group Pty Ltd, Inspire Underwriting Limited, Instrat Insurance Brokers, Instrat Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Instrat Integration Holdco Pty Ltd, Insurance Acquisitions Holdings Limited, Insurance Associates Inc., Insurance Dialogue Limited, Insurance Dialogue Ltd., Insurance Plans Agency, Insurance Plus Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Insurance Point, Insurance Risk Managers of Missouri Inc., Insure My Villa Limited, Insure Pty Ltd, Integrated Healthcare Strategies, InterNational Insurance Group, InterPacific Underwriting Agencies, Intermountain Financial Benefits, Interstate Insurance Underwriters, JPGAC LLC, James F. Reda & Associates, James R. Weir Insurance Agency, Jenkins and Associates, Joe E. Martin Inc., John P. Woods Co. Inc., Jones Brown, Jones Brown Group Inc., Jones Brown Insurance Solutions Inc., Joseph Distel, Joseph James & Associates Insurance Agency, Just Landlords Insurance Services Ltd, KDC Associates, KRW Insurance Agency, Kahl Insurance Services, Kaler Carney Liffler & Co. Inc., Kane Group - Insurance Management Operations, Kelly Financial, Kent Kent & Tingle and RBS, Keyser Benefits Corp., Kingspark Enterprises Pty Ltd, L&R Benefits, LSG Insurance Partners, Learn About Money Limited, Lewis & Associates Insurance Brokers, Leystone Insurance & Financial, Life Plans Unlimited, Lincoln Financial Management, Longfellow Financial, Lucas Fettes Limited, Lucas Fettes and Partners Limited, Lutgert Insurance, MA Underwriting Pty Ltd, MDM Insurance Associates, MG Advanced Coal Technologies-1 LLC, MGA Insurance Services, MRS Holdings Ltd., Madison Scott & Associates, Managed Healthcare Solutions, Mannequin Insurance PCC Limited, Marchetti Robertson & Brickell Insurance, Marine Insurance Service, Martin Gordon & Jones Inc., McDowall Associates Human Resource Consultants, McIntyre Risk Management, McLean Insurance Agency, McNeary, McPherson Benefits Group, McRory & Co., Mecacem Insurance SPC Ltd, MedInsights Inc., Melton Insurance Associates, Memberworks Canada LLC, Merit Insurance, Metcom Excess, Metzler Bros. Insurance, Meyers-Reynolds & Associates, Mid America Group, Midwest Surety Services, Mike Henry Insurance Brokers, Mike Henry Insurance Brokers Limited, Mike Henry Insurance Funding Limited, Miller Buettner & Parrott, Miller-Harrison Insurance Services, Milne Alexander Pty Ltd, Minvielle & Chastanet Insurance Brokers, Monument Insurance (NZ) Limited, Monument Llc, Monument Premium Funding Limited, Mortgage Insurance Agency, Murphy Consultants, Mutual Insurance Services, NationAir Aviation Insurance, National Administration Co., National Ethics Association, National Transportation Adjusters, Nelson/Monarch Insurance Services, Nicoud Insurance Services, NiiS/Apex Group Holdings, Nonprofit Insurance Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Noraxis Capital Corp, Nordic Forsakring & Riskhantering AB, North Alabama Insurance, Nourse Insurance Brokers, O'Gorman & Young, OAMPS (UK) Limited, OAMPS Gault Armstrong Pty Ltd, OAMPS Limited, OAMPS Special Risks Ltd, Offshore Market Placements Limited, Optimum Talent, Orb Financial Services, Orb Financial Services Limited, Osprey Insurance Brokers Limited, Oval Group, Oval Healthcare Limited, Oval Insurance Broking Limited, Oval Limited, Oval Management Services Limited, Oxygen Insurance Managers, P2 Group, PEN Insurance Management Advisors Ltd, PT IBS Insurance Broking Service, Pacific Insurance Agency, Palmer Atlantic Insurance, Palmer Atlantic Insurance Ltd, Palmer Atlantic Risk Services Ltd., Park Row Associates, Parkstar Enterprises Pty Ltd, Parmia Pty Ltd, PartnerSource, Pastel Holding (NZ) Company, Pastel Holdings Pty Limited, Pastel Purchaser (NZ) Limited, Pastel Purchaser Pty Limited, Pavey Group Holdings (UK) Limited, Pavey Group Holdings Limited, Pavey Group Limited, Pearson Dunn Insurance Inc., Pen Underwriting Canada Limited, Pen Underwriting Group Pty. Ltd., Pen Underwriting Limited, Pen Underwriting Pty Ltd, Persing Dyckman & Toynbee Inc., Personal Advice Services Pty Ltd, Petty Burton Associates, Pointer Insurance Agency, Portmore Insurance Brokers (Wilshire) Limited, Portmore Insurance Brokers Limited, Potter-Holden & Co., Powell Insurance Agency, Premier Insurance Services Inc., Premier Risk Services, Premium Finance Corporation, Preston-Patterson, ProSource Financial, Professional Agents Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Professional Claims Managers, Proinova AB, Proinova Agency AB, Pronto California Agency LLC, Pronto California General Agency LLC, Pronto Florida Claims LLC, Pronto Florida General Agency LLC, Pronto Franchise LLC, Pronto General Agency Ltd, Pronto General Agency Management LLC, Pronto Holdco Inc., Pronto Holding California LLC, Pronto Holding Florida LLC, Pronto Insurance Agency of Laredo Inc., Pronto Premium Finance LLC, Property & Commercial Ltd., Property Insurance Initatives Limited, Property and Commercial Limited, Protected Insurance Company, Protection Plan Association Inc., Protek Group Limited, Providium Consulting Group, Ptarmigan Underwriting Agency Limited, Ptarmigan Underwriting UK Limited, Purple Bridge Claims Management Limited, Purple Bridge Finance Limited, Purple Bridge Group Limited, Purple Bridge Investments Limited, Purple Bridge Online Services Limited, Purple Bridge Publishing Limited, Quantum Underwriting Solutions Limited, Quillco 226 Limited, Quillco 227 Limited, R. L. Youngdahl & Associates, R.G. Speno Inc., R.W. Scobie, RA Rossborough (Guernsey) Ltd., RA Rossborough (Insurance Brokers) Ltd, REGENCY Group inc., RGA Referencing Limited, RGA Underwriting Limited, RIL Administrators (Guernsey) Ltd., RJ Dutton Inc., RSM Insurance Services Limited, Reassurance Holdings Inc., Rebholz Insurance Agency, Reid Manson Ltd., Reimbursement Services, Rentguard Limited, Reward Management Limited, Reynolds & Rodar Insurance Group, Riley & Associates, Rio 587 Limited, Rio 588 Limited, Risk & Reward Group, Risk Management Partners Limited, Risk Placement Services Inc., Risk Planners, Risk Services (NW) Limited, Risk Services (NW) Ltd., Risk Solutions Group Limited, Robert A. Schneider Agency, Robert Keith & Associates, Roberts & Roberts Insurance Service, Robinson-Adams Insurance, Rossborough Healthcare International Ltd, Rossborough Insurance (IOM) Ltd., Rossborough Insurance Services Ltd. (Jersey), S. A. Freerks & Associates, SEG Insurance Ltd, SGB-NIA Insurance Brokers, SHILLING Ltd, SKANCO International, SMERI AB, SRS Underwriting Pty Ltd, Secure Enterprises Pty Ltd, Securitas Re, Sellers Group, Sentinel Indemnity LLC, Septagon Insurance PCC Limited, Shuford Insurance Agency, Sigma II Insurance Agency, Sinclair Billard and Weld Limited, Sobieski & Bradley, Solid Benefit Guidance, Spanjers Insurance Agency, Spataro Insurance Agency, Specialised Broking Associates, Specialty Risk, Stackhouse Poland, Stackhouse Poland Bidco Limited, Stackhouse Poland Group Limited, Stackhouse Poland Holdings Limited, Stackhouse Poland Midco Limited, Stackouse Poland Limited, Stanton Group, Stark Johnson & Stinson Inc., Steel Agency, Strata Solicitors Ltd, Strategic Health Plans Corp., Strathearn Insurance Brokers, Strathearn Insurance Brokers (Qld) Trading Trust, Strathern Insurance Group Pty Ltd, Strathern Integration Holdco Pty Ltd, Strathern Unit Trust, Strong Financial Resources, Summit Insurance Group, Sunday and Associates, Sunderland Insurance Services, Super Advice Corporate Services Pty Ltd, Taylor Benefits, Texas Insurance Agency, Texas Insurance Managers, The BeneTex Group, The Buchholz Planning, The Chapman Group, The Commonwealth Consulting Group, The Daniels Group Inc., The EHE Group LLC, The EHE Insurance Agency LLC, The Eagle Insurance Agency LLC, The Eriksen Group, The Forker Company, The Gleason Agency, The Great Lakes Agency, The HR Group, The Hawk Agency, The Human Capital Group, The Lance Group, The Levitt/Kristan Co., The MW Bagnall Company, The Old Greenwich Consulting Group, The Parks Johnson Agency, The Plus Companies Inc., The Presidio Group, The Producers Choice, The Rains Group, The Splinter Group, The Titan Group, The Treiber Group, The Woodsmall Companies Inc., Title & Covenant Brokers Ltd., Title Investments Limited, Tom Sherwin Insurance Agency, Total Reward Group, Total Rewards Group (Holdings) Limited, Towle Agency, Transwestern, Tri-State General Insurance Agency, Triad Insurance Agency, Triad USA, Tribeca Strategic Advisors, Trinder & Norwood, Trip Mate, Trissel Graham & Toole, Tropp & Co., Tudor Risk Services, Tyloma Holdings Limited, Uni-Care Inc., Unison Inc., Universico Group, Unoccupied Direct Limited, V2V Holdings LLC, VEBA Service Group, Vasek Insurance Services Limited, Velo ACU LLC, Velo Holdings Inc., Verbag AG., Vertrue LLC, Victory Insurance Agency, Vincent L. Braband Insurance, Vital Benefits, Voluntary Benefits Solutions, W. E. Kingsley Co. Inc., WM. W. George & Associates, Walker Taylor Agency, Welling Associates, Wesfarmers Insurance - Insurance Brokerage Operations, Western Benefit Solutions, White & Company Insurance, Whitehaven Insurance Group, William Gallagher Associates Insurance Brokers, William H. Connolly & Co., Williams Insurance Agency Inc., Williams-Manny Insurance Group, Winn & Company Insurance Brokers, Wischmeyer Benefit Partners, Woodbrook Underwriting Agencies, Woods & Grooms, WorkCare Northwest, Worksite Communications, Y. S. Liedman & Associates, YOA Capsicum Reinsurance Broker Limited, Zenor Limited, Zuber Insurance Agency, and e3 Financial.Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington on April 19, 2018. Manafort is asking that his upcoming money laundering and conspiracy trial be moved to Virginia. (Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)Bunzl plc operates as a distribution and services company in the North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers food packaging, films, labels, counter-service packaging, foodservice disposables, take-out food packaging, first aid products, point of purchase displays, stationery, bags, and cleaning and hygiene supplies to grocery stores, supermarkets, retail chains, convenience stores, food wholesalers, ethnic grocers, and organic food outlets. It also provides food packaging, napkins, disposable tableware, food service disposables, guest amenities, light and heavy catering equipment, cleaning and hygiene products, and safety items to hotels, restaurants, caterers, the leisure sector, and food processors and packers; and footwear, gloves, safety helmets, workwear, harness equipment, tools, safety signs, traffic management, and ancillary site equipment, as well as ear, eye, respiratory, and face protection products to customers in the industrial and construction markets. In addition, the company offers cleaning systems, floorcare items, hand cleansing products, hygiene paper, janitorial products, cleaning machines, mops, polishes, and protective clothing and washroom chemicals to facilities management companies, contract cleaners, and other industrial and healthcare customers; and counter service packaging, point of purchase display items, stationery, and cleaning and hygiene products to department stores, boutiques, office supply companies, retail chains, and home improvement chains. Further, it provides gloves, aprons, bandages, facemasks, gowns, headwear, mattress covers, overshoes, procedure packs, tapes, wipes, incontinence products, and swabs to the healthcare sector, including hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, and doctors' surgeries and clinics; and various products to government and education establishments. Bunzl plc was founded in 1854 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreCountrywide plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential estate agency and property services in the United Kingdom. It operates through Sales and Lettings, Financial Services, and Business to Business (B2B) segments. The company offers surveying services, including valuation panel management services, residential valuations, and surveys for mortgage lenders; provides corporate, emergency, commercial, and social relocation services; estate, leasehold and block management services; and sells residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural properties, as well as land through public auction. It also provides integrated property services; conveyancing services, such as freehold and leasehold, remortgage, and separate legal representation; and residential property asset management services. In addition, the company is involved in the residential development and investment activities; and provision of single mortgage brokerage services, as well as home and personal insurance. It serves residential and commercial property markets. Countrywide plc was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Milton Keynes, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Piton Paints Limited, Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel Unitary Enterprise, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.China Telecom Corporation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides wireline and mobile telecommunications services primarily in the People's Republic of China. It offers wireline voice services, including local wireline telephone services and long distance wireline services; CDMA mobile voice services, such as local calls, domestic and international long distance calls, intra-provincial roaming, and inter-provincial roaming and international roaming; wireline Internet access services comprising dial-up and broadband services; wireless Internet access services; and wireline, Internet, and mobile value-added services. The company also provides Best Tone information services; and information technology-based integrated solutions, such as system integration and consulting, outsourcing, special advisory, information application, knowledge, and software development services. In addition, it offers managed data services that include digital data network, frame relay, and asynchronous transfer mode services for government agencies, large corporations, and institutions; and leased line services, as well as sells, repairs, and maintains customer-end equipment. Further, the company provides international telecommunications services, including network, Internet access and transit, Internet data center, and mobile virtual network services in various countries, including the Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, South America, and North America; and music production and related information, instant messenger, finance leasing, capital and financial management, and e-commerce services, as well as sells telecommunications terminals. As of December 31, 2019, it had approximately 336 million mobile subscribers; 153 million wireline broadband subscribers; and 111 million access lines in service. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is based in Wanchai, Hong Kong. China Telecom Corporation Limited is a subsidiary of China Telecommunications Corporation.

Read MorePresident Donald Trump speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Oct. 11, 2017, at the White House. After the Trump administration agreed to a new trade agreement with Mexico, U.S. officials are conducting negotiations with Canada. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)National Bank of Canada engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, US Specialty Finance and International (USSF&I), and Other. The Personal and Commercial segment involves in banking, financing, and investing services offered to individuals and businesses as well as insurance operations. The Wealth Management segment focuses on the investment solutions, trust and lending services, and other wealth management solutions offered through internal and third-party distribution networks. The Financial Markets segment includes banking and investment banking services and financial solutions for large and mid-size corporations, public sector organizations, and institutional investors. The USSF&I segment comprises specialty finance expertise activities of subsidiary ABA Bank, which offers financial products and services to individuals and businesses; and activities of targeted investments in certain emerging markets. The Other segment encompasses treasury activities such as asset and liability management, liquidity management and funding operations, certain no

Read MoreIndustria de Diseno Textil SA, known as Inditex SA, is a Spain-based company primarily engaged in the textile industry. The Company's activities include the design, confection, manufacturing, distribution and retail of men, women and children apparel, footwear and fashion accessories, as well as home furnishings and household textile products. The Company's business is divided into three segments: Zara, which provides various fashion and home items under the Zara brand name; Bershka, offering clothes under the Bershka brand name, which aims at teenagers, and Other, which retails apparel under Stradivarius, Oysho, Pull&Bear and Massimo Dutti brand names, among others. The Company operates worldwide through numerous subsidiaries. It is controlled by Pontegadea Inversiones SL.

Read MoreInvesco Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund is a close-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Invesco Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Invesco Advisers, Inc., Invesco Asset Management Deutschland GmbH, Invesco Asset Management Limited, Invesco Asset Management (Japan) Limited, Invesco Hong Kong Limited, Invesco Senior Secured Management, Inc., and Invesco Canada Ltd. It invests in the fixed income markets across the globe with a focus on the United States. The fund invests in securities of companies that operate across diversified sectors. It invests in fixed income securities such as senior secured floating rate loans, fixed rate loans, and collateralized debt. The fund employs fundamental analysis with a bottom-up security selection process to create its portfolio. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index. It was formerly known as Invesco Van Kampen Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund. Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund was formed on June 26, 2007 and is domiciled in the United States.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.He's not the only person Trump has considered for the role. In the summer and fall of 2017, Trump asked then-White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter about his interest in the counsel position. Porter, who later left the White House amid domestic abuse allegations, told the president he didn't think it was a good fit and he liked the policy work he was doing, according to a former White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.The following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited.The following companies are subsidiares of The Allstate: AIMCO Private Fund I Holding LLC, AIMCO Private Fund I LLC, AIMCO Private Fund II LLC, ALIC Reinsurance Company, ALINV Mosaic LLC, ANIHI Newco LLC, AP Real Estate LLC, AP Riverway Plaza LLC, AP Timber LLC, Allstate Assignment Company, Allstate Assurance Company, Allstate County Mutual Insurance Company, Allstate Digital Ventures LLC, Allstate Distributors L.L.C., Allstate Enterprises LLC, Allstate Exchange Services LLC, Allstate Finance Company Agency Loans LLC, Allstate Finance Company LLC, Allstate Financial Advisors LLC, Allstate Financial Corporation, Allstate Financial Insurance Holdings Corporation, Allstate Financial LLC, Allstate Financial Services LLC (1), Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate Global Holdings Limited, Allstate Indemnity Company, Allstate Insurance Company, Allstate Insurance Company of Canada, Allstate Insurance Holdings LLC, Allstate International Assignments Ltd., Allstate International Holdings Inc., Allstate Investment Management Company, Allstate Investments LLC, Allstate Life Insurance Company (2), Allstate Life Insurance Company of Canada, Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York, Allstate Motor Club Inc., Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company, Allstate New Jersey Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate Non-Insurance Holdings Inc., Allstate North American Insurance Company, Allstate Northbrook Indemnity Company, Allstate Northern Ireland Limited, Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate Settlement Corporation, Allstate Short Term Pool LLC, Allstate Solutions Private Limited, Allstate Texas Lloyds, Allstate Texas Lloyds Inc., Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Company, American Heritage Life Insurance Company, American Heritage Service Company, Answer Financial Inc., Answer Marketplace LLC, Arity 875 LLC, Arity International Limited, Arity LLC, Arity Services LLC, CE Care Plan Corp, Castle Key Indemnity Company, Castle Key Insurance Company, Complete Product Care Corp, Current Creek Investments LLC, E.R.J. Insurance Group Inc. (3), Encompass Floridian Indemnity Company, Encompass Floridian Insurance Company, Encompass Home and Auto Insurance Company, Encompass Indemnity Company, Encompass Independent Insurance Company, Encompass Insurance Company, Encompass Insurance Company of America, Encompass Insurance Company of Massachusetts, Encompass Insurance Company of New Jersey, Encompass Insurance Holdings LLC, Encompass Property and Casualty Company, Encompass Property and Casualty Insurance Company of New Jersey, Esurance Holdings Inc., Esurance Insurance Company, Esurance Insurance Company of Canada, Esurance Insurance Company of New Jersey, Esurance Insurance Services Company of Canada, Esurance Insurance Services Inc. (4), Esurance Property and Casualty Insurance Company, First Colonial Insurance Company, Identity Protection Strategic Solutions LLC, InfoArmor Aggra Inc., InfoArmor Inc., Insurance Answer Center LLC (5), Intramerica Life Insurance Company, Ivantage Insurance Brokers Inc., Ivantage Select Agency Inc., Kennett Capital Inc., NBInv AF1 LLC, NBInv AF2 LLC, NBInv AF3 LLC, NBInv AF4 LLC, NBInv AF5 LLC, NBInv AF6 LLC, NBInv AP1 LLC, NBInv AP2 LLC, NBInv AP3 LLC, NBInv AP4 LLC, NBInv AP5 LLC, NBInv AP6 LLC, NBInv AP7 LLC, NBInv AP8 LLC, NBInv APAF1 LLC, NBInv Riverside Cars1 LLC, NBInv Riverside Management LLC, North Light Specialty Insurance Company, Northeast Agencies Inc. (6), Pablo Creek Services Inc., Pafco Insurance Company, Pembridge Insurance Company, PlumChoice Business Services Inc., PlumChoice Inc., Protection Plan Group Inc., Right Answer Insurance Agency LLC, Road Bay Investments LLC, ST Product Care Corp, Signature Agency Inc., Signature Motor Club Inc., Signature Motor Club of California Inc., Signature Nationwide Auto Club of California Inc., Signatures Nationwide Auto Club Inc., SquareTrade Australia Pty Ltd, SquareTrade Canada Inc., SquareTrade Europe Limited, SquareTrade Holding Company Inc., SquareTrade Inc. (7), SquareTrade Insurance Services Inc., SquareTrade Limited, SquareTrade Protection Solutions Inc., SquareTradeGo Inc., Tech-Cor LLC, and West Plaza RE Holdings LLC.The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, 2nd Road Pty Ltd., ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Ltd, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Innovation Singapore Holdings Pte, ?What If! Limited, ?What If! Shanghai Co. Ltd, ?What If! USA LLC, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD Dialeto Agencia de Publicidade SA, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Beijing) Mobile Technology Co Ltd, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co Ltd, Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (South Africa) Pty Limited, Accenture (UK) Ltd, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Azerbaijan Ltd, Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BV, 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 CAS GmbH, Accenture Canada Holdings Inc., Accenture Capital DAC, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd., Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company 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 SAS, Accenture Customer Services Limited, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Delivery Poland sp. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital France Holdings SA, 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 (Gibraltar) III Ltd, Accenture Finance GmbH, Accenture Finance GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II GmbH, Accenture Finance II GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II Ltd, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services Srl, Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Ghana Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Ltd., Accenture Global Services Ltd, Accenture Global Solutions Ltd, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services Ltd, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc., Accenture Holding GmbH, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holding GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SAS, Accenture Holdings plc, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazylym Cozumleri Limited irketi), Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazlm Cozumleri Limited Sirketi), Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture Insurance Services SAS, Accenture Insurance Services SpA, Accenture International BV, Accenture International Capital SCA, Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture International Sarl, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea BV, Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Managed Services SpA, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Middle East B.V, Accenture Middle East BV, Accenture Minority I BV, Accenture Minority III Ltd, Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi (Pty) Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Newco LLC, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations Sp. z o.o., Accenture Outsourcing SRL, Accenture Outsourcing Services, Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations BV, Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru S.R.L, Accenture Peru S.R.L., Accenture Post Trade Processing SAS, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process Ltd, Accenture Product Lifecycle Services, Accenture Properties, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture S.A., Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture SAS, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sendirian Berhad, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Ltd, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.r.l., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services Sp. z o.o., Accenture Services Sp. z.o.o., Accenture Services and Technology Srl, Accenture Services fur Kreditinstitute GmbH, Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Servicos Administrativos Ltda, Accenture Servicos de Suporte de Negocios Ltda, Accenture Solutions Co Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Sp. z o.o., Accenture Sp. z.o.o., Accenture SpA, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc., Accenture Sub Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag KFT, Accenture Technologia, Accenture Technologia Consultoria e Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Technology Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas, 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 SAS, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn. Bhd., Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures BV, Accenture Technology Ventures S.P.R.L., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co., Accenture Vietnam Co. LTD, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Limitada, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Customer Insight Limited, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Agave Consultants Limited, Agilex Technologies Inc., Allen International, Allen International Consulting Group Ltd, Alnova Technologies Corporation S.L., AlphaBeta Advisors, Altima, Altima Asia Ltd., Altima SAS, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Appaloosa Technology SAS, Arca, Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Avanade, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade (Thailand) Co Ltd, Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Denmark ApS, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Ltd, Avanade Europe Services Ltd, Avanade Federal Services LLC, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SAS, Avanade GZ Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd. (SH), Avanade Guangzhou, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy SRL, Avanade KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Netherlands BV, Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland Sp. z o.o., Avanade Poland Sp. z.o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain SL, Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Ltd, Avanade do Brasil Limitada, Avanade Osterreich GmbH, AvantBiz Consulting Limited, Avenai, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Benext, Bionic, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Boomerang Pharmaceuticals Communications Ireland Limited, Bow & Arrow, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brand Learning LLC, Brand Learning Ltd, Brand Learning Partners Limited, Brand Learning Pte Limited, Bridge Energy Group LLC, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CadenceQuest Inc., Capable Marketer Limited, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc., Certus Solutions Consulting Services Ltd, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cimation UK Limited, Cirruseo, Cirruseo SAS, Clarity Insights, Clearhead, Clearhead Group, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas (SN) (PTE.) Limited, Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Ltd., Cloud Talent Limited, Cloudsherpas, Cloudsherpas Inc., Cloudworks, Codagenic Pty. Ltd., Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda., Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda., Context Information Security, Coritel S.A., Corliant Inc., CreativeDrive, CustomerWorks Europe SL, Cutting Edge Solutions Ltd, D5 Global Holdings LLC, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., DMA Solutions Limited, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (Australia) PTY LTD, DayNine Consulting (Deutschland) GmbH, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting France SAS, DayNine Consulting Japan K.K., DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings, Declarative Holdings LLC, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digiplug SAS, Digital Consulting & Software Services LLC, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Ltd., Duck Creek Technologies, Duck Creek Technologies LLC, Deja Vu Security LLC, ESR Labs, Elcurator SAS, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting L.P., End-to-End Analytics, Energuia Web, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Ltd., Energy Quote Private Ltd., EnergyQuote JHA, EnergyQuote JHA Ltd., EnergyQuote Trading Ltd., Enimbos, Enkitec, 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, Enterprise System Partners PR LLC, Enterprise System Partners S.A.S., Entropia, Epylon, Ethica Consulting Group, Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Exton Consulting, Fairway Technologies Inc, Fairway Technologies LLC, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, First Annapolis International, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Focus Group Europe Limited, Formicary, Formicary Holdings Limited, Formicary Limited, FusionX, FutureMove Automotive, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, Genfour Limited, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gestion Altima Canada Inc., Gevity, Global Public Firm S.L., GlobalView SAS, GoodFilm GmbH Filmproduktion Stuttgart, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Hytracc Consulting UK Limited, Hytracc Holding AS, I-Faber S.p.A., IBB Consulting, IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INCAD, INSITUM, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Imagine Broadband (USA) Ltd, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Industrie&Co, Infoman AG, Infoman Schweiz AG, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Infusion Development Inc., Infusion Development UK Limited, InfusionDev LLC, Innoveer Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria Brasil LTDA, Insitum Consultoria Colombia SAS, Insitum Consultoria Europa SL, Insitum Consultoria Peru SAC, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., Intrepid, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Advertisement (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inventor Technology Limited, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, Javelin Group (Bulgaria) EOOD, Javelin Group Limited (UK), Javelin Group SASU, K Comms Group Limited, KCS.net AG, KCS.net AG West, KCS.net Deutschland GmbH, KCS.net Holding AG, KCS.net Osterreich GmbH, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Ltd, Kogentix Singapore Pte. Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kunstmaan NV, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon UKI, Kurt Salmon UKI Ltd., Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LabAnswer, LabAnswer Government, LemonXL Limited, Logistics Market Place Limited (UK), Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Corporation, Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte. Ltd., Mackevision UK Ltd, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd., Maihiro, Matter, Matter Llc, Maud Corp Pty Limited, Maxamine International, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing Corporation, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mindtribe Product Engineering LLC, MobGen, MobGen Technology S.L, Moonrise NV, Mortgage Cadence, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, N3 LLC, NBS Marketing Inc., NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile, Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Chile SpA, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda., New Energy Aborda, New Energy Associates Ltd, New Energy Group, New Energy S.r.l., NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage China Ltd., NewsPage Pte Ltd, Nice Agency Limited, Northstream, Northstream AB, Northstream Holding AB, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology LTDA, Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Octo Technology SPRL, Octoman SAS, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Openmind, Openminded, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium Consulting Ltd, Orbium GmbH, Orbium Holding AG, Orbium Inc., Orbium International AG, Orbium International sp. z o.o., Orbium Licences AG, Orbium Limited, Orbium Pte. Ltd., Orbium Pty Ltd, Orbium Services sp. z o.o., Orbium Sarl, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PCO Innovation Canada Inc., PCO Innovation EURL, PIXO PUNCH Limited, PLM Systems S.r.l, POC Holdings, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, Pach Invest SARL, Pach Invest SAS, PacificLink Group, PacificLink iMedia Ltd., Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald Inc., Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Partners Technology Mexico Holdings BV, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production K/S, Perseroan Terbatas. Accenture, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Ltd, Pragsis Technologies S.L, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Ltd, Procurian Germany GmbH, Procurian Inc., Procurian International I LLC, Procurian International II LLC, Procurian LLC, Procurian Singapore Pte. Ltd., Procurian Switzerland GmbH, Procurian USA LLC, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co Ltd, Radiant Services, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Limited, Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (Asia) Pte Ltd, Redcore (India) Private Limited (India), Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Renacentis IT Services, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Rothco, Rothco Holdings Designated Activity Company, Rothco Unlimited Company, S.C. EnergyQuote S.r.l., S3 TV Technology Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SEC Servizi, SEC Servizi S.p.A., SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Sagacious Consultants LLC, Salt Solutions, Sanchez Capital Services Pvt Ltd, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Airline Planning Group, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace Asia (Hong Kong) Limited, Seabury Aviation Consulting LLC, Seabury Cargo Advisory B.V., Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Human Capital LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Seabury Structured Finance LLC, Search Technologies BPO, Search Technologies BPO Inc., Search Technologies GmbH, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LATAM, Search Technologies LATAM S.A., Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Sente Partners LLC, Sentelis, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Shackleton, Shackleton Barcelona S.L., Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton Madrid S.L., Shackleton S.A., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., Silveo, Simian Pty Limited, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Commerce GmbH, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., SinnerSchrader Swipe GmbH, Sinnerschrader, Sistemes Consulting S.L., Solutions IQ, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Storm Digital, Storm Digital B.V., Structure Consulting Group, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Systor AG, TQuila Limited (UK), Tadata Creative Unlimited Company, Tara Insurance DAC, Tara Risk DAC, TargetST8, TargetST8 Consulting LLC, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica Ltd., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Limited, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Total Logistics Supply Chain Consultants Limited, Tquila, Trivadis AG, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Verax Solutions, Verax Solutions Corporation, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong, Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd., Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, Weblinc Pty Ltd, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wire Stone Sarl, Wolox, Workforce Insight Inc, Yesler, Zag, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines, Zenta Global Philippines Inc., Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc., 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, and solid-serVision.com GmbH.The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.30%. The Bank of New York Mellon does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 30.22% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history.PetroChina Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in a range of petroleum related products, services, and activities in Mainland China and internationally. It operates through Exploration and Production, Refining and Chemicals, Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipeline segments. The Exploration and Production segment engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. The Refining and Chemicals segment refines crude oil and petroleum products; and produces and markets primary petrochemical products, derivative petrochemical products, and other chemical products. The Marketing segment is involved in marketing of refined products and trading business. The Natural Gas and Pipeline segment engages in the transmission of natural gas, crude oil, and refined products; and sale of natural gas. As of December 31, 2020, the company had a total length of 31,151 km, including 22,555 km of natural gas pipelines, 7,190 km of crude oil pipelines, and 1,406 km of refined product pipelines. The company is also involved in the exploration, development, and production of oil sands and coalbed methane; trading of crude oil and petrochemical products; storage, chemical engineering, storage facilities, service station, and transportation facilities and related businesses; and production and sales of basic and derivative chemical, and other chemical products. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China. PetroChina Company Limited is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Read More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 in 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 farm operations 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.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan.The Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 4.24%. SO has a dividend yield higher than 75% of all dividend-paying stocks, making it a leading dividend payer. The Southern has been increasing its dividend for 20 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio of The Southern is 81.23%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on earnings estimates, The Southern will have a dividend payout ratio of 74.37% next year. This indicates that The Southern will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Southern's dividend history.The following companies are subsidiares of The Travelers Companies: 10762962 Canada Inc., 350 Market Street LLC, 8527512 Canada Inc., Aetna Life and Casualty Co, American Equity Insurance Company, American Equity Specialty Insurance Company, Aprilgrange Limited, Arch Street North LLC, Auto Hartford Investments LLC, Bayhill Restaurant II Associates, Camperdown Corporation, Constitution State Services LLC, Discover Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Discover Specialty Insurance Company, F&G UK Underwriters Limited, Farmington Casualty Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters Inc., First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Company, Gulf Underwriters Insurance Company, IHP Capital Partners Fund VIII L.P., Northbrook Holdings Inc., Northfield Insurance Company, Northland Casualty Company, Northland Insurance Company, Phoenix UK Investments LLC, SPC Insurance Agency Inc., Select Insurance Company, Simply Business Holdings Inc., Simply Business Inc., St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, St. Paul Guardian Insurance Company, St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, St. Paul Protective Insurance Company, St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company, Standard Fire Properties LLC, Standard Fire UK Investments LLC, TCI Global Services Inc., TPC Investments Inc., TPC U.K. Investments LLC, The Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford Connecticut, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, The Family Business Institute LLC, The Phoenix Insurance Company, The St. Paul Companies Inc., The Standard Fire Insurance Company, The Travelers Casualty Company, The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company of America, The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Company, TravCo Insurance Company, Travelers (Bermuda) Limited, Travelers Brazil Acquisition LLC, Travelers Brazil Holding LLC, Travelers Casualty Company of Connecticut, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, Travelers Casualty UK Investments LLC, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of Europe Limited, Travelers Commercial Casualty Company, Travelers Commercial Insurance Company, Travelers Constitution State Insurance Company, Travelers Distribution Alliance Inc., Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company, Travelers Global Inc., Travelers Indemnity U.K. Investments LLC, Travelers Insurance Company Limited, Travelers Insurance Company of Canada, Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company, Travelers Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company, Travelers London Limited, Travelers MGA Inc., Travelers Management Limited, Travelers Marine LLC, Travelers Participacoes em Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Personal Insurance Company, Travelers Personal Security Insurance Company, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, Travelers Property Casualty Corp., Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Company, Travelers Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Syndicate Management Limited, Travelers Texas MGA Inc., Travelers Underwriting Agency Limited, Ultramar Travel Management, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Xbridge Limited, Zensurance Brokers Inc., and Zensurance Inc..In the summer our family eats most of our dinners on the deck which is conveniently located off our kitchen. Well convenient for most of us. Not for Kyle. Once I pointed out that modern architects got their inspiration for the sliding glass door from the Japanese shoji, Kyle stopped using our sliding door. You know, it having been appropriated and all.Wall Street analysts have given Enel Generacion Chile a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Enel Generacion Chile wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.To us, trade is an integral component of the free-market system. The more global the U.S. economy is, the more customers there will be for products made or grown in the Midwest. The inverse is also advantageous: The more foreign goods entering the U.S., the better the selection for American consumers. Another trade benefit: Increased competition pushes American companies to improve their operations. Otherwise, they will fail.This is the second part of a four-part series. Part one was posted on August 28.

The next stage in the crisis of Stalinism erupted in the context of the deep economic and political crisis of imperialism that marked the 1960s. Throughout the 1960s and until about 1975, the major imperialist countries were rocked by major strikes, culminating in the general strike of French workers in May 1968, the biggest such strike in Europe since the end of the war and the most significant revolutionary situation in decades. The US, the center of world imperialism, was the scene of mass struggles against social inequality and for equal rights for the African-American population and a growing movement against the criminal war of aggression in Vietnam.

In the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the nationalist program of the Stalinist bureaucracy increasingly produced economic crises, food shortages and discontent within the working class. National and economic tensions in Eastern Europe had been rising throughout the 1960s, providing the basis for splits and cracks within the national bureaucracies and growing infighting between the different Warsaw Pact states, virtually all of which had unresolved ethnic and border disputes, and the USSR.

The response of the Stalinist bureaucracy to its growing crisis was a combination of repression (such as the brutal crushing of workers in Novocherkassk in 1962), limited concessions to demands for freedom of speech, the conscious promotion of nationalism and racism, and steps toward the reintroduction of capitalist relations in the economy. The latter included economic experiments proposed by Liberman under Nikita Khrushchevs thaw in the Soviet Union, and reforms proposed by Ota Sik in Czechoslovakia, which provided for a decentralization of the economy, greater autonomy for enterprises, a recalculation of the pricing and wage systems, and the introduction of commodity money relations.

It is under these conditions that the Prague Spring, which shared many of the dynamics of perestroika in the Soviet Union some 17 years later, was initiated by the KSC in 1968. This was an attempt to appease growing discontent within both the intelligentsia and working class, and simultaneously control this development and subordinate it to the interests of the bureaucracy.

The Prague Spring did not come out of the blue. Already in 1962-1963, travel restrictions had been considerably softened, allowing tens of thousands of people from Czechoslovakia to visit capitalist states in Western Europe, often through academic exchange programs, while thousands of tourists from the West flocked to Czechoslovakia. In 1964, Ota Sik was named the head of a government commission for economic reforms.

The first signs of the seething social and political discontent emerged, as is often the case, within the intelligentsia. Much like the temporary flourishing of Soviet cinema under the thaw, the Czechoslovak New Wave in cinema made use of the new political liberties (and funding from the West) to advance social, cultural and political criticisms of the status quo.

In 1963, the major German-Czech writer Franz Kafka was officially rehabilitated (his writings had earlier been banned), and in June 1967, the Fourth Congress of the Writers Union openly attacked the party and demanded far-reaching reforms. While sections of the intelligentsia were advancing left-wing criticism of the bureaucracy, there were also strong nationalist tendencies, both among Czech and Slovak intellectuals, which could relatively easily be exploited by the bureaucracy.

The champion of sections of the bureaucracy most aggressively pushing for reforms in anticipation of working class struggles was Alexander Dubcek. He replaced Antonin Novotny, who had headed the KSC since 1953, in January 1968. Dubcek had joined the KSC during the war and steadily rose in its ranks as the old leadership and thousands of workers were purged during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In the 1960s, Dubcek played a prominent role in the growing inner-bureaucratic struggles. As head of the Slovak party, he was the main advocate of political and economic reforms in Slovakia, which were combined with far-reaching concessions to Slovak nationalism. His appointment as party secretary was part of an attempt in both Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union to appease the growing demands for more Slovak autonomy within a federalized state.

Throughout the first months of 1968, Dubceks push for reforms remained relatively moderate. However, on April 1, 1968, the Czechoslovak Politburo under Dubcek approved the so-called Action Program. The Action Program made significant concessions to demands for political liberties: It promised freedom of speech and movement, including the right to travel to Western countries, freedom of debate and association, and an end to arbitrary arrests. It encouraged a virtual explosion of political, charity and religious associations and groups that immediately sprang up all over the country.

On an economic level, the Action Program envisioned reforms along the lines of those proposed by Ota Sik, with greater autonomy granted to individual enterprises and a decentralization of the economy as a whole. The Action Program, furthermore, argued for equal economic relations with the Soviet Union and demanded the withdrawal of Soviet economic advisors.

In an important concession to rising Slovak nationalist sentiment, the Action Program also proposed the federalization of Czechoslovakia, with equal rights and representation for Slovakia and the Czech lands. Finally, the program called for the recognition of the State of Israel and a cut in arms deliveries to Egypt and Nigeria. The Action Program thus combined the promise of greater political liberty with economic and foreign policy proposals that signified steps toward the restoration of capitalism and better relations with imperialism.

The ideology of socialism with a human face, advanced by Dubcek and theoreticians of Czechoslovak Stalinism such as Radovan Richta, was a fraud. From the standpoint of the Czechoslovak bureaucracy, it was a variation of socialism in one country. It dressed up as humanist a program that essentially pushed for pro-capitalist reforms and greater independence from the Soviet bureaucracy under the control of the Czechoslovak Stalinist bureaucracy.

At the same time, albeit in a distorted and fraudulent way, the formulation of socialism with a human face was designed to appeal to the striving of the working class and significant sections of the intelligentsia for genuine socialism, which they correctly felt did not exist in either the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic or the Soviet Union. In particular, it gave expression to the revulsion that millions of workers and intellectuals felt about the bloody terror that had descended upon them over the previous decades of Stalinist rule.

Anti-capitalist sentiments were overwhelming, with millions of workers and intellectuals remembering all too well the horrors of fascism, the war and the corrupt and right-wing role of the Czechoslovak bourgeoisie. Whatever the drive of the bureaucracy to solve its crisis by capitulating to imperialism, there was no support within the working class for a restoration of capitalism, as virtually all observers noted at the time. Rather, there was overwhelming hostility to Stalinism from the left.

It is this aspect of socialism with a human face, a notion that would later be picked up by Mikhail Gorbachev in his propaganda for perestroika and capitalist restoration in the USSR, that provoked the most anxiety and anger within the bureaucracies throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. It was perceived as dangerous in as much as it could encourage tendencies toward a genuinely socialist challenge to Stalinism. In May, Soviet party leader Leonid Brezhnev angrily said to Dubcek, Whats with this human face? What kind of faces do you think we have in Moscow?

A particularly vile role in advocating for a violent crackdown was played by Wadysaw Gomuka, the head of the Polish party, who was at the time overseeing a filthy anti-Semitic campaign against the student protesters of March 1968. He was seconded by Petr Shelest, the head of the Communist Party in Ukraine, who accused the Czechoslovak party leadership of seeking to annex the long-contested region of Carpatho-Ukraine. In some respects, Gomuka, Ulbricht, the party leader in East Germany, and the head of the Bulgarian party, Todor Zhivkov, were even more militant in their insistence on a crackdown on the Prague Spring than the leadership in Moscow.

Already in March, at a Dresden gathering of Eastern European leaders, Gomuka, whose government had just been challenged by mass student protests, insisted on a forceful counter-offensive in Czechoslovakia, comparing the situation to Hungary 1956. Hungarian party secretary Janos Kadar , who had taken over the rudder after the crushing of the 1956 revolution, also insisted on resolute measures in this critical situation.

Historians have noted that the move toward military intervention was prompted above all by the release of the Manifesto of 2000 Words on June 27, 1968. It was drafted by a leading Czechoslovak intellectual and called for a break with the party. However, the fact that this manifesto was perceived as such a threat by the bureaucracy was due to the growing movement within the working class.

The biggest fear of the bureaucracy was that the concessions of the KSC to demands for political liberties would create the basis for a powerful intervention of the working class. If the industrial working class had remained relatively silent during the first months of 1968, the situation changed quite dramatically starting in the spring, coinciding with the mass movement of French workers against De Gaulles government. During these months, the Dubcek leadership was forced, as a contemporary think tank analyst observed, to make far more concessions and move far more rapidly than it had wanted.

One historian notes:

Many [workers] were unmoved by the notion of political democratization espoused by a reshuffled set of party leaders and a few radical intellectualsweve seen it all before. For most blue-collar workers, the prime issues were higher living standards and wages and reduced state price controls. ... However, by spring and summer there were signs of movement. The central trade union leadership was revamped and its mission of defending members interests was restated; there was much discussion about the formation of Yugoslav-style workers or enterprise councils and the possibility of worker self-management in the factories; several short strikes were held; and even a few workers committees to defend press freedom were spontaneously created. [1]

It was at this point that discussions among the Stalinist leaders became ever more heated and frantic. There was a series of meetings, especially between June and August, in which the Soviet, the Polish and the Yugoslav leaderships urged Dubcek and the Czech Politburo to get the situation back under control, reestablish full control over the media and crack down on the working class.

In May, the Soviet Politburo established a nine-member commission to follow developments in Czechoslovakia on a daily basis. They were also receiving regular reports from the Soviet embassy in Prague.

In June and July, the Warsaw Pact states conducted large-scale military maneuvers on Czech soil in an unmistakable threat to the Dubcek leadership and the Czechoslovak working class.

In another series of talks from July 29 to August 1, the Dubcek leadership was pressured into making a series of oral promises to crack down. Finally, on August 13, Brezhnev and Dubcek had a phone conversation that was described by one historian as follows:

An exasperated Brezhnev accused a defensive Dubcek of deceiving us by his prevarication and lame excuses for delaying the overdue crackdown in Prague, to which Dubcek abjectly responded: if you believe we are deceiving you, then take the measures you regard as appropriate...by all means go ahead. He even offered his resignation as first secretary, but ended with the words: I promise you, Cde. Brezhnev, that Ill do everything necessary to fulfill our agreement. [2]

On August 17, the Soviet Politburo, the highest executive organ of the party, resolved to send the military into Czechoslovakia. Historians today believe that the United States had already, a month before, signaled that it would not intervene in the situation, essentially giving the green light for a military solution.

On the night of August 20-21, 1968, some 165,000 soldiers and 4,600 tanks from four Warsaw Pact statesthe Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgariaaccompanied by military advisors from East Germany invaded. Within a week, the number of troops occupying the country had risen to half a million.

At least 137 Czechoslovak civilians were killed in the first days. Hundreds were wounded, and the total death toll from the occupation is estimated at about 500.

In an indication of the lack of political support for the invasion within the Soviet Union itself, many of the Red Army soldiers had been drafted from Central Asian countries and had not been informed where they were stationed. Many thought that World War III had begun and they were in West Germany.

The offices of the Czechoslovak Communist Party were raided, and Dubceks leadership was arrested. He himself and several of his allies were flown to Moscow and interrogated. They were released, flown back and reinstated only after they had signed the secret Moscow Protocol. This provided for the stationing of foreign troops in Czechoslovakia until the threat to socialism had passed, key personnel changes, the reinstatement of party control of the media, the banning of anti-socialist organizations, and the reversal of key elements of the Action Program.

According to historians, it was the working class that emerged as the main social force in the opposition to the occupation. It responded to the invasion with a series of general strikes on August 21, 22 and 23. Workers councils were formed at hundreds of enterprises.

The resistance to the occupation encompassed virtually all other social layers, including sections of the bureaucracy. There were instances of non-armed resistance by elements of the army, police and departments of the Ministry of the Interior. Students also protested the occupation with many demonstrations and sit-ins.The streets were plastered with graffiti calling upon the Red Army to go home. One graffiti read: Lenin! Wake up! Brezhnevs gone mad! Hundreds of thousands of Czechoslovaks left the country, fleeing for the West.

On January 19, 1969, the 21-year-old student Jan Palach set himself on fire and died. His funeral turned into a mass demonstration of hundreds of thousands against the occupation. As late as March 1969, half a million people demonstrated in 69 towns and cities, attacking offices of the Soviet airline, Aeroflot, and nine Soviet garrisons.

Taking the latest mass demonstrations as a pretext, Dubcek was removed from his post in April 1969 in a vote by largely the same Politburo that had voted him in office in January 1968. He was replaced by Gustav Husak. The mass opposition, bereft of a clear political program and leadership, eventually petered out, and the so called normalization set in.

Significantly, the only aspect of the Action Program that the bureaucracy continued to pursue, with encouragement from Moscow, was the federalization of Czechoslovakia. On October 27, 1968, a constitutional law was adopted turning the previously unitary state into a federation. Over the following two decades, the promotion of nationalism, and the pitting of the Czech and Slovak Communist parties, and, above all, of Czech and Slovak workers, against each other was to form a critical component of the bureaucracys suppression of the working class and drive toward capitalist restoration.

A similar process took place in all of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In Poland, Gomuka responded to protests by students and workers with an anti-Semitic campaign in 1968-1969 in which he worked closely with the nationalist interior minister, Mieczysaw Moczar, and Bolesaw Piasecki, who had been a member of the fascist Falange in the 1930s.

In the Soviet Union, the Brezhnev leadership responded to 1968 by directly promoting leading nationalist figures into high-ranking cultural and political positions. So-called thick journals of the nationalist intelligentsia, which promoted anti-Semitism and vile Russian nationalism, received state funding and could thus be circulated with monthly copies numbering in the hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions.

In many respects, the response of the Stalinist bureaucracies to the movement of the working class in 1968 lay the ground for the final breakup of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union as part of the full reestablishment of capitalism in the region in 1989-1991. That the bureaucracy could pursue this course was, in large measures, the result of the conscious intervention of Pabloism, which enabled the bureaucracy to solve its crisis at the expense of the working class.

To be continued

**

End notes

[1] Kevin McDermott, Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945-89. A Political and Social History, Palgrave 2015, pp. 130-131

[2] Ibid., p. 144In a guest contribution last week for the financial daily Handelsblatt, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (Social Democratic Party, SPD) outlined key points of the German governments new US strategy. He wants to recalibrate the transatlantic alliance and build the EU as a counterweight to the US.

For a long time, leading representatives of the German government have been proclaiming that Germany must become more involved in foreign policy and military affairs. The coalition agreement agreed by the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and SPD in the spring, after months of secret negotiations, reads like a blueprint for a massive expansion of German militarism, the WSWS commented.

Maas builds on this in his guest contribution for Handelsblatt. More clearly than government officials have done so far, he describes the US as a major obstacle to a new German great power policy. Only slightly concealed with diplomatic phrases about a balanced partnership, Maas explains that Germany can only become a world power again at the expense of and in conflict with the USA.

Right from the beginning, the foreign minister emphasizes that the growing transatlantic tensions are by no means just down to Donald Trump and his ever new jolts. He writes, The US and Europe have been drifting apart for years. The overlap of values and interests is decreasing, and the binding force of the East-West conflict is no more.

Although the partnership with the United States has brought Germany a unique phase of peace and security since the end of the Second World War, Maas declares that looking back did not lead to the future. It was high time to re-calibrate our partnership.

The balanced partnership which Maas then proposes is based on the fact that German imperialism is advancing everywhere America is weakened and confronts the US where interests collide. It is a partnership, according to Maas, in which we bring our weight, where America withdraws, and in which we are a counterbalance where the US crosses red lines.

The choice of words alone is remarkable. So far, it was the US that set red lines against alleged rogue states, now the German foreign minister threatens a supposed ally and partner with the same term.

Maass challenge to the US has far-reaching historical, geopolitical and military implications. It shows that none of the problems that led to two world wars and fascism in the past century have been resolved.

In 1897, when Foreign Minister Bernhard von Bulow demanded a place in the sun for Germany, speaking before the Reichstag (imperial parliament), this was directed against the old colonial powers Great Britain and France, which rapidly growing German capitalism saw as disadvantaging it. This was followed by 17 years of intensive military expansion. In the First World War, Germany then tried to conquer its place in the sun by force, but it lost the war. The real winner from the First World War was the other ascending capitalist great power, the United States.

Fifteen years after the First World War, in an effort to revise its outcome, a conspiracy of industrialists, military and reactionary politicians brought Hitler to power. They needed the Nazis to smash the working-class movement and to place all the resources of the country in the service of a gigantic military campaign. In the Second World War, Hitler first tried to subjugate Europe, and then to conquer the Soviet Union, which, despite its Stalinist degeneration, he saw as a major threat to capitalism, and whose territory he sought and as Lebensraum (living space) for the German economy.

But the logic of the war inevitably resulted in a confrontation with the strongest imperialist power, the US. The Fourth International warned as early as May 1940, as Hitlers tanks rolled over Holland, Belgium and France: The potential victory of Germany over the Allies hangs like a nightmare over Washington. With the European continent, and the resources of its colonies as her base, with all the European munition factories and shipyards at her disposal, Germanyespecially in combination with Japan in the Orientwould constitute a mortal danger for American imperialism. The present titanic battles on the fields of Europe are in this sense preparatory episodes in the struggle between Germany and America (Manifesto of the Fourth International on the imperialist war and the world proletarian revolution).

The United States eventually joined forces with the Soviet Union to overthrow German imperialism. But after the war, Washington ensured the survival of the latter. The American imperialists needed Germany as a bulwark in the Cold War and for the expansion of their own economy. That was the basis of that unique phase of peace and security, which, while not so peaceful, has now come to an end, as Maas writes.

The US is trying to offset its declining economic weight by using its military superiority. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the US has been at war virtually without interruption. From being an anchor of stability, Washington has become the biggest factor of international instability. Donald Trump is just the present high point of this development. German imperialism is reacting by returning to the traditions of militarism and aggressive great power politics. Not only the language of Maas and other German politicians, but also the content of their policy more and more recalls von Bulow and Hitlers Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.

As in those days, German imperialism once again considers it necessary to dominate Europe in order to defy the United States. Maas emphasizes that the confrontation with the US cannot be mastered by Germany alone. For this reason, the outstanding goal of German foreign policy was building a sovereign, strong Europe. It is possible to oppose the US, only in solidarity with France and other Europeans. The European Union must become a mainstay of the international order. To Trumps America first! he counterposes the slogan Europe United!

In Europe, however, centrifugal forces are growing. Not least, Germanys efforts to subordinate the members of the European Union to its financial dictates, its economic interests and its foreign policy objectives have strengthened nationalist tendencies in many countries. Berlin is reacting with increased military spending.

In confronting the US, Maas does not go so far as to place a question mark over NATO. Nowhere is the transatlantic bond as indispensable to us as in the matter of security, he writes. German imperialism still needs NATO in its confrontation with Russia. There are still 45,000 US soldiers and several US military command centres in Germany.

But Maas is pushing for massive rearmament to increase German influence and push back American dominance. It is in our very own interest to strengthen the European pillar of the North Atlantic Alliance. Not because Donald Trump is always setting new percentage targets, but because we cannot count on Washington to the same extent as we used to, he writes in Handelsblatt. It was now important to build, step by step, a European Security and Defence Union as a European project of its own.

Maass offensive against the US is not limited to military issues. He also wants to break the dominance of the US in the financial markets and tax American Internet companies in Europe more highly. He says it is necessary to set up US-independent payment channels, create a European Monetary Fund and build an independent SWIFT system. The US-dominated SWIFT network carries news and transaction traffic from more than 10,000 banks worldwide.

In the trade war against the Trump administration, Maas wants to ally with other countries worldwide, which he calls the alliance for multilateralism. This was a network of partners who, like us, rely on binding rules and fair competition. In addition to European partners, he had already had very successful talks with the governments in Japan, Canada and South Korea.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is also seeking to expand the international influence of Germany. For example, last week, for the first time since the Crimea crisis, she received Russian President Vladimir Putin for a personal discussion at the government guest house Schloss Meseberg. Among other things, the two agreed the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite fierce criticism from Washington. Subsequently, Merkel visited the three Caucasus countries of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which both Russia and the US have massive interests. In the coming days, she travels to Africa to visit Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria. And next month, she is expecting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogancurrently in the US crosshairsfor an official state visit to Berlin.

Maass new US strategy is supported not only by the government parties, but also by the so-called opposition. In particular, the Left Party does not miss an opportunity to demand Germany take a tough stance against the US.

Even in the media, there are no critical voices. However, some commentary is demanding the government openly advocate a massive armaments program. They know that the doubling of military spending agreed in the coalition agreement is far from sufficient to make Maass great power plans a reality. For example, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warns that a policy beyond America requires substance, that is, the corresponding military clout.

The new edition of IP, the journal of the German Council on Foreign Relations, accuses the grand coalition, the self-assurance or even redefinition of the security policy claims of the Federal Republic played almost no role in the 2017 election campaign. But at the latest, now was the time to explain to the German public what security and defence policy really means if, as the chancellor says, we Europeans really have to take our fate into our own handsbut the Bundeswehr [armed forces] are already unable to meet the demands made on them.

Maas wants to meet this challenge. I am not avoiding the debate over higher defence spending, he is quoted saying by Tagesspiegel. Although the grand coalition has been campaigning intensely for five years for an end to military restraint, he maintains that until now, society has been caught in this policy field in a discursive vegetative state. That can only mean that the government is preparing a huge militarization of society. The debates about a return of compulsory military conscription, the introduction of a service obligation for men and women, and the procurement of nuclear weapons are just a taste of what is to come.

The government knows that the return of militarism fiercely rejected in broad sections of the population. That is why it is working out its plans behind their backs. There can be no return to the great power politics of the Kaisers empire and the Nazi regime without assuming their authoritarian methods of rule. That is why the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is being promoted and the opposition to war and capitalism is being criminalized.

That is why the latest annual report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as Germanys secret service is called, does not mention the AfD and its fascist milieu at all. At the same time, the report denounces any criticism of capitalism and its consequencessocial inequality, war, racism and environmental disastersas left-wing extremism and anti-constitutional, especially that of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP, Socialist Equality Party), which has warned for years about the return of German militarism.

Some 73 years after the end of the Second World War, German imperialism is returning to the militaristic and foreign policy traditions that culminated in the greatest crimes in history. Everything now depends on building an anti-war movement based on the working class, combining the fight against war with the struggle against its cause, capitalism. This is the goal of the SGP and the sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International around the world.There is growing anger and resentment among health workers over a sellout pay deal agreed early this month between the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the countrys District Health Boards, covering nearly 30,000 public hospital workers.

Conditions in the health system have deteriorated dramatically over the past decade. Following the global financial crisis of 2008 the then-National Party government effectively froze wages for nurses and other health workers and starved hospitals of funding for staff, building upgrades and other vital resources.

Nothing has been resolved since the election of a Labour Party-led government in October 2017. The new agreement maintains low wages, with an increase of just 3 percent per year for 20172019 for most nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants. Funding has been provided to increase staff numbers by a meagre 500 nationally.

The WSWS recently spoke to a nurse at Middlemore Hospital, which serves the working-class suburbs of South Auckland, an area of more than half a million people. According to the Counties Manukau District Health Board, over 192,000 people in the district live in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation, i.e., among the poorest 20 percent of the country. Many are Maori and immigrants from Asian and Pacific Island countries.

Media reports have detailed chronic overcrowding at Middlemorethe hospital was at or above 100 percent capacity for a third of 2017as well as building leaks, severe mould and rot, asbestos and structural problems. Millions of dollars are urgently needed to carry out repairs and expand facilities at the hospital.

Work to build a new mental health unit had been underway but was abruptly stopped on August 1 after the company in charge, Ebert Construction, collapsed with a debt of more than $40 million. Hospital staff have not been told when construction will resume.

The nurse, who asked not to be named, told the WSWS that staff shortage had severe consequences at Middlemore Hospital. Last week an outbreak of swine flu in the mental health unit affected about seven patients and staff. New patients were admitted despite the outbreak. They had nowhere else to place them so they stuck them in the ward, she said, which was already tightly packed.

Management told the media that precautions had been taken, but the nurse said management was blase about it, telling health workers it was just like an ordinary flu and there was no need for protective masks.

Staff are frequently overworked, often getting maybe five hours of sleep. We are tired and you cant give your all to the patients because of that. Assaults are also common and made worse by lack of experienced staff. Workers have recently been bitten and punched by patients under the influence of drugs or suffering a mental health episode.

The nurse dismissed the governments promise to hire more nurses, saying a few years ago they said they were going to bring in more staff. Theyre employing nurses all the time, but theres an increase of people coming through the hospital that they dont understand. What makes you think theyll increase staff this time when they havent done that before?

Lester Levy, former chairman of the three Auckland region District Health Boards, told a parliamentary committee in February that in the past five years resourcing of hospitals had not kept pace with population growth of 9.4 percent, an 18.8 per cent increase in emergency department admissions and 15 percent rise in in-patient discharges.

A major factor in the failure to retain staff is low pay, the Middlemore nurse explained. Theyre paying us hardly anything, and then giving us more stuff that we have to do. The cost of living in Auckland is out of control, with the average house price now over $1 million, driven by a speculative property bubble.

The nurse said she had voted for the Labour Party, which promised to improve the health system and address inequality, but next time I probably wont vote. No matter who you vote for, they say what you want them to say at the beginning, but then they dont do anything, and the only ones that get rich are rich already.

She pointed out that Labour had said we dont have enough money for a decent pay increase for health workers but then, all of a sudden, they had millions of dollars going towards a yacht race and new jet planes for the air force. This would have happened regardless of the election result, she added, because most governments dont care about anyone down at the bottom.

The NZNO, she said, had told nurses to go and vote for Labour because we were going to be heard, and a lot of nurses did vote for Labour, and now weve been slapped in the face again.

She was scathing of the NZNO for pushing through the sellout agreement and noted that while the union said 64 percent of members voted in favour, it had not released the actual voting numbers. Most co-workers she had spoken to voted against the deal, which was virtually identical to two offers they previously rejected.

After workers rejected four separate offers and held a one-day strike, the union couldnt be bothered to keep going and get what the nurses wanted, she said. I think theyre absolute crap. NZNO and the other unions are supposed to be for their members but I believe they werent there for their members.

When it comes to [union officials] pay rises, its not like that goes to a vote from their members. A lot of them are on six figure salaries, whereas were struggling. Theyre so blase about everything, and I think its because as long as their pockets are getting lined, thats all they care about.

The nurse described the NZNOs staffing arrangements during the July 12 strike as an absolute joke. Parts of Middlemore had more staff than there would be usually, she said, which portrayed to the public that the hospital could run just as well with thousands of staff out on strike.

She also denounced the Public Service Association, New Zealands largest union, which has some hospital workers among its members but just sat on their hands during the walkout. There was no push for any of the PSA members to go out there and close down the wards.

In response to the Socialist Equality Groups call for the establishment of rank-and-file committees, independent of the unions and democratically controlled by workers themselves, the nurse said: I think its a good idea to try and get an organisation thats actually going to do something and listen to the members.

The SEG is holding an online forum on Saturday September 1 to discuss the lessons of the NZNOs sellout, including the need for rank-and-file committees and for a socialist strategy to unite workers, in New Zealand and internationally, in a political and industrial campaign against austerity.

The author also recommends:

Lessons of the New Zealand Nurses Organisations sellout: Build rank-and-file committees! Unite the working class against the Labour government!

[18 August 2018]

New Zealand Nurses Organisation lashes out at critics on social media

[24 August 2018]

New Zealand nurses stage first nationwide strike in 30 years

[13 July 2018]Amid mounting signs that US-North Korea talks are breaking down, US Defence Secretary James Mattis announced yesterday that the Pentagon was ending its suspension of joint war games with South Korea. This highly provocative step is certain to further inflame tensions with North Korea following President Trumps decision last Friday to cancel Secretary of State Mike Pompeos trip to Pyongyang for another round of negotiations.

At a Pentagon press conference, Mattis declared: We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises. After his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June, Trump announced that we will be stopping the war games with South Korea, describing the joint exercises as very provocative.

Mattis noted that even after the Singapore summit, smaller joint exercises were ongoing all the time on the peninsula. He made clear that the announcement was aimed at putting pressure on North Korea by threatening to restart major annual war games scheduled for early next year. Were going to see how the negotiations go and then well calculate the future, he said.

While the media routinely describes the joint exercises as defensive, they have always been a rehearsal for war with North Korea. Last years massive Foal Eagle and Key Resolve drills which were delayed until after the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February, involved around 23,000 American and 300,000 South Korean troops. Since 2015, US-South Korean operational plans have dropped their defensive disguise and include pre-emptive strikes on North Korea and decapitation raids against its top leaders.

The suspension of large-scale military drills, now being reversed, was the only US concession made to North Korea. In a joint statement, Trump and Kim agreed to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, but the process, which was not spelled out even in general terms, has been interpreted differently from outset by the two sides.

The Trump administration has insisted that North Korea commit unilaterally to dismantle its nuclear facilities, hand over its nuclear weapons and allow highly intrusive inspections before any easing of crippling US and international sanctions or any moves towards a formal end to 195053 Korean War.

North Korea has frozen its nuclear and missile testing, taken steps towards dismantling some of its facilities and handed over the remains of US soldiers killed in Korean War. At the same time, it has called for a step-by-step process whereby it would dismantle its nuclear programs in return for sanctions relief and US security guarantees, including a formal peace treaty.

Having never agreed to unilaterally give up nuclear weapons, the North Korean regime publicly lashed out at Washingtons gangster-like demands after Pompeos visit to Pyongyang last month. According to the US press, the reason for Trumps decision last week to call off Pompeos planned trip this week was a letter, variously described as belligerent and aggressive, from a top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol.

The contents of the letter have not been made public, but it appears to be a warning that negotiations have reached a stalemate and could fail. Citing unnamed US officials, CNN said that the letter declared that talks were again at stake and may fall apart. It pointed out that the US is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty.

Pyongyang has repeatedly called on the US to announce an end to the Korean War as a step towards a peace treaty. The fighting ended in 1953 with an armistice, but the two sides formally remain at war. Such a move would be a minimal gesture towards ending constant threats by successive US administrations to maintain all options on the table, including military attacks on North Korea. Last year Trump issued a series of bellicose statements including the threat to totally destroy North Korea.

An editorial last week in the New York Times made clear that sections of the US military-intelligence apparatus are opposed to even this limited step. Administration officials and some experts, it declared, are worried that a peace declaration would open the door to withdrawing 28,500 American troops from South Korea, weakening the United States defence relationship with South Korea and its ability to take military action if needed.

Citing unnamed officials, the New York Times yesterday reported that Mattis and national security adviser John Bolton were opposed to Trump declaring the end of the Korean War. They both believe that North Korea should go first, and that any declaration from Pyongyang should be verified before the United States grants further concessions, it stated.

The fact is that the so-called North Korean threat has been exploited for decades as a pretext for maintaining huge US military bases in South Korea and Japan that are not primarily aimed at North Korea, but against China. The Trump administration, which is ramping up trade war measures against Beijing, is also continuing the US military build-up in the Indo-Pacific, begun under the Obama administration, aimed against China.

In his tweets following the cancellation of Pompeos trip, Trump also denounced China, claiming that Beijing was easing pressure on Pyongyang because of our much tougher Trading stance. Directly linking further talks with North Korea with China acceptance of US trade demands, he said that Pompeo would likely return to Pyongyang after our Trading relationship with China is resolved.

Trump is also responding to intense criticism from the Democrats and in the US media, which have mocked his claim that the Singapore summit had ended the North Korean threat. The issue is connected to the bitter infighting in Washington over foreign policy as to whether to confront China or Russia first as it seeks to maintain global US dominance. Whereas Trump has sought to exploit talks with North Korea to draw it into Washingtons machinations against Beijing, his factional opponents are using unsubstantiated allegations of Russian interference to try to make Moscow the prime target.

Trumps decision to halt Pompeos talks with North Korea and threaten the resumption of war games with South Korea could rapidly lead to the renewal of extreme tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the danger of military conflict.At midday on Wednesday, August 22, hundreds of municipal workers from Limas affluent district of Miraflores demonstrated in front of the offices of Mayor Jorge Munoz Wells. The protest was part of a 24-hour work stoppage by 350 workers demanding unpaid wages before the mayor ends his term at the beginning of October.

The strikers belong to the Union of Municipal Workers of Miraflores (SOMMI), which represents 480 workers. Union leader Anibal Diaz explained the urgency of the action to the WSWS:

Mayor Jorge Munoz Wells is currently running for mayor of Lima, when here in the municipality of Miraflores he discriminates against municipal workers. He still has some payments pending for 2015, 2016 and 2017. He is a mayor unable to solve the problems of his workers and still thinks of running for mayor of the entire city.

Maria Gonzales, the municipalitys attorney, told El Comercio that the arbitration tribunal had established that [the wages owed] have to be paid by January 2019. She added, We do not have a budget to meet the workers demands.

While the municipality claims there is no budget to pay its workers, there was plenty of municipal money to convert the Miraflores waterfrontthe Maleconinto one of the most exclusive zones in Lima. A square meter of living space in the Malecon goes for between US$3,000 and US$4,000, the highest price in the city.

Twenty-five years ago there were spacious two-story houses and no more than five parks, some in terrible condition due to the lack of irrigation and the wall that protects passersby from falling over a cliffa 40-meter vertical drop that ends at the seashore. Today several dozen 10- to 15-story luxury buildings enjoy the spectacular sunset over the Pacific Ocean. In addition, the seaside parks have expanded to a dozen and are well cared for by municipal workers.

The transformation of the Miraflores Malecon into an exclusive zone is the product of the neoliberal economic policies initiated at the beginning of the 1990s by former president Alberto Fujimori (subsequently imprisoned for crimes against humanity). His regime fostered a massive growth of social inequality, with a rising well-off bourgeoisie and an upper middle class that services it at one pole, and millions of people who barely have enough to live from day to day at the other.

According to Global Wealth 2017, Peru has 7,249 families with a net worth of more than $1 million, which constitute 0.023 percent of the national population. The six richest Peruvianswith more than a billion dollars eachlisted in Forbes magazine have a collective wealth of US$9.4 billion.

Many of the workers from the Municipality of Miraflores live in the working-class zone known as the Southern Cone of Lima, with a population of more than 1,350,000 inhabitants, and particularly in its poorest districts that include San Juan de Miraflores, Villa El Salvador and Villa Maria del Triunfo. The difference in income between the workers who maintain the modern buildings of the Malecon and those who inhabit them is staggering.

Maria, a worker from the Municipality of Miraflores, told the WSWS: I work in the administration of the municipality. I live in Villa El Salvador and it takes me more than an hour to get to work. Our salaries allow us to buy less each time, so we will end up dying of hunger.

I could not live with what the municipality pays me. In my house we all work, my husband and also my three children, to make a living. Its true, if all the workers of the world came together, things would be better for everyone. In the end, we are all workers. In Peru more protests should be held.

In areas like Villa Maria del Triunfo, where strikers live, conditions are a far cry from the pristine parks of Miraflores. In some areas, trash goes uncollected for 15 days or more because the municipality fails to pay a private company for garbage collection. Residents complain of the rotting smells and the rats that the garbage brings. In some areas they choose to burn it, creating smoke pollution that is also unbearable. These areas are plagued by poverty, overcrowding and drug trafficking.

Limas municipal leaders are as corrupt as the high-ranking judicial, executive and legislative officials who have recently made front-page news in Peru after being recorded exchanging favors for bribes.

In 2017, La Republica reported that the mayor of Villa Maria del Triunfo, Angel Chilingano Villanueva, was arrested on charges of allegedly being part of the gang Los Topos de Lima Sur, dedicated to extortion and the payment of quotas to businessmen, merchants and neighbors of that district.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Information (INEI), as of 2013, 45,700 municipal employees worked in the province of Lima, the vast majority concentrated in the city of Lima. There are growing demands and anger among this layer as throughout the Peruvian working class.

In June of this year, teachers, who number more than 500,000, staged a short national strike that was suspended by their union, the SUTEP. Last year they went on strike from July 12 until September 2, holding many large marches and clashing violently with the police.

Also in June, Lima transport workers held a 24-hour stoppage.

On August 8, EsSalud workersdoctors, nurses and technicianswent on a supposedly indefinite national strike that was suspended the next day, when the union reached an agreement with the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

The unions stage these 24-hour actions to dissipate the militancy of the working class and in an attempt to channel their anger back under the wing of the bourgeois parties.

More than 50 percent of the national labor force have informal jobs, that is, they are not on a payroll and receive no benefits such as health insurance and vacations.

The small strike of 350 workers of the Municipality of Miraflores and the big mining strikes against the transnational billionaires have a common origin: Both are fighting against a capitalist system that promotes inequality and poverty.Teachers across Washington state continue to walk out, demanding restoration of educational funding and adequate salaries. Contracts for all school workers have been reopened as a result of a legislative funding package and a state Supreme Court decision known as McCleary.

The suit was first filed in 2007 by families alleging the state failed to meet its constitutional obligation to provide adequate education for its children. In 2014, the state was held in contempt and fined $100,000 a day, but money from the state legislaturestill woefully inadequatehas only just been released. Teachers, justifiably, feel they deserve substantial increases to make up for years of stagnant wages.

A unified struggle is necessary, parent Michelle Rodriguez told the World Socialist Web Site, rallying in support of Vancouver teachers who are walking out today. Any part of society that is struggling is an attack on society as a whole. Everybody should go out on strike, even nationwide. They are dividing teachers district by district, it should be a united struggle.

Rodriguez added, Im here because kids should not worry about their parents paying bills. We need to completely remake our political system. I am a socialist, we need health care for everyone, we need housing for everyone. We should make sure that people who dont have what they need are provided for.

On Monday, teachers in Evergreen voted to join those in Longview and Washougal on strike.

Teachers in Vancouver, Evergreen and Ridgefield are slated to strike Wednesday, with educators in Ridgefield citing overcrowded classes and rejecting meager pay offers of 12.8 percent. Kent is slated to hit the picket lines on Thursday.

Across the state, strike votes and mass rallies of educators and community supporters are taking place, including:

Camas voted for strike action with 95.7 percent approval.

Sumner will strike September 5 if there is no agreement. At a standing-room-only school district meeting last week, Bonney Lake High School teacher Michael Howard told the crowd, That money is ourswere not asking for it, were telling you. Bus driver and food service workers also voted to authorize a strike.

Lake Tapps is being offered only 3.1 percent and has voted to strike.

Hockinson district educators voted for strike action after failed bargaining on Sunday and Monday.

Battle Ground teachers rejected a 16.5 percent offer over three years by 98.4 percent.

In Tacoma, hundreds rallied Tuesday morning, protesting an insulting 3.1 percent increase as negotiations continued.

Puyallap teachers in their hundreds protested the lack of an agreement in Pioneer Park.

A mass rally was held in Centralia, which has already voted to strike. Two-point-one million comes to Centralia and theyre not wanting to pass those funds to us, our teachers, said Lauri Johnson, a choir teacher, to KIRO7, adding, We had 40 teachers leave us this last June to local schools.

A Spokane meeting of hundreds of educators was a sea of roaring red-shirted teachers threatening to strike, as bargaining continued in the states second largest district.

In Seattle, the largest district, a mass membership meeting was held Tuesday to vote on joining the growing list of districts seeking sizeable pay increases and more funding for education.

In Vancouver, more than 100 teachers and supporters rallied at the district headquarters as bargaining continued. Without a settlement, Vancouver educators will also walk out on Wednesday. The school district, meanwhile, issued a news release stating that it would suspend payments on teachers health care and authorize legal action against them. The Evergreen district approved a similar vindictive resolution earlier.

On August 23, Republican state senator John Braun sent a letter to Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Ferguson and state school superintendent Chris Reykdal demanding the state seek a legal injunction to quash the strikes.

On Tuesday, Braun spoke in Longview and threatened that state funding could be cut next year if it is carelessly bargained away by school districts this year, warning teachers to be careful. His remarks on funding were echoed by Democratic State Senator Dean Takko (D-Longview), who said, regarding future funds for education, I dont know if thats something I would want to do.

While Brauns letter describes the struggle of educators as bickering over the bounty, he has long been a bountiful recipient of campaign contributions from military contractor Boeing, which casts an immense shadow over all Washington state government. Braun, among others who voted to give the wildly profitable contractor a $9 billion tax cut in 2013, was exposed for accepting the maximum political contribution in the aftermath of its successful passage in the legislature. The lavish Boeing tax incentives backed by Democratic Governor Inslee exceed the settlement under McCleary to fund schools for the states nearly 1 million schoolchildren.

For their part, parents, students and other workers express a growing support to educators. This is true nationally, as was confirmed by the annual PDK Poll, which announced that 78 percent of public school parents say they would support teachers in their own communities if they went on strike for higher pay. Support to teachers in West Virginia jumped by 16 percent in the wake of their walkouts last year.

In Longview, where teachers began the strike wave last Thursday, hundreds of community members flooded the high school cafeteria on Monday to support teacher demands at a school board meeting. Recent graduates related how teachers changed their lives, and the audience broke out in song, The More We Get Together, in response to the remarks of a kindergarten teacher. They will continue on strike Wednesday after bargaining failed on Monday.

Kyle Sharpe, a special education teacher, who also attended the rally for Vancouver educators, told the WSWS, All schools should be funded equally. The Trump administration is divisive on every level.

Ann Williams, who worked for 32 years in the communications industry, told the WSWS that she wanted to protest in support of her daughter who is a teacher. The year my husband and I retired 11 years ago, we paid zero in health care. Now we are paying $800 total a month. In the 1970s, with every contract we got more and more. In the 1980s, we got less and less. In the phone company [Bell Telephone] before they broke up, there were national strikes. Twenty years ago, the wage was $30 an hour, now it is down to $17 to $19 an hour.

Teachers work extremely hard, and they deserve a fair contract and a living wage, Tiffany Morrisey, a seventh-grade teacher at Odyssey Middle School, told the Columbian. Theres just no excuse for school districts to be giving them the runaround like this.US President Donald Trumps announcement Monday of a bilateral US-Mexico trade deal that will supersede the three-country North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an economic and geopolitical power play with major ramifications, not just for Canada, the US and Mexico, but for global economic and international relations.

Full details of the US-Mexico trade pact have yet to be negotiated, let alone made public. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Trump administration has wrenched major concessions from Mexico impacting energy, financial services, intellectual property and the auto sector.

Trump and his senior aides went out of their way to frame Mondays announcement as a threat aimed at Canada, with the US president declaring that NAFTA was dead and Canada would be able to join the new US-Mexico agreement only if it negotiated fairly, i.e., bowed to key US demands.

I think with Canada, frankly, the easiest thing we can do is to tariff their cars coming in, said Trump, referencing his threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on auto imports from Canada. Its a tremendous amount of money, he continued, and its a very simple negotiation But I think well give them a chance to probably have a separate deal. We can have a separate deal or we can put it into this deal.

Trump went on to repeat his longstanding demand that Canada scrap, or at least dramatically curtail, its agricultural supply-management systems, which severely limit imports of American dairy products and poultry.

Seeking to maximize pressure on Ottawa, whose negotiators were excluded from the NAFTA renegotiation for the past month on the grounds that the talks were focused exclusively on US-Mexican issues, the Trump administration is vowing to formally notify Congress it has negotiated a successor agreement to NAFTA this Friday, whether Canada is on board or not.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland traveled to Washington Tuesday to hold talks on trade with Trump officials.

If a three-way agreement is not reached by Friday, Canada, say US officials, would retain the option of signing onto the US-Mexico deal later. However, the implicit threat is that the longer Ottawa haggles with Washington, the greater the likelihood there will be separate US-Mexico and US-Canada trade deals, placing Americas two neighbours in a still weaker position vis-a-vis the US colossus and threatening to disrupt Canadian big business continental production chains.

Mexican officials have long insisted, including in remarks made Monday by outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, that they want to preserve a three-country agreement. But later Monday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso signaled that if push comes to shove, Mexico will accept a bilateral deal with Washington. There are things that we dont control, said Videgaray, particularly the political relationship between Canada and the US, and we definitely dont want to expose Mexico to the uncertainty of not having a deal.

Trumps hype notwithstanding, the ultimate importance and fate of his US-Mexico deal is uncertain. Not only do its terms have to be fleshed out, but also powerful sections of US big business and much of the US Congressand Canadas government is banking on thisare opposed to the scrapping of a US-led North American economic bloc. Senior Republicans and Democrats have both said that Trump is overstepping the authority Congress gave him to modernize NAFTA in seeking to substitute a bilateral US-Mexico deal for the continental trade pact.

That said, the NAFTA renegotiation has exemplified the US ruling elites drive to push the burden of the world capitalist crisis onto other powers, including its ostensible allies. This is precipitating the unraveling of the US-led liberal world capitalist order and the struggle of rival nationally-based capitalist cliques against one another for markets, profits and military-strategic advantage. Without the revolutionary intervention of the working class, the logic of this surge in protectionism, trade war and geopolitical conflict is a catastrophic clash between the great powers.

For Canadas imperialist ruling elite, which for the past three-quarters of a century has boasted of being Washingtons closest and best ally, the Trump administrations demand that the Canada-US economic and military-security partnership be refashioned to better serve Washington and Wall Street is the source of a historic crisis.

A Bank for International Settlements study published last week concluded that Canada, largely because of the auto sector, would be the most adversely affected of the three NAFTA states were the quarter-century-old agreement to be abrogated.

The information released to date indicates that the US-Mexico trade pact ignores key Canadian demands while violating several of Ottawas bottom lines, including maintenance of a trilateral disputes resolution system.

Under the present agreement, Mexico would remain subject to the 10 and 25 percent tariffs that Trump imposed earlier this year on aluminum and steel imports, respectively.

Some Canadian commentators were taking solace Tuesday from the changes the Trump administration has forced Mexico to accept to the rules that govern the tariff-free access of cars and light trucks to the North American market. These include: raising the North American content requirement from 62.5 percent of a vehicles value to 75 percent; using more North American-sourced steel and aluminum; and, over time, imposing a stipulation that 40 to 45 percent of a vehicle must be made by workers earning at least $US16 per hour.

The unions in both Canada and the US, which have been intimately involved in the NAFTA negotiations, are hailing the new auto rules as a major advance, just as they have lined up behind Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs and his threat to hit European- and Asian-made vehicles with a 25 percent tariff.

In an interview Monday, Jerry Dias, the president of Unifor, formerly the Canadian Auto Workers union, gloated over the fact that the new rules will result in the layoff of impoverished Mexican auto workers. There is no question, said Dias, that Mexico will lose some of the jobs that they have managed to take over the years. So, I think this is a positive development for Canada.

The auto provisions of the US-Mexico trade deal are highly significant for two reasons. First, they underscore that any insourcing of jobs to the US and Canada as the result of Trumps America First policy and the turn to protectionism more generally will be based on the expansion of low-wage jobs and intensified worker exploitation, with the full complicity of the corporatist, pro-capitalist trade unions.

Second, they all but announce that the Trump administration has decided to move forward with the imposition of its threatened 25 percent auto tariff, a measure that will dramatically escalate the now simmering trade war between the US and the European Union and Japan.

This is because, absent a significant hike of the current 5 percent tariff on vehicles imported to North America, the new rules governing tariff-free NAFTA access will, according to auto analysts, not only be ineffectual, they will actually undercut the competitive position of North American producers.

From the beginning, the Trump administration has approached the NAFTA negotiations from the standpoint of strengthening its hand to confront its more substantial economic rivals, above all China, Germany and Japan. In enunciating this strategy in January 2017, Trumps commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, dispensed with diplomatic etiquette to refer to Americas southern and northern neighbours as our territory. Declared Ross, We ought to solidify relationships in the best way we can in our territory before we go off to other jurisdictions.

Recognizing Washingtons broader aims, both Canada and Mexico were quick to signal their support for measures aimed at China, including limits on market access and investment for state-owned corporationsmeasures that Washington is intent on making standard in other trade agreements.

The response of the Canadian ruling class to the increased pressure being placed on it by Washington will be to lash out more ruthlessly against the working class and more aggressively assert its own predatory interests on the world stage. The Justin Trudeau-led Liberal government has promised that it will respond in its fall fiscal update to the growing clamour from big business that it match Trumps massive corporate tax cuts.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, the countrys most populous province, the ruling class has propelled to power a Conservative government led by the Trump admirer and fellow right-wing populist Doug Ford in order to intensify the assault on public services and workers rights.

In response to Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs, the Trudeau government not only imposed $16 billion (Canadian) in retaliatory tariffs, it stepped up protectionist measures against China and other low-cost producers based in so-called emerging economies.

And in June 2017, the Trudeau government announced a 70 percent hike in Canadian military spending by 2026. As Foreign Minister Freeland explained, the aim was to bolster Canadas support of a US-led world orderi.e., North American hegemonyand ensure that the Canadian ruling elite has the might to assert its own intereststhat is, to get a bigger share of the spoils of imperialist intrigue and war.

In opposition to the rival capitalist elites and the pro-capitalist trade unions, which serve as their loyal lieutenants in dragooning workers behind trade war and inciting nationalism and militarism, workers in Canada, the US and Mexico must join forces with their true allies, workers in Asia, Europe and around the world to oppose austerity and war.Yesterday I was invited by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) club at Wayne State University to speak with students attending FestiFall, an annual day introducing campus life to incoming students.

The campaign team and I spoke with hundreds of students about my campaign for Congress in Michigans 12th District, about socialism, and about the fight against war and social inequality. There was widespread interest in socialism and hostility to both capitalist parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Many students approached our stall because they saw the word socialist or wanted to look at and purchase the IYSSEs literature on the history of the socialist movement.

Many students told us that they preferred socialism to capitalism. A Gallup poll released this month found that fewer than half of young people in the US aged 18-29 have a positive view of capitalism, but more than half support socialism.

An incoming first-year engineering student, Paige, eagerly signed up to join the IYSSE and told us that she thought socialism is the closest thing to my beliefs. She said that since Ive been a kid, I always thought it was messed up that there are people with no food or water or homes, that some people dont have things like that. Then I got to high school and learned about socialism and communism. If youre going to have a society it should be for the people and not profit.

The world today, however, is the exact opposite, in America especially. A lot of people suffer because of not having enough money.

Like many students, Paige was hostile to both the Democratic and Republican parties. Its hard to differentiate between them, she commented. The Democrats have a lot of imperialistic qualities. The Democrats anti-Russian mindset theyre promoting now is very dangerous. Personally, I think that even if there was a point in time where Russia did interfere, its used as a scapegoat.

Paige followed the campaign of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who won a Democratic Party primary in New York City for Congress in June. This weekend, Paige said she saw Cortezs statements praising Republican Senator John McCain, who died on Saturday. I was kind of sad, Paige said. I liked Cortez. She seemed different. She didnt have to say anything. A lot of people who looked up to her dont feel that way. She also changed her website and removed a part that had said she was against war.

Victor, a Puerto Rican first-year student, approached our table and told me why he wanted to sign up for the IYSSE: Im a communist. My belief comes from hatred of capitalism and the way corporations leech from the working class. I believe the establishment of a society without corporations and without money will lead to equality.

Victor said he had begun thinking about socialism when he was a sophomore in high school. His history teacher got me interested in the fight against wealth inequality. There are these conglomerates that destroy developing nations, suck out the money and store it at the top.

He then did his own research. I read the Communist Manifesto, other online sources, and Wikipedia. I read about Leon Trotsky, he added, pointing to the literature on our table on Trotsky. He was for the international revolution while Stalin said communism should just be in one state. I like Trotsky.

Victor told me about his own experiences during and after Hurricane Maria in his home city of San Juan. The response was horrible, he said. We didnt have power for three months. We didnt see a single piece of support. The supermarkets ran out of food on day three. For the first month, there was a curfew at 8:00 p.m., and if you were out you were arrested.

Victor asked many questions about my campaigns policies. He asked what my attitude was to supporting US soft power aid programs overseas and the Trump administrations threats to cut funding for the State Department.

I explained that the State Department and outfits such as the United States Agency for International Development were agencies of imperialism, used not to assist the working class of other countries, but to advance the predatory interests of the American banks and corporations, and to serve as fronts for the operations of the US intelligence agencies. A socialist policy, I said, is based on the strategy of world socialist revolution, uniting the working class in every country in a struggle against capitalism.

Nick, 18, told us he did not know much about socialism but was looking for all the political clubs around the campus, and that this one caught my eye, because the banner says, genuine socialism is international.

The way I see it, he explained, if we look at it as not being from another country, but that everyone is a human, it would be much better. Everyone should have the same opportunity as others. Its shameful that our leaders dont see it the same way and attack other people and say they dont deserve opportunities.

Instead of war and violence we should be working together. I wonder whether these wars are about becoming the most powerful and most wealthy country. When you have the most money you have the most power. The rich are the ones benefiting from this and the working people are not.We've suggested that Illinois model itself along the lines of systems in California, Wisconsin and New York. Sen. Pat McGuire, D-Crest Hill, who helps lead a bipartisan legislative working group on higher education, tells us that his legislative group has looked at those systems. He says there is an appetite to consider restructuring of the system. Lawmakers feel a sense of urgency to reverse the flight of students, he says. Good.Country

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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of ZimbabweAs a Catholic, I am a firm believer that the public has the right to know the facts regarding the abusive actions of some priests, but this evidence should be presented as information  not inflammatory facts to further condemn all members of the clergy. There is no need for the press to present every sordid detail of these acts. Presenting the salacious aspects of these encounters is the job of the tabloids and scandal sheets, not the daily newspapers.I know the Tribune Editorial Board has written about this, but many would like to see what the specifics are behind each of the gubernatorial candidates plans for the state, and more important, how are they going to pay for them? J.B. Pritzker has great proposed programs and plans on his website, but, again, nothing about how he plans to pay for them. We know he hopes to raise taxes, allegedly on just the wealthy, but this needs to be broken down. We need transparency here.Donald Trump Claims Google Is Rigged After Searching His Name and Seeing Unfavorable Results

Donald Trump has been doing some Google searching, and hes not happy with the results.

The president, 72, floated his latest complaint about the Fake News Media on Twitter Tuesday, claiming the largest search engine in the world has been doctoring its results to only show unfavorable news about him.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD, Trump wrote.

Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out, Trump said, asking if the practice was illegal.

He continued: 96 percent of results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!

....results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

Trumps conspiracy theory comes days after the publication of an article by PJ Media, that claimed in its headline 96 Percent of Google Search Results for Trump News Are from Liberal Media Outlets.

Writer Paula Bolyard said she made that assessment after typing Trump News into the Google News tab across multiple computers, and then analyzing the top results against conservative journalist Sharyl Attkissons media bias chart.

Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs Tonight covered the piece on Monday nights show, as Media Matters for Americas senior fellow Matthew Gertz first noted. The president tweeted about the Google search results for his name on Tuesday morning at 5:24 a.m., later deleting the tweets and then re-sending them around 11 a.m.

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The Washington Post noted that, according to other outlets such as Gizmodo, the top news result listed under a Google search for Trump News on Tuesday morning was from Fox News.

Google has long kept the specifics of the algorithm of its search engine under wraps.

According to the company, a typical query nets millions of webpages with potentially relevant information. To sort them, the company uses around 200 ever-changing factors  analyzing a users words, matching their search, ranking useful pages, and considering context before returning the best results.

Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Cant do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2018

Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we wont let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.......  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018

.....Censorship is a very dangerous thing & absolutely impossible to police. If you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN & MSNBC, & yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed. I get used to it and watch with a grain of salt, or dont watch at all..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018

....Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made. Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018

This isnt the first time Trump has taken on the tech industry.

This month alone, the former Celebrity Apprentice host claimed social-media sites were silencing millions of people and totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices.

People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship! he wrote. Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made. Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!

RELATED VIDEO: PEOPLE Writer Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack

Meanwhile, policy makers in Washington are currently investigating a number of Googles practices, specifically the companys handling of user privacy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Earlier this year, Google and other tech giants were questioned by members of Congress over allegations that their platforms favored liberal voices over conservative ones, the Journal reported.

On Sept. 5, Googles senior vice president for global affairs, Kent Walker, will testify before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about election interference, the Journal reported. Hell be joined by Facebooks Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitters Chief Executive Jack Dorsey.The late Sen. John McCain put his military skills to good use last year during his final Thanksgiving  which he spent deep-frying seven turkeys for his family.

The Vietnam War veteran, who died on Saturday at age 81 after discontinuing treatments for brain cancer, told PEOPLEs Charlotte Triggs last November that he approached the task like it was a military operation.

Its about a 4- or 5-hour operation, the Arizona Republican explained with a laugh.

His wife, Cindy McCain, 64, noted that he had some holiday help from his sons and neighbors.

He was handing out orders quite well, Cindy said. He wanted it done a certain way, and so we had all the boys [helping].

The prep work began on the morning of Thanksgiving eve because, McCain explained, one of the important parts is to marinate the turkey at least a day ahead of time.

Wednesday morning we were busy marinating and getting everything going, Cindy added. The kids were all getting up late, because they stayed up late. So as soon as they showed up we were like, We have to get to the turkeys! 

RELATED VIDEO: Funeral Arrangements Underway for Senator John McCain

On Thanksgiving Day in 2016, McCain shared a behind-the-scenes Facebook photo of himself in action, wearing oven mitts and holding a turkey over a deep-fryer.

Its not #Thanksgiving at our familys house without fried turkey! he captioned at the time. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

RELATED NEWS: Rumors Are Circulating That John McCains Wife Cindy Might Get His Senate Seat, Says Source

The senators final Thanksgiving was particularly special because it was a continued celebration of his daughter Meghan McCains wedding to Ben Domenech at the McCain familys ranch in Sedona on Nov. 21.

Meghan, 33, told PEOPLE last year that her fathers brain cancer diagnosis inspired the couple to ditch their plans to elope in favor of holding a traditional wedding that her father could attend.

We were originally going to elope before everything happened with my dad, but obviously all these things have taken on new meaning, Meghan said.

Days later, McCain described the Sedona wedding as wonderful and said he teared up when he saw his daughter and her new husband sharing their first dance.

We are very fortunate. We are the most fortunate people on earth, he told PEOPLE at the time. I have had nothing but an incredibly full life and to be able to enjoy the beauty of this place. You cant ask for anything more than that.Something most people dont know about Michael Cohens lawyer, Lanny Davis, is that hes also currently representing a Ukrainian oligarch whose name is often linked to one of the most powerful mobsters in the world.

For the past four years, Davis  a 72-year-old former special counsel to former President Bill Clinton  has served as a registered foreign agent for Dmitry Firtash, who has been fighting to avoid extradition to Chicago, where he faces charges of international racketeering and money laundering. In registering with the Justice Department as Firtashs foreign agent, Davis said his firm was being paid $80,000 a month  or about a million dollars a year  by a man described by prosecutors as an upper-echelon associate of Russian organized crime. The case against Firtash seeks to protect this country, its commerce and its citizens from the corrupting influence and withering effects of international organized crime, prosecutors wrote last year.

Firtash has acknowledged ties to Semion Mogilevich, although the exact nature of their relationship is unknown outside of a classified space. A chain-smoking, hulking Ukrainian-born gangster, Mogilevich appeared on the FBIs 10 Most Wanted list during Robert Muellers tenure as the bureaus director. A 1996 FBI report on Mogilevichs organization said he was involved in prostitution, weapons trafficking, smuggling of nuclear materials, drug trafficking and money laundering. Mogilevich was indicted on racketeering charges in Pennsylvania in 2002 for his role in a publicly-traded magnet company later exposed as a money-laundering front. Several sources, including Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer turned whistleblower who was murdered in London, said that Mogilevich had a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mogilevich lives in Moscow, where some suspect hes being protected by Russian intelligence.

Mr. Firtash has denied any business or personal involvement with organized crime, in Russia or elsewhere, Davis tells Rolling Stone. Moreover, reports of such involvement have relied on innuendo and words such as linked to or associated with, not facts, or false allegations in a lawsuit filed many years ago in New York City that was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds and never re-filed.

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Davis is not exactly advertising the fact that he represents Firtash. Although Davis lists his past controversial clients in Africa and Honduras on his website, Firtashs name is noticeably absent. Davis hardly ever talks about Firtash, at least not on the record, even though Justice Department filings make it clear that he and his colleagues at Davis, Goldberg & Galper frequently contact D.C. journalists about Firtash to pitch stories, issue statements and press releases, or to respond to questions.

Likewise, Firtash wasnt mentioned in the flurry of coverage that Davis received after Cohen pleaded guilty last week to eight criminal charges, including campaign finance violations. In recent pieces, The Washington Post called Davis the ultimate Clinton loyalist; Esquire called him the da Vinci of spin. Davis referred to himself a renowned legal crisis management expert, but another way to describe his lucrative line of work is representing bad guys and telling us how good they are, something hes been doing quite effectively with Cohen, Trumps former fixer. In 2010, Davis was paid a million dollars a year to represent the brutally repressive dictatorship of oil-soaked Equatorial Guinea, and $100,000 a month to represent Ivory Coast, then on the brink of a civil war. I took on a couple bad-guy countries that I thought I could make into good-guy countries, Davis told the Post.

Why does this matter for Cohen? For starters, optics.

Davis is sensitive to how his bad-guy clients look, something he acknowledged to his friend Hillary Clinton in 2010 in what the Weekly Standard called D.C.s most cringe-inducing document ever. Davis asked Clinton, his old Yale Law School classmate, to speak to a reporter on his behalf and then changed his mind the following morning when he realized her name would appear in the same piece with his clients at the time:

As soon as I wrote last email, I reverted to my old role as your crisis manager and worrier about you, read the word optics I suddenly felt  oops.

I am registered under FARA [the Foreign Agents Registration Act] for one or more foreign governments or businesses. I dont think it would look right. I want to avoid any even slight chance of misperception.

So lets not chance it.

How can I describe what a great friend you are.?

I cant.

Beyond mere optics, credibility matters, too. My credibility is the only thing I have, Davis once told the New York Times in an article that described him as a front man for the dark side. It didnt help when Davis backtracked on his claims that Cohen had information that suggested Trump was aware of Russias efforts to undermine Hillary Clintons campaign. And emails released by the U.S. State Department show that during Davis days as a representative of Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast, his credibility was in short supply when he needed it most. Told that Davis had written a letter resigning as a representative of Ivory Coast, Phillip Carter, the U.S. ambassador to the West African nation, wrote in an email I wonder if this is true

Davis client roster puts him in the same league as Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman who also made a living representing dictators and Ukrainian oligarchs. Perhaps its not a surprise that Manafort, who was convicted last week on eight counts, also did business with Firtash. In 2008, while Manafort was working in Ukraine for the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, Firtashs company Group DF agreed to commit $112 million to Manaforts vision for Bulgari Tower, a $1.5 billion skyscraper project in midtown Manhattan on the corner of Park Avenue and 56th Street, said to be one of the most valuable development sites in North America. The tower deal later collapsed, but not before Firtash wired in a $25 million deposit from Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG, an Austrian bank that U.S. officials believed served as a Mogilevich front. Andrey Kozlov, a deputy chairman of the Russian central bank, was gunned down in 2006 after he blew the whistle on large amounts of rubles that were being laundered through Raiffeisen. (Raiffeisen also provided a $310 million construction loan to finance Trumps tower in Toronto.) In a federal lawsuit filed in New York, Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine, claimed that Firtash was laundering proceeds from sales of natural gas through Manhattan real estate.

Firtash, a former tomato grower and truck driver, rose from obscurity to become one of Ukraines richest men through his deal with Gazprom, the natural gas giant controlled by the Kremlin. In 2006, Gazprom gave Firtash a monopoly on all gas trades between Russia and Ukraine. The vehicle for this was yet another a murky company, RosUkrEnergo, half-owned by Gazprom and half-owned by Firtash and a minority partner. In a short time, RosUkrEnergo earned billions  some of which, U.S. government officials suspect, ended up in Mogilevichs pockets. Notably, Firtashs stake in the Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo remained a secret for two years, hidden by the same Austrian bank that was used to wire in money for Manaforts Manhattan tower venture. Prosecutors in Chicago have moved to seize RosUkrEnergo, along with Firtashs other corporate holdings.

Firtash himself didnt deny that he knew Mogilevich during a 2010 meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor. Firtash acknowledged that he needed, and received, permission from Mogilevich when he established various businesses, but he denied any close relationship to him, Taylor wrote in a cable released by Wikileaks. Two of Firtashs companies involved in the natural gas business had links  albeit indirect  to Mogilevich. (Mogilevichs wife was a major shareholder in one company, while the other listed her as a director.) Firtash and Mogilevich also have shared the same Israeli lawyer, Zeev Gordon, to represent their business and personal interests.

Firtashs associations with Mogilevich are what may have led to his indictment in Chicago as the leader of an international titanium-mining racket. Under Mueller, the FBI devoted tremendous resources to capturing Mogilevich, or at least, limiting his sphere of influence. The FBI permanently stationed agents in Budapest in 2005, which had been Mogilevichs base of operations, and sent him scurrying off to Moscow. The FBI also targeted Mogilevich with a threat fusion cell staffed with FBI agents and officials from the National Security Agency. Reached for comment by Rolling Stone, the FBI declined to discuss the cell, acknowledging that an investigation is ongoing.

Seth Hettena is the author of Trump/Russia: A Definitive History published by Melville House.Louis C.K. has performed stand-up for what appears to be the first time since admitting to sexual misconduct in November 2017. After being accused of abusing five women in a New York Times report, the comedian released a statement in which he confirmed the stories and expressed remorse for his actions.

These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my d-ck without asking first, which is also true, he said in the statement. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your d-ck isnt a question. Its a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.

But nowless than a year after the allegations against him were brought to lightC.K. has returned to the stage for an unannounced set at New Yorks Comedy Cellar. He delivered a 15-minute performance on Sunday that the comedy clubs owner, Noam Dworman, told the Times consisted of typical Louis C.K. stuff.

Dworman said C.K. was greeted with an ovation by the sold-out crowd. However, many others spoke out against C.K.s return on social media.

This guys career has come at the expense of their careers *for years* and he got an ovation before he even opened his mouth, just for going back on stage  dan solomon (@dansolomon) August 28, 2018

The guy who owns the comedy club decided its not his place to decide who should or shouldnt be allowed on his stage, that it shouldnt come down to gatekeepers, so I reckon if this feels wrong to you, you oughta let him know  dan solomon (@dansolomon) August 28, 2018

It seems I missed the part when Louis CK served time. I just remember him living quietly as a millionaire for a less than a year. https://t.co/Z5STGzpOu0  KB (@KaraRBrown) August 28, 2018

Will take heat for this but ruin the career of anyone who thinks Louis CK needs to come back pic.twitter.com/Wg0RdWCCzB  Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) August 28, 2018

serve their time ????

dont know whats going on in your world sir but here on planet earth, louis ck did not go to jail for the sexual misconduct he admitted was true. https://t.co/gDXMdUIyPY  Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) August 28, 2018

I know two of the women Louis CK harassed and they scrubbed their entire social history because of threats. So, you see how this works out.  Senora Rohrbaugh (@wyntermitchell) August 28, 2018

I cant believe Louis CK of all people subjected an unsuspecting crowd to several minutes of self-indulgent behavior without their consent https://t.co/diusXWN1Nl  Chandler Dean (@chandlerjdean) August 28, 2018

I wish all the people crying so Louis CK can never work in comedy again? felt as strongly about all the women who could never work in comedy again.  Jennifer Weiner (@jenniferweiner) August 28, 2018

Hi, Im Louis CK. Welcome to my show, The Self-Aware Rapist. Man, guys like me are the worst. Just the worst, the worst, the... yes, yes, Ill accept this medal for my bravery. To continue, just the worst, worst, worst, worst, worst...  Sady Doyle (@sadydoyle) August 28, 2018

So the moral of the story is that if you sexually harass a bunch of people, you get the summer off.  Liz Plank (@feministabulous) August 28, 2018Officer who killed unarmed black man responds to critics of her 'critical incident' course originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A white Oklahoma officer, who was acquitted of manslaughter charges in the fatal 2016 shooting of an unarmed African-American man, defended herself amid protests that have erupted over her teaching a class to sheriff's deputies.

"I talk about the challenges that I face after my critical incident; the challenges that my husband and I were not prepared for," former Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview of what her classes entail.

"So I take what I learned and developed what I call tools and I pass that on to other officers so maybe they can be better prepared to deal with a critical incident."

Despite the demonstrations this week, Shelby, now a nearby sheriffs deputy, went ahead Tuesday with the scheduled class titled "Surviving the Aftermath of a Critical Incident," attended by about two dozen Tulsa County sheriff's deputies, officials said.

The "critical incident" does not solely refer to an officer-involved shooting, Shelby said, but can be an event that simply "tests the limits of their coping skills."

"It can be an officer who responds to a hostage situation or saw a very severe car accident where a child died, she told GMA.

It can be an array of things. An officer can see many critical incidents throughout their career. We are well-trained in how to use the tools that we're given but what we're not prepared for are the events afterwards.

"Of course, its critical to the person that's involved but it may affect people differently," Shelby, who is not paid for teaching the classes, added.

PHOTO: This undated photo provided by the Tulsa Oklahoma Police Department shows officer Betty Shelby. Police say Tulsa officer Shelby fired the fatal shot that killed 40 year-old Terence Crutcher, Sept. 16, 2016. (Tulsa Police Department via AP Photo)

Shelby was arrested and charged two years ago with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, 40, after she came across an idling SUV stopped in the middle of a two-lane roadway and spotted Crutcher walking toward the vehicle.

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(MORE: Tulsa police officer acquitted in death of unarmed African-American man)

Police dashcam and helicopter video showed Crutcher with his hands in the air as Shelby and other officers approached him with their guns pointed at him. Crutcher can be seen in the video lowering his hands and apparently attempting to reach into the vehicle when Shelby opened fire, killing him.

Lawyers for Crutcher's family maintain that the vehicle window Crutcher appeared to be reaching into was rolled up at the time. But Shelby's attorney says that Shelby claims the window was rolled down and Crutcher appeared to be reaching into the SUV.

Authorities determined that no weapons were found on Crutcher or inside his vehicle.

(MORE: Tulsa Police Officer Arrested on Manslaughter Charges, Released on $50,000 Bond)

Shelby went to trial on manslaughter charges and a jury acquitted her in August 2017, prompting outrage from the African-American leaders in Tulsa and angry protests in the city's streets.

"There was a moment when I was told 'I'll never be in law enforcement again,' even if I win this case," Shelby said.

After the acquittal, Shelby returned to the Tulsa police force with back pay. She has since gotten a new job as a sheriffs deputy in neighboring Rogers County.

Asked what she would say to Crutcher's family, Shelby said she wants the focus to be on "healing."

"Let's start healing ... let's take the steps to heal, and take a step forward in the right direction, and not only do we heal ourselves but our community starts healing, she said. And when our community starts healing, then our nation starts healing.

Shelby said she was not prepared for what would happen after the trial.

"I had to emotionally deal with being involved in a shooting where someone died, she said. I had to physically deal with leaving my home unexpectedly due to threats.

For Crutcher's twin sister, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, this was all created by Shelby's actions.

"Terence had his hands in the air, he was moving slowly and he was not the aggressor," Crutcher told "GMA." "He took his last breath alone and no one provided first aid."

When told of Shelby's comments about "healing," Crutcher said, "Well, she never reached out to us to apologize."

PHOTO: Video released by the Tulsa Police Department shows the moments before 40-year-old Terence Crutcher was shot by a police officer Friday night. (Tulsa Police Department)

Word of Shelbys teaching such a class in Tulsa ignited protests Monday outside the Civic Center in the city's downtown area, where one demonstrator, Marq Lewis, called the move "a slap in the face to all African-Americans."

"The reason this is a slap in our faces is that they're putting it in our faces and they're saying to us, 'It's fine, deal with it. We don't care how insensitive it is. We're going to have this class and it's OK,'" Lewis, leader of the grass-roots civil rights group, We the People Oklahoma, said Tuesday morning.

"These are our tax dollars that are being put to use to have this class for other law enforcement officers," Lewis told ABC News. "It's almost as if we, as citizens, don't have a say in saying that we don't want this class going forth."

We the People Oklahoma, in a statement to "GMA," made reference to a letter from jurors at Shelby's trial that questioned her ability to serve as a law enforcement officer.

"Is THAT really who TCSO believes should be instructing other officers on anything, especially something as vital as officer-related shootings? Just because Shelby managed to beat the system?" according to the statement.

Crutcher's sister is also outraged by the news of Shelbys teaching fellow officers.

"It's insulting and has deepened the divide in our community," Crutcher said.

PHOTO: Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby is led from the Tulsa County Sheriff's office into a courtroom in the Tulsa County courthouse, Sept. 30, 2016. Shelby's manslaughter trial begins May 8, 2017 in the shooting of Terence Crutcher. (Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo)

Shelby's course, which she teaches outside her regular duties as a sheriffs deputy, ran from 8:30 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. She was expected to "describe some of the challenges" that arise after a critical incident, such as officer-involved shootings, including financial, legal and emotional issues, according to a synopsis of the course.

"This is not the first time Ive taught this class. I first taught my class last year and every time I have presented my class, it has been an overwhelming acceptance," Shelby told "GMA." "And the reviews that I have received from those who have attended my class have been, 'Hey I didn't realize that point, I didn't think of that. Oh, I can prepare now for something I was unaware of.' It gives enlightenment to others."

Shelby has taught the course to other law enforcement agencies throughout Oklahoma but this is the first time she has led the class in Tulsa. The class has been certified by the state Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training under mental-health instruction.

"The fact that the sheriff refused to cancel the class shows us that they don't care," Crutcher, the dead mans sister, said.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office described Shelby as "uniquely qualified" to teach the course.

"Betty Shelbys qualifications to teach have been called into question. However, considering the fact that it is rare for a law enforcement officer to be charged criminally in connection with a critical incident, we believe she uniquely qualified to teach a class on the aftermath of a critical incident," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

(MORE: 40-Year-Old Man Killed by Tulsa Officer Friday Had Hands Up Moments Before Fatal Shooting, Video Shows)

The class is not mandatory and "All 27 participants signed up to receive this training," the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office said.

Shelby's husband, Dave, a Tulsa police officer, is also involved in the course, Shelby said. He was flying a police helicopter over the scene and filming when his wife shot Crutcher, who, according to an autopsy report by Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office, had PCP in his system.

"He gives a point of view that most people don't think about: He's a spouse, Shelby said of her husband. So he gives the perspective of what does a spouse go through when their officer is dealing with a critical incident. He also gives another perspective as a fellow officer.

"He, as a fellow officer, is having to deal with all of these challenges, that the others on the department are having to face as well," she said. "One more perspective: He was filming that night. So he gives the perspective of an officer having to deal with the same emotional challenges that I do. So he gives a great perspective that I don't get to give. And, honestly, I don't want to have to give this spouse point of view."

PHOTO: Terence Crutcher, left, with his father, Joey Crutcher. Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man was killed by a white Oklahoma officer, Sept. 16, 2016, who was responding to a stalled vehicle. (Crutcher Family/Parks & Crump, LLC via AP Photo)

Attorney Scott Wood, who represented Shelby in her manslaughter trial, said the training Shelby provides in her class is important for law enforcement officers.

"Even if it doesn't happen to everyone, every cop has a friend or workmate who's involved in an officer-involved shooting," Wood told ABC News. "They come away with information they can use to help -- or utilize themselves."

Shannon McMurray, another attorney who was on Shelby's legal team, added, "Shelby is an excellent person to showcase how traumatic it can be in a situation because of what she experienced in the Crutcher case."

"I do think she is an excellent choice in teaching this class," McMurray told ABC News.

Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton told the Tulsa World that he is supportive of Shelbys class.

"Its not about opening wounds," Walton told the newspaper. "It's about Betty Shelby teaching something that opens law enforcement's eyes. If this was taught to the community, I think it would open [their] eyes to what law enforcement had to endure."

During the protest Monday, attended by Crutcher's parents, demonstrators carried signs reading "#BanBetty."

"We're saying that you need to get another teacher," Oklahoma state Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, told the crowd.

Goodwin recalled an interview Shelby gave CBS News' "60 Minutes" after her acquittal in 2017 in which she said, "I would rather be tried by 12 than carried by six."

"Terence Crutcher didn't get an opportunity to get that statement. Folks are talking about there's a scab on the wound. There's no scab here because there's no healing," Rep. Goodwin said.

Lewis and other protestors have no problem with the course Shelby is teaching, he told ABC News, but they just find it "tone deaf" that she is being allowed to teach it.

"Betty Shelby went on national television and said that Terence Crutcher caused his own death," Lewis said, referring to the "60 Minutes" interview. "We don't feel there is any form of rehabilitation."

Watch Officer Betty Jo Shelby's exclusive interview with "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan meet Lin-Manuel Miranda at special 'Hamilton' performance originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are "in the room where it happens."

The newlyweds are attending a gala performance of the hit musical Hamilton Wednesday at Londons Victoria Palace Theatre.

PHOTO: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a gala performance of the musical Hamilton, Aug. 29 2018. (Dan Charity/Pool Photo via AP)

Harry, 33, and Meghan, 37, and the shows creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, are special guests at the performance, which benefits Harrys charity, Sentebale.

The trio are expected to meet the cast and crew of Hamilton and give speeches after tonights performance.

Tonight we have a special gala performance for @sentebale in the presence of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and author of #HamiltonLDN, @Lin_Manuel. Funds raised will go to support the mental health and well-being of children and young people affected by HIV in Lesotho & Botswana pic.twitter.com/ZwVl7vJRxm  Hamilton West End (@HamiltonWestEnd) August 29, 2018

The show about Americas founding fathers is of special significance to Harry and Meghan, a California native.

PHOTO: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a gala performance of the musical Hamilton, Aug. 29 2018. (Dan Charity/Pool Photo via AP)

The couple first saw the show together on a date night at Victoria Palace Theatre in February. Their attendance at the Tony-winning musical was later confirmed by a cast member.

Was an honour to have Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in to watch @HamiltonWestEnd last night!  Leslie Garcia Bowman (@lesliegbowman) February 17, 2018

It is believed Wednesday's performance is Meghans third time seeing the blockbuster musical, having previously attended with her close friend, actress Priyanka Chopra, in New York City. Meghan shared a photo of the pair with a Hamilton playbill in hand on her since-deleted Instagram account.

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Wednesday's special performance of "Hamilton" hopes to raise awareness and funds for children and young people affected by HIV and AIDS. Sentebale was co-founded by Harry in 2006 to honor his late mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales.

PHOTO: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a gala performance of the musical Hamilton, in London, Aug. 29 2018. (Dan Charity/Pool Photo via AP)

Meghan and Harry stepped out in July for the annual Sentebale Polo Cup in London that also benefits the charity.

Today The Duke of Sussex played in the @Sentebale Polo Cup, held each year to raise awareness and support for its vital work with young people affected by HIV in southern Africa. ?? The Duchess presented The Duke's winning side with the trophy #SentebaleISPSPolo pic.twitter.com/0kpZSibYWe  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 26, 2018

The month prior, in June, Harry made an emotional, private visit to Lesotho for his charitable work.

Harry and Meghan, who recently welcomed a dog into their family, have been enjoying time for rest and relaxation as their busy summer ends and they prepare for an even busier fall.

PHOTO: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex visit Trinity College on the second day of their official two day royal visit to Ireland on July 11, 2018 in Dublin. (Gareth Fuller-Pool/Getty Images, FILE)

The couple, who wed in May, will make their first major royal tour this fall to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga on behalf of Queen Elizabeth and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Next spring, Meghan and Harry are scheduled to make their first tour to the United States at the request of the U.K. Foreign Office and the British government.New York City housing workers suspended over alleged Bronx orgy originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Two city Housing Authority employees have been suspended without pay for 30 days as the investigation continues into prurient activities at a Bronx public housing project.

A city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations, said staff members are being investigated to determine whether or not they were having sex on the job in the housing project -- specifically in a shed used by employees.

A supervisor and a caretaker at the housing complex were both suspended for a month, the maximum amount of time they can be disciplined under civil service law.

The caretaker was possibly involved in inappropriate activities at the housing complex, while the supervisor of grounds was aware and facilitated the behavior, according to a city official.

All 40 employees assigned to the Bronx housing project were transferred earlier this week as part of the ongoing investigation, which started in May.

A spokesperson for New York City's Housing Authority said that agency officials cannot comment on disciplinary actions because of civil service laws.

New York City housing officials first began investigating the scandalous allegations -- which also include reports of drinking on the job and staff orgies - in June, according to the New York Daily News.

(MORE: Judge dismisses child neglect charges against 3 adults found on remote New Mexico compound)

The president of the Bronx housing project's tenant association told the New York Post earlier this week that round-the-clock sexual shenanigans among city staffers slowed or stalled vital repair projects at the housing facility.

The illicit activity allegedly occurred on "overtime, during working hours, after working hours, any day or any time of the day, Throggs Neck Houses Tenant Association President Monique Johnson told the Post. I now understand why work wasnt getting done.

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(MORE: Mysterious substance sickens prison staff in Ohio and Pennsylvania)

There was a lot of people included, Johnson told The Post. Supervisors were allegedly having sexual relations with caretakers. There was drinking and sexual acts going onMore playing, and less working.

Earlier this summer, the city authority and Mayor Bill de Blasio entered into a consent decree with federal prosecutors that requires the appointment of a federal monitor, following a damning report filed by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, which detailed how New York City housing officials lied and covered up lead paint and toxic mold issues plaguing the city' 176,000 public housing units.

(MORE: Bags containing human body parts found in Bronx for 2nd time in a week)

The sex scandal is just the latest black eye for a municipal agency that has faced seemingly constant scrutiny and criticism in recent months.

More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in city public housing facilities.The French first lady, Brigitte Macron, and the Danish monarch made a bold impression in coordinating colors in the Danish capital.

Brigitte Macron likes to make a statement with her wardrobe. From mod-silhouetted minidresses to strong-shouldered blazers, the first lady of France has never shied away from bold fashion risks. And earlier today in Copenhagen, Macron, joined by husband President Emmanuel Macron, twinned with her host nations monarch, Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, in red frocks.

Macrons custom Louis Vuitton look fell in line with her usual streamlined and directional approach to dress, while also recalling pieces favored by Jackie Kennedy in the 1960s.

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, opted for a coordinating shade of cardinal. The keyhole neckline and below-the-knee length are similar to styles favored by fellow royal Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, but the Danish monarch infused the ensemble with lively contrast and texture through her accessories. Python stilettos were a cool twist, while a cherry-red crocodile clutch felt especially polished as paired with Her Majestys kidskin gloves and diamond leaf brooch.Like the wildfires torching the states forests, the debate over Californias charter schools rages on. In the latest move to reign in what many consider the scandal-plagued institutions, the California Legislature passed a bill last week to ban all for-profit charter schools in the state. Its lawmakers second attempt in three years to ban the schools, the first was vetoed in 2015, and the bill now moves to Governor Jerry Browns desk to be signed or vetoed by September 30.

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Plagued by corruption and the subject of an intense investigation in 2016 by The Mercury News, the states 35 for-profit charter schools  which are run by five companies and educate around 25,000 students  have been under attack for some time. And while attention has been focused on one of the companies, Virginia-based K12, which has taken $310 million in state funds over the last 12 years but been accused of a dismal record of academic achievement, Assembly Bill 406 would, according to The Mercury News, prohibit all for-profit corporations and for-profit educational management organizations from running the states taxpayer-funded and independently run schools  even if the schools themselves are technically nonprofits. Charter schools by definition are public schools that are independent of local school boards, and California has used them since the early 1990s. There are currently 1,275 charter schools statewide with an enrollment of around 630,000 students.

The bills passage, which wasnt guaranteed until a deal was struck between the teachers union and the schools trade association, comes at an interesting time in the charter-school debate. Not only does the White House support charter schools, but Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is strongly in favor of for-profit education in general. She was also an investor in K12. Supporters of the bill, however, say it will ensure that the states charter schools are run by non-profits, fairly and in accordance with the law, something they note has not been the case with current for-profit schools. According to one report, more than 20 percent of all California charter schools have enrollment policies that violate state and federal law.

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That said, despite support from both sides on the issue, its actually unclear whether the bill will get the governors signature. As mayor of Oakland, Brown helped establish two charter schools and has expressed support for, or at least been reluctant to vote against, legislation curtailing their operation.

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The post California Passes Bill to Ban For-Profit Charter Schools appeared first on Fatherly.Christina Spirig, a pole dancing instructor, continued her exercise right up to two hours before going into labor. (Photo: Christina Spirig via Instagram)

A pregnant woman didnt let her third trimester stop her from doing what she loves: pole dancing.

Christina Spirig, a pole dancing instructor from Switzerland, continued to do her favorite form of exercise while pregnant and was even on the pole just hours before she went into labor. Despite her familys concerns that the exercise might be dangerous for the baby, the 31-year-old believes she was able to recover from a difficult labor faster thanks to pole dancing.

Some people were worried that I would fall, or I was putting my baby in an unnecessary risk, Spirig told the Sun. My baby was always sleeping when I was dancing, so it [never seemed] distressed.

Spirig was careful while pole dancing during her pregnancy, however. Starting when she was five months pregnant and began to show, Spirig stopped performing any tricks that would cause her stomach to touch the pole, along with any flips or drops.

Spirig initially started pole dancing after the birth of her 8-year-old son and now owns a pole dancing studio, Poledance Luzern.

Just two hours before her contractions began, Spirig was still on the pole, although she limited her exercise to only 45 minutes a week at that point. Seven weeks after giving birth, she returned to pole dancing.

The longer youve already done pole dancing before you get pregnant, the better, the mother-of-two explained. I think pole dancing made my recovery from birth much easier because I practiced deep-core activations, which helped me to recover from my difficult labor.

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Experts recommend light to moderate amounts of exercise even in the third trimester, since it helps expectant moms regain some energy. Heidi Murkoff, the author of What to Expect When Youre Expecting, recommends 10-minute walks three times a day, a prenatal yoga class, or even easy laps in a pool. Pregnant moms should always consult a health care provider before engaging in new fitness programs, so dont go hopping on any poles when youre nine months pregnant if youre a novice.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



Shelley Malil at his sentencing in 2010. (Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Actor Shelley Malil, who played one of Steve Carells co-workers at SmartTech in 2005s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, will soon be released from prison.

In 2010, Malil was convicted of attempting to murder his girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, in a brutal 2008 attack. According to the Los Angeles Times, Beebe received 23 deep puncture wounds, and a chunk of skin from her chin was nearly sliced off when Malil attacked her at her home in San Marcos, Calif. A friend of Beebes pulled Malil away from her, but not before Malil slashed at [Beebe] with a broken wine glass, and stabbed her with a large knife hed taken from her kitchen and attempted to smother her with a pillow as she lay bleeding, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Malil was sentenced to life in prison for his crime, but on Tuesday a parole panel revisited the issue. There was a ruling earlier this year that Malil should be paroled, because he was found to be at low risk of committing violence in the future.

California Gov. Jerry Brown spoke out against the release in a letter, pointing out that there seemed to be no explanation of why Malils rage escalated so far out of control, and resulted in such a prolonged horror.

However, a parole panel unanimously agreed with the low risk of violence assessment. Panel commissioner Brian Roberts said, We find that the evidence supports that finding.

Malil will be free in approximately two weeks, but he will be on supervised parole for for another five years.

At his original sentencing hearing, Malil said he wanted to make amends.

I want to do whatever I need to do to make sure I make right from the wrong that I did, he said at the time. Kendra Beebe did not deserve anything that happened to her.  I cant even begin to imagine what she has been through.

During the trial, Beebe accused him of telling lie after lie after lie.

Beebe was present at Tuesdays hearing. Afterward, she told the San Diego Union-Tribune, via text message, that she was shocked by the decision to release Malil. She added, the system is broken.

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Today, these men had a chance to take real action showing that we, as a society, value women and will protect them, wrote Beebe, whose lawyer is Gloria Allred. Because of their inaction, I will continue to live in fear.

Read more at Yahoo Entertainment:OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP)  A Burkina Faso army official says eight security force members were killed when their vehicle hit an explosive device while driving in the country's east toward the Benin border.

The official said Tuesday the gendarmes and soldiers left the eastern regional capital, Fada, on Monday to support the gendarmerie in Pama in the far east where there had been an attack by jihadists. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the press on the matter.

The army said it is investigating and has arrested several suspects.

A few weeks ago, five gendarmes were killed in the same area.

Last week, suspected jihadists attacked security forces in the southwest and the north near the Mali border.Then President-elect Donald Trump with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, President Barack Obama, Judge Robert Rosenberg, Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore. (Yahoo News photo Illustration; photos: AP, Getty)

More than a decade before anyone worried about Russian bots, there were chads. The hanging chad was the most famous chad of all. But there was also the pregnant chad, the fat chad, the dimpled chad and the tri-chad. These were all minute variations on a scrap of paper a fraction of an inch in diameter, the vestige of a voting ballot not quite fully punched through. Hanging chads that could not be counted led George W. Bush to beat Al Gore in Florida in the 2000 election by 537 votes and become president. The hanging chad became the central image of that election, and of the Supreme Court case that decided it. Scenes of Florida election officials studying indentations on sheets of paper suggested a ridiculously outmoded system.

Two years later, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which was designed to provide funds for states to replace punch card voting systems and to establish minimum election administration standards for the nations 10,000 voting jurisdictions.

The law also provided for the creation of the Election Assistance Commission, or EAC, the nations first federal agency created to oversee elections at every level of government. But its mission has never been clear, and more than 15 years later, critics say the agency has succumbed to the whims of partisan operatives.

Lever-operated machines  like this one in use in Yazoo City, Miss., in August 2003  may be replaced because of their inaccuracies and tendency to break down, as well the fact that they are difficult for handicapped voters to use. (Photo: Rogelio Solis/AP)

Lawrence Norden, an expert in the democratic process at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, says that the EAC is a necessary agency that has significantly strengthened federal guidelines for voting machine testing. At the same time, he acknowledges that its quite limited mandate from Congress means that huge swaths of our election infrastructure are left with no federal security guidelines. Even more troubling is the risk that the EAC becomes, in Nordens words polarized by partisanship. That has become a particularly disquieting concern since the 2016 election.



Russias involvement in the 2016 contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made Americans suddenly, acutely curious about how voting worked  and also about how easily that process could be subverted. As time went on, the extent of Russian interference became more troubling: there were the Twitter trolls, and fake Facebook groups, but also Kremlin probes of the electoral systems of 21 states.

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Yet the agency that is supposed to ensure elections run smoothly is at odds with itself, working under a vague but limited mandate and overseen by officials who hold conflicting ideas about what matters in the world of electoral security. The EACs annual report for 2017, for example, is 55 pages long and mentions Russian interference a single time, and then only in the lengthy name of a congressional hearing. The word foreign  as in adversary, whether in Moscow, Pyongyang or Tehran, all of which intelligence experts believe could interfere with the democratic process in the near future  doesnt appear a single time.

A product of the bitter 2000 election, the EAC was fated to represent partisan divisions instead of transcending them. And the officials who run the agency have not infrequently indulged political fictions while ignoring obvious, indisputable threats. After the extent of Russian interference became clear in 2017, they could have made the case  to Congress, to governors, to the American people  that the EAC needed expanded powers to ensure electoral safety, just as airport security had to be radically reconfigured after the 9/11 attacks.

Instead, one election expert laments, they have focused on far less significant problems.

Matt Sanborn of Laconia, N.H., a Boston College student who volunteered for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, watches returns on election night during a rally in Manchester, N.H., on Nov. 8, 2016. (Photo: Charles Krupa/AP)

*****

Today, the EAC is located in a featureless federal high-rise on a charmless suburban strip, inside the Beltway but miles removed from the real nodes of Washington power. The agency has a budget of about $9 million and a workforce of nearly 30. The commission was conceived as a bipartisan agency, but only in the most literal sense, with two commissioners appointed by each major political party.

For the first 13 years of its life, the EAC attracted little notice. A 2005 paper noted that the EAC had no regulatory authority because voting, like gun ownership, is ferociously protected by states as a sign of their independence from the federal apparatus in Washington. That meant, the paper concluded, that the EAC had little coercive power. The best it could do was disseminate information, which it did with reports on electronic voting, voting by mail and accessibility for disabled voters. It was an agency with few carrots and no sticks.

Nor was there anyone to wield either threats or inducements. From 2010 to 2014, the EAC was effectively a ghost agency, lacking commissioners and senior staff. There was not a single public meeting in 2011, 2012, 2013 or 2014.

Still, Republicans fearful of Washington infringing on states rights tried to eliminate the EAC. Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., who chaired the House Administration Committee, made the first earnest effort to get rid of the agency in 2011. Harper called the EAC an agency with an increasing size and a dwindling purpose; one that has proven time and time again that what the agency knows how to do best is be reckless and irresponsible with taxpayer dollars. Harper argued that eliminating the EAC would save $33 million over five years, a laughably insignificant amount.

The EAC survived, but it remained mired in a philosophical (and political) tug of war between Democrats and Republicans over competing claims of fraud and voter suppression. Democrats accused Republicans of weakening the Voting Rights Act  a key aspect of Lyndon B. Johnsons civil rights agenda  by implementing new restrictions on voting.

Republicans, meanwhile, were installing operatives in key federal posts.

Former U.S. Attorney in Kansas City Bradley Schlozman arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 5, 2007, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committees hearing on the fired prosecutors. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)

In 2003, the George W. Bush administration appointed Bradley Schlozman, a young federal prosecutor whod been working in Missouri, to head the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, which oversees enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and handles other forms of discrimination.

During the four years Schlozman spent at the civil rights division, a later investigation found, he hired lawyers for career positions based on their political or ideological affiliations. Schlozman told people he wanted to hire real Americans, and followed hiring decisions closely to make sure that mandate was enforced. Among the lawyers hired by the voting division during Schlozmans four-year tenure was Christy McCormick, an unknown lawyer whod most recently been a clerk to an appellate judge in Virginia.

In 2014, McCormick joined the EAC as a commissioner. Matt Masterson, a well-respected Republican election official from Ohio, also joined. The following year, the EAC also got a new executive director, Brian Newby, who had overseen elections in Johnson County, Kansas. While in that post, hed conducted an extramarital affair with a female subordinate, though that was not revealed until an investigation by the Associated Press two years later. That report described Newby as a rogue election official who berated employees and deliberately bypassed supervision.

McCormick appeared intent on using the EAC to execute the vision of the Bush-era Department of Justice. The agency, which never had a clearly defined mission, was easy prey for ideological vehemence. In 2013, Arizona and Kansas had tried to institute proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, but the federal courts said only the EAC could grant permission for the states to put such a policy in place.

Christy McCormick, vice chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, speaks during a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing on election security in Washington on July 11, 2018. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In January 2016, Newby did just that, sending letters to the secretaries of state in Kansas, Georgia and Alabama that informed them that they could proceed with their efforts (those letters, like McCormicks memorandum, are gone from the EAC website). A federal appellate court eventually decreed the proposed requirements a mass denial of a fundamental constitutional right. Litigation on the issue is ongoing.

As the November 2016 presidential elections approached, the EAC remained listless and unfocused. Records of meetings show that cybersecurity was discussed by agency staff, but no urgency was ever conveyed to Congress or the public. By the time that EAC Commissioner Thomas Hicks testified before a House subcommittee on information technology, on Sept. 28, 2016, Russian interference on all levels of the democratic process was becoming known. Hicks, however, was not especially concerned. The American election administration system is secure, he told Congress.

*****

President Barack Obama announces new economic sanctions against key sectors of the Russian economy on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington in July 2014. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Despite at least two years of warnings about Moscows plans to disrupt elections in the West, it was not until the summer of 2016 that the Obama administration took the Russia threat seriously. When it comes to Russia, none of the recent US administrations have covered themselves in glory, says Steven Hall, former head of Russian operations for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Colin Kahl, a former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, recalled that after the presidents family returned from their annual vacation on Marthas Vineyard, there were very small, high-level meetings convened by National Security Adviser Susan Rice. During those meetings, it became clear that the Russians might not just be trying to sway public opinion but were probing for ways to actually tamper with votes. Eventually, evidence of Russian probing of voter registration databases would be found in 21 states.

At some point, there needed to be a public attribution of what the Russians were doing, Kahl says. But unless there was Republican buy-in to such an attribution, any such announcement would only give credence to Trumps conviction that the election was being rigged in Clintons favor.

The effort at a bipartisan condemnation of Russian efforts hit a brick wall, Kahl recalls, when it reached Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who just didnt believe it.

The EACs response, perhaps not surprisingly, tracked closely with McConnells: the agency has largely declined to recognize the Russian threat. They should be explicit about the threats and vulnerabilities of many older voting systems and should be urging election officials to purchase only systems that have voter-marked paper ballots, says Barbara Simons, board chair of the not-for-profit Verified Voting, who also serves on the EACs board of advisers.

Colin Kahl, former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, recalled very small, high-level meetings convened by National Security Adviser Susan Rice. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Brenda Soder, a spokesperson for the EAC, disputes that characterization. Its disingenuous and inaccurate to claim that the EAC doesnt take election security threats from Russia or any other potential malicious actor  foreign or domestic  seriously, she wrote in response to questions. While its not our responsibility to identify cyber adversaries or investigate these threats, the commission has worked directly with DHS and the FBI to communicate such threats to election officials.

Soder also points to the fact that the EAC tested and certified six voting systems from four separate manufacturers and conducted 12 training sessions across the country for election officials so they could become more familiar with information technology. She disputes the notion that the EAC has failed to provide oversight over the $380 million disbursement, noting that the agency is not able to do much more than advise states. It recently released an update on how states intend to use those funds, and plans an audit next year.

It is true that Congress hamstrung the EAC from the outset. But it is also true that the EACs commissioners dismissed the threat of Russia to the elections.

Disappointing, underwhelming, and thin was how McCormick, today the vice chair of the EAC, described the declassified intelligence report released in January 2017 that concluded Russia had definitely tried to influence the 2016 presidential election. Connecting the allegations in the report to the election administration process and asserting that it rose to the level of interference in our elections is a gross and incorrect characterization, McCormick wrote (the EAC has since removed the statement from its website).

McCormicks letter was a collection of talking points Republicans were using in defense of Donald Trump  against the intelligence community that within weeks would be working in his service. The intelligence report McCormick dismissed had determined that Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election, and that the goal of that campaign was to denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. The same day, outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson designated the nations 14,000 separate election systems critical infrastructure, making them eligible for federal funds.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, speaks during a House and Senate conference on Capitol Hill in December 2017. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)

The letter caught the attention of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who earlier this summer sent the EAC a letter of his own consisting of six detailed questions about how it plans to prevent cyberattacks. Wyden wanted to know how many cybersecurity experts the EAC employed; how it ensured that the voting systems it recommended were, in fact, safe, and how it planned to test those systems.

The commissioners sent back a 13-page letter that largely evaded the issues Wyden raised. They ignored several of my questions, which is unacceptable, Wyden told Yahoo News. Among the questions Wyden asked and the EAC declined to answer was whether McCormick remained a skeptic of Russian interference.

The EACs only other commissioner, Thomas Hicks, said in an interview he was confident in the measures that have been taken since 2016. Asked about electoral security, Hicks said that one of the best defenses we have is for people to serve as poll workers, Hicks said. He declined to talk about the letter McCormick had written. You should talk to her about her letters, he said. McCormick did not respond to direct requests for comment.

If the EAC wasnt focused on the Russia threat, it was following the lead of the Trump administration, which was trying to switch the narrative to that of wide-scale voter fraud on Democrats behalf. Trump at once minimized the importance of the report. Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results, the president-elect tweeted the day after the intelligence report came out.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach meets with President-elect Donald Trump at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J., in November 2016. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)

In May 2017, Kris Kobach, Kansass secretary of state and a close ally of Newby, the EACs executive director, was picked to head Trumps commission on voter fraud, predicated on his belief that millions had voted illegally in New York and California. Among those joining Kobach on that commission was McCormick, who also recommended that Department of Justice statistician Benjamin Overholt be appointed. We had numerous discussions, McCormick wrote to a Trump administration official in an email later made public, that make me pretty confident that he is conservative (and Christian, too). She offered no other evidence of his qualifications.

The voter commission was dissolved several months later, without having found any evidence whatsoever of voter fraud. McCormick, for her part, remains on the EAC.

In the meantime, the EAC now has two vacancies. One spot has been unfilled for some time; the other, until early this year, was occupied by Masterson, the Ohio official who has earned bipartisan admiration for his work. In February, the EAC made a confounding announcement: Masterson, who was chair of the commission at the time, would not be reappointed, a decision that reportedly came down from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin. It is pretty remarkable that in this environment, said a Colorado election official, given the importance of this issue, that the speaker would choose this moment to not reappoint the person doing the most work in this area.

Asked for an explanation of why Mastersons appointment was not extended, Ryan spokesperson AshLee Strong offered the following: Mr. Mastersons recommendation by the previous Speaker of the House expired in December and he agreed to stay on for an extended period while the next nomination proceeded. The speaker recommends a nominee and then the president formally nominates. Earlier this year, Speaker Ryan recommended Mr. [Donald] Palmer for the Election Assistance Commission and he is pleased the president has now nominated him for Senate confirmation.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in July. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Palmer, a voting official from Virginia, was involved in a 2013 voter integrity effort that critics depicted as similar to those that Kobach has undertaken in Kansas. The following year, he was behind a Republican-led effort to enforce voter-identification laws in Virginia.

Not all Republicans on the EAC shared McCormicks skepticism of the problem posed by Russia. After his term at the EAC ended, commissioner Matt Masterson moved over to DHS, where he is now a cybersecurity specialist. This spring, he testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, offering an upbeat assessment: Every state I travel to, state official I talk to, is taking this seriously.

Masterson reiterated that confidence in a recent interview. The progress made has been very real and immense, he said, noting in particular the creation of an information sharing center that he says has more than a thousand members who come from all 50 states. The number of election-infrastructure monitors who look for malicious traffic has quadrupled, and now includes 36 states and some counties. All 50 states are working with us in some way, Masterson said, even as he acknowledged a healthy skepticism from states about federal involvement.

Matt Masterson, senior cybersecurity advisor with the Department of Homeland Security, speaks during a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing on election security in Washington in July. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

That skepticism has waned in some quarters of the GOP. The vulnerability has been exposed by the Russians in 2016, and wed be wise to close that vulnerability in the days ahead, said Sen. James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, in a recent interview.

Lankford spent much of the spring and summer working with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, on a bill that would have significantly strengthen the nations electoral systems (the bill was stalled at the urging of the White House). At a July hearing of the Senate Rules Committee, Lankford said he had absolutely zero doubt about Russian interference, but he also urged lawmakers to look beyond 2016  and, in fact, beyond 2018.

Yet at that same hearing, Ted Cruz asked McCormick how seriously she took the threat of an election being directly hacked. McCormick did not seem especially worried, evincing the same confidence that Hicks had in his testimony before the 2016 election. Assessing that contest, McCormick agreed with Cruz that hacking did not alter election outcomes  an assertion that may be true but that ignores the complex, lasting damage Russia and other malefactors can (and have) caused.

McCormick offered a pithy summary of the 2016 interference campaign that would not have surprised anyone familiar with her work, or with the history of the EAC, an agency compromised from the start by ideological differences.

Nothing happened, she said.

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump react as they watch the election results during Trumps election night rally on Nov. 8, 2016, in New York. (Photo: John Locher/AP)

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:Amazon (AMZN) has remained silent over President Donald Trumps attacks, but it spoke up against Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday. In a rare move, the e-commerce giant said Sanders plays politics and makes misleading accusations in response to Sanderss criticism on Amazon warehouse workers compensation and benefits.

Update 10/3/18: Amazon announced a raise of workers minimum wage to $15, and Sanders publicly thanked Bezos.

Senator Sanders continues to spread misleading statements about pay and benefits, Amazon said in the blog, adding the average hourly wage for a full-time associate in fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, and incentive bonuses, is over $15 an hour. But Sanders said many Amazon workers employed by temporary staffing agencies and contractors are underpaid.

In response to Sanderss accusation that some Amazon employees are receiving federal benefits like food stamps, or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Amazon said its because they include people who only worked for Amazon for a short period of time and/or chose to work part-time  both of these groups would almost certainly qualify for SNAP. Amazon also said Sanders hasnt visited its warehouses despite repeated invitations. Sanders, who said he requested to visit the fulfillment center in Kenosha, Wisconsin last month but Amazon could not accommodate, plans to visit a fulfillment center in Chester, Virginia next month.

Amazon responds to Sen. Bernie Sanders criticism. (Photo credit: Reuters/Getty)

Dave Clark, Amazons head of global operations, sent an email to his team on Wednesday with the subject line, Please encourage associates to tell Senator Sanders their truth, urging them to share with Sanders positive experiences of working for Amazon.

Sanders has been seeking additional information about working conditions in Amazon warehouses for a bill hes preparing to introduce on September 5. The proposed bill targets not just Amazon, but also other big employers like Walmart. The bill would require big corporations to pay employees more, a continuation of Sanderss call for income equality, the centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign.

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If Amazon, Walmart and other corporations wont pay their workers a living wage, our bill would establish a 100% tax equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low-wage workers. The American taxpayer should not be subsidizing the richest people in history so they can underpay their employees, said Sanders in a statement.

Amazons fight for reputation

A group of employees is asking Amazon to improve working conditions at a Minnesota warehouse.

Amazon has been on a hiring spree as its warehouses expand nationwide. Last year, the company said it added 130,000 new positions. It also hosted a Jobs Day event last August, during which 20,000 people showed up at its fulfillment centers for 50,000 job openings.

While a stable income and health care benefits are attractive to new employees, the repetitive and high-pressure work has resulted in high turnover. According to PayScale, Amazons employee-turnover rates are the second worst of all Fortune 500 companies.

Long under pressure from labor union organizations and worker-rights advocacy groups, Amazon has increasingly felt the pressure to defend itself and improve its image. Last week, Amazon started to pay employees to post positive comments about working in warehouses. Those people, who call themselves FC (fulfillment center) ambassadors, share joyful experiences of working at Amazon warehouses and dispute others criticism by sharing their personal experiences.

Fourteen ambassador are former warehouse workers who have switched to full-time social media, promotion jobs, for the same pay and benefits as their prior roles. One such ambassador said that she now has the time to use the restroom. Another ambassador called Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, his heavenly father.

Its important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the fulfillment center tours we provide, an Amazon spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

Krystal Hu covers technology and economy for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

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Washington must not use a one-size-fits-all approach.

How America Should Handle Iran and North Korea

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of depriving its people to further its influence abroad, condemned Iran for violating human rights, and urged the Iranian people to provoke regime change. Yet just several weeks prior in a statement on North Korea, Pompeo did not call for the North Korean people to overthrow the regime of Kim Jong-un and wholly omitted any mention of human rights in North Korea, even though the country is a worse human rights abuser than Iran. Why has the Trump administration dealt with these two countries so differently? The answer, which comes down to differences in each country's political system, economy, and history, includes implications for how America can achieve denuclearization in both countries.

First, North Korea and Iran have different political and economic systems. Although the two countries seem to be similar in that their people live under totalitarian governments, Irans partial democracy allows the Iranian people to influence their government via presidential and parliamentary elections, not to mention demonstrations and strikes. Although the regime tightly controls these processes, Iranians certainly have more ability to influence their government than North Koreans do. For example, Hassan Rouhani, Irans current president, was elected against opposition from hardline factions because of his promise to lift international sanctions, develop his peoples livelihood, and pursue better relations with the West.

But Irans economic growth since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA or Iran Deal) was signed in 2015 has been undermined by a tense political climate with the United States. The re-imposition a ban on Iranian oil exports, its primary source of income, and further sanctions, which are scheduled to go into effect in November, are directly targeted at the Iranians livelihoods. For example, cutting Iran off from the SWIFT system, which allows Iranian banks to transfer money internationally, will seriously undermine the Iranian economy by harming its ability to trade abroad. Indeed, Irans currency, the rial, has depreciated by nearly 80% since last year, raising the cost of imports and essential goods. The United States knows that its sanctions will be effective in Iran because Iranians are revolting as their economy goes into freefall. As more Iranians revolt, the pressure on the government increases and it becomes more likely to make concessions.

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In contrast, North Korea is not your average tyrannical country. Although North Korea ostensibly has a democratic process for electing a legislature, this process is a farce; candidates face no competition and are selected by the state's single party. The North Korean people are forced to vote yes under surveillance or they face imprisonment without any ability to strike or demonstrate. Further, since the state's ideology brainwashes the North Korea people, they will follow any painful decisions made by their government out of fear, loyalty, or both. Thus, the effect of sanctions against North Korea, while certain to harm the people living there, is far less certain.

Moreover, North Korea is already very isolated from the world economy after decades of sanctions. Pyongyang earns its primary income from illegal sources (such as selling drugs and weapons and money laundering). This means that additional sanctions will have less of an effect on the regime's pocketbooks. North Korea remains heavily reliant on its primary trading partner, China, which comprises 91 percent of North Koreas trade. Therefore, the effectiveness of international sanctions depends on China's participation. This is a crucial difference from Iran, which is not dependent on trading with a single outside state. This notable difference should be taken seriously in dealing with both countries.

Second, each country poses a different military threat to the United States and its allies. North Korea already has nuclear weapons and an advanced ballistic missile arsenal that includes missiles capable of reaching the United States. Indeed, North Korea has threatened many times to attack America in response to aggression from Washington. Although North Koreas conventional military employs decrepit platforms, Pyongyang has formidable asymmetric capabilities including biological and chemical weapons, submarines, EMP and nuclear weapons.

In contrast, Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons or a missile system that can directly attack the United States. Instead, Iran's missiles can at most reach Central Europe, making the problem of Iran's nuclear capabilities an indirect threat to America, but a serious one for U.S. regional allies. The real concern is the possibility that Iran could eventually sell their nuclear weapons to terrorists, attack Israel, or use them to deter the United States while more aggressively expanding their influence in the Middle East. But these possibilities are hypothetical and can be addressed by other U.S. policy decisions.

Third, the two countries have different goals for expanding their influence as a result of the nuclear negotiations. The negotiations with Iran thus far have given Tehran a chance to extend its ideological influence in the Middle East. After sanctions were lifted, Iran sought to use its oil revenue to provide weapons and money to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government forces and to militants and terrorists in Iraq and Yemen. Surely, with the impending victory of the Assad regime, Iran will retain an influential role in the country from which it can threaten Israel and the Arab Gulf states. Israel, in particular, has also been concerned by Iranian support to Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, as well as Iran's efforts to militarize the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. That Iran's influence is embedded throughout the region makes addressing Iran's nuclear program all the more complicated and pressing. Any agreement that legitimizes Iran's nuclear program or gives it a windfall of cash without taking into account these factors will strengthen its regional influence and prestige.

Unlike the negotiations with Iran, successful denuclearization in North Korea would result in the growth Pyongyang's political and economic influence in East Asia. However, the critical point here is that North Korea doesn't want to export its ideology to other countries like Iran. North Korea's national ideology is only confined to the Korea Peninsula, and Kim Jong-un just wants regime stability, rather than expansion. For that reason, negotiations with North Korea will bring many direct and indirect benefits to the United States. For instance, ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program will be helpful in reducing tensions, and the correspondingly vicious arms race, in East Asia. By alleviating a significant threat to Japan and South Korea, interstate relations in the region will likely become more stable and secure. In addition, America can reduce the need for North Korea to illegally sell weapons and advanced technologies abroad by opening up legal means for Pyongyang to earn foreign currency, eliminating further threats to Israel and other states.

Because of the above differences between Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the United States should deal with each differently while pursuing denuclearization. But before suggesting a process tailored to these two nuclear negotiations, it is essential to define the metrics for success in both countries. For the United States, what is most important in North Korea is eliminating the nuclear security threat while regarding Iran it is blocking its growing regional influence and potential nuclear proliferation.

In the nuclear negotiations with Iran, America should remember that the Iranian people are the regimes greatest weakness. By provoking the Iranian people through targeted economic sanctions, the United States can create leverage to use as a bargaining tool. However, in North Korea, America should separate the political issues and human rights problems. As some people have observed, the United States is not pressuring North Korea on human rights because it is likely to ruin the negotiations rather than create leverage.

Second, the United States should focus on calculable factors in its negotiations with Iran. America already knows the locations of Irans nuclear facilities, how many centrifuges Iran has and how much uranium the country is enriching and has stockpiled. Seeking limits on these factors is both more feasible and verifiable than trying to address abstract and complex concepts such as blocking Irans malign influence in the region.

In contrast, the United States doesnt have accurate information on the location or number of North Koreas nuclear facilities or weapons. These uncertainties greatly complicate the negotiating process with North Korea. Given these circumstances, America should seek a more detailed agreement that starts with an understanding that complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization (CVID) is almost impossible. North Korea's sizeable domestic uranium deposits, cadres of unknown scientists, and hidden facilities make a permanent solution infeasible. Furthermore, North Koreans have no access to the internet and have been brainwashed by their government, which dramatically complicates the ability of the United States to gather intelligence or flip human sources as it did with Iranian dissidents. For these reasons, even if North Korea sent their nuclear warheads out of the country, it could restart its nuclear program again whenever it wants. Hence, the United States should be satisfied with an outcome of North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons capability and abandoning its intercontinental ballistic missiles. But the United States needs to make some conditions in the negotiation. Specifically, if CVID is achieved, but America finds out there is another nuclear facility or that Pyongyang has restarted its program, Washington should declare all these all negotiations invalid and reinstate the sanctions against North Korea immediately.

Third, where possible, America should work through a mediator to maximize its national interest. In the case of North Korea, South Korea can suggest alternative processes to help break the current political deadlock and build bilateral trust. In contrast, Iran case doesn't have a single mediator, but it does have the Europeans as well as Russia. Europe can be a useful intermediary since it has diplomatic relations and extensive trade ties with Iran. As in the prior negotiations, bringing Europe on board is key to solving Iran's nuclear problem. In that case, the United States should propose a step-by-step process of denuclearization to Iran rather than the current policy, as articulated by Pompeo, that requires Iran to do too much at once for little in return. To attain a substantive gain in its national interest, the United States needs to ask for something that Iran can consider.

The United States needs to deal with Iran and North Korea differently on their nuclear programs because of their distinct political systems, economic vulnerabilities, military capabilities, and ability to influence regional affairs. It is critical that America recognize the different stakeholders in regards to North Korea and Iran and take appropriate care to create the conditions for a lasting agreement. In both scenarios, there is a severe lack of trust among the United States and its interlocutors, both of which have been historical U.S. adversaries. Of course, this is why having a respectful dialogue and a verifiable process supported by international inspections is so important. The next step is doing everything possible to ensure that the United States succeeds.

Sangku Jang is an Asan fellow at The National Interest.

Image: Reuters

Read full articleA former vice president, a Hollywood actor and politicians from both parties will serve as pallbearers at Sen. John McCains memorial service in the nations capital on Saturday.

Fifteen individuals will carry the Vietnam War veterans coffin at the Washington National Cathedral memorial service before he is laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday.

They are actor Warren Beatty, Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, businessman Stephen Dart, former McCain presidential campaign manager Richard Davis, fundraiser Carla Eudy, former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, former Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.), Vice Chairman of Open Russia Vladimir Kara-Murza, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), McCains former chief of staff Mark Salter, fellow veteran and FedEx founder Fred Smith and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

Heres a look at some of those individuals and their relationship with McCain:

Former Vice President Joe Biden

Biden was a longtime friend and Senate colleague of John McCains. Here Biden is about to present Vietnam War veteran McCain with the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia in October 2017.

Actor Warren Beatty

Beatty (here with his wife, actress Annette Bening, and John and Cindy McCain in 2005) is a well-known Hollywood liberal, and his friendship with John McCain goes back to before his 2000 presidential bid, according to The Atlantic .

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg, who served New York City as a Republican (and briefly as an independent), was longtime friends with McCain, who campaigned for Bloomberg in 2001. In a Bloomberg.com editorial on Saturday, he praised the late senator as a hero in war as well as a hero in politics who always did what he believed to be right. Bloomberg (far left) is seen here in 2008 on the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York with Barack Obama and McCain  who were opposing candidates for the presidency at the time  as well as Cindy McCain.

Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen

Cohen (second from left), with McCain (second from right) in 1999. They served together in the Senate, and Cohen was a groomsman at McCains wedding to Cindy McCain, PBS reported .

Former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold

Feingold, a Democrat who served in the Senate from 1993 to 2011, recalled McCain in a New York Times editorial on Sunday as a determined and ambitious man who didnt see party lines as a divider. Though initially they could be seen as a political odd couple, Feingold wrote, they were dear friends for many years.

Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart

Hart, seen in 2013, whose political career overlapped with McCains, considered him a lifelong friend. The two men met a few years after McCains release from a North Vietnamese prison camp, when Hart was a first-term senator. A few years later, Hart was a guest of honor at McCains wedding in 1980 to Cindy McCain. When asked to be a pallbearer by McCain, Hart told The Denver Post , I broke into tears. First of all, it was facing his death  and it was such an honor.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge

Ridge (with McCain in 2008 when he was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee) was also a veteran of the Vietnam War. In a statement released after McCains death, Ridge reflected on McCains heroism and great character and called being his friend a privilege, adding, America is a greater nation thanks to John McCain. His contributions and legacy will forever endure.

Mark Salter

Salter  a speechwriter, confidant and chief of staff of McCains  helped him draft his final letter, which was released after his death. It was the honor of a lifetime, Salter told CBS News of his work and friendship with McCain. I met him in New Orleans in 1988, just sort of accidentally, and it was the luckiest day of my life.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

Whitehouse (center) a Democratic senator, was a longtime friend of McCains. In a statement, Whitehouse said that the request by McCain to serve as one of his pallbearers is a treasured gift and that his loss is a loss to our whole country.

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Kara-Murza (shown during a hearing on Capitol Hill in 2017) is a Russian activist and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last year McCain praised Kara-Murza on the Senate floor as a great friend and a fighter for freedom after the Russian dissident was hospitalized in Moscow for the second time after an apparent poisoning. In a Washington Post editorial on Monday, Kara-Murza credited McCain with saving his life by advocating for him and his recovery  which he said is often the only protection in these situations.

Richard Davis

Davis, who served as McCains presidential campaign manager in 2000 and 2008, also served as the familys spokesman after his death this month. Here he discusses McCains memorial arrangements.

Former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm

A U.S. representative and senator who began his political career as a Democrat and switched to the Republican Party, Gramm (seen with McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign) served as McCains campaign adviser on economic matters.

Fred Smith

The president and CEO of the FedEx Corp. was a friend of McCains, as well as a former officer in the Marine Corps and fellow Vietnam War veteran.

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Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Phoenix (AFP) - Arizonans paid their respects to John McCain on Wednesday as the body of the late senator lay in state in the capitol for a final farewell.

"He dedicated his life to serve his country," former Arizona senator Jon Kyl said during a ceremony in the capitol rotunda in Phoenix attended by McCain's wife, Cindy, and children.

"When he saw challenges to its institutions or values, he fought to protect them," Kyl said.

McCain's remains were driven to the state capitol in a black hearse escorted by four policemen on motorcycles. An honor guard made up of veterans, servicemen, and members of law enforcement and firefighters greeted the flag-draped casket.

McCain's daughter Meghan sobbed openly as her father's casket was placed on the Arizona state seal where it will be displayed for the public until Thursday.

Cindy McCain placed her cheek on the casket and patted it delicately following the intimate ceremony.

The two-time Republican presidential candidate, naval aviator and prisoner-of-war in Vietnam died on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer.

He would have turned 82 years old on Wednesday.

Following a memorial ceremony at the North Phoenix Baptist Church on Thursday, McCain's remains are to be flown on a military aircraft to Washington.

They will be on display for a public viewing Friday in the rotunda of the US Capitol -- an honor reserved for the likes of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and civil rights champion Rosa Parks.

The two men who defeated McCain in his White House campaigns, Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, are to deliver eulogies at a Saturday service at the National Cathedral in Washington.

Among the pallbearers will be Democratic former vice president Joe Biden, ex-senator Russ Feingold, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor Warren Beatty.

McCain will be buried Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in a private funeral service.

After coming under pressure from veterans' groups, President Donald Trump, who had an antagonistic relationship with McCain, ordered flags on Monday to be lowered to half-staff until his burial.

Trump is not expected to attend any of the services but Vice President Mike Pence is to speak at a ceremony at the US Capitol on Friday.Meghan McCain, daughter of US Senator John McCain, grieves over the casket of her father - AFP

Arizonans paid their respects to John McCain on Wednesday as the body of the late senator lay in state in the capitol for a final farewell.

"He dedicated his life to serve his country," former Arizona senator Jon Kyl said during a ceremony in the capitol rotunda in Phoenix attended by McCain's wife, Cindy, and children.

"When he saw challenges to its institutions or values, he fought to protect them," Kyl said.

McCain's remains were driven to the state capitol in a black hearse escorted by four policemen on motorcycles. An honor guard made up of veterans, servicemen, and members of law enforcement and firefighters greeted the flag-draped casket.

McCain's daughter Meghan sobbed openly as her father's casket was placed on the Arizona state seal where it will be displayed for the public until Thursday.

Meghan McCain, daughter of US Senator John McCain, grieves over the casket of her father Credit: JAE C. HONG/AFP

Cindy McCain placed her cheek on the casket and patted it delicately following the intimate ceremony.

The two-time Republican presidential candidate, naval aviator and prisoner-of-war in Vietnam died on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer.

He would have turned 82 years old on Wednesday.

Two groups who traveled to Arizona from San Diego to pay their respects to John McCain had been waiting outside in the heat since early morning.

Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain touches the casket during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol on August 29, 2018 Credit: Getty

Mike Foley bought a plane ticket to Phoenix so he could honor McCain after hearing the public could view the senator's casket Wednesday at the state Capitol.

Barry and Linda Vittori separately made the roughly five-hour drive Tuesday night. Linda Vittori says McCain "epitomises what I think our forefathers we're hoping our country would be."

Ahead of them was 17-year-old Regina Akerson, a Phoenix high school senior who wrote a report on McCain her freshman year and needs to attend a government ceremony for class.

She decided she could wait seven hours in the sun to pay her respects to McCain and fulfill that requirement, calling him "a legend."

Story continues

Senator John McCain Credit: Matt Rourke/AP

Following a memorial ceremony at the North Phoenix Baptist Church on Thursday, McCain's remains are to be flown on a military aircraft to Washington.

They will be on display for a public viewing Friday in the rotunda of the US Capitol - an honor reserved for the likes of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and civil rights champion Rosa Parks.

The Arizona National Guard carries the casket of US Senator John McCain during a memorial service in Phoenix Credit: ROB SCHUMACHER/AFP

The two men who defeated McCain in his White House campaigns, Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, are to deliver eulogies at a Saturday service at the National Cathedral in Washington.

Among the pallbearers will be Democratic former vice president Joe Biden, ex-senator Russ Feingold, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor Warren Beatty.

McCain will be buried Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in a private funeral service.

After coming under pressure from veterans' groups, President Donald Trump, who had an antagonistic relationship with McCain, ordered flags on Monday to be lowered to half-staff until his burial.

Trump is not expected to attend any of the services but Vice President Mike Pence is to speak at a ceremony at the US Capitol on Friday.Director Ben Wheatley arrives for the U.S. premiere of Free Fire at the Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Film Festival on Monday, March 13, 2017, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP)

The first details of Ben Wheatleys new film have been revealed after it was announced to be getting its world premiere as part of London Film Festivals Official Competition Selection for 2018.

The acclaimed British director whose previous films include Kill List, Free Fire, and High Rise has been working on his latest film under a veil of secrecy, but now we know a bit more about it including its official title: Happy New Year, Colin Burstead.

The new film, which was produced under the codename Colin You Anus, stars Joe Cole, Charles Dance, and Sam Riley and is described as a poignantly funny and razor-sharp observation of English family dysfunction.

The film marks a return to the festival for Wheatley after closing the 2016 festival with the European Premiere of Free Fire.

Heres the synopsis, courtesy of the BFI London Film Festival 2018: Colin has rented a stately country home for his extended familys New Year celebrations. Hes the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit. Starring Joe Cole, Charles Dance, Mark Monero, Hayley Squires, Asim Chaudhry, Doon Mackichan, Bill Paterson, Neil Maskell and Sam Riley.

This image released by A24 shows, from left, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Sam Riley and Michael Smiley in a scene from Free Fire. (Kerry Brown/A24 via AP)

Happy New Year, Colin Burstead is the second time Riley has worked with Wheatley after playing sleazy gangster Stevo in Free Fire, and the third time for Maskell who also starred in Kill List and High Rise.

Wheatleys films have always had a streak of black comedy running through them, and this sounds like it could be his funniest film yet.

Lenny Abrahamson, the Oscar-nominated director of Room and the upcoming The Little Stranger will serve as Jury President judging the 10 diverse films, with 50% of the films coming from a female director or co-director. Heres the full list films confirmed to be competing in competition at this years LFF.

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BIRDS OF PASSAGE sees co-directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent, LFF 2015) return to the Festival with their latest offering  a sprawling, spiritual exploration of family conflict and tribal warfare, laced with heady symbolism and surrealist flashes. Set during the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia bear witness to the thrilling rise and fall of the indigenous Wayuu clan in remote Colombia. A mystical meditation on colonialism, tribalism and modernism.

Nicole Kidman is astonishing, and almost unrecognisable, in Karyn Kusamas (The Invitation, LFF 2015) brooding thriller DESTROYER. Kidman plays Erin, a jaded police detective haunted by her past and still reeling from the trauma of her experience years later, who is forced to confront her demons in order to close the case that almost destroyed her. The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany and Toby Kebbell.

Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with HAPPY AS LAZZARO. A delightfully singular time and genre-bending rumination on the fate of innocence when faced with corruption and greed. Set in rural Italy, this is the tale of Lazzaro, a beautiful peasant so sweet natured he is often mistaken for simple-minded. A magnificent blend of Italian class struggle, folk tales, biblical allegory and pop culture reference, Rohrwacher deservedly shared the Best Screenplay award at Cannes for this kaleidoscopic work.

The World Premiere of HAPPY NEW YEAR, COLIN BURSTEAD is Ben Wheatleys triumphant return to the Festival after Free Fire (LFF 2016). A poignantly funny and razor-sharp observation of English family dysfunction. Colin has rented a stately country home for his extended familys New Year celebrations. Hes the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit. Starring Joe Cole, Charles Dance, Mark Monero, Hayley Squires, Asim Chaudhry, Doon Mackichan, Bill Paterson, Neil Maskell and Sam Riley.

Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with IN FABRIC, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Gwendoline Christie. A haunting ghost story, laced with lashings of oddball humour and set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a strange department store, it follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.

JOY, directed by Sudabeh Mortezai (whose debut feature Macondo competed for the LFFs Sutherland Award in 2014), presents a vital and hugely affecting drama that tackles the vicious cycle of sex trafficking in modern Europe. It follows the life of Joy, a young Nigerian woman, who works the streets to pay off debts to her exploiter Madame, while supporting her family in Nigeria and hoping for a better life for her young daughter in Vienna.

Iconic director Zhang Yimou presents SHADOW, set during Chinas Three Kingdoms era (AD 220-280). Blood spills in this visually stunning feature, as a great king and his people will be expelled from their homeland, with jaw-dropping combat scenes. Director Zhang presents mind-blowing visual design that revolutionises the colour palette, using water, calligraphy and graphic interpretations of yin and yang.

Academy Award winner Laszlo Nemes follows up his critically acclaimed debut Son of Saul (Official Competition nominee LFF 2015) with his feverishly ambitious second feature, SUNSET. Set in 1913, nearing the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and on the eve of the First World War. Irisz Leiter is a hat maker who returns to Budapest years after her parents, respected milliners, sent her to be fostered under mysterious circumstances. A fugue-like meditation on the end of an empire; the brilliantly willful Irisz is our witness to the flickering innocence of a Europe about to be plunged into hell.





THE OLD MAN & THE GUN, directed by David Lowery, stars Robert Redford in what will be his final big screen performance after recently announcing retirement. A brilliantly entertaining crime caper, based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, the self-styled Houdini whose many audacious prison breaks included an Alcatraz flight in a homemade kayak, and whose last robbery was committed when he was 79. Offering bittersweet reflections on time and age, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN is a testament to a free-spirit who steadfastly refused to go quietly. The film also stars Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck.

TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG is a woozily gorgeous evocation of life on the fringe of society. Set during the summer of 1990, after Pinochets fall, democracy has returned to Chile. Three youngsters drive up to a woodland commune below the Andes, where they idle the summer away while their parents debate the future. In their isolated community, Sofia, Lucas and Clara face their first loves and fears while building up for New Years Eve. Youthful desire, ennui and mischief have rarely felt so tangible. The film is directed by Dominga Sotomayor.

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Keanu Reeves has been crashing weddingOn Wednesday, a cooler, less humid high pressure air mass will spread south over the Chicago area with temperatures dropping into the 70s and dew points into the 50s, some 15 to 20 degrees lower than those experienced Tuesday. The mild, low-humidity air will last through Thursday before a return of heat and humidity toward the coming weekend.Police body camera footage released on Tuesday shows an altercation between two Denver police officers and a journalist from the Colorado Independent, in which the officers tell the woman to act like a lady as they handcuff her.

Susan Greene, a reporter and editor at the newspaper, was handcuffed and detained for more than 10 minutes after she attempted to film the Denver police surrounding a nearly naked African-American man sitting handcuffed on the sidewalk on July 5, according to Greenes account. The man was taken to the hospital and released later that evening, the city said.

The investigative reporter was driving along East Colfax Avenue near the Colorado State Capitol Building when she approached the scene. According to Greenes article about the incident, she was filming with her iPhone when Officer James Brooks came over and blocked her camera. In the footage, the officer cites the mans right to medical privacy per the HIPAA Privacy Rule as the reason she was not permitted to film him.

Officer Adam Paulsen joins Brooks, and they tell the journalist that the First Amendment does not supersede HIPAA.

The officers then tell Greene, Step away, or youll be arrested for interference. Shortly after a second warning, the officers handcuff Greene. Stand up straight. Act like a lady, Paulsen can be heard saying in the video.

Stand up and act like a lady, Brooks echoes.

Greene states that the officers are hurting her as she is led to the back of a squad car and police tell her to stop resisting. She was detained for roughly 10 minutes in the police car and then released.

District Attorney Beth McCann informed Greene last week that the D.A.s office will not press charges against the officers.

Greene wrote about her call with McCann after the decision was made: [McCann] said a charge of false imprisonment wasnt an option because theres an exemption for cops. And she said her office likely would have a tough time convincing a jury that Brooks assaulted me.

Story continues

I asked McCann about her take on the incident beyond the question of criminality. I dont know that he knew you were a journalist, for one thing, she said. But people are entitled to take pictures as long as people are not getting in the way of police. She added that Brooks comment Act like a lady was a little unnecessary.'

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MANILA (Reuters) - A homemade bomb hidden under a motorcycle killed two people, one a child, and wounded 37 at a local street festival in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, security officials said, the latest unrest in a region prone to militancy. The explosion occurred in front of a clothing stall along a highway in Isulan in Sultan Kudarat province, where a festival was taking place. An investigation was underway and there were no immediate claims of responsibility, according to police. The province is on the Philippines' second-largest island, Mindanao, parts of which have been plagued by decades of Maoist and separatist rebellions that have given rise to banditry and the influence of the Islamic State group. Arvin Encinas, spokesman of the army's 6th Infantry Division, said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), an armed group that has pledged allegiance with Islamic State, was suspected of being behind the attack. Mindanao remains under martial law until the end of the year following a five-month occupation Marawi City in 2017 by an alliance of rebels loyal to Islamic State, in which the military prevailed. Hundreds of people were killed, mostly rebels and soldiers. The latest bombing comes a month after a device was detonated in a van stopped at a checkpoint on the island of Basilan which killed 11 people, including four civilians. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato and Ronn Bautista; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Michael Perry)LIMA (Reuters) - Brazil said it was sending armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border area, while Peru declared a health emergency, as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated on Tuesday. In Brazil, where residents rioted and attacked Venezuelan immigrants in a border town earlier this month, President Michel Temer signed a decree to deploy the armed forces to the border state of Roraima. He said the move was aimed at keeping order and ensuring the safety of immigrants. Peru, meanwhile, declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing "imminent danger" to health and sanitation. The decree, published in the government's official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants. The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a "crisis moment" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week. Temer blamed the socialist Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro for the migration crisis. "The problem of Venezuela is no longer one of internal politics. It is a threat to the harmony of the whole continent," Temer said in a televised address. Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil met in Colombian capital Bogota for a summit to discuss how to cope with the influx. There are close to 1 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and more than 400,000 in Peru, the countries said in a joint statement after the meeting on Tuesday. Just 178,000 of those in Peru have legal permission to stay or are being processed. In an attempt to track arrivals and distribute aid, Colombia and Peru said they would share information about migrants in a database. Maduro has warned migrants they face difficult conditions abroad and invited them to return home. On Tuesday, Venezuela said it had repatriated 89 citizens who had migrated to Peru but sought to return after suffering "cruel treatment." "They listened to the siren call from abroad ... and all they found in Lima was racism, disdain, and persecution," Maduro told a news conference. He said Venezuelans should stop leaving the country to clean toilets and return to the "country of opportunity." Oscar Perez, an activist who works with Venezuelan migrants in Peru, said the repatriation was a publicity stunt by the Venezuelan government. An official at Peru's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the repatriation, saying the country was focused on regional solutions to address the situation. This month, Peru and Ecuador began requiring passports instead of national ID cards from Venezuelan migrants. Peru has also tightened deadlines for Venezuelans to sign up for a temporary residency card that lets them work in the country legally. On Saturday, the first day Peru imposed its passport rule, the number of Venezuelan migrants entering the country fell by more than half to 1,630, according to Peru's immigration agency. But hundreds more without passports entered the country by seeking asylum. Foreign ministers from Ecuador and Colombia, and possibly Peru and Brazil, will meet to discuss Venezuelan migration in Ecuador next week, said Christian Kruger, the head of Colombia's migration agency. (Reporting By Mitra Taj in Lima, Additional Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota, Vivian Sequera and Angus Berwick in Caracas and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)In an independent report, researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (GW Milken Institute SPH) have estimated that there were 2,975 excess deaths in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria's devastating impacts.

The new report's findings analyzed death certificates and other mortality data for six months from September 2017 and February 2018. The new death toll is 22 percent greater than the number of deaths that would've been expected during that period in a year without the deadly hurricane, according to the report.

Soon after the powerful Category 4 storm pummeled Puerto Rico last year, the United States territory's government determined that 64 people had died.

However, unofficial reports and independent studies, including an analysis conducted by the New York Times in December 2017, suggested that the official death toll likely exceeded the number released by Puerto Rico's government.



Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria anniversary

An Aug. 2, 2018, photo from Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, shows remaining devastation where Hurricane Maria's eye passed through in September 2017. (AccuWeather Photo/Karuska Matos-Horta)

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello ordered a recount of the official death toll in light of mounting evidence that the low figure was a "gross misrepresentation" of the fatalities that had occurred, Vox reported.

To obtain a more accurate and rigorous assessment of the number of people on the island that perished during and following Maria, Rossello commissioned the recent independent study from GW Milken Institute SPH last December.

"The results of our epidemiological study suggest that, tragically, Hurricane Maria led to a large number of excess deaths throughout the island," said Carlos Santos-Burgoa, M.D., MPH, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator and a professor of global health at GW Milken Institute SPH, adding in a press release that lower-income citizens and the elderly faced the highest risk.

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The study showed that the risk of death during the period from September 2017 to February 2018 was greatest - 60 percent higher than expected - for those living in poorer communities, and that the elevated risk persisted beyond February.

The report also found that older male Puerto Ricans had a "risk of death that was 35 percent higher than expected" during that five-month period. An elevated risk of death for this group also continued past the study observation period.

"We hope this report and its recommendations will help build the island's resilience and pave the way toward a plan that will protect all sectors of society in times of natural disasters," Santos-Burgoa said.

In early August, the Puerto Rican government stated in an online report that they acknowledged the deaths of more than 1,400 people as a result of Maria.



Maria fatalities - AP

Nerybelle Perez poses with a portrait of her father, World War II veteran Efrain Perez, who died inside an ambulance after being turned away from the largest public hospital when it had no electricity or water, days after Hurricane Maria passed, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)



AccuWeather predicted shortly after Maria's impact that the Puerto Rico death toll would become much higher than initial official number provided by the government.

The latest report, which offered recommendations for Puerto Rico and the mainland U.S. to establish better disaster preparedness and response methods, also identified flaws in mortality surveillance and communications systems.

It showed that the biggest contributors to the incorrect and low number of initially reported deaths included "lack of communication, well-established guidelines and lack of training for physicians on how to certify deaths in disasters."

"The lessons learned from this report and subsequent studies will help not just Puerto Rico, but other regions in the U.S. and around the world that face the ongoing threat of hurricanes and other natural disasters," said report co-author Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., M.S., MPH, Michael and Lori Milken Dean of the GW Milken Institute SPH. "If enacted, the recommendations of this report could help save lives in Puerto Rico and beyond."

Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier speaking together in Brussels (Reuters)

UK and EU negotiators will meet every week in a bid to reach a Brexit deal by the looming deadline, Yahoo Finance UK has learned.

There has been confusion over the frequency of talks after EU Brexit chief Michel Barnier said last week that they were being made continuous.

The negotiations are now entering the final stage, he said. We have agreed that the EU and the UK will negotiate continuously from now on.

Many took that to mean that they would be taking place in Brussels every day, but details of the next round of negotiations  expected to take place this week  have not yet been confirmed.

A European Commission source has now confirmed that continuous talks means they will take place at least once-a-week.

MORE: EXCLUSIVE  Theresa May set to address MEPs in final Brexit deal push

That means the pace of talks will more than double, as so far this year negotiators have met on average once every two and a half weeks.

With reports that the deadline for a deal has moved from mid-October to mid-November, that leaves time for 10 to 11 more rounds of negotiations in which to settle the outstanding 20% of the draft Withdrawal Agreement and set the framework for the future relationship.

Brexit secretary Dominic Raab told peers today that he was still aiming to do a deal by the European Council on October 18, but said: There is some measure of leeway.

UKIP leader Gerard Batten said today the slipping timetable for a deal showed the government was not committed to Brexit.

The increase in the frequency of talks is though being matched by renewed political engagement.

David Davis at a joint press conference with Michel Barnier in March 2018 (Getty)

In the first six months of 2018, former Brexit secretary David Davis met Barnier three times. Thats one meeting every 63 days.

Talks usually took place at a technical level between civil servants  Olly Robbins, the prime ministers Brexit advisor, on the UK side and Sabine Weyand, Barniers deputy, for the EU.

Daviss replacement, Dominic Raab, has taken a more hands-on approach to talks.

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Yahoo UK Finance reported how he managed the same number of meetings with his EU counterpart in just 34 days.

Each round of talks still begins with technical talks before that work is reviewed at a political level  if there has been progress.

MORE: In 34 days, Raab has already met Barnier the same amount of times as Davis

Raab has even become frustrated that he cant secure more time for one-to-one talks with Barnier, the Guardian reports today.

The commission insists that Barnier and his team have been and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

They also say that Barnier will continue to brief the press regularly about the state of play negotiations.

The French politician is keen to get the EUs message across in the face of what he said last week was a blame game in the British media about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Davis found joint press conferences with Barnier an irksome opportunity to criticise Britains position, according to the Guardian.

MORE: Barnier slams British blame game over possibility of a no-deal Brexit



London (AFP) - Britain said Wednesday it would open new embassies in Chad and Niger to boost its diplomatic presence in Africa's troubled Sahel region.

The announcement came as Prime Minister Theresa May wrapped up a trip to South Africa and headed to Nigeria and Kenya on her first trip to the continent as premier.

"In one of Africa's most fragile regions, we are increasing our support for African countries' efforts to tackle the underlying drivers of instability and conflict," the Foreign Office in London said in a statement.

"The expansion will see the UK step up diplomatic, defence and development engagement in the region, creating new partnerships and opportunities and reducing potential threats to UK and European security."

The Boko Haram jihadist group's Islamist insurgency has devastated the region since 2009, leaving at least 20,000 people dead, displacing more than two million others and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

Britain has offices in Chad and Niger but no embassies.

Chad is covered by the British High Commission in Yaounde in Cameroon, while Niger is covered by the embassy in Bamako in Mali.

London will also increase its presence in Bamako.

"We must not allow instability across the Sahel, exacerbated by regional conflicts, to continue to hold back development and to spill over into the rest of Africa or into Europe," said Africa Minister Harriett Baldwin.

"Strengthening Britain's presence in Chad, Niger, and Mali will allow us to work more closely with our partners in the region to create new opportunities and tackle together the challenges posed by instability, poverty, and irregular migration."

Chad and Niger are currently working alongside Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania in a joint military operation aimed at tackling jihadists in the region, known as the G5 Sahel force which has won backing from Europe.Abuja (AFP) - Britain's Theresa May held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

Buhari said Brexit offers an opportunity to strengthen historic ties with London which ruled Nigeria as a colony to 1960.

"We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time," he told May.

"I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries."

Both leaders oversaw the signing of agreements on a security partnership and an economic development forum after meeting in the capital Abuja.

"This clearly highlights the two priority areas in our relationship at the moment," Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters.

He said a defence and security pact was to help tackle Nigeria's challenges such as military training, policing and human rights.

The economic forum sought "to leverage areas where we have, as countries, competitive advantages: the financial centre that London is and the investment opportunities in our country, to build that up with the private sector as well as at the government level," Onyeama said.

"This is in the context of the UK's Brexit, coming out of the European Union. They feel freer now to engage with countries on a bilateral level and build up trade relations with those countries.

"For us this also fits into our economic recovery and growth plan ... and so this partnership will be a framework that will achieve very much in our economic recovery and growth plan," the minister said.

- 'Greatest rights abuse of our times' -

Buhari welcomed British support to strengthen democratic institutions.

"I assure you that Im all out for free, fair and credible elections," the president told May ahead of a vote due next year.

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She kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town on Tuesday pledging to prioritise investment in Africa -- although it was her diffident dance moves rather than diplomacy that captured the headlines.

The three-day tour, which will also take her to Kenya, is part of a campaign to promote Britain's global ambitions.

With just seven months until Britain formally leaves the EU, May is under pressure to forge post-Brexit trade deals.

British officials are eyeing a doubling of bilateral trade with Nigeria by 2030 from the 4.2 billion ($5.42 billion, 4.64 billion euros) in 2017.

China is currently Nigeria's biggest trading partner with Abuja importing some $7 billion in goods from Beijing.

After Abuja, May headed to Lagos, the economic capital, for talks on efforts to stem the migrant flow to Europe and meet victims of modern slavery.

"Modern slavery is one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time and the UK is a world leader in making it an international mission to end this heinous crime," she said in a Commonwealth statement.

"Today we are stepping up our partnership with Nigerian authorities to find traffickers and bring them to justice," May added.

A 10.5 million pound ($13.5 million) aid package would target human and drug traffickers and help repatriate 1,700 Nigerian slavery victims.

As Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria is one of the main migrant departure for Europe, with 37,500 nationals reaching the Italian coast in 2016 and 18,000 in 2017, according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures.

In December, the IOM said 36,000 Nigerians were stranded in Libya and Niger. Nigeria's immigration agency estimates 10,000 of its citizens died trying to cross the Sahara or the Mediterranean between January and May 2017.Abuja (AFP) - Britain's Theresa May landed in Nigeria's capital on Wednesday on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

While in Abuja, May held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari after which both leaders oversaw the signing of two agreements on security and the economy.

"There are two agreements that were signed today. The first one was on a defence and security pact between our two country's respective national security advisers and the second one was an economic development forum that's been set up," Nigeria Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters.

"This clearly highlights the two priority areas in our relationship at the moment," he said.

He said the defence and security pact was to help tackle Nigeria's challenges such as military training, policing and human rights.

"On the economic development forum... it's looking to leverage areas where we have, as countries, competitive advantages: the financial centre that London is and the investment opportunities in our country, to build that up with the private sector as well as at the government level," he said.

Onyeama said the pact would be comprehensive and involve different stakeholders.

"This is in the context of the UK's Brexit, coming out of the European Union. They feel freer now to engage with countries on a bilateral level and build up trade relations with those countries," he said.

"For us this also fits into our economic recovery and growth plan where the president has put forward a road map for transforming this country and so this partnership will be a framework that will achieve very much in our economic recovery and growth plan".

May kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town on Tuesday where she pledged to prioritise investment in Africa -- although it was her diffident dance moves rather than her diplomacy that captured the headlines.

Story continues

The tour, which will also take her to Kenya, is part of a campaign to promote Britain's global ambitions after Brexit.

With just seven months until Britain formally leaves the EU, May is under pressure back home from those sceptical of her ability to forge post-Brexit trade deals but British officials ae eyeing a doubling of trade with Nigeria over the next decade or so.

"Bilateral trade between Britain and Nigeria was up to 4.2 billion ($5.42 billion, 4.64 billion euros), in 2017 and we expect to more than double this figure by 2030," Laure Beaufils, Britain's deputy high commissioner to Nigeria, told a press conference ahead of May's arrival in Abuja.

China is currently Nigeria's biggest trading partner with Abuja importing some $7 billion in goods from Beijing.

After the talks in Abuja, May later headed to Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, where she will hold talks on efforts to stem the migrant flow to Europe and meet victims of modern slavery.

As Africa's most populous country, Nigeria is the main country from which migrants leave for Europe, with 37,500 Nigerian nationals reaching the Italian coast in 2016 and 18,000 in 2017, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) figures.

In December, the IOM said that more than 36,000 Nigerians were stranded in Libya and Niger. Nigeria's immigration agency estimates that 10,000 of its citizens died while trying to cross the Sahara or the Mediterranean between January and May 2017.

The British premier will then head on to Kenya for the last leg of her three-day trip.Vernon Unsworth, in orange, pictured during the rescue of the 12 Thai trapped schoolboys - REUTERS

The British caving expert who coordinated the rescue of 12 Thai children trapped underground has informed Elon Musk he is preparing to sue him, after the Tesla founder labelled him a paedo on Twitter.

Vernon Unsworth, 63, enraged the billionaire when he rejected his offer of sending a submarine to assist the rescue, pointing out that it was not a workable solution, and deriding it as a "PR stunt".

He said Mr Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts."

Mr Musk hit back, calling Mr Unsworth a paedo guy, in a now-deleted tweet. He then issued an apology, and said he had tweeted in anger.

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla

But on Tuesday he reignited the controversy by mocking Mr Unsworth for not following up on his threat to take legal action.

On Wednesday it emerged that Mr Unsworths lawyers had in fact sent Mr Musk a letter on August 6, informing him of their intention to sue for the false and defamatory statements.

You published through three different tweets to your twenty-two million followers that Mr Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children, wrote L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta-based defamation expert, in a letter obtained by BuzzFeed.

You did so without any basis. According to a subsequent Twitter post, you did so out of anger.

A Tesla representative did not respond to The Telegraphs request for comment.

Mr Unsworth told Sky News on Wednesday: It's all being dealt with, that's all I can say."MarketWatch

Mortgage rates still remain near record lows  some 15-year rates are near 2% and some 30-year rates are below 3%, as you can see here  but many potential buyers, worried about the recent rise of home prices, arent sure if they should dip their toes into the housing market. Indeed, the latest Zillow market report released in October notes a slight softening in for-sale markets, with monthly home value appreciation slowing for the first time since January.Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin virtual currencies. Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Another week, another round of cryptocurrency price swings and people calling the likes of bitcoin a scam.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) broke the psychological barrier of $7,000 after travelling sideways for three weeks at about $6,000. Weve had the US Securities and Exchange Commission reject several ETF proposals failing to pull down the price. But on the flipside, Morgan Creek Digital and Bitwise Asset Management rolled out a cryptocurrency fund.

Amid all this, one of the worlds most famous financial scam artists came out swinging and said in no uncertain terms that people are brainwashed into thinking cryptocurrencies are legitimate.

I was a scammer. I had it down to science, and its exactly whats happening with bitcoin, said Jordan Belfort, who is better known as the Wolf of Wall Street after he spent 22 months in prison for his pump-and-dump penny stock scam. The whole thing is so stupid, these kids have gotten themselves so brainwashed. We dont even know how bad it really is.

There are a few well-known people in finance who are less scathing about cryptocurrency, namely Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein who wont invest in it but wont dismiss it and legendary investor George Soros who called bitcoin a bubble but then decided to trade in the digital assets.

But its not just Belfort who has poured scorn on bitcoinhes just the latest in a long line of people in business who think its a scam.

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the worlds largest hedge fund which manages around $160bn of clients money. In September last year, he said he does not believe in cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin today you cant make much transactions in it. You cant spend it very easily, Dalio said on CNBC. Its not an effective storehold of wealth because it has volatility to it, unlike gold. Bitcoin is a highly speculative market. Bitcoin is a bubble.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is one of the worlds most powerful people in banking. In September 2017, he said that the cryptocurrency market is worse than tulip bulbs. It wont end well. Someone is going to get killed. Currencies have legal support. It will blow up.

Story continues

He then added hed fire in a second any JPM trader who was trading bitcoin. Its against our rules and they are stupid.

But in January this year he said he regret calling bitcoin a fraud and added the blockchain is real. You can have cryptodollars in yen and stuff like that. ICOs  you got to look at every one individually. The bitcoin was always to me what the governments are going to feel about bitcoin when it gets really big. And I just have a different opinion than other people.

Jaime Dimon. (Photo: CCN)

While some heralded this as a backpedal on his opinion, others were keen to point out that Dimon hadnt changed his stance. In fact, this month, Dimon doubled down on how he feels about cryptos, calling it a scam.

Nouriel Roubini, the influential American economist who also worked as a senior adviser to Timothy Geithner (former US Treasury secretary) and is known as Dr Doom who doesnt mince his words.

In May this year, he said there is no decentralisation, its just bullst. This was a bubble  the ones who arrived late to the party are the suckers. And if it wasnt clear how he felt, he wrote an opinion piece about how blockchain, the tech that underpins cryptocurrency, is overhyped.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin of Citadel is another sceptic. He said I dont have a single portfolio manager who has told me we should buy crypto. Whats unfortunate is the amount of hype and the number of early investors whove been caught up in this hype.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett is a lot more scathing. In an interview with Yahoo Finance this year he said buying bitcoin is not investing. He said, if you buy something like a farm, an apartment house, or an interest in a business  You can do that on a private basis  And its a perfectly satisfactory investment. You look at the investment itself to deliver the return to you. Now, if you buy something like bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you dont really have anything that has produced anything. Youre just hoping the next guy pays more.

He also said in May that bitcoin is probably rat poison squared while his Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) vice-chairman Charlie Munger said during the groups annual meeting that trading in cryptos is just dementia. Munger also called bitcoin a noxious poison that the government should tackle.

Elsewhere, the Nobel prize-winning professor of economics Joseph Stiglitz is just as concerned. He said last year that bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight, so it seems to me it ought to be outlawed. It doesnt serve any socially useful function.Washington (AFP) - Canada and the United States appeared to be moving closer to a new regional free trade pact, as US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday touted the progress being made.

As the crucial phase of talks continued in Washington to try to bridge the differences on a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the optimism raised hopes NAFTA would continue as a three-nation pact with Mexico, despite Trump's threat to leave Canada on the sidelines.

"I think they're going really well," Trump said when asked about the Canada talks at a White House event. "I think Canada very much wants to make the deal."

He again raised the possibility of doing a separate deal with Canada alone but for the Friday deadline, "I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens."

Trudeau also said the agreement could happen by the end of the week -- the deadline the United States has set to have at least the broad accord completed.

"There is a possibility of getting to a good deal for Canada by Friday," Trudeau said. But any agreement "will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada," Trudeau said at a student rally in northern Ontario.

"I have said from the very beginning no NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal," he added, echoing Trump's words.

After Mexico paved the way by agreeing to a NAFTA 2.0 with the United States on Monday, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said "a lot has been accomplished" in her two meetings so far with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The United States and Canada are now engaged in "an extremely intense period in the negotiations," she told reporters on Wednesday, adding that trade officials had worked late into the night outstanding issues.

Freeland declined to get into specifics on what issues remained, saying she and Lighthizer agreed not to discuss the details in public.

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- 'High-level' agreement -

Lighthizer said he would officially notify the US Congress on Friday of the intention to enter into a new trade pact in 90 days. The White House then would have until September 30 to present Congress with the final NAFTA agreement.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners.

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite the 25-year-old free trade pact. But in the last five weeks, Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland has repeatedly stressed to reporters that she remained in close touch with her US and Mexican counterparts throughout the summer and had already achieved "a high-level agreement with the US" on some the pending issues on autos and labor rights.

She also met late Tuesday night with her Mexican counterparts, who had remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough with the United States.

She praised Mexico's willingness to make difficult concessions on auto trade and labor issues, which helped pave the way for a three-party agreement.

"Our workers have been concerned for a long time...about the way in which trade agreements can harm blue-collar workers in high-wage countries," she said.

The "significant compromises that Mexico was prepared to make to support Canadian workers ...set the stage for very intensive conversations" to conclude NAFTA.

Wall Street was cheered by the signs of progress, with all three major stock indices closing with solid gains, and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both setting new records.

The outlines of the new NAFTA include a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, a percentage of vehicles that must come from high wage factories, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

Still, Trump said he would take a tough line with Canada on dairy trade -- long a source of tension between the neighboring countries.

Trudeau has nevertheless vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

The system has been in place since the 1970s and has survived several attempts to undo it.

Trudeau faces political pressure with elections due in a year, which could make him wary of being seen as capitulating to Trump, especially on dairy.

But Ottawa could offer US dairy farmers a small increase in market share as it did with the EU in a free trade pact last year.

Canada also objects to the US call to eliminate bi-national panels to resolve trade disputes among NAFTA partners under Chapter 19, which appears to have been dropped in the deal with Mexico. Canada has used the provision to challenge US anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

But Washington also backed away from a strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate the trade pact after five years. Instead, the agreement with Mexico extends NAFTA for 16 years but with a review every six years.Pennsylvanias attorney general has claimed to have evidence that the Vatican was aware of a systematic cover up for decades of sex abuse carried out by priests in the Catholic Church.

Josh Shapiro described the abuses dating back to 1947 found by a grand jury in an interview with NBCs Today Show, including a systematic cover up that went all the way to the Vatican.

I cant specifically speak to Pope Francis, the attorney general said Monday about whether or not the the pontiff was aware of the abuses. But, he said: We have evidence that the Vatican had knowledge of a cover up.

An estimated 300 Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children  and possibly many more  since the 1940s, according to a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report that accused senior church officials, including the man who is now archbishop of Washington, DC, of systematically covering up complaints.

The real number of victimised children and abusive priests might be higher since some secret church records were lost and some victims never came forward, the grand jury said in the report, which is the largest of its kind in the United States.

US bishops adopted widespread reforms in 2002 when clergy abuse became a national crisis for the church, including stricter requirements for reporting accusations to law enforcement and a streamlined process for removing clerics. But the grand jury said more changes are needed.

Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability, the grand jury wrote in the roughly 900-page report. Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis faced a lukewarm reception and scattered protests on his trip to Ireland, with even his vow to rid the church of the scourge of sexual abuse and his outrage at those repugnant crimes dismissed as a disappointment by some of Irelands wounded victims.

Story continues

But others who met with him in private left heartened that he would respond to their plight, including two of the thousands of children who were forcibly put up for adoption for the shame of having been born to unwed mothers. They said Francis described the corruption and cover up in the church as caca  which a Vatican translated for the English speakers as filth as one sees in the toilet.

The abuse scandal  which has exploded anew in the US but has convulsed Ireland since the 1990s with revelations of unfathomable violence and humiliation against women and children  took centre stage on the first day of the Popes two-day trip. The visit was originally intended to celebrate Catholic families.

Francis responded to the outcry by vowing to end sex abuse and cover up during a speech to Irish government authorities at Dublin Castle.

The failure of ecclesiastical authorities  bishops, religious superiors, priests and others  to adequately address these repugnant crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community, he told them. I myself share these sentiments.

He cited measures taken by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to respond to the crisis. But while Benedict is credited with cracking down on abusers, he never acknowledged the Vaticans role in fuelling a culture of cover up or sanctioned bishops for failing to protect their flocks from predator priests.

Additional reporting by the APBy Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump have asked a federal judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by adult film actress Stormy Daniels, calling it an attempt to suppress the president's free speech.

In a motion filed on Monday in Los Angeles federal court, Trump's lawyers also said that Daniels, who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and was threatened to keep quiet about it, had actually benefited from the attention brought by her dispute with the president.

Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, called the motion "baseless and desperate."

Daniels' lawsuit, filed on April 30, centers on her account of being accosted by a man in a Las Vegas parking lot soon after she had agreed in May 2011 to talk about her alleged encounter with Trump to In Touch magazine.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said the man told her to "leave Trump alone" and, after looking at her infant daughter, said: "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom."

On April 17, Avenatti released a composite sketch purporting to depict the man.

Trump, who has denied having an affair with Daniels, responded the next day on Twitter: "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!"

Daniels said the tweet was defamatory.

In Monday's motion, Trump's lawyers said the lawsuit was "designed to chill the president's free speech rights on matters of public concern." They cited a law in Daniels' home state of Texas requiring that such a lawsuit be dismissed unless Daniels could provide "clear and specific evidence" for her claims, which they said she had failed to do.

They also said that Daniels had not been harmed, and had instead "capitalized" on the dispute with a nationwide tour of strip clubs "for which she admittedly is being paid at least four times her normal appearance fee."

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Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty last week to violating federal election law by paying Daniels $130,000 not to disclose information that would be harmful to Trump.

The White House denied any wrongdoing by the president after the plea, and Trump said on Twitter that Cohen made up "stories" to get a deal with prosecutors.

Related Video: President Denies Payments Came From Campaign

Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View.



(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)SAO PAULO (AP)  The South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL is facing renewed criticism after its marquee Copa Libertadores tournament was marred by fan violence and contradictory last-minute rulings.

Tuesday's match between Brazil's Santos and Argentina's Independiente had to be called off 10 minutes before the final whistle after local fans angry at a CONMEBOL ruling fought with police and threw fireworks onto the pitch. The second leg of the round-of-16 match was tied 0-0 when Santos supporters started ripping seats from the stands and later stormed the pitch.

Hours earlier CONMEBOL awarded Independiente a 3-0 win in the first leg, despite that match also ending 0-0, arguing Santos fielded an ineligible player.

That decision was placed under further scrutiny when CONMEBOL issued the opposite ruling Wednesday in a similar case involving River Plate. The Argentine club also fielded an ineligible player, midfielder Bruno Zuculini, in the first leg against local rivals Racing, but the result in that match  also 0-0  was allowed to stand.

Confident River Plate then beat a distressed Racing 3-0 and qualified to the quarterfinals after a match full of tension in Buenos Aires, with three red cards and harsh challenges from both sides.

CONMEBOL said it made a mistake in February when River Plate asked about suspended players for matches in South American tournaments, and the soccer body did not include Zuculini in the list.

Racing executives said they will take the case to the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS).

The Santos case, meanwhile, centered around a 3-year-old red card, as Uruguayan midfielder Carlos Sanchez was still carrying a suspension in CONMEBOL competitions after being sent off in a Copa Sudamericana match in 2015. The clash against Independiente three weeks ago was his first game back under the governing body's jurisdiction since then after he left to play for Mexico's Monterrey.

The continental body said the 0-0 result from the second leg would stand, meaning Independiente advanced.

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Santos' 17-year-old striker, Rodrygo, who was recently signed by Real Madrid, said he would have acted like the fans did if he was in the stands.

"This is shameful. These fans are totally right," he told journalists. "We need to understand how fans feel. We went to Argentina, played as hard as we could, drew 0-0 and then we arrive here losing 3-0. CONMEBOL is responsible."

However, Rodrygo said later on social media that he regretted his statements and that he is against fan violence.

Santos right-back Victor Ferraz said the CONMEBOL decision was making him consider retiring.

"CONMEBOL gave this qualification to Independiente, this is unbelievable, unexplainable and I can't quite believe it," the 30-year-old player said on social media. "When I saw that chaos on the pitch I could only think that those that caused such suffering were not there to feel the fear, the anger they had caused."

Officials at the Pacaembu stadium in Sao Paulo said 60 seats were ripped out during the incident.

River Plate president Rodrigo D'Onofrio told Fox Sports that his club's case was different from Santos'.

"CONMEBOL had to tell us which players were not eligible and their response was clear: the only one that could not play was Nacho Fernandez. We can't ask God, we asked CONMEBOL, the top body of the region. We complied with their rules," he said.

Zuculini played seven matches in the current edition of Copa Libertadores. In August 2013, as a Racing player, he was sent off in a match against Lanus in the Copa Sudamericana. The midfielder was initially suspended for four matches, but his penalty was reduced to two games of absence in 2016.

CONMEBOL argued Racing needed to file their case 24 hours after their first leg for it to be successful, but the club only registered it two weeks later. None of the other teams that played River Plate in the Copa Libertadores registered any complaint about Zuculini.

CONMEBOL has become a scandal-ridden body in recent years amid a series of graft scandals involving its previous top leaders. Three of its last presidents have been arrested.

On Wednesday, former CONMEBOL President Juan Angel Napout was sentenced by an American court to nine years in jail. He was arrested at a luxury hotel in Switzerland in 2015, when he was the sitting leader of the South American body, as part of the U.S. Department of Justice's widening bribery case into FIFA.

Napout was also sentenced to return $3.3 million that were paid in bribes in exchange for broadcasting rights. He has already served eight months of his sentence in New York.Nairobi (AFP) - The corruption trial of Kenya's deputy chief justice, the country's second-highest judge, was suspended Wednesday amid a barrage of legal petitions at various courts.

Philomena Mwilu, one of seven members of the Supreme Court, was arrested Tuesday after Kenya's director of public prosecutions, Noordin Haji, accused her of abusing her office for personal gain.

Mwilu was among the judges who annulled President Uhuru Kenyatta's initial election win in August 2017, leading to the controversial holding of a fresh vote.

She was due to be formally charged at a Nairobi magistrates' court on Wednesday but High Court judge Chacha Mwita suspended the criminal case until October 9 to hear a constitutional challenge brought by her lawyers.

Mwilu's lead lawyer James Orengo, a prominent opposition figure and elected senator who played a key role in overturning last year's election outcome, said the move against the judge was "an attack on the judiciary".

"These charges have been brought not to secure justice but to secure the removal of the deputy chief justice from office," he said before launching his legal challenge to the case.

He insisted on her innocence, saying: "There is no factual foundation for instituting these proceedings."

After his initial election was annulled Kenyatta publicly warned that he would "fix the judiciary" and some judges subsequently faced threats and intimidation.

In October 2017, Mwilu's bodyguard was shot dead the day before the Supreme Court was to hear a petition to postpone the re-run.

As a result, Mwilu did not attend the hearing and the lack of a quorum meant the election went ahead unchallenged.

"This is an intensified war on the Supreme Court," Orengo said Wednesday.

Mwilu was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2016, and shot into the limelight for her role in annulling Kenyatta's first poll win.

Haji said her arrest was part of an ongoing crackdown against corruption, which has seen several high-ranking officials hauled into court, a rarity in graft-wracked Kenya whose citizens rarely see justice done.

"We are an independent institution and we are not being directed by anyone," he said.Brussels (AFP) - A row between Italy's populist government and the EU could sink hopes of ending Europe's longstanding crisis over migrants, and even raises doubts about Rome's place in the bloc, analysts and officials say.

Despite a sharp drop in asylum seekers entering Europe since a 2015 peak, Italy is turning away ships with migrants rescued at sea in a campaign to make EU countries take their share.

In the latest standoff, Rome has threatened to cut its annual contribution to the EU budget, triggering a warning of sanctions from Brussels and dark threats that it would be breaching the very treaties that underpin the bloc's existence.

The increasingly bitter dispute highlights how elusive a three-year search for EU solidarity on migration has been -- a problem some warn could even sink the post-war European project.

"We do have a crisis of solidarity," Marie De Somer, an analyst with the Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre (EPC) told AFP.

Despite an apparent deal by EU leaders meeting in Brussels on June 29, Italy has continued to reject rescue ships until EU countries agree to take their share of migrants.

Nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in.

But the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation bloc, is still trying to broker a deal for a permanent mechanism among EU countries to take in migrants aboard these ships.

- 'Heavy sanctions' possible -

As the week-long standoff over the Diciotti worsened on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio warned that Rome could cut its funding for the bloc.

"The European Union has decided to turn its back on Italy once again," complained Di Maio, from the populist Five Star movement, which is in coalition with a hardline anti-immigration party.

The European Commission, which coordinates migration policy, said the EU "operates on the basis of rules, not threats" as it hit back at Di Maio's comments.

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Guenther Oettinger, the EU's budget commissioner, warned Italy would be running risks by becoming the first in EU history to refuse to pay its budget contribution.

"This would result in late payment interests. And a breach of Treaty obligations leading to possible further heavy sanctions," Oettinger warned on Twitter.

The EPC's De Somer said the split is not as deep as it seems as the Commission and the European Parliament both back Italy's demand that other member countries share more of the responsibility for migrants.

"It's the same policy Italy is advocating for," De Somer told AFP.

The problem is with many EU member countries -- particularly with the former communist states in eastern Europe that refuse to admit asylum seekers.

"There is no worse deaf person than someone who doesn't want to hear," Sylvie Guillaume, a member of a European Parliament committee dealing with migration, told AFP.

Countries led by Hungary rejected an EU scheme agreed in 2015 to relocate 160,000 Syrian and other asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, the main landing points during Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.

- 'No longer alone' -

Under international law, EU countries must grant asylum to people fleeing war and persecution but not to those escaping poverty and seeking jobs, who can be sent back to their countries, especially in West Africa.

Italy has pleaded for distinguishing genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants before they disembark from ships, and has gradually hardened its tone.

Even though Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte proclaimed Rome was "no longer alone" after the June summit, his government is increasingly sceptical of the results.

The summit called for setting up "disembarkation platforms" outside the bloc, most likely in North Africa, in a bid to discourage migrants boarding EU-bound smuggler boats.

But so far no deals have been struck.

"It will take enormous diplomatic and financial capital, and it will take years before they even start working," De Somer said.

The summit also called for EU states to set up migrant processing centres -- but while they all welcomed the plan, no one has volunteered to host one.

"You'll still have to agree on which member states will take how many refugees," Somer said.US president claims Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good

The US presidents tweets  sent at 5.24am Washington DC time  are the latest in a string of attacks by Trump on major tech companies. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump has used a series of early morning tweets to complain that Googles news service is rigged against him and has pledged to address this very serious situation.

The US president said the existing system was biased in favour of stories from leftwing news outlets and suggested tech companies were trying to hide positive stories about his administration  something that Google strongly denied.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

He went on:

....results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

Speaking to reporters at the White House later in the day, Trump continued with the theme, which he previewed in comments last week, saying Google had really taken a lot of advantage of a lot of people, its a very serious thing.

Adding the names of Facebook and Twitter, he said: They better be careful, because you cant do that to people ... we have literally thousands of complaints coming in.

But asked whether Trump thinks Google should be subject to some regulation, Larry Kudlow, the presidents top economic adviser, told reporters outside the White House that were taking a look.

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Trump also stated that 96% of Google News results for Trump were from leftwing outlets, which he described as very dangerous.

It is likely the US president was referring to a viral news story posted on Saturday by the website PJ Media, which concluded that the vast majority of Google News results for the president were from left-leaning outlets. The site used a classification that ranks almost every mainstream news outlet  other than Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and DailyMail.com  as leftwing.

PJ Media said its survey of the top 100 Google News results for the search term Trump was not scientific but suggested a pattern of bias against right-leaning content.

The US president possibly came across PJ Medias 96% statistic after it was covered by Fox News host Lou Dobbs on his Monday night broadcast.

Google never reveals how its algorithm works, partly to stop news organisations from gaming the system in order to boost their ranking. Google News results can be a substantial driver of traffic for websites, with the system relying on a vast number of signals when it comes to ranking news stories, potentially including a news sites long-term reputation and popularity.

In a statement, Google insisted that it is not distorting results: When users type queries into the Google search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds. Search is not used to set a political agenda and we dont bias our results toward any political ideology.

Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users queries. We continually work to improve Google search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.

The US presidents tweets  sent at 5.24am Washington DC time  are the latest in a string of attacks by Trump on major tech companies, as part of his ongoing criticism of the media.

Earlier this month, he said that too many voices are being destroyed by social networks, who have become increasingly willing to ban prominent individuals who have broken their rules, such as the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.Donald Trump Jr. has a new celebrity enemy in his sightline: comedian Chelsea Handler.

He also has a new ally: actor James Woods, who has joined the presidents eldest son in attacking Handler online.

Trump and Woods have joked about Handlers private life. (Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Communities in Schools of Los Angeles)

It all started Tuesday, when Handler tweeted that she cant wait for the younger Trump to flip on his father, a reference to speculation that Trump Jr. may be the latest White House figure to strike a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.

POTUSs son soon fired off a rebuttal, which poked fun at Handlers comedy career and told her to stay away from politics. Handler, a liberal, has recently been using her platform to support female politicians.

Id say stick to comedy but you werent funny enough to avoid cancellation of your Netflix show. Stay away from politics  no reason to suck at two things. https://t.co/TWaIdU0d71  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 28, 2018

The encounter caught the attention of Woods, who turned Trumps reference to Handler sucking at two things (i.e., comedy and politics) into a provocative, shaming gibe. Trump  whose stepmother, Melania Trump, railed against cyberbullying last week  voiced his support for Woodss remark.

James Woods joined Trumps takedown of Handler. (Photo: Todd Williamson/Getty Images)

While Woods, who has starred in such films as Casino and Ghosts of Mississippi, received praise from followers for his crude comment, Trump has been scolded for not keeping it classy. One critic even tagged his younger sister, Ivanka Trump, to alert her to the sexist exchange.

Hey @IvankaTrump  know you're a champion for women and wanted to make sure you saw this solid sexist #BeBesting https://t.co/TxoC8q2zSx  Emily Brandwin (@CIAspygirl) August 29, 2018

Handler, meanwhile, has not responded.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:WASHINGTON  A bipartisan effort to rename a Senate office building to honor Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who died Saturday, is being met by opposition from some Republican senators, who expressed concern about dishonoring the legacy of the controversial man for whom the structure was named.

The Russell Senate Office Building, one of three Senate office buildings near the U.S. Capitol that house member offices, was named after the late Democratic Sen. Richard Russell Jr. of Georgia in 1972. A New Deal supporter with a career that spanned four decades, he has a long list of accomplishments, among them being the chief sponsor of the National School Lunch Act, which provided free or low-cost school lunches to impoverished students. A skilled legislator and longtime friend of Lyndon Johnson, Russell served as the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and at one point ran for president.

But he is now most known for being an avowed segregationist and a racist, as his 76-year-old niece admitted to The Washington Posts James Hohmann, and Russells record on civil rights is shocking today. Hohmann writes:

Russell successfully filibustered anti-lynching bills. He voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which he called shortsighted and disastrous. He blocked bills to eliminate poll taxes. He co-authored the Southern Manifesto to slow the integration of public schools after the Supreme Court unanimously ordered it in Brown v. Board of Education.

As a Dixiecrat  Southern Democratic politicians opposed to their partys support for civil rights  Russell openly argued the white race was superior and once vowed that he would oppose any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our states. He later toned down his rhetoric and pinned the reason for his opposition to civil rights legislation on the less controversial states rights.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday began circulating a resolution to rename the Russell Senate Office Building for McCain, whose office is there, in honor of his legacy as a war hero and public servant. The effort has picked up support from many Republicans, including Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake.

Sen. Richard Russell Jr. (front left) meeting with other Southern senators in 1959. (Photo: Paul Schutzer / Getty Images)

But some Southerners expressed concern about taking Russells name off the building, arguing that it deserves to be there, despite his opposition to civil rights.

He did so many other things, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) told reporters on Tuesday, citing Russells creation of the school lunch program. He was a big supporter of the Great Society, the War on Poverty. Now, we all know those things failed, but he was a big champion of them.

Perdue added, This was a guy who was a giant in the Senate. This renaming thing because of one issue, its somewhat troubling.

Perdue said he supported the creation of a bipartisan select committee of senators to recommend how best to honor McCains legacy in Washington, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) announced on Tuesday. McConnell suggested renaming the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing room after McCain, the committees most recent chairman, or adding his portrait to the Senate Reception Room. Notably, however, McConnell did not address Schumers proposal to rename the building.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), another influential Southerner in the Senate, said Russell was a well respected man in the South. But Shelby said he had not made up his mind on whether to support changing the name of the Russell building.

You want to get into that, [then] you have to get into George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and most of our Founding Fathers, maybe with the exception of Hamilton. Its easy to prejudge what they should have done. We didnt live in that era, Shelby told reporters on Tuesday.

When HuffPost noted that Washington and Jefferson, who both owned slaves, predated Russell by over 100 years, Shelby responded, They did. But so did others.

He added, Im not justifying anything. Im a Southerner. Im just saying Russell was a man of his time.

The junior senator from Alabama, Democrat Doug Jones, meanwhile, had a different view of Russells legacy. As a former U.S. attorney in Alabama, Jones is known for prosecuting Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African-American girls.

He certainly was a giant for sure, Jones said of Russell. But I think if you go look at the overall body of work, it would be good to see [McCains name on the building].

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Only midwives with nursing degrees are legally permitted to practice in Illinois. The new bill would allow some certified professional midwives who are not nurses to apply for licensure in Illinois, a move that would allow them to provide more comprehensive care without fear of criminalization, advocates say, while opening up more options for parents seeking home birthsAFP

When Elon Musk accused a Thai cave rescue hero of being a "pedo", he suggested he would have been sued if it was not true. Now the diver's lawyers have confirmed that legal action is about to begin.

Mr Musk has revived the bizarre accusation in recent hours when he posted a tweet suggesting once again that Vern Unsworth, one of the divers involved in the rescue, was a paedophile. He first made the claim weeks ago, after the operation was concluded  before apologising and taking it back.

In a strange conversation that began with a discussion of whether Mr Musk had cried or not, he argued with a Twitter user who suggested that he should have been more careful when he made the first accusation.

That post led Mr Musk to double down on his original claim, suggesting that Mr Unsworth is a paedophile or he would have sued him already.

"You dont think its strange he hasnt sued me?" Mr Musk wrote in the first of a series of tweets. "He was offered free legal services."

Now L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta attorney, confirmed to The Independent that he and a London lawyer are pursuing legal action against the Tesla boss. The legal team is in the process of finalising its complaint against Mr Musk and expects to file it in the coming days, he said.

Previously, Mr Musk had apologised for the accusation, suggesting that he had been upset by a comment that the diver had made.

"My words were spoken in anger after Mr Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader," he wrote then.

"Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologise to Mr Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.

"I am truly sorry if I offended anyone."

The New York Times interview that prompted the discussion included a range of details about how the Tesla boss's intense working schedule was affecting his personal life and leading to his erratic Twitter presence.Brussels (AFP) - The European Commission on Wednesday urged France and Britain to find an "amicable" solution after fishermen from the two countries clashed in the English Channel over a hoard of scallops.

Brussels insisted however that it could not get involved in the fight as arrangements for trawling for the prized shellfish were made between individual countries, not at a European level.

"We saw the reports of incidents involving French and British fishermen off the coast of Normandy," European Commission spokesman Daniel Rosario told a daily briefing in Brussels.

"Scallop fishery is regulated at national level and over the past years common management measures have been agreed between France, the UK and Ireland," the spokesman added.

"So it is in the interest first and foremost of the fishermen that this agreement is in place. And we invite the national authorities to resolve any dispute in an amicable way as has been done in the past."

As a years-long dispute boiled over, five heavily outnumbered British scallop boats sailed into battle with around 35 French vessels in the incident on Tuesday.

Fishermen from both sides hurled stones and insults at each other while some of the boats also rammed each other, according to video footage.

The skirmish took place more than 12 nautical miles out to sea where the British are legally allowed to fish all year round.

But their French counterparts, restricted to fishing for scallops between October 1 and May 15, have accused the British of depleting stocks and want them to face the same rules.

The issue is doubly sensitive given the uncertain future of arrangements for fishing in the area after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, particularly if Britain crashes out without a withdrawal deal.By Ana Ionova and Josiane Kouagheu LONDON/DOUALA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Cocoa firms operating in Cameroon have moved staff out of the Anglophone region of the country and farmers are abandoning their crops in the area, as violence between separatists and security forces intensifies, exporters and farmers told Reuters. Sources say the deepening conflict has started denting cocoa output and flow from the southwest, stripping the region of its mantle as Cameroon's top cocoa-growing area. Telcar Cocoa, Olam and Theobroma are among the firms that have moved the majority of their staff out of southwest Cameroon due to safety concerns, according to several sources with knowledge of the matter. Some cocoa farmers have also abandoned their plantations and fled, driven out by a rise in kidnappings, extortion and fighting between insurgents and security forces. "Producers have fled into the bush and elsewhere, and can no longer take care of their plantations," said James Mosima, president of the union of southwest cocoa farmers. "The situation is really very difficult." Cameroon has been gripped by violence since November 2016, when government forces crushed a movement of Anglophone teachers and lawyers protesting against their perceived marginalization by the country's French-speaking majority. The protests morphed into an insurgency of separatists seeking independence for the Anglophone southwest and northwest regions, which were controlled by Britain during colonialism. The crisis has intensified ahead of elections in October, with the increasingly bloody clashes hitting cocoa trade in what was once the key cocoa region of Cameroon, the world's fifth-largest producer. WORSENING VIOLENCE In recent months, insurgents have abducted and killed soldiers while security forces responded by burning villages and opening fire on fleeing residents, according to witnesses. The army denies such accusations. Sources say deteriorating security has made it increasingly difficult for cocoa buyers and exporters to operate in the area. At least one warehouse belonging to Telcar, the largest buyer in the region, was burned, according to several sources with knowledge of the matter. The crisis has led major cocoa firms - including Telcar Cocoa, Theobroma and Olam - to relocate most of their staff from the region, according to sources. Telcar Cocoa is a joint venture between Cargill and Cameroonian businesswoman Kate Kanyi Fotso Tometi. Theobroma is part of ECOM Group. The sources said Theobroma has relocated its staff some 150 km (95 miles) south, from the Mamfe region to Kumba. Olam, meanwhile, has moved staff out of Mamfe and Kumba to the economic capital, Douala, the sources said. Most international companies had small teams stationed in the region, they said, with one of the sources estimating 15-20 people were moved altogether. Cargill declined to comment. Olam and ECOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cameroon's trade minister and Fotso also declined to answer questions about the crisis in the Anglophone regions. Most international export firms now use local buying agents as intermediaries to source cocoa from the affected areas, exporters said. "At one point, if the effort or the risk is too much ... you leave it to the buying agents," one source at an international firm said. BULLETS AND EXTORTION Some farmers also said they had fled, fearing violence and threats from separatists demanding payments to allow cocoa to move out of the southwest. Several cocoa farmers who had left that region told Reuters armed groups had been targeting "rich men" and demanding money to allow the flow of goods out of the area. In June, Peter, 59, abandoned his cocoa farm and sought refuge in Douala with his wife and four children. "Since (the) beginning of this year ... not a week has passed without an exchange of fire between army and separatist fighters," said Peter, who declined to give his last name for security reasons. "I had three hectares of cocoa and I gave up everything. I could not stay because, apart from bullets, the separatists extorted money from us." As many as 200,000 people have fled the English-speaking regions since late last year, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. As farmers flee the southwest, sources say the conflict has started to hit cocoa output and flow. The southwest accounted for 45 percent of Cameroon's production in 2016/17, but its share dropped to 32 percent last season, according to CICC, the country's cocoa regulator. Cameroon produced 253,510 tonnes of beans in the 2017-2018 season. For a graphic, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2yVlmVV The conflict has made it more difficult to move beans out of the Anglophone region and into the main port in Douala, the sources said. Cameroon's cocoa stocks built up to 21,159 tonnes in 2017-2018, from 7,212 tonnes in the prior season, according to the National Office of Cocoa and Coffee (ONCC). "The vast majority of this stock is in the English-speaking region because the fighting paralyses everything," a source at the ONCC said. However, trade sources said cocoa was still finding its way out of the southwest, as more beans were being smuggled into Nigeria instead. One trade source estimated that volumes flowing across the border rose to 30,000-40,000 tonnes last season, from about 10,000 in previous years. "At the end of the day, cocoa is money for the locals," the source said. "It's like water - it always finds its way out." (Additional reporting by Ange Aboa in Abidjan; Editing by Dale Hudson)Leah Cambridge is said to have died after undergoing a Brazilian butt lift at a clinic in Turkey (Facebook)

The family of a mother-of-three who reportedly died after travelling to Turkey for cosmetic surgery are still waiting for answers over the tragedy.

Leah Cambridge, 29, is said to have died after undergoing a Brazilian butt lift at a clinic that boasts celebrity clientele.

The procedure, which reshapes the buttocks by transferring fat from areas including the stomach and back, has become an increasingly popular technique for achieving an hourglass figure.

Ms Cambridge, a beautician from Leeds, is reported to have travelled to a clinic in the city of Izmir for the 3,000 operation.

The mum-of-three is reported to have travelled to a clinic in the city of Izmir for the 3,000 operation (Facebook)

Her devastated partner, Scott Franks, 31, said he had been left a broken man and warned others considering going under the knife to think about the risks.

He told The Sun: People need to be aware of situations that can happen with this treatment.

We are still waiting for answers and are also trying to get a flight to bring Leah home.

READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK:

Police officers attacked in McDonalds by hostile crowd as they pin down suspect

North Korea warns the US that talks over denuclearisation could fall apart

Scotlands coastal litter problem unveiled in new photos

Is this the UKs priciest pint? London pub starts selling beer for 22.50

Watch: Scallop wars break out in English Channel as French fishermen attack British boats

The huge popularity of curvier celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Nicki Minaj has seen some women go to extreme lengths to emulate their hourglass figures.

Advocates of the Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, say it achieves results quickly and recovery is usually fast.

However, experts have warned it carries a risk of serious complications.

Ms Cambridges family are still waiting for answers over the tragedy (Facebook)

The popularity of curvier celebrities like Kim Kardashian has seen some women go to extreme lengths to emulate their hourglass figures (Rex)

Another British woman, Joy Williams, died following buttock augmentation surgery in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2014.

Her wounds became infected, and the 24-year-old, from London, later died under anaesthetic.

In 2011, 20-year-old Claudia Aderotimi, from Hackney, east London, died after having a buttock-enhancement procedure at an American hotel.The FBI has contradicted President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that China hacked into the emails of his former campaign rival, Hillary Clinton.

"Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China," Mr Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning. "Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps ... their credibility will be forever gone!

The president provided no evidence to back up his claim. On Wednesday, an FBI spokesperson told the Washington Post that the agency "has not found any evidence the servers were compromised".

Mr Trump's early-morning tweet followed a report from the Daily Caller, which claimed that "nearly all" of Ms Clinton's emails had been accessed by a Chinese-owned company in Washington, DC during her time as secretary of state. The report was later covered by Fox News, a favourite news source for the president.

A spokesman for Ms Clinton pushed back on the report, telling the Daily Caller: "The FBI spent thousands of hours investigating, and found no evidence of intrusion. Thats a fact."

Ms Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state has been a frequent topic of conversation for Mr Trump and his supporters since 2015, when the FBI launched an investigation into her conduct.

The agency eventually found that Ms Clinton had been extremely careless in her use of the private email server, but did not recommend charges  a disappointing result for the crowds who chanted "Lock her up!" at Mr Trump's campaign rallies.

The president has since turned his ire against the FBI, accusing it of being biased in its investigation of Ms Clinton, and in its probe of possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia. In his first tweet about the alleged Chinese hacking, Mr Trump wrote: "Report just out: 'China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server.' Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)?"

Story continues

The tweet was met with condemnation by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which said they "firmly oppose and crack down on any forms of internet attacks and the stealing of secrets," according to Reuters.

Relations between the US and China have been strained since Mr Trump accused Beijing of predatory trade policies, and placed billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. China responded with matching tariffs on American imports, setting off a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

"China advocates that the international community jointly respond to cybersecurity threats through dialogue and cooperation, on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a briefing.Tripoli (AFP) - Fresh fighting erupted in the Libyan capital on Wednesday after the collapse of a truce, a witness and military source said, after the UN called for calm.

A military officer with forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord said there had been intermittent fighting in Tripoli's southern suburbs.

"A combined force from the ministry of defence and (ministry of) interior of the GNA led an offensive against positions of the 7th Brigade," he said.

The militia had been trying to advance along the road to Tripoli's international airport which has largely been closed since fighting in 2014.

The 7th Brigade supposedly operates under the GNA's defence ministry.

But on Monday Interior Minister Abdessalam Ashour said security forces were fighting the militia, which hails from the town of Tarhuna southeast of Tripoli.

Those clashes left at least five people dead and 33 wounded, according to a health ministry toll, before a truce was reached in the evening.

Fighting resumed on Wednesday in the Salaheddin neighbourhood of southern Tripoli, a resident said.

He reported machineguns and anti-aircraft guns being fired, which could be heard over the phone.

Overnight the UN Support Mission in Libya warned of attempts to "tamper with the security (of) Tripoli and its residents".

"There is no justification for the bloodshed. UNSMIL calls on all to spare lives, stop military mobilisation and allow for mediation," the mission wrote on Twitter.

The UN's plea followed reports that forces from the city of Misrata, 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Tripoli, intended to head to the capital.

Powerful armed groups from Misrata spearheaded the "Fajr Libya" coalition of militias which seized Tripoli in 2014.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted in 2011.First-time UK mum Tasha Burton, 36, suffered stomach pains and extreme fatigue during her pregnancy with Alaric Corley, now 16 months, but put it down to a difficult pregnancy. It turns out she had bowel cancer. Source: Caters

A new mum has revealed she mistook the symptoms of deadly bowel cancer for the side effects of pregnancy and is now urging others to be aware of the signs.

First-time mum Tasha Burton, 36, suffered stomach pains and extreme fatigue during her pregnancy with Alaric Corley, now 16 months, but put it down to a difficult pregnancy.

When the stomach pains, which Ms Burton, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, initially believed to be indigestion and heartburn, continued after her baby boy was born in April 2017 the mum returned to the doctors and was diagnosed with bowel cancer six months later.

The operation to remove part of her colon last month revealed the cancer had spread. Its unlikely the mum will live past the next five years.

She is focusing on making memories with warehouse worker fiance Dan Corley, 23, and their son, and has planned to marry him.

Ms Burton with her partner Dan Corley and their little boy Alaric. Source: Caters

It hurts more than anything that Im not going to be in my sons life, Ms Burton said.

I cant imagine not being around for him. It breaks my heart every day but Im going to fight as much as I can.

I dont want to die, I want to see him grow up. I have to fight and feel positive and stay strong.

Ms Burton said she wants a life with her partner but their priorities have since changed after her diagnosis.

We should be planning our future together  our wedding, holidays, days out, future schools for Alaric where I should be walking him through the school gates  but now were also having to consider funeral plans, she said.

Ms Burton now wants to focus on the time she has left with her little boy. Source: Just Giving/ Support Tashas Journey

Ms Burton started to feel unwell just over half-way through the pregnancy but put it down to what she believed were typical symptoms.

I was extremely tired, she said.

I was still having morning sickness and stomach pains. I was working full-time so just put the tiredness down to that.

She added she put the stomach aches down to indigestion and heartburn. Ms Burton said shed had stomach pains in the past but hadnt suffered with this before.

The symptoms only got worse after her son was born and after she got home her health began to deteriorate.

Story continues

They (stomach aches) actually felt like contractions, she said.

At first, I was sort of able to ignore them because I thought it was just the body going back to normal.

But then I started to worry that I was still having contraction-like feelings after he was born. I was being sick about once a week.

The mums health began to get worse after she returned home with her newborn son. Source: Just Giving/ Support Tashas Journey

The 36-year-old spoke to the doctors about eight weeks after Alaric was born and they agreed to do an ultrasound.

After finding a cyst on her pancreas they sent her for more tests. It was thought the mum may have had appendicitis, but six months after the contraction pain she began to have trouble eating and couldnt stand up.

Ms Burton had a CT scan which showed she had a thickening of the bowel and it was arranged that shed meet with a specialist.

However, before the appointment the pain became unbearable so the mum went to Watford General Hospitals A&E where they did another CT scan and operated on her the next day.

She was in the operating theatre for about seven hours.

They said it was an aggressive tumour and they removed quite a lot of my colon and 23 of my lymph nodes  nine of which tested positive for cancer, she said.

She then spent five weeks in hospital including three weeks in intensive care after developing sepsis.

My body had started to shut down and my family and friends were worried I wouldnt pull through, Ms Burton said.

I wasnt allowed to see my son because the risk of infection was too high.

It was so hard, it broke my heart. He was only six months old when I went into hospital and not being able to see him for five whole weeks was the worst part.

They thought the cancer had been removed but were talking about a round of chemotherapy to make sure theyd caught it all.

The mum found chemotherapy very tough but forced herself to carry on to be with her son.

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Watch: Scallop wars break out in English Channel as French fishermen attack British boats

Ms Burton also discovered a blood clot on her lung, which affected her breathing but managed to recover.

But last month, more cancer cells were found after another CT scan.

That showed I had two tumours, one about 5cm in my neck and one in my back. The bowel cancer had spread via my lymph nodes, she said.

We had been starting to look ahead as a family and it was devastating to hear that  to think youre getting better and then to hear that its spread. Its not easy to take in.

Ms Burton was told the cancer was terminal and that it was too dangerous to operate on the tumours because of their location.

Shes now on another course of chemotherapy at Mount Vernon hospital in Northwood, Middlesex, to try and prolong her life.

I questioned life expectancy and about five per cent reach five years. We hope the chemo will prolong my life, she said.

The cancers not going to go away which is really hard to take. Theyre trying to treat it the best as they can and give me as long as possible.

Most people get to think about future events, simple things like taking your children to nursery or to primary school. I do wonder if Im going to be around for that. That hurts to think about.

Ms Burton and her partner, who met three years ago, were ecstatic on discovering she was pregnant with Alaric after she earlier suffered a miscarriage.

They family are now trying to put behind more tragedy and focus on the time they have left together.

Were making an extra effort now to make sure we get photos of the things were doing and to put them in the memory book so that Alaric can look back on it when hes older, she said.

His dad is going to be there for him and hes a good dad who really looks after him.

Ms Burtons family and friends have started a crowdfunding page to raise money.Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, left, listens to opponent Adam Putnam during a debate in Jacksonville: John Raoux/AP

Voters are going to the polls today in Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma for the 2018 primary elections.

The primaries will see the electorate choose their preferred Republican and Democratic gubernatorial and senate candidates ahead of November's midterms.

Here's everything you need to know.

Florida

In the race to replace the Sunshine State's outgoing two-term governor Rick Scott  now running for the Senate and expected to secure his place alongside the Democrat's Bill Nelson with ease  the Republican candidates are Ron DeSantis and Adam Putnam.

Three-term congressman Mr DeSantis is president Donald Trump's choice and is expected to win the day with that endorsement. He recently launched a campaign ad in which he urged his toddler daughter to "build that wall" with toy blocks, referring to the president's plan to build a wall with Mexico.

But Mr Putnam, state agriculture commissioner, has used the presidential nod to his advantage, portraying his opponent as little more than a Trump stooge as part of his appeal to the party's establishment.

A late poll conducted by Florida Politics puts Mr DeSantis in the lead with 57 per cent to Mr Putnam's 33 per cent, with 10 per cent refusing to commit.

Among the Democrats, Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress and daughter of governor and senator Bob Graham, leads the field and is expected to win.

Her rivals for the nomination include Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum, a left-leaning favourite of Bernie Sanders, could make a late surge, while former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine and Palm Beach businessman Jeff Greene have their fans and have significant financial backing. Orlando entrepreneur Chris King is also in contention.

Florida Politics polling puts Ms Graham ahead with 32 per cent of the vote, Mr Gillum on 25 per cent, Mr Levine on 22 per cent, Mr Greene on 10 per cent and Mr King on 2 per cent. Nine per cent were undecided.

The anticipated winners will be Mr DeSantis and Ms Graham and the subsequent race is expected to be extremely close.

Story continues

I am tired of hearing 'when is enough going to be enough.'



I am tired of hearing 'thoughts and prayers' from those who do nothing.



We need to end these mass shootings  and the only way to do that is to vote out the politicians complicit in this cycle of death. https://t.co/3qrgkV7AbE  Gwen Graham (@GwenGraham) August 26, 2018

The vote comes just days after the latest mass shooting, at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, which could potentially impact upon voters at the ballot box, with Democratic candidates speaking out passionately against gun ownership laws.

Arizona

In Arizona, a Senate primary will see three senior Republicans bid to replace Jeff Flake, not seeking re-election: America's first female combat pilot Martha McSally, Dr Kelli Ward and controversial former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, pardoned by President Trump over a contempt of court conviction.

The contest has been overshadowed in recent days by the death on Saturday of John McCain, Arizona's longtime Republican senator.

All three Republicans had distanced themselves from Mr McCain, who frequently feuded with Trump, and Ward suggested that his announcement before his death that he was stopping medical treatment was timed to hurt her campaign.

Mr Trump has not endorsed a candidate and Ms McSally, the favourite, has faced questions over her loyalty to his cause.

The Democratic candidates are former Green Party activist Kysten Sinema and attorney Deedra Abboud, the former far better known, widely expected to win and expected to provide tough competition for the eventual Republican winner.

Meanwhile, in the competition for state governor, the Republican incumbent Doug Ducey is facing a challenge from his own side in Arizona's former secretary of state, Ken Bennett.

Their Democratic rivals are David Garcia, a former Department of Education official, state senator Steve Farley and YMCA CEO Kelly Fryer.

Mr Ducey is expected to see off his Republican challenger while Mr Garcia is broadly expected to win out among the Democrats and would represent a progressive choice, backing universal healthcare and campaign finance reform.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma will see Republicans Mick Cornett and Kevin Stitt enter a run-off for the nomination to challenge Democrat Drew Edmondson for state governor, the latter securing his place in June, having previously run unsuccessfully in 2010.

Mr Cornett is Oklahoma City mayor while Mr Stitt is a Tulsa businessman offering himself as an outsider to the party establishment.

The two have already been chosen among 10 candidates to replace Mary Fallin, whose term of office has expired and who was widely unpopular after mishandling the state budget, resulting in cuts to public school funding and a round of teacher's strikes.Alex Alexandrou, Auroras chief management officer, said because the vote was on a memorandum of understanding, it was not the final vote. He called it a first step, done so the city would have something to discuss before we go too far down the line.Andrew Gillum has become the first African-American nominee for Florida governor, pulling off an upset win over favorite Gwen Graham and two big-spending businessmen in a crowded Democratic primary field.

The Tallahassee mayor will face Jacksonville congressman Ron DeSantis, who easily defeated state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam thanks to the backing of President Donald Trump.

Were going to bring this thing home, Gillum told his election night gathering in Tallahassee. As the mayor of Floridas capital city, I humbly accept the Democratic nomination.

Gillum never led in any public polling, but was showing signs of gaining momentum in the final weeks. He benefited from being chosen by the progressive wing of the partys most generous benefactors  including billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros  as well as from a barrage of negative ads against Graham by billionaire Jeff Greene.

Greene wound up finishing fourth in the five-way pack, but he spent $10 million on ads attacking Graham  more than she spent on television on her own behalf. Liberal outside groups, meanwhile, coalesced around Gillum and served as his turnout operation, particularly in urban areas with large concentrations of younger and minority voters.

Gillum, 39, had difficulty raising money for his campaign after the revelation that the FBI was investigating Tallahassee city government. He says he heard he is not a target of the probe, but one of his closest friends and a former political ally has been the subject of federal subpoenas examining a restaurant he developed in part using city money.

Gillum wound up raising the least money of the five candidates  $8.4 million between his campaign and a political committee under his control. In contrast, Greene raised $43 million, $40 million from himself. And Miami Beach Mayor Phil Levine, who started airing TV ads 10 months ago and led the race for several months, raised a total of $41 million, of which $29.5 million was his own cash.

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But throughout the race, Gillums embrace of progressive ideals such as Medicare for all and his engaging public speaking style made him a favorite of the partys most liberal activists. In the final weeks, he was endorsed by Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who campaigned with Gillum in the closing days of the race.

Gillum cut his teeth on political activism as a student government leader at Florida A&M University just a few blocks from Floridas Capitol, where he led protests against Gov. Jeb Bushs plan to revamp the states affirmative action programs. He went to work for People for the American Way before running for a seat on the Tallahassee City Commission in 2003. He became the citys mayor in 2014.

Andrew Gillum addresses the audience at the Netroots Nation annual conference for political progressives in Atlanta on Aug. 10, 2017. (Photo: Christopher Aluka Berry/Reuters)

The Florida gubernatorial race will now become a referendum on Trumps presidency, with Gillum painting DeSantis as a Trump clone and DeSantis hoping to bring out as many Trump voters as he can in November.

Trump has spent winter weekends and holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach for years and considers himself a part-time resident of the state. It is unclear how frequently, if at all, he will campaign for DeSantis in the two months leading up to the Nov. 6 general election. Whether Republicans retain control of Congress could determine the survival of the Trump presidency, and his political advisers may choose to focus his time on House and Senate seats.

Trump campaigned with DeSantis only once during the primary, at a rally in Tampa in July, and sent out a handful of supportive statements on Twitter, including the message VOTE FOR RON in all capitals late Monday. But in a GOP primary electorate bearing little resemblance to the one that supported former Gov. Jeb Bush and former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, Trumps seal of approval allowed DeSantis to overcome enormous disadvantages in cash and traditional support.

The state Republican establishment was solidly behind Putnam even before he announced his candidacy. From a cattle ranching and citrus family in the heart of the state, Putnam had been grooming himself for this run from the time he graduated college. He won a state legislative seat at age 22, then moved to Congress four years later, returning to Florida in 2010 to run for state agriculture commissioner.

He served two terms, coinciding with Rick Scotts years as governor, and had appeared the heir apparent to the job as Scott leaves because of term limits.

DeSantis, in contrast, entered politics just six years ago, when he ran for Congress from the wealthy suburbs of Jacksonville, his hometown, after serving as a Navy prosecutor. His deployment to Iraq during President George W. Bushs troop surge there was a highlight of his biography on the campaign trail. Despite the populist, pro-Trump rhetoric he has delivered for years from the Fox TV studio near the U.S. Capitol, DeSantis graduated from Yale and received a law degree from Harvard.

President Donald Trump talks with Ron DeSantis during a Make America Great Again Rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 2018. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)

And while Putnam also praised Trump repeatedly on the campaign trail, his standing with Trump likely was irreparably damaged in October 2016 after the release of the Access Hollywood tape that featured Trump bragging that his celebrity enabled him to grab women by the genitals. Putnam criticized Trump for the remarks, while DeSantis did not.

DeSantis leaned on Trumps approval heavily, mentioning it often in stump speeches and in TV ads. He even produced an ad using his young children as props, dressing up his infant in a Make America Great Again onesie.

Yet while DeSantis love for and from Trump clearly helped him against Putnam in the Republican primary, it may wind up hurting him in the November election against Gillum. Trump is not popular with many independents and even some moderate Republicans. Democrat Margaret Good defeated the son of sitting Republican congressman Vern Buchanan in a special election for a state House seat in Sarasota earlier this year, even though the district leans solidly Republican.

Florida Democrats have not won a governors race since 1994, when Lawton Chiles won a second term by defeating Republican Jeb Bush. The party has come within a single percentage point in both 2010 and 2014, losing both times to Scott.

This story has been updated with a statement from Andrew Gillum and additional information about him.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Caen (France) (AFP) - Stone-throwing, insults and dangerous manoeuvres on the high seas: French and British fishermen clashed in the English Channel over a hoard of scallops Tuesday, the latest flare-up in a years-long war over the prized shellfish.

The British were heavily outnumbered at five boats to around 35 French vessels, according to maritime official Ingrid Parot, and were eventually chased from the scallop-rich waters of the Baie de Seine area of Normandy.

The skirmish took place more than 12 nautical miles out to sea where the British are legally allowed to fish all year round.

But their French counterparts, restricted to fishing for scallops between October 1 and May 15, have accused the British of depleting stocks and want them to face the same rules.

"The French went to contact the British to stop them working and they clashed with each other. Apparently there was stone-throwing, but no injuries," said Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff.

Rogoff said "around 40" French boats had gathered overnight in protest at British "pillaging" of the scallop supply.

Some of the boats rammed others -- leaving holes in three vessels, footage from local channel France 3 Normandie showed -- as the angry French fishermen threw smoke-bombs and hurled insults at British rivals.

"We are advising all parties to be calm as from the video clips some vessels are manoeuvring very dangerously," Barrie Deas, chief executive of Britain's National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, told AFP.

"We have raised the matter with the British government and asked for protection for our vessels which are fishing legitimately," he added.

"The deeper issues behind the clashes should be settled by talking around the table, not on the high seas where people could be hurt."

- 'Open bar' -

Tensions have been high between British and French fishermen for some 15 years over the issue, leading to angry disputes that have been dubbed "Scallop Wars".

Story continues

The two sides have reached annual agreements over the past five years but the French blocked a deal this year, according to Rogoff, who said they had had enough.

"For the Brits, it's an open bar -- they fish when they want, where they want, and as much as they want," he complained.

The problem has grown worse over the past 15 years as English, Scottish and Irish boats have upped their catches considerably, he added.

"We don't want to stop them from fishing, but they could at least wait until October 1 so that we can share," he said.

Norman fishermen also complain that the British use much bigger trawlers -- 30 metres (98 feet) or more -- around double the size of their own, which use more artisan techniques.

The biggest British vessels can freeze the scallops directly on board.

"Scallops are a flagship product for Normandy, a primary resource and a highly sensitive issue," said Rogoff.

If Britain crashes out of the European Union next year without a deal, this would solve the problem for the Normans, he added.

"After March 29, 2019 they would be treated as a third party and would no longer have access to these areas," he said.

The pro-Brexit organisation Fishing for Leave has however denounced the "hypocrisy" of French fishermen, charging that they have caught 60 percent of the fish in British waters over the past 40 years.Berlin (AFP) - Berlin will on Wednesday hand back human remains seized from Namibia a century ago after the slaughter of indigenous people under German colonial rule, but descendants are still waiting for an apology.

A Namibian government delegation will receive the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during a solemn church service in Berlin.

"We want to help heal the wounds from the atrocities committed by Germans at the time," said Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry.

But representatives of descendants of the tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people massacred between 1904 and 1908 after rebelling against their colonial overlords have criticised the ceremony as insufficient.

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover would have been "the perfect opportunity" for Germany to officially apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

"Is that asking too much? I don't think so," she told a Berlin press conference this week, describing the attitude of the German government as "shocking".

- No reparations -

State Minister Muentefering told reporters on Monday that Germany still has "a lot of catching up to do in coming to terms with our colonial heritage".

As part of ongoing talks with the Namibian government on addressing its brutal legacy in what was then South West Africa, the German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology.

But the negotiations aimed at coming up with a joint declaration on the massacres are still ongoing.

Although Berlin has acknowledged the horrors that occurred at the hands of German imperial troops, it has refused to pay direct reparations.

It has argued instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was "for the benefit of all Namibians".

Story continues

Angered by Berlin's stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama people have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations.

They also want to be included in the discussions between Germany and Namibia.

Germany wants the lawsuit thrown out on the grounds of state immunity for prosecution.

The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit.

Namibian Culture Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, speaking alongside Muentefering in Berlin, said the two countries "still have many problems to solve".

"We must ensure that after we've reached agreements on damages, recognition and an apology, there's a future in which the German and Namibian nations join hands and move forward."

- 'Extermination order' -

Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Hereros revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905.

Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious "extermination order" that would lead to the deaths of some 60,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people.

Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, rounded up in prison camps, died from hunger and exposure.

Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited "scientific" experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass.

Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Wednesday's handover proceedings mark the third time that Germany has repatriated human remains to Namibia, the previous occasions were in 2011 and 2014.

The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were "often stolen... brought to Germany without respect for human dignity", according to the German foreign ministry.

Herero activist Muinjangue said the homecoming of the bones was always "very emotional".

"I'm looking at the skull of a Herero or Nama peasant. A peasant who could have been my great-grandmother or great-great grandmother or father."What exactly do the royals get up to when they head to Balmoral every summer? [Photo: Getty]

Queen Elizabeth II is currently enjoying her summer holidays with the Duke of Edinburgh at Balmoral Castle where she is expected to stay until early October.

Over the past few months, several members of the royal family have travelled up to Aberdeenshire to spend some quality time with Her Majesty  most recently, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a visit with their eldest son Prince George.

But what exactly do the royal family get up to on their Scottish holidays?

From family barbecues to controversial grouse shoots, heres what the Windsor clan have been doing this summer.

When did the royal family start going to Balmoral Castle?

The Scottish castle has been in the royal family for over 160 years and was purchased by Prince Albert as a seriously lavish gift for Queen Victoria back in 1852. The royal residence cost just 32,000 back in the day and they soon snapped it up after falling love with the countryside.

Queen Elizabeth II has been visiting Balmoral Castle every summer since 1952 [Photo: Getty]

Ever since, the royal retreat has been passed on down the generations and has been Queens beloved holiday home since 1952. The property remains privately owned and is not part of the Crown Estate.

Whats it like at Balmoral?

Balmoral is undoubtedly grand boasting over 50,000 acres of countryside and 150 separate buildings on the estate. For instance, Birkhall belongs to Prince Charles and is his go-to holiday home.

Balmoral Castle was first purchased back in 1852 by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria [Photo: Getty]

When Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Balmoral for their summer holidays, they tend to stay at the even more private Craigowan Lodge for the first week. With seven bedrooms and located a mile away from the castle, talk about a rather splendid mini break.

Who bags an invite to Balmoral?

When the Queen flees Buckingham Palace for a well-deserved break from the media spotlight, she is joined by several members of the royal family throughout the summer months.

The Birkhall residence is Prince Charles private holiday home tucked away in the grounds of Balmoral Castle [Photo: Getty]

The Duke of Duchess of Cambridge for instance first started holidaying at a cottage known as Tam-na-Ghar during their breaks from St Andrews University. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are also regulars at the Scottish hideaway, often residing at Birkhall.

Story continues

What do the royal family get up to at Balmoral Castle?

When the royal family reside at Balmoral Castle, they can let their media-proof barriers down and enjoy some time away from the camera shutters.

In an interview aired on the recent documentary Our Queen At Ninety, Her Majestys granddaughter Princess Eugenie described the royal residence as the most beautiful place on earth and revealed that its where granny is the most happy.

The Queen and Prince Philip relax at Balmoral Castle in 1975 [Photo: Getty]

But whats on the itinerary during the Queens holidays? The 28-year-old revealed: Its a lovely base for Granny and Grandpa, for us to come and see them up there; where you just have room to breathe and run.

She added, Walks, picnics, dogs  a lot of dogs, theres always dogs  and people coming in and out all the time.

The Ghillies Ball

Every year, the Queen also hosts a Scottish dance in Balmorals now-famous ballroom known as the Ghillies Ball.

The tradition was first introduced by Queen Victoria and is designed as a thank you get-together for members of staff.

The royal familys summer barbecues

Some of the most relatable photographs taken at Balmoral are those which depict Prince Philip-turned-makeshift-chef tending to the barbecue, prodding sausages with a tong.

Far from their Buckingham Palace personas, the royals all pitch in when it comes to the family bash. Balmorals housekeeper, Sheena Stuart, previously revealed: The Duke, he cooks, the Queen sets up the table. There are no staff that come out to serve.

But due to this summers heatwave, Her Majesty reportedly banned barbecues through fear of spreading wild fires. We wonder what Prince Philip had to say about that

Controversial grouse shoots

On August 26 2018, the royal family sparked controversy after Prince George reached a divisive royal milestone.

Kate, William, George, Charlotte & Louis are spending this weekend at Balmoral with HM. George was taken to his first grouse shoot on Friday by Kate, with the Queen, Charles, Edward, Sophie, Louise & James, Anne, Zara & Mike Tindall joining for lunch.Quite the family fun!(2017) pic.twitter.com/I8cj1OGCB6  Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) August 26, 2018

The five-year-old was photographed heading to a grouse shoot at Balmoral alongside the Queen, the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Princess Anne, Zara and Mike Tindall.

Prince Philip enjoys a spot of fishing at Balmoral [Photo: Getty]

A long-running family tradition, the activity is a usual holiday pastime for the royals which Charlotte and Louis will no doubt eventually participate in. And with 50,000 acres of rolling countryside and streams, fishing and horse riding is also a favourite pastime for guests.

Can I stay at Balmoral?

Self-confessed royal fans will be pleased to learn that a handful of quaint cottages are available to rent on a weekly basis in the grounds of Balmoral.

Connachat Cottage for instance, offers accommodation for up to six people and boasts a traditional decor from a stand-alone bathtub to a log fire fit for a Queen. Book now.

For those of you who simply wish to have a wander, the grounds are open from April until July every year.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

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Princess Eugenies royal wedding: Where is it, when is it and all the latest news

Fit for a Queen: The royal residences you can spend the night at

From Harry and Meghan to Charles and Camilla: Where each member of the royal family livesHonda Trademarks Fireblade Name for U.S.

Is a new Fireblade on its way to American Shores? Could be

Rumors have been circulating for a while now that Honda is releasing an all-new, ultra-powerful, super high-tech Fireblade for 2019. Horsepower numbers212 if the rumors are to be believedand some renders have been leaked to the motoring press, and Honda announced that may be unveiling its new monster sportbike at EICMA 2018. That's great and all, but what's in it for us Yanks? Since the Big Four (among other OEMs) keep all the really cool bikes for Japan and Europe, we don't get the Fireblade over here. Or do we? A mysterious trademark filed by Honda in the United States suggests that yes, in fact, we do get the Fireblade.

Well, maybe. For those of you not in the know, the Fireblade is what Honda calls the CBR1000RRformerly the CBR900RRin other markets. See? They even get the cooler names, too. On May 31, 2018, Honda trademarked the Fireblade name for use in the United States. That's interesting, that's very interesting. Starting today, August 28, 2018, the Fireblade trademark gets published for opposition. That means that the trademark goes public and anyone who wants to dispute Honda's use of the Fireblade name can do so. If no one comes up with a compelling reason why Honda can't use the Fireblade name here, then the company gets the trademark and is good to go.

Bennetts posted this render suggesting that it might be the new 2019 Fireblade.

CHECK OUT: All Details About Honda Super Cub Unveiled

That's probably more than you wanted to know about the inner workings of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but we had to tell you that so we could tell you this. While it is very interesting that Honda trademarked Fireblade here, we're not entirely sure what it means. Did the company file it just so it could protect the trademark here with no plans to actually use it? Is it just rebranding existing CBR1000RR models as Fireblades to streamline naming across markets? Could be. Either of those options makes sense, but why would Honda go through the trouble of doing that unless a new bike was on the way that it planned to call the Fireblade here?

Story continues

As of now there's no real solid info to be had. Once we find out more we'll definitely share it with you because, honestly, who wouldn't want to ride a bike called the Fireblade?

Source: US Patent and Trademark Office, Bennetts, VisorDownPuerto Rico was ravaged by Hurricane Maria one year ago next month.

Since the island's long recovery began, the government and independent institutions have worked to figure out exactly how many lives were taken by the effects of the extreme storm.

SEE ALSO: We may never see a hurricane season worse than the one that brought us Katrina

Today, we have a new, better estimate  and its more than 46 times the old one.

According to a new study released by George Washington University (GW), 2,975 people died as a result of the hurricane. The government of Puerto Rico now accepts that number as an accurate death toll, updating their previous official estimate of 64.

A group of workers repair a gravestone damaged by Hurricane Maria in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Image: Getty Images

The GW group teamed up with the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Health to analyze death certificates and other mortality data collected from September 2017 to February 2018. They found that the number of deaths during that time were uncharacteristically high, when compared to that same time period from other years.

The results of our epidemiological study suggest that, tragically, Hurricane Maria led to a large number of excess deaths throughout the island. Certain groups  those in lower income areas and the elderly  faced the highest risk, lead investigator Carlos Santos-Burgoa said in statement on Tuesday.

In fact, the study found that in the poorest communities, the risk of dying increased 60 percent in the wake of Hurricane Maria. And the risk of dying increased 35 percent for older Puerto Rican males.

This means that though the exact causes of death may be varied or unclear, in the six months after Hurricane Maria, more people died than usual.

This kind of statistical analysis allows researchers to say that the hurricane left groups of people extremely vulnerable after the storm, even if the flooding rains and wind didn't explicitly kill these individuals.

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Broken headstones pile up in a cemetery in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Image: Getty Images

Researchers and journalists alike have long speculated that Puerto Ricos official death toll of 64 was suspiciously low.

Back in 2017, a New York Times investigation estimated that the death toll was around 1,052  nearly 1,000 more than the original calculation. This led the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosello, to commission an independent study looking into the death toll in February 2018.

It is of great interest to the State to identify how many lives were lost due to the passage of Maria through the Island," Rosello said in a statement announcing the effort.

"It is our interest that experts can identify as accurately as possible the deaths directly and indirectly associated with the hurricane to improve protocols for future natural disasters.

In early July, researchers at Harvard released a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine which estimated that an excess of 4,500 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria by surveying more than 3,000 houses.

Then in late July, the Puerto Rican government quietly acknowledged that the death toll was likely much higher than 64, after releasing a 400-page document that put the toll at more than 1,400 people. The government waited for the GW study to officially update the death toll.

Broken tree branches pile up as workers push to clear out cemeteries in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Image: Getty Images

The newest count puts Hurricane Maria in second place as the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the United States, behind the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 which reportedly took 6,000 lives or more.

Aside from the official death toll, the study also provided recommendations to Puerto Ricos local government and the U.S. federal government to better prepare for the next deadly storm.

The study suggests a more efficient way to tally deaths after disasters, a fully staffed Department of Health, better intra-department communication, and other recommendations.

The lessons learned from this report and subsequent studies will help not just Puerto Rico, but other regions in the U.S. and around the world that face the ongoing threat of hurricanes and other natural disasters, co-author Lynn R. Goldman said.

If enacted, the recommendations of this report could help save lives in Puerto Rico and beyond.The governor of Puerto Rico on Tuesday raised the governments official death toll for Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 people following the release of a new report.

The announcement comes just weeks after officials in Puerto Rico conceded that the hurricane killed more than 1,400 people on the island last year  over 20 times the official death toll.

An independent analysis commissioned by Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosello and published Tuesday by researchers at George Washington Universitys Milken Institute School of Public Health estimated the hurricane killed 2,975 people. That would make it the deadliest U.S. natural disaster in over 100 years.

The new analysis offered a more modest estimate than a Harvard study published in May, which reported roughly 4,645 people died in the aftermath of Maria. But both studies confirm what many experts have suspected  that the hurricanes death toll was likely in the thousands, far greater than the 64 deaths initially acknowledged by the government.

The study analyzed hurricane-caused deaths from September 2017 through the end of February 2018. Researchers identified several factors that may have caused confusion about the death toll, including a lack of communication, guidelines and training for physicians to certify deaths resulting from disasters. That led to an undercounting of deaths, the researchers suggested.

The official government estimate of 64 deaths from the hurricane is low primarily because the conventions used for causal attribution only allowed for classification of deaths attributable directly to the storm, e.g., those caused by structural collapse, flying debris, floods and drownings, the report stated. During our broader study, we found that many physicians were not oriented in the appropriate certification protocol. This translated into an inadequate indicator for monitoring mortality in the hurricanes aftermath.

Researchers also looked at which communities were hardest-hit by the hurricane, which could inform how the island prepares for future disasters.

Story continues

The study found the risk of death was 45 percent higher for populations living in poorer municipalities.

The results of our epidemiological study suggest that, tragically, Hurricane Maria led to a large number of excess deaths throughout the island. Certain groups  those in lower income areas and the elderly  faced the highest risk, said Carlos Santos-Burgoa, the studys principal investigator, in a statement.

He added: We hope this report and its recommendations will help build the islands resilience and pave the way toward a plan that will protect all sectors of society in times of natural disasters.

In an interview in Spanish with El Nuevo Dia responding to the report, Rosello acknowledged his governments failings in establishing an effective protocol for measuring the death toll.

We didnt realize until a little later that it was totally insufficient, and this is all due to the fact that the doctors were responsible for determining the cause of death, but unfortunately, there was no formal process to prepare them for the devastation, he said.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to the report by saying that the federal government will continue to support Puerto Rico in its recovery from hurricanes Maria and Irma.

The federal government has been, and will continue to be, supportive of Governor Rossellos efforts to ensure a full accountability and transparency of fatalities resulting from last years hurricanes  the American people, including those grieving the loss of a loved one, deserve no less, she said, in a statement emailed to HuffPost.

Hayley Miller contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to include the White House statement.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Ankara (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was on Wednesday holding previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said.

Zarif went into the talks at the headquarters of Erdogan's ruling party, as expectations grow of an offensive in the Idlib province of northwest Syria bordering Turkey by Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey has been keeping a wary eye on the possibility of the offensive, as it seeks to bring peace to Syria along with Iran and Assad's other main ally Russia.

Ankara has throughout the seven year civil war in Syria supported rebels seeking to oust Assad but has put differences aside to form a three way alliance with Tehran and Moscow.

Erdogan and his counterparts Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Russia's Vladimir Putin are due to meet for a third summit on Syria in Iran on September 7, Turkish reports have said.

But analysts say that Idlib, which is largely controlled by rebel groups, could test the alliance with Turkey, as Ankara warns a military solution could lead to catastrophe and a new influx of refugees across its borders.

Turkey has 12 observation posts staffed by its military inside Idlib aimed at monitoring a de-escalation zone and media reports have said it has sent concrete blocks over the border to reinforce them in case of an offensive.

But analysts also say that Turkey is keen to preserve the three-way alliance and may be prepared to support a more limited offensive against the most extreme factions in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib.

Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey and said it was necessary to "disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists."This absolute ban on begging in Aurora violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and  the Illinois Constitution, because begging is a form of protected speech, the letter said. We therefore ask that the Aurora Police Department immediately cease enforcement of the ordinance, that the City Council take prompt steps to repeal it, and that any pending charges under the ordinance be dismissed.LONDON (Reuters) - Security forces in Iran have arrested tens of spies working in state bodies, Intelligence Minister said on Tuesday, at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the West following the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran. Mahmoud Alavi did not say when the arrests took place or which countries the spies allegedly were working for, but indicated that many of the detainees were dual nationals. "I have repeatedly asked people to inform us if they know any dual national. The intelligence ministry's anti-espionage unit has successfully identified and arrested tens of spies in different governmental bodies," Alavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency ISNA on Tuesday. The arrest of dual nationals has increased since Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there had been "infiltration" of Western agents in Iranian decision-making bodies. Reuters reported in 2017 that Irans elite Revolutionary Guards had arrested at least 30 dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges. Tension between Tehran and some Western countries has risen since May when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed some of the U.S. sanctions that had been lifted after the 2015 accord in return for restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and does not routinely announce arrests or charges of dual nationals, whose rights to consular assistance are enshrined in the U.N. Vienna Convention. Alavi also said "you have recently heard that we brought under our control a member of a cabinet of a powerful country", without specifying which country. Some Iranian media said Alavi was referring to a former Israeli energy minister, who was accused of serving as an Iranian agent in June by Israel's internal security service. Gonen Segev, energy minister from 1995 to 1996, had been living in Nigeria, where he made contact with officials at the Iranian embassy in 2012, according to Israeli investigators. He had been jailed in Israel in 2004 after being convicted of attempting to smuggle Ecstasy pills into the country. He left Israel in 2007 after his release from prison. Alavi said that security forces arrested this month a member of the Islamic State militant group in southern Iran, and had disbanded a "terrorist cell" in the country's north. He said his ministry had foiled several plots to bomb metro stations and universities, without making any of the incidents public at the time. Under Islamic States ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim ideology, Shiites - the majority in Iran - are considered apostates. Last year, Islamic State militants carried out attacks on the parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of the founder of Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. At least 18 people were killed in the attacks. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Mark Heinrich & Simon Cameron-Moore)LONDON (Reuters) - Security forces in Iran have arrested tens of spies working in state bodies, Intelligence Minister said on Tuesday, at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the West following the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran. Mahmoud Alavi did not say when the arrests took place or which countries the spies allegedly were working for, but indicated that many of the detainees were dual nationals. "I have repeatedly asked people to inform us if they know any dual national. The intelligence ministry's anti-espionage unit has successfully identified and arrested tens of spies in different governmental bodies," Alavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency ISNA on Tuesday. The arrest of dual nationals has increased since Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there had been "infiltration" of Western agents in Iranian decision-making bodies. Reuters reported in 2017 that Irans elite Revolutionary Guards had arrested at least 30 dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges. Tension between Tehran and some Western countries has risen since May when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed some of the U.S. sanctions that had been lifted after the 2015 accord in return for restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and does not routinely announce arrests or charges of dual nationals, whose rights to consular assistance are enshrined in the U.N. Vienna Convention. Alavi also said that security forces arrested this month a member of the Islamic State militant group in southern Iran, and had disbanded a "terrorist cell" in the country's north. He said the intelligence ministry had foiled several bombing plots in metro stations and universities, but did not make any of this public at the time. Under Islamic States ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim ideology, Shiites - the majority in Iran - are considered apostates. Last year, Islamic State militants carried out attacks on the parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of the founder of Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. At least 18 people were killee in the attacks. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Mark Heinrich)Ankara (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday held previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish presidency said, with the situation in Syria likely to have dominated the agenda.

With expectation growing of an offensive by Tehran ally President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's Idlib province bordering Turkey, Zarif held one hour of talks with Erdogan at his ruling party headquarters in Ankara

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who attended the meeting, said "bilateral ties... (and) Syria" were on the agenda, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Zarif, who heads now to Pakistan, posted on Twitter after the meeting that the talks had been "fruitful".

He said they focused "on bilateral relations and regional cooperation in the face of malign US behaviour".

Iran has strongly supported Turkey as it was hit by sanctions from Tehran's arch enemy the United States which have caused the Turkish lira to nosedive in value.

Turkey has been keeping a wary eye on the possibility of the Idlib offensive, as it seeks to bring peace to Syria along with Iran and Assad's other main ally Russia.

Ankara has throughout the seven-year civil war in Syria supported rebels seeking to oust Assad but has put differences aside to form a three-way alliance with Tehran and Moscow.

Erdogan and his counterparts Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Russia's Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Iran for a third summit on Syria on September 7, Turkish reports have said.

But analysts say that Idlib, which is largely controlled by rebel groups, could test the alliance with Turkey, as Ankara warns a military solution could lead to catastrophe and a new influx of refugees across its borders.

Turkey has 12 military observation posts inside Idlib aimed at monitoring a de-escalation zone and media reports have said it has sent concrete blocks over the border to reinforce them in case of an assault.

Story continues

But analysts also say Turkey is keen to preserve the three-way alliance and may be prepared to support a more limited offensive against the most extreme factions in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Idlib.

Lavrov also said there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey adding it was necessary to "disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists."Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel on Wednesday renewed its threat to attack Iranian military targets in Syria, after the two Muslim allies signed an accord on security cooperation.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us," he said at a ceremony naming Israel's nuclear facilities after late president Shimon Peres.

Iran's military attache to Damascus said Tuesday that his country's military advisers would remain in Syria under the defence agreement signed the previous day.

"Support for Syria's territorial integrity and the independence of Syrian sovereignty were also emphasised in the agreement," Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad said.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial and military backing to Assad as he has fought back against a seven-year uprising.

Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the conflict but acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes in Syria to stop what it says are deliveries of advanced weaponry to its Lebanese enemy Hezbollah.

It has also pledged to prevent its arch foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, and a series of strikes that have killed Iranians in Syria have been attributed to Israel.

"We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria," Netanyahu said at the ceremony in southern Israel.

"We will not relent in pursuit of this goal just as we did not relent in bringing about the cancellation of the bad nuclear agreement with Iran", the Israeli premier said.Rome (AFP) - Rome will on Thursday ask the European Union to rotate the ports where migrants rescued at sea disembark, Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta said, with France and Spain expected to top the list.

Trenta will put the plan to her European counterparts during an informal meeting in Vienna.

"Tomorrow ... I will carry in the name of the Italian government a proposal to modify the rules of the Sophia mission concerning the port of disembarkation," she wrote on Facebook.

The proposal calls for a revision of the EU's military operation codenamed Sophia -- currently commanded by Italy -- and under which all migrants rescued disembark at an Italian port.

"We consider this principle unacceptable and want it to be reviewed," Trenta added.

"Tomorrow the ball will be in the EU camp: by accepting our proposal it will have the opportunity to show it is a real community of values and intentions; by refusing it will deny its own fundamental principles."

Sophia was launched in June 2015 following a series of deadly shipwrecks involving migrants and has since picked up thousands of migrants floundering in the Mediterranean.

"The proposal aims for a rotation of landing ports ... our goal is to ensure that Italy is not the only one taking charge of the problem, but also other member states," a defence ministry source told AFP.

According to La Stampa newspaper, Italy's idea is to rotate landings between Mediterranean ports, with a particular emphasis on France and Spain, and with Greece and Malta also sharing the load.

Italy has been turning away ships with migrants rescued at sea in a campaign to make EU countries take their share. Last week, it threatened to stop billions of euros of EU funding over the issue, accusing Europe of turning its back as Italy grapples with seemingly endless migrant arrivals.

In the latest incident, nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in.

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However tensions spilled over Wednesday outside a church centre housing some 100 Eritreans from the Diciotti at Rocca di Papa near Rome.

Dozens of far right protestors and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators yelled insults and had to be kept apart by riot police.

The migrants were to be moved on to other areas within days.

"They are exhausted but in good health and happy to have arrived," Caritas charity official Manuela De Marco told AFP.More than a year after his grandparents reported him missing, Ohio teen Jacob Caldwell has been found safe, police said Tuesday.

Now 15, the boy had disappeared just days after witnessing the fatal shooting of his father, allegedly by his mother's boyfriend. Robert Caldwell was killed on Aug. 15, 2017, in a parking lot after leaving a therapy session with his three sons, authorities said.

His ex-wife, Tawnney Caldwell, and boyfriend Sterling Roberts were later charged in connection with Robert's murder, police said. Both have pleaded not guilty and are in jail awaiting trial. Friends and relatives of Tawnney were also indicted on aiding and abetting charges.

Jacob's parents had been involved in a bitter custody dispute that ended with Robert being awarded sole custody of the three boys about a month before his death, authorities said.

Acting on a tip, police went to a house in Miami Township, where Jacob was found sleeping in the basement, Sugarcreek Township Police Chief Mike Brown told InsideEdition.com Tuesday. Four adults were living in the home, all of them friends with Jacob's mother, he said.

The boy was in good physical condition, but didn't say much, the chief said. Jacob is being evaluated at a juvenile detention center, where he will be held until he is returned to his paternal grandparents, who were awarded custody of him and his brothers after their father was killed.

The four adults may face criminal charges, Brown said. The boy appeared to have been staying in the home of his own free will, but was not going to school, the chief said.

"Someone talked him into running away," he added.

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Related Articles:January Jones visits Build Series on April 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

In a world of prying paparazzo, oversharing on social media, and incessant over-analysis via the internet, January Jones has somehow managed to keep her 6-year-old son mostly under wraps.

We know that his name is Xander Dane Jones and that he was born on Sept. 13, 2011, but thats about it. Most notably, the Mad Men star has not revealed the identity of her sons father. In fact, she defiantly told The New York Times in 2013, Thats my sons business, its not the publics business.

Given her choice to stay silent on the subject in the past  both in interviews and on social media  it was surprising Wednesday when Jones shared a photo of Xander on his first day of school. Sure, he was cleverly covering his face while doing a dance move called the dab, but he was there.

Dab  A post shared by January Jones (@januaryjones) on Aug 29, 2018 at 8:25am PDT

Things you can tell from the photo: Hes in first grade. He has blonde hair he wears in a funky style. His preference  or, more likely, his schools preference  is for black and red clothing. And thats pretty much it.

Jones told The Times that she adopted her stance to keep her personal life, including her son, well, personal from another Hollywood actor. Jack Nicholson once told me: You should never give your personal life away, otherwise people will pick you apart. Theyll never believe in your character,' she revealed.

Jones isnt the only celeb whos opted to keep details about their offspring quiet  Donald Glover, Ryan Gosling, and Eva Mendes among them. Others, including Halle Berry, who famously campaigned for laws keeping the paparazzi away from children, have also been known to give the public only the occasional glimpse at their little ones. While she typically obscures her kids (obviously) gorgeous faces on social media, Berry showed son Maceos face  well, half of it anyway  during a family vacation in June.

Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum, who long kept 5-year-old daughter Everly out of their Instagram posts, showed her face in a birthday throwback pic.

Story continues

Comedian Ali Wong is among those who keeps her daughters face hidden in posts, but she freely shows that of her niece.

So, in a few years, Jones, Wong, and others just might change their minds. Otherwise, no big deal, curious fans can just wait a few more years and see Xander and his crew in their first high-fashion ad campaigns.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:Jenna and Bodhi Elfman in 2016. (Photo: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

Jenna Elfman has been married for over two decades, something of a feat in Hollywood, and the Fear the Walking Dead star says thats thanks in part to her controversial religion.

Well, Ive been a Scientologist for 28 years, and thats a huge part of what helps us keep our communication going and our relationship, the actress explained on Peoples Chatter talk show. Weve never cheated on each other, weve never broken up. We hang in there.

Jenna and Bodhi wed in 1995 and have two sons, Story, 11, and Easton, 8.

Raising children, maintaining my sanity in a crazy world. Our world is crazy, its getting crazier, and Hollywood is the ne plus ultra of crazy, she noted.

Elfman defended Scientology and the courses it offers. I think that anything that works tends to get attacked, she said. However, the actress didnt offer any examples of what she believes gets attacked.

Its been so workable for me, she said. I use it every single day of my life and it keeps me energized and vivacious and happy. I like literally have so much going on. Why am I going to go: You know, let me put some negativity in my life. Let me go see whos being a bigot. Why would I search for bigotry in this world when its the one thing thats been this huge help in my life to keep me sane and to raise great kids?

Scientology has long been in the limelight thanks to famous adherents Tom Cruise and John Travolta, but the religion has experienced a wave of particularly negative press over the last several years. Former members Leah Remini and Paul Haggis have come forward, detailing disturbing experiences inside the church. The religion was also the subject of the documentary film expose Going Clear.

I think people should just check it out for themselves and not believe everything they hear or read on the internet, Elfman concluded.

Elisabeth Moss, Danny Masterson, and Kirstie Alley are other well-known Scientologists.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:In a final message read by an aide on Monday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reflected on his years of service to the United States and urged Americans to not despair of our present difficulties.

McCain died Saturday at the age of 81, a day after announcing his decision to discontinue his cancer treatment.

I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth, the late senator wrote in a letter read posthumously by adviser Rick Davis. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life.

Like most people, I have regrets, he added. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anyone elses.

BREAKING: A "final message" from the late John McCain is read by an aide. pic.twitter.com/RLZRGfOAQ4  NBC News (@NBCNews) August 27, 2018

McCain also reflected on running against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president, he wrote. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.

The Arizona Republican frequently butted heads with President Donald Trump and established himself as a leading member of the so-called Never Trumpers, a descriptor for conservatives who refused to get behind the president.

Trump infamously mocked McCains military record during his presidential campaign in 2015 and suggested McCain wasnt a war hero because he had been captured during the Vietnam War.

McCain frequently criticized the presidents policies and tone and famously sunk Trump-backed legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. In his final message, McCain urged Americans to look beyond the present political climate.

Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here, he wrote. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

Story continues

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Amid a topsy-turvy month of mostly bad news for Tesla, the company got one major reprieve on Monday.

According to a Reuters report, a federal court in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit from shareholders over delays in Model 3 production.

The suit against Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, claimed that production forecasts for the Model 3 were inflated and deceptive, leading investors to put money into Tesla based on forecasts that proved unrealistic.

DON'T MISS: Tesla's CEO Elon Musk announces company will stay public, abandons private push

In throwing out the lawsuit, Federal District Judge Charles Breyer said, "federal securities laws do not punish companies for failing to achieve their targets.

The delays have been a key argument for Tesla's critics and stock-market short-sellers who claimed that Tesla's forecasts were deceptive.

The production delays have been financially painful for Tesla, which needs revenue from Model 3 sales to balance its books and begin paying off debt. In a call with investors last month, Musk called Model 3 production a "bet the company" decision.

READ THIS: Report: SEC investigating Musk tweet about taking Tesla private

The lawsuit was separate from more recent suits related to Musk's Tweet on Aug. 7 that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private, which also triggered an SEC investigation.

On Friday, Musk backtracked on that announcement and said that the company would remain public.

The judge said the plaintiffs had failed to make their case that Tesla executives should have known that the company's production facilities were not up to the challenge of producing 5,000 Model 3s a week.

The ruling, dated Aug. 24 was unsealed on Monday. The judge said the plaintiffs have until Sept. 28 to amend their complaint.We make a point to talk to visitors and interact with people as though we are people in our own time teaching others about the past, he said. We dont pretend we in 1863, although we try to dress like it.DALLAS (AP)  A jury completed its first day of deliberations Monday in the trial of a white former Texas police officer charged with fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager leaving a house party last year.

Roy Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department days after he shot into a moving car filled with five black teens, killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. A Dallas County jury deliberated for eight hours Monday after prosecutors and defense attorneys gave closing arguments. Jurors will resume their work Tuesday morning.

Oliver is on trial for murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the April 2017 shooting. The jury could also find him guilty of manslaughter, according to prosecutors.

Oliver took the stand last week and testified in his own defense, saying he decided to fire at the car when he saw it moving toward his partner, Officer Tyler Gross. Oliver testified he thought Gross was in danger.

But Gross previously told jurors he never felt the need to shoot and didn't fear for his life. Gross also said he didn't feel like the car was trying to hit him.

Two teens who were at the party testified that they were across the street when Oliver opened fire. Eric Knight and Jeremy Seaton said they could not see a justification for the shooting. Seaton said the car was not facing an officer at the time and had steered into the wrong lane of traffic to avoid officers.

During closing arguments, defense attorneys told jurors they must consider the circumstances from Oliver's viewpoint and what the former officer knew at the time. Prosecutors described Edwards as an innocent kid who did nothing wrong and argued that Oliver was out of control and looking for a reason to kill.Earlier this month, Jimmy Kimmel asked Kanye West what makes him think Donald Trump respects black people, and West responded with silence. But on Wednesday, West found the words to express his feelings on a radio show.

During an interview on 107.5 WGCI Chicago, one of the shows hosts asked the rapper whether he thinks the president cares about all people, black people included. After a long silence, West responded. I feel that he cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this, he began.

Kanye West explained his support for President Trump in a radio interview on Wednesday. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

He admitted that Trump might be trying to gain the support of the black community for slightly selfish reasons, but said that at least hes trying. He will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because hes got an ego like all the rest of us, and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he cant be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community. But he said that the president still needs help. Its something hes gonna work towards, but were gonna have to speak to him.

Posted by WGCI 107.5 Radio on Wednesday, August 29, 2018

While West has thrown his weight behind Trump in the past, he didnt vote for him  and he shared in the radio interview that hes never voted in his life. West waited to make his Trump support public until after he won because he didnt want to influence anyones decision. Because my voice is so strong, I never even told people my opinion or my stance til after he won. I didnt want to influence it, but I have the right as an American to have my own opinion.

West said he believed Trumps polarizing effect would force Americans to address issues that had been festering all along. I knew that this rogue personality was gonna allow me to see and understand and allow my brothers to understand what we were dealing with, he said, apparently referring to inequality and racism. All the marches, people fighting, people standing up, people having a conversation about politics, our well-being. I knew this was gonna happen if he got into office. He said that while he loved having Barack Obama in office, these issues persisted throughout the eight years of his presidency, and added, We as a collective wasnt [sic] woke.

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While he said on the show that he supports Hillary Clinton, he said he was not upset when she was not elected. We would rather have a female president than to see another white man be president again, and I understand and I feel that, but I just dont agree with it.

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Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.PHOENIX (AP)  Former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick emerged from a competitive Democratic primary Tuesday to win the nomination for an open Arizona House seat that is seen as one of the races the national party is looking to flip as it seeks to gain control of the House of Representatives in November.

Kirkpatrick beat recurring candidate Matt Heinz and five others. The race for the seat being vacated by Rep. Martha McSally, who won a GOP primary for the U.S. Senate, and is seen as a swing district where both Democrats and Republicans have won in the past.

On the Republican side, Lea Marquez Peterson beat Brandon Martin, Casey Welch and Danny Morales. Peterson, CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, outraised her opponents by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I am asking for your vote so I can protect families who live paycheck to paycheck-no matter what party you vote for," Kirkpatrick said in a statement.

That matchup is one of two races with open seats this year. The other is the race for the seat being vacated by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who won the Democratic Senate primary.

In the race for Sinema's seat, Steve Ferrara, a former Navy chief medical officer who spent more than two decades in the military, won a three-way GOP primary. He will face former Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton in November.

Ferrara said Tuesday that he thinks he could flip the district by focusing on issues like health care instead of politics.

"In going into this race, my entire purpose is to unify people, not be more of the same," he said.

In the 8th Congressional District, Rep. Debbie Lesko beat Sandra Dowling in the GOP primary. She'll have a rematch against Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a doctor who lost to Lesko in a special election this spring.

Tiperneni came within about 5 percentage points of beating Lesko, a margin that was closer than many election watchers expected from the Republican-leaning district. The district covers western parts of suburban Phoenix

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Rep. Tom O'Halleran had no Democratic opposition in the 1st Congressional District, which covers much of northern and eastern Arizona.

Retired Air Force pilot Wendy Rogers won a three-way Republican primary to take on O'Halleran. Rogers beat state Sen. Steve Smith and farmer-attorney Tiffany Shedd in Tuesday's primary.

The district narrowly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, but O'Halleran won his seat that same year.

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva secured the nomination for his 3rd District seat, which covers southwest Arizona and part of the state's second-largest city. Republican Nick Pierson beat Sergio Arellano and Edna San Miguel in the GOP primary.

In the heavily Republican 5th Congressional District, Rep. Andy Biggs had no primary opponent, and will face Democrat Joan Greene in November.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, beat a primary challenge from state Sen. Catherine Miranda for the 7th Congressional District covering parts of Phoenix. No Republicans are running in the Democrat-packed district.

David Brill has won the Democratic nomination for a western Arizona House district. In November, he will challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for the District 4 seat. Gosar is serving his fourth term. Arizona's 4th Congressional District is staunchly Republican. Haryaksha Gregor Knauer ran as a Green Party candidate.WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on a proposal to rename the Senate's oldest office building for John McCain (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he was not notified in advance that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer would propose renaming a Senate office building in honor of the late Sen. John McCain.

McConnell, a Republican, says he will form a bipartisan committee to determine a fitting tribute for the Arizona Republican, who died Saturday of brain cancer.

McConnell says the bipartisan committee is similar to one created to honor Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy after his death in 2009. McConnell says both McCain and Kennedy were considered "lions of the Senate" because of their long service and outsized stature in the chamber.

McConnell says the bipartisan panel will convene after McCain's funeral and burial so lawmakers can consider what to do "in a calmer environment."

__

11 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hitting the brakes on a push to rename the Senate's oldest office building for the late Sen. John McCain.

McConnell, a Republican, said Tuesday that he will form a bipartisan committee to determine a fitting tribute for the Arizona Republican.

He says "there's no shortage of good ideas," including naming the hearing room for the Senate Armed Service Committee after him. Another idea is to add a portrait of McCain to a reception room right off the Senate floor.

But McConnell was careful not to make a specific recommendation.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has proposed renaming the Russell Senate Office building in McCain's honor, but some Republicans are wary of that idea.

The building is named after Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat who led opposition to civil rights legislation.

___

12:30 a.m.

A proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office building after Sen. John McCain appears to be gaining bipartisan support, but success is far from assured.

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Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer proposed renaming the Senate's oldest office building in McCain's honor after the Arizona Republican died Saturday from brain cancer.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who served with McCain for 31 years, says he's in favor of "naming almost any building" for McCain, but adds, "I'm not sure that I would make a decision on a specific building at this point."

The building is named after Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat who, like McCain, chaired the Armed Services Committee.

Russell was a segregationist and led Southern opposition to anti-lynching bills and other civil rights legislation. He died in 1971.RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  The man easily favored to win Brazil's presidential election in October probably won't be on the ballot  blocked because of a conviction corruption that stems from a nationwide investigation that has ensnared many of the country's top businessmen and politicians. Here's a look at details of the case:

THE CONTROVERSY

Brazil's top electoral court is expected to soon rule on whether leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can run for president despite a corruption conviction. Nearly all experts expect the court to rule against him, throwing the presidential race in the Latin America's largest nation into uncertainty.

That's causing renewed scrutiny at home and abroad of the 238-page conviction for corruption and money laundering imposed in July 2017 by Brazil's most famous judge.

Da Silva says the conviction and 12-year sentence amount to a "coup" by right-wing forces trying to prevent his return to office. Detractors say he's guilty and the nation can only move beyond a culture of endemic graft if the law applies to all.

Da Silva has won support abroad from figures including former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and U.N.-appointed human rights experts. Writing an op-ed in the New York Times this month, Jorge Castaneda, a former Mexican foreign minister, also argued that da Silva should be allowed to run despite the conviction.

"The charges brought against him are too flimsy, the purported crime so petty (until now), the sentence so brazenly disproportionate and the stakes so high that in Latin America today, democracy should trump  so to speak  the rule of law," he wrote.

THE CASE

Judge Sergio Moro ruled that the former president helped steer contracts to construction company Grupo OAS before leaving office on Jan. 1, 2011.

In exchange, the judge said, da Silva was promised a renovated beachfront apartment and associated perks totaling about $1.1 million in Guaruja, a city outside of Sao Paulo.

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Da Silva backers argue there was no crime because neither he nor his late wife ever legally owned the apartment. Moro said the intent to give it to him made it a crime.

Writing an op-ed in the New York Times this month, da Silva said the "linchpin" in the case against him was testimony from a man with a "personal interest to tell authorities what they wanted to hear." Da Silva was referring to former OAS president Leo Pinheiro, who got a reduced sentence after testifying that he met with da Silva in 2014 to discuss giving him the apartment as a gift.

Law professor Maristela Basso of the University of Sao Paulo said any testimony "has to be combined with other evidence" to win conviction. "So to say it was all based on Pinheiro is not true."

THE EVIDENCE

Witnesses testifying against da Silva included other top officials from OAS and another construction company, a former senator from da Silva's Workers' Party and a black-market money dealer at the center of the sprawling Carwash corruption investigation.

Prosecutors also presented text messages in which OAS executives discussed renovations on the apartment using code names "boss" and "madam," allegedly referring to da Silva and his wife.

"The boss's kitchen project is ready, so we can set up an appointment with madam whenever you want," Paulo Gordilho, then OAS director, told Pinheiro, according to the sentencing document.

Moro noted that while OAS bought the building in 2009, it never put the unit in question up for sale or showed it to other potential buyers. Renovations to the apartment were begun in 2014 after da Silva and his wife came to view it and before da Silva's wife made a second visit herself. Moro's decision says the work  which included installation of a sauna and increasing the size of a pool deck  is not the sort of renovation OAS typically does.

The deal apparently fell apart at some point in 2014, a time when Judge Moro and prosecutors were ramping up investigations into corruption in government contracts. Hundreds of businessmen and politicians, including many officials in da Silva's 2003-2010 administrations, were implicated.

DA SILVA'S VERSION

The former president acknowledged interest in buying the apartment as an investment, not receiving it as a gift. In his initial statements to investigators, da Silva said he decided against buying the apartment after his wife visited a second time in August 2014. He later changed that when testifying before Moro in 2017, saying he backed out after the couple's initial visit  before the renovations began that the judge says were made for them.

Cristiano Zanin, one of da Silva's attorneys, said the initial statements shouldn't have been part of the evidence because they were made when the former president was "illegally detained" for six hours in early 2016.

CONFIRMATION OR COINCIDENCE?

"The sentence is a jigsaw puzzle," said Rodrigo Falk Fragoso, a professor of criminal law at the Catholic Pontificate University in Rio de Janeiro. "There isn't one direct piece of evidence of the property being transferred, but rather a combination of indications that the judge considered enough to determine a crime had been committed."

DID THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME?

Even some who believe a conviction was warranted say the sentence is too long, largely because of the serious charge of money laundering.

Francisco Monteiro Rocha Junior, a law professor at the Federal University of Parana, argued that da Silva's actions didn't fit the legal definition of money laundering, which is hiding the origin of payments and using the money for lawful transactions in the future.

Still, the sentence length is in line with others leveled by Moro against politicians from opposition parties, such as former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, sentenced to 15 years for corruption.

The length of the sentence reduces the chances that da Silva could get out of prison in time to run for office. Da Silva and supporters argue that ensuring he can't run has always been part of the plan by opponents.

THE APPEALS

The country's top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, which includes justices appointed by da Silva, earlier this year narrowly rejected his petition to be released from prison while he appeals. And in January, an appeals court with three magistrates unanimously upheld the conviction, of 9  years, and extended it to 12 years and 1 month.

"Lula says there is a judicial conspiracy," said Jovacy Peter Filho, a criminal lawyer in Espirito Santo who thinks overall the evidence was weak. "But it's harder to keep saying that after the appeals court upheld the conviction."

___

Follow Peter Prengaman: twitter.com/peterprengaman

Follow Marcelo Silva de Sousa: twitter.com/sdsmarchANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  It will be a fitting final resting place for a man who prized military service, cherished friendship and had little patience for formalities.

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who died Saturday of brain cancer, will be buried on a grassy hill at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, right next to a lifelong friend, within earshot of the next generation of midshipmen and within view of the banks of Severn River.

The senator's choice was another that showed his trademark individuality. McCain, who died Saturday after battling brain cancer, selected the out-of-the-way spot over the grandeur and solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where his father and grandfather  both admirals are buried. Instead, the decorated Vietnam War veteran, former prisoner of war and six-term senator opted for a front-row position next to his friend Chuck Larson, himself an admiral and ally throughout McCain's remarkable life.

"Near, where our paths first crossed," McCain wrote in his memoir of the site.

McCain's office said on Sunday that Larson, who died in 2014, had reserved four plots at the site  for himself, McCain and their wives, both now widows.

From the grassy spot, the grunts and shouts of dozens of exercising midshipmen on Forrest Sherman Field float up to the grave site. Beyond that, crew teams row by and around the peninsula that since at least 1868 has served as the Naval Academy's cemetery. Boats sail past, and occasional car horns from the nearby Baltimore Boulevard bridge interrupt the peace.

On Saturday, as McCain spent his final hours surrounded by family at his ranch in Arizona, his grave was already marked. "Sect 8 1704 McCain," read a handwritten sign on a wooden post, noting the section and grave number, adjacent to Larson's grave.

In between two wooden stakes sat an orange traffic cone, a sentry that might have amused McCain with its unceremonious placement for a former presidential candidate amid the elegant, weathered gravestones.

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McCain and Larson's friendship began at the academy, where McCain ranked near the bottom of the class of 1958. His best friend, Larson, finished near the top, receiving his diploma and personal congratulations from President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

They were roommates through flight school. Larson went on to become commander in chief of military forces in the Pacific. He was the second-youngest admiral in history. Larson also was named superintendent of the Naval Academy twice, the last time in 1994 with a mission to restore morale after the largest cheating scandal in its history.

McCain was shot down over Vietnam and tortured for five-and-a half years as a prisoner of war. After his return to the U.S., he was elected to the House in 1982 and the Senate in 1986. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2000 and 2008.

His rebellious nature sometimes frustrated his political allies and strained friendships. But Larson and McCain stayed "the closest of friends," McCain wrote.

McCain spoke at the academy as Larson, who died of leukemia at age 77, prepared to leave in 1998.

During the speech, McCain told the midshipmen that the friendship was "one of the great honors of my life." But then McCain noted that he doesn't like to dwell on the differences between them, such as the fact that Larson was "destined for greatness." McCain said he preferred to think about a night during their last year at the academy, during which Larson was serving in a leadership capacity and McCain was "as usual, engaged in the kind of officially prohibited activity that (Larson) was expected to report."

Specifically, McCain was hosting a secretive party at which his crew watched a fight on television. Larson attended. When an officer approached, the partiers stuffed Larson in a crawl space.

"I always like to remember Chuck that way, cringing in my closet, dressed in his formal blue uniform, his sword at his side...." McCain reminisced in public.

Then McCain turned serious.

"Neither I nor the Navy nor the academy say goodbye today," McCain said, according to the speech posted on his Senate website. "Goodbyes are impossible. We have been too close for too long to part company now."

___

Follow Kellman on Twitter at www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellmanPrince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Victoria Albert Theatre. [Photo:Rex]

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry broke a month-long hiatus from the public eye this evening attending a gala performance of Hamilton at Victoria Palace Theatre.

The evening will raise awareness and funds for the work Harrys charity, Sentebale, do for children and young people affected by HIV.

For the occasion, Meghan looked amazing in a black Judith and Charles tuxedo mini dress. The dress diced with protocol, coming to roughly five inches above the knee.

The dress  named the Digital Dress  costs 458 and also comes in an aubergine and navy.

Harry and Meghan wore black-tie for the occasion. [Photo: Rex]

Its the first time shes worn the little-known Canadian tailoring label, who boast a modest six thousand followers on their collective social media channels  a number you can expect to see soar very soon.

The Duchess paired the look with simple, black pointy court shoes by Paul Andrew. The Pump-It-Up heels are not currently available online, but similar styles cost in the region of 645.

As for her clutch, the Duchess surprised everyone by opting for a 49 number: the Box Clutch in Black Glitter from Becksondergaard which is currently sold out on ASOS.

As for her beauty look, the Duchess swapped her signature daytime low-bun for a higher evening style, wearing it with a dark smoky eye and nude lips.

She also wore some stand-out gold earrings  the Yellow Gold Vermeil Talon Earrings by Shaun Leane  which complimented her high bun.

Prince Harry arrived beside his wife wearing formal black tie.

Click below to see every outfit Meghan Markle has ever worn

Ahead of the show, the Duke and Duchess met with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, and the cast.

Story continues

For Duke and Duchess fans happy to have the couple back, youre in luck, because were next due to see them on Tuesday 4th September at the Well Child Awards.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Meghan Markle weds Prince Harry in bespoke Givenchy wedding dress

Meghan Markles style file: Every outfit the Duchess of Sussex has worn in public

How Meghan Markle is switching up the royal fashion gameMeghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped out together Wednesday to catch a special showing of Hamilton in Londons West End.

Its the couples first public appearance in weeks, as theyve been on vacation with the queen and other members of the royal family at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The two popped up earlier this month at Harrys good friends wedding.

At the show, the former Suits actress wore a chic tuxedo dress by the label Judith & Charles, according to Harpers Bazaar, with sky-high stilettos and a black clutch. Harry skipped an actual tuxedo and went with a suit.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at "Hamilton" on Aug. 29. (Photo: WPA Pool via Getty Images)

Sharing a laugh with a group that included Lin-Manual Miranda. (Photo: WPA Pool via Getty Images)

Meghan and Harry saw Hamilton together in February, and the actress also saw the play before that with her good friend, actress Priyanka Chopra.

The two attended this performance to benefit Prince Harrys Sentebale charity. The royal and his friend, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, founded the organization over a decade ago to help young people affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and former star of Hamilton, was also at Wednesdays show.

The attended the performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre. (Photo: WPA Pool via Getty Images)

The two are back from their vacation at Balmoral. (Photo: WPA Pool via Getty Images)

Tickets for the play ranged from $25 to $130, along with a charitable donation, according to People.

In July, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup (which Harry also played in) at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in Windsor, England. The event raised over $1.3 million for the charity  and Harrys team won.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry at the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup. (Photo: Karwai Tang via Getty Images)

Its only a matter of weeks until we catch the royal couple at one of their biggest engagements yet: an international trip to Australia in October.

Royal news doesnt stop at the wedding. Subscribe to HuffPosts Watching the Royals newsletter for all things Windsor (and beyond).

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Related Coverage

Thomas Markle Attacks Meghan Markle, Royal Family In Brutal Interview

Meghan Markle Once Wrote About Wanting To Be A Princess

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Also on HuffPost

Story continues

Prince Charles and Prince Harry as kids

On the left, a young Charles in 1952; his son Harry in a 1988 photo on the right.

Prince Charles and Prince Harry as adults

A bearded Charles is seen in a 1976 photo on the left; to the right, his son Harry in 2017.

Young Queen Elizabeth and Princess Charlotte

On the left, a 1929 photo of the queen as a young girl; on the right, her great-granddaughter Charlotte in 2016.

Queen Elizabeth and Princess Charlotte today

The resemblance doesn't stop there. These two look a whole lot alike -- right down to their expressions -- in this 2012 photo of the queen and this 2017 photo of Charlotte.

Prince Edward and Prince William

So handsome! On the left, Edward in 1982; on the right, his nephew William in 1999.

Prince William and Prince George

On the left, William in 1984; on the right, his son George in 2015. In their matching outfits, they could pass for twins.

Prince Philip and Prince Harry

Philip is seen in a 1945 photo on the left; on the right, his grandson Harry in 2016.

Princess Diana and Prince William

On the left, Princess Diana looking stunning in a 1986 photo; on the right, her dashing son William in 2001.

Prince Charles and Prince George

On the left, a 1951 photo of a young Charles; on the right, his grandson George in 2015.

The Queen Mother and Princess Eugenie

On the left, a 1914 portrait of a young Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (who later became the Queen Mother); on the right, her great-granddaughter Eugenie in 2009.

Princess Eugenie and Prince Harry

On the left, Sarah, Duchess of York, carries her daughter Eugenie on her shoulders in a 1992 photo; on the right, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, holds her son Harry in a 1986 photo. Eugenie and Harry are cousins.

Queen Elizabeth and Princess Anne

On the left, the queen in 1972; on the right, her daughter Anne in 2016.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Dakar (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal Wednesday, at the start of a West African tour, with Berlin hoping that development of the continent will help stem migration and boost the fight against jihadism.

Signalling that Germany means business, Merkel was accompanied by around a dozen German business leaders.

In Ghana, Merkel plans to visit a start-up hub and in Nigeria she will meet with Ecowas head Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.

On her arrival in Dakar late Wednesday the German leader was greeted by Senegalese president Macky Sall and a guard of honour by dozens of Senegalese marines.

After the playing of the national anthems, the military orchestra belted out two popular German songs, including "Schoene Maid, hast Du heut' fur mich Zeit", which roughly translates to "Beautiful maiden, do you have time for me today?"

Joining Mall at a joint news conference at the presidential palace, Merkel then spoke of the need to tackle illegal migration and people traffickers.

"We must not be the accomplices of the human traffickers and we must not just watch," Merkel said.

"We have to fight illegal migration on the one hand, on the other hand we have to create legal opportunities."

Sall, who announced the solar electrification of 300 villages thanks to German funding, deplored the fate of migrants losing their lives "across the Sahara and Mediterranean" and called for "solutions and opportunities" for African youth in Africa itself.

"It is not the vocation of African youth to die in the Mediterranean or on the rivers of Europe or to live clandestinely," he said, denouncing the "networks of traffickers and criminals" making money out of them.

Merkel has placed a strong focus on African diplomacy in recent years, and has called on African countries to do their bit in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe -- an issue over which she faces criticism at home.

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Like China and more recently Britain's Theresa May, export-nation Germany is also eagerly eyeing the burgeoning economic potential of resource-rich African nations with young, dynamic citizens.

British Prime Minister May on Wednesday held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour, aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

Senegal is enjoying economic growth of around seven percent annually, while equally booming Ghana is seen as a haven of stability in the region.

Nigeria, despite grappling with a Boko Haram insurgency and oil price volatility, remains Germany's second-biggest trade partner in sub-Saharan Africa.

The push for closer economic ties is part of a wider bid to help stabilise African countries in the long run, offering youngsters opportunities at home in the hope of dissuading them from setting off for Europe.

Senegalese, Ghanaians and Nigerians are among the thousands of migrants trying their luck in Europe, even though their chances of winning asylum are slim. In July alone, nearly 950 Nigerians applied for asylum in Germany.

A German government official speaking ahead of Merkel's trip said it was important to "stop people from making the illegal and extremely dangerous journey to Europe".

Instead, efforts should be focussed on legal methods of entry in Europe, for example for young Africans who study in the EU and then put their education to use at home, the official added.Residents in Perth, Western Australia, reported seeing a bright light streak across the night sky on August 28.

Perth Observatory said theyd had multiple reports of a large meteor flying over Perth. A manager at Perths Gravity Discovery Centre said the light had all the tell-tale signs of a decent-sized meteor, according to local news.

People in York reported hearing a loud boom which shook their houses and windows, according to ABC. Scientists at Curtin University were investigating where the meteor was likely to have hit the ground.

This video was captured by Perth Hills resident BeJay Walker on his CCTV SkyCam. Credit: BeJay Walker via StoryfulMexico City (AFP) - It is still early to declare winners and losers in the new US-Mexican trade deal, but in Mexico it looks like an unexpected victory for leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Announced with typical flare by US President Donald Trump on Monday, the two-way deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement meanwhile left NAFTA's third member, Canada, out in the cold -- at least for now.

In Mexico, the news brought a collective sigh of relief: finally, months of uncertainty over the country's most important trade relationship appeared to be over.

All three countries had been rushing to finish a deal before Lopez Obrador, a sometimes brutal critic of free trade, takes office on December 1.

But ironically, according to nearly everyone involved, Lopez Obrador and his team played a key role in sealing the deal, after being invited to join the negotiations by current President Enrique Pena Nieto.

"Speaking with and working President-elect Lopez Obrador has been absolutely a very, very special time," said Trump.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Lopez Obrador's backing was "essential," while Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said the president-elect's delegate to the talks, Jesus Seade, played a "fundamental role."

- Pragmatism over ideology -

The politician known as "AMLO," who won a landslide election victory on July 1, had attacked NAFTA in the past.

But pragmatism appears to have won out over ideology.

"It's a win for Lopez Obrador, on so many levels," said Mexican economist Valeria Moy.

Not only does he clear an explosive issue off the decks before taking office, he maneuvers into a position that all politicians love: if the deal is seen as a huge success, he can take credit; if it all falls apart, he can blame his predecessor.

"He'll get the economic benefits... but also washes his hands of the potential costs," said Moy.

Story continues

Nearly 25 years after it took effect, on January 1, 1994, NAFTA is popular in Mexico.

One recent poll found 78 percent of Mexicans think it is good for the economy.

"It's undeniable that NAFTA has had huge benefits for Mexico... It hasn't solved all ills, but it's been very good for the country," Mexican trade expert Hugo Perezcano Diaz told AFP.

"And Lopez Obrador needs the business sector. Mexico has a very important and powerful business sector, and speaking out in favor of NAFTA brings him closer to them."

- Art of the deal -

But Lopez Obrador may have inadvertently helped Trump back Canada into a corner.

Perezcano, who works in Canada, summed up the feeling in his adopted country as Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland cut short a trip to Europe to jet into Washington for do-or-die talks on keeping the new agreement a three-country deal.

"The expression here is, 'Mexico threw Canada under the bus,'" he said.

In an episode worthy of reality TV, Trump put Pena Nieto on speaker phone Monday, live on national television, to laud the "fantastic" deal with Mexico, while warning the Canadians he was feeling inclined to leave them out of it.

Freeland graciously brushed aside any acrimony as she arrived in Washington on Tuesday, however.

Thanks to Mexico's "tough decisions," the bilateral deal now "clears the way" for the US-Canada talks, set to open Wednesday, she said.

- What's in it for Mexico? -

Full details of the deal have not been released yet, but Mexico appears to have gotten its way on several key issues.

NAFTA's dispute resolution system stayed in, Trump's idea for seasonal tariffs on agricultural imports stayed out, and his proposal for a five-year "sunset clause" was changed to six-year reviews, with a minimum 16-year lifespan for the deal.

Above all, Mexico got certainty -- or the appearance of it -- on its relationship with the country that buys some 80 percent of its exports.

The United States meanwhile got its way on one key issue close to Trump's heart: bolstering the American auto industry.

The new deal raises the amount of a car's content that must be produced in the region to avoid tariffs from 62.5 to 75 percent, and now requires at least 40 percent to be made by workers earning $16 an hour or more.

But Trump's main victory was political, said Perezcano, of the Ontario-based Centre for International Governance Innovation.

"Politically, (Trump) has declared victory, clearly eying the (US midterm) elections in November."

The losers will meanwhile include consumers, including American ones, said Mexican economist Jonathan Heath.

"The problem is that it's not the best thing, economically speaking. Consumers in all three countries are going to lose, because cars are going to cost more... and other goods, too," he said.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tells CNBC he is confident the U.S. can reach agreement with Canada and trade revisions.

But if not, he says, the U.S. is ready to go forward with one it already has negotiated with Mexico.

The statements came a day after the White House announced it had reached the Mexico deal, which President Trump says supersedes NAFTA.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday he's hopeful a revamped trade deal will get done soon with Canada  but if not the U.S. is ready to go forward with one it already has negotiated with Mexico, the third partner in the NAFTA bloc.

"This is a great move forward for trade," Mnuchin told CNBC's " Squawk Box ," a day after the White House announced that it had reached an agreement with Mexico that essentially would rewrite the trilateral trade pact ratified in 1994.

Renegotiating NAFTA has been a top priority for President Donald Trump , who has often complained about terms he views unfair to the U.S. in the agreement as well as many others around the world. The president said the Mexico deal, which focuses on autos but includes multiple other provisions, essentially scraps NAFTA.

The next step is to negotiate better terms with Canada, something Mnuchin said he believes will happen.

"I think our objective is to try to get Canada on board quickly," he said. "This is a great deal for American workers. If you remember one thing, this deal is about more trade for U.S. companies and goods and services, and that's what we're focused on."

Once the Canada negotiations are wrapped up, the administration will move onto its next two trade priorities: the European Union and China.

Trump has bemoaned the large U.S. trade deficit, particularly with China, and has accused it of manipulating its currency for trade advantage.

"We've been very clear. We need better market access to China, we need reciprocal trade," Mnuchin said. "These are issues that our allies in the G-7 agree with us on."

Story continues

The new deal with Mexico lasts 16 years and adjusts provisions regarding the digital economy, autos, agriculture and unions. It keeps steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican imports in place and allows for continued imports of light vehicles from Mexico.

WATCH: Mexico wants a trilateral deal, but it's up to Canada





More From CNBC

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, center. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)

WASHINGTON  As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh set to begin Sept. 4, the White House has been working to ensure President Trumps pick is ready for any question.

An official involved in Kavanaughs preparations described extensive prep work including hours of mock hearings complete with staged protests.

As a general matter, its been intense, the official told Yahoo News.

Trump announced Kavanaugh as his pick to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9. In the weeks since, the official said Kavanaugh has had meetings with 65 senators, including all of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who were willing to speak with him.

Part of the value of the meetings is to get a sense of what are these senators most interested in  so you get a sense of what you need to prepare for, the official explained.

If confirmed, Kavanaugh would be the second Supreme Court justice appointed by Trump, following Neil Gorsuch. Kavanaughs nomination has faced more opposition from Democrats than Gorsuch because Kennedy was long viewed as a moderate swing vote on the court and Kavanaugh is a conservative. Trumps various legal issues have added to the opposition since some Democrats have suggested the president would essentially be picking his own judge in potential court cases that could arise, particularly from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

Some top Democrats, including members of the Judiciary have declined to meet with Kavanaugh. A tight confirmation is expected with moderate Republicans senators seen as potential swing votes who could block Kavanaugh. Based on Kavanaughs meetings on Capitol Hill so far, the official said they are optimistic about his chances.

My expectation is that hes got solid support among Republicans. The meetings have gone well, so we feel pretty good about it, the official said,

Kavanaughs preparations involve a robust operation with staffers from the Department of Justice and White House attorneys as well as former clerks of Kavanaughs and prominent Washington attorneys who are backing his bid. These staffers and volunteers are helping Kavanaugh with briefing materials and playing the roles of participants in the mock hearings.

Story continues

On Capitol Hill, former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl is serving as Kavanaughs sherpa and accompanying him on meetings with lawmakers.

The mock hearings Kavanaugh has participated in over the summer have evolved from less formal topic-based discussions to fully staged dry runs, with Kavanaugh seated at a table facing a panel. These hearings have included rounds of intense questioning beyond what Kavanaugh will likely face next week, the official said. The staged confirmations have also featured disruptions.

Weve run a situation with live protesters and had him respond, the official said.

The official said Kavanaugh has also prepared by reviewing dozens of binders of case law between the meetings and mock hearings that have filled his days.

In the world of a Supreme Court hearing, the sheer volume of the things you need to be proficient on is dramatic, the official explained.

A staffer for a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee told Yahoo News, the main lines of questioning Kavanaugh will face from the left side of the aisle are his positions on the Affordable Care Act, Roe vs. Wade, and whether he would recuse himself from potential Trump investigations. The official said they have been prepping Kavanaugh on those topics as well as other areas they believe Democrats may focus on.

Weve prepared him for any number of additional lines of questioning, including his views on environmental issues, regulatory agencies, civil rights issues, racial issues, and immigration, said the official.

Along with readying Kavanaugh, the official said the preparations have also included a communications aspect with background materials that can be quickly sent to Republican allies in the Senate, conservative groups and the press.

The most important part is prepping him for whats coming in the room, the official said.

_____

More Yahoo News stories on the Supreme Court:Natural Cycles has been clocking up the headlines [Photo: Getty]

Natural Cycles, the fertility app, may have become the first contraceptive app to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Facebook ad on the grounds that its claims are misleading.

Finding the right contraception can be a tricky decision. Whether you opt for hormonal contraceptives, like the pill and risk it affecting your mood, the more invasive coil, or the convenient yet fumbly condoms it seems theres always a compromise.

So news that there is now a new app promising to prevent unwanted pregnancy has been welcomed by many looking for a modern form of contraception.

How does it work?

The premise is actually pretty simple.

The app, which costs around 60 a year, contains an algorithm that calculates the days of the month a woman is likely to be fertile. Its based on her daily body temperature readings and the information she shares about her menstrual cycle.

Women take their temperature daily, first thing in the morning, using a basal body thermometer and enter the reading into the app.

Basal body thermometers are more sensitive than regular thermometers and detect the minor rise in temperature that typically happens when a woman ovulates, the FDA explains in a press release.

The app then advises women whether it is a green or red light day.

On a green day women are given the go ahead to have sex without using contraception, whereas on a red day (ie a womens most fertile time) women are advised to use extra protection.

The ASA has banned an ad for Natural Cycles [Photo: Natural Cycles]

FDA approval

On first glance the app seems like the perfect solution to the modern contraception dilemma. And the fact that it was given the green light by the FDA? Even better.

Earlier this year the FDA permitted marketing of Natural Cycles, the first app to be used as a method of contraception to prevent pregnancy.

The FDA cites clinical studies involving 15,570 women who used the app for an average of eight months.

With perfect use, the app failed 1.8% of the time; with typical use, the failure rate was 6.5% (the FDA puts those down to people not using the app correctly, like having unprotected sex on fertile days).

Story continues

Those numbers are actually better than those for hormonal birth control, like the pill, which fails 9% of the time, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So whats the problem?

Earlier this year the app clocked up headlines, when Swedish news agency SVT reported that 37 people in Sweden who sought an abortion at a large hospital in Stockholm between September and December 2017 had unintended pregnancies while using the app.

And this is just one hospital, the company reports that it has 600,000 active users across the world, 200,000 of which are in the UK.

The bad news doesnt end there.

The ASA received three complaints about a Facebook ad for the app, which was shown in July 2017 and claimed:

Natural Cycles is a highly accurate, certified, contraceptive app that adapts to every womans unique menstrual cycle. Sign up to get to know your body and prevent pregnancies naturally.

It also claimed the app was a clinically tested alternative to birth control methods.

And just this morning it was announced that the ASA has upheld the complaints and has now banned the ad on the grounds the claims made were misleading.

After the ruling Natural Cycles, will no longer be allowed to claim it is a highly accurate and clinically tested alternative to birth control.

We told Natural Cycles not to state or imply that the app was a highly accurate method of contraception and to take care not to exaggerate the efficacy of the app in preventing pregnancies, the ASA said.

The Family Planning Association (FPA) also previously expressed concerns about the app.

Speaking to Stylist, Karin OSullivan, a clinical consultant at FPA said she would not currently recommend the app alone as a contraceptive method for women.

Theres not enough independent evidence available about the reliability and effectiveness, she says.

And commenting about the ASA investigation, she adds, Its not very clear what highly accurate means  when talking about contraceptive methods its much more helpful to talk about effectiveness rates and explain exactly what your chances of getting pregnant are with typical and perfect use of the method.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Natural Cycles said it respected ASAs ruling. We are committed to being open and transparent in our communications to ensure our message is clear and provides women with the information they need to determine if Natural Cycles is right for them. As part of these efforts, every advertisement undergoes a strict approval process, they said.

Natural Cycles has been independently evaluated and cleared by regulators in Europe and the US based on clinical evidence demonstrating its effectiveness as a method of contraception.

Would you rely on an app for your contraception? [Photo: Getty]

Contraception 2.0 or not convinced?

The founders of the app claim it is 93% effective with typical use.

In comparison, condoms are 85% effective with typical use, and the pill is 91% effective with typical use. Whereas the implant has a failure rate of just 0.05%, and the hormonal IUD a failure rate of 0.2%.

But women need to bear in mind that we probably wont use any method of contraception perfectly, in which case Natural Cycles offers a pretty decent alternative contraception, particularly considering it is non-hormonal and non-invasive.

But users will need to consider the factors that can alter its effectiveness including a change of routine, medication, which can both alter basal temperature, and of course, the accurateness of actually taking your temperature.

So whether or not Natural Cycles is for you is an individual choice. If youre still not sure, its probably worth checking in with your doctor to talk through your contraceptive options.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

The real reason why men dont like to wear condoms

This woman was shocked to discover she was pregnant with triplets despite being on the pill

Male contraceptive pill a step closer, after clinical trial finds it safe to useMyanmar Wednesday rejected the findings of a UN investigation alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, after the US and other countries joined growing calls for them to face justice.

Mainly Buddhist Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

On Monday the UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" against the Rohingya, including acts of rape, sexual violence and mass killings.

In a UN Security Council session a day later, several countries -- including the US, Britain, France and Sweden -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable.

The meeting was one of the most high-profile to date to address the crisis and featured graphic testimony from actress Cate Blanchett, who visited the refugee camps in May as a goodwill ambassador.

"I am a mother and I saw my own children in the eyes of every single refugee child that I met. I saw myself in every parent," she told the Security Council.

"How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire? Their experiences will never leave me."

Myanmar rejected the UN mission's findings in a typically defiant response to a crisis that has heaped international opprobrium on both its military and civilian leadership.

"We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," said government spokesman Zaw Htay, according to Wednesday's state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

The country has "zero tolerance for human rights violations," Zaw Htay said, but he added that "strong evidence" including records and dates of any alleged abuses must be provided before investigations are undertaken.

Story continues

The government would take "legal action against any violation of human rights," he said.

- Facebook ban -

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for shutting down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass on Monday, saying the move could hamper the government's efforts at "national reconciliation".

The social media giant has admitted it was previously too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform -- wildly popular in Myanmar -- become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.

Much of Myanmar's public has vilified the Rohingya since the army's crackdown, with little sympathy for a minority who have for years been refused citizenship and denied freedom of movement and access to healthcare and education.

Myanmar's military retains significant constitutional and political power and is essentially free of civilian oversight.

But the country's civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate and de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly defended the military crackdown as a proportionate response to Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine state who staged deadly raids on police posts on August 25, 2017.

However the UN report agreed with rights groups who say the crackdown was premeditated, a key factor in determining if a genocide has taken place.

It pointed to the large-scale military deployments to Rakhine in the weeks leading up to the campaign in a "broader oppressive context".

Around a million Rohingya now languish in refugee camps in Bangladesh, which has struggled to deal with the huge influx into an already impoverished country.

Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a deal to repatriate last year's wave of refugees but there has been little progress given Rohingya fears of returning without guarantees for their safety.

Meanwhile the drumbeat of calls for accountability is getting louder, with UN investigators calling on the Security Council to refer the Myanmar crisis to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to create an ad hoc tribunal.

Several Security Council members threw support behind the idea while also calling for a mechanism to "collect and preserve proof" of abuses.

Myanmar's ambassador to the UN Hau Do Suan questioned the UN report's findings, reiterating that Myanmar "did not accept the mandate of the mission because we have our concern about the mission's impartiality."

China and Russia, holding veto powers as permanent members of the Security Council, have said they prefer to engage in "dialogue" with Myanmar's leadership to resolve the conflict.

The ICC is soon due to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the crisis because it spilt across the border into Bangladesh.

Myanmar is not a signatory to the court.A UN probe has called for Myanmar's military leaders to face justice for alleged genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, but the road to a tribunal will be long and complex, with China likely to block any prosecution of its ally at the International Criminal Court.

On Monday a damning report by a UN fact-finding mission said members of Myanmar's armed forces, including military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, should be prosecuted for their roles in violently expelling some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Refugees have recounted widespread stories of rape, murder and arson by security forces as they were driven from their homes.

The report was the most serious step towards accountability in the crisis to date but experts warn of major legal and diplomatic obstacles ahead.

- What's the quickest route to justice for the Rohingya? -

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. For proceedings to begin, the United Nations Security Council needs to refer Myanmar to the court.

But geopolitics is likely to get in the way with China and Russia -- which last week hosted Min Aung Hlaing -- able to veto any referral.

China has consistently refrained from condemning Myanmar for its treatment of the Rohingya, describing it as an internal matter.

"Rakhine State has very complex historic, ethnic and religious background," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters on Tuesday.

"So how to resolve this problem? Through negotiation and dialogue," she said, adding: "I think that blame on any side, or pressure, does not help resolve anything."

The Security Council is set to discuss Myanmar later Tuesday in New York.

- What about Plan B? -

If legal moves for the ICC stall at the Security Council, it could consider an ad hoc or mixed tribunal similar to ones created for Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Lebanon and Cambodia.

This would in theory require the cooperation of national authorities in Myanmar.

Story continues

Another possibility stems from an unprecedented request by the chief prosecutor at the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, to extend its jurisdiction to Myanmar, which has not signed up to the court.

That's "uncharted territory", according to Kingsley Abbott of the International Commission of Jurists, who says the move may be possible because they crisis spilled over into Bangladesh, a member of the ICC.

If the court agrees, the prosecutor could launch a preliminary investigation and ultimately issue arrest warrants for Myanmar nationals.

But this would take time, requiring participation from Bangladesh in the investigation and -- somewhat implausibly -- Myanmar to hand over suspects.

- Who could be prosecuted? -

The court targets individuals, not countries. On Monday the UN probe named six senior members of the armed forces including military chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Investigators argue they bear responsibility because of their direct command over troops that carried out "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine state.

But the ICC cannot forcibly bring suspects from Myanmar, and would have to rely on member states to detain them in the event they travel abroad.

This has been problematic in the past.

In December 2017 war crimes judges criticised Jordan for failing to act on the Hague's warrant to arrest Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir.

- Could Aung San Suu Kyi face trial? -

Highly unlikely. The current calls are aimed at the upper echelons of Myanmar's security forces, and the Nobel laureate has no control over the military.

But the UN probe did call her out for not using her position as leader of the civilian government or her "moral authority" to try to stem the violence.

It also accused her administration of denying any wrongdoing, blocking the UN investigation, and spreading false narratives.

"Through their acts and omissions, the civilian authorities have contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes."

- How is this playing out inside Myanmar? -

Myanmar has long denied accusations it committed ethnic cleansing or genocide.

It has reserved particular scorn for the ICC prosecutor's request on jurisdiction.

In August the government branded it "meritless" and called for it to be dismissed.

Myanmar says it has also established its own independent commission of inquiry -- a panel critics say is toothless.

The stateless Rohingya garner little empathy inside Myanmar and Min Aung Hlaing's military campaign has enjoyed support from the public, many of whom see it as a defence of the country from militants.Police are investigating after a mysterious semi-clothed woman  apparently wearing restraints around her wrists  rang a number of doorbells in the middle of the night in Texas.

Deputies said the suspicious incident happened on Friday at around 3.20am, when the woman was captured on surveillance camera ringing the bell a house in Sunrise Ranch, Montgomery.

In the video, released by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, the woman is seen walking towards the front door before pushing the bell.

She is dressed in a t-shirt, but is barelegged and walking without shoes. She appears to have an unfastened wrist restraint hanging from her right arm.

The look on her face, but she was being very very quiet she just looked distressed, one neighbour who saw the footage told ABC News.

Another local said someone had rang his doorbell that night. I heard somebody who sounded like they were downstairs, but then by the time I got to the door they were gone, he said. I looked outside but I didnt see anybody.

One resident told ABC the woman rung the doors of several neighbours, but always disappeared before they had time to answer.

Police said they had been contacted by a number of people who sent them missing persons posters, claiming the woman was someone missing in their area. None were matches.

The sheriffs office said it was reviewing further surveillance footage from surrounding homes and businesses.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is calling on anyone with information about the woman to contact them at 936-760-5800.John-Paul Knowlson, 30 (left) and Stuart ONeill, 29, absconded from an open prison in South Gloucestershire. (PA)

Police are hunting two convicted rapists who have absconded from an open prison.

John-Paul Knowlson, 30, and Stuart ONeill, 29, left HMP Leyhill in South Gloucestershire at about 2am on Wednesday after forcing a door.

Avon and Somerset Police said both prisoners are serving indeterminate sentences.

Knowlson, who is from Bristol, was transferred to HMP Leyhill in September last year. He was convicted of rape at Bristol Crown Court in 2011.

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Police said he is white, 5ft 5in and of medium build, with brown eyes, and speaks with a West Country accent. He has a cross tattoo on his right arm. When last seen he was wearing a red tracksuit top.

ONeill, who is from the Lancashire area, has strong links to Manchester.

He was convicted of rape, burglary and theft offencesat Manchester Crown Court in 2009 and was transferred to HMP Leyhill in October last year.

Police said he is white, 6ft 1in and of medium build, with blue eyes and has a beard. He speaks with a Mancunian accent and has a tattoo with the name ONeill on the base of his neck.

A force spokesman said: If anyone sees ONeill or Knowlson or knows of their whereabouts, wed ask you not to approach them but to call us immediately on 999.Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican on Monday rolled back on Pope Francis' recommendation that parents seek psychiatric help for children who show homosexual tendencies.

The pope made the comments to journalists as he was flying back to Rome from Ireland, but the Vatican later removed his phrase from its official account, saying he had not meant to suggest that homosexuality was a mental illness.

Francis was asked by a journalist what he would say to parents who observe homosexual traits in their children.

"When it shows itself from childhood, there is a lot that can be done through psychiatry, to see how things are. It is something else if it shows itself after 20 years," he said.

The pope added that ignoring a child who showed homosexual tendencies was an "error of fatherhood or motherhood".

However when the Vatican later published the pope's answer, the reference to psychiatry had been removed.

When asked why, a Vatican spokeswoman told AFP it had been done in order to not "change the thoughts of the Holy Father".

"When the pope referred to 'psychiatry', it is clear that he was doing it to highlight an example of 'things that can be done'. But with that word he didn't mean to say that it (homosexuality) was a 'mental illness'," she said.

Francis' trip to Ireland was fraught with controversy amid accusations that he ignored sexual abuse allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.Last Sunday morning, around 11.15 a.m., two of them, I think juveniles, were running around among our properties here. I came back from Wisconsin with my dogs a week ago about 4.50 in the afternoon, and one, again probably a juvenile, was standing in the middle of the drive. Another one was seen on Sunday afternoon running from west to east towards the pond with something in its mouth.VATICAN CITY (AP)  The archbishop of Washington on Monday "categorically denied" ever being informed that his predecessor had been sanctioned for sexual misconduct, undercutting a key element of a bombshell allegation that Pope Francis covered up clergy abuse.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl issued a statement after the Vatican's former ambassador to the United States accused Pope Francis of effectively freeing ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from the sanctions in 2013 despite knowing of McCarrick's sexual predations against seminarians.

Wuerl's denial corresponds with the public record, which provides ample evidence that McCarrick lived a life completely devoid of ecclesiastic restriction after the sanctions were said to have been imposed in 2009 or 2010. That suggests that Pope Benedict XVI either didn't impose sanctions or never conveyed them in any official way to the people who could enforce them  or that McCarrick simply flouted them and Benedict's Vatican was unwilling or unable to stop him.

The claims of the former Vatican ambassador, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, have thrown Francis' papacy into crisis, undermining once again his insistence that he is intent on ridding the church of sex abuse and cover-up.

His record has taken several hits of late, including his extraordinary misjudgment involving a Chilean bishop, for which he has apologized and taken measures to address. But the McCarrick case is something else entirely, implicating the powerful U.S. hierarchy and the Vatican itself.

The core of Vigano's cover-up charge against Francis rests on what sanctions, if any, Benedict imposed on McCarrick and what if anything Francis did to alter them, when armed with the same knowledge of McCarrick's misdeeds that Benedict had.

Vigano, who was Vatican ambassador from 2011-2016, said he had been told that Benedict imposed sanctions on McCarrick starting in 2009 or 2010, after a decade's worth of allegations of misconduct involving adult seminarians had reached the Vatican.

Story continues

By that time, two New Jersey dioceses had settled complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct against McCarrick lodged by two former seminarians. It was apparently common knowledge that McCarrick would invite seminarians to his New Jersey beach house, and into his bed.

"The cardinal was to leave the seminary where he was living, he was forbidden to celebrate Mass in public, to participate in public meetings, to give lectures, to travel, with the obligation of dedicating himself to a life of prayer and penance," Vigano wrote of the Benedict sanctions.

Vigano said he informed Francis of the sanctions in a meeting June 23, 2013.

"Holy Father, I don't know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation of Bishops, there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance," Vigano said.

His version of events was corroborated Monday by a former official in the Vatican embassy in Washington, Monsignor Jean-Francois Lantheaume, who told Catholic News Agency: "Vigano said the truth. That is all."

The historic record is rife with evidence that McCarrick had lived under no such restrictions. He traveled widely, including for Catholic Relief Services, the humanitarian branch of the U.S. church. He went to Iran in 2011 with a religious delegation to try to win the release of two American hikers arrested after crossing the border. He celebrated Mass publicly. He traveled to Rome with the entire U.S. conference of bishops for their once-every-five-year visit in 2012 and was even on hand for Benedict's final general audience on Feb. 27, 2013.

In a 2010 video posted on YouTube, McCarrick was shown visiting the national seminary in Haiti that had been damaged earlier by the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake. "The boys are still living in tents," McCarrick said as young Haitian seminarians were shown milling about.

If such sanctions existed, "then McCarrick himself has either somehow forgotten he was under sanction, or he is being woefully disobedient," said the Rev. Matt Malone, editor of the Jesuit magazine America, who in a series of 13 tweets provided links to news reports, photos and other evidence of McCarrick's very public ministry in the years that he was supposed to be living a lifetime of prayer and penance.

Vigano called for Francis' resignation over what he said was his complicity in covering up McCarrick's crimes. But if Benedict had the same information and either didn't impose sanctions on him or didn't enforce them, Benedict too could be accused of complicity, or at least negligence.

As the archbishop of Washington, where McCarrick lived, Wuerl presumably would have known about any restrictions on McCarrick's ministry, though it would have actually been up to Vigano and his predecessor to impose and enforce them.

"The only ground for Cardinal Wuerl to challenge the ministry of Archbishop McCarrick would have been information from Archbishop Vigano or other communications from the Holy See," said a statement from the Washington archdiocese. "Such information was never provided."

Canon lawyer Kurt Martens concurred.

"Cardinals are exempt from the jurisdiction of the local ordinary," or bishop, Martens said. "That's why a nuncio has to step in on behalf of the Holy Father. A local bishop has no authority over other bishops. You can't control your predecessor."

The Vatican spokesman didn't immediately respond Monday when asked to confirm or deny the existence of any sanctions imposed by Benedict. Francis, for his part, declined to confirm or deny Vigano's claims when asked by reporters on the flight home from Ireland on Sunday.

"I won't say a word about it," Francis said, urging journalists to read Vigano's text and come to a judgment themselves. "I think the text speaks for itself."

Vigano's bombshell has laid bare how the ideological battle lines drawn between conservatives and progressives over Francis' papacy have turned into a full-fledged civil war.

"A new episode of internal opposition," the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano said Monday of Vigano's allegations.

Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation as cardinal last month, after a U.S. church investigation determined that an accusation he had groped a teen-ager in the 1970s was credible. Up until that allegation involving a minor, the allegations against McCarrick had involved accusations that he slept with adult seminarians  a clear abuse of power, but a much less serious crime in the church's eyes.Will Melania Trump attend John McCains funeral after her husband was not invited?

McCains services would be the third key event in which President Trump's name failed to appear on a guest list. The others are Barbara Bushs funeral and the royal wedding.

McCain will be eulogized by President George W. Bush, who bested him to win the Republican nomination 2000, and President Obama, to whom McCain lost the 2008 presidential election.

The first lady attended Barbara Bushs funeral earlier this year, when she was warmly greeted by Obama.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle excluded all foreign leaders from their wedding guest list just to avoid having to invite President Trump, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Melania could attend McCain's funeral to help smooth relations between the Trump family and other diplomats. She has been dubbed the "edge-smoother in chief" by The Washington Post.

As the president sat stone-faced while hammered with questions about McCain's death Monday, the first lady gave a warm smile.

Melania is also receiving support from Stormy Daniels, who told the Daily Mirror that "people should stop speaking for her."

Daniels added: "Maybe she's happy! The entire world would be interested to know what she feels. But if we never know, that is her right and I support it."

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Related Articles:People stand among hundreds of pairs of shoes displayed at the Capitol to pay tribute to Hurricane Maria's victims in San Juan - REUTERS

Puerto Ricos governor raised the US territorys official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 on Tuesday after an independent study found the number of people who succumbed in the desperate, sweltering aftermath had been severely undercounted.

The new estimate of nearly 3,000 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in September 2017 and knocked out the entire electrical grid was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

"We never anticipated a scenario of zero communication, zero energy, zero highway access," Gov. Ricardo Rossello told reporters. "I think the lesson is to anticipate the worst. ... Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, in hindsight, things couldve been handled differently."

He said he was creating a commission to study the hurricane response, and a registry of people vulnerable to the next hurricane, such as the elderly, the bedridden and kidney dialysis patients.

Mr Rossello acknowledged Puerto Rico remains vulnerable to another major storm. He said the government has improved its communication systems and established a network to distribute food and medicine, but he noted that there are still 60,000 homes without a proper roof and that the power grid is still unstable.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello speaks during a press conference regarding the number of estimated deaths in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan Credit: AP

"A lesson from this is that efforts for assistance and recovery need to focus as much as possible on lower-income areas, on people who are older, who are more vulnerable," said Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken institute.

Tuesdays finding is almost twice the governments previous estimate, included in a recent report to Congress, that there were 1,427 more deaths than normal in the three months after the storm.

The George Washington researchers said the official count from the September 20 hurricane was low in part because doctors were not trained in how to classify deaths after a disaster.

The number of deaths from September 2017 to February 2018 was 22 percent higher than during the same period in previous years, Goldman said.

Story continues

Donald Berry, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who was not involved in the study, told The Associated Press in an email that he believes the report is more accurate than the one released by Harvard investigators in May that estimated up to 4,600 more deaths than usual occurred.

He said the data sources used by George Washington also are better, "but its accuracy is not as great as they advertise."

"If the true number of deaths attributable to Maria turns out to be 2,000 then I would not be surprised," he said.

A Puerto Rican national flag is mounted on debris of a damaged home in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria Credit: AP

The number of dead has political implications for the Trump administration, which was accused of responding half-heartedly to the disaster. Shortly after the storm, when the official death toll stood at 16, President Donald Trump marvelled over the small loss of life compared to that of "a real catastrophe like Katrina."

Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, was directly responsible for about 1,200 deaths, according to the National Hurricane Centre. That does not include indirect deaths of the sort the George Washington researchers counted in Puerto Rico.

The White House issued a statement on Tuesday noting that it sent 12,000 personnel to Puerto Rico for response and recovery efforts, and said it would continue to support the islands government and its communities in their recovery for years to come.

"The American people, including those grieving the loss of a loved one, deserve no less. The president remains proud of all of the work the federal family undertook to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico," it said.

Yet many remain outraged at both the local and federal governments.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a New York Democrat, said the report shows the US government failed the people of Puerto Rico.

"These numbers are only the latest to underscore that the federal response to the hurricanes was disastrously inadequate and, as a result, thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives," she said in a statement.

There is no national standard for how to count disaster-related deaths. While the National Hurricane Center reports only direct deaths, such as those caused by flying debris or drowning, some local governments may include indirect deaths from such things as heart attacks and house fires.

Researchers with George Washington said they counted deaths over the span of six months - a much longer period than usual - because so many people were without power during that time.

"That caused a number of issues," Goldman said, explaining that people were forced to exert themselves physically or were exposed to intense heat without fans or air conditioning. "Its fairly striking that you have so many households without electricity for so long. Thats unusual in the US after a disaster."

Power has not yet been fully restored to Puerto Rico nearly a year after the hurricane, and outages remain common.

Puerto Ricos government released data in June showing increases in several illnesses in 2017 that could have been linked to the storm: Cases of sepsis, a serious bloodstream infection usually caused by bacteria, rose from 708 in 2016 to 835 last year. Deaths from diabetes went from 3,151 to 3,250, and deaths from heart illnesses increased from 5,417 to 5,586.

Bethzaida Rosado said government and health care officials were not prepared for the storm, and she is still angry her 76-year-old mother died because oxygen tanks were not available on the island after the hurricane.

"Do you know what its like to see your mother run out of oxygen?" she said. "I dont wish that on anyone."

Months ago, the Rossello administration stopped updating its official death toll at 64 and ordered the independent investigation amid suspicions the dead were substantially undercounted.

The first phase of the study cost $305,000. In the second phase, the researchers plan to focus on the causes of death.

The researchers found that the risk of death was 45 percent higher for those living in impoverished communities, and that men over 65 saw a continuous elevated risk of death.

They also reported that physicians and others told them that Puerto Ricos government did not notify them about federal guidelines on how to document deaths related to a major disaster.

"Others expressed reluctance to relate deaths to hurricanes due to concern about the subjectivity of this determination and about liability," the report said.

For the study, the researchers reviewed mortality data from July 2010 to February 2018. They also took into account an 8 percent drop in Puerto Ricos population in the six months after the storm, when tens of thousands fled because of the damage.

However, they did not share details of their methodology, saying those will be released if the study is published in a scientific journal.

"We did not cherry-pick, I can promise you," Goldman said. "We used very rigorous methodology."

The study also found that government emergency plans in place when Maria hit were not designed for hurricanes greater than a Category 1. Maria was a Category 4 with 154 mph winds. Damage was estimated at more than $100 billion.

The researchers made several recommendations, including more emergency planning and government training for doctors on filling out death certificates. They also said the public health system needs to be strengthened, though Goldman said they dont know yet whether those weaknesses contributed to storm-related deaths.

Rossello pledged to carry out the recommendations, though there are questions about Puerto Ricos ability to do so. The island is trying to restructure a portion of its more than $70 billion public debt amid a 12-year recession.Moscow (AFP) - Russia will flex its military muscles and hold the biggest war games since the Cold War era next month, including almost 300,000 troops and 1,000 aircraft, the defence ministry said Tuesday, leading NATO to warn of a "more assertive Russia".

The Vostok-2018, or East 18, exercises simulating large-scale warfare, which the Kremlin called "justified", will be carried out from September 11 to 15 in the country's east, with troops from China and Mongolia also taking part.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the exercises would be similar in size to those held in September 1981 by the Soviet authorities, called Zapad-81, or West 81.

Those were unprecedented at the time in terms of the number of troops and military hardware, with around 100,000 troops involved, Russian television reported.

"This will be something of a repeat of Zapad-81, but in some senses even bigger," Shoigu said in comments reported by Russian news agencies.

The war games come as Russia is hit by the latest round of US sanctions and faces even harsher ones over its alleged role in a nerve agent attack in Britain, with relations with the West at their lowest ebb since the Cold War.

NATO spokesman Dylan White said that since Vostok-2018 would take place east of the Ural mountains, Moscow was not obliged to notify the West or invite observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, although an invitation had been extended to military attaches.

The planned drill showed "a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defence budget and its military presence," White said.

Meanwhile Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defended the drills telling journalists that spending state funds on the country's defence capabilities was "justified, necessary and the only option", despite the country's economic problems.

- 'Unprecedented scale' -

Defence minister Shoigu said the drills would be "on an unprecedented scale both in terms of the area covered and in terms of the numbers" of military forces.

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"More than 1,000 aircraft, almost 300,000 troops and almost all the firing ranges of the Central and Eastern military districts" would be involved, he said.

"Imagine 36,000 pieces of military equipment moving together at the same time -- tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles. And all of this, of course, in conditions as close to combat as possible."

Russian troops underwent snap checks of their combat-readiness last week and Russia has already sent around 30 fighter planes to aerodromes in eastern Siberia, the defence ministry said.

Chinese troops have also begun arriving by train with their equipment in the region east of Lake Baikal, the ministry said.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has massively upgraded its military equipment and modernised the armed forces, which have demonstrated their increased strength in operations in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

While having a practical purpose of testing military skills, drills are also designed to show a country's potential opponents how it could behave in a real conflict situation.

Moscow said last year's Zapad-2017 military drills, conducted in ally Belarus and western regions of Russia, had roughly 12,700 troops taking part, raising eyebrows in neighbouring NATO members Poland and the Baltic states.

NATO claimed Russia could have been massively under-reporting the scale of the exercises, which some of the alliance's eastern members said involved more than 100,000 servicemen.

In 2015, Russia held drills involving 80,000 troops in regions spanning the country from the Arctic in the far east to the southern Caucasus.

A year later it held spectacular land, sea and air exercises in Crimea, annexed by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014.Moscow (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib, as speculation grows Damascus is planning a Russian-backed offensive on the rebel-held province.

"I hope our Western partners will not give in to (rebel) provocations and will not obstruct an anti-terror operation" in Idlib, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow.

Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey, who support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war but are currently in intense negotiations to ensure Idlib does not become a breaking point in their alliance.

"It is necessary to disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists and at the same time prepare an operation against them while minimising risks for the civilian population," Lavrov said.

"This abscess needs to be liquidated."

Lavrov went on to accuse the West of "actively heating up" the idea of a "so-called planned chemical attack by the (Syrian) government."

Over the last week, Moscow has accused Syrian rebels of planning to stage a chemical attack in the northwestern province that would "provoke" Western strikes on its ally Damascus.

It also accused British secret services of being "actively involved" in the plot.

Moscow's accusations came after US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said Washington will respond "very strongly" if Syrian regime forces used chemical weapons to retake Idlib.

This week Russian media reported Moscow is reinforcing its military presence in the Mediterranean near Syria.

In April, the US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma that left scores of people dead.

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Russian stuck by its ally Syria and angrily insisted the Douma attack was staged by the White Helmets volunteer rescue service.

Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, launched a military intervention in 2015 to support the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a move that changed the course of the war.

Damascus still holds the southeastern tip of Idlib, a strategically important province adjacent to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast that is home to Assad's clan.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Russia and Sudan have hosted talks in Khartoum among some of the Central African Republic's rival militias, CAR officials said on Wednesday, while documents showed the groups had signed a preliminary agreement.

The meeting in the Sudanese capital on Tuesday unfolded in parallel to an official mediation effort in the troubled CAR led by the African Union (AU).

Russia and Sudan "took the step of holding a meeting in Khartoum with the heads of armed groups," Communications Minister Ange-Maxime Kazagui said in a statement read on national radio.

The CAR exploded into violence following the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize, a Christian, by majority-Muslim militias in a coalition called the Seleka.

France, the former colonial power, intervened to oust the Seleka and the UN deployed a peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, in 2014.

But President Faustin-Archange Touadera, elected in 2016, controls only a fraction of the country.

Most of the territory is overrun by armed groups, many of which claim to protect Christian or Muslim communities, and which often fight bloodily over resources.

Violence has led to thousands of deaths, while according to the UN, nearly 700,000 people have been internally displaced, 570,000 are refugees abroad and 2.5 million are in need of humanitarian aid.

Three Seleka groups and a nominally Christian militia leader signed a "declaration of understanding" in Khartoum on Tuesday, according to the document, which was obtained by AFP.

The three Seleka groups are the Popular Front for the Rebirth of the Central African Republic (FPRC), led by Noureddine Adam; the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), led by Ali Darassa; and the Central African Patriotic Movement (MPC), led by Mahamat Al-Khatim.

Maxime Mokom, who heads one of the biggest nominally Christian armed groups, also signed the document.

- Russian role -

The initiative in Khartoum marks the latest sign of Russia's deepening involvement in the CAR, a country that is poor and fragile but strategically located and rich in gold, copper, iron ore and uranium.

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Since the start of the year, Russia has supplied weapons to the CAR army after gaining UN authorisation to do so and provides close protection for Touadera, whose security advisor is Russian.

It has also sent five military officers and 170 civilians as "instructors" for CAR's armed forces, even though its troops are already being trained by the European Union.

On the diplomatic front, Russia has twice attempted to mediate among the militias in the past two months, but without success.

The CAR communique on Wednesday said the government "takes note of the declaration" signed in Khartoum but "supports the AU's initative for peace and reconciliation."

The AU, supported by the UN and the CAR's main partners, has been striving to set up negotiations between the militias and the government since July 2017 but progress has been scant.

An AU panel is scheduled to meet with the militias in the coming days in Bouar, western CAR, to "harmonise" 97 claims that the armed groups have set down ahead of any official agreement.

Seven peace agreements have been signed in the CAR over the past half-dozen years but none has had a lasting effect.Caen (France) (AFP) - French and British fishermen clashed in the English Channel on Tuesday over a hoard of scallops, French sources said, the latest flare-up in a years-long war over the prized shellfish.

The British were heavily outnumbered at five boats to around 35 French vessels, according to maritime official Ingrid Parot, whose ship was sent to intervene in the scallop-rich waters off Normandy.

"The French went to contact the British to stop them working and they clashed with each other. Apparently there was stone-throwing, but no injuries or damage," said Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff.

"The French almost surrounded the British," Rogoff said, prompting the British to flee.

Rogoff said "around 40" French boats had gathered overnight in protest at British "pillaging" of the scallop supply.

French boats only have the right to fish for scallops from October 1 until May 15 to allow local stocks to regenerate, but the British do not face the same restrictions.

The French trawlermen wanted the British to stay north of a line running from Barfleur in Normandy to Cap d'Antifer to the east to avoid running supplies down, Rogoff said.

Tensions have been high between British and French fishermen for several years, leading to angry disputes that have been dubbed "Scallop Wars".

In some years the two sides have been able to come to partial agreements, but "not this year", said Rogoff.British fishermen have claimed that warnings about an extraordinary clash over scallops in the English Channel fell "on deaf ears".

French mariners have been accused of endangering the lives of their UK counterparts after rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles were allegedly hurled at English and Scottish vessels during the confrontation in the early hours of Tuesday.

Around a dozen British boats were targeted by the rival flotilla in a protest over fishing rights in the scallop-rich waters exacerbated by Brexit talks.

The Government said it had contacted officials in France about the matter, adding the vessels were "legally entitled" to fish in the area.

But some British fishermen have claimed they had previously reported similar skirmishes over the past two years to the authorities.

"Nothing happened, it just went on deaf ears," said Brixham-based mariner Derek Meredith.

Around a dozen UK fishing boats were targeted by a rival French flotilla in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy early on Tuesday

The South Western Fish Producers Organisation, which represents many of the boats and has been negotiating with French fishermen, condemned the behaviour as dangerous.

Chief executive Jim Portus said: "They are endangering life at sea by being unprofessional. The French might look like heroes to the French coastal communities, but it's really awful to put other mariners in danger."

Around 40 French boats were said to be responsible for the disruption.

One of the British ships, The Golden Promise, had a window smashed by an airborne can, while another suffered fire damage after a flare was thrown at it, Mr Portus said.

A smashed window onboard of Golden Promise at the Brixham Harbour in Devon, which was broken by a rock thrown by french fishermen Credit: SWNS.com

He claimed to have received a message from the chief negotiator of the French scallop industry on Wednesday morning that said: "I regret the altercations that occurred... it will not happen again."

'It's happened before... the French navy were there and did nothing'

It is not the first time such a clash has taken place, according to the owner of one of the Brixham boats involved.

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Derek Meredith told the BBC: "It's happened in previous years, two years ago it happened to us - not as forceful as this time I wouldn't have said - but the same thing, the French navy were there on site and never done a thing.

"We reported it to the (Marine Management Organisation), nothing happened, it just went on deaf ears."

The skipper of Joanna C, Nathan Clark, also told the broadcaster: "I'm not really concerned because we're doing nothing wrong... it's just the safety of my crew and the boat really, because there's nothing to stop them doing it all over again."

Fishermen Callum Clark and Nathan Clark onboard Joanna C at the Brixham Harbour in Devon after they were attacked Credit: SWNS.com

Britain's National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations has appealed for calm, while the Scottish White Fish Producers Association lashed out at the "vigilante behaviour".

Long-running dispute over section of Channel

Maritime authorities in France also sought to soothe tensions on Wednesday, decrying the showdown as "very dangerous" and expressing hope that "things will calm down".

The long-running dispute centres on a section of the Channel from which French fishermen cannot harvest scallops until later in the year, due to domestic environmental laws.

Dramatic footage broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as tensions finally boiled over.

The Honeybourne 3 (right), a Scottish scallop dredger, in dock at Shoreham Credit: Andrew Matthews /PA

One of the British boats involved in the clash was said to be the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger, along with two ships from Brixham harbour, The Golden Promise and Joanna C.

The Honeybourne 3, one of the British boats involved in the clash, was moored in Shoreham Port on Wednesday morning.

A black spatter mark was visible on the vessel's stern while dents and scrapes marked the port side bow.

MP claims 'no evidence' that French have taken action against vessels

Fears have been raised about the safety of the British fleet, which the Government said was its "highest priority".

Sheryll Murray, MP for South East Cornwall, claimed Environment Secretary Michael Gove had assured her that "appropriate measures" were in place to protect fishermen.

She also criticised the response of the French authorities, saying there was "no evidence whatsoever" that they had taken action against the vessels.

Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermen's association, said the violent scenes "demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change".

A history of fishing 'wars'

UK government: Safety of fleet is highest priority

A British government spokesman said: "We are aware of reports of aggression directed towards UK fishing vessels in an area of the English Channel not under UK control.

"These vessels were operating in an area they are legally entitled to fish.

"The safety of the UK fleet is our highest priority and we will continue to monitor the presence and activities of vessels in the area.

"We are in contact with industry and the French administration to encourage meaningful dialogue and prevent further incidents from occurring."Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  Campus journalism is the cradle of press freedom  but student publications across the Philippines struggle with editorial independence, low funds, and a lack of resources. The law is meant to help them, but it has not always worked.

Under the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, or Republic Act 7079, a student shall not be expelled or suspended solely on the basis of articles he or she has written. Yet three years after its passage, 10 students from Miriam College's publication, Chi-Rho, were dismissed, expelled, and suspended for writing or approving work that the school deemed erotic. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld the expulsion.

Editorial board members of AMA Computer Colleges Dataline were also expelled in 1997 after publishing a lampoon issue. A Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge upheld their dismissal. The Supreme Court later slammed the decision and charged the judge a 5,000 fine  but that was in 2002, five years later.

In 2016, Kabataan Party-List Representative Sarah Elago filed House Bill 3636, seeking stronger protection of student journalists. Senator Leila De Lima has since filed a counterpart measure, Senate Bill 1868, at the upper house. The proposal criticized the 1991 law for not imposing penalties on non-compliant school administrations. It also noted that the Supreme Court allowed expulsion if there was material disruption of class work ... or substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.

[This] is too broad, the authors of the bill argued, that even a simple factual article may fall within its application.

Despite these challenges, campus journalists have been stepping up their coverage. When President Rodrigo Duterte rose to power, Lady Justice graced the cover of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) The Collegian in a biting editorial cartoon reminiscent of Raffy Lermas iconic Inquirer cover photo, a drug war pieta. In May, Ateneo de Manila University and Xavier Universitys publications The Guidon and The Crusader released joint multimedia coverage of the aftermath of the Marawi Crisis. The Guidon previously banded with two other Ateneo publications, the literary folio Heights and the Filipino language news magazine Matanglawin, for a special issue with cut-outs of articles, poems, and writing from and about martial law  designed to be distributed discreetly, as publications had been under dictator Ferdinand Marcos regime.

In a fraught time for the press, here are some other campus publications whose efforts we cannot afford to overlook.

This issue of San Beda Manila's The Bedan Roar includes a commentary on a mandatory drug test in light of the anti-drug campaign; a news brief on students being accepted to an international conference, but having no funding to attend; and an editorial on fake news. Photo from THE BEDAN ROAR/ISSUU

The Bedan Roar, San Beda Manila Senior High School

San Beda Manila Senior High Schools (SHS) publication, The Bedan Roar, made headlines when its latest issue, critical of both the government and school administration, never saw distribution. Its cover featured President Duterte, a Bedan alumnus, sitting on an iron throne of guns atop a heap of dead bodies, in reference to thousands of extrajudicial killings under his term.

Its contents included a commentary on a mandatory drug test in light of the anti-drug campaign; a news brief on students being accepted to an international conference, but having no funding to attend; and an editorial on fake news. They noted, said former Editor-in-Chief Lars Salamante, that the same illnesses that are plaguing society also plague the school.

I was insistent [on including] relevant national news, issues and other subject matter that directly or indirectly affect the Bedan community... then view them from an angle or the lens of our readers, [who] are students, said Salamante.

The faculty was not pleased. A member who requested anonymity said the school did not want the students to question or protest the rule of the current President, [who is] a Bedan.

Former Associate Editor Cristina Chi said they met with administrators to negotiate changes on the cover, but they could not meet halfway. All opinion articles should be reduced to one to two sentences per topic, and with no national issues as much as possible, she recounted of the instructions given to them. They wanted whole pages with only pictures of events.

The students said they would not compromise their vision for the paper, or junk their staffers hard work. After studying safety nets under the law, they went to press. When the copies arrived, Chi said administrators thought they planned a secret circulation  and they allegedly argued the Campus Journalism Act only applied to college students.

Before we could even make plans on how to distribute it to the students, they collected all the copies and packaged them in boxes to be shredded, said Chi.

A member who requested anonymity said the school did not want the students to question or protest the rule of the current President, [who is] a Bedan.

The Bedan Roar took to Facebook to explain why the studentry would not be receiving their magazines, and uploaded the full issue online. Chi said the online release was borne from responsibility and duty, a sense of accountability to their readers.

The perceived censorship from the school administration went viral. The Bedan Alumni Association released a statement of solidarity for the paper, signed by previous school paper editors  including, most prominently, former senator Rene Saguisag.

San Beda Manila SHS Vice Principal Aurora L. Lincumpao told CNN Philippines Life that the students were just kids, and the school wanted them to focus [on the] achievements of San Beda.

Among these was the schools elevation to university status, which got a two-page spread in the banned issue. [The magazine did] not focus on these things, [but instead] focused on the national issues, Lincumpao said in a phone call.

She also maintained the students went to print against the administrations advice, but did not explain why. She added they were reactionary.

They are just high school students, so they need to be advised, Lincumpao continued. We just asked them to temper some of the articles.

After talk that the paper would be controlled by administrators, students said they were promised autonomy again. For a supposedly clean slate, the incoming Editorial Board has been reshuffled, save for one officer. Applicants will be screened by the papers top editor and two moderators.

Variations, the school paper of the Philippine High School for the Arts, has a motto that reads: Makialam. Makiusisa. Makigulo't mambulabog. Higit sa lahat, magpakadalubhasa. Photo from VARIATIONS/FACEBOOK

Variations, Philippine High School for the Arts

Variations is tasked with covering news, issues, and stories for the student artists and scholars in the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA). Although established under Marcos administration in 1977, students of PHSA have been critical of the regime. The school paper motto reads: Makialam. Makiusisa. Makigulo't mambulabog. Higit sa lahat, magpakadalubhasa.

In April, students and alumni went up in arms over the addition of former first lady Imelda Marcos name to a coveted scholarship. Variations released a statement asking the administration for an explanation.

The publication noted the Makiling Academy and Research Institute for the Arts (MARIA) scholarship had indeed been affixed with Imelda Romualdez Marcos initials, but they were dropped in 1990 when Executive Order 420 effectively converted PHSA into a regular government agency, disconnecting the school from the Marcoses.

Variations statement would be taken down that same week upon the request of PHSA officials. According to former Editor-in-Chief Maura Yap, their adviser asked them to delete the post after he had been contacted by the administration. He reasoned the contents had not been reviewed, and could have contained something libelous. Yap and then-Associate Editor Bea Rabe did as they were told, but reposted the statement on their personal profiles.

Both students said their adviser had always been hands on, but nonetheless gave them the freedom to report the truth.

Personally, I think we were told to take our post down because the school doesnt want to involve itself in trouble. The school is very reliant on getting its budget from the government and having an anti-Marcos sentiment from an organization connected to the school could [result in a] budget cut, Yap speculated.

Yap mentioned that two years ago, Variations reported on a fire extinguisher that leaked in one of PHSAs school buses while students were on board. Fortunately, no student got hurt. We wrote an article about it for the paper but we were told to remove it because it reflected poorly on the school," she shared.

Variations statement closed with a demand for the school to explain the Marcos tribute. As the student publication, it is our responsibility to the student body to take word for what the students think, it read. [The] media blackout from our school administration is simply proof that something happened without any of the students knowledge or consent.

As of this writing, PHSA administration has still not issued a public explanation. It also did not respond to CNN Philippines request for comment.

However, the school sent a letter to the similarly disquieted PHSA Alumni Association, explaining that Imelda Marcos initials were a typographical error, and as a result, read out loud by mistake. Students were unconvinced, pointing out that the 2015 student handbook also used Marcos name  and it has not been edited since.

Campus journalists from Christ the King College in La Union founded Assortedge. Now, the editorial board consists of members from Davao, Cavite, Cagayan de Oro, Mindoro, and Laguna among other places. Photo from ASSORTEDGE/FACEBOOK

Assortedge, various schools

Assortedge was founded in 2016 by John Paul Punzalan and Kharl James Villadolid, campus journalists from Christ the King College in La Union. They assembled a ragtag editorial board with members from Davao, Cavite, Cagayan de Oro, Mindoro, and Laguna among other places to help monitor the presidential elections. The mix was enriching, allowing for mobility and a wider reach. But it also meant plowing through operations with no office and no profit  all from different locations.

After the election, the online publication expanded its coverage to include science, pop culture, and even religion. Only a handful of founding editors are still with the organization, but the challenges have stayed the same.

Since we're all students and have no steady income, everything we do is out of pocket, so we're not always able to meet, incumbent Editor-in-Chief Hazel Gil said. We do facilitate workshops and participate and partner in events, as well as the occasional kind donor, but we heavily rely on abono.

We sometimes feel incredible pressure to keep things running on top of the already confusing life of adolescents, she added.

Its tagline mission to put the world into context means reporting with no colors, but also no neutrality: just bias to the truth, says Hazel Gil, Editor-in-Chief of Assortedge. Photo from ASSORTEDGE/FACEBOOK

Assortedge also holds editorial and creative exams, growing its membership to around 40 and becoming a home for student journalists across the country. Most members hail from Region IV-A, which Gil says is a powerhouse in the school press conference circuit. Its Facebook page now has 179,000 followers.

The goal was to fight misinformation and propaganda with fact. Its tagline mission to put the world into context means reporting with no colors, but also no neutrality: just bias to the truth, says Gil, a Business Economics sophomore at U.P. Diliman.

Assortedge produces explanatory graphics compiled in photo albums for different topics, from national issues covering politics and health to student-handy guides like a list of top universities and entrance exam tips.

It has had its share of backlash too. One post, Debunking Martial Law Myths, was disputed by trolls and Marcos supporters. Last year, its page was taken down after sharing an alleged 300,000 check issued to Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson.

We must admit: it hasn't exactly been a cake walk, Gil said. We've repeatedly been red-tagged, accused as bayaran or dilawan, or just called bobo or ugok na admin, among other things. While they may take hits on our morale, [its] only ever momentary, because we know we're doing something that is right in the long run.

Despite this, the youth-run organization has acknowledged responsibility and accountability by being transparent about its membership. Gil explains the decision to publish members names was a way of declaring they were unafraid in the face of media suppression  that regardless of our age, location, or current educational standing, we stand as one organization that champions truth... in media and real life.

The 96-year-old Philippine Collegian, or Kule, drew attention in April after two members were barred from taking editorial exams. Photo from PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN/ISSUU

Various school papers, University of the Philippines Diliman

Amid protests against inefficient systems in school and the government, students of the University of the Philippines have been slammed for both activism and elitism. Tasked with recording these voices, U.P.s various student publications deal with challenges both internally and externally.

The 96-year-old Philippine Collegian, or Kule, drew attention in April after two members  Marvin Ang and Richard Calayeg Cornelio  were barred from taking editorial exams. The Board of Judges (BOJ) ruled that as graduating students, they were not qualified as incoming editors. Both Ang and Cornelio said they intended to pursue second degrees.

The restriction was largely seen as an effort to stifle the campus press. In a joint statement, publications across the U.P. system urged the BOJ to reverse their decision.

The pronouncement of Jayson Edward San Juan, a third year Juris Doctor student, as Kules Editor-in-Chief was met with protest. Critics argued he was in a graduate program, contrary to the undergraduate qualification. But U.P. Chancellor Michael Tan maintained the law school listed its JD program as an undergraduate degree, and U.P. was not bound by Commission on Higher Education rules. Tan added in a memo that students may be using terms like press freedom, inclusion [and] democratic participation in a way that trivializes them.

But for Ang and other members, the administration was being selective. [They] have the power to interpret the rules in favor of the students, Ang said. For the past few years, napakaraming graduating students ang pinayagang mag-take ng exam. Bakit ngayon, biglang bawal na?

Beyond organizational politics, student journalists from across U.P. also face trouble in a volatile political environment. Molecular Biology senior Jon Bonifacio was among those detained by police during a picket of NutriAsia workers demanding regularization last July. He was reporting for Scientia, the official publication of the U.P. College of Science.

As the mass ended, the workers moved to arrange themselves for their peaceful sit-down protest ... Based on what I saw, the security forces surrounding the picketers immediately saw this as an incursion and charged towards them, Bonifacio recalled. Within moments, it was complete chaos ... with the security guards violently taking down and destroying the picket line encampment put up by the workers.

Before everything happened, all the stories of violent dispersal and illegal arrests were just that, stories ... None of it is ever truly real until you actually see it firsthand.

By this time, Bonifacio recounted, he was literally dragged into police custody. He and 18 other protesters and students were accused of being involved in drugs and bringing guns. They didn't seem to follow much of the supposed procedure... reading our rights, for example, or making sure our wounds get treated as soon as we got to the station, he observed.

They were released two days later. Since then, the issue of fair labor has hit closer to home.

Before everything happened, all the stories of violent dispersal and illegal arrests were just that, stories ... None of it is ever truly real until you actually see it firsthand, he said.

Bonifacio also knows regularization could haunt him long after he graduates. He added, Contractualization ... is also a big problem for scientists working here in the country.

Campus journalists have not been spared online either. The Facebook page of Tinig ng Plaridel, the U.P. College of Mass Communication official student publication, was nearly suspended after a slew of online attacks after it posted photos of a Human Rights Day protest in December last year.

[Pro-Duterte] trolls kept on reporting our page ... This resulted in us  the Editorial Board as page administrators  being logged out of our personal Facebook accounts because of suspicious activity, shared Bei Zamora, former Plaridel Editor-in-Chief. We really thought that Plaridel was going to lose its [page]... [It] would have been a major blow since it was the only way for us to report the news, as we did not have sufficient funds to distribute in print.

The Diliman community gave Plaridel high online ratings to avert suspension. For Zamora, their experience was only a symptom of the overall problem of press freedom in the Philippines.

The Facebook page of Tinig ng Plaridel, the U.P. College of Mass Communication official student publication, was nearly suspended after a slew of online attacks after it posted photos of a Human Rights Day protest in December last year. Photo from TINIG PLARIDEL/FACEBOOK

These issues are just a few of the campus press problems we know of. Across the country, students use pen names when critical of school authorities; publication funds take hits for various reasons, from mismanagement to free tuition; and both internal bureaucracy and external conflict  among them militarization in Mindanao  prevent publications from delivering.

After the Securities and Exchanges Commission revoked Rapplers license in January, some student journalists joined advocates and media professionals in what was dubbed the #BlackFridayForPressFreedom.

In a statement, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines called on their peers to unite and combat state-perpetuated violence and all forms of repression that target press freedom and the peoples democratic rights.

On the ground, many students have yet to feel this empowerment, and more protection under the law. In her interview, former The Bedan Roar Associate Editor Cristina Chi said she and her peers were grateful for the support they received when the Bedan Alumni Association wrote in their favor. But they were also exasperated  believing things did not truly change on campus.

She called for the swift passage of a student publication protection act that had teeth.

Nine months before Congress adjourns, House Bill 3636 is still pending at the Committee on Public Information. Similar versions have been filed since the 15th Congress.

There should be more awareness amongst educators, school principals and lawmakers on why the campus press should be supported and encouraged in every school, not demonized for being critical. More than a law, we should be having nationwide conferences and dialogues regarding campus press freedom, said Chi. We want the law now.He additionally told me that covered entities, which include medical providers, insurers and other companies that play in the medical space, cannot share individuals identifying data with any other organizations. However, non-covered entities such as Facebook and IMS Health  one of the largest data brokers providing information to the health care industry  are not limited by these HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) restrictions, and as such can collect and sell personal data as they wish.Women wearing traditional clothes react as they march past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir

Kelli Kennedy

Security, Asia

One group of North Koreans stands to benefit most from the country's denuclearization: women.

Shattering North Koreas Glass Ceiling

As the United States, North Korea and South Korea are negotiating denuclearization and potential economic investment, one group of North Koreans stands to benefit most: the countrys women. Underground marketsand the outside information that passes through themoffer a sliver of hope for the people of North Korea, and a way out for women, despite the political and social systems that remain rigged against them.

In 1946, Kim Il-sung outlawed polygamy, concubinage, the buying and selling of women, prostitution and arranged marriages. The two laws the elder Kim created also gave women equal rights to divorce and inherit property. However, reality proved to be quite different. Even now, it is not unheard of for women in the DPRK to be sold as brides to men in China, and to suffer abuse at the hands of the men in their community. Women are raped or beaten by strangers or their husbands with no practical recourse, and sexual violence is so entrenched in North Korean society that researchers from the Korea Future Initiative reported that female defectors they interviewed thought it was just normal male behavior.

Change does not occur overnight, especially in a misogynistic society where gender norms and behaviors have been reinforced by decades of government policy and a centuries-old patriarchy. It was not until the emergence of a women-driven underground market economy surfaced in the mid-1980s that divorce and later marriages even became an option. But underground markets are changing women's perceptions of their own rights and citizens perceptions of the role of government.

The unofficial market economy first surfaced in the mid-1980s and grew throughout the 1990s, fueled by the collapse of the Public Distribution System and government guaranteed income created by the great famine. According to a recent report by Daily NK, not counting the unofficial markets, 387 markets have become officially-sanctioned with over 600,000 stalls. Through these markets, women buy and sell goods and services ranging from the simple and highly popular double eyelid surgery, to foreign films, and fruits and vegetables. Women now make the majority of the household income, 60 to 70 percent according to one defectors estimate, and this income divide is only deepening thanks to the required low-paying State jobs at factories and agencies that men must continue to attend.

Story continues

According to a 2015 survey conducted by Seoul National University, three-fourths of respondents reported that at least 70 percent of North Koreans participate in market activities or some other personal small business. The increased economic power of women is allowing them to be the drivers of their own destiny. One defector I surveyed said that in households where women make the money, families are now more likely to do as their wives and mothers say. Divorce, once unheard of, is increasingly becoming an option, while some women choose not to get married at all.

Since his ascension to power, Kim Jong-un has placed an emphasis on quality of life improvements ranging from ski resorts to shiny new apartments for the loyal residents of Pyongyang. Many North Koreans are no longer oblivious to the fact that most of the world has it better than they do. The knowledge accumulated over the last thirty years in the markets, through private home-trading networks, and a variety of other methods have kept the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in North Koreans. The United States can work with governments, international womens NGOs and international institutions to provide affordable and accessible classes to female students in small business management and English. A privately funded small business loan program would increase upward mobility and fuel the growing middle class. Pyongyang University of Science and Technologythe only privately-run university in North Koreais one example of an independent organization that the United States (and others) can work with to accomplish these aims.

The breakdown of the Public Distribution System and the rise of North Korean markets has created a psychological space between the people and the government. The relationship of dependence between North Koreans and the Kim regime no longer exists. Money is power, and as the number of female entrepreneurs continues to increase so does their ability to affect change. If upcoming negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang lead to the creation of economic opportunities and push a further opening of the economy, then the women of North Korea may be among the most important beneficiaries.

Kelli Kennedy is a Masters candidate at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas studying Politics and Security on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia. Prior to pursuing her masters she lived in South Korea, where she advised business executives on communication strategies. She is fluent in Korean.

Image: Women wearing traditional clothes react as they march past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Read full articleCairo (AFP) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday hailed the return of "normal" relations with Italy that were long strained over the murder of an Italian in Cairo.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries plummeted after the mutilated body of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral researcher at Britain's Cambridge University, was found in a roadside ditch in January 2016.

The extent of the injuries suffered by the academic shocked Italy and Rome recalled its ambassador to Cairo in April 2016, only sending an envoy back in September last year.

But in a sign of easing relations, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio visited Cairo on Wednesday and met with Sisi.

In discussing the Regeni case, the Egyptian president expressed "a strong will to reveal the perpetrators and bring them to justice", according to a statement released by his spokesman Bassam Radi.

Sisi said he was keen to enhance cooperation and welcomed the increasing diplomatic visits between Egypt and Italy as a "return of relations to their normal course".

Di Maio, leader of Italy's populist Five Star Movement, praised the "progress made on the case and the sincere cooperation" of Egyptian authorities, the statement said.

Regeni was researching labour movements when he disappeared and Egyptian authorities have been accused of failing to cooperate in the Italian investigation.

The visit to Cairo by Di Maio comes less than three weeks after that of Italy's foreign minister, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, during which "cooperation" on the Regeni case was also noted.

The Italian press and western diplomats in Cairo suspect members of Egypt's security services of having abducted, and fatally tortured Regeni. The Egyptian government denies the accusation.

In the latest bilateral meeting Sisi and Di Maio also discussed illegal immigration and developments in Libya.

The two sides also talked about strengthening ties "especially in the economic and trade fields", as well as the energy sector, the statement said.

In January Sisi and the boss of Italian energy giant Eni, Claudio Descalzi, attended the inauguration of the offshore Zohr gas field which the firm discovered in 2015.Yahoo News photo Illustration; photos: AP, Getty

SAN FRANCISCO  When it comes to election interference in the 2018 midterms, critics say Georgia is ripe for the picking.

The state uses dubious electronic voting machines that offer no paper backup so as to detect foul play, and have been shown to be easily penetrated.

These are old school voting systems. I call them old school because they are one of the few systems in the country that still dont have a paper trail on them, freelance journalist Kim Zetter told Grant Burningham, host of Yahoo News Bots & Ballots podcast.

So these are what are called direct recording electronic [DRE] machines. Theyre touch screen machines. They were made initially by Diebold, and Diebold, if youll recall, had a lot of bad publicity back in 2004, 2005, when the source code for their touchscreen machines was exposed online, and researchers looked at it and found a lot of problems.

Zetter, the author of Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the Worlds First Digital Weapon, has spent years studying system vulnerabilities, and she sees Georgia as a prime target for those seeking to disrupt U.S. elections. According to the New Yorker, Georgia is one of only five states that uses voting machines that create no paper record.

Download or subscribe on iTunes: Bots & Ballots by Yahoo News

As other states realized the security problems with machines, particularly DREs, they passed legislation that required paper trails to be added to the machines, Zetter said. Georgia has very stubbornly resisted that.

As special counsel Robert Muellers recent indictment of Russian intelligence officers alleged, the operatives identified vulnerabilities in Georgias electoral system, and many experts agree that the state could be compromised in the midterms.

David Cross, a lawyer representing state residents suing to force Georgia to return to paper ballots for the midterms, also said the current system isnt trustworthy.

There is every reason to believe that Georgia voters will be susceptible to hacking if they dont get some sort of verifiable system which necessarily involves paper ballots, Cross told Bots & Ballots.

Story continues

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is running for governor. (Photo: John Amis/AP)

Through a statement from his office, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is also the Republican nominee for governor in the 2018 election, downplayed fears over vote tampering.

Georgias election system is secure, and we continue to work with local, state, and federal officials on election security to maintain and preserve the integrity of our electoral process. Candice Broce, Kemps press secretary said in an email. There is no evidence that any component of the election system has ever been compromised.

As he awaits a federal judge to rule on the motion to scrap the Diebold voting machines this year, Cross contended that the threat to Georgias upcoming election is real.

The state likes to treat our concerns, as it calls them, as hypothetical, characterizes our clients as paranoid, Cross said. Our concerns are shared at the highest levels of the government, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has encouraged that these types of machines be eliminated.

Zetter points out that absent a paper record to tally actual votes, an attack on the system may simply go unnoticed. To her mind, Georgia is making it too easy for bad actors to test the limits of their ability to interfere with American democracy.

The systems in Georgia run on the Windows operating system, and thats not a sophisticated system. Its a system that everyone has on their laptop that you can study, Zetter said, adding, The question here is just access. The ability is there. Obviously, the will is there. The Russians have shown us that. All thats left now is whether or not machines are secured enough to prevent this, and also designed well enough to detect it if someone does subvert a machine. And I would say that the answer on both of those counts is no.

More Bots & Ballots episodes from Yahoo News:

Stephen Colbert is riding high as the current king of late night TV, but there was a moment four years ago when he believed hed never return to television. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert host reflected on his decades-long career with Rolling Stone, and included the story that had people petitioning to #CancelColbert.

In 2014, Colbert was attempting to mock Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who announced he was starting a charity for Native Americans called the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation. The official Twitter account for Colberts Comedy Central show at the time, The Colbert Report, tweeted: I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever. But the show only tweeted that punchline, not the setup.

I was getting in a car to go home, and I saw that it exploded, Colbert recalled. And I went, Uh-oh. What happened was, just that one line, absent any context, was tweeted out by someone who the week before had been an intern. There was nothing I could do; I wasnt on the air for three days. And I went, Ive lost complete control of the context of my joke, and maybe Ive lost a 25-year career with a single line.

Yes, Colbert was that worried.

Oh, I thought it was absolutely terrible. It was the only time I ever really got mad at the network, he said. Because they took the tweet down, and I go, Whatre you thinking? Now youve apologized before I can contextualize my response, and now Im 100 percent f*****. By putting that thing up there without the context of the character  and the story being that the Redskins were starting the [Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation]  without that context, youve given people who really would like to stick a knife in me a place to stand, and an 11-inch bowie knife.

Photo: Getty Images

He continued, And I had no control, and because I did the show in character, I couldnt respond out of character. I had to wait till 11:30 on Monday to create the response. Thats when I thought, Oh, well, its been a good career.

Story continues

Colbert said that was the moment he knew his time at Comedy Central had run its course. Thats when I knew I had to get out of there as quickly as possible, he exclaimed.

Although reluctant at first, Colbert ended up taking over for David Letterman at CBS. After a rocky start, the comedian has more than found his stride, thanks in part to his favorite topic, President Trump. He recalled being shocked and dismayed after his victory two years ago.

There is nothing that has happened since Trump became president that wasnt in my fear matrix about him, he explained. Nothing about Trump and Putin, nothing about his caging children, nothing about him saying, Theres good people on both sides. Nothing about his handing the reins of power over to just a rogues gallery of anti-regulation, pro-pollution, anti-union, anti-women [officials] in any way surprises me. Its all what I thought would happen. Which is why I was truly horrified.

On Nov. 9, he said, Well, you got a half hour to feel bad about it. We all got together, and we felt bad about it for a half hour, and we said get it out and thats it. And then were like, OK, now, what are the jokes? Thats it.

Colbert continues to push boundaries with those jokes  like when he came under fire for quipping that Trumps mouth would make a good c*** holster for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

I think the speed at which you do the show  and I thought we used to do the old show really fast, but this is four times as fast  the speed requires a lot of discipline so you dont become flippant, he reflected. Or dont lose sight of your intention and execution. The thing I said about Trump and Putin, the thing that caused so much hurt when it was perceived as being homophobic? Thats an example of moving so fast that I hurt the intention of the work with the execution.

Colbert continued, In ways that are undeniable. If someone thought that was homophobic, who am I to say that it wasnt? Especially to any community whose concerns have been brushed aside as being, Oh, youre just sensitive. That happened all the time at the old show, because I was in character and I would say really extreme things with a very clear intention. So it was clear to the audience that what youre hearing was a concept, and not the content.

The Emmy winner also opened up about battling crippling anxiety when he was younger.

I was actually medicated, he admitted. I mean, in the most common, prosaic way. Xanax was just lovely. Yknow, for a while. And then I realized that the gears were still smoking. I just couldnt hear them anymore. But I could feel them, I could feel the gearbox heating up and smoke pouring out of me, but I was no longer walking around a couch. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown after I got married  kind of panic attacks. My wife would go off to work and shed come home  because I worked at night  and Id be walking around the couch. And shes like, How was your day? And Id say, Youre looking at it. Just tight circles around the couch.

He added, I stopped the Xanax after, like, nine days. I went, This isnt helping. So I just suffered through it. Id sometimes hold the bottle, to go like, I could stop this feeling if I wanted, but Im not going to. Because I know if I stop the feeling, somehow Im not working through it, like I have got to go through the tunnel with the spiders in it.

Those feelings subsided when he was onstage. I went, Oh my God, I can never stop performing. Creating something is what helped me from just spinning apart like an unweighted flywheel. And I havent stopped since. Even when I was a writer I always had to be in front of a camera a little bit. I have to perform.

Head over to Rolling Stone to read the full Stephen Colbert profile.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:



Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people in Iraq on Wednesday in an attack that underscored the threat still posed by the Islamic State group despite a string of defeats.

The assailant blew up a vehicle at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Al-Qaim, one of the last towns in Iraq to be recaptured from IS, near the Syrian border.

Five members of the security forces were among 11 people killed in the blast, which also wounded 16 other people, mostly civilians, police Captain Mahmud Jassem told AFP.

IS said in a statement that it carried out the attack, which it claimed had left 50 people dead or wounded.

Al-Qaim, around 340 kilometres (215 miles) from Baghdad, was retaken from IS in November last year.

One month later, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the jihadists.

But since then, the security forces have announced a number of campaigns to flush out holdout IS fighters from sparsely populated areas from which they have continued to mount attacks.

Iraq's security services said the vehicle used in the attack had been rigged with explosives in a desert area on the edge of Syria.

The attacker drove past two roadblocks before detonating the bomb at a third checkpoint after security forces opened fire.

The latest bombing is intended by IS to send a message that "we can act quickly and strike wherever we want", said Hisham al-Hashemi, an expert on radical Islamist groups.

He said the jihadists had chosen the area because of its strategic location on the border and the presence of US and French forces belonging to the international coalition against IS.

The vast desert that straddles the frontier with Syria on either side of the Euphrates valley town of Al-Qaim has been one of the jihadists' principal hideouts.

Hashemi said about 2,000 IS jihadists are still active in Iraq including around 100 foreigners whose objective is "to take revenge on thoe who have driven them out".

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On the Syrian side of the border, offensives by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and a US-backed coalition have pushed IS jihadists out of most of the territory they once controlled.

In a purported new audio message released last week, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on his followers to "not give up the jihad against their enemy".

Baghdadi was thought to have been killed several times, and the US has offered up a $25-million (21.5-million euro) reward for information leading to his capture or death.Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Public support for Ukip as the best party to handle Britains exit from the EU has doubled since Theresa May unveiled her Chequers plan for a soft Brexit.

Polling by YouGov found that in the first week of July, 7% of people thought that Ukip was the best party to handle Brexit.

After the Government published its Brexit White Paper on 12 July, laying out its plans for a future relationship with the EU, support for Ukip as the best Brexit party leapt to 13% the following week.

The most recent poll, conducted on August 20-21, found that 14% of those surveyed thought that Ukip would be the best party to handle Brexit.

During the same time period the number of people who say that the Conservative Party is the best to handle Brexit has dropped from 27% to an all-time low of 19%.

Support for the Tories as the best party to handle Brexit has dropped to an all-time low (Getty Images)

Mrs Mays Brexit White Paper has faced wide-ranging criticism from hardline Eurosceptic factions of her party, who claim the plans represent a Brexit in name only that would leave the UK closely tied to the EU without input into rule-making or the freedom to forge new trade deals.

Boris Johnson and David Davis both resigned in protest against the contents, which were widely seen as a lurch towards a so-called soft Brexit.

The paper proposes a common rulebook with the EU that would see Britain sign up to standards for a huge range of areas in order to facilitate frictionless trade.

The EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier cautiously welcomed the paper, calling some elements very useful, but warning that the common rulebook may not work in practice as it could undermine the integrity of the single market.

Countdown to Brexit: The key dates (PA Graphics)

Former Ukip leader reacted furiously to the paper, calling it a complete betrayal.

He has since pledged a return to frontline politics in order to campaign against the Chequers proposals.

READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK:

Police officers attacked in McDonalds by hostile crowd as they pin down suspect

North Korea warns the US that talks over denuclearisation could fall apart

Scotlands coastal litter problem unveiled in new photos

Is this the UKs priciest pint? London pub starts selling beer for 22.50

Watch: Scallop wars break out in English Channel as French fishermen attack British boats

Story continues

Mr Farage said that he was been approached by scores of people asking when you would be coming back to politics in the UK.

Well now you have your answer: Im back, he said.

The MEP now plans to join pro-Brexit campaign group Leave Means Leave at a series of events across Britain.By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces are preparing a phased offensive in the northwestern province of Idlib and surrounding areas, the last big rebel enclave, a source close to Damascus said on Wednesday. Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's main backer from outside the region, said on Wednesday that militants there must be liquidated and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described them as "a festering abscess". The offensive would initially target southern and western parts of the insurgent territory, but not yet Idlib city, said the source, an official in the regional alliance backing Assad. "The final touches for the first stage will be completed in the coming hours," the official added, without saying when it would start. There were still negotiations over the offensive going on between Russia and Turkey, as well as with Iran which also supports Damascus in the war, the official said. Turkey, which borders Idlib and has a small military presence there, has warned against such an attack. At the U.S. State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said there were indications that Syrian forces were preparing an offensive on Idlib. She said Washington's new representative for Syria, Jim Jeffrey, raised concerns about the possible offensive in a recent meeting with Russian ambassador to the United States. "We are concerned not just about a potential chemical weapons attack, but we are concerned about any kind of escalation of violence in Idlib that would put civilians and civilian infrastructure in Idlib at risk," she added. "We have shared the concerns we have about any potential offensive taking place with the Russian government at many levels," Nauert told reporters. Assad has turned toward Idlib, where jihadist factions dominate, after Russian-backed victories in recent years that drove the rebels from a mosaic of other areas in Syria. The insurgents now hold only the territory in and around Idlib, as well as an adjacent rebel area in which opposition authorities are backed by Turkish armor and money, and a patch of desert around a U.S. military camp in the south. A major offensive in the Idlib area, where displaced people already make up half the population, risks forcing another 700,000 Syrians from their homes, the United Nations said. It also risks raising tensions with Turkey, whose army established a ring of observation posts around the rebel territory last year under a "de-escalation" deal with Russia and Iran. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this month he hoped Ankara and Moscow could find a solution for Idlib, warning that a bombing campaign there would be a massacre. Ankara also fears a major offensive could unleash a new flood of refugees across the Turkish border. Lavrov said on Wednesday there was a political understanding between Russia and Turkey on the need to distinguish between the Syrian opposition and people he described as terrorists in Idlib. HUMANITARIAN DISASTER The first phase of the offensive will include the town of Jisr al-Shughour and the al-Ghab plain on the western side of the rebel territory, and the towns of al-Latamenah, Khan Sheikhoun and Maarat al-Numan in its south, the official said. Taking those areas would bring Assad close to regaining control over highways running from Aleppo to Hama and Latakia, two of Syria's most important pre-war roads. The army and its allies would also reinforce the western edge of Aleppo city in anticipation of a rebel assault there aimed at blunting the offensive, the official said. In recent weeks, the Syrian military has dropped leaflets over Idlib province urging people to surrender, opened a route for civilians to cross into government territory and, according to a war monitor, sent more reinforcements to the front. It has stepped up air strikes and shelling near the front lines, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said. Idlib and surrounding areas outside government control are home to 3 million people, of whom 1.8 million are displaced. Many of the displaced people fled earlier offensives to escape the fighting or avoid coming back under Assad's rule - including those bussed to Idlib under "evacuation" deals when rebels surrendered other enclaves. Evacuations from eastern Ghouta, Deraa and other rebel territories captured by the government have contributed to the displacement of more than half a million people to or within Idlib in the past six months, the U.N. said. (Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Washington. Editing by David Stamp and David Gregorio)Mytilene (Greece) (AFP) - Greek police have charged a Syrian refugee, once hailed for saving people at sea, with helping migrants illegally enter the country, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Sarah Mardini, 23, who has settled in Germany, was arrested last week in what police said was an operation to dismantle a "criminal network" involving 30 members of an NGO working on the island on Lesbos, where thousands of migrants are living in camps.

"For me, this is clearly a case of criminalising help given to refugees," her lawyer Haris Petsikos told AFP, adding that she is being detained in a prison outside of Athens.

He said Mardini, who denies the charges, had been volunteering on the island for Emergency Response Centre International.

She was arrested alongside one of the NGO's leaders, Greek national Nassos Karakitsos and Irish volunteer Sean Binder.

Mardini and her sister Yusra's plight to reach Lesbos from Turkey made the news in 2015, when they used their swimming skills to pull to safety their water-logged boat with another 18 people onboard

- 'Get her out of prison' -

The following year Yusra, now a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, participated on the refugee team at the Rio 2016 Olympics and Mardini went on to win a scholarship studying economics and social sciences at Bard College in Berlin.

"We are in close contact with Sarah's legal counsel and these clearly unsubstantiated charges seem more about halting the operations of the NGO in question than about any actions of Sarah or her fellow volunteer," said Flrian Becker, managing director of the German college, who said she is committed to helping refugees.

"The priority is to get her out of prison."

Police accuse members of the NGO of offering direct assistance to people traffickers, asking for advance warning of arrivals without passing on information to authorities.

Lesbos has been a key gateway into the European Union since the start of the bloc's migration crisis in 2015.

Story continues

At the height of the influx, some 5,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from war-torn Syria, landed on the island's beaches on a daily basis.

It now has the highest concentration of migrants in Greece, with the worst conditions in the camp of Moria where over 8,300 people live, according to UN figures -- about triple the nominal capacity.

Most wait months for their asylum applications to be processed. Living conditions are squalid and violent flare-ups common.

Earlier this year, three Spaniards and two Danes were also accused of trying to help migrants illegally enter Greece.

They were cleared in court in May.United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that full-scale military operations in Syria's Idlib province could lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe" and cautioned against the use of chemical weapons.

Guterres's warning came amid fears the Syrian government is mobilizing for a military offensive to retake Idlib, the last province still held by the country's beleaguered rebels.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the growing risks of a humanitarian catastrophe in the event of a full-scale military operation in Idlib province in Syria," a UN statement said.

"The Secretary-General once again reaffirms that any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable."

He appealed urgently to the Syrian government and all other parties "to exercise restraint and to prioritize the protection of civilians."

Guterres also urged the guarantors of a so-called Astana peace initiative led by Turkey, Iran and Russia to step up their efforts "to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib, the last remaining de-escalation zone."

According to western estimates, some three million people are at risk in the province, which borders Turkey.

An offensive by the Syrian government, which wants to retake the province with the backing of Moscow, would have explosive repercussions for civilians as well as for moderate rebels and radical Islamists.

During closed-door talks at the UN Tuesday that were requested by Russia, Moscow claimed, without evidence, that "white helmet" rescue workers were preparing a chemical attack in Idlib, according to diplomats, who called the allegations "very bizarre."

Western powers view those claims as an attempt to deflect attention from preparations for a Syrian military offensive.

According to the diplomats, western powers have given the UN Security Council the names of Syrian commanders and regiments involved in the preparations for an offensive in Idlib, who could be held responsible in the event of attacks on civilians.

During a public session on Syria at the UN Tuesday, Russia denied any possibility of a chemical attack in Idlib by the Syrian government.

Russia's Ambassador Vassily Nevenzia insisted that the Syrian military has no chemical weapons and did not intend to use any.(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.)  Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum upset a crowded field of well-funded candidates in Floridas Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday, a step away from becoming the states first black governor. His surprise victory sets up a November showdown with Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, a favorite of President Donald Trump.

Gillums victory could further energize black voters in a year when Democrats are already counting on high turnout among minorities to buoy the party in the November election. Gillum is the partys third black gubernatorial nominee this year, along with Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland.

DeSantis rode Trumps endorsement to victory in the GOP race, underscoring the presidents broad appeal in Republican primaries. Trump cheered DeSantis victory on Twitter Tuesday night, writing: Ron will be a fantastic Governor. On to November!

DeSantis was one of several Republicans running in contests Tuesday in Florida and Arizona who hoped that cozying up to the president would be rewarded by voters.

In Arizona, primary contests were shadowed by the death of Sen. John McCain. Though McCain was a towering figure who was elected to the Senate by Arizonans six times, the three Republican candidates running to replace his retiring seat-mate, Sen. Jeff Flake, aligned themselves more with the president than the longtime senator.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey planned to name a replacement to fill McCains seat after the primary.Earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Transportation laid out a $1 billion plan to improve interchanges, repair bridges, and add auxiliary lanes on the interstate from Ridge Road in Minooka to U.S. 30 in New Lenox, but lacking funding, officials said it may take 15 to 20 years to complete. But IDOT plans to upgrade the interchange at I-80 and U.S. 30 in New Lenox in 2018-2019.Teen missing for a year after witnessing murder found alive in Ohio basement originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A 15-year-old Ohio boy missing for more than a year after witnessing a murder has been found alive in a basement, authorities said.

Police believe Jacob Caldwell ran away from the home of his grandparents, who were granted emergency temporary custody of him and his brothers, after Jacob's father, Robert Caldwell, was shot and killed by his ex-wife, Tawnney Caldwell, on Aug. 15, 2017, ABC Dayton affiliate WKEF reported.

Jacob had last been seen Aug. 21, 2017, in front of a Walmart in Sugar Creek Township, Sugar Creek Township Police Chief Michael Brown said at a press conference Tuesday.

PHOTO: A Walmart store in Sugar Creek Township, Ohio. (Google)

Jacob was found at a home about 40 miles away in Miami Township late Monday night after an individual called investigators earlier that day with "very credible" information on his location, Brown said.

(MORE: Family of girl missing since 1970s helped dig in search for remains)

Authorities obtained a search warrant late Monday after getting word Jacob may soon be moved, Brown said. When police arrived at the home, they found that Jacob had been living in the basement with four adults.

#BreakingNews: Jacob Caldwell, a local teen who went missing after his father was murdered in front of him in 2017 has been found safe his family confirms to FOX45. https://t.co/BDkiGGcCcJ pic.twitter.com/VmubTe0jCk  ABC 22/FOX 45 Dayton (@ABC22FOX45) August 28, 2018

It does not appear that Jacob was being hidden in the basement, but rather that it was his "primary area of sleep," Brown said. He was healthy but remained quiet when they found him, and he looked like he hadn't had a haircut since he went missing.

Story continues

(MORE: Remains of 10-year-old boy missing since 2016 found in Arizona desert: Police)

Jacob also went a year without attending school or socializing with friends, Brown said. It appears that all he has been doing for the past year is sitting inside, watching TV and playing video games, Brown said.

Jacob did not resist when authorities took him into custody, Brown said.

PHOTO: A missing poster of Jacob Caldwell. (Sugarcreek Township Police Department)

The adults who were in the home are not related to Jacob but are associated with his mother, Brown said.

Authorities are considering filing obstruction of justice charges against the four adults as well as other charges against family members or "whoever initiated him taking off that night," Brown said.

(MORE: Remains of Isabel Celis, who went missing in 2012, found in Arizona: Police)

Billboards for Jacob had just been put up in the area last Wednesday, Brown said, adding that he believes that's what prompted the tip from the caller.

Images from WKEF show that the billboards now have a red banner running diagonally across them emblazoned with the word "FOUND!!"

PHOTO: An undated photo of Jacob Caldwell. (Sugarcreek Township Police Department)

Jacob is now being held in a juvenile detention on a previous warrant issued after he ran away from the home he shared with his father and stepmother, Brown said.

Tawnney Caldwell is currently locked up, Brown said.

In March, local and federal authorities announced indictments against six people, including Tawnney Caldwell, in Robert Caldwell's death, WKEF reported.

Robert Caldwell just won custody of his children from his ex-wife when he was killed, WKEF reported.Montgomery County Sheriff's Office image from security camera image of a partially dressed woman who briefly appeared in security camera footage in Texas - REUTERS

Authorities in Texas are trying to find a woman who was captured on video ringing a doorbell in the middle of the night.

It happened early Friday in Montgomery when a concerned resident shared the video with the sheriff's office.

The video, taken on a home CCTV camera shows a barefoot young woman wearing a T-shirt and what could be broken restraints around her wrists.

The woman was gone before the resident got to the door.

The resident reviewed the security footage and sent it to police.

The sheriff's office says it has received numerous reports that the woman is a missing person. However, authorities have not verified that.

The incident which police are calling "suspicious" occurred at around 3.20am in Sunrise Ranch, 60 miles north of Houston.

An unnamed neighbour told ABC News the same woman rang the doorbells of other homes in the area, but had also vanished by the time anyone answered.

Authorities have conducted a door-to-door search of local homes and businesses and circulated images of the woman on social media.A fight broke out between adults at Go Bananas in Norridge, Ill., and now thousands are petitioning for the venue to be closed. (Photo: Yelp)

More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to shut down Go Bananas, a venue that has video games and rides and hosts childrens birthday parties, after a massive brawl broke out between adults.

The adults involved were staying true to the businesss name and went bananas in a fight, a video of which surfaced online. The video depicts several adults fighting each other underneath a banner that reads Happy Birthday. Now, an online petition has launched, urging for the friendly oasis for you and your toddler to enjoy hours of fun to be closed.

The fight, according to CBS Chicago, broke out with a baby just a few feet away. One woman wielded a mop, while another used a chair, as men wrestled on the ground.





We have to come together as a community to do what we can to put an end to the amount of violence that is pouring into our neighborhoods, especially at a childrens facility, the petition reads.

According to the Chicago Tribune, police have been called to the business a number of times since April 2015, including calls for battery, theft, counterfeit currency, and fighting.

Its not the kind of business we want to see in this community, Norridge Mayor James Chmura told the Tribune. We have our situations over there, but were confident the police are monitoring it.

Chief David Disselhorst of the Norridge Police Department told CBS Chicago, Weve been there several times, multiple times.

In 2011, Go Bananas made news when a 3-year-old boy fell from an indoor roller coaster and died.

Go Bananas did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



The three brothers were all jailed (Police handout)

A twisted family who exposed children to a 30-year stretch of sexual abuse have been jailed.

Nathan Potts, the final member of the sick family to be jailed, has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

The 26-year-old, of Coventry, was found guilty earlier this year of two counts of rape of a child, four counts of sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sex with another adult, after an eight-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

An impact statement read in court said: I was really pleased when [Nathan and Joshua] were found guilty. My life has been a nightmare.

The prolonged sex abuse left victims suffering angry outbursts and were concerned to the point of sleeplessness at the prospect of giving evidence.

Josh Potts was jailed during an earlier hearing (Police Handout)

Another of the familys victim bravely said: I woke up in the night thinking about certain incidents. I was so stressed and scared I felt physically sick. I hate them. They should be in prison for as long as possible.

I feel so angry they abused me. They are dangerous people as they hurt children.

Adam Western, defence for Potts, told the court: A striking feature of the evidence was the usual standards of behaviour within the Potts family.

It was within that, that he was brought up.

Sexual activity involving children seems to have been accepted by senior members of the Potts family.

Mr Western claimed that environment of the family home had warped this young mans mind and suggested the environment in which he was raised, there was no reasonable prospect of him learning right from wrong.

Antony Potts, was given a life sentence, with a minimum of 16 years behind bars (Police Handout)

Speaking after the victim impact statements, Judge Peter Carr said: He speaks of the hate he has for you. He talks about being scared of you and you being dangerous for hurting children.

Potts will serve at least two-thirds of 20-year sentence before he is considered for release.

Should he be released before the end of the 20-year term he will serve the rest on licence, then a further eight years due to the extended sentence.

Story continues

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Watch: Scallop wars break out in English Channel as French fishermen attack British boats

Potts brother Joshua was jailed for 16 years with an extended licence to run for eight years after pleading guilty to multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against children.

While the pairs half-brother, Antony Potts, was given a life sentence, with a minimum of 16 years behind bars. He was convicted of 13 counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and nine counts of inciting a child to perform a sexual act and cruelty. All of his victims were children.

Father Keith Potts was convicted of child cruelty (Police Handout)

Julie Potts, 60, was sentenced to seven years (Police Handout)

The Potts parents  Keith Potts, 67, and wife Julie Potts, 60, of Burnaby Road were jailed for eight and seven years respectively after being convicted of two counts of child cruelty.

Antonys wife Elaine Potts, 50, and Potts family friend Joanne Hoye, 42, were both sentenced to four years.Donald Trump has officially proven you do not need to understand speakerphone to become President of the United States.

In fact, on Monday Trump demonstrated this fact on live television ahead of his call with Mexico president, Enrique Pena Nieto.

In the moments leading up to the call, Trump struggled to figure out how the heck the phone works, which wound up being a painfully awkward sight worthy of the Veep closing credit treatment.

SEE ALSO: West Hollywood City Council votes to remove Trump's Walk of Fame star

Here's the original moment, in which a perplexed Trump is seen pushing buttons on the telephone in the Oval Office and saying "Enrique" and "hello?" into the void. Finally he asks for some assistance, or rather demands, "be helpful," to a White House aide.

Trump had to wait for the President of Mexico to get on the phone in the Oval Office:

"Enrqiue? Ok, you can hook him up"



"Hello?"



"You want to put that on this phone, please? Hello?"



Then the call connects: "Thank you, Enrique and congratulations...we've all worked very hard" pic.twitter.com/uDzHVknfWe  Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) August 27, 2018

Some compared the moment to a scene from The Office, while others couldn't stop imagining how perfectly the clip would work alongside the ending credits of the political comedy, Veep.

this is like a scene from the office https://t.co/f5xcR0JHmg  David Mack (@davidmackau) August 27, 2018

The Trump administration is like Veep but with Zero likable characters. https://t.co/uasXVOsyMv  Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) August 27, 2018

Almost any footage from this administration works perfectly under the Veep credits music https://t.co/kUPY5wODXh  Chris Polansky (@CKPolansky) August 27, 2018

Nothing but respect for *my* president who doesn't bother with speakerphone pic.twitter.com/7YlXuYOjbo  Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) August 27, 2018

It wasn't long before Twitter users stepped up and took action, and oh boy did the Trump's mishap and Veep's closing credits really complement each other.

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so just as an experiment I put the president's ~supremely~ awkward oval office moment to the @VeepHBO closing credits theme song just now. uhh it works v well. pic.twitter.com/uWO5d7EVTF  Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) August 27, 2018

For those wondering, the Trump clip wasn't solely made for the Veep credits ... the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme works wonderfully, too.

Ahhh. Another successful day of pretending we're all on a television show in the books.

Want more clever culture writing beamed directly to your inbox? Sign up here for the twice-weekly Click Click Click newsletter. It's fun  we promise.On Monday morning, federal employees received word that they were to immediately lower flags at federal properties around the country to half-staff to honor Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who died on Saturday.

The order wasnt surprising. The government lowers flags all the time when notable figures pass away.

But it began a day of drama, not only for the White House but across the federal government where employees were caught up in President Donald Trumps stubbornness to pay tribute to a man who had sharply criticized him.

Federal employees at three government agencies told HuffPost they received at least three emails Monday about what to do with the flag. In the morning, they were told to lower the flag to half-staff. Midday, they were told to cancel that order and raise it again. And then around 5:00 p.m., they were again told to lower it.

All of them said theyd never seen anything like it. Usually, flag-lowering is pretty standard  you get a notification with a start and end date.

In small towns when you lower the flag people want to know why and use it as a signal to lower their own. It put us all in a bad position to explain why we would be putting our flags back up, said one employee at a post office who had to deal with the confusion.

At a U.S. Department of Agriculture facility, the manager who sent out the emails about the flags had to then follow up with clarification because she was getting backlash from employees. She clarified that she had nothing to do with the orders  they came from Washington.

Unfortunately, there was no explanation attached when the order was sent, she wrote.

But in Washington, it was clear what was going on. As flags around the Washington Monument were at half-staff, the flag at the White House remained defiantly at the top of the flagpole. Trump refused to lower the flag to half-staff because he didnt want to honor McCain, one of his most outspoken opponents in the Republican Party.

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Fairly striking image -- all of the flags surrounding the Washington Monument are at half-staff, though the flag atop the White House was raised to full staff just after midnight. pic.twitter.com/BwKRbqKk0G  Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) August 27, 2018

Only later in the day, around 5:00 p.m., did Trump finally issue a proclamation ordering flags down to half-staff. He did so after significant criticism, including from the nations largest veterans organizations. Thats when federal facilities were then told to go ahead and lower the flag once more.

Federal agencies said they received the guidance from the Department of Homeland Security, although that department does not actually decide what to do. They simply forward the guidance to federal facilities. Ultimately, the decision on flags is made by the White House.

Trump also eventually put out a formal statement honoring McCain, which he had previously refused to do. Trump still couldnt resist taking a dig at the deceased senator, saying he respected him [d]espite our differences on policy and politics.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain's death will likely shift leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee from one of President Donald Trump's most vocal Republican critics to one of his biggest supporters, which observers say could mean fewer checks on the Pentagon. No decision has been announced since McCain's death on Saturday, but the committee's number two Republican, Senator James Inhofe, who chaired meetings and hearings in McCain's absence, is expected to be made chairman in the coming weeks. Inhofe, 83, represents Oklahoma, where Trump won more than 65 percent of the vote in 2016. He is seen as a more traditional Senate conservative less likely to confront a Republican president than McCain, who could be a harsh critic of his fellow Republicans as well as Democrats. The change could have major implications for the panel, which sets policy for more than $700 billion in annual Pentagon spending, reviews nominees for a wide range of military positions and, under McCain, acted as a watchdog that sought to rein in what McCain saw as wasteful Defense Department spending. Like McCain, Inhofe is a believer in a large, strong military. While McCain underwent cancer treatment at home in Arizona this year, the two worked together to shepherd through a bill authorizing $716 billion in military spending, billions more than Trump requested. Inhofe, first elected to the Senate in 1994, served in the Army from 1957 to 1958. WAR HERO McCain, the son and grandson of Navy admirals, a war hero and former Republican presidential nominee, spent decades as one of his party's most influential voices on national security. He used his status to forge ties to - and question - both U.S. and world leaders. Last year, McCain held up Trump's pick for secretary of the Army and other Defense Department positions to press the administration for answers about the deaths of U.S. troops in an ambush in Niger. Tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain strongly opposed torture, and urged fellow senators not to confirm Trump's nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, Gina Haspel, because of her past ties to the CIA's "harsh interrogation" program. Inhofe, with other Republicans, voted to narrowly confirm Haspel. "McCain consistently through his chairmanship pushed the military to live up to the best of its values, even when it meant bringing harsh critiques to get them to do so," said Mieke Eoyang, vice president for the national security program at the Third Way think tank in Washington. "Inhofe is less likely to critique the military. ... Inhofe will not endorse the same kind of stringent budget oversight that McCain provided," Eoyang said. An Inhofe spokeswoman and Republican Senate leadership aides did not respond to requests for comment on the committee leadership or its membership. McCain's death leaves the Armed Services panel with 26 members: 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats. Besides appointing a chairman to succeed McCain, the Senate's Republican leaders will need to name a new Republican committee member to restore the party's 14-13 majority. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said in response to an inquiry this week that the state plans to replace the bridge at a cost of $3.5 million. The work is scheduled for the latter part of IDOTs five-year plan, and there are no plans to widen the two-lane bridge, he said.U.S. President Donald Trump accused Alphabet Inc.s Google of rigging its search results to display only negative stories about him, calling it a very serious situation that will be addressed.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD, Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal, Trump tweeted early Tuesday, in his latest claim of bias on the part of a news or social media company.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

In a subsequent tweet, he said Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!

....results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

The most recent broadside follows the presidents Aug. 24 claim that social media giants are silencing millions of people. Such accusations  along with assertions that the news media and Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia meddling probe are biased against him  have been a chief Trump talking point meant to appeal to the presidents base.

Trump in July lashed out at the European Union in response to a record $5 billion fine against Google over its mobile phone operating system, calling Google one of Americas great companies.Washington (AFP) - Accusations of racism flared up on Wednesday in the Florida governor's race after the Republican candidate told voters they would "monkey this up" if they chose a liberal African-American Democrat backed by Senator Bernie Sanders.

The upset victory by Democrat Andrew Gillum, 39, in the Florida gubernatorial primary was the most notable of a slate of party primaries held on Tuesday to decide candidates for the midterm election.

Gillum's opponent in November will be Representative Ron DeSantis, an enthusiastic backer of President Donald Trump who surged in the polls in Florida, America's third-largest state, after earning the endorsement of the president.

DeSantis, also 39, landed in hot water within hours of his primary victory, however, with comments to Fox News which were interpreted by some as being racially charged.

Speaking of his opponent, who is seeking to become Florida's first black governor, DeSantis said "the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."

"That part wasn't lost on me," Gillum responded on Fox News when asked about the "monkey this up" comment.

"It's very clear that Mr DeSantis is taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump," he said. "In the handbook of Donald Trump, they no longer do whistle calls. They are now using full bull horns."

DeSantis spokesman Stephen Lawson rejected any racial overtones.

"Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses," Lawson said in a statement. "To characterize it as anything else is absurd."

In other races, a former air force fighter pilot, Representative Martha McSally, won the Republican primary in Arizona to replace the retiring Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a vocal critic of Trump.

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With 52 percent of the vote, McSally easily defeated arch conservative Kelli Ward, a former state senator, and Joe Arpaio, an immigration hardliner who was convicted of criminal contempt and pardoned by Trump last year.

Trump had mostly stayed out of the race but he endorsed the 52-year-old McSally on Wednesday, saying she was "strong on crime" and "the border."

- 'We were counted out' -

McSally will take on Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as Republicans seek to hold on to their slim 51-49 majority in the Senate in November.

Democrats had been hoping for a victory by one of the right-wing candidates -- Ward or Arpaio -- in a bid to increase their chances of capturing the seat.

A replacement for the other senator from Arizona, the late John McCain, is to be named in the next few days by the southwestern state's Republican governor and will be up for election in 2020.

Trump welcomed DeSantis's victory in Florida and criticized Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, the Florida capital.

"Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream... a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city," Trump tweeted. "This is not what Florida wants or needs!"

DeSantis's campaign featured an ad in which he encourages his toddler to use blocks to "build the wall" -- a reference to Trump's border wall with Mexico -- and dresses his baby in a "Make America Great Again" outfit.

Gillum, who has called for Trump's impeachment, is the first African-American to win Florida's Democratic nomination for governor and his surprise win came against better-funded, more mainstream opponents.

"We were counted out every step of the way," Gillum said. "My four opponents collectively spent over 90 million dollars. I think our total spending may have been six."

If elected, Gillum promised to work for universal health care and "common sense" gun laws in a state where there has been a spate of mass shootings.

Sanders, who represents the left wing of the party and came up short in his 2016 challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, welcomed his victory.

"Floridians joined Andrew in standing up and demanding real change and showed our nation what is possible when we stand together," the Vermont senator tweeted.

Also in Florida, current governor Rick Scott won the Republican Senate nomination and is set to take on Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in November.

Nelson, 75, has represented Florida in the Senate since 2001 but the latest polls show Scott with a slight lead in what is expected to be one of the most expensive congressional races.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs in November along with 35 seats in the 100-member Senate.

The midterm elections in Arizona and Florida are being closely watched as harbingers of how the key states may vote in the 2020 presidential election.Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China of complicating Washington's relationship with North Korea by rendering its ally economic assistance, as talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization are at a standstill.

But he insisted his relationship with Kim Jong Un remained "very good" and said he was not considering resuming joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula that Pyongyang considers "provocative."

Trump's refusal to direct criticism at Kim and instead blame other parties for a lack of progress comes despite reports the US received a belligerent letter from Pyongyang, which prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to North Korea last weekend.

"China makes it much more difficult in terms of our relationship with North Korea," Trump said at the White House, though he insisted his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping were "great."

He also noted his "fantastic relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he met in Singapore in June.

"Part of the North Korea problem is caused by the trade disputes with China," Trump said.

Beijing is Pyongyang's sole major ally, and the main transit country for any goods entering the North. Trump said that China -- angered by US moves on trade -- is no longer being as tough as it could be on North Korea.

"We know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful!" he tweeted on Wednesday evening.

On the subject of military exercises, which the US suspended as a "good faith" measure following Trump's summit with Kim, the president said "there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games" though added these could resume if the need arose.

It came a day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon was not planning to suspend any more military drills, before appearing to backtrack on Wednesday by insisting "no decisions" had been made on the matter.

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Trump also reiterated his wish to fundamentally alter the trade status quo between the United States and China, the world's top two economies.

He said he needed to take a tough stance with Beijing on trade "because it was really not fair to our country," criticizing his predecessors who "closed their eyes" to the issue.

- Belligerent letter -

In June, Trump and Kim pledged to work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

But those efforts stalled several weeks ago, and last week, Trump ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to Pyongyang.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Washington remains ready to engage "when it is clear that Chairman Kim stands ready to deliver on the commitments that he made at the Singapore summit to President Trump to completely denuclearize North Korea."

According to the Washington Post, Pyongyang sent Pompeo a belligerent letter that prompted him to cancel the visit, though its precise contents were not known.

US news site Vox meanwhile reported Trump at June's summit pledged to sign a declaration ending the Korean War, and now the two countries remain deadlocked over who will follow through on their commitment first.

On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that Washington believes "denuclearization has to take place before we get to other parts," confirming that included such a declaration.Ron DeSantis is already in hot water less than a day after winning the GOP nomination in the Florida gubernatorial race because of a racist remark he made about his upcoming general election opponent, democrat Andrew Gillum.

The Trump-endorsed DeSantis stepped it in big time on Wednesday morning during an appearance on Fox News in which he said that Florida shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Gillum, who is black.

No, really. He actually said it.

It's hard to believe in 2018 that white people still claim ignorance around using "monkey" or "ape" in connotation with African-Americans when the use of the word has a had an incredibly long association as a racial epithet.

A little later in the program, Sandra Smith, the Fox News anchor who interviewed DeSantis, read a statement from the GOP candidate's camp and added Fox News' reaction to the comments, saying, "We do not condone this language and wanted to make our viewers aware that he has since clarified his statement.

But here we are and DeSantis' camp is already back-tracking from the comment.

DeSantis' spox tells me this is something the congressman says frequently" to express something that was messed up or not done right.



Spox says it had nothing to do with race or anything like that" but just talking about the situation in Florida. #FLGOV https://t.co/Eg6I3W9ivx  Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 29, 2018

Later Wednesday, Mayor Gillum was on Shep Smith's show on Fox News where he addressed DeSantis' comments, saying, Well, in the handbook of Donald Trump they no longer do whistle calls  theyre now using full bullhorns. And what Ive got to say about that is that weve got to make sure that we stay focused, I think, on the issues that confront everyday people."

Story continues

As for DeSantis, though, just... how? Not to bite on John Oliver but how is this still a thing? There's no excuse for this and Twitter was quick to call DeSantis into account.

It's never too early for racist dogwhistling! https://t.co/rk7CcESXM6  John Scalzi (@scalzi) August 29, 2018

.@RonDeSantisFL goes on TV and calls Gillum "articulate" and says he "performed well" during debates, but that we don't need to "monkey this up" by electing @AndrewGillum Democratic chairwoman Terrie Rizzo blasts DeSantis and says he is using"racist dog whistles."  Gary Fineout (@fineout) August 29, 2018

Remember earlier this summer, when someone went on Fox News and told Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who happens to be black, that he was "out of his cotton-picking mind?



The was David Bossie, who is a member of Ron DeSantis national finance team https://t.co/4jyY71Xl0p  Roberto Aram Ferdman (@robferdman) August 29, 2018

Very pathetic from Ron DeSantis. https://t.co/b39qzeYng8  Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) August 29, 2018

The Republican running against @AndrewGillum for Florida Governor told voters not to monkey this up by electing him.



They will say its just a phrase.



But THIS is the epitome of racist dog whistling. THIS is what Gillum is up against. Support him: https://t.co/Pk3Hqbvl3q https://t.co/AW3JlJ1lBE  Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) August 29, 2018

What? Excuse me?

That Republican dog whistle is more like a megaphone lately.



GOP nominee for #FLGov Ron DeSantis just said Florida shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Andrew Gillum.



What. The. Holy. Balls.#WednesdayWisdom #TakeItBackpic.twitter.com/tUlyFQBUSs  Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) August 29, 2018

As a Floridian, it was my hope this Governors race would be about the pressing issues facing our state -rising tides, algae outbreak, trade, economy, jobs. I had hoped it would not be one were racism was front and center. That hope lasted all of 10 hours. https://t.co/KeBENvMovw  Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) August 29, 2018

He called him articulate then said dont monkey this up. Theyve only been running against each other for about 12 hrs in Florida.  Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) August 29, 2018

He is not, he knows exactly what he said. When is the last time you heard that word in any sentence?  Allison (@allibeth63) August 29, 2018

As noted in one of the tweets above, David Bossie, president of Citizens United and a member of DeSantis' team, was the guy who used the phrase "cotton-pickin' mind" towards a black panel member on Fox News earlier this summer.

When the same group of people keep doing the same damn thing, it's a lot harder to believe it's a mistake rather than the blatant racism is clearly is.(Reuters) - U.S. agents have arrested 160 employees of a trailer manufacturing plant in north Texas who they said violated immigration laws and were working illegally in the United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said late Tuesday its agents raided a plant owned by Load Trail in Sumner, about 110 miles (180 km) northeast of Dallas. "Businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens create an unfair advantage," Katrina Berger, an agent for ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit, said in a statement. No criminal charges have been filed, ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said in an email. He declined to say if any charges would be brought against the company, citing the ongoing investigation. Load Trail described itself on its website earlier this month as a 22-year-old family-owned business whose staff peaked at more than 500 employees in 2007 and that produces a variety of trailers and parts. The company did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. ICE said it was interviewing all of the 160 suspects it rounded up to determine whether any of them qualify for "humanitarian release" such as being as sole care-givers of children. The agency did not provide the nationalities of the suspects. (Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry)London (AFP) - Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran for more than two years on sedition charges, was taken to the prison clinic after blacking out on Wednesday, her husband said.

Richard Ratcliffe said she had suffered a series of panic attacks and Iranian authorities were considering requests for her to go to hospital.

"Nazanin had a panic attack today and yesterday, and passed out today," he told AFP in an email.

"She was at the prison clinic, and there are various requests for her to be hospitalised, but this has not yet been approved."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was unexpectedly released for a three-day furlough on Thursday, and was reunited with members of her family outside the Iranian capital.

She was returned to prison on Sunday after the temporary release ended.

"She had the panic attack, got taken down to the clinic and they said... she had very low blood pressure," her husband added to Britain's Press Association.

"I think it feels like the physical symptoms of crushing disappointment since she went back into prison."

The family had hoped that the furlough would be extended.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation -- the media organisation's philanthropic arm -- was arrested at Tehran airport on April 3, 2016.

She is serving a five-year jail sentence for alleged sedition.

She has denied all charges filed against her.Kiev (AFP) - Hundreds of people gathered in Kiev on Wednesday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of one of the deadliest battles in Ukraine's war with Russia-backed rebels.

Kiev has blamed the massacre on Russian troops armed with heavy weapons it says helped the rebels surround Ukrainian troops in the eastern town of Ilovaysk in August 2014.

Some 366 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, over 450 wounded, 300 captured and 84 went missing in the battle, according to Kiev officials.

More than four hundred people flocked to the Russian embassy in Kiev to mark the battle on Wednesday, placing hundreds of white crosses with portraits of slain Ukrainian soldiers in front of the building and pouring red paint over them to symbolise the terrible bloodshed.

Ukrainian soldiers who returned from Ilovaysk came to honour the memory of their fellow servicemen holding the country's blue and yellow national flags.

Some of the activists held portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin saying: "The face of the war."

"Each interrupted life is a crime of the Russian aggressor, for which he will certainly be punished," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page.

The Ilovaysk massacre followed weeks of battles around the town which led to Ukrainian forces in the area becoming surrounded. Most died trying to break through enemy ranks.

An investigation by Kiev found that a massive incursion of Russian troops on August 23-24 shot at Ukrainian forces as they tried to escape, despite an agreement with Russian command to provide them with a safe corridor.

Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of funnelling troops and arms across the border.

Moscow has denied the allegations despite evidence it has been involved in the fighting and gives open political support to the rebels.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the rebel insurgency broke out in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions in April 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Palestinian children returned to United Nations-run schools on Wednesday after the summer holidays, though major US cuts have thrown their funding into jeopardy beyond next month.

Children wearing chequered uniforms and backpacks thronged schools across the Palestinian territories for the first classes of the new school year, AFP correspondents reported.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said all 711 schools it runs for 526,000 pupils in Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria would reopen in the next few days despite the $300 million US funding cut.

Fears raised by UN chief Antonio Guterres that the schools might not be able to reopen at all have failed to materialise, but UNRWA warned it might still be forced to close them again in a month if additional new funding is not found.

"At the moment, we do not have enough money to keep the schools open after the end of September," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP.

"At the end of September, UNRWA will be running on empty for all its services, including schools and medical facilities."

In 2017, the United States, which is traditionally the largest single donor to UNRWA, contributed more than $360 million.

But so far this year, it has given just $60 million following President Donald Trump's decision to withhold aid to the Palestinians.

- 'There is fear' -

Parents expressed deep concern about the uncertainty hanging over their children's education.

"We are afraid of the schools closing," Soha Abu Hasara told AFP in Gaza City as she dropped her children off for their first day back in the classroom.

Pupil Hala Muhanna, 11, said her "message to the world is that no-one has the right to close schools".

"Even if they take away our schools we will bring them back," she said.

UNRWA was formed to support 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel.

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With their descendants, they now number more than five million across the Middle East.

The United States has sought to use its aid to pressure the Palestinian government into resuming dealing with it after a nearly nine-month rupture.

The Palestinians have boycotted the US administration since it recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December.

Last week, Trump cancelled a further $200 million in aid projects for Palestinians not funded through UNRWA.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi accused the US president of "cheap blackmail".

- US criticises school curriculum -

Israel and the United States accuse UNRWA of perpetuating the Israel-Palestinian crisis by maintaining the idea of the right of return -- that Palestinians will be able to return to the homes from which they fled.

Palestinians see the US embassy move and efforts to change the mandate of UNRWA as attempts to strip them of their rights.

On Tuesday, Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, said her country would want to "look at right of return".

She cited reports that UNRWA's school curriculum included unjust criticism of Israel and the United States, charges which the agency rejects.

"UNRWA can stay there, and we will be a donor if it reforms what it does. If it goes and makes sure that they're not doing those teachings in textbooks, if they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday that the US embassy move and pressure over the right of return were having a "devastating effect" on the peace process.

Gunness pointed out that the US could not force the agency to change its mandate, as that would need a vote at the United Nations General Assembly.

"If one member state decides to reduce our funds, that doesn't change our mandate, it just means we have less money to do it," he said.Geneva (AFP) - The UN human rights chief urged Facebook Wednesday to more proactively address hate speech but warned against excessive regulation, after US President Donald Trump accused tech giants' platforms of bias against him.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's appeal follows a decision by Facebook this week to ban Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass named in a UN probe linking them to a possible "genocide" against Rohingya Muslims.

The social media network is the prime source of news and information for many in the country, but has also been a platform for the army and Buddhist hardliners to spread hate speech against the Rohingya and other minorities.

The site aired support for the military's bloody "clearance operations" last year that forced some 700,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh.

"We felt early on very uncomfortable with what we were seeing in Myanmar, (but) in the early meetings that we had with Facebook, I didn't think they were taking it seriously," said Zeid, who is due to step down from his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the end of the week.

"Hopefully they've now awoken," he told reporters in Geneva, warning that there could easily be other cases "where Facebook is the dominant medium in a country where you see a deterioration of human rights conditions and then their role would be brought into question."

He cautioned that the company should be "careful", since it risked being subpoenaed in possible future trials "of those accused of the worst crimes."

- 'Accessory' -

"We've seen from the jurisprudence of the past that if you've enabled, you've abetted, you've been an accessory," Zeid said, stressing that while he was not accusing Facebook of that, "they have to be sure that they know where they are and what side of the law they are on."

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The Jordanian national, who is set to be succeeded by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, urged Facebook to not wait until a full-blown crisis erupts to act against hate speech.

"They should be thinking proactively about what steps they will take to mitigate that," he said.

Zeid meanwhile warned of going too far in the opposite direction, cautioning that "there is also another danger (of being) overregulated."

He pointed to recent comments by the US president, who has accused big tech firms like Facebook, Google and Twitter of bias against him, slamming what he called "rigged" internet search results.

Trump offered no details on what if any actions he might take, but a top White House aide suggested the administration may look at some type of regulation in response to the president's complaints.

Zeid insisted that instead of more government regulations, the platforms' actions must "be regulated by (international) human rights law."

- 'Dangerous' -

The comments did not mark the first time the UN rights chief has criticised Trump.

He has repeatedly warned that the US president's relentless attacks on the media are "dangerous".

On Wednesday, Zeid said Trump's recent statements "have been very worrisome to me," reiterating his warning that the president's words could trigger violence against journalists.

"All of us would be horrified, but perhaps not shocked if we heard of a journalist that was attacked and severely beaten for example at one of the rallies," he said, stressing that if that happens "the president would bear some responsibility."

"As the campaigning seasons heat up, whether it be for the midterm elections or the presidential elections to come, the conduct of the president should be under very careful scrutiny by the international community and by this office," Zeid said.Washington (AFP) - The United States said Wednesday that a UN report on possible war crimes in Yemen is "very concerning," calling on parties to the conflict to avoid violations.

"We've seen that report from the Human Rights Council," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters, saying that possible violations of international law "as outlined in that report are very concerning to the US government."

"We believe that if such crimes have taken place that there is simply no justification," she said, calling on parties to the conflict to "take necessary measures to prevent such violations."

On Tuesday, UN investigators said that all sides in Yemen's bloody conflict may have committed war crimes, highlighting deadly air strikes, rampant sexual violence and the recruitment of young children as soldiers.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday strongly defended the US-backed Saudi-led coalition that is fighting against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.

The coalition, whose air campaign has taken a heavy toll on civilians in the country, has rejected "inaccuracies" in the UN report and criticized its "non-neutrality."

But Mattis added that US support was "not unconditional," the conditions being that the coalition does "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life, and they support the UN-brokered peace process."Washington (AFP) - US and Canadian trade officials will begin a crucial phase of talks on Wednesday to see if they can bridge their differences to sign a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement.

After Mexico paved the way by agreeing to NAFTA 2.0 with the United States, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was upbeat about the potential for progress.

But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made it clear he would only sign a new trade pact he considers good for his country.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners.

After months of intense talks, the United States and Mexico announced an agreement Monday to thoroughly overhaul the 25-year-old free trade pact.

But President Donald Trump suggested he could leave Canada out and press ahead with a two-party deal with Mexico.

However, Trudeau as well as Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said NAFTA should remain a trilateral deal.

Following her first brief meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday evening, Freeland said Mexico's willingness to make "tough decisions" on labor rights and auto requirements helped pave the way for a new regional agreement.

- 'Productive' discussions -

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite NAFTA.

But in the last five weeks, Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland said she has been in close touch with her US and Mexican counterparts throughout the summer, and had already achieved "a high level agreement with the US" on labor issues.

Mexico's efforts to reach an accord with Washington "definitely clears the way for us to have some significant, substantive, and, I think, productive conversations with the US this week," Freeland told reporters.

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Canada will stand firm "while looking for areas where we can find a compromise."

She said she would meet with her Mexican counterparts, who had remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough with the US.

The outlines of the new NAFTA include a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

But Trump said he would take a tough line with Canada on dairy trade -- long a source of tension between the neighboring countries.

However, Trudeau vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

"My position on defending supply management has not changed. We will defend supply management," Trudeau said.

The system has been in place since the 1970s and has survived several attempts to undo it.

Trudeau faces political pressure with elections due in a year, which could make him wary of being seen as capitulating to Trump, especially on dairy.

- Time pressure -

Canada also objects to the US call to eliminate bi-national panels to resolve trade disputes among NAFTA partners under Chapter 19, which appears to have been dropped in the deal with Mexico. Canada has used the provision to challenge US anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

But Washington backed away from a strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate the trade pact after five years. Instead, the agreement with Mexico extends NAFTA for 16 years but with a review every six years.

The White House is pushing to finalize things quickly so that Pena Nieto can sign the treaty before handing the reins over to Lopez Obrador on December 1.

Pena Nieto said the deal with the US means the sides are now "in the final stretch of a trilateral deal."

Lighthizer said the Trump administration would notify Congress by Friday of the new agreement, which would allow the required 90 days' notice to get the pact signed by December 1.Washington (AFP) - A US trade panel on Wednesday blocked tariffs imposed on Canadian newsprint imports which drew sharp protests because of their impact on struggling American newspapers.

The International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial panel that reviews tariff measures, said in a statement that newsprint or "uncoated groundwood paper" imported from Canada "does not injure US industry."

The decision, which is subject to appeal, means the preliminary tariffs of up to 30 percent imposed earlier this year by the Commerce Department are canceled and money collected will be refunded.

The tariffs were imposed in response to a complaint by a single US paper mill, which alleged that subsidized imports from Canada hurt American industry.

But the US paper industry's trade organization failed to back the complaint, and the tariffs drew sharp criticism from newspaper publishers, lawmakers and others.

David Chavern, president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance which includes some 2,000 news organizations, welcomed the ITC decision.

"We have emphasized that the decades-long shift of news and information from print to digital platforms -- not imports from Canada -- is the cause of the decline in demand for newsprint," Chavern said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the damage to newspapers from preliminary tariffs imposed by the Department of Commerce since January has already been done. The tariffs have disrupted the newsprint market, increasing newsprint costs by nearly 30 percent and forcing many newspapers to reduce their print distribution and cut staff."

Analysts have said the tariffs had added to the woes of traditional newspapers, especially in small communities, where newsprint is one of the highest costs after payrolls.

Newspaper industry employment in the US fell from more than 400,000 in 2001 to 173,000 in 2016, according to government data, highlighting the troubles faced by the shift to digital.

The decision comes amid broader US-Canada trade tensions and negotiations aimed at replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement that includes the two countries and Mexico.Washington (AFP) - A US trade panel on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration tariffs imposed on Canadian newsprint imports that drew sharp protests because of their impact on struggling American newspapers.

The International Trade Commission (ITC), a quasi-judicial panel that reviews tariff measures, said in a statement that newsprint or "uncoated groundwood paper" imported from Canada "does not injure US industry."

The unanimous decision, which is subject to appeal, means the preliminary tariffs of up to 30 percent imposed earlier this year by the Commerce Department are canceled and money collected will be refunded.

The tariffs were imposed in response to a complaint by a single US paper mill, which alleged that subsidized imports from Canada hurt American industry.

But the US paper industry's trade organization failed to back the complaint, and the tariffs drew sharp criticism from newspaper publishers, lawmakers and others.

David Chavern, president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance that includes some 2,000 news organizations, welcomed the ITC decision.

"We have emphasized that the decades-long shift of news and information from print to digital platforms -- not imports from Canada -- is the cause of the decline in demand for newsprint," Chavern said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the damage to newspapers from preliminary tariffs imposed by the Department of Commerce since January has already been done. The tariffs have disrupted the newsprint market, increasing newsprint costs by nearly 30 percent and forcing many newspapers to reduce their print distribution and cut staff."

The tariffs were opposed by a broad coalition that included media groups, retailers and printing industries.

"From the start, we knew this tax on newsprint would immediately harm commercial printing companies, book printers, service companies, equipment suppliers and ultimately, consumers," said Michael Makin, president and CEO of Printing Industries of America.

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"After analyzing the facts, the ITC has issued the right decision to protect American jobs across the country."

- Adding to newspaper woes -

Analysts have said the tariffs added to the woes of traditional newspapers, especially in small communities, where newsprint is one of the highest costs after payrolls.

"We hope today's reversal of these newsprint tariffs will restore stability to the market and that publishers will see a full and quick recovery. Our democracy depends on it," the Texas Press Association said in a tweet.

Newspaper industry employment in the US fell from more than 400,000 in 2001 to 173,000 in 2016, according to government data, highlighting the troubles faced by the shift to digital.

The decision comes amid broader US-Canada trade tensions and negotiations aimed at replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement that includes the two countries and Mexico.

The tariffs were imposed following a complaint from private equity-owned North Pacific Paper in Washington state, which contended that unfairly subsidized imports take away US jobs.

The company said it had restarted at least one mill and hired 60 employees who had been laid off after the tariffs.

Earlier this month, the Department of Commerce revised down its preliminary tariffs after a review. The antidumping duty dropped from a maximum of 22.16 percent to 16.88 percent and countervailing subsidy tariffs from a maximum of 9.93 percent to 9.81 percent.

In 2017, imports from Canada were valued at an estimated $1.21 billion, according to the Commerce Department.

At a hearing in July, US lawmakers joined newspaper industry representatives in criticizing the tariffs which were ordered by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

"Given attacks on the #FreePress, the Trump/Ross newsprint tariffs were the last thing we needed," tweeted Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico after Wednesday's ruling.

"I'm relieved #USITC overturned these tariffs, which would have had a devastating impact on the #NM local papers already facing so many economic barriers."

Senator Chuck Schumer wrote on Twitter that the tariffs "were extremely harmful to our regional papers & printers."

"The ITC made exactly the right decision to completely eliminate them and I will fight to make sure that they never return," he added.Pope Francis has been accused by a former Vatican ambassador to the US of failing to take action against a sexually abusive cardinal - REUTERS

A Vatican whistle-blower who has accused Pope Francis of having covered up sexually abusive behaviour by an American cardinal stepped up his attack on Wednesday, speaking from a secret location.

Archbishop Carlo Mario Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador to the US, has plunged the Catholic Church into crisis with allegations that the pope failed to act against Theodore McCarrick, a US cardinal, who was accused of sexually abusing young priests over decades.

Cardinal McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, resigned in disgrace last month, becoming the first cardinal to step down since 1927.

Archbishop Vigano, 77, released an 11-page document detailing the allegations at the weekend and called on Francis to resign.

He then went underground amid reports that he feared for his safety.

After days of silence he gave an interview, from an undisclosed location, to an Italian journalist, renewing his criticism of Francis papacy.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick resigned in disgrace in July Credit: Max Rossi/Reuters

I spoke out because corruption has now reached the highest levels of the Church hierarchy, he said, claiming he had received broad support for his actions.

I have had messages from priests and the faithful who have thanked me because my testimony was for them a glimmer of hope for the Church.

He denied that he was pursuing a vendetta against Pope Francis and cardinals close to him.

Vatican analysts say the attack appears to be part of a concerted effort by conservatives to oust Pope Francis, who they dislike for his relatively liberal views on issues such as acceptance of homosexuals, allowing divorcees to take Communion and his push for a more inclusive Church.

It really seems like an obvious move by conservatives to de-legitimise Francis," David Gibson, director of the Centre on Religion and Culture at Fordham University in New York, told Reuters.

"This whole thing was carefully coordinated with conservative Catholic media and carefully timed."

The strategy was to damage Franciss legacy before he either dies or resigns, perhaps due to ill health, and to ensure a conservative successor.

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"It's the start of the campaign for the next conclave," said Mr Gibson, referring to the secret election held in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new pope.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has gone into hiding since making the allegations against Pope Francis Credit: Pool/Reuters

Behind these attacks there are dark forces, said Tommaso Valentinetti, 66, an Italian archbishop. The popes enemies were throwing mud to try to discredit him, he said.

The allegations against Pope Francis were first aired in the middle of his trip to Ireland, where he apologised for the Churchs decades of complicity and cover-up in the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

Archbishop Vigano claims that he told Pope Francis of the allegations about Cardinal McCarrick, whom he described as a serial predator, back in 2013.

He said that rather than punish McCarrick, the Argentinian pontiff had lifted sanctions imposed on him by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

It was only last month that Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal, ordering him to live a lifetime of penance and prayer, after Church officials in the US found that allegations that he sexually abused a 16-year-old boy were credible.

The Pope has not addressed the allegations directly but told journalists on board the papal plane returning from Ireland to Rome to "read the communique attentively and make your own judgement.

In his weekly address in St Peters Square on Wednesday, Pope Francis spoke about the sins committed by the Church in Ireland but did not mention the accusations levelled against him by Archbishop Vigano.

The de facto leader of the conservatives who are deeply unhappy with Franciss five-year papacy is Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American.

Pope Francis poses with native Mexican people during his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square on August 29, 2018 in the Vatican. Credit: Giulio Origlia/Getty

A traditionalist, he has accused the Pope of causing confusion with his remarks about homosexuality and giving Communion to divorcees who remarry in civil ceremonies.

Cardinal Burke said on Wednesday that the allegations levelled against the Pope by Archbishop Vigano were very serious and had left him speechless.

I believe we now need a full response from the Pope and the Vatican, he told La Repubblica newspaper.

Calling for the pope to resign was legitimate if it was proved that he had made grave errors but the matter needed to be properly investigated, Cardinal Burke said.

I have nothing personal against the pope. Im simply trying to defend the true faith and the clear presentation of the faith.Huaquillas (Ecuador) (AFP) - On foot, by bus, on the backs of juddering trucks, like tens of thousands of others they slogged for days along the Pan-American highway through Colombia and Ecuador.

Grubby and sleepless, their goal was to reach Peru, a sanctuary of sorts for a desperate Venezuelan family.

Exhausted and swept by the endless wash of traffic noise on the highway's shoulder, the Mendoza Landinez family had the additional pressure of a deadline: to enter Peru before new rules required them to produce a passport.

It pushed Joel Mendoza, his companion Edicth Landinez and her two children Nacari and Sebastian, into a desperate race against the clock. Also in tow are Edicth's niece Eliana with her baby, Tiago.

- Thursday August 23 -

In Pasto, southern Colombia, near the Ecuadoran border, they hitch a ride on a truck. On board are 11 Venezuelans, including seven on the open flatbed behind, three of them children.

The cold is numbing.

Huddled against the wind, Joel throws an arm around Edicth. They left Guanare in western Venezuela together on August 15. A tough decision but their combined wages as a truck driver and domestic worker could buy "nothing" -- just a kilo of soap.

Crossing mountainous Colombia, already home to more than a million Venezuelan migrants, they found cold but some comfort from strangers who gave them food.

"Leaving one's country takes its toll," said Joel, 51.

"Abandoning what took so much effort is hard," says Edicth. At 34, her tired eyes and weathered skin make her look older. They have only the clothes they are wearing, with some blankets in a suitcase.

The trucker who drove them for over 40 hours from the Venezuelan border buys them breakfast. And a Venezuelan woman, who made the same trip herself in July and works in a restaurant, offers them lunch.

The day began at 6:00 am. Eight hours later, they board another truck, which leaves them a few kilometers outside Ipiales, near the Ecuadoran border. They have crossed Colombia.

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Nervous, they hike for 90 minutes to the border. Edicth is the only one with a passport, which Ecuador now requires instead of ID cards in a bid to control a seemingly endless wave of migrants.

Other Venezuelans coming in the opposite direction tell them they should turn around.

"I have faith that they will let us in," insists Edicth. Joel nervously pulls on a cigarette. The sun goes down. The temperature drops.

Sixteen year old Nacari and Sebastian, six, rest on their bags. They make no complaint. Eliana 19, cradles five-month-old Tiago. Fraught, she barely utters a word.

At 6:40 pm rumors are circulating that Ecuador is letting migrants cross without passports and will also lay on a bus to take them to Peru.

Joel can scarcely believe it. "God be praised!" he says. The family prays together, hug each other. Edicth beams a wide smile.

It will not last.

- Friday August 24. Separation -

Relieved, the family rests in Ecuadoran Red Cross tents set up on the streets at Tulcan, where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have congregated.

Shortly after midnight, they are awake and on the move again, but already there has been a delay of four hours. The cold is brutal. More delays follow as Edicth is forced to return to the Colombian side to have a document stamped for Sebastian.

She hurries. Those who travel with children are a priority to get on the buses to Huaquillas, on Ecuador's border with Peru.

One problem resolved, they are confronted by another: Eliana and her baby are stopped, her ID card so damaged that border police suspect tampering.

"I'm not going without her," said Edicth. Joel replies: "I have to go. If I don't get across today I'm not getting in to Peru." They get good news. Ecuador will give a temporary ID to Edicth's niece and her baby.

At 2:10 am they begin to board the bus. The journey to Huaquillas takes between 16 and 18 hours. They should arrive just before the midnight Friday deadline. Eliana decides to head for Quito with two other traveling companions. She's crying. Her baby has a bad case of nappy rash. She doesn't have any nappies left to change him. Edicth tries to comfort her.

"All this journey for that," she weeps over the separation, her voice broken. They embrace and part ways. At 2:47 am the rest of the family climbs aboard.

The mother can't get to sleep, thinking of Eliana "alone with her baby" in the Quito-bound bus. She borrows a phone to call her niece.

On the bus, the other Venezuelans sing and joke. The family tries to catch up on lost sleep. But the delays have taken their toll. They won't make the border on time.

- Saturday August 25. Hope -

At 3:35 am they arrive at the Huaquillas bus terminal. Peru's passport requirement has been in force for four hours already, the border is effectively closed to them.

"We would have all crossed alright if we hadn't had so many delays," lamented Edicth. She is worried for her niece, who has meanwhile arrived in Quito.

Her sister Evelyn, 38, has been in Lima for the past three months, looking after Leonardo, her nephew and Edicth's 17-year-old son. In the beginning, her son had a job on a construction site. But now he is in hospital with depression. His aunt has been looking after him but, as a result, lost her job in a restaurant.

"I understand how bad he feels," says Edicth. She breaks off to mount a bus to Tumbes, on the Peruvian border. Their hope now is to claim refugee status.

"To put up with hunger, begging for money, lacking everything, it's the first time that's ever happened me," says Nacari.

The family haven't been able to wash for three days.

In Tumbes, they wait in line at the border post for their case to be examined. They are hoping for a temporary residence permit.

"We set out from Venezuela as backpackers. Getting this far, we are already winners."This is the dramatic moment British and French fishermen clashed after a scallop war erupted in the English Channel.

Rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles are reported to have been hurled at English and Scottish vessels during the confrontation in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Reportedly outnumbered by the French one to seven, the British boats were allegedly attacked by the rival flotilla that had gathered overnight in protest over fishing rights.

Dramatic footage of the incident broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as an object was thrown toward them.

La charge d'un navire anglais lors de l'affrontement entre pecheurs francais et britanniques !https://t.co/jCfERoMtex pic.twitter.com/WwdxJtbdn1  France 3 Normandie (@F3bnormandie) August 28, 2018

Some of the British vessels are said to have later returned to UK harbours with signs of criminal damage.

Following the incident, a British MP accused French fisherman of taking the law into their own hands and demanded answers from the Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

Sheryll Murray, the MP for South East Cornwall said she had received assurances appropriate measures were in place to protect fishermen.

It is totally unacceptable when British boats are doing nothing wrong, they are allowed to fish there, she said.

Rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles are reported to have been hurled at English and Scottish vessels during the confrontation (Screengrab)

Remarkable footage showed French and British vessels colliding (Screengrab)

It seems as though the French fisherman just took the law into their own hands.

I have been assured by Michael Gove that appropriate measures are in place to enable to fishermen to carry on fishing, Im waiting to hear a further update from him.

The long-running dispute is over a scallop-rich area of the Channel that French fishermen are prevented from harvesting due to domestic environmental laws.

Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermens association, said the violent scenes demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change.

Story continues

The clash between the boats took place in the English Channel, close to France (PA)

Are added: I urge everyone to avoid these situations that endanger mens lives.

One of the British boats involved in the clash is said to be the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association condemned the vigilante French fishermen.

The group said: Attacking our vessels is appalling.

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Britains National Federation of Fishermens Organisations has appealed for calm, saying the dispute should be resolved through negotiations.

The groups chief executive, Barrie Deas, told the BBC: We have raised the matter with the British Government and asked for protection for our vessels, which are fishing legitimately.

The dispute is over a scallop-rich area of the Channel that French fishermen are prevented from harvesting due to domestic environmental laws (Rex)

The deeper issues behind the clashes should be settled by talking around the table, not on the high seas where people could be hurt.

A Government spokesman said: We are aware of reports of aggression directed towards UK fishing vessels in an area of the English Channel not under UK control.

These vessels were operating in an area they are legally entitled to fish.Duda charges that when he took medical leave to recover from his illness, he was asked to work without pay and was never compensated later, the suit said. He maintains he was later denied a promotion to sergeant in retaliation for taking time off and was unfairly disciplined by then-Police Chief Terry Mee, who retired in January.White House Counsel Don McGahn will step down from his role this fall, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.

Trump made the announcement on Twitter and said McGahns departure would take place shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.

Trump added, I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said theres no backstory on why McGahn is leaving.

Hes worked for the president for a long time. Hes been  they have a good relationship. Theres really not a lot to add here, she told reporters shortly after Trumps announcement.

McGahn, who joined Trumps administration in January 2017, was reportedly interested in leaving his position and expressed interest that he be succeeded by D.C. lawyer Emmet Flood, Axios reported on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that White House Counsel Don McGahn, who joined the administration in January 2017, would leave "in the fall." (Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

Flood joined the White House in May to assist with Trumps defense during special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. He previously served as special counsel in the George W. Bush administration and represented President Bill Clinton during the impeachment proceedings.

The announcement of McGahns looming departure comes in the wake of reports earlier this month that he had provided Mueller with both damaging and favorable information on Trump as Mueller probes possible collusion by Russia and members of Trumps 2016 election campaign, as well as if the president obstructed justice.

Before joining Trumps administration, McGahn served as counsel to Trumps presidential campaign. Prior to that, he was chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

McGahn's extensive cooperation with Robert Mueller's investigation raised speculation that he was trying to protect himself. (Photo: Alex Wong via Getty Images)

His cooperation with Mueller was seen as a potential blow to Trump, with sources speaking to The New York Times suggesting that McGahn was willing to speak candidly out of fear that Trump was setting him up for blame in case of any possible obstruction charges.

Trump denied such claims, insisting that he asked McGahn to cooperate with Mueller and that any suspicions that he may have switched sides is just the opposite.

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Nixon administration attorney John Dean, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice during the 1970s Watergate scandal, had applauded reports of McGahns cooperation, calling it the right thing.

McGahn is doing exactly the right thing, not merely to protect himself, but to protect his client. And his client is not Donald Trump; his client is the office of the president, Dean, who was White House counsel under Richard Nixon, told Slate earlier this month.

This story has been updated with a response from Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Related...

White House Counsel Don McGahn Recused Entire Staff From Russia Probe

Watergate's John Dean Says McGahn Was Smart To Cooperate With Mueller

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Watergate Witness John Dean Thinks Trump Has A 'Real Problem' With Don McGahn

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.(WASHINGTON)  The flags at the White House, which were lowered over the weekend to mark the death of Sen. John McCain, are back at full-staff.

The flags at the U.S. Capitol, meanwhile, remained at half-staff on Monday to honor the Arizona Republican, who died Saturday of brain cancer.

President Donald Trump offered his condolences on Twitter to McCains family but hasnt issued a presidential proclamation with an order lowering the flags. The two had a long-running feud.

U.S. Flag Code states that flags be lowered on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.

After Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died in 2009, President Barack Obama ordered flags at the White House be flown at half-staff for five days.

The White House didnt immediately respond to questions Monday.Chicago (AFP) - A Texas jury found a white police officer guilty of murder Tuesday for the shooting death of a 15-year-old African American boy -- a rare conviction resulting from a high-profile police shooting case.

Roy Oliver fired five bullets into a car full of teens last year, killing Jordan Edwards while responding to a call of underage drinking at a party in a Dallas suburb.

The unarmed Edwards and four others were leaving the party after hearing gunfire, which had come from another nearby location. Oliver fired a rifle into the car, hitting the teen in the head.

The trial jury also found the officer, who was reportedly fired from his job, not guilty of two aggravated assault charges.

Oliver could face between five to 99 years in prison for the murder conviction.

Tearful family members could be seen embracing during a court recess after the verdict was read.

"I'm happy, very happy. It's been a long time," the slain teen's father Odell Edwards told assembled news media.

The trial resumed shortly after with the sentencing phase.

The jury had deliberated for just two days before returning the rare conviction of a police officer in a high-profile shooting.

Similar convictions in other cases have proven mostly elusive, illustrating the difficulty of convicting officers in deadly encounters where split-second decisions are made.

Edwards family attorney Daryl Washington said the case was "about every African American, unarmed African American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."

- 'No other option' -

Police originally said Oliver opened fire because the car was backing up aggressively toward him, but the department changed its account after viewing bodycam footage, saying the car was driving away when Edwards was shot.

At trial, Oliver testified that he fired because the car was driving toward his partner.

"I had to make a decision," Oliver testified. "This car is about to hit my partner, there are threats inside the car and when lethal force is being presented toward us, I had no other option but to use lethal force."

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But Oliver's partner Tyler Gross testified at trial that he had not felt in danger, according to US media reports.

"I just wanted them to stop," Gross said, according to WFAA TV. "I was not in fear at that point."

The Dallas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement announcing Oliver's arrest warrant last year that evidence suggested the police officer "intended to cause serious bodily injury."

The shooting was among a growing list of similar cases in which African Americans were killed by white police officers.

The high-profile incidents, often accompanied by official or eyewitness video footage, have fueled outrage across the United States and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Oliver was the first on-duty Texas officer in more than 40 years to be convicted in a shooting death, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union hailed the conviction for sending "a powerful message."

"There is a long history in this country of failing to hold law enforcement responsible for even the gravest abuses of power," the group's Sharon Watkins Jones said in a statement.Starbucks is known for having an ever-evolving list of drinks that incorporate seasonal add-ons and trendy ingredients. But concocting something new likely wasnt the intention of a Utah barista who gave a customer a drink with two cleaning tablets at the bottom.

Deneice Lee of Layton, Utah, was making her routine trip to the Starbucks inside a local Smiths grocery store when she quickly determined that something about her green tea Frappuccino tasted off. It was the second drink the barista had made for her the day after her first order wasnt made correctly, so Lee let it pass as drinkable  never considering that it could cause her harm.

A woman in Utah found cleaning tablets at the bottom of her Starbucks drink. (Photo: Getty Images)

It just tasted like burnt rubber, honestly, Lee told KSTU of the last sip she took of the drink before leaving it in the car while unloading groceries. My kids came out running, saying, Mom, I think theres pills on the, on the bottom of your drink.'

Two white tablets were exactly what Lee found when she took a video of herself pouring out the remaining liquid in the cup. Lees friend then called a Starbucks manager who she knew to inquire about what they might be. Thats when Lee found out that the same tablets are used to clean the espresso machines.

I was scared to death, Lee said. Really panicked, I had no idea what I ingested.

She was advised to go to the hospital, where she ultimately became ill and was admitted for a few hours. Now, she says that shes seeking compensation for that hospital bill, but unsure how much further shell take her case.

A Starbucks Spokesperson told Yahoo Lifestyle:

Smiths store director and our customer service team have apologized to the customer directly for the mistake and worked to assure her of our commitment to make this right. This mistake should never have been made and both Starbucks and Smiths are working together to understand how this happened and to remind associates of our cleaning procedures designed to help prevent this type of situation.

Story continues

I honestly think it was an honest mistake, Lee concluded. I would hope its an honest mistake. I really just dont ever want it to happen to anyone else.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



Woody Allen (Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Woody Allen is to take his first break in directing since 1981, according to reports.

Allen, who is 82, will have a year off, and is said to have been damaged by the #MeToo movement, following the re-emergence of accusations that he molested his daughter Dylan Farrow in the 90s.

The director has long denied the claims, and charges against him were never brought.

Allen has made at least one film a year since 1981, with his 48th movie A Rainy Day In New York due for release by Amazon Studios by the end of the year.

He has a deal for three more movies after that, but is said to be looking to secure backing for an new, untitled project too.

Woody loves working. He never takes a vacation. But he will be taking time off this year until he can find a backer, a source told Page Six.

However, since the accusations re-emerged, Allens reputation in Hollywood has been severely damaged.

A host of stars he has worked with have denounced him over the claims, including Sir Michael Caine, Colin Firth, Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Hall, who have said they either regret working with him or would not do so again in the future.

Woody always got great actors. Stars would work for scale because it gave them prestige, but with the #MeToo movement, hes toxic, said another producer.

Some, however, have stuck by him, including Javier Bardem, who worked with him on Vicky Christina Barcelona, where he met his future wife, Penelope Cruz.

If there was evidence that Woody Allen was guilty, then yes, I would have stopped working with him, but I have doubts, he told Paris Match.

I am very shocked by this sudden treatment, Bardem said. Judgments in the states of New York and Connecticut found him innocent. The legal situation today is the same as in 2007.

Other sources, however, have suggested that Allens problems securing backing are purely financial, rather than reputational.

His movies dont make money, the source added. For years, hes been going from one financier to another. He even went to Europe. But hes run out of options.

Story continues

Read more

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Guardians of the Galaxy 3 on hold

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This week President Trump said  without providing evidence  that Googles search engine was hiding fair media coverage of him.

.results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

Following his tweets on Tuesday, the president said, I think what Google and what others are doing, if you look at whats going on with Twitter, if you look at whats going on with Facebook, they better be careful because you cant do that to people.

According to Googles explanation of how news stories are selected, an algorithm determines the majority of headlines users see when they do a search on Google  which looks at the users history, including Google Search and other properties.

A Google spokesperson addressed the presidents accusation in a statement Tuesday, saying, When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds. Search is not used to set a political agenda and we dont bias our results toward any political ideology. Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.

Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he would investigate the matter, saying hes looking in to it, but didnt provide any details.

Can Trump do anything to regulate Google? Not really. If Google deliberately chose to discriminate against specific news sources, that wouldnt be illegal, according to legal experts who spoke with Yahoo Finance.

Story continues

Google isnt a government entity, and the First Amendment protects the rights of people and companies to favor speakers based on their viewpoints. Theres also very little Trump can do himself without congressional action.

Even if Congress enacted a law prohibiting companies from engaging in the type of discrimination Trump accused Google of, the law would most likely face an immediate First Amendment challenge it probably couldnt overcome, Genevieve Lakier, an assistant law professor at the University of Chicagos law school, told Yahoo Finance.

However, the Trump administration could attack other parts of Googles business and threaten antitrust enforcement against the company. This would involve federal authorities closely examining Googles information-tracking practices and contending that it doesnt follow consumer protection laws.Raneem Oudeh, 22, and Khaola Saleem, 49, were killed in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday (West Midlands Police)

A reward of 5,000 is being offered to anyone who can provide the police with information regarding the suspect in the double murder of a mother and daughter in Solihull.

Janbaz Tarin is wanted for the killing of Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49.

This morning it emerged that Oudeh was on the phone to police as they were attacked, according to detectives.

The two women were attacked in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday, at Ms Saleems house in Solihull, West Midlands.

Tarin, who is Miss Oudehs former partner, is being sought over the incident. He has so far not been traced.

Police have launched a large-scale operation to trace the Afghan national and the force has warned against anyone shielding the 21-year-old.

Khaola Saleem, 49, was killed alongside her daughter

West Midlands Police said there had been a number of calls from Miss Oudeh to the force on Sunday night.

Police said one of its call handlers was on the phone to the young woman when the situation quickly escalated  and immediately dispatched officers to the scene who arrived within minutes.

Officers rushed to the victims home in Northdown Road, shortly after 12.30am, finding them fatally wounded.

Three addresses have been raided by police, including one in Sparkhill, in nearby Birmingham, as part of the investigation.

Computer equipment and mobile phones have been seized and a van is undergoing forensic examination.

Police are searching for Janbaz Tarin fter the incident (police handout)

The suspected murder weapon has also been recovered.

Neighbours say they were woken by screams coming from Ms Saleems address, where Miss Oudeh lived with her mother, as they were attacked.

Miss Oudeh had a two-year-old son, though Tarin is not the father, and had moved to England from Syria, along with Ms Saleem, who had six children.

Family say they had been left devastated by the loss.





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Watch: Scallop wars break out in English Channel as French fishermen attack British boats

Story continues

Police said they had received dozens of phone calls and were currently looking at the information and a number of potential sightings.

Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield, leading the investigation, said: We have a team of detectives working around the clock (to) get justice for Raneem and Khaolas family.

The response from the public to our appeal has been positive and we are following up all credible lines of inquiry but we need anyone with information on Tarins whereabouts to get in touch.

This is a shocking, tragic case.

The public has been advised not to approach Tarin and to call 999 if he is spotted.The Elgin area reported about 2.55 inches of rainfall over the last 24 hours, one of the largest totals in northern Illinois, said Charlie Mott, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday calls for drier conditions and cooler temperatures, before summer conditions and the possibility of rain returns for the Labor Day weekend.British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn claimed in 2010 that Israeli officials control the speeches of British parliamentarians, in yet another apparently anti-Semitic statement brought to light Tuesday by the British Daily Mail.

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According to the paper, Corbyn was filmed at a meeting of the Solidarity Campaign for Palestine in London speaking about the Mavi Marmara incident, when Shayetet 13 naval commandos raided a Turkish vessel trying to break the siege on Gaza. Ten Turkish nationals were killed in the raid.

"British parliamentarians arrived at the parliament with pre-prepared speeches, and I am sure that your friend Ron Prosor (the Israeli ambassador to Britain at the timeed.) wrote them, because all of them featured the same keywords," Corbyn said in his remarks at the event.





Corbyn disparaging Israel

Corbyn said that "fashionable" terms that repeated themselves included: "Israel's need for security," "the extremism of people on one ship" and "the existence of Turkish militants on this ship."

"These expressions were mentioned in every single speech," Corbyn said.

Navy storms the Mavi Marmara (Photo: AP)

The Daily Mail says it has examined the transcripts of the speeches Corbyn was referring to and found no evidence to support his claims. Conservative and Labour MPs who attended the parliamentary debate told the newspaper that no Israeli official prepared the speech for them.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of the Campaign Against anti-Semitism, told the Daily Mail that "Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories present the Jews as malicious manipulators who pull strings and undermine democracy. It seems that without any evidence, Corbyn has visions in which the Jewish state literally implants words in the mouths of many of our politicians."

In practice, with regard to malicious influence from the Middle East, the only politician who comes to mind is Mr. Corbyn himself, with his schedule filled with visits to anti-Semitic terrorist organizations that seek genocide, Falter asserted.

Corbyn at Black September terrorists graves

Corbyn has been known for years as a firm opponent of Israel , and in the past has described Hamas and Hezbollah as his "friends." Although his ties with radical Palestinian and Arab elements have been known for years, the British media has been exposing more and more of his less familiar statements and actions that carry a strong anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli flavor in the past few weeks, against the backdrop of the anti-Semitism scandal in Corbyn's party.

For example, it was revealed that in 2012 Corbyn attended a conference in which Hamas prisoners released in the Shalit deal spoke, and described their words as "fascinating and electrifying." Corbyn wrote in the Morning Star newspaper in praise of the conference, calling the terrorists "brothers" and glorifiying their speeches.

In 2014, he participated in a memorial ceremony for terrorists from the "Black September" organization that murdered the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Following this exposure and the controversy it aroused, Corbyn and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu verbally clashed on Twitter.

Last week, the Daily Mail revealed that in a speech in London in 2013 at a conference convened by the Palestinian Return Center and attended by radical Islamists and, Corbyn spoke about the importance of history and of how necessary it was for people to understand the origins of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

He said Zionists had "two problems"firstly, that they do not study history and, secondly, they do not understand English irony.

After the emergence of footage, Labour asserted that Corbyn had been referring to a "group of pro-Israel activists" and had not been singling out Jewish people as a whole.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling exchanged blows on Twitter with British writer Simon Maginn on Sunday, after Maginn called the outcry that followed the report of Corbyn's comments a "patently synthetic outrage."

JK Rowling (: )

Rowling hit back, saying, "How dare you tell a Jew that their outrage is 'patently synthetic'? How dare you demand that they lay bare their pain and fear on demand, for your personal evaluation? What other minority would you speak to this way?"

She later added, "How about you explainpublicly, to Twitter, to the worldwhy you've taken it upon yourself to attack a Jew, demanding that they explain themselves, when there are literally hundreds of accounts currently online explaining how British Jews currently feel?"

Rabbi Sacks: Corbyn's an anti-Semite

Britain's former chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks also came out against Corbyn's claim, saying it was the most offensive comment by a senior UK politician in half a century.

Sacks, who was Britain's chief rabbi from 1991 to 2013, accused Corbyn of having "given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map."

He said Corbyn had depicted a group of British citizens as "essentially alien" when saying in that British Zionists "don't understand English irony" despite "having lived in this country for a very long time".

"When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism," Sacks told the New Statesman political magazine.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

"Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour party and Her Majestys opposition. That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr. Corbyn and those who support him," he added.

Labour said in a statement there is no place for anti-Semitism in their party and that they are committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.

Some opinion polls put Labour ahead or level with Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservatives, meaning he is a potential British leader, although the next election is not due until 2022.

Sacks compared Corbyn's comments to the infamous "Rivers of blood" speech by Enoch Powell in 1968 in which the then-Conservative shadow cabinet member warned of the dangers of immigration. His speech is widely regarded as one of the most divisive made by a modern British politician.

Labour dismissed the comparison with Powell as "absurd and offensive."

Since unexpectedly becoming Labour leader in 2015 after decades spent on the left-wing fringes of the party, Corbyn has repeatedly faced accusations of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic comments in the party and among groups he supports.

A long list of party members have become embroiled in anti-Semitic statements in recent years, including senior politician Ken Livingstone, who claimed that Hitler was in fact a passionate Zionist and Naz Shah, who called for a "relocation" of Israel to the United States.

In light of the incidents, Corbyn admitted that the party had a problem and repeatedly promised to fight anti-Semitism within its ranks. But anti-Semitism has not been uprooted and recently, more and more problematic statements are coming to light that have been made by party officials against Israel and the Jews.LONDON/WASHINGTON - An apparent Iranian influence operation targeting internet users worldwide is significantly bigger than previously identified, Reuters has found, encompassing a sprawling network of anonymous websites and social media accounts in 11 different languages.

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Facebook and other companies said last week that multiple social media accounts and websites were part of an Iranian project to covertly influence public opinion in other countries. A Reuters analysis has identified 10 more sites and dozens of social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

US-based cyber security firm FireEye Inc and Israeli firm ClearSky reviewed Reuters' findings and said technical indicators showed the web of newly-identified sites and social media accountscalled the International Union of Virtual Media, or IUVMwas a piece of the same campaign, parts of which were taken down last week by Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc.

File photo (Photo: Getty Images)

IUVM pushes content from Iranian state media and other outlets aligned with the government in Tehran across the internet, often obscuring the original source of the information such as Iran's PressTV, FARS news agency and al-Manar TV run by the Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.

PressTV, FARS, al-Manar TV and representatives for the Iranian government did not respond to requests for comment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations last week dismissed accusations of an Iranian influence campaign as "ridiculous."

The extended network of disinformation highlights how multiple state-affiliated groups are exploiting social media to manipulate users and further their geopolitical agendas, and how difficult it is for tech companies to guard against political interference on their platforms.

In July, a US grand jury indicted 12 Russians whom prosecutors said were intelligence officers, on charges of hacking political groups in the 2016 US presidential election. US officials have said Russia, which has denied the allegations, could also attempt to disrupt congressional elections in November.

Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab who has previously analyzed disinformation campaigns for Facebook, said the IUVM network displayed the extent and scale of the Iranian operation.

"It's a large-scale amplifier for Iranian state messaging," Nimmo said. "This shows how easy it is to run an influence operation online, even when the level of skill is low. The Iranian operation relied on quantity, not quality, but it stayed undetected for years."

Further investigations

Facebook spokesman Jay Nancarrow said the company is still investigating accounts and pages linked to Iran and had taken more down on Tuesday.

"This is an ongoing investigation and we will continue to find out more," he said. "We're also glad to see that the information we and others shared last week has prompted additional attention on this kind of inauthentic behavior."

Twitter referred to a statement it tweeted on Monday shortly after receiving a request for comment from Reuters. The statement said the company had removed a further 486 accounts for violating its terms of use since last week, bringing the total number of suspended accounts to 770.

"Fewer than 100 of the 770 suspended accounts claimed to be located in the US and many of these were sharing divisive social commentary," Twitter said.

Google declined to comment but took down the IUVM TV YouTube account after Reuters contacted the company with questions about it. A message on the page on Tuesday said the account had been "terminated for a violation of YouTube's Terms of Service."

IUVM did not respond to multiple emails or social media messages requesting comment.

The organization does not conceal its aims, however. Documents on the main IUVM website https://iuvm.org said its headquarters are in Tehran and its objectives include "confronting with remarkable arrogance, western governments and Zionism front activities."

App store and satirical cartoons

IUVM uses its network of websitesincluding a YouTube channel, breaking news service, mobile phone app store, and a hub for satirical cartoons mocking Israel and Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabiato distribute content taken from Iranian state media and other outlets which support Tehran's position on geopolitical issues.

Reuters recorded the IUVM network operating in English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, Russian, Hindi, Azerbaijani, Turkish and Spanish.

Anti-Israel cartoon removed by Facebook

Much of the content is then reproduced by a range of alternative media sites, including some of those identified by FireEye last week as being run by Iran while purporting to be domestic American or British news outlets.

For example, an article run by in January by Liberty Front Pressone of the pseudo-US news sites exposed by FireEyereported on the battlefield gains made by the army of Iranian ally Syrian President Bashar Assad. That article was sourced to IUVM but actually lifted from two FARS news agency stories.

FireEye analyst Lee Foster said iuvmpress.com, one of the biggest IUVM websites, was registered in January 2015 with the same email address used to register two sites already identified as being run by Iran. ClearSky said multiple IUVM sites were hosted on the same server as another website used in the Iranian operation.The Jerusalem District Court accepted Tuesday the claims of the residents of the illegal outpost of Mitzpe Kramim, ordering to give it a legal status of a settlement, although it was built on private Palestinian lands.

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This precedential ruling applied the market overt legal concept, a Medieval rule that regulates the status of stolen property, in case some conditions apply. This is the first time market overt was applied in the West Bank, and has the potential to allow the legalization of dozens of outposts built on private Palestinian property in the disputed territories.

The market overt concept determines that any deal made in good faith between authorities and an individual, regarding a property that authorities thought to be governmental property at the time, will remain valid even if proven the property was not actually at the possesion of the government.

Mitzpe Kramim (Photo: Shaul Golan)

In this case, people who settled on Palestinian-owned lands under government approvalcannot be evacuated despite the fact that the deal was faulty.

Until recently, the state objected the legalization of outposts built on private property. However, after Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked pressured to change this position, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit proposed to apply the market overt concept on the West Bank, and the court accepted the plea.

Judge Arnon Darel of the Jerusalem District Court ordered that the residents of Mitzpe Kramim are not to be evacuated, but rather compensated, and that the outpost be legalized.

Mitzpe Kramim was established in the late 1990s, and some dozens of families reside in it. The outpost was originally built near Maaleh Rehavam in Gush Etzion, but was moved to its current location on land allocated by the Settlement Division after a 1999 deal.

However, in 2011, Palestinians residents petitioned to the High Court of Justice and claimed they were the legal owners of the land, which was seized using a military order, and thus the outpost was not legal.

In response to the Palestinian petition, Mitzpe Kramims residents filed a suit against the Settlement Division, the Civil Administration and the Palestinian plaintiffs and claimed they had settled there in good faith. They were represented by lawyer Harel Arnon, who also represented the the states interests in the West Bank Settlement Regulation Law case.

The High Court of Justice case is still open, as judges were waiting on the verdict on the Mitzpe Kramim suit, and will now resume deliberations on the matter.

Justice Minister Shaked praised the courts ruling, saying, the district court stated loud and clear, that whoever settled in good faith and under state approval will not be evacuated. The injustice of the evacuation of Amona and Netiv Ha'avot should not be repeated. The court should not be a part of political debates between Left and Right.

Our intensive cooperation changed the way the state responds to the High Court of Justice, a change that we can now see trickling down in this district court ruling, Shaked continued.

The Regavim pro-settler Israeli NGO, who initiated the Settlement Regulation Law, also praised the courts ruling. This is a product of a long legal battle, run by the settlements and settling bodies. They asked to legalize outposts that were established by the State of Israel. This blessed decision is a historic one, the NGO said.

We call upon the attorney general to apply the principles of this decision to all other outposts in Judea and Samaria that need regularization, the Regavim statement continued.

The residents of Mitzpe Kramim also praised the decision, saying that: We are happy to announce this win in court, in our battle for our home. We thank the Israeli government and especially Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who after a long road helped us get the desired result.

Mitzpe Kramim (Photo: Shaul Golan)

Asked about the decision, Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said all of the settlements that Israel has built on disputed land are illegal.

"Peace can't be achieved as settlement continues," he said.

Peace Now, which monitors and opposes Jewish settlement on disputed land, said the outpost's fate would ultimately be up to the Supreme Court, where a petition by the Palestinian property owners is still pending.

The Supreme Court has consistently upheld Palestinian property rights in such cases, leading to the forced evacuation of some outposts.

Peace Now said the "granting of property rights to criminals who settled in an illegal outpost ... without permits, on private Palestinian land is outrageous."

It noted that Israel's right-wing government, which originally had opposed the settlers' land claim, later supported their position in what the organization called an attempt to implement a controversial law on unauthorized settlement.

The legislation, passed by the Knesset in 2017, enables the retroactive legalization of 4,000 settler homes built on privately-owned Palestinian land but is currently under review by the Supreme Court.

Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas that are also home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians. Palestinians say settlements could deny them a viable and contiguous state.The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Nochi Dankner, once one of Israels most powerful businessmen, who was convicted in 2016 of manipulating share prices, and increased his sentence from two to three years in prison.The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Wednesday by Nochi Dankner, once one of Israel's most prominent businessmen, and increased his sentence from two to three years in prison.

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Dankner appealed his 2016 conviction for market manipulation and securities fraud, while the prosecution appealed the lenient sentence.

The court also doubled the sentence of Itay Strum, who was found guilty of helping Dankner, from one to two years.

Dankner at the sentencing (Photo: Ami Schuman)

The ruling determined that Dankner, the former IDB Holding Corp. controlling shareholder, will begin serving his prison term on October 2 for his role in carrying out millions of dollars' worth of fraudulent transactions in an attempt to influence the share price of the troubled company.

Dankner was convicted in 2016 of providing the finances for a scam involving the purchase of IDB stock on the day it was issued. That day, IDB Holdings' stock registered unusually high activity on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange. He manipulated the market on the day of issuein other words, was involved in a massive acquisition of IDB Holdings stock, along with broker Adi Yehuda Sheleg.

The affair started at 2011, when Dankner foresaw problems in IDB cash flow after years of prosperity. The company had a complex pyramid of control with multiple levels of holding firms and subsidiaries. It hit hard times when the market crashed and some investments, such as a major Las Vegas real estate deal, failed.

Dankner then started looking for funding sources, and alongside his counterparts, had decided to issue securities in order to raise the money.

On February 23, 2012, IDB held a successful securities issue in which it raised NIS 321 million ($83 million). In the institutional phase the company raised NIS 286 million ($74 million) and the public offering yielded NIS 35 million ($9 million) in requests.

Itay Strum, Dankner's accomplice (Photo: Yair Sagi)

The stock acquisition was aimed at maintaining the stock's value ahead of the issue. Once the issue ended, IDB Holdings' stock began plummeting.

At the time, Dankner was chairman of IDB's board and one of the owners of its controlling interest, and financed the scam with his own resources as well as recruited other parties who, according to his instructions, purchased stock that was bought by broker Adi Yehuda Sheleg and businessman Itay Strum to provide the finances to keep the scam going.

IDB took on millions of dollars in debts following a series of bad business deals. The courts wrestled control of IDB away from Dankner as a result.

Dankner at the Jerusalem Supreme Court (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)

Sheleg later turned states evidence and testified against Dankner and Strum, saying that Strum had asked him to raise the shares value to save Nochis investment. The two accused him of a false testimony.

Dankner did not give up after his conviction and appealed to the Supreme Court against both the conviction and sentencea 24-months prison sentence and a NIS 800,000 finein February 2017. Strum had also appealed, but the court, as stated, did not accept their claims and rather increased their sentences.

Supreme Justice David Mintz stated on Wednesday that the case before us is of one of the most severe and unusual securities scams uncovered in recent years, within the most prominent and influential company of the time. Dankner and Strum executed a vast fraud, in which millions were invested in fraudulent stock transactions in an attempt to influence and stabilize the IDB share price.

Dankner and Strum have extensive complaints about the harsh sentence that the district court gave them. They wish to present their actions as a minor fraud. But these claims should be denied, the judge stressed.

Adi Sheleg, turned states evidence in the Dankner case (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Furthermore, said Mintz, not only was the court not harsh on the twoit was easy on them. Too easy.

Mintz concluded that it was not a spontaneous organization but a well orchestrated share fraud, done by people who know and have an influence on the capital market and its investors, who took advantage of their resources in order to bend the rules for their personal benefit.

Dankners case has led to economic reforms in Israel, with the government passing regulations to increase market competition and limit pyramid-style companies.

Dankner, a former favorite of Israel's business community, was often credited with helping rescue Israel's economy at the height of a Palestinian uprising. Under his leadership, IDB became Israel's largest holding company and Dankner became a celebrity.

Control of IDB and its subsidiaries has since been sold to Argentinian businessman Eduardo Elsztain.LONDON - Security forces in Iran have arrested tens of spies working in state bodies, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Tuesday, and also indirectly commented the arrest of former Israeli minister Gonen Segev, who was charged with spying for the Islamic Republic.

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"You have recently heard that we brought under our control a member of a cabinet of a hostile country," Alavi said, without specifying which country.

"The counter-espionage sector of the intelligence ministry is one the most powerful among world's intelligence services," he added.

Gonen Segev in court (Photo: Olivier Fitoussi)

Some Iranian media said Alavi was referring to Israel's former energy minister Gonen Segev, who was charged in Israel with serving as an Iranian agent in June.

Segev, energy minister from 1995 to 1996, had been living in Nigeria, where he made contact with officials at the Iranian embassy in 2012, according to Israeli investigators.

He had been jailed in Israel in 2004 after being convicted of attempting to smuggle Ecstasy pills into the country. He left Israel in 2007 after his release from prison.

Speaking of the spies Iran has allegedly captured, Alavi indicated that many of the detainees were dual nationals, but did not say when the arrests took place or which countries the spies allegedly were working for.

"I have repeatedly asked people to inform us if they know any dual national. The intelligence ministry's anti-espionage unit has successfully identified and arrested tens of spies in different governmental bodies," Alavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency ISNA on Tuesday.

The arrest of dual nationals has increased since Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there had been "infiltration" of Western agents in Iranian decision-making bodies.

Reuters reported in 2017 that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards had arrested at least 30 dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.

Tension between Tehran and some Western countries has risen since May when US President Donald Trump withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed some of the US sanctions that had been lifted after the 2015 accord in return for restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program.

Iran does not recognize dual nationality and does not routinely announce arrests or charges of dual nationals, whose rights to consular assistance are enshrined in the UN Vienna Convention.

Alavi said that security forces arrested this month a member of the Islamic State militant group in southern Iran, and had disbanded a "terrorist cell" in the country's north.

He said his ministry had foiled several plots to bomb metro stations and universities, without making any of the incidents public at the time.

Under Islamic State's ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim ideology, Shi'itesthe majority in Iranare considered apostates. Last year, Islamic State militants carried out attacks on the parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of the founder of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. At least 18 people were killed in the attacks.LONDON - Iranian lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against the education minister on Wednesday, stepping up pressure on President Hassan Rouhani who is under attack from parliament over his handling of the economy following new US sanctions.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meeting with Rouhani and his cabinet on Wednesday, told the government to work "day and night" to resolve economic problems.

"We need to be strong in the economic field ... The officials should work hard day and night to resolve the problems," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television.LONDON- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran could abandon its nuclear accord with world powers after the US withdrawal if it does not serve its interests, casting doubt on negotiations with European countries to salvage the deal.

"The nuclear deal is a means, not the goal, and if we come to this conclusion that it does not serve our national interests, we can abandon it," Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website on Wednesday.

He said Tehran should "give up hope" on Europe to save the deal.

In a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet, Khamenei said Tehran would not negotiate with the "indecent" US officials at any level to reach a new agreement on its nuclear program.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday with incoming Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wished him success.

Prime Minister Netanyahu invited his Australian counterpart and his wife to visit Israel and its capital, Jerusalem.

The leaders emphasized the excellent relations and deep friendship between the Israeli and the Australian governments and peoples, and agreed to work to further strengthen security and economic relations.JALAZONE - Schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees opened in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday after it secured funding to offset cuts by its main donor, the United States.

The beginning of the school year had been in doubt after the United Nations Relief and Works (UNRWA) said it lacked funds to pay the 22,000 teachers in its schools in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

"We're very determined to keep these schools open," Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the UNRWA, told reporters at a girls' school in the West Bank refugee camp of Jalazone as students in pinstripe uniforms turned out for callisthenics in the courtyard.GENEVA - The UN human rights chief said Wednesday that US threatens of funding cuts wouldn't be "fatal" for his office, but says he hopes other countries won't follow suit.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein insisted "the office will continue to survive" even if the US carries out the promise made by American National Security Adviser John Bolton in an interview with The Associated Press last week.

Zeid told reporters that "clearly what one doesn't want to see is a whole series of withdrawals and withdrawal of funding."A master sergeant managing the kitchen at the Air Force's elite Shaldag commando unit bullied and threatened a soldier under his command, but was let off easy by receiving a reprimand.

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According to information received by Ynet, among the insults the master sergeant hurled at the soldier, Cpl. Y., were "You cockroach on a wall, you stink. I'll open up your head and go to jail for a month. I'll punch you, I'll flatten you up, you loser."

Shaldag unit (Photo: IDF Spokesmans Unit)

The soldier tried to explain to the master sergeant that his medical appointment was authorized, to no avail.

In his complaint submitted to the Ombudsman for Soldiers in the Defense Ministry, Cpl. Y. said he returned to base shaking with fear and that his concerns were confirmed when the master sergeant met him back at base and started yelling at him and threatening him with violence in front of soldiers and other career soldiers.

Cpl. Y., who recorded the incident, told the master sergeant he was treating him as a criminal, and that it was not appropriate for a father-of-four to speak in this matter.

(Photo: IDF Spokesmans Unit)

Shortly after that, Cpl. Y.'s request to be transferred to a different base was approved, and he moved to the Ramat David Air Force base in the north.

The master sergeant remained in his position and there has been no investigation of the incident. The Air Force claims this was done at the advice of officials from the Military Advocate General's Office, who gave their support to the decision.

"They worked together to protect a master sergeant who behaves in a dictatorial manner towards his subordinates, lords over them, yells and humiliates," said an official in the unit, who serves alongside the master sergeant. "There's a sense that even the officers in the unit, including the most senior ones, are scared of him or are subject to his authority."

"This is a regular occurence in this unit," the unit official added. "For example, a (kitchen) soldier gave milk to combat soldiers who came to get food, and by accident gave them the milk carton, even though it's not allowed. This soldier was confined to base."

He went on to say that "soldiers under the master sergeant's command work from early in the morning until late at night, almost without breaks, while being exposed to shouting like 'I'll f*** you up,' 'a bunch of morons,' and so on. Are these Shaldag's values and norms?"

Cpl. Y. also claimed the master sergeant threatened him with an iron stirring paddle and even threw it at him. The iron stirring paddle missed the soldier only thanks to other soldiers who witnessed the incident and pushed the master sergeant aside.

The Air Force described the incident as an "argument between a commander and his subordinate," saying the master sergeant only "held the iron rod" during the incident and didn't hurt the soldier with it.

The unit reported to the Commissioner for Soldiers Complaints that the incident was resolved within the unit and that discipline measures were taken against the sergeant. Thus the matter was closed without involving any external intervention.

The commissioners office claims that Y. verbally agreed to halt the handling of the complaint in a telephone conversation but Y. denies that and asserts that he never agreed. Other soldiers say that the sergeants behavior continues to be problematic.

The IDF Spokesmans Unit issued a response: "Three months ago there was an argument, including verbal aggression, between a kitchen manager and a soldier who served under his command. The managing sergeant was tried by the unit commander for inappropriate behavior, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for his actions.

In view of the fact that this is the first such incident and is atypical considering his usual behavior, the sergeant was severely reprimanded by his commanders and remained in his position. The Air Force reported the incident to the relevant law enforcement authorities and under the circumstances, and since he was already tried by his commanders, a decision was made not to open an investigation into it."

The IDF also stressed that it views such incidents, of commanders abusing their subordinates, very seriously and is working to ensure a safe working environment for all its soldiers. They added that the incident did not involve physical violence. The soldier asked to be transferred out of the unit and his request was accepted two weeks after the incident.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday described militants in Syria's last big rebel-held enclave of Idlib as a "festering abscess" that needed to be liquidated.

Speaking after talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir in Moscow, Lavrov said militants were using civilians as a human shield.

Lavrov told reporters that there was a political understanding between Turkey and Russia on the need to distinguish between the Syrian opposition and people he described as terrorists in Idlib Province.

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow, says it aims to recapture Idlib, which has become a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria, as well as jihadist forces.US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said White House Counsel Don McGahn will leave his post in the fall, after shepherding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

"White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump wrote on Twitter. "I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!"Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreed Tuesday at a meeting in Washington to set to establish a joint team to work on enforcing economic sanctions on Iran. During their meeting in Washington, the two also discussed the economic cooperation between Israel and the US and joint tax issues.

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This is the fourth time the two ministers have met in the past year. The meeting's main focus was enforcing US sanctions on Iran. The two agreed to enforce the sanctions in the high-tech sector, since the responsibility for implementing the economic sanctions rests with the ministries of finance of both countries.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

"The economic sanctions on Iran led by the US are proving to be effective," the finance minister said on Wednesday.

According to Kahlon, "the sanctions contribute to the removal of the threat to Israel's security and to the security of the entire free world, and this is why we should be thankful to the US."

"My meeting with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is intended to further our strategic economic ties with the US. The joint team that we have formed will be of great importance in tightening sanctions on Iran. This is a great news to the State of Israel," Kahlon concluded.

In addition to the Iranian issue, the ministers discussed economic cooperation between Israel and the United States and joint taxation issues.

The meeting was also attended by Finance Ministry Director-General Shai Babad and Eran Nitzan, Israel's economic attache in Washington.

US Middle East emissary, Jason Greenblatt (Photo: Sharon Amit)

Netanyahu at press conference in Vilnius (: ")

X

Kahlon also addressed the new development in a tweet Wednesday morning, saying "We are working with true friends in Washington, and together are looking after Israel's security interests."

US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions to choke Iran's economy and force it to renegotiate or change direction. The move has been exacerbating a financial crisis in Iran that has sent its currency tumbling.LONDON - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States on Wednesday of bullying even its own allies, as he arrived in Turkey which is locked in a row with Washington.

The United States has doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium imports over the detention of an American Christian pastor, with Ankara responding with its own retaliatory measures even though both countries are NATO allies.

"The Americans have shown they have no limit or boundary in imposing pressure and using force on others, even on their own allies," Zarif said in Ankara.

"Turkey and some US allies in Europe have come to the conclusion that the United States is not a trustworthy partner," Zarif was quoted as saying by the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Washington is imposing waves of much severer sanctions on Iran following its withdrawal from a 2015 international deal curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.

Zarif is in Turkey to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who is due to visit Iran on Sept. 7.UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in rebel-held Idlib province in Syria if there's a full-scale military operation.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday that Guterres urgently appeals to the Syrian government and opposition forces to exercise restraint and make the protection of civilians a priority.

He said Guterres calls on Russia, Iran and Turkey as guarantor states trying to end the violence in Syria to find a peaceful solution in Idlib.

The Syrian government is gearing up for an expected offensive in Idlib, home to nearly 3 million people. The US, Britain and France have warned they will respond to any use of chemical weapons in Syria.The coalition of Arab states fighting against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis denounced as inaccurate a report by UN human rights expert that said air strikes by the alliance had caused heavy civilian casualties and some may amount to war crimes.

"The report did not mention the Iranian role in the continuation of the war in Yemen... and its continued support for the Houthis despite the clear evidence which the coalition provided to international mechanisms," said a statement published by the Saudi state news agency.

The coalition said it would provide a "comprehensive and detailed legal response" at a later time.A month after the enactment of the Nation-State Law, it is still difficult to assess how it will affect our lives as Arab citizens of the Jewish state.

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The question, however, concerns not only the law's legal and constitutional implications, but also its anti-Arab, anti-democratic statement directed against us, led directly by cabinet ministers and the prime minister.

The Nation-State Law carries dangerous implications to the public discourse, and leads to our identification as an enemy from within.

Rabin Sq. protest aganist the law (Photo: Tal Shahar)

Arab society is leading a public and parliamentary protest against the law, both in Israel and abroad. Demonstartors are calling for the protection of Arab society's status in its homeland, including its language as well as its rights.

But the protest was almost completely ignored until the mass demonstration in Tel Aviv two weeks ago. This demonstration, which included more than 10,000 Jewish supporters alongside Arab demonstrators, was harshly criticized, especially by the prime minister. Not for nothing.

Netanyahu was frightened by the insistence of Arab society whom he has always tried to disengage from Israeli societyon swarming to Tel Aviv and demanding their right to full equality, without renouncing its Palestinian national identity.

But Jewish voices opposing the law also frighten him. He understands that it is not merely 'gentle soul' members of the left who are demonstrating, but also people whose country is very dear to them, who are acting in its favor and who genuinely fear the consistent harm done to democracy by the right wing, myself included.

This cause is important, despite the blind eye turned towards our discrimination and the crimes of occupation committed against our fellow Palestinians beyond the Green Line.

Amjad Shbita (Photo: Sikuy Organization)

Netanyahu is afraid, because he understands that his conduct does not leave his opponents many options: as Arab citizens, he leaves us no choice but to voice our cry to Israeli society and to the entire world. We will not shut ourselves up in our communities and we will not volunteer for the execution of a political transfer.

The Jewish democratic forces will not remain indifferent, but will intensify their protest against the unrestrained gallop into a less democratic state with more and more fascist features.

What frightens Netanyahu the most is that the joint protest proved that the conditions are ripe, more than ever, for connecting these two communities in a joint struggle with enormous potential for political change in Israel.

The majority of the Arab public sees itself as part of the Palestinian people, and regards its partnership with progressive elements of Jewish society as a strategic goal for peace, equality and democracy. For decades, mainstream Israeli society has been able to respect this complexity and to cooperate on certain matters with Arab citizens and their political representatives.

(Photo: Tal Shahar)

The peak of the Jewish-Arab partnership was realized when the representatives of Arab society supported the 1993 Rabin government because of the peace process, despite Rabins military past. Rabin's assassination, the events of October 2000 and the rise of the right, severely damaged this partnership.

The joint protest against the Nation-State Law has the potential of restoring the joint Jewish-Arab struggle, and Netanyahu is attacking it with provocation and divisiveness.

The absurd thing is that those politicians whom he accuses of forgetting "what it means to be a Jew" and the media, whom he accuses of betrayal and of being leftists, are following him albeit being alarmed by his incitement against Arab society.

A joint Arab-Jewish struggle can bring down the right and bring about fundamental change, but it will only happen if those Jewish politicians, who claim to be an alternative to the right, stop believing in Netanyahu's provocations and playing into his hands, but rather see Arab citizens and their representatives as equal partners.

.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an invitation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Secretary-General Audrey Azoulay and will participate in a major international conference on combating anti-Semitism, to be held at the United Nations building in New York on September 26.

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The event will focus on education designed to combat anti-Semitism and will take place as part of the 73rd General Assembly of the United Nations, following a series of violent anti-Semitic incidents against Jews around the world, including Toulouse, Brussels, Paris and Copenhagen.





Ambassador to the UN Dannon; Netanyahu (Photo: Gov. Press Office)

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to attend, along with ambassadors and diplomats from around the world.

Prof. Dina Porat, Chief Historian of Yad Vashem, will be the keynote speaker at the conference.

Before the conference begins, the participants will go to the nearby Israeli delegation kiosk to be photographed for an online campaign against anti-Semitism.

Audrey Azoulay (Photo: AFP)

Channel 10 reported that at some point during the the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu will also meet with the UN secretary-general Azoulay to discuss the possibility of postponing Israel's withdrawal from UNESCO.

The prime minister officially announced Israels withdrawal from the agency last December. Since then there has been a rapprochement between Israel and Azoulay, who is Jewish.

Azoulay is trying to stop discrimination against Israel in the UN. During the last two UNESCO meetings, no resolutions were made against Israel, which is unusual.A US State Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday that a report that US officials visited Damascus in June to meet with Syrian officials did not reflect reality.

"It doesn't reflect any reality that we are certainly aware of," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert. "We've seen that report. It doesn't reflect what the US government is tracking at this point ... I am not aware of any meeting to that effect."Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke on the phone with Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi on Wednesday and discussed the recent reconciliation efforts regarding the internal Palestinian conflict.

The official PA news agency reported: "President al-Sisi stressed that Egypt continues to play its part as the sponsor of the reconciliation efforts, in order to strengthen the Palestinian national unity and the legitimacy of the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas."

It was also reported that Abbas thanked the Egyptian president for his support of the Palestinian people, and the two agreed to continue discussing the matter in the coming days.Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, admitted Wednesday that the organization had submitted a proposal regarding Israeli captives, and that progress would be made in the near future.

Sinwar said that Egypt would continue its efforts for calm in the region, even at the price of renouncing a Palestinian reconciliation.

"We do not want a military confrontation, but we are not afraid of it either. We can launch all the missiles we launched on Operation Protective Edge in five minutes. The tunnels have grown since the war, and the rockets are larger and more precise," Sinwar added.Expert Advice with Lindy Lear. 30/08/2018

Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and general pessimism, many property investors have done surprisingly well in recent years, and continue to add well researched, well located properties to their portfolio that will help them achieve their long term goals.

In the April edition of Your Investment Property magazine, I wrote about the Australian economy, and how many key stakeholders, including our current Reserve Bank Governor, Mr Philip Lowe, feel that the Australian economy has actually been doing OK. Reference was made to a number of important indicators that seemed to back up this assertion. Not only that, these experts are of the opinion that, if the economy is managed well, that Australia is very well placed to enter into another golden era of economic prosperity .

This generally upbeat appraisal seems to be at odds with many would-be investors, who are unsure of how to proceed when all we seem to hear about are stories of economic uncertainty, tightening credit, stagnant wage growth, and declining property markets. I think that the lesson here is not to allow your attitude to be soured by sensationalist tabloid journalism, often penned by those who have no direct experience in property investing. Instead, we should look for positive examples of investors who continue to make good gains, even when the outlook at times appears bleak.

As an illustration of how well some property investors have done over the past 4 years, I would like to focus on some specific areas.

Augustine Heights is a relatively new suburb which forms part of Greater Springfield in the western growth corridor of Brisbane. In 2014 I was recommending this area to investors as I felt it had great potential, and I could clearly identify the known drivers of capital growth. Back then, I was recommending 4 bedroom homes in the low $400,000s. These same homes today have increased in value by $100,000, having grown in value by 28% in the past four years.

Peregian Springs is an area that I feel very comfortable with, and again shows all the signs of being a great place to invest. Not only have I recommended this area to many investors, I have also purchased there myself. My 2016 purchase of a 3 bedroom, 2 living area house on a corner block surrounded by bushland knocked me back $476,000, and I have just had it re-valued at $580,000. That equates to 11% per annum capital growth. Not bad.

Werribee is another area that I was also recommending to our investors back in 2016. Although it is not a particularly sexy suburb, it again displayed all the characteristics of being a good place to invest for strong capital growth. A 4 bedroom house in the Harpley Estate that I recommended to one of my investors at $500,000 is now worth $680,000, giving an annual average growth of 18%. He is one happy investor!

Whilst these areas have done very well, it is unlikely that they will continue to outperform the average indefinitely. If you would like to find out more about identifying affordable areas now for strong growth in the next few years, please download a free copy of my latest book at the Rocket Property Group website, or alternatively, read my article in next months issue.



............................................................................

Lindy Lear is a successful property investor who had a late start into investing, yet she built a portfolio of eight properties in just three years. She is a qualified property advisor and general manager of Rocket Property Group, and she won the Readers Choice Award in 2009, 2012 & 2013 for Property Investment Advisor of the Year. Lindy is passionate about helping others realise their goals through investing in property, and can be contacted on Ph: 1300 850 038 or visit www.rocketpropertygroup.com.au

To read more Expert Advice articles by Lindy, click here

Disclaimer: while due care is taken, the viewpoints expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Your Investment Property.A significant market movement was recorded over the last week as Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) revealed that that Victorias rental vacancy rate had declined to its lowest level ever, 1.8%, since the group started gathering data sixteen years ago.

Aside from presenting an update on the rental market, this report also discussed the supply and demand condition of housing in the state. For reference, a vacancy rate of at least 3% is required for a healthy rental market: where there is enough vacant housing supply to meet demand.

Providing an explanation to the changes in the market, the key factors affecting rental vacancy rates were identified as population growth, lifestyle trends and property price growth.

These record low figures coincide with the Victorian Governments introduction of proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act which strip away landlords rights to control what happens with their investment property, said REIV President Richard Simpson.

The Bill, which is currently before the Parliament, is likely to result in increased competition for rental properties, greater screening of tenants and will place more pressure on rents if it is passed in its current form.

Specific data for select areas in the state were also displayed. About a month ago, the vacancy rate for Inner Melbourne was steady at 1.8%. Middle Melbournes was 2.5% while Outer Melbournes was 1.6% contributing to a Metropolitan Melbourne median vacancy rate of 1.9%, the lowest in a decade. The rental vacancy rate for Metropolitan Melbourne, meanwhile, was lowest in June/July 2008 at 1.7%.

Similarly, Regional Victorias rental vacancy rates trended lower, having continuously declined over the last 15 years. At present, it has dipped to an all-time low of 1.5%.

On a brighter side of things, Simpson said the rental market is already highly competitive, with solid turnouts at open for inspections which will only increase as spring begins.

Another notable finding was that the increased cost of renting a home for the majority of the areas despite the drop in availability of rental stock.

The median weekly rent for a house in Metropolitan Melbourne was $450 in July 2018, compared with $425 in July 2017. In Regional Victoria, the median increased from $310 to $330 per week, Simpson noted.

He also said that a better situation for renters was not expected in the short to medium term, given Victorias fast-growing population and financial institutions lending restrictions to investors.Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - On Tuesday, September 11th, the Foothills Library is hosting a Community Meeting with District 3 Yuma County Supervisor Darren Simmons at 5:00 p.m. Ask questions, voice concerns, or just say hello.

There is no charge to attend.



The Foothills Library is located at 13226 E. South Frontage Road. For more information, call (928) 342-1640.Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - What natural resource do Yuma, Arizona, and Lincoln, Nebraska, have in common?

If you guessed dirt, youre right.

Its not just dirt, of course, its what these two citiesseparated by almost 1,400 miles, 1,000 feet of elevation and 26 inches of annual rainfalldo with their soil. They farm.

Wanting to learn more about the science of effective farming, Francisco Villa, a clinical professor of biological and ecological sciences at Northern Arizona University-Yuma, applied for the E. Kika De La Garza Fellowship Program, a three-week science fellowship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture designed to connect professors from Hispanic Serving Institutions. Villa spent a week at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C., learning about all the resources federal agencies have to offer, and two weeks working with other fellows and scientists from USDAs Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

We wanted to find a niche where NAU could support agriculture in Yuma, Villa said. Our program is equipped to do a variety of biological, chemical and physical analyses of soils, and it is just a matter of working with the local agriculture industry to support them with this scientific component. Ideally, we would like NAU to be a training site for soil analysis for the Yuma community and for our students to be trained in these methods and for them to establish careers here working with local farms.

He spent two weeks at the Kellogg Soils Laboratory of the NRCS in Lincoln working with NRCS agronomists, soil scientists, analytical chemists and state and local NRCS personnel. He studied the soil health of local farms, both in the field and in labs, using various chemical and physical analyses and other techniques. Villa plans to introduce these techniques and pull from this collaborative experience in his ecology lab, through internships and undergraduate research projects.

It was such a valuable experience, both for Villa and his students and for future USDA-NAU collaborations, that hes encouraging a faculty member in education to apply for the program next year.

This fellowship has already opened doors to the NRCS, an area of the USDA I had no idea existed, he said. Opportunities like this are important because they connect educators with all the different aspects of a federal agency and can communicate what they learned to their students, colleagues and in other outreach activities.Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.Manufacturers must achieve digital maturity across their broader enterprises. A Deloitte study of organizations that are taking the lead shows the steps needed to achieve digital maturity.

Thinking digital in Industry 4.0

The Fourth Industrial Revolution was born in the factory, marrying computer-programmed automation with digital technologies such as analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) on the production line. Since its inception, Industry 4.0 has spread beyond the factory walls to encompass a broader digital transformation that spans processes, functions, and industries. This technology-driven transformation could change the way many organizations make sense of information and act upon it to make decisions that could impact operations, deliver greater customer value, and improve performance.1

Learn more Explore the Industry 4.0 collection Subscribe to receive updates on Industry 4.0

Many industrial companies find themselves in a unique position regarding the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Despite their early lead implementing automation and computer programming in the factory and using technology to automate portions of supply chains, many manufacturers seem to be falling behind in adopting broader digital transformation initiatives that span the entire enterprise (figure 1). In an era where disrupt or be disrupted is fairly pervasive, limiting the digital strategy horizon to a few years and failing to advance along the digital maturity can increase the potential for being left behind.

A recent global Deloitte Industry 4.0 study, The Fourth Industrial Revolution is hereare you ready?, sought to measure readiness for digital transformation across geographies and industries (see sidebar, Methodology).2 While the 1,600 executive respondents indicated a mix of opportunities and challenges surrounding the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a general sense of optimism in its ability to positively transform economies, business, and society. Along with this optimism regarding the potential for digital transformation to make a positive impact comes a reality that most organizations are far from reaching this stage. Overall, just 20.7 percent of manufacturing organizations surveyed rated themselves as highly prepared to address the emerging business models the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings.3

But there appears to be optimism. Analysis of the survey data identified a group of frontrunner organizations in manufacturing that are leading on the path toward digital maturity, as measured by not only their commitment to digital as the key ingredient to future business success but also their readiness to adopt advanced technologies.

Methodology This report highlights the analysis of a subset of data from the Deloitte Industry 4.0 survey of 1,603 global C-level executives conducted by Deloitte and Forbes Insights in the second half of 2017.4 The subset of 193 respondents studied for this article represent industrial products, aerospace and defense, and construction companies from 19 countries spanning the Americas, Asia, and Europe. All respondents are C-level executives, including chief technology officers (18 percent), chief executive officers/presidents (17 percent), and chief information officers (16 percent), with the rest divided among chief operating officers, chief financial officers, and chief marketing officers. All represent organizations with revenue of US$1 billion or more, with 53 percent coming from organizations with more than US$5 billion in revenue.

Digital leaders in manufacturing: Taking a closer look

The move toward becoming a digital enterprise generally starts with successfully bridging the complex physical-digital-physical (PDP) loop, a hallmark of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. At its most basic, this complex cycle enables real-time access to data and intelligence throughout the business, giving actionable insights to operational leaders for making game-changing decisions. In manufacturing, this PDP loop has become common in the product life cycle, whereby developers create a digital twin of a physical product they are designing and then use real-time data and analysis to optimize the product design across a number of parameters before sending the product into production. The PDP loop has given rise to a move from linear supply chains toward digital supply networks (DSNs). DSNs are dynamic, integrated networks characterized by a continuous flow of information that facilitate automation, add value, improve workflow and analytics, and generate insights.5 A truly digital enterprise takes this DSN concept across all aspects of the business, including production, human resources, finance, sales and marketing, and customer service, creating PDP loops that continually show actionable business insights.

Technology is the underpinning of the digital enterprise, and the ability to understand the importance of technology and build a strategy that leverages advanced technology is a hallmark of leading manufacturers. In a Deloitte study, Exponential technologies in manufacturing: Technology, talent and innovation transformation in manufacturing, technologies from advanced robotics to IoT emerge as indispensable tools that accelerate the pace of transformation to digital enterprises.6 Although our research presents a clear and compelling case to leverage such technologies, a low adoption rate persists, with very few manufacturers operating in the disruptive and nonlinear transformation zone today.7

What are the keys to achieving digital transformation for manufacturers? Using the data from the global survey, our analysis identified two important characteristics of manufacturers leading the march toward digital transformation: a high understanding of the business value of new technology solutions and adoption readiness for those new technologies. Applying this construct to our cohort of manufacturing companies identified a set of frontrunners who are leading in the move toward digital maturity.

Specifically, companies can be divided into three conceptual segments based on how survey respondents rated the business value of new technology solutions and their enterprises readiness to adopt and use smart and autonomous technologies (figure 2):

Frontrunners (26 percent) strongly believe in the business value of adopting new technology solutions for digital transformation and are ready to use the new technologies.

strongly believe in the business value of adopting new technology solutions for digital transformation and are ready to use the new technologies. Followers (51 percent) generally believe in the business value of new technology solutions, but lag on readiness.

generally believe in the business value of new technology solutions, but lag on readiness. Stragglers (23 percent) are not yet on board with the business value of new technology solutions and are behind on adoption readiness.

These frontrunners also have a higher confidence in their ability to outperform their competitors in a classic measure of delivering stakeholder value: delivering financial results. Based on survey results, frontrunners are 1.5 times more confident than stragglers in delivering strong financial results in the long term, reflecting their apparent ability to adopt new technologies that will transform the business.

Tax advantages for digital frontrunners in manufacturing Understanding how to leverage digital transformation to optimize the evolving tax code can be a valuable tool for manufacturers. Manufacturing companies on the forefront of digital transformation are more readily prepared to assess, analyze, and plan for recent US tax legislation and evolving global tax legislation. The earlier US tax deferral regime with respect to foreign profits has been significantly modified, and the new US tax rules (new Internal Revenue Code 26 USCA Section 951A) effectively put in place a full inclusion system with credits and new deductions applied against foreign income. These changes require global manufacturers to possess the ability to access and analyze global data and perform new calculations to comply with the new legislation.8 Companies on the forefront of digital transformation can obtain and analyze data regarding their supplier network, distribution networks, factories, etc., in ways that never existed before, often on a real-time basis. This can enable tax and finance departments to not only maintain these new tax calculations, but also empower management to make operational decisions that can lead to tax savings that are measurable instantly (and not after thousands of hours of number crunching by tax and finance).

What does digital readiness look like in manufacturing?

To further define how to embrace digital transformation throughout the business, we have identified four distinctive traits that most frontrunners exhibit that tend to make them digital leaders in manufacturing (figure 3).

Adopting a long-term, dynamic approach to digital strategy

It is important to understand that digital transformation is a process, and not a binary switch. It typically requires organizations to create a digital strategy that is both incremental and dynamic, allowing for the inevitable shifts along the path as advanced technology discoveries continue and the marketplace changes. In fact, there is a strong argument for adopting a data- and insight-centric approach to digital transformation, one that can leverage underlying legacy technologies, but allow for application modernization as the company progresses toward digital maturity. This is a core capability of DSNs.9 Overall, all respondents identified the ability to integrate new technologies with what already exists in-house as the leading factor influencing their organizations investment in advanced technologies.

Deere & Company, an American construction and heavy equipment manufacturer, is among the frontrunners in integrating innovative designs and solutions to its products. The company identifies innovation enabled by technology and data analytics along with connecting machines with people, technology, and insights as critical to success. Deere & Company has built smart, connected products with features such as satellite guidance and live data monitoring. The data is collected through sensors and pulled into a cloud for analysis, thereby helping customers make informed decisions. Through a web platform, the company is also able to remotely diagnose machines in the field and help its customers with predictive maintenance, thereby reducing downtime. Through digital innovation at the core, Deere & Company has been able to provide sustained value to its customers.10



Notably, the paths diverge when comparing frontrunners investment reasons with followers and stragglers choices. Frontrunners look to technologys long-term impact and they care how that technology will increase customer satisfaction/engagement.11 Both factors reflect a broader view of how advanced technologies are part of a long-term digital strategy, one that is in lock-step with customer needs to maximize business results and deliver customer value. Frontrunners were nearly two times more likely to connect investments in advanced technologies to increasing customer engagement than stragglers. In contrast to the long-term impact, stragglers were four times more likely to invest in technologies based on their ability to show quick wins. Nonetheless, this short-term approach is limiting, and can stand in the way of digital maturity.

Using the power of the ecosystem

Part of the promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the creation of new ecosystems that could drive value in novel and disruptive ways. The combination of advanced manufacturing with increased connectivity and the shift toward an information-based economy seem to create an imperative for manufacturers to identify how they will expand their ecosystems to thrive.12 Our study explored several ways in which many companies pursue beneficial relationships that contribute to an ecosystem approach, with frontrunners outpacing stragglers in several key areas (figure 4). Frontrunners tend to move quickly on digital initiatives by bringing in the resources needed to advance them. They are twice as likely as stragglers to outsource a specific task to their ecosystem until they can build expertise internally.

A leading machinery and equipment manufacturer is among the frontrunners to integrate digital in its core. The companys global network of facilities, assets, and products is integrated with digital technology and connected capabilities. This approach enables the company to effectively manage its inventory and parts availability, along with predicting parts replacement/rebuild. Using advance data analytics, the company identifies the optimal time for offering its maintenance capabilities, thereby reducing costs for customers. The company also collaborates with technology startups in the United States to drive digital into its business. All this has resulted in the formation of a strong connected ecosystem for the company.

Frontrunners also are 2.3 times more likely than stragglers to seek out ecosystem relationships that create new value for customers according to survey results. And, 82 percent of frontrunners assert they are very or highly capable of mobilizing a larger and more diverse ecosystem of participants to deliver value to their customers. Forging connections that amplify the impact on customer experience is typically important. It can also naturally merge into another aspect of ecosystem relationships: finding disruptive ways to combine information (from products, processes, customers) with technology (algorithms, machine learning) to create new business models. Survey results revealed that frontrunners are five times more likely than stragglers to create new business models that disrupt their industry. The upside of this potential could be enormous, as manufacturers that are capable of leveraging the ecosystem can achieve growth in new ways, such as Boeing investing in Morf3D (a California-based 3D-printing startup) to enhance product design and manufacturing processes by using additive manufacturing.13 Similarly, Siemens, through its Frontier Partner Program, partners with Silicon Valley startups to focus on additive manufacturing and robotic technologies.14

Gaining from capable leadership and preparing talent for digital transformation

Beyond the impact that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is having on partnerships, ecosystems, and customer value creation is its impact on the workforce, which must adapt in the face of advanced technologies, shifting business models, and digital transformation. As our report The digital supply network meets the future of work suggests, in the coming years almost all work will likely involve people working alongside technology or robots they are not currently working with today.15 And, contrary to many predictions that machines will replace the human labor force in the coming years, historically technology creates more jobs than it destroys.16 The new jobs it creates, however, are often drastically different than their predecessors, requiring different skill sets. The changes this would require in the current workforce in manufacturing could be far-reaching, and in many cases, may not even yet fully understood, as widespread adoption of advanced technologies is just beginning. Therefore, manufacturers should prepare accordingly. But how?

Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a global industrial products conglomerate, focused on leadership and talent to enable and drive its digital transformation strategy. It created a new role of the chief digital officer (CDO) to drive companywide precedence in digital transformation initiatives. The new CDO set up a digital transformation strategy team consisting of existing employees from the companys business innovation department and Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co. Ltd. as well as new employees with specialization in digital and cybernetics. The digital transformation team works to identify business opportunities by applying AI capabilities to existing data and by using IoT to drive factory automation, predict system failures, increase efficiency, and forecast supply and demand.17

The results of the global study, with 1,603 respondents across industries, suggest there is not a clear path forward in executives minds for planning for and addressing the effects that technology-driven changes have on their employees.18 However, frontrunner manufacturers were found to have higher confidence in their ability to address these changes than overall respondents82 percent of frontrunners believe they are very or highly capable of absorbing the changes to come, and 64 percent are confident that, while their workforce doesnt yet possess the right skill sets, they can successfully train their talent in digital skills. Part of this confidence may stem from the fact that the manufacturing industry has been absorbing advanced technologies for many years, since the dawn of the Third Industrial Revolution in the 1970s, which brought electronic automation to the production process. What remains important for these frontrunners, and all manufacturers, is to build preparedness into their talent management efforts, including reskilling programs that incorporate digital skills.

A regional view of talent When asked about readiness to benefit from new smart and autonomous technologies, 43 percent of organizations from Asia placed high confidence on their current talent and believed they had the right skills placed into work, notably higher than Europe (37 percent) and the Americas (18 percent). This seems to correlate to the number of recent science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates in a country (figure 5). China and India had 8x and more than 4x of recent STEM graduates, respectively, than the Unites States (in the third position), likely providing a better skills match for digital transformation.



Making technology investments that drive customer-centric innovation

At the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the marriage of digital information from a multitude of sources with the physical act of manufacturing. A common term for this marriage is information technology and operational technology integration.19 And, as the phrase demonstrates, technology is the instrumental enabler of becoming a digital enterprise. Study results reveal that frontrunner manufacturers have a keen understanding of how new technologies will alter their delivery of products and services. Sixty-five percent of frontrunners understand technologys role in their transformation, compared with only 29 percent of stragglers. Frontrunners have more than a casual relationship to the advanced technologies driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Often, the technology is supporting another important attribute of leading digital enterprises: delivering customer-centric value through innovation.

Airbus, a global aerospace and defense company, uses digital innovation to enhance value for its customers. Skywise, an open-data platform created by the company, enables its customer to seek support of 20,000 Airbus engineers throughout the lifespan of an aircraft. This platform offers features such as fleet analysis, efficiency monitoring, and predictive maintenance along with data analytics tools to minimize fuel consumption. Airbuss customer-centric innovation has resulted in more than 12 airlines and 2,000 aircrafts connecting to its digital platform.20

Part of the urgency surrounding the move toward digital enterprises is the tangible fear of being disrupted in the market by both traditional competitors and new entrants from other industries. This increases the pressure on most manufacturers to constantly innovate around products and services. Our study results revealed that frontrunners are adept at translating technology into innovation that delivers customer value. Seventy-three percent of frontrunner manufacturers feel they are very capable of redefining customer relationships through technology. And 92 percent of frontrunners have high confidence in their ability to deliver the best possible products and services to customers. Often these products and services reflect the digital capabilities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, namely transforming the data generated by machines into value-added intelligence and new offerings.21 Placing the customer at the center of innovation is important for manufacturers, and most frontrunners are embracing this practice.

Manufacturing companies can use the Fourth Industrial Revolution to transform into digital enterprises

The rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to bring with it tremendous change, technologies that have the power to impact all aspects of the business, and an increased pressure for manufacturers to transform or risk extinction. Possibly never before has the need to do something seemed so pronounced. Analysis of survey data has revealed the difference between those manufacturers that are embracing technology by acknowledging its business value and are ready to adopt, and those that still lag in digital maturity. While overall the market is still fluid and there is time to respond to the disruption that these advanced technologies bring, the window appears to be closing for stragglers. These companies are still struggling to understand where to play in newly emerging technology ecosystems, and they should identify the necessary technologies that could define how to win.22 The frontrunners should not let their guards down as the Fourth Industrial Revolution is rapidly evolving. They should continue to identify and integrate evolving digital elements in their strategy. The following recommendations may prove helpful for frontrunners, followers, and stragglers:

Hone your digital strategy: At this point, most manufacturers should be finalizing their digital strategy and, in some cases, already executing against defined goals. To succeed, ensure there are short-term projects with measurable return on investment that tie into longer-term big wins that have the potential to redefine the way an organization delivers value to the market.

At this point, most manufacturers should be finalizing their digital strategy and, in some cases, already executing against defined goals. To succeed, ensure there are short-term projects with measurable return on investment that tie into longer-term big wins that have the potential to redefine the way an organization delivers value to the market. Talent and workforce: As one of the biggest potential stumbling blocks for digital transformation in manufacturing, getting talent right could be critical. Invest in identifying how your workforce might need to change in the face of digital transformation. This may involve building scenarios for the skill sets that will be necessary in five and 10 years, and working backward to develop training programs in addition to new recruitment tactics that align to the scenarios.

As one of the biggest potential stumbling blocks for digital transformation in manufacturing, getting talent right could be critical. Invest in identifying how your workforce might need to change in the face of digital transformation. This may involve building scenarios for the skill sets that will be necessary in five and 10 years, and working backward to develop training programs in addition to new recruitment tactics that align to the scenarios. Technology: Advanced technologies can accelerate the pace of transformation in your organization. Rather than starting with a business process that is broken, apply advanced technology like AI and robotic process automation to a business process that is functioning well because the positive results will likely build trust and demonstrate the efficacy of technology in a well-understood business area.

Advanced technologies can accelerate the pace of transformation in your organization. Rather than starting with a business process that is broken, apply advanced technology like AI and robotic process automation to a business process that is functioning well because the positive results will likely build trust and demonstrate the efficacy of technology in a well-understood business area. Value creation: Digital strategy creates new growth opportunities as smart connected products enable a deeper understanding of the customers. Prioritize and invest in technologies that add value to and enhance the customer experience. A more engaging and value-driven experience for customers is likely to help forge long-term relationships with them.

Tactical, need-based digital efforts can reap immediate, short-term gains, but they can also slow the overall pace of digital maturity. Building a digital core and developing a strategy guided by a digitally fluent leadership team that is ready and willing to make targeted technology and talent investments could create value, unlock untapped market potential, and bring in competitive advantage.Anadarko Petroleum Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of oil and gas properties. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, WES Midstream, and Other Midstream. The company explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It is also involved in gathering, processing, treating, and transporting oil, natural-gas, and NGLs production, as well as the gathering and disposal of produced water. The company's oil and natural gas properties are located in the United States onshore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico; and Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. As of December 31, 2018, it had approximately 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

Read MoreWestpac Banking Corp. engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Bank, Business Bank, BT Financial Group (Australia), Westpac Institutional Bank, Westpac New Zealand and Group Businesses. The Consumer Bank segment covers consumer banking products and services under the Westpac, St. George, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne and RAMS brands. The Business Bank segment involves in sales and customer service of small-to-medium enterprise, commercial and agribusiness customers under the Westpac, St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA brands. The BT Financial Group (Australia) segment manages wealth and insurance division. The Westpac Institutional Bank segment delivers a range of financial services to commercial, corporate, institutional, and government customers. The Westpac New Zealand segment comprises sales and service of banking, wealth, and insurance products for consumer, business, and institutional customers. The Group Businesses segment treasury which is responsible for the management of the Group's balance sheet, group technology which includes functions for the Australian businesses, and core support which covers

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Royal KPN NV operates as a supplier of telecommunications and information technology services. It serves customers at home and abroad with fixed and mobile networks for telephony, data and television. The company focuses on both private customers and business users, from small to large. It also offers telecom providers access to widely branched networks. The company's brands include KPN, XS4ALL, Simyo, KPN Security, Ortel Mobile, Cam IT Solutions, Solcon, KPN Interned services and StartReady. Royal KPN was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Read MoreAn outfit should ideally make a lady feel confident and attractive especially for those who are curvaceous. By dressing according to your body, you are assured to transform those curves into a magnificent highlight of your fashion statement. From plus size women to ladies to those who have a gifted voluptuous thick hips, nothing could come as blessing than a stunning curvy women dresses. The sight of a dress style that softly compliments an African woman curves and meticulously shows her waistline is breathtaking. Take a look at these extremely stunning dresses that are destined to impress your looks and wardrobe. Be sure to add any of these outfits to your wardrobe, and you will glad to step in style to any occasion

The dresses below will make your feminine curves highlighted, so you can feel all sexy walking down the street to meet your friends or your date. Review the pictures and choose what suits you. Here are some of the outstanding dress styles for the curvy Ghanaian queen.

1. Ankara African print dress styles

This Ankara dress will beyond doubt provoke deserving attention to your flattering plus size body. Ankara dresses for plus size is a perfect pick outfit among all other African ethnic print garments. Ankara style comes in various forms, but a slim-fit is a winning choice. The bright and attractive patterns exude bright colors that visually plays around with your body shape to reduce the profile of the tummy if present. Overall this African dress designs for plus size women is a must-have for all ladies who feel proud of their curves.

2. A maxi dress with African print floral motifs.

No doubt maxi plus size dresses are not only very chic and sassy but comfy. The versatile attribute dresses will undeniably leave you looking hot yet classy. Maxi dresses are so ideal for your plus size body notwithstanding that this dress looks elegant for any conceivable occasion. You will look smashing hot, rocking a maxi dress without worrying that you are too conservative or bold with the fashion statement. For an even more stylish curvy look.

3. A-line midi dress with prints

For starters, A-lines have been known to initiate impression of a sexy hourglass look that enhance your killer curves. This African wear for women design allows the triangular flaring out at the waist coupled with the mid-calf-length dress to highlight your hips and waist. For the curvy ladies, they should go for a high waistline midi skirt as it accentuates the voluptuous body frame. You can style the look with a Pair of heels or wedges. A midi dress looks so elegant and straightforward making you look like a superb trendy fashionista on the streets of Accra. Just like a maxi dress you can secure the waistline with a belt.

4. One-piece corset dress

If you feel right about drawing attention to your plump size, you might want to invoke the glamour of this 17th century corset garments. This African plus size dress gives emphasize to the body frame by having the well-crafted panels to hold the abdomen, hence underlining the bust, hips, and curves. This classy statement afforded by a corset dress undoubtedly enhances your curvaceous frame. Customize this look with a stylish hairdo.

5. A crop top dress-African dress

A crop top is a brilliant masterpiece of outfit that can elongate your figure as opposed to clinging on your curve. The crop top dress, of course, gives more room with styling especially the top, giving you endless outfit possibilities. As a plus size, it would be better if you settled a crop top dress that flares out from the waist down according to you an hourglass frame. The curves are a great asset to a lady to showcase their voluptuous features. Well, crop tops are going to accord you the attention to your buxom frame. You can layer with a denim jacket for even more elegance.

6.Dashiki skater dress featuring floral African prints

These simple African print dresses bring out a vintage style that can go well with strappy heels. The design ensures the waistline nips your voluptuous body giving it a more pronounced look. The dress also features a fitting top and a lower flared fabric. It is a very appropriate outfit during the summer or an evening date. Although it flatters a plus size body figure, other body size ladies can wear it; creating the best looks possible. You can pair the skater wedding guest dresses with a pair of shoes and flashy accessories.

7. A crop top dress - African dress designs for ladies

A crop top is a brilliant masterpiece of outfit that can elongate your figure as opposed to clinging on your curve. The crop top dress, of course, gives more room with styling especially the top, giving you endless outfit possibilities. As a plus size, it would be better if you settled a crop top dress that flares out from the waist down according to you an hourglass frame. The curves are a great asset to a lady that is a pleasure to flaunt. Well, crop tops are going to accord you the attention to your buxom frame. You can layer with a denim jacket for even more elegance.

8. Kente spaghetti strap dresses for plus size women

The African tribal prints like Kente infused into the design of a Spaghetti strap dress is an excellent match. The design features some thin straps and striking Kente pattern. You can style these African dresses for ladies to fit any occasion. Exhibit caution during styling so that you bring out the best look with the accessories or footwear. This kind of clothing has remained trendy even with the lapse of time. Trust me nothing will uplift your femininity by giving you a sophisticated look that flatters beyond your imagination.. Embroidered with top-notch sassy feathers adds a fabulous twist to the look. After all, you have a selection of various Kente motifs to pick.

9. An African mermaid gown dress - plus size African traditional dresses

These simple African print dresses bring out a vintage style that can go well with strappy heels. The design ensures the waistline nips your voluptuous body giving it a more pronounced look. The dress also features a fitting top and a lower flared fabric. It a very appropriate outfit during the summer or an evening date. Although it flatters a plus size body figure, other body size ladies can wear it; creating the best looks possible. You can pair the skater wedding guest dresses with a pair of shoes and flashy accessories

10. Ankara pencil peplum dress

What an excellent way to infuse the allure of a peplum attire in a pencil dress. This stunning look does flatter your body frame and draws considerable attention to your gorgeous curves as it ruffles at the waist. These are some good plus size Ghanaian dresses if you wish to clad an hourglass figure. The flared ruffles attached to the waist section makes your waist seem smaller compared to the shoulders and hips, further accentuating your feminine curvaceous buxom.

READ ALSO : 15 best purple Kente dresses designs 2018

11. Plus size lace dress

The lace dress is such a fantastic stylish outfit that will transform you ordinary looks only showcased on the fashion show podium. The Batik prints also compliment the strikingly lovely look. As an African woman with a curvy chubby look, this should be your companion for an outdoor outfit to give you the elegance and sexiness you crave.

12. An off the shoulder dress with slit

Never shy from flaunting those sexy shoulders or need be the muscular sexy thighs. The off-shoulder plus size African dress will make those men super crazy as their fixated glances hover over your curvaceous body. This killer look ensures you are in the right place with a fabulous demeanor.

13. Prom dress African attire for plus size women

The hourglass you have been looking for is only limited only by you alone. With this elegant, beautiful prom dress design you can finally step out with your head held high and distinguished from the other wannabe fashionista. This prom dress that is ideal during an evening event does award you elegant curves by reducing the waistline profile creating an hourglass flame. You are bound to make the heads with this exceptional flirty wear. Apart from an evening event, you can rock the prom dress to a wedding.

14. Bandage plus size casual dresses for all plus size women

This gorgeous dress choice for voluptuous bandage dress is my favorite as it will hug your plus size figure. The prominent sight is just ecstatic. One can have it designed with an over the knees hemline or a sleeveless-neck design. The view of a curvaceous woman wearing a bandage dress is to behold due to the sexy radiance. Also, they feel comfy with their fitting design that holds tightly the giving a super glamorous image.

15. Bodycon women's dresses for curvy women

Another body-hugging design of a dress specially made from heavens for the curvy class of women. A favorite among women who are who dont shy off telling the world how gorgeous their body is. There are no limitations to how you should wear the dress. Feel free to rock this sizzling trend, all you need is a brave heart and you curves of course. Bodycon (body-conscious) like the name suggests works the magic by highlighting your curves. It does this by clinging tight your plus size figure and brings out your unique body attribute. However, pick an excellent seamless undergarment and bra to avoid spooling the look.

16. The wrap dress

If we consider this outfit has been on the market for 40 years and still rocking strong among voluptuous women, then it takes credit. The desire to flatter your curves comes with age, and it gets better with this curve-complimenting waist-trimming dress outfit. You can have it retrofitted to you the best of your desires concerning the fabric and customization. One thing is for sure; the dress can accomplish your wildly dreams of always elevating your fashion status and feminine curves. This shining armor of clothing will afford you a classy and superb element to your looks.

17. A Dashiki shirt dress is like no other

Shirt dresses are trendy. The new designs and style may feature a mandarin collar with or a V-neck. Dashiki pattern will capture the charming aura that you dearly wish. Like all African dress designs for a curvy figure, the shirt dress may be designed or styled to reflect individual class and preference. It may come in the form of a pullover style. Knee-long dress or Short/long sleeves. The dashiki dress is a must add to your wardrobe.

Considering most of these outfits have traversed the African continent in the west and east, we can only appreciate the far the sense of fashion Africa commands. These curvy women dresses are not only fashionable, but also come with unequaled comfort. Also, they are unique and you can have your own custom designs when you have a reliable designer.

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Source: YenThe MTN fibre broadband is a product of MTN. The largest provider of data, voice and mobile financial solutions in Ghana has come forth to provide yet another amazing service to its customers. Following the combined efforts between the government of Ghana and private sectors to improve the communication industry, MTN launched the MTN fibre broadband. This is a designed high-speed internet system, which is intended to avail fixed internet connectivity to offices, homes, SMEs and corporate organizations. This will enable its subscribers to enjoy more services other than high-speed internet including affordable prepaid bundles, videos-on-demand, video calls, voice calls, live streaming on online television channels and many more benefits. This article will narrow down to look at the MTN Ghana fibre broadband packages, prices, coverage and speed in Ghana.

Source:twimg.com

In the current world, internet connectivity is almost a mandatory requirement. More people are interacting online through social media, emails and video calls. This has made the world become a global village as barriers to communication keep narrowing.The MTN fibre offers a solution that most people will appreciate.

READ ALSO:MTN offices in Accra, locations, and contacts

MTN fibre broadband coverage

The MTN fibre broadband covers a larger area of Ghana with most MTN customers currently enjoying it. The service is availed to the customer by installing fibre optic cable at a given address depending on the needs of the customer. Typical advantages of the MTN fibre broadband over copper cables include:

There is readily professional technical support from MTN

There is uninterrupted internet access

Higher speed than using copper wires

Data have a top speed of up to 60 Mbps

The MTN fibre broadband speed is relatively high, enabling faster browsing, streaming and other internet activities for both commercial and home use.

MTN fibre broadband locations

Source:businesstech.co.za

Almost all customers who use MTN's services in Ghana use the MTN fibre broadband. The service, since its launch in 2016, has penetrated to various parts of the country. It is located in approximately 107 different locations in Ghana. The MTN fibre has enabled many people to access high-speed internet connectivity in their homes, offices and other areas where they operate. Some of the areas where it is located include the following:

Abelemkpe in Accra

Airport Hills in Spintex

Airport Hills in Accra

Airport Residential area

American House East Legon

Atasomanso in Kumasi

Baloon gate in Kwabenya

Cantonment in Accra

Blue Rose Estate Budumbulam

Adenta housing down

Caslida Estate

Crown of the Ridge in Ridge

The Coastal estate in Spintex

East cantonment in Accra

Dome

East Legon 1

East Legon 2

Alwark Cantonment

Fortune city in Weija

Frunko Estate

Fringpongma in Spintex

GH housing

Karen gardens

Karianang Estate in Lashibi

Kas valley Estate

Kofofridua site 1

Koforidua site 2

Kumasi business district in Adum Kumasi

Labone

Mile 7 in Achimote

North Legon

North Ridge

Millennium city in Kasoa

Oak villa among others.

These among other areas have been installed with the MTN fibre broadband enabling all subscribers to access secure and faster:

Internet connectivity

Online streaming on online television stations

Affordable data bundles

Video and voice calls

Video on demand among other benefits of experiencing the digital life in Ghana. To access more locations where fibre broadband service is available, visit the MTN fibre homepage or the link below.

MTN fibre broadband packages

Source:mybroadband.co.za

Fibre broadband packages are divided into two major divisions. There are packages for residential use and others for business purposes. Of course, fibre packages for residential purposes are more affordable compared to those for business use. All the packages have a validity period of 1 month. After a month, the subscribers are required to renew their subscription at a small fee to continue enjoying the service. There is a fixed installation fee, which is paid upon installation of internet on the premises.

Residential packages are categorized into four categories as follows:

High speed

Super high speed

Ultra high speed

VIP

All these categories offer different volumes of data bundles, and they are charged differently. The validity period is, however, constant and last for 30 days. These packages are exclusively set for home use. They do not support heavy browsing like that of business purposes. The volumes of data bundles also vary, and this brings differences in prices of packages. VIP is the most expensive packages but provides giant speed compared to high-speed packages.

Business packages are also categorized into four categories as follows:

Sonic

Supersonic

Ultrasonic

These packages offer unlimited data bundles, but they expire after 30 days. Each of these categories is charged differently due to variations in speed. Sonic packages have the lowest rates while ultrasonic exhibits giant speeds. The prices also vary for this reason. The info below shows all the MTN fibre broadband prices in different packages in Ghana. It includes installation and renewals fees for all packages. The prices are prone to change, and therefore customers should keep checking on the MTN fibre broadband official portal for any update. The prices are as follows:

Residential packages

mtn.com.gh

Business packages

Source:mtn.com.gh

READ ALSO:How to register and use MTN mobile money online

MTN fibre broadband offers

MTN is determined to ensure all its customers get access to and experience the new digital world at affordable rates. Apart from this assurance, the company also rewards its customers to motivate them to keep using the service. This motivation comes in the form of offers on purchasing any MTN fibre service. Some current offers that greatly attracts more customers on a daily basis, include the following:

I. Broadband extra byte offer

This is applicable when broadband bundles expire while you are browsing. This should not worry you too much. The MTN broadband has a service called Extra byte offer, which enables the subscriber to access emergency data bundles, which he/she will pay upon renewal subscription. To get these emergency bundles, dial *5057# to access the menu. Alternatively, you can visit the MTN fibre broadband portal and follow the procedure to activate. This enables subscribers to stay connected even when their bundles are exhausted.

2. Early bird offer

This offer gives an opportunity to all customers to pay in advance to enjoy offers and incredible bonuses. This category offers three significant rewards as follows:

Make payments three months earlier and enjoy 50% one-month data bonuses free.

Make payments six months earlier and enjoy 100% one-month data bundles free.

Pay one year earlier and get 200% one-month data bundles for absolutely free of charge.

To access these fantastic offers, dial *5057# to get the main menu and make your payments. Alternatively, visit the MTN broadband portal to enjoy these amazing offers.

3. Be-Right-Back service

This is among the most excellent and favorite service for customers. It is a subscription, which allows the MTN fibre broadband customers to freeze their accounts when they are unavailable. This mostly applies when the customer cannot access the internet because they have traveled outside the country or have temporarily moved to work elsewhere for a given period. Therefore, the bundles will not expire when not in use. To access this service, the customers only need to dial *5057# or visit the MTN fibre portal to activate the service.

4. Data rollover

This service is a great relief to those customers who do not exhaust their data bundles. It allows customers to roll over their unused bundles to the new month after making a renewal. Rolled-over bundles usually last for 30 days. To enjoy this service, you only need to top up your account before the expiry of the data bundles. This service is also accessed by dialing *5057# or through the official portal.

5. Other services from the MTN fibre broadband

Cloud services

This is a central-based business service, which enhances competence and effectiveness in business. The service enables access to a large customers base and is characterized by faster-growing profits. Essential benefits enjoyed by customers courtesy of cloud services include:

There is improved flexibility 24-hour technical support from the MTN support desk Protection from web viruses, spyware among other web criminals Reduces capital required and infrastructural costs Revenue growth among other benefits.

Communication and collaboration

Communication is an essential part of any business. Effective communication between employees, organization and clients, management and worker is critical to business growth. Unlimited data bundles provided by MTN allows for affordable calls through voice minutes, messaging, emails and all other online communication methods. Benefits that come through this service include the following:

Reduced dependency on MTN fibre customer care services

Sense of control among customers since they can readily communicate with the management

Ease modification, especially for employees.

READ ALSO:All MTN internet bundle codes in Ghana

Fibre broadband needs to be installed at a customers premises or office to enable them enjoy and experience the digital world. For installation to be done, the customer needs to apply by completing a form and sending it to the MTN head offices or any branch of MTN in Ghana. The customer may also send an email through MTNFibreBroadband.GH@mtn .com. Alternatively, customers can go to any MTN service center and apply for installation. Installation payments should be made at the service centers to avoid inconveniences. However, renewal charges can be paid through MTN mobile money. You can also top up with MTN airtime vouchers. The MTN fibre broadband short code that is commonly used for this service is *5057#. The MTN fibre broadband offers the best solutions. Follow YEN to get more information about similar services.

Source: Yen- Gary Mabbutt's leg eaten by a rat while he was asleep

- The 57-year-old went to visit his daughter in South Afric

Former Tottenham and England defender Gary Mabbutt said a rat ate part of his foot while he was asleep on holiday in South Africa.

The 57-year-old was quickly flown back to the UK for surgery and spent a week in hospital. The 16-cap England international, has type 1 diabetes and has little feeling in his feet.

"All the opponents that I've played against and I finally get taken out by a rat," Mabbutt told BBC Radio 5 live.

READ ALSO: Lincoln Community and Soul Clinic rate among the most expensive schools in Ghana

The incident happened when he visited his daughter six weeks ago, who is working at the Kruger National Park.

About an hour later, Mabbutt felt a bite on a thumb while sleeping, then saw his foot was covered in blood.

Mabbutt said he still needs daily hospital treatment for his injuries.

The former Spurs man said he injects insulin seven times per day, and tests his blood 10 times per day.

READ ALSO: Serwaa Amihere turns heads around again with another stunning photo

He almost lost a leg and had to have emergency surgery because of blocked arteries in 2016. He can no longer run or kick a ball again.

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Source: Yen- An NDC member, Abraham Amaliba, has claimed that the current government has over 45 relatives of President Akufo-Addo in it

- He also welcomed the decision of Former President Mahama's decision to contest as flagbearer of the NDC

- He added that a new John Mahama government will not encourage nepotism

A member of National Democratic Congress (NDC)s legal team, Abraham Amaliba, has accused President Nana Akufo-Addo of supervising serious of nepotism in his government.

According to him, the country is being mismanaged because of over 45 close relatives of the president are serving in various positions in his government.

In his opinion, the current government is a family that has come together to rule the country.

READ ALSO: Pay us our salaries by October 31 or we will go on strike - Teachers warn government

This country is being mismanaged, we need a quick fix. This is the most nepotistic government. We have counted about 45 of the presidents relations alone in government.

The presidents daughter, the nephews, cousins; it is now like an amalgamation of the family that has come together to rule this country, he said.

Amaliba called on President Akufo-Addo to give some of the money he earns to his daughter, instead of giving her a position that requires payment from the State.

Touching on Former President John Mahamas decision to contest as NDCs flagbearer, he said that the ex-president has unfinished business with the people of Ghana.

He disclosed that a second term of Mahamas government will put a stop to the current nepotism in governance.

Amaliba explained that Mr. Mahamas impressive track record as president would ensure his reelection.

According to him, the NDCs campaign strategy for the 2020 elections would be to compare the four years of Mahama and President Akufo-Addo, adding that the works of Former President Mahama will speak for itself.

READ ALSO: Broadcast journalist murdered by boyfriend

Ghana News Today: President Akufo-Addos Tour | #Yencomgh

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Source: Yen- Sarkodie has released a new song titled 'Black Excellence'

- The song features the voice of President Akufo-Addo on it

Award-winning rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie has released a new song which features the voice of President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The new song titled Black Excellence (Ebibi Man) is a commentary on African (Ghanaian) mentality, corruption and financial security.

In the song, Sarkodie lashes out at politicians and public office holders who inflate the cost of contracts to their benefit.

He also admonishes the youth on the need for young people to properly invest their money rather than showing off to impress friends and people of the opposite sex.

READ ALSO: 10 beautiful photos from Becca's wild bridal shower

Sarkodie touches on what is said to be the African mentality which has impeded the growth of the continent.

At the 2:09 minute of the song, the voice of President Akufo-Addo is heard on the song.

It is one of his famous speeches about Ghana and Africa weaning ourselves off aid from the world's superpowers.

Born July 10, 1988, Sarkodie is one of the most influential Ghanaian artistes in recent memory.

READ ALSO: Benedicta Gafah excites fans with wild 'no bra' video

He often uses his music to make commentary on important national and social issues.

It looks like he agrees with President Akufo-Addo's resolve to cut our dependence on foreign aid.

Ghana News Today: Becca's Marriage in Danger? | Yen.com.gh:

READ ALSO: Video of Yaw Dabo weeping after losing GHC4,000 on Manchester United leaks

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Source: Yen- Jim Iyke has cleared the air on his arrest at the airport after he was alleged to have assaulted a worker

- According to the Nigerian, he never assaulted anyone

Nigerian actor, Jim Iyke, has reacted over his arrest after he was alleged to have assaulted law enforcement officers at the Murtala Mohammed Airport.

YEN.com.gh reported a story of a video of Jim Iyke which went viral on social media showing him in a bit of an altercation with law enforcement officers.

The Nollywood actor has come out to explain what really transpired at the Lagos airport on his way to Abuja.

READ ALSO: Yaw Dabo's alleged girlfriend wows fans with latest photo

In an interview with NET, Jim Iyke denied assaulting anyone at the airport saying, "People are just amazing, the truth is that I was running late for a flight in Abuja, and my people had sent my luggage a flight ahead. I tried hard not to miss the flight, but by the time I made it to the gate, the captain had almost shut the aircraft."

He explained further that one of the security guards close by got too eager and got involved.

"One of the security guards who saw me struggling to make my way in got overzealous and got into an argument with my PA. Then they started exchanging words and pointing fingers at the heat of the moment.

READ ALSO: Photos of Rosemond Brown reveals striking resemblance with Nigerian actress Regina Daniels

"At the end of the day, we couldnt even make it (the flight) and when we were coming back, the airport assistant went to call the police and said my Personal Assistant hit his face and pushed him.

"But when the policeman saw that it was me, I told them to let us go downstairs to resolve the matter, it was an issue of tempers fraying. We then went downstairs and the matter was resolved. I even boarded the same Dana Air Craft and I was shocked upon my arrival to hear that I was arrested by the Police. Which Police?."

He continued to say "I know that people need content, but lets not blow things out of proportion, I am not the kind of person who will post a rejoinder on issues like this, because I will be fuelling the fire, but we are all human and we lose our temper at different points in our lives, especially with how rude and unprofessional people are and more bewildering is the fact that people never want to hear the other side of the story."

READ ALSO: Benedicta Gafah excites fans with 'no bra' video

"The funny part is that this guy they said I slapped came to pick me up at the lounge and took me to the plane. He got me a better seat and I gave him little change because I know the country is hard. We hugged and ended it on a great note. The manager himself took me to the plane and I told him to school his staff on how to treat people. It's sad the length that people will go to spread the fake news about people."'

It will not be the first time the Nigerian actor is in the news for wrong reasons.

In 2011 reports went viral as Jim Iyke was a charged for defrauding a lady of N15m.

Source: Yen NewspaperIt has been more than a week since Ghanaian songstress, Becca, got married to her Nigerian lover, Daniel Oluwatobi Sanni.

The plush wedding on August 18 which turned out to be a star-studded occasion, had many Ghanaian and Nigerian celebrities attending.

Also present to celebrate the union between Becca and Tobi were other prominent personalities including Minister for Tourism, Catherine Afeku and former President J.J. Rawlings.

The wedding has received much attention and has been applauded so much so that we all forgot about the bridal shower (bachelorette party).

Becca

Source: Instagram

Well, YEN.com.gh has sighted photos from the private bridal private bridal shower which was reportedly held a day before the actual day.

Becca and friends

Source: Instagram

As bridal showers are known for, it was a moment for Becca to spend time with her friends and close relatives, usually restricted to females.

Becca's friends

Source: Instagram

And Becca did not lack as she had many friends on hand to celebrate with her.

Becca and her friends

Source: Instagram

Among them were actresses Zynnell Zuh and Soraya Mensah.

Becca and Zynnell Zuh

Source: Instagram

The red and white-themed event saw the songstress in a white dress with her friends wearing red.

Becca and friends

Source: Instagram

Apart from the excitement of being with friends, there were lots of food to eat.

And a lot to drink as well.

In fact, it was a feast.

The girls had so much fun.

Ghana News Today: Becca's Marriage in Danger? | Yen.com.gh:

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Source: Yen GhanaManila (CNN Philippines Life)  Sittie Norhanie Hamdag Lao was only 22 when she became the youngest legislator in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Prior to being a legislator, Lao was the first female president of a student government body in the 50-year history of Marawi State University.

When I expressed my intention to run for the student body, people kept on pounding on me being a woman, on my gender, instead of focusing on my merits, she says. I didn't really intend to win but at the back of my mind, I just wanted to challenge the status quo.

She shares how gender inequalities, while pervasive in the Philippines, can be even more apparent in ARMM. A lot of people from back home, they tend to mix cultural practices with religious practices. There's nothing in Islam that really tells a woman that you cannot participate in politics, she adds.

Lao is among the 10 youth ambassadors of the Investing in the Future of Young Pinays campaign, a yearlong initiative of Edukasyon.ph  a social enterprise that helps young Filipinos connect with universities, scholarships, study abroad programs, and other educational resources that can help students in their careers  in collaboration with the Australian government.

The ambassadors, who come from different parts of the Philippines and work in diverse fields, from arts and filmmaking to tech and civic service, will be talking to their respective communities about their work in the hopes of inspiring and empowering other Filipinas to be leaders in their chosen careers.

Sittie Norhanie Hamdag Lao, who became the youngest legislator in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, is among the 10 youth ambassadors of the Investing in the Future of Young Pinays campaign, a yearlong initiative that aims to support Filipinas across the country. Photo courtesy of EDUKASYON.PH

Gender equality in the Philippines

While the Philippines boasts of being one of the most gender-equal countries in the world for the past years, the most recent Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum shows the Philippines slipping three spots from 7th place. The country still remains in the top 10, but the worsening performance has been due to the wage inequality for similar work carried out.

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies also states that even when unemployment rates dropped more rapidly for women than for men, authors of the study highlight that unemployment rate is not always reflective of the working conditions of women, especially since it can make it seem that women in the Philippines who join the labor force have similar economic opportunities as men.

In a report by HR in Asia, it was also found that 76 percent of female respondents in the Philippines deal with inequality and prejudice in the workplace, with 17 percent admitting to being questioned about their desire to have a family during the interview process.

These facts compounded by political leaders who have blatantly vilified women  such as President Duterte previously saying that there are things women cant do and jobs women cant take on  fueled more womens groups and womens initiatives that push back. And Edukasyons newly launched campaign seems to be one of the several additions to the gradual strengthening of the womens movement in the country.

Women are paid 18 to 22 percent less for their counterparts of the same exact position and work that they do, says Audrey Pe, founder of Women in Tech, and also one of the youth ambassadors. Instead of waiting for the gap in tech to close itself, instead of shifting into a different field, I decided I wanted to do something about it. I saw the potential of tech to be used to make a difference. Photo courtesy of EDUKASYON.PH

Addressing the gender gap

Audrey Pe, another youth ambassador, also seeks to disrupt the existing gendered expectations in the workplace of her chosen field: technology. She started Women in Tech (WiTech), an organization that hosts the first women in tech conference organized by students and for students in the country, as well as outreach programs where they teach students in far flung areas the basics of computer programming.

Through Edukasyons campaign, Pe believes that their role is primarily in informing Filipinas that there are fields they can pursue which they may not be aware of yet or are too afraid to be a part of. She adds that there is value in feeling represented, much as how she was inspired to build her organization after meeting female leaders in tech.

[Back then], I couldn't think what my future in tech would be like because I couldn't think of any role models in the field, she says. Every time people talked about tech, it was always Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, so I couldn't really see myself in them when I looked at the news and saw articles about them.

Before creating WiTech, Pe Googled women who worked in the tech industry, reached out to them, interviewed them, and put them on her blog. The many interactions she had with women in tech all the more empowered her into believing that, indeed, she can thrive in this field. Her advocacy was all the more fortified after knowing the gender pay gap in tech jobs.

Women are paid 18 to 22 percent less for their counterparts of the same exact position and work that they do, she shares. Instead of waiting for the gap in tech to close itself, instead of shifting into a different field, I decided I wanted to do something about it. I saw the potential of tech to be used to make a difference.

The ambassadors, who come from different parts of the Philippines and work in diverse fields, from arts and filmmaking to tech and civic service, will be talking to their respective communities about their work in the hopes of inspiring and empowering other Filipinas to be leaders in their chosen careers. Photo courtesy of EDUKASYON.PH

Importance of womens initiatives

According to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, one of the champions of womens rights in the country, initiatives like these are essential in that they mirror the powerful relations among women in real life.

It really counts not only because it makes us feel good, but because we really try to change the way things are and the way things are presumed, she says. In a recent forum, I was asked why men tend to support each other but we women we all have crab mentality, etc. I don't think that's accurate. I think it's natural for us also to support each other and we need to really strengthen that.

Hontiveros is also one of the few female legislators who has risen the ranks in politics. Even when it looks like the Philippines is progressive for having been able to produce two female presidents, and having a number of women in upper and lower houses, she says that there are still very few women who have really shattered the glass ceiling.

I think that's a very important height to conquer, not just for the symbolism of it, but because if we women can take our place at all levels, for example, in the private sector, including at the top level, then also from the top level, we can shape policy, we can cascade programs, she explains.- The MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, has assured the shareholders of the collapsed banks that their properties will be returned to them

- He explained that an NDC government will ensure that they get back their banks

- He however added that proven cases of illegalities are exempted and will be investigated

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, has given an assurance to the shareholders of collapsed banks in Ghana.

Expressing his solidarity with the owners such businesses, he stated that the attempt to describe them as thieves was uncalled for and amounts to "adding salt to injury."

Speaking at a forum on the banking crises, he added that although the challenges facing banks were encompassing, the government and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) singled out the directors and the shareholders for the fate of the banks.

Isaac Adongo, MP for Bolgatanga Central Source: Graphic.com.gh

Source: Depositphotos

READ ALSO: Benedicta Gafah excites fans with wild no-bra video

This, he said, was unfortunate, and amounts to an attempt to stifle the spirit of entrepreneurship among Ghanaians.

As a result, he said, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will not hesitate to return assets of the collapsed banks to their owners "unless they are found to have committed some tangible illegalities."

The shareholders of the seven banks, he went on, should be assured of fair treatment when the party comes to power.

He also stated that the government's indebtedness to the collapsed banks, the involvement of current directors of Consolidated Bank with the now defunct banks and the choice of collapse over bailout as issues that raise flags about the genuineness of the decision to collapse the banks.

In August, the BoG announced that the GCB Bank had assumed the assets and liabilities of two banks, UT Bank and Capital Bank.

A year later, the BoG again announced the merger of five banks Beige, Royal, Construction, Sovereign and uniBank.

The new bank, Consolidated Bank of Ghana, has assumed the assets and liabilities of all the five banks.

READ ALSO: Yvonne Okoro drops a hint about marriage

Ghana News Today: President Akufo-Addos Tour | #Yencomgh

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Source: Yen Ghana- Family of the late Kofi Annan has paid a courtesy call on John Mahama

- The visit saw Mahama take photos with some key NDC officials suspected to be on his team ahead of the 2020 elections

The former president, John Dramani Mahama, received the family of the late former secretary general of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan.

The purpose of the family visit was to officially announce to him the passing and funeral arrangement of the late Kofi Annan.

Taking to his Facebook page to comment on the visit, Maham shared fond memories of the former statesman.

READ ALSO: Akufo-Addos government is full of his relatives  Abraham Amaliba

"As President, I worked with the late Kofi Annan on several projects, the last being a couple of trips in and out of Geneva when he personally decided to help with the mediation of the maritime dispute between Ghana and Cote dIvoire," Mahama wrote.

Mahama receives family of late Kofi Annan

Source: Facebook

Meanwhile, the visit by the family of the late Kofi Annan exposed some truths about the NDC officials willing to do everything in their right to secure victory for John Dramani Mahama in the next elections in 2020.

They included Hanna Tetteh - former minister for foreign affairs, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang - former minister for education, Marietta Brew Oppong - former attorney general and Bawa Motgari.

The death of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, sent shock waves to the entire world as tributes have poured in massively.

President of the republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, paid tribute to him after his passing in Switzerland. Akufo Addo described Kofi Annan as one of Ghana's greatest compatriots, has directed that all national flags be flown at half-mast in honour of the president.

READ ALSO: An NDC government will return collapsed banks to its owners  MP

Kofi Annan is respected across the world as the force of peace and reconciliation. Kofi Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.

Mahama's journey to 2020 elections

Already, all 10 regional party chairmen of the NDC have endorsed Mahama and also advised him to lead the party. In a draft letter, all chairmen signed in approval of John Mahama being the next flag bearer of the NDC yet again.

The former president, John Mahama, has paid a courtesy call on the founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings.

This move can be seen by all as a very strategic one if indeed the former one-term president is poised to contest elections yet again in the 2020 elections. It is no secret that Jerry Rawlings has been the fulcrum upon which several elections are positioned hence the strategy by Mahama to pay a courtesy call on him.

Already, Jerry Rawlings has had his take on the politics of the NDC as he attributed their defeat in 2016 to greed and corruption. There have been various pictures of an obvious rift between the former president and some key officials of the party.

READ ALSO: Martin Amidu exposes mysterious cash deposits in his bank account

Looking at the entire composure of John Mahama, it is clear he has gained the support from Jerry Rawlings and thus eager to win the hearts of Ghanaians.

Do Ghanaians know about late Kofi Annan? | #Yencomgh

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Source: Yen- Former HIV/AIDS ambassador, Joyce Dzidzor, had accused a young man by name Kristof of deliberately spreading virus to innocent women

- Dzidzor is calling on the authorities to arrest Kristof whom she also slept with on some occasions

- But Kristof has responded to Ddzidors claims threatening to leak a video he recorded when he had an intimacy with her some time ago

YEN.com.gh earlier reported the story of a young man named Kristof who is allegedly spreading virus to innocent women on the streets of Accra.

This allegation was made by former HIV/AIDS ambassador, Joyce Dzidzor Mensah, who claimed she knows all about Kristof Adjeis intentions to deliberately spread a certain virus to women.

According to that report, Kristof Adjei had called on Dzidzor for a sort of encouragement when he realized that he was having the virus.

Kristof Adjei

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Nana Aba Anamoah jumps on stage like a baby as Sarkodie performs in latest video

While exchanging the encouragement, the two, Dzidzor disclosed, had sex on two occasions but with a sort of protection.

Still doubting about having the virus, Kristof decided to spread it to other women by sleeping with them to see if they would also complain of having the virus later.

Dzidzor released a photo of Kristof to create awareness and also call on the security agencies to arrest hm.

Against this backdrop, YEN.com.gh has sighted another post by Dzidzor in which she indicated that Kristof is angry over her attempt to expose him and to get him arrested.

READ ALSO: 5 deadly things experts have warned could happen for consuming coconut oil

Dzidzor leaked a chat she had with Kristof over the issue, and the young man is threatening to leak an adult video he recorded when he had intimacy with her some time ago in his own bedroom.

In the leaked chat, Kristof warned that he has a big surprise for Dzidzors fans and that would be the leakage of the said adult video.

And as if to confirm there was indeed such a video, Dzidzor dared Kristof to release the sex tape because I dont even have one cedi to give you.I am tired of you.

READ ALSO: VIP Bus driver nearly killed me at dawn  Shatta Wale reveals in latest video

Dzidzor has been in the news for some time now for mainly controversial.

She was in the news recently for claiming that she slept with highlife legend Amandzeba Nat Brew, and kissed Akwaboah on some occasions.

Ddidzor also threatened to end her own life and those of her children because she didn't have money to fend for themselves.

READ ALSO: Intimacy an exercise; know when to do it  Nkansah Liwin

Do Ghanaians know about late Kofi Annan? | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: I am not in a haste to marry - Yvonne Okoro speaks

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Source: YenThe former president, John Dramani Mahama, has made known his intentions to contest the 2020 elections.

John Dramani Mahama in a video posted on Facebook revealed that now is the time for him to serve Ghanaians and also continue the various development projects he started before losing Election 2016.

Following the death of his former vice president - Amissah-Arthur - the major question on the mind of Mahama will be the best replacement for the soft-spoken Amissah-Arthur.

READ ALSO: Mahama receives family of late Kofi Annan

Already, there are high suspicions that John Mahama's camp might be putting together a very appealing campaign team for Ghanaians to elect.

In fact, it is highly expected for John Mahama to go in for a female vice presidential nominee who appeals much to Ghanaians and also with less or no baggage.

There are two political figures under the former president's administration that could best be considered for the role of vice presidential nominee.

These are the former minister for foreign affairs, Hanna Tetteh and former education minister, Professor Naana Opoku Agyemang. Both political professionals are rooted in vast experience and influence.

Hanna Tetteh was recently appointed the director-general of the UN's office at Nairobi, Kenya. She succeeds Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde who was previously appointed a special representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU).

Considering her extensive stay in active politics, it will be no surprise if Mahama chooses her as his vice president.

Professor Naana Opoku Agyemang is the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast and also a former minister for education.

The learned professor exercised an appreciable level of experience to keep Ghana's educational structure afloat. Being a staunch critic of the free SHS policy, it could be highly strategic of Jane to play the role of vice president.

Mahama and 2020 elections

Already, all 10 regional party chairmen of the NDC have endorsed Mahama and also advised him to lead the party. In a draft letter, all chairmen signed in approval of John Mahama being the next flag bearer of the NDC yet again.

The former president, John Mahama, has paid a courtesy call on the founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings. This move can be seen by all as a very strategic one if indeed the former one-term president is poised to contest elections yet again in the 2020 elections.

It is no secret that Jerry Rawlings has been the fulcrum upon which several elections are positioned hence the strategy by Mahama to pay a courtesy call on him.

Already, Jerry Rawlings has had his take on the politics of the NDC as he attributed their defeat in 2016 to greed and corruption. There have been various pictures of an obvious rift between the former president and some key officials of the party.

READ ALSO: Martin Amidu exposes mysterious cash deposits in his bank account

Looking at the entire composure of John Mahama, it is clear he has gained the support from Jerry Rawlings and thus eager to win the hearts of Ghanaians.

Do Ghanaians know about late Kofi Annan? | #Yencomgh

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Source: Yen NewsGhanaian actress and Instagram model, Moesha Bodoung, seems to be having a really good time on her vacation in the United States.

As has been the case since left the shores of Ghana, the actress has been updating her fans and followers on social media.

In the latest update from her vacation, Moesha chose to dazzle her fans with yet another video of her shapely body.

In the video, Moesha is seen in a shirt which was tucked into a very tight dress as she cat-walked away.

READ ALSO: Sarkodie drops latest track featuring Akufo-Addo (Audio)

Wearing a pair of heels, Moesha Bodoung was seen shaking her much famous 'tundra'.

Playing at the background was Edem's latest single 'Fokoloryor' which features Moesha's name prominently.

Moesha, who is obviously excited about at her being featured in the song, posted the video on Instagram with the caption: "@iamedemgh new tune is lit Fokoloryor"

Moesha's video has captured much attention on social media as many of her followers have fallen in love with it.

READ ALSO: Meet the 'iced water' seller who has built a $1bn Ghanaian oil company at 38 years

@monteozafrica joking accused of 'exaggerating' her walk: "Eeeeeiii Moesha Can Exaggerate the Walk. My Boo Boo"

@nanaop1275 was almost killed by the video:"Ajeei Moesha will kill us "

@eeru_abubakar explained that it was Moesha's backside which was exciting him: "Its not the walk that is killing but the back"

@sananncy thought Moesha's body was on auto vibration:"@moeshaboduong body no da auto vibration, antootowa "

@kofi1935 described Moesha's video as a "Beautiful and magnificent back asset"

But it was not all praise as a good number of people criticising her over the video.

READ ALSO: Family of late Kofi Annan 'exposes' Mahama's powerful team for 2020

@iamladydash_ told Moesha to stop flaunting her body and do something else: "So all u do is flaunt your a**? oh odoyewu plz do something different wai"

@stardom34 also shared similar sentiments and even described Moesha's back assets as artificial:"You have nothing to show to the world apart from that your artificial a** ......

@_talk.it_ also did not mince words and called Moesha's back as 'plastic': "So how do you feel carrying all that plastic on you??

YEN.com.gh previously reported how Moesha broke the internet with another raunchy video exposing much cleavage.

Moesha has come to be known as the lover of 'sugar daddies' after she suggested that many Ghanaian ladies rely on 'sugar daddies' to survive the harsh economic conditions.

READ ALSO: 10 beautiful photos from Becca's wild bridal shower

In an interview with CNN in April, she confessed to depending on a married man for survival.

According to her, Ghanas economy is so hard that women cannot survive on their own unless they depend on men  married ones.

But after being bashed on the social media for her comments, Moesha toned down but it looks like she is bouncing back gradually

Ghana News Today: Becca's Marriage in Danger?

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Source: Yen.com.gh- Ibrah One has finally tied the knot in a private ceremony

- The popular young millionaire married his longtime girlfriend, Dija Labelle

YEN.com.gh broke the news last Saturday that young millionaire, Ibrah One, is going to get married to his longtime girlfriend, Dija Labelle.

Lo and behold, the two love birds have finally tied the knot in a private ceremony.

Ibrah One is a young Ghanaian man who posts his fleet of expensive cars on social media. Although we really dont know the source of his wealth, we visit his page for the latest car models.

Ibrah One marries Dija Labelle (Photo: Pulse.com.gh)

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Sista Afia is unsure whether she will make it to heaven

According to reports, the newest couple in town have four children together.

Ibrah One is known as one of the richest young people, and is reportedly a successful businessman.

Ibrah One gained national attention in November 2017 when he stormed a 'trotro' bus to gift iPhones to those on board as part of his birthday celebration. While the gesture endeared him to many people, Ibrah has not fared too well in the media recently in the last few months.

READ ALSO: Moesha Boduong catwalks with Edem's Fokoloryor

In April, news came up that Ibrah One had been arrested by Interpol over a money laundering investigation in the US. Reports at the time suggested that Ibrah had been snitched on by a friend whom he cheated over a $400,000 deal.

But it later turned out that Ibrah's arrest and the whole brouhaha surrounding it had been staged. According to Ibrah One, he did that to test the loyalty of boys under him.

He also recently threw shade at Zylofon boss, Nana Appiah Mensah, after the Bank of Ghana issued a warning concerning Menzgold's operations.

Judging from this, it could be said that 2018 has not been a really good year for Ibrah One but it seems he is set to end it on a good note.

READ ALSO: Wendy Shay jabs Afia Schwarzenegger

Ghana News Today: Becca's Marriage in Danger? | Yen.com.gh:

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Source: Yen- Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah has called on Ghanaians to congratulate President Akufo-Addo for the decision to construct a national cathedral

- He added that the president should be lauded because he has the nation at heart

The Founder and Leader of Glorious Word Power Ministries, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, says governments decision to erect a national cathedral is in the right direction.

According to him, he is completely taken aback by the public the outcry about the project.

He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos commitment to the project should be lauded because he has the nation at heart.

READ ALSO: NDC will collapse Databank in 2021 - Yamoah Ponkoh

I think this project is not just a building but a vision by our God-sent Akufo-Addo and should be respected.

For a President to come out with such a project means he has the nation at heart and so it is important that we commend him instead of bashing, he said on Okay FM.

The building of the cathedral has caused an uproar in the country with a number of people accusing government of having misplaced priorities as well as wasting the taxpayers money.

Rev. Owusu Bempah said the government will not be funding the construction of the cathedral from the states coffers.

He indicated that the government will launch an appeal to raise funds with the support of the clergy.

He however called on Ghanaians to be rest assured that serious thinking would go into the construction of the National Cathedral.

President Akufo-Addo, he said, should be congratulated for constructing a building for God.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale in a near fatal accident

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Source: Yen.com.gh- The body of Kofi Annan will touch down in Accra on September 10

- Kofi Annan's state burial will see top officials of the United Nations (UN) also attend

The corpse of former the late Kofi Annan is expected to arrive in Accra on Monday, September 10, 2018, for an official state burial.

The solemn arrival of his corpse will see his widow, Nane Maria Annan, children and some executives of the United Nations(UN) accompany him.

Information minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, confirmed this to reporters in Accra.

READ ALSO: Man without hands and legs draws beautiful portrait of Samira Bawumia

According to him, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will together receive the body of Kofi Annan on behalf of the people of Ghana.

The death of former UN Secretary of State, Kofi Annan, sent shock waves to the entire world as tributes have poured in massively. President of the republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, paid tribute to him after his passing in Switzerland.

Akufo-Addo described Kofi Annan as one of Ghana's greatest compatriots and has directed that all national flags be flown at half-mast in honour of the former UN Secretary-General.

Kofi Annan is respected across the world as the force of peace and reconciliation. Kofi Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006.

Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.

Earlier, the former president, John Dramani Mahama, received the family of the late former secretary general of the United Nations (UN) - Kofi Annan.

READ ALSO: Family of late Kofi Annan 'exposes' Mahama's powerful team for 2020

The purpose of the family visit was to officially announce to him the passing and funeral arrangement of the late Kofi Annan. Taking to his Facebook page to comment on the visit, Maham shared fond memories of the former statesman.

Do Ghanaians know about late Kofi Annan? | #Yencomgh

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Source: YenSome time later, their kayaks began to take on water from high lake waves and capsized, according to the account of the kayaker who was able to swim back to shore. The young men, both 20, began swimming to shore, but Duncan slipped under the water and did not resurface, according to a news release from the City of Highland Park.Though early reports said the women were struck by lightning, the City of Highland Park said Wednesday the two women, both 54, were injured when a tree next to them was struck by lightning in the first block of St. Johns Avenue. One of the women lives in Winnetka, the other in Chicago, according to the city.Durkin said he wants to move slow to see how medical marijuana impacts the state before lawmakers simply make the drug legal. He also worried that it would get into the hands of kids, much the way minors can find ways around the states alcohol laws.Youre not going to get military jet acrobatic teams due to air space requirements, but youre going to get a show with both recent and vintage military aircraft and jets at a much closer range. Youll also have the ability to touch the aircraft and meet the crew, he said. Bring good walking shoes; theres a lot to see. To go from one end of the show to the other, its almost a mile.The man in his 50s entered the bank around 2:34 p.m. and implied he had a gun, but did not display one. He fled the bank and escaped in a white, four-door Chrysler 200, according to the FBI and Waukegan police.He said officers responding to a 911 call found the North Chicago man with multiple gunshot wounds and he was taken by Zion Fire Department ambulance to Vista Medical Center East, Waukegan, where he was later pronounced dead.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 28)  Career or relationships? The many questions that boggle young adult minds today revolve around what to prioritize to have a good future.

This according to psychologist Camille Garcia from the Clinic of the Holy Spirit, is what leads people into a so-called "quarter-life crisis."

When you reach your 20's or 30's, you are thrown into the world with more freedom, unlike your teenage years when you were still under your parents' care, Garcia explained.

This independence, however, comes with a price  the responsibility to chose what to do with your life next.

"Eventually nagkaroon tayo ng mga bagong options: una kailangan magtrabaho tayo, pangalawa iniisip natin na ito na ba 'yung panahon na magkaroon ng relasyon?" Garcia told CNN Philippines' Newsroom Ngayon.

[Translation: Eventually we have more options, first we need to get jobs, second is this the right time to be in a relationship?]

Millennials today in particular bear the brunt of the crisis, due to the common trend of "life goals."

Young adults are pressured to achieve their ambitions in their 20's, which draws questions and doubts that could possibly lead them to depression.

"Once nagkakaroon nang ganoong klaseng pagdududa, nagkakaroon ng takot, ng anxiety, tumataas ang lebel ng anixety and it comes to a point na pwedeng umabot sa depression," she said.

[Translation: Once people have that kind of doubt (in their capability), they become afraid, their anxiety levels rise to the point where it can possible become depression.]

However, not every confusing thought, or moment of panic, is automatically a ticket to 20's mayhem, there are certain symptoms we have to be aware of to properly diagnose ourselves with the quarter-life dilemma.

Comparing yourself to others

The pressure to achieve is primarily influenced by social media, Garcia said, where young adults are free to observe the lives of their peers.

After looking at what their friends have got going on in their lives, young adults can't help but compare themselves to each other, and what they're capable of accomplishing this early in their lives.

"Ang nagiging mahirap dito is the fact na ang social media, lahat tinitingnan. Anong unang tinitingnan ng mga 20-something? Kaibigan," Garcia pointed out.

[Translation: What makes this (crisis) difficult is the fact that in social media, everything can bee seen. What's the first thing 20-somethings look at? Friends.]

A 2018 study by the Health Foundation also found that today's young people are the first to encounter the predicament of managing relationships both in a digital environment and in person, which have corresponding effects to their health.

Morag Henderson, a sociologist at the UCL (University College London) Centre for Longitudinal Studies said "issues of self-identity and confidence are driven by more widespread use of social media. "

READ: UK millennials may be less happy and healthy than their parents by middle age

Fear of isolation

Young adults in a quarter-life crisis are also faced with the conflict of choosing the right time to seek romantic relationships.

American-German Psychologist Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory states that young adults are in the intimacy versus isolation stage, where they become inclined to explore intimacy with other people.

Those who fail to confront their fear of relationships, however, would ultimately be led to isolation, and so young adults are under the pressure of avoiding ending up alone.

The quarter-life crisis is also a question of choosing priorities  whether you want to focus on improving yourself first, or deciding that there's no better time to be in a relationship than now.

"Pagdating mo ng twenty-something ang iniisip mo magkakaroon ka ng relasyon o mag-isip ka na gusto mo single ka muna kasi gusto mo magkaroon ng ganitong klaseng achievement," Garcia said.

[Translation: When your reach your 20's, you begin to think about either being in a relationship or staying single first until you achieve a certain set of goals.]

Good company

Falling into the quarter life-crisis isn't a hopeless case. However, getting through it is no easy feat either.

Surpassing your quarter-life dilemma requires listening to the right people, or those who have a good influence on you, Garcia advised.

Detaching yourself from harmful influences could help clear your mind towards a good plan for your future.

"Ang iisipin mo sino ba talagang makakatulong sa'yo?," Garcia said.

[Translation:You would have to think, who can really help you?]

The quarter-life crisis, although a grueling task to overcome, comes with comfort, as it aids in outlining your course of action in achieving your life goals.

"'Pag nagkaroon ka ng quarter-life crisis hindi ka posibleng magkakaroon ng mid-life crisis kasi planado na 'yung buhay mo," she said.

[Translation: When you encounter a quarter-life crisis you possible won't have to undergo a mid-life crisis anymore because you've already planned out your life.]

In fact it could be your ticket to avoiding more crucial dilemmas in your life, Garcia assured, so once you see symptoms of the quarter-life dilemma, not to worry, because with good company and planning, it could only get better from here.

"Ang maganda kung bakit kailangan itong quarter-life crisis ay madaanan at maging maayos, kasi mas magiging tama 'yung plano mo in the near future," she said.

[Translation: What's good about going through a quarter-life crisis and solving it, is that you will have a better plan for your future.]

See the full interview here:Yet, there is no better example of why voters in the tri-communities should come under the banner of home rule than Gov. Bruce Rauners veto last week of legislation to raise the states tobacco-sale age to 21 years old. As home-rule communities, the three could adopt their own Tobacco 21 laws, if they wanted.A: I spent the last nine-and-a-half years working for Chicago Community Trust, our regions community foundation. I served as the director of development, managing fundraising, philanthropy, relationship building, community development. Ive lived in Chicago the past 25 years. I was born and raised in Elgin. My wife and I are raising our 15-year-old daughter. I think what attracted me to the job is that I love connecting with people. Connecting people to resources, building community, bringing people together: its always been a part of me. Theres tremendous pride in the people who live here, and tremendous generosity. This is a great opportunity to help lead an institution that enhances the vibrancy of Oak Park and River Forest.According to her formal complaint, Jones, a Republican trustee, alleged that Carrabotta, also a Republican, touched her buttocks two separate times during group photos this year. Attorneys with the law firm of Ancel Glink, which also provides day-to-day legal services to the township, conducted an investigation into Jones allegations and, in a report released on Aug. 6, determined that a lack of evidence and independent witnesses made them unable to conclude that any wrongdoing had occurred.Before leaving Illinois, Williams said she wrote identifying information about herself on an envelope that she brought with her for if something were to happen to me, she said. She left the envelope underneath the front passenger seat of the car she rode in with Hill, which police later found after the attempted robbery, prosecutors said.My Aunt Katherine thinks so much of Gary. She says this is her first home and where all of her children were born. The house and city mean so much to her, said Jackson, of Gary.Meanwhile, the children had been about knee deep in the water, the affidavit states. The fishermen later heard Patillo in the water dunking himself in and out and realized that they no longer heard or could see the children, according to the affidavit.It touches my heart, he said. It makes me very emotional. She was a mentor to a number of people in the Hammond community. She was dedicated to the community and she fought for injustice and she stood on what she said and meant what she said.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  The Congress has taken so long to enact a law extending maternity leave up to 100 days because some small business owners have apprehension that it would affect their operations, a solon said Wednesday.

"Primarily some of the businessmen are afraid that it may affect their businesses with extending 30 more days for women, but were telling them through experience internationally that women tend to be more productive after having gone to rest for more than a hundred days," House Committee on Women and Gender Equality Chairperson Bernadette Herrera-Dy said in an interview on CNN Philippines.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading House Bill 4113 or the 100-Day Maternity Leave Law that seeks to increase the paid maternity leave for female workers in the private sector and the government to 100 days, with an option to extend for another 30 days without pay.

Dy, one of the sponsors of the bill, said final reading for the proposed measure will be by Monday or Tuesday next week.

"For some small corporations they say they may not be able to afford it [because] if they have only 10 employees and you'd have a women employee leave for another more than 30 days, then it would affect their operations. Those are the concerns [of] small businesses," she added.

The current law only allows 60-day paid maternity leave for normal childbirth and 78 days for caesarean delivery.

The proposed policy, she said, is not a problem among big corporations as they already provide 98-day paid maternity leave in line with the International Labour Organization guidelines.

"Big corporations have been doing this for the long time only during the portion where if the benefits that SS (Social Security System) will give will not measure up, that's the time the private sector would come in. That's what they're opposed to," she said.

Dy said the measure should be enacted, as the Philippines lags behind other Asian countries when it comes to maternity leave provided for women workers.

"It has been proven in a lot of other countries because in most Asian countries tayo na lang yung nahuhuli na 60 days pa lang ang leave [we're the one left that has 60 days leave only]," she said.We want your help to make this pitch to the statehouse. We have an emergency situation and I think they have emergency money, she said, asking the council for an emergency declaration, which would release funding from the Department of Homeland Security, or, as a backup, funds from the countys non-profit foundation. The council and Board of Commissioners comprise the foundations board.A Wilmette officer spotted the suspects vehicle heading south on the Edens Expressway, McGarry said, and followed it on the highway until it got off at the Peterson exit and became stuck in traffic at Cicero Avenue. At that point, he took the five suspects into custody. A Winnetka officer was on the scene, as were officers from Chicago, Lincolnwood and the Illinois State Police, he said.Officers responded Aug. 25 to the 300 block of Walnut Avenue for a reported dispute between an Uber driver and passenger. The officers spoke with both parties, the Uber driver agreed to give the passenger a refund, and the passenger made alternate arrangements.It all started with a trumpet to the song 'El Nino Perdido' to the far left of Chicago's emblematic, 'The Bean.' Another mariachi on the far right side continued. As heads began to turn, a young boy, 'un charro,' began roping right in the middle of the bean. Suddenly, all eyes were on him as the rest of the mariachi began to arrive, then a banda group with a huge colorful drum and a tuba.56 people terminated from Parkview after COVID vax mandate

Fifty-six employees were fired by Parkview Health System for noncompliance with the statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all health care workers.Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.Every country in the world has its own way of doing things, ranging from the type of food they eat to how they socialize with their friends to how they pay for things.

The way Chinese consumers pay for things has evolved dynamically and very differently from the experience of Western countries.

In most Western countries, the mode of making payments went from cash to checks to using credit and debit cards to contactless cards, and now slowly transitioning to mobile payments.

Compare this evolution to the experience in China, where in 2012, 96 percent of payments were still made in cash; growth in mobile payments only started in 2014. Fast forward to 2018, 85.2 percent of payments are made via mobile payment modes, which shows how quickly the Chinese market has evolved.

To put this into perspective, in 2016, mobile payments in China reached US$8.6 trillion compared to only US$63 billion in the US  a difference of nearly 140 times.

Given the prevalence of mobile payments in China, foreign investors would do well to develop a strategy to incorporate them into their businesses.

Major players

In China, two players dominate the mobile payments market  with a combined market share of 92 percent. They are Alipay, an Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. Subsidiary, and Ten Pay (or WeChat Pay), a Tencent subsidiary.

Alipay is used by Alibabas e-commerce network, in the same way that eBay uses PayPal.

The Ten Pay system was only launched in 2013 and since then has been quickly catching up to its big rival. Ten Pay is available through the app WeChat (or Weixin in Chinese), which is the most popular social media app in China with more than one billion users.

At the end of 2015, Ten Pay only had 15.9 percent of the mobile payments market share. In 2016, it managed to secure more than double that market share to reach 37 percent.

Alipay still enjoys a majority market share at 55 percent; the remaining eight percent is filled by smaller players like 1qianbao, Union Mobile Pay, and JD Wallet, among others.

How do these mobile payments work?

Quick Response (QR) codes dominate the Chinese mobile payment market  used mainly by Alipay and Ten Pay.

There are two different ways the QR payment can work, depending on the who the vendor is.

One way is for the buyer to scan the vendors QR code, which is usually printed and somewhere visible on the till. The payment app will recognize the vendor and the buyer enters the payable amount and completes the payment. This is a popular method if the vendor is a small local shop or taxi driver, as they wont have the resources to invest in a QR reader.

The second way is for the vendor to scan the buyers QR code displayed on their smartphone. This QR code is generated through the payment app and when the vendors QR reader recognizes it, they will enter the payable amount that is then deducted from your mobile wallet. This method is used by bigger companies that have invested in a QR scanner.

QR payments have several benefits, the main one being that they will work with any smartphone. This is not the case with its Western competitor technology, Near Field Communication (NFC), which is used by Apple Pay and Samsung Pay  and works only with phones that are NFC technology-enabled.

This means that the growth potential of QR payments in emerging economies is much larger. In 2016, the mobile payment transaction volume grew by over 380 percent and industry experts expect this volume to grow at a rate of 68 percent over the next two years.

Even though the opportunities for QR payments in emerging economies are much greater, the requirement for internet connection limits their growth in some rural regions where the connection to internet is unstable or non-existent.

The differences in internet connectivity between regions in China are enormous. For example, in Beijing nearly 80 percent of the population is connected to the internet, whereas in Yunnan only 40 percent are connected to the internet.

How businesses can benefit from mobile payments

More than three quarters of Chinese consumers pay via their mobile phones, making it necessary for foreign businesses to adapt to this trend.

In the West, an app doesnt yet exist that connects payments with social media. These platforms provide businesses with an opportunity to bridge the gap between attracting new consumers and engaging with existing consumers more efficiently.

And there is a lot of potential for foreign investors to take advantage of different mobile payments systems for Chinese consumers, and to maximize their profits through loyalty schemes and gifting schemes. Starbucks is a great example of a foreign company that has taken advantage of these strategies.

When a consumer pays for coffee at Starbucks via WeChat, for example, they get a notification of the amount spent along with an offer to sign up to their loyalty card scheme. These loyalty schemes are an effective way of retaining customers and encouraging them to come back.

The way the Starbucks loyalty scheme works in China is, that for every RMB 50 (US$7.33) you spend, you get awarded one star and the more stars you get, the more rewards you will receive.

Starbucks recently highlighted that China is its leading market for digital payments, where 80 percent of sales are cashless. According to Bloomberg, 15 percent of the companys revenue comes from China and the Asia-Pacific.

Another way that Starbucks uses WeChat is that it allows WeChat users to gift Starbucks coffee to friends through the platform. Starbucks has tried this type of scheme through Facebook and Twitter previously, but to little success.

What made the WeChat scheme a success was the fact that it combined the attributes of being a social media platform like Facebook and Twitter as well as a payment platform through Ten Pay.

Chinese culture also contributes to the success of this scheme as the gift giving culture is very important in China, especially during the holiday season.

WeChat was quick to invest in this aspect, having started the digital gifting trend in 2014 where customers can send digital red envelopes containing cash (hongbao) to friends and family.

At least 46 billion digital red envelopes were sent over WeChat over the holiday months in 2017.

Understanding the main risks of mobile payments

Mobile payments have been positive for the Chinese economy. However, mobile payments bring along with them serious risk exposure that need to be considered by the government and businesses.

The Chinese government has so far taken a laid-back approach towards regulating these platforms over the last few years, which has fueled their rapid growth.

As the amount of money and data that goes through these mobile payment companies grows, so should the regulation regarding capital ratios and data protection.

Now, the government wants to bring oversight to these mobile payments by regulating them like banks. At the end of 2017, the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) set a reserve funds ratio from 20 percent to 50 percent and a cap on the amount that can be paid by scanning a QR code.

The main reason was because of problems that have already occurred.

In Guangzhou, a province in the south, RMB 14.5 million was reportedly stolen in QR code scams. QR codes make it very easy to scam consumers. Fraudsters just replace legitimate codes with fake ones and it is impossible for the human eye to detect whether the code is fake or not.

These fake codes can be used in a few different ways. One is to implement malware in the code so when the code is scanned, malware is downloaded onto your phone, which then steals private information like bank account information, passwords, and addresses.

The other way is simpler. When the code is scanned, it will direct the consumer to a fake payment page that mirrors the real vendor and the consumer ends up transferring money into the fraudsters bank account. This type of code is very popular in the multi-billion dollar bike-sharing industry.

Although mobile payments come with their own unique risks  and it is important to understand these risks well  they provide considerable opportunities for foreign businesses. Ultimately, the ubiquity and popularity of mobile payments in China demand that foreign business adopt strategies to use them effectively.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  President Rodrigo Duterte need not release medical bulletins on his health, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said on Wednesday.

"For me, I've been President, I don't think he needs to have a peanut gallery telling him what to do," Arroyo told CNN Philippines' The Source in an exclusive interview.

A peanut gallery is an idiom for a group of hecklers.

The 73-year-old Duterte's health has been the subject of public scrutiny, particularly after communist leader Joma Sison claimed he fell into a coma. The President made appearances after that, but some noted he had darker skin. He also visited the hospital on the eve of his 2018 State of the Nation Address.

As a result, his critics have called for transparency regarding the President's health -- possibly through disclosing medical records or a regular medical bulletin.

The constitution provides that Vice President Leni Robredo, who leads the opposition, will take over if Duterte is unable to perform his functions. However, she is facing an electoral protest filed by previous vice presidential contender Bongbong Marcos, who has received Duterte's blessing as a successor.

RELATED: Bongbong Marcos won't take Duterte's successor remark seriously

Arroyo herself - a political ally of Duterte - is no stranger to health issues. She was diagnosed with multilevel cervical spondylosis in 2011, and sported a neck brace until 2016. However, some critics also saw the use of a neck brace as suspicious, given how Arroyo was facing charges of graft and plunder at the time.

The former President said she has since been better, but she is still in "a lot [of] and constant" pain. She added that she continues to undergo rehabilitation.

"With God's grace and the help of my daughter, I'm stable. I'm in pain, but I'm stable," she said.This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed. In the past five years, notable outcomes have been achieved in cultural communication, educational cooperation, and tourism exchange, said Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Monday.

According to Ning, China and the Belt and Road countries have made progress in cooperation in such areas as culture, education, and technology. A number of detailed project plans have been drawn up in various directions including education, technology, finance, energy sources, agriculture as well as inspection and quarantine.

China has maintained close cultural communication with the countries along the Belt and Road in the spirit of openness and inclusiveness. For instance, this year's Shanghai International Film Festival saw the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance in Shanghai with a memorandum of cooperation issued by 31 film festival organizations from 29 countries that participate in the BRI.

The published alliance manifesto claims that the organization plans to enhance information and film sharing, as well as exchanging filmmakers and industry experts, and to start more joint projects with the coalition.

In addition, the first Belt and Road Week was held during the festival, with 154 films from 49 countries along the Belt and Road presented.

Aside from the cooperation on the film industry, the Library Alliance along the Silk Road formed in May also serves as a significant basement for cultural communication.

Initiated by the National Library of China (NLC), the alliance has the first batch of 24 members from countries and regions such as Bangladesh, Belarus, Malaysia, Mongolia, Thailand, and Vietnam to cooperate on document sharing, classics protection, and digitalization.

In the past five years, China also saw an increase in the number of international students from countries covered by the BRI in the past five years. A total of 317,200 students from the Belt and Road countries studied in China in 2017, up 11.58 percent over 2016, accounting for 64.85 percent of the total international students in China.

Under the Initiative, China has set up 81 education institutions and projects as well as 35 cultural centers in countries along the Belt and Road. In the first half of 2018, China spent over 270 million yuan (around $39.3 million) on the Silk Road scholarships.

Tourism development and cultural exchanges between the two sides have also seen robust growth. The total number of inbound and outbound tourists between China and the Belt and Road countries is expected to exceed 85 million by 2020, spending about $110 billion.

The aggregate scale of international tourism along the Belt and Road accounts for around 70 percent of the global total, said Li Jinzao, China's vice minister of culture and tourism at the Belt and Road tourist city mayors' summit in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province in May.

According to a UN World Tourism Organization's report released at the summit, the number of tourists in the areas along the Road grew from 775,000 in 2012 to nearly 3.1 million in 2016, with 2.1 million coming from China. The country has become a major driving force for the tourism in countries and regions along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.The works of Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami, 82, often capture an audience's imagination at first glance with their dazzling color schemes and the compact composition of their subjects.



Yet underneath these fantastic and at times weird scenes set out in his vivid creations, Tanaami, a leading figure in postwar Japan's artistic landscape, dwells on the topic of life and death. He juxtaposes elements of pop culture with his childhood experiences of World War II and the hallucinations as a side effect of medication in his 40s.

Tanaami's eponymous exhibition, currently running at the chi K11 art space in Guangzhou, Guangdong province through Sunday, charts his artistic course through his paintings, prints, collages, sculptures and designs since the 1960s.

The Tokyo-born artist gained initial fame as a successful commercial illustrator and graphic designer after he graduated from Musashino Art University in 1960. His encounter with several avant-garde artists in Japan, including Ushio Shinohara, encouraged him to venture into art.

Tanaami's works, between the 1960s and '70s, showed the deep influence of American pop artists Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, and featured symbols associated with global pop culture and rising consumerism.

Gradually, however, Tanaami charted his own path to forge his own style, borrowing elements from popular Japanese culture. Venus Lau, the exhibition curator and artistic director of the K11 Art Foundation, says before being introduced to these prominent pop artists from the West, Tanaami's studies of the imagery of mass culture had already begun.

She says Tanaami's works show that he has drawn inspiration from everyday Japanese cultural products such as tatebanko - the art of making paper dioramas dating back to the Edo period - and kamishibai, a popular form of street theater and storytelling from the early Showa period; and combined them with the trademarks of time-honored brands.

"His creations are more than about simply transplanting emblems of pop culture," Lau says. "His works infuse his individual experience of life with the aesthetic view of a social collective."

Ready-made images from cultural products constitute only a small part of Tanaami's output. He has drawn greatly from the traumatic experiences of his childhood.

In an interview with Tate Modern in September 2015, when Tanaami was featured as part of The EY Exhibition: The World Goes Pop at the London gallery, he said the horrific memories of watching Tokyo being destroyed by devastating air raids between 1942 and 1945 continue to haunt him to this day, decades after the war ended.

"It almost feels like yesterday, although it was far away in the past," he recalls.

Tanaami incorporates these frightening recollections into his work, from the recurring image of B-29 bombers to the reflections of an explosion in a goldfish tank at his grandfather's house and roosters terrified by the oncoming approach of bombers overhead.

Later, he added images from hallucinations emerging because of an intake of strong medicine, after he was severely ill and hospitalized for months.

Lau says she once asked Tanaami whether it was a way of self-healing that he returned, in a creative way, to those unhappy experiences of the war and the illness that nearly led to his death.

"He said that wasn't the case. He was simply interested in how he could reorganize his memories," she says.

Tanaami puts images of different times, and from different cultures, into packaged units to achieve a highly expressive, intense effect that first arouses strong feelings of confrontation in the audience, before eliciting a yearning for peace.

Tanaami's exhibition is being held in a popular shopping center in Guangzhou.

Tanaami says it is not unusual to hold art exhibitions in shopping malls, and the situation is quite common in Japan, where art shows and spaces appear in commercial compounds, such as the Mori Art Museum.

The art museum is located in the 54-story Mori Tower, a building which includes office space, restaurants and retail outlets in the bustling Roppongi district of Tokyo.

Tanaami says he saw young people in K11 taking photos with posters from his exhibition on every floor of the mall and in front of a wall showing digital projections of his work.

He says there is no future for art if it remains too far out of the reach of ordinary people.

"Only when art walks close enough by people's sides, can it find the right direction to progress further."

If you go

10 am-9:30 pm, through Sept 2. chi K11 art space, 4th floor of Guangzhou K11, 6 Zhujiang Dong Lu, Tianhe district, Guangzhou.Li Xiaoke paints the Potala Palace during one of his trips to the Tibet autonomous region. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Li Xiaoke's artworks of Tibetan temples and life in western China are on display in Beijing, Lin Qi reports.

Li Xiaoke, an artist from Beijing has spent the past three decades drawing inspiration from areas where members of the Tibetan community reside.

Li, 74, has captured the natural scenery and the people of the Tibet autonomous region, and the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan, in ink paintings he created during dozens of journeys he's taken since he first set out on foot in 1988. "A mysterious retreat that would haunt one's mind after you have left the place," is how he describes his visits.

Before that discovery, Li's main role was that of a student and an assistant to his late father and celebrated painter, Li Keran, whom he accompanied to social events and generally looked after.

But as Li Xiaoke began his trips to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, he also felt the pressure of his hailing from a prominent family easing. The areas helped him to develop an individual style of painting.

He likens painting to pilgrimage. "It is tough and yet simple."The chief of the Afghanistan National Archives sees diplomatic and trade relations between Afghanistan and China improving but has emphasized the point that Afghans are looking for the further promotion of cultural and educational ties.



"Afghans are enthusiastic to further enhance cultural and educational ties with our friend and neighbor China," Mohammad Afsar Rahbin, director of the Afghanistan National Archives, told Xinhua recently.

Introducing the Afghan archives, Rahbin said that the entity was officially opened in 1977 during the government of Mohammad Daud Khan, Afghanistan's first president, and the National Archives of Afghanistan has now become home to tens of thousands of historical manuscripts and documents.

More than 130,000 historical manuscripts spanning culture, literature and religion, various copies of The Quran, as well as documents and protocols signed between Afghanistan and some neighboring countries, including four with China, are in the archives, Rahbin said.

Photographs, newspapers, various Quran books from the Durrani period, old currency, as well as both original and copies of many important documents are displayed for visitors, including the treaty signed between Afghanistan and the British Empire in 1919, under which Afghanistan was given complete independence and another important letter, written by Timur, dating back to the 14th Century.

The building's interior design with its beautiful painted ceiling and carved woodwork is as praiseworthy as the archives' contents.

The structure was originally built by Amir Abdul Rahman Khan for his son and successor Amir Habibullah in 1892.

As is known regionally, the National Archives of Afghanistan also preserves some of the oldest historical manuscripts like the one dating back to the 1st AD and a holy Quran manuscript ascribed to Ottoman and Ali, the third and fourth Islamic caliphs, said Rahbin, who is also poet with 20 works published.

"Among the contracts signed with China, is a regionally valid agriculture scheme (Parwan Water-Supply), known as Parwan Project among the locals which irrigates wide areas of the province north of Kabul."

"We received the copy of the contract after approval from the country's National Assembly," the official said.

Despite several decades of devastating civil war and trafficking of numerous ancient relics from Afghanistan to other world countries, the archives remained intact. "Fortunately, the National Archives of Afghanistan is the only government-run institution that remained intact and safe from any kind of robbery and larceny, during civil conflicts."

Ordinary people, researchers and students are not visiting the still-war-affected country's archives as much as before and the institution has yet to generate any revenue.

According to the official, usually around 100 people, many of them students, visit the archives on a daily basis.

Rahbin who said he has never been to China, even during his tenure as Director of the Afghanistan National Archives, is expected to visit Chinese museums to understand which documents about his country are there.

"Farsi (an Afghan official language) was spoken widely in Kashgar and Tibet and even some itineraries and songs played in the Chinese ships were sung in Farsi, highlighting the two countries' close cultural relations."

"And considering one of the most valid contracts signed with China was in 1969, both Afghan and Chinese sides need to visit each other's archives to get information about both sides' cultural documents," said Rahbin.

The National Archives of Afghanistan is housed in its own century building, located on the main road in the Salang Watt in Deh Afghanan neighborhood, in central Kabul.

The main task of the National Archives is the protection of Afghanistan's historical memory so that the future generations can learn about their proud historical and cultural past. One of the main goals of the entity is the establishment of a link between past and future generations through the protection of cultural-historical documentary sources, according to Rahbin.

Commenting on relations between China and Afghanistan, the official went on to say that business and trade relations had been improved between Afghanistan and China within the past decade, but Afghans hope for more promotion between two countries in cultural and educational fields.You are here: Arts

A tour taking in major sites along the ancient Silk Road was launched in Beijing on August 28.



It is jointly hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and SAIC Volkswagen, and aims to promote trade and cultural exchange.

The tour will continue until September 29 and visit nine places in seven countries, including China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Poland, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands.

The Chinese leg of the epic journey will see the tourists visit significant places in Beijing, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Gansu and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"We hope to evoke the spirit of the Silk Road through our retracing of the route and offer development opportunities along the way," says Li Xiaolin, chairman of the friendship association.

Business talks, youth forums, cultural exhibitions and sport exchanges are to be staged during the tour.China has been Africa's largest trading partner for nine years in a row as major cooperation programs boosted bilateral trade, official data showed Tuesday.

China-Africa trade has been growing robustly since the launch of 10 major cooperation plans three years ago. In the first half of 2018, bilateral trade rose 16 percent year on year to 98.8 U.S. billion dollars, Qian Keming, vice minister of commerce, told a press conference.

China announced 10 major plans for China-Africa cooperation at the Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2015 and many of them were targeted at economic and trade cooperation.

Qian said all of the economic and trade cooperation plans have so far been implemented and some of them have "yielded very good results."

In the past three years, China's annual average direct investment to Africa stood at around 3 billion dollars, while progress was seen in industrial cooperation in sectors such as manufacturing, finance, tourism, and aviation.

Africa's infrastructure is seeing improvements thanks to these cooperation plans, which are expected to bring the continent 30,000-km of highways, 85-million-tonnes per year of harbor capacity, over 9-million-tonnes per day of water-cleaning capacity and about 20,000-megawatt power generating capacity, together with creating some 900,000 jobs.

The 2018 Beijing summit of FOCAC is slated for Sept. 3 and 4. The summit will be themed "China and Africa: toward an even stronger community with a shared future through win-win cooperation."The founder and chief executive officer of ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing, Cheng Wei, and the company's president, Liu Qing, apologized on Tuesday on Didi's Sina Weibo account for any role it might have played in the death of a 20-year-old woman in Yueqing, Zhejiang province, who was raped and killed by one of their drivers on Friday. It was the second such killing this year.

Didi will put passenger safety at the core value in the company's growth and development, rather than sheer size and profit, the statement said, adding that more emphasis will be placed on customer service.

The statement said Didi will re-evaluate its business model and service logic, and will deactivate its online "hitch" ride services indefinitely until such time as its security measures are accepted by the public.

Responding to the evidence collected by police investigators, Didi will cooperate with public security departments to build its security mechanism and will launch a system that will allow police to independently monitor Didi, it said.

An app called Public Security 110which allows people to call the police via videohas become the most popular free download on Apple's Chinese app store after the rape and murder on Friday.

On Monday, prosecutors in Yueqing formally arrested Zhong Yuan, the suspect, and charged him with robbery, rape and intentional homicide. Police said the man confessed.

However, police have questioned the effectiveness of security apps.

"The new methods of calling police are still in trial use in some regions and are not available in all places. Remember to check if it has been put into use," local police in Zigong, Sichuan province, said on Monday.

According to the People's Public Security Newspaper, people can use Public Security 110 to quickly transmit images and their location directly to the police using a video call. Police officers can also speak directly to the victims or criminals if necessary.

The app was developed by the Hebei Public Security Department and is still undergoing testing, the department said on Tuesday.

Sending short messages to 12110 has been widely promoted online as a way to contact police, but the Henan Public Security Department said on toutiao.com on Monday that it is not using text messages to 12110 for emergency contacts and recommended that people call 110 for help.

As of Monday, government authorities in at least 10 cities have ordered Didi Chuxing's local branches to rectify problems with its online hitch services, which allow a customer to connect with a person heading in the same general direction. The requirements for Didi hitch drivers in the past have not been as strict as for its regular drivers.

The transportation management authority in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, asked Didi to connect its operational information and data to a national supervision platform for cars that are hailed online, and to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information.

The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau also asked Didi to strengthen its information sharing with the police, submit relevant information as soon as possible and cooperate with investigations and the collection of evidence.

Wang Fumin, deputy director of the Guangdong Department of Transportation, said the government might introduce a procedure to allow passengers to contact police more easily in emergencies.

In another development, two men have been taken into administrative custodyone in Wuhan, Hubei province, and one in Shenzhen, Guangdong provincefor making sexually suggestive comments about the woman who died on Friday, according to the Sina Weibo accounts of the police departments in the two cities. The men, surnamed Shen, 29, and Zhang, 22, were both held after the remarks they made in a QQ chat group that claims to be a collection of Didi drivers. That claim has not been verified.

Police in Wuhan's Caidian district and Shenzhen's Bao'an district received tips of the men's whereabouts and caught them on Monday. Both confessed to making the remarks, police said.China's top legislature on Tuesday held a plenary meeting to review reports on enforcement of the national economic and social development plan and budget implementation.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, attended the meeting of its bimonthly session which runs from Monday to Friday.

He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, made a report on the enforcement of the national economic and social development plan at the meeting.

China's economy has maintained steady growth with good momentum in the first half of 2018, He said, warning that it has become difficult to maintain a steady and sound economic growth in the face of long-standing structural contradictions domestically and a complicated international environment.

When giving a report on the implementation of this year's budget to the lawmakers, Minister of Finance Liu Kun said that the country's general public budget revenue from January to July was nearly 12.2 trillion yuan ($1.79 trillion), while the general public budget expenditure in the same period was nearly 12.6 trillion yuan, up 10 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

At the meeting, Minister of Education Chen Baosheng gave a report on education equality to the legislators.

The report, which focuses on the coordinated development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas while giving particular attention to rural areas, said that 170,000 university graduates will be selected to work in rural regions from 2017 to 2018.

Wang Chen, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, gave a report on the enforcement of infectious disease prevention and control law, saying that no large-scale outbreaks or epidemics of infectious diseases have been seen in recent years as results of proper prevention and control.

The lawmakers also deliberated a report on a temporary adjustment to the application of the civil servant law in some regions and some central organs in Beijing.China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd (CFLD) (600340.SH) on August 28 announced its business results for the first half of 2018. The company generated a strong operating income of 34.974 billion yuan, an increase of 57.13 percent year-on-year.

During the reporting period, the company achieved sales of 80.504 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.63 percent. The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 6.927 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.05 percent. As of the end of June 2018, the deposits received by the company were 143.315 billion yuan.

During the first half of 2018, Fortune Global 500 companies such as Faurecia (Shenyang) Automotive Systems Co., Ltd., and other large-scale leading enterprises including Mianyang Brilliance Ruian Automative Components Co., Ltd., Shenyang Changjiangyuan Technology Development Co., Ltd., BRAND FIELD LIMITED, Shanghai Shangfu Plastics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Hengli Manufacturing Technology Co., Ltd., have signed contracts to set up operations in CFLD's industry new cities.

In the first half of 2018, a total of 445 companies had agreed with CFLD to station in its new industry cities, with the newly penned investments amounting to 96.56 billion, an increase of 101 percent and 32 percent respectively over the same period last year.

The main business revenues generated outside the greater Beijing region accounted for 38.63 percent, an increase of 25 percent over the same period last year. There were 288 newly-entered enterprises in the non-Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, accounting for 64.72 percent of the total; the newly signed investment amounted to 74.50 billion yuan, accounting for 77.15 percent of the total.

The company also signed with Hubei Bank Co., Ltd. and China CITIC Bank Co., Ltd. the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Agreement. Data shows that the group credits obtained by the company's merger in the first half of 2018 totaled 356.5 billion yuan, of which the credit line used was about 63.268 billion yuan.

About China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1998, China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd (CFLD) (Stock Code: 600340SH) is a leading New Industry City operator in China.

CFLD is devoted to creating a sustainable regional development and transforming and advancing industry. Through a focus on innovation and leveraging a market-based PPP operation model, CFLD develops New Industry Cities with highly-assimilated industries, well-equipped urban functions, and an eco-friendly environment, industry towns with industrial characteristics, as well as a green and livable environment. In partnership with regional governments, CFLD develops integrated solutions that bring together innovative industry clusters that drive economic growth with cities and urban facilities that enhance quality of life.

As of the end of 2017, the business map of CFLD's New Industry City covers more than 80 areas including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.Local authorities across China have ordered branches of ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing to ensure the safety of its services after a female passenger was killed last week.

Traffic authorities in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality have ordered Didi's Chongqing office to obtain a certification for its ride-hailing services within a specified time, and share operation data with administrative departments.

Since entering Chongqing in 2014, Didi has failed to obtain its certificate for lawful operation in the city. In addition, the company did not make its data available to the government despite multiple requests from the city's transportation security administration.

Authorities also ordered Didi to remove unqualified vehicles and drivers as well as build a responsive complaints platform to ensure customers' safety.

Didi's Chongqing office said it would report to the headquarters and rectify its problems in a timely manner.

Traffic authorities in central China's Wuhan also inspected nine ride-hailing platforms including Didi on Monday, ordering them to thoroughly inspect their vehicles and drivers, as well as provide accurate and real-time operation data to the city's supervision department.

Authorities in south China's Shenzhen said nearly 5,000 drivers and 2,000 vehicles registered with Didi were not qualified and ordered the company to address the problem to ensure passenger safety.

The city's transport and communications committee has punished eight ride-hailing platforms and fined about 27 million yuan (3.9 million U.S. dollars) since the beginning of 2018.

The Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Public Security, and authorities in Beijing and Tianjin summoned Didi executives for meetings on Sunday, demanding a "comprehensive rectification" on its hitch riding service.

A 20-year-old woman went missing on Friday afternoon after hailing a car from Didi in the city of Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The driver was caught by police on Saturday and confessed to rape and murder.

The incident came after a 21-year-old female flight attendant using Didi was murdered by her hitch driver in the central China city of Zhengzhou in May.

Didi started out in 2012 as a small company, operating a mobile app to help people hail taxis on the crowded roads of China's large cities.

Over the years it has become the country's largest ride-hailing firm with services including private car ride sharing, chauffeur services, and car rentals.

The company has suspended its hitch riding service nationwide since Monday, and two senior executives have been removed from their posts.

Didi said the suspect had no criminal record, had provided authentic documentation and passed a facial recognition test before starting work.

However, it also said it failed to act on a complaint made against the driver on Thursday by a passenger who alleged the driver took her to a remote place and followed her after she got out of the car.

Han Zhipeng, a Guangzhou-based commentator, said that vicious incidents occurring one after another is by no means an accident, it shows the company has ignored passenger safety and social responsibility.

In terms of passenger safety, the self-discipline and self-inspection of car-hailing firms are far from sufficient, said Ou Wei'an, a law professor at Guangzhou University.

Ou added that related government departments should strengthen supervision and punishment on car-hailing services in the future.Zach Gibson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- American military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is dependent on that coalition avoiding civilian casualties, Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters. His comments followed the release of a United Nations report that highlighted deadly coalition airstrikes in Yemen's three year old civil war as potential war crimes because it resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians.



Mattis said at a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday that U.S. military support for the coalition was not unconditional and was based on the Saudi-led coalition doing "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life, and they support the U.N.-brokered peace process."



The United States provides mid-air refueling tankers to coalition aircraft, as well as intelligence used in the targeting of Iranian-backed Houthi military forces in Yemen. The emphasis of that intelligence sharing for pre-selected targets is to minimize civilian casualties that might result from the airstrikes.



The secretary described the American military support for the Saudi-led coalition as driven by the effort "to try and keep the human cost of innocents being killed accidentally to the absolute minimum."



"That is our goal where we engage with the coalition," said Mattis, who noted that the coalition has established "no-fire areas" near hospitals and schools.



Two high-profile coalition airstrikes in Yemen in recent weeks have killed dozens of civilians, raising concerns about continued U.S. military assistance to the coalition. One of those airstrikes killed more than 40 children aboard a school bus passing close to a targeted market.



"We recognize every mistake like this as tragic in every way," said Mattis. "But we have not seen any callous disregard by the people we're working with. So we will continue to work with them, reduce this tragedy."



Also on Tuesday, a report to the United Nations top human rights body said the governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia may have been responsible for war crimes in Yemen's civil war. The report also cited ruthless actions of the Hoithi rebels as potential war crimes.



The experts who wrote the report described the damages from coalition air strikes as having killed the most civilians in the three years of fighting. They investigated dozens of incidents that resulted in thousands of civilian casualties.



"Coalition air strikes have caused most of the documented civilian casualties," said the report. "In the past three years, such air strikes have hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities."



Mattis noted that the U.S. has not hesitated in raising concerns to the coalition about the need to prevent civilian casualties.



"At no time have we felt rebuffed or ignored when we bring concerns to them," said Mattis. "The training that we have given them, we know has paid off. We have had pilots in the air who recognize the danger of a specific mission and decline to drop, even when they get the authority."



Mattis emphasized that the U.S. goal in Yemen is a United Nations brokered settlement.



"That is the goal," said Mattis. "That doesn't change, no matter what tragedy happens on the battlefield. And if what we've done in the past had reduced the loss of innocent life, then I would not want to stop doing that and think, 'There, we took care of that problem, and watch that number go up.'"



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  Charter change may not come through by next year, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conceded on Wednesday.

"I don't expect the full fruition of charter change during my term as speaker, especially [since] there's going to be a plebiscite," Arroyo told CNN Philippines' The Source in an exclusive interview.

"But I will continue my efforts to bring it to the fullest extent possible within the limitations of term, in the hope those who will take it up afterward can bring it already to the full course," she added.

The timeline for a shift to a federal government has been up in the air, with some government allies gunning for a government plebiscite by next year. Others think it should at least be done by 2022, when President Rodrigo Duterte steps down.

Federalism was a campaign promise of Duterte, with whom Arroyo is allied. After he called on the swift passage of charter change in his State of the Nation Address, the House of Representatives filed a resolution that supported a separate vote from the Senate on the issue.

Arroyo said this was meant to "reduce one of the points of contention between the Senate and the House." Her predecessor Pantaleon Alvarez had insisted on a joint vote, which did not sit well with a number of lawmakers.

Despite this, several senators are still hesitant to touch charter change  at least as long as Arroyo is in the House. Critics such as Senator Grace Poe have accused the former President of harboring ambitions of becoming prime minister in order to prolong her stay in power.

Arroyo has dismissed these claims, saying the position was not provided for in the draft federal charter prepared by the Consultative Committee.

"I think people who keep raising that are people who want to stir up controversy," she said. "It's not in the draft that's submitted by the administration. So therefore, I have no plans to become prime minister."

The House Speaker maintained that she intends to retire from government service next year.

"Efforts [on charter change] must continue, but it will probably not bear the final fruit during my term as speaker," she said.Removing stipulations regarding family planning from a draft civil code does not indicate China will end its family planning policy, legislators and law professors said on Tuesday.

Family planning-related clauses in the current Marriage Law and Adoption Law have been dropped in a draft of the marriage section of the civil code.

The draft is among six sections of the code that were submitted to the top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, for a first reading on Monday.

Given the country's demographic situation, the decision has triggered widespread speculation as to whether it is meant to pave the way for the abolishment of the country's decades-old family planning policy.

However, legislators explained on Tuesday that there's a special law on family planning, so there's no need to include similar content in the marriage section while drafting the civil code.

Related regulations can still be found in the Population and Family Planning Law. As for whether the Population and Family Planning Law will be amended due to the changing demographic situation in the country requires further consideration, according to the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee.

Li Mingshun, a law professor at China Women's University in Beijing, explained that the marriage section of the civil code, which falls under private law, mainly regulates rights and obligations of family members. But birth is a basic human right, so family planning more closely aligns within the category of administrative law, or even within the Constitution.

"As for whether family planning policy will be abolished, that's not under the regulation of the marriage section of the civil code," he said.

Jiang Yue, a law professor at Xiamen University, said the removal of family planning in the draft is meant to catch up with the pace of the nation's changes.

The Marriage Law was adopted more than three decades ago. But with the passage of time and amid societal changes, along with the progress of China's legislation, there's better understanding on the matter these days.

She added that birth-related content is not written into civil codes in more than 20 countries and regions, according to her research into the matter.

Li also emphasized there should be an objective understanding of China's family planning policy. He said the policy is to make the quantity and quality of the population mesh with the country's economic development and natural environment, "so it couldn't be simply taken to control the population".

In addition to the draft of the marriage section, the other five draft sections being deliberated by the legislature involve contracts and inheritance issues.

The package of the six sections is the second step in formulating China's civil code, which is expected to be completed by 2020. The general provisions of the code were adopted in March 2017.Riding 1,300 kilometers in 19 days, imparting environmental knowledge to more than 5,000 people along the way... All of this is destined to be an unforgettable experience for Huang Xi.

Huang Xi is a sophomore at the Wuchang University of Technology in Hubei who is majoring in environmental engineering. On August 3, Huang began his massive bicycle journey from the city of Xiaogan in Hubei Province, enroute to Shanghai. Along the way, he says he conducted environmental research into areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Huang Xi tells thepaper.cn that while his research is part of his university studies, he says he was also able to pass on environmental knowledge to local people he would encounter on his ride.

Late summer often sees farmers burn off their chalf from the harvest, something Huang Xi says he tried to convince farmers along his route not to do. "Very few of the villagers understood the harm they are doing to the local environment," said Huang.

His 19 day journey wrapped up with a train trip from Shanghai back to Hubei on August 22 after meeting around 5,000 different people during his adventure. "(But) environmental protection is more than just talking. It needs more people to take practical action and effort," said Huang Xi.Four national-level nature reserves have launched their annual campaign against poaching, illegal tree cutting and other banned activities in an ongoing effort to protect natural resources and biodiversity.

The joint action includes reserves at Sanjiangyuan and Hoh Xil in Qinghai province, the Altun Mountain in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Chang Tang in the Tibet autonomous region.

"Every summer we receive frequent reports of illegal hunting, deforestation and trespassing, which pose a great threat to rare animals and plants," said Kong Linzhi, head of forestry public security for Sanjiangyuan National Park, which includes the Sanjiangyuan and Hoh Xil reserves.

He said the campaign, which started on Wednesday, will run for nine days and focus on areas such as the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers.

About 30 officers from Kong's security department and dozens of environmental inspectors will be involved in the campaign, he said.

The team will be divided into two groupsone to patrol the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and another to patrol a route between Golmud and Taiyang Lake in Qinghai. The two routes add up to about 5,000 kilometers, he said.

The four reserves together cover 543,000 square kilometers and account for 58 percent of China's total nature reserve area. They are home to rare wildlife such as Tibetan antelope, wild yaks and donkeys.

"As more tourists visit these areas, we've seen an increase in illegal human activity, which has triggered concern about our wildlife protection work," said Li Yongpeng, a forestry officer for Sanjiangyuan.

He said one of the major tasks of the campaign is to punish tourists who break the rules and stop those who might pose a threat to wildlife.

The reserves began cooperating 2010, with regular information exchanges and professional training. They have also built a platform for sharing data on rare wildlife and biodiversity.

In addition to the annual campaign, the nature reserves have conducted special patrols in recent years.

Early this month, a team was sent on a one-month mission to escort pregnant Tibetan antelope on their migration covering hundreds of kilometers from Qinghai to Tibet to give birth.

"Protection of wildlife, natural resources and biodiversity is crucial to scientific research," Kong said. "In the future, we will further improve public awareness of wildlife protection through various activities and promote stronger responsibility for the protection of biodiversity."Many parents of recent graduates support their search for the ideal job, saying there is now more scope for trial and error and that allows young people to pursue their dreams.

Huang Qiaoling, 50, said that when she was young, people also dreamed of trying different jobs in order to find the one that suited them best, but the concept of work back then was that everybody stuck to what they did and job-hopping was a rarity.

"For the current young generation, we hope they can live a happier and more purposeful life, given their families have poured resources into their education since childhood," said Huang, from Changsha, Hunan province, whose son was born in 1992.

"Moreover, the stronger financial support from parents gives the young generation nowadays the privilege of not just making a living but finding their real interests."

Huang's son Xia Yuxuan graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in geophysics, and took three jobs in Beijing: one at a State-owned enterprise, one at a technology firm at Zhongguancun Science Park, and the other at a startup producing smartphone applications. After two years, he opted to go to the United States to study quantitative financial engineering.

"We are delighted and proud that he left each job position with a complete piece of work," Huang said. "Through such a process, he was able to become clearer about what he really wanted and approach his goal."

Ke Da, whose daughter was born in Shanghai in 1991, said young people are also more likely to job-hop frequently because there is a wider variety of enticing employment opportunities.

"Government departments and State-owned enterprises, which were undoubtedly the first option for job seekers of our generation, are no longer the best options for some people today," he said. "Foreign companies and private startups are chased by some young job seekers for various reasons."

Ke, in his mid-50s, works as a research and development technician in a company that produces communications equipment. He said some colleagues born since 1990 had left for other jobs after just half a year or even as little as three months.

"The situation is related to the economic environment," he said. "In the computer science industry, with its current, heated investment climate, it is common for young people to chase highly-paid jobs."

Ke said his daughter has worked as a journalist for one employer for five years.

"Actually I'm supportive if my child wants to change her job one day as long as she has enthusiasm for it and the job has social value," he said.Ke said he also reminds her to keep learning, so she can adjust to changes in the new era.

"The world is changing so rapidly and we have no idea where it is going," he said. "We don't want our child to eventually become a restless job-hopper if she cannot survive in the competitive job market."

Some college teachers say some graduates job-hop due to a lack of perseverance and patience, which is a concern for their parents, but generally speaking, frequent job-hopping by the young is a declaration of their values: They would rather choose a path of self-realization than do what others view as appropriate.

Yan Yining, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University, said the way students performed in class and school activities showed they were more focused on personal choices.

"Students, from the beginning of the junior year, have diversified plans and schedules for their selective courses, internships and preparations for employment or further studies, which is very different from what we used to do as students, which was following the unified arrangements of the school," said Yan, who began working as a university teacher in 1998.

She said showing respect to young people's personal choices is a form of social progress.

"Whatever decision they make for themselves, I believe it'll be a good one if they make it with responsibility and think it is in line with their long-term goal," she said.China has rolled out a system known as "grid management" to monitor air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the neighboring area, in a bid to carry out targeted pollution control, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The system covers 28 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the neighboring area, and divides the area into 3 by 3 kilometer square blocks, totaling 36,793. By applying satellite remote sensing technology and other weather statistical analysis, the system selects 3,600 blocks with high PM2.5 concentration levels as the key areas to monitor.

Beijing further separated these blocks into smaller ones, added another 1,500 micro stations and began using mobile monitoring devices, in a bid to better target and monitor air pollution.

Since the system piloted in Cangzhou city, Hebei province last year, environmental authorities have taken great efforts in monitoring heavy air pollution. During the pilot process, the authorities identified 6,325 polluting enterprises, and helped to reduce PM2.5 level in the pilot area by 38.3 percent. The percentage of reduction was higher than the average of 20 percent in Cangzhou, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the grid management system.

In order to rally the local residents to participate in the efforts to reduce pollution and improve air quality, the data collected by the grid system will be released to the public. The cities that fail to meet the requirements will receive warnings from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

According to reports, the system will next be implemented in other areas in China, including 11 cities in the Fenhe-Weihe plain and 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta area.About 600 students from Xinshuiqiao Hui Primary School in Yinchuan's Daxin township in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region have two teachers for each subject.

One is the class-based teacher at the school; the other is a Ningxia Excellent Teacher from No 2 Hui Primary School in Yinchuan, who offers individualized tutoring classes online.

The students benefit from an online tutoring service platform installed by the Department of Education in Ningxia in October 2015. The platform encourages core teachers from Ningxia public schools to offer free and real-time tutoring to schools in rural areas with fewer educational resources.

Through the public service platform for education resources, students from Xinshuiqiao take classes simultaneously with their counterparts at No 2 Hui Primary School, said Li Juan, president of Xinshuiqiao Hui Primary School.

They can raise questions and interact with students and teachers from No 2 Hui Primary School, Li said. "It is like they are in the same classroom."

Li said students take online classes at least once a week and have really benefited, including achieving better grades and becoming more confident in expressing their views and participating in class.

The platform collects data from students' whole learning processes. It then diagnoses and analyzes learning problems and models the knowledge and ability structure, she said, adding that it presents a personalized analysis report for students, teachers and parents.

It has collected teaching materials covering every level of students from preschool to university. More than 62,000 teachers, 665,000 students and 777,000 parents in Ningxia have registered on the platform, according to its website.

Huang Li, president of No 2 Hui Primary School, considers the platform an innovative public service, thanks to the development of the Internet Plus strategy and big data technology.

"This is a very effective way to share high-quality educational resources and provide an accurate, personalized educational service," Huang said.

During his visit to a middle school in Yinchuan on June 4, Premier Li Keqiang said online education and Internet Plus education enabled students in remote and poor areas to get access to good teachers, and broaden their horizons.

He inspected Minning Middle School in Yinchuan's Yongning county, and reviewed local development of Internet Plus education.

By introducing the platform, nearly all primary and middle schools in the autonomous region have connected to the internet.

In a "smart classroom", all of the students held up their tablet PCs, showing the premier their online lessons and study notes.

The government should invest more to improve the information infrastructure and increase internet speed, he said.

According to the Yinchuan Municipal Education Bureau, the city plans to invest 1.3 billion yuan ($189 million) in the next three years to improve the internet infrastructure in schools and create smart campuses based on cloud computing, the internet of things and big data.

The goal is that by 2020, all schools in Yinchuan will have internet speeds faster than 10 Gb per second, and all classrooms will have internet speeds of at least 1 Gb per second, the bureau said.Chinese scientists are building a low-energy and high-performance superconducting computer, aiming to complete a prototype as early as 2022 according to a media report.

Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched the project worth one-billion yuan ($145 million) last November, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.

The unprecedented machine will have central processing units running at a frequency of 770 gigahertz or higher. By contrast, the fastest existing commercial processor runs at just 5 Ghz, according to the report.

The machine will also help find a way to reduce the massive energy consumption of supercomputers. As supercomputers grow bigger, so does their appetite.

China's Sunway TaihuLight, the world's second-fastest supercomputer behind the Summit in the US, requires 15 megawatts of power to run for one year, according to a researcher involved in the R&D process.

By 2040, the world's computers may need more electricity than our global energy production can deliver, according to a report released by the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Semiconductor Research Corporation in 2015.

The superconducting computer could be one of the most radical solutions to an ever-increasing energy demand. The concept rests on sending electric currents through supercooled circuits made of superconducting materials.

In theory, the system results in almost zero resistance and would require just a fraction of the energy of traditional computers, from one-fortieth to one-thousandth depending on the estimate.

Li Xiaowei, executive deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Computer Architecture, is well acquainted with the project and said the main motivation to build a superconducting computer is to cut energy demands of future high-performance computers.

CAS president Bai Chunli said superconducting digital circuits and superconducting computers will help China achieve parity in integrated circuit technology.The story of a retired Tsinghua University professor who anonymously donated his life savings to poor students, despite being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, has moved many people.

Zhao Jiahe, a retired finance professor of Tsinghua University, had devoted his life to education and funding impoverished students. He donated his life savings of 15 million yuan ($2.2 million) to support over 2,000 high school students in need across the country.

He began teaching at Tsinghua University in 1955, after graduating from the school's department of radio electronics. "I love teaching. The happiest thing for me is for others to understand what I have taught," Zhao once said.

In 1985, he helped establish the school of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University.

Apart from his dedication to work, Zhao was mostly known for being thrifty. He had worn a synthetic-fiber sweater, worth only $1, for more than 10 years, and the most expensive piece of furniture in his home was an outdated TV.

Even when he served as a guest professor at the University of Texas in 2001, Zhao still lived a simple life and never wasted anything. After three years of teaching abroad, Zhao declined favorable offers from the university and went back to China.

The first thing he did after his return was to hand over the $200,000 he had saved to his students specialized in financial investment. When his savings had reached 5 million yuan in 2006, the 72-year-old Zhao started aiding poor high school students from all over the country. He would donate the money anonymously under the name of "a retired Tsinghua professor", an effort known only to a few people around him.

In 2011, Zhao became diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, but he continued to donate his money to support the poor students, and choose to buy himself the least expensive medicines for treatment.

He also established a foundation in 2012, aiming for long-term support for the students, especially those from impoverished families in southwestern China.

In 2012, Zhao succumbed to lung cancer and donated his body for scientific research. In his last moments, Zhao said," I have done what is most worth doing. I have no regrets now."

Zhao's "secret" was kept until 2016, when his story was made public.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has junked Australian nun Patricia Fox's appeal to remain in the country.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed this on Wednesday.

The bureau denied Fox's appeal on a July 19 resolution that ordered her deportation. The Immigration order also barred her re-entry by placing her on its blacklist.

Guevarra earlier said Fox can still file an appeal with the Justice Department, which has jurisdiction over the BI.

The 71-year-old missionary was accused of engaging in partisan political activities, which the government deemed as a violation of the terms of her stay in the country.

However, her lawyers argue that fighting for the rights of minorities is part of her missionary work. Fox's camp also maintains the gatherings she attended were not anti-government.

The Justice Department earlier nullified the Immigration order to forfeit Fox's missionary visa and the order for her to leave the country by end of May, saying it was "without legal basis."

The BI on April 16 arrested and detained Fox for "attending protest rallies and engaging in political activities." She was released after a day of questioning.

President Rodrigo Duterte later admitted he ordered the probe on Fox's "disorderly conduct," adding she has a "foul mouth." Flash

Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on Tuesday that a total of 764,094 Chinese tourists visited the Philippines during the first seven months of 2018, making China the second-biggest source market for Philippines' international tourists.





Puyat said foreign tourist arrivals increased by 11.3 percent for the first seven months of 2018 despite the shutting down of world-class resort Boracay in April to make way for a massive clean-up in the island.





Boracay is a premier tourists drawer. Known for its clear water and powdery sand, Boracay is a favorite among the Chinese tourists.





"I was very worried because of the closure of Boracay, that's why I was surprised with the figure from the Philippine Statistics Authority (showing) that despite the closure of Boracay, tourism arrivals increased," Puyat said during a forum hosted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.





Puyat said that South Korean nationals ranked the first in the highest number of tourist arrivals in the country from January to July with a 21.76-percent share.





Data from the Department of Tourism showed that the number of South Korean nationals that visited the Philippines has so far this year spiked to 937,227.





This data was 10,000 higher from the South Koreans who arrived in the country in the same period of 2017, numbering 927,227.





China comes the second with 764,094 tourist arrivals and the United States with 649,496 visitors. China and the United States have 17.74 and 15.08 percentage shares, respectively.





Indeed, Puyat said, that arrivals remained high despite the Boracay closure. In a way, she said the closure led to the discovery of other tourist destinations in the country.





She said tourists visited other "alternative destinations" like Cebu, Bohol, Palawan, Bicol, even Siargao in southern Philippines.





Puyat expressed optimism that the government will still hit its year-end arrivals target of 7.4 million.



 Flash

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has proven to be productive and effective in boosting China-Africa cooperation, a Chinese special envoy said.

Zhou Yuxiao, China's ambassador for FOCAC affairs, said this in an interview with Xinhua prior to the FOCAC Beijing Summit in September, expressing his confidence in the event's success.

Zhou said FOCAC has grown into a dynamic mechanism with rich content and tangible results, following the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and the values of friendship, justice, and shared interests.

"China neither imposes its own will on others nor seeks its sphere of influence," said Zhou. "The concept of 'extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits' is upheld when China cooperates with African countries."

FOCAC was founded in 2000 and its membership had grown to have China, 53 African countries having diplomatic relations with China, and the African Union Commission as of June 2018, according to the FOCAC website.

Under the FOCAC framework, there are regular consultations at ministerial and senior-official levels, and between the Chinese Follow-up Committee and the African Diplomatic Corps in China. Sub-forums on business, youth, health and poverty reduction, and many others, have also been set up.

FOCAC has held two summits gathering leaders of China and African countries, one in Beijing in 2006 and another in Johannesburg in 2015.

"FOCAC is not for idle words, but a platform to unleash real actions," said Zhou.

The veteran diplomat, who spent years in Africa and served as the Chinese ambassadors to Liberia and Zambia, said he had witnessed the development of FOCAC over the years.

It began with small steps, with a focus on aid, trade, debt relief, personnel training but gradually grew to a comprehensive platform that covers industrialization, agricultural modernization, financing, green development, people-to-people exchanges, and security.

FOCAC has won wide support from African countries for its efficient enforcement means, clear time-bound action plans, and an effective evaluation system, Zhou said.

He also attributed the mechanism's effectiveness to the adequate funding. For example, Zhou said, China pledged financing support amounting to 60 billion U.S. dollars to implement the ten cooperation plans announced at the 2015 FOCAC summit in Johannesburg.

Projects can also be funded by the Silk Road Fund or the BRICS New Development Bank. Meanwhile, the Chinese government encourages trustworthy and competent Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa.

Both China's ability to "walk the walk" and African countries' active collaboration are key to the success of FOCAC, Zhou said.

"That is why FOCAC has earned wide recognition from African countries as well as the international community, and expectations are high for the upcoming summit," said Zhou.

The summit is scheduled for September 3 to 4 in Beijing. Priorities and key directions for China-Africa cooperation in the next three years will be announced.

A key aspect to watch, Zhou said, will be how China and Africa link the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union's Agenda 2063, and African countries' development plans.

With the "twin engines" of the BRI and FOCAC, China-Africa cooperation is poised to move forward more steadily, faster and further.

"I'm confident that the summit will be a complete success," said Zhou. Flash

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Tuesday met with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Francis Gurry, who was in Beijing to attend the 2018 high-level conference on intellectual property rights (IPRs) for countries along the Belt and Road.

Li said that IPR protection is the cornerstone of the market economy while protecting IPRs is an inevitable requirement for achieving innovative development.

In the context of a new round of scientific and technological revolution, and in the process of economic transformation and upgrading of developing countries, innovation has increasingly become the first driving force for countries to lead development, said Li.

To protect IPRs is to protect innovation and the enthusiasm of innovative talent, he said.

Li said that China now is in the critical stage of upgrading and improving its economy and will adopt a stricter IPR protection system and further improve related laws and regulations.

IPR violations, once verified, will be severely punished, he said, adding that China will treat all domestic and foreign enterprises equally and provide equal protection.

China will never allow compulsory technology transfers, said Li, noting that if any such case is discovered, China will investigate and deal with it according to law.

Li stressed that China firmly adheres to multilateralism. Countries, big or small, should seek the greatest common interests in international affairs.

China is willing to further deepen its cooperation with the WIPO and will maintain support for the WIPO's work, so as to jointly promote the building of open, inclusive, balanced and effective international IPR rules, and make new contributions to improving global governance on IPRs.

Gurry said that in the past 40 years, China established a high-level IPR protection system, which regards intellectual property as the driving force for innovation and economic development, and treats Chinese and foreign companies equally.

Congratulating the rise of China's ranking in Global Innovation Index 2018, Gurry said he believes the country will make further developments in the future.

The WIPO is willing to further deepen cooperation with China, maintain multilateralism, and jointly meet challenges, said Gurry. Flash

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday that his country stands ready to terminate the key partnership agreement with Russia.





"We got prepared enough and legally protected for the next step -- the termination of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation," Poroshenko was quoted as saying by his press service.





Russian authorities have not commented on the issue so far.





Signed in 1997, the Ukrainian-Russian treaty is a document which fixes the principle of strategic partnership between the two states.





Under the agreement, Kiev and Moscow pledged to respect the inviolability of each other's borders and to peacefully settle disputes.





Relations between Kiev and Moscow have been deteriorating since early 2014 over their different stances on the developments in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.





According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, between April 2014 and April 2018, the two former Soviet neighbors have either suspended or terminated 44 out of 451 treaties.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  Minority lawmakers on Wednesday filed a resolution in a bid to nullify the 'galunggong' or round scad importation order by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The solons filed House Resolution 2106, which calls on the Congress to invalidate the administrative order approved by Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol on August 16.

The resolution, passed by Representatives Ariel Casilao, Carlos Zarate, Emmi De Jesus, Antonio Tinio, Arlene Brosas, France Castro and Sarah Jane Elago, strongly rejected the planned importation of 17,000 metric tons of galunggong.

It noted the move is just a "band-aid solution" for food security in the country.

The Agriculture Department, through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), announced it will allow imported fish to enter the local wet markets beginning September.

Pinol, in an interview with CNN Philippines, said this will be done to address the low production supply of the fish product, which equates to higher prices.

Galunggong, a staple viand of Filipino families, now costs P140 to P160 per kilogram in wet markets.

READ: Roque says high prices of rice, fish won't last long

The Palace had backed the importation order, but the lawmakers urged concerned stakeholders to instead address the "fundamental issues of the fisheries sector."

The issues cited in the resolution include protecting the rights to livelihood of the small fisherfolk sector, and promoting genuine fisheries and aquatic reforms.

Consumer groups and fisherfolk have continued to criticize the importation. They urged the government to focus on strengthening local production, instead of relying on importation and exportation.

Netizens have also been vocal with their rejections, saying that importing these food products may feel like a slap to an 'agricultural country.' Flash

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Tuesday that the United States has no plans to suspend any more military exercises with South Korea.





In a press briefing, Mattis said that "we took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit."





"We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," he said, adding that no decisions have yet been on major exercises for next year.





Washington has not made decisions on whether to continue suspending major military exercises with South Korea for next year, he said.





"We are going to see how the negotiations go, and then we will calculate the future, how we go forward," Mattis said.





The Pentagon said on June 22 that it has "indefinitely" suspended two military exercise programs with South Korea to support the agreements between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.





According to a statement released by Pentagon spokesperson Dana White, Mattis has indefinitely suspended select exercises, including "FREEDOM GUARDIAN along with two Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises scheduled to occur in the next three months."





Earlier on June 18, the Pentagon said that it had suspended all planning for the joint military drills with South Korea in August, referring to an annual South Korea-U.S. military exercise slated for August with the full name of Ulchi Freedom Guardian.





Pyongyang has denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for northward invasion and a violation of the spirit of the Panmunjom Declaration issued during the inter-Korean summit in late April.





Trump met with Kim on June 12, when they promised to build new bilateral relations and work toward a "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."





After the meeting, Trump said the United States would stop war games with South Korea "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should." He also said the drills were "very expensive" and "provocative" "war games."





Last year's Ulchi Freedom Guardian, attended by about 17,500 U.S. military forces, went on for 11 days.





Another major U.S. exercises with South Korea, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, took place earlier this spring. Flash

Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday were not convinced by most of the answers given by President Hassan Rouhani to their questions about his administration's performance over current hardship in the country's economy.





Rouhani attended parliament to answer questions by the lawmakers about his government's failure to control goods smuggling, continuation of western banking sanctions, unemployment rate, economic recession and increase in forex rate.





The lawmakers were only contented by Rouhani's answer about the banking sanctions while his answers to other questions failed to win the lawmakers' approval.





Rouhani acknowledged that his administration had made some mistakes in handling the economic issues.





The lawmakers can send the questions to Iran's judiciary for further review. This would be a warning note to Rouhani if he is impeached by the parliament over the country's economic situation.





On Sunday, the Iranian lawmakers dismissed Rouhani's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance over the current economic situation and refrained from giving a vote of confidence to him.





The Iranian lawmakers have complained that the administration's mismanagement of the conditions has resulted in price hikes and diminishing purchasing power.





The Iranian rial plunged to a record low against the U.S. dollar this month. There has been growing demand for dollars among Iranians for fear of more plunge in their assets values and growing price.





Foreign currency values began to rise in Iran after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and announced plans for a fresh wave of sanctions against the Islamic republic.





However, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the economic problems are not wholly caused by the U.S. sanctions, but a series of internal issues and mismanagement. Flash

The U.S. federal judge overseeing Brendt Christensen's kidnapping case of Chinese visiting scholar Yingying Zhang has been reassigned, Zhidong Wang, the legal consultant to Zhang's family, said on Tuesday.





Chief Judge James E. Shadid of the Central District of Illinois under U.S. District Court is now in charge of the case, taking place of Judge Colin Stirling Bruce.





Wang said the reassignment resulted from the improper act of Judge Bruce commenting on the defense skills of lawyers in a case in 2016 through email correspondence with a staff member of the Prosecutor's office, which violated the rules of ex parte communication.





The trial of Zhang's case is still set in April 2019 as scheduled, but Wang said the lawyers of the defendant might take the opportunity to require delaying the trial.





According to Wang, the reassignment of the judge in Zhang's case is a shock to Zhang's family, who were informed of the reassignment at the first timing, but are puzzling over unexpected events such as a possible delay in the trial. They have reiterated the appeal of finding Zhang and bringing her home.





Zhang, 26, went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.





Brendt Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, after being caught on tape pointing out people he described as "ideal victims" during a vigil in Zhang's honor. On July 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ordered that Christensen remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial.





The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UIUC Police Department jointly conducted the investigation. Flash

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Tuesday called for further cooperation between China and Greece in the fields of investment, trade, shipping, tourism and start-ups.



Kotzias pointed out that although the drivers of growth in China and Greece are different in terms of both scale and rate, the two economies can better develop economic and social contacts, adding that increasing cultural and education exchanges are vital for a more substantial development of bilateral relations.

He made the remarks while visiting the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing on Tuesday, one day after he met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and signed a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Kotzias said: "Greece is in a position to perceive the historical importance of the major projects that comprise the Belt and Road Initiative."

Actually, the cooperation on connectivity between China and Greece has achieved early harvests in recent years, which is epitomized by the Port of Piraeus. 55 shipping lines, with the port as their hub, cover the neighboring region of the Mediterranean and connect continents around the world, and the port has directly contributed over 600 million euros to Greece's economy and generated more than 10,000 jobs.

"The cooperation between China and Greece under the framework of BRI is a successful example and provides precious experience for the West and East to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind," said Cai Fang, vice president of the CASS.

During his visit to CASS, Kotzias also discussed with Chinese scholars key issues regarding China-Greece bilateral relations, Greece and the BRI, cultural exchanges, and the relationship between Greece and the EU.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  A Malacanang official on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of asking for another extension of martial law in Mindanao in the wake of the Sultan Kudarat town bombing.

"It's an option," Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said in a chance interview with reporters after a budget hearing.

When asked if he will recommend this to President Rodrigo Duterte, Medialdea said, "Not necessarily but tignan natin (we'll see) as it goes."

He said the Palace has to do something when the people's lives are in danger. "Kung ganito pa rin ang nangyari, anong gagawin natin? Upo lang tayo diyan? (If this will continue, what will we do? Just sit?)"

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is also open to extending military rule, but said it would be "too early" to make a recommendation.

"We'll see what happens in the next several months," he said in a text message to reporters.

Two people were killed and 35 others were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off during the celebration of the Hamungaya Festival, Isulan town's founding anniversary, Tuesday night.

Malacanang condemned the blast and promised to "apply the full force of the law."

"Authorities are now investigating the incident and we vow to bring the perpetrators of this brazen attack to justice," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is on full alert, saying the bombing could be a "terror attack."

This means "100% police presence" in Mindanao even after martial law is lifted this year, Director-General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, said.

Martial law is in effect in Mindanao until December 31, 2018 after Congress granted Duterte's second request for an extension to quell threats of rebellion amid efforts to rehabilitate Marawi City. Marawi is the provincial capital of Lanao del Sur that was the battle ground of terrorists and government forces from May to October last year. More than a thousand were killed, mostly terrorists.

READ: Timeline: The Marawi crisis

Vice President Leni Robredo, however, said martial law may not be the answer to violence.

"Kung pagbabasehan kasi iyong mga nakaraang pangyayari, pinapakita na hindi epektibo iyong martial law sa pagsugpo nito (if we base it on previous events, martial law was not effective in preventing violence)," Robredo told reporters after a budget hearing Wednesday.

She noted that the Sultan Kudarat blast and other violent incidents in Mindanao happened even as martial law was in place.

"So ano iyong assurance natin na kapag in-extend ang martial law, talagang mape-prevent ito kasi ito naman iyong sadya ng martial law 'di ba (what will be our assurance that violence will be prevented if martial law is extended)?" she said.

Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte, on the other hand, leaves it to the police and military to assess the situation.

"We follow the decision of the OP (Office of the President), AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), and PNP because they are better informed by the intelligence units on the need to extend martial law in Mindanao," she said in a statement Wednesday.

Some human rights groups claim the military committed human rights violations during the implementation of martial law. The Palace and the Armed Forces vowed to investigate these alleged abuses, but noted that no formal complaint has been filed.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  The government's anti-drug agency charged four people over shabu allegedly coming from empty magnetic lifters found in Cavite earlier this month.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) filed charges Wednesday at the State Prosecutor's office in Manila.

The four suspects were Chan Yee Wah Albert, Zhang Quan, Vedasto Baraquel Jr., and Maria Lagrimas Catipan.

They were charged for violating Sections 4 and 11 of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

On August 10, PDEA said authorities failed to seize 6.8 billion-worth of illegal drugs allegedly brought inside the country by a Taiwanese drug syndicate.

Authorities alleged the illegal drugs were transported inside four magnetic scrap lifters they found in a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez in Cavite on August 8.

These containers were similar to the ones found in the Manila International Container Port. The Bureau of Customs on August 7 intercepted a shipment of suspected shabu in the port. Authorities found around 500 kilograms of illegal drugs, which was estimated at 4.3 billion, hidden in two magnetic scrap lifters.

On August 11, the Bureau of Customs said they were not alerted about a the shipment.

In a speech on August 17, President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed the reports as "pure speculation."

Duterte told PDEA officials to not speculate on drug hauls next time.

"You cannot speculate that you recovered containers. They are not containers but the magnetic [lifters]," he said.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  Minority lawmakers on Wednesday called on the House of Representatives to investigate two incidents that had an impact on rice supply.

House Resolution 2107 calls on the Committee on Agriculture and Food to investigate the importation of over 300,000 sacks of rice infested by weevil or bukbok this month. The National Food Authority (NFA) fumigated the infested stock and quarantined it for 12 days.

"It is of the people's interest to know how much taxpayers' money were spent for the infested rice, of public health on how much chemicals were used in fumigation," the lawmakers said in their resolution. They are Representatives Ariel Casilao, Carlos Zarate, Emmi de Jesus, Antonio Tinio, Arlene Brosas, France Castro, and Sara Elago.

They also want to know the quality of fumigated rice as the NFA plans to sell it at P27 to P32 per kilogram.

Another measure, House Resolution 2018, calls for a probe on the Zamboanga City rice crisis, even as the Department of Agriculture already declared it over last August 24.

The city was placed under a state of calamity on August 21 due to a rice shortage. Prices shot up to P70 pesos per kilogram in remote villages, based on the City Agriculture Office report.

"According to Bantay Bigas rice watch group, the rice crisis of Zarnboanga City is a microcosm of the instability of food security in the country, where self-sufficiency is neglected, the stock is controlled or dominated by the private sector, and the government agency, NFA who is mandated to stabilize supply and prices totally rely on imports, and abandoned local procurement of palay from Filipino farmers," the resolution read.

Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Villar, Committee on Agriculture and Food chairman, on Tuesday said the recent spike in rice prices and the infestation of imported rice showed the NFA failed to do its job. Officials from the NFA and its policy-making body NFA Council blamed each during a congressional hearing on rice prices Tuesday. Villar called for setting a price ceiling on the staple.By Daniel Shane, CNNMoney | Aug. 28, 2018

China will soon become the world's biggest market for air travel, but American carriers are having trouble profiting from the rapid growth.

Some US airlines are cutting routes to China, the world's second-biggest economy. American Airlines (AAL) is dropping its service between Chicago and Shanghai, while Hawaiian (HA) is suspending flights between Honolulu and Beijing.

American said last week it's shelving the Chicago-Shanghai route from October because it "is unprofitable and simply not sustainable in this high fuel cost environment." The airline announced earlier this year it was scrapping its Chicago to Beijing route.

United (UAL) axed its service between San Francisco and Hangzhou last year after operating it for just 15 months.

The difficulties faced by US carriers are largely the result of fierce competition from state-backed Chinese rivals, which have rapidly increased their international routes.

"It's a very competitive marketplace, even for the Chinese airlines," said Peter Harbison, the executive chairman of research firm CAPA - Center for Aviation in Sydney.

'Difficult to Make a Profit'

Chinese carriers have improved their fleets and quality of service markedly over the past few years compared with other big international airlines, according to industry experts.

They've also pursued aggressive growth on US routes, pushing down passenger yields -- a key revenue metric -- for everyone, said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at aviation website FlightGlobal in Singapore. "It is difficult to make a profit," he added.

The problem has been compounded by the rise in oil prices over the past two years.

"Higher fuel prices make a marginal route impossible," Harbison said.

Subsidies Help Chinese Carriers

Chinese airlines benefit from government subsidies that help them keep ticket prices low, according to analysts.

"The Chinese carriers will be the ultimate winners because they have strong government backing and they have deep pockets," said Shukor Yusof, the founder of aviation-focused consulting firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia.

"US carriers are going to find the going incredibly difficult in being profitable flying into China," he added.

Research by Singapore-based bank DBS this year found that government subsidies to China's aviation industry have doubled in the past four years.

1.5 Billion Travelers

Despite the challenges, US airlines have strong incentives to stay the course. China will displace the United States as the world's largest aviation market by 2022, including flights to, from and within the country, according to the International Air Transport Association.

DBS forecasts that the number of Chinese air travelers will triple to 1.5 billion by 2036 as the population gets wealthier and travels more.

American carriers have in the past complained about their treatment by Chinese authorities. They have claimed they have been given unfavorable landing slots -- such as late at night -- or been denied them altogether in some cases.

Some have also found themselves caught in a political storm when Beijing demanded that they change their websites to conform with its stance on Taiwan.

Besides government assistance, Chinese airlines have other advantages over their American rivals, according to Shukor. More Chinese travelers visit the United States than vice versa, and they gravitate towards domestic carriers because of familiarity and a sense of patriotism, he said.

Cooperation, not competition, could be a better solution for US airlines in China. American and Delta (DAL) have both taken small stakes in major Chinese airlines in the past few years.

US airlines have also expanded their code-share agreements with their Chinese counterparts, which allow them to share certain routes and coordinate some services.

"China is a market that US carriers cannot afford to ignore, but it won't be easy," Waldron said.Australian Financial Review | Aug. 29, 2018

Qantas and Virgin Australia are among the 20 safest airlines on Earth, according to an annual ranking of the world's biggest carriers.

The website AirlineRatings.com assessed 409 major airlines before delivering its verdict, taking into account previous incidents, the average age of their fleets, and audits from governments and the aviation industry's regulatory bodies.

For the past four years it has singled out Qantas as the world's safest airline, ahead of a chasing pack of 19 rivals, but this year it listed the Australian flag carrier alongside the rest of the top 20.

Virgin Australia is also at the top table; others include Singapore Airlines, recently voted the world's best airline in the annual Skytrax awards, as well as Air New Zealand, Emirates, Etihad, KLM and Lufthansa.

Just two US airlines were included in the top 20. Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian remain, but Delta and United, both of which appeared last year, have been dropped in favour of Emirates and Royal Jordanian.

The 20 safest airlines (in alphabetical order)

Air New Zealand

Alaska Airlines

All Nippon Airways

British Airways

Cathay Pacific Airways

Emirates

Etihad Airways

EVA Air

Finnair

Hawaiian Airlines

Japan Airlines

KLM

Lufthansa

Qantas

Royal Jordanian Airlines

Scandinavian Airline System

Singapore Airlines

Swiss

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Australia

"Our top 20 safest airlines are always at the forefront of safety innovation, operational excellence and the launching of new more advanced aircraft like the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787," said Geoffrey Thomas, AirlineRatings.com's editor-in-chief.

"Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the jet era. But Qantas is not alone. Long established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair also have perfect records in the jet era."

The website also identified what it claims are the 10 safest low-cost airlines.

"Unlike a number of low cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have excellent safety records," Thomas explained.

AirlineRatings.com isn't the only organisation to rate carriers according to safety. Germany's Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC) does likewise, and it is Emirates that currently takes the crown, ahead of Norwegian, Virgin Atlantic, KLM and EasyJet. Neither British Airways nor Ryanair feature in the top 20.

Which are the world's least safe airlines?

AirlineRatings.com also announced its lowest ranked airlines for 2018. Air Koryo, North Korea's flag carrier, Bluewing Airlines, based in Suriname, Indonesia's Trigana Air Service, and four Nepalese carriers - Buddha Air, Nepal Airlines, Tara Air, and Yeti Airlines - were all awarded just a single star.

There are more than 100 airlines - most of which you probably haven't heard of - banned from EU airspace, or facing operational restrictions, as they don't meet European safety standards. They include every airline from Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Sudan, as well as dozens from Indonesia.

The airlines banned from flying to the EU

Blue Wing Airlines, Suriname

Iran Aseman Airlines, Iran

Iraqi Airways, Iraq

Med-View Airline, Nigeria

Air Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

Avior Airlines, Venezuela

Nations whose airlines are banned from flying to EU

Afghanistan

Angola (except TAAG Angola Airlines)

Democratic Republic of Congo

Djibouti

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Gabon (except Afrijet and SN2AG)

Kyrgyzstan

Liberia

Libya

Nepal

Republic of Congo

Sao Tome and Principe

Sierra Leone

Sudan

But fear not, flying has never been safer

According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), which records all air crashes and incidents reported around the world, there were just 10 fatal accidents involving commercial flights last year, resulting in 44 deaths. This is down from 16 fatal accidents and 302 deaths in 2016.

Furthermore, none of 2017's fatalities involved a commercial passenger jet. Given that around 36.8 million passenger flights took to the sky last year, that works out at just one fatal accident for every 7.36 million departures.

The last fatal accident aboard a commercial passenger jet happened on April 17, 2018, when an engine of a Southwest aircraft suffered catastrophic failure shortly before reaching cruising altitude. Debris from the engine breached one of the windows resulting in the cabin experiencing rapid decompression. Of the 148 passengers and crew on board, one died.China Aviation Daily | Aug. 29, 2018

American Airlines will suspend nearly all flights connecting Chicago O'Hare and Asia by December, while Hawaiian Airlines will stop serving Beijing routes this fall.

In a bid to cope with rising fuel costs, American Airlines has recently announced suspension of its least profitable flights. The list of services to be canceled includes operations from Chicago to New Delhi, Moscow, and to several other international destinations.

On October 26th , American Airlines is reported to discontinue its Shanghai Pudong - Chicago flights, the route it pioneered back in 2006. However, two other carriers, United Airlines and China Eastern, will keep serving these two destinations after AA gives it up.

In May 2018, the world's largest airline announced it will suspend its Chicago - Beijing service on October 22nd. Additionally, the carrier will reduce the frequency of its Chicago - Tokyo Narita operations from 7 to 3 flights per week.

Cutting a major number of its Chicago O'Hare services - to Beijing, Shanghai Pudong and Tokyo Narita airports, American Airlines did not announce suspension of any other services to Asia.

According to VariFlight database, in 2017, average passenger load factor on the Shanghai Pudong - Chicago route was 79.7%, demonstrating a gradual decline since as far back as 2012. 115 376 passengers traveled the route last year, which is a 1.14% decrease from the passenger volume reported in 2016 and 9.78% decline from 2015's numbers. Strategic cooperation launched between American Airlines and China Southern in 2017, which both carriers see as an opportunity to expand their influence on the Sino-US market, did not significantly affect AA's situation with the abovementioned routes.

At the same time, American Airlines eyes expanding its European network, and will open 9 new routes to the region's, including Philadelphia - Edinburg, Scotland (EDI), Berlin, Germany (TXL), Bologna, Italy (BLQ), Dubrovnik, Croatia (DBV), etc.

Additionally, Hawaiian Airlines announced suspension of its Honolulu - Beijing flights from October 12th. Launched in April 2014, the service operated 3 times per week, has seen passenger volume falling lower than 60% with 46 382 travelers taking the flight in 2017 -- 11% decline compared to 2016.

This decision will make Air China a sole operator of the Honolulu - Beijing route. Asian carrier's figures have been looking slightly more positive than Hawaiian's, with its load factor on the route still lower than 70%.

Finally, American Airlines and Hawaiian might not give up those routes forever. Both airlines have expressed their willingness to apply with US Federal Aviation Agency should the market conditions change or better cooperation opportunities with other carriers appear on the horizon.

Contributed by CADASCopyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

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Go to formWe attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.Concurs de granturi adresat COMUNITATILOR (APL) pentru sporirea rezilientei lor la schimbarile climatice si FEMEILOR ANTREPRENOARE in vederea dezvoltarii unor afaceri prietenoase mediului(CNN) Top North Korean officials warned the United States in a letter that denuclearization talks are "again at stake and may fall apart," sources familiar with the process told CNN.

The letter was delivered to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who abruptly canceled his fourth trip to Pyongyang, hours before he was scheduled to depart with his new special envoy Stephen Biegun on Friday, sources said.

Three sources with direct knowledge of the North Korean position on denuclearization said the letter stated that Kim's regime felt that the process couldn't move forward because "the US is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty."

The US has so far been unwilling to replace the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War with a permanent, legally binding peace treaty, which would require the approval of two-thirds of the US Senate.

If a compromise cannot be reached and nascent talks crumble, Pyongyang could resume "nuclear and missile activities," the sources said.

The existence of the letter, sent to Pompeo by Kim Yong Chol, the former head of North Korea's spy agency, was first reported by the Washington Post.

The Post, which characterized the letter as a "secret" communication, said it wasn't clear how Kim had gotten the letter to Pompeo, but suggested that it may have been sent through its UN mission.

However, Pompeo has been relying on other backchannels, as opposed to dealing directly with his diplomatic counterpart North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, one source said.

"Before and after Pompeo became the Secretary of State, he seemed to be more interested in maintaining and engaging with Kim Yong Chol through a backdoor channel, rather than with his formal counterpart Ri Yong Ho," said the source.

North Korea accuses US of 'hatching a criminal plot to unleash a war'

Abruptly canceled

The Post reported that the letter, shown to President Donald Trump by Pompeo, resulted in the US leader's decision to cancel Pompeo's scheduled trip to Pyongyang, Friday.

Pompeo and Andrew Kim, the head of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, were seen entering the West Wing of the White House on Friday afternoon just hours before Trump posted a series of tweets outlining his reasons for breaking off the visit.

"I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Trump tweeted on Friday.

"Secretary Pompeo looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved."

Pompeo was in the room when Trump sent his tweet canceling the trip, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN.

A senior diplomatic source told CNN that State Department officials were "briefing allies' embassies about their objectives for the trip like 10 minutes before" the trip was called off, and Pompeo himself had announced the Pyongyang visit just a day earlier.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "North Korea warns Pompeo denuclearization talks are 'at stake,' sources say."Lameness prevention: it's all in the head

An understanding of how cows think, how they see the world and how they move is essential for lameness prevention.Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

The global digital pathology market is projected to reach a significant valuation and grow at a steady pace over the forecast period of 2013-2022, as per a research report published by Market Research Future (MRFR).

The digital pathology market has been observing continued growth on account of the prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer. Rising incidences of cancer require timely diagnosis and treatment, and digital pathology has the potential to improve accuracy and timeliness of cancer diagnosis and hence is extensively used which induces demand for digital pathology. Advancements in digital pathology technology such as digital imaging, robotic light microscopy, and multiple fiber optic communications are expected to up the level of efficiency of diagnosis and uplift the growth of the market. Additionally, the lack of skilled pathologists who can handle the growing complexities of diagnostics has surged the demand for digital pathology.

To Explore More, Get PDF Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1955

Digital pathology finds its application in various fields such as education, tissue-based research and drug development which further drives the growth of the market. The rise in a number of clinical and pre-clinical trials have propelled the growth of the market. Digital pathology is setting new standards of practice in clinical trials with the introduction of new technologies such as virtual microscopy, and digital imaging which helps improve the outcomes of clinical trials.

Increasing adoption of advanced technologies to improve workflow and facilitate faster diagnostics is augmenting the market growth. Additionally, government initiative and support in various economies to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure in the form of funds and subsidies foster the growth of the market. Other market drivers include a rise in automation and improvements in healthcare infrastructure across the globe. However, the market growth might be hindered by lack of standardization in digital pathology and substantial initial cost of setup

Key Players for Global Digital Pathology Market

Some of the key players in this market are: microDimensions GmbH, Mikroscan Technologies, Inc., Q2 Solutions, Omnyx, LLC, GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Huron Digital Pathology Inc, ViewsIQ Inc., 3DHISTECH Ltd, Apollo Enterprise Imaging Corp., Xifin, Inc., Definiens and others.

Global Digital Pathology Market - Competitive Analysis

The global digital pathology market is fragmented and highly competitive with the presence of a multitude of well-established and small players. Owing to the lucrative growth opportunities offered by the market, there has been an influx of new players which further intensifies the competition. The notable players of the global digital pathology market include microDimensions GmbH, Q2 Solutions, LLC, Philips Healthcare, ViewsIQ Inc., Apollo Enterprise Imaging Corp., Definiens, Mikroscan Technologies, Inc., Omnyx, GE Healthcare, Huron Digital Pathology Inc, 3DHISTECH Ltd, Xifin, Inc., and others.

Get Complete Access of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/digital-pathology-market-1955

Global Digital Pathology Industry Updates

In July 2018, Enzyvant, a biopharmaceutical company, announced a partnership with Visikol, a contract research organization dealing with digital pathology and drug discovery. The partnership aims to develop a novel digital pathology approach to enable the development of a medicine for the treatment of DiGeorge Anomaly.

In July 2018, Royal Philips, a leading health technology company and Oxford University Hospitals joined forces to create a digital pathology network which will enable better diagnosis of diseases. Oxford University Hospitals have planned to install the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Global Digital Pathology Market - Segmentation

The global digital pathology market has been segmented based on types, products, application, and end-user. By types, the market has been segmented into human pathology and animal pathology. By products, the market has been segmented into scanners, storage server systems, software and others. By application, the market has been segmented into mHealth, telemedicine, disease diagnosis, drug discovery and others. By end users, the market has been segmented into pharmaceutical companies, hospital/clinics, reference laboratories, research institutes and others.

Global Digital Pathology Market - Regional Analysis

The key markets of the global digital pathology market include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. The global digital pathology market is dominated by North America owing to the prevalence of chronic diseases and technologically advanced healthcare sector in the region. Europe is the second largest market for digital pathology due to the presence of a robust healthcare sector and increased expenditure on healthcare facilities. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market on account of improvements in the healthcare sector, rising healthcare expenditure, and growing awareness. The Middle East & Africa market is projected to exhibit steady growth over the forecast period.

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At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

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Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comQuesto comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

According to IndustryARC titled "Blockchain in Infrastructure Market: By Type (Public Blockchain, Private Blockchain, Consortium Blockchain, Others (Hybrid Blockchain)); By Industry (Government & Public Sector, Real Estate, Healthcare, Logistics, Supply Chain & Transportation, Others); By Application (Transportation, Construction, Others); & By Geography - Forecast Period (2018-2023) "the Blockchain in Infrastructure Market will be driven by the growing demand for technology.

North America to Dominate the Blockchain in the Infrastructure Market

North America will dominate the Blockchain in Infrastructure Market during the forecast period as many industries are funding the development of technology. Asia Pacific will exhibit a significant growth rate due to the growing investments in the financial sector. Europe will also have a significant share in the market over the forecast period.

Selected Regulatory Analysis Done in the Full Report

The use of Blockchain in the construction sector is expected to promote the growth of the Blockchain in Infrastructure market over the forecast period. Blockchain is used to accumulate sensor data from buildings in a trustworthy manner. It is recommended for housing projects as it can record and manage variations building information model (BIM) over the phases of design and construction. Blockchain technology is also used to track contracts, payments, and material flow in the supply chain.

Selected Driving Factors Mentioned in the Full Report

The adoption of technology-based applications such as exchanges, payments, and documentation will propel the demand for Blockchain technology.

The increasing demand for Blockchain technology from industries such as banking, financial institutes, and insurance will boost the growth of the Blockchain platform.

Growing economies will create a big demand for Blockchain solutions.

To access/purchase the full report, click the link below:

https://industryarc.com/Report/18532/blockchain-in-infrastructure-market-research-report.html

Key Players of the Blockchain in Infrastructure Market

The key players of the Blockchain in Infrastructure Market include ArcelorMittal, China Baowu Group, and JFE Blockchain in Infrastructure. ArcelOrMittal identifies new ways to categorize the trends in infrastructure such as measures for adapting to climate change, flood defences, hurricane resistant construction, and weather resistant coatings. China Baowu aims to provide a coordinated development of new materials, industrial services, modern trade logistics, and urban services. JFE has recently signed a five year outsourcing agreement with IBM to move its core systems to the IBM cloud.

The Blockchain in Infrastructure Market Is Segmented as Indicated Below:

The growth of the construction sector will promote the growth of the Blockchain in Infrastructure Market over the forecast period.

Blockchain in Infrastructure Market  By Type Public Blockchain Private Blockchain Others (Consortium/Hybrid Blockchain)

Blockchain in Infrastructure Market  By Industry Government & Public Sector Real Estate Healthcare Logistics, Supply Chain & Transportation Others

Blockchain in Infrastructure Market  By Application Transportation Road Bridges Barriers Rail Tracks Rail Cars Construction Others

Blockchain in Infrastructure Market  By Geography (18+ countries)

Blockchain in Infrastructure Market Entropy

Company Profiles ArcelorMittal China Baowu Group HBIS Group NSSMC Group POSCO Shagang Group Tata Blockchain in Infrastructure Group Company 9 Company 10



More than 10 companies are covered in this report

Appendix: Abbreviations, Sources, Research Methodology, Bibliography, Compilation of Experts, Disclaimer.

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What can you expect from the report?

The Blockchain in Infrastructure Market Report is prepared with the main agenda to cover the following 20 points:

1. Market Size 3. Product

Trends

3. Manufacturer Landscape

4. Distributor Landscape

5. Pricing Analysis

6. Top 10 End User Analysis

7. Product Benchmarking

8. Product Developments

9. Mergers & Acquisition Analysis

10. Patent Analysis

11. Demand Analysis (By Revenue & Volume)

12. Country Level Analysis (15+)

13. Competitor Analysis

14. Market Shares Analysis

15. Value Chain Analysis

16. Supply Chain Analysis

17. Strategic Analysis

18. Current and Future Market Landscape Analysis

19. Opportunity Analysis

20. Revenue and Volume Analysis

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IndustryARC is a Research and Consulting Firm that publishes more than 500 reports annually, in various industries such as Agriculture, Automotive, Automation & Instrumentation, Chemicals and Materials, Energy and Power, Electronics, Food & Beverages, Information Technology, and Life Sciences & Healthcare .

IndustryARC focuses on cutting-edge technologies and newer applications in a market. Our custom services are designed to provide insights into the global supply-demand gap of markets. Our strong team of analysts enables us to meet the client's needs at speed and with a variety of options.

We look forward to helping clients, becoming the top competitors, and getting real-time recommendations on business strategies and deals. Contact us to find out how we can help you today.HONG KONG, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sixteen China-based companies have been shortlisted as Honourees at the prestigious JNA Awards 2018, reflecting the increasingly significant role that China plays in the international jewellery and gemstone industry. Remarkably 9 of the Honouree companies are first-time entrants. It also marks China as the country with the largest number of Honourees for the second consecutive year, with 16 Chinese companies also received this honour last year. Organised by UBM Asia, the JNA Awards is one of the most prestigious awards programmes in the international jewellery and gemstone industry. Out of 36 Honourees companies from 12 countries and regions this year, 16 of them are from China, covering eight categories. The participation level and quality of Chinese companies joining the Awards have been on the rise impressively since the inaugural edition, which only saw one Honouree from China. A A A The shortlisted Chinese companies are: Beijing Ying Yan Network Technology Co Ltd China Precious Gold Holdings Limited HIERSUN ISMOND Jewelry Technology Co Ltd Mokingran Gold Jewelry Group Co Ltd Shenzhen Darry Jewelry Co Ltd Shenzhen HengFuYingJia Gold Co Ltd Shenzhen Ideal Jewellery Co Ltd Shenzhen Kingli Jewellery Co Ltd Shenzhen Lingchengben Technology Corporation Limited Shenzhen MingFeng Jewellery Co Ltd Shenzhen MOVER Jewellery Co Ltd Shenzhen Perfect Love Diamond Co Ltd Shenzhen Sunfeel Jewelry Co Ltd Zbird / Shanghai Wisdom Jewelry Trading Co Ltd Zhuge-to-store, Fubillion (Fujia Financial Information Service Co Ltd) Letitia Chow, Chairperson of the JNA Awards, Founder of JNA, and Director of Business DevelopmentA -- Jewellery Group at UBM Asia, said, "The Chinese jewellery and gemstone sector has been keen and innovative in meeting the challenges in different areas and aspects of the industry. Their efforts and hard work have certainly paid off by being recognised as Honourees of the Awards. "Based in one of the largest jewellery markets in the world, quite a number of A Chinese enterprises have made it to the Honourees list despite keen competition this year. I sincerely hope that these leading enterprises would inspire more companies in the trade, not only in mainland China but around the world, to achieve excellence and success." The 2018 independent judging panel consists of industry experts, Albert Cheng, Advisor to the World Gold Council (WGC) and former Managing Director, Far East (WGC); James Courage, former Chief Executive Officer of Platinum Guild International (PGI) and former Chairman of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC); Lin Qiang, President and Managing Director of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE); Mark Lee, Research Director of Asia Pacific Institute for Strategy (APIFS); Nirupa Bhatt, Managing Director of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in India and the Middle East; and Yasukazu Suwa, Chairman of Suwa & Son, Inc. JNA Awards 2018 is supported by Headline Partners Chow Tai Fook, the Shanghai Diamond Exchange, and the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones together with Honoured Partners KGK Group, Guangdong Gems & Jade Exchange, and Guangdong Land Holdings Limited. The JNA Awards is a ticketed event. Book your tickets for the prestigious Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner now at http://www.JNAAwards.com/ For more information, visitA www.JNAawards.comA or contact:

JNA Awards Marketing

UBM Asia (Hong Kong)A

+852 2516-2184

marketing@jnaawards.com A Photo -A https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/736172/Inside_G__I_DoG__sG___posh_flagship_store_by_HIERSUN.jpg

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Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/714461/UBM_CMYK_Logo.jpg ACPA statement in support of ALCOA workers

The Communist Party of Australia stands in solidarity with the 1,600 ALCOA workers who have been on strike for three weeks and counting. They have demonstrated their resolve by committing to an indefinite strike.

ALCOA workers are showing other working people the power of the collective and how to fight against the worsening capitalist agenda that faces us all today.

We urge all to support their struggle for dignified pay and job security. The CPA calls on all workers to join their unions and become active in the workplace.

Only the organised working class can and must defeat their oppressors. Change the rules, certainly, but we must press on to change the system! Fighting is our only hope of winning!Truckies hard road

Truck drivers are demanding urgent action as a major study by Monash University shows the main factors making it Australias deadliest job.

Truck drivers are 13 times more likely to die at work than any other profession while the long hours, social isolation, time pressure and lack of job control also make it one of the unhealthiest jobs, according to the study which based its findings on compensation claims over a 12-year period.

The study, launched at Parliament House in Canberra last week, also shows there are serious implications for the wider economy because of truck driver health and safety: 1 million weeks of work were lost because of injury.

Truck drivers are being utterly failed, said Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine. They are being bashed, broken and killed because of their jobs. These are alarming findings which require serious action, not platitudes, voluntary codes or misguided regulation which dont tackle the real cause of the problems: the economics of the industry.

The TWU points to wealthy retailers and manufacturers at the top of the transport supply chain continually demanding low cost contracts which results in financial pressure on transport operators and drivers. In this climate transport operators are not able to maintain their trucks and drivers are forced to work while chronically fatigued and stressed out for long hours away from their families.

They are constantly under pressure which results in crashes, deadly incidents at yards and poor mental health.

We are demanding that the federal government addresses the causes behind the problems highlighted in this report, said Kaine.

Wealthy retailers and manufacturers at the top must be held to account for their low-cost contracts. Pressure must be taken off transport so that drivers can go to work and be safe and healthy, he added.

It is vital we tackle this problem since freight demand is expected to double. Truck driving is the most common occupation among working men, employing 200,000 truck drivers in Australia.

Truck driver Tony Matthews said many of his friends suffer from chronic health problems, directly related to the stress of the job.

The health and safety problems for truck drivers arent changing. Strains, tears, injuries in the yard have become part of the job and they are linked to the pressure drivers are under to get the job done while putting food on the table. We need a system to make our jobs and roads safer, he said.

In April 2016 the federal government abolished a system backing safe rates that was holding wealthy companies to account for low cost contracts, which do not allow their goods to be delivered safely. This was despite the governments own report showing a link between road safety and the pay rates of drivers and that the safe rates system would reduce truck crashes by 28 percent.

Since the tribunal was torn down 416 people have died in truck crashes. This includes the horror truck crash in Western Australia two days ago in which a young mother and her 10-year-old son were killed and an elderly woman killed in a NSW crash yesterday involving a garbage truck.

The study shows there were 545 compensated fatalities among truck drivers over a 12-year period. This is 13 times higher than the figure for all other workers. Three out of four truck driver deaths are due to vehicle crashes. But they are also dying from being hit or hitting objectsand falls, trips and slips.

The study also shows:

Work-related injuries and diseases resulted in over 120,000 accepted compensation claims between 2004-2015. This amounted to over one million lost weeks of work; 17 percent of this working time loss was due to vehicle crashes. The remaining 83 percent of these weeks lost were due to other causes such as slips and trips, falls, noise, physical and psychological stress.

Musculoskeletal injuries and fractures made up the vast bulk of accepted claims.

But mental health is a major factor when the amount of time needed off is taken into consideration: half of drivers with mental health conditions were off work for 10 weeks or longer.

The study shows risk factors for truck drivers: Long-haul truck drivers may be exposed to multiple risk factors in their workplace including long working hours, sedentary roles, poor nutrition, social isolation, shift work, time pressure, low levels of job control, and fatigue.

It adds: Truck drivers are exposed to a variety of occupational stressors such as constant time pressures, social isolation, disrespectful treatment from others, driving hazards and violence or fear of violence.He leaves behind a wife and four children ...

A 45-year-old Tamil asylum seeker has died in Brisbane after a suicide attempt at the Logan hospital last Friday. The Tamil man received an initial rejection of his protection application several weeks ago, and fell into a deep depression.

He was admitted to Logan hospital after his friends became concerned for his welfare after he stopped eating.

On Friday August 24, he attempted suicide in the Logan hospital and was subsequently found to be brain dead.

His life support was turned off on Sunday August 26.

He leaves behind a wife and four children in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil asylum seeker arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 and was among the first group of asylum seekers sent to Nauru by the Labor government under Julia Gillard.

These asylum seekers were brought back to Australia in 2014 in return for agreeing that their asylum claims (that were underway in Nauru) would be re-assessed in Australia. Most of them have been kept waiting for years and have only been allowed to make their claim in the last 12 months.

This Tamil asylum seeker is another casualty of deliberately harsh policies designed to break people who make asylum claims, said Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition. They are denied natural justice and have been subjected to unacceptable delays, and denied legal help. More asylum seekers in the community are destitute because the government has cut off all support for them. Now, the governments policies have taken another life.

The responsibility lies with the government and the new Minister, David Coleman. It is inevitable that there will more casualties both onshore and offshore unless the policy changes. Business as usual is not an option.

Pacific Islands Forum

Last minute efforts are underway on Nauru to get all families and children out of the mouldy tents of RPC 3, the family compound, before the Pacific Islands Forum gets underway in Nauru on September 1.

Requests by families to move out of RPC 3 were rejected as recently as August 7 (by Australian Border Force), but now families are being hurriedly moved to other settlement areas.

On 27 August 27 the tents that housed the families for five years were being demolished. Scores of white vans and new police motor-bikes have recently been donated by Australia, while black Toyota SUVs have been donated by India.

Refugees on the island fear that security zones are going to be established to prevent any contact between the media and refugees during the Forum.

To prevent contact, some refugee services are being relocated to keep workers and refugees away from the area around the main settlement area and the Menen Hotel where some of the Forum events will take place.

The Australian and Nauru governments are going to extraordinary efforts to cover up the abuse of refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru, said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, Families have been kept in misery in mouldy tents for five years, but they can be re-housed overnight when Naurus reputation is in front of the international media.

Demolishing the tents and providing new cars to drive around in, wont hide the reality of the abuse that Nauru is now internationally identified with.

Around two or three children or families are now coming off Nauru each week, such is the damage and distress deliberately inflicted on refugees by the Australian government. Two more families were flown off Nauru to Australia on the weekend.Disaster a capitalists dream

New Orleans: If the people of Puerto Rico want to see the future of their public education system, they need only look to New Orleans. Panellists at the Netroots Nation conference here this past weekend explored the eerie similarities in the reforms of two different school systems in the aftermath of disastrous hurricanes.

In a session called Hurricane Lessons: What Weve Learned from Post-Katrina Disaster Capitalism in NOLA Schools, experts compared Puerto Ricos current crisis-overloaded education system to that of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Their conclusion? NOLAs education reform story is a lesson for Puerto Rico. The disaster capitalists who swoop in after catastrophic events promising new investment are not coming to help the kids. Their playbook calls for profits. In Puerto Ricos case, those profits are to be made off the backs of the islands communities and brown kids. These privatisation hawks are teaming up to take the island, just like they did New Orleans after Katrina.

The president of the American Federation of Teachers of Puerto Rico, Dr Aida Diaz, wrote about the toll that the poor state of the public school system was having on students even before the hurricane. Her 2017 letter exposed a problem that has only worsened since.

Speaking about the cuts imposed, Diaz wrote, The problem will be especially acute in our poorest and most rural areas, where parents have had to drive their children for hours to attend school because transportation services have been cut and nearby schools have closed.

Hurricane Maria destroyed the island territory in October the same year, sending the system into crisis.

Diazs words echo those of parents like Netroots panellist Karen Harper Royal who admits that New Orleans school system was also in dire need of reform before Hurricane Katrina hit in September 2005. In fact, the disaster capitalist strategy used the pre-Katrina mess to convince the government to privatise a large portion of the education system in New Orleans. Over 91 percent of students in the city now attend charters  compared to five percent before the storm.

Each school in New Orleans was given a separate administration and district boundaries were erased. This also meant a vital service became unavailable to families who desperately needed it. Royal says she was told that her kids would be going to new schools in other parts of the city, but there would be no bussing. Royal sued to get her kids and others in the neighbourhood access to transportation  something that Puerto Rican parents may have to do as well.

Royal says the plan for New Orleans was for the reformers to work their way into the system and try out different ways of generating profit through the schools under the guise of helping them recover from the hurricane. The disaster became the best way to accomplish this. Royal told the audience during the panel just how insidious the plan was in those early days. Capitalists circled the hurricane ravaged city at a time when it was still recovering and needed government and public services more than ever.

According to Royal, the disaster capitalists used New Orleans and its kids for a massive post-Katrina experiment. Certainly, our school system needed improvement [before Katrina], but what the so-called reformers created was something that was much more difficult for people who were trying to recover from a major disaster to navigate. All because they wanted to try out their idea of what would work in public education.

Bad becomes worse ... for the poor, dark, and disabled

After getting past the dilemma of unreliable bussing, when kids got to school they found teachers who were oftentimes untrained and uncertified. A month after Katrina, all of New Orleans teachers were fired  about 7,000 of them, primarily people of colour. The new ones hired were from outside the community and overwhelmingly white.

There were also no regular school nurses or medical services to help New Orleans school children with asthma, heart conditions and so many more chronic conditions requiring day-to-day assistance while kids are at school. Royal explained how the students that needed daily medication or oversight by trained medical professionals were on their own. Kids with learning disabilities were left by the wayside.

Royal calls the for-profit groups the Charter School Mafia. They not only governed the majority of New Orleans schools after Katrina, but also pushed the state legislature to set up pro-charter policies that made reopening neighbourhood schools nearly impossible. Royals community worked to reopen their neighbourhood school yet were forced to turn it into a charter school after putting in the work to resurrect the place after the hurricane.

Now, 13 years later, parents, teachers, activists and others are still struggling to free their communities from the system that took hold after Katrina. Mum, writer, and activist Ashana Bigard is candid about the so-called reform efforts and their effect on New Orleans neighbourhoods and the people who live in them.

People talk about the success of the New Orleans school choice system ... . If your goal was to educate children, help communities, create citizens who truly understand their community ... and know how to be citizens of that community, then that was a failure.

She adds, But if your goal was to break up the black community, break up the black power structure, and take wealth from an already poor community, from under-educated people, and to condition and to control ... then yes, it was all a beautiful success.

Profits and propaganda

Trump administration Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos claims that charters give families more options. Education becomes marketplace, with schools competing for students, who essentially are viewed just like potential customers. Schools are supposedly forced to step up and provide better programs and instruction if they want to win over students and their families.

However, we now know the opposite is true. Charter schools worsen the system, while draining resources and money from that community. Furthermore, public school practices have been found to benefit students and communities much more than charters ever could.

However, just like they did in New Orleans, the disaster capitalists are now pushing private charter schools to help Puerto Rico out of its debt and restore its education system. And theyve got government help. The islands governor signed a bill in March this year creating charter schools and vouchers, though it is currently being held up by courts. Teachers and their unions are opposed, but Puerto Ricos education secretary, Julia Keleher, is still pushing a charter system. So are DeVos (Secretary of Education) and Trump in Washington.

Why would they do so in the face of all the evidence to the contrary?

Julian Vasquez Helig, an education professor at California State University Sacramento, explains: We have to go back and ask ourselves the question, Why are we experimenting on our children, when we know that works? We know what kind of investments it takes to make schools work. Speaking of New Orleans, he argues that what reformers are really interested in doing is education reform on the cheap, so they can profit and privatise on the backs of black children. The brown children in Puerto Rico are just as profitable, it seems.

Katrina wiped the slate clean on a problem that the state was desperate to hand over to someone else. Enter privatisation, where the school system is saved from crisis and the bureaucratic red tape that capitalists accuse of tanking any government-run system. It doesnt matter that there are still problems (ones worse than before); the state is no longer responsible.

Using the same playbook on Puerto Rico

Puerto Ricos school system and its public finances could be fixed with an injection of relief funds and cash to get rid of the debt, but no one wants to do that when the stage is set for a NOLA remix.

The charter advocates are waiting for the public schools to fall even further into crisis, pushing the privatisation solution closer to reality. Then, the creditors will swoop in to feed on the carcass and the charter companies will come in under the guise of saving the schools. Meanwhile, disaster capitalists will rake in the profits on the backs of already impoverished and suffering communities.

Its a playbook of sorts, one that might seem sure to win with Trump in office and DeVos deleting protective policies and painting the negative numbers with rosy propaganda. However, the lessons learned by activists, parents, teachers, unions, and students after Katrina offer valuable information that could help Puerto Rico save itself. This is ammo the islands people need to send the disaster capitalists away  if they can get anyone else on the mainland to listen.

Peoples WorldEthiopias coup turmoil

Nearly five months after a change in power in Ethiopia, the country is witnessing an outbreak of deadly communal violence in several regions. The surge in conflict has come after many years of political stability in the Horn of Africa nation, stirring fears that the country may be facing widespread chaos and even break-up.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

There are also suspicions that the unprecedented instability is part of a US-backed geopolitical realignment, one which shifts Ethiopia from its strategic economic partnership with China, towards being a client of American-backed Arab regimes. This shift is happening without national consensus, driven by a new ruling faction. It is a fait accompli. Tantamount to a coup.

In April this year, the Ethiopian parliament voted a new Prime Minister into office. The opaque selection process seemed to involve a lot of horse-trading. A youthful Abiy Ahmed (41) emerged as the new leader. He has won wide praise in Western media and from the US government in particular for supposedly introducing positive reforms.

For example, he released hundreds of political prisoners, ended a state of emergency, and condemned past alleged human rights violations by security forces. The condemnation was less admission; more a ploy to undermine the previous government with a false label of state terrorism.

Abiy Ahmed, who is commonly referred to simply by his first name, has declared an internal peace process with a militant group known as the Oromo Liberation Front (OFL), and he has welcomed back exiled political figures from the US and other countries reportedly in the name of forgiveness.

Internationally, the new Prime Minister initiated a rapid rapprochement with neighbouring Eritrea, overcoming nearly 20 years of bitter dispute following a three-year border war (1998-2001). The two countries formally declared peace last month.

These apparent progressive changes, however, are more plausibly a misreading of a disturbing reorientation of Ethiopias politics. While the Western media are portraying premier Abiy as a pro-democracy liberal, there is a darker side to what is going on.

Last week, Abiy welcomed senior officials from the Saudi and Emirati Gulf states. Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir visited on the same day that he made an earlier stopover in Eritrea where he was warmly received by Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki. The Gulf Arab regimes are long-time sponsors of Eritrea. Ethiopias sudden affiliation with the Arab despots has left many Ethiopians worried that their country is covertly being shunted in a more sinister direction.

What appears to be underway is a geopolitical shift in which Ethiopia is gravitating to the orbit of the United States and its Middle East clients, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. That has implications for Ethiopias erstwhile strategic economic partnership with China, as well as dangerously stoking the countrys internal tensions.

The recent flare-up of conflict and tensions in Ethiopia are complex, reflecting the fact that the nation of 100 million is comprised of 84 ethnic peoples. The mainly Christian Orthodox country has also a large Muslim population. There are thus several flash-points, which could explode into widespread violence.

Recently, the countrys eastern region bordering Somalia saw dozens of churches attacked and several priests reportedly killed. The danger is that reprisals could lead to a sectarian conflagration. People are nervously anticipating more violence as the country seems to be teetering on a sharp edge.

There have also been other deadly clashes in southern, central and western regions. Notably, the sparse Western media coverage tends to depict the violence as occurring in spite of reformist Abiy Ahmed. Whereas, more accurately, the surge in violence appears to be the responsibility of the new ruling faction around the prime minister.

The former central authorities in Addis Ababa were dominated by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF hail from the northern region bordering Eritrea. They were the main revolutionary force that overthrew the despotic Derg regime in 1990-91. What the new leadership in Addis Ababa seems to be doing is rehabilitating remnants of the Derg. When premier Abiy was in the US earlier this month on a week-long tour, he pointedly shared public stages with exiled figures who had been part of the Derg. When he talks about these exiles returning home, this is not viewed as a progressive reform by many Ethiopians, as the Western media would portray, but rather as a retrograde move that could reignite past conflict.

Ethiopians, especially in the northern Tigray region, fear that Abiy is stealthily pushing a sectarian agenda which will prioritise the dominance of his ethnic group, the Oromo. There is also concern that Abiy, who has Muslim heritage, is aligning with Arab states which could inflame sectarian violence with Christians. A key indicator to watch is if the Saudis and Emiratis start funnelling money into the country to build radicalising mosques.

According to Ethiopian political sources, it is suspected that Abiys rise to power is part of a long-term plan orchestrated by Washington and its Arab allies to fundamentally reorient the Horn of Africa region away from Chinas economic influence. Over the past two decades, China has partnered with Ethiopia as a model for African development. The partnership was very much encouraged by the TPLF-dominated government. That alignment seems now to be eroding under Abiy. He has, for example, made provocative public comments deriding the TPLF and some of the countrys flagship development projects, in which China had played a key role.

It is also significant that Emirati officials were in Eritrea earlier this month where they announced plans for building a major oil pipeline from Ethiopia to the Red Sea via the Eritrean port of Assab. Ethiopia recently discovered significant oil reserves in its eastern region.

By shifting Ethiopia away from China into the sphere of the US and Arab influence  with lucrative gains for American capital of course  the Oromo Prime Minister is nevertheless unleashing combustible tensions within Ethiopia along ethnic and religious lines.

There are fears that a Christian-Muslim conflict could erupt, or that the Oromo and Tigray ethnic groups are driven towards civil war. Some of the Oromo supporters of Abiy Ahmed, whom he brought back from exile, have been making incendiary public statements calling for vengeance against the Tigray. There is also a sinister jihadist hue among these firebrands, consistent with the sponsorship of Saudi and Emirati Wahhabi rulers.

Ethiopia is on a knife-edge which could descend into widespread violence. But one thing is sure, the Western medias spinning of a reformist new leader, Abiy Ahmed, is way off the mark. The Prime Minister seems more like a Trojan Horse figure whose entrance to office is primarily serving the geopolitical interests of Washington and its Arab client regimes, while jeopardising his own countrys stability.

Far from this political development being pro-democracy and progressive, as Western media are mis-reporting, it is more akin to a foreign-backed coup against Ethiopias international independence.

International Clearing HouseCulture & Life

Humans now the greatest threat to Earth  so why dont we hear about it?

Humans are placing themselves in peril as they eliminate the environment upon which they rely to survive. Much of the blame for the increasingly harmful effects can be laid at the door of the worlds rich states, many of which are located in the West, such as the US, Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.

The human assaults upon the Earth have sharply risen in intensity over the past 40 years  as the deadly era of corporate neoliberalism, aided by compromised governments and media, pushes countless species over the edge. The wealthy nations most responsible for the crisis have wrought a new geological age upon the globe, the Anthropocene, which can be traced to the Industrial Revolution beginning in Britain in 1760.

The Anthropocene is the era in which humans are overwhelmingly affecting the climate and environment. The most serious outcome of this global assault is climate change, which is rapidly worsening while reducing to derision conservative and pseudo-scientific forecasts.

Should current government policies continue, it bodes ill for the condition of the world by the year 2100. Based on current trends a recent study from the medical journal, Lancet Planetary Health, reveals that 80 years from now 150,000 people in Europe are expected to perish annually due to heat waves.

Despite the threats, in which climate change and nuclear weapons cast a shadow over everything, there is barely a word of warning coming from Establishment circles.

For many months, front page news has been focused on the nonsense of Russian meddling in the US election and Brexit negotiations  while subjects that define the Earth go unmentioned or are cast to the shadows.

Over the previous four decades governments, mainstream media and television networks have surrendered to the growing power of financial institutions  whereby the public has little input into the information they receive.

One need only open a major newspaper today to find 20-page supplements dedicated to business or property, while a fraction of that is afforded to world news events. The situation is further exacerbated by the ongoing decline of intellectual culture in the West. Influenced by abundant commercial propaganda, large sections of First World populations have been diverted towards superficial consumerism, distracted by the latest technology and other fabricated wants.

Traditional, and important activities such as the reading of books and other literature has become a rarer sight. In March 2018, it was reported that one in four Americans had not read a single book within the past year. This has been a continuing trend across the West and is already having serious implications, leading to the decline of the public intellectual.

Meanwhile, also high on the rich list of culpable states are the oil nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, all backed by the West despite having dire human rights records.

In one of the great ironies, should the reliance on lethal fossil fuels like oil continue, states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar will become desolate wastelands in years to come.

Their citizens are already suffering unduly from the very substance their countries elites have grown affluent on.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest exporter of oil, is forecast to expect a 3-5C rise in temperature by the end of this century, making an already sweltering country virtually uninhabitable for humans and much else. Last summer in Saudi Arabia, record temperatures of 53C were recorded in central and eastern parts of the country.

All of the above states have grown rich by their continued plundering of natural resources, therefore increasing the responsibility they now bear to the planet. In another great irony, leading the way in protecting the world are the so-called primitive Indigenous populations, who seek to preserve habitats by keeping fossil fuels like oil in the ground, where it belongs, and protecting rainforests.

For the past five centuries, the Anglo-Saxon and other European races have exploited continents such as Africa and the Americas, acquiring riches at the expense of others.

Today, one can witness the horrendous behaviour of the far-right Italian government  which refuses to accept migrants from African countries that Benito Mussolini invaded in the 1930s and 1940s, such as Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia.

Following fascist Italys attack on Ethiopia in 1935, Mussolinis forces killed tens of thousands of its inhabitants, yet an Ethiopian immigrant is now barred entry to Italy.

In the US, Donald Trumps administration is rejecting people fleeing from Central America  migrants departing countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala, which have not recovered from the Ronald Reagan-backed invasions of the 1980s. Nor are many from Honduras now allowed citizenship in the US.

This despite a 2009 US-supported coup which helped turn Honduras into one of the poorest and most violent countries in the world. Hondurans are also suffering due to worsening climate change, despite hardly contributing to the problem; the US is further accountable as it produces the second highest greenhouse gas emissions on Earth.

Ireland, a crucial ally and outpost of US corporate power, has also become a major culprit in regard to climate change  having long had among the worst climate records on the European continent. With a population well below 10 million, Ireland emits more carbon emissions than 400 million of the planets poorest inhabitants, which is over five percent of the entire human population.

As can be seen again, the corporate ideology is based on attaining short-term profits (jobs) at whatever the cost, even if it results in unremitting harm to the planet.

Morning StarContinue Reading Below Advertisement

That's right, the craziness of Pulgasari's plot is nothing compared to the story of how the movie was made in the first place. Its director, Shin Sang-ok, was a South Korean who was kidnapped on the orders of Kim Jong-il, who was a big-time movie buff before he became a small-time dictator. Kim even tricked the original Godzilla crew, complete with actual Godzilla actor Kenpachiro Satsuma, to come over and help with the special effects. Shin and his wife did manage to escape North Korea eventually, but not before making several more terrible movies. Meaning the only thing Kim Jong-il ever successfully nuked was Shin's Rotten Tomatoes score.

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Any bozo could write a better Godzilla knockoff with a beginner's guide to Celtx. Or, you know, not under duress by a dictator.

Support your favorite Cracked writers with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and you.

For more, check out Why Did Pirates Really Wear Eyepatches? and How A Guy Trying To Turn Pee Into Gold Changed Human History.

Also, we'd love to know more about you and your interesting lives, dear readers. If you spend your days doing cool stuff, drop us a line at iDoCoolStuff at Cracked dot com, and maybe we can share your story with the entire internet.

Follow us on Facebook. Because, why not?





Discover the History You Missed... and so much more! One Cracked Fact delivers one new story from the worlds of history, science and pop culture, directly to your inbox every day. Sign up now! SIGN ME UPIn response to this aggressive behavior, the mayor of Brest has promptly placed a ban on swimming or diving in the area, telling people to stay at least 50 feet away from the horny dolphin and proving that Jaws could've had a happy ending if it had been rated R (and not for violence).

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Why can't Zafar just find another nice dolphin to settle down with? According to Elizabeth Hawkins, lead researcher with Dolphin Research Australia, it's because this pervy porpoise has become a "social outcast" from the dolphin community. If that's the case, all the town has to do to rid themselves of this sexually inappropriate creep who likes to corner women is wait is nine months, after which he can go back and perform 15-minute sets at the Comedy Cellar.

For more weird tangents and his personal recipes for toilet wine, do follow Cedric on Twitter.

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Support your favorite Cracked writers with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

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Get More of This! Sign up for the One Cracked Fact newsletter to get even more craziness from our weird world sent to your inbox every day! SIGN ME UPDoes the name Tendayi Achiume ring any bells? She was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism, who came to the UK on an official mission earlier this year to see if Britain had become more racist since voting to leave the EU.

To the surprise of no one  and the delight of the Left and more zealous Remainers  she concluded that it most certainly had. In particular, her muddle-headed report claimed that Brexit had caused a surge in anti-Semitism and that Britain was now in the grip of national panic about Islamic terrorism.

What a pity that Ms Achiume chose to come here instead of, say, Germany. Because if its a surge in ugly, extremist anti-immigrant activity youre looking for  with angry mobs chasing terrified refugees down the street; with shaven-headed thugs hurling abuse at strangers on the basis of their skin colour  then dont waste your time in Britain.

The federal government has now had to offer support to the authorities in the city of Chemnitz  in what used to be East Germany  following violence in which 18 people were injured. The rioting follows the killing on Sunday of a 35-year-old German man during an altercation with migrants. Police have confirmed that they have arrested a 22-year-old Syrian and a 21-year-old Iraqi on suspicion of manslaughter

Gangs

Go and wander through the friendly, open-hearted European Union and, in particular, the most important nation of the lot. Because when it comes to xenophobia, Germany leaves Brexit Britain for dust  as we are seeing this week.

Here in the UK, the far-Right has all but vanished and even Ukip is a busted flush. The most alarming signs of racism entering the political mainstream are to be found on the Left of Jeremy Corbyns Labour Party with its growing vilification of Zionists.

Disturbing though the language of the Corbynistas may be, it is nothing compared with what we are witnessing on the Continent. Just look at the latest scenes in Saxony, where riot police have been breaking up rampaging gangs of far-Right (and a few far-Left) protesters in recent days.

The federal government has now had to offer support to the authorities in the city of Chemnitz  in what used to be East Germany  following violence in which 18 people were injured. The rioting follows the killing on Sunday of a 35-year-old German man during an altercation with migrants. Police have confirmed that they have arrested a 22-year-old Syrian and a 21-year-old Iraqi on suspicion of manslaughter. Prosecutors said the catalyst for the killing was a verbal confrontation that grew out of control.

The Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has now appealed for calm. What we have seen is something which has no place in a constitutional democracy, she said yesterday. We have video recordings of [people] hunting down others and hate in the streets.

The authorities were unprepared for what followed. Within hours, street fighting had erupted, inflamed by wildfire rumours on social media. Since then, there has been film footage of demonstrators performing Nazi salutes and chanting the national resistance is marching here, and disturbing reports of gangs attacking anyone looking non-German.

The Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has now appealed for calm. What we have seen is something which has no place in a constitutional democracy, she said yesterday. We have video recordings of [people] hunting down others and hate in the streets.

Yet, all over Germany and across the political spectrum, millions are pointing the finger of blame right back at Mrs Merkel. They cite her decision in 2015 to open her nations doors to all-comers, regardless of need or motive.

As a result, 1.6 million migrants made their way into the EU courtesy of the people-smuggling gangs on Europes eastern borders. Some were genuine refugees; many were from peaceful but poor nations simply seeking a better life.

This weeks violence highlights the spread of the far-Right. The leader of the AfD in Saxony, Jorg Urban, has criticised the latest violence as the work of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), saying: The AfD expressly distances itself from any form of violence and expressly warns against participation in the demonstrations

However, the Chancellor neither asked her nation nor the rest of the EU before making a decision that has caused profound divisions across German society.

For a while, Mrs Merkel was the toast of enlightened opinion-formers everywhere. Come December 2015, Time magazine named her its Person of the Year for asking more of her country than most politicians would dare.

Within days, that award had backfired. Millions of Germans were shocked by alarming stories of young women being molested during New Years Eve celebrations in Cologne.

Pounding

Initially, the authorities had tried to bury the story, talking of a few isolated incidents. Finally, the German media exposed the truth: up to 1,200 women had reported being sexually assaulted by around 2,000 men right across Germany. Half of the suspects turned out to be new arrivals.

As a result, Mrs Merkels reputation and that of her party has been taking a pounding ever since, while a new and increasingly respectable extreme Right-wing party  the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD)  continues to make ground. Once the revered politician of the continents pre-eminent economic powerhouse, Mrs Merkel was left clinging on after last autumns general election. At the same time, the AfD grabbed 94 seats in parliament and are now the leading opposition party.

Not only did it take Mrs Merkel and her Christian Democrats (CDU) six months to form a coalition government, but it all nearly fell apart just two months ago after deep divisions over immigration.

Violence

Her next big test comes in a matter of weeks when the people of Germanys largest state, Bavaria, hold elections for the regional parliament.

Until now, this has been an impregnable heartland for Mrs Merkels Bavarian partners, the CSU  but not any more. Repeated polls show that the CSU is likely to lose its fat majority as the AfD continues to make inroads. They did the same thing in Mrs Merkels own state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, two years ago, pushing her Christian Democrats into third place.

This weeks violence highlights the spread of the far-Right. The leader of the AfD in Saxony, Jorg Urban, has criticised the latest violence as the work of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), saying: The AfD expressly distances itself from any form of violence and expressly warns against participation in the demonstrations.

Other AfD politicians, however, have been less critical. As one AfD MP, Markus Frohnmaier, put it: If the state is no longer to protect citizens, then people take to the streets and protect themselves. Its as simple as that!

There is certainly not much of a gap between the AfD and the anti-Islamic Pegida street protest movement that has been organising some of the street protests in Chemnitz.

Other AfD politicians, however, have been less critical. As one AfD MP, Markus Frohnmaier, put it: If the state is no longer to protect citizens, then people take to the streets and protect themselves. Its as simple as that!

In other words, mainstream politics draws closer to mainstream disorder.

During last years German general election, I interviewed a senior member of the AfDs hierarchy in Hamburg  an international lawyer who had been an Oxford contemporary of David Cameron. He pointed out that most of his supporters were not headbanging extremists, but disillusioned ex-supporters of Mrs Merkel. It might be tempting to paint them as neo-Nazis but, in German terms, they are more akin to a very Right-wing Ukip. After all, the AfD even wants to remove Germany from the euro.

The party may have a stance which would be off the radar in the UK  forcibly deporting asylum-seekers who have lodged asylum claims elsewhere, banning the burka etc  but these are no longer regarded as taboo aspirations in Germany, or indeed in other parts of the EU. Nice, caring progressive Denmark, for example, has already banned the burka and is also formally registering immigrant hotspots as ghettos.

Seeing the way in which the popular mood is moving ahead of Octobers elections, Bavarias state government has just issued an extraordinary edict that all public buildings must display a crucifix at the entrance. This is to emphasise the cultural importance of Christianity in public life. Not even Ukip at its fruitiest would have presented a policy like that. And if they did, most of the commentariat would have dismissed it as offensive quasi-racist nonsense. Yet that is now the official policy of Mrs Merkels coalition partners.

Remember all this the next time you hear arch-Remainers accuse Britain of being a narrow, nationalistic little country. Right now, its in Germany  and EU member states like Hungary and Poland  that we find torch-bearing, nationalist mobs on the march. And you dont have to be a historian to hear an echo from the past.Julia Roberts is an expert at portraying love on the big screen, but for her latest turn in front of the cameras, the Oscar winner put aside her own romantic roles and tried her hand at playing matchmaker instead.

In a new fragrance campaign for Lancome, the 50-year-old uses her trademark smile - the same beam that has captured hearts the world over and helped to propel Julia to global stardom - in order to spread joy and happiness to those around her.

The dreamy clip, which was shot by French filmmaker Bruno Aveillan, takes place in Paris, and shows Julia wondering the streets of the city at night, looking radiant in a simple cream dress and metallic heels.

Happiness: Julia Roberts uses her signature smile to full effect in her latest campaign for beauty brand Lancome

Standing out: The 50-year-old actress's latest ad for the brand is set in Paris

Spreading joy: In the film, Julia is seen spreading joy to those around her, including a particularly upset couple who were in the middle of a tense argument

Set to an a capella remake of Rihanna's Diamonds, the video - which promotes the brand's La vie est belle fragrance - captures a surreal take on the French capital, with the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the background against a vibrant purple sky.

But while the mother-of-three has a smile on her face, and seems delighted to be soaking up the sights and sounds of the city, she is surrounded by frowning faces, with the people around her seemingly preoccupied by the stresses and worries in their everyday lives.

Many of them are focused on their phones, others are blocking out the world with headphones, and one particularly upset couple is engaged in an angry argument.

A live band can be seen playing in the background, but they are being ignored by the people around them, who appear unable to see beyond their own bad moods.

Determined to change the bleak atmosphere, a smiling Julia takes matters into her own hands, opting to pursue drastic action by removing her silvery heels and taking a step into a large fountain in front of her.

Almost immediately, the water begins to sparkle, spraying those standing near it with glittering streams of water.

Taking a dip! In an attempt to rouse the crowds around her out of their funk, Julia takes off her shoes and steps into a large fountain

Shine bright: Set to an a capella version of Rihanna's Diamonds, the video then sees the Oscar winner splashing sparkling water on the 'annoyed' people around her

Magic: As soon as the sparkling water touches the people around her, they begin to loosen up

Special: The film, which was shot by French filmmaker Bruno Aveillan, is set in the French capital, but was actually filmed at Universal Studios in LA

Landmark: At one point, Julia is seen gazing out at the glittering Parisian skyline

And - as if by magic - the moods of the bystanders begin to improve, thanks in large part to a few encouraging smiles and nods from Julia.

As the shimmering water begins to splash in the air, people can't help but look up from their phones or their tense and angry conversations, with some left completely mesmerized by the sight in front of them.

Phones are pocketed, headphones are removed, hair is flipped and music is turned up as Julia walks among the once-grumpy crowds that have quickly been livened up thanks to her daring fountain dip.

She then focuses her attentions on the angry couple, quietly slipping a pink rose into the hand of the man, mouthing 'shh' at him in the process, so he can pass it on to his furious partner and boost her mood.

The release of the fragrance ad comes just a few weeks after Lancome shared a series of stunning behind-the-scenes teaser images that showed the star - who has been an ambassador for the brand since 2009 - as the life and soul of the party.

Captured by photographer Alexi Lubomirski, the images captured Julia on the Trocadero esplanade, standing out from the 'preoccupied' and 'annoyed' people around her thanks to her wide smile.

Love connection: Julia hands a rose to a man who is seen arguing with his partner in an attempt to help them make up

Matchmaker: She then slips away quietly, leaving the man to make amends with his loved one

Gorgeous: Julia flaunts her youthful looks in the campaign, which includes both still images and film

Stay tuned... Earlier this month, the brand released teaser images from the shoot that gave a sneak peek at what was to come

Inspiration: In the ad, her happiness is infectious and spreads to those around her

'With just a simple gesture, or a smile, Julia Roberts suffuses the space around her with happiness,' said the brand.

'In these moments, Julia helps [to] transform the ordinary into the extraordinary: happiness is even truer when its shared.

On their choice of spokesmodel, Lancome went on: 'Julia gives off a sense of heartfelt happiness that would melt the coldest heart.

'With this new chapter, Lancome reasserts its deep and sincere connection with women, and the vision of universal, free-spirited femininity that La vie est belle is such a lovely declaration of.'

While the ad is set in Paris, it was actually shot at Universal Studios in LA in a big production with 90 extras.

It's no wonder Julia got the star treatment, especially considering that she has worked with the brand for nearly a decade. She first signed with them in 2009, and appeared in her first campaign in 2010.Rosie Rechichi was by her boyfriend Michael Owens' side when he died from an aggressive form of leukaemia - just five days after he was diagnosed.

The sprightly 23-year-old dental hygienist from Adelaide had complaints about a sore neck before doctors discovered he actually had late stages of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).

Rosie, who had been in a long distance relationship with him from Perth for almost a year, will never forget the last words he said to her in April.

Rosie Rechichi (left) was by her boyfriend Michael Owens' (right) side when he died from an aggressive form of leukaemia - just five days after he was diagnosed

'I stayed the night with him in ICU and I was laying on the bed talking and trying to comfort him,' the 21-year-old told FEMAIL.

'We started talking about us and our future together and he was adamant that he was going to get himself better for that reason. He asked me to marry him and I said yes without any hesitation.

'We just knew that our relationship was made to last and I think that has been the hardest thing for me to come to terms with. When you love someone the amount that I loved Michael you just know when it's right and it was completely right for us.'

Doctors at Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia were originally concerned he had pneumonia as well as the blood cancer so decided to put him to sleep before beginning chemotherapy treatment on Monday.

They wanted to ensure he was as well rested as possible to fight both the illnesses.

But it wasn't a chest infection Michael had, but rather the cancer had progressed so far along his chest was filled with it - making it hard for him to breathe.

Sadly, Michael didn't make it to Monday.

Doctors at Royal Alfred Hospital in South Australia were originally concerned he had pneumonia as well as the blood cancer so decided to put him to sleep (Michael and Rosie in hospital)

'I remember just breaking down once he had been put to sleep and calling my mum in Perth to come over,' Rosie said.

'It was so much to take in and I finally didn't have to put on a brave face for him. Everything happened so quickly over the weekend that I never got to share with anyone besides Michael's parents the story of him proposing.

'It wasn't something that I wanted to celebrate when he wasn't even awake to be apart of. Still to this day I have kept it very much to myself as it was such a personal and beautiful moment shared between us and my last memory with him.'

Rosie and Michael met the previous year in Croatia while travelling around Europe with a group of friends.

While things started as an innocent summer fling they quickly progressed to something far more long-term, with the pair Facetiming and calling as soon as they returned home to their respective states.

'We aimed to see each other once a month, sometimes it would be more than that and sometimes less. The excitement to see each other is what made the distance worth it,' she explained.

'We were so comfortable and open about our future plans together very early on and I think that's what fuelled our relationship despite the distance.

Rosie and Michael (pictured) met the previous year in Croatia while travelling around Europe with a group of friends

'I was planning to move over for a few years but we were both pretty set on coming back to Perth later down the track as I come from such a big family and Michael loved that as he didn't have that in Adelaide.'

Michael's father Peter Owens spoke to FEMAIL about the 'kind and generous soul' he lost and how sweet Michael was with the women around him.

'My fondest memories are around his interaction with his mother and how he cared for her,' Peter said.

'He was five inches taller than her and when he hugged her and kissed her on the forehead she melted. He did the same for his grandmother as well with the same result. She is 92.'

We did not know it was our last conversation or we would not have left the hospital.

It was that deep love and respect he poured into his relationship with Rosie.

'Every time Michael talked about Rosie, which was all the time, his eyes lit up and he had a smile on his face.

'He told his mum in hospital the night before Rosie arrived "She's the one, mum. I am going to ask her to marry me" which he did just before they put him to sleep to attach the machine to help him breathe.'

Peter's last conversation with his son was brief - mainly because he didn't know it would be the final one - and is something he hasn't come to terms with.

'The problem was we did not know it was our last conversation or we would not have left the hospital,' he admitted.

Peter's (left) last conversation with his son was brief - mainly because he didn't know it would be the final one - and is something he hasn't come to terms with (pictured with Michael's mother Debbie)

'Rosie was with him and they were happy together so my wife, Debbie, and myself told him to try and get some sleep and we told him we loved him.

'Not much of a conversation but he was with his Rosie so he was in good hands.

'We did not know we would never talk to him again which is something we struggle with every day.'

The grief they are still trying to navigate is only made marginally easier when the family peer inside Michael's bedroom.

Peter described what it feels like to be surrounded by his son's most cherished memories.

'I am sitting in my son Michael's room as I have being doing on a regular basis over the last couple of months since his passing,' he said.

'The winter sun is streaming in through the window and the heat of the glass gives some comfort in a season that is cold and empty.

'My eyes are fixed to the photos that cover nearly the whole of one wall. These photos tell the story of Michael's life in recent years and he took a great deal of pleasure in updating them every six months or so.

Peter described what it feels like to be surrounded by his son's most cherished memories

'Each one is a moment in time and each one has a story and meaning to him. Some of the stories I know but a lot are a record of his time in this world with people that mattered to him.

'There are other items pinned to the wall that are older like his collection of detention slips from his high school days and his pictures of family over time.

'This wall gives comfort to his mum and I as all have meaning and while that meaning was his, it matters deeply to us as it shows he lived.'

Rosie, Peter and the entire Owens family are working on raising awareness about Acute Myeloid Leukaemia through the Michael Owens AML Fund.

'It has been our way of keeping Michael's name alive but also doing everything that we can to prevent another family from going through the heartache that we currently are,' Rosie said.

'You never understand the pain of losing someone until it happens to you and when it happens to you, you don't wish that pain on anyone else.

'We can only hope that we can contribute to doing something good out of this tragedy.'

The family have created a fund in Michael Owen's honour with all money raised going to researching Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). You can find it here.When Sam Bladwell was 31 weeks pregnant, she had no choice but to give birth to her baby daughter prematurely after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

The pregnant mother, from Brisbane, received the devastating news when she should have been looking forward to the birth of her second child.

Earlier this month, the 36-year-old went to her routine check-up where she complained about experiencing some back pain and shortness of breath.

But nothing could prepare the family for the shock diagnosis that was to follow: she was told she had stage-four metastatic lung cancer despite never touching a cigarette in her life.

Mother Sam Bladwell (left with her husband Cam) was 31 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with lung cancer - despite never smoking in her life

What is lung cancer? Lung cancer is a malignant tumour that grows in an uncontrolled way in one or both of the lungs. Once you have had tests that show you have lung cancer and whether it has spread, your doctor will tell you the stage of the cancer. Stage IV refers to any T and N M1 tumours that are metastatic (advanced cancer) and have spread beyond the lung and regional lymph nodes. Symptoms include: shortness of breath and wheezing

hoarseness

chest pain

coughing or spitting up blood

new cough that does not go away

recurring bronchitis or pneumonia

loss of appetite

unexplained weight loss

fatigue Source: Cancer Council Australia Advertisement

Before starting her life-saving cancer treatment, Mrs Bladwell and her husband Cam welcomed their premature baby girl Cecilia, nicknamed Cece, at 31 weeks.

'In order to start treatment straight away, Sam had to give birth nine weeks prematurely to a beautiful baby girl, Cecilia,' her colleague Jason Olsson-Seeto said.

Little Cecilia has since remained in the neonatal intensive care unit as Mrs Bladwell recovers at home.

'Sam is now at home and her cancer treatment has started,' Mr Olsson-Seeto said.

'Cece is still in the neonatal intensive care unit but hopefully she will be home very soon to join her brother Max and her parents.'

Mr Olsson-Seeto has set up a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise money for the cancer-stricken woman's ongoing medical treatments.

'Sam and Cam have deliberately not asked about prognosis because they plan to work hard to shrink the cancer as much as possible and keep it under control as long as possible so Sam can access any future treatments that might lead to a cure,' he said.

Before starting her cancer treatment, Mrs Bladwell and her husband Cam, who also have a son named Max, welcomed their premature baby girl Cecilia, nicknamed Cece, at 31 weeks

The mother has since been undergoing cancer treatment as her daughter remains in hospital

With more than $44,000 already raised, colleagues, family, and friends have been rallying behind the mother, who has been unable to return to work.

'Fighting cancer is expensive, having a premmie baby is expensive - and not being able to work is expensive. Everything in this situation is expensive,' Mr Olsson-Seeto said.

'It's our turn to help the person who always listens, who's always there, the person who least deserves to have to deal with the situation that Sam now finds herself in.

'I'm hoping you'll join me to offset these costs in even the smallest possible way.'

The money raised will cover baby Cece's medical costs and her mother's cancer treatments.

'All funds donated will help with the day-to-day costs of raising a family with Sam not working while Cecilia is so small and the long-term treatment plan uncertain.'

To make a donation, please visit the GoFundMe page.An Australian design duo has launched a unique pair of pants that 'moisturise' the legs as people wear them.

The lifestyle label, Alex and Trahanas, headed up by Alex Heard and Heleena Trahana, recently unveiled a capsule collection - one featuring clothing made using a special type of aloe vera-blended linen.

The Sydney-based designers said they discovered the niche variety of fabric following a visit to a Northern Italian mill which specialises in the unique blend.

However, there is one small downside to the pants - insofar as the qualities of the aloe-vera infused linen last just six to seven washes.

Sydney designers Alex Heard and Heleena Trahana have created a range of clothing that uses moisture-infused linen

Gel from the aloe vera plant has been used to coat a type of Italian linen at the finishing stage of production

What is aloe vera? The plant is cultivated worldwide, primarily as a crop for aloe gel, which comes from the leaf aloe vera gel has many medicinal properties and is often used in creams and lotions The plant has been used therapeutically for many centuries in China, Japan, India, Greece, Egypt, Mexico, and Japan Source: Medical News Today Advertisement

'We were excited to hear of this new development in linen - a high-quality fabric that we were eager to be the first to launch in Australia,' the pair told Body + Soul.

The linen is created by through a new technique where the fabric is coated with aloe vera gel at the finishing stage.

The designers explain once the fabric comes into contact with the skin it releases its moisturising properties.

As well it's skin softening properties, the aloe vera helps the yarn in the fabric to soften, making it is less prone to creasing.

The pair said they both noticed their skin felt softer after wearing the linen-infused clothing, especially after hot days spent shooting for their upcoming catalogue in the searing Italian heat.

The pants (pictured) created using the moisture-blended fabric cost $420

The moisturising properties of aloe vera have been long touted by those with an affinity for plant-based cosmetics.

Speaking to MailOnline previously, Dr Nigma Talib, a naturopathic doctor whose celebrity clients include Sienna Miller and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley said aloe vera 'is wonderful for the skin'.

'It's soothing and moisturising and contains vitamins A,B,C,D and E as well as minerals and anti-oxidants, which means that it is very healing.

'It is also anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory. However, were now learning that aloe is also anti-ageing.'

The designers have launched a capsule collection featuring dresses, shirts, pants and a throw in classic shades of navy and white

The capsule clothing collection features a range of garments including dresses, $420, shirts, $360, trousers, $420, and throws, $220.

Each has been created using the luxury fabric and come in classic shades of navy or white.There's nothing quite like the satisfaction of landing on a beauty product that no one else knows about, but that works wonders for you.

And right now, there are hundreds of under-the-radar Australian beauty brands that are complete complexion and hair game changers.

From a cult skin purifying 'miracle' mask beloved by Instagram personalities to a chemically-formulated skincare label devised by two doctor parents, here FEMAIL takes a look a the undercover beauty brands that are some of Australia's best kept secrets.

FEMAIL takes a look a the undercover beauty brands that are some of Australia's best kept secrets (pictured: Dr Roebucks Eye Cream treatment)

As the brainchild of the parents of two Australian sisters who suffered from eczema and dry, sensitive skin as kids, the Dr Roebucks line is chemically formulated, but gentle and effective

DR ROEBUCKS

As the brainchild of the parents of two Australian sisters who suffered from eczema and dry, sensitive skin as kids, the Dr Roebucks line is chemically formulated, but gentle and effective.

After learning, perfecting and testing their parents' process, the sisters Kim and Zoe created their own range of clean skin care products to share with the world.

Highlights in the brand include the Perky Collagen Boosting Serum, $75, and their Down Under Collagen Boosting Eye Treatment, $50.

Ingredients like niaciniamide, hyarulonic acid and retinol are all known for their skin-perfecting properties, and the range is stocked in Sephora.

Not so much an under-the-radar label as a beauty brand that is coming of age, Sand & Sky's pink clay mask quickly racked up a 60,000-strong waiting list when it launched last year

SAND & SKY

Their newly-launched Flash Perfecting Exfoliating treatment (pictured) is also a hit

Not so much an under-the-radar label as a beauty brand that is coming of age, Sand & Sky's 'miracle' pink clay mask quickly racked up a 60,000-strong waiting list when it launched last year.

But there's plenty more to the brand than the purifying mask.

Their newly-launched Flash Perfecting Exfoliating treatment, for $59.99, is enriched with 'macadamia and Bamboo to gently remove dead skin cells from the surface'.

'Fruit acids will clear oily debris from deep in your pores. Your skin should feel smooth, clean and mattified,' the website reads.

Organic skincare and 'green beauty' is all the rage right now, and Mukti Organics is at the forefront of this (pictured) - their products are filled with native Australian extracts and they are vegan

MUKTI ORGANICS

Organic skincare and 'green beauty' is all the rage right now, and Mukti Organics is at the forefront of this.

Boasting products filled with only native Australian extracts and indigenous plants, all of their products are cruelty-free and vegan, to cater for the country's burgeoning vegan market.

Each product comes in stylish packaging, and favourites in the range include eye and night serums, and the Vitamin C elixir.

Melbourne-based founder, Mukti, has also recently released a book, Truth In Beauty, aimed at decoding the ingredients in some of your favourite beauty products.

ALPHA H

Alpha H is the product so good it's been described as 'bottled brilliance' and has won countless awards

It's the product so good it's been described as 'bottled brilliance' and has won countless awards.

But Alpha H is still not widely known.

Their 'Liquid Gold' is one of the best chemical exfoliants on the market, but the brand also have many other impressive products.

Founder Michelle Doherty came up with the range, after having suffered with chronic cystic acne in her teenage years and throughout her twenties.

She began a quest to find a product range that would address not just the imbalances of the skin on a daily basis, but one which would help prevent those problems from reoccurring.

Lux Aestiva was designed by a husband and wife duo from Queensland, with the aim of changing how you think about beauty - it's made with pure and natural ingredients

LUX AESTIVA

Lux Aestiva was designed by a husband and wife duo from Queensland, with the aim of changing how you think about beauty.

The pair create artisan hair and skincare products for people who choose to use only pure and natural ingredients on their hair and skin.

Highlights in their range include the Prickly Pear Oil, for $46, which will brighten dull skin, as well as the Aphrodite Hair Oil, $36, which claims to 'repair and strengthen hair'.

Alya Skin made headlines earlier in the year when its 22-year-old male co-founders made $1 million in just four months from their product

ALYA SKIN

Alya Skin made headlines earlier in the year when its 22-year-old male co-founders made $1 million in just four months from their product.

'We were blown away by the growth in sales when we launched. After our first two weeks we had completely sold out of stock,' co-founder Manny Barbas told FEMAIL.

'In our third week we were already over the $50,000 revenue mark per week. This number has grown steadily since launch, and we expect revenue to rise by 300 per cent next year with the launch of new products.'

Their Kaolin clay mask 'helps to remove pigmentation clusters from your skin's surface, as well as stimulate regeneration of skin cells,' according to the website.

Meanwhile, online testimonials show people before and after using the product.

Vegan brand, Maaemo, has been making waves in the skincare industry, thanks to its delicate nature and natural ingredients

MAAEMO

Lastly, vegan brand, Maaemo, has been making waves in the skincare industry, thanks to its delicate nature and natural ingredients.

Founded by 23-year-old student and naturopath, Hillary, the range has 'been effectively formulated to create a harmonious balance of ingredients that have the power to purify, protect and nourish the skin'.

The vegan cleanser has been praised online, because it turns from a gel to a foam.

With a five star rating, some have written comments including: 'Smells amazing & leaves my skin feeling super soft and clean'.

Another posted: 'Everything about this cleanser is perfect. It removes my make up well, even mascara'.Most people tend to stay in relationships with the hope they'll eventually be walking down the aisle with their significant other.

But American relationship counsellor David Bennett warns there are a few major red flags you should be watching out for that suggest a white wedding isn't for you, Popsugar Australia reported.

If you don't find your partner attractive anymore than it's definitely time to walk away, but these four situations might also spell disaster.

Scroll down for video

Most people tend to stay in relationships with the hope they'll eventually be walking down the aisle with that person

1. Your friends aren't big fans of them

When you first get together with a new boyfriend or girlfriend the honeymoon period makes it seem as though everyone is just as in love with them as you are.

But as time goes by cracks might appear between the lines and friends could start awkwardly shuffling around the topic of your partner.

It's not a great way to spend the rest of your life - particularly when your friends and family will be attending gatherings with this person for years to come.

So while the relationship is completely about you and that other person - sometimes you need to factor in everyone else.

2. You're practically begging them to marry you

It shouldn't be too hard to convince your significant other to marry you - in fact, you should both be on the same page to make the nuptials work.

In some cases one person is adamant about the wedding going ahead while the other almost feels 'dragged' along through the process.

These pairings usually end in disaster and inevitable divorce, because one heart wasn't in it from the start.

It shouldn't be too hard to convince your significant other to marry you - in fact, you should both be on the same page to make the nuptials work

3. You have big plans to 'fix' your partner

Not being in love with your partner from the outset - and finding small things that frustrate you about them - will only be enhanced as you grow old together.

'Many people get married expecting it will change their partner. If your partner is a player before marriage, they will be after marriage,' Mr Bennett said.

'If your partner is dramatic and text fights with you all day before marriage, they will be the same after marriage.'

Ultimately you can't just 'change' a person by saying 'I do' so it might be best to steer clear of the topic entirely - or call it quits.

If you're going to enjoy the wedding party surrounded by all your closest friends and not the marriage in general, simply don't do it

4. You're more excited for the wedding day than the lifetime of love

If you're going to enjoy the wedding party surrounded by all your closest friends and not the marriage in general, simply don't do it.

It would be much easier (and cheaper) to simply throw a party than tie the knot in this case.

'Marriage is about committing to a person, which includes a lot of sacrifices and obligations (including legal ones),' he said.Jane Lu has made a name for herself by running things her own way in business.

After quitting her corporate accounting job at the tender age of 18 and quickly falling into debt, the Sydney based entrepreneur went on to start fashion e-store, Showpo, from her parents' garage in 2010.

Showpo has since become a multi-million dollar style empire, with annual sales of more than $30 million last year and an impressive Instagram following of 1.4 million.

Now 32, Ms Lu shared words of career wisdom with Pop Sugar, as well as how she maintains a healthy work-life balance and the best advice she has ever received.

Jane Lu (pictured) has made a name for herself by doing things her own way in business

Despite being a source of dread to many professionals, Ms Lu admitted she loves change because of the constant opportunities it presents.

Her willingness to embrace change is what she attributes her incredible success to, as well as 'perfect timing' which led her to take on the e-commerce space at the ideal juncture.

Asked about her number one motivator when business gets tough, Ms Lu said she's a 'bit of a crammer'.

'I generally push back on things until the last minute and then it's not even an option  I just have to do it,' she told Pop Sugar.

Ms Lu admitted she loves change because of the constant opportunities it presents

JANE LU'S TOP TIPS FOR SUCCESS * Make sure your business model works * Good marketing will help you scale a business - social media has helped grow Showpo into a global success * Hire great people to scale the business even further * Don't compare yourself * Never invest more than you're willing to lose Advertisement

Ms Lu revealed the best piece of advice she was ever given came from her boyfriend in the rather unusual mantra: 'you're not special'.

'Whenever I make excuses for not being able to do something, [he] tells me look, you're not special  if the average joe can do it, I'm sure you can, so just harden the f**k up and get on with it.'

This reminder has helped the businesswoman to overcome fears of public speaking, going on live TV learning how to drive manual and dealing with confrontation, which is what she finds most difficult about business management.

Ms Lu revealed the best piece of advice she was ever given came from her boyfriend in the rather unusual mantra: 'you're not special'

Ms Lu said she uses criticism as motivation to better herself

Ms Lu said she also uses criticism as motivation to better herself.

'I know the criticism that really bothers me are those things I know [deep down] are true, so it's a wake-up call to have to deal with it.'

On managing stress and maintaining a healthy work-life balance, the sartorially savvy CEO revealed she has no trouble leaving work at the office.

To unwind, she likes to drink wine at home, watch television and surround herself with friends.

The sartorially savvy CEO revealed she has no trouble leaving work at the office

'The best part is that my parents, who gave up so much for me to immigrate here from China, don't have to stress about money anymore' - Ms Lu

These days, Showpo is focused on rolling out their new inclusive range from sizes four to 20.

The campaign is underpinned by Showpo's mission that the brand is for girls and women of every size, a message that has received a plethora of positive responses on social media.

The business now works with high-profile 'digital influencers', including Sydney-based bikini model Pia Muehlenbeck.

Ms Lu does things differently when it comes to human resources, taking employees on weekend trips to Byron Bay and on a boat around Sydney Harbour - all a far cry from the 'cubicle' life of her former corporate career.

'The best part is that my parents, who gave up so much for me to immigrate here from China, don't have to stress about money anymore.

'I can't believe I can offer them that,' Ms Lu previously said.A five-year-old girl is taking the internet by storm due to her long luscious locks, racking up almost 50,000 followers on Instagram.

Mia Aflalo, from Tel Aviv, has been hailed a rising star after modelling photos of her stunning dark locks left followers in awe.

The youngster's look is complimented by her beautiful green eyes and cheerful smile, helping to win over fans from all over the world.

Israeli hair stylist Sagi Dahari reportedly helped to make Mia a rising star and her images have even been featured on the British Vogue website.

Mia Aflalo, 5, from Tel Aviv, has been hailed as a rising star after photos of her stunning hair, styled into voluminous curls here, left followers speechless

Little Mia, seen modelling a ballet-inspired ensemble and bow hairstyle, has taken the internet by storm due to her long luscious locks, racking up almost 50,000 followers on Instagram

According to the top stylist, Mia, is very easy to work with and does not complain or argue, preferring to 'wait patiently and smile at everyone'.

In fact, Dahari was so impressed by the tiny model that he now calls her 'Princess Mia'.

Pictures on the little girls Instagram account see her patiently posing as Dahari styles her glossy locks.

One snap sees Mia posing in a red dress with her hair blow-dried into side-parted Hollywood waves.

One snap sees Mia posing in a red dress with her hair blow-dried into side-parted Hollywood waves, racking up thousands of likes and comments on how much hair she has

One snap shared by her hairdresser compares her to Jennifer Lopez, as Mia rocks the same high half ponytail as she sips on a drink

Meanwhile another adorable snap shows the little girl dressed in a ballet-inspired ensemble, with her hair tied into a bow-like hairstyle.

Other pictures see the little girl dressed in a Purim costume, a traditional religious outfit worn by those of Jewish faith, with her hair blow-dried into a loose half-up do.

And the little girl's hairstyles have even been inspired by celebrities, with one snap shared by her hairdresser comparing her to Jennifer Lopez, as Mia rocks the same high half ponytail as she sips on a drink.

According to top stylist Sagi Dahari (seen right), Mia, is very easy to work with and does not complain or argue, preferring to 'wait patiently and smile at everyone'

The youngster's look is complimented by her stunning green eyes and cheerful smile, helping to win over fans from all over the world

Other pictures see the little girl dressed in a Purim costume, a traditional religious outfit worn by those of Jewish faith, with her hair blow-dried into a loose half-up do

While many online commentators were wowed by the girl's impressive locks, others thought it was inappropriate for her to be thrust into the limelight at such a young age.

One follower wrote: 'What a ridiculous over-the-top thing to do to a child. If I had a daughter, no way would I let them appear like that.'

Another added: 'What would you do if random pedos were getting their rocks off to pics of your daughter? You should stop exposing her to the world and start protecting her.

While many online commentators were wowed by the girl's impressive locks, others thought it was inappropriate for her to be thrust into the limelight at such a young age

One follower wrote: 'What a ridiculous over-the-top thing to do to a child. If I had a daughter, no way would I let them appear like that', branding her costume 'too grown up'

'Its not just the friends you want to impress who go on Instagram, there are bad people everywhere. You are endangering her life as well as her present and future mental health.'

However others were more complimentary with one writing: 'Stunning little lady', while another commented: 'What a beautiful girl that is.'

Another joked: 'I hate myself a little more now that ive seen a 5 year old with more hair on her head than all the hair i have on my body'.

And one wrote: 'Look how much hair this little girl has, she's beautiful!'.

Many argued that Mia's parents should 'let her be a child' arguing it was inappropriate to dress her up at such a young ageA baby boy who was born profoundly deaf left Lorraine viewers in tears when he started calling out for his 'mama' on the show - after getting miracle ear implants that let him hear for the first time.

Max Brett, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, appeared on Lorraine with his parents Rebecca and Ian, who called the 16,000 cochlear implants 'absolutely amazing'.

A heartwarming video of Max looking at doctors in bewilderment as he heard for the first time went viral this week.

The tot excitedly noticed himself on the TV screen today and fidgeted to get a closer look, calling 'mama, mama!' as Rebecca tried to get him to settle.

The sweet moment moved Lorraine viewers, who called him 'adorable' and said the family were 'blessed'.

Max Brett, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, was born profoundly deaf but has had 16,000 cochlear ear implants fitted and can now hear. On ITV's Lorraine he spotted himself on TV and began to fifdget, before calling out 'mama, mama!' to his mother Rebecca. Pictured: Max, Rebecca and dad Ian on Lorraine

In the clip Max is first seen happily playing with a ball and building blocks in a hospital room before doctors begin playing loud sounds.

He freezes and stares at the toy bricks in his hands in shock, appearing to think the noise must be coming from them.

On today's episode of Lorraine the video was played on TV screens behind the family as Rebecca and Ian spoke about the operation.

Max stood up on his mother's lap trying to get a better look of the screen, seemingly seeing and hearing himself on TV.

The sweet moment as Max called out for his Mama moved Lorraine viewers to tears, with many taking to Twitter to call him 'adorable' and say the family were 'blessed'

'Mama, mama, mama!' he said.

Rebecca tried to sit him down on her lap but he kept wriggling, before Lorraine host Rochelle Humes started giggling.

She said: 'He's so gorgeous, he's completely distracted by the fact he just saw himself larger than life on the screen behind him.'

Max jumped up on his mother's lap after seeing the video play on a screen behind him on Lorraine. Pictured with parents Rebecca and Ian and Lorraine host Rochelle Humes

Doctors diagnosed the little boy as profoundly deaf when he was just three weeks old after a series of tests. Pictured: Max on Lorraine with his dad Ian

The adorable moment caught the attention of Lorraine viewers, who took to Twitter to praise the family's strength.

One tweeted: 'What a beautiful family, Max is adorable. So so happy for them.'

'Such a lovely story and such a beautiful little boy .. they're blessed,' another posted.

A third said: 'Good luck guys, and well done for not throwing in the towel and accepting the first outcome for your little angel.'

Doctors are gradually turning up the volume on his implants to accustom his brain to the sound signals. Pictured: Max on Lorraine with his parents Rebecca and Ian

The adorable moment left presenter Rochelle Humes (pictured on Lorraine) giggling, as she called the little boy 'gorgeous'

Max pulled a shocked expression (pictured) when he noticed himself on the screen and didn't seem to know what was going on

Max was fitted with state-of-the-art cochlear implants costing 8,000 per ear.

The electronic devices perform the same action as the inner ear, or cochlea, which is often damaged in those who are deaf.

Max's implants include parts made by Apple, with Bluetooth technology so his parents can control volume levels with an app. In future they can use a microphone to speak directly into his ear if he runs off.

Doctors are gradually turning up the volume on his implants to accustom his brain to the sound signals. But only three months after hearing for the first time, Max can now recognise his name when he is called by his parents.

Max's parents said finding out their youngest son was deaf 'took the legs' out from underneath them and they began trying to find a way to fix his hearing. Pictured: Max in the park as a young baby

His parents are thrilled that he is now learning to speak and will one day be able to attend mainstream school. Pictured: Max with his parents and older brother

Max had string of tests as a newborn, and when he was just three weeks old it was confirmed that he was profoundly death.

Dad Ian, 35, an ambulance control room commander, said: 'It was really emotional, really emotional, and we didn't know it just by looking at him. He was so perfect, there was nothing wrong visually so it took the legs from under us really.'

Their audiologist told them about the implants and they looked to raise the money to get them for Max.

The couple have relied on an insurance payout which enabled Mrs Brett to stop work to care for Max, including taking him to up to four hospital appointments a month and helping him adapt after surgery.

Max later ended up sitting on the studio floor on Lorraine when he wouldn't stop fidgeting on his mother's lap. Pictured: Max on the floor in front of parents Rebecca and Ian

They discovered the implants had worked properly when Max began blowing raspberries after hearing his granddad do them. Pictured: Max on Lorraine

The Bretts bought critical illness cover 'just in case' before Max was born and received a lump sum of 25,000 from their insurer, AIG, to cover time off work due to Max's condition.

It was when Max started blowing raspberries with his mouth after hearing his granddad do them that the couple realised it had worked.

Mrs Brett said: 'He was copying, he could hear and everything seemed to click for him. He started with the ''mama'' and trying to say his brother's name. All of a sudden everything clicked for him and he started trying to speak.'

Mr Brett added: 'Its been a rollerocoaster of emotions but it's been great now he's through the surgery and he's hearing. We're just really looking forward to the future. He'll go to mainstream school so it's opened more avenues than we ever thought possible.'So often First Dates Hotel leaves viewers feeling disillusioned with the dating process, as couples are wined and dined before going their separate ways when the sun sets unceremoniously on their romance.

However, a couple featured in the first episode of series three left fans of the reality dating show, hopeful of a happy-ever-after.

Unlucky-in-love policewoman Emma revealed that her dream guy would be a handsome Viking, someone who could wrap 'big arms' around her, as she arrived wearing vintage chic at the show's latest location, a four-star hotel in Campania, Italy.

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Cupid strikes! Carpenter Luke and policewoman Emma were a match made in heaven; viewers were smitten with their romance, saying they were a modern-day 'Romeo and Juliet'

The doting dad won viewers' hearts when he told the show that no romance would come above his two children - and shared his excitement at chilling out and watching films with his family

When bearded carpenter Luke strolled in to meet the show's Maitre d, Fred Sirieix, and the rest of waiting staff, he more than matched Emma's expectations.

And when the couple began chatting, it was clear they had immediate common ground, with Luke bowled over by the policewoman's body art.

For viewers, the fledgling love affair was almost too much, with hundreds taking to Twitter to will on Emma and Luke's romance.

@sidakbarali wrote: 'The copper and the viking! There's a show right there! #FirstDatesHotel they are super cute.'

Dream man: Policewoman Emma couldn't take her eyes off her handsome 'Viking' and even persuaded him to carry over his shoulder out of the four-star hotel restaurant where the latest series of First Dates Hotel is filmed

Go girl! The vintage-loving singleton strode into the hotel where she hoped she'd find love...and, much to viewers, delight, it looks like she actually might have

The gentle giant wooed Emma with his metrosexual approach to fashion too, telling her that her nails were 'on fleek'

@DavidMackayy gushed: 'Hell yeah, #Lemma are now an item. Forget Beauty and the Beast, move over Romeo and Juliet now we have the Policewoman and the Viking.'

@D80Katie added: 'How gorgeous is the police lady on #FirstDatesHotel I hope they are still together! They look great together.'

The first episode of the third series of the popular Channel 4 show, which aired straight after the new episode of the Great British Bake Off, also saw daters Andrew and David retreat back to a hotel room after having one too many drinks at dinner, with both regretting the tryst the next morning.

And Essex daters, Chloe and Jem, who shared a love of Dubai and ambition to earn pots of cash, recreated the classic Lady and the Tramp spaghetti moment.A young British mother has revealed how she was jailed in Jamaica after falling in love with a local man who used her as a drugs mule.

Addy Beckford, from London, explains in tonight's episode of 5Star's Young, Dumb & Banged Up in the Sun how she was just 21 when she met the man from Kingston, Jamaica, online.

Her partner, who has not been named, offered to pay for her plane tickets to fly to Jamaica, as well as an all-inclusive hotel and 10,000 in cash, in return for her transporting cocaine back to the UK.

However, she was arrested on the plane before flying home, after another drugs mule involved in the plan turned herself into the authorities.

Addy Beckford, from London, revealed how she was jailed in Jamaica after falling in love with a local man who used her as a drugs mule

Appearing on tonight's episode of Young, Dumb & Banged Up in the Sun, Addy explained how she was charmed by the Jamaican man back in 2001.

'I fell in love with him because he was very charming, he brought me flowers every time he came and saw me,' she said.

'He gave me chocolates, clothes, jewellery, perfume. He made me feel special at the age of 21.'

She explained how she had just given birth to her baby daughter, when she was urged by the man to go on holiday in Jamaica.

Addy explained how she had met the unnamed man (pictured in a reconstruction) from Kingston, Jamaica, online. He offered to pay for her holiday in the Caribbean country, in return for her transporting cocaine back to the UK

'He said obviously you can go on the holiday, but I need you to do something when you come back. I need you to bring some cocaine,' she recalled.

'You will be getting 10,000 in cash, I will pay for an all-inclusive for you.'

Addy explained: 'Me getting that 10,000 would have given me a better life for me and my daughter.

After enjoying the 'holiday of a lifetime' in Jamaica, she met her partner's cousin, who gave her a laptop bag that contained 1.2million worth of cocaine.

Addy was given a laptop bag containing 1.2million worth of cocaine but was arrested by authorities after another drugs mule involved in the plan turned herself in

She was also told about another drugs mule, who she met at the airport. The other woman said it was also her first time smuggling cocaine.

Addy managed to get through security undetected, but was arrested on the plane, and later discovered the other woman had turned herself in and told the authorities there was another drugs mule.

'Three guys came on the plane coming towards me. They handcuffed me there and then and escorted me off the plane. My whole life had fallen apart just there,' she said.

When she tried to call her boyfriend, she discovered the phone was dead, leaving her alone in prison.

Addy (pictured on Young, Dumb & Banged Up in the Sun) was sentenced to two years hard labour in Jamaica before being allowed to return home

The mother faced a jail sentence of up to 35 years, but was give two years of hard labour before being released.

Describing the conditions in the Jamaican prison, Addy said: ' You had 38 women to a dorm in bunk beds. You were caged up like an animal. You had to pay for your own mattress.

'That first night, I cried myself to sleep, thinking about my family, missing my daughter.

'There were women in there who had killed their husband and chopped them up, put them in pots and fed them to the street... I couldn't sleep at night... you had to watch your back all the time.'

She added: 'I didn't know if I was going to get home alive, that's how I felt'.

Young, Dumb & Banged Up in the Sun airs on Channel 5 on Wednesday at 9pm.The clinic where a British mother-of-three underwent a 3,000 'bottom lift' before dying boasts a long list of celebrity clients including Zahida Allen and Amber Turner, MailOnline can reveal.

Leah Cambridge, 29, from Leeds, is believed to have died on the operating table at the Elite Aftercare Clinic in Izmir, favoured by the cast of The Only Way Is Essex and Geordie Shore.

Leah's long-term partner Scott Franks has claimed that Leah's operation went wrong after fat was deposited into her blood stream and her oxygen levels dropped, leading to three heart attacks.

TOWIE star Georgia Kousoulou, 27, underwent a widely-panned rhinoplasty at the clinic in January this year, with staff forced to leap to her defence- claiming she was still swollen and healing would take up to 12 weeks.

BEFORE AND AFTER: Zahida Allen, who shot to fame on Ex On The Beach and Geordie Shore, has undergone a number of procedures at the clinic, including body liposuction after struggling with her weight (pictured before, in November 2017 and right, earlier this year)

Taking to Instagram in March, they wrote: 'You didnt like something and you changed it and know one can judge you for that... You look amazing and you deserve to.'

Fellow cast member Amber Turner also visited the popular clinic for a breast augmentation, proudly showing off the results on Instagram in January this year.

Zahida Allen, who shot to fame on Ex On The Beach and Geordie Shore, has undergone a number of procedures at the clinic, including body liposuction and contouring.

She frequently credits the surgery for her 'bikini body' in revealing Instagram snaps.

Zahida's friend and EOTB co-star Kayleigh Morris also recently had a nose job which has been heavily documented by the celebrity on social media.

BEFORE AND AFTER: TOWIE star Amber Turner also visited the popular clinic for a breast augmentation, proudly showing off the results on Instagram in January this year (pictured left, before and right, after)

BEFORE AND AFTER: Big Brother contestant Chanelle McCleary also made an appearance on the Turkish clinic's Instagram page where they announced she had undergone a list of treatments including BBL and several rounds of liposuction (pictured in May 2017, left, and earlier this year, right)

BEFORE AND AFTER: The Valleys Lateysha Grace (pictured in June 2017, left) underwent a 'BBL' (Brazilian butt lift) at the Turkish clinic (pictured after the procedure, right)

BEFORE AND AFTER: Ex on the Beach star Jemma Lucy is believed to have had rhinoplasty as well as a butt lift at the clinic (pictured before, left and after, right) with her figure looking dramatically different

BEFORE AND AFTER: EOTB star Kayleigh Morris also recently had a nose job which has been heavily documented by the celebrity on social media (left before and right, after)

BEFORE AND AFTER: Controversy: TOWIE star Georgia Kousoulou, 27, underwent a widely-panned rhinoplasty at the clinic in January this year (pictured left, in July 2017 and right, earlier this year)

The star, who was famously attacked for her 'wonky nose' by her co-star Jemma Lucy, proudly flaunted the rhinoplasty results as she praised the surgery for making her 'finally feel normal'.

She captioned the image: 'The weird feeling of being able to post a pic in 14 years without editing the Nose!!! 2 weeks after surgery @elitecosmeticsurgery Work of the miracle worker @dr.aliuckan'.

What is a Brazilian butt lift? A Brazilian butt lift uses fat transferred from other areas of the body, such as the love handles, hips or stomach, to provide patients with a fuller derriere. Clinics report the procedure, which can cost up to 10,000, has seen more than a 50 per cent increase compared to five years ago. The procedure's nickname was coined in 1996 after Dr Leonard Grossman was filmed performing fat transfer surgery on a patient from Brazil. The surgery takes anywhere from one to two hours to perform. The amount of downtime ranges from one to three weeks, plastic surgeons claim. Advertisement

She shared another snap as she gushed: 'Finally can feel normal again'.

Meanwhile, The Valleys and Million Dollar Baby star Lateysha Grace has had a host of surgeries attributed to the Turkish clinic and has been appointed the role of 'ambassador'.

And Marnie Simpson, of Geordie Shore and CBB fame, joins the long list of stars who have had a nose job at the clinic.

Chanelle McCleary also made an appearance on the clinic's Instagram page where they announced she had undergone a list of treatments including BBL and several rounds of liposuction.

Ex On The Beach and Celebrity Big Brother star Jemma Lucy also appears to have had various procedures at the clinic and thanked them gushingly on social media.

In June, she wrote: 'Thank you sooooo much to @elitecosmeticsurgery !! The only place in the world where I would get surgery and enhance myself..

'@dr.aliuckan is the best surgeon for all procedures especially BBL which is what I have had done! Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions about my experience with @elitecosmeticsurgery.'

The clinic has been contacted for comment.It was a trip designed to bring Denmark and France closer, and, judging by the smiles on the faces of both President Macron and his wife Brigitte, and Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary this afternoon, it was very much mission accomplished.

The French president, 40, and his wife, 65, dressed formally for a farewell ceremony in Copenhagen this afternoon, with the country's Queen Margrethe II, 78, also bidding the country's guests au revoir.

While Crown Princess Mary opted for a floral red and black dress with billowing sleeves and a pair of black heels, Brigitte was back in white, opting for a close-fitting shift dress with button detail on the shoulder.

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Double date! This afternoon, the Danish royals and the French President and his wife gathered once more for lunch (pictured left to right: Crown Prince Frederik, President Macron, Brigitte Macron and Crown Prince Mary), with local schoolchildren waving the country's flag behind them

The farewell meal also saw Queen Margrethe II in attendance. The Danish royal, 78, dressed in a striking black, white and red patterned dress smile broadly as she led her guests into a farewell ceremony

Next stop Helsinki! Brigitte and Emmanuel will continue their good relations tour in Finland at the end of this week (Pictured from left: Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron and Queen Margrethe II)

Mission accomplished: the French president, in Copenhagen to further build friendships in the EU, looked relaxed in the company of Queen Margrethe II

It was broad grins all round, with Queen Margrethe II, looking elegant in a navy, white and red patterned dress, chatting with President Macron.

Outside the venue in Copenhagen harbour, dozens of children gathered waving the red and white of the Danish flag.

Earlier today, Brigitte Macron was in familiar territory this morning as the former teacher enjoyed a tour of a high school in Copenhagen.

On the final day of France's President Emmanuel Macron's official two-day visit to Denmark, his wife chatted with students at the Rysensteen high school in the Scandinavian city.

Meanwhile, 46-year-old Crown Princess Mary opted for a stylish navy blue dress that she's worn before. She looked in serious mood as she arrived at the Copenhagen high school

Former teacher Brigitte Macron, 65, smiled as she greeted pupils at the Rysensteen high school in Copenhagen; the French First Lady was accompanied by Crown Princess Mary for the visit to the educational establishment on the second day of the Macron's official visit to Denmark

Carrying a red-and-white Danish flag, Brigitte showed off a summer tan from her recent holiday at the French presidential holiday home in south-western France; the former teacher brought out the colour of her tan with a burnt orange skirt suit with matching biker jacket

While Kate Middleton-lookalike Crown Princess Mary, 46, opted for a chic navy blue at-the-knee dress, with a circular brooch adding a splash of glamour, the French First Lady decided on a striking burnt orange skirt suit, believed to be Louis Vuitton, with a matching biker-style jacket.

Brigitte, known for bold wardrobe choices, wore her blonde hair tied back from her face, a smouldering kohl eye, and a pair of towering cream heels.

The pair spent time chatting to the youngsters before heading inside for a tour.

Cheers! French First Lady Brigitte Macron, 65, joined her husband President Macron, 40, at a state dinner hosted by the Danish Royal Family at Copenhagen's Christiansborg Palace. Above, President Macron toasts Queen Margrethe at the start of the lavish state dinner

Queen Margrethe (pictured centre) beamed in a lace gown paired with pearls as she stood with President Macron and his wife

French First Lady Brigitte Macron also toasted Queen Margrethe at the banquet hosted by the Danish Royal family

The Danish Queen gave a speech during the dinner at Christiansborg Palace to mark the official visit of the French President

Dazzling: The French First lady donned a white gown with glittering silver detailing and a daring leg slit as she arrived for the dinner with her husband and the Danish queen, pictured

Guests of honour: The couple, who arrived in Denmark today for a two-day visit, were escorted into the reception room by Queen Margrethe, 78, who looked elegant in a dark purple gown

Black and white delight: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, who has drawn comparisons to the Duchess of Cambridge, opted for a white satin gown with a full skirt and a black watercolour floral print as she arrived for the formal dinner with husband Crown Prince Frederik

Inspired by Meghan? Princess Marie donned a bold red gown with an off-shoulder neckline - a favourite of the Duchess of Sussex - as she joined husband Prince Joachim for a photo

Royal welcome: Pictured right to left: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark and Princess Benedikte of Denmark greet guests arriving for the state dinner in Copenhagen

Lavish: The royals and their guests dined in the beautiful Christiansborg Palace, pictured

Last night, Brigitte dazzled in a white gown with glittering silver detailing as she joined her husband President Macron, 40, at the banquet hosted by the Danish Royal Family at Christiansborg Palace.

The couple, who arrived in Denmark today for a two-day visit, were escorted into the reception room by Queen Margrethe, 78, who looked elegant in a dark purple gown.

Mr Macron is carrying out the visit as he seeks to strengthen the relationships he needs to push France's agenda of a more closely united European Union.

Crown Prince Frederik, 50, and Prince Joachim, 49, attended with their respective wives, Crown Princess Mary, 46, and Princess Marie, 42.

Australian-born Mary, who has drawn comparisons to the Duchess of Cambridge, opted for a white satin gown with a full skirt and a black watercolour floral print.

Meanwhile her sister-in-law Princess Marie took a leaf out of the Duchess of Sussex's style books with an off-shoulder red gown.

Also in attendance was Princess Benedikte of Denmark, the sister of Queen Margrethe, who donned a soft purple dress with a cape.

Whirlwind tour: President Macron, pictured with his wife (left) and Queen Margrethe, is visiting Denmark in the hope of strengthening the relationships he needs to push France's agenda of a more closely united European Union. The Danish royals marked the occasion with a dinner

Attention to detail: The French First Lady matched the glittering silver of her dress with a pair of metallic pointed heeled pumps, just seen, and a neat metallic silver clutch

Guard of honour: President Macron inspected the guards as he made his way into the banquet

Elegant: Queen Margrethe, whose husband Henrik died in February, accompanied President Macron as he made his way through Christiansborg Palace to the dining room

Handsome couple: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark with his wife Crown Princess Mary

Family affair: Also in attendance was Princess Benedikte of Denmark, the sister of Queen Margrethe, who donned a soft purple dress with a cape

Earlier today President and Mrs Macron were greeted by the Danish royals as they arrived in the Danish capital.

Matched in vibrant shades of red, Crown Princess Mary and Mrs Macron appeared to brush over the very similar wardrobe choices they'd made as they prepared to lay wreaths to fallen soldiers at the Citadel in Copenhagen.

Brigitte opted for a warm woollen peacoat over a matching above-the-knee dress and handbag in the same shade. She finished the striking look with a simple pair of black heels.

Building relationships: President Macron, seen shaking hands, appeared in good spirits as he joined his wife and the Danish Royal Family in welcoming guests to the palace. Pictured right-left: Queen Margrethe, Mr and Mrs Macron, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie (not seen) and Princess Benedikte

Dazzling: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark leans towards French First Lady Brigitte Macron as they share a quiet word ahead of the dinner. Pictured right to left: Queen Margrethe, Mr and Mrs Macron, Prince Frederik and Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie

Sumptuous: Queen Margrethe took a seat as she welcomed guests to the state dinner alongside Mr and Mrs Macron, her children Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim, their respective wives Princess Mary and Princess Marie, and her sister Princess Benedikte

Meanwhile, the glamorous Danish Crown Princess wore a dress by Brazilian designer Raquel Diniz.

The high-necked red Armonia silk georgette dress floated beyond the knee, with billowing sleeves.

The Australian-born mother-of-four carried a clutch purse in a deeper shade of red and wore snakeskin heels, with a botanical brooch complementing her dress.

Her husband, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, 50, was also in attendance, looking dapper in a sharp blue suit.

French First Lady Brigitte Macron and Crown Princess Mary cut a striking duo in their perfectly co-ordinated red outfits. The 65-year-old president's wife is in Copenhagen as her husband prepares to forge closer ties with the Danish government

While Mrs Macron opted for a warm red peacoat over a stylish, knee-length dress, Crown Princess Mary wore a high-necked red Armonia silk georgette dress by designer Raquel Dini

Red is the colour! Brigitte Macron, centre left, and Crown Princess Mary, centre right, walk towards their respective husbands, far left, President Macron, and, far right, Crown Prince Frederik

President Macron, arriving in Copenhagen to lay wreaths to fallen soldiers at the city's Citadel, shakes hand with Crown Princess Mary as his wife Brigitte and Crown Prince Frederik (far right) look on

Bonjour! Brigitte looks delighted to shake the hand of the Australian-born Danish royal, while Crown Prince Frederik offers a broad smile to his guests

On Wednesday, the Macrons make a two-day visit to Helsinki, where the premier will meet Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

The couple have enjoyed a summer break though, surprising villagers in the Bormes-les-Mimosas area of south-eastern France.

The politician and his wife spent time relaxing at Fort de Bregancon - the French presidents official summer retreat - in early August.

The French premier is hoping to forge better relationships with the Danes on the two-day visit...before he heads to Helsinki in Finland to do the same

A dapper-looking Crown Prince Frederik, wearing a navy blue suit with red spotted tie, moves in to chat with his guests, while his Australian-born wife looks on

This way! Crown Prince Frederik guides his presidential guests through the Copenhagen citadelThe latest puzzle to bamboozle the internet could leave you with double vision, as it challenges you to spot a tutu among a sea of watermelons.

The tough animation by UK site Dancewear Central shows up to 300 slices of the fruit against a similarly coloured background.

Throwing a spanner in the works, a tutu nestles among the fruit fest- but is nearly impossible to spot...but can you find it?

Scroll down for answer

A puzzle by UK site Dancewear Central is bamboozling the internet and could leave you with double vision, as it challenges you to spot a tutu among a whole sea of watermelons

Uploading the puzzle to their page, the dance website wrote: 'We love a good puzzle and its been a little while since we created one of our own. So weve put together this quick brain-teaser for a weekday morning.

'Hidden in the sea of watermelons in the photo below (theres a sentence we never thought wed write) is a tutu skirt.'

They added: 'Speed is everything. The fastest in the team at Dancewear Central HQ picked it out in an impressive 8 seconds.'

And the visual below shows the tutu circled in an almost undetectable position.

For those unable to find the hidden skirt in this tricky puzzle, the visual above shows the tutu circled in an almost undetectable position (seen)

Last month a similarly infuriating puzzle challenged users to spot a pair of twins on a busy beach.

In a scene familiar to thousands of parents who took their kids to the seaside over the heatwave, dozens of children are seen frolicking in the surf.

The animation sees up to 40 kids playing in the sand, framed by palm trees and seen against a backdrop of mountains and sea.

Last month a puzzle by UK parenting site Channel Mum is bamboozling the internet and could leave you with double vision, as it challenged users to spot a pair of twins on a busy beach

The puzzle was concocted by parenting experts ChannelMum.com, whose spokesman, Siobhan Freegard, said: 'Every parent will know what it's like to look at a sea of other kids and wonder exactly where their child is.

'And for those with twins, it's double trouble  which is exactly the case in this fiendish puzzle.

'One clue we can offer is that although the twins are indeed identical, they don't look exactly alike  you'll see why when you spot them.'

The website, described as a community for parents, is popular among young families looking for support and advice on parenting.

The identical twins- one wearing a hairband and one sporting glasses, are circled playing at opposite ends of the beach in this infuriating puzzle

A recent survey ran by the site's mothers, revealed they believe the most important attribute of being a good mum is 'always being there when your child needs you'.

Answering your child's questions dozens of times is seen as essential by two thirds of parents, while doing the domestic drudgery - such as cooking, washing and cleaning out of love - is also considered key.

Ninety-one per cent say 'wanting your child's happiness more than your own' is a sign you are a mum, while 86 per cent believe 'loving your child unconditionally' is the mark of a good parent.

Other qualities women need include 'going without so your child has what they need' and giving your children your time for bedtime stories and cuddles on the sofa.Advertisement

The Duchess of Sussex looked stunning in a thigh-skimming tuxedo dress as she joined Prince Harry for a special charity performance of hit musical Hamilton last night.

The royal couple beamed as they spoke to guests inside the foyer of the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, after being ushered inside through the stage door.

Meghan, 37, showed off her toned legs in a 327 dress by Canadian label Judith and Charles and Paul Andrew pumps for the occasion, while her husband Harry, 33, looked smart in a suit and tie.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were introduced to the show's award-winning creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his wife Vanessa Nadal before the group took their seats in the theatre's Royal Circle.

Prince Harry then took to the stage with the cast where he burst into song himself with a rendition of You'll Be Back - sung by the character of his ancestor George III in the musical.

The event, which marks the royals' first public appearance in a month, was held to benefit Prince Harry's charity Sentebale, which works with children and young people affected by HIV in southern Africa.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took their seats next to Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, right, in the royal circle ahead of the charity performance of the musical sensation last night

The Duchess of Sussex looked stunning in a thigh-skimming tuxedo dress as she joined Prince Harry for a special charity performance of hit musical Hamilton last night. Pictured, the couple inside the foyer of the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, ahead of the show

Meghan, 37, showed off her toned legs in a 327 dress by Canadian label Judith and Charles for the occasion, while her husband Harry, 33, looked smart in a suit and tie

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were introduced to the show's award-winning creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda (back pictured), and his wife Vanessa Nadal before the group took their seats in the theatre's Royal Circle to watch the musical sensation

After the show Meghan and Harry the cast and crew of the hit musical at the London theatre

The Duchess of Sussex's legs were on display again as she left the Victoria Palace Theatre in London after the performance

Hip hop musical Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. It opened to rave reviews in Broadway, winning Miranda a slew of awards, before transferring to London earlier this year.

Ironically, the show pokes fun at one of Prince Harry's distant relatives, King George III, who is cast as a comical and out-of-touch character.

But Harry clearly took it in good spirit. After the show he got on stage and burst into song, mimicking one of the tunes sung by his ancestor, with the words 'you say'.

The audience clapped and cheered at his surprisingly talented antics. But Harry quickly cautioned them not to expect more, saying of the show's creator: 'He did try but I said no.'

He thanked the audience for raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for his charity, Sentebale, and to the cast and crew. He added: 'I don't know how you guys do this every single night, over and over again, and in this heat as well.'

Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda also proved a star turn as he told the audience that he came up with idea of putting King George in his show while he was on honeymoon. 'I wrote the song on my honeymoon and smash, cut to 2018 and I am sitting next to his sixth great-grandson, the Duke of Sussex....'

Speaking to Miranda, 38, ahead of the show, Prince Harry said: 'Guys congratulations in bringing it over here... Thank you for doing this for Sentebale. It means so much to us and it's going to be a fun night.'

After the show Harry took to the stage where he began to perform one of the musical's songs

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex pictured after the performance meeting cast and crew

Harry and Meghan speak to the Hamilton cast backstage after they watched the hit musical

Harry takes the microphone as he sang a number from the character of his ancestor George III

The pair join the cast backstage after Meghan and Harry viewed the hit musical Hamilton

The royal couple smile and laugh with the Hamilton cast at the central London theatre

Award-winning Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda led the couple into their row in the Royal Circle. The trio appeared in excellent spirits as they took their seats, laughing and joking

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appeared delighted to meet an audience member seated two rows in front, leaning over to share a quick chat before the curtain went up

Harry and Meghan beamed as they spoke to a theatre-goer seated on the row behind. Meanwhile Miranda, who premiered the show on Broadway, looked focused on the stage

Prince Harry flashed a mischievous smile as he chatted to an audience member before the show. Meghan has seen the show twice while Harry watched it for the first time in February

Meghan, who has watched the show on both sides of the Atlantic, asked Miranda: 'Have you seen it yet in London? Because I found it so amazing to watch how that plays versus here [UK] and the response is so different but everyone loves it.'

It is the second time Meghan and Harry have watched the show together, after having made an unofficial visit to see it in February.

The Duchess of Sussex is thought to have also seen the show on Broadway with close friend and actress Priyanka Chopra before she moved to the UK.

The Duchess of Sussex wore her hair swept back into her signature bun and accentuated her brown eyes with a soft, smoky make-up look

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex looked in excellent spirits as they mingled with audience members and VIP guests ahead of the show at the theatre in Victoria, central London

Harry and Meghan pose at the centre of a delighted group photo after they watched the performance at the London venue

The Duke of Sussex after the performance meeting King George, cast and crew backstage at the Victoria Palace Theatre

Harry and Meghan appear to be deep in conversation as they leave the theatre following the special charity performance

Meghan was the picture of sophistication in her monochrome outfit, balancing the short hemline of her dress with long sleeves and a powerful tuxedo neckline.

The royal kept her accessories simple, donning a pair of elegant pointed pumps and completely the ensemble with a rectangular black clutch with glitter detailing.

She wore her brown hair swept back in her signature bun and accentuated her brown eyes with a soft, smoky make-up look.

Prince Harry looked animated as he discussed the show with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda

The royal couple shared a joke with award-winner creator Miranda (pictured left from behind)

Miranda, just seen far left, who premiered the show on Broadway, said it was an 'honour' to watch with the royals

Speaking to reporters after meeting the royals, Miranda said: 'The prince's sixth-great grandfather is a character so that'll be fun and surreal for all of us.

'You don't get that every day. You get heads of state, we've had some popular folks come see our show but you don't often get a direct descendent of one of your main characters.

'They [Harry and Meghan] said they were huge fans of the show. It's a huge honour for me.

The Duchess of Sussex looked radiant as she chatted with her husband and the show's creator

The Duchess of Sussex, who has watched Hamilton on both sides of the Atlantic, noted the audience in London had a 'very different response' to the one in New York

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also spent time speaking to workers from Sentebale

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have kept a low-profile this summer, met the show's creator and theatre bosses before taking their seats

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen leaving the Victoria Palace after the performance

'Yes, it is heavy': Hamilton's King George jokes with his character's six-times great grandson over his impressive crown as actor jokes Harry 'upstaged him' Hamilton's King George came face to face with his character's six-times great grandson on Wednesday night. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended a charity performance of the hit musical Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre,London, delighting the cast. Harry took to the stage where he burst into song himself with a rendition of You'll Be Back - sung by the character of his ancestor George III in the musical. Actor Michael Jibson, who plays the king, joked Harry had 'upstaged him' . Hamilton's King George came face to face with his character's six-times great grandson on Wednesday night Actor Michael Jibson, who plays King George III, joked Harry had 'upstaged him' at his own play Mr Jibson also revealed that Harry asked him if his crown was heavy, and he admitted that it was indeed heavy. Other cast members took to social media to share their excitement at the royals being among the night's audience members. Rachel John, an Olivier nominated actress, who plays Angelica Schuyler in the musical wrote: 'Last night was epic...watch the lady behind Prince Harry that was me'. She then shared a video of her jaw-dropping reaction when Prince Harry began to sing. Actor Leslie Garcia Bowman wrote: 'A night we will all remember for the rest of our lives.' Other cast members took to social media to share their excitement at the royals being among the night's audience members King George III (pictured), who ruled from 1760 to 1820, is Harry's six-times great grandfather Advertisement

'King George gets a different reaction here to the States. He's a homegrown hero so it's fun to see his reception here. That's very exciting and I'm very curious to see their reception.'

After the show the Duke will take to the stage with Miranda to address the audience.

Harry and Meghan have enjoyed a low-key summer, attending a friend's wedding on August 4, the duchess's birthday, and enjoying a 'romantic' few days in Italy with film star George Clooney and his lawyer wife Amal.

They have also visited Charles, Camilla and the Queen in Scotland.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at the theatre in a car with blacked out windows and pulled up to the stage door where they were ushered inside without stopping for photos

The Duchess accessorised her outfit with a pair of sophisticated black pointed pumps and a small clutch bag. Prince Harry looked smart in a suit for the occasion

Prince Harry, pictured, and the Duchess of Sussex were escorted into the venue and did not stop for photos. The couple previously saw the sell-out musical in February

The Hamilton Instagram account marked the occasion with this post heralding the 'special gala performance' of the show. Programs were left on the seats in the London theatre (left)A cult lipstick beloved by A-listers and royals alike has proved so popular it has inspired its own makeup range.

Charlotte Tilburys Pillow Talk  a universally flattering nude shade loved by everyone from Alexa Chung to Mariah Carey  is set to be extended into eye and cheek products for the first time next month.

The bestselling beauty product was worn by Kitty Spencer at the 2018 royal wedding and is a firm red carpet favourite among stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Celine Dion and JK Rowling.

It comprises a matte lipstick in barely-there pink and a matching lip liner, costing 24 and 16 respectively, with the pencil selling every six seconds globally.

The Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk lipstick and liner boasts a host of celebrity fans including Gwyneth Paltrow (left) and Alexa Chung (right) - many highlight that it looks slightly different on different people

Describing it as her 'backstage secret weapon', Charlotte Tilbury (pictured with Nicole Kidman) said the product has 'everything you need for fuller, re-defined pout

Charlotte Tilbury's new Cheek to Chic will cost 30 (left) and the Luxury Palette for eyes is priced at 39 (right), both available exclusively on Charlotte Tilbury's official website

Launching on September 6th, the new range is set to fly off shelves and comprises an eye shadow and cheek palette.

The Cheek to Chic will cost 30 and the Luxury Palette is priced at 39, both available exclusively on Charlotte Tilbury's official website.

The lip liner is such a global success that one of the products sells every six seconds around the world.

Describing it as her 'backstage secret weapon', Charlotte Tilbury has previously described it as 'everything you need for fuller, re-defined pout'.

'This nude beige lip liner is perfect for pairing with your everyday nude lip,' she writes on the brand's website.

The lipstick is designed to glide seamlessly onto the lips, is waterproof to ensure no feathering or transferring all day - and lasts up to six hours without smudging or fading.

Lady Kitty Spencer (left) wore the liner from Charlotte Tilbury (right) to the recent British Royal wedding, where her look won her plaudits

'I've purchased this before so it speaks for itself, the creamiest long lasting lip liner, great because it never breaks in the middle of use,' another reviewer said (pictured: Emma Roberts)

One of the soft pink nude $35 liners (left) sells every six seconds globally, with countless others buying the companion Pillow Talk lipstick (right)

Charlotte Tilbury's lip liner product in universally flattering Pillow Talk nude (pictured on Olivia Culpo) is one of the best-selling beauty products in the world

'Just enough pink with a sprinkle of brown keeping it the perfect nude [sic],' one reviewer posted (pictured: the Pillow Talk shade)

And despite looking one colour in the packaging, Pillow Talk gives a soft, subtle wash of colour that varies according to the wearer.

For instance, last year three women wore it to the Met Ball, and Pillow Talk looked completely different on Emma Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow and Alexa Chung.

Reviews online of Charlotte's Pillow Talk product are almost universally effusive.

'Just enough pink with a sprinkle of brown keeping it the perfect nude [sic],' one reviewer posted, alongside a five star rating.

Recently, Charlotte Tilbury (pictured with Natasha Oakley) revealed the best-selling beauty products in Australia, which is the brand's third largest market

'I've purchased this before so it speaks for itself, the creamiest long lasting lip liner, great because it never breaks in the middle of use unlike other brands [sic],' another posted.

'I inherited my grandmother's very thin lips and light complexion. Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat allows me to extend my lips just enough to be visible without looking like seven year old me drew them on. Life changing!,' one further reviewer added.

Elsewhere, Amal Clooney, Olivia Palermo, Salma Hayek, Olivia Culpo, Nicole Kidman and Lady Emma Roberts are all fans of Pillow Talk.

But if you want to invest in the liner, you'll have to be quick - as the product and its lipstick counterpart often have to be re-stocked regularly, due to the speed at which they sell out.She is famous for her sultry selfies and provocative photoshoots, but plus-size model Tess Holliday has admitted she doesn't always feel as confident as she looks.

The 33-year-old, from Mississippi, opened up about her struggle with her mental health in a new interview, revealing how at her lowest she wanted to 'disappear'.

The mother-of-two, who is Cosmopolitan UK's October cover star, also opened up about being sexually assaulted twice by the same man, admitting she didn't realise it was rape at the time.

She said the trauma from the assault affected her relationship with sex and that husband Nick, an Australian artist, was the first man she slept with naked.

Tess Holliday, 33, from Mississippi, opened up about her struggle with her mental health in a new interview, revealing how at her lowest she wanted to 'disappear'. The mother-of-two is the cover star of Cosmopolitan UK's October issue

Tess, who boasts 1.6 million followers, also opened up about being sexually assaulted twice by the same man, admitting she didn't realise it was rape at the time. Pictured, the model poses in a candyfloss coloured puff ball dress and a sash emblazoned with 'I am a beauty queen'

Speaking to the magazine Tess, who has 1.6million Instagram followers, said between January 2017 and spring this year she was in the 'worst mental health state of her life'.

She said: 'I remember very vividly driving in the car with Bowie [her two-year-old son] and I thought to myself, "I wish I could just disappear. I wish I could vanish".

'It felt at that point like I was causing everyone around me so much pain. It felt like a never-ending black hole. I was so tired of hurting I just didnt want to be here any more.'

In the wide-ranging interview Tess, who also has a teenage son, Rylee, discusses being sexually assaulted twice by the same man but explained she didn't consider it rape at the time.

'A lot of people don't,' she said. 'The first time I went back to his room. I thought he was cute. I was into him, but I didn't want to have sex. He forced himself onto me.

'The first time I let him do it, but I was also told I had no choice. And that's why I didn't realise it was rape. The second time I was in his living room and he started making moves on me. I didn't want it to happen and said no again, but it happened again.'

Talking about how it affected her sexually, she admitted her husband Nick was the first man she allowed to have sex with the lights on.

Tess said the trauma from the assault affected her relationship with sex and that husband Nick, an Australian artist, pictured together, was the first man she slept with naked

She continued: 'Nick is the first man that I've ever had sex naked with. He is the first man I have had sex with more than three times  the rest were one-night stands.'

The full interview appears in the October 2018 issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale Friday

And speaking about her journey to self confidence, 5"3 Tess revealed that at 300lbs (21.4 stone) she is the heaviest and the most confident she has ever been.

Tess, who had her first son, Rylee, when she was 20, also raises a two-year-old, Bowie, with her husband Nick Holliday, an artist form Melbourne, Australia, whom she met online.

In July last year, Tess shocked her followers by revealing she and Nick, who first met on Tumblr, have secretly been married for two years.

'We just wanted to have something that was ours. We share so much of our lives on social media. We just wanted it to be us,' Tess told Femail previously.

The pair, who tied the knot in a small, intimate ceremony, now plan to have a bigger bash to include all of their relatives and friends.

The full interview appears in the October 2018 issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale Friday.A Reddit user discovered a brilliant way to seek revenge on a stranger who repeatedly used his email address.

The Redditor, who goes by F3nman, lives in Canada. But for years, a person he doesn't know in Nebraska has been using his email address to sign up to different sites, thereby flooding his inbox with spam.

But this time, the stranger really messed up, using F3nman's email address for his SiriusXM Guardian account  an app that allows people to remotely control certain car functions, which F3nman was easily able to access.

Gotcha! A Reddit user got revenge on a stranger who repeatedly used his email address by logging into his SiriusXM Guardian account and remotely controlling functions of his car

'After years of this guy using my email as a spam account, I got my revenge,' F3nman wrote. 'He signed my email up for SiriusXM, which also gives me the ability to beep his horn.'

Attached, he included a photo of a SiriusXM Guardian control screen, which he has been using to mess with the stranger.

Because the stranger used his email address, F3nman was able to log into his account.

The app allows users to control certain functions of their car remotely, like starting it, locking or unlocking it, and making the lights and horn go off. It can also grant access to roadside assistance, help a person find his or her vehicle, and send directions to the vehicle's navigation system.

Though those things might be useful to the stranger who actually signed up for the app, they also proved rather inconvenient when F3nman took control of them.

He set the stranger's car up to honk the horn and turn on the lights, start remotely, and and lock remotely.

And in case the stranger should check the app to see what went wrong, F3nman included a message: 'Stop using my email.'

What's more, he wrote later, he also changed the app to metric measurements, which is likely to be confusing for his American email thief.

Other Redditors delighted in the revenge, bemoaning the frustration of receiving emails meant for someone else  especially when it happens over and over again.

Whoops! The Redditor, who lives in Canada, said he also changed the Nebraska-based stranger's car settings to metric

'Dude, screw this guy,' wrote one person in approval. 'If hes dumb enough to use an email account that is not his, then he gets whats coming to him.'

'As a person with a commonly stolen email address, you are my hero,' wrote another spam sufferer.

In fact, dozens of commenters shared similar stories, complaining of strangers using their email addresses and even phone numbers to sign up for things  either because they don't want to use their own, or because they made a mistake.

The problem, they said, is that these people make the same 'mistake' over and over again.

'Yep had that happen to me a lot, although just by people with same name who get their address wrong or other people do,' wrote ldcroberts.

'Drove me nuts every time he bought an Ebook and I got emails I couldnt unsubscribe from. Barnes and Noble insisted they couldnt unsubscribe as it was tied to his credit card and wouldnt believe me as I didnt know his home address.

But this user got his revenge, too.

'Six months later they emailed a receipt with address on and bingo, I rang up and canceled. They still insisted it would wipe the ebook reader so they didnt want to, so I told them it was destroyed in a fire. Hope that poor sucka got his ebooks back off them somehow as he had a lot. Sucked that they had to destroy his device to get me peace.'

Applause! Commenters  especially those who have faced similar problems  were delighted

Genius: Wrote one, 'Revenge is a dish best served remotely'

Another commenter recalled a stranger who used his email address as the recovery account for his credit card. The email address holder got revenge by suspending the card.

'LOL awesome revenge,' wrote yet another admirer before sharing his own story.

'Someone in New Jersey used to use my phone number as a spam account, it was annoying as s***,' he said. 'Finally they signed me up for Jersey Mike's points program, which I could monitor, and they went there A LOT.

'I would swoop in there for a free sub at least once a week. Revenge never tasted so good.'

Added another: 'Someone did this with my wife's phone number. Got a lot of calls for Anita (definitely not my wifes name) and it started really pissing her off.

'Ended up going somewhere and they asked for a phone number for a points program. She gave it and they confirmed Anita? and I could sense my wifes butthole clench in fury.

'But she quickly realized this was her chance. Used ALLLLLLL the points. Havent heard much about Anita recently.'A pocket watch carried by a drowned passenger of the Titanic sold at auction this week for a staggering sum.

According to the New York Post, the silver, three-inch Swiss timepiece was once owned by Sinai Kantor, who traveled aboard the Titanic in April of 1912 with his wife Miriam.

It was still in his pocket when the ship went down and he died over a century ago, but was later recovered  and has now been purchased for $57,500.

Big money: A pocket watch carried by Sinai Kantor, who died aboard the Titanic, sold for $57,500 at auction

The antique watch features Hebrew numbers on the face, and an image of Moses holding the Ten Commandments on back.

Keepsake: Kantor was 34 when he drowned. After his body was recovered, his wife Miriam kept the timepiece

While visually interesting, it's the timepiece's history that makes it truly unique.

Kantor was carrying the watch in the pocket of his green suit pocket when, on April 15, 1912, he drowned in the Atlantic with the sinking Titanic.

Kantor was just 34 at the time, and had traveled to England from the journey from his home in Witebsk, Russia.

He and his 24-year-old wife, Miriam, had purchased second class tickets aboard the Titanic, with plans to settle in the Bronx when they reached New York City.

A commission merchant, Kantor intended to take up the business in America while studying to become a doctor at night.

But he never made it. Though his wife was saved aboard a lifeboat along with other women and children, he was one of more than 1,500 to die after the vessel hit an iceberg.

Paying out: On Saturday, it went to the highest bidder: John Miottel, a California museum owner, who paid a hefty sum

While Kantor did not survive, his watch did. Eight days after the ship sank, his body was recovered, along with the things he was wearing.

His wife buried him in Queens and held onto his things, including his suit and overcoat, a pocket telescope, a corkscrew, a notebook, and the watch, which she kept for the rest of her life.

On Saturday, it went to the highest bidder through Heritage Auctions: John Miottel, a California museum owner, who paid a hefty sum.

Miottel is a collector, and also has three other watches from the Titanic, including one from the wealthiest person to die in the sinking, Col. John Jacob Astor IV.Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja were joined by their family as they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

The royals kicked off the festivities with a service in the Oslo Cathedral where they tied the knot in 1968, and even arrived in the same wedding car they used on the big day.

King Harald, 81, and Queen Sonja, 81, were later joined by their children, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Princess Martha Louise on the balcony of the city's royal palace, where they waved to a crowd of well-wishers.

The family, including their grandchildren and King Harald's sister Astrid, later commemorated the milestone with a formal portrait.

From left, Norway's Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Prince Sverre Magnus, Emma Tallulah Behn, Crown Prince Haakon, Queen Sonja, King Harald, Leah Isadora Behn, Princess Martha Louise, Maud Angelica Behn and Princess Astrid, Mrs Ferner

50 years wed: Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja look radiant as they pose for a formal portrait at the palace in Oslo to mark the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary

Members of the Norwegian royal family that attended included their only son Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit along with their children Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.

Princess Martha Louise, the couple's only daughter, joined her parents on the balcony along with her children Maud Angelica Behn, Leah Isodora Behn and Emma Tallulah Behn.

It was reported by Majesty Magazine that the couple were travelling to and from the service in the Lincoln Continental they first used as newlyweds 50 years ago today.

The royal couple had originally had been forced to wait nine years because Crown Prince Haralds wish to marry a commoner  a woman who was not born into European royalty or nobility  was very controversial.

Golden wedding celebrations: King Harald, Queen Sonja (centre), Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Martha Louise, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Prince Sverre Magnus, Maud Angelica Behn, Leah Isodora Behn and Emma Tallulah Behn

It was reported by Majesty Magazine that the couple were travelling to and from the service in the Lincoln Continental they first used as newlyweds 50 years ago today

Leah Isadora Behn greeted the crowds happily from the balcony alongside her unlce and her grandmother Queen Sonja, after surprising fans waiting at the castle

According to the Royal House of Norway it represented a break with traditional practice, and caused widespread debate at the time.

The royal couple surprised waiting crowds by repeating their wave from the castle balcony exactly as they did 50 years ago.

It was a happy moment for the couple, who stood by the side of their children and grandchildren who also waved to the adoring crowds.

After the ceremony, the royal couple and King Olav V salute the crowd from the balcony of the Royal Palace, on August 30, 1968 in Oslo

Leah Isadora Behn demonstrated her practised royal wave, followed closely by her mother Crown Princess Mette-Marit who was stationed at the opposite end of the balcony

The Norwegian royals were out in full force, cheerily waving to their adoring crowds after returning from the Oslo Cathedral for the special Golden Wedding service

Crown Princess Mette-Marit looked pretty in pink as she arrived for the ceremony in a flowing pale dress with black embroidered detailing - along with a matching black bow headband.

Her daughter Princess Ingrid Alexandra followed her stylish mother's lead with a white dress featuring a black embroidered pattern - but chose to add her own young touch by wearing white trainers.

Queen Sonja kept her own look muted with a simple grey skirt suit and a brooch, matching grey pumps and a feather headpiece.

Princess Martha Louise wore a jewelled headband to match her navy blue look, and was joined by her three daughters.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra followed her stylish mother's lead with a white dress featuring a black embroidered pattern - but chose to add her own young touch by wearing white trainers

Queen Sonja kept her own look muted with a simple grey skirt suit and a brooch, matching grey pumps and a feather headpiece, while her husband donned a navy blue suit

King Harald and Queen Sonja is welcomed by the members of the clergy as they step out of their car which is the same Lincoln Continental they first used as newlyweds 50 years ago today

Leah Isodora Behn and Emma Tallulah Behn step out of their own vehicle as they're greeted by waiting servicemen to mark their arrivalAdvertisement

A group of eight police officers who all welcomed babies within months of one another posed for a touching family photo  in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to compete with a similar picture previously staged by firefighters.

The Erlanger Police Department of Kentucky shared the snap on Facebook earlier this month.

All eight officers can be seen forming one line, each wearing their uniform and proudly holding their child.

Baby boom: A group of eight police officers who all welcomed babies within months of one another posed for a touching family photo and shared it online earlier this month

Families: A group of seven firefighters shared a similar image in May this year after all of them welcomed babies within a short time frame

The image, which has received more than 800 reactions on Facebook including likes, calls to mind a photo that went viral earlier this year, when a group of firefighters posed in a similar set up.

Seven firefighters from the same department in Glenpool, Oklahoma, had also all welcomed babies within a short time frame.

They posed all together in their uniforms with their little ones. The image, shared in May, has generated 1,800 reactions on Facebook.

The parents also arranged a shot featuring just the babies, six of whom laid on their father's uniform while the seventh sat up.

Babies: The parents also arranged a shot featuring just the babies, six of whom laid on their father's uniform while the seventh sat up

Parents: The seven babies' mothers also posed for a group shot of their own

The Erlanger Police Department acknowledged the firefighters and their babies while sharing the officers' new family photo.

'Hey Glenpool Fire Department. I guess there's something in the water here in Erlanger KY too!' the department wrote.

One of the Kentucky police officers told WLWT how surprised he and his colleagues were when they realized they were about to experience a baby boom.

'We are all like, "Oh, I am having a kid," then we are like, "So am I." "So am I." A couple months later, "So am I,"' Ryan Atchley explained. 'Then you start looking at it and say, "[The] schedule is going to be an issue."'

He and his colleagues Robert Yocum, Margaret Ernst, Michael Clark, Kyle Thornberry, EJ Dettmer, Justin Auton, and Josh Nezi, are now balancing their parenting duties with their work on the force.

'I average about three hours [of sleep] a night,' Yocum told the station. 'I do cook a lot. I do all the wife's meals for the whole week, the kids, I do all of that. I make birthday cake, stuff like that, even though I don't eat cakes.'

Officer Atchley gave a shout-out to his coworker Officer Ernst, the mother in the police department's photo, adding: 'She is not only having the kid, she is doing this job also.'Netflix decided to publish anonymous love letters from fans after it released the teen romantic comedy To All the Boys I've Loved Before.

For those who are unaware, the young adult movie is about a teenager who wrote love letters to five boy she previously loved. Drama ensues when her love letters are mailed to the boys and, of course, there is a cheesy ending that makes everyone's hearts swoon.

To capitalize on this adorable movie plot, which was adapted from a book written by author Jenny Han, Netflix encouraged its followers to send them anonymous love letters that they would publish for people who had crushes.

Cute: Fans have gone wild for the young adult movie To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Love: In honor of the new movie, Netflix asked people to submit their own anonymous love letters that the streaming site would post on Twitter

Amazing: One person wrote a love letter to Lana Condor who played Lara Jean in the movie

'After watching To All the Boys roughly 37 times, I just want to see more love in the world,' one Netflix social media manager wrote on Twitter.

The streaming site encouraged people to send in their own love letters and the Twitter page would publish them anonymously.

We can imagine, but it's not confirmed, that Netflix was probably flooded with thousands of adorable love letters to be sent to people's crushes worldwide.

The first love letter Netflix published was actually for Lana Condor who played the main character for the romantic comedy.

'You are endlessly beautiful and inspiring,' the note read. 'You are such a kindhearted and amazing woman. Thank you for everything and for helping girls like me feel seen.'

People have commended the movie, which was released at the beginning of the month, for a number of reason. But Lana playing Lara Jean was raved about because it cast an Asian as the female lead in a romantic comedy, something that rarely happens in Hollywood.

So it only makes sense she would be the first among the public to receive a love letter from a fan.

Special: Another person confessed to loving a crush for four years since they first met the person at a meeting

Romantic: Netflix didn't just receive love letters from crushes. The site also received one who was already married to their crush

Cute: One person described their crush as not just giving them butterflies, but giving them the 'whole damn zoo'

The second love letter read: 'We've known each other for four years now, and I've been head-over-heels in love with you from the moment I saw you at a meeting.

'I've never told you because our friendship is so special to me, and I don't want to ruin it. If you ever wanted to be more than friends, I would be yours in a heartbeat.

'You're the woman of my dreams and I couldn't imagine life without you.'

Not everyone wrote love letters to people who were unaware of their love. One person wrote one to someone they married.

'I met you 15 years ago on 8/23/03,' the letter read. 'You're currently my husband. I still have a crush on you.'

Another person received a letter about how they give their crush butterflies every time they see them.

The letter read: 'You give me the biggest biggest butterflies. No, not butterflies. You give me the whole damn zoo. Love U so much, you are my life.'

Huge fan: Noah Centineo, who played Peter Kavinsky, reportedly received hundreds of love letters from fans. Netflix sorted through all of them and posted this one

One in a million: One person described their crush as someone who 'deserves all the happiness in the world'

Noah Centineo, who played Peter Kavinsky, received the most love letters out of anyone, the streaming site said.

But Netflix chose to publish only one very special note that stood out among the hundreds.

'You have one of the kindest, brightest souls I have ever had the experience to witness,' the letter began.

'You always seem to find the light and love in people and it's really astonishing that there are still people like that around.

'You have a brilliant heart and mindset that isn't complimented quite enough. I hope you see the world and fall in love with every aspect of life just like the world has fallen in love with you.'

The final love letter released by Netflix was for someone who their crush said deserved all the happiness in the world.

'I've had a crush on you for a while now, but I've been too scared to tell you because I value our friendship more than you know,' the anonymous person wrote.

'It's been hard to be just friends, but I'd rather hurt a little than lose you. You're one in a million and you deserve all the happiness in the world.'

For anyone who thinks they might submit their own love letter to the Netflix Twitter account, unfortunately the site is no longer posting them.

But people out there who have crushes could mail the letters themselves to see if they will have their own Lara Jean moment. We think Peter Kavinsky would approve.The first time I went into a school to talk to about sex and relationships, I thought there might be some confusion over contraception, or funny questions about body parts.

Instead, I heard a group of students in their early teens joking that rape is a compliment, really, and its not rape if she enjoys it.

That was five years ago, not long after Id set up the Everyday Sexism Project, a website which collects peoples experiences of gender inequality  from sexual harassment to discrimination to assault.

I was shocked by the huge number of examples that poured in from teenage girls, so I started visiting schools to talk about sexism and healthy relationships.

Since then, I have visited hundreds of schools and spoken to thousands of teenagers. I hoped that first visit might be an exception, but sadly the views I heard have proved shockingly common.

Bombarded every day with gender stereotypes and sexist images, from advertising to music videos, video games to online porn, young people are scared, confused and sometimes jaw-droppingly misinformed about sex.

Laura Bates revealed the extent of sexual assaults among young people. She says on average there's around one rape a day in schools (file image)

Ive spoken to young people who dont know its possible for a boyfriend to rape his girlfriend. If hes your boyfriend, they told me, you have no choice but to have sex with him. A rapist is only a stranger in a dark alleyway, not someone you know, even if theyre not giving you any choice.

Wed like to think these problems dont happen at school. Its where our children should be safest. Yet the evidence  and the experiences I hear about  suggest that is far from true.

Its not an exaggeration to describe whats happening as an epidemic of sexual violence in schools. Yet victims are often blamed, shamed or disbelieved. Many dont tell anyone what took place.

In September 2015, a BBC investigation revealed that, over the previous three years, more than 5,500 sexual offences had been reported to police as having happened in UK schools. The figures included more than 600 rapes.

Allowing for the average length of the school term, thats around one rape a day. And because reporting rates are low for sexual offences, the real figure is likely to be higher.

At least a fifth of offences were carried out by children, peer-on-peer abuse, but details of the rest are not known.

A YouGov poll found almost one in three 16- to 18-year-old girls experienced unwanted sexual touching at school.

This could mean that almost a third of teenage girls are being sexually assaulted at school. Sadly, schools dont always cope well. Parents have contacted me in despair after their children have been raped at school, then made to go back into the same classroom with their abusers.

One mother wrote that her daughter was forced to move to a different school because pupils bullied her, even though she was the victim of a sexual assault, and the school took no action.

Many female students told me about reporting sexual harassment to staff only to be told boys will be boys or warned their behaviour or clothing was to blame.

Laura believes teachers should be taught how did deal with sexual harassment and assaults. Over 70 per cent of 16-18 year-olds said they've heard a sexual name being used towards girls at school several times a week (file image)

Last December, the Government issued guidance to schools on how to deal with sexual offences, including the fact that students should not be put back in the classroom with a peer who has assaulted them, but that guidance isnt always followed.

I believe teacher training should include content on dealing with sexual harassment and assault, and schools need dedicated funding to support better training.

Sexual violence at school is sadly widespread and, in my experience, there is no one particular type of school where these problems happen, and no one specific type of student involved, either. Girls are particularly affected and there can be a deep undercurrent of misogyny and sexist bullying in some schools.

Figures show over 70 per cent of 16- to 18-year-olds said they heard sexual name calling such as slut or slag used towards girls at school several times a week.

The impact may be reflected in figures released this week, which revealed almost a quarter of 14-year-old girls in the UK have self-harmed in the past year (compared to 9 per cent of boys).

Some of these misogynistic ideas may come from online pornography, which presents a very male-dominant view of sex and often shows women being hurt, humiliated or abused.

Access to porn is very widespread among the young: a BBC survey found that 60 per cent have seen it by the age of 14.

One young woman claims her boyfriend at university tried to throttle her while they were having sex for the first time and claimed it was what he thought women expected (file image)

Young people I work with often link porn to worrying ideas. One girl shared her experience with the Everyday Sexism website: I am 13 and I am so scared to have sex it makes me cry nearly every day. Shed seen porn on a boys phone at school and it looked so scary . . . and the woman is crying and getting hurt.

This might sound shocking but it is a message I have come across again and again. In one school I spoke at, theyd had a rape case involving a 14-year-old boy. A teacher asked him: Why didnt you stop when she was crying? He replied: Because its normal for girls to cry during sex.

Of course the vast majority are not behaving like this, but sexual assault is still far too prevalent, and shockingly under-reported.

The misinformation means sexual relationships can be scary and confusing for boys, too. A young woman at university wrote that she was having sex with her boyfriend for the first time when he started trying to throttle her.

When she managed to push him away, he broke down in tears of relief. He told her he thought that was what women expected.

Its easy to suggest the answer is just to try to stop young people from accessing porn, but thats very difficult to achieve. And it wouldnt solve the wider problem of gender inequality and sexual violence, which doesnt stem from porn alone but also from deeply ingrained attitudes, normalised sexual harassment and everything, from music videos to video games, that presents women as objects to be dominated by men.

A survey revealed at least 75 per cent of young people don't learn about sexual consent at school (file image)

Evidence suggests one thing would make a huge difference: good-quality sex and relationships education. Talking to the young in an age-appropriate way about sexual consent and forming a healthy relationship can be life-changing. It helps them to understand that abuse isnt normal and that they have the right to reach out for help.

It gives them the tools to form respectful relationships later. And instead of just responding to sexual abuse, it helps prevent it happening in the first place. Experts, teachers and parents all agree its a good idea.

However, it isnt happening. Some schools do a great job, but many dont. It is not compulsory to teach about sexual consent and healthy relationships and a survey found 75 per cent of young people never learn about consent at school.

The Government has promised to make relationships and sex education (RSE) compulsory, but it is dragging its feet, moving the start date from 2019 to 2020. It is vital there is no more delay.

Its also easy to think this issue need not be tackled from a young age, but that is a big mistake. Research shows that a quarter of children are 12 or younger when they first watch online porn.

Parents can support their children, too. From a young age, we can teach children about their rights to their own body and the importance of respecting other peoples bodies.

Pointing out gender stereotypes around us is a great way to show children that sexism doesnt have to be normal, and it shouldnt limit their ideas about who they are and what they can do.

We can let our children choose from a wide range of toys and clothes, instead of assuming girls will always wear pink or boys never want to play with dolls.

We can avoid the sexist jokes and sayings that make it easier to devalue girls and women later.

Every child has the right to be safe at school. Its time we see this epidemic for what it is and take action to fix it.The pressure of the Great British Bake Off can make even the best baker crumble, but one contestant kept her cool enough to enjoy a bag of crisps mid-competition during the first episode of the new series.

Karen Wright, 60, an in-store sampling assistant from West Yorkshire, has emerged as an early favourite of Bake Off fans after she was spied snacking on bags of crisps from a plastic container after finishing her first biscuit bake early.

As the other bakers flapped and panicked around her, Karen delighted viewers back home by tucking into a packet of salt-and-vinegar-flavoured snacks, before offering them to her fellow contestants as they rushed to finish off their bakes.

Karen Wright, 60, from West Yorkshire, casually tucked into some crisps from a plastic container after finishing her first biscuit bake early on Tuesday night's Great British Bake Off much to the amusement of viewers

Karen has emerged as an early favourite for her cool demeanour and unflappability, which saw her tuck into crisps mid-competition

BBC Good Food magazine's Twitter account joked that offering crisps to the other contestants as they finished off their regional biscuits during the first Biscuit Week challenge was 'psychological warfare'.

Others branded Karen a 'hero,' while another said Karen was her 'kinda lady'.

Many found her hilarious, but a few said that the Yorkshire woman was being unsportsmanlike for not helping her fellow contestants as they finished her bakes.

One said that not helping the other bakers while eating her snacks 'smacked of arrogance,' while another said she was already 'rooting for Karen to go' because of it.

Viewers on Twitter found Karen's snacking hilarious, particularly as the other contestants were panicking about finishing their bakes around her as she calmly ate crisps

Karen tucked into her snack after finishing her 'Yorkshire Perkin Biscuits' early for the signature challenge to create a 'regional biscuit', having decorated them with sweet but simple iced white flowers.

But perhaps she should have spent slightly more time on them, as they didn't impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith very much.

Paul told Karen that they 'look amazing,' but added: 'I don't like the texture, it's like a very, very small cookie. It didn't blow me away.

A few people thought that Karen's snacking antics were rude as they thought she should have been helping the other contestants, and one said they were already 'rooting' for her to leave the contest

Prue was slightly kinder, and said the biscuits were 'nice and spicy, [and] very chewy'.

Karen says her love of baking stems from owning a summer house in France for 15 years.

Speaking before the show started, she said: 'I want to be more free and flamboyant.

'I really want to do this for me and I thought it was the right time to step up and have fun.'Ketamine works as an antidepressant by activating the opioid system in the brain, a new study has revealed.

The drug has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms quicker than traditional medications, which researchers now say is because it triggers opioid receptors.

Previously, it was believed that ketamine blocked a neurotransmitter in the brain, putting it on high alert, but several attempts to develop similar drugs as antidepressants were unsuccessful.

The team, from Stanford University School of Medicine in California, says its research is the first to explain how the drug works to treat depression.

The researchers say they hope their findings might pave the way for new treatments might be able to treat depression, pain and opioid addiction simultaneously.

Ketamine works as an antidepressant by activating the opioid system in the brain, a new study has revealed

Ketamine was developed in 1963 as an anesthetic and was first used on battlefields during the Vietnam War.

It was approved in 1970 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, for years, has been used for anesthesia for patients undergoing minor surgeries as well as veterinary purposes.

Ketamine is often considered a club drug or party drug and has been used as a date-rape drug.

When abused, ketamine - which has a similar chemical structure to PCP - can cause hallucinations and induce a trance-like state.

In recent years, scientists have been studying whether ketamine could work for treatment-resistant depression, which is a subset of depression that has not responded to at least two drugs.

The FDA has not approved the drug's use for depression but there are psychiatrists who have been prescribing it 'off-label' or using it experimentally with their patients.

It is administered either via IV or a nasal mist, and, in some studies, has been shown to treat symptoms of depression in just a few hours.

This is in comparison with standard antidepressant medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, whose effects can take as long as four to six weeks to appear.

Ketamine is also analgesic and, in lower doses, has been shown to relive chronic pain.

Although it was not understood how, there was some evidence that it was interacting with the opioid system, which controls pain, reward and addictive behavior.

For this study, the Stanford team enrolled 30 adults who were suffering from treatment-resistant depression.

Twelve of them received ketamine infusions twice - first after being administered an opioid-receptor blocker known as naltrexone and the second time with a placebo.

The team saw that ketamine lessened symptoms of depression by nearly 90 percent over the course of three days for more than half the participants when they received it with the placebo.

However, it had little to no effect on depressive symptoms when naltrexone was administered beforehand.

The research clearly demonstrates the link between depression, opioids and pain. You can't address one without addressing the others

Once they saw this effect, the researchers believe that had proven that ketamine was interacting with opioid receptors.

Co-author Dr Boris Heifets, a clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at Stanford, said he was surprised because ketamine has long been regarded a non-opioid drug.

'We use ketamine in the OR and what I have taught my residents is that ketamine is a non-opioid,' he told Daily Mail Online.

'We see that we administer it, blood pressure is stable, the pupils are wide, it does not behave like an opioid. So when I first spoke to [the co-authors] about this study, it thought it was a terrible idea.'

The researchers next wanted to understand how ketamine worked.

It was hypothesized that ketamine blocked a receptor for glutamate, a neurotransmitter that helps with learning, memory and cognitive function.

However, there are three phases in how ketamine acts on receptors, which the researchers described as 'rapid effects, sustained effects and return to baseline'.

They discovered that the reason ketamine's effects were so quick to treat depressive symptoms was because the opioid receptors were being activated during the first phase.

They believe the glutamate system sustains the effects after ketamine has been metabolized by the body.

'The research clearly demonstrates the link between depression, opioids and pain,' said Dr Heifets.

'You can't address one without addressing the others.'

Dr Alan Schatzberg, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, said that the findings might offer a clinicians a way for new treatment options that include all three public health crises.

'Doctors used to use opioids to treat depression so in terms of development of tolerance, we need to be careful in our strategies,' he told Daily Mail Online.

The researchers hope that by administering ketamine in a ketamine clinic, they can prove to the FDA it can be done safely and fast-track approval for the drug's use for depression.Lacy Anderson has a rare form of stomach cancer, but she is not alone.

In fact, all but one member of her family of nine share her same diagnosis.

One Anderson has already succumbed to the cancer. Six are now cancer free, but only because they had their stomachs removed altogether.

Lacy's is the final battle with hereditary diffuse stomach cancer.

The disease is the result of a genetic mutation, affecting only abut 400 known families; 56 and 70 percent of members of a family with the mutation develop the cancer; in Lacy's family, it has struck nearly 90 percent.

Despite her genetic profile, doctors dismissed 28-year-old Lacy's stomach troubles as 'stress,' she says, and it her cancer was already stage four by the time it was finally diagnosed.

Lacy has idea what her prognosis is, so she is marrying her boyfriend of two years on Saturday, and drawing on the strength of a family that understands her illness like no one else could as she undergoes chemotherapy and fights for her life.

Eight out of nine members of Lacy Anderson's (center of front) family have the same rare form of stomach cancer that affects just 400 families with a genetic mutation worldwide

It started with Uncle Frank.

Every time Lacy's father's brother got a colonoscopy, doctors found polyps all over his colon.

Suspecting colon cancer or another illness, his doctors ran blood tests, and found out that he had a mutation on his CDH1 gene, quite by accident.

Once his doctors knew he had the mutation, they knew Frank's cancer was almost certainly hereditary gastric diffuse cancer (HGDC). He was diagnosed in June of last year.

Uncertain of her future with stage IV cancer, Lacy proposed to her boyfriend of two years, Adam Levine (right)

And once they knew that Frank had the mutation, his two children, Laura and Eric, got tested for it, and were positive.

The same story played out for Lacy's father, John, and her older brother, Robert.

'It just kept getting scarier and scarier,' Lacy told Daily Mail Online.

There are about 120 mutations that can happen along the CDH1 gene, and any of them can cause the rare stomach cancer because the gene normally codes for a tumor suppressing protein.

These mutations can also cause breast and ovarian cancers, but most commonly tumors begin in the stomach.

HGDC gets its name from the pattern of its tumor growth.

It is marked by a series of small clusters of cancer cells distributed sporadically throughout the stomach lining.

Endoscopies typically examine the upper part of the stomach, from where the cancerous clusters are not visible. Colonoscopies don't catch it either.

Coupled with the fact that it is rare, and therefore not at the top of the list of usual suspects most doctors look for, this means that HGDC often doesn't get diagnosed until it is in its late stages, when the survival rate may be as low as 20 percent.

Such was the case for Lacy's uncle, Frank, who died in May at age 63.

Adam and members of Lacy's family gather around her at the hospital where she gets chemo treatments. Her father (back left) and brother (right) both have the cancer but had their stomachs removed to prevent the disease from worsening

She didn't know it yet, but the same would be true for Lacy, too.

Lacy and her brothers, John Jr and Richie, finally decided to get tested as well and were positive for the genetic mutation.

The odds of getting HDGC are so high for those who have the mutation that doctors recommend removing the stomach preventatively.

Because the cancer is so often missed by endoscopies, the best way to screen for HDGC is the removal surgery itself.

So, in addition to Frank (before his death) six members of the Anderson family traveled to either the University of Chicago or to Maryland - where several of them were enrolled in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study on HDGC - to have full gastrectomies.

'There was cancer present in each and every one of them,' Lacy told Daily Mail Online gravely.

Lacy has lost half her body weight since getting sick, a fact she is self conscious about, but she is comforted when Adam tells her daily that she's beautiful

Lacy's mother, Paula (left), does not have the gene for HDGC, but has watched her husband, two sons and now Lacy battle the disease. Lacy did the same when her father was treated in December of last year (right)

For the last year, Lacy's stomach had bothered her, but, she figured, 'I'm the youngest of [the family], surely I've got plenty of time,' before her mutated gene turned against her and brought on cancer.

It wasn't until the last six months that her symptoms seemed serious enough to warrant a trip to the doctor.

'I went to the emergency room, a clinic, my regular doctor; everyone just kept talking about stress,' Lacy says.

'They thought it was bacterial or maybe ulcers, but no one would ever actually do a CT scan or anything to look inside and see what was going on. I'm not sure if they didn't believe me or were worried about insurance or what.'

By the time Lacy finally went to get 'tested' for the cancer, by having NIH surgeons open her up to remove her stomach, it was too late.

On July 14, she found out that she had stave IV stomach cancer that had spread to her intestines and had caused fluid to build up in her abdomen.

Both Lacy's brother John Jr (left), 41, and her father John, 61, have made it through the worst of treatment: getting their stomachs surgically removed

Having her brother Richie (who is 37), father, John, mother and mother, Paula (left to right) at the hospital with her comforts Lacy (right), especially since Richie and John have the same cancer

'I'm basically riddled with it,' Lacy says.

The cancer had become too intertwined with her organs for surgeons to safely cut it away or remove her stomach.

When she woke up, the NIH doctors broke the news to Lacy.

'I never would have thought I could have stage IV cancer,' she says.

'The thing that terrifies me the most is having watched my uncle struggle with it for a year,' she adds, trailing off.

Lacy was sent home immediately to start chemotherapy in the hopes that an aggressive round of the drugs would shrink the tumors enough for it to be safe to surgically remove them, eventually.

Soon after her return to Springfield, Lacy got a call from her oncologist there.

They had expected Lacy would have to wait weeks to get an appointment to start chemo, but there was an opening on July 20 - her 28th birthday.

'My doctor said "I know everyone does something fun for their birthday, so this isn't ideal ..." but I told her I want to do it, sign me up' Lacy explains.

Laura (left, age 34) and Richie Anderson have both had their stomachs removed. During the surgery, doctors confirmed that they already had hereditary diffuse gastric cancer

Lacy's uncle, Frank (center of front) was the first to be diagnosed with cancer. He died in May at 63, but the discovery of his genetic mutation may have saved his kids and grandchildren

'If they were able to get me in to start it just a week [after diagnosis], regardless of my birthday, that was the best gift I could have received.'

Even with the lucky early start on chemo Lacy knew that the future was uncertain for her, and for her relationship with her boyfriend of two years, Adam Levine.

'I came home from all that and told him this was probably going to be the hardest thing we could have to go through. He didn't sign up for this so I understood if he wanted to walk away,' Lacy told Daily Mail Online.

'He said he would never, so I asked him to marry me.'

Since the trouble with her stomach began last year, Lacy has become too sick to work, and had to rely increasingly on Adam to help out around the house.

She has dropped weight continuously. She once weighed 300 lbs, but is now just half of that, at 145 lbs.

'I'm extremely self-conscious about my weight, but that never stops Adam from telling me I'm beautiful every day,' Lacy says.

So far, she has had three chemo treatments, and they haven't treated her too badly.

The Anderson's call themselves 'warriors,' as they fight cancer, so Lacy wears a knit warrior hat to treatments (left). Her cancer is stage IV and inoperable, as was her uncle Frank's (right)

Every time she returns from 48 hour treatment trips to the hospital to return to Adam (right), the boyfriend of two years whom she will marry Saturday, and their dog, Blue (center)

In fact, before she started treatment, Lacy's tumors would sometimes swell and block the passage of food through her digestive system, landing her in the hospital.

Since starting chemo, however, her stomach 'seems to be opening up, so I have very high hopes that it's working,' Lacy says.

And with each treatment, she feels a little stronger.

'The farther we go along, it makes me feel like I have a little more pep in my step,' she adds.

The side effects haven't been too bad for Lacy so far, but she does hate being away from her family, fiance and fur babies for 48 hours at a time she stays in the hospital so doctors can monitor her during chemo.

'It's always overwhelming to get home to them,' she says.

Her family has, quite literally, 'all gone through it and they have crowded around me to help me,' says Lacy.

'It's really brought us closer together, as awkward as that sounds.'

Lacy will get three more chemo treatments over the next month or so, and then doctors will give her another CT scan to see if it's working well enough that they might be able to operate, or if they should try immunotherapy.

Lacy is cautiously optimistic, but focuses on what she can do right now: spread awareness of the CDH1 mutation and HDGC, spending time with her family with whom she shares so much and, on Saturday, get married.

It won't be the wedding she expected or planned on - her sister-in-law has planned Lacy's big day, since she's been to sick - but she's excited nonetheless.

'All I have to do is show up and enjoy my day,' Lacy laughs.

Her whole family will rally around Lacy - the last one in the Andersons' collective fight against stomach cancer - and Adam as they tie the knot.

'I have no life expectancy now, at any time I could completely go into remission, or ... you never know,' she says.

'At lest I'm going through it with my family, they know what I'm going through, so it's not just me struggling through by myself.'California Supreme Court Changes Definition of Independent Contractor

The California Supreme Court recently decided how to distinguish a contractor from an employee for the Golden States employers.

The decision is called Dynamex decision. The California Supreme Court decision can be found here. For the legal diehards, the decision is 85+ pages.

However, I do recommend downloading it and reading over it as what happens in Californias Workers Comp system will be coming to your state or states in the future. <<<saying that I coined>>>

Many articles have been written in this blog that centers around the IRS definition of an independent contractor. The IRS has not updated the subcontractor pages since April 2018. We watch to see when the contractor pages are updated to pass them along to our readers.

Californias former rules and laws on subcontractors vs. employees seemed to be more liberal on allowing companies to operate as independent contractors. Californias gig economy remains massive and still growing.

According to Workcompcentral.com, (behind paywall) the high court in the Dynamex created a three-part test:

Requires businesses to show that a person who is classified as an independent contractor is free from control and direction Was hired to provide a service that the company doesnt usually offer Is customarily engaged in an independently established trade.

The decision seems more restrictive than what California had in place. The second part of the test (bolded above) creates a new wrinkle in the employment determination.

For comparison, the most update IRS determination is (with links that explain each aspect):

_____________

Common-Law Rules

Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job? Financial: Are the business aspects of the workers job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.) Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

Businesses must weigh all these factors when determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. Some factors may indicate that the worker is an employee, while other factors indicate that the worker is an independent contractor. There is no magic or set number of factors that make the worker an employee or an independent contractor, and no one factor stands alone in making this determination. Also, factors that are relevant in one situation may not be relevant in another.

The keys are to look at the entire relationship, consider the degree or extent of the right to direct and control, and finally, to document each of the factors used in coming up with the determination.

____________

Even the IRS says there is no magic way to determine the employee/subcontractor relationship. The California Legislature will likely review in their next session the likely effects of this recent California Supreme Court decision.

J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright NoticeTeenagers who drink alcohol or smoke have arteries that are beginning to stiffen by the age of 17 - boosting their risk of heart attacks and stroke.

Researchers found a combination of the two vices caused greater arterial damage than drinking or smoking separately.

But the University College London team also discovered that if teenagers stopped smoking or drinking, their arteries returned to normal.

Arterial stiffness indicates damage to the blood vessels, which raises the risk of heart problems in later life, such as heart attacks and stroke.

Researchers found a combination of the two vices causes greater arterial damage than drinking or smoking separately

Researchers analysed data from 1,266 teenagers over a five-year period between 2004 and 2008.

Participants provided details of their smoking and drinking habits at 13, 15 and 17, to divide them into different brackets based on how frequent they smoked or drank.

Heavy smokers counted as having smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, moderate 20-99, while light smokers counted as fewer than 20.

Heavy drinkers counted as more than 10 drinks on a typical day they were drinking alcohol. Medium counted as between three and nine drinks, while light was classed as fewer than two drinks.

One drink equated to 8g of alcohol  roughly a third of a pint of beer, according to the study published in the European Heart Journal.

Aortic stiffening was then assessed using a Vicorder device to measure carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity  the speed at which the arterial pulse propagates through the circulatory system.

Professor John Deanfield, who led the study, told The Guardian: 'This is the sort of pattern of drinking that is common in young people and the smoking was light.

'So this is applicable probably to the behaviour of many young people in the population today.'

Heavy smokers had an average increase of 3.7 per cent in the stiffening of their arteries, compared to light smokers.

IS THE END OF SMOKING 'IN SIGHT' IN THE UK? The end of smoking is finally 'in sight', officials claimed in June 2017 following figures that suggested another drop in rates across the UK. Just one in six adults now regularly light up cigarettes - with 680,000 having given up the habit completely in 2016. The numbers of smokers dropped from 19.9 per cent in 2010 to just 15.5 per cent in 2016 in England alone, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Across all ages smoking prevalence is in decline, with the largest fall in 18-to-24 year olds, while e-cigarette use is on the rise in this age group. Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, said the UK has the second lowest smoking rate in Europe after Sweden, which proves that the Government's tobacco-control policies are effective. Advertisement

Teenagers who tended to binge drink had an average increase of 4.7 per cent in the stiffening of their arteries, compared to light drinkers.

Binge drinking was defined as consuming more than 10 drinks in a typical drinking day, with the aim of becoming drunk.

Teenagers who were both heavy smokers and heavy drinkers had an average increase of 10.8 per cent in the stiffening of their arteries, compared to those who had never smoked and low alcohol consumers.

Senior author Professor John Deanfield said: 'We found drinking and smoking in adolescence, even at lower levels compared to those reported in adult studies, is associated with arterial stiffening and atherosclerosis progression.

'However, we also found that if teenagers stopped smoking and drinking during adolescence, their arteries returned to normal.'

He added that this suggests that 'there are opportunities to preserve arterial health from a young age'.

Dr Marietta Charakida, who was involved in the study, said: 'Injury to the blood vessels occurs very early in life as a result of smoking and drinking and the two together are even more damaging.

'Although studies have shown teenagers are smoking less in recent years, our findings indicated approximately one in five teenagers were smoking by the age of 17.

'In families where parents were smokers, teenagers were more likely to smoke.

'Governments and policy-makers need to devise and implement effective educational strategies, starting in childhood, to discourage children and teenagers from adopting smoking and bad drinking habits.

'They should also be told about the benefits of stopping these unhealthy behaviours.'A dog walker claims he developed life-threatening brain inflammation after being bitten by a tick in what would be the first case of its kind in the UK.

Tom Varga alleges he was bitten by a tick, which he later removed, while walking his dog Cher on the fells near Millom in the Lake District in August last year.

The 33-year-old's symptoms only came to light 10 months later when he began experiencing extreme fatigue, headaches and eye pain, which led to him being diagnosed with tick-born encephalitis (TBE).

After the deadly virus manifested into brain inflammation, Mr Varga, a sous chef, was left fighting for his life and was only discharged from hospital two weeks ago, with him claiming he is 95 per cent of the way to being back to his normal self.

TBE is common in parts of Europe, Russia, northern China and Japan, however, according to the charity Encephalitis Society, the virus has 'never been present in the UK'.

Although there is a chance Mr Varga may have picked up the infection while visiting family in his native Hungary, he is adamant he contracted TBE in the UK and is speaking out to warn others to be vigilant against ticks.

Dog walker Tom Varga (pictured with his pet Cher on the fells in the Lake District) became ill 10 months after he claims he was bitten by a tick. It is unclear if the bite took place when this photograph was taken. Experts claim tick-borne encephalitis is not present in the UK

'It felt like my eyes were on fire'

Mr Varga, who is in a relationship, said: 'I was bitten by a tick a year ago while walking in the Lake District and I remember having to remove it with a pair of tweezers.

'I thought nothing more of it and felt fine and healthy up until June when I started experiencing extreme lethargy and headaches.

'It felt like my eyes were on fire, as if they'd been replaced by two pieces of red-hot charcoal, melting my sockets. In my brain it felt as if a hedgehog had awoken and was trying to get out.

'At one point I had to wrap a dressing gown belt around my skull and bury my head in a pillow in order to apply pressure and try to ease the pain.

'I'd never been this unwell in my whole life. I'd never even been in hospital before.'

After experiencing extreme fatigue, headaches and eye pain, Mr Varga was rushed to Furness General Hospital in Barrow where he was diagnosed. Mr Vagra is pictured receiving antibiotics

WHAT IS TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS? Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an infection spread by tick bites. According to the NHS, it is not found in the UK but is present in other parts of Europe, Russia, China and Japan. Symptoms can be flu-like, such as feeling hot, headaches, aching muscles and nausea. Some also develop a circular red rash. In severe cases, TBE can cause brain inflammation, which may lead to sufferers experiencing a stiff neck, dislike of bright lights, seizures, behavioural changes or loss of movement. Ticks live in forests and grassy areas. Therefore people may be more at risk if they are hiking or camping, however, not all ticks spread TBE. If visiting an area with TBE, people can get vaccinated against the virus, with two jabs offering around a year's protection. This vaccine is not available on the NHS. Advertisement

Doctors thought he had HIV

After developing symptoms, Mr Varga was sent home by his GP but returned the following day complaining of a stiff neck and extreme light sensitivity, which led to him being rushed to Furness General Hospital in Barrow.

Due to Mr Varga returning from a holiday in Africa last February, he claims he was given antibiotics and kept in isolation for six days, with medics fearing he had a contagious disease.

His central nervous system was so badly affected doctors even suspected he may have HIV, he claims.

Yet following multiple tests, including a CT scan, X-ray and blood examinations, Mr Varga was diagnosed with TBE.

After receiving treatment, Mr Varga said: 'I'm feeling okay now, but it's been a scary experience.

'My recent illness has certainly made me extra vigilant about protecting myself from ticks and I'd urge others to be wary, too.'

'I'd be amazed if the TBE wasn't contracted in the UK'

Despite TBE never being seen in the UK, Mr Varga maintains the only time he has been bitten by a tick is in Britain, with him regularly removing the pests from his dog after walks in Cumbria.

He also recently attempted to walk all 214 of the Lakeland fells documented by the acclaimed author Alfred Wainwright.

Mr Varga, who spends a week every year visiting family in Hungary, admits it is impossible to say whether he contracted TBE in the UK or abroad.

But added: 'I can't say with 100 per cent certainty, but I'd be amazed if the TBE hasn't been contracted here in the UK.

'We have a lot of ticks here in the Lake District. They're a common sight for me. So much so that I end up picking them off the dog once a week.'

According to the vet Iain Booth: 'More and more vets are reporting increased numbers of parasites in the UK, including ticks and tick-borne diseases.

'One possible reason for the rise is the fact more dogs have pet passports to travel in Europe, as well as an increase in dogs being imported to the UK from rescue centres abroad.

'If Tom is correct in his assertions, his case could prove concerning indeed.'A former nurse breaks out in agonising hives and blister if she is touched by even the smallest drop of water.

Maxine Jones, 52, claims she is living a 'prison sentence' because of her aquagenic urticaria - a hypersensitivity to water.

Ms Jones, of Ecclesfield, South Yorkshire, can only shower twice a year because of the condition, thought to strike around 50 people worldwide.

It took doctors a year to diagnose her with the condition, often referred to as a water allergy. Her symptoms, which started randomly eight years ago, forced her to give up her job.

She can't go out in the rain and has to wear gloves when brushing her teeth, making tea and chopping fruit to avoid any moisture touching her skin.

Ms Jones, who controls her condition through tablets - including one used to treat leprosy, said: 'If I touch water at all the pain is awful.

Maxine Jones, 52, who suffers from aquagenic urticaria, is pictured in a wheelchair. She is reliant on a wheelchair because of other medical conditions that have damaged her back

'It feels like Ive broken every bone in my foot, and my body itches all over like Ive been rolling in a bed of nettles.

'I cant go out if theres any chance it will rain, which means my neighbours hardly see me during winter.

'It sometimes feels like a prison sentence. Its a miserable disease and I wouldnt wish it on anybody, but you just have to learn to live with it.'

Ms Jones requires a heavy dose of steroids to tackle her hives and blisters when she does shower.

The rest of the time, the former palliative nurse uses a special foam that costs up to 60 a month to keep clean.

Ms Jones had to quit her job when her bizarre symptoms appeared out of the blue around eight years ago.

She tried numerous treatments to control her condition, including chemotherapy and pills. But nothing helped.

Ms Jones then found a combination of tablets which have since helped to keep her painful symptoms at bay.

Ms Jones' released a picture of her swollen face after she came into contact with a drop of water (it is unclear how long ago this picture was taken)

Pictured: the hives on her hand after coming into contact with water. Ms Jones has suffered from the allergy for around eight years

Ms Jones has to wear gloves when brushing her teeth and chopping fruit to avoid any moisture touching her skin

Some of the tablets, which Ms Jones didn't reveal the name of, are designed to treat leprosy, according to their labels, she said.

Ms Jones' neighbours are fantastic, she said, always ringing or dropping by to check up on her if they havent seen her for a few days.

Ms Jones claims every part of her body is affected from aquagenic urticaria, except for her eyes, nose and mouth.

Doctors examined her for all manner of problems before dermatologists confirmed it was aquagenic urticaria after a year of tests.

Despite being thought to strike one in every 230 million people, Ms Jones claims she has met scores of others with similar complaints.

The Aquagenic Urticaria - Water Allergy Facebook group has nearly 900 members.

Ms Jones has to take a large amount of pills daily due to her aquagenic urticaria

Ms Jones also has to wear gloves when she makes a cup of tea or coffeee

The group claims the condition is not technically an allergy but a hypersensitivity to the ions found in non-distilled water.

It states water causes hives to appear on sufferers skin within 15 minutes and to last for up to two hours, though Ms Jones claims her symptoms can persist for days.

The British Association of Dermatologists describes the condition as extremely rare, stating it usually affects the upper part of the body.

There is still no known cure and relatively little is understood about what causes the condition.

Ms Jones is pictured wearing gloves to brush her teeth. She claims she has met scores of others with similar complaints - despite figures suggesting the condition strikes one in every 230 million people

Ms Jones is pictured wearing gloves to stir her tea. She claims her neighbours are fantastic and always ring or drop by to check up on her if they havent seen her for a few daysTexas Children's Hospital has fired the nurse who posted in an anti-vaxxer Facebook group about giving her own son measles from an infected child being treated at the facility.

Yesterday, the hospital announced that the woman had been suspended pending its investigation of her conduct.

After seeing the infected child at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, the nurse allegedly posted on the Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children - Texas Facebook page, admitting her horror at the boy's illness but reaffirming her anti-vaxxer stance.

The boy is one of at least seven cases of measles in Texas this year and 124 people have already been sickened by the once-eradicated virus this year.

A concerned parent shared screenshots of the woman's alleged Facebook posts - including one saying she thought about swabbing the sick patient's mouth and bringing it home' to her child - with Texas Children's.

Last night, the hospital fired the nurse for posting protected patient information on social media.

Despite admitting the illness was far worse than she had thought, a now-suspended nurse who saw her first case of measles at Texas Children's Hospital said she remains anti-vaccine - and that she even thought about infecting her own son with a sample from a sick boy

The measles vaccine effectively eradicated the virus in the US, but public health experts suspect recent outbreaks are driven by the growing anti-vaxxer movement

According to the Houston Health Department, the boy is between one and three years old and has now tested definitively positive for measles.

His is the first case of measles investigated in Houston since 2013, according to the city's health department, but by the end of January, six cases had already been reported in Ellis County, Texas.

All of those infected were unvaccinated against the virus, according to a Texas Department of State Health Services press release.

It is not clear if the child hospitalized at Texas Children's was vaccinated or not.

But by the unidentified nurse's own account, he was extremely sick.

The Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children - Texas Facebook page where she posted has since been taken down, but Houston's ABC 13 News station obtained screenshots of her postings beforehand.

'I think its easy for us nonvaxxers to make assumptions but most of us have never and will never see one of theses diseases. [But] for the first time in my career I saw Measles this week,' she allegedly wrote.

'Actually most of my coworkers and the ER docs saw measles for the first time as well. And honestly, it was rough. The kid was super sick. Sick enough to be admitted to the ICU and he looked miserable.'

Measles symptoms include a flat red rash, red, watery eyes, runny nose, and a high fever.

About one in 20 children who gets measles develops pneumonia, too, and if the viral infection is left untreated too long, children can develop brain welling that can cause permanent damage.

The measles virus (left) was considered eradicated from the US in 2000, but there have been many recent outbreaks of the illness several states and other countries. The nurse said the illness was 'worse' than she thought, but she remains steadfastly anti-vaccination (right)

The nurse commented on her own post that she suspected the patient in her hospital had gotten measles while travelling abroad and that she had thought of giving the virus to her son

One to two out of every 1,000 children that are infected with measles die from it. In the decade leading up to the release of a vaccine (in 1963), nearly all children in the US got measles, and between 400 and 500 people died each year.

Measles was considered eradicated from the US in 2000, but there has been a sudden resurgence of outbreaks, which most public health officials blame on the current momentum behind the anti-vaxxer movement.

Vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella is required by law for children in all 50 states, though many allow religious exemptions.

Texas is one of only a handful of states that allow 'philosophical' exemptions to vaccinations, a permission won by the anti-vaxxer political lobby there.

The Texas Children's nurse was struck, but unmoved by seeing her first measles patient.

'By no means have I changed my vax stance, and I never will,' she reportedly wrote on the Facebook page.

'But I just wanted to share my experience and how much worse it was than I expected.'

Nevertheless, she went on to discuss her post in the comments section and at one point wrote: 'I'm not kidding that I thought about swabbing his mouth and bringing it home to my 13 (year old),' ABC 13 reported.

Measles is a highly contagious virus, and can easily spread from child to child if they are not vaccinated against the illness.

A concerned parent shared screenshots of the nurse's posts to Texas Children's Facebook page on Friday and the hospital launched an investigation.

'This is a highly-contagious, vaccine-preventable infection. We know vaccination is the best protection against measles,' a hospital spokesperson told Daily Mail Online in an emailed statement.

Its staff has also reached out to the families of all of the children the sick boy may have come into contact with, a key to containing the spread of the virus, as it be contagious but without visible symptoms for seven to 14 days.

'We are also aware that one of our nurses posted information on social media and we take these matters very seriously. A thorough investigation is underway,' the hospital wrote.Emergency responders have been told to wear masks, goggles and gloves if they come across fentanyl amid a spike in deaths from the drug.

Public Health England has issued guidance for paramedics, firefighters and police officers who may come across the opioid painkiller.

Deaths from the drug, around 50 times stronger than heroin, rose by almost 30 per cent last year in England and Wales.

The drug often comes in the form of pills and tablets but can also be taken as a powder, lollipops and solutions that can be injected.

Fentanyl is often imported illegally from Chinese labs and sold on the dark web at cut prices. Even a tiny amount of the drug - if inhaled - can prove fatal.

Public Health England has issued guidance for paramedics, firefighters and police officers amid a spike in deaths from the opioid painkiller (stock)

The new PHE guidance states personal protective equipment, such as masks, can protect against potentially fatal exposure to the drug.

First responders should also avoid actions that could cause powder to become airborne, but it did not specify any further as to what they may be.

Skin contact with fentanyl is unlikely to lead to harmful effects  especially if the skin is washed promptly with water, officials said.

The Government body added that inhaling the airborne powder is the route most likely to lead to harmful effects  backing their calls to wear masks.

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM FENTANYL IN ENGLAND AND WALES SINCE 1993? 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 4 3 2 3 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Source: ONS 3 5 6 9 10 31 22 22 40 34 58 75 Advertisement

What is fentanyl and why is it so dangerous? Fentanyl was originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain management. Given its extreme potency it has become popular amongst recreational drug users. Between late 2013 and early 2015, more than 700 deaths were attributed to fentanyl and related substances in Australia. Drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 people in the US in 2017  a record driven by fentanyl. While around 300 fentanyl deaths have been recorded in England and Wales since 1993. It is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug, with the effects biologically identical. But it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to officials in the US. Deaths tied to fentanyl and related drugs doubled in 2016, to more than 19,000. In America, fentanyl is classified as a schedule II drug - indicating it has a strong potential to be abused and can create psychological and physical dependence. Other schedule II drugs include Vicodin, cocaine, methamphetamine, Adderall, Ritalin and oxcodone. Advertisement

First responders may encounter fentanyl at ambulance calls for an overdose, traffic stops, arrests and even random searches.

PHE announced that their guidance, published last week, was adapted from similar recommendations currently adopted in the US.

Fentanyl, originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain, is partly behind the opioid crisis in the states.

Drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 people in the US last year, figures show two weeks ago  a new record driven by fentanyl.

Celebrated musician Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota two years ago.

But fentanyl deaths have also spiked in England and Wales in recent years, with the 75 deaths from the drug in 2017 being a record high.

Carfentanyl, often used as an elephant tranquilliser because of its strength, was mentioned in death certificates in 2017 for the first time.

In comparison, just 58 people died from misuse of the drug the previous year, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Just this week, an investigation revealed drug users can buy fentanyl and other lethal drugs through Chinese eBay-style websites cheaply.

Analysis handed to The Guardian showed Weiku.com, one of Chinas largest e-commerce sites, hosts sellers willing to ship opioids to the UK.A single dose of a supplement derived from cannabis reduces psychotic symptoms, despite psychosis being linked to the long-term use of the Class B drug, new research suggests.

When suspected psychosis patients are given a single 600mg oral dose of the compound cannabidiol (CBD), their symptoms become less severe, a UK study found today. Such symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, anxiety and insomnia.

CBD appears to work in opposition to the other cannabis component THC, which worsens psychosis symptoms and is what makes users 'high'. CBD that is legally sold in the UK must contain very low levels of THC.

After taking CBD, MRI scans of suspected psychosis patients suggest the supplement helps to 'readjust brain activity to normal levels', according to the researchers.

Medical cannabis is available on prescription in the UK after it was approved by the Government last July.

Marijuana is legal for medicinal purposes in 30 US states, including California, Florida and Ohio. Nine states permit the drug for recreational use.

One 600mg dose of a compound derived from cannabis reduces psychotic symptoms (stock)

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THC AND CBD Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are both derived from the cannabis plant. Together, they are part of the cannabinoid group of compounds found in hashish, hash oil, and most strains of marijuana. THC is the psychoactive compound responsible for the euphoric, 'high' feeling often associated with marijuana. THC interacts with CB1 receptors in the central nervous system and brain and creates the sensations of euphoria and anxiety. CBD does not fit these receptors well, and actually decreases the effects of THC, and is not psychoactive. CBD is thought to help reduce anxiety and inflammation. Advertisement

How the research was carried out

The researchers, from King's College London, analysed 33 people in their early-to-mid 20s who were experiencing distressing psychotic symptoms but had not been diagnosed with psychosis.

These individuals were compared against 19 healthy people with an average age of 23.

A 600mg dose of CBD was given to 16 of the suspected psychosis patients, with the remaining 17 receiving a placebo.

This dose was chosen due to it previously being shown to be effective in psychosis.

Three hours later, all of the participants were studied in an MRI scanner while performing a memory task that engages three regions of the brain known to be involved in psychosis.

The task involved the participants being shown pairs of words and answering if the words are linked. They were then asked to recall these words.

CBD works in opposition to the cannabis component THC, which worsens psychosis and is what makes users 'high'. CBD that is legally sold in the UK must contain very low levels of THC

CBD could be an 'ideal treatment'

Perhaps unsurprisingly, results suggest that the brain activity of a suspected psychosis patient is abnormal compared to that of a healthy person.

Yet, after a single CBD dose, these patients' brain activity becomes less severe than those who were given a placebo.

The researchers believe their findings could pave the way for new psychosis treatments.

Study author Dr Sagnik Bhattacharyya said: 'The mainstay of current treatment for people with psychosis are drugs that were first discovered in the 1950s and unfortunately do not work for everyone.

'Our results have started unravelling the brain mechanisms of a new drug that works in a completely different way to traditional anti-psychotics.'

On the back of their findings, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the researchers are launching a large trial to investigate whether CBD could treat people at risk of developing psychosis, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder patients.

Dr Bhattacharyya added: 'One of the main advantages of cannabidiol is that it is safe and seems to be very well tolerated, making it in some ways an ideal treatment.

'If successful, this trial will provide definitive proof of cannabidiol's role as an antipsychotic treatment and pave the way for use in the clinic.'An electronic chip implanted in the brain has been used successfully to prevent epileptic fits.

The device can detect the 'electric storm' in the brain when a seizure starts and release a natural chemical to stop it.

Researchers led by the University of Cambridge were able to prevent seizures in mice, providing hope for the 600,000 people in Britain and 3.4 million in the US with epilepsy.

The electronic chip, made from plastic and twice as thick as a human hair, could be scaled up and trialled in humans within two years.

Currently three in ten people with epilepsy are not able to control their seizures as anti-epileptic drugs do not work for them.

Cambridge University scientists have developed an electrical implant for the brain that delivers drugs to stop and prevent seizures caused by epilepsy or brain tumours

Dr Christopher Proctor, who led the research from the electrical engineering division of the University of Cambridge, said: 'The most exciting day I've had in research so far was when a concept that I took from a drawing on paper to a real device that I could hold in my hand, prevented a seizure for the third time.

'I say the third time because I am forever a sceptic, so I was hesitant to believe our initial results until we repeated it a couple times.'

Scientists have been competing to find a cure for epilepsy, which affects roughly one in 100 people, and have already developed implants which zap the brain with electricity to disrupt seizures.

The new chip works differently, using a chemical already found in the brain to block the brain cells which cause a seizure.

The implant detects the electrical signal created when a fit begins, triggering an ion pump using an electrical charge.

LISTENING TO MOZART COULD REDUCE EPILEPTIC SEIZURES Playing music by Mozart could be a way to reduce epileptic fits in children. Children aged two to 18 who listened to the classical composer's music had a significant drop in epileptic activity in the brain, according to recent research from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Doctors who carried out the research, said music may offer a low cost anti-epileptic therapy for children, some of whom do not respond to current treatments. The annual cost the NHS of anti-epileptic drugs is about 165 million. In the study, 45 children listened to the first five minutes of the Sonata For Two Pianos In D Major, or to other music not by Mozart. Electrical activity in their brains was measured and results showed a significant reduction in the frequency of epileptic discharges while listening to Mozart, but no change when listening to the control music. Just how the sonata could have such an effect is unclear, but one theory is that Mozart's music has a unique pattern of rhythms and melodic lines which affects electrical activity. Advertisement

That pump releases the chemical called GABA, which stops the brain cells which cause a seizure from firing properly.

It was found to work in 17 mice, given drugs to cause fits before having their brain activity monitored using a device similar to an ECG.

Stopping a seizure required less than one per cent of the chemical loaded into the device, suggesting it could operate for long periods without needing to be refilled.

Professor George Malliaras, who worked on the soft, flexible chip from the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering, said: 'These thin, organic films do minimal damage in the brain, and their electrical properties are well-suited for these types of applications.'

The results, reported in the journal Science Advances, could also be used to prevent tremors in people with Parkinson's disease by using the chip to deliver a chemical called dopamine into their brains.

However the authors, also including Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines and INSERM in France, stress the device is still several years away from routine use in people.

Professor Ley Sander, medical director at Epilepsy Society and professor of neurology at University College London, described stopping seizures before they happen as the 'holy grail' of epilepsy management.

He said: 'What is interesting about this research is that the implant delivers a drug straight to the source of the seizure, minimising the amount of drug required, reducing the uptake time and potentially reducing the risk of side effects.'

But he added: 'I would still tread cautiously however. Although researchers say the drug is a neurotransmitter that is native to the body, epilepsy is a diverse condition and its many seizure types remain defiantly resistant to any 'one-size-fits-all' panacea.'For most of us, school science projects went no further than growing cress on a paper plate or messing around with baking soda and vinegar.

But for 16-year-old Ashok Pandey, the school science fair was a chance to change medical practice.

The Canadian high school pupil demonstrated in a trial of 60 people that yoga and breathing exercises can be as effective as some drugs at reducing blood pressure.

A schoolboy found doing 15-minute sessions of yoga five times a week for three months cut blood pressure by an average 10 per cent - a similar effect seen for diuretics, a widely used class of blood pressure drug

The findings were so convincing that this week he presented them at the worlds largest meeting of heart experts, the European Society of Cardiology congress in Munich, attended by 30,000 doctors.

Ashok, who goes to school in the city of Cambridge, Ontario, said yoga is thought to have health benefits for centuries - but has been rarely studied according to modern scientific methods.

There isnt really much research looking at how yoga might have this benefit, said Ashok - whose father is a cardiologist.

Its been looked at as an unknown or as magical in some way.

The schoolboy found doing 15-minute sessions of yoga five times a week for three months cut blood pressure by an average 10 per cent - a similar effect seen for diuretics, a widely used class of blood pressure drug.

His results were so convincing that he is now working on a 500-person trial to confirm his findings with Laval University in Quebec.

The findings were so convincing he presented them at the worlds largest meeting of heart experts, the European Society of Cardiology congress. in Munich, attended by 30,000 doctors

Cardiologists are particularly impressed that Ashok designed his experiment to seek out the reason for yogas power.

Ashok, who won silver medal in the Canada-Wide Science Fair competition for high school projects last year, found a large proportion of the benefit could be attributed to deep breathing.

He split his volunteers into four groups - one doing relaxation exercises, one doing stretching, one doing deep breathing exercises and one doing traditional yoga.

The deep breathing group - who were asked simply to repeatedly inhale in for five seconds, hold their breath for five seconds, and then exhale for five seconds - saw virtually the same benefit as the yoga group.

Ashok said: It is clinically relevant. It should not be used as a replacement for existing treatments, its about incorporating yoga into existing programmes.

Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation said: This study suggests that some components of yoga, such as deep breathing and stretching, may individually have some blood pressure lowering effects'

Its not a conclusive study but the results suggest yoga could be an important tool to reduce blood pressure and deep breathing is an important notion that should be further researched. Professor Paul Poirier of Laval University, who is working with Ashok on the expanded study, said the 16-year-old was remarkable.

This young boy is quite something, he said.

At the end, it is all a matter of mentorship and providing a facilitating environment. But you need a good basis and hard working people.

Helping young people so they can replace us one day is what academic medicine is about. Experts said the findings could be easily incorporated into peoples lives.

Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation said: This study suggests that some components of yoga, such as deep breathing and stretching, may individually have some blood pressure lowering effects.

Theyre easy to adopt and unlikely to do any harm. Ashoks father Dr Shekhar Pandey, attending the conference with his son, said: I was surprised that the deep breathing had such an impact.

Id assumed yogas benefit would be the same as any other stretching exercise, so I was intrigued.

Its trying to bring scientific rigour to a field that historically has been thought of as alternative medicine, which sometimes comes with baggage that its not scientifically valid.

By trying to bring scientific method to examine these types of alternative health interventions thats an important step that western medicine needs to start investigating.Threat: Chancellor Philip Hammond is plotting a pensions tax grab

When I took over as Money Mail editor almost three years ago, it felt like family finances were threatened on all sides.

In my first week, we warned that then Chancellor, George Osborne, was preparing to raid pensions for extra taxes, and that banks were shutting branches, pushing us online and allowing scammers to dupe victims out of life savings.

Insurers, meanwhile, had become utterly addicted to ripping off loyal customers by charging them obscene amounts for motor and home cover.

Hiring a car on holiday was the financial equivalent of entering a shark tank  you just had to pray you returned home with your wallet in one piece  and families were becoming fed up with being told to install smart energy meters in their houses.

As I sign off with my final Last Word column, it is clear these dangers have grown more palpable. In fact, there is just one difference: it is now Philip Hammond plotting a pensions tax grab in place of George Osborne, as this newspaper detailed yesterday.

So while several years have passed and Money Mail will shortly have a new editor, I'm sorry to say the forces working to part you from your hard-earned cash have not disappeared. Far from it.

Sadly, the temptation for the powerful to profit at the expense of you and me is ever present. And that means we cannot afford to let our guard down and stop working tirelessly to protect our families' wealth and futures.

One of my great privileges as Money Mail editor has been to read your letters, which still fill our postbag each week more than half a century after this section of the newspaper was founded.

Whether it's a firm of rogue traders who fit wobbly doors and refuse to pay refunds or a crook who's invested your pension in non-existent student housing in Brazil, your stories are at the heart of everything we do.

Our readers are our eyes and ears and, at times, you have almost seemed part of our team of fearless reporters who will stop at nothing to expose wrongdoing and hold the guilty to account.

I've always felt an enormous sense of duty when you turn to us for help. My only regret has been that we cannot take on every case  there are just too many. But not a single letter, email or telephone call is wasted.

Every one is read by a member of the team  and, without printing your stories in the paper, the successes we've achieved would have been impossible.

Watchdogs in Spain, for example, would never have agreed to investigate the holiday car-hire scandal if it wasn't for the hundreds of examples you sent in.

The terrifying fraud failings at Santander in 2016 would have gone undiscovered and unchecked if brave victims hadn't come forward to testify.

Without your overwhelming support for our campaign to unlock cash tied up in pension annuities, Phoenix Life would surely not have allowed 20,000 to cash in.

So thank you to everyone who has taken time to tell us their story. Please keep them coming.

As I leave Money Mail in the capable hands of Victoria Bischoff, who will be taking over this column from next week, I can impart some good news.

Our three main crusades this year  extending the pension freedoms to all retired savers, stopping the smart meter hard-sell and returning millions of pounds to victims of online fraud  are gathering pace.

My hope is that we shall see serious progress in one or more of these vital areas over the coming months.

On top of that, I know that Victoria, who has done exceptional work forcing banks to improve their treatment of the bereaved, will continue to fight your corner.

We must not give in to the bullies who would have their way with our finances if left unchallenged.

Money Mail was created in 1966 by Patrick Sergeant, its first editor, with the words: 'You work hard for your money, so make it work hard for you.

'A great need in Britain today is advice about money, how to save it, how to use it, how to spend it and how to avoid paying too much tax on it. Money Mail aims to fill that need.'

Thankfully, that vow, too, will never change.

d.hyde@dailymail.co.ukMy father, who died six years ago, had an account with Ulster Bank. I have been trying  unsuccessfully  to retrieve the 400 remaining in the account.

The bank refuses to pay this unless my brother goes with me to sign for it. However, while the bank is in Northern Ireland, he lives and works in Morocco.

I have told them this, but they keep putting obstacles in my way.

T. B., Co. Armagh.

Ulster Bank is withholding a 400 from the account of a customer who died six years ago claiming they need his son, who lives in Morocco, to sign for it in person

A great many Money Mail readers will be able to empathise with your predicament  despite improvements over the past few years, banks can still make it tricky to retrieve money belonging to relatives who have died.

Ulster Bank tells me it used to require that either all the next of kin or executors of an estate sign relevant paperwork as a way of protecting customers' accounts.

It said it had to balance the need to act in a fair way towards any potential beneficiaries with the need to access accounts.

However, a number of years ago, it changed this process, so that only one signature from a next of kin was required.

So why on earth were you not then contacted? Well, it seems that Ulster did flag up this type of account for proactive follow-up at the time the processes changed but, due to an error, yours was missed.

In light of this, the bank has apologised for the inconvenience caused. The branch manager has contacted you and arrangements have been made for you to receive the money  it will pay the money owed, plus interest.

In addition, you have been offered 100 compensation. You have been provided with a named complaint-handler who will deal with your case personally.

An Ulster Bank spokesman says: 'We take the safety and security of all customers' accounts very seriously and have controls in place to ensure that their money is only accessible by authorised individuals.

'We continually review these policies and, in recent years, we have changed the way we treat access to the accounts of deceased customers.'

You Have Your Say Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some from our article on a new service, which won backing on TVs Dragons Den, that switches households to a new, cheap energy deal automatically each year... The big problem with these kind of comparison services is that they make money by charging the firms they promote. You'll often find far cheaper tariffs if you go to the suppliers directly. F. G., Coventry. I started to sign up, but then I felt a bit uncomfortable when they wanted my bank details. I prefer to stay in control of my own bills and bank account. R. S., Wales. I watched them on Dragons' Den and, on the face of it, Look After My Bills sounds like a nice idea. But I am a bit old-school and, if something sounds too good to be true, I tend to steer clear. P. B., Warrington, Cheshire. I don't like the fact that they rule out firms they feel provide bad customer service. Would it not be better to have two searches  one for price and another for customer service? M. J., Brighton. Look After My Bills, Flipper, Labrador . . . I don't know which one to go with. Perhaps someone should create a comparison site to help us decide! P. D., Grimsby, Lincs. I always sign up to one of the group deals where thousands of people join together to get a bulk discount. The prices are always very good. A. O., Cardiff. It's a shame you can't switch so easily with a smart meter. I'm glad I have resisted the attempts of all my various suppliers who wanted me to install one. P. W., Dartford, Kent. I despair at the hopeless service of some energy suppliers. I'm still trying to sort out the incorrect transfer of my gas meter number seven months after I switched. At one stage, I had three gas meters allocated to my account. W. E., Manchester.

Last September, we booked a holiday to Thailand with Thomson. A month later, we decided to cancel it. I emailed to ask the company to transfer my 1,000 deposit to another holiday.

A month later, I emailed again, as I had not received a reply.

Shortly after that, I was told that it was too late to get my money back. I feel aggrieved that I've lost all of my deposit.

L. K., Cornwall.

You tell me that the background to all of this is that your son was working in New Zealand, and Thailand seemed like an ideal place for you all to get together.

As it turned out, not long after booking, he decided to return home and so the holiday became unnecessary, especially around the time that you'd booked.

While I can understand your situation, I cannot really see why TUI, which owns Thomson, should return your deposit just because you changed your mind.

Travel insurance wouldn't help, either, as 'changed your mind' is not a reason for a payment.

Having said that, I don't think it dealt with your email requests very well. The problem with emails is that we can never be sure they have been read or dealt with.

As far as TUI is concerned, you cancelled your holiday first and then, two days later, requested an amendment. Its argument is that, as the holiday was cancelled, there was no booking to amend.

It further points out that when cancelling online, there is a clear option to change your booking to another holiday, but you did not take this.

Regulations covering package holidays say the firm should try to resell the holiday and can only make a 'reasonable and justifiable' charge. Is 1,000 for cancelling a holiday three months before the travel date reasonable? Well, the industry standard is that cancellation 90 days or more before a holiday means you lose your deposit.

Cancel nearer the date of travel and you may be on the hook for some or all of the final bill, too.

While TUI has been inflexible on this, I don't feel you have helped yourselves by not following the proper procedures, so you have learned an expensive lesson.

A TUI spokesman says: 'We're really sorry to hear that your reader is unhappy following his decision to cancel his holiday. He could have contacted us at any time and we would have been happy to amend his booking to an alternative.

'Unfortunately, as he went straight ahead and cancelled, he incurred a loss of deposit, as per our cancellation policy, which he would have accepted at the time of booking.'

Straight To The Point I discovered that the Thames Water water pipe outside my home was leaking after my water bill shot up. Thames Water says it will pay for a new pipe outside my house, but that I must pay for a new connecting one inside. This seems unfair. Can you investigate? L. B., by email. Thames Water says that the leak is in your supply pipe. However, as part of a drive to reduce leakage, it is offering to fix leaks on customers supply pipes free of charge  even though these are the customers responsibility. The company says it has agreed with you a time to complete the repair work. *** Royal Mail lost my signed-for letter containing vouchers worth 18. When I complained, it admitted fault and apologised, but offered only six first- class stamps in compensation, which hardly makes up for the loss. D. M., by email. After I contacted Royal Mail, it agreed to cover the cost of your lost vouchers. It advises customers to use Royal Mails Special Delivery service when sending items of value. A spokesman says: We have reviewed this case and made a goodwill payment to Mr M. *** My Ryanair flight from Girona, Spain, to Birmingham was cancelled last month due to bad weather. I was told that I would be paid 268.51 in compensation and the airline sent a cheque in the post. However, when I tried to pay it into my bank account, it bounced. What has happened? A. T, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Ryanair has now sent you the compensation money via bank transfer. This week, it admitted that you are not alone and a number of cheques had bounced this month due to an error. A spokesman from the airline says: Due to an administrative error, this cheque was issued without a required signatory. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I let a friend use my credit card a few times and have since noticed a number of withdrawals I haven't made, totalling 1,600.

The fraudulent transactions mean I owe some 100 in charges and interest, too. I've reported it to the police and my bank, TSB, but no one seems able to help.

C. T, by email.

TSB has looked into your case and, based on what you told the police, believes that your card was likely used by your friend without your permission.

Banks typically refuse to refund fraudulent payments if customers have shared their card details. In this instance, TSB recognises you are a vulnerable customer and has wiped the debt and charges.

A spokesman says: 'Customers have a responsibility to protect their PIN. Customer negligence is a consideration, however it is not the only factor.'Accounting group Grant Thornton UK has been slapped with a 3million fine for 'misconduct' over its audits of Vimto-maker group Nichols and the University of Salford from 2010 to 2013.

The Financial Reporting Council fined Grant Thornton UK 4million initially, but this was reduced to 3million as the firm settled the matter early.

Four former Grant Thornton staff were also fined for their role in the audits, namely Eric Healey, Kevin Engel, David Barnes and Joanne Kearns.

The FRC fined one former Grant Thornton UK partner, Eric Healey, 150,000. He had joined the Audit Committees of Nichols and Salford university, which were both clients of Grant Thornton at the time, while he was also engaged by the firm to provide services under a consultancy agreement.

UK boss: Sacha Romanovitch became Grant Thornton UK LLP's chief executive in 2014

This created 'serious familiarity and self-interest threats' and led to 'the loss of independence' over eight audits, conducted between 2010 and 2013, the watchdog said.

As well as being fined, Mr Healey has been excluded him from the Institute of Chartered Accountants for five years.

The watchdog also said the case exposed 'widespread and serious inadequacies in the control environment in Grant Thornton's Manchester office over the period as well as firm-wide deficiencies in policies and procedures relating to retiring partners.'

A spokesperson for Grant Thornton UK said: 'Grant Thornton has reached a settlement agreement with our regulators on this matter, which relates to audits dating up to eight years ago.

'Whilst the focus of the investigation was not on our technical competence in carrying out either of these audit assignments, the matter of ethical conduct and independence is equally of critical importance in ensuring the quality of our work and it is regrettable that we fell short of the standards expected of us on this occasion.

'As we have since made significant investments in our people and processes and remain committed to continuous improvement in this regard, we are confident that such a situation should not arise in the future.'

A spokesman for Grant Thornton UK LLP said: 'It is regrettable that we fell short of the standards expected of us on this occasion'

Grant Thornton UK will pay a further 165,000 to cover the FRC executive counsel's costs.

Mr Engel will receive a severe reprimand and a fine of 75,000, while Mr Barnes and Ms Kearns will be fined 52,500 and 45,000 respectively. All the fines were discounted for settlement.

The fines come as auditors remain under heavy scrutiny following a string of scandals and concerns over conflicts of interest and a lack of competition.

The FRC has called for an inquiry into whether the Big Four accountancy giants, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC, should be broken up, with their audit divisions spun off.

Earlier this year, the FRC said it would enhance its monitoring of firms in efforts to avoid instability in the financial sector and 'systemic deficiencies' in the sector's biggest players.

The watchdog said it planned to focus on 'critical areas', including evidence of auditing quality, risk management and controls, financial soundness, values and behaviours as well as leadership and governance.

The FRC itself came under scrutiny for not pushing hard enough against the accounting giants amid the collapse of Carillion.British carmaker Aston Martin is targeting the super-rich with apartments, submarines and speedboats as it fights to join the FTSE 100 in a blockbuster 5bn stock market float.

The 115-year-old business set out its plans to go public amid record profits and an audacious bid to dominate the luxury market.

It will give investors the chance to own a slice of a British car company for the first time since Jaguar was bought by Ford and left the stock market in 1990.

The old and the new: Including Aston Martin's powerboat and the DB5 from James Bond film Goldfinger

Chief executive Andy Palmer believes the brand can be more than just a car maker.

It launched a 37ft powerboat two years ago, and teamed up with Triton Submarines last year to make a luxury underwater vehicle, codenamed Project Neptune, for millionaire playboys.

The firm based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, with 2,700 staff, is behind a 65-storey skyscraper in Miami with apartments for sale at up to 38m each. And it has even come up with a concept for a pilotless plane.

At its showroom in Mayfair, Aston sells luxury goods including a picnic hamper for 1,950 and a wash bag for 149 alongside cars.

Palmer said: 'We're a luxury company, we're not just a car company, and you have to see us in that context.

'Those lucky high net worth individuals who can afford our cars can also afford the lifestyle that goes around them. Believe me, those kinds of people want boats by Aston Martin, submarines by Aston Martin, and they want apartments by Aston Martin.'

Ordinary savers will not be allowed to take part in the stock market listing, with shares being offered to City institutions, staff and customers. Instead, they will have to wait until after trading has begun on the stock market in London to buy the shares.

And sources played down the prospect of Aston Martin shareholders getting a '007' ticker in homage to its association with James Bond.

Palmer said: 'This is a monumental moment. Carmaking in the UK is in a healthy state, but companies are foreign-owned. 'Now we will have an independent British car company again.'

It hopes to sell a 25 per cent stake for 1.25bn, which would value it at 5bn. Owners Investindustrial in Italy and Kuwaiti fund Investment Dar will sell part of their stakes, and German car maker Daimler will retain a holding.

Aston unveiled record sales of 444.9m in the first six months of 2018, up 8.4pc on a year earlier. Profits climbed 2.5 per cent to an all-time high of 20.8m, and it sold 2,299 vehicles. But there are questions over whether it can achieve a 5 billion valuation. This would give it a similar value to Marks & Spencer at the bottom of the FTSE 100.

Laith Khalaf of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown said: 'While we're disappointed there isn't a retail offering, private investors will be able to buy shares on the secondary market. This allows investors to buy into a little of the glamour of Aston Martin, without getting a second mortgage.'

Bumper pay for banks

Some of the world's biggest banks are set for a bumper payday if the 5 billion float of Aston Martin goes ahead.

German lender Deutsche Bank and US firms JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs will lead the listing.

HSBC, Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Italy's Unicredit will also be involved. No details of fees have yet been announced, but they are likely to run into tens of millions of pounds, meaning a bonanza for bankers.

They include Anthony Gutman, joint head of Goldman's UK investment bank, who has worked on blockbuster floats.

Car maker's dig at Tesla

Aston Martin took an apparent dig at Elon Musk and other rivals, saying its new Lagonda range will be the world's first luxury electric car brand.

Aston is vying to conquer the high-end electric car market, fighting rivals including Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Musk's Tesla.

It is resurrecting the 112-year-old Lagonda marque as a high-powered fossil fuel-free range, to be available in 2021, and billing it as a luxury brand.

Musk's Tesla Model 3 costs 27,000, while the average for Aston Martin is 167,000. Announcing the new range in March, Aston's Andy Palmer said: 'It will appeal to people other than traditionalists  those who want to upgrade from a Tesla.'Pension schemes have been told by the Pensions Regulator to consider cutting the amount of cash lump sums for people transferring out of their gold-plated deals, Royal London has revealed.

In a letter sent to final salary (or defined benefit) pension schemes obtained by the life insurer and pensions firm after a freedom of information request, the Pensions Regulator suggests trustees should think about whether to reduce the amounts on offer for workers leaving their pension scheme.

DB schemes are often described as gold-plated because they promise people a certain level of income when they retire, such as final salary pensions.

Cash cutback: Pension schemes should consider cutting the amount of cash lump sums for people transferring out of their gold-plated deals, Royal London has found

The letter had been sent to pension schemes inundated by a large volume of transfers, as part of efforts to protect members from unsuitable transfers and pension scams.

Sir Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, said people are routinely offered 25 to 30 times their annual pension as a lump sum transfer value - but some schemes have been known to offer as much as 40 times.

This could mean that for a 10,000-per-year pension someone may find they are offered 250,000 to 300,000 - but the amount on offer could be as high as 400,000.

The former pensions minister said a particular concern is a situation where workers transferring out are offered a cash lump sum on relatively generous terms at a time when the pension scheme itself is in deficit or the employer is vulnerable.

If large numbers of members transfer out on generous terms there the funding position of the scheme could worsen and the risk of remaining members not getting their full pensions could increase.

Sir Steve said: I would hope that well-run pension schemes would be taking expert advice when deciding how much to offer to members wishing to transfer out.

But the regulator's letter is a helpful reminder to all schemes that they need to be fair not only to those transferring out but also those left behind, especially where the scheme in question is in deficit.

DB schemes have become thinner on the ground because they are expensive to run as people live longer.

Generous offer: Sir Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, said some schemes have been known to offer as much as 40 times the value of an annual pension as a lump sum transfer

They have increasingly been replaced by defined contribution (DC) pensions, where the saver bears the risk as to how much retirement income they will end up with.

The letter tells schemes: We would expect you to take advice from your scheme actuary about whether the basis on which CETVs (cash equivalent transfer values) are calculated remains appropriate.

We would also expect you to consider whether a new insufficiency report should be commissioned from the actuary.

This would allow you to judge whether a reduction or further reduction should be applied to CETVs in light of their assessment of covenant strength.

The letter says the regulator is aware that the level of transfer activity in the pensions industry has increased significantly in recent years.

It says: Taking a CETV presents certain risks and we believe it is likely to be in the best financial interests of the majority of members to remain in their defined benefit scheme.

Trustees are expected to explain that, in transferring away from their scheme, members would be giving up a guaranteed future pension income in return for non-guaranteed income that will vary depending on how they manage it, the letter adds.Thousands of holidaymakers are opening current accounts with tiny start-up banks to avoid rip-off fees when they spend abroad.

Unlike major High Street banks which charge hefty fees of up to 3 per cent for holiday spending, many new banks will allow customers to use a debit card overseas free of charge.

It means holidaymakers can save as much as 15 in fees for every 500 they spend on meals, attractions and transport during a summer break compared with what they would have paid if they were with a traditional bank.

Some big names also charge a minimum of 2 each time you withdraw cash at an ATM.

By contrast, banks such as Starling and Monzo are allowing current account customers to use their debit cards fee-free abroad.

However, you must be willing to manage your account via a smartphone as these firms do not have branches or offer telephone or internet banking.

Experts say that while these banks were once seen as an option for the most tech-savvy youngsters, they are offering such a good deal on foreign card use that they're beginning to attract older customers who are confident using their mobiles.

In the first three months of this year, Starling Bank gained 1,153 customers while Barclays lost 17,628 and Lloyds lost 14,114.

Starling Bank said the number of accounts opened was increasing by 20 per cent every month. In November 2017, it had 43,000 personal current accounts. Just nine months later, it has opened more than 210,000.

Monzo, meanwhile, has more than 900,000 customers using current accounts. This is up from 650,000 at the start of May and just 50,000 customers two years ago.

The bank said it was currently growing by 15,000 to 20,000 customers every week.

Tashema Jackson, money expert at uSwitch.com, says: 'Traditionally consumers have been charged extortionate fees for using credit and debit cards abroad regardless of with whom they banked.

'Now there is real choice for those who travel regularly or just want a better deal on their foreign transactions. Free  or cheaper  spending when travelling is a big draw for customers.'

Unlike major High Street banks which charge hefty fees of up to 3 per cent for holiday spending, many new banks will allow customers to use a debit card overseas free of charge

Starling Bank - a mobile-only bank offering current accounts - charges nothing to withdraw cash or make payments abroad.

Monzo, another bank accessed only via a smartphone, also offers fee-free spending on debit cards. It is free to withdraw up to 200 of cash overseas every month.

Metro Bank, a challenger bank based mainly in the South, which is open seven days a week, does not charge customers to make purchases on its debit cards or credit cards, as long as you're in Europe.

Elsewhere in the world it charges 2.75 per cent on spending and cash withdrawals, plus another 1.50 for every card withdrawal.

Meanwhile, app-only bank Tandem offers a credit card which charges no fees for purchases or withdrawing cash abroad.

Tandem's chief executive Ricky Knox says: 'Customers were annoyed at being ripped off by their old banks whenever they spent money abroad.

'They paid for a meal on holiday and then saw all these extra fees when they checked their bank statement.

'For our credit card customers, the free spending abroad has been the number one hook to move from their old bank.'

Anne Boden, chief executive of Starling Bank, says: 'We all look forward to our holidays every year and the last thing we want is to be unfairly treated by our bank. At Starling we put ourselves in our customers' shoes so they get the most from their time away.'

Some major banks now appear to be trying to compete with the challengers on fee-free spending abroad.

Rather not switch banks? If you would rather not change banks, currency cards offer holidaymakers the chance to load up a card with money to spend while they are away and potentially benefit from lower rates. Travellers should make sure these rates are better than their bank and check all the small print but typically these cards offer highly competitive exchange rates plus zero exchange rate fees. You can find out more about how these cards can help you save money and where to find the best deals in our roundup here. FairFX is also offering This is Money and MailOnline readers a free MasterCard prepaid card, which usually costs 9.95.

NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland both offered fee-free debit card purchases for foreign transactions this summer, although the offer ends on Friday, August 31.

Tashema Jackson, of uSwitch, says many people are opening these new app-only bank accounts in addition to holding a current account with a traditional bank, rather than closing their old ones.

'Many savvy consumers who travel regularly will mix and match their banks  using a card which provides cheaper foreign transactions when they go abroad, but managing their money back home with a different lender,' she says.

Kat Robinson, director of retail products at Metro Bank, says: 'Offering fee-free transactions across Europe, both when it comes to withdrawing cash from an ATM and paying on a card, means customers can get on with making the most of their holiday and not worry about extortionate charges and fees on their statement at the end of the month.'

But Guy Anker, managing editor of MoneySavingExpert.com, warns that some of the eye-catching deals may not last for ever. He says so-called challenger banks could introduce fees when they have attracted a large number of customers through the doors.

Mr Anker says: 'These (phone-only) banks are the biggest threat we have seen to the High Street. They offer decent rates, good phone apps and attractive branding.

'Starling, especially, is a fantastic option offering no fees  whatever the transaction  when you're abroad, which is very rare.

'Fee-free overseas spending has always attracted customers  it's a perk people can get excited about. However, there is a danger these rates might not be sustainable so people should be aware of that.

'Having said that, if fees do go up in six or nine months, customers can switch again.'

l.eccles@dailymail.co.ukISIS has been forced to reorganise and change strategy to survive after a string of devastating defeats four years after announcing its cross-border 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria.

The jihadist group has been pinned down to its last desert holdouts in Syria having lost all urban centres previously under its control in neighbouring Iraq.

It has now changed its administrative structure and shifted its focus away from operating the state-like apparatus it once ran.

An Iraqi security official said that after losing ground in Iraq and Syria, 'ISIS leadership is now focused on a global vision' modelled on Al-Qaeda.

ISIS has been forced to reorganise and change strategy to survive after a string of devastating defeats four years after announcing its cross-border 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria. ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi addresses worshippers at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014

Its cross-border state now destroyed, ISIS is instead likely to focus on spreading shock and terror around the world through dramatic attacks, the official added.

ISIS will have to find 'a new way of doing things, especially to recruit after heavy losses', said the official, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

At its peak, the self-proclaimed caliphate included 35 'wilaya' (provinces) mostly set within a swathe of territory spanning either side of the border between Syria and Iraq.

But following major military defeats - including the jihadists' loss of their de facto capitals of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq - ISIS propaganda outlets now only mention six 'wilaya'.

Former ISIS provinces like Mosul, Raqqa and Kirkuk - an oil-rich province in Iraq - no longer exist.

Instead, the term 'wilaya' is now used to refer to large chunks of territory like Iraq and Syria, along with Somalia, East Asia, Tajikistan and the Egyptian Sinai.

The administrative reshuffle marks a clear switch from 2014, when ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi boasted of having erased the 'imperialist' design that divided the Middle East.

The proclamation was made with great fanfare as jihadists drove bulldozers across the Syrian-Iraqi border, symbolically destroying one of the frontiers drawn up by colonial powers as they carved out the modern Middle East from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.

After years battling ISIS, Iraqi troops are now redeployed along most of the border with Syria, across which jihadists and weapons have long flowed unimpeded.

On the Syrian side, separate offensives by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a US-backed coalition have pushed ISIS jihadists out of most of the territory they once controlled.

'The change proves Daesh's weakness and the loss of much of its leadership,' the security official told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

ISIS's restructure 'shows its central command lacks confidence in its wilaya commanders in Iraq and that it is reducing their powers to one (central) leadership', the official said.

Iraqi authorities regularly announce the arrest or death of ISIS leaders and relatives of Baghdadi, such as his son, who was killed in Syria in July by Russian missiles.

Baghdadi himself was thought to have been killed several times, and the US has offered up a $25 million (21.5 million euro) reward for information leading to his capture or death.

The jihadist group has been pinned down to its last desert holdouts in Syria having lost all urban centres previously under its control in neighbouring Iraq

In a purported new audio message released on Wednesday to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Baghdadi called on his followers to 'not give up the jihad against their enemy'.

'Baghdadi's speech was one of consolation and condolence,' said Hisham al-Hashemi, an expert on radical Islamist groups.

It was an 'acknowledgement of defeat... but (Baghdadi) urged those remaining to persevere', he said.

In a first, Baghdadi used his 55-minute recording to call for attacks in the West, saying an operation there would be 'worth a thousand' at home.

Much of the address was reminiscent of approaches long used by Al-Qaeda, according to Hashemi.

In it, the ISIS leader scorns the US, blasts Shiite Iran, and calls on Sunni Muslims in Iraq to denounce the Shiite-dominated paramilitary units of the Hashed al-Shaabi.

Tore Hamming, a jihadist specialist at the European University Institute, said Baghdadi's speech falls into the same category as his last three - 'crisis management'.Advertisement

Stunning images from across the globe have revealed earth's incredible diversity from coconut markets in Mexico to remote tribes in Thailand.

Striking shots of field workers in Asia, animals in the Arctic and stunning snow covered forests have been selected for the major new photography competition - Earth Photo.

Fifty incredible pictures and four films have been shortlisted for the brand new award, which celebrates images which encourage discussion about our planet.

A huge 1280 submissions from 19 different countries were judged by an expert panel with backgrounds in Photography, Film, Geography and Ecology.

After being carefully whittled down to 50 images and four films, the inaugural exhibition is being presented at the Royal Geographical Society in London until September 21.

Cristobal Cespedes Lorenzo, 51, sits on his raft while carrying coconuts across the river to his home in Copala, Mexico. Cristobal and Francisco Manzanares Cagua aged 16 both work picking coconuts which they then sell to a company which makes coconut butter and oil. The image was taken by Ruben Salgado Escudero

Antarctic biologist Dr Susanne Lockhart and submarine pilot John Hocevar on a descent in a two person submarine outside the Antarctic Peninsula where Greenpeace is conducting submarine-based scientific research. The image was captured by Christian Aslund

Cambridge based photographer Yi Sun has been shortlisted for his images of tailing ponds in Western Australia. Tailing ponds are the byproducts left over from mining and extracting resources from the oilsands or minerals. They contain toxic substances and heavy metals such as lead, copper, and mercury, and have huge environmental impacts on the surrounding air, land, water, vegetation and wildlife. Sun calls the structures Earth's 'bleeding tears'

Luke Duggleby captured images of the people of the Banthat mountain range. Jin sits looking out of the cave. The Maniq, numbering no more than 350 people, are all that remains of this indigenous tribe. But still to this day they still hunt for animals in the forest using a blowpipe and poison arrows and sleep under shelters made of sticks and leaves. They speak their own unique language and have extensive knowledge of the medicinal benefits of the plants around them.

Hannah Maule-Ffinch took this image of a refugee in Belgrade, Serbia under her 'Barracks of Belgrade' project. The freelance photographer captured migrants and refugees attempting to stay warm during plummeting temperatures

Marissa Roth, Earth Photo selector said: 'It was a sincere pleasure being a selector for the inaugural Earth Photo competition, as the submissions as a whole were very strong in terms of artistic merit, technical ability and topical relevance. I congratulate all of the photographers for entering their inspired work and thank them for supporting this important photographic competition.'

Prizewinner categories include people, nature, place, and change, as well as the Next Generation Award and the Short Film Award.

The competition is a collaboration between Forestry Commission England and the Royal Geographical Society and its aim is to enable a better understanding of the world around us.

Adelie Penguin colonies standing on an ice floe in Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula on Antarctica. Just outside Hope Bay, the Antarctic Sound connect the Bransfield Strait to the Weddell Sea. In this area, Greenpeace is conducting submarine-based scientific research to strengthen the proposal to create the largest protected area on the planet, an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary. This image was taken by Christian Aslund

Maria Magdalena Carmen Mendoza, 70, makes ''Panela''' or ''Piloncillo'' at her home in Llano Silleta, Guerrero Mexico. Panela is unrefined whole cane sugar, which is a solid form of sucrose derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. The photo was submitted by Ruben Salgado Escudero

Documentary photographer Andrea Provenzano captured an image of the TELE-POST communication hub in Nuuk, Greenland. His project 'Light Down Below' explores changed in the Arctic area including how Silicon Valley companies want top relocate server farms to the wilderness

Rosamund Macfarlane's Eagle Huntress has also made the shortlist. The photographer whose work has been seen before in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition captured the stunning shot of an eagle with a woman in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia

Birmingham based Chris Eckersley has also made it to the final with his 'blue field' image taken in Salernes, France, in 2017. The area is famous for its stunning lavender fields which attract tourism from around the world

A stunning shot of field workers in the Yen Bai fields in Vietnam was submitted by Hoang Long Ly. Workers from the province can be seen in the staggered rice fields

'A portrait of resilience' was taken by Teo Ormond-Skeaping Akha Village, Luang Namtha in Lao. Akha villages are located in the hills and are often reached by trekking. The area near the Chinese border remains practically untouched by modernity

'In Search of Silence' was taken by Paul Christener in Greenland. Mr Christener said: 'We are exposed to the noise of civilization, even in remote places. I noticed this during our first trekking tour in western Greenland when my wife and I were completely alone with our backpacks, our tent, and our food for weeks. There's nothing but an empty landscape.'

Glyn Thomas took an incredible shot of Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Station in Iceland with the Northern Lights overhead. His image has been selected as one of fifty for the final of the Earth Photo competition

Nature photographer Hannele Luhtasela-el Showk's 'Wolf's Milk' image has been selected for the final 50 images in the Earth Photo competition

Sue Jugnarain's Earth Energy collection intends to illustrate the 'power of the Earth and the ever-changing volatile landscape it creates'. Her images taken in Iceland feature Myvatn, an active volcano basin, and the Silfra fissure, a chasm filled with crystalline freshwater which has formed where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are gradually separating

Mark Benham's 'burnt aftermath' documents the increasing frequency of forest fires in Portugal as a result of rising global temperatures, with images of blackened woodland

David Jenner's work focuses on the UK. He captured this stunning image of a turquoise inlet on the Dorset coast. Other images by Mr Jenner were taken in the Lake District

Edward Bateman's 'Reversing Photosynthesis' images were made photographically without the direct interaction of light. He captured leaves in various stages, resulting in an incredible look at the natural process through time

Earth Photo will move to Forestry Commission England venues including Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire and Grizedale Forest in Cumbria later this year.Generous tradies across Australia are today giving up their time, offering their expertise on the tools as part of Free Trade Day.

Sunrise this morning revealed hundreds of tradesmen and women are backing the community-minded project, with the likes of Reece, Dulux, Mitre 10 and Lions Club Australia all chipping in.

Experts in electricals, plumbing, construction, maintenance and outdoor work are helping those who have fallen on hard times.

Free Trade Day founder Ryan Wilson is 'blown away' by how many tradies are willing to get on board.

Tradies across Australia have the chance to help out the less fortunate on Free Trade Day (stock image)

'It is such a good feeling to give back,'' he said.

'We started Free Trade Day locally on the (NSW) Central Coast, and now we are getting work done on Sydney's northern beaches as well as interstate in Adelaide and Perth.

'Putting a smile on the face of so many people makes it all worth it.'

Gina Angland, whose house on the northern beaches was ravaged by a 'super storm' in 2014, saw her property fixed at no cost after the ceiling collapsed.

Tradies in Australia are supporting Free Trade Day, an opportunity to help those in need (stock photo)

'The damage was extensive, it hasn't felt like home for a long time,' she said.

'To be able to sleep in my bed again rather than the living room, it will be amazing.

'I can't thank everyone enough.'

John Oxley, from Sydney Beach Homes, described Free Trade Day as a 'fantastic initiative' and one that his business was 'really proud to be associated with.'

You can nominate a mate online at freetradeday.com.au.



Notorious rapist Robert John Fardon (pictured) will no longer be subject to curfews, counselling or restrictions on where he can live

A woman raped at gunpoint by a notorious Queensland sexual predator says the idea of him living in the community unsupervised should terrify people.

Sharon Tomlinson, who was raped when she was just 12, says the advanced age of sexual predator Robert John Fardon should not reduce his risk of re-offending.

A Brisbane Supreme Court decision on Monday dismissed a Queensland government attempt to extend a supervision order against Fardon.

It means the 69-year-old, who has a history of attacking females dating back to the 1960s, will be released unmonitored into the community when the order expires in October.

He was originally jailed in 1989 for the rape of a woman, and was kept locked up longer than his initial release date in 2003 after being deemed too dangerous to be returned to the community.

He was released on a supervision order in 2006, before being thrown back in jail in 2008 on another charge of rape - which was later overturned on appeal.

Sharon Tomlinson (pictured) who was raped at gunpoint when she was just 12 by a notorious Queensland sexual predator says people should be terrified of him living unsupervised

After a lengthy fight with the government, Fardon finally won his release on a new supervision order in 2014.

He has not breached any conditions of that order while living in the community.

Lawyers for Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath took the unusual step of seeking to have his supervision order extended beyond its October expiry date.

However, the government lost its Supreme Court bid on Monday, meaning Fardon will no longer be subject to curfews, counselling or restrictions on where he can live.

The government's lawyers had argued that Fardon remained a danger to the community without the order, which gave him support in times of stress, frustration and anger.

Among his reasons for dismissing the government's bid, Justice David Jackson said the risk of rapists re-offending 'becomes very low after the age of 65'.

Ms Tomlinson, who has previously agreed to be identified as one of Fardon's victims, was part of a vocal campaign in 2013 to keep him locked up

Ms Tomlinson dismissed the suggestion Fardon, who has emphysema, was less of a risk due to his age.

'This man might be 69 years old but he is a sexual sadist ... what do you think he's going to do at 69? He's going to go for the more vulnerable, probably younger children or really elderly women or disabled women,' Ms Tomlinson told AAP.

'I have no doubt about that.'

A spokeswoman for Mrs D'Ath told AAP she is examining whether there are any legal grounds for an appeal.

SERIAL RAPIST ROBERT FARDON'S LIFE OF CRIME 1967 - Convicted at 18 for attempted carnal knowledge of a girl under 10. Released on a good behaviour bond. 1978 - Raped a 12-year-old girl, wounded her sister. Fled to the Northern Territory but was caught and jailed. 1988 - Broke parole by travelling to Townsville. Violently raped and assaulted a woman. Sent back to jail. 2003 - Became the first person in Queensland to be jailed indefinitely under new laws targeting repeat sex offenders. 2006 - Released on a supervision order with 32 conditions. 2007 - Breached the order by going to a school, breaching curfew and travelling to Townsville. He's briefly returned to prison before released in October. 2008 - Re-arrested over rape of a 61-year-old intellectually disabled woman. 2010 - Sentenced to 10 years' jail for the rape. The conviction was quashed on appeal a few months later but Fardon remained in jail due to other earlier breaches of a supervision order. 2011 - Government launches lengthy court battle to keep him in jail. 2013 - Released on supervision order. 2014 - Brief return to prison before court orders Fardon's release into supervised accommodation. August 2018 - Court denies a Queensland government bid to extend a supervision order governing how Fardon lives in the community. It expires in October. Source: AAP Advertisement

Ms Tomlinson, who has previously agreed to be identified as one of Fardon's victims, was part of a vocal campaign in 2013 to keep him locked up.

At the time, she told AAP of the harrowing day in 1978 when Fardon approached her as she played in the front yard of her Redcliffe home, asking her if she wanted to come for a cuddle of his newborn son.

Fardon's son had been born that day but Ms Tomlinson did not get to meet the baby.

Instead Fardon held a gun to her head, repeatedly choked her and raped her, with a smirk on his face.A 22-year-old Afghan woman fell victim to an armed robbery attack after she tried to help a stranger in need.

Good Samaritan Mahdesa Zafar was reportedly threatened with a gun after coming to a man's aid following a practical placement shift at Logan Hospital in Queensland.

Ms Zafar, who is studying to be a midwife, says she escaped a warzone to come to Australia and 'never expected anything like this to happen here' she told 7 News.

22 year old Afghan refugee Mahdesa Zafar is training to become a midwife

'I will not give up': Zafar posted a message of thanks to her supporters following the terrifying ordeal

While walking to her car Ms Zafar was approached by a man who seemed in need of help but she was unsure of what he needed.

She offered the man a lift and said he was welcome to borrow her phone to call a taxi - only to have her life threatened.

'I just sat down on the seat and he pointed [the gun] in my face, saying, 'Give me the keys, give me your phone',' Zafar said.

At first she said no but then decided to hand the items over to him and run. The carjacker escaped in her vehicle.

The stolen blue Subaru Impreza is yet to be recovered and has a Queensland registration number of 028XYH.

Police remain on the hunt for the robber and are looking for a man of Pacific Islander appearance, approximately 160cm tall, slim build and black hair.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Policelink on 131 444.Portland woman Stephanie Romero, 25, (shown above in mug) was arrested after she allegedly attempted to abduct a young girl from her home on Sunday

An Oregon mother punched a homeless woman in the face on Sunday after she allegedly attempted to abduct her six-year-old daughter and then ransacked the family's home for items to bring along with them.

Portland woman Stephanie Romero, 25, has been identified as the transient who allegedly tried to convince Lilyana Salazar that she was her daughter before she grabbed the child by the wrist and attempted to take her away from her home.

The arrest affidavit said the young girl had been playing outside with some of her friends and brothers when Romero approached her out of the blue.

Romero told the child: 'Come on, I'm gonna take you on the bike trail, follow me,' Lilyana recalled during a tearful questioning with authorities.

Lilyana said she escaped the woman's grasp and rush back into her home - where her grandmother ordered Romero to get out of the house.

The child's mother, Summer Salazar, had been doing laundry when her son informed her what had been going on.

Lilyana Salazar (above) was the six-year-old girl who Romero allegedly grabbed by the wrist Sunday when she was playing outside

Romero told the little girl: 'Come on, I'm gonna take you on the bike trail, follow me,' Lilyana recalled during her tearful questioning with authorities

The child's mother, Summer Salazar (shown above, she did not wish to be pictured) punched Romero in the face. The mother had been doing laundry when she found out Romero was in her home

The furious mother told KPTV her first instinct was to hit the woman before she abducted or harmed her daughter.

'She came in to pull my daughter out... she was really taking her. She had stuff packed... she was packing stuff for her.'

The mother said Romero told her: 'I'm taking the stuff and I'm taking her' and claimed she was trying to 'save the kids.'

After the transient was punched, she departed the family's home and left the stolen belongings behind. She was tracked down by police and arrested shortly after.

Other children in the neighborhood claimed they saw Romero peering through windows earlier in the day, the affidavit said.

Other kids in the neighborhood claimed they saw Romero (pictured in two Facebook selfies) peering through windows earlier in the day

Police said Romero has a daughter of her own, who is currently in state custody

Lilyana's father, German Salazar-Lopez, who was not in the home at the time of the alleged attempted kidnapping, told the news station he was 'angry' over the incident.

'Thank God I didn't get a hold of her when she stepped in the house because it would've been a different story,' he said.

No one was harmed during the incident.

Police said Romero has a daughter of her own, who is currently in state custody.

Romero admitted that she used methamphetamine daily and was previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety.

She was booked to jail on kidnapping, burglary and theft charges.

Romero took to her Facebook page yesterday to share a post with a list of what was described as 'Relationship killers.'

The list read: 'Insecurity. Trust issues. Facebook. Jealously. Lack of Communication. Assumption. H*ES*.'

On August 11, Romero shared a status asking someone to drop off illegal substances.

'Someone please bring me drugs now lol jkjk fer realz tho,' she wrote to her page.

And on July 9, she posted a status with a life quote that read: 'Life is something confusing. It takes sadness to know happiness, noise to appreciate silence, and absence to value presence.'

Romero took to her Facebook page yesterday morning to share a post with a list of what was described to be 'Relationship killers'

On August 11, Romero shared a status asking someone to drop off illegal substancesAn Australian father who allegedly kidnapped his son after bashing his estranged partner has been accused of changing his story and warned 'not to blame' Indonesian judges if he's sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Alistair Larmour is charged with abduction and assault after he allegedly snatched 15-month-old Andrew and attacked the boy's mother Agnes Krzysztofowicz in April during a midnight invasion of her Bali home.

The 40-year-old, who describes himself as a 'healer and meditation instructor', has been told he faces a lengthy jail stint if convicted, after prosecutors probed him over alleged discrepancies in his version of events.

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Alistair Larmour (pictured), who allegedly kidnapped his son after bashing his estranged partner, has been accused of changing his story

Larmour (left) is charged with abduction and assault after he allegedly snatched 15-month-old Andrew and attacked the boy's mother Agnes Krzysztofowicz (right)

Larmour allegedly took his son Andrew (pictured) from the boy's Bali home in April

Larmour was due to give evidence at Gianyar District Court on Monday, but was stopped when he appeared to contradict his written police statement, which he singed at the time of his arrest, the Herald Sun reported.

The father told the court of the alleged kidnapping, 'I came on my own, I came solo', before the prosecutor interjected and said he previously stated he and a friend went to Ms Krzysztofowicz's home together.

When questioned about the alleged discrepancies, Larmour said: 'I don't remember any of that.'

The judge ordered the detectives who took the police statement to be summoned to court, before issuing Larmour a sobering warning.

'If it is proven that you are only trying to make the process longer, it will impact badly upon you. And maybe the judges will give a heavy sentence. Don't blame the judges,' Judge Wawan Edi Prastiyo said.

Larmour announced in a Facebook video (pictured) taking his son was 'the only way' he could to see him

The father allegedly attacked Agnes Krzysztofowicz (pictured) in April during a midnight invasion of her Bali home

Ms Krzysztofowicz, originally from Poland, was locked in a bitter 10-month custody battle with Larmour before the alleged abduction.

He allegedly took his son Andrew from her Bali home before announcing in a Facebook video it was 'the only way' he could to see him.

Larmour claimed he has not seen his son for nearly a year and taking him was the 'only option'.

'I just want to be a father,' he said in the video.

Happier times: The former couple are pictured in a social media photo taken in March, 2016

Larmour (pictured) describes himself as a 'healer and meditation instructor' on social media

In the video, he claimed he took the drastic action to persuade his ex-partner to discuss shared custody after they split in June last year.

The self-employed spiritual healer and meditation instructor cried in the video, in which he was seen holding his son in his arms.

Larmour explained in the clip how his life had been 'fundamentally shaped' by ongoing battles with 'schizophrenia and alcoholism' which left him homeless at the age of 25.

He said he has been sober for more than 10 years and previously served as secretary of the Western Australia board of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Lamour will return to court on September 4.Brian Egg, 65, was reported missing in late July after family and friends became concerned that they hadn't had contact with him since June

A headless corpse has been discovered stuffed inside a fish tank inside the San Francisco home of a man who has been missing for months.

Brian Egg, 65, was reported missing in late July after family and friends became concerned that they hadn't had contact with him since June.

But it was a neighbor's phone call that prompted the police visit on August 14 after they spotted Egg's apartment with crime scene tape around it and a private crime scene cleaner and a stranger outside.

Responding officers reported a strong decaying odor and cleaning supplies inside and arrested the stranger, Robert McCaffrey, 52, on suspicion of homicide, identity theft and other charges.

Investigators returned the next day with a search warrant and dogs trained in finding bodies, police Commander Greg McEachern said.

After two days of searching the house, they found the body stuffed in a fish tank 'in a concealed part of the home,' McEachern said.

Police also arrested Lance Silva, 39, who was also booked on suspicion of homicide and identity theft, he said.

His body was discovered inside a fish tank at his San Francisco home (pictured) on August 17

Neither have been charged after the San Francisco district attorney's office said it required more evidence to charge the men, including cause of death and the identity of the body found, but both remain 'people of interest.'

Investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy which will provide the official cause of death and identification of the body.

McCaffrey has been released from jail, while Silva was transferred to Alameda County jail, where he is being held on an alleged probation violation.

Police believe it was Egg's body who was found inside a fish tank at his home

Police are confident they can arrest McCaffrey if the district attorney files charges, McEachern said.

Alameda County jail records don't indicate if Silva is represented by an attorney. Police didn't disclose a home address for McCaffrey, and he could not be reached for comment.

Officers in early August visited Egg's home three times and left after each visit when no one answered the door, McEachern said. There were no signs of foul play, he said.

'We don't make entry into people's homes just because there's a missing person's report,' McEachern said.

NBC reports that Egg, a former bartender in legendary gay bar The Stud who neighbors described as 'eccentric', would often let homeless people stay in his San Francisco home.

Both men police arrested in connection with Egg's murder were reportedly living in his home after his death and told police, during their visits, that he was on vacation.



A man who broke into a woman's home, then bashed and raped her while her young child was in the house has been jailed for at least 15 years.

Jason Scott Illman was armed with a rope, pliers and a knife when he attacked the woman in March.

The 45-year-old pleaded guilty to three offences, including aggravated sexual penetration without consent during a burglary.

He had been using alcohol and drugs in the days leading up to the crimes against the woman, the West Australian District Court heard on Tuesday.

A man has been jailed after he broke into a woman's home, then bashed and raped her while her young child was in the house (stock image)

He turned off the power and woke the woman, who he previously had a sexual relationship with, punching and strangling her, which then woke her child who started to cry.

Illman then took a cloth soaked in a chemical and covered the woman's nose and mouth so she could not breathe, then dragged her into the lounge room.

He held two knives against her throat, tied her hands together with rope and wrapped it around her neck and also placed pliers on her teeth.

'All of this you did while she was pleading with you to stop,' Judge Felicity Davis said.

In an attempt to end the attack, the woman suggested they have a beer but he smashed the bottle over her head.

Illman then turned the power back on and told the woman she and her child could leave if she had sex with him.

Judge Davis said the attack was 'really shocking' and the woman 'really thought she was going to die'.

The woman has had surgery to repair a tongue injury but she is struggling with residual problems.

Jason Scott Illman, 45, was jailed for a mandatory 15 years in the West Australian District Court (pictured)

'It's fair to say she has been extremely anxious since this incident,' Judge Davis said.

But the judge also noted Illman had not attempted to minimise his actions or blame the victim.

'You've also expressed remorse and shame at your offending.'

Judge Davis also commented that her discretion in sentencing Illman had been removed by state parliament.

'I'm going to say quite openly, Mr Illman, that I'm extremely troubled by the mandatory minimum term which applies,' she said.

'My hands are tied because of the provisions of the Criminal Code, which impose a minimum period of 15 years for an aggravated sexual penetration committed in the course of a home burglary.'

Illman must serve at least 13 years behind bars before he can be eligible for parole.Muslim man Ahmad Ajaj, who is serving life in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is suing over prison faith rights

A Muslim man serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center wants a judge to determine that federal prison officials violated his religious rights by failing to provide meals strictly conforming to his beliefs and access to an imam of the same denomination.

The two-day civil case wrapped on Tuesday in a Denver federal courtroom. Judge R. Brooke Jackson did not immediately rule and is expected to issue a decision in writing.

Ahmad Ajaj was being held at a super-max prison in Colorado when the lawsuit began in 2015. Ajaj, represented by University of Denver law students, watched the trial via video because of security concerns.

Ajaj was sentenced in 1999 to more than 114 years in prison for his role in the blast in an underground parking garage on Feb. 26, 1993, that killed six people, one of them pregnant.

It injured more than 1,000 and forced an estimated 50,000 to flee the trade center's twin towers in a scene of smoke, fear and confusion that would be mirrored and magnified on Sept. 11, 2001.

Ajaj was moved to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, early this year.

The lawsuit accused federal prison officials, particularly staff at the Administrative Maximum, or ADX, facility in Florence, of failing to provide food meeting Ajaj's belief that all animals used for food must be fed, raised and slaughtered according to Islamic law.

The lawsuit said Ajaj considered vegetarian and Kosher meals inadequate.

The lawsuit also said Ajaj went months without being visited by an imam, a term for an Islamic religious leader, contracted to counsel prisoners at the Colorado facility.

Since moving to the Indiana facility, he began participating in a faith-based program that includes regular classes with an imam.

Emergency vehicles surround the twin towers of the World Trade Center.. in this February 26, 1993 file photo following that year's trade center

Rescue worker searching among smashed cars & debris in underground garage at World Trade Center in wake of bombing at twin towers, killing six, in 1993

Police search on the ground in a parking garage underneath the World Trade Center, 27 February 1993, after a car bomb exploded February 26, 1993

But the imam who works with Muslim inmates in the program belongs to another denomination of the faith.

Ajaj's attorneys argued that even listening to someone speak about views contrary to his own violate the inmate's religious rights.

The lawsuit claims that both issues violate Ajaj's rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The law, approved by Congress in 1993, was intended to limit the federal government's ability to infringe on someone's sincere religious beliefs.

Attorneys for the government argued that neither issue substantially limited Ajaj's ability to practice his faith and did not violate the law.

According to Ajaj's attorneys, the Indiana prison began providing meals he considers acceptable last week.

Jeffrey Cheeks, a business administrator at the Terre Haute facility, testified on Tuesday that he tried but could not find a vendor able to meet all of Ajaj's conditions.

Since moving to the Indiana facility, (above) Ajaj began participating in a faith-based program that includes regular classes with an imam

Cheeks said he ordered three months' worth of meals for Ajaj from an existing government supplier at the direction of the prison's warden last week.

On Tuesday, Ajaj's attorneys asked Jackson to order prison officials to continue providing those meals.

Jackson gave no firm sense of his leanings. But he was clearly frustrated by the quick fix that came days before the trial opened.

'Something that they couldn't do, or wouldn't do, for three years was done in 48 hours,' Jackson said to an attorney for the government.

'Now, what confidence does that give the court that they won't change it in the future?'

Jackson seemed less swayed by Ajaj's attorneys' request for a court order letting him participate in the Indiana prison's faith-based program without attending the current imam's classes.

Jackson suggested that would give Ajaj preferential treatment over other inmates, who must attend classes with leaders of their own faith to stay in the program.Allergy sufferers have been warned to prepare for hayfever season and watch out for highly allergenic tree pollen which is already in the air.

The hayfever season starts in September and peaks in October or November, but experts have warned those with pollen allergies should prepare now.

The Murray Pine, also known as the White Cypress Pine, releases pollen in late winter and is found across Australia, concentrated in New South Wales and Queensland.

Allergy sufferers have been warned to prepare for hayfever season and watch out for highly allergenic tree pollen which is already in the air (stock image)

Dr Connie Katelaris, head of the immunology and allergy unit at Campbelltown Hospital, said sufferers needed to take precautions immediately.

'Now's the time to be loading up with your modern non-sedating antihistamines,' she told the Today show.

'If you know you have regular problems, you should be starting up one of the preventative sprays, the nasal sprays, so that you can block the reaction before it gets going.'

She said the grass pollen season would not be at its height until late October or November, but spring was a dangerous time for those with allergies or asthma.

Dr Connie Katelaris (pictured), head of the immunology and allergy unit at Campbelltown Hospital, said sufferers needed to take precautions immediately

About 15 per cent of Australians - about 3.1million people - suffer from hayfever, also called allergic rhinitis (pictured is a 3D illustration of airborne pollen grains)

WHAT IS HAYFEVER? - Allergic rhinitis iscaused by seasonal exposure to pollen - Symptoms include runny or blocked nose and/or sneezing and watery eyes, triggered by an allergic reaction - Symptoms are caused by an allergic reaction in the inner linings of the nose - Hayfever is treated with intranasal corticosteroids (nasal sprays) and oral antihistamines - About 3.1million Australians affected - Of those suffering from asthma, about 80 per cent also get hay fever Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Advertisement

Dr Katelaris, also a professor at Western Sydney University, said the drought and dry weather could reduce the risk this spring, but precautions are still necessary.

'There's tree pollen around and some people react to that. This is particularly important for those who have Asthma as well,' she said.

She recommended using apps which track pollen forecasts so sufferers can stay indoors on high pollen days.

About 15 per cent of Australians - about 3.1million people - suffer from hayfever, also called allergic rhinitis.

Asthma affects about one in ten people - about 2million Australians - and an estimated 80 per cent of those also suffer from hayfever.Hurricane Maria killed 2,975 people in Puerto Rico, a long-awaited independent investigation revealed, which proved President Trump wrong after he said in a statement Hurricane Katrina was a worse catastrophe.

After nearly a year of controversy over the true toll of the September 2017 monster storm, the governor of Puerto Rico said the new estimate would now be considered the official death toll.

Donald Trump previously described Puerto Ricos death toll as not 'a real catastrophe like Katrina' when he saw the devastation for himself.

In comparison, the death toll from 2005's Hurricane Katrina - the costliest hurricane in US history - was far lower, and estimated at 1,833.

'I'm giving an order to update the official number of deaths to 2,975,' Governor Ricardo Rossello said at a press conference.

'Although this is an estimate, it has a scientific basis.'

Destroyed buildings are viewed from the air during recovery efforts four weeks after Hurricane Maria struck on October 18, 2017 in-flight over Puerto Rico

The destroyed Perez family house is seen , in Juana Matos, Catano, Puerto Rico, on October 4, 2017, two weeks after the passage of the Hurricane Maria

An aerial view of houses affected by the passing of Hurricane Maria in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, October 23, 2017

Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico in September 2017, wreaking widespread devastation and causing $90 billion in damages.

It is ranked as the third costliest cyclone in the United States since 1900.

The Puerto Rican government's longstanding official death toll from Maria had been just 64.

To get a more accurate assessment, Rossello commissioned the independent study from George Washington University (GWU).

The study tracked excess deaths related to Hurricane Maria from September 2017 to February 2018, and found the toll was 22 percent higher than the number of deaths that would have been expected during that period in an average year, without such a deadly a hurricane.

Trump speaks with Governor Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on October 19, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Trump and Rossello spoke about the continuing recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria

'The results of our epidemiological study suggest that, tragically, Hurricane Maria led to a large number of excess deaths throughout the island,' said principal investigator Carlos Santos-Burgoa, a GWU professor of global health.

'Certain groups - those in lower income areas and the elderly - faced the highest risk.'

A separate study by Harvard University earlier this year estimated that around 4,600 people had died in the three months following the storm.

Authors of the latest report described it as 'the most rigorous study of excess mortality due to the hurricane done to date.'

It analyzed death certificates and other mortality data for six months from September 2017 through February 2018.

Excess deaths were estimated with the help of mathematical modeling that compared post-hurricane deaths to the expected number based on historical patterns, and adjusted for age, sex and migration from the island.

President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd as he hands out supplies at Calvary Chapel, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

The team also identified flaws in the system that may have led to underreporting deaths previously, including lack of communication and poor training for doctors on how to certify deaths in disasters.

Rossello told El Nueva Dia newspaper that the findings, 'in my opinion, demonstrate the catastrophe that we always warned Maria had been, and of course the insufficiency of the standard protocols that we had.'

The governor said he would sign an executive order to create a committee to examine the recommendations from GWU researchers and find ways to put them into practice.

The previous findings by Harvard University blamed most deaths after Hurricane Maria on interruptions in medical care due to power outages and blocked or washed out roads.

Households went for an average of 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage after the storm.

Puerto Rico stopped publicly sharing its data on hurricane deaths in December 2017.A preteen died on Tuesday after she was found alone in a hot car in New York .

The 11-year-old girl - who had special needs - was found by her mother who found her in the vehicle in a Coram, Long Island, driveway.

Officials stated that the mother called police around 3.45pm from the 41 Kathleen Crescent home,ABC 7 reports.

A police report from the Suffolk County Police Department stated that the mom had been running errands with her two children and the preteen.

The 11-year-old girl was found by a person who had spotted the vehicle in a Coram, Long Island, driveway on Tuesday afternoon around 3.45pm

Once back home, the mom believed that all her children were inside the residence and went inside.

Sometime later, she realized that her daughter was missing and rushed back outside where she found the girl.

She brought her daughter inside and performed CPR, waiting for police to arrive.

It is unknown how long the girl had been inside the girl or how she became locked inside in the first place

It is unknown how long the girl had been inside the girl or how she became locked inside in the first place.

The child was rushed in an ambulance to Stony Brook Hospital.

Medics had attempted to revive her by performing CPR while they traveled to the hospital, but the girl would later die.

Neighbors at the scene were devastated by the discovery in their neighborhood.

'It's an 11-year-old girl, it's a baby,' said neighbor Tommy Score. 'She had the rest of her life ahead of her, that family has the rest of their lives ahead of them without her.'

The temperature when the girl was discovered had an outside temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit but temperatures inside could have reached up to 124 degrees

A neighbor informed the New York Post that the girl was non-verbal, special needs.

The temperature when the girl was discovered had an outside temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

According to meteorologist Lee Golberg, inside car temperature for just 10 minutes raked in at a sweltering 109 degrees.

And after 30 minutes, the heat would be at an unbearable 124 degrees.

Investigators who arrived at the scene are still trying to determine whether charges will be filed.

It is currently too early to know for sure though.Former Playboy model Christina Carlin-Kraft reportedly 'had no recollection of what occurred' after having a drink at a bar on the night her Pennsylvania home was burgled, just four days before she was found strangled to death.

The 36-year-old was strangled to death and statements she gave to Lower Merion law enforcement officers in the days before when she filed the complaint for burglary, indicate she had a worryingly hazy memory, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kraft can recall getting a Lyft to Sofitel Hotel in Center City on August 17 but after ordering an espresso martini the rest of the evening was a blur.

Christina Carlin Kraft reportedly 'had no recollection of what occurred' of the night before items were stolen from her Pennsylvania home

Statements Kraft (left) gave to Lower Merion law enforcement officers in the days before when she filed the complaint for burglary, indicate she had a worryingly hazy memory

Kraft (right in 2010) can recall getting a Lyft to Sofitel Hotel in City Center on August 17 but after ordering an espresso martini the rest of the evening was a blur.

The model felt 'extremely sick' after waking up the following day in last night's clothing but knew she 'did not give anyone permission to enter her residence or permission to take her property', according to the arrest warrant.

Surveillance footage from August 18 of her looking unsteady on her feet and being held up by a man as she returned home seem to corroborate the story.

Video also shows her falling but being picked up and placed into the elevator to head to her second-floor apartment before the same man later leaves with a box which turned out to be her missing belongings.

After obtaining an arrest warrant, Andre Melton was later charged with criminal trespass, burglary, and receiving stolen property when Kraft's designer accessories and jewelry were recovered on his property August 22.

A second man on camera is currently being sought and law enforcement managed to track down Melton after noticing her bank card had been used at a Glenolden, Delaware County Wawa store at 3am on August 19, before being linked to another transaction at a Royal Farms nearby after she was robbed.

According to a 'trusted law enforcement source' analysis of the video seems to identify Melton as present at the Royal Farms location.

A man and a woman at his home in Southwest Philadelphia were charged with narcotics possession in the same incident he was detained, however Montgomery County law enforcement are not treating the 31-year-old as a murder suspect.

In fact, they are not certain the crime is linked to her killing at all, it was revealed Tuesday.

This still image from surveillance video made in Philadelphia shows a person of interest in the murder of Christina Carlin-Kraft

The model was found strangled to death in the bedroom of her apartment in the Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore, Pennsylvania

Instead, the hunt is on to locate the other male. She was captured on video entering her apartment with an unidentified man in the early hours morning on the day she was found lifeless, however nothing confirms him leaving.

It's not known whether this man is the second male police are looking for from Royal Farms but according to reports, he may have escaped by jumping onto the balcony beside Kraft's home.

Information on who instructed officers to pass by her week-lived in Ardmore condo at 9.15pm that night has not been released.

Authorities on Monday released video of the man they say had contact with Kraft in the area of Broad and Locust streets in Philadelphia the morning of her death.

Police say the unidentified man was captured on video at the entrance to the 15th and Market entrance to the SEPTA subway station and may have ordered the car used a ride-hailing service to get from Philadelphia to Ardmore.

The man in the video appears to be a black man with facial hair, wearing a white durag and a black leather jacket.

An autopsy report revealed the lingerie model died by 'ligature strangulation.' As of Monday, police had not made any arrests.

She was found dead in the bedroom of her ground-floor apartment in Ardmore, Pennsylvania on Wednesday at 9.15pm

Police have not named any suspects in Kraft's murder. Aside from her stint with Playboy, the model appeared in Maxim Magazine, Vanity Fair, Victoria's Secret and Smashbox Cosmetics during her glamorous career

Her father Stuart Kraft, who lives in Linwood, New Jersey, said that she had gotten in touch via text to tell him about the break-in.

'A few days before, somebody had broken into the apartment and stole all her jewelry,' he said.

'I didn't speak to her after that. She texted me a little bit. She didn't want to bother me with her troubles and how I wish she did.

Her father told DailyMail.com: 'She was a happy-go-lucky lady, she loved life. She loved to be around people and she liked to enjoy herself with people and that's what I think occurred. I think that somebody saw her happiness and took advantage of that.'

Prosecutors asked anyone who recognizes the man seen in the video to call Lower Merion police at 610-649-1000 or county detectives at 610-278-3368. Or submit tips through the STOPit app by using the code 'MONTCOPA.'An urgent warning has been issued to not open scam text messages purporting to be from JB Hi-Fi.

In a statement released via JB Hi-Fi on Twitter, the NSW Police Force detailed that they have been made aware of the scam and urge people not to open the message.

The text message which comes from an 'Andrew' states that they are 'looking for testers' for JB HI-FI and that the recipient has already been signed up.

The message ends with a link that asks for the addressee to divulge personal information.

The message which comes through from 'Andrew', says receivers have been 'signed up' before providing a link which then asks for personal information

'We are aware of the current fake SMS doing the rounds. These SMS texts have no affiliation with JB Hi-Fi.' the statement says.

The text message even includes the JB Hi-Fi logo, including its distinct yellow branding colour to try and fool people even more.

'Scammers are clever and can make their content and messages look like us, but we would never ask for your personal information via SMS' the statement continues.

NSW Police Force also explain that JB Hi-Fi rarely send text messages to their customers, only if you have previously asked for a digital receipt from one of your in-store purchases.



'The best thing to do is to delete these fake text messages' the statement concludes.Two cocaine dealers have been jailed after they were found sleeping next to their drug-dealing phones in a city centre raid.

Artan Merkaj, 30, and Berti Ruko, 29, from Victoria Bridge Street, Manchester, were jailed at Manchester Crown Square after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Ruko, who also pleaded guilty to possessing false identity documents, was previously arrested in July 2015 as part of an investigation into the supply of drugs in the city centre and deported from the UK having entered the country illegally.

At the time of his arrest, Ruko's phone was seized and police were able to establish that his phone number was being used as a drug line.

Artan Merkaj (left) , 30, and Berti Ruko (right), 29, from Victoria Bridge Street, Manchester, were found sleeping next to several mobile phones full of messages from customers. Ruko, was previously arrested in July 2015 as part of an investigation into the supply of drugs in the city centre and deported from the UK having entered the country illegally.

He illegally returned to the UK some time later and used the phone to receive messages from customers asking for cocaine.

On September 14, officers executed a warrant at a flat Ruko and Merkaj shared on Victoria Bridge Street and found Ruko sleeping next to four of his drug-dealing phones.

Officers also found another four phones in Merkaj's room.

One message on the phone read: 'Yo dude round near Schloss can I get a g.'

Yesterday Ruko was sentenced to five years and two months in prison and Merkaj has to four years and three months. Pictured: Manchester Crown Court on Minshull Street

Another message read: 'Hey can you drop off a gram of coke?'

Yesterday Ruko was sentenced to five years and two months in prison and Merkaj to four years and three months.

Police Constable Paul Halliwell of GMP's Challenger Team said: 'Thanks to the hard work of officers in this case and their persistence, we were able to prove Ruko and Merkaj's central role in supplying drugs across the city centre and disrupt their entire operation.

'We have now been able to take two very established drug dealers off the street and today's result should act as a warning to other people out there, that the supply of drugs will not be tolerated.

'Merkaj and Ruko were sleeping soundly next to their drug-dealing phones, but they won't be able to rest so easily now they're behind bars.'Female inmates were given the morning-after pill after male prisoners smashed their way into the women's section of the prison using hand-held grinding power tools during a mass jail breakout last month.

The Justice Department has revealed that the pill - used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex - was offered to dozens of female prisoners inside in Greenough Regional Prison, north of Perth, after a 12-hour riot.

The pills were offered despite the women saying they had not been sexually assaulted after the men broke in to the women's section of the prison.

WA Prison Officers Union acting secretary Paul Ledingham refused to say where any sexual assaults had taken place during the break in.

Female prisoners were sexually assaulted as male inmates smashed through women's section.

'If you have got a situation, riotous behaviour, that goes for 10 to 12 hours in a prison under the cover of darkness where males and females are concerned, I think anyones imagination might lead them to think that there were things going on,' he said.

During the riot, a female prisoner contacted Seven News using an office phone while male inmates broke into the women's section using angle grinders and other tools.

'Some of the girls are scared because you've got a whole bunch of aggro men running around,' she told Seven News.

Male inmates used power grinding tools to smash their way into the women's section.

The prison suffered million of dollars worth of damage after the riot (above)

'They climbed on to the roof and made their way into the girls' unit and smashed all the windows and everything.

'They're trying to throw bricks through windows and lighting all the couches on fire.'

A male prisoner then interrupted the phone call and attempted to justify the break in, claiming they'd only broken into the women's block to protect them.

The chaotic riot, which saw ten inmates escape from the prison, was the largest jailbreak in Western Australia's history.

All ten prisoners have been caught and are now facing charges additional charges.

The riot at the prison not only left a multi-million-dollar repair bill, but saw 10 prisoners escape33 previous convictions, eight of which were for sexual offending

A vicious sexual predator who kidnapped a 19-year-old woman from a supermarket car park has been sentenced to six years and seven months of preventive detention.

Robert Allen Mair, 40, told police at the time of his arrest he sexually violated the teenager in Palmerston North, New Zealand, in a bizarre attempt to anger his ex-partner.

He appeared in the New Zealand High Court on Wednesday morning for sentencing, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual violation, one count of sexual violation by rape, one charge of kidnapping and one of attempted kidnapping.

Justice Christine Grice recalled the horrific details of the rape, which took place when Mair was on home detention for assaulting a young boy.

Rapist Robert Allen Mair will serve at least six months and seven years behind bars

The court was told Mair went in search of his ex-partner on November 27 last year, after she had recently chosen to end her relationship with him.

Mair found the woman and their children in nearby Whanganui, but his potentially devious plans were thwarted when police unexpectedly arrived on the scene.

Unperturbed, Mair then approached an unknown woman, got into the passenger seat of her car while holding a knife, and told her to drive.

But when the woman screamed for help and jumped out of the car, Mair fled the scene.

Roughly 15 minutes later, he found a second young woman sitting alone in her car at a supermarket car park.

After she initially refused to comply to his demands, Mair placed her in the boot of her own car, before raping her in Rangitikei.

Mair eventually let the woman go, and police charged him with a litany of offences the next day.

On Wednesday in the High Court, the victim recorded her impact statement ahead of the sentencing, as she did not wish to be in the same room as her rapist.

Since the attack, she has been anxious, paranoid and unable to work.

Robert Allen Mair will have plenty of time to reflect on his deviant behind when in jail (STOCK IMAGE)

Defence lawyer Esme Killeen said Mair had a 'sad story' behind him.

'He is really, really ashamed to be back before the court,' she said.

'It is an utter tragedy that he has re-offended in this way ... he is a man capable of change, he is a man that is motivated to make a better life for his own children than he himself had.'

Justice Grice also revealed Mair had 33 previous convictions, eight for sexual offending, and two kidnapping charges.

After serving a minimum term of six years and seven months, Mair could be released if he proves he is not a community risk.A woman is fighting for her life after being hit by a cyclist who fled the scene and ditched his bike a mile away.

The victim, believed to be in her 50s, was attempting to cross the road in east London when she was struck by the biker.

A male cyclist stopped briefly but then fled, leaving the seriously injured woman in the street.

Police found his bike abandoned around a mile away in Stoke Newington, an area popular with young professionals and cyclists.

Pictured: Police cordoned off Kingsland High Street in Dalston on Tuesday after a woman in her 50s was hit by a cyclist who fled the scene and abandoned his bike a mile away

Detectives are urging the man to come forward and want to hear from any witnesses in the area at the time.

The incident happened on Tuesday just after 5pm with police called to Kingsland High Street in Dalston, Hackney.

A cyclist crashed into the pedestrian, a woman, believed to be in her 50s as she attempted to cross the road.

This is a shocking incident as it appears the cyclist involved did not stop to assist the victim

The victim was rushed to hospital where she remains with life-threatening injuries. Officers are currently trying to trace her next of kin.

A spokesman for the Met Police said in a statement: 'The cyclist, a male, initially stopped due to coming of his bike, however, made off a few moments later.

'The bike was later abandoned on Approach Close in Stoke Newington and it has been recovered by police.

'At this stage there has been no arrests.'

Police hunt: Officers want to trace the cyclist and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward

Road closures are in place and enquiries continue. CCTV footage is being reviewed by officers.

Detective Constable Darren Case, Serious Collisions Investigations Unit [SCIU] said: 'This is a shocking incident as it appears the cyclist involved did not stop to assist the victim or contact the emergency services, instead making off.

'We need to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time. Did you see the cyclist before, during or after the collision? Maybe you are in possession of dash cam footage or filmed the cyclist on your mobile phone as he made off, if you did it is vital that you make contact with us.

'We are also appealing directly to the cyclist along with his friends and family who may know of his whereabouts, the pedestrian has suffered life threatening injuries as a result of this collision and it is important that you do the right thing and make contact with police.'

Anyone with information should contact the SCIU at Chadwell Heath on 020 8597 4874 or call 101 quoting CAD 5837/28 August.Cate Blanchett has relived the horrors she saw when she visited camps full of Rohingya refugees forced to flee Myanmar in a speech to the UN.

In a speech to the Security Council in New York on Tuesday, the actress said nothing prepared her for 'the extent and depth of suffering' she saw when she visited camps in Bangladesh for the refugees who fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar's military.

Blanchett said she heard 'gut-wrenching accounts' of torture, rape, people seeing loved ones killed before their eyes, and children thrown into fire and burned alive.

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Cate Blanchett told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that nothing prepared her for 'the extent and depth of suffering' she saw when she visited camps in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslim refugees

Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar's military

In her very different role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, Blanchett said she heard 'gut-wrenching accounts'

'Their experiences will never leave me,' the two-time Academy Award winner said

'I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every single refugee child I met,' she said.

'I saw myself in every parent. How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire?'

'Their experiences will never leave me,' the two-time Academy Award winner told the packed building.

She arrived at the UN headquarters in New York looking every bit the diplomat in a white blouse and vest under stylish blue pant suit.

Blanchett visited the refugee camps in Bangladesh in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency in March this year.

Cate Blanchett is pictured visiting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in March this year

The Ocean's Eight star is pictured with children at a camp for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

The Australian actress visited Bangladesh in her role as a UN goodwill ambassador

Blanchett said she heard 'gut-wrenching accounts' of torture, rape and people seeing loved ones killed before their eyes

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Myanmar

The Rohingya have long been treated as outsiders in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, even though their families have lived in the country for generations.

Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and they are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.

The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel last August in northern Rakhine State.

Myanmar's military responded with counterinsurgency sweeps and has been accused of widespread rights violations, including rape, murder, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes and villages - leading about 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel last August in northern Rakhine State

Blanchett, who visited refugee camps in Bangladesh in March, recounted stories told to her and said it was important to recall that last year wasn't the first attack on the Rohingya

The Security Council meeting on Tuesday commemorated the first anniversary of the crackdown.

Blanchett, who visited refugee camps in Bangladesh in March, recounted stories that were told to her and said it was important to recall that last year wasn't the first attack on the Rohingya.

In 1978, she said, Gul Zahar told her she was a young woman among 200,000 Rohingya refugees who streamed into Bangladesh 'fleeing brutality and widespread abuse.' In 1992, Gul was again among another 250,000 stateless Rohingya who sought safety in Bangladesh. And now at age 90, Blanchett said, Gul is 'sadly' a refugee again living in poverty in Bangladesh 'with the sole wish that her great grandchildren will have a better future.'

'The need for this future to transpire inside Myanmar has never been more urgent,' Blanchett said. 'If we fail to act now, Gul's grandchildren, like thousands of others, will be unable to escape this relentless cycle that generations of Rohingya have experienced.'

The Australian actress said women who were raped by Myanmar security forces are now giving birth to children who are not only stateless but 'are likely to carry this stigma for the rest of these lives.'

She urged support for the refugees and Bangladeshi host communities, and she implored the Security Council to help the Rohingya return with 'a clear pathway to full citizenship.'

'We have failed the Rohingya before,' Blanchett said. 'Please, let us not fail them again.'

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Myanmar, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett, speaks to an aide before addressing a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Myanmar, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)Scott Morrison's government could crumble around him within a month as the Liberals face an uphill battle to retain former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's seat.

A new poll shows the Liberal vote has plummeted in the blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth, which will be contested in a by-election following Mr Turnbull's expected resignation on Friday.

If the Liberals lose the seat, the Coalition will lose its majority in the House of Representatives.

And the government faced another blow on Thursday as Victorian MP Julia Banks quit parliament, saying the party's leadership chaos was the final straw.

Ms Banks said she faced bullying and intimidation in the lead-up to the leadership spill which saw Mr Turnbull replaced by Mr Morrison as Prime Minister.

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The government faced another blow on Thursday as Victorian MP Julia Banks (right, with Malcolm Turnbull) quit parliament, saying the party's leadership chaos was the final straw.

Ms Banks said she faced bullying and intimidation in the lead-up to the leadership spill which saw Mr Turnbull replaced by Mr Morrison as Prime Minister

Ms Banks, who holds the marginal seat of Chisholm, said she agreed with hundreds of people who had told her they wanted Malcolm Turnbull to remain prime minister.

'I have always listened to the people who elected me and put Australia's national interest before internal political games, factional party grudges, self-proclaimed powerbrokers and certain media personalities who bear vindictive, mean-spirited grudges,' she said on Tuesday.

The new ReachTel poll shows the Liberal Party and Labor pegged at 50 per cent each on a two-party preferred basis, in a clear sign Wentworth voters are planning to punish the Liberals for dumping the former prime minister.

In the 2016 federal election, Mr Turnbull won Wentworth with 67.7 per cent of the vote.

Mr Turnbull will resign as an MP on Friday after representing the seat for 14 years, ahead of a byelection expected in early October.

Senior Labor MP Richard Marles said Wentworth was one of the country's safest seats and the outcome of the byelection would reflect on new Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

'Anything other than a strong Liberal win in the Wentworth by-election is going to represent an initial rejection by the Australian people to the idea of Scott being the prime minister,' he told Sky News.

The poll of 886 people commissioned by left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute also found Mr Turnbull's constituents valued renewable energy reform more than the Liberal Party.

Scott Morrison's government could crumble around him within a month as the Liberals face an uphill battle to retain former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's seat

A majority think Australia should move to 100 per cent renewable energy within five to 10 years and also believe the National Energy Guarantee should include an emissions reduction target, according to the poll.

They also think new Mr Morrison will do less to tackle climate change than his predecessor.

Half of the voters said Mr Morrison's 2017 parliamentary question time coal stunt made them less likely to vote Liberal at the next election.

The Liberals' primary vote has slumped to 39.6 per cent, from 62.3 per cent in 2016.

And Labor's primary vote has soared to 29.9 per cent, from 17.7 per cent when the federal election was held.

Wentworth respondents were also asked about their support for Liberal preselection frontrunner Dave Sharma.

The former ambassador to Israel garnered 34.6 per cent support, against 20.3 per cent for Labor's Tim Murray.

The next highest responses were for Independent Kerryn Phelps and NSW state Independent MP Alex Greenwich, who were both on about 11 per cent.

Professor Phelps, a Sydney City councillor, has not said if she plans to run or not.

Mr Greenwich has already ruled himself out.

Mr Sharma is looking at a preselection face-off against Business Council of Australia executive director Andrew Bragg, who resigned his post this week.

He's likely to also come up against former prime minister Tony Abbott's sister Christine Forster, the Sydney City councillor who also wants to run for the Liberals.Australia's second-largest airline Virgin Australia has crashed to a record post-tax loss of just over $650 million this financial year.

The loss has been put down to the airline's decline in value of international business, which has fallen by $120 million.

The airline's international branch is thought to have suffered losses of around $10 million due to Bali's volcanic activity in late November 2017.

Figures were released by Virgin Australia this morning reveal a post-tax loss of $650million

The figures were released by the airline this morning and show a significant step-down from last year, when the airline made a loss of $185 million.

The drop in profits marks the sixth consecutive year that the airline has made a post-tax loss.

The company has also been hit by a review of its tax assets in accordance with accounting standards, resulting in a deference of tax accounting write-offs for $451.9 million.

The airline has however been boosted by high earnings in its domestic business. Excluding one-off payment items, this resulted in a a pre-tax, underlying profit of $109.6 million. This marks the best underlying profit for the company since 2008.

CEO John Borghetti has however said that despite plummeting into the red in recent times, the losses do not affect the every day running of the airline. Borghetti remains positive about the future of the company.

'Today's financial results show that the business is in a good position to achieve sustainable profitability going forward,' Borghetti stated in a commentary on the financial results released this morning.

'As the Group moves into the 2019 financial year, we are continuing strong momentum in our underlying performance. In July 2018, the Group recorded its highest ever July revenue outcome and there is further momentum in forward bookings,' he said.Instagram star and professional poker player Dan Bilzerian has become an Armenian citizen, and registered for military service in that country as required by law.

Bilzerian, an American of Armenian descent, arrived in Yerevan, Armenia on Monday, and along with his brother took part in a naturalization ceremony.

After the ceremony, Blizerian received a copy of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia with 'great enthusiasm', according to a statement from Mnatsakan Bichakhchyan, head of the passport and visa department of the Armenian Police.

Bilzerian, who has gained some 24 million Instagram photos with his frequent posts of guns, scantily clad women, cars and marijuana, celebrated by 'training' with Armenian soldiers.

Blizerian is seen receiving a copy of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia after becoming a naturalized citizen of that country on Monday. His father Paul is seen right

Bilzerian shared this photo of his new Armenian passport with his 24 million followers

The Instagram star celebrated by firing a bazooka with members of the Armenian military

Video from his trip shows him firing various heavy machine guns and flying in what appears to be a military helicopter.

It is unclear whether Bilzerian, 37, will actually join the Armenian military. A post on Twitter said he was planning to fly to Thailand imminently.

All male citizens of Armenia are required to perform national service or face criminal prosecution.

However an exemption applies to those older than 27, allowing them to pay a fine of 3.6 million Armenian Dram if they have not completed service by that age. The fine is the equivalent of about $7,480.

Bilzerian courted controversy last year when he posted video of himself in the immediate aftermath of the Las Vegas concert shooting in October.

Bilzerian is seen firing heavy machine guns in Armenia after becoming a citizen on Monday

The video showed him fleeing the Route 91 Harvest Festival, where he claimed he had seen a girl 'shot in the head'.

'Holy f***, a girl just got shot in the f***ing head,' he says, as he runs away. 'This is so f***ing crazy.'

When critics accused him of being a coward for running, he posted a bizarre video of himself begging a police officer for a gun in the aftermath of the shooting, in which 58 died.

Bilzerian shows the officer his gun licence, but the cop tells him to go away as bursts of automatic gunfire go off in the distance.

The policeman, who is crouching behind a barrier, shouts: 'No, get the f*** away from me right now, I don't know who the f*** you are.'

An online dispute over the incident resulted in Dakota Meyer, the ex-husband of Bristol Palin, challenging Bilzerian to a fist fight.

It is unclear whether the fight ever took place.Rep. Martha McSally won the Republican nomination for Arizona's U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, setting up a November contest with Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and immediately found herself at the center of a brush fire lit by President Trump.

Trump claimed in a tweet congratulating the establishment-backed Republican candidate that she 'turned down' an endorsement from outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake - a political enemy of the president's and the current seat-holder.

'Martha McSally, running in the Arizona Primary for U.S. Senate, was endorsed by rejected Senator Jeff Flake....and turned it down - a first!' Trump wrote. 'Now Martha, a great U.S. Military fighter jet pilot and highly respected member of Congress, WINS BIG. Congratulations, and on to November!'

The president refrained from making an endorsement in the three-way primary, and Flake says he did, too.

Flake shared an image of a Dec. 5 check he wrote to Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, and said, 'Sorry, @realDonaldTrump. I made no endorsement in this race. I think the last endorsement I made was in the Alabama race.'

Rep. Martha McSally won the Republican nomination for Arizona's U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, setting up a November contest with Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and immediately found herself at the center of a brush fire lit by President Trump

Trump claimed in a tweet congratulating the establishment-backed Republican candidate that she 'turned down' an endorsement from outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake - a political enemy of the president's and the current seat-holder

The president refrained from making an endorsement in the three-way primary, and Flake says he did, too. Flake shared an image of a Dec. 5 check he wrote to Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, and said it was the last time he made an endorsement

Trump successfully pushed Flake out of the U.S. Senate after he belittled the GOP senator as 'weak' on the border and backed one of his primary opponents. Flake was not 'rejected' by the voters though as Trump indicated

Eight hours after the spat began, the president sent a second tweet, explicitly endorsing McSally that leaving the retiring GOP senator out of it.

''Martha McSally is an extraordinary woman. She was a very talented fighter jet pilot and is now a highly respected member of Congress,' he said. 'She is Strong on Crime, the Border and our under siege 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military and our Vets. Has my total and complete Endorsement!'

Trump successfully pushed Flake out of the U.S. Senate after he belittled the GOP senator as 'weak' on the border and backed one of his primary opponents, Kelli Ward, after coming under withering criticism from the sitting senator who shares his party affiliation.

The exiting senator was not 'rejected' by the voters as Trump indicated in his tweet, although he was struggling in the polls at the time he withdrew his candidacy.

Flake denied Trump his endorsement in 2016 and vocally opposed aspects of his agenda and message while on a book tour last year. He was especially critical of Trump's 'both sides' comment after the Charlottesville race riot and has questioned the effectiveness of a coast-to-coast border wall.

After two months of tangling with Trump, he dropped his bid for reelection and torched the Republican president in a floor speech that reflected on the current state of conservatism.

A three-way battle ensued to replace Flake, with defeated state senator Ward facing off in the Republican primary against McSally, a former Air Force colonel who represents a Tucson-area swing district and was the first woman to fly a jet in combat, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who the president last year pardoned.

The primary happened in the shadow of the death of Arizona's senior senator, John McCain, whose body will lie at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday. Both nominees have pledged not to campaign then or Thursday in his honor.

In a statement, Sinema mentioned McCain, who was known for bucking his party. 'It's up to all of us to follow his lead of always putting country over party,' the Democrat said.

McSally began her victory speech with a moment of silence for McCain. 'It's difficult to celebrate anything this week,' she said.

But much of McSally's speech was a lacerating attack on Sinema. 'This is how I see this campaign,' McSally said. 'It's a choice between a doer and a talker. Between a patriot and a protester.'

Arpaio, a former six-term sheriff of Maricopa County who'd never lost a GOP primary, was in third place. In a low-key event at a Greek restaurant near his home, he said he'd dedicate himself to ensuring President Donald Trump gets re-elected in 2020.

Also in Tuesday's primary, Republicans nominated Gov. Doug Ducey for a second term and Democrats selected education professor David Garcia to challenge him. In the state's 9th Congressional District, Steve Ferrara, the former Navy chief medical officer, won the GOP nomination to face Greg Stanton, Phoenix's Democratic former mayor.

Eight hours after the spat began, the president sent a second tweet, explicitly endorsing McSally that leaving the retiring GOP senator out of it

The Republican candidates also distanced themselves from the ailing McCain, who died after most ballots had already been cast by early voters

McSally began her victory speech with a moment of silence for McCain. 'It's difficult to celebrate anything this week,' she said after coming under scrutiny earlier this month from the McCain family

Arizona has an open Senate seat this cycle after Flake decided to leave office and an open seat to which someone will be appointed following McCain's death.

The seat is considered a key pickup for Democrats in their bid to take control of the chamber, meaning the general election will be among the closest-watched Senate races in the nation between now and November.

Television ads have already bombarded Arizona residents throughout the summer months, and a competitive general election is likely to draw in millions of dollars in outside spending for television ads and other campaigning.

Sinema was long favored to win the primary and is seen as a competitive Democratic candidate in a general election that could hinge on how voters feel about Trump and his policies.

While her centrist approach and Blue Dog Democrat status may not appeal to the state's voters who are far to the left, her willingness to be bipartisan could curry favor among the state's large crop of independent voters. If she's victorious, Democrats could pick up an Arizona Senate seat for the first time since Dennis DiConcini left office in 1995.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is also seeking the U.S. Senate seat occupied by outgoing Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, and will face the Republican primary winner of the race between Rep. Martha McSally, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

In a state whose electoral votes went to Trump, the Republican nominee could use voters' support for the president to their advantage. McSally, Ward and Arpaio all campaigned on their various connections to Trump during the primary.

In mid-August, McSally's campaign boasted about the president calling her 'terrific' while introducing her at an event. Meanwhile, Ward was endorsed by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and Arpaio noted his early support for Trump's presidential run.

The Republican candidates also distanced themselves from the ailing McCain, who died after most ballots had already been cast by early voters.

McSally drew criticism from McCain's family when she did not mention his name in the signing of the recent defense bill, which was named after the cancer-stricken senator. Hours before McCain died on Saturday, Ward suggested in a since-deleted Facebook post that his family had announced he was ending medical treatment to hurt her campaign.

After McCain's death, Sinema and Ward suspended their campaigns for Wednesday and Thursday.

A Democratic victory in the Senate race could suggest the state could be up for grabs in 2020. Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Arizona in 1996.Las Vegas police bodycam shows the moment officers shot a stabbing suspect as he fled the scene.

Assistant Sheriff Tim Kelly said officers were dispatched to the intersection of West Spring Mountain Road and South Rainbow Boulevard on Saturday around 12.48pm.

Authorities had received reports that a man, later identified as Caleb Hill, had stabbed two women.

Las Vegas police bodycam shows the moment officers shot a stabbing suspect as he fled the scene

Assistant Sheriff Tim Kelly said officers were dispatched on Saturday around 12.48pm after receiving reports that a man, later identified as Caleb Hill, had stabbed two women. An officer is seen raising his gun as Hill (far right) continues running

According to police, Hill, 38, stabbed one woman on an RTC bus multiple times. The victim was able to get off of the bus and run for help.

He then got off of the bus and grabbed another woman who was walking nearby, police said.

Hill then allegedly put his arm around the womans neck and stabbed her. That woman was also able to get away.

Kelly said that responding officers saw Hill with the second victim when they arrived to the scene.

In the police bodycam video, the officers are heard commanding the man to 'put the knife down' and 'drop the knife'.

The man is then seen running from the officers while still holding the knife in his hand.

In the police bodycam video, the officers are heard commanding the man to 'put the knife down' and 'drop the knife'

'Officers continued to order Hill to stop and drop the knife, and Officer Hopson arrived and fired five bean bag rounds from a less than lethal shotgun which was also ineffective,' Sheriff Kelly added

'Officer Hanoff attempted to stop Hill with a Taser, but it was ineffective,' Kelly said during a press conference.

Hill continued to run south on Rainbow Blvd towards another bus stop that was occupied by two people waiting for a bus.

According to police, Hill (pictured), 38, stabbed one woman on a bus multiple times

'Officers continued to order Hill to stop and drop the knife, and Officer Hopson arrived and fired five bean bag rounds from a less than lethal shotgun which was also ineffective,' Kelly added.

Hill was still seen running in the video when Hanoff fired three rounds from his handgun, striking Hill.

Police said Hill was transported to University Medical Center Trauma in critical condition.

He is still in critical, but stable condition.

The two victims who had been stabbed were also transported to University Medical Center Trauma.

Police said the victims were treated for non-life threatening injuries and released.

Hill faces two counts of attempted murder and one count of resisting arrest with a weapon.

The victim was able to get off of the bus (pictured, blood on the floor of the bust) and run for help

He then got off of the bus and grabbed another woman who was walking nearby, police said. Hill then allegedly put his arm around the womans neck and stabbed her. That woman was also able to get away. Pictured is the knife recovered from the sceneAn Australian holidaymaker has revealed how she was caught up in a Bali holiday scam in which an Indonesian tour operator took hundreds of dollars from her and then cancelled, warning it could happen to more people.

Perth woman Krystal Nikol claims the Bali tour operator has been scamming other foreign travellers at the holiday hotspot.

The 34-year-old said that she had booked a tour and trips for her husband and herself through the Bali local, who was highly recommended by others on a Facebook group.

An Australian holidaymaker (Krystal Nikol pictured with her husband) has warned how she was caught up in a Bali holiday scam

She posted a warning to the same Facebook group saying that her friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, had experienced a similar scenario. Mrs Nikol was shocked when others came forward saying they too had been taken for a ride.

'It was horrible what happened to me, and my friend, and so many others he's scammed,' Krystal told news.com.au.

The tour operator allegedly demanded a pre-payment of $300 then cancelled the tour and failed to refund their money.

'We have paid for tours in advance through our villas and hotels in the past so, although his needy and persistent demeanour about getting paid in advance rang alarm bells for me, I paid him because he was recommended to me,' Krystal said.

Krystal said she refused to send the pre-payment via wire and told the operator she would pay when she arrived at the hotel.

Perth local Krystal Nikol claims a Bali tour operator has been scamming other foreign travellers at the holiday hotspot (pictured with her husband)

The 34-year-old said that she had booked a tour and trips for her husband and herself through the Bali local who was highly recommended by others on a Facebook group

The tour operator then allegedly turned up at the hotel and demanded the money for two days of excursions plus boat transfers for two people.

'He then cancelled the trips the next day and kept making excuses about the weather being unsafe. At the time of our departure from Bali he was still speaking to us and promising refunds but after we flew home he never responded again.'

It has been roughly six weeks and Krystal says that she has still not received a refund.

'I have spent my whole life travelling and consider myself an experienced traveller. I first went to Bali on a solo backpacking trip from the USA (I'm American but now an expat living in Perth), and stopped into Bali,' Krystal posted to the Facebook group.

'I thought it was a beautiful, magical place. I met my husband there on that trip, and we return to Bali about twice a year since. We got married there too,' the post to the Bali holiday group read.

'This is the first time I've ever been scammed  my empathy and sense of morals led me to pay him in advance (as I'd done before); I had a gut feeling about him but ignored it because he came recommended so highly, but I see now I should have listened to that feeling.'I am writing to thank you for giving me the honour of representing Wentworth in the House of Representatives these past 14 years.

Your support has enabled me to be a Minister and, for the past almost three years, Prime Minister.

Everything I have achieved for Australia in public life has been due to you - built on the foundation of this community, which Lucy and I love and where we have always lived.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I don't want to dwell on recent shocking and shameful events - a malevolent and pointless week of madness that disgraced our Parliament and appalled our nation.

As you know, I have always said that the best place for former PMs is out of the Parliament, and recent events amply demonstrate why.

I will be resigning as the Member for Wentworth later this week and you should expect a by-election before too long.

So this is my last letter to you as your federal member.

It has been at times a wild ride, but together we have achieved an enormous amount.

I am very proud, especially, of the achievements of the Government over the past almost three years.

With a one-seat majority in the House and a minority in the Senate many said that this Government would be 'in office but not in power'. We disproved that.

We legalised Same Sex Marriage - and did so with overwhelming public support across the nation and especially here in Wentworth, where over 80 per cent voted YES for marriage equality.

We delivered, as we promised, more jobs and stronger economic growth.

Last year was Australia's best year ever for jobs growth, and at 3.1 per cent our GDP growth rate is higher than any of the G7 economies.

And in doing that we were able to repair the budget and reduce taxes - both for individuals and 3.3 million small and medium-sized businesses employing 6.8 million Australians.

A stronger economy, of course, produces stronger government revenues and it has enabled us to invest record amounts into education and health.

Don't believe Labor's lies about us cutting health spending - it has never been higher!

In another historic reform, we have, for the first time, delivered consistent national and needs-based Commonwealth school funding.

While the Liberal Party struggles to find internal consensus on climate change policies, we have nonetheless made real strides to support the transition to cleaner, renewable energy sources and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped storage project will make renewables reliable. It is an example of the practical approach I have taken to the energy challenge, where economics and engineering are better guides than ideology and, all too often, sheer idiocy.

And through strong action we have been able to make energy more affordable.

After years of price increases we have turned the corner on electricity costs!

Snowy 2.0 is only one of many huge infrastructure projects the Turnbull Government has got under way: the Western Sydney Airport and all the rail and roads that go with it, the Melbourne-to-Brisbane Inland Rail and so much more totalling $75 billion over the next decade.

There is no greater obligation on Government than keeping Australians safe. The Turnbull Government embarked on the largest re-equipment of our armed forces in peacetime.

In particular, I am very proud of our naval shipbuilding plan, the nation's largest-ever program of naval shipbuilding and sustainment that will create thousands of high tech 21st century jobs in advanced manufacturing.

With sweeping reforms we have strengthened our intelligence, security and law enforcement services. There has been no set-and-forget on national security.

And at a time of growing global tensions and rising uncertainty, Australia remains a steadfast example of a harmonious, egalitarian and enterprising nation.

We are the most successful multicultural society in the world and our diversity is our greatest strength.

On the international scene, against all the odds, we kept the Trans Pacific Partnership alive despite President Trump's withdrawal - and in doing so protected billions of dollars worth of exports and thousands of Australian jobs.

We ensured that the US did not impose tariffs on Australian steel or aluminium, as it did with other countries.

And with my friend President Widodo, we committed to a free-trade agreement with Indonesia, which is due to be signed by this weekend.

We secured and then maintained a refugee resettlement deal with the US, with more than 370 refugees that Labor put on Manus and Nauru now resettled in the US.

And there was not one successful people-smuggling expedition to Australia during my time as Prime Minister.

There is a lot more about our Government and its achievements - which remember you made possible - on my webpage https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/delivering-for-you.

After we take some time out to rest up, Lucy and I will be back and look forward to seeing you in the neighbourhood here in Wentworth - the best part of the best country in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm TurnbullTwo Russian gangsters who obsessed over owning expensive Yeezy sneakers and lavish cars have been found guilty of running a massive crime syndicate.

Leonid 'Lenny' Gershman, 35, and 39-year-old Aleksey Tsvetkov were convicted of racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, arson and marijuana distribution, after a three-week trial that finished on Tuesday.

Prosecutors proved that the pair had been following orders from the former Soviet Union from 2011 to May 2017 for their criminal operations in Brooklyn, New York.

They were also found to have run a massive illegal poker ring that made them up to $800,000 every night.

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Leonid 'Lenny' Gershman, 35, (left) and 39-year-old Aleksey Tsvetkov (right) were charged with racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, arson and marijuana distribution

'Members of the criminal syndicate were linked to high-level members of Russian organized crime known as thieves in law', federal prosecutors in New York said in a statement.

'The Thieves authorized syndicate members to use violence to protect their criminal activities.'

Both men operated a poker ring in Coney Island that raked in well over $800,000 a night while working under the former Soviet Union mob bosses from 2011 to May 2017

During the trial, a number of methods they used to keep both their associates and rivals in check were uncovered.

In Spring 2016, they instructed two others - both of whom testified at the trial - to set a Sheepshead Bay building on fire because they were running a rival gambling ring.

Two residents were injured in the fire - including a 12-year-old boy.

Prosecutors also showed how the pair used the proceeds from their criminal activities to fund their lavish lifestyles.

One witness shared how Gershman owned a pair of grey Yeezy sneakers with a hefty price tag of $1500 - as made evident in a 2016 photo of the mobster.

Witnesses also shared that the two defendants had a love for lavish vehicles. Tsvetkov drove a Porsche while his accomplice drove a BMW M5.

The two also tended to sport luxurious watches including brands Piaget, Rolex and Hublot.

Another photo shows Tsvetkov posing with a new motorcycle that he had been given as a birthday gift that Gershman and pals all chipped in for.

During the trial, prosecutors provided evidence to show how the duo adjusted to their lucrative lifestyles. One witness shared how Gershman (circled) owned a pair of grey Yeezy sneakers with a hefty price tag of $1500 - as made evident in a 2016 photo of the mobster

Another photo shows Tsvetkov posing with a new motorcycle that he had been given as a birthday gift that Gershman and pals all chipped in for

Evidence revealed that Gershman worked with the bosses in Russia to track down the father of a man who was extorted out of more than $40,000.

'Thieves have found him . . . in Israel,' he is said to have said on a wire tap. 'They were at [his] place today.'

Surveillance video also showed an August 2016 altercation where Tsvetkov brutally attacked a man and put him 'to sleep' outside of a Aces Auto Bodyshop in Gravesend.

Gershman (center right) is sporting a $1500 Hermes belt buckle in the picture. He and Tsvetkov will serve life sentences

Gershman is pictured with a woman called Lorena, who is believed to have been his girlfriend

The two also pistol-whipped another victim and shattered his teeth. All for supposedly stealing cannabis from their stash house.

Both will face up to life in prison for the crimes.

'Todays verdicts hold Gershman and Tsvetkov responsible for years of using intimidation, violence and their association with Russian organized crime to inflict crimes on our local communities, including carrying out beatings in broad daylight and committing arson in the dead of night, endangering the lives of tenants and New York City firefighters,' said United States Attorney Brooklyn Donoghue.

Others associated with the crime organization are also awaiting trial.A leader of an Islamist extremist group has stared down a former Muslim while telling him he deserves the death penalty for renouncing his faith.

Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar and Harris Sultan faced-off in a fiery debate at the University of New South Wales in Sydney last week.

Mr Sultan pressed Mr Badar on a statement he made in March last year saying Muslims who change their religion should be killed.

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'Ex-Muslim Atheist' Harris Sultan (left) and Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar (right) faced off in a fiery debate at the University of New South Wales. The debate moderator is pictured in the centre

Mr Sultan (left) pressed Mr Badar to confirm his view that those who renounce the Islamic faith are to be killed

'I want to know what would happen to me. I'm an apostate,' Mr Sultan said.

'What would happen to me if it's not a secular country... it's an Islamic state.'

Mr Badar said it would depend on individual circumstances, noting Mr Sultan knew 'what it [the Islamic position] is'.

'If you want to focus on the Islamic position, we can do that without you coming up with scenarios about what happens to you and making it all about yourself,' he said.

'I don't know what would happen to you. Because you can do so many things.

'There's a huge difference between an Islamic position and what may or may not happen in any particular circumstance.'

Mr Sultan (pictured) said he was born a Muslim in Pakistan but walked away from Islam after he 'read' and 'understood' the Quran

The debate moderator then asked Mr Badar: 'As an adherent to Islam, do you share the Islamic position?'

'Yes,' he replied.

'Although it took him four minutes to answer the question... Uthman finally still proudly held his position that apostates should be killed in the Caliphate of Australia,' Mr Sultan posted alongside a video uploaded to YouTube.

'In my debate at UNSW he tried to dodge the question but eventually gave in and re-affirmed his position that ex-Muslims like me should be killed,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Sultan manages the Ex-Muslim Atheist page on Facebook.

Mr Badar (pictured) previously told a forum in Sydney in March last year that ex-Muslims deserved death

'I was born a Muslim in Pakistan, I was made to read Quran, while others only read, I understood it as well, that was enough to walk away from it,' his Facebook page says.

In March last year, Mr Badar told a forum in Bankstown in Sydney's south-west that ex-Muslims deserved death.

'The ruling for apostates as such in Islam is clear, that apostates attract capital punishment and we don't shy away from that,' Mr Badar said in the presence of children.

HIZB UT-TAHRIR STATEMENT ON APOSTASY 'The ruling of the Legislator, Allah the Almighty, for apostasy is death, due to the Messenger's saying: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him".' - From a statement issued by Hizb ut-Tahrir in May 2014 after the US condemned a death sentence given to an apostate by a Sharia court in Sudan Advertisement

An apostate is someone who decides to leave Islam, but both the definition of apostasy and the Islamic position on it are the subject of debate among Islamic scholars.

There is no clear text in the Quran that calls for apostates to be killed, with that belief stemming from the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad known as the Hadith.

'If somebody [a Muslim] discards his religion, kill him,' reads one saying, but others contain examples of unpunished apostasy.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has been linked to the September 2015 shooting in Parramatta of accountant Curtis Cheng, following revelations it radicalised a 15-year-old boy who shot dead the father-of-two.

The Sunni fundamentalist group campaigns for a global caliphate based on Sharia law.

Their position is so extreme the organisation was last year banned in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.Nick Kyrgios has huffed and puffed his way into the second round of the US Open

Nick Kyrgios has huffed and puffed his way into the second round of the US Open in the blistering New York heat.

The Australian spent much of the match against Moldovan Radu Albot complaining of fatigue as temperatures soared to 35C.

At one point he turned to his supporter's box and said: 'I'm f***ed, my legs are f***ed. I'm cooked, I'm f***ing done. I can't play.'

He was also spotted casually singing along to Lenny Kravitz's 'Fly Away' as the tune was played at the Louis Armstrong Stadium during the end of the second set.

Kyrgios later said his bizarre on-court antics 'keep [him] relaxed'.

He pulled through to take the first-round match in four sets, before revealing his next move.

'I knew it was going tough match. I'm just happy I got through it... But right now I just want to get something to eat. I'm hungry,' Kyrgios said.

The Australian (pictured with Ajla Tomljanovic) spent much of the match against Moldovan Radu Albot complaining of fatigue as temperatures soared to 35C

At one point he turned to his supporter's box and said: 'I'm f***ed, my legs are f***ed. I'm cooked, I'm f***ing done. I can't play'

After sauntering through the opening set on Tuesday night (local time), recovering from a service break down, Kyrgios collapsed in the second, constantly moaning to his players' box during changeovers.

But, after a series of mid-match retirements over the past two years, the writing looked on the wall when Kyrgios dropped the second set and offered the world No.95 another break-point opportunity early in the third.

ESPN commentator Luke Jensen questioned Kyrgios' effort when he appeared to leave his opponent's winner when the ball was well within reach.

'He didn't run for it. After this brilliant return, he just watches the ball in the middle of the court,' Jensen said.

'Right now I just want to get something to eat. I'm hungry,' Kyrgios said after the four-set win

Kyrgios (pictured with Ajla Tomljanovic) later said his bizarre on court antics 'keep me relaxed'

'When does it go to the tanking element? When does the umpire start going 'You're not even running to the ball?'

But Kyrgios emerged from his malaise, breaking Albot after luring him to the net with a casual tweener, then firing a forehand pass cross court.

Kyrgios carried the momentum into the fourth set, breaking Albot twice more to charge ahead 4-0 before sealing victory after two hours and 20 minutes.

The labouring win set up a meeting with Pierre-Hugues Herbert, with the victor likely to run into five-times champion Roger Federer in the third round.

ESPN commentator Luke Jensen questioned Kyrgios' effort. Some fans on Twitter agreedThe fourth person charged in relation to the death of Brisbane teenager Larissa Beilby, whose body was found in a barrel in the back of a ute on the Gold Coast, has briefly faced court.

Edward William Ford, 32, from Mountain Creek, appeared via video link in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with being an accessory after the fact to the 16-year-old's murder.

He made no bail application and was remanded in custody to reappear in court next month.

The fourth person charged in relation to the death of Brisbane teenager Larissa Beilby (pictured), whose body was found in a barrel in the back of a ute, has faced court

His lawyer indicated he would fight the charge, the ABC reports.

Ford is accused of helping organise two boltholes on the Sunshine Coast for Larissa's boyfriend, 34-year-old Zlatko Sikorsky.

Sikorsky has been charged with her murder and a string of other offences including interfering with a corpse, and has indicated he will also contest the charge.

Larissa, 16, was reported missing by her father on June 27, a day before police discovered her body in a barrel placed on the tray of an abandoned ute at Stapylton.

Police allege Ford arranged a hotel room in Mooloolaba for Sikorsky when he went on the run after the alleged murder.

He is also accused of arranging for Sikorsky to seek refuge the next day at an Alexandra Headlands unit, which was the site of a 28-hour siege before his arrest.

Ford has also been charged with unrelated property and drugs offences.

Joseph Geiger, who was renting the Alexandra Headlands unit, has been charged with being an accessory to the murder for allegedly knowingly providing Sikorsky with a bolthole.

Palmwoods woman Tracy Ann Thomson, 40, is facing a similar charge after allegedly helping Sikorsky by driving him to the Sunshine Coast.In yet another blow for farmers, New Zealand has temporarily banned the importation of some Australian produce after a plant virus was spotted on a batch of Australian watermelons.

New Zealand authorities confirmed the detection of Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV) on watermelons produced in the Northern Territory a fortnight ago.

As a result, authorities opted to suspend some imports from August 20 onwards.

CGMMV is a soil-borne plant virus which affects cucurbits such as watermelons, pumpkins, zucchinis and cucumbers - but is not harmful to humans.

Watermelon producers in every Australian except Queensland have seen their produce banned from entry to New Zealand

The plant virus was first detected in the Northern Territory's Katherine region back in 2014.

Back then it decimated the lucrative watermelon industry, with the damage costing an estimated $60 million.

The virus has recently been discovered on farms in Queensland and Western Australia.

Dianne Fullelove, from the Australian Melon Association, confirmed the infected fruit discovered across the Tasman originated from a Northern Territory farm.

'This virus is extremely difficult to eradicate from soil once it is present on a farm, so it is unfortunate for that farm that they are still getting outbreaks of the virus,' she said.

'[New Zealand] is our third, almost second, largest market for melons, so we are very keen to maintain the trade with New Zealand.

'The Commonwealth departments are working together to find a resolution.'

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE CGMMV VIRUS? *A soil-borne plant virus which affects cucurbit crops such as watermelons, pumpkins, zucchinis and cucumbers *Not harmful to humans in any way *First detected in the Northern Territory back in 2014 Advertisement

The latest produce setback will have some farmers at their wits end.

Despite much needed recent rain across eastern Australia, some farmers are struggling to cope with the driest conditions endured in more than 50 years.

In some cases, graziers have been forced to kill their own stock after running out of hay and grain due to the severe conditions.The owner of a 24-hour convenience store frequently targeted by robbers won't be allowed to close overnight despite a recommendation from police.

A 7-Eleven in Campbelltown, 58km southwest of the Sydney CBD, has been held up twice this year, prompting police to suggest it shut its doors between 11pm and 4am.

But the company said the business was contractually obliged to stay open all hours of the day, an agreement police believe puts owner Paresh Davaria and his employees in danger, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A 7-Eleven in Campbelltown (pictured), in Sydney's west, has been held up twice this year, prompting police to suggest it shut its doors between 11pm and 4am

The store was hit by a knife-wielding thief on January 22 at 2am, and three months later on April 28 at 3.20am by a robber with a sawn-off shotgun.

Mr Davaria's franchise was deemed to be at 'extreme' risk of dangerous robberies in a report by Senior Constable David Blom.

'The business should not operate between the hours of 11.00pm and 4.00am. This is due to the fact that no other stores in the vicinity are operating within this period,' the report stated.

'This increases the risk of robbery and places the staff in direct danger.'

7-Eleven's corporate legal counsel, Barry Devenish, wrote to Mr Davaria's lawyer telling him night closure was 'not considered' a warranted approach.

The company said the business was contractually obliged to stay open all hours of the day, an agreement police believe puts owner Paresh Davaria (pictured) and his employees in danger

The business instead installed a 'safe-haven door' to the back office area, replaced the entrance with fully framed doors, installed additional CCTV cameras and removed window posters and point-of-sale material.

But the new safety features are not enough, according to Mr Davaria, who has led a class action against the convenience store.

'It's a scary situation. Safety is always definitely an issue. I don't sleep at night sometimes, you don't know when it will happen again,' he told Fairfax Media.

'To be honest, I am always worried. I don't know what is going to happen to me or my staff. I have to work at night as staff don't want to turn up.'

Mr Davaria's store was robbed at gunpoint during the early hours of April 28 this year (pictured)

Mr Davaria's franchise was deemed at 'extreme' risk of dangerous robberies in a report (pictured) by Senior Constable David Blom

Mr Davaria said his business lost about $100 for every night it was open when wages and total sales were calculated, arguing 7-Eleven couldn't cite financial reasons for staying open.

He claimed 7-Eleven discriminated against him because of the legal action he had taken.

Spokesperson for 7-Eleven, Clayton Ford, said the stores needed to be open all hours of the day and owners had agreed to that when they signed their agreement.

He claimed the chain had 'invested millions' into extra security measures to protect employees and would continue to do so when it was required.The 40-Year-Old Virgin actor, Shelley Malil, will be released from prison eight years after he was given a life sentence for stabbing his ex-girlfriend 20 times inside her California home.

On Tuesday, Malil, 53, appeared before a panel of parole commissioners who unanimously granted him parole.

Malil will be released in about two weeks. He will remain on supervised parole for five years, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin actor, Shelley Malil (pictured in court in 2010), 53, will be released from prison eight years after he was given a life sentence for stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, 20 times inside her California home

The panel heard comments from Malil and the victim, Kendra Beebe (left and right). Malil stabbed Beebe in 2008 after he caught her with another man

Courtesy of KGTV

The panel revisited a ruling from earlier this year, that Malil should be paroled in part because of assessments that found he posed a low risk of committing violence in the future.

According to the Tribune, the panel heard comments from Malil and the victim, Kendra Beebe.

Malil stabbed Beebe in 2008 after he caught her with another man.

He was convicted of attempted premeditated murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

Beebe, suffered punctured lungs and wounds to her neck, chest, back and arms in the attack.

In 2010, Malil apologized for stabbing Beebe and said he wanted to go to prison.

'I want to do whatever I need to do to make sure I make right from the wrong that I did,' he said.

'Kendra Beebe did not deserve anything that happened to her. ... I can't even begin to imagine what she has been through,' he added.

Before the 2010 sentencing, Beebe also spoke to the court about the physical and emotional pain she suffered.

'Despite the stab wounds he inflicted, I am alive,' she said, going on to say Malil's testimony had not been credible.

Mallil (left) was convicted of attempted premeditated murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Beebe, suffered punctured lungs and wounds to her neck, chest, back and arms in the attack. Pictured is a photo of Beebe's blood-stained home

Malil - who played Haziz (left), a co-worker of Steve Carell's character in The 40-Year-Old Virgin - had faced a maximum penalty of life in prison with no possibility for parole for 14 years

'During the course of the trial it became clear he was an actor, but not a very good actor at that. His testimony was lie after lie after lie,' she said at the time.

Malil testified at trial that he visited Beebe at her San Marcos home in suburban San Diego in August 2008 to apologize for taking personal items from her house and to warn that he emailed sexually explicit photos of the couple to her co-workers.

He stabbed her with a kitchen knife after finding her drinking wine with another man.

Malil fled the house after neighbors heard Beebe's screaming. He was arrested the next day at an Amtrak station in nearby Oceanside.

The couple began dating in 2007 when Beebe responded to an online dating ad. The pair had a stormy relationship, authorities said.

Two days before the attack, Malil stranded Beebe and her cousin at the beach, stole marijuana and other items from her home and locked her out of her house.

Malil - who played Haziz, a co-worker of Steve Carell's character in The 40-Year-Old Virgin - had faced a maximum penalty of life in prison with no possibility for parole for 14 years.

His lawyer argued during the trial that there was no doubt Malil went too far when he picked up a kitchen knife and began stabbing Beebe, but said Malil never intended to kill the woman.Child neglect charges were dismissed on Wednesday against three of five people arrested at a remote desert compound in New Mexico, including Hujrah Wahhaj (pictured) due to a missed evidentiary hearing deadline

A judge on Wednesday dismissed child neglect charges against three of five people arrested at a remote desert compound in northern New Mexico where 11 children were found living in filth and the body of a 3-year-old boy was discovered.

Judge Emilio Chavez ruled that he could not keep the three in custody because prosecutors missed a 10-day limit for an evidentiary hearing to establish probable cause for the neglect charges.

Prosecutors could still pursue charges for the three suspects, Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahha, by asking a grand jury to indict them but offered no immediate indication on how they would proceed.

Authorities are pushing ahead with other charges filed against the dead boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and his partner, Jany Leveille. The child was identified as Abdul-ghani Wahha, a severely disabled boy who had been living with his mother in Georgia prior to his death.

Security was boosted at the judiciary complex in Taos, New Mexico where Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Wahha were awaiting release, amid threats against the state judge who cleared the way for the defendants to leave the county jail.

Child neglect charges were dismissed against three of five people arrested at a remote desert compound in northern New Mexico where 11 children were found living in filth and the body of a 3-year-old Abdul-ghani Wahhaj (pictured) was discovered, due to a missed filing deadline

Authorities are pushing ahead with other charges filed against the dead boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj (pictured), and his partner, Jany Leveille; Defendant Siraj Ibn Wahhaj is seen here in court in Taos, New Mexico, during a detention hearing on August 13

A self-described Air Force pararescue veteran pointed out that the judge who dismissed the charges was forced to do so, because prosecutors didn't follow the proper process.

Twitter user @BKactual wrote on Wednesday:

'The judge had to do this by law, because the prosecutors chose not to file any paperwork on people who were abusing children, training them for school shootings and oh yeah there was a kids corpse on their property. What is going on there in New Mexico??'

Author Ari Armstrong responded to the news with a vague, 'Are you kidding me?' It wasn't immediately clear whether he was upset with the prosecutors, the judge, or both, but his disdain for the situation was obvious.

Jany Leveille, who has been charged with child neglect stemming from the death of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, is seen here in court during a hearing in Taos, New Mexico on Friday

A self-described Air Force pararescue veteran pointed out that the judge who dismissed the charges was forced to do so, because prosecutors didn't follow the proper process

Author Ari Armstrong responded to the news with a vague, 'Are you kidding me?' It wasn't immediately clear whether he was upset with the prosecutors, the judge, or both, but his disdain for the situation was obvious

Eleven children were also found living in filth at the compound in Amalia, New Mexico; This photo, provided by the Toas County Sheriff's Department on August 6, shows the conditions

State forensic investigators announced on August 16 that the highly decomposed body found at the desert compound in Amalia, New Mexico was identified as the missing Georgia boy with severe disabilities.

Abdul-ghani Wahhaj was the son of Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, who was due in court along with Leveille on Wednesday, after being accused of child abuse resulting in death.

The charges that could carry life sentences in connection with the boy's death.

The boy's badly decomposed remains were found this month inside a tunnel at the high-desert compound near the Colorado state line.

Prosecutors and law enforcement officials have accused Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille of denying the boy proper medicine and health care as he died during rituals designed to cast out harmful spirits from the boy.

They have not yet entered pleas.

Joe Biggs, whose verified Twitter username is '@RamboBiggs' and bio says he is an investigative journalist, wrote in reaction to the charges being dropped for the moment: 'What in the F/ck? Are you kidding me. Omg this is beyond wrong and stupid'

The boy initially was reported missing last year from Jonesboro, Georgia, by his mother after Siraj Ibn Wahhaj said he was taking the child to a park and didn't return.

Forensic medical investigators have not identified the cause and manner of the boy's death as they continue their analysis.

Chavez ruled that the other three defendants could be released as early as Wednesday afternoon depending on what action prosecutors take.

Prosecutors had pressed to keep the three in custody as they planned to present new evidence of an anti-government plot and talk of jihad and martyrdom among some members of the extended Muslim family that settled at the compound last winter.

Joe Biggs, whose verified Twitter username is '@RamboBiggs' and bio says he is an investigative journalist, wrote in reaction to the charges being dropped for the moment:

'What in the F/ck? Are you kidding me. Omg this is beyond wrong and stupid.'

New Mexico forensic investigators announced on August 16 that a highly decomposed body found at a desert compound in New Mexico has been identified as Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, a severely disabled three-year-old who had been living in Georgia with his mother; In this file photo, the extended family's makeshift living compound in Amalia, New Mexico is shown as it appeared on August 10

Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, the son of Siraj Ibn Wahhaja, was reported missing from Georgia by his mother last year, after Siraj Ibn Wahhaj said he was taking the child to a park and didn't return; This file photo from August 10 shows an aerial view of the makeshift compound

Among the evidence is a hand-written document called 'Phases of a Terrorist Attack' that was seized from the compound and includes vague instructions for 'the one-time terrorist' and mentioned an unnamed place called 'the ideal attack site.'

Prosecutors wrote in court documents that new interviews with some of the children taken from the site revealed that one of the adults, Morton, stated he wished to die in jihad as a martyr.

The documents also stated that defendants Leveille and Subhannah Wahhaj joked about dying in jihad.

Defense attorney Thomas Clark (right) sits next to his client, defendant Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, as defense attorney Marie Legrand Miller (second from left) and her client Hujrah Wahhaj (left, in a white head scarf) during a hearing on charges of child abuse on August 12

Defense attorneys have noted that their clients have no record of criminal convictions and pose no risk to the public.

Federal immigration authorities say Leveille, a native of Haiti, has been in the United States unlawfully for 20 years after overstaying a visitor visa.

The charges against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille are tied to an extensive account of Abdul-ghani's death in a journal that prosecutors attribute to Leveille.

Prosecutors say the boy died in late December 2017 as his heartbeat faded in and out during a religious ritual aimed at casting out demonic spirits.A long-serving South Korean police dog killed in the line of duty by a snake will be honoured with a rare ceremony in a country where around two million of his fellow canines are estimated to be eaten every year.

Larry, a seven-year-old German shepherd, was searching for a missing person on a mountain in North Chungcheong province when the reptile bit him on his left hind leg in July.

He is the first police dog to die 'in the line of duty' anywhere in the country, the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency said in a statement.

Larry, a seven-year-old German shepherd, will be honoured with a rare ceremony next month after he died from a snake bite

Highly trained in tracking evidence through scent, Larry helped officers with 39 felony cases and took part in searches for more than 170 missing people since first being deployed in 2012.

He provided a key clue to an unsolved murder last year after detecting the body of a woman buried 70 centimetres underground near a hiking trail.

An officer told AFP that the carcass was cremated and a funeral service held after Larry's death last month.

The German shepherd was searching mountains for a missing person when he was bitten on the back leg by a snake

A caption on a photograph of Larry in front of flowers read, 'Roam freely in heaven'.

Police have commissioned a bronze plaque 'in honour of Larry' listing his achievements, which will be hung in the regional police headquarters at a ceremony in September, the officer added.

Highly trained in tracking evidence through scent, Larry helped officers with 39 felony cases and took part in searches for more than 170 missing people since first being deployed in 2012.

It is a marked contrast to the fate of many dogs in South Korea, where their boiled meat has long been a part of the cuisine and remains a delicacy for many in the peninsula.

South Koreans kill an estimated two million each year for food, consuming 100,000 metric tonnes of dog meat, according to the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington DC.

In July a South Korean court ruled that killing dogs in order to sell and eat them is illegal - the first decision of its kind in the country.

The Bucheon city court convicted the owner on the basis that meat consumption was not a legal reason to kill dogs, but owners of dog farms and slaughterhouses are protesting the ruling.

The rare ceremony to honour Larry is expected to take place next month.

Another South Korean police dog in action during a special metropolitan police exercise as part of an anti-terror and anti-chemical terror operation in the capital SeoulA University of Hong Kong professor has been arrested on suspicion of killing his wife after police found her body stuffed in a suitcase in his office, the latest grisly murder to transfix the crowded city.

Officers discovered the body of a woman, wearing only her underwear and with electric wire around her neck, hidden in a suitcase inside a large wooden box in the office of 53-year-old Cheung Kie-chung.

The associate professor from the Department of Mechanical Engineering had reported his wife missing on August 20, saying she had not returned home after an argument.

Cheung Kie-chung (left), an associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong was accused of killing his wife Tina Chan (right)

Students walk in front of University of Hong Kong's Wei Lun Hall, the residential block where university professor Cheung Kie-chung and his family lived, in Hong Kong's Pokfulam district

Police said they became suspicious of Cheung after CCTV footage failed to show his wife leaving their home at Wei Lun Hall on campus, while Cheung was seen moving a large wooden box out of the premises.

On Tuesday afternoon police searched Cheung's office in the Haking Wong Building, a five-minute drive from the dormitory where he lives with his wife and children.

'There was blood seeping out from the suitcase and it stank,' Superintendent Law Kwok-hoi told reporters Tuesday night.

He said the victim might have been strangled, but the identity and the cause of death still needed to be confirmed by a post-mortem.

Law said Cheung told investigators he had a dispute with his wife, later identified as Tina Chan, on the night she disappeared over toilet hygiene.

On Tuesday afternoon police searched Cheung's office in the Haking Wong Building (pictured), a five-minute drive from the dormitory where he lives with his wife and children

In an email sent to Wei Lun Hall residents, Cheung told students not to worry after police were seen on the campus, saying they were 'investing a missing person case involving his family'

Cheung is also the warden of the dormitory where his family lives and a member of the university's governing council.

In an e-mail sent to hall residents on Monday and released by Sing Tao Daily, Cheung said: 'You may have noticed the presence of police officers in (the hall) and the surrounding areas in the past few days.

'They are here to investigate a missing person case involving my family. There is nothing to worry about among the students. I apologise for the anxiety that this has caused.'

The victim's daughter had posted fliers looking for her mother. The fliers identified her as Tina Chan and described her as being of medium build with mid-length hair and was last seen on August 17.

Zhang Xiang, the university president, said Wednesday he was shocked and saddened at the murder and described it as a tragedy.

'While the details are uncertain, what is clear is that a tragic event has occurred and that many students, staff and alumni will be affected,' Zhang said In an email seen by MailOnline to university students.

The victim's daughter had posted fliers looking for her mother. The fliers identified her as Tina Chan and described her as being of medium build with mid-length hair

The university is offering its support to affected students and colleagues, it added.

Another Hong Kong academic is currently on trial for using a yoga ball filled with carbon monoxide to kill his wife and daughter inside a car.

The southern Chinese city, famed for its cramped housing but low crime rate, is occasionally rocked by high-profile murders that often involve gruesome attempts to hide or dispose of bodies.

In 2016 British banker Rurik Jutting was jailed for life for the murder of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong. He stuffed one of their bodies in a suitcase and placed it on his balcony.

The year before, a local man was jailed for chopping up his parents and storing their body parts in a freezer.In a late-night tweet, President Donald Trump has called on the Department of Justice and FBI to investigate claims that the Chinese government hacked Hillary Clinton's infamous private email server.

'Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,' Trump tweeted shortly after midnight, referring to the claim made earlier Tuesday in a Daily Caller report.

'Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!' the President continued, referring to a list of his familiar grievances with DOJ.

The report claimed that a Chinese company known to conduct government espionage was able to insert code into Clinton's homebrew server, and managed to forward her emails to a third party in real time.

'Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,' Trump tweeted shortly after midnight, referring to a report making that claim Tuesday

Trump had also tweeted about the China hacking allegations earlier Tuesday evening, in a more lighthearted tone.

'Report just out: China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server. Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)?,' Trump wrote.

'What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!' he continued.

The bombshell report on the Chinese hacking allegations cited two sources: an anonymous intelligence officer and Republican Rep. Louie Gomert, who has put forward complex conspiracy theories in the past.

According to the report, two officials with the inspector general for the Intelligence Committee, identified as investigator Frank Rucker and lawyer Janette McMillan, warned FBI officials about the Chinese intrusion, to no avail.

A former member of the IG's office told the publication: 'When [the ICIG] did a very deep dive, they found in the actual metadata  the data which is at the header and footer of all the emails  that a copy, a 'courtesy copy,' was being sent to a third party and that third party was a known Chinese public company that was involved in collecting intelligence for China.'

Hillary Clinton's emails were automatically forwarded to a Chinese firm located in Virginia, a report claimed Tuesday

'The [the ICIG] believe that there was some level of phishing,' the source said, according to the report. 'But once they got into the server something was embedded,' he said. 'The Chinese are notorious for embedding little surprises like this.'

But the official failed to identify the company, which would provide one way to verify the authenticity of the claim. ''We do know the name of the company. There are indications there are other 'cutouts' that were involved,' the official said. 'I would be in a lot of trouble if I gave you the name,' the person said.

At a public hearing in July, Gohmert grilled former FBI official Peter Strzok on why he wasn't able to recall more about a meeting with the IG and other officials about ' an anomoly they had found on Hillary Clinton's emails that were going to and from the private unauthorized server that you were supposed to be investigating.'

Strzok remember the meeting, but little more, prompting Gohmert to express astonishment why he didn't know about each Clinton email going to an 'unauthorized source' that he said was a 'foreign entity unrelated to Russia.'

The claim of an 'anomaly' was referenced by Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert at a public hearing. He said it related to a country other than Russia

Former Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill trashed the report as well as the publication when it sought comment.

'This is the most combed over subject in modern American political history,' Merrill said. 'The FBI spent thousands of hours investigating, and found no evidence of intrusion. That's a fact.'

Gohmert has also made claims about the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the U.S. and the Russians tipping the election to Harry Truman in 1948.

He drew media ridicule for holding up a chart last year at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that connected Justice Department officials, a Uranium company, former attorney general Eric Holder, Benghazi, political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, Clinton's secret server, Bill Clinton, the IRS targeting scandal, and other topics.Energy supplier British Gas has paid out 2.65million in refunds, compensation and redress after overcharging more than 94,000 customers, a regulator revealed today.

Ofgem said Centrica-owned British Gas misinformed customers by issuing incorrect terms and conditions about exit fees, wrongly charged them to some customers and applied incorrect charges to others after their fixed deal came to an end.

The supplier wrongly charged 94,211 customers its more expensive standard variable rate tariff after they decided to switch to a new supplier, due to a system error.

Energy supplier British Gas has paid out 2.65 million in refunds, compensation and redress

These customers were overcharged by 782,450, according to Ofgem.

It also said British Gas wrongly informed 2.5 million customers that exit fees were chargeable during the 49-day period before their fixed deal expires and incorrectly charged exit fees totalling 64,968 to 1,698 fixed deal customers.

Ofgem, which opened its investigation in July last year, said before it had concluded its probe British Gas refunded all customers overcharged by more than 1 and paid out 502,633 in compensation to them.

The provider has also agreed to pay a further 244,770 in compensation to customers wrongly charged exit fees and the standard variable tariff and pay 1.1 million into Ofgem's consumer redress fund.

Many more customers could have been deterred from getting a better deal Anthony Pygram, Ofgem

Anthony Pygram, director of conduct and enforcement at Ofgem, said: 'British Gas failed its customers who were coming to the end of their fixed contracts and switched supplier by unfairly penalising them and applying charges in error.

'Many more customers could have been deterred from getting a better deal due to the incorrect terms and conditions.

'Ofgem put in place the switching window to help all customers switch before they are rolled onto their supplier's expensive default rate.

'Our enforcement action against British Gas sends a strong message to all suppliers that they must respect their customers' rights during the switching window and always treat customers fairly.'

What did British Gas do wrong? British Gas wrongly informed 2.5 million customers that exit fees were chargeable

Wrongly charged 1,698 fixed deal customers exit fees totalling 64,968 when they switched supplier in the switching window

A further 94,211 customers were overcharged 782,450 by British Gas after they decided to switch supplier during the switching window, due to a system error

The same system error also led to 18,095 customers who decided to switch being wrongly charged at a cheaper rate Advertisement

Ofgem said the system error at British Gas that led to customers being rolled on to more expensive rates also saw 18,095 customers who decided to switch being wrongly charged at a cheaper rate.

A Centrica spokesman told MailOnline: 'A system error led to a small proportion of customers being incorrectly charged. We've apologised to the customers affected.

'Those who were charged too much were promptly refunded as soon as we identified the issue and were paid an additional goodwill gesture.

'Some customers were provided with initial communications containing incorrect terms and conditions  but all other communications they received were correct.

'We note Ofgem has acknowledged that we have already addressed this issue and that we have changed our processes to ensure the error has been corrected.'

Ofgem said that under licence conditions, energy customers are generally entitled to switch at any time during or after the so-called switching window without having to pay an exit fee.

The switching window is designed to encourage customers to switch to a better deal before they are rolled onto a default tariff at the end of their contract.

British Gas recently announced it was raising the cost of its standard variable tariff by 3.8 per cent on October 1, impacting 3.5 million customers.

Energy customers expect suppliers to get the basics right, like knowing when they shouldn't charge exit fees Richard Neudegg, uSwitch.com

Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at uSwitch.com, said today: 'British Gas has been rightly reprimanded for undermining consumers' trust in the energy market.

'Anyone on a fixed term tariff has a right to switch to a new deal without paying exit fees when there are 49 or less days before the fixed term ends. And when customers do switch in this period, they shouldn't be put onto a standard tariff.

'Energy customers expect suppliers to get the basics right, like knowing when they shouldn't charge exit fees.

'Ofgem's action in forcing British Gas to rectify its procedures is vital - households who are being hit by a barrage of price rises this year need the reassurance that they have an escape route by switching supplier.'Teeth whitening kits that can burn the mouth and throat and possibly cause cancer have been taken down from eBay.

The items were being illegally sold in Australia and contained dangerously high levels of the potentially dangerous active ingredients, The New Daily first revealed.

Dozens of ads were found for the teeth-whitening kits, with some containing up to 44 per cent carbamide peroxide and nine per cent hydrogen peroxide.

Teeth whitening kits that can burn the mouth and throat and possibly cause cancer have been taken down from eBay

Hydrogen peroxide concentrations greater than six per cent, and carbamide peroxide levels greater than 18 per cent, are considered 'poison' by the Australia's Poisons Standard and shouldn't be used by anyone besides dental professionals.

An eBay spokeswoman told The New Daily they were aware of the listings and had removed them.

'Consumer safety is of the utmost importance to eBay. Our listing policies are designed to protect consumers first and foremost,' the spokeswoman said.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has said that teeth-whitening kits are considered cosmetic and do not meet the definition of medical devices.

Professor Laurence Walsh, from the University of Queensland's dentistry school, told The New Daily that many over-the-counter teeth-whitening products were ineffective.

He said those containing baking soda can scratch the surface of the enamel, activated charcoal does not adequately clean between teeth, and LED lights do not contain the right kind of light to whiten teeth.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has said that teeth-whitening kits are considered cosmetic and did not meet the definition of medical devices



A fashion designer was raped by an anaesthetist as she came round from plastic surgery on her breasts, Russian police say.

Dr Yury Chernikov, 59, faces up to six years in jail if convicted on charges of rape and sexual violence in a trial in Samara.

Alleged victim Erika Bykova, 35, has waived her anonymity to claim she felt 'helpless' under the influence of anaesthetic - and unable to scream or stop the 'attack'.

Chernikov, a grandfather, admits to having sex with married Bykova minutes after her surgery but claimed it was consensual, and alleged in a statement to police that the patient had told him she was 'feeling good'.

Fashion designer Erika Bykova (pictured) was raped by an anaesthetist as she came round from plastic surgery on her breasts, Russian police say

The mother-of-one (pictured) - who had the surgery to 'improve the shape' of her breasts - told a TV audience: 'I was moaning. But I was moaning because I couldn't scream

Alleged victim Erika Bykova (pictured), 35, has waived her anonymity and spoken emotionally of how she felt 'helpless' under the influence of anaesthetic - and unable to scream or stop the 'attack'

Dr Yury Chernikov (pictured in handcuffs), 59, faces up to six years in jail if convicted on charges of rape and sexual violence in a trial in Samara due to start later this year

The mother-of-one - who had the surgery to 'improve the shape' of her breasts - told a TV audience: 'I was moaning. But I was moaning because I couldn't scream.'

She said: 'It was the very first surgery in my life. I saw him before the surgery. He came to my ward to talk about the results of my pre-operation checks.

'My husband was against the surgery - he believed that I was beautiful enough already. I was shaking crazily after the operation, and I heard a voice telling me: 'Girl, everything will be okay, everything will be fine'.

'He was touching me, it was the anaesthetist's voice. Then he allowed himself to do things that a doctor must not do. He was commenting on what he was doing.

'He raped me. I was in a helpless state. At that moment I could understand everything but my eyelids were very heavy, I even couldn't open them fully.

'I tried to push him away with my legs but I couldn't do that.'

She was unable to scream for help, and they were alone in an ante-room to the operating theatre, she said.

'I absolutely trusted the doctor. I trusted him with my life and body. For a long time I couldn't pull myself together and talk to my husband about it.

Erika Bykova claimed she was unable to scream for help. She and the doctor were alone in an ante-room to the operating theatre, she said

Hitting back at his claim that she had consented to sex, she said she told her friend she had been raped immediately afterwards - and preserved the man's 'biomaterial' to pass to the police forensic service

Bykova (pictured) said that her husband was against the surgery because he believed that she was 'beautiful enough already'

The medic, a grandfather, admits to having sex with the married woman minutes after her surgery but claimed it was consensual, and alleged in a statement to police that the woman patient had told him she was 'feeling good'

'I even filed a complaint to the Investigative Committee (in charge of probing serious crimes) and asked detectives not to interrogate my husband - at least for some time.

'I had gone to the police station and filed the complaint to the Interior Ministry in (Samara) the very day when I was released from the clinic.'

She alleged: 'He offered me money - he didn't specify how much - to take back my complaint.'

Hitting back at his claim that she had consented to sex, she said she told her friend she had been raped immediately afterwards - and preserved the man's 'biomaterial' to pass to the police forensic service.

She said: 'I am sorry for sharing these details (but) I am speaking out to help women in the same situation who cannot talk about it to anyone.'

Her long term aim was to 'create a community where women could share what happened and protect themselves'.

Dr Chenikov admitted to Russian state-funded channel NTV: 'Yes, there was sexual intercourse.

'I constantly controlled my actions, all the touching and licking. I was asking her: "Erika, are you feeling good, am I not hurting you?"

'And she answered: "Yes, I'm feeling good".'

He said that he performed a sex act on her and 'she kept her legs spread - she didn't try to say a word or stop it'.

The doctor admitted: 'Obviously, five minutes after everything happened, I was terrified. And I realised my children, my grandchildren, my wife would never forgive me.

Bykova (pictured) revealed that she had 'absolutely trusted the doctor' and for a long time 'couldn't pull myself together and talk to my husband about it'

In his latest testimony to detectives ahead of the court case, the doctor claimed that after the sex was over Bykova (pictured) told him she 'hadn't felt so good in a while'

'At that moment I hadn't been thinking about anything. Another organ was doing the thinking.'

In his latest testimony to detectives ahead of the court case, he claimed that after the sex was over the woman told him she 'hadn't felt so good in a while'.

He went home to his wife in the evening after having had sex with his patient - but then had a call to say Bykova's friend was asking him to return to the Plastic Surgery Centre, the clinic where the alleged rape took place.

He went back and the friend told him Bykova could be pregnant 'but didn't express any complaints about what happened'.

He went to see the patient bringing her chocolates and 'emergency contraception pills'. They had a 'lovely chat', he alleged.

Later, he said, she asked him to provide her with a medical report proving he did not have sexually transmitted diseases. He did this, he said.

But at their next meeting, she told him she was reporting him for rape, he said.

He told investigators he confessed what had happened to his wife of 35 years called Tatiana, and then apologised to Bykova.

'I was humiliating myself, begging her forgiveness although both of us knew what we had was voluntarily - and she wasn't in a helpless state,' he alleged.

Fashion designer Bykova (pictured, right) appeared on television to describe her alleged ordeal

The 35-year-old sobbed as she told her side of the story in front of a television audience in Russia

The anaesthetist's wife Tatiana (pictured) said her husband 'is not a rapist, that's for sure. He just showed weakness. He showed weakness as a man'

Dr Chenikov (right) admitted to Russian state-funded channel NTV: 'Yes, there was sexual intercourse.

'She asked me several times to settle a compensation payment for sleeping with her.

'But I had no time to do that, and I didn't know how much one would pay for it.

'In the course of interrogation (with detectives) I initially admitted my guilt because I was afraid that if I hadn't done so, I would be arrested and put in jail.

'That was what I was afraid of. Now, I do not fully admit my guilt - because I believe there was no rape.

'During sexual intercourse (the patient) was not in a helpless state. She was able to fight back and could have expressed her protest.

'I didn't force her physically or psychologically to have sex. I believe (rape) is a false denunciation.'

His lawyer Vadim Safronov said: 'She was saying that she couldn't move but the medication does not have such an effect.'

The anaesthetist's wife Tatiana said: 'He is not a rapist, that's for sure. He just showed weakness. He showed weakness as a man.'

Dr Chernigov is accused of rape and violent sexual actions following the complaint made by Bykova (pictured)

Bykova's unnamed husband - the father of her five-year-old son - has not commented on the case

She said: 'My husband was the first person who told me what happened. He has hypertension and perhaps it was caused by stress.

'We've been living together for 35 years -I know him better than anyone else. Yes, he could have been weak as a man but he would not hurt anyone. There have been no such situations before.

'He asked me to forgive him and I did because I love him a lot. He apologised to her, he honestly told me that he apologised for what happened.'

Dr Chernigov is accused of rape and violent sexual actions.

Both can we punished by up to six years jail under Russian law. Any sentences would run concurrently.

Bykova's unnamed husband - the father of her five-year-old son - has not commented on the case.Paige Doherty was 15 years old when she was murdered in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire

The father of murdered schoolgirl Paige Doherty has died, it emerged last night.

Jon Bothwell, 37, was found ill at his home in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, on Saturday night and later died at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride.

He had struggled to come to terms with his daughter's murder, it was claimed.

Mr Bothwell's mother, Roseanne Bothwell, 71, told the Daily Record her son had 'died of a broken heart'.

Police Scotland said there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding Mr Bothwell's death.

Ms Bothwell told the newspaper: 'He was heartbroken. Paige loved Jon out her mind too. He never got over it. He died of a broken heart. He was never the same after she died.

'He said he used to have nightmares where he'd see her at the bottom of his bed and she wanted him to go with her. We'll never get over Paige's death and Jon took it the worst. He died in the bedroom but they brought him back.

'The paramedics then took him to hospital. He was in a coma. He died there on Saturday.'

Paige was 15 years old when she was murdered by John Leathem, 34, in the Delicious Deli sandwich shop in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, in 2016.

Paige's father Jon Bothwell (pictured), 37, was found ill at his home and later died in hospital

A police officer stands at a cordon in Clydebank in March 2016 where Paige was last seen

The married father-of-two stabbed her 61 times and inflicted more than 140 injuries before storing her body in a shed at his home, then dumping her remains in bushes.

Mr Bothwell was said to have been hurt at being isolated from Paige at the time of her funeral, arranged by her mother Pamela Munro and stepfather Andy Munro.

Mr Bothwell and Mrs Munro split when Paige was two - and, last July, Mrs Munro had a girl whom she named her Penny Margaret Paige after her murdered daughter.

Leathem admitted to murdering the teenager but later saw his jail term reduced from 27 to 23 years after an appeal.

Paige's coffin is carried out of St Margaret's Church in Clydebank after her funeral in April 2016

In February 2017, speaking after the appeal, Paige's mother, Pamela Munro, 33, vowed to campaign for changes to the justice system in her daughter's name.

She told STV: 'How can somebody justify killing a child as brutally as he killed Paige and say, 'It's not as bad as this, or as bad as that so we're going to reduce it?'

'They add in that (Leathem is) a family man and he's never offended before. That just makes it worse. It shows how unpredictable he really is - so make an example of him.

'I think they need to set a minimum punishment part when it comes to excessive killing, such as child killers. I think it needs to be a minimum of 35 years.'

John Leathem (left), 34, admitted to murdering Paige (right) but later saw his jail term reduced

'In our eyes, nothing is ever going to be high enough for taking our wee girl's life.'

The decision prompted Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson to call for whole-life sentences to be introduced north of the border.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said at the time: 'I met Paige's mother (in 2016) and there literally are no words to express the pain and grief she and the rest of her family have gone through.

'As well as being first minister, I'm also a human being and there are many occasions when I look at decisions of courts and wish that different decisions had been reached. It may well be this is one such case.'

When Leatham was initially led away to start his life sentence, there were shouts of 'scum', 'monster' and 'rot in hell' from Paige's family and friends in the courtroom.

Paige's mother Pamela Munro (centre) with her husband Andy Munro (left) in October 2016

Jailing the killer at the High Court in Glasgow in October 2016, Judge Lady Rae said it was a 'savage and frenzied' attack, and also described the killing as 'truly reprehensible and impossible to comprehend'.

Paige was repeatedly knifed just minutes after going into Leathem's shop to buy breakfast in March 2016. She had 43 wounds to her head in the frenzied attack and a fatal wound to her neck.

Two days later the schoolgirl's body was found dumped in woods.

At an earlier hearing, married father-of-two Leathem - who had pleaded guilty to murder - told the court he 'over-reacted' when Paige had allegedly threatened to report him for a sexual offence if he did not give her a job.A group of 26 ambitious homeowners are hoping to sell their properties as one big 'super site' to maximise their profits.

The residents in Baulkham Hills, in Sydney's north-west, have joined forces to create what they are calling 'Hillsview Central', a site almost two hectares in size.

The plan is the result of a year-long deal among the neighbours, who are hoping to get more than $60million for the deal.

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The residents in Baulkham Hills, a north-western suburb of Sydney, have joined forces to create 'Hillsview Central' (pictured), a site almost the size of two hectares

The residents believe combining the properties into one larger block will increase the chances of it being rezoned for high density living, Domain reported.

The neighbours are also hoping to get more money for the group deal than they would for individual sales.

'I don't think we're greedy, we just believe it will probably give us the best opportunity,' homeowner Ann Papas said.

The average median house price for the area is $1.15 million, but residents are hoping to get approximately $2.3 million per property if the new deal goes through.

Ms Papas, a long-term resident of Baulkham Hills, has witnessed first-hand the change that new development has caused.

A year ago, she decided to join forces with her daughter and son-in-law who lived next door and sell the properties together.

The plan is the result of a year-long deal among the neighbours, who are hoping to get more than $60 million for the deal

After thinking it was a good idea, they began to ask around to see if other neighbours were interested - and they were.

Ms Papas said that they got a consensus from the residents that they were interested, and the year-long negotiations kicked off from there.

Although there are only two homeowners who have declined to join the group, the remaining homeowners are planning on having the area zoned for apartments.

Manager of investment services at Colliers International, Tom Appleby, said the residents were looking to make 'at least double' of what they'd make if the properties were sold individually.

The average median house price for the area is $1.15 million, but residents are hoping to get approximately $2.3 million per property if the new deal goes through

The 'Amalgamated Super Site' is the result of a year long deal among the neighbours, who are hoping to get more than $60 million for the deal

Mr Appleby said the sales process was expected to take between 12 and 24 months, and that residents were aware they would likely have to wait longer than that to sell.

'Collective sales generally take a considerable amount of time to formalise,' Mr Appleby told Daily Mail Australia.

'We're expecting to field interest from developers seeking to build medium-density housing under the current R3 zoning, and also from oppotunistic developers who will look to attain uplift beyond the current planning controls.'

This isn't the first project of its kind, with eight homeowners selling their homes for $40 million last year in Castle Hill.

The sales process is expected to take between 12 and 24 months, and residents are likely to have to wait longer than that to sellFresh calls have emerged for Peter Dutton to explain why he facilitated the immigration of a yoga teacher and nanny, but denied entry to an Afghan interpreter who assisted an Australian soldier.

New details have emerged of how the Home Affairs Minister used ministerial discretion powers to help nannies of wealthy friends avoid immigration rules.

Meanwhile, Army veteran Jason Scanes' appeals to have his interpreter rescued from Afghanistan where his life is under threat, has fallen on deaf ears, news.com.au reported.

Captain Jason Scanes (right) and his interpreter in Afghanistan. Calls for his interpreter to be rescued from Afghanistan have fallen on deaf ears

Retired Captain Scanes tried for five years to secure a visa for his interpreter, who he worked alongside on the front line, but had all of his requests denied.

'Essentially, when you arrive in Afghanistan, you're issued an interpreter like you're issued a pistol. You form a very close relationship and bond with them,' he told ABC.

'If they're found to be assisting coalition forces, the action taken against them by insurgent groups or the Taliban is very, very severe and quite barbaric.'

He attracted media attention after launching a one-man daily protest outside Mr Dutton's Brisbane office, the case was re-opened but his appeal was again denied.

Following the emergence of two new cases this week, Greens Senator Nick McKim accused Mr Dutton of having one rule for his friends and another for everyone else.

'Dutton has fought tooth and nail to keep sick and dying children locked up on Nauru, but can't act quickly enough when the well-connected come asking for help,' he said.

Peter Dutton (pictured) is under increasing pressure for intervening in visa cases of three au pairs

Retired Captain Jason Scanes (pictured with his wife) tried for five years to secure a visa for his interpreter but had all of his requests denied

Senator McKim said Mr Dutton had gone against the advice of his own department to issue visas to the two foreign au pair workers.

Opposition Immigration and Border Protection spokesman Shayne Neumann called on Mr Dutton to explain why he intervened in the two cases.

'The Minister needs to explain how and why he intervened to grant these visas  including one case where his own department said it would be 'high risk' to do so,' Mr Neumann said.

'Dutton and his department must front up at the Senate Inquiry and explain why his interventions were appropriate and the reasons for his interventions.'

French national Alexandra Deuwel, employed by Callum McLachlan, a wealthy pastoralist whose family has donated some $150,000 to the Liberal Party, was detained at Adelaide Airport in October 2015.

Mr Dutton used discretionary powers to free French national Alexandra Deuwel (pictured) from detention and grant her a tourist visa so she could work as an au pair

She was held on suspicion she intended to work while on a tourist visa, but Mr Dutton intervened on grounds her immigration was in 'public interest'.

Mr McLachlan's father Hugh donated a further $50,000 to the party's South Australian branch six months after Mr Dutton's intervention.

Mr Dutton considered the woman's case a 'humanitarian' matter, according to documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information.

His action followed lobbying by AFL boss Gil McLachlan on behalf of his second cousin Callum.

'Having regard to this person's particular circumstances and personal characteristics, I have decided to use my discretionary powers  as it would be in the public interest to grant this person a visa,' he wrote.

'In the circumstances, I have decided that as a discretionary and humanitarian act to an individual with ongoing needs, it is in the interests of Australia as a humane and generous society to grant this person a visitor visa (subclass 600) for a period of three months.'

French national Alexandra Deuwel was employed as an au pair by Callum McLachlan, the second cousin of the AFL boss Gil McLachlan (pictured)

Mr Dutton helped two other au pairs who had been detained at Brisbane Airport in June and November 2015 in new findings last month.

The move was understood to have upset officials within Border Force, with him now subject to a Senate Inquiry for his involvement in those two cases.

On Tuesday Mr Dutton defended his actions, saying: 'Ministers for Immigration receive, annually, hundreds of representations on individual migration matters from members of the public, organisations, journalists and other Members of Parliament'.

'I consider cases on their merits. Any suggestions cases are determined on any other basis, including whether I knew the individual who referred the matter, is completely ridiculous.'Hundreds of working dogs are being dumped and left homeless by drought-stricken farmers.

Desperate farmers in Queensland and New South Wales are dumping dogs in the drought and relinquishing them to shelters as they run out of food and cash, a rescue group says.

Australian Working Dog Rescue (AWDR), an organisation saving Australian working dogs from being euthanized in council pounds, said the drought is driving up dog adoptions.

Officers are scrambling to deal with a wave of abandoned and malnourished working dogs in the wake of the dry weather

One-year-old Dingle was one of the working dogs found abandoned by the harsh drought.

Ted, a kelpie and cross border collie was surrendered after his first birthday.

The dire circumstances are leaving farmers no choice, as they surrender their valuable hard-working companions, which are rare and can cost up to $20,000.

One-year-old Dingle was one of hundreds of working dogs found abandoned during the harsh drought in NSW, according to AWDR CEO Carey Edwards.

Australian Working Dog Rescue took in the kelpie to help the dog's health get back to normal and was then rehomed on a farm near Goondiwindi, on the NSW and Queensland border.

'I can't even imagine things getting so bad that I have to rehome my best friends who I work with on a daily basis simply because I've got no way to feed them,' Mr Edwards told AAP on Wednesday.

Mr Edwards said sudden influx of dumped working dogs was one of the sad, unseen consequences of the drought crisis.Ken Marsh, head of the Police Federation in London, spoke out after a shocking police officer attack in east London yesterday

The head of the Police Federation in London has claimed 'we're seeing a breakdown in society' after an attack on two police officers as they tried to arrest someone.

Shocking footage emerged yesterday of a 'hostile crowd' surrounding two police officers pinning down a suspect on the floor of a McDonald's in Hackney, east London.

As they tried to restrain him they were attacked by two onlookers, as people shouted hysterically and filmed the incident on their mobile phones.

Ken Marsh, head of the Police Federation's London branch has said attacks on officers are on the rise and slammed police budget cuts as 'bonkers'.

He blamed sentences for officer attacks being too lenient and a culture of policemen and women being told to 'expect' hostility from the public.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5Live, he said: 'I think there is a lack of sentencing and strength of action that's taken against police when they are assaulted. I've openly heard judges say in court 'you should expect it you're a police officer'.

'When you start hearing things like that then there is a complete breakdown in society.'

Mr Marsh, who represents rank and file officers from across the capital, said it appeared there had been a change among a 'small minority' of people in how they view the police.

Mobile phone footage shows two police officers restraining a man as they try to arrest him at a McDonald's in Hackney, east London on Monday night. As they pin down the suspect on the floor, one raises a police radio (right)

After one officer raises the radio one person is heard saying 'They're going to kill him' before another onlooker (pictured in white) launches himself at the officer, kicking him twice

'There is an element of people out there who just have no respect whatsoever and don't care,' he said.

'They don't care about their actions, don't care how they behave and don't care about the consequences and we are left to face that twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.'

Budget cuts, falling police numbers and cuts to other services are contributing to the problem, Mr Marsh warned.

'Social workers go home at five o'clock and we are left to pick up the pieces, mental health patients are all thrown out on the streets and we are left to pick up the pieces,' he said.

'We've become all singing, all dancing. At the same time our figures are dropping in terms of officers and our financial bursary towards funding has gone down and down and down.

After a man in white is pictured kicking one of the police officers, another onlooker (pictured in grey with pink balloon in his mouth) approaches the two PCs. At that point one of them shouts 'get the f*** off me' over and over again and points a yellow taser at him

A flash of light is seen as one of the officers is pictured pointing a taser at the man in grey with a pink balloon in his mouth. A Hackney Police spokesman told MailOnline the taser was switched on but not fired

'The Government have taken a billion pounds out of the Metropolitan Police budget in the last four years... It's bonkers.'

Police confirmed the man on the floor of the McDonald's in Mare Street, Hackney, was arrested and detained.

One of the suspects seen attacking the police officer, aged 30, was arrested and taken to a north London police station. He has since been released under investigation. The other is still at large.

A Met Police spokesman said one of the officers was treated for an ankle injury and the other for cuts to his face. Neither have called in sick and are already back at work.

Dozens of users commented on the video, uploaded to Twitter yesterday, with some defending the actions of police and others questioning their use of force.

Several branded the youths' behaviour 'disgusting' and said it 'made them feel sick'.

One user posted saying: 'Man pulls out his taser,' with a crying face emoji.

Responding to the comment, Hackney Police defended the officers' actions, saying: 'Man got assaulted, not once but twice whilst trying to arrest someone. Think you miss the point here.'

Police had to wade into the debate again when another Twitter user accused them of tasering a man they already had pinned down on the floor.

They wrote: 'I'd also love to know if @MPSHackney can explain why they appear to be tasering someone who is already lying on the floor with two officers on top of them holding them quite easily.'

But the force replied: 'The officers aren't. If you watch it you'll see the officer produces his taser and directs it towards the crowd who assaulted them not once but twice, not the suspect on the floor.'

They added: 'It's down to each officer to justify their own use of force and reasons for it.'Italy has warned it will refuse to pay its EU contributions as its populist coalition continues to express fury over the migrant crisis.

Despite a sharp drop in refugees entering Europe since 2015, Italy is turning away ships with asylum seekers rescued at sea in a bid to make other nations in the bloc take their share.

In the latest standoff, Rome has threatened to cut its annual contribution to the EU budget, triggering a warning of sanctions from Brussels and dark threats that it would be breaching the very treaties that underpin the bloc's existence.

The increasingly bitter dispute highlights how elusive a three-year search for EU solidarity on migration has been - a problem some warn could even sink the post-war European project.

Italy has warned it will refuse to pay its EU contributions as its populist coalition continues to express fury over the migrant crisis. Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio (pictured) warned that Rome could cut its funding for the bloc

Nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in

'We do have a crisis of solidarity,' Marie De Somer, an analyst with the Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre (EPC) told AFP.

Despite an apparent deal by EU leaders meeting in Brussels on June 29, Italy has continued to reject rescue ships until EU countries agree to take their share of migrants.

Nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in.

But the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation bloc, is still trying to broker a deal for a permanent mechanism among EU countries to take in migrants aboard these ships.

As the week-long standoff over the Diciotti worsened on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio warned that Rome could cut its funding for the bloc.

'The European Union has decided to turn its back on Italy once again,' complained Di Maio, from the populist Five Star movement, which is in coalition with a hardline anti-immigration party.

The European Commission, which coordinates migration policy, said the EU 'operates on the basis of rules, not threats' as it hit back at Di Maio's comments.

Guenther Oettinger, the EU's budget commissioner, warned Italy would be running risks by becoming the first in EU history to refuse to pay its budget contribution.

A woman holds a banner reading 'welcome' as campaigners came face to face with anti-migrant protesters near Rome on Tuesday

'This would result in late payment interests. And a breach of Treaty obligations leading to possible further heavy sanctions,' Oettinger warned on Twitter.

The EPC's De Somer said the split is not as deep as it seems as the Commission and the European Parliament both back Italy's demand that other member countries share more of the responsibility for migrants.

'It's the same policy Italy is advocating for,' De Somer told AFP.

The problem is with many EU member countries - particularly with the former communist states in eastern Europe that refuse to admit asylum seekers.

'There is no worse deaf person than someone who doesn't want to hear,' Sylvie Guillaume, a member of a European Parliament committee dealing with migration, told AFP.

Countries led by Hungary rejected an EU scheme agreed in 2015 to relocate 160,000 Syrian and other asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, the main landing points during Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.

Under international law, EU countries must grant asylum to people fleeing war and persecution but not to those escaping poverty and seeking jobs, who can be sent back to their countries, especially in West Africa.

Italy has pleaded for distinguishing genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants before they disembark from ships, and has gradually hardened its tone.

Even though Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte proclaimed Rome was 'no longer alone' after the June summit, his government is increasingly sceptical of the results.

The summit called for setting up 'disembarkation platforms' outside the bloc, most likely in North Africa, in a bid to discourage migrants boarding EU-bound smuggler boats.

But so far no deals have been struck.

'It will take enormous diplomatic and financial capital, and it will take years before they even start working,' De Somer said.

The summit also called for EU states to set up migrant processing centres - but while they all welcomed the plan, no one has volunteered to host one.

'You'll still have to agree on which member states will take how many refugees,' Somer said.A 'vengeful' whale has given a group of watchers an almighty fright after crashing down on the front of their boat - scraping off barnacles and damaging the vessel in the process.

The terrifying encounter took place earlier this month and saw a whale likened to Moby Dick make a number of nerve-wracking passes at the boat.

The almost deadly trip was captured on video by Elena Sera Jose who is heard urging her shipmate to 'back out a little bit'.

The whale (pictured) rears its head before crashing down on the vessel, Flying Fox. Elena Sera Jose had been sailing off the coast of Monterey Harbor in California with her boyfriend Ryan Nelson when the terrifying encounter took place

Barnacles can be seen on the whale's skin and many of these were left on the boat after it smashed on to its front

Some of the barnacles that were left on the deck. Small pools of blood can also be seen in the video footage following the shocking whale encounter

The opening stages of the video show a number of seals jumping out of the water - a very peaceful scene.

Soon after this, however, a gigantic whale breaches the water directly next to the group's boat.

It leaves Ms Sera Jose screaming in fright and shouting expletives.

She can be heard asking her boyfriend Ryan Nelson to get them out of the area after the close call.

The pair had been sailing off the coast of Monterey Harbor in California, in their 26ft Clipper Marin Sail boat when they spotted a group of seals and birds feeding on anchovies.

And before long, they were joined by humpback whales also keen to get some of the spoils. Without realizing, their boat quickly ended up in the middle of the feeding frenzy.

She's now nervous following the whale encounter and can be heard saying: 'That gave me palpitations'.

Prior to the most frightening incident, the whale had been spotted making a number of passes at the boat

Elena Sera Jose and her boyfriend had spotted a group of seals and birds feeding on anchovies so stopped to take a look. Seconds later, however, a whale (pictured) reared its head

The whale sticks lifts one of its fins as it breaks the water. Just moments later the same whale would subject Elena Sera Jose and her boyfriend to a terrifying ordeal

The whale, which has been likened to Moby Dick, makes a very close pass at the duo's vessel before disappearing under the water again

Likening the giant mammal to Moby Dick, she says: 'I saw his eye...that was insane, he did not care.'

She also notes how 'vengeful' the animal seems.

Just seconds after this however, the whale comes crashing out of the water and lands with a heavy thud at the front of the boat.

It terrifies Ms Sera Jose and her boyfriend who can both be heard screaming in the footage.

Videoing the aftermath of the encounter, she picks up barnacles from the deck which have scraped off the whale.

Small pools of blood can also be seen on the surface of the boat.

Now concerned for her wellbeing she exclaims: 'We need to leave. Oh my god did you see what he just did.'

Her companion then notes that the boat has been damaged in the encounter and says: 'We almost got killed by a whale'.

The video stops shortly after.

Elena Sera Jose and her boyfriend had been sailing off the coast of Monterey Harbor (pictured) in California, in their 26ft Clipper Marin Sail boat

Recalling the incident Ms Sera Jose said: 'I was in the hatch taking pictures and videos of the humpback whales, seals and birds feeding on anchovies that morning. It really was a sight to see.

'There were at least three whale watching boats in the same area plus other smaller vessels watching whales.

'Then, all of sudden, we found ourselves in the middle of feeding frenzy surrounded by at least four whales and many seals.

'We were in awe of it all and a whale came in under our boat then made a circle. But suddenly he came under and breached almost on top of us, right where I was in the hatch.

'I had my video recording the whole thing.

'The barnacles off the whales belly got scraped on our deck and the weight of the whale breaching scratched our boat and bent one of the stanchions.'

Ms Sera Jose took to Facebook soon after the encounter to share the footage with the world.

She said: 'We were watching whales, sea lions and birds anchovie feeding frenzy for two hours when a ravenous pack of whales surrounded our vessel, Flying Fox.

'Before we knew it one of the giants breached our boat scratching off barnacles off his or her belly and leaving us a souvenir.

'As we sat there stunned the beast continued to feast on anchovies like nothing happened.'

Monterey is famous for its whales and dolphins. Every year thousands take to the water to get a glimpse of the impressive creatures.Pro-EU Tories have revealed a surge in applications to join the party amid fears hard Brexiteers are defecting from Ukip to try and oust Theresa May.

Leading Remain supporter Anna Soubry has urged Tory headquarters to halt a membership drive until it is sure it can block infiltrators.

Arron Banks, the multimillionaire founder of the Brexit campaign who was Ukip's largest donor, last week had his application to join the Conservatives blocked.

Mr Banks has urged 50,000 Leave supporters to join the party and help topple Mrs May in favour of a Brexiteer.

The plan alarms Remain supporters because a few thousand Tory members could hold the balance of power in any leadership election to replace the Prime Minister.

Pro-EU Tories have revealed a surge in applications to join the party amid fears hard Brexiteers are defecting from Ukip to try and oust Theresa May (pictured in Cape Town yesterday)

Mrs May has vowed to face down any attempt from the right wing - though likely to be fronted by Boris Johnson - and stay on as Prime Minister to the next election

Local parties represented by MPs including Stephen Hammond, Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubry, Nicky Morgan and Sarah Wollaston have each reported significant increases in membership in recent weeks, The Times revealed today.

Theresa May to quit: What happens next? How does a leadership election work? The election to find Theresa May's replacement is held in two stages with up to 20 Tory MPs expected to try to stand. To join the battle, any candidate requires two other MPs to sign forms agreeing to be their proposer and a seconder. The race will start on June 7 and is expected last around six weeks with the new leader in place by the end of July. Mrs May is expected to remain as Prime Minister until a successor is appointed and ready to be confirmed by the Queen. How are candidates eliminated? Conservative MPs will hold a series of head-to-head ballots to whittle the list of contenders down to a final two, with the lowest placed candidate dropping out in each round. Who votes on the final two? There will then be a series of hustings involving the two final candidates - probably in all regions of the UK - and a TV debate could also be held. It is then the Tory members across the country step in. They will then have around a fortnight to vote via postal ballot - which Mrs May avoided after rival Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the race. The last time a postal vote was held was in 2005, when David Cameron grabbed the leadership. Advertisement

Ms Soubry said: 'We are on a membership drive at the same time as the likes of Banks are urging members of Ukip and other hard Brexiteers to join our party to topple the leader and destroy government policy.

'I've called on the party chairman to end the membership drive until we can be confident we are not being infiltrated by people who are not Conservatives.'

A party source said there had been an increase in applications but played down its significance, telling the Times: 'We have been driving up membership numbers steadily since the start of the year.'

Mr Banks said on social media last week that he had joined the Conservatives.

The pro-Brexit group's former communications director Andy Wigmore also said he was joining. But a party spokesman said their applications 'have not been approved'.

Mr Banks reacted to the statement by writing on Twitter: 'That's strange because I had a nice welcome letter from (Conservative Party chairman) @BrandonLewis this morning saying you are now activated and welcome to attend any event.'

The Conservatives last recorded membership total was 124,000. Mr Banks has set a target of encouraging another 50,000 new members to ensure that the party achieves Brexit.

Mrs May has vowed to face down any attempt from the right wing - though likely to be fronted by Boris Johnson - and stay on as Prime Minister to the next election.

Speaking in South Africa yesterday, Mrs May said: 'I've answered that question before.

'I'm in this for the long term.

'The British people voted for us to leave the EU and I'm focused on doing that.'

Leading Remain supporter Anna Soubry (file image) has urged Tory headquarters to halt a membership drive until it is sure it can block infiltrators

The PM was asked if she feared being ousted in a 'right wing coup' like Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull, a longstanding friend since they attended Oxford University together.

'The Australian politics have certainly been active over the last week or two,' she said.

'I think if you look at Australia politics they are rather different than you see in the UK.'

Asked in a separate interview with ITV news tonight whether she had 'noticed how much Boris wants your job', Mrs May delivered a withering put-down.

I was very pleased that Boris was foreign secretary for the period that he was foreign secretary, she said.A baby who was born after just 22 weeks of pregnancy has 'graduated' from intensive care - and a touching video captured the moving ceremony.

Cullen Potter, from Alabama, was born weighing just 13.9 ounces - far off the average weight of a baby which is between five pounds, eight ounces and eight pounds, thirteen ounces.

His proud mother, Mollie Potter, says she was told her baby had just a two per cent chance of survival at birth.

Cullen Potter (pictured) is paraded through the hallway at USA Children's and Women's Hospital by nurse Jewel Barbour during a faux graduation ceremony

But the family would not give up, with her partner calling 16 hospitals in three states to find one that would save him.

Now after 160 days in hospital he is finally able to go home.

Ms Potter is now able to stand tall and exclaim: 'Well, heres our 2 per cent. Perfect in every way. God is good big boy.'

Cullen now weighs five pounds and eleven ounces and is said have gotten over any major health difficulties.

To celebrate the miracle baby was given a faux graduation ceremony from the intensive care unit at USA Children's and Women's Hospital in Alabama.

Cullen Potter (pictured) now weighs five pounds and eleven ounces and is said have gotten over any major health difficulties. He was able to return home after 160 days in hospital

Video footage taken of the ceremony shows nurse Jewel Barbour proudly parading the baby along a hallway in the ward.

Ms Barbour had cared for the baby during his time on the ward.

Cullen is dressed up in graduation garb and music is played throughout the touching ceremony.

Writing on Facebook, Ms Potter described her family's endless battle to ensure the best care for her son.

She said: 'They acted like transferring was pointless, that trying to save him was pointless.

'Well, here he is. Alive and thriving. Never give up.'

She also praised USA Children's and Women's Hospital for the work they carried out on her son.

She said: 'They are amazing at what they do. They believe in these small babies and give them the fighting chance they deserve.

'I pray the more doctors and hospitals see stories like my sons and many more, that they will reconsider their policy and give all the babies the chance they deserve.'A South Sudanese mother and son defrauded the Australian government of $440,000 a week at the height of a childcare scam that pocketed them $6million dollars.

Rosa Riak and Kuol Deng were both sentenced to four years in jail at Melbourne County Court on Wednesday for making false subsidy claims through different childcare businesses.

Riak's daughter Achai Deng was also sentenced to 18 months in jail, but released immediately on a good behavior bond.

Scroll down for video

Rosa Riak was sentenced to four years in jail for a conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth Department of Education - by making false childcare claims that earned her $440,000 a week at the height of the scam

The court heard claims were made for children who were never cared for at their centres - with some of the staff abroad or in a different state at the time.

One business claimed just $45,000 over 12 months before being bought by the Deng's - but in the next year claimed $6.2million.

Justic McInerney said $950,000 of that amount had been falsely claimed.

Riak (second from left) was sentenced along with her song Kuol Deng (far right) for making the claims which pocketed them $6million in total - while daughter Achai Deng (third from left) was given an 18 month sentence but released on a good behaviour bond

Deng spent $165,000 on a Range Rover, and asked his mother where he should store $80,000 in cash - according to Channel 7.

The trio told the court they were 'ashamed' for defrauding the country which gave them citizenship in 2006.

They had fled from a Kenyan refugee camp in 2004.

According to The Australian, the judge said Deng had called investigators 'stupid' and indicated they weren't smart enough to catch them.

He said: 'Your community has undergone unjustified vilification in recent times - you have added to the trauma your community must endure.

Justic McInerney also criticised the Commonwealth Department of Education - questioning how Deng and his sister were able to start various businesses after a previous one had been closed.Advertisement

As revellers begin to arrive at the Burning Man festival, a series of eerie photos show what the site in the middle of the Nevada desert looked before the crowds descend.

Empty intersections, complete with bus stops and traffic lights, lone couches facing 1970s TV sets, a giant stand-alone gummy bear, a 34-foot tall polar bear made from car bonnets, and giant imposing sculptures capture the eerily quiet calm before this week's impending storm.

Up to 70,000 festival-goers will flock to the famed art and music festival held deep in the Black Rock Desert for the week-long event, ending on Monday.

A fully recreated intersection, complete with a bus stop and traffic lights, is built on the playa but appears eerily vacant ahead of the throngs of thousands who will walk across here over the coming week

A scene is arranged with two couches facing a mirrored TV on one side, and a person coming out of a computer, holding a smart phone on the other. Festival 'burners' are invited to write notes in a notebook on the two couches

A giant gummy bear sculpture stands in the playa at the centre of the festival. To the left, a rainbow stairway and to the right, 'The Orb' is seen under construction

An evocative scene is arranged with a person seen crouching on the ground coming out of a computer and holding a smart phone as a series of human brains scatter the sand

The festival kicked off Sunday and is scheduled to run through the following Monday with celebrity guests such as the likes of Cara Delevingne and Elon Musk among previous years' attendees.

The tens of thousands of 'burners' are expected to attend the revelry, donning other-worldly costumes and leaving their cash at home for a week of all-night parties in the temporary city known as the playa, north of Reno.

The unique festival hosts a mind-bending array of art, music and live performances.

For the next week thousands of participants will live together and participate in a range of activities before lighting a giant wooden figure, 'The Man', to the ground.

This is the first time that the event is being held since two notable deaths in the Burning Man community, those of its co-founder Harvey and of a man who died at last year's festival when he ran into a massive fire.

Tickets for the event went on sale for $1,200 in January. The only items sold within the festival are coffee and ice, with attendees expected to bring everything else they may need.

A sculptural airplane glints in the hot Nevada sun as it stands in the playa. A spiral staircase runs on either side of the metal plane leading to two doors that do not open

A temple to Larry Harvey, part of the original group who lit an eight-foot wooden model of a man on fire at Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1989, is erected near the large Galaxia temple. Burners write notes and leave personal items on temple shelves

This sculpture, known as RadiaLumia, harkens to radialoria, 'a tiny protozoa with intricate mineral skeletons that covered the desert thousands of years ago, when it was once the sea floor,' according to the artist. To the left, a 34-foot tall polar bear sculpture made of white car hoods stands in the desert to represent the disappearance of polar bears because of greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuel-burning vehicles

A large sculptural representation of the poop emoji sits on the dusty desert floor in the deep playa near the trash fence

Here, a statue of Atlas sits beneath the sphere of earth, but the earth is no longer on his shoulders

Burning Man has been known for its free-spirited atmosphere where clothing is optional and activities such as the Hug Church and spanking lessons encourage burners to form special connections with one another.

However, following back-to-back reports of rampant sexual harassment in the news over the last year, organizers have been tasked with teaching participants that freedom on the campground doesn't mean its a free for all.

Attendees will be increasingly scrutinized as they make their way into the desert, with federal officials reportedly beginning an operation to stop and search those travelling in the area for drugs.

Each year dozens participants end up leaving the event in handcuffs, usually for drug possession.

A sculpture of a man stands atop an open air pedestal. Inside the pedestal are murals of robots. On top of the pedestal, numerous pop-culture robots are recreated in various mediums

'Singularity' is a design depicting a broken bird cage surrounding a blue house within a house within a house within a house within a house. It is designed by Rebekah Waites and the Singularity Crew

People can walk inside and interact with the vintage elements, then walk inside the house again and find the same pieces until they are no longer able to enter the smallest house within

The Seesaw Wave Machine, created by Ryan Elmendorf and Nick Geurts, comprises of 21 seesaw swings connected across a triangular structure. When people play on the swings, other seesaws start to move

The Burning Man tradition dates back to 1986, when Larry Harvey, Jerry James and a group of 20 others lit an eight-foot wooden model of a man on fire at Baker Beach in San Francisco.

In 1990 the meager festival moved from the beach to the desert, and since then it has grown into one of the most infamous events of the year.

Burning Man is guided by a set of 10 principles, including radical inclusion, self-expression, self-reliance, immediacy and leaving no trace.

A destroyed playground is scattered with skeletons, bicycles, a swing set and an air raid siren in a scene depicting the destruction of humans by robots. The scene is reminiscent of John Connor's nuclear holocaust dream in the 'Terminator' movies

'With Open Arms We Welcomed That Which Would Destroy Us' by Christian Ristow is a large metal sculpture of a Vishnu-like robot god. The pictographs on the sides show the story of man falling in love with phones, then creating robots who replace relationships with humans, then robots providing and doing all for humans before finally overtaking them, subjugating them and becoming their god

A large, grass-like sculpture 'grows' out of the sand (left) and a large 'afro pick' juts out to represent 'a symbol of community and comradeship'. 'The afro pick exists today as many things to different people: it is worn as adornment, a political emblem and signature of collective identity,' the artist said. The symbol aims to highlight ideas related to community, strength, perseverance, comradeship, and resistance to oppression, equal justice and belonging

Part of the destroyed playground, a swing set and skeleton is seen in a scene depicting the destruction of humans by robots. The scene is reminiscent of John Connor's nuclear holocaust dream in the 'Terminator' movies

A fully recreated intersection with bus stop and lights appears eerily vacant ahead of the throngs of thousands who will walk across here over the coming weekAdvertisement

Britain's leading architectural minds are desperate to see their designs named the most spectacular when prizes are handed out for the most impressive structures each year.

But there is one accolade they could all do without - the Carbuncle Cup - the award for the ugliest building in the country.

This year's six finalists include a 375million regeneration scheme in south London that experts claim 'hasn't really regenerated anything at all', a student residence in Plymouth that looks 'disturbingly similar' to a Las Vegas hotel jokingly named New York New York, and a 45million Stockport leisure centre that looks like an 'old container shed'.

The unlucky shortlist has been whittled down by magazine Building Design, who came up with the idea in 2006 as a light-hearted sneer at some of the worst new structures in the country.

The name of the unusual competition comes from Prince Charles's notorious 1986 attack on the proposed extension for the National Portrait Gallery in London when he described it as a 'monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend'.

As the big announcement of Carbuncle Cup winner 2018 approaches, MailOnline looks at the buildings vying for this year's title.

Lewisham Gateway, south London

Lewisham Gateway is a 375m urban regeneration scheme that aims to comprehensively redevelop the town centre of London's thirteenth largest borough. It has required the complete redesign of one of south London's most mind-boggling gyratories and the re-routing of two rivers.

Building Design editor Thomas Lane has described phase one of the development to be 'like a sneering street gang of four upturned middle fingers dumbly primed to hurl all manner of townscape obscenities at their unsuspecting environs'.

The two towers stand 'bland and boxy' covered in white cladding, with locals far from impressed.

Lewisham Gateway is a 375m urban regeneration scheme that aims to comprehensively redevelop the town centre of London's thirteenth largest borough. It has required the complete redesign of one of south London's most mind-boggling gyratories and the re-routing of two rivers

Shankly Hotel, Liverpool

The Shankly Hotel is an architectural gem, named after Liverpool FC legend Bill Shankly. It's five-star interior is complimented by the impressively-maintained period facade.

But Building Design readers have slammed the latest rooftop extension as 'grotesque'.

The modern, box-like structure was voted through by the city council's planning committee. Far from 'fitting in with the character of the area', it has now been branded a 'blight on the Liverpool skyline'.

The Shankly Hotel is an architectural gem, named after Liverpool FC legend Bill Shankly. It's five-star interior is complimented by the impressively-maintained period facade. But Building Design has slammed the latest rooftop extension as 'grotesque'

Redrock Stockport, Greater Manchester

The new 45million leisure centre Redrock Stockport, just south of Manchester, is another of the unfortunate buildings to appear on this year's shortlist.

It boasts shopping facilities, a ten-screen cinema, restaurants, bars and a 340-space multi-storey car park.

But the block-like exterior has been likened to the 'ugly, garish out-of-town container sheds that once encircled British towns and cities' by Building Design.

At 75,000 square feet, it's a real contender for this year's lowliest architectural accolade.

The block-like exterior of RedRock leisure centre in Stockport, Greater Manchester has been likened to the 'ugly, garish out-of-town container sheds that once encircled British towns and cities' by Building Design

Haydn Tower, Vauxhall, south London

Vauxhall is no stranger to the Carbuncle Cup. The first nomination came in the form of St George's Wharf in 2006, followed by its tower in 2014.

In 2015 the modestly-named Parliament House was among the worst six, beaten only by the notorious Walkie Talkie the other side of the Thames.

Now the black and red-clad Haydn Tower, just around the corner from the controversially located new US Embassy at Nine Elms, is in the running for the 2018 prize as well.

Vauxhall is no stranger to the Carbuncle Cup. The first nomination came in the form of St George's Wharf in 2006. But now the black and red-clad Haydn Tower, just around the corner from the controversially located new US Embassy at Nine Elms, is in the running for the 2018 prize as well

Beckley Point, Plymouth

A student halls of residence in Plymouth is in the running for this year's Carbuncle Cup thanks to its apparent nod to the Las Vegas Hotel, New York New York.

The Nevada gambling paradise has the quirky habit of making its hotels look the world's most famous monuments. New York New York is no exception and is an obvious nod to Manhattan's sprawling apartment blocks.

But Beckley Point, Building Design point out, is 'no joke'. At 23 storeys high it sticks out like a sore thumb above Plymouth's low-rise skyline.

It is the tallest building in the south west of England, but described by Building Design as follows: 'The tower features vertical shafts of multi-coloured facades squashed together to form an awkwardly tapering ziggurat.

'The entrance crudely slapped onto the base is bad but even worse is the pyramidal spire that sprouts from the top like the offending traffic cones inebriated students are so fond of proudly hoisting atop street furniture.'

A student halls of residence in Plymouth is in the running for this year's Carbuncle Cup thanks to its apparent nod to the Las Vegas Hotel, New York New York. Beckley Point is the tallest building in the south west of England, but Building Design says: 'The tower features vertical shafts of multi-coloured facades squashed together to form an awkwardly tapering ziggurat.'

Ambleside Avenue, Streatham, south London

This low-energy home is located in a conservation area of leafy Streatham, a southern London suburb. Despite its garish red and orange appearance it passed planning tests with flying colours.

Its small windows prevent heat loss and prison-like shutters instead of blocked out glass panes help bring a small amount of sunlight in.

But the 'red-faced child' has been slammed by Building Design editor Thomas Lane.

He said: 'With its garish colours, unremitting red brickwork, louvered windows and blockish design behind a solid 6 foot wall the house is a clumsy and alien blot on the streetscape.

'To add to the ugliness solar panels, not normally allowed in the conservation area, have been permitted.'

This low-energy home is located in a conservation area of leafy Streatham, a southern London suburb. Despite its garish red and orange appearance it passed planning tests with flying colours and now sits in Ambleside Avenue

A Victorian villa with a 'Lego brick' attached and a tower block called The Fag Butt: Britain's six ugliest buildings that battled to be named the nation's worst-looking last year

By Katie French for MailOnline

Somers Road, Malvern

One of the structures which got tongues wagging last year was an extension to a period property In Worcestershire. It contracted complaints for its Lego style brickwork.

It has been added to a four storey Victorian villa - which has a pitched tiled roof, decorative stone facades and light cream steps. From certain angles to be a picturesque, historic property.

But neighbours recoiled in horror when the owners erected a huge extension - which locals say resembles a light industrial unit - in July last year.

The vast rectangular box was put together using engineered stone tiles in a stack bond arrangement, and contains a living area and kitchen.

This extension to a Victorian property in Worcestershire (above) was among six nominated for last year's Carbuncle Cup

In the planning application, it was stated that the stone clad extension would be 'subservient and understated with a crisp modern aesthetic distinct from the historic house'.

The house on Somers Road is owned by Edward Elgar  a direct descendant of the famous composer of the same name who made Malvern his home.

Mr Elgar, 49, and his wife Charlotte, bought the house for 1 million in October 2014.

The extension was designed and built to be used as a kitchen/dining area.

Mrs Elgar's father James Waits, 77, of Worcester, said: 'Edward is a descendant of Sir Edward Elgar. I am not entirely sure what the link is, I believe he is a great nephew or something similar but he is certainly related.

One of the structures that got tongues wagging last year was an extension to a period property In Worcestershire. It contracted complaints for its Lego style brickwork (pictured)

'I absolutely love the building. I think someone who nominated it for this award is suffering from jealously. It is a marvellous piece of architecture.'

Mr Elgar refused to comment on his link to the famous composer.

It is not the first time the couple have upset their neighbours with dramatic changes to their home.

In July 2015 the couple sparked anger from residents living nearby when they lodged a planning application to fell 30 trees on their land.

They applied to cut down 27 sycamores, one holly, one hazel and one cypress and were granted permission by Malvern Hills District Council.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: 'It is pretty sad that a relative of Malvern's most famous sons is creating such a blot on the town.

'I hate to say a cliche but I've heard it said that Sir Edward would be spinning in his grave if he knew how his relative was treating his beloved town.'

The building was one of six to be nominated for last year's Carbuncle Cup - an architecture industry 'prize' given out by magazine Building Design to the ugliest building to be completed over that year

Robert Smith, who nominated the house in Malvern, Worcestershire, said: 'The property is situated in a lovely, tree-lined street dominated by Victorian architecture, in a conservation area.

'The house itself is believed to have been constructed during the late 1800's, principally of brick, under a pitched tiled roof with part stone decorative facades.

He said: 'While the owners are in many ways to be congratulated in taking on such a large restoration project, it is the extension of the property through the addition of what can only be described as a Lego brick that is so offensive to the eye.

'To make matters worse, what cannot be seen from the photo is the fact that there was a Victorian single story building that was demolished to make way for the new monstrosity.

'I am aware that planning guidelines today are to keep a clear boundary between new and old structures, but the architect has made no attempt to unify the house and now most people assume this family home to be a medical centre.'

A spokesperson from Vivid Architects was unable to give comment.

Robert Smith, who nominated the house in Malvern, Worcestershire, said: 'The extension of the property through the addition of what can only be described as a Lego brick that is so offensive to the eye'

Nova Victoria

Built in the 1960s after the Second World War, Nova Victoria seemed a icon of modern times.

But 50 years on, the area has being extensively redeveloped but sadly it isn't to everyone's taste.

Building Design Online reported: 'The latest offering is Nova Victoria, a 897,000 square foot mixed-use development occupying a whole city block.

The architect, PLP has attempted to break up the monolithic nature of these scheme by expressing it as a pair of sliced and chamfered towers and jazzing it up with several bright red prows presumably to give it that 'landmark' quality. Instead several readers questioned how it got planning.

Nova Victoria: They blocked off streets and caused traffic problems when PLP Architecture carried out renovations to Nova Victoria in London, but was it all worth it? Apparently not, as the building has been nominated for last year's Carbuncle Cup

Preston Railway Station Butler Street Entrance

The improved side entrance in front of Preston Station attracted attention for all the wrong reasons last June, after it was unveiled following months of work by Virgin Trains.

Residents took to social media in their droves to denounce the grey structure. One described it as a 'carbuncle' with another wondering 'how the hell did that get planning permission for that?'

Operator Virgin Trains said it was a 'contrasting structure to create a more modern and passenger friendly environment'.

'It's a cake tin slapped on the side!': Virgin Trains may have spent thousands adding a new entrance to Preston's railway station but locals weren't pleased as they described it as 'an eyesore' and got it nominated for last year's competition

The residents of Preston clearly preferred the former entrance variously describing the new building as an 'eyesore', 'hideous', 'a joke' and 'planning gone mad'.

Nominator Steve Webberley described it to Building Design as a 'deadening cake tin slapped on its side'. He said: 'This fractured geometric lean-to would seem out of date 10 years ago.

'It isn't even that well-planned inside. The relationship with the window line of the brick station is laughable. We've come a long way from Brunel. A very long way.'

Greetham Street Student Halls, Portsmouth

Nicknamed 'fag butt', locals were unimpressed by the tan and beige tower block unveiled in 2017.

Greetham Street Student Halls features a two tone cladding and a jumble of multi-coloured rectilinear blocks at the base.

The nominator, Kieran Clarke told Building Design: 'It seems that the building's architects were either colour blind when choosing the external cladding or wanted to blind others with the bright yellow cube at the top of their tower.'

This student block of flats in Portsmouth appears to be the butt of many jokes in Portsmouth after locals likened its beige top to that of the remains of a used cigarette and nominated it for last year's Carbuncle Cup

Park Plaza London Waterloo

This dowdy beige 1950s government building to hotel conversion has been jazzed up presumably to draw in the punters.

The lower lower storeys are swathed in tiles whose pattern would cause havoc on a TV screen, and whose colours manage to be both gaudy and drab at the same time.

To draw attention to the entrance, the architects lifted the cornice at one corner and wrapped a weird screen around it.

It looks like the skin has been peeled from someone's torso, exposing a spaghetti of blood vessels and veins beneath.

From government building to almost-luxury hotel, the outside of this structure in London's Waterloo has been jazzed up with a pattern in a bid to move away from its 1950s past

Circus West, Battersea Power Station, London

Part of the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, this scheme by London studio Simpson Haugh was nominated last year in part for its scale. 'Circus West pulls off the feat of making Europe's largest brick building look small and was a very popular nomination with the BD readership,' said Lane.

'Unfortunately, this scale of overdevelopment has been forced on the power station because of a series of bad deals made by a series of owners needing to recoup their investments.'Strictly contestant Dr Ranj Singh called for more 'help and support' for paedophiles during a Twitter rant while working as a children's TV presenter.

The London-based doctor, who was presenting CBeebies health show Get Well Soon at the time, made the comments during a 2013 online debate after telling a follower there is no link between paedophilia and homosexuality.

Now a presenter on ITV's This Morning, Dr Singh, who is gay, tweeted: 'Nobody should be persecuted for who they are' about his sexuality.

Strictly contestant Dr Ranj Singh (pictured on Monday with Ashley Roberts) called for more 'help and support' for paedophiles on Twitter while working as a children's TV presenter

Another Twitter user replied: 'Where do we draw the line?'

Dr Singh then said: 'Sorry, but MASSIVE difference between homosexuality and paedophiliaCONSENT being one of them. Cannot compare the two :('.

'But paedophiles need help and support not persecution.'

The tweets came to light following a Sun investigation, which also found the doctor called a friend 'nancy boy' and said to another 'morning you filthy s**t'.

Dr Ranj's spokesman said the 2013 tweets were 'in response to Russia's extreme and violent treatment of 'LGBT+' people, and the inaccurate conflation of homosexuality with paedophilia'.

He added: 'Dr Ranj made clear that homosexuality and paedophilia are not the same thing. He made reference to paedophiles needing 'help and support'.

The London -based doctor, who was presenting CBeebies health show Get Well Soon at the time, made the comments during a 2013 online debate after telling a follower there is no link between paedophilia and homosexuality

'As a GP, Dr Ranj respects patients and treatments and there is a clinical foundation for providing mental health treatment and other support to paedophiles. Such treatment is offered through the NHS and statutory criminal justice services.

'Dr Ranj is clear in his view that paedophilia is horrendous, harmful, abusive and unlawful; however this does not mean that paedophiles should not receive the medical treatment they need in order to reduce their risk of harm to the community.

'Finally, in respect of the tweets between Dr Ranj and his friend Terry Ronald, these were sent seven years ago in reference to Terry Ronald releasing an autobiography titled 'Becoming Nancy'.'A vegan customer has sparked an angry backlash after she posted a picture of an udder-shaped glass which a cafe had served her oat milk in.

Jane Thurnell-Read had ordered a coffee at Sara's Petite Cuisine in Topsham, Devon, and asked for a dairy alternative milk.

Yet after her oat milk arrived in a cow-themed glass, she could not resist sharing an image on social media.

She said: 'Having coffee with a friend, my oat milk came in this jug! Waitress oblivious!'

Jane Thurnell-Read psoted a picture of the udder-themed glass which her oat milk was served in

Ms Thurnell-Read clarified in her post that she was not 'outraged' by the glass

The post sparked vociferous debate in the comments section on Facebook

Dozens of people have since chimed in with their opinions, with one vegan saying: 'Kicking off about s*** like this is why people hate us.'

Ms Thurnell-Read later clarified her own position, adding: 'I posted this and I wasn't outraged; I was just amused.

'I don't think they were taking the p*** (do people really have the time to specially buy a milk jug to upset vegans?)

'I think it was done unthinkingly. No cows were harmed in the production of the jug and maybe it will make someone who gets their cow's milk in it think about the origins of it.'

Her Facebook post has sparked debate about whether offering the drink in the cow-themed glass was insensitive or would actually help non-vegans think about where their milk comes from.

Some people saw the funny side of the milk being served in the udder cup, while others called it 'utterly vile'.

Steve Brown said: 'Chill it's just a jug at least they had oat milk!'

Kirsty Clark said: 'Were they taking the piss or something?'

Page Karen added: 'Urgh. Whoever thought that was a clever and whimsical design?!'

And Michelle Palmer Wheeler said: 'Never seen anything so odd in my whole life. Did your friend and other customers have the same type of jug? If not then there's a chance it was on purpose.

Opinions ranged from the glass being 'utterly vile' while others told those outraged to 'get a grip'

'I work in hospitality and in every single place I have worked, they would do this thinking they were funny.

'Most hospitality places ridicule vegans and see us as a nuisance, even if, and especially if they cater for us.'

And Tegan Christmas said: 'Oh my GOD that is utterly vile.'

Hannah Wilcox said: 'The waitress probably has better things to worry about than whether your milk jug looks like boobs, like waiting all the tables...the kitchen hurrying her...getting everyones' drinks...working 11 hour shifts...having to deal with complaints and never getting a tip.'

And she added: 'I am a coeliac and vegan. Have been waitressing for 10 years or so and never known anyone to be a d***.

'I think moaning about a mug is pathetic.'

Amanda Richardson said: 'I'd be offended if she gave me cow's milk, not offended about a glass.'

Rebecca Louise said: 'Get a grip please.'

And Holly Barry said: 'Jesus Christ lighten up. You can't really be offended by this.'

Sara's Petite Cuisine was founded by cake designer and pastry chef Sara Felix in 2017 and is already one of Topsham's most popular cafes.

Sara was born in Portugal and raised in Plymouth and graduated from Ashburton Cookery School as well as training at the Peggy Porschen Academy in London where she successfully completed a decorating techniques diploma.

She said no-one had complained about their vegan milk being served in an udder jug, adding: 'I didn't know about it.'Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller has sold out a 20-a-head event amid rumours she wants to enter politics full time, it emerged today.

Mrs Miller, who won a Supreme Court challenge over the Government's Brexit powers, is speaking at a Guardian Live event tonight to promote her new book.

The event at the 950-seat Cadogan Hall in central London has sold out for the 'In Conversation' speech with columnist Zoe Williams.

The activist's ability to draw a paying crowd will fuel rumours she is ready to take on a full-blown political career.

Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller (file left and at the Supreme Court right) has sold out a 20-a-head event amid rumours she wants to enter politics full time

Last week it was claimed she could bid to be the new Liberal Democrat leader under party reforms set to be unveiled by incumbent Sir Vince Cable.

Sir Vince wants non-MPs to be eligible for the leadership in a desperate attempt to revive his ailing party.

The businesswoman and mother-of-three is already set to make a major Brexit speech at the Liberal Democrat conference next month.

But one party source told the Sun: 'Only Gina Miller would think it was a good idea for her to be leader of the Lib Dems.'

In a bid to turn his anti-Brexit party into more of a movement, Sir Vince will declare plans for a huge remodel of party membership rules on September 7.

It would mean non-MPs could run in leadership elections.

Last week it was claimed she could bid to be the new Liberal Democrat leader under party reforms set to be unveiled by incumbent Sir Vince Cable

Yet the rule changes will be seen as a snub to leadership contenders such as Jo Swinson, the deputy leader, Layla Moran and Sir Ed Davey.

Reports of Sir Vince's much anticipated speech sparked speculation that he is soon set to step down as leader.

Sources reportedly said that the 75-year-old would use his announcement to reveal plans to quit before the next general election scheduled for 2022.

But last night party insiders insisted he is not planning to leave 'any time soon'.The parents of a four-month-old girl found dead in a Virginia motel room have been charged with child abuse.

Cherie Danielle Sullivan and James Edward Cressel who are both 31, were arrested this week following the Friday discovery of their daughter.

Court records say the girl's parents gave 'vague, differing stories' about how their daughter was found dead in a portable playpen in the motel room.

Cherie Danielle Sullivan and James Edward Cressel, both 31 of Spotsylvania, were arrested following an investigation

The girl was apparently found with a couple of bruises on her forehead.

James Edward Cressel, 31, the parent of a four-month-old girl found dead in a Spotsylvania County motel room Friday has been charged with felony child abuse

Records say the girl had visible bruises on her forehead, and the parents' timeline of events don't match with the girl's potential time of death.

Two other children, ages three and 15 months, were also in the room.

Records also say Sullivan told authorities she and her husband are addicted to opiates and the baby tested positive for opiates at birth, according to the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.

Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office. Capt. C.A. Carey said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

Among the items seized under the authority of the search warrant were pills, pill bottles, cellphones, bedding and clothes. Sullivan and Cressel are being held in the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

It's unclear if Sullivan or Cressel have a lawyer to contact for comment.Theresa May today warned Jeremy Corbyn that 'anti-Semitism is racism' as she demanded he finally act to stamp out vile abuse in Labour.

The Prime Minister offered her backing to ex-chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks who yesterday branded Mr Corbyn an 'anti-Semite' and compared him to Enoch Powell.

Speaking in Nigeria during her tour of Africa, Mrs May said Lord Sacks raised 'significant concerns' and was only the latest to speak out.

She said: 'I think the leader of the Labour Party needs to respond to those concerns.'

In other developments today, the British Board of Deputies today wrote to Labour's General Secretary Jennie Formby with a renewed demand for action against anti-Semitism.

Chief Executive Gillian Merron said it was 'beyond contention' Mr Corbyn had shared platforms with anti-Semites and terrorist sympathisers.

And she said a video revealed by MailOnline of Mr Corbyn speaking in 2013 showed the Labour leader using a 'classic racist trope'.

A petition launched by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism for Mr Corbyn to resign has been signed by more than 30,000 people as the furious row continues to escalate.

Mr Corbyn is facing a fresh storm of controversy after MailOnline unearthed another video showing him accusing MPs of having their contributions to a debate written by the Israeli ambassador.

Theresa May (pictured today in Nigeria) warned Jeremy Corbyn that 'anti-Semitism is racism' as she demanded he finally act to stamp out vile abuse in Labour

The former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks today lashed Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in Edinburgh last week) as an 'anti-Semite' who 'defiles our politics'

Lord Sacks (file image) said a tape of him attacking English Zionist Jews was the most offensive remark by a British politician since Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech in 1968

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism launched its petition three days ago amid growing anger at Mr Corbyn's response to anti-Semitism in his party. It has been signed by 27,072 people so far (pictured)

Rows over anti-Semitism have rocked Labour all summer after the party refused to adopt in full an internationally accepted definition of hatred against Jews.

The party is expected to finally do so next week - but has been claimed could still add caveats to its rulebook to protect members who accuse the Israeli government of racist treatment of Palestinians.

Ms Merron said: 'While Labour could have used the summer to focus on any number of other serious challenges facing this country, the leadership has chosen to make its priority a fight with British Jews about antisemitism.'

Labour frontbencher used 40,000 of taxpayers' cash to pay off his Jewish ex-lover assistant MP Khalid Mahmood pictured with his former lover Elaina Cohen A Labour MP paid off his Jewish Parliamentary assistant with taxpayers' money after she accused him of religious discrimination, it was claimed last night. Khalid Mahmood, the shadow foreign minister for Europe and MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, was taken to an employment tribunal by his former lover and assistant Elaina Cohen, the Daily Telegraph reported. Mr Mahmood's 40,000-worth of legal and staffing costs during the case, which was settled out of court with a non-disclosure agreement, were paid for by the parliamentary expenses system. The MP, 57, was criticised for claiming nine nights at a luxury hotel in Kensington costing 1,350 in 2009, during his relationship with Miss Cohen. The expenses watchdog Ipsa, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, has now come under fire as it is revealed the transparent expenses system can be used to fund secret gagging orders. Official records show Mr Mahmood claimed 900 expenses for 'lawyers' fees', and 1,500 in 'legal costs'. During the tribunal he was also granted nearly 37,000 from Ipsa to pay staff covering for Miss Cohen. Claims of religious discrimination first surfaced when Mr Mahmood disciplined Miss Cohen after she called another Labour MP, Naz Shah, an 'anti-Zionist' in a tweet in 2016. Mr Mahmood suspended his former lover and began an internal disciplinary process against her. Meanwhile, Naz Shah was suspended for anti-Semitic Facebook posts. When Miss Cohen returned to work she realised she did not have a job. Her religious discrimination claim was settled out of court in 2017. Miss Cohen still works for Mr Mahmood. Advertisement

'It is now beyond contention that he has repeatedly shared platforms and joined events with antisemites, terrorist-sympathisers and other extremists, not to challenge them, but to show solidarity.

'In 2013, Mr Corbyn also made comments about 'Zionists', which appear to imply that they are somehow 'un-British'. This is a classic racist trope.'

'We reject the idea that the above is excusable on the basis that it represents 'peace-making'.

'Peace-makers speak to different parties to a conflict and seek to show empathy with both and find common ground. There is no evidence that Mr Corbyn has sought to engage with challenging  or even mainstream  Israeli voices.

'Through these actions, he has not advanced the cause of peace and, potentially, even set it back.'

Lord Sacks told the New Statesman: 'The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powell's 1968 'Rivers of Blood' speech.

'It was divisive, hateful and like Powell's speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.'

Lord Sacks said Mr Corbyn could only be judged by 'his words and his actions'.

In the remarks revealed by MailOnline, which have been widely condemned as anti-Semitic, Mr Corbyn said: 'They clearly have two problems.

Continuing his attack on the Labour leader as 'low, dishonest and dangerous', Lord Sacks said: 'He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.

'When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.

'When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.

'This is low, dishonest and dangerous. He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.'

He added: 'Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour party and Her Majesty's Opposition.'

A spokesman for the Labour Against Anti-Semitism campaign said: 'The strength of former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks comments show how concerned the Jewish community is at the prospect of a Jeremy Corbyn government, and the broader Labour membership needs to respond to what is a new low for the party.

'The Labour Party cannot continue to stagger from one antisemitism crisis to another, but unfortunately that is the future of the party under the leadership of Mr Corbyn.'

The former Chief Rabbi's intervention came after footage emerged of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian. Zionism refers to the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East, roughly corresponding to the historical land of Israel.

In the 2013 recording, revealed last week by MailOnline, Mr Corbyn said: 'They clearly have two problems. One is they don't want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all of their lives, they don't understand English irony either.'

The remarks, made while the Labour leader was still an obscure backbencher, reignited the toxic row over anti-Semitism inside Labour that has rocked the party.

A Labour party spokeswoman said: 'This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.

'Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense - not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.

'Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society, and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.'

But Mr Corbyn is facing a fresh storm of controversy after MailOnline unearthed another video showing him accusing MPs of having their contributions to a debate written by the Israeli ambassador.

Speaking at a meeting of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in London in 2010, he accused MPs speaking in a parliamentary debate about the shooting of Turkish activists at sea by the Israeli commandos of turning up with a 'pre-prepared script'.

He said: '[British MPs] all turned up [to the debating chamber] with a pre-prepared script. I'm sure our friend Ron Prosor (the Israeli ambassador) wrote it.

'Because they all came up with the same key words. It was rather like reading a European document looking for buzz-words.

'And the buzz-words were, 'Israel's need for security'. And then 'the extremism of the people on one ship'. And 'the existence of Turkish militants on the vessel'.

'It came through in every single speech, this stuff came through.'

Jews, including the Labour MP Luciana Berger (pictured) have repeatedly demanded Mr Corbyn tackle anti-Semitism inside Labour

MailOnline has examined the transcript of the debate in question and could find no evidence that any of Mr Corbyn's 'buzz words' were mentioned by MPs.

In addition, a number of parliamentarians who spoke during the session have confirmed to MailOnline that they received no such 'pre-prepared script' or 'buzz-words' from Israeli sources.

In a statement issued last Friday night on his remarks on Zionists and irony, Mr Corbyn defended his use of language in 2013 - but said he was now more cautious.

He said he had used the term Zionists 'in the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people'.

He added: 'I am now more careful with how I might use the term 'Zionist' because a once self-identifying political term has been increasingly hijacked by anti-Semites as code for Jews.'

Commenting on the same remarks, a spokeswoman for Mr Corbyn said: 'This was a speech about the need to better teach the history of Israel-Palestine and about the brutality of colonialism, occupation and dispossession.

'A section of the speech that was edited out of the footage posted on YouTube sets his comments in context, he had been speaking about Zionists and non-Zionist Jews and very clearly does not go on to use Zionists as any kind of shorthand for Jews.'Thousand of British expats have left Spain amid fears over Brexit and the pound's slump against the euro, it has emerged.

About 5,000 Britons are believed to have been living in the resort of Benidorm before the 2007 financial crash - but by last year that number had fallen to 2,825.

Over the same period, almost 5,000 moved away from the Balearic islands - Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca.

Expats are leaving Spain in their thousands over Brexit fears and with the pound plummeting against the euro. About 5,000 Britons are believed to have been living in the resort of Benidorm before the 2007 financial crash - but ten years later that number had fallen to 2,825

By 2017, 14,981 expats remained on the islands - down from 19,803 in 2007, the Mirror reports.

Some fear Brexit will will have a negative impact on their lives abroad while others say life on the continent has become too expensive.

Yesterday, Sterling fell to its lowest against the euro in nearly a year. It came after British Prime Minister Theresa May played down the consequences of Britain leaving the EU next year without securing a deal with the bloc.

Failing to reach an agreement on trade relations with the EU 'wouldn't be the end of the world,' May told reporters as she headed to Africa to try to boost Britain's trade ties ahead of Brexit in March 2019.

May's comments - seen as undermining Finance Minister Philip Hammond's warnings about the economic damage from a 'no-deal' Brexit - piled pressure on the pound.

The prospect of a no-deal Brexit is becoming increasingly feasible in the eyes of investors who are hedging against the risk of the currency tanking if Britain is left isolated from the EU, its largest trading partner.

In March, El Pais said the number of British residents in Spain had dropped from 397,892 to 240,785  a fall of 157,107.

Between 2007 and 2017 almost 5,000 Britons moved away from the Balearic islands - Ibiza, Majorca (pictured) and Menorca

It said figures from Spain's National Statistics Institute showed the number of residents from 15 EU-countries in Spain had fallen by a quarter but the number of British expats had fallen 40 per cent.

Between 2012 and 2017, the number of Britons leaving Spain outnumbered those who arrived. In the previous four years, 40,454 more Britons arrived in Spain than left.

While the drop in expats was put down partly to a shake up in municipal enrollment regulations in Spain, some people told the newspaper that Britons where struggling to cope with the devaluation of the pound.

Michelle Ball, who has a shop in La Xara, Alicante having arriving in Valencia as a 14-year-old, said: 'Many are returning because life has become incredibly expensive.

'My mother has lost 160 a month in her pension since the Brexit referendum because of the devaluation of the pound. Now her pension is 690. And since the Spanish government made changes a few years back she also has to pay a portion for her medicines. Its not a lot but it doesnt help either.'British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has collapsed unconscious in her jail in Iran, her husband has revealed.

The charity worker, from Hampstead, north London, suffered a panic attack and passed out today and has been taken to the prison's hospital wing, according to husband Richard Ratcliffe.

It comes just days after the 40-year-old was reunited with her family, including her four-year-old daughter Gabriella, during a three-day temporary release. She applied for an extension, but it was denied and she returned to her cell.

British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has collapsed unconscious in her jail in Iran, her husband has revealed. Nazanin is pictured saying goodbye to her young daughter Gabriella as her temporary release from prison came to an end

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured with her daughter Gabriella), who is British-Iranian, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 after being accused of spying by Tehrans Islamist regime

But Mr Ratcliffe said his wife had been complaining of headaches and numbness inher right arm and had been suffering from low blood pressure.

She had been 'feeling down', he said, and his wife is now undergoing tests after she 'blacked out'.

'What I do know is that she had a panic attack yesterday in prison and she had another panic attack today, and today she also blacked out, so today she was taken down to the prison clinic and as far as I know that's where she is still.

I've seen reports saying she's been taken to an external hospital but I haven't had those confirmed.'

A local Iranian journalist said this morning: 'After an anxiety attack in the prison, (she was) transferred to hospital. According (to) her friends in the prison, she was not able to move her arms and legs and finally fainted.'

Just days ago, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe could be seen hugging little Gabriella, who burst into tears when she was told her mother was returning to prison.

According to CNN, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she was delighted to 'see normal life again' at the weekend but that she was losing her faith in a 'dark world'.

She said: 'This feels a dark world. I used to pray but these past two years I've lost much of my faith. Who would take a child from their mother?'

'I was so happy yesterday walking in the street seeing normal life again.'

Saying she had envied people in the street who were walking and holding their children's hands, she said: 'I just want a normal life'.

The charity worker, from Hampstead, north London , suffered two panic attacks yesterday and today and passed out, according to husband Richard Ratcliffe (pictured)

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is British-Iranian, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 after being accused of spying by Tehrans Islamist regime.

She has consistently denied all allegations, insisting she was on holiday to introduce Gabriella to family.

Gabriella has been staying with family since Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was detained at Imam Khomeini airport in April 2016.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released from Evin prison in Tehran on Thursday morning after two years in jail and was with her family and daughter in nearby Damavand.

Husband Richard Ratcliffe said his wife was told by the Iranian authorities that she would have to return to the prison by sunset.

He said: 'After discussion with her family in Iran, Nazanin decided that she would go into prison. She did not want to be dragged out of the house in front of her baby, but would walk into prison with her head held high.'

Nazanin 'waited for Gabriella to wake up before saying goodbye, and left her family home to return to Evin prison', he said.

'She promised Gabriella that the next time she saw her it would be forever not just for a few days, for proper freedom, not just for furlough.

'And next time they will go back to London to be with daddy.'

Kate Allen, of Amnesty International UK, said: 'This is a crushing disappointment.

'There were real hopes that not only would her three-day furlough be extended, but that her permanent and unconditional release was also just around the corner.

'We shouldn't lose sight of what Nazanin has had to endure - nearly two-and-a-half years behind bars, eight gruelling months of solitary confinement without a lawyer, a deeply unfair trial, and also being subjected to a string of unfounded accusations from the Iranian authorities.

'Nazanin is a prisoner of conscience who should never have been jailed in the first place.

'Anything the UK Government can now do to speed up the process of permanently freeing Nazanin, should be done.'

'The sooner that Nazanin is able to travel back to the UK with her young daughter Gabriella, the better.'

Prior to the decision to send Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe back to prison her husband said: 'The agony goes on  it's going to be a very worrying day,'

'If she doesn't get an extension, it will be a blow to all of us, but most of all to her: to be back in jail after tasting freedom for just three days would be very hard.'

Mr Ratcliffe, from North London, said that before learning that there would be no decision over the possible extension at the weekend, the family was able to enjoy an outing to a coffee shop yesterday- where he was able to talk to them via Skype.

He has applied for an Iranian visa, and was hoping if charity worker Nazanin gets the extension and his request is granted, he will try to visit her.

But he added: 'Until Nazanin is really home, she's not home.'

He and the family's lawyer had not expected her to be granted even a three-day spell of freedom after being refused earlier requests, 'and it would be naive to suggest that this is the beginning of the end, or to assume that from now on, it's going to be plain sailing. It's been a huge process just to get this far.'

Last year, then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was forced to apologise after falsely stating Nazanin had been in Iran to train local journalists  a claim which may still cause years to be added to her sentence.

Mr Ratcliffe could not say whether Mr Johnson's resignation in July had made a difference, but added: 'It's very clear [his successor] Jeremy Hunt really cares.'

Mr Hunt is considering whether to grant official diplomatic protection to Nazanin, who has dual British-Iranian nationality, to increase the pressure on the Iranians.

Mr Ratcliffe said this had to be carefully considered, though, as rather than help, it might hinder her chances of permanent freedom.

There are thought to be at least a dozen dual British-Iranian nationals in detention, most of whose cases have not been publicised at the request of their families.The founder of the 'original' Facebook has claimed Mark Zuckerberg's social network has failed to protect its users and is to blame for 'countless deaths.'

Aaron Greenspan created the 'Universal Face Book' at Harvard University four months before Mr Zuckerberg registered Facebook.com and launched his website using aspects of Mr Greenspan's version.

He later won a payout  an undisclosed sum  from Facebook after arguing that he came up with the idea first.

But now, he has reignited his feud with the Silicon Valley billionaire by claiming Mr Zuckerberg compromised safeguards and security for the sake of growth.

Mr Greenspan told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, ignored his warnings  instead making the network as addictive as tobacco and costing lives.

Scroll down for video

Aaron Greenspan (right), the founder of the 'original' Facebook, has claimed Mark Zuckerberg's (pictured) social network has failed to protect its users and is to blame for 'countless deaths'

'Facebook's addictive qualities may not kill anyone directly as cigarettes do every day but it is now established that the site has led to countless deaths,' he told the newspaper.

He cited the leaked memo written by Facebook's vice president Andrew Bosworth, who said the site's determination to connect people might cause deaths by exposing them to bullies or if a terrorist co-ordinated an attack using Facebook.

Mr Greenspan added: 'Mark and I fundamentally disagreed over the importance of quality versus quantity.

'Mark floored the accelerator for 15 years straight to achieve maximum quantity and he succeeded at that.'

Had he remained involved, Mr Greenspan said he would have stressed the importance of quality  meaning a smaller network than Facebook's reported 2.2 billion active monthly users.

In his confidential settlement with Mr Greenspan, Facebook commended his 'hard work and innovation' in developing the Universal Face Book, according to the Telegraph.

But it was noted that Facebook included additional elements such as member profiles.

Mr Greenspan reignited his feud with the Silicon Valley billionaire by claiming Mr Zuckerberg compromised safeguards and security for the sake of growth. File photo

A spokesman for Facebook said it wasn't designed to be addictive and was working with experts to better understand excessive use, the Telegraph reports.

The social network is now looking at cooler growth following a years-long breakneck pace.

Last month, shares in Facebook plummeted dramatically, wiping out some $100 billion, after the firm missed quarterly revenue forecasts and warned growth would be far weaker than previously estimated.

It comes after Mr Zuckerberg was hauled before Congress in April to explain how data belonging to 87 million users was improperly shared with a political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, and why it ran ads and posts placed by Russian operatives in what US authorities believe was an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.

It comes after Facebook admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked by Cambridge Analytica. Pictured, Mark Zuckerberg in May

Facebook admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked by Cambridge Analytica, which was working for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Facebook has modified app data sharing policies since the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

And last month, Britain's data regulator said it will fine Facebook 500,000 ($644,000) for failing to protect user data, as part of its investigation into whether personal information was misused ahead of the Brexit referendum.

The Information Commissioner's Office began investigating the social media giant earlier this year due to the Cambridge Analytica data mishandling.

Cambridge Analytica has denied accusations and has filed for bankruptcy in the US and Britain.

Silicon Valley-based Facebook has acknowledged it faces multiple inquiries from regulators about the Cambridge Analytica user data scandal.

Mr Zuckerberg apologized to the European Parliament in May and said the social media giant is taking steps to prevent such a breach from happening again.A Home Counties police force caused a stir at a local show when they posted joke pictures of their 'newest recruit' in uniform - a fluffy rabbit.

The cute bunny was spotted at a country fair wearing a 'stab proof' vest custom-made by its owner - complete with a 'police' logo.

However Surrey Police were later forced to issue a clarification after people started applying for jobs - as a 'rabbit handler.'

'PC Thumper' was spotted at a country fair in full costume, which included a 'stab proof' vest custom made by its owner

Officers in Tandridge, in east Surrey, even included PC Thumper in a posed up picture of all the cops that attended the Edenbridge and Oxted Agricultural Show on Monday.

Coppers at the emergency services stall posed with the dark, short-haired 'officer.'

But animal lovers were left confused after a photo of the bunny donning a police vest with a tiny badge, baton and handcuffs went viral.

Officers posed with the 'new recruit', but police were later forced to issue a number of clarifications

Thousands of people have commented and shared the picture of the bunny after police posted it on Facebook.

A police spokesman wrote: 'New Recruit on Tandridge to assist in searching small and confined spaces.

'Could you be a Police Rabbit Handler?'

Pictures of the bunny sparked a string of inquiries for a 'Police Rabbit Handler' job

Most Facebook users realised it was a joke immediately - but police were forced to issue a number of clarifications after some took the post seriously and accused officers of animal cruelty.

Lindsey Kent said: 'I live in Warlingham and have two house bunnies, I could definitely do this.'

Kirsty Tivers asked: 'This can not be real? Surely? What a cute bunny.'

The force denied the rabbit was a recruit as some users became concerned for the welfare of the animal

Jackie Evans added: 'I would love too! And I have the perfect rabbit for my sidekick!'

And Natalie Younger-MacLellan said: 'Oh my goodness!!! My perfect job!'

Tandridge Beat responded after Helena Dobbie said: 'Is this for real?'

A police spokesman said: 'Unfortunately not. This was a visitor to our stand at the show.'

The force again denied the rabbit was a recruit after Melody Forse wrote: 'As an owner of a litter trained house rabbit, who I've had since ten weeks old and he will be 11 November, I can't believe this is for real.

'They are prey animals something isn't right about this. I think this is cruel.'

A number of Facebook users also accused the police of posting for 'PR' reasons before it issued a clarification on it page.

Stefan Brett wrote: 'Hop, in the name of the paw!'

A police spokesperson added: 'We are sorry to say that the rabbit was a visitor to the 999 village and not our latest recruit in the pursuit of sniffing out crime.'A man who posed as a doctor on dating app Bumble will face court accused of raping a much younger woman on a first date after the pair matched online.

The Sydney man, 37, will face court after police arrested him on Wednesday him over the alleged sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman.

The pair agreed to meet for a first date in the eastern Sydney suburb of Maroubra in January, before he allegedly took her to his unit and raped her.

A 37-year-old believed to have been masquerading as a doctor on Bumble (pictured) has been charged with the alleged rape of a 26-year-old woman

The man allegedly impersonated a doctor when he first connected with the victim.

Police say that the man took her to Mascot Railway Station after assaulting her, where she caught the train home and reported the incident to police.

He has been charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and aggravated sexual assault without consent,

He was refused bail and will face Waverly Local Court on Thursday.

The man is known to use other dating apps, a NSW Police spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday.

Police are concerned that others may have been deceived by the man, and are calling for other possible victims to come forward.Police are hunting a rogue para-glider who 'buzzed' people by flying low over the seafront in Sussex.

Officers believe the daredevil has been using Galley Hill near Bexhill-on-Sea as a launch site, before scaring people.

He is also accused of being 'abusive and hostile' to members of the public, as well as causing criminal damage and obstructing the public.

Sussex Police are working alongside the Civil Aviation Authority in order to track down the para-glider (stock image)

Sussex Police are working alongside the Civil Aviation Authority in order to track down the para-glider, who has been menacing people from the sky for the past two years.

It has also been alleged he intimidates people by flying low over the seafront.

Sgt Simon Barden, of the Hastings and Rother police prevention team, said: 'We'd like to hear from anyone who has seen or experienced aggressive or disturbing approaches from this man.'

If anyone has any information, please contact police online or by phoning 101 quoting Operation Surfer.An Indonesian toddler who ended up with 40-a-day habit after picking up cigarette butts on the street is trying to stop smoking, his mother claims.

Rapi Ananda Pamungkas whipped the internet into a frenzy when video footage of him chain-smoking by his mother's market stall in Sukabumi, West Java, went viral earlier this month.

After the local government stepped in to help, the two-year-old has now begun cutting down, but still puffs on used ends when his mother is not looking.

Young addict: Rapi Ananda Pamungkas, pictured before the government stepped in to help him quit, still puffs on used ends when his mother isn't looking

His mother, Maryati, 35, says Rapi is now playing with his toys again, after first crying and begging for cigarettes when he was cut off.

Earlier this month she was seen lighting cigarettes for her young son, and confessed to buying him two packs per day to stop him from throwing a tantrum.

'Rapi has stopped smoking now and plays more with his toys. I am very happy.

'The health department told me it can't go on, but how can I change what he likes?

'When I'm working he walks alone and finds them on the street.'

Caved in: Rapi's mother Maryati, seen lighting his cigarette, says she ended up buying the toddler two packs per day to stop him from throwing tantrums

Rapi ended up smoking two packs a day after becoming addicted by collecting used butts outside his mums stall in Sukabumi, Indonesia

Health risks: Mrs Ananda Pamungkas, a mother-of-six, says her toddler son had suffered from a fever and 'gone hot and cold' recently, which had not happened before

Mrs Ananda Pamungkas, a mother-of-six, said Rapi was spoiled and had become used to getting what he wanted by crying and throwing tantrums.

'It started because he was taking cigarettes butts from the road, he said they are delicious.

'It was getting to a point where he was crying, begging for cigarettes, otherwise he would rampage, cry and pull his hair.'

The mother admitted he has not had a health check since he began smoking, but he has been suffering from some concerning symptoms.

She added: 'The other day, he got a fever and his body was going hot and cold. That's never happened before.'

And as the family bows to public pressure to help the toddler kick his habit, experts have revealed the harrowing reality of the damage that could be done.

After the local government stepped in to help, the two-year-old has now begun cutting down and his mother, seen left, says he is now playing with toys again

Dangerous: Experts warn the toddler could become brain damaged if he doesn't stop smoking

Colin Mendelsohn, Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales' School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Sydney, Australia said Rapi faces a host of health hazards if he keeps it up.

Prof. Mendelsohn, 66, said: 'Animal studies have shown nicotine damages the developing brain.

'It can lead to permanent problems with brain functioning, emotional development, and other cognitive functions.

'All the other symptoms - heart disease, lung disease, cancer - will kick in at a much earlier age.

'What's more, the younger kids start, the more dependent they become, so he will become addicted to that and primed for other addictions as well.'

Indonesia has one of the highest numbers of smokers per population in the world and a growing problem of child smokers. Around nine per cent of under 18s smoke regularly.A six-year-old boy missing for almost a week was unlawfully taken by his mother, police believe.

Fears are growing for Phoenix Mapham - believed to have been last seen being driven away in a car by his mother Tessa Woodcock - in Weston Creek, Canberra at 1.30pm on Thursday.

Ms Woodcock does not have custody of her son.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Detective Station Sergeant Harry Hains appealed directly to the boy's mother and said police had serious concerns for son's safety and well-being.

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An amber alert has been issued for Phoenix Mapham (left), who is believed to be with his mother Tessa Woodcock (right)

'Tessa, we need to know your son is OK,' etective Hains said.

'We are talking about his health, we are talking about his safety.



'You need to bring him to a place where we can verify that you are taking care of him.

'That could be a hospital, a doctors' surgery, a health facility or a police station.'

Phoenix's father Cliff Mapham (pictured right) last saw his son (pictured left)when he dropped him off at Orana Steiner School on Thursday - and said his main priority was 'to know if he's safe'

Mr Mapham described his son as a 'very caring boy who would always go out of his way to help if someone was upset'

Police searching for Phoenix and his mother have issued the ACT's first ever amber alert.

The code is used to find children in abduction or high-risk missing child cases.

The boy's father Cliff Mapham, who hasn't seen his son since he dropped him off at Orana Steiner School on Thursday, issued a desperate plea for him to be brought home.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Mapham said: 'I just want to know if he's safe, that's my main priority'.

He described his son as 'a very caring boy who would always go out of his way to help if someone was upset'.

Police believe Phoenix could be in a blue Subaru Forester with a broken rear window and damaged bonnet.

That car's possible registration is YKP08U.

Officers say they are in either the Australian Capital Territory or New South Wales - potentially in the south coast region.

'Phoenix is not in the lawful custody of his mother and police are seeking to locate him as there are serious concerns for his well-being,' a police spokesman said.

Anyone with information is urged to call ACT Policing on 02 6256 7777.Jordan Heyburn used his shortwave radio to listen to a broadcast by state-run North Korean media

A radio enthusiast who tuned in to a North Korean broadcast was sent a propaganda package of books and newspapers from Pyongyang to his house.

Jordan Heyburn used his shortwave radio to listen to a program transmitted by the secretive state.

After picking up the state-run broadcast he decided to send a reception report to the station - a common courtesy among radio buffs meant to show a transmission was received.

But he got the shock of his life when he received a reply sent out of the blue to his home, which included newspapers and magazines, a book, a personal note on the weather and even an English-language program schedule for the broadcast.

The 26 -year-old said he had not expected anyone from the communist state run by dictator Kim Jong-un to get back to him dated June 24.

He even caused a stir at his local post office in Armagh, Northern Ireland, when staff saw the package addressed to him from the capital city of the north - Pyongyang.

Mr Heyburn said: 'I ended up getting the thought to contact them when a friend of mine mentioned to me that if I were to send in a reception report, I could get a verification card and other goodies.

Propaganda newspapers and magazines were sent to Jordan's home out of the blue

Articles in the bundle boast of Kim Jong-un's meeting with Donald Trump and the country's high cement production

'With email access in North Korea sadly not being monitored as much I decided to go down the route of pen and paper.

'I was initially quite doubtful I would get a reply as I was sending it from the UK and thought the post office may say 'we can't send this'.

'But the post office woman didn't look at it twice, she just said "we don't often see letters addressed to Pyongyang" and that was it.'

The broadcast was made from the capital by VOK (Voice of Korea) radio station.

Pictures of the contents of the package reveal the bizarre items he was sent by the hermit state, including copies of the Pyongyang Times, and the magazines Foreign Trade and Korea Today.

One of the newspapers included an article about Kim Jong-un's meeting with Domald Trump in Singapore in June this year

A picture of the mythological birth-place of Kim Jong-il, but the dictator was born 500 miles from the North Korean border in Yuri Irsenovich Kim in Vyatskoye, Russia

One of the articles boasts of the 'epoch-making summit' when US president Donald Trump met Kim Jong-un in the first even meeting between the nations in June.

Another is titled 'Supreme leader congratulates cement producers on record high output' and accompanied a leaflet on the country's foreign trade.

A note with the package says 'it's hot here in Pyongyang. The weather is very hot because of the high temperature and the continuous rain'.

The station then asks if their internet broadcast is working by adding 'thank you for your reception report. We want to know whether the VOK internet is OK or not in your area'.

The note finishes with 'send our best regards to all your family. Looking forward to your reply'.

A note sent to Jordan answering his questions about the weather in the hermit kingdom

A verification card was also sent in reply to his reception report acknowledging he managed to pick up the broadcast from Pyongyang

There was also a book by former leader and father of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il, about the 'national character of the revolution and construction'.

A badge with a flame design, symbolising North Korea's ideology of 'Juche' or self-reliance, was included in the package as well.

He added: 'One morning I was sitting on the stairs tying my shoes when this large brown envelope dropped into our doorway with a postmark saying Pyongyang.

'I literally had a huge grin on my face and was going, 'it's actually arrived, wow!' 'I opened it as carefully as I could to preserve the large envelope but I was also really excited to get it open.'

Perhaps the strangest part of the North's reply to Jordan was a personal note they sent answering his question about the weather.

Mr Heyburn said: 'I asked them how the weather is treating them to which they replied, 'it's a very hot summer here in Pyongyang'.

Jordan was even sent a schedule of the radio station in English so he could tune in to more transmissions in the future

'They also asked me how the weather was for me, and they sent their best regards to my family and said they looked forward to my reply.'

Among the other items in the bundle was a postcard confirming receipt of Jordan's report and depicting Paeku Mountain, a sacred mountain where the North claims Kim Jong-il was born.

In reality, the dictator was born Yuri Irsenovich Kim in Vyatskoye, Russia  nearly 500 miles northeast of the modern North Korean border.

Jordan's reply from Pyongyang is made all the remarkable by North Korea's famously taciturn nature.

In the past, diplomats and world leaders have been left guessing by Pyongyang, with replies to pressing matters being slow or non-existent.The Chancellor has warned Theresa May to 'butt out' of his Budget preparations amid rising tensions at the heart of Government.

Philip Hammond was irritated by Downing Street proposing to double a plastic bag charge credited with dramatic improvements in the environment from 5p to 10p.

The Treasury believes the charge would be too high and leave the Government open to charges of ripping off shoppers.

The row plays into wider Government tensions fuelled by internal divisions over Brexit.

Chancellor Philip Hammond (file image) has warned Theresa May to 'butt out' of his Budget preparations amid rising tensions at the heart of Government

Philip Hammond was irritated by Downing Street proposing to double a plastic bag charge credited with dramatic improvements in the environment from 5p to 10p. The PM is pictured yesterday on Robben Island, South Africa

A source close to Mr Hammond told The Sun: 'Philip is insistent that it's his Budget not hers, so her people should butt out.

'She doesn't write it, he does. And he will not take edicts from No10 like this.'

Mr Hammond broke into his holiday yesterday to insist all options to tackle plastic pollution still 'remain open and under active consideration'.

In a bid to demonstrate who was in charge of the nation's purse strings, Mr Hammond added: 'I will be saying more at the Budget about how we can use the tax system to meet this challenge'.

Tensions burst into public view yesterday when Mrs May dismissed Mr Hammond's grim forecasts about the impact of no deal Brexit today - insisting it would not be the 'end of the world'.

The Prime Minister played down Treasury estimates that failure to reach agreement with the EU could cost the UK 10 per cent of GDP over 15 years, saying they were a 'work in progress'.

She acknowledged that the outcome would not be a 'walk in the park' - but argued that the government was already taking steps to soften the blow.

Mr Hammond caused fury among Tory Eurosceptics last week when he highlighted the controversial forecasts in a letter to senior MPs.

The missive overshadowed the publication of a slew of government documents designed to ease fears about the consequences of no deal - as the standoff with Brussels seemingly deepens.

Mr Hammond broke into his holiday yesterday to insist all options to tackle plastic pollution still 'remain open and under active consideration' (pictured)

Speaking to journalists as she arrived in South Africa for the first leg of her trip today, Mrs May pointed out that the Treasury estimates dated from January.

Asked if the government's no deal planning could mean the figures had improved, the premier said: 'They are a work in progress.'

Mrs May endorsed remarks from the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Roberto Azevedo last week.

'First of all I understand the Chancellor was talking about a set of figures that came out in January,' she said.

'Look at what the director of the WTO said. He said about the no deal situation that it would not be a walk in the park but it would not be the end of the world.

'What the government is doing is putting in place the preparations such that if we are in that situation we can make as success of it, just as we can make a success of the good deal I believe we are able to get.'A globetrotting financial services IT boss used his mobile phone to spy on a woman changing in a boutique cubicle.

Neil Smyth, 43, used his phone as a periscope to ogle the woman over the changing-rooms divider as she tried on a t-shirt and two pairs of trousers, in Uniqlo, in Wimbledon.

The married father, who has a Master's Degree in Multimedia Technology and sits on the Executive Board of Wimbledon-based StatPro, was on his lunch hour when he wandered into the shop.

Smyth, from Dorking pleaded guilty to observing a person doing a private act for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification at Uniqlo, The Broadway on June 11.

Neil Smyth, 43, (pictured right), leaving Wimbledon Magistrates Court with his wife Chloe. The married father, from Dorking, must complete 100 hours community service and 20 days rehabilitation.

He was hoping to avoid signing the sex offenders register, but will have to for five years and must also complete 100 hours community service and 20 days rehabilitation.

Prosecutor Mr. Brinkman May told Wimbledon Magistrates Court: 'The complainant removed her dress and was in her underwear as she fitted-on the clothing.

'She saw the top-half of a mobile phone over the cubicle divider and says: 'I don't know how long the person was holding it there.

'I was shocked and said loudly: 'Someone is taking a picture of me.'

'A security guard was called and waited for whoever was in the changing cubicle to come out,' explained Mr. May. 'Eventually a man, Mr. Smyth, came out.'

When confronted in the store Smyth said: 'It isn't me, it's ridiculous. I have a wife and child.'

Smyth, from Dorking, used his phone as a periscope to ogle the woman over the changing-rooms divider at Uniqlo in Wimbledon (pictured)

Afterwards the victim said: 'I am worried he may have sent the footage to someone else or uploaded it somewhere.'

However, Smyth insists he did not record the woman and was simply viewing her via the screen and a police examination of the phone found no recordings.

Smyth's lawyer Mr. Richard Evans told the court: 'He only watched for six to eight seconds and was not recording anything. He was looking at the image on the phone as if it was a mirror.

'He maintains he never saw the complainant in any state of undress at all.

'He admits looking over the partition was a measure of excitedness, a measure of naughtiness, a thrill.

'When he was arrested he was mortified, embarrassed, ashamed and did not feel any thrill or pleasure in doing this.

'It was triggered by stress and anxiety. He is an IT and marketing manager and has twenty-nine employees below him and a six million pound budget.

'He travels globally eight to ten times a year to the USA, Canada, South Africa and Europe and he found it difficult to manage his peaks of stress.'

Smyth was scheduled to address 150 people at a conference the day after his arrest. 'He felt the pressure build and that led to what happened.

'He has not coped with the stress of job, but buried it even though to some he has an enviable life.'

His employers are aware of his arrest and have funded cognitive behaviour therapy courses and Smyth himself has paid for psychotherapy sessions.

However, Smyth fears being placed on the sex offenders register could be the end of his twenty-one years with the company.

Deputy District Judge Claire Jackson told Smyth, who was supported in court by wife Chloe: 'You used a phone in the hope of seeing a female in a state of undress.

'There is not an excuse for that really. It has done damage to the victim, who is now scared to undress in changing rooms.

'To cause such distress to someone for a few seconds of your own sexual gratification is worrying.

'No regard was taken for her or how she would feel or for your wife who's been extremely supportive.'

Smyth was also ordered to pay 500 compensation to the victim, plus 85 costs and an 85 victim surcharge.Enoch Powell (pictured) was one of the 20th century's most divisive British politicians after his 'Rivers of Blood' speech

Controversial plans to commemorate Enoch Powell with a blue plaque in his former constituency have been scrapped after a public outcry.

Powell served Wolverhampton South West from 1950 to 1974 and became one of the 20th century's most divisive British politicians after his 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration in 1968.

Plans for the plaque were first revealed in February but now the Civic and Historical Society of Wolverhampton says the proposal has been shelved after committee members failed to come to an agreement.

The committee also believe that it would be impossible to find a suitable location for the plaque, after opponents had threatened to tear down or deface it.

Blue plaques are unveiled at the homes or significant places of noteworthy people around the country.

According to the Express & Star in Wolverhampton, Society chairman Barry Hodgson said that the plaque's unnamed backer had also dropped their support of the idea.

He said: 'As a committee we decided that because this issue had attracted such a lot of attention it was important that we reached a consensus.

'No agreement was reached, with one of the major stumbling blocks being that finding a suitable location was impossible.

His Rivers of Blood speech warned of the dangers of mass immigration and said that it would lead to serious racial strife in Britain

'Added to that, following lengthy discussions, the individual who proposed the plaque decided to withdraw it as a result of the furore that occurred after it was announced.'

Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, told MailOnline: 'The proposal to erect a blue plaque in honour of Enoch Powell was opposed by all three MPs for Wolverhampton and by many other voices in the city. I am glad the idea has been dropped.

'To erect such a plaque would have sent out a terrible message to many of our own citizens about how valued they were in our city and it would have been an awful signal to the rest of the country about what Wolverhampton stands for in the 21st century.

'Wolverhampton moved on from Enoch Powell a long time ago and we want to concentrate on building a better future, not harking back to the notorious speech he gave fifty years ago.'

Mr Powell rose to notoriety in 1968 on the back of his Rivers of Blood speech, which warned of the dangers of mass immigration.

The speech warned that unless immigration was stopped  and immigrants already in the UK were given financial incentives to return home  there would be racial strife of a seriousness never before seen in Britain.

Although he didn't actually use the phrase 'Rivers of Blood', he did quote the poet Virgil, saying: 'Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood'

He never used the phrase 'Rivers of Blood', but he did quote the poet Virgil when he said: 'Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.'

In his speech, Powell also quoted extensively from two of his own constituents.

One was 'a middle-aged working man' who, he claimed, had told him: 'I have three children; all of them been through grammar school and two of them are married now, with family. I shan't be satisfied till I have seen them all settled overseas.

'In this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.'

The other constituent was an elderly woman who was the last remaining white British person on her Wolverhampton street.

Though criticised for the speech, it struck a chord with many working class Britons and Powell received nearly 200,000 letters of support

'She is becoming afraid to go out,' said Powell. 'Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes to the shops she is followed by children  charming, wide-grinning piccaninnies.'

His speech was met with widespread condemnation, however he was not without his supporters.

The speech struck a chord with many working class Britons and Powell received nearly 200,000 letters, almost all of them supportive of his speech.

He became something of a hero to a portion of the white working classes.

Dockers, who had previously been tribal Labourites, began to march in support of him. At the 1970 general election, Edward Heath's Conservatives triumphed, in part, it was believed, thanks to the electoral support that Powell's remarks had gathered.

However, he remained a controversial figure for his views on immigration and after being dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet before the election, never again spoke to Heath.

Blue plaques are unveiled at the homes or significant places of noteworthy people around the country, such as Sigmund Freud (pictured)

D.H Lawrence was also commemorated with a blue plaque, and it seems Enoch Powell will miss out on his own

In April, the BBC aired the speech in its entirety for the first time to mark its 50th anniversary.

BBC Radio 4 divided listeners when it aired the speech alongside 'rigorous journalistic analysis'.

Blue plaques have been given out to significant people in the UK, and have usually adorned the home of the person.

Famous examples of recipients of a blue plaque include Sigmund Freud, D.H Lawrence and Sylvia Path.Paul Manafort's lawyers have hinted that the former Trump campaign chairman will mount a defense at his second trial.

His defense attorneys decided against putting on a defense at his first trial for bank and tax trial, limiting witness testimony, cross-examination and the length of the trial.

But court documents for the upcoming trial in a federal court in Washington suggest they will this time around, lawandcrime.com reports.

A pretrial statement filed on Tuesday revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors estimate the trial will last around 10 to 12 days.

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Richard Westling, left, and Thomas Zehnle, on Paul Manafort's defense team, leave a federal court in Washington on Tuesday

Manafort's lawyers have stated that they haven't decided whether to mount a defense  but they have determined that any defense case they present will require between three to four trial days.

According to lawandcrime.com, it suggests that Manafort's attorneys do have a defense case but are weighing up whether or not presenting it is in their client's best interest.

His lawyers also said on Tuesday that they would seek to move his second trial, scheduled to start next month, out of Washington, D.C., due to concerns that a jury from the Democratic stronghold would be biased.

Their request for a change of venue highlighted the extent to which politics has coursed through the prosecution of Manafort, who President Donald Trump defended as a 'brave man' even after a jury convicted him of tax and bank fraud in the first trial that ended last week.

Manafort, who sought unsuccessfully to move the first trial away from the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, is hoping for better luck with Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the second case.

A jury convicted Manafort (above) of tax and bank fraud in the first trial that ended last week

Jackson said she would entertain the motion but said she believed he could get a fair trial in her court.

'This jurisdiction has had very high profile cases before,' Jackson said at a hearing on Tuesday. 'I'd like to believe that is still possible.'

Manafort, a longtime Washington lobbyist and consultant, faces seven criminal counts in the upcoming trial, including allegations of money laundering, obstruction of justice and failing to register as a foreign agent for his work on behalf of pro-Russian politicians from Ukraine.

Manafort, a longtime Washington lobbyist and consultant, faces seven criminal counts in the upcoming trial

Change of venue requests are rarely approved, according to two jury consultants interviewed by Reuters.

In denying Manafort's motion to move the first trial to Roanoke, Virginia, the judge rejected the notion that a jury pool from Alexandria, which voted two-to-one for Hillary Clinton in 2016, would be biased against associates of Trump.

The political tilt is more pronounced in Washington, which Clinton won with 90 percent of the vote.

Leslie Ellis, a director at jury consulting firm DecisionQuest, saw a bigger risk for Manafort in the probability that jurors from the capital would be knowledgeable about lobbying, tax law and other issues central to the case.

'Having case-relevant experience tends to be riskier for defendants because it is easier for someone with some knowledge of a field to hold a defendant to a higher standard than is appropriate or necessary,' Ellis said.

Manafort's trials are the first to arise out of Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, although Mueller has secured a number of indictments, guilty pleas and immunity deals.

Manafort, who sought unsuccessfully to move the first trial away from Alexandria, Virginia, is hoping for better luck with Judge Amy Berman Jackson (pictured), who is presiding over the second case

Berman said jury selection for the second trial would start on September 17 and set opening statements for September 24, a scheduling tweak she said was aimed in part at appeasing Manafort's lawyers who had requested a week delay in the trial's start date of September 17.

The move came after an earlier bench conference in which Kevin Downing, one of Manafort's lawyers, could be heard complaining to the judge about the time pressure they were under.

The conference was supposed to be inaudible to attendees in the courtroom due to a white-noise machine.

'We don't have the resources,' Downing said. 'We just finished a trial last week.'

Also on Tuesday, Jackson approved the prosecution's request to allow evidence about Justice Department inspections in the 1980s that found Manafort had failed to disclose lobbying activities for foreign governments, one way the government planned to show that Manafort knowingly broke the law.

But Jackson said she would limit what they could show and asked both sides to agree on a stipulation that would tell the jury how Manafort was notified about lobbying disclosure rules in the past in a way that would not prejudice the jury.Facebook engineer Brian Amerige has called out the site's political 'intolerance', claiming staff attack colleagues who do not conform to liberal opinions

A senior Facebook engineer has revealed the firm's aggressive 'left-leaning' culture in a damning memo that levels a series of damaging claims against the firm.

Brian Amerige alleges that colleagues 'attack  often in mobs' anyone who is not left-leaning, tear down Trump posters and demand HR investigates anyone who criticizes Islam's human rights record.

Amerige issued his rallying cry in an internal memo that has sparked a group called FB'ers for Political Diversity which has already attracted hundreds of members, and complaints from other members of staff for being offensive to minorities.

It comes after President Trump lambasted social media for 'discriminating against conservatives' and Mark Zuckerberg denied claims of bias while testifying in front of the Senate.

The existence of the memo, and a group called FB'ers for Political Diversity which is acting as a forum for people to air their views, was revealed by the New York Times.

In his missive, Amerige - who has been at Facebook for more than six years - reveals that Facebook staff have torn down posters welcoming Trump supporters, reported those who criticized Islam's human rights record to HR, and 'have made All Lives Matter a fireable offence.'

Amerige said staff are afraid of challenging the liberal culture because they will be personally attacked for it and have their careers ruined (pictured, Mark Zuckerberg testifies to the Senate, when he also faced down questions over conservative bias)

Amerige gives the examples of Palmer Luckey, former Oculus VR boss who was forced out after it emerged he donated money to a group that makes anti-Hillary memes, and Peter Thiel, a member of Facebook's board who regularly faces calls to resign over his support for Trump

'We claim to welcome all perspectives,' he writes, 'but are quick to attack - often in mobs - anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.'

He says employees live in fear of challenging the norm, and claims that HR hears the same complaint often from other members of staff.

'I've personally gotten over a hundred messages to that effect,' he adds.

Amerige then gives the examples of Peter Thiel, an outspoken member of Facebook's board and avid Trump supporter who regularly faces calls to resign.

While Zuckerberg held up Thiel as an example of the company's inclusive nature to concerned Senators, that has not stopped staff targeting him, Amerige says.

Donald Trump has brought the issue of social media bias to the fore in recent weeks, accusing networks of 'discriminating' against conservatives

Trump has repeatedly pledged to tackle the issue, raising the prospect of legal action, but has not laid out his battle-plans yet

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, a firm which makes virtual-reality goggles that was bought by Facebook, is given as another example.

Luckey was pressured into leaving his job last year after it emerged that he donated money to an organization that spreads anti-Hillary Clinton memes.

All of which, Amerige argues, is damaging to Facebook as it faces attacks from Washington over bias and its effective silencing of conservative voices.

'While the problem isn't unique to us, we are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people's stories, ideas, and commentary,' he writes.

'Congress doesn't think we can do this. The President doesn't think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism.

'We are blind to and dismissive of what people beyond our walls (let alone even within our walls) think about complex issues that matter.

On Tuesday the President launched a blistering attack on Google for 'rigging' its search results to show only bad news about him, a claim which the tech firm later denied

While the algorithm Google uses to compile its search results is a closely guarded secret, the firm denied that political ideology plays any part in that

'I've been here for nearly 6.5 years and this has gotten exponentially worse in the last 2.'

In order to help solve the problem, Amerige created a group to help share views and promote more political diversity.

The page has already caused staff to lodge complaints with their managers, according to The Times, which added that employees were told the page had not broken any company rules.

Amerige's memo emerged as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg prepares to testify about social media's influence over elections to the Senate.

When Zuckerberg testified at a similar hearing earlier this year, he faced down multiple questions - largely from Republicans - about anti-conservative bias, meaning Sandberg will likely face the same queries.

Certainly the question is high on Trump's agenda, as he has spent the last month attacking tech companies and social media specifically for censorship and bias.

President Trump has made conservative censorship online one of his top priorities in the last month, suggesting that it could be even worse than his old foe - 'fake news'

The memo emerged as Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO, prepares to testify to the Senate about social media's influence over the election process

On Tuesday he launched a blistering early-morning attack on Google, accusing the search engine of rigging its results to show only bad news about him.

Later in the day he expanded his attack to include Facebook and Twitter, saying: 'We have thousands and thousands of complaints coming in. And you just can't do that.'

Earlier this month Alex Jones, the controversial host of Infowars, urged Trump to tackle the issue of censorship after he was booted off most social media platforms for 'hate speech'.

At a rally in West Virginia last week, the President said the issue may even be a bigger problem than his old foe, 'fake news'.

He said that 'social media censorship' is 'the new thing' but he'd rather have 'fake news' over people being 'stopped and censored.'

'So we'll live with fake news. I mean, I hate to say it,' he said, 'Because that's by far the better alternative.'Darren Johnson was caught covertly filming girls getting changing at a swimming pool

The married founder of a children's soft play area firm caught covertly filming girls getting changing at a swimming pool was today jailed for 16 months.

CCTV captured Eddie Catz founder Darren Johnson, 51, 'stalking' two 14-year-old girls from a swimming pool before entering the cubicle next to theirs and filming them changing by poking his mobile phone underneath the partition.

When the company director from Putney in South West London was arrested, police found hundreds of explicit photos of women taken from two 'peepholes' at a public toilet at one of his firm's sites.

He also filmed mothers, their children and staff using public toilets at an Eddie Catz centre and of his female employees at his firm's private changing rooms.

The clean-shaven father-of-two looked to the floor in the dock as he was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court today after pleading guilty to five counts of voyeurism in July.

Judge Andrew Campbell said: 'These were dreadful offences because first of all some of them involved children, at the Putney Leisure Centre and almost inevitably at the premises of Eddie Catz.

Johnson, pictured outside court, filmed mothers, their children and staff using public toilets

'Secondly, the number of adult women that you recorded - no one can give a figure as to how many there were but there must have been not less than 30 or 40 and probably many more.

'Thirdly, the extraordinary breach of trust at Eddie Catz. You were making images of women who you were employing and you were making images of mothers and children who trusted you when they were using your play facilities at Eddie Catz.

'Any woman or child who knows they have been recorded by you or may have been recorded by you is bound to be deeply upset because of what you have done. All these offences were committed at different times and in more than on location.'

Referring to a psychiatric report made on Johnson, the judge added: 'This is an established pattern of behaviour. In my view there's nothing in that that explains or minimises the crimes you have committed.

'I realise of course the devastating effect that this will have and will continue to have on your wife and our business.'

Prosecutor Lauren Sales told the court yesterday: 'There's CCTV in this case which shows the defendant stalking children around the leisure centre and attends the leisure centre at times, the times when schools have swim clubs.

Police found 150 files of photos taken at Putney Leisure Centre on Johnson's computer

'He goes up to the swimming pool, sees the kids, sees them using the facilities, stalks the to the shower area and stalks them to the cubicle area and goes into the cubicle next to them.

'The Crown cannot agree that he was not looking to record 14-year-old girls as it's quite clear from the CCTV. There was a 12-year-old that he was following, it's almost shown very clearly on the CCTV.'

The incident at Putney Leisure Centre happened on June 5 last year and she added: 'It was on that occasion that two 14-year-old girls attended their school swimming clubs.

'Mr Johnson, as outlined on the CCTV with the description from the officers, is seen walking around the changing facilities, he goes to the swimming pool, he walks around the centre with no particular purpose, he sees the girls and follows those girls.

'There's also a 12-year-old girl, she's not subject to any count on our indictment. They enter a cubicle together and he purposely enters the cubicle next to theirs.

'The two girls were undressing after swimming club and they saw a iPhone 6 which they have identified pointing to them from the adjacent cubicle. Mr Johnson was later identified by staff on the CCTV.

'Police attended his home address, and computers were seized. All the images on our counts were located on these computers.'

At his 1.5million home, there were 150 files of photos taken at Putney Leisure Centre but more had been deleted.

Johnson also took secret pictures of women at a toilet in the Eddie Katz centre in Earlsfield

Ms Sales said: 'They show female genitalia, breasts exposed, breasts and women in various states of undress. It seems that the only images that were retained so to speak were the explicit ones.'

The court also heard how he drilled holes into two public toilets and used a bag with a hidden camera to take indecent photos of women at an Eddie Catz site in Earlsfield. Ms Sales added 'these images again show naked genitalia'.

She said he took images of women at a third toilet at the site by poking his mobile phone underneath partitions between cubicles.

Johnson also pleaded guilty to taking indecent images of his employees at a private changing room from January 1, 2005 to February 8, 2012.

Tom Williams, defending, said his client had an alcohol problem, had argued with his wife and was drunk when he filmed the girls at the leisure centre.

He said: 'This is somebody who does recognise that he has had a serious issue. He and his wife have two children, both of them had to receive therapy since all of this came out.

'He accepts what he did was completely wrong and now he has been able to think through in a way that makes some sense he is thoroughly sorry for what he has done.'

Johnson was jailed for four months for two counts of voyeurism concerning the 14-year-old girls, to run concurrently.

He was also jailed for four months for the three other voyeurism counts, to run consecutively - making a total of 16 months in jail.

He has to sign the sexual offenders register and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for ten years.

Johnson, who has children aged 18 and 20, resigned as director of Eddie Catz last September after the allegations came to light. His wife Maria Johnson, 51, is still a director at Eddie Catz.Advertisement

A fascinating archive of photographs and documents relating to Britain's 'Greatest Showman' has emerged for sale.

Lord George Sanger established one of the very first circus shows in Victorian times and was the British equivalent of P.T Barnum, the subject of the hit musical movie The Greatest Showman.

Just like Hugh Jackman's character, the self-styled British lord enthralled audiences with his circus that included acrobats, wild and exotic animals and magic acts.

A fascinating archive featuring pioneering British circus showman 'Lord' George Sanger is set to go under the hammer

The archive features photographs and memorabilia from the circus during several visits to the seaside in Margate, Kent

The photographs and archive are being sold at auction on behalf of a descendant of Arthur Reeve who ran a venue which hosted the Sanger circus in Margate, Kent

His show also performed for Queen Victoria, just like in the film.

But unlike Barnum who enjoyed a happy ending, Sanger was murdered in an axe attack by a disgruntled employee.

The archive now for sale belongs to a descendant of Arthur Reeve, who managed the Sanger circus the Hall by the Sea in Margate, Kent.

It includes black and white photos and crowds of people gathered outside a huge circus tent in Margate as well one of five elephants lined up outside the same venue.

There are several group shots showing Sanger with his troupe and white horses pulling an ornate-looking carriage.

Also included are original advertising posters and flyers for the circus and several copies of Sanger's own auto-biography 'The Life of Lord Geo. Sanger - The World's Greatest Showman'.

Sanger's circus regularly visited the Hall by the Sea in Margate, Kent, before he retired from the business in 1905

Sanger's circus brought exotic animals such as camels and elephants on tour around the country

Sanger's father - who had been at the Battle of Trafalgar - set up a peep show which was later expanded to a full circus

And there is an auction catalogue from 1905 that lists the many animals and circus props and equipment that Sanger put up for sale in London upon his retirement.

Robin Denny, from Crediton, Devon, is selling the archive that he inherited from his late mother, Dorothy, who was married to a relative of Arthur Reeve.

Mr Denny, 71, said: 'Sanger's father had been a seaman at the Battle of Trafalgar and he had a pension which he used to set up a small peepshow that travelled the country.

'Then he and his brother John travelled the country doing their own shows and it gradually built.'

The first show was in February 1854 at the King's Lynn Charter Fair in Norfolk and tickets were one penny.

The circus toured more than 200 towns and villages during its nine-month season performing twice a day apart from Sundays, arriving on incredibly ornate horse-drawn wagons to build up excitement ahead of the show

The first show was in February 1854 at the King's Lynn Charter Fair in Norfolk and tickets were one penny

His circus visited over 200 towns in a nine month season, giving two shows a day, every day except Sunday.

Mr Denny added: 'Sanger was a brilliant self-publicist and was huge in the 19th century. He had a big area in Margate with a circus tent where two shows a day were put on.

'It is a fascinating archive that I don't quite know what to do with. I am having a bit of a de-clutter and I thought that nobody is able to see it while it is in my house so it is best if it went to somebody who would appreciate it.'

The archive is being sold for an estimated 1,000 at auctioneers Bearnes Hampton and Littlewood of Exeter on September 12.

George Sanger lived in this house in Margate before his death at the hands of a disgruntled former employee

Robin Denny, from Crediton, Devon, is selling the archive that he inherited from his late mother, Dorothy, who was married to a relative of Arthur Reeve

Mr Denny said he is prepared to sell the photographic archive as he is trying to de-clutter his home in Crediton, Devon

In this image, Sanger brought his troupe of entertainers over to Lyon, France as part of an international tour in 1879

Sanger sold off his circus - including all the animals - at a public auction following his retirement in 1905. People hoping to witness the sale at Park Farm, East Finchley, had to pay 6d

At the time of his retirement, Sanger posed for a photograph along with his former performers

Sagner, pictured outside his Margate home following his retirement along with one of his former star attractionsPope Francis criticised Irish church authorities today over failures to respond to sexual abuse allegations.

Speaking during his first public appearance at the Vatican after accusations he also covered up for a former US cardinal, the Pope lamented Irish church bosses inaction over historic abuse crimes.

Francis presided over his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square and spoke about his weekend trip to Ireland, where the abuse scandal has devastated the Catholic Church's credibility.

Pope Francis asked forgiveness for the 'abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, conscience and sexual abuses' perpetrated by Church leaders while visiting Dublin

The final day of the trip was overshadowed by release of a document from a retired Holy See diplomat accusing Vatican authorities, including Francis, of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick  despite knowing for years that he regularly slept with religious scholars.

The author of the document - retired Vatican ambassador to the US Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano - said Francis should resign for his complicity in the McCarrick scandal, which has implicated US and Vatican church leaders over a period of two decades.

During his two-day visit to the Republic of Ireland - which was the first papal visit to the country for 39 years - Pope Francis has begged forgiveness for members of the Catholic Church's hierarchy who 'kept quiet' about clerical child sex abuse.

Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick ordered to live a lifetime of penance and prayer by Pope Francis after a US church investigation determined that an allegation he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible

While celebrating a Mass at Dublin's Phoenix Park, the Argentine Pope asked forgiveness for the 'abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, conscience and sexual abuses' perpetrated by Church leaders.

In his first address since returning to the Vatican, Francis referred to the Irish culture of cover-up, but he omitted from his remarks a line in his prepared text noting how he had prayed in Ireland for the Virgin Mary to intervene to give the church strength to 'firmly pursue truth and justice' to help victims heal.

US bishops have called for an independent investigation to find out who knew about McCarrick's abuse and when, and how he was able to rise through the ranks even though it was an open secret that he regularly invited seminarians to his New Jersey beach house and into his bed.

Francis last month removed McCarrick as a cardinal and ordered him to live a lifetime of penance and prayer after a US church investigation determined that an allegation he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

Mr Vigano's 11-page letter alleges that Francis knew of McCarrick's attitude to seminarians starting in 2013, but rehabilitated him from sanctions that Pope Benedict XVI had allegedly imposed on him in 2009 or 2010.

Pope Francis waves from the steps of his Shepherd One plane during a farewell ceremony upon his departure at Dublin Airport

Retired Vatican ambassador to the US Carlo Maria Vigano called for Francis to resign over what he called his 'complicity' in the McCarrick scandal

But evidence suggests the Vatican under Benedict and St John Paul II also covered up the information, and that any reported sanctions Benedict imposed were never enforced since McCarrick travelled widely for the church during those years, including to Rome to meet with Benedict and celebrate Mass with other US bishops at the tomb of St Peter.

The Irish Catholic Church has been rocked by revelations of paedophile priests, sexual abuse in Catholic-run orphanages, and the exploitation of women in mother-and-baby homes.

He later met eight survivors of sexual abuse, reportedly telling them he viewed clerical sex abuse as "filth".This is the moment tourists fought a pitched battle with bar bouncers at a Spanish resort popular with British visitors.

Violence erupted outside a disco pub, on the seafront, in the city of Palma de Majorca, capital of the Balearic island of Majorca.

An eyewitness with a smartphone filmed the fight between a group of German tourists and doormen on the beach promenade.

The tourists scuffle outside a disco pub on a promenade in the city of Palma de Majorca, capital of the Balearic island of Majorca

Eyewitnesses said the Germans first verbally abused the bouncers and then launched an attack, repeatedly punching them, in the street.

The doormen were all wearing white shirts with the word 'Staff' written on the back.

A blonde woman watching the fight screams in panic and other passersby watch the fracas as the battle continues for several minutes.

One burly bouncer is seen punching one of the tourists who runs away rather than face the man, as the woman carries on screaming.

Doormen from other nearby bars reportedly joined in to help the bouncers overcome the German tourists.

A crowd gathers around the scene of the brawl with one woman screaming in terror as the fight unfolds

The fight took place in an area of Palma de Majorca popular with tourists and which normally has a party atmosphere.

Local media report that a few people suffered minor injuries but nobody was arrested.

There is no report on whether police are investigating.Alphabet's self-driving cars are frustrating an Arizona community who live next to the Waymo headquarters, with some locals claiming the frustration has made them feel like 'murdering someone'.

More than a dozen residents living in Chandler, southeast of Phoenix, were interviewed by The Information and vehemently declared they hated the cars in their neighborhood, saying the cars even struggled to cross the T-intersection.

Lisa Hargis, an administrative assistant who works at an office next to the self-driving vehicle depot, said she almost hit a Waymo Chrysler Pacifica minivan because it suddenly stopped while trying to make a right turn at the intersection.

'I was going to murder someone,' she recalled.

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Alphabet's self-driving cars are frustrating an Arizona community who live next to the Waymo headquarters, with some locals vehemently declaring they hate them (A self-driving car is pictured on an Arizona road)

More than a dozen residents living in Chandler, southeast of Phoenix, work near the self-driving technology company office and say the cars struggle to cross the T-intersection. Pictured: Country Club Drive and Southern Avenue in Arizona where a five-car pile up involving a Waymo car occurred earlier in the year

Robbie Monreal, a sales representative nearby, said the wait for the self-driving cars to cross the intersection is usually so long that he has illegally driven around them, saying: 'I'm sick of them in my neighborhood.'

Waymo has been testing its vehicles in the Phoenix suburbs for little more than a year where the state of Arizona has no restrictions on self-driving cars.

The potential for self-driving cars could eliminate aspects of human error and unpredictability such as dangerous driving, speeding, texting, drinking or driving through stop signs.

However, their coexistence on roads with human drivers has led to confusion with abrupt stopping and slower maneuvering frustrating other drivers.

Waymo has been testing its vehicles in the Phoenix suburbs for little more than a year where the state of Arizona has no restrictions on self-driving cars. A Waymo Lexus brand SUV is pictured

Waymo recently doubled its operations center in Chandler, Arizona where it tests the autonomous vehicles. Pictured is its fleet of self-driving cars before hitting the road

Self-driving cars are programmed to drive more conservatively, to master situations that human drivers can handle with relative ease, like merging or finding a gap in traffic to make a turn.

A Waymo spokesperson said its cars are 'continually learning' and that 'safety remains its highest priority' during testing.

The spokesperson also said that Waymo is using feedback from its early rider program to improve its technology.

Waymo and other self-driving car companies have said they will continue to try to work out software kinks and expand their regions of operation, but experts are divided on when self-driving cars will actually become mainstream.

A Waymo spokesperson said its cars are 'continually learning' and that 'safety remains its highest priority' during testing (stock image)

Waymo and other self-driving car companies have said they will continue to try to work out software kinks and expand their regions of operationMore than 100 Britons who were sent to Australia as children, where many were beaten and sexually abused, are suing the UK government.

Britain's child migration programmes saw thousands, many in care or from poor backgrounds, sent to countries including Australia and New Zealand partly to save money on care costs.

In March this year, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found that successive UK governments, played a 'central role' in the policy and 'failed to ensure that there were in place sufficient measures to protect children from sexual abuse'.

The findings concluded it was 'essential' that all living former migrants - around 2,000 people - were offered financial redress promptly.

More than 100,000 British youngsters, some as young as two, were shipped abroad under programmes as far back as the 19th Century

But the British government has failed to set up any kind of scheme providing compensation.

John Glynn is one of the 100 bringing the case forward, he was sent to Christian Brothers in Western Australia when he was eight.

He was there for seven years and was beaten with a cane and sexually abused.

The 74-year-old told BBC News: ''As I get older it gets worse,

'I think about that a lot now. They took my childhood from me. They took my country from me, my heritage.'

Under the Child Migrants Programme, poverty-stricken youngsters were compulsorily deported to Australia, Canada and other parts of the Commonwealth until it was stopped in 1970.

British orphan migrants arriving in Fremantle, Australia. Most children were wrongly told that their parents had died and that they would enjoy a 'better life', while the parents thought the children had been adopted in Britain

Most children were wrongly told that their parents had died and that they would enjoy a 'better life', while the parents thought the children had been adopted in Britain.

More than 100,000 British youngsters, some as young as two, were shipped abroad under programmes as far back as the 19th century.

The Government took over primary responsibility for the policy after the Second World War.

British orphans pictured at Melrose House, in Australia in 1953. The then Prime Minister Gordon Brown formally apologised on behalf of the government in 2010

So-called 'sending institutions' responsible for moving the children included local authorities, charities such as Barnardo's and religious orders.

The policy was justified as a means of slashing the costs of caring for lone children, meeting labour shortages in the colonies, while populating them with white settlers and providing disadvantaged young people with a fresh start.

The then Prime Minister Gordon Brown formally apologised on behalf of the Government in 2010 for the programmes and later gave evidence to the inquiry.

This year he said: 'We now know that scores of children were themselves subject to abuse before they were deported to foreign countries.

'It is clear that at least in the mid-1950s, and probably from 1947, Governments did have evidence that abuse was happening and did nothing.'

British orphans at Melrose House, near Parramatta, in 1953. Under the Child Migrants Programme, poverty-stricken youngsters were compulsorily deported to Australia, Canada and other parts of the Commonwealth until it was stopped in 1970

Lawyer Alan Collins, who is representing the victims, said: 'The government needs to step up to the plate and bring into force its redress scheme.

'Compensation can never put matters right, that's impossible and it would be insulting to suggest otherwise.

'But it is action, it is a recognition that meets the words that have been spoken by the politicians.'Sienna Rasul, four, (pictured with her mother Jodie Thomas) fell seriously ill the day after trying on a selection of different size shoes without any socks on at a shop in Cardiff

A four-year-old girl caught life-threatening sepsis from trying on a new pair of shoes on a shopping trip.

Sienna Rasul fell seriously ill the day after trying on a selection of different size shoes without any socks on at a shop in Cardiff.

She was rushed to hospital in agony where doctors diagnosed sepsis from the bacteria in the shoes on display in the shop.

The little girl spent five days on a drip in hospital with her mother Jodie Thomas, 26, keeping a bedside vigil.

Hotel worker Ms Thomas said: 'I was really shocked when the doctors said it was from trying on new shoes.

'I've been worried sick, they've had to drain all the poison from her leg.'

She continued: 'Normally she would have socks on but it's summer time so she was wearing sandals.

'The shoes she liked had been tried on by other little girls and that's how Sienna picked up the infection.'

Mother-of-three Ms Thomas took Sienna to the doctors when she started crying in agony the day after the shopping trip.

Sienna was rushed to hospital in agony where doctors diagnosed sepsis (infection pictured) from the bacteria in the shoes on display in the shop she and her mother had been to

The doctor spotted the infection and used a pen to draw a line around where the infection had spread.

Ms Thomas, of Aberfan, South Wales, said: 'By the next day it had spread up her leg and her temperature was raging.

'I drove her straight in to hospital, she was shaking and twitching - it was horrible to see my little girl like that.

'They said it was sepsis and thought they would have to operate.

'But the doctors have managed to drain all the pus from her leg and say the anti-biotic drip will do the job.'

Sienna has now been allowed home from the children's ward at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil but she is still being monitored.

Ms Thomas is urging other parents to make sure their children have socks on when they are trying on shoes.

She said: 'I knew you risk getting things like athlete's foot from trying on shoes but blood poisoning is far more serious.

'You don't know whose feet have been in the shoes before you.

Her mother Jodie Thomas (pictured) has urged parents to make sure their children have socks on when they are trying on shoes

WHAT IS SEPSIS? Sepsis, known as the silent killer, strikes when an infection such as blood poisoning sparks a violent immune response in which the body attacks its own organs. It is the leading cause of avoidable death, killing at least 44,000 a year, and the Daily Mail has long campaigned for more awareness. If caught early, the infection can be controlled by antibiotics before the body goes into overdrive - ultimately leading to death within a matter of minutes. But the early symptoms of sepsis can be easily confused with more mild conditions, meaning it can be difficult to diagnose. Sepsis has similar symptoms to flu, gastroenteritis and a chest infection. These include: S lurred speech or confusion

lurred speech or confusion E xtreme shivering or muscle pain

xtreme shivering or muscle pain P assing no urine in a day

assing no urine in a day S evere breathlessness

evere breathlessness I t feels like you are dying

t feels like you are dying S kin mottled or discoloured Symptoms in children are: Fast breathing

Fits or convulsions

Mottled, bluish or pale skin

Rashes that do not fade when pressed

Lethargy

Feeling abnormally cold Advertisement

'Sienna has been really ill, the infection was moving up her leg and spreading to the rest of her body. I'm so glad I got her to the hospital quickly.

'With mums and dads doing back-to-school shopping I would advise them to take a spare pair of socks with them.'

Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust said: 'This frightening case shows us that sepsis strikes indiscriminately and can affect anyone at any time.'

As one of the world's leading experts on the killer illness, Dr Daniels said it was likely Sienna already had a 'breach' in her skin, either a graze or a bite.

He added: 'Whenever there are signs of infection, it's crucial that members of the public seek medical attention urgently and just ask: 'Could it be sepsis?'

'Better awareness could save thousands of lives every year.'A London cafe has sparked outrage after charging customers an extra 1.50 for cutlery and plates.

Manager Susana Canha defended her decision to hike prices at the Sorrento Cafe, after she said too many people were sharing food at her restaurant.

She has put signs up in her cafe which read: 'A spare plate and cutlery will be a charge of 1.50 added to your bill.'

Manager Susana Canha defended her decision to hike prices at her Sorrento Cafe

The menu features omelettes for 4.50 as well as a full English for 5.95, some of the cheapest prices in the area

However the decision has been met with anger by customers, including one who stormed out the cafe in West Norwood, south London.

Ms Canha said the cafe served some of the best value food in the area and that too many people were sharing 5 meals.

She said she had been forced to introduce the strategy last week in a bid to boost income.

Ms Canha said: 'This lunchtime we served a table of four, but there were only two plates and four people were sharing.

'Lots of people are doing it - God knows, it's probably economics.

'For me, I'm running a business and it's hard. I pay my staff. We don't charge for service.'

The restuarant manager said there is usually a queue outside the cafe at lunch time and that people were taking up tables with just one or two plates of food.

The menu features omelettes for 4.50 as well as a full English for 5.95, some of the cheapest prices in the area.

Ms Canha (second from left) said she had been forced to introduce the strategy last week in a bid to boost income

The Sorrento cafe in West Norwood is charging customers an extra 1.50 for additional plates and cutlery

Yet one customers was curious with the charge and stormed out, despite Ms Canha trying to explain the reasoning behind the scheme.

She added: 'Hopefully it won't happen again. My regulars understand.'

Susie Barlow, of the Station to Station Business Improvement District, which encourages businesses in West Norwood and neighbouring Tulse Hill, said: 'It's a tricky one.

'Independent cafes are definitely struggling with business rates getting higher and higher and I'm sure that's putting a squeeze on margins.

'This is a creative way of getting a bit of extra cash.'Some 16 holidaymakers including a teenage girl have sought legal advice after allegedly falling ill at the same hotel in Egypt where British couple died suddenly.

Isobel Westwood, 16, was diagnosed with gastroenteritis last week after staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

It comes after as authorities try to establish the cause of death of John and Susan Cooper, from Burnley, Lancashire, who died last week while staying at the hotel.

Isobel Westwood, 16, was diagnosed with gastroenteritis after staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic in Hurghada, Egypt. She is pictured on the holiday with her boyfriend Hari Stout

Isobel, from Northfield, Birmingham, jetted off for a 12-day all-inclusive break at the resort in Egypt with her boyfriend and his mother earlier this month.

She suffered with illness during her holiday, booked through Thomas Cook, and her symptoms deteriorated upon her return home from the trip on August 20.

She visited her GP that evening and was prescribed antibiotics. But the next evening she was taken by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Isobel had been complaining of sickness, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, and was kept in overnight at the hospital before being discharged.

Isobel was taken by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on August 21 complaining of sickness, diarrhoea and stomach cramps and she was kept in overnight

But on August 23, Isobel was taken back to hospital where she was diagnosed with food poisoning.

Isobel, pictured in Egypt with boyfriend Hari, suffered with illness during her holiday

She said: 'I was really looking forward to the holiday but within days I started feeling unwell. The restaurant was dirty, food seemed to be undercooked and left out to stand uncovered so flies could land on it and there was poo washed up on the side of the pool.

'I tried to carry on but it was really difficult and I just wanted to go home to my mum and dad. When I got home the pain kept getting worse.

'It was so bad that I couldn't sleep and felt like I didn't have the strength to even walk. The pain eventually got so bad that my mum had to call an ambulance.

'When I went on holiday I never expected that I would end up in hospital a couple of weeks later.'

Lawyers from Sheffield-based Irwin Mitchell have started investigations after receiving reports of illness among 16 guests who stayed at the five-star resort in April, June and August of this year.

Amandeep Dhillon, a personal injury lawyer at the firm, is representing those who have reported being ill at the hotel.

Isobel took this photo at the hotel of chicken that appeared to be undercooked, with rice

He said: 'We are advising a growing group of holidaymakers caught up in these problems.

'We have heard a number of concerning first-hand accounts from people who were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel this summer and who fell ill with serious gastrointestinal symptoms which, for many, have required hospital admissions.

'We are now investigating these accounts to determine the cause of illness. As part of our investigations we would like to hear from other guests who may have information about conditions at the hotel this summer.

He added: 'Sadly, this is not the first occasion where we have been instructed to act for holidaymakers who have suffered illness, including salmonella, following stays at this hotel, as we also represent people who have fallen ill with serious gastric illness in 2016 and 2017.

'However, it is important to stress that the investigation into the sad deaths of John and Susan Cooper is continuing by the tour operator and the authorities.

'Therefore, it would be inappropriate at this stage to draw any comparisons between our investigations and those being carried out by the Egyptian authorities, or to speculate as to whether this is a link to this issues which we have been advised of.'

The Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada is being investigated

A Thomas Cook spokesman told MailOnline today: 'We are aware that a number of customers have come forward to say they have experienced illness while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt. We are very sorry for any customers whose holidays have been spoiled.

'We take all illness very seriously and have taken the decision to expand our ongoing investigation into the sudden deaths of two of our customers at the Steigenberger earlier this week to include any other customer reports of illness at the hotel this summer.

'As part of this, we are contacting every Thomas Cook customer that has returned from staying at the hotel since August 22. We have put a dedicated team together to prioritise all complaints from this hotel.'

The company is believed to have received five claims for illnesses relating to travel at the hotel this year, out of nearly 3,500 customers who have travelled to the site.

Meanwhile, food, water and air conditioning at the hotel are being probed as authorities try to establish the Coopers' cause of death.

John and Susan Cooper, from Burnley, Lancashire, died while staying at the hotel in Hurghada

The couple's family will 'hopefully' find out the results of the tests in ten days, the chief executive of Thomas Cook said as he promised to do everything to 'get to the bottom of it'.

It comes after Kelly Ormerod, the couple's daughter, said there was 'something suspicious' behind the deaths.

Peter Fankhauser told Sky News: 'We have no real evidence what caused the deaths, but what I can promise is at Thomas Cook we are doing everything to support the family and to support the Egyptian authorities... to get to the bottom of it and to get to the cause.

'There is no evidence that it is a carbon monoxide poisoning. We have no evidence but I don't want to rule out anything before I really know the cause.'

Mr Fankhauser continued: 'Twenty-four hours after the couple died, we had our specialists... in the hotel. They took probes of the food, of the hygienic systems, of water, as well as the air conditioning systems, and all those probes are now in Egypt.

'They are now examining and testing the probes and we support them in doing that, but that takes about ten days.'

Mr Cooper, 69, died in his room while Mrs Cooper, 63, a Thomas Cook employee, died after being taken to hospital, according to Mrs Ormerod.

Their daughter said they were 'fit and healthy' before their holiday and in 'perfect health' just hours before being taken ill.

A technical team's inspection of the Coopers' room showed there were no toxic or harmful gas emissions or leaks, according to a statement by prosecutor Nabil Sadeq on Saturday.

Amandeep Dhillon, a personal injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, is representing the tourists

It also said his office was waiting for a forensic analysis of samples taken from the bodies.

Mr Fankhauser said Thomas Cook decided to move 300 guests out of the hotel 24 hours later as a precaution after becoming aware of an 'increased number' of illnesses.

He confirmed that 13 customers had food poisoning but were not in a serious condition.

The chief executive told ITV that Thomas Cook had learned 'hard lessons' over its health and safety systems following the deaths of two children in Corfu.

He said: 'We have taken hard lessons on our health and safety systems and we are a totally different company to three years ago.'

Christi and Bobby Shepherd died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Thomas Cook holiday bungalow in 2006.

A 2015 inquest jury concluded the tour operator breached its duty of care over their deaths.

Egypt's key tourism industry has been recovering from a devastating blow in 2015 when jihadists bombed a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 on board.British fishermen have vowed to return to English Channel later this week despite so-called 'scallop wars' being fought with the French.

A sea battle blew up off the coast of France this week after Normandy crews accused British trawlers of 'scallop pillaging' in a row over access to the Seine Bay.

French maritime authorities today appealed for calm and branded the clashes - in which Normandy fisherman threw stones, flares and pieces of anchor - 'very dangerous'.

But British fisherman insisted they have done nothing wrong and will return to fish in the area at the end of this week.

Derek Meridith, who owns two boats involved in the dispute, said: 'The French need to stop taking the law into their own hands. It's terrorism. If we done it in this country we would be locked up as terrorists.'

Brian Whittington, skipper of the trawler Golden Promise, which was also involved in the battle, also plans to return.

He said: 'We'll go back. It's international waters - we're allowed there. Maybe the Royal Navy could help us next time.'

How the situation looks in the Channel with tensions hightened as fishing crews clash over scallops off the coast of France

Fishermen Nathan and Callum Clark were among those attacked by the French this week. They said it was 'very scary' when French crews through rocks and pieces of metal at them

Brian Whittington says he'll return to the seas off France despite the 'absolute nightmare' of being rammed by French trawlers on Monday night

Nathan Clark, skipper of the three-man Brixham based Joanna C, said it was 'very scary' when stones and flares were thrown at them.

Michael Gove tells the French to stop the fishermen terrorising British trawler-men in the scallop wars Michael Gove (pictured outside Downing Street in May) said that the French authorities must crack down on the terrorising behaviour Michael Gove today backed British fishermen in the scallop wars - and told the French to bring order to their waters. The Environment Secretary hit out at the 'terrible' scenes British fishermen have been subjected to in the Channel. And he said it is clear that the British fishermen have every right to fish there. He said: 'My heart goes out to the British fishermen who were caught up in the terrible scenes that we saw happen earlier this week. 'They were fishing entirely legally, they had every right to be in those waters and we talked to the French authorities in order to ensure that we have a protocol. 'These are French waters - it's the responsibility of the French to ensure that those who have a legal right to fish can continue to fish uninterrupted.' It is understood that British minsters are in contact with the French administration in an effort to prevent a repeat of the scenes. Advertisement

He said: 'I've never had anything like it before. It was an absolute nightmare. Things being thrown at us and being rammed.

'My nephew Callum was petrified - it's his first year on the boats and he was scared for his life. We had to get him in the boathouse to get him under cover and away from the objects being thrown.'

But despite safety fears, the boat will return to the area later this week, with Mr Clark insisting: 'It won't stop us. We'll take a few days off but we'll go back out there again.'

Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, lashed out at 'criminality and high seas piracy'.

'At sea there is always the threat that the smallest incident can lead to loss of life and it's extremely fortunate that no one lost their lives or was seriously hurt,' he said.

'We have emailed French colleagues and pleaded for an end to this messy affair.'

Locals in Devon have meanwhile warned that someone could be killed if something is not done to stop the clashes.

On Monday, a British fleet of four boats was up against at least 40 from Northern France. Crews claim the French Navy and coastguard stood by before police finally intervened.

Theresa May was asked about the issue today and called for those involved to hold talks.

She told reporters: 'I think it's important we see an amicable solution to what has happened in the Channel.

'It's what we want and it's what France wants and we will be working on that.'

Nathan Clark shows the damage done to his ship in the nighttime 'battle' this week

Robert Morley and Kieran McKimmey show some damage done to their ship Golden Promise

Footage from Monday night showed French crews throwing stones and smoke bombs onto British ships

First the scallops, now the crabs! UK fishermen accuse French rivals of sinking crab pots worth thousands of pounds French fishing boats are smashing up British crab pots amid furious rows between trawler crews on either side of the Channel, UK fisherman have claimed. British crews have now accused the French of destroying and damaging crab pots off the coast of Newquay and Padstow as they trawl the waters off Cornwall. Fisherman Martin Gilbert said he has he lost 50 crab pots, worth an estimated 3,000, after 10 French trawlers, some up to 85 feet long, entered waters where British crews usually fish. British fishermen have accused French trawler crews of smashing up their crab pots in the latest dispute between fishermen on either side of the English Channel He told local paper The Newquay Voice: 'What they have been doing is towing the crab pots out of the way so they can make room to drag their nets. Three boats in Newquay have been clobbered and a Padstow boat had 150 crab pots dragged away. 'There is an understanding that the French fishermen keep away from our crab pots and we stay away from theirs, but they encroach on our pots all the time. It is getting worse year on year.' Fishermen hope that, after Brexit, French boats will not be able to enter a 12-mile limit, potentially solving the issue. Advertisement

Tensions have run high for at least 15 years, during the so-called 'Scallop Wars'. The French want their 'Anglo-Saxon' enemies to stay north of a line from Barfleur to Cap d'Antifer, both in Normandy, and only to use small vessels to avoid running down supplies.

But residents in Brixham, where some of the boats caught up in the dispute are based, have backed British fishermen.

On a local Facebook discussion, Andrew Elsey wrote: 'French pain in a***, I hope they get the book thrown at then as someone will get killed or hurt.'

Patricia Shears added: 'They have done exactly the same to us in our waters. We watched them cleaning out Torbay many years ago. Could see it all happening from our house.'

Some locals called for the Royal Navy to be sent out to protect British boats.

Barrie Deas, chief executive of Britain's National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, also urged calm from both sides.

French boats sailed out from Trouville-sur-Mer, Port-en-Bessin and Ouistreham on the North coast of France to meet English scallop boats in the Seine Bay (shown by red marker)  a scallop-rich area off Normandy

One of the British shops involved in the skirmishes was back in dock in Shoreham this morning

Dents were visible in the bow of the Honeybourne 3 this morning following the clashes

Mr Deas said: 'We have raised the matter with the British Government and asked for protection for our vessels, which are fishing legitimately.

'The deeper issues behind the clashes should be settled by talking, not on the high seas where people could be hurt.'

Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff said: 'The French engaged the British to stop them fishing, they clashed with each other.'

He claimed the British were 'pillaging' the multi-million-pound scallop supply crucial to both the French and UK fishing industries. He said: 'Stones were thrown but there were no injuries or damage.

'The French regulation requires French fishermen not to exploit scallops between May 15 and October 1. The British do not have to respect this regulation.'

The UK has no such regulation, although in previous years an agreement has allowed both sides to fish fairly. This year, no such agreement is in place.Hungary and Italy has launched an anti-migration manifesto with the aim of 'excluding socialists and the left' in next year's European parliament elections.

Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy's hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has vowed to work together to try to push for a more hardline approach to immigration within the EU.

The pair cemented their political ties in talks in Milan today, where hundreds gathered to protest their right-wing policies.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, pictured, has vowed to work with Hungary to try to push for a more hardline approach to immigration within the EU.

'We agreed that the most important issue is migration,' Orban said, praising his own and Salvini's restricted approach on allowing asylum seekers into their respective countries.

Orban praised far-right Salvini was his 'hero' and claimed that 'the security of Europe depends on his success.'

Salvini said they were working to create a future alliance 'that excludes socialists and the left, that brings back to the center the values and identity' that their respective political parties represent.

He said: 'We are near a historic change on a continental level.'

EU countries are expected to go to the polls in May, and Salvini has aligned himself with the right-wing 'Visegrad' countries: the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Hungary.

Activists protest against the meeting of the Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, and the Hungarian Premier, Viktor Orban in Milan today

Salvini's meeting with Orban came shortly after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's more low-key summit with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis, which also focused on migration.

'At the heart of the talks between the two prime ministers was a safer and fairer Europe as a common objective to work towards ... beginning with the key issues for European citizens: the fight against illegal migration, growth and work, and socio-economic stability,' a government statement said.

Salvini has repeatedly shot barbs at the EU ver immigration, accusing the bloc of having abandoned Italy as it struggles to deal with the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have arrived on its shores since 2013.

His antagonistic stance has drawn support from key figures of Europe's hard-right including Marine Le Pen and Orban, and critique from the centre and left, including French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron has sharply criticised countries who refuse to cooperate on migration saying those who benefit from the EU but 'claim national self-interest when it comes to the issue of migrants' should have sanctions imposed on them.

Tuesday's meeting in Milan came just days after Italy's latest standoff with Brussels over immigration, which led to scores of migrants being held on a coastguard boat moored in Sicily for days until a relocation deal was struck enabling them to disembark on Sunday.

Salvini said he would continue to refuse NGO ships with migrants access to Italian ports, and brushed off an investigation into 'abduction' launched against him by prosecutors in Sicily.

'They won't make me take one step backwards,' he said.

Hundreds gathered in Milan to protest Salvini and Orban's right-wing policies

Orban told reporters that he would not allow migrants to enter Hungary, and insisted that help should be 'taken to where people are in trouble, rather than bring trouble to us'.

'We need a new European Commission that is committed to defence of Europe's borders,' he said.

Migration is a hot-button issue in Italy. According to a study carried out by research body Instituto Cattaneo, 70 per cent of Italians believe that the percentage of non-EU immigrants among Italy's population of 60.5 million is nearly four times that recorded by Eurostat - seven percent as of the start of 2017.

Salvini's meeting with fellow hardliner Orban has exposed fractures in Italy's ruling coalition, which joins Salvini's League with the populist Five Star Movement.

His fellow Deputy PM and Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio has stood alongside Salvini in opposition to Europe's handling of migration from Libya.

Last week he threatened to pull Italy's EU budget contributions if more help didn't arrive and backed Salvini as he waited for nearly a week before allowing 140 migrants to disembark a coastguard ship docked at the Sicilian port of Catania.

But Five Star includes within its broad political ranks a left-wing faction uncomfortable with the party's alliance with Salvini.

Di Maio blasted Orban on Monday for putting up 'barbed-wire barriers' and refusing to do his part to help with migrants.

'As far as I'm concerned countries that refuse allocation of migrants should not be entitled to European funding,' Di Maio said in an interview in daily La Stampa.Nearly 85,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Home Office to not deport two teenage brothers over fears they will be killed by Islamic extremists.

Somer and Areeb Umeed Bakhsh fear their lives would be in danger at the hands of Islamic extremists if they are sent back to Pakistan from Scotland.

The brothers, aged 15 and 13, are both Christians and fled to Glasgow in 2012 from Faisalabad, Pakistan with their parents Maqsood and Parveen.

Their father Maqsood was subjected to death threats by Islamic extremists because of his faith.

Somer and Areeb Umeed Bakhsh could be deported to Pakistan, where they may be killed by Islamic extremists, according to a petition

The petition has now been handed over to immigration officials.

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Right Rev Susan Brown, said Christians are a minority group in the Muslim country where blasphemy carries the death penalty.

She called on Home Secretary Sajid Javid to have the 'decency, wisdom and compassion' to provide the boys with permanent sanctuary in the UK.

Mrs Brown said: 'The story of this family has touched the hearts of tens of thousands of people who want those in authority to know how upset they are that they are being treated so dispassionately.

'All both boys want is to be the Scots they are and not sent to a country where Christians are persecuted and threatened by Islamic extremists.

'Somer has done so well in his exams at Springburn Academy, scoring six As and a B in his National 5s, despite the worry and stress of the family situation.

'Mother and father simply want to be a part of a society where they are safe as Christians and where they can give what they can to the wider community around them.

'If 84,000 people are willing to welcome them, why on earth can't the authorities?'

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn met the two boys at their church in Possilpark last week and described them as 'wonderful'.

The brothers fled to Glasgow with their parents in 2012 after their father was subjected to death threats by Islamic extremists because of his faith

He said they had a lot to offer to Scotland.

He urged the Home Secretary to recognise the human value of people who have come to this country to 'escape oppression'.

The 38 Degrees petition was handed over to staff at the Border and Immigration Agency office in Glasgow by Mrs Brown, Paul Sweeney, MP for Glasgow North East, and the family's minister, Rev Linda Pollock of Possilpark Parish Church.

They were joined by the family, Possilpark Parish Church members and students from Springburn Academy, where both boys are pupils.

Sixth year student Amy Brown has started a separate petition in support of Somer and Areeb, who hope to go to university to study astrophysics and astronomy respectively.

So far, 2,322 people have signed that petition.

The UK Government has repeatedly rejected the family's plea for asylum, largely because officials believe they can live peacefully in another part of Pakistan.

But Maqsood Umeed Bakhsh claims that his name and photograph has been circulated among Islamic extremist groups all over Pakistan and nowhere in the country is safe for them.

Mr Sweeney, who has raised the family's case in the House of Commons, said the Umeed Bakhsh family are a 'beacon of dignity' despite the despair and anxiety they have endured.

'Their plight has moved thousands of right thinking people across the country to support them against the hostile environment the UK Government has imposed on our asylum system,' he added.

'We are committed to challenging this injustice.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn met the two boys at their church in Possilpark last week and urged the Home Secrectary to help them

'When the family met Jeremy Corbyn last week, he was appalled by the lack of humanity and compassion the family had endured but was so impressed by their resilience and dedication to their church and their neighbours.

'As their MP, I will not relent in my efforts to secure for them the permanent sanctuary in the country that they deserve and have more than earned through their positive contribution to our community.'

Bob Doris, MSP for Maryhill and Springburn, who has also taken up the family's case with the Home Office, said the petition demonstrates the willingness of Scots to raise their voice to defend the family

'The backing given to Somer, Areeb and their parents has been both emphatic and heart-warming,' he added.

'The straightforward reality is we have a family well integrated within, and contributing to, the community in north Glasgow.

'The family would face both great distress and be in danger if returned to Pakistan and it would also be a loss to Scotland.

'With this petition in defence of Somer and Areeb the UK has the opportunity to do the right thing and start to gain some credibility on asylum policy.'

The family say that the catalyst for their move to Scotland was the murder of two Christians who were gunned down outside a court, while in police custody, in Faisalabad in July 2010.

Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and Sajid, 24, were accused of writing a pamphlet critical of the Prophet Muhammad that flouted Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law.

Christians have been repeatedly targeted in a string of deadly terrorist attacks claimed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in recent years.

The men were good friends of Mr Bakhsh and he believes Islamic extremists would kill him and his family if they had the chance.

Ms Pollock said: 'I hope the Home Secretary and his colleagues will share the wisdom, compassion and good sense of all those who have signed the petition to keep Somer and Areeb in the UK.'

Tamsin Dingwall, Moderator of the National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said the petition handover represented 'passing the fate of the brothers to someone else'.

'All that we can do now is pray that the correct decision is made regarding their safety and wellbeing,' she added.

'These boys have contributed to and enriched their community and they are deeply valued and loved.

'We hope the UK Government sees this and makes their decision with a kind heart and a smart evaluation of the worth of this family in this country.'

Mr Bakhsh has two masters degrees and worked as a data analyst in Pakistan and his wife is a trained nurse and midwife.

The couple say they want to work and make a contribution to the country they call home but claim they have been banned due to their immigration status, which also means they are not allowed to drive.

Church of Scotland congregations all over the country are actively working to support asylum seekers and refugees.

The Kirk is a leading member of the Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees group.The ex-girlfriend of troubled ex-AFL star Ben Cousins has returned a positive result for illicit drugs after being stopped for a random breath test.

Maylea Tinecheff was driving their two children, aged four and six, in a luxury BMW when she was stopped for a breath test in Canning Vale, south of Perth, on Friday.

Ms Tinecheff allegedly gave a positive roadside test for illicit drugs, with the reading being sent to the WA ChemCentre for confirmation, police told The West Australian.

The results of the test will be returned to police within a week, and she will be charged if she returns a positive reading.

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Maylea Tinecheff (pictured right with embattled ex-partner Ben Cousins) has allegedly returned a positive reading for an illicit drug at a routine booze bus stop

She was allegedly driving a luxury BMW (pictured) through Perth's southern suburbs, with her two children in the back seat

Drivers who test positive to drug driving face a maximum fine of between $900 and $2500 and a 10-month disqualification for a first offender in Western Australia.

The preliminary positive reading comes only two days after her ex-partner, Ben Cousins, was arrested at her house for breaching an apprehended violence order.

Police allege Cousins threatened to kill her, and was also found with 13 grams of methamphetamine.

Ms Tinecheff (pictured) will receive confirmation of the results from her reading in a week's time, at which point police say she will be charged if the positive reading is confirmed

Cousins, 40, appeared in court last Wednesday just hours after being arrested outside Ms Tinecheff's home.

He was charged with breaching a violence restraining order taken out by his ex-girlfriend, allegedly threatening to 'bury her alive'.

The court heard as Cousins allegedly made threats to kill Ms Tinecheff if she didn't let him see their two children.

He was denied bail in Perth's Armadale Magistrates Court last Wednesday over stalking and drug charges, and is set to spend up to two months in jail.

Cousins (pictured outside Fremantle Magistrates Court last year) appeared in court last Wednesday just hours after being arrested outside Ms Tinecheff's home

Speaking during his court appearance, the tearful father-of-two claimed he was 'not a threat' to anyone and revealed how he missed his children.

'I am the victim in this. To be the subject of ridicule and embarrassment, and I know I've brought a lot of that on myself, but I don't act out in violence,' Cousins said.

'I beg you I beg you I'm not a threat. Every day I close my eyes when the sun goes down and I spew that it's another day I'm not going to be with my children.

'Someone in my situation, you should use it as an example of hope, that things will work out. Not the opposite.'

Cousins was arrested three times in 2015 before leading police on a slow-speed car chase

Just weeks earlier Cousins had happily posed for photos with football fans on Perth's streets.

It comes as police revealed Cousins had been homeless in recent times.

In January this year Cousins was released from prison after serving 10 months of the one-year sentence he received for breaching a restraining order taken out by his partner.

Cousins is seen at Armadale Magistrates Court in 2016 after breaching a violence restraining order

After his release from jail Cousins was offered a job working with his former club the West Coast Eagles in a 'community and game development' role.

But it was revealed in May that he was no longer in the role, after reportedly failing to turn up for work on multiple occasions.

Cousins has previously spoken in depth about his struggles with drug addiction, and in a 2010 documentary revealed the extent to which he used drugs during his career.

The former AFL superstar is pictured posing for a photo with a fan earlier this month

'I'm a drug addict, just flat-out. Yeah, I was drug-f**ked,' Cousins said.

'It was fast, it was good. They were good times. Alcohol wasn't the big thing for me at the time. It was all about drugs for me.

'I wouldn't have butter on my toast, let alone a truck load of beer... (but) I'd take drugs and I would train and f***king train and obsess and play good footy.

'I knew that at the end of that one week block, two week block or sometimes on the month, I would start to absolutely annihilate and launch into as much drugs as I could.'

The former winner of the Brownlow Medal - the highest individual honour in the AFL - retired from the sport in 2010.

The test came only two days after ex-partner, and father of her two children, Ben Cousins (pictured), faced court over a breach in her violence restraining orderTheresa May today hailed a $10billion (7.75bn) Nigerian firms decision to float on the London Stock Exchange.

As the Prime Minister was greeted by dancers on arrival in the country - but did not dance herself - it emerged that Dangote Cement is set to list in the UK.

The boost came as Mrs May urged the City of London to step up financing for the continents fast-growing economies as Britain leaves the EU.

She insisted playing a greater role in Africa would unlock the opportunities of Brexit.

Theresa May (pictured today in Nigeria where she is on the second of her three-day visit) welcomed news that Nigerian firm Dangote cement is listing on the London Stock Exchange

The PM (pictured arriving in Abuja in Nigeria where she will hold talks with political leaders) has urged the City of London to step up financing for Africa's fastest growing economies

Mrs May also unveiled support for bolstering legal protections in the country.

May gifts a miniature sword to Nigeria's president Theresa May presented the Nigerian president with a personalised miniature infantry sword letter opener today. The Prime Minister handed Buhari the gift as a nod to his officer cadet training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot between 1962 and 1963. The 12 inch sword is a replica of the 1897 pattern still carried by infantry officers serving in the British army today. Mrs May also brought the president an item of 10 Downing Street glassware featuring a crest, according to the PMs aides. Advertisement

UK expertise will be provided in areas such as cross-border transactions to help increase investor confidence in the business environment.

Security and question of how to counter the threat from Boko Haram extremists is expected to feature high in Mrs Mays talks with president Muhammadu Buhari in

the capital Abuja this afternoon.

With fears over no deal with the EU rising, the premier has been using her African tour to push the case for a dramatic shift in strategic focus.

In Cape Town yesterday, she declared that investment by UK business in Africa should be the highest in the G7 by 2022. She also vowed unashamedly to use Britains 13billion aid budget to boost trade.

The premier today announced measures designed to intensify financial ties.

She said industries such as FinTech - financial technology - were already strong growth areas for both the UK and Nigeria and had potential to expand even further.

Mrs May (pictured today arriving in Nigeria) has said that playing a greater role in Africa would unlock the opportunities of Brexit

Theresa May (pictured getting off her plane as she touched down in Nigeria today) is on a three day charm offensive around several African countries where she is hoping to drum up business for post Brexit Britain

Trade between the UK and Nigeria was worth 4.2billion last year and corporate giants including British Airways, GSK, Shell, Diageo, Unilever and Standard Chartered have successful and long-established operations in the Commonwealth country.

The first UK-Africa FinTech partnership will connect Nigerian entrepreneurs with British investors, and a dedicated fund worth up to 2million will support Nigerian innovators looking to turn ideas into successful businesses.

The UK will offer help bolstering Nigerias capital markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as improving legal structures.

Mrs May said: Already the finance and business links between Lagos and London are bringing enormous benefits to businesses and people in the UK and in Nigeria and todays announcements deepen this burgeoning partnership even further.

London is a world leading financial centre and as the UK leaves the European Union, it will play an even greater role in financing the fastest-growing economies across Africa and the world.Participants of the recent National Consultative Workshop on the Melanesia Forest Programme at the Mendana Hotel in Honiara, Solomon Islands August 2018A mother whose daughter is clinging to life in the hospital after jumping onto train tracks to save her when a stranger pushed her off the platform has spoken out for the first time since the incident.

Susan Wenszell, 57, was visiting Atlanta from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her daughters on August 19 when Christopher Brooklin, who has mental health problems, pushed her onto the tracks.

Her 28-year-old daughter Katie instinctively jumped onto the tracks to pull her mother to one side as a train approached.

Sue was saved but Katie, an aspiring teacher, was 'beaten' between the train and the tracks. She remains in an induced coma, clinging to life.

Susan Wenszell said she wished her 28-year-old daughter Katie had never jumped onto train tracks to save her. Susan, 57, escaped with a concussion but Katie remains in an induced coma

Her mother, who escaped with a concussion, told CNN this week she wished her daughter had never been so heroic.

Christopher Brooklin, 28, is in custody on an aggravated assault charge for pushing the mother. He has mental health problems

'The bond to me -- mother to child -- is very strong.

'As a mother you never want to see your child injured.

'She's out of trauma ICU but will have a much longer recovery,' she said, adding she wishes 'Katie would not have risked her life.'

She said she did not remember anything after being pushed onto the tracks.

'I remember being pushed. That's all I remember. The rest of it is pretty blurry,' she said.

Katie had planned to travel to China to teach English before the incident.

Her father earlier described her as a 'hero', telling Fox 6: 'Had she not done that, my wife would be coming home in a funeral box.'

The women had been in Atlanta with Katie's other sisters and were on the last day of their trip when they went to catch a train from the city's midtown MARTA station.

Susan said she remembered watching Brooklin run into the platform in a hurry but did not predict anything sinister.

Katie was beaten between the train and the tracks but miraculously survived. She remains in the hospital. Pictured, one of the pair being taken to the ER after the August 19 incident

Katie's father Jerry (right) earlier described her as a hero for saving his wife's life

'We just thought he was running to catch the train,' she said.

Despite him almost killing her and her daughter, Wenszell said she does not have any ill will towards him.

'Initially you want justice... [but] I don't want any of his family to have to deal with this.'

She also does not want the incident to put people off visiting Atlanta.

The family is now raising money to help pay for Katie's medical bills. They have raised more than $92,000 on a GoFundMe page which was set up with an initial target of getting $5,000.A woman suspected of being Saudi Arabia's first female car thief has been caught on camera - just two months after women were allowed to drive.

The CCTV clip, filmed in Saudi Arabia's Al Dammam, shows a woman opening the door of the unattended red vehicle before reversing and driving off.

It comes just two months after the Kingdom finally allowed women to drive, ending the world's only ban on female motorists.

Overturning the decades-long ban, a glaring symbol of repression against women, is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's much-trumpeted reform drive to modernise the conservative kingdom.

A woman believed to be Saudi Arabia's first female car thief has been caught on camera - just two months after women were allowed to drive

The CCTV clip, filmed in Saudi Arabia's Al Dammam, shows a woman opening the door of the unattended red vehicle before reversing the vehicle and driving off

The clip shows a white car waiting by parking spaces in the coastal city. A red vehicle then pulls up and a man gets out and walks off.

A woman climbs out of the back seat of the white car and appears to look before getting behind the wheel. She can be seen backing the car out and driving off down the road.

According to Stepfeed, the footage has divided opinion in Saudi Arabia with some doubting its authenticity. Some accused her of stealing the vehicle, while others suggested it may just have been a prank.

In June the kingdom began issuing its first driving licences to women in decades, with some swapping their foreign permits for Saudi ones after undergoing a practical test.

Some three million women in Saudi Arabia could receive licences and actively begin driving by 2020, according to consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A handful of female driving schools have cropped up in cities like Riyadh and Jeddah, training women to drive cars and also Harley Davidson motorbikes - scenes that were unimaginable even a year ago.

A woman climbs out of the back seat of the white car and appears to look before getting behind the wheel. She can be seen backing the car out and driving off down the road (pictured)

It comes just two months after the Kingdom finally allowed women to drive, ending the world's only ban on female motorists

Overturning the decades-long driving ban, a glaring symbol of repression against women, was part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's much-trumpeted reform drive to modernise the conservative kingdom

For decades, hardliners cited austere Islamic interpretations to justify the driving ban, with some asserting that women lack the intelligence to drive and that lifting the prohibition would promote promiscuity.

The decision to lift the ban was catalysed in large measure by what experts characterise as economic pain in the kingdom owing to a protracted oil slump.

The move is expected to boost women's employment, and according to a Bloomberg estimate, add $90 billion to economic output by 2030.

Many women fear they are still easy prey for conservatives in a nation where male 'guardians' -- their fathers, husbands or other relatives -- can exercise arbitrary authority to make decisions on their behalf.

The government has preemptively addressed concerns of abuse by outlawing sexual harassment, with a prison term of up to five years and a maximum penalty of 300,000 riyals ($80,000).Council officials who called for a clampdown on Airbnb owners were left red-faced after discovering an Airbnb flat was for rent in their own town hall.

Oxford City Council had campaigned for a reduction in short-term lets in the historic city with some councillors calling for the introduction of a register.

But they were left horrified after it was revealed that there was an Airbnb flat for rent for 150 a night inside their own Grade II-listed town hall.

An ad for the two-bed flat boasts about its unique setting in the landmark building and even advertises that the town hall security team are on hand at all hours to help.

Councillors were horrified to learn a flat was on Airbnb within their own Grade II-listed town hall

Oxford Town Hall is a Grade II* listed building and was opened by the Prince of Wales in May 1897

The two bedroom flat on Airbnb flat is for rent for 150 a night inside the Grade II listed Town Hall

There was no stipulation that the property- which previously housed the caretaker- could not be rented on Airbnb

Council officials said they are 'very unhappy' about the move after finding out the flat, pictured, was on Airbnb

The advertisement on Airbnb showing the 'unique opportunity' to stay in the two double bedroom flat

The apartment previously housed the town hall's caretaker but is now leased by estate agents James C Penny.

JCP took control of the flat in July 2014 for a 15-year period and it is understood to be paying the council 15,000 a year.

There is no stipulation that it cannot be rented on Airbnb but council officials said they are 'very unhappy' about the move after finding out.

Councillors called for a crackdown on short-term lets by Airbnb in February.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth claimed that flats were being used as 'pop-up' brothels and for 'noisy' parties with 'up to 100 guests suddenly appearing.'

Mr Hollingsworth said he wanted the government to introduce a register and force short-term let landlords to apply for a licence.

The flat boasts some spectacular views of the centre of Oxford and reviewers have praised the location of the property

Now, councillor Ed Turner, executive board member for finance and asset management, admitted that the council should not have allowed an Airbnb to operate from its own premises.

He added that the local authority is considering legal action.

He said: 'This was brought to our attention a number of months ago.

'It is concerning as it wasn't ever the council's intention.

'We have a break clause in the lease which we could exercise to get the flat back as a last resort, but we are exploring the legal avenues.'

He added: 'One of the reasons that we are in this issue in the first place is that there is a legal restriction on councils offering assured shorthold tenancies.

The property is described as being within a 'magnificent Victorian building' with a 'spacious feel'

'Councils are uniquely unable to let out properties in a normal way.

'That's why we ended up down this route, and that inevitably has led to having less control.

'It would have been much better if we had had stronger safeguards in the lease.

'But I think when we agreed this, AirBnb had less coverage and less profile than it did now.

'Equally, we should accept it would have been better if we had more robust legal restrictions in place, but we will see where it gets to.'

On Airbnb, the flat is advertised at 150 per night, and the listing boasts: 'A unique opportunity to stay in a two double bedroom apartment within the Oxford Town Hall, a jewel at the heart of the historic city of Oxford.

Reviews for the property left by people who have stayed there have been very positive. One person who rented it called John said the location with 'superb'

'The apartment is actually within this magnificent Victorian building. Available for a limited time only.

'The Town Hall apartment is totally unique, there is no other place like it to our knowledge.

'It is a large two bedroom apartment with two double rooms and a large lounge/diner, the rooms/hallways give the apartment a spacious feel and the views from the lounge are particularly nice.'

It is equipped with Bosch kitchen appliances including a dishwasher, a wall-mounted LED TV with a SKY TV package, wifi and a Playstation 3.

The double bedroom in the flat. James C Penny defended the letting, adding that town hall staff were aware of the issue

Reviews left on its Airbnb page from guests have praised the flat's central location, but criticised its condition.

John posted: 'The location of the apartment is superb but the actual flat itself is awful, dingy, poorly furnished, towels drying on radiators and the beds looked like the sheets were not clean - they might have been clean but certainly were poorly made and gave the impression of having been used.

'The beds themselves are worn out, creak badly and need replacement. The shower/bathroom was awful. We checked into a hotel.'

Stephanie added: 'Excellent location, you really can't get more central. I think Stanley's flat really has potential but needs a bit of investment...My parents had a number of issues with the oven not working and issues with the tv.'

Councillors in Oxford called for a crackdown on short-term lets by Airbnb in February due to claims flats were being used for parties

Mark said: 'There is nothing more central in Oxford. Actually in the Town Hall. Really atmospheric. Close by everything.'

Oxford Town Hall is a Grade II* listed building and was opened by the Prince of Wales in May 1897.

A spokesman for James C Penny defended the letting, adding that town hall staff were aware of the issue.

He said: 'How the council can say they didn't know we were doing short-term lets, I don't know.

'We met the town hall manager, it was always our intention to use it for short-term lets.'

He said the flat was unsuitable for longer lets because of the noise generated from functions in the town hall.A two-year-old girl from Georgia has died after officials say an SUV ran over her while backing out of her family's driveway in Cherokee County.

According to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Lilly Franklin and her four-year-old brother were in the care of their uncle at their home located along Ball Ground Highway in the town of Keithsburg on Friday while their childrens parents were away.

At around 7pm, Lilly was on the front porch when her uncle's employer pulled into the driveway in his SUV to drop off his paycheck.

Two-year-old Lilly Franklin has died after officials in Georgia say an SUV ran over her while backing out of her family's driveway

The two men had a brief conversation, during which the uncle's boss never exited the vehicle or parked it, reported the Cherokee Tribune.

After the chat, the visitor was backing out of the driveway when he rolled over Lilly, who, unbeknownst to him, had climbed under the SUV.

Deputies who were summoned to the scene arrived to find a man holding the mortally wounded child, who was bleeding but still breathing.

The toddler was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital in a critical condition and was later airlifted to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, where she died from her injuries on Sunday.

A sheriff's spokesperson said there is nothing to suggest that the driver of the SUV was in any way impaired. He is not expected to face any charges in Lilly's death.

Heartbroken family and friends have been leaving messages of condolences on the Facebook page of Lilly's father, Joshua Franklin.

Lilly's parents, Joshua Franklin (left) and Cydney Unck (right), were not home at the time of the accident Friday evening. Lilly and her brother were in the care of their uncle

The toddler had climbed beneath her uncle's employer's SUV before he attempted to back out of the family's driveway

Lilly, pictured above in her father's arms as a baby, is survived by her parents and four-year-old brother

I have known this sweet family about 10 years now... this wasnt suppose [sic] to happen, read one message. She had her whole life ahead of her. I pray for strength, wisdom & guidance for sweet Lillys family and friends.

Another mourner wrote: 'sweet girl if you knew how many people love you and have prayed for you. We all love you so much Lilly! The heart ache will slowly get better but your memory will be with us forever.'

According to one post, the deceased toddler was an organ donor, and in her death she helped save the lives of two young boys.

Good Samaritans have turned to selling t-shirts and bracelets to help raise money for Lilly's parents and older brother.

A family friend has launched an online fundraiser to help Lilly's family in their hour of need. As of Wednesday morning, more than $3,700 has been raised.

A separate GoFundMe campaign has drawn more than $2,600 in donations.Convicted WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning may be banned from Australia after authorities issued an intention to refuse her visa on character grounds.

The former soldier, who was released from military prison in 2017, was due to arrive this week ahead of her speaking tour, which includes an appearance at the Sydney Opera House.

Manning was supposed to start her speaking tour in Sydney on September 2, before heading to Melbourne and Brisbane later next week.

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Convicted WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning (pictured) may be banned from Australia after authorities issued an intention to refuse her visa on character grounds

It's understood the Australian government are now considering stopping the outspoken activist from entering the country under s501 of the Migration Act, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to the act, someone can be refused entry or have their visa cancelled if it's believed they are unable to pass the character test - or in other words, they are not of good character.

The Department of Home Affairs states that all non-citizens must meet character requirements set out in the Migration Act and a person can fail a number of reasons, a spokesman told AAP in a statement.

The spokesperson continued to say failure isn't limited to where a non-citizen has a substantial criminal record or where their conduct represents a risk to the Australian community.

Promotional material for the tour on the promoter's website describes Manning as a 'jailed hero' and a 'traitor' who causes controversy wherever she goes.

'Shes been out of jail for over a year but still walking into trouble everywhere she goes,' it stated.

Chelsea (left), who was born Bradley Manning (right) before undergoing gender reassignment, was sentenced to 35 years in jail in 2013 for sending classified documents to Wikileaks.

It continued to say in addition to talking about her life, Manning would also be discussing the side of politics that she said has 'pi**ed her off'.

'Chelsea will talk to Australia about her life. How to be a sneak, how to survive in prison and how to stop the government and corporations from chipping away at our privacy even more,' the statement read.

'Come along and see if you can spot the ASIO agents pretending to be regular punters in the audience!'

Manning has continued her activism and has been heavily involved with promoting data privacy and transgender rights

Manning, who was born Bradley Manning before undergoing gender reassignment, was sentenced to 35 years in jail in 2013 after she was found guilty of sending classified documents to Wikileaks.

Among 20 other offences she was found guilty of was misusing classified material, but she was acquitted of the most serious offence, which was aiding the enemy.

She ended up serving seven years in jail before she was granted clemency in 2017 by former president Barrack Obama - one of his last acts in office - but not pardoned for her crimes.

Since her release from prison, Manning has continued her activism and has been heavily involved with promoting data privacy and transgender rights.A boat carrying young migrants has landed on a beach in southern Spain, catching holidaymakers by surprise in the second such incident in two days.

Video footage shows the boat approaching the shore and at least two dozen people jumping off into the shallows before running across the sand.

The migrants, seemingly all young men, dash past beach-goers on their towels as they try to make it off the sands before being caught by authorities.

Landing: Video footage shows at least two dozen migrants disembark on the beach of Fontanilla, in Conil de la Frontera, southern Spain after arriving on a boat

Some of them even wave to the people enjoying a day out on the beach, who are heard wising them luck, cheering them on and offering them water.

The incident took place on the beach of Fontanilla, in Conil de la Frontera, in the southern Spanish province of Cadiz in the region of Andalusia.

According to local media, authorities detained those who had arrived on the boat, of which 13 were minors, shortly afterwards.

The incident took place two days after another similar incident on a beach located just a few miles north of Fontanilla.

Holidaymakers watched a semi-inflatable carrying around 50 people, including at least 19 children, land on Barrosa Beach, some seven miles from Fontanilla.

Footage shows refugees sprinting up the popular beach at about 3.30pm on Sunday before attempting to scale cliffs.

The incident happened near a purpose-built residential and tourist resort called Sancti Petri which boasts shops, restaurants and several four and five-star hotels.

According to local police, some 25 of the migrants, all Moroccan citizens, had been intercepted - 19 of whom were minors.

A spokesman for the force said the six adults would be taken to an adult migrant holding centre before being returned to their country of origin as part of an agreement with Morocco.

Local media report that at least 500 migrants have landed on the Andalusian coast on 18 different boats since Friday.

Run for freedom: The migrants, seemingly all young men, dash past beach-goers on their towels as they try to make it off the beach before being detained

Coming in: According to local media, Spanish authorities detained the people who had arrived on the boat soon afterwards

Landings: La Fontanilla and Sunday's landing spot Barrosa Beach seen in relation to Morocco , where the boats would have come from, and the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta

Spain sent back to Morocco Thursday 116 migrants who stormed the fence, some of whom threw a corrosive substance which left police officers with burns.

Human rights groups complained the return was carried out too quickly to give the migrants access to legal assistance and interpreters, and to identify asylum seekers, while political opponents criticised the government's approach as inconsistent.

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who took office in June, put migration at the heart of his new governments policies when he agreed to receive more than 600 migrants aboard a charity-run ship, the Aquarius.

The government of Spain defended its hardline position on its immigration policy on Wednesday, saying that it will not tolerate violent attempts to enter the country.

'Spain and Morocco wanted to send a clear message this time to the criminal organisations that traffic people,' Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told a parliamentary commission, according to Reuters.

'We will not permit violent migration that attacks our country and our state security forces,' he added.

The government's immigration policy was based on 'solidarity, humanity and security' and the returned migrants had been assisted, Grande-Marlaska said.

'You started by receiving the migrants from the Aquarius and being applauded across Europe,' said Ione Belarra, a deputy with anti-austerity party Podemos.

'We have seen a radical change in your migration policy,' she added.

Astonishing footage captures the moment a group of African migrants stormed a packed tourist beach and jumped off their boat before clambering up cliffs in southern Spain

The incident happened around 3.30pm on Sunday at Barrosa Beach, considered to be one of the best beaches on Spain's southern coast

African migrants have for years tried to enter Europe by climbing the razor-wire topped fences that separate the two Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco.

The route accounts for some 13 percent of total illegal migrant arrivals in Spain.

On Wednesday alone, the Spanish coast guard said it had rescued 196 people from eight boats in the narrow Gibraltar Strait that separates Spain from Morocco.

Last month, around 50 migrants were filmed landing on a packed beach in and sprinting up the sand at a beach in Zahora, a 20 minute drive from Fontanilla.

The men and women videoed jumping from the rickety wooden boat known as a patera in the July 28 arrival, were from sub-Saharan Africa.

Days earlier, dozens of migrants were filmed storming another southern Spanish beach as confused sunbathing nudists watched on.

The dramatic clip, taken on the beach at Tarifa, showed a group of more than 30 migrants landing in a dinghy before sprinting off into woodland surrounding the beach to evade the pursuing Spanish border guards.

Spain has overtaken Italy as the preferred destination for migrant arrivals in Europe this year after Italy's new hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini introduced a blanket ban on migrant boats entering the country's ports.

The number of migrants and refugees using the western Mediterranean route to reach Spain stood at 20,992 between January 1 and July 25 according to the IOM, close to the 22,108 people who used it during the whole of last year.The white Chicago police officer charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald says he was doing what he was trained to do and that the case against him shows prosecutors are bowing to political pressure.

In his first interview since he was arrested - and just days before jury selection in his trial is set to begin - Officer Jason Van Dyke told the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday: 'I never would have fired my gun if I didn't think my life was in jeopardy or another citizen's life was.'

Van Dyke didn't discuss any details of the 2014 shooting in the interview that was tightly controlled by his attorney, including the likely focus of the prosecutors' case: that no other officer shot at the teen and that his written report that he believed McDonald was attacking him with a knife contradicts what can be seen in the now-infamous dashcam video.

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Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke charged with murdering a black teen got emotional during Tuesday's interview with the Chicago Tribune ahead of next week's scheduled start of jury selection

Van Dyke, 40, a married father-of-two, is accused of shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014

'Of course, I'm extremely nervous,' the married father-of-two said. 'I might be looking at the possibility of spending the rest of my life in prison for doing my job as I was trained as a Chicago police officer.'

Van Dyke was arrested in November 2015, a year after the shooting and on the same day that the video showing him shooting McDonald 16 times was publicly released.

McDonald (seen in a dashboard camera video screenshot) was high on PCP and walking with a knife when he was shot by the officer

The veteran cop opened fire six seconds after getting out of his squad car and then continued shooting at McDonald's body sprawled on the ground.

The Chicago Police Department has suspended Van Dyke without pay. He has been working as a janitor at the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police lodge to earn a living.

The officer said he has been at the center of a political storm since the video was released.

'I think there's been a lot of external political pressures,' he said. 'It just seems like politics has been involved with this since the beginning.'

Van Dyke lamented that he was being vilified on social media and unfairly portrayed as a trigger-happy and racist white cop.

'Everyone wants to be part of the bandwagon of hatred. Anyone who knows me, knows me personally, knows  that Im not a racist,' he said. 'Thats a great false narrative.  Its just slander.'

Van Dyke also noted that October 10, 2014, was the first time he ever fired his service weapon while on duty, after spending more than a dozen years on the force policing some of Chicago's most crime-ridden communities at night.

This undated autopsy diagram provided by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office shows the location of entrance and exit wounds on McDonald's body

'You dont ever want to shoot your gun,' he said. 'It doesnt matter if its to put down a stray animal or something like that. Nobody wants to shoot their gun.'

A practicing Catholic, Van Dyke also spoke about his daily prayers for the McDonald family following the 'darkest day' of his career.

McDonald's family dismissed Van Dyke's 40-minute interview with the Tribune as nothing more than a legal maneuver designed to sway prospective jurors.

'Is he praying or is he just saying what he thinks you want to hear?' asked McDonald's great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, adding that if he was advising Van Dyke he would advise him to say exactly what he did. 'They're trying to write a narrative. They're trying to influence the jury.'

It is unclear how the judge, who has prohibited the attorneys from discussing the case outside of court, will react to the interview or how it might affect any decision on a change of venue motion filed by Van Dyke's lawyers.

The defense team argues that the pretrial publicity has made it impossible for Van Dyke to receive a fair trial.

Van Dyke is pictured arriving in court for a preliminary hearing on August 8 sporting a bulletproof vest over his shirt

Van Dyke expressed concern for his family's safety and said he was worried that riots could break out in Chicago after the verdict in his case is reached.

Earlier this month, he was pictured arriving in court for a preliminary hearing wearing a bulletproof vest over his button-down shirt.

Jury selection in Van Dyke's case is scheduled to get under way on September 5.

Defense attorney Dan Herbert is not quoted in the Tribune story beyond a brief comment to Van Dyke not to talk about 'any pre-shooting.' A spokesman for the special prosecutor, Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, declined a request to comment.

Convictions in murder cases against on-duty police officers are rare . A former Dallas-area police officer was found guilty of murder on Tuesday. Roy Oliver fatally shot an unarmed black teenager as the boy left a Balch Springs house party with his friends.Three women linked to a performing arts school who are facing charges of alleged horrific and ongoing child abuse have walked free from prison after winning bail.

Therese Ann Cook, 59, her daughter Yyani Cook-Williams, 30, and Clarissa Meredith, 24, were greeted by about half a dozen supporters when they were released from Silverwater Correctional Centre on Wednesday night.

The women were granted bail by NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum nearly one week ago.

Yyani Cook-Williams was released from a NSW jail on Wednesday night after being granted bail. She is accused of inciting young boys to have sex with each other

Therese Ann Cook (back left) is accused of having intercourse with the seven-year-old boy and choking him. She faces 43 serious charges

Clarissa Meredith (centre) is Cook's unofficial adopted sister. The 24-year-old faces 13 charges including sexual assault, producing child abuse material and stalking or intimidation

Cook, Williams and Meredith, who are all part of the Blue Mountains circus group, pleaded not guilty to allegations of kidnapping, assaulting and filming sadistic rape of young boys.

The court heard other allegations also involved 'blood rituals', 'a needle stuck in a boy's eye, a child being lifted off the ground by his genitalia, and a tongue-biting accident, The Australian reported.

The allegations occurred between 2014 and 2016 towards children under the age of eight, and even one alleged victim who was only three-years-old.

The trio is among seven people to face a combined 127 charges related to the alleged abuse of three young boys between 2014 and 2016.

The women were given strict bail conditions which means they can't leave NSW, can't leave their homes unless accompanied by an approved person, nor be in contact with any child under 16 unless supervised by an approved adult.

They each needed one or more people to provide a $100,000 surety before they were able to be released.

Inside the circus training school in Katoomba, run by Therese Cook and her daughter Yyani Cook-Williams

Cook-Williams, 30 wore a black and white shirt, jeans and knee-high black boots as she left jail on Wednesday, holding her belongings in a number of clear bags

The only reason their bail was approved was because they had no prior convictions (pictured the circus school)

The women were charged in February along with Cook's brother, Paul Christopher Cook, 52, and three others who can't be named as they were underage at the time of the alleged offences.

Police previously alleged Therese Cook first abused two of the boys, then aged three and seven, before her co-accused later got involved.

She was accused of having intercourse with the seven-year-old and choking him with the intent of sexually assaulting him.

She faces 43 charges including sexual intercourse with a person under 10, indecent assault of a person under 16 and assault occasioning bodily harm.

Cook-Williams, her 30-year-old daughter, was alleged to have incited two of the boys to have sex with each other.

Her eight charges include common assault and aggravated sexual assault in company.

Meredith's 13 charges include aggravated sexual assault in company, producing child abuse material and stalking or intimidation.

Their lawyer, Bryan Wrench, in February told a local court that one of his clients had video to show nothing happened.

The court heard other allegations also involved 'blood rituals', 'a needle stuck in a boy's eye, a child being lifted off the ground by his genitalia, and a tongue-biting accident (pictured the circus school)Despite Princess Dianas sapphire engagement ring having caused upset among the Royals, Prince William decided to propose to Kate Middleton with the same ring Prince Charles had used to ask for his mothers hand in marriage.

Reports claim that when the Peoples Princess passed away, her sons inherited her jewellery collection, which included the iconic 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire engagement ring and while Prince Harry actually picked out the ring, after seeing Williams love for Kate, traded it for Dianas Cartier watch.

Now that both Princes are married, Royal fans may start to see more of Princess Dianas jewellery being worn by both the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle having worn her late mother-in-laws aquamarine ring to her wedding reception.

Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with the same ring his father used for his mother

What does Princess Dianas will say?

Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, a year after she divorced from Prince Charles, the father of her two sons, William and Harry. According to The Balance, Dianas estate consisted of stocks in addition to her 17 million divorce settlement.

It also included jewellery, dresses and other personal belongings that were valued at approximately 21 million on the day that she died and netted her heirs 13 million, after taxes. But who did she leave her possessions to?

She signed her last will and testament on June 1, 1993, but modified the will with a codicil on February 1, 1996. The will stated that her estate would be left in equal shares in trust to her sons until they became 25, with her mother, Frances Ruth Shand Kydd and her sister, Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale, to act as co-executors and co-trustees.

The codicil changed the trustees from her mother and her personal secretary, Commander Patrick Desmond Christian Jermy Jephson, to her mother and sister.

However, it was reported that because her mother and sister did not like the provisions of the will, months after Dianas death, they were able to distribute her estate differently after obtaining a secret variation order from the High Court of Justice.

In addition to 50,000 that was left to her butler, Paul Burrell and chattels, or personal effects which were left to her 17 godchildren, a Discretionary Fund was formed for Prince William, Prince Harry, their spouses, their descendants and charities, selected by the co-trustees.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer pose following the announcement of engagement

The Balance reported: The Discretionary Fund received the following assets of the estate: intellectual property rights, all wearing apparel, 100,000, and accumulated income earned by the fund's assets.

The Discretionary Fund is to be held for a "Perpetuity Period" which will last until 21 years after the death of the last surviving descendant of his late Majesty King George VI who was living on the date of Princess Diana's death.

King George VI was the father of Queen Elizabeth II, grandfather of Prince Charles, great-grandfather of Prince William and Prince Harry, and the subject of the 2010 movie, The King's Speech.

The income earned by the fund is to be distributed among the fund's beneficiaries during the Perpetuity Period as the trustees see fit. Anything left in the fund when it expires will go to the then living descendants of Prince William and Prince Harry.

What is referred to as the Residuary Estate was left in equal shares to William and Harry and the shares were held in trust until each Prince reached the age of 30. However, when they turned 25, they were given access to all the income and also, the power to change the final disposition of his trust if anything should remain at the time of his death.

At the time of each Princes 30th birthday, their Residuary Estate shares were worth 10 million each.

Kate Middleton wears engagement ring of Diana, Princess of Wales, as she poses for the media

What Kate Middleton inherited from Princess Diana

According to The Telegraph, Dianas Letter of Wishes stated: But I would like you to allocate all my jewelry to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it. I leave the exact division of the jewelry to your discretion.

After Prince Williams marriage to Kate Middleton, she has been repeatedly compared to Princess Diana and has also been spotted wearing her late mother-in-laws jewellery. As reported in Good Housekeeping, the first piece that was given to Kate was her engagement ring.

While rumours emerged that Harry had picked out the ring originally, after seeing Williams love for Kate, he traded the sapphire gem for his mothers Cartier watch. William carried the ring with him for three weeks while they were on holiday in Mount Kenya in 2010 and eventually proposed.

When the engagement was announced, the Duke of Cambridge said: Its my mothers engagement ring, and its very special to me, as Kate is very special to me now as well. It was only right the two were put together. It was my way of making sure mother didnt miss out on today and the excitement.

As mentioned above, Kate has also been seen wearing the Lovers Knot Tiara, which was made in 1914 with diamonds and pearls. It was given to Princess Diana by The Queen as a wedding present and once Kate married into the Royal Family, she inherited the piece.

The Duchess of Cambridge also inherited a pair of sapphire earrings from Diana in 2010, but they have since been updated to a drop style. Alongside this, Kate was also seen wearing a pearl bracelet, by Nigel Milne in 1988. While it wasnt as iconic as the other pieces, the Duchess chose to wear it at a reception in Berlin.

Meghan Markle is seen here wearing an emerald-cut aquamarine ring which belonged to Diana

What will Kate inherit from Diana when the Queen dies?

Kate Middleton could also reportedly inherit Princess Dianas title of Princess of Wales when The Queen passes away and Prince Charles becomes King, according to Elle.

Prince William will become William, Prince of Wales and Kate, the title of Princess of Wales.

The Peoples Princess was the last person to hold this title after Camilla, Charles second wife declined taking up the title out of respect for her husbands first wife.Dean Tom Harford has been removed from his post at Columbia University following accusations of sexual misconduct by a student

A $50million lawsuit filed by a Columbia University student alleges the school's dean coerced her into sex with the promise of housing help, following her being raped at an acquaintance's apartment.

The Manhattan federal court lawsuit claims dean of students for the Ivy League's School of General Studies, Tom Harford, knowing the woman, 25, was desperate for assistance dangled money as a way to coerce her into having sex with him starting in May.

'Realizing her desperation, Dean Harford provided Plaintiff with financial support on multiple occasions,' the lawsuit says, according to the New York Post.

The woman is only identified as 'Jane Doe' in the lawsuit.

She claims Harford gave her $500 'cash from his pocket' and told her he would help her get a scholarship.

The woman had reported the alleged rape at the acquaintance's place to the police, according to the suit. It is unclear if she was residing there when the rape occurred.

The suit also claims that the school failed to protect her against the dean who the woman says pursued 'an inappropriate sexual and romantic relationship' with her, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the federal lawsuit, Columbia University is accused of failing to protect the 25-year-old grad student from the dean's predatory behavior

'Over the course of the summer, Harford used his power and influence at Columbia to coerce Plaintiff into an inappropriate sexual and romantic relationship,' the papers state.

Attorney David Sanford is representing the student. He recently won a $1.25million award for x-Columbia Business School professor Enrichetta Ravina who successfully sued the school for sexual harassment and failing to protect her from a predatory colleague.

Columbia University told the Post the dean has since been removed.

'Harford was promptly removed from his position as Dean of Students when we learned of behavior that was unacceptable in light of his responsibilities,' the school said in a statement.Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.They have been busy hitting the fundraising circuit to promote his father's agenda, but Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr took time out for a loved-up dinner on Tuesday night.

The pair were pictured leaving Guilfoyle's apartment building and heading to the Four Seasons Restaurant where they stayed until 11pm.

It is the first month of business for the Manhattan power restaurant which was forced out of its old, iconic premises in the Seagram building in 2016 after 57 years.

Guilfoyle and Don. Jr. were clearly eager to be among the first diners.

They left her home on Central Park West before sundown, with Donald stomping ahead into a waiting car.

After dinner, he trailed behind her as they made their way back to the vehicle with a bulky secret service agent following closely behind them.

Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle leave her apartment to go out for dinner on Tuesday night

Former Fox host Kimberly, 49, stuck to her tried and tested date-night formula of a form fitting dress, skyscraper stilettos and lashings of mascara and lip gloss.

The president's son showed off his recently grown beard.

Before the lovebirds emerged, Warren Buffett was seen leaving the restaurant with associates.

The new $30million restaurant is located on 49th Street in Midtown and has long been a favorite of many celebrities.

The outing came a day after twice-divorced Guilfoyle gushed over her fast moving romance with the president's son.

'Ive never been happier. I am thrilled to be joining Don Jr. across the country in amplifying the America-first message.

Guilfoyle, 49, wore a form fitting blue dress which she accessorized with silver jewelry and shoes

After dinner, Kimberly led the way out of the fancy eatery towards the couple's waiting car

The former Fox host was eager to keep her hair in line as she led Donald and his Secret Service detail out of the restaurant

'We are working non-stop and we make the perfect team,' she told Page Six at a fundraiser in Bridgehampton. It was their third of the week.

Since announcing their romance in June, Guilfoyle has left Fox News to work for the pro-Trump super PAC America First as its vice chairwoman.

They have been dating since he split from his wife Vanessa following 10 years of marriage in April.

Earlier this summer, Guilfoyle and Don. Jr. posed for a spread in her renovated Manhattan apartment and they have been tenacious in their politically charged public outings.

He heaped praise on her in the interview and said she was the natural choice for a position in the super PAC.

As they got closer towards their car, the couple became more animated

Don. Jr. placed a protective hand on his girlfriend's back before they disappeared into the vehicle

'Kimberly may be best known for her intellect, tell-it-like-it-is persona, and striking beauty, but its also her humble roots and her genuine love of people that make her the perfect choice to be the face of the grassroots movement that will reelect Donald J. Trump in 2020,' he said.

In between fundraisers in the Hamptons and New York, the pair have spent their summer having date nights in the city and enjoying time with their children.

Don Jr. recently returned from an adults-only outdoor adventure trip in Yukon whereas Kimberly reunited with her son Ronan.A train operator has been accused of running a 'third world service' after shocking pictures emerged of passengers with barely any space to move.

Passengers were forced to sit with their luggage in aisles, were unable to reach toilets or food trolleys and had 'barely enough room to scratch themselves'.

Lachie Robertson, from Melbourne, Australia, was travelling to London King's Cross from Edinburgh after supporting his wife during her Fringe show.

He dubbed London North Eastern Railway (LNER) 'idiots' after he was forced to stand for the four-and-a-half hour journey, as more people were allowed on at each stop.

Passengers were forced to sit with their luggage in aisles, were unable to reach toilets or food trolleys and had 'barely enough room to scratch themselves'

The 35-year-old added that a member of staff on the train was seen taking pictures to send to bosses to show how 'unsafe' conditions were.

Social media users hit out at LNER over the pictures, dubbing it a 'third world service'.

The 3.30pm service was running on the last day of the busy Fringe Festival, and followed reports of passengers stuck trying to get home from Edinburgh Waverley.

Lachie posted the photographs on Facebook with the caption: 'The first five trains were all full. We only just managed to board the sixth (a three-hour wait).

'Not enough room to scratch yourself. Not sure why we bothered to book tickets (months ago).

'How did the public transport operators fail to realise that they sold more tickets than there were seats?!'

The first photograph shows five passengers surrounded by luggage sitting on the floor of a thin aisle.

The passengers appear disheartened as they have to squeeze close together.

A crowd of passengers can also be seen standing at the end of the aisle, as one woman leans on a small window sill for support.

A second photograph shows passengers forced to stand close together in the entrance area close to the train doors.

Lachie Robertson (pictured) was travelling to London King's Cross from Edinburgh after supporting his wife during her Fringe show

The shocking pictures emerged days after late-night revellers trying to get home from the Fringe during the bank holiday weekend were met with packed trains

Some passengers were even forced to stand in the connecting part of the train - which holds the carriages together.

Dereck McCready wrote: 'That is surely a safety issue.Time these companies get themselves sorted, charging first world prices for third world service.'

Ian R. McSherry added: 'That's ridiculous. In this day and age. That's a third world operating standard.'

Speaking today, Lachie said: 'I and many others had to stand for the entire trip of four and a half hours.

'Despite the train being full at Edinburgh, more and more people continued to get on at each stop.

'One young woman in her 20s suffered what appeared to be a panic attack and had to leave just before we took off.

'The train was extremely hot and in the aisle where we ended up stuck - there was no air ventilation or speakers to hear any of the announcements.'

The 3.30pm service was running on the last day of the busy Fringe Festival, and followed reports of passengers stuck trying to get home from Edinburgh Waverley

'It felt like some idiot with an office job sold more tickets than they had seats because revenue is revenue, and left the poor staff to deal with it.

The shocking pictures emerged days after late-night revellers trying to get home from the Fringe during the bank holiday weekend were met with packed trains.

Services running from the capital were packed on Saturday night - forcing passengers to wait on the platforms for up to an hour-and-a-half.

An LNER spokesman said today: 'Some of our trains were very busy over the Bank holiday weekend due to engineering works on the West Coast route and to the end of the Edinburgh Festival.

'Due to this, we took a number of steps to try to ease the situation both in the run up to and during the weekend.

'This included warning customers in advance that services were expected to be busy and that seats should be reserved where possible, advising customers to travel later in the day on quieter trains and de-classifying First class carriages on busy trains.

'We are sorry that this didn't help all of our customers and are looking at what we can learn from this experience to try and avoid this situation being repeated.'More than 500 items belonging to a convicted serial killer Todd Kohlhepp, 47, are currently being auctioned off

More than 500 items belonging to a convicted serial killer who murdered seven people in South Carolina are currently being auctioned off.

A badly damaged gun safe, power tools, furniture and office supplies belonging to Todd Kohlhepp are among the inventory in an online auction being handled by Mears Land and Auction Company.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward paying judgments against Kohlhepp, 47, who is serving seven consecutive life sentences.

The items are at Kohlhepp's Woodruff property, where authorities discovered three bodies in 2016, along with a missing woman locked in a storage container.

Last week, a judge awarded $6.3million in damages to Kala Brown, who had been missing for two months before cellphone data led authorities to Kohlhepp's property.

Kohlhepp's Sentry gun safe, likely damaged during a police search of his property, is being auctioned off by Mears Land and Auction Company

This Yamaha Grizzly ATV is one of the big-ticket items that are up for sale

This eerie motorcycle flag emblazoned with a trio of skulls and the phrase, 'Hell of a Ride,' was found inside Kohlhepp's Woodruff, South Carolina, home after his arrest in 2016

The serial killer and rapist had at least two framed posters depicting the St Paul and Miller Lite 'beer girls'

Among his art collection was this abstract canvas signed by a 'T Kingston'

This decoy owl is one of the more than 500 that are being sold, with proceeds going to Kohlhepp's victims or their estates

The sale includes multiple lots related to Kohlhepp's real estate business

Kohlhepp was an avid reader of paperback thrillers and was alos interested in science and computers at one point in time, as evidences by these items

Kohlhepp's 96-acre property on Wofford Road in Woodruff will soon be sold at foreclosure

Brown, 31, said she was raped each day of her captivity. Her dramatic rescue from a storage container in November 2016 helped authorities solve seven killings in the area, including that of her boyfriend, 32-year-old Charles Carter.

Bidding opened over the weekend and closes late Wednesday afternoon.

According to the auction's description, the long list of items up for sale includes a Yamaha Grizzly ATV; single-axle trailer; solar panels and solar battery collection system; large chain link dog run; real estate items; hand and power tools; survival items; shelving and other household goods.

Kohlhepp also had in his possession some wall art, including framed paintings, posters depicting scantily clad 'beer girls' and an eerie motorcycle flag emblazoned with a trio of skulls and the phrase, 'Hell of a Ride.'

Kohlhepp's 96-acre property on Wofford Road in Woodruff will soon be sold at foreclosure, and all items sold at auction must be carted away by their new owners by Friday afternoon.

The court-appointed receiver of Kohlhepp's assets is still determining their value. It's unclear how much money Brown and plaintiffs in five other civil lawsuits against Kohlhepp would actually receive.

Kohlhepp's sole surviving victim Kala Brown, 31, was awarded $6.3million in actual and punitive damages from the killer's estate last week

Kohlhepp told Brown he killed Joe Coxie, 29, and his wife, Meagan Leigh McCraw-Coxie, 26 (pictured together), in 2015 and buried their bodies on his land

30-year-old Brian Lucas (left) and 26-year-old Chris Sherbert (right) were killed by Kohlhepp

Kohlhepp also admitted that he had killed Beverly Guy, 52 (left), and her son, 30-year-old Scott Ponder (right) in the Superbike motorcycle shop in November 2003

In May 2017, Kohlhepp was sentenced to seven life terms plus 60 years for killing seven people, including husband and wife Johnny Joe Coxie, 29, and Meagan Leigh McCraw-Coxie, 26, in December 2015.

He also admitted to Brown during her captivity that he had killed Scott Ponder, 30; Beverly Guy, 52; Brian Lucas, 30; and Chris Sherbert, 26, at the Superbike motorcycle shop in November 2003.

Kohlhepp has told a television documentary crew that he has two additional victims buried near an interstate, sparking a large-scale search on August 22, which failed to turn up any bodies.Dominic Raab today admitted that a Brexit deal could be delayed until after the October deadline - amid fears the UK could crash out without an agreement.

The new Brexit Secretary insisted that ministers are 'ambitious' and still optimistic a deal can be done with Brussels.

But he said that finalising the agreement could 'creep beyond' the EU summit on October 18 and 19, which has been the deadline for the talks.

His remarks, made in front of the House of Lords select committee on the EU, is the first time a minister involved in talks has publicly admitted the deadline could slip.

Mr Raab made the admission as he called for the EU to match the UK's energy in coming up with a deal for the crunch talks.

He also warned Britain could cut the 40billion Brexit divorce bill and delay what cash it does hand over if the country crashes out without a deal.

And he furiously hit back at claims that Theresa May's controversial Chequers proposal amounted to the UK 'begging' the EU for a deal - insisting 'we don't beg'.

In a separate development today, EU negotiator Michel Barnier finally conceded he would have to offer Britain a unique deal on Brexit.

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The new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab (pictured at the Lords select committee today) said a deal could be delayed until after October this year but insisted that ministers are 'ambitious' and still optimistic a deal can be done with Brussels

Theresa May (pictured today being welcomed to Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on the right of the photo) is working furiously to get a Brexit deal done by the end of the year

He said: 'It's important as we enter the final phase of the negotiations to the lead up to the October council and the possibility that it may creep beyond that, we want to see some renewed energy.

What is in Theresa May's Brexit blueprint? These are some of the key features of the Chequers plan being pushed by the UK government: A new free trade area in goods, based on a 'common rulebook' of EU regulations necessary. This will require the UK to commit by treaty to match EU rules

'Mobility' rules which will end automatic freedom of movement, but still allow UK and EU citizens to travel without visas for tourism and temporary work. It will also enable businesses to move staff between countries.

Continued UK participation in and funding of European agencies covering areas like chemicals, aviation safety and medicines

A 'facilitated customs arrangement', removing the need for customs checks at UK-EU ports. It would allow differing UK and EU tariffs on goods from elsewhere in the world to be paid at the border, removing the need for rebates in the vast majority of cases. This is designed to avoid the need for a hard Irish border. But in theory it still allows Britain to sign trade deals.

Keeping services - such as banking or legal support - outside of the common rule book, meaning the UK is completely free to set its own regulations. It accepts it will mean less trade in services between the UK and EU.

Continued co-operation on energy and transport, a 'common rulebook' on state aid and commitments to maintain high standards of environmental and workplace protections.

A security deal allowing continued UK participation in Europol and Eurojust, 'co-ordination' of UK and EU policies on foreign affairs, defence and development.

Continued use of the EHIC health insurance card. Advertisement

'We are bringing the ambition and substance of our white paper on our future relationship, and also some pragmatism to go the extra mile to get the deal that I think is in both sides interests.

'We need that to be matched. Obviously.'

He said that a deal is 80 per cent done and that 'the contours of an agreement is there'.

He added: 'I'm confident that a deal is in our sights. We are bringing ambition pragmatism and energy and if it is matched as I expect it will be, if it is matched then we get a deal.

The chairman of the committee, Lord Boswell of Aynho, quizzed the minister on how delayed a deal may be.

He said: 'You have indicated it could go a bit further than that  can we ask you to go a it further.'

Mr Raab said: 'My starting point is March next year when we are leaving the EU and I work back from there.

'We are aiming for the October council, but there is some measure of leeway.'

His words are a shift in tone from the Government, which yesterday was still stressing that it is working towards the October deadline.

The PM's spokesman said yesterday: 'The PM has already addressed this. She has confirmed we are working to the October deadline and that remains the case.

'We are working to the deadline. There is a deadline the Commission set out and we are working to that.'

Mr Raab also played down reports in The Guardian today suggesting that the EU's lead Brexit negotiator Mr Barnier has snubbed his requests for more face to face talks with him.

The newspaper reported that despite his assertion that he is available '24/7' for talks, Mr Raab had been left frustrated at his lack of meetings with Mr Barnier.

But the UK ministers poured cold water on the report today - insisting he has met with Mr Barnier several times and the two have a close working relationship.

His remarks, made in front of the House of Lords select committee on the EU, is the first time a minster has publicly admitted the deadline could slip

Asked about it today, Mr Raab said: 'In relation to whatever tittle tattle will appear in whatever newspaper, I'm in Brussels tomorrow evening for a long substantive meeting with Mr Barnier on Friday.

Minister tells French business leaders to back the Chequers plans or face no deal It is Chequers or no deal on Brexit, de facto deputy prime minister David Lidington today told a French business conference. Speaking to France's largest employer federation, the Mouvement des Entreprises de France, Mr Lidington said the UK is trying to reach a pragmatic solution. But the Cabinet Office Minister said the EU's proposal remained unacceptable. He said: 'With exactly seven months until the end of the Article 50 process and less than two months ahead of the October European Council, we face the choice between the pragmatic proposals we are discussing now with the European Commission or no deal. 'The alternative models do not meet the level of ambition or the outcome we all want to see delivered. 'So we need the EU to engage with us on our positive vision of the future relationship.' Mr Lidington appealed for compromise from the EU side on the basis of co-operation over trade. 'The mercantilist system of rivalry and conflict that once characterised relationships in Europe is long in the past,' he said. 'Trade liberalisation has been key to the peace, stability and prosperity that we have enjoyed in Western Europe in recent decades. It is an agenda we have worked together to promote. 'It is through this system that France continues to enjoy a big trade surplus in goods with the UK - in fact, it is currently France's biggest trade surplus with any EU country, in the region of six billion euros.' Advertisement

'On a one to one level, we have established a good professional personal rapport.

'I would say we have a good working relationship and the beginnings of a good personal relationship.and these things matter.'

Mr Raab is making his first appearance in front of the Lords select committee since being promoted to Brexit Secretary in July after David Davis' shock resignation.

Mr Davis quit the role in protest at Mrs May's Chequers proposal - a compromise deal which would mean the UK sticks to EU rules for goods but leaves the single market and customs union.

The proposal sparked outcry from Brexiteers and Tory activists who warned it would leave the UK stuck half inside the Brussels bloc and hamper the country's ability to strike free trade deals globally.

And the EU also greeted the plan with scepticism - and it emerged yesterday that Mr Barnier threatened to boycott Brexit talks if Mrs May insisted on basing a deal on her Chequers plans.

Mr Barnier furiously told officials the controversial proposals could save British businesses billions of pounds a year if they were able to trade in Europe free from many EU regulations.

Speaking in front of the select committee today, Mr Raab admitted that Chequers had involved a big 'compromise' by the UK - and that was why Mr Davis had quit.

But he also insisted the Chequers plan has won support in Europe, telling the peers: 'There are still some hard rounds to do on the future relationship for sure.

'But I actually think it has had a reasonably positive landing.'

And he denied claims by Labour peer Lord Liddle that the proposal amounts to begging the EU for a deal, telling the committee: 'We don't beg, and I certainly don't beg.'

He also suggested that the 40bn Brexit divorce bill could be cut if the UK crashes out without a deal.

Barnier FINALLY says the EU will offer Britain a unique deal on Brexit after months of stalemate EU negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured today in Berlin) has finally conceded he would have to offer Britain a unique deal on Brexit today in the first hint of a climbdown from Brussels EU negotiator Michel Barnier finally conceded he would have to offer Britain a unique deal on Brexit today in the first hint of a climb down from Brussels. In remarks that sent the pound soaring up against the euro and the dollar, Mr Barnier promised a 'partnership with Britain such as has never been with any other third country'. Mr Barnier has repeatedly insisted Britain must choose from an existing model used by either Norway or Canada - deal the UK say are unacceptable. The Brussels chief still insists Britain cannot have an 'a la carte' choice of benefits from the EU single market. The intervention is a significant boost for Theresa May who has spent the summer trying to win support in EU capitals for her Brexit blueprint. Her Chequers plan - which triggered the resignation of Boris Johnson and David Davis in July - had been rejected in previous statements by EU leaders. Mr Barnier told reporters in Berlin: 'We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country. 'We respect Britain's red lines scrupulously. In return, they must respect what we are. 'Single market means single market ... There is no single market a la carte.' The remarks appear to be a significant departure from the EU position, echoed as recently as Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron. Advertisement

He said: 'Her majesty's Government always pays its dues.

'Equally, the financial settlement, as it's calibrated in the withdrawal agreement, reflects a whole range of considerations not just the strict legal obligations.

'And if we left with no deal then not only would there be a question around quite what the shape of those financial obligations were as a matter of strict law, but secondly on the timing.

'Remember that the timing of payments is actually - we overlook it on our side - rather important on the EU side because of the way money is distributed, but... I don't think it could be safely assumed on anyone's side that the financial settlement as has been agreed by the withdrawal agreement would then just be paid in precisely the same shape or speed or rate if there was no deal.

'As I said that would be a peculiar position for the UK to take because we view the package as a whole.'

Mr Raab was also quizzed on the thorny issue of the Irish border, which has threatened to derail the talks.

The EU wants a 'backstop' which would see Northern Ireland effectively stay in the single market and customs union if no other deal can be done.

The Brexit Secretary insisted that it 'is not on the cards' as it would create a border in the Irish Sea, and he stressed that any backstop for Northern Ireland must be 'temporary' and 'short'.

He added: 'We have been very clear that in the event of a no deal scenario we would not return to a hard border or extra infrastructure at the border.'

He said: 'The Prime Minister has been clear that the EU proposals were unacceptable. I don't have the solution to give you yet.

'Michel Barnier has also confirmed he is open to new solutions on the backstop and he has said the backstop we eventually agree on is not necessarily going to be the one the Commission came up with.

'He has acknowledged the position could be amended or improved.

'What I can say is we're both committed to a solution and there is a lot of interesting, innovative technical work to make sure we resolve it.'

He also warned Brussels not to 'punish' the City of London in a Brexit deal - warning that banking centres outside Europe like Tokyo and New York will be the only winners.

Dominic Raab (pictured with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels in July, played down reports that Mr Barnier has been snubbing his requests for meetings and said they have a close working relationship

The UK's financial services were intertwined with the continental economy, he said, adding: 'I'm not going to use the word fear-mongering, but those sort of concerns have been, at least in some quarters, over exacerbated.'

He said: 'I think that's why ultimately we'll come to a sensible arrangement on this.

'At least on one estimate, one trillion pounds worth of UK financial services investment going into the continental economy. I think people would need to think very seriously about the impact of trying to choke that off, not just on businesses but also, as I said, the consumers that rely on those businesses in the EU.'A Kentucky woman who shot her boyfriend in the face just before he was due to meet Miss Ohio 2012 for a date has been found guilty of murder.

After two trials, a jury has once again convicted Shayna Hubers, 27, for killing 29-year-old Ryan Poston. She will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Hubers had claimed she shot the attorney in self-defense because she 'feared' him. Prosecutors said she murdered him because he wanted to break-up with her.

Surveillance footage from the police interrogation room showed Hubers dancing and singing 'I did it, yes I did it' just hours after the shooting.

It only took five hours for the jury to determine they believed the prosecution.

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Shayna Hubers, 27, has been found guilty of murdering her boyfriend Ryan Poston in 2012. She is pictured here in court on Tuesday before the verdict was read

Hubers had claimed she shot Poston (pictured together) in self-defense after their relationship broke down. Prosecutors said she murdered him because he wanted to break-up with her

Hubers was first found guilty of murdering Poston in 2015 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The trial was thrown out after it was revealed one of the jurors had a prior felony conviction, which is illegal in Kentucky.

Hubers wept into the lap of her attorney before the verdict was read on Tuesday, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

She also mouthed the words 'I love you' to her mother.

Poston's family released a statement after the verdict, saying it brought them peace but not happiness.

Hubers wept into the lap of her attorney before the verdict was read on Tuesday (pictured)

Members of Poston's family hugged after the verdict was read, releasing a statement that said they 'embrace justice, and yet we do not feel joy'

'Today we embrace justice, and yet we do not feel joy,' the statement read. 'It has been six long and heartbreaking years without our beloved Ryan.'

'Those who love Ryan now move forward with the integrity, dignity, and kindness that Ryan exemplified throughout his life.'

The second guilty verdict ends a six-year saga in which intimate and graphic details about the couple - including everything from orgasms to threesomes - was revealed.

On the night of October 12, 2012, Poston was supposed to meet Miss Ohio 2012 Audrey Bolte for a date.

Instead the young lawyer was found dead in his penthouse apartment, shot six times in the forehead, back, and torso.

Surveillance footage from the police interrogation room showed Hubers dancing and singing 'I did it, yes I did it' just hours after the shooting

She can be heard humming and singing Amazing Grace as she walks around the room

She also started dancing around the interrogation room, twirling and snapping her fingers, while she sang 'I killed him, I killed him' and 'I did it. Yes I did it. I can't believe I did that'

Hubers called 911 after the shooting and told the dispatcher: 'Ma'am, I killed my boyfriend.'

She claimed Poston had pushed her and thrown her against furniture in the moments before she fired the first shot in his face.

But three of Hubers' cellmates testified that she boasted about giving Poston the 'nose job he always wanted' and cackled once he was dead.

Donna Dooley, Holly Nivens, and Cecily Miller all told the court Hubers still showed no remorse for the killing, Cincinnati.com reported.

Nivens said she overheard Hubers on the phone to her mother saying Poston's family was rich enough to buy another son.

'She would get on the phone and cry and sing to her mom and say there's worse crimes than murder,' Dooley added.

Their accounts were similar to what Hubers herself told police after she was questioned following the shooting.

Poston died shortly before he was due to meet Miss Ohio 2012 Audrey Bolte for a date on October 12, 2012. She is pictured at Miss USA in Las Vegas on June 3, 2012 (left) and in New York City on September 7 of that year

Hubers cried in court last Tuesday (pictured) during her retrial as she took the stand and claimed she 'feared' her boyfriend

'He's very vain,' she was recorded telling police about Poston. 'One of our last conversations we had that was good was that he wants to get a nose job.'

'And I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job he wanted. I broke it.'

She also began to question the officers about what life was like behind bars, asking if she'd be allowed to take her phone or have a shower.

Unprompted, Hubers then declared: 'I don't know if anyone will ever want to marry me if they know that I killed a boyfriend in self-defense - not funny.'

When officers stepped out of the room at one point, Hubers began singing Amazing Grace.

She also started dancing around the interrogation room, twirling and snapping her fingers, while she sang 'I killed him, I killed him' and 'I did it. Yes I did it. I can't believe I did that'.

During the second trial, Hubers recounted how she and Poston went on their first date on her 20th birthday in April 2011 after meeting on Facebook months earlier.

She said even on that first night she was rattled by his physicality and how forward he was and called a taxi from the bathroom of a bar to get away.

Hubers claimed that, right after she got back together with Poston a month before his murder, he requested that she 'agree to have threesomes with other girls'

'I remember thinking that he had a strong personality. I feared him. I felt like I need to do what he was telling me to do,' she said, according to Fox 19.

However, they kept dating on and off and often had rough sex when drunk. She said everything went downhill after she refused to do a sexual act in 2012.

'It felt degrading...I didn't know if I trusted him. I feared him,' she said.

Hubers also said Poston was 'callous' when she told him she was sexually assaulted by a stranger in a restroom in 2007 and molested by her father.

She claimed he once threw her out of the window of his condominium in the spring of 2012, repeatedly slammed the door on her body when she tried to get back in, and then threw her keys and purse at her.

Hubers admitted that she was also violent with Poston as their fights escalated over the course of the year.

'I smacked or hit him in the face around his mouth. He shoved me, he shoved me back,' she said.

The pair tried to get back together about a month before the murder, but Poston had conditions that would drastically change their relationship.

Hubers is pictured watching a court hearing in 2015. The guilty verdict reached at that trial was thrown out because a juror was found to have had a previous conviction

'He wanted me to be his incognito girlfriend and he wanted me to talk 25 percent less, he always said I talked too much,' Hubers testified.

'And he wanted me to get a hobby while I was at his condo and he wanted me to also agree to have threesomes with other girls.'

But Carissa Carlisle, Poston's step-cousin, said the attorney tried to end the relationship 'multiple times'.

At one point he even asked Carlisle to tell Hubers why the relationship was ending.

'She never actually listened to me though,' Carlisle said as she testified.

Carlisle said Hubers would often steal her phone so she could contact Poston.

Highland Heights Police Chief Bill Birkenhauer said Hubers would also log onto Poston's Facebook and block women.

He said Hubers bombarded Poston with a hundred texts for every one he sent after one of their regular break-ups, even messaging him from her friends' phones.

Meanwhile, the defense spent a significant amount of time on the trial discussing texts in which Hubers revealed her struggle to orgasm with Poston.

Birkenhauer said Poston did tell Hubers in one text that she might better achieve orgasm if she got breast implants.

'He wanted her for sex,' Hubers' defense attorney, David Eldridge, said in his closing statement.

'He would push her away and then bring her back. And then he would tell his friends she was crazy.'

'There was a perfect looking couple on the outside that was deeply flawed on the inside. Their deeply troubled relationship came to a tragic end.'

'You put six bullets in a person, you're going to have to say it was self-defense,' Campbell County Prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass said in her closing statement.

'Or you're going to have to admit you're a cold-blooded killer.'Harvey Weinstein is appealing against a judge's ruling that luring an aspiring actress to his hotel room with the false promise of film roles in exchange for sex could constitute sex trafficking.

The disgraced mogul claims New York Judge Robert Sweet got the law wrong when he allowed British actress Kadian Noble's case to progress earlier this month.

Weinstein's request for an immediate appeal would mark a break with usual court process if it is granted. Typically a case has to be heard and a decision given before it can be appealed.

Harvey Weinstein (pictured in Connecticut on Saturday) is trying to have a sex trafficking lawsuit brought against him by a British actress dismissed for a second time

Earlier this month a New York judge rejected Weinstein's first attempt to have the case thrown out, saying that luring an actress to a hotel room with a false promise of film roles in exchange for sex could constitute trafficking

Sweet's opinion does not represent a final ruling in the case, but simply allows it to progress on to the next stage.

Noble's case has been followed by a German actress using the pseudonym Emma Loman, and Weinstein's lawyers say more will follow if the ruling is allowed to stand.

Weinstein's lawyers said that Noble's 'belief that she might receive something of value,' including a potential film role, 'does not meet the standards required to prove he engaged in a commercial sex act', Page Six reports.

The mogul invited Noble to his hotel room in February 2014 to watch her demo reel before allegedly molesting her and forcing her into a bathroom to watch him masturbate.

The actress claimed Weinstein set up the encounter a year before in London, when he told her that he 'had a role in mind for her and that 'it will be good for you,'' reported the New York Post.

When they met in Cannes, the movie mogul asked Noble to meet him at Le Majestic Hotel to talk over her film reel.

But instead he started massaging her and told her walk up and down the room for an 'audition' before assaulting her in the restroom, the court heard. 'Everything will be taken care of for you relax,' Noble claimed he said.

Kadian Noble claims Weinstein asked her to come to his hotel room in Cannes in 2014 before pressuring her into sex acts

Judge Sweet ruled Weinstein's behavior could fall under the federal definition of sex trafficking, explaining that previous courts had applied it to 'defendants who have lured women, under false pretenses, with lucrative promises for sexual purposes'.

'Here the pattern of behavior  alleged a knowing and understanding that Harvey would use fraudulent means to entice Noble to engage in a sex act with him,' he added.

The judge cited evidence that Weinstein had promised Noble a film role and said 'everything would be taken care of'.

He also noted that, for an actress, the mere fact of meeting a world-renowned film producer carries value.

'The opportunity, moreover, for the actress to sit down with that producer in a private meeting to review her film reel and discuss a promised film role carries value that is career-making and life-changing,' he said.

'The contention, therefore, that Noble was given nothing of value - that the expectation of a film role, of a modeling meeting, of 'his people' being 'in touch with her' had no value - does not reflect modern reality,' the judge continued.

He included a footnote at the word 'reality', citing sources that explain that the concept of the ''casting couch' - in which aspiring actors and actresses are promised valuable professional opportunities in exchange for sexual favors - has been in the American lexicon for 'nearly a century'.

Weinstein is already facing a second sex trafficking case brought by a German actress in the wake of Noble's claim, and his lawyers warn that others will likely follow

Weinstein denies wrongdoing, and claimed through his lawyers that letting the lawsuit proceed to trial means sex trafficking laws now cover all sexual activity between adults when one person holds power and influence over the other.

Sweet said that even if the prospect of a film role, a modeling meeting or a continued professional relationship with Weinstein were not enough to constitute 'things of value' necessary under the sex trafficking statute, then her 'reasonable expectation of receiving those things in the future, based on Harvey's repeated representations that she would, is sufficient.'

Sweet also dismissed Weinstein's brother Robert from the lawsuit, saying the prosecution had not convincingly argued he knew of his brother's actions.

Weinstein's lawyers Phyllis Kupferstein said: 'This decision is just the first round, and merely finds that plaintiff has alleged enough to proceed with her case.

'It does not mean that there is merit to the case. We will seek to appeal the decision. We believe these claims are not legally or factually supported, and ultimately will not be sustained.'More than 500 undergraduate members of a fraternity trying to shake off its notorious reputation were left in tears as three sets of parents who'd lost their children to hazing rituals told their stories.

Sitting in the Sheraton Grand in Phoenix earlier this month, the parents of Tim Piazza, Max Gruver, and Marquise Braham talked about the day their children went to college.

Moments later, they spoke about the next time they saw their boys - who were fighting for their lives in hospital, or already dead, video shared by the Record shows.

The three sets of parents, whose children were in different fraternities in different parts of the country, explained how they were forced to say goodbye, or how they told their child to 'hang in there', before losing them forever.

The parents of Tim Piazza (left), Marquise Braham (center) and Max Gruver (right), who all died as a result of hazing practices, delivered a powerful anti-hazing speech to fraternity members earlier this month

The group were addressing members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which is often regarded to be one of the deadliest fraternities in the country

As each story took its heartbreaking turn, the boys, each a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, were seen with their heads in their hands, wiping away tears.

The fraternity had asked the families to speak as part of its push to turn away from its former traditions, which at one point saw two pledges die during hazing rituals in five years.

A spokesman for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon told DailyMail.com their process had changed in response to the devastating incidents, with all pledges to be initiated within 96 hours, and in a safer way.

At the end, the group were seen speaking with each parent, hugging them and continuing their dialogue on how to bring an end to hazing - an initiation process for new members of a fraternity which usually involves heavy drinking and punishments dealt out by older members.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon has a reputation as one of the country's most well-connected fraternities, with Gawker reporting many join as a means of getting a plum job on Wall Street after graduation.

But SAE is also one of the deadliest fraternities. From 2005 to 2012, 10 fraternity members died in hazing rituals, NBC reported.

Throughout the country, at least 43 people have died in hazing rituals in the past 10 years alone.

Tim Piazza died in February 2017, after consuming 18 alcoholic beverages in just under 90 minutes as part of a hazing ritual, and falling down the stairs.

More than 500 members were in attendance, and many were seen to be visibly moved, either sitting with their heads in their hands, wiping away tears, or with flushed faces

Tim Piazza (pictured with family) died after being forced to drink heavily and falling down a set of stairs

Piazza, 19, was not given medical attention until the next morning.

Recounting the traumatic events of the night her son died, his mother Evelyn asked the group of frat boys to put themselves in her family's place.

'You rush to the hospital and find your brother on life support. The only skin showing is his shoulders,' she said.

'A nurse pulls your mum forward and tells her to kiss her baby goodbye. Even though he's unconscious, you tell him to hang in there, that you're proud of him, and you love him.

Max Gruver was forced to drink 180-proof alcohol, but when he was left on a couch to sleep it off, he choked on his own vomit and died. Despite his severe intoxication, nobody had called for help. Gruver had a blood alcohol level nearly six times the limit

'A tear rolls down his cheek, and you think he heard you. And then they take him away.'

RaeAnn and Steve Gruver, the parents of Max Gruver, 18, showed the audience the last photo they had of their son - taken the day they dropped him off at college.

Ms Gruver said just 29 days later, her son had died after alcohol-fueled hazing. Gruver was forced to drink more than the other pledges because he was late, BRProud reported.

He fell unconscious, and was placed on a couch, where he choked on his own vomit and died, The Advocate reported.

Gruver had been left on the couch to sleep, and none of his brothers had called for help. When he died, the teenager had a blood alcohol level of .495 - more than six times the legal limit.

'Our family will have to live the rest of our lives without our oldest son, a grandson. a cousin, a best friend,' she said.

'This is not the college experience we, or any of you, are looking for.'

Maille and Rich Braham, the parents of Marquise Braham, lost their son to suicide.

The devastated family have said after looking into his death, they believe the 18-year-old freshman took his own life over guilt he felt for things that had happened during his hazing.

'Every year, people would wait, look forward to getting the Braham family Christmas card,' Mr Braham said.

'We don't do Christmas cards anymore. Our family's shattered.'

Rich Braham, the father of Marquise Braham, says his family was left 'shattered' after his son committed suicide. Mr Braham believes Marquise died after being traumatized by his hazing

Mr Braham wrapped up the speech, asking the fraternity brothers: 'Would you shove grain alcohol down your sibling's throat? Is that what being a brother is to you?

'Would you watch him die? And do nothing to save him - not even call 911? Is that being a brother?'

The powerful speech was used to launch a day of group discussions on how to change the hazing culture of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, with everyone in attendance reported to have eagerly participated.

Spencer Bradbury, 20, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs told NBC he was heartbroken after listening to the parents speak.

'I'm a big momma's boy, and hearing moms talk about their sons being hazed to death broke my heart,' he said.

'I could never leave my family. So immediately I'm breaking down into tears.'British forces are to step up training of Nigerian troops fighting Boko Haram extremists, it was revealed today.

Theresa May announced that military cooperation is being intensified as she visited the country on the second stop of her African tour.

Hardline Islamist group Boko Haram have causing havoc in west Africa for years, with the effects spreading to Europe.

The question of how to counter the threat was discussed by Mrs May and President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja this afternoon.

The leaders signed the first UK-Nigeria security and defence partnership.

The question of how to counter the threat from Boko Haram was discussed by Theresa May and Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja this afternoon (pictured)

More equipment and training will be provided to protect Nigerian soldiers from IEDs.

Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa are said to be responsible for the deaths of over 20,000 people, with almost 2million still forced to live away from their homes in the north east of the country.

The agreement is designed to help stop this regional menace from spreading and posing a direct threat to the UK.

Under the new partnership, Britain will expand its provision of equipment and training on IEDs for the Nigerian military.

The UK has also offered to help Nigeria - for the first time - train full army units before they deploy to the North East. Currently, soldiers are trained individually rather than in their fighting teams.

The plan builds on the UK's assistance in training more than 30,000 Nigerian troops since 2015.

British forces are to step up training of Nigerian troops fighting Boko Haram extremists, it was revealed today (file image of the terror group leader Abubakar Shekau)

The question of how to counter the threat was discussed by Mrs May and president Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja this afternoon

Mrs May said: 'No-one should live in fear of being targeted by militants or forced from their homes, and no child should lose out on an education because of the threat of terror.

'Insecurity, violence and extremism destabilise countries and regions and undermine growth  holding back entire generations from reaching their potential.

'It is only when people are safe and communities stable that nations have the opportunity to thrive.

'We are determined to work side by side with Nigeria to help them fight terrorism, reduce conflict, and lay the foundations for the future stability and prosperity that will benefit us all.'

Mrs May is heading to Lagos to meet survivors of modern slavery.

UK and French support to help Nigeria and Niger develop their borders to prevent trafficking, and counselling plus training to help 1,700 migrants and victims of modern slavery are among the pledges to be made.A Kazakh nursery worker is facing criminal charges after she was filmed torturing an 18-month-old girl in a 'kindergarten from hell'.

Nana Barkalaya had reportedly been unruly and refused to stop screaming, after which teacher Umit Pirmakhanova, 50, held her down on a bed.

Video footage shows Pirmakhanova, 50, holding a bed cover tightly over little Nana's face, exerting pressure on her neck as she smothers her.

A shocked assistant filmed the appalling scene at a Russian-language kindergarten at Temitau, Kazakhstan, but said she was too scared to intervene.

The teacher used her strength to tightly hold the cover over the child's head for almost two minutes as the girl screams.

She then released the cover and said: 'There, now shut your mouth.'

She ordered the girl in Russian 'Stop it now', forcing a dummy into her mouth.

The scene was at a Russian-langauge kindergarten at Temitau, a city in ex-Soviet republic Kazakhstan.

Video footage shows Umit Pirmakhanova, 50, holding a bed cover tightly over 18-month-old face seeking to force the upset toddler to stop crying

A shocked assistant filmed the appalling scene at a Russian-language kindergarten at Temitau, Kazakhstan, but said she was too scared to intervene

The teacher is facing criminal charges over the incident after the video was made public amid fear such torture is routine at the Domik - Little House - kindergarten.

Pirmakhanova - who can be jailed for 75 days for cruelty - confessed to having a 'fiery temper'.

'I was very tired,' she said. 'I am sorry for what I did. I got way too nervous with the child

'The girl was jumping on beds and screaming, she was stopping other children from falling asleep.'

Upset: Nana's family, including her mother Anna Barkalaya, left, and grandmother Liudmila Mantler, 54, right, has demanded the strictest possible punishment for the teacher

Grim: The Domik kindergarten in the block of flats in Temirtau, Kazakhstan

Nana's mother Anna Barkalaya demanded the 'strictest punishment' for the kindergarten staff and vowed to go to court to seek its closure.

The child's grandmother Liudmila Mantler, 54, said: 'I feel so guilty on behalf of our baby.

'I feel like we were taking her straight to this hell with our own hands.

'I don't know if I will ever be able to live with this, or if I will ever be able to forget this sight.'

She said: 'We noticed that Nana changed and became aggressive after going to this kindergarten.

'She started fighting with us and with other children, she was screaming at nights.

'But she could not explain what actually happened, and we didn't guess! We are so guilty.'

Kindergarten director Kristina Takirova admitted she expects to be punished over the incident.President Donald Trump hailed his retiring White House counsel as the president revealed he personally gave the green light for Don McGahn to submit to interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators.

Trump lauded McGahn hours after he broke the news of McGahn's retirement on Twitter  not only to the nation but to McGahn himself.

'Hes a good man. Very good man. Don  excellent guy,' Trump said of the lawyer who was reported to have spoken to investigators for 30 hours.

Scroll down for video

'You know, I had to approve it. We didnt claim executive ' Trump said, asked if he was upset that retiring White House counsel Don McGahn spoke to Robert Mueller's investigators

'Don McGahns a really good guy. Been with me for a long time. Privately before this he represented me,' Trump said, saluting the inside lawyer after reports there have been strains in their relationship for months.

'A lot of affection for Don. Hell be moving on probably the private sector, maybe the private sector. And hell do very well. Hes done an excellent job,' said Trump.

Trump said he didn't have a problem with McGahn talking talking to Mueller, whose Russia probe has gone on for more than a year.

President Donald Trump announced that White House counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his post.

Then he added: 'I knew he was going also. You know, I had to approve it. We didnt claim executive,' Trump said, ending his thought, and likely referencing executive privelege.

Then he backtracked: 'No I dont have to be aware, we have, we do everything straight, we do everything by the book. And Don is an excellent guy.'

Earlier Wednesday, Trump announced that McGahn  who cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller but whom the president defended as not being a 'RAT'  will be leaving his post.

Trump lauded McGahn in comments from the White House

The Washington Post reported that McGahn learned about his departure from the tweet, without getting advance notice.

McGahn has cooperated with extensively with Mueller's investigators, who have been probing Russian election interference as well as potential obstruction issues such as the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

But he did so with a green light from Trump's original legal team. He also has been identified with Trump's successful push to stack the judiciary with conservatives to lifetime appointments.

Trump sent off McGahn, who will be leaving the White House this fall, with a compliment in a Wednesday tweet.

'White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,' Trump wrote. 'I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!'

Trump insisted McGan is 'not a RAT' in a tweet after a New York Times report on his cooperation, which included 30 hours of interviews.

The two men have clashed and have a tense relationship.

White House counsel Don McGahn, follows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to his meeting with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018

Trump announced the coming departure on Twitter

Axios reported Wednesday morning on McGahn's departure  based on anonymous sourcing. Also on Wednesday, Trump attacked anonymous sources and said they were fake and should not be believed.

According to the report, McGahn favors as his successor Emmett Flood, who represents Trump in the Russia probe from inside the White House.

Earlier this month Trump tore into a New York Times account, which characterized McGahn's cooperation with Mueller as a potential threat to the White House.

Trump in a tweet invoked former White House counsel John Dean, who cooperated with prosecutors during Watergate, helping to ultimately bring down Richard Nixon.

'The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type 'RAT,' Trump wrote. The president misspelled 'counsel' in the tweet.

'But I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn't have to. I have nothing to hide......' the president added.

Dean responded: ''Trump, a total incompetent, is bungling and botching his handling of Russiagate. Fate is never kind to bunglers and/or botchers! Unlike Nixon, however, Trump won't leave willingly or graciously.'

Earlier Trump blasted anonymous sources  although an anonymously sourced report Wednesday morning anticipated the announcement Trump confirmed

McGahn  who was present throughout the chaotic early days of the Trump administration as national security advisor Mike Flynn was fired, the travel ban was drafted, Trump fired Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself and Mueller was appointed  cooperated with the consent of Trump's original legal team.

Trump's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told NBC's 'Meet the Press' this month Trump didn't did not raise executive privilege in hopes of bringing the probe to a speedy close.

'The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president,' Giuliani said.

McGahn previously served as a commissioner on the Federal Elections Commission and as the top lawyer on Trump's campaign.

He also oversaw the successful confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, which Trump touts as one of his main accomplishments.

Out of the spotlight, he has also helped steer Circuit Court and District Court judges through the system.

Not all the nominees went through in the push to bill benches at the start of Trump's term.

Brett Talley, who was a 36-year old Justice Department official, withdrew despite clearing the Judiciary Committee after with a unanimous unqualified rating from the America Bar Association. It emerged that he failed to disclose blog posts he penned under a pseudonym including one backing the early Ku Klux Klan, as NPR reported. He also didn't disclose he was married to McGahn's chief of staff.

McGahn threatened to quit when Trump threatened to fire Mueller last June, the New York Times reported.Iran's Supreme Leader today threatened to scrap the nuclear deal if guarantees about trade and oil sales are not met.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there was 'no hope' European countries could save the agreement, made with other world powers in 2015.

The accord was put under threat following the US withdrawl by Donald Trump in May.

Britain, France and Germany condemned the move and promised to stay in the nuclear agreement, claiming it was the only way to prevent a Middle-Eastern nuclear arms race.

But Tehran might now also abandon the agreement if guarantees on oil sales and trade are not met, the religious leader said.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned there was 'no hope' of saving the nuclear deal if the US did not relax recently imposed sanctions

President Hassan Rouhani has came under increased pressure at home over his handling of the economy in the face of heavier US sanctions.

As key ministers in Rouhani's government came under attack by parliament, Khamenei warned the president not to rely too much on European support to save the deal.

Following US President Donald Trump's exit from an international accord that would curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, European powers have been scrambling to ensure Iran continues to get the economic benefits needed to keep it in the nuclear deal alive.

But in his comments published on his official website, Khamenei told Rouhani and his cabinet today: 'There is no problem with negotiations and keeping contact with the Europeans, but you should give up hope on them over economic issues or the nuclear deal.

'The nuclear deal is a means, not the goal, and if we come to this conclusion that it does not serve our national interests, we can abandon it.'

Ayatollah Khamenei (left) warned President Hassan Rouhani (right) that European countries could not save the 2015 nuclear deal

Khamenei set out a series of conditions in May for European powers if they wanted to keep Tehran in the deal.

They included steps by European banks to safeguard trade with Tehran and guarantee Iranian oil sales.

Speaking at the same meeting on Wednesday, Khamenei said Tehran would not negotiate with 'indecent and confrontational' US officials to reach a new agreement on its nuclear programme because Washington 'wants to boast they managed to bring Iran to the negotiation table'.

Khamenei told Rouhani and his cabinet to work 'day and night' to solve the mounting economic problems which include the collapse of the rial currency and surging unemployment.

But at the same time he appeared to call on parliament not to press too much on Rouhani who has been severely grilled over economic performance.

Officials should unite against American pressure, he said, since publicising differences would only make the nation more unhappy.

Earlier today, Iranian lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against the education minister, adding to the pressure on Rouhani.

The move came only three days after lawmakers sacked the minister of economy and finance blaming him for the collapse of the plight of the rial and mounting unemployment. Just weeks earlier they also dismissed the labour minister.

Another motion, signed by 70 lawmakers, aims to impeach the minister of industry, mines and business.

Rouhani won two landslide elections on a platform of economic reform and opening Iran up to the outside world, and his pragmatic supporters have a majority in the parliament.

But his reputation and political influence have taken a sharp hit as his promised economic gains have failed to materialise and US sanctions have begun to bite.

American president Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal after dubbing Iran the 'worlds leading state sponsor of terror' in May

Washington imposed sanctions on the acquisition of US dollars by Iran and it will reimpose sanctions on Tehran's oil exports and banking sector in November.

Iran's official unemployment rate is 12 percent, with youth unemployment as high as 25 percent in a country where 60 percent of the 80 million population is under 30. The rial has lost more than two-thirds of its value in a year.

A group of 20 lawmakers signed a motion on Wednesday accusing Education Minister Mohammad Bathaei of failing to reform the education system and rejuvenate schools, state news agency IRNA reported.

That is enough votes to force Bathaei to come to parliament to answer questions on his record in the next 10 days. If lawmakers are unhappy with his answers, they can vote to impeach and sack him.

Iran's parliament voted yesterday to reject Rouhani's explanations for economic hardship, a sign his pragmatic faction is losing sway to hardline rivals as new American sanctions bite deeper.

The worst may yet lie ahead as senior US officials have said they aim to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero after the new round of sanctions in November.

Iran has said if it cannot sell its oil due to US pressure, then no other regional country will be allowed to do so either, threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic artery linking the Gulf crude producers to the world.

A senior Iranian military official said on Wednesday if foreign forces in the Gulf do not follow international laws, they would face the Revolutionary Guards' firm response.Advertisement

Amusing images show Coopers being flung into barrels they have made and covered in a mix of soot, wood, ash, water and beer in an age-old tradition to celebrate them finishing their apprenticeships.

Coopers are workmen who make casks, barrels and troughs out of timber that they heat up to make pliable enough to bend into shape.

Since the days of Elizabeth I apprentices have been 'passed out' by being hoisted into the air by their colleagues, thrown into barrels and doused in an unpleasant mix of soot, whitewash and sawdust among other things.

Pictures of the unusual 'trussing' initiation ceremony have been uncovered from Whitbread's brewery in Chiswell Street in the City of London.

The funny photos show one apprentice in the barrel being covered in a mysterious concoction with the aid of a mop during a ceremony at one of their sites in Pimlico, south London.

Images show young Coopers being flung into barrels they have made and covered in a mix of soot, wood, ash, water and beer in an age-old tradition to celebrate them finishing their apprenticeships. Pictured Apprentice Robert Leece in December 1955

A cooper apprentice called Vernon is pictured being initiated into the trade on his 21st birthday in March 1962 (left). Another young cooper called James Pettengell, 21, from Bromley, is pictured (right) inside his barrel covered in a mix of liquid and dust

Over the barrel! A young Cooper apprentice is pictured left in London in 1950. He keeps his head above the edges as his colleagues hammer on the last hoops before he is doused in the unpleasant mix. Another happy Cooper is pictured in 1955 covered in the unusual concoction of water, beer, soot, ash and whitewash (right)

Another is captured being thrown high into the air by his fellow Coopers and another crouching inside his barrel before the ceremony gets underway.

Others show an apprentice bracing himself as his friends roll the barrel, another smiling as oily soot, paint, beer, swill and sawdust are thrown over him, and one at the end of his initiation ceremony being lifted from the barrel covered in mess.

The apprentice is then taken from the cask and thrown high into the air to cheers and banging of cans from his fellow workers. He is then presented with his contract making him a fully-fledged Cooper.

There he is! A young apprentice thrown into his barrel at the age of 21 is pictured emerging from the muck he is covered in by colleagues as part of the unusual ceremony

Fancy a wash? Ronald Barham is pictured (left) being covered in the disgusting mixture with a mop by his colleagues in London in September 1950. He is then seen (right) with a large comb as he jokingly tries to tidy up his oily hair

Well deserved! George K Cassidy aged 21 of Islington, north London is pictured standing in his barrel with a welcome pint after the tossing the Cooper ceremony to celebrate the end of his apprenticeship in January 1961

The last apprentice to be 'trussed' in the photographs is James Pettengell, 21, from Bromley who true to tradition came, from a family of Coopers.

His brother George, 31, who also worked at Whitbreads, helped with his training. The training of apprentices has now ended at Whitbread's with the declining use of wooden casks following the introduction of metal beer barrels.

The 'trussing the Cooper' ceremony, shown in the pictures from the 1950s and 1960s, was repeated over and over again after the brewery was built in the mid-18th century.

James Pettengell, 21, is pictured being thrown into the air by his colleagues before being doused with mucky water and ashA Western tourist has sparked anger after begging for money from locals working at a market in a Thai holiday resort.

The so-called 'begpacker' - calling himself Alex - was seen next to a donation box and signs pleading 'I'm out of savings... please donate for my trip' at Samkong Market on the island of Phuket.

There have been numerous reports of Western travellers begging in the country in the past. But many Thais do not know of the trend and demonstrate their generosity and hospitality by making donations, assuming they are in desperate need of help.

A Western tourist has sparked anger in Thailand after begging for money from locals working at a market

According to the website Coconuts, two unidentified men were sitting next to signs written in Thai and English.

However, it is not clear whether both were begging or one was simply a friend or someone who had just sat down to talk.

One sign said: 'My name is Alex. Im travelling in Asia for 15 months. Sadly, Im out of my savings, but I stay positive.'

The Thai version translated as: 'I'd like to ask for your kindness to fulfill my dream of travelling. Please donate for my trip. Thank you.'

Thai Facebook user Palm J. Sittichai appeared to criticise the men in an online post.

Last year, German Benjamin Holst, dubbed 'the big-legged beggar' because he used his deformed limb to get sympathy and cash to fund partying in Thailand, was banned from the country

Kind-hearted Thais donated hundreds of pounds to help Benjamin Holst in 2014 after they saw him begging on the street and assumed he needed help. But they were left outraged when pictures later emerged appearing to show him partying with girls in Pattaya - the country's sex tourism capital

Benjamin Holst, originally from Flensburg in Germany, suffers from a rare condition known as macrodystrophia lipomatosa which has left his right leg severely inflated

'Wait a minute. They do this now?' he said, adding: 'Is this right?'

The nationality of the men is not yet clear.

Last year, a German man dubbed 'the big-legged beggar' because he used his deformed limb to get sympathy and cash to fund partying in Thailand was banned from the country.

Benjamin Holst, originally from Flensburg in Germany, suffers from a rare condition known as macrodystrophia lipomatosa which has left his right leg severely inflated.

Kind-hearted Thais donated hundreds of pounds to help him in 2014 after they saw him begging on the street and assumed he needed help.

But they were left outraged when pictures later emerged appearing to show him partying with girls in Pattaya - the country's sex tourism capital.

Last year, a series of pictures emerged showing how wealthy Western backpackers are increasingly begging across South East Asia simply to fund their trips in the region. The trend caused outrage among locals, who say the tourists are taking money from the truly needy in order to finance lifestyle choices many consider a luxury.

An attempt to reach the country in September last year, however, appeared to backfire after he was barred from boarding a flight from Zurich in Switzerland amid reports he had been blacklisted by Thai immigration.

Last year, a series of pictures emerged showing how wealthy Western backpackers are increasingly begging across South East Asia simply to fund their trips in the region.

The trend caused outrage among locals, who say the tourists are taking money from the truly needy in order to finance lifestyle choices many consider a luxury.A man who allegedly convinced children to have sex with one another was the 'white sheep' of the infamous 'Colt' incest family, his lawyer says.

Under the court-ordered pseudonym of Frank Colt, the 49-year-old is accused of horrific child abuse, uncovered in Australia's biggest incest investigation.

He faced Sydney's Central Local Court on Wednesday, charged with four counts of inciting sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10.

The charges allegedly occurred at a water tank on the family's secluded farm, which police raided in 2012, removing 12 children who were malnourished and illiterate.

Eleven of the 12 children were inbred.

Eight members of the 'Colt' family were arrested in 2012, with 'Frank' facing court Wednesday. Pictured: An unidentified member of the family being arrested in 2012

The Colt family home in southern NSW from where children were taken from their parents

THE 'COLT' FAMILY Colt is a court-appointed pseudonym for the family to protect the identity of children. The 38-member 'Colt' clan was found crammed into rundown caravans, sheds and tents in NSW's south in mid-2012. Authorities removed 12 illiterate and malnourished children from the camp and placed them into care. All but one were inbred. Children found on the remote bush property had facial deformities, could not speak intelligibly and did not even know what a toothbrush or toilet paper were used for. A series of nationwide police raids in April led to the arrests of eight members of the Colt family following a five year investigation. Advertisement

Magistrate Sharon Freund said there was evidence implicating Frank for being involved in 'duress and secrecy'.

She said he posed an unacceptable risk of endangering vulnerable witnesses, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Frank's defence lawyer, Robert Bucksath, said that Frank was different to the rest of his family - who are facing 'abhorrent' allegations of paedophilia.

He urged the magistrate not to 'get too caught up with the emotion of this'.

'We have all heard the term 'black sheep of the family'. In this case we might call (Frank) the white sheep of the family,' he added.

Mr Bucksath claimed detectives were lying about Frank having an extensive criminal history in Western Australia.

The court heard that Frank had previously been accused of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and threatening to kill.

Charges laid against Frank allegedly took place at a water tank on the secluded farm (pictured)

The court had previously heard that the Colts led an isolated lifestyle on the outskirts of society.

They were told that the family would flee borders overnight to avoid arrests.

But Mr Bucksath argued that Frank has an alibi for the crimes he's accused of.

He says that Frank was employed in Western Australia, owned property there with his now deceased wife and was a 'productive member of society'.

Frank was denied bail on Wednesday and will return to court on October 25.A bitter war of words between Donald Trump, CNN and Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein escalated Wednesday night as the president continued to rage over a story that claimed he knew about a Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the election.

President Trump lashed out at the network, saying it had been caught in a 'major lie' after Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Michael Cohen, admitted to being a source for the claims that he then backtracked.

Trump said 'CNN is being torn apart from within' over the article, while blasting Bernstein as 'sloppy' and a 'degenerate fool... who lives in the past'.

Bernstein and the network slapped back, saying they stood by their reporting and would not be cowed by attacks from the president.

Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on CNN over a story that claimed he had advanced knowledge of a Trump Tower meeting between his son and a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the election

The President accused CNN of being caught in a 'major lie and refusing to admit the mistake', while accusing Bernstein of being a 'degenerate fool' who 'lives in the past'

In a direct response to Trump, CNN said it stood by its reporting before adding: 'There are many fools in this story but Carl Bernstein is not one of them'

Bernstein also responded to Trump's attack, saying he would not be dissuaded from 'bringing the truth to light' with taunting

In a strongly-worded statement issued on Trump's preferred media of Twitter, CNN said: 'Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies.

'CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but Carl Bernstein is not one of them.'

Meanwhile Bernstein tweeted: 'I have spent my life as a journalist bringing the truth to light, through administrations of both parties.

'No taunt will diminish my commitment to that mission, which is the essential role of a free press. CNN stands by its story, and I stand by my reporting.'

The saga began when CNN ran a report last month claiming that Cohen, Trump's long-time personal lawyer, had evidence that Donald Trump knew in advance about a meeting between his son and a Russian lawyer during the 2016 election.

Trump Jr. has admitted to taking the meeting after the lawyer offered him dirt on Hillary Clinton, and the suggestion that the candidate knew about the meeting indicated that he might have been in on alleged collusion.

Cohen was willing to testify to the claim to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, CNN reported, citing anonymous sources.

But Davis admitted to BuzzFeed News this week that he was a source for that story, and could not verify the claims that he made.

CNN's report also claimed that Davis had declined to comment on the record, effectively giving him cover to talk extensively on background.

The debacle caught the attention of Trump, who claimed on Wednesday that anonymous sources are typically 'fiction made up' by 'Enemy of the People' reporters.

'The fact is that many anonymous sources don't even exist. They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters,' the president tweeted.

President Trump leaped at the chance on Wednesday to harangue the media for a debacle involving Michael Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis

Lanny Davis (above) has backpedaled on several key claims he made as an 'anonymous source' to news oulets, severely undermining the possibility that Cohen could tie President Trump to claims of Russian election interference

Cohen (above) pleaded guilty last week to several charges, which Davis says allowed him to finally speak out to clarify what he said as an anonymous source, now that the criminal investigation is ended

Trump claimed in a tweet Wednesday that anonymous sources are typically 'fiction made up' by 'Enemy of the People' reporters, even though Davis admits to making the claims he says he can no longer back up

'Look at the lie that Fake CNN is now in. They got caught red handed! Enemy of the People!'

A follow-up tweet claimed: 'When you see 'anonymous source,' stop reading the story, it is fiction!'

Davis says that he couldn't clear the record until Cohen pleaded guilty last week, because of the ongoing criminal investigation. CNN says it had other sources as well.

In a series of interviews, Davis backpedaled two assertions: that Cohen saw Trump being advised beforehand of the notorious Trump Tower meeting and that Cohen could testify that Trump was aware of Russian hacking.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has also made incorrect claims about the Trump Tower meeting and admitted in a New York Times profile this week to making mistakes in his unpaid representation of the president.

Former Trump attorney John Dowd said Wednesday on Fox News that Davis' conduct, which sparked a debate about how sourcing is handled by news agencies, was 'despicable' and 'indicative' of what Trump is up against.

'I don't know how he does it,' he said. 'It's a great burden on the presidency.'

Slamming Davis, a longtime defender of former President Bill Clinton, Down said: 'Lanny Davis is no surprise, I don't know why anybody would find him credible in the first place.'

Davis and Cohen's lack of credibility is at the heart of Trump's lawyers claims that Trump should not be charged as a co-conspirator in crimes that his ex-attorney says they committed together. Cohen told prosecutors that he paid off a woman who says she had sex with the married billionaire prior to the 2016 election on a direct order.

The CNN report, which received prime-time play on the network, raised the possibility that Cohen had and was willing to offer the special counsel additional, damaging information on Trump.

Top CNN reporters Jim Sciutto, Marshall Cohen and Carl Bernstein of Watergate reporting fame had bylines on the story.

Other outlets that raced to confirm the CNN scoop in July, including the New York Post and Washington Post, have now admitted that Davis was their source, and published the lawyer's apology for misleading them.

'I regret that I wasn't clear enough to The Post. I should have been more clear. I could not independently confirm the information in the CNN story,' Davis told the New York paper. 'I regret my error.'

Davis is also backing down from suggestions he made on television after Cohen's guilty plea about what his client could tell Mueller about Russian hacking during the 2016 campaign and allegations that Trump knew about it before it became public.

CNN is standing by its July report (above) that said Cohen was willing to testify that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting in advance

Davis told CNN that 'Cohen was an observer and was a witness to Mr. Trump's awareness of those emails before they were dropped,' Davis told the Washington Post, 'There's a possibility that is the case. But I am not sure.'

Giuliani and another Trump lawyer, Jay Sekulow, have also delivered incorrect information to the public.

Sekulow wrongly claimed that the president was not involved in a false statement that Trump was said to have dictated on Air Force One about his son's meeting at Trump Tower.

He admitted in an ABC News interview that he 'had bad information' and realized 'over time' that the claim he made was incorrect.

Giuliani wrongly told NBC News this month that he didn't know if participants in the meeting, including Trump Jr, ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, knew that lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya 'was Russian at the time.'

'All they had was her name,' Giuliani in the interview said.

In fact, emails released by the president's son make clear that he was explicitly told an attendee at the meeting would be a 'Russian government attorney' who wanted to provide damaging information to the campaign about Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump Jr. attacked CNN as 'literal fake news' after it Davis revealed he was the source for the misinformation on what Cohen was willing to testify. The president's son also claimed that Bernstein is a 'leftist hack.'

President Trump has denied claims that he knew about the Trump Tower meeting before it took place. He tore into news outlets that promoted Davis' claims in tweets on Saturday and Wednesday.

'Michaels Cohen's attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!),' Trump said in the Saturday tweet. 'The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!'

He similarly ripped the 'fake news' on Wednesday for masking Davis' identity by allowing him to act as an anonymous source while saying in the same article that he refused to comment on the record.Andrew Gillum pulled off a surprise victory in the gubernatorial primaries in Florida on Tuesday.

Now the Tallahassee mayor is being bashed by Donald Trump on Twitter. On Wednesday, the President tweeted about Congressman Ron DeSantis, whom hes backing, taking on the failed Socialist Mayor.

Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream, Trump tweeted.

Mayor Andrew Gillum pulled off a surprise win in the Democratic primary elections in Flordia on Tuesday

Andew Gillum will face Ron DeSantis in the main election with the hopes of being named Governor

A failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!

What Trump, 72, didnt mention, was that Gillum defeated democratic candidate United States Representative Gwen Graham by an unofficial three percentage points, according to the Miami Herald.

In fact, in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Gillum overtook Graham by more than a two-to-one margin.

His victory in the midterm primary, which saw the largest turn out of any midterm primary in Floridas history, suggests that he is in fact what the people want. At least those voting Democrat.

Who is Andrew Gillum?

Andrew Gillum was born on July 26, 1979 in Miami, Florida. Hes one of seven children born to Charles and Frances Gillum.

Gillum attended and graduated from Gainesville High School before moving on to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. His career in politics took off before he was able to finish his degree.

At 23-years-old, Gillum was the youngest person elected to the Tallahassee City Commission.

During his time as city commissioner, Gillum backed an initiative called the Digital Harmony Project, which supported local businesses and technology partnerships.

The initiative won the significant achievement award from the Public Technology Institute. It provided Nims Middle School sixth and seventh graders with new computers, internet access and online curriculum in their main subjects.

Congratulations to @AndrewGillum on his victory. Tonight, Floridians joined Andrew in standing up and demanding real change and showed our nation what is possible when we stand together. Let's make history this November and make Andrew Gillum the next Governor of Florida.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 29, 2018

Gillum also supported the opening of the first ever teen center in Tallahassee. The facility is called The Palmer Munroe Center and serves as a safe space for local youths. It also serves as a restorative justice program, which has been proven to increase offender compliance and decrease the likelihood of repeat offenses.

In his position, Gillum put $5.6 million back into Tallahassees economy, helped local businesses and created jobs.

He became the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida in 2014.

While in office, Gillum supported the Ban the Box campaign, which gives all applicants a fair shot at employment, called for investments in transportation in mid-size American cities, launched the 1,000 Mentors Initiative, and created a program that called for increased law enforcement visibility and stronger bonds between police and their communities amid shootings by police.

Gillum famously took on the National Rifle Association in court after they sued the city of Tallahassee over an ordinance that outlawed firearm use in public parks. He won.

Congratulations to @AndrewGillum! On to November when well return the power to the people in Tallahassee and Washington!  Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) August 29, 2018

He later said that his victory over the pro-gun group means the next time [the NRA comes] after another community with a lawsuit, precedent will be on our side, and theyll have to think twice.

As mayor, Gillum has been outspoken in his support of gun control and related laws. Hes called on Republican Governor Rick Scott to end the states highly controversial Stand Your Ground gun law.

Hes also a supporter of a ban on assault weapons.

Now, Gillum has his sights set on a gubernatorial position.

The 39-year-old pulled off a surprise win in the Democratic primary election. Hes now set to take on Ron DeSantis in the general election.

Andrew Gillum's wife

Andrew Gillum is married to R. Jai Howard. Shes a graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University as well.

The pair tied the knot in 2009 and have three children: Jackson, Caroline and Davis.

Andrew Gillum platform

Andrew Gillums platform is focused on a few specific issues: Criminal justice reform, economy and jobs, education, environment, gun safety, healthcare, immigration, LGBTQ equality and womens rights.

Hes also been outspoken in his support of Puerto Rico, which is still reeling from the hurricane that ravaged it months ago.

Gillums stance on criminal justice is that offenders who have done their time should be given a second chance.

His website reads: Too often, our society perpetually punishes people for one mistake, and creates barriers to positive re-entry.

Andrew supports the legalization of marijuana in order to generate new revenue to pay for teacher and instructional staff pay increases and to reduce the mass incarceration of people with low-level drug offenses.

Additionally, the page states: Andrew wants to reform our bail system so that we stop disenfranchising people of lower economic means, and work with the legislature to find common ground on minimum sentencing reforms.

Gillum hopes that as governor, he can appoint three new Supreme Court Justices that share his, and the states, values.

Hes committed to addressing economic issues, specifically the devastating inequality that has hurt our working families, who are forced to live paycheck to paycheck and feel that the opportunity to get ahead isnt available to them anymore.

Andrew has proposed the Fair Share for Floridas Future Plan to finally make real investments in our public schools and working families  and ask the richest corporations to pay a little more of their fair share, his site states.

Gillum wants to adjust the state corporate tax level to 7.75 per cent. His website says this will help bring back $1 billion to invest in Florida.

On education, Gillum is a supporter of the public education system, which he believes is the best path to equal opportunity. He feels, however, that Floridas education reform has been a failure.

Our education system and its over-reliance on high-stakes testing has failed our children, our parents, our teachers and our state, his website states.

Gillum has proposed a $1 billion investment in Florida public schools, which will help with early childhood education, give teachers a much-needed salary increase and restore public school construction funds. It will also help with vocational training.

A believer in climate change, Gillum hopes to continue to reduce carbon emissions and the carbon footprint of electricity users. Emissions in Tallahassee have gone down 40 per cent during his time in office. Similarly, the carbon footprint is down 20 per cent.

Andrew believes that the best way to address the impacts of climate change is to embrace a plan to transition Florida to clean energy as rapidly as possible, his website says.

Gillum is a supporter of gun reform and has been pushing for more common sense gun safety policies including a ban on assault weapons, large capacity magazines, and bump stocks.

He also wants to strengthen and require background checks for gun purchases, close private sale loopholes and restrict gun access for mentally ill people and domestic terrorists.

Gillum believes that healthcare should not be a privilege. He supports Senator Bernie Sanderss Medicare for All plan, which he thinks will help lower costs and expand coverage to more Floridians.

On immigration, the gubernatorial hopeful believes: Immigrants strengthen our society and have played a vital role in Florida becoming one of the leading economic states in the Union.

He plans to oppose both Donald Trump and Rick Scotts immigration policies. Hes been outspoken in his opposition to Trumps family separations, even joining protesters in Homestead, Florida for a demonstration.

Gillum supports a complete immigration overhaul and the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Hes steadfast in his support of the LGBTQ community and wants to lead the charge in expanding domestic partner benefits for City employees.

Amid opposition to same-sex marriages, Gillum invited couples to wed in Tallahassee.

Gillum plans to work to address discrimination faced by these groups throughout Florida.

Lastly, Gillum is a supporter of womens rights. He would support the state legislature ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment.

Gillum believes Florida should make it clear that civil rights will not be denied based on gender. He also supports Equal Pay for Equal Work, meaning women should be given an equal opportunity to success at every level.

Tallahassee crime rates

In 2018, Tallahassees crime rate decreased by 15 per cent, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The citys Leon County is still among the highest crime areas in the state, however.

Florida saw an overall decrease of six per cent in crime in 2017.

In 2016, the violent crime rate in Tallahassee dropped by 13 per cent.

Andrew Gillum FBI investigation

In June 2017, the FBI issued a subpoena to Andrew Gillum at city hall, according to the Tampa Bay Times. In it, they requested thousands of pages of various records from different people in the local city government.

Gillum hasnt been named in any of the subpoenas. Officials tied to the citys community redevelopment agency have, however.

Adam Corey, one of the lobbyists implicated in the investigation, was a friend and ally to Gillum until 2017 when the politician cut ties with him.

Thus far, Gillum himself is not under investigation.British Jewish grandmother Marina Vine was targeted by anti-Semites at meeting in Parliament hosted by Jeremy Corbyn

A Jewish grandmother has told how she was abused by a 'loud jeering mob' which called her a 'Zionist traitor' and a 'piece of sh**' at a meeting at Parliament while Jeremy Corbyn looked on.

Frail pensioner Marina Vine said that the Labour leader sparked the abuse when he told her to 'shut up and sit down' as she tried to make a point in defence of Israel, something a Labour spokesman has denied.

Mr Corbyn then called police to remove her. But officers ended up having to protect Mrs Vine, and escorted her out of the House of Commons as she was abused by a 'loud jeering mob' who targeted her with vile, anti-Semitic abuse.

MailOnline last week published a disturbing video from the 2013 meeting, showing a distressed Mrs Vine telling an officer that she had been called 'filthy names' by the man behind her.

In the clip, Mr Corbyn can be seen at the front of the room, shouting for her to 'keep quiet'. In the foreground, a man identified as an IRA supporter, can be seen smirking as tempers rise.

The altercation followed a succession of inflammatory remarks made by speakers.

One had called Israel 'evil', while another said Israel should 'go to hell'.

Frail pensioner Mrs Vine was at the centre of chaotic scenes at the meeting where she was filmed telling a police officer that she had been called 'filthy names' by a man at the meeting

Labour leader Corbyn sparked the abuse when he told Mrs Vine her to 'shut up and sit down' as she tried to make a point in defence of Israel, she claims, something Labour today denied

Jeremy Corbyn, centre, spoke at the event, where three politicians spoke who had been suspended on charges of anti-Semitism

Speakers included three MPs who have been suspended for alleged anti-Semitism  one was Lord Ahmed, later suspended from the Labour Party, who blamed a driving conviction on a Jewish conspiracy  and Manuel Hassassian, representative of the PLO.

Mrs Vine said: 'I lived through the war and I've never been so scared in my life. To think that a British Jewish lady needed police protection in our own Parliament, while Mr Corbyn looked on. It's shocking.'

She added: 'Years ago, people used to shout at me in the street, saying Jews should clear off to Palestine. Now we get abuse because some Jews actually did it.'

The grandmother-of-four's family has lived in Britain for more than 150 years. Her husband was wounded fighting in Italy in WWII, after lying about his age to volunteer for the British army when he was 17.

His father fought for Britain in WWI, and was left deaf by artillery shells. 'My family are huge royalists. We love the Queen and we absolutely love being British,' said Mrs Vine, who wrote a poem for the Queen to mark her jubilee.

'At our synagogue, we say a prayer for the Royal Family every week, like most synagogues in Britain. We are so proud to be British, and for Mr Corbyn to trigger such vile abuse against us is disgraceful.'

The meeting was one of a number hosted by the Labour leader for the Palestine Return Centre (PRC), which caused outrage when it invited the Hungarian fascist and Jobbik MEP Krisztina Morvai, a close ally of BNP figurehead Nick Griffin, to speak at one of its anti-Israel rallies.

Mr Griffin has recently given Mr Corbyn his support over the latest anti-Semitism row.

This PRC also staged the event where the Labour leader made his notorious remarks about British Zionists not understanding 'English irony', as revealed by MailOnline last week.

'This was my first meeting where Mr Corbyn was in charge,' Mrs Vine said. 'I'm very engaged with community issues and politics and I'm interested in Israeli history.

'Someone told me about it and I decided to go along, especially as it was in the House of Commons. I thought it would be informative.

Mrs Vine (pictured at home with her daughter Shelley Hart) said that when police arrived they had to escort her to Westminster tube station for her own safety. She added: 'I lived through the war and I've never been so scared in my life.'

'I couldn't believe it. It was the most undemocratic, unbalanced meeting I'd ever attended. Israel was compared to Nazi Germany, and there was talk of the 'Jewish lobby'.

'I don't normally speak up, as I'm not very good at speaking. But I just felt so sick that I had to say something.

'Mr Corbyn wouldn't allow me to speak and closed the meeting without giving me a say. When I tried to speak, he told me to shut up.

'I said, 'no, I won't shut up. This country fought hard for freedom and the right to free speech. And an absolute disgrace to be denied that in the House of Commons, of all places'.'

At that point, Mrs Vine said, Mr Corbyn's supporters turned on her, calling her 'scum', 'sewage', a 'piece of sh**' and 'fascist, Zionist garbage'.

'I was shaking and very distressed,' she said. 'Mr Corbyn just looked on. He called the police to remove me, but they ended up having to protect me.

'They escorted me all the way to Westminster underground. I had to wait for almost an hour before I went down to the platform because the anti-Semites were waiting there.'

Mrs Vine since made a number of complaints to the Commissioner for Standards, but did not feel that she received an adequate response.

It is an outrage, she said, that these sort of 'one-sided and hate-filled events' are allowed to take place in Parliament.

'When I heard about Margaret Hodge confronting Mr Corbyn, I thought she was a kindred spirit,' Mrs Vine said.

'It's appalling that it takes elderly women to stand up to this racist hate while Labour MPs remain shamefully silent.'

She added: 'We know what happens when this sort of hatred is allowed to escalate. It has happened before.

'I'd like everybody to know that it took a little old lady to stand up to Mr Corbyn because Labour MPs haven't got the courage.'

Denying Mrs Vine's claims relating to Corbyn, a Labour Party spokesperson said: 'As the recordings clearly show, Jeremy said nothing of the kind. He in fact said, repeatedly, 'can you all leave the room quietly please?' - in an effort to defuse the situation and close the meeting.'The leaders of the United States and Canada expressed optimism on Wednesday that NAFTA negotiations could meet a Friday deadline for a deal, although Canada warned that hard work on a number of tricky issues was still needed.

Canada rejoined the talks to modernize the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement after Mexico and the United States announced a bilateral trade deal on Monday.

'They (Canada) want to be part of the deal, and we gave until Friday and I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens, but in any event, things are working out very well.' U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House.

President Trump sounded optimistic about a trade deal with Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he thought the Friday deadline could be met

The upbeat tone contrasted with Trump's harsh criticism of Canada in recent weeks, railing on Twitter against Canada's high dairy tariffs that he said were 'killing our Agriculture!'

Trudeau said he thought the Friday deadline could be met.

'We recognize that there is a possibility of getting there by Friday, but it is only a possibility, because it will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada,' he said at a news conference in northern Ontario on Wednesday. 'No NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal.'

Trump has set a Friday deadline for the three countries to reach an in-principle agreement, which would allow Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to sign it before he leaves office at the end of November. Under U.S. law, Trump must wait 90 days before signing the pact.

Trump has warned he could try to proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board, although U.S. lawmakers have said ratifying a bilateral deal would not be easy.

Canadian Foreign Minister and lead negotiator Chrystia Freeland said she was encouraged by the talks and progress so far, but added: 'When it comes to specific issues, we have a huge amount of work to do.'

She declined to name the specific issues, but said on Tuesday that Mexico's concessions on auto rules of origin and labor rights was a breakthrough.

Ottawa is also ready to make concessions on Canada's protected dairy market in a bid to save a dispute-settlement system, The Globe and Mail reported late on Tuesday.

After being sidelined from the talks for more than two months, Freeland will be under pressure to accept terms the United States and Mexico worked out.

STICKING POINTS

One of the issues for Canada in the revised deal is the U.S. effort to dump the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Monday that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.

To save that mechanism, Ottawa plans to change one rule that effectively blocked American farmers from exporting ultrafiltered milk, an ingredient in cheesemaking, to Canada, the Globe and Mail reported, citing sources.

Trudeau repeated on Wednesday that he will defend Canada's dairy industry.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Trump administration's own anti-dumping duties on Canadian paper, used in books and newsprint, were thrown out by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks to the media during a break from trade talks at the Office of the United States Trade Representative

President Donald Trump welcomed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House last year

The independent panel ruled that about $1.21 billion in such paper imports from Canada were not harming U.S. producers.

Other hurdles to a NAFTA deal include intellectual property rights and extensions of copyright protections to 75 years from 50, a higher threshold than Canada has previously supported.

Some see the tight time-frame as a challenge.

'There's nothing here that is not doable for Canada,' said Brian Kingston, vice president for international affairs at The Business Council of Canada.

'We've got the best negotiators in the world, but they can only stay awake so many hours of every day.'The non-binary model who received texts from Asia Argento in which she admitted to having sex with an underage actor in 2013 has spoken out for the first time since the incriminating exchange was leaked.

Rain Dove, who neither prescribes to being male or female, is the person whose texts with Argento were revealed after the Italian actress denied ever sleeping with Jimmy Bennett, a child actor she met when he was seven.

They were introduced to Argento by Rose McGowan, her lover of several months.

In the texts, Argento claimed Bennett 'jumped' her in a hotel room in 2013. They were leaked to TMZ last week after Argento issued a strongly worded denial saying she never slept with Bennett but had been extorted by him.

Speaking in an interview with Today on Wednesday, Dove insisted it was not them who gave TMZ the texts but admits handing them over to police.

Rain Dove spoke out in an interview on Thursday to confirm giving the texts to police after watching Argento publicly deny sleeping with Jimmy Bennett

Asia Argento was accused of sexually assaulting child actor Jimmy Bennett. They are pictured together in May 2013 when he says the attack took place. She denied sleeping with him after quietly agreeing to pay him $380,000 this year. She claims her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain paid him

The model said they had 'no choice' after watching Argento deny what they knew to be true.

'I was not the person who leaked them to TMZ. I just wanted them to be a part of the legal process going forward.

'When it became apparent that they were not going to allow for justice to occur or for truth to be on the table, I knew I had no choice but to go forward otherwise I would be complicit and I would be robbing another individual of their ability to be heard and their story,' Dove said.

Dove was gentle in their analysis of how it the scandal has transpired.

'I'm not anti-Asia or anti-anything. I just believe that Jimmy Bennett deserves to have justice and I believe that due process deserves to happen,' they said.

They went on to say they wished Argento will be able to 'heal' and go back to being an advocate for sexual assault victims.

'Hopefully healing can occur and rehabilitation and they can go back to being an advocate for so many people.

'I really hope that that's the case for Asia because they were a really powerful advocate at one point in this movement,' they said.

The scandal started to unfold in June in the days after Argento's boyfriend, CNN star Anthony Bourdain, killed himself.

Argento's texts to Dove Dove : As in what does the public know and not know? Like which things are facts or not facts? It's an annoying question but I need to have a clear vision on what angles we have to send some folks to get good intel for us Argento: The public knows nothing, only what NYT wrote. Which is one sided. The shakedown letter. The horny kid jumped me D : So it was rape? Or an attempted sexual action? A: I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn't know he was a minor until the shakedown letter. D : Either one is good enough to show You actively frowned upon his advances A: No it was all on snapchat. Disappeared I didn't report because I always felt bad for this Hollywood failed child actor, a casualty of the machine, of his parents I have 80 pages on him by a PI that Anthony hired D: Yeah we don't always think of ourselves in those time periods A: All of Anthony's emails pushing me to accept pay. My emails with Carrie where we disagreed with that Advertisement

D : Yeah still need to prove the money came from AB account Or affiliate account But this is looking rear for You This NYT will look like fools. You got this A: Carrie never wanted to do this, she wanted to go to the press first and show the extortion I was being threatened with D : Well next steps - request bank statements from Bennet that will show the account that deposited the money clearing your name as the briber And then find evidence that You rejected this person sexually at any point before Advertisement

A: Yes I am thinking about leaking through a trusted friend to the Guardian If I lose my job I will move to Africa or the Amazon Forest I want to be among the 90% of the world that doesn't give a f***about this s*** Not the connivig, sick 10% of the entitles westerners Entitled* D : Africa is gorgeous and absolutely safer than people give t [sic] credit for A: Ethiopia or Senegal Mapia in Brazil Advertisement

D: If there's anytime you've talked to your therapist about inappropriate advances before the whole thing that may be helpful A: Not before, during that meeting where he jumped me D : What's up with the photo taken in bed? I think that's one that will be harder to cushion. Images are annoyingly assumption nation A: You can see my tits. That's all. It Doesn't mean s*** He is standing up Advertisement A: It's beyond me. It's unfathomable D : You worked with him previously how did the age thing escape? I mean 16 is the age of consent in most countries around the world So I was actually shocked about the 17 thing A: 15 in France and Italy D: Oh whoa A: When I was 17 I was with a 33 year old man for years I had just turned 17 Advertisement

Dove, who is a non binary model, said they felt compelled to speak out because 'Jimmy Bennett deserves to have justice'

Argento and Bennett met when they played a mother and her son in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things in 2004 when he was seven and she was 28

Dove and Rose McGowan, whom Argento had grown close to while leading the #MeToo movement, flew to Berlin to be with her.

One night, Argento explained that life without Bourdain would be difficult because of all of the ways he had helped her when he was alive.

'Asia had mentioned that one of the things is difficult in their life right now with Anthony passing, there was a huge gap in that this individual had helped them out a lot in life and one of the things they he helped them out with was an extortion case in which an individual was extorting Asia for $10,000 a month,' Dove explained.

Neither Dove nor Argento knew who the person was at the time.

They only learned it was Bennett when The New York Times published details of Argento and Bourdain paying him on August 19.

Dove is dating Rose McGowan, Argento's former #MeToo partner. They are shown together in March

After Argento denied it, the texts emerged as did photographs of she and Bennett lying naked in bed.

Argento said her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain paid Bennett to quieten him

McGowan later issued an explosive statement saying Argento complained to her about receiving unsolicited naked pictures from Bennett from when he was 12.

She has distanced herself from the Italian actress and is now urging her to be honest about what happened.

'Many people believe that because we have been close in each others lives over the past year that perhaps I am affiliated with this incident or being complicit. I am not.

Asia you were my friend. I loved you. Youve spent and risked a lot to stand with the MeToo movement.

'I really hope you find your way through this process to rehabilitation and betterment. Anyone can be be better- I hope you can be, too. Do the right thing. Be honest. Be fair. Let justice stay its course. Be the person you wish Harvey could have been,' she said.

Argento has not commented on the photograph of her with Bennett, the leaked text messages or McGowan's statement.TV and radio personality Glen Wheeler has returned to hospital with pneumonia almost four years after he was involved in a horror scooter crash with a drug driver.

Mr Wheeler's son Dane posted a clip of his father limping from his hospital bed on Twitter on Wednesday, while highlighting the fact the woman who mowed him down escaped any jail time.

Deborah Levy hit the presenter's scooter in Sydney's Woolooware in January 2015 having smoked cannabis the night before the crash - leaving Mr Wheeler brain damaged.

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Glen Wheeler's son Dane posted on Twitter that his father was back in rehab almost four years after he was knocked off his scooter by a drug driver - leaving him brain damaged

But Ms Levy, despite having smoked cannabis the night before the crash, escaped with a seven-month suspended sentence.

In the tweet, Mr Wheeler's son said: 'Attention magistrates: Glenn Wheeler was mowed down by a drug driver (she's free). We are back in rehab 3 years later due to pneumonia #punishthem'.

Dane has previously said he was 'disappointed' with her sentence.

Following the trial in March 2016, he said: 'I'm personally very disappointed. For her to walk out and live life like you and I; I just can't understand it.'

Mr Wheeler's son criticised the fact that the woman who hit him, Deborah Levy, was not given a full-time prison sentence

Mr Wheeler suffered brain damage, pelvic injuries and a severed artery to the leg as a result of the January 2015 accident

Mr Wheeler's 2GB colleague Ben Fordham, meanwhile, described the sentence as 'p*** weak' and 'utterly inadequate'.

The tweet added to calls by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Ms Levy to receive full-time imprisonment.

Following Ms Levy's sentencing, prosecutor Nanette Williams wrote in a submission to the court that the seven-month sentence was appropriate - but should have been served behind bars.

The woman was already on bail for an assault charge and an Apprehended Violence Order when she hit the presenter, leaving him in hospital for 321 days.

The former 2GB host made his return to radio in February of this year - reading advertisements following a promise made by Fordham that he would get him back on air practicing his craft.

In 2017 he appeared on The Morning Show, where he was presented with a 'Sharks' colored birthday cake - and despite being slower than he used to be still had a wit and twinkle in his eye.

Dane regularly posts from his Facebook account giving updates on his father's condition.

Following Mr Wheeler's February return to 2GB, Dane posted a photo of his father on the social media site captioned 'unstoppable'.

In one humour-filled post on August 24, Dane recorded his father chiming in on who he thought would win the leadership spill - with Mr Wheeler wishing luck to friend and fellow Cronulla Sharks fan Scott Morrison.Utah high school student Ryan Bean could have died on Saturday, after he hit his head while trying to flip into a pool.

But thanks to his friend Tyson, the active 15-year-old is alive and well - and back at school by choice.

Ryan had been at a party with Tyson Parker on the weekend when he decided to flip off a waterslide, into the water. He'd asked his friend to film the trick, and Tyson had obliged.

But when Ryan failed to resurface, his friend dived in to retrieve him before calling for help, the St George News reported.

Ryan Bean, 15, nearly died on Saturday after performing a backflip that went horrifically wrong

By the time he was dragged out. Ryan had been underwater for 40 seconds and was not responding.

'I was so scared,' Tyson said. 'When I brought him up, his face was purple, so I didn't really know what to do.'

Moments later, Ryan regained consciousness and coughed out blood and water.

He was rushed to the local hospital, before he was airlifted to a more specialized children's facility in Salt Lake City, where excess water was drained from his lungs, and oxygen machines were placed on his face.

Bean, who had apparently been doing the flip all day, asked his friend Tyson to film him doing it one last time. But the teenager hit his head on rocks and did not resurface

The footage Tyson filmed shows Ryan flip out, and then sink to the bottom of the pool, where he is motionless

Ryan had a severe concussion, and spent three days in hospital before he was discharged.

The teenager will still need time to recover, something his mother Laura says he will struggle with, as he's been performing flips and tricks since he was a child, and has never been one for long stretches of lounging around.

Ryan was underwater for about 40 seconds before he was dragged out by Tyson, who realized his friend wasn't joking around

Laura told friends on a Facebook page dedicated to her son's recovery that the incident had 'put life into perspective', and left her feeling incredibly lucky - not just for her son's life, but for the strong family and community bonds that quickly rallied to support the family.

'I am so grateful for a son who is so resilient and persistent and determined and strong,' she wrote.

'He really is amazing and I know will recover faster than most in this situation. His determination blows me away sometimes.'

The mother-of-three could be right. Ryan returned to school on Wednesday, just one day after his discharge, because he 'felt like going'.

Laura says Ryan has learned from the incident, and while she doubted he would stop flipping and performing other physical tricks, she believes he will be more aware of the danger, and hopefully a bit more cautious.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for Ryan's medical bills, including his emergency airlift.Paul Allen will only pay back 420 of the 1million-plus he made from the 2006 Securitas depot robbery

A cage fighter who helped the mastermind of Britain's biggest cash robbery will only pay back 420 of the money he made.

Paul Allen was the trusted lieutenant of Lee Murray, who planned the 53million Securitas depot heist in Tonbridge, Kent in 2006.

The depot manager, his wife and young child were kidnapped to allow the gang to gain entry, and 14 staff members were tied up at gunpoint as the robbers stuffed cash into a 7.5-ton lorry during the 66-minute raid.

Allen, who admitted conspiracy to rob but claimed he was not one of those who took part in the raid, was ordered to pay back 1.2million of 1.9million he made from the heist.

But it emerged today that he has been let off from paying all but 420 of the money after secretly filing for a 'certificate of inadequacy'.

The decision was made in a closed court and the CPS has refused to comment on the deal struck, London's Evening Standard reported.

During the heist, depot workers were held at gunpoint and the manager and his family were taken hostage by the gang. Allen admitted his involvement on the basis he did not take part

Allen did not have to serve the extra five-year sentence he was originally ordered to do if he failed to pay, the paper states.

Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons Justice Select Committee, said the decision meant criminals who quickly spent their ill-gotten gains were better off than those who kept hold of it.

He told the Standard: 'If someone has blown it all in such a way that there's no hope of getting it back, the presumption ought to be that the default sentence applies.'

Allen was seen wearing an an 7,000 Rolex and driving a 40,000 Mercedes convertible after he was released six months into the 18-year sentence he was given.

Allen (left) and heist mastermind Lee Murray were caught after fleeing to Morocco

After the hold-up in February 2006, he had fled to Morocco with Murray, a fellow cage fighter.

The pair immediately began enjoying a cocaine-fuelled party lifestyle, buying sumptuously-furnished villas and expensive cars.

Thousands of pounds were also spent on breast enhancement operations in England for wives and girlfriends of the men, according to court documents.

Allen was later caught in Morocco and spent 20 months in the jail before he was brought back to Britain to face trial.

The father-of-three claimed he knew nothing about the robbery and jurors were unable to reach a verdict after a first trial at the Old Bailey.

But he admitted charges of conspiracy to rob, kidnap and possess firearms as a re-trial was due to begin at Woolwich Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty on the basis that he was not one of the robbers who entered the depot, or one of the kidnappers, and that he did not handle any firearmA hairdresser who had a Brazlian butt-lift at the same cosmetic surgery clinic where a mother died says she is 'lucky to be alive' after a botched operation.

Isabelle Berry, 28, of Eton, Berkshire, underwent the procedure at the Elite Aftercare Clinic in Izmir, Turkey in January last year.

Ms Berry, who also works as a dancer, told how she became desperately ill after her surgery - and knew something was wrong when her bottom started leaking on the plane home.

She has decided to speak out after the death of Leah Cambridge, 29, from Leeds, who is believed to have suffered three heart attacks after undergoing a Brazilian butt lift at the Turkish clinic.

Ms Berry, who also works as a dancer, told how she became desperately ill after her surgery - and knew something was wrong when her bottom started leaking on the plane home

Ms Berry, pictured on holiday, spent two weeks at Wrexham Park Hospital and had to have an operation to remove the infected fat

Ms Berry told how she was unable to eat or move, and after four days back in the UK she visited her doctor, who prescribed her antibiotics.

But her condition didn't improve and she was rushed to A&E where it was discovered she had septicaemia after the fat injected into her bottom infected her blood.

She told MailOnline: 'I am lucky I am still here. My body was just shutting down.

'The drugs I was given when I came back to Britain didn't do anything. I actually felt like I was dying.

'I could barely move, I couldn't get out of bed. My mum had to take me to hospital. It was there that I was told I had developed septicaemia.'

Ms Berry spent two weeks at Wrexham Park Hospital and had to have an operation to remove the infected fat.

She has not had any other procedures, and has been left with scars across her body, and a misshapen stomach.

Miss Berry was rushed to A&E where it was discovered she had septicaemia after the fat injected into her bottom infected her blood

Miss Berry had the surgery at the Elite Aftercare Clinic in Izmir, Turkey (pictured) - the same place where Leah Cambridge died

Miss Berry, pictured, said doctors at the clinic removed three and a half litres of fat from her body that was injected into her bottom

She said: 'This really has affected me badly. It has really knocked my confidence. I don't want to wear a bikini that shows my belly.

'I don't think they should be allowed to practice. I know surgery can go wrong. But I am fit and healthy. If it can can happen to me it happen to anyone.'

WHAT IS A BRAZILIAN BUTT LIFT? A Brazilian Butt Lift uses fat transferred from other areas of the body, such as the love handles, hips or stomach, to provide patients with a fuller derriere. Clinics report the procedure, which costs between 6,500 and 10,000, has seen more than a 50 per cent increase compared to five years ago. The procedure's nickname was coined in 1996 after Dr Leonard Grossman was filmed performing fat transfer surgery on a patient from Brazil. The surgery takes anywhere from one to two hours to perform. The amount of downtime ranges from one to three weeks, plastic surgeons claim. HOW IT WORKS: 1. Liposuction to remove fat from abdomen/hips/thighs 2. Fat is 'processed' 3. Fat is injected into buttocks BBL STYLES: Upside-down heart, or 'A-shape': Much smaller waist and larger buttocks towards the bottom

Round: emphasis on increasing the size of the butt, not pulling in the waist or thighs HOW TO PREPARE: Don't smoke (increases infection risk and blood clot risk)

Don't gain weight (when you lose it again, your butt will change) RISK OF DEATH: Higher than most operations - 20 in 100,000 compared with 1 in 100,000. There are two major risk factors that can make a BBL fatal: Blood clots travel to lungs

Accidental injection of fat to blood vessel RECOVERY: 1. Don't work for 10 days 2. Don't sit for 6 weeks 3. Sleep on stomach 4. Final shape will take months or a year to form Advertisement

The Elite Aftercare Clinic is a favourite among a host of celebrities, and has been used by the likes of former The Only Way is Essex star Lauren Goodger.

Her partner of ten years Scott Franks, 31, told how she was paranoid about the size of her stomach after having three children.

Paying tribute to her today he said: 'I told her she was beautiful how she was but she really wanted it for her own confidence.

'I didn't think this would ever happen - or could happen to her.'

Ms Berry told how she was at the Elite Aftercare Clinic for a week after having the surgery, which doctors say carries risk, depending on which techniques are used to carry it out.

Doctors there removed three and a half litres of fat from her body - including from around her knees. She said she put on a stone in weight to have the op.

But soon after the 3,000 procedure she started to feel unwell, and din't want to eat anything.

She was discharged and travelled back to Britain, but her body started leaking fat on the plane home.

'It was then I knew something was wrong,' she said.

Ms Berry said medics back in the UK told her that three and a half litres of fat was way too much to take in one operation.

After she was finally released from hospital she contacted the clinic who she said 'made out like I was lying.'

They finally repaid her 2,500 - but Ms Berry said she should have demanded more.

She said: 'I should have asked for it all back, but I was too ill to fight it.

'They get celebrities to promote this clinic, it makes it all look great, but the reality is very different.'

Cosmetic procedures in Turkey are advertised at prices up to 70 per cent cheaper than in the UK.

Face and neck lifts in Turkey can cost as little as 2,640 - compared to around 4,500 in Britain.

Boob jobs are on offer for 2,275, compared with 5,500 at home.

Patients at Elite Aftercare that have surgery are catered for in the luxury aftercare villa.

On the clinic's website it says accommodation consists of a large double bedroom with en-suite and balcony.

The inside of the luxury aftercare villa, where all meals are prepared and a nurse is on call at all times.

On the clinic's website it says accommodation consists of a large double bedroom with en-suite and balcony

One of the bedrooms in the luxury villa which aims to provide care to a 'UK standard'

Patients also have a private chauffeur for all routine appointments and airport transfers.

Every meal is prepared and a nurse is on call at all times.

It says the clinic aims to provide a 'UK standard' and patients can use free wifi, cable television and Bluetooth speakers.

The clinic offers a huge range of procedures, including tummy tucks, thigh lifts, buttock implants, chin implants, ear re-shaping and chin reduction.

Elite Aftercare say on their website that Brazilian butt-lift procedure usually takes between one and two hours and can either be performed under general anaesthetic, or a local anaesthetic with an epidural.

Leah Cambridge, right, and with her partner Scott Franks, left. The mother of three died after undergoing the Brazlian butt-lift operation

It says after surgery patients will feel 'some slight pain and discomfort' but 'the majority of out clients are walking around the next day with no pain but some discomfort.'

Patients will be left with bruising for three to four weeks, but after a months the swelling will go down, and gradually disappear after three months. It can take up to six months to see the final result.

Anyone having the surgery is left with 'literally no scarring' as the cannula used to perform the liposuction leaves just a 2mm small hole.

It adds that surgery should not be taken lightly but that complications rarely occur.

Possible but common concerns following the operation can include bleeding, infection anaesthesia problems, fat necrosis and decreased sensation.

In April this year a group representing plastic surgeons worldwide said the op is the deadliest cosmetic procedure.

It has surged in popularity in recent years as women look to emulate curvy-bottomed celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj and Chloe Khan.

The Multisociety Gluteal Fat Grafting Task Force, which represents five societies of plastic surgeons, said the surgery carries the highest death rate of any aesthetic procedure.

They have called for plastic surgeons to reevaluate their techniques 'urgently' as they clamour to identify why it carries such a high risk.

MailOnline has approached Elite Aftercare for comment.President Donald Trump is reviving his unverified claims President Barack Obama spied on his campaign and touting the words of a conservative Fox News host who also claims there's now a precedent for presidents to use the government to spy on political rivals.

Trump, in a series of early morning tweets, quoted Tucker Carlson, who claimed on his show Tuesday night that President Obama had spied on Trump's campaign and later argued the 'lunatics on the left' created a model that future presidents could follow.

'The Obama people did something that's never been done...They spied on a rival presidential campaign. Would it be OK if Trump did it next? I am losing faith that our system is on the level. I'm beginning to think it is rotten & corrupt. Scary stuff Obama did.' @TuckerCarlson DOJ' Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning.

President Trump is reviving his unproven allegation President Obama spied on his campaign

Trump was quoting conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson is seen as a staunch defender of President Trump

His 'DOJ' might have been an indication the tweet was meant for the Department of Justice, who he has heavily criticized for not reining in the investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 election and for not probing rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

The FBI did investigate Clinton's use of the server and found her actions 'extremely careless' but recommended not filing charges against her.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's looking into Russia's role in the presidential contest - and whether or not Trump obstructed that investigation - remains on going.

Trump was quoting Carlson, a conservative pundit who as seen as one of the president's staunchest defenders.

Carlson, in a conservation with Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist on his Fox show Tuesday night said: 'The Obama people did something that's never been done that I'm aware of, they spied on a rival presidential campaign and that's okay with you. But would it be okay if the Trump did that to the next guy?'

He went on to argue there was now a precedent for presidents to use the government to spy on rival political campaigns.

'What's the next election is going to be like?' he asked attorney Richard Goodstein, who was also a guest on his show. 'I don't want the Trump Administration to spy on rival campaigns, but you and the lunatics on the left have created a precedent that will allow them to, and future presidents to do that. I don't want to live in that country, that's all I'm saying.'

There has been no proof Obama spied on the Trump campaign. The FBI was investigating the campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election, which Trump argues is evidence of a 'deep red state' conspiracy to keep him out of the White House.

In May, Trump demanded the Justice Department investigate his allegation that the Obama administration's FBI 'infiltrated or surveilled' his 2016 campaign.

The agency directed its Office of Inspector General y to formally probe those claims, an investigation that remains ongoing.

Trump's demand came after multiple reports that the FBI had sent an informant to speak with campaign advisers about matters related to possible Russia ties, which the president has used to claim Obama was spying on him.

Some reports named Stefan Halper, an American professor at Cambridge University, as the FBI informant who met with Trump campaign aidesCarter Page and George Papadopoulos.

Both aides were suspected of dealing with the Russians.

Halper also reportedly met with a third Trump campaign official, Sam Clovis, to whom he reportedly expressed interest in helping the president's campaign.

The use of an information is common FBI practice in criminal investigations but there is no public evidence that Halper was an FBI informant, and official sources have refused to comment on the subject. Halper has not given any comment on the issue.

Papadopoulos revealed in a plea agreement to having been told by an apparent Russian agent that Vladimir Putin government had access to a raft of hacked Clinton emails before this was made public. He has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Page, meanwhile, was under surveillance by the FBI at the time he met with the FBI informant.

There is no evidence President Obama spied on Trump's campaign; the FBI was investigating the campaign's ties to Russia

Trump also tweeted unverified claims about Clinton

Trump and his allies claim that FBI surveillance of Page was a done through a tainted FISA warrant that relied on the unverified Christopher Steele dossier, paid for by a law firm with ties to Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

The dossier claimed the Russians had information on Trump that it could use for blackmail, which the president has denied.

Last month, documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request showed federal agents relied on more information than the Steele dossier to obtain the warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

But Trump on Tuesday morning quoted Carlson making another charge - that Clinton and the DNC paid for information from the Russians to use against the American government, likely in a reference to the Steele dossier.

'Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid for information from the Russian government to use against her government - there's no doubt about that!' @TuckerCarlson,' Trump wrote.

Carlson, on his Fox show Tuesday night told attorney Richard Goodstein: 'The Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for information from the Russian government to use against their opponent. There is no debate about that.'A family doctor who escaped jail after she drunkenly crashed her car following a vodka binge has been given the all-clear to return to medicine after she insisted: 'I won't do it again.'

Dr Nicola Brunt, 54, was almost four times the alcohol limit for driving when she failed to negotiate a roundabout and ploughed into a set of railings surrounding a pedestrian crossing.

Fire crews cut the GP free from the wreckage of her pink Vauxhall Astra but she failed a roadside breath test after a police office noticed her slurring her words.

Dr Nicola Brunt, pictured, was convicted of driving almost four times over the legal drink-driving limit after she crashed her car and ploughed into a roundabout

Dr Brunt allowed her medical registration to lapse and attended a disciplinary panel at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service who heard her risk of re-offending was low

Subsequent tests showed she had 313 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit being 80mg.

Brunt - who lives in the village of Dunstan near Northampton claimed she did not realise she was over the drink drive limit but it emerged she had been drinking vodka until 9am on the morning of the 11am crash.

Despite her condition she was still able to arrange car insurance cover 45 minutes before the crash.

In June 2015 at Northampton magistrates court, Brunt admitted drink driving but was given a 16-week suspended sentence after a probation officer she spoken accepted the GP was 'thoroughly ashamed and remorseful.'

She was also banned from driving for three years.

The panel heard Dr Brunt is undergoing development training with a view to returning to medicine

Today it emerged Brunt had been cleared of misconduct after a medical disciplinary panel was told her risk of offending again was 'low'.

Large parts of the hearing at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester were held in private.

The doctor who ran a cosmetic clinic after training in the UK and Australia is currently undergoing development training with a view to returning to medicine after her licence lapsed when she failed to complete an annual return.

In a redacted ruling, panel chairman Miss Sally Cowen said: 'The Tribunal had regard to the seriousness of Dr Brunt's conviction. It considered that Dr Brunt, in driving a car with excess alcohol, put her own life and the lives of others at risk, and acted in a way unbefitting a medical practitioner.

'The Tribunal considered that her decision to drive was a serious failure of judgement and it was concerned that she was able to arrange insurance on the morning of the incident, but unable to recognise she was not fit to drive.

Following the accident on August 29, 2014, Dr Brunt was taken to hospital where she failed a blood test which found her to be almost four times over the drink drive limit

'But the Tribunal noted that almost four years have passed since Dr Brunt committed the offence and that Dr Brunt has not reoffended since. It noted that in the probation report, the risk of reoffending in the two years after the incident was considered to be 4 per cent. Given that a further two years have now passed without a recurrence, the Tribunal was satisfied that risk of repetition was very low.

'The Tribunal considered Dr Brunt's actions to have been a grave mistake. However, in taking account of the passage in time since the offence and that Dr Brunt has served her sentence and completed all the tasks asked of her by the Court, the Tribunal was of the view that her fitness to practise was not currently impaired on the grounds of the criminal conviction.'

Dr Brunt admitted on the morning of the crash that she had drunk a large amount of vodka overnight with her last shot at 9am - two hours before losing control of her car

The hearing was told Brunt who qualified from the University of Manchester in 1987 was driving a car towards Kingsthorpe, Northampton when the accident occurred on August 29 2014. She attempted to negotiate a roundabout but mounted a pavement and drove trough, and then over, some metal railings surrounding a pedestrian crossing.

Police, ambulance and fire crews arrived and Dr Brunt was cut from the vehicle. The GP admitted drinking alcohol in the run up to the crash but claimed she did not think she was over the limit. She she was arrested and taken to hospital where she failed a blood test.

Lawyer for the General Medical Council Catherine Cundy said: 'During a police interview, Dr Brunt explained that she knew that she needed to insure her car on the morning of the accident and she had purchased that 45 minutes before the accident occurred.

'She said that she drank a huge quantity of vodka the previous evening and said that she had her last vodka at 9 that morning.

'It is difficult to understand how Dr Brunt had the foresight and awareness to phone to arrange car insurance cover on the morning of the road traffic accident, but at the same time, be simultaneously wholly unaware of how much she had drunk and that she was not fit to drive. Dr Brunt was unable to explain this.

'She had an awareness of the need to drive an insured car but that this did not translate in any way to exercising her judgment to avoid the errors giving rise to the allegation.

'Dr Brunt put her own life at risk and the life of others by driving into a pedestrian crossing while being nearly four times over the drink drive limit. The seriousness with which the magistrates' court viewed Dr Brunt's actions was marked by a custodial sentence imposed - albeit suspended.'

Brunt said at the time of offence she was 'not thinking how fit she was to drive' and said realised it was a 'very stupid decision to make.'

She also said she 'held her hands up to what she did' and said she 'would not do it again.'

Her lawyer Betsan Criddle added: 'Dr Brunt has served her sentence in full and has not reoffended. She made full admissions to the police during interview and also pleaded guilty. Te probation service had found Dr Brunt to be thoroughly ashamed and remorseful and for that reason they recommended a suspended sentence.

'She is now able to work on a full time basis in a role in which she dispenses information to the public and to healthcare professionals. She does have a sensible and realistic plan to return to practise. She plans to obtain an appraisal in order to become revalidated and recover her licence to practise. She has been focusing on getting a job from which her future return to medicine will flow.'Amanda Perry Hayes, 46, who was previously convicted of murdering her then-husband's ex-girlfriend, Laura Ackerson, 27, in North Carolina in 2011 has now also been found guilty of trying to help him dispose of her body in Texas

A woman who was previously convicted of murdering her then-husband's ex-girlfriend in North Carolina has now also been found guilty of trying to help him dispose of that body in Texas.

Amanda Perry (Tucker) Hayes, 46, was convicted on Monday of the second-degree felony of tampering with evidence to impair its availability, for trying to dissolve the body of her ex-husband's ex-girlfriend in acid and then tossing it into an alligator-infested lake in Texas.

She was first found guilty of second-degree murder of Laura Ackerson, 27, on February 18, 2014.

Grant Hayes, 39, shared two children with Ackerson, who she came over to pick up from the Hayes' Raleigh, North Carolina apartment when the married couple murdered her in July of 2011.

Grant Hayes, 39 (left), shared two children with Ackerson, who she came over to pick up from the Hayes' Raleigh, North Carolina apartment when the married couple murdered her in July of 2011; Amanda is seen here in a mugshot, at right

'The jury verdict was swift and the Court's sentence was appropriately harsh,' lead prosecutor Amanda Bolin told WXII 12.

'Laura Ackerson's family can be assured that Amanda Hayes will be punished for all of her barbaric behavior  whether it was in North Carolina or the great state of Texas.'

On July 13, 2011, Amanda and Grant dismembered Ackerson's body in their apartment, packed it in coolers and drove with it to the Richmond, Texas home of Amanda's sister.

On July 13, 2011, Amanda and Grant dismembered the body of Laura Ackerson, 27 (pictured, in their apartment, packed it in coolers and drove with it to the Richmond, Texas home of Amanda's sister

There, they tried to dissolve it with acid, and when that didn't work they tossed it into an alligator-infested creek, but her body parts were discovered almost two weeks later

'Once in Richmond, the couple first attempted to use muriatic acid to destroy Ackerson's body,' a press release from the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office stated.

'When that didn't work, they took a boat onto Oyster Creek and dumped Laura's body parts into the water with hopes that alligators would eat her remains.'

But the Hayes' plan to conceal the brutal murder was not successful.

Investigators found Ackerson's torso and lower leg floating in Oyster Creek on July 24, 2011.

Dive teams later found more of Ackerson's remains.

Amanda was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison by the Honorable Maggie Jaramillo of the 400th District Court in Texas for the tampering with the evidence charge.

The sentence will run consecutively to Amanda's North Carolina sentence, which was 13 to 16.5 years in prison, beginning in 2014, WRAL reported.

Grant was found guilty of the first-degree murder of the mother of his children on September 16, 2013, after less than two hours of jury deliberation in a trial that lasted just three weeks.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Amanda gave birth to a daughter, fathered by Grant, on June 9, 2011. The two divorced in 2014.

Amanda has another adult child from a previous relationship, born in 1989.

Grant was Amanda's fourth husband.A Canadian citizen working as an automotive engineer in Detroit has been arrested near Seattle, accused of raping and murdering a 31-year-old woman in Windsor, Ontario, earlier this summer.

Jitesh Bhogal, 27, was taken into custody on August 17 at his parents home in Kent, south of Seattle. A hearing is scheduled Friday in US District Court in Seattle.

Windsor Police Service in Ontario said on Tuesday that Bhogal faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault and break and enter for the June 10 killing of Autumn Taggart, also known as Maya Madolyn.

Autumn Taggart, 31 (left and right), was found dead inside her Windsor, Ontario, apartment on June 10. Her nine-year-old son found her body in her bed and alerted his dad, textin that 'mommy won't wake up'

Police believe suspect Jitesh Bhogal, 27, broke into Taggart's third-floor unit inside this building on University Avenue West by scaling her downstairs neighbors' balconies

Police said they believe her nine-year-old son was inside the apartment on the night of the killing and saw Taggart's attacker.

Windsor police said they are working with partner agencies to have Bhogal extradited back to Ontario.

Bhogal was described as a senior design release engineer working for a major automotive manufacturer in Detroit.

According to court documents cited by Toronto Sun, Taggart's son told investigators that on the morning of June 10, a bearded, dark-haired stranger entered his bedroom and ordered him to stay in bed and go back to sleep.

Later, the child said he heard a girl screaming but was too frightened to leave his room.

When the nine-year-old woke up the next day, he found his mother still lying in her bed and spent the rest of the day eating cookies and watching videos.

In the evening, the boy heard his mother's phone alarm go off, signalling that it was time for his bath.

The child was unable to wake up his mother, so he sent a text message to his father, Taggart's ex-boyfriend, telling him, mommy wont wake up.

The boys day then came over and discovered that Taggart was dead.

Taggart's face and mouth was caked with dried blood, and her entire body was covered in injuries and bruises.

Taggart's nine-year-old son (left) told police a bearded stranger entered his bedroom and told him to go back to sleep

Autopsy showed Taggart had been raped, beaten and strangled. She was found with her mouth and face caked with dried blood

An autopsy later found that the 31-year-old had been raped, badly beaten and strangled.

According to court documents, Taggart's next-door neighbor told Windsor police that on June 10, at around 2am, she and her boyfriend returned home with Jitesh Bhogal, whom they called Jay, reported Detroit Free Press.

The neighbor said Bhogal was interested in buying cocaine and hiring a prostitute.

The woman admitted to police that she and her boyfriend planned to help Bhogal buy the drugs and then rob him.

After the pair procured the cocaine, they told Bhogal to park his late-model SUV behind Autumn Taggart's building at 1382 University Avenue West. There, the three of them did some of the drugs and the neighbors stole the rest.

The neighbour told police Bhogals SUV was still parked in the same spot at 5.30am, but was gone by 6.15am.

Police believe Bhogal entered Taggart's third-floor apartment through an unlocked sliding glass door after climbing onto the roof of a parked car and scaling her downstairs neighbors balconies.

After Bhogal was named a suspect in Taggart's death, US Homeland Security agents in Detroit tracked him down to a Warran, Michigan, bar and obtained his DNA from a beer glass, which allegedly came back a match to DNA found on Taggart's right breast.A vicar admitted sharing a 'disdain for Donald Trump' and built a friendly 'rapport' with a stranger on an airplane - but denied groping him under a blanket.

Reverend Peter McConnell was accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping student during a long-haul flight from Philadelphia to Heathrow on March 26, 2017.

The alleged victim, a 25-year-old American passenger, said the married clergyman also made 'inappropriate' conversation during the transatlantic flight.

Rev Peter McConnell denies sexually assaulting a fellow passenger on a British Airways flight to Heathrow last year

The married priest, of Long Horsley Parish in Northumberland, denies sexual assault and is being tried by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

Jurors heard the 63-year-old was interviewed twice by detectives, once as a voluntary attender, after the allegation against him was made.

The vicar told detectives he had been on a flight when he started to talk to the alleged victim.

He admitted he had moved to an empty seat beside the alleged victim during the flight as his own was being kicked up a disabled child sitting behind him.

Reverend McConnell said the 25-year-old was 'very receptive, very friendly'.

The clergyman told detectives he and the stranger made small talk, but denied drinking heavily or being intoxicated on the flight.

He said: 'I was just buying some alcohol, some wine. They are quarter bottles.'

The vicar said he 'wasn't counting' how many bottles he had but he thought around four.

He admitted he built up 'some sort of rapport' with the man, adding: 'I think we got on very well.'

Reverend McConnell said he did not believe there was any disagreement between the two men, adding: 'I think he agreed with my disdain of Donald Trump.'

The married clergyman admitted to moving seats to sit next to the alleged victim, but denies any wrongdoing

He admitted to giving his email address to the man, on the off-occasion that if he ever visisted the north of England.

When quizzed as to whether he had ever touched the man's private parts, the vicar replied: ' I did not do that.'

McConnell told police he may have mentioned American 'titty bars' in conversation with the stranger but said he had not been to one.

He also denied promoting masturbation as a way of dealing with stress.

He told police: 'I have never, ever, suggested masturbation is a solution to stress, not to anyone, at any time.'

He denied touching the alleged victim or engaging in graphic conversation.

The trial continues.A British woman who bought a pair of twin babies over the internet is pleading for them to get in touch as she reveals her dying ex-husband is desperate to see them before he passes away.

Judith Kilshaw was plunged into financial ruin alongside her then-partner Alan after launching a legal battle to adopt Kiara and Keyara Wecke in 2001 after they had bought them online for 8,200.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from her home in Wales today, Judith revealed Alan is now fighting for his life and dreams of seeing the siblings who were returned to America after they lost their fight.

Kiara and Keyara, who have been renamed, were given a new set of church-going adoptive parents in America. The girls are now 18 and are said to be 'thriving' as students, studying social sciences at university.

Today Judith told MailOnline she still thinks of the twins as 'part of the family' and reveals she misses them greatly.

Judith, who says she is glad that the girls are excelling with their church-going adoptive parents in America, also revealed that Alan is in hospital life-threatening pulmonary fibrosis and would 'love to see the twins before he dies'.

Judith Kilshaw, the British woman at the centre of a high-profile custody battle in 2001 has spoken to MailOnline about the twins she still thinks of as 'part of the family'

Kiara and Keyara Wecker hit headlines in 2001 when Alan and Judith Kilshaw (pictured with the children) tried to buy them for 8,200. Right: The girls on their 16th birthday

Ready for university: The twins, pictured together on social media, have grown into 'fine young women', says their adoptive mother

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Judith said: 'If they came to see Alan before he died it would be highly unique, a very nice gesture, but I can't see it. Though they could if they wanted to.

'I'd like them to get in touch with me and Alan, that would be a nice touch, to say thanks for trying to help us, sorry it didn't work out. It would be some recognition, wouldn't it, really?

'I was prepared to do a lot for them but didn't get the chance. I was hoping they'd take up law or be a doctor or something like that.'

Alan and Judith Kilshaw are pictured together with Judith's new husband Stephen Sillett shortly ahead of their marriage in 2009

The first time she learned of the twins, Kiara and Keyara Wecker, going to university was when she read about it in the press, she said.

'I'm pleased that the girls have gone to university,' she said. 'Obviously I would have preferred them to stay in Britain. At least they've come out of it pretty unscathed and they're doing well.

'They're coping well and seem well-adjusted if they've got that far in life. They'd have gone to university if they stayed with us in Britain, that's for sure.'

Missouri-born twins Kiara and Keyara Wecker were just six months old in 2001, when the Kilshaws, of Buckley, North Wales, tried to buy them over the internet for 8,200.

The deal was already completed and the twins taken back to Wales when the Kilshaws realized a California couple had already paid to take custody of the kids through an adoption agency - all thanks to a scam perpetrated by their birth mother.

The FBI got involved, sparking an international legal battle that finally ended with the children being raised by a third set of foster parents in Missouri.

Now the sisters, who were brought up knowing about their extraordinary story, have turned 18 and are studying social sciences at a university not far from their home in another state after moving.

Judith said that she and Alan still see the twins as part of their family, and still believe that the adoption was wrongly overturned.

'Of course we still miss them,' she said. 'As far as I'm concerned, they are still part of this family as the adoption was turned over by dubious means.

'If someone takes your name, then the adoption is overturned and the twins are taken away from you by dubious methods, to me that adoption still stands legally.'

She added: 'The chance to speak to them will come in time. The older they get, the more they will wonder about what went on and sooner or later they might get in touch.

'This story brings it all back. I don't think about them every day any more because life goes on, you have other things to think about.

'But at Christmas at times like that, you do then, don't you. You think about what might have been, but as my mother says, 'if' is a big word.'

In 2000, Kiera and Keyara were first adopted by US couple Richard and Vickie Allen (pictured), who said they had paid 4,000 for the children through an adoption agency

Judith, who starred with Alan in a television programme called At Home With The Kilshaws that provoked public anger, said that the twins would have had a better life with her in Britain.

'Our farmhouse would have given them a better life than America in a lot of respects,' she said.

'It's a safer environment, in my book, and there are still a lot of racial problems out there. The twins are mixed race.

'We'd have been just as good parents as the new foster parents.'

The Kilshaws, who maintained they were unaware that the twins had already been through two sets of parents, had been dealing with Internet adoption broker Tina Johnson

She has struggled to move on with her life, she said. 'I haven't made a shrine to them or anything. I don't go in for that. I keep my thoughts in my head. But if I met them, I'd say I'm pleased they've done well.

'I'm pleased they've gone to university. I hope they do well and study well.

'They're going to the same university, so they must be close. I'm pleased with how their life has gone up to know.'

Asked whether she or Alan would pay for the twins to visit them in Britain, Judith said: 'I don't know how their finances are. I can't pay for them. I'm struggling myself and Alan hasn't earned any money since he's been in hospital.'

In 2009, Judith, then 55, left Alan and her two sons and married toyboy lover Stephen Sillett, 42, who she met in a nightclub.

At the wedding, Alan gave his ex-wife away to Stephen and wished them well.

'It's a bit unusual, but there are probably quite a lot of husbands who'd like to give away their ex-wives, so perhaps I'll start a trend,' said Alan at the time.

Judith and Stephen are still together.Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.Governor Andrew Cuomo received a $25,000 check from a law firm that previously represent Harvey Weinstein less than a week before he called off an investigation into the handling of allegations against the disgraced movie mogul.

According to Page Six, Cuomo received the check from Manhattan-based firm Boies Schiller and Flexner on June 20, according to the state Board of Elections website.

Cuomo announced in March that he had tasked the New York State Attorney Genera's Office with investigating Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's decision not to prosecute Weinstein after Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused him of groping her at a hotel three years ago.

Within a week Cuomo halted the investigation.

In a June letter sent to Attorney General Barbara Underwood, Cuomo asked her to suspend the investigation for six months because it could possibly interfere with a separate criminal case against Weinstein stemming from news articles last year in which numerous women alleged they had been sexually assaulted by the producer.

Governor Andrew Cuomo quietly suspended an investigation into the Manhattan District Attorney's Office handling of a 2015 groping allegation against Harvey Weinstein

Model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused him of groping her at a hotel three years ago but the producer was not prosecuted at the time

At the time Vance said there was not enough evidence to prosecute the producer despite audio recording supporting the allegation

A spokesperson for Boies Schiller & Flexner  which also made a $25,000 contribution to Cuomos re-election campaign in 2017  defended the donations when approached by Page Six.

'Neither Mr Boies, nor anyone from his firm, ever discussed Harvey Weinstein or Mr Vance with Mr. Cuomo, or anyone from his office, at any time,' the spokesperson told online political publication Capital and Main.

'Mr Boies is a longtime supporter of Mr Cuomo and his contribution in June was consistent with his contributions to Mr Cuomo over years past.'

A Cuomo spokesman said: 'The attorney generals investigation was suspended to avoid situations in which Weinsteins defense attorneys would be able to constantly petition the attorney generals office for information about what they uncovered and undermine a criminal prosecution.'

'As we said when the Governor directed the Attorney General to investigate the Manhattan DA's Office, it should not interfere with the DA's ongoing criminal case,' Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever told BuzzFeed News.

'Given the recent indictment and prosecution of Harvey Weinstein by the District Attorney, the Attorney General's investigation has been postponed for six months.'

Earlier this month, Weinstein was indicted on predatory sexual assault and other charges after women came forward with claims that he assaulted them. The producer appeared in court in June to plead not guilty to three felony counts.

Weinstein faces life in prison if convicted.

A spokeswoman for Underwood confirmed that she was asked to temporarily halt the investigation into the DA 'to avoid any interference wit the District Attorney's ongoing prosecution of Harvey Weinstein'.

The spokeswoman said they remain committed to 'conducting a comprehensive, fair and independent review'.

It's not clear how long the criminal case against Weinstein will play out in court, with BuzzFeed suggesting that it could last months or even years.

Earlier this month, Weinstein was indicted on predatory sexual assault and other charges stemming from women's allegations of sexual assault. He's pictured in a New York City court on June 5 where he pleaded not guilty to three felony counts.

Attorney General Barbara Underwood is handling the investigation into the DA's handling of the Weinstein case

In a March statement, Cuomo asked then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to look into Vance's handling of the 2015 Weinstein groping allegation.

At the time, Vance defended his decision not to prosecute the movie producer saying that there was not enough evidence despite there being an audio recording of Weinstein admitting he grabbed Gutierrez's breast.

Vance's office came under further scrutiny in October following news stories detailing allegations by dozens of women who said they had been assaulted by Weinstein.

Schneiderman handled the investigation into the DA up until May when he resigned hours after the New Yorker published a story that he had allegedly physically abused four former girlfriends. Cuomo then tasked Underwood with leading the investigation.The ABC has been slammed after its comedy show Tonightly with Tom Ballard targeted new Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Christian faith.

The skit, performed on Monday night by comedians Bridie Connell and Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd, tried to connect the nation's refugee policy to Mr Morrison's religious beliefs.

A song by the duo, who dubbed themselves the 'Shadow Ministers', featured lyrics such as: 'ScoMo is under the spell of Jesus' charm, and kids are under safety watch for self-harm.'

Other controversial lyrics included: 'We love Jesus, Jesus, but not refugee-us' and 'to do what pleases Jesus, deny them all visas.'

The ABC has been criticised after allowing a skit, performed by comedians Bridie Connell and Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd (pictured) which took aim at the new Prime Minister's Christian faith

Mr Morrison is Australia's first Pentecostal Prime Minister, and vowed in December last year to fight back against discrimination and mockery of religious groups.

In his maiden speech, he said: 'My personal faith in Jesus Christ is not a political agenda.'

However, some have been quick to use it against him.

Tonightly with Tom Ballard (pictured) was cancelled after two seasons, and was called out for consistently pushing boundaries

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured), who is less than a week into his term, was the subject of a Tonightly sketch that took aim at his faith

Many on social media were quick to defend the new Prime Minister, who is less than a week into his term.

On a Facebook response to the Tonightly act, one wrote: 'This is abhorrent editorial garbage. Completely disrespecting the views of many Australians and faith.'

'Would they do this if he was a Muslim?' another asked.

Their sentiment was seconded by Peter Kurti from the Centre for independent Studies.

'The show would probably not mock the religious beliefs of Ed Husic, Islam, or Josh Frydenberg, Judaism,' he said, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Some online accused Tom Ballard of having an agenda against the Christian faith

Another questioned whether the show would go the same direction if the target was a Muslim

'This is abhorrent editorial garbage,' one viewer said of the controversial sketch

One of the lyrics, which took aim at Mr Morrison voting against the same-sex marriage vote, was attacked by a viewer who says that a number of Christian musicians advocated the cause

Some defended the sketch, saying it was taking issue with policy, as opposed to the religion

NSW opposition education spokesman, Jihad Dib said: 'I think once it gets into a personal issue about someone's faith  then I think we're going down the wrong path.'

According to the Daily Telegraph, an ABC spokesman defended Tonightly, saying it regularly satirised 'people in positions of authority, regardless of their race, gender or religious beliefs'.

Tonightly was cancelled after two seasons, with its final show scheduled for September 7.

'Tonightly deliberately pushed boundaries to inform and entertain,' an ABC spokesperson said.President Donald Trump is demanding - for a second time - senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr be fired, coming one day after the government employee was subject to a closed door grilling by members of Congress.

The president fumed at Ohr, asking 'how the hell' he still has a job and called it a 'disgrace.'

Trump has repeatedly targeted Ohr, who is also on the administration's list of officials who may lose their security clearance.

'How the hell is Bruce Ohr still employed at the Justice Department? Disgraceful! Witch Hunt!,' the president tweeted Wednesday.

Former associate deputy U.S. attorney general Bruce Ohr arrives to testify behind closed doors before the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees

President Trump has targeted Ohr repeatedly on Twitter and on Wednesday demanded - for a second time - Ohr be fired

Trump made his first call for the termination last week, citing Nellie Ohr's ties to the company which commissioned the infamous and unverified Steele dossier during the presidential campaign.

Ohr was on Capitol Hill Tuesday for almost eight hours in a closed-door grilling with lawmakers.

The House is on August recess but Republican lawmakers returned for the chance to question Ohr, who was in contact with former British spy Christopher Steele, while Democratic lawmakers were represented by committee staff, ABC News reported.

Ohr gave lawmakers 'a list of half a dozen' senior FBI and Justice Departments officials who knew about his interactions, GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe told Fox News' 'Hannity' Tuesday night.

Ohr had passed along Steele's information from their contact to the FBI, even after the bureau had terminated its formal relationship with Steele over the spy's leaks about their work to the media.

Republicans also were interested in how Steele's dossier ended up in FBI hands. Ohr's wife Nellie worked at Fusion GPS, the same firm that hired Steele to write the dossier although it's been reported she did not work on that project.

'We've confirmed that Bruce Ohr was a willing and constant conduit between Fusion GPS, paid for by the Clinton campaign, and the FBI,' Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said on 'Fox & Friends' Wednesday morning without going into details.

'He knew he was providing hearsay and double hearsay that would never stand up in court,' Issa added.

Other Republicans said Ohr's testimony suggested the FBI had doubts about dossier's credibility when they sought a surveillance warrant on former Trump campaign official Carter Page in October 2016.

The House Judiciary Committee and the The House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform have held multiple joint sessions with the players in the saga surrounding special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as part of their look into FBI and Justice Department activities related to the 2016 election.

Trump and his allies claim that FBI surveillance of Page was a done through a tainted FISA warrant that relied on the Steele dossier.

Last month, documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request showed federal agents relied on more information than the Steele dossier to obtain the warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Ohr is an expert on the Russian mafia and organized crime, work that brought him into contact with Steele, who specialized in Russia when he worked as a spy.

The two men met in 2007, when Steele still worked for MI-6 and Ohr was investigating Russian crime syndicates.

Steele went on to investigate ties between Trump and Russia for the research firm, Fusion GPS, where Ohr's wife Nellie worked as a contractor.

Trump has slammed Ohr repeatedly on Twitter

Ohr had contact with former British spy Christopher Steele, whose unverified dossier alleged Russia had information it could use to blackmail Trump

Fusion GPS commissioned Steele to write the dossier on Trump that alleged the Russians have information they could use to blackmail the president, including an allegation - which Trump has denied - that he hired 'a number of prostitutes to perform a 'golden showers' (urination) show in front of him' when he was in Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.

Reports indicate Nellie Ohr did not work on the dossier and her time at Fusion GPS did not influence her husband's work at DoJ.

Trump and his allies claim the Steele dossier was politically motivated by those in the government who do not want to see Trump be president.

Democrats, meanwhile, argue the Ohr testimony is another attempt to prove a conspiracy theory they say does not have merit.A Belgian senior executive at one of the world's largest steel companies fell to his death close to the Kremlin in Moscow.

The body of Bruno Charles De Cooman, Vice President of Research and Development at Novolipetsk Steel, also known as NLMK, was found below a block of flats in downtown Moscow on Wednesday afternoon.

It has been reported that Dr De Cooman 'fell out of a window', however it is not yet known how he fell or if his death was an accident. Police sources told Russian media they were not treating it as a criminal case.

De Cooman, believed to have been 59, arrived at the a 12-storey building on the embankment on the opposite side of the Moskva river from the Kremlin yesterday afternoon with a friend.

He planned to go up to his apartment and then return, a friend said, but his body was found minutes later on the ground below.

Mystery: The body of Bruno Charles De Cooman, Vice President of research and development at NLMK was found on the street below a block of flats in downtown Moscow

'The body of a man was found near a house on Serafimovich Street with signs characteristic of a fall from a height,' a Moscow Police source told TASS News Agency.

The source told the news agency that an investigation into the death of Dr De Cooman has been launched.

TASS news agency quoted a source as saying no traces of a struggle were found during a preliminary search of the businessman's flat.

Dr De Cooman, originally from Belgium, had only been named VP of Research and Development at NLMK last year. Shocked colleagues said there were no signs that he was 'suicidal'.

The company, owned by Vladimir Lisin who Forbes lists as one of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs, is one of the four largest steel companies in Russia, and produces a fifth of the country's crude steel. It employs about 2,500 people in Europe, with about 1,000 in Belgium.

Lisin has close ties to Scotland and has an estate at Aberuchill in Perthshire.

NLMK confirmed the death of Dr De Cooman, but would not comment on any details of the incident until 'circumstances are clarified'.

New job: Dr De Cooman, from Belgium, was named as the new VP for Research and Development at NLMK a year ago

Scene: Dr De Cooman was found on the street below this block of flats in Moscow

Investigation: It has been reported that Dr De Cooman 'fell out of a window', however it is not yet known if his death was an accident

'It is with the deepest regret that we confirm the tragic death of Dr. Bruno de Cooman, NLMK Group Vice President for Research and Development, in Moscow today,' the company told MailOnline in a statement.

'We are devastated by the news and pass our sincere condolences to Bruno's loved ones.'

Dr De Cooman, a noted academic who had published more than 500 academic papers, began his studies at Ghent University in Belgium and went on to obtain a doctorate at the prestigious Ivy League Cornell University in the United States.

According to NLMK, he had an international career in materials research and development management at various industrial laboratories and academic institutions.

He had previously worked for technology giant Phillips and had worked in South Korea, also working at the country's Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea.

Properties are rented for around 3,000 a month at the prestigious address. The sprawling block, with stunning views of the Kremlin, was built by Stalin to keep his key lieutenants living under one roof.

Many faced a night time call to be exiled to Siberia or shot in the Lubyanka. It is reputed to be haunted.Three members of the same family died in a house fire which had a faulty smoke alarm because a care agency didn't check it, as it was 'unsafe' to do so.

Just weeks before the blaze the agency was told that the alarm was working by the residents, however they didn't check it because they thought it was dangerous to stand on a chair to reach it.

James Whelan, 76 along with his brother Joseph, 74 and his wife Anne, 68 all died in the fire in Hornchurch, east London on February 7 last year, an inquest heard today.

It is believed that a sofa caught fire in the property from a lit cigarette, and all three of the deceased died from smoke inhalation.

James Whelan, 76 along with his brother Joseph, 74 and his wife Anne, 68 all died in the fire in a house on Laburnum Avenue, Hornchurch, east London (pictured) on February 7 last year, an inquest heard today

When the smoke alarm was found in the stairwell of the three-bed home it did not contain a battery, fire investigators said.

Anne was pronounced dead at the scene, while James, a retired porter, and Joseph, retired naval communications officer, both died in hospital a day after the fire in James' terraced house.

The couple had travelled from County Cork to visit James to help care for him, as he was suffering from chronic back pain and sciatica.

An investigation into the fire found that it was possible that James, born in Dublin, had got up to have a cigarette before the fire took hold, although he is thought to have stopped smoking a year previous.

The care agency, contracted by Havering Council, to provide James with home support was told by relatives during a risk assessment that the alarm was fully functioning.

The assessor did not test the alarm herself because it was located over a stairwell, and she could not try and test it using a chair because it would be unsafe.

Lynn Pritchard, who carried out the risk assessment for Warren Care on 16 January last year, told the inquest: 'We don't physically test them, it's unsafe to stand on a chair.

'You ask 'Is there a smoke alarm?' and ask 'does it work?' and I was told yes it does.

'If it wasn't working I would note down that it wasn't and ask if they would like a referral to the London Fire Brigade. '

Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: 'You recall Mr Whelan was in bed and his children were present at the home.

'You completed the risk assessment and you asked if they had smoke alarms in the property and asked if it was working and you thought it was. You didn't physically test the smoke alarm yourself though.'

Michael Beasley from the London Fire Brigade said: 'The brigade became aware of the fire following a call from a neighbour.

'They thought they could smell a burning smell in one of the upper rooms and they heard a noise, they thought they head someone fall over, or a ladies voice.

'The neighbour called when they realised there was some very light smoke that you could see at roof level.

'Mr James Whelan was found by the back door. He was lying on the floor next to the locked back door and the other two family members Joseph and Anne were found in the front bedroom on the floor again.'

Mr Beasley said: 'The fire itself was confined to a fairly small area of the living room. The couch was on fire and the fire had burnt through the doorway and the door.

'All that smoke would have gone up the stairs.

'It was identified that the rear bedroom was being used by James and Anne. There were ladies toiletries and items and the gentleman's bits and pieces were in there too.

'Unfortunately the back bedroom had a large double glazed window with very tiny openings at the top.

'There was no other way they could get out without breaking it.

'I imagine if able to open the door they would have ended up on their knees to get away from the smoke layer. They had no escape down the stairs.

'The only option is to get to the front of the house and try to get help by opening the window and trying to breathe.'

The inquest heart that due to his back pain, James would often get up in the night - and the investigation found it was likely he was already downstairs when the fire started as it would have been too difficult to get down the steps when the smoke started billowing up.

Mr Beasley said: 'He may have been down in the lounge at some point in the night, maybe when the fire was discovered. It would have been difficult for anyone to get down the stairs once it had started.

'Perhaps Mr Whelan had got up in pain to have a cigarette. It's not to blame anybody in particular or try to establish that - because it's not possible to do so.

'All we can say was what didn't cause the fire and it wasn't an electronic item and it wasn't near any electronic outlets or sockets.'

Mr Beasley said: 'There was no battery within the alarm, we couldn't see a battery that had fallen. It looked like it was the only smoke alarm that would have been in the house.'

Terry Cotton, a group safeguarding leader for Manor Care said they had 'no statutory responsibility' to check smoke alarms but had changed the questions that risk assessors must answer to complete the checks.

He said: 'It was confirmed that Lynn Pritchard carried out a care needs assessment and the smoke alarm wasn't actually checked, it was pointed out to her and she was told it was functioning.

'It's recognised that Manor Care has a duty to protect the health and safety and welfare of our employees and anyone who is affected by their work and do what is reasonably practicable to ensure this.

'There isn't any specific regulatory duty within Manor Care to maintain the premises of the service user. We have no statuary power or duty to check things like fire alarms.

'Mr Whelan wasn't deemed to be a fire risk - he didn't smoke.

'We have changed the question now on the new care needs assessment. 'Does it appear to be working?' didn't feel to be a helpful question in hindsight.

'We now issue new guidance to our assessors with the issue of smoke alarms. The first question is 'Do they have a smoke alarm' and the second is 'Does the service user's family or advocate confirm the smoke alarms are working?'

Dr Radcliffe said: 'The carers are going above what is required of them. It would be onerous on carers to be expected to do fire risk assessments.

'I think there's a perfectly reasonable and accessible service by the Fire Brigade who bend over backwards to do this for anyone.

'Perhaps if there is a smoke alarm that is not accessible, that needs to be a reason to suggest a fire service referral.

'It could be just common sense if it's an elderly person - it must not be difficult to test'.

Dr Radcliffe gave a verdict for all three of the family members of accidental death - noting Joseph and James' cause of death as carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation with a contributing factor of heart disease.

Anne's cause of death was recorded as carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.

She said: 'It's an appalling tragedy three people lost in one fire, two brothers at the same time as a result of this and the loss of Anne at the scene.'This is the shocking moment a thief launches a sickening attack with a bottle on a shop worker in front of a six-year-old boy.

CCTV footage shows a man repeatedly striking the shop keeper with a glass bottle behind a shop counter in Kingswood Food and Wine on Penge Hight Street, Bromley, south-east London.

The thief had gone into the shop along with three children who were aged between six and 12 and had tried to steal some alcohol.

CCTV footage shows a man repeatedly striking the shop keeper with a glass bottle behind a shop counter in Penge, Bromley, south-east London

A thief (pictured left) launches a sickening attack with a bottle on a shop worker (pictured right) in front of a six-year-old boy

A shop worker had confronted the man when he tried to walk out without paying, at which point the thief bashed him over the head and face with the bottle of booze.

The shopkeeper tries to protect himself by holding the thief back who continues to strike him and shout abuse, as it is believed the children were forced to watch the horrific incident unfold.

Police were called but the man fled with the three children and it is unknown if he was their father.

Detectives are appealing for information that could help them trace the thief in the bottle assault.

the thief can be seen mouthing abuse at the shop worker who tries to defend himself from the violent attack

DC Kelly Cretten of Bromley Police said: 'This man launched a violent attack on an innocent man trying to protect his store and prevent a theft.

'I'm appealing to anyone who may recognise this man, or who witnessed the attack, to come forward and speak to police.'

The shop worker was taken to hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.West Virginia Police Cpl Daniel Goffreda is facing charges after he locked his two young sons in a hot car while grocery shopping

A West Virginia police officer is facing charges after he locked his two young sons in a hot car while grocery shopping.

Charleston Police Cpl Daniel Goffreda has been charged with two counts of child neglect creating risk of injury.

He has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation.

Authorities said Goffreda left his sons, aged two and five, strapped in their car seats as he went to a Kroger grocery store in Charleston on Sunday.

The windows of the car were rolled up and all four doors were locked. The car's engine was off.

Officers said the temperature was around 84 degrees F, with 67 per cent humidity, when deputies arrived at the scene.

Courtesy: WSAZ

Goffreda (pictured with his wife and sons, aged five and two) has been charged with two counts of child neglect creating risk of injury

Authorities said Goffreda left his sons strapped in their car seats as he went to a Kroger grocery store in Charleston on Sunday

Goffreda left his children in the car while he was in the store for 25 minutes, according to WOWK.

Deputies from the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office found the two boys 'sweating profusely' by the time they arrived.

One of the deputies tried to tell the five-year-old to open the car door, but the boy mouthed back 'I don't know how'.

Goffreda left his children in the car while he was in the store for 25 minutes. Deputies from the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office found the two boys 'sweating profusely' when they arrived

The deputy was then forced to break open the passenger's side window and the boys were removed from the car by an ambulance crew.

Goffreda's five-year-old was sweating so much that his clothes were wet to the touch from sweat, authorities said.

No serious injuries were reported.

Goffreda was arrested at the scene. He has since posted bond.Police chiefs today tore into the Government's over its 'woefully inadequate' response to the epidemic of the zombie drug Spice.

A group of 20 Police and Crime Commissioners have backed a letter warning the drug represents the 'most severe public health issue' the UK has faced in decades.

And they are urging ministers to upgrade it from a Class B to Class A drug so that dealers peddling it face far stiffer prison terms.

The stark words come amid growing concerns that Britain's police, prisons and hospitals are struggling to cope with users of the drug Spice.

Marc Jones, the Conservative elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire, wrote an open letter to the Home Office demanding tougher action.

Police and Crime Commissioners have urged the Government to do more to tackle the Spice epidemic amid growing concerns that Britain's police, prisons and hospitals are struggling to cope (pictured, a Spice user collapsed on a street in Manchester last year)

Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Marc Jones (file picture left) wrote to Home Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured right in Downing Street in June) to demand far tougher action to tackle the epidemic. His letter was backed by 19 other PCCs

He wrote: 'The wide scale abuse of these debilitating drugs within towns, cities and even villages across the UK is one of the most severe public health issue we have faced in decades and presently the response to tackle the issue is woefully inadequate.

'As public health and substance misuse services are not currently taking the lead in meeting this growing challenge it is falling to the police to respond to public concerns of community safety, adding yet further to policing demand without addressing the underlying issues.'

He added: 'Spice simply put is a significant risk to our society and must be tackled effectively and with expediency.'

He urged ministers to reclassify synthetic canabinoid drugs such as Spice so they are upgraded to Class A to allow the courts to mete out tougher punishments.

Mr Jones also warned that frontline police and ambulance staff are bearing the brunt of the rise of the drug - with many high on Spice attacking them.

He wrote: Our concerns not only lie with the devastating effects Spice has on its users but also the wider negative impacts felt by their families, communities and emergency services.

'Only last week I met with East Midlands Ambulance Services, who informed me that they are seeing an exponential rise in the number of staff members who have been assaulted by those under the influence of Spice.

'Additionally, the number of ambulance calls involving these psychoactive drugs has reached a worrying total of 233 in four months in Lincolnshire alone.

'This emphasizes the need for public health officials to address issue and take action now but this will not happen without Government direction.'

And they are urging ministers to upgrade it from a Class B to Class A drug so that dealers peddling it face far stiffer prison terms

Policing and NHS chiefs have all warned that their frontline staff are facing an onslaught of pressure sparked by the soaring use of the drug Spice

Some 19 other Tory police and crime commissioners signed the letter, which was sent to the Home Office.

Today's stark warning comes amid a growing fie of evidence that soaring use of Spice and similar drugs are wreaking havoc on Britain's streets.

Shocking images of people high on the drug and slumped in a zombie-like state in town centres across the UK have been published.

While prison chiefs have warned that jails are awash with the drug, while the NHS has warned that the epidemic is'beyond crisis point'.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We recognise how dangerous synthetic cannabinoids, such as those supplied under the brand name Spice, can be and the devastating impact that they can have on communities, families and the individuals taking them.

'That is why we acted to control these substances as Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act and give the police the powers they need to take action, including making possession illegal and delivering longer sentences for dealers.

'Following two previous changes to legislation, the most recent controls for 'third generation' synthetic cannabinoids only came into effect in December 2016. However, as with all controlled drugs we will continue to monitor their impact.'A philosophy lecturer is claiming to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after she was strip-searched by police in a case which could end an officer's career.

Konstancja Duff was arrested after she intervened in the arrest of a boy aged, 15, in London, attempting to hand him a card listing his legal rights and telling him to give a 'no comment' interview.

The teenager was later found to have a six inch knife in his sock in May 2013.

Sergeant Kurtis Howard who ordered the subsequent full body search of Dr Duff at Stoke Newington Police Station now faces a police misconduct hearing for allegedly breaching the standards of the profession.

Dr Duff was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police on the Wilton Estate in Hackney when she tried to give the card to the boy, published by the Green and Black Organisation, to a teenager undergoing a search.

The Green and Black Organisation monitors police behaviour at demonstrations and the card was aimed specifically at those arrested at protests.

Philosophy lecturer Konstancja Duff claims she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and flashbacks after being strip-searched by police in 2013

Ms Duff made a complaint to the police watchdog a year after her arrest following her acquittal by magistrates of obstructing and assaulting police.

During the search her clothes were cut off and she claims she was carried through the police station with her breasts exposed, wearing nothing but a paper suit, while she was taunted by officers for being 'childish' she has claimed.

A panel for the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) was shown CCTV footage of Dr Duff sitting on the floor in a caged area outside the police station for 15 minutes refusing to move while officers tried to reason with her.

She was eventually carried inside by four officers but refused to give her name or address, and was later strip-searched.

Dr Duff, who was studying for a masters in performance at the Royal College of Music, says she was forced to postpone her final piano recital as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder and flashbacks from the trauma of her arrest.

In her evidence to the IOPC panel on Wednesday, Dr Duff said she was acting in the spirit of 'passive resistance' pioneered by the civil rights movement, by refusing to co-operate.

She said: 'I was concerned about (the teenager's) welfare, he was clearly distressed and I was also concerned about the problem - which is quite widely known - of racial profiling. I wanted to make sure he was aware of his legal rights around stop-and-search.'

Dr Duff said she had the card after it was handed to her at a previous protest.

After her arrest, she refused to speak to officers except to ask to see a doctor when she arrived at the station.

'I felt my arrest had been unjust, I was there for acting in passive, non-violent resistance,' she said.

She said she was following advice on printed card, which tells detainees to answer 'no comment' to all questions and not to give details such as name and address during a stop-and-search.

The teenager she tried to help was later found to have a 6in knife in his sock, but Dr Duff said she had just been trying to stand up for his rights.

The lecturer was arrested when Metropolitan Police officers were arresting a teenager in Hackney

'Obviously I had no idea he had a knife on him but the principle of legal rights is that they are for everyone - what I had been arrested for was standing up for someone's legal rights,' she said.

'I think that speaks to the political/protest-type note of what was going on - classic civil rights movement, limp passive resistance.'

She said a lot of her behaviour in refusing to co-operate with police was down to shock at being arrested for handing someone a legal advice card.

'I wanted to speak to someone genuinely independent, either a solicitor or a doctor - it was so outside anything I had ever experience I was genuinely scared.'

Dr Duff, who was a self-employed philosophy student at the time of the incident, said she was unable to work for a few months after her arrest.

'There was a short period of time when I couldn't pay my rent so I stayed with friends until my PhD funding started later in the year,' she said.

'I was suffering from panic attacks which I had counselling for at the time. I still have the occasional spasm and I was given a PTSD diagnosis and I'm on the NHS waiting list (for counselling).'

Sgt Howard's misconduct hearing, which is scheduled to last for three days, continues.An armed burglar died of axe wounds in a botched raid after a father who was at home with his partner and two children fought back, a trial has heard.

Daniel Wood was with his family in their home above a launderette in South Ockendon, Essex, when a gang of at least four masked men burst in shouting 'armed police', Basildon Crown Court heard.

Cyrus Shroff, prosecuting, said Paul Robertson, who was the first to enter, was armed with what looked like a black handgun, but later turned out to be an imitation weapon, and an axe.

Daniel Wood was with his family in their home above a launderette in South Ockendon, Essex, when a gang of at least four masked men burst in shouting 'armed police', Basildon Crown Court heard

He said the family were subjected to a 'terrifying and serious' ordeal as the gang demanded money and tied Mr Wood's hands behind his back with cable ties, as Robertson pointed the imitation gun at them.

The raiders took a diamond engagement ring from Mr Wood's finger, demanded to know 'where's the money under the floorboards?' and took 900 in cash from a wardrobe, the court heard.

Mr Wood was assaulted but managed to break free from the cable ties, Mr Shroff said, and was later told to lie on the floor while an axe was swung around his feet.

'He managed to jump up from the floor, knocking the handgun out of Mr Robertson's hand, then started wrestling with him to get the axe off him,' he said.

'One then shouted 'police'. It may have been because there were blue Christmas lights flashing in one of the windows and it may have confused them.'

Robertson suffered serious wounds to his wrists and head and died at the scene, jurors heard on Wednesday.

'The remaining burglars escaped into the night in a Vauxhall Vivaro,' Mr Shroff said.

He said forensic evidence was gathered from items recovered near the address including an axe and a claw hammer, and mobile phone records were examined.

The family were subjected to a 'terrifying and serious' ordeal as the gang demanded money and tied Mr Wood's hands behind his back with cable ties, as Robertson pointed the imitation gun at them (the crime scene in Grays, Essex in December 2017)

Mr Shroff said this evidence suggested the four intruders were Robertson, who died at the scene, Joseph Pearl, Jerome Johnson and Harrison Fryer.

Pearl, Johnson and Fryer have admitted their part in the raid, jurors heard.

Two more men deny aggravated burglary and possessing an imitation firearm at the time of an offence and are standing trial.

Mr Shroff said it was the crown's case that Michael Williams, 36, of Milton Keynes, and Christopher Salvador, 31, of Watford, did not enter the property but played supporting roles.

Forensic evidence was gathered from items recovered near the address including an axe and a claw hammer, and mobile phone records were examined (the crime scene in Grays, Essex in December 2017)

He said Williams took part in recces and was the group's driver and Salvador was involved with planning the raid on the address above Baylee's launderette, which happened at around 9.30pm on December 4 last year.

'Those involved with the planning stages are just as guilty of the counts on the indictment as those who physically entered Baylee's launderette,' Mr Shroff said.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues.Felon: Paul Manafort was convicted of eight fraud counts at a first trial and now a second will follow at the end of September

Ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked Wednesday to move his upcoming trial out of the nation's capital, with his lawyers citing 'intensely negative news coverage' and potential juror bias against him.

The lobbyist is now a convicted felon after a jury found him guilty of eight of 18 counts of fraud at the end of his first trial, in Alexandria, VA.

His attorneys now want the next trial moved 240 miles and made the request in a formal submission to Judge Amy Berman Jackson published Wednesday.

'While federal courts often address issues of pretrial publicity in high-profile cases, it is difficult to conceive of a matter that has received media attention of the same magnitude as the prosecution of Mr. Manafort,' the lawyers wrote in asking to relocate the trial to Roanoke, Virginia, which is in the Western District of Virginia and the seat of its chief judge.

The request is similar to one from last month that preceded a separate trial for Manafort in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort's lawyers had also asked for that case to be moved to Roanoke, but the judge refused. Manafort was found guilty of eight counts last week, and the jury deadlocked on 10 others.

Jury selection is to start Sept. 17 in a trial related to Manafort's Ukrainian lobbying and political consulting work.

In a new court filing, Manafort's lawyers argued that media coverage of the case had been 'sensationalized' and overwhelmingly negative and would make it hard for the former Trump aide to get a fair trial in Washington.

Although neither the Virginia case nor the D.C. case focuses on Russian election interference, the defense lawyers say news coverage of Manafort has frequently mentioned his relationship with Konstantin Kilimnik, a man who U.S. authorities say has ties to Russian intelligence.

They suggested President Donald Trump himself had exemplified the problem with an inaccurate tweet - when Manafort was taken into custody before trial for violating the terms of his home confinement - that may have contributed to the misperception that he had been sentenced for committing a crime.

The lawyers also argued that potential jurors in Washington are far more likely to be familiar with the allegations in the case than those in Roanoke, saying the D.C. region ranks first in the country in households with internet access and computers.

Roanoke, by contrast, is the 70th-largest media market in the U.S., they said.

'Nowhere in the country is the bias against Mr. Manafort more apparent than here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,' they wrote. 'The phrase 'inside-the-beltway' was coined to capture the area's preoccupation with all things political.'

The application did not mention political leanings but Washington D.C. voted overwhelmingly against Trump, while Roanoke country was 61.5 per cent Trump and 33.5 per cent Hillary Clinton at the 2016 election.

The city of Roanoke however was majority Clinton, with 56.1 per cent of voters backing her and 38.5 per cent backing Trump. A federal jury would be drawn from both the city and the county and surrounding areas.

U.S. District Judge Jackson indicated Tuesday that she is not going to go easy on Manafort's defense team  a shift from Manafort's prior trial, where the prosecutors received the majority of the judge's criticism.

Jackson, who was appointed to the court by President Obama in 2010, was reluctant to move the upcoming case during a pretrial hearing on Tuesday. She noted that press coverage of the case is national and a venue change may not make a difference.

Change of tone: Judge Amy Berman Jackson hit the Manafort defense team - in contrast to Judge T.S. Ellis III who repeatedly went after prosecutors in Manafort's first trial

In the crosshairs: Kevin Downing, Manafort's defense attorney, leaves court in Washington after being told by the judge: 'All right, Mr. Downing. We don't need to be smug.'

'I believe that the overwhelming majority of the publicity is national,' she said.

Manafort's legal team must submit a final request for venue change by tomorrow  but they acknowledged in court that they are not sure where they want to move the trial.

'I don't know that I have the answer to that yet, judge,' said Manafort's lawyer Richard Westling, after the judge asked where the trial should be moved. 'It may be that there is no place.'

During Manafort's trial in Alexandria, Va., earlier this month, Judge T.S. Ellis rejected a similar request from his attorneys. He argued that the media attention was national and not confined to the northern Virginia suburbs of D.C.

Manafort's attorneys also received some mild rebukes from Judge Jackson during the hearing on Tuesday - a pointed contrast to the way Judge T.S. Ellis III had repeatedly gone after Robert Mueller's prosecutors in the first trial.

When Manafort's attorney Kevin Downing interrupted prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to complain about the amount of time the defense was getting to prepare for the case, the judge cut him off.

'All right, Mr. Downing,' said Jackson. 'We don't need to be smug. We don't need to be cute.'

Jackson also noted that there were 'people who are very expressive in this courtroom,' without specifically naming the defense attorneys.

'That is not going to happen when there is a jury in the jury box,' she said.

During the hearing, Jackson pushed the start of the trial back one week, from Sept. 17 to Sept. 24.

Manafort's attorneys requested the delay. They reportedly need more time to prepare because Manafort's previous trial just wrapped up one week ago.

Crucial case: Robert Mueller's second trial of Paul Manafort comes after the the president hinted at a pardon for the fraudster

Manafort was convicted of eight counts of tax and bank fraud in that case, carrying a maximum combined penalty of 80 years in prison.

Prosecutors have until tomorrow to decide whether they want to retry Manafort on 10 additional counts that deadlocked the jury. Depending on their decision, that could cause additional delays in one or both cases.

Judge Jackson also rejected a request from defense attorneys to ask prospective jurors who they voted for during the 2016 election. Judge Ellis had rejected a similar request in Manafort's previous case.

In addition, Jackson denied a defense request to ask potential jurors whether they voted in 2016  a question that Manafort's attorneys claimed would give insight into the political 'appetite' of the jury candidates.

However, attorneys for both sides will be allowed to ask potential jurors about their prior knowledge of the Manafort case, if they have ever posted about Manafort on social media, or if they have any views on officials involved in the Trump 2016 campaign.

Prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller's team objected to questions that would emphasize the Trump campaign during jury selection, saying the campaign would be a small part of the trial if it is mentioned at all.

Jackson also said the jury selection will likely last a few days  another contrast to Manafort's last trial, where jury selection took just a few hours.

The jury selection will also be closed to the public due to publicity surrounding the case.

The jury selection in Manafort's previous case was public, but most of the questioning of individual jurors was blocked out by a white noise machine.

Two additional pretrial hearings before September 24 to discuss evidence that can be submitted in the case.

Decision time: Judge T.S. Ellis III will sentence Manafort after presiding over his trial

Prosecutors from Mueller's special counsel team repeatedly drew the ire of Judge Ellis during Manafort's previous trial in Alexandria.

Ellis tore into the government attorneys on a daily basis throughout the three week trial for offenses such as taking too much time to question witnesses and allegedly focusing too heavily on Manafort's extravagant spending.

Ellis even called out a prosecutor for supposedly crying in the courtroom after one heated exchange with the judge.

'I understand how frustrated you are. In fact, there's tears in your eyes right now,' said Ellis to Prosecutor Greg Andres.

Andres denied he was crying during the incident.

During their argument, which stemmed from Ellis's claim that prosecutors were taking too long to question witnesses, Ellis rebuked Andres for failing to look him in the eye.

'Look at me! Don't look down,' snapped the judge.

On other occasions, Ellis objected to prosecutors using the term 'oligarch' to describe Manafort's Ukrainian clients, calling the term 'pejorative.'

He also banned the government attorneys from mentioning Russia or collusion, the subjects of Special Counsel Mueller's investigation, and cut them off while they were discussing Manafort's spending habits.

'It isn't a crime to have a lot of money and be profligate in your spending,' said the judge.

Ellis's clashes with the prosecution prompted criticism from some legal observers, including retired U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, who blasted Ellis's allegedly 'extraordinary bias' in a Washington Post column.

WHAT MANAFORT IS GUILTY OF - AND WHAT HE COULD GET The jury found Paul Manafort, 69, guilty of: Five counts of filing false income tax returns (one each for the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). Each count carries three year statutory maximum One count of filing a false FBAR Foreign Bank Account Report in 2012. Carries a f ive year statutory maximum One count of bank fraud for a $3.4 million Citizens Bank loan. Carries a 30 year statutory maximum One count of bank fraud for a $1 million Bank of California loan. Carries 30 years statutory maximum Advertisement

This sentiment was echoed by Fox News analyst and former judge Andrew Napolitano, who criticized Ellis for 'making too much of the case about him.'

'If you feel that negatively about the government, you shouldn't be on the case,' said Napolitano. 'Or you should keep those feelings to yourself, not manifest them.'

The hearing came after it emerged that Manafort held talks with prosecutors about making a plea to settle charges against him in Washington, D.C.  shortly before Trump inveighed against 'flipping.'

His team met with Mueller's lawyers about resolving the second set of charges while the Virginia jury was deliberating over a four-day period, the Wall Street Journal reported.

There has been considerable media speculation that Manafort has much to tell should he ever reach a broad cooperation agreement with authorities. He helmed Trump's campaign during the critical convention period, overseeing the delegate count.

He is linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. According to prosecutors who searched Manafort's home and got his emails, it was out of an effort to become 'whole' with the oligarch that Manafort offered to provide briefings on the Trump campaign.

In the D.C. trial, Manafort faces charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice by lying to the FBI, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He set up a skein of offshore accounts to stash millions earned representing a pro-Moscow Ukrainian political party, according to the case laid out by prosecutors.

Trump last week inveighed against the practice of prosecutors enticing lower-level people facing criminal charges to 'flip' in order to get them to spill the beans on higher-ups.

Michael Cohen, former lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on eight counts last week

Lot of it about: Both the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg (left), and David Pecker (right), the CEO of American Media Inc, the publisher of the National Enquirer, were granted immunity by federal prosecutors

'It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal,' Trump told Fox News.

'I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go,' Trump complained.

Trump popped off about flipping following the guilty plea of longtime lawyer Michael Cohen to eight criminal charges. He gets sentenced in December.

'It almost ought to be outlawed. It's not fair,' Trump continued. 'If you can say something bad about Donald Trump and you will go down to two years or three years, which is the deal he made, in all fairness to him, most people are going to do that. ... And I have seen it many times. I have had many friends involved in this stuff. It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal.'

In a week of bombshell revelations, it also came out that Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and National Enquirer CEO David Pecker each have been granted a form of immunity from prosecution.

Both feature in the saga of how Cohen paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels in a hush agreement, later to get reimbursed by the Trump Organization. Pecker hired former Playboy model Karen McDougal for $150,000, in a deal worked out with Cohen. Both women claim they had sexual affairs with Trump, which he denies.

It was not clear what charges Manafort sought to negotiate. His second trial starts Sept. 17th. He has likely racked up substantial legal fees, and could potentially face retrial on 10 charges to which the jury couldn't reach a verdict in Virginia.

Manafort's longtime deputy, Rick Gates, himself pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors during Manafort's trial. But Manafort's defense brought up false Gates covering up an affair, and one juror said the jury panel discounted his testimony.

Mueller's final tally: Trump's inner circle of convicts and turncoats - and 25 wanted Russian trolls GUILTY: MICHAEL FLYNN Pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2017. Awaiting sentence Flynn was President Trump's former National Security Advisor and Robert Mueller's most senior scalp to date. He previously served when he was a three star general as President Obama's director of the Defense Intelligence Agency but was fired. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his conversations with a Russian ambassador in December 2016. He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation. GUILTY AND JAILED: MICHAEL COHEN Pleaded guilty to eight counts including fraud and two campaign finance violations in August 2018. Pleaded guilty to further count of lying to Congress in November 2018. Sentenced to three years in prison and $2 million in fines and forfeitures in December 2018 Cohen was investigated by Mueller but the case was handed off to the Southern District of New York,leaving Manhattan's ferocious and fiercely independent federal prosecutors to run his case. Cohen was Trump's longtime personal attorney, starting working for him and the Trump Organization in 2007. He is the longest-serving member of Trump's inner circle to be implicated by Mueller. Cohen professed unswerving devotion to Trump - and organized payments to silence two women who alleged they had sex with the-then candidate: porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. He admitted that payments to both women were felony campaign finance violations - and admitted that he acted at the 'direction' of 'Candidate-1': Donald Trump. He also admitted tax fraud by lying about his income from loans he made, money from taxi medallions he owned, and other sources of income, at a cost to the Treasury of $1.3 million. And he admitted lying to Congress in a rare use of the offense. The judge in his case let him report for prison on March 6 and recommended he serve it in a medium-security facility close to New York City. GUILTY AND JAILED: PAUL MANAFORT Found guilty of eight charges of bank and tax fraud in August 2018. Sentenced to 47 months in March 2019. Pleaded guilty to two further charges - witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States. Jailed for total of seven and a half years in two separate sentences. Additionally indicted for mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney, using evidence previously presented by Mueller Manafort worked for Trump's campaign from March 2016 and chaired it from June to August 2016, overseeing Trump being adopted as Republican candidate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He is the most senior campaign official to be implicated by Mueller. Manafort was one of Washington D.C.'s longest-term and most influential lobbyists but in 2015, his money dried up and the next year he turned to Trump for help, offering to be his campaign chairman for free - in the hope of making more money afterwards. But Mueller unwound his previous finances and discovered years of tax and bank fraud as he coined in cash from pro-Russia political parties and oligarchs in Ukraine. Manafort pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of tax and bank fraud but was convicted of eight counts in August 2018. The jury was deadlocked on the other 10 charges. A second trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent due in September did not happen when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and witness tampering in a plea bargain. He was supposed to co-operate with Mueller but failed to. Minutes after his second sentencing hearing in March 2019, he was indicted on 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., using evidence which included documents previously presented at his first federal trial. The president has no pardon power over charges by district and state attorneys. GUILTY AND GOING TO WEEKEND JAIL: RICK GATES Pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in February 2018. Sentenced to 45 days weekend jail and three years probation, December 17, 2018 Gates was Manafort's former deputy at political consulting firm DMP International. He admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government on financial activity, and to lying to investigators about a meeting Manafort had with a member of congress in 2013. As a result of his guilty plea and promise of cooperation, prosecutors vacated charges against Gates on bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, filing false tax returns, helping prepare false tax filings, and falsely amending tax returns. GUILTY AND JAILED: GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October 2017. Sentenced to 14 days in September 2018, and reported to prison in November. Served 12 days and released on December 7, 2018 Papadopoulos was a member of Donald Trump's campaign foreign policy advisory committee. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his contacts with London professor Josef Mifsud and Ivan Timofeev, the director of a Russian government-funded think tank. GUILTY AND JAILED: RICHARD PINEDO Pleaded guilty to identity fraud in February 2018. Sentenced to a year in prison Pinedo is a 28-year-old computer specialist from Santa Paula, California. He admitted to selling bank account numbers to Russian nationals over the internet that he had obtained using stolen identities. GUILTY AND JAILED: ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN Pleaded guilty to making false statements in February 2018. He served a 30-day prison sentence and was deported to the Netherlands on his release Van der Zwaan was a Dutch attorney for Skadden Arps who worked on a Ukrainian political analysis report for Paul Manafort in 2012. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about when he last spoke with Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik. His law firm say he was fired. GUILTY: W. SAMUEL PATTEN Pleaded guilty in August 2018 to failing to register as a lobbyist while doing work for a Ukrainian political party. Sentenced to three years probation April 2019 Patten, a long-time D.C. lobbyist was a business partner of Paul Manafort. He pleaded guilty to admitting to arranging an illegal $50,000 donation to Trump's inauguration. He arranged for an American 'straw donor' to pay $50,000 to the inaugural committee, knowing that it was actually for a Ukrainian businessman. Neither the American or the Ukrainian have been named. CHARGED: KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK Indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. At large, probably in Russia Kilimnik is a former employee of Manafort's political consulting firm and helped him with lobbying work in Ukraine. He is accused of witness tampering, after he allegedly contacted individuals who had worked with Manafort to remind them that Manafort only performed lobbying work for them outside of the U.S. He has been linked to Russian intelligence and is currently thought to be in Russia - effectively beyond the reach of extradition by Mueller's team. INDICTED: THE RUSSIANS Twenty-five Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States. They remain at large in Russia Two of these Russian nationals were also indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 were indicted for conspiracy to launder money. Fifteen of them were also indicted for identity fraud. Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the charges. Russia effectively bars extradition of its nationals. The only prospect Mueller has of bringing any in front of a U.S. jury is if Interpol has their names on an international stop list - which is not made public - and they set foot in a territory which extradites to the U.S. INDICTED: MICHAEL FLYNN'S BUSINESS PARTNERS Bijan Kian (left), number two in now disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying company, and the two's business partner Ekim Alptekin (right) were indicted for conspiracy to lobby illegally. Kian, an Iranian-American was arrested and appeared in court charged with a conspiracy to illegally lobby the U.S government without registering as a foreign agent. Their co-conspirator was Flynn, who is called 'Person A' in the indictment and is not charged, offering some insight into what charges he escaped with his plea deal. Kian, vice-president of Flynn's former lobbying firm, is alleged to have plotted with Alptekin to try to change U.S. policy on an exiled Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and who is accused by Turkey's strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of trying to depose him. Erdogan's government wanted him extradited from the U.S. and paid Flynn's firm through Alptekin for lobbying, including an op-ed in The Hill calling for Gulen to be ejected. Flynn and Kian both lied that the op-ed was not paid for by the Turkish government. The indictment is a sign of how Mueller is taking an interest in more than just Russian involvement in the 2016 election. GUILTY AND AWAITING SENTENCE: ROGER STONE Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign official and longtime informal advisor to Trump, was indited on seven counts including obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks in January 2019. Convicted on all counts November 15, 2019, awaiting sentence Stone was a person of interest to Mueller's investigators long before his January indictment, thanks in part due to his public pronouncements as well as internal emails about his contacts with WikiLeks. In campaign texts and emails, many of which had already been publicly revealed before showing up in Mueller's indictment, Stone communicated with associates about WikiLeaks following reports the organization had obtained a cache of Clinton-related emails. Stone, a former Nixon campaign adviser who has the disgraced former president's face permanently tattooed on his back, has long been portrayed as a central figure in the election interference scandal. 'They got nothing,' he said of the special counsel's investigation. Stone gave 'false and misleading' testimony about his requests for information from WikiLeaks. He then pressured a witness, comedian Randy Credico, to take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify, and pressured him in a series of emails. Following a prolonged dispute over testimony, he called him a 'rat' and threatened to 'take that dog away from you', in reference to Credico's pet, Bianca. Stone warned him: 'Let's get it on. Prepare to die.' CLEARED: GREG CRAIG Greg Craig, President Barack Obama's White House counsel, was indicted for failing to register as a foreign agent. Mueller's investigators uncovered Craig's work on behalf the government of Ukraine while probing Manafort, who did business with Craig. Prosecutors released a grand jury indictment of Craig in April 2019, after Craig's law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP agreed to pay more than $4.6 million as part of a settlement. The prominent firm also acknowledged it had failed to register, and placed much of the blame on Craig, a senior partner there. Craig's lawyer blasted the decision as an abuse of prosecutorial discretion, and prepared to argue that omission of information during an interview is not tantamount to making false statements. The charges stem from a 2012 report Craig and the firm produced on behalf of the Ukrainian government on opposition figure and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She was an opponent of Manafort's client , former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Craig was cleared on September 9 2019. AdvertisementTheresa May today unveiled a new security partnership with Kenya to target UK paedophiles, fight terrorists and boost trade.

On the final stop of her Africa tour, the Prime Minister hailed the new ties between London and Nairobi at a joint press conference with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatt.

Mrs May also hailed new 'duty free and quota free' trade links, insisting it was mutually beneficial and telling reporters: 'Investment here in Kenya will be good for Britain as well.'

Currently the Kenyan authorities do not receive information from US-based global tech companies flagging up vile material because they do not have secure enough communications.

The new HQ will help police in the African country stop sick images being produced and distributed online.

The new project builds on previous work to set up Kenya's Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU).

Theresa May held a joint press conference alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya today (pictured)

On the final stop of her Africa tour, the Prime Minister hailed the new ties between London and Nairobi at a joint press conference with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatt.

Theresa May arrived in Kenya today on the final leg of her Africa tour (pictured is the PM being greeted by the Kenyan Air Force

Earlier, Mrs May announced Britain is to fund a new 'cyber center' to target UK paedophiles operating in Kenya

Mrs May said she had signed a new agreement to expand joint security working with the Kenyan authorities.

She said: 'Already, British terrorists and child abusers are in UK jails because of our co-operation.

'This afternoon we have signed a new compact that will see us expand our joint work on security even further.'

She said: 'We are pursuing , of course, a good deal for trade with the EU once we have left the EU.

'But we will be looking to enhance our trade relationships around the rest of the world as well.

'Trade isn't about one country doing better than another country, actually, trade is mutually beneficial.'

The cyber centre - the first of its kind in Africa - will be based within this existing unit, which has been experiencing an increase in cases of child abuse.

The AHTCPU has over 100 live investigations in progress and has protected around 400 children since March 2016.

Some 40 suspects have been arrested as a result of its work, and linked convictions included British paedophiles who had sexually abused children in Kenya.

Simon Harris, from Shropshire, was sentenced to 14 years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court in 2015 for sexually abusing Kenyan street children.

Keith Morris from Hull was jailed for 18 years at Leeds Crown Court in 2018 for sexually abusing Kenyan children in a village near Mombasa.

Mrs May is received by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya (pictured)

Mrs May said: 'Online child exploitation is an abhorrent crime and we are determined to ensure there is no place to hide for predators who use the internet to share images of abuse across borders, too often with impunity.

'This builds on our ongoing work with Kenya on security and criminal justice  a partnership which has already helped to convict and imprison terrorists in the UK.'

Mrs May became the first British Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher in 1988 to visit Kenya.

She is to meet president Uhuru Kenyatta and see British soldiers who are training troops from Kenya and other African countries fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Post-Brexit trade, security and overseas aid have featured in her three-day Africa visit as she made the case for the UK to seize a greater share in the market amid fierce global competition from China, France and the United States.

The cyber unit is part of a wider UK-Kenya security agreement, which will be signed during the visit by Africa minister Harriett Baldwin and Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Monica Juma.

British support will also include helping Kenya tackle violence against girls and women, and sharing expertise to strengthen the procedures for processing complex terrorist and organised crime cases.

The deal will see aviation security boosted with machines to detect explosives, protecting the 100,000 Brits who visit Kenya every year.

Downing Street said the 2015 pact has led to two terrorism convictions in the UK, the establishment of a counter-IED training centre in Nairobi for regional security forces fighting Al-Shabaab, the extradition of wanted criminals from the UK to Kenya, and better aviation security.

Mrs May is also confirming that the UK will return money lost by the Kenyan people due to crime and corruption, and concealed in banks and assets in the UK.

Stolen funds found in Britain will now be able to be used to fund development projects in sectors such as health and education, No10 said.

That includes over 3.6million in proceeds of crime seized by courts in Jersey.The British woman dubbed the Portofino Pirate after allegedly trying to steal a luxury yacht in Italy has struck again - this time in Paris, where she booked into a room in the Latin Quarter but failed to pay when she left three days later.

Mother-of-four Larissa Watson was accused of stealing a 130,000 luxury motorboat in June after deserting her family back home in Britain and launching a months-long crime spree across Italy.

Since the alleged attempted boat theft in the Italian Riviera town of Portofino, the 50-year-old artist and businesswoman has wandered from the south of France to Belfast and Dublin and then to Paris, where last week she booked into a room for three nights.

Mother-of-four Larissa Watson was accused of stealing a 130,000 luxury motorboat in June after deserting her family back home in Britain and launching a months-long crime spree across Italy

The room Mrs Watson booked, using her own name, was one of 45 offered by the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris in its historic 18th building in the heart of the Latin Quarter

The room Mrs Watson booked, using her own name, was one of 45 offered by the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris in its historic 18th building in the heart of the Latin Quarter.

It cost just 90 euros a night - far less than the luxury hotels in Italy where she allegedly stayed without paying, which led to fraud charges being laid against her there.

The centre decided not to press charges against Mrs Watson, who was born in Canterbury but moved to her current base in Belfast as a child

But when she went to check out in Paris last Thursday she said she had no money to pay. The police were called and four uniformed officers arrived and forced Mrs Watson to go to a nearby cashpoint, a source in the Irish Cultural Centre said.

When they got there Mrs Watson, who appeared in court in Genoa last month where she stood charged with fraud and attempting to steal the luxury yacht in Portofino, said her cards didn't work and there was no money to take out.

The centre decided not to press charges against Mrs Watson, who was born in Canterbury but moved to her current base in Belfast as a child.

She said in an email exchange that the incident at the centre was due to the fact that her bank account had been hacked.

'(I) thought that I had my bank account active but have since found out it has been hacked and emptied. Just more of the stuff that has been happening in my life recently,' she wrote.

Mrs Watson had attended a dinner in the courtyard of the centre the night before she checked out. One person at that dinner said that 'she seemed edgy' and had inquired about how she could have en exhibition of her paintings mounted at the Irish Cultural Centre.

Mrs Watson is now believed to be back in Belfast, where she is finishing up a book on her recent adventures, which sher has said she hopes can be made into a Hollywood film.

The centre decided not to press charges against Mrs Watson, who was born in Canterbury but moved to her current base in Belfast as a child

She said in an interview earlier this month that the allegations of fraud and attempted theft against her were 'bull***t' and that she had been the victim of identity theft.

She is said to have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle for several months in Italy this year at the expense of high-end resorts and restaurants, failing to pay her bills before disappearing out of sight.

She was finally caught after reportedly climbing aboard an unmanned luxury motorboat in Portofino in June and speeding off from the harbour, with the Italian press dubbing her the 'Portofino pirate'.

A marina worker spotted her driving the boat and leapt aboard from the dock, apprehending her.

Mrs Watson, a creative director at an interior design firm, suddenly left behind her family life and fashion career in Belfast before heading to Italy in February, with relatives reporting her missing weeks later.

Her paintings have been exhibited in Britain, the United States, Europe and Japan. She moved to Belfast as a child before attending the University of Ulster's School of Art and Design.The FBI said Wednesday that it has no evidence Hillary Clinton's private email server was compromised even though President Donald Trump tweeted a news report that alleged the Chinese had hacked it.

Trump tweeted Tuesday evening about a report in the conservative Daily Caller that said a Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington area had hacked the server Clinton had used as secretary of state and obtained nearly all of her emails.

Trump's tweet: 'What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!'

FBI and Justice Department officials have said publicly that there was no evidence Clinton's server was hacked by a foreign power.

Former FBI Director James Comey said at a July 2016 news conference that the FBI did not find direct evidence that the sever had been successfully hacked though he also acknowledged that, 'given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved,' it would have been unlikely for the bureau to find such direct evidence.

Push back: AN FBI official went public to say it had not found any evidence of a hack of Hillary Clinton's secret server and its emails, despite Trump saying they 'got hacked by China'

A June report from the Justice Department's inspector general on the FBI's handling of the Clinton investigation said FBI specialists did not find evidence that the server had been hacked, with one forensics agent saying he felt 'fairly confident that there wasn't an intrusion.'

An FBI official said Wednesday after the Daily Caller story and Trump tweet that the 'FBI has not found any evidence the servers were compromised.'

The White House did not immediately comment on the FBI's statement.

The report claimed that a Chinese company known to conduct government espionage was able to insert code into Clinton's homebrew server, and managed to forward her emails to a third party in real time.

The bombshell report on the Chinese hacking allegations cited two sources: an anonymous intelligence officer and Republican Rep. Louie Gomert, who has put forward complex conspiracy theories in the past.

According to the report, two officials with the inspector general for the Intelligence Committee, identified as investigator Frank Rucker and lawyer Janette McMillan, warned FBI officials about the Chinese intrusion, to no avail.

A former member of the IG's office told the publication: 'When [the ICIG] did a very deep dive, they found in the actual metadata  the data which is at the header and footer of all the emails  that a copy, a 'courtesy copy,' was being sent to a third party and that third party was a known Chinese public company that was involved in collecting intelligence for China.'

Hillary Clinton's emails were automatically forwarded to a Chinese firm located in Virginia, a report claimed Tuesday. The sources for the report included Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert

'The [the ICIG] believe that there was some level of phishing,' the source said, according to the report. 'But once they got into the server something was embedded,' he said. 'The Chinese are notorious for embedding little surprises like this.'

But the official failed to identify the company, which would provide one way to verify the authenticity of the claim. ''We do know the name of the company. There are indications there are other 'cutouts' that were involved,' the official said. 'I would be in a lot of trouble if I gave you the name,' the person said.

At a public hearing in July, Gohmert grilled former FBI official Peter Strzok on why he wasn't able to recall more about a meeting with the IG and other officials about ' an anomoly they had found on Hillary Clinton's emails that were going to and from the private unauthorized server that you were supposed to be investigating.'

Strzok remember the meeting, but little more, prompting Gohmert to express astonishment why he didn't know about each Clinton email going to an 'unauthorized source' that he said was a 'foreign entity unrelated to Russia.'

Former Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill trashed the report as well as the publication when it sought comment.

'This is the most combed over subject in modern American political history,' Merrill said. 'The FBI spent thousands of hours investigating, and found no evidence of intrusion. That's a fact.'

Gohmert has also made claims about the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the U.S. and the Russians tipping the election to Harry Truman in 1948.

He drew media ridicule for holding up a chart last year at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that connected Justice Department officials, a Uranium company, former attorney general Eric Holder, Benghazi, political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, Clinton's secret server, Bill Clinton, the IRS targeting scandal, and other topics.Body camera footage capturing the moment police handcuffed a Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist going about her job has been released.

Susan Greene, editor of The Colorado Independent, was driving through Colfax Avenue, in downtown Denver, when she spotted police tended to a handcuffed almost-naked man on the sidewalk.

She stopped and attempted to begin photographing the scene when police took exception - telling her if she didn't stop she would be arrested.

Greene, who was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and is now editor of the Colorado Independent, was promptly handcuffed and led to a patrol car but can clearly be heard on the footage saying the officers were causing her pain and questioning on what grounds she was being arrested.

The officers could be heard telling her to 'act like a lady'.

However, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann says there was not enough evidence to file and prove criminal charges against the officers involved.

Denver police approached Susan Greene, editor of The Colorado Independent, an online news outlet, as she was taking photos of them standing near a naked man on a Denver sidewalk

Greene says police told her to stop taking photos and, when she refused, handcuffed her

Colorado law protects the public's right to photograph police officer's actions

The officer claimed that photographing the man violated his right to medical privacy

The video shows officer James Brooks then used his body and hands to block her taking photographs but she told him her right to do so was protected by the First Amendment.

She was handcuffed after she then tried to photograph his badge.

Officers told her to stand up and 'act like a lady' and to stop resisting and relax when she said they were hurting her. She was released after about 10 minutes after the officer consulted with someone on his cellphone.

After refusing to stop taking pictures, Greene was handcuffed

Greene's struggle with the police was caught on police bodycam as they led her to a patrol car

The Denver police officer who handcuffed Greene and placed her in his patrol car for taking pictures of a police stop will not face charges.

Greene said a police officer ignored her assertions that she had a First Amendment right to take photos on a public sidewalk. Colorado law protects the public's right to record the actions of peace officers.

Greene said a police sergeant later assured her he would look into the incident and ensure evidence was preserved for review.

She also filed formal requests under the Colorado Open Records Act for records both about the incident and about what happened with the unidentified man on the sidewalk, she said.

'As it turns out, Officer Brooks didn't like having his picture taken,' Green wrote at the time. 'After accusing me of blocking the door of an ambulance that had been called to the scene  toward which he had prodded me during our encounter  and saying something about me obstructing officers, he grabbed me and twisted my arm in ways that arms aren't supposed to move.'

'I wasn't resisting,' she added. 'Not even close.

'I've been wondering since then what would have happened if I weren't white or a journalist, or if I hadn't mentioned those pesky 'public sidewalk' and First Amendment details, or if this hadn't gone down in broad daylight, right across the street from the state Capitol, and within view of body cameras, halo cameras and onlookers,' she wrote in a July column.

Colorado prosecutors will not file charges against a police officer who handcuffed Greene

Greene wrote in a column for her paper she was glad the incident happened in broad daylight

Denver's police department has opened an internal investigation but not yet commented

She was held in the back of a squad car for 12 minutes before being released

Denver's police department said last month that it launched an internal investigation into Greene's detention.

A police statement issued last month said officers had summoned an ambulance while tending to 'a person in crisis' near the state capitol building when 'a bystander began taking pictures of the incident'.

'Officers confronted the bystander and detained her until after the person was transported to the hospital,' according to the statement released by Jay Casillas, a department spokesman.

Amber Miller, a spokeswoman for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, said the city takes seriously 'the importance of the First Amendment, and Denver is not about arresting journalists who are doing their job. That said, it will be important not to prejudge the situation until the internal investigation that is underway is completed.'

Greene worked at newspapers in California and Nevada before joining The Denver Post as a reporter and columnist.

She and a Post colleague were finalists for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting about the destruction of DNA evidence in criminal cases. She joined the Independent in 2013.A Texas rapper charged with capital murder for the shooting deaths of two men struck a pose from his jail cell in a photo that popped up on his Instagram account.

The image popped up on rapper Tay-K 47's social media on Tuesday, the same day the 18-year-old was indicted for allegedly hiding a cell phone in his underwear.

In the Instagram post, Tay-K is sitting on the ground in a green jail jumpsuit with his hands pointed at the camera to apparently resemble guns. He's currently being held at the Lon Evans Correction Center, a maximum-security jail in Fort Worth.

He captioned the photo, 'Live from the Gates of Hell #freeme'. The same image was also posted on his Twitter account.

This photo of rapper Tay-K posing in his jail cell popped up on his Instagram page on Tuesday

The photo appeared the same day the rapper was indicted for allegedly hiding a phone and charger in his underwear at the Tarrant County Jail

It's not clear who posted the picture or when it was taken. His manager did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Guards at Tarrant County Jail confiscated a cell phone from Tay-K, whose real name is Taymor Travon McIntyre, in late July when they were preparing to move him to Lon Evans because of a fight with another inmate.

According to the Star-Telegram, Tay-K tried to hide the phone and a charger in a sock stuffed into his underwear. When he was asked to remove it, 'The Race' rapper tried to throw the phone into the toilet and got into an altercation with one of the guards.

Being in possession of a prohibited item, like a cell phone, in a correctional facility is a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, the outlet reports.

Tay-K is already charged with two counts of capital murder for the robbery and shooting deaths of 21-year-old Ethan Walker and 23-year-old Mark Anthony Saldivar. Tay-K was 16 at the time of the crimes.

Tay-K is charged with capital murder for the deaths of 21-year-old Ethan Walker (left) and 23-year-old Mark Anthony Saldivar (right)

Walker was killed in July 2016 during a robbery at his Mansfield home. Saldivar was found dead in the parking lot of a Chick-fil-A in San Antonio in April 2017.

Authorities believe Tay-K cut off his ankle monitor while on house arrest for the Walker murder, fled to San Antonio and killed Saldivar. Police said Saldivar had been arguing with a group of men in a car when he jumped on the hood and started kicking the windshield.

One of the men in the car, who police said was Tay-K, leaned out the window and shot Saldivar. The month after Saldivar's death Tay-K allegedly beat and robbed a 65-year-old man while he was out walking. He was indicted on an aggravated robbery charge.

Tay-K was arrested in New Jersey in June 2017 after an intense manhunt.

Authorities say he's being held in a solitary cell for 23 hours a day and is only allowed one hour of free time.Bethenny Frankel's late boyfriend's cause of death will never be confirmed because his family has objected to an autopsy for religious reasons, it has been revealed.

Dennis Shields, 51, died on August 10 from a suspected opioid overdose. Sources told Dailymail.com at the time that he was taking oxycontin, a powerful pain killer, for residual back pain from a 2015 surgery.

Shields, who had been married for more than 20 years before he and Frankel started dating in 2016, was Jewish.

On Wednesday, the medical examiner confirmed that his family had objected to an autopsy and since no foul play is suspected in his death, they have no reason to argue with their wishes.

Bethenny Frankel is pictured with Dennis Shields in June 2016. Shields, 51, died on August 10 for a suspected opioid overdose

'An OCME autopsy was not performed in this case due to a religious objection, upheld by law in such instances where no criminality is suspected,' Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Simpson told Radar Online.

Frankel was left reeling by his sudden death.

She was pictured weeping as she emerged from the funeral home after the service earlier this month and has been keeping a low profile ever since.

Frankel tweeted for the first time about her boyfriend's death this week

Earlier this week, she was photographed for the first time out on a boat with her young daughter in the Hamptons.

The few remarks she has made since Shields' death include her recent Twitter post which read: 'It's hard to breathe & I appreciate you giving me the space & support to try to do so.

'It's excruciating - sudden death is no closure & constant ?s and memories.

'Our relationship is current so it's painfully raw.

'Trying to stay healthy & move through it w tears & close friends.'

Frankel and Shields dated on and off sine 2016.

They had been friends for decades beforehand. He briefly appeared in the Bravo reality show which she stars in, The Real Housewives of New York City.While a heatwave has gripped the Northeast since Sunday, the Farmers Almanac is predicting just as severe of a winter ahead for the United States.

For days the National Weather Service has had an excessive heat warning for several states, and for many of those in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, DC, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont can expect similar sweltering through Thursday.

Temperatures in and around the much of the Northeast, and portions of the Mid-Atlantic will see temperaturees in the mid and upper 90s, with the heat feeling like its in the triple digit range.

A bikini is one way to beat the extreme heat in Central Park, New York. Yana Villarni, 27, was trying to enjoy the sun in the park in her bikini but had even said 'it was difficult in the heat'

David Hoyt of Reading, Mass., enjoys an ice-cold seltzer water while seated alongside his anchored cooler in the Saco River in Fryeburg, Maine, where the temperature was 93 degrees F but the heat index made it feel like 103, Tuesday. The heat wave is expected to continue into Thursday morning

Wednesday the heat remained as oppressive as the rest of the week. A child cools off in a fountain at Washington Square Park in New York's West Village Wednesday. The East Coast is being hammered with temperatures in the 90's and a heat index making it feel more like 100

Some locations are expecting record breaking heat, including record breaking morning heat on Thursday as well.

'[Under a heat advisory] the combination of hot temperatures and high humidity will combine to create a situation in which heat illnesses are possible,' the National Weather Service (NWS) explains.

'With the school year getting started in many areas, it could be a very uncomfortable few days for students and teachers in schools without air conditioning,' AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Thompson told USA Today.

Under an excessive heat warning, 'the heat and humidity may cause heat stress during outdoor exertion or extended exposure. The very young, the elderly, those without air conditioning, and those participating in strenuous outdoor activities will be the most susceptible.'

As temperatures soared school districts in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Virginia had early dismissals for a second day Wednesday. With Philadelphia already announcing a Thursday early dismissal.

And at the US Open were given extra breaks 10 minute breaks to account for the increased strain.

At Bath Iron Works in Maine, the scorching temperatures didn't keep shipyard workers from toiling away inside a 610-foot destroyer, the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, that's under construction.

With the steel soaking up the heat and no air conditioning, temperatures climbed inside.

"It's hot, sweaty, sticky, damp," said welder Neal Larsen. He said the temperature routinely gets above 100 inside on hot days.

In 12 Northeast states tracked by the weather service, the elderly without air conditioning were urged to go to cooling centers.

Temperatures in the 90s combined with high humidity pushed the heat index in many states past 100, said weather service meteorologist Bob Oravec.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protections says ground-level ozone concentrations will reach unhealthy levels along the coast Wednesday and are asking residents to avoid outdoor activity.

At the U.S. Open in Queens, an extreme heat policy kicked in, allowing for 10-minute breaks between sets from the heat-absorbing courts.

Despite the intense heat the Farmers Almanac, which is a go to source for long range weather predictions says states from the Continental Divide to the Appalachians should expect a particularly frigid winter ahead.

'Contrary to the stories storming the web, our time-tested, long-range formula is pointing toward a very long, cold, and snow-filled winter,' said editor Peter Geiger in a statement on the company's website.

Seeing red? Try an AC, but while most of the Northeast is enduring oppressive heat, the Farmers Almanac is predicting a very cold and blustery winter ahead

Shades of cold temperatures ahead: Farmers Almanac is predicting a frigid winter this year

In an interview, with USA Today Geiger said, 'We start talking about the snows in the later part of November.'

The Farmer's Almanac predicts the middle of the United States should expect the most snow, while the Great Lakes and a currently sweltering New England should expect an above average snowfall.

The coldest month by far this winter is predicted to be in mid-February, with an extended winter lasting till late March.

Enjoy the sun while you have it.Google is correcting a blunder on their map of Washington D.C. that showed the Russell Senate Office Building had already been named after the late Senator John McCain, a mishap that occurred one day after President Donald Trump slammed the tech giant as 'rigged.'

It appears a user changed the map of Capitol Hill so the building appears at the McCain Senate Office Building.

However, when the mouse hoovers over the building, its proper name - the Russell Senate Office Building - pops up.

A spokesperson for Google said the error was being corrected.

Google maps showed a Senate office building was renamed for John McCain

An impromptu memorial of flowers and a U.S. Navy officers hat stands outside of the Russell Senate Office Building in honor of Sen. John McCain

'We empower people to contribute their local knowledge to the map, but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies or premature changes suggested by users. When this happens, we work to address as quickly as possible. We have implemented a fix for this issue that is rolling out now,' a spokesperson for the company said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has proposed renaming the Russell building after the late senator, a change the entire Senate body would need to vote on.

Some senators, however, have shown resistance to the idea.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he'd form a bipartisan panel to examine the best way to honor the late senator, who served for over 30 years in the Capitol.

McCain 'meant so much to so many of us  inside this chamber and out,' McConnell said Tuesday in a speech on the Senate floor. 'The Senate is eager to work on concrete ways to continue this momentum and provide a lasting tribute to this American hero long after this week's observances are complete.'

One suggestion floating around is naming a room used by the Senate Armed Services Committee after McCain, who was chairman of the panel.

Another idea is to add McCain's portrait to a reception room right off the Senate floor - an honor only given to seven senators thus far including Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Robert Taft.

Google maps showed a Senate office building was named after Sen. John McCain

There is a proposal to rename the building after McCain but the whole Senate must approve it

The mishap came one day after President Trump slammed the tech giant

The mistake on Google maps came one day after Trump claimed Google 'rigged' its searches to show negative news stories about him.

'I think that Google really taking advantage of a lot of people,' he said. 'It's not fair to large portions of the population.'

Invoking Facebook and Twitter, he said, 'We have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in. And you just can't do that.'

He also claimed in the tweets that the search engine giant is 'suppressing' the voices of conservatives and 'hiding information and news that is good.' He hinted that his administration was considering official action.

Google categorically denied that politics play any role in the complex algorithms that determine what users are shown when they search a term.

It said in a statement responding to Trump it said: 'Search is not used to set a political agenda' and that 'we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.'Advertisement

Victims of General Francisco Franco's regime have been exhumed from mass graves in Paterna where they were buried after the dictator executed his rivals after seizing power in Spain.

The attempt to exhume the buried has been legally active for the last decade, with the descendant's of the victims seeking funding to have them unearthed, with a goal of delivering closure to them.

It is believed that military and civil guard firing squads shot dead at least 2,238 prisoners according to historian's research and the cemetery's records.

The remains are believed to have been thrown into 70 different mass graves and covered in the quicklime, scientifically known as calcium oxide, to seal off the site.

Victims of General Francisco Franco's regime have been exhumed from mass graves in Paterna where they were buried after the dictator executed his rivals after seizing power in Spain (pictured Anthtopologist volunteers work on the mass grave)

Headstone of victims executed by Franco's regime are seen at the cementary of Paterna as experts exhume the bodies which buried there in mass graves eight decades ago

Yesterday, graveyard number 112, where two batches of 50 prisoners were inhumed months after the war ended in April 1939 - was the latest to be opened in Paterna.

After days of careful digging underneath a layer of ordinary, casket-burials, piles of skeletons emerged.

Alex Calpe, one of the independent archaeologists working at the site on behalf of relatives those killed, says the experts' work must be 'thorough' because its goal is 'to deliver closure to the victims' families.'

The attempt to exhume the buried has been legally active for the last decade, with the descendant's of the victims seeking funding to have them unearthed, with a goal of delivering closure to them

It is believed that military and civil guard firing squads shot dead at least 2,238 prisoners according to historian's research and the cemetery's records

The remains are believed to have been thrown into 70 different mass graves and covered in the quicklime, scientifically known as calcium oxide, to seal off the site

Yesterday, graveyard number 112, where two batches of 50 prisoners were inhumed months after the war ended in April 1939 - was the latest to be opened in Paterna

Remedios Ferrer, granddaughter of anarchist Mariano Brines, whose parents led her to French exile as a 2-year-old and died before discovering Brines' burial site, said the changes sought by Spain's new Socialist government are coming too late.

She said: 'It makes me sad and angry, because it was heart-breaking for my mom, and before her for my grandmother, to know that grandpa was buried here like an animal,' said Ferrer, now 66. 'They should be the ones standing here.'

Brines was summarily executed by a firing squad months after Gen. Francisco Franco proclaimed his victory in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.

Alex Calpe, one of the independent archaeologists working at the site on behalf of relatives those killed, says the experts' work must be 'thorough' because its goal is 'to deliver closure to the victims' families.'

Remedios Ferrer, granddaughter of anarchist Mariano Brines, whose parents led her to French exile as a 2-year-old and died before discovering Brines' burial site, said the changes sought by Spain's new Socialist government are coming too late

Brines was summarily executed by a firing squad months after Gen. Francisco Franco proclaimed his victory in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War

Josefa Peiro, 80 holds a portrait of her father, Jose Peiro. Jose Peiro was executed in Paterna on November 30, 1939 after the finish of Spain's Civil war under Franco's regime

According to the family's account, Brines was buried along with 99 other sympathizers of the fallen republican regime just as the dictatorship cemented its authoritarian grip

According to the family's account, Brines was buried along with 99 other sympathizers of the fallen republican regime just as the dictatorship cemented its authoritarian grip.

Paterna is a town in the outskirts of coastal Valencia that has prospered in the shadow of an infamous execution wall still standing near the cemetery, holes of bullets still visible among flower bouquets and memorials that locals place to remember the atrocities committed at the site.

Countrywide, the task ahead remains daunting. Mass graves are believed to hold at least 114,000 victims of the Spanish Civil War - in which half a million people are believed to have died on all sides - and the four decades of Francoism that followed.

Paterna is a town in the outskirts of coastal Valencia that has prospered in the shadow of an infamous execution wall still standing near the cemetery, holes of bullets still visible among flower bouquets and memorials that locals place to remember the atrocities committed at the site

Countrywide, the task ahead remains daunting. Mass graves are believed to hold at least 114,000 victims of the Spanish Civil War - in which half a million people are believed to have died on all sides - and the four decades of Francoism that followed

Exhumation efforts began in earnest in 2007 with a new Historic Memory Law that condemned atrocities committed during Franco's regime, which lasted until 1975

Desamparats Bayona, 88 holds a portrait of her father, Vicente Bayona, as she poses for a portrait at her house on August 29, 2018 in Cullera, Spain. Vicente Bayona was executed in Paterna on November 30, 1939 after the finish of Spain's Civil war

But the law fell short, leaving it up to local and regional governments to fund exhumations and DNA tests - which were often paid for by relatives through crowd-funding. The previous conservative administration declined to allocate any budget

Exhumation efforts began in earnest in 2007 with a new Historic Memory Law that condemned atrocities committed during Franco's regime, which lasted until 1975.

But the law fell short, leaving it up to local and regional governments to fund exhumations and DNA tests - which were often paid for by relatives through crowd-funding. The previous conservative administration declined to allocate any budget.

'This is not a matter of politics, whether left or right-wing this is something that should be done,' said Carmen Gomez, who leads the association of 42 relatives who pushed for the opening of graveyard number 112, ultimately paid for by a grant last year from the provincial government of Valencia.

Carme Solanes, 82 holds a portrait of her father, Bautista Solanes, as she poses for a portrait on August 29, 2018 in Tavernes, Spain. Bautista Solanes was executed in Paterna on November 30, 1939 after the finish of Spain's Civil war

'This is not a matter of politics, whether left or right-wing this is something that should be done,' said Carmen Gomez, who leads the association of 42 relatives who pushed for the opening of graveyard number 112, ultimately paid for by a grant last year from the provincial government of Valencia

Yesterday, armed with the evidence of remains showing cracked bones suggesting torture or violent deaths, Gomez and Calpe's team of archaeologists showed up in Paterna's local courthouse to request authorities to open a criminal investigation

Yesterday, armed with the evidence of remains showing cracked bones suggesting torture or violent deaths, Gomez and Calpe's team of archaeologists showed up in Paterna's local courthouse to request authorities to open a criminal investigation.

The group explained that judges tend to dismiss the cases because crimes over 20 years old fall under a 1977 amnesty law that was key in ensuring the country's peaceful transition to democracy, by protecting officials and members of Franco's security forces from future prosecution.

Gomez says the amnesty law should be changed, or scrapped altogether, because it deprives their deceased relatives from justice. But the government has not shown any signs of wanting to revisit Franco-era judicial decisions in its efforts to amend the 2007 Historic Memory Law.

'I'm not looking for punishment for anybody, but we don't want our relatives to remain criminals in the eyes of history,' Gomez said.

The group explained that judges tend to dismiss the cases because crimes over 20 years old fall under a 1977 amnesty law that was key in ensuring the country's peaceful transition to democracy, by protecting officials and members of Franco's security forces from future prosecution

Gomez says the amnesty law should be changed, or scrapped altogether, because it deprives their deceased relatives from justice. But the government has not shown any signs of wanting to revisit Franco-era judicial decisions in its efforts to amend the 2007 Historic Memory LawAlex Salmond has been slammed for using a crowd funding campaign for his legal bills as an attempt to intimidate women who accused him of sexual harassment.

Scottish Labour said the ex-first minister was 'independently wealthy' and the only reason he called for cash from supporters was to send a 'signal' to the people who made complaints against him.

The Scottish Conservatives joined the attack, warning it was an 'unprecedented' situation for a politician to be asking for donations to challenge a Government he once led in court.

More than 70,000 has been pledged to Mr Salmond overnight after he sensationally quit the SNP to fight the claims against him, which he strenuously denies.

The ex-SNP leader, 63, is taking the Scottish Government to court over its handling of the claims against him. He asked supporters for 50,0000 to cover his judicial review at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond (pictured last Friday) has resigned his membership of the SNP following allegations of sexual harassment, he said on Twitter

Scottish independence supporters have already raised more than 63,000 for Alex Salmond to cover his legal bills after he sensationally quit the SNP over groping claims

Scottish Labour's Rhoda Grant MSP condemned the 'independently wealthy' Mr Salmond for running his crowd funding campaign

More than 2,700 supporters have already given more than 70,000, with more than a thousand people leaving comments supporting Mr Salmond.

Many claim it is a 'smear campaign' invented by the 'Westminster establishment' to undermine the independence cause.

First Minister Ms Sturgeon said last night she felt a 'huge sadness about this whole situation' but said she understood why her predecessor had chosen to step down.

But Scottish Labour's Rhoda Grant MSP condemned Mr Salmond.

She said: 'That an independently wealthy man with his celebrity and political power is to raise legal fees through a crowdfunder for a case ultimately linked to sexual harassment is unbelievable.

'It suggests that he is sending a signal to those who have made allegations that he has the upper hand.

'Decent people will rightly be furious that he is to raise money to take the Scottish Government to court.

'Alex Salmond is abusing his power, and dragging Scotland into the gutter.'

A Scottish Tory spokesman said: 'Scotland now faces the incredible and unprecedented situation of its most famous former First Minister appealing to SNP supporters for cash to take legal action against the government he used to run.'

Many of Mr Salmond's supporters claim it is a 'smear campaign' invented by the 'Westminster establishment' to undermine the independence cause

The claims about his conduct towards two staff members in 2013, while he was in office, have been handed to Police Scotland.

The former MP is crowdfunding for a court action against the Scottish Government to contest the complaints process activated against him.

One alleged incident is said to have happened late one evening at the First Minister's official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, in December 2013.

He is alleged to have told the complainant to move from a public room to the bedroom, repeatedly offered her alcohol  which she refused  and then told her to get into bed.

Mr Salmond then, reportedly, lay on top of her, kissed her, and touched her sexually on her breasts and bottom through her clothes.

He only stopped after she repeatedly asked him too, the Daily Record newspaper reported. Mr Salmond denies all the claims.

Mr Salmond, who strenuously denies the two sexual harrassment claims, said he was leaving the party to spare it from political attacks and to avoid his protege Nicola Sturgeon (file image) having to suspend him.

Mr Salmond said successor and protege Nicola Sturgeon (pictured together in 2007) was facing pressure to suspend him

In his resignation statement last night he said: 'I truly love the SNP and the wider independence movement in Scotland. They have been the defining commitment of my life.

'But today I have written to the National Secretary of the Party resigning my membership.

'I read carefully Nicola Sturgeon's statement on Sunday and watched her television interview of a couple of days ago. She made it clear that the SNP have never received a single complaint about my personal conduct in my many decades of membership.

'I refute these two complaints of harassment and I absolutely reject any suggestion of criminality.

'I did not come into politics to facilitate opposition attacks on the SNP and, with Parliament returning next week, I have tendered my resignation to remove this line of opposition attack.

'Most of all I am conscious that if the Party felt forced into suspending me it would cause substantial internal division.

'In my letter to the National Secretary I state that it is my absolute intention to reapply for SNP membership just as soon as I have had the opportunity to clear my name.'

'In the meantime, I would urge no one else to relinquish their SNP membership,' he added.

He also wrote to Scotland's top civil servant calling for an inquiry into how sexual harassment allegations against him were made public.

In a statement, Mr Salmond (pictured), who quit as first minister in 2014, said he was leaving the party to avoid 'substantial internal division' in the SNP

Last night Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement: 'I feel a huge sadness about this whole situation.

'Alex has been my friend and mentor for almost 30 years and his contribution to the SNP and the independence movement speaks for itself.

'While the decision to resign has been Alex's alone, I understand why he has chosen to separate the current questions he is facing from the day to day business of the SNP and the ongoing campaign for independence.'

In the statement posted on Twitter, the SNP leader continued: 'I know party members will be upset by this news, just as I am. I also know there are many questions that can only be answered in the fullness of time. It is important now that any legal processes are allowed to take their course.'

The Government previously said its investigation into two complaints against Mr Salmond has been 'entirely confidential throughout'.

Leslie Evans, Permanent Secretary at the Scottish Government, said the complaints were raised in January and Mr Salmond was notified in March about an investigation.

The Scottish Government this week confirmed there are no recorded complaints about Mr Salmond from before January this year.

Mr Salmond had first become SNP leader in 1990, and stayed in the role for 10 years, during which time the devolved Scottish Parliament was established.

After returning to the role he was elected First Minister in 2007 in the SNP's first ever Holyrood election victory.

He stepped down seven years later in the wake of the 2014 independence referendum defeat.

After serving as a Westminster MP from 1987 to 2010, he returned to the House of Commons in the SNP's landslide at the 2015 general election.

But he lost the Gordon seat to the Conservatives at last year's snap election.President Donald Trump is charging China with complicating Washington's relationship with North Korea, as talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization are at a standstill.

'China makes it much more difficult in terms of our relationship with North Korea,' Trump said at the White House on Wednesday, though he insisted his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping were 'great.'

He also noted his 'fantastic relationship' with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he met in Singapore in June.

President Donald Trump says part of the problem with North Korea is Washington's troubled trade ties with China

Trump, despite a trade battle, insists his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping was 'great'

Trump also noted his 'fantastic relationship' with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

'Part of the North Korea problem is caused by the trade disputes with China,' Trump said.

Top North Korean officials warned the United States in a letter that denuclearization talks are 'again at stake and may fall apart,' CNN reported.

North Korea says the hold up is concerns the U.S. is not ready to sign a formal peace treaty ending the Korean War, replacing the armistice agreement in 1953.

But the Trump administration is putting the blame on the China, with whom its also in a trade scuffle.

The White House, in a statement sent on Twitter by Trump, said the president believes North Korea is under 'tremendous pressure' from China but that Beijing also was supplying Pyongyang with 'considerable aid,' including fuel, fertilizer and commodities.

'This is not helpful!' the statement said.

Beijing is Pyongyang's sole major ally, and the main transit country for any goods entering the North. Trump has suggested that China - angered by U.S. moves on trade - is no longer being as tough as it could be on North Korea.

In the past week, the United States has hit China with $16 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports.

Retaliation by Beijing will bring the amount of trade affected by the dispute to $100 billion.

Trump issued a statement via Twitter on the situation with North Korea

Trump has threatened to impose more tariffs on some $200 billion in Chinese imports and Beijing has promised retaliation.

'I don't like to call it a trade war,' Trump said Wednesday.

He also sounded a hopeful note in a long statement posted to Twitter Wednesday evening: 'As for the U.S.China trade disputes, and other differences, they will be resolved in time by President Trump and China's great President Xi Jinping.'

He noted: 'Their relationship and bond remain very strong.'

Trump reiterated his wish to fundamentally alter the trade status quo between the United States and China, the world's top two economies.

He said he needed to take a tough stance with Beijing on trade 'because it was really not fair to our country,' Trump said, throwing shade on his predecessors who 'closed their eyes' to the issue.

In June, Trump and Kim pledged to work toward the 'complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.'

But those efforts stalled several weeks ago, and last week, Trump ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to Pyongyang.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Washington remains ready to engage 'when it is clear that Chairman Kim stands ready to deliver on the commitments that he made at the Singapore summit to President Trump to completely denuclearize North Korea.

Last week, Trump ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to Pyongyang

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted that 'no decisions' had been made about suspending additional military exercises with South Korea

On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that Washington believes 'denuclearization has to take place before we get to other parts,' confirming that included such a declaration.

Additionally, Trump addressed questions about military exercises with South Korea, saying 'there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games. Besides, the President can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses.'

He also vowed: 'If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before.'

His statement contradicted his Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who insisted earlier Wednesday that 'no decisions' had been made about suspending additional military exercises with South Korea, one day after he suggested the moratorium on large drills had ended.

In June, after the Singapore Summit, the United States said it would suspend 'select' exercises with South Korea, including the large-scale Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises slated for August.

'The Department of Defense suspended three individual military exercises in order to provide space for our diplomats to negotiate the verifiable, irreversible and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,' Mattis said in a statement.

'Our military posture has not changed since the conclusion of the Singapore summit and no decisions have been made about suspending any future exercises,' he added.The white former Texas police officer found guilty of murdering unarmed black teenager Jordan Edwards on his way home from a party, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Roy Oliver's sentencing on Wednesday followed an extremely rare conviction for shootings involving on-duty police officers in the United States.

He faced up to life in prison, which his own sister had earlier revealed she hoped he got. His lawyers are expected to appeal the 15 years.

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The white former Texas police officer found guilty of murdering an unarmed black teenager on his way home from a party, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison

Roy Oliver also received a $10,000 fine Wednesday as his sentence was revealed and he was led away

Ingrid Llerena (right) wife of former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver, reacts after her husband receives a sentence of 15 years in prison

Oliver was quoted as being 'disappointed in entire process', reports Fox4.

Jordan's mother, Charmaine Edwards, said: 'He actually can see life again after 15 years'.

Adding Jordan cant, she said she thought the sentence set at 15 years because her son was 15 when he died.

The family's attorney also told reporters they were not completely satisfied.

'We all would have liked to have seen a greater sentence but we are going to respect the verdict,' Faith Johnson, Dallas County District Attorney, agreed.

The jury featured two black members out of 12 jurors and two alternates. All raised their right hand when asked to confirm if they had individually agreed to the sentence.

They had earlier acquitted Oliver on two lesser charges of aggravated assault stemming from the shooting.

The jury also imposed a fine of $10,000.

Only six non-federal police officers have been convicted of killings in similar cases since 2005, according to data compiled by criminologist and Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson. However four of those convictions were overturned.

Prior to sentencing Wednesday, Johnson had called him a 'killer in blue'.

Charmaine Edwards (In blue right) and her husband Odell Edwards look on after sentencing of Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver for the murder of 15-year-old

Lead prosecutor Michael Snipes reacts after defendant Roy Oliver receives a sentence of 15 years in prison for the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards

Oliver's mother, Linda had asked for a five-year sentence, telling the court to bear in mind his three-year-old autistic son.

However, Oliver's half-sister had called her convicted murderer sibling 'trash' in a Facebook message to the slain boy's mother.

Appearing as a surprise witness for prosecutors Wednesday, Wendy Oliver testified and admitted to the courtroom before the conviction that she penned a Facebook message to Jordan Edwards' mother, sympathizing with the family for their loss.

Oliver's sister recalled what she'd said in the online communication, a WFAA video shows.

Wendy Oliver, half-sister of the white cop found guilty shooting dead an unarmed black teenager last April called her convicted murderer sibling 'trash' in a message to Edwards' mom

Charmaine Edwards (pictured left Wednesday) and Odell Edwards (right) lost their son unlawfully and the jury as well as Roy Oliver's sister agreed

Faith Johnson, Dallas County District Attorney, gave a closing statement Wednesday

Lead prosecutor Michael Snipes (left) asked Wendy whether he should get the maximum sentence and she said he should. Johnson (right) gave and emotional close

'I sent her a message saying that I hoped that justice is served in this case and he gets what he deserves because he took an innocent life and I feel sorry for what he has done to this boy and I was watching testimony' she said.

Wendy revealed that seeing the goings on in court moved her to come down and take to the stand.

She added that seeing other witnesses plea for a minimum sentence didn't convince her to believe the same.

'I don't think so,' she disagreed when lead prosecutor Michael Snipes asked if he should get the minimum sentence. However, when asked whether the maximum is more appropriate she said, visibly emotional: 'I think so because of the circumstances that happened.'

Edwards (pictured when he was younger) was sitting in the front passenger seat and trying to leave the party with his brother when Oliver shot him in the head

The mother of Roy Oliver (pictured center) said he's a good man and wants the jury to give him a lenient sentence after he was found guilty of murder for the 2017 death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards

Oliver, 38, who was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department following the April 2017 shooting, was found guilty Tuesday for firing his rifle into a car and killing 15-year-old Edwards

For her relative that is life in prison.

Oliver, 38, who was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department following the April 2017 shooting, was found guilty Tuesday for firing his rifle into a car and killing 15-year-old Edwards.

Edwards, his brother and some friends were leaving a house party that was shut down by officers when the shooting occurred.

During the sentencing phase of Oliver's trial, his mother broke down in tears as she begged for the jury to give Oliver a light prison sentence.

'I'm asking you to take into consideration several things,' Linda Oliver said, according to Fox4. 'First, he's a wonderful father. ... He's a good person. Next, I would ask you to consider (Oliver's wife) Ingrid, of course, I'll put myself in there too, but consider his son.'

Linda Oliver cried as she asked the jury to consider giving Roy Oliver a light prison sentence

Linda testified that her son is a 'good person' and a 'wonderful father' and needs to be there for his young son

She added: 'My son was raised with a father in prison ... and I know how hard it is to be a single mother.'

During the sentencing, Linda was asked about Edwards' parents being stripped of ever seeing their son have children.

'I would agree that they've been stripped of the privilege. I would agree with that, but did my son strip them? I think it was an awful set of circumstances that stripped them,' she said.

Before Linda left the stand, she was also asked if Oliver's son would visit him in jail and was reminded that Edwards' parents won't ever see him again.

'I accept it. I think we're both living our own version of hell,' she said.

Oliver's wife also testified and broke down in tears on the stand. Through a Spanish translator she said she never saw her husband 'sad or violent or mean'.

Although Oliver was found guilty of murder, he was found not guilty on two counts of aggravated assault for firing his rifle into the car full of teenagers.

Oliver testified during his trial that he opened fire after seeing the car move toward his partner, Officer Tyler Gross. He said he thought Gross was in danger.

Gross told jurors he didn't fear for his life and never felt the need to fire his weapon.

Edwards' step-mother previously told the court how he was a studious child who was getting A and B grades before he was killed (the teen is pictured left with father Odell Edwards, right)

Odell Edwards and Charmaine Edwards, parents of Jordan Edwards, react to a guilty of murder verdict during a trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver

The teen's father Ordell Edwards (pictured on the right) and other family members said: 'It's been a long time, hard year, and we're just really happy'

M.L Dorey, the Edwards family pastor testified about Roy Oliver who shot Jordan dead

Others who testified include M.L Dorey, the Edwards family pastor, Balch Springs police officer Raymond Keener and Oliver's landlord Billie Gorwood.

The Dallas County jury deliberated for around 12 hours for a period of two days before deciding on a verdict, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Edwards' family clapped and cheered after the verdict was read.

'It's been a long time, hard year, and we're just really happy,' Odell Edwards, Jordan's father, said. 'We did it.'

Oliver was immediately taken into custody and his bond was revoked.

Tuesday's conviction marked the first time in more than 40 years since an on-duty cop has been found guilty of killing someone in a shooting in Texas.

'It's about Tamir Rice. It's about Walter Scott. It's about Alton Sterling,' the Edwards' attorney, Daryl Washington, said after the verdict was read, naming other men who and boys who had been killed by officers across America.

'It's about every unarmed African-American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice.'

Edwards' death launched the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs into a national conversation on issues of law enforcement and race.

Oliver's wife, Ingrid, broke down in tears while on the stand Wednesday saying through a translator that she never saw her husband 'sad or violent or mean'

Balch Springs police officer Raymond Keener testified during the sentencing phase of former fellow officer Roy Oliver

Roy Oliver's landlord Billie Gorwood testified during the sentencing phase of former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver at the Frank Crowley Courts Building Wednesday

Judge Brandon Birmingham (left) spoke to defense attorney Bob Gill (right) during the sentencing phase of Roy Oliver

Experts said ahead of the trial that securing convictions against an officer was challenging, in part because criminal culpability in on-duty shootings is subjective and jurors are more inclined to believe police testimony.

In closing arguments, defense attorneys told the jury they needed to evaluate the circumstances from Oliver's viewpoint and from what the former officer knew at the time.

But prosecutors described Oliver as out of control and looking for a reason to kill. They argued that his firing into the car wasn't reasonable.

The shooting came after Oliver and Gross had broken up a large house party following a report of underage drinking.

Both officers were inside the residence when they heard gunfire outside and responded.

Authorities later determined the shots were fired near a nursing home in the area.

Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department following the April 2017 shooting. He's pictured in court on Tuesday

Physical evidence Detective Garrick Whaley, with the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, shows members of the jury the rifle Roy Oliver used

Oliver retrieved his rifle and went toward Gross, who was ordering the car carrying Edwards to stop. He claimed his partner had a sense of urgency in his voice.

The former officer testified that he saw the car back up and stop for a second before moving forward and going toward Gross.

He claimed he saw movement from a passenger's silhouette inside the vehicle, and thought Gross had found a shooter or shooters or at least some information on the gunfire.

Oliver said a vehicle can be considered a deadly weapon, so he was left with no choice but to fire his rifle.

Gross, however, testified that he didn't feel like the vehicle was trying to hit him.

During his testimony, Oliver said it was 'very sickening' when he realized he had killed the boy. 'I was in shock for days,' he said.

Two teenagers who were at the party testified last week that they were across the street when Oliver fired.

The teens, Eric Knight and Jeremy Seaton, said they could not see a justification for the gunfire.

Seaton said the car was not facing an officer at the time and had steered into the wrong lane of traffic to avoid officers.

The prosecution said all five shots were fired by Oliver after the car had passed Gross. Investigators also said no guns were found in the teens' vehicle.

Body-cam footage shown during the trial showed Edwards' brother and his friends all putting their hands outside the car's windows after he was shot.

Officer Jeremy Chamblee testified that the teens were 'begging' for help after Jordan was killed.

'I specifically heard the driver stating needing help cause his brother was shot dead in the vehicle by a police officer,' Chamblee said.

Chamblee also revealed that Jordan's brother asked if they could pray together following the teen's death.

'He was asking God to watch over his brother if he doesn't make it, to keep him safe,' Chamblee recalled.

Philip Hayden, a use-of-force expert called by the prosecution, said Oliver used excessive force when he shot and killed Edwards and testified that a reasonable officer would not have opened fire.

Oliver also testified the shooting could have been prevented if one of the bystanders had waved at him and reported the shooters near the nursing home had left the scene.

'It would have changed the outcome,' he said.The Kentucky woman who shot her boyfriend in the face just before he was due to meet Miss Ohio 2012 for a date has been sentenced to life in prison.

After two trials, a jury found Shayna Hubers, 27, guilty for murdering 29-year-old Ryan Poston on Wednesday.

Hubers had claimed she shot the attorney in self-defense because she 'feared' him. Prosecutors said she murdered him because he wanted to break-up with her.

The jury sided with prosecutors and recommended that Hubers receive a life sentence.

Hubers was first found guilty of murdering Poston in 2015 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

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Shayna Hubers, 27, has been sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty of murdering her boyfriend Ryan Poston in 2012. She is pictured here before her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, looking back at her parents

Hubers had claimed she shot Poston (pictured together) in self-defense after their relationship broke down. Prosecutors said she murdered him because he wanted to break-up with her

The trial was thrown out after it was revealed one of the jurors had a prior felony conviction, which is illegal in Kentucky.

'We had a lot of faith in this jury,' Campbell County Prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass said. 'We knew that they would make the right decision for Ryan.'

Jay Poston said the jury's decision was 'justice for Ryan'.

'For six years we've been living through this,' he said outside the courtroom. 'It's been very difficult. It puts your entire life on hold.'

'Our number one goal was justice for Ryan. We got it today.'

Hubers' sentencing comes after an emotional day of testimonies from both her and Poston's family.

Katie Carter, Poston's sister, brought a teddy bear made out of one of her brother's shirts to the stand as she spoke of the family's loss.

When she pressed the bear's hand, Poston's voicemail greeting played for the jury.

'That's it,' Carter said as she wept on the stand. 'That's all we have. A voicemail.'

Jay, the first witness to take the stand during the sentencing, said it was his son's 'kindness' that got him killed.

After two trials, a jury found Shayna Hubers, 27, guilty for murdering 29-year-old Ryan Poston on Wednesday. She is pictured here during the closing arguments of her retrial

Hubers was first found guilty of murdering Poston in 2015 and sentenced to 40 years in prison. It was thrown out after it was revealed one of the jurors had a prior felony conviction

'She took advantage of his kindness,' he said.

Jay Poston also spoke of how hard it was to get out of bed for a world without his son.

'Every facet of my life has been impacted,' he told the jury. 'I've got another 35-40 years on this earth, God willing, without my son.'

'I have another 35-40 Christmases without my son. I have had my life stolen from me. This women has stolen my entire life.'

'She has stolen my will to live. She has desolated it.'

Snodgrass told the jury that Hubers had shown no remorse throughout the trial, even when pictures of Poston's dead body were shown.

Hubers' sentencing comes after an emotional day of testimonies from both her and Poston's family. Katie Carter, Poston's sister, brought a teddy bear that played his voicemail message

Jay Poston, the first witness to take the stand during the sentencing, said it was his son's 'kindness' that got him killed

'She didn't react,' Snodgrass said. 'Mercy didn't happen when she decided to play God as she lifted that gun again and again and again and again.'

'So why are we showing mercy now?'

Sharon Hubers spoke of how her daughter received multiple college scholarships and begged the jury to give her only child a chance.

'Shayna has a lot to give the world. I am alone,' she said.

'She is the only one I can talk to. My child's life has also been taken. Her family also grieves.'

David Eldridge, Hubers' attorney, asked the jury to take into account that she had no history of violence or criminal record.

Sharon Hubers (pictured on the stand) begged the jury to give her only child a second chance

Sharon Hubers is pictured here with husband Robert as they wait for their daughter's sentencing hearing on Wednesday

Sharon Hubers was seen emotionally hugging someone in the courtroom gallery after the defense delivered its closing arguments on Tuesday

'Ms Hubers committed this crime at the tender age of 21-years-old and she is mentally ill,' he said.

'Sentences can be about retribution, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. There is a place for redemption. There is a place for mercy.'

The jury deliberated for less than four hours before deciding on a life sentence.

Hubers wept into the lap of her attorney before the guilty verdict was read on Tuesday, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

She also mouthed the words 'I love you' to her mother.

Poston's family released a statement after the verdict, saying it brought them peace but not happiness.

Hubers wept into the lap of her attorney before the verdict was read on Tuesday (pictured)

Prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass told the jury that Hubers had shown no remorse throughout the trial, even when pictures of Poston's dead body were shown. Hubers is pictured here while listening to closing arguments on Tuesday

Defense attorney David Eldridge places his hand on the back of Hubers as jurors declare her guilty of murder after five hours of deliberation on Tuesday

'Today we embrace justice, and yet we do not feel joy,' the statement read. 'It has been six long and heartbreaking years without our beloved Ryan.'

'Those who love Ryan now move forward with the integrity, dignity, and kindness that Ryan exemplified throughout his life.'

The second guilty verdict ends a six-year saga in which intimate and graphic details about the couple - including everything from orgasms to threesomes - was revealed.

On the night of October 12, 2012, Poston was supposed to meet Miss Ohio 2012 Audrey Bolte for a date.

Instead the young lawyer was found dead in his penthouse apartment, shot six times in the forehead, back, and torso.

Hubers called 911 after the shooting and told the dispatcher: 'Ma'am, I killed my boyfriend.'

The table and chair in which Poston was believed to have been fatally shot in October 2012 were displayed as Snodgrass delivered her closing argument on Tuesday

Members of Poston's family hugged after the verdict was read, releasing a statement that said they 'embrace justice, and yet we do not feel joy'

She claimed Poston had pushed her and thrown her against furniture in the moments before she fired the first shot in his face.

But three of Hubers' cellmates testified that she boasted about giving Poston the 'nose job he always wanted' and cackled once he was dead.

Donna Dooley, Holly Nivens, and Cecily Miller all told the court Hubers still showed no remorse for the killing, Cincinnati.com reported.

Nivens said she overheard Hubers on the phone to her mother saying Poston's family was rich enough to buy another son.

'She would get on the phone and cry and sing to her mom and say there's worse crimes than murder,' Dooley added.

Their accounts were similar to what Hubers herself told police after she was questioned following the shooting.

'He's very vain,' she was recorded telling police about Poston. 'One of our last conversations we had that was good was that he wants to get a nose job.'

Surveillance footage from the police interrogation room showed Hubers dancing and singing 'I did it, yes I did it' just hours after the shooting

She can be heard humming and singing Amazing Grace as she walks around the room

She also started dancing around the interrogation room, twirling and snapping her fingers, while she sang 'I killed him, I killed him' and 'I did it. Yes I did it. I can't believe I did that'

'And I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job he wanted. I broke it.'

She also began to question the officers about what life was like behind bars, asking if she'd be allowed to take her phone or have a shower.

Unprompted, Hubers then declared: 'I don't know if anyone will ever want to marry me if they know that I killed a boyfriend in self-defense - not funny.'

When officers stepped out of the room at one point, Hubers began singing Amazing Grace.

She also started dancing around the interrogation room, twirling and snapping her fingers, while she sang 'I killed him, I killed him' and 'I did it. Yes I did it. I can't believe I did that'.

During the second trial, Hubers recounted how she and Poston went on their first date on her 20th birthday in April 2011 after meeting on Facebook months earlier.

She said even on that first night she was rattled by his physicality and how forward he was and called a taxi from the bathroom of a bar to get away.

Poston died shortly before he was due to meet Miss Ohio 2012 Audrey Bolte for a date on October 12, 2012. She is pictured at Miss USA in Las Vegas on June 3, 2012 (left) and in New York City on September 7 of that year

Hubers cried in court last Tuesday (pictured) during her retrial as she took the stand and claimed she 'feared' her boyfriend

'I remember thinking that he had a strong personality. I feared him. I felt like I need to do what he was telling me to do,' she said, according to Fox 19.

However, they kept dating on and off and often had rough sex when drunk. She said everything went downhill after she refused to do a sexual act in 2012.

'It felt degrading...I didn't know if I trusted him. I feared him,' she said.

Hubers also said Poston was 'callous' when she told him she was sexually assaulted by a stranger in a restroom in 2007 and molested by her father.

She claimed he once threw her out of the window of his condominium in the spring of 2012, repeatedly slammed the door on her body when she tried to get back in, and then threw her keys and purse at her.

Hubers admitted that she was also violent with Poston as their fights escalated over the course of the year.

Hubers claimed that, right after she got back together with Poston a month before his murder, he requested that she 'agree to have threesomes with other girls'

'I smacked or hit him in the face around his mouth. He shoved me, he shoved me back,' she said.

The pair tried to get back together about a month before the murder, but Poston had conditions that would drastically change their relationship.

'He wanted me to be his incognito girlfriend and he wanted me to talk 25 percent less, he always said I talked too much,' Hubers testified.

'And he wanted me to get a hobby while I was at his condo and he wanted me to also agree to have threesomes with other girls.'

But Carissa Carlisle, Poston's step-cousin, said the attorney tried to end the relationship 'multiple times'.

At one point he even asked Carlisle to tell Hubers why the relationship was ending.

'She never actually listened to me though,' Carlisle said as she testified.

Carlisle said Hubers would often steal her phone so she could contact Poston.

Highland Heights Police Chief Bill Birkenhauer said Hubers would also log onto Poston's Facebook and block women.

Hubers is pictured watching a court hearing in 2015. The guilty verdict reached at that trial was thrown out because a juror was found to have had a previous conviction

He said Hubers bombarded Poston with a hundred texts for every one he sent after one of their regular break-ups, even messaging him from her friends' phones.

Meanwhile, the defense spent a significant amount of time on the trial discussing texts in which Hubers revealed her struggle to orgasm with Poston.

Birkenhauer said Poston did tell Hubers in one text that she might better achieve orgasm if she got breast implants.

'He wanted her for sex,' Hubers' defense attorney, David Eldridge, said in his closing statement.

'He would push her away and then bring her back. And then he would tell his friends she was crazy.'

'There was a perfect looking couple on the outside that was deeply flawed on the inside. Their deeply troubled relationship came to a tragic end.'

'You put six bullets in a person, you're going to have to say it was self-defense,' Campbell County Prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass said in her closing statement.

'Or you're going to have to admit you're a cold-blooded killer.'El Salvador delivered a big blow to the notorious MS-13 street gang, or Mara Salvatrucha, during a year-long operation that nabbed over 600 members, government officials revealed during a press conference on Tuesday.

'Operation Arpon', the nationwide probe also took down 18 high-level leaders, according to Attorney General Douglas Melendez.

The investigation centered around MS-13 gang activity that has for years plagued the western, central and eastern areas of the countries and destabilized El Salvador collectively and forced its citizens to seek refuge in the United States.

The crackdown on the vicious gang will certainly be welcomed by President Donald Trump, who has constantly made it a point to use the MS-13 as an example for his anti-immigration policies and the administration's zero tolerance approach at the Mexico-US border.

During a December 2017 at the FBI Academy in Virginia, Trump said he would rather deport MS-13 gang members instead of housing them in American jails.

'To any member of MS-13 listening, I have a message for you: We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you, we will throw you the hell out of the country,' the President said.

'And somehow I like it better than jail. Jail, we have to take care of them. Who the hell wants to take care of them? You know, the jail stuff is wonderful but we have to pay for it, right?'

On Wednesday, human remains found in a wooded area on Long Island, New York, were revealed to be that of young man killed by the MS-13 street gang, according to Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.



The MS-13 gang has been blamed for at least 25 killings since January 2016 across a wide swathe of Long Island, a suburb of New York City.

The violence, including the 2016 slayings of two teenage girls in the town of Brentwood, led to congressional hearings and visits to Long Island from both Republican President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Jorge Vega Knight (left) owns two motels and is accused of supplying drugs MS-13 factions. Guillermo Stanley Corleto Ruiz is an Evangelical pastor who for years had financed the gang

The Salvadorean Attorney General revealed that criminal investigation solved 64 homicides, the murders of five women, two feminicide cases, 51 extortion cases, 27 kidnappings and 93 homicide conspiracies.

The government also uncovered drug dealing and money laundering cases.

Among those apprehended was the mayor of Concepcion Batres, Benjamin Romeo Machuca Diaz, who lent his services to the ruthless criminal organization that has led to scores of Salvadoreans to flee the Central American country and seek refuge in the United States.

He was caught in a sting that took down 119 gangsters.

Other leaders that were also apprehended by the national police included Guillermo Stanley Corleto Ruiz, an Evangelical pastor, who financed the 'Acajutla Locos' [Acajutla Crazies].

Ruiz is accused of 'loaning them cars' and providing gang members false evidence of community service to seek their release from the Supreme Court of Justice.

The Attorney General's office in El Salvador arrested over 600 MS-13 members during a year-long investigation called 'Operation Arpon'

Some of the MS-13 gang members that were arrested in the town of Sonsonate

Salvadorean law enforcement dismantled several MS-13 gang factions during a year-long probe

Law enforcement agents also arrested Jorge Manuel Vega Knight, the owner of two motels that were raided, had business dealings with other MS-13 leaders, supplying them 'all types of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth.'

The investigation recovered dealt a knockout punch the Mara Salvatrucha gang by seizing 69 cars, 11 motorcycles, 21 trucks, 21 tow trucks and three fishing vessels.

Authorities also took possession of 29 residences, two motels, a beach house and a mobile business cart.Dennis Davern (pictured) says he believes Robert Wagner murdered his wife, actress Natalie Wood, during a boat trip they took, where he was the captain

The man who captained the yacht silver screen starlet Natalie Wood died on says he believes her husband, Robert Wagner, is responsible, and claims he stopped all search efforts.

Dennis Davern was one of only four people on board the Splendour on November 28, 1981. He was joined by Wood, Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken.

During the weekend the trio of actors and their captain spent on the boat, Davern claims they had been fighting terribly, with Wood asking the captain to take her away and trying to call a seaplane to escape, and Wagner arguing with Walken about his attitude towards Wood.

Davern told producers of Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood that the night Wood disappeared, all three actors were arguing, when the actress stormed out and went to her room.

He claims Walken also stormed out and went to his cabin at the end of the boat, while Wagner stayed where he was, and began to drink with the captain.

Eventually, Wagner went to check on his wife, and Davern claims a scuffle broke out between the pair. When the captain went to investigate, he claims Wagner told him to go away.

Afterwards, he believes Natalie was killed and thrown over board.

Wood was a beloved Hollywood actress, who played Maria in West Side Story, before she died during the boat trip in 1981

Wood and Wagner, also an actor, had taken their boat, Splendour (pictured) on a weekend trip with friend Christopher Walken

Davern claims he eventually made his way to the back of the ship, where he found Wagner at the swim steps, and noticed Wood and the dinghy were missing.

At this point, the seaman claims he tried to start a search for Wood.

'I saw the dinghy was missing and fired up the engines to start searching,' he told the podcast.

'But RJ [Wagner] said "no, no, let's not do that. Let's just stay, let's have another bottle of wine".'

Davern says when Woods' body was found, it was him, not Wagner, who was left to identify her.

The couple fought terribly during the trip, Davern said, and Wagner was the last to see Woods alive. Wagner says she took the dinghy out, but Davern says her husband killed her and put her on the boat himself

Davern said he had wanted to go looking for Woods, but Wagner encouraged him not to

'The next morning, Natalie's body was found near the dinghy - about half a mile from the Splendour,' he said.

When her body was found, Wagner and Walken (pictured in a scene with Woods) both left, leaving Davern to identify her body for the police

'RJ and Walken went by helicopter back to the mainland, and I had to identify Natalie's body.'

Afterwards, at Woods' wake, Davern claims he was introduced to Walken's lawyer.

Soon, he claims he became stuck in the home, getting around only by a limousine that would wait out the front of wherever he wanted to go, so he would return to Wagner's home.

Davern said Wagner spent these weeks drinking and crying in his bedroom.

'Later, it crossed my mind they didn't want me to say anything about what happened on the Splendour,' he said.

Police re-opened the case into Woods' death in February 2018, and Wagner has been named as a suspect,but has so far declined to speak with authorities.A man recently released from prison was arrested Wednesday in the strangulation slaying of a model in one of Philadelphia's affluent Main Line suburbs, authorities said.

Jonathan Wesley Harris, 30, of Johnstown, was arrested as he got off a bus in Pittsburgh, Lower Merion Township police and the Montgomery County prosecutor said.

Harris, who reportedly has family in Philadelphia, was charged with first, second and third-degree murder along with robbery, theft and related offenses in the August 22 slaying of Christina Carlin-Kraft, 36, in Ardmore.

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Jonathan Wesley Harris, 30, (seen above left and right) of Johnstown, was arrested as he got off a bus in Pittsburgh on Wednesday

He is accused of killing Christina Carlin-Kraft, who was found dead in her apartment on August 22

Officials said Kraft took a ride-hailing service to Philadelphia, met Harris and the two later returned to her Ardmore apartment, into which she had moved the previous week.

Authorities said a tipster pointed them to the defendant after surveillance images were released. The tipster said Harris had indicated in text messages that he had just met a woman and was at her Ardmore residence early on August 22.

Kraft's body was found in her bloodstained bedroom that evening after police went to check on her welfare. An autopsy indicated that her nose was fractured and she died of ligature strangulation.

According to CBS, Harris sent a text to a friend saying: 'I just met this sexy a** white b**** at her house in Ardmore now.'

It was sent a 2.40am the morning she was found dead. He is thought to be the man who was filmed entering her home hours before she was found dead but never leaving on camera.

Authorities said Harris had been released July 15 from the State Correctional Institution-Greene. Court documents indicate recent drug and robbery convictions.

Harris is thought to be the man who was filmed entering her home hours before she was found dead but never leaving on camera

An attorney wasn't listed for Harris in court documents. A listed number for him couldn't be found.

Kraft's modeling profile lists photo shoots for Vanity Fair, Victoria's Secret, Playboy and Maxim.

Kraft was laid to rest at a funeral service in New Jersey on Wednesday.

Among the mourners was the 36-year-old's father Stuart who greeted others outside the Ventor church after the service.

Christina Carlin-Kraft was laid to rest on Wednesday at a church service in New Jersey

The woman's fiance, Alexander Ciccotelli, was emotional outside afterwards

Kraft's father, Stuart, shook hands with the funeral director, afterwards

On Monday, pall bearers carried her out of the church in a white casket and placed it in a hearse adorned with flowers.

Kraft was murdered four days after being burgled by Andre Melton.

On August 17, the model went out and 'blacked out' after ordering an espresso martini at the Sofitel hotel.

The next day, she felt 'extremely sick' after waking up in the same clothing she had been wearing the night before.

She knew she 'did not give anyone permission to enter her residence or permission to take her property', according to Melton's arrest warrant.

The congregation emerged from Holy Trinity parish in Ventor, New Jersey somberly

Flower arrangements included purple and white blooms in tribute to the model

Mourners arrive for the funeral of Christina Carlin-Kraft on Wednesday in New Jersey

Kraft (pictured left in 2016 when she was charged with assaulting a restaurant manager and right on vacation) was found dead in the bedroom of her ground-floor apartment in Ardmore, Pennsylvania on Wednesday at 9.15pm

Aside from her stint with Playboy, the model appeared in Maxim Magazine, Vanity Fair, Victoria's Secret and Smashbox Cosmetics during her glamorous career

Surveillance footage from August 18 of her looking unsteady on her feet and being held up by a man as she returned home seemed to corroborate the story.

The video, according to police, showed her falling but being picked up and placed into the elevator to head to her second-floor apartment.

The man was then filmed leaving her home with a box of goods.

Melton was later charged with criminal trespass, burglary, and receiving stolen property when Kraft's designer accessories and jewelry were recovered on his property. He has not been implicated in her death.

Kraft's father told DailyMail.com last week: 'She was a happy-go-lucky lady, she loved life.

'She loved to be around people and she liked to enjoy herself with people and that's what I think occurred. I think that somebody saw her happiness and took advantage of that.'The tenants who rented the home where Borce Ristevski allegedly murdered his wife Karen (pictured) weren't told about the property's history

The home where Borce Ristevski allegedly murdered his wife Karen was advertised for rent as 'quite simply, one of the area's finest' abodes.

But the tenants who signed the $775 per week lease were reportedly not told the Melbourne property was the scene of a suspected murder.

'When I heard I was like holy sh** and then I put two and two together,' Jared Hopkins, one of five men living at the Avondale Heights home, told the Herald Sun.

Another occupant claimed he was 'told not to talk' when asked if real estate agents disclosed the property's history before he moved in.

President of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria Richard Simpson told the paper the 'best practice' in such situations was for agents to 'disclose any adverse events' that may have occurred in advertised properties.

The tenants who signed the $775 per week lease were not told the Melbourne property (pictured) was the scene of a suspected murder

In a conversation captured by a police listening device planted inside the home in September 2016, Mr Ristevski was questioned about his movements the day his wife disappeared by their daughter, Sarah (left)

The four-bedroom home, which includes a billiard room with a bar, is worth about $1.1million and is thought to have earned Borce Ristevski $20,000 in rent since he leased it out around six months ago.

'With its vast interior and designer details throughout, this landmark home provides an idyllic indoor/outdoor lifestyle along with arguably the most spectacular outlook in the entire suburb,' the home's listing reads.

Ristevski, 54, who is relying on legal aid to defend his murder charge, has denied killing his dress shop owner wife, Karen, 47.

In a conversation captured by a police listening device planted inside the home in September 2016, Mr Ristevski was questioned about his movements the day his wife disappeared by their daughter, Sarah.

The four-bedroom home, which includes a billiard room with a bar, is worth about $1.1million

Ristevski, 54, is accused of murdering his dress shop-owner wife Karen (pictured left with friends) at the family's Avondale Heights home before dumping her body in bushland

'I was going to get shisha. I didn't say anything because I didn't know it was legal,' he replied.

Prosecutor Matt Fisher detailed the conversation in closing submissions of a hearing to decide whether Ristevski stands trial for murder.

As read by Mr Fisher, Sarah went on: 'You were out of the house for two hours. Your phone is off for two hours... They pinged you on the Calder [Freeway].'

Ristevski responded: 'That's what they are trying to plant out there, Sarah.'

'That doesn't make sense,' Sarah said.

'Nothing makes sense because they're making it up as they go,' he replied.

'With its vast interior and designer details throughout, this landmark home provides an idyllic indoor/outdoor lifestyle along with arguably the most spectacular outlook in the entire suburb,' the home's listing reads

Ms Ristevski (pictured, left, with Borce, centre, and daughter Sarah, right) went missing in June 2016

Detectives allege Ristevski killed his wife, bundled her into his car and drove to Macedon Regional Park, taking the Calder Freeway.

Mr Fisher said in court Ristevski concealed the body in a 'thorough' way and deliberately switched off or deactivated his phone before arriving in the bush.

Ms Ristevski's skeletal remains were found in February 2017 by two horticulturalists who had noticed a strange smell.

After a high-profile committal hearing, magistrate Suzanne Cameron decided earlier this month there was enough evidence to send Ristevski to trial charged with murder.

Ristevski is pictured carrying the coffin of his wife Karen at her funeral in March, 2017

Detectives leave the home of then-missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski in February, 2017

His defence team had argued the murder charge should be abandoned in favour of sending Ristevski to trial on the the lesser charge of manslaughter.

But prosecutors argued his behaviour after the alleged killing suggested he intended to murder his wife.

They said in court he could not have accidentally killed his wife, given he allegedly concealed her body and lied to family and police.

An autopsy was unable to determine Ms Ristevski's cause of death.

Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth set down a second directions hearing for December 12 ahead of the March trial.

The Melbourne property is thought to have earned Borce Ristevski $20,000 in rent since he leased it out around six months agoBritain could make a divorce payment to the European Union even if talks on a trade deal collapse, Dominic Raab suggested yesterday.

The Brexit Secretary said Brussels would face financial consequences if the UK left without a deal in March next year.

But he suggested that at least part of the 39billion divorce bill agreed with Brussels could eventually be paid. Former Brexit secretary David Davis told MPs in March that Britain would refuse to pay the divorce bill unless it received a satisfactory settlement from the EU.

However, giving evidence to a Lords committee yesterday, Mr Raab suggested some money could still be handed over, albeit in a delayed manner that could play havoc with the EUs budgetary processes.

He said: The financial settlement, as its calibrated in the withdrawal agreement, reflects a whole range of considerations, not just the strict legal obligations, and if we left with no deal then not only would there be a question around quite what the shape of those financial obligations were as a matter of strict law, but secondly on the timing.

Remember that the timing of payments is actually  we overlook it on our side  rather important on the EU side because of the way money is distributed.

But I dont think it could be safely assumed on anyones side that the financial settlement as has been agreed by the withdrawal agreement would then just be paid in precisely the same shape or speed or rate if there was no deal.

Dominic Raab has admitted there may be a huge bill to pay even if there is no deal between the European Union and Britain

The pressure is mounting on Dominic Raab who took over from David Davis. Mr Raab is pictured with European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier,

Around half the divorce bill reflects the UKs membership fees during a two-year transition period after Brexit, during which Britain will remain a member in all but name.

But the other half is made up of commitments, such as pensions, made during the UKs 45-year membership.

Mr Raab also acknowledged the scale of the compromises agreed by the Cabinet in the Chequers agreement, which sets out a common rulebook on trade, a joint institutional framework to interpret UK-EU agreements, and the UK collecting trade tariffs on behalf the EU on goods heading from Britain into the bloc, which would avoid a hard Irish border.

The Brexit Secretary said the EU would have been cock-a-hoop if other trade partners like South Korea and Canada had offered to follow a common rule book on goods, as Britain has.

Mr Raab also pointed out the political damage the Government has suffered by signing up to an agreement that is seen as a compromise too far by many Conservatives and which sparked the resignation of Mr Davis and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson.

He told peers on the Lords European Union committee: Weve made proposals which clearly involve political compromises and pragmatism. Thats why youre hearing from me, not my predecessor.Although she once captivated Robert Hanson, son of the late tycoon Lord Hanson - and was formerly an acquaintance of Prince Andrew - Tania Rotherwick has yet to find enduring love.

But perhaps her luck is about to change.

Three years after separating from her second husband, Robin Cayzer, 3rd Lord Rotherwick, I can disclose the beguiling Tania, 53, has formed an intimate friendship with a true Olympian  financier Mark Evans, 61, who, alongside his twin brother Mike, was an oarsman in the Canadian crew that took gold at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Lord and Lady Rotherwick in 2009. Tania, 53, has formed a new relationship after splitting from her husband

While living at Cornbury Park  her estranged husbands 2,500-acre Oxfordshire estate  Tania helped establish it as the home of the Wilderness Festival, now a favourite of the Chipping Norton set, including David Cameron and wife Samantha, and known as Poshstock.

On other visits, the Camerons enjoyed plunging into the Cornbury swimming pool, as did Tanias younger sister Diana and her husband, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England.

After Tania and Rotherwick separated, Robin decided to let the family seat, moving to a lodge on the estate.

By then Tania, who has a son by Robin, had already headed to Oxford, explaining the move by saying that it spared her a daily three-hour school run.

Oxford has abundant happy memories for her new man. After school at Upper Canada College  Canadas Eton  Evans took a post-graduate economics degree at the university, and twice rowed in victorious Boat Race crews alongside brother Mike, before starting work at investment bank Goldman Sachs.

He is now a director of, and investor in, an array of companies.

Tania, though, appears to be as enamoured of the 6ft 5in Canadian for his brawn as his brain.

Hes a fitness nut  as is Tania, these days. They go running together, says an old friend, and work out together.

'Drained' Forsyth finishes latest novel in three months

Frederick Forsyth, who famously wrote The Day Of The Jackal in 35 days, might have hoped for a more leisurely schedule when tackling The Fox, his 18th novel, which he envisaged as appearing in shops next spring. His publisher, Transworld, thought differently.

He usually takes a year or 18 months because he does a huge amount of research, his wife Sandy tells me, but they wanted it like yesterday. Forsyth  who in a colourful career, including a stint at MI6, has been shot at and seduced by a foreign spy  sought to oblige.

He started off getting up at 4am for three days, says Sandy. But Forsyth then paused for reflection.

He realised that he had to change; he had to pace himself.

Timetable recalibrated, The Fox was written in three months. It was very taxing. Ive never seen a man so drained, says Sandy. Nevertheless, she adds, Forsyth celebrated his 80th birthday on Saturday with characteristic vigour.

Jerry Hall takes on eggheads

Jerry Hall, who turned 62 last month in style  enjoying lunch at Club 55 in St Tropez  has, I hear, also recently pitted her wits against the eggheads of Oxford.

Shes intelligent and well informed, says an Oxonian who met the model when she accompanied her husband, Rupert Murdoch, 87, to the university, and found her almost as admirably equipped for high table discourse as for the catwalk. Murdoch kept a bust of Lenin in his rooms at Oxford in the Fifties, and graduated with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Jerry, by contrast, concluded her formal education at North Mesquite High School in her native Texas, and seems to have skipped Lenin entirely  to no discernible disadvantage.Despite her steamy on-screen shenanigans with Richard Madden in the hit BBC drama Bodyguard, 42-year-old Keeley Hawes has, in fact, eyes for one man only  her husband of 14 years, Ripper Street star Matthew Macfadyen.

The couple, casually dressed, were out shopping for rings near their home in Richmond, South-West London, this week.

Sporting a yellow jumper imprinted with the solitary word Saturday, she and the equally low-key Matthew almost achieved something of which Keeleys alter ego, Home Secretary Julia Montague, can only dream  total anonymity.

Keeley Hawes, 42, was spotted shopping with her husband Matthew Macfadyen as her show Bodyguard is hugely popular

Freddie Fox is family killer Jeremy Bamber in TV drama

Only weeks ago, Freddie Fox was an effervescent Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband, appearing alongside his father Edward  a magisterial Lord Caversham  at the Vaudeville Theatre in Londons West End.

That world has vanished for the 29-year-old Fox, pictured for the first time (near right) in his role as mass killer Jeremy Bamber (far right), convicted of slaying five members of his adoptive family in 1986, for a controversial ITV drama.

An exchange of the sublime for the satanic . . .

The real Jeremy Bamber in 1986. ITV is making a drama series about his murders

Freddie Fox has been involved in secret filming of a new ITV drama called 'The White House Farm Murders' - he is playing Bamber

Critics who claim that TV chefs spend more time in the studio than slaving over a stove will find food for thought when they hear that Gordon Ramsays image rights company is outperforming his restaurant empire.

New accounts for the 51-year-olds Humble Pie Media business disclose a profit of 3.5 million. By contrast, the latest accounts for his restaurant kingdom record a loss of 4.1 million on 51.4 million turnover. Something of a burnt offering perhaps?A huge blaze has broken out in a factory in Melbourne, sending large plumes of toxic black smoke billowing into the air.

Explosions were heard coming from inside the burning building on Somerville Road in West Footscray, in the city's inner-west.

More than 35 fire trucks and 120 firefighters are battling the fire, which is burning out of control in a factory containing asbestos, believed to be a former woolshed.

The smoke has caused the closure of eight local primary schools, with three others monitoring the situation closely.

Emergency services said the blaze could take hours to extinguish and fire crews would first focus on getting the smoke under control.

Witnesses said they heard explosions 'like rolling thunder' and more could be heard on video footage of the blaze

The smoke (pictured) has caused the closure of eight local primary schools, with three others monitoring the situation closely

Image taken from Eureka Sky Deck where smoke continues to drift over suburbs as fire crews battle to control a blaze at a factory in West Footscray

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade issued a warning to all homes within a 2km radius of the fire, and advised those suffering from smoke inhalation to seek medical help

The 100m by 200m building is constructed from asbestos and contained welding chemical oxy acetylene and acetone, authorities told News.com.au.

Local residents have been warned to close windows and doors, and turn off any heating or cooling systems.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade issued a warning to all homes within a 2km radius of the fire, and advised those suffering from smoke inhalation to seek medical help.

Ken Brown, Acting Deputy Chief of the MFB, said there was a potent nail polish remover smell and fire crews were dealing with a number of chemicals.

SCHOOLS CLOSED DUE TO SMOKE * St John's Primary - Footscray * St Augustine's Primary - Yarraville * St Paul's Primary - Sunshine West * St Peter's Primary - South West Sunshine * Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Primary - Sunshine * Corpus Christi School - Kingsville * Annunciation Primary School - Brooklyn * Kingsville Primary, Footscray West Primary and Wembley Primary remain open but are monitoring the situation Advertisement

More than 20 fire trucks and 100 firefighters are battling the fire, which is burning out of control in a building believed to be an old woolshed

'There is a large amount of toxic smoke which may impact the area within a 2km radius of Somerville Road,' the MFB said in a statement

'There's oxy acetylene, acetone and some other goods which is causing us grief with a number of explosions, which we're not happy about,' Mr Brown told 3AW.

'Depending on what the chemicals are and what the products are burning that could give the black smoke, and what all we know is, it's not good.

'We know we've got the smell of acetone around the fire scene.'

'There is a large amount of toxic smoke which may impact the area within a 2km radius of Somerville Road,' the MFB said in a statement.

A community advice warning was issued for the suburbs of Brooklyn, Kingsville, Tottenham, West Footscray, Altona North, Braybrook, Footscray, South Kingsville, Spotswood, Sunshine, and Yarraville.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade issued a warning to all homes within a 2km radius of the fire, and advised those suffering from smoke inhalation to seek medical help

Ken Brown, Acting Deputy Chief of the MFB, said there was a potent nail polish remover smell and fire crews were dealing with a number of chemicals

People with breathing difficulties are warned to avoid the area, and pet owners have been advised to keep their animals inside.

Witnesses who called 3AW radio said they heard explosions 'like rolling thunder' and more could be heard on video footage of the blaze.

The thick black smoke has caused planes to be diverted, and is affecting traffic in a number of Melbourne suburbs.

Somerville Road and Paramount Road are shut in both directions, and local businesses have been evacuated.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known.

Somerville Road and Paramount Road are shut in both directions, and local businesses have been evacuatedHigh above me, burning debris continued to fall from the black, burnt-out shell of the tower block.

The building looked and sounded as though it was about to collapse.

I stared up in disbelief. I was a firefighter, with long years of experience behind me. I thought Id seen the worst there could ever be.

Grenfell Tower proved me wrong.

As I arrived with my crew from Battersea on June 14, 2017, the blaze had been burning for hours.

Firefighters from all across the capital had been called in: North Kensington was far from my patch, but every man and woman available was needed for this desperate operation.

Firefighter Edric Kennedy-Macfoy (above) writes about his life in the London Fire Brigade in his new book Into The Fire: My Life As A London Firefighter

While we were still kitting up, a man Id worked with before recognised me and hurried over.

Ed, he said, Im with the Heston crew, and we need another person right now. Can you join us?

No firefighter should ever turn down an urgent request from another crew at a large-scale incident like this. It was my duty to go where I was needed.

But as I stared up again at the building that had been burning for hours, I could feel my basic survival instinct fighting back.

The idea of setting foot in there scared me badly.

I would be walking into a death-trap, a building which was fully on fire. There were bodies inside, innocent victims claimed by a blaze whose ferocity almost defied belief.

At any moment, the building could begin to collapse.

It seemed very probable that firefighters were going to lose their lives: I didnt go in expecting to die, but I knew it was as likely to be me as anyone else.

We were ordered to the bridgehead, the centre of operations at a high-rise building blaze.

It is usually situated two floors below the fire floor: this time it was on the fourth floor.

All the equipment and crews are organised from the bridgehead, so that we can put on our breathing apparatus as late as possible and not waste precious oxygen supplies.

As we approached the tower entrance, police officers held their shields over our heads to protect us from falling debris.

They turned back at the doors and retreated, still protecting themselves with their shields.

With the Heston crew, I went inside, into a ground level that was dark from the smoke.

He was one of the firefighters on call the night of the Grenfell Tower (above) fire in White City, London, on June 14 2017

It felt lifeless, abandoned.

I could hear water dripping. It had been pumped in huge quantities at the higher floors from ALPs [Aerial Ladder Platforms], but though the water damage contributed to the ruined look of the building, it had not succeeded in extinguishing the flames.

At the bridgehead, we were directed into an abandoned flat.

There were firefighters in every room, sitting on beds, sofas, anywhere they could find a space.

I looked around, wondering who had lived here.

The decor, the worn furniture, the old television, the threadbare carpet all reminded me of my childhood home. It reminded me of poverty.

My dad had never been around much when I was growing up and my mother, Rosemond, was loving but strict.

She had me and my brothers doing chores and ironing our school uniforms from the age of seven.

Though I didnt realise it till much later, she was teaching us how to look after ourselves.

And though none of us could have guessed, we had to cope without her much too soon.

She was two days away from her 55th birthday when she died from cancer. I was just 22, and my brother Nico was ten years younger.

I did my best to take care of him as he grew up, but inevitably my best wasnt always good enough.

All this rushed through my mind as I stared around the flat.

No one would ever live in this room again.

It was some comfort to know that, because the fire hadnt spread this far down, the occupants had got out alive.

In his book he describes how his crew was ordered to commence a search from the 15th floor up, including lobbies, stairways and flats in the upper eight floors

In 12 years, I had never seen a busier bridgehead.

My crew was ordered to commence a search from the 15th floor up, including lobbies, stairways and flats in the upper eight floors.

We were to continue going, as high as possible.

As always, and paramount: if there were any lives to save, that would be our priority.

Though it seemed unlikely, we couldnt assume there would be no one left to rescue. None of the floors above the 15th had been searched: we would be the first to see the aftermath.

Suited up with extended duration breathing apparatus [EDBA], in extreme heat and with poor visibility, we were heading into the unknown.

As we advanced up the tower, the signal on our radios became weaker until, before wed even reached the 16th floor, our communications failed completely.

The layout of Grenfell Tower helped the search.

From its central core, where the staircase and lift-shaft were, the six flats on each floor opened out, which meant we didnt have to cover much ground to see every front door.

We had been warned not to enter any flats, because the buildings structure had been so badly weakened.

But it was easy to knock down the fire-ravaged front doors and look inside.

Each flat looked like a bomb had exploded inside, with empty shelves and smoke-stained walls, like skeletons of the homes they once were.

The outside of the building was still ablaze, and there were pockets of fire in the flats.

In some rooms, clean blue flames were rising from beneath the floor. There had been problems isolating the gas supply after the fire started, and gas was still flowing.

As the leader of the team and the highest-ranking officer, I held the dragon light  a powerful, heat-proof lamp, designed for use in hot, smoky buildings.

Navigating the stairs I went first, checking for obstructions and casualties.

Without radio contact with the bridgehead and the entry control team, which records all information as it is collected, I quickly realised it would be difficult to remember what we had seen.

Every floor was identical. There was only one option: to note everything using my phone.

Firefighters are not supposed to have their smartphones on them during a job, let alone get them out.

But I used discretion, as there was no other way of securing the information we needed.

Using my phone also meant that I needed to take my protective glove off, which isnt something that youd usually do in a firefighting situation.

My phone felt red hot, but at least it was working.

We kept sweeping the stairs and lobbies, using our personal torches and the dragon light.

He writes: 'On the 17th floor, by the lift, we found a woman who had obviously been trying to escape when she died. Her body had been exposed to extreme heat and, when I first saw her, I wasnt quite sure what I was looking at'

On the 17th floor, by the lift, we found a woman who had obviously been trying to escape when she died.

Her body had been exposed to extreme heat and, when I first saw her, I wasnt quite sure what I was looking at.

When I realised this was a casualty, I jumped back in shock. She was lying on her back, her face stained with smoke, her eyes closed and her mouth half open.

I had seen bodies many times before, and I had known there would be casualties, but nothing could prepare me for the reality.

The fact that I was on the 17th floor of a building that was still burning, and fully aware of the immediate danger we were in, played on my mind and nerves.

Making a conscious effort to suppress my emotions, I kept leading the team up.

On the next level we found another body, which I logged on the phone: One adult male 18th floor stairwell.

On the way up the stairs to the 19th floor, I saw what I immediately knew was a casualty lying down, tucked in against the bannister.

I brought the light closer: it was a woman, on her side with her head facing down the stairs.

I logged her location and was about to continue upwards when I saw a little hand poking from under her arm.

She had been trying to save her infant, protecting her child in a final embrace.

It was so, so sad.

No amount of training can prepare you for such a sight. The temperature had started to increase to a level exceeding anything I had ever experienced.

It was the kind of heat that makes you jerk your hand away from a hot oven.

But we resolved to press on, even though we had no firefighting equipment, no foam or water, which meant that if the blaze flared again we could be trapped.

This was the first time in 12 years I had been in a compartment fire, a building still burning in places, with no way to protect my exit, as well as no radio.

But we kept doing our job, locating the victims and identifying seats of fire, penetrating into the hottest, most dangerous part of the operation.

What made it worse was the noise around us  bangs, pops and creaks as bits of the building fell to the ground. We were surrounded by smoke and fire, constantly finding victims around us.

In a corner of the lobby on the 20th floor, I saw what looked at first like a soft toy.

It was a dog, a small terrier.

My heart dropped, not just for the poor animal but because the sight of the dead pet was stark confirmation of how few people could have escaped.

Dogs always escape, always  unless there is no possible route. Id been to quite a few house fires where the occupier owned a dog, and the dog was always outside when we arrived.

Sometimes it was the dog that raised the alarm.

Until Grenfell, I had never seen a dog perish in a fire. If this little creature couldnt get out, I knew no one had stood a chance.

By now, our search was becoming mechanical, rapid but still thorough. We were spending only two or three minutes on each floor.

By the time we reached the 21st, the heat was so intense that internal walls had collapsed in the flats.

The window frames were gone, too, and the flames punching up the outside of the building were in clear view.

The 23rd floor was the highest. In the centre we could see the metal door to the roof was shut.

The heat was now unbearable. I shone my torch around the lift lobby, over rubble and burnt debris. I could feel my blood overheating.

We still had oxygen, thanks to our extended duration breathing apparatus with two compressed air cylinders, but that didnt give us indefinite time.

We were exerting ourselves hard, and that meant we were breathing heavily.

At ANY fire, but especially a situation this dangerous, the crew regularly gauge their air levels.

If one firefighters supply is lower than the rest, perhaps because they have been taking the lead, finding a path and clearing obstacles, their duties will be shifted. Another crew member will step up.

We try to ensure everyone uses their air supply equally, because if one of the team has to get out of the building, we all do.

Now it was time to get out. I gave the signal: Twenty seconds, then were gone.

We made a quick inspection of the flats, then turned and ran. We really ran down those stairs, past the dog, past the woman clutching her baby.

As we reached the bridgehead, I took off my apparatus and threw it into a corner. I was struggling to catch my breath and couldnt wait to get out of the building. I needed to be far from what Id seen.

I felt a stab of guilt for thinking like that.

All Id done was witness the tragedy, after the fire had peaked, and I had been wearing protective gear.

The fire is believed to have started on the fourth floor and at least 350 people were thought to be inside when the blaze began. Pictured: Doves released outside St Helen's Church, North Kensington, following Grenfell Tower Memorial Service marking one year since blaze

The people who had lived and died there, as well as the ones who had experienced it and escaped and the family and friends left wondering what had happened to loved ones, they were the people with a right to feel emotional.

What I had just seen was nothing in comparison.

So I told myself.

My thoughts were broken by a senior officers voice, telling us we were not to wear breathing apparatus again that day.

Some of my colleagues were looking at us, and I knew what they could see.

I had seen it in the faces of other firefighters who had already been into the tower when we arrived: grimy skin and empty eyes, heads bowed, mentally and physically exhausted.

We left the tower and walked into daylight.

I felt like bursting into tears. But also, in a strange way I felt absent, as if a part of me was not at Grenfell but had become detached.

As a firefighter, I know the signs and symptoms of shock, and I was in it  like a trance state, with rapid and shallow breathing.

Shortly after my crew emerged, so did all the others, amid growing fears of a collapse.

Because my team had searched all the floors which had not previously been seen, the commanders knew there were no survivors inside.

There was nothing to be gained from risking the lives of the crews.

As I walked back down Ladbroke Grove, reunited with my Battersea crew  who had not been in the tower  we saw how the community was combining to support those involved in this monumental tragedy.

People of all colours and walks of life were pulling together.

I felt proud to have been part of it.

Members of the public were thanking us for our service, their kids were hugging us and the love and support was unreal.

Never in my career had I felt so much appreciated for the work we did, yet never in my 12 years with the brigade had I felt so broken.

As we stood there, a lady approached and started shouting: Why? Why? Why did you let them die? Why didnt you help them?

I could see in her eyes she was seriously upset, and I asked her what she had witnessed.

Through tears, she told me she had been by the tower when someone jumped to their death, landing right beside her.

She seemed to be saying that firefighters should have been there with blankets to catch people.

Sadly, it might happen that way in the movies, but not in real life.

I told her that she had been through a traumatic experience, and I was sorry for her. It seemed to mollify her.

But as the weeks and months passed, the trauma of what I had seen affected me more deeply, too.

I was diagnosed with post- traumatic stress disorder, and eventually left the London Fire Brigade.

That was a difficult decision, but I had to find a new way to make good use of my life.

Thankfully, I have now found one. I have been invited to mentor young people, especially children in foster homes who come from tough backgrounds.

I think it is the work I was born to do.

What I have done and learned can be an inspiration to others.

Im constantly delighted when people tell me that my story has given them the extra push they needed in their own lives.

Grenfell Tower was an appalling tragedy. Those of us who were there have a duty to draw something positive out of the horror.

It isnt enough to say: This must never happen again.

We have to ensure that something better happens, every day.

Adapted from Into The Fire: My Life As A London Firefighter by Edric Kennedy-Macfoy, to be published by Bantam on September 6 at 12.99.  Edric Kennedy-Macfoy 2018.

To order a copy for 10.39 (20 per cent discount), visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free on orders over 15. Offer valid until September 5, 2018.Britain received a Brexit boost last night after a leading Nigerian tycoon pledged to list his 7billion firm on the London Stock Exchange.

And Theresa May unveiled new agreements to ensure the City of London plays an even greater role in raising African finance after the UK leaves the EU.

The Prime Minister met businessman Aliko Dangote who told her he would be listing his firm Dangote Cement in London.

Britiasn received a Brexit boost on Theresa May's visit to Lagos, Nigeria, after a tycoon pledged to list his 7billion firm on the London Stock Exchange (pictured right Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari)

He joins more than 100 African firms who have done the same, meaning they will raise money in the Square Mile  boosting the British economy.

On a visit to the Nigerian city of Lagos, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

She said: Already the finance and business links between Lagos and London are bringing enormous benefits to businesses and people in the UK and in Nigeria. Todays announcements deepen this burgeoning partnership even further.

Theresa May unveiled new agreements to ensure the City of London plays an even greater role in raising African finance after the UK leaves the EU

London is a world-leading financial centre and, as the UK leaves the European Union, it will play an even greater role in financing the fastest-growing economies across Africa and the world.

Mrs May visited securities exchange company FMDQ which is playing a central role in developing, driving and diversifying Nigerias booming financial markets.

UK-Nigeria trade was worth 4.2billion last year and British companies including British Airways, GSK, Shell, Diageo, Unilever and Standard Chartered have successful long-established operations in Nigeria  many dating to the 1930s.

A total of 111 African companies have already come to the UK to list on the Stock Exchange.

Oil and gas company Seplat Petroleum also committed to list its 270million eurobond programme.Police have released CCTV of a man suspected of knocking a woman to the ground with an electric bike and leaving her fighting for her life in London

A 30-year-old man has been arrested after a suspected hit-and-run collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian left a woman fighting for her life.

The man was detained at an address in Islington, north London, on suspicion of causing bodily harm, failing to stop and failing to report a collision after contacting police at about 11pm on Wednesday, Scotland Yard said.

Officers are continuing to appeal for information over the incident on Kingsland High Street in Dalston, east London, on Tuesday evening when a female pedestrian was knocked over by a cyclist on an electric-assisted bike.

The woman, 56, remains in hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Yesterday police have released CCTV of a man suspected of knocking the victim.

The cyclist fled the scene and ditched his electric bike, leaving the seriously injured woman lying in the street.

Police found his bike abandoned around a mile away in Stoke Newington, an area popular with young professionals and cyclists.

The victim was rushed to hospital where she remains with life-threatening injuries.

Pictured: Police cordoned off Kingsland High Street in Dalston on Tuesday after a woman in her 50s was hit by a cyclist who fled the scene and abandoned his bike a mile away

Police hunt: Officers want to trace the cyclist and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward

Detective Constable Darren Case, Serious Collisions Investigations Unit [SCIU] said on Tuesday night: 'This is a shocking incident as it appears the cyclist involved did not stop to assist the victim or contact the emergency services, instead making off.

'We need to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time. Did you see the cyclist before, during or after the collision? Maybe you are in possession of dash cam footage or filmed the cyclist on your mobile phone as he made off, if you did it is vital that you make contact with us.

'We are also appealing directly to the cyclist along with his friends and family who may know of his whereabouts, the pedestrian has suffered life threatening injuries as a result of this collision and it is important that you do the right thing and make contact with police.'

Anyone with information should contact the SCIU at Chadwell Heath on 020 8597 4874 or call 101 quoting CAD 5837/28 August.Theresa May today urged Europe to accept her Brexit plan was a good deal for both sides after French President Emmanuel Macron urged Brussels to cut a deal.

Striking an upbeat tone in Kenya as she wrapped up a continent-wide tour stumping for free trade, Mrs May said she wanted a 'good relationship with the EU while having the freedom to negotiate trade deals'.

She rejected criticism from her former chief of staff Nick Timothy, insisting her deal would mean Britain ending free movement and leaving EU institutions.

The Premier denied she was setting Britain on a track to be a 'vassal state' that follows EU rules without helping to set them.

Mrs May refused again to say whether Britain would be better off in the short term because of Brexit, insisting only quitting the EU offered opportunities.

Mr Macron's vision for Europe would involve 'concentric circles' with eurozone nations in the inner ring and Britain in a second, The Times reports.

It came after the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier promised a 'partnership with Britain such as has never been with any other third country', sending the value of the pound on financial markets.

Theresa May (pictured today in Kenya) today urged Europe to accept her Brexit plan was a good deal for both sides after French President Emmanuel Macron urged Brussels to cut a deal.

Speaking in Kenya as she wrapped up a continent-wide tour stumping for free trade, Mrs May (pictured in Kenya today) said she wanted a 'good relationship with the EU while having the freedom to negotiate trade deals'

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta address a joint news conference at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya

Emmanuel Macron, pictured in Finland yesterday with wife Brigitte, is set to tell European leaders that a cliff-edge exit would 'break links and poison relations' between EU countries

Mrs May said: 'Chequers delivers on the Brexit vote. It does it in a way that I believe is good for the UK.

'Obviously, we are in negotiations with the European Union, but I believe our proposals are not just good for the UK, but they are good for the EU as well.'

Mrs May added the Chequers plan offers economic flexibility, saying: 'It ensures that we can maintain a good trading relationship with the EU while having the freedom to negotiate trade deals on our own behalf around the rest of the world.'

In other developments today, it was claimed by Politico Britain was threatening not to recognise 'geographic' EU products in future - such as champagne or Parma ham.

Such products are worth billions to the EU economy and Brussels is determined not to undermine the system.

At a joint press conference with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Mrs May said: 'As Britain prepares to leave the European Union, we are committed to a smooth transition that ensures continuity in our trading relationship with Kenya.

What is in Theresa May's Brexit blueprint? These are some of the key features of the Chequers plan being pushed by the UK government: A new free trade area in goods, based on a 'common rulebook' of EU regulations necessary. This will require the UK to commit by treaty to match EU rules

'Mobility' rules which will end automatic freedom of movement, but still allow UK and EU citizens to travel without visas for tourism and temporary work. It will also enable businesses to move staff between countries.

Continued UK participation in and funding of European agencies covering areas like chemicals, aviation safety and medicines

A 'facilitated customs arrangement', removing the need for customs checks at UK-EU ports. It would allow differing UK and EU tariffs on goods from elsewhere in the world to be paid at the border, removing the need for rebates in the vast majority of cases. This is designed to avoid the need for a hard Irish border. But in theory it still allows Britain to sign trade deals.

Keeping services - such as banking or legal support - outside of the common rule book, meaning the UK is completely free to set its own regulations. It accepts it will mean less trade in services between the UK and EU.

Continued co-operation on energy and transport, a 'common rulebook' on state aid and commitments to maintain high standards of environmental and workplace protections.

A security deal allowing continued UK participation in Europol and Eurojust, 'co-ordination' of UK and EU policies on foreign affairs, defence and development.

Continued use of the EHIC health insurance card. Advertisement

'We are pursuing, of course, a good deal for trade with the EU once we have left the EU.

'But we will be looking to enhance our trade relationships around the rest of the world as well.

'Trade isn't about one country doing better than another country, actually, trade is mutually beneficial.'

Hosting a business discussion with Mrs May in Nairobi later, Mr Kenyatta joked that she might want to go on holiday in Africa instead of Europe after Brexit.

Thank you and hopefully you will be back to visit us soon, he said.

I've asked Theresa that she doesn't have to necessarily always go to France and Italy for her holidays... there is always friendly weather here, especially after Brexit.

Diplomatic sources apparently said Mr Macron would use a summit in Austria next month to say that a hard Brexit would endanger European ties and his model for various 'circles' in Europe.

A source said: 'He sees a no-deal scenario as something that would break links and poison relations at a time when Europe needs to be united beyond the EU.'

At a meeting on Mr Macron's holiday resort earlier this month the PM said Brussels faced a choice of a 'Chequers deal or no deal', but the president said he stood firmly behind the EU's negotiators.

Cabinet minister David Lidington earlier made the same argument to a French business conference.

Speaking to France's largest employer federation Mr Lidington said: 'We face the choice between the pragmatic proposals we are discussing now with the European Commission or no deal.

'The alternative models do not meet the level of ambition or the outcome we all want to see delivered.

'So we need the EU to engage with us on our positive vision of the future relationship.'

Mrs May (pictured today with British troops in Nairobi) refused again to say whether Britain would be better off in the short term because of Brexit, insisting only quitting the EU offered opportunities.

Brexit minister Dominic Raab said he had quickly established a 'good professional and personal rapport' with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Addressing peers, Mr Raab said he would be in Brussels tomorrow ahead of meetings on Friday, adding: 'I'm confident that a deal is within our sights.

'We're bringing ambition, pragmatism, energy and if, and I expect it will be, and if it is matched, we get a deal.'

Mr Barnier told reporters in Berlin: 'We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country.'

However the Brussels negotiator still insisted Britain cannot have an 'a la carte' choice of benefits from the EU single market.

Brexiteers welcomed his 'more optimistic tone' but warned that actions speak louder and urged the EU to get on with coming up with a new offer.

A Government spokesman responded to the comments, saying: 'Both the UK and the EU are committed to reaching the best deal possible for both sides.

Mr Macron's plans are a lifeline for Theresa May (pictured in Nigeria on Wednesday) as she seeks to avoid a no-deal Brexit

Brexit minister Dominic Raab (pictured) said he had quickly established a 'good professional and personal rapport' with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier

'We have put forward our proposals for this deal in our White Paper and we stand ready to work at pace with the EU over the coming weeks.'

The intervention is a significant boost for Theresa May who has spent the summer trying to win support in EU capitals for her Brexit blueprint.

Tory MP and Brexiteer Michael Fabricant said: 'I welcome this more optimistic tone, but words are one thing, deeds are another.

'We'll all await the offer with interest. But with the UK being the largest export market worldwide for German cars and other products, it was always clear to me that the UK has huge leverage in these negotiations.'Internet giants are under fire for snubbing a meeting to tackle extremist material and child abuse on their websites.

The 'Five Eyes' nations  Britain, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand  had invited 'digital industry leaders' to a summit on Australia's Gold Coast to discuss removing terrorist content, such as beheading and bomb-making videos, but the tech experts refused to attend.

Last night Home Secretary Sajid Javid and his international counterparts condemned the internet firms, thought to include Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google, and expressed 'disappointment senior digital industry leaders did not engage on critical issues particularly online sexual exploitation of children'.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid attended a two-day summit of the `Five Eyes security alliance (Victoria Jones/PA)

Tech firms have faced calls to step up efforts to detect and take down terror-related web content after Britain was hit by four strikes in London and Manchester in three months last year.

Ministers are concerned jihadist propaganda and terrorism guides can be accessed online with just a few clicks.

The ministers noted that ongoing efforts to dismantle terrorist groups in the Middle East have created new risks, as foreign fighters return to their countries of origin or move to other regions.

Internet giants are under fire for snubbing a meeting to tackle extremist material and child abuse on their websites

'We committed to the expanded sharing of information about known or suspected terrorists between our national security and border protection agencies, reiterating that the detection of international movements of terrorists and their associates relies on the rapid sharing of information between partners,' the document said.

'We reaffirmed that alerts and intelligence relating to the movement of known and suspected terrorists will be shared between all five partners quickly and effectively.'

It is understood a new working group has been proposed to spearhead the drive.

The Five Eyes partnership is seen as crucial to the UK's efforts to counter the terrorist threat, which is seen as unprecedented after five attacks last year.Newton County, Georgia mother Jennifer Bellah reportedly confessed to law enforcement that she'd shot her two-year-old daughter dead at home Tuesday

Georgia mother Jennifer Bellah has been charged with the murder of her two-year-old daughter, after she reportedly confessed to law enforcement that she'd shot the little girl.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the incident happened at the toddler's grandmother's house in the city of Oxford.

Newton County Sheriff's Department charged the 31-year-old Wednesday after they received a call Tuesday at 5.53pm to the property on Brown Thrasher Run.

Little Natalya was pronounced dead at the scene.

It has not been revealed who called 911 however it's believed that only two people were there at the time  mother and daughter.

Detectives are struggling to find a motive for the slaying but after finding shell casing, spent bullets and a weapon at the location, found it reasonable to charge Bellah.

'Jennifer Bellah was interviewed and probable cause was determined to charge her with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime,' Deputy Favel Edwards told WSB-TV Atlanta 2.

Detectives are struggling to find a motive and haven't revealed who made the call to emergency services, however it's believed only two people were at home (pictured) at the time

Neighbor Jackie Kennedy told Channel 2 that she'd last seen Natalya playing in the front yard and knew the pair from meetings while walking around the area.

'[They] seemed like a happy family,' she said. 'I did not expect to come home and see this in my community.

'I'm really sorry about that, and it breaks my heart. This was a baby. A two-year-old baby. It's devastating.'

Fellow neighbor Michael Robinson described the killing as 'unthinkable'.

He added: 'I just saw the little girl yesterday, and the mom, and I'm always waving to the grandparents.'

Natalya's body has been taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner's office for an autopsy.

Bellah is due to appear in court Thursday in front of a magistrate judge, reports Fox5.A multi-millionaire is suing the Spirit of Tasmania after six of his polo ponies, worth more than $100,000 each, suffocated to death while on board the ferry.

Breeder Johnny Kahlbetzer said a total of 16 horses died during the nine-hour journey from Devonport, Tasmania, to Melbourne on January 29.

Mr Kahlbetzer owned six of the ponies while the other seven belonged to former Australian polo team captain Andrew Williams.

Breeder Johnny Kahlbetzer (pictured with partner Donna Gardner) is suing the Spirit of Tasmania after six of his polo ponies, worth more than $100,000 each, suffocated to death while on board the ferry

Breeder Johnny Kahlbetzer said a total of 16 horses died during the nine-hour journey on board the Spirit of Tasmania (pictured) from Devonport, Tasmania, to Melbourne on January 29

Mr Kahlbetzer said owners were not allowed on board with their animals, but were assured they would be well looked after by crew.

Mr Kahlbetzer said he was shown pictures of his prized horses upon their arrival and 'it wasn't pretty'.

Mr Kahlbetzer's company, Twynam Agricultural group, is suing TT Line Spirit of Tasmania and QUBE Holdings Limited in the Victorian Supreme Court over the deaths, The Daily Telegraph reported.

They allege in court documents that the companies were negligent and failed in their duty of care to provide a safe environment for the animals.

They are seeking $639,000 for the horses and a further $100,000 for loss of profit.

Mr Kahlbetzer owned six of the ponies while the other seven belonged to former Australian polo team captain Andrew Williams (pictured playing left)

The horses died after allegedly suffocating on board the ship after competing at the Barnbougle Polo event (pictured)

A Spirit of Tasmania spokesman said the company could not comment because an investigation was ongoing.

However, the Spirit of Tasmania website states 'fresh water is supplied and regular checks are performed on pets throughout the sailing'.

The Tasmanian Government, which owns the TT Line Spirit of Tasmania ferry service that runs from Hobart to Melbourne, is also investigating the deaths.

Mr Kahlbetzer said he has been left devastated by the deaths of his beloved horses.

Mr Williams said the deaths of his seven horses has forever changed his business.

'I have lost a breeding line that was priceless to me,' Mr Williams said.

Australian polo athletes compete at Werribee, VictoriaThe coming resignation of White House counsel Don McGahn to join the private sector is leading to new claims that the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, had a hand in his departure.

President Donald Trump announced on Twitter Wednesday that McGahn's exit from the White House would come this fall. Trump issued the tweet just hours after an anonymous report that the White House counsel was on the way out.

The news followed a New York Times story last month that White House aides were surprised to learn the extent of McGahn's cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller  something that Trump himself said happened with his own express approval.

Nevertheless, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been identified as among those displeased with the cooperation story. She 'complained bitterly' to her father about it, the Times reported Wednesday afternoon.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner (back left), have been identified as among those displeased with a story about White House counsel Don McGahn's cooperation with Robert Mueller's investigators

The report also identifies her as a suspected source for an Axios report that accurately forecasted McGahn's departure. Ironically, the report came on a day when Trump blasted anonymous sources as not to be believed.

The story notes that McGahn has been a 'frequent target' of Ivanka and Kushner, and states that McGahn believed the story got planted to force the president to go forward and announce his departure from the White House.

However, a source familiar with the situation told DailyMail.com Ivanka and Kushner had nothing to do with the Axios story.

Kushner survived reports last year that his days in the Trump White House were numbered. He was singled out for praise by the president this week in hammering out a new trade deal with Mexico.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also acknowledged the president's son-in-law, who made an on-record appearance in a press call organized by the White House.

Despite the palace intrigue, President Trump hailed his retiring White House counsel as the president revealed he personally gave the green light for McGahn to submit to interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators.

'You know, I had to approve it. We didnt claim executive ' Trump said, asked if he was upset that retiring White House counsel Don McGahn spoke to Robert Mueller's investigators

Trump lauded McGahn hours after he broke the news of McGahn's retirement on Twitter  not only to the nation but to McGahn himself.

'Hes a good man. Very good man. Don  excellent guy,' Trump said of the lawyer who was reported to have spoken to investigators for 30 hours.

'Don McGahns a really good guy. Been with me for a long time. Privately before this he represented me,' Trump said, saluting the inside lawyer after reports there have been strains in their relationship for months.

'A lot of affection for Don. Hell be moving on probably the private sector, maybe the private sector. And hell do very well. Hes done an excellent job,' said Trump.

Trump said he didn't have a problem with McGahn talking talking to Mueller, whose Russia probe has gone on for more than a year.

President Donald Trump's White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner arrives at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018

President Donald Trump announced that White House counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his post.

Then he added: 'I knew he was going also. You know, I had to approve it. We didnt claim executive,' Trump said, ending his thought, and likely referencing executive privelege.

Then he backtracked: 'No I dont have to be aware, we have, we do everything straight, we do everything by the book. And Don is an excellent guy.'

Earlier Wednesday, Trump announced that McGahn  who cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller but whom the president defended as not being a 'RAT'  will be leaving his post.

Trump lauded McGahn in comments from the White House

The Washington Post reported that McGahn learned about his departure from the tweet, without getting advance notice.

McGahn has cooperated with extensively with Mueller's investigators, who have been probing Russian election interference as well as potential obstruction issues such as the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

But he did so with a green light from Trump's original legal team. He also has been identified with Trump's successful push to stack the judiciary with conservatives to lifetime appointments.

Trump sent off McGahn, who will be leaving the White House this fall, with a compliment in a Wednesday tweet.

'White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,' Trump wrote. 'I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!'

Trump insisted McGan is 'not a RAT' in a tweet after a New York Times report on his cooperation, which included 30 hours of interviews.

The two men have clashed and have a tense relationship.

White House counsel Don McGahn, follows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to his meeting with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018

Trump announced the coming departure on Twitter

Axios reported Wednesday morning on McGahn's departure  based on anonymous sourcing. Also on Wednesday, Trump attacked anonymous sources and said they were fake and should not be believed.

According to the report, McGahn favors as his successor Emmett Flood, who represents Trump in the Russia probe from inside the White House.

Earlier this month Trump tore into a New York Times account, which characterized McGahn's cooperation with Mueller as a potential threat to the White House.

Trump in a tweet invoked former White House counsel John Dean, who cooperated with prosecutors during Watergate, helping to ultimately bring down Richard Nixon.

'The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type 'RAT,' Trump wrote. The president misspelled 'counsel' in the tweet.

'But I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn't have to. I have nothing to hide......' the president added.

Dean responded: ''Trump, a total incompetent, is bungling and botching his handling of Russiagate. Fate is never kind to bunglers and/or botchers! Unlike Nixon, however, Trump won't leave willingly or graciously.'

Earlier Trump blasted anonymous sources  although an anonymously sourced report Wednesday morning anticipated the announcement Trump confirmed

McGahn  who was present throughout the chaotic early days of the Trump administration as national security advisor Mike Flynn was fired, the travel ban was drafted, Trump fired Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself and Mueller was appointed  cooperated with the consent of Trump's original legal team.

Trump's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told NBC's 'Meet the Press' this month Trump didn't did not raise executive privilege in hopes of bringing the probe to a speedy close.

'The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president,' Giuliani said.

McGahn previously served as a commissioner on the Federal Elections Commission and as the top lawyer on Trump's campaign.

He also oversaw the successful confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, which Trump touts as one of his main accomplishments.

Out of the spotlight, he has also helped steer Circuit Court and District Court judges through the system.

Not all the nominees went through in the push to bill benches at the start of Trump's term.

Brett Talley, who was a 36-year old Justice Department official, withdrew despite clearing the Judiciary Committee after with a unanimous unqualified rating from the America Bar Association. It emerged that he failed to disclose blog posts he penned under a pseudonym including one backing the early Ku Klux Klan, as NPR reported. He also didn't disclose he was married to McGahn's chief of staff.

McGahn threatened to quit when Trump threatened to fire Mueller last June, the New York Times reported.A man who allegedly viciously attacked a woman who rejected him and a man at a Minnesota wilderness gathering before attacking a deputy was high on a plethora of drugs.

Spencer Fredrickson, 20, was charged on Tuesday following the Saturday incident at the Rainbow Gathering in Superior National Forest, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

The man was said to have been under the influence of hallucinogens LSA, LSD and Morning Glory Seeds,' the Star Tribune reports. All are classified as being illicit.

Spencer Fredrickson, 20, was charged on Tuesday following the Saturday incident at the Rainbow Gathering in Superior National Forest, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office

The Rainbow Gathering is a community gathering ran by the Rainbow Family of Living Light

He is said to have groped a 40-year-old woman who then rebuffed him, prompting him to then strangle her.

The Northfield, Minnesota, resident allegedly then grabbed the woman's top and bottom of her jaw and pulled 'her face apart as hard as he could.'

People heard the woman screaming and rushed to her aid in efforts to free her from Fredrickson's grasps, who was said to have been 'exhibiting superhuman strength.'

Northfield, Minnesota, resident was said to have been under the influence of hallucinogens LSA, LSD and Morning Glory Seeds

Morning Glory Seeds are a hallucinogen that have similar effects as LSD

A man named 'Satellite' tried to intervene which resulted in part of his finger being bitten off by Fredrickson.

Using duct tape to restrain him, the good Samaritans waited for the sheriff's deputy to arrive.

But Fredrickson stayed irate and dug his fingernails into the deputy's protective gloves.

Both the man and woman were treated at a local hospital for their injuries.

Fredrickson was charged with felony first-degree assault and a gross misdemeanor fourth-degree assault on a peace officer.

Cook County District Judge Michael Cuzzo ordered that he be tested for mental deficiency or illnesses. He also ruled that the man undergo competency assessment for his trial.

He is currently in jail on a $200,000 bail.

The Rainbow Gathering is a community gathering ran by the Rainbow Family of Living Light.

It is said that the gathering is a 'a loose-knit group of people without leadership or organization who gather in national forests to discuss political and environmental issues, pray for world peace and celebrate life,' according to the United States Forest Service.Coles will charge customers for plastic bags from today after a series of embarrassing backflips over the controversial policy.

Shoppers who don't bring their own bags will be charged 15 cents for heavy duty 'Better Bags' as of Thursday.

The supermarket giant had been handing out re-usable bags for free to give customers time to 'adjust' after an angry backlash at the initial ban.

'Coles has always maintained that complimentary bags were an interim measure to help customers make the transition to reusable bags,' a Coles spokesman said.

Shoppers who don't bring their own bags will be charged 15 cents for heavy duty 'Better Bags' as of Thursday (stock image)

'If customers forget to bring their own bags, Coles has a range of options available, including the 15c Better Bag, which is thicker and more durable than single use plastic bags and can be used multiple times.

'When customers have finished with the Better Bag, it can be recycled through the REDcycle bins available at all Coles supermarkets.'

Coles removed singe-use bags from its stores on July 1, before it crumbled to customer fury and announced it would give bags away for free 'indefinitely'.

That announcement sparked backlash from environmental groups and the supermarket backflipped on its backflip and said the free bag period would end at midnight on August 29.

Coles removed singe-use bags from its stores on July 1, before it crumbled to customer fury and announced it would give bags away for free 'indefinitely'President Donald Trump says he thinks the federal government did a 'fantastic job in Puerto Rico' despite the deaths of nearly 3,000 people after Hurricane Maria.

Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday: 'We've put a lot of money and a lot of effort into Puerto Rico.'

He added he thinks 'most of the people of Puerto Rico really appreciate what we've done.'

The U.S. territory's governor this week raised the official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 - almost twice the government's previous estimate.

Trump is pointing to the island's pre-existing financial and infrastructure challenges, but is falsely claiming its electric plant 'was dead' and 'shut' before Maria hit.

Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday that, 'We've put a lot of money and a lot of effort into Puerto Rico'

Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority is more than $9 billion in debt, but was operating.

After nearly a year of controversy over the true toll of the September 2017 monster storm, the governor of Puerto Rico said the new estimate would now be considered the official death toll.

Donald Trump previously described Puerto Rico's death toll as not 'a real catastrophe like Katrina' when he saw the devastation for himself.

In comparison, the death toll from 2005's Hurricane Katrina - the costliest hurricane in US history - was far lower, and estimated at 1,833.

'I'm giving an order to update the official number of deaths to 2,975,' Governor Ricardo Rossello said at a press conference.

'Although this is an estimate, it has a scientific basis.'

Destroyed buildings are viewed from the air during recovery efforts four weeks after Hurricane Maria struck on October 18, 2017 in-flight over Puerto Rico

The destroyed Perez family house is seen , in Juana Matos, Catano, Puerto Rico, on October 4, 2017, two weeks after the passage of the Hurricane Maria

An aerial view of houses affected by the passing of Hurricane Maria in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, October 23, 2017

Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico in September 2017, wreaking widespread devastation and causing $90 billion in damages.

It is ranked as the third costliest cyclone in the United States since 1900.

The Puerto Rican government's longstanding official death toll from Maria had been just 64.

To get a more accurate assessment, Rossello commissioned the independent study from George Washington University (GWU).

The study tracked excess deaths related to Hurricane Maria from September 2017 to February 2018, and found the toll was 22 per cent higher than the number of deaths that would have been expected during that period in an average year, without such a deadly a hurricane.

Trump speaks with Governor Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on October 19, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Trump and Rossello spoke about the continuing recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria

'The results of our epidemiological study suggest that, tragically, Hurricane Maria led to a large number of excess deaths throughout the island,' said principal investigator Carlos Santos-Burgoa, a GWU professor of global health.

'Certain groups - those in lower income areas and the elderly - faced the highest risk.'

A separate study by Harvard University earlier this year estimated that around 4,600 people had died in the three months following the storm.

Authors of the latest report described it as 'the most rigorous study of excess mortality due to the hurricane done to date.'

It analyzed death certificates and other mortality data for six months from September 2017 through February 2018.

Excess deaths were estimated with the help of mathematical modeling that compared post-hurricane deaths to the expected number based on historical patterns, and adjusted for age, sex and migration from the island.

President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd as he hands out supplies at Calvary Chapel, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

The team also identified flaws in the system that may have led to underreporting deaths previously, including lack of communication and poor training for doctors on how to certify deaths in disasters.

Rossello told El Nueva Dia newspaper that the findings, 'in my opinion, demonstrate the catastrophe that we always warned Maria had been, and of course the insufficiency of the standard protocols that we had.'

The governor said he would sign an executive order to create a committee to examine the recommendations from GWU researchers and find ways to put them into practice.

The previous findings by Harvard University blamed most deaths after Hurricane Maria on interruptions in medical care due to power outages and blocked or washed out roads.

Households went for an average of 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage after the storm.

Puerto Rico stopped publicly sharing its data on hurricane deaths in December 2017.2004: Argento and Jimmy Bennett appear in the film The Heart is Deceitful. She was 28.

MAY 2013: Argento and Bennett meet in California. He posts a selfie of them in bed on Instagram. This is the date of the alleged assault. She was 37, he was 17

OCTOBER 2017: Argento is among the first women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of rape and sexual assault. She goes on to lead the #MeToo movement

NOVEMBER 2017: Jimmy Bennett sends a notice of intent to sue Argento for damages of $3.5million claiming the 'sexual assault' hindered his ability to work

APRIL 2018: Argento pays Bennett $200,000. It was a portion of the $380,000 they agreed on to settle his claims. As part of the deal, she got to keep a photograph of them in bed together and he was not allowed to sue her again

JUNE 8, 2018: Anthony Bourdain, Argento's boyfriend, hangs himself in France

JUNE 2018: Argento goes to Berlin with Rose McGowan and Rain Dove and tells them about how Bourdain helped her handle an unnamed 'extortionist'

AUGUST 19, 2018: The New York Times publishes details of Bennett and Argento's agreement. Argento denies it.

AUGUST 21, 2018: Argento denies ever sleeping with Bennett. 'I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,' she said.

AUGUST 22: TMZ publishes photograph of Bennett and Argento in bed that was taken on the day he alleged she assaulted him.

On the same day, they publish her texts with Dove where she admits: 'I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn't know he was a minor until the shakedown letter.'

AUGUST 27: Rose McGowan urges Argento to be 'honest' and she names Dove as the person in the texts

AUGUST 29: Dove confirms they are the person Argento exchanged texts with

SEPTEMBER 2: CNN pulls all episodes of Parts Unknown which feature Argento

SEPTEMBER 5: Argento's lawyer says Bennett sexually assaulted the Italian actress and not the other way around. Argento also calls Dove a 'sick pathological liar'

SEPTEMBER 6: It is reported that Bennett is considering filing a sexual assault report after being approached by police

SEPTEMBER 8: Argento goes on Twitter to call McGowan 'wrong'

SEPTEMBER 17: Argento threatens to sue McGowan on Twitter

SEPTEMBER 27: McGowan issues an extended apology on Twitter. 'On 27 August I released a statement about Asia Argento, which I now realized contained a number of facts that were not correct. The most serious of these was that I said that the unsolicited nude text messages Asia received from Jimmy Bennett had been sent since Jimmy was 12 years old. In fact, I had misunderstood the messages that Asia exchanged with my partner Rain Dove, which made clear that Jimmy had sent Asia inappropriate text messages only after they met up again when he was 17'

SEPTEMBER 28: DailyMail.com reveals that Argento will not accept the apology

OCTOBER 4: DailyMailTV reveals that Argento has reported Rain Dove to police in Rome, alleging fraud and deception over the use of texts she sent himWhat is in a name?

A great deal, as far as the US state of Missouri is concerned.

A new state law went into effect Tuesday banning manufacturers from marketing lab-grown and plant-based meat substitutes with terms that previously implied meat products.

A slaughterhouise worker northwestern France -- the US state of Missouri has followed France's lead in clamping down on what can legally be called meat

In short, no burgers made of tofu or sausages made of vegetables.

If it didn't come from an animal, it isn't meat in Missouri.

The law - the first of its kind in the country - was championed by the state's powerful beef industry. The legislature approved it in May.

"This is about protecting the integrity of the products that farm and ranch families throughout the country work hard to raise each and every day," Mike Deering of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association said in a statement when the law passed.

The group hopes other states will follow Missouri's lead.

The meat substitute industry, represented by the Good Food Institute, expressed its displeasure Monday with a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the law, claiming it is akin to censorship.

"No one buys Tofurky 'PLANT-BASED' deli slices thinking they were carved from a slaughtered animal any more than people are buying almond milk thinking it was squeezed from a cow's udder," the institute said in a written statement.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, which files lawsuits on behalf of animals and joined the Missouri case, accused the state's politicians of picking sides in a gastronomic battle.

"Missouri is putting its thumb on the scale," said the fund's Stephen Wells.

Missouri is not alone, no matter its motives.

A similar debate is raging in Europe, where the EU's Court of Justice last year ruled plant-based producers of dairy-like products cannot market with dairy terms such as cheese and yogurt.

The French parliament approved a similar meat term ban earlier this year.Advertisement

A new series of Nasa images shows a huge storm raging on Jupiter.

The swirling anticyclone can be seen gradually moving across the planet's surface in five images snapped just 17 minutes apart by the space agency's Juno spacecraft.

The pictures reveal the intricate details of Jupiter's marbled surface, and captures several of the planet's 'striking atmospheric features', including jets and vortices in its North North Temperate Belt, Nasa said.

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New Nasa images show a huge storm raging on Jupiter. An anticyclone white oval, dubbed N5-AWO, can be seen at the centre left of the first image on the far left. It appears slightly higher in the second and third images as it moves across Jupiter's surface. A 'tempest' storm known as the Little Red Spot is visible near the bottom of the second and third images

From left to right, the sequence of images were shot between 00:54am and 1:11am ET (5:54am and 6:11am BST) on July 16 as the Juno spacecraft performed its 14th close flyby of Jupiter.

A huge anticyclone  a powerful, spinning storm caused by pressure differences in the planet's atmosphere - can be seen as a white oval, pictured in the centre-left of the planet on first image from the left.

Dubbed N5-AWO, the same storm can be seen travelling slightly higher in the second and third images as it skips across the surface of Jupiter, which measures more than ten times the size of Earth.

Another storm, known as the Little Red Spot, can be spotted at the bottom of the second and third images.

The massive, raging weather event, found in Jupiters northern hemisphere, is the third largest anticyclone storm on the planet  stretching around 3,700 miles (6,000 km) long.

The reddish-orange band that is prominently displayed in the fourth and fifth images is the North North Temperate Belt, a series of atmospheric jet streams and vortices.

Juno has orbited Jupiter since 2016. This colour-enhanced image was taken at 2:31am ET (7:30am BST) on May 24, as the spacecraft performed its 13th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 44,300 miles (71,400 kilometers) above the top layer of the planet's clouds

The timelapse was snapped by Juno's JunoCam imager while the spacecraft travelled from an altitude of 15,700 miles (25,300km) above the planet's top layer of cloud to around 3,900 miles (6,200km).

JunoCam's raw images are available for the public to peruse and process themselves, and the timelapse was created by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstadt and Sean Doran, Nasa said.

'Striking atmospheric features in Jupiters northern hemisphere are captured in this series of colour-enhanced images from Nasa's Juno spacecraft,' the space agency added in a statement.

Juno has orbited Jupiter since 2016 on a mission to collect data of the mysterious planet's atmosphere.

Earlier this month, data from the spacecraft was used to solve a long-standing mystery underlying Jupiter's characteristic coloured bands.

Several strong jet streams flow west to east in Jupiter's atmosphere, which are similar to Earth's jet streams.

However, unlike on Earth where the jet streams meander across the surface, Jupiter's streams are more even, and there are no continents and mountains below Jupiter's atmosphere to obstruct the path of the jet streams.

How NASA's Juno probe to Jupiter will reveal the secrets of the solar system's biggest planet The Juno probe reached Jupiter in 2016 after a five-year, 1.8 billion-mile journey from Earth The Juno probe reached Jupiter on July 4, 2016, after a five-year, 1.8 billion-mile (2.8bn km) journey from Earth. Following a successful braking manoeuvre, it entered into a long polar orbit flying to within 3,100 miles (5,000 km) of the planet's swirling cloud tops. The probe skimmed to within just 2,600 miles (4,200 km) of the planet's clouds once a fortnight - too close to provide global coverage in a single image. No previous spacecraft has orbited so close to Jupiter, although two others have been sent plunging to their destruction through its atmosphere. To complete its risky mission Juno survived a circuit-frying radiation storm generated by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. The maelstrom of high energy particles travelling at nearly the speed of light is the harshest radiation environment in the Solar System. To cope with the conditions, the spacecraft was protected with special radiation-hardened wiring and sensor shielding. Its all-important 'brain' - the spacecraft's flight computer - was housed in an armoured vault made of titanium and weighing almost 400 pounds (172kg). The craft is expected to study the composition of the planet's atmosphere until 2025. Advertisement

As a result, the jet streams on Jupiter are much simpler than those on Earth, causing less turbulence in the upper atmosphere.

Clouds of ammonia at Jupiter's outer atmosphere are carried along by these jet streams to form Jupiter's regimented coloured bands.

Unlike Earth, our Solar System's largest planet has no solid surface  it is an entirely gaseous planet, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Nasas Juno spacecraft took this color-enhanced image at 1:23am ET (6:23am BST) on May 24, as the spacecraft performed its 13th close flyby of Jupiter. The region seen here is somewhat chaotic and turbulent, given the various swirling cloud formations, Nasa said

An international team of scientists, including from the Australian National University (ANU), studied recent evidence from Nasa's Juno spacecraft which examined these layers of gases.

This showed that Jupiter's jet streams reach as deep as 1,800 miles (3,000 km) below Jupiter's clouds, which are shades of white, red, orange, brown and yellow.

Experts say the interaction between Jupiter's atmosphere and its magnetic fields is responsible for the bright layers visible on the planet's surface.

Dr Navid Constantinou from the research school of Earth Sciences at ANU's, one of the researchers on the study, said that until recently little was known about what happened below Jupiter's clouds.

'We know a lot about the jet streams in Earth's atmosphere and the key role they play in the weather and climate, but we still have a lot to learn about Jupiter's atmosphere,' he said.

'Earth's jet streams have a huge impact on the weather and climate by acting as a barrier and making it harder for air on either side of them to exchange properties such as heat, moisture and carbon.

'Scientists have long debated how deep the jet streams reach beneath the surfaces of Jupiter and other gas giants, and why they do not appear in the sun's interior.'Advertisement

Incredible new images capture the bizarre mating ritual of hooded seals in which the male inflates a huge blood-red sac from its nostril to attract the attention of potential mates.

The unique courting technique was snapped by wildlife photographer Sylvain Cordier in the Magdadalen Islands, Canada, during the species' mating season.

Male hooded seals grow a cavity within their left nostril that is highly elastic  and can be quickly expanded using air to try to tempt potential mates.

This crimson sac is only displayed when a competitor approaches in order to discourage them from trying to steal away the female.

Mr Cordier, 72, said witnessing the 'amazing' scene was a 'dream come true'. However, the French photographer was sure to keep his distance, as the 400 kilogram (880lb) animals become aggressive during mating season.

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Incredible new images capture the stomach-churning moment a hooded seal attempts to impress nearby females by inflating an air sac in his nose. The unique flaunting technique was snapped by wildlife photographer Sylvain Cordier in the Magdadalen Islands, Canada, during the species' mating season

Mr Cordier said: 'Hooded seals are very aggressive and therefore it is difficult to get near them.

'The females can also be aggressive in order to protect their young. The males' heads are very striking, it was really exciting photos to shoot because the mating spectacle is so amazing.'

Named after their inflatable nasal cavities, hooded seals boast one of the strangest courting displays in the animal kingdom  filling an elasticated hood that covers the top-half of their skulls with air.

This creates a balloon-like sac beneath the skin on top of their head.

As well as this hood, the animals have an inflatable left nostril that is sometimes used in sexual displays.

To flaunt it, the seal blocks off its right nostril and pushes air into the other, inflating an elasticated membrane that shines bright red due to the blood coursing through it.

Named after their inflatable nasal cavities, hooded seals are extremely territorial, and males can weigh up to 400 kilograms (880 lb). Pictured is a hooded seal without any of its nose sacs inflated

The species boasts one of the strangest courting displays in the animal kingdom - filling an elasticated hood over its nose with air to produce a balloon-like sac on top of their head (pictured)

WHAT ARE HOODED SEALS AND WHY DO THEY INFLATE THEIR NOSTRILS? Hooded seals are territorial creatures with aggressive personalities that are found in parts of Canada and Russia within the Arctic circle. Males boast one of the strangest courtship displays in the animal kingdom, inflating air sacs in their heads to make themselves appear larger to potential mates and rivals. The species is named after the inflatable hood on top of the male's head, which is elastic and is inflated through normal breathing. As well as an air sac on top of the head, hooded seals have an inflatable left nostril that is sometimes used in sexual displays. To flaunt it, the seal blocks off its right nostril and pushes air into the other, inflating an elasticated membrane that glows bright red due to the blood flowing through it (pictured) It uses this hood to produce sounds to ward off predators and other seals who are competing for food, mates and other resources. As well as its nasal hood, the species also has an air sac in its left nostril that it uses in some sexual displays. This is inflated by blocking off the right nostril and blowing air into it, producing a balloon-like pink sac that dangles from the nose. Advertisement

The new pictures were snapped on the Magdadalen Islands off Canada's eastern coast

The male only inflates this second sac when a competitor approaches in order to look more impressive and to discourage them from trying to compete for the female.

Mr Cordier said of his stunning photographs: 'It was like a dream come true  I had wanted to see hooded seals for a very long time.

'I didn't see any mating, although the male did at regular intervals attempt to mate with the female.'

Hooded seals largely live on drifting pack ice and in deep water in the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic, with an estimated 650,000 living in the wild.

The species eats krill, squid, mussels, fish and crustaceans, including deep-sea crabs.

Hooded seals are unusually solitary for a seal species, spending most of their life alone except for during mating season, when they gather in large groups.

Named after their inflatable nasal cavities (pictured), hooded seals are extremely territorial, and males can weigh up to 400 kilograms (880lb)

The male only inflates its second sac when a competitor approaches in order to look more impressive and to discourage them from trying to compete for the female. Pictured is a male hooded seal (left) with a femaleCEOs with big public personae often ooze confidence.

However, a new study shows these types of bosses are more likely to make 'overly positive statements' about the company that are not supported by facts.

As a result, these overconfident executives are a third (33 per cent) more likely to face legal action compared with CEOs who boast typical levels of confidence.

According to scientists, CEOs who are sued because of their over-confident actions typically see their confidence dramatically lowered.

This curbs similar patterns of risk-taking behaviour in future, experts say.

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Earlier this month, Elon Musk and Tesla were sued by an investor who said they had defrauded shareholders in a scheme to manipulate the electric car companys stock price. Overconfident CEOs are 33 per cent more likely to get sued by shareholders than ones with normal levels of confidence, a new study has found

'Shareholders are not powerless,' said Suman Banerjee, professor at Stevens School of Business in New Jersey who led the study.

'Their legal actions do make a difference in company operations and help the company better adhere to business regulations and laws.'

Researchers analysed leadership rosters of 1,500 leading global companies.

They also looked at a Stanford dataset tracking nearly 1,400 shareholder-initiated class-action lawsuits against firms over a 16-year period from 1996 to 2012.

The team assigned confidence scores to executives largely depending on what portion of their own companies' stock options they have retained or divested after being promoted to a position of power.

According to the researchers, the humblest CEOs diversify investment as soon as possible and invest in something different in order to hedge against the unknown.

Those who are the most confident hold onto their shares  even when the company is underperforming, because they believe their leadership is superior the firm will soon overcome market forces and gain a higher return in future, the study found.

Of the executives from 1,500 global companies observed for the study, half were scored as 'overconfident' by these measures.

CEOs with big public personae often ooze confidence. However, new research shows that these types of bosses are more likely to get sued because they are prone to making 'overly positive statements' about the company not supported by facts (stock image)

The latest findings suggest overconfident CEOs are more likely to make overly positive statements about their companies that are not yet supported by facts.

For example, these CEOs might over-invest in the short term, or postpone the accounting or reporting of losses and other negative information.

'It's indisputable that these sorts of actions lead to shareholder lawsuits,' Professor Banerjee said.

Researchers also looked at the number of lawsuits occurring after an initial shareholder-initiated lawsuit against an overconfident CEO.

Lawsuit reduces the likelihood that an overconfident CEO will be sued again, the research revealed.

'If shareholders are willing to use their power to rein in overoptimistic CEO behaviour, CEO performance and compliance, as well as company operations, can improve,' said Professor Banerjee.Advertisement

Astronomers have captured the sharpest image yet of a 'monster galaxy' that gives birth to new stars 1,000 times faster than the Milky Way.

The team's observations reveal this runaway star formation is the result of unstable clouds of molecules scattered through the galaxy, which is around 12.4 billion light years from Earth.

Monster galaxies are thought to be the ancestors of the huge elliptical galaxies like the Milky Way, and scientists hope that studying them will shed light on the formation and evolution of the small section of space we call home.

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Pictured is an artist's impression of the galaxy, known as COSMOS-AzTEC-1. Around its central black hole are two clouds of cosmic gas from which new stars form. Astronomers have captured the sharpest image yet of a 'monster galaxy' that gives birth to new stars 1,000 times faster than the Milky Way

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo took observations using the 1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) ALMA Observatory in Chile.

The galaxy, known as COSMOS-AzTEC-1, had long been known to scientists, but the instruments at ALMA took readings with a resolution 10 times higher than any previous observations.

This revealed structural details within the galaxy that had never been seen before, answering a long-standing questions surrounding how monster galaxies form stars at such a rapid rate.

Also known as starburst galaxies, the ancient cosmic phenomena appeared shortly after the big bang, and give birth to new stars at a rate 1,000 times higher than our galaxy.

It is estimated the Milky Way forms enough star matter to make up three times the mass of the sun every year.

The stars formed can either be more or less massive than our sun, though less massive stars are more numerous.

For the new study, scientists studied the clouds of molecules within AzTEC-1 known as stellar nurseries  dense regions of gas that collapse to create new stars.

Pictured are the new observations, with star-forming clouds of gas highlighted by the white arrows in the right image. COSMOS-AzTEC-1, had long been known to scientists, but researchers have now taken readings with a resolution 10 times higher than any previous observations

WHAT IS A MONSTER GALAXY? Monster galaxies, also known as starburst galaxies, are thought to be ancestors of massive galaxies like the Milky Way in today's universe. The ancient objects appeared shortly after the big bang and are characterised by rapid star formation and mass growth, birthing new stars at rates thousands of times above that of our own galaxy. This leads to small but incredibly dense galaxies that quickly burn through all of their cosmic gas - the 'fuel' used to create new stars. Once they use up this gas, some within around 100 million years of birth, they become quiescent or 'red and dead' galaxies - common in our universe today. Scientists hope that studying the mysterious objects will provide answers to key questions about the formation and evolution of modern galaxies, such as the Milky Way. Monster galaxies, also known as starburst galaxies, are thought to be ancestors of massive galaxies like the Milky Way in today's universe. This image is an artist's impression of ZF-COSMOS-20115, a monster galaxy discovered in 2017 Advertisement

The team utilised the high resolution and high sensitivity of ALMA to obtain a detailed map of the distribution and the motion of the gas.

'We found that there are two distinct large clouds several thousand light-years away from the centre,' said study co-author Ken-ichi Tadaki, of the National Astronomical Observatory.

'In most distant starburst galaxies, stars are actively formed in the centre. So it is surprising to find off-centre clouds.'

The astronomers discovered clouds throughout the galaxy are very unstable, which is unusual.

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo took observations using the 1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) ALMA Observatory in Chile (file photo)

In a normal galaxy, the gravity pushing inwards and pressure pushing outwards are balanced in the gas clouds - when gravity overcomes this pressure, the cloud collapses and forms stars at a rapid pace.

Stars and supernova explosions at the end of the stellar life cycle then blast out gases, which increase the outward pressure - redressing the balance and ensuring stars form at a moderate pace.

In AzTEC-1, the pressure is far weaker than the gravity and hard to balance, leading to runaway star formation and an unstoppable monster galaxy.

The team estimated that AzTEC-1 will consume all of its own gas in around 100 million years, which is 10 times faster than in other star forming galaxies.

THE MILKY WAY'S OLDEST STAR A newly discovered star is thought to be one of the oldest in the Milky Way. Scientists at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain believe that it might have formed about 300 million years after the 'Big Bang'. IAC researcher Jonay Gonzalez Hernandez said: 'Theory predicts that these stars could form just after, and using material from, the first supernovae, whose progenitors were the first massive stars in the Galaxy.' Researchers hope the star, known as J0815+4729, which is in line with the Lynx constellation, will help them learn more about the Big Bang, the popular theory about the galaxy's evolution. IAC director Rafael Rebolo said: 'Detecting lithium gives us crucial information related to Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We are working on a spectrograph of high resolution and wide spectral range in order to be able to measure (among other things) the detailed chemical composition of stars with unique properties such as J0815+4729.' Advertisement

They added they were still unsure what is destabilising the galaxy's gas, but believe it may be the result of a collision with another galaxy, known as a merger.

This could have transported the gas into a small area and ignited the process of intense star formation.

'At this moment, we have no evidence of merger in this galaxy,' Mr Tadaki said.

'By observing other similar galaxies with ALMA, we want to unveil the relation between galaxy mergers and monster galaxies.'A giant egg-laying rat with huge fangs that roamed Earth 184 million years ago has been unearthed in the badlands of Arizona.

This 'rarest of the rare' fossilised animal, around the size of a small dog, was unearthed alongside 38 offspring, which experts assume to be her own.

Finding well-preserved juveniles from Jurassic period, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, are particularly unusual as they are often destroyed  or eaten  after death.

The clutch of young animals contains twice as many offspring that would be expected for a mammal, but is the standard litter size for a reptile.

To unearth so many young animals in one place is unprecedented.

Scientists hope the discovery will shed new light on the evolution of mammals and narrow the window around when mammals moved from large reptile-like litters, to smaller nests of young with bigger brains.

Pictured are CT scans of the skulls of, left to right, a tuatara hatchling (modern reptile), one of the Kayentatherium offspring, and a 27-day-old opossum (modern mammal), shown at the same magnification. As the mammal class developed, it grew to favour high investment in relatively few offspring with bigger brains

The rat, which has been named Kayentatherium wellesi, was a forerunner to early mammals, despite the fact it gave birth like a reptile.

Study leader Eva Hoffman, who led research as a graduate student in geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, said: 'These babies are from a really important point in the evolutionary tree.

'They had a lot of features similar to modern mammals, features that are relevant in understanding mammalian evolution.'

Mammals are essentially defined by reproduction, with almost all bearing live young (rather than laying eggs) which they then nurse with milk.

As the mammal class developed, it grew to favour offspring with bigger brains that required more investment from their parents.

As a result, litter sizes started to shrink.

However, since the young of both mammals and their forebears are rarely preserved as fossils  let alone newborns or embryos  the timing of this transition remains unclear.

This discovery of the 184 million-year-old rat narrows the window for the change.

According to the study, Kayentatherium wellesi is not a true mammal but one of a group of very early mammal-like animals, known as tritylodonts.

The young have skulls similar in shape and size to the adult mother, according to the paper published in the journal Nature.

This suggests that Kayentatherium wellesi grew like modern-day reptiles, without undergoing the cranial lengthening seen in modern mammals.

Pictured is a CT scan of part of the specimen showing a maternal vertebra (gray) with bones of the babies (colours) in their original positions. Finding well-preserved young from the age of the dinosaurs is particularly unusual since they are often destroyed  or eaten  after their death

Pictured are CT scans of the skulls of a tuatara hatchling (left) which is a reptile endemic to New Zealand and a 27-day-old opossum (right) which is a possum-like mammal (right). This shows that the brainsand therefore the skullsof young mammals, such as the opossum, are rounded and relatively large

The fossil was collected by Professor Timothy Rowe more than 18 years ago from a rock formation in north eastern Arizona.

Professor Rowe incorrectly believed he was bringing back a single specimen, but had no idea about the dozens of babies contained with the adult.

Dr Sebastian Egberts, a former graduate student and fossil preparator, spotted the first sign when a grain-sized speck of tooth enamel caught his eye in 2009 as he was unpacking the fossilised remains.

Now an instructor of anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, he explained: 'It didn't look like a pointy fish tooth or a small tooth from a primitive reptile. It looked more like a molar-like tooth  and that got me very excited.'

A CT scan revealed a handful of bones inside the rock. But it took advances in the computerised imaging technique to reveal the rest of the babies.

Study leader Eva Hoffman produced 3D visualisations that allowed her to conduct an in-depth analysis.

It was this analysis that revealed the tiny bones belonged to babies and were the same species as the adult.

Professor Rowe said: 'Just a few million years later, in mammals, they unquestionably had big brains, and they unquestionably had a small litter size.

'There are additional deep stories on the evolution of development and the evolution of mammalian intelligence and behaviour and physiology that can be squeezed out of a remarkable fossil like this now that we have the technology to study it,' he said.

Pictured here are the skulls of the 38 Kayentatherium wellesi babies found alongside the adult specimen, which researchers believe is their mother (pictured left for scale)Girls are put off careers in science from as young as five because the books they read depict almost all academics as men, new research suggests.

A study of children's science books available in English libraries found that doctors and astronauts were depicted as men three times more often than women.

In physics books, almost 90 per cent of the people pictured were men, and in the rare instances a woman would feature, she was often depicted as a 'sidekick'.

A failure to depict inspiring female role models is driving young women away from careers in science, researchers behind the study claim.

Previous research suggests children as young as eight years old form a belief that men are inherently better at some academic subjects.

Girls are put off careers in science from as young as five because the books they read depict almost all academics as men, research suggests (stock image)

The study, from the University of Cumbria, analysed 26 children's science books available in two public libraries in northern England.

It found books targeted at older children tended to depict fewer female scientists than those aimed at younger readers.

Researchers highlighted that even when women were shown to be academic, their roles in the books were different from those assigned to men.

Male astronauts were typically featured going on spacewalks or performing scientific tests, while women were shown gazing out of windows at the stars.

One picture picked out by the scientists depicted a female astronaut in space accompanied by the caption: 'In zero G every day is a bad hair day!'

The researchers said the pictures put across the idea that careers in science, technology and mathematics are unrewarding for women.

A study of children's science books available in English libraries found that doctors and astronauts were depicted as men three times more than they were women. In physics books, nearly 90 per cent of the people pictured were men (stock image)

'Schools, libraries, bookshop and parents need to demand change,' Sue Wilbraham, who co-authored the new research, told the Times.

'It's not enough to have women scientists in the pictures: they must be shown as technically able.

'Women need to be present in children's science books to demonstrate that all science subjects are fulfilling for girls.'

DO MEN THINK THEY'RE SMARTER THAN WOMEN? A new study has revealed men think they are smarter than their peers, even when compared to women whose grades prove they are just as smart. Researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) made the discovery after asking college students enrolled in a 250 strong biology course about their intelligence. Specifically, students were asked to estimate their own intelligence compared to everyone in the class as well as the student they worked most closely with. Experts were surprised to find that women were far more likely to underestimate their own intelligence than men. When comparing a female and a male student, both with a grade point average of 3.3, the male student is likely to say he is smarter than 66 percent of the class. A female student is likely to say she is smarter than only 54 percent of the class. In addition, when asked whether they are smarter than the person they worked most with in class, the pattern continued. Male students are 3.2 times more likely than females to say they are smarter than the person they are working with, regardless of whether their class partners are men or women. Advertisement

The number of women in careers involving skills in science or mathematics has been a controversial topic for decades.

Around 20 per net of A-Level physics students are women  a proportion that has not changed in the last 25 years.

Just 15 per cent of engineering undergraduates are women, and some experts blame the imagery shown to us when we are children.The evolution of the dazzling variety of life on the African savannah has been helped along by Neolithic cattle dung, scientists have found.

Nutrients in the soil deposited by livestock manure thousands of years ago in Eastern Africa began an ongoing natural cycle that allow the region's species to thrive today.

After the ancient homesteads were abandoned, nutrients that leaked into the soil supported a diverse range of plantlife in the region, which attracted wildlife.

Herders then re-inhabited these locations as they provided a rich variety of animals to hunt and grassland on which to raise livestock - restarting the cycle.

Researchers say patches of land in East Africa that continue to attract more wildlife than others today were once Neolithic dung piles.

They claim the study shows how cultural practices and movements of ancient herders are still influencing a range of seemingly wild and natural phenomena.

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This image shows the nutrient cycle that led to some of Africa's most diverse wild regions. Some of Africa's most biologically diverse wildlife hotspots can trace their origins to a cycle of soil enrichment that begins with dung deposited in the livestock corrals of ancient herdsmen

'Many of the iconic wild African landscapes, like the Mara Serengeti, have been shaped by the activities of prehistoric herders over the last 3,000 years,' said anthropologist Fiona Marshall, a professor in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri and a senior author of the study.

'Our research shows that the positive impacts of increased soil fertility in herder settlement corrals can last for thousands of years.

'The longevity of these nutrient hotspots demonstrates the surprising long-term legacy of ancient herders whose cattle, goats and sheep helped enrich and diversify the vast savannah landscapes of Africa over three millennia.

'Ecologists have suggested that wildlife movements, including the Serengeti's famous wildebeest migrations, may be influenced by the location of nutrient-rich soil patches that green rapidly during the rains.

'Our research suggests that some of these patches may be the result of prehistoric pastoral settlement in African savannahs.'

The study provides an explanation for how oval-shaped wildlife hotspots in Kenya that measure about 300 feet (100 meters) in diameter evolved.

The team used a series of images garnered from satellite imaging and detailed analyses of soil nutrients, isotopes and spatial characteristics at ancient Neolithic herder sites in East Africa,

Other research has previously shown that fire, termite mounds and volcanic sediments may contribute to the varying fertility of savannah soils as well.

This study, the authors claim, confirms that ancient livestock dung has been an important catalyst in an ongoing cycle of soil enrichment.

This study examined five Neolithic sites that range from 1,550-3,700 years old.

It found dung deposits dating back up to 3,000 years.

Open grassy areas with a flush of fresh green grass mark the site of ancient livestock corrals in southwest Kenya (pictured)

These ancient pastoral sites had elevated levels of phosphorous, magnesium, calcium and other nutrients essential for plant and animal growth.

Excavations show that the abandoned settlement footprints are loosely defined by a visually distinct, fine-grained layer of grey sediment, now located about a half-meter below the surface and up to a foot thick in places.

Over the millennia, the fertility of these ancient settlement sites has increased the spatial and biological diversity of savannahs.

For 2,000-3,000 years the African plains of southwestern Kenya were occupied by groups of nomadic herders who moved their camps often in search of greener pastures.

Cattle corrals, such as this one in a modern Maasai homestead in Kenya, have been used for thousands of years to provide overnight protection to cattle and other livestock. The dung build up then adds nutrients to the soil and makes it more fertile

Their livestock freely grazed the land by day were herded into small, oval-shaped paddocks at night for protection from predators.

Manure consequently piled up in the temporary housing units and provided much needed nutrients to the barren soil.

Scarce nutrients from surrounding grasslands also began to accumulate as a result and this created fertility hotspots.

The thriving land then became a focal point for both wild and domesticated animals for years to come.

The findings were published in the journal Nature.Amber was so prized by prehistoric people across Europe that vast trade routes were set up by the year 4,000 BC.

Stone Age humans transported the golden coloured gem through extensive exchange networks across the Mediterranean, researchers say.

They discovered amber from Sicily was being imported into parts of Spain and Portugal over 6,000 years ago.

The latest findings push back the date of sophisticated trade routes by around 2,000 years.

Experts have previously uncovered evidence of the use of amber in decorative objects in Europe dating back as far as 40,000 BC.

Scientists say there is currently no evidence of direct contact between Sicily and Iberia at the time, and that amber may have made its way via Africa.

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Amber was so prized by prehistoric people across Europe that vast trade routes were set up by the year 4,000 BC. Stone Age humans transported the golden coloured gem through extensive exchange networks across the Mediterranean, researchers say

An international team of researchers, including from the University of Cambridge, made the discovery by studying amber from a large number of archaeological and geological sites across the Iberian Peninsula.

They used a form of advanced scanning called infrared spectroscopy, which analyses the interaction of infrared radiation with the matter that makes up an object, to reveal the origins of their amber samples.

This revealed 22 amber samples from Portugal and Spain, dating between 4,000 to 1,000 years BC, were of local origin.

This confirmed previous research about the mining of amber in Northern Iberia.

Across the rest of the Peninsula, however, the amber used in jewellery and other ornaments was found to come from Sicily or the Baltic region.

The team found Sicilian amber arrived in Iberia much earlier than previously thought.

Lead author Dr Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, of the University of Granada, said: The new evidence presented in this study has allowed the most comprehensive review to date on the provision and exchange of amber in the prehistory of Iberia.

Thanks to this new work, we now have evidence of the arrival of Sicilian amber in Iberia from at least the 4th Millennium BC.

Experts have previously uncovered evidence of the use of amber (pictured) in decorative objects in Europe dating back as far as 40,000 BC

Scientists say that there is currently no evidence of direct contact between Sicily and Iberia at the time, and that the amber (pictured) may have made its way via Africa

WHEN WERE THE FIRST TRADE ROUTES IN AMBER SET UP IN EUROPE? A 2018 study by an international team of researchers, including from the University of Cambridge discovered a trade network in amber dating back to 4,000 BC. They used a form of advanced scanning called infrared spectroscopy - which analyses the interaction of infrared radiation with the matter that makes up an object  to make the discovery. It revealed that 22 amber samples from Portugal and Spain, dating between 4,000 to 1,000 years BC, were of local origin, confirming previous research indicating that in Northern Iberia this was the norm. Across the rest of the Peninsula, however, the amber used in jewellery and other ornaments was found to come from Sicily or the Baltic region. The team found that Sicilian amber arrived in Iberia earlier than previously thought, from 4,000 BC onwards. After a decline in amber consumption and trade with the beginning of the Bronze Age, in around 2,000 BC, experts discovered an influx of Baltic amber from Scandinavia gradually replaced the Sicilian amber in Iberia by around 1,000 BC. Advertisement

Amber has been used in jewellery for tens of thousands of years, with archaeological studies tracing informal exchange networks of amber both as a raw material and in decorative objects in Europe back to the Late Palaeolithic period, between 40,000 and 8,000 BC.

It is often found to hold remarkably well-preserved materials from eras long since passed.

The golden-coloured translucent substance is formed when resin from extinct coniferous trees became hardened and then fossilised.

Often insects, plant material, pollen and other creatures, became trapped in the resin, causing them to be entombed within after it has solidified.

Dr Murillo-Barroso said: Interestingly, the first amber objects recovered in Sicily and identified as being made from the local amber there  known as simetite  also date from the 4th Millennium BC.

Pictured are amber beads from Dolmen of La Pastora. The team found that Sicilian amber arrived in Iberia earlier than previously thought

Pictured are some of the amber beads and necklaces that that have been found in Spain. The golden-coloured translucent substance is formed when resin from extinct coniferous trees became hardened and then fossilised

WHAT IS AMBER? Amber has been used in jewelry for thousands of years, and is often found to hold remarkably well-preserved materials from eras long since passed. The golden-coloured translucent substance is formed when resin from extinct coniferous trees became hardened and then fossilised. Often insects, plant material, pollen and other creatures became trapped in the resin, causing them to be entombed within after it solidified. Advertisement

However, there is no other evidence indicating direct contact between Sicily and Iberia at this time.

Instead, what we do know about are the links between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. It is plausible that Sicilian amber reached Iberia through exchanges with North Africa.

This amber appears at southern Iberian sites and its distribution is similar to that of ivory objects, suggesting that both materials reached the Iberian Peninsula following the same or similar channels.

After a decline in amber consumption and trade with the beginning of the Bronze Age, in around 2,000 BC, experts discovered an influx of Baltic amber from Scandinavia gradually replaced the Sicilian amber in Iberia by around 1,000 BC.

Pictured are the places where Amber has been found in Spain. Amber has been used in jewellery for thousands of years, and is often found to hold remarkably well-preserved materials from eras long since passed

Pictured is one of the dresses made of amber and shell beads from the tholos of Montelirio. The golden-coloured translucent substance is formed when resin from extinct coniferous trees became hardened and then fossilised

Senior author Professor Marcos Martinon-Torres, of the department of archaeology at the University of Cambridge added: It is only from the Late Bronze Age that we see Baltic amber at a large number of Iberian sites and it is likely that it arrived via the Mediterranean, rather than through direct trade with Scandinavia.

What's peculiar is that this amber appears as associated with iron, silver and ceramics pointing to Mediterranean connections.

This suggests that amber from the North may have moved South across Central Europe before being shipped to the West by Mediterranean sailors, challenging previous suggestions of direct trade between Scandinavia and Iberia.

The full findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.Researchers have discovered how our brain keeps track of time.

They say a special network of brain cells expresses our sense of time within experiences and memories.

It essentially provides timestamps for events, and keeps track of the order of them - rather like a filing system.

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The illustration shows the episodic time from the experience of a 4-hour-long ski trip up and down a steep mountain, including events that alter the skier's perception of time. The idea is that experienced time is event-dependent and may be perceived as faster or slower than clock time.The newly discovered neural record of experienced time is in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) in green. Next to the LEC is the MEC, the brain's seat for space (not depicted). Next to the MEC is the hippocampus, the structure in which information from the time and space networks come together to form episodic memories.

HOW HUMANS MEASURE TIME Clocks are devices created by humans to measure time. By social contract, we agree to coordinate our own activities according to clock time. Nevertheless, your brain does not perceive the duration in time with the standardized units of minutes and hours on your wristwatch. The signature of time in our experiences and memories belongs to a different kind of temporality altogether. Over the course of evolution, living organisms including humans have developed multiple biological clocks to help us keep track of time. What separates the brain's various timekeepers is not only the scale of time that is measured, but also the phenomena the neural clocks are tuned to. Some timekeepers are set by external processes, like the circadian clock that is tuned to the rise and fall of daylight. This clock helps organisms adapt to the rhythms of a day. Other timekeepers are set by phenomena of more intrinsic origins, like the hippocampal time cells that form a domino-like chain signal that tracks time spans up to 10 seconds precisely. Today we know a great deal about the brain's mechanisms for measuring small timescales like seconds. Little is known, however, about the timescale the brain uses to record our experiences and memories, which can last anywhere from seconds to minutes to hours. Advertisement

This area of the brain where time is experienced was found right next to the area that codes for space by researchers at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway.

'This network provides timestamps for events and keeps track of the order of events within an experience,' said Professor Edvard Moser, Nobel laureate and director of the Kavli Institute, which is based at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Professor Moser says the study shows that by changing the activities you engage in, the content of your experience, you can actually change the course of the time-signal in LEC and thus the way you perceive time.

The 'neural clock' keeps track of time during experiences is precisely what Albert Tsao and his colleagues at NTNU's Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience believe they have discovered.

By recording from a population of brain cells the researchers identified a strong time-coding signal deep inside the brain.

'Our study reveals how the brain makes sense of time as an event is experienced,' said Albert Tsao at NTNU's Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience.

'The network does not explicitly encode time.

'What we measure is rather a subjective time derived from the ongoing flow of experience.'

The neural clock operates by organizing the flow of our experiences into an orderly sequence of events.

This activity gives rise to the brain's clock for subjective time.

Experience, and the succession of events within experience, are thus the substance of which subjective time is generated and measured by the brain.

'Today, we have a fairly good understanding of the way our brains process space whereas our knowledge of time is less coherent,' Professor Moser says.

'Space in the brain is relatively easy to investigate.

'It consists of specialized cell types that are dedicated to specific functions. Together they constitute the nuts and bolts of the system,' he says.

In 2007, then-Kavli Institute PhD candidate Albert Tsao set out to crack the code of what was happening in the enigmatic lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC), the area of the brain is right next to the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC), where his supervisorshad discovered grid cells.

'I was hoping to find a similar key operating cell that would reveal the functional identity of this neural network', Tsao says.

'There didn't seem to be a pattern to the activity of these cells. The signal changed all the time, says Professor Moser.

It was only in the last couple of years that the researchers began to suspect that the signal was indeed changing with time.

Suddenly the recoded data started to make sense.

'Time is a non-equilibrial process. It is always unique and changing,' Professor Moser says.

IS TIME CIRCULAR? The structure of time has long been a disputed topic by philosophers and physicists alike. What can the newly discovered brain's mechanism for episodic time tell us about how we perceive time? Is our perception of time linear resembling a flowing river, or cyclical like a wheel or a helix? Data from the Kavli study suggest both are correct, and that the signal in the time-coding network can take on many forms depending on the experience. Advertisement

'If this network was indeed coding for time, the signal would have to change with time in order to record experiences as unique memories.'

'The activity in these neural networks is so distributed that the mechanism itself probably lies in the structure of connectivity within the networks. The fact that it can be shaped into various unique patterns implies a high level of plasticity,' Professor Moser says.

'I believe distributed networks and the combination of structures of activity may deserve more attention in the future. With this work, we have found an area with activity so strongly relating to the time of an event or experience, it may open up a whole new research field.'

In 2016, PhD candidate Jrgen Sugar joined the Kavli project to perform a new set of experiments that would test the hypothesis that the LEC network coded for episodic time.

In one experiment a rat was introduced to a wide range of experiences and options for action.

It was free to run around, investigate and chase bits of chocolate while visiting a series of open space environments.

'The uniqueness of the time signal during this experiment suggests that the rat had a very good record of time and temporal sequence of events throughout the two hours the experiment lasted,' Sugar says.

'We were able to use the signal from the time-coding network to track exactly when in the experiment various events had occurred.'

In the second experiment, the task was more structured with a narrower range of experiences and options for action.

The rat was trained to chase after bits of chocolate while turning left or right in a figure-8 maze.

'With this activity, we saw the time-coding signal change character from unique sequences in time to a repetitive and partly overlapping pattern,' Tsao says.

'On the other hand, the time signal became more precise and predictable during the repetitive task.

The data suggest that the rat had a refined understanding of temporality during each lap, but a poor understanding of time from lap to lap and from the start to end throughout the experiment.'It turns out it doesn't take much for hackers to see what's being displayed on your computer screen.

A team of researchers have discovered that ultrasonic sounds picked up by a webcam microphone can be analyzed using machine learning to determine what's being shown on a remote computer screen.

The attack could allow anyone savvy enough to spy on someone's browsing activity with ease.

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Researchers found that ultrasonic sounds picked up by a webcam mic can be analyzed using machine learning to determine what's being shown on a remote computer screen

HOW CAN HACKERS SPY ON YOUR SCREEN? Researchers observed frequencies inaudible to the human ear being emitted from LCD displays. They found that microphones from webcams, voice-activated speakers and smartphones were able to record those noises. Hackers can listen to these recordings and infer what's being shown on your screen. They fed the data into a machine learning algorithm, which was able to guess which of the top 10 popular websites was being displayed on a screen with more than 90 percent accuracy. It's a worrying example of how savvy hackers can spy on your monitor with ease. Advertisement

Scientists from University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and Tel Aviv University observed subtle acoustic noises coming from LCD screens - specifically faint, high-pitched sounds that are generated to power the display.

The pitch will fluctuate depending on what users are looking at, as varying levels of power are needed to display pixels on a screen.

Hackers can then capture the audio being recorded by the computer's microphone, an external webcam's microphone, a webcam used in a chat service like Google Hangouts or even voice-activated smart speakers like an Amazon Echo, and use machine learning to deduce what someone is looking at.

Researchers could successfully judge a person's display activity from up to 30 feet away in some cases.

They're calling this phenomenon 'Synesthesia,' or a side-channel attack that can reveal what's on a screen just by looking at 'content-dependent acoustic leakage from LCD screens.'

'The pertinent sounds are so faint and high-pitched that they are well-nigh inaudible to the human ear, and thus (unlike with mechanical peripherals) users have no reason to suspect that these emanations exist and that information about their screen content is being conveyed to anyone who receives the audio stream, or even a retroactive recording,' according to the study.

Researchers collected numerous of recordings of LCD display sound using an LG V20 phone (pictured) in various positions and fed that information into a machine learning algorithm, which analyzed the data to predict what was on users' screens

They displayed the frequencies on a spectrogram, or a visual representation of frequencies of sound as they change over time (right). It appeared as a zebra stripe pattern

'In fact, users often make an effort to place their webcam (and thus, microphone) in close proximity to the screen, in order to maintain eye contact during videoconference, thereby offering high quality measurements to would-be attackers.'

For the study, researchers examined the acoustic leakage from a variety of LCD monitors, spanning different sizes and makers. The monitors were made between 2003 and 2017.

They collected numerous of recordings of LCD display sound using an LG V20 phone in various positions and fed that information into a machine learning algorithm, which analyzed the data to predict what was on users' screens.

Researchers then displayed the frequencies on a spectrogram, or a visual representation of frequencies of sound as they change over time. They often appeared as a zebra stripe pattern.

For the study, researchers examined the acoustic leakage from a variety of LCD monitors, spanning different sizes and makers. The monitors were made between 2003 and 2017

In some cases, they had between a 90 percent and 100 percent success rate, Wired noted.

The system was even capable of identifying which of the 10 most popular websites was display on a monitor with 96.4 percent accuracy.

Scientists also demonstrated in their research how attackers could infer what someone is typing by analyzing the audio frequencies generated when an on-screen keyboard is used.

While on-screen keyboards are meant to act as a security mechanism for password entry, the researchers demonstrated that even these functions aren't safe from hackers' spying eyes and ears.The strange symptoms affecting US Diplomats in Cuba are a result of exposure to pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic radiation, a leading researcher has claimed.

Beginning in 2016, personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba (as well as Canadian diplomats and family members) described hearing strange sounds, followed by development of an array of symptoms - but the source of the health problems has never been determined.

In a new study, Beatrice Golomb, professor of medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, says publicly reported symptoms and experiences of a 'mystery illness' afflicting American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and China strongly match known effects of pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic (RF/MW) radiation.

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Beginning in 2016, personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba (pictured) described hearing strange sounds, followed by development of an array of symptoms - but the source of the health problems has never been determined. The 26th US diplomat has been injured mysteriously in Havana. Pictured: The US embassy in Havana

WHAT IS THE FREY EFFECT? The microwave auditory effect, also known as the microwave hearing effect or the Frey effect, occurs when a beam of microwaves is turned into sound by the interaction with your head. It consists of audible clicks generated directly inside the human head without the need of any receiving electronic device. The effect was first reported by persons working in the vicinity of radar transponders during World War II. In 1961, the American neuroscientist Allan H. Frey studied this phenomenon and was the first to publish information on the nature of the microwave auditory effect. In the early 2000's, the US Navy funded research on Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio (MEDUSA). This was a 'less lethal weapon' which would use the microwave auditory effect for crowd control, although the project was eventually canceled. Advertisement

'I looked at what's known about pulsed RF/MW in relation to diplomats' experiences,' said Golomb, in advance of the September 15 issue of Neural Computation which carries her paper.

'Everything fits. The specifics of the varied sounds that the diplomats reported hearing during the apparent inciting episodes, such as chirping, ringing and buzzing, cohere in detail with known properties of so-called 'microwave hearing,' also known as the Frey effect.

'And the symptoms that emerged fit, including the dominance of sleep problems, headaches and cognitive issues, as well as the distinctive prominence of auditory symptoms.

'Even objective findings reported on brain imaging fit with what has been reported for persons affected by RF/MW radiation.'

In May, the State Department reported that U.S. government employees in Guangzhou, China had also experienced similar sounds and health problems.

Affected diplomats and family members from both locations were medically evacuated to the U.S. for treatment, but despite multiple government investigations, an official explanation of events and subsequent illnesses has not been announced.

Golomb compared rates of described symptoms among diplomats with a published 2012 study of symptoms reported by people affected by electromagnetic radiation in Japan.

She found the cited symptoms  headache, cognitive problems, sleep issues, irritability, nervousness or anxiety, dizziness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears)  occurred at 'strikingly similar' rates.

Some diplomats reported hearing loss.

That symptom was not assessed in both studies so rates could not be compared, but Golomb said it is widely reported in both conditions.

She also noted that previous brain imaging research in persons affected by RF/ EMR 'showed evidence of traumatic brain injury, paralleling reports in diplomats.'

David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, part of the State University of New York, was not involved in Golomb's study but said it illustrates 'microwave hearing,' which results 'from heating induced in tissue, which causes 'waves' in the ear and results in clicks and other sounds.'

Reported symptoms, he said, characterize the syndrome of electrohypersensitivity (EHS), in which unusual exposure to radiofrequency radiation can trigger symptoms in vulnerable persons that may be permanent and disabling.

'We have seen this before when the Soviets irradiated the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in the days of the Cold War,' he said.

The health consequences of RF/MW exposure is a matter of on-going debate.

Some government agencies, such as the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute, publicly assert that low- to mid-frequency, non-ionizing radiation like those from microwaves and RF is generally harmless.

They cite studies that have found no conclusive link between exposure and harm.

But others, including researchers like Golomb, dispute that conclusion, pointing out many of the no-harm studies were funded by vested industries or had other conflicts of interest.

Cuba has adamantly denied involvement or knowledge. Initial speculation centered on some type of sonic attack owing to strange sounds heard by those affected.

One American government worker at a U.S. consulate in China who also confirmed to have been affected, raising concerns that the incidents occurring in Cuba have spread.Hooded seals are territorial creatures with aggressive personalities that are found in parts of Canada and Russia within the Arctic circle.

Males boast one of the strangest courtship displays in the animal kingdom, inflating air sacs in their heads to make themselves appear larger to potential mates and rivals.

The species is named after the inflatable hood on top of the male's head, which is elastic and is inflated through normal breathing.

As well as an air sac on top of the head, hooded seals have an inflatable left nostril that is sometimes used in sexual displays. To flaunt it, the seal blocks off its right nostril and pushes air into the other, inflating an elasticated membrane that glows bright red due to the blood flowing through it (pictured)

It uses this hood to produce sounds to ward off predators and other seals who are competing for food, mates and other resources.

As well as its nasal hood, the species also has an air sac in its left nostril that it uses in some sexual displays.

This is inflated by blocking off the right nostril and blowing air into it, producing a balloon-like pink sac that dangles from the nose.A century ago, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky became well-known for his pioneering work in advancing color photography.

Now, Google has honored Prokudin-Gorsky on what wouldve been the influential photographer and chemists 155th birthday on August 30, 2018 with a new Google Doodle.

Heres all you need to know about who he was and also what a Google Doodle is.

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was well-known for his revolutionary color photography techniques

Who was Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky?

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a chemist and photographer known for his revolutionary work with color photography in the early 20th century.

He was born in Funikova Gora in the former Russian Empire on August 30, 1863 to parents of Russian nobility and a family that included a long history of military service.

After relocating to the city of Saint Petersburg, Prokudin-Gorsky studied chemistry at the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology and also studied painting and music at the Imperial Academy of Arts.

He soon joined the Imperial Russian Technical Society and became interested in photography, later establishing his own photography lab and studio in 1901 in Saint Petersburg.

Not long afterwards, Prokudin-Gorsky studied color sensitization in Germany in 1902 and began to apply his knowledge of chemistry to his own photography, pioneering the three-color principle technique to greatly advance color photography.

Prokudin-Gorsky soon became known for his extensive portfolio of color photographs cataloguing life in early 20th century Russia, later obtaining permission and funding to document the country in color photography after impressing Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1909 with his photo collection.

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a great Russian inventor, photographer, chemist, one of the icons of world photo industry. In 1905 he patented his sensitizer that was of better quality compared to similar inventions of foreign chemists. https://t.co/Dgaon6CWJO pic.twitter.com/5dfIatdmwr  REC (@rusexport_eng) June 3, 2018

In this capacity, Prokudin-Gorsky amassed a collection of more than 10,000 color photographs of Russia in the early 1900s, offering important historical records concerning the nations people, architecture, landscapes and everyday life during the time period.

In addition to his pioneering work in color photography, Prokudin-Gorsky also served as president of the photography section of the Imperial Russian Technical Society starting in 1906 and was a member of the Royal Photographic Society in the UK from 1920 to 1932.

Prokudin-Gorsky died in Paris on September 27, 1944 at age 81, though his groundbreaking work in advancing color photography and documenting life in early 20th century Russia played a key role in both art and history that still resonates today.

What is a Google Doodle?

A Google Doodle is a temporary change to the homepage logo on Googles website to reflect a significant anniversary, event, accomplishment, individual and the likes.

First introduced back in 1998 to recognize the Burning Man festival, Google Doodles were initially created by Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and later by a group of outside contractors. Eventually, a special in-house team called Doodlers was establish to create them more consistently.

Many Google Doodles nowadays recognize holidays like St Patricks Day and New Years Eve. Theyre also frequently used to commemorate notable individuals like Leonard Bernstein or to mark key events such as Ukraine Independence Day and Hungary State Foundation Day.Advertisement

This is the beautiful 65-acre island off the coast of Maine that could be yours for just under $8million.

It's called Sheephead Island and amazing aerial images show its white sandy beaches as well as its lush green forests.

The island also boasts two houses including a main residence as well as a smaller four-bedroom property.

The stunning 65-acre Sheephead Island off the coast of Maine, which has gone on the market for just under $8million

Amazing aerial images show its white sandy beaches as well as its lush green forests

Private haven: The island can be accessed from the mainland twice a day during low tide

One of the white sandy beaches on the island. One of the two properties included in the sale looks out on to a beach

The main residence is a relatively new five-bedroom house built in the style of a classic New England colonial with spacious, light-filled rooms, comfortable living areas and magnificent views of Penobscot Bay.

An additional four-bedroom contemporary residence is located away from the main house with an open floor plan, beautiful ocean views and a secluded beach. The property also includes a boathouse and artist's studio.

Located just off Sylvester Cove and the village of Sunset, Sheephead Island is connected to the mainland at low tide.

The main residence, pictured, boasts five bedrooms and has been built in a classic New England colonial style

The island's listing states: 'The island's shore-front is spectacular with miles of interesting ledge, tidal pools, and broad beaches.

'Trails run through fields and forest, and there's a wonderful swimming pond hidden away in the woods in the middle of the island.

'In the northeast lee of the island, a deep-water dock, float, and mooring provide ample space for yacht moorage and protection from most winds and prevailing seas.

'The village of Sunset is a delightful summer colony on the western shore of Deer Isle, a quintessential Maine island that is accessible by automobile over a suspension bridge.'

Stonnington is also close by, which along with Deer Isle, boasts art galleries, shops, restaurants, inns, and pretty harbours.

The main house is also described as spacious with light-filled rooms, comfortable living areas and magnificent views of Penobscot Bay

The welcoming living area inside the main house. The island is located just off Sylvester Cove and the village of SunsetAdvertisement

The Block's Sara Vale made shock claims that the show is 'rigged' on Tuesday night's episode, after she and her husband Hayden failed to win another challenge.

Five teams took part in The Caravan Challenge, which saw contestants transform old and rundown caravans.

Sara and Hayden's rock 'n' roll caravan was beaten by Jess and Norm's seventies surf culture-themed renovation, which prompted Sara's latest rant.

'It's rigged!' Sara Vale (left) made bold claims about The Block after she and husband Hayden (right) failed to win The Caravan challenge on Tuesday night's episode

Before: Sara and Hayden transformed their run-down space into a Palm Springs rock 'n' roll-themed caravan

After: They opted for a seventies-inspired theme and added bright highlights to the exterior

End result: They used vintage furniture and fixtures but failed to impress the judges. Guest judge Michael Duffy said, 'They had the best interior... They definitely lucked out, they haven't had to do a lick of paint, they haven't even done the floors. I want to know what they did for eight hours!'

Newly-released photos show the remarkable transformations of the vehicles dubbed 'The Gatwick on wheels' into completely revamped mobile homes.

Sydneysiders Sara, 31, and Hayden, 45, renovated their caravan with a Palm Springs rock 'n' roll theme, but they failed to impress guest judges Carlene and Michael Duffy.

Poll Is The Block rigged? Yes No Is The Block rigged? Yes 175 votes

No 218 votes Now share your opinion





'They had the best interior... They definitely lucked out, they haven't had to do a lick of paint, they haven't even done the floors. I want to know what they did for eight hours!' Michael said.

When Queensland couple Jess Eva and Norm Hogan were declared winners of the challenge, Sara expressed her disappointment in a piece-to-camera interview.

'I don't know how Jess and Norm won... mate this competition's rigged,' she raged.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.

It comes after Sara and Hayden finished last place three weeks in a row, which led to her threatening to quit the show on Sunday.

The final scores during Sunday's bathroom challenge were: Bianca and Carla - 27; Norm and Jess - 23; Hayden and Sara - 22, Courtney and Hans - 24; and winners Kerrie and Spence - 27.5.

Winners: Jess Eva, 33, and Norm Hogan, 40, impressed the judges with their Aussie surf theme

Before: The couple renovated a dull space into a more livable mobile home

After: Jess and Norm transformed their ramshackle caravan by making a bed from scratch and adding vintage touches with a brass, pink and orange colour theme

Charming: They kept some of the original furnishings, including red cupboards and checked upholstery

Jess and Norm transformed their ramshackle caravan by making a bed from scratch and adding vintage touches with a brass, pink and orange colour theme.

They kept some of the original furnishings, including red cupboards and checked upholstery.

Pilot and flight attendant couple Hans Baumgartner, 37, and Courtney Brown, 33, also transformed their dull and lifeless caravan with a sixties-inspired aviation theme.

Unique: Pilot and flight attendant couple Hans Baumgartner, 37, and Courtney Brown, 33, renovated their caravan with an aviation theme

Before: The couple transformed their dull and lifeless caravan with sixties-inspired decor

After: They were initially unsure about their theme, but eventually made peace with their choice

Neat: The couple completely revamped their space using fresh paint, unique lighting fixtures, plants and new furniture

The couple completely revamped their space using fresh paint, unique lighting fixtures, plants and new furniture.

Guest judge Michael said their original interior before the renovation was 'the worst one' of the lot.

Meanwhile, former professional netballers Bianca Chatfield and Carla Dziwoki, both 35, impressed the judges with their 'glampa-van'.

Feminine: Former professional netballers Bianca Chatfield and Carla Dziwoki, both 35, decorated using a lot of pink

Before: Meanwhile Bianca and Carla impressed the judges with their 'glampa-van'

After: They decorated their exterior with bright colours and flamingos

Tickled pink: They transformed their dusty and worn-out caravan using modern wall lights, brightly-coloured paint and furniture with gold accents

They transformed their dusty and worn-out caravan using modern wall lights, brightly-coloured paint and furniture with gold accents.

Husband-and-wife team Kerrie Charter, 48, and Spence Thomson, 46, dubbed their pre-renovation selections 'The Gatwick on wheels'.

They revamped their dilapidated vehicle into a 'psychedelic creation' by adding a retro turntable, bright colour palette and modern fixtures.

The Block continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine

Retro: Husband-and-wife team Kerrie Charter, 48, and Spence Thomson, 46, used a retro theme

Before: The couple dubbed their pre-renovation selections 'The Gatwick on wheels'

After: The exterior was decorated with various colours and hippie symbolsNoel Gallagher has reportedly axed any plans for an Oasis reunion after younger brother Liam 'grabbed' his girlfriend by the throat.

The rocker, 51, allegedly feels 'disgusted' after seeing footage of Liam, 45, appearing to put his hands on Debbie Gwyther, 36, during a blazing row at Chiltern Firehouse.

Noel, who quit Oasis in August 2009, is 'stunned' at his brother's behaviour and believes it has ruined any chances of the band reconciling, sources claimed.

Claims: Noel Gallagher has reportedly ditched any plans for an Oasis reunion after his brother Liam 'grabbed' his girlfriend Debbie Gwyther (pictured together) around the throat

'Noel has now said there's no chance of a reunion happening now. He doesn't want to take to the stage with Liam after what he's done,' a source told The Sun.

The insider added: 'He is stunned that after all the lads went through as kids that he could strike a woman like that. He's disgusted.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Noel and Liam for comment.

Noel and Liam's alcoholic father Tommy abused their mother Peggy for years until she divorced him in 1986.

Noel developed a stammer as a result of the abuse and Liam has been open about having to step in to stop Tommy from beating their mother.

Row: Noel (pictured), 51, is allegedly 'disgusted' after seeing footage of Liam, 45, appearing to put his hands on Debbie Gwyther, 36, during a blazing row at Chiltern Firehouse

Allegations: ,Noel, who quit Oasis in August 2009, is 'stunned' at his brother's behaviour and believes it has ruined any chances of the band reconciling (pictured, Noel with Debbie)

Liam and Debbie both denied that he put his hands on her before video footage of the argument was posted online last week by The Sun.

Liam, 45, called Debbie a 'f**ing witch' during a row that left her in tears after he 'shoved her back' at the the trendy London club on August 8, a reveller earlier claimed.

Before the footage was released, the Mancunian said: 'Firstly I have never put my hands on any woman in a vicious manner. Secondly, there is only 1 witch and we all know who that is.. as you were LG x'.

But in footage released to the Sun, Liam seems to push Debbie, who has worked for him since 2013. He then appears to grab her by the throat.

Rumour has it: 'Noel has now said there's no chance of a reunion happening now. He doesn't want to take to the stage with Liam after what he's done,' a source told The Sun

The footage shows Debbie stumbling into the corridor of the nightclub, and putting her arms out to stop her boyfriend, who is holding an almost empty beer bottle, from passing.

Liam appears to push Debbie through the doorway and she stumbles backwards. He then walks past her before suddenly turning around and appears to put his hands to her throat.

Debbie's head goes backwards and Liam releases her after a few seconds, appearing to say something to her.

Debbie briefly drops her head and retreats as Liam walks away out of view of the camera.

Since the footage has emerged, Liam has not commented on the matter. He was seen performing in Paris on Saturday night.

Denial: Liam and Debbie both denied that he put his hands on her before video footage of the argument was posted online last week by The Sun

But before the footage emerged, Debbie took to Instagram and said: 'The Sun have surpassed themselves yet again. Shame on them and on all who have asked for Liam's comment rather than mine.

'Caring individuals all of them I'm sure. Pack of lies as per usual...'Former personal assistant' being amongst the offensive.

'They've taken a couple of years off my age though....journalism at its best! Lazy, sexist nonsense...legal case impending. As We Were.'

She said before the photos and video were released: 'He's never laid a hand on me.

'Our relationship is stronger than ever. Liam has never laid a hand on me. It is completely ridiculous.'

Speaking out: Liam tweeted: 'I have never put my hands on any woman in a vicious manner' (pictured)He was noticeably absent from Channel Nine's Today show on Tuesday after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

But Karl Stefanovic, 44, made his triumphant return on Wednesday, looking decidedly spry as he co-hosted the show with fill-in presenter Deborah Knight.

'You are back on deck but not feeling 100 per cent,' Deborah told Karl at the start of the program, before clarifying that regular host Georgie Gardner had taken the next few days off to recover from a mystery illness.

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He's back! Karl Stefanovic, 44, (left) made his triumphant return to Today Wednesday, looking decidedly spry as he co-hosted the show with Georgie Gardner's fill-in, Deborah Knight (right)

The pair joked that Georgie had caught the inflammatory condition from Karl.

'Look, I wanted to spread that love!' the father-of-three joked, adding that pneumonia was spreading 'like the black lung' on set.

'It is very sharing and caring of you,' Deborah teased back.

'Look, I wanted to spread that love!' The pair joked that Georgie had caught the inflammatory condition from Karl, hence her absence due to illness

Did Karl pass it on? Georgie Gardner (pictured) was absent from the Today show on Wednesday as she battled her own sickness at home

On Tuesday, Karl took the day off work and was spotted in Sydney's Cremorne picking up prescription medicine from a chemist.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Karl underwent a chest X-ray, which led to his diagnosis.

Pneumonia is a lung infection caused by viruses, bacteria or microorganisms and in some cases it can be deadly.

Roughing it in the cold: Karl has spent the last few weeks travelling around Australia for work, while covering the drought crisis and the Liberal leadership spill in Canberra

It is often treated with antibiotics and prevention includes vaccinations.

Karl has spent the last few weeks travelling around Australia for work, while covering the drought crisis and the Liberal leadership spill in Canberra.

Last week, he flew to the nation's capital, where temperatures continue to drop below one degrees.

He looked visibly cold during a live cross from outside Parliament House while interviewing outgoing Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Days earlier, he was in regional New South Wales raising money for drought-stricken farmers through the Today show's Farm Aid Telethon, in the Dubbo Showground.She's playing a lesbian teenager whose guardians place her into gay conversion therapy in her new film The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

And after a hectic schedule promoting the indie drama, Chloe Grace Moretz enjoyed a relaxed dinner at Scott's in Mayfair, London on Tuesday.

The actress, 21, looked chic as she wore an all-black ensemble which she paired with a sky blue overcoat.

Stunning: Chloe Grace Moretz looked stylish in a sky blue overcoat and all-black outfit as she enjoyed dinner at Scott's in London on Tuesday

Slipping her trim legs into a pair of frayed black jeans, she offset her dark ensemble with a pair of pointed white heels.

Chloe styled her golden tresses into a sleek, straight style, parted down the middle, and she relied on her natural beauty by wearing light touches of make-up.

The Carrie star added a glittering touch to her ensemble by accessorising with an array of gold pendants which matched her bracelet.

Looking good: Slipping her trim legs into a pair of frayed black jeans, she offset her dark ensemble with a pair of pointed white heels

Accessorise: The Carrie star added a glittering touch to her ensemble by accessorising with an array of gold pendants which matched her bracelet

New role: Chloe is set to play a lesbian teenager whose guardians place her into gay conversion therapy in her new film The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Chloe, who is one of five children and has two gay brothers, recently opened up about her new movie role, as well as her close bond with her elder siblings Colin and Trevor.

Talking to Gay Times, the actress, revealed: 'The healthiest relationship that I've ever seen and grew up with was not that of my parents, it was that of my brother and his boyfriend who have been together  still to this day  for 11 years.

'That has been my most healthy parental relationship that I've ever seen. It gave me faith and hope that you can find someone to be with for a long period of time who you truly love.

'But for me, it's interesting that it wasn't your typical nuclear family unit  it's my gay brother and his boyfriend.'

Family ties: Chloe, who is one of five children and has two gay brothers, recently opened up about her close bond with her elder siblings Colin and Trevor

Love: Talking to Gay Times the actress, revealed: 'The healthiest relationship that I've ever seen and grew up with was not that of my parents, it was that of my brother and his boyfriend'

Romantic date: Also stepping out for dinner in the trendy restaurant was Trinny Woodall and her beau Charles Saatchi, who regularly dine out at Scott's

Stylish: The What Not To Wear star looked stylish in a shimmering floor-length dress, which she paired with a white blazer

Also stepping out for dinner in the trendy restaurant was Trinny Woodall and her beau Charles Saatchi, who regularly dine out at Scott's.

The What Not To Wear star looked stylish in a shimmering floor-length dress, which she paired with a white blazer.

Brushing on a glamorous palette of make-up, including a slick of bold red lipstick, she styled her brunette tresses into loose waves.

Charles, meanwhile, looked dapper in a navy blue suit, which he donned over a white button-up shirt and paired with black shoes.

Trinny - who has daughter Lyla from her marriage to musician Johnny Elichaoff - began dating Charles in 2013, following his divorce from wife of ten years Nigella Lawson.

Suited and booted: Charles, meanwhile, looked dapper in a navy blue suit, which he donned over a white button-up shirt and paired with black shoes

Pretty: Brushing on a glamorous palette of make-up, including a slick of bold red lipstick, she styled her brunette tresses into loose wavesPia Miller, 34, has shared her own #MeToo experience.

The former Home and Away star, who started modelling at age 14, recalled being involved in 'inappropriate' photo shoots as a teenager - however she didn't realise what was happening at the time.

'Thinking about it now, there were some moments that I can go, "That's kind of questionable" but at the time, I was so young that things went over my head,' she told 9Style on Tuesday.

'I was so young that things went over my head': Former Home and Away star Pia Miller has shared her own #MeToo experience after 'inappropriate' photo shoots when she was a teen

She added: 'I did have my mum and my managers and stuff there always having my back so I was never in any danger and I never felt threatened or anything like that.

'Themes of photo shoots and such, looking back now, they were so inappropriate for a teen child. Provocative or sexualised, any air of that I think is really inappropriate.'

Years after her teenage modelling career ended, Pia is now a mother-of-two and one of Australia's most famous TV actresses.

Confronting: Pia told 9Style on Tuesday, 'Themes of photo shoots and such, looking back now, they were so inappropriate for a teen child. Provocative or sexualised, any air of that I think is really inappropriate'

Cover girl: Pia launched her modelling career in 1998, when she was just 14, after winning the Dolly magazine model search competition. Pictured here on the cover of Dolly

She has two sons: Lennox, 11, who she shares with ex-husband Brad Miller, and 15-year-old Isaiah, from another previous relationship.

She is engaged to film producer and macadamia milk entrepreneur Tyson Mullane.

The couple went public with their romance in February 2016, after they were seen holding hands on a Sydney beach.

Content: Pia is engaged to film producer and macadamia milk entrepreneur Tyson Mullane

Pia launched her modelling career in 1998, when she was just 14, after winning the Dolly Magazine model search competition.

She has since featured in campaigns for the likes of Qantas, Maybelline and Myer.

Before her departure earlier this year, she played police officer Katarina 'Kat' Chapman on Home and Away.She became a household name because of her flair for fashion.

And Trinny Woodall proved her sartorial prowess once again, when she stepped out for a romantic dinner date with her beau Charles Saatchi, 75.

The What Not To Wear star, 54, looked stylish in a shimmering silver floor-length dress, which she paired with a white blazer.

Stunning: Trinny Woodall dazzled in a silver dress as she enjoyed romantic dinner date with Charles Saatchi at Scott's

Brushing on a glamorous palette of make-up, including a slick of bold red lipstick, she styled her brunette tresses into loose waves.

Trinny matched her chic outerwear with a pair of white lace-up trainers, and kept her accessories to a minimum so she didn't distract from her glittering ensemble.

The fashionista regularly goes out with Charles to the upscale London restaurant, as the pair are often spotted enjoying a delicious meal there together.

Pretty: Brushing on a glamorous palette of make-up, including a slick of bold red lipstick, she styled her brunette tresses into loose waves

Finishing touches: Trinny matched her chic outerwear with a pair of white lace-up trainers, and kept her accessories to a minimum so she didn't distract from her glittering ensemble

Charles, meanwhile, looked dapper in a navy blue suit, which he donned over a white button-up shirt and paired with black shoes.

Trinny began dating Charles in 2013, following his divorce from wife of ten years Nigella Lawson.

Despite making her name as a fashion expert and stylist, Trinny has more recently turned her attention to the beauty world.

She has gained a 369,000 strong Instagram following, and gives followers tips on how to dress to impress.

Romantic date: The fashionista regularly goes out with Charles to the upscale London restaurant, as the pair are often spotted enjoying a delicious meal there together

Suited and booted: Charles, meanwhile, looked dapper in a navy blue suit, which he donned over a white button-up shirt and paired with black shoes

Helping hand: Speaking about her relationship with Charles with the Mail On Sunday: I worry about being a single mother, but I get good counsel from Charles'

In an interview with The Mail On Sunday, The Body Shape Bible author opened up about her difficulties with motherhood following the death of her ex husband Johnny Elichaoff in 2014.

Trinny, who is a mother to Lyla, 14, and stepmother to her ex Johnny Elichaoff's son Zak, said: I worry about being a single mother, but I get good counsel from Charles.

'He has a fabulous daughter Phoebe, who is incredibly gracious and smart. Hes got a great child because he brought her up well.

Family man: 'He has a fabulous daughter Phoebe, who is incredibly gracious and smart. Hes got a great child because he brought her up wellCharlie Hunnam is currently in Massachusetts where he's filming his new movie on location.

And on Tuesday, the Sons Of Anarchy star was spotted arriving for work at the crew HQ in Taunton, in Bristol County.

The 38-year-old actor wore an Adidas navy and red tracksuit top with black jeans and had a flat cap pulled down over his hair.

Keeping it casual: Charlie Hunnam, 38, arrived for work on the Massachusetts location set of his new film jungleland on Tuesday wearing an Adidas tracksuit jacket and flat cap

Hunnam is currently filming Jungleland with Jack O'Connell and Jessica Barden.

According to the Taunton Gazette, dozens of fans came out to catch a glimpse of him as he shot exterior scenes at Joe's Diner on the town's Broadway.

'I want to squeeze his face,' local resident Donna Blackburn, 37, told the newspaper.

Hit with the locals: The Sons Of Anarchy star was also spotted grabbing some food during a break in the action in the town of Taunton, where residents came out to catch a glimpse of him

During the day, Hunnam was also spotted enjoying some food during a break in the action.

He'd changed into navy sweatpants with white vertical stripes and a leather jacket and was without his cap.

In the film, he plays the brother of a bareknuckle boxer (O'Connell) who gambles on his brother's bouts and ends up in debt.

The brothers set off cross-country trip searching for one final bout that they hope will save them.

In character: Jack O'connell, who plays Hunnam's brother in the movie, was also on set, made-up to look battered and bruised in his role as a bareknuckle boxer

O'Connell was also seen on set made-up to look battered and bruised.

Like his co-star, the actor, 28, sported a full beard and he also had a rat's tail ponytail emerging from the back of his short hair.

It's certainly easy to see why the two british stars were cast as brothers.

Filming, too, was British actress Barden, 26, who sported a pair of very large glitzy sunglasses and chunky hoop earrings.

She was dressed in a candy floss pink hoodie and sported matching color on her finger nails.

Jungleland is being directed by Henry Winkler's son Max Winkler, 35, and does not yet have a release date.Last year ELLE magazine claimed Pia Miller and her team were difficult to work with after the actress declined to have her sons Isaiah, 13, and Lennox, 10, appear in a photoshoot for the magazine with her.

And actress Pia Miller, 34, has once again defended her decision, saying she will unapologetically wear 'the diva badge' when it comes to protecting her children.

'When it comes to my children and what I will and what I won't do with them... if I'm strong and I'm stern in that and if that makes me difficult than I will wear that (badge),' she told Nine Honey.

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'I'm not going to apologise!' Former Home And Away star Pia Miller says she'll happily 'wear the diva badge' after ELLE magazine claimed she was 'difficult to work with'

'And if I want to have some zealous level of control over my own life then hey I will and I'm not going to apologise for that,' she added

'So if that's going to come with the difficult or the diva badge then hey I'll wear it.'

At the time of her shoot with ELLE, the magazine promoted Pia on the cover, with the headline: 'That smile, that skin... Is Pia Miller Australia's most beautiful woman?'

But the inside feature was less complimentary, as the magazine suggested Pia had made unexpected demands on set and displayed 'a zealous level of control'.

Protective: Last year ELLE magazine branded her 'difficult to work with' after she declined to have her sons Isaiah, 13, and Lennox, 10, appear in a photoshoot with her for the magazine

'The shoot concept and this accompanying interview were more difficult to agree on than most international cover stars in this magazine's history,' the article stated.

'From the earliest planning stages, she displayed a zealous level of control  one that extends across her career and the way she's publicly perceived.'

'Her fierce protectiveness of her privacy and her family goes some way towards explaining why it was never a sure thing that Miller would appear in these pages,' the ELLE journalist wrote.

According to the magazine, Pia arrived at her interview with the fashion publication with two assistants who sat 'patiently at a table nearby'.

Pia first addressed her ELLE feature via Instagram, thanking the photographer, make-up artist and stylists for their 'perfectly executed craft'.

But she also appeared to criticise the editorial team, adding: 'Warning! This article may encourage other women to be "incredibly strong-minded", "real", "fiercely protective" (of their children and privacy) and exhibit a "zealous level of control" of "the way (theyre) publicly perceived".

'Here's to my fellow women, Never apologise for standing your ground and portraying your true self,' she concluded.

Meanwhile, Pia recently addressed rumours she was a 'diva' during her three year stint on Channel Seven soap Home And Away during an interview on the Today show.

'When it comes to my children and what I will and what I won't do with them... if I'm strong and I'm stern in that and that makes me difficult than I will wear that (badge),' she told Nine Honey

'The thing is "diva" in Spanish has a different connotation to it. It has a positive connotation...Diva. So when (my mother) read it she was like "big deal, they call you a diva, great!"' she explained.

'It's just non apologetic I think. Non-apologetically you,' she added.

Last year, Woman's Day reported that Pia 'carried on like she's a five-time Oscar winner' on the set of the long-running soap.

'People don't like Pia,' a source told the publication at the time, adding she has a tendency to indulge in her own stunning model looks and 'throws it in their faces any chance she gets.'

The insider added: 'She has one of the smallest acting portfolios on the show, but carries on like she's a five-time Oscar winner.'

Pia, who is engaged to MacaMilk founder Tyson Mullane, is currently starring in the Nine Network's new crime thriller series Bite Club opposite Todd Lasance, Deborah Mailman and Lord Of The Rings star Dominic Monaghan.They're stars in the fast-paced world of modelling.

But super stars Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber took a day off from the catwalk for a different kind of adventure on Tuesday.

The ladies spent an afternoon together dune bugging at the sand dunes in Pismo Beach, California alongside Kaia's parents, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber.

Life in the fast lane! Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber took a day off from the catwalk for a different kind of adventure on Tuesday.

Kendall, 22, as usual was posing up a storm in an array of snaps she posted to her account Tuesday.

Wearing a sporty crop top and jeans, Kendall struck a series of dramatic poses on the dune buggy while wearing her helmet.

Kaia, 16, wore a leather jacket, jean shorts, and ankle boots, while her mom sported a Casamigos top.

Cindy posted a photo of her and Rande sitting atop their dune buggy, staying protected with their helmets.

Ready for fun in the sun: Kaia wore a leather jacket, jean shorts, and ankle boots, while her mom sported a Casamigos top

Strike a pose! Jenner posed artfully upon the dune buggy

'Sand storm,' she captioned the snap.

It all comes amid another busy point in Kendall's career, as the model has just unveiled another PacSun fashion line with her sister Kylie Jenner.

The ladies first started their PacSun line back in 2013, and in an interview with Glamour, opened up about collaborating on the collection as sisters.

Start your engines! Gerber held up phone and showed off her parents, who sat in the backseat

Day off: It all comes amid another busy point in Kendall's career, as the model has just unveiled another PacSun fashion line with her sister Kylie Jenner

Ride or die: Cindy posted a photo of her and husband Rande sitting atop their dune buggy, staying protected with their helmets

'Kendall and I do just about everything with each other, but as we've grown up, our interests are changing,' said a then 17-year-old Kylie.

'It's really nice to be able to spend time on something we love and work together so closely on this since we can't always be together,' she continued.

Kendall added: 'We're sisters, so we're always going to butt heads a bit, but at the end of the day, we respect each other's opinions.'

'We've worked together on the collection from start to finish, so there's a little of Kylie and a little of me in every piece.'

Casual: Meanwhile, Corey Gamble was seen heading out in style in Beverly Hills on Tuesday

Low-key: The other half of Kris Jenner cut a casual figure in a peach coloured top and roll-up black jeansIt was recently confirmed that he will be reprising his role as Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky in the upcoming Top Gun sequel.

And recently Val Kilmer was seen spending some quality time with his daughter Mercedes, grabbing some food at a Zankou chicken store in Los Angeles.

The 58-year-old looked especially healthy given he'd recently undergone treatment for throat cancer.

He's back! Val Kilmer was seen spending some quality time with his daughter Mercedes, grabbing some food at a Zankou chicken store in Los Angeles

The veteran actor, who wore a pink shirt and gray shorts, was all smiles during the summer outing. On his feet, Val wore gray slippers and sported a FitBit on his wrist.

The star of The Island Of Dr Moreau showed off his impressive full head of blonde, short-cropped hair as he and his daughter left the restaurant with take out.

Mercedes, 26, is Kilmer's daughter with actress Joanne Whalley.

The pair, who were married from 1988-1996, also have a son, Jack Kilmer, 23.

Happy: The 58-year-old looked especially healthy given he'd recently undergone treatment for throat cancer

Acting royalty: Mercedes, 26, is Kilmer's daughter with actress Joanne Whalley

Good hair: The star of The Island Of Dr Moreau showed off his impressive full head of blonde, short-cropped hair as he and his daughter left the restaurant with take out

The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang actor will be joining Tom Cruise, 56, who recently gave Extra a quick update on his co-star during the Paris premiere of his new movie Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

'Hes doing really well,' he told the outlet, before also commenting that it was 'special' getting to work with Val again.

Back in 2015, Val 'jumped the topgun,' when he revealed on Facebook that he was offered a role in Top Gun: Maverick.

Winners are grinners: The veteran actor, who wore a pink shirt and gray shorts, was all smiles during the summer outing

Well-heeled: On his feet, Val wore gray slippers and sported a FitBit on his wrist

'Offered #topgun2  not often you get to say 'yes' without reading the script' he said.

He then added: 'This is a long way off so calm down. This has been talked about for a long long time and being offered a role is very different from doing a role.

'I jumped the gun with my post. I jumped the topgunan innocent mistake. It was just such a wonderful phone call with my agent.'

The sequel, titled Top Gun: Maverick, is currently filming for a 2019 release.

More recently, Kilmer overcame a two-year battle with throat cancer, with procedures on his trachea reducing his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath.

Whoops: Back in 2015, Val 'jumped the topgun,' when he revealed on Facebook that he was offered a role in Top Gun: MaverickAs one of Australia's most in-demand models, Fiona Falkiner is no stranger to flaunting her curves in skintight outfits.

And the 35-year-old bombshell didn't disappoint when she posed up a storm during a photo shoot for activewear brand Active Truth at Bondi Beach on Tuesday.

Braving Sydney's chilly climes, Fiona confidently posed in a series of midriff-baring ensembles while a cacophony of waves crashed behind her.

Dangerous curves ahead! Fiona Falkiner, 35, posed up a storm on the set of a shoot for activewear brand Active Truth at Bondi Beach on Tuesday

For one shot, the bronzed glamazon was seen modelling a black crop top, matching high-waisted leggings and a pair of pink trainers.

With her flaxen mane tumbling down one shoulder, Fiona commanded attention by standing with her feet astride and hands on her hips.

The former Biggest Loser host also slipped into a teal, camouflage-print crop top and matching high-waisted leggings.

Va va voom! Braving Sydney's chilly climes, Fiona confidently posed in a series of midriff-baring ensembles while a cacophony of waves crashed behind her

Wearing her hair up in a sassy ponytail, Fiona completed her look with a pair of teal-hued sneakers.

It comes days after the beauty spoke to The Daily Telegraph about the changing landscape of Australia's modelling industry, telling the publication that curvier girls are more in demand than ever.

'I have been in this industry for eight or nine years now and the opportunities for curvier girls to get out there and represent brands is incredible and has changed so much,' she stated.

A treat in teal! The former Biggest Loser host slipped into a teal, camouflage-print crop top and matching high-waisted leggings

'It is really exciting. Brands are finally realising they need to cater for everyone and they are getting on board with catering to all different types of people and different bodies,' she added.

Last year, Fiona spoke candidly about her attitude towards the label 'plus-size', insisting that she isn't perturbed by the term.

'Personally as an industry term, plus-size doesnt bother me at all,' she told Body And Soul, adding: 'As an industry term its a classification. The problems arise when its brought into everyday life and people say Im plus-sized.'Every year, thousands of Australians audition to appear on shows like Married At First Sight, The Bachelor and My Kitchen Rules.

But what makes the lucky few that end up on television more 'appealing' to producers than others?

A former applicant told Mamamia on Tuesday that a casting agent gave her an important piece of advice before her group audition.

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How to get cast on reality TV: The secret techniques that impress producers and how to stand out from the crowd during group auditions. Pictured: The Bachelor 2018 star Cassandra Wood

The wannabe contestant, who was applying for Australian Survivor, claimed they were told: 'Be yourself on steroids'.

Several other people spoke to the publication about their experience with the lengthy reality TV audition process.

They warned that group interviews were typically the most 'daunting' step and could become a 'bit intense'.

'Be yourself on steroids': A former applicant told Mamamia on Tuesday that a casting agent gave her an important piece of advice before her audition. Pictured: Australian Survivor cast

According to those with first-hand experience, there are common themes in reality TV auditions regardless of what the show is.

Would-be contestants are often asked provocative questions, encouraged to share controversial viewpoints and find themselves surrounded by Type-A personalities.

A rejected Big Brother applicant claimed his audition was 'a bit intense' as everyone else was competing with each other to stand out.

'Always be interesting in the first minute': It comes after TV producer Marion 'Maz' Farrelly (pictured) told Tim Dormer's Popcast last week that applicants need to make a good impression within 60 seconds or risk being dismissed

'They made you line up in order of who is most likely to commit a crime, then theyd ask why you chose your spot,' he said of one of the tasks.

A chef who applied for MasterChef Professionals in 2013 also claimed: 'I remember it being a pretty daunting interview... I do recall feeling a little violated - kind of pushed and prodded around my mental and emotional side.'

It comes after TV producer Marion 'Maz' Farrelly told Tim Dormer's Popcast last week that applicants need to make a good impression within 60 seconds or risk being dismissed.

'Always be interesting in the first minute,' she said.

Fame-seekers: Every year, thousands of Australians audition to appear on shows like Married At First Sight, The Bachelor and My Kitchen Rules. Pictured: The Bachelor's Cat Henesy

During her chat with the former Big Brother 2013 winner, she also revealed the 'talk of doom' she delivers to potential contestants seeking their 15 minutes of fame.

'I'll say to people: "You will be too famous to go back to your job, but you won't be famous enough to be famous. You're probably not going to work for two years",' Maz explained.

She also claimed that being 'loved' by the public is 'very rare' for reality TV stars and they are more likely to walk away with a reputation as 'that idiot from the telly'.Filming has officially commenced for the highly-anticipated The Hills reboot.

And in the very first sequence to be shot for the revival, Audrina Patridge and Stephanie Pratt were seen out and about in LA in one of the show's famous 'bump ins'.

The two blondes greeted each other and air kissed as cameras rolled in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.

They're back: Audrina Patridge and Stephanie Pratt greeted each other with an air kiss as their 'chance' encounter in Beverly Hills was filmed for The Hills reboot on Tuesday

Patridge, 33, was dressed in a white tee and ripped black denims that she paired with towering shiny gold heels.

Her long highlighted locks were loose and she accessorized with large hoop earrings.

She wore a gold bangle on one arm and carried a small black purse on a gold shoulder chain.

The show staged her 'chance' encounter with Pratt in the upscale neighborhood, with the pair seeming to do several takes.

Keeping it real: : Patridge was dressed in a white tee and ripped black denims that she paired with shiny gold heels as she returned to the show that originally aired from 2006 to 2010

Like riding a bike: The two blondes appeared relaxed and at ease as they shot scenes

Simpatico: Pratt, 32, like Patridge, 38, opted for distressed jeans and sandal heels and added a sleeveless brown top

California girls: They each wore their long hair loose

Pratt, whose brother Spencer Pratt is also returning to the reality show, also wore distressed jeans like Patridge.

The 32-year-old paired her blue denims with a sleeveless brown top that flashed cleavage thanks to its plunging neckline.

She also left her long hair loose and carried a brown leather purse on a gold shoulder chain.

The Hills: New Beginnings was announced during the MTV Video Music Awards on August 20.

In addition to Patridge and the Pratts, cast members also returning include Heidi Montag, Whitney Port, Frankie Delgado, Jason Wahler and Justin 'Justin-Bobby' Brescia.

Looking good: Pratt flashed cleavage thanks to the plunging neckline of her knit top and she carried a large brown purse on a gold shoulder chain

Rebooted: The Hills: New Beginnings was announced during the MTV Video Music Awards on August 20The Block's Sara and Hayden Vale have failed to impress the judges for the past three room challenges.

And it seems like the pressure of completing their master bedroom has taken its toll on the usually feisty Sara, 31, who broke down in tears on Wednesday's episode.

During a shopping trip to a Melbourne furniture store, she reflected on the harsh comments made judges Neale Whitaker, Shaynna Blaze and John McGrath over the past few weeks.

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'I feel like I'm just being made a mockery of': The Block's Sara Vale breaks down in tears over the 'insulting' critiques by the judges on her rooms

'Can't concentrate, I'm stressed out, I feel like I'm just being made a mockery of,' she said, wiping her tears.

Clearly still taking their comments to heart, she said: 'Some of the comments were constructive, but a lot of them were actually insulting.'

The brunette fought back tears as she admitted that she was 'struggling' to continue on the show.

Taking it's toll: During a shopping trip to a Melbourne furniture store, she reflected on the harsh comments made judges Neale Whitaker, Shaynna Blaze and John McGrath (pictured from L to R) over the past few weeks

'I know I've got to snap out of it but I'm struggling. I am struggling to snap out of it,' Sara added.

The Block judges were not blown away with Sara and Hayden's extravagant bathroom that featured a brass bathtub, when it was revealed last week.

Interior designer Shaynna in particular was not pleased saying: 'It just looks ugly. I feel refined.'

The Block viewers lashed out at the judges of the reality renovation program after they gave Sara and Hayden low scores for their bathroom renovation on Sunday's episode.

'It just looks ugly': The Block judges were not blown away with Sarah and Hayden's extravagant bathroom that featured a brass bathtub, when it was revealed last week

Many upset viewers took to Twitter to complain that the pair were being 'unfairly judged'.

'The judges need to start being fair,' one person wrote.

Meanwhile, one viewer tweeted: 'I feel a bit for Sara. Tough feedback and scores to receive. No one likes negative feedback indirectly from judges who give more negative feedback than areas to improve. Yes, it's a competition but sometimes the human element shouldn't be brushed aside.'

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Honestly, Sara and Hayden's bathroom was the only one that stood out, the rest could have all been cut from the same boring cloth (or tile, whatever).'

The Block continues on Sunday 7pm, on Channel NineHer saucy antics on Big Brother 2013 made her a household name.

And Tully Smyth is looking hotter than ever, as she resumes training at her local F45 gym in South Yarra, Melbourne.

The 30-year-old flaunted her toned figure in black Calvin Klein underwear, in an snap shared to Instagram on Wednesday.

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Working it! Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth revealed her incredible physique on Wednesday as she resumes F45 training

Tully looked fit and fabulous as she showed off her taut abs and lean limbs in a matching bra and knickers set.

In the caption, the social media influencer revealed she was back to working out regularly at the gym after a hiatus.

She wrote: 'After a little hiatus, I'm back training at @f45_training_southyarra.

Back in the saddle: The social media influencer, 30, is back to working out regularly at her F45 gym in South Yarra, Melbourne after a hiatus

'To be totally honest, training has never been about my appearance. It's always been more about my mental state.

'Exercise has been a life-saver when it comes to my mindset: waking up and starting my day with a sweat session [gets] endorphins pumping and always puts me in a positive mindset.

'It sets the tone for the rest of the day and even helps with my insomnia at night. Win-win if you ask me.'

'Training has never been about my appearance. It's always been more about my mental state': Tully told her Instagram followers that exercise has mental as well as physical benefits

It comes after Tully claimed earlier this month that she had been taking a break from social media due to anxiety issues.

WHAT IS F45? F45, short for Functional 45, was born in Australia and combines elements of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Circuit Training and Functional Training. There are 27 different 45-minute workout experiences. According to the F45 website, the combination of interval, cardiovascular and strength training 'has been proven to be the most effective workout method for burning fat and building lean muscle'. Advertisement

'A few days ago I decided to take a breather from social media. Ive found that when Im feeling especially down or anxious, platforms such as Instagram sometimes only make me feel worse,' she posted on August 7.

'As somebody who has struggled with anxiety since I was a little girl, I can empathise with the daily, mental tug-o-war and stigma that can be attached to mental health issues.'

Tully added that her anxiety sometimes causes insomnia, and on other occasions she even finds 'it hard to get out of bed.'

If you, or someone you know, needs support please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.auShe recently relocated from Brisbane to Sydney, fuelling speculation that she wins The Bachelor.

And Sophie Tieman, 25, attended what looked like a business meeting in North Sydney last month, ahead of the show's premiere.

The commercial property valuer looked professional in corporate attire as she met with three suit-clad businessmen.

Is this proof that she wins? The Bachelor's Sophie Tieman attended a business meeting last month after relocating from Brisbane to Sydney, where Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins lives

She wore navy capri pants, a blouse, scarf, grey coat and white shoes while wheeling a small suitcase.

Her blonde locks were swept up in a neat ponytail and she wore minimal makeup.

Earlier this month, Sophie confirmed to Woman's Day that she had moved to Sydney, where the Bachelor Nick Cummins lives.

Businesswoman: The commercial property valuer looked professional in corporate attire as she met with three suit-clad businessmen

Getting acquainted: She was seen shaking hands while having a brief discussion

Productive day: The meeting appeared to go well, as Sophie smiled upon leaving the building

Is she 'The One?' Earlier this month, Sophie confirmed to Woman's Day that she had moved to Sydney, where the Bachelor Nick Cummins (left) lives. Pictured on the show

'Look property is bigger and better in Sydney, I specialise in property valuations so why wouldn't I be based in Sydney?' she said.

'I'm here with a best friend of mine that's also moved down.'

She also recently updated her Instagram bio to reflect that she currently resides in Sydney.

New city: The Brisbane native looked overwhelmed as she navigated her way around town

Directions: She was seen looking up directions as she pondered which train to take

The blonde is believed to make the show's final four alongside youth worker Brooke Blurton, Home and Away extra Cassandra Wood and radiographer Brittany Hockley.

As of Wednesday, Sportsbet listed the odds of Sophie winning at $3.75 and fellow contestant Brittany Hockley is the frontrunner at $1.45.

The Bachelor continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Network TenShe's the beloved Gogglebox Australia star known for her hilarious one-liners.

But Angie Kent has admitted that there's one thing she regrets saying on the show, admitting her words still haunt her to this day.

Speaking to Who magazine's Binge List podcast, Angie confessed she felt terrible after describing comedian Dave Hughes as 'one of the ugliest people she's ever seen' during an episode that aired in February.

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'I made a dreadful mistake that keeps being brought up': Gogglebox star Angie Kent (left) has revealed the one thing she regrets saying on the show. Pictured with her co-star Yvie Jones

'I made a dreadful mistake that keeps being brought up. I called someone something that I shouldn't have,' she said.

'And that upset me, but I apologise and I know never to use the word "ugly" again.'

Back in February, Angie was forced to issue a public apology after she made cruel remarks while watching Dave's new show Hughesy, We Have A Problem.

'I called someone something that I shouldn't have': Speaking to Who magazine's Binge List podcast, Angie confessed she felt terrible after describing comedian Dave Hughes (pictured) as 'one of the ugliest people she's ever seen' during an episode that aired in February

Controversy: Back in February, Angie (left) was forced to issue a public apology after she made cruel remarks while watching Dave's new show Hughesy, We Have A Problem

She wrote on Twitter: 'I feel terrible about calling Dave Hughes one of the ugliest people I've ever seen, he's funny as feck.

'Of course, out of all the footage, they pick the most awful thing I've said! Sorry Dave, I eat my words! It's never OK to call someone ugly I'm cross about that, Gogglebox'.

Dave himself addressed the insult on an episode of Hughesy, We Have A Problem.

Public apology: Angie wrote on Twitter, 'I feel terrible about calling Dave Hughes one of the ugliest people I've ever seen, he's funny as feck. Of course, out of all the footage, they pick the most awful thing I've said! Sorry Dave, I eat my words! It's never OK to call someone ugly'

'When I got told the Goggleboxers were going to critique my show I was pretty excited,' he told the studio audience.

'At one point I'm on TV, and [there's] two women in their lounge room eating nachos. One of them goes, "Dave Hughes, he's one of the ugliest guys I've ever seen". She's ever seen!

'I just thought, "How mean and judgmental can you be, you skanky moll?"'

Gogglebox airs on Thursday at 8:30pm on Network Ten, after The BachelorShe is one of the fastest ring stars in Hollywood.

And Amandla Stenberg showed just why she's a forced to be reckoned with as she stepped out at Variety's Annual Power Of Young Hollywood gala on Tuesday.

As well as putting on an incredibly daring style display, the 19-year-old actress was also among the three honorees at the glamorous bash.

Gorgeous: Amandla Stenberg was among the three honorees at Variety's Annual Power Of Young Hollywood gala on Tuesday

Gorgeouys: The annual event was put together by Variety as they honor three young stars every year including the 19-year-old star

No doubt all eyes were on her as she rocked a very sexy ensemble at the event in celeb favorite West Hollywood, California.

She donned a bright red two-piece dress which showed off her svelte torso that was held together by four straps.

Amandla teamed the racy look with a pair of matching red stilettos.

Showing her style: She donned a bright red two-piece dress which showed off her svelte torso that was held together by four straps

Stunner: Her brunette tresses were combed back and tucked behind her ear as she showed off her natural looks with complementary make-up

She accessorized with dangling earrings as she posed on the red carpet.

Her brunette tresses were combed back and tucked behind her ear as she showed off her natural looks with complementary make-up.

Amandla was joined by fellow honoree Shawn Mendes on stage as they hit the podium and addressed the crowed together.

Comedian Pete Davidson was also one of the three honorees but was not in attendance at the gala.

Happy together: Amandla was joined by fellow honoree Shawn Mendes on stage as they hit the podium and addressed the crowed together

Big night: They were presented the award by fellow actor Tyler Oakley

Dynamic duo: Comedian Pete Davidson was also one of the three honorees but was not in attendance at the gala

Tremendous trio: Shawn, Amandla, and Tyler posed for a snap together after the presentation

Shining stars: Amandla happily posed for snaps with fellow actress and award recipient Lili Reinhart

Plenty of Hollywood's brightest young stars were seen at the event including on-screen sisters Ariel Winter and Sarah Hyland.

Ariel, 20, stunned in an LBD featuring an off-the-shoulder design and a triangle cutout just under the chest.

She teamed the look with a pair of black stilettos and blinged out jewelry including ring and bracelet.

No sibling rivalry here: Plenty of Hollywood's brightest young stars were seen at the event including on-screen sisters Ariel Winter and Sarah Hyland

Her raven colored tresses were worn in an updo as she completed her make-up with a swipe of pink lip.

Sarah, 27, rocked a bit more color as she sported a gold top tucked into an orange midi dress with multi-colored stilettos.

Her brunette tresses were pulled back in an elegant ponytail as she let her natural looks show with complementary make-up.

Stunning: Ariel, 20, stunned in an LBD featuring an off-the-shoulder design and a triangle cutout just under the chest

Summer fresh: Sarah, 27, rocked a bit more color as she sported a gold top tucked into an orange midi dress with multi-colored stilettos

The two sisters looked vastly different from their Modern Family sibling characters Haley and Alex Dunphy.

The annual event was put together by Variety as they honor three young stars every year.

Along with the three honorees there was also a special Variety And H&M Conscious Award given to Riverdale's Lili Reinhart.She traded in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to star on Australia's new talent show Dance Boss.

But it hasn't been all work and no play for Sharni Vinson, who enjoyed a leisurely beach day at Queensland's Currimundi Lake with her dog Jagger on Wednesday.

Revealing her slender frame in a black bikini, the former Home And Away star, 35, shared a video of herself splashing in the waves while attempting to teach Jagger to swim.

Fun in the sun! Former Home and Away star Sharni Vinson, 35, enjoyed a beach day at Queensland's Currimundi Lake with her adorable dog Jagger on Wednesday

'Teaching @jaggerpoo some new #Tricks #Jump #Swim #Aquaplane #BeachDay #Winter #QLD #MeAndMyDog,' she wrote on Instagram.

The actress has been enjoying a return to the spotlight thanks to her new role as a judge on Channel Seven's Dance Boss, alongside Timomatic and Adam Garcia.

Speaking to TV Week earlier this month, Sharni revealed the reasons why she left America for Dance Boss, saying: 'Anything dance greatly appeals to me'.

Every dog has its day! 'Teaching @jaggerpoo some new #Tricks #Jump #Swim #Aquaplane #BeachDay #Winter #QLD #MeAndMyDog,' Sharni wrote on Instagram

New role: The actress has been enjoying a return to the spotlight thanks to her new role as a judge on Channel Seven's Dance Boss, alongside Timomatic, Adam Garcia and Dannii Minogue

She added: 'That I got to come back to Australia  and work with Dannii Minogue [the show's host]  was a triple whammy.

'It's also crazy for me, as I grew up listening to Dannii's music... and I saw Adam Garcia in Tap Dogs and then here I am sitting next to them - it's bizarre.'

Sharni rose to fame on Channel Seven soap Home and Away, appearing between 2004 and 2008.

Blame it on the boogie! Speaking to TV Week earlier this month, Sharni revealed the reasons why she left America for Dance Boss, saying: 'Anything dance greatly appeals to me'

She left Home And Away in 2008 after first debuting on the show when she was just 22 years old.

There have been whispers of a return to Summer Bay for a while, but Sharni has not confirmed any news yet.

She has also made appearances on popular US crime shows such as NCIS and CSI.She's is preparing to tie the knot later this year.

And Rhian Sugden certainly looked a vision of young love as she cosied up to fiance Oliver Mellor in her latest sexy Instagram snap on Tuesday, as she stripped down to a tiny red bikini for a typically saucy selfie.

Alongside her romantic shot, the glamour model - who announced her departure from topless modelling earlier this year - also posed in a bridal-inspired bra which risked showing off her assets due to the delicate lace material.

Red hot! Rhian Sugden certainly looked a vision of young love as she cosied up to fiance Oliver Mellor in her latest sexy Instagram snap on Tuesday, as she stripped down to a red bikini for a typically saucy selfie

Rhian was sure to flaunt her phenomenal figure as she posed with her handsome beau in the sexy snap - in which she was red hot in a crimson bikini.

The halterneck struggled to contain her famously ample cleavage in a shot which undoubtedly delighted her 272,000 Instagram followers.

Keen to impress once more, she then took to the site to post the bridal-inspired shot as she seemed to give a peek at what Oliver was to expect after their wedding.

The white bra did everything to enhance her cleavage, display her deep tan and also gave a glimpse of the rippling abs she's been working on for the wedding.

All white? Alongside her romantic shot, the glamour model - who announced her departure from topless modelling earlier this year - also posed in a bridal-inspired bra which risked showing off her assets due to the delicate lace material

Happy days: Rhian and former Coronation Street actor Oliver are due to tie the knot later this year, after he proposed at a sold-out Manchester theatre in 2014

Rhian and former Coronation Street actor Oliver are due to tie the knot later this year, after he proposed at a sold-out Manchester theatre in 2014.

Speaking at the time about the proposal, she told The Sun: 'I started blubbing like a baby. Hes definitely the one for me, even if he did get a ring the size of a hula hoop.'

Before she met Oliver, Rhian was involved in a scandal with Vernon Kay, with the starlet first coming to the forefront when she went public with several racy messages sent by the married TV presenter in 2010.

It was then revealed the pair had got back in touch in 2015, with Vernon sending hundreds of texts asking to 'reconnect' with the model.

Hot stuff: Speaking at the time about the proposal, she told The Sun: 'I started blubbing like a baby. Hes definitely the one for me, even if he did get a ring the size of a hula hoop'

After a break of six years, the busty blonde candidly and shockingly admitted that it felt like an 'old friendship coming back'.

The blonde beauty recently claimed however that she had been treated as 'the villain' in the light of the sexting scandal, while the radio host has had a career boost.

The 44-year-old was famously forced to make an apology to his wife Tess Daly on BBC Radio 1 following the sexting scandal.

Vernon went on to promise live on air that he would no longer contact Rhian or the four other women he had been caught messaging at the time.She became the talk of the town back in 2016 after she was brutally dumped by The Bachelor's Richie Strahan during the series' penultimate episode.

And two years on, Olena Khamula looked anything but heartbroken as she stepped out at a Vera Mode fashion event in Sydney on Wednesday.

Marking her return to the spotlight with a smile, the Ukranian-born beauty posed up a storm for onlookers in a checked two-piece ensemble with quirky striped edging.

Remember me? Former Bachelor reject Olena Khamula returned to the spotlight as she stepped out at a Vera Mode fashion event in Sydney on Wednesday

The brunette beauty swept her brunette tresses back into a bun at the nape of her neck, and accentuated her striking facial features with a dramatic makeup look.

Her outfit was complete with a simple white button-up shirt and black stiletto pumps.

Later, she was spotted spotted posing alongside fellow glamazons Fely Irvine and Casey Burgess, both of whom included a splash of blue denim in their outfits.

A bevvy of beauties! She was spotted spotted posing alongside fellow glamazons Fely Irvine (left) and Casey Burgess (right), both of whom included a splash of blue denim in their outfits

Daring to bare! Also attending the event was social media influencer Sammy Robinson, who put her taut torso on display in a black crop-top and low-rise cropped jeans

Also attending the event was social media influencer Sammy Robinson, who put her taut torso on display in a black crop-top and low-rise cropped jeans.

Blonde fashion blogger Elle Ferguson also looked effortlessly chic in her black cable-knit sweater and flirty polka-dot mini-skirt.

The sighting comes a day after Olena celebrated the birthday of her boyfriend Rodney Maroun, who she has been dating since October 2016.

Legging it! Blonde fashion blogger Elle Ferguson also looked effortlessly chic in her black cable-knit sweater and flirty polka-dot mini-skirt

'Surprise birthday party for this handsome man': The sighting comes a day after Olena celebrated the birthday of her boyfriend Rodney Maroun (right), who she has been dating since October 2016

She and her hunky beau commemorated the joyous occasion by cuddling up for a series of Instagram snaps shared to Olena's Instagram page on Tuesday.

'Surprise birthday party for this handsome man,' the fashion model cooed in the caption.

Olena placed third on season four of The Bachelor, behind runner-up Nikki Gogan and winner Alex Nation.She is one of the showbiz world's most versatile fashion chameleons.

And Lady Gaga was changing up her look once again on Tuesday evening as she took to the streets of Paris while sporting a punk-rock inspired ensemble complete with a checkered corset top and skirt by Ronny Kobo and a tough leather jacket.

The 32-year-old Bad Romance hitmaker, who emerged just hours after she posted controversial nude images on social media, added to her punk rock style with the addition of a slick of red lipstick and her white blonde tresses in a sleek chignon.

Stunner: Lady Gaga was changing up her look once again on Tuesday evening as she took to the streets of Paris while sporting a punk-rock inspired ensemble complete with a checkered corset top and skirt by Ronny Kobo and a tough leather jacket

Gaga, real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, wowed in her look on Tuesday - a follow up to her PVC trench coat which she sported earlier in the day.

Once again oozing body confidence, the blonde beauty displayed her cleavage through the plunging sweetheart neckline, sitting above the sculpted cups on the stunning ensemble - which also nipped in at her tiny waist.

Borrowing from the punk era of the Seventies, she paired the red and black checked top and skirt with a tough leather jacket and staggering heeled boots.

The songstress is known to rock stylish boots of this style with an eye-popping heel and front wedge to boost her famously diminutive, petite frame.

Punk rock: The 32-year-old Bad Romance hitmaker, who emerged just hours after she posted controversial nude images on social media, added to her punk rock style with the addition of a slick of red lipstick and her white blonde tresses in a sleek chignon

Wow! Once again oozing body confidence, the blonde beauty displayed her cleavage through the plunging sweetheart neckline which sat above the sculpted cups on the stunning ensemble which also nipped in at her tiny waist

Her ice blonde locks were styled into a chignon at the nape of her neck with the pulled-back style acting to exhibit her flawless bone structure and good looks.

Naturally, she combined her dramatic ensemble with a dramatic beauty regimen complete with a slick of red lipstick to highlight her shapely pout while she also opted for a high-fashion sculpted brow alongside a slick of liquid eyeliner.

Gaga had previously discussed the intricacies of her style, as she revealed she is always keen to put her own edge on whatever is expected of her.

A vision: Her ice blonde locks were styled into a chignon at the nape of her neck with the pulled back style acting to exhibit her flawless bone structure and good looks

Strutting her stuff: Gaga, real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, wowed in her look on Tuesday - a follow up to her PVC trench coat which she sported earlier in the day

She said in her documentary: 'What I've done is that when they wanted me to be sexy or they wanted me to be pop, I always f**king put some absurd spin on it that made me feel like I'm still in control'.

Atop her wild approach to style, she has also previously revealed how she keeps her figure in shape and how she is 'free-spirited'.

She said: 'I'm very free-spirited. Even when I was a kid, I used to run around naked with the babysitter, driving her crazy. I do yoga, I do Bikram and I run, and I eat really healthy. You know, my work sort of feeds me. I keep in shape by working hard."

Chic: On Monday, she kicked off her Paris trip with a chic ensemble which was similar to that of her American Horror Story character The CountessShe's a body confidence advocate who famously refuses to photoshop her images.

And Iskra Lawrence proudly flaunted her curves in a sizzling bikini snap as she shared an empowering message about self-belief and her experience in the modelling industry.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the 27-year-old plus size model looked happy, healthy and confident in a tiny two-piece as she posed in a tiny two-piece.

Inspiring: Iskra Lawrence proudly flaunted her curves in a sizzling bikini snap as she shared an empowering message about self-belief and her experiences modelling on Tuesday

Alongside the snap, she wrote: 'Im self made because even when I was dropped for being to curvy and also told I was too small to be a plus-size model I didnt take no for an answer then spent the last 14 years getting to where I am now - surviving my Eating Disorder and challenging the need to retouch, moving to NY on my own with some money Id saved up and creating the life I dreamt of on my own.

'Just because you get hundreds of nos or people who dont believe in you - never stop believing in yourself. Even if your family arent rich, connected or famous - doesnt mean you cant make it, you just have to hustle even harder.

'Even if people laugh in your face, if you believe you can do it, chase your dreams. The harder it is to get there the more rewarding it will be

'Use even the negative energy to fuel your drive and passion. Celebrate the small victories and learn lessons from your mistakes and failures.

Good values: Iskra (pictured with her mother) discussed being dropped from her modelling agency for being 'too cuvy' but then being told she was 'too small' to be a plus-size model

She continued: 'Self made doesnt have a single definition.... if youre a single parent working your a$ off at work and at home youre self made.

'If your starting your own business tryna get it off the ground youre self made. If you made it through high school or just starting a new course youre self made.

'Its time to not just celebrate what we are told or shown as success but celebrating ourselves and everyone around us. What makes YOU Self Made? I wanna know and I want us to inspire and uplift each other.'

See the difference? The empowering message comes after Iskra compared an unedited selfie (left) with one she had retouched (right) to show how easy it is to share fake perfection online

The empowering message, comes after Iskra shared a side-by-side example on Instagram of how her pictures change when she edits them using the app FaceTune as a warning to her followers about retouched images.

The model, who grew up in Worcestershire but is now based in the US, explained how 'subtle editing' can make other people believe someone looks a certain way naturally when that isn't always the truth.

'The 1st pic on the left is me. The REAL me. No editing, posted up the pic exactly how it was when I took it,' Iskra wrote next to the side-by-side images. Pic no. 2 on the right well this is the FaceTuned version of me... It only took me about two mins to edit myself [sic].'

She added: 'I wanted to keep the pic somewhat natural looking because this is whats all over the gram (subtle editing) and images youre consuming every single day everywhere you look,' she wrote.

'And without a side by side like this many people believe that this is how people look naturally.'

'So [you're] scrolling through daily thinking am I meant to look like this? ABSOLUTELY NOT. THE REAL YOU IS GOOD ENOUGH,' she wrote.He's rarely seen without new fiance Ariana Grande by his side.

But Pete Davidson stepped out solo on Tuesday to run some errands in New York City.

The 24-year-old Saturday Night Live star rocked a T-shirt bearing the logo of old school cigarette brand Kool.

Green with envy: Pete Davidson stepped out solo on Tuesday to run some errands in New York City

The Set It Up actor paired the signature garment with a pair of UNKNWN sweatpants in eye-popping green.

On his feet, the funnyman wore a pair of white sneakers and he carried a Supreme shoulder bag.

Pete wore a beaded bracelet on his right wrist and texted as he walked.

His short cropped hair was dyed platinum blonde.

Multitasker: Pete wore a beaded bracelet on his right wrist and texted as he walked

Sweating it out: The Set It Up actor paired the signature garment with a pair of UNKNWN sweatpants in eye-popping green

Also on Tuesday, Pete's bride-to-be took to social media to show off some fresh ink.

The No Tears Left To Cry hitmaker shared a black and white photo of a tattoo on her forearm which depicted a character from the Japanese animated film Spirited Away.

The brand new artwork was still covered in cling wrap.

The tattoo artist for Ariana's latest ink was NYC based Mira Mariah.

Tatt's amazing! Also on Tuesday, Pete's bride-to-be took to social media to show off some new inkShe's one of the most successful and sought after models in the world, who isn't shy when it comes to flaunting her incredible figure in skimpy lingerie or bikinis.

And on Tuesday, Australian stunner Shanina Shaik, 27, left little to the imagination when she shared throwback snaps of herself from her time at the Burning Man festival.

In one snap, the brunette beauty wore nothing but nipple pasties and a netted top as she posed up with husband DJ Ruckus.

So hot she needs to cool down! Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik wears nothing but nipple pasties and a netted top as she shares throwback snaps of herself and husband DJ Ruckus at Burning Man

In the image, her dark locks are pulled up and out of her face into two high buns, and she appears to be completely makeup free.

DJ Ruckus meanwhile, goes shirtless in the desert, with a hat, mask and scarf on.

In another image that she shared, Shanina flaunts her trim figure in a tiny bustier-style minidress.

'Burn baby burn': In another photo, she posed in the middle of the desert wearing a tight corset dress outfit which she paired with chunky black laced-up boots, covering her face with a bandanna and wearing aviator goggles

'Litty Kitty': Another festive picture she's seen wearing a metallic silver bodysuit with a long pink-haired wig with cat ears

Festival chic: The desert festival, held annually in a temporary city erected in Black Rock Desert, features plenty of nudity and an 'orgy dome' as an art installation

She captioned the shot: 'Burn baby burn. Will miss you this year Burning Man.'

Another festive picture she's seen wearing a metallic silver bodysuit with a long pink-haired wig with cat ears and wrote, 'litty kitty,' posing in what looks to be a trailer.

The desert festival, held annually in a temporary city erected in the US' Black Rock Desert, features plenty of nudity and an 'orgy dome' as an art installation.

Every year, thousands gather in the Nevada desert to erect a vivid temporary city devoted to art, community and 10 guiding principles including 'radical self-expression,' according to the festival's official website.

Last year Shanina told her Instagram followers: 'Burning Man is so dear to my heart, a place where everyone is treated equally.'Claire Foy and Ryan Gosling were leading the star-studded arrivals at this year's Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.

The 34-year-old Crown star was effortlessly chic in a monochrome beaded midi as she joined the 37-year-old actor arriving the Excelsior Hotel.

Claire and Ryan are set to open the star-studded film showcase with their Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, which has already been tipped for awards glory as it tells the tale of the iconic 1969 moon landing.

Iconic: Claire Foy and Ryan Gosling were a vision as they attended the photocall for their film First Man at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in Italy on Wednesday

Never one to hide away from a glamorous look, Claire showed off her trim figure in the black and white midi which boasted a mixture of beaded stripes and flecked print.

The British beauty had her brown cropped tresses in a classically coiffed style, accessorising with white strapped heels.

In First Man Claire plays Neil Armstrong's first wife Janet Shearon who acts as a pillar of support for the spaceman ahead of the Apollo 11 mission, which is famously known as the moment man first set foot on the moon.

Glamorous: Claire ensured all eyes would be on her as she strutted her stuff on the red carpet

BFFs: Ryan and Claire looked delighted to be reunited after filming at the photocall

Chirpy: Ryan and Claire seemed in excellent spirits on the outing

Loving life: Claire and Ryan seemed to have a great time sharing a joke at the festival

Posing: : Director Damien Chazelle, actors Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clark, Olivia Hamilton and screenwriter Josh Singer posed alongside one another

Cosy co-stars: Damien Chazelle, Olivia Hamilton, Claire Foy, Ryan Gosling, Jason Clark and Josh Singer all posed with one another

Loving life: The group all seemed in good spirits as they posed with one another

Working it: Claire showed off her fabulous figure in her printed midi dress

All-smiles: Ryan looked in great spirits as he gestured towards his friends

Sharp: Ryan looked dapper in a brown suit teamed with a printed shirt

Iconic: Claire and Ryan were leading the star-studded arrivals at this year's Venice Film Festival on Wednesday as they prepared for the first day of the film showcase

Stylish: Claire was showing off her trim figure in a monochrome striped midi and white heels as she arrived for the first day of the Festival

Big part: In First Man Claire plays Neil Armstrong's first wife Janet Shearon who acts as a pillar of support for the spaceman ahead of the Apollo 11 mission

Top role: Claire is also to appear in the upcoming adaptation of The Girl In The Spider's Web, set for release next year

Casual: Meanwhile Ryan proved even he could rock a sweater vest, as he sported a backpack for a relaxed entrance at the hotel

Legendary: He is set to play Neil Armstrong in the upcoming First Man, which has been awarded the coveted opening night slot for the festival

Beaming: The duo's co-star Jason Clarke was totally casual as he arrived for the film showcase

Behind the camera: The film's director Damein Chazelle also made an arrival via. canal boat

Meanwhile Ryan was putting on a casual display in jeans and a blue sweater vest as he jovially arrived at the hotel.

The La La Land star has reunited with the director of that film Damien Chazelle for his role as the iconic astronaut in First Man, with the pair hoping to strike awards glory yet again.

Naomi Watts was also seen arriving at the festival alongside Austrian Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, as the pair will both feature on this year's Festival jury.

The English screen star was a vision in all-white as she chatted to the Oscar-winning Django Unchained star.

Pals: Naomi Watts was also seen arriving at the festival alongside Austrian Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, as the pair will both feature on this year's Festival jury

Gorgeous: The British beauty was a vision in all-white as she chatted to the Oscar-winning Django Unchained star

Close bond: Naomi and Christophe were deep in conversation as they made their way into the Festival for the first day of film premieres

Flawless: Adding a glamorous twist to her look, Naomi went for a pair of gold pointed-toe heels and white square-framed sunglasses

Living it up: Naomi and Christophe will join Guillermo Del Toro on the jury for the festival

Big part: Christophe's next big film role is in the sci-fi epic Alita: Battle Angel, which is produced by the legendary Titanic director James Cameron

Lavish: After arriving at the festival, Naomi was posing up a storm with the rest of the jury for this year's festival as they attended a photocall

Energetic: Striking a chic pose or two, Naomi teamed a white blouse with a matching blazer and trousers

Wardrobe girl: She had her blonde tresses lightly curled and highlighted her flawless complexion

Izabel Goulart was putting on a leggy display in a mustard yellow frilled blouse and denim cut-off shorts.

The Brazilian supermodel left little to the imagination in the look which showed off her endless pins, but added a hint of comfort in gold thin-strapped sandals.

Carrying her essentials in a small white bucket bag, Izabel had her brunette tresses styled into effortless waves, and had her eyes shielded with black narrow-framed sunglasses

Head-turning: Izabel Goulart was putting on a leggy display in a mustard yellow frilled blouse and denim cut-off short

Legs for days: The Brazilian model couldn't hide her smile as she showed off her incredibly long pins at the festival

Sort these out: At one point Izabel even had to stop to adjust her gold thin-strapped sandals, which added some comfort to the look

Dressed to impress: Adding a cheeky pop of colour to her look, the fashion superstar went for a mustard yellow blouse covered with frills

Fashion queen: The tanned stunning star was carrying her essentials in a simple white bucket bag and narrow-framed sunglasses

Also seen making her arrival was the Italian actress Carolina Crescentini, who was showcasing her effortless sense of style in a bizarre blazer emblazoned with a bunny.

After providing a friendly wave to her fans she had her blonde tresses styled into a side-swept ponytail, finishing the casual outfit with skinny jeans and eclectic multicoloured heels.

She was joined by fellow Italian beauty Sveva Alviti, who arrived via. canal boat in a green striped silk suit.

Controversial: Meanwhile director David Cronenberg made a state in all-black as he arrived at the festival

Simple: Well-known for pushing the limits of film-making, the Maps To The Stars frontman joined the star-studded lineup at the festival

Jaw-dropping: Also seen making her arrival was the Italian actress Carolina Crescentini, who was showcasing her effortless sense of style in a bizarre blazer emblazoned with a bunny

Daring: The acting beauty went for a more casual look, by teaming the blazer with a slogan t-shirt, skinny jeans, and green Gucci handbag

Beaming: Carolina had her blonde highlighted tresses in a curled side ponytail

Suited and booted: She was joined by fellow Italian beauty Sveva Alviti, who arrived via. canal boat in a green striped silk suit.

This year's Venice Film Festival is already shaping up to be a lavish affair, with some of the biggest films this awards season starting their campaigns in the Italian event.

After First Man premieres on opening night, other big films include the latest remake of A Star Is Born, which stars Lady Gaga and is the directorial debut of Hollywood heavyweight Bradley Cooper.

Another controversial option is the remake of the supernatural horror Suspiria starring Fifty Shades' Dakota Johnson, which has already made headlines due to footage that allegedly 'traumatised' some viewers, according Esquire.

Chic: French actress Gaia Weiss went for a classic rust-coloured wrap dress and rose pink strapped heels

Loved-up: Meanwhile Alessandro Borghi was putting on a cosy display with girlfriend Roberta Pitrione, who went for a quirky tribal-print shirt dressShe won The Great British Bake Off in 2016, on its former BBC One home.

And Candice Brown, 33, looked an absolute treat as she arrived to BBC Breakfast Studios in Manchester's Media City on Wednesday alongside fellow GBBO alum Selasi Gbormittah, 32.

The baking star slipped into a white lace mini dress which highlighted her petite frame perfectly for her TV appearance in which she revealed her fellow GBBO bakers are creating her wedding cake.

What a treat! Candice Brown, 33, looked an absolute treat as she arrived to BBC Breakfast Studios in Manchester's Media City on Wednesday

The GBBO winner highlighted her slender pin in the demure look and added inches to her diminutive frame by slipping on a pair of black espadrilles.

Candice continued her stylish display as she worked her brunette tresses into a low-ponytail and sported a bold red lip.

Keeping her accessories to a minimum, she carried a black leather backpack on her back while her fellow GBBO co-star Selasi looked suave in a two-piece suit with a pink shirt.

Documenting their appearance on the BBC morning stalwart on her Instagram, Candice hilariously outed her pal for forgetting to bring a cake and shared a rib-tickling video.

All smiles: Candice and fellow GBBO alum Selasi Gbormittah, 32, appeared on the show

Taking to the photo-sharing platform, she captured her friend looking sheepish while she questioned if he had brought cake.

During her appearance on the morning show, she revealed that her 2016 GBBO alum are baking her wedding cake.

Candice, who is engaged to Liam Macaulay, is set to walk down the aisle in under four weeks and explained that she knows the bake will be 'delicious'.

She said coyly: 'Well I know 11 really good bakers 2016 crew are baking my wedding cake, free range, do whatever you want. I know it will be amazing and most delicious cake.'

Stepping out: The baking star slipped into a white lace mini dress which highlighted her petite frame perfectly for her TV appearance

Weighing in on baking feat, her pal Selasi admitted that the bride-to-be has no clue how it will turn out and that he hasn't started it yet.

Selasi chimed in: 'We're taking a piece each. It's basically a dedication to the kind of flavour she likes and the cakes she kind of loves.'

To which Candice jibed: 'He's talking like he has started. 100% hasn't started, you haven't done anything.' Smiling fan-favourite Selasi said: 'Well we've got time'.

Candice won Bake Off in 2016, on its former BBC One home, earning a handshake from Paul Hollywood for her four-tier meringue cake and impressing former judge Mary Berry with a humdinger of a showstopper.

Cake time: Documenting their appearance on the BBC morning stalwart on her Instagram, Candice hilariously outed her pal for forgetting to bring a cake and shared a rib-tickling video

Demure: The GBBO winner highlighted her slender pin in the demure look and added inches to her diminutive frame by slipping on a pair of black espadrilles

The former PE teacher had been odds-on favourite going into the final, having been star baker three times in the series thanks to her ambitious bakes, including a peacock made out of marzipan.

She attracted the support of thousands of fans, many of whom complimented her stylish appearance, including her collection of colourful lipsticks and her distinctive pout. But she was unpopular with some viewers due to her tantrums earlier in the series.

Meanwhile, Candice recently celebrated her hen party in Las Vegas with her closet pals ahead of her wedding to Liam Macaulay.

She previously shared her engagement news in October last year with an interview and photo shoot with HELLO! magazine, revealing she was 'feeling very lucky' following an 'amazing' year.

'I get emotional' she said. 'Because it's been such an amazing year. I feel very lucky. I've had such incredible opportunities  GBBO opened so many doors  and to top it off he puts a ring on it.'

Sweet! Candice and Selasi appeared on the morning show alongside Dan Walker and Louise Minchin

And despite prompting speculation of a surprise engagement in late 2016, Candice revealed that the proposal was everything she'd been waiting for.

She told the story of how Liam, who she's been with since 2012, took them back to the spot where they had their first date in Bedfordshire and pulled a ring from the glove compartment of his car.

Candice recalled: 'He reached into the glove compartment, got out the ring, got down on one knee and said, "I love you, you are my world. Will you marry me?"

Liam continued: 'So I proposed in a car park. But it really meant something to us. Candice just cried for five minutes before she could say, "Yes!"'Avicii's home in the Hollywood Hills has been quietly sold for $17.5 million in an off-market deal, four months after the Swedish producer's shocking and tragic death.

According to real estate website Redfin, the star bought the 7,000 square-foot glass-fronted house for $15.5 million back in 2013  the same year he enjoyed phenomenal success with his chart-topping hits Wake Me Up and Hey Brother.

The contemporary six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home, which sits in the highly coveted Birds Streets in Hollywood Hills West, was built in 2008 and boasts such features as a sparkling infinity pool, spa, and sweeping views of Los Angeles.

Secret sale: Avicii's home in the Hollywood Hills has been quietly sold for $17.5 million in an off-market deal, four months after the Swedish producer's tragic death. Pictured in May 2015

According to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the sale, the property sits on a plot measuring a third of an acre, with the main house featuring wraparound balconies and impressive floor-to-ceiling windows.

Before his April death aged 28, Avicii  real name Tim Bergling  often shared shots on Instagram of himself relaxing in his California home.

In fact, just days before his passing, he uploaded his last ever shot, which showed him standing on a floating step in a pool outside his home.

Haunting post: His final post on Instagram, shared just days before his death, featured him standing on a floating step in the pool outside his home

Big purchase: According to real estate website Redfin, the star bought the 7,000 square-foot glass-fronted house for $15.5 million back in 2013

'Its always sunny in California,' he captioned the haunting image, which would go on to garner almost 2.5 million likes.

At the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month, Avicii's friend and collaborator Rita Ora, 27, paid tribute to the late star on the same night that their track Lonely Together scooped the Best Dance Video prize.

The two stars were close friends, and Rita opened up about how he 'changed [her] life' during an emotional performance in the Netherlands just a week after his death.

She said: 'It's gonna be hard for me to sing this next song and I'll tell you why. I had the honour of collaborating with someone who changed my life and he was a really good friend of mine.

Packed with features: The property boasts such features as a sparkling infinity pool, spa, and sweeping views of Los Angeles

'I heard some DJs playing some of his music earlier, and I haven't sang his song that we did together ever since he passed away, until today. It's going to be very hard for me to sing this next song.

'I'm obviously talking about the incredible Avicii. We collaborated on the last song that he released together, and so it's going to be very tough for me to sing this next one. One of my dearest friends and I would really appreciate that.'

In April, it was confirmed the electronic dance music producer had been found dead in Oman in an apparent suicide.

In a statement his publicist said: 'It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii. The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time.'

Luxury: The contemporary six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home, which sits in the highly coveted Birds Streets in Hollywood Hills West, was built in 2008

Despite a meteoric rise to success following the release of hit-single Le7els in 2011, Avicii announced in 2016 that he would not longer perform live, following years health problems caused by stress and alcohol abuse, as well as severe anxiety.

A recent documentary, Avicii: True Stories shed light on the extreme pressure he was under, performing 320 shows in a single year.

In the documentary, Avicii, a self-confessed introvert, speaks frequently about using alcohol as a crutch to be able to perform, drinking every day during his hectic tour, and to help him with his crippling anxiety and stress.

At the age of 21 he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis  a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas  due in part to excessive drinking.

Property: The property sits on a plot measuring a third of an acre, with the main house featuring wraparound balconies and impressive floor-to-ceiling windows

He was again hospitalised in 2014 and forced to have his gallbladder and appendix removed.

In a note announcing his retirement in 2016 he said: 'I know I am blessed to be able to travel all around the world and perform, but I have too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist.

'I will however never let go of music  I will continue to speak to my fans through it, but Ive decided this 2016 run will be my last tour and last shows.'

He released his debut studio album, True, in 2013 and followed it up with Stories in 2015.It's no secret that Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins and Cassandra Wood had a history together before reuniting on The Bachelor.

And on Wednesday's episode of the series, villain Romy Poulier told Nick's sister Bernadette that Cass was 'already in love' with the star before coming onto The Bachelor.

It resulted in a heated cat fight between Romy and Blair, with Blair overhearing Romy and Bernadette's private conversation.

'Don't f**k with me!' Romy Poulier (pictured) lashes out at Blair Thomas during a heated catfight... after calling Cass Wood 'struggling and desperate'

'Nick actually knows Cass from before,' Romy told Bernadette.

'She was already in love with him coming into this.'

During the awkward sit-down, Romy also singled out Cassandra's young age as a reason why she might not be a good match for Nick.

Spilling the beans! Romy (L) told the Honey Badger's big sister Bernadette (R) that Cass was 'already in love' with the star before coming onto The Bachelor

'Are you serious?' In a dramatic turn of events, Blair overheard the entire conversation and told Cass everything, which resulted in a dramatic showdown between Blair and Romy

'Age certainly comes into it a little bit, as well,' she said. 'She's 23 and a very young 23.'

The outspoken blonde continued: 'She's really struggling. Like, I feel like she's desperate. And I think that's the emotional immaturity.'

In a dramatic turn of events, Blair Thomas overheard the entire conversation and told Cassandra everything that had happened, which resulted in a dramatic showdown between Blair and Romy.

After copping a verbal lashing, Blair finally apologised and said: 'Well, I'm sorry if I have made a mistake.'

'Tell me why you were listening to my private conversation with Bernadette,' Romy demanded. 'So, can you answer that?'

After Blair explained that she'd been getting changed in her bedroom and accidentally overheard the conversation, Romy became enraged.

'You have no class and this angers me,' she raged. 'Like, don't f**k with me. Don't ever put words in my mouth again. Come to me like an adult.'

'I met Cass about a year ago': Earlier in the episode, Nick's big brother (pictured with Cass) admitted that he'd met Cass before during a day at the beach on the Gold Coast

After copping a verbal lashing, Blair finally apologised and said: 'Well, I'm sorry if I have made a mistake.'

Earlier in the episode, Nick's big brother admitted that he'd met Cass before during a day at the beach on the Gold Coast.

'I met Cass about a year ago,' he said. 'She was up for the summer, up at the Gold Coast and we went surfing with Nick and we had a few yarns, few beers.'

'They have a history outside, so it'll be interesting to see how it works for her.'She put on a glamorous display while celebrating pal Billie Faiers' wild hen party in Ibiza.

Now back on home soil, Ferne Mccann, 28, doted on daughter Sunday on Wednesday as she reunited with the adorable tot following her sun-soaked few days on the White Isle.

The ex-TOWIE star flashed a glimpse of her stomach in a stripe white and grey T-shirt which she opted to stylish tie in a knot above her taut abs.

Like mother, like daughter: Ferne Mccann, 28, doted on daughter Sunday on Wednesday as she reunited with the adorable tot following her sun-soaked few days on the White Isle

Holding her little one on her hip, Ferne teamed her ab-displaying look with a high-waisted black maxi skirt.

The First Time Mum star's skirt hugged her slender hips and also showcased her lean legs with its double slit detailing as she strolled along the pavement in her white trainers.

Following a glamorous four-day trip, the ITVBe star worked her honey-hued tresses into a straight style and sported a pair of gradient lens aviators while pushing her stroller.

Looking adorable, Ferne dressed her little girl Sunday in a similar white and grey striped long-sleeved top with matching grey leggings for their afternoon together.

Walk on: The ex-TOWIE star flashed a glimpse of her stomach in a stripe white and grey T-shirt which she opted to stylish tie in a knot above her taut abs

Skirting around: Holding her little one on her hip, Ferne teamed her ab-displaying look with a high-waisted black maxi skirt

Figure-flaunting: Ferne just returned to the UK after enjoying BFF Billie Faiers' wild hen party in Ibiza

Ferne shares baby Sunday with ex Arthur Collins, who was handed a 20-year prison sentence for an acid attack carried out at a London nightclub in April 2017.

Meanwhile, her close pal Billie is preparing to marry businessman Greg, who she shares daughter Nelly, four, and 18-month-old son Arthur, in the Maldives after whopping four-year long engagement and much divisive chat over the nuptials.

After finally settling on the plans, the couple have been throwing themselves into their pre-wedding festivities, with Greg having flown to Las Vegas earlier this month.

Things got wild for Billie and her gal pals after they jetted to Ibiza in the wee hours of Thursday morning for a four-day trip filled with themed pool days, glamorous nights out and the blonde bombshell riding a giant carousel horse over Ocean Beach Club.

Casual: The First Time Mum star's skirt hugged her slender hips and also showcased her lean legs with its double slit detailing as she strolled along the pavement in her white trainers

Style savvy: Following a glamorous four-day trip, the ITVBe star worked her honey-hued tresses into a straight style

No shade: She sported a pair of gradient lens aviators while pushing her stroller

Cute: Looking adorable, Ferne dressed her little girl Sunday in a similar white and grey striped long-sleeved top with matching grey leggings for their afternoon together

The trip was organised by Billie's sister and Made of Honour Sam. Just weeks ago, Sam claimed she ended her feud with former BFF Ferne after they famously fell out over rival ITV2 programmes documenting motherhood.

They put their problems aside for Billie's bridal shower and the former foes managed to heal the rift in their friendship.

Sam told The Sun: 'We were both at my sister's bridal shower - Ferne was there. It was fine. It was nice. We were just catching up on the babies really. So we are fine.'

Earlier this year, in a magazine interview, the stunning star admitted there are aspects of single motherhood that she still struggles with.

Twinning: The reality star showcased her flawless complexion during the outing

Doting: Ferne doted on Sunday while they enjoyed a walkabout

Daughter: Ferne shares baby Sunday with ex Arthur Collins, who was handed a 20-year prison sentence for an acid attack carried out at a London nightclub in April 2017

Ferne spoke to OK! magazine about the day-to-day dilemmas she faces without the baby's father around. She said: 'While I was pregnant, I knew I was going to be a single mum, but it didn't hit me until I actually had Sunday...

'That was tough to deal with - realising I really was totally on my own. I don't have another person to confer with. I don't have another person to discuss my day-to-day decisions with - like choosing what food she has. It's tough.'

The star moved back in with her own mother within just four months of moving into her own home last year. After welcoming her baby, she now shares her own Brentwood home with just Sunday and is adjusting to life as a single parent.

After welcoming the baby, she now shares her own Brentwood home with just Sunday and has adjusted to life as a single parent.She has spent most of her summer abroad, jetting to Mykonos, Cannes and Italy over the last few weeks.

And Lady Victoria Hervey proved to still be in holiday mode on Saturday, as she donned a cutaway swimsuit and a pair of tiny white shorts for an afternoon in a New York park with her pet pooch, D'artagnan.

The socialite, 41, slipped her slim figure into the distressed denim shorts, showcasing her toned pins as she strolled towards the park in a pair of gold flip-flops, with her tiny Norfolk terror on a lead.

Summer loving: Lady Victoria Hervey, 41, donned a cutaway swimsuit and a pair of tiny white shorts for an afternoon in a New York park on Saturday with her pet pooch

Her champagne gold one-piece may have been high-necked but it still flaunted her ample chest as it clung to her body.

The blonde beauty flung a Louis Vuitton tote bag over her arm, and accessorised with a long gold pendant necklace and a smattering of metallic bracelets and rings.

After removing her beige blouse, Victoria topped up her tan in the sunshine, while her adorable pooch Dartagnan played alongside her.

Eventually, the socialite settled into a spot in the park, and pulled out a little black notebook as she relaxed in the shade.

Gorgeous: The socialite slipped her slim figure into the distressed denim shorts, showcasing her toned pins, and her champagne gold leotard flaunted her ample chest

Sunshine time: After removing her beige blouse, Victoria topped up her tan in the sunshine, while her adorable pooch D'artagnan played alongside her

The natural beauty styled her platinum locks into loose waves, and drew attention to her pretty eyes with a slick of mascara.

Victoria has been making the most of her jet-set summer by flying off to the hottest destinations including Mykonos, Cannes and Italy so far.

Although she has been travelling all over the world, she recently discussed her future plans to settle down and become a mum after realising her dream for a baby.

Adorable: Victoria often shares photographs of D'artagnan on her Instagram page

She revealed to The Mail On Sunday that she started freezing her eggs in a fertility clinic  which cost her 11,000  after letting years of partying slip away.

Victoria said: 'Like many women, Ive realised  nearly too late  that I am desperate to have a child.

'In fact, I want two. Which is why Im hoping science might be able to stop the clock until I can find the right man to be a father to my babies.'

Speaking about the experience on Lorraine later on, the blonde revealed: 'It was tough, it was emotional, I cried a lot...

'Not just the injections that you had to do daily, but you are put on the pills. You just feel like it is an emotional rollercoaster.'He was one of the most memorable contestants from Big Brother UK's eleventh season in 2010, before reemerging for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it stint on Love Island Australia this year.

And on Tuesday, John James decided to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting some old British tabloids that he was featured in during his glory days on Big Brother.

The mag stash was discovered by Love Island Australia winner Grant Crapp, who shared a video of the John perusing his own memorabilia to Instagram.

A trip down memory lane! Love Island Australia's John James (pictured) rifles through old tabloid magazine covers of himself from his glory days on Big Brother UK

'All these magazines bro, you're in em!' exclaimed Grant as he marveled at the large stack.

John was one of the breakout stars of Big Brother UK's eleventh season thanks to his romance with Josie Gibson, who went on to win that season.

The pair scored their own spin-off shortly after called Josie and John James: What Happened Next, before splitting shortly after.

Friends in the right places! The mag stash was discovered by Love Island Australia winner Grant Crapp (pictured), who shared a video of the John perusing his own memorabilia to Instagram

'All these magazines bro, you're in em!' John was one of the breakout stars of Big Brother UK's eleventh season thanks to his romance with Josie Gibson, who went on to win that season

While Josie went on to become one of the most successful Big Brother stars in history, John quickly faded from the spotlight.

After years away from the public eye, the DJ returned to screens as an intruder on the first season of Love Island Australia.

Unfortunately, he only lasted a week in the villa, quitting after he was unable to find a romantic match.

He's currently cashing in on his second burst of fame by making nightclub appearances across Australia.

John and Grant are now planning to tour the UK and Ireland together after Love Island Australia started airing there.They are often seen cosying up for happy family outings.

And once again Chris Hemsworth was leading the way as he stepped out with his wife Elsa Pataky, with who he shares kids India, six, and twins Tristan and Sasha, four, and her beloved mother Cristina Pataky Medianu in London on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old Thor actor, who is filming the Men In Black reboot in the capital, looked incredibly handsome as he headed to Lemonia restaurant in Primrose Hill, while his model wife was low-key in a striped jumper and black jeans.

Happy days: And once again Chris Hemsworth was leading the way as he stepped out with his wife Elsa Pataky, with who he shares kids India, six, and twins Tristan and Sasha, four, and her beloved mother Cristina Pataky Medianu in London on Tuesday

Chris cut a dashing figure as he went for a low-key look comprising of a grey T-shirt which showed off his famous muscles, before he pulled on a khaki jacket to keep out the descending Autumn chill on the capital.

He wore tight black jeans while accessorising neatly with a delicate silver chain while toughening up the look with a pair of brown ankle boots.

Elsa meanwhile looked stylish in a lemon yellow and white jumper in a loose cut while she sported a pair of skin-tight black jeans while glamming up the ensemble with a pair of heeled ankle boots to boost her height and model legs.

Showing she is as stunning off duty as on, she scraped her blonde locks back into a chignon at the nape of her neck while going near make-up free.

Happy days: The 32-year-old Thor actor, who is filming the Men In Black reboot in the capital, looked incredibly handsome as he headed to Lemonia restaurant in Primrose Hill, while his model wife was low-key in a striped jumper and black jeans

Stylish: Chris cut a dashing figure as he went for a low-key look comprising of a grey T-shirt which showed off his famous muscles, before he pulled on a khaki jacket to keep out the descending Autumn chill on the capital

Chris and Elsa tied the knot in 2010 and share three adorable children, daughter India Rose, six, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, four.

The pair, who were previously based in Los Angeles, now enjoy a blissfully relaxed life in Byron Bay on Australia's east coast.

Last year, Chris and Elsa celebrated a relationship milestone: starring in their first movie together. They played a married couple in war drama 12 Strong, and the Aussie actor joked that filming 'was like a little holiday away from the kids'.

Appearing on US breakfast show Good Morning America in January this year, Chris said: 'We left the kids with their grandparents, and went off for a few weeks and shot together.

Happy days: Chris and Elsa tied the knot in 2010 and share three adorable children, daughter India Rose, six, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, four

Strutting their stuff: The pair, who were previously based in Los Angeles, now enjoy a blissfully relaxed life in Byron Bay on Australia's east coast

Starring roles: Last year, Chris and Elsa celebrated a relationship milestone: starring in their first movie together. They played a married couple in war drama 12 Strong, and the Aussie actor joked that filming 'was like a little holiday away from the kids'

The happy couple: Chris and Elsa looked happy to be having their low-key date night

Sweet: Little India was holding on to her mum as she headed out of the restaurant

'We've been rehearsing that relationship and that on-screen chemistry for seven years so if we didn't have chemistry, we would've been in trouble.'

12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team that's deployed to Afghanistan following the events of 9/11.

In the film, Chris plays the role of Captain Mitch Nelson, who has the task of leading his team of 12 soldiers to take down the Taliban.

Elsa plays the part of the captain's dutiful wife, who looks after their daughter while he is at war.

Farewell! Elsa said goodbye to their friends following the dinnerAdvertisement

She revealed in October that her beau Liam Macaulay had got down on one knee and popped the question.

And Great British Bake Off's 2016 victor Candice Brown was sure to wave off single life in style as she headed to a raucous Las Vegas hen do earlier this month, during which she lived it up in style among her gal pals.

The 33-year-old TV personality and baker looked sensational in a cornflower blue two-piece complete with a frilled trim and tied hips, while she enjoyed all the spoils of Sin City with a large drink devoured through a sippy cup, a raucous giggle with her gal pals in the water and a swift touch up of her cosmetics.

Here come the girls! Great British Bake Off's 2016 victor Candice Brown was sure to wave off single life in style as she headed to a raucous Las Vegas hen do earlier this month, during which she lived it up in style among her gal pals

Candice was looking in ultimate holiday mode for her trip as she kicked back alongside pals by the pool, while also making sure she was never far from a drink, with her sippy cup in hand and a vodka bottle in front of her.

The powder blue two-piece added a girly touch to her poolside look as she highlighted her perky cleavage with the addition of the triangle cups and tie-shoulders while a frill sat below her bust.

She scraped her brunette locks into a high bun which stood out boldly against her alabaster complexion while she also ensured her famous coloured lipstick was in place despite being poolside.

Adding to her starry glamour, the stunner wore a pair of oversized aviators while she later pulled out her make-up palette to check she was looking flawless - an essential need for a Vegas bash.

Drink up! The 33-year-old TV personality and baker looked sensational in a cornflower blue two-piece complete with a frilled trim and tied hips, while she enjoyed all the spoils of Sin City with a large drink devoured through a sippy cup, a raucous giggle with her gal pals in the water and a swift touch up of her cosmetics

Cheers! She raised a glass to her pals who were chilling on the side while she was drinking up and giggling

Wahoo! Candice was looking in ultimate holiday mode for her trip as she kicked back alongside pals by the pool, while also making sure she was never far from a drink, with her sippy cup in hand and a vodka bottle in front of her

Pick n mix: She was later seen picking drinks off the pool menu while also high-fiving a fellow pool goer. She accessorised with a delicate name necklace which spelled out her name

She was later seen picking drinks off the pool menu while also high-fiving a fellow pool goer. She accessorised with a delicate name necklace which spelled out her name.

Candice shared her engagement news in October last year with an interview in Hello Magazine, revealing she was 'feeling very lucky' following an 'amazing' year.

'I get emotional' she said. 'Because it's been such an amazing year. I feel very lucky. I've had such incredible opportunities  GBBO opened so many doors  and to top it off he puts a ring on it.'

Happy days: She was sure to say goodbye to single life in style as she hit the pool with her pals

Beauty in blue: The powder blue two-piece added a girly touch to her poolside look as she highlighted her perky cleavage with the addition of the triangle cups and tie-shoulders while a frill sat below her bust

Sip up! She was enjoying her drink from a sippy cup while she also having a plate of food on the sun bed behind her

Up close and personal: She revealed in October that her beau Liam Macaulay had got down on one knee and popped the question (pictured together in May)

Beautiful in blue: She was pulling all her best moves for the fellow pool goers to see

And despite prompting speculation of a surprise engagement in late 2016, Candice revealed that the proposal was everything she'd been waiting for.

She told the story of how Liam, who she's been with since 2012, took them back to the spot where they had their first date in Bedfordshire and pulled a ring from the glove compartment of his car.

Candice recalled: 'He reached into the glove compartment, got out the ring, got down on one knee and said, "I love you, you are my world. Will you marry me?"

Liam continued: 'So I proposed in a car park. But it really meant something to us. Candice just cried for five minutes before she could say, "Yes!"'

She's a winner: Candice won Bake Off in 2016, on its former BBC One home, earning a handshake from Paul Hollywood for her four-tier meringue cake and impressing former judge Mary Berry with a humdinger of a showstopper

Winner: The former PE teacher had been odds-on favourite going into the final, having been star baker three times in the series thanks to her ambitious bakes, including a peacock made out of marzipan

Dolled up to the nines: She looked stunning but ensured she was keeping herself preened with her Mac make-up

True blue: The stunner was looking chic in her two-piece as she joined her pals in Vegas

Making a splash: Candice was throwing herself into all the action during a particularly wet and wild moment in the water

Winner: Candice won Bake Off in 2016, on its former BBC One home, earning a handshake from Paul Hollywood for her four-tier meringue cake and impressing former judge Mary Berry with a humdinger of a showstopper

Candice won Bake Off in 2016, on its former BBC One home, earning a handshake from Paul Hollywood for her four-tier meringue cake and impressing former judge Mary Berry with a humdinger of a showstopper.

The former PE teacher had been odds-on favourite going into the final, having been star baker three times in the series thanks to her ambitious bakes, including a peacock made out of marzipan.

She attracted the support of thousands of fans, many of whom complimented her stylish appearance, including her collection of colourful lipsticks and her distinctive pout. But she was unpopular with some viewers due to her tantrums in the series.

Bottoms up: Candice was pulling her classic pout, in between sipping drinks and jumping in the poolAdvertisement

He endured quite the ordeal last week, when his private jet was forced to make an emergency landing in New York after blowing two tyres during takeoff.

And Post Malone, who was en route to the UK ahead of his Reading Festival performance at the time, is enjoying the best of what Europe has to offer as he was spotted aboard a luxury yacht in Saint-Tropez on Tuesday.

Joined by his bikini-clad girlfriend Ashlen Diaz, the 23-year-old rapper looked healthy and happy as he relaxed on the imposing sea vessel and basked in the French Riviera's glorious sunshine.

Relaxing: Post Malone and his girlfriend Ashlen Diaz were spotted aboard a luxury yacht in Saint-Tropez, France, on Tuesday

The Rockstar hitmaker arrived on deck wearing a pair of black shorts and a patterned short-sleeved shirt, which he later peeled off, allowing him to display his array of tattoos.

After nuzzling his girlfriend as she relaxed in the sun, Malone  real name Austin Richard Post  threw on a bright blue life jacket before taking the control of a set of jet-skis, while Ashlen settled into the back seat.

And once their were finished zipping through the azure waters of the Gulf of Lion, the lovebirds climbed back aboard, where the attentive rapper was seen showering the seawater off his girlfriend.

Cleaned up: The rapper was seen treating his girlfriend to a shower as they climbed back on board after going for a jet-ski ride

Hands-on boyfriend: The 23-year-old musician couldn't keep his hands of pretty Ashlen as they relaxed on the deck together

So affectionate: The star was also seen nuzzling his girlfriend as they soaked in the glorious French Riviera sunshine together

Jet troubles: Malone endured quite the ordeal last week, when his private jet was forced to make an emergency landing in New York after blowing two tyres during takeoff

He's got the magic touch: Malone, real name Austin Richard Post, treated Ashlen to a massage as during their leisurely day

Tatt's the way to do it: The Rockstar hitmaker stepped out shirtless, which allowed him to display his extensive array of tattoos

Exactly one week ago, Malone was seen dining out in London after finally making it safely to the English capital following his dramatic plane drama just one day beforehand.

The chart-topper slammed Twitter users who wished him dead after his private jet was forced to make an emergency landing in New York after blowing two tyres.

The private jet, which was carrying the rapper and his 15-strong entourage, was en route from a small New Jersey airport to the UK when two of the main tyres blew while taking off.

The pilot was forced to circle for five hours to burn fuel before making a safe emergency landing at New York Stewart International Airport, about 70 miles out of New York City.

Sailing the seas: During their sun-soaked day together, doting lovebirds Malone and Ashlen went for a high-energy jet-ski ride

Hold me in your arms: The couple appeared to be in their element as Malone took control, while Ashlen clung to him for safety

Setting the right tone: Ashlen looked impressively toned as she returned to the yacht wearing her eye-catching black bikini

Baby got back: The star was seen admiring his partner's pert posterior as she walked in front of him following their jet-ski ride

Pour it up: New York-born, Texas-raised Malone enjoyed a cigarette and a cold beverage as he prepared to chill out in the sun

'I landed guys. Thank you for your prayers,' Malone tweeted shortly after stepping from the plane.

He then took aim at the trolls who wished him harm as the drama was unfolding. 'Can't believe how many people wished death on me on this website. F**k you. But not today,' he tweeted.

Speaking to TMZ after landing safely, Malone said: 'Oh, my God, I hate flying in general. I don't even know what to say, man. I'm shook.

'There was one hell of a team on that aircraft, and we're here, we're here on earth, and I need a beer, and I need some wine, at the same time, mixed together.'

Just the two of us: Despite being on the yacht with a group of friends, the couple appeared to only have eyes for one another

Lapping up the sights of Europe: The American duo made their way to the French Riviera after enjoying some time in the UK

Enjoying all the luxuries: A staffer was on hand to furnish the couple with fluffy clean towels as they returned on the yacht

Making his mark: As well as boasting tattoos on his torso and arms, the musician also has body ink on his legs, neck and face

Rockstar: Earlier this month, he attended the MTV Video Music Awards, where he won the Song of the Year prize for Rockstar

Footage shot by his crew emerged on social media after the plane landed safely showing them all bracing for the emergency landing.

Fans of the facially-tattooed musician flooded the New York airport and cheered when the flight eventually landed after the five-hour ordeal.

Malone's plane was en route to London when the pilot realised that the left main tires had blown shortly after takeoff.

The pilot circled the Teterboro Airport for about 30 minutes before the jet was diverted so it could burn fuel to make it safer in case the pilot needed to eventually crash land.

Running free: Ashlen was seen enjoying a quick stretch as she soaked up the last of the summer rays during her relaxing day

Shocking incident: The rapper's private jet, which was carrying him and his 15-strong entourage, was en route from a small New Jersey airport to the UK when two of the main tyres blew while taking off

Burning fuel: After the troubling takeoff, the pilot was forced to circle for five hours to burn fuel before making a safe emergency landing at New York Stewart International Airport, about 70 miles out of New York City

Attentive: Malone lavished his girlfriend with attention, showering her with kisses as they relaxed together in the sunshine

Dramatic footage: Footage shot by Malone's crew emerged on social media after the plane landed safely showing them all bracing for the emergency landing

Shirt: The rapper arrived on deck wearing a patterned short-sleeved shirt, which he later shed as he soaked up the sunshine

The Federal Aviation Administration initially said the plane would be landing at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield, Massachusetts, before being re-routed to New York.

Flight trackers showed the plane circling over Connecticut shortly after 1pm before making its way towards the New York airport just before 3pm.

The plane had enough fuel to fly to London so was forced to circle for about five hours.

Post Malone had been in the New York area the day before for the MTV Video Music Awards, where he won the coveted Song of the Year prize for Rockstar.

Across the pond: The rap star appeared keen on enjoying his relaxing break in Europe before heading back to his native US

Award-winning musician: Malone was nominated for three trophies at the recent MTV VMAs  including Best Artist and Song of the Summer (Better Now). He scooped Best Song honours for Rockstar

En route: Malone's plane was en route to London on Tuesday of last week when the pilot realised that the left main tyres had blown (pictured after landing) shortly after takeoff from a small New Jersey airport

Landing: Malone (in red and white) and members of his entourage are pictured preparing for the plane's emergency landing

Emergency: Malone's jet made an emergency landing in New York on Tuesday at 4pm after blowing its tyres taking off in New Jersey five hours earlier. The rapper is pictured above just moment after stepping off the plane

Safe landing: The troubled plane carrying Post Malone and his entourage landed safely (pictured above) at New York Stewart International AirportCarrie Ann Inaba will host The 2019 Miss America Competition it was announced by The Miss America Organization and ABC on Wednesday.

The Dancing With The Stars vet, 50, will work with television personality Ross Mathews.

The competition airs live on ABC from Atlantic City's Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall on September 9.

New gig: Carrie Ann Inaba will host The 2019 Miss America Competition it was announced by The Miss America Organization and ABC on Wednesday

Tune in: The competition airs live on ABC from Atlantic City's Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall on September 9. Photo from 2018

'I am honored to be invited to host The 2019 Miss America Competition,' said Inaba.

'I choreographed the Miss America Competition for years and am thrilled to be this year's host.

'I'm humbled to have the chance to be part of an evening that will give young women the opportunity to further their education and crown a new Miss America.

'I have always been a fan of the Miss America Organization that consistently encourages women to be strong, intelligent and radiant women in the world,' she added.

Inaba has also worked on American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, American Juniors, Dance Fever, The TV Land Awards and The Kids Choice Awards.

More TV fame: She will also serve as judge with Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli for season 27 of Dancing With The Stars; seen last season

Inaba hosts this year's competition where 51 women from around the country will take center stage competing for the job and scholarship dollars that come with the crown of Miss America 2019.

Mathews will join Inaba and anchor reports throughout the evening from backstage.

'Since I'll never get to compete for the Miss America crown, this is the next best thing,' said Mathews.

A vet: Inaba has also worked on American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, American Juniors, Dance Fever, The TV Land Awards and The Kids Choice Awards. Seen in May

'I feel like a lucky fan who won a golden ticket and gets to stand on stage alongside the gorgeous Carrie Ann Inaba and 51 incredible women knowing that one will be officially crowned the new Miss America. It's a dream to be asked and I am beyond excited to get to Atlantic City. Who knows? Maybe the winner will even let me try on the crown!'

The Miss America Organization is comprised of 51 licensed state organizations, including all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Miss America candidates contribute tens of thousands of community service hours annually and have raised over $17 million for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and Miss America scholarships since 2007.As 'sexually fluid' Ruby Rose prepares to take on the groundbreaking role of an openly lesbian Batwoman in The Flash, Supergirl and Arrow for the CW, unearthed sex scenes between her and Christina Ricci have reemerged.

The scenes - from 2013's Around The Block - see the Hollywood starlets in a semi-naked clinch, portraying a student and teacher embarking on a forbidden relationship.

Playing the role of Hannah, Ruby - now 32, 27 at the time - was tasked with being the 'dominant' of the pair and said at the time she was blindsided by the fact that she'd be acting opposite Christina, who is six years older than her and a Hollywood veteran in comparison.

Saucy: As 'sexually fluid' Ruby Rose prepares to take on the groundbreaking role of the first lesbian Batwoman in The Flash, Supergirl and Arrow for the CW, unearthed sex scenes between her and Christina Ricci have reemerged

She said at the time: 'Around the Block is a film that is about Redfern 10 years ago, when the government was trying to take away the land that belonged to the indigenous people.

'No one knew what my role was but then the trailer came out and there is the sex scene so everyone is like, "Oh my god, you're naked, having sex with Christina Ricci!"

'I thought it would be awkward and I was not looking forward to it - you know, being alongside Christina Ricci, who has been a famous actress since she was born, pretty much.

'I remember her as Wednesday in The Addams Family and [in] Casper. So I was sort of spun out on the idea of having to be this dominating person in a role with her, but she is a pro.'

Unearthed: The scenes are from 2013's Around The Block, an Australian drama

Raunchy: Playing the role of Hannah, Ruby - now 32, 27 at the time - was tasked with being the 'dominant' of the pair

Ruby said that her Batwoman role was a 'childhood dream' come true when she first landed the part, having risen to fame on series such as Orange Is The New Black.

She has since gone on to appear in blockbuster movies, such as the John Wick franchise with Keanu Reeves and this summer's shark thriller The Meg.

On landing the superhero role, Ruby shared a video on her Instagram account in which she discusses her 'queer' icons and the impact they had on her as a young woman.

'Growing up there wasn't as many gay, queer, lesbian icons are there are today,' Ruby begins in the video. 'And I'm so glad there are so many more.

'Angelina Jolie came out as bisexual. That was a great one, I was so stoked!'

Racy: The scenes see the Hollywood starlets in a semi-naked clinch, portraying a student and teacher embarking on a forbidden relationship

Intimate: Ruby said at the time she was blindsided by the fact that she'd be acting opposite Christina, who is six years older than her and a Hollywood veteran in comparison

Ruby jokingly said that if Angelina, 43, was a penguin, she would identify as a penguin just to marry her: 'She could be a penguin and I'd be like, "Gay. I am a gay penguin now.'''

In the video, Ruby also candidly discussed the moment in which Angelina accepted the award for 'most beautiful human being on the planet'.

When Angelina was asked what she thought about the fact that most of her votes came from female fans, she casually told a crowd full of reporters and celebrities 'she was most likely to sleep with female fans'.

Ruby referred to the casual manner in which Angelina said those words and cited them as a catalyst for her own self appreciation.

She said at the time: 'Around the Block is a film that is about Redfern 10 years ago, when the government was trying to take away the land that belonged to the indigenous people'

She added: 'No one knew what my role was but then the trailer came out and there is the sex scene so everyone is like, "Oh my god, you're naked, having sex with Christina Ricci"'

She also mentioned TV host Ellen DeGeneres, 60, as a comedic inspiration, and rounded out her praise with a hope for the future, saying that while society may not change right away, it has come a long way since it was when she was a child.

'I don't think [stigma] is going to be erased entirely in the next five years, 10 years or 20 years. I think we're on the right path and I think it's amazing and I feel blessed because I haven't been through what the people before me went through, and I know the people after me will say the same thing.

It's just going to keep being a work in progress.'

Risque: 'I thought it would be awkward and I was not looking forward to it - you know, being alongside Christina Ricci, who has been a famous actress since she was born, pretty much,' she went on

Getting prepared for her new role as Batwoman? Ruby Rose cut a striking figure in a karate outfit next to a martial arts teacher in a recent Instagram post

Since Ruby's casting as Batwoman was revealed, she has received mixed reviews from the public.

Where some are commending David Rapaport on an ideal casting, others have come to criticise and insult the Aussie star. Ruby has used the astronomical publicity to remind her fans of the magnitude of a superhero being openly queer, and played by a queer public figure.

'The Bat is out of the bag and I am beyond thrilled and honoured. I'm also an emotional wreck... because this is a childhood dream,' Ruby recently wrote in an Instagram post.

'This is something I would have died to have seen on TV when I was a young member of the LGBT community who never felt represented on tv and felt alone and different.'

'Thank you everyone. Thank you God.'She is well known for her leading roles in critically-acclaimed films, such as The Aviator and Elizabeth, as well as for her passionately held political views.

And Cate Blanchett certainly didn't hold back in her latest interview with Harper's Bazaar UK, opening up about her thoughts on Brexit, the Me Too movement and her children's futures.

The award-winning actress, 49, seethed about Britain's decision to leave the European Union following a nation-wide referendum initiated by the country's former Prime Minister David Cameron.

Speaking out: Cate Blanchett, 49, didn't hold back in her latest interview with Harper's Bazaar UK , opening up about her thoughts on Brexit, the Me Too movement and her children's futures

Cate, who graces the cover of the October issue of Harper's Bazaar UK wearing an elegant red velvet dress, told the magazine: 'The rage I feel at the lazy incompetence of the men who set this in motion!

'Whichever way you voted, you cannot but be disappointed in the way the architects of Brexit have behaved.'

The Ocean's 8 actress also spoke candidly about the positive impact of the Me Too movement, an on-going campaign against sexual harassment and assault which was sparked by the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Cate said: '[It is] an incredibly important concept There is not a single industry that is not touched by those issues.

Furious: The actress seethed about Britain's decision to leave the European Union following a nation-wide referendum initiated by the country's former Prime Minister David Cameron

Big read: The full interview with Cate Blanchett can be read in the October issue of Harper's Bazaar, on sale from 4 September

'I think the biggest and most profound change that I've felt is the way women are talking to each other, that has really shifted.

'We didn't want to be seen to be a problem, or tell other women we had issues; we were sort of self-isolatingI think that has shifted in a permanent way.'

Cate is mother to sons Dashiell John, 16, Roman Robert, 14, Ignatius Martin, 10, and adopted daughter Edith, four, with husband Andrew Upton, 52.

The outspoken actress revealed her feelings about the prospect of her children following in her footsteps.

She told Harper's Bazaar: 'I think if I was in a different profession, if I was a lawyer, or a doctor, or an architect, maybe, or if I had a trade that I could actually use in the Armageddon, then there would be a sense that that would be a great and expected thing.

Speaking of her children's futures, she said: 'Certainly my children do not want to be 'the son of', and I know that my feisty daughter will not want to be 'the daughter of' (pictured with her daughter Edith in 2017)

'Certainly my children do not want to be 'the son of', and I know that my feisty daughter will not want to be 'the daughter of' And there is more rejection than there is acceptance.'

And while she is happily unsure of which paths her offspring will take, she is also in doubt about her future on the big screen.

This autumn, she will star in the children's fantasy film The House with a Clock in Its Walls, but Cate admitted to the magazine that she's not certain about how much longer she will keep acting.

She said: 'I don't know what I am going to do next as an actor, I never do really. But I feel like I've probably got a couple more years left in it, before I lose my sanity.'

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is released on 21 September.

The full interview with Cate Blanchett can be read in the October issue of Harper's Bazaar, on sale from 4 September.

Standing strong: Cate is mother to sons Dashiell John, 16, Roman Robert, 14, Ignatius Martin, 10, and adopted daughter Edith, four, with husband Andrew Upton, 52 (pictured above)

Campaigner: Her interview comes a day after she relived the horrors she saw when she visited camps full of Rohingya refugees forced to flee Myanmar in a speech to the UN in New York

Her politically charged interview comes a day after she relived the horrors she saw when she visited camps full of Rohingya refugees forced to flee Myanmar in a speech to the UN.

In a speech to the Security Council in New York on Tuesday, the actress said nothing prepared her for 'the extent and depth of suffering' she saw when she visited camps in Bangladesh for the refugees who fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar's military.

Cate said she heard 'gut-wrenching accounts' of torture, rape, people seeing loved ones killed before their eyes, and children thrown into fire and burned alive.

'I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every single refugee child I met,' she said. I saw myself in every parent. How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire?'

'Their experiences will never leave me,' the two-time Academy Award winner told the packed building at the UN headquarters in New York.

Cate visited the refugee camps in Bangladesh in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency in March this year.Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick revealed what it was like to have a long, impulsive onscreen liplock with 'tall drink of water' Blake Lively, her co-star in their upcoming movie A Simple Favor.

'It was a fun day,' the 33-year-old triple threat recalled to Pride Source on Monday.

'I mean, all I'm ever thinking about in [kissing] scenes is, who has gum? Who has a mint? And I think Blake is probably the same because I've never experienced a guy, like, searching for a mint and searching for gum. So, we were the mintiest, freshest two people to have ever kissed in the history of America.'

Sapphic bond: Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (L) revealed what it was like to have a long, impulsive onscreen liplock with 'tall drink of water' Blake Lively (R), her co-star in their upcoming movie A Simple Favor (pictured August 20)

In Paul Feig's crime thriller, the Maine-born brunette plays mommy vlogger Stephanie Ward, who's investigating the disappearance of her mysterious BFF Emily Nelson from their small town.

'I think Emily is a surprise for Stephanie, and she is completely in love with her in a way that she can't totally understand,' Anna explained.

'I do think that Stephanie probably would define herself as straight, except that there is this woman and she really is kind of in love with her and there is a part of her that is attracted to her.'

Kendrick added: 'Emily is very comfortable with the fluid aspects of her sexuality, whereas Stephanie has more of an emotional component to it. So, I was worried it would be, like, really sad. We definitely struggled to find that perfect balance of, there's just this moment and they both get caught up in it and its a little uncomfortable.'

The 33-year-old triple threat told Pride Source: 'It was a fun day. I mean, all I'm ever thinking about in [kissing] scenes is, who has gum? Who has a mint? And I think Blake is probably the same because I've never experienced a guy, like, searching for a mint and searching for gum. So, we were the mintiest, freshest two people to have ever kissed in the history of America'

'Stephanie is completely in love with Emily in a way that she can't totally understand': In Paul Feig's crime thriller, the Maine-born brunette plays mommy vlogger Stephanie Ward, who's investigating the disappearance of her mysterious BFF Emily Nelson from their small town

The spy flick based on Darcey Bell's 2017 novel - also starring Henry Golding, Rupert Friend, and Andrew Rannells - hits US theaters September 14 and UK theaters September 20.

The Golden Globe nominee has reportedly been dating DP Ben Richardson since 2014, while the 31-year-old mother-of-two will celebrate her sixth wedding anniversary with Ryan Reynolds on September 9.

Back in June, Blake posted on Instagram that the Scrappy Little Nobody author was: 'The hotter, female(r) version of my husband... so would it reaaaally count as cheating??'

Anna then commented, 'I let Ryan have Deadpool, so he can give me this,' and Lively's Canadian hubbie cracked: 'The most ambitious crossover event in history. I'll miss you both. Tell my story.'

Straight duo: Anna has reportedly been dating DP Ben Richardson since 2014, while the 31-year-old mother-of-two will celebrate her sixth wedding anniversary with Ryan Reynolds on September 9 (pictured in 2015 and 2018)

Back in June, Blake posted on Instagram that Kendrick was: 'The hotter, female(r) version of my husband... so would it reaaaally count as cheating??'

The Golden Globe nominee then commented, 'I let Ryan have Deadpool, so he can give me this,' and Lively's Canadian hubbie cracked: 'The most ambitious crossover event in history. I'll miss you both. Tell my story'

Kendrick also vowed in the interview that if there's ever a Pitch Perfect 4, she'll 'fight tooth and nail' for her character Beca to have a lesbian romance with Chloe (Brittany Snow).

'It would've been really cool if it would have ended up coming to fruition in the end...I definitely wanted to have an ending that was a Bechloe ending,' the Tony-nominated thespian explained.

'It wasn't like Universal was like, "There can be no lesbians in Pitch Perfect!" Because obviously Cynthia Rose is an openly gay character. But I think they were just confused by it because they weren't listening to all the online chatter about it, whereas I see it every day, and I'm like, "Are you kidding? This is what they want!"'He vowed to stay sober after being detained following a drunken row with his wife, Mara Lane, onboard a plane in July.

Now looking to the future, Jonathan Rhys Meyers looked healthy as he jetted into Italy ahead of the 75th Venice Film Festival with his other half and their one-year-old son, Wolf, on Wednesday.

The Golden Globe winner, 41, arrived in the Italian city in a stylish blue two-piece suit as strolled through the terminal with his brood.

Jetting in: Jonathan Rhys Meyers looked healthy as he jetted into Italy ahead of the 75th Venice Film Festival with his other half and their one-year-old son, Wolf, on Wednesday

The embattled Irish actor, who is set to debut his flick The Aspern Papers at this year's film festival, carried his tan leather briefcase in his hand while his specs hung off his white T-shirt.

Heading to his hotel, the Tudors star donned a pair of leather brogues and attempted to go incognito behind a pair of square-frame shades through the airport.

Following her other half's stylish lead, Mara put her best fashion foot forward in a chic semi-sheer jumpsuit and worked her locks into a light blue scarf.

The brunette beauty looked every inch the doting mother pushed their son Wolf, who was adorable in a beige shirt and blue shorts, on top of a suitcase following their long-haul flight.

Dapper: The Golden Globe winner, 41, arrived in the Italian city in a stylish blue two-piece suit as strolled through the terminal with his brood

Slick: The embattled Irish actor, who is set to debut his flick The Aspern Papers at this year's film festival, carried his tan leather briefcase in his hand while his specs hung off his white T-shirt

Meanwhile, Jonathan's appearance comes as he's set to debut his new film The Aspern Papers at the Venice Festival.

The Aspern Papers is the first feature from director Julien Landais and is adapted from the novella by Henry James, which is based on the letters Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Mary Shelley's stepsister Claire Clairmont.

Set in the late 19th century, the cinematic offering sees the troubled actor play an ambitious editor Morton Vint, who obsessed with the romantic poet Jeffrey Aspern.

Travelling to Venice to find the poet's muse, Juliana Bordereau, played by Vanessa Redgrave, who lives in a palazzo with her niece Miss Tina, played by Joely Richardson, and is intent on controlling the secrets of their relationship.

Walk this way: Heading to his hotel, the Tudors star donned a pair of leather brogues and attempted to go incognito behind a pair of square-frame shades through the airport

Signing off: He signed autographs for a waiting fan

When Morton tries to manipulate Miss Tina to get to the letters, his real motivations soon become apparent. The flick also stars Poppy Delevingne, Jon Kortajarena and Lois Robbins.

Their outing comes after Jonathan recently shared details on the 'frustrating' series of events that led to his drunken outburst on a flight earlier this month.

In an interview on Larry King Now, the actor admitted drinking doesn't 'suit' him as he spoke about the incident, which led to him being detained at Los Angeles' LAX airport when his plane touched down on the runway.

The Dracula star, who was accompanied by his wife Mara and their one-year-old son on the flight from Peru, recalled: 'My wife and I had been travelling since 3 o'clock in the morning from Peru back to Los Angeles. And they gave away our tickets  it was just a problem with the airline.

Fashion: Following her other half's stylish lead, Mara put her best fashion foot forward in a chic semi-sheer jumpsuit and worked her locks into a light blue scarf

Cute: The brunette beauty looked every inch the doting mother pushed their son Wolf, who was adorable in a beige shirt and blue shorts, on top of a suitcase following their long-haul flight

'We had our baby, who was teething at the time, and it was all kind of frustrating. So we eventually got on the flight and my wife went to sleep and I very stupidly decided to order a drink.

'When my wife found that I'd ordered a drink, she got very, very angry with me because I shouldn't drink. It doesn't suit me and I had been sober for a long time.'

Jonathan admitted he was 'upset' by his actions but had apologised to all involved in the incident and thanked police for being 'incredibly kind and understanding'.

He continued: 'And so I felt that mistake and I got upset and I took out an e-cigarette. And the airline staff told me that I wasn't allowed to smoke an e-cigarette so I put it away.

Support: Meanwhile, Jonathan's appearance comes as he's set to debut his new film The Aspern Papers at the Venice Festival

'Then I spoke to the Los Angeles police once we got there, who were incredibly kind. Incredibly understanding. I apologised for my behaviour, and that's the entire story.'

Jonathan - who is trying to quit smoking so he doesn't set a bad example to his son - insisted he has 'learned [his] lesson' from the incident and is now sober again.

He added: 'It is a good opportunity to apologise to anybody who was offended that that incident happened, but I learned my lesson.

'As soon as I got off the airplane I went and spoke to somebody and I got back on track immediately.'

Mara previously insisted the incident was 'out of character' for her husband and she revealed he had been trying to combat his 'anger issues'.Recently, an unconfirmed report by Woman's Day claimed that they broke up 'about a month ago'.

And speaking to The Daily Telegraph this week, celebrity chef Shannon Bennett, 42, denied rumours that he has split from his partner of 13 years, Madeleine West.

Shannon explained he will be 'reconnecting' with the blonde actress amid a move to Byron Bay with their six children.

'We're reconnecting and it's great': Shannon Bennett and partner Madeleine West denied rumours they split after 13 years together...and revealed they're moving to Byron Bay with their six children

'We're reconnecting and it's great. The bottom line is Madeleine and I care about each other deeply and we're not letting anything go at all,' he said.

'The kids are starting school up here (in Byron) next month so it's exciting,' he added.

The pair share six children together, all between the ages of three and 12 - Phoenix, Hendrix, Xascha, Xanthe and twins Xalia and Margaux.

'The bottom line is Madeleine and I care about each other deeply and we're not letting anything go at all,' MasterChef guest judge Shannon said

Big family: The pair share six children together, all between the ages of three and 12 - Phoenix, Hendrix, Xascha, Xanthe and twins Xalia and Margaux

And the move comes after The MasterChef guest judge explained he has owned a property in Byron Bay for over a decade.

In August, an insider reportedly told Woman's Day that the couple have split, saying: 'Nobody knows what went wrong but whatever happened, it's sad.'

'They have such a beautiful family.'

What split? In August, an insider reportedly told Woman's Day that the couple have split, saying: 'Nobody knows what went wrong but whatever happened, it's sad. They have such a beautiful family'

Doubt was cast over the split rumours, however, as Shannon and Madeleine bought a mansion in Toorak for a rumoured $16million only last September.

And despite the magazine's claims, the Vue De Monde chef has continued to like Madeleine's Instagram posts in recent weeks.

Ahead of the move, Shannon will be taking a break from full-time work and will not be returning to MasterChef next year.

Madeleine has also just concluded filming Network Ten's TV series, Playing For Keeps.She's struggled with legal battles throughout the year.

But Luann de Lesseps is likely breathing a sigh of relief as a judge signed off on a plea deal stemming from her Christmas Eve arrest in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Real Housewife of New York pleaded guilty to battery, trespassing and disorderly intoxication, and will avoid jail time in addition to felony charges, according to TMZ.

Smooth sailing: Luann de Lesseps is likely breathing a sigh of relief as a judge signed off on a plea deal stemming from her Christmas Eve arrest in Palm Beach, Florida; seen on Instagram

Part of the plea deal includes the former Countess to perform 50 hours of community service.

TMZ also reported that Luann will also have to attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week in New York.

She must abstain from using drugs or alcohol, and will have to submit to 'random testing during one year of probation'.

In the clear: The Real Housewife of New York pleaded guilty to battery, trespassing and disorderly intoxication, and will avoid jail time in addition to felony charges, according to TMZ; seen in her 2017 mugshot

Relief: Part of the plea deal includes the former Countess to perform 50 hours of community service; seen on Instagram

Luann discussed the alcohol-fueled incident that ended in her arrest and felony charges with The New York Times earlier this year.

'Obviously it was a really bad night for me and something I am not proud of,' she told the outlet, before slipping in some information about her new cabaret variety show titled #CountessandFriends.

'I can't avoid the whole story of what happened to me in Palm Beach,' she said, adding 'I'm trying to keep it light while also taking it seriously.'

Finished: Luann discussed the alcohol-fueled incident that ended in her arrest and felony charges with The New York Times earlier this year; seen with her ex-husband Tom D'Agostino in July

Luann was charged with one felony count of resisting an officer with violence during the incident at the Colony Hotel, and also accrued two misdemeanors, including trespassing and disorderly intoxication.

The Chic C'est La Vie songstress recently told PEOPLE magazine that she is 'in a really good place' following her second stint in rehab earlier this month.

'I dont feel like drinking. Im committed to my sobriety. I want it more than anything,' she admitted.

The reality star entered rehab on July 16 in a move that caused her to miss the filming of the reunion shoe for the 10th season of RHONY.His on/off girlfriend Gemma Collins admitted to enduring an 'incredibly difficult summer' amid their turbulent romance and his return to rehab.

And James Argent, 30, paid tribute to the TOWIE star in an Instagram post on Wednesday, dubbing the 37-year-old his 'number one love' and 'the nation's favourite'.

Breaking his silence after entering rehab earlier this week, Arg shared a photo of the couple on a motorbike over the summer and said he's praying for a 'better future' for them.

Tribute: James Argent called girlfriend Gemma Collins his 'number one love' and praised her support as he broke his silence after going back to rehab earlier this week

'I want to say a huge thank you for all of your support. I'm doing well & Feeling good but I couldn't of done it without this one @gemmacollins1 (sic)' Arg wrote.

'Her show #DivaEspana is on @ITVBe Tonight at 9pm. I know It wasn't an easy show for her to make. It's not been the easiest of times but through it all she makes us laugh.

'I know she'll smash it tonight & here's to a better future for us both. My number one love always & the nation's favourite Diva, GC x'

It comes after Gemma admitted she had gone through turbulent times with Arg over the summer.

Sweet: 'I want to say a huge thank you for all of your support. I'm doing well & Feeling good but I couldn't of done it without this one @gemmacollins1 (sic)' Arg wrote on Instagram

Cute: Breaking his silence after entering rehab earlier this week, Arg shared a photo of the couple on a motorbike over the summer and said he's praying for a 'better future' for them

She told MailOnline: 'It was incredibly raw, yes, it's been an incredibly difficult summer.

'But, that said, you know, we're back now in Essex and Arg is receiving help and you know, as long as he's doing well, that's great for him and for us.

'I'm just supporting him on his journey and I'm feeling pleased that the viewers get to see what goes on behind the cameras and I think it's good for them to see that behind all the glamour there's real ups and downs, even in celebrities' lives.'

Arg does appear in Gemma's new reality show, Diva Espana, but will be taking a break from his TV career.

Tough times: His on/off girlfriend Gemma Collins admitted to enduring an 'incredibly difficult summer' amid their turbulent romance and his return to rehab

This comes after it was revealed he has returned to rehab following his split from Gemma in a brave bid to tackle his demons.

In a statement released to MailOnline, Arg said: 'It's not been an easy time but I'm happy to be back in a programme that gives me the ongoing support I need.

'I'm thankful for the incredible support I have received from my family, close friends and colleagues.'

The Sun reported 'He has been living under a dark cloud' and has decided it's time to 'focus on his health'.

On/off: They split in July after a series of rows but got back together this month after being pictured out and about together

The site reports that Gemma, 37, and James are now back together after leaving fans guessing about the status of their relationship.

They split in July after a series of rows but got back together this month after being pictured out and about together.

James' issues were said to have put a huge strain on their relationship before he sought help.

James spent three months in a facility in Thailand over the festive season in 2016 in a bid to curb his wild ways and has revealed that he has checked himself in to a programme in order to get the 'ongoing support' he needs.

Arg has also spent time in The Priory for alleged drink and drug issues.She is known for playing a superhero Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But Elizabeth Olsen, 29, is making her way to smaller digital displays, where she'll lead the new Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss.

The forthcoming show released its first trailer on Tuesday, and is set to hit the social media network's video-on-demand service September 18.

First look: Elizabeth Olsen, 29, is making her way to smaller digital displays, where she'll lead the new Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss

'I was on line yesterday and it said that if your spouse dies, it feels like losing $308,780 a year,' Olsen informs a group at the beginning of the clip.

The Kill Your Darlings actress is playing the role of Leigh Gibbs, a young widow who is dealing with recent loss of her husband Matt, played by Mamoudou Athie, 29.

'How do you put a dollar amount on death?' she continues.

'How is that even a thing with a price tag?'

Grief: The forthcoming show released its first trailer on Tuesday, and is set to hit the social media network's video-on-demand service September 18

Melancholy: 'I was on line yesterday and it said that if your spouse dies, it feels like losing $308,780 a year,' Olsen informs a group at the beginning of the clip

Wistful: The couple dances around an unfurnished living room, as they both relish the moment of moving into a new home. 'This is our home. This is where we are supposed to live,' laughs Olsen

Looking back: 'Matt was the glue that held us together,' she remarks over a beach scene filled with yet unmentioned friends

The trailer then digs back into wistful moments from their all-too-short relationship.

The couple dances around an unfurnished living room, as they both relish the moment of moving into a new home. 'This is our home. This is where we are supposed to live,' laughs Olsen.

'Matt was the glue that held us together,' she remarks over a beach scene filled with yet unmentioned friends.

'I hate how in the beginning everyone wants to send you flowers, and then they stop calling and writing, doing nice things for you because they are over it, and they expect you to be over it,' she tells Jovan Adepo who plays Danny.

Moving on: 'I hate how in the beginning everyone wants to send you flowers, and then they stop calling and writing, doing nice things for you because they are over it, and they expect you to be over it,' she tells Jovan Adepo who plays Danny

Intrigue: The trailer then looks to cut in some intrigue, and Danny is heard saying, 'You think you knew him, but you didn't really know him as well as you thought'

The trailer then looks to cut in some intrigue, and Danny is heard saying, 'You think you knew him, but you didn't really know him as well as you thought.'

Leading to Olsen asking a friend, 'Do you know your husband's passcode to his phone?'

'Doesn't everyone? Otherwise I'd wonder who he was texting that he didn't want me to see,' she responds.

Phone a friend: Leading to Olsen asking a friend, 'Do you know your husband's passcode to his phone?'

Hidden secrets: 'Doesn't everyone? otherwise I'd wonder who he was texting that he didn't want me to see,' she responds

Also starring in the upcoming series are Star Wars: The Last Jedis Kelly Marie Tran in the role of Olsen's sister, while Janet McTeer plays their mom.

Created by Kit Steinkellner, Sorry for Your Loss is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which begins September 6.

The series will debut on Facebook on Tuesday, September 18 at 9pm ET.

Star-studded: Also starring in the upcoming series are Star Wars: The Last Jedis Kelly Marie Tran in the role of Olsen's sister, while Janet McTeer plays their mom

Coming soon: Created by Kit Steinkellner, Sorry for Your Loss is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which begins September 6It was announced last week that Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton would take on the role of The Elephant Man in BBC's titular new drama.

And disability charity Scope have criticised the casting choice, as they slammed the show runners on Wednesday for letting an able-bodied actor play Joseph Merrick.

Speaking to the Press Association, Scope's head of communications Phil Talbot said: 'It's disappointing that a disabled actor has not been cast in the remake of The Elephant Man, as it's one of the most recognisable films to portray a disabled character.

Lack of diversity: A leading disability charity criticised the BBC on Wednesday for casting able-bodied actor Charlie Heaton in the role of The Elephant Man

He continued: 'This is a missed opportunity but sadly, a lack of diversity in the industry is nothing new.

'Disabled actors still often face huge barriers to break in to the business, not only are the roles few and far between, but castings and locations are often not accessible.

'There is a massive pool of disabled talent being overlooked. The creative industries should be embracing and celebrating difference and diversity, not ignoring it.'

Unhappy: Scope's head of communications Phil Talbot said: 'It's disappointing that a disabled actor has not been cast in the remake of The Elephant Man' (pictured, Joseph Merrick)

A spokesperson for the show said: 'The Elephant Man is an iconic drama that has had an important role to play in highlighting changing attitudes to disability and we are currently in the process of casting disabled actors in a variety of key roles.'

Merrick was born in 1862, and developed physical deformities to his skin, face, arms and feet at five years old, in an attempt to escape a workhouse several years later, he found his way into a human oddities show in London.

It was here that he became named The Elephant Man, and while being exhibited he met Dr Frederick Treves who took him to the London Hospital where he lived until his death in 1890, aged 27.

Need change: He continued, 'The creative industries should be embracing and celebrating difference and diversity, not ignoring it' (pictured, John Hurt in the iconic role in 1980)

Filming for the BBC One drama takes place in Wales next year and additional casting will be announced in due course.

The Stranger Things star gushed he felt 'honoured' to be able to 'bring Joseph to life' while acknowledging the 'challenges' of the role.

Charlie said of the role, 'Im extremely excited and honoured to be given the opportunity to take on the portrayal of Joseph Merrick in the BBCs adaption of The Elephant Man.'

Previous rendition: Most recently, Bradley Cooper (pictured) took on the role in a theatrical adaptation of the story, while David Bowie and Mark Hamill have also played him

He continued: 'This is such a special role and a challenge for any actor. Joseph has such an incredible story and I cant wait to go on this journey and bring him to life.'

David Bowie, Mark Hamill and most recently Bradley Cooper have taken on the iconic role in a number of adaptations of the real life story.

John Hurt scooped the BAFTA for Best Actor when he played the part in the 1980 two-hour film alongside stars including Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.Meek Mill never forgets his roots.

The Philadelphia rapper and his Dream Chasers team donated 6,000 backpacks filled with supplies for the school year to Philadelphia students at 12 public schools, according to Complex.

The hip-hop star will also make a personal appearance at two of the schools, Randolph Technical High School and his alma mater James G. Blaine Elementary School, to hand out the backpacks to students.

Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill has taken up a number of charitable causes in recent years

School District of Philadelphia superintendent Dr. William R. Hite praised Mills generosity, stating: We are excited that so many of our students will have brand new backpacks and school supplies for this school year, and are grateful to Meek Mill and the Dream Chasers for giving back to the community. This visit is something our students won't soon forget and is a wonderful way to kick off the new school year.

According to the rapper himself, the gesture came from personal experience growing up in the U.S. city.

Growing up in Philly, Ive watched families struggle to make ends meet and buy basic school supplies for their kids. Those memories stay with me and thats why Im committed to giving back to families in my hometown, putting smiles on kids faces and helping them start the school year on the right note with the right supplies, he said in a statement.

His recent donation of backpacks just in time for the new school year is far from the only charitable cause Meek Mill has taken up in recent years. Hes also donated turkeys to needy families on Thanksgiving, something that continued even in 2017 after the rapper was controversially sentenced to prison for violating probation.

Meek Mill has also been increasingly active in promoting criminal justice reform in the United States as of late.

According to Meek Mills friend and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin: Over the last six months, I've probably spent about a third of my time on criminal justice reform, because the whole system is totally broken.

So we're taking on the whole criminal justice system now, and we're gonna be announcing a major foundation soon.

I'm going to be highly involved with it, Meek's going to be highly involved with it and some other big people who you know and follow and care about will also be very involved with it.

We think we can launch what will be the most impactful foundation within criminal justice reform and create a movement.

Who is Meek Mill?

Meek Mill is a rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born in the city on May 6, 1987 as Robert Rihmeek Williams.

Interested in music at a young age, he released several solo hip-hop mixtapes before releasing his debut studio album Dreams and Nightmares in October 2012, which received positive reviews and debuted and number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S.

That same month, Meek Mill also launched his Dream Chasers Records record label imprint.

Meek Mills sophomore effort Dreams Worth More Than Money also proved to be a big hit, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 246,000 units sold its first week alone after its June 2015 release.

His third and most recent album, Wins & Losses, was another success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200 after being released in July 2017.

In November 2017, the rapper was sentenced to two to four years in state prison for a parole violation after pleading guilty to reckless driving in New York City and allegedly assaulting two pedestrians in St. Louis, Missouri on March 11, 2017, though the latter charge was later dropped.

The rapper was ultimately released early on April 24, 2018. Upon his release, Meek Mill vowed to shine a light on the criminal justice system in the United States.Jenna Elfman has credited Scientology for helping make her marriage of 23 years a successful and long-lasting union.

In an interview with People's Chatter talk show on Tuesday, the actress, 46, said the religion played a 'huge part' in her relationship with her husband, Bodhi Elfman.

'Well, I've been a Scientologist for 28 years and that's a huge part of what helps us keep our communication going and our relationship,' she said.

'We hang in there': Jenna Elfman has credited her successful 23 year marriage to Scientology (pictured with husband Bodhi Elfman in 2017)

'We've never cheated on each other, we've never broken up. We hang in there,' she explained.

'Raising children, maintaining my sanity in a crazy world. Our world is crazy, it's getting crazier, and Hollywood is the ne plus ultra of crazy.'

Jenna was introduced to Scientology by her husband Bodhi, according to Rolling Stone.

The couple married in 1995, and together have sons Story, 11, and Easton, eight.

Family matters: The couple married in 1995, and together have sons Story, 11, and Easton, eight

She explained the religion offered courses on communication and improving relationships, and said Scientology's drug rehabilitation and criminal reform programs had high success rates.

The religion plays a huge part in Jenna's daily life, and the actress says it's become integral to her overall happiness and well-being.

'I use it every single day of my life and it keeps me energized and vivacious and happy.'

Jenna also urged people to do their own research into the controversial religion rather than 'believe everything they hear or read on the internet.'

She defended the religion, adding, 'I think that anything that works tends to get attacked.'

Jenna rose to fame after starring as the free-spirited Dharma Finkelstein Montgomery on the hit sitcom, Dharma & Greg, which ran from 1997 to 2002.

She currently stars as Naomi/June on the series, Fear The Walking Dead.She became engaged to pop act Justin Bieber in July.

And Instagram sensation Hailey Baldwin modeled his dazzling engagement ring when she was glimpsed stepping out with a pal in Los Angeles Wednesday.

The 21-year-old niece of Alec Baldwin showed off her enviably svelte legs in a tiny pair of Daisy Dukes, slipping into gleaming black leather boots.

Bride to be: Instagram sensation Hailey Baldwin modeled her dazzling engagement ring when she was glimpsed stepping out with a pal in Los Angeles Wednesday

Megawatt: The ring cost $500,000, according to a report from tMZ

Cinching a belt around her enviably trim waistline, she partly tucked in her Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt and tucked her signature blonde hair behind her ears.

The daughter of Stephen Baldwin added an extra dose of glitz with hoop earrings and a glistening pair of necklaces, accessorizing further with black shades.

An source alleged to Hollywood Life that Justin 'made it clear to Hailey that money is no object and whatever she wants for the big day she can have.'

Though Hailey is handling 'the bulk' of the wedding plans, Justin is 'definitely engaged in the process and giving her feedback on things when she wants it.'

Chic as ever: The 21-year-old niece of Alec Baldwin showed off her enviably svelte legs in a tiny pair of Daisy Dukes, slipping into gleaming black leather boots

Per the source: 'Neither Justin nor Hailey want a flashy showbiz type wedding' - and Justin will foot the bill, despite the fact Stephen volunteered to pony up the cash.

'Hailey is absolutely loving planning the wedding. Shes dreamed about this moment since she was a little girl, and now all her dreams are coming true. The fact she gets to walk down the aisle with Justin is more than she ever could have hoped for.'

Justin proposed to Hailey in a restaurant at the Bahamian resort where he was staying on a weekend in July, a brace of eyewitnesses gossiped to TMZ.

Before he popped the question on July 7, his security detail allegedly instructed the other restaurant-goers to tuck away their cellphones.

Fandom: Cinching a belt around her enviably trim waistline, she partly tucked in her Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt and tucked her signature blonde hair behind her ears

He and Hailey were seen the next day kissing and mingling with other revelers at Great Guana Cay's Nippers Beach Bar And Grill.

It was during the same outing that eagle-eyed onlookers first captured photographs of Hailey's ring - which TMZ claims cost $500,000 - and posted them to the Internet.

By the day after that, Justin himself fired up his Instagram page and confirmed to his more than 100 million followers that he and Hailey were engaged.

Hailey held forth about her religious convictions in Elle UK last year, saying: 'It's something I plan to stick to for the rest of my life  raise my kids that way, marry someone who believes in the same things. It's important to me.'

Sparkle: The daughter of Stephen Baldwin added an extra dose of glitz with hoop earrings and a glistening pair of necklaces, accessorizing further with black shades

Meanwhile, Justin, who in 2014 was arrested in Miami on charges including driving his Lamborghini under the influence, is a famous congregant of the Sydney-born megachurch Hillsong and something of a religious protege to its pastor Carl Lentz.

A source exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com that Hailey and Justin will attend Hillsong classes prior to going down the aisle.

'The marriage course is something which is encouraged and in some cases demanded by Hillsong pastors before they will marry you,' the insider confided.

On the go: Justin proposed to Hailey in a restaurant at the Bahamian resort where he was staying on a weekend in July, a brace of eyewitnesses gossiped to TMZ

'Justin obviously has a past; he had a long term relationship with Selena Gomez, and he wants to go into life with Hailey with a clean slate.'

Intimacy, conflict resolution, money matters and communication are all subjects that will reputedly be covered in the Hillsong lessons.

Justin and Hailey had a brief dalliance in 2016, but Hailey spoke to E! News that February and qualified that 'We are not an exclusive couple.'

Making it known: On July 9, Justin himself fired up his Instagram page and confirmed to his more than 100 million followers that he and Hailey were engaged

Yet in the slipstream of his latest split from his on-off flame Selena Gomez earlier this year, Justin and Hailey had been back on in the weeks prior to their engagement.

Former teenage sweethearts Justin and Selena reportedly went on again late last year - but by this March, they were on a break.

Selena's mother Mandy Teefey told Gossip Cop in January she was 'not happy' her daughter had taken up with her used-to-be.Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner became engaged this summer.

And already the 26-year-old supermodel and the 33-year-old businessman have been planning their wedding.

The couple will wed in New Jersey in 2019, according to Life & Style magazine, and the event will be small with only family and the closest of friends. 'She wants things to be romantic and easy,' said a friend.

Here comes the bride: Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner became engaged this summer. And already the 26-year-old supermodel and the 33-year-old businessman have been planning their wedding. Here Karlie is seen on the Brandon Maxwell runway in 2017

The future Mr and Mrs Kushner: Karlie and Josh, who began dating in 2012, used Instagram to reveal their betrothal back on July 24. Seen in 2016

Family includes his brother Jared, who is married to Ivanka Trump, and friends will include her best pal Taylor Swift.

'They want their wedding to be an understated affair,' said a source. 'They're planning to get married next spring or summer on his family farm in New Jersey.'

And it won't be overdone. 'They don't want it to be stuffy at all.'

So far the Vogue model has asked her sisters and some of her friends to be bridesmaids. There will reportedly be about 12 people in the bridal party.

Twice as nice: The catwalker will wear two wedding dresses on her big day; seen in 2012 for Elie Saab in Paris

Family time: Kloss with one of her sisters in an Instagram post from this summer. She has three sisters: Kariann, Kristine and Kimberly

And she will wear two dresses, one for the ceremony and one for the reception.

As far as flowers, the catwalk princess will have white roses and orchids.

This comes after a family insider told Page Six she converted to Judaism in 'early June' for Kushner. Seen in 2016

This comes after a family insider told Page Six that the pretty St. Louis native converted to Judaism in 'early June' for Kushner.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel is making a similar spiritual shift as future sister-in-law Ivanka. She converted to Orthodox Judaism before their 2009 marriage.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach explained that the Kushner family, whose patriarch is disgraced real estate developer Charlie Kushner, are a 'deeply observant' family.

'The Kushners are deeply observant. Charlie Kushner has an afternoon prayer service in his office every day.'

While it's not known where Karlie studied for her conversion the First Daughter undertook her religious education at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on East 85th Street.

In laws: Josh's brother Jared is married to Ivanka Trump; here she is seen with her father Donald Trump in 2016

Jared and Ivanka, who have three children, keep kosher and also observe the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sunset Saturday every week.

Karlie and Josh, who began dating in 2012, used Instagram to reveal their betrothal back on July 24.

Sharing a picture of Joshua smiling with the sun setting behind him as she kissed him on the cheek, Karlie said that she 'can't wait for forever together.'

She will show up: Taylor Swift, who has been friends with Karlie for years, will likely be at the nuptials; seen August 25 in Nashville

She was then congratulated by a number of fans, including sister-in-law-to-be Ivanka.

'So, so happy for you and Josh! I feel blessed to have you as a sister (!!!) Karlie and look forward to the decades of happy memories we will create together as a family!' Ivanka wrote.

A source close to the couple told People: 'Theyre both overjoyed and happily celebrating. Their hearts are full and theyre excited to build their future together.'Love Island Australia has landed in the United Kingdom and viewers are loving it.

The Australian dating show has the same structure and premise as the original version, which debuted in the UK four series ago. A group of hot, single strangers are placed in a picturesque villa for weeks in the hopes of forging a strong love connection with a housemate.

Those who dont find love in paradise are sent packing. Those who do will have the chance to leave the house with the love of their lives and a massive cash prize.

The Australian dating show has the same structure and premise as the original version, which debuted in the UK four series ago

This isnt all Love Island Australia has in common with its predecessor though.

The show also happens to be filmed just miles from the original Love Island villa in Majorca, Spain according to the Daily Star. Despite the proximity, there hasnt been a crossover between the Love Island Australia and Love Island UK cast.

How to watch Love Island Australia in the UK

Love Island Australia airs on ITVBe at 11pm BST.

Love Island Australia presenter

Love Island Australia is presented by Sophie Monk.

Who wins Love Island Australia 2018?

After the public viewer vote, Grant Crapp and Tayla Damir were crowned the winners of Love Island Australia. They beat Eden Dally and Erin Barnett, who finished second, and Amelia Plummer and Josh Moss.

In the finale, Grant and Tayla were each presented with envelopes representing love and money. Grants envelope was empty, while Taylas contained the cash prize.

Asked whether shed pick money or love, Tayla said: Obviously love.

She and Grant split the prize money. They broke up after the fact, however.

What does the winner of Love Island Australia get?

In the end of Love Island Australia, one winner has the option to take home the full $50,000 prize or split it with their partner evenly.It was announced on Monday that he would be playing Thomas Wayne, the father of Batman/Bruce Wayne, in the upcoming Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix.

But just two days later, Alec Baldwin says he has dropped out of the movie.

The 60-year-old told USA Today: 'I'm no longer doing that movie' before adding, 'I'm sure there are 25 guys who can play that part.'

Not happening: Alec Baldwin has revealed he's dropped out of the standalone Joker movie just two days after it was announced he joined the cast

The 30 Rock star said it was down to scheduling issues, something normally sorted out before signing an actor onto a role.

Just hours earlier Baldwin had posted a tweet hitting back at speculation his Thomas Wayne would be inspired by Donald Trump.

'Let me state, for the record, that I have NOT been hired to play a role in Todd Phillips' JOKER as some Donald Trump manque. That is not happening. Not. Happening.'

Warner Bros. confirmed his casting as Thomas Wayne on Monday.

At the same time The Hollywood Reporter described, via sources, the re-imagined Wayne character as 'a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump.'

Scheduling issues: The 60-year-old actor, pictured with wife Hilaria, was going to play Batman's father Thomas Wayne but told USA Today on Wednesday that he's out

Baldwin has famously portrayed Trump on NBC's Saturday Night Live and received his second Emmy nomination for it this year.

The standalone film about the Joker is set to start filming next month and is described as a darker take on the DC Comics demented supervillian than has been seen in previous Batman films.

It will explore the origins of the Joker and be more of a character study than crime thriller, THR.com reported.

Confusing: Just hours earlier Baldwin had tweeted to hit back at speculation his Thomas Wayne would be inspired by Donald Trump

Sources told THR.com the script paints Thomas Wayne as 'a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump.' Baldwin plays Trump on SNL, pictured

Already announced castmembers include Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Marc Maron in the feature being directed by Todd Phillips.

Phillips, who has co-written the screenplay with Scott Silver, is best known for his comedies including Old School, Starsky & Hutch and The Hangover series.

Baldwin currently stars in the Paramount hit Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and recently wrapped a role in Motherless Brooklyn, a crime drama being made by Warners.Ex-Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel apologized Wednesday for insinuating his ex-girlfriend Ashley Jacobs was 'unfaithful' before they ended their 15-month romance this month.

'I have no information that Ashley Jacobs ever cheated on me,' the 56-year-old reality star tweeted.

'In fact as far as I know she has always been true and faithful especially during the really dark times. She didn't deserve my insinuations to the contrary.'

Just kidding! Ex-Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel apologized Wednesday for insinuating his ex-girlfriend Ashley Jacobs was 'unfaithful' before they ended their 15-month romance this month (pictured in 2017)

The 56-year-old reality star tweeted: 'I have no information that Ashley Jacobs ever cheated on me. In fact as far as I know she has always been true and faithful especially during the really dark times. She didn't deserve my insinuations to the contrary'

This, after Ravenel referenced a song from the Broadway musical Chicago while describing his new single outlook: 'If she would have been faithful, if she could have been true, then I would have been cheated, I would have never known real love.'

Meanwhile, the 33-year-old recurring castmember thought the disgraced father-of-two - who quit the series on August 14 - was pathetic for attempting to smear her on social media.

'I blocked him so he was trying to get a reaction to me that way,' the Santa Barbara-born hospice nurse told Page Six on Monday.

'He's hurting and he knew that would be the only way to get to me. I just laughed at it. I just laughed at it like, "Oh, God. So dramatic!"'

'If she would have been faithful': This, after Ravenel referenced a song from the Broadway musical Chicago while describing his new single outlook

'I just laughed at it like, "Oh, God. So dramatic!"' Meanwhile, the 33-year-old hospice nurse thought the disgraced father-of-two - who quit the series on August 14 - was pathetic for attempting to smear her on social media (pictured August 15)

'He's hurting': The Bravo-lebrities originally met at a California bar in May 2017, but now Thomas is facing sexual assault allegations from three women (pictured June 13)

Yikes: Ravenel also notoriously resigned as South Carolina State Treasurer after pleading guilty to 'conspiring to buy and distribute less than 100 grams of cocaine' back in 2007

The Bravo-lebrities originally met at a California bar in May 2017, but now Thomas is facing sexual assault allegations from three women.

Ravenel also notoriously resigned as South Carolina State Treasurer after pleading guilty to 'conspiring to buy and distribute less than 100 grams of cocaine' back in 2007.

After their split, Ashley posted an August 21 apology to all Southern Charm fans, especially Thomas' estranged ex-partner Kathryn Calhoun Dennis, whom she 'badly disrespected.'

At that, the 25-year-old mother-of-two Insta-storied her flat refusal to forgive Jacobs for making her life very difficult over the last year.

'I owe you all an apology': After their split, Ashley posted an August 21 apology to all Southern Charm fans, especially Thomas' estranged ex-partner Kathryn Calhoun Dennis, whom she 'badly disrespected'

'But truly?' At that, the 25-year-old mother-of-two Insta-storied her flat refusal to forgive Jacobs for making her life very difficult over the last year

Sir Mix-a-Lot lyric: On Wednesday, the Charleston-born redhead Insta-storied a beach snap of her 'round and big' bikini-clad derriere

Palm print swimsuit: Kathryn was too busy 'living my best life' while vacationing with several gal pals on Harbour Island in the Bahamas

On Wednesday, the Charleston-born redhead Insta-storied a beach snap of her 'round and big' bikini-clad derriere.

Kathryn was too busy 'living my best life' while vacationing with several gal pals on Harbour Island in the Bahamas.

Dennis and Ravenel - who broke up in 2016 - share 50/50 custody of their daughter Kensington Calhoun, 4; and son St. Julien Rembert, 2.She's been busy filming her new movie Murder Mystery all around Italy since the start of August.

And Jennifer Aniston enjoyed a well-deserved break in Milan on Tuesday.

The Friends favorite, 49, dressed down while meeting up with a male friend who she looked particularly close to.

Paling around: Jennifer Aniston enjoyed a night off from shooting her film Murder Mystery in Milan with a close friend on Tuesday

Though Jennifer kept casual she was still stylish, sporting an oatmeal knit and dusty blue joggers slung low across her hips.

A leather bucket bag and pendant necklace completed her ensemble with tortoise-shell glasses.

The Along Came Polly actress's companion was cool and collected in a pair of khakis and a black shirt.

Easy-going: Though Jennifer kept casual she was still stylish, sporting an oatmeal knit and dusty blue joggers slung low across her hips

Extra credit: A leather bucket bag and pendant necklace completed her ensemble with tortoise-shell glasses

Close: The ex of Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux affectionately rubbed her friend's arm and wrapped him in a hug before they parted ways

After enjoying some time together, it was time to say 'Ciao.'

The ex of Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux affectionately rubbed her friend's arm and wrapped him in a hug before they parted ways.

Earlier this week Jennifer was seen while filming her Netflix comedy Murder Mystery in Lake Como, a favorite retreat of A-listers and aristocrats alike.

On location: Earlier this week Jennifer was seen while filming her Netflix comedy Murder Mystery in Lake Como, a favorite retreat of A-listers and aristocrats alike

The Aveeno ambassador stars alongside Adam Sandler, Luke Evans and Gemma Arterton in the comedy where she and the Happy Gilmore comedian play a married couple who go on a European vacation to reinvigorate their marriage.

A chance meeting on a flight leads to the pair being invited by a mystery man to an intimate family gathering on a super-yacht with an elderly billionaire. The wealthy man is later murdered on the vessel, making the couple prime suspects.

The project is expecting a 2019 release via Netflix.WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT AHEAD

He has had a rough couple of months, as he was the victim of a home invasion and lost a lawsuit to Waka Flocka's mother.

But it seems that when it rains it pours for French Montana, as he is now facing another lawsuit.

According to TMZ, the 33-year-old rapper's former pool guy is suing him because his 'dog bit him.'

Back at court: it seems that when it rains it pours for French Montana, as he is now facing another lawsuit

The outlet reported that according to court documents they obtained, 'Juan Lomeli says the run-in with the German Shepherd went down in May 2017 ... while Juan was servicing French's pool.'

The plaintiff claimed that for the first six months as the pool cleaner, he had had no issue with the dog, who goes by Zane.

That, however, changed on the day in question as it is being alleged that 'went off for no reason that day ... biting and viciously attacking him and causing some serious injuries.'

Ouch: TMZ published images of the dog bite on Tuesday

Gruesome: The plaintiff claimed that for the first six months as the pool cleaner, he had had no issue with the dog, who goes by Zane

TMZ, however, said he wasn't specific about the damage done to him, but the injuries were bad enough that he was unable work for an extended period.

Juan is suing 'French for the injuries and lost earnings.'

Bit: According to TMZ , the 33-year-old rapper's former pool guy is suing him because his 'dog bit him'

At the end of July, French's house was broken into by armed robbers, and it was reported that he was home with an unknown number of people at the time of the home invasion.

TMZ reported French was targeted by two armed robbers.

There doesn't appear to be any injuries as law enforcement confirmed to TMZ that nobody required hospitalization.

It is unknown what, if anything, the robber's took and there are currently no suspects.

Filed: The outlet reported that according to court documents they obtained, 'Juan Lomeli says the run-in with the German Shepherd went down in May 2017 ... while Juan was servicing French's pool'

Earlier in July French, was ordered to pay nearly $2 million to Waka Flocka's mother, Debra Antney.

The Blast reported that Antney won a sister state judgement to collect $1,999,588.41 from Montana after she won a lawsuit against him last year.

It all stems from a lawsuit Antney filed in 2013 against Montana, a former client of hers, who she claims made deals behind her back.A male detainee at Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre has been rushed to hospital after a medical episode, sources say.

It's believed the detainee may not have survived but this is still to be confirmed through official channels.

A source told AAP a man was taken from the detention centre to a nearby hospital after suffering suspected cardiac arrest on Tuesday.

A video, believed to have been shot inside the western Sydney detention centre and seen by AAP, shows paramedics working on a person on the ground in a large yard.

It shows detainees gathering around buildings matching known images of the detention centre as a stretcher is prepared to transport the man.

Messages from a person close to a detainee, also seen by AAP, claim a 30-year-old man collapsed suddenly on Tuesday afternoon and died.

The Department of Home Affairs has been contacted for comment.The Queensland Government is close to achieving gender equity on its boards.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has told a Women on Boards event in Brisbane that 47 per cent of representatives on state government boards and associated bodies are women, just shy of the target of 50 per cent by 2020.

"If government can set the example that if we can have 50 per cent of women on boards by 2020, business, the community and other organisations will also go about making that change," she said on Wednesday.The discovery of significant levels of pesticide residue on Queensland grapes has led to a hefty fine for a farm manager.

The Emerald Magistrates Court imposed a fine of $10,000 on the farm manager after he pleaded guilty to breaching agricultural chemical regulations.

A Biosecurity Queensland officer conducted routine sampling of table grapes during harvest operations in November 2016 at the farm and testing revealed a significant level of residue from the pesticide dimethoate.

Queensland's Agricultural Industry Development Minister Mark Furner said the fine underlined the significant responsibility attached to the responsible use of agricultural chemical products.

It's unclear if the offending was deliberate or accidental, Mr Furner said.Police and youth workers will team up in some of Melbourne's youth crime hot spots in a new program designed to reduce youth offending.

The $1.7 million state government funded Embedded Youth Outreach Program, beginning on Wednesday, will see a police officer paired with a youth worker every night in the Wyndham, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia areas.

Teams will refer at-risk young people to services that can help them navigate family relationship breakdown, alcohol or drug abuse, unemployment, mental ill-health or disengagement from school, Victoria Police says.A 34-year-old man has been arrested over the viscous rape of a young Melbourne mother five years ago, just weeks after police offered a $500,000 reward for information.

Police arrested the man in Reservoir after 1pm on Wednesday over the attack on the 22-year-old woman who was brutally bashed and raped in a North Melbourne laneway on June 30, 2013.

A 37-year-old woman was also arrested at the property and was expected to be interviewed over perjury and false alibi offences.

Police offered the hefty reward for information earlier this month.Failed Liberal leadership challenger Peter Dutton is under increasing pressure for intervening in visa cases of three au pairs, as questions linger over his eligibility for parliament.

The home affairs minister is facing questions about his decision to save a French au pair from deportation at the request of AFL boss Gil McLachlan.

Two other interventions in visa cases of au pairs by Mr Dutton are already the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

As immigration minister in November 2015, Mr Dutton used discretionary powers to free a 27-year-old woman from detention and grant her a tourist visa.

The au pair was planning to work for Adelaide-based farmer Callum MacLachlan, the AFL boss' second cousin.

Callum MacLachlan's father, Hugh MacLachlan, has donated roughly $150,000 to the Liberal Party since 1999.

Labor wants to know if the donations influenced his decision to help the young woman into the country.

Mr Dutton has flatly denied any wrongdoing and says donations had no influence on his decision.

"The minister has intervened in many cases presented by Labor members of parliament and you would have to ask them if they are presenting those cases based on donations to the Labor Party," a spokeswoman told the ABC.

Mr Dutton, who last week made an aggressive push to become prime minister, is also facing questions about his financial interest in publicly-funded child care centres.

Section 44 of the constitution bans people from parliament who have "any direct or indirect pecuniary interest with the public service of the Commonwealth".

Prime Minister Scott Morrison isn't ruling out referring Mr Dutton to the High Court to test his eligibility.

"I have been consulting with the attorney-general and we are dealing with those issues within our internal processes," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

"I would not have appointed Mr Dutton to the important role he has without considering those matters."

The opposition is demanding answers from Mr Dutton on both matters.

"It looks like he's got a good business in child care and he seems to have a sideline in au pairs as well," Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

But Mr Dutton is adamant he considers immigration cases on their merits.

"Any suggestions cases are determined on any other basis, including whether I knew the individual who referred the matter, is completely ridiculous," he said.

He also released legal advice confirming his eligibility, while the solicitor-general found Mr Dutton was "not incapable" of sitting in parliament but noted "some risk" of a conflict of interest.The NSW nurses union is demanding greater protection for hospital staff - including swipe passes for ward access - after a nurse was slashed by a knife-wielding patient in Sydney.

The nurse was attacked at Blacktown Hospital on Monday night by one of her patients who'd been behaving erratically before allegedly taking two knives from the staff room.

When the nurse - who was unaware the man was armed - attempted to persuade him to return to his bed he slashed her wrist and clothing, detectives allege.

The 47-year-old patient was subsequently charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Christine Boxsell, president of the Blacktown Branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, on Wednesday revealed the nurse was doing well physically.

"(The attack) is going to take her some time to get her head around because it was a very scary experience for her to go through," Ms Boxsell told reporters.

The union wants the state government to install swipe card security on all ward doors and staff areas in existing hospitals.

Ms Boxsell said the upgrades should be modelled on Sydney's new Northern Beaches Hospital which is scheduled to open in October and will have video intercom systems.

"Around the hospital, the nurses are scared. They're scared that this could happen at any time to any one of us," she said.

Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord has backed the push, noting swipe card security is being installed at state parliament.

"The NSW parliament is in the middle of installing swipe access to protect parliamentarians and their staff," he said in a statement.

"If it is good enough for parliamentarians to have swipe access protection, then it is good enough for hospital staff in NSW."A man who police believe poses as a doctor on dating apps has been charged after he allegedly raped a woman he met in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The 37-year-old man met the woman, 26, on dating app Bumble in late January and that same day the pair met up at a Maroubra unit.

NSW Police allege the man, who they say poses as a doctor, sexually assaulted the woman inside the unit before driving her to Mascot Railway Station where she caught the train home and reported the attack.

The man was arrested on Wednesday and charged with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of aggravated sexual assault without consent.

The man is known to use other dating apps, a NSW Police spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday.

He was refused bail and is due to appear at Waverley Local Court on Thursday.

Bumble has been contacted for comment.The High Court has discontinued action brought by the federal government to prevent commonwealth officials appearing before South Australia's Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Richard Beasley told commissioner Bret Walker on Wednesday that he assumed the court's decision was the "natural consequence" of Mr Walker withdrawing summonses for the production of documents and for certain officials to give evidence.

Mr Beasley said the commissioner's decision had flowed from the South Australian Liberal government's refusal to grant an extension of time for his investigation.

The state government came to its position despite Mr Walker expressing the view that it was in South Australia's interest for the witnesses to appear before he hands down his report early next year.

Mr Beasley said the relevant witnesses were also "in the nature of whistle-blowers" who wanted to give evidence "but are not willing to do so unless compelled".

The end to the High Court proceedings comes after Mr Walker recently clashed with SA Attorney-General Vickie Chapman over the future of his inquiry.

Ms Chapman had issued a statement indicating the commissioner would drop his demands for commonwealth and Murray-Darling Basin Authority officials to appear, a statement Mr Walker described as "wrong, discourteous and inappropriate".

At the time, the commissioner said he had only indicated he would withdraw the summonses if the state government decided not to extend his commission.

He said if the High Court cleared the way for the summonses to be enforced, that could only be properly done so if the deadline for his report was pushed out.

"It is wrong to anticipate the withdrawal of the summonses by me, when that would follow only if the government's position was not definitely to extend the reporting time to enable their fair enforcement," Mr Walker said in a letter to Ms Chapman.

In a reply, Ms Chapman confirmed the commission would not be extended and no further funding would be allocated.

Mr Walker is examining a wide range of issues associated with the Murray-Darling Basin and the plan to ensure the future viability of the system.

He is particularly concerned with questions of water theft and rorting by upstream users and is currently due to report to the state government in February.Convicted United States whistleblower Chelsea Manning may have her visa application denied by the Australian government just days before her speaking tour is due to start.

Ms Manning, a former US army intelligence analyst best-known as a leaker of classified military and diplomatic documents, is scheduled to start her Australian speaking tour in Sydney on September 2.

The Australian government is reportedly considering refusing entry to Ms Manning - who was released from military prison in 2017 - under s501 of the Migration Act, according to Fairfax Media.

The Department of Home Affairs says it does not comment on individual cases but all non-citizens entering Australia must meet character requirements set out in the Migration Act.

"A person can fail the character test for a number of reasons, including but not limited to where a non-citizen has a substantial criminal record or where their conduct represents a risk to the Australian community," a department spokesman told AAP in a statement.Prime Minister Scott Morrison will leave on Thursday for Indonesia, where he will talk free trade with President Joko Widodo.

Free trade and closer economic cooperation between two of the world's top 20 economies will be Prime Minister Scott Morrison's goal in Jakarta.

On his first trip overseas as leader, Mr Morrison will conclude free trade talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a meeting at the presidential palace.

The official free trade deal is still some months off signing, but this trip represents a chance for both sides to agree to a conclusion of negotiations.

"Our close collaboration across economic, security and strategic domains makes both countries stronger, safer and more prosperous," Mr Morrison said.

"I look forward to working with Indonesia's President to lay the foundation for the next stage of our bilateral partnership."

Director for East Asia and Pacific Edi Yusuf said the two sides hoped to finalise negotiations on the Indonesia Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) later on Wednesday.

The CEPA covers not just free trade pacts in goods, but also services and rules on investment as well as intellectual property, Mr Yusuf said.

The agreement will free up Indonesia's university sector for Australian investors, allowing up to 67 per cent foreign ownership. Foreign investors are currently barred from majority ownership in an Indonesian university.

The deal, which has been discussed since 2012 and was initially due to be completed last year, should be signed later in 2018 after a legal vetting of documents.

Indonesian officials declined to divulge further details, but media reports said rules on farm goods, such as Australian cattle exports to Indonesia, could be revised.

Despite being close geographically, Australia was only the 14th-biggest buyer of Indonesian products in 2017, while Indonesia was the 10th-largest export destination for Australia, International Monetary Fund data shows.

Indonesian data shows two-way trade was worth $8.5 billion in 2017, with a deficit of $3.5 billion on Indonesia's side.

Morrison and Widodo are also expected to sign a strategic comprehensive partnership and pacts on transport cooperation, creative economy efforts and cyber technology.

Mr Morrison will also meet with business leaders in an effort to drive greater links between Australia and Indonesia.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was due to go on the trip and also visit three other Asian nations, but those other visits were postponed when he was kicked out of office.

Mr Morrison will arrive in Jakarta on Friday morning.Queensland's opposition is urging the state government to alter legislation if there's no legal avenue to prevent convicted sexual predator Robert John Fardon from being unsupervised in the community.

A Brisbane Supreme Court decision earlier this week dismissed an attempt to extend a supervision order against Fardon.

It means the 69-year-old, who has a history of attacking females dating back to the 1960s, will be allowed to live in the community unmonitored when the order expires in October.

Among his reasons for dismissing the government's bid, Justice David Jackson said the risks of rapists reoffending "becomes very low after the age of 65".

Queensland's attorney-general has sought urgent legal advice about appealing the decision, but it remains unclear whether that would be successful.

Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said "every possible avenue" should be examined to prevent Fardon being unsupervised.

"We need to look at every possible avenue to keep this bloke off our streets, out of our community," Ms Frecklington said.

Ms D'Ath said she hadn't considered law changes to keep Fardon under active supervision because her efforts were focused on getting legal advice about the appeal.

"I absolutely understand concerns of the victims and also the broader community, we didn't want to see Robert Fardon released unsupervised (and) that's why we've taken the action that we have," she said.

She also defended the dangerous offenders legislation, which had placed Fardon on strict supervision orders for the past decade, as the strongest laws in the country.

A number of Fardon's victims have reacted with anger at news of his impending release from supervision, with Sharon Tomlinson, who was attacked by Fardon as a 12-year-old, calling the prospect terrifying.The Victorian Liberal Party president says the phones have been "ringing hot" from candidate potentials who wish to fill the gap that will be left by Liberal MP Julia Banks.

The first-time MP has announced she will not recontest her marginal Melbourne seat at the next election, calling out bad behaviour from both within her party and Labor.

Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger says he is not aware of any complaints of bullying within the party, but admits he hasn't spoken to Ms Banks for three months.

"We've already got a number of people that have put their hand up ... the phones have been ringing hot," he told Sky News.

"People want to get on Scott Morrison's team."

Ms Banks said last week's events, which led to Malcolm Turnbull being knocked from the top job and deputy leader Julie Bishop resigning from cabinet, were the "last straw".

Ms Banks agreed with hundreds of constituents who told her they wanted Malcolm Turnbull to remain prime minister.

"I have always listened to the people who elected me and put Australia's national interest before internal political games, factional party grudges, self-proclaimed powerbrokers and certain media personalities who bear vindictive, mean-spirited grudges," she said.

Labor held Ms Banks' Melbourne seat of Chisholm for 18 years before she won the contest at the 2016 federal election

It was the only seat the coalition won from Labor.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he is supporting his colleague as she takes leave before returning to parliament on September 10, and promises bullying won't occur under his watch.

"I have laid down the law to my ministry," he said.

Former minister Craig Laundy is also weighing up whether to leave politics after the tumultuous week of leadership tensions.

Mr Turnbull will on Friday resign his Sydney seat of Wentworth, triggering an October by-election.Questions linger over Peter Dutton's eligibility to sit in parliament as he comes under increasing pressure for intervening in the visa cases of three au pairs.

Labor is demanding answers over the home affairs minister's decision to save a French au pair from deportation following a request from AFL chief Gillon McLachlan.

Two other interventions in visa cases of au pairs by Mr Dutton are already the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

The woman was planning to work for Adelaide-based farmer Callum MacLachlan, the AFL boss' second cousin.

Callum MacLachlan's father, Hugh MacLachlan, has donated roughly $150,000 to the Liberal Party since 1999.

Labor wants to know if the donations swayed Mr Dutton's decision to help the au pair stay in Australia.

"I'm reading about the AFL guy, or ringing up and sorting out - sorry, but Peter Dutton and his own group are the people that know about this," Labor leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Perth on Wednesday.

Mr Dutton has denied any wrongdoing and says donations had no influence on his decision.

He is also facing questions about his financial interest in publicly funded childcare centres.

Section 44 of the constitution bans people from parliament who have "any direct or indirect pecuniary interest with the public service of the Commonwealth".

Scott Morrison, who became prime minister last week after defeating Mr Dutton for the Liberal leadership, isn't ruling out referring him to the High Court to test his eligibility.

Mr Dutton has released legal advice confirming his eligibility, while the solicitor-general found he was "not incapable" of sitting in parliament but noted "some risk" of a conflict of interest.Scott Morrison has been accused of sending the wrong message to Australia's neighbours in the Pacific by dropping a role that focused on the region and international development from his ministry.

The job is now a parliamentary secretary role, with Anne Ruston taking over the the portfolio from Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who has criticised the change, and told Fairfax the Pacific should have Australia's "highest attention".

Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong has told ABC Radio on Thursday the move is not the action of a leader or government that "recognises the important of the Pacific to Australia".Fears are mounting for a man missing in regional Victoria for more than a month, with police and SES staff turning their search to the banks of the Ovens and King rivers around Wangaratta.

Nathan Day, 34, who also goes by the surname Chambers, was last seen about 9am on July 26 at an address on Morrell Street, Wangaratta.

Mr Day has failed to show up for a number of appointments and police are concerned for his welfare due to the amount of time he has been missing.Google's China headquarters in Beijing is seen in June 2010, before the internet giant pulled its search operations from the country over censorship concerns

Human rights groups and other advocacy organizations Tuesday urged Google to abandon any plans to craft a censored version of its search engine that could pass muster with regulators in China.

A reported Dragonfly project, which Google has not publicly confirmed, "would represent an alarming capitulation by Google on human rights," argued a letter signed by 14 groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders.

Google employees and whistle-blowers speaking out against the project should be protected by the Silicon Valley-based company, the groups said.

"Google risks becoming complicit in the Chinese government's repression of freedom of speech and other human rights in China," the letter read.

"Google should heed the concerns raised by human rights groups and its own employees and refrain from offering censored search services in China."

Cynthia Wong of Human Rights Watch said Google "has failed to explain how it will shield users from the Chinese governments efforts to monitor and suppress dissent."

Google withdrew its search engine from China eight years ago due to censorship and hacking but it is now working on a project for the country codenamed Dragonfly, an employee told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The search project -- which works like a filter that sorts out certain topics -- can be tested within the company's internal networks, according to the worker.

Although Google has not commented publicly on the plans, some reports said the company has described the effort as exploratory.

"We provide a number of mobile apps in China, such as Google Translate and Files Go, help Chinese developers, and have made significant investments in Chinese companies like JD.com," spokesman Taj Meadows told AFP when news of Dragonfly broke early this month.

"But we don't comment on speculation about future plans."

US internet titans have long struggled with doing business in China, home of a "Great Firewall" that blocks politically sensitive content, such as the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and The New York Times website are blocked in China, but Microsoft's Bing search engine continues to operate.

Other organizations signing the letter include Access Now, Article 19, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Human Rights in China, International Service for Human Rights, PEN International, Privacy International and Witness.A 3D printed gun, called the "Liberator", is seen in a factory in Austin, Texas on August 1, 2018. A Texas man started selling digital gun-making blueprints despite a court-ordered distribution ban

A Texas man on Tuesday began selling digital gun-making blueprints, including for a 3D-printed plastic handgun, despite a judge's order barring the distribution of the material.

Cody Wilson had initially published the downloadable files on his website four weeks ago, after a deal struck with the Donald Trump administration that ended the federal government's efforts to block him.

Wilson's actions caused a political firestorm, and even prompted Trump to tweet that making gun blueprints easily available online "doesn't seem to make much sense!"

Multiple states filed a joint lawsuit claiming Wilson endangered public safety. One of the homemade weapons could evade metal detectors and all lacked traceable serial numbers.

A federal judge issued a temporary order on July 31 barring the distribution of the digital blueprints, and on Monday extended that order until the states' lawsuit is adjudicated.

Wilson told a news conference Tuesday that he interpreted the judge's ruling as only barring the free online distribution of the blueprints. He instead began to offer the files for sale, and promised to send physical copies on flash drives or by email.

Visitors to his online marketplace, which was once again active Tuesday, could name their own price for the information.

"Everyone in America who wants these files will get them," Wilson said. "I'm happy now to become the iTunes of downloadable guns, if I can't be the Napster."

Wilson insisted that the digital files had already been available elsewhere online for years, and that barring him from distributing the content was akin to free speech censorship.

"What's at stake in the courts is simply the government is trying to tell you what you can and can't have, what you can and can't download online," he said.

Seattle-based US District Judge Robert Lasnik said in his Monday ruling that free speech rights were "dwarfed" by the harm that Wilson's actions could cause.

"The very purpose for which the private defendants seek to release this technical data is to arm every citizen outside of the government's traditional control mechanisms of licenses, serial numbers, and registration," Lasnik wrote in his ruling.

"It is the untraceable and undetectable nature of these small firearms that poses a unique danger."

The Washington state attorney general, who is leading the multi-state lawsuit, responded to Wilson's latest move by reiterating that it was "again illegal to post downloadable gun files to the internet."

"I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson, a self-described 'crypto-anarchist,' accountable to that law," Bob Ferguson said.US Democrats are being tipped to gain seats in Congress in November's midterm elections, but pollster Ipsos says the level of enthusiasm of President Donald Trump's loyalists will play a major role in determining the outcome of the races

Women and well-off suburban Republicans will play decisive roles in countering Donald Trump's loyalists in November's midterm elections, according to Ipsos pollsters who are armed with new tools to face their first big test after the billionaire's shock 2016 victory.

Trump's capture of the White House took the entire polling industry by surprise, as election forecasters floundered by predicting a Hillary Clinton win.

In order to obtain a more comprehensive view of a complex electorate this year, Ipsos is using three sources of information: traditional polls, expert analysis from the University of Virginia and social media trends.

The new tool, available for free online, was unveiled Tuesday in Washington.

"It's really come out of our experience with the 2016 elections... The market writ large got the elections wrong," Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs, said in an interview.

There has been extensive debate over why so many polling organizations missed the mark two years ago, but in Ipsos's view it was because "the market, in general, depended on one single input and that was polls," Young said.

"We overstated Hillary slightly" in crucial swing states and tended to "underestimate rural, white, under-educated individuals," he added.

Larry Sabato, who heads the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said "we got drunk on polls, all of us did."

"This is our attempt to follow through," Sabato said of the new tool, speaking at a news conference. "We've got to rely on multiple measures."

Ipsos will be tracking more than 400 races scheduled for November 6, using its new tool to poll 10,000 likely voters per week, analyze the assessments of a dozen political science professors, and screen up to 5.5 million social media mentions per day.

At stake in November are the 435 House of Representatives seats and about a third (35 seats) of the 100-member Senate, both of which are currently controlled by Republicans. The governorships in 36 states, as well as numerous state and local seats, are up for grabs.

- 'Strong blue year' -

Most signs point toward Democrats taking back the House, although it will be an uphill climb for them to do the same in the Senate, where the electoral map is tougher.

"All three of the methods suggest it will be a strong blue year," Young said. "The question is how big will the wave be?"

Another question is what to make of the president's prediction of a "red wave" instead.

"That's fantastical," Young said, emphasizing that the party in power in the White House typically sheds seats in Congress in the midterms.

Three demographic groups are likely to play pivotal roles.

Women, who might be put off by the scandal-plagued Trump, "will be very important" in determining 2018 election outcomes, Young said.

"There is a huge differential in terms of support for women between Trump and the Democrats."

Kyle Kondik, another University of Virginia political scientist, noted this could be "the year of the suburban college-educated women's revolt."

"If we look at the president's numbers amongst that particular group of voters, it's really pretty weak," he said.

Middle-class and upper middle-class voters living in America's residential suburbs will require close scrutiny, too, according to Young.

"These tend to be Republican strongholds" where voters favor lower taxes and pro-business policies, but who have become "very turned off by the conduct of the president" and might sit out the November election, he said.

Finally, Trump's core supporters: ignoring them would be a mistake. The president enjoys a high rate of popularity, some 80 percent, among Republicans.

Minority voters, who lean Democratic, tend to mobilize less during midterm elections. "But who knows this year?" Young said, noting that traditional political patterns have been jolted since Trump's White House win.

On the social media front, Ipsos -- through the use of complex algorithms -- is analyzing trends in online conversations that provide "very good insight" into understanding the key issues for voters in 2018, Young says.

Three topics, apart from the overarching figure of Trump himself, are at the fore: health care, immigration and jobs.

Keenly aware of the Russian interference in the last US presidential election, including the spread of fake or inflammatory news reports on social media, Ipsos is taking care to detect and dismiss the "bots," or automated accounts, some from overseas, that have proliferated in the political realm.

"What we really want to understand is what is the true human conversation going on," Young said.Frank Mendoza, 54, was fatally shot on August 1, 2014 by a sheriff's deputy who mistook him for Cedric Ramirez, a parolee wanted on felony charges

Los Angeles County has agreed to pay $14.35 million to the family of a man mistakenly shot by police during a search for a wanted gang member, the family's attorney said.

The settlement, one of the highest ever paid by the county, was reached earlier this year but the amount had not been made public.

Frank Mendoza, 54, was fatally shot on August 1, 2014 by a sheriff's deputy who mistook him for Cedric Ramirez.

Ramirez, 24, a parolee wanted on felony charges, had broken into the Mendoza home during a police chase in LA's Pico Rivera neighborhood.

Several members of the family managed to escape from the house. But when Mendoza tried to flee through the front door, a deputy mistook him for Ramirez and shot him once in the forehead and once in the leg, according to a report of the incident.

"This is the worst nightmare of any citizen, where they're under the suspicion that they're being protected by law enforcement and instead, law enforcement ends up taking their life," Garo Mardirossian, the family's attorney, told reporters on Monday.

Mendoza's family had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Los Angeles County and the Sheriff's Department after the shooting, claiming that officers had been negligent.

The suit said that before the shooting took place, three officers had entered the Mendoza home while chasing Ramirez.

But they exited the house after hearing gunshots coming from the backyard, leaving the family vulnerable, the suit said.

Ramirez then managed to get inside the home through a back window.

Three family members escaped but when Mendoza stepped out of the house, he was mistaken for Ramirez and shot.

Ramirez was later shot and killed after pointing a gun at an officer and holding Mendoza's wife Lorraine hostage for eight hours, authorities said.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department offered its condolences to the Mendoza family and said it was always striving to avoid similar tragedies from taking place.

"Deputies were forced to make a split-second decision as an armed suspect willingly fired upon deputies multiple times, putting innocent lives at risk and taking a family hostage in their home," the statement said. "The outcome was the rescue of that hostage, but also the heartbreaking death of an innocent man."High-profile shootings of African Americans by white police officers have fueled outrage across the United States and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement

A Texas jury found a white police officer guilty of murder Tuesday for the shooting death of a 15-year-old African American boy -- a rare conviction resulting from a high-profile police shooting case.

Roy Oliver fired five bullets into a car full of teens last year, killing Jordan Edwards while responding to a call of underage drinking at a party in a Dallas suburb.

The unarmed Edwards and four others were leaving the party after hearing gunfire, which had come from another nearby location. Oliver fired a rifle into the car, hitting the teen in the head.

The trial jury also found the officer, who was reportedly fired from his job, not guilty of two aggravated assault charges.

Oliver could face between five to 99 years in prison for the murder conviction.

Tearful family members could be seen embracing during a court recess after the verdict was read.

"I'm happy, very happy. It's been a long time," the slain teen's father Odell Edwards told assembled news media.

The trial resumed shortly after with the sentencing phase.

The jury had deliberated for just two days before returning the rare conviction of a police officer in a high-profile shooting.

Similar convictions in other cases have proven mostly elusive, illustrating the difficulty of convicting officers in deadly encounters where split-second decisions are made.

Edwards family attorney Daryl Washington said the case was "about every African American, unarmed African American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."

- 'No other option' -

Police originally said Oliver opened fire because the car was backing up aggressively toward him, but the department changed its account after viewing bodycam footage, saying the car was driving away when Edwards was shot.

At trial, Oliver testified that he fired because the car was driving toward his partner.

"I had to make a decision," Oliver testified. "This car is about to hit my partner, there are threats inside the car and when lethal force is being presented toward us, I had no other option but to use lethal force."

But Oliver's partner Tyler Gross testified at trial that he had not felt in danger, according to US media reports.

"I just wanted them to stop," Gross said, according to WFAA TV. "I was not in fear at that point."

The Dallas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement announcing Oliver's arrest warrant last year that evidence suggested the police officer "intended to cause serious bodily injury."

The shooting was among a growing list of similar cases in which African Americans were killed by white police officers.

The high-profile incidents, often accompanied by official or eyewitness video footage, have fueled outrage across the United States and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Oliver was the first on-duty Texas officer in more than 40 years to be convicted in a shooting death, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union hailed the conviction for sending "a powerful message."

"There is a long history in this country of failing to hold law enforcement responsible for even the gravest abuses of power," the group's Sharon Watkins Jones said in a statement.A UN-backed fact-finding misson has called for Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, as well as other top brass, to be prosecuted for genocide against the Rohingya minority

Several countries, including the United States, called Tuesday for Myanmar military leaders accused of orchestrating the repression of the country's Rohingya minority to be brought before international justice.

"The facts of the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya must be said, and they must be heard," said Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley and other ambassadors stopped short, however, of using the word "genocide" that was cited in a UN-backed report released the day before accusing Myanmar's top brass of a long list of atrocities in Rakhine state.

"Here in the Security Council, we must hold those responsible for the violence to account," Haley said.

The report by UN investigators called on the Security Council to refer the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, or to create an ad hoc international criminal tribunal, as was done with the former Yugoslavia.

The UN-backed fact-finding mission said that Myanmar's "top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State."

The crimes it cited after a long inquiry included murder, enforced disappearance, torture and sexual violence "perpetrated on a massive scale."

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown in August last year on insurgents amid accounts of arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.

Several other Security Council members joined the call for the perpetrators to be brought before an international tribunal, including Britain, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Sweden. They also called for a mechanism to "collect and preserve proof" of abuses.

But China and Russia, which as permanent members of the Security Council have veto powers, have said they prefer "dialogue" with the Myanmar leadership to resolve the conflict.

For the past year, the Security Council has limited itself to statements condemning the violence and demanding access for humanitarian aid, and for the right of those who have fled to return to their homes.

Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya rebels.

Faced with stonewalling from Myanmar, the UN only managed to nominate a special envoy to the country in April.

"It is clear that conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

He said that in Rakhine state, "some 130,000 Rohingya remain confined in camps with severe restrictions on their freedom of movement. They have extremely limited access to health, education and other essential services, and to ways of making a living."

Guterres did not weigh in on the issue of bringing the perpetrators before an international court, but said that "effective international cooperation will be critical to ensuring that accountability mechanisms are credible, transparent, impartial, independent and comply with Myanmar's obligations under international law."

Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Hau Do Suan, rejected the conclusions of the UN report and questioned the impartiality of investigators, saying: "I would like to reiterate that we did not accept the mandate of the mission because we have our concern about the mission's impartiality."

Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group called on the international community to prevent those responsible for abuses in Myanmar from escaping justice, with the latter organization saying the UN General Assembly was better able to create a judicial mechanism due to divisions within the Security Council.Supporters of Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse hold a sign saying "No to the dictatorship of fraud" during a rally to contest the results of presidential runoff vote on August 18

Nearly three months after a disputed presidential run-off, Malians will go to the polls again in legislative elections on October 28, officials announced on Tuesday.

"The electoral college has called for the election of deputies to the National Assembly on October 28, 2018, throughout the national territory," the government announced.

A second-round election is scheduled for three weeks later on Sunday November 18 in constituencies where no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes.

The announcement comes after the opposition candidate for the presidency refused to accepted the results that handed a second term to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, 68, slammed the August 12 run-off election, charging voter fraud.

But the Constitutional Court rejected Cisse's petition against the result as being inadmissible or unsupported by evidence.

In a letter Tuesday, Cisse's top aide Tiebile Drame protested what he called "extrajudicial arrests" of opposition partisans for several weeks.

The letter, a copy of which AFP obtained, was addressed to the African Union, the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

According to a security source, Boro, who was not yet released as of Tuesday evening, was accused of providing youths with arms before an opposition demonstration.

Drame alleged that the arrests were made by a parallel police force controlled by the regime.

A government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar, seen August 5, 2018, and President Salva Kiir have held weeks of talks in Khartoum in search of a comprehensive peace deal to end the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since 2013

Sudan said Tuesday that South Sudanese rebel chief Riek Machar has agreed to sign a final peace deal with Juba to end a brutal civil war after initially refusing to do so.

Machar and President Salva Kiir have held weeks of talks in Khartoum in search of a comprehensive peace deal to end the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since 2013 in the world's youngest country.

The warring parties have already inked several agreements, including a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing deal that sees Machar returning as first vice president in the government.

But earlier on Tuesday in what was seen as a setback to ongoing peace efforts, Machar refused to sign the deal even as Juba inked it.

Hours later the Sudanese mediators announced that he had agreed to sign it.

"After intense negotiations by Sudanese mediators, Riek Machar agreed to sign the document on Thursday, August 30," Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed told reporters.

Machar and other rebel groups had initially refused to sign the draft, saying their reservations had not been acknowledged in the text.

The rebel groups had differences over the functioning of a proposed transitional government, how many states the country should be divided into and on the writing of a new constitution.

South Sudan finally became independent from Sudan in 2011, but a little over two years later a fresh war erupted pitting Kiir against Machar, his former deputy.

The conflict has seen widespread rape and murder of civilians, often along ethnic lines, and uprooted roughly a third of the population.

A succession of peace deals have been signed between the two leaders only to be broken, most recently in December.A new voting machine to be used during the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) elections sits on a table beside two ballot boxes in Kinshasa

All six candidates who were barred from running in DR Congo's presidential elections later this year have lodged appeals at the Constitutional Court, two of them told AFP on Tuesday.

The decision to ban six of the 25 candidates who registered to run for the presidency in December's vote was announced by the electoral commission late on Friday, which gave them until Tuesday to file an appeal.

Among those challenging the decision was former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, a major rival of President Joseph Kabila who returned to the DRC on August 1 to file his candidacy after being acquitted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges.

Former prime ministers Samy Badibanga, Adolphe Muzito and Antoine Gizenga, all of whom served under Kabila, were also banned, along with the sole woman candidate, Marie-Josee Ifoku Mputa who was one of the two who spoke to AFP.

The court will now deliberate the appeals, with the election commission expected to publish a final list of candidates by September 19, three months ahead of the ballot, which is scheduled to take place on December 23.US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, welcoming Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu at the Pentagon in Washington, downplayed the idea of the US deploying a private army in Afghanistan

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday downplayed the idea of sending private military contractors to Afghanistan to replace American forces.

"When Americans put their nation's credibility on the line, privatizing it is probably not a wise idea," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

Erik Prince, the former head of a controversial private military firm once known as Blackwater, has repeatedly touted such a plan as a way of reducing the US military footprint in Afghanistan after 17 years of war.

His sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Currently, about 14,000 US troops are in Afghanistan, providing the main component of the NATO mission to support and train local forces.An injured Yemeni man lies in a hospital bed as he receives treatments after being wounded during a reported air strike on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida on August 3

US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is not "unconditional," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday, as he defended America's ongoing role in the war.

The Pentagon chief's comments came the same day as UN investigators said they had reasonable grounds to believe that warring parties in Yemen may have committed a "substantial number" of violations of humanitarian law that could amount to "war crimes."

The US provides weapons, aerial refueling to jets, intelligence and targeting information to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Last week, the UN said two air raids killed at least 26 children and four women south of the flashpoint rebel-held city of Hodeida.

Those deaths came after a coalition attack on a bus in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada early this month killed 40 children.

"Our conduct there is to try and keep the human cost of innocents being killed accidentally to the absolute minimum," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

"That is our goal where we engage with the coalition."

But, he said, US support has its limits.

"It is not unconditional," he said, noting that the coalition must do "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life, and they support the UN-brokered peace process."

The devastating Yemen conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Huthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

The UN human rights office said Tuesday that some 6,660 civilians were among the dead, while more than 10,500 had been injured.

Mattis described the complexity of the war, noting that Huthi rebels have launched weapons from residential areas into Saudi Arabia.

"We have been working with the Saudis and the Emirates doing what we can to reduce any chance of innocent people being injured or killed," he said.

"At no time have we felt rebuffed or ignored when we bring concerns to them," he went on, noting that he had not seen any "callous disregard" from the coalition.

The Pentagon chief added that training given to coalition pilots is paying off.

"We have had pilots in the air who recognize the danger of a specific mission and decline to drop, even when they get the authority," he said.

"We have seen staff procedures that put no-fire areas around areas where there's hospitals or schools."Dozens of Herero and Nama were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited 'scientific' experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans

Berlin will on Wednesday hand back human remains seized from Namibia a century ago after the slaughter of indigenous people under German colonial rule, but descendants are still waiting for an apology.

A Namibian government delegation will receive the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during a solemn church service in Berlin.

"We want to help heal the wounds from the atrocities committed by Germans at the time," said Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry.

But representatives of descendants of the tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people massacred between 1904 and 1908 after rebelling against their colonial overlords have criticised the ceremony as insufficient.

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover would have been "the perfect opportunity" for Germany to officially apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

"Is that asking too much? I don't think so," she told a Berlin press conference this week, describing the attitude of the German government as "shocking".

- No reparations -

State Minister Muentefering told reporters on Monday that Germany still has "a lot of catching up to do in coming to terms with our colonial heritage".

As part of ongoing talks with the Namibian government on addressing its brutal legacy in what was then South West Africa, the German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology.

Namibia

But the negotiations aimed at coming up with a joint declaration on the massacres are still ongoing.

Although Berlin has acknowledged the horrors that occurred at the hands of German imperial troops, it has refused to pay direct reparations.

It has argued instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was "for the benefit of all Namibians".

Angered by Berlin's stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama people have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations.

They also want to be included in the discussions between Germany and Namibia.

Germany wants the lawsuit thrown out on the grounds of state immunity for prosecution.

The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit.

Namibian Culture Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, speaking alongside Muentefering in Berlin, said the two countries "still have many problems to solve".

"We must ensure that after we've reached agreements on damages, recognition and an apology, there's a future in which the German and Namibian nations join hands and move forward."

- 'Extermination order' -

Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Hereros revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905.

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue (L), chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation in Namibia, said Germany's reluctance to offer an apology and damages was 'shocking'

Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious "extermination order" that would lead to the deaths of some 60,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people.

Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, rounded up in prison camps, died from hunger and exposure.

Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited "scientific" experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass.

Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Wednesday's handover proceedings mark the third time that Germany has repatriated human remains to Namibia, the previous occasions were in 2011 and 2014.

The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were "often stolen... brought to Germany without respect for human dignity", according to the German foreign ministry.

Herero activist Muinjangue said the homecoming of the bones was always "very emotional".

"I'm looking at the skull of a Herero or Nama peasant. A peasant who could have been my great-grandmother or great-great grandmother or father."Schoolgirls in Windhoek walk past a memorial for the victims of genocide committed by German forces against Herero and Nama people

The massacre of modern-day Namibia's indigenous Herero and Nama groups by German imperial troops more than a century ago is considered by some historians to be the first genocide of the 20th century.

As Germany prepares to return some of the victims' bones on Wednesday, here is some background.

- Rebellion -

Germany ruled what was then called South West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915.

Angered by German settlers stealing their women, land and cattle in their remote desert territory, the Herero tribe launched a revolt in January 1904. Its warriors butchered 123 German civilians over several days.

The smaller Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905.

- Extermination order -

The German occupiers responded ruthlessly, defeating the Herero in a decisive battle at Waterberg, northwest of the capital city of Windhoek, on August 11, 1904.

German troops then pursued them as some 80,000 fled towards Botswana, with women and children, across what is now known as the Kalahari Desert. Only 15,000 survived.

In October 1904 German General Lothar von Trotha, under the direct command of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin, signed a notorious "extermination order" against the Herero.

"Within the German boundaries, every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without livestock, will be shot dead," he said.

Survivors were sent to concentration camps, decades before those in which millions of Jews and others were exterminated during World War II.

An estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed from 1904 to 1908.

From 40 percent at the start of the 20th century, the Herero now only make up seven percent of the Namibian population.

- Bones for 'experiments' -

Hundreds of Hereros and Namas were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls were spirited away to German researchers in Berlin for since discredited "scientific" experiments to prove the racial superiority of whites over blacks.

In 1924 a German museum sold some of the bones to an American collector, who donated them to New York's natural history museum.

In 2008 Namibia's ambassador in Berlin demanded that the bones be returned, saying it was a question of reclaiming "our dignity".

Germany has since 2011 formally handed back dozens of the skulls, many of which were stored at universities and clinics.

- Demand for apology, reparations -

Germany long refused to take the blame for the episode, only accepting responsibility on the 100th anniversary of the massacres in 2004, when the then development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said the "atrocities... would today be called genocide".

Some historians and other officials have also termed the massacre a genocide, including then German parliamentary president, Norbert Lammert, in 2015.

The German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology, but negotiations are still ongoing.

Berlin has also refused to pay reparations to descendants of the Nama and Herero victims, arguing that its development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was "for the benefit of all Namibians".

Herero and Nama representatives have filed a class-action suit against the German government in a US court to demand damages. The New York judge has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit, which Germany wants thrown out.Easing through: Roger Federer celebrates after defeating Yoshihito Nishioka

Five-time champion Roger Federer eased into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday, beating Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

The Swiss great, seeded second at Flushing Meadows behind defending champion and world number one Rafael Nadal, improved his perfect record in US Open first-round matches with his 18th win in 18 attempts.

As the opening attraction of the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Federer escaped the worst of hot, humid conditions that punished players earlier in the day.

Nor did he meet much resistance from Nishioka, who was ranked 58th in the world last March before tearing a left knee ligament and sliding out of the top 150.

After rolling through the first two sets with the loss of just four games, Federer cruised to a 4-0 lead in the third. Up 5-1, he was unable to close out the match against Nishioka's serve, and then was broken on his first attempt to serve it out himself.

Federer, who claimed is 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, would put the match away two games later, finally sealing the win with a service winner.

"I'm very happy to be back in New York healthy," said Federer, who claimed five straight US Open titles from 2004-2008 but missed the 2016 edition and only made it to the quarter-finals last year.

He next faces France's Benoit Paire, a 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) winner over Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak.If the new US-Mexican trade deal is seen as a huge success, President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador can take credit; if it all falls apart, he can blame his predecessor

It is still early to declare winners and losers in the new US-Mexican trade deal, but in Mexico it looks like an unexpected victory for leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Announced with typical flare by US President Donald Trump on Monday, the two-way deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement meanwhile left NAFTA's third member, Canada, out in the cold -- at least for now.

In Mexico, the news brought a collective sigh of relief: finally, months of uncertainty over the country's most important trade relationship appeared to be over.

All three countries had been rushing to finish a deal before Lopez Obrador, a sometimes brutal critic of free trade, takes office on December 1.

But ironically, according to nearly everyone involved, Lopez Obrador and his team played a key role in sealing the deal, after being invited to join the negotiations by current President Enrique Pena Nieto.

"Speaking with and working President-elect Lopez Obrador has been absolutely a very, very special time," said Trump.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Lopez Obrador's backing was "essential," while Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said the president-elect's delegate to the talks, Jesus Seade, played a "fundamental role."

- Pragmatism over ideology -

The politician known as "AMLO," who won a landslide election victory on July 1, had attacked NAFTA in the past.

But pragmatism appears to have won out over ideology.

"It's a win for Lopez Obrador, on so many levels," said Mexican economist Valeria Moy.

Not only does he clear an explosive issue off the decks before taking office, he maneuvers into a position that all politicians love: if the deal is seen as a huge success, he can take credit; if it all falls apart, he can blame his predecessor.

"He'll get the economic benefits... but also washes his hands of the potential costs," said Moy.

Nearly 25 years after it took effect, on January 1, 1994, NAFTA is popular in Mexico.

One recent poll found 78 percent of Mexicans think it is good for the economy.

"It's undeniable that NAFTA has had huge benefits for Mexico... It hasn't solved all ills, but it's been very good for the country," Mexican trade expert Hugo Perezcano Diaz told AFP.

"And Lopez Obrador needs the business sector. Mexico has a very important and powerful business sector, and speaking out in favor of NAFTA brings him closer to them."

- Art of the deal -

But Lopez Obrador may have inadvertently helped Trump back Canada into a corner.

Perezcano, who works in Canada, summed up the feeling in his adopted country as Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland cut short a trip to Europe to jet into Washington for do-or-die talks on keeping the new agreement a three-country deal.

"The expression here is, 'Mexico threw Canada under the bus,'" he said.

In an episode worthy of reality TV, Trump put Pena Nieto on speaker phone Monday, live on national television, to laud the "fantastic" deal with Mexico, while warning the Canadians he was feeling inclined to leave them out of it.

Freeland graciously brushed aside any acrimony as she arrived in Washington on Tuesday, however.

Thanks to Mexico's "tough decisions," the bilateral deal now "clears the way" for the US-Canada talks, set to open Wednesday, she said.

- What's in it for Mexico? -

Full details of the deal have not been released yet, but Mexico appears to have gotten its way on several key issues.

NAFTA's dispute resolution system stayed in, Trump's idea for seasonal tariffs on agricultural imports stayed out, and his proposal for a five-year "sunset clause" was changed to six-year reviews, with a minimum 16-year lifespan for the deal.

Above all, Mexico got certainty -- or the appearance of it -- on its relationship with the country that buys some 80 percent of its exports.

The United States meanwhile got its way on one key issue close to Trump's heart: bolstering the American auto industry.

The new deal raises the amount of a car's content that must be produced in the region to avoid tariffs from 62.5 to 75 percent, and now requires at least 40 percent to be made by workers earning $16 an hour or more.

But Trump's main victory was political, said Perezcano, of the Ontario-based Centre for International Governance Innovation.

"Politically, (Trump) has declared victory, clearly eying the (US midterm) elections in November."

The losers will meanwhile include consumers, including American ones, said Mexican economist Jonathan Heath.

"The problem is that it's not the best thing, economically speaking. Consumers in all three countries are going to lose, because cars are going to cost more... and other goods, too," he said.Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was upbeat about the potential for progress after Mexico agreed to a new trade deal with the United States

US and Canadian trade officials will begin a crucial phase of talks on Wednesday to see if they can bridge their differences to sign a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement.

After Mexico paved the way by agreeing to NAFTA 2.0 with the United States, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was upbeat about the potential for progress.

But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made it clear he would only sign a new trade pact he considers good for his country.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners.

After months of intense talks, the United States and Mexico announced an agreement Monday to thoroughly overhaul the 25-year-old free trade pact.

But President Donald Trump suggested he could leave Canada out and press ahead with a two-party deal with Mexico.

However, Trudeau as well as Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said NAFTA should remain a trilateral deal.

Following her first brief meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday evening, Freeland said Mexico's willingness to make "tough decisions" on labor rights and auto requirements helped pave the way for a new regional agreement.

- 'Productive' discussions -

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite NAFTA.

But in the last five weeks, Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland said she has been in close touch with her US and Mexican counterparts throughout the summer, and had already achieved "a high level agreement with the US" on labor issues.

Mexico's efforts to reach an accord with Washington "definitely clears the way for us to have some significant, substantive, and, I think, productive conversations with the US this week," Freeland told reporters.

Canada will stand firm "while looking for areas where we can find a compromise."

She said she would meet with her Mexican counterparts, who had remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough with the US.

The outlines of the new NAFTA include a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

But Trump said he would take a tough line with Canada on dairy trade -- long a source of tension between the neighboring countries.

However, Trudeau vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

"My position on defending supply management has not changed. We will defend supply management," Trudeau said.

The system has been in place since the 1970s and has survived several attempts to undo it.

Trudeau faces political pressure with elections due in a year, which could make him wary of being seen as capitulating to Trump, especially on dairy.

- Time pressure -

Canada also objects to the US call to eliminate bi-national panels to resolve trade disputes among NAFTA partners under Chapter 19, which appears to have been dropped in the deal with Mexico. Canada has used the provision to challenge US anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

But Washington backed away from a strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate the trade pact after five years. Instead, the agreement with Mexico extends NAFTA for 16 years but with a review every six years.

The White House is pushing to finalize things quickly so that Pena Nieto can sign the treaty before handing the reins over to Lopez Obrador on December 1.

Pena Nieto said the deal with the US means the sides are now "in the final stretch of a trilateral deal."

Lighthizer said the Trump administration would notify Congress by Friday of the new agreement, which would allow the required 90 days' notice to get the pact signed by December 1.Lebanese girls attend a ballet class at the Russian-Lebanese cultural centre in the city of Aley

In a dimly-lit classroom in a Lebanese mountain town, students of all ages pore over Cyrillic workbooks and repeat carefully after their blonde instructor.

"Privet. Kak dela?" -- "Hello, how are you?"

Moscow may have won influence in war-torn Syria through its blistering military intervention, but it is adopting a softer approach in neighbouring Lebanon, where France and the US have held stronger sway.

Whether through cultural outreach, planned business deals or traditional diplomacy, Russia appears to be trying to put down deep roots in the tiny Mediterranean country.

In her classroom at the Russian-Lebanese Cultural Center, nestled in the town of Aley, instructor Galina Pavlova says she hopes her native tongue will find more fans among Lebanese, who in addition to Arabic often speak French and English.

"We don't want France and the United States to be the only ones present in Lebanon -- Russia is a very important country too," she tells AFP.

The Aley centre is one of three new such hubs to have opened in Lebanon this summer alone, established with the backing of Moscow's embassy in Beirut.

Whether through cultural outreach, planned business deals or traditional diplomacy, Russia appears to be trying to put down deep roots in the tiny Mediterranean country

"This expansion falls within the framework of a strategy aiming to strengthen Moscow's presence in the Middle East," says Imad Rizk, who heads the Isticharia Centre for Strategic and Communication Studies.

Ties between Moscow and Beirut intensified in the 1950s with the rise of Lebanon's left, before fading after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Lebanon, still strongly associated to the West, is one certainly symbolic piece of (Russia's) broader desire to remodel the world governance," says Julien Nocetti, a specialist in Russia's role in the Middle East.

The aim, he says, is to hasten "the coming of a post-West world order."

- 'Put down roots' -

As new cultural centres open, Moscow is also boosting to 60 the number of university scholarships it gives to Lebanese students this year and deepening its economic ties to Beirut.

It nearly doubled the value of its exports to the tiny country from $423 million in 2012 to $770 million last year, according to Lebanese customs data.

The two countries are in talks over potentially opening a "green corridor" for Lebanese agricultural exports to Russia.

The Aley centre is one of three new such hubs to have opened in Lebanon this summer alone, established with the backing of Moscow's embassy in Beirut

And Novatek, one of Russia's largest natural gas producers, is part of a consortium expected to begin exploring for gas off Lebanon's coast next year.

Lebanon's top diplomat Gebran Bassil travelled to Moscow recently, encouraging more Russian companies to take part in a new upcoming tender for further exploration.

Beirut is relying on external help to revive its struggling economy, and in April a donor conference raised $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for the state to improve basic public services.

"We hope to make the Russians participate in the vast project to modernise Lebanese infrastructure," says Jacques Sarraf, who heads the Lebanese-Russian Business Council.

In addition, Sarraf says, "Russian businesses intend to put down roots in Lebanon's north ahead of Syria's reconstruction."

But the process is complicated, with both Syrian and Russian firms facing European and American sanctions that have left Lebanese banks "reluctant to deal with their Russian counterparts," he adds.

Lebanon's banking sector is already being carefully monitored by the US Treasury, which is seeking to weaken the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement by targeting "suspicious" banking.

- Influence through repatriation? -

Lebanon's growth has slowed to a crawl in recent years as political divisions have paralysed the government and services have been strained by the arrival of 1.5 million Syrian refugees.

Moscow is looking to lend a helping hand there too, launching an initiative in July to repatriate refugees from around the region.

The proposal has been welcomed by the political class in Lebanon, which hosts some 900,000 refugees who could return to Syria, according to President Michel Aoun, who is close to both Damascus and Hezbollah.

Moscow may have won influence in war-torn Syria through its military intervention but it is adopting a softer approach in neighbouring Lebanon

Moscow has also proposed a billion-dollar defence contract to arm Lebanese troops, but Beirut pulled out at the "last minute," says Sarraf.

Such a deal could have jeopardised the sizeable US support Beirut receives from the US, including the $1.7 billion it has received in military aid since 2006.

Aram Nerguizian, co-director of the Carnegie Middle East Center's department on civil-military relations, says Lebanon's ties to the US were at stake.

"If Lebanon accepts or even insinuates an intent to accept a Russian credit line for the purchase of Russian defence articles, it will have significant -- and potentially irreversible -- geopolitical consequences on Lebanon's existing bilateral and multilateral commitments and partnerships, especially ties to the US," he tells AFP.A UN report says there was evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" against the Rohingya

Myanmar rejected Wednesday the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis.

Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

Monday's report by a UN fact-finding mission said there was evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale".

In a session of the UN Security Council late Tuesday several countries -- including the United States -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to face international justice.

But Myanmar on Wednesday rejected the remit of the UN mission and its findings.

"We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," government spokesman Zaw Htay said according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for pulling down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass, saying that it could hamper the government's efforts with "national reconciliation".

The social media giant has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform -- which is wildly popular in Myanmar -- become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.Demonstrators march through downtown Chicago calling for the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

A Guatemalan asylum seeker has filed a claim against US authorities for the "wrongful death" of her daughter, who died six weeks after their detention by US immigration police, her attorneys said Tuesday.

Yazmin Juarez, 20, and her 19-month-old daughter Mariee were apprehended when they crossed the Rio Grande River in March 2018 from Mexico and held at a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

"Those responsible for providing safe, sanitary conditions and proper medical care failed this little girl, and it caused her to die a painful death," attorney R. Stanton Jones of the law firm Arnold and Porter said in a statement.

"Mariee Juarez entered Dilley a healthy baby girl and 20 days later was discharged a gravely ill child with a life-threatening respiratory infection," he said.

After her release, the girl was transferred to two different hospitals and died on May 10, 2018.

Arnold and Porter sent a notice of claim -- a step prior to a lawsuit -- on behalf of Juarez to Eloy, Arizona, an intermediary between the federal government and the private firm that operates the detention facility in Dilley.Several countries have called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable for its alleged genocide of the country's Rohingya minority

Myanmar rejected Wednesday the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis.

Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

On Monday, a UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" towards the Rohingya, including acts of rape and sexual violence, mass killings, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

In a session of the UN Security Council late Tuesday several countries -- including the US -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable for its alleged crimes.

But Myanmar on Wednesday rejected the remit of the UN mission in a typically defiant defence of its response to a crisis that has heaped international opprobrium on its civilian and military leadership.

"We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," said government spokesman Zaw Htay, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

The country has "zero tolerance for human rights violations", Zaw Htay said, but he added that "strong evidence" including records and dates of any alleged abuses must be provided before investigations are undertaken.

The government would take "legal action against any violation of human rights," he said.

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for pulling down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass on Monday, saying that the move could hamper the government's efforts with "national reconciliation".

The social media giant has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform -- wildly popular in Myanmar -- become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.

Much of Myanmar's Buddhist-majority public has vilified the Rohingya since the army's crackdown, with little sympathy for a minority who have for years been stripped of citizenship and denied free movement, access to healthcare and education within the country.

Myanmar's leaders, including Nobel laureate and de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly defended the military crackdown as a proportionate response to Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine state.

But the drumbeat of calls for accountability is getting louder, with the International Criminal Court also soon due to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the crisis because it spilled across the border into Bangladesh.

Myanmar is not a signatory to the court.Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said "dozens of spies" had been arrested in a crackdown but did not provide details, or over what period

Iran's intelligence minister said "dozens of spies" had been arrested as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals and alluded to an agent Iran had placed in the Israeli government, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi did not provide details of the "dozens of spies", or over what period they had been arrested in the interview televised late on Tuesday.

He said Iran had planted the agent "in the cabinet of a country that has a very strong intelligence service".

The conservative Tasnim news agency said this was a reference to Gonen Segev, a former Israeli energy and infrastructure minister who was charged with spying by a Jerusalem court last month.

"Financially and through other means, our enemies try to get information on our country," Alavi said the interview.

"They act by spying and infiltration. Fortunately the anti-espionage section is one of the strongest sections of this ministry."

The minister said there was also a concerted effort to root out dual nationals working in official positions.

"If you know anyone, tell us about them," he said.

Alavi spoke of the threat from the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State group (IS), which sees Shiite-majority Iran as one of its main enemies in the region.

He said 230 "terrorist cells" had been intercepted over the past year.

"We foiled plots on places such as universities and the metro but we published little information about this," Alavi said.

IS carried out a multi-pronged attack on Iran's parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini in June 2017 that killed 17 people.

Alavi also talked about a crackdown by the authorities on corruption and those manipulating Iran's chaotic currency rates, which have been a major focus of discontent in recent months.

"If we want to have a dynamic economy, we must fight economic corruption. In the intelligence ministry, we have opened 130 files and more than 180 suspects have been arrested," he said.Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak: several senior officials linked to him have been purged since he lost power

A controversial Malaysian former spy chief was remanded in custody Wednesday over the alleged theft of funds intended to be used for a historic general election in May.

Hasanah Abdul Hamid, ex-head of Malaysia's External Intelligence Organisation, was an ally of former leader Najib Razak, who was unexpectedly ejected from office at the polls amid allegations he and his cronies stole huge sums of public money.

There has been a purge of senior officials with links to the former government since the election upset, with the attorney-general and the head of the civil service among those losing their jobs.

Hasanah was arrested on Tuesday by anti-corruption investigators probing the theft of the election funds from the prime minister's department, which reports say amount to millions of ringgit.

The 61-year-old appeared in court Wednesday in the administrative capital Putrajaya and was remanded in custody for five days, an official from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission told AFP.

"Hasanah is being investigated for abuse of power," the official added.

Anti-graft investigators have this week arrested seven other officers from Hasanah's agency, which worked directly under the prime minister's department, as part of their probe into the missing money.

Hasanah was at the centre of a controversy last month after a letter she wrote to the head of the CIA before the election leaked online.

In the letter, she urged the US to back Najib and said he was a friend of America, while describing Mahathir Mohamad -- Malaysia's new leader after triumphing in the election at the head of a reformist alliance -- as "anti-West".

Najib was accused of overseeing the theft of billions of dollars from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, which he set up. Since his election loss, he has been arrested and charged over the scandal. He denies any wrongdoing.Protesters hold placards reading 'Abolish punishment for abortion' as they protest South Korean abortion laws in Seoul in July

South Korea, one of the few industrialised countries where abortion is largely illegal, has introduced tougher regulations on the procedure, prompting nearly 2,000 doctors to refuse to carry out terminations in protest.

Legally, the world's 11th-largest economy only allows abortion in cases of rape -- which must be proved by the woman -- incest and when the mother's health is at risk, in which case the partner's consent is required.

The ban is widely ignored, with abortions commonplace. A recent survey showed that one out of five women who have been pregnant have had an abortion, with only one percent saying they had a legal reason to terminate the pregnancy.

Under current legislation, women who have an abortion face a fine and a year in jail, while doctors who carry them out can get up to two years behind bars.

The controversial law, which dates back to 1953, is currently under review at the Constitutional Court.

But earlier this month the health ministry issued revised regulations toughening punishments for doctors.

It enables medical authorities to suspend medical licences for one month without requiring a criminal conviction.

The ministry also listed performing an abortion as an "immoral medical action" -- along with sexually assaulting patients.

"We flatly refuse to carry out abortions, which the government has defined as an immoral medical action," said the Korean College of Ob & Gyn, which represents some 2,000 obstetricians and gynaecologists.

Its vice-chairman Lee Young-kyu told AFP that labelling the doctors as immoral was "simply appalling".

Patients who seek abortions were often poor or underage, she said, adding: "If women were forced to give birth in these circumstances, it puts a question mark on whether that is moral."

"We are not asking to legalise abortion," she said. "It's about giving pregnant women a right to choose."US President Donald Trump told evangelical leaders that everything was at stake for his conservative agenda if Republicans lose in November midterm elections

US President Donald Trump raised the specter of violence around upcoming midterms Wednesday, saying he did not want to see "unnecessary" unrest days after he reportedly warned evangelical leaders of violent change if Republicans lose control of Congress.

When asked by a reporter why he had on Monday suggested there would be violence around the November elections, Trump simply said "because that's the way."

"If you look at what happens ... there's a lot of unnecessary violence all over the world, but also in this country, and I don't want to see it," he said.

At a meeting with evangelical leaders at the White House, Trump had said everything was at stake for his conservative agenda if his party loses, according to an audiotape of the meeting obtained by the Times.

Democrats "will overturn everything that we've done and they'll do it quickly and violently," Trump reportedly said.

"They will end everything immediately."

"When you look at Antifa," he added, referring to militant leftist anti-fascism groups, "and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people."

Monday did not mark the first time Trump has warned of violence if things did not go his way.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, he said his supporters would probably react violently if he did not win the Republican nomination.

"I think you'd have riots," Trump warned.

The Times said reporters were allowed to listen in on brief comments by Trump during the Monday meeting with ministers and pastors, and heard him talk about abortion, religious freedom and youth unemployment.

But after the press was shown out of the room, Trump changed the subject and suggested how the evangelical leaders could help Republicans win in November, the Times reported.

"I just ask you to go out and make sure all of your people vote," Trump said.

"Because if they don't -- it's Nov. 6 -- if they don't vote we're going to have a miserable two years and we're going to have, frankly, a very hard period of time because then it just gets to be one election -- you're one election away from losing everything you've got."Kenyan troops have been fighting off the threat from Somalia-based Shabaab militants since the year 2000

Five Kenyan soldiers were killed and 10 injured Wednesday when their vehicle hit a landmine on a road in a coastal area close to the Somali border.

"Soldiers operating in Lamu County, while on a humanitarian civil assignment to fetch and distribute water to the residents in the area, hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED)," the military said in a statement.

It said five soldiers "succumbed to their injuries" while 10 were being treated for injuries.

The incident occurred on a dirt road a few kilometres from the border, between the coastal village of Kiunga, where there is an airstrip, and Sankuri.

The Kenyan army has for years been present in the area in a bid to disrupt attacks by al-Qaeda linked jihadists from the Shabaab group which is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.

Kenyan security officers are regularly killed by roadside bombs planted by the militants in the border areas, most recently earlier this month when five died.Former Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda's army is accused of raving the mineral rich Ituri region more than 15 years ago

Congolese ex-warlord Bosco Ntaganda plied child soldiers in his rebel army with drugs and alcohol before sending them to murder his enemies, the International Criminal Court heard on Wednesday.

A lawyer representing 283 victims in the case said Ntaganda, now aged about 44, was "directly involved in the recruitment of thousands of children" in his forces, which conducted a reign of terror in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003.

Afterwards Ntaganda "used them (child soldiers) to participate, under the spell of alcohol and drugs... to kill, rape and pillage the enemy", said the lawyer, Sarah Pellet.

Judges at the Hague-based ICC are listening to a second day of closing statements in the case against the man nicknamed "The Terminator".

Prosecutors say Ntaganda's army ravaged the mineral-rich Ituri region more than 15 years ago.

Ntaganda faces 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict.

The alleged crimes include murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting children under the age of 15 to serve in his Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).

- 'Put the past behind them' -

Pellet said Wednesday the victims "were expecting justice" even after 15 years.

"It is time for the victims to put the past behind them and move forward and built their future. This will be by way of a guilty verdict," she said.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Ntaganda was central to planning operations for the Union of Congolese Patriots and its military wing, the FPLC.

Known as a charismatic commander with a penchant for cowboy hats and fine dining, prosecutors said Ntaganda used child soldiers younger than 15 years, coerced women soldiers into sexual slavery and attacked civilians on ethnic grounds.

Prosecutors, who showed shocking images of the disembowelled bodies of victims, who also had their throats slit, also asked for a guilty verdict.

At least 800 people were killed by the FPLC as it battled rival militias for control of the volatile area, prosecutors said.

But during his trial the soft-spoken Ntaganda during balked at the "Terminator" nickname and told judges he was a "soldier, not a criminal".

The first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC, Ntaganda walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013 and asked to be sent to the court.

More than 60,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in Ituri in 1999, according to rights groups.

This week's hearings will run until Thursday with Ntaganda expected to make a statement towards the end of the hearing.A child walks past a mural depicting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on her way to school in Balata refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on August 29, 2018

Tens of thousands of Palestinian children returned to United Nations-run schools on Wednesday after the summer holidays, though major US cuts have thrown their funding into jeopardy beyond next month.

Children wearing chequered uniforms and backpacks thronged schools across the Palestinian territories for the first classes of the new school year, AFP correspondents reported.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said all 711 schools it runs for 526,000 pupils in Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria would reopen in the next few days despite the $300 million US funding cut.

Fears raised by UN chief Antonio Guterres that the schools might not be able to reopen at all have failed to materialise, but UNRWA warned it might still be forced to close them again in a month if additional new funding is not found.

"At the moment, we do not have enough money to keep the schools open after the end of September," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP.

"At the end of September, UNRWA will be running on empty for all its services, including schools and medical facilities."

In 2017, the United States, which is traditionally the largest single donor to UNRWA, contributed more than $360 million.

But so far this year, it has given just $60 million following President Donald Trump's decision to withhold aid to the Palestinians.

- 'There is fear' -

Pupils and teachers gather in front of a school run by UNRWA in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on August 29, 2018

Parents expressed deep concern about the uncertainty hanging over their children's education.

"We are afraid of the schools closing," Soha Abu Hasara told AFP in Gaza City as she dropped her children off for their first day back in the classroom.

Pupil Hala Muhanna, 11, said her "message to the world is that no-one has the right to close schools".

"Even if they take away our schools we will bring them back," she said.

UNRWA was formed to support 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel.

With their descendants, they now number more than five million across the Middle East.

The United States has sought to use its aid to pressure the Palestinian government into resuming dealing with it after a nearly nine-month rupture.

"Balata school for girls, no entry allowed to those who have no official purpose," reads a sign in Arabic outside a school run by UNRWA, pictured on August 29, 2018

The Palestinians have boycotted the US administration since it recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December.

Last week, Trump cancelled a further $200 million in aid projects for Palestinians not funded through UNRWA.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi accused the US president of "cheap blackmail".

- US criticises school curriculum -

Israel and the United States accuse UNRWA of perpetuating the Israel-Palestinian crisis by maintaining the idea of the right of return -- that Palestinians will be able to return to the homes from which they fled.

Palestinians see the US embassy move and efforts to change the mandate of UNRWA as attempts to strip them of their rights.

On Tuesday, Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, said her country would want to "look at right of return".

A Palestinian child walks to school in the West Bank's Balata refugee camp, on the first day of classes after the summer holidays, on August 29, 2018

She cited reports that UNRWA's school curriculum included unjust criticism of Israel and the United States, charges which the agency rejects.

"UNRWA can stay there, and we will be a donor if it reforms what it does. If it goes and makes sure that they're not doing those teachings in textbooks, if they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday that the US embassy move and pressure over the right of return were having a "devastating effect" on the peace process.

Gunness pointed out that the US could not force the agency to change its mandate, as that would need a vote at the United Nations General Assembly.

"If one member state decides to reduce our funds, that doesn't change our mandate, it just means we have less money to do it," he said.The Sahel region

Britain said Wednesday it would open new embassies in Chad and Niger to boost its diplomatic presence in Africa's troubled Sahel region.

The announcement came as Prime Minister Theresa May wrapped up a trip to South Africa and headed to Nigeria and Kenya on her first trip to the continent as premier.

"In one of Africa's most fragile regions, we are increasing our support for African countries' efforts to tackle the underlying drivers of instability and conflict," the Foreign Office in London said in a statement.

"The expansion will see the UK step up diplomatic, defence and development engagement in the region, creating new partnerships and opportunities and reducing potential threats to UK and European security."

The Boko Haram jihadist group's Islamist insurgency has devastated the region since 2009, leaving at least 20,000 people dead, displacing more than two million others and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

Britain has offices in Chad and Niger but no embassies.

Chad is covered by the British High Commission in Yaounde in Cameroon, while Niger is covered by the embassy in Bamako in Mali.

London will also increase its presence in Bamako.

"We must not allow instability across the Sahel, exacerbated by regional conflicts, to continue to hold back development and to spill over into the rest of Africa or into Europe," said Africa Minister Harriett Baldwin.

"Strengthening Britain's presence in Chad, Niger, and Mali will allow us to work more closely with our partners in the region to create new opportunities and tackle together the challenges posed by instability, poverty, and irregular migration."

Chad and Niger are currently working alongside Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania in a joint military operation aimed at tackling jihadists in the region, known as the G5 Sahel force which has won backing from Europe.Residents negotiate a flooded road after waters breached the Swar Chaung dam

A major effort was under way to reach thousands of people trapped in their homes after a dam swollen by monsoon rain overflowed early Wednesday in central Myanmar, officials said.

A surge of water inundated the rural flatland in Bago region after the Swar Chaung dam spillway, which regulates the release of water, collapsed due to heavy seasonal rain.

AFP reporters travelling with a rescue boat described how some people waded out through chest-deep water to get to higher ground while others crammed onto trucks and tractors to reach safety.

Many others remained trapped in their half-submerged homes as soldiers, police, firefighters and volunteers worked into the night to try to ferry residents out.

Khin Myint, 45, told AFP of the terrifying moment when the wave of water hit.

"The water came so fast into our village and we didnt have time to run," she said, adding that she and her family were unable to escape from the upstairs of their house because her elderly father was sick.

No casualties have yet been reported but more than 12,600 people have taken shelter in about 30 temporary camps, Ministry of Social Welfare director Phyu Lae Lae Tun said.

"There are more than 14,000 households and some 63,000 people affected by the waters," she said.

The torrent also fractured part of a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway linking Myanmar's two biggest cities.

Deputy Minister for Construction Kyaw Linn told reporters the bridge's supporting towers were sinking.

A section of a bridge damaged by rampaging flood waters

"We will get divers to go down and check after the water levels recede," he said.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, under mounting international pressure to face international justice following a damning UN report this week on the Rohingya crisis, was quick to arrive at the scene on Wednesday morning.

"We have to work together," he said. "The spillway will not be able to be controlled until the water flow stops."

The deluge comes just weeks after heavy monsoon rains pummelled Myanmar, causing widespread flash floods that forced some 150,000 people to flee their homes.

Southeast Asia's annual monsoon season runs from around June to November.

Regional neighbour Laos was hit badly last month when heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a dam. At least 35 people were killed, scores went missing and thousands more languished in shelters.

The communist country has since suspended its hydropower strategy to become the "battery of Asia" by damming rivers and selling electricity to its neighbours.Mohebi said "time is running out" for the Iranian people under US sanctions

Iran told the UN's top court Wednesday that "time is running out" for its people as they suffer economic turmoil that Tehran blames on renewed US sanctions.

Iran was making its closing arguments in a challenge to the sanctions at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

US President Donald Trump reimposed the sanctions after pulling out of a multilateral 2015 accord in May.

Iran has asked the court to order the United States to lift them.

US lawyers have retorted that the sanctions are necessary to protect international security.

They said economic mismanagement is at the root of Iran's woes and that the ICJ -- set up in 1946 to rule in disputes between countries -- does not have jurisdiction to rule on Iran's demand.

Washington reintroduced some sanctions this month, targeting financial transactions and imports of raw materials, cars and aircraft.

The measures have driven international companies to abandon projects in Iran.

A second wave of US measures is due to hit Iran in early November, targeting its vital energy sector including oil exports.

"For the Islamic Republic of Iran, time is running out," Iran's representative Mohsen Mohebi told the ICJ's judges on Wednesday.

"The lives of millions of people residing in this country are already deeply suffering from the sanctions reinstated by the United States... and will further suffer as these sanctions are expanded and aggravated."

Tehran is basing its claim on the obscure 1955 Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations, signed with the United States long before Iran's Islamic revolution.

Despite the treaty, the two countries have not had diplomatic ties since 1980.Cheung Kie-chung pictured in 2016

A University of Hong Kong professor was on Wednesday charged with murder after police found his wife's decomposing body stuffed in a suitcase in his office, the latest grisly murder to transfix the crowded city.

Officers discovered the woman's body, wearing only underwear and with electric wire around her neck, hidden in the suitcase inside a large wooden box in the office of 53-year-old Cheung Kie-chung.

The associate professor from the Department of Mechanical Engineering had reported his wife missing on August 20, saying she had not returned home after an argument three days earlier.

Police said they became suspicious of Cheung after CCTV footage failed to show his wife leaving their home, while Cheung was seen moving a large wooden box out of the premises.

On Tuesday afternoon police searched Cheung's office, a five-minute drive from the dormitory where he lives with his wife and children.

"There was blood seeping out from the suitcase and it stank," Superintendent Law Kwok-hoi told reporters Tuesday night.

He said the victim might have been strangled, but the cause of death still needed to be confirmed by a post-mortem.

Law said Cheung, who will make his first court appearance Thursday, had told investigators he had a dispute with his wife on the night she disappeared over family toilet hygiene.

Cheung is also the warden of the dormitory where his family lives and a member of the university's governing council.

Zhang Xiang, the university president, said Wednesday he was shocked and saddened at the murder and described it as a tragedy. He said the university would offer support to students and colleagues affected.

Students walk in front of University of Hong Kong's Wei Lun Hall, the residential block where university professor Cheung Kie-chung and his family lived, in Hong Kong's Pokfulam district

Another Hong Kong academic is currently on trial for using a yoga ball filled with carbon monoxide to kill his wife and daughter inside a car.

The southern Chinese city, famed for its cramped housing but low crime rate, is occasionally rocked by high-profile murders that often involve gruesome attempts to hide or dispose of bodies.

In 2016 British banker Rurik Jutting was jailed for life for the murder of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong. He stuffed one of their bodies in a suitcase and placed it on his balcony.

The year before, a local man was jailed for chopping up his parents and storing their body parts in a freezer.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen meeting foreign ministry officials in Tehran on July 21, 2018

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his government should be ready to "set aside" the 2015 nuclear deal if it is no longer in the country's national interests.

"The JCPOA (nuclear deal) is not the objective, it is only a means," he said in a meeting with the cabinet, according to his website.

"Naturally, if we reach the conclusion that it is no longer maintaining our national interests, we will put it aside."

Khamenei said talks should continue with Europe, which is trying to salvage the 2015 agreement despite the withdrawal of the United States.

But he said the Iranian government "must not pin hope on the Europeans for issues such as the JCPOA or the economy".

"We must examine their promises with scepticism," he added.

Khamenei reiterated that Iran would not engage in any negotiations with the administration of US President Donald Trump, despite his offer of unconditional talks.

"(The Americans) want to say they can bring anyone, even the Islamic republic, to the negotiating table.

"But as I have previously said in detail, no negotiations with them will take place," Khamenei said.Wijegunaratne (R), pictured with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena at a conference in 2016

A court Wednesday ordered the arrest of Sri Lanka's top military officer in connection with the abduction and murder of 11 people during the island's civil war.

Colombo Fort magistrate Lanka Jayaratne directed police to detain Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of the Defence Staff, for allegedly helping the main person acused in the killings escape prosecution.

Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, a navy intelligence officer, was accused of leading a hit squad that kidnapped 11 young men between 2008 and 2009 during the final stages of the war.

They are believed to have been murdered while being illegally held by the navy. Their bodies were never found.

Hettiarachchi was arrested earlier this month in Colombo after a months-long manhunt that saw an alert issued worldwide.

"There is evidence against Admiral Wijegunaratne's role in allowing the accused to evade arrest," Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department told the magistrate.

D.K.P. Dissanayake, at the time a spokesman for the navy, is also suspected of involvement. He was arrested last year and is currently on bail.

Police have told the court that Hettiarachchi was also wanted in connection with the 2006 murder of Tamil lawmaker Nadarajah Raviraj.

There have been persistent allegations that senior military personnel and regime figures loyal to then-president Mahinda Rajapakse were responsible for a number of high-profile murders.

Several military intelligence officers are facing prosecution in connection with the assassination of a prominent newspaper editor and for orchestrating attacks on other journalists and dissidents during Rajapakse's rule that ended in January 2015.

Rajapakse himself was questioned two weeks ago in relation to the abduction and torture of a newspaper journalist in 2008.

The former strongman, and several members of his family, are also being investigated for large-scale financial fraud and murder during his decade as president.

Troops crushed Tamil separatists known as the Tamil Tigers in 2009, ending the decades-long civil war.

But the final days of the government offensive, spearheaded by Rajapakse, were marked by allegations of major rights violations.

A former UN official has claimed that up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the war.Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti-Indian slogans during a demonstration against attempts to revoke Article 35A

Suspected rebels shot dead four police officers while security forces killed two militants in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday as tensions rose before a major Supreme Court hearing on the troubled region.

Five police officers who had stopped near the southern Kashmir town of Shopian to repair their vehicle were ambushed, Inspector General of Police Swayam Prakash Pani told AFP.

"Four of the police were killed. One who was inside the vehicle at the time of the attack is safe," Pani said.

Separately, two suspected rebels were killed in a gunfight with government forces not far from the attack on the police, officials said.

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region, divided between India and Pakistan since their split in 1947, has seen a resurgence of hostilities in the past two years.

Security officials say at least 144 militants have been killed this year, while more fighters have joined rebel ranks. There are an estimated 250 active underground fighters, they say.

Separatist groups have called a general strike for Thursday and Friday before the Supreme Court hearing, which they fear could allow Indians from outside Kashmir to buy property in the state and get government jobs.

The court will hear arguments on Friday on a legal challenge against a 1954 constitutional provision, Article 35A, that reserved the special privileges for Kashmir permanent residents.

Separatist groups seeking Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan, along with business and civil society groups have opposed scrapping Article 35A.

Incorrect rumours this week that the article had been scrapped caused protests and clashes in Kashmir.

The ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to annul the constitutional provisions that grant special status to Kashmir.

A BJP spokesman this week said Article 35A had become an obstacle to outside investment in the region.

Rebel groups have for decades fought hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police deployed in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan controls a separate part of the former Himalayan kingdom and like India claims the region in full.Opposition parties and civil rights groups have accused the government of seeking to silence critics

India's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered five left-wing activists to be taken out of police custody and kept under house arrest amid widespread condemnation of their detention.

Police detained the five on Tuesday alleging links to banned left-wing Maoist militants.

Lawyers for the activists immediately took the case to the Supreme Court which gave Indian authorities until 6 September to respond to the challenge.

Opposition parties and civil rights groups have accused the government of seeking to silence critics.

And one Supreme Court justice, D.Y Chandrachud, said: "Dissent is the safety valve of democracy, the pressure cooker will burst if you don't allow the safety valves."

The five -- communist poet Varavara Rao, human rights lawyer Vernon Gonsalves, writer and lawyer Arun Ferreira, journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha, and trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj -- are all established activists some of whom have been detained in the past.

The homes of other activists and lawyers were raided as part of the investigation. Five other people were detained in June.

Police have been investigating violence between low-caste Dalits and upper-caste groups following a political meeting near Pune, in Maharashtra, on December 31 last year.

"It is sad that the government is arresting people who have been working on human rights," Prashant Bhushan, one of India's most prominent lawyers and activists told journalists after Wednesday's court hearing.

"The court asked that they be kept under house arrest until the government submit their responses for the next hearing," Bhushan added.

Rahul Gandhi, head of the opposition Congress party led political condemnation of the arrests, saying the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government wants to "jail all activists and shoot those that complain."

Man Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the arrests were an attempt to muzzle freedoms ahead of elections next year.

A small demonstration was staged in central New Delhi ahead of Wednesday's hearing.

"We are here today because we are fighting against the fascist and imperialist policies of this government," Aparna, president of the left-wing Indian Federation of Trade Unions told AFP.Greek police have charged a Syrian refugee, once hailed for saving people at sea, with helping migrants illegally enter the country

Greek police have charged a Syrian refugee, once hailed for saving people at sea, with helping migrants illegally enter the country, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Sarah Mardini, 23, who has settled in Germany, was arrested last week in what police said was an operation to dismantle a "criminal network" involving 30 members of an NGO working on the island on Lesbos, where thousands of migrants are living in camps.

"For me, this is clearly a case of criminalising help given to refugees," her lawyer Haris Petsikos told AFP, adding that she is being detained in a prison outside of Athens.

He said Mardini, who denies the charges, had been volunteering on the island for Emergency Response Centre International.

She was arrested alongside one of the NGO's leaders, Greek national Nassos Karakitsos and Irish volunteer Sean Binder.

Mardini and her sister Yusra's plight to reach Lesbos from Turkey made the news in 2015, when they used their swimming skills to pull to safety their water-logged boat with another 18 people onboard

- 'Get her out of prison' -

The following year Yusra, now a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, participated on the refugee team at the Rio 2016 Olympics and Mardini went on to win a scholarship studying economics and social sciences at Bard College in Berlin.

"We are in close contact with Sarah's legal counsel and these clearly unsubstantiated charges seem more about halting the operations of the NGO in question than about any actions of Sarah or her fellow volunteer," said Flrian Becker, managing director of the German college, who said she is committed to helping refugees.

"The priority is to get her out of prison."

Police accuse members of the NGO of offering direct assistance to people traffickers, asking for advance warning of arrivals without passing on information to authorities.

Lesbos has been a key gateway into the European Union since the start of the bloc's migration crisis in 2015.

At the height of the influx, some 5,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from war-torn Syria, landed on the island's beaches on a daily basis.

It now has the highest concentration of migrants in Greece, with the worst conditions in the camp of Moria where over 8,300 people live, according to UN figures -- about triple the nominal capacity.

Most wait months for their asylum applications to be processed. Living conditions are squalid and violent flare-ups common.

Earlier this year, three Spaniards and two Danes were also accused of trying to help migrants illegally enter Greece.

They were cleared in court in May.Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was upbeat about the potential for progress after Mexico agreed to a new trade deal with the United States

Canada and the United States appeared to be moving closer to a new regional free trade pact, as US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday touted the progress being made.

As the crucial phase of talks continued in Washington to try to bridge the differences on a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the optimism raised hopes NAFTA would continue as a three-nation pact with Mexico, despite Trump's threat to leave Canada on the sidelines.

"I think they're going really well," Trump said when asked about the Canada talks at a White House event. "I think Canada very much wants to make the deal."

He again raised the possibility of doing a separate deal with Canada alone but for the Friday deadline, "I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens."

Trudeau also said the agreement could happen by the end of the week -- the deadline the United States has set to have at least the broad accord completed.

"There is a possibility of getting to a good deal for Canada by Friday," Trudeau said. But any agreement "will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada," Trudeau said at a student rally in northern Ontario.

"I have said from the very beginning no NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal," he added, echoing Trump's words.

After Mexico paved the way by agreeing to a NAFTA 2.0 with the United States on Monday, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said "a lot has been accomplished" in her two meetings so far with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The United States and Canada are now engaged in "an extremely intense period in the negotiations," she told reporters on Wednesday, adding that trade officials had worked late into the night outstanding issues.

Freeland declined to get into specifics on what issues remained, saying she and Lighthizer agreed not to discuss the details in public.

- 'High-level' agreement -

Lighthizer said he would officially notify the US Congress on Friday of the intention to enter into a new trade pact in 90 days. The White House then would have until September 30 to present Congress with the final NAFTA agreement.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners.

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite the 25-year-old free trade pact. But in the last five weeks, Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland has repeatedly stressed to reporters that she remained in close touch with her US and Mexican counterparts throughout the summer and had already achieved "a high-level agreement with the US" on some the pending issues on autos and labor rights.

Trade between NAFTA countries

She also met late Tuesday night with her Mexican counterparts, who had remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough with the United States.

She praised Mexico's willingness to make difficult concessions on auto trade and labor issues, which helped pave the way for a three-party agreement.

"Our workers have been concerned for a long time...about the way in which trade agreements can harm blue-collar workers in high-wage countries," she said.

The "significant compromises that Mexico was prepared to make to support Canadian workers ...set the stage for very intensive conversations" to conclude NAFTA.

Wall Street was cheered by the signs of progress, with all three major stock indices closing with solid gains, and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both setting new records.

The outlines of the new NAFTA include a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, a percentage of vehicles that must come from high wage factories, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

Still, Trump said he would take a tough line with Canada on dairy trade -- long a source of tension between the neighboring countries.

Trudeau has nevertheless vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

The system has been in place since the 1970s and has survived several attempts to undo it.

Trudeau faces political pressure with elections due in a year, which could make him wary of being seen as capitulating to Trump, especially on dairy.

But Ottawa could offer US dairy farmers a small increase in market share as it did with the EU in a free trade pact last year.

Canada also objects to the US call to eliminate bi-national panels to resolve trade disputes among NAFTA partners under Chapter 19, which appears to have been dropped in the deal with Mexico. Canada has used the provision to challenge US anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

But Washington also backed away from a strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate the trade pact after five years. Instead, the agreement with Mexico extends NAFTA for 16 years but with a review every six years.It's time for Africa: Britain's Theresa May is looking to drum up trade deals for the looming post-Brexit era

Britain's Theresa May landed in Nigeria's capital on Wednesday on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

While in Abuja, May held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari after which both leaders oversaw the signing of two agreements on security and the economy.

"There are two agreements that were signed today. The first one was on a defence and security pact between our two country's respective national security advisers and the second one was an economic development forum that's been set up," Nigeria Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters.

"This clearly highlights the two priority areas in our relationship at the moment," he said.

He said the defence and security pact was to help tackle Nigeria's challenges such as military training, policing and human rights.

"On the economic development forum... it's looking to leverage areas where we have, as countries, competitive advantages: the financial centre that London is and the investment opportunities in our country, to build that up with the private sector as well as at the government level," he said.

Onyeama said the pact would be comprehensive and involve different stakeholders.

"This is in the context of the UK's Brexit, coming out of the European Union. They feel freer now to engage with countries on a bilateral level and build up trade relations with those countries," he said.

"For us this also fits into our economic recovery and growth plan where the president has put forward a road map for transforming this country and so this partnership will be a framework that will achieve very much in our economic recovery and growth plan".

May kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town on Tuesday where she pledged to prioritise investment in Africa -- although it was her diffident dance moves rather than her diplomacy that captured the headlines.

The tour, which will also take her to Kenya, is part of a campaign to promote Britain's global ambitions after Brexit.

With just seven months until Britain formally leaves the EU, May is under pressure back home from those sceptical of her ability to forge post-Brexit trade deals but British officials ae eyeing a doubling of trade with Nigeria over the next decade or so.

"Bilateral trade between Britain and Nigeria was up to 4.2 billion ($5.42 billion, 4.64 billion euros), in 2017 and we expect to more than double this figure by 2030," Laure Beaufils, Britain's deputy high commissioner to Nigeria, told a press conference ahead of May's arrival in Abuja.

China is currently Nigeria's biggest trading partner with Abuja importing some $7 billion in goods from Beijing.

After the talks in Abuja, May later headed to Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, where she will hold talks on efforts to stem the migrant flow to Europe and meet victims of modern slavery.

As Africa's most populous country, Nigeria is the main country from which migrants leave for Europe, with 37,500 Nigerian nationals reaching the Italian coast in 2016 and 18,000 in 2017, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) figures.

In December, the IOM said that more than 36,000 Nigerians were stranded in Libya and Niger. Nigeria's immigration agency estimates that 10,000 of its citizens died while trying to cross the Sahara or the Mediterranean between January and May 2017.

The British premier will then head on to Kenya for the last leg of her three-day trip.Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum scored an upset in the Democratic primary and will take on a Donald Trump-backed Republican in the race for governor of Florida

Accusations of racism flared up on Wednesday in the Florida governor's race after the Republican candidate told voters they would "monkey this up" if they chose a liberal African-American Democrat backed by Senator Bernie Sanders.

The upset victory by Democrat Andrew Gillum, 39, in the Florida gubernatorial primary was the most notable of a slate of party primaries held on Tuesday to decide candidates for the midterm election.

Gillum's opponent in November will be Representative Ron DeSantis, an enthusiastic backer of President Donald Trump who surged in the polls in Florida, America's third-largest state, after earning the endorsement of the president.

DeSantis, also 39, landed in hot water within hours of his primary victory, however, with comments to Fox News which were interpreted by some as being racially charged.

Speaking of his opponent, who is seeking to become Florida's first black governor, DeSantis said "the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."

"That part wasn't lost on me," Gillum responded on Fox News when asked about the "monkey this up" comment.

"It's very clear that Mr DeSantis is taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump," he said. "In the handbook of Donald Trump, they no longer do whistle calls. They are now using full bull horns."

DeSantis spokesman Stephen Lawson rejected any racial overtones.

"Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses," Lawson said in a statement. "To characterize it as anything else is absurd."

Arch conservative Republican Ron DeSantis will take on liberal Democrat Andrew Gillum in the closely watched race for governor of Florida

In other races, a former air force fighter pilot, Representative Martha McSally, won the Republican primary in Arizona to replace the retiring Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a vocal critic of Trump.

With 52 percent of the vote, McSally easily defeated arch conservative Kelli Ward, a former state senator, and Joe Arpaio, an immigration hardliner who was convicted of criminal contempt and pardoned by Trump last year.

Trump had mostly stayed out of the race but he endorsed the 52-year-old McSally on Wednesday, saying she was "strong on crime" and "the border."

- 'We were counted out' -

McSally will take on Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as Republicans seek to hold on to their slim 51-49 majority in the Senate in November.

Democrats had been hoping for a victory by one of the right-wing candidates -- Ward or Arpaio -- in a bid to increase their chances of capturing the seat.

A replacement for the other senator from Arizona, the late John McCain, is to be named in the next few days by the southwestern state's Republican governor and will be up for election in 2020.

Trump welcomed DeSantis's victory in Florida and criticized Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, the Florida capital.

"Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream... a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city," Trump tweeted. "This is not what Florida wants or needs!"

DeSantis's campaign featured an ad in which he encourages his toddler to use blocks to "build the wall" -- a reference to Trump's border wall with Mexico -- and dresses his baby in a "Make America Great Again" outfit.

Representative Martha McSally won the Republican primary for the race to replace retiring Senator Jeff Flake

Gillum, who has called for Trump's impeachment, is the first African-American to win Florida's Democratic nomination for governor and his surprise win came against better-funded, more mainstream opponents.

"We were counted out every step of the way," Gillum said. "My four opponents collectively spent over 90 million dollars. I think our total spending may have been six."

If elected, Gillum promised to work for universal health care and "common sense" gun laws in a state where there has been a spate of mass shootings.

Sanders, who represents the left wing of the party and came up short in his 2016 challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, welcomed his victory.

"Floridians joined Andrew in standing up and demanding real change and showed our nation what is possible when we stand together," the Vermont senator tweeted.

Also in Florida, current governor Rick Scott won the Republican Senate nomination and is set to take on Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in November.

Nelson, 75, has represented Florida in the Senate since 2001 but the latest polls show Scott with a slight lead in what is expected to be one of the most expensive congressional races.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs in November along with 35 seats in the 100-member Senate.

The midterm elections in Arizona and Florida are being closely watched as harbingers of how the key states may vote in the 2020 presidential election.Forces from Libya's unity government at the entrance to Tripoli's international airport on June 1, 2017

Fresh fighting erupted in the Libyan capital on Wednesday after the collapse of a truce, a witness and military source said, after the UN called for calm.

A military officer with forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord said there had been intermittent fighting in Tripoli's southern suburbs.

"A combined force from the ministry of defence and (ministry of) interior of the GNA led an offensive against positions of the 7th Brigade," he said.

The militia had been trying to advance along the road to Tripoli's international airport which has largely been closed since fighting in 2014.

The 7th Brigade supposedly operates under the GNA's defence ministry.

But on Monday Interior Minister Abdessalam Ashour said security forces were fighting the militia, which hails from the town of Tarhuna southeast of Tripoli.

Those clashes left at least five people dead and 33 wounded, according to a health ministry toll, before a truce was reached in the evening.

Fighting resumed on Wednesday in the Salaheddin neighbourhood of southern Tripoli, a resident said.

He reported machineguns and anti-aircraft guns being fired, which could be heard over the phone.

Overnight the UN Support Mission in Libya warned of attempts to "tamper with the security (of) Tripoli and its residents".

"There is no justification for the bloodshed. UNSMIL calls on all to spare lives, stop military mobilisation and allow for mediation," the mission wrote on Twitter.

The UN's plea followed reports that forces from the city of Misrata, 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Tripoli, intended to head to the capital.

Powerful armed groups from Misrata spearheaded the "Fajr Libya" coalition of militias which seized Tripoli in 2014.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted in 2011.The UN has denounced the detention of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab as "arbitrary" and "discriminatory" under international law

More than 100 rights groups urged Bahrain Wednesday to "immediately release" high-profile activist Nabeel Rajab who is serving two separate jail sentences for alleged anti-government statements.

The call by 127 non-governmental organisations came after the United Nations denounced the Shiite opposition leader's detention as "arbitrary" and "discriminatory" earlier this month.

Wednesday's signatories including Human Rights Watch said they "welcome this landmark opinion... recognising the role played by human rights defenders in society and the need to protect them".

"We call upon the Bahraini Government to immediately release Nabeel Rajab in accordance with this latest request," the NGOs said in a statement.

Rajab -- a key figure in 2011 protests against Bahrain's Sunni minority monarchy -- was sentenced in February to five more years behind bars over tweets critical of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.

The charges also relate to statements denouncing the alleged mistreatment of prisoners at the notorious Jaw prison, south of Bahrain's capital Manama.

The 53-year-old, who co-founded the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, is already serving a two-year sentence handed down last July for "disseminating rumours and false information" in television interviews critical of the government.

In its August 13 report,the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had also called for Rajab's immediate release and said he should be "an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law".

Sunni-ruled Bahrain has been rocked by sporadic unrest since 2011, when a wave of popular protests demanding an elected government erupted in the majority-Shiite kingdom.

Authorities have cracked down on political dissent since then, and many leading political activists are in exile or behind bars. Access to foreign journalists is also largely off-limits.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) met his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow on Wednesday

Russia on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib, as speculation grows Damascus is planning a Russian-backed offensive on the rebel-held province.

"I hope our Western partners will not give in to (rebel) provocations and will not obstruct an anti-terror operation" in Idlib, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow.

Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey, who support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war but are currently in intense negotiations to ensure Idlib does not become a breaking point in their alliance.

"It is necessary to disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists and at the same time prepare an operation against them while minimising risks for the civilian population," Lavrov said.

"This abscess needs to be liquidated."

Lavrov went on to accuse the West of "actively heating up" the idea of a "so-called planned chemical attack by the (Syrian) government."

Over the last week, Moscow has accused Syrian rebels of planning to stage a chemical attack in the northwestern province that would "provoke" Western strikes on its ally Damascus.

It also accused British secret services of being "actively involved" in the plot.

Moscow's accusations came after US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said Washington will respond "very strongly" if Syrian regime forces used chemical weapons to retake Idlib.

This week Russian media reported Moscow is reinforcing its military presence in the Mediterranean near Syria.

In April, the US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma that left scores of people dead.

Russian stuck by its ally Syria and angrily insisted the Douma attack was staged by the White Helmets volunteer rescue service.

Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, launched a military intervention in 2015 to support the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a move that changed the course of the war.

Damascus still holds the southeastern tip of Idlib, a strategically important province adjacent to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast that is home to Assad's clan.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.Picture released by the Free Nazanin campaign on August 23, 2018 shows Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (R) embracing her daughter Gabriella in Damavand, Iran following her temporary release from prison for three days

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran for more than two years on sedition charges, was taken to the prison clinic after blacking out on Wednesday, her husband said.

Richard Ratcliffe said she had suffered a series of panic attacks and Iranian authorities were considering requests for her to go to hospital.

"Nazanin had a panic attack today and yesterday, and passed out today," he told AFP in an email.

"She was at the prison clinic, and there are various requests for her to be hospitalised, but this has not yet been approved."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was unexpectedly released for a three-day furlough on Thursday, and was reunited with members of her family outside the Iranian capital.

She was returned to prison on Sunday after the temporary release ended.

"She had the panic attack, got taken down to the clinic and they said... she had very low blood pressure," her husband added to Britain's Press Association.

"I think it feels like the physical symptoms of crushing disappointment since she went back into prison."

The family had hoped that the furlough would be extended.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation -- the media organisation's philanthropic arm -- was arrested at Tehran airport on April 3, 2016.

She is serving a five-year jail sentence for alleged sedition.

She has denied all charges filed against her.US tariffs on newsprint imports from Canada that drew complaints from American publishers will be canceled under a ruling by a trade panel

A US trade panel on Wednesday blocked tariffs imposed on Canadian newsprint imports which drew sharp protests because of their impact on struggling American newspapers.

The International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial panel that reviews tariff measures, said in a statement that newsprint or "uncoated groundwood paper" imported from Canada "does not injure US industry."

The decision, which is subject to appeal, means the preliminary tariffs of up to 30 percent imposed earlier this year by the Commerce Department are canceled and money collected will be refunded.

The tariffs were imposed in response to a complaint by a single US paper mill, which alleged that subsidized imports from Canada hurt American industry.

But the US paper industry's trade organization failed to back the complaint, and the tariffs drew sharp criticism from newspaper publishers, lawmakers and others.

David Chavern, president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance which includes some 2,000 news organizations, welcomed the ITC decision.

"We have emphasized that the decades-long shift of news and information from print to digital platforms -- not imports from Canada -- is the cause of the decline in demand for newsprint," Chavern said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the damage to newspapers from preliminary tariffs imposed by the Department of Commerce since January has already been done. The tariffs have disrupted the newsprint market, increasing newsprint costs by nearly 30 percent and forcing many newspapers to reduce their print distribution and cut staff."

Analysts have said the tariffs had added to the woes of traditional newspapers, especially in small communities, where newsprint is one of the highest costs after payrolls.

Newspaper industry employment in the US fell from more than 400,000 in 2001 to 173,000 in 2016, according to government data, highlighting the troubles faced by the shift to digital.

The decision comes amid broader US-Canada trade tensions and negotiations aimed at replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement that includes the two countries and Mexico.Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went into the talks at the headquarters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, as expectations grow of an offensive in Syria's Idlib province by Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was on Wednesday holding previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said.

Zarif went into the talks at the headquarters of Erdogan's ruling party, as expectations grow of an offensive in the Idlib province of northwest Syria bordering Turkey by Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey has been keeping a wary eye on the possibility of the offensive, as it seeks to bring peace to Syria along with Iran and Assad's other main ally Russia.

Ankara has throughout the seven year civil war in Syria supported rebels seeking to oust Assad but has put differences aside to form a three way alliance with Tehran and Moscow.

Erdogan and his counterparts Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Russia's Vladimir Putin are due to meet for a third summit on Syria in Iran on September 7, Turkish reports have said.

But analysts say that Idlib, which is largely controlled by rebel groups, could test the alliance with Turkey, as Ankara warns a military solution could lead to catastrophe and a new influx of refugees across its borders.

Turkey has 12 observation posts staffed by its military inside Idlib aimed at monitoring a de-escalation zone and media reports have said it has sent concrete blocks over the border to reinforce them in case of an offensive.

But analysts also say that Turkey is keen to preserve the three-way alliance and may be prepared to support a more limited offensive against the most extreme factions in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib.

Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey and said it was necessary to "disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists."A soldier beats a man during the August 1 protests in Harare

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday appointed former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe to lead an inquiry into post-election violence when the army opened fire and six people were killed.

The seven-member commission has been tasked with investigating events around anti-fraud protests on August 1 when the military used live rounds on the streets of the capital Harare.

The election was meant to relaunch the country and attract foreign investment after the end of Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule last year, but was marred by the army shooting and allegations of electoral fraud.

Mnangagwa, a former close ally of Mugabe, told reporters that the commission would "identify the actors and their leaders, their motive and strategies employed in the protests."

He said the commission would also investigate the "circumstances which necessitated the involvement of the military."

Mnangagwa, who narrowly won the July 30 election, has previously blamed the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party for the violence.

The inquiry team includes Nigerian former Commonwealth secretary-general Emeka Anyaoku, British lawyer Rodney Dixon and Tanzanian former defence forces chief Davis Mwamunyange.

Three members of the commission are Zimbabwean, two university professors and a lawyer.

The team has six months to investigate and report back to Mnangagwa.Turkish forces are seen in a convoy on a main highway between Damascus and Aleppo, near the town of Saraqib in Syria's northern Idlib province, on August 29, 2018

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that full-scale military operations in Syria's Idlib province could lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe" and cautioned against the use of chemical weapons.

Guterres's warning came amid fears the Syrian government is mobilizing for a military offensive to retake Idlib, the last province still held by the country's beleaguered rebels.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the growing risks of a humanitarian catastrophe in the event of a full-scale military operation in Idlib province in Syria," a UN statement said.

"The Secretary-General once again reaffirms that any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable."

He appealed urgently to the Syrian government and all other parties "to exercise restraint and to prioritize the protection of civilians."

Guterres also urged the guarantors of a so-called Astana peace initiative led by Turkey, Iran and Russia to step up their efforts "to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib, the last remaining de-escalation zone."

According to western estimates, some three million people are at risk in the province, which borders Turkey.

An offensive by the Syrian government, which wants to retake the province with the backing of Moscow, would have explosive repercussions for civilians as well as for moderate rebels and radical Islamists.

During closed-door talks at the UN Tuesday that were requested by Russia, Moscow claimed, without evidence, that "white helmet" rescue workers were preparing a chemical attack in Idlib, according to diplomats, who called the allegations "very bizarre."

Western powers view those claims as an attempt to deflect attention from preparations for a Syrian military offensive.

According to the diplomats, western powers have given the UN Security Council the names of Syrian commanders and regiments involved in the preparations for an offensive in Idlib, who could be held responsible in the event of attacks on civilians.

During a public session on Syria at the UN Tuesday, Russia denied any possibility of a chemical attack in Idlib by the Syrian government.

Russia's Ambassador Vassily Nevenzia insisted that the Syrian military has no chemical weapons and did not intend to use any."The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said

Israel on Wednesday renewed its threat to attack Iranian military targets in Syria, after the two Muslim allies signed an accord on security cooperation.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us," he said at a ceremony naming Israel's nuclear facilities after late president Shimon Peres.

Iran's military attache to Damascus said Tuesday that his country's military advisers would remain in Syria under the defence agreement signed the previous day.

"Support for Syria's territorial integrity and the independence of Syrian sovereignty were also emphasised in the agreement," Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad said.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial and military backing to Assad as he has fought back against a seven-year uprising.

Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the conflict but acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes in Syria to stop what it says are deliveries of advanced weaponry to its Lebanese enemy Hezbollah.

It has also pledged to prevent its arch foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, and a series of strikes that have killed Iranians in Syria have been attributed to Israel.

"We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria," Netanyahu said at the ceremony in southern Israel.

"We will not relent in pursuit of this goal just as we did not relent in bringing about the cancellation of the bad nuclear agreement with Iran", the Israeli premier said.Cindy McCain, wife of US Senator John McCain, stands with her sons Jack (C) and Jimmy (R) during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol

Arizonans paid their respects to John McCain on Wednesday as the body of the late senator lay in state in the capitol for a final farewell.

"He dedicated his life to serve his country," former Arizona senator Jon Kyl said during a ceremony in the capitol rotunda in Phoenix attended by McCain's wife, Cindy, and children.

"When he saw challenges to its institutions or values, he fought to protect them," Kyl said.

McCain's remains were driven to the state capitol in a black hearse escorted by four policemen on motorcycles. An honor guard made up of veterans, servicemen, and members of law enforcement and firefighters greeted the flag-draped casket.

McCain's daughter Meghan sobbed openly as her father's casket was placed on the Arizona state seal where it will be displayed for the public until Thursday.

Cindy McCain placed her cheek on the casket and patted it delicately following the intimate ceremony.

The two-time Republican presidential candidate, naval aviator and prisoner-of-war in Vietnam died on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer.

He would have turned 82 years old on Wednesday.

The body of Senator John McCain lies in state at the Arizona state capitol

Following a memorial ceremony at the North Phoenix Baptist Church on Thursday, McCain's remains are to be flown on a military aircraft to Washington.

They will be on display for a public viewing Friday in the rotunda of the US Capitol -- an honor reserved for the likes of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and civil rights champion Rosa Parks.

The two men who defeated McCain in his White House campaigns, Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, are to deliver eulogies at a Saturday service at the National Cathedral in Washington.

Among the pallbearers will be Democratic former vice president Joe Biden, ex-senator Russ Feingold, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor Warren Beatty.

McCain will be buried Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in a private funeral service.

After coming under pressure from veterans' groups, President Donald Trump, who had an antagonistic relationship with McCain, ordered flags on Monday to be lowered to half-staff until his burial.

Trump is not expected to attend any of the services but Vice President Mike Pence is to speak at a ceremony at the US Capitol on Friday.White House counsel Don McGahn is reported to have cooperated extensively with the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller -- something US President Donald Trump said he authorized

Donald Trump said Wednesday that White House counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his post, signaling more upheaval in the US president's legal team as the probe into Russia's election interference closes in on his inner circle.

McGahn, who has advised Trump on dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, also has been interviewed at length as a cooperating witness by Mueller's team.

He will be leaving his White House post "in the fall," Trump said via Twitter.

The 50-year-old lawyer is one of the few people left in the White House who had a senior role in Trump's election campaign, where McGahn was general counsel.

His replacement, according to media reports, could be his current deputy White House counsel Emmet Flood, a Washington veteran who represented president Bill Clinton when he faced impeachment in the late 1990s.

Trump also maintains a team of private lawyers led by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to deal with his personal legal troubles.

- Helped fill courts with conservatives -

President Donald Trump is losing his top White House lawyer just as the Russia collusion probe of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller closes in on his inner circle

McGahn's departure will come "shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump said.

"I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!" he added.

But despite that assertion, Trump made the announcement on Twitter without first telling McGahn, The New York Times reported, citing people close to the president and the lawyer.

As the president's official legal advisor, McGahn has served Trump well, advising on relations with Congress and the Justice Department as well as dealing with Mueller.

He has also been at the center of one of the Trump administration's biggest political successes: placing dozens of pro-Republican, conservative judges on the Supreme Court and other federal courts around the country.

McGahn was instrumental in Trump's nomination of both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh -- judges with strong conservative records -- to the Supreme Court.

But his personal relations with Trump have been formal and at times testy, as he has tried to protect the president from a slew of accusations and investigations into his personal behavior, his business, and his campaign's alleged collusion with Russians in the 2016 election.

According to media reports, McGahn has struggled to prevent the president from acting on his impulses to interfere dangerously in the Russia investigation.

He also has had to mediate the deep tensions between Trump and the Justice Department over the probe.

According to the New York Times, McGahn threatened to quit in June 2017 rather than carry out Trump's directive to fire Mueller, just weeks after he was named.

McGahn has also pushed back when Trump has sought to oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also out of frustration over the Mueller probe.

- Witness against Trump? -

Those and other episodes, including the firing of FBI director James Comey, have made McGahn a potentially important witness as Mueller examines whether Trump illegally tried to obstruct the investigation -- an offense that could lead to impeachment.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that McGahn had "cooperated extensively" with Mueller's team, taking part in at least three interviews totaling 30 hours.

Trump, who has repeatedly called the probe a "rigged witch hunt," said he had authorized his team to "fully cooperate" with investigators.

But the Times said McGahn's cooperation arose in part from a feeling that he needed to protect himself, and speculation quickly mounted about whether McGahn's testimony could harm the president.

Trump suffered a one-two punch in court this month, when his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud.A picture taken on August 8, 2018 during a trip in Yemen organised by the UAE's National Media Council shows a Yemeni soldier, loyal to the Saudi and UAE-backed government, speaking to a woman riding in a bus in the city of Mukalla

A Saudi-led coalition battling in Yemen on Wednesday dismissed as inaccurate a report by UN investigators that highlighted possible war crimes in the conflict-torn country including deadly air strikes by the alliance.

"We affirm the inaccuracies in the report and its non-neutrality," the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.

"The report did not mention Iran's role in the continuation of the war... and its continued support for the Huthi" militias.

The coalition added that it would later provide a "comprehensive and detailed legal response" to the report.

In their first report released on Tuesday, a team of UN-mandated investigators said all parties in Yemen's bloody conflict have committed a "substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law".

Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes", the report said, pointing to widespread arbitrary detention, rape and torture.

The report said coalition air strikes had caused "most of the documented civilian casualties", pointing to a large number of strikes on residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings and medical facilities.

It said there were "serious concerns about the targeting process applied by the coalition," pointing out that in many cases there were no apparent military targets in the vicinity of the attacks.

Yemen's devastating conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Huthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

The UN human rights office said Tuesday that some 6,660 civilians were among the dead, while more than 10,500 had been injured.

The UN has already described the situation in Yemen as world's worst humanitarian crisis.

UN-backed talks between Yemen's government and the Iran-aligned Huthi militias are to open in Geneva on September 6 -- a first step toward resuming peace negotiations that broke down two years ago.Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano (L), a former Vatican envoy to the United States, says he told Pope Francis of sex abuse allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013

The controversy over an alleged high-level cover-up of Church sex abuse in America has revealed a deep rift among US bishops that reflects both the damage done by the pedophilia scandals rocking the Vatican -- and the country's current political divisiveness.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was the Vatican envoy in Washington between 2011 and 2016, sparked a firestorm when he claimed last week that Pope Francis ignored his warnings in 2013 about alleged abuse by then prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

In July, the pontiff accepted the resignation of McCarrick, now 88. He has been accused of "gravely immoral" behavior with seminarians and priests.

Vigano's claims have raised speculation of a campaign against the pontiff by Church conservatives in the United States, which is home to the fourth largest Catholic population in the world, according to US government data.

"It is a time of turmoil for all of us," says Paul Elie, a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University, a Catholic university in the nation's capital.

In one camp, cardinals including progressive Joseph Tobin of Newark, Chicago's Blase Cupich and Robert McElroy of San Diego have rushed to the pontiff's defense, denouncing Vigano as a conservative "ideological warrior."

But other Church figures, such as bishops Joseph Strickland of Texas and Oklahoma's David Konderla are joining Cardinal Raymond Burke, a conservative American figurehead in the Vatican, in backing Vigano's claims.

For Elie, these dissenting voices are a direct result of Francis's tolerance of differing views.

"Because Francis is not inclined to an authoritarian style, he has allowed a much greater degree of dissent to be expressed openly than his predecessors," Elie told AFP.

"People are now speaking for themselves much more than they were used to."

- Church in the age of Trump -

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick over sexual abuse claims

Some experts say the public airing of Vatican intrigue usually kept behind closed doors reflects a polarized America, and the highly divisive politics that has followed the election of President Donald Trump.

"These are extreme positions -- these are not authentic Catholic positions that I think most of us want to hold on to," said Frank Clooney of the Harvard Divinity School, referring to calls for the pope's resignation.

"It's a characteristic of our time, in the 21st century, given American politics and European politics, that now everything is now in the open and bitter," Clooney added.

"It's part of the era of Trump that we are in -- nobody is holding back and saying this is not appropriate."

With America's Catholic population decreasing -- from 23.9 percent in 2007 to 20.8 percent in 2014, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey -- Church leadership is growing increasingly conservative, said Dennis Doyle of the University of Dayton.

"People on the left say the leadership of the Catholic Church (in the US) has become the 'Republican Party at prayer,'" added Doyle, a theologian who is himself a practicing Catholic.

Some high-ranking clergy have notably focused on religious liberties, the fight against abortion and insurance reimbursement for contraception -- cherished hot-button issues of American conservatives.

"Their most unifying theme is their attack against homosexuality," said Doyle.

"You have seen this massive cultural shift in the US about the status of LGBT people and many people in the Church have tried to say this is a new reality, and Pope Francis is one who is trying to move the Church towards grappling with a new perspective, new facts," he added.

"But there is a group of people who see this as this great heresy... We really are experiencing the polarization in a way that mirrors what's happening in the larger culture."

- Disoriented -

Major sex abuse allegations relating to the Catholic Church

Traditionalist Church leaders are making their views known now because with his recent cardinal appointments, Francis is close to reaching a majority who favor his progressive approach, which could lead to his eventual successor espousing similar views, Doyle noted.

But Elie says the starkly differing views also stem from Church upheaval over recent revelations of a massive pedophilia scandal in Pennsylvania involving more than 300 priests who are said to have abused more than 1,000 children.

"We are all concerned -- the most left wing, the most right wing and everybody in the middle -- we are all trying to figure out what's next," said Elie.Amnesty International acitivists hold a vigil outside Rome's Pantheon on July 25, 2016, to remember Giulio Regeni

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday hailed the return of "normal" relations with Italy that were long strained over the murder of an Italian in Cairo.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries plummeted after the mutilated body of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral researcher at Britain's Cambridge University, was found in a roadside ditch in January 2016.

The extent of the injuries suffered by the academic shocked Italy and Rome recalled its ambassador to Cairo in April 2016, only sending an envoy back in September last year.

But in a sign of easing relations, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio visited Cairo on Wednesday and met with Sisi.

In discussing the Regeni case, the Egyptian president expressed "a strong will to reveal the perpetrators and bring them to justice", according to a statement released by his spokesman Bassam Radi.

Sisi said he was keen to enhance cooperation and welcomed the increasing diplomatic visits between Egypt and Italy as a "return of relations to their normal course".

Di Maio, leader of Italy's populist Five Star Movement, praised the "progress made on the case and the sincere cooperation" of Egyptian authorities, the statement said.

Regeni was researching labour movements when he disappeared and Egyptian authorities have been accused of failing to cooperate in the Italian investigation.

The visit to Cairo by Di Maio comes less than three weeks after that of Italy's foreign minister, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, during which "cooperation" on the Regeni case was also noted.

The Italian press and western diplomats in Cairo suspect members of Egypt's security services of having abducted, and fatally tortured Regeni. The Egyptian government denies the accusation.

In the latest bilateral meeting Sisi and Di Maio also discussed illegal immigration and developments in Libya.

The two sides also talked about strengthening ties "especially in the economic and trade fields", as well as the energy sector, the statement said.

In January Sisi and the boss of Italian energy giant Eni, Claudio Descalzi, attended the inauguration of the offshore Zohr gas field which the firm discovered in 2015.Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel met by Senegal's President Macky Sall upon her arrival at Diass Airport on the outskirts of Dakar

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal Wednesday, at the start of a West African tour, with Berlin hoping that development of the continent will help stem migration and boost the fight against jihadism.

Signalling that Germany means business, Merkel was accompanied by around a dozen German business leaders.

In Ghana, Merkel plans to visit a start-up hub and in Nigeria she will meet with Ecowas head Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.

On her arrival in Dakar late Wednesday the German leader was greeted by Senegalese president Macky Sall and a guard of honour by dozens of Senegalese marines.

After the playing of the national anthems, the military orchestra belted out two popular German songs, including "Schoene Maid, hast Du heut' fur mich Zeit", which roughly translates to "Beautiful maiden, do you have time for me today?"

Joining Mall at a joint news conference at the presidential palace, Merkel then spoke of the need to tackle illegal migration and people traffickers.

"We must not be the accomplices of the human traffickers and we must not just watch," Merkel said.

"We have to fight illegal migration on the one hand, on the other hand we have to create legal opportunities."

Sall, who announced the solar electrification of 300 villages thanks to German funding, deplored the fate of migrants losing their lives "across the Sahara and Mediterranean" and called for "solutions and opportunities" for African youth in Africa itself.

"It is not the vocation of African youth to die in the Mediterranean or on the rivers of Europe or to live clandestinely," he said, denouncing the "networks of traffickers and criminals" making money out of them.

Merkel has placed a strong focus on African diplomacy in recent years, and has called on African countries to do their bit in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe -- an issue over which she faces criticism at home.

Like China and more recently Britain's Theresa May, export-nation Germany is also eagerly eyeing the burgeoning economic potential of resource-rich African nations with young, dynamic citizens.

British Prime Minister May on Wednesday held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour, aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

Senegal is enjoying economic growth of around seven percent annually, while equally booming Ghana is seen as a haven of stability in the region.

Nigeria, despite grappling with a Boko Haram insurgency and oil price volatility, remains Germany's second-biggest trade partner in sub-Saharan Africa.

The push for closer economic ties is part of a wider bid to help stabilise African countries in the long run, offering youngsters opportunities at home in the hope of dissuading them from setting off for Europe.

Senegalese, Ghanaians and Nigerians are among the thousands of migrants trying their luck in Europe, even though their chances of winning asylum are slim. In July alone, nearly 950 Nigerians applied for asylum in Germany.

A German government official speaking ahead of Merkel's trip said it was important to "stop people from making the illegal and extremely dangerous journey to Europe".

Instead, efforts should be focussed on legal methods of entry in Europe, for example for young Africans who study in the EU and then put their education to use at home, the official added.Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif shake hands prior to surprise talks in Ankara likely to have focused on Syria where an offensive is expected against rebel-held Idlib province

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday held previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish presidency said, with the situation in Syria likely to have dominated the agenda.

With expectation growing of an offensive by Tehran ally President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's Idlib province bordering Turkey, Zarif held one hour of talks with Erdogan at his ruling party headquarters in Ankara

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who attended the meeting, said "bilateral ties... (and) Syria" were on the agenda, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Zarif, who heads now to Pakistan, posted on Twitter after the meeting that the talks had been "fruitful".

He said they focused "on bilateral relations and regional cooperation in the face of malign US behaviour".

Iran has strongly supported Turkey as it was hit by sanctions from Tehran's arch enemy the United States which have caused the Turkish lira to nosedive in value.

Turkey has been keeping a wary eye on the possibility of the Idlib offensive, as it seeks to bring peace to Syria along with Iran and Assad's other main ally Russia.

Ankara has throughout the seven-year civil war in Syria supported rebels seeking to oust Assad but has put differences aside to form a three-way alliance with Tehran and Moscow.

Erdogan and his counterparts Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Russia's Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Iran for a third summit on Syria on September 7, Turkish reports have said.

But analysts say that Idlib, which is largely controlled by rebel groups, could test the alliance with Turkey, as Ankara warns a military solution could lead to catastrophe and a new influx of refugees across its borders.

Turkey has 12 military observation posts inside Idlib aimed at monitoring a de-escalation zone and media reports have said it has sent concrete blocks over the border to reinforce them in case of an assault.

But analysts also say Turkey is keen to preserve the three-way alliance and may be prepared to support a more limited offensive against the most extreme factions in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Idlib.

Lavrov also said there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey adding it was necessary to "disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists."The Nobel Peace Prize committee says there is no question of withdrawing its award from Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi over the Rohingya crisis

Norway's Nobel Institute said Wednesday it had no intention of withdrawing its Peace Prize from Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi after a damning UN report termed the treatment of the Rohingya people as "genocide."

"There is no question of the Nobel Committee withdrawing the peace prize," director Olav Njolstad said.

"The rules of the Nobel Peace Prize do not allow it," he added.

A UN probe released Monday detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" against the Rohingya, including acts of rape, sexual violence and mass killings.

At a UN Security Council session on Tuesday, a number of countries -- including the United States, Britain, France and Sweden -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable.

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 when she was detained by the military for championing democracy and human rights.

She was only allowed to leave Myanmar to recieve the award 21 years later as the military apparently eased its iron grip on the country.

As the Rohingya crisis has deepened in the past year with the flight of hundreds of thousands to neighbouring Bangladesh, Suu Kyi has come under increasing international pressure to speak out about their plight.

So far however she has said very little and steadfastly avoided any critical comment of Myanmar's military.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee had warned last year about the worsening situation in Myanmar and had urged all parties to do "everything possible to end discrimination against and persecution of minorities."

Njolstad repeated that statement, adding: "This call is not any less timely after the UN report."

The Myanmar government on Wednesday bluntly rejected the UN's findings.

"We didn't allow the (UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," government spokesman Zaw Htay said, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by UN agencies and other international communities."San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz blamed Donald Trump's administration for killing the nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans victims of Hurricane Maria "with neglect"

President Donald Trump's administration killed Puerto Ricans through "neglect," the mayor of the island's capital said Wednesday, a day after the official death toll for Hurricane Maria was raised to nearly 3,000.

Trump defended his handling of the crisis, claiming that his administration did a "fantastic job" and that Puerto Ricans are still being helped, but Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, had a different view.

"The administration killed the Puerto Ricans with neglect. The Trump administration led us to believe they were helping when they weren't up to par, and they didn't allow other countries to help us," Cruz told CNN.

"Shame on President Trump. Shame on President Trump for not even once, not even yesterday, just saying, 'Look, I grieve with the people of Puerto Rico.'"

After nearly a year of controversy over the death toll from the September 2017 storm, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said Tuesday that the new estimate of 2,975 dead would be considered the official figure.

The Puerto Rican government's longstanding official death toll from Maria had been 64.

Hurricane Maria wreaked widespread devastation and caused $90 billion in damage when it tore across Puerto Rico, and is ranked as the third-costliest storm in the United States since 1900.

Households on the island went for an average of 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage after the storm.

In comparison, the death toll from 2005's Hurricane Katrina -- the costliest hurricane in US history -- was significantly lower, estimated at 1,833.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that his administration is doing a "fantastic job in Puerto Rico," and that governor Rosello has done an "excellent job."

Assistance to Puerto Rico was more difficult because -- unlike Texas and Florida, also struck by hurricanes last year -- "it's much harder to get things onto the island," Trump said.

The island was also deeply in debt, and its power grid was crippled by neglect even before the hurricane, he said.

"I think most of the people in Puerto Rico really appreciate what we have done," said Trump.

- 'Stain' on Trump presidency -

One month after Maria, when the official number of people killed stood at 16, Trump said that the disaster was nothing compared to Hurricane Katrina's death toll.

"That shaped and hampered the type of response that we got, federal assistance, federal deployment and assets, to Puerto Rico," said New York lawmaker Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat of Puerto Rican descent.

"It is indisputable that thousands of people died because of the disastrously inadequate response," Velazquez told CNN.

The president's comments, plus images of Trump throwing paper towels at hurricane survivors, outraged Puerto Ricans.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that the president is "proud of all of the work the federal family undertook to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico."

Cruz was having none of it: "What is there to be proud of?" she asked CNN, mentioning the death toll. "Is that what he's proud of?"

Puerto Ricans are "going to remember this forever."An Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft lands at a disused airfield during an IAF training exercise on the outskirts of Allahabad

A top Pentagon official cautioned India on Wednesday that there are no guarantees for a special waiver from US sanctions if it buys new weapons platforms from Russia.

Washington is alarmed at the prospect of India, an increasingly important US military ally and the world's top defense importer, buying new systems from Russia, including its S-400 long-range, surface-to-air missile system.

Under current US rules against Russia, third countries could face sanctions if they transact with Russian defense or intelligence sectors.

But after lobbying from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Congress granted the US president and the secretary of state the option of granting waivers, such as when an ally nation transitions from legacy Russian gear to Western arms.

Randall Schriver, the Pentagon's assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said the waiver authority had created the impression Washington would insulate India "from any fallout from this legislation no matter what they do."

"I would say that's a bit misleading," Schriver told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace in Washington.

"We would still have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems (from Russia). I can't sit here and tell you that they would be exempt, that we would use that waiver."

Schriver was speaking ahead of a historic summit in New Delhi next week, a first ever "2+2" between India and the United States that will see Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meet with their Indian counterparts.

Schriver said the prospect of India buying the S-400 is particularly "troubling" for a lot of reasons.

"Our strong preference ... is (for India) to seek alternatives and see if we could be a partner to India in addressing those defense needs," he said.

The United States has in recent years pushed to forge closer diplomatic and military ties with India, a fellow democracy that it sees as key to countering China's growing regional ambitions.

India has increasingly turned to the United States and France for arms purchases, but is still reliant on Russian hardware and expertise to maintain its existing arsenal.

Schriver said the Indian and US militaries would next week discuss expanding the scope and complexity of joint military exercises.Rabbi Barry Freundel was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in 2015 for secretly videotaping women as they used a ritual bath, a case that shocked Washington's Jewish community

Victims of a prominent Washington rabbi who for years secretly videotaped women as they used a ritual bath reached a $14.25 million settlement with four Jewish organizations, their lawyer confirmed Wednesday.

The settlement covers over 150 women filmed by Bernard "Barry" Freundel, along with other women who undressed where the hidden camera was located even if they were not taped, attorney Alexandra Harwin told AFP Wednesday.

Freundel was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in 2015, after his voyeurism went undetected for years.

Rabbi at the Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington's upscale Georgetown neighborhood, he placed his secret camera near the mikveh, a bath used to achieve ritual purity in Judaism.

The case has shocked the city's Jewish community, in which Freundel was a highly respected figure who taught at several universities in the area.

The class action lawsuit initially sought $100 million in damages, but the organizations' insurance policies "provided far less coverage for the claims," Harwin explained.

Nonetheless, she said the settlement "provides prompt and substantial payments to the women victimized by Freundel, while maintaining their confidentiality and avoiding an overly-burdensome process."

Freundel is expected to be released in 2020, his lawyer told The Washington Post.US President Donald Trump says part of the problem with North Korea is Washington's troubled trade ties with China

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China of complicating Washington's relationship with North Korea by rendering its ally economic assistance, as talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization are at a standstill.

But he insisted his relationship with Kim Jong Un remained "very good" and said he was not considering resuming joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula that Pyongyang considers "provocative."

Trump's refusal to direct criticism at Kim and instead blame other parties for a lack of progress comes despite reports the US received a belligerent letter from Pyongyang, which prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to North Korea last weekend.

"China makes it much more difficult in terms of our relationship with North Korea," Trump said at the White House, though he insisted his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping were "great."

He also noted his "fantastic relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he met in Singapore in June.

"Part of the North Korea problem is caused by the trade disputes with China," Trump said.

Beijing is Pyongyang's sole major ally, and the main transit country for any goods entering the North. Trump said that China -- angered by US moves on trade -- is no longer being as tough as it could be on North Korea.

"We know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful!" he tweeted on Wednesday evening.

On the subject of military exercises, which the US suspended as a "good faith" measure following Trump's summit with Kim, the president said "there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games" though added these could resume if the need arose.

It came a day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon was not planning to suspend any more military drills, before appearing to backtrack on Wednesday by insisting "no decisions" had been made on the matter.

Trump also reiterated his wish to fundamentally alter the trade status quo between the United States and China, the world's top two economies.

He said he needed to take a tough stance with Beijing on trade "because it was really not fair to our country," criticizing his predecessors who "closed their eyes" to the issue.

- Belligerent letter -

In June, Trump and Kim pledged to work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

But those efforts stalled several weeks ago, and last week, Trump ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to Pyongyang.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Washington remains ready to engage "when it is clear that Chairman Kim stands ready to deliver on the commitments that he made at the Singapore summit to President Trump to completely denuclearize North Korea."

According to the Washington Post, Pyongyang sent Pompeo a belligerent letter that prompted him to cancel the visit, though its precise contents were not known.

US news site Vox meanwhile reported Trump at June's summit pledged to sign a declaration ending the Korean War, and now the two countries remain deadlocked over who will follow through on their commitment first.

On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that Washington believes "denuclearization has to take place before we get to other parts," confirming that included such a declaration.Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said there has been a lot of 'goodwill' in NAFTA talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and she remains 'optimistic' about getting a deal by Friday

A deal on an overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement appeared within reach as Canada and the United States opened their third day of negotiations Thursday aimed at getting the pact done by the end of the week.

Trade officials worked late into the night on details, and Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said, "There's a lot of goodwill on both sides."

Following another face-to-face meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Freeland said she remains "optimistic" the sides can bridge their differences by Friday.

She said the discussions have been "very, very intensive."

Donald Trump has threatened to leave Canada on the sidelines since announcing a breakthrough with Mexico on Monday, but both the US president and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have also expressed optimism a deal is close.

The White House plans to notify Congress on Friday of its intention to enter into a new free trade agreement, to provide the required 90 days' notice that would allow NAFTA 2.0 to be signed by December 1, when Mexico will install a new president.

But that will mean compromises on both sides on issues that have created friction between the neighboring countries, notably Canada's dairy trade rules and mechanisms to settle disputes and intellectual property protections, as the leaders each try to claim victory.

"I think they're going really well," Trump said of the Canada talks, saying they were "probably on track" to meet the Friday deadline.

"I think Canada very much wants to make the deal," he said, while again raising the possibility of a separate, bilateral deal with Mexico.

The crucial phase of talks began Tuesday, and Trudeau also expressed optimism about chances of an agreement by the end of the week.

"There is a possibility of getting to a good deal for Canada by Friday," Trudeau said. But "no NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal."

Freeland has declined to comment on the specific issues being discussed, saying the sides had agreed "we are not going to conduct our negotiation in public."

- 'High-level' agreement -

Trade between NAFTA countries

If the White House notifies Congress by Friday, it then would have until September 30 to submit the final NAFTA agreement. But even if the pact is signed by December 1, Congress would have time to debate before voting on it.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners, as well as patent protections for medicines.

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite the 25-year-old free trade pact. But in the last five weeks, Mexico City and Washington held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland has repeatedly stressed that she remained in close touch with her Mexican and US counterparts throughout the summer and had already achieved "a high-level agreement with the US" on some of the pending issues on autos and labor rights.

She also has met this week with her Mexican counterparts, who remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough deal with the United States.

Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said he expected to rejoin his US and Canadian counterparts for trilateral talks later Thursday of Friday.

However, a Canadian official told AFP the focus at the moment remains on the bilateral discussions with Washington.

Freeland praised Mexico's willingness to make difficult concessions on auto trade and labor issues, which helped pave the way for a three-party agreement.

The "significant compromises that Mexico was prepared to make to support Canadian workers... set the stage for very intensive conversations" to conclude NAFTA, she said.

The new NAFTA includes a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, a requirement that a percentage of vehicles must come from high wage factories, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

Guajardo said if Ottawa and Washington fail to come to agreement, Mexico would have to return to the negotiating table to revisit some of the auto industry rules. However, he said it would not be a "pitched battle.

Trudeau has vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

But Ottawa could offer US dairy farmers a small increase in market share as it did with the EU in a free trade pact last year, in exchange for US concessions on the NAFTA chapter on dispute resolution.OGDEN, Utah (AP) - A high-ranking U.S. Interior Department official on Thursday reiterated the agency's strong interest in moving its Bureau of Land Management headquarters to the American West.

The move isn't a done deal, Susan Combs, an assistant secretary at Interior, said as she visited a northern Utah city that is among those under consideration for the new location. But she spoke passionately during a round table in Ogden about the need to bridge the gap between bureaucrats and the people affected by their decisions.

The bureau, which is overseen by Interior, manages nearly 388,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) of land nationwide, and 99 percent is in 12 Western states.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Susan Combs, Interior Department's acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, talk before a roundtable discussion at the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce in Ogden, Utah, on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

Important factors often get lost in translation from Western states to government employees in Washington, D.C., Combs said. Having employees living in a community where they would be running into locals at the grocery would change their perspective.

"The goal is to reorganize by devolving power out," Combs said. "We're operating in a landscape where people live. I think it has been sort of detached. Bringing the decision-making back to the local level means that you have better chance to explain what's on your mind."

The possible move of the Bureau of Land Management headquarters is part of a larger reorganization of the Interior Department that Secretary Ryan Zinke has ordered.

A decision about whether to move the bureau and where isn't expected for many months.

While leaders in the U.S. West agree the headquarters should be closer to the land it manages, bureau veterans have said the agency needs a presence in Washington, D.C.

Combs said Ogden was beautiful after she toured the city of 87,000 people north of Salt Lake City with an Air Force base, college and proximity to ski resorts. But she said it's merely one of many under consideration, which also include communities in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

Combs also has visited or plans to visit Grand Junction and Denver in Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Boise, Idaho. Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, is also under consideration, she said.

Conservative Utah leaders have long chafed under the agency's management of 36,000 square miles (93,000 square kilometers) of public land in the state and called for it to come under state control.

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert said during the round table that there's no question the bureau would be more efficient in a Western state where employees would live alongside miners, farmers, ranchers, tourists and outdoor recreationists and understand how public lands they manage are used.

"That can only happen in a place like Utah," Herbert said. "It won't happen in a place like Washington, D.C."

Combs said the department has requested an analytical analysis by the General Services Administration to assess cost of living, education, access to health care and proximity to airports in different cities.

She said they will also take into consideration the lifestyles in each city.

"This isn't 30,000-foot stuff," Combs said. "This is granular."

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Susan Combs, Interior Department's acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, talk before a roundtable discussion at the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce in Ogden, Utah, on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert speaks during a roundtable discussion at the Weber County Commission Chambers on reorganizing the Department of Interiors on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Ogden, Utah. (Ben Dorger/Standard-Examiner via AP)

The Committee on Natural Resources held a roundtable discussion at the Weber County Commission Chambers on reorganizing the Department of Interiors on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Ogden, Utah. (Ben Dorger/Standard-Examiner via AP)

Pam Harrison tries to get the attention of Rep. Rob Bishop with a Protect Bears Ears sign after a roundtable discussion at the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce in Ogden, Utah, on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)A man who was bitten by a shark off the coast of Cape Cod earlier this month said he punched the predator in the gills in order to escape its grasp.

William Lytton was attacked by the shark on August 15. Experts believe the shark may have been a great white.

Lytton said he was swimming in about '8 to 10 feet' of water off Truro, Massachusetts, when he felt an incredible pain shoot through his left leg and quickly realized he was being attacked by a shark.

In his first interview since the incident Lytton said: 'I initially was terrified, but, really, there was no time to think.'

William Lytton (pictured), 61, who was bitten by a shark off the coast of Cape Cod earlier this month said he punched the predator in the gills in order to escape

Experts believe the shark may have been a great white, but it's still unclear. This photo of a shark near the Cape Cod shore was captured on the same day as the attack

The 61-year-old neurologist from Scarsdale, New York, said he gave the animal a strong smack in the gills with his left hand, a move that likely saved his life but also resulted in some torn tendons.

He now sports an arm cast as well as bandages and a brace around most of his left leg.

'It doesn't feel like I did anything heroic. A lot of this was luck,' Lytton said, recounting the ordeal following a physical therapy session at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where he's been since Sunday.

Lytton said he must have recalled from nature documentaries that the gills were one of the most vulnerable parts of the shark.

After the animal broke its grip, he took a few strong stokes back to shore where he shouted for help. Someone alerted his wife, who had been on the beach with their two young daughters and family friends.

Other beachgoers - including off-duty nurses and other medical professionals - helped stem the bleeding and carried him up the dunes to the beach parking lot as he started to lose consciousness from the blood loss.

Beachgoers - including off-duty nurses and other medical professionals - helped stem the bleeding and carried him up the dunes to the beach parking lot as he started to lose consciousness from the blood loss

Lytton was airlifted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston where he said he was placed into a two-day coma, underwent six surgeries and had nearly 12 pints of blood pumped into him

'The pain was really excruciating,' Lytton said. 'I remember the helicopter landing and then nothing for the next two days.'

Lytton was airlifted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston where he said he was placed into a two-day coma, underwent six surgeries and had nearly 12 pints of blood pumped into him.

The professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn said he's grateful to be alive, but knows he has weeks more of rehab - and at least one more surgery - before he's back on his feet.

The shark, fortunately, missed critical nerves and veins and didn't leave major bone damage, though pieces of shark teeth were cleaned out of his wounds and his bandages cover 'hundreds' of sutures used to stitch back together muscles and skin, Lytton said.

'It looks very artistic,' he said diplomatically of his battle wounds.

Lytton was transferred on Sunday to Spaulding, a rehabilitation hospital where many of the most severely injured survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing were treated.

He is expected to be there around two weeks before eventually returning to New York for possibly more rehab.

The shark, fortunately, missed critical nerves and veins and didn't leave major bone damage, though pieces of shark teeth were cleaned out of his wounds and his bandages cover 'hundreds' of sutures used to stitch back together muscles and skin, Lytton (pictured) said

Lytton (pictured, during physical therapy) said he isn't in any rush to wade back into the ocean waters off Cape Cod, where he spends nearly every summer doing research

Lytton said he isn't in any rush to wade back into the ocean waters off Cape Cod, where he spends nearly every summer doing research.

'It's kind of terrifying thinking about it,' he said. 'I know it's not the best thing to say, but I didn't like sharks before, and like them even less now.'

Lytton's wife, June, said she hopes the attack is a warning for others to take shark safety seriously.

'It's still not real to me,' she said Tuesday standing at her husband's side. 'It happened so close to shore. I never thought that could happen.'

State biologists are working to determine what type of shark was involved in the attack, which was the first in Massachusetts waters since 2012. The state's last fatal attack was in 1936.

Photos of a massive shark near the Cape Cod shore have led some experts to believe that the predator may have been a great white shark.

Shark sightings have continued to close Cape Cod beaches as the tourist destination prepares for Labor Day weekend and the last big hurrah of the summer.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - After an easy win in Tuesday's GOP primary, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is heading into an increasingly bitter - and expensive - showdown with incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson that could play a decisive role in which party controls the Senate.

Scott defeated California businessman Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente, who earned attention this year by mounting U.S. Senate bids in multiple states at the same time but did not campaign against Scott at all.

Term limits are forcing Scott to leave the governor's mansion and he was strongly encouraged by many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to mount a challenge to Nelson.

FILE- In this Aug. 22, 2018, file photo Florida Gov. Rick Scott looks on after a news conference at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Four Office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's recent comments that Russians are meddling in Florida's election system has triggered a firestorm for the mild-mannered politician. It has triggered a line of attack Scott and his campaign supporters. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and is Florida's only statewide elected Democrat right now. Scott was first elected amid the tea party wave in 2010 but has flipped on some of his hardline positions, including his stance on immigration.

The race is one of stark contrasts: Nelson is a throwback to a bygone era when the state's Democrats talked with a Southern drawl. He can take five minutes to answer a single question. Scott, a relative newcomer to the state, can seem awkward, but likes to stick to scripted talking points heavy on statistics, usually about job growth.

Scott and Nelson have already been sniping at each other for months in the eagerly anticipated contest. So far they have thrown barbs over guns, health care and Florida's recent environmental problems.

Even before voting started in the primary, Scott had been pounding Nelson with a barrage of television ads, many of them depicting the 75-year-old Nelson as a career politician who is out of touch. Before Nelson was elected the U.S. Senate, he served as the state's insurance commissioner and spent 12 years in the U.S. House.

"Isn't 40 years enough?" Scott said last week on Fox News. "What new idea is he going to come up with?"

Most of the ads have been paid by Scott himself. Federal campaign filings show that he has already donated $25.5 million of his own money to his campaign.

Scott, who does not accept a salary and uses a family jet to travel, first built his fortune as the head of the hospital giant Columbia/HCA. He was forced out of the job amid a federal fraud investigation. Although Scott was never charged with any wrongdoing, the company paid a then-record $1.7 billion fine for Medicare fraud.

Although Nelson supporters have launched some smaller television and digital ad buys, Nelson is waiting until this week to start his first major television ad buy. Nelson, meanwhile, has had limited time to campaign because of the U.S. Senate remaining in session for most of August.

That has worried some of Nelson's supporters. During a stop in the north Florida town of Monticello, he was asked about Scott's onslaught on television ads and whether Nelson would be countering them soon. Nelson countered that despite all the ads, polls showed the race was still close.

"I almost feel like Rocky Balboa," Nelson said. "Because remember, he gets in the ring and he has to take punch after punch after punch."

He added that he was recently filming his own television ads that would soon find their way to television screens.

"I, of course, am saving my nickels and dimes until I see the whites of their eyes," Nelson said.

Nelson will also likely take aim at President Trump's connection to Scott.

Scott is a longtime friend of Trump who enthusiastically backed him during the presidential election. Scott set up a Super PAC to help Trump during the campaign and has visited the president at the White House and Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

But since getting into the race, Scott has kept his distance from the president. He has split with Trump on certain issues, including immigration, but without criticizing the president. At some political events, he has barely mentioned Trump by name.

FILE- In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.l istens during a roundtable discussion with education leaders from South Florida at the United Teachers of Dade headquarters in Miami. Caught in one of the toughest campaign fights in his lengthy political career Nelson's recent comments that Russians are meddling in Florida's election system has triggered a firestorm for the mild-mannered politician. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

A voter arrives to cast his ballot at the Miami-Dade County Palm Springs North Fire Station, during the Florida primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Police in El Salvador have arrested more than 400 gang members in one of the largest nation-wide crackdowns to date against the Mara Salvatrucha.

The gang is also known as the MS-13, and some of the arrested were allegedly involved in extortion, drug trafficking and ordering the killings of police officers.

The director of the National Civil Police said Tuesday the arrests were aimed at disabling the gang's vast financial and logistics network.

Howard Cotto said that in more than 400 raids, police seized hotels, houses, vehicles and boats.

Those arrested include an evangelical pastor who allegedly gave gang members false certificates saying they had performed community service, when they hadn't.DALLAS (AP) - A white former police officer has been convicted of murder in Texas for fatally shooting a black, unarmed teenager while on duty. The 2017 shooting launched the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs into a national conversation on issues of law enforcement and race.

Here are details about that case and others in recent years in which charges were filed in police shootings of black people:

- Dallas: Roy Oliver was convicted of murder Tuesday in the 2017 death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver, a Balch Springs police officer at the time, fired into a car packed with black teenagers who were leaving a house party in the Dallas suburb. The gunfire killed Edwards. Oliver said he thought his partner was in danger as the car drove by. But his partner told jurors he didn't fear for his life.

Defendant Roy Oliver, right, a fired Balch Springs police officer charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, and his defense attorney Bob Gill speak after seeing a question from the jury indicating they can't reach a unanimous verdict during a trial of Oliver at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. Oliver was convicted of murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager when he fired into a car full of teenagers leaving a house party in suburban Dallas. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

- East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Officer Michael Rosfeld was charged in the June 19 shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr. after the teen fled from a traffic stop. He is scheduled to be in court for a pretrial hearing Sept. 11.

- Chicago: Jason Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder in the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. The white officer shot the black teenager 16 times. His trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5. The shooting made international headlines when a judge forced the city to release a dashcam video of the shooting. The video sparked massive protests, cost the Chicago police superintendent his job, and promoted federal and local investigations.

- North Charleston, South Carolina: After killing 50-year-old Walter Scott in 2015, Officer Michael Slager pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2017. He later appealed.

- Chicago: Officer Marco Proano was sentenced to five years in prison for using excessive force after shooting at a stolen car in 2013, injuring two black teenagers.

- Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati Police Officer Raymond Tensing was tried twice for murder after killing Samuel DuBose, whom he pulled over for driving without a front license plate in 2015. The jury was hung both times, and the charges were dismissed. Tensing received $350,000 from the University of Cincinnati when he agreed to resign.

- Milwaukee: Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was acquitted in June 2017 of first-degree reckless homicide after shooting 23-year-old Sylville Smith during a foot chase in August 2016.

- Falcon Heights, Minnesota: Officer Jeronimo Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and other counts after shooting 32-year-old Philando Castile in 2016. He was acquitted on all charges in June 2017.

- Tulsa, Oklahoma: Officer Betty Shelby was acquitted of manslaughter after shooting a 40-year-old unarmed black man, Terence Crutcher, in September 2016. A neighboring sheriff's office then announced Shelby, who resigned from the Tulsa Police Department, would join the squad.

- Miami: Prosecutors charged Officer Jonathan Aledda with four felonies and misdemeanors, including attempted manslaughter , after he shot unarmed behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey in July 2016. Kinsey was supervising a patient with autism who was holding a silver toy truck, which a bystander mistook for a gun.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Claudia Lauer and Alexandra Villarreal in Philadelphia and AP News Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York.

Fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver, who was charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, awaits the reading of the verdict during his trial at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. Oliver was convicted of murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting the unarmed black teenager when he fired into a car full of teenagers leaving a house party in suburban Dallas. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

Odell Edwards and Charmaine Edwards, parents of Jordan Edwards, react to a guilty of murder verdict during a trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver, who was charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO RYAN MICHALESKO, NOT BACA - Alongside attorneys, Odell Edwards, right, father of Jordan Edwards, speaks to members of the media after a Dallas County jury found Roy Oliver, the former Balch Springs police officer who killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, guilty of murder during a trial of Oliver at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. Oliver was convicted of murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager when he fired into a car full of teenagers leaving a house party in suburban Dallas. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)MIAMI (AP) - Former Clinton administration Cabinet member and university president Donna Shalala won the Democratic nomination Tuesday for a U.S. House seat in Florida widely seen as one of the party's best chances nationally for a pickup from the GOP.

Shalala will meet Republican nominee Maria Elvira Salazar in the November general election.

Shalala defeated four candidates in the Miami-area race. Longtime incumbent Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is retiring, and the seat has been trending more Democratic for years.

Democratic candidate for Congress Donna Shalala speaks during watch party on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

In 2016, Hillary Clinton took the district by about 20 percentage points over President Donald Trump even as Ros-Lehtinen was re-elected.

Shalala, 77, served eight years as President Bill Clinton's Health and Human Services secretary. She also was president of both the University of Miami and the University of Wisconsin.

This is Shalala's first run for elected office. She has campaigned on her experience and knowledge of many key Democratic issues, such as health care, immigration reform and preventing gun violence.

"Our theme is basically: ready on Day One," Shalala said in a recent interview.

Shalala banked that voters would see her experience as an asset. The Democratic candidates had similar positions on most key issues, such as tackling climate change, reducing gun violence, improving health care, and overhauling immigration. But none could match Shalala's lengthy record or familiar name.

Shalala has said she's confident Democrats will flip the seat from the GOP no matter which Republican is nominated. Part of the reason, she said, is strong Democratic voter enthusiasm traceable to their opposition to the Trump presidency.

"There's no question about it. In all their experience, Trump is their worst nightmare," she said.

The 56-year-old Salazar emerged from a crowded field to win the GOP primary. She has worked in Spanish-language broadcast news since 1984 and interviewed Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the mid-1990s, one of the few reporters to score a one-on-one interview.

She has styled herself as an expert on Latin American affairs and the U.S. Hispanic community and has emphasized conservative positions on issues such as creating jobs, improving education, reforming health care and immigration, and opposing abortion in most cases.

"I am honored by all the support we are receiving," she said.

In other U.S House races in Florida, no incumbents were defeated and one, Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, was re-elected after winning her primary because she has no general election opponents. Another Democrat, Rep. Al Lawson, pushed back a strong effort by a former Jacksonville mayor and a third Democrat, Rep. Alcee Hastings, is well on his way to a 14th term because he faces only a write-in candidate in November.

Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who represents a South Florida districts the Democrats have targeted, easily won his primary and will face Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a native of Ecuador, in the fall election.

____

Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

Democratic candidate for Congress Donna Shalala walks off stage after speaking during watch party on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Democratic candidate for Congress Donna Shalala speaks during a watch party on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Democratic candidate for Congress Donna Shalala speaks during watch party on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Democratic candidate for Congress Donna Shalala speaks with supporters during watch party on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)BEIJING (AP) - More than a dozen human rights groups are urging Google not to offer censored internet search in China, amid reports it is planning to again provide the service in the giant market.

A joint letter Tuesday calls on CEO Sundar Pichai to explain what Google is doing to safeguard users from the Chinese government's censorship and surveillance.

It describes the company's secretive plan to build a search engine that would comply with Chinese censorship as representing "an alarming capitulation by Google on human rights."

FILE - In this April 27, 2017, file photo, visitors use their smartphones in front of a booth for Google at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing. More than a dozen human rights groups have sent a letter dated Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to Google urging the company not to offer censored internet search in China, amid reports it is planning to again begin offering the service in the giant Asian market. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

"The Chinese government extensively violates the rights to freedom of expression and privacy; by accommodating the Chinese authorities' repression of dissent, Google would be actively participating in those violations for millions of internet users in China," the letter says.

In a statement, Google said it has "been investing for many years to help Chinese users, from developing Android, through mobile apps such as Google Translate and Files Go, and our developer tools. But our work on search has been exploratory, and we are not close to launching a search product in China."

In the U.S., President Donald Trump and other conservatives have lobbed charges of censorship at Google and other U.S. tech companies, though they haven't provided evidence. On Tuesday, Trump claimed that Google had rigged search results about him "so that almost all stories & news is BAD." A top adviser said the White House is "taking a look" at whether Google should face federal regulation. The companies deny the accusations.

Meanwhile, Apple announced plans last year to open a data center in mainland China with ties to the country's government, raising concerns about the security of iCloud accounts that store personal information from Apple customers who live in mainland China, even when they're traveling outside the country. Other major technology companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM, already had similar deals to run data centers in mainland China to remain in the good graces of the country's Communist government.

The rights groups' expression of concern over a Chinese search engine from Google follows a letter earlier this month from more than a thousand Google employees protesting the China plans. The letter called on executives to review ethics and transparency at the company.

Google had previously complied with censorship controls starting in 2006 as it sought a toehold in the booming Chinese economy. But it exited the Chinese search market in 2010 under unrelenting pressure from human rights groups and some shareholders.

Tuesday's letter, signed by groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, said China's controls over the internet have only strengthened since then amid an overall crackdown on civil liberties and freedom of expression. The letter said it would be difficult for Google to relaunch a search engine "in a way that would be compatible with the company's human rights responsibilities under international standards, or its own commitments."

According to online news site The Intercept, Google created a custom Android app that will automatically filter out sites blocked by China's so-called "Great Firewall."

Google co-founder Sergey Brin was born in the Soviet Union in 1973 and lived there until age 6 when his family fled. He has said his experience with a repressive regime shaped his and the company's views.

However, Pichai, who became CEO in 2015, has said he wants Google to be in China serving Chinese users.

In December, Google announced it was opening an artificial intelligence lab in Beijing, and in June, Google invested $550 million in JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce platform that is second only to Alibaba in the country. The companies said they would collaborate on retail solutions around the world without mentioning China, where Google services including Gmail and YouTube are blocked.PHOENIX (AP) - The incumbent Republican governor and a Democratic Latino education professor won their parties' respective nods in Tuesday's primary election for Arizona's top office.

Gov. Doug Ducey bested former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a more conservative GOP candidate who had little funding and campaign resources. Education professor and military veteran David Garcia beat fellow Democrats state Sen. Steve Farley and Kelly Fryer, a former CEO of the YWCA Southern Arizona.

A huge whoop erupted from several hundred supporters packed inside a central Phoenix restaurant when the race was called for Garcia.

David Garcia, Democratic candidate for Arizona governor, speaks at a victory celebration at a restaurant Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Phoenix. Garcia, a Latino education professor, beat state Sen. Steve Farley and Kelly Fryer, former CEO of the YWCA Southern Arizona, to win the Democratic nomination for governor. (AP Photo/Anita Snow)

"The insiders who have been running the show for decades are running scared because they know their days are numbered," Garcia said. "We are one step away from changing Arizona."

Much of the crowd was comprised of teachers who applauded when he vowed to "build a first-class education system."

Ducey and Garcia both said they are suspending campaign gatherings later in the week to honor the late Sen. John McCain. Ducey, who has the responsibility of naming a replacement for McCain - and said he will do so after his funeral - held no public events on Tuesday.

Ducey has focused his re-election bid on border security and job creation, promoting a new law enforcement collaboration effort called the Border Strike Force. In a statement, Ducey touted increases to public education funding and job increases from his first term in office.

"We've delivered substantive reforms and made real progress these last three years in order to improve our state," he said.

Garcia emerged over the summer in the three-way Democratic race. The fourth-generation Arizona resident is a professor at the education school at Arizona State University.

He supports the Invest in Education Act, a proposal that would increase income taxes on Arizona's wealthiest residents to provide more money for schools.

He also has promised to pull back the National Guard troops Ducey sent to the southern border at President Donald Trump's request. Ducey has argued their presence combats drug smuggling and other illegal activity along the international boundary.

Now that the primary is over, both parties are poised to funnel millions into November's general election.

The Republican Governors Association over the summer broadcast attack ads against Garcia, linking him to calls to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Association spokesman Jon Thompson said the group had planned to buy more ad time this week, but decided to hold off after McCain's death.

Some Democrats see Ducey as vulnerable after an unprecedented statewide teacher strike to demand increased school funding. Although Ducey's proposal to give teachers a 20-percent raise over three years passed in the state budget, teachers had demanded $1 billion in new money for schools.

Josh Meyer, a 27-year-old Phoenix movie theater manager, said he voted Tuesday for Democratic candidates.

"It's now or never for a blue wave by the Democrats," said Meyer. "If not, democracy will be in question in our country."

Eduardo Haramina, a naturalized U.S. citizen who sells hot dogs from a cart outside the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, said he was thankful for the right to vote in the homeland he adopted after arriving from Argentina in 1971.

"It's good to be able to choose our leaders, but sometimes it's hard to know who is the best," said Haramina, who declined to reveal how he voted. "I was sick and tired of the corruption back home. We have to make sure we keep the corrupt ones here out of office."

___

Associated Press writer Melissa Daniels contributed to this report.

FILE--In this Aug. 14, 2018, file photo, Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks at a news conference in Phoenix. Ducey and a Democratic Hispanic education professor appeared likely to win their parties' respective nods in the primary election for Arizona's top office. Both Ducey and Democratic front runner David Garcia earlier announced suspension of campaign gatherings later in the week when events are planned to honor Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday from brain cancer,(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)

FILE - In this July 11, 2018, file photo, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, speaks at the Department of Public Safety aircraft hangar in Phoenix. The winner of Tuesday's three-way democratic primary will seek to replace Incumbent Ducey in the November general election. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)MIAMI (AP) - One was a Venezuelan army officer who deserted and joined the opposition. The other, a political activist who says he had to flee after pro-government forces attacked his home. They ended up in the U.S., among thousands of their countrymen seeking asylum in what seemed like an obvious place to do so.

But both men have been turned away, learning a hard lesson about the limits of asylum in the U.S. even for people from a collapsing country whose government the Trump administration has condemned.

Helegner Tijera Moreno, the former army officer, is being held at an immigration detention facility in New Mexico pending a final removal order or a last-minute reprieve after a judge rejected his asylum claim. The other man, Marcos Guada, was repatriated to Venezuela in July but quickly fled to the Dominican Republic.

This undated photo made available by Hosseph Calderon shows his brother Helegner Tijera Calderon, a Venezuelan army officer who deserted the military and joined the opposition, in Merida, Venezuela. Moreno, fled to the U.S. in search of asylum but was rejected by an immigration judge. He's being held at an immigration detention facility in New Mexico pending a final removal order or a last-minute reprieve. (Hosseph Calderon via AP)

They are still surprised - and somewhat bitter - that the U.S. rejected their asylum bids.

"I came here because I thought the United States was the principal opponent of the Venezuelan government and because I thought we had a good chance of help," Tijera, 39, said by phone from the detention center. "Sadly, I was wrong."

Venezuelans, whose country has grown increasingly authoritarian and lawless amid an economic collapse, now make up the largest group by nationality of people seeking asylum in the United States. But they are increasingly being denied and must either return to their country or join the more than 2 million who have become refugees in other countries.

"I was looking to save my life," Guada recalls of his decision to leave. "My life was in danger."

Nearly 28,000 Venezuelan asylum petitions, some for more than one individual, were submitted in 2017 by people making "affirmative" claims that they assert upon or after their arrival in the U.S. It was 50 percent more than a year earlier and five times as many as in 2015. Thousands more have made "defensive" claims to stave off deportation after visas expired or after their initial petitions were rejected.

Asylum claims typically take up to four years, though the Trump administration has been accelerating the process as part of a broader policy of increased immigration enforcement.

Last year, at least 250 Venezuelans were deported, up 36 percent from a year earlier. At least 258 were deported in the first half of this year. Another 265 are detained like Tijera, awaiting deportation. Officials won't say how many had their asylum claims denied but lawyers and other experts say that it's the majority.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data research organization at Syracuse University, found that nearly half the Venezuelan asylum applications that have come before immigration judges in the last five years have been denied. In comparison, nearly 90 percent of claims from Haiti and Mexico are denied while less than 20 percent of claims from Syria and about 10 percent from Belarus are denied.

To qualify for asylum, migrants must prove they face an imminent threat upon their return of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

"The general violence, the chaos, the economy aren't enough," said Juan Carlos Gomez, an immigration lawyer who runs a legal clinic at Florida International University in Miami. "Many Venezuelans apply for political asylum thinking they are coming out of hell and someone is going to protect them but, sadly, that's not the law."

Many Venezuelans believe they will be allowed to claim asylum because the U.S. has been such a staunch critic of the government of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez.

"The American government is two-faced," Guada said. "They say one thing and do another."

Advocates for immigrants say asylum seekers misunderstand the system for a reason. "It is a contradiction in the U.S. immigration policy that we often condemn conditions in a foreign country and then deport people to those conditions," said Royce Murray, policy director at the American Immigration Council.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services won't comment on individual cases but says it is upholding asylum laws that have been abused.

"The truth is that claims have skyrocketed across the board in recent years because migrants know they can exploit a broken system to enter the U.S., avoid removal, and remain in the country," said Michael Bars, a spokesman for the agency.

Tijera would seem to have a strong case since he was a lieutenant in the army, and the support of the military is widely seen as key to Maduro being able to stay in power. Two members of the military were arrested this month for their alleged participation in an attempt to assassinate him by drone and Tijera believes he would be imprisoned and tortured if he returns.

He fled the Venezuela in January 2015, crossing the border into Colombia. He sought asylum in Italy but was turned down so he went to Mexico and sought asylum in the U.S. at a border checkpoint in Texas.

"If I were to go back they would put any kind of charge on me. They know I'm a traitor to the country," he said.

Guada was a businessman back in Venezuela who was active in opposition campaigns in the northern state of Carabobo. He fled Venezuela in 2010, after government supporters attacked his home with rocks and broke down the door, eventually making his way to Laredo, Texas. There he was detained for nearly three months, then released on a $13,000 bond.

His wife had legal residency and his two sons have U.S. citizenship by birth but he still could not convince immigration authorities that he faced imminent danger back home. Eventually he exhausted his appeals and was deported in July.

"I am frustrated," he said. "I don't deserve this."

Tijera was also unable to convince the judge that he faced arrest if he returns home. He was moved recently in the detention center and could be deported at any moment and fears the worst back in Venezuela.

Back in Venezuela this summer, Guada, now 50, wasn't going to take any chances with an immigration judge back in the U.S. In three days, he boarded a plane and flew to the Dominican Republic, where he is living with his son.

"I was terrified because anyone who speaks against the regime can be silenced," he said.

_____

Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchez contributed from Caracas, Venezuela.

This Aug. 22, 2018 photo shows Marcos Guada's his transfer notification and passport inside his room at a hotel in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. Back in Venezuela this summer, Guada, now 50, wasn't going to take any chances even if the immigration judge back in the U.S. didn't think he was in imminent danger. In three days, he boarded a plane and flew to the Dominican Republic, where he is living with his son. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez)

In this Aug. 22, 2018 photo, Marcos Guada poses for a portrait inside his room at the hotel he is temporarily staying, in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. He fled Venezuela in 2010, after government supporters attacked his home with rocks and broke down the door, eventually making his way to Laredo, Texas, where he was detained nearly three months. "I was looking to save my life," Guada recalls of his decision to leave. "My life was in danger." (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez)NEW YORK (AP) - President Donald Trump has been accused of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, passing on inaccuracies and being loose with the truth. But does he lie?

It's a loaded word, and some Trump critics believe major news organizations are too timid to use it. The Washington Post, which has documented more than 4,000 false or misleading claims by the president, declared for the first time last week that a Trump misstatement was a "lie."

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's plea deal provided "indisputable evidence that Trump and his allies have been deliberately dishonest" about hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. The Post put Kessler's assessment on its front page, and it was the newspaper's most-read story online.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to West Virginia for a rally. Trump has been accused of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, passing on inaccuracies and being loose with the truth. But does he lie? News organizations generally resist using the word because it requires them to judge a person's intent. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Not only was it the first time the Post fact checker said Trump had lied, it was the first time he used the word for any politician since Kessler began his fact-checking operation in 2011.

Many news organizations resist using the word because of the question of intent. Editors feel it's important to establish whether someone is spreading false information knowingly, intending to deceive, and it's hard to get inside a person's head.

While Kessler's team has found 88 instances where Trump falsely claimed responsibility for the largest tax cut in U.S. history, the president may sincerely believe it, Kessler said.

At The Associated Press, "we feel it's better to say what the facts are, say what the person said and let the audience make the decision whether or not it's an intentional lie," said John Daniszewski, the news cooperative's standards editor.

Several readers told Kessler, in effect, that it's about time. One critic, Paul Blest of the website Splinter, wrote, "Can you imagine any other politician being held to this comically low standard?" The Post's milestone represents an abject failure, he wrote.

"It's sort of a cover-up for those in power when you don't call it a lie," said Jeff Cohen, a just-retired journalism professor and a producer of the documentary "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone," about the late journalist. He said journalists need to cut through the fog, and the word "lie" is an effective tool.

Yet one prominent editor wonders whether the whole discussion misses the point.

"I hate the fact that the debate and discussion over the word 'lie' has obscured a larger truth, if you will," Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, told CNN earlier this month. "Does it matter if The New York Times or The Washington Post uses the word 'lie' three times, seven times, 10 times, 20 times? Or does it matter more that the fact-checker has found 4,229 misleading statements?"

Trump's birther movement questioning former President Barack Obama's citizenship led both the Times and AP to use the word "lie." In January 2017, the Times headlined a story "Trump repeats lie about popular vote in meeting with lawmakers," to refer to his claim that immigrants illegally voting prevented him from receiving more of the popular vote than Hillary Clinton. While "lie" was in the headline, it wasn't in the body of the story.

CNN's "New Day" anchor John Berman said on the air that Trump had lied about his policy of separating families at the U.S. border. Stories surrounding the pre-election meeting between the president's son and Russians about information damaging to the Clinton campaign were "a writhing hydra of dishonesty. You chop off one lie, and two emerge in its place," Berman said.

Cohen said the Post's decision to use the word last week could influence others in the media to do so more often. The night the story appeared, CNN's Chris Cuomo pressed Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to admit the administration lied and that's why people didn't trust Trump. Not surprisingly, Conway demurred.

Kessler urged caution.

"It just seems like a moment," he said. "It's not something we plan to do on a regular basis. You can't speak too soon, but I'd be surprised if it was more than a once-in-a-presidency case."

Using "lie" casually or imprecisely could strike readers more as opinion than fact, said the AP's Daniszewski.

That's a major consideration when Trump rails against the "fake news" media. He has called fact-checkers "dishonest scum" and "crooked as hell" and this month referred to the Post's "Pinocchio" scale measuring the egregiousness of misstatements. "If I'm right, or if I'm 97.3 percent right, they will say, 'He's got a Pinocchio' or 'He's lying,'" Trump said. "They are bad people."

The result is fact-checkers are as concerned about an erosion of public trust in fact-checking as the media in general are about their coverage. The independent Politifact has tried to build trust among Trump voters by fact-checking politicians in West Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma, said Aaron Sharockman, the organization's executive editor.

Politifact avoids the use of "lie," though it does proclaim a "lie of the year." Trump "won" in 2015 and 2017. Its rating for the worse misstatements - "pants on fire" - certainly implies the word. Trump has been awarded a total of 85 "pants on fire" designations.

"It doesn't benefit Politifact to call someone a liar," Sharockman said, "because it's not our aim to play 'gotcha.'"

___

The story has been amended to correct the number of instances Kessler's team found Trump had lied about his tax cut, and to clarify that after Michael's Cohen plea was the first time the Post's fact checker said Trump had lied.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson are heading into an expensive clash that could help determine whether Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate.

The two-term governor defeated California businessman Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente on Tuesday. De La Fuente earned attention this year by mounting U.S. Senate bids in multiple states at the same time.

Scott is leaving the governor's office because of term limits and entered the race for Senate at the urging of President Donald Trump.

FILE- In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.l istens during a roundtable discussion with education leaders from South Florida at the United Teachers of Dade headquarters in Miami. Caught in one of the toughest campaign fights in his lengthy political career Nelson's recent comments that Russians are meddling in Florida's election system has triggered a firestorm for the mild-mannered politician. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

Nelson wasn't on the ballot Tuesday because no other Democrat challenged the three-term incumbent in the state primary.

Scott's campaign has already spent millions on television ads bashing Nelson as an out-of-touch career politician. Recent polls have shown Scott with a slight lead.

FILE- In this Aug. 22, 2018, file photo Florida Gov. Rick Scott looks on after a news conference at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Four Office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's recent comments that Russians are meddling in Florida's election system has triggered a firestorm for the mild-mannered politician. It has triggered a line of attack Scott and his campaign supporters. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

A voter arrives to cast his ballot at the Miami-Dade County Palm Springs North Fire Station, during the Florida primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)PHOENIX (AP) - Former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick emerged from a competitive Democratic primary Tuesday to win the nomination for an open Arizona House seat that is seen as one of the races the national party is looking to flip as it seeks to gain control of the House of Representatives in November.

Kirkpatrick beat recurring candidate Matt Heinz and five others. The race for the seat being vacated by Rep. Martha McSally, who won a GOP primary for the U.S. Senate, and is seen as a swing district where both Democrats and Republicans have won in the past.

On the Republican side, Lea Marquez Peterson beat Brandon Martin, Casey Welch and Danny Morales. Peterson, CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, outraised her opponents by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2018, file photo, Democratic candidate Ann Kirkpatrick, running in the primary for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District answers a question at a NextGen AZ campaign debate in Tucson, Ariz. Two of Arizona's nine congressional seats are wide open this year, with voters in Tuesday's primary selecting party nominees to run in the general election. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

"I am asking for your vote so I can protect families who live paycheck to paycheck-no matter what party you vote for," Kirkpatrick said in a statement.

That matchup is one of two races with open seats this year. The other is the race for the seat being vacated by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who won the Democratic Senate primary.

In the race for Sinema's seat, Steve Ferrara, a former Navy chief medical officer who spent more than two decades in the military, won a three-way GOP primary. He will face former Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton in November.

Ferrara said Tuesday that he thinks he could flip the district by focusing on issues like health care instead of politics.

"In going into this race, my entire purpose is to unify people, not be more of the same," he said.

In the 8th Congressional District, Rep. Debbie Lesko beat Sandra Dowling in the GOP primary. She'll have a rematch against Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a doctor who lost to Lesko in a special election this spring.

Tiperneni came within about 5 percentage points of beating Lesko, a margin that was closer than many election watchers expected from the Republican-leaning district. The district covers western parts of suburban Phoenix

Rep. Tom O'Halleran had no Democratic opposition in the 1st Congressional District, which covers much of northern and eastern Arizona.

Retired Air Force pilot Wendy Rogers won a three-way Republican primary to take on O'Halleran. Rogers beat state Sen. Steve Smith and farmer-attorney Tiffany Shedd in Tuesday's primary.

The district narrowly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, but O'Halleran won his seat that same year.

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva secured the nomination for his 3rd District seat, which covers southwest Arizona and part of the state's second-largest city. Republican Nick Pierson beat Sergio Arellano and Edna San Miguel in the GOP primary.

In the heavily Republican 5th Congressional District, Rep. Andy Biggs had no primary opponent, and will face Democrat Joan Greene in November.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, beat a primary challenge from state Sen. Catherine Miranda for the 7th Congressional District covering parts of Phoenix. No Republicans are running in the Democrat-packed district.

David Brill has won the Democratic nomination for a western Arizona House district. In November, he will challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for the District 4 seat. Gosar is serving his fourth term. Arizona's 4th Congressional District is staunchly Republican. Haryaksha Gregor Knauer ran as a Green Party candidate.

U.S. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., speaks to supporters after her primary election victory, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. McSally will face U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., in the November election as they seek the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Lindsey Graham says his close friend John McCain was "a man who had honor and always was willing to admit to his imperfection."

Graham adds, "There's a little McCain in all of us."

McCain, the longtime Arizona senator, died Saturday after 13 months battling brain cancer.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to members of the media about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Graham, a South Carolina Republican, mixed laughter and tears on the Senate floor Tuesday as he remembered "Operation Maverick," which he described as lessons in choosing "what's right at your own expense."

Graham's tears were the rawest point in a day in which members were still coming to grips with a Senate now permanently without McCain's wily, white-haired presence, something that had been a constant feature of the institution for more than 30 years.

At one point, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia stepped behind McCain's old desk, crossed himself, kissed his fingers and touched the black draping. At another, Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Manchin formed a tight circle around McCain's desk and admired the roses on it.

McCain had not been back to Washington since December because of his illness, but stayed engaged in policy debates and expressed his disdain for President Donald Trump in their ongoing feud.

But now he was truly gone, his absence confirmed by his empty chair and desk along a much-traversed aisle.

"When you walk by Sen. McCain's desk and you see the black drape and the bowl of white roses, it really underscores the loss," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

As the Senate churned though business Tuesday, McCain's death sat very much at the center of proceedings and at the front of his colleagues' minds. Only four of them know a Senate without McCain, who was elected in 1986 and had become a mentor and moral compass to newcomers. Several defended him against attacks from Trump, who questioned McCain's heroism as a prisoner of war and chafed over McCain's thumbs-down vote that sank the repeal of national health care.

"No one is more worthy of the word 'hero' than John McCain," Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the Senate, said in his own speech.

Graham's eyes and nose were red when he entered the chamber, and he unfurled his sorrow with emotion rarely seen on the televised Senate floor.

"I have been thinking about this. I have been dreading this. And now I'm going to do this" eulogy, Graham said, identifying himself as McCain's "political wingman, code name Little Jerk."

He said his speech would resemble an "after action report" and be titled, "Operation Maverick," for McCain's unconventional path and his rebellious streak.

He said McCain's ultimate lesson is forgiveness and love. He remembered McCain's role as national healer on the night in 2008 when McCain conceded the presidential race to Democrat Barack Obama by saying that Obama was now his president.

Graham also said he hopes people remember one thing "when it comes to the life of John McCain: that it's okay to say, 'I screwed up. I got this wrong,'" - as McCain did after the Keating Five savings and loan scandal, after the presidential race and even after cursing too much.

"Honor is, in my view, doing the right thing at your own expense. And he did that time and time again," Graham said.

Later, Graham said he planned to honor McCain's commitment to immigration issues, vowing to get some form of immigration reform passed "or die trying."

The intractability of that issue vexed McCain, who also was an expert on veterans and the armed forces, Russia and campaign finance reform.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., recalled McCain's expertise and knowledge. The Arizona senator had indeed "peeled the paint off the wall behind me with a fiery stream of profanity-laced invective," Coons recalled, describing the McCain experience of several senators, but he almost always apologized. McCain, Coons said, "was a treasure and a challenge."

McCain's funeral procession will begin Wednesday in Phoenix, where he'll lie in state at the state Capitol. Services will be held Thursday. He arrives back in Washington on Friday to lie in state under the Rotunda for public viewing and a formal ceremony. His casket will then pass the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and be moved to Washington National Cathedral for a service expected to include remarks by former Presidents Barack Obama and President George W. Bush.

People close to the McCain family and President Donald Trump said the family had asked the president to stay away. Trump announced Monday that he would send others to represent his administration.

Speeches by Graham and other senators were effectively the first public farewells of the procession.

Graham told reporters afterward that "what killed me was the black" on McCain's desk.

"I thought I would do much better than I did," he said.

___

Follow Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to members of the media about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian security forces have detained a Polish man in the troubled Papua region on suspicion of links to separatists.

A police report seen Wednesday by The Associated Press describes Jakub Fabian Skrzypski as a journalist who was in contact with Papuan separatists. A military report also seen by AP said he was detained several days ago in Papua province following the arrests of five Papuans who had a quantity of ammunition.

Prominent human rights lawyer Gustaf Kawer said Skrzypski insisted he is a tourist and doesn't know the people that police say he is linked to.

Kawer said the 39-year-old is being held in an inadequately ventilated cell, given poor food and hasn't been able to contact family or change his clothes. Kawer, who visited Skrzypski on behalf of the Association of Human Rights Lawyers for Papua, said he doesn't have formal legal representation.

Indonesia restricts foreign journalists from entering its two easternmost provinces, Papua and West Papua, where a pro-independence insurgency has simmered for decades.

Earlier this month, an Australian graduate student whose travel plans in Indonesia included a cultural festival in Papua was denied entry on arrival in Bali and deported because Indonesia's military had blacklisted her as a "covert journalist."

A decade earlier she had worked as an editor for English-language newspapers in Jakarta and had also produced podcasts for Australia's state broadcaster.

A Polish Embassy official, Igor Kaczmarczyk, said the mission has received "nonofficial information" about a Polish citizen's arrest.

"Immediate appropriate steps have been taken in this regard," he said, but referred further questions to Poland's Foreign Ministry.

In Warsaw, the Foreign Ministry said Polish diplomats in Jakarta have filed a request with the Indonesian government to be allowed to see the detained Polish citizen and are waiting for a decision.

The police report said Skrzypski, who usually lives in Switzerland, had visited a separatist headquarters. It said he had a travel permit for Papua and a tourist visa but had violated immigration law by misusing them.

Amnesty International said in July that Indonesia's police and military are responsible for at least 95 unlawful killings in Papua since 2010.

___

Associated Press writer Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed to this report.NEW YORK (AP) - President Donald Trump got his man in battleground Florida, but he watched a prominent immigration ally fall in Arizona in what was another eventful night in the 2018 midterm season.

Arizona and Florida held primaries Tuesday, both of which tested Trump's influence. There were also new signs of diversity on the Democratic side.

Takeaways from one of the final rounds of voting ahead of midterm elections:

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, right, speaks to supporters with his wife Casey at an election party after winning the Republican primary Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

FLORIDA ESTABLISHMENT FAIL

The political establishment in both parties had a bad night in Florida's high-profile race for governor.

On the Republican side, Trump got his man, Republican congressman Ron DeSantis, who beat out the establishment favorite, state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Despite Trump's support, DeSantis was not the strongest general election candidate in the race, operatives in both parties suggest.

The three-term Republican congressman who makes frequent Fox News appearances is known as an immigration hard-liner in a state where Hispanic voters hold outsized sway. And lest there be any question about his allegiance to Trump's divisive immigration policies, DeSantis encourages his toddler to "build the wall" with blocks in one campaign ad.

That's a message that may play well among a general electorate in West Virginia, where Trump won by more than 40 percentage points in 2016, but Trump carried Florida by only a single percentage point.

On the Democratic side, liberal champion Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, bested a crowded field that included establishment favorite Gwen Graham, the former congresswoman and daughter of Florida political icon Bob Graham.

Graham, who was considered a centrist, was viewed as a more attractive general election candidate in the purple state. Gillum is more liberal, having earned the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire Tom Steyer.

To win the governor's office for the first time since 1999, Democrats will have to come together quickly.

The results on both sides underscore the outsized influence of each party's most passionate voters in lower-turnout off-year elections.

McSALLY'S CHALLENGE

Martha McSally won the GOP nomination for Arizona Senate, but the results show how divided the party is and the challenge that lies ahead.

A significant number of Republicans backed former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and fellow immigration hard-liner Kelli Ward.

Now McSally has to bring together the party - including some of Trump's most devoted supporters - going into the fall against Democrat Krysten Sinema, who is widely considered well-positioned. The race gives Democrats one of their best pickup opportunities in the nation.

Meanwhile, it would be wrong to assume that McSally's win is a repudiation of the tough rhetoric of her challengers, who essentially split the conservative vote.

The 86-year-old man known nationwide as Sheriff Joe, who personifies the tough immigration policies that define the modern-day Republican Party, may never serve in public office again after his loss Tuesday.

(For those who forget, Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt last year for ignoring a judge's order to stop detaining immigrants in the country illegally. Trump later pardoned him.)

MISSING: BLUE WAVE IN FLORIDA

If a Democratic wave is coming to Florida, it may have to be supplied by independents.

With just a handful of precincts left to count, Republicans cast more than 1.6 million Florida ballots, while registered Democrats were on track to fall just below 1.5 million. Beyond the raw vote totals, the GOP count also was a larger share of its last presidential election turnout.

That measure is a useful way to assess which party is more excited about a midterm election, and it's particularly useful in Florida because the state limits primaries only to voters registered by party.

The GOP total came to almost 35 percent of what Trump won in Florida in 2016. The Democrats' total was about 33 percent of Hillary Clinton's 2016 turnout.

Of course, it doesn't mean Republicans are guaranteed big wins in Florida this fall. But it does show the GOP base in Florida is anything but depressed, turning out in solid numbers to nominate DeSantis after he was endorsed by Trump.

The scenario cuts against the grain of a midterm election cycle that's been defined by energy on the left in other states, and it puts an added burden on Florida Democratic candidates to attract voters who didn't participate in Tuesday's primaries.

FLORIDA MONEY PIT

There was less drama on the Senate side in battleground Florida, but the stage is now set for what will likely be the nation's most expensive midterm contest.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott easily captured the Republican nomination in the GOP's bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. At 75 and seeking his fourth term, Nelson is considered particularly vulnerable as voters continue to show disdain for candidates with deep ties to the establishment.

Scott, an independently wealthy businessman, has already spent more than $27 million on the race compared to Nelson's $6 million. The conservative Koch network has identified the Senate seat as a top target, and outside groups on both sides are expected to dump millions more in the contest.

The extraordinary price tag of running a statewide campaign in Florida, which features 10 media markets, will test each side's resolve and resources - particularly on the Democratic side.

Republicans know Scott can and will dump millions more of his own personal wealth into his campaign. Democrats aren't so lucky.

National Democrats are already weighing how best to invest their limited dollars considering their challenges in other states where their incumbents are on the defensive. Yet if Democrats lose Nelson's seat in Florida, their already narrow path to the Senate majority becomes virtually nonexistent.

DIVERSITY WAVE GROWS

In his upset victory, Gillum joins two other African-American gubernatorial nominees on the November ballot, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams and Maryland Democrat Ben Jealous, in what may be the party's most diverse midterm class in history.

No state is currently represented by a black governor.

The nominations, of course, do not mean the candidates will continue to re-write history.

Republicans have cast Gillum, like the other black nominees, as part of the Democratic Party's far-left fringe. Indeed, in all three cases, the candidates were backed by Sanders. Progressive billionaires Steyer and George Soros invested heavily in Gillum's primary campaign as well.

Diversity may help win Democratic primaries in 2018, but it's unclear if it'll help Democrats pick up seats among a broader general election audience.

___

Associated Press writer Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Andrew Gillum with his wife, R. Jai Gillum at his side addresses his supporters after winning the Democrat primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

U.S. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., speaks to supporters after her primary election victory, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. McSally will face U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., in the November election as they seek the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A liberal Florida Democrat pulled off an upset victory Tuesday in the state's primary for governor while President Donald Trump's favored candidate cruised to victory for the GOP, setting up a fierce fall showdown in the nation's largest political battleground. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who would be the state's first black governor, and Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, both defeated more moderate opponents aligned with their parties' establishment.

Gillum is his party's third black gubernatorial nominee this campaign season, along with Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland. His victory comes as Democrats have elevated an increasingly diverse field of candidates, including women, African-Americans and Muslims. The slate of candidates heading into the fall campaign is seen as a manifestation of the party's resistance in the racially charged atmosphere of the Trump era.

In Arizona, Rep. Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to carry the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. That race was shadowed by the death of John McCain, a towering figure who represented Arizona in the Senate for six terms. Gov. Doug Ducey will name McCain's replacement after the senator's funeral.

Andrew Gillum addresses his supporters after winning the Democrat primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

Florida and Arizona are both closely watched states, featuring growing minority populations that have bolstered Democratic candidates and Republican electorates that have grown older and more conservative. The fall face-offs could well signal how they'll swing in the 2020 presidential election.

In Florida, DeSantis gave Trump credit for his victory, saying that with one supportive tweet, the president "kind of put me on the map."

Gillum thanked supporters who embraced "our plan for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us."

The results immediately transformed the Florida race into one of the key gubernatorial campaigns in the country. Gillum's primary victory could help Democrats boost enthusiasm among minorities, while DeSantis will test Trump's grip on a crucial state he won in 2016 and wants to keep in his column in 2020.

Trump tweeted in part Wednesday morning: "Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream....a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum."

In Arizona, McCain's death after a yearlong battle with brain cancer loomed over the primary contests.

Though he has received praise from far and wide this week, the three Republican candidates running to replace his retiring seatmate, Flake - including establishment favorite McSally - aligned themselves more with the president than the longtime senator.

Elsewhere Tuesday, GOP voters in reliably Republican Oklahoma backed mortgage company owner Kevin Stitt in a runoff for the gubernatorial nomination. Stitt won in part by criticizing his opponent as insufficiently supportive of Trump.

Trump surprised Florida Republicans with his endorsement of DeSantis, and frequently tweeted about the lawmaker, one of his staunchest supporters in Washington. His backing helped push DeSantis past Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who has held elected office in Florida since 1996, quickly built up establishment support and raised millions of dollars.

Gillum came from behind in a crowded and diverse Democratic field. Former Rep. Gwen Graham, whose father, Bob Graham, served as governor, had hoped to position herself to become the state's first female governor.

Gillum, a favorite of progressives, spent the least of the five major Democratic candidates and had the smallest television presence. He often said he was the only candidate in the race who wasn't a millionaire or billionaire, and won the endorsement of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is vacating the governor's mansion to run for Senate. He easily won his primary, setting up a showdown with Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson that is expected to be one of the nation's most competitive races.

Democrats also eyed congressional pickup opportunities in Florida as they try to flip control of the U.S. House. One of their best chances is in South Florida, where Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is retiring in a district that should favor Democrats.

Donna Shalala, who served as President Bill Clinton's Health and Human Services secretary, claimed the Democratic nomination in Ros-Lehtinen's district.

The contests in both Florida and Arizona were being watched for signs of how the states might tilt in the 2020 presidential election.

McCain's death has highlighted anew the shift in the Republican Party since he captured the GOP nomination for president in 2008. With his consistently conservative voting record, Arizonans elected McCain to the Senate six times, including in 2016. But his more moderate stance on immigration and his deciding vote last year against Trump's efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law turned off many GOP voters.

A CNN survey in June found that 67 percent of Democrats had a favorable opinion of McCain, while just 33 percent of Republicans did.

Among those on the Arizona ballot was former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat McCain in 2016. When McCain's family said last week that he was discontinuing medical treatment, Ward speculated in a later-deleted Facebook post that the announcement was intended to hurt her campaign for Flake's seat.

Also running for the Senate nomination was former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the controversial immigration hardliner. Trump spared Arpaio a possible jail sentence last year by pardoning his federal conviction stemming from immigration patrols.

Ward and Arpaio split about half of the vote, clearing the way for McSally, a fighter pilot turned congresswoman in the McCain mold. She'll face Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who easily won her race.

McSally wasted no time taking on her Democratic opponent, calling the race "a choice between a doer and a talker, between a patriot and a protester."

Sinema's and McSally's Senate runs also have created House openings in Arizona, a fast-growing and increasingly diverse state where Democrats are eager to gain a foothold. McSally's district in particular is expected to be one of the most competitive House races in November's general election.

Former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick emerged from a competitive Democratic primary to win the nomination for the seat. She will face Lea Marquez Peterson, who won the Republican nomination.

___

Pace reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Joe Reedy in Tallahassee, Florida, Nicholas Riccardi in Phoenix, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, AP polling editor Emily Swanson in Washington, Kelli Kennedy in Miami and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.

___

On Twitter, follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Brendan Farrington at http://twitter.com/bsfarrington

FILE - In this July 31, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a rally in Tampa, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that's caught the attention of Trump. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

U.S. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., celebrates her primary election victory, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. McSally will face U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., in the November election as they seek the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Tyler Clark, from left, Kara Weaver and Terri Lipsey Scott cheer on gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum during his watch party at Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

FILE--In this Aug. 14, 2018, file photo, Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks at a news conference in Phoenix. Ducey and a Democratic Hispanic education professor appeared likely to win their parties' respective nods in the primary election for Arizona's top office. Both Ducey and Democratic front runner David Garcia earlier announced suspension of campaign gatherings later in the week when events are planned to honor Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday from brain cancer,(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - On a drizzling summer afternoon in South Portland, marine biologist Walt Golet is helping attach a quarter-ton Atlantic bluefin tuna to a heavy crane so it can be weighed as part of New England's premier tournament for the giant fish. And this year's derby is different than many in the past - there are far more tuna.

A decade ago, participants in the Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament went consecutive years in which they didn't catch a single fish in the Gulf of Maine. This year, fishermen set a record with 30, including the 801-pound (363.33-kilogram) winner.

Their record haul is happening amid a turning point for these giant tuna, an iconic species that scientists say appears to be slowly recovering in the Atlantic Ocean. The reemergence of bluefin, which can weigh more than half a ton, has led to debate among fishermen, conservationists and scientists over just how much the big fish have recovered. It remains at a fraction of its population 60 years ago.

In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018 photo, a 422 lb. Atlantic bluefin tuna is hoisted from a boat at the South Portland, Maine. A decade ago, participants in the Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament went consecutive years in which they didn't catch a single fish in the Gulf of Maine. This year, fishermen set a record with 30, including the 801-pound winner. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

"There's probably no fish that's ever been more politicized than Atlantic bluefin tuna," said Golet, a University of Maine professor. "People get a passion for this fish. And people are making a living off of this fish."

The fish have long been at the center of a battle among commercial fishermen who can make a huge amount of money on a single fish, environmentalists who see them as marvels of marine migration, and consumers who pay a hefty price for them in restaurants.

The tuna's status as a premium sushi and sashimi fish makes it particularly valuable in Japan, as a large bluefin can easily yield hundreds of meals. A single bluefin sold for more than $1.75 million at an auction in Japan in 2013. Fishermen in this month's Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament, which wrapped up on Aug. 4, said many of the bluefin caught that day would eventually head to Japan.

The fish, capable of crossing the Atlantic in 60 days, have been harvested by man for centuries, and annual worldwide sales total hundreds of millions of dollars. The bluefin is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, due in large part to years of overfishing.

But international regulators say the species has recently recovered enough that it can withstand more fishing, and U.S. ocean managers implemented an increase of about 17 percent for this summer, to the delight of fishing groups. The decision prompted environmental groups to renew their calls for holding the current line on quotas.

Bluefin tuna are harvested on both sides of the Atlantic, using primarily harpoon and rod-and-reel in the west and seining nets and longline fishing in the east.

For commercial fishermen like Pete Speeches, who fishes out of Portland, the quota increase reflects a tuna resurgence seen on the water for some time.

"They're definitely more abundant," he said, getting ready to unload a 672.5-pound (305.04-kilogram) tuna from his boat at the Sturdivant Island tournament.

Environmental groups say they fear boosting the quota now and potentially in future years could undo years of conservation work. Shana Miller, The Ocean Foundation's program manager for global tuna conservation, said a quota increase of hundreds of thousands of pounds was excessive.

More fishing is a bad idea because of a possible return to overfishing, and because of concerns that increasingly warming oceans could retard the fish's reproduction, Miller said.

"They pushed it to a level that they know is going to lead to stock decline," Miller said. "Which really makes no sense."

There also remains uncertainty among scientists about the status of the fish's population, said Grantly Galland, a marine biologist and the global tuna conservation officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Any decrease in the population now is bad for fishermen in the long term," he said.

The quota increase amounts to more than 750,000 pounds (34,0198 kilograms) when allocations for the U.S. and other countries that target Western Atlantic tuna, such as Canada and Japan, are counted.

In the Eastern Atlantic, quotas are going up even more. An international body agreed to increase the quota there by about a fifth for this year, to more than 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms). Millions more will be added in the following two years.

The management of Atlantic bluefin is more complex than for many other fish species because they cross numerous international borders as they migrate to feed and spawn.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, with about 50 member nations, including the U.S., released a report last year that described the species as recovering but still facing challenges.

Although the commission has decided to boost the quota for U.S. fishermen this year, the species will still be tightly monitored going forward, said Brad McHale, a fishery management specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"We can't extract more than can naturally replenish," McHale said. "That's a constant struggle."

Steve Weiner, a 50-year harpooner out of Ogunquit, Maine, said he remains concerned about bluefin health on both sides of the Atlantic.

"I'm glad we're getting an increase in quota on this side, because we deserve it," Weiner said. "But we can't manage this fish properly unless the whole Atlantic is properly managed."

___

Associated Press video journalist Federica Narancio in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In this Friday, July 27, 2018 photo, a fishing boat equipped with a tuna tower motors out of Casco Bay in South Portland, Maine. The extra elevation of the tower helps fishermen to spot tuna moving near the water's surface. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 photo, Andrew Lebel of Falmouth, Maine, battles an Atlantic bluefin tuna about 20 miles off the coast of southern Maine. The 320 lb. fish fought for about 45 minutes before it was hauled aboard the boat. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 photo, Capt. Pete Speeches prepares to throw a harpoon into an Atlantic bluefin tuna after a long battle on rod and reel off the coast of southern Maine. Bluefin tuna are harvested on both sides of the Atlantic, using primarily harpoon and rod-and-reel in the west and seining nets and longline fishing in the east. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018 photo, an Atlantic bluefin tuna is hauled aboard a dealer's truck by marine biologist Walt Golet at the Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament in South Portland, Maine. An iconic species of tuna appears to be slowly recovering in the Atlantic Ocean, prompting fishermen to seek bigger commercial catch quotas and environmentalists to call for a more conservative approach. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018 photo, a slice of tuna meat is examined for fat content by a dealer in South Portland, Maine. The tuna's status as a premium sushi and sashimi fish makes it particularly valuable in Japan, as a large bluefin can easily yield hundreds of meals. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on primaries in Arizona and Florida and a runoff election in Oklahoma (all times local):

3:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he hasn't heard remarks by Florida GOP gubernatorial nominee Rep. Ron DeSantis that critics argue were a racially charged attack on his Democratic opponent.

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, right, speaks to supporters with his wife, Casey, at an election party after winning the Republican primary, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Hours after securing the Republican nomination to face Democrat Andrew Gillum in November, DeSantis said the last thing Floridians need to do is "monkey this up" by electing Gillum. He also called Gillum - who, if elected, would be the state's first black governor - an "articulate spokesman" for "far left views."

Florida Democrats accused DeSantis of deploying "racist dog whistles."

Trump says of DeSantis' comments, "I haven't heard that at all."

Trump, who endorsed DeSantis in the primary, says, "He's an extreme talent and he will make a fantastic governor of Florida."

__

11:45 a.m.

Rep. Ron DeSantis' Florida governor campaign says his comments about Democrat Andrew Gillum that have drawn criticism were directed at Gillum's policies and not the candidate himself.

DeSantis easily won the Republican nomination for Florida governor on Tuesday. He went on Fox News to talk about the upcoming race against, Gillum, who would be the state's first black governor if elected in November.

DeSantis said Gillum was an "articulate spokesman" for "far left views." But he said that, in his words, "the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."

Democrats called that a "racist dog whistle." But Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for DeSantis, said the comment was about Gillum's "socialist policies" and to "characterize it as anything else is absurd."

11:10 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis is coming under fire from Democrats after saying the last thing Floridians need to do is "monkey this up" by electing Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum as governor.

DeSantis made the comment during a Wednesday interview on Fox News. DeSantis easily won the Republican nomination for governor a day earlier. Gillum won the Democratic nomination in an upset. He could be the state's first black governor.

DeSantis said Gillum was "articulate spokesman" for "far left views." But he said that he would hurt the state if elected.

"The last thing, the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state," DeSantis said.

Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Terrie Rizzo called his comments "disgusting" and said he was launching his general election campaign with "racist dog whistles."

11:10

Florida's Democratic nominee for governor says the state is looking for a leader who will bring people together, "not misogynist, not racist, not bigots."

Tallahassee Andrew Gillum, who would be Florida's first black governor, told CNN Wednesday that he wants to "build a Florida that makes room for all of us and not just some of us."

President Donald Trump, on Twitter, criticized Gillum as a "failed socialist mayor" and praised Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, who credits the president for helping him win.

Gillum said, "DeSantis can do the bidding of big business and big lobbyists and Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric. I'm going to be here to do the business of the people of the state of Florida."

9:25 a.m.

President Donald Trump is giving his "total and complete Endorsement!" to Arizona's Republican Senate candidate, Martha McSally.

McSally is a congresswoman who defeated two other Republicans Tuesday night to win the party's nomination in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Jeff Flake.

In a tweet Wednesday, Trump says McSally is "an extraordinary woman."

Says Trump: "She was a very talented fighter jet pilot and is now a highly respected member of Congress. She is Strong on Crime, the Border and our under siege 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military and our Vets. Has my total and complete Endorsement!"

The former Air Force combat pilot defeated former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and fellow immigration hard-liner Kelli Ward.

McSally's Democratic opponent is fellow U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema.

___

9 a.m.

President Donald Trump is casting the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, Andrew Gillum, as a "failed socialist mayor" who will lose to Rep. Don DeSantis in November.

Gillum on Tuesday won an upset in the Democratic primary for governor and edged out several other candidates. Trump's endorsement helped DeSantis beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in the Republican primary.

Trump on Wednesday tweeted out that not only did DeSantis win, but that "his opponent in November is his biggest dream." Gillum is mayor of the city of Tallahassee and Trump said Gillum has "allowed crime and many other problems to flourish in the city."

Tallahassee has had one of the highest crime rates in the state the last few years, although it has been going down.

___

2:55 a.m.

Lea Marquez Peterson won a four-way primary to become the Republican nominee for a congressional district seat being vacated by Arizona Rep. Martha McSally.

Marquez Peterson beat Brandon Martin, Danny Morales and Casey Welch in Tuesday's primary for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.

Republican McSally is running for retiring Sen. Jeff Flake's seat.

The district covers the southeastern corner of Arizona from most of Tucson down to the U.S-Mexico border. It has almost an equal number of registered Democrats and Republicans. Democrats hope to flip the seat in their bid to take control of the House of Representatives.

Marquez Peterson is the CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber. She'll face off with the winner of a seven-way Democratic primary in November.

___

1 a.m.

A liberal Florida Democrat pulled off an upset victory in the state's primary for governor while President Donald Trump's favored candidate cruised to victory for the GOP.

Those primary races Tuesday set up a fierce fall showdown in the nation's largest political battleground.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who would be the state's first black governor, and Republican congressman Ron DeSantis both defeated more moderate opponents aligned with their parties' establishment.

In Arizona, congresswoman Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to carry the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. She'll face Democratic congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema.

GOP voters in Oklahoma backed mortgage company owner Kevin Stitt in a gubernatorial runoff. Stitt criticized his opponent as insufficiently supportive of Trump.

Andrew Gillum and his wife, R. Jai Gillum addresses his supporters after Andrew Gillum won the Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. Gillum defeated former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and four other candidates. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

U.S. senatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., celebrates her primary election victory, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. McSally will face U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., in the November election as they seek the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., talks to campaign volunteers at a Democratic campaign office on primary election day Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Phoenix. Sinema is seeking the current U.S. Senate seat occupied by outgoing Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, and will face the Republican primary winner of the race between Rep. Martha McSally, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, if Sinema wins the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

FILE - In this July 31, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a rally in Tampa, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that's caught the attention of Trump. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

U.S. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., celebrates her primary election victory, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. McSally will face U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., in the November election as they seek the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Tyler Clark, from left, Kara Weaver and Terri Lipsey Scott cheer on gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum during his watch party at Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

FILE--In this Aug. 14, 2018, file photo, Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks at a news conference in Phoenix. Ducey and a Democratic Hispanic education professor appeared likely to win their parties' respective nods in the primary election for Arizona's top office. Both Ducey and Democratic front runner David Garcia earlier announced suspension of campaign gatherings later in the week when events are planned to honor Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday from brain cancer,(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)MEXICO CITY (AP) - A United Nations report released Wednesday on four months of unrest in Nicaragua describes a comprehensive effort of repression by the government that extends from the streets to the courts.

The report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the government of President Daniel Ortega to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for many of the killings and arbitrary detentions.

More than 300 people have been killed in violence since mid-April in this Central American nation. Neighboring Costa Rica has been flooded with thousands of requests for asylum by people fleeing Nicaragua.

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega speaks to supporters as his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo applauds, in Managua, Nicaragua, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. A United Nations report released Wednesday calls on Ortega's government to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for much of the killings and arbitrary detentions. Ortega's government dismissed the report as baseless. It denied accusations of excessive use of force against protesters. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga)

The report describes illegal arrests, torture and closed trials. Doctors, professors and judges who have spoken out or protested have been dismissed from their jobs to discourage people from participating in or supporting the protests.

"The level of persecution is such that many of those who have participated in the protests, defended the rights of the protesters, or simply expressed dissenting opinion, have been forced to hide, have left Nicaragua or are trying to do so," according to the U.N. report.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the U.N. human rights chief, told reporters in Geneva that "repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away."

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said the report "highlights what we have been saying for months: Ortega is terrorizing his own people."

"Until the Nicaraguan people are able to use their voices freely and peacefully, the international community must continue to pressure the regime. Failure to do so will lead to another Venezuela," Haley said.

Ortega's government dismissed the report as baseless and relying on anti-government media accounts. It denied accusations of excessive use of force against protesters.

"The report is biased and slanted with subjective assertions," the government said in its response to the U.N. office, also noting that it included no mention of the attempted coup d'etat alleged by Ortega.

It said the U.N. had not been invited to evaluate the human rights situation, but rather to accompany the verification commission established as part of the national dialogue. It accused the U.N. of overstepping its authority and violating Nicaragua's sovereignty.

Later, Ortega said at a rally that "if the tortured person was a Sandinista, he doesn't exist for the U.N. human rights commission ... for them, the killer coup plotters were little angels."

In mid-April, retirees and students marched to protest cuts to Nicaragua's social security benefits decreed by Ortega. They were met with violence from young government supporters and riot police. The president eventually retracted the changes, but protests quickly evolved into calls for him to step down.

University students across the country led the protest effort and took over a number of campuses. But in July the government unleashed heavily armed civilian forces that worked with police to clear the barricades that had been erected on strategic highways and throughout some neighborhoods.

There was a short-lived dialogue between the government and opponents, but Ortega accused the Roman Catholic bishops mediating the talks of being part of a coup conspiracy and talks have not resumed. Ortega has blamed international agents and internal enemies of conspiring to overthrow his government. He has said he will not step down before his term ends in 2021.

Protests continue, but they are smaller as student leaders have been arrested or forced into hiding or exile.

"There are currently no conditions for the free and safe exercise of the rights to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association," the U.N. report said.

The U.N. team reached its conclusions despite government obstacles thrown in its path. It said team members could not access relevant government agencies or observe court hearings for those accused of crimes ranging from organized crime to terrorism for participating in the protests. When the team attempted to travel outside the capital, the foreign ministry forbade it for security reasons.

Arbitrary arrests are conducted without arrest or search warrants, the team found. Detainees are typically held incommunicado for days before their families find out where they have been taken.

This month The Associated Press reported on student protesters who were arrested, beaten and tortured by police and armed civilians. One pregnant student was beaten, despite making her condition known to her captors, and eventually lost her pregnancy.

When some families made habeas corpus filings with the courts in an effort to locate their missing relatives, the petitions were initially assigned to dead judges, the U.N. report said. U.N. investigators believe it was an effort to delay the proceedings.

On Monday night, a judge convicted two young men in the April 21 killing of journalist Angel Gahona in Bluefields. His widow, Migueliuth Sandoval, said Tuesday that the two men are innocent.

"This decision is humiliating, it doesn't give us justice. Because we know that these guys didn't kill my husband, that those who really did it are riot police, because there are videos indicating it, that my husband was surrounded by police," Sandoval said.

___

AP writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Luis Manuel Galeano in Managua, Nicaragua contributed to this report.

FILE - In this May 28, 2018 file photo, police in riot gear riding on the back of pick-up trucks fire their shotguns towards university students protesting Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega in Managua, Nicaragua. More than 300 people have been killed in violence since mid-April. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Racism immediately became an issue in the Florida governor's race Wednesday as both nominees made predictions: The Democrat said voters aren't looking for a misogynist, racist or bigot, while the Republican said voters shouldn't "monkey this up" by choosing his African-American opponent.

Only hours after their primary election victories, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis made clear the high-profile race in the nation's largest political battleground state was going to be nasty. Gillum, a far-left Democrat seeking to become the state's first black governor, and DeSantis, a Trump-endorsed Republican, are political opposites, both seeking to gin up turnout among the party's most ardent supporters.

Asked if he's afraid of President Donald Trump's support for DeSantis, Gillum told CNN that his race is about uniting the state and that voters want someone is who "not misogynist, not racist, not bigots."

Andrew Gillum and his wife, R. Jai Gillum addresses his supporters after Andrew Gillum won the Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. Gillum defeated former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and four other candidates. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

In an interview with The Associated Press he added: "I think the Florida electorate is going to reject the politics of division ... We're going to try to compel and appeal to the higher values of the people of the state of Florida."

Meanwhile, on Fox News, DeSantis called Gillum an "articulate" candidate, but said "the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting this state. That is not going to work. It's not going to be good for Florida."

Democrats immediately decried DeSantis' comment as racist.

"That was more than a dog-whistle," said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a West Palm Beach Democrat. "That was absolutely a racist, disgusting statement. I don't think there's any other way to interpret it."

But the DeSantis campaign clarified that his comments were directed at Gillum's policies, not the candidate himself. "To characterize it as anything else is absurd," his spokesman Stephen Lawson said.

Gillum in his AP interview called the comment a form of "gutter politics" that he said comes from the "Trump school" of trying to "fire up the base."

The exchange between the two campaigns came less than a day after a primary outcome that appeared unthinkable a few months ago. DeSantis came from behind in the GOP primary with the help of Trump to beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who campaigned longer, raised more money and built party establishment support.

Gillum upset a field of five that included former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who was hoping to become the state's first female governor and win the office once held by her father, Bob Graham. Gillum spent the least of the major candidates, but won the hearts of those who consider themselves progressives, and got a late boost from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

They're seeking to succeed Gov. Rick Scott, who can't run for re-election because of term limits.

In a state sure to be a battleground in the 2020 presidential vote, the governor's race will essentially be a referendum on Trump. Gillum in his remarks to supporters on election night said he and supporters would seek to counter the "dark days that we've been under coming out of Washington."

DeSantis also came out fighting, criticizing Gillum as "way, way, way too liberal for the state of Florida."

"That is not what Floridians want," DeSantis declared.

DeSantis based nearly his entire primary run Trump and acknowledged his endorsement was the key.

"With one tweet, that kind of put me on the map," DeSantis said.

Trump weighed in Wednesday on Twitter saying that not only did DeSantis win but that "his opponent in November is his biggest dream." He called Gillum a "failed socialist mayor" who has "allowed crime and many other problems to flourish in the city."

Tallahassee has had one of the Florida's highest crime rates in recent years though it has been going down.

Gillum brushed off Trump's tweet, saying, "I'm a Democrat, but I have to tell you that not much what Donald Trump says is actually based in fact. The president does not scare me. If he's going to tweet at me he should @ me. And he ought to know he should be prepared to receive a response when appropriate."

DeSantis, who turns 40 next month, is a former Navy lawyer who won his seat in 2012 running as a Washington outsider. He entered the governor's race a month after Trump's December tweet that he would make "a GREAT governor." Later Trump held a rally for him in Tampa.

Gillum, meanwhile, relied on a grassroots campaign in the big-money Democratic primary.

Gillum was a 23-year-old Florida A&M student when he became the youngest person elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in 2003. He was elected mayor in 2014. He's a gifted public speaker who did well in debates, often receiving the most applause, but the FBI is investigating Tallahassee city hall for alleged corruption. Gillum has said he's not a target.

Their policy differences are pronounced: DeSantis is pro-gun, and anti-tax; Gillum boasts about beating gun rights groups in a lawsuit and is calling for an increase in corporate taxes.

Gillum didn't make race an issue in the primary. But he acknowledged in a recent interview that it would be "big" to be Florida's first black governor.

"I have been really slow to try to think on it because it's too big," he said. "There will absolutely be a part of this that I can't even put words to around what it might mean for my children and other people's kids. Especially growing up for them in the age of Donald Trump."

___

AP reporters Gary Fineout and Joe Reedy, Tamara Lush in Orlando, Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale and Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report.

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, right, waves to supporters with his wife, Casey, at an election party after winning the Republican primary, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

FILE - In this July 31, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a rally in Tampa, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that's caught the attention of Trump. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Rachelle Clegg holds an Andrew Gillum cutout as she cheers on gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum at his watch party at Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2018, file photo, Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam speaks at a rally in Tampa, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that's caught the attention of President Donald Trump and could see the daughter of a former governor win the nomination for the office he once held. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2018, file photo Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham thanks a campaign volunteer, Juan Sabater, 20, of Miami as she speaks to voters in an early "Get Out The Vote" tour in Miami Lakes, Fla. Graham is trying to fend off four challengers as she seeks to become Florida's first woman governor and to take the seat her father, Bob Graham, held from 1979 to 1987. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2018, file photos, Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine, right, addresses the media near the scene of a mass shooting at The Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that's caught the attention of President Donald Trump and could see the daughter of a former governor win the nomination for the office he once held. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, file photo, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham speaks to voters in an early "Get Out The Vote" tour, in Miami Lakes, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that's caught the attention of President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum celebrates his victory with supporters during his election watch party at Hotel Duval in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, right, kisses his wife Casey at an election party after winning the Republican primary Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. DeSantis won Florida's Republican nomination for governor Tuesday, with the help of President Donald Trump's endorsement to overtake an opponent with a long history in Florida politics. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Andrew Gillum supporters Richard Lopez and Mara Cooper watch the screen as election results come in showing their candidate winning the Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

Andrew Gillum supporters celebrate his winning of the Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's intelligence minister has boasted on state television about his country's successful recruitment of a former Cabinet-level official from a "hostile" country, signaling Tehran's first acknowledgment of compromising an arrested Israeli official.

Speaking on state TV late Tuesday, Mahmoud Alavi claimed his agency had a "member of the Cabinet of a hostile country" in hand.

He did not name the country or individual, but said it showed "the counter-espionage sector of the Intelligence Ministry is one the most powerful among world's intelligence services."

Alavi's language and recent events signal he's referring to Israel, one of Iran's Mideast archrivals.

In June, Israel imprisoned former government minister Gonen Segev. Israel's Shin Bet security agency accuses Segev of "committing offenses of assisting the enemy in war and spying against the state of Israel."NEW DELHI (AP) - India's top court ordered Wednesday that five prominent rights activists arrested for alleged Maoist links be kept under house arrest instead of police custody until it rules next week on a petition challenging their detention.

Police, meanwhile, broke up a protest in southern India against the arrests and detained about two dozen people.

Attorney Prashant Bhushan said the court order will prevent police from taking the five to the western city of Pune, where authorities are investigating their alleged links to Maoist rebels in various parts of the country.

Indian police detain a protestor demonstrating against the arrest of revolutionary writer Varavara Rao and other activists, in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Indian police have broken up a protest and detained around two dozen people opposing the arrests this week of five prominent rights activists for suspected links to Maoist rebels in various parts of the country. Police forcibly put the protesters into their buses before driving them away on Wednesday in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

The Supreme Court also ordered the federal and state governments to provide detailed reasons for their arrests by Sept. 5. It set Sept. 6 for the next hearing in the case.

Those arrested on Tuesday were Telugu-language poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, and Gautam Navalakha and Sudha Bhardwaj in New Delhi and a neighbouring town.

Police accused the five of delivering speeches that triggered protests and violence between low-caste Dalits and right-wing groups near Pune in December.

The justices asked prosecutors why the police have taken eight months after the incident to arrest the five activists. They said the activists were reputed citizens and stifling the dissent was not good.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud as saying during court proceedings.

The government says Maoist rebels, who are active in several states, are India's biggest internal security threat. The rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for the poor and indigenous communities.

Participants in the protest Wednesday in Hyderabad in southern India chanted slogans against the arrests, calling them a violation of fundamental rights. Police broke up the demonstration and forced the protesters into police buses and drove them away.

The arrests of the five activists were condemned by Amnesty International, which said they have worked to protect the rights of some of India's most poor and marginalized people.

In June, police arrested five other activists on suspicion of also inciting the Dalits, who have been marginalized for centuries and forced to perform jobs considered unacceptable by other castes.

Caste prejudice is endemic in Hindu-majority India, even though the constitution outlaws the practice and has made it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison.

An activist shouts slogans opposing the arrests this week of five prominent rights activists, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Indian police on Tuesday arrested five rights activists for suspected links to Maoist rebels in raids on their homes and offices in several places in the country. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian police detain an activist, carrying a child, during a protest against the arrest of revolutionary writer Varavara Rao and other activists, in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Indian police have broken up a protest and detained around two dozen people opposing the arrests this week of five prominent rights activists for suspected links to Maoist rebels in various parts of the country. Police forcibly put the protesters into their buses before driving them away on Wednesday in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Policemen stand guard during a protest against the government opposing the arrests this week of five prominent rights activists, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Indian police on Tuesday arrested five rights activists for suspected links to Maoist rebels in raids on their homes and offices in several places in the country. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Protestors shout slogans after being detained while demonstrating against the arrest of revolutionary writer Varavara Rao, portraits seen, and other activists, in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Indian police have broken up a protest and detained around two dozen people opposing the arrests this week of five prominent rights activists for suspected links to Maoist rebels in various parts of the country. Police forcibly put the protesters into their buses before driving them away on Wednesday in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2011 file photo, revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, center, followed by Deepa, niece of Maoist leader Kishenji who was killed Thursday, walk to lodge a complaint against his killing, in Kolkata, India. Indian police have arrested Rao and four other rights activists for suspected links to Maoists in raids on their homes and offices at several places in the country Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. "All these people have history of working to protect the rights of some of India's most poor and marginalized people. Their arrests raise disturbing questions about whether they are being targeted for their activism," said Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty International India. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)BAGHDAD (AP) - Seven people were killed Wednesday in a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in a former stronghold of the jihadists in western Iraq, a security official said.

The attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Syrian border, Maj. Gen Qasem al-Dulaimi said.

He said four security forces and three civilians were killed in the blast.

FILE - In this Friday, July 20, 2012 file photo, Iraqi soldiers patrol along the border between Syria and Iraq in Anbar province, Iraq. Several people were killed in a car bomb blast in a former stronghold of the Islamic State group in western Iraq, a security official said on Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Qasem al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press the attacker drove a booby-trapped vehicle into a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Syrian border. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File)

Al-Dulaimi blamed IS for the attack, and the group, through its Aamaq news agency, later claimed responsibility in posts it circulated on social media.

Also on Wednesday, the Criminal Court of Anbar Province, which includes al-Qaim, sentenced three men to death by hanging, finding them guilty of carrying out terror attacks in the province. There was no indication the men were connected to Wednesday's attack.

Judge Abdelsattar Bayarqadar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, said the three men were members of IS. Al-Qaim is a former Islamic State group stronghold in Anbar province in western Iraq.

A spate of kidnappings and guerrilla style attacks in desert areas in western and central Iraq this summer have stirred security concerns in the country as it seeks to rebuild from its three-year-long war with the militant group.

Iraqi officials declared victory over the jihadists late last year after recapturing Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, in a grinding battle supported by the U.S.-led international coalition against IS.

But heavy-handed tactics by the military and the Shiite-dominated PMF, and faltering efforts at reconciliation between the country's Sunni and Shiite Muslims, have fueled resentment in Sunni Muslim areas that were most affected by the war, and where IS cells are believed to operate.

Millions of Iraqis have not been able to return to their homes, including hundreds of thousands still living in displaced persons camps.

Iraq's military and the PMF have been using the predominantly Sunni Anbar province as a base of operations against IS in the country's western desert and for air operations against the group in neighboring Syria.

___

Associated Press writer Philip Issa in Beirut contributed to this report.JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli nationalists are celebrating what they call a "precedent-setting" court ruling that would legalize an isolated West Bank settlement outpost.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the pro-settler Jewish Home party says Wednesday the Jerusalem District Court's decision to legalize Mitzpe Kramim was an "important achievement" for the settler movement. The court ruled late Tuesday that settlers have acted in "good faith" and were unaware they were building on privately owned Palestinian property.

The ruling will likely face an appeal to Israel's Supreme Court, which has previously ordered such outposts be forcibly evacuated.

Shaked says the ruling proved evacuations are unnecessary and hoped they won't be repeated.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war. Most of the international community considers settlements there to be either illegal or illegitimate.British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce, whose country holds the Security Council presidency for the month of August, speaks during a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 28, 2018. The humanitarian situation in various regions of Syria remains worrisome, John Ging, Director of Operations and Advocacy of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The humanitarian situation in various regions of Syria remains worrisome, said a senior UN humanitarian official on Tuesday.

Recent weeks have seen a further serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the northwest, while the situation in other regions remains complex, John Ging, director of operations and advocacy of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council.

Intense aerial bombardment and shelling were reported in parts of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia governorates, resulting in civilian casualties and damage and destruction of civilian infrastructure, placing even more strain on humanitarian responders and vulnerable host communities, said Ging in a briefing to the Security Council.

On Aug. 10, airstrikes on the town of Urem Al-Kubra in western Aleppo were reported to have killed 41 civilians, and wounded more than 70 others. On the same day, bombs were dropped on Alteh and Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib, killing 12 civilians and wounding dozens of others. On Aug. 12, a total of 67 people were reportedly killed and 37 others were injured, including many women and children, when a weapons depot in a residential building exploded near Sarmada in rural Idlib, he said.

Health facilities were attacked and school activities were suspended in several areas due to hostilities, said Ging.

Humanitarian organizations are responding to needs across the northwest, drawing on cross-border assistance deliveries, which continue to provide the critical lifeline for hundreds of thousands of civilians who cannot be reached through other means. Some 680,000 people received food delivered from Turkey during the month of July alone, and 254,000 people received health assistance during the same period, he said.

In the southwest, where the Syrian government has regained control over the vast majority of Daraa, Quneitra and As-Suwayda governorates, large-scale return of internally displaced people has already taken place, and fewer than 60,000 people are now estimated to remain displaced in the three governorates.

However, massive levels of humanitarian need persist in the region and the United Nations continues to provide aid in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other local organizations, said Ging.

Food assistance has been provided for more than 390,000 people, as have water and sanitation, education and shelter assistance, as well as protection services, he said.

The humanitarian situation remains complex and challenging in other parts of the country, he said.

Ging asked the Security Council to ensure de-escalation in Idlib and surrounding areas, to ensure safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access, and to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

A worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis, he warned.

Syria remains among the most dangerous countries in the world for humanitarian workers and health care providers. Many have been directly targeted in the course of their work or forced to flee their homes. Hundreds have lost their lives, said Ging. "We continue to remind all parties to the fighting in Syria of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect and respect humanitarian relief personnel."

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock is in Damascus to engage with the Syrian government on how best to further scale up the collective humanitarian response across Syria and how to ensure that those in greatest need are assisted and protected. His visit coincides with a trip of UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - Thousands of Islamists in Pakistan launched a march toward the capital on Wednesday to protest a far-right Dutch lawmaker's plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest later this year.

Pakistan's newly elected government has denounced the contest, calling it an attempt to defame Islam. Physical depictions of God or the prophet, even positive ones, are forbidden in Islam and considered deeply offensive.

The protest was organized by Islamist groups that made surprising gains in Pakistan's July elections. An estimated 10,000 protesters took part in the march, chanting "we will die to protect the honor of the prophet."

Pakistani protesters hold a rally to condemn the planned anti-Islam cartoons competition, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Protesters condemned a cartoon contest planned by Geert Wilders, a Dutch parliamentarian. Members of a Pakistani Islamist group that made surprising gains in last month's national elections rallied against Wilders, who plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition in November. (AP Photo/Pervez Masih)

The protesters refused demands from authorities to confine their rally to the eastern city of Lahore, where it began. They are expected to reach Islamabad on Thursday.

The cartoon contest is being organized by Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch lawmaker with a history of incendiary remarks about Islam. The Dutch government has distanced itself from the event while saying it is committed to free speech.

Pakistan's new prime minister, Imran Khan, has largely sided with the protesters, vowing to take the matter to the United Nations. His government has summoned the Dutch ambassador to lodge a formal protest, but has so far dismissed calls to expel the envoy.

Tehreek-i-Labaik, a hard-line Islamist group that helped organized the protests, supported Khan's bid to be prime minister.

Tehreek-i-Labaik disrupted life in Islamabad with a three-week rally last year against an omitted reference to the prophet in a constitutional bill. Organizers say this time they will disperse after a daylong protest.

On Tuesday, Dutch news reports suggested that a man who was detained there on suspicion of threatening to attack Wilders and parliament was a Pakistani national. Police said they detained a 26-year-old suspect who is likely to be arraigned on Friday. Wilders has for years lived under round-the-clock security due to repeated death threats linked to his criticism of Islam.

Emotions have been running high in Pakistan, where blasphemy is punishable by death and where the mere accusation of it can cause lynchings.

A former Pakistani cricketer, Khalid Latif, has offered a $28,000 reward for anyone who would "kill the Dutchmen" behind the blasphemous contest.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has spoken with his Dutch counterpart about the "abominable and sacrilegious competition" this week, according a statement released by the ministry.

He said "such acts must be prevented as they spread hate and intolerance in societies."

__

Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed.

Supporters of an Islamic seminary 'Jamia Naeemia' take part in a demonstration in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, condemning a cartoon contest planned by Geert Wilders, a Dutch parliamentarian. Members of a Pakistani Islamist group that made surprising gains in last month's national elections rallied against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition in November. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Teacher and students of an Islamic seminary 'Jamia Naeemia' chant slogans during a demonstration in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, condemning a cartoon contest planned by Geert Wilders, a Dutch parliamentarian. Members of a Pakistani Islamist group that made surprising gains in last month's national elections rallied against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition in November. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Supreme Court has sentenced one of the country's most prominent businessmen to three years in prison for securities fraud.

The court ruled Wednesday that former IDB Holding Corp. controlling shareholder Nochi Dankner will begin serving his prison term on Oct. 2 for his role in carrying out millions of dollars' worth of fraudulent transactions in an attempt to influence the share price of the troubled company.

IDB took on millions of dollars in debt following a series of bad business deals. The courts wrested control of IDB from Dankner as a result.

FILE - In this Sunday, July 1, 2012 file photo, Israeli businessman Nochi Dankner attends the annual gathering of the rabbi's followers and supporters in the town of Netivot, southern Israel. Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday Aug. 29, 2018, sentenced Nochi Dankner, one of the country's most prominent businessmen, to three years in prison for securities fraud. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

Dankner, a favorite of Israel's business community, was often credited with helping rescue Israel's economy at the height of a Palestinian uprising. Under his leadership, IDB became Israel's largest holding company and Dankner became a celebrity.CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The state Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a last-minute bid by former coal CEO Don Blankenship to get his name on the ballot in November's U.S. Senate race in West Virginia.

The court upheld a decision by the secretary of state denying Blankenship's application for a third-party candidacy.

"The West Virginia Secretary of State is ordered to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that Donald L. Blankenship does not appear on the 2018 General Election Ballot for the Office of United States Senator for the State of West Virginia," the decision said.

Former coal executive Don Blankenship waits outside the West Virginia Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, after the Capitol was evacuated due to a fire alarm in Charleston, W.Va. The alarm interrupted a hearing for Blankenship in the state Supreme Court over whether he could be placed on the fall ballot in the U.S. Senate race. (AP Photo/John Raby)

The court itself is in a state of upheaval. One of the judges hearing the case Wednesday was filling in for a suspended justice, and two sat in for judges who retired after lawmakers voted to impeach them over allegations of improper use of court funds.

The justices issued the decision in the form of an order, rather than an opinion that would have laid out how each one voted and included comments from a majority ruling.

In a statement, Blankenship thanked his supporters and said he will evaluate his next step with his attorneys, which could include an appeal.

"For those who believe in democracy, it is a frightening decision," he said. "Americans desperately need to pay attention as the politicians continue to move voters to the sidelines and out of the election process."

Secretary of State Mac Warner had blocked Blankenship's bid to run as the Constitution Party's nominee, based on the state's "sore loser" law. It prohibits major-party primary candidates who lose from switching to a minor party. Blankenship finished third in the Republican primary in May.

Warner said in a statement that the decision "puts the issue to rest and allows voters going to the polls to know with certainty who will be on the ballot."

He said it also validates the sore loser law, "ending any chance for those candidates thinking they will have endless bites at the same apple."

West Virginia Wesleyan political history professor Robert Rupp said he wasn't surprised by the ruling, which along with the "sore loser" law "is just evidence that they're not going to open up the system and make it easier and acceptable to those who want to run for office."

The Senate race features incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin; Republican nominee Patrick Morrisey, who is the state attorney general; and Libertarian candidate Rusty Hollen.

Asked for a response to the court's order, Morrisey said he welcomed the end of "distractions" to the Senate race.

A spokesman for Manchin's campaign didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Blankenship argued the sore loser law was applied to him retroactively. He said lawmakers clarified the law earlier this year and it didn't become effective until June, after he had begun the process of running as a candidate for the Constitution Party.

The secretary of state's office said Blankenship didn't file a certificate of candidacy until late July.

West Virginia University law professor Robert Bastress, who represented Blankenship, said Blankenship met the requirements to run on the ballot and that any election-related statutes enacted during the election cycle "are essentially changing the rules of the game."

The justices asked several questions, including about previous case law. One noted that Blankenship could have simply run as a write-in candidate after losing in the primary.

The Supreme Court's fall term doesn't start until early October, but justices scheduled Blankenship's hearing now because the case had to be expedited to enable ballot printing and ballot approval by an early September deadline.

Chief Justice Margaret Workman and Justice Beth Walker heard the appeal, along with three circuit judges.

Paul Farrell was appointed to fill in for suspended Justice Allen Loughry, who faces an impeachment trial in the state Senate along with a federal trial over allegations including that he repeatedly lied about using his office for personal gain.

Workman appointed circuit judges Alan Moats and Darrell Pratt to fill in for Robin Davis and Menis Ketchum. Ketchum retired last month before the House of Delegates impeached the court's four other justices. He has pleaded guilty to a felony fraud count related to his personal use of a state vehicle and gas fuel card and faces up to 20 years in prison. Davis retired after she was impeached.

Blankenship is the former CEO of Massey Energy, which owned a mine where a 2010 explosion killed 29 workers. He spent a year in federal prison for safety violations related to the explosion.HONG KONG (AP) - A Hong Kong university professor was charged with his wife's murder on Wednesday, a day after her decomposing body was found inside a suitcase in his campus office, reports said.

Hong Kong University mechanical engineering associate professor Cheung Kie-chung was taken away by police on Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post and other news media.

Cheung, 53, had reported that his 52-year-old wife walked out after an argument on Aug. 17. She was believed to have been dead for several days when her body was found Tuesday dressed only in her underwear with an electric wire around her neck suggesting strangulation, Singapore's Straits Times newspaper reported.

In this July 28, 2015 photo, University of Hong Kong Professor, Cheung Kie-chung, center, attends a conference in Hong Kong. Media reports say the Hong Kong University professor has been arrested after his wife's decomposing body was found inside a suitcase in his campus office. The Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, reports said Hong Kong University mechanical engineering associate professor Cheung was taken away by police on Tuesday, Aug. 28. (Apple Daily via AP)

The Post said a post-mortem examination was being conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Despite Cheung's claim, there was no security camera footage showing his wife, who was not named in the reports, leaving the dormitory where she lived with her husband and an adult daughter and son. He was later seen leaving with a wooden box, the reports said, adding that the suitcase containing the body had been encased inside a sealed wooden box.

Cheung's arrest came days after the start of the trial in Hong Kong of an anesthesiologist charged with killing his wife and daughter by placing a leaking yoga ball filled with deadly carbon monoxide in their car.

Malaysian citizen Khaw Kim-sun, 53, was allegedly having an affair and had become estranged from his wife and four children, although they continued to live together. Khaw, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested in September.'Real hero': Crowds brave Arizona heat to honor John McCain

PHOENIX (AP) - Thousands of people paid their respects to U.S. Sen. John McCain on Wednesday, standing for hours in the broiling Arizona sun before filing past the flag-draped casket that his tearful wife, Cindy, lovingly pressed her face against after a ceremony for the former North Vietnam prisoner of war who represented Arizona for decades.

Former military members in shorts and T-shirts stopped and saluted the closed casket flanked by National Guard members at the Arizona Capitol. Families with small children came by, and several people placed their hand over their heart or bowed, including Vietnamese-born residents who traveled from Southern California.

The private service held earlier marked the first appearance of McCain's family since the Republican senator died Saturday of brain cancer. It also began two days of official mourning in Arizona before his body is taken to Washington for a viewing at the U.S. Capitol, followed by burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

At the emotional private ceremony in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain as an internationally known figure and "Arizona's favorite adopted son" on what would have been his 82nd birthday. He was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father, who went on to become an admiral, served in the military.

"Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon," Ducey said.

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White House Counsel McGahn leaving; key man in legal storms

WASHINGTON (AP) - White House Counsel Don McGahn, a consequential insider in President Donald Trump's legal storms and successes and a key figure in the administration's handling of the Russia investigation, will be leaving in the fall, the president announced Wednesday.

McGahn's exit continues the churn of top officials as the administration sets records for turnover and the White House struggles to fill key vacancies.

Unlike some less-amiable separations, however, Trump praised McGahn as "a really good guy" who has done "an excellent job."

Trump said McGahn's departure had nothing to do with his interviews with the special counsel investigating possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia in the 2016 election.

Pressed by reporters, Trump said he had approved the attorney's interviews and was unconcerned about anything McGahn might tell prosecutors.

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Canada stunned and worried about Trump trade threats

TORONTO (AP) - It started with President Donald Trump's attacks on Canadian dairy farmers. Then Washington slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security. There was that disastrous G-7 summit in Quebec. Now it's a new North American free trade agreement that excludes America's northern neighbor.

Canadians are stunned by the repeated broadsides from what has long been their closest ally and some have even begun boycotts.

"Everybody is afraid," said Margot Lajeunesse, who helps run a family-owned bistro in Quebec. "We depend a lot on the U.S."

About 75 percent of Canada's exports go to the U.S. so the tariff threat looms large after Trump snubbed Canada and reached a preliminary deal with Mexico.

LaLa Bistro, owned by the Lajeunesse family, is among Canadian businesses that are boycotting California wines, American ketchup and other U.S. products in protest. Some Canadians have cancelled U.S. vacations, particularly after Trump assailed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-7 meeting in June, calling him a "weak" and "dishonest" back-stabber.

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Hackers? No, human error plagues Arizona primary voting

PHOENIX (AP) - For all the worries about Russian hackers and other cyber-vandals, voting problems this week in Arizona served as a reminder that one of the biggest threats to fair elections is plain old human error.

That appeared to be the case during Tuesday's primary, when dozens of polling places in the state's most populous county opened late because the voter verification machinery had not been set up.

The Maricopa County recorder, the official in charge of running elections in and around Phoenix, said the contractor hired to connect the tablet-like devices didn't send enough workers to complete the job on time. The contractor insisted it dispatched more people than the county requested.

Either way, 62 of the county's 750 or so polling locations did not open first thing in the morning, though all were up and running before noon. Election officials gave no estimate of how many people were unable to cast ballots because of the foul-up.

The confusion in the state where over a million voters cast ballots came two years after Phoenix-area residents ended up waiting for hours in the heat to vote because a previous election chief drastically reduced the number of polling places.

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CNN stands by story about whether Trump knew of meeting

NEW YORK (AP) - Despite a key source backing off his assertion, CNN is sticking by a story casting doubt on President Donald Trump's claim that he did not have prior knowledge of a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

CNN said it had more than one source for its story, co-authored by Jim Sciutto and Watergate legend Carl Bernstein.

CNN's story, written on July 27, said that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was willing to say that he heard Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., tell his father about the Russians' offer to share material about Clinton, his Democratic rival for the presidency. It also said that Trump gave the go-ahead to take the meeting at Trump Tower. If true, that would contradict what Trump and representatives have long said, that he didn't know about the meeting until long after it happened.

Such information would be of great interest to special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 American presidential campaign.

WHY WAS THE STORY CALLED INTO QUESTION?

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Dad, partner plead not guilty in toddler's compound death

TAOS, N.M. (AP) - The father of a 3-year-old boy found dead in a filthy New Mexico compound and his partner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of child abuse resulting in death after lesser charges were dismissed against them and other members of their extended family as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors.

The dead boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj (see-DAHJ' IBN wah-HAJ'), and his partner Jany Leveille remained silent as pleas were entered by a judge on their behalf. The charges could carry life sentences in the death of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj (ahb-DOOL' GAH'-nee wah-HAJ').

Their pleas came after a judge dismissed child neglect charges filed against them earlier this month. Another judge made the same decision involving three other defendants earlier Wednesday.

The five were arrested at a remote desert compound where 11 children were found living in filth. A subsequent search led to the discovery of the dead 3-year-old boy.

Authorities say Wahhaj and Leveille denied the boy proper medicine and health care before he died in December 2017 during a religious ritual aimed at casting out demonic spirits. The exact cause and manner of death has not been determined.

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Pope's cover-up crisis turns battle lines into first salvo

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The author of the bombshell accusation of sex abuse cover-up against Pope Francis denied Wednesday he acted out of revenge or anger, breaking his silence as his claims continued to divide a Catholic Church already polarized under Francis' reformist agenda.

While the Vatican is no stranger to scandal, leaks or plots, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano's j'accuse has weakened a papacy already under fire for Francis' poor record on dealing with sex abuse cases, and has intensified a long-simmering ideological battle between right and left for the soul of the Catholic Church.

Vigano told an Italian journalist he was "serene and at peace" after publishing his allegation-laden declaration, albeit saddened by subsequent attempts to undermine his credibility.

"I spoke out because by now the corruption has arrived at the top of the church hierarchy," Vigano was quoted as saying.

For the church's conservatives, Vigano's 11-page manifesto, published on Sunday, is a courageous denunciation of sex abuse cover-up and corruption. For Francis' reformist supporters, it's an angry diatribe from a homophobic bishop embittered that he never got the cardinal's red hat he so craved.

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Fans stream in for 2nd day of Aretha Franklin public viewing

DETROIT (AP) - Mourners streamed in for a second day Wednesday to pay their respects to Aretha Franklin, who was dressed in a different outfit for her final public viewing, as if making a costume change during a show.

Fans waited festively outside, then walked in a solemn, single-file line into the rotunda of Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. There, they found Franklin in a polished bronze casket and a sheer baby blue dress with matching shoes, a change from the bright red outfit seen Tuesday across the world. On the inside of the lid, embroidered into the fabric, read "Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul."

The two-day viewing was part of a week of commemorations for the legend, who died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer. She was 76. A marathon funeral with an all-star list of speakers and performers was scheduled for Friday.

Just as Franklin's more than six decades of music wrought emotions out of her fans, so too did her viewing.

As they approached the casket and heaping displays of roses, many people smiled, cried, crossed themselves, bowed their heads or blew kisses. The strains of Franklin's gospel recordings echoed in the airy space.

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4 reasons why shoppers are in the mood to spend

NEW YORK (AP) - The store isn't dead for Home Depot, Kohl's, Best Buy or Target. Many traditional chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores, as people are in a mood to spend.

What's driving it? A booming economy and companies' own efforts to try to Amazon-proof their businesses. That means making their stores more pleasant, updating their websites and speeding up delivery.

The bounce is a welcome reprieve from talk of a retail apocalypse that flourished after a spate of bankruptcies. Plenty of stores are still struggling, particularly mall clothing chains like Victoria's Secret and department stores like Sears. So is it the start of a sustainable revival?

"It's a retail renaissance for a core group of retailers," said Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics. "They're set to glide on this path for a couple of years," he added. "But specialty apparel stores are going to struggle."

Here are some of the main trends right now.

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Kanye West apologizes for saying slavery was 'a choice'

Kanye West apologized Wednesday on a Chicago radio station for calling slavery a "choice," and he broke down on air over an old friend.

"I don't know if I properly apologized for how that slave comment made people feel, so I want to take this moment right now to say that I'm sorry for hurting, I'm sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment," West told 107.5 WGCI radio in his hometown.

"And I'm sorry for people who felt let down by that moment, and also I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity to talk to you about the way I was thinking and what I was going through and what led me to that," he said.

West also addressed a question that left him speechless on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" about why he feels President Donald Trump cares about black people. He later tweeted he wasn't stumped by the question and didn't much appreciate how the show cut awkwardly to a commercial break after his extra-long pause.

He said he was just carefully considering his answer:ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Two construction workers fell to their deaths when scaffolding collapsed as they were pouring concrete on the seventh floor of a 16-story hotel under construction near Disney World early Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff's officials said.

The accident happened just outside Disney property, Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said.

"They were on the scaffolding, and for reasons unknown at this time, that support structure gave way, sending two workers plummeting to the ground below. A third worker managed to hang on and climb to safety, Jachles told The Associated Press.

This shows the collapsed scaffolding, center, at a hotel under construction after two workers fell to their deaths early Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, near Orlando, Fla. (Orange County Fire Rescue via AP)

Marriott International has described the project as a 16-story, $282 million JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, featuring 516 rooms near Orlando's popular theme parks. It's owned and developed by DCS Investment Holdings, a private equity group based in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is owned by Dwight C. Schar, co-owner of the Washington Redskins.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took place earlier today," said Jeff Flaherty, who handles global communications and public affairs for Marriott. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of the workers who died."

Flaherty said the construction of the building is being managed by DCS Investment Holdings, which had no immediate comment.

Orange County Sheriff's spokeswoman Ingrid Tejada-Monforte identified the deceased workers as Lorenzo Zavala, 34, and Jerry Bell, 46. She said both men had died of their injuries by the time rescue crews arrived.

Fire-Rescue got the call at about 4:15 a.m., when about 18 workers were at the scene.

Jachles said it happened at the top of the construction project, which is still in the concrete-pouring stage. The Orange County Sheriff's office and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate, he said.PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - The trial of an Australian filmmaker accused of endangering Cambodia's national security concluded Wednesday with the prosecution insisting that he had engaged in journalism in order to carry out spying.

Jamese Ricketson was arrested in June last year for flying a camera-equipped drone over a rally held by the opposition party. The charge against him is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The three-judge panel is to deliver its verdict on Friday.

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, right, gets off from a prisoner truck upon his arrival at Phnom Penh Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Ricketson is on trial in Cambodia on charges of endangering national security by flying a drone over an opposition party rally last year. Closing arguments in the trial are expected Wednesday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

In his closing statement Wednesday, prosecutor Sieng Sok accused Ricketson, 69, of spying on sensitive sites for an unnamed foreign country. He said Ricketson's charitable activities were a cover for espionage.

"Since he arrived in Cambodia, the accused person has been collecting political, social and economic information about Cambodia and sending it to a foreign state. He has kept collecting this information for 22 years, until the day he was arrested," Sieng Sok said. "The accused person was using his journalism job and helping poor Cambodians just to hide his real work, but in fact he is a spy and has been filming at the sites of the country's security forces."

Ricketson's lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, said in his closing statement that little evidence was presented against Ricketson during the trial, and none suggesting that he worked for a foreign power.

A handful of personal emails seized from Ricketson suggested he was sympathetic to the country's political opposition and critical of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen's government, but revealed no sensitive or secret information. Several of his photos and videos showed security forces on duty, but nothing that wasn't publicly viewable.

Kong Sam Onn said the charge against his client was totally without merit, and asked for his acquittal.

"He came to Cambodia to help poor people by producing documentaries about the poor to sell to foreign companies so that he could take that income to help them," Kong Sam Onn said.

Ricketson and several character witnesses had testified that he had had provided financial assistance to several poverty-stricken Cambodians. Prominent Australian movie director Peter Weir testified earlier about Ricketson's career as a professional filmmaker.

Kong Sam Onn acknowledged Ricketson had flouted regulations by producing documentaries without official permission and working as a journalist with expired credentials, but said those actions did not amount to espionage.

Ricketson also made a final statement in which he denied any wrongdoing and said he came to Cambodia because he loves the country and its people and sought to help the poor during his two decades here.

He told the court he hoped its verdict would be decided on the basis of the evidence and that he would get justice.

"I will get free, I hope," he told reporters as he headed to a prison van.LONDON (AP) - The husband of a British-Iranian charity worker who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than two years says his wife has been hospitalized after suffering panic attacks.

Richard Ratcliffe said that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taken to a prison clinic Wednesday after blacking out.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was granted a three-day release from prison last week, and was briefly reunited with her 4-year-old daughter.

In this undated photo provided by the Free Nazanin Campaign, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been allowed to leave an Iranian prison for three days, her husband said Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. (Free Nazanin Campaign/via AP)

Her husband had hoped the leave might be extended, but Zaghari-Ratcliffe was ordered back to prison Sunday.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family has denied the allegation and insists she was in Iran to visit family.

She had worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the news agency's charitable arm.TARBORO, N.C. (AP) - Police in North Carolina say an officer shot and killed a burglary suspect.

Tarboro Police Chief Jesse Webb tells news outlets that officers responding to a burglary at a home Tuesday night confronted the suspect near the back door. Police said in a release that an officer fired a gun after "a brief encounter" with the suspect. Police aren't saying whether the suspect had a weapon.

The officer's identity hasn't been released, and the suspect's identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The shooting is under investigation. More details haven't been released.

Tarboro is in northeastern North Carolina, near Rocky Mount.GENEVA (AP) - Threatened U.S. funding cuts wouldn't be "fatal" for his office, the United Nations' human rights chief said Wednesday, but he added that he hoped other countries won't follow suit.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein insisted "the office will continue to survive" even if the U.S. carries out the promise made by U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton in an interview with The Associated Press last week.

Zeid told reporters Wednesday that "clearly what one doesn't want to see is a whole series of withdrawals and withdrawal of funding."

Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaks at ACANU at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Jamey Keaten)

Bolton's pledge that the U.S. will cut funding to the rights office and the U.N.'s top human rights body was the latest Trump administration salvo against U.N. institutions. The U.S. is the U.N.'s largest single donor, providing about 22 percent of its budget, and the rights office gets much of its funding through the general U.N. budget.

But Bolton's warning about the budgetary axe didn't deter the rights chief, who gained praise from many human rights advocates for being outspoken and unafraid to challenge governments, from reiterating his concerns about President Donald Trump's rhetoric.

Zeid, who is a Jordanian prince, repeated his previous concerns about Trump's "very worrisome" attacks on journalists.

He added that "the conduct of the president should be under very careful scrutiny by the international community, by this office" during the upcoming mid-term election cycle in the United States.

The comments came at a wide-ranging news conference before the expiry of Zeid's four-year term at the end of this month. He will be replaced as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

He also expressed concerns about rising far-right nationalism in Europe, and noted recent reports by U.N. investigators that condemned abuses in places like Yemen, Myanmar and Nicaragua. He said he would urge his successor to be outspoken when she sees rights abuses around the world.

He also reviewed his tenure, pointing to new U.N. human rights monitoring offices set up in that time in countries including Honduras and South Korea, a post to monitor possible abuses in the North.Professor Juan Bosch (1909-2001) was the leader of the national liberation movement in Latin America and the first President of the Dominican Republic. He helped the Dominican people to understand more about the war in Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, thus forming revolutionary movements to support the Vietnamese people.

The ceremony was attended by Miguel Mejia, the Dominican Republics United Left Movement (MIU) General Secretary and Minister for Regional Integration Policies; Tran Thanh Man, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, and President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee; Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, Member of the Party Central Committee, and Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee; Nguyen The Hung, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee.

Addressing the ceremony, VFF President, Tran Thanh Man, said that the inauguration of the bust in Hanoi will help promote the friendship between the two nations people and help more Vietnamese people further understand the life and career of Juan Bosch as well as the Dominican Republic.

MIU General Secretary and Minister for Regional Integration Policies, Miguel Mejia, affirmed that it is an honour for the Dominican Republic to have a bust of Juan Bosch in Hanoi and it is a critically important event in their bilateral relations.

Ho Chi Minh and Juan Bosch were great leaders who guided their people through challenges and difficulties to bring their countries success with the goals of peace, democracy and civilisation, he added.BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Romania's president on Wednesday has blasted the government over the spread of African swine fever saying the outbreak was costing millions of euros and threatening thousands of jobs.

African swine fever doesn't affect humans, but it can be deadly for domestic and wild boars, and cause massive losses for farmers.

President Klaus Iohannis said that "for weeks, authorities have demonstrated their incompetence in stopping this disaster.... without us seeing appropriate, firm and efficient methods of control."

About 780 separate outbreaks of swine fever have been reported, with Romania's southeast worst affected.

Geronimo Branescu, director of the government Veterinary Health and Food Safety Authority, later said more than 123,000 sick pigs had been slaughtered since the outbreak, while authorities have paid farmers damages worth 222,000 lei ($55,800). He said there were around 700 outstanding claims for compensation.

Iohannis, a critic of the left-wing government and whose post is largely ceremonial, said that "the government is incapable of managing African swine fever which has very serious consequences for the Romanian economy."Robert Knox, 50, was killed by Delaware troopers while searching his home

A paraplegic man was shot and killed by Delaware troopers executing a search warrant at his home Tuesday.

Delaware State Police said Wednesday that Robert Knox, 50, of Harbeson was lying in bed and reached for a handgun while troopers were in the home early Tuesday.

A struggle over the weapon followed and two troopers fired their weapons at Knox, who later died at a hospital.

The incident is being investigated by the state police homicide unit.

He had a long criminal history that included convictions for drug trafficking, robbery and resisting arrest, court records show.

Knox's father, Andrew A. Knox, 82, was arrested Tuesday and charged with possession of a firearm by a person prohibited and maintaining a drug property. He was released on $13,000 unsecured bail. A defense attorney who is expected to represent Knox said Wednesday that he was waiting to hear back from the family.

State police said Wednesday that Knox's arrest followed a three-week long drug investigation in southern Delaware that also resulted in the arrest of Andrew Ayers, 54. Ayers, who was arrested at a house in Milton, was being held on $100,200 secured bond.

Police said they recovered four handguns at the Knox residence, along with about 1.8 pounds (815.8 grams) of powder cocaine, 2.6 pounds (1,196.9 grams) of marijuana, 2.4 ounces (68.2 grams) of crystal methamphetamine, and 1.8 ounces (51.9 grams) of crack cocaine.

Guns and money found at the Harbeson house where a 50-year-old paraplegic was shot by state police during a raid

His father, Andrew Knox, 82, (left) was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm and maintaining a drug property. Andrew Ayers was also arrested (right)

At the house in Milton, officer seized about 14 ounces (395.6 grams) of marijuana, along with crack cocaine and a loaded handgun. Ayers is facing drug delivery and gun charges. It was not immediately clear whether he has lawyer.

The elder Knox has previous convictions for possession with intent to sell drugs, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, burglary, theft and conspiracy.

Robert Knox was convicted of drug possession in 2015. He was convicted in 2003 of trafficking cocaine, possession with intent to deliver, delivery of a narcotic, reckless endangering and resisting arrest.

He was also convicted of cocaine trafficking and conspiracy in 1994, and on robbery charges in 1988 and 1989.

According to a newspaper article at the time, Knox and his father were arrested in February 2003 after police found drugs and guns in the father's home. According to the article, Robert Knox tried to flee the scene in a car, driving toward police officers, two of whom shot at the car in self-defense.

Juanita Knox, Andrew's estranged wife, said she had spoken to him Tuesday, but she did not provide any other details.

'I really don't know the ins and outs of it yet,' she said when asked about the shooting.

Knox said her son was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident in 2013.NEW YORK (AP) - The store isn't dead for Home Depot, Kohl's, Best Buy or Target. Many traditional chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores, as people are in a mood to spend.

What's driving it? A booming economy and companies' own efforts to try to Amazon-proof their businesses. That means making their stores more pleasant, updating their websites and speeding up delivery.

The bounce is a welcome reprieve from talk of a retail apocalypse that flourished after a spate of bankruptcies. Plenty of stores are still struggling, particularly mall clothing chains like Victoria's Secret and department stores like Sears. So is it the start of a sustainable revival?

In this Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, photo, Heather Camacuari, of Charlotte, shops for clothing at a Kohl's store in Concord, N.C. Many kinds of chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores. A booming economy, which has shoppers spending more freely, and companies' own efforts in trying to Amazon-proof their business is driving people's mood to spend. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

"It's a retail renaissance for a core group of retailers," said Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics. "They're set to glide on this path for a couple of years," he added. "But specialty apparel stores are going to struggle."

Here are some of the main trends right now.

A STRONG ECONOMY: Shoppers are spending more freely in an economy that has recently grown at the fastest pace in nearly four years. Unemployment is near an 18-year low. Average hourly wages rose 2.7 percent in July from a year earlier.

"There's no doubt that, like others, we're currently benefiting from a very strong consumer environment, perhaps the strongest I've seen in my career," Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors. Target saw sales at established stores post the strongest growth in 13 years. Customer numbers in stores and online had their best showing since at least 2008.

Walmart similarly posted the largest increase for same-store sales in more than a decade. Best Buy had its biggest second-quarter same-store sales boost in 15 years. These three retailers, along with Home Depot, Lowe's, Kohl's and others raised their outlooks.

FASTER OPTIONS AT THE STORE: Stores are catering better to time-conscious shoppers with delivery and pickup services that take advantage of their store networks.

Walmart has curbside grocery pickup at 1,800 stores, and is expanding its pickup towers, which serve up items ordered online within seconds. Target says it's reduced the wait time for curbside pickup to 2 minutes. Target has also found where it's testing same-day delivery for store shoppers the average basket size is more than $200, the highest of any service it provides.

Though Walmart has dropped mobile checkout at its namesake stores, others like Macy's and Kroger are embracing it. Urban Outfitters says more shoppers than it expected are using self-checkout at its store in Manhattan's Herald Square.

"It's all about instant gratification," says Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Douglas Elliman's retail group.

REVAMPING WEBSITES: Stores are trying to make it easier to browse and discover products online as a way to compete with shoppers accustomed to Amazon.

Walmart overhauled its website with a special emphasis on fashion and home goods, and has special sections dedicated to Lord & Taylor as part of their partnership and for the outdoor brand Moosejaw it bought last year. Consolo cited Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's as others that have made their sites easier to shop.

"Retailers are putting together an internet-friendly site that's easy to navigate," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group.

POWERFUL EXCLUSIVE BRANDS: Shoppers are responding to the brands stores have developed to differentiate themselves - and which have better profit margins.

Target has been aggressive here, particularly in clothing and home goods. Cornell says these brands are attracting new customers, and the children's clothing brand Cat & Jack generated $2 billion in sales one year after its launch in 2016.

Macy's hopes to have its private label and exclusive brands account for 40 percent of the merchandise it offers in the next few years, up from about 30 percent. And Kohl's teamed up with media company PopSugar on a clothing collection that will hit next month.

"The department stores that have a clear strategy and vision are going to be the clear winners," said Greg Petro, founder and CEO of First Insight, which helps retailers set prices.

___

Follow Anne D'Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

In this Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, file photo cashier Liz Moore, right, checks out customers Christie Meeks, center, and Lisa Starnes, left, at a Kohl's store in Concord, N.C. Many kinds of chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores. A booming economy, which has shoppers spending more freely, and companies' own efforts in trying to Amazon-proof their business is driving people's mood to spend. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

FILE- In this May 30, 2018, file photo, a shopper walks through the updated cosmetic department at a Target store in San Antonio. "There's no doubt that, like others, we're currently benefiting from a very strong consumer environment, perhaps the strongest I've seen in my career," Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors. Target saw sales at established stores post the strongest growth in 13 years. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

In this Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, photo Mark Vega, 7, left, looks inside his family's cart as parents Frankie Vega, center, and Kimberly Vega, right, shop at a Kohl's store in Concord, N.C. Many kinds of chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores. A booming economy, which has shoppers spending more freely, and companies' own efforts in trying to Amazon-proof their business is driving people's mood to spend. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

In this Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, photo Heather Camacuari, of Charlotte, N.C., shops for clothing at a Kohl's store in Concord, N.C. Many kinds of chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores. A booming economy, which has shoppers spending more freely, and companies' own efforts in trying to Amazon-proof their business is driving people's mood to spend. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

FILE- In this May 23, 2017, file photo, an employee adjusts a television display at a Best Buy in Cary, N.C. Many kinds of old-guard chains have posted strong sales, both online and at stores, and are raising their outlooks for the year. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)NEW YORK (AP) - As small business owners in Hawaii and California clean up following Hurricane Lane and wildfires, they'll find there's no one formula for recovery.

The same disaster can devastate businesses in divergent ways - a hurricane might tear the roof off one restaurant, flood another and leave a third with little damage.

Whether a business recovers often depends on how prepared it is, such as whether it has insurance and its computer data is backed up remotely. Owners should also find out what resources are available to them from the government, their communities and other entrepreneurs, says Craig Markovitz, a professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. Communication with customers and vendors is also crucial, Markovitz says.

In this Friday, Aug. 24, 2018, photo Patrice Farooq poses for a photo inside the new location of her Cupcake Kitchen Houston bakery in Houston. Farooq's previous store was damaged by water from Hurricane Harvey. She lost an estimated $30,000 in equipment and inventory. Even as she was first dealing with the damage, Farooq began using Facebook ads to let customers know she'd be reopening, and to ensure they didn't forget about her shop. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

"Let people know you're going to get back on your feet," he says. Anything from a sign on a company's premises to advertising to media coverage will help.

____

For more small business news, insights and inspiration, sign up for our free weekly newsletter here: http://discover.ap.org/ssb

____

Markovitz also advises owners to rally their entrepreneurial spirit, which helped them succeed in the first place.

Here are the stories of business owners who were able to recover:

OWNER: Patrice Farooq, Cupcake Kitchen Houston

THE DISASTER: Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

When Houston was inundated by over 4 feet of rain in four days, Farooq's bakery was damaged by water that entered through the roof. She lost appliances including a commercial freezer and all her perishables including eggs and dairy products. Farooq estimates her losses at $30,000, and she was shut for about three weeks.

THE RECOVERY: Even as she was first dealing with the damage, Farooq began using Facebook ads to let customers know she'd be reopening, and to ensure they didn't forget about her shop.

"I had an idea that the (customer) traffic was not going to be the same and we would run the risk of going out of business," Farooq says.

Farooq kept advertising after she reopened, and revenue had returned to about 80 percent of pre-Harvey levels by January. But because the neighborhood was still rebuilding, Farooq decided to move the store five miles away, opening in May. Revenue is now 50 percent above the level of before the storm.

OWNER: Nate Stokes, Visiting Angels senior care franchise

THE DISASTER: Tornado; Joplin, Missouri; May 22, 2011

The tornado destroyed Stokes' cars and his office, which no one was in when the twister hit, and he later learned that his accountant had been killed. Stokes saw the area the next day; it was acres of rubble.

"If you had blindfolded me and brought me there, I wouldn't have been able to tell you where we were," he says.

Three of 50 employees had to quit because they lost their homes and needed to focus on rebuilding their lives. Three more were temporarily unable to work. He lost several clients whose homes were destroyed.

THE RECOVERY: Stokes' church offered him office space, and the Visiting Angels franchise in Tulsa, Oklahoma, lent him a car and computer. About a month after the tornado Stokes found an office 12 miles away, in Carthage, Missouri, but he was unable to replace all his lost equipment and cars until he received insurance money six months later.

It took about a year for Stokes' business to return to its pre-disaster functioning. He's still based in Carthage but now has a satellite building in Joplin.

OWNERS: Brent and Juan Reaves, Smokey John's BBQ restaurant

THE DISASTER: Fire; Dallas; Sept. 9, 2017

Wood stored near a meat smoker caught fire, heavily damaging the kitchen, sending smoke into the entire restaurant. It caused no injuries, but the restaurant had to be gutted.

THE RECOVERY: The brothers, who had several catering gigs on their schedule, realized they could still have money coming in by focusing up that part of their business. They quickly found kitchen space where they could prepare food. And other barbecue purveyors were ready to pitch in when they heard about the fire, Brent Reaves says.

"People started calling us and said, 'Hey guys, if you need smokers, we can help,'" Reaves says.

With advertising, the catering business soared, helping fund the restaurant's reconstruction. The rebuilt Smokey John's will be 1,000 square feet larger to handle the booming catering business, and the Reaves brothers have set a goal of $1 million in catering revenue this year. They expect to reopen the restaurant in September.

OWNER: Brandon Gaille, Gaille Media, internet marketing agency

THE DISASTER: Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

Gaille's second-floor office became flooded when nearby Lake Houston overflowed. He and his staffers couldn't re-enter the building for three months - even after the water receded, it left behind dangerous levels of mold. When Gaille was allowed back in, he had to wear a mask.

THE RECOVERY: Gaille and his two staffers and 10 freelancers were able to keep working because most of their documents and records were stored online and could be accessed remotely. So the company had minimal disruption. But last fall, one of Gaille's employees asked him to consider making the remote work arrangement permanent.

"I don't want to go back to the office," the staffer told Gaille.

The move is saving Gaille thousands of dollars a year in overhead - rent, utilities and commuting costs.

OWNER: Bob Tuck, Mr. Appliance, repair company

THE DISASTER: Hurricane Charley; Port Charlotte, Florida; Aug. 13, 2004

The hurricane hit as Tuck was shifting from being a Maytag appliance retailer and repair shop to a Mr. Appliance franchisee, doing only repairs. Tuck was able to move inventory from the store to a warehouse. It took nearly three days before Tuck could travel to the store because of debris and downed power lines. The store, which still had mock-ups of kitchens with appliances, was almost completely destroyed. But the office with all the company's records was unscathed, as was the warehouse and his inventory.

THE RECOVERY: When Tuck was able to contact the Mr. Appliance corporate offices, the company offered to help him and the community, and told him it would send water and take over his phone lines and answer his calls.

Tuck didn't try to find another retail space; over the next four months he sold off his Maytag inventory to homeowners who lost their appliances to the storm.

However, there was little demand for appliance repair and therefore little revenue coming in. Tuck's insurance policy helped cover his financial losses and he also obtained a Small Business Administration disaster loan.

"It was our only means of survival," Tuck says.

OWNER: Jeff O'Hara, AlliedPRA, event/conference planning company

THE DISASTER: Hurricane Katrina; New Orleans; Aug. 29, 2005

Physical damage at his company wasn't an issue for O'Hara; it was the city's overall devastation that for two years wiped out New Orleans' tourism and convention industries. O'Hara also lost his house. He had to move away from New Orleans for more than a year, getting part-time jobs in Colorado to support himself.

THE RECOVERY: O'Hara worked the phones while he was away, staying in touch with clients, suppliers and tourism officials. He was working to convince people that despite the widespread belief that the city was in ruins, its most popular tourist areas including the French Quarter were undamaged and ready for visitors.

He also traveled around the country, meeting with clients. Even after moving back he worked side jobs, and in 2007, business began to trickle back in.

But O'Hara and the industry faced more problems - the Great Recession hit, devastating the corporate travel business.

"In all, it took seven years to get back to our previous levels of revenue," O'Hara says.

_____

Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com/search/joyce%20rosenberg

FILE- In this Aug. 23, 2018, file photo Kevin Pak, right, boards up an ABC Store near the beach in preparation for Hurricane Lane in Honolulu. As small business owners in Hawaii and California clean up following Hurricane Lane and wildfires, they'll find there's no one formula for recovery from a disaster. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

In this Friday, Aug. 24, 2018, photo Patrice Farooq poses for a photo inside the new location of her Cupcake Kitchen Houston bakery in Houston. Farooq's previous store was damaged by water from Hurricane Harvey. She lost an estimated $30,000 in equipment and inventory. Even as she was first dealing with the damage, Farooq began using Facebook ads to let customers know she'd be reopening, and to ensure they didn't forget about her shop. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, file photo, water from Addicks Reservoir flows into neighborhoods as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise in Houston. Whether a business recovers from a disaster often depends on how prepared it is, such as whether it has insurance and its computer data is backed up remotely. Owners should also find out what resources are available to them from the government, their communities and other entrepreneurs, says Craig Markovitz, a professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

In this Friday, Aug. 24, 2018, photo Patrice Farooq poses for a photo inside the new location of her Cupcake Kitchen Houston bakery in Houston. Farooq's previous store was damaged by water from Hurricane Harvey. She lost an estimated $30,000 in equipment and inventory. Even as she was first dealing with the damage, Farooq began using Facebook ads to let customers know she'd be reopening, and to ensure they didn't forget about her shop. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)MEXICO CITY (AP) - A new Netflix reality series following the lavish lives of nine wealthy, light-skinned socialites in Mexico City has provoked a backlash from critics who say it's tone-deaf in a country where most have darker skin and about half the population lives in poverty.

"Trash," ''filth," ''pathetic," ''classist," were some of the more polite adjectives Twitter users employed to describe their reaction to the show, "Made in Mexico."

Critics are also questioning the timing of the streaming service's first Mexican reality show, announced a little over a month after the country overwhelmingly elected as president the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who rails against what he calls an entrenched and corrupt elite and promises to make the poor his top priority.

In this June. 6, 2018, photo, provided by Netflix, Hanna Jaff, a 30-year-old, San Diego-born Mexican philanthropist, speaker and human rights activist, told The Associated Press that she and the other cast members of the "Made in Mexico" reality show, are representative of Mexico as family people with different backgrounds and professions and "our own problems within our circumstances." A new Netflix reality series following the lavish lives of nine wealthy, light-skinned socialites in Mexico City has provoked a backlash from critics who say it's tone-deaf in a country where most have darker skin and about half the population lives in poverty. (Netflix Publicity via AP)

"In the last elections we showed that we live in a democratic country. Nonetheless, we still suffer terrible atavisms related to classism and, what's worse, racism," said Guadalupe Loaeza, who has written several books about the Mexican elite. "More than money, the color of one's skin is definitive ... for whether one is accepted or not among the 'rich boys and girls.'"

"Made in Mexico" producers did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But Hanna Jaff, a 30-year-old, San Diego-born Mexican philanthropist, speaker and human rights activist, told The Associated Press that she and the other cast members are representative of Mexico as family people with different backgrounds and professions and "our own problems within our circumstances."

She said the show will offer a positive, intellectual, entrepreneurial vision of the country, in contrast to what's often seen in media such as Netflix, which hosts a number of violent narco-dramas such as "El Chapo," about notorious Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera.

"I wanted the world to see a different Mexico, from a different point of view," Jaff said. "I think there will always be negative and positive people, no? ... And in truth, the program is not a stereotype."

At least in early advertising, however, Netflix has been touting it somewhat differently: "Get to know the opulent lifestyles and infamous dynasties of Mexico City's socialites and the expats vying for a spot in their exclusive social order," reads the teaser for the show in the app.

Some have also objected to its English-language title, an affectation common in magazines and advertising aimed at well-to-do Mexicans. Besides Jaff, at least two other cast members are reportedly American.

The white and the wealthy have long dominated Mexican media, from telenovelas to newscasts to high-society supplements of national newspapers that chronicle fancy weddings, galas and mansions, with hardly a dark-skinned face to be found.

Loaeza referenced what are known in the country as "mirreyes" - a motherly expression meaning roughly "my little kings" - the flashy young scions of wealth and privilege known for sharing photos of luxurious cars, clothes, vacations and bling on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The phenomenon has taken off in recent years, amplified by the explosion of social media and accompanied by a number of corruption scandals during the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

"These 'new rich' are totally aspirational, even though they are criticized," Loaeza said. "Many people aspire to dress like them, to spend holidays in Acapulco and drive a BMW."

So despite the criticism in a country of stark social and economic contrasts - where telecoms magnate Carlos Slim is one of the richest people in the world, while millions in places like Chiapas and Oaxaca live in ramshackle homes - "Made in Mexico" could well become a hit when it is released Sept. 28.

"I think that precisely because most of the population is so far from that, it makes people really curious about what it feels like to be in that person's place," said Jorge Romero, a 25-year-old Netflix user.

Christopher Alcantara, a 32-year-old business administrator, said he's curious to see "Made in Mexico" and added that such shows are entertaining and introduce new slang and fashion trends.

"Morbidity sells, and without a doubt it would be very interesting to watch a pilot episode," Alcantara said.CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told a visiting Italian official on Wednesday that there is a "strong will" to bring the killers of an Italian researcher to justice, an Egyptian spokesman said.

Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University doctoral student who was studying labor unions in Egypt, was abducted in January 2016 and tortured for several days before his body was left on a desert highway north of Cairo.

During a meeting in Cairo with Italy's deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, el-Sissi expressed confidence that the investigation into Regeni's death would be completed, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said in a statement.

In this photo released by the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, center, speaks to Italian Minister for Economic Development Luigi Di Maio, left, at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. (Egyptian Presidency via AP)

Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi came to Egypt earlier this month, the first visit by a senior Italian official since Regeni's death. He said Italy was "confident that justice will be brought in this really tragic and painful case."

Regeni went missing on Jan. 25, the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 uprising, when police were out in force throughout the city to prevent protests. Egypt has waged a heavy crackdown on dissent in recent years, jailing thousands of dissidents. Rights groups have documented a number of disappearances and say torture is widespread in Egyptian detention facilities.

Regeni's family has accused Egyptian security forces of being behind the killing. Egyptian officials have denied any involvement by security services in Regeni's abduction or death.

Italy withdrew its ambassador in 2016, saying Egypt was not cooperating with the investigation. An ambassador returned last September.

Egyptian and Italian investigators have been working together to retrieve surveillance footage from the Cairo subway system as part of a joint investigation. They said in June that footage from the system on the day of Regeni's disappearance does not include images of him. However, there are gaps in the footage which need "further sophisticated examination," they said.PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on the first of two days of services in Arizona to honor Sen. John McCain (all times local):

7:45 p.m.

Authorities say more than 7,500 people have paid their respects to U.S. Sen. John McCain at a public viewing at the Arizona Capitol.

U.S. Naval sea cadets walk past the casket to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool)

Bart Graves of the Arizona Department of Public Safety gave the figure for the number of mourners who had been filing by the casket since the area opened to the public Wednesday afternoon.

People stood in line for hours in the Phoenix heat, carrying umbrellas and sipping cold water. The National Weather Service says the high in Phoenix was 104 degrees.

Authorities say several people waiting outside the Arizona Capitol were overcome by extreme heat. DPS officials say two people were transported Wednesday to a hospital, and several others were treated at the scene in the span of an hour.

__

5:50 p.m.

Authorities say several people waiting outside the Arizona Capitol to pay their respects to U.S. Sen. John McCain have been overcome by extreme heat.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety tweeted that two people were transported Wednesday to a hospital. Several others were treated at the scene in the span of an hour.

Authorities are advising people to make sure they are properly hydrated before going to the Capitol and to be prepared to wait for about an hour.

The temperature in Phoenix reached 104 degrees.

Public viewing is expected to last into the evening.

___

5:10 p.m.

Authorities say at least 1,500 people have paid their respects to U.S. Sen. John McCain at a public viewing at the Arizona Capitol.

Bart Graves of the Arizona Department of Public Safety gave the figure for the number of mourners who had been filing by the casket since the area opened to the public Wednesday afternoon.

People stood in line for hours in the Phoenix heat, carrying umbrellas and sipping cold water. The National Weather Service says the high in Phoenix was 104 degrees.

The viewing came after a private ceremony for McCain's family members and fellow politicians that marked the first of two days of official mourning in Arizona.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at a Phoenix church. McCain's body will be taken to Washington for a viewing and service Friday and then burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

___

4:45 p.m.

People are paying tribute to U.S. Sen. John McCain as they file past his closed casket hours after a public viewing began at the Arizona Capitol.

Vietnamese veterans in their uniforms saluted McCain's flag-draped casket Wednesday and a mariachi singer strummed his guitar and sang outside as a tribute.

Nancy Gottschalk is among the people who brought young children. She teared up as she said she and her 5-year-old son, Joseph, made the gesture for "thank you" in sign language as they stepped near his casket.

The resident of Cottonwood, Arizona, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) outside Phoenix, says she's a Democrat and isn't sure if she ever voted for the longtime Republican senator. But she says she respected him.

Officials have said people will be allowed to pay their respects as long as they're in line.

A memorial service will be held Thursday morning at a Phoenix church.

___

2:15 p.m.

A group of more than 80 Vietnamese residents came from Southern California on two buses to pay their respects to the late Sen. John McCain at a public viewing in Arizona.

The group wore specially made yellow T-shirts that said, "We salute our hero Senator John McCain."

Derrick Nguyen said a radio station in the Little Saigon community of Orange County announced it would provide bus transportation to the ceremony Wednesday. Nguyen, an attorney and a community organizer, said more than 100 people signed up but several stayed back because of the heat and timing.

McCain was beloved for his history of fighting alongside the South Vietnamese and for supporting the families of political detainees. Nguyen said in the 1990s, McCain pushed an amendment to a law that allowed for unmarried, adult children of detainees to come to the U.S.

He says many families that "wouldn't have made it to America made it here."

___

1:50 p.m.

Several hundred people are paying their respects to Sen. John McCain as they walk by his closed, flag-draped casket at the Arizona Capitol.

Well-wishers had been waiting in line, some for hours, to get in for the public viewing Wednesday. Families with kids stopped by, men stopped in front of the casket to salute and others bowed.

People came from California, some were Democrats and represented all ages.

The viewing came on what would have been the Republican senator's 82nd birthday and followed an emotional private ceremony with McCain's family and colleagues.

He died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

12:10 p.m.

Even Democrats are waiting outside in Phoenix's summer heat to honor the late Sen. John McCain at a public viewing.

Kassandra Morales stood in line Wednesday at the Arizona Capitol with her sons, ages 8 and 2. The Democrat brought a bouquet of flowers and said she has always looked up to the Republican senator.

The 44-year-old says she's been following the longtime senator since she was 18 and always voted for him despite her party affiliation.

Morales says she brought her children "to show them what a real hero was."

Volunteers are filling coolers with ice and water bottles for the crowds gathered under canopies to wait for the 2 p.m. viewing to begin on what would have been McCain's 82nd birthday.

He died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

11:45 a.m.

Two groups who traveled to Arizona from San Diego to pay their respects to John McCain had been waiting outside in the heat since early morning.

Mike Foley bought a plane ticket to Phoenix so he could honor McCain after hearing the public could view the senator's casket Wednesday at the state Capitol.

Barry and Linda Vittori separately made the roughly five-hour drive Tuesday night. Linda Vittori says McCain "epitomizes what I think our forefathers we're hoping our country would be."

Ahead of them was 17-year-old Regina Akerson, a Phoenix high school senior who wrote a report on McCain her freshman year and needs to attend a government ceremony for class.

She decided she could wait seven hours in the sun to pay her respects to McCain and fulfill that requirement, calling him "a legend."

___

11:15 a.m.

Electronic signs on freeways in the Phoenix area paid tribute to the late Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The signs said, "Country First Rest In Peace Senator McCain."

It comes as more than 100 people are waiting under canopies in 90-plus degree heat to pay their respects to McCain during a public viewing Wednesday afternoon at the Arizona Capitol.

Earlier, family and politicians attended an emotional private ceremony at the Capitol with the senator's flag-draped casket.

The 81-year-old Republican died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer. Wednesday would have been his 82nd birthday.

___

10:30 a.m.

The late Sen. John McCain's wife, Cindy, has walked up to the flag-draped casket holding her husband's body at the Arizona Capitol and patted it, then laid her cheek on it.

The rest of his children then filed past the casket and touched it Wednesday, including his sons in uniform and daughter Meghan McCain who was weeping.

Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife bowed and McCain's former colleagues, Sen. Jeff Flake and former Sen. Jon Kyl, both touched the casket.

Flake gave a prayer at the ceremony that preceded a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

This item has been clarified to show that Cindy McCain laid her cheek on the casket.

___

10:25 a.m.

Arizona's governor says Sen. John McCain was one of the only politicians who could get people to set aside politics.

Gov. Doug Ducey said at a private ceremony Wednesday at the state Capitol that imagining Arizona without McCain is like imagining the state without the Grand Canyon, two things it's known for.

The governor called McCain one of Arizona's favorite adopted sons.

Ducey said Arizona residents knew they could follow McCain, who served in Vietnam as a Navy pilot and was captured as a prisoner of war, because he was trusted and tested, qualities that are in short supply.

The ceremony with McCain's wife, Cindy, children and other politicians came ahead of a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

10:15 a.m.

John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, wept as her family stood in front of the Arizona senator's flag-draped casket at the Arizona Capitol.

His colleague, former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, opened comments at a ceremony Wednesday for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Kyl says he has been with McCain all around the world and that he had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.

He said he would miss McCain and that his greatest contribution was national security.

___

10 a.m.

A motorcade with Sen. John McCain's body has arrived at the Arizona State Capitol for a private ceremony and afternoon and evening public viewing on the day that would have been his 82nd birthday.

State troopers on motorcycles led the black hearse on the eight-mile (13-kilometer) route that took the procession on southbound lanes of a highway closed to other traffic. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey embraced McCain's wife, Cindy, when the motorcade arrived.

Flag-bearing military honor guards were lined up outside the State Capitol waiting to honor the 81-year-old Arizona Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain's body is flown to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony Friday at the U.S. Capitol and a memorial service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a private memorial service and burial Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

___

9:48 a.m.

A black hearse carrying Sen. John McCain's body has left a Phoenix mortuary and is traveling to the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix for a Wednesday morning private ceremony and public viewing in the afternoon and evening.

Flag-bearing military honor guards are lined up outside the State Capitol waiting to honor McCain. The Arizona Republican died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain's body is flown to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony Friday at the U.S. Capitol and a memorial service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a private memorial service and burial Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

___

9:25 a.m.

Black curtains dressed up the rotunda Arizona State Capitol Museum, which on a typical day hosts tourists and history buffs as well state capitol workers bustling from one office to another.

But on this day, Arizona and U.S. flags encircled the room.

A few dozen white folding chairs were reserved for family and dignitaries beside a wreath of white roses. Outside the building, where McCain will be retrieved by a team from the Arizona National Guard, military members in uniform began to congregate on the Capitol plaza to line the route where McCain's casket will be carried.

___

8:05 a.m.

Veterans and constituents are already lining up around the Arizona State Capitol to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain.

He will lie in state Wednesday for a private formal ceremony and a public viewing. McCain died of brain cancer last Saturday at age 81.

The sun was already beating down on a quiet Capitol as security officers began to patrol the grounds and prepare for the procession with the hearse bearing McCain's body from a funeral home to the Capitol.

By 8 a.m., several dozen veterans and active military members had taken spots on the sidewalk to watch it.

Judith Hatch, a veteran from Phoenix, started the day by handing out flags to those who were assembled. She says Arizona lost a champion for the military.

Hatch says: "We definitely have lost a strong advocate, so we'll need someone who is going to step up to the plate."

___

12 a.m.

Family, friends and constituents will gather Wednesday at Arizona's Capitol to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain, the first of two days of services here before he departs the state he has represented since the 1980s.

A private ceremony will be held Wednesday morning at the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where McCain will lie in state.

That ceremony will include remarks from Gov. Doug Ducey and former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, plus a benediction from Sen. Jeff Flake. It will also mark the first appearance of McCain's family members since the longtime Arizona senator died of brain cancer on Saturday at age 81.

Later that afternoon, the Capitol will be open to members of the public who want to pay their respects.

McCain's former presidential campaign manager Rick Davis says the viewing will go on as long as people are waiting in line.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture in the state for their entire lives. He took office in Arizona in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Members of the public line up to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain during a viewing at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Members of the public line up to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain during a viewing at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A volunteer stocks water in ice for people waiting in line to play their respects to Sen. John McCain during a viewing at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Phoenix.(AP Photo/Matt York)

Cindy McCain, wife of, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. lays her head on casket during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked Wednesday to move his upcoming trial out of the nation's capital and to Roanoke, Virginia, with his lawyers citing "intensely negative news coverage" and potential juror bias against him.

"While federal courts often address issues of pretrial publicity in high-profile cases, it is difficult to conceive of a matter that has received media attention of the same magnitude as the prosecution of Mr. Manafort," the lawyers wrote.

The request is similar to the one his team made last month before Manafort was tried on a different set of charges in Alexandria, Virginia. The trial judge refused to send that case to Roanoke, and jurors found Manafort found guilty of eight counts while deadlocking on 10 others.

Richard Westling, left, and Thomas Zehnle, center, with the defense team for Paul Manafort, leave federal court in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, after previewing of cases as they argue over how much jurors will be allowed to hear of the former Trump campaign chairman's lengthy foreign lobbying career. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Jury selection in the District of Columbia is to start Sept. 17 in a trial related to Manafort's Ukrainian lobbying and political consulting work.

In a new court filing, Manafort's lawyers argued that media coverage had been "sensationalized" and overwhelmingly negative, and that would make it hard for Manafort to get a fair trial.

Although Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election isn't the focus of either case, Manafort's defense team say news coverage of Manafort has frequently mentioned his relationship with Konstantin Kilimnik, who U.S. authorities say has ties to Russian intelligence.

They suggested President Donald Trump himself had exemplified the problem with an inaccurate tweet - when Manafort was taken into custody before trial for violating the terms of his home confinement - that may have contributed to the misperception that he had been sentenced for committing a crime.

The lawyers also argued that potential jurors in Washington are far more likely to be familiar with the allegations in the case than would jurors in Roanoke, and they said the D.C. region ranks first in the country in households with internet access and computers. Roanoke, by contrast, is the 70th largest media market in the U.S., they said.

"Nowhere in the country is the bias against Mr. Manafort more apparent than here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area," they wrote. "The phrase 'inside-the-beltway' was coined to capture the area's preoccupation with all things political."

Also Wednesday, prosecutors asked for more time to decide whether to seek a retrial against Manafort on the 10 deadlocked counts from the Alexandria case. In a court motion, they sought permission to defer that decision until U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III rules on anticipated requests from Manafort's lawyers that the judge set aside the guilty verdicts.

On the 10 deadlocked counts, jurors indicated on a form that 11 of the 12 voted for guilty verdicts.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Barakat contributed to this report.

___

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAPRIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The man easily favored to win Brazil's presidential election in October probably won't be on the ballot - blocked because of a conviction corruption that stems from a nationwide investigation that has ensnared many of the country's top businessmen and politicians. Here's a look at details of the case:

THE CONTROVERSY

Brazil's top electoral court is expected to soon rule on whether leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can run for president despite a corruption conviction. Nearly all experts expect the court to rule against him, throwing the presidential race in the Latin America's largest nation into uncertainty.

FILE - In this April 7, 2018 file photo, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva looks on before speaking to supporters outside the Metal Workers Union headquarters in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. With the electoral court expected to soon rule on whether da Silva can run for office in October's election, the 238-page conviction, leveled in July 2017 by Brazil's most famous judge, is getting renewed scrutiny, both in Brazil and abroad. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

That's causing renewed scrutiny at home and abroad of the 238-page conviction for corruption and money laundering imposed in July 2017 by Brazil's most famous judge.

Da Silva says the conviction and 12-year sentence amount to a "coup" by right-wing forces trying to prevent his return to office. Detractors say he's guilty and the nation can only move beyond a culture of endemic graft if the law applies to all.

Da Silva has won support abroad from figures including former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and U.N.-appointed human rights experts. Writing an op-ed in the New York Times this month, Jorge Castaneda, a former Mexican foreign minister, also argued that da Silva should be allowed to run despite the conviction.

"The charges brought against him are too flimsy, the purported crime so petty (until now), the sentence so brazenly disproportionate and the stakes so high that in Latin America today, democracy should trump - so to speak - the rule of law," he wrote.

THE CASE

Judge Sergio Moro ruled that the former president helped steer contracts to construction company Grupo OAS before leaving office on Jan. 1, 2011.

In exchange, the judge said, da Silva was promised a renovated beachfront apartment and associated perks totaling about $1.1 million in Guaruja, a city outside of Sao Paulo.

Da Silva backers argue there was no crime because neither he nor his late wife ever legally owned the apartment. Moro said the intent to give it to him made it a crime.

Writing an op-ed in the New York Times this month, da Silva said the "linchpin" in the case against him was testimony from a man with a "personal interest to tell authorities what they wanted to hear." Da Silva was referring to former OAS president Leo Pinheiro, who got a reduced sentence after testifying that he met with da Silva in 2014 to discuss giving him the apartment as a gift.

Law professor Maristela Basso of the University of Sao Paulo said any testimony "has to be combined with other evidence" to win conviction. "So to say it was all based on Pinheiro is not true."

THE EVIDENCE

Witnesses testifying against da Silva included other top officials from OAS and another construction company, a former senator from da Silva's Workers' Party and a black-market money dealer at the center of the sprawling Carwash corruption investigation.

Prosecutors also presented text messages in which OAS executives discussed renovations on the apartment using code names "boss" and "madam," allegedly referring to da Silva and his wife.

"The boss's kitchen project is ready, so we can set up an appointment with madam whenever you want," Paulo Gordilho, then OAS director, told Pinheiro, according to the sentencing document.

Moro noted that while OAS bought the building in 2009, it never put the unit in question up for sale or showed it to other potential buyers. Renovations to the apartment were begun in 2014 after da Silva and his wife came to view it and before da Silva's wife made a second visit herself. Moro's decision says the work - which included installation of a sauna and increasing the size of a pool deck - is not the sort of renovation OAS typically does.

The deal apparently fell apart at some point in 2014, a time when Judge Moro and prosecutors were ramping up investigations into corruption in government contracts. Hundreds of businessmen and politicians, including many officials in da Silva's 2003-2010 administrations, were implicated.

DA SILVA'S VERSION

The former president acknowledged interest in buying the apartment as an investment, not receiving it as a gift. In his initial statements to investigators, da Silva said he decided against buying the apartment after his wife visited a second time in August 2014. He later changed that when testifying before Moro in 2017, saying he backed out after the couple's initial visit - before the renovations began that the judge says were made for them.

Cristiano Zanin, one of da Silva's attorneys, said the initial statements shouldn't have been part of the evidence because they were made when the former president was "illegally detained" for six hours in early 2016.

CONFIRMATION OR COINCIDENCE?

"The sentence is a jigsaw puzzle," said Rodrigo Falk Fragoso, a professor of criminal law at the Catholic Pontificate University in Rio de Janeiro. "There isn't one direct piece of evidence of the property being transferred, but rather a combination of indications that the judge considered enough to determine a crime had been committed."

DID THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME?

Even some who believe a conviction was warranted say the sentence is too long, largely because of the serious charge of money laundering.

Francisco Monteiro Rocha Junior, a law professor at the Federal University of Parana, argued that da Silva's actions didn't fit the legal definition of money laundering, which is hiding the origin of payments and using the money for lawful transactions in the future.

Still, the sentence length is in line with others leveled by Moro against politicians from opposition parties, such as former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, sentenced to 15 years for corruption.

The length of the sentence reduces the chances that da Silva could get out of prison in time to run for office. Da Silva and supporters argue that ensuring he can't run has always been part of the plan by opponents.

THE APPEALS

The country's top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, which includes justices appointed by da Silva, earlier this year narrowly rejected his petition to be released from prison while he appeals. And in January, an appeals court with three magistrates unanimously upheld the conviction, of 9  years, and extended it to 12 years and 1 month.

"Lula says there is a judicial conspiracy," said Jovacy Peter Filho, a criminal lawyer in Espirito Santo who thinks overall the evidence was weak. "But it's harder to keep saying that after the appeals court upheld the conviction."

___

Follow Peter Prengaman: twitter.com/peterprengaman

Follow Marcelo Silva de Sousa: twitter.com/sdsmarch

FILE - In this April 7, 2018 file photo, Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrives at the Federal Police Department in Curitiba, Brazil. With the electoral court expected to soon rule on whether da Silva can run for office in October's election, the 238-page conviction, leveled in July 2017 by Brazil's most famous judge, is getting renewed scrutiny, both in Brazil and abroad. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2017 file photo, Sergio Moro, the Brazilian federal judge responsible for the "Operation Car Wash" corruption investigation, smiles during an event where he was awarded the Notre Dame Award, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With the electoral court expected to soon rule on whether da Silva can run for office in October's election, the 238-page conviction, leveled in July 2017 by Moro, Brazil's most famous judge, is getting renewed scrutiny, both in Brazil and abroad. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)The joint statement said President Quang held talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdel Aal and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

During the talks, the two State leaders discussed in depth bilateral, regional and international issues of common concern.

The two leaders affirmed that President Tran Dai Quangs visit is an important landmark in bilateral ties on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relationship. They expressed the belief that the outcomes of the first visit by a Vietnamese President will help consolidate political trust, expand cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture, education and training, and promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The leaders agreed to increase the exchange of all-level delegations through the channels of their governments, parliaments, localities, people and businesses, while optimising existing cooperative mechanisms such as the inter-governmental committee and political consultation, thus strengthening their strategic trust.

They expressed satisfaction at the two countries sound cooperation at regional and international forums such as the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), particularly their support of each other in running for seats in UN agencies. Egypt valued Vietnams candidacy to be a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2020-2021 term. The two sides called on the international community to join hands to prevent and settle armed conflicts by peaceful measures in line with the UN Charters and international law.

The Egyptian side appreciated Vietnams backing of Egypts joining the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. The country pledged to support Vietnam in increasing cooperation with Africa and to work as a bridge between Vietnam and the African Union.

The two leaders agreed to continue promote bilateral ties in the fields of trade and investment, and committed to creating all possible favourable conditions to their businesses to access each others markets.

To soon achieve the goal of 1 billion USD in bilateral trade, the two leaders held that the two countries should take synchronous measures, including advocating liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, supporting a rule-based, fair and inclusive multilateral trade system in which the World Trade Organisation plays the central role. They agreed to increase the exchange of business delegations and the sharing of information, and to hold regular trade fairs and exhibitions, while seeking business and investment opportunities in new fields such as garment-textiles, leather shoes, manufacturing mechanics, consumer goods, food processing, among others.

The two sides highly valued bilateral cultural cooperation and agreed to early organize cultural days/week and exchange in their respective countries.

The two leaders witnessed the signing of several cooperative deals between their ministries, agencies and localities.

Discussing in depth regional and international issues, the two sides held that peace and stability in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa or any other regions in the world is essential for human kinds development and prosperity. They vowed readiness to work together for progress and prosperity of their respective regions.

The two sides affirmed the importance of international cooperation in fighting terrorism, which is a common threat of peace-loving nations. They supported seeking peaceful solutions to the crises in several Middle East countries to ensure those countries unification.

The two leaders reiterated support of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the need for peaceful negotiation in order to reach a fair, comprehensive and final agreement for the Palestine issue on the basis of the two-State solution and the borderline before 1967 with East Jerusalem being the capital of the State of Palestine.

The two sides reiterated the wish and resolve to maintain a sea order in accordance with principles of international law as expressed in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Doctors in Illinois can now prescribe marijuana as a painkiller thanks to a new law intended to counter a growing opioid abuse epidemic.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the bill into law Tuesday allowing physicians to temporarily prescribe cannabis for pain relief, effective immediately.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reports that 11,000 people have died from opioid overdoses since 2008. In 2016, opioid abuse killed nearly twice as many people as traffic accidents.

Rep. Kelly Cassidy was the House sponsor. The Chicago Democrat says the plan reforms pain treatment and provides more options to patients.

The law creates a pilot program which includes safeguards against the abuse of medical marijuana.

___

The bill was SB336 .TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A white Oklahoma law officer who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man says a "critical incident" class that she's been criticized for teaching isn't just about officer-involved shootings.

Betty Shelby, a Rogers County sheriff's deputy, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that the class touches on any critical incident an officer might face, including seeing a dead child.

Shelby resigned from the Tulsa Police Department after her acquittal last year on a manslaughter charge in the 2016 shooting of Terence Crutcher, who had his hands up when Shelby shot him. She argued that she thought Crutcher was reaching into his SUV.

Crutcher's sister, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, said it's insulting that the officer who killed her brother is teaching such a class.

The most recent class, titled "Surviving the Aftermath of a Critical Incident," was held Tuesday for Tulsa County deputies.BERLIN (AP) - German police say Spanish authorities have arrested a suspect in the stabbing death of a woman on a street in the western city of Duesseldorf.

German news agency dpa reported Wednesday the suspect, a 44-year-old Iranian man, was detained in the southern Spanish city of Seville. German newspaper Bild reported that Ali S., whose last name was withheld in line with German privacy laws, is suspected of having stalked and then attacked and killed the 36-year-old woman earlier this month.

The victim lived near a convenience store in the south of the city.

Witnesses reportedly heard screams and saw the suspect attacking the woman with a knife. She later died in the hospital.

Authorities said the two knew each other but the attack's motive was still unclear.LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - The International Canoe Federation has banned 2008 Olympic champion Inna Osypenko-Radomska for four years for refusing a doping test.

The canoe body says Osypenko-Radomska, who won medals at four straight Summer Games, refused to undergo an out-of-competition drug test.

The 35-year-old sprint kayaker won medals at each Olympics from 2004 to 2012 racing for Ukraine, including gold in K-1 500 meters in Beijing.

She then switched allegiance to Azerbaijan and won a K-1 200-meter bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The ICF's general secretary Simon Toulson says: "A four year ban sends a clear message to all our athletes that they are expected to play by the rules."

Osypenko-Radomska can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsLAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Britain and Nigeria signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization.

The British prime minister is on a three-country Africa visit with a large business delegation as Britain seeks to boost economic ties ahead of a bumpy exit from the European Union in March. This is the first visit by a British prime minister to Africa in five years. May also stopped in South Africa, another of the continent's top economies, and she goes next to Kenya.

After meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, May said the countries will work together on "shared security threats like Boko Haram and human trafficking."

British Prime Minister Theresa May, right, is welcomed by Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization.(AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)

The defense aid includes more training and equipment for Nigeria's military, which has been criticized by human rights groups over alleged abuses that it denies.

Last week, Buhari attracted headlines when he told troops in northwestern Zamfara state that "as your commander-in-chief, I want you to be as ruthless as humanly possible" against bandits in the region: "Nigerians deserve some peace."

As elections approach next year Buhari is under pressure to deliver on promises to improve the country's security, in particular to defeat Boko Haram's years-long insurgency in the northeast. The extremists, known both for mass abductions and for using young women as suicide bombers, continue to carry out attacks on military bases and in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the insurgency's birthplace.

Buhari and his government more than once have declared that Boko Haram had been crushed.

As Europe worries about migration and human trafficking from West Africa, May also announced a new project with France to help Nigeria, the region's powerhouse, and neighboring Niger improve border cooperation along one of the main migration routes north. Nigeria and other West African countries in recent months have brought hundreds of migrants stranded in Libya home after reports of abuses, but the dream of employment remains a draw for some in the region where poverty and climate change can bite hard.

As it tries to assert itself more across Africa, Britain also is opening new embassies in Niger and Chad and expanding its embassy in Mali, calling it support to countries "on the front line of instability" as West Africa's vast, arid Sahel is threatened by a number of extremist groups with shifting allegiances.

Britain and Nigeria, Britain's second-largest trading partner on the continent, also signed an agreement on economic cooperation. May welcomed the commitment from two major Nigeria companies, Dangote Cement and Seplat Petroleum to make listings on the London Stock Exchange.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, and Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, right, walk on the red carpet after a meeting at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization.(AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, is welcomed by Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization. (AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, center, is welcomed by Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, right, and cabinet ministers, left, at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization. (AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, is welcomed by Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, center, is welcomed by Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, right, and cabinet ministers, left, at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018.Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization. (AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)

In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, British Prime Minister Theresa May, center, and her delegation attend a meeting with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization. (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, and Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, right, walk on the red carpet after a meeting at the Presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. Britain and Nigeria have signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization.(AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is returning to South Carolina next month as he continues to mull a 2020 presidential bid.

The Charleston County Democratic Party said Wednesday that Garcetti will give the keynote address at next month's Blue Jam . The event has become a showcase for national-level Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm spoke at the event in 2014.

This is Garcetti's second trip in a year to South Carolina, home to the first-in-the-South presidential primary, where in February he hosted a fundraiser that brought in $100,000 for the state's Democrats.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Los Angeles on Thursday Aug. 16, 2018. Garcetti, who already has visited the important presidential states of Iowa and New Hampshire, told The Associated Press he'll likely make a decision on his candidacy by March 2019. In a wide-ranging interview, the mayor touched on issues from the city's homelessness crisis to immigration. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

In a wide-ranging interview earlier this month, the two-term Democratic mayor - who already has also visited the important presidential election states of Iowa and New Hampshire - said he intends to make a decision on his candidacy by March. No candidate has ever ascended directly from a mayor's office to the presidency, but Garcetti has argued that the work of mayors is essentially the type of chief executive work a president does.

Other possible 2020 Democrats have begun making the rounds in South Carolina. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff and Rep. John Delaney have made trips to the state, as has U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, whose history making trips to South Carolina dates back decades, has endorsed Democratic state Rep. James Smith for governor and could be planning a trip to the state to stump with him before this November's election.

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Reach Kinnard at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard.ATLANTA (AP) - Frustrated by a state lawmaker's refusal to consider an assault weapons ban, a Georgia woman began looking for ways to unseat him. But she soon learned it would be nearly impossible: he was running unopposed.

Clare Schexnyder's frustration with Republican state Rep. Alan Powell of Hartwell turned into a project recruiting write-in candidates to challenge unopposed Republican lawmakers across the country.

Her newly-formed political advocacy group, Public Service Party, announced Wednesday it has six candidates filing to run as write-in candidates in Georgia and one in Florida.

Schexnyder admits that getting write-in candidates elected is a long shot, but the group wants to give people that rarely see Democrats on their ballot another option.

They don't yet have a candidate to challenge Powell.NEW YORK (AP) - Despite a key source backing off his assertion, CNN is sticking by a story casting doubt on President Donald Trump's claim that he did not have prior knowledge of a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

CNN said it had more than one source for its story, co-authored by Jim Sciutto and Watergate legend Carl Bernstein.

CNN's story, written on July 27, said that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was willing to say that he heard Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., tell his father about the Russians' offer to share material about Clinton, his Democratic rival for the presidency. It also said that Trump gave the go-ahead to take the meeting at Trump Tower. If true, that would contradict what Trump and representatives have long said, that he didn't know about the meeting until long after it happened.

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Ohio Republican Party State Dinner in Columbus, Ohio. CNN is sticking by a story casting doubt on President Donald Trump's claim that he did not have prior knowledge of a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival at the time. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Such information would be of great interest to special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 American presidential campaign.

WHY WAS THE STORY CALLED INTO QUESTION?

Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, has recently taken back earlier remarks, and now says that he is no longer certain that Cohen could legitimately claim Trump knew about the meeting, and that he didn't have information to prove it. He said he was a source for other news organizations that tried to match CNN's original story and, indeed, that he was a source for CNN.

CNN, in its story on Tuesday, quoted Davis as saying, "I should have done a much better job of speaking with more suspicion than certainty, and I regret my mistake."

Some CNN critics wondered if Davis' subsequent statement meant that CNN should retract its entire story. But CNN made a distinction: its original story did not assert that Trump definitely knew about the meeting ahead of time - only that Cohen had been making the claim while talking with prosecutors.

CNN said on Tuesday that it "we stand by our story, which had more than one source, and are confident in our reporting of it."

WHERE IS CNN VULNERABLE?

The network walked a delicate line in its discussion. Its original story cited "sources with knowledge" telling the network about Cohen's claim. The network noted in Tuesday's story that Davis had admitted to being one of the sources for its original report. CNN technically didn't confirm that in that Tuesday story - networks hate to be in a position of revealing confidential sources - but a spokeswoman confirmed to The Associated Press that Davis was one of the confidential sources.

The problem for CNN is that the July 27 story said "contacted by CNN, one of Cohen's attorneys, Lanny Davis, declined to comment."

Yet, if Davis was actually an anonymous source for CNN, the story should not also say that Cohen's lawyer declined to comment. You can't have it both ways. That's a big no-no in journalism.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The president loves to rail about "fake news" telling untrue stories, and CNN arguably is his most frequent target.

Early Wednesday, the president tweeted more criticism. "'Anonymous Sources are really starting to BURN the media.' @FoxNews The fact is that many anonymous sources don't even exist. They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters. Look at the lie that Fake CNN is now in. They got caught red handed! Enemy of the People!"

He continued the attack on the network later in the day in another tweet: "CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake." He also launched a personal attack against Bernstein, accusing him of "making up story after story."

CNN responded with a tweet saying it "stands by our reporting and our reporters."

Bernstein also tweeted, saying: "I have spent my life as a journalist bringing the truth to light, through administrations of both parties. No taunt will diminish my commitment to that mission."

If real doubt can be raised about CNN's reporting on an important, damaging story regarding Trump and the Russia investigation, it gives Trump and his supporters major ammunition in its ongoing effort to make CNN seem like an unreliable news source.PHOENIX (AP) - For all the worries about Russian hackers and other cyber-vandals, voting problems this week in Arizona served as a reminder that one of the biggest threats to fair elections is plain old human error.

That appeared to be the case during Tuesday's primary, when dozens of polling places in the state's most populous county opened late because the voter verification machinery had not been set up.

The Maricopa County recorder, the official in charge of running elections in and around Phoenix, said the contractor hired to connect the tablet-like devices didn't send enough workers to complete the job on time. The contractor insisted it dispatched more people than the county requested.

Voters exit a polling station on primary election day Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Either way, 62 of the county's 750 or so polling locations did not open first thing in the morning, though all were up and running before noon. Election officials gave no estimate of how many people were unable to cast ballots because of the foul-up.

The confusion in the state where over a million voters cast ballots came two years after Phoenix-area residents ended up waiting for hours in the heat to vote because a previous election chief drastically reduced the number of polling places.

"Obviously anytime any voter is unable to vote or leaves the polls because of a long line or a problem, that's a concern. But equipment failures and malfunctions happen," said Liz Howard, a cybersecurity and elections expert at NYU's Brennan Center for Justice.

Howard said issues like the ones in Maricopa County could have been remedied if officials had a backup plan such as a pre-printed voter list.

Over the past two years, much of the national conversation about elections has been focused on cybersecurity and the threat of meddling by Russian hackers.

Since the 2016 presidential election, state and local election authorities have been scrambling to improve their cyber-defenses, upgrade voting systems and train election officials.

Officials say Russian hackers targeted election systems in at least 21 states in the months leading up to the 2016 vote. There has been no indication any vote tallies were changed.

But security is not the only concern. Machine breakdowns, software glitches and other more ordinary problems have disrupted voting.

In California's June primary, nearly 120,000 voters in Los Angeles County were left off printed voter rolls because of a software error. About 12,000 of the affected voters cast provisional ballots and their votes were counted, but it's unknown how many might have walked away because of the hassle and delay.

In South Dakota in June, officials had to use provisional ballots when their equipment couldn't connect to the internet.

In Nevada this June, officials were less-than forthcoming when releasing information about voting machine glitches they said affected only a small number of voters. An investigation by the Reno Gazette Journal found there were over 300 reported machine malfunctions across the state, including software hiccups that led to double-voting and resulted in a special election in Clark County.

In Arizona, Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that he learned a day before the election that not all of the equipment had been hooked up yet, and he sent out staff members to try to fix the problem.

But he made no mention of the delayed openings during a Facebook Live event on Election Day. Nor did he alert the county Board of Supervisors until Tuesday afternoon, when he asked it to keep polls open past the 7 p.m. closing time.

The board turned down the request, saying Fontes had been given enough resources to run a successful election.

The contractor involved, Tempe-based Insight, said it provided more staff than it was required to and that only 43 of the locations that didn't open on time were late because the machinery hadn't been connected.

"Insight shares the frustration that voters felt Tuesday and has been working diligently to help the county resolve technical issues as they arise," spokesman Scott Walters said in a statement. "Insight is committed to working with the county to ensure that disruptions to the voting process do not continue in future elections."

Criticism came down hard on Fontes, a Democrat who unseated his predecessor, a Republican who had held office for nearly three decades before the long lines of the 2016 primary cost her her job.

By Wednesday, Republicans had released a video ad attacking Fontes, who isn't up for re-election until 2020.

"Adrian Fontes promised a lot in 2016. But today, he failed Arizona again," the ad said.

Fontes said in a statement Tuesday evening that he takes full responsibility and will not let such a mistake happen again. He said Wednesday that his most pressing concern is preparing for the November general election and that he remains committed to improving the process.

Phoenix voter Brent Kleinman said he went to his local polling place twice, at 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and was turned away both times. He ended up at a library, casting a provisional ballot, which is given out when a person's eligibility to vote is unknown.

Kleinman was one of hundreds of voters who waited in long lines two years ago. He said he voted for Fontes in 2016 with the hope a new leader would reform the election system.

"You would think after the bad things that happened in that 2016 that the county and state would create processes that would prevent things like this from happening," Kleinman said.

___

Christina Almeida Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

A man exits his polling station for voting in the Arizona primary, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A woman arrives to her polling station, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. Elections officials say 62 polling locations in the Phoenix area weren't operational when voting began in Arizona's primary. (AP Photo/Matt York)BERLIN (AP) - Far-right protesters in Chemnitz, one giving the stiff-armed Nazi salute, hoisted a large banner showing bloodied women's faces on Monday, above the words "we're colorful until the blood flows."

The message to the boisterous crowd was clear: this is what migrants will do to you wives, sisters and daughters.

But the women pictured were actually victims of unrelated violent crimes, in other countries.

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2018 file photo protesters gather for a far-right protest in front of a Karl Marx monument in Chemnitz, Germany. The large banner shows the bloodied faces of a dozen women above the words "we're colorful until the blood flows." The message to the boisterous crowd is clear: this is what migrants will do to you wives, sisters and daughters _ but the women pictured were actually victims of unrelated violent crimes in other countries. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, file)

Meanwhile, on Facebook and Twitter, posts praised the German victim of a fatal stabbing that had happened a day earlier in the same city, claiming he was protecting a woman from migrants who were harassing her.

But officials say the dispute stemmed from a verbal altercation between two groups, and harassment of a woman wasn't part of it.

Within hours of the Sunday killing, rumors were spreading on social media, sparking spontaneous protests in the city and drawing thousands more to the streets the following night, when the banner was held aloft.

While suspected crimes by migrants regularly draw attention in Germany, a country still grappling with an influx of refugees three years ago, the speed with which far-right extremists flocked to Chemnitz caught authorities by surprise.

Anti-migrant sentiment in Saxony, the eastern state where Chemnitz is located, is high, with about a quarter of voters backing the far-right Alternative for Germany party in last year's election.

Evidence suggests many of those who came were inspired by false information and the deliberate misrepresentation of facts.

"There is absolutely no evidence that harassment was a reason for this dispute," a spokeswoman for Chemnitz prosecutors, Ingrid Burghart, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Claims that the victim was protecting a woman from harassment spread beyond social media, and were picked up outside Germany - including by Russian news channel NTV.

Two years ago, Russia's foreign minister and the country's state media claimed a 13-year-old girl of Russian origin known as "Lisa" had been abducted and raped in Germany, prompting street protests in Berlin.

German authorities later determined the girl made up the kidnapping story and had run away, and cited the false claims as an example of Russian propaganda aimed at destabilizing the German government.

During Monday's protest in Chemnitz, at least 18 people were injured when far-right extremists clashed with counter-demonstrators as police tried to keep the two sides apart.

The violence was widely condemned by German officials and friends of the 35-year-old victim.

Police admitted being unprepared for the size of the crowds, with neo-Nazi groups from outside Chemnitz swelling the number of far-right protesters to 6,000.

"The mobilization was based on anti-foreigner comment, false information and conspiracy theories," said Michael Kretschmer, the governor of Saxony.

He, too, told reporters that "there is no reason to believe there was a dispute involving the protection of a woman and that this is the reason for the crime."

A 22-year-old Syrian and a 21-year-old Iraqi were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the killing.

Far-right groups have called for further protests in the coming days.

People lay down flowers behind candles at the scene of an altercation in Chemnitz, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. Germany's top security official offered to send federal assistance to the eastern state of Saxony on Tuesday following violence during a far-right protest in the city of Chemnitz that left at least 18 people injured. The protest late Monday, sparked by the killing of a 35-year-old German man in an altercation with migrants over the weekend, erupted into clashes between neo-Nazis and left-wing counter-protesters. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

Protesters light fireworks during a far-right demonstration in Chemnitz, Germany, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018 after a man has died and two others were injured in an altercation between several people of "various nationalities" in the eastern German city of Chemnitz on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)Before leaving, the State leader met with a delegation from the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, including its Chairman Ahmed Al Wakil, Secretary General and CEO Alaa Ezz, and President of Elsewedy Electric, Ahmed El Sewedy.

President Tran Dai Quang affirmed that Vietnam always highly values its relationship of traditional cooperation and friendship with Egypt, expressing his hope that the visit will help lift bilateral ties to a new height.

He spoke highly of the all-round partnership between the two countries over the past year, but he held that economic and trade affiliation has yet to match the potential of both sides.

The two countries should work harder to raise two-way trade to US$1 billion by 2020, he said, stressing the role of businesses in enhancing economic-trade ties.

He affirmed that Vietnam is ready to create the optimal conditions for Egyptian firms to connect with their Vietnamese peers and conduct market surveys, trade, investment and tourism promotions in Vietnam, while encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to seek opportunities in Egypt.

FEDCOC Chairman Ahmed Al Wakil said that the business community is interested in the outcomes of President Tran Dai Quangs visit. He said that in order to reach the target of US$1 billion in two-way trade by 2020, it is necessary to enhance cooperation and the sharing of information and experience in agriculture, aquaculture, rice exports, and information technology.

Located in a geostrategic position connecting Asia, Europe and Africa, Egypt and the local business community are willing to act as a bridge for Vietnamese goods to access the markets of the three continents, he stated.

President Tran Dai Quang lauded the efforts of the FEDCOC leader in connecting the business communities of Egypt and Vietnam. He said he hopes the federation will soon implement the outcomes reached by leaders of the two countries during his visit, while promoting cooperation between FEDCOC and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as the localities and enterprises of both sides, contributing to developing economy, trade and tourism in both Vietnam and Egypt.Seeking confirmation to a federal judgeship after years of Democratic opposition, Brett Kavanaugh turned to one of his most powerful mentors for a boost.

Judge Alex Kozinski, of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California, traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2006 to speak on behalf of Kavanaugh - "my good friend and former law clerk." He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh had the legal skills, demeanor and "sense of humanity" to be a brilliant federal judge.

Kavanaugh thanked Kozinski for advancing his career and promised to bring the same "thoughtfulness and dedication to the rule of law that Judge Kozinski has demonstrated on the bench for more than two decades."

FILE - In this July 24, 2014, file photo, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Alex Kozinski poses for a portrait in the lobby of a Washington office building. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will likely face questions during his confirmation hearing about his relationship with Kozinski, a mentor now accused of sexual harassment. Kavanaugh worked as a law clerk in 1991 for Kozinski, a job that proved to be a key stepping stone for Kavanaugh's career. Their past has led to questions about whether Kavanaugh was ever aware of any inappropriate workplace conduct by the judge and, if so, how he responded.(AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

Twelve years later, Kavanaugh will face senators on the same committee beginning Tuesday for confirmation hearings on his nomination by President Donald Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court. This time, he is certain to face questions about his links to Kozinski, who has since become the poster child for sexual harassment in the federal judiciary.

Kozinski abruptly retired from the appeals court last December after several female former law clerks and colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct that included touching, inappropriate sexual comments and forced viewings of pornography in his chambers. The case has prompted the federal courts to examine how to better protect law clerks from harassment by powerful judges who can make or break their careers.

Kavanaugh is expected to be asked whether he was ever aware of any inappropriate behavior by Kozinski throughout their long association, and, if so, how he responded.

"Alex Kozinski's relationship with Judge Kavanaugh is a legitimate area of inquiry and I plan to question Judge Kavanaugh on this topic," Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, said in an email sent by her office.

So far, no evidence has surfaced to suggest that Kavanaugh had any knowledge of Kozinski's alleged misconduct, which included one groping accusation from 1986 and many more claims of inappropriate behavior in recent years.

White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said that prior to reports in The Washington Post and other media outlets last year, Kavanaugh "had never heard any allegations of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment by Judge Kozinski." The White House released statements from two male law clerks and one female extern who worked for Kozinski at the same time as Kavanaugh, each saying they hadn't seen or heard of any misconduct either.

They included Washington, D.C., lawyer Mark Perry, who said in an earlier Associated Press interview he was surprised by the allegations that led to Kozinski's abrupt downfall.

"I was aware of none of that and none of that happened to my knowledge during our year," Perry said.

Kavanaugh's supporters have sought to paint him as a champion of women in the judiciary, noting that he has hired more female than male clerks over the last 12 years and is widely described as treating them professionally.

But some observers say Kavanaugh must have at least heard about Kozinski's inappropriate workplace behavior, which included sending some sexually graphic and racially offensive jokes to colleagues on an email "gag list." It's unclear whether Kavanaugh ever was aware of the judge sharing such material.

"If Judge Kavanaugh states that he never heard or observed anything that would suggest that Judge Kozinski behaved inappropriately, he is either lying or so willfully blind to judicial misconduct that he should not be appointed," California lawyer Cyrus Sanai wrote in a recent letter to senators considering his nomination.

Sanai in 2007 discovered a personal Kozinski website that was available to the public, where the judge stored some sexually explicit photos and videos, inappropriate jokes and illegally downloaded music. A judicial misconduct panel investigated and publicly admonished Kozinski - who characterized some of the material himself as "highly offensive," ''gross" and "demeaning" - after the site's existence was reported by the Los Angeles Times in 2008.

Kozinski declined an AP interview request.

Kavanaugh has recalled receiving a "life-changing phone call" from Yale law school professor George Priest asking whether he was interested in an open clerkship for Kozinski at the Pasadena-based federal courthouse in 1991. At the time, Kozinski was considered a relatively young and brilliant conservative judge on the famously liberal appeals court.

In an interview, Priest said that he had placed another former student with Kozinski but "there were problems in the chambers" and that clerk was abruptly fired after a short time on the job. He said Kozinski blamed him for the situation and put the burden on Priest for finding a replacement quickly.

"Part of the reason I thought of Kavanaugh is it was a tough situation and you needed someone who was calm and cool and a peacemaker," Priest recalled.

Kavanaugh, who had graduated from Yale and completed a clerkship for another federal judge, readily agreed. He has described clerking for Kozinski as a formative and intense experience in which he and other aides worked long hours for a demanding judge who had a passion for law. But his ties lasted far beyond that job.

With backing from Kozinski, Kavanaugh landed a coveted clerkship for Kozinski's mentor Justice Anthony Kennedy at the Supreme Court - whom he's now seeking to replace. The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shortly after Kozinski gave him his "highest recommendation" in 2006, three years after George W. Bush first had nominated him to a judgeship.

There are other links between the two men. Kavanaugh and Kozinski have together in recent years screened applicants for Kennedy clerkships. Kavanaugh hired Kozinski's youngest son, Yale law graduate Clayton Kozinski, last year as one of his clerks. The younger Kozinski had been in line to be a Kennedy clerk this year before the justice's announced retirement.

___

Find AP's reporting on the Kavanaugh nomination at https://apnews.com/tag/KavanaughnominationIn Northern Virginia, violent crimes attributed to MS-13 have made the gang a focal point in the hotly contested race in the state's 10th Congressional District.

But an ad by incumbent Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock criticizing her opponent Democratic state Senator Jennifer Wexton for failing to support anti-gang legislation falls short.

The current ad for Comstock shows a series of news clips highlighting recent killings by MS-13 and features a former gang member describing how MS-13 recruits children. It then describes two bills Comstock proposed in Congress to combat the gang. Images of Wexton are overlaid with text saying Wexton opposes the bills. The ad goes on to state that the bills garnered bipartisan support.

FILE - In this June 26, 2018, file photo, Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., walks to a closed-door GOP strategy session at the Capitol in Washington. In Northern Virginia, violent crimes attributed to MS-13 have made the gang a focal point in the hotly contested race in the state's 10th Congressional District. But an ad by incumbent Republican Rep. Comstock criticizing her opponent Democratic state Senator Jennifer Wexton for failing to support anti-gang legislation falls short, according to The Associated Press. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Wexton's campaign objects to the ad portraying her as an opponent of anti-gang legislation even though she has disparaged the legislation as racist. For her part, Comstock exaggerates bipartisan support for one of the bills, the Criminal Alien Gang Removal Act. In addition, it should be noted that a Washington Post headline used in the ad -"MS-13 is 'taking over the school', one teen warned before she was killed."- refers to a school in New York, not Virginia.

A look at Comstock's claims:

COMSTOCK: "Jennifer Wexton opposes 2 bipartisan bills Barbara Comstock wrote to battle the MS-13 gang" - campaign ad on Twitter Aug. 9

THE FACTS: Wexton has not directly addressed Comstock's two bills. Comstock's campaign said the ad was referring to this quote from Wexton: "For Barbara Comstock, the Latino community is nothing more than MS-13. That's the legislation she's patroned, that's the Republican playbook, that's what we saw in 2017 races, that's what we've seen with their pandering and fear-mongering and race-baiting."

Since Wexton cites the legislation in the context of "fear-mongering and race-baiting" it's arguable to characterize that as an opposition, though she couldn't vote against it as a Virginia state senator. Wexton's campaign told The Associated Press she does not oppose these bills.

The Project Safe Neighborhood bill that was enacted into law provides $50 million in funding to local gang task forces. Wexton's campaign said she is firmly in support of funding local gang task forces. Neither candidate has been officially backed by the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force.

The Criminal Alien Gang Removal Act allows for those suspected of gang violence, living in the U.S. illegally, to be deported and prevents people suspected of gang involvement from coming to the U.S.

Ray Rieling, Wexton's campaign manager, said, "MS-13 is a serious issue and one that both candidates have worked to fight. But it isn't the only issue."

COMSTOCK: "Barbara's Criminal Alien Gang Removal Act gained bipartisan support from Democratic female members and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus" - campaign ad on Twitter Aug. 9

THE FACTS: The Criminal Alien Gang Removal Act did not garner as much bipartisan support as suggested. Only 11 out of 193 Democrats in the House voted yes on the bill, three of those votes coming from female Democrats including Kyrtsen Sinema, Stephanie Murphy and Jacky Rosen. There are 84 women in the House. As for Congressional Hispanic Caucus member support, four members out of 31 gave their support to the Criminal Alien Gang Removal Act. Those members were Ruben Kihuen, Henry Cuellar, Raul Ruiz and Salud Carbajal.

The other bill Comstock sponsored, Project Safe Neighborhood, became a law in June 2018 with 178 Democrats and 216 Republicans voting yes in the House. Thirteen Republicans had voted no to the bill.

___

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheckTERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - A western Indiana woman has pleaded guilty to neglect and other charges in the 2016 death of her disabled 5-year-old daughter.

Twenty-nine-year-old Tiffany Daugherty faces up to 21 years in prison when she's sentenced Sept. 21. She pleaded guilty Tuesday to neglect, theft and reckless homicide in Adilynn Moseman's death.

The Tribune-Star reports that Daugherty and Adilynn's father, Brian Moseman, were arrested last year in her death. Brian Moseman's trial is set for Sept. 10.

Authorities say the couple failed to provide adequate nutrition and follow-up medical care for their daughter, who had microcephaly. Adilynn died in January 2016. An autopsy found she died from malnutrition and bronchopneumonia.

An Indiana child-welfare services manager testified Tuesday that Daugherty didn't adequately feed her daughter and stopped taking her to medical appointments.

___

Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.comWASHINGTON (AP) - Google Maps wasn't waiting for the Senate.

While lawmakers debated a proposal to rename a building after the late Sen. John McCain, Google Maps displayed "McCain Senate Office Building" on its website for several hours Wednesday.

A search for "Russell Senate Office Building" directed users to the same building. The error was fixed later Wednesday.

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2014 file photo, the Capitol is seen from the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. A proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office building after Arizona Sen. John McCain appears to be gaining bipartisan support, but success is far from assured. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer proposed renaming the Senate's oldest office building in McCain's honor after the veteran Republican senator died Aug. 25, 2018, from brain cancer. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed renaming the Russell building in McCain's honor after the Arizona Republican died Saturday from brain cancer. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he'll form a bipartisan panel to solicit ideas on ways to honor McCain.

Google said in a statement Wednesday that it empowers people to contribute local knowledge to its maps, "but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies or premature changes suggested by users."

It was not clear how the error occurred.

The mix-up comes as President Donald Trump has charged Google and other U.S. tech companies of bias and unequal treatment, including rigging search results "so that almost all stories & news is BAD." On Wednesday, Trump tweeted a video that accused Google of promoting former President Barack Obama's State of the Union addresses on its home page, but not his.

"#StopTheBias," Trump tweeted.

A Google spokesperson disputed the allegation, saying Google's homepage did highlight the livestream of Trump's State of the Union on Jan. 30, 2018. They added that the company has "historically not promoted the first address to Congress by a new President, which is technically not a State of the Union address" and didn't do so in either 2009 or 2017.

The promotion does not appear in screenshots captured by Wayback Machine, an Internet archive site, throughout the day on Jan. 30. But Google provided a link to a Trump-focused Reddit page that features an image of the Google homepage advertising the speech with the words: "Live! Watch President Trump's State of the Union Address on YouTube."

Trump earlier told reporters that Google, Facebook and Twitter "treat conservatives and Republicans very unfairly."

"I think it's a very serious problem because they're really trying to silence a very large part of this country and those people don't want to be silenced," Trump said.

Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic adviser, had told reporters Tuesday that the White House was "taking a look" at whether Google searches should face new government regulation.

But Trump, who often brags of slashing federal regulations, said that wasn't what he's after.

"You know what we want? Not regulation. We want fairness. When we have fairness we're all very happy," he said.

Google has said they "never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

__

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.NEW YORK (AP) - Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed the state attorney general's office to suspend its investigation into whether the Manhattan district attorney mishandled 2015 allegations of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Barbara Underwood confirmed Wednesday that the investigation was put on temporary hold this summer on the orders of the Democratic governor.

The spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, said the investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s handling of the Weinstein case was suspended to avoid interfering with Vance's ongoing prosecution of Weinstein. "We remain committed to conducting a comprehensive, fair, and independent review," Spitalnick added.

FILE - In this July 9, 2018, file photo, Harvey Weinstein arrives to court in New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed the state attorney general's office to suspend its probe into whether the Manhattan district attorney mishandled 2015 allegations of sexual misconduct by movie producer Weinstein. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The attorney general's office said the suspension of the investigation into Vance's office would have no effect on the attorney general's civil rights lawsuit against Weinstein stemming from sexual misconduct allegations by employees of the movie producer's company.

Cuomo directed then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in March to investigate Vance's decision not to prosecute Weinstein on charges that he groped an Italian model in 2015.

Schneiderman resigned in May following reports that four women had accused him of sexual and physical abuse. He was replaced by Underwood.

Weinstein was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on rape charges later that month. Additional Manhattan sexual assault charges were brought against him in July.

Cuomo's office says the probe into Vance's handling of the 2015 allegations was postponed for six months starting in June.

"Given the recent indictment and prosecution of Harvey Weinstein by the district attorney, the attorney general's investigation has been postponed for six months," Cuomo press secretary Dani Lever said.

____

This story has been corrected to show that a model accused Weinstein of groping her in 2015, not 2018.SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The trade war with China is making life difficult for many farmers across Washington.

The state's 1,900 wheat growers, who export the vast majority of their crop, are particularly hurt. But so are cherry growers who just harvested their highly perishable crop.

Washington stands to lose $480 million in agricultural exports to China because of retaliatory tariffs, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

FILE- In this July 18, 2012, file photo, wheat harvest is in full swing near Patterson, Wash. The trade war with China is making life difficult for many farmers across Washington state. Washington State stands to lose $480 million in agricultural exports to China because of retaliatory tariffs, according to the state Department of Agriculture. (Paul T. Erickson/The Tri-City Herald via AP, File)

Mike Carstensen, a wheat grower whose farm is near Grand Coulee Dam, said that last year China was the No. 4 customer for his wheat.

"To date they have bought zero," Carstensen said of this year's crop.

Gary Bailey, a wheat farmer near the Washington-Idaho state border, said he hasn't sold any wheat to China since March.

"I hope it doesn't last too long," Bailey said of the trade war. "We've developed relationships with these countries and as we go along, they will be replacing our wheat with someone else's. We want to keep those relationships strong and healthy."

President Trump has raised duties on billions of dollars' worth of Chinese imports, and China retaliated with similar penalties. Chinese leaders have tried to cushion the blow to their own economy by targeting U.S. goods its importers can get from other countries.

Mike Miller, a wheat farmer outside of Ritzville, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Spokane, thinks the trade war has had minimal impacts on global wheat prices so far.

"Other conditions in the world wheat market have caused a bump upward in prices that are not related to our own international trade policies," Miller said.

Poor wheat crops in Australia and Europe have prices "on a little upward swing," he said.

More than 90 percent of the $600 million wheat crop in Washington is exported to other countries each year.

Miller said farmers are eternal optimists who understand the federal government is seeking better trade conditions with China.

"I just wish agriculture wasn't being singled out in this retaliatory climate," Miller said.

"Our biggest concern is that we've spent 50 or 60 years developing markets, and if we lose them then you don't turn the switch and come back on," Miller said. "The uncertainty of how long it takes to earn back market share concerns me the most."

Meanwhile, the 2,500 cherry growers in the state say they will lose some $86 million this season because of retaliatory tariffs by China.

That figure was calculated by the Northwest Horticultural Council, which covers trade issues.

China was the largest importer of Northwest cherries last year. But the country placed a 50 percent tariff on cherries after President Trump placed tariffs on some Chinese products.

Cherries are highly perishable and must be eaten shortly after they are harvested. The 2018 season has already ended for Washington growers.

Washington's two U.S. senators and two U.S. House members who represent cherry country recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking for financial relief to cherry growers. The letter was signed by Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, and Reps. Dan Newhouse and Dave Reichert, both Republicans.

If their request is granted, cherry growers can get a piece of the $12 billion that USDA has made available to farmers hurt by the tariff war.SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Two Salt Lake City biodiesel executives linked to a polygamous group will stay in jail after prosecutors argued they could flee to Turkey if released ahead of trial in an alleged $511 million tax credit scheme.

The men have access private jets, millions of dollars stashed abroad and an unidentified federal law-enforcement contact who apparently tipped them off ahead of a raid, special assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat said at a hearing on Wednesday.

"There are very real safety concerns for witnesses in this case," she said.

These undated file photos released by the Weber County Sheriff's Office show Jacob Kingston, left, and Isaiah Kingston. Two Salt Lake City biodiesel executives linked to a polygamous group will stay in jail after prosecutors argued they could flee to Turkey if released ahead of trial in an alleged $511 million tax credit scheme. The men have access private jets, millions of dollars stashed abroad and an unidentified federal law-enforcement contact who apparently tipped them off ahead of a raid, special assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat said at a hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Kingston's attorney said the prosecutor's allegations are false hearsay. (Weber County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Washakie Renewable Energy CFO Isaiah Kingston's attorney said the prosecutor's allegations are false hearsay.

"He does not have any access to private jet. He has been on one once that had nothing to do with this case," said Scott Williams. "If anyone made an allegations against you based sorts of things they brought up, you would be appalled."

U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells refused an effort to immediately release Kingston, though he's due back in court on Friday.

A lawyer for his brother, company CEO Jacob Kingston, asked for a detention hearing next week so he can secure defense attorneys from Washington, D.C.

The men are charged with creating fake production records to get renewable-fuel tax credits from 2010 to 2016, then laundering the proceeds. The company once described itself as the largest producer of clean burning and sustainable biodiesel in the state.

Prosecutors said both men are members of the northern Utah-based Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group, which practices polygamy and owns hundreds of businesses. Investigators said in court documents members have previously hidden people wanted by police.

A spokesman for the group, Kent Johnson, said in a statement that leaders strongly condemn fraudulent business practices, though members make their own decisions. The group also encouraged "all parties to comply with lawful orders of the court."

Federal agents raided offices and homes associated with Washakie Energy during their investigation in February 2016. They said they found computers had been recently wiped, that desks were empty and bookcases contained dust outlines where binders of documents had been stored.

It's not clear how executives allegedly knew about the sealed search warrants, but investigators have said Jacob Kingston told a witness he was tipped off by a federal agent. Investigators from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service are among those that have worked on the case.

Meanwhile, Washakie has invested at least $130 million in Turkey, and the brothers own a home there, according to court documents. Jacob Kingston was arrested last week at the Salt Lake City airport with his wife and some of his children as they were about to travel to Turkey, prosecutors said.

Their co-defendant, California businessman Lev Aslan Dermen, has a private plane and previously flew to Turkey when investigators served search warrants on his home in a separate case, prosecutors said. No attorney was listed for him in court records, and he did not appear in the Utah courtroom on Wednesday.

If convicted of charges that include filing a false tax return and money laundering, Jacob Kingston faces up to 87 years in prison. Isaiah Kingston faces up to 20 years.

This undated photo released by the Weber County Sheriff's Office shows Jacob Kingston. Prosecutors say two executives of a Salt Lake City biodiesel company linked to a polygamous group could flee to Turkey if they are released ahead of trial on charges in a $500 million tax credit scheme. Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston and CFO Isaiah Kingston have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they created false production records to obtain renewable-fuel tax credits and then laundered the proceeds. The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah also says in court documents unsealed ahead of a Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, court hearing that the men were tipped off before a 2016 raid by federal agents. (Weber County Sheriff's Office via AP)ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Authorities in Greece have arrested three members of a charity helping migrants on the eastern island of Lesbos for allegedly belonging to a criminal organization that directly facilitated migrant smugglers for financial profit.

Police said Wednesday that a total of 30 Greek and foreign nationals, all members of the Greek non-governmental organization, are suspected of involvement.

The three people - a Syrian, a German and a Greek national - arrested on Lesbos and in Athens on Aug. 21 and on Tuesday are accused of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering, espionage, forgery and breaches of immigration laws.

Police said they allegedly facilitated the illegal entry of migrants to Greece for profit, to raise donations or subsidies for the NGO's activities, had advance notification of smuggling boats' routes and numbers of passengers, and illegally monitored Greek and European coast guard radio traffic.

A Greek lawyer representing two of the suspects - German-based Syrian refugee Sara Mardini and German national Sean Binder - said his clients were doing volunteer work on Lesbos for the Emergency Response Centre International organization, and denied the charges.

"There is no evidence whatsoever that they have committed even one of the offences they are accused of," Haris Petsikas told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "On many of the dates when they are supposed to have committed offences they were not even (in Greece)."

Mardini and her sister Ysra - both competitive swimmers - arrived in Greece in 2015, swimming for their lives after jumping off an inflatable boat that began taking on water. Ysra was a member of the refugee team at the Rio Olympics.

Lesbos is a major entry point for migrants and refugees illegally crossing over from nearby Turkey. Since Europe's migration crisis hit a peak in 2015, it has become a base for many charities helping migrants. More than 10,000 migrants are currently stranded on the island.

Petsikas said there was no proof that ERCI members were in contact with migrant traffickers.

The arrests followed an investigation launched in February, after two members of the NGO were stopped on Lesbos in a jeep with fake Greek military number plates under its own license plates.WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Enquirer has long explained its support for Donald Trump as a business decision based on the president's popularity among its readers. But private financial documents and circulation figures obtained by The Associated Press show that the tabloid's business was declining even as it published stories attacking Trump's political foes and, prosecutors claim, helped suppress stories about his alleged sexual affairs.

The Enquirer's privately held parent company, American Media Inc., lost $72 million for the year ending in March, the records obtained by the AP show. And despite AMI chairman David Pecker's claims that the Enquirer's heavy focus on Trump sells magazines, the documents show that the Enquirer's average weekly circulation fell by 18 percent to 265,000 in its 2018 fiscal year from the same period the year before - the greatest percentage loss of any AMI-owned publication. The slide follows the Enquirer's 15 percent circulation loss for the previous 12 months, a span that included the presidential election.

More broadly, the documents obtained by the AP show that American Media isn't making enough money to cover the interest accruing on its $882 million in long-term debt and that the company expects "continued declines in circulation and advertising revenues" in the current year. That leaves AMI reliant on debt to keep its operations afloat and finance a string of recent acquisitions that are transforming the tabloid news industry.

FILE - This July 12, 2017, file photo shows the cover of an issue of the National Enquirer featuring President Donald Trump at a store in New York. Confidential documents obtained by The Associated Press show that the National Enquirer's circulation declined even as it published stories attacking Trump's political foes and, prosecutors claim, helped suppress stories about his alleged sexual affairs. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

That creditor backstopping AMI is a New Jersey investment fund called Chatham Asset Management. Its top executive dined with Pecker and Trump at the White House last year, and the fund has both a history of Republican political donations and ties to the administration of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, which awarded it hundreds of millions of dollars in state retirement funds to manage.

AMI's current debts stem from the declining fortunes of the magazine industry and a series of acquisitions. Chatham has kept this number from ballooning further by converting some of the debt it is owed into shares in the company.

The publisher's precarious financials and reliance on Chatham are a backdrop to the publisher's growing entanglement in a federal investigation of allegations of hush money payments and violations of campaign finance laws.

Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty last week to criminal violations of campaign laws, accepting prosecutors' claim that he, Trump and the National Enquirer were involved in buying the silence of an adult-film actress and a former Playboy model who claim to have had affairs with Trump. Pecker and his top editorial deputy, Dylan Howard, have both received immunity in exchange for their cooperation. Along with Cohen, they are among the latest longtime Trump loyalists to be swept up in the federal investigations engulfing the president and his inner circle.

Neither AMI nor company officials have been charged in the case.

AMI did not provide an on-the-record response to detailed questions from the AP sent to Howard, Pecker and its outside spokesman. But a confidential financial document obtained by the AP argues that investors should focus on its current cash flows and not its profitability. Over the last two years, it has generated a combined $12 million cash flow from operations even as it has posted $160 million in overall losses.

AMI's brush with a campaign finance probe comes amid its recently announced efforts to refinance as much as $450 million in debt. Despite the company's recent purchases of US Weekly and rival gossip publisher Bauer Media, revenue from AMI's existing publications continues to drop, the financial report obtained by the AP shows.

Pecker has long maintained an aura of absolute control over the Enquirer and its sister publications, boasting of his willingness to spend AMI's money to benefit Trump.

"The guy's a personal friend of mine," he told The New Yorker magazine last summer, explaining why AMI paid former Playmate Karen McDougal $150,000 in a deal that prevented her from going public with her claim that she'd had an affair with Trump.

But Pecker owns only a small fraction of AMI, around 8 percent, according to the company. More than 80 percent of AMI - as well as hundreds of millions of dollars of its debt - belongs to Chatham Asset Management, with billionaire investor Leon Cooperman owning an additional 7 percent.

Chatham declined to address questions about the Enquirer's relationship with Trump or the future of its investment in AMI. But the firm released a statement saying Chatham "has no involvement in the editorial process or the day-to-day business decisions of the company."

David Larcker, a Stanford Business School professor who studies private equity and corporate governance, said it is normal for a firm like Chatham to give a company like AMI a long leash. But the firm would be expected to investigate any time "something large and unexpected happens" at a company it controls on behalf of the investors who are its limited partners. A firm like Chatham "would owe the LPs an explanation," he said.

Among Chatham's largest investors, according to public records, is New Jersey's public pension fund. Chatham manages investment decisions for more than $300 million in pension holdings for the state.

Asked about AMI's alleged involvement with campaign finance law violations and hush money payments, state Treasury spokeswoman Jennifer Sciortino told the AP that "we expect our investment partners to invest in good businesses with strong management teams that follow all applicable laws." She declined to say whether New Jersey had discussed AMI with Chatham, but said, "We are in regular contact with our investment partners regarding underlying portfolio companies and we provide feedback when appropriate."

In an interview last Friday, Cooperman deferred most questions to Chatham and AMI, describing himself as a passive investor and calling his 7 percent stake in the company "negligible." Cooperman didn't offer any thoughts about AMI's alleged involvement with hush money payments, but he expressed confidence in Pecker. "I think he's a very good quality guy, and is doing a good job running the company," he said.

The confidential financial document obtained by the AP states that AMI's $882 million in long-term debt owed to creditors as of March is a competitive disadvantage that may compromise its ability to launch new projects, borrow additional money or even pay for "general corporate requirements."

Cooperman told the AP that AMI has lined up a prominent investment bank to help with its upcoming effort to raise capital and that he expects a prospective deal to be launched after Labor Day. He said he expects AMI to convert more of its debt to shares in the company as part of that refinancing.

While the details of AMI's financial difficulties described in the confidential document haven't been previously reported, the prospect that Pecker and AMI might not protect Trump's secrets forever has long been a concern. Trump and Cohen even discussed the possibility that the ties between Trump and the National Enquirer might someday unravel.

In July, Cohen released an audio recording in which the men discussed plans to buy McDougal's story of an affair with Trump from the National Enquirer. Such a purchase was necessary, they suggested, to prevent Trump from having to permanently rely on a tight relationship with the tabloid.

"You never know where that company - you never know what he's gonna be," Cohen says.

"David gets hit by a truck," Trump says.

"Correct," Cohen replies. "So, I'm all over that."

According to the documents accompanying Cohen's guilty plea last week, Trump's purchase of McDougal's story never occurred.WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is marking the awarding of $91 million in grants to community anti-drug coalitions with a roundtable discussion on the dangers of youth substance abuse.

Trump is listening intently as attendees share their stories and is calling the programs a "proven success."

He's also talking about his brother's struggles with alcohol addiction and the impact it had on his family.

The White House says all 50 states will benefit from the grants from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that aim to "strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance abuse."

Among those attending the discussion at the White House are six state-based anti-drug coalitions and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.The PM welcomed Minister OConnor, who is also Minister of Trade and Export Growth, to visit Vietnam and recalled his successful visit to New Zealand in March 2018. He took this occasion to thank New Zealand for providing official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam over the past time.

The bilateral cooperation potential remains huge, including the production of Vietnamese avocado for exports, he said. New Zealand is hoped to help Vietnam organise production and create a value chain for Vietnamese dragon fruit to boost exports of this fruit to the world, the PM said.

The guest expressed his impression on the dynamic development of Vietnam and said he some working sessions with Vietnamese ministries, departments and localities to seek stronger collaboration in agriculture and other fields. He agreed with the PMs proposal of building a value chain for Vietnamese dragon fruit and boasted that New Zealand has been successful in developing a value chain for its kiwi from the selection of good varieties to preservation and overseas shipment. New Zealand is willing to support Vietnam in this field as well as in the management of food safety and other realms, he affirmed.

PM Phuc stressed that Vietnam always attaches great importance to the ASEAN-New Zealand strategic partnership and revealed that Vietnam will be Chair of ASEAN in 2020  the year marking the 45th founding anniversary of the bilateral partnership and fifth anniversary of the strategic partnership. He asked New Zealand to closely work with Vietnam to host conferences between ASEAN and its partners.

The PM added that Vietnam is determined to ratify the Comprehensive Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2018 and hopes New Zealand will soon ratify this pact. He urged the two countries to promote cooperation in trade and investment, especially increasing the bilateral trade which remains modest at present.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on White House counsel Don McGahn (all times local):

10:30 p.m.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving in the fall.

White House counsel Don McGahn, follows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to his meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Donald Trump made the announcement Wednesday and praised McGahn as "a really good guy" who has done "an excellent job."

McGahn has been a key figure in the administration's handling of the Russia investigation.

Trump says McGahn's departure has nothing to do with his interviews with the special counsel investigating possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia in the 2016 election. The president notes that he had approved the attorney's interviews and was unconcerned about anything McGahn might tell prosecutors.

McGahn's exit continues the churn of top officials as the administration sets records for turnover and the White House struggles to fill key vacancies.

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3:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump is praising White House counsel Don McGahn, who will be leaving his job this fall.

Trump tells reporters during a roundtable on drug-free community grants that McGahn is a "really good guy" and has been with him "a really long time."

He adds that he has "a lot of affection for Don" and believes he's done "an excellent job."

Trump also says he approved of McGahn's extensive interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller's team, which have raised eyebrows.

Trump says he was not concerned about McGahn speaking with prosecutors, saying: "We do everything straight. We do everything by the book."

Trump announced earlier Wednesday that McGahn will be leaving after the expected Senate confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

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10:45 a.m.

White House counsel Don McGahn, who has maintained a front row seat in Trump administration controversies and accomplishments, will be leaving in the fall after the expected Senate confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

The departure of Trump's top lawyer in the West Wing will create a vacancy in an office that has been closely involved in the conflict over special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. McGahn's exit also continues the churn of staffers as the administration sets records for turnover and the White House struggles to fill key vacancies.

Trump praised McGahn on Twitter, saying that he had "worked with Don for a long time and truly (appreciated) his service!"

In this Aug. 21, 2018 photo, White House counsel Don McGahn, follows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to meetings on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Donald Trump is tweeting that his White House counsel, Don McGahn, will be departing in the fall after the Senate confirmation vote for Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal late Wednesday on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration.

Merkel is meeting with the presidents of Senegal, Ghana and then Nigeria as she presses for further investment in a region that is a source of many of the migrants who make their perilous way toward Europe.

Migrant arrivals in Europe across the Mediterranean from Africa and Turkey are at their lowest level in five years, but the issue remains sensitive. Merkel, who refused to close Germany's borders at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, has toughened her stance recently to salvage her government from a rift over the issue.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, is welcomed by Senegal's president Macky Sall, at the Presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Senegal on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration. (AP Photo/Mamadou Diop)

Some in Europe hope that investing more in West Africa will help keep people in a region plagued with unemployment, dodgy infrastructure, rising extremism and now the effects of climate change from leaving.

"We must not be accomplices of the people smugglers. We must fight illegality but also create legality and conditions for work here on the ground," Merkel said after meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall, according to her spokesman Steffen Seibert. Germany announced it would electrify 300 Senegalese villages.

Senegal's president agreed and pointed out the youth who are drowning while trying to cross the Mediterranean. "It is not in the dignity of Africa," he said. He reminded citizens they cannot seek asylum because they are not persecuted at home or at war. "We're a democracy," he said.

Senegal and Ghana are two of Africa's fastest-growing economies and among its most stable countries. Both have signed on to the Compact with Africa initiative to promote private investment that Germany launched last year during its presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations.

Merkel is traveling with nearly a dozen CEOs of German companies.

Nigeria is West Africa's regional power, Africa's most populous country and one of the continent's top oil producers. It is plagued, however, by widespread corruption and security threats that include Boko Haram and Islamic State-linked extremists in the north, violent clashes between herders and farmers in the central region and oil militants in the south.

Merkel on Tuesday spoke with the new leader of another of Africa's top economies, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and invited him to visit, his chief of staff Fitsum Arega said on Twitter. Germany is just one of the countries responding with curiosity to the recent reconciliation between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea, with Germany's development minister visiting the long-reclusive country last week.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

German Chancellor Angela Merkel inspects the honour guard during a state visit in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Senegal on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration. (AP Photo/Mamadou Diop)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, is welcomed by Senegal's president Macky Sall, at the Presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Senegal on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration. (AP Photo/Mamadou Diop)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, is welcomed by Senegal's president Macky Sall, at the Presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Senegal on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration. (AP Photo/Mamadou Diop)SAO PAULO (AP) - A leading candidate in Brazil's presidential election said police should be given license to kill criminals and those who do should receive medals not face prosecution.

Hard-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro said in an interview Tuesday night that he would "leave good people out of range of the shooting" and go at criminals full steam.

"This kind of people (criminals), you cannot treat them as if they were normal human beings, ok? We can't let policemen keep dying at the hands of those guys," Bolsonaro said on TV Globo's main nightly news program. ""If he kills 10, 15 or 20 with 10 or 30 bullets each, he needs to get a medal and not be prosecuted."

National Social Liberal Party presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro greets people as he campaigns at Madureira market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. Brazil will hold general elections on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Bolsonaro is polling second ahead of Brazil's October presidential election, with jailed former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the lead. But da Silva is likely to be barred from running by electoral authorities for a corruption conviction.

Bolsonaro has a history of controversial comments. He has defended Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship and made comments opponents have called homophobic and racist.

Political analysts say his get-tough-on-criminals rhetoric appeals to many Brazilians weary of rampant crime but could backfire.

"His adversaries might use that quote saying he will kill people using many bullets. He is saying you can fight violence with more violence, and average Brazilians don't agree with that," said political science writer Alberto Almeida.

Human rights groups say police killings of suspects in Brazil are already common.

Earlier this month a report showed a record 63,880 people were slain in Brazil last year. Brazil has long been the world leader in overall homicide numbers, and its homicide rate is also one of the highest.

On Wednesday, Bolsonaro told supporters in southern Brazil that if elected he would change legislation to treat landless activists that trespass on private property as terrorists.

Left-leaning candidate Ciro Gomes, who has about 10 percent support in the polls, called Bolsonaro "a little project of a tropical little Hitler."

National Social Liberal Party presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro talks to the press as arrives to campaign at the Madureira market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. Brazil will hold general elections on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Women take a selfie with National Social Liberal Party presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro as he campaigns at the Madureira market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. Brazil will hold general elections on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says he thinks the federal government did a "fantastic job in Puerto Rico" despite the deaths of nearly 3,000 people after Hurricane Maria.

Trump tells reporters at the White House Wednesday that, "We've put a lot of money and a lot of effort into Puerto Rico."

He says he thinks "most of the people of Puerto Rico really appreciate what we've done."

President Donald Trump speaks during a discussion for drug-free communities support programs, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The U.S. territory's governor this week raised the official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 - almost twice the government's previous estimate.

Trump is pointing to the island's pre-existing financial and infrastructure challenges, but is falsely claiming its electric plant "was dead" and "shut" before Maria hit.

Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority is more than $9 billion in debt, but was operating.TAOS, N.M. (AP) - The father of a 3-year-old boy found dead in a filthy New Mexico compound and his partner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of child abuse resulting in death after lesser charges were dismissed against them and other members of their extended family as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors.

The dead boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj (see-DAHJ' IBN wah-HAJ'), and his partner Jany Leveille remained silent as pleas were entered by a judge on their behalf. The charges could carry life sentences in the death of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj (ahb-DOOL' GAH'-nee wah-HAJ').

Their pleas came after a judge dismissed child neglect charges filed against them earlier this month. Another judge made the same decision involving three other defendants earlier in the day.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, from left, and Jany Leveille talk with with attorneys Kelly Golightley and Tom Clark after a hearing on a motion to dismiss in the Taos County Courthouse, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Judge Jeff McElroy ordered charges of neglect against both defendants dropped but the couple still face charges of child abuse resulting in death. In a separate hearing, Judge Emilio Chavez ordered neglect charges dropped on three other defendants due to a deadline missed by prosecutors. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

District Judge Jeff McElroy criticized the office of Taos District Attorney Donald Gallegos for how the charges have been handled, citing a "complete failure to follow procedures in prosecuting the case." Defense attorneys had pointed out that prosecutors failed to schedule a preliminary hearing within 10 days of the arrests.

"It's difficult I'm sure for the public to understand why this has to happen this way," he said. "It's not the court making this decision, it's the decision of the district attorney to not seek a hearing in the time required by the rule."

The Taos County Sheriff's Office confirmed the three were allowed to leave jail late Wednesday afternoon.

Deputy District Attorney Timothy Hasson was asked to comment on the judges' criticism and would only say, "We respectfully disagree."

All five were arrested at a remote desert compound where 11 children were found living in filth. A subsequent search led to the discovery of the dead 3-year-old boy.

Authorities say Wahhaj and Leveille denied the boy proper medicine and health care before he died in December 2017 during a religious ritual aimed at casting out demonic spirits. The exact cause and manner of death has not been determined.

Prosecutors had pressed to keep all five behind bars and planned to present new evidence of an anti-government plot and talk of jihad and martyrdom among some members of the extended Muslim family.

Defense attorneys say their clients have no record of criminal convictions and pose no risk to the public. Federal immigration authorities say Leveille, a native of Haiti, has been in the United States unlawfully for 20 years after overstaying a visitor visa.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille will remain jailed at least until a hearing next week.

Prosecutor John Lovelace declined to comment on how the district attorney's office will proceed on the three who were released. Prosecutors have other options for pursuing charges, including seeking indictments from a grand jury.

Prosecutors said in court filings they discovered a hand-written document called "Phases of a Terrorist Attack" that was seized from the compound and includes vague instructions for "the one-time terrorist" and mentioned an unnamed place called "the ideal attack site."

Prosecutors wrote in court filings that new interviews with some of the children removed from the compound revealed that one of the adults, Lucas Morton, stated he wished to die in jihad as a martyr and that Leveille and Subhannah Wahhaj joked about dying in jihad. Morton, as well as Subhannah and Hujrah Wahhaj, had their charges dismissed Wednesday.

The upgraded charges of child abuse resulting in death against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille are tied to an extensive account of Abdul-ghani's death in a journal that prosecutors attribute to Leveille.

Thomas Clark, the attorney for Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, said court filings against his client have unfairly delved into accusations unrelated to charges of child abuse or neglect.

"It's ancillary, inflammatory information that has no bearing on whether or not my client either intentionally or recklessly allowed this child to die from lack of medication," Clark said.

In court filings submitted Wednesday immediately before the hearings, Taos-based District Attorney Donald Gallegos renewed accusations that Wahhaj and Leveille represented a danger to the public and requested they be jailed without bail pending trial. The filings describe the couple's involvement in "bizarre cult practices" and described evidence that compound residents were conducting firearms training "to conduct future acts of violence against individuals and civic institutions."

Judge Jeff McElroy took the unusual step of urging the general public to wait for the court to vet accusations from law enforcement and prosecutors before reacting, saying he was disturbed by threats of violence against another state judge who previously agreed to release the five defendants on house arrest.

"I urge everyone not to react to solely the information contained within the warrants that were filed but rather to the evidence as it gets developed in this case," he said.

The boy's mother initially reported him missing last year from Jonesboro, Georgia, after Siraj Ibn Wahhaj said he was taking the child to a park and didn't return. Forensic medical investigators have not yet identified the cause and manner of the boy's death.

Lucas Morton, right, listens to his attorney Aleks Kostich, left, argue for his release from jail during a hearing on a motion to dismiss in the Taos County Courthouse, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Judge Emilio Chavez ordered charges against Morton and two other defendants dropped as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Jany Leveille along with Siraj Wahhaj talks with with her attorney Kelly Golightley during a hearing on a motion to dismiss in the Taos County Courthouse, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Judge Jeff McElroy ordered lesser charges of neglect against both defendants dropped as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Hujrah Wahhaj, left, talks with her attorney Marie Legrand Miller during a hearing on a motion to dismiss in the Taos County Courthouse, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Taos, N.M. Judge Emilio Chavez ordered charges against her and two other defendants dropped as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, file photo defendant Siraj Ibn Wahhaj sits in court in Taos, N.M., during a detention hearing. New Mexico forensic investigators announced Thursday, Aug. 16, that a highly decomposed body found at a desert compound in New Mexico has been identified as a missing Georgia boy with severe disabilities. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator said Thursday that the remains were those of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj. (Roberto E. Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - This Aug. 10, 2018, file photo shows a makeshift compound in the desert area of Amalia, N.M. A New Mexico judge has dismissed child neglect charges Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, against three defendants arrested at the remote compound where 11 children were found living in filth and the body of a 3-year-old boy was discovered. (AP Photo/Brian Skoloff, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2018, file photo, is a makeshift living compound in Amalia, N.M. Prosecutors seeking to keep two men and three women jailed on child-abuse charges in northern New Mexico now say they seized a document entitled "Phases of a Terrorist Attack" at the filthy desert compound where 11 children and a dead boy were found. In a court filing Friday, Aug. 24, 2018, prosecutors said the hand-written document had instructions for "The one-time terrorist" and mentioned an unnamed place called "the ideal attack site." (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

The Taos county jail, where three people accused of child abuse at a desert compound are awaiting release, is shown Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018, in Taos, N.M. Security was boosted at the judiciary complex amid threats against the state judge who cleared the way for the defendants to leave jail. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

Subhannah Wahhaj, left, sits with her attorney Megan Mitsunaga during a hearing on a motion to dismiss in the Taos County Courthouse, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Judge Emilio Chavez ordered charges against Wahhaj and two other defendants dropped as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)MADRID (AP) - Real Madrid says it has re-signed forward Mariano Diaz after he played a season with Lyon in France.

The 25-year-old Diaz, who used to play for Madrid's youth squads and joined the senior team in 2016-17, returns on a five-year contract.

He played 45 games with Lyon last season, scoring 21 goals.

Diaz had been linked to a move to Sevilla but Madrid had the option of securing his transfer back from Lyon.

Financial details of the deal were not immediately released.

Madrid, a three-time defending European champion, has made few signings since losing Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus in the offseason.

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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsHONOLULU (AP) - The Latest on Hawaii-based soldier pleading guilty to charges he attempted to support the Islamic State group (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

Prosecutors say a Hawaii-based solider who swore an oath of loyalty to the Islamic State group wanted to take his rifle and go shooting in downtown Honolulu and Waikiki.

FILE - In this Monday, July 10, 2017 file photo, Clifford Kang, father of soldier Ikaika Kang, poses with a 2001 photo of his son in Kailua, Hawaii. Ikaika Kang is set to plead guilty Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, as charged in an indictment last year, defense attorney Birney Bervar said. He is agreeing to a 25-year sentence for charges that could have put him in prison for life. (Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP, File)

Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

He agreed after prosecutors described in court how he met with undercover agents he believed were Islamic State group members. Prosecutors say he swore loyalty to the group during a meeting last year.

He then said he wanted to starting shooting in downtown Honolulu and the tourist mecca. That's when FBI agents arrested him.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers says Kang swore to defend the United States as a member of the military, but betrayed his country by swearing allegiance to the terrorist group.

___

10:15 a.m.

A Hawaii-based soldier says he's guilty of trying to support the Islamic State group.

Speaking in a clear voice, Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang pleaded guilty Wednesday. He says he's guilty on four counts of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Kang says he provided classified military documents, a drone and other help.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson says Kang met with undercover agents he believed were part of the group.

Sorenson says when Kang met with agents he pledged allegiance to the group in Arabic and English and kissed an Islamic State flag.

Kang is trained as an air traffic controller. Sorenson says the help Kang tried to provide includes air traffic radio frequencies. Sorenson says Kang taught them how to use the drone to track U.S. troops.

Kang is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10 and is expected to receive a 25-year sentence.

___

9:40 a.m.

A Hawaii-based solider is pleading guilty Wednesday to charges of attempting to support the Islamic State group.

Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang is in court admitting that he attempted to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

An indictment accuses him of meeting with undercover agents he believed were part of the group.

When he met with the undercover agents, court documents say, he pledged allegiance to the group and kissed an Islamic State flag.

He is charged with providing classified military information, a drone, military equipment and combat fighting training.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are agreeing to a 25-year sentence.

U.S. Attorney for Hawaii Kenji Price is watching the hearing from the back of the courtroom gallery.

___

12 a.m.

A Hawaii-based soldier plans to plead guilty to charges of attempting to support the Islamic State group.

Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang is scheduled to change his plea Wednesday. Defense attorney Birney Bervar says Kang plans to plead guilty as charged in an indictment.

The indictment says Kang tried to provide material support to the Islamic State group. He is accused of meeting with undercover agents he believed were part of the group.

When he met with the undercover agents, court documents say he pledged allegiance to the group and kissed an Islamic State flag.

He is accused of providing classified military information, a drone, military equipment and combat fighting training.

Bervar says Kang is agreeing to a 25-year sentence for charges that could have put him in prison for life.

FILE - In this July 8, 2017 file image taken from FBI video and provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hawaii on July 13, 2017, Army Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang holds an Islamic State group flag after allegedly pledging allegiance to the terror group at a house in Honolulu. Kang is set to plead guilty Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, as charged in an indictment last year, defense attorney Birney Bervar said. He is agreeing to a 25-year sentence for charges that could have put him in prison for life. (FBI/U.S Attorney's Office, District of Hawaii via AP, File)SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Latest on two biodiesel executives charged in an alleged $500 million tax credit scheme (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

Two Salt Lake City biodiesel executives linked to a polygamous group will stay in jail on federal charges in an alleged $500 million tax credit scheme.

This undated photo released by the Weber County Sheriff's Office shows Isaiah Kingston. Prosecutors say two executives of a Salt Lake City biodiesel company linked to a polygamous group could flee to Turkey if they are released ahead of trial on charges in a $500 million tax credit scheme. Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston and CFO Isaiah Kingston have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they created false production records to obtain renewable-fuel tax credits and then laundered the proceeds. The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah also says in court documents unsealed ahead of a Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, court hearing that the men were tipped off before a 2016 raid by federal agents. (Weber County Sheriff's Office via AP)

U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells denied an effort Wednesday to immediately release defendant Isaiah Kingston. His lawyer Scott Williams says allegations that he would flee to Turkey if released ahead of trial are false and misleading.

Jacob Kingston's lawyer Tara Isaacson did not seek her client's immediate release but he has a detention hearing scheduled week.

Federal prosecutors say he and Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston had business dealings in Turkey, access to a private jet and had been tipped off ahead of a raid in the case. They say cooperating witnesses are in danger of retaliation.

They have pleaded not guilty to creating false production records to obtain renewable-fuel tax credits and then laundering the proceeds.

__

10:35 a.m.

Prosecutors say two executives of a Salt Lake City biodiesel company linked to a polygamous group could flee to Turkey if they are released ahead of trial on charges in a $500 million tax credit scheme.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah also says in court documents unsealed ahead of a Wednesday court hearing that the men were tipped off before a 2016 raid by federal agents.

Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston and CFO Isaiah Kingston have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they created false production records to obtain renewable-fuel tax credits and then laundered the proceeds.

Prosecutors say the men are members of the polygamous Kingston group and have business ties to Turkey.

Isaiah Kingston's lawyer Scott Williams says there's little evidence against his client.

No attorney has been listed for Jacob Kingston.LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A federal appeals court said Wednesday that it won't revive an Arkansas judge's lawsuit challenging his disqualification from execution cases for participating in an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the governor's mansion.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to reconsider a three-judge panel's decision to dismiss Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen's lawsuit against the Arkansas Supreme Court justices.

Griffen was photographed on a cot outside the governor's mansion last year wearing an anti-death penalty button and surrounded by people holding placards opposing executions. Earlier that day, Griffen blocked the state from using a lethal injection drug over claims that the state had misled the manufacturer. The state Supreme Court prohibited Griffen from handling any execution-related cases following the demonstration.

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 17, 2018, file image from video provided by KTHV-TV, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen lies on a cot outside the Arkansas governor's mansion in Little Rock during a death penalty protest. A federal appeals court on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, says it won't revive Griffen's lawsuit challenging his disqualification from execution cases over his participation in an anti-death penalty demonstration last year. (KTHV/TEGNA Inc. via AP, File)

The court's one-page order did not elaborate on the ruling. The three-judge panel in July said Arkansas had "compelling interests" in protecting the public perception of an impartial judiciary.

Griffen has argued that his disqualification from hearing such cases violated his constitutional rights. His attorney, Mike Laux, said he planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He said a 2002 ruling from the high court found that preserving the "appearance" of judicial impartiality isn't a compelling state interest.

"Here, there is zero evidence of bias in any of Judge Griffen's rulings and none was presented to the court," Laux said. "Thus, by elevating 'appearances' to this stature, the 8th Circuit respectfully got it wrong, and we have begun preparing papers to seek relief from the high court."

A disciplinary panel last week said it wouldn't dismiss an ethics complaint against Griffen over the demonstration. That case now heads to the state's Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, which could recommend Griffen's suspension or removal from the bench if it finds the judge violated rules of conduct.

___

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ademilloMADISON, Wis. (AP) - An 11-year-old boy sucked into a flooded Wisconsin storm sewer was saved when an eagle-eyed firefighter saw the boy's fingers pop through an opening in a manhole cover.

The astonishing rescue Tuesday evening came as storms pounded the southern half of the state and southeastern Minnesota.

The Calumet County Sheriff's Office said the boy was playing with friends in a flooded drainage ditch after the rains passed around 6 p.m. in the Village of Harrison. He disappeared under the water and didn't surface.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, photo, emergency responders, police and firefighters search for an 11-year-old boy who disappeared beneath the water of a retention pond while playing with friends in Harrison, Wis. The boy sucked into the flooded Wisconsin storm sewer was saved when an eagle-eyed firefighter saw the boy's fingers pop through an opening in a manhole cover. The boy was taken to the hospital, and authorities said he was alert and conscious after his ordeal. (Wm. Glasheen/The Post-Crescent via AP)

A dive team, sheriff's deputies and volunteer firefighters responded. Deputy Fire Chief Wesley Pompa said that when they arrived they found a bystander trying to hold onto the boy but he was sucked into a culvert that led to the storm sewer.

Pompa said the water was rushing so quickly it would have sucked a full-grown man into the culvert.

The rescuers could do nothing except try to determine where the flow might take the boy. Pompa called the village road superintendent, Bob Kesler, to the scene to help map out the sewers.

Pompa and Kesler were standing on top of a manhole cover about 30 feet (9 meters) away from the ditch when Pompa saw the boy's fingers pop through an opening in the cover. The boy had found air pocket just beneath the manhole cover and was hanging onto a ladder leading up to the manhole.

The firefighters wrenched the cover open. Pompa and Kesler lifted the boy to safety.

"He was hollering and talking to us and he was able to reach up for us," Pompa said.

The boy was taken to the hospital, and authorities said he was alert and conscious after his ordeal. Pompa said he never got the boy's name.

"I just thank God he was alive and he'd made it that long," Pompa said. "It could have gone a million different ways but this one way it worked out for him."

A string of storms began moving through the region last week, flooding streets and farm fields and cutting power. One man was killed in Madison as he tried to escape from a flooded ditch last week.

State emergency officials said 20 counties have been affected by flooding over the last 10 days. Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday declared a statewide emergency, directing state agencies and the Wisconsin National Guard to assist local authorities as needed. The declaration also is the first formal step toward requesting federal assistance.

Hardest hit has been Wisconsin's southwestern corner. Up to 11 inches (28 centimeters) fell in the region Monday into Tuesday, forcing evacuations in La Crosse, Vernon and Monroe counties.

The area got another 1.3 inches of rain on Tuesday. The deluge stranded two Amtrak trains carrying about 400 passengers for hours because of flooding over the tracks. One train bound for Chicago was forced to stop near Tomah in western Wisconsin; another bound for St. Paul had to stop near Portage in south-central Wisconsin.

The trains sat on the tracks overnight. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said passengers were given complementary food and water and the trains are designed to accommodate passengers overnight. Both trains had resumed their routes by midday Wednesday.

Parts of Interstate 90/94 were closed overnight due to standing water on the pavement and highways across southern Wisconsin have been rendered impassable. Emergency officials in Madison were still grappling with flooded streets on Wednesday morning and warned commuters to expect delays for days.

Several tornadoes were spotted Tuesday afternoon in Campbellsport, Lomira, Oakfield and Brandon, Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service. The service has not confirmed that tornadoes hit in any of these locations. Possible tornadoes also demolished two barns in Fond du Lac County, killing about 100 cattle, Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter said.

Some 12,000 We Energies customers were still without power Wednesday morning as utility crews worked overtime to restore service.

Southeastern Minnesota has also been struggling with flooding over the last few days. Tuesday night's storms largely missed that area, passing to the south, although some spots got hit hard.

Houston County officials, for example, reported 7 inches of rain and had to evacuate a campground and a tornado came down in Goodhue County, Minnesota Emergency Management spokesowman Amber Schindeldecker said. No evacuations have been reported to the state, she said.

Forecasts called for drier weather Wednesday and Thursday. More rain was expected Friday and Saturday.

Emergency responders, police and firefighters search for a missing boy who disappeared beneath the water of a retention pond while playing with friends on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Harrison, Wis. The boy was found, alive, in an air pocket beneath a manhole cover about thirty feet from the place he went missing. (Wm. Glasheen/The Post-Crescent via AP)

In this 2014 photo provided provided by Don Jungen, Wesley Pompa, deputy fire chief in the Village of Harrison, Wis., poses for a photo at the fire station. Pompa, along with a dive team, sheriff's deputies and volunteer firefighters helped rescue an 11-year-old boy who was sucked into a storm sewer during flash flooding Tuesday evening, Aug. 28, 2018. The astonishing rescue came as storms pounded the southern half of the state and southeastern Minnesota. (Don Jungen via AP)

A house on County Road P near the Timber Coulee Creek near Westby, Wis., seen Tuesday, August 28, 2018, suffered major flood damage during heavy rains in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Heavy rains pounded Wisconsin and Minnesota, prompting evacuation orders for about 100 residents in one small Wisconsin town and flash flooding in parts of Minnesota. (Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via AP)

Matt Stellner sets a pair of ice skates next to a stack of two old McDonald's diner seat tops Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, at his flooded home in Coon Valley, Wis. People in Coon Valley, Wisconsin are cleaning up two days after a flooded Coon Creek devastated the town. (Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via AP)

From left, Bob Bothe, Ethan Garner and Courtney Nelson carry a hutch out of the home of Monte and Luetta Nelson in Coon Valley, Wisc. Wednesday, August 29, 2018 after the home was flooded in recent storms.People in Coon Valley, Wisconsin were cleaning up two days after a flooded Coon Creek devastated the town. (Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via AP)

Monte and Luetta Nelson have lived in their home in Coon Valley, Wisc. since 1979. Monte said they rebuilt once after the basement flooded. The Nelsons had help cleaning up Wednesday, August 29, 2018 from relatives and student athletes from Westby High School. People in Coon Valley, Wisconsin are cleaning up two days after a flooded Coon Creek devastated the town. (Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via AP)At the reception, Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh informed the Lao Party General Secretary and President on the outcomes of talks between the supreme peoples courts of the two countries.

The two sides have regularly exchanged delegations and shared experience in judging activities and judicial reform at the central level. Meanwhile, many courts in the border provinces have signed memoranda of understanding to create a legal foundation for promoting cooperation in fighting crime. They have also coordinated to carry out joint activities, especially in judicial entrustment, in an effective manner, thus greatly helping with the settlement of criminal, civil and marital cases.

On the occasion, the official also presented VND500 million (over US$21,500) donated by staff of the Vietnamese court sector to help Lao people affected by the recent dam collapse.

Speaking at the reception, the Lao Party General Secretary and President spoke highly of the effective cooperation between both countries supreme peoples courts over the past.

Vietnam was the first country to help Laos overcome the consequences of the recent collapse of the Sepien-Senamnoi hydropower dam in Attapeu province, he said, affirming the response as a vivid manifestation of the special relationship of the two countries.NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A man who was recently released from prison was arrested Wednesday in the strangulation slaying of a model in one of Philadelphia's affluent Main Line suburbs, authorities said.

Jonathan Wesley Harris, 30, of Johnstown, was arrested as he got off a bus in Pittsburgh, Lower Merion Township police and the Montgomery County prosecutor said.

Harris, who reportedly has family in Philadelphia, was charged with first-, second- and third-degree murder along with robbery, theft and related offenses in the Aug. 22 slaying of Christina Carlin-Kraft, 36, in Ardmore.

Officials said Kraft took a ride-hailing service to Philadelphia, met Harris and the two later returned to her Ardmore apartment, into which she had moved the previous week. Authorities said a tipster pointed them to the defendant after surveillance images were released. The tipster said Harris had indicated in text messages that he had just met a woman and was at her Ardmore residence early on Aug. 22.

Kraft's body was found in her bloodstained bedroom that evening after police went to check on her welfare. An autopsy indicated that her nose was fractured and she died of ligature strangulation.

Authorities said Harris had been released July 15 from the State Correctional Institution-Greene. Court documents indicate recent drug and robbery convictions.

An attorney wasn't listed for Harris in court documents. A listed number for him couldn't be found.

Kraft's modeling profile lists photo shoots for Vanity Fair, Victoria's Secret, Playboy and Maxim.CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The family of a black man who was shot and killed by a North Carolina police officer nearly two years ago is suing the city and the officer who shot him.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by attorneys for the family of Keith Lamont Scott names the City of Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Brentley Vinson. It calls Vinson's actions "grossly negligent" and "careless and reckless," and says the city failed to take corrective action to prevent the use of "unreasonable and excessive force involving the use of excessive or deadly force" by police.

The city said it would respond to the lawsuit through the judicial process.

Scott's shooting in September 2016 sparked days of unrest. One person died, dozens were arrested and there were millions of dollars in damage.NEW YORK (AP) - A Columbia University student who said she was coerced into a sexual relationship with a former dean and the university failed to protect her filed a $50 million lawsuit against the school on Tuesday.

In the suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, the plaintiff identified as "Jane Doe" said she went to the university for help after being raped in May and was sent to Tom Harford, a dean of students at one of Columbia's three undergraduate schools, because she needed emergency housing.

She said he manipulated her into a sexual relationship through her need for scholarship funding.

According to court papers, "Harford used his power and influence at Columbia to coerce the plaintiff into an inappropriate sexual and romantic relationship."

The suit said other officials at the school were aware of the amount of interaction between the two, but did nothing to protect the plaintiff.

In its statement, Columbia said it could not comment on litigation, but "Harford was promptly removed from his position as dean of students when we learned of behavior that was unacceptable in light of his responsibilities. ... We take these matters very seriously. Our priority is providing a safe and supportive learning environment that fosters the intellectual and personal fulfillment of our students."

Harford could not be reached for comment.ATLANTA (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of a former medical examiner who traded opioid prescriptions for sex (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

A former Georgia medical examiner who worked on countless high-profile cases has been sentenced to serve eight years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiring to prescribe opioids in exchange for sex.

This March 12, 2018 photo released by the Cobb County Police shows Dr. Joseph L. Burton in Marietta, Ga. Burton has been indicted along with seven other individuals by a federal grand jury on charges of illegal distribution of opioid painkillers and other drugs in Atlanta. Burton is to be sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. (Cobb County Police via AP)

Dr. Joseph Burton of Milton pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to illegally distribute drugs. He's was sentenced Wednesday.

The 73-year-old forensic pathologist is a former county medical examiner who handled cases from seven Atlanta area counties.

Burton and seven others were indicted on conspiracy charges in February. Prosecutors say Burton prescribed about 110,000 doses of opioid painkillers in exchange for sexual favors.

Prosecutors had asked for a 14-year sentence while Burton's attorney had asked for less than four years.

Burton's lawyer wrote in a court filing that Burton suffers from a mild vascular neurocognitive disorder after a massive stroke in 2010 that impaired his ability to control his behavior.

___

9:15 a.m.

A former Georgia medical examiner who worked on countless high-profile cases will learn his sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiring to prescribe opioids in exchange for sex.

Dr. Joseph Burton of Milton pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to illegally distribute drugs. He's set to be sentenced Wednesday.

The 73-year-old forensic pathologist is a former county medical examiner who handled cases from seven Atlanta area counties.

Burton and seven others were indicted on conspiracy charges in February. Prosecutors say Burton prescribed about 110,000 doses of opioid painkillers in exchange for sexual favors.

Burton's lawyer wrote in a court filing that Burton suffers from a mild vascular neurocognitive disorder after a massive stroke in 2010 that impaired his ability to control his behavior.LONDON (AP) - Dyson, the British company best known for its ground-breaking vacuum cleaners, said Thursday that it plans to build auto test tracks as it expands electric vehicle development at a former Royal Air Force airfield.

The company said it plans to spend an additional 116 million pounds ($151 million) to build more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) of test tracks at the former Hullavington Airfield in southern England. The cars are expected to launch in 2021.

It also plans new office buildings for more than 2,000 staff that will eventually be employed at the site. Overall, Dyson has said it will invest 2 billion pounds in its electric car program.

Billionaire founder James Dyson, one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs, has been a prominent advocate of Brexit but has faced criticism for moving much of the firm's production to Asia. Dyson has said that the British government should leave the European Union immediately, then work out trade deals with the bloc and others.

The company has already spent 84 million pounds restoring two hangars dating from 1938, where 400 employees now work. In the next phase of development at the 750-acre site, the company is proposing to build tracks to put battery-powered vehicles through their paces, including handling and stability, off-road driving, a skid pan and a high speed runway for speeds above 100 miles per hour (161 kph).

It will join an increasingly crowded field, as traditional automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover launch their own EVs to compete with Tesla.

"Tesla has done some amazing things and survived against the odds but have failed to make a profit," said David Bailey, an auto manufacturing expert and professor at Aston University.

"My concern is that they've never made cars before."

The challenge for Dyson is to come up with a breakthrough technology, either in batteries or motors, he added. He also suggested that Dyson may be better off linking up with an established carmaker.

Dyson hasn't released any details about the vehicle, though it has indicated it plans to incorporate in-house solid state lithium battery technology, acquired through its 2015 purchase of Michigan company Sakti3. Solid state batteries are lighter than conventional cells but hold much more energy, promising extended range for electric vehicles.He's overcome some of the toughest opponents in world tennis, but it seems Andy Murray has met his match in his 10-month old daughter.

The Scottish tennis star suffered an injury on the eve of his US Open second-round clash against Fernando Verdasco while playing with his baby daughter Eadie.

Murray posted a picture on Instagram of him with a bloody nose after an unfortunate incident with the 10 month old.

Murray posted a picture on Instagram of his injury

The three-time grand slam champion is in New York with wife Kim and his two daughters, Eadie and two-year-old Sophia.

Murray will return to Flushing Meadows centre court, Arthur Ashe Stadium, on Wednesday when he takes on veteran Spaniard Verdasco.French fishermen have clashed with a number of British boats after a scallop war erupted in the English Channel.

Rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles are reported to have been hurled at English and Scottish vessels during the confrontation in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Reportedly outnumbered by the French one to seven, the British boats were allegedly attacked by the rival flotilla that had gathered overnight in protest over fishing rights.

The long-running dispute is over a scallop-rich area of the Channel (PA)

Dramatic footage of the incident broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as an object was thrown toward them.

Some of the British vessels are said to have later returned to UK harbours with signs of criminal damage.

The long-running dispute is over a scallop-rich area of the Channel that French fishermen are prevented from harvesting due to domestic environmental laws.

Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermens association, said the violent scenes demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change.

I urge everyone to avoid these situations that endanger mens lives, he said.

One of the British boats involved in the clash is said to be the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger.

What is happening in the baie de Seine with vigilante French fishermen attacking our vessels is appalling. We have asked to discuss like grownups but non Doesnt bode well for the future. French navy complicit as they stand by and watch the criminal damage. pic.twitter.com/WvpDU0pUe6  SWFPA (@SWFPA) August 28, 2018

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association condemned the vigilante French fishermen.

Attacking our vessels is appalling, the group said.

Britains National Federation of Fishermens Organisations has appealed for calm, saying the dispute should be resolved through negotiations.

We have raised the matter with the British Government and asked for protection for our vessels, which are fishing legitimately, its chief executive, Barrie Deas, told the BBC.

The deeper issues behind the clashes should be settled by talking around the table, not on the high seas where people could be hurt.Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh is set to complete his 330-mile swim along the length of the English Channel as he urged the Government to better protect UK waters.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove will welcome the British swimmer to Dover, Kent, on Wednesday after a gruelling seven week-long swim.

Mr Pughs The Long Swim will come to an end at Shakespeare Beach after he set off from Lands End in Cornwall in swimming trunks, cap and goggles on July 12.

With the end in sight, Mr Pugh on Tuesday encouraged his supporters to join him at the finish line as he tweeted: Swam last night. Swimming today. Dover tomorrow!! Please join me at Shakespeare Beach at 1:30pm for the end. #TheLongSwim.

His campaign, which he anticipated would be his toughest swim yet, aims to highlight plastic waste entering the seas.

Lewis Pugh (Kelvin Trautman/Lewis Pugh Foundation/PA Images)

Mr Pugh, who has been swimming the worlds oceans for three decades, has been covering 10km to 20km (six to 12 miles) per day.

The environmental campaigner and UN Patron of the Oceans also took part in beach cleans along his journey, organised by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Swam last night. Swimming today. Dover tomorrow!! Please join me at Shakespeare Beach at 1:30pm for the end. #TheLongSwim pic.twitter.com/NxVtgAR4LS  Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) August 28, 2018

Before setting off, he warned of a shocking figure which said just seven square kilometres of 750,000 of UK coastal waters were fully protected.

He earlier told the Press Association: My message is going to be very, very simple: our oceans are in crisis.

Unless we take real, serious action now, its very difficult for me to see how they can recover.

(PA Graphics)

Its not something you can keep putting off and putting off and putting off. Weve done that for too long.

His swim has been observed and verified by the Channel Swimming Association.Brazilian president Michel Temer has announced he will deploy the military to restore order in a state at the heart of the Venezuelan migrant crisis.

It comes as new data showed a surge in killings that meant the state now has the highest homicide rate in the country.

Between January and June, there were 27.7 homicides for every 100,000 people in Roraima, a poor state in northern Brazil on the border with Venezuela, data from the Violence Monitor showed.

Rio Grande do Norte, with 27.1 killings per 100,000, had the second-highest rate, followed by Ceara and Acre, both with 26.

In the past three years, Roraima, like many Brazilian states, has been the scene of an intense battle between criminal organisations for territory and influence.

Brazils president said he sent in the armed forces to restore security in Roraima (Eraldo Peres/AP)

During the same period, it has also been the major entry point into Brazil for Venezuelans fleeing political and economic turmoil in their homeland.

Both have put pressure on the states institutions and contributed to a feeling of instability.

What we see is that there is a clear feeling of the fragility of local institutions to deal with the fear of people, who are starting to think the state has no rule of law, said Bruno Paes Manso, a researcher with the Centre for Violence Studies at the University of Sao Paulo.

The centre participated in putting together the Violence Monitor.

This leads people to defend themselves  you have this perception: people are arriving from every corner, crime dominates, and homicides multiply in these contexts, he said.

Despite the well-known pressure on Roraima, Mr Manso said the spike was surprising.

The rate for all of last year was 25.1 per 100,000  and Roraima was not in the top 10. In 2016, it had the third-lowest homicide rate in the country.

Brazil has long been the world leader in overall homicides.

(Twitter screengrab)

The monitor registered more than 26,100 killings in Brazil in the first six months of the year  which could be an indication that the number of killings could fall in 2018 after a particularly bloody 2017.

This years data, however, does not include complete figures from three states.

The data was compiled and analyzed by the G1 news portal, the Brazilian Forum on Public Security and the Centre for Violence Studies, and includes murders, deaths during robberies, and assaults that resulted in deaths.

In a brief televised address on Tuesday night, Mr Temer announced that he signed a decree to send in the armed forces to restore order and security in Roraima.

The federal government had already decided to deploy members of an elite military-style police force after residents of a border town attacked Venezuelans and burned their belongings earlier this month.

The decree authorises the deployment starting on Wednesday and lasting until September 12.

It could be extended, but Mr Temer did not say how many troops he would send.

(Twitter screengrab)

The government of Roraima welcomed the decree but said it was not enough.

In a statement, the state said it was still seeking 45 million dollars (35 million) in compensation for spending on health, education and security as a result of the crisis, a field hospital to relieve pressure on health services, more ambulances and police cars and a larger deployment of an elite military-style police force.

Poor and isolated, Roraima has struggled to deal with the influx from Venezuela, where the collapse of institutions and an economic crisis worse than the Great Depression has driven 2.3 million people to flee, according to UN estimates.

Tens of thousands have come to Brazil, largely to Roraima. Many are living on the streets of the states cities and towns, and the influx has been linked to a measles outbreak in Brazil, with 300 cases in Roraima.

Brazil is not confronting a migratory crisis. Roraima is confronting a migratory crisis, the states governor, Suely Campos, wrote in an op-ed in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper this past weekend.

The federal government in Brasilias disregard for the largest humanitarian crisis in the Americas, in coordination with its allies in the state, is criminal, she wrote.

Contacted by The Associated Press, the office of the chief of staff of the president did not respond directly to Ms Campos criticisms, but said that the federal government has provided Roraima with nearly 100 million dollars (77.7 million) since the beginning of the crisis.

Ms Campos, in her op-ed, accused the government of announcing resources in the press that the state never received.

The federal government has also relocated about 1,000 migrants.Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has told pro-EU Tory and Labour MPs to grow a flipping backbone and form a new party.

Mr Farron said that the Lib Dems would not join the new party but would work with them.

Speaking to Politicos morning newsletter, Playbook, he said: Let some of these people in the Labour party and the Tory party grow a flipping backbone and leave. And we should work with them.

Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Let them form their own party, we will work with them, and well try and do it together.

He added: People shouldnt fall into the mistake of thinking the SDP was a failure. It really wasnt, he said, of Britains last big breakaway centrist party.

Another cracking day out and about on my summer tour listening to people's views in Torver, Coniston, Chapel Stile, Hawkshead, Satterthwaite and Backbarrow. Had a really warm reception apart from a cat in Hawkshead who didn't take too kindly to my suggestion to smell my spaniel.. pic.twitter.com/LW7yJaGxJ9  Tim Farron (@timfarron) August 28, 2018

The day before (former Argentine President Leopoldo) Galtieri invaded the Falklands, they were on 51% in the polls and the (Liberal/SDP) alliance got 26% of the vote in 83  very, very close to having made it.

Mr Farron revealed that he would also settle for a decent electable leader of the Labour party.

He said: You see with great frustration  and Im sure Vince (Cable) feels the same  the colossal opportunity in what I will glibly call the centre of British politics, and the desperate need for us.

I obviously want the Liberal Democrats to recover, become the next government of the country and solve all the problems, he said.

Im at the stage now  Id be content for my childrens future if the Labour party just sorted its act out, got a decent electable leader and gave the country an alternative.The two trips, made at the invitation of Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, have recorded positive outcomes regarding the exchange of content between all sides, successful documents signed, as well as President Quangs sideline activities.

In Ethiopia from August 23-25, President Quang held talks with Ethiopian President Teshome and also had separate meetings with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Speaker of the House of Federation Keria Ibrahim.

His later visit to Egypt from August 25-29 took place at a time when the two countries are celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations. President Quang held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdel Aal and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

At the end of each visit, a joint statement was issued, setting out major orientations and laying the basis for bilateral cooperation in the near future.

Boosting economic, trade, and investment collaboration was a key aspect of the Vietnamese Presidents visits to Ethiopia and Egypt, which are substantial markets of around 100 million people each. Egypt is now one of the three leading economies in Africa, while the Ethiopian economy has grown at an annual average rate of 10% in the last decade.

At their meetings, President Quang and leaders of the two countries extensively discussed specific solutions to encourage and create favorable conditions for their business communities to engage in networking and market expansion. Vietnam can assist Ethiopia and Egypt in accessing the ASEAN market, while the latters can help Vietnam enter the considerable markets of the Middle East and Africa.

As part of its foreign policy, Vietnam has always attached importance to traditional ties with Africa, having established diplomatic relations with 53 out of the 55 countries to date. In 2017, Vietnam-Africa trade reached approximately US$6.7 billion.

Within the framework of his visit to Ethiopia, the Vietnamese President visited the headquarters of the African Union (AU) and met with Acting President of the AU Commission Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil.

At the meeting, President Quang stated that developing countries, like Vietnam and several African nations, should work together and support each other to increase their voices and roles at multilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, and the South-South cooperation framework.

He suggested that Vietnam and the AU set up an annual dialogue to implement synchronous and large scale collaborative projects with the region and other countries, thus enhancing their coordination at international forums to defend the interests of developing nations.

The two leaders agreed to study a cooperation model, as well as boost exchanges of information and experience in the fields of common interest, such as the UN peacekeeping mission, agriculture, education, infrastructure, IT, and telecommunication.Puerto Rico has raised the official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 after an independent study found the number of people who died in the aftermath was severely undercounted.

The new estimate of nearly 3,000 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the US territory in September 2017 and knocked out the electrical grid was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

The number of dead has political implications for the Trump administration, which was accused of responding half-heartedly to the disaster.

Donald Trump had marvelled over the small loss of life (Evan Vucci/AP)

We never anticipated a scenario of zero communication, zero energy, zero highway access, governor Ricardo Rossello told reporters.

I think the lesson is to anticipate the worst. Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, in hindsight, things couldve been handled differently.

He said he is creating a commission to study the hurricane response, and a register of people vulnerable to the next hurricane, such as the elderly, the bedridden and kidney dialysis patients.

Mr Rossello acknowledged Puerto Rico remains vulnerable to another major storm. He said the islands government has improved its communication systems and established a network to distribute food and medicine, but there are still 60,000 homes without a proper roof and the power grid is still unstable.

Ricardo Rossello said `things couldve been handled differently (Carlos Giusti/AP)

A lesson from this is that efforts for assistance and recovery need to focus as much as possible on lower-income areas, on people who are older, who are more vulnerable, said Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute.

The toll is almost twice the governments previous estimate, included in a recent report to Congress, that there were 1,427 more deaths than normal in the three months after the storm.

The George Washington researchers said the official count from the September 20 hurricane was low in part because doctors were not trained in how to classify deaths after a disaster.

The number of deaths from September 2017 to February 2018 was 22% higher than the same period in previous years, Ms Goldman said.

Shortly after the storm, when the official death toll stood at 16, President Donald Trump marvelled over the small loss of life compared with a real catastrophe like Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, was directly responsible for about 1,200 deaths, according to the National Hurricane Centre. That does not include indirect deaths of the sort the George Washington researchers counted in Puerto Rico.

The White House issued a statement on Tuesday noting that it sent 12,000 personnel to Puerto Rico for response and recovery efforts, and said it would continue to support the islands government and its communities in their recovery for years to come.

The American people, including those grieving the loss of a loved one, deserve no less. The president remains proud of all of the work the federal family undertook to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico, it said.A man has been arrested after the doors to a Sikh temple were set alight in a suspected arson attack.

The fire at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Sheriff Brae, Edinburgh, caused significant smoke damage.

Police and fire crews were called to the temple at around 5am on Tuesday.

The doors to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)

A Police Scotland statement said: Police in Edinburgh have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of their investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August.

Inquiries into this incident are continuing.

Members of the Sikh community condemned the suspected attack, and Scotlands Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he was saddened by the incident.

The Gurdwara, situated in a former church, is the only Sikh centre in the Scottish capital, serving a community of more than 500 people.A man has been arrested after the doors to a Sikh temple were set alight in a deliberate attack.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Edinburgh suffered smoke damage in Tuesdays incident.

We have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of our investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August. Inquiries into this incident are continuing. pic.twitter.com/kUE82w0J47  EdinburghPolice (@EdinburghPolice) August 29, 2018

Police and fire crews were called to the temple in Sheriff Brae at around 5am. No-one was injured.

A Police Scotland statement said: Police in Edinburgh have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of their investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August.

Inquiries into this incident are continuing.

The doors to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)

Members of the Sikh community condemned the suspected attack, and Scotlands Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he was saddened by the incident.

The gurdwara, situated in a former church, is the only Sikh centre in the Scottish capital, serving a community of more than 500 people.Liberal Democrat former leader Tim Farron has told pro-EU Tory and Labour MPs to grow a flipping backbone and form a new party.

Mr Farron said the Lib Dems would not join the new party but would work with them.

Speaking to Politicos morning newsletter, Playbook, he argued that the SDP, Britains last big breakaway centrist party, was very close to having made it.

Liberal Democrat former leader Tim Farron (Jonathan Brady/PA)

He said: Let some of these people in the Labour Party and the Tory Party grow a flipping backbone and leave. And we should work with them.

Let them form their own party, we will work with them, and well try and do it together. People shouldnt fall into the mistake of thinking the SDP was a failure. It really wasnt.

The day before (former Argentine president Leopoldo) Galtieri invaded the Falklands, they (SDP) were on 51% in the polls and the (Liberal/SDP) alliance got 26% of the vote in 83  very, very close to having made it.

Mr Farron revealed that if a new centrist party was not formed he would also settle for a decent electable leader of the Labour Party.

He said: Im at the stage now  Id be content for my childrens future if the Labour Party just sorted its act out, got a decent electable leader and gave the country an alternative.

Another cracking day out and about on my summer tour listening to people's views in Torver, Coniston, Chapel Stile, Hawkshead, Satterthwaite and Backbarrow. Had a really warm reception apart from a cat in Hawkshead who didn't take too kindly to my suggestion to smell my spaniel.. pic.twitter.com/LW7yJaGxJ9  Tim Farron (@timfarron) August 28, 2018

Despite talk of the Labour leadership and new parties Mr Farron said he still believed there was a place for the Lib Dems.

He said: You see with great frustration  and Im sure Vince (Cable) feels the same  the colossal opportunity in what I will glibly call the centre of British politics, and the desperate need for us.

I obviously want the Liberal Democrats to recover, become the next government of the country and solve all the problems.

Mr Farrons successor as leader, Sir Vince Cable  is himself now reportedly under pressure and is said to be planning a speech next week that will pave the way for his own resignation before the next election.

Sir Vinces big idea is reported to be to open up the Lib Dem rules so the next leader does not have to be an MP.

Mr Farron said the idea was an interesting one, but added: To be fair, Vince is only just touting it as an option.

Away from the Lib Dems, pro-EU Tory MPs have raised fears that they are being targeted by Ukip supporters in a plot to unseat them and elect a more hard-line Brexit-supporting prime minister.

Tory former minister Anna Soubry told the Times that party chairman Brandon Lewis needed to act.

She said: We are on a membership drive at the same time as the likes of (Arron) Banks are urging members of Ukip and other hard Brexiteers to join our party to topple the leader and destroy Government policy.

Ive called on the party chairman to end the membership drive until we can be confident we are not being infiltrated by people who are not Conservatives.French fishermen have been accused of endangering the lives of British mariners after an extraordinary clash over scallops in the English Channel.

Rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles were allegedly hurled at English and Scottish vessels during the confrontation in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Around a dozen British boats were targeted by the rival flotilla in a protest over fishing rights in the scallop-rich waters.

The Government said it had contacted officials in France about the matter, adding the vessels were legally entitled to fish in the area.

(PA Graphics)

The South Western Fish Producers Organisation, which represents many of the boats and has been negotiating with French fishermen, condemned the behaviour as dangerous.

Chief executive Jim Portus told the Press Association: They are endangering life at sea by being unprofessional.

The French might look like heroes to the French coastal communities but its really awful to put other mariners in danger.

Around 40 French boats were said to be responsible for the disruption.

One of the British ships, The Golden Promise, had a window smashed by an airborne can, while another suffered fire damage after a flare was thrown at it, Mr Portus said.

He claimed to have received a message from the chief negotiator of the French scallop industry on Wednesday morning that said: I regret the altercations that occurred it will not happen again.

What is happening in the baie de Seine with vigilante French fishermen attacking our vessels is appalling. We have asked to discuss like grownups but non Doesnt bode well for the future. French navy complicit as they stand by and watch the criminal damage. pic.twitter.com/WvpDU0pUe6  SWFPA (@SWFPA) August 28, 2018

Maritime authorities in France also sought to soothe tensions on Wednesday morning, decrying the showdown as very dangerous and expressing hope that things will calm down.

The long-running dispute centres on a section of the Channel from which French fishermen cannot harvest scallops until later in the year, due to domestic environmental laws.

Dramatic footage broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as tensions finally boiled over.

One of the British boats involved in the clash was said to be the Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger, along with two ships from Brixham harbour, The Golden Promise and Joanna C.

Fears have been raised about the safety of the British fleet going forward, which the Government said was its highest priority.

One of the British boats involved in the clash was said to be the Honeybourne 3 (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Sheryll Murray, MP for South East Cornwall, claimed Environment Secretary Michael Gove had assured her that appropriate measures were in place to protect fishermen.

She also criticised the response of the French authorities, saying there was no evidence whatsoever that they had taken action against the vessels.

Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermens association, said the violent scenes demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change.

But it is not the first time such an encounter has taken place, according to the owner of one of the Brixham boats.

Derek Meredith told the BBC: Its happened in previous years, two years ago it happened to us  not as forceful as this time I wouldnt have said  but the same thing, the French navy were there on site and never done a thing.

We reported it to the (Marine Management Organisation), nothing happened, it just went on deaf ears.

The skipper of Joanna C, Nathan Clark, also told the broadcaster: Im not really concerned because were doing nothing wrong its just the safety of my crew and the boat really, because theres nothing to stop them doing it all over again.

Britains National Federation of Fishermens Organisations has appealed for calm, while the Scottish White Fish Producers Association lashed out at the vigilante behaviour.A special exhibition featuring the wedding outfits of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will enable royal watchers to see Meghans famous dress up close.

Queen Marys 1932 diamond and platinum bandeau tiara, lent to Meghan by the Queen for the star-studded ceremony, will be on public display for the first time, alongside the Duchesss Givenchy wedding gown, created by British designer Claire Waight Keller.

The exhibition, A Royal Wedding: The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex, will begin at the wedding site of Windsor Castle before making its way up to Holyrood Palace.

Here, with the help of Karen Whybro, owner of designer bridal boutique Rock The Frock (rockthefrockbridal.co.uk), we take a look back at some of the most iconic and memorable royal wedding dresses through the decades

Princess Alexandra, March 10, 1863

Long before Meghan caught the affections of the British public, Princess Alexandra of Denmark was the foreign bride crowds couldnt wait to see. This is the first ever photograph of a member of the royal family wearing their wedding dress, from her marriage to Queen Victorias son Edward Albert in 1863.

Whybro describes it as an opulent and highly detailed dress, with an off-the-shoulder neckline and large floral motifs that dominated the design. Adorned with decorative lace depicting Scottish thistles, Irish shamrocks and English roses, plus a 21ft train that took eight women to carry, it was a particularly over-the-top gown.

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, April 26, 1923

Long before becoming the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married the Duke of York (later King George VI) in a style that was classic for her 1920s wedding. Whybro contrasts her gown to Princess Alexandras, saying: Her dress had a much straighter skirt, created from deep ivory chiffon, moving away from stark white and embroidered with pearls. The gown is very Twenties in design, featuring short cap sleeves with strips of Brussels lace, making it contemporary yet elegant. It was a simple affair, heavily influenced by Coco Chanel.

Princess Elizabeth, November 20, 1947

The current Queen got married during a time of austerity, as the country was still recovering from the Second World War. Elizabeth used ration stamps to buy the fabric (although the government did give her 200 extra rations for the occasion), and it was designed by Norman Hartnell. Whybro says: Queen Elizabeths wedding dress incorporates elements of Princess Alexandras design, with embroidered floral motifs over the bodice and skirt, and long sleeves. In contrast to her mothers dress, the Queens gown had a fit-and-flare silhouette, was created from ivory silk and embellished with crystals and pearls.

Elizabeths diamond tiara snapped hours before she was due to leave for the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Luckily, a court jeweller was on standby, and they took the tiara via police escort for some emergency welding before returning it to the bride. If youre eagle-eyed, you can spot a slight gap at the centre of the headpiece.

Princess Margaret, May 6, 1960

Princess Margarets dress for her wedding to Lord Snowdon is often described as the simplest royal wedding gown in recent history. Whybro says: Princess Margarets dress was in stark contrast to her younger sisters, with the emphasis being on exquisite tailoring and beautiful fabrics. The gown was made from silk organza and featured much less detailing. Although simple, the dress still had a full skirt and was designed to show off the brides petite frame.

Princess Anne, November 14, 1973

Princess Anne married Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey, with an estimated global audience of 500 million watching. Princess Annes 1973 wedding dress could not be more of the era, in terms of style and silhouette, says Whybro. A Tudor-style high neck dress with medieval sleeves, this remarkably modern gown was sophisticated, simple and contemporary, while featuring detailing embroidery far removed from that seen on Princess Elizabeths gown.

Princess Diana, July 29, 1981

For most people, chances are the words royal wedding conjure the wedding of the century  when Lady Diana Spencer married the Prince of Wales. Its thought a whopping one billion tuned in worldwide to witness the fairy-tale event, and Whybro says: Probably one of the most iconic wedding dresses of modern history, Princess Dianas extravagant ballgown-style dress featured ivory silk taffeta and antique lace, with an opulent 25ft train.

The gown, she adds, set wedding dress trends for years to come, with its large puffed sleeves, narrow waist & meringue style skirt. But having such a dramatic dress did come with its share of problems  too big for her glass carriage, Diana arrived at the ceremony slightly creased.

Sarah Ferguson, July 23, 1986

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, in her wedding gown (PA)

Sarah Ferguson had the unenviable position of following Dianas wedding just five years later. Sarah Fergusons dress was always going to be compared to Dianas, and was understandably much less elaborate, says Whybro. The gown was an ivory satin bodice with heavy beading, retaining some of the Eighties elements of Dianas dress in its puff sleeves, yet cut to a three-quarter length. Sure, not as elaborate as Dianas, but it still had a 17ft train.

Sophie Rhys-Jones, June 19, 1999

Sophie Rhys-Jones dress was a much simpler affair, when she married Prince Edward. However, Whybro says it echoes another royal gown from the past  Princess Margarets. Created from hand-dyed ivory silk organza and crepe, the dress featured minimal pearl and crystal beading around the neck and sleeves, with far less of a full skirt than previous royal gowns, she observes. Rhys-Jones gown had a more modern feel, with simple lines.

Camilla Parker-Bowles, April 9, 2005

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall leave their wedding ceremony (Toby Melville/PA)

Camilla Parker-Bowles was in a unique position when marrying Prince Charles, as this was a second marriage for both of them. As such, instead of wearing a white or ivory gown, Camilla opted for a more understated cream chiffon dress with an oyster coat. Keeping detailing to the minimum, this contemporary outfit followed the tradition of not wearing ivory or white for a second wedding and instead featured modern styling, including a cream coloured straw hat.

Kate Middleton, April 29, 2011

Prince William and his bride Kate leave Westminster Abbey in London, following their wedding service ( Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)

As with Meghan, there were months of speculation as to who would design Kates gown, in the run-up to her and Prince Williams wedding day. In the end, the honour went to designer Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, who created an ivory dress with a classic silhouette, covered in delicate lace. Whybro says: Changing wedding dress fashion for decades to come, in the same way Diana did, Kates McQueen creation was a combination of tradition and modernity, with a classic shape evoking that of Victorian styling with its narrow waist and hip padding, long lace sleeves and a semi-bustle at the back. The floral motifs echoed Princess Dianas detailing and the full skirt with elegant train touched upon contemporary elements.

Meghan Markle, May 19, 2018

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave St Georges Chapel (PA)

Meghans silk gown, its train and well-recognised boat neckline will undoubtedly command the most attention at the new exhibition. Designed by Claire Waight Keller, the Givenchy dress features an intricate five metre-long veil, on which flowers of the 53 Commonwealth countries are embroidered along with Wintersweet and a California Poppy. Queen Marys 1932 diamond and platinum bandeau tiara, lent to Meghan by the Queen for the star-studded ceremony earlier this year, will go on public display for the first time from October 26.Firefighters and engineers are inspecting the charred facade of a landmark Belfast building following the collapse of the internal floors in a devastating fire.

Crews continued to battle overnight to douse the smouldering shell of the Bank Buildings after Tuesdays inferno.

The five-storey Primark store was engulfed in one of the biggest fires witnessed in the city in years.

Internal floors have collapsed in on each other, leaving just the sandstone facade standing.

Doubts remain over the structural integrity of the building, though there are hopes the shell could be saved.

A main section of the city centre remains sealed off to allow for detailed structural assessments throughout Wednesday.

Firefighters monitor the scene (Liam McBurney/PA)

Assistant chief fire and rescue officer Michael Graham told the Press Association the firefighting operation had been scaled back to six fire appliances from the 14 used by 100 crew at the height of Tuesdays blaze.

We are currently assessing the situation with structural engineers, he added.

There has been constant collapsing within the building and currently we are assessing the external facade to see what that looks like and how secure it is.

The buildings have been a fixture on the Belfast skyline since the 1700s (Liam McBurney/PA)

The chief executive of Primark, Paul Marchant, has expressed shock and sadness at the fire and moved to reassure the 300-plus workforce that have been gravely impacted, saying he will ensure they are fully supported.

The building, which has been in the heart of Belfasts shopping district since 1787, had recently undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment.

Primark customers and staff were evacuated from the building at around 11am on Tuesday after smoke could be seen billowing from the roof.

Assessments are under way on the charred shell (Liam McBurney/PA)

Flames reaching at least 50ft could be seen right across Belfasts skyline.

The historic clock at the top of the building was engulfed in flames before the fire spread from the roof to the floors below.

The building had survived bombs and fires throughout its long history in the city.Two construction workers fell to their deaths when scaffolding collapsed above the sixth floor of a hotel under construction near Disney World in Florida.

Emergency responders added that a third worker managed to hang on and climb to safety in the incident early on Wednesday.

The accident happened in Orange County just outside Disney property, according to Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles.

Collapsed scaffolding at a hotel under construction in Florida (Orange County Fire Rescue/AP)

He said there were about 18 workers at the scene when they got the call about the accident at 4:15am local time.

They were working at the top of the hotel, above the sixth floor, where concrete is being poured.

Mr Jachles said that the support structure gave way, sending two workers plummeting to their deaths.

The third worker sustained minor injuries.

Mr Jachles says the sheriffs office and federal investigators are examining what happened.Dozens of school friends joined two teenager brothers to hand in an 85,000-signature petition to the Home Office to prevent their deportation to Pakistan.

Somer Umeed Bakhsh, 15, and his brother Areeb, 13, have lived in Glasgow with their parents Maqsood and Parveen since their family fled Pakistan in 2012 when their father was subjected to death threats due to his Christian faith.

The UK Government has repeatedly rejected the familys plea for asylum, largely because officials do not believe they would be at risk in Pakistan where blasphemy carries the death penalty.

Almost 85,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Home Office not to deport the family, who are being supported by the Church of Scotland.

Somer, who wants to be an astrophysicist, recently got six As and a B in his National 5 exams at Springburn Academy in Glasgow.

Dozens of pupils from the school joined the boys at the Home Office depot in Glasgow on Wednesday to show their support for the petition.

Some carried homemade banners reading We stand with Somer and Areeb and Hear our voices we are future of Scotland.

Somer and Areeb were joined by school friends to hand over a petition (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Somer said: Its very nice to see so many people actually supporting us and it shows how much they care.

Areeb said: I think this will change things because you cant ignore 85,000 people.

All these people are Scottish and they clearly want us to stay here so you cant ignore them.

MP Paul Sweeney and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Rev Susan Brown handed over the petition with Possilpark Parish Church members also in attendance to show their support to the family.

The boys father said they would not be safe if forced to return to Pakistan.

Mr Bakhsh, 50, said: For Christians in my country you face discrimination and uncertainty. We were threatened by different extremist groups and I didnt want my children to stay there where that threat is always hanging above so I applied for asylum.

We lived in 14 cities in two years before coming here. The Home Office say there are safe places in Pakistan but I have lived it and I know we would not be safe. They are reading about it in books or whatever but I have the primary information and we cannot live there.

Family and friends have been targeted wherever they have been.

MP Paul Sweeney handed over the petition with Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Susan Brown (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Rev Brown said: They have had the odds stacked against them for more than six years but despite all that they have played a full part in the life of the local church and community.

People are here because they are such a lovely family and despite not having very much at all because they are in the asylum process, they have given so much to their community and thats reflected in the number of folks who have turned up today.

Mr Sweeney called on the Home Office to review the asylum process.

It would seem really cruel to dispatch them to a country where not only would they face persecution for their religious beliefs but its also an entirely foreign country to them now, the boys have been here for their formative years, the Labour MP said.

Fundamentally there needs to be an element of compassion put back into the Home Office processes.

The asylum process is taking way too long and its also putting the onus on individuals to prove that they have been persecuted when often the capacity to provide evidence is very difficult because they have just fled the country with the clothes of their back.

I think the Home Office needs to take a more cooperative and compassionate view of the circumstances that people have fled to this country in and give people better support to make their cases.

Bob Doris, MSP for Maryhill and Springburn, who has also taken up the familys case with the Home Office, said: The backing given to Somer, Areeb and their parents has been both emphatic and heart-warming.

The family would face both great distress and be in danger if returned to Pakistan and it would also be a loss to Scotland.

With this petition in defence of Somer and Areeb the UK has the opportunity to do the right thing and start to gain some credibility on asylum policy.

A Home Office spokesman said: The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and every case is assessed on its individual merits.Theresa May has arrived in Nigeria for the second leg of her whistle-stop Africa tour with trade, security and people-trafficking on the agenda.

The Prime Minister will hold talks with President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja, with the threat of Boko Haram in west Africa expected to be discussed.

She will then head to Lagos to announce business projects, develop financial links amid post-Brexit uncertainty for the City of London, and meet survivors of modern slavery.

UK and French support to help Nigeria and Niger develop their borders to prevent trafficking, and counselling plus training to help 1,700 migrants and victims of modern slavery are among the pledges to be made.

She will launch Legal Services are Great  a 12-month project in which the UK helps develop Nigerias legal industry  along with schemes in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria to support businesses across the continent connect, grow and trade.

Mrs May will also welcome Nigerian firm Dangote Cements commitment to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), as it joins more than 100 African companies to take such action.

(PA Graphics)

The Prime Minister arrives in Nigeria after making her pitch for the UK to help develop Africa, particularly in the post-Brexit world, and seize a greater share in the market amid fierce global competition from China, France and the United States.

She used a visit to South Africa to also outline her plan for how overseas aid should work in Britains interests and announced Britains first post-Brexit trade pact with a group of southern African countries.

But with Africa representing a small percentage of the UKs trade, more will have to emerge beyond the agreements announced to satisfy Brexit critics who believe it will be difficult to replicate the advantages of EU membership.

Prime Minister Theresa May in the cell where Nelson Mandela was held on Robben Island (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A lighter moment in her first stop in South Africa saw Mrs May dance with schoolchildren before jokingly playing down her chances of appearing on Strictly Come Dancing.

Ahead of her trip to Nigeria, Mrs May described modern slavery as one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time and labelled the UK a world leader in trying to end the crime.

She said: Today we are stepping up our partnership with Nigerian authorities to find traffickers and bring them to justice.

On business matters, she added: London is a world-leading financial centre and, as the UK leaves the European Union, it will play an even greater role in financing the fastest-growing economies across Africa and the world.

Mrs Mays three-day trade mission ends in Kenya on Thursday.

She has been joined by junior ministers and business leaders.Kofi Annan, former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, passed on at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, after a short illness.

"We knew that in August he tends to come to Ghana and stay in his house and family members will go and see him. So we were looking forward to seeing him in August. So to hear this news is really shattering," Kojo Amoo Gottfried,

Ghana's former ambassador to China, told Xinhua on August 25 hours after the news broke.

Amoo-Gottfried, who grew up with Kofi Annan in Bompata, Kumasi, said: "As a man, Kofi was forthright, truthful and did what he considered to be right, and never gave up."

Commentators say not only do people in war-torn countries recognize the greatness of Annan, who took over from Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1997 as the seventh UN secretary-general, but also the youth and women see a father figure in him.

"To say he is a statesman is an understatement. He lived fulfilled life always preaching peace and fairness in the world and he practiced it so much," Ghana's deputy information minister Nana Ama Dokuaa Asiamah-Adjei remarked in an interview with Xinhua.

"His fight for the youth, his fight for women, we cannot forget," she said, adding that her wish was for Annan to have stayed a little longer for Ghana and Africa to tap into his reservoir of experience.

Ordinary Ghanaians like Eric Kwaku, a taxi driver, said Annan's achievements were a source of pride for Ghanaians.

"I felt proud when he rose to the secretary general position as a Ghanaian ... He did the best for the world," he told Xinhua in his native Twi language on August 26.

Wosila Asumbe Abubakar, a level-100 student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), said the late secretary general's ascent to that position was great honor to Ghana.

"His death is a big blow to Ghana," the young student said. "He fought for peace around the world and was successful. It gives me a lot of inspiration."

Joseph Opoku, an estate developer, said Annan's achievements have been of great inspiration to his family, and he tried to let his children model their lives around that of the revered global statesman.

"I even visited his family home at Cape Coast and that of Kumasi, and so it is like, it became a sort of inspiration for me."

Inspired by Annan, Opoku said he decided to send all his children abroad after secondary education for them to get exposed to the world, make good use of opportunities out there and serve the world.

In 2004, the UN opened an international peacekeeping training center in Ghana's capital in honor of their serving secretary-general.

Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, Head of the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), told Xinhua that: "Annan and Mandela epitomized the optimism and the hopes of the independence movement."

"Annan was a young man when we got independence, probably about 19 years, so he took this optimism and the hope that the black man can deliver and he lived up to it," he said.

In the institute, Aning said the feeling was that of shock, loss and sadness, tinged with the new desire to work harder to protect the legacy that the former secretary-general stood for.

"I think Annan meant different things to different people. For the refugee in Dafour whom Annan visited ... he was almost like a god," the expert said.

He listed places such as Tusla, Trebenista and Syria, Rwanda, Kenya and Iraq where the late secretary-general endeared himself to the people.

Aning revealed that any time elections were held in Ghana, Annan was quietly behind the scene urging leaders to choose peace over violence.

The expert credited the late secretary-general with the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as some of the finest works on HIV/AIDS, the green revolution and new thinking into ICT.

"Those were the legacies of Mr. Annan because they were decisions that were centered on the human being; how do we improve human lives, that has remained, and that is why he still is the face of the United Nations," Aning added.A Namibian delegation has been handed the remains of 27 countrymen whose bones were taken by German colonial forces more than a century ago for pseudo-scientific racial experiments.

At a church ceremony in Berlin, two skulls in glass boxes along with a coffin covered with a Namibian flag were placed in front of the altar ahead of the handover.

The repatriation of the remains is a reminder of Germanys short-lived past as a colonial power in Africa  which included the bloody suppression of a Herero and Nama uprising between 1904 and 1908 that left tens of thousands dead.

The skulls of two people killed in the the Herero and Nama uprising between 1904 and 1908 (Gregor Fischer/dpa/AP)

We intend to do something today we should have done many years ago, namely to give back mortal human remains of people who became the first victims of the first genocide of the 20th century, German Lutheran Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber told the fully packed church.

Germany is returning 19 skulls, five full skeletons and bone and skin fragments that were stored in hospitals, museums and universities for decades.

In the early 20th century, German scientists tried to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans over black Africans by, for example, analysing the facial features of the skulls, well before Nazi-era scientists conducted similar experiments on Jews and others.

These skulls tell the story of brutal, godless colonial past and its consecutive suppression of the Namibian people. They say, Never again!' Lutheran Bishop Ernst Gamxamub from Namibia said during his sermon.

It was the third time Germany has returned human remains to Namibia. In 2011, 20 skulls were handed over from Berlins Charite Hospital. In 2014, both Charite and the University of Freiburg gave back 32 skulls and skeletons.

Historians say German Gen Lothar von Trotha, who was sent to what was then South West Africa to put down an uprising by the Hereros against their German rulers in 1904, instructed his troops to wipe out the entire tribe.

About two-thirds of all Hereros were killed, and the order also affected smaller tribes.

In 2004, then-development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul travelled to Namibia and offered Germanys first apology for the massacre, which she said was what today would be labelled as genocide.

Michelle Muentefering, a deputy foreign minister, told the Namibian delegation earlier this week that we want to help heal wounds.

Germany and Namibia have been negotiating about possible compensation for the descendants of the victims since 2015. When the remains are returned to Namibia on Thursday, Ms Muentefering will travel along for another round of negotiations in Windhoek.The boss of Thomas Cook is to meet the Egyptian prime minister to discuss the deaths of a British couple.

John and Susan Cooper, from Burnley, Lancashire, died while on a holiday with the tour operator in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: Thomas Cook CEO, Peter Fankhauser, has flown to Egypt today to meet with the Egyptian prime minister, His Excellency Dr Mostafa Madbouly.

They will discuss the recent tragic deaths of Mr and Mrs Cooper in Hurghada and the ongoing investigation by the Egyptian authorities.

Thomas Cook Group chief executive Peter Fankhauser is to discuss the deaths of John and Susan Cooper with Egypts prime minister (Thomas Cook/PA)

Thomas Cook is hoping to obtain permission from the Egyptian authorities to access the hotel room where the Coopers were staying.

Mr Fankhauser has previously insisted there is no real evidence what caused the deaths but pledged to support the family and Egyptian authorities to get to the bottom of it and to get to the cause.

The couple were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel.

Mr Cooper, 69, died in his room, while Mrs Cooper, 63, a Thomas Cook employee, died after being taken to hospital, according to their daughter, Kelly Ormerod.

She has said there was something suspicious behind the deaths and described them as being in perfect health just hours before being taken ill.

The family were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt (AP)

Mr Fankhauser said Thomas Cook decided to move 300 guests out of the hotel 24 hours later as a precaution after becoming aware of an increased number of illnesses.

He confirmed that 13 customers had food poisoning but were not in a serious condition.

A technical teams inspection of the Coopers room showed there were no toxic or harmful gas emissions or leaks, according to a statement by prosecutor Nabil Sadeq.

Thomas Cook has commissioned its own tests into food hygiene and air conditioning at the hotel, although it has not been granted access to the Coopers room. The results are due in the middle of next week.

Christi and Bobby Shepherd died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a Thomas Cook holiday in 2006 (West Yorkshire Police/PA)

Christi and Bobby Shepherd died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Thomas Cook holiday bungalow in 2006.

A 2015 inquest jury concluded that the tour operator breached its duty of care over their deaths.President Donald Trump has announced that his top White House lawyer will be departing in the autumn.

White House counsel Don McGahn will leave after the expected Senate confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Unlike some less-amicable administration separations, President Trump praised his top lawyer on Twitter, saying that he had worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service.

White House counsel Don McGahn (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Mr McGahns departure had been expected as the White House enters the autumn elections and looks to win confirmation for Judge Kavanaugh, the presidents second opportunity to place his imprint on the Supreme Court.

Mr McGahn, a top election lawyer who served as general counsel on President Trumps campaign, has played a pivotal role in the presidents remaking of the federal judiciary with young, conservative judges.

He also helped guide President Trumps selection of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and the presidents nomination of Judge Kavanaugh and helped oversee a dramatic rollback of Obama era regulations.

The White House counsel is among the most critical  and yet least visible  positions within the West Wing, with input on a range of issues from policy to personnel to national security.

But Mr McGahns time has also been marked by controversy as the main point of contact inside the White House for the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Mr McGahn, who has consented to interviews with Mr Muellers team, threatened to resign last year if President Trump continued to press for Mr Muellers removal.

President Trumps announcement comes more than a week after a New York Times report that Mr McGahn had been cooperating extensively with Mr Muellers investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion with President Trumps Republican campaign.

President Trump insisted at the time that his general counsel was not a RAT and accused Mr Muellers team of looking for trouble.

He contrasted Mr McGahn with John Dean, the White House counsel for President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

Mr Dean ultimately cooperated with prosecutors and helped bring down the Nixon presidency in 1974, though he served a prison term for obstruction of justice.Prime Minister Theresa May has waded into the row over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party by calling on Jeremy Corbyn to directly respond to stinging criticism from a former chief rabbi.

The intervention comes after Lord Jonathan Sacks branded the Labour leader an anti-Semite and compared Mr Corbyns comments on Zionists to Enoch Powells inflammatory rivers of blood speech.

During a tour of Africa, Mrs May said: Anti-Semitism is racism. We should all condemn racism in all its forms.

Lord Sacks was a long-standing chief rabbi, he raised significant concerns but its not just him  members of the Labour Party have raised concerns as well.

I think the leader of the Labour Party needs to respond to those concerns.

Lord Sackss scathing remarks, in which he claimed Mr Corbyn had given support to racists, terrorists, and dealers of hate, drew an angry response from Labour.

Condemnation of the Leader of the Opposition by the crossbench peer, who served as chief rabbi between 19912013, comes just a week before Labours ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) again considers its code of conduct on anti-Semitism.

Labour hit back at the comments by branding them absurd and offensive.

Lord Sackss remarks came after footage from 2013 emerged of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian.

Mr Corbyn said: They clearly have two problems.

One is they dont want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all of their lives, they dont understand English irony either.

Lord Sacks told the New Statesman: The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powells 1968 rivers of blood speech.

It was divisive, hateful and like Powells speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.

We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions.

He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.

When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.

When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.

This is low, dishonest and dangerous.

He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.

Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majestys Opposition.

That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr Corbyn and those who support him.

Enoch Powell made the `rivers of blood speech (PA)

A Labour Party spokesman said: This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.

Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense, not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.

Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.

The Labour leader has previously said that his remarks had been defending the ambassador from what I thought were deliberate misrepresentations by people for whom English was a first language, when it isnt for the ambassador.The parents of a student murdered in Ireland have said the pain of losing their daughter has not been eased by knowing her killer is dead.

Jastine Valdez was abducted and strangled in an apparently random attack in Co Wicklow earlier this year.

The 24-year-old had been walking to the home she shared with her parents in Enniskerry on May 19 when she was kidnapped and murdered by Mark Hennessy.

He was shot dead following an interaction with gardai at Cherrywood Business Park in south Dublin a little over 24 hours after Ms Valdez went missing.

Ms Valdezs body was discovered in thick undergrowth in the Pucks Castle area of Co Dublin.

The accountancy student, originally from the Philippines, lived in Enniskerry in Wicklow while Mr Hennessy, 40, lived with his partner and two children in nearby Bray.

Teresito and Danilo Valdez said knowing Jastines killer was no longer alive did not give them any solace.

Jastine Valdezs body was found in heavy undergrowth in Pucks Castle Lane (Donall Farmer/PA)

It didnt help, it didnt ease the pain, said Teresito Valdez.

We didnt like that he was killed. It didnt change anything when we found out that he was killed.

It didnt ease the pain at all, it didnt matter. Jastine was gone.

The couple moved to Ireland from the Philippines in 2001 to help provide for their daughter. Ms Valdez, who was seven at the time, was raised by her grandmother until the Valdezs could afford for their daughter to join them in 2015.

Mr and Mrs Valdez told RTEs Today With Miriam programme that they were sad that Mr Hennessy had been killed.

They said his death had left them with many unanswered questions.

We were quite disappointed that he was killed quite quickly, Mr Valdez said.

There are a lot of questions in our mind. We wanted to know more about why he did such a terrible thing.

The couple thanked the Irish people for all the help they received since Jastines death.

A Go Fund Me page was set up after Jastines death to help cover the cost of repatriating her body back to her native Philippines.

Jastines parents brought her home for a traditional wake and funeral, which lasted a month.

The fund raised a total of 140,000 euro, far surpassing the original target of 10,000 euro.

Jastines parents have now returned to Ireland and are looking for work and a new home.

Mrs Valdez said she is searching for work but her husband said he was not yet able to return to work because he is too distraught.

The couple are living in someone elses home but they hope to find their own home soon.

Irelands police watchdog, the Garda Siochana Ombudsmans Commission, is investigating the incident that led to Hennessy being shot dead.A 5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the main suspect in a mother and daughters killing  as police said they did their absolute best to prevent the attack.

West Midlands Police and Crimestoppers are offering the reward for information leading to the detention of 21-year-old shop worker Janbaz Tarin.

He is currently wanted by the countrys second largest police force in connection with a deadly knife attack which claimed the lives of his ex-partner Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49.

The pair were found fatally wounded at Ms Saleems home in Northdown Road, Solihull, just after 12.30am on Bank Holiday Monday.

Raneem Oudeh (West Midlands Police/PA)

A knife, which officers believe to be the murder weapon, has been recovered and a van thought to have been used by Mr Tarin is undergoing forensic analysis.

It comes as further details were released by police regarding Ms Oudehs previous contact with police on the night of the attack, and before, as a domestic abuse complainant.

The force revealed on Wednesday that its officers were at the scene within six minutes, when it became clear in Ms Oudehs final 999 call that the women were being attacked at home.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, head of force CID, said: Unfortunately we cant always be everywhere and on the night in question we did our absolute best, but we werent able to get there in time to prevent a double murder.

All previous contact between the victim and police has now been self-referred by the force to investigators at the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

(PA Graphics)

Ms Oudeh had a two-year-old child  though Mr Tarin is not the father  and her mother had six children, with both victims originally from Syria.

Mr Payne said Ms Oudeh had made a series of phone calls to police on Sunday and into the following evening.

He added: The first call that was made we responded to.

We went to the location where we believed she was, but unfortunately shed moved on from there.

We then had a series of conversations with her, lastly the final conversation.

We responded immediately to that but tragically we werent able to get there in time.

Charting the emerging chain of events leading to the deadly attack, Mr Payne said there was a sequence of calls between Ms Oudeh and police in the preceding hours.

Officers responded to the first call but by the time they arrived Ms Oudeh had moved to another location.

He added: That is why the IOPC are going to have a look at (it), theres no complexity to this, we went to where we thought she was, she then called us again and then we had a further conversation, but she then moved on again.

We then had a further conversation (with her).

What we dont know, and what were looking at, is the exact number of phone calls.

Its a bit of a confusing picture but what we are able to say is as soon as we realised that Mr Tarin was in the same place as she was, we responded immediately.

Khaola Saleem (West Midlands Police/PA)

Police believe Ms Oudeh kept moving to try to get to a place of safety.

Mr Payne added that as it was a bank holiday, there were lots of calls coming in, but that it was the right thing to do to respond to the first call, made by Ms Oudeh on Sunday.

The force had in the past logged and responded to calls from Ms Oudeh and visited the couple, with Mr Payne saying her relationship with Mr Tarin had a footprint in domestic abuse.

We did the appropriate thing in the circumstances, he said.

Im as satisfied as I can be we did the right thing.

He added: We were working with her to keep her as safe as we could.

Unfortunately, we cant always be everywhere and on the night in question we did our absolute best, but we werent able to get there in time to prevent a double murder.

Mr Payne said: The IOPC  thats their job, whether to look at whether we did the right thing.

Our job is to investigate the murder.

A police forensic officer outside a property on Northdown Road in Solihull, where the mother and daughter were stabbed to death (Aaron Chown/PA)

Officers believe Mr Tarin, an Afghan national who had been in the country legally since Christmas Day 2012, is laying low in the West Midlands.

Offering the reward, they had a warning for anyone shielding the suspect, and again directly appealed for Mr Tarin to hand himself in for questioning.

Mr Payne said: We are now working with Crimestoppers to offer the 5,000 reward to anybody who might be able to help us locate Mr Tarin.

I want to appeal to Mr Tarin directly  if youre watching this we will find you, we will arrest you.

Make it easy on yourself and come and talk to us.

To anyone who might be harbouring or assisting Mr Tarin, again, we will find you. Dont get yourself in trouble, ring us.

The public has been advised not to approach Mr Tarin and to call 999.Britain has agreed a cash and training package designed to boost efforts to target Islamist extremists in West Africa.

Theresa May signed an agreement in Nigeria while meeting president Muhammadu Buhari which commits the UK to expanding its training and equipment to the Nigerian military as it fights Boko Haram.

Downing Street hopes the assistance will also better protect the UK from terror threats while also saving the lives of soldiers and civilians living in Nigeria.

As friends, partners and equals  we will secure a more prosperous future for all our people. - PM @Theresa_May talking about the future relationship between the UK and Africa. #UKAfrica pic.twitter.com/rKxWDYbxsA  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) August 29, 2018

The terror group has killed more than 20,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Mrs May faced questions about the decision to increase support despite Amnesty International raising allegations about Nigerian soldiers raping women rescued from Boko Haram.

The PM told reporters she raised the issue of human rights with president Buhari, adding she welcomed his decision to establish an inquiry to examine the allegations.

The deal includes training to counter improvised explosive devices, 13 million to educate 100,000 children living in areas of conflict, developing the Nigerian governments procedures to respond to terror attacks, and aiding Nigeria in the propaganda war.

Nigerian army units will also be trained as a whole rather than individually by the UK before their deployment.

Attempts to help Nigeria recover stolen assets held in the UK and to reduce corruption will also be made via a new civil asset recovery taskforce, Downing Street added.

Mrs May arrived in Nigeria on day two of her whistle-stop Africa tour with trade and efforts to combat people trafficking also on the agenda.

Theresa May is in Abuja on her second day of her trip to Africa (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Rain started to fall as Mrs May left the RAF Voyager and after a military reception, she resisted the temptation to dance for a second day when greeted by dancers and drummers at the airport in Abuja.

She travelled to the presidential villa for talks with president Buhari, amid a chaotic media scrum on the red carpet.

Mrs May later travelled to Lagos to announce business projects, develop financial links amid post-Brexit uncertainty for the City of London, and meet survivors of modern slavery.

On the security and defence agreement, the PM said: We are determined to work side-by-side with Nigeria to help them fight terrorism, reduce conflict, and lay the foundations for the future stability

and prosperity that will benefit us all.

Mrs May arrived in Nigeria after making her pitch for the UK to help develop Africa, particularly in the post-Brexit world, and seize a greater share in the market amid fierce global competition from

China, France and the United States.

Her three-day trade mission ends in Kenya on Thursday.

Mrs May has been joined by junior ministers and business leaders.Sinn Fein has called for the creation of a EU constituency for Northern Ireland post-Brexit.

Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson said it was crucial that Northern Ireland citizens retain democratic representation in the European Union, especially as the majority of Northern Ireland voted to remain.

Sinn Fein published its submission to the Constituency Convention dealing with the upcoming European elections and the number of Irish seats increasing in the face of Brexit, which includes the creation of a constituency for the north which would have two seats.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms Anderson called the constituency vital and said it was important Northern Irish people were not treated as second class citizens.

Let us not forget that the north did not vote for Brexit.



British and Irish citizens from the north of Ireland deserve representation in the European Parliament and this is what we are proposing today. - @M_AndersonSF pic.twitter.com/Urc5E0cYCR  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) August 29, 2018

Sinn Fein believe that it is vital that the citizens of the north continue to be represented in the European Parliament.

What we are asking for is to ensure we have representation from Derry to Kerry.

We are not asking for voters in the south to sacrifice existing representation, merely help preserve that right for those who did not vote for Brexit but are now forced to accept the ramifications of others shortsightedness.

We are willing to work with the Commission to tease out the idea of representation for the north, but we are here today to stand for EU citizens in the north and their rights which some would see stripped away.

Ms Anderson said the party were willing to work with any of Irelands political parties in order to see the constituency created, and said the proposal required a hand of friendship.

Were willing to work with An Taoiseach, and let us remember that the Taoiseach has already told us that no Irish government would ever again leave behind the people of the north, she said.

In their proposal document Sinn Fein referenced Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin who said in January 2018: Why would people object to Northern Ireland continuing to have representation in the European Parliament?

As well as Fine Gael TD Sean Kelly, who said in June, that the idea was worth exploring.

The border between Londonderry and Donegal at Bridgend (Deborah McAleese/PA)

Ms Anderson claimed Brexiteers were taking Northern Ireland over a cliff, and labelled comments by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg that people should be inspected at the border post-Brexit, as dangerous.

The comments are a reflection of the attitudes within the Conservative government, he is reckless, he is wrong, he is an absolute idiot.

We do not want the damage that is going to be caused by Brexit, we do not want the north to be collateral damage, we were in a terrible place, war is a terrible place and were out of that.

We the people of Ireland, and north of Ireland, were told that the constitutional position of the north would not change unless we consented to it, and we did not consent to the wreckage that is going to happen as a consequence of Brexit.Brazilian President Michel Temer says authorities are considering limiting the number of Venezuelans entering Brazil each day.

The move comes as a border state struggles to deal with the flood of people fleeing political and economic turmoil.

Mr Temer told the Radio Jornal station on Wednesday that 700 to 800 Venezuelans are entering Brazil each day.

Brazils president said he sent in the armed forces to restore security in Roraima (Eraldo Peres/AP)

Roraima state is their main point of entry. Authorities there say the federal government needs to do more to help them deal with the influx.

Many of the Venezuelans are hungry and sick and arriving with little or no money and belongings.

Mr Temer said one option would be limit the number of people entering each day to 100 to 200.

Roraima state has tried to temporarily shut the border, but the federal government has pushed to keep it open.Britain and four key security partners are to boost intelligence-sharing on known or suspected terrorists.

The Five Eyes countries have signed a statement of intent to enhance the exchange of information held on critical watchlists.

Following talks between senior ministers, the alliance also called on the technology industry to do more to tackle illegal content online and highlighted the danger of security services being left in the dark by advanced encryption.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid attended a two-day summit of the `Five Eyes security alliance (Victoria Jones/PA)

Home Secretary Sajid Javid and counterparts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA thrashed out a string of commitments during the two-day summit on Australias Gold Coast.

An official communique published after the meeting said globalised terrorist networks and violent extremists pose a real and unabating threat to our communities.

Home Secretary @sajidjavid discussed how to tackle shared national security challenges with international allies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA at the annual Five Country Ministerial summit: https://t.co/KLf4OlfbKo pic.twitter.com/J5L78j2Fas  Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) August 29, 2018

The ministers noted that ongoing efforts to dismantle terrorist groups in the Middle East have created new risks, as foreign fighters return to their countries of origin or move to other regions.

We committed to the expanded sharing of information about known or suspected terrorists between our national security and border protection agencies, reiterating that the detection of international movements of terrorists and their associates relies on the rapid sharing of information between partners, the document said.

We reaffirmed that alerts and intelligence relating to the movement of known and suspected terrorists will be shared between all five partners quickly and effectively.

It is understood a new working group has been proposed to spearhead the drive.

The Five Eyes partnership is seen as crucial to the UKs efforts to counter the terrorist threat, which is seen as unprecedented after five attacks last year.

Productive day with Five Eyes allies committing to improving counter-terrorism co-operation & information sharing. Security relationship between UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand & USA vital in fight against global terror pic.twitter.com/s7GYV9UdxT  Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) August 28, 2018

At the end of June, Britains security agencies were running more than 650 live investigations across all forms of terrorism.

MI5 and the counter-terror policing network have around 3,000 active subjects of interest, plus a wider pool of more than 20,000 individuals who have previously featured in inquiries.

The expansion of information-sharing with international partners follows a domestic measure announced earlier this year that will see intelligence circulated more widely in an attempt to stop suspects before attack plots can crystallise.

The Five Eyes ministers also warned that the anonymous and instantaneous nature of the online environment has magnified threats including terrorism and child sexual abuse.

Calling on the digital industry to take more responsibility for material on their platforms and applications, they said: Just as the internet provides many benefits, it also provides opportunities for people to carry out crimes and spread illicit content.

The communique stressed that the countries have no interest in weakening encryption mechanisms.

But it said: The inability of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to lawfully access encrypted data and communications poses challenges to law enforcement agencies efforts to protect our communities.

A separate statement of principles encouraged communication service providers to voluntarily establish lawful access solutions.

It added: Should governments continue to encounter impediments to lawful access to information necessary to aid the protection of the citizens of our countries, we may pursue technological, enforcement, legislative or other measures to achieve lawful access solutions.

Amid the heightened threat, focus has fallen on end-to-end encryption, which means messages and communications are encoded so only the sending and receiving devices can read them.

Security chiefs and senior police officers have repeatedly claimed the technology is making the task of disrupting terrorist plots and child abuse more difficult.

In other commitments, the alliance announced that a new group will be formed to improve information-sharing on emerging threats in the aviation sector and committed to working collectively to confront activity of hostile states.

Mr Javid said: The historic Five Eyes security partnership is absolutely vital in tackling the shared international threats we all face, and the UK will continue to play a leading role.

Our ongoing cooperation and the commitments made at the summit will ensure we have the strongest approach possible when it comes to combatting those who seek to undermine our national security.

Our united, unwavering response is crucial.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Francis Gurry, who is here to attend the 2018 high-level conference on intellectual property rights (IPRs) for countries along the Belt and Road, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Tuesday met with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Francis Gurry, who was in Beijing to attend the 2018 high-level conference on intellectual property rights (IPRs) for countries along the Belt and Road.

Li said that IPR protection is the cornerstone of the market economy while protecting IPRs is an inevitable requirement for achieving innovative development.

In the context of a new round of scientific and technological revolution, and in the process of economic transformation and upgrading of developing countries, innovation has increasingly become the first driving force for countries to lead development, said Li.

To protect IPRs is to protect innovation and the enthusiasm of innovative talent, he said.

Li said that China now is in the critical stage of upgrading and improving its economy and will adopt a stricter IPR protection system and further improve related laws and regulations.

IPR violations, once verified, will be severely punished, he said, adding that China will treat all domestic and foreign enterprises equally and provide equal protection.

China will never allow compulsory technology transfers, said Li, noting that if any such case is discovered, China will investigate and deal with it according to law.

Li stressed that China firmly adheres to multilateralism. Countries, big or small, should seek the greatest common interests in international affairs.

China is willing to further deepen its cooperation with the WIPO and will maintain support for the WIPO's work, so as to jointly promote the building of open, inclusive, balanced and effective international IPR rules, and make new contributions to improving global governance on IPRs.

Gurry said that in the past 40 years, China established a high-level IPR protection system, which regards intellectual property as the driving force for innovation and economic development, and treats Chinese and foreign companies equally.

Congratulating the rise of China's ranking in Global Innovation Index 2018, Gurry said he believes the country will make further developments in the future.

The WIPO is willing to further deepen cooperation with China, maintain multilateralism, and jointly meet challenges, said Gurry.A notorious Belfast boys home should form part of official efforts to address the legacy of the past, lawyers said.

KRW Law argued that Kincora should be addressed as part of the NIOs consultation on dealing with the past, which closes next month.

The firm represents Richard Kerr, who alleges he was abused by very powerful people with links to Kincora and does not accept the conclusions of the four-year Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Lawyers want the former Kincora Boys home to be included in a legacy consultation by the NIO. Niall Carson/PA.

The inquiry dismissed long-standing claims that senior politicians, civil servants and businessmen were complicit in a paedophile ring that operated at the home in the 1970s and for which three staff members were jailed.

A statement from KRW said: In addition to the proposed legal proceedings, KRW will argue that the Kincora scandal must be considered as part of the legacy of the conflict and we have made representations to the Lord Chief Justice and OPONI (Police Ombudsman) to that effect and will make the same point in its submissions to the NIO consultation on the legacy of the conflict.

The inquiry report rejected allegations that the UK security services knew what was going on and, instead of intervening, used the information to blackmail the establishment figures involved.

Publishing the HIA findings in January, inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart said of Kincora: It was not a homosexual brothel, nor was it used by any of the security agencies as a honey pot to entrap, blackmail or otherwise exploit homosexuals.

The retired judge added: It is now time to finally lay these unfounded myths to rest.

Mr Kerr, who claims he was abused inside Kincora and at other locations in Belfast and London, was due to give evidence to the inquiry but withdrew his co-operation at a late stage after claiming key state documents related to the home were not disclosed to his legal team.

A statement from his lawyers said: On his behalf, KRW is considering issuing legal proceedings by way of a judicial review of the failings of the OFMDFM, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and the PSNI to investigate Kincora in a manner consistent with human rights standards, which Sir Anthony Hart stated would not be applied to The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) which reported its conclusions and recommendations in 2017.

This point was argued before the Court of Appeal at the start of the HIA Inquiry.

The law firm added: It is a point that will now be subject to challenge again in light of the flaws and failings of the HIA Inquiry.The late senator John McCains widow, Cindy, and his children have filed past the coffin holding his body at the Arizona Capitol.

Mrs McCain patted it, then leaned over and kissed it in a gathering to honour the former presidential nominee.

The rest of his children then filed past, including his sons in uniform and daughter Meghan McCain who was weeping.

Governor Doug Ducey and his wife bowed and Mr McCains former colleagues, Senator Jeff Flake and former Senator Jon Kyl, both touched the coffin.

Mr Flake gave a prayer at the ceremony that preceded a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died on Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Mr Ducey said imagining Arizona without Mr McCain is like imagining the state without the Grand Canyon, two things it is known for.

The governor called Mr McCain one of Arizonas favourite adopted sons.

Cindy McCain, widow of John McCain (Jae C. Hong/AP)

Mr Ducey said Arizona residents knew they could follow Mr McCain, who served in Vietnam as a Navy pilot and was captured as a prisoner of war, because he was trusted and tested, qualities that are in short supply.

The viewing will go on as long as people are waiting in a queue, Rick Davis, Mr McCains former presidential campaign manager, said.

For some Arizona residents, Mr McCain has been a political fixture in the state for their entire lives.

Meghan McCain, daughter of (John McCain (Jae C. Hong/AP)

He took office in Arizona in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by senator Barry Goldwater.

Crews spent the past several days preparing the Capitol for the visitors, hauling in chairs, cleaning up the building and assembling dozens of flags.

John McCain will always have our back. pic.twitter.com/3BmiN7HdsI  Doug Ducey (@dougducey) August 29, 2018

Mr McCain is the third person to lie in state in the rotunda in the last 40 years; others were Arizona state senator Marilyn Jarrett in 2006 and Olympic gold medallist Jesse Owens, a Tucson resident, in 1980.Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has resigned his membership of the SNP amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Mr Salmond made the revelation in a video message posted on social media on Wednesday evening.

Two complaints were raised in January against the ex-SNP leader, who fiercely denies the allegations, and he was informed of an investigation in March.

Alex Salmond has resigned from the SNP after it emerged he faced claims of sexual harassment (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr Salmond is taking court action against the Scottish Government to contest the complaints process activated against him, with papers lodged at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

In the message posted on Twitter, Mr Salmond said he has written to the partys national secretary to resign his membership.

He stated: I have been a member of the Scottish National Party for 45 years, 20 of them as party leader and seven as first minister of Scotland.

I hope I have done the party and the broader cause of independence some service.

Apart from a political spat back in the 1980s, that has been a period of continuous membership.

I truly love the SNP and the wider independence movement in Scotland. They have been the defining commitment of my life.

But today I have written to the national secretary of the party resigning my membership.

Mr Salmond indicated that his resignation was to avoid potential divisions within the party.

He stated: It seems obvious that (Scottish First Minister) Nicola (Sturgeon) feels under pressure from other political parties to suspend me from SNP membership, given recent party precedents

I did not come into politics to facilitate opposition attacks on the SNP and, with Parliament returning next week, I have tendered my resignation to remove this line of opposition attack.

Most of all, I am conscious that if the party felt forced into suspending me it would cause substantial internal division.

He added that it is his absolute intention to reapply for SNP membership just as soon as I have had the opportunity to clear my name.

In the meantime, I would urge no one else to relinquish their SNP membership, he added.

The allegations about Mr Salmonds conduct towards two staff members in 2013, while he was in office, emerged last week.

The Daily Record newspaper published what it claimed were details of one of the complaints over the weekend.

Police Scotland confirmed on Friday that the complaints have been passed to the force.

The Scottish Government this week confirmed there are no recorded complaints about Mr Salmond from before January this year.

He reiterated his strong denial of the allegations in the video message, saying: Let me be clear again. I refute these two complaints of harassment and I absolutely reject any suggestion of criminality.

Earlier this week, he wrote to Scotlands top civil servant, calling for an inquiry into how the allegations against him were made public.

I believe that all such issues must be treated seriously, confidentially and through a fair process. In this case confidentiality has been broken greatly to my detriment and in a way which puts at serious risk the anonymity of both complainants, Mr Salmond said in the message.

It urgently needs to be established who breached that duty of confidence and why.

He said his entire focus is now on preparing for the judicial review proceedings at Scotlands highest civil court and he has launched a crowd-funding campaign to help with costs.

My intention is to secure fairness because that is necessary to clear my name, he said.

Will Nicola now be launching a crowdfunder for the Scottish Govts legal costs against Salmond? Extraordinary times.  Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) August 29, 2018

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: This is an overdue move, but one that plunges Scotlands governing party into turmoil.

The fact he now has the brass neck to publicly crowdfund in the same breath as seemingly doing the right thing is astonishing.

Scotland now faces the incredible and unprecedented situation of its most famous former First Minister appealing to SNP supporters for cash to take legal action against the government he used to run.A leading candidate for Brazils presidency has said police should be given a licence to kill criminals.

Congressman Jair Bolsonaro said criminals cannot be treated as normal human beings and that police should be allowed to kill them.

Mr Bolsonaro said: If he kills 10, 15 or 20 with 10 or 30 bullets each, he needs to get a medal and not be prosecuted.

Jair Bolsonaro campaigns at Madureira market in Rio de Janeiro (Silvia Izquierdo/AP)

He made the comments on Tuesday night on Brazils most popular news programme on TV Globo.

Mr Bolsonaros law-and-order rhetoric has helped put him among the top contenders for the October presidential election in a nation fed up with crime.

Human rights groups say police killings of suspects are already rampant.Widow Cindy McCain and several of John McCains children led mourners at the first of two services for the statesman and former prisoner of war.

Mrs McCain pressed her face against the flag-draped coffin of the US senator and former nominee for the US presidency in the state he served, Arizona.

The private service at the Arizona Capitol marked the first appearance of Mr McCains family members since the senator died on Saturday of brain cancer.

It also began two days of official mourning in Mr McCains adopted state before his body is taken to Washington for his burial.

Members of the public pay their respects (Matt York/AP)

During the service, Governor Doug Ducey remembered McCain as a senator and internationally known figure as well as a major figure in the history of Arizona.

While Barry Goldwater, who ran for the presidency in the 1960s, was an Arizona native, Mr McCain was Arizonas favourite adopted son, the governor said on what would have been the 82nd birthday of Mr McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served in the military.

Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon, Mr Ducey said.

US Naval sea cadets walk past the coffin (Jae C. Hong/AP)

Former Arizona senator Jon Kyl said he has been with Mr McCain all around the world and he had better instincts on when to assert US power than anyone else he knew.

Mr Kyl said he would miss Mr McCain, whose greatest contribution was national security.

I will miss him as a friend, and a strong force for America, and the world, Mr Kyl said.

Senator Jeff Flake offered the benediction at the service.

Later in the afternoon, the Capitol will be opened to the public to pay their respects.

Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain (Jae C. Hong/AP)

Arizona National Guard members carried the coffin into the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where Mr McCain lay in state.

Black curtains hung in the rotunda and US and Arizona flags encircled the room.

By the time the service ended and the rotunda was cleared, at least 100 people had already gathered outside to wait for the public viewing.

John McCain will always have our back. pic.twitter.com/3BmiN7HdsI  Doug Ducey (@dougducey) August 29, 2018

Some had travelled for hours from California and elsewhere.

They took shelter from the hot sun under tents erected by security teams while volunteers filled coolers with ice and water bottles.

Chasity Pullin, whose husband and father are military veterans, was among those in the queue.

She said she liked how Mr McCain did not act as though he was above others, and she praised all he did for veterans.

Cindy McCain, widow of John McCain (Jae C. Hong/AP)

It feels like youre losing part of your family, as much as he did, she said.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture for their entire lives.

He took office in the state in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Mr Goldwater.

Thursday morning will feature a procession through Phoenix on the way to a memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church, with the public invited to line the route along Interstate 17.

The memorial service will include a tribute from former Vice President Joe Biden.

Musical choices include a recessional to My Way by Frank Sinatra.

From there, Mr McCain will depart Arizona from Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport.

Another viewing will be held at the US Capitol on Friday, with a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral.Gareth Bale will cope with the pressure of replacing Cristiano Ronaldos goals at Real Madrid, according to his Wales manager Ryan Giggs.

Bale has become the main forward at Real since Ronaldos summer departure to Juventus and has responded by scoring in their opening LaLiga wins against Getafe and Girona.

When someone like Cristiano leaves there is always going to be a spotlight on who is going to replace him goal-wise and threat-wise, Giggs said.

Gareth Bale has carried on his form from the end of last season (Mike Egerton/PA)

Its a massive void to fill but Gareth has the experience now of being at the club for a long time.

Every year there is pressure on him and he has handled it brilliantly.

Its a bit different this year because Cristiano has left and there will be more focus on the players who are going to replace the goals.

But Gareth has shown his qualities in big games and that he can handle anything that is thrown at him.

Bale became Wales top goalscorer earlier this year when his 29th international goal took him past Ian Rushs record.

He missed the goalless friendly with Mexico in Los Angeles in May as it clashed with his match-winning performance in the Champions League final.

But Bale is part of a 25-man Wales squad for next months UEFA League of Nations games against the Republic of Ireland and Denmark.

He has started this season on fire, Giggs said. But theres never really a time when he is not playing well.

I think always the problem with Gareth is that when he has been injured, hes then had to come back and get more game time.

But when he plays, he always plays well and more or less scores.

Bale, 29, joined Real from Tottenham in 2013 and his time in Spain has often been disrupted by injury.

It is a situation Giggs acknowledges given the injuries he suffered in the early part of his Manchester United career.

It was probably when I was 28 when I really started realising what was good for me, Giggs added.

Preparing for games, maybe not training as much or not as intensively and some days training more.

Its a fine balance. Some days if you can feel there is an injury around the corner you then pull yourself out of a game which isnt easy and you dont always get it right.

But its something you have to try and do for the longer time that you are playing. Miss one game and play the next.

I was lucky having a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson who was quite happy to do that.

It takes time to know your body and get used to what is good for you.PRISONER OF WAR, CELEBRITY

McCain, became a public figure at age 31 when his bed-bound image was broadcast from North Vietnam in 1967. The North Vietnamese had figured out that he was the son and grandson of famous American military men  a 'crown prince,' they called him. He was offered an early release, but refused. McCain's captors beat him until he confessed, an episode that first led to shame  and then discovery. McCain has written that that's when he learned to trust not just his legacy but his own judgment  and his resilience. Less than a decade after his March 1973 release, McCain was elected to the House as a Republican from Arizona. In 1986, voters there sent him to the Senate.

THE KEATING FIVE

He called it 'my asterisk' and the worst mistake of his life. At issue was a pair of 1987 meetings between McCain, four other senators and regulators to get the government to back off a key campaign donor. Charles Keating Jr. wanted McCain and Democratic Sens. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Alan Cranston of California, John Glenn of Ohio and Don Riegle of Michigan to get government auditors to stop pressing Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. All five denied improper conduct. McCain was cleared of all charges but found to have exercised 'poor judgment.' 'His honor was being questioned and that's nothing that he takes lightly,' said Mark Salter, McCain's biographer and co-author of his new memoir, 'The Restless Wave.'

THE SENATE

McCain became his party's leading voice on matters of war, national security and veterans - and eventually became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He worked with a Democrat to rewrite the nation's campaign finance laws. He voted for the Iraq War and supported the 2007 surge of forces there even as his own sons served or prepared to serve. But there was one thing that wasn't as widely known about him: McCain, owner of a ranch in Arizona that is in the flight path of 500 species of migratory birds, became concerned about the environment. 'People associate John with defense and national security, as well they should. But he also had a great concern for and love of the environment,' said Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who traveled to the ends of the earth with McCain  to the Arctic Circle in 2004 and Antarctica two years later  on fact-finding missions related to climate change. Back on McCain's Arizona ranch, the senator gave Collins an extensive nature tour of the property. 'I particularly remember his love for the birds,' Collins said. 'He loved the birds.'

TOWN HALLS, STRAIGHT TALK

McCain in the 2000 election did something new: He toured New Hampshire on a bus laden with doughnuts and reporters that stopped at 'town hall' meetings where voters were invited to exchange views with the candidate. The bus was called the 'Straight Talk Express,' and that's what he promised to deliver at the town halls. The whole thing was messy, unscripted and often hilarious. And ultimately the events re-introduced McCain to voters as a candid and authentic, just a year after President Bill Clinton was acquitted of lying to Congress and obstruction. In New Hampshire that year, McCain defeated George W. Bush in an 18-point blowout, only to be pushed out of the race in South Carolina. But the town halls remained a fond McCain memory. 'The town halls were festivals of politics,' Salter said. 'They were so authentic and open and honest.'

'NO MA'AM'

McCain, in 2008 making his second run for president, quickly intervened when a woman in Lakeville, Minnesota, stood at a town hall event and began to make disparaging remarks about Democratic presidential nominee and then-Sen. Barack Obama. 'He's an Arab,' she said, implying he was not an American. 'No ma'am,' McCain said, taking the microphone from her. 'He's a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. He's not.' It was a defining moment for McCain as a leader, a reflection of his thinking that partisans should disagree without demonizing each other. But it reflected McCain's reckoning with the fear pervading his party of Obama, who would go on to become the nation's first black president.

CANCER

McCain last year was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same aggressive cancer that had felled his friend, Sen Edward Kennedy, in 2009. Friends and family say he understood the gravity of the diagnosis  but quickly turned to the speech he wanted to give on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to shed the partisanship that had produced gridlock. Face scarred and bruised from surgery, he pounded the lectern. Some of the sternest members of the Senate hugged him, tears in their eyes. 'Of all of the things that have happened in this man's life, of all of the times that his life could have ended in the ways it could have ended, this (cancer) is by far one of the least threats to him and that's kind of how he views it,' his son, Jack McCain, told the Arizona Republic in January.

HEALTH CARE VOTE

Republicans, driven by Trump, were one vote away from advancing a repeal of Obama's health care law. Then McCain, scarred from brain surgery, swooped into the Senate chamber and, facing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, dramatically held up his hand. The thumb flicked down. Gasps could be heard throughout the staid chamber. McConnell stood motionless, arms crossed. Trump's campaign promise  and the premiere item on his agenda  was dead.

TRUMP

McCain tangled with Trump, who never served in the military, for years. As a candidate, Trump in 2016 claimed the decorated McCain is only considered a war hero because he had been captured. 'He's not a war hero,' Trump said at an event in Iowa. 'I like people who weren't captured.' Shortly before Election Day in 2016, McCain said he's rather cast his vote for another Republican, someone who's 'qualified to be president.' Trump fumed, without using McCain's name, that the senator is the only reason the Affordable Care Act stands. McCain responded: 'I have faced tougher adversaries.'Fewer than half of adults are taking advantage of a free NHS midlife MoT, a charity has found.

Only 44% of adults eligible for an NHS Health Check in the last five years has had one, according to analysis by Diabetes UK.

The five-yearly check-up is offered to adults in England aged 40 to 70 to help spot early signs of Type 2 diabetes, stroke, kidney disease, heart disease and dementia.

Fewer than half of eligible adults are taking part in the NHS Health Check scheme (Peter Byrne/PA)

According to Diabetes UK, between 2013 and 2018, 15.5 million people were eligible to receive an NHS Health Check, but only 6.8 million had one.

The charity said more must be done to encourage people to take part in the scheme.

It said many adults who are found to be at a high risk of Type 2 diabetes through the scheme are referred to the specialist NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, which helps people to reduce their risk.

Across the UK there are 12.3 million people at increased risk of developing diabetes and knowing their risk could help them prevent the onset of the condition, the charity added.

It is estimated there are around a million people with Type 2 diabetes who have not been diagnosed.

The Diabetes UK analysis also highlighted significant variation across the country, with just one in five eligible adults taking part in the Health Check in some regions compared with almost all in others.

 Why let yourself be left in the dark? It's important to know if there is something wrong with you as early as possible. So if you're invited for an NHS Health Check when you turn 40 please make sure you go. #itsgoodtoknow #imnotamushroom pic.twitter.com/8RHeL5e3ui  Fylde Coast CCGs (@FyldeCoastCCGs) August 26, 2018

In Walsall, 99% of eligible adults received their Health Check compared with 18% in the East Riding of Yorkshire and Croydon.

Across England, every local authority is required by law to ensure all eligible people in their area are offered a check every five years.

Diabetes UK is urging local authorities to do more to encourage people to participate.

The success of the programme in certain areas is due to local councils working hard to make it easier for people to attend these free health checks that only take 15 minutes and can help keep people healthy, said Diabetes UK head of policy Robin Hewings.

It is absolutely vital that all people who are eligible in every area get a health check.

If left undiagnosed, Type 2 diabetes can lead to devastating complications, including blindness, amputations, stroke and kidney failure, but with the right treatment and support people living with the condition can lead a long, full and healthy life.

if we are to continue to tackle or delay avoidable ill-health such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in England, it is vital that eligible people get checked in order to increase uptake rates

Professor Jamie Waterall, Public Health Englands national lead for the NHS Health Check programme, said: Heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes are among the biggest causes of early death and ill-health in England, but most cases are preventable.

Thats why the continued effort to expand the NHS Health Check programme is so important as it helps identify who is at risk and, more importantly, what they can do about it.

Public Health England is working hard to support every council to provide these vital checks for people aged 40 to 74 years old.

Nick Forbes, senior vice chairman of the Local Government Association, said: Councils have spent millions of pounds inviting more than 14 million eligible people to have an NHS Health Check over the last five years, of which around half have taken up the offer.

However, if we are to continue to tackle or delay avoidable ill-health such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in England, it is vital that eligible people get checked in order to increase uptake rates.

For more information about the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, visit https://www.diabetes.org.uk/riskscoreWASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Tuesday the United States was concerned about Turkey's purchase of a Russian missile defense system that cannot be integrated into NATO.

The United States has already warned Turkey that it would be subject to sanctions and its purchase of Lockheed Martin fighter jets would be jeopardized if Ankara does not drop plans to purchase the missile defense system.

"Clearly, Turkey bringing a Russian anti-aircraft, anti-missile system into a NATO country -- we cannot integrate that into NATO. Yes, it does concern us and we do not recommend that," Mattis told reporters.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Doina Chiacu)STAVANGER, Norway, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Norwegian oil services firm Aker Solutions said on Tuesday he sees big growth potential from its Brazilian business and from scaling up its exposure to floating offshore windfarms.

"I expect Brazil in five years to be at least twice where it is today for us ... in terms of revenues," Luis Araujo told Reuters in an interview.

"We believe that floating wind is where we can use our capabilities," he said, adding this would be through scaling up operations of Californian company Principle Power, in which Aker Solutions owns 10 percent with an option to increase. (Reporting By Shadia Nasralla, editing by David Evans)China and Africa, over the past three years, have yielded rich fruits from their cooperation in industrialization, a significant area to propel Africas social development, economic transformation, and improvement of peoples livelihood.

Those results also constitute an impressive part of the positive progress both sides made from their efforts to implement the ten major China-Africa cooperation plans which were put forward three years ago.

Over the past years, much dependent on exporting energy, mineral resources and primary products, African countries did not have a fairly integrated industrial system, thus making it hard to start up large-scale infrastructure projects. Whats worse, their economic structure usually become more vulnerable when faced with the price fluctuation of international commodities.

African leaders have been aware that they could not truly achieve economic transformation and economic independence, or release huge development potential without industrialization.

Against such background, they have listed a long-term strategy in the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU), in a hope of accelerating Africas economic transformation, increasing the added value of African resources and peoples income through industrialization process, especially the growth of manufacturing sector.

The sufficient labor and natural resources have put Africa in front of a broad prospect of win-win cooperation and common development with China, who has technologies, equipment, talents and capital needed for Africa to achieve industrialization.

Industrialization is the only path for Africas development, said Funeka Yazini April, a research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa, adding that China-Africa cooperation is a key to Africas development.

China built industrial parks in Africa to transfer technology, create jobs for the locals, and increase the added value of local products. There is no reason not to welcome China, said Namibian President Hage Geingob.

Thanks to the priority China gives to Africas industrialization when cooperating with the latter in the new era, Africa has moved a big stride forward to tackle its two major development bottlenecks, namely the backward infrastructure and talent shortage.

After the China-constructed standard-gauge railway connecting landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti opened to traffic, its freight and passenger traffic have rose and an industrial corridor has taken shape along the route as a result.

The Addis Ababa-Djibouti rail line, built and operated by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corp (CRCC), is also Africas first and longest transnational electrified railway.

After Djibouti International Free Trade Zone was opened in early July, the China Merchants Group-backed zone has attracted over 20 African and Chinese enterprises to sign the letter of intent to enter the zone.

The free trade zone would bring welfare to local people, Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh noted, elaborating that it would not only increase job opportunities, but also introduce the export processing industry to Djibouti, providing continuous impetus for the countrys economy.

In Ethiopia, Chinese enterprises have engaged in the construction of the majority of the more than 10 new industrial parks led by local government. The CCECC-built Hawassa Industrial Park, an emission-free zone with 52 standardized plants, has directly created nearly 20,000 jobs for locals.

The success of the park has not only greatly boosted the confidence of the Ethiopian government in industrialization drive, but also introduced the management experiences of Chinese companies on industrial park to Africa.

China-Africa industrialization cooperation has brought more and more tangible benefits to Africans. The rural population on the continent is now flowing to manufacturing sector because of the factories and enterprises invested by Chinese companies.

In this March, a foundation-laying ceremony for the China-Africa Textile Company was held in Salima, 100 kilometers from Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi.

The project makes the dream of changing Malawi economic model from importing for consumption to exporting production come true, Malawian President Peter Mutharika said when extending his gratitude to China.

He noted that the textile mill would have a positive impact on the Malawian economy, as the products could be exported to neighboring countries and international markets, and it would also improve the rural residents living standard and create numerous jobs.

Where there are Chinese factories and projects, there are young Africans full of passion and energy. It is a situation commonly seen in more than 20 African countries.

The Huajian Shoe factory in Ethiopia, for instance, employs about 8,000 local workers, making itself the countrys largest foreign employer.

The Hebei Iron and Steel Group hires more than 2,400 workers in its steel plant in South Africa, with only eight Chinese employees. Many factories invested by Chinese companies in Africa have grown into business and employment centers.

The South Africa plant of Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC), a joint venture between BAIC and South Africas state-owned Industrial Development Corp, is a cooperation project signed by the two partners at the witness of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South African counterpart during Xis second state visit to South Africa in December 2015.

It is learnt that the plant, which could produce 50,000 cars each year upon completion of its first-phase project, will be the largest single investment in the automobile industry of South Africa and even of the whole of Africa after its operation.

After reaching the designed production, its added value of the whole vehicle and parts business will climb to about 18.6 billion yuan, which will contribute about 6.2 billion yuan to the exports of South Africa.

Statistics indicates that China has been Africas largest trading partner for 9 consecutive years, with the investment to Africa totaling over $100 billion.

The achievements of China-Africa industrialization cooperation can be seen everywhere, said Chinas Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian, adding that a large number of projects including railways, ports and industrial parks have been completed, which significantly accelerated Africas industrialization drive and showed a strong momentum of rapid development.

Lin believes that China has become and will continue to be the most reliable friend and partner of Africa, helping African countries to achieve sustainable development.By Kit Rees and Helen Reid

LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - European shares hit a two-week high after the United States and Mexico reached a trade agreement, though they gave back gains during the day to end flat, while autos stocks enjoyed a relief rally.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index hit a two-week high on the news before ending the day flat, while Germany's exporter-heavy DAX fell 0.1 percent.

Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5 percent following Monday's holiday, helped by a subdued sterling.

European autos drove the market, rising 0.8 percent after the United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). That puts pressure on Canada to agree to new terms on auto trade and dispute settlement.

"Trade is the number one factor driving markets right now," Jasper Reimers, market analyst at Vertex Capital Group, said.

"We've seen some developments between the United States and Mexico - hopefully they're going to start spilling over now," Reimers added.

Mining shares were also big risers, up 1.7 percent as copper prices rallied on the back of a weaker dollar, which makes greenback-denominated metals cheaper for holders of foreign currency.

Among individual stocks, shares in Danish brewer Royal Unibrew rose 4.8 percent after the company raised its outlook for the third time this year.

Shares in Sydbank fell 11.2 percent, however, after the Danish bank reported disappointing second-quarter earnings, missing profit forecasts.

Autos stocks were boosted not only by the NAFTA deal but also a note from Credit Suisse analysts arguing the sector could re-rate from "trough" levels and upgrading Renault.

Auto parts supplier Faurecia also got a boost from broker Kepler Cheuvreux raising the stock to "buy" from "hold".

South Africa exposed stocks Investec, Old Mutual , and Anglo American all rose amid a rally in emerging market assets after the NAFTA trade deal.

Italy's FTSE MIB underperformed the market again as motorway operator Atlantia fell 3.2 percent after the Transport Minister said the government would reject the firm's plan to rebuild the collapsed motorway bridge in Genoa.

Luxury stocks LVMH and Richemont climbed 1.6 to 1.9 percent after the Swiss competition authority WEKO declined to open a formal investigation into watchmakers over the supply of spare parts for independent watch repair shops.

Covestro shares fell 3 percent to the bottom of the DAX after Barclays cut its price target on the stock by 11 percent.

"High volatility has worked in Covestro's favour for some time but earnings are now inflecting," wrote Barclays analysts.

With the European earnings season nearing its end, actual earnings growth for the MSCI EMU (euro zone) index has come in at 6.9 percent in euro terms for the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data.

While earnings growth has been fair for Europe, it has been nowhere near as strong as the 24.8 percent figure for the S&P 500. (Reporting by Kit Rees, editing by Larry King and Louise Heavens)By Teis Jensen

COPENHAGEN, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Denmark will take part as much as possible in European defence cooperation outside NATO, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said after meeting France's president on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who said on Monday that Europe could no longer rely on the United States for its security, welcomed Rasmussen's comment, saying: "Strategically, a greater involvement from Denmark would be good news for Europe and for France."

U.S. President Donald Trump has been sharply critical of NATO, demanding that European member states share more of what he has called an unfair burden on U.S. taxpayers in funding the Western alliance.

Rasmussen said Denmark wanted to cooperate immediately and as much as possible within the limits of its defence opt-out from the European Union - one of four opt-outs put into practice in 1993 after Danes rejected full EU membership the year before.

"That's why we have agreed during this meeting (with Macron) that we on a bilateral basis will enhance our cooperation," Rasmussen told a news conference alongside Macron.

"One reason is that transatlantic relations are changing these days; we both realised that during the last summit. So we have to take greater responsibility for our own security."

Rasmussen said he believed that there would be a division of labour between NATO and Europe in the future, and said Denmark should begin to debate its EU defence opt-out.

"I think it is strange if we put Denmark in a position where we participate in the tough actions in NATO or through different alliances and then when we should invest in stabilisation and rebuilding countries, Denmark has to withdraw," he said.

The opt-outs can only be changed at a referendum but Rasmussen said he would not call for such a vote before the next general election, due to be held by June next year.

Danish voters in December 2015 rejected a government proposal to give up their opt-out from a range of EU justice and home affairs laws to keep the country inside the European police agency. Denmark later got a deal with that allowed it to continue using the Europol database.

Denmark has also opted out of the common euro currency, but its crown currency has been pegged to the euro for decades.

(Reporting by Teis Jensen, additional reporting by Michel Rose in Paris, editing by Richard Balmforth)By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

ABUJA, Aug 28 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The father of a Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram called on Tuesday for the government to do more to secure her freedom after audio of her begging for help was released.

Leah Sharibu, 15, was taken hostage with more than 100 girls in the town of Dapchi in February, in the largest mass abduction since Boko Haram took 220 girls from the town of Chibok in 2014.

She was the only one not released when the others were freed a month later - apparently because she refused to convert from Christianity to Islam - the freed girls said in March.

The government said it was investigating the audio recording, which was circulated by local media this week and is believed to have come from Boko Haram.

It is likely a ploy by the militants for ransom money, according to analysts.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation could not independently verify its authenticity, but Sharibu's father said he recognised her voice.

"Her mother collapsed and was crying when she heard the audio, but me, I was very happy because I did not think she was alive," Nathan Sharibu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"People should help to put pressure on the Nigerian government concerning her release," he said by telephone.

Sharibu said no one in the government had contacted him.

The fact that the girl asks the president for help in the recording suggests the militants wanted to put public pressure on him, said Ryan Cummings, a security analyst for consultancy firm Signal Risk.

"This does indicate that there seems to be some form of negotiations ongoing between the state and the militants," Cummings said.

Sometimes militants release similar "proof of life" videos of hostages when asking for ransom money, he added.

Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said on Twitter that the government was aware of the audio and would react in due course.

"For President Buhari, nothing will be spared in bringing all our girls home," Shehu wrote. "He will not rest until all of them are freed."

The Nigerian government said it did not pay a ransom for the release of the other Dapchi girls, who were returned home by the militants, seemingly unprompted, in March.

Nigeria is still haunted by the kidnapping of the Chibok girls in 2014. About 100 have been found or freed, but at least 100 are still believed to be in captivity in the northeast. (Additional Reporting and Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Kieran Guilbert and Claire Cozens. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)Aug 28 (Reuters) - Yum China Holdings Inc, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in China, has rejected a buyout offer from a consortium of investors that valued the company at more than $17 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The group, which included private-equity firms KKR & Co and Baring Private Equity Asia and was led by Chinese investment firm Hillhouse Capital Group, had offered to buy the company for $46 per share, the report said https://www.wsj.com/articles/yum-china-rejects-private-buyout-offer-at-46-a-share-1535474967?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1.

The company's shares rose 6.2 percent to $38.02 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Yum China, Hillhouse and Baring could not be reached for comment outside business hours. KKR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Hillhouse Capital Group was planning to lead a consortium to buy Yum China, which had a market capitalization of $13.75 billion as of Monday's close. (Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)LIMA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Peru on Tuesday declared a health emergency at its northern border as thousands of Venezuelans, fleeing economic crisis and hunger at home, continued to stream into the country despite tightening entry requirements.

In a decree published in the government's official gazette, Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra declared a 60-day emergency in two provinces on Peru's northern border, citing "imminent danger" to health and sanitation due to immigration. It did not give more details on the risks.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a "crisis moment" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week.

Health authorities in Peru have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from the migrants, many of whom lacked access to basic medicine and health care in their homeland.

Brazil said earlier this month that the migration wave had sparked measles outbreaks in neighboring countries, including in Brazil where the disease had been considered eradicated.

Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil have been meeting in Colombian capital Bogota for a two day summit to discuss how to cope with the influx of migrants.

There are close to 1 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and more than 400,000 in Peru, the countries said in a joint statement on Tuesday after the meeting. Just 178,000 of those in Peru have legal permission to stay or are being processed.

Colombia and Peru will share information about migrants in a database, in an effort to track arrivals and fairly distribute aid, the two countries said. The countries invited others affected by Venezuelan migration to join the initiative.

This month, Peru and Ecuador began requiring passports instead of national ID cards from Venezuelan migrants. Peru has also tightened deadlines for Venezuelans to sign up for a temporary residency card that lets them work in the country legally.

On Saturday, the first day Peru imposed its passport rule, the number of Venezuelan migrants entering the country fell by more than half to 1,630, according to Peru's immigration agency. But hundreds more without passports entered the country by seeking asylum.

Foreign ministers from Ecuador and Colombia, and possibly Peru and Brazil, will meet to discuss Venezuelan migration in Ecuador next week, said Christian Kruger, the head of Colombia's migration agency.

Peru has also called for a meeting at the Organization for American States and the United Nations to discuss the topic, Peru's foreign minister has said.

(Reporting By Mitra Taj, Additional Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)It is no longer news that a prominent member of the Group 16 now reduced to 15, has begun promoting the idea of starting a new political journey led by the incumbent Number One and the former strongman from the top two positions.



However, this proposition is being frowned upon by practically all other members in the group, they say.



Most of the group members, who prefer to follow in the footsteps of the former strongman, have already rejected the idea of a twin leadership.



Meanwhile, a gabby heavyweight from Uva challenging the twin leadership proposition had declared point blank that they had no choice other than to put forward a marketable candidate at the upcoming big poll and the others had readily endorsed the view.



The general opinion about the group members is that the former strongman may not like the idea of playing the second fiddle to another person.Nevertheless, the advocate of twin leadership continues to canvass support for the move undeterred, they say.At the Daily Mirror, we believe that climate change is one of the greatest threats that we, as Sri Lankans, will face in the future. Therefore, we intend to provide our readers with local and international content with the objective to educate and inspire. We would also like to learn from our valued readers about any ongoing initiatives in making Sri Lanka a more sustainable nation. We aim to explore sustainable ways of living that have the most positive impact on not just our natural environment, but also for humans and animals. While topics such as global warming, pollution, and inequality are confronting, we believe it's time the media stopped shying away from these issues and became an active participant in finding solutions - and we hope you will join us.

Project Akuru

Every child has a right to go to school. But not every child is fortunate enough to study in comfortable environments. School life is a fundamental stage that every child has to experience. In Sri Lanka although a majority of children go to school they are deprived of basic facilities, particularly in rural areas. The nearest school would have been the best school as per the programme launched by the government if every school was equally furnished and well-staffed. Certain schools dont have teachers to teach compulsory subjects for O/Ls and as a result students fail their exams. Identifying the need to encourage students to face their examinations with confidence, a group of past pupils of Royal College decided to give them a hand.



The Hinguralakanda Maha Vidyalaya, a school based in the cool environs in Dehiowita houses close to 351 students with 24 teachers. The school curriculum extends until A/Ls but due to less teachers students have lost their interest in studies. As more students failed in mathematics, the team launched their project to instill confidence in these students. Titled as Project Akuru the team visits the school every Sunday and teach them mathematics in the O/L syllabus while training them to do past papers as well.



During a recent visit to this beautiful area, the Mirror For Hope team visited the school and observed the proceedings of the project. We dont have teachers to teach English and Mathematics, said W. Abeywickrama, the principal of the school. The current mathematics teacher resides in Warakapola and it takes a lot of time for her to get to the school. She has to come by bus and then walk several miles as well. When such teachers are appointed it is a disadvantage for the students as well. I observed that most students failed their O/Ls because they failed in mathematics. But after this programme commenced the students have done well in mathematics. We appreciate the work done by this team to bring all the students and teach mathematics to succeed in their exams. Most students started leaving school because we dont have teachers and the necessary facilities. But now it doesnt happen because students started getting good grades. Even if there are teachers in close proximity to the school they have to be sent to the school via the Zonal education department. But what happens is that they appoint whoever they can irrespective of where they stay.



According to Abeywickrama, most parents have lost their trust in the school and have sent their children to other schools. Most of the parents are illiterate and a few students dont come to this class because they are not aware of its importance. The present mathematics teacher doesnt have the time to do an extra class because she has to rush back to the family after school. Most students didnt score anything more than 35 marks at their exams. The teacher sticks to the syllabus and those who cannot grab it falls behind. The teacher cannot give individual attention to each and every student and some students therefore lack basic knowledge about the subject. But in this programme the students were put into groups according to their level of understanding and were trained to work on different mathematical problems, Abeywickrama further said. Abeywickrama also said that the school is willing to provide all the facilities for a teacher if he or she is willing to come and work at the school. They require a teacher who could work follow up on the classwork done at school and encourage the students to face the exams with confidence.



The school is equipped with a computer laboratory and a library. They do not have a science laboratory and another part of the school is under construction.



A few students who sat for the O/L exam after this programme said that it encouraged them to develop an interest towards the subject again. We didnt like mathematics because it was difficult. However this programme gave us an insight to face the exam with confidence and would like to thank the team for supporting us. We would like to request other students to follow it and make use of it.

We wanted to teach students in a remote school, said one of the team members of the Project who wished to remain anonymous. The team lives in and around Kottawa and we wanted to pick on the nearest rural school. Hence we picked on Dehiowita and presented our proposal to the Dehiowita Zonal Education office. They gave us two schools and compared to the other school this had lesser facilities. In this school the teacher also helped us and assisted the students. Our volunteers come as and when they can. We come here on Sundays and I coordinate with them regarding the turns. We have asked for donations from people known to us because not everybody agrees to give us sponsorships. As at now we need support for transport and food and we hope to extend this project to other schools as we proceed.Amana Bank Vice President  Retail Banking and Marketing Siddeeque Akbar (Left) handing over the sponsorship cheque to Chairman Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association A.H.M. Imtizam, Chairman Facets Sri Lanka Mushtaq Jabir, Hon. Secretary  SLGJA Sheriff Rahuman, Chairperson Export Development Board Mrs.Indra Malwatta and Chairman LPC Rizan Nazeer.

Amana Bank has joined hands for the second consecutive year with the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association to be the official banking partner for their annual showpiece exhibition FACETS 2018. Facets, Sri Lankas premier International Gem and Jewellery exhibition will be held for the 28th consecutive year from 30August to 2 September 2018 at the BMICH under the patronage of His Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena.

Commenting on this sponsorship, Amana Banks Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeer said We are honoured to continue our partnership with FACETS 2018, which has over the years built a strong reputation in the International Gem and Jewellery industry and has brought great value towards uplifting Sri Lankas export economy. As a Bank which follows a unique and people friendly model of Banking focused on Retail and SME Markets, we greatly look forward to support the growth of the Gem and Jewellery industry of Sri Lanka.

Also sharing his views Chairman of FACETS Sri Lanka Mushtaq Jabir said having a bank that has been recognized and awarded on both local and international platforms, whilst presenting a new way forward in banking in Sri Lanka based on stability, uniqueness and honour, as the official banking partner of FACETS for the second consecutive year is indeed a privilege which would also enhance the image and ensure the success of this international event.

Amana Bank is the countrys first and only Licensed Commercial Bank to operate in complete harmony with the globally growing non-interest based banking model. With the mission of Enabling Growth and Enriching Lives, the Bank reaches out to its customers through a growing network of 29 branches and 4000+ ATM access points and has introduced an array of customer conveniences such as Internet & Mobile Banking, Debit Card with SMS alerts, Online Account Opening, 365 Day Banking, Saturday Banking, Extended Banking Hours, 24x7 Cash Deposit Machines and Banking Units Exclusively for Ladies.

Amana Bank PLC is a stand-alone institution licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange with Jeddah based IDB Group being the principal shareholder having a 29.97% stake of the Bank. The IDB Group is a AAA rated multilateral development financial institution with an authorized capital base of over USD 150 Billion which has a membership of 57 countries. Fitch Ratings, in June 2018, affirmed Amana Banks National Long Term Rating of BB(lka) while revising its outlook to Positive from Stable. Amana Bank does not have any subsidiaries, associates or affiliated institutions representing the Bank.Yahapalanaya coalition partners from time to time in the recent past had met the Betel Leaf secretarial one and presented to him numerous proposals designed to add muscle to the tottering alliance.



The secretarial one had received the files containing these proposals with a show of much enthusiasm and the party leaders had presumed that Number One would soon summon them for deliberations given the obvious urgency in translating these proposals into action with a national poll around the corner. Realizing that they had been waiting too long for a response from Number One, these leaders had decided enough was enough and had called on Number One for a direct exchange of views. We hope that you have received and gone through the proposals we have already submitted, they had told Number One.



Number One had looked surprised and asked, What proposals? Then only it had dawned on party leaders that the documents that they had given to the secretarial one should be still gathering dust in his office. Furious that they had been let down, the party leaders had later issued an ultimatum to the secretarial one, Either do the job or get out!`Cotton Collection Private Limited said yesterday that they have divested their shares to ODEL PLC, a subsidiary of Softlogic Holdings PLC for an undisclosed amount.



The much sought-after brand was bought by the Softlogic Group as it was the perfect t for their well-established, diversed retail network and accelerated expansion plan, a press release said.



But Niloufer Esufally Anverally, the founder and creator of the Sri Lankan Cotton Collection brand will maintain the ownership of her alternate brand Leather Collection.



Cotton Collection is more than a brand, its a lifestyle. Through a journey spanning 27 years, my team and I have built a brand that has helped shape and develop the fashion retail landscape of Sri Lanka. Cotton Collection is a brand with a distinct identitya carefree, casual clothing brand that has its roots rmly in the Sri Lankan psyche.



This decision was inspired by the desire to dedicate more time to my family and it will also allow me to grow the Leather Collection brand to be a strong contender in todays market. The Softlogic Group, founded and led by its Chairman Ashok Pathirage, are leaders in the eld of retail with a strong and proven record and it gives me great pleasure to pass on the reins of my company to them, secure in the knowledge that they will develop the brand further and take it to even greater heights, Cotton Collection Founder/ Managing Director Niloufer Esufally Anverally said.

Softlogic Holdings PLC Chairman Ashok Pathirage said, Today marks a very momentous occasion in our journey to be Sri Lankas largest fashion and lifestyle retailer. Cotton Collection is a great brand that we have witnessed evolving over the years. It has its own loyal customer following and we feel this acquisition would form a perfect t for our aspirations in elevating the fashion retail landscape of the country.



With ODEL, our string of international branded apparel stores and Cotton Collection, we are condent that we could offer an unparalleled array of fashion choices to the discerning and fashion conscious consumer.



With increased tourism, urbanization, a growing middle income bracket and the soon to be opened upcoming malls, namely the CCC Mall which will open in September this year, The Shangri-La Mall which is planned for opening mid 2019 and the 645,000 square foot ODEL Mall which is slated for opening in 2020, all of which will open out more retail space to the market and tremendously upgrade the retail shopping and lifestyle experience of the consumer, we feel we are well positioned as a Group to tap into the immense growth potential that retail would offer and thereby further consolidate our presence in this segment, he added.

Cotton Collection was founded by Niloufer Esufally Anverally in 1991, at a time when fashion retail in Sri Lanka was at a nascent stage. The company, today, boasts of over 15,000 square feet spread across ve branches.



The 200 people-strong workforce of Cotton Collection comprises of a home-bred design team that curates bohemian, free-spirited collections that has carved out a niche market share over the years.



Cotton Collection recorded a 20 percent year-on-year growth for financial year 2017/18, the press release said.



Softlogic Holdings PLC is a diversified conglomerate, with leading market positions in the countrys growing economic sectors; retail, healthcare, nancial services, ICT, automobiles and leisure.



Softlogic holds authorized distributorships for key global brands, employs over 9,000 people in its offices located in Sri Lanka and Australia.



ODEL PLC is a subsidiary of Softlogic Holdings PLC and has since its inception in 1989, grown to become a household name in the apparel and accessories market, attracting a constant and loyal footfall of both local and foreign customers.



With its agship store located in the heart of Colombo at Alexandra Place, ODEL has 22 lifestyle stores together with its home grown LuvSL Brand stores, situated in commercial and strategic locations across the country.



In July 2010, ODEL became the rst ever fashion retailer in the country to go public, with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that was oversubscribed by 63 times.

Capital Alliance Partners Limited (CAL) functioned as the nancial advisor to Niloufer Esufally Anverally on the transaction.Comprehensive cooperation between China and Africa on green development has been carried out over the past 3 years regarding wildlife conservation, environmental treatment, meteorological monitoring, and low-carbon city planning, endowing new vitality to the continent of hope and prospect.

Being rich in wildlife resources, Africa is home to the largest number and most varieties of large wild animals, but at the same time a continent that has been long bothered by poaching.

Statistics show that over 1,000 wildlife rangers have sacrificed their lives in the combats with poachers during the past decade.

Under such circumstance, the first ever prize recognizing the endeavors of African wildlife rangers was established by a Chinese enterprise, as part of Chinas efforts in the undertakings to protect the wildlife resources in Africa.

During the award ceremony of 2018 Paradise Foundation International Awards held in Cape Town, South Africa on August 7 this year, 50 front-line wildlife rangers from 17 African countries received prizes for outstanding service in protecting and conserving wildlife.

So far, China has signed cooperation agreements on wildlife conservation with some African countries including South Africa and Kenya.

China is playing a globally significant role in environmental protection, and the total ban on trading of ivory products imposed by Chinese government is a measure to combat poaching of African wild elephants from the source, said Eric Solheim, Under-Secretary-General of the UN.

Solheim, also the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, noted that Chinese companies are contributing to wildlife conservation with practical actions.

Fragile ecological environment is closely related to the poverty of some African countries. The African Union launched the Great Green Wall initiative in 2007, planning to create a 15-kilometer-wide and 7,600-kilometer-long forest belt stretching across West Africa and East Africa to prevent further expansion of the Sahara Desert.

In September 2017, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed an agreement with the organizer of the initiative, and carried out cooperation with countries such as Mauritania to participate in the construction of the green belt.

China is well-reputed for its remarkable achievements and substantial experiences gained in fighting desertification. Saihanba and Kubuqi deserts, which have been transformed from wilderness into oasis, are the best proof.

Chinas desertification area is now reducing by an average of over 2,400 square kilometers annually, a drastic change when compared to the annual expansion of more than 10,000 square kilometers at the end of the 20th century.

With the ongoing cooperation between China and Africa in the construction of the Great Green Wall, Chinas soil remediation technology, geographic information system, and remote sensing technology will all be well applied in combating desertification in Africa.

As a battle-hardened veteran in combating desertification, China will offer significant support to the construction of Great Green Wall, said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, executive secretary general of the program.

Besides wildlife conservation and anti-desertification, China is also helping improve soil and water quality of Africa through environment-friendly agricultural projects.

For instance, the training course on fungi-growing technology organized by China-Rwanda Agriculture Technology Demonstration Center in the Southern province of Rwanda is well received by the local people.

The training, based on the local climate and environment conditions, not only helps the locals improve food safety and livelihood, but also lowers the dependence of fungi-growing on timbers and thus reduces the damage to local forestry and prevents water and soil losses.

Ethiopias capital Addis Ababa, like many other big African cities, was once trapped by the expanding garbage as more and more people rushed into the cities.

Not long ago, the first waste-to-energy plant was completed by a Chinese construction enterprise in the city with a population of 4 million people. With a daily garbage disposal capacity of 1,400 tons and an annual power generation capacity of 185 GWh, the plant plays a crucial role in the citys pollution treatment and has made itself a new name card of China regarding the promotion of green development in Africa.

The waste-to-energy plant is an important part of Ethiopias green energy strategy, said Azeb Asnake, CEO of Ethiopian Electric Power, calling the plant a landmark project in Ethiopia and even Africa at large.

Since 2015, the renewable energy technology transfer project was implemented by China and Africa under the framework of South-South Cooperation. A number of demonstration projects including small-sized hydropower, solar energy, wind energy, methane, and clean stoves facilities have been launched in Africa.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke highly of Chinas endeavors in solving the issue of power consumption in regions without access to electricity, saying that the renewable energy technology transfer project has set a model for innovation in South-South cooperation.

Ban added that the cooperation is exactly the positive action taken by China and African countries in realizing the goals defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

As an effort to realize the common goal of China and Africa to make economic progress without hurting the environment, an interim secretariat to manage the China-Africa environmental cooperation center was unveiled at the UN Office at Nairobi, Kenya on August 17, 2018.

The center is expected to facilitate the green technology transfer between China and Africa, share China's experience in green development, and act as a platform for China-Africa exchanges.

Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, praised the center, saying it provides African countries and China with a platform for cooperation under the framework of South-South cooperation, and promotes joint efforts to tackle global environmental challenges.Joana, who hailed from Quezon City in Manila, received a shoebox of gifts from an American group named Samaritarian Purses as part of their Operation Christmas Child program. The box had been sent by a young man named Threll who was not much older than from Idaho in the United States.

Operation Christmas Child is a charitable program which invites church members to pack a shoebox with items such as toys, toiletries and school supplies and send to children in countries of need. Philippines, Africa and India have all been part of Operation Christmas Child in the past. Most of the time, the sender will also include a photo of themselves and in this case, little blonde Tyrell included a picture of himself in a cowboy outfit with his name and address. Unbeknown to Tyrel, Joana had written to say thank you as the shoebox had really made an impact on not only her, but also her family. Unfortunately, he never received the letter.



Fast forward 11 years and Joana again attempted to make contact with Tyrel, this time over Facebook but not knowing who she was, he denied the request. Joana was persistent

in wanting to thank the now not- so-young-boy that had put a smile on her face so many years ago. After another friend request, Tyrel became curious about this mystery girl and Joana received a message from him asking how do you know me? And she asked him you know about Samaritans Purse?.



Tyrel answered, yes, I did that when I was six or seven years old. I dont remember what I put in the box but yeah, I did it. And she responded back, saying I think I got your box.



An online friendship blossomed as they both found out that they had many interests in common while they learned about each others culture and lifestyle.



It was only a matter of time before Tyrel took the plunge and flew out to the Phillipines to meet Joana in person. As their eyes met for the first time, the connection was instant. Once I saw his face, an amazing feeling came over me, Joana recalled. I was so happy I cried. All I knew was Joana was the one, Tyrel expressed.



With heavy hearts they had to say goodbye but upon returning to the Phillipines with his own father, he asked Joanas Pastor Dad for her hand in marriage. He happily agreed and they wed in 2014, in a country-themed wedding at Tyrels parents cattle ranch, 14 years after she received that lucky Christmas gift. Guests at the wedding were asked to then donate Christmas boxes themselves to carry on the tradition of giving to those less fortunate and to celebrate the love that Tyrel and Joana have found because of the project. Tyrel added I remember as a little boy, I was so excited to know the toys and other items I put in the box would bring joy to another child somewhere else in the world. I just didnt know the joy it would bring back to me one day. The couple has recently welcomed their first child into the world, a little boy and are still happily in love and living in the US.

Head table from left: Universal College Lanka (UCL) CEO Gihan Silva, Mercury Institute of Management Managing Director Jeevith Shakespeare, Royal College Union Secretary Mithila Mendis, Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology (CIRP) Director Academic Affairs Dr. Darshan Perera, EDEX Chairman Mahinda Galagedara, CINEC Campus Senior Consultant Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) Deputy General Manager Marketing Dharshana Jayasinghe

EDEX Mid-Year Expo continues to lead the education market in Sri Lanka, and offers the youth exacting solutions in education and careers. The sixth annual Mid-Year Expo and Job fair will be held at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC) on the 8th and 9th September 2018.

EDEX Mid-Year will pave the way for interested youth to find excellent study opportunities, a dream job or internships. Students visiting the Mid-Year expo can avail themselves of scholarship offers, full and partial, discounted course fees, placements offered and spot admissions to various disciplines.

The exhibition is set to feature over 150 stalls, occupied by 70 Institutes, representing over 100 universities, both local and foreign, from across the globe, all under one roof.

There are direct foreign representations from Germany, Hungary, Russia, Thailand, Japan, and Australia, while many other foreign universities will be represented by their local agents.

The valued sponsors of the event are; Platinum Sponsor, Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology (CIRP), and Diamond Sponsor, Mercury Institute and Gold Sponsors CINEC and Universal College Lanka (UCL).

The Prime Ministers Office, The Ministry of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs, The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations, Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training, the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment and the International LabourOrganisation (ILO) have endorsed the event.

EDEX Chairman Mahinda Galagedara addressing the gathering

The Event Strategic Partners are the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) the Employers Federation of Ceylon, (EFC) and the National Career Guidance Association (NCGA).

Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) is the official Financial Partner of the event.

The Expo will cover a range of educational and career opportunities from school-to-work transition. The Psychometric testing, interactive seminars, and short meetings with professionals will be free of charge, giving value to youth.

At the Job Fair, approximately 15 stalls will be featured, with much sought after brand names and corporates participating. The Job-Fair platform will give youth a boost to market their inherent talent, skills and qualifications, and to network.

Official Courier, Citypak, the Digital Media Partner, the Atom Media and the Public Relations Partner, PR WIRE, all joining to support the event in a big way.

The event is an entrance free event. The organising committee encourages the next generation to visit the EDEX Mid-Year Expo on 8th and 9th September 2018, at Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC) and further their aspirations. For further details please contact the EDEX Secretariat, RCU Skills Centre, Royal College Union, Rajakeeya Mawatha, Colombo 7 or call 0113091086, or e-mail sales@edex.lk Or, please refer, www.edex.lk.

Royal College Union Secretary Mithila Mendis addressing the gatheringJapanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera photographed with Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi

The visit of Japans Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera to Sri Lanka (Aug 20-22) has significance that goes beyond the fact that it is the first ever by a Japanese Defence Minister to this country. Onoderas visit took the form of a tour of Sri Lankas major ports  Colombo, Trincomalee and Hambantota. It took place within a web of other developments internationally, pointing to heightened geo-strategic interest in the Indian Ocean region.

It is not without significance that Onodera, before his arrival in Sri Lanka, held talks with Indias Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi, where the two sides reportedly agreed to start talks on an Acquisition and Cross Service Agreement. Among other measures to counter Chinas growing influence in South Asia they also discussed preparations for the first joint exercise by Japans Ground Self Defence Force and the Indian Army, according to Japan Times. Its no secret that the US, India and Japan have apprehensions over Chinas investments in Sri Lanka including strategic assets like ports, roads and railways, seen as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. The status of Hambantota port in particular, after the government gave its operation to China on a 99-year lease, was followed by accelerated responses designed to counter China.

Onodera, before his arrival in Sri Lanka, held talks with Indias Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi

Colombage warns that strategic assets like ports, airports and roads should not be given to country A, B or C.

The assertions by some government ministers that Onoderas visit had no defence or political aspect, sound disingenuous

Japan depends on sea lanes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans for the import of all its energy requirements, and this has led to its vigorous promotion of a free and open Indo-Pacific concept, endorsed by the US. On 20th August Alice Wells, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs held a press briefing in Washington on US Policy in the Indian Ocean Region where she drew attention to the USs recently announced $300 million in security funding for the region. In this context she mentioned the USs Bay of Bengal initiative (not to be confused with BIMSTEC) which she said will enhance the capacity of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to share shipping information with other partners in the region such as India Its also relevant that in response to a journalists question, Wells remarked  I think one of the great new elements of our relationship with India is that we are working in third parties and third countries.

It would seem that all of these developments taking place around the same time, are too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. The visit of a Japanese warship to Trincomalee port during Onoderas visit, was followed by the arrival of the amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage - part of the US 7th fleet - in Trincomalee, for a visit that included exercises with the SL Navy and Marines. The strategic motives behind frequent US naval ship visits to Sri Lankas ports were laid bare in the remarks of the US embassys Charge dAffaires Robert Hilton who said: Were also excited to try out the air logistics hub concept which utilizes Sri Lankas strategic location in the Indian Ocean to ensure the quick availability of relief supplies, equipment and other material when needed by the U.S. and partner militaries and humanitarian organizations. The military overtones though not explicit, were clear.

The fear that China will use Hambantota as a military base persists, in spite of assurances to the contrary from both Sri Lanka and China. This was obviously the concern underlying Onoderos remark to NHK World:Despite Chinas long term lease, it is internationally acknowledged that the port should be free and open to the public.

Questioning the assumptions behind this comment Admiral (Prof) Jayanath Colombage, Director of the Centre for Indo-Lanka initiatives and Law of the Sea at the Pathfinder Foundation asked Why should someone tell us what to do? We are an open country, we welcome (ships from) all. None of the Sri Lankan ports should be used by anyone for military purposes. Pointing out that in the period 20092018 warships from no less than 27 countries visited Sri Lanka, the former Navy Commander asked What is meant by military purposes? If a ship calls in a port for fuel, water etc its not military but a goodwill visit. If they come to act against another country, that is military he said. We welcome anyone, only they shouldnt come with the intention of harming anyone, especially India.

Against the backdrop of a fast changing external environment, how well have Sri Lankas political leaders and policy makers steered the course? Regrettably, rather than skillfully balancing diplomacy with economic and defence priorities, the government appears to be trying to set off investment opportunities given to one foreign power against concessions granted to another, in an ad hoc manner, lacking any consistent policy designed to serve the national interest. Sri Lanka tried to allay New Delhis fears over Hambantota by entering into a joint venture with Indias airports authority to lease out the Hambantota international airport to manage it, said a PTI report, reflecting this perception.

Colombage warns that strategic assets like ports, airports and roads should not be given to country A, B or C.

They should be developed as joint ventures or with foreign direct investment but their ownership should be with Sri Lanka.

The downplaying of Onoderas visit to the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm  which was not mentioned as part of his itinerary in any of the official statements - is another puzzle. More so because this site has historical significance. In the course of World War II,on 9th April 1942 one of the tanks was hit and completely destroyed by Japanese kamikaze suicide pilots, during an attack on Trincomalee naval base in which hundreds of airmen are said to have been killed. The oil tank farm is the largest tank farm in South Asia and of great strategic value as it falls between West Asia and Singapore, according to a 2013 PTI report. The use of the remaining 99 tanks, in which India has a partial stake, has also been subject to some controversy.

At a time when the defence dimension has become inextricably entangled with Sri Lankas infrastructure development involving strategic assets, the assertions by some government ministers that Onoderas visit had no defence or political aspect, sound disingenuous. The Trincomalee leg of his tour - handled by the SLN and not the Sri Lanka Ports Authority - clearly had a defence dimension, buttressed by the Japanese ship visit during the tour. Defence cooperation and maritime security were key elements in the statements by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe following their meetings with the Japanese Defence Minister. The PMs statement in fact started with reference to the importance developing defence ties and an MoU on Defence (avabodataa givisumak). It may be inferred that any such agreement would be consonant with US and Indian objectives in the region.

The efforts to deflect attention away from Trincomalee, the most strategically important stop in Onoderas tour, only give rise to more speculation as to whether a defence agreement was discussed. Instead of blaming media for carrying misleading reports, the government would do better to demonstrate transparency regarding agreements it reaches, or hopes to reach, with other countries, no matter whether they relate to trade, investment or defence.The mother of underworld gangster know as Keselwatte Dinuka, Renuka Amarasili (53) alias Chooti Amma had been arrested during a raid at Muhandiram Avenue in Colombo 12 with heroin, the Police said.

They said the suspect, a resident of Muhandiram Avenue was arrested by the STF with 1.2 grams of heroin on Tuesday.

She was handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) for further investigations.

Keselwatte Dinuka, who was wanted over organized crimes is reported to be hiding in Dubai.(DS)A Bharatanatyam and Odissi recital to remark Krishna Janmashtami by Thushyanthy and Gayathri will be presented on September 2 (Sunday) at Saraswathy Hall, No.75 Lorenz Road, Colombo 4, commencing at 6 pm.

Resettlement, Rehabilitation Northern Development and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D.M Swaminathan is expected to grace the occasion as the chief guest. Stephanie Perillard and Randel van Heerden, The Charge d`Affaires a.i. of Switzerland, are expected to attend the recital as special guests. Entrance for the dance recital is free.

Janmashtami is the birthday of Lord Krishna and is celebrated with great enthusiasm by Krisha devotees

The main significance of Janmashtami is to encourage goodwill and to discourage bad

Thushyanthy presents the story of Lord Krishna when he entered the arena to confront the cruel king Kans

Janmashtami reminds us to live a life of prosperity. How can we cultivate a life of happiness for ourselves? What does the future look like? Why celebrate the birth of this particular deity? Let us look back and revise the beautiful feelings. Taking inspiration from the life of Shri Krishna - his power, wisdom and purity - and observe how our world looked with full of prosperity many years ago. Let us gain some practical tips to help us cultivate a life of prosperity during these present times where peace is lacking.

Janmashtami is the birthday of Lord Krishna and is celebrated with great enthusiasm by Krisha devotees. It is believed that Lord Vishnu reincarnated in the form of Lord Krishna on the auspicious day of Janmashtami. The verses in the Bhagavad-Gita state that whenever there is predominance of evil and decline of religion Lord Krishna will reincarnate as a human and eradicate evil and preserve the good. The main significance of Janmashtami is to encourage goodwill and to discourage bad. Krishna Jayanti also celebrates togetherness. The holy occasion brings people together, thus it signifies unity and faith. Every aspect of Krishnas life is captivating no matter whether it is of an infant Krishna, Krishnas life in Gokul, Krishnas romance with Radha or assassination of cruel King Kans`. A person who is spiritual never asks for material things. A deity wants his devotees to be conscious of their stage of inner spirit. Devotees are expected to use their will power to cultivate divine values for a prosperous life.

Thushyanthy is an enthusiastic Bharatha Natyam dancer and shares her experiences through a variety of creative performances and thematic presentations. She learned Bharatha Natyam from eminent gurus smt. Rathika Mahadeva (OZ) smt. Nalayini Rajadurai (UK) and at present under the guidance of Guru Prof. C.V Chandrasekhar (India). She has undergone training and attended seminars and workshops, conducted by experienced artistes. She has performed in thematic presentations such as `Sat Chit Anand`, `the story of a sculptor`, `Sathyam Shivam Sundaram`, `Raja Yoga and Natya`, `Shivamrutham`, `Bharatha Sankalpam`, `Ma, you are the Divine` Ananda Isai Narthanam etc. These performances were in Sri Lanka, India, and Malaysia. Her involvement in art to create harmony and peace was recognised and appreciated in one of the cultural collaboration event `Wir Sagen Danke` held in Switzerland.

Gayathri Gopal is an Odissi dancer from Singapore. She commenced her Odissi training under Raka Maitra in 2008. Ever since she has been part of many performances in Singapore choreographed by Raka Maitra, notably you cannot look away at blackbox National Library and from the platform of Rasas at Esplanade Theatre. She has also had the privilege of attending several workshops conducted by eminent exponents of Odissi such as Ratikant Mohapatra, Madhavi Mudgal and Daksha Mashruwala. Gayathri juggles multiple roles as a dancer, entrepreneur, craniosacral therapist and an actress. She holds a bachelors in business management and a masters in innovation from Singapore Management University. She was chosen as the best actress at the NEZ International film festival. Gayathri is currently setting up craniosacral therapy training institute and a new fitness concept in Colombo.

Thushyanthy presents the story of Lord Krishna when he entered the arena to confront the cruel king Kans.

Culture and tradition are not stagnant in its form and expanse. Just like pollen grains are taken around by the wind, culture, tradition and art forms have reached every corner of the world through its migrant diaspora.

This has paved way for the creation of many traditional artists outside their origin. These artists go through stringent and rigorous training in their respective art forms irrespective of being in one place. And through this art form and training they get closer to their roots and become ambassadors of that art form and culture. This is the story of Thushyanthy and Gayathri who are management professionals continuing their passion for dance through variety of performances.

Recital on September 2 (Sunday) at Saraswathy Hall, No.75 Lorenz Road, Colombo 4, commencing at 6 pm.BERLIN (Reuters), AUGUST 27, 2018 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump shared concerns about developments in Syria, especially the humanitarian situation in the region around Idlib, their offices said on Monday after the leaders spoke by telephone.



Both leaders called for international action to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Idlib Province, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.



Russia is called upon to act in a moderating manner on the Syrian government and prevent a further escalation, Merkels spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in a statement.



Seibert said the two leaders also spoke about Ukraine, the Western Balkans and trade, he said, without elaborating. Sanders said they sought renewed efforts to solve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.



The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow, says it aims to recapture the rebel-held enclave of Idlib in northern Syria, a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria, as well as jihadist forces.REUTERS, 28th AUGUST, 2018 - North Korean officials have warned in a letter to the United States that denuclearization talks were again at stake and may fall apart, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.



The letter was delivered directly to U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns government felt that the process could not move forward.



The U.S. is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty, CNN reported, citing sources.



The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving U.S.-led U.N. forces technically still at war with North Korea.



The North has long made clear that it sees an official end to the state of war as crucial to lowering tensions on the Korean peninsula.



The United States has been reluctant to declare an end to the Korean War until after North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program.At the Daily Mirror, we believe that climate change is one of the greatest threats that we, as Sri Lankans, will face in the future. Therefore, we intend to provide our readers with local and international content with the objective to educate and inspire. We would also like to learn from our valued readers about any ongoing initiatives in making Sri Lanka a more sustainable nation. We aim to explore sustainable ways of living that have the most positive impact on not just our natural environment, but also for humans and animals. While topics such as global warming, pollution, and inequality are confronting, we believe it's time the media stopped shying away from these issues and became an active participant in finding solutions - and we hope you will join us.

Hundreds of viewers flock in Kandy to witness the Esala Perahera every August. Devotees who gather besides the streets to witness the pageant are in the practice of laying plastic sheets on the pavement where they could sit and view the procession from. As crowds gather in the hill capital, streets are usually full of vendors of street food, snacks, toys and ornaments. Sadly however, after the procession, the streets are littered with discarded plastic sheets, food wrappers, disposable cups and plates. Each year the Hanthana Conservation Society of the University of Peradeniya dedicates a special project to educate and raise awareness on the proper disposal of litter during the month of August.



This year too, four teams comprising 30 to 40 university students took to the streets of Kandy to help educate the public about the importance of proper disposal of litter. Team member Ayesh Dumindu Nirmal said that the project was carried out targeting the last five Randoli perahera days, when great crowds gather in the city. The students in groups addressed the crowds all over the city and encouraged them to dispose litter in a proper manner. They also made a humble request to the viewers to take responsibility of their own garbage.



The society was assisted by the Central Environmental Authority with equipment such as megaphones. The project was also live streamed on social media in order to spread awareness among the greater public. The municipal council employs special groups to clean the city after the procession every night. This is a time consuming and costly exercise. We were informed that our project was a success as these cleaners had taken lesser time and had collected less garbage during the days when we carried out our campaign, Nirmal said.Globally, young creative minds are rekindling the art of poetry with a fresh take on the fragmented free verse. While self published poets are making brave strides across various online platforms, a young Sri Lankan poet joins the ranks of these new age bards attempting to reshape perceptions of poetry.

Filling the spaces of time with creativity as a young child, Megan Dhakshinis world was always full of writing, she reveals. I was the editor of the class magazine and took part in every writing competition I could she said. However as an adult, Megan took on the path of advertising and primarily worked as an art director, moving onto writing TV and print campaigns.

Megans debut collection of poetry and prose titled Poison Apple will be launched by the British Council today. She defines this collection as a poetic journey of forbidden or unrequited love. We meet the characters in the beginning of the book, learn how they view love and lust as a male and female, and watch how they both deal with the eventual parting from different points of view. It is a wildly passionate relationship that is portrayed, so even the smallest of emotions is magnified manifold to make for better poetry! she explains.

Asked why she chose this particular style of poetry and prose, Megan admits that the style is simple but wouldnt call it simplistic. She has chosen a much debated and unapologetic style for her literary pursuits. Brevity is key. The themes are dark and visually vivid. Ive always found it hard to relate to heavy language, so I preferred to use an approachable, short style when writing. It also makes it much easier for my preferred publishing medium which is instagram.

Poison Apple will be officially launched by the British Council, Colombo today (August 29 )with a reading by the author at Orion City All are welcome.

Megan believes that the reader is free to interpret her work as it may have different connotations to different readers. She describes it as a story of two broken people --broken in their own ways-- who are drawn to each other because of, or despite their circumstances. Even though they know that their courtship is just that - a courtship. We see them wanting and hating each other, heightened in their feelings either way: Almost a doomed relationship from the onset and therefore tumultuous.

Fitting her description, Poison Apple is presented in four parts, which accompany the reader through the befores, durings and afters of a passionate relationship, likened to the bite of a forbidden fruit.

Memories of her were places Sprawling vineyards and barren plains On a shrinking planet Within my veins

Her style is nuanced, simple, explorative yet powerful as she converses with the reader. She is not an avid reader of poetry save Rumi and Cohen. Yet some of her biggest sources of inspiration are J.K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman and Haruki Murakami. Perhaps this reflects in her fresh and honest prose. I can never read heavy stuff, and therefore dont write them either. Inspiration for this book in particular has come from a few adult writers like Anais Nin & Leonard Cohen, she says.

Asked of any message that she wished to communicate through her work, Megan simply says: youre never the only one. A recurring comment I received from those who have read the book, is that though they may have not related to the theme as a whole, there were at least three or four instances in which they felt like Ive read their mind. Its common for people to feel like they are the only ones going through something, until you find a whole universe of others who feel exactly as you do.

The young poet has no immediate projects in the pipeline and is uncertain of what the future holds. True to her style, she may take us all by surprise with her next venture. The book is currently available at Barefoot and on line at thelibrary.lk.President Maithripala Sirisena seems to believe that focusing on North Central and North Western Provinces would secure his future at upcoming elections. Being an individual from the village, his focus has been on irrigation and cultivation. Very recently Sirisena launched the Water to Wayamba Programme at Polpethigama, giving hope to thousands of farmers. But the president has made the mistake of not being hawk-eyed on key areas like consumer prices of goods, education and the upcoming Janabalaya Colombata protest, to be stages in Colombo on September 5.

Right now he (Sirisena) should be playing the role of a political animal like Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Nothing can be achieved if the business community in the country is unhappy

President Sirisena must be proactive and not reactive as he is known to be

Sirisena should not oppose everything that Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and his henchmen in the Government propose

The presidents role at the moment shouldnt be the one played by the minister handling irrigation and water resources. Right now he should be playing the role of a political animal like Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The party that Sirisena represents, Sri Lanka Freedom Party, has already indicated that it would not have tie-ups with the UNP nor the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. Given this scenario, questions are raised whether the president is doing enough to make the SLFP candidates at the next provincial councils elections favourites.

Nothing can be achieved if the business community in the country is unhappy. This community also includes small-scale business holders who also have a stake in the economy. The aggressive tax policies of this Government and the much criticised Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) have put this regime on the back foot. What annoys the public about this FTA is the Government concealing the true nature of this agreement.

The president must know enough about business to fathom whether any deal that Sri Lanka signs with another nation fills the purse of some privileged individuals or whether it benefits the country as a whole

Hot on the heels of the defeat at the last LG Polls, the Government suffered another setback when the Provincial Delimitation Commission Report was rejected in Parliament. The majority present in Parliament on the day of voting gave a solid indication that this nation prefers the proportional representation system to the tried and failed mixed electoral system.

However, despite the country demanding elections when due, this Government is inclined towards postponing them by appointing committees to look into election-related issues.

Predictable

Going by all indications, President Sirisena would contest the 2020 Presidential Elections. The biggest advantages he has in support of his probable candidacy are that he is a simple person and his thinking is not complicated. Other than his future ambition, which many guess is to run for presidency again, his moves have been predictable. Other than the occasions when he put his foot down and changed the decisions taken by other ministers in the Cabinet, he has allowed this country to function without much interference.

This would be one reason why there is so much lawlessness in the island and the rampant trading of illegal narcotics. This president is not known to drive fear into the public like the last regime did. This could be one reason why there are so much strikes and protests in the country, often crippling the day-to-day activities of the people.

Time to be proactive

President Sirisena must be proactive and not reactive as he is known to be. Many believe that he should acquire business acumen like some of the past presidents of the country, if he is to become a proactive person. Sri Lankan politics has shown that one doesnt need much qualifications to be the Finance Minister of this nation. Two past ministers who held this vital post and didnt have a professional background in finance to do so were former President Mahinda Rajapaksa (his degree is in law) and Ravi Karunanayake (formerly an accountant). Even the present Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera can only boast of being qualified in apparel designing. Politics has shown that this is a profession where one learns on the job. What one needs to succeed as a politician is total commitment towards the ministry assigned to each individual.

Sri Lanka is burdened by the need to clear its debt commitment. As much as taxes are needed by the Government, this regime must keep a tab on the fact that consumer prices rose in July to 3.4 % on year-on-year basis to 2.5% in June. The rupee last Friday had reached a record low to be at 160.82 as against the US $. Sirisena should not oppose everything that Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and his henchmen in the Government propose. People change after taking to politics. Sirisena, as many opine, hasnt. As a person, Sirisena need not, but in terms of business thinking he certainly must pull up his socks. The Government signing a trade agreement with Singapore has come under fire by many. The president must know enough about business to fathom whether any deal that Sri Lanka signs with another nation fills the purse of some privileged individuals or whether it benefits the country as a whole.

These are times when Singapore, China, India and even the USA are showing interest in being stakeholders in Government ventures. It would serve Sirisena well if he looks at Sri Lanka from a business perspective to ensure that this island derives the best from its dealings with others nations.BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech on Monday reviewing the progress in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation has reaffirmed China's commitment to a path of common development and prosperity as well as improvements in the global governance system, commentators said.

In the speech delivered at a conference held here marking the fifth anniversary of the China-proposed initiative, Xi said the BRI, while offering new cooperation and growth opportunities, answers the call for change in the global growth mode and governance system by providing new options, and leads to a healthier economic globalization.

It aspires to build a community of shared future for mankind with both shared responsibilities and benefits, Xi said.

The remarkable achievements of the BRI in the first five years show it aligns with the interests of both China and the other participating countries, Julio Rios, a senior expert at the Galician Institute of International Analysis and Documentation, a Spanish think tank, said.

He called the initiative one of the best proposals in terms of international vision and global significance, saying: "Many countries have made it a new driver of their economic growth."

Pierre Picard, a China expert at the University of Paris VIII, said the BRI has brought new growth opportunities in regions ranging from Southeast Asia and Central Asia to North Africa, benefiting national development.

The initiative offers development opportunities for Africa, in addition to experiences to learn from, especially for countries like Tanzania that are pursuing industrialization, Honest Prosper Ngowi, an economics professor at the Mzumbe University, Tanzania, said.

"In practice, China's initiative takes into account the interests of all countries," Sergey Lukonin, head of economy and politics of China at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said. The BRI provides a chance for infrastructure construction in countries that do not have the means to develop their own facilities, he said.

Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain's 48 Group Club, praised the BRI as "the transformatory concept of this century," saying the growth potential brought by it lies not only in infrastructure construction but in the following urbanization process.

In addition, it offers a new perspective of shared responsibility and future for humanity in tackling common challenges, he said.

The experts said the inclusiveness and openness embodied in the BRI contribute to the important role it will play in improving the global growth mode, global governance and economic globalization.

The BRI calls for openness and boasts a global vision, said Berthold Kuhn, a China expert at the Free University of Berlin. It is of great significance to the international community and global governance system that China is seeking to expand cooperation within the BRI framework at a time when unilateralism is on the rise, he added.

Sudheendra Kulkarni, ex-chairman of Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank, said the BRI is leading to a new type of globalization by remolding the global governance system to be more representative, inclusive, open and fairer.

He said it is important that the initiative is based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, combining the roles of the government and market.

Ronnie Lins, director of the China-Brazil Center for Research and Business, said the BRI is prompting countries to increase participation in international cooperation, thus helping optimize global political and economic order.

In his speech on Monday, Xi said the BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation, not a geopolitical alliance or military league. Also, it is an open and inclusive process rather than an exclusive bloc or "China club."

For Serbia's senior diplomat Zivadin Jovanovic, the BRI, in its implementation so far, has proved to be open to all countries and regions. It is by no means an exclusive club or politically binding.

Contrary to exclusiveness and protectionism, the BRI pursues connectivity, not only between lands but between people, he said.

David Gosset, a French expert in international relations and founder of the Europe-China Forum, said the initiative is a historic opportunity for most Europeans.

"Let us co-build the new Silk Roads, they are roads to prosperity and peace," he said.

Hassan Rajab, director of the Confucius Institute at Suez Canal University in Egypt, said China is trying to improve the world order by implementing the initiative. He expects it to succeed, he said, because China has adopted a win-win approach with other countries.

U Khin Maung Lynn, secretary-general of the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said Xi's speech will make people have a deeper understanding of the BRI.

The initiative seeks to make the global governance system better by adopting a new way of thinking and a new approach while highlighting the importance of collaboration and joint participation by different countries for economic globalization, he added.

(Guo Qiuda in Madrid, Han Bing, Ying Qiang in Paris, Liu Kai in Tunis, Li Sibo in Dar es Salaam, Wang Chendi in Moscow, Ren Ke in Berlin, Zhao Xu in New Delhi, Zhang Qichang in Brasilia, Wang Huijuan in Belgrade, Ni Ruijie in Buenos Aires, Li Binian in Cairo, and Zhuang Beining in Yangon also contributed to this report.)New political alliances and formations are common occurrence when the national elections are around the corner. The presidential elections are scheduled to be conducted at the end of next year. Now, the countrys political air is pregnant with preparations for such happenings. The latest is a move to forge an electoral pact between President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It is difficult to expect the Joint Opposition, which includes the SLPP, to agree to any electoral pact with the President

As such, he said Mahinda Rajapaksa was trying to exploit lacunas in the law to see whether he could become the candidate

Though it is not openly articulated, the UNP is also bracing for the Presidential Elections

Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that there was no lacuna in the law that would enable Mahinda to become the presidential candidate

Efforts are now underway for this project with the backing of a section of the Joint opposition.The proposed political deal is brokered by former Minister MP S. B. Dissanayake on behalf of President Sirisena.

In terms of the Constitution, the President, upon completion of four years in office during his first term, can call for a presidential election. That is to seek a mandate for him to run for another term. The President will complete four years in office in January, next year. If he wishes to be the candidate, he can declare elections at any time afterwards.

Forging unity

Against the backdrop of such legal interpretations on the laws governing the Presidential Elections, it is learned that Dissanayake, backed by a few other members of the Joint Opposition or the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has undertaken a political project to forge unity between the two leaders. The proposal is to nominate President Sirisena as the next candidate to contest the polls. The agreement, if struck, will provide for premiership to be offered to someone from the Rajapaksa camp.

As far as the Joint Opposition is concerned, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara is openly supportive of such a political arrangement in view of the next presidential elections. Besides, it is learned that a few others in that political camp also favour the idea to nominate the President. But, they are not openly vocal about it.

Be that as it may, widespread support is unlikely from the Joint Opposition for President Sirisena to be made the candidate. As things stand at the moment, anti-President sentiments run high among the rank and file of the Joint Opposition. In fact, the overtures made by the Presidents representatives to the Joint Opposition to strike an electoral agreement with regard to the February 10 Local Government Polls were thrown out of the window.

At that time, one proposal was to field a common list of candidates by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Presidents UPFA under a common symbol. The other one was to share the local bodies between the two sides to contest. Had the agreement been struck, the SLPP would have contested some local bodies and the Presidents party the others in cooperation with each other. Such overtures were rebuffed even at that time. It all shows that any proposal that aims at giving the upper hand to the President is looked at with disdain by most in the other side.

As such, it is difficult to expect the Joint Opposition, which includes the SLPP as the dominant political force, to agree to any electoral pact with the President that gives him the pride of place.

Let alone, according to sources close to the Joint Opposition, any understanding between the President and the Joint opposition cannot be totally ruled out, though. The Presidents participation in the funeral of Mr. Rajapaksas brother Chandra Rajapaksa gives rise to speculation about such a possible patch-up. If such a thing is to happen, it will be according to the terms and conditions stipulated by the Joint Opposition.

Come what may, the Presidential Elections can be called prematurely only if the President intends to contest. One cannot expect the President to be the candidate without the support of the UNP or the Rajapakasa camp under the current political circumstances. Accordingly, a snap presidential election can be expected only in the event of such an electoral deal. Otherwise, the presidential elections will take place according to schedule at the end of the year.

UNP braces for elections

Though it is not openly articulated, the UNP is also bracing for the Presidential Elections according to party sources. In fact, the party has prioritised political work over everything else.

The UNP believes the rifts within the Joint Opposition on its prospective presidential candidate will widen and snowball into a full-blown crisis ahead of the election. Accordingly, the UNP believes such a crisis within the opposition will eventually be politically beneficial to it.

There is a simmering crisis in the Joint Opposition. It is like a volcano that can erupt any time, Minister Sajith Premadasa once remarked at a party discussion that took place before Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left for Vietnam.

As such, he said Mahinda Rajapaksa was trying to exploit lacunas in the law to see whether he could become the candidate or not.

The Prime Minister remarked at this point that Mahinda Rajapaksa was trying to break the law of the country.

Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that there was no lacuna in the law that would enable Mahinda to become the presidential candidate.

Minister Daya Gamage opined that the 19th Amendment or any other law could not be enforced retrospectively.

Minister Rajapakshe replied that though the law did not have any retrospective effect, past actions of any individual could be covered under it.REUTERS, 28th AUGUST, 2018- Russia will next month hold its biggest war games in nearly four decades, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, a massive military exercise that will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies.



The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russias naval fleets, and all its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement.



The manoeuvres will take place at a time of heightened tension between the West and Russia, which is concerned about what it says is an unjustified build-up of the NATO military alliance on its western flank.



NATO says it has beefed up its forces in eastern Europe to deter potential Russian military action after Moscow annexed Ukraines Crimea in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.



The war games, which will take place from Sept. 11-15, are likely to displease Japan which has already complained about what it says is a Russian military build-up in the Far East.



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to attend a forum in Vladivostok over the same period, and a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday Tokyo always paid attention to shifts in Russian-Chinese military cooperation.Garbage has been an issue not only for Sri Lanka, but for the entire world. The garbage should be utilised in a useful manner, so that it would no longer be a nuisance to the society. It is evident that different countries have come up with productive methods in their efforts to turn waste into resources. In that perspective, Sri Lanka is far behind.

Sri Lanka generates around 6400 tons of waste per day. 3700 tons of waste are thrown away at road sides. Colombo municipal area alone generates around 700 tons of waste per day. The Sri Lankan Government annually spends roughly around Rs 3 billion on solid waste management.

Sri Lanka generates around 6400 tons of waste per day

The Sri Lankan Government annually spends roughly around Rs 3 billion on solid waste management

Sanitary landfill is a method where municipal solid waste (refuse) on land is subject to controlled disposal

It is noteworthy that the Central Environment Authority (CEA), under the project called Pilisaru, which was introduced as a National Solid Waste Management programme in 2008, is aimed at finding a solution to tackle waste mismanagement.

Main objectives of Pilisaru

Development of a National Policy on Solid Waste Management (SWM). Development of a National Strategy on SWM. Effective education and awareness for all stakeholders on SWM including training and capacity building. Facilitation for LAS for implementation of SWM projects / programmes. Legal reforms to strengthen effective law enforcement.

The construction of low cost sanitary landfills for disposing residual waste was a key activity of Pilisaru project.

What is a sanitary landfill?

Sanitary landfills are sites where waste is isolated from the environment until it is safe. The authorities refocus on it when it is considered that the garbage has completely degraded biologically, chemically and physically.

Sanitary landfill is a method where municipal solid waste (refuse) on land is subject to controlled disposal. The method was introduced in England in 1912; where it is called controlled tipping.

Waste is deposited in thin layers (up to 1 metre, or 3 feet) and promptly compacted by heavy machinery (e.g., bulldozers). Several layers are placed and compacted on top of each other to form a refuse cell (up to 3 metres, or 10 feet, thick).

At the end of each day the compacted refuse cell is covered with a layer of compacted soil to prevent odours and windblown debris.

A landfill comprises systems like Liner system-which is called Leachate collection & treatment system, Cap system- which is Gas recovery system or flaring system and Landscaping- which is Groundwater & gas monitoring system.

Landfill site at Dompe

The CEA with the technical and financial assistance from the Korean International Corporation Agency (KOICA) introduced the first-ever sanitary landfill in Sri Lanka at Dompe which is a great achievement in terms of utilising waste management.

The KOICA provided $ 4.5 million as a grant to establish this fully engineered state- of-the-art sanitary landfill in Dompe in the Gampaha District. A commercial forest plantation of Acacia and Pinus in Maligawatte, owned by the Forest Department, was selected as the site for the landfill.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Manager (Operational) Central Environmental Authority Green Park Sanitary Landfill Site Kirindiwela Dompe, U.W.A. Jayathilaka told that the initial programme on the construction of a landfill, was planned in 2009.

The site was planned to embark in Meepe in 2009. However, we had to shift it elsewhere due to some technical issues and continuous protest by people.

Then, we selected an area at Dompe as the ideal location for the site. It was not that much easier in Dompe too. At the outset, residents around the Dompe area staged protest marches claiming that putting up such a site, would affect their livelihood in terms because of stench and other environmental issues.

We were able to convince the people in Dompe that the new technology used for garbage disposal is not related to conventional garbage dumping; where mountains of garbage pile up which in turn encourages public participation for the project in large numbers, Jayathilaka added.

He said they organised public awareness programmes due to enormous public protests which were against the proposed sanitary landfill site at Dompe. 60 pocket meetings and 8 special Pilisaru Parisara Gammana Programmes were conducted at Dompe area to make the people aware of the advantage of such a site being located at Dompe.

Pilot project

The first long-term project by the CEA was initiated by constructing a sanitary landfill in Dompe. This pilot project was begun due to emergency needs to dispose garbage using a one hectare land. Although the project was ready for operation in 2009 and the landfill started functioning officially only in 2015 due to public protests in the area.

Jayathilaka said the landfill site at Dompe was a pilot project which would provide the incentive to generate other landfill stations in Districts such as Puttalam, Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Galle and Polonnaruwa.

He said that tenders would be called by the end of this year following which construction would commence. The landfills are expected to be put to use by 2020.

The landfill site has the capacity to take in 25-30 tones of waste per day. It would take 12 years for the pit to completely fill, Jayathilaka said.

It was first planned to load 90 tones of waste per day. If it was done, the pit would have been filled within six years. In order to make it more productive, we reduced the amount of waste being loaded into the pit, he added.

He said that the waste collected in six local authorities in the Gampaha District would be used for filling.

In conclusion, it should be noted that utilising waste materials is not an easy task. It cant be done overnight.

The efforts of the administration are also not enough. It is necessary to have the active support of the general public. If these two parties join, the waste would no longer become waste to the society.On my way home after watching Jayantha Chandrasiris Garasarapa a month or so ago, I began to think about the theme at the centre of that film: is demonology really psychology? Scholars will contend that there is a fine line to be drawn somewhere between the two and that most if not all those mythical practices we indulge in can be rationalised through modern science. The daha ata sanniya, after all, is a convenient way of explaining the many sicknesses and diseases which invade our body from time to time, while those beings which are said to visit us and make us sick may well be symptoms and products of sleep paralysis (a condition in which we think we are awake, but are actually sleeping and halucinating). Still, the message at the end of Jayanthas film perturbed me: isnt there some sort of a link between what the West has discovered and what the East has prescribed for thousands of years?

There must be, but if there is, no one has taken the trouble of ascertaining what it is. To begin with, the methodologies that each civilisation resorts to when it comes to illnesses are more than just a world apart. The West sees ailment in terms of symptom and cure, the East sees it in terms of reason and prevention. The West diagnoses, the East predicts. The West looks towards the short term exit, the East prefers the long term recovery. In this clash of civilisations, there is, I feel, a nexus somewhere. Where it is, we dont rightly know as of yet. That is a tragedy.

Gautama Buddha, in the Sabbe Pruthugjana Ummaththaka of the Mulapariyaya Sutta in the Majjima Nikaya, dwells at length on insanity. Our own civilisation has tabulated mental illnesses in terms of phobias and manias. For instance, melancholia, that most romantic of all forms of depression, is defined as Pitta Unmadaya, while the more disturbing nymphomania is described as Kama Unmadaya. All this goes to show that ours is not a society, as is commonly imagined, that taboos insanity. The reason as to why it has become so stigmatised in this country today has less to do with Buddhism and Sinhala culture than with the culture of a largely urban and middle class hypocrisy which weve for some reason embraced.

Dr. Saman Hettige would agree. The head of the first mental hospital in Sri Lanka based entirely on Ayurveda, he hails from a family of physicians that can be traced to the 19th century. The hospital, Manasa, is located in a suburb in Boralesgamuwa called Neelammahara. Until around 10 years ago, Boralesgamuwa was a veritable green desert, with nothing much to look forward to. Then the roads opened up, and with them the parks, the jogging paths, and the waterways which adorn much of the Colombo-Kesbewa route. Neelammahara has been given a facelift through all these developments and Manasa, which was closeted until then, has finally come out. Before I get to how the hospital operates, therefore, a brief perusal of its history and the history of its founders is called for.

The methodologies that each civilisation resorts to when it comes to illnesses are more than just a world apart. The West sees ailment in terms of symptom and cure, the East sees it in terms of reason and prevention. The West diagnoses, the East predicts.

Hettiges ancestry, as I mentioned earlier, goes back to the 19th century. It all began when Rajadi Rajasinghes physician, Shailindrisinghe Padithuma, left for Dickwella after the annexation of Kandy in 1815. There, one of his sons (Dickwella Sudakshi) vowed to continue the family line, and he kept his vow once he left the South and moved to a barren village in Neelammahara, where he commissioned a temple (the Neelammahara Raja Maha Viharaya). Under that temples watchful gaze, Sudakshi taught Ayurveda to generations of physicians and healers, namely Werahera Sobitha, Arawwala Seelalankara and Dehiwela Dhammaloka. Dhammalokas student was D. S. Hettige, Dr. Samans father. Later, after his gurus death, he thought of building a mental hospital, one which would operate, not on the profit motive, but on the strength of communal bonds. He would get it completed in 1890.

Dr. Saman explains. At the time my father just handed patients over to villagers, to be looked after under his orders. Back then there was a widely shared sense of camaraderie. People looked out for each other. They knew what their friends were doing. But once the Second World War ended and they moved out of the village, they had less time to look after their neighbours. This became a problem, so much so that we were forced to rethink our strategy and turn the place into a conventional hospital.

Was it successful, I ask him. We were surprised at the response. Pretty soon, we went down as one of the first deshiya establishments dedicated to mental illness. Mind you, not just in Asia, but in the whole world as well!

A second glance can help confirm these assertions. Still, having had a look around, I am wary of describing Manasa as a hospital, though Dr. Saman concedes that it is nothing more than that. I also dont agree with his contention that it may be among the worlds first such deshiya institutions (even if we trace its history back to 1890), a point he himself agrees with when he tells me that the late Dr. D.V.J. Harischandra observed and noted tribesmen throughout parts of Africa treating patients relegated as madmen and lunatics by their societies.

As for Manasa itself, suffice it to say that it has grown considerably since its establishment and now has enough room to warrant treatment for around 40 patients. Whats even more commendable, however, is the way these patients are treated.

Whenever it comes to mental illness, the first thing that comes to my mind are those lobotomies and surgeries I associate with hospitals in general. Vindana and Kalpana Ariyawansha, in Premaya Nam, did a commendable job in demolishing these misconceptions and mythical associations. And yet, mental health treatment in the West tends to unnerve me. Remember One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest?

On that basis, thankfully, Manasa is a breath of fresh air, since it operates on the principle that each patient has unique characteristics and should not be classified or taken in as a mere statistic. Unlike what is prescribed in the West, we dont isolate those we take in. We always group them. Sure, they can get violent, in which case we have to treat them in isolation. But our rationale is that by getting together, we can dispel most if not all those mental illnesses that beset us. This can even help those who harbour suicidal tendencies.

And its not just local patients that theyve cured. Theyve even treated patients from abroad. Once we admitted the daughter of the Maharaja of Mysore. Shed been to other countries, in the West and East. But we were the ones who treated her really well. As a token of appreciation, we were invited by the Maharaja to Mysore, where at the end of our trip we were gifted with two elephants. One of them, Raja, carried the Daathu Karanduwa at the Kandy Perahera for many, many years.

At this point, Dr. Saman offers some reflections on his field. I ask him as to what demographic suffers the most on account of depression and other serious ailments. He argues that it is the child, adding that it all really boils down to the way we are taught to deal with stress. Its an open secret that we have institutionalised an exam-centred culture here. We pressurise our children until Grade Five over the shishshathvaya and pressurise them even more at their O Levels and A Levels.

This is a well known fact, and for him, it unravels a rift between the individual and his environment. We handle pressure very differently from one another. Regardless of how long we take to recover and adjust, however, the world just keeps on moving. And that is not all: as a people, we cant seem to affirm life anymore.

I suspect that history and tradition might help us here. Dr. Saman agrees. We have a rich civilisation which stems from Buddhism. Take our Jataka stories. They didnt just preach morals, though theyre used to propagate morals today. They also affirmed life. You didnt come across heroes and villains like you do in countless books and films. You came across human beings, flawed, imperfect, and also multifaceted. It was this strange dualism which shaped our people. With contemporary societys obsession over achieving results at any cost, we have, I fear, forgotten that, and in forgetting and abandoning that, we are promoting a culture of rampant self-neglect.

Sangeetha Weeraratne, as the protagonists lover (now grown older) in Garasarapa, argues for a fusion of the West and East when it comes to mental illness. Personally, I dont think such a fusion is impossible, but as of yet, the two ways of looking at the world (the West in terms of prescription, the East in terms of prevention) have spilt over and made themselves so evident that theres precious little we can apart from choosing one over the other. At Manasa, however, you will come across one way of treatment which you will not at most other establishments. It is time to pay a visit, I feel. And not as a patient.

UDAKDEV1@GMAIL.COMAn envoy of a powerful country based in Colombo recently called on a Yahapalanaya top team member hailing from a main ethnic minority.



Customary pleasantries over, they got down to a serious discussion about the upcoming big poll. The envoy evinced a keen interest in knowing the time frame set for the big poll.



Pressed for the desired information, the top team member confided in the diplomat a secret by way of his answer. I know that a high authority in our government put this very question to Number One the other day. Number Ones reply was something like this: I dont propose to do a stupid thing like my predecessor. Let people speculate whatever they please! I mean to hold the poll at the most appropriate time!



The envoy greeted this reply with a smile, but made no comment, they say.The young Pohottuwa Diyawanna member from the Tourist City in the Gampaha district had received an order from the party high command to look after the neighbouring watte too in addition to his home turf.



However, Diyawanna member Weere ruling the roost in Kelaniya, despite being a thick chum of the Tourist City man got highly upset over this arrangement as he had his own interests in the Watte area.



So, he promptly went into action using his ties with some heavyweights in the party to stymie the order from the party high command.



A Pohottuwa high-up who learnt about Weeres underhand move immediately sent for him and gave him a tongue lashing warning him to mind his own business.



Thus chastised, Weere has again begun moving closely with the Tourist City colleague as if nothing untoward had happened to sour their friendship, they say.UNP is ready to face any election to be conducted next year, Leader of the House Minister Lakshman Kiriella said.

Mr Kiriella said this at a function held to mark the distribution of title deeds to plantation sector workers in the Kandy District on Tuesday.

He said there would be a Presidential Election before the end of the next year.

Also, he said it would be preceded by the elections to the Provincial Councils.

The United National Party will not while away from any of these elections. We are ready to face any election, he said.

He said it was a UNP Government that agreed to the citizenship of plantation sector Tamils. (Kelum Bandara)e US Coast Guard handed over a high endurance cutter to the Sri Lankan Navy in a ceremony presided over by Navy Commander Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe and Rear Admiral Michael Haycock of the US Coast Guard in Honolulu.

The US Embassy on Wednesday said the cutter which is formerly known as the USCGC Sherman, will be the largest ship in the Sri Lankan fleet and strengthens defense cooperation between the US and Sri Lanka.

The ship will increase Sri Lankas ability to patrol its Exclusive Economic Zone, providing additional security for ships from all nations that transit the busy sea lanes of the Indian Ocean.

For over a month, 110 Sri Lankan sailors have been training with the Shermans crew on operating the vessel. The handover builds on Sri Lankas first-ever participation in the US Pacific Fleet exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2018 in July, 2018.

The sail-away date for the cutter will be in February 2019. Overhaul and maintenance, as well as the training of the crew, will continue until then. The new ship will join the SLNS Samudura, also a former US Coast guard vessel that was gifted to Sri Lanka in 2004. The US remains committed to our enduring friendship with Sri Lanka and we will continue to work together to advance prosperity and security for people in both our countries, the region, and beyond, the US Embassy said in a statement.June worker remittances down 11.4% to US $ 254mn

The consecutive second month to witness weaker remittances

Remittance earnings in first half down 0.9% to 3.6bn

Worker remittances to Sri Lanka dropped by 11.4 percent to US $ 524 million in June compared to the same month in 2017, as the earnings from the largest foreign exchange earning source to the country continued to show signs of weakness.



June marked the fall in crucial foreign income for the second month in a row as in May such incomes declined by 3.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US $ 580 million, after two months of growth.



On average, Sri Lanka receives US $ 7.0 billion from worker remittances for a year.



Worker remittances to Sri Lanka has been erratic since the Gulf countries curtailed its quota for foreign employment after the region suffered from falling oil prices for nearly three years.



However, as the global oil prices have now steadied around mid US $ 70 a barrel, Gulf economies are slowly rebounding.



But the recent crisis in the Gulf region caused by the oil glut upended their economies as their new leaders are seen taking rapid steps to diversify their economies while granting more social freedom to citizens, which puts more of their own citizens to work.



Majority of the Sri Lankan migrant worker population works in the Gulf as either semi-skilled workers or domestic aides. The economic diversification may open up more jobs for more Sri Lankan skilled worker categories.



For the first six months in 2018, worker remittances recorded a marginal 0.9 percent increase to US $ 3.6 billion over the same period last year.



Meanwhile, the tourism trade generated an estimated income of US $ 272 million in June and a cumulative earning of US $ 2.2 billion for the first six months.

The June earnings marked a slight uptick compared to May where the country earned US $ 240 million from tourism.



Meanwhile, the tourist arrivals increased by 19 percent in June 2018 to 146,828 as a result of healthy growth in the number of tourists arriving from India, Australia, Saudi Arabia and China in comparison to June 2017.



Total tourist arrivals during the first half of 2018 stood at 1,164,647, a 15.3 percent increase over the first half of 2017.



As worker remittances and tourism earnings amid other service inflows bridge much of the deficit created by the trade account, Sri Lanka as a twin deficit economyin its current account and the budget remains highly vulnerable to international capital flows, currency depreciation and outflows from investments in stocks and bonds.



Sri Lankan rupee plunged into a fresh low on Monday as it hit Rs.161.05/20 a US dollar. The rupee value has declined by 0.9 percent so far this month, 5.0 percent year-to-date and 21 percent during the last 3.5 years.

Meanwhile, the tourism trade generated an estimated income of US $ 272 million in June and a cumulative earning of US $ 2.2 billion for the first six months.

The June earnings marked a slight uptick compared to May where the country earned US $ 240 million from tourism.



Meanwhile, the tourist arrivals increased by 19 percent in June 2018 to 146,828 as a result of healthy growth in the number of tourists arriving from India, Australia, Saudi Arabia and China in comparison to June 2017.



Total tourist arrivals during the first half of 2018 stood at 1,164,647, a 15.3 percent increase over the first half of 2017.



As worker remittances and tourism earnings amid other service inflows bridge much of the deficit created by the trade account, Sri Lanka as a twin deficit economyin its current account and the budget remains highly vulnerable to international capital flows, currency depreciation and outflows from investments in stocks and bonds.



Sri Lankan rupee plunged into a fresh low on Monday as it hit Rs.161.05/20 a US dollar. The rupee value has declined by 0.9 percent so far this month, 5.0 percent year-to-date and 21 percent during the last 3.5 years.Oops....! We couldn't find that...

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Check the URL you entered for any mistakes and try again. Alternatively, search for whatever is missing or take a look around the rest of our site.TOKYO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Japan's defense ministry released a defense white paper for 2018 on Tuesday, which, while summarizing the country's defense policy changes, also mentioned the so-called "increased military activities" that "constitute a threat" to regional security.

Analysts here pointed out that by playing up the regional threat, Japan is attempting to make excuses for its continued expansion of military power.

In the white paper, Japan specified its defense policies and changes in defense strategy, including the progress it made in building up its defense power, its rising military expenses, and its planned introduction of the U.S.-developed land-based Aegis Ashore missile defense system.

The annual white paper, while admitting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s commitment to denuclearization made at the summit between leaders of the United States and the DPRK is "significant," said that Japan's view of the regional threat "remains unchanged".

The report also devoted some 35 pages to making irresponsible remarks on China's national defense system and its normal and justified maritime activities in the East and South China Seas, claiming that such activities constitute "a strong concern" for Japan.

Experts here say Japan's annual defense white paper is full of stereotypes and lies.

They also note that it is Japan that is changing the status quo and triggering international concerns.The 2018 Beijing Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be held on Sept. 3 and 4. To celebrate the summit, Beijing has been decorated with a plethora of flower parterres, with most of the decorations remaining until October.

Major roads and regions have already been adorned with banners saying things such as A Meeting of Friends, A Summit of Cooperation and Working Together for Common Development and Shared Prosperity.

Promotional posters are now displayed on bus stops, subway lightboxes, and roadside advertisement boards.

Nine thematic flower parterres are currently on display at Tiananmen Square, Dongdan, Xidan, Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, China National Convention Center and Siyuanqiao.

Additionally, flowers have been placed at Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang and Haidian districts around the meeting site and the official summit hotels, as well as along nearby roads, to showcase the capitals beautiful environment and create a friendly atmosphere.CHICAGO -- The US federal judge overseeing Brendt Christensen's kidnapping case of Chinese visiting scholar Yingying Zhang has been reassigned, Zhidong Wang, the legal consultant to Zhang's family, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

Chief Judge James E. Shadid of the Central District of Illinois under US District Court is now in charge of the case, taking place of Judge Colin Stirling Bruce.

Wang said the reassignment resulted from the improper act of Judge Bruce commenting on the defense skills of lawyers in a case in 2016 through email correspondence with a staff member of the Prosecutor's office, which violated the rules of ex parte communication.

The trial of Zhang's case is still set in April 2019 as scheduled, but Wang said the lawyers of the defendant might take the opportunity to require delaying the trial.

According to Wang, the reassignment of the judge in Zhang's case is a shock to Zhang's family, who were informed of the reassignment at the first timing, but are puzzling over unexpected events such as a possible delay in the trial. They have reiterated the appeal of finding Zhang and bringing her home.

Zhang, 26, went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.

Brendt Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, after being caught on tape pointing out people he described as "ideal victims" during a vigil in Zhang's honor. On July 5, US Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ordered that Christensen remain detained in the custody of the US Marshals Service pending trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UIUC Police Department jointly conducted the investigation.Kwame Hackman

Studying in China is now a trend in the African country of Ghana, and 39-year-old Kwame Hackman is one of many Ghanaians who have travelled to China in pursuit of education.

Hackman graduated from the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University last year, with the aim of achieving greater things for Ghana. He is the first Ghanaian doctoral graduate of Tsinghua University.

After graduation, Hackman closed the door on working overseas, instead choosing to focus on his hometown  Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana. He is now a researcher at the Building and Road Research Institute of Ghana.

Kwame Hackman gives a speech at the graduation ceremony in Tsinghua University.

The urgent need of my country is to train more high-end professionals, Hackman told Xinhua News Agency.

Im trained by China, and I hope to pass on my knowledge and skills and better construct my country, he added.

More and more Ghanaian students are following Hackmans footsteps after graduating from Chinese universities, to further promote the social and economic development of their country, as well as use their expertise to further the friendly cooperation between Ghana and China.Joseph Reid Courtesy

While most people are still snoozing, including his own family, Carmel Valley resident Joseph Reids creative juices are flowing.

Basically, my routine is I get up at 4 and write until 8 a.m. I usually get my prime writing done early in the morning.

Its not that Reid has a specific affinity for pecking away at his computer as the sun rises. Rather, its the only time of day he has a free opportunity to write.

A lawyer at the international law firm of Perkins Coie LLP, the bulk of Reids days involve the mundane tasks involved with patent law. Perhaps thats why Reid has fills his early mornings spinning a thrilling story packed with action, danger and intrigue.

Unbeknownst to casual observers in Reids orbit, the patent lawyer has been living a double life authoring the novel Takeoff. Published by Thomas & Mercer, the book has been a wild success since its debut on Amazon.com earlier this summer, picked as part of the Amazon First Reads series, landing at No. 1 in the the War/Military Fiction category and garnering Reid a burgeoning worldwide fanbase.

Its been a great run and a great ride, says Reid, marveling at the success of his debut novel. The reaction to the book has way exceeded my expectations.

Both in stark juxtaposition to Reids day job and inspired by his intense work travel schedule, the plot for Takeoff focuses on an air marshal getting assigned to protect a teen pop star on a cross-country flight. As you may assume, things dont quite go exactly as planned.

They get ambushed, and he has to take her on the run to keep her safe, explains Reid. They have to figure out whos trying to kill her.

Reid notes that while some authors focus about writing about their hometowns  think: Stephen King and his penchant for spinning stories about rural Maine  Reid focuses not on the sunny shores of San Diego, but the fascinating minutiae of air travel.

Because Im on the go for work so much, I tried to think about someone who would be the same way, he says.

Enter the hero of Takeoff: Seth Walker, a nerdy air marshal.

The more I thought about airports, Reid says, theres an awful lot of different elements they embody from the security to terror threats, storefronts and cargo.

Exactly how a San Diego patent attorney became a published writer is a tale ripe for a novel itself.

Thanks to a transient childhood as a Navy brat and his fathers later career as management consultant, Reid found his family moving from place to place. He didnt settle down until attending Notre Dame for law school and decamping for Carmel Valley with his wife 18 years ago, which is when he joined the ranks of Perkins Coie LLC, an international law firm based out of Seattle, working out of their North County offices overlooking I-5.

I do plenty of writing for my job, but I never thought about becoming a quote-unquote writer until a decade ago, he explains of his foray into the craft. My wife and I were on a trip before my first daughter was born, and I was devouring a lot of books. I sort of sat around and thought of an idea for what could be a novel.

Reid then took the dive and wrote his first novel, wrote a second, and attempted to learn as much as he could about the craft and the business along the way. However, Reid found it difficult to get published, a notoriously tough task.

It was an awful long time of beating my head against the wall and saying, Id love to get published, says Reid of a frustrating six-year period of near-constant rejection. It was the kind of thing where every birthday and Christmas, if I wished for one thing, that would be it.

It wasnt until Reid concocted the plot for Takeoff did he have a breakthrough.

This one felt different, he says. It wrote faster.

Through a freelance editor he was working with, Reid got in touch with a publisher and the rest, as they say, is history.

Reid is already plotting the appropriately titled Takeoff to be the first in a series  he recently turned in its follow-up to his publisher. As for whether hell pursue writing full-time, thats another story, so to speak.

Its been a unique opportunity, he says. My day job is pretty consuming and balancing both can be tricky. I like my firm and what I do a lot, but well see where it goes. Ive only been out for a month, so Im not making any long-term plans just yet.DMcp, a 74,402 square feet, newly-renovated office project in Del Mar Heights, was recently sold to Denver-based EverWest Real Estate Partners, LLC for $43 million.

The seller was an affiliate of Southern California-based Cruzan, which had recently completed $4.4 million in capital improvements to the property prior to the sale. Rick Reeder and Brad Tecca of Cushman & Wakefields Capital Markets in San Diego represented the seller in the disposition.

DMcp presented a rare, once in a cycle opportunity for an investor to acquire a best-in-class and fully renovated multi-tenant office project set in one of the most prominent and desirable coastal business and residential communities in Southern California, said Reeder, executive managing director. Transitioned to match the evolved workplace environment, DMcps rapid acceleration to top tier status as a cutting edge environment within the Del Mar Heights submarket has elevated its ability to achieve above market performance.

Located at 12651 and 12671 High Bluff Drive and situated on 3.5 acres, DMcp consists of two three-story buildings that offer a casual corporate business setting with an effective blend of traditional and creative characteristics. The property was designed to accommodate a vast array of traditional and creative office users and was approximately 75 percent leased at the time of sale.

In 2017, Cruzan completed extensive common area improvements including a newly renovated two-story atrium lobby, high-end interior finishes and new flooring, a newly renovated, best in class indoor/outdoor fitness center and locker facilities, and fully built-out new generation spec suites.The exterior facade also received some enhancements.

According to Cushman & Wakefields latest market report, Del Mar Heights has proven to be one of San Diegos leading office growth submarkets in 2018 with over 50,000 sf of net absorption through midyear.

 Submitted news release30 July 2018 (CNRS)  The worlds biggest colony of king penguins is found in the National Nature Reserve of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Using high-resolution satellite images, researchers from the Chize Centre for Biological Studies (CNRS / University of La Rochelle)1 have detected a massive 88% reduction in the size of the penguin colony, located on Ile aux Cochons, in the Iles Crozet archipelago. The causes of the colonys collapse remain a mystery but may be environmental. These findings are published in Antarctic Science (25 July 2018).Known since the 1960s, the colony of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) on Ile aux Cochons, in the southern Indian Ocean, had the distinction of being the worlds biggest colony of king penguins and second biggest colony of all penguins. However, due to its isolation and inaccessibility, no new estimates of its size were made over the past decades. The Chize team used high-resolution satellite images to measure changes in the size of the colony since the island was last visited by a crew of scientists (1982). At the time, the colony included 500,000 breeding pairs and consisted of over two million penguins. To calculate the area occupied by the colony at different times between 1960 and the present, the researchers studied changes in its contours over the years. They found that the colony has shrunk, yielding its territory to encroaching vegetation. Photographs taken from a helicopter during the Antarctic Circumpolar Expedition confirm that the colonys penguin population has plummeted. Data show that the decline began in the late 1990s, coinciding with a major climatic event in the Southern Ocean related to El Nino. This event temporarily affected the foraging capacities of another colony 100 km from Ile aux Cochons, causing it to dwindle. The same process may be responsible for the fate of the Ile aux Cochons colony. Its size may also subject it to density-dependent effects. That is, the larger the population, the fiercer the competition between individuals, slowing the growth of all members of the group. The repercussions of lack of food are thus amplified and can trigger an unprecedented rapid and drastic drop in numbers, especially following a climatic event like the one at the end of the 1990s. Disease is another hypothesis entertained. Avian cholera is currently ravaging populations of seabirds on other islands in the Indian Ocean, like the albatross of Ile Amsterdam and the penguins of Marion Island. Still, none of these possibilities seems to offer a satisfactory explanation for a decline of the magnitude observed on Ile aux Cochons. Field studies led by CNRS researchers, with support from the French Polar Institute (IPEV), and in close partnership with TAAF nature reserve staff, should be getting under way shortly to verify initial conclusions drawn from the satellite images.By Felipe Villamor

28 August 2018

MANILA (The New York Times)  Relatives of eight people killed by Philippine police officers during President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs have accused the president of murder in a complaint filed with the International Criminal Court, their lawyer said on Tuesday.The complaint is the second brought at the Hague-based court against Mr. Duterte, 73, over the anti-narcotics crackdown, which has left thousands dead at the hands of police officers and unknown gunmen since he took office in 2016.Neri Colmenares, president of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, which is representing the family members of the slain Filipinos, said they hoped to hold Mr. Duterte accountable for his crimes against humanity committed through acts of murder for the extrajudicial killings of thousands of Filipinos and other inhumane acts.The complaint is unlikely to have much practical effect, since Mr. Dutertes government does not recognize the international court. He said in March that he was withdrawing the Philippines from the treaty that established it.The new complaint comes as Mr. Duterte is strengthening his grip on the Philippines judicial system. Over the weekend, he announced the selection of Teresita de Castro as the new chief justice of the Supreme Court, replacing Maria Lourdes Sereno, a fierce critic of Mr. Dutertes war on drugs. The two women are archrivals.A rights group, Rise Up for Life and for Rights, which has also joined the new complaint, expressed optimism about the case, saying there was more than enough proof of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians. [more]Save my User ID and Password

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Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site.Lisa Sankar

Lisa Sankar, a woman from Trinidad and Tobago who has been married to a Chinese man for nearly two decades, has fulfilled her Chinese dream as a writer and entrepreneur.

On August 23, Sankar launched her new bilingual childrens picture books, the Harvey Hippo series and the Fabulous Stories series, at the 25th Beijing International Book Fair.

Although I am an adult, deep inside, the child in me lives on, and there are so many stories in me waiting to be told. My children are grown, so I have decided to tell all my untold stories to the children of China and to the children of countries around the world, said Sankar at the launching ceremony.

Sankar explained that people could find Chinese elements in her stories. For instance, the company that Harvey Hippos father works for does business with a Chinese company. The owner of the Chinese company is a panda, who has a young son. In the books, Harvey Hippo is set to meet and become friends with the young panda.

The three books in the Fabulous Stories series are based on particularly amusing stories Sankar originally told her two sons.

Stephen Seedansingh, Ambassador of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to China, said that Sankar has distinguished herself by being the first Trinbagonian author of childrens books written and published in Mandarin for a Chinese audience.

According to Seedansingh, cultural and creative industries are important contributors to economic resilience in Trinidad and Tobago, creating sustainable economic opportunities for people from all walks of life.

Creatives like Lisa and those involved in the creation, production and distribution of cultural goods and services earn significant benefits in regional and international markets, he noted.

Denis Antoine, Ambassador of Grenada to China, pointed out that there are many ways to enlarge a childs world, but a love of books is still the best way. He said Sankars work fully displays her love for China.

Sankar is a writer with unbridled imagination. In 1996, she received a Chinese government scholarship to study in China. She was the first student of Trinidad and Tobago to obtain a Chinese degree. The fusion of oriental and Caribbean culture makes her literature full of vitality and charm.

In 2010, Sankar published her first book, The Emperor, His Bride and the Dragon Robe. It is an original Chinese fairy tale picture book which tells the story of a young Chinese emperor and two young women who vie to become his bride and the next empress of China.

I believe that reading is a childs ladder to success. It is my wish that through my books, I can bring joy and hope to children, and at the same time help broaden their horizons, said Sankar.Subscriber content preview

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP)  Moving to safeguard the public after raging floodwaters engulfed a Maryland town's main street twice in two years, authorities have announced a plan to demolish roughly 5 percent of the buildings in the flood-prone historic district.

Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman delivered the broad outlines of a roughly $50 million five-year flood mitigation plan at a news conference last week in Ellicott City's historic center. It calls for tearing down 10 ravaged properties on the hard-hit lower half of the former mill town's once-picturesque main street.





. . .Local 302 members continue strike

SEATTLE  The latest post on Local 302 operating engineers' website says the union met with employers on Monday, the first time since workers walked off jobsites early last week.

Here's the post: We met today with the employers for the first time since the strike began. The parties exchanged their positions in an effort to reach an agreement. The meeting was short because the employers' position has not changed from their last proposal. There are no scheduled negotiation dates but we offered our availability day or night.

The post was made by Daren Konopaski, international vice president and business manager of the union.

The strike affects crane operators, concrete pumpers, dirt and paving crews, and hoisting and material handling crews.

Members turned down the second tentative agreement between union negotiators and the Associated General Contractors of Washington, which represents construction companies. It offered workers a 15 percent increase in total compensation over three years. Hourly wages, which now range from $37.70 to $43.13, would have increased nearly 16 percent over three years.



In Lucerne on August 27th, Carl F. Bucherer shares its home city with a stunning hotel  the Burgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne. Carl F. Bucherer and GaultMillau named this breathtaking resort Hotel of the Year 2019. The award ceremony was held at the resort, which is located on a spectacular mountain ridge with wonderful views out over Lake Lucerne. This is the twelfth time that the watch brand and the gourmet guide, who share a long-standing partnership, have presented the Hotel of the Year award.

Culinary Delights and a Feast for the Eyes

The Spices Kitchen & Terrace, which serves up authentic Asian cuisine in the heart of Switzerland, is one of four restaurants at the Burgenstock Resort that will be featured in the GaultMillau Guide 2019. Constructed as an impressive glass cube, the resorts award-winning restaurant serves Far Eastern delicacies from its open show kitchen, and guests can take in the breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape. In honor of this award, Carl F. Bucherer took inspiration from the culinary variety on offer at the resort and presented popular creations from the Spices Kitchen & Terrace together with selected timepieces in a series of photographs. Various models from the Swiss watch brand were joined by a range of different courses, including Indian, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese dishes, in these artistic compositions.

Manero Peripheral at the restaurant Spices Kitchen & Terrace from the Burgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne  Carl F. Bucherer

A Luxury Resort with a Fascinating History

The Swiss watch manufacturer and the Burgenstock Resort also share a long and illustrious history. The Grand Hotel, as it was known following its original completion in 1873, seemed to have an almost magical power to attract such renowned names as Charlie Chaplin, Kofi Annan, Sophia Loren, and Audrey Hepburn.

Vladimir Petkovic and Sasha Moeri  Carl F. Bucherer

Made of Lucerne

Speaking at the award ceremony, Sascha Moeri, CEO of Carl F. Bucherer, said: The Burgenstock Resort has always pursued a vision of consistently setting the very highest standards. It is this shared philosophy, as well as the fact that we both have a long history and are Made of Lucerne, that creates such a strong connection between our brand and this renowned hotel. With GaultMillau Switzerland Editor in Chief Urs Heller also in attendance, Sascha Moeri honored the outstanding performance by presenting a watch each to Bruno H. Schopfer, Managing Director of the Burgenstock Selection, Robert P. Herr, General Manager of the Burgenstock Resort, and Mike Wehrle, the Burgenstock Resorts Culinary Director. Each timepiece features an engraving on the case back with the words Hotel of the Year 2019.Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.The story dates back to 1914, when the panther first appeared on one of Cartiers creations. It was a ladies wristwatch, with a generous round case enclosing a square dial studded with onyx and diamonds, reproducing the creatures dappled coat. As yet, there was no head, no piercing gaze or lithe body; just the beginnings of a panther motif, which would continue to be developed over the following hundred years and beyond. Also in 1914, Louis Cartier, who was head of the company at the time, commissioned an invitation card from illustrator Georges Barbier, representing a woman in a very Art Deco style with a black panther lying at her feet. He was so taken with this Panther woman that he began to use it in advertisements. It was an age hungry for the exotic; the mystery and grace of big cats found favour with high society, and came to embody the image of the femme fatale. Louis Cartier thus used a fashionable symbol to create the Femme Panthere. And it was a woman who brought the beast into the Cartier universe, with a depth of imagination and creativity that went beyond Louis Cartiers classical inspiration.

Jeanne Toussaint, La Panthere

Louis Cartier met Jeanne Toussaint on the eve of the First World War. Their relationship was a sensual and intellectual meeting of minds, and generated an incredible creativity. She was a friend of Coco Chanel, and Parisian society couldnt get enough of the bags she created for Chanel. However, she was also what a previous generation would have called a demi-mondaine. Her Bohemian lifestyle meant that the Cartier family, Jeweller to Kings, vetoed any idea of marriage. So Louis and Jeanne had to be content with working together, a situation that Louis embraced by appointing his muse as artistic director of the family firm. In La Panthere, le fabuleux roman de Jeanne Toussaint, joaillere des rois (The Panther, the incredible saga of Jeanne Toussaint, jeweller to kings) author Stephanie de Horts describes this strong, independent, talented, creative woman whose feline elegance was legendary: She replaced the love for the man she had lost with an extraordinary creativity that endowed her company with the prestige we recognise today.

Jeanne Toussaint

With the input of Jeanne Toussaint, assisted by designer Peter Lemarchand, who spent countless hours in the Vincennes zoo, sketching the big cats, the panther began to take off in Cartiers collections. 1948 saw the creation of an emerald cabochon brooch weighing 116.74 carats, featuring a panther picked out in diamonds with onyx spots, which acquired notoriety through its owner, the Duchess of Windsor. The animals sinuous body also inspired Jeanne Toussaint to design a new, less rigid and more flexible kind of jewellery. Her invisible gem-setting technique, which dispensed with the use of claws, was the subject of a patent application.

Movie star

In 2014 Cartier celebrated the centenary of the Panthere de Cartier. The wild animal is omnipresent in Cartiers watches and jewellery, and has even inspired a perfume. The panther is also inseparable from the companys PR efforts, and is a frequent star of the stories created by advertising executives to inspire the dreams of consumers. A panther guides the dream sequence in the 2012 film LOdyssee de Cartier, an allegory of Cartiers history created to celebrate the Parisian companys 165th anniversary.

Film LOdyssee de Cartier  Cartier

Panthers and watches in 2018

Where are this years panthers to be found? First, in the Montre Panthere de Cartier collection, which this year comes with double- or triple-wrap bracelets in white, yellow or rose gold. The collection features a jewellery version with a figurative motif studded with diamonds and black enamel, and a more stylised variant in rose gold and black lacquer.

Collection Panthere  Cartier

There is also the Revelation dune Panthere watch, a new model in three different colours that features an innovative technique for portraying the head of a panther, with gold microbeads forming an ephemeral design on the dial.

Revelation d'une Panthere  Cartier

But its in the jewellery watches that the feline beauty is at its most triumphant. The Rencontre de Panthere watch has a rotor decorated with two panthers heads in diamonds and black lacquer on the dial itself; the Panthere Lovee watch features a splendid panthers head adorning the oval baignoire case; and the Montre Tortue Regard de Panthere, a 30-piece limited edition, has a dial set with diamonds and yellow sapphires with black enamel accents.

Montre Rencontre de Panthere, Montre Panthere Lovee,Montre Tortue Regard de Panthere  Cartier

Cartiers signature animal also appears on the Pendule Mysterieuse Panthere Losange table clock and the Montre Pendentif Panthere Hypnose pendant watch, which has a skeletonised movement in the shape of a panthers head.

Montre Cle de Cartier Marqueterie de Paille et Montre Ronde Louis Cartier Marqueterie de Bois et de Feuille dOr  Cartier

Cartiers signature animal also appears on the Pendule Mysterieuse Panthere Losange table clock and the Montre Pendentif Panthere Hypnose pendant watch, which has a skeletonised movement in the shape of a panthers head.

Pendule Mysterieuse Panthere Losange et Montre Pendentif Panthere Hypnose  Cartier

Fine jewellery also plays a part in the Montre de Joaillerie Panthere Savane, which contains the ultra-thin mechanical Calibre 101; the Montre de Haute Joaillerie Panthere Duo, whose dial is clutched between the paws of two felines; and the Montre de Haute Joaillerie Panthere Line, completely paved in diamonds and black lacquer, like the very first panther watch of 1914.Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said on Wednesday that his country and Ethiopia must press ahead with diplomatic efforts and maintain regular communication to protect their mutual interests, seemingly referring to Addis Ababas disputed dam project on the Nile river.

The statement came a day after Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel met with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa to follow up on talks over the Grand Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia's $4 billion hydroelectric mega project.

"Strategic partnership, achieving mutual gains and preserving the interests of each party require active diplomacy and constant communication, and is a historical responsibility of both the Egyptian and Ethiopian sides," the spokesman said on Twitter, describing Tuesday's meeting as "important."

Egypt and Ethiopia have agreed during the fresh talks in the Ethiopian capital to "overcome any obstacles" during negotiations over the dam, which Cairo fears could diminish its water share of the Nile, its main source of potable water. Addis Ababa maintains that the project will not reduce Egypt's water supplies and will boost Ethiopias development.

The two sides stressed the importance of "reaching the desired understanding over the Renaissance Dam in a way that ensures achieving Ethiopia's development while preserving Egypts water security," Egypt's ministry said on Tuesday.

The two sides also stressed they aim to take steps to set up a proposed fund to invest in development projects in Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan and agreed to boost trade exchange and Egyptian investment in Addis Ababa.

During Tuesday's talks, the officials discussed efforts to implement a 2015 agreement signed by Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan over Nile water rights, which broke months-long deadlock in May.

The agreement includes a host of decisions made by the three nations, including setting up a scientific study group focusing on the process of filling the reservoir of the 6,000-megawatt dam.

The talks on Tuesday came days after Abiy said that the ongoing construction of the dam, which Ethiopia hopes will become Africa's largest power generator and exporter, is facing delays due to its faulty design.

In June, Abiy and El-Sisi signaled during talks in Cairo that they had made a breakthrough to resolve differences over the dam project. The Egyptian president said at the time that the two countries have come a long way in building confidence and strengthening their bilateral cooperation. Abiy said his country was committed to securing Egypt's share of Nile water.

The two leaders are expected to meet in September on the sidelines of a China-Africa cooperation forum in Beijing.

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This Bobcat Winns Senior Tyler Winns fought his way back to be able to join his teammates this past Friday as a captain for the EC vs Cook County game. Cook County displayed...

Rising transportation tax revenues show Georgians back to driving, traveling With the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Georgia steadily declining, more and more Georgians are driving and traveling. That encouraging trend is showing up in monthly tax collections...

EC School Board approves $2000 bonus for all staff, auditorium renovations Members of the Early County Board of Education approved a $2000 bonus for all staff members in the Early County School System. Those in special education departments in all three...Earlier this week, the Democratic candidate for Michigans 8th Congressional District, Elissa Slotkin, released a powerful television ad titled Service. In it, Slotkin emphasizes her service to the country while serving her overseas tours in Iraq. I joined after 9/11, did three tours in Iraq, and took the safety of our troops and our homeland personally, Slotkin says in the ad. For me, service was working for two presidents, one from each party. I approve this message because we need members of Congress who remember its about service to country, not themselves.

Meanwhile, her opponent Mike Bishop spent his time posting a meme on Facebook suggesting that Americans who share news stories he doesnt agree with should be killed by drones:

He also shared on his Facebook page a widely-debunked news story that contends Google is manipulating search results to favor Democrats:

Bishop is well-known to for being the top pocket lint wrangler for multi-millionaire Matty Maroun and for cashing in on his position as a member of Congress.

So much for service.

Bishop is so afraid that voters will come to know him for his anti-worker and pro-gun stances that he scrubbed mention of them from his website when he launched his reelection bid.

Bishop is also all-in for President Trump and wants him to fire United States Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order to obstruct the Special Prosecutors investigation into Trumps criminality:

Right after the August primary, Slotkin challenged Bishop to three public debates. She never got a response so she wrote him a certified letter repeating the challenge. Bishop once again ignored her. But, a short time later, Bishop put out a challenge of his own to Slotkin to join him in debates. A friend of mine asked on Facebook, Did he seriously respond to a debate challenge with, No, I challenge YOU? What is he, 8?

Lol.

With the Cook Political Report putting this once-safe Republican district into the tossup category, Bishop is clearly running scared. And he should be. Elissa Slotkin is a true public servant who has served her country with distinction. Bishops job is being seriously threatened and, if the primary turnout numbers are predictive and Slotkin continues to run an exquisitely-executed campaign, this will be a Dem pickup after the November General Election.

You can support this race  and you SHOULD!  by clicking HERE and making a donation. There wont be a blue wave in November unless we all pitch in. So, the next time youre tempted to retweet Donald Trump, make a donation to Slotkins campaign instead. THIS IS A WINNABLE SEAT FOR DEMOCRATS!

You can read more Eclectablog coverage of Elissa Slotkins campaign HERE. You can also listen to our interview with her on The GOTMFV Show podcast HERE.Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5)Egyptian administrative prosecutors have issued a subpoena to question ten railway officials over their potential role in a passenger train derailment in Giza that injured 63 people last month.

The officials, who include the managers and monitoring heads of maintenance, signaling, and operations, are accused of "negligence and failure to enforce supervision," a statement from the prosecution read.

Eight carriages of a train headed to the southern governorate of Qena on 13 July derailed onto a siding before it hit a wooden barrier, according to a report by an investigation committee formed by the country's railway authority. Inspection revealed that a malfunction on the railroad switch caused the accident.

Egypt's railway network is notorious for its poor safety record, which is mostly blamed on a lack of maintenance, manually-operated systems and poor management. Successive governments have failed to enforce safety measures on the system.

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Thailand's CPF targets business growth in foreign markets

Charoen Pokphands Foods PCL (CPF) plans to generate more business growth from overseas operations, and focus on increasing capacity in Thailand and foreign bases to serve export market.

The company cites growing demand internationally, especially in ASEAN market, as the impetus for its strategic decision.



The company also expects better performance in the second half of 2018 as a result of improved performance in swine and aquaculture businesses.



Sooksunt Jiumjaiswanglerg, CPF's chief executive officer for agro-industrial business and co-president, said the company will move towards overseas growth. The ratio of total sales from overseas operation and Thai operation, including exports, will shift from 68:32 in this year to 70:30 in the next five years.



"CPF's direction will focus on export sales expansion. The company's foreign operations are going to shift from mainly domestic consumption to more exports. So far, its production already bounds for more than 30 countries around the world, and will expand the production to increase export sales. The company believe this strategic decision will help us to reach our target growth," said Jiumjaiswanglerg.



Under the expansion plan, it will focus on the integrated poultry project in Vietnam, worth nearly US$250 million, including feed mill breeding farms and processing plant. The plant will be completed by the end of 2019. Processed chickens from this plant will export to other Asian countries such as Japan.



Jiumjaiswanglerg expressed optimism that the company's performance in second half of 2018 will be brighter than the first half. The growth will be driven by continuous recovery in Vietnam's pig prices and improved sales in aquaculture business.



He noted that CPF's overseas operations in the first half 2018 showed profitable performance, especially in the Philippines and India. Performance in Turkey also improved, which came as a result of business restructuring mainly on animal feed and processing food.



The outlook in the second half of 2018 is forecasted to outperform the first half of this year. The main two contributing factors driving business growth are pig prices - particularly in Vietnam - which are increasing and would back to normal in the second quarter this year, as well as CPF's aquaculture businesses in Vietnam, India and Thailand.



Those factors will encourage a positive business environment for CPF for the rest of the year. CPF thus sees that operational results will achieved a growth target of 5-8% this year.



The company's current investment in 17 countries includes Thailand. Most of its revenue comes from overseas, such as China and Vietnam.

- CPF



Alaska salmon harvest this year less than expected

Alaska's fishery officials have described the US state's salmon fishing season as "unusual," with commercial harvest around 31% below the preseason forecast level.

According to the "Preliminary 2018 Alaska Salmon Harvest and Fishery Update" released by the Alaska Department of Fishery and Game, statewide harvest may not reach the expected 147 million fish.

"Most of the harvest shortfall has come in the form of poor pink salmon returns to streams and rivers flowing into the Gulf of Alaska where pink salmon harvest is approximately half the preseason forecast amount", the update report said.

Several major sockeye salmon stocks also displayed unexpected run timing in 2018. For example, the Kvichak River sockeye salmon run peak was 10 days later than average, the slowest run since 1956.

There were other unusual run timing events that, according to the fishery department, created uncertainty for fishery managers, who depend on relatively consistent run timing to ensure fisheries are managed sustainably. These also resulted in foregone harvest opportunity for commercial fishermen.

While lower-than-expected returns and unusual run timing reduced fishing opportunity across much of the state, fishing closures and restrictions allowed enough salmon passage to meet or exceed many established escapement goals including Yukon River summer and fall chum salmon and Canadian border king salmon passage.

"Meeting these escapement goals increases the probability future salmon returns will provide harvestable surplus for all harvesters", the fishery department stressed.

Notwithstanding the troublous situation, the 2018 season has bright spots, notably in Western Alaska where Bristol Bay experienced the second-largest sockeye salmon harvest on record (nearly 42 million fish) and the fourth consecutive season with harvest exceeding 35 million sockeye salmon, the report said.The Netherlands has "expressed its regret" to Egypt over a Dutch politicians intention to organize a cartoon contest depicting anti-Islam cartoons, Egypts foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

In an official statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry said Minister Sameh Shoukry received a phone call from his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok, who expressed his countrys sorrow over controversial Dutch nationalist politician Geert Wilderss plan to hold the anti-Islam cartoon contest inside parliament.

Wilders' Dutch Party for Freedom, known for their hatred and opposition to Islam, is the second-largest party in the Dutch parliament.

He announced the contest last June, and said it will be open next November in the PVVs parliamentary offices.

Blok said Wilders plan does not in any way represent the positions of the government or Dutch community, stressing his governments refusal to all manifestations of hatred, incitement, and disrespect of religions.

Shoukry affirmed the necessity that freedom of expression should not be confused with the adoption of hate and incitement speech.

He described it as a mix up which would have a dangerous impact on the relations between nations and people with different religions.

Shoukry also said that the world needs to support and spread values of tolerance and respect of others opinions, as well as a respect of beliefs and religions to repel religious extremism, terrorism, and violence.

Since Tuesday, the Netherlands has distanced itself from the competition to several Islamic majority states opposing the contest, yet defending the right to hold it on foundations of freedom of expression.

Pakistan has been leading the line of opposition to Wilders contest, calling for an emergency session by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over the contest.

The outrage comes after protests and riots made 13 years ago in several Arab and Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published several offensive cartoons of Islam Prophet Mohamed in 2005.

In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten provoked protests across the world and riots in some Muslim countries by publishing several cartoons of Muhammad, including one depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban.

In 2015, two French militants killed 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdos offices as revenge for the printing of cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohamed in the past.

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August 27, 2018 | At the Wednesday, August 22 meeting of the Elk Grove City Council, the city's economic development director,...

http://www.elkgrovenews.net/2018/08/can-elk-groves-david-slay-kleiner.html





August 27, 2018 | August 27, 2018 |





At the Wednesday, August 22 meeting of the Elk Grove City Council, the city's economic development director, under the dictates set forward by his city council bosses, swung for the fences.





In a presentation by Darrel Doan a new incentive program called "Invest Elk Grove" was introduced. The new program, which has the ultimate goal of landing the next Google or Apple Computer, will be funded with $800,000 of taxpayers money and will primarily target two types of high-tech businesses - pure starts-up and so-called scale-up companies that are seeking additional funding.





While the establishment of the program is laudable, is it dealing in realism or is it a just another feel-good symbolic claptrap conjured up by city leaders to make it look like they are doing something other than expanding city limits for their housing developer buddies?





During the presentation last Wednesday night, Doan painted the program as having the potential to bring the next major thing in technology to Elk Grove. In his Powerpoint presentation, Doan dangled a slide highlighting Google, Apple Computer and NetFlix's origins in garages and implied "Invest Elk Grove'' will attract the next version of one of these companies.





While the garage start-up origin has become a cliche used by every flim-flam economic development director between here and Portland, Maine, Doan stuck to that script and indicated the city has some excellent prospects.





Following his presentation, the most crucial part of the presentation was questioning by Vice Mayor Darren Suen. During his questioning, Suen inquired how is the city going to reach the guy or gal in the dorm at Stanford, not Sac State mind you, who is sitting on top of the next Google?





Doan explained the Bay Area-domiciled representative for the Greater Sacramento Economic Council would be contacting prospects about locating their business to Elk Grove. For his part, Doan will not be personally recruiting in the Bay Area, the hotbed of tech startups.





It is here, where the flaws in this program, especially if we are to believe it will bring the next Fortune 500 multi-national tech company to move and headquarter in Elk Grove, lie.





First, one of the reasons places like Silicon Valley flourish is because they have Stanford, a prominent research university in their backyard. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were Ph.D. candidates at Stanford.





While Sac State is a respectable institution, it is not a research university and is not considered a hotbed of technological innovation. UC Davis is a research university, but its area of specialty leans toward biology and agriculture. Not having a research university specializing in programs directly related to technology puts the region at a disadvantage.





Google's initial funding at the time of their incorporation on September 4, 1998 was a modest $100,000. However, less than nine months later, they had received venture capital funding from Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital totaling $25 million.





And here is the point - the dorm hall student Suen referred to sitting atop the next big thing is probably at Stanford or other notable research universities across the country. While $150,000 from the City of Elk Grove might help, they do not provide the multi-million dollar seed money available from Bay Area venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins or Sequoia Capital.





Furthermore, there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between the venture capital firms and the start-ups they funds. When the venture capital firms give millions of dollars to young entrepreneurs, they tend to be located not too far from their Bay Area offices or at least other branch offices so to monitor their progress.





Consider the case of Facebook. After being founded by then-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, the company moved to Palo Alto where it quickly accessed seed capital from a host of wealthy investors and venture capital firms. If the next Zuckerberg at the out-of-state institute like Harvard, Yale, MIT or others has the next greatest technology that will lay the foundation for a multi-national corporation, will they go knocking on the doors of Elk Grove city hall for $150,000 or the Bay Area venture funds for millions of dollars?





So while the "Invest Elk Grove" grants of up to $150,000 may attract some interest, the tech companies they draw will not be the top shelf variety. Sure, it could lead to the development of small companies employing a couple of dozen employees, but don't let the city council or economic development director fool you.





The real big ideas that establish the real big multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations will flow to big money, and the real big cash is with the Bay Area venture capital fund. For as much as they think they can, or have you believe they can, Elk Grove's David will not be slaying Kleiner Perkins or Sequoia Capital's Goliath anytime in this century.



The corruption trial of the former president of El Salvador, Antonio Saca, is drawing to a close. Saca has already confessed to diverting more than $300 million in public funds. Now he and his co-defendants will wait and learn their fate.The periodical El Faro has been reporting on the financial accounts which made this possible.Essentially, the Executive branch in El Salvador has been given a budget of funds by El Salvador's legislature which is treated as "under reserve" or secret. These are discretionary funds where the president is supposed to decide where they should best be spent. Presidents from both parties have treated these funds not only as discretionary, but as one for which they need not be accountable to anyone. Government auditors are not granted access to the account spending. No disclosure is made of how the money is used. Presidential spokesmen refuse to answer questions from the press about the funds.Tony Saca, who led a conservative ARENA government from 2004-2009 has admitted to diverting $310 million from these accounts. His successor, Mauricio Funes, is in exile in Nicaragua and accused by the attorney general of diverting $351 million in the same fashion for such things as luxury properties, travel for relatives and cosmetic surgery in Hollywood for his mistress.El Faro is also reporting that the administration of Salvador Sanchez Ceren has also been an eager user of the secret presidential accounts. According to El Faro, even though the National Assembly only allocated $107 million to those accounts over the past four years, Sanchez Ceren re-directed another $41 million in funds allocated to other parts of the government into the secret accounts. At this point, it has not been reported if those funds have been spent on non-governmental purposes, but I think we can safely assume that at least some portion were.It is just a basic principle of good government: transparency produces accountability, lack of transparency produces fraud and corruption. By putting hundreds of millions of dollars into secret, discretionary accounts, the government of El Salvador has created a temptation which its presidents have been unable to resist.In a promising sign, at least one presidential candidate, Nayib Bukele, has stated that, if elected, he would abolish the practice of having secret accounts for the executive branch.During the first half of 2018, seven issuers resolved FCPA offenses with the the DOJ or SEC or both. When did the companies first learn about their potential FCPA offenses, (according to their own disclosures), when did they first disclose the potential offenses, and when did they finally resolve the offenses with the feds?

Heres what we found:

Elbit Imaging LTD. (Israel) resolved FCPA offenses on March 9, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on April 21, 2016. It first discovered the potential offenses in March 2016.

Kinross Gold Corporation (Canada) resolved FCPA offenses on March 26, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on October 2, 2015. It first discovered the potential offenses in August 2013.

Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (USA) resolved FCPA offenses on April 23, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on March 19, 2012. It first discovered the potential offenses  no date disclosed.

Panasonic Corporation (Japan) resolved FCPA offenses on April 30, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on February 2, 2017. It first discovered the potential offenses  no date disclosed.

Societe Generale (France) resolved FCPA offenses on June 4, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on November 6, 2017. It first discovered the offenses in April 2014.

Legg Mason, Inc. (USA) resolved FCPA offenses on June 4, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on May 30, 2018. It first discovered the potential offenses  no date disclosed.

Credit Suisse Group AG (Switzerland) resolved FCPA offenses on July 6, 2018. It first disclosed the FCPA investigation on February 14, 2018. It first discovered the potential offenses  no date disclosed.

We conducted the research for this post on FCPA Tracker.

___

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks on Wednesday in Cairo with his Sudanese counterpart Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed about the ways to boost bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as the latest development concerning South Sudan, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced.

According to the Egyptian foreign ministry, the two ministers held talks where they signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the diplomatic training and decision making center at the Sudanese foreign ministry and the diplomatic studies center at the Egyptian foreign ministry.

The two ministers also agreed to organize a training session for Sudanese diplomats in Cairo.

Shoukry and Ahmed also discussed the latest developments concerning the situation in South Sudan, where the Egyptian foreign minister praised the efforts of Sudan to achieve peace in the civil-war torn country.

Earlier this month, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his rival rebel leader Riek Machar signed an agreement to cease fire and to share rule in Khartoum after the brokerage of the Sudanese government.

Shoukry also praised the Sudanese efforts to achieve stability in all areas in Sudan including Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, calling on all parties in Sudan to respond positively to the Sudanese government's initiatives for dialogue and reconciliations.

The two officials also discussed the Red Sea's security issue and how it was important for its countries to share consultations as well as the latest developments in the Horn of African region.

Minister Shoukry also shared with his counterpart the results of his recent visit to Addis Ababa on 24 August with Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel where they discussed the latest developments in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam.

The talks between Shoukry and Ahmed were held on the sidelines of the joint ministerial committee responsible for preparing for the Egyptian-Sudanese summit in October.

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Turkey has its own regulations and procedures regarding the real estate trade in Turkey and there have recently been some changes to the law.

Fethiye Times went along to talk with Serdar Oguz, Chairman of the Real Estate Agents Association in Fethiye, for an update.

The regulations were reviewed and updated by the Ministry of Customs and Trade on 5th June 2018*

The aims of the review are to regulate the property market and minimise the negative impact of fraud, money loss and tax evasion.

Real estate buyers, property sellers and real estate agents are protected by these regulations.

Real estate trading and brokerage activities are recorded by the Government.

What are the new regulations?

Sellers and buyers are advised to use an Authorisation Certificated estate agent (You can still sell your property yourself however, it is recommended you use an agent).

Real estate consultants will not be able to provide real estate consultancy and brokerage, sales and leasing activities without the Professional Qualification Certificate (which can be obtained from institutions authorized by the Vocational Qualifications Authority) and without the Authorisation Certificate given by the Commercial Provincial Directorates.

The Authorisation Certificate can be cancelled for up to two years if real estate offices do not comply with the regulations.

Under the new regulations, real estate businesses must have an office of at least 30m2 with a fixed address. No other type of business will be permitted to operate from the same office.

Concepts such as mobile real estate, barman, shoe shiners and waiters selling property and home office will no longer be legal.

What do you have to do?

The property owner authorises the estate agent by signing a three-month sales contract with their chosen estate agent who must hold an authorisation certificate.

You can still try to sell your property yourself, but it is recommended you use a reliable estate agent in the area.

The chosen real estate agent can authorise other real estate agents by signing the Sales Brokerage Agreement, collaborating to sell the property quicker if it has been agreed on the sales contract with the property owner.

At the end of the three-month contract you have the option to renew with the same estate agent or change to a different one.

Take care not to trade with estate agents who do not have a certificate of authority or an office as per the regulations as they do not engage legally in real estate business.

*The government have given 18 months notice to all legal real estate agents to update their conditions according to the new law.

The goverment will start to give Authorisation Certificates to legal estate agents at the end of 90 days from the new regulation announcement on 5th June 2018, (3rd September 2018)

All advertisements (including the website and internet adverts) will have to display the Authorisation Certificate Number.

With the implementation of these regulations, real estate consultants are empowered in matters relating to their business. At the same time they are held more responsible for the carrying out of the professional and legal practices laid out in the regulations.

If you have any questions, please contact Serdar Oguz at tlosproperty@gmail.comDuckDuckGo, a Paoli, Pennsylvania-based internet search engine that protects web searchers privacy, raised a funding round from Omers Ventures.

The deal reportedly amounted to approx. $10m.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to grow internationally, including in Canada, and expand its privacy and security offerings.

Led by founder Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo is a provider of search engine technologies that are designed to protect a users online activity from external parties. The engine itself does not track a users search history and thus does not (and cannot) exploit a users historical online behavior for direct advertising or third-party monetization.

Recently, the company expanded its privacy services, adding a mobile browser and desktop browser extension to their product mix, which include built-in tracker blocking and smarter encryption.

FinSMEs

29/08/2018Polaris, a Danish-owned private equity firm, will acquire 100% of the shares in Falck Safety Services Holding A/S and take over all Safety Services activities in Falck.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the sales price, and closing is expected during September 2018.

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Falck Safety Services is a provider of specialist safety training for the offshore, maritime and renewables industries, operating from over 30 training centres in 21 countries.

Each year, the company provides training to thousands of employees from the energy and shipping industries.

Torben Harring will continue as CEO of Safety Services.

FinSMEs

29/08/2018

THE PRESS RELEASE

Polaris acquires Falck Safety Services from Falck

Polaris and Falck have signed an agreement whereby Polaris will acquire 100% of the shares in Falck Safety Services Holding A/S and take over all Safety Services activities in Falck.

Falck Safety Services is the worlds largest provider of specialist safety training for the offshore, maritime and renewables industries, operating from over 30 training centres in 21 countries. Each year, Falck Safety Services provides the most realistic and valuable training to thousands of employees from the energy and shipping industries.

The divestment of Falck Safety Services is in line with Falcks overall strategy to focus on its core business.

Polaris is a Danish-owned private equity firm with activities across a range of industries and experience building growth companies, including providers of critical services to the renewable energy industry, among others.

Partner and CFO at Polaris Henrik Bonnerup said:

Safety Services is an exciting and globally leading company with the broadest range of nationally and internationally accredited training courses in the world. We see good growth opportunities in the companys markets where increasing safety demands and a higher degree of outsourcing to professional partners generate great potential. Safety Services competent employees, its unique offering to customers and the companys strong market position form a great platform for generating growth and building an even stronger business based on world-class customer service and global operating procedures.

Falck President & CEO Jakob Riis said:

We are focusing our business and reducing complexity to build leadership in our core business areas. Safety Services is a leader in rescue and safety training. During recent years, Safety Services has reduced cost significantly and is well into its turn-around that was initiated following the recent recession in the oil and gas sector. We have evaluated the future ownership of Safety Services. We believe that Polaris can provide the focus and financial capacity needed to enhance Safety Services leadership.

Torben Harring will continue as CEO of Safety Services under Polaris ownership. Harring said:

Polaris ownership strengthens Safety Services. Following the effect of the downturn in the oil and gas sector, we conducted a thorough and necessary global cost adjustment and carved out one third of our cost base. In parallel we initiated the process of streamlining the business. With the outlook to improve profitability significantly and with Polaris as a new strong owner prepared to fuel our growth, we can now fully focus on accelerating the transformation and development of our business. Im looking very much forward to start collaboration with Polaris.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the sales price, and closing is expected during September 2018.SOCi, Inc., a San Diego, CA-based provider of social media and reputation management platform for multi-location brands, closed a Series B funding round of $10.5m.

The round was led by Vertical Venture Partners, with participation from Grayhawk Capital, Blossom Street Ventures, and Tallwave Capital.

The company intends to use the funds to expand adoption of its platform across multi-location brands.

Led by Afif Khoury, CEO, SOCi provides an enterprise marketing technology platform which enables multi-location companies to succeed in local social media and reputation management. The companys proprietary solutions are used by more than 250 clients, with a collective count of more than 50,000 business locations, to oversee, maintain and protect their brand at the national level, while scaling presence across hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local pages on sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google My Business.

FinSMEs

29/08/2018A meeting between Hamas and Fatah representatives within the framework of reconciliation efforts scheduled this week in Cairo was postponed for several days in the hope of bridging differences between the two sides.

According to informed sources in Cairo, both sides responded positively to the latest Egyptian reconciliation paper but remain in dispute over matters not addressed in the proposal. What this suggests is that they are at odds over whether the truce with Israel or the reconciliation process should take priority.

Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee member Azzam Al-Ahmed, head of the Fatah reconciliation delegation, announced on Monday that the delegation had delivered a positive response to Egypts reconciliation paper.

Fatah based its response on the 2011 and 2017 agreements and their executive mechanisms, he said.

It is necessary to continue with the implementation of what has been agreed upon, from the point where the process was suspended following the explosion targeting the convoy of the prime minister and head of General Intelligence.

Al-Ahmed stressed that the Fatah response proposed nothing new and was based on agreements already signed so that we can gradually and in tandem implement all the steps, including the return of ministers to Gaza so they can resume their duties in a legal manner, the termination of the work of the committee that is studying the situation of civil servants appointed by Hamas during the period of the rift and the termination of other committees such as the reconciliation, civil liberties and security committees.

The most significant part of Al-Ahmeds statement on Monday concerned what he described as the political framework.

The political framework included in the response has been agreed upon time after time. The only new element has to do with developments since the 12 October 2017 agreement. These concern the so-called deal of the century. It was stressed that the American concept of the peace process is unacceptable and is tantamount to a conspiracy to eliminate the Palestinian cause.

According to sources in Cairo, Fatah insists that Hamas must come to Cairo to sign the Egyptian paper first. Then the Palestinian Authority, in its capacity as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, will sign the truce agreement with Israel.

Sources say the Egyptian paper is not the crux of the problem at present and differences over the reconciliation process focus on relatively minor details.

The real problem is that tensions have begun to mount between the two sides and this is reflected in their political postures and in the rhetoric of their respective media.

The PA maintains that Hamas now links the reconciliation process to the truce it recently struck with Israel which, Fatah spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi told the press, means Hamas gives the truce with Israel priority over the reconciliation, with the aim of voiding the reconciliation of any substance. He also claimed Hamas is working to implement the deal of the century which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza.

Hamas denies the allegations. Referring to the truce, Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif Al-Qanou countered: This is not a political agreement or part of an international agreement that concedes territory, recognises the occupier and destroys the national project.

He stressed that Hamas was one with the national consensus among Palestinian factions over the need to lift the blockade against Gaza, to confront the deal of the century and safeguard Palestinian rights.

A source close to Hamas, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly from Gaza, said that while Hamas needed to achieve progress on the truce and the lifting of the blockade so as to score political points in advance of the general elections which will culminate the reconciliation process, this did not signify that it was any less eager to conclude the reconciliation.

The problem has to do with priorities: Fatah wants to regain control of Gaza and end all manifestations of Hamas control so as to be able to dominate the political arena unilaterally, as if Fatah were the Palestinian authority rather than another political faction like Hamas.

According to this source, Fatah is obstructing the reconciliation by insisting Hamas comes to Egypt to sign the Cairo paper and by rejecting the inclusion of four factions from Gaza  the Peoples Resistance Movement, the Peoples Resistance Committees, the Mujahideen Movement and the Ahrar Movement  on the grounds that they are not part of the PLO.

This stance reflects Fatahs determination to identify itself as the Palestinian Authority rather than as another faction, he said.

The Palestinian Authority, for its part, insists that one of its integral functions is the conclusion of the reconciliation process, and that neither Hamas nor any other faction has the right to assume such a task independently.

Speaking to the press, Al-Ahmed described the truce as a national act, 100 per cent, but stressed that it is not the responsibility of Hamas, Fatah or any other of the other factions that went to Cairo.

He stressed that the reconciliation must take priority, although this did not mean that the truce should be deferred.

We hope this [the PAs signing of the truce] takes place immediately after the announcement of the end of the rift and with the beginning of practical steps to end this abhorrent page in Palestinian history, he said.

A Fatah source told the Weekly that the movement is in the process of drawing up an emergency plan for dealing with Gaza in the event that Fatah and Hamas fail to overcome their differences and reach an agreement.

The Palestinian reconciliation drive made significant progress from October 2017 to March 2018.

However, it broke down after a roadside bomb struck the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and head of intelligence Majed Faraj just after it entered Gaza from the Erez crossing in March. It has yet to be determined who was behind the assassination attempt.

Cairo remains keen to end the more than decade-long Palestinian rift although local sources say there are no guarantees that the factions will carry out the steps necessary for reconciliation to become a reality.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The realities of reconciliation

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.        ,       .            ,       .      2023 ,          .         ,     ...Egyptian troops have killed 20 militants in recent days in the Sinai and the country's western desert, the army said in a statement on Wednesday as forces press ahead with an ongoing operation to crush militants.

Seven extremely dangerous takfiris were killed in an operation by air and land forces in the western desert in an area used "as a refuge by terrorist elements and a launching pad for carrying out hostile actions aimed at destabilizing the country," the statement said. It added that Egyptian forces seized weapons, ammunition and explosive belts that were in the militant's possession.

The Arabic word "takfiri" refers to hardline Sunni Muslims who accuse other Muslims of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them.

Security forces killed another 13 takfiris in shootouts during various military raids in central and northern Sinai and arrested 18 criminal suspects.

The statement said the militants were killed over the past few days.

The attacks are part of a major security operation, Operation Sinai 2018, which was launched in February to eradicate terrorists in Sinai, the Nile Delta and the country's Western Desert. The months-long campaign involves the army, navy, air force and police.

The statement said military engineers in Sinai have discovered and destroyed 41 bombs planted to target forces at operation sites.

Border guards arrested 2,000 people of different nationalities while trying to infiltrate the western border and seized large amounts of banned narcotics. Air forces destroyed 38 vehicles used in trafficking along the frontier.

In the southern part of the country, forces seized five gold exploration and detection equipment, two tonnes of rock stones containing gold ore, and 26 vehicles used in trafficking, while 55 suspects of gold smuggling and mining have also been arrested.

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Following weeks of heavy rains, the U.S. Army Corps announced last week the Lake Okeechobee releases would be increasing.

Beginning Friday, releases to the Caloosahatchee River will hit a 2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) average, measured at the Moore Haven Lock near the lake. The St. Lucie will get an average 1,500 cfs pulse.

Thats on average  meaning some days the rivers could see more. And thats not including the runoff inflow from the Caloosahatchees own rivershed.

We havent reached the peak of hurricane season yet, said Rae Ann Wessel, Director of Natural Policy for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. Until it stops raining, we are the main outlet to the lake.

And thats bad news for hope of dissipating cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, blooms.

The bloom hasnt left, Wessel said. (The releases) will fuel whats there.

The bloom has persisted in Lake Okeechobee. With additional releases to the rivers, those blooms will continue to thrive in the river thats being fed from nutrients in the water.

The rain washing nutrients into the river adds to the problem  nutrients, plus warm temperatures, equal cyanobacteria growing conditions.

John Cassani, the Calusa Waterkeeper, said cyanobacteria may have improved overall, but is still a significant problem in tidal canals.

While the Army Corps has said it will stick to a 2,000 cfs average in these 14 days, thats measured at the Moore Haven lock, which is near the lake. Readings of measurements at the Franklin Lock near Alva shows outputs of more than 5,000 cfs, Cassani said. So, besides releases from the lake, the river is getting even more from its own watershed.

Its a problem, Cassani said. All the same factors we were worried about June 1 are still in play each time the Corps ramps up the discharges.

After weeks of exposure to blue-green algae, Cassani said he had to take a few days off because of persistent respiratory irritation. He has a network of canal and river-front homeowners who report conditions to him, as well as Waterkeeper rangers who are trained to do testing.

Since Ive stayed away, I seem to be over it, he said.

But the cyanobacteria doesnt seem to be backing down  and, there is some troubling findings.

The mixing zone between microcystin and brevetoxin is wider than we thought, he said.

Cyanobacteria cant live in saltwater  but it seems to be surviving in the brackish water of San Carlos Bay, which is between Sanibel and the mainland. Cassani said hes had reports of cyanobacteria in some Sanibel canals.

Fort Myers Beach canals also saw some cyanobacteria growth in canals in early July.

Microcystin is evident also throughout Pine Island Sound, he said.

Red Tide

For the first time in weeks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Harmful Algal Bloom semi-weekly report didnt douse Fort Myers Beach in red.

Instead, the forecast from Monday through Thursday predicted low to moderate levels of respiratory irritation from red tide in the Gulf and bay surrounding Fort Myers Beach. Sanibel continues to be doused in red. The Gulf coast continues to test positive for the red tide organism, K. brevis, which releases a brevetoxin.

If the amount of fish washing up on Fort Myers Beach has eased, it doesnt necessarily mean red tide is gone. Wind direction could be keeping the bodies at bay, Wessel said, or there could be fewer bodies to wash up.

Its killed so much. Its like a nuclear bomb went off under water, she said.

As of last week, Lee County had collected more than 1,700 tons of debris from the beach fish kills. Betsy Clayton, communications director for the county, said that total included municipalities collections.

Chelsea ORiley, Public Works Manager, said Monday the Town of Fort Myers Beach has collected roughly 215 tons to date. The town has a contractor on retainer if the fish kills get overwhelming again; otherwise, Public Works staff are still doing daily, by-hand cleanups of the beach. Lee County cleans up the beach from Crescent Beach Park to Bowditch Point Park. Wessel said the City of Sanibel has collected 408 tons.

SCCF was getting reports of a still-prevalent fish kill last week, Wessel said, of rafts and rafts of dead sea life floating offshore.

Red tide is not caused by cyanobacteria; it begins offshore in the Gulf and washes to shore. This bloom has lasted for almost a year, and is now prevalent for about 140 miles of coast, from Pinellas to Collier counties.

Nutrients are feeding red tide, but it could be other things that are feeding it, too, Wessel said. Theres no crystal ball. I cant tell anyone how long this will last, but its not likely to abate during the rainy season with warm waters full of nutrients.

With the fish kills have come a new algae, too: oscillatoria is growing on beaches with rotting fish. Its brown on top and bright green on the bottom, and feeds on the breakdown of decomposing fish. Rick Bartleson with SCCF has said the bloom is non-toxic to people.

Low-hanging fruit solutions

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was passed in 2000; Its a multi-billion dollar solution made up of many projects that, once completed, will restore some of the historic flows from Lake Okeechobee south to the Everglades and Florida Bay. The state and federal governments are cost-sharing the expense.

But until those are done  a 30-plus year process  south Florida could see cyanobacteria blooms year after year.

Until we have more projects, the lake has two outlets, Wessel said.

But, Wessel said there are some low hanging fruit fixes that could be alleviating the problem if they were addressed.

Lets get to work on updating these standards, she said.

Florida doesnt have a protocol to address cyanobacteria and microcystin when it appears  but 22 other U.S. states do, she said. Even the Environmental Protection Agency has guidelines for recreational thresholds of microcystin levels. Wessel would like to see the state set a standard for at what level water accesses will have posted signage to warn water-goers about the cyanobacteria present.

Cassani has advocated for the restoration of the the state Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force, which existed and was then defunded by the state. Its also in place in 22 states.

For example, the state of Virginia has such a task force; according to its website, it includes representatives from various related state agencies, departments, universities and research institutes. If a fish kill or algal bloom is reported, the task force is deployed to determine if there is a public health risk.

Cassani said the microcystin testing done by the FDEP is inconsistent.

FDEP reports are way lower than other, independent results, he said. I go back to 2016, that was a major issue that year as well.

Often, FDEP water testers go out to test an area and then wont take a sample if cyanobacteria isnt visibly present. But, Cassani said, then theyre missing the potential presence of the cyanobacteria toxin.

Theres a residual of microcystin, he said. You cant see it or smell it, you have to test for it.

Part of the problem in Florida, too, is that multiple agencies handle multiple water quality issues, Wessel said.

FDEP tests for microcystin. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tests for red tide. The Florida Department of Health tests for enterococci and vibrio vulnificus, the flesh-eating bacteria.

Align the states responsibilities, Wessel said. You should have one agency responsible for water quality.

Another fix is reclaimed water treatment  it can have higher concentration of nitrogen. If that water runs off your lawn, Wessel said, it enters the watershed and adds more nitrogen to the water. Increased treatment of reclaimed water could reduce the nitrogen being reintroduced into the watershed.

For Cassani, a fix hed like to see is shared adversity. He doesnt feel enough water is moving south  and the area south of the lake should share some of the burden that is devastating the estuaries and river communities.

You can flood some fields without flooding communities, he said. Some is moving south, but its a relatively small amount. More should be going south to the (Everglades Agricultural Area). If the state and federal governments need to compensate the EAA because of water levels, so be it.

The governments solutions of short-term loans that balloon into high-interest loans is not enough compensation for the coast communities.

Cassani said he knows of people who have had to shut their businesses down because of the water quality impact; he expects to see a broader impact on property values and tourism over all.

Wessel also wants upstream pollutant sources to be identified, and then a plan constructed to deal with them, as well as enforcement to keep it from reoccurring.

Whats going on now is business devastation. Forget business-friendly, its business-apocalypse, she said. This is what leadership is: its taking responsibility and making a plan to overcome it.

And, she cautions those who have gained awareness this summer not to forget.

We always tell people, you cant just look at whats happening now and think when its done well have accomplished something, she said. Everyone that wants to form a group, we tell them, dont go away when it looks better.After three years, Coconut Drive is almost complete again: its community pier is nearly finished.

But for the neighbors on Hercules, they could still be waiting for months before construction can start on their pier  if it happens at all.

The two property owners whose properties would be adjacent to the re-installed pier are fighting against the rebuild. They filed an appeal against the Florida Department of Environmental Protections approval of the Town of Fort Myers Beachs request to build the Hercules Pier into Estero Bay.

Michael Steck and Allen and Cynthia Shanosky stated in their appeal they believe replacing the pier will create a navigational hazard.

A hearing, presided over by Administrative Law Judge D.R. Alexander, was held at Town Hall Thursday.

Attorney Ralf Brookes represented Steck and the Shanoskys. Carson Zimmer, assistant counsel for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, represented FDEP. John Turner represented the Town of Fort Myers Beach.

As part of the proceedings, Zimmer, Brookes and Turner both brought experts in for testimony, as well as witnesses to give testimony to their sides. The three attorneys then interviewed each person who sat to give testimony, as did Alexander.

After the full-day of testimony and cross-examination, Alexander must get a transcript of the meeting, then the attorneys will have 30 days to file orders before it goes back to the DEP to reconsider its original approval and either uphold that approval or deny it. Alexander said that process will continue for a couple months from now, and if the DEP upholds the approval, the property owners could take the issue to appellate court.

Steck has owned his property since 2002. He said he visits it two to three weeks in a year.

The Shanoskys bought their property in 1999. It was first a vacation home, but the family plans to move there permanently.

The former Hercules Pier was in existence when the two property owners purchased their land.

The Shanoskys said they began to have an issue with the pier when it was extended, as it made it more challenging for them to dock their boat. Allen and Cynthia testified that during one attempt to navigate to their dock, they hit their own piling and cracked the hull of their 24-foot jet boat.

I dont want to see my kids injured. Im very concerned about it, she said. When the town pier was there, we had to come in perpendicular if it were shorter, it would be easier. We have no objection to a shorter (pier).

Steck used to store a trimaran  a three-hulled catamaran  at his property. He said it has been several years since the boat has been docked at Fort Myers Beach, but that its difficult to steer into his dock if there is a strong current.

The two piers were torn down in fall 2015 under the direction of former Public Works Director Scott Baker. They had been in existence on both streets for decades  aerial photos from 1944 reveal the Hercules pier standing strong out in Estero Bay; it was added on to later to extend it.

The two neighborhoods petitioned the Fort Myers Beach Town Council to rectify the situation and rebuild their community centerpieces, along with Delmar Avenue residents, who wanted an improvement on their observation deck. In 2016, the council agreed, setting aside $150,000 to do the three projects.

On May 24, 2017, Public Works staff held a public meeting at Town Hall to get resident input about their proposed replacements, which were the same footprint as the previous piers but with added handrailing and ADA accessible features.

No one in attendance at that meeting raised any objections to adding the pier back to their street  but the Stanoskys, and then Steck, decided to file the appeal to the FDEP earlier this year.

Brookes brought in Captain John Timmel, a Tampa Bay harbor pilot with an extensive list of marine-related association roles, licenses and qualifications. A harbor pilot guides ships in and out of harbors.

Timmel said, in his opinion, it would be especially difficult for Steck to navigate the trimaran into his own dock with the Hercules pier present with a stronger current, and only slightly less difficult for the Stanoskys under the same conditions. If the water was calm, he said the pier would create an impediment. Upon questioning from Turner, Timmel said he did not conduct a scientific test to get to that conclusion; he did a land and water site inspection, but when he was there, there was a very lax current.

The witness knows his way around a big boat, Im not disputing that, Turner said. My concern is how be extrapolates an opinion from that experience. Hes not an engineer.

Alexander asked Timmel if the trimaran was an unusually large boat for someone to keep at a private dock. Timmel told the judge a trimaran was uncommon, but its length of about 40 feet is not and is a growing trend. At the Tampa Yacht Club, an 80-slip facility, Timmel estimated there were only two triple-hulled vessels anchored there.

People are getting bigger boats, he said. Theyre on the increase, but theyre not overly common.

When Alexander asked, Timmel said he thought navigating with the Hercules pier would be significantly easier in a single-hulled boat of the same length as Stecks trimaran.

Turner called in Mike Kincaid of Coastal Construction, an engineering firm that designs marine structures, like docks. Kincaid helped to design the Hercules and Coconut piers.

Kincaid said when he was designing the two docks  to their pre-existing footprint, per the towns request  he took into account wind, currents, facility location, navigation, boat traffic, needed clearances, and other factors needed to engineer a functional pier, as well as local, state and federal codes. He said he does 20 to 30 similar project a year.

He found during his design that if Steck parks his boat on the side of his own dock, hes actually encroaching into the towns riparian line and right of way, but that he had enough room to park it at the end of his dock.

Based on his engineering, which included calculations for clearance needs of the two properties on either side of the pier as well as the main channel in Estero Bay, the Hercules pier shouldnt cause an issue.

Its not a hazard. It doesnt extend into the waterway, and is not longer than adjacent docks, he said.

Hercules residents in favor of the pier filled the chamber on Thursday. There was no opportunity for public comment, but they came as a show of numbers to show the neighborhood support for their community pier. Mitch and Mary Pacyna brought two posters filled with photos of their neighborhood enjoying the pier before they were torn down.

Before the deposition, neighbors also placed save our pier signs in their yards.

Mark Taylor, a property owner on the street, cleared his schedule to sit in the Chamber all day to listen to the proceedings.

Im not at work, because this is a very important cause for the neighborhood, he said.

He purchased a home there for his mother to retire in  with the pier on one side and a beach access across Estero Boulevard, its a bay-to-beach access property.

Taylor is worried that losing the pier will also impact real estate values, but also, its a personal thing: he misses taking his kids out on the pier after dinner with his mom, watching the boats go by and enjoying the water as well as talking to the neighbors who are out there too, fishing or just going for a stroll.

Weve been denied that amenity for three years, he said. Coconut is almost done, but because of two neighbors, one who doesnt live here and one whos part time, we dont have that amenity.As he filled up bags with bread, Larry Wood noticed something.

Most of the people he was giving food to were wearing uniforms from local restaurants, hotels and bars.

If people arent coming in, theres no money coming in, he said. Ive seen a lot of local workers. Thats what this is about.

When a local economy dependent on tourists has no tourists, it means employees get let go, shifts get cut and no tips are coming in. South Floridas water quality issues are hitting Fort Myers Beach where its most vulnerable.

The Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida drove its mobile food bank to Fort Myers Beach Friday. The trucks doors opened from 10 a.m.to noon at 1510 Estero Boulevard, filling bags with food items for anyone who showed up. Volunteers from the community came to help out.

Scott Safford, co-owner of the Sea Gypsy Inn, volunteered for the morning. He said the experience was sobering.

Im handing out food to friends, he said.

More than 80 people trickled through the food truck line, getting items like bread, peanut butter and fresh tomatoes.

Richard LeBer, Harry Chapin President and CEO, said the food bank has been keeping an eye on the economical impact of the water quality issues for a while. Last week, the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerces economical impact study found that the estimated average of lost wages in a week, island-wide, was $560,000.

A lot of people lose work and pay, LeBer said. Emergency response is part of what we do.

He said one woman, a waitress, told him she had made $8 total on Thursday at her job.

You cant live on that, he said. We know theyre struggling.

When faced with economical strife, the first thing people do is review their budgets, LeBer said. And often, buying food is one of the expenses that gets culled quickly. And its a bad situation- bad for physical and mental health, and bad for families with children who need to eat, too.

You have to pay rent, but you can stop buying food, he said. We hate to see that.

The food bank partnered up with the Chamber of Commerce to start hosting the food pantry. Joe Orlandini, the property owner, donated the parking lot for the food bank to use.

Last week was on Friday, but beginning this week on Aug. 29, the food pantry will visit the beach at that location every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon, and will conintue until there is no longer a community need. The food is all donated from local collections as well as direct donations from grocery stores like Publix, Costco and Winn-Dixie, LeBer said.

District 3 Lee County Commissioner Larry Kiker and his executive assistant, Charlotte Comie, made the trek to the beach to volunteer their time Friday. Kiker said the experience was surprisingly inspirational.

People are so grateful, and the volunteers are fantastic, he said.

Chamber President Jacki Liszak said she was glad to see that those people who needed help were getting it. From an outside perspective, people may not think of a island community needing assistance, but theyre forgetting about the people behind the scenes  those that serve the islands restaurants, bars, hotels and stores. She said shed seen a lot of people in line who work in the watersports industry, too.

Im overjoyed that were meeting a need in our community, she said. Im happy we could help facilitate this.On Tuesday, Sept. 11, the Fort Myers Beach Fire Department cordially invites the community to attend a short memorial ceremony at Fire Station 33, located at 121 Lenell Road. Fire Station 33 is the home to our communitys 9-11 memorial which houses a piece of structural steel from the World Trade Center Tower Two. In 2010, the fire department was awarded two pieces of structural I-beams. One of these pieces was used in the construction of the Fire Station 33 memorial, the other was divided and placed on the exteriors of all Fort Myers Beach Fire Department facilities.

The memorial ceremony will begin on Sept. 11, promptly at 8:30 a.m., all visitors are asked to please arrive a few minutes before the scheduled time of the memorial. Late arriving visitors are asked to please remain in their vehicles if arriving during the changing of the Honor Guard, or placement of the memorial wreath.Got the end of summer blues? Check out the Mound House for September happenings. From the new Family Fun, Sunrise, and Sunset Kayak tours and the popular Shell Mound tour to the Fort Myers Beach Chambers Coffee Connection to the Mound House-organized Beach Walk at Newton Beach Park.

The Coffee Connection at the Mound House is a get together that gives you a chance to network face-to face with fellow Fort Myers Beach Chamber members in the historic Mound House at 451 Connecticut St. on Thursday, Sept. 6 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Coffee is free and RSVP is required.

Chamber members and the community are invited to kick off their morning with coffee and light breakfast fare, said Sherry Oakes, Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce membership services director. Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn about The Mound House and its rich history of Calusa Indians.

The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce sponsors this popular event and it is open to Chamber members as well as island residents and visitors.

The Fort Myers Beach Chamber Coffee Connection is a great way to build relationships and make lasting networking connections, Oakes said. It is also a great way to inform the community and Chamber members about available programs and tours being offered at the Mound House.

The Fort Myers Beach community is a very important part of the audience we serve and why we offer a variety of new programs and special events to help serve our community in the most effective manner while supporting our mission, said Alison Giesen, Mound House Museum and Cultural Resources director. This unique archaeological and historical site on Fort Myers Beach educates local students, residents and visitors about the cultural and environmental history of the island while staff and volunteers work to educate and preserve this history for future generations.

The Mound Houses mission is to preserve, interpret, and share 2,000 years of cultural and environmental history of Fort Myers Beach and Southwest Florida.

The Mound House is considered to be one of the most popular cultural and environmental attractions on Fort Myers Beach, Oakes said. From guided tours and beach walks to kayak eco-tours and a unique archaeological experience, explore the history of the 2,000-year-old Calusa Indian Shell Mound and the surrounding natural environment.

The Mound House grounds are open sunrise to sunset and are free to anyone who would like to enjoy the natural beauty of Estero Bay. You can enjoy the interpretive signage which is located throughout the property which aids in educating its cultural and environmental history. This unique and beautiful historic site is located directly on Estero Bay and offers a variety of programs for local residents, visitors and school groups. They also offer a kayak launch, which is located on site and gives you direct access to the Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail.

September is a great time to visit the Mound House to see the grounds in full bloom, Giesen said. You can join us for one of our kayak tours or the Shell Mound tour (which) is by far our most popular tour.

The Shell Mound Tours are guided by staff interpreters and perfect for both adults and families. Dont miss a chance to see how life was inside a 2,000-year-old Calusa Indian Shell Mound. Stories Beneath Our Feet, is located underground, immersing guests in ancient Calusa life. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a large cutaway of a shell mound, outfitted with video narration and LED lights. Surrounding the shell mound is a breathtaking mural of this Calusa village as it may have stood over 2,000 years ago.

While the grounds are free to the public, the museum has admission fees. Cost of admission is $10 for adults; $8 for a student with college ID; $5 for children ages 6 through 12; and free for kids ages 5 and under, as well as free and with Mound House membership. Seasonal museum hours for May 1 through Dec. 31 are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with extended hours from January to April.

Once you fall in love with the Mound House you might want to become a member and receive exclusive benefits, while providing support for educational programs and the ongoing preservation the Mound House.

Theres always something happening at the Mound House.

For more information, call 239-765-0865 or visit moundhouse.org.Diplomatic efforts have resumed in an attempt to get the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam negotiations back on track

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) topped the priorities of both Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukris visit to Addis Ababa and his Sudanese counterparts visit to Cairo this week.

On Monday, Shoukri and Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel headed to Addis Ababa carrying a verbal message from President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

During their meeting with Ahmed the officials discussed the development of tripartite negotiations on the dam in light of efforts to implement the 2015 Declaration of Principles and the outcome of the last nine-party meeting held in Addis Ababa in May 2018, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said on Tuesday.

The meeting also discussed ways of pushing forward negotiations and removing any obstacles in the way of reaching a settlement that protects Ethiopian interests and Egypt water security, according to Abu Zeid.

The meeting also laid the groundwork for the expected encounter between Al-Sisi and Ahmed on the sidelines of China/Africa Forum in Beijing next month.

These continuous meetings keep the dialogue open and contribute to resolving pending issues, said a diplomat who preferred to remain anonymous.

The Shoukri-Kamel visit came two days after the Ethiopian prime minister announced a possible delay in the construction of the dam.

In his first press conference since coming to power Ahmed expressed disappointment that the contractor responsible for building the dam was lagging far behind the construction schedule. He warned that if we continue in this direction, the project may never see the light of day.

Commentators say any construction delays will provide Cairo with more time to negotiate pending issues related to the dams administration.

Time is a very important factor in this issue. A delay in the building process can give Cairo more time to resolve outstanding issues, said the diplomat.

The dam also topped the agenda of Shoukris meeting with his Sudanese counterpart Al-Dardiri Mohamed Ahmed in Cairo.

Their meeting was followed by a preparatory meeting to plan for the joint supreme committee expected to convene soon in Cairo.

Egypt and Sudan have taken part in various high-level meetings this year that have contributed to enhancing bilateral relations and boosting cooperation.

During a visit to Sudan last month President Al-Sisi said Egyptian-Sudanese relations were as eternal as the River Nile. He discussed bilateral ties with his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir and agreed to strengthen ties and work towards boosting trade, military and energy cooperation.

A quadrilateral meeting between Shoukri, his then Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Al-Ghandour and the heads of the Egyptian and Sudanese security and intelligence services, was held in Cairo earlier this year.

The two countries issued a joint statement at the end of the meeting saying they had agreed on 11 points that will establish a framework for cooperation between the two states.

On Nile water the statement emphasised the importance of cooperation and coordination between the two countries within the framework of continuing commitment to agreements signed between them, including the 1959 agreement.

The 1959 agreement gives Egypt right to 55.5 billion cubic metres of Nile water a year and Sudan right to 18.5 billion cubic metres. Ethiopia has refused to acknowledge the water quotas.

The meeting contributed to easing tensions between Cairo and Khartoum, including over the disputed territory of Halayeb and Shalatin.

The media in both countries has contributed to escalating tensions which reached a climax when Sudan recalled its ambassador to Egypt in January without explanation. He returned two months later.

Sudan, which supports the Ethiopian dam project, has said it is also keen on preserving Egypts interests in receiving its share of Nile water.

Ethiopia began construction of the dam in May 2011. Cairo has repeatedly expressed concern that the dam could reduce its much needed quota of 55.5 billion cubic metres.

Negotiations between the three countries were suspended for three years but resumed in 2014 after Al-Sisi came to power and the Declaration of Principles was signed in March 2015.

The declaration states that no country should cause harm to the others and that the filling of the dams reservoir should be subject to the approval of both Egypt and Sudan.

The filling issue, together with protocols for the operation of the dam, continue to impede any agreement between the three countries.

Egypt has demanded the timetable for the filling of the reservoir be a minimum of seven years so as not to affect the flow of water to the downstream countries.

Two nine-party meetings were held this year to resolve the differences and fix a date for starting the studies that will assess the impacts of the dam on Egypt and Sudan.

The second nine-party meeting was held in Addis Ababa in May and concluded with a timetable being set to resolve pending issues.

We have charted a roadmap that, if successful, will be able to break through the difficulties that we have been facing, Shoukri told reporters after the meeting.

A ministerial meeting due to be held back-to-back with the third nine-party meeting on 19 June failed to materialise.

A scientific group has also been mandated to discuss and develop scenarios relating to the filling of the reservoir and the dams operation rules.

The group has held four meetings so far behind closed doors. It is comprised of 15 members, five from each country.

When completed GERD will be the largest in Africa, with a reservoir capacity of 74 billion cubic metres.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Back to the negotiating table

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Critics hated "The Love Boat" and predicted the corny jokes and silly storylines would sink producer Aaron Spellings new show faster than the Titanic.

They were all wrong.

"The Love Boat" quickly became one of the most watched  and most identifiable  TV series of its time, sailing over 250 hour-long voyages between 1977 and 1987.

Each week, viewers could count on Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), ship doctor Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell), cruise director Julie McCoy (Lauren Tewes), bartender Issac Washington (Ted Lange) and purser Burl "Gopher" Smith to help their revolving door of celebrity guests find love on the high seas.

More than 500 of Hollywood's most recognizable stars  from the Village People to a young Tom Hanks  appeared during the show's 10-season run.

Here are a few fun facts you might not know about "The Love Boat":

1. Story behind 'The Love Boat'

The show was based on a two-hour movie, which in turn was based on the tell-all book "Love Boats" by cruise director Jeraldine Saunders. In it she detailed accounts of real-life romance she witnessed on the job.

2. A more mature audience

After the show ended, Ted Lange, who played bartender Isaac Washington, co-wrote a sex advice column for FHM magazine. His co-writers were adult film star Jenna Jameson and Howard Sterns wife, Beth Ostrovsky.

3. First 'Love Boat' star

The original "Love Boat" movie in 1976 starred Dick Van Patten (from "Eight Is Enough") as the captain.

4. The original three

Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell and Ted Lange are the only cast members to appear in every episode of the series, including the last three movies made for TV.

5. The real 'Love Boat'

Some scenes were filmed during actual cruises on The Pacific Princess and its sister ship, Island Princess. Real passengers were often used as extras. The real Pacific Princess (pictured above) spent 37 years in service (1971-2008). It was towed to Aliaga, Turkey in 2013 to be salvaged.

6. Story of the theme song

The iconic "Love Boat" theme song was recorded by Jack Jones and released as a hit single in 1979. It was replaced for the ninth and tenth seasons by a cover version sung by Dionne Warwick.

7. 'Brady Bunch connection

Florence Henderson appeared eight times  always as a different character. One episode also featured her "Brady Bunch" husband, Robert Reed, in an unrelated story line. In a memorable scene, the two characters pass each other in the hallway and do a double take.

8. Political ties

Fred Grandy worked as a speechwriter for Iowa Rep. Wiley Mayne before landing the role of "Gopher." In 1987 be began his own eight-year stint as a member of the United States House of Representatives. He lost the election for Governor of Iowa in 1994.

9. Drug troubles

Lauren Tewes, who played Julie McCoy, developed a serious cocaine habit at the shows peak of popularity and was eventually fired. She later attended culinary school.CNN is facing heavy criticism for refusing to retract a bombshell story on the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting after one of the anonymous sources recanted and admitted he was a source.

On Tuesday afternoon, CNN.com published a new report that acknowledged the changing stories of Lanny Davis, the high-powered attorney of President Trumps longtime fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen -- but critics pointed out the network failed to address key issues with its original report.

Davis admitted Monday he was an anonymous source  after The Washington Post outed him as a source for its own version of the story.

The attorney told BuzzFeed News Monday night he regretted being the anonymous source as well as his subsequent denial. The CNN story, which cited multiple sources, claimed Cohen said President Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower sit-down.

I made a mistake, Davis told BuzzFeed.

CNN has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Davis spent recent days walking back his bombshell assertions that his client could tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Trump had prior knowledge of the meeting with a Russian lawyer discussing potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton. However, CNN has stood by its reporting. Its media newsletter  required reading for coastal elite media members  noted that BuzzFeeds report doesn't mean, however, that CNN's story is incorrect.

The newsletter pointed out that the CNN story had multiple sources, but critics dont seem to buy the explanation.

Mediaite published a headline, CNN Reported Lanny Davis Declined to Comment in Article Hes Quoted As Anonymous Source that highlights the fact that the original CNN story claimed, Contacted by CNN, one of Cohens attorneys, Lanny Davis, declined to comment.

According to Davis himself, that particular line of CNNs report is now a proven falsehood.

That means CNN might have misled readers about talking to Davis. Thats a bigger problem than a source-burn, Politicos Marc Caputo wrote.

Very difficult to see how CNN can continue to stand by its July 27 Michael Cohen/Trump Tower story given its own formerly-anonymous source is now openly admitting to lying about it on the network. Retraction seems to be the only recourse here, The Hill media reporter Joe Concha tweeted.

Talk about deception, The Daily Wires Ryan Saavedra wrote.

Donald Trump Jr. quoted a story about the situation and added, If we really really really want it to be true its not #fakenews. - CNNs new motto apparently.

Daily Caller media editor Amber Athey called CNNs response sickening and added, It's not journalism, it's cover-up and hackery.

Various publications ranging from tabloid papers to prestigious magazines covered Davis admitting to being a source for CNN.

New York magazine published the headline, Blockbuster CNN Trump/Russia Story in More Doubt After Michael Cohens Lawyer Recants. The Washington Times headline stated, Lanny Davis admits he was source for CNN's Trump Tower story, lied about it on air.

Meanwhile, critics of CNN have taken to Twitter to mock the news organization with newsletter author Brian Stelter taking much of the heat.

CNN's new story carried the headline: Attorney for Michael Cohen keeps changing his story on Trump Tower meeting. It included a quote from Davis, I should have done a much better job of speaking with more suspicion than certainty, and I regret my mistake.

Still, Athey of the Daily Caller noted that the new piece doesn't address Davis declining comment on record despite being a source, nor did it explain why CNN was standing by its original story.

Mediaite's headline about the new report: CNN Addresses Lanny Davis-Michael Cohen Report Without Answering Any Questions About It.

Fox News Frank Miles and Mike Arroyo contributed to this report.A cross-section of media pros say CNN is facing a credibility crisis for standing by a report on the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting despite ex-Clinton aide Lanny Davis admitting he was an anonymous source and recanting key details he provided CNN for the story. Many observers have slammed CNN for the way it has handled the scandal and some feel it proves the network cares more about pushing anti-Trump agenda than being right.

DePauw University professor and media analyst Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that the situation demonstrates exactly why so many news consumers give the media low credibility scores in this era and said that CNN went out on a limb in the first place by using Lanny Davis as a source and the story eventually collapsed.

Davis, the high-powered attorney of President Trumps longtime fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen, admitted Monday he was an anonymous source after The Washington Post outed him as a source for its own version of the story. The attorney told BuzzFeed News that he regretted being the anonymous source as well as his subsequent denial. The CNN story, which cited multiple sources, claimed Cohen said President Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower sit-down. However, Trump has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the meeting and CNN has stood by its reporting amid widespread criticism.

They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters. Look at the lie that Fake CNN is now in, President Trump tweeted on Wednesday. They got caught red handed! Enemy of the People!

McCall said that it was risky to use such a self-interested source such as Davis in that story initially and once he recanted CNN owed the news consuming community an explanation and perhaps even an apology.

The apology has not come, even after CNN published a new report that acknowledged the changing stories of Davis on Tuesday. In addition to other criticisms such as possibly outing Cohen as a source, CNNs follow up fails to explain why the original report claimed Davis declined comment when he was actually used as a source.

The journalistic world must be more cautious about using unnamed sources and they particularly can't be using unnamed sources who have a reason to be playing the reporters. And when stories fall apart, news organizations need to be big enough to acknowledge human errors, McCall said. CNN's refusal to sort this story out in front of the public lends support to the right-leaning critics who suggest CNN is more about pushing an anti-Trump agenda than getting stories to be factually correct.

"CNN's refusal to sort this story out in front of the public lends support to the right-leaning critics who suggest CNN is more about pushing an anti-Trump agenda than getting stories to be factually correct."  Jeffrey Mccall

CNNs original story resulted in countless segments on liberal cable news programs, sent a variety of publications scrambling to match and was covered on broadcast networks evening newscasts for a combined 39 minutes and 23 seconds from July 27-31, according to the Media Research Center.

While several publications have issued updates, CNN continues to insist that its original story had multiple sources and Davis recanting doesnt make it inaccurate. The evening newscasts of ABC, NBC and CBS have ignored Davis contradiction after spending nearly 40 minutes on the original story, according to MRC data.

CBS online version of the story was updated on Tuesday evening: CBS News can no longer report that Cohen was willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that the president knew in advance of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The Washington Post issued a similar editor's note earlier in the week.

Former White house Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said CNNs handling of this fiasco is bizarre and called it a textbook case in how to make a mistake even worse.

The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi penned a column headlined, If You Want To Know Why Conservatives Don't Trust Media, Watch CNN, while a plethora of media watchdogs took to twitter to mock CNN.

Dinesh DSouza chimed in, When a network like @CNN knows a story is false but stands by it anyway, what does that say about its commitment to truth and accuracy?

Journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted that CNNs strategy is as obvious as it is lame and criticized the network for pretending the scandal is only relevant among conservatives.

That's 1) not true & 2) an indictment of non-conservative journalists if it were true. It's a huge deal that CNN outright lied about a key issue on its biggest story & won't address it, he wrote. Their reporters outright lied when they said Lanny Davis (their source) refused comment.

It appears that Greenwald is accurate about the situation being a scandal on both sides of the political aisle despite broadcast newscasts ignoring it. New York magazine, The Washington Post, Business Insider, and Newsweek are among the mainstream outlets to cover CNN's controversy.

While some liberal and anti-Trump publications handled CNNs debacle with kid gloves, other organizations havent been as friendly.

NewsBusters published a headline, CNN Tries to Weasel Out of Responsibility for Dubious Trump Tower Story. Mediaite wrote, CNN Addresses Lanny Davis-Michael Cohen Report Without Answering Any Questions About It and The Daily Caller noted that CNNs explanation "did not reassure readers about the credibility of its other sources or explain why they feel the reporting is strong enough to dismiss Davis and his credibility problems.

Conservative pundits, media analysts, journalism gurus, competing news organizations and the President of the United States have all criticized CNN for the way it has handled the situation  but the network continues to stand by its reporting.

CNN did not immediately respond when asked for additional comment.Damon Herriman will play Charles Manson in Quentin Tarantinos upcoming movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Wrap reported Wednesday.

The 48-year-old Australian actor is just one of many names attached to the period project, which is set to cover the Manson family murders.

On Aug. 9, 1969, members of Mansons cult brutally murdered a pregnant Sharon Tate, 26, and four other people inside a home the actress shared with her filmmaker husband Roman Polanski, who wasnt home at the time. Less than two days later, the group killed supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary inside their home.

Manson, who orchestrated the gruesome slayings during that infamous summer, died in 2017 after nearly a half-century in prison. He was 83.

The California Department of Corrections revealed in a statement that Manson died of natural causes at Kern County hospital.

MARGOT ROBBIE REVEALS SHARON TATE COSTUME FROM QUENTIN TARANTINOS UPCOMING MANSON MOVIE

The upcoming film also made headlines this week for finding its Polanski: Polish actor Rafal Zawierucha, the Hollywood Reporter said Monday.

Moviegoers awaiting the films release already have an idea of what Australian actress Margot Robbie looks like as Tate.

The 28-year-old shared a photo of herself as the slain star dressed in a black sweater, white skirt and go-go boots  on Instagram Aug. 6.

Tarantinos movie, which features Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick, an actor, and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, Cliff, was originally slated to come out on Aug. 9, 2019. However, Variety reported in mid-July the release date has been changed to July 26, 2019.

The movie will reportedly feature Burt Reynolds, Luke Perry, Dakota Fanning and Al Pacino  playing Rick's agent  among others.

DiCaprio also posted a first look image of himself and Pitt in character back in June.

SHARON TATES SISTER GIVES QUENTIN TARANTINOS MANSON MOVIE HER BLESSING: IM GLAD HE REACHED OUT

Sony Pictures offered details on the project in a February news release.

Tarantino, according to the company, is calling the movie a story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood.

The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they dont recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor...Sharon Tate, Tarantino said.

Fox News Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.A sweet photo posted on Instagram Tuesday showed Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas, 101, smiling down at his 8-month-old great-granddaughter.

The black-and-white snap was captured by his grandson Cameron Douglas, 39.

KATHARINE MCPHEE TELLS DAVID FOSTERS DAUGHTER ERIN THAT MOMMY AND DADDY NEED ALONE TIME

LOVE, Douglas captioned the photo.

Cameron Douglas welcomed his first child, Lua Izzy Douglas, with his girlfriend Viviane Thibes in December. The baby girls middle name, Izzy, is a tribute to the screen legend, who was born Issur Danielovitch and went by the nickname Izzy, People reported.

PETE DAVIDSON SHARES DETAILS ABOUT HIS SURPRISING, LOW-KEY PROPOSAL TO ARIANA GRANDE

Cameron Douglas has been spotted happy and helping following his release from prison. He was released from federal custody in August 2016 following a 7-year sentence for drug-related charges.

Kirk Douglas, one of the last living screen legends of Hollywoods Golden Age, is best known for Spartacus, The Bad and the Beautiful and Champion.

Fox News Jennifer Earl contributed to this report.After being fired and replaced by Seann William Scott on the series Lethal Weapon, actor Clayne Crawford is speaking out for the first time to blame his co-star and Fox network for his perceived mishandling of the situation.

As previously reported, Crawford exhibited bad behavior on set which, combined with friction with co-star Damon Wayans, led to the networks decision to axe him and keep the show going.

Hot on the heels of the first promotion for the show with Scott as the new lead, Crawford appeared on the podcast Drinkin Bros. to give his side of the story.

It's a little different when you replace Becky or the mom off of Fresh Prince. Like, if they'd replaced the Fresh Prince, we'd have been like, what the f--k are we watching anyway? That's why I just didn't think it was possible," Crawford said.

He continued, noting that the network and studio never officially fired him: "I just didn't think they were going to get rid of me, I guess. And if they did, I thought they'd give me a buzz... just a jangle? Just grab two cans and a string and just be like, 'You're not coming back. We feel like this is the Damon Wayans Show and people just don't like you. So go the f--k back to Alabama you dumb hick, thanks for playing.'

A rep for Fox Broadcasting Company did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

The trouble started after Variety published tapes in which Crawford can be heard on set arguing with Wayans over an injury he suffered from shrapnel during an episode that Crawford was directing.

An additional tape contains audio of a profanity-laced outburst he had on set while filming at a pool. The set was reportedly supposed to be closed, but there were children there making noise. It was reported that Crawford yelled at the kids, but he dismissed that accusation on the podcast as a, blatant f---ing lie.

However, with the tapes in existence, Crawford claimed that they were used against him any time he had a complaint about his costar.

"I knew that they were going to release these tapes because they'd been blackmailing me with them for months and months and months, the entire second season," Crawford said.

According to reports from E! News, Wayans would not attend table reads for the episodes meaning that any conflicts he had with the production were discovered on short notice. Crawford cites one example of Wayans, a Jehovahs Witness, religiously objecting to enter a church to film a scene. As a result, Crawfords schedule had to be changed at the last minute.

When he tried to complain, he implied that the showrunners used the existence of the tapes to blackmail him into playing ball.

On the podcast, Crawford acknowledged that his conduct in the tapes was inappropriate. However, he said that when news started to circulate that he would be fired from the show, he was asked to apologize to Wayans. He claimed he refused out of pride and for fear that an apology would only serve to give the network ammo by admitting wrongdoing.

"I can't apologize to this guy," said Crawford, speaking of 57-year-old Wayans. "He has made life miserable for me on this show. And I also feel like they're already moving forward. I feel like if I apologize, they're going to use that to justify this poor decision they're making in supporting his bad behavior and his ego."

Eventually, the tapes came out and Crawford began hearing on social media that he was fired. He says that, to this day, no one has ever officially fired him, despite the fact that the network is clearly pushing forward with Scott as a new character to take over for Crawfords Riggs.Halle Berry is looking back on her connection to Prince Harry.

The actress, 52, shared a throwback snap from a Wednesday W magazine article about the British royals teenage dorm room at Eton College, an English boarding school for boys.

One shot showed the prince sitting next to his desk  with a cutout of Berry hanging up on the wall behind him.

Ok #PrinceHarry, I see you! #HalleBerryPosta @MissyElliott, the 52-year-old tweeted, referencing a line from rapper Missy Elliotts 2002 single Work It.

MISSY ELLIOTT PRAISES WOMAN'S VIRAL 'WORK IT' COVER

At one point in the song, Elliott asks, Don't I look like a Halle Berry poster?

The photo revealed another famous face in Harrys dorm: his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was seen in a photo on his desk.

The Daily Mail reports the photo of Harrys room was one of several taken when the prince, now 33, was just 18 years old.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi told Italy's visiting deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maioon, Wednesday that there is a "strong will" to identify and bring to justice those responsible for the killing of an Italian student, the presidential spokesman said.

The 28-year-old Giulio Regeni, who was doing postgraduate research into Egyptian labour movements, was found murdered in February 2016. He disappeared on 25 January 2016, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 revolution, and was found 10 days later in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo. Egyptian investigators have said that his body bore signs of torture.

During the meeting in Cairo, El-Sisi expressed confidence that "investigation into the killing of Giulio Regeni's would reach final results," presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said in a statement.

El-Sisi added that Egypt's prosecutors have continued to work together with Italian counterparts to resolve the matter.

Egyptian and Italian investigators have been working together to recover surveillance recordings from Cairo's underground metro system as part of the probe.

In June, prosecutors from the two countries said that footage recovered from Cairo metro CCTV recordings showed no "videos or images" of Regeni, and that they have found a number "gaps" in the recovered footage. Both sides agreed that advanced technical tests should be carried out to determine why these gaps exist.

During Wednesday's talks, which also involved Egypt's intelligence chief and trade and petroleum ministers, El-Sisi and the Italian official discussed Egyptian-Italian cooperation and boosting trade and economic ties, mainly in the energy sector.

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Luann de Lesseps wont have to worry about spending another Christmas behind bars.

A Palm Beach County, Fla., judge signed off on a plea deal that avoids jail time for the Real Housewives of New York star on Wednesday morning, per court documents obtained by Page Six.

De Lesseps agreed to plea guilty to battery, trespassing and disorderly intoxication in exchange for the felony charge against her being reduced.

She will also perform 50 hours of community service (with at least 10 hours per month) and attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week in New York, per the deal. The Countess and Friends star will also attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim impact class and she cannot use drugs or alcohol.

She will be required to submit to random testing throughout her year-long probation.

De Lesseps, 53, already wrote an apology letter to the cop she hit.

Page Six previously reported that de Lesseps was arrested on Christmas Eve in Palm Beach after she was busted with an unidentified man in a room that wasnt theirs. She drunkenly threatened to kill the cops arresting her, and even slipped out of her handcuffs at one point.

She checked herself into rehab shortly after  and again in July after her kids and ex-husband sued her.

I found out about this whole story, that I was getting sued, in the press, she told Megyn Kelly upon her return from rehab. That was devastating, I felt betrayed, I felt so hurt by that. I had my heart set on that house, my heart. I was devastated and I lost it.

De Lesseps recalled drowning her sorrows with watermelon martinis with a girlfriend.

I had two or three of those, then I think two bottles of rose wine by myself, and then I probably had a six-pack of beer or something, de Lesseps shared. I was dancing in my kitchen with a bikini on.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.Jenna Elfman isnt afraid to bare all about her lasting relationship with Scientology.

The actress told People magazines Chatter talk show Tuesday shes been a proud Scientologist for 28 years and has learned how to cope with criticism of the religion.

The controversial church, which was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, aims to offer a complete and certain understanding of ones true spiritual nature and ones relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being.

Some of its famous members include actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, among others.

Elfman, 46, revealed Scientology is the secret behind her lasting marriage and her close bond with sons Story, 11, and Easton, 8, while maintaining a high-profile career. She has been married to actor Bodhi Elfman since 1995.

Well, Ive been a Scientologist for 28 years and thats a huge part of what helps us keep our communication going and our relationship, she explained. Weve never cheated on each other, weve never broken up.

"We hang in there. Raising children, maintain my sanity in a crazy world. Our world is crazy, its getting crazier, and Hollywood is the ne plus ultra of crazy [And] I think that anything that works tends to get attacked.

Elfman also revealed that despite misconceptions about the church, it has been so workable for her lifestyle.

I use it every single day of my life and it keeps me energized and vivacious and happy, she said. I like literally have so much going on. Why am I going to go: You know, let me put some negativity in my life. Let me go see whos being a bigot.

"Why would I search for bigotry in this world when its the one thing thats been this huge help in my life to keep me sane and to raise great kids?

Still, Scientology has received public backlash over the years.

In March, church leader David Miscaviges wife, first lady of Scientology Shelly Miscavige, was the subject of a Vanity Fair documentary titled Vanity Fair Confidential: Scientologys Vanished Queen.

The show, which was a part of the Vanity Fair Confidential series, was based on the March 2015 expose by the magazine that delved questioned what happened to Shelly, who allegedly disappeared in 2007.

Church representatives have called Vanity Fairs questions on Shelly ludicrous and offensive.

In December 2016, former Scientology member Leah Remini raised the explosive topic of Shellys whereabouts in a special episode of her A&E series, Scientology and the Aftermath.

The former King of Queens actress left the Church of Scientology in 2013 after having been a member since childhood.

Remini, who was so alarmed by Shellys disappearance that she questioned guests at Cruises 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes, reportedly outraged Scientology members.

Shelly is allegedly a close friend of Cruises, the churchs most famous member.

In 2013, Remini filed a missing report regarding Shelly with the Los Angeles Police Department. Its been reported that detectives closed the missing person case after saying they had met with Shelly in person.

Still, Remini continues to wonder about the well-being of the Scientology boss wife.

On her A&E episode, ex-Scientologist member Mike Rinder claimed that for a long time Shelly was at a property the church owned near Lake Arrowhead in California.

She was sent there when she displeased David Miscavige, claimed Rinder. Shelly was privy to everything that went on with Dave.

Remini responded, Which is why I filed my police report. Which, by the way, Im still following up on because there are still answers that I need. I do not know that she is alive. I do not know that shes not being held against her will.

As the show noted, the church has stated the police report was filed in bad faith  and Scientologists have also challenged the credibility of Remini and all the contributors to her series.

In fact, the church has said on a website it launched to slam her claims, "Leah Remini's 'reality show'.... is nothing more than a scripted, rehearsed, acted and dramatized work of fiction. She and the other anti-Scientologists in her program have been expelled from the church for unethical conduct."The creators of the 1984 comedy film This Is Spinal Tap earned a major victory in a California court on Tuesday, after a federal judge allowed Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest to pursue a fraud claim against media conglomerate Vivendi.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee said StudioCanal, which is owned by Vivendi, broke its agreement with the plantiffs by not providing required accounting statements, in addition to separate nefarious accounting practices to conceal and underreport" profits, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which cited details from the ruling.

The plantiffs, who claimed Vivendis actions were intentional, are seeking $400 million in damages and ancillary merchandising and music, the outlet reported.

According to Deadline.com, the plaintiffs claimed in their original lawsuit that Vivendi pegged the four creators share of total worldwide merchandising income over 22 years at $81, and their share of total music sales income over 17 years at $98.

The co-creators also tried unsuccessfully to sue Universal Music Group  another subsidiary of Vivendi. However, the judge granted the plantiffs permission to submit an amended complaint, the outlet reported.

Another claim against UMG related to music rights is still active.

"Spinal Tap" was a "mockumentary" that followed the fictional British band as it embarked on a world tour that went awry.A British mother of three died shortly after she underwent a Brazilian butt lift procedure in Turkey, reports said Wednesday.

Leah Cambridge, 29, traveled to the Turkish coastal city of Izmir to get a 3,000 (about $3,890) cosmetic surgery that reshapes a persons buttocks by transferring fat from other parts of the body, Sky News reported.

Although the cause of death was not revealed, Cambridges boyfriend, Scott Franks, said in a Facebook post on Monday that he heard his girlfriend died really early into the operation.

Franks also told The Sun that people should be aware of how dangerous the butt lift procedure could be.

MAN LOSES LEFT ARM AFTER CONTRACTING FLESH-EATING BACTERIA INFECTION FROM SUSHI

"People need to be aware of situations that can happen with this treatment," Franks told The Sun. "We are still waiting for answers and are also trying to get a flight to bring Leah home."

Franks said that hes a broken man following his girlfriends death.

Im hurt so bad and this is only the start. My life has crashed.

Franks said he traveled to Turkey to retrieve Leahs body, which will return in the next few days. In a post on Tuesday, he said he got his answers about Cambridge and was glad he didnt kill the surgeon. He did not provide further detail.

BOTCHED PROCEDURE BY WOMAN ACCUSED OF POSING AS DENTIST ALLEGEDLY SENT PATIENT TO HOSPITAL

The so-called "Brazilian butt lift" has become a popular procedure among women who are looking to achieve bodies such as Kim Kardashian's. The surgery, however, has led to many deaths in recent years. One in 3,000 patients die of the procedure, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said.

Cambridge was reportedly getting her procedure at Elite Aftercare, according to Sky News. The company says it offers a UK standard of care and works with British reality TV stars.A Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Colorado is recalling more than 25,000 pounds (11,300 kg) of ground beef that could be contaminated with E. Coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

The meat carries an EST. 86R label inside the USDA mark of inspection and a use-by date of Sept. 5, the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service said this week in a statement. It was shipped from Cargills facility in Fort Morgan, Colorado, to warehouses in California and Colorado, FSIS said.

E. Coli bacteria can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, and in some rare cases it can develop into a life-threatening type of kidney failure.

WEST NILE VIRUS VICTIM'S FAMILY CALLS FOR MORE MOSQUITO CONTROL

FSIS said the problem was discovered on Aug. 22 when the company inspected its records and found the beef might have been associated with a product presumed positive for E. Coli.

The company then notified FSIS, the inspection service said, adding in its statement that there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to these products being eaten.

Cargill Meat Solutions is a Wichita, Kansas-based division of Cargill Inc [CARG.UL].A 71-year-old man in South Korea had his left forearm amputated after he developed a fever and excruciating pain in his hand hours after eating raw fish. The unnamed patient, who had a history of type 2 diabetes, hypertension and was facing end-stage renal disease, developed large blisters on the palm on his left hand, which quickly spread to the rest of his hand.

In a case report published by the New England Journal of Medicine, the infection was identified as vibrio vulnificus, and surgeons attempted to extract it and treat him with several antibiotics.

CARGILL RECALLS 25,000 POUNDS OF POSSIBLY CONTAMINATED BEEF

Vibriosis causes an estimated 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths in the U.S. each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. In addition to eating raw or undercooked seafood, patients may also contract the infection by exposing a wound to seawater.

Preventative measures include washing hands thoroughly after handling raw seafood and staying out of brackish or salt water if you have open wounds.

The report, which did not reveal a timeframe for the unnamed patients case, noted that his medical history left him at a particularly higher risk of infection.

WEST NILE VIRUS VICTIM'S FAMILY CALLS FOR MORE MOSQUITO CONTROL

Despite the treatments, the blisters progressed to deep ulcers and the infection spread up his arm. Surgeons amputated his left forearm 25 days after he sought initial treatment for the pain, and he has since been discharged.A nurse in Texas was fired after she allegedly posted about a young patient who may have the measles on an anti-vaccination group's Facebook page, officials with the Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston said this week.

The nurse, who has not yet been named, allegedly posted to a Facebook page called Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children - Texas regarding a boy, between the age of 1 to 3 years old, who is being treated at the hospital for a possible case of the measles which he contracted overseas, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In since-deleted posts, the nurse shared her experience of treating someone with measles for the first time.

32 CHILDREN'S MEDICINES RECALLED OVER CONTAMINATION

I think its easy for us non-vaxxers to make assumptions, but most of us have never and will never see one of these diseases, she wrote, according to a screenshot obtained by the Houston Chronicle. By no means have I changed my vax stance, and I never will. But this poor kid was bad off and as a parent, I could see vaccinating out of fear.

She allegedly added that she plans to continue along my non-vax journey with no regrets, but Ill definitely have compassion to those who vehemently vaccinate.

An investigation into the nurses statements was sparked after a concerned parent flagged the post to the hospital, People reported.

The nurse was removed from the toddlers care on Friday before she was fired on Monday, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday.

We were made aware that one of our nurses posted protected health information regarding a patient on social media, a hospital spokesperson told Fox News in a statement. We take these matters very seriously as the privacy and well-being of our patients is always a top priority. After an internal investigation, this individual is no longer with the organization.

The hospital clarified it didnt fire the nurse because of her anti-vaccine views, but rather because she posted protected health information, according to the Houston Chronicle.

While the Houston Health Department reported the boy has the measles, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must also confirm the finding. The last reported case of the measles in Houston was in 2013, according to the paper.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that typically begins with a fever, cough and runny nose. Days later, the virus usually leads to a rash that can eventually make its way across the body, according to the CDC.

However, the potentially deadly virus can be prevented with a vaccine.

CHILDRENS ADVIL BUBBLEGUM FLAVOR RECALLED DUE TO OVERDOSE CONCERNS

Measles can be prevented with MMR vaccine. The vaccine protects against three diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella. CDC recommends children get two doses of MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 through 15 months of age, and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age. Teens and adults should also be up to date on their MMR vaccination, the CDC states on its website, adding that two doses of the vaccine are about 97 percent effective in preventing the virus.The grieving family of a Tennessee veteran is calling for more awareness and more preventative measures in their county after they claim their father tested positive for West Nile virus before his death. Sharon Thaxton, who said her 88-year-old father Robert Garland contracted the virus outside his Orange Mound home, said they initially believed his symptoms were due to a stroke.

He got sick, went to the hospital, we thought he had a stroke, she told Fox 13 Memphis. But he didnt have a stroke. Thought it was a tick  it wasnt a tick. Then they tested for a mosquito and thats what it was, a mosquito.

CALIFORNIA MOM BITTEN BY 'KISSING BUG' WARNS OTHERS ABOUT DANGER OF 'SILENT KILLER' PARASITIC DISEASE

The Shelby County Health Department told the news outlet that there have been three confirmed human cases of West Nile virus in Tennessee this year, two of them in Shelby County.

With mosquitoes testing positive for the virus in 37 zip codes within the county, officials said they spray in accordance with the data.

WHAT IS WEST NILE? 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE MOSQUITO-SPREAD AILMENT

But Garlands family, including his devastated widow, want more to be done to control the mosquito population and help prevent more deaths.

It hurt me real bad because weve been married for so long, Faye Garland told the news outlet.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people infected with the virus will not develop any symptoms, but those who do may suffer a fever in addition to headache, body aches, joint pains, diarrhea or rash. Serious symptoms are rare, but do affect the central nervous symptom and present the greatest risk in patients over 60.

Those with medical conditions like cancer, diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease, or patients who have received organ transplants, may take longer to recover, while 1 in 10 of those patients died. There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment available for West Nile patients, but according to the CDC, those sickened can take over-the-counter pain relievers or supportive treatment.

Everybody needs to know [about] this disease thats killing, Thaxton told the news outlet.Berkeley, Calif., a city that in recent years has become the epicenter of violence from so-called Antifa demonstrators, has been named the third-best city to live in across the U.S.

According to the 2018 Niche rankings, Berkeley scored the top rating for quality of public schools, nightlife and living situations for families.

But while the city was also declared the healthiest one to live in, it struggled in other criteria such as crime and housing.

Ann Arbor, Mich., and Naperville, Ill., came out above Berkeley in the total ranking, finishing first and second, respectively.

The statistics show that the median household income in Berkeley was over $70,000, significantly above the national average, though residents may end up spending that higher income on the city's high cost of living -- which is significantly higher than those of other cities across America.

Reactions to the Niche rankings were mixed.

Berkeley has wonderful weather: very mild winters, cool summers, no rain in the summer. This is definitely top-five weather, Mike Zint, co-founder of homeless rights activist group First They Came for the Homeless, told the Daily Californian. Housing? Only if you are doing well  the cost is too high.

Guy Lee, another advocate for the homeless, said the city favors wealthy residents and not enough affordable housing was is being built. We have an ever-increasing homeless population due to inaction of public policy beyond a bologna sandwich and a pat on the head, Lee told the outlet.

He warned that the situation may prompt a crime wave in the city thanks to fewer police officers. Niche rankings already claim that rates for robbery, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft are higher in Berkeley than elsewhere in the U.S.

But Berkeley has already seen a fair share of violence in recent years thanks to black-clad Antifa agitators who often mobilize to violently oppose any gathering in Berkeley that has right-wing undertones.

ANTIFA MEMBERS IN BERKELEY SMASH WINDOWS OF US MARINE CORPS RECRUITING OFFICE DURING PROTEST

Earlier this month, the Berkeley Police Department arrested 20 people during the dueling California demonstrations between Antifa and some individuals associated with the so-called alt-right movement.

Members of Antifa were seen smashing windows of the U.S. Marines Corps recruitment office on Shattuck Avenue.

In comparison, the violence this month was a relatively small skirmish with little injuries or damage to the property. Last year in February, the far-left agitators shut down a University of California, Berkeley, event featuring a conservative speaker and went on to riot in the city, causing approximately $100,000 in damage.

Still, some local council members lamented the high ranking of their city, fearing more people will come and put additional stress on affordable housing. City Councilmember Kriss Worthington told the newspaper that the city should work to reduce its violent crime and build more housing for lower income households.

I think if we could fix those two things, we could probably be No. 1  best city in the whole country, he said.A California fifth-grader had to be hospitalized this week after he refused to fight back against a bully at school. Why?

Its not the Jedi way, said 10-year-old Aiden Vasquez after returning home to his mother.

He said he felt it in his soul not to hit the kid back, she explained in a Facebook post on Monday.

MISSOURI BOYS GREEN SCREEN SCHOOL PHOTOS GO VIRAL

Lizette Casanova claims this is the third year in a row that her son has gotten bullied at Two Bunch Palms Elementary School in Desert Hot Springs.

Yes he is differentBUT REALLY!?! Now were making hospital visits, she said.

This is the second time that Aiden has had to get medical treatment on account of the bullying, according to his mother.

Last year he got a cheek laceration, she said, speaking to KMIR. He got pushed against a wall supposedly and his face got cut open.

Aiden told the local station that this weeks incident  which happened just days into the school year  all started because the bully took his backpack.

Give me my backpack, give me my backpack, he recalled asking the boy. I went to go get it and then  pop.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS 'PERMISSIVE' DRESS CODE WELCOMING TUBE TOPS, RIPPED JEANS AND PAJAMAS SPARKS DEBATE

Aiden suffered a three inch laceration in his eyebrow, swelling of his cheek and slight blood in his eye as a result of the latest attack, his mom said.

For those telling me I should tell my son to FIGHT BACK OR Hurt the kid [sic] were not those kinds of people, Casanova wrote on Facebook. I dont need to fight with fists to prove a point. My son is incredibly gifted and thats all I have to teach him to embrace he will be someone one day trust and believe! #StopBullying.

Casanovas posts about the incident have gone viral, with many praising Aiden for not stooping to the bullys level  including the most famous Jedi of all.

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Im astonished by his wisdom & courage such a tender age, tweeted Mark Hamill. I may be a fictional Jedi, but this boy is the real deal. Not sure how to reach out to him, but I hope he sees this message & knows how much I admire him.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.More than half the world's school-age refugees are excluded from education as host nations struggle under the weight of growing humanitarian crises, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Four million refugee children around the world do not attend school, an increase of half a million from a year earlier, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in a report.

"Education is a way to help young people heal, but it is also the way to revive entire countries," said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

"Based on current patterns, unless urgent investment is undertaken, hundreds of thousands more children will join these disturbing statistics."

The UNHCR said there were nearly 20 million refugees under its mandate, which excludes about 5 million Palestinian refugees, by the end of 2017 as the number of displaced people worldwide grew.

More than half were children and 7.4 million were of school age.

Only 61 percent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to more than 90 percent of all children, said the report.

The figure is even lower for older children, with less than one in four secondary-age refugees in school. Just one percent attend higher education, compared with more than a third of young people globally.

More than 500,000 refugee children were newly enrolled in school last year, but the rapidly growing refugee population means the proportion missing out on education has not shrunk.

Katherine Begley, a senior technical advisor for education at humanitarian agency Care USA, said schooling was a vital step in helping refugee families rebuild their lives.

"Education protects and education empowers," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"It provides opportunities to cultivate friendships and supports work to establish a routine that children who are coming out of traumatic circumstances need as quickly as possible."

What little education is available is often in poorly constructed temporary shelters or in the open air.

Social and cultural conventions mean girls are especially likely to miss out - a major concern, said Francisca Vigaud-Walsh, senior advocate for women and girls.

"We need to break this cycle by reducing the barriers to schooling," she said.

"Less education increases vulnerabilities to forced marriage, exploitation, and even trafficking in refugee contexts."

To address the problem, the UNHCR said refugees should be enrolled in mainstream schools rather than specially created ones, offered extra support, and barriers to enrolment such as requirements for identity documents should be removed.

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A woman claims she was deceived into marrying a stranger in a mock wedding in China.

The 21-year-old unidentified woman, from Hong Kong, said she was asked to play a bride in a mock wedding as part of training in order to become a wedding planner, the BBC reported Wednesday.

CANADIAN BRIDE'S HAIR GOES BLUE AFTER PEN EXPLODES NEAR HER HEAD, JUST DAYS BEFORE WEDDING

The woman originally signed up to be a make-up artist after seeing a post on Facebook. However, she was convinced by the firm to become a wedding planner instead because she could make more money. She received a week of free training in Hong Kong before traveling to the Chinese province of Fujian for the mock wedding.

However, as the simulated wedding went on, she and the groom signed a real marriage document. She was told by the company that the marriage would be voided after, the South China Morning Post reported.

The woman did not realize she was married until she returned to Hong Kong and sought legal help.

BRIDE CANCELS WEDDING AFTER FRIENDS AND FAMILY REFUSE TO FUND $60K CEREMONY

The purpose of the scam, according to the South China Morning Post, is to earn the Chinese resident a chance to apply for residency in Hong Kong, on the basis that they have a spouse in the region.

Its a new form of marriage scam, Tong Kamgyiu, the director of the Rights and Benefits Committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, told the BBC. I feel disappointed and cannot believe its even happening in modern Hong Kong.

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It was not immediately clear who the woman was married to but she may have to apply for a divorce, the BBC reported. Each year, an average of 1,000 Hong Kong-China marriage scam cases occur, according to the outlet.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The first test of the 2020 race for the White House  and of the possible impeachment of President Trump before he can even run for re-election  will come this November in the Florida election for governor.

In the Florida primary Tuesday, voters selected Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis as the gubernatorial candidates of their respective parties.

Gillum won an upset victory over three better-funded Democratic candidates, while DeSantis captured the Republican nomination with the help of an endorsement from President Trump.

The outcome of the Gillum-DeSantis race  between candidates who are polar opposites in many ways  will be a profound indicator of three things: how the American people feel about the policies of President Trump; what they think of the possibility of impeaching him; and how they may vote in the next presidential election if Trump is on the ballot.

Gillum explicitly supports impeachment of President Trump, and is expected continue calling for it on the campaign trail  even though governors have no role in the impeachment process. In contrast, DeSantis has been one of President Trumps fiercest and most visible advocates in the House of Representatives.

There couldnt be a clearer contest between pro-Trump and anti-Trump candidates.



Gillum is a devout progressive. He supports abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). He favors the Medicare for all plan advanced by Sen. Bernie Sander, I-Vt. And he favors raising the corporate tax rate to pay for increased education funding.

DeSantis is a disciple of the Trump Make America Great Again agenda and regularly defends the president against criticism. He has been a strong opponent of the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign or Trump himself.

Gillum ran with the enthusiastic support of Bernie Sanders, as well as funding from prominent left-wing Democrats George Soros and Tom Steyer. Steyer has become a familiar face to millions of Americans through appearances in TV ads he is funding calling for President Trumps impeachment.

DeSantis probably owes his primary victory to the strong endorsement he received from President Trump.

If Gillum becomes governor in Florida and Democrats win majority control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections, his victory almost certainly means the Democrats will lose whatever inhibitions they may have about impeaching the president.

One thing is certain: The Gillum-DeSantis race will be bitter, hard fought, and expensive  costing millions of dollars.

There is one other issue that is raised by Gillums nomination, along with the nomination of Stacey Abrams in the race for governor of Georgia. For the first time, Democrats are running two progressive African-Americans in the South who have consciously avoided tacking to the center.

The hypothesis that both Gillum and Abrams have embraced is that moving to the center would not get them as many votes as their strong advocacy of a progressive agenda will bring. Both candidates believe that the election will ultimately be about the mobilization of core Democratic constituencies  minorities, women, and working-class whites who feel economically left behind, despite President Trumps election.

To be sure, the Florida primary has gotten a lot of attention because of the nominations of DeSantis and Gillum. Nonetheless, it needs to be seen for what it is: a proxy for the 2020 presidential race; a proxy for the impeachment fight that is likely to come if Democrats win control of the House; and a referendum on whether a new approach to politics will work for the Democratic Party.

The new approach  being taken by Gillum and also Abrams in Georgia and some Democrats in other states  eschews moderation and emphasizes advocacy of strongly progressive positions.

Will this new approach win competitive races for Democratic candidates around the country? Or will Gillum, Abrams and other progressives go down to defeat because they dont appeal to moderate Democrats, independents, and even some Republicans?

Well have to wait for the Nov. 6 midterm elections to find out.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Tuesdays primaries show theres no doubt the Democratic Party is lurching to the left.

The last time Florida Democrats won the states governorship was in 1994. With GOP Gov. Rick Scott leaving office to run for U.S. Senate, Democratic Party leaders were determined to nominate a candidate who could appeal to centrists. They recruited former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, the daughter of a popular former governor and U.S. senator, who had won support from business in the past.

But in a major upset, Graham lost the gubernatorial primary to Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who had the endorsement of Bernie Sanders and top liberal donors George Soros and Tom Steyer. Gillum swept the states urban areas by targeting young people, single women and black voters  a coalition he hopes to ride to victory in November.

The governors race in the nations third-most populous state will probably represent the starkest ideological contrast in the country. Gillum is unapologetically liberal, calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage and repeal of the states stand your ground law, which allows residents to use force without retreating to defend themselves against threats.

Gillums GOP opponent will be U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who swept the Republican primary with the endorsement of President Trump. DeSantis is also the favorite of free-market groups such as the Club for Growth. During his career in Congress he has riled some of his colleagues by opposing the use of taxpayer dollars to settle sexual misconduct claims and to give Congress special privileges under ObamaCare.

Despite DeSantis maverick history, you can expect the national media to shower Gillum with favorable coverage. Much like African-American gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Gillum will be heralded as a symbol of a New South that is progressive and focused on diversity.

Gillums big problem will be convincing voters he can improve on the pro-growth policies of Gov. Scott. Floridas unemployment rate is a third of what it was in 2010. The state has the highest public high school graduation rate in 13 years, and the lowest crime rate in 45 years. DeSantis campaign will focus on how Gillums agenda could derail that progress.

In other primaries, Arizona Republicans dodged a bullet in the key U.S. Senate race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Jeff Flake. Martha McSally, a U.S. House member who was the first female Air Force pilot to see combat, won a majority of the Republican primary vote. She beat former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state legislator Kelli Ward, both of whom carried enough baggage to be easy targets for Democrats in the fall.

McSally will now face U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema in November. The three-term Democrat has a carefully cultivated reputation as a centrist. But she showed a willingness to vote for higher taxes and liberal social positions as a state legislator.

McSally has already launched an ad comparing the whereabouts of the two candidates at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, with McSally beside a fighter jet and Sinema protesting military action in a pink tutu.

The primary season for Campaign 2018 is now nearing a close. In most of the key races in the November midterm elections, voters will be given a clear choice between a candidate favorable to President Trumps policies and someone who wants to upend them. Unlike many previous midterm elections, this November will truly represent a choice and not an echo.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

WASHINGTON -- For the first time, I understand how the Reformation happened.

Reading the stunning letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano -- in which the former papal nuncio says he had personally informed Pope Francis five years ago about the serious accusations against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick -- is both heartbreaking and enraging. If Vigano is right, it means the corruption in the Catholic Church has reached not just the highest levels of Roman Curia but the papacy itself.

Last week, Vigano effectively nailed his 95 theses to the door of St. Peter's. The archbishop call out not only the Holy Father but also more than a dozen cardinals he says covered up McCarrick's alleged abuses, including three successive Vatican secretaries of state -- and calls for Pope Francis to step down. It is virtually without precedent for a Vatican insider to make such serious charges against a sitting pontiff and members of the Curia -- much less to call for the pope's resignation. Vigano's allegations need to be investigated, the documents he cites need to be released, and the pope needs to answer these charges.

Vigano said he twice wrote to his superiors in Rome, in 2006 and 2008, explaining that McCarrick had, among other things, requested "depraved acts of seminarians and priests," had derided "a young seminarian who tried to resist" and engaged in the "sacrilegious celebration of the Eucharist." He got no response. Eventually, he learned that Pope Benedict XVI had ordered that McCarrick be "forbidden to celebrate [Mass] in public, to participate in public meetings, to give lectures, [or] to travel." Vigano said he personally discussed the sanctions in his first meeting with McCarrick at the Nunciature.

After Benedict resigned, Vigano was granted a private audience with the new pope on June 23, 2013, during which Francis asked him about McCarrick. Vigano wrote that he told Francis, "Holy Father, I don't know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance." Francis soon lifted Benedict's sanctions, Vigano said, and made McCarrick a trusted adviser. "He knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator," Vigano wrote. "It was only when he was forced by the report of the abuse of a minor ... that he took action."

Vigano also wrote that he discussed the sanctions on McCarrick several times with McCarrick's successor as archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who Vigano said "lies shamelessly" in denying knowing about them. In one instance, Vigano wrote that he saw an announcement in an archdiocesan publication inviting young men interested in the priesthood to a meeting with McCarrick -- a man who is alleged to have sexually abused seminarians! "I immediately phoned Cardinal Wuerl, who expressed his surprise to me, telling me that he knew nothing about that announcement and that he would cancel it," Vigano wrote. "If, as he now continues to state, he knew nothing of the abuses committed by McCarrick and the measures taken by Pope Benedict, how can his answer be explained?" On Monday, a spokesman confirmed that Wuerl did cancel the event "at the nuncio's request."

Vigano's accusations are serious and credible. He has everything to lose by making them public. He cited specific letters and documents that he and others sent to Rome - which he said are readily available in the files of the Holy See and the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington. The Vatican must now release them. And his account was backed on Monday by Monsignor Jean-Francois Lantheaume, the former first counsellor at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, who said Vigano "tells the whole truth. I am a witness." Most importantly, in his letter the archbishop declared that he is "ready to reaffirm them under oath by calling on God as my witness" - which means he is calling for his own eternal damnation if he is lying. Is Pope Francis willing to do the same?

Vigano is courageously sacrificing his own episcopal career to expose the truth. Now is the time for others with inside knowledge to step forward and do the same. Catholic cardinals wear a red hat to symbolize their willingness to shed the blood of martyrdom for Christ and His church. Sadly, few seem willing to risk their own position, much less their lives.

On his flight back from Ireland, Pope Francis responded to Vigano's testimony by declaring, "I will not say a single word on this." Sorry, that's not good enough. Five hundred years ago, faithful Catholics waited too long to root out corruption in the Vatican -- with disastrous consequences. We can't make the same mistake again.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Candidates expressing strong support for President Trump continued their winning streak in Republican primaries Tuesday, capturing nominations in Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma. The victories confirm the strong approval ratings the president gets from Republicans across the nation.

In Florida, Republican voters nominated U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis to be their candidate for governor. DeSantis, a three-term congressman from the Jacksonville area, won a decisive victory over state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

DeSantis was the underdog in the race until President Trump enthusiastically endorsed his candidacy and became a vigorous supporter. The presidents backing propelled DeSantis, who earned a Bronze Star in the Navy, to an impressive 57 percent to 37 percent victory over Putnam.

DeSantis has earned a reputation as an innovative conservative reformer in Congress and is well-positioned to take on Andrew Gillum, the far-left Tallahassee mayor and Democratic nominee who is backed by democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Also in Florida, two-term Republican Gov. Rick Scott  another strong supporter of President Trump  easily won the GOP primary to become the partys U.S. Senate candidate against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Scott currently leads Nelson by a margin of 46 percent to 44 percent, according to an average of recent polls.

Nelson, who has enormous name identification as the incumbent, is in a precarious position with such low support in the polls. Growing numbers of voters are seeing him for what he is  an out-of-touch career politician who has held elected office for most of the past 46 years.

Gov. Scott has pledged to help enact President Trumps America First agenda if voters send him to the Senate. This represents a stark contrast to Nelson, who has essentially become little more than an obstructionist, following the lead of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The run-off election in Oklahoma provided clarity for the fall elections in the Sooner State. Republicans chose political newcomer and businessman Kevin Stitt over former longtime Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett as their candidate for governor.

GOP voters also selected first-time conservative candidate and Trump supporter Matt Pinnell as their candidate for lieutenant governor over state Corporation Commission Chair Dana Murphy. Republicans have a considerable advantage in conservative Oklahoma, a state President Trump carried by a whopping 36 points in 2016.

In Arizona, two-term U.S. Rep. Martha McSally won a primary battle convincingly over former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. McSally, a decorated retired Air Force colonel, will now square off against liberal Democratic U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

In the general election campaign, Sinema will have to explain to Arizona voters why she sided with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California in opposing President Trumps historic tax cut. The tax cut has paved the way for robust economic growth, millions of new jobs and extraordinarily low unemployment rates  including the lowest Hispanic unemployment numbers ever recorded.

Also in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey secured a resounding primary victory after a welcome endorsement push from President Trump.

Senate Races Around the Country

Following Tuesdays primaries, the stage is finally set in all the critical races around the country that will decide control of the U.S. Senate in the midterm elections.

In West Virginia, Trump-backed state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey will take on two-faced Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Manchin talks up the Trump agenda on one end of Pennsylvania Avenue and then votes against it when hes with his pal Chuck Schumer on Capitol Hill.

Morrisey will make the case that the Hillary Clinton-supporting Manchin clearly no longer represents the interests of West Virginia, a state whose citizens adore President Trump and rewarded him accordingly with an astonishing 42-point margin of victory in 2016.

Republican Trump-backed candidates are faring extremely well across the country in states the president won in 2016.

In North Dakota, a state President Trump carried by 36 points, polling indicates that Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer is running ahead of incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.

Similarly in Montana, where Trump cruised to a 21-point victory in 2016, Republican state Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale is leading liberal Democratic Sen. Jon Tester according to a recent poll.

Another hotly contested Senate race in the Midwest is in Missouri, where polls indicate conservative Republican state Attorney General Josh Hawley is running neck and neck with Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, another liberal career politician. President Trump is planning another trip to Missouri next month, a state he carried by 19 points in 2016.

And finally, in Indiana conservative outsider Mike Braun is running a very strong race to take the seat of Sen. Joe Donnelly, the incumbent Democrat. President Trump will be returning to Indiana this week  another state he carried by a commanding 19 points in 2016.

Its clear that the Democrats in the Senate facing re-election in Trump Country are going to have plenty of sleepless nights between now and Election Day.

Will voters choose the Trump-powered Republican agenda of low taxes and less red tape, economic growth, border security and a strong military?

Or will voters choose the Schumer-Pelosi Democratic agenda of tax hikes, open borders and a meritless partisan impeachment witch hunt that will only be a waste of time and money?

The American people will study the issues and the candidates and make their decision. Its a big one.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Far-left Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillums upset victory over former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham in Floridas Democratic gubernatorial primary was among results of Tuesdays voting that should give President Trump and Republicans increased confidence heading toward the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

Many GOP strategists believe the Democratic Party is moving too far to the left for its own good, alienating moderates and thereby increasing the chances of Republican victories in the race for Florida governor and other contests around the country in the fall.

Gillum, who would become Floridas first black governor if he is elected in November, was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and received financial support from far-left billionaires George Soros and Tom Steyer, who is funding an ad campaign calling for President Trumps impeachment. Democratic socialist U.S. House candidate from New York City Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez congratulated Gillum on his victory.

The Tallahassee mayor has embraced radical positions like Medicare for all, abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, and legalizing marijuana.

Gillum prevailed over more moderate Democrats in the gubernatorial primary including Graham, the daughter the states former Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham. Gillum captured 34.3 percent of the primary vote to 31.3 percent for Graham, with other candidates winning remaining votes.

On the GOP side, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis  who was endorsed by President Trump  easily defeated State Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam to win the partys nomination for governor. DeSantis won 56.5 percent of the primary vote, while Putnam received 36.6 percent.

A former member of the GOP leadership in the U.S. House, Putnam has been planning his gubernatorial bid for at least a decade and began the campaign as the presumed front-runner because of his name recognition statewide.

But that was not enough to overcome the power of a Trump endorsement, which DeSantis  a frequent defender of the president on TV  received even before officially launching his campaign.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is term-limited and could not run for re-election, collected 88.6 percent of the vote in the GOP U.S. Senate primary against a nuisance opponent, making him look like an even bigger threat to knock off long-time Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson in November.

Scott has slowly been building a lead in the polls and has some Democrats reportedly thinking, at least behind closed doors, that they should be looking for a way to get the lackluster Nelson to bow out for the good of the party before the November election.

Looking at the Florida vote totals, with both the Republicans and Democrats having contested primaries at the top of the ticket, it seems it is the Democrats who are lagging in the increasingly pivotal state.

The total Democratic vote was just over 1.5 million, while more than 1.6 million people turned out to vote for Republican candidates.

If Gillum becomes a drag on the Democratic ticket because of his far-left positions, he could end up presiding over a debacle in the fall that has national implications.

Democratic hopes to win back control of the U.S. House rest at least in part on taking seats from the GOP in Florida, where two districts currently represented by Republican incumbents voted for Hillary Clinton for president.

Based on the balloting totals from Tuesday, the Democrats look likely to flip only one of those seats. Republicans have a good shot at taking one or more seats away from the Democrats if strong GOP candidates at the top of the ticket can pull them across the finish line first.

Arizona

Arizona voters also picked nominees for the November ballot on Tuesday. To no ones surprise, Trump-backed GOP Gov. Doug Ducey  like the president, a former corporate CEO with no political experience before winning his first elective office  easily won re-nomination.

Ducey defeated former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who was badly outspent.

The governor will face Democrat David Garcia, an Arizona State University education professor and military veteran, in the fall. Garcia favors raising income taxes on wealthy Arizonans to increase school funding and advocates withdrawing Arizona National Guard troops from the states border with Mexico. He won a three-candidate primary.

But if the primary is any indication, Garcia has a tough row to hoe. With a little less than two-thirds of the vote in and counted, the Democrats had polled a hair under total 359,000 votes in their gubernatorial primary, while the GOP is sitting comfortably at just under 460,000 votes.

In the hotly contested Arizona GOP primary for U.S. Senate, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally  who was endorsed by a slew of national Republicans but not by President Trump  easily prevailed over former state Sen. Kelli Ward and ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

McSally will face off in November against Democratic U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who easily won her partys primary. Here again, there were more Republican votes cast among three candidates than there were Democratic votes cast between two candidates. That means the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jeff Flake  who retired rather than face what the polls suggested was certain defeat  is a likely bet to remain in the GOP column.

Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, GOP voters picked businessman Kevin Stitt in a Republican runoff as their candidate for governor to go up against former state Attorney General Drew Edmundson in November.

Stitt, who campaigned as a businessman and outsider, prevailed in a runoff election against Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. The runoff was made necessary by the failure of any candidate in the race to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary.

Incumbent Gov. Mary Fallin, who is term-limited, has become increasingly unpopular with voters, thanks especially to her efforts to raise taxes. That means Democrats think they may have a shot at winning in what has become one of the nations most reliably Republican states.

In the runoff to pick candidates in the open 1st District U.S. House seat previously occupied by Republican Jim Bridenstine, who President Trump took out of the House to head NASA, GOP voters chose as their candidate businessman Kevin Kern over former Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris. The seat is expected to stay in the Republican column come November.U.S. Reps. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona won Tuesday's U.S. Senate primaries in the state, and will face off in November to succeed retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.

Their victories assure that Arizonans will elect their first female U.S. senator in November.

In the Republican primary, McSally defeated former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. On the Democratic side, Sinema defeated attorney Deedra Abboud.

McSally's victory drew a Twitter message from President Trump early Wednesday.

"Martha McSally, running in the Arizona Primary for U.S. Senate, was endorsed by rejected Senator Jeff Flake....and turned it down - a first! Now Martha, a great U.S. Military fighter jet pilot and highly respected member of Congress, WINS BIG. Congratulations, and on to November!" the president tweeted.

Meanwhile, the death of longtime U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Saturday resulted in subdued victory speeches from the winners.

McSally began her speech with a moment of silence for McCain.

"It's difficult to celebrate anything this week," she said, before linking her next opponent, Sinema, to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"This is how I see this campaign," McSally said. "It's a choice between a doer and a talker. Between a patriot and a protester."

"This is how I see this campaign. It's a choice between a doer and a talker. Between a patriot and a protester."  Martha McSally, GOP primary winner for U.S. Senate seat in Arizona

In a year where Senate Democrats are playing defense, the Arizona seat offers a rare pickup opportunity that could help them maintain the status quo of a narrowly divided Senate or even tip them into the majority.

McSally, a former Air Force colonel considered the favorite of the Washington establishment, played up her allegiance to President Trump while competing against two outspoken conservative contenders: Ward, who had lost to the late Sen. John McCain in a 2016 primary, and Arpaio, the illegal-immigration opponent pardoned by Trump last year after being convicted of criminal contempt of court.

Trump, who notably has supported a series of candidates in recent months, stayed away from any Arizona endorsements.

As Ward and Arpaio seemingly fought to determine the stronger conservative option to McSally, analysts say they may have ultimately assisted the congresswoman, who largely stayed out of the fray.

If Sheriff Joe was not in the race Kelli Ward would beat Martha McSally by 20 points, said Eric Beach, a strategist for Ward, as the Washington Times reported.

McCain, 81, died last Saturday after a battle with brain cancer. Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has not yet appointed a successor.

Ducey, meantime, is being projected by Fox News to keep his reelection hopes alive by defeating former Arizona secretary of state Ken Bennett in the Republican primary.

He is set to face off against Arizona State University professor David Garcia, who beat state Sen. Steve Farley and former minister Kelly Fryer in the Democratic primary.

In the race to fill a U.S. House seat in Arizona's 9th Congressional District, Navy veteran and physician Steve Ferrara won the Republican primary, defeating Dave Giles and Irina Baroness Von Behr. Former Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Earlier Tuesday, officials in the state admitted that problems with voting machines in a series of polling sites temporarily stopped people from being able to cast ballots. A spokesman for Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes told Fox News on Tuesday afternoon that "all polling locations dealing with technical issues this morning have been fixed."

The contractor hired to set up voting machines in the Phoenix area apparently failed to send enough technicians, leaving several polling places out of operation. The contractor was identified as Insight Enterprises of Tempe, the Arizona Republic reported.

Fontes says he sent his staff to as many locations as possible to make fixes. There were discussions of extending voting times past the 7 p.m. deadline but polls ultimately closed as planned.

Fox News' Alex Pappas and the Associated Press contributed to this report.Donna Shalala, a former secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton, was projected to win the Democratic primary for a Florida U.S. House seat seen as key to both parties' chances of taking control of Congress.

The 77-year-old Shalala, a former president of the University of Miami, defeated four other candidates to win the nomination for Florida's 27th District. She received 32 percent of the vote, while her closest challenger, state Rep. David Richardson, received 28 percent of the vote.

On the Republican side, longtime Spanish-language TV journalist Maria Elvira Salazar defeated eight other GOP candidates -- including former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and former Doral city council member Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera, who briefly seized the spotlight with her claim that she was abducted by aliens as a child.

Rodriguez Aguilera's profile was raised even further last week when the Miami Herald newspaper endorsed her in the primary, praising her "boots-on-the-ground ideas and experience" while admitting she was "an unusual candidate."

Shalala and Salazar are competing to succeed retiring Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who has represented the district since 2013.

The seat is widely viewed as one of the best chances for a Democratic pickup this November. Voters there backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.

Shalala, making her first run for elected office, has said she is confident Democrats will flip the seat no matter which Republican is nominated, citing voters opposed to President Trump.

"There's no question about it. In all their experience, Trump is their worst nightmare," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Republican Carlos Curbelo and Democrat Stephanie Murphy were projected to coast to victory in two of Florida's U.S. House primaries Tuesday night as closely watched matchups in November's battle for the House of Representatives began coming into focus.

National Democrats have eyed Curbelo's 26th congressional district as a potential pickup target, in large part because it voted heavily for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. But with almost all precincts reporting, approximately 2,500 more people had turned out to vote in the GOP primary than in the Democratic primary.

Curbelo garnered 84 percent of the vote against primary opponent Souraya Faas, who described Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as "heroes" and claimed chemical attacks in Syria's civil war were "staged by [humanitarian group] the White Helmets."

In November, Curbelo will face Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former associate dean at the Florida International University Medical School and Democratic candidate for state Senate. She defeated Navy veteran Demetries Grimes in the Democratic primary.

Murphy, who unseated GOP incumbent John Mica in 2016, easily defeated a primary challenge in the 7th District from Chardo Richardson, who was backed by New York democratic socialist candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She will face Florida state Rep. Mike Miller in November's general election.

In the 5th District, incumbent Democrat Rep. Al Lawson defeated former Jacksonville mayor Alvin Brown, who slammed Lawson as "Trump's favorite Democrat" after he was seen applauding during President Trump's State of the Union address earlier this year.

Lawson will be a heavy favorite to keep his seat against Republican Virginia Fuller, who did not face a primary opponent.

In the 18th District, Republican Brian Mast garnered 78 percent of the vote, more than enough to see off two Republican challengers -- Mark Freeman and Dave Cummings, each of whom received approximately 11 percent of the vote.

In April, Freeman told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper that he was motivated to challenge Mast after the congressman backed tighter gun laws, including an "assault weapons" ban, in the wake of the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He vowed to "defend the Second Amendment" and be an "unwavering partner" to President Trump. For his part, Cummings called Mast's support for an assault weapons ban "just lousy policy."

Mast will defend his seat against Democrat Lauren Baer, an attorney who served in the Obama administration as a senior adviser to Clinton and John Kerry during their tenures as secretary of state.

Another Republican who defeated two challengers was Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of Trump's most staunch defenders. Gaetz received 62 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for his main challenger, small business owner Cris Dosev. He will face Democrat Jennifer Zimmerman in November as a heavy favorite for re-election.

Other incumbents who won contested primaries include Republican Ted Yoho (3rd District), Democrats Darren Soto (9th District), Val Demings (10th District), Alcee Hastings (20th District), Ted Deutch (22nd District) and Frederica Wilson (24th District). All six are expected to hold on to their seats in November; Demings, Hastings and Wilson don't even have a Republican opponent.

Soto's win was notable in that it represented another failed comeback attempt for former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who formerly represented the 9th District for two terms before resigning to pursue a failed run for U.S. Senate in 2016.

In the 6th District, Republican Michael Waltz won his party's primary to replace Rep. Ron DeSantis, who resigned his seat to run for governor. He will face Democrat Nancy Soderberg, a former National Security Council official during the Clinton administration.

In the 13th District, disaster management consultant George Buck defeated Brad Sostak for the right to face former governor and Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, who did not have a primary opponent. The 13th District narrowly went for Clinton in 2016, and is likely the best chance Republicans have to flip a seat in the Sunshine State.

In the 23rd District, Republican Joe Kaufman will get another shot at unseating former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Kaufman, who defeated Carlos Reyes and Carla Spalding in Tuesday's primary, previously lost to Wasserman Schultz in 2014 and 2016.President Trumps favored candidate, GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis, defeated state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in Floridas Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday after riding the wave of the president's enthusiastic endorsement to victory.

Meanwhile, the Bernie Sanders-backed Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum pulled off a major upset in defeating a half a dozen rivals, including former Rep. Gwen Graham, in the Democratic primary.

DeSantis and Gillum will face each other in November's general election. If he triumphs, Gillum would be the state's first black governor.

During a celebration event in Orlando, DeSantis thanked the president for "viewing me as somebody who could be a great leader for Florida."

"Our victory is a good victory, anyways," DeSantis said, complimenting Putnam on a hard-fought race. "But man, to beat someone of his caliber is a big, big deal."

The president repeatedly had implored voters to support DeSantis over Putnam. Trump offered his congratulations on Twitter.

"Such a fantastic win for Ron DeSantis and the people of the Great State of Florida," Trump tweeted. "Ron will be a fantastic Governor. On to November!"

Appearing on the "Ingraham Angle" later, DeSantis downplayed the notion that his win was due to the president's backing, and touted his record on combatting environmental problems, illegal immigration, and education reform.

"We've been talking about these key issues time and time again and we're going to continue to do that and spread the message far and wide," he said.

Gillum, Tallahassees progressive mayor backed by the Democratic-socialist Sanders, shocked observers with his win, as Graham, the daughter of former Florida Governor and Sen. Bob Graham, led in pre-election polls.

"I'm truly honored to represent people across the state as the Democratic nominee -- and I promise to stand up for everyday Floridians and the issues that matter most," Gillum tweeted after his win.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic socialist star running for New York's 14th district, praised Gillum for staking out liberal positions by supporting Medicare for all, legalizing marijuana and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The progressive movement is transforming the country - and he proved that again tonight, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

In the state's closely-watched Senate contest, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday easily won the GOP nomination. He faced a challenge from perennial candidate Roque De La Fuente.

"Congratulations to Governor Rick Scott of Florida on his conclusive Republican Primary Win," Trump, who encouraged Scott to run, tweeted. "He will be a great Senator!"

Scott, who is term-limited as governor, is set to face incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in what surely will be one of the most closely watched Senate races in November. Nelson ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

But much of the attention in the run-up to Tuesday's vote had been on the contentious Republican gubernatorial primary between DeSantis and Putnam.

During a Fox News-sponsored debate in June, DeSantis played up Trumps backing of his campaign, expressing doubt that Putnam adequately supported Trump. I am proud to have the endorsement of President Trump in this race, DeSantis said.

DeSantis, 39, is an Iraq War veteran and decorated military lawyer who has served in the U.S. House since 2013. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Putnam, 44, also played up his support for Trump, but emphasized, I am focused on Florida.

As for the Senate race, Republicans are hoping Scott could flip the seat in a battle with Nelson, one of the Democratic Partys most vulnerable incumbents.

Trump narrowly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Florida in the 2016 presidential race by less than 2 percentage points.

It was a good night for incumbents in House races in Florida, as Republican Carlos Curbelo and Democrat Stephanie Murphy were among those who beat back primary challengers.

National Democrats have eyed Curbelo's 26th congressional district as a potential pickup target, in large part because it voted heavily for Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. But with almost all precincts reporting, approximately 2,500 more people had turned out to vote in the GOP primary than in the Democratic primary.

Curbelo garnered 84 percent of the vote against primary opponent Souraya Faas, who described Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as "heroes" and claimed chemical attacks in Syria's civil war were "staged."

In November, Curbelo will face Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former associate dean at the Florida International University Medical School and Democratic candidate for state Senate.

Murphy, who unseated GOP incumbent John Mica in 2016, easily defeated a primary challenge in the 7th District from Chardo Richardson, who was backed by Ocasio-Cortez. She will face Florida state Rep. Mike Miller in November's general election.

Fox News Samuel Chamberlain, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Mike Arroyo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Yemeni Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia's Najran region near the border between the two countries, the Houthi-controlled Masirah TV said on Wednesday.

The Badr-1 missile targeted "a new military camp," it said, without indicating when the missile was launched.

Saudi Arabia's military said on Tuesday its air defences intercepted a missile fired towards the southern city of Najran but there were no casualties.

Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed alliance of Sunni Muslim Arab states trying to restore the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in 2015.

The Iran-aligned Houthis control most of the west of Yemen, including its Red Sea coast.

U.N. human rights experts said in a report on Tuesday that both the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi militia may be guilty of war crimes in the conflict, which has raged for more than three years.

The experts' panel said air strikes by the coalition in Yemen have caused heavy civilian casualties, raising concerns about its targeting process.

The panel also accused Houthi fighters of restricting access on humanitarian aid and conscripting child soldiers. The Houthis regularly fire missiles on southern Saudi Arabia and occasionally aim for higher-value targets, such as the capital Riyadh or facilities of state oil company Aramco.

The United Nations has convened talks in Geneva on Sept 6, the first effort to negotiate the war in more than two years.

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The recent arrest of two Iranian agents alleged to have been running spy operations on U.S. soil is just "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of the Islamic Republic's efforts to conduct intelligence operations in America that could result in a terrorist attack, according to a leading lawmaker and U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about the matter.

Following the arrest of two Iranian individuals charged with spying on Jewish and Israeli facilities in the California area, Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.) told the Free Beacon it is likely Iran has stationed multiple regime-tied agents in the United States to conduct intelligence operations.

While the arrest of the two Iranians was met with shock in the press, Roskam said he was not surprised by the arrests, which have unearthed concrete evidence of the Islamic Republic's efforts to foment discord across the globe, including on American soil.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," Roskam said in an interview. "This is not a surprise and this is a result of the Iran regime getting financial support from the Obama administration in the Iran deal."

Iran has been emboldened by the lack of international repercussions on its malevolent behavior and may have increased its intelligence operations in America in the years since the landmark nuclear deal, he said.

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.Hillary Clintons emails, including many that were classified, were hacked by China, President Trump tweeted early Wednesday before calling on the FBI and Department of Justice to make the next move.

Trump did not go into specific details about the apparent hacking, but the tweet came on the heels of a Daily Caller report that said a Chinese-owned company in Washington, D.C., hacked into Clinton's private server during her time as secretary of state, 2009 to 2013.

The Caller's report cited two sources briefed on the matter."

The FBI and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News early Wednesday for comment.

It was not immediately clear if the president took to Twitter after learning about new intelligence, or was using the information from the earlier report.

Trump tweeted earlier about the report, writing, "Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!"

Trump has been a vocal critic of the FBIs handling of the Clinton email investigation. He recently tweeted that at some point he may have to get involved.Liberal Florida gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum on Wednesday slammed his opponent Ron DeSantis after the Republican warned voters earlier in the day not to monkey this up by voting for Gillum in November.

During an appearance on Fox News, anchor Shepard Smith asked Gillum, who is black, if he considered DeSantis comment racist or a figment of speech.

Earlier Wednesday, the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party accused DeSantis of racist dog whistles.

Well, in the handbook of Donald Trump, they no longer do whistle calls, Gillum said. They are now using full bullhorns.

Gillum, a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive who won Floridas Democratic gubernatorial primary in an upset on Tuesday, accused DeSantis of taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump and said he believes Florida voters are sick of the division from DeSantis.

GILLUM HAUNTED BY CITY'S CORRUPTION PROBE

DeSantis, who won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday, made the remark during an appearance Wednesday on Fox News.

DeSantis said weve got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction, adding the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.

But DeSantis office dismissed claims that his remarks had a racial dimension as absurd.

Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses, spokesman Stephen Lawson said in a statement. To characterize it as anything else is absurd.

During his Fox News interview, Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, addressed the ongoing FBI investigation into possible corruption in the city he has led since 2014, denying any wrongdoing.

I dont expect any trouble my way.I welcome their investigation to get to the bottom of any corruption that might exist, Gillum said.

According to local news outlets  which have extensively covered the case  the FBI has been investigating potential corruption related to land deals in the city. Last year, the FBI issued subpoenas for documents from the city of Tallahassee related to developers.

Gillum in 2016 also interacted with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a businessman interested in investing in Tallahassee, according to those reports. He was introduced to that agent by lobbyist Adam Corey, a longtime friend who has since been subpoenaed as part the probe.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Gillum scheduled a meeting with the undercover FBI agent while on a Costa Rica vacation with Corey in 2016.

Republicans, in the aftermath of Gillums primary win, are doing everything they can to draw attention to Gillums link to the probe and make sure it casts a shadow over his campaign.

With Andrew Gillum, Florida Democrats have selected a radical far-left politician who remains at the center of an FBI anti-corruption investigation, the Republican Governors Association said Tuesday.

Fox News Adam Shaw contributed to this report.Liberal Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, fresh off his upset victory in Floridas gubernatorial primary, is being showered with praise from big Democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  all eager for an epic ideological clash in the race against Trump-backed GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis.

But back home in Florida, Gillum is grappling with a controversy that could distract from this political war of ideas: the ongoing FBI investigation into possible corruption in Tallahassee, the city he has led since 2014.

Gillum has denied wrongdoing and said the FBI has told him he is not a focus of the investigation.

But Republicans, in the aftermath of Gillums primary win, are doing everything they can to draw attention to Gillums link to the probe and make sure it casts a shadow over his campaign.

He is embroiled in a lot of corruption scandals, Gillums Republican opponent DeSantis, who won the GOP nomination for governor Tuesday, said on Fox News. This guy can't even run the city of Tallahassee. There is no way Florida voters can entrust him with our entire state.

With Andrew Gillum, Florida Democrats have selected a radical far-left politician who remains at the center of an FBI anti-corruption investigation, the Republican Governors Association said Tuesday.

The candidate downplayed the investigation during television appearances.

I dont expect any trouble my way.I welcome their investigation to get to the bottom of any corruption that might exist, Gillum said on Fox News' "Shepard Smith Reporting."

Gillum told CNN he "pushed that issue past us in this primary."

"Were going to remain focused on the issues that confront everyday Floridians, he said.

TRUMP-ENDORSED RON DESANTIS TO FACE BERNIE-BACKED ANDREW GILLUM IN FLORIDA GOVERNORS RACE

According to local news outlets  which have extensively covered the case  the FBI has been investigating potential corruption related to land deals in the city. Last year, the FBI issued subpoenas for documents from the city of Tallahassee related to developers.

Gillum in 2016 also interacted with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a businessman interested in investing in Tallahassee, according to those reports. He was introduced to that agent by lobbyist Adam Corey, a longtime friend who has since been subpoenaed as part the probe.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Gillum scheduled a meeting with the undercover FBI agent while on a Costa Rica vacation with Corey in 2016.

A spokesman for the FBI Jacksonville Division declined to comment.

Before Tuesday, former Rep. Gwen Graham, the daughter of former Florida Governor and Sen. Bob Graham, led in pre-election polls.

But Gillum had been generating excitement among the base all year, prompting a Tampa Bay Times report in February to note how "remarkable" this was considering some in the party establishment had written him off amid the corruption probe.

In the end, Gillum finished at the top of the crowded field of Democrats, winning 3 percentage points more of the vote than Graham.

In the Republican primary, President Trump threw his support months ago behind DeSantis, who defeated state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in the Republican gubernatorial primary. In a tweet Wednesday, Trump accused Gillum of allowing crime and many other problems to flourish in Tallahassee:

"Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream....a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!"

But on the first day of the general election race, DeSantis had problems of his own -- and was forced to clarify comments he made earlier Wednesday in which he warned voters not to monkey this up by voting for his Democratic opponent.

The remark drew instant fire from Democrats, who accused him of using racist dog whistles, considering Gillum would be the state's first black governor.

But DeSantis campaign dismissed claims that his remarks had a racial dimension as absurd.

Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses, spokesman Stephen Lawson said in a statement. To characterize it as anything else is absurd.

Fox News Adam Shaw contributed to this report.The late Sen. John McCain's life and legacy will be honored with several special memorial services throughout the week. Government officials, members of the military and McCain's immediate family will travel from Arizona to Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to the veteran and politician.

McCain died Saturday at age 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer, leaving behind a decades-long legacy in politics which included presidential runs.

While not everyone always agreed with McCain's points of view, many could share appreciation that he loved his country.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of McCain's closest friends told Fox News' Sean Hannity Monday he especially appreciated hearing kind words from those who disagreed with the Arizona senator's politics.

JOHN MCCAIN'S US SENATE SEAT: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

"The fact that people say good things about [McCain] now, I appreciate, but the family appreciates it," Graham said, earlier praising McCain's "romantic view of the nation; it never died. He loved America ... [he was] willing to die for it."

Over the next several days, members from both sides of the aisle will pay tribute to McCain. Here's a look at the scheduled events.

Aug. 29

McCain lies in state at the Arizona State Capitol Museum. He's the third person to lie in state in the rotunda in the last 40 years  following in the footsteps of Arizona State Sen. Marilyn Jarrett in 2006 and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens in 1980.

A 11 a.m. MST ceremony, which includes remarks from Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, is held in the state.

JOHN MCCAIN'S MILITARY CAREER, FROM HIS TIME AS A VIETNAM WAR POW TO ROLE IN PASSING DEFENSE BILL

Around 3 p.m. MST, the Capitol is opened to members of the public who want to pay their respects. The viewing will go on as long as people are waiting in line, Rick Davis, McCain's former presidential campaign manager, says.

Aug. 30

Arizonans line the 50-mile stretch of Interstate 17 as Arizona National Guard personnel and a motorcade makes its way through Phoenix to a memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church.

McCain's wife, Cindy, arrives at the Arizona State Capitol at 9 a.m. MST to pay her respects.

An hour later, a memorial service takes place at the church.

"Senator McCains family and friends, along with state, local and tribal officials, and business and civic leaders from across Arizona have been invited to attend the service. In addition, about 1,000 seats have been made available to the public," according to funeral information listed on McCain's official website.

JOHN MCCAIN'S POLITICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak at the service.

As the ceremony concludes, McCain's body will depart Arizona for the last time. The casket is placed on a plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, departing for Washington, D.C.

Aug. 31

Another viewing is held at the U.S. Capitol ahead of a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, which takes place at 11 a.m. ET.

Sept. 1

At 8:30 a.m. ET, McCain's casket is moved by members of the Armed Forces to a motorcade, which takes him to the Washington National Cathedral.

"The motorcade will pause at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where Mrs. Cindy McCain will lay a ceremonial wreath honoring all whose lives were lost during the Vietnam War. The public is welcome to line the procession route along Constitution Avenue to pay their respects to Senator McCain," according to McCain's website.

Then at 10 a.m. ET, a private service is held for family, friends, colleagues and various other political leaders. Vice President Mike Pence will likely attend the funeral.

Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who blocked McCain's own White House ambitions, are expected to take the mic and say a few words at some point during the ceremony.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who along with his wife was recently indicted on corruption charges, said Tuesday that he alone should be the focus of media scrutiny.

"Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it," Hunter told San Diego's KGTV-TV. "It's me they're after anyway. They're not after my wife; they want to take me down, that's what they're up to. So let's get this in the arena and have this settled."

Hunter spoke to the station prior to a "Women Volunteers in Politics" event in San Diego, which is part of the 50th Congressional District that he represents.

Hunter's comments appeared to be a reversal from his earlier comments to Fox News about his wife and campaign manager Margaret's handling of his finances.

"So whatever she did, that will be looked at too, I'm sure," Hunter said. "But I didn't do it. I didn't spend any money illegally, I did not use campaign money."

Hunter in the interview said he gave his wife power of attorney when he deployed as a Marine to Iraq in 2003 and that she has handled his finances throughout his five terms in office.

Both Duncan and Margaret Hunter were indicted last week on charges of misusing at least $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, the Hill reported. The couple pleaded not guilty.

Duncan told Fox News that he also paid back $60,000 to his campaign and that the allegations were "pure politics" ahead of the November midterm elections.

"My campaign did make mistakes," Hunter told the network. "There was money spent on things, not by me but by the campaign, and I paid that back before my last election."

The indictment listed alleged use of campaign money to pay for tuition for his children's private school, video games, dental work, lavish dinners and movie tickets, in addition to trips to Italy and Hawaii, according to the Hill. The couple is also accused of falsifying spending reports, KGTV reported.

Duncan and Margaret Hunter entered federal court in San Diego separately last week with their own attorneys to enter their pleas and both also left separately.

Margaret Hunter's lawyer, Thomas McNamara, did not immediately respond to phone and email messages Friday seeking comment.

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan called the charges "deeply serious" and said Hunter would be removed from his committee assignments, pending resolution of the case.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Ryan should call on Hunter to resign.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Six days after getting a $25,000 campaign donation from the law firm of Harvey Weinsteins attorney, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on the states attorney general to suspend an investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s handling of 2015 sexual misconduct claims against the disgraced film mogul.

The law firm of Boies Schiller & Flexner donated the $25,000 back in June, shortly before Cuomo sent a letter to New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood directing her to suspend the Vance investigation.

The firm is headed by David Boies, a prominent New York attorney, who represented both Weinstein and The New York Times while the paper was investigating the film industry heavyweight.

The governors office flatly denied any connection between Boies donation and the suspension of the investigation  noting that Boies is a longtime donor to Cuomos campaigns and that he was no representing Weinstein at the time the donation was made.

No contribution of any size influences any government action, Dani Lever, Cuomos press secretary, told Fox News in an email. The reported story about a recent contribution from David Boies' firm to Governor Cuomo is completely irrelevant to any pending attorney general's investigation or prosecution because Boies stopped representing Harvey Weinstein as early as November of 2017.

Boies firm also denied any connection between the donation and Cuomos suspension of the investigation.

Neither Mr. Boies, nor anyone from his firm, ever discussed Harvey Weinstein or Mr. Vance with Mr. Cuomo, or anyone from his office, at any time, a spokesperson for Boies Schiller & Flexner said in an emailed statement to Capital & Main, which first reported on the donations. Mr. Boies is a longtime supporter of Mr. Cuomo and his contribution in June was consistent with his contributions to Mr. Cuomo over years past.

Since 2009, Boies and his law firm have donated almost $250,000 to Cuomos gubernatorial campaigns.

The investigation into Vance dates back to March 2015, when the Manhattan district attorney declined to prosecute Weinstein after Italian model Ambra Battilana accused the mogul of groping her. Vance said at the time that his office did not have enough evidence to prosecute Weinstein, despite an audio tape on which the producer appeared to apologize for inappropriate actions.

Our best lawyers looked at the case, Vance said, according to The Times. I, like they, was very disturbed by the contents of the tape. Its obviously sickening. But at the end of the day, we operate in a courtroom of law, not the court of public opinion, and our sex crime prosecutors made a determination that this was not going to be a provable case.

In August 2015, Vances campaign received a $10,000 donation from Boies as the DA was running for his third term in office.

The Weinstein case lay dormant for over two years until The Times and The New Yorker magazine published explosive stories detailing allegations against Weinstein and asserting that the Manhattan DAs office had botched the handling of the 2015 accusations.

The New Yorker also reported that in July 2017, working as Weinsteins longtime attorney, Boies signed a contract hiring a business intelligence firm called Black Cube to spy on Weinsteins accusers and stop the publication of a negative article in a leading NY newspaper. These revelations led The Times to end its relationship with Boies law firm.

In a lengthy statement in November of that year, Boies said that Weinstein was no longer his client, and noted that he would never knowingly participate in an effort to intimidate or silence women or anyone else.

Boies has also denied having a role in recruiting or directing Black Cube to spy on Weinsteins accusers, saying he'd only become involved in the contract with the firm due to a billing dispute.

Following the revelations about Weinsteins alleged actions, Cuomo ordered the New York Attorney Generals Office in March of this year to investigate Vances handling of the case. Subsequently, Vance announced in May that he was indicting Weinstein on charges including rape in the first and third degrees, and first-degree criminal sexual act for forcible sexual acts against two women in 2004 and 2013.

At the time, Cuomo defended the investigation into Vance  saying it is critical not only that these cases are given the utmost attention but also that there is public confidence in the handling of these cases  but, a month later, he reversed course and decided to suspend the investigation.

This summer, pursuant to the governors office, we temporarily suspended our inquiry to avoid any interference with the district attorneys ongoing prosecution of Harvey Weinstein, Amy Spitalnick, a spokesperson for the attorney generals office, told BuzzFeed News. We remain committed to conducting a comprehensive, fair, and independent review.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday described militants in Syria's last big rebel-held enclave of Idlib as a "festering abscess" that needed to be liquidated.

Speaking after talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir in Moscow, Lavrov said militants were using civilians as a human shield.

Lavrov told reporters that there was a political understanding between Turkey and Russia on the need to distinguish between the Syrian opposition and people he described as terrorists in Idlib Province.

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow, says it aims to recapture Idlib, which has become a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria, as well as jihadist forces.

The region has been hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month in a possible prelude to a full-scale government offensive.

Russia has deployed several frigates to the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus, part of what a Russian newspaper on Tuesday called Moscow's largest naval buildup since it entered the Syrian conflict in 2015.

Lavrov said that Moscow was in close contact with Turkey on the situation in Idlib.

"This is the last hotbed of terrorists who are trying to speculate on the region's status as a de-escalation zone, who are trying to hold the civilian population hostage as human shields and bend to their will those armed groups ready to engage in dialogue with the government," Lavrov said.

"So from all points of view, this festering abscess needs to be liquidated," he said.

Lavrov also said Russia remained in contact with the United States on the situation in Idlib and that communication was happening between their two militaries.



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U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who survived a corruption trial last year, is forcing his party to spend big on him as he struggles to fend off a Republican challenger.

Bob Hugin, a former U.S. Marine and pharmaceutical executive, has cut Menendez's lead to a mere 6 points, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. Back in March, when the race began, Hugin trailed by 17 points and it appeared as if Menendez was on his way to an easy victory.

Hugin attacked Menendez over the weekend, saying that if he hadn't decided to run, Menendez would likely have been re-elected without facing any real opposition.

My wife and I were just offended that Bob Menendez was going to be reelected without any real opposition. Hes had 35 years of being involved in corruption, Hugin said during an interview with New York's WNYM-AM radio, according to the Hill.

Democrats have taken notice of Menendezs struggling campaign, pouring in $117,000 for ads in recent weeks.

Adding to Menendez's misery, James Fozman, a Democratic city councilman in the Jersey Shore township of Brick, has snubbed Menendez and instead endorsed Hugin.

Im endorsing [Hugin] to restore the honesty and integrity to the office, Fozman told Brick Shorebeat. We strongly believe in protecting our environment on issues like solar and wind, and opposing offshore drilling.

Fozman told the outlet that he considered leaving the party over its continued support for Menendez, who wasnt able to get the support of nearly 4 in 10 of the state's Democrats.

Those state Democrats went on to support an unknown challenger in the primary who spent no money against Menendez.

But while Fozman's opposition to Menendez may not decide the election, it raises larger questions about whether the senator, who eluded a corruption conviction thanks to a hung jury in November, is capable of retaining his seat.

Meanwhile, the spending spree by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) on behalf of Menendez was mocked by Chris Hansen, the National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director.

The DSCC is starting to spend in conjunction with @BobMenendezNJ in a race he is very much in danger of losing. This will no doubt trigger a dozen more Beto think pieces, Hansen tweeted.

Hansen was referring to Democrats hopes to turn Texas blue and replace Sen. Ted Cruz with Rep. Beto ORourke, the rising star of the moderate Democratic Party whos been receiving especially favorable media coverage, all while their candidates are struggling in already solid-blue states.

With the DSCC and outside groups having to spend big in expensive states like New Jersey and Florida, its no surprise red state Dems are acting like its the Hunger Games for Chucks money, NRSC communications director Katie Martin told the Washington Free Beacon.

Every dime and second spent trying to defend a corrupt politician like Bob Menendez in New Jersey means resources arent going to states President Trump carried by double digits, she added.The professor who reportedly assisted the FBI's Russia probe as a confidential source is at the center of a Defense Department whisteblower complaint that alleges government contractor abuses, as well as excessive payments with taxpayer dollars, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Fox News.

The complaint was filed by attorney Sean Bigley on behalf of Pentagon lawyer Adam Lovinger. Earlier this month, conservative watchdog Judicial Watch announced it was suing the Defense Department on behalf of Lovinger to force the release of emails and other electronic messages after Lovinger had his security clearance suspended.

"[The complaint] pertained to the misuse of contractors by the Department of Defense, specifically what he perceived as the use of contractors to conduct foreign relations in violation of U.S. law, as well as  gross waste and excessive expenditures that were being lavished on these contractors to do very little work," Bigley said.

Bigley, who is representing Lovinger pro bono, said his client flagged the concerns about contractors -- including Stefan Halper, the professor -- as early as 2016, to Lovinger's leadership at the Office of Net Assessment (ONA), which is like an internal Pentagon think tank. He said Lovinger was specifically concerned Halper was being used by the ONA to conduct foreign relations in violation of U.S. law -- specifically he was being sent out unsupervised around the globe to meet with foreign diplomats and report back his findings.

In May, Halper was the subject of multiple media reports linking him to the Russia probe, with The Washington Post describing the academic as "the FBI source who assisted the Russia investigation and is at the center of a standoff between congressional Republicans and the Justice Department ... a well-connected veteran of past GOP administrations who convened senior intelligence officials for seminars at the University of Cambridge in England." The complaint was first filed in September 2017 and was updated after the Halper reports.

An email reviewed by Fox News shows that Halper wrote to the ONA in October 2016 about a series of upcoming engagements scheduled in a foreign country. While the nation's name is redacted, the email shows Halper lined up "14 meetings ... with various parts of the political and military community," and a specific appointment to consult with a brigadier whose name is also withheld.

Lovinger told his leadership that he was concerned Halper had crossed the line into diplomacy and foreign relations, and it would cause further damage to their office. "[P]rofessor-led talks harmed [Office of Net Assessment's] reputation among segments of the [redacted] national security elite we encountered, including some very senior [redacted] officials in [redacted] government," Lovinger's email continued, "[redacted] has had to spend alot of political capital to get the [redacted] government to take ONA seriously again, and we're still not out of that hold yet."

The Code of Federal Regulations, Subpart 7.5, called "Inherently Governmental Functions," states that contractors are prohibited from taking on U.S. government functions, such as the "conduct of criminal investigations," the "command of military forces," and "the conduct of foreign relations."

A review of government spending records shows that Halper was paid more than $600,000 for two contracts in 2015 and 2016 for academic papers related to Russia. In the 2015 paper titled, "The Russia-China relationship: The Impact on the United States' Security Interests," Halper listed more than three dozen sources, including General V.I Trubnikov, a former head of Russian intelligence, as well as former CIA Director Michael Hayden.

A similar contract, reviewed by Fox News, awarded to a different academic for a paper on Chinese approaches to war and conflict was granted much less, about $130,000 in taxpayer funds. "Mr. Halper was officially contracted to prepare academic studies on issues of U.S. foreign relations," Bigley said. "When you compare the amount that he was paid to the work, we believe that the descrepancy was the result of the other work Mr. Halper was performing for the DoD."

After Halper's name emerged in media reports, Lovinger's attorney said he offered to provide more documents to strengthen their formal September 2017 complaint. He told Fox News he believes his client "unwittingly stepped into something much bigger," and the Halper connection explains the "ferocity" of the alleged retaliation against his client.

Bigley said that "within weeks to months" after Lovinger first raised his concerns about misuse of contractors in the fall of 2016, "department leadership opened two internal investigations against him, and months later his security clearance was suspended without warning, his prestigious detail to the White House was canceled and ultimately his paycheck was cutoff."

He added, "He now sits at home figuring out how to feed his family and trying to pick up the pieces of his life."

Lovinger ultimately admitted to "inadvertently taking on an airplane, a single, academic-oriented report categorized as 'Classification Pending,'" in 2016. According to the whistleblower complaint, Lovinger "promptly admitted to the mishap," which was described as his only security infraction over a 12-year period at the Pentagon. The complaint stated that a review found the document had "inadequate classification markings."

Fox News reached out via email to Halper, who did not respond. Hayden also did not respond to a request for comment. A Pentagon spokesperson said the department would forward Fox News request to the responsible office.Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis, the GOP nominee for governor, clarified comments he made earlier Wednesday in which he warned voters not to monkey this up by voting for his Democratic opponent, who is black.



We've got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction, lets build off the success weve had with Governor [Rick] Scott, DeSantis, fresh off his Republican primary victory, said on Fox News' "Americas Newsroom earlier in the day.

The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.



The remark drew instant fire from Democrats, who accused him of using racist dog whistles, considering the Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum is black.



It's disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles, Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo said.



Gillum spokesman Geoff Burgan told The Tallahassee Democrat that the campaign was leaving it to the party to respond.



"DeSantis' comments speak for themselves," Burgan said.

TRUMP-ENDORSED RON DESANTIS TO FACE BERNIE-BACKED ANDREW GILLUM IN FLORIDA GOVERNOR'S RACE



But DeSantis office dismissed claims that his remarks had a racial dimension as absurd.



Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses, spokesman Stephen Lawson said in a statement. To characterize it as anything else is absurd.



Floridas economy has been on the move for the last eight years and the last thing we need is a far-left Democrat trying to stop our success, the statement said.



Gillum, a Bernie Sanders-backed Tallahassee mayor, pulled off a major upset in defeating a half a dozen rivals, including former Rep. Gwen Graham, in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

DeSantis and Gillum will face each other in November's general election. If he triumphs, Gillum would be the state's first black governor.

"I'm truly honored to represent people across the state as the Democratic nominee -- and I promise to stand up for everyday Floridians and the issues that matter most," Gillum tweeted after his win.

Fox News Alex Pappas contributed to this report.President Trump lashed out again Wednesday at Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, asking "how the hell" he is still employed after he testified on Capitol Hill about his relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele and his ties to the now infamous anti-Trump dossier.

How the hell is Bruce Ohr still employed at the Justice Department? Trump tweeted. Disgraceful! Witch Hunt!

Republicans allege that Ohr played a key role in selling the so-called Steele dossier, commissioned by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS and paid for by Hillary Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Ohr was grilled over his involvement behind closed doors on Tuesday by the House Oversight and Judiciary committees

Messages indicate Ohr continued to communicate with dossier author Steele after the FBI fired him as a source in late 2016 due to his contacts with the media.

I dont know if it's improper but I want to know who at DOJ knew and it certainly looks like he continued to meet with Mr. Steele after the FBI had terminated their relationship with Mr. Steele, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News ahead of the Tuesday meeting.

Ohrs wife Nellie worked at Fusion as a Russian specialist and did research that formed part of the dossier.

Ohr, who joined the Justice Department in 1991 and eventually was named the associate deputy attorney general before being demoted amid the investigation into his meetings with Steele, did not reply to questions shouted by reporters before his hearing on Tuesday.

At least seven Republican House members traveled to Washington over the August recess for the interview. No Democratic lawmakers appeared to attend, though staff were in the room.

Democrats say the entire GOP investigation is an attempt to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They have criticized the Republicans' focus on Ohr as overblown and misleading.

With Paul Manafort in jail, Michael Cohen in court, and a host of longtime Trump confidants cooperating with federal prosecutors, we can understand why Republicans are increasingly desperate to create a distraction and undermine the Department of Justice as a hedge against what the investigators may find," Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., said Wednesday in a joint statement.

The two lawmakers added: "Mr. Ohr has already been forced to endure President Trumps baseless Twitter attacks. Yesterdays interview was merely a doubling down of that strategy." Nadler and Cummings serve as ranking members on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees respectively.

Trumps tweet on Wednesday was not the first time the president has singled out Ohr.

Trump said last Friday that it was a "disgrace" for Ohr to be in the Justice Department and added that he suspects he'll "very quickly" revoke his security clearance. That tweet, along with his revoking of the security clearance for former CIA Director John Brennan, have drawn strong criticism from many in the intelligence community and raised questions of whether Trump may be obstructing the Mueller investigation.

Mueller and his team have been looking at Trump's public statements and tweets as they investigate the obstruction question.

"I don't think it advances the criminal obstruction case, but I think it's factually relevant," said Mark Zaid, a national security attorney. "I think it shows the state of mind and intent to interfere or impede any unfavorable discussion of his potential connection to Russia."

Fox News' Mike Emanuel, Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump slammed CNN on Wednesday as the network continues to stand by a bombshell report on an infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting after an anonymous source revealed his identity and recanted the details he provided for the story.



Trump tweeted that many anonymous sources dont even exist before attacking CNN directly.

They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters. Look at the lie that Fake CNN is now in, Trump tweeted. They got caught red handed! Enemy of the People!

The president sent a follow-up tweet: When you see anonymous source, stop reading the story, it is fiction!

Lanny Davis, the high-powered attorney of President Trumps longtime fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen, admitted Monday he was an anonymous source  after The Washington Post outed him as a source for its own version of the story.

The attorney told BuzzFeed News that he regretted being the anonymous source, as well as his subsequent denial. The CNN story, which cited multiple sources, claimed Cohen said President Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower sit-down. However, Trump has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the meeting.

On Tuesday afternoon, CNN.com published a new report that acknowledged the changing stories of Lanny Davis, the high-powered attorney of President Trumps longtime fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen -- but critics pointed out the network failed to address key issues with its original report.

Davis spent recent days walking back his bombshell assertions that his client could tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Trump had prior knowledge of the meeting with a Russian lawyer discussing potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton. However, CNN has stood by its reporting. Its media newsletter noted that BuzzFeeds report doesn't mean, however, that CNN's story is incorrect.

CNN's new story carried the headline: Attorney for Michael Cohen keeps changing his story on Trump Tower meeting. It included a quote from Davis, I should have done a much better job of speaking with more suspicion than certainty, and I regret my mistake.

In addition to other criticisms, CNNs follow-up fails to explain why the original report claimed Davis declined comment when he was actually used as a source.

CNN has essentially implemented an anti-Trump programming strategy, but industry watchdogs have expressed disbelief that the network continues to stand by the Trump Tower story.

Media analyst Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that the situation demonstrates exactly why so many news consumers give the media low credibility scores in this era.

CNN went out on a limb in the first place by using Lanny Davis as a source and the story eventually collapsed. It was risky to use such a self-interested source such as Davis in that story initially, but once the story's substance started to crumble, CNN owed the news-consuming community an explanation and perhaps even an apology, McCall said.

McCall said the journalistic world must be more cautious about using unnamed sources and they particularly can't be using unnamed sources who have a reason to be playing the reporters.

He continued: And when stories fall apart, news organizations need to be big enough to acknowledge human errors. CNN's refusal to sort this story out in front of the public lends support to the right-leaning critics who suggest CNN is more about pushing an anti-Trump agenda than getting stories to be factually correct.White House Counsel Don McGahn plans to leave the Trump administration after the upcoming confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump said Wednesday.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, Trump tweeted. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!

McGahns departure had been expected. Fox News reported earlier this summer that McGahn had expressed a desire to leave the White House, and he could be replaced by former George W. Bush aide Emmet Flood.

But the announcement caught at least one senior Republican by surprise. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley urged Trump to keep his White House counsel on board.

"I hope its not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U cant let that happen," Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted.

McGahn served as Trumps top campaign lawyer during the presidential campaign in 2016.

The announcement of his departure comes amid revelations McGahn extensively cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Muellers team probing Russias attempted interference in the 2016 election.

Trump has said he approved of McGahns cooperation, and his legal team has used the revelation that investigators spent more than 30 hours with McGahn to argue its time to wrap up the probe.

As first reported by The New York Times, McGahn's discussions with Mueller's team covered moments surrounding Trumps decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey, and his reported preference that Attorney General Jeff Sessions oversee the investigation. Sessions ultimately recused himself.

John Dowd, Trumps former lead outside attorney, told Fox News earlier this month that Don McGahn was a very strong witness for the president.

Fox News John Roberts contributed to this report.The West Virginia Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a last-ditch bid by former coal CEO Don Blankenship to get his name on the ballot in November's U.S. Senate race.

Blankenship, who finished third in May's Republican Senate primary, had applied to appear on the ballot as a third-party candidate. West Virginia's secretary of state had blocked Blankenship's bid due to the state's "sore loser" law, which prohibits defeated major-party candidates from switching to a minor party.

The case was heard by a court in upheaval. One of the judges who heard Blankenship's case was filling in for a suspended justice, while two others sat in for justices who retired after lawmakers voted to impeach them.

Blankenship had argued that the sore loser law was applied to him retroactively. He said lawmakers clarified the law earlier this year and it didn't become effective until June, after he had begun the process of running as a candidate for the Constitution Party.

The secretary of state's office said Blankenship didn't file a certificate of candidacy until late July.

The Senate race pits incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin against Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Libertarian candidate Rusty Hollen is also on the ballot.

In a statement, Blankenship called the decision "frightening."

"Essentially, the Republican Party can now slander a candidate throughout the Primary, effectively denying that candidate an equal opportunity to win the nomination, and simultaneously pass a law in the middle of an election cycle which prohibits the slandered person from being on the General election ballot," said Blankenship, who added that he and his attorneys were "evaluating our next steps."

In his reaction statement, Morrisey focused on his Democratic opponent, saying: "No more distractions to hide lying liberal Joe Manchins record of supporting pro-abortion policies, gun control, and Hillary Clintons campaign against coal miners."

Manchin's campaign had no immediate comment.

Earlier this month, the Gazette-Mail newspaper reported that the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office had processed approximately 4,000 signatures on a petition to let Blankenship on the ballot. Of those, the paper found that 45 percent were Democrats, 24 percent were Republicans and 27 percent were unaffiliated or from minor parties.

At the time, West Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore denied directing any support toward Blankenship.

"Anyone who understands what our party is all about understands that we would never ask anyone to support Don Blankenship to have his name appear on the ballot in the general election," she said through a spokesman.

Blankenship said that most of the signatures were gathered in Democratic areas of the state and show support of a U.S. citizen's right to run for office, not necessarily him as a candidate.

In all, Blankenship's campaign submitted 11,468 signatures.

On Aug. 11, the Gazette-Mail reported that some signatories claimed that they had been falsely told the petition was to keep Blankenship off the ballot, not to let him on the ballot.

Blankenship is the former CEO of Massey Energy, which owned a mine where a 2010 explosion killed 29 workers. He spent a year in federal prison for safety violations related to the explosion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A U.S. State Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday that a report that U.S. officials visited Damascus in June to meet with Syrian officials did not reflect reality.

"It doesn't reflect any reality that we are certainly aware of," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert. "We've seen that report. It doesn't reflect what the U.S. government is tracking at this point ... I am not aware of any meeting to that effect."

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Lanny Davis, who has been engaged in high-stakes crisis management and political lawyering for decades, says he made a mistake.

CNN, which relied on Davis at least in part for a story he now says is false, won't say it made a mistake.

And the contretemps contains a revealing look at the sausage-making of investigative reporting and the sometimes murky dance between reporters and their unnamed sources.

Davis, who I've found to be a straight shooter over a quarter century dating back to the Clinton scandals, told me in a telephone interview yesterday that he had made an error and regrets it.

"I should not be talking to reporters on background about something I'm not certain about," Davis told me, describing his interactions with CNN reporters. "The combination of big stakes and a big mistake is a bad moment for me. If I had a redo in life, I wouldn't have said anything about the subject."

He added: "I don't blame anyone other than myself."

After initially saying nothing, here is the sum total of CNN's comment: "We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it." A CNN report yesterday said that Davis kept changing his story in his dealings with the network.



Here's the backstory: CNN dropped a bombshell last month by reporting that Davis' client, Michael Cohen, had information that Donald Trump knew in advance of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, his son-in-law, campaign chairman and a Russian lawyer. "Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller," according to "the sources," CNN said.

The president has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the meeting.

The story, whose bylines included Carl Bernstein and Jim Sciutto, was picked up by the broadcast networks and many other major media organizations.

But now Davis has outed himself as an anonymous source for CNN, and says Cohen has no such information about advance knowledge by the president.

In my interview, Davis said he told CNN reporters that he couldn't confirm the Trump Tower allegation but encouraged them to check it out. He now believes they may have interpreted this as giving them a green light.

"When I work for a client, whether it's the White House or anybody else, and there's something that might be true but I'm not sure, I have to not expect reporters to get it right," Davis told me. He said he should have been more explicit in telling the CNN journalists not to pursue an unsubstantiated story.

Davis added that he did not intentionally mislead CNN's Anderson Cooper in saying he wasn't a source for the network. He meant that he wasn't a confirming source on the Trump Tower allegation and says he should have been more clear.

Implicit in CNN standing by the story is that the network has other sources for the Trump Tower allegation. But how could others have information about what Cohen believes when the president's former lawyer is essentially saying, through Davis, that he has no such information?

Cohen, of course, pleaded guilty last week to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations related to hush money payments to two women making accusations against Trump.

The president, of course, has boasted about Davis' admission on Twitter.

The Washington Post handled its dealings with Davis very differently. The Post had also dealt with him as an unnamed source.

As the paper recounts, the day after the CNN story, "The Post reported that Cohen had told associates that he witnessed an exchange in which Trump Jr. told his father about an upcoming gathering in which he expected to get information about Clinton. The Post did not report that Trump Jr. told his father that the information was coming from Russians.

"The information in the Post story, which was attributed to one person familiar with discussions among Cohen's friends, came from Davis, who is now acknowledging his role on the record."

And thats the thing. CNN doesnt have to protect Davis, who has come clean about his role in the matter.

When the White House makes a mistake or clings to an unsubstantiated charge, news organizations hammer top officials about it. Shouldn't a network have the same obligation to explain itself when an explosive story is denied by one of its own sources?

Davis says he has learned a valuable lesson, and is "pulling back" on other claims he has made. The Washington lawyer told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow there were indications that Trump knew in advance of the hacking of Democratic emails.

He said that was his belief but that he had no hard evidence to back it up.

Lanny Davis has owned up to his mistake. We'll have to see what lessons are drawn by other players in this melodrama.In 1845, Sir John Franklin set sail from England in the hopes of discovering and successfully navigating the Northwest Passage. Instead, all 128 crew members aboard the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror ended up dead.

Nearly all of them actually survived until April 1848, when they fled ships that had been ice bound and sought help on foot, only to perish on King William Island.

Both shipwrecks were uncovered in the past four years, and Gizmodo reports "well-preserved bodies" of some of the dead sailors have been located in graves.

But what felled them all remained unknown though there was a theory: lead poisoning. Now, a study published in PLOS One concludes that wasn't it.

The theory was born from prior tests on bone, hair, and tissue taken from some sailors' remains, with the thinking being that tin cans and the ships' water filtration systems may have pushed levels upward.

The Canadian researchers laid out three hypotheses: that the sailors who survived longer would have more lead in their bones, that "bone microstructural features" that grew near the time of death would show higher levels than older tissue, and that the lead levels would be higher than those of other contemporaneous sailors.

They then used a high-resolution scanning technique to compare bone and dental remains with those from the Royal Navy cemetery in Antigua and found that none of the hypotheses held upand so, "taken together," the researchers found the lead poisoning theory unsupported.

Where does that leave us? One of the researchers tells the CBC things could have just gradually deteriorated. "They would have been starving. They would have had nutritional deficiencies." (Read about Franklin's wife's relentless mission to find her missing husband.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Entire Arctic Expedition Perished, but Not Because of LeadMore than 300 vulnerable turtles have been found dead, entangled in illegal fishing nets off the Mexican coast.

In a statement Mexicos Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) said that the decomposing olive ridley turtles were found in the ocean off the coast of Oaxaca. Responding to reports from local people, PROFEPA, working with the Mexican Navy, the Mexican Turtle Center, the Universidad del Mar, fishermen, and officials from the Municipality of Santa Maria Colotepec, investigated the grisly remains.

Olive ridley turtles are classified as vulnerable by the World Wildlife Fund.

GRAPHIC IMAGES: ENDANGERED SEA TURTLE STRANGLED BY BEACH CHAIR

The turtles had been dead for about eight days, PROFEPA said, noting that the reptiles had drowned after getting caught in the prohibited fishing nets. According to the Federal Attorneys office, the animals became trapped in nets used for riparian fishing on riverbanks. These nets, it explained, are not used to fish shrimp and tuna from the ocean.

Officials took the turtles remains ashore and buried them in two pits. PROFEPA said that it will be working with Mexicos National Commission of Aquaculture and Fishing CONAPESCA to inform local fishermen about the risks posed by illegal nets.

Olive Ridley turtles got their name thanks to the olive green hue of their shells, according to the WWF. Their vulnerable status comes from the fact that they nest in a very small number of places, and therefore any disturbance to even one nest beach could have huge repercussions on the entire population, the organization said.

KILLER WHALES ARE DYING OFF IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources also lists the species as vulnerable.

The incident follows the deaths of more than 100 sea turtles, whose carcasses recently turned up at a wildlife sanctuary on the Pacific coast of Chiapas state.

Officials said that 102 olive ridley, six hawksbill and five Galapagos green bill turtles were found dead at the Playas de Puerto Arista Sanctuary between July 24 and Aug. 13.

Authorities have been testing the water and conducting autopsies to determine possible causes of death. They suspect asphyxiation, fishing hooks or harmful algae blooms may have killed the turtles.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersNASA is launching a new project to help it better understand the deepest parts of space, without ever leaving Earth.

The announcement, made on Tuesday, is part of the government space agency's Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog (SUBSEA) project and will help aid NASA's search for life in deep space, as well as better understanding of our own planet. NASA believes the environment around a deep-sea volcano off the coast of Hawaii is similar to that of Saturn's moon, Enceladus.

"Studying the extreme conditions where life can survive on Earth will help them understand the potential for life to exist on other ocean worlds in the solar system," NASA said on its website.

NASA CHIEF WANTS TO SEND HUMANS TO THE MOON - 'TO STAY'

As part of the SUBSEA project, the robots, named Hercules and Argus, will study the biology, geology and chemistry of the region.

NASA is teaming up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) on the project. The OET is operating the robots, which were launched from its exploration vessel, Nautilus.

The SUBSEA team will spend three weeks at sea and will study the volcano and simulate human-robotic exploration to help with future deep-space missions, NASA said.



Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_CiacciaThe summer snake scare began with an act of oversharing.

A fisherman posted to Facebook a picture of an 18-foot-long pythons freshly shed skin that he had found in a suburban park.

From there it took off, bringing internet panic. It was the peak of July, and a heat wave had brought weather more suitable for pythons than Poles.

I am scared for my children and my pets, one Facebook user said.

After reported sightings grew across Poland, local agencies went all out in their snake hunt. The government cleared airspace in the capital last month to let drones pursue the beast. Helicopters, amateur sleuths, a woman dressed as a snake and a celebrity private detective soon elbowed into the quest. A hotline helped police nab three other exotic snakes slithering through town.

Snake droppings suggest that Bertha, as searchers call her, had been eating something out there in the chest-high grass, something furry.

For a country riven by a culture war between its nationalist government and the liberal opposition, the thought of a cruise-missile-length serpent hunting pets in the Warsaw suburbs has become a welcome summer diversion. Thousands of Poles have shared rumors, grim jokes and memes guessing the predators motives or next moves.

It has been described as a python-o-mania, said Polish animal-rights author Dariusz Gzyra. Animals are this type of phenomenon that help unify a divided society.

And yet nobody has found Bertha, who is suspected to have been someones pet. If she isnt found before autumn, her coldblooded life will end with the summer.

The following account of Europes biggest snake hunt is based on extensive interviews with the search parties, herpetologists, police and a Belgian shepherd named Cocaine who came closer than any man or machine to finding the missing snake.

Polands python fiasco points to a conundrum of the modern era: that social media complicates the problems it aims to solve. Trained snake handlers would have found her, experts say, if it werent for the amateurs who thundered in, posing for Instagram glory.

The problem is that everybody was walking on the ground, making noise, trying to find an animal that is afraid of noise, said the Warsaw Zoos Reptile Brigade Leader Olga Pofelska.

ENTIRE ARCTIC EXPEDITION PERISHED, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF LEAD

Poland has at times been better at importing exotic animals than keeping them. A pair of kangaroos hopped away from a petting zoo three years ago. One was later found bouncing through Warsaw. Earlier this year, another zoos chimpanzee picked his cages lock and scurried away. In the 1990s, a warthog bolted from his keepers, becoming a local media sensation as well as a four-hoofed metaphor for the nations thirst for freedom after communism.

With Berthaan Indian or Burmese pythonthe alarm began within hours after the fisherman posted his Facebook picture. Under public pressure, police blocked roads and contemplated closing beaches. The local animal-rescue crew entered the area.

The plan at first was to find the snake and poke it with a stick into a cage, searchers said, but the terrain favored the snake. She had settled into a thickly forested, mud-puddled park. Endoscopes nudged into holes failed to find her.

In swarmed the fire brigade, which built a tent city for 40 cadets tapped for the job. Ms. Pofelska briefed the nervous young men.

A snake is one big muscle, she recalled informing them. If it comes to contact between man and snake, you have no chance.

As the cadets, sweating in their protective suits, stepped gingerly through the grass, drones beamed down intelligence monitored in real time.

Some drone feeds lacked precise GPS coordinates. Others captured supposed snakes that turned out to be logs.

Animal rescuers identified python tracks. Some were likely mangled by tire treads and footprints from amateurs who had rushed in.

'PRIDE AND PREJUDICE' COPY FROM 1813 TO HIT AUCTION BLOCK IN NOVEMBER

Days went by. Poles started to doubt their institutions. Social-media users began to wonder whether the snake even existed.

Meanwhile, the police chased their own lead. A hang glider flying over the area had photographed two men hauling a snake to a car. The car belonged to an erotic art photographer who specializes in shooting women wrapped in snakes.

Detectives searched the photographers home and its serpent-filled bathroom. None of his reptiles matched the skin.

Enter the hero a city needs: Cocaine, a Belgian shepherd recognized as one of Polands more temperamental but motivated sniffer dogs. Her handlers consider Cocaine, who injured a paw when she was a puppy, prickly but uniquely talented.

Using two different sniff methods, Cocaine combed the woods in late July, detecting spots where the snake had sat or swum into the water. She found some fur-lined snake excrement. At times, she appeared spooked, jumping at the sight of a lizard.

She showed some interest in entering one overgrown area. Her handlers held her back. We didnt want the snake to eat the dog, said her trainer, Renata Jechorek.

Since then, animal rescuers have chased bum leads dialed in daily. The snake ate a beaver, one fisherman claimed. It attacked me, said another. Callers sound increasingly concerned for the python, said the hotlines operators.

INCREDIBLE MAYA DISCOVERY: ANCIENT KING'S MASK UNCOVERED IN MEXICO

With the chances of finding Bertha dimming, some citizens are back to taking out frustration on the capitals liberal bureaucracy. Poor animal, wrote one Facebook user. The system fails again.

Earlier this month, rescuers found one last clue to her past.

Someone would like to give away a 20-year-old female python, her name is Bertha, reads an anonymous and presumably unanswered online ad posted in February on a local website. Six meters long. Her previous owner has died and there is no one to take care of her. Would anybody like to adopt a snake?

 Natalia Ojewska contributed to this article

This article was originally published in The Wall Street JournalRobotics experts have developed a software to ensure that if military robots fall, they will be able to get themselves up again.

Experts at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have built software to work out whether any given robot could get itself back on its feet after being overturned.

The technology is crucial for keeping soldiers safe. The last thing military personnel need is to leave the safety of a vehicle, for example, to adjust an overturned IED-seeking robot.

MARINES 3D-PRINT CONCRETE BARRACKS IN JUST 40 HOURS

"One Soldier told me that he valued his robot so much, he got out of his vehicle to rescue the robot when he couldn't get it turned back over," said ARL researcher Dr. Chad Kessens, in a statement. "That is a story I never want to hear again."

Researchers from Navy PMS-408 (Expeditionary Missions) and its technical arm, the Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, teamed up with JHU/APL and contractor Northrop Grumman Remotec to develop the Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System (AEODRS) robot.

Army and JHU/APL scientists used software developed by Kessens to evaluate AEODRS ability to self-right.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW SEARCH TOOL TO HELP VETERANS GET CIVILIAN JOBS

JHU/APL researcher Galen Mullins explained that Range Adversarial Planning Tool (RAPT), a software framework for testing autonomous and robotic systems, was also deployed. "We originally developed the software for underwater vehicles, but when Chad explained his approach to the self-righting problem, I immediately saw how these technologies could work together," he said.

Scientists eventually evaluated the AEODRS systems' eight degrees of freedom. The robot can right itself on level ground no matter what initial state it finds itself in, they said.

The research, which is published in IEEE's Robotics and Automation Letters, also resulted in motion plans showing how the robot can reorient itself.

SUBMARINE BREAKTHROUGH: MIT DEVELOPS WIRELESS SYSTEM TO LET SUBS COMMUNICATE WITH PLANES

"The Army and Navy want robots that can self-right, but we are still working to understand and evaluate what that means," Kessens said. "Self-right under what conditions? We have developed a metric analysis for evaluating a robot's ability to self-right on sloped planar ground, and we could even use it as a tool for improving robot design. Our next step is to determine what a robot is capable of on uneven terrain."

The research is the latest example of military technological innovation. Marines, working with Army personnel and Navy Seabees, recently used a specialized 3D concrete printer to print a 500-square-foot barracks room in just 40 hours.

The innovative project created the worlds first continuous 3D-printed concrete barracks, according to the Marine Corps.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersA senior Facebook engineer called out what he termed the companys political monoculture in an internal message board post, prompting over 100 fellow employees to join a group advocating for political diversity.

The group represents less than half a percent of the social media giant's workforce, and members aren't necessarily even conservative. But they say they are fed up with the way co-workers who don't toe the liberal line are treated.

We are a political monoculture thats intolerant of different views, Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the Aug. 20 post titled We Have a Problem With Political Diversity that was leaked to the New York Times. We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attackoften in mobsanyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.

Since the post went up, over 100 employees have joined a group called FBers for Political Diversity. Although other Facebook employees reportedly complained that the groups online posts were offensive to minorities, a source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News the group's intent is to be a constructive space and includes people on the left and the right.

ELON MUSK RENEWS 'PEDO' CONTROVERSY, ASKS IF IT'S 'STRANGE' THE BRITISH DIVER HASN'T SUED

Facebook employs over 25,000 people and, like most Silicon Valley companies, is seen as having a liberal culture. In May, the company announced that former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican, would lead an inquiry into allegations of anti-conservative bias at the social network.

The memo cites a range of concerns, including the removal of posters welcoming supporters of President Trump, the efforts to get Trump-supporter Peter Thiel removed from Facebooks board, the fact that All Lives Matter is a fireable offense, and Amerige himself being called a transphobe for calling Facebooks corporate art politically radical.

A source familiar with the incident said that Facebook's culture is open and that employees are encouraged to communicate freely in any of the tens of thousands of internal groups.

On Day 1 of Facebooks new hire orientation in Menlo Park, everyone hears from our Chief Diversity Officer about the importance of diversity and how to have respectful conversations with people who have different viewpoints, Bertie Thomson, a Facebook spokesperson, told Fox News.

AIR FORCE 'INNOVATION HUB' LOOKS TO HELP TECH STARTUPS

CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly defended Thiel last year and, in response to a lawmakers question about alleged anti-conservative bias, said he wanted Facebook to be a platform for all ideas.

Ameriges memo comes at a time when Zuckerbergs company is facing scrutiny on a number of fronts.

From the spread of misinformation on its platform by Russians to the proliferation of hate speech and the accusations that it has censored content from conservatives, Facebook has been under fire for much of the last two years.

This latest incident comes amid President Trump's war of words against Google, Facebook and Twitter for allegedly being biased against conservativestelling them this week to be careful and saying they are taking advantage of people.

Google said in a previous statement that its search engine is not used to set a political agenda and the company doesnt bias results toward any political ideology.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW TOOL TO HELP VETERANS GET JOBS

However, the search giant is being sued by former employee James Damore, who was fired after writing a memo that criticized Google's diversity efforts.

Damore filed a class action lawsuit against the tech giant in January and told Fox Business that Google engages in harassment and career sabotage of anyone that expresses a conservative viewpoint, and theres constant shaming and attacks against white men within Silicon Valley.

The dispute over politics arises a week before Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg is due to testify at a Senate hearing about social media manipulation in elections.

Amerige, who has worked at Facebook for more than six years, believes in Objectivism, an Ayn Rand philosophical system influencing libertarians thatamong other tenetssays the moral purpose of ones life is the pursuit of ones own happiness, that individual rights must be respected and that capitalism is the only moral social system.

Fox News reached out to Amerige for comment and will update the story as needed.

The memo concludes by suggesting that colleagues use the new Facebook group as a space where employees can discuss making the tech behemoth more tolerant and active-minded about different political and ideological perspectives.In an effort to help soldiers transition from the battlefield to the boardroom, Google is launching a new search tool specifically to help service members get civilian jobs.

In a blog post on Monday, Google Cloud Program Manager Matthew Hudson, himself a former civil engineer for the Air Force, laid out the details for the company's "Grow with Google" initiative, designed to help veterans seek opportunities that may excite them once they enter civilian life.

"Starting today, service members can search 'jobs for veterans' on Google and then enter their specific military job codes (MOS, AFSC, NEC, etc.) to see relevant civilian jobs that require similar skills to those used in their military roles," Hudson wrote in the post.

NEW YOUTUBE FEATURE SHOWS HOW MUCH TIME YOU SPEND ON IT

He continued: "Were also making this capability available to any employer or job board to use on their own property through our Cloud Talent Solution. As of today, service members can enter their military job codes on any career site using Talent Solution, including FedEx Careers, Encompass Health Careers, Siemens Careers, CareerBuilder and Getting Hired."

Hudson added that to make the process easier for veterans who want to start their own businesses, Google is also adding a new feature through its Google My Business listing tool, allowing businesses to be identified as "veteran-owned or led."

According to a 2017 report from the U.S. Small Business Administration, approximately 2.52 million businesses were "majority-owned" by veterans.

Their impact to the U.S. economy is nothing to pass over, either. The SBA noted veteran-owned firms had receipts of $1.14 trillion, employed 5.03 million people in sectors such as wholesale trade, manufacturing and "professional, scientific, and technical services" and had annual payrolls of $195 billion.

WHITE HOUSE 'TAKING A LOOK' AT REGULATING GOOGLE

Despite the fact that 9.1 percent of all U.S. businesses are veteran-owned, there are still many former servicemen and women who aren't getting the opportunities they deserve in civilian life, Hudson added.

"There isnt a common language that helps recruiters match a veterans experience with the need for their skills and leadership in civilian jobs," Hudson wrote in the post. "As a result, 1 in 3 veteransof the roughly 250,000 service members who transition out of the military each yearend up taking jobs well below their skill level."

In addition to the new search tools Google is providing, as part of the aforementioned Grow with Google initiative, Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, is giving a $2.5 million grant to the United Service Organizations "to provide training and career guidance in IT support."



Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_CiacciaGoogle is facing scrutiny from a number of human rights groups to abandon its controversial Project Dragonfly initiative, which would see the search giant launch a censored search engine in China, nearly eight years after it left the country.

More than a dozen human rights groups sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai asking him to explain what Google is doing to safeguard users from the Chinese government's censorship and surveillance.

It describes the company's secretive plan to build a search engine that would comply with Chinese censorship as representing "an alarming capitulation by Google on human rights."

GOOGLE IS FINED $5B BY EU IN ANDROID ANTITRUST CASE

"The Chinese government extensively violates the rights to freedom of expression and privacy; by accommodating the Chinese authorities' repression of dissent, Google would be actively participating in those violations for millions of internet users in China," the letter says.

In a statement, Google said it has "been investing for many years to help Chinese users, from developing Android, through mobile apps such as Google Translate and Files Go, and our developer tools. But our work on search has been exploratory, and we are not close to launching a search product in China."

The letter is signed by groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders.

Discontent from Google employees

The letter from the human rights groups follows a couple of weeks after approximately 1,000 of Google's own employees asked Pichai and senior leadership to explain what it was doing with the search project.

The letter, obtained by BuzzFeed News, stated that the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant needs to have more transparency about how it operates and relay that to its employees. "Our industry has entered a new era of ethical responsibility: the choices we make matter on a global scale," the letter states, specifically referencing the Chinese search engine project, codenamed Dragonfly.

REPORT REVEALS GOOGLE IS TRACKING YOU IF YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

The letter, which was been signed by approximately 1,000 people at the company, according to The New York Times, also asks management to satisfy four conditions regarding ethics and transparency:

1. An ethics review structure that includes rank and file employee representatives

2. The appointment of ombudspeople with meaningful employee input into their selection

3. A clear plan for transparency sufficient to enable Googlers an individual ethical choice about what they work on; and

4. The publication of ethical test cases; an ethical assessment of Dragonfly, Maven, and Airgap GCP with respect to the AI principles; and regular, official, internally visible communication and assessments regarding any new areas of substantial ethical concern.

After the letter became public, Google held an internal meeting with its employees, where Pichai expressed the company was "not close" to launching a search product and it was "very unclear" whether it would or could, according to CNBC.

HOW TO FIND AND DELETE WHERE GOOGLE KNOWS YOU'VE BEEN

Google's rocky history in China

Rumors of the Chinese-based search engine have circulated over the past few weeks after The Intercept reported that it had seen leaked documents, suggesting the Sundar Pichai-led Google was planning to re-enter China, nearly 8 years after leaving the country.

The search engine, which would be app-based, would remove items that contain certain words or phrases and would apply to image search, suggested search features and automatic spell check. It would also blacklist sensitive queries so no results are shown when a person looks for a specific word or phrase, The Intercept added.

The app will also identify topics and websites that are blocked by China's Great Firewall, according to the documents. According to the documents seen by The Intercept, examples that will be censored include British broadcaster BBC and Wikipedia.

In 2010, Google famously announced it was leaving China, specifically mentioning China's censoring tactics as a reason for pulling out of the country.

However, Pichai has said he wants Google to be in China serving its internet users. Pichai became Google's CEO in 2015, taking over from co-founder Larry Page who became CEO of Alphabet, the holding company that owns Google.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_CiacciaMarines have used a specialized 3D concrete printer to print a 500-square-foot barracks room in just 40 hours.

The innovative project created the worlds first continuous 3D-printed concrete barracks, according to the Marine Corps.

The barracks room was built earlier this month at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Champaign, Ill. Army and Navy Seabees were also involved in the construction effort.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW SEARCH TOOL TO HELP VETERANS GET CIVILIAN JOBS

Harnessing the worlds largest concrete printer, the Additive Manufacturing Team at Marine Corps Systems Command teamed up with Marines from I Marine Expeditionary Force.

This exercise had never been done before, said Capt. Matthew Friedell, Additive Manufacturing project officer in MCSCs Operations and Programs/G-3, in a statement. People have printed buildings and large structures, but they havent done it onsite and all at once. This is the first-in-the-world, onsite continuous concrete print.

Using Computer Aided Design software on a 10-year-old computer, the concrete was pushed through a print head and layered repeatedly to build the barracks room walls. Friedell said that the job took 40 hours because Marines were carefully monitoring the project and continually filling the printer with concrete. However, if a robot was used to do the mixing and pumping, the building could be built in 24 hours, he added.

AIR FORCE 'INNOVATION HUB' LOOKS TO HELP TECH STARTUPS

Normally, it takes 10 Marines five days to construct a barracks hut out of wood.

Set against this backdrop, the construction technology could help keep U.S. military personnel safe.

In active or simulated combat environments, we dont want Marines out there swinging hammers and holding plywood up, said Friedell. Having a concrete printer that can make buildings on demand is a huge advantage for Marines operating down range.

VA REENLISTS IBM'S WATSON IN FIGHT AGAINST CANCER

More testing will now be done on the Marines new barracks-building technology.

The construction industry is keen to tap into the power of 3D-printing. Last year, for example, experts at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands produced the worlds first 3D-printed reinforced, pre-stressed concrete bridge. The cycle bridge is part of a new road around the village of Gemert in southern Holland.

One of the big advantages of 3D-printed concrete is that much less concrete is needed compared to the traditional technique of filling a mold with concrete, according to experts from Eindhoven University of Technology.

The printer deposits only the concrete where it is needed, which decreases the use of cement, they said, in a statement. This reduces CO2 emissions, as cement production has a very high carbon footprint.

In 2015, 3D-printing was used in the construction of a five-story apartment complex and an 11,840 square foot villa in Suzhou, China.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersU.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that American and Canadian officials negotiating a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were probably set to meet a Friday deadline for an accord.

"They (Canada) want to be part of the deal, and we gave until Friday and I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens," Trump told reporters before a meeting on opioids at the White House.

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Carnival Cruise Lines newest ship ended an eight-night Caribbean cruise on a bumpy note Tuesday morning when it struck a dock on Manhattans West Side.

No injuries were reported after the 133,596-ton, 1,055-foot-long Carnival Horizon, which went into service in May, smacked into the Pier 90 dock while mooring at Pier 88 at West 50th Street.

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen told The Post that the impact to the bow of the ship was minor.

There has been no impact to our debarkation process this morning and embarkation for todays sailing is expected to proceed as normal, he said in an emailed statement.

Assessments of the pier are currently underway. The US Coast Guard and other authorities have been notified, he added.

The Coast Guard said it was investigating the cause of the incident, which it called an allision, usually described as the running of one ship into another that is stationary.

The citys Department of Buildings was called to the scene at 711 12th Ave. to conduct a structural stability inspection.

According to a preliminary investigation, the Horizon damaged two metal support beams and a small section of the parking level above, buildings rep Andrew Rudansky said.

Ports America has brought in contractors to make repairs, he said, referring to the terminal operator.

The 3,960-passenger ship was scheduled to embark on another eight-day cruise later Tuesday  heading to San Juan in Puerto Rico, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos, according to cruiseradio.net.

Carnival Horizon will eventually reposition to her new home port of Miami, where it will offer six- and eight-night Caribbean cruises.

The ship was struck by tragedy earlier this month when a crew member was found dead during a call at Grand Turk, according to cruisehive.com.

The employee, identified as Ravi Singh Bisht, worked in the Culinary Arts Department since joining the company in 2012, according to a letter from Carnival posted on the site.

His cause of death was unavailable.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post.A Ryanair captain was forced to land a diverted flight alone after the co-pilot passed out in the cockpit soon before the aircraft was set to touch down.

Ryanair Flight FR3918 from Londons Stansted Airport to Palermo, Italy, was forced to make an emergency landing in the Sicilian city of Trapani due to a raging thunderstorm in the region, Express reported. A rep for Ryanair confirmed the Aug. 23 incident to Fox News.

PARALYMPIAN CLAIMS SHE WAS LEFT 'ABANDONED' ON PLANE IN WHEELCHAIR AFTER RYANAIR FLIGHT

According to the outlet, the unnamed co-pilot "briefly fainted" in the plane's cockpit just before the Boeing 737 was set to land.

Upon safely landing and deplaning, the co-pilot was hospitalized and examined, the Ryanair spokesperson told Fox News.

CAPITAL AIRLINES PASSENGERS TERRIFIED OVER MIDAIR DROP: 'I DON'T WANT TO DIE'

The first officer on this flight briefly fainted while the aircraft was being landed by the captain at Trapani. He was examined by local medical staff and taken to hospital, where he was examined and released shortly thereafter without suffering any ill effects whatsoever, the rep said.

The aircraft subsequently was inspected by Ryanair engineers, and was cleared to return to service, Express reported.



FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWSA Muslim man serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center wants a judge to determine that federal prison officials violated his religious rights by failing to provide meals strictly conforming to his beliefs and access to an imam of the same denomination.

The two-day civil case wrapped on Tuesday in a Denver federal courtroom. Judge R. Brooke Jackson did not immediately rule and is expected to issue a decision in writing.

Ahmad Ajaj was being held at a super-max prison in Colorado when the lawsuit began in 2015. Ajaj, represented by University of Denver law students, watched the trial via video because of security concerns.

Ajaj was sentenced in 1999 to more than 114 years in prison for his role in the blast in an underground parking garage on Feb. 26, 1993, that killed six people, one of them pregnant. It injured more than 1,000 and forced an estimated 50,000 to flee the trade center's twin towers in a scene of smoke, fear and confusion that would be mirrored and magnified on Sept. 11, 2001.

Ajaj was moved to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, early this year.

The lawsuit accused federal prison officials, particularly staff at the Administrative Maximum, or ADX, facility in Florence, of failing to provide food meeting Ajaj's belief that all animals used for food must be fed, raised and slaughtered according to Islamic law. The lawsuit said Ajaj considered vegetarian and Kosher meals inadequate.

The lawsuit also said Ajaj went months without being visited by an imam, a term for an Islamic religious leader, contracted to counsel prisoners at the Colorado facility. Since moving to the Indiana facility, he began participating in a faith-based program that includes regular classes with an imam.

But the imam who works with Muslim inmates in the program belongs to another denomination of the faith. Ajaj's attorneys argued that even listening to someone speak about views contrary to his own violate the inmate's religious rights.

The lawsuit claims that both issues violate Ajaj's rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law, approved by Congress in 1993, was intended to limit the federal government's ability to infringe on someone's sincere religious beliefs.

Attorneys for the government argued that neither issue substantially limited Ajaj's ability to practice his faith and did not violate the law.

According to Ajaj's attorneys, the Indiana prison began providing meals he considers acceptable last week.

Jeffrey Cheeks, a business administrator at the Terre Haute facility, testified on Tuesday that he tried but could not find a vendor able to meet all of Ajaj's conditions. Cheeks said he ordered three months' worth of meals for Ajaj from an existing government supplier at the direction of the prison's warden last week.

On Tuesday, Ajaj's attorneys asked Jackson to order prison officials to continue providing those meals.

Jackson gave no firm sense of his leanings. But he was clearly frustrated by the quick fix that came days before the trial opened.

"Something that they couldn't do, or wouldn't do, for three years was done in 48 hours," Jackson said to an attorney for the government. "Now, what confidence does that give the court that they won't change it in the future?"

Jackson seemed less swayed by Ajaj's attorneys' request for a court order letting him participate in the Indiana prison's faith-based program without attending the current imam's classes. Jackson suggested that would give Ajaj preferential treatment over other inmates, who must attend classes with leaders of their own faith to stay in the program.A dog owner in Colorado claims that when he used a dog-sitting service to care for his dog while he was away, he came home to find shirtless men, a bottle of lubricant and a camera in his living room.

Klete Keller, of Colorado Springs, told Fox 21 that upon his return home on Monday around 1 a.m., he came home to several strange things, and his dog nowhere in visible sight.

Two shirtless men were sitting on his living room couch, Keller said. When he asked them to leave he noticed "there was an open bottle of personal lubricant and a camcorder on the end table."

Jimbo, Keller's dog, was reportedly found locked inside a bedroom, where he was sitting in his own urine.

KANSAS WOMAN REUNITED WITH LOST DOG WEEKS AFTER HE WAS THROWN FROM VEHICLE IN FATAL CRASH

"It's pretty self-explanatory what was going on," Keller said. "There is also, what I can only assume, are bodily fluids on the couch."

The unidentified dog-sitter  who Keller said he learned was showering in his house when he got home  told the news station she didn't have knowledge of "bodily fluids on the couch." She added she used the lubricant to remove her keys, which were stuck in her car.

"So I ended up grabbing what I had in my car, for things, that you know, I do on my personal time," the sitter said. "I didn't think to put it back in my car."

Keller said the scene was "just a total mess and I can only imagine what poor Jimbo saw in there."

Wag, the dog-sitting service which Keller said he used to find someone to watch his pup, told Fox News that they launched an investigation into what allegedly took place in Keller's home and have suspended the dog-sitter.

TIMES SQUARE STREET SHUT DOWN AFTER BEES SWARM HOT DOG STAND

"We have launched an investigation into this incident and have suspended the sitter from our platform. The circumstances around this incident are unacceptable, and we expect everyone on our platform to conduct themselves in a professional manner," the statement read. "We have worked closely with the dog's owner to restore his trust in Wag! and appreciate his understanding. The trust and safety of the Wag! community is very important to us."

The company also said they use a thorough vetting process for their dog walkers and sitters, which includes a social security number trace and several criminal checks.

Keller's dog-sitter, who had a 4.96 out of 5 star rating on Wag and had a combined total of 305 dog walks and sittings, passed all of the background checks, the company said.A previously deported member of the dangerous MS-13 gang was arrested Saturday in Arizona when border agents caught him after he illegally crossed the border, officials said.

Reyes Guzman-Umanzor, 35, of Honduras, was taken into custody after agents patrolling in Nogales, roughly an hour south of Tucson, found he allegedly re-entered the U.S. with a group of three other illegal immigrants.

WHAT IS MS-13, THE VIOLENT GANG TRUMP VOWED TO TARGET?

Upon processing, it was discovered one of those apprehended was Guzman-Umanzor, Border Patrol stated in a news release. The MS-13 gang member was previously arrested for DUI and drug possession, and was later deported, according to Homeland Security.

The other three people who entered the U.S. illegally with Guzman-Umanzor also "have previous immigration violations and removals from the U.S. and will face additional charges."The headless body of a missing San Francisco man is believed to have been found inside a fish tank in his home, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.

At a news conference, police said that the remains found in 65-year-old Brian Eggs home were so badly decomposed that they could not immediately be identified.

A neighbor told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had not seen Egg since June, and became suspicious when two strange men started answering Eggs door. The neighbor, Scott Free, said he asked officers to conduct a welfare check at Eggs home. The paper reported that the men answered the door, and told officers that Egg had gone on vacation.

He was kind of fringe, Free told the Chronicle of his neighbor. He had no job and lived on the margins. He was eccentric. A vacation seemed very implausible.

Approximately two weeks ago, the Chronicle and KNTV reported that neighbors called 911 after seeing a suspicious person with a private crime scene cleanup truck outside Eggs home. Days later, officers returned with a search warrant and cadaver dogs, and made the gruesome discovery.

The Chronicle reported that Egg had lived in the home on Clara Street in San Franciscos South of Market neighborhood since the 1970s. The paper reported that he had worked as a bartender at a gay bar in the 1980s, but had not had steady employment in recent years.

Police said they had identified two persons of interest in the case. The Chronicle reported that 39-year-old Lance Silva had been arrested Aug. 16 on suspicion of fraud, theft from an elder, grand theft and motor vehicle theft in connection with the matter.

No homicide charges have been filed in the case.Searchers on Tuesday recovered the body of a man who was wrenched away from would-be rescuers during flash flooding that forced evacuations around Wisconsins capital city and cut power to many homes.

More than 11 inches of rain fell overnight in places in or around Madison, according to the National Weather Service. The worst of the weather seemed to have passed by midday Tuesday, with the forecast calling for dry conditions Tuesday night and sunshine on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday evening declared a state of emergency in flood-stricken Dane County, saying the state is ready to assist in recovery efforts.

I have no doubt the resiliency of Wisconsin communities will be on display during this response, Walker said in a statement.

The governor plans to tour the flood damage on Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan sent a letter Tuesday to President Trump, asking him to provide federal assistance for flood recovery efforts if Walker seeks a federal disaster declaration.

Weve obviously had a very dangerous and unprecedented situation, Mayor Paul Soglin said at a news conference. Weve seen snow storms. Weve seen ice storms. Weve seen tornadoes. Obviously weve never seen a rain like this.

The man who died was in his 70s, police spokesman Joel DeSpain said in a statement. The man was driving a car with two passengers near a Madison park on Monday when it stalled in flood waters and was swept into a drainage ditch. The car came to rest nose down, and quickly filled with water.

The Capital Times reported that Madison Alderman Matt Phair and his wife were out biking during a lull in the storm and saw the car in the ditch.

Phair told the newspaper they waded up to the car in water that was three or four feet deep, and he pulled out the two passengers, who were described by police as a man in his 70s and a woman in her 50s.

The male passenger made it to solid ground but the woman slipped under. Phair said he and his wife saved her by grabbing her hair.

A third man joined in to help. The driver made it out of the car but the rescuers couldnt hold on to him in the rushing water and he was sucked under the car.

The force is overwhelming, and eventually he slipped and went under, said Phair, who added that he did what anyone would have done.

The police statement didnt include the names of those involved.

Firefighters found the drivers body Tuesday morning in a retention pond about a third of a mile away.

The weather service said it suspects that the downpour broke a Wisconsin record for most rainfall in a 24-hour period. The Madison suburb of Middleton has so far recorded 11.6 inches, but rainfall reports were still coming in. The previous record was 11.7 inches near Mellen in northern Wisconsin, set on June 24, 1946.

Black Earth Creek hit record flood stage with evacuations underway in Black Earth, Cross Plains and Mazomanie, according to Dane County Emergency Management. A temporary shelter was set up at Mazomanie Elementary School as well as at schools in Middleton and Cross Plains.

In Middleton on Tuesday morning, about a hundred people were trapped in a Costco and another hundred were trapped in a Fairfield Inn, WKOW-TV reported. Everyone at the two sites was safely evacuated, Dane County spokeswoman Stephanie Miller said Tuesday afternoon.

Dane County Executive Joe Parisis chief-of-staff, Josh Wescott, said about 100 people had been evacuated in Mazomanie, and sheriffs deputies were using an air boat to reach people still trapped in their homes. Authorities knocked on every door in Mazomanie, and every resident who wanted to evacuate has evacuated, and everyone is safe, Miller said.

County officials have discovered a number of damaged bridges and culverts and were beginning to put together a full damage report, Westcott said. Parisi declared a state of emergency in the county on Tuesday morning, the first step toward qualifying for state and federal assistance.

Soglin, the mayor, estimated that the flooding has caused at least $250,000 worth of damage to city infrastructure and tens of millions of dollars of damage to private property. He said he expects those estimates to grow as more damage becomes evident in the coming days.

About 6,000 Madison Gas and Electric customers lost power Monday night as the storms hit west of Madison. Power was restored to the majority of those customers by Tuesday morning, but repairs were delayed because the floods made some roads impassable.

The Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District reported receiving numerous calls Tuesday about sanitary sewers overflowing on the citys far west side and in the suburb of Fitchburg.The Battle of the Sexes seems to be raging on college campuses, with groups of men and groups of women engaged in rhetorical combat.

Taxpayer-funded Colorado State University has entered the fray, forming a feminist fight club in a bid to correct behaviors that have allegedly disadvantaged women in the workplace or classroom, and to promote gender equality on campus.

The group has created multiple exercises to achieve its goals of abolishing the so-called patriarchy, the Washington Examiner reported.

One exercise is called How to Stop a Manterrupter, where women are told to learn how to interrupt a man whos interrupting a woman. Another exercise is called "No Ums, Likes or I feel likes Allowed - A Drinking Game, where the participants drink every time they say um, sorry, and so on.

The feminist fight club also created seven rules for all members, patterned after the popular novel and movie "Fight Club."

The first rule is to speak about the group at the university. All members must also understand that the club is aimed at fighting patriarchy, the Examiner reported.

We fight PATRIARCHY (and all forms of harassment, bullying, inequity, discrimination, -isms, and -phobias), not each other, the third rule of the club reads.

We fight PATRIARCHY (and all forms of harassment, bullying, inequity, discrimination, -isms, and -phobias), not each other ... The fight is not over until we have achieved gender equity for all people."  The Colorado State University feminist fight club

The fight is not over until we have achieved gender equity for all people, another rule reads.

But at some universities in the U.S., the feminist fight has brought a number of lawsuits alleging discrimination against men.

The University of Pennsylvania has been accused of unlawfully excluding men from 22 of the schools programs, Campus Reform reported.

The National Coalition for Men, which filed a Title IX complaint against university earlier this summer, demands the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate the school for excluding men from certain women-only scholarships and programs.

Among the programs that exclude men, the group says, are the Penn Forum for Women Faculty, the Penn Womens Support Group, and the Trustees Council of Penn Women.

The mens rights group also say other programs such as the Womens Studies Department, while not directly barring men, often create obstacles to exclude them.

University of Pennsylvania Women's Center engages in discrimination against men because the overall effect is discriminatory, the complaint asserts, according to the outlet. The Center describes itself as 'a perfect space for women, female-identified persons, and feminists of all genders'  the overall effect of which is to create a hostile environment against men.

It remains unclear whether the OCR will proceed with the investigation of the university.An Oklahoma cop who shot dead an unarmed black man is teaching a course that focuses on how to cope with the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting after she was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter.

Betty Jo Shelby resigned from the Tulsa Police Department after she was acquitted last year for the 2016 shooting death of Terence Crutcher, who had his hands up when she shot him. She argued that she thought Crutcher was reaching into his SUV. Crutcher was unarmed.

Shelby now works as a patrol officer for the Rogers County Sheriffs Office where she will teach a critical incident class. The most recent class, titled Surviving the Aftermath of a Critical Incident, was held on Tuesday for Tulsa County deputies.

EARTHQUAKE EAST OF LOS ANGELES HIT MAGNITUDE 4.4, USGS SAYS

Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said the class focuses on how to cope with the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting. He said such incidents are becoming more frequent and carry with them more mental health and substance abuse issues.

The class has drawn criticism from local activists and Crutchers sister, who said it was insulting that the officer who killed her brother is teaching such a class.

On Monday, demonstrators gathered outside a county courthouse to protest Shelbys planned appearance, the Washington Post reported.

Shelby defended her qualifications in a statement to KTUL, saying it was not about the shooting.

MAN ASSAULT WOMAN WHO REJECTED HIM, BITS OFF ANOTHER MANS FINGER IN DRUG-INDUCED ATTACK, COPS SAY

I faced many challenges that I was unprepared for such as threats to my life by activists groups to loss of pay, she said. My class is to help others by sharing some of the skills I used to cope with the stress of my critical incident. As law enforcement we experience many critical incidents throughout our career. These tools that I share are just a few to help them cope with the stress of the critical incidents they have had or will experience.

On Wednesday, Shelby told Good Morning America that the class touched on any critical incident an officer may face, including seeing a dead child.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Two married Georgia deputies were arrested in Mexico for bringing their guns across the border for their safety, officials said Monday.

Crisp County sheriffs Deputies Martelle Davis, 36, and Shawana Davis, 31, were arrested on Aug. 23 while on vacation in Cancun on charges of possession of weapons, magazines and live ammunition, officials said. The pair is out on bond and returned to the U.S. on Monday.

Their weapons were found in their baggage during a customs check, WFXL-TV reported.

After working closely with officials in the U.S. and Mexico to resolve the issue, the two were released late Saturday on bond, Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock said. I can't thank all those on a State and Federal level who took my phone calls to assist enough. Each one played an important role in the release of these two deputies. Our prayers have been answered.

Martelle Davis had been with the sheriffs office since 2014 and Shawana Davis joined the agency as a school resource officer, according to 13 WMAZ.

Hancock said the two didnt violate agency policy, but violated Mexican law.

Mexican law says that you cannot bring a firearm into their country, he said. They're certified law enforcement officers. They're trained to protect people, so they carried their weapons with them thinking in their minds that they are going to do what they do every day. Protect people and protect myself.

He added that the pair took guns with them on their trip because of the recent homicides in the tourist resort area.

Eight bodies  two of which were dismembered and shoved in plastic bags  were found on the streets of Cancun on Tuesday, prosecutors said. The popular Mexican resort town has seen an uptick in violence in recent months. In April, 14 murders were reported in 36 hours.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory earlier this month, telling travelers to exercise increased caution in Mexico due to crime.

Hancock said there will be an internal investigation.Egypt's tourism revenue jumped 77 percent in the first half of 2018 to around $4.8 billion compared with the same period last year, a government official told Reuters.

Egyptian tourism has been gradually recovering from a 2011 downturn triggered by the uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak, helped by a currency float in late 2016 that halved the pound's value and made the country a relatively cheap bet for foreign visitors.

The tourism sector is a pillar of the country's economy and a key earner of foreign currency.

The official, who declined the be named, said visitor numbers during the first half of 2018 jumped 41 percent from a year before to about 5 million. A total of 14.7 million people visited Egypt in 2010 before the uprising.

"Indicators suggest the sector will earn about $9 billion by the end of this year," the official said, adding there were expectations of greater traffic from western Europe, Italy, Germany and Ukraine towards the end of the year.

That figure would mark a jump from last year's $7.6 billion.

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A Georgia woman was charged with murder after she allegedly confessed to police that she fatally shot her 2-year-old daughter.

Jennifer Bellah, 31, called authorities on Tuesday just before 6 p.m. and said she shot her daughter, Natalya, Fox 5 reported.

Responding deputies with the Newton County Sheriff's Office reportedly found the toddler's body, and she was confirmed dead at the home.

DAD PLEADS GUILTY TO KILLING 6-WEEK-OLD INFANT BY SHOVING FINGERS DOWN THROAT, AUTHORITIES SAY

Deputies said they found "a firearm, a spent shell casing, and spent bullets" inside the home in Newton County.

"It is believed Jennifer Bellah was alone with the child at the residence when the incident occurred and committed the crime without assistance," a sheriff's spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The family of Jennifer Bellah has fully cooperated with law enforcement."

Bellah was charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm, according to Fox 5.The Ohio State Highway Patrol said they were investigating a substance exposure that affected nearly 30 guards, inmates and nurses at a state correctional institution on Wednesday.

Ross Correctional Institution reported an inmate appeared to show signs of an overdose at 9:10 a.m., according to the OSHP. That person was given Narcan, an emergency medication administered to treat narcotic overdoses, and was transported to a hospital.

Emergency crews treated those who may have been exposed to the substance.

At least 28 people -- including 23 correctional officers, four nurses and one other inmate -- were potentially exposed to the substance at the correctional facility, officials said.

Police said in an earlier statement that "several doses of Narcan were administered to the victims, and an additional 300 Narcan doses are available at the facility."

All 28 affected persons were responsive and, with the exception of the inmate, transported to the Adena Regional Medical Center for evaluation, OSHP said in a statement.

Troopers told local media it was not immediately clear what the substance was, but it may have been fentanyl, WCMH-TV reported.

"Samples of the substance have been collected so it can be tested and identified," officials said.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol said the prison was secure and there was no danger to the public.

The contaminated cell block was cleared and about 31 inmates, who were not affected by the substance exposure, were relocated to other areas of the correctional facility.

They said a hazardous material team was at the cell block and performing cleaning procedures to decontaminate affected areas of the facility.

The Union-Scioto schools, which are near the correctional institution, were placed on a cautionary lockdown.

Fentanyl is a drug 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless veteran who gained worldwide attention when he used his last $20 to fill up the gas tank of a stranded motorist, reportedly took legal action Tuesday against the couple that raised $400,000 for him on GoFundMe.

A lawyer for Bobbitt filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop Mark DAmico and Kate McClure  the motorist he helped  from using any leftover money from the fundraising campaign, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Bobbitt told the Inquirer earlier that he can't use the $200,000 left out of the $400,000 that donors raised on GoFundMe, and he no longer has a camper or a car.

Bobbitt alleged in the injunction that McClure and DAmico committed fraud and considered the GoFundMe account as their personal piggy bank.

McClure and DAmico did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the legal action, the paper reported.

McClure told the paper in an earlier interview that they did all they could to help Bobbitt.

The couple and Bobbitt once had a warm relationship. In an earlier interview with the Inquirer, D'Amico said he controls the money and will start dispensing it when Bobbitt gets a job and stops using drugs.

"Giving him all that money, it's never going to happen. I'll burn it in front of him," he said, adding that giving an "addict" the money would be like "giving him a loaded gun."

Bobbitt admitted to the paper that the couple once gave him $25,000 and he gave some of it to relatives and friends, and spent some of it on drugs.

Bobbitt raised suspicions over how McClure, a receptionist, is now driving a new BMW. The couple said the car was paid from their own money.

GoFundMe said earlier it will work to ensure Bobbitt "receives the help he deserves and that the donors' intentions are honored."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The human remains found in plastic bags at two Bronx parks within days of each other are believed to belong to the same woman who cops released a sketch of last week in hopes of identifying the individual, police said.

A New York City Police spokesman told Fox News that authorities believe the body parts located Friday in Crotona Park and Tuesday, about three miles away, belong to the same woman. The spokesman said they are waiting for official confirmation from the medical examiner.

NYPD received a call around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday about possible human remains found in Barretto Point Park. A passerby reported seeing a foot sticking out of a plastic bag by the boardwalk that washed ashore, police told Fox News.

Cops arrived at the scene and discovered a leg and a foot inside a bag. A second bag with human body parts were also discovered at the scene.

SKETCH OF WOMAN FOUND IN BAGS IN NEW YORK CITY PARK RELEASED BY POLICE

Over the weekend, police released a sketch of a woman and asked for the publics help in identifying her after her body was found in two separate bags at Crotona Park. Authorities discovered the remains after receiving a call of a suspicious package in the park around 2 p.m. Friday.

The remains, initially thought to be those of a dog, were taken to the medical examiner's office, according to the New York Post.

Police ruled the woman's death a homicide on Wednesday. The medical examiner is determining the cause of death. Police are investigating the incident.

Fox News Travis Fedschun contributed to this report.A judge in California has criticized as "disruptive" last week's arrest of a suspect inside a courtroom by personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The ICE arrest of Yovanny Ontiveros-Cebreros inside a Sacramento courtroom was considered a first for California, the Fresno Bee reported. Previous arrests since mid-July were conducted in the hallways, the report said.

Sacramento County Superior Court Presiding Judge David De Alba said he would work with local authorities, and ICE if necessary, to prevent the situation from happening again, according to the Bee.

Arrests that occur inside of a state courthouse and especially inside of a courtroom are disruptive of courtroom proceedings.  Judge David De Alba, Sacramento County Superior Court

Arrests that occur inside of a state courthouse and especially inside of a courtroom are disruptive of courtroom proceedings, De Alba said a statement.

ICE reportedly had an arrest warrant for Ontiveros-Cebreros.

Our Court regrets the decision by ICE agents to execute an arrest warrant inside one of our courtrooms," he said. "The fear of immigration arrest deters witnesses and crime victims from coming forward to participate in the prosecution of crimes and the resolution of child custody, landlord-tenant, personal injury, and other claims."

Ontiveros-Cebreros pleaded not guilty to two felony charges before his Wednesday arrest, which included possession of a controlled substance for sale, the Bee reported.

Meanwhile, a group of immigrant advocates in New Mexico has asked that state's Supreme Court to make it more difficult for ICE personnel to make arrests in and around courtrooms, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

The groups say at least 25 such arrests have occurred in the state since February 2017, the report said.More than 100 workers were arrested at a Texas trailer manufacturer Tuesday in a federal immigration raid.

The raid targeting Load Trail Trailers in Sumner netted 160 arrests. It was at least the second immigration raid targeting the business, the last coming in 2014. At the time, the company paid $445,000 fine for hiring illegal immigrants to work in its plant, officials said.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation began after a tip the company was knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, the agency said.

All detainees will be interviewed to determine who remains in custody and who gets humanitarian release, officials said.

Armed ICE agents swarmed the business and came from every corner, Dennis Perry, a Load Trail employee, told the Dallas Morning News. He said they drew their guns and told everyone to hit the ground.

Load Trail, which is family-owned and has more than 500 employees, called the raid disappointing and surprising, but vowed to cooperate with investigators.

Katrina Berger, special agent in charge of ICEs Homeland Security Investigations office in Dallas, said they cant turn a blind eye to those illegal workers and that the raid should be a message for other employers who engage in illegal hiring.

Were watching. And were coming, she added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The man who hacked into the iCloud accounts of hundreds of people, including that of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, was sentenced Wednesday, the Justice Department announced.

George Garofano, 26, of Connecticut, will serve eight months in prison after he pleaded guilty in April to unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information.

PRINCE HARRY BUSTED BY HALLE BERRY AFTER THROWBACK PHOTO REVEALS CUTOUT OF HER HANGING IN TEEN DORM ROOM

Prosecutors said that between April 2013 and October 2014, Garofano sent emails that appeared to be from Apple that encouraged victims to disclose their usernames and passwords, or "to enter them on a third-party website, where he would later retrieve them."

Garofano then used that information to hack into roughly 240 iCloud accounts.

The case stemmed from the investigation into the 2014 scandal in which private photos, from Lawrence, Upton, Ariana Grande and Kirsten Dunst, were leaked to the public.

'JERSEY SHORE' STAR PAULY D ADDRESSES EX AUBREY O'DAY'S ALLEGED AFFAIR WITH DONALD TRUMP JR.

Many people who live in Connecticut and are not celebrities were also hacked, according to federal officials.

Garofono is out on a $50,000 bond but is expected to begin the prison sentence in October. He was also ordered to perform 60 hours of community service during his three-year supervised release following his jail time.

He faced up to five years in prison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Three suspects tied to a New Mexico compound where alleged Muslim extremists reportedly trained children to be school shooters were released from custody on Wednesday, hours after a judge dismissed all of the charges against them, Fox News confirmed.

District Judge Emilio Chavez on Wednesday dismissed charges against three of the five defendants -- Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj -- ruling that authorities violated the states 10-day rule.

Child abuse charges against them were dropped because prosecutors missed the 10-day limit for an evidentiary hearing to establish probable cause.

During a separate hearing Wednesday, Judge Jeff McElroy dismissed the same charges against fellow defendants, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Jany Leveille. However, charges leveled against them on Friday, in connection to the death of a missing 3-year-old boy, remained.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the boy's father, and Leveille were charged with abuse of a child resulting in the death of a child and conspiracy to commit abuse of a child, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe announced.

The five suspects were arrested by authorities after an Aug. 3 raid following a monthslong search investigating the disappearance of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, a 3-year-boy with severe medical issues who went missing from Georgia in December. The occupants of the compound were "most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief," an official said at the time.

Taos County Sheriff's deputies discovered 11 children at the compound, who were taken into the custody of state child-welfare workers. On Aug. 6, a childs remains were found on the property.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj was allegedly training children to commit school shootings, according to prosecutors, who later alleged that the juveniles were taught how to use firearms, as well as tactical techniques, in order to kill teachers, law enforcement and other institutions they found corrupt.

Health officials confirmed earlier this month that the discovered remains were positively identified as the 3-year-old's.

Chavez said Wednesday that it was a very difficult decision to drop the charges but the rule left him with no option. Prosecutors could still seek charges for the three by asking a grand jury to indict them but offered no immediate indication on how they would proceed.

Fox News' Faith Mangan, Nicole Darrah, Matt Richardson, Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A residential street in southwestern Los Angeles will be renamed after former President Barack Obama, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in a tweet Tuesday.

The vote by L.A. City Council comes more than a year after City Council President Herb Wesson proposed renaming the three-and-a-half-mile Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard in honor of the former president. Wessons proposal noted that Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Park on Rodeo Road during his 2008 bid, The Los Angeles Times reported.

The date of the city councils approval to rename Rodeo Road coincides with the 55th anniversary of Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream Speech".

Also #OTD in 2008 @BarackObama became the first African-American presidential nominee from a major political party. Today our council gave final approval to our motion to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard. Proud to take this next step on a day that meant so much to so many, Wesson tweeted.

The area, which is predominantly African-American, already contains streets named after former U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams.

Last September, California passed a resolution to rename a stretch of the 134 Freeway, President Barack H. Obama Highway. Several schools in California have been named after the 44th president.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti praised the move Tuesday tweeting, Its official: our City Council has voted to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard! Were thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @Barack Obama when traveling across L.A.A man was arrested Wednesday in Pennsylvania and charged with murder in the death of a former Playboy playmate who was found strangled in her apartment last week.

Jonathan Wesley Harris, 30, was taken into custody in Pittsburgh after he fled the Philadelphia area, where playmate Christina Carlin-Kraft, 36, was found, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said.

Carlin-Kraft was found dead on Aug. 22 in the bedroom of her condo in the upscale suburb of Ardmore, located just west of Philadelphia. Her cause of death was ruled "ligature strangulation."

Investigators said that in the early hours on the day she was killed, Carlin-Kraft left her apartment, and was seen on surveillence video meeting Harris and entering a vehicle together.

DAD PLEADS GUILTY TO KILLED 6-WEEK-OLD INFANT BY SHOVING FINGERS DOWN THROAT, AUTHORITIES SAY

Just after 3 a.m., the two entered Carlin-Kraft's apartment. The district attorney's office said that the front door of her home was opened at 3:08 a.m. and the back door, which led to a terrace, was closed at 5:19 a.m.

During this period, "a violent struggled occurred in the apartment" and Carlin-Kraft "was beaten, her nose was broken and she was strangled to death."

Police filed an arrest warrant on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Harris was charged with first-degree murder in Carlin-Kraft's death.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on 16 August the creation of what he called the Iran Action Group. The purpose behind the setting up of the group is to coordinate the US State Departments post-nuclear-deal policy concerning Iran and to work with other agencies within the federal government.

Pompeo said that Washington hoped that one day soon we can reach a new agreement with Iran, but we must see major changes in the regimes behaviour inside and outside its borders first. He added that the newly created group would lead the way in growing efforts with nations which share our understanding of the Iranian threat.

The Iran Action Group will be headed by veteran American diplomat Brian Hook who previously headed the state departments policy planning and worked on renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran, or the Iran nuclear deal.However, these efforts failed, leading to the American decision on 8 May to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran.

Although the US administration denies it wants regime change in Iran, the creation of this group casts doubt on this position.

The group will have as its mandate nothing less than the fulfilment of the 12 demands that Pompeo outlined a few weeks after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal.

I dealt with these demands in a previous article published two weeks ago, but the point I would like to highlight here is that the Trump administration is now tightening the noose around Iran diplomatically, politically and on the general strategic level.

This effort comes in the context of a major American push for a new alignment of forces in the Middle East that will stand for many decades to come.

In the post-Second World War period, the Middle East saw the rise of five major regional powers, namely Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Israel. Regardless of the many radical changes that some of these powers have seen in the last seven decades, Egypt, Turkey and Iran in particular, the American strategy has remained unchanged. This has centred on working for a region-wide alliance against common enemies and threats, whatever that has meant, in which Israel would become the centre of this alliance.

Without going into the history of the Middle East and the upheavals that are reshaping the region, the anti-Israel powers are being weakened economically while facing mounting security challenges. They lack the resources and the power to oppose the emergence of a new institutionalised balance of power in the region to the benefit of Israel.

The battleground par excellence for this grand strategy is Syria and to a lesser degree Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine (meaning Gaza and the West Bank). In other words, this strategy refers to the same geographical boundaries that were the subject of the Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France in 1916. This agreement was linked to the Balfour Declaration, in which Britain recognised a national home for the Jews in Palestine. The new redistribution of power in the Middle East one hundred years later is related to something even more dangerous, which is the final demarcation of the geographical boundaries of Israel at the expense of Arab sovereignty by rejecting the principle, recognised in all UN Resolutions concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, of a return to the 4 June 1967 borders of Israel.

In 1916, the two great powers of the time that determined the fate of the Middle East for the next hundred years were Great Britain and France. The two great powers in todays world that will have the final say on the new Middle East are the United States and Russia. It would not be a surprise if the American-Russian summit in July in Helsinki saw an understanding concerning the shape of the new Middle East.

The United States for all practical purposes accepted the long-term entrenchment of Russia in Syria in return for Moscow, in cooperation with Washington, ensuring the security of Israel in the face of Iranian enmity and making sure that Syria will not become a launching pad for future Iranian attacks against the country. Thus far, Russian moves on the Syrian board give credence to such a hypothesis.

As far as Turkey is concerned, the recent fall of the Turkish currency due to US sanctions targeting two ministers and some Turkish exports to the United States should be read in a larger strategic context than the differences concerning the fate of an American priest held by the Turkish authorities. The fast depreciation of the Turkish lira should be seen in Ankara as a wake-up call not to be on the wrong side of the tide of history in the Middle East. Further financial and economic pressures targeting Turkey will not be discarded as long as the Turkish authorities fail to understand the new regional realities. One test will likely come soon in Idlib in Syria.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia find themselves between a rock and a hard place. For one thing, they have publicly reaffirmed their commitment to the Arab Peace Plan of 2002 based on a land for peace formula as enshrined in UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 22 November 1967, while what is offered by the American administration has been nothing but what is commonly known as an economic peace. Not only that, but the two countries could also be requested to join an Arab NATO that would include Israel for the purpose of containing Iran in the Middle East and the Gulf. The newly created Iran Action Group in Washington is an instrument in such a strategy.

Would Egypt and Saudi Arabia agree to join such a regional security grouping? It remains to be seen. However, regardless of their ultimate position in this regard, they will perforce be part of this new Middle East. It is to be hoped that these two Arab powers will have their say in Middle Eastern affairs in the years and decades to come.

* The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

* *A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: A new system for the Middle East

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A man viciously attacked a woman who rejected him, bit off part of another mans finger before assaulting a deputy taking him into custody Saturday while high on several drugs including LSD, police said.

Spencer Fredrickson, 20, was charged Tuesday, three days after his drug-fueled attack at an event called the Rainbow Gathering in Minnesota in Superior National Forest, Cook County Sheriffs Office said.

Fredrickson was under the influence of LSA, LSD and Morning Glory Seeds when he pursued a 40-year-old woman who rejected him, police said. Showing super human strength, Fredrickson then grabbed the woman by the throat and attempted to strangle her when she attempted to calm him down. He also attempted to pull her jaw apart by force.

The female victim was able to scream for help and a group of people then came upon her and attempted to pull Fredrickson off of her, the police said in a Facebook post.

MONTANA MAN'S METH CONVICTION OVERTURNED AFTER KEY WITNESS USED DRUG BEFORE GIVING TESTIMONY

Fredricksons tirade didnt end there. A person named Satellite had his finger bitten off by Fredrickson before a group of people managed to restrain him with duct tape until deputies arrived at the scene.

Fredrickson continued to assault deputy Andrew Hayes by "breaking the skin through the deputys cloves," police said.

The 20-year-old was finally taken into custody and remains in jail on $200,000 bail. He was charged with first-degree assault and fourth-degree assault on a peace officer.

The injured man and woman were treated and later released.

Rainbow Gathering is an event when people gather in remote forests and is run by the Rainbow Family of Living Light. U.S. Forest Service said the gathering consists of a loose-knit group of people without leadership or organization who gather in national forests to discuss political and environmental issues, pray for world peace and celebrate life.An Oregon man who has been sent to prison multiple times for masturbating in public was found guilty Tuesday for the 10th time on a public indecency charge, prosecutors said.

Michael Thomas Dorgan, 55, was sentenced Tuesday to four-and-a-half years in prison, plus five months of post-prison supervision, FOX 12 Oregon reported.

Dorgan must also register as a sex offender, the report said.

Dorgans sentence was partially reduced as part of a plea deal, Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson said, after Dorgan pleaded no contest to exposing himself to three women near Portland University on July 8, FOX 12 reported.

Court records indicated Dorgan has been sentenced to prison multiple times including two-and-a-half years in 2008, and nearly six years in 2011 for public indecency.

Prosecutor said Dorgans latest case shouldnt fall under Oregons three strikes law, given that Dorgan has never been convicted of sexually touching his victims.

But court records cited by the Oregonian paint a different picture of Dorgan. In at least three incidents since 1996, Dorgan had either groped, grabbed, or brushed up against a woman while masturbating, court records said. It was unclear whether those incidents were taken into account in Dorgans sentencing on Tuesday.

When asked Tuesday if hed ever received sex offender treatment, Dorgan said he had but couldnt remember clearly. At least one treatment was a year and a half, he told Judge Kathleen Dailey.

With Mr. Dorgan  we have run out of available options for him, other than incarceration, Jackson said, acknowledging that past treatments for Dorgan appeared to have failed.At least 1,500 people paid respects to Sen. John McCain, who succumbed to an aggressive form of brain cancer on Saturday, as they streamed past his closed, flag-draped casket at the Arizona Capitol.

Well-wishers had been waiting in line in the withering summer heat  the high in Phoenix was 104 degrees  some for hours, to take part in the public viewing on Wednesday.

Families with children paid respects. Men paused beside the casket to salute or bow.

People came from out of state. They also crossed political lines and the full spectrum of ages.

Barry and Linda Vittori separately made the roughly five-hour drive from San Diego on Tuesday night. Linda Vittori said McCain epitomizes what I think our forefathers were hoping our country would be.

Vietnamese veterans in their uniforms saluted McCains casket, and a mariachi singer strummed his guitar and sang outside as a tribute.

Ray Riordan, an 87-year-old Navy veteran who fought in the Korean War, came from Payson, Arizona.

I grew up where a handshake was a contract and your word was your bond, Riordan said. He represented the last of that, as far as Im concerned.

Kassandra Morales, 44, stood in line with her sons, ages 8 and 2. The single mother and Democrat, who came with a bouquet, said she had long looked up to McCain.

Yesterday I asked my son who his hero was. He gave me a rappers name, Morales said. I brought my children here to show them what a real hero was.

JOHN MCCAIN INSPIRED ME AS AN INTERN  AND THEN I COVERED HIM FOR FOX NEWS

The viewing came on what would have been the Republican senators 82nd birthday, and followed an emotional private ceremony attended by McCains family and colleagues.

During the private service, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain not just as a senator and internationally known figure, but a major figure in the history of their state.

While Barry Goldwater was an Arizona native, McCain was Arizonas favorite adopted son, the governor said of McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served in the military.

Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon, Ducey said.

Cindy McCain, the late senators wife, pressed her face against the flag-draped casket, and several of his children sobbed during services for the statesman, presidential contender and former prisoner of war.

The private service at the Arizona Capitol marked the first appearance of McCains family members since the senator died.

Former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said he had been with McCain all around the world. McCain, he said, had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.

Kyl said he would miss McCain, whose greatest contribution was in the realm of national security.

I will miss him as a friend, and a strong force for America, and the world, Kyle said.

Sen. Jeff Flake offered the benediction at the service.

His words included the following: Now as we go forward, let us remember thy humble servant with gladness and cheerfulness to answer his call to summon the better angels of our nature, to see and appreciate the humanity in our opponents, to more freely forgive so that we might be forgiven.

Thursday morning will feature a procession through Phoenix on the way to a memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church, with the public invited to line the route along Interstate 17, according to officials.

The memorial service is set to include a tribute from former Vice President Joe Biden. Musical choices include a recessional accompanied by Frank Sinatras My Way.

From there, McCain will depart Arizona from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, officials say.

Another viewing is scheduled for the U.S. Capitol on Friday, with a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture for their entire lives. He took office in the state in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator occupying the seat once held by Goldwater.

The public viewing would go on as long as people are waiting in line, said Rick Davis, McCains former presidential campaign manager.

Phil Hubbard, a health care recruiter from Scottsdale, held a cold water bottle in each hand as he waited for a chance to pay his respects.

He believed in something, said Hubbard, who had voted for McCain. Thats what he did, and thats what a lot of people need to do in this country. If you believe in something, stand up for it, whether its popular or not.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A 36-year-old Mexican citizen was sentenced to more than six years behind bars for illegally returning to the U.S. after previously being deported four separate times, officials announced Monday.

Jorge Carrillo-Hernandez was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison for his crime, in addition to another 2 years because he went back to the U.S. while he remained on probation from a separate case, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister, for the District of Kansas, announced in a news release.

ICE RAID AT TEXAS COMPANY NETS MORE THAN 100 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS, OFFICIALS SAY

Between 2003 and 2013, Carrillo-Hernandez was convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, domestic battery, three DUIs and two instances where he illegally returned to the U.S. following deportation following convictions for aggravated felonies, the news release said.

Prior to his sentencing, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) caught wind of him after he was arrested in April 2017 for a fourth DUI, McAllister said.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO COMMITTED MULTIPLE RAPES AFTER 2012 ICE DETAINER NOT ENFORCED GETS 80 YEARS IN PRISON

Carrillo-Hernandez was less than a year old when he came to the U.S. with relatives, according to The Kansas City Star, citing court records. He reportedly began residing in the Kansas City area when he was a teen.

Public defender Laquisha Ross said Carrillo-Hernandez repeatedly re-entered the U.S. because he has lived in this country for as long as he could remember, and his family lives here, according to the outlet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A woman serving time for murdering her husbands ex-girlfriend was convicted in a separate case last week of tampering with evidence, using acid and alligators in an attempt to get rid of the victims body.

Amanda Hayes, 46, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week for tampering with evidence - or in this case, the corpse of her husbands ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Laura Ackerson - the Fort Bend County District Attorneys Office announced on Tuesday.

In 2011, Hayes and her husband, Grant, killed Ackerson in their home in Raleigh, North Carolina, before dismembering her and transporting her body parts in coolers to Hayes sisters home in Richmond, Texas, according to the district attorneys office.

VIRGINIA POLICE OFFICER CHARGED IN DEATH OF 6-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER

Once in Richmond, the couple first attempted to use muriatic acid to destroy Ackersons body. When that didnt work, they took a boat onto Oyster Creek and dumped Lauras body parts into the water with hopes that alligators would eat her remains, the statement reads.

Hayes and her husband were convicted in 2014 of killing and dismembering Ackerson. Hayes is already serving a 13- to 16-year sentence in North Carolina after being convicted of second degree murder, while Grant is serving life in prison.

Ackerson was in a custody battle with Grant around the time of her murder, WRAL News reported in 2011.

In her defense, Hayes testified that she didnt kill Ackerson and only helped get rid of her body in Texas because her husband threatened her if she didnt help.

Judge Maggie Jaramillo later sentenced her to the maximum possible punishment of 20 years in prison.

Hayes is slated to serve the sentence following her prison time in North Carolina, the Fort Bend County District Attorneys Office said.

HUMAN REMAINS IN PLASTIC BAGS FOUND IN 2 NYC PARKS BELIEVED TO BE SAME WOMAN, POLICE SAY

The jury verdict was swift and the courts sentence was appropriately harsh, lead prosecutor Amanda Bolin said in an online statement. Laura Ackersons family can be assured that Amanda Hayes will be punished for all of her barbaric behavior  whether it was in North Carolina or the great state of Texas.An Ohio teen who vanished more than a year ago after witnessing his father's murder was found alive, police said.

Jacob Caldwell, 15, was found around 11:30 p.m. Monday in the basement of a home 40 miles away in Miami Township, WKEF reported. Authorities located the teen after they received an anonymous tip that led them to Jacob, who was living in the home with four adults who were not related to him.

Jacob was reported missing on Aug. 21, 2017, six days after he and his two siblings watched as his father, Robert Caldwell, was gunned down outside an office building.

The teenager was last seen on surveillance video waiting outside a Walmart, WHIO reported. Police were worried about the then-14-year-olds safety and were unsure if he was being held against his will. They also believed he was in Ohio or Kentucky.

New billboards were put up last week in the search for Caldwell, which led to Mondays tip.

MYSTERY AS WOMAN IN T-SHIRT AND POSSIBLY SHACKLES APPEARS ON TEXAS HOMEOWNER'S DOORSTEP

On Tuesday, authorities said it didnt appear that Jacob was secured or locked in the basement, where he appeared to be sleeping.

It was our understanding that he was not outside much. Hes gone a year without school. Hes gone a year without socializing with friends, Sugarcreek Township Police Chief Michael Brown said. There was no evidence of him being secured or locked in. I think he could have roamed throughout the house, if he wished.

Caldwell was taken to Greene County Juvenile Detention Center in Beavercreek, where hes being held on an unruly charge stemming from a previous unrelated runaway incident, according to Brown.

Authorities will also be pursuing charges against the adults who possibly helped Caldwell go missing.

Six people, including Caldwells ex-wife Tawnney Caldwell, were indicted in March on Robert Caldwells death, WKEF reported.The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced Wednesday that all state correctional institutions were on immediate lockdown after multiple staff members were reportedly exposed to an unknown substance."

Department Secretary John Wetzel said in a statement that the state prisons would stay in lockdown mode indefinitely, and that all corrections mailrooms would be closed to nonlegal mail until further notice. The news came after 29 employees at 10 prisons required treatment in recent weeks from exposure to a yet-unidentified substance that's been described as a liquid synthetic drug.

The safety and security of our employees is my No. 1 concern, Wetzel said. We will do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of our staff.

The announcement came just hours after 28 guards, inmates and nurses at Ross Correctional Initiation in Ohio also were affected by substance exposure.

The incident began around 9 a.m. when an inmate showed signs of a possible drug overdose, said patrol spokesman Lt. Robert Sellers. Those affected were treated through the administration of naloxone, a drug used to combat overdoses caused by opioids such as heroin or fentanyl, Sellers said.

Hospital officials also said that patient symptoms were consistent with exposure to fentanyl.

OHIO CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION GUARDS, NURSES AND INMATES TREATED FOR POSSIBLE SUBSTANCE EXPOSURE: POLICE

While the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections did not provide further details on the mystery substance, the statement provided by the department said that it is not alone in its battle against illegal substances and employee/inmate sickness, and it cited the Ohio cases.

Wetzel also said the states Opioid Command Center had joined efforts to get to the bottom of this issue now.

Local media reported a synthetic cannabinoid as the substance in question.

It wasn't immediately known if the exposures in the two states were related.

Employees have been required to wear gloves and other protective equipment, and inmate visits have been suspended.

Fox News Kathleen Joyce and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Two workers plunged seven stories to their deaths early Wednesday when scaffolding collapsed at a Florida construction site near the Walt Disney World Resort, authorities said.

A third worker hung on and managed to climb to safety. The individual sustained minor injuries, according to authorities.

The construction workers were above the sixth floor of a hotel under construction when the support structure gave away, Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said. The workers were pouring concrete just before the collapse about 4:15 a.m.

"They were on the scaffolding, and for reasons unknown at this time, that support structure gave way, sending two workers plummeting to the ground below. Both died on the scene, Jachles said. A third worker managed to hang onto the scaffolding and managed to climb to safety.

There were about 18 workers at the site of the future JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek resort when the deadly collapse happened. Marriott International previously described the $282 million project as a 16-story building with 516 rooms near Orlando's popular theme parks.

It's owned and developed by DCS Investment Holdings, a private equity group based in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is owned by Dwight C. Schar, co-owner of the Washington Redskins.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the accident, officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A tractor-trailer filled with candy overturned and struck the support columns of a bridge during an apparent road rage incident captured earlier this month in New Jersey.

The Mahwah Police Department said in a news release on Tuesday the crash took place just before 10 a.m. on Aug. 9 in the northbound lanes of Route 17 in the township located about 30 miles northwest of New York City.

In the video, taken by another truck's dash camera, an SUV pulls alongside the truck and brakes, preventing the driver from switching into the left lane. As truck tries to swerve around the SUV, the vehicle pulled in front of the truck again and pumped the brakes, causing the truck to swerve, collide with the median and flip over.

Miraculously, no other vehicles struck the tractor-trailer, which could have resulted in a major accident event," Mahwah Chief of Police James Batelli said in a statement.

CARNIVAL CRUISE'S NEWEST SHIP CRASHES INTO DOCK

The driver of the SUV thought the truck was driving recklessly and merged in front of the vehicle to slow it down, contributing to the crash, according to Batelli.

No one was injured in the accident, but police issued summons to both drivers for multiple charges, including reckless driving, failure to maintain lanes and failure to signal.

The release of the video ahead of the busy Labor Day holiday weekend was to highlight the dangers of overly aggressive driving, according to police. Batelli said the video underscores the dangers of an increasing trend in road rage incidents.Egypt needs fewer children, more political will, and the end of ultra-conservative dominance to solve the problem of its ever-growing population

Call it a bomb, regard it as an explosion, turn a blind eye to it or consider it as a blessing that cannot be stopped, but the end result remains the same: Egypts population is getting out of hand.

This is a bomb that has not just been detonated. On the contrary, it has exploded, causing fatalities, injuries and noise, but apparently not enough attention or significant worry.

Someone somewhere seems to have been whispering in the ears of millions of Egyptians that more is better, planning is bad and contraception is haram or forbidden.

It is forbidden to stop Gods will. Having children without interference from humans who try to organise, minimise or even sometimes end the process of giving birth to children is what a good Muslim should do.

This is what sheikh Mohsen, the imam and preacher in a small mosque in a deprived area near Al-Thawra Street in Heliopolis, told Manal, a 26-year-old vegetable seller who already has four children and is expecting her fifth. Her frail body and sunken eyes say a lot about her health and economic situation. Her husband, who works as a freelance builder, says he is a devout Muslim who does everything sheikh Mohsen preaches.

This is despite the fact that sheikh Mohsen has neither studied the Quran nor Sharia Law. His 15 years of work in Saudi Arabia as a plumber have made him a highly respected imam and mufti for many, it seems.

Despite the fatwa (religious ruling) that is almost killing her with a pregnancy every other year, Manal still prays with all her heart for sheikh Mohsen, who was stopped from leading prayers in 2013.

When Minister of Religious Endowments Mokhtar Gomaa became minister that year, one of his first acts was to ensure that mosque pulpits be open only to graduates of Al-Azhar University who had passed the required tests to preach and lead the prayers.

Egypts mosques had previously been left unsupervised for some three decades, and some of them had been sabotaged by ultra-conservative ideologies ranging from those espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood to different Salafi groups.

According to these groups, family planning and birth control are not allowed for religious reasons, and those who use family planning methods will either burn in hell or be punished for interfering in Gods will.

They say that those who adhere to family planning are following disbelievers in the West who only do so to enjoy their lives and worldly goods without the responsibility of children.

A good Muslim, these groups say, is not only one who gets married and starts a family, but also one who makes sure he marries a child-bearing woman.

Having as many children as one can  in the physiological sense of the word and not in terms of health or financial abilities  is necessary, they add. After all, it is God who is the true provider of mankind.

The latter is true, of course. But when quantity supersedes quality and finally undermines it, giving birth to more and more children becomes a war against logic and common sense, both of which are vital pillars for any belief to flourish.

As a result, perhaps the only thing that has been flourishing in Egypt over the past few years has been babies. What Egypt has been witnessing has not been a baby boom exactly, however. It has been more like a baby bomb and, in other words, a social time bomb.

This has been simmering for many years. Government attempts to raise awareness and provide birth control have had to struggle against a deep-rooted culture that strongly believes in the necessity of big families.

Even so, these official attempts have remained alive and kicking, and there have been some successes as well as many failures.

Nevertheless, one of the results of the 25 January Revolution in 2011 was the regression of family planning. The rise of Political Islam made the situation worse, as those who used to preach that family planning was haram behind closed doors were in power after the election of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi.

The power of God, the sole provider of a chain of births as long as a womans body can produce mature eggs that can be fertilised by a sperm cell, is the same power that has bestowed the gift of intellect and the ability to think.

And when one thinks that almost 30 per cent of the Egyptian population lives below the poverty line, one wonders why anyone would decide to over-produce more children.

This over-production in a country that is suffering from the depletion of its natural resources, the deterioration of its education and healthcare systems, high rates of illiteracy, a poor economic situation, regional instability and various other internal needs has made the population time bomb explode.

In a 2017 report from the UN childrens agency UNICEF entitled Understanding Child Multidimensional Poverty in Egypt, the authors state that children under five and the most deprived children as a whole represent 37 per cent of the total in Egypt.

The situation requires timely actions across the spectrum, ranging from healthcare and nutrition to education, to break the vicious circle of child poverty, the report says.

Almost daily one stumbles across a taxi-driver, a teacher, a security guard or a government employee in Cairo complaining about the hardships of their lives, adding that taking more than one job in order to be able to sustain their homes is damaging their health.

But when one asks, how many children have you got, the answer, said with a big smile and after the necessary sayings that protect against envy, is four, five or six and sometimes more.

More and more, the effects of ultra-conservatism, left unattended together with education and culture for decades, are beginning to materialise.

The ready-made excuses for having many children that are recited by many involve the idea that more man (and sometimes woman) power is a major source of strength and prosperity.

Yet, even though this is true, it is rare to hear anyone tackle the quality of this manpower, including the quality of education, upbringing, critical thinking and the ability to create, innovate and produce.

Many Egyptian children living in multidimensional poverty are involved in marginal yet dangerous work, ranging from driving illegal tuk-tuks to working in workshops, cleaning the streets, homes and restaurants, or even in working in the building sector.

This is not to mention the countrys street children who number anywhere between one and two million, and child marriages in which girls as young as 10 or 11 are forced to marry for financial reasons. Many children have also been forced to become illegal migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

Nevertheless, millions of families still over-produce children in Egypt, waiting for God to support them or for the government to feed, house and educate them.

Even education is no longer a top priority for many families, and extra children have become in many cases simply opportunities to improve the livelihood of families. Each extra head means extra income.

At the same time, incomes overall, particularly of middle-class Egyptians, are increasingly becoming a main source of worry and the origin of the demand for greater social justice.

Yet, when one criticises the current situation, saying that Egypt already has more than enough children, one is often met with a frown and the murmuring of verses and sayings that have been misinterpreted for so long.

Egypt needs fewer children, more political will, the end of ultra-conservative dominance, and more attempts to raise awareness and come up with innovative ideas to wean people off the habit of producing more and more babies.

* The writer is a journalist at Al-Hayat newspaper.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The need for political will

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A soldier based in Hawaii pleaded guilty Wednesday to trying to help the Islamic State group  admitting he provided secret military information, a drone meant to track U.S. troops and other support to undercover agents he believed were members of the terrorist organization.

Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang, handcuffed and wearing beige prison jumpsuit, spoke in a clear and confident voice when he told a U.S. magistrate judge in Honolulu hes guilty of all four counts charged in an indictment filed last year.

Your honor I provided unclassified, classified documents to the Islamic State, Kang said, adding that he also provided the drone.

He agreed when Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson described other support he provided to undercover agents Kang believed were part of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

Kang provided voluminous, digital documents that included sensitive information including a U.S. military weapons file and various military manuals, Sorenson said.

Trained as an air traffic controller, Kang also provided documents including call signs, mission procedures and radio frequencies, all of which would have been helpful to ISIS, Sorenson said.

At one of the meetings with agents Kang believed were part of the Islamic State, he swore allegiance to the group in Arabic and English and kissed an Islamic State flag, Sorenson said.

Kang was obsessed with videos depicting terrorism beheadings, suicide bombings and other violence, and he watched them in his bedroom for hours daily, a confidential informant told agents. The agents put a tracking device on the soldiers car during an investigation that led to the indictment.

Kang told the informant that if he became an Islamic State member, he would be a suicide bomber and attack Schofield Barracks, a sprawling Army base outside Honolulu, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

The U.S. government first asked a judge to allow a tracking device to be placed on Kangs car in October 2016 and applied for several extensions after orders granting it expired.

Kang watched the videos for four to five hours each day during the week and more on the weekends, the informant told agents in 2016. The informant remembered feeling sick to his stomach, while Kang laughed and insulted the victims, the affidavit said.

During the first week of September 2016, Kang told the informant that if he were to do something like shoot up a large gathering, it would be out of his hatred for white people, the wicked and non-Muslims, the affidavit said.

Kang began researching Islam in 2014, couldnt wait to move to the Middle East to join the cause and was only in the military for a paycheck, the informant said, according to the affidavit.

Agents said in their applications for a tracking device that they needed to monitor him continuously because they feared he would carry out an attack.

Officials with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade told the FBI they were concerned about their ability to monitor Kang, noting that he was to return from leave on May 25, 2017  the same day as a change-of-command ceremony, the affidavit said.

Brigade personnel feared the large gathering represented a target of opportunity for Kang should he want to harm members of the unit.

Kang has been held without bail since his July 2017 arrest.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10. Prosecutors and Kang agree to a 25-year sentence for charges that could have put him in prison for life if he was convicted at a trial.A Virginia police officer turned himself into Maryland police on Tuesday and was charged with multiple counts of child abuse in the death of his 6-month-old daughter.

Jason Colley, 38, of the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, faces charges of first degree child abuse, first degree child abuse resulting in death and child abuse in the first degree resulting in severe physical injury. Colley was also charged with first degree assault, according to an online statement from the Frederick County States Attorney Office.

GUARDS, NURSES AND INMATE EXPOSED TO 'UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE' AT OHIO CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION: REPORT

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler called the charges against Colley abhorrent, and told The Washington Post he served Colley notice of separation from employment in accordance with Fairfax County Personnel Regulations and the Code of Virginia."

Colley, of Monrovia, Maryland, turned himself in to Frederick County authorities this week after a judge in his home state signed an indictment in the death of his infant daughter, Harper, the newspaper reported.

The indictment comes after Maryland State Police led an investigation into injuries Harper suffered in September that ultimately led to her death from "abusive head trauma" on Oct. 31.

HUMANS REMAINS IN PLASTIC BAGS FOUND IN NYC PARK, 2ND TIME IN A WEEK

In April, Maryland State Police told officials with the Fairfax County Police that Colley was a suspect in his daughters death. He was placed on administrative leave shortly after.

Harper was Colley and his wifes only child. Andrew Jezic, Colleys attorney, told The Washington Post that his client plans to plead not guilty and he and other lawyers will vociferously assert his innocence.

Hes been a police officer in good standing. Hes had no discipline issues on the job. Hes someone that appears to be widely supported by his colleagues on the force, and he has no record, Jezic added.

Frederick County States Attorney Office said Colley was being held on a $100,000 bond, though The Washington Post reported Colley posted and was granted bond on Tuesday evening.

Trial dates have not yet been finalized, the attorneys office said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told a visiting Italian official on Wednesday that there is a "strong will" to bring the killers of an Italian researcher to justice, an Egyptian spokesman said.

Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University doctoral student who was studying labor unions in Egypt, was abducted in January 2016 and tortured for several days before his body was left on a desert highway north of Cairo.

During a meeting in Cairo with Italy's deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, el-Sissi expressed confidence that the investigation into Regeni's death would be completed, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said in a statement.

Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi came to Egypt earlier this month, the first visit by a senior Italian official since Regeni's death. He said Italy was "confident that justice will be brought in this really tragic and painful case."

Regeni went missing on Jan. 25, the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 uprising, when police were out in force throughout the city to prevent protests. Egypt has waged a heavy crackdown on dissent in recent years, jailing thousands of dissidents. Rights groups have documented a number of disappearances and say torture is widespread in Egyptian detention facilities.

Regeni's family has accused Egyptian security forces of being behind the killing. Egyptian officials have denied any involvement by security services in Regeni's abduction or death.

Italy withdrew its ambassador in 2016, saying Egypt was not cooperating with the investigation. An ambassador returned last September.

Egyptian and Italian investigators have been working together to retrieve surveillance footage from the Cairo subway system as part of a joint investigation. They said in June that footage from the system on the day of Regeni's disappearance does not include images of him. However, there are gaps in the footage which need "further sophisticated examination," they said.next Image 1 of 2

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India's top court ordered Wednesday that five prominent rights activists arrested for alleged Maoist links be kept under house arrest instead of police custody until it rules next week on a petition challenging their detention.

Police, meanwhile, broke up a protest in southern India against the arrests and detained about two dozen people.

Attorney Prashant Bhushan said the court order will prevent police from taking the five to the western city of Pune, where authorities are investigating their alleged links to Maoist rebels in various parts of the country.

The Supreme Court also ordered the federal and state governments to provide detailed reasons for their arrests within three days. It set Sept. 6 for the next hearing in the case.

Those arrested on Tuesday were Telugu-language poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, and Gautam Navalakha and Sudha Bhardwaj in New Delhi and a neighbouring town.

Police accused the five of delivering speeches that triggered protests and violence between low-caste Dalits and right-wing groups near Pune in December.

The government says Maoist rebels, who are active in several states, are India's biggest internal security threat. The rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for the poor and indigenous communities.

Participants in the protest Wednesday in Hyderabad in southern India chanted slogans against the arrests, calling them a violation of fundamental rights. Police broke up the demonstration and forced the protesters into police buses and drove them away.

The arrests of the five activists were condemned by Amnesty International, which said they have worked to protect the rights of some of India's most poor and marginalized people.

In June, police arrested five other activists on suspicion of also inciting the Dalits, who have been marginalized for centuries and forced to perform jobs considered unacceptable by other castes.

Caste prejudice is endemic in Hindu-majority India, even though the constitution outlaws the practice and has made it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison.Indonesian security forces have detained a Polish man in the troubled Papua region on suspicion of links to separatists.

A police report seen Wednesday by The Associated Press describes Jakub Fabian Skrzypski as a journalist who was in contact with Papuan separatists. A military report also seen by AP said he was detained several days ago in Papua province following the arrests of five Papuans who had a quantity of ammunition.

Prominent human rights lawyer Gustaf Kawer said Skrzypski insists he is a tourist and doesn't know the people that police say he is linked to.

Kawer said the 39-year-old is being held in an inadequately ventilated cell, given poor food and hasn't been able to contact family or change his clothes. Kawer, who visited Skrzypski on behalf of the Association of Human Rights Lawyers for Papua, said he doesn't have formal legal representation.

Indonesia restricts foreign journalists from entering its two easternmost provinces, Papua and West Papua, where a pro-independence insurgency has simmered for decades.

Earlier this month, an Australian graduate student whose travel plans in Indonesia included a cultural festival in Papua was denied entry on arrival in Bali and deported because Indonesia's military had blacklisted her as a "covert journalist."

A decade earlier she had worked as an editor for English-language newspapers in Jakarta and had also produced podcasts for Australia's state broadcaster.

A Polish Embassy official, Igor Kaczmarczyk, said the mission has received "nonofficial information" about a Polish citizen's arrest.

"Immediate appropriate steps have been taken in this regard," he said, but referred further questions to Poland's Foreign Ministry.

The police report said Skrzypski, who usually lives in Switzerland, had visited a separatist headquarters. It said he had a travel permit for Papua and a tourist visa but had violated immigration law by misusing them.

Amnesty International said in July that Indonesia's police and military are responsible for at least 95 unlawful killings in Papua since 2010.Iran's supreme leader has casted doubt on saving the international nuclear deal after U.S. withdrawal earlier this year, saying Wednesday that the government should stop pinning its hopes on Europe to keep the accord alive.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran could abandon the nuclear agreement if it does not serve the "national interests" of the country, Reuters reported.

The nuclear deal is a means, not the goal, and if we come to this conclusion that it does not serve our national interests, we can abandon it, Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website.

Khamenei added that even as officials from European countries work to salvage the deal after the exit by the U.S., Tehran should give up hope for the deal to be saved.

There is no problem with negotiations and keeping contact with the Europeans, but you should give up hope on them over economic issues or the nuclear deal," he was quoted as saying.

The comments came a day after Iranian lawmakers ordered President Hassan Rouhani to answer for his role in the faltering economy amid growing political divisions in the country. Rouhani claimed that newly reimposed U.S. sanctions after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal would only serve to unify the country.

I want to assure the Iranian nation that we will not allow the U.S. plot against the Islamic Republic to succeed, he told parliament. We will not let this bunch of anti-Iranians in the White House be able to plot against us.

IRAN'S PRESIDENT VOWS TO OVERCOME 'ANTI-IRANIANS' IN WHITE HOUSE, AS LAWMAKERS ISSUE PUBLIC REBUKE

Lawmakers, however, were not satisfied with the president's answer and voted four separate times to say they were unconvinced of his answers about Iran's recession, its cratering currency, unemployment and smuggling, according to the Associated Press. Iranian lawmakers have already fired Rouhani's labor and finance ministers this month amid the economic crisis.

But Khamenei insisted the political tumult was a sign of the strength of Iran's democracy, Agence France-Presse reported. The supreme leader called the tough questioning of Rouhani "a glorious show of the power of the Islamic republic and the self-confidence of officials."

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: WHAT IS IT?

The supreme leader had set out a series of conditions in May for European powers if they wanted to keep Iran, according to Reuters, which included steps by European banks to safeguard trade with Tehran and guarantee Iranian oil sales. He told Rouhani and his cabinet to work "day and night" in an efforts to fix the faltering economy.

During his meeting with Rouhani and his cabinet on Wednesday, the supreme leader also reiterated that Iran would not engage with negotiations with President Trumps's administration over a potential new deal, despite an offer from the president for unconditional talks.

"(The Americans) want to say they can bring anyone, even the Islamic republic, to the negotiating table," Khamenei said, according to AFP. "But as I have previously said in detail, no negotiations with them will take place."

In recent days, rhetoric from Iran has increased as a top Iranian Navy general said the country has taken full control of the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf.

IRAN CLAIMS IT CONTROLS STRAIT OF HORMUZ, PROMPTING POMPEO DENIAL

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded Monday night, saying: "The Islamic Republic of Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait is an international waterway. The United States will continue to work with our partners to ensure freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce in international waterways."

Military officials echoed similar statements on Tuesday at a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon.

GERMANY ACCUSED OF BETRAYING PLEDGE TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM BY IGNORING IRAN SANCTIONS

"For decades, our forces have been posted in the Gulf, to ensure freedom of navigation and we will continue to do that," said Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.next Image 1 of 2

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Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday again defended the widely criticized original investigation of the 2014 disappearance of 43 students, an apparent massacre that shook confidence in his government.

In a short video released via Twitter, Pena Nieto said he remained convinced that the students from the teachers college at Ayotzinapa were killed by a drug gang and incinerated in a massive fire.

The Sept. 26, 2014, incident in Iguala, Guerrero, knocked Pena Nieto's administration off its axis after early success passing structural reforms, and it never appeared to regain balance as the country's crime rate soared.

The case was especially damaging for public confidence in officials because local police allegedly turned the students over to the gang and later investigators found that an army base in the town had been closely monitoring the situation and at best did not intervene.

International experts cast doubt on what the then-attorney general had called the "historic truth" and the students' families never accepted it. The investigation has been strongly criticized inside Mexico and abroad for the alleged use of torture to coerce confessions and failure to follow leads.

In June, a federal court ordered a new investigation into the students' disappearance that would be supervised by a truth commission. The Attorney General's Office challenged the court's decision.

"Personally, and with the pain it causes, and the sorrow it signifies for the families, I'm convinced that unfortunately it happened just like the investigation showed," Pena Nieto said.

But Pena Nieto went on to say that he will leave office unsatisfied with Mexico's security situation.

"Regrettably, at the close of this six-year term, there was a rise in criminality," he said. "We have not achieved the objective to give Mexicans peace and calm in any part of the national landscape."

Three months remain in Pena Nieto's term and he appears to be trying to give some final framing to key moments of his presidency. His party's candidate was soundly defeated in the July 1 election in what many saw as a referendum on his administration.

In another video released Tuesday, Pena Nieto defended his decision to host then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. He conceded that he had underestimated how angry Trump's candidacy had made Mexicans, but said ultimately the meeting opened a line of communication that has served Mexico.

On Monday, the U.S. and Mexico announced that they had reached a bilateral agreement that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexican officials say they expect Canada to join as well.A man was killed and two others were injured after a polar bear attacked the trio of hunters, officials said Tuesday.

Solomon Malliki, the mayor of Naujaat, Nunavut, located in northern Canada, said the polar bear was shot and killed after attacking the hunters, according to Global News. The group was found in a common hunting spot on Lyon inlet.

IRANS SUPREME LEADER SAYS GOVERNMENT SHOULD GIVE UP HOPE' ON EUROPE TO SAVE NUCLEAR DEAL

"One of the hunters was deceased and the two others had minor injuries," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement. "The initial investigation has revealed that the hunters were victims of a polar bear attack."

The hunters set out on Aug. 21 to hunt for narwhal and caribou before they were expected to return home on Thursday. Police were alerted on Sunday after the group did not come home. A search team and efforts by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center launched a search for the trio.

BRITONS SENT ABROAD AS CHILDREN SUE GOVERNMENT OVER ABUSE

Boats and aircraft were helping with the search but could not reach the men due to ice blocking their way. The group were found on White Island and rescued by an icebreaking helicopter on Tuesday. The two survivors were not badly injured.

The name of the man killed was not immediately released but he was said to be an Inuit hunter, Global News reported. The death was being investigated.

The incident is Nunavuts second fatal polar bear attack this summer. In July, Aaron Gibbons, 31, was killed while trying to protect his family from a polar during a family outing. The bear was shot and killed.The U.S. Navy recently intercepted a large cache of small arms, including hundreds of AK-47s, that were on a ship in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News on Wednesday.

Sailors from the destroyer USS Jason Dunham boarded the ship and made the seizure. The incident was first reported by CNN.

U.S. officials have not disclosed from where the weapons shipment originated.

IRAN CLAIMS IT CONTROLS STRAIT OF HORMUZ, PROMPTING POMPEO DENIAL

The Gulf of Aden connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean via the narrow Bab al-Madeb strait. Last month, Saudi Arabia's state oil company temporarily suspended oil shipments through the strait after Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen fired on two oil tankers, damaging one of them.

The shipments were resumed earlier this month after the Saudi energy minister vowed that the Riyadh-led coalition in Yemen's civil war had taken "necessary measures" to secure the shipments.

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Opinion | She tried to run against Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Now she's looking at 20 years in prison.

September 29, 2017 This week, the Rwandan authorities arrested Diane Shima Rwigara and charged her with "offenses against state security and forgery." (She was already detained once before at the ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/09/29/she-tried-to-run-against-rwandan-president-paul-kagame-now-shes-looking-at-20-years-in-prison/?noredirect=onThe Egyptian middle classes are under severe pressure, with neoliberal economic policies meaning they have to pay more for goods and services and their purchasing power being in sharp decline

Last month a debate erupted on social media in Egypt. The behaviour of a TV journalist and her questions to a deprived teenager led some to say that the worldview of the Egyptian middle classes was calamitous.

It was heartless, ill-informed, and terribly reactionary, some people said, referring to the journalists apparent lack of awareness of the young persons problems.

The predicament of the middle classes is a global problem. Globalisation is putting a lot of pressure on the middle classes in Egypt, and even if they are paid to Western standards they often have to work much more than in the past and their future is uncertain.

Neoliberals are aware that globalisation can be very harsh on the poor, and they have tried to find recipes to help them. However, more often than not the middle classes are left to survive alone.

Consider, for instance, the reforms of the universities. Everyone will have to pay much higher fees, but many scholarships and grants are available that mitigate the impact of these reforms on the poor. The middle classes, on the other hand, have to sort out their affairs without help.

The Egyptian middle classes are under severe pressure. Todays neoliberal economic policies mean they have to pay much more for goods and services, and their purchasing power is in sharp decline.

The government tries to protect the poor, but it considers the middle classes to be people who save their money, and so it tries to incite or to force them to spend it.

This means that middle-class savings are diminishing at a worrying rate. There is also no end in sight as everybody fears the next tax increase.

Some colleagues, including one close friend, think such increases are long overdue. The middle classes have had too many undeserved privileges, they say, and even the lower strata of the middle classes have led privileged lives.

The financial difficulties of many public-sector bodies and of many nationalised industries stem from the work force, and in some of them two-thirds of the staff are paid without even showing up.

Such people have access to the safety net of the civil service, and they are paid, even if modestly, often to do nothing. They also never have the decency to resign.

For too long, the wages and bonuses of the higher strata of the civil service in Egypt have been scandalously high. Some senior civil servants have earned thousands of pounds for attending a monthly meeting of a steering committee, and then they may not have bothered to show up.

Of course, these are extreme examples of a general pattern. In the private sector, too, some positions have attracted salaries that are too high for a poor country.

However, the middle classes have in some cases developed strategies aimed at preventing the poor from gaining access to positions in some institutions.

At the beginning of the first term in office of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi one minister caused an uproar by saying that no son of a poor man could occupy a position in the institution he oversaw. The minister was forced to resign.

If you are a pessimist, you might say that the problem is not only that the minister could think in such terms, but that he also saw no problem in stating them.

If you are an optimist, you might share in the general uproar against him, including from many in the middle classes. Such preventive strategies against the empowerment of the poor have had the terrible result that it has become more and more difficult to climb the social ladder in Egypt.

The advocates of this prevention often argue that in senior positions in key institutions there are many opportunities for illegal gains and wrongdoing. If a man comes from a poor family, such people say, the temptation to take advantage of them will be all the bigger.

Another argument is that Egypts state-school system is a disaster. It does not transmit knowledge, and the only transmission of cultural capital comes through the family, and of course here the middle classes are at an advantage.

Moreover, when physical condition is an important variable, it is also true that the sons and daughters of middle-class families in poor countries like Egypt are in better physical shape.

However, the first of these arguments is clearly absurd. One might as well say that the sons of poorer families have fewer needs and are more easily content with average wages.

They have more to lose than the sons of good families. Moreover, it might be said, they are less well-connected and have fewer protections in cases of wrong-doing.

Yet, the evidence shows that individuals from wealthy families also behave in illegal ways. Social capital and networks are of course very strong assets of the middle classes, but this does not mean that the poor who do not have them should be disqualified.

The second argument looks less implausible. In a country where state schools are at best inefficient and that has few public libraries despite the governments efforts, it could be argued that the role of family is much more important in education than it is elsewhere.

The question, then, is whether one can be certain than a poorer youngster has no way to acquire the necessary cultural tools? Can we also be certain than the sons of the middle classes receive a proper education?

Finally, can we be certain that the best individuals get the best jobs and succeed in the relevant admission procedures? These questions cannot be answered without serious study, but it seems plausible to answer no to all of them.

Of course, there are also counter-arguments. Not all the members of the middle classes aim to become civil servants or earn a living by parasitising off the state.

The middle classes are also powerful exporters of brains and talent, and thus they help the economy through remittances from abroad. Many individuals master many languages and have at least two cultures.

Many are familiar with the rest of the world. Many have served various regimes well, and they have been the drivers of Egypts modernisation.

One European diplomat told me ten years ago that he had served in Egypt for the first time during the second half of the 1970s.

Things looked hopeless then, he said. If someone had told me that in 2009 Egypt would look like it does today, I would have considered him crazy, he said.

The middle classes can be generous, but some will also tell you that it is easy to exploit the poor when it comes to business and then claim to be engaged in charitable activities. Even so, many members of the Egyptian middle classes do devote significant time and money to helping the poor.

*The writer is a professor of international relations at the College de France and a visiting professor at Cairo University.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Egypts middle classes

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Thank you so much to all the families that stopped by the Grunion for the Belmont Shore Business Association's Trick-Or-Treat on Second Street! We saw some fantastic costumes this year, did we catch you on the Grunion camera? Check out our photo gallery below.More than 80 percent : EU survey: Majority want to get rid of time change

Brussels No more setting the clock an hour ahead or behind? In an EU survey about whether or not to change between summer and Daylight Savings Time, the vast majority voted to do away with a time change.

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The German Press Agency (dpa) confirmed a report in the Westfalenpost on Tuesday evening in Brussels. The EU Commission, however, has not yet commented formally on the results.

According to information from the newspaper, more than 80 percent of survey participants called for an end to the back and forth between summer and Daylight Savings Time (DST). Most wanted to remain in the summer time mode, according to dpa. Of the 4.6 million people participating in the survey, more than three million were from Germany.

After the end of the public survey in mid-August, the EU Commission communicated the number of participants, but said nothing about the results or the regional distribution of the participants. A spokeswoman said on Tuesday evening that Commissioner Violeta Bulc wanted to first inform colleagues internally about the results, and then the Commission would discuss the next steps.

At the request of the European Parliament, the Brussels authority is currently examining how to go on with the time change, which is regulated by EU law. According to the Commission, the online survey was expressly not intended as a referendum or sole determination of how to proceed. Participants were able to indicate whether they would like to continue with the time change or to abolish it. If they wanted to abolish it, they also could choose whether they would prefer to remain permanently on summer time or DST.

Peter Liese, a member of the European Parliament, said in the Westfalenpost that he was for a swift proposal by the European Commission to abolish the time change. "Then the law could be passed before the European elections next May," said Liese. "If the result of a public survey is so obvious, the European committees should not ignore it."Info

Im linksrheinischen Bruckenkopf der Ludendorff-Brucke eroffnete 1980 das Friedensmuseum Brucke von Remagen. Es widmet sich der Geschichte der Brucke, ihrer Eroberung im Zweiten Weltkrieg sowie dem Kriegsgefangenenlager auf den Rheinwiesen im Jahr 1945. Trager war der Verein Friedensmuseum Brucke von Remagen, der sich vor wenigen Tagen aufloste. Initiator Hans Peter Kurten grundete ihn 1981. Lange kampfte Kurten fur die Einrichtung der Gedenkstatte. Als er Bruckensteinchen aus den im Sommer 1976 entfernten Bruckenpfeilern verkaufte, war die Aufmerksamkeit enorm und es kamen mehr als 100 000 Mark, Archivalien, Fotos und Erinnerungsstucke fur das Museum zusammen.

Auch amerikanische Kriegsveteranen besuchen das Museum. Aktuell haben die Fraktionen im Stadtrat Bereitschaft signalisiert, das Museum in stadtischer Tragerschaft weiterzubetreiben. Ob neben den Turmen tatsachlich das Vier-Sterne-Hotelprojekt The Bridge mit 121 Doppelzimmern und Suiten entsteht, ist noch ungewiss.Since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the country has seldom seen darker days than under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

There is a recurring pattern that is synonymous with the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The latter is sinking to new levels of tyranny by the day, and the pattern is Erdogans habit of attempting to consolidate his power through a new wave of arrests after every election he manages to win through faked results.

The Turkish security apparatus manages to apprehend as many dissidents as it can lay its hands on, using every kind of nonsensical or flimsy accusation to keep such people behind bars.

Lately, feuds have erupted between Turkey and the United States and Germany, whose citizens, among those of other nationalities, have been illegally detained by the Turkish authorities.

The case of the currently imprisoned American national Andrew Craig Brunson on espionage charges is one such case, and before him there was the case of the German journalist Deniz Yucel, released in February after facing similar charges.

Both these individuals received international media and political support. However, some of the stories of the Turkish heroes fighting the brutal Turkish regime have been overlooked by the international media.

Such stories include those of Turkish lawyers, judges and activists who once hoped to save their country from tyranny. The Turkish regime has acted as judge and executioner in such cases, and it has even had the audacity to incarcerate those who have defended them.

According to the Arrested Lawyers Initiative, a Belgian NGO which aims to expose the Turkish regimes witch-hunt against lawyers opposing its actions, there have been countless acts of arbitrary arrest, violence and even torture against Turkish lawyers over recent years.

Over 521 lawyers have been arrested, 1,307 have been prosecuted and 34 civil society associations have been dissolved. Many of those arrested have been kept in appalling conditions and have not received fair trials.

Among the most striking examples is that of Turkish lawyer Lale Bese. Lale is the Turkish word for tulip, and she has been one of the most active lawyers defending victims of the Erdogan regime.

She has been among the few lawyers in Turkey who have opposed the mass arrests and the purges adopted by the regime against dissidents.

As a result, she has paid a heavy price, and the accusations that landed her in prison took the shape of insulting the Turkish president in a tweet from 2015.

This is the kind of black comedy that Turkey has been seeing under Erdogans rule. Bese was imprisoned on 25 June this year, a day after Erdogan was declared the winner of Turkeys June elections.

Charges of this sort have been used against other dissidents. The Turkish regime treats both dissidents and their defenders in the same manner, and the Turkish judicial system has been turned into an instrument of the regime.

Bese first became known as a dissident in Turkey for defending a military officer in the famous Ergenekon case that finished in August 2013 after five years of trials with the imprisonment of hundreds of Turkish military officers, including on life sentences, for their alleged connections to a group aiming to remove Erdogan from power. Her client was sentenced to time in prison, and she objected by saying that the judges had not been independent in his case.

Beses imprisonment may be simply one case among the over 521 lawyers who have been arrested in Turkey and the 1,321 who have been prosecuted, but she remains a symbol of the hardships that practising a profession like defending the innocent can incur in Turkey.

She has already been behind bars for two months, and she is not expected to be released before many more have passed, that is if she is not the victim of another farcical accusation.

The situation of the Turkish justice system is such that even former MP Leyla Birlik filed for political asylum in Greece this week after crossing the border illegally in fear of Erdogans judicial persecution.

Birlik faces similar charges to Bese, and, knowing that she would never get a fair trial in her homeland, she decided to flee to Greece.

Moreover, the downward trajectory of the Turkish economy and the rising anger against the Turkish Islamist regime have led the latter to become even more vicious against dissidents.

The regime has now become judge and executioner in a country that has changed from being a bright beacon of democracy to a dark abyss of dictatorship in fewer than two decades.

This has happened as the Turkish government has dismissed 18,000 civil servants, including police and military officers, from their jobs, with these now joining the other 110,000 Turks who have lost their jobs in the never-ending purge of civil society in the country.

Since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the country has hardly ever witnessed darker days than under Erdogans rule.

His assault on the countrys judicial system has been underway for years, but it became more ferocious after the failed 2016 coup.

Bese will not be the last of Erdogans victims, and many more are likely to follow her as the Turkish regime taunts the rest of the world, receiving no support from it except from Qatar, a state which supports terrorism, which has pledged $15 billion in investments in Turkey.

The latter is a desperate attempt to save the ailing Turkish economy, which is taking a nosedive like other facets of life under Erdogans rule.

While it is important to expose the practices of the Turkish regime against foreign citizens who have unjustly found themselves in Turkish prisons, it is also important to support Turkish freedom-fighters like Lale Bese and Leyla Birlik in their attempts to save a great country.

*The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Turkeys injustice for all

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The policies of US President Donald Trump are not as confused or inconsistent as they are sometimes made out to be, but have an internal logic of their own

Not a day goes by without an incident sparking new questions about US President Donald Trump, many of them urgent ones involving critical and far-reaching issues concerning not just the US but the entire world.

Is Trump going to wage war against Iran? There are videos on YouTube predicting how such a war could unfold, the weapons that could be deployed, the sites that could be targeted and the potential Iranian reactions.

Will Trump be forced out of office as a result of developments in cases against his lawyer Michael Cohen and his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort?

Will the indictments and the legal rulings boost the investigations regarding Russian meddling in the US presidential elections in 2016?

Or will Trump remain untouched because these cases have their own procedural frameworks and the political, legal and constitutional conditions are not ripe for impeachment?

The Republican Party has no intention of losing control of the White House, regardless of what many Republicans may feel about the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Constitutionally, it requires two-thirds of both houses of Congress in the US to impeach a president, and such a vote can only be taken after a lengthy process of investigations and hearings.

A large number of both Republicans and Democrats need to be prepared to pursue Trump through a legal maze in order to expel him from office.

While most analysts agree about the nature of Trumps personality, he remains a difficult person to predict. His path to the White House was extraordinary, and his relations with all portions of the US establishment, from Congress to government departments and the US intelligence community, remain shaky.

Nevertheless, there are certain points about Trump we can be sure about.

First, the loyalty of his grassroots base remains unwaveringly loyal. Nothing seems able to dent its faith in Trump, whether the allegations made against him regarding cohabitation with porn stars or his crooked path to the White House, as long as America first tops the agenda, the economy stays strong and the US stays out of foreign wars.

Second, Trump has acted on his promises, the general thrust of which has been to undermine and diminish American liberalism at home and abroad.

Third, contrary to the general impression, there is a method behind his actions, whether this is informed by his career as a businessman or by an isolationist, ultra-nationalist or white nationalist ideology that wants to keep the US above the rest of the world.

These three factors have combined to shape a kind of strategic thinking that may perplex US and other Western observers, but that has a certain logical coherence of its own when approached from a perspective unblinkered by the widespread liberal biases of the Western elites who have ensured their dominance over past two decades.

These were present during the presidency of Bill Clinton in the 1990s as much as they were during those of George W Bush and Barack Obama, regardless of whether the dominant ideology in Washington was liberal or neo-conservative.

Looking at Trump in terms of the three points above, his domestic and foreign policies become more comprehensible and pack no surprises.

With every passing day and every new tweet, he takes another swipe at the liberal eastern establishment in the US and unfetters the American economy by slashing taxes, regulations and red tape.

His foreign policy has been epitomised by the North Korean experience, which began with threats of volcanic wrath and cataclysmic destruction against Pyongyang and ended with a summit in Singapore and a deal in which North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and the US agreed to reduce its military presence in South Korea.

Between those two points, various third parties came into play, including South Korea, which is keen to sign a peace treaty with its northern neighbour, and China, which wants neither a nuclear North Korea nor a heavy American presence in its vicinity.

Syria offers another example of Trumps foreign policy. His actions here began with escalations and increases in the US military presence in the country until the Islamic State (IS) group was defeated.

Then Washington began to reduce its troops and withdraw, leaving it to Russia to navigate the turbulent waters between Turkey, Iran, Israel and the Al-Assad regime, while remaining mindful of certain red lines: no chemical weapons, no jeopardising of Israeli security and no jeopardising of the Kurdish forces in Syria which would nevertheless have to give up their ambitions for an independent state.

Trumps policy towards Iran appears more complicated because it is still in its initial phases. It is at this point that Trump is most given to brinksmanship.

He might threaten to use massive force or to encourage every form of opposition in order to bring down the Iranian regime.

However, he does not want to become embroiled in a war. Instead, he wants to strike a deal that will ensure the destruction of the Iranian nuclear capacities, even if these were already prohibited under the previous agreement from evolving into military capacities, the consequence of which would be well-known: their destruction through direct US and Israeli military intervention.

However, Trump also wants Iran to stay away from Israel more generally and to withdraw from Syria by reducing its armed forces there.

He also wants it to limit its use of the Lebanese group Hizbullah in both Syria and Lebanon, to curb its regional expansion from Iraq to Yemen, and to stop supporting terrorism across the region.

In return, the Iranian regime will be suffered to survive, much like the communist regime in North Korea. As for the third parties in this process, Europe in particular, they are to play the role of intermediaries and problem-solvers who can eliminate obstacles to the deal.

US relations with Moscow are more complex, and regardless of the poor state of the economy Russia is still the USs main nuclear and military rival and perhaps also serves as a kind of geo-strategic brake on China, the USs number one economic rival at present.

Regardless of whether Trump owes the Russians a favour for their meddling in the 2016 US elections, he does not want US relations with Moscow to be governed by the biases the CIA has had since the Cold War. He made this clear in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

Instead, he wants to strike a historic strategic agreement with Russia. In order to do so, Trump is prepared to give Moscow a greater lead in reaching a solution to the Syrian crisis within the framework of the above-mentioned conditions.

Moreover, he has no objection to a deal over the Russian presence in Georgia and Crimea.

However, the agreement would not end there. In exchange, Moscow would need to lend its support to US efforts to promote a settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict and keep oil prices low so as not to jeopardise the shale oil industry in the US, though not so low as to harm the interests of US allies in the Middle East.

Russia may also be expected to use its influence to convince Iran and Turkey that there are limits to their use of force and that expansionist Iranian or Turkish designs in the region do not serve Russias interests.

However delicate things might appear for Trump at present, he will remain in power at least until the end of his first term.

Meanwhile, his policies are not as confused or as inconsistent as they are sometimes made out to be. They are just not accepted by his political adversaries, who lost the 2016 elections and want a world different to the one that Trump wants.

* The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 August 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The Trump conundrum

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A Nigerian man, Ayodeji Bejide, who is the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank, Liberia, has been arrested for assaulting a staff of the bank, on Tuesday. .

Both Bejide and the staff, Edward Freeman, were at the police headquarters upon which the MD was detained while Freeman was told to seek medical attention. .In a video, circulated on social media, Freeman was seen with a bloody lip. Bejide allegedly threw a calculator at him during a disagreemet at the banks 13th Street head office in Sinkor, Monrovia.Former GT Bank Liberia employees who spoke to the Daily Observer, said Bejide is noted for verbal assaults against employees, especially Liberians.It was gathered that Freeman was assaulted for not submitting a report on time as mandated by Bejide, following a review of the Board of Directors in its August 2018 sitting.A female employee also told the Daily Observer that she resigned because of Bejides behavior, especially toward female staffers. .She said Bejide looks down on employees and senior staffers as though they are his kids, and addresses them however he feels, in spite of ones assignment and status.damyti at 29-08-2018 07:20 PM (3 years ago) (m)

This is very shameful. Two Nigerian ladies were filmed fighting publicly in India after a disagreement. In the trending video footage posted online, the ladies can be seen fighting right in the middle of the street in Mahavia Enclave Palam New Delhi, India,  not minding passersby and onlookers who were watching them.

This is very shameful. Two Nigerian ladies were filmed fighting publicly in India after a disagreement. In the trending video footage posted online, the ladies can be seen fighting right in the middle of the street in Mahavia Enclave Palam New Delhi, India,  not minding passersby and onlookers who were watching them.



Even when two of their friends tried to stop the fight, the ladies continued.



Nigerian Facebook user Godson Osas who is based in India, shared the footage as he blasted them for disgracing their country.



He wrote;



Look at what a grown up Nigerian Benin ash*wo girls are doing in Mahavia Enclave Palam New Delhi India, disgracing themselves in another mans land , tarnishing the image of Nigerians in India, this is why Indians are looking down on Nigerians , this is why Indian police are disturbing Nigerians here and there.





share until it gets to AINSCA so that they should call all these girls in other , both the mode of their dressing and hanging around at odd time are not encouraging, even their social media posts are so bad.





Watch video below

Even when two of their friends tried to stop the fight, the ladies continued.Nigerian Facebook user Godson Osas who is based in India, shared the footage as he blasted them for disgracing their country.He wrote;Look at what a grown up Nigerian Benin ash*wo girls are doing in Mahavia Enclave Palam New Delhi India, disgracing themselves in another mans land , tarnishing the image of Nigerians in India, this is why Indians are looking down on Nigerians , this is why Indian police are disturbing Nigerians here and there.share until it gets to AINSCA so that they should call all these girls in other , both the mode of their dressing and hanging around at odd time are not encouraging, even their social media posts are so bad.Watch video below

Post Reply Posted: at 29-08-2018 07:20 PM (3 years ago) | UpcomingAs students and parents headed back to Glasgow school on Aug. 29, they might have noticed a new addition on Scottie Pride Drive. In partnership with the city of Glasgow and the Valley County Health Department, crosswalk signs were installed over t...Marjorie Frances (Haymond) Beckman, 92, of Bozeman, Mont., passed away Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, at Spring Creek Inn Memory Care.

Cremation has taken place at Franzen-Davis Crematory. A memorial funeral service will be held 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 31, at First Baptist Church in Bozeman with Pastor Jason Bowker and Commander Abe Thompson, US Navy (Ret.), officiating. A reception will follow the memorial service. Graveside committal and burial will follow the reception at Mountain View Cemetery in Livingston, Mont.

Marjorie was born Jan. 12, 1926, in Livingston, the daughter of Carl S. and Rosa May (Poore) Haymond. She received her education in Bozeman and Livingston, graduating at the age of 16 and later enrolling at Montana State College. While at MSC, Marjorie met Army Air Corp 1st Lieutenant, Donald C. Beckman, from Roundup, Mont., at the Livingston First Baptist Church Cherry Pie Social. Don won her heart and they were married Jan. 7, 1945, at Kirtland Field, Albuquerque, N. M., where Don was a pilot instructor. After the war ended, they returned to Bozeman to finish their educations at Montana State. Marjorie received a degree in bacteriology and Don in mechanical engineering.

Upon graduation, Don was hired by the Corps of Engineers for a "one-year" engineering assignment at the Fort Peck Dam Project. Thirty years later, Don retired from the Corps of Engineers as area engineer. Together, she and Don raised their family, Frances, Donna, DonAl and Denise, in the Fort Peck and rural Glasgow, Mont., area, farming and ranching, with 4-H being a priority for everyone in the family. She was an active member of the Glasgow School Board and AAUW and was very involved in other service organizations. She and Don became self-taught experts in geology and paleontology. Throughout their time in northeastern Montana, Marjorie entertained 4-star generals, dignitaries and university paleontologists from around the world.

Marjorie was a rifle markswoman, harvested wild game and after Don's retirement co-founded their engineering and land surveying business, Beckman Engineering. Some winters instead of going "South" they would go to college. They taught at MSU-Northern, Havre, for a few years after Don's retirement. Marjorie taught microbiology and water quality while Don taught construction engineering and land surveying. The students loved them both. In the summers they would take their trailer to Polebridge, Mont., and work on building a family cabin. The highlight of their years was spending this time together and meeting new friends wherever they went.

Marjorie's life was devoted to her husband and family. When he passed away at an early age of 68, it left her with a very big hole to fill and a life to reinvent. She did so in typical Marjorie-fashion, by taking care of her own mother and grandchildren. She volunteered her time and talents to her church, the Museum of the Rockies Docent program and many other service organizations. Marjorie was recently honored as an Extraordinary Ordinary Woman of Montana State University, an award that recognizes MSU alumni women who have had an impact on the status of women at MSU and have inspired others by their example. Marjorie taught us about unconditional love, enduring faithfulness, patience and empathy. Her spirit remains with all of those who were blessed to have known her and we honor her by pursuing our passions and dreams.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Carl and Rosa May Haymond; husband Donald C. Beckman; two sisters, Ethel Christianson and Betty Gladish; and one brother, Donald R. Haymond.

She is survived by her two sisters, Helen Thompson, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Linda Lester, of Littleton, Colo .; daughter Frances (Jim) Yuhas, of Mosier, Ore .; grandchildren Kathy Dehning, Ann Yuhas and Christy (Brian) VanDaele; daughter Donna (John) Paulson, of Missoula, Mont .; grandchildren BJ (Angie) Paulson and Brad Paulson; son DonAl (Jean) Beckman, of Lynden, Wash .; grandchildren Laura (Baldwin) Goodell, Melissa (Nate) Rothbauer and Mike Beckman; daughter Denise (Kurt) Palmquist, of Bozeman; grandchildren Erik Palmquist and Blake Palmquist; 14 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to thank all the caregivers, nurses and administration of Spring Creek Inn Memory Care in Bozeman for your loving care of our mother and grandmother, Marjorie, as she endured the effects of Alzheimer's disease with grace and humility. We pray for a cure.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Marjorie's name be made either to: The Museum of the Rockies, Opening Doors for Montana School Children Fund, contact: Kathryn [email protected]; or, AAUW, The Leadership Programs Fund (#4339), ww2.aauw.org/donate-gift.

Arrangements are under the care of Franzen-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory. Online condolences may be shared at franzen-davis.com.Etix Everywhere to build a new 15 MVA data center in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

August 2018 by Marc Jacob

Etix Everywhere, a global data center provider and operator, EVO, an energy supply company for electricity, natural gas and heat, and Data Center Group (DCG), a data center design, planning and certification office, teamed up to build a 15 MVA facility in Offenbach, part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The first building represents an investment of 120 million euros. The joint-venture plans to open the first phase of the data center by Q3 2019.

Becoming the second largest data center cluster in Europe, Frankfurt has to cope with continued increase of capacity and energy demand. On the other side of the river Main, Etix Everywhere, EVO and DCG have secured enough power for large-scale expansions to develop a massive campus of data centers. The first phase of the project will provide 15 MVA of colocation capacity, developed onto a greenfield site of 7,800 sqm in Offenbach. At full capacity, the 18,000 sqm building will host more than 3,000 racks through 8,000 sqm of IT rooms.

Ensuring the highest flexibility to support digital transformation The data center has been designed to host different types of customers, from large Cloud Service Providers to enterprise customers.

The data center will be EN 50600 certified, a new European standard for data centers. Among the proposed options to customers, the data center will be a multi-tiering facility offering different redundancy levels within the same building. Customers will be able to choose their IT room based on the certifications they want to have.

Due to Frankfurts climate, the data center will be able to maximize the usage of indirect free-cooling. Combining this with the 2N distributed technical architecture, the data center will benefit from a design PUE of 1.2.

Frankfurt is currently the leader of connectivity in Germany and in Europe, in particular thanks to the presence of peering points, including the German Internet Exchange named DE-CIX. The data center is indeed located at less than 1 km from this strategic peering point.

More than 20 international and national telco carriers are immediately available on site ensuring optimum connectivity services to customers for whom latency is key to operate real-time applications.

The colocation data center will complement Etix Everyweres global network of edge data centers already in operations.I understand why most local-government officials and many other civic leaders don't like reporters. Some journalists can be uninformed, easily distracted by the sensational, or strangely uninterested in the bigger and better stories that are happening around them. But, man, are you going to miss these folks when they are gone.That's because the void left by the loss of independent, professional reporters will be filled by far less reliable sources of news and other information: rumor, gossip and particularly social media, which so often are dominated by angry or frightened people with little interest in facts. And this will be much, much worse.This isn't a warning about the future. It's happening now as newspapers reduce coverage or simply close up shop, so that local governments that were once covered daily are left in silence. The situation is so dire in New Jersey that the state legislature recently put up $5 million to encourage somebody, anybody, to start covering these "news deserts."But assuming no one starts a professional news organization in your community, what can a local government do to connect with its citizens in a post-newspaper world?I put this question to a former mayor of a city known for its tight bond with citizens. Decatur is a close-in suburb of Atlanta that's beloved by urbanists for its walkable, transit-oriented downtown and pleasant neighborhoods. It has a well-run local government and was recently named an All-America City by the National Civic League.Call a meeting in Decatur and the citizens will turn out. I know this because I was involved in a planning effort there in 2010 that began with a large-scale citizen engagement effort. Hundreds of people participated in long meetings about what the city could be. Many of their ideas are being realized today.Not that you would know any of this if you lived elsewhere in the Atlanta area. That's because the daily newspapers stopped covering Decatur's city commission meetings long ago. The only time reporters show up at Decatur City Hall today is when something bad happens, which is blessedly infrequent.So how has Decatur maintained such a tight bond with its citizens in a post-newspaper era? That's what I wanted to know from Bill Floyd, who was a city commissioner for 22 years and mayor for most of that time.I started by asking about a colorful monthly newsletter calledthat the city mails to every household. Was this the way Decatur kept citizens informed, basically by starting its own publication?Well, Floyd said in his polite way, Decatur Focus was useful for communicating the city's plans. "You have to stay in touch with people," he said. And he was amazed by how many people read the newsletter and commented on it.But, no, it wasn't the newsletter alone. In fact, Floyd went on, there is no single way cities can communicate in a social media world. Nor would a single communicator be effective, even one at City Hall. Rather, he said, you need an army of communicators in the social media, most of them residents. And Decatur has built just such an army through its endless citizen-engagement efforts.The bedrocks are Decatur 101 and the Citizens Police Academy . Decatur 101 is what it sounds like, two-hour classes on how the city works, delivered over a seven-week period. Other cities have programs like this; this one is simply done better. Started in 2000, Decatur 101 became so popular that in 2006 the city began running two classes, with morning and evening sessions. There's a waiting list of citizens who want a spot. Later, Decatur 101 inspired the Citizens Police Academy, a 10-week course on the local police and criminal-justice systems. (There's even a Junior Police Academy for 11-to-14-year-olds.)The result of these and other city programs, Floyd said, is that there are hundreds of citizens who know how to get information from the city. So, if a rumor starts on a neighborhood website about, say, car break-ins, or if someone spreads falsehoods about a rezoning case, a citizen who has been through Decatur 101 or the Police Academy is bound to see it, call a city official and have the facts in short order. "And when somebody says, 'Here's what the city says,' it just stops the rumors cold," Floyd added.Decatur did not create its citizen-engagement programs in response to social media. There were no social media in 2000. It started them because it believed that informed, involved citizens made it a better place. That the city discovered a way to thrive in a post-newspaper world was a happy, unintended benefit. Wouldn't accomplishing the same thing be good news for your community?Governments around the nation are working to design the best vaccine policies that keep both their employees and their residents safe. Although the latest data shows a variety of polarizing perspectives, there are clear emerging best practices that leading governments are following to put trust first: creating policies that are flexible and provide a range of options, and being in tune with the needs and sentiments of their employees so that they are able to be dynamic and accommodate the rapidly changing situation.How Gillum Won

Trump's Support Key for GOP

Can a Progressive Win in Florida?

Change, Not Centrists

Andrew Gillum's victory in Florida's Democratic primary for governor Tuesday is being hailed by progressives as a triumph for their values, while being spun by Republicans as proof that Democrats have strayed too far to the left.On Wednesday, President Trump described Gillum as a "failed Socialist mayor" on Twitter. Trump endorsed Congressman Ron DeSantis, who won the Republican nomination.Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, has taken liberal positions on a host of issues, from gun control and "Medicare for all" to legalized marijuana and a $15 minimum wage. He came from far behind in the polls to beat Gwen Graham, a former congresswoman who ran on a more moderate platform.But Gillum's shocking upset was built on more than just progressive ideas.As the only African-American candidate in the large Democratic field, his victory may have had as much to do with demographics as ideology (although the two factors are not necessarily mutually exclusive). Gillum also benefited from in-fighting and attacks between the other contenders as well as a divide among their geographic areas of support."For the first time in many a year, he was able to elevate minority turnout," says Susan MacManus, a retired political scientist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. "That's been a problem for Democrats in the last several elections."Gillum's argument throughout the campaign was that, rather than trying to win over moderates with a centrist message, Democrats need to appeal strongly to progressive voters who want candidates who aggressively advocate their preferred policies."Our theory of the case is that Florida Democrats in midterms are liable to stay home unless they have something to vote for, instead of voting against," says Geoff Burgan, Gillum's campaign spokesman.The result is that, as in neighboring Georgia, Florida voters picking a new governor will face a choice between candidates who are hard right or far left. Both Gillum and DeSantis will have to find ways to appeal to voters in the center because nearly 30 percent of the state's electorate is made up of people registered with minor parties or no party affiliation. Those voters were unable to participate in the closed Democratic and GOP primaries.Much of the Republican establishment had lined up behind Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, concerned that DeSantis was too closely tied to Trump to win in November. Now questions are being asked about whether Gillum is too liberal to win in Florida, where Republicans have prevailed in the last five elections for governor."For Democrats, Gillum and the progressives won and eliminated any chance the party had of winning in November," says Darryl Paulson, an emeritus government professor at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.After trailing at the back of the pack for most of the primary season, Gillum began to climb at just the right time. His late campaign bus tour, which drew crowds of young voters and African-Americans, was "brilliant," says MacManus."It does seem that, as an African-American candidate, he was able to mobilize black voters," says Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida. "It wasn't captured in the polls or at least initially in the early voting until 'souls to the polls,'" the last day of early voting on Sunday when many voters are bused directly from churches to polling places.Jewett notes that Gillum stood essentially alone on the progressive wing of the party. Chris King, an entrepreneur, was also sounding liberal notes, but he ended up taking just 2.5 percent of the vote.Graham, along with former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and billionaire developer Jeff Greene, offered a more moderate, pro-business appeal. For much of the race, Levine appeared to be Graham's strongest competitor. He and Greene spent heavily on television advertising.While the moderates were taking shots at each other, Gillum came out comparatively unscathed."Most of the time, it seemed to be a two-person race between Graham and Levine," says Pete Dunbar, a former GOP legislator and gubernatorial aide. "They were exchanging the negative ads, and Gillum was under the radar."Levine spent nearly $40 million on the race, while Greene spent $35 million. Graham spent $16 million, while Gillum -- who often noted he was the "only non-millionaire" in the race -- spent less than $7 million. Gillum did receive additional support from progressive groups, notably NextGen America, which is funded by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer.With Levine and Greene both hailing from South Florida, Graham concentrated her efforts elsewhere. That proved to be a mistake. Gillum benefited from higher-than-normal turnout in counties such as Miami-Dade and Broward. In both those counties, Graham finished third. It was enough for Gillum to edge Graham, 34 percent to 31 percent.Turnout on the Democratic side was up by 80 percent, compared with 2014. But Republican enthusiasm ran nearly as high, with turnout up 70 percent.Outgoing GOP Gov. Rick Scott, who is term-limited and seeking a U.S. Senate seat, won both his gubernatorial elections by a single percentage point. The conventional wisdom among pundits was that the more moderate Graham would have been favored against DeSantis, who is a founding member of the no-compromise conservative Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House.Most of the state's Republican and business establishment lined up early behind Putnam, a former member of Congress who was elected to the state legislature at age 22. Although Putnam had worked party circles diligently for years, he proved to be no match for DeSantis, who has made dozens of appearances on Fox News this year defending Trump, earning the president's endorsement -- and a presidential campaign rally in Tampa last month -- in return.DeSantis made support for Trump and his immigration policies the center of his campaign, going so far to produce an ad in which he instructs his toddler children to build a wall with blocks and say "make America great again."DeSantis barely discussed Florida issues. Putnam sought to turn that into a weakness, frequently noting that the state couldn't be understood from inside a TV studio in Washington. That charge barely registered with Republican voters."There's a phenomenon that's going understated here," says MacManus. "Longevity in office is not an asset this time around."Putnam spent roughly double what DeSantis did during the campaign, but DeSantis skunked the early favorite, winning by a 20-percentage-point margin.Ned James is a registered Republican who lives in the Florida area. He voted for DeSantis four years ago in a congressional primary but supported Putnam for governor. He's not sure he can vote for DeSantis now."He's too closely aligned with Trump," James says. "If he supports somebody who exhibits that sort of behavior, that demeanor, I can't support somebody like that."James says he "certainly" would have voted for Graham in the general election against DeSantis. He's undecided but worries that Gillum might be too liberal on policy for his tastes.Gillum has called for Trump's impeachment and supports abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He wants to increase corporate income tax rates to generate an additional $1 billion for public schools. (Florida does not have a personal income tax.)Republicans are tarring Gillum as a socialist, with DeSantis warning he could turn Florida into Venezuela."The fact that he says he wants to raise corporate taxes, that typically would be considered the death of your chances in Florida," Jewett says. "It may be yet."Republicans will also attack Gillum based on the crime rate in Tallahassee as well as an ongoing FBI investigation into municipal corruption there. Gillum has not been tied directly to any criminal activity, but some Democrats worry that it is still a cloud that could mar his chances."Even if Gillum has done nothing wrong, the Republicans will simply crucify him for being mayor of the city where an FBI investigation has been ongoing for two or three years," Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller, who supported Graham, said before the primary.DeSantis will try to appeal to voters in the center by noting the state's low unemployment rate and strong economic performance under Scott. He'll also attack Gillum as unacceptably liberal.Appearing on Fox Wednesday, DeSantis said that Florida voters shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Gillum. Democrats immediately decried that as a racial slur.Either Gillum or DeSantis would represent a generational change in leadership. Gillum is 39, while DeSantis turns 40 next month."Florida's demographics are changing," notes MacManus, the USF political scientist. "Gen Xers and younger are now a majority of voters in Florida. You're seeing a sea change with the rise of the younger generation."Gillum has said that younger voters may not support every item on his agenda or even think he has a chance of enacting them. But they do want something bold, he argues, plus a sense that politics can be "reformed."Centrists fared poorly in other gubernatorial primaries on Tuesday.In Arizona , Democrats selected David Garcia, a college professor who wants to abolish ICE and provide free college tuition. He will try to unseat GOP Gov. Doug Ducey.In Oklahoma, Republican voters selected mortgage executive Kevin Stitt over former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett in a runoff. Cornett had placed first in the June primary and would have been considered a stronger favorite in the general election against Democrat Drew Edmondson, a former state attorney general. But Stitt won the runoff, taking 55 percent of the vote Tuesday."Mick got beat because he had an ideological ceiling for a moderate in the Republican primary electorate," says Keith Gaddie, a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma.In Florida, candidates typically appeal to their bases during primaries then "run as fast as you can to the middle" to win over independent voters, says Dunbar, the former legislator. An early sign of the extent to which Gillum or DeSantis intend to do that will come with their selections for running mates.But in their media appearances following the primary, neither candidate sounded as if he intends to soften his message."The collapse of the political center is fraught with danger for American politics," laments Paulson, the USF-St. Petersburg professor.Florida voters on Tuesday propelled a Trump-endorsed congressman and the African-American mayor of Tallahassee on toward November's general election in the race to replace Rick Scott as governor, setting up a clash of ideologies in the nation's largest swing state.On the right: U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, a 39-year-old conservative, Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran who rode presidential tweets and FOX News interviews to a resounding primary win over Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam.And on the left: Andrew Gillum, a 39-year-old liberal who with the help of progressive political organizations surged in the last weeks of his campaign to upset a better-funded field.The surprise matchup figures to be a pure test of partisan strength between a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus and a Democrat who scored his party's nomination with the help of Democratic-Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. Voters will choose between a candidate in DeSantis who wants to build Trump's border wall and believes "people should have a right to pursue the healthcare that they want," and one in Gillum who wants to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and create a Medicare-for-All system."In a lot of ways it's the perfect matchup," said Democratic political consultant Ben Pollara. "My big fear about DeSantis has been that he's this avatar of the Trump wing of the party. Is being that person enough to beat a center-of-the-road Democratic candidate? This is a base-versus-base year and I like the way that Andrew fires up the base."Gillum, who wants to be the first black governor in Florida history, wasn't expected to make it past the primary. He languished in the polls for most of the campaign, and was outspent by about 10-to-1 by his opponents.But a financial boost from billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros and the support of progressive groups like New Florida Majority helped push him over the front-runner, former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, who came in just behind Gillum in the primary vote. Gillum's win is also a victory for party purists, who argued that Democrats needed to align behind an unabashed liberal in order to energize the party."I want you to know that this thing is not about me," Gillum, who grew up in south Miami-Dade County and advertised himself as the "only non-millionaire" in the Democratic primary, said during his victory speech. "This race is about every single one of us. Those of us inside this room. Those outside of this room. Those who voted for me. Those who didn't vote at all. And those who didn't vote for me because they are Republicans. But I want to be their governor, too."Supporters at Gillum's party at Hotel Duval in Tallahassee cheered deafeningly and hugged each other as elections returns slowly showed him catching up to Graham and then surpassing her. Between cheers of "Gillum! Gillum!" and his closing slogan, "Bring it home," the candidate, sequestered in a hotel room in the building, tweeted a photo of himself watching the results come in."Could be one of those nights...!" he wrote.DeSantis, on the other hand, has been the presumptive Republican nominee for weeks, and strode into what was always going to be a victory party at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando. While Putnam outspent him more than two-to-one, the former Navy JAG officer had the power of Donald Trump behind him in a state where most Republican voters are firmly behind the president.In the Republican primary, Trump's blessing was enough to help land DeSantis a 20-point victory over Putnam, once considered a clear front-runner to win the party's nomination. The Palm Coast congressman used the first words of his victory speech to genuflect: "Thank you, Mr. President."But DeSantis bristled at a question Tuesday night about whether he'd need to broaden his base of support to move beyond Trump supporters in the general."First of all, the speech I gave: education, environment, jobs, illegal immigration, those things I mentioned every single stop, and we had a very good agenda, it resonated, so we're going to keep focusing on those issues. At the end of the day, we can accomplish all those things for Florida so we've got to get it done," he said.DeSantis quickly turned his focus to Gillum. "He is way, way too liberal for the state of Florida," he said.Blaise Ingoglia, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said Gillum's nomination shows "how far the party has strayed from the days of Bill Clinton." He said Republicans "welcome that contrast.""This party wants open borders and wants to abolish ICE," he said. "These types of progressive-slash-socialist candidates just don't perform well in general elections."In some ways, Gillum and DeSantis share some parallels. High-profile investigations indirectly related to the candidates pose potential problems for both their campaigns, with Gillum the top official of a city under the watch of the FBI and DeSantis tied to a president under scrutiny by Special U.S. Justice Counsel Robert Mueller.Gillum struggled to raise money during the primary election in part, it seemed, because almost as soon as he got into the race news came down that the FBI was investigating corruption in municipal politics in Tallahassee. There's never been any evidence that Gillum has been a subject of that investigation, but an old friend and former mayoral-campaign treasurer has been tied into the probe, and the mayor has at times found himself at least the subject of uncomfortable news articles.Democrats, meanwhile, have been eager to face a top-of-ticket candidate so closely aligned with a president who has spent his entire tenure under suspicion of Russian campaign ties, and who just last week was accused by his own attorney of secretly and illegally paying off women to silence them during his presidential campaign. DeSantis has shown no signs of trying to distance himself from Trump, with the president cutting a robocall for his campaign in the final days of the primary election and tweeting his satisfaction with the results of the election Tuesday night."I just don't think those are the issues voters are focused on," Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz said Tuesday night at the DeSantis election party.But Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist who's been severely critical of Trump, questions whether the relationship will be a problem in the general election."He knew the power of Donald Trump's endorsement was tremendous. He also had to know that if you gamble your entire persona on a cult figure and not on philosophy or principle, when that cult figure has a bad day, so do you," Wilson said. "When Donald Trump gets a cold, candidates who are defined by adoring him get pneumonia. Or Ebola. We'll see."D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) often touts her administrations immigrant legal-aid fund when activists say she hasnt done enough to protect undocumented residents from President Trumps immigration crackdown.The mayors office has awarded $1 million to nonprofit organizations that have used the money to file dozens of asylum and visa applications, hold informational sessions about immigration law and train attorneys to offer pro bono help to immigrants.Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported hundreds of arrests in the Washington region in recent months, although statistics were not readily available for immigrants who specifically were living in the District. But unlike other cities that have created immigrant defense funds since Trump took office, Washington does not use tax dollars to help undocumented adults once they are detained by federal authorities and face deportation.California will become the first state to let people leave jail before trial without having to post bail, under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday that largely leaves pretrial release decisions up to local judges -- a change praised by legislative and judicial leaders but condemned by some criminal defense advocates.SB10 abolishes the long-standing system of requiring newly arrested defendants to put up bail, in an amount based on the seriousness of the charges, to be freed while awaiting trial. Bail-bond companies and other advocates say the current bail system promotes public safety and encourages defendants to show up in court, but opponents note that poor people are kept in jail because they can't afford to pay their way out.More than 48,000 county jail inmates in California -- two-thirds of the jail population -- have not yet been convicted of a crime, and most of them are being held because they are unable to post bail, according to a recent state study.With the new law, scheduled to take effect in October 2019, "California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly," Brown said Tuesday after signing the bill.Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, a co-author of the bill, said the bail system "has allowed the wealthy to purchase their freedom regardless of their risk, while the poor who pose no danger languish in jail." The new measure was also praised by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye after the state's Judicial Council, which she chairs, took an unusually public position in successfully pushing for revisions to an earlier version of SB10. The current system was "outdated, unsafe and unfair," she said in a statement, and it took a "three-branch solution" -- the governor, legislators and judicial leaders -- to eliminate it.But some longtime opponents of cash bail said the new law would simply replace one system of pretrial detention with another, based on decisions by individual judges who will consider a set of prescribed "risk assessments" and then decide, with little possibility of appeal, whether a defendant is safe enough to release or must remain behind bars.SB10 "cannot guarantee a substantial reduction in the number of Californians detained while awaiting trial, nor does it sufficiently address racial bias in pretrial decision-making," said leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union in California, who had supported a version of the bill that gave judges less control over pretrial release.San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said SB10 "handed the keys to the judges," and he fears that the new law "will result in more people being locked up." He also contended Cantil-Sakauye has a conflict of interest because the state Supreme Court is considering a constitutional challenge to the current cash-bail system.Most law enforcement groups also opposed SB10, along with the bail-bond industry, which would be effectively eliminated with the abolition of cash bail.Bond companies charge defendants a nonrefundable 10 percent fee to post bail. As of 2014, according to a study released by the Judicial Council, bail agents in California were collecting more than $308 million a year in fees.Once bail is abolished, "who's going to bring people back to court when they don't show up?" asked Harmeet Dhillon, lawyer for the California Bail Agents Association, which is arguing in support of the current law in an Oakland federal court. She said bond companies "would welcome some reforms to the current bail law without eliminating it."One other state, New Jersey, eliminated cash bail for nearly all crimes in January 2017, and has reported a substantial decline in its jail population with no significant increase in major crimes. Unless SB10 is successfully challenged in court, California, as of October 2019, will become the first state to go further and prohibit requiring defendants to post bail for any crime.People held on capital charges would still not qualify for pretrial release. Nor would defendants with recent serious or violent felony convictions, those charged with domestic violence, or those who had been granted bail in the past and repeatedly failed to appear in court.Others could be freed while awaiting trial, with monitoring, but their prospects for release would depend on the charges, their record, and the judge's assessment of the risk they would pose.Those accused of nonviolent misdemeanors, like small-scale shoplifting, would be freed from jail within 12 hours after being booked, with some exceptions. For others, the judge would decide whether they posed a low, moderate or high risk of fleeing or committing another crime. County courts would establish mathematical "risk assessments" to help determine who should be released.One critic of the bill, Santa Clara University law Professor W. David Ball, said an earlier version of the legislation would have used those assessments only to qualify defendants for pretrial release, and would have entitled others to a hearing. He said the final version, backed by judicial leaders, would allow the assessments to be used to grant or deny release, and would leave the final decision with the judge."Hopefully, this is not the end of the road," said Ball, who worked with the ACLU on the first draft of the bill.Supporters of SB10 said the law is an essential first step toward repairing a system that is expensive, ineffective at preventing crime, and unfair to thousands of pretrial detainees."Our path to a more just criminal justice system is not complete," said Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, lead author of the bill. "But today it made a transformational shift away from valuing private wealth and toward protecting public safety."A former police officer in Texas has been found guilty of murder in the high-profile shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards -- a rare victory for civil rights activists seeking justice for the dozens of unarmed African-American men and boys who have been killed by police officers in recent years.As Judge Brandon Birmingham read the verdict Tuesday against Roy Oliver, who worked in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs, sobs came from the gallery of the packed courtroom. The last time an on-duty police officer in Dallas County was convicted of murder was in 1973. Oliver could be sentenced to life in prison."I'm just so thankful," Jordan's father, Odell Edwards, told reporters. "Thankful, thankful."Daryl Washington, an attorney representing the family, said the verdict meant more than justice for Jordan."It's about Tamir Rice. It's about Walter Scott. It's about Alton Sterling," he said, naming victims of police shootings in recent years. "It's about every, every African-American, unarmed African-American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted a link to a news story about the conviction, saying that Jordan's "life should never have been lost."On the night of April 29, 2017, Oliver fired an MC5 rifle into a Chevrolet Impala carrying Jordan and two of his brothers as it pulled away from a high school house party. Jordan, who was struck in the head, died later at a hospital.Police initially said the vehicle had backed up toward Oliver "in an aggressive manner," but body camera video showed the car was moving away from him and his partner. Days after the shooting, Oliver, who had served in the department for six years, was fired.Jordan's stepbrother, Vidal Allen, was driving the car the night of the shooting."I was very scared," Allen testified. "I just wanted to get home and get everyone safe."Oliver, 38, has said he feared for his life and his partner's safety."I had to make a decision. This car is about to hit my partner," Oliver testified in the trial. "I had no other option."After a weeklong trial, it took the jury one day to reach a verdict.Jordan's death echoes other police shootings involving black boys and men. But no convictions were handed down in most of those cases.In November 2014, Cleveland police got a 911 call about someone brandishing a pistol near a park _ the weapon, the caller said, was "probably fake." But in an incident captured on camera, a police cruiser pulled into the park and Officer Timothy Loehmann jumped out and opened fire. Within seconds, 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had a toy gun, was dead.Even before Tamir's death, the U.S. Department of Justice had been investigating the Cleveland Police Department. A month after his shooting, it released a report saying Cleveland police displayed a pattern of using unnecessary force.A year later, a grand jury decided not to indict Loehmann in Tamir's death, saying he had reason to fear for his life.In September 2016, in Columbus, Ohio, police shot and killed Tyre King, 13, who was carrying a BB gun while running from police. A grand jury declined to file criminal charges against the officer who killed him.And in May 2017, an Oklahoma jury acquitted an officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher, 40, as he stood with his hands above his head along a rural highway.Those cases and others illustrate the difficulty of convicting police officers. The law in most places gives them the benefit of the doubt.Prosecutors usually must show that an officer knowingly and intentionally killed without justification or provocation. A fear of harm has been successfully used as the justification for many shootings, even when the victim turned out to be unarmed.The most recent case that ended in a conviction came last year when Michael Slager, a former officer in North Charleston, S.C., was first tried on murder charges in the April 2015 shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was stopped for a driving with a broken taillight. But after those proceedings ended in a mistrial, Slager pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.The last Dallas County police officer convicted for murder while on duty was Darrell Cain, who shot and killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez after forcing him to endure a version of Russian roulette while handcuffed inside a patrol car.There was no immediate reaction to Thursday's verdict from local or national police groups.John Fullinwider, a longtime Dallas activist and co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality, said Oliver's conviction came as a surprise."I expected to see an angel fly over City Hall before I saw this murder conviction," he said. "This is a victory, but we really need independent federal prosecutors in all fatal police shootings."Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who represents the Edwards family, said the conviction was justice for the country."We've seen time and time again, no charges, let alone convictions, in these high-profile shootings," he said. "It is my hope that this is a turning point in the fight against police brutality against blacks."Description

GIS 29 August, 2018: Several activities will be organised to mark the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer celebrated on 16 September, each year. The theme for this year is Keep Cool and Carry On! The Montreal Protocol.

They comprise a panel discussion on ozone and mitigating the effects of climate change on 19 September 2018 and an exhibition from 17 to 21 September 2018 at the City Council of Port Louis. In addition, sensitisation campaigns to raise awareness on ozone related issues will also be held.

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

The United Nations General Assembly declared 16 September of each year as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer to commemorate the date of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987; and to promote activities in accordance with the objectives of the Protocol and its amendments.

Mauritius is one among other signatory countries to the Montreal protocol which is an international environmental agreement with universal ratification to protect the earths ozone layer by eliminating use of ozone depleting substances.Description

GIS 29 August, 2018: The Ambassador designate of the Republic of Turkey, Mr Metin Husrev Unler, paid a courtesy call this afternoon on the Prime Minister, The Ambassador designate of the Republic of Turkey, Mr Metin Husrev Unler, paid a courtesy call this afternoon on the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis.

In a statement, Mr Unler pointed out that discussions with the Prime Minister focused on the reinforcement of bilateral and commercial relations while adding that the two Governments are working towards this objective.

Speaking about flights between Mauritius and Turkey, the Ambassador recalled that Turkish Airlines is currently operating five weekly flights and transporting around 100 000 passengers to and from Mauritius. He underlined that last year some 40 000 tourists from Turkey travelled to Mauritius while adding that both Governments are working towards increasing the number of tourists to 50 000 as from next year.

Born on 5 June 1957 in Ankara, Mr Metin Husrev Unler graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University in 1978. He has a Masters degree in Political Science from the Paris-Sorbonne University. After embarking on several missions in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he became the Ambassador in Pristina, Kosovo from 2009 till 2011, after which he was the Ambassador in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2011 to 2012.

Since 2012, Mr Unler has been a Consultant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Turkey. He was also the coordinator of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul from May 2016 to November 2017. As at 1st December 2017, he is the Ambassador designate of the Republic of Turkey in Madagascar.Description

GIS  29 August 2018:  29 August 2018: The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is the right platform to reflect on the underlying causes and consequences of unsustainable policies, create a new economic thinking for women of the IORA region and adopt a unified approach for a common agenda on womens economic empowerment.

The Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, made this statement this morning at the IORA Ministerial Conference focusing on the theme Womens Economic Empowerment: A Prerequisite for Sustainable Development, currently being held at the Ravenala Attitude Hotel in Balaclava. The Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Local Government and Outer Islands, Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, and other eminent personalities were also present on this occasion.

In his address, the Prime Minister highlighted that gender equality is a cross cutting issue and permeates the six priority areas which are: maritime safety and security and the blue economy; trade and investment facilitation; fisheries management; disaster risk management; academic science and technology corporation; and tourism and cultural exchange. It is therefore essential that womens economic empowerment is fully understood as being a prerequisite for sustainable development, he underpinned.

He pointed out that Government has been accelerating interventions for womens empowerment and gender equality. Some of these interventions, he added, include among others: the amendment of the Employment Rights Act in 2015 to increase maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks; and a 10-year Small and Medium Enterprises master plan that support women engaged in entrepreneurial activities.

He emphasised that the Working Group on Womens Economic Empowerment, which had its first inaugural meeting on 28 August 2018, with Mauritius as Chair and Australia as Co-chair and Lead Coordinator, shows that Senior Officials and Gender Experts are all set to work for womens economic empowerment.

Addressing the delegates, the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Local Government and Outer Islands, Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, stressed that the Conference is the peak of a new era for the IORA as it offers a unique platform for high calibre professionals in the field of gender and human affairs to deliberate and shed more light on womens economic empowerment and to realise its set objectives by making the Working Group functional.

Gender focal points, she indicated, should strategise and identify concrete, practical and actionable recommendations which should be shared with relevant Ministries to ensure that women are subject of policies as well as vital agents of constructive change. Womens economic empowerment is a critical aspect of any significant action to integrate women as active agents of sustainable development, she added.

Delegates from 19 IORA Member States are attending the two-day Conference which is an initiative of the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare. The Conference is expected to lead to the finalisation and adoption of the Work Plan of the Working Group on Womens Economic Empowerment.One of the largest advocacy groups for municipal governments in the nation has committed to helping its members enhance their use of data and evidence to solve local problems.The National League of Cities (NLC) in partnership with Results for America (RFA), a lead partner within Bloomberg Philanthropies' What Works Cities, will cultivate several opportunities for local government leadership. This will include a series of workshops, called NLC University, to address foundational data practices in the local government space.The workshops ultimately allow participants to work toward What Works Cities certifications while advancing their understandings of data and evidentiary practices.Last year, What Works Cities set a new standard of excellence in data-driven governance with the introduction of certification, Clarence Anthony, National League of Cities CEO, said in a press release. NLC is proud to partner with Results for America to bring these best practices to our membership and help them reach that bar. Together, we can drive better outcomes that have the power to improve the lives of millions of our cities residents.Simone Brody, executive director of What Works Cities, said her organization and NLC have long had a great relationship, and this will help her groups work as well. Earlier this year, What Works Cities reached its long-sought goal of working with 100 official participants.Frankly, were also seeing a lot of demand among cities outside of the 100 to do this work, she said.As such, this new partnership is a means of bringing that work to a broader group of local governments than just the 100, helping organizers move toward an almost do-it-yourself approach to fostering these values and lessons.Basically, where the first phase of What Works Cities focused on working with a group of 100 cities, organizers have now begun to think about a second phase that goes beyond that in a practical and broader way.The partnership will also include programming during the 2018 City Summit in Los Angeles Nov. 7-10 as well as other events.RALEIGH, N.C.  Reciting a familiar litany of devastating recent cyberattacks, Gov. Roy Cooper took aim at improving his states cybersecurity and broadband access in opening remarks at the 18th North Carolina Digital Government Summit (DGS) in Raleigh.Cooper, who was elected in 2016 and spoke at last years DGS for the first time, pointed out two North Carolina counties, Mecklenburg and Davidson, were hit by cyberattacks in recent months  along with the cities of Atlanta, Denver and Orlando  and said cybersecurity remains a priority for his administration.But help could be on the way. North Carolina was selected in June as one of four states to partner with the National Governors Association (NGA) on a state cybersecurity program, the governor said.The initiative, NGAs Policy Academy on Implementing State Cybersecurity, will partner NGA with Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin to assist the states in modernizing cybersecurity plans and infrastructure.NGA will provide states with technical assistance to implement and operationalize cybersecurity planning, it said in a news release.We want to become a model state for cybersecurity and we want to keep working for the private sector to strengthen our cybersecurity efforts. Government has a lot of information. We need to keep it safe and people rely on us to do it, Cooper said at the summit.North Carolina Chief Information Officer Eric Boyette toldstate participants will include members of the Department of Public Safety, National Guard, the State Bureau of Investigation; the states Homeland Security teams and cybersecurity leaders.Were working together to focus on policy and just achievements that we can work on independently and as a group, he said.Cooper said Boyette and Secretary of Public Safety Eric Hooks will play what he called a significant role in the effort.The governor said North Carolina has had some other technology successes lately, pointing out the state has improved Internet at its schools and made strides connecting people to health care via telemedicine. But it's a problem, he said, that hundreds of thousands of households still lack access to high-speed broadband.During a recent visit to Madison County, the governor said, a county planner revealed more than 23 percent of respondents to a survey indicated they had no access to broadband; while another 60 percent said their broadband wasnt really reliable.His Hometown Strong initiative, which Cooper described as an action team, will likely take aim at some IT issues, since the states Department of Information Technology is one of 12 state agencies participating. The effort is designed to connect rural counties  six, so far  with higher-level services they lack.Broadband, the governor said, is an enabler service and will close the homework gap that leaves students in households without high-speed Internet unable to complete assignments; and serve as an economic development tool.The General Assembly, he said, did not fully fund a $20 million ask for expansion projects in his second budget, allocating just half that; and he called on private-sector attendees to work with government to make this happen.When I talk to businesses and try to get them to expand, that is one of the infrastructure issues that they care about, including a good workforce that is well-trained, Cooper said, ending his remarks to around 300 attendees by emphasizing that "broadband access and cybersecurity are two areas where I would encourage you to work, and work with my Department of IT.This is the story of a university professor, a blogger and a journalist, each part of a larger narrative about the intersection of crime statistics and fear. Once it came together, the police department and city council wanted to operationalize it. But first it got messy.At issue is that residents in a number of Seattle neighborhoods think crime is much worse than it is. The results of a Seattle University survey asking 6,454 city residents about perception of public safety found that in Ballard, a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the city, fear of crime ranks higher than most of the 59 Seattle neighborhoods covered by the survey. The My Ballard blog published these numbers, and the story caught the attention of Seattle Times columnist Gene Balk, who followed up by comparing the numbers from Seattle Universitys fear-of-crime scale with actual crime rates for Seattle neighborhoods, which he calculated by using Seattle Police Department crime data and population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.Balks analysis found several neighborhoods where fear was higher than average and crime was lower than average. The reader response was swift, angry and clear: Dont tell me what its like to live in my neighborhood. Data reflected reality  just not their reality. It prompted Balk to write a follow-up column to more fully capture the lived experience that was not evident in the numbers.The survey findings were also the subject of a hearing before the city council. The professor who led the study explained the disconnect between data and the lived experience as the manifestation of an angry bit of Mean World Syndrome, a phenomenon through which violence-related media content makes consumers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. It didnt help that neighbors were frustrated with slow police responses, and by their own accounts, many residents had stopped reporting crime, casting a pall on the legitimacy of the survey data. The Seattle Police Department told the City Council the contextualized data was helpful. For its part, the council wanted to know more about what made residents fearful.There are a number of elements in play in stories such as these: data, engagement and storytelling. This Seattle case demonstrates what happens when data doesnt map to lived experience.Data is authoritative, but its legitimacy can easily be called into question. It helps policymakers and planners see deeper and more broadly into the life of the city. Data is helpful in operations, planning and politics. Analytics can surface correlations that would have otherwise remained unknown.Civic engagement is the result of asking questions of the people who live and work in a particular place. Methods vary in their rigor and results vary in their usefulness.Then there is storytelling. This is not a strong suit of most public agencies, leaving constituents to their own devices to make sense of what is going on. Effective storytelling  not necessarily in the journalistic sense  provides a narrative about which people may argue, but at least lays out a common fact pattern.Many public agencies do well to get one of these elements right; the lucky ones get two. But if policy decisions are to be trusted in an era of data-informed government, then government needs to get good at doing all three well, every time.Detroit is changing. Nearly five years have passed since Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States  an event which marked the nadir of a decades-long decline. The city has recovered since then, quickly in some areas and more slowly in others. Foreclosures are down , and downtown real estate price are up . A few months ago, the state financial review commission entered a  dormancy period  after the city posted three consecutive budget surpluses, from 2015 to 2017. If Detroit can avoid running a deficit for the next ten years, the commission will dissolve entirely, and the Motor City will be in complete control of its finances once again.Change, in this case, appears to be a good thing, but its important not to assume that the revitalization of a city translates to benefits for all the people who live there. Many of the signs that traditionally indicate the improved health of a city  for instance, higher real estate prices  also signal the disruption of communities, as the rising cost of housing and the cultural shifts that come with it can drive some residents away. Turning the Corner (TTC), a five-city initiative guided by the Urban Institutes National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) and the Funders Networks Federal Reserve-Philanthropy Initiative, aims to begin conversations about displacement and equitable revitalization before that happens. Launched in January 2016, the project pilots a research model that monitors neighborhood change, drives informed government action, and supports displacement prevention and inclusive revitalization. Local teams in Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Twin Cities conducted independent research to understand neighborhood change and displacement risk in their communities. The Urban Institute, funded by the Kresge Foundation, will synthesize lessons from the five cities.As one of the TTC participants, Data Driven Detroit (D3), NNIPs local partner, developed metrics to identify areas at risk of transformational neighborhood change: investment-catalyzed economic changes to neighborhoods that can alter the composition or culture of their communities.One of the results of that research is an interactive map that compiles dozens of data points for 9,444 of the citys 15,933 census blocks and color codes them according to the likelihood of neighborhood change. (Thousands of blocks were screened out because of their low residential population or because they had already experienced residential change.)The interactive index comes at the end of a story map detailing the research process. To develop the index, D3 conducted a number of focus groups and one-on-one interviews in Southwest Detroit and the North End  two neighborhoods locals believed were already experiencing transformational change  to glean information about recent changes in business, the built environment, and the community. Quantitative research was directed at administrative data on foreclosures and building permits, as well as at surveys conducted by the city of Detroit and the Census Bureau. Individual variables were then consolidated into distinct indices which captured different aspects of neighborhood change: Housing Stability, Crime, Social Advantage (density of residential vacancies), Business, and Protective Activities (e.g., density of calls made by fire alarms).On its own, each index gives a different view of the city. Compare, for instance, the Housing Stability Index, which reflects variables measuring the number of blight violations and speculator-owned properties, to the Crime Index, which reflects statistics both on property and violent crimes.Its interesting to note the disparities between the two. For example, despite the fact that Census Block 261635007004016 has the lowest stability for housing, which D3 regards as being highly conducive to neighborhood change, its reported crime rate is relatively high; that, in addition to its low Business and Social Advantage score, push it down to the bottom quintile of the Neighborhood Index.On its own, each index also provides insight relevant for future policy. The Housing Index, for instance, may be helpful in drafting policy to reduce resident turnover, and the Crime Index is useful for similar policy purposes, if not also to reveal inconsistencies between resident perception and what is reported and recorded by police.In their final Analytical Report (PDF), the researchers make a particular note of the difference between the two. In their interviews with long-time residents of changing neighborhoods, they often encountered the sentiment that the neighborhood no longer felt safe as it used to, despite the fact that all statistics suggest otherwise.Even though safety is getting better, the last 2-3 years Ive felt unsafe walking out this front door and I never felt like that before, said one community member (pp 16 of the report).Some pin the blame on a breakdown in neighborly communication: They say newcomers simply arent as invested in forming communities as older residents, partly because the original motivation is gone. When [you have] no resources youre kind of protected. Youre forced to talk to your neighbor, said another community member (ibid).Yet another community member stressed the idea that displacement extends beyond its physical component. It feels strange, like Im not displacedsomehow (11).The comment captures well the frustrating difficulty not only of assessing the extent of a problem, but also of defining it in the first place. Detroit is changing  this much we know  but it is a type of change which occasionally escapes words and numbers. D3s map, though, might very well lead the way to a fuller understanding.The American Red Cross is urging Americans to celebrate National Preparedness Month (September) by getting their households ready for an emergency. The Red Cross says its critical to prepare ahead of time and not wait for a disaster to occur.Fall is the time of year where a multitude of disasters  hurricanes, floods, wildfires and others  can occur, and citizens should have a plan and be ready to evacuate if necessary. There are three keys to getting prepared: having a plan; having a kit; and being informed.Here are tips that can make a difference during a disaster: Leave early enough to avoid being trapped by severe weather. Remember, you may have to get out on foot depending on the type of disaster. If you dont have a car, or cant use your vehicle, plan on how you will leave the area. If you have a car, keep the gas tank full if an evacuation order is possible. Dont let the tank go below half-full in case gas stations are unable to pump gas. Decide where you would go and what route you would take to get there. This could be a motel, the home of a friend or relative a safe distance away, or an evacuation shelter. Download the free Red Cross Emergency App to find shelter information and weather and emergency alerts for more than 35 different situations. If you have time, let someone outside of the region know you are evacuating and where you are going. Leave a note saying when you left and where you plan to go. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing that provides some protection. Be alert for road hazards such as downed trees, flooding, etc. Do not drive onto a flooded road. Practice evacuating your home twice a year. Grab your emergency kit and drive your planned evacuation route. Include an alternate route in a different direction in case one is impassible. Make sure you have locations and maps saved on devices such as cellphones and GPS units and on paper. Dont forget your pets. If its not safe for you to stay home, its not safe for them either. Prepare a phone list of pet-friendly motels and animal shelters located along your evacuation route. Keep in mind only service animals are usually allowed in shelters.(TNS)  Mark Williams, head dispatcher for Union County, Iowa, is partnering with Emergency Management Director Jo Anne Duckworth to upgrade the countys emergency communication system.With the current communication system, which was implemented more than 10 years ago, there are many points of failure.Its needed because we cant reliably page all of our departments, said Williams.Williams and Duckworth said the new communication system is necessary. One reason is that dispatch is unable to page Lorimor Fire Department. To do so, the Union County dispatcher has to call the Madison County dispatcher, who then pages the department. Additionally, Williams is unable to communicate with Afton firefighters the farther east they move in the county because the signal doesnt reach that far.The current system forces emergency responders to take time to search for signals, which many first responders believe will eventually cost someone their life.We have instances in the hospital where they arent even getting their pages just because of where the tower is, said Williams. In a medical situation you only have so many minutes. And, that can be the difference between life and death.The project, which could cost taxpayers between $5 million and $7 million, would be used by every public safety agency in Union County: Creston and Afton police departments, Lorimor, Afton and Creston fire departments, Union County Sheriff and Union County Emergency Management. In the initial rollout, Union County Secondary Roads and the city of Creston public works departments will also be included.Williams said that while the cost will fall on the taxpayers because it is essential, the new system will benefit everyone  emergency personnel and the general public, alike.There is no single entity whose budget could support a project of this magnitude, said Williams. We are going to have infrastructure weve never had before.The proposal includes four-site paging, which includes utilizing the current tower (Creston water tower), Dodge Center tower and KSOI tower, and building one new tower.Its going to give us the entire county coverage on the paging to get those responders notified of a call, said Williams.In addition to the new infrastructure, the proposal includes new paging systems and subscriber radios for public safety officials.The first bid from Motorola rolled in at $5.1 million, with an additional $1.9 million maintenance and upgrade fee.They are going to monitor all of our equipment 24 hours a day and look for problems, They will come out, troubleshoot and fix the problems included in that, said Williams.A bid from RACOM came in at $4.1 million, with maintenance coverage at $1.4 million.To cover the cost of the new emergency communication system, the Union County Board of Supervisors has met with Spear Financial and is currently reviewing bonding options.Williams strongly encourages the public to attend a public forum 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Union County Emergency Management office, 705 E. Taylor St.We want you to come. We want you to know why were doing this. We want you to be informed, said Williams. I want the public to know how dire this is.Once the public forum has taken place, the Board of Supervisors will set mandatory public hearings and a date to vote as to whether it will bond the project or not.2018 the Creston News Advertiser (Creston, Iowa)Visit the Creston News Advertiser (Creston, Iowa) at www.crestonnewsadvertiser.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.(TNS)  When an emergency hits a town, whether a natural disaster or a major accident such as a chemical spill, first responders can sometimes become overwhelmed and need assistance themselves. That is when a Community Emergency Response Team can come in handy, to lend a hand to local fire, police and others.This fall the Willmar, Minn., Police Department will be training its first Community Emergency Response Team, often referred to as CERT, with the long-term goal to train as many people as they can to help when needed."You can take care of yourself, your family and neighbors. Then you can respond and help out emergency responders," Willmar Police Chief Jim Felt said.For many years Willmar had People on Watch, a neighborhood watch-style group. After years of declining membership, the Police Department closed the group down and started looking for another way to get the community involved."Transition POW into something that could be multi-generational, something good for the community," Felt said.CERT was first formed following a major earthquake in Mexico in the late 1980s, when regular, untrained community members worked to save hundreds of victims before first responders could get to the scene. The problem was those rescuers were untrained and things started to go wrong."They ended up being victims themselves," Felt said.The CERT training provides community members the tools to not only help others but also help themselves, which can be a big help when first responders are answering multiple calls."The biggest thing is the community education," Police Capt. Mike Anderson said.Early this year, Felt, Anderson and several others from the Police Department traveled to Maryland to attend the national CERT training. Begun by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1993, CERT has since been taken over by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and introduced nationwide."CERT is in all 50 states and beyond," Felt said.At the federal training, Felt and his team learned how to train additional trainers, along with the first steps in building a Community Emergency Response Team in the Willmar area."It was a good building block for the program," Felt said.The first training for the Willmar Area CERT will begin Sept. 4. The first students will be learning about disaster preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue operations, disaster psychology and terrorism. Each class will last about 2 hours, and the course will end with a disaster simulation, allowing the students a chance to use what they have learned."You learn basic response to major incidents," Anderson said. "You learn very useful skills. The stuff they teach is good stuff."The first class of students are past members of People on Watch and part of the emergency amauter radio club, who already have some emergency preparedness training. They will give feedback and help the Willmar Police Department to tweak the program for the Willmar area."The first class is a trial run," Felt said.In 2019, the course will be held twice a year and will be open to most people in the Willmar area. The only qualifications are to be at least 18 years old, have no felony convictions and be of good moral character."We are opening it up to the Willmar area. If you can make it to the training, there is a place for you in CERT," Felt said.The Police Department is looking for people of all backgrounds, cultures and physical capabilities. Even if you can't do a lot of heavy lifting, you will be welcome."There is a place for people on CERT," Anderson said. "Our population is diverse here."He said he hoped that members of the Somali and Latino communities would be interested.Following the nine-week training course, Felt is planning on holding one or two additional trainings a year, to teach the team something new or brush up on old skills."Our goal is to make it fun, a good learning experience," Felt said. "They will put out a fire with a fire extinguisher. It is a good chance to do some hands-on stuff."In addition to sharing vital information to the community on how to react during an emergency situation, Felt sees the formation of a Community Emergency Response Team as a way to bring the area together in an effort to help one another."My goal is relationship building in the community," Felt said. "We want to help build community pride; get to know your neighbor."2018 West Central Tribune (Willmar, Minn.)Visit West Central Tribune (Willmar, Minn.) at www.wctrib.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.(TNS)  Despite the Dayton NAACPs efforts, voters will not get to decide this November the fate of the citys traffic cameras.The organizations president, Derrick Foward, said Monday night that the group fell short on the number of signatures needed for a petition.For months, the Dayton chapter of the NAACP has voiced concerns because they said the traffic cameras are located in some of the countys poorest areas.Foward said he is concerned those communities are being targeted unfairly. But when it came time to gather signatures to put this issue to a vote, they didnt get enough.It definitely ends our ballot initiative here this year. We fell short. I mean, its very simple, we fell short, Foward said.NAACP members began collecting signatures in May. The goal was to gather 5,000, but Foward said they did not come close.The community did not show up in the numbers we expected," he said. "Each one of our circulators came back and said its a mixed bag. Some people want the cameras, some people dont want the cameras.Roshawn Reynolds works at a barber shop on West Third Street. One of the mobile cameras is set up across the street.I say get rid of them, Reynolds said, though he admits its because he just doesnt want a ticket. While hes noticed other communities also have traffic cameras, that doesnt bother him.Forward said others have expressed something similar to him.A lot of people said, well, Im not concerned if Kettering has them or not ... Im concerned about whats happening inside my own community.Dayton police have said the locations are based on crash data, and that cameras are working to make communities safer.Weve had many conversations with the city of Dayton. The data does support where the cameras are being placed. But our position was slightly different than what the data has shown, Foward said.In the future, Foward said those conversations will continue. And hes not ruling out another try at a ballot initiative.Ohio CIO Stu Davis has submitted his resignation, and his last day with the state will be Friday, Sept. 7.Davis, who is the second longest-serving state CIO in the country, has held the top tech position in Ohio since 2011, when he was appointed to it soon after Gov. John Kasich took office. Davis said he plans to leave state service after spending the past 21 years working for Ohio, taking at least a month off to assess his next move. Davis is among the most productive and accomplished state CIOs in the country, and he was one of the first to hold the position when it became widespread within state governments back in the late 00s and early 10s.Davis accomplishments in the role are many, ranging from small IT fixes to a massive IT optimization that emphasizes efficiency and stands to save the state money in the long term. When Davis and his team began work, Ohio had 26 cabinet agencies with over 70 boards and commissions, spending more than $930 million annually on IT, approximately 80 percent of which went to infrastructure and operations.Since then, the state has seen over $162 million of documented reductions to spending related to IT infrastructure, according to a letter from Robert Blair, director of Ohios Department of Administrative Services, accepting Davis resignation. Davis also estimates this will have a projected savings that exceeds $500 million. Those reductions stem from a wide range of moves, including the creation of a single email platform for all agencies, attrition of IT infrastructure positions and reducing the states data centers from 32 to four.Davis said he is perhaps proudest of the evolution of the Ohio Tech Board that has taken place during his tenure. The Ohio Tech Board meets weekly, and its membership consists of Davis, other tech executives, various agency CIOs and line of business leads from throughout the state. Davis recalls the boards earliest meetings, and how far the board has come in that time.That was probably one of the coolest things for me  to watch the Tech Board go from this agency-specific look, very cautious on what we were talking about and doing, to now driving enterprise solutions, he said. To watch this group now be recognized as the IT leadership of the state has been really rewarding for me.Other accomplishments during Davis tenure include centralizing cybersecurity functions, creating essential enterprise services and launching a statewide analytics program that in recent years has begun to yield results aimed at reducing the states infant mortality rate and addressing the states ongoing opioid crisis. Ohio has also migrated to public cloud-based services, among many other modernization efforts that have taken place in Davis time.In terms of advice for the next Ohio CIO, Davis said he will stress the importance of being an early-riser. Davis himself arrives to work each day at 4:30 a.m., which gives him time to reflect and contemplate big picture goals before other public servants arrive with demands for his time. He said quiet time to reflect on whats working and apply it to big picture goals is vital.It really gives me a chance to reflect and think about the events of the day, to think about where we want to be in three years, Davis said. The CIO has a tendency  if theyre not careful  to get dragged into the operational weeds, and you need to keep your head up, you need to have someone else focusing on the day-to-day stuff so that you can think about the big things coming, like autonomous vehicles, like how were using drones in the state of Ohio, how were using technology to support autistic kids. The innovation and the innovative things we do are only because you have the ability to look forward.Davis departure comes just months before the impending end of term-limited Gov. Kasichs tenure as the top executive in the state. CIOs leaving in advance of a departing governor is a normal trend that takes hold across the country during active election years. This year, 36 gubernatorial elections are underway in the United States. In the gov tech world, it is rare for an incumbent CIO to retain the position when a new governor takes office, even if that governor is from the same political party.Davis, for his part, said he is looking forward to his next role, whatever that may be.Ive got 21-and-a-half years in state service, Davis said. Its been a road, its been a journey, its been a heck of a ride. Its time for me to take a step back and decompress. Ive been telling people that the next time they see me, Ill be two inches taller.(TNS)  WASHINGTON  Its a forensics technique that has helped crack several cold cases. Across the country, investigators are analyzing DNA and using basic genealogy to find relatives of potential suspects in the hope that these familial searches will lead them to the killer.Familial searches led California authorities to arrest Joseph James DeAngelo in the Golden State Killer probe in April, and investigators have since used it to make breakthroughs in several other unsolved murder cases, including four in Washington state, Pennsylvania, Texas and North Carolina.But as these searches proliferate, they are raising concerns about police engagement in DNA dragnets and genetic stop and frisk techniques. And as public DNA databases grow and are accessed by law enforcement, investigators may soon have the ability to track down nearly anyone, even people who never submitted their genetic material for analysis.If you are a privacy zealot, this is super alarming. It means you dont have any privacy, said Malia Fullerton, a bioethics specialist and professor at the University of Washington. On the other hand, if you have no problem with police using your family information to solve these cold cases, you might see this as a good thing.Part of the concern stems from law enforcements rapid embrace of familial searches to investigate crimes, aided by open-access DNA databases that did not exist a decade ago.One of these is Florida-based GEDmatch, founded in 2010. GEDmatch allows genealogy enthusiasts to upload and share their DNA profiles, created from commercial services such as Ancestry and 23andMe. The site offers special tools to help find people find relatives, and since it is free of charge, it has rapidly grown  to more than 920,000 profiles by May.Its also proven to be a gold mine for law enforcement.In Californias Golden State Killer probe, investigator Paul Holes turned to GEDMatch after trying to find a match for DNA the killer left at a Ventura County crime scene. Holes initially looked through the FBIs DNA database, which includes genetic profiles of people arrested or convicted of crimes, but he came up empty.To broaden his search, Holes registered with GEDmatch using an alias, uploaded the unknown suspects DNA profile. Several distant relatives of the suspect came up. Investigators then spent months building family trees and tracking down relatives using basic genealogical reserach, to narrow their list of possible suspects.Ultimately they arrested DeAngelo, a former police officer living outside Sacramento.Investigators were lucky that at least one of DeAngelos distant relatives had shared their DNA profile on GEDmatch. But the methods police employed in their search are coming under scrutiny.Before identifying DeAngelo, investigators reportedly assembled and examined 25 different family trees, possibly involving up to 1,000 people. Only one of these family trees ended up containing the alleged serial rapist and murderer. But now investigators had information on all those other people.Investigators initially zeroed in on two suspects other than DeAngelo, and even went so far as to gain a court warrant to sample DNA from one of them, a 73-year-old man in an Oregon nursing home, by force if necessary. But neither he nor another man had DNA that matched the crime scene sample.In a recent commentary, Fullerton and collaborator Rori Rohlfs argued that the Golden State Killer probe demonstrated how innocent bystanders can be ensnared through familial searches.These details, many of which only came to light after intense press coverage, raise a host of concerns about the methods employed (by police) and the degree to which they exposed otherwise innocent individuals to harms associated with unjustified privacy intrusions, they wrote in Leapsmag, an online magazine focused on the life sciences.Researchers say it wont be long before investigators can track a wide swatch of the U.S. population, at least those of European descent, using familial searches.In a study this year, Columbia University geneticist Yaniv Erlich and other scientists examined DNA data for 600,000 people of European heritage, and found that, in half of their searches, they could find a match with a third cousin or closer relative. In the near future virtually any European-descent US person could be implicated by this technique, the researchers wrote in their paper, currently under journal peer review. Open-access DNA databases have a higher proportion of samples from people of European descent.In California, investigators have used familial searching for several years to catch rapists and murderers, including the Grim Sleeper Lonnie Franklin Jr., convicted in 2016 of ten serial killings. But the technique has skyrocketed in popularity following DeAngelos arrest.In June, police used the technique to identify and arrest Gary C. Hartman in the 1986 rape and murder of 12-year-old Michella Welch outside her home in Tacoma, Wash. Five days later, investigators used it to arrest Raymond D.J. Freez Rowe in the 1992 assault and strangling of Christy Mirack in Lancaster, Pa.Last Wednesday, investigators announced they had used genetic genealogy to track down and arrest Darold Wayne Bowden for a series of rapes in North Carolina from 2006 to 2008.These cases and others were aided by CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist now working with Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Virginia. Moore has been a hero to crime victims nationally and a media celebrity. She appeared this month on NBCs Today show extolling the potential of familial DNA searching and the work of Parabon, which has become a go-to service for law enforcement nationwide.I think we can make society a safer place, and hopefully even cause someone to stop and think  maybe it could be a deterrent, Moore said.Investigators are increasingly turning to open-access databases because the limitations of existing FBI and state databases. Since these databases only contain genetic information for people arrested or convicted of crimes, they arent representative of the U.S. population as a whole, and may not include DNA of unknown serial killers.A detailed tally of serial killers worldwide maintained by Radford University in Virginia  now numbering 5,031 dating back to the 1900s  shows that 12.9 percent U.S. serial killers had never been arrested before starting their murder sprees, according to Michael Aamodt, a retired Radford professor who launched the tally.For investigators, federal and state DNA databases present other limitations. Unlike GEDmatch, many of these were originally designed to aid law enforcement in making direct genetic matches, not the partial ones used in familial searching. In addition, California and other states have enacted restrictions on using their law enforcement databases for familial searching, partly out of privacy concerns. Maryland and Washington, D.C., have passed laws forbidding such use.Given the reach of familial searching through GEDmatch and similar sites, some legal experts say the time has come for government regulation of these sites and how law enforcement uses them.Exploitation of GEDmatch raises the question what kind of end runs police allowed to do around our current database system, without any kind of oversight at all, said Erin Murphy, a law professor at New York University who wrote a book on forensic DNA.Ariel Deray, a Florida lawyer familiar with DNA cases, said that many consumers submit their genetic information to GEDmatch and other sites with little awareness that third parties, including the police, might seek to access it. These services have become exponentially popular in such a short period of time, but the laws havent caught up, said Deray, an associate in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., office of Arnstein & Lehr.(TNS)  As a growing number of Colorado public safety agencies launch drones to help firefighting efforts, rescue lost hikers and take pictures of crime scenes, Denvers police and fire departments are debating the merits of using unmanned aircraft.For now, the Denver Police Department has shelved a consumer-grade drone recently purchased for nearly $3,000 after the administration nixed the crime labs plan to use it to photograph crime scenes.We are not going to move forward with the drone program at this time, said Sonny Jackson, a department spokesman. If we do, we will move forward with community input.Meanwhile, the Denver Fire Department solicited bids in July to purchase an Aeryon SkyRanger drone and accessories, including two camera lenses. The citys firefighters plan to use the drone when dealing with all sorts of incidents, including structure fires, hazardous material spills and rescues  and the department intends to share the aerial vehicle with other jurisdictions, said Greg Pixley, a Denver fire spokesman.The growing fleet of public safety drones, however, concerns some law enforcement critics who question how information is collected from the skies and how departments use that footage in their operations. But sheriffs and fire chiefs say the unmanned aircraft give them an extra set of eyes that can save lives.It will give us the opportunity to see the scene from five different sides, with the four we normally see on the ground and the one from above, Pixley said.The fire department hasnt chosen a vendor, but the SkyRanger model sold to fire and police departments  specifically designed for the wear and tear of law enforcement usage  typically costs between $30,000 and $50,000, depending on features such as accessories and battery power, said Brad Young, marketing director for Aeryon.While the Denver Fire Department is studying bids, its figuring out a policy for how a drone would be used, Pixley said. For example, the department does not yet know the length of time it will store the video footage collected by its drone, or how and when footage will be released to the public.In Colorado, county sheriffs have been using drones since 2014, when Mesa County became the first to buy one, said Chris Johnson, executive director of County Sheriffs of Colorado. That drone almost immediately proved its value when it was used to take the first pictures of a mudslide that killed three people near the town of Collbran I thought those were invaluable because they could get right in and do that, Johnson said.Since then, other sheriffs such as Joe Pelle in Boulder County and Tony Spurlock in Douglas County have adopted them, mostly for search-and-rescue operations. Some sheriffs also use them to aid in battling wildfires, Johnson said.About 20 of Colorados more than 400 fire departments have purchased them, said Gary Briese, executive director of the Colorado Fire Chiefs Association. Its cost prohibitive for every department to have one, he said, but it makes sense to deploy them across multiple jurisdictions.Its extremely logical for urban departments to have them, logical for suburban departments, but when you move to the next ring out, thats when you get into needing to share across jurisdictions, Briese said.Thus far, there has been little controversy over drones in Colorado, even though their usage in other states has been subject to criticism. In 2017, the Los Angeles Police Departments decision to deploy a drone sparked protests from people who feared it would potentially violate constitutional rights that protect people from warrantless searches.In addition to concerns about warrantless surveillance, some critics fear law enforcement eventually could deploy drones to fire ammunition at suspects like the military.Denise Maes, public policy director for the ACLU of Colorado, has made multiple attempts to convince the state Legislature to pass a law regulating law enforcement use of drones, especially regulating their use for surveillance. Thus far, her efforts have failed, and the drone industry has lobbied heavily against it, she said.If its used for surveillance, it has to be used the same way as boots on the ground would be used, she said. Do you have a warrant? Do you have probable cause?Law enforcement is aware of the legal issues and follows the law, said Johnson, of the County Sheriffs of Colorado.Police dont use them to peer into peoples windows, he said. People who commit crimes have more to fear from wiretaps than they do a drone, to be honest. Drones cant see through roofs.(TNS)  If Americas enemies launch a cyberattack, a Colorado senators bill would give them something new: guaranteed consequences.Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner penned a measure that would label hackers attacking the U.S. as critical cyberthreat actors, giving the White House a menu of sanctions that can target individuals, foreign agencies or nations.We know the threat of cyberattacks is increasing each and every day, said Gardner, who is pushing the bill with the help of U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.Gardner said U.S. response to cyberattacks, including Russian actions during the 2016 election, has been haphazard.We dont have an appropriate mechanism in place to counter those threats and actions, he said.Over the past decade, the U.S. has raced to counter growing cyberthreats from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and even terror groups. Cyberattacks, used successfully in Russian campaigns against its neighbors Georgia and Ukraine, are seen globally as a low-cost way to disable enemies by hampering communications, disrupting key defense networks and even causing physical damage to utilities and factories at the click of a mouse.This bill is the first step forward, Gardner said.He heads a Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel on international cybersecurity policy, positioning him to push the measure onto the Senate floor.The bill would force the White House to acknowledge cyberattacks, placing attackers on a list that is published and regularly updated. It then would require a response, including cutting off enemy states that attack the U.S. from foreign aid, American trade and access to global financial markets.The bill does not describe other forms of U.S. retribution, including counterattacks on the internet and by use of the Defense Departments array of retaliatory options.Gardner said the measure is designed to give presidents flexibility in how they respond. But that doesnt mean it will be greeted with acclaim by the Trump administration.President Donald Trump repeatedly has expressed doubt about intelligence agency findings that Russia conspired to use hackers to influence the 2016 election.In July, Trump slammed those who have been critical of Russian election interference and an ongoing investigation into Russias role in the 2016 campaign.Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt! Trump said on Twitter.But Gardner predicted Trump will back his bill after the White House learns more about it.I think the Trump administration, once we get hearings underway, will be supportive of this measure, the senator said.Italian grand prix boss Angelo Sticchi Damiani says Monza wants to "rethink" its contract with Liberty Media.

It is believed the F1 rights holder and Hockenheim have agreed new terms for a race in 2019, but a darker cloud still lingers over the future of the Italian grand prix.

Talks with Chase Carey are scheduled for this weekend, as Monza hosts its 2018 race.

"It will not be easy, but we will try to rethink the contract with Liberty Media," Sticchi Damiani told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"In Europe the other circuits are suffering a lot, Germany is in trouble and many think they will not be able to finance the grand prix.

"So it's time to look into each other's eyes. We will do everything to continue the discussion and not stop in 2019. We want to get to 2022, when the Monza GP will be 100 years old," he added.

(GMM)Ford employees are now using cameras mounted on drones to safely and efficiently inspect high-rise gantries, pipework and roof areas at the companys Dagenham Engine Plant in the UK.





Previously, the team carried out this necessary maintenance work by using automated extendable platforms and scaffolding to check 40-meter-long gantries that support the plants heavy machinery. Each inspection area would take a laborious 12 hours to complete.

Now, with feet firmly on the ground and controlling drones equipped with GoPro cameras, maintenance staff can thoroughly inspect each area in just 12 minutes. The whole production facility can be covered in a day, zoning in on hard-to-reach areas to ensure they are well-maintained and comply to rigorous safety standards.

With the time saved, the team at Dagenham can carry out more frequent inspections, without having to shut facilities to construct the scaffolding that was once necessary.

Fords drones are also set to work inspecting pipework, locating air leaks and checking machinery. The company is now evaluating the possibility of using this technology in other regions.PRIME Coalition, a 501(c)(3) public charity funding tech start-ups that fight climate change, closed three new investments: Opus 12 in Berkeley, CA; Mallinda in Denver, CO; and Lilac Solutions in Oakland, CA.

With these investments, PRIME has now funded nine start-up companies through 11 financing rounds mobilizing more than $17 million in philanthropic capital. Fifty-six foundations, philanthropists, and impact investors have backed PRIME and our portfolio companies. On one hand our unique model of investing for social impact is showing growth and momentum; on the other hand, were barely scratching the surface of what philanthropic capital can do. Matthew Nordan, Chairman of the Investment Committee at PRIME Coalition

PRIME chooses its investments based on the advice of its investment committee, comprising the US most active institutional venture investors in climate and energy. Investee companies are assessed for climate impact potential, suitability for philanthropic capital, and attractiveness to follow-on investors after early risks are retired. The three new investee companies were selected through a rigorous process in which PRIME reviewed more than 2,200 early-stage, climate-impacting start-ups. They are:

Opus 12 is developing reactors for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to create cost-competitive chemicals and fuels using only water and electricity as additional inputs.

Opus 12s process grew out of research conducted by co-founders Kendra Kuhl and Etosha Cave in the Jaramillo Group at Stanford University.

In April, Opus 12 and SoCalGas demonstrated the conversion of CO 2 in raw biogas to methane in a single electrochemical step.

Mallinda is developing circularly recyclable composite materials that enable unprecedented manufacturing efficiencies. Mallindas patented resin system eliminates the slow infusion and long curing cycles of todays resins; enabling compression-molding of products in just seconds for high-throughput, high-volume production of structural composites. In addition, the prepreg is pre-cured, shelf-stable, and requires no refrigeration for transport and storage.

Mallindas prepreg resin is a disruptive platform technology that allows rapid (< 1 minute) compression molding of fully cured thermoset composite parts. It is designed for carbon fiber composite production using rapid compression molding techniques analogous to sheet metal stamping. In addition, Mallindas resin can be depolymerized in solution for a cradle-to-cradle, energy-neutral system for the recovery of resin and woven/full-length fiber.

CTO Philip Taynton developed Mallindas core technology at University of Colorado Boulder and paired up with CEO Chris Kaffer to bring it to market. Mallindas technology could greatly reduce the weight of automobiles by replacing steel with lightweight advanced composite materials, without sacrificing strength and safety, reducing fuel requirements and their accompanying emissions.

Lilac Solutions has developed a new ion exchange technology to address the challenges face by lithium producers. Lilacs technology streamlines operations, boosts lithium recovery, and expands production into new resources. The process is modular and can be ramped in time with the market. Founder/CEO Dave Snydacker developed Lilac's technology at Northwestern University.News

Man drives sports car over 300km per hour in Abu Dhabi, shares video on social media

The Public Prosecution stated that a video clip was monitored depicting a person on social media driving a vehicle at a speed of up to 300 kilometers per hour on one of the main streets in the city of Abu Dhabi, and the owner of the account used was identified.



Haiti - Politic : Brazil plans to build in Haiti 3 vocational training centers





On Tuesday, the working visit to Port-au-Prince started last August 25 of the Ambassador Santiago Mourao, Under-Secretary General for International Cooperation, Trade Promotion and Cultural Themes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, ended.



This visit confirms the importance of South-South cooperation between Brazil and Haiti, which has several projects in the country, particularly in the health sector where the cooperation started since 2010, concerns 3 reference community hospitals in Bon Repos, Beudet and Carrefour, operated by Brazil.



In addition, Brazil plans to build 3 vocational training centers in Haiti with the National Institute for Vocational Training (INFP).



Bilateral co-operation also includes many other projects, particularly recently in the areas of family farming, school feeding and standardization and the strengthening of the penitentiary system.





See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25344-icihaiti-diplomacy-brazilian-mission-in-haiti.html



HL/ HaitiLibre

















Labour availability consideration is even more common in Canada than Finland, but the country has established a fast lane for obtaining work permits. When you meet the requirements, Canada welcomes you, he states in a press release.

Finland should make a clear distinction between economic and humanitarian immigration and adopt an economic immigration programme similar to that of Canada, states Timo Harakka (SDP).

For Finland to become an alternative, we should invest in attracting talent and creating the right environment, he adds.

Harakka, who is the budget and finance spokesperson for the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group, reminds that the share of the working-age population is projected to decrease by five percentage points in Finland by late 2020s.

He also questions the policy approach of the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre).

It is absolutely incomprehensible that while the government is clamouring for tearing down the labour availability consideration process, it is not reducing the unreasonably long waiting times of 3,000 employees by increasing the staffing of the TE Offices, he states.

The Finnish legislation stipulates that employment-based residence permit applications should be processed in four months. Currently, however, the processing times can be as long as over a year, especially in southern parts of the country.

The Canadian model would be needed also to integrate foreign students into the society, because Finland is presently wasting the labour inputs of students graduating in Finland. [The Centre for International Mobility] CIMOs statistics show that more university graduates left the country than found employment over a year-long period, highlights Harakka.

If the number of foreign students graduating doubled, along with their employment rate, we would get 4,000 more of the best talents into the working life  people who are already in Finland, who have adapted to life in Finland and who have the language skills needed for daily life. This has to be the objective of the next government, the result of a controlled economic immigration policy programme, he stresses.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi SuomiAs an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

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If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.The City Council on Tuesday approved the sale of the Notre Dame property for development as a hotel. An illustration of what the proposed boutique hotel might look like. PreviousNext

North Adams City Council Authorizes Sale of Notre Dame



The council spent about 40 minutes discussing the sale of Notre Dame before voting 8-1 to authorize the mayor to begin negotiations. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The City Council on Tuesday voted 8-1 in favor of a plan to develop a hotel complex in the long-vacant Notre Dame property.

The council voted to authorize Mayor Thomas Bernard to enter into negotiations with Square Office LLC, which is proposing an $18.5 million hotel at the East Main Street location. The purchase price is set at $253,000.

While there was talk of sending the bid to committee, the council voted in the affirmative after about 40 minutes of discussion. A second land sale to B&B Micro Manufacturing for the city's old salt shed at a price of $75,000 sailed through with little discussion on an 8-0 vote.

Emily Daunis and Daniel Wallis of Square Office are proposing a 64-room hotel using both structures and that would have a restaurant, bakery, spa services, yoga and meditation rooms, heated pool and four penthouses.

The hospitality plans are the latest in the city: the Tourists hotel was recently completed on State Road, a $15 million hotel is planned for Greylock Works and another group was approved for a boutique hotel in the Porter Block on historic Eagle Street.

"North Adams is cooking right now," said Councilor Wayne Wilkinson, a commercial appraiser. He said he's getting inquiries about properties from speculators who believe the city is about to take off. "Whether any of these are built or not ... if we can make some money on this while they're speculating, let's do it."

City Councilor Rebbecca Cohen, the only councilor to vote nay, expressed reservations about the Notre Hotel ("Our Hotel") proposal and was especially concerned how the project would change the largely residential neighborhood.

"I feel as though we truly do need something like this," she said, but added, "I'm not sure if this space is exactly the space I could foresee something like this being erected in the city."

The church property is in close proximity to Colegrove Park Elementary School, would be on an already well-traveled road and possibly affect water pressure. The city also needs low-density housing, Cohen said.

"I would just like a healthy discussion on this," she said. "This will forever change this street."

Other councilors pointed to the $100,000 already put into the building because of water issues last year; some $49,000 of that came from the city.

"We spent $50,000 on this building last year to keep it from falling apart," said Councilor Joshua Moran. "I think this is something that we let the folks who are purchasing it play it out through zoning and planning ... the sooner we're out from this building ... ."

Councilors Jason LaForest and Marie T. Harpin also voiced some concerns but were willing to vote or send to committee if the other councilors wished to review some of the issues raised.

"We have a very strong site plan review process in this city that will address all the concerns we have tonight," said City Councilor Paul Hopkins, a former longtime member of the Planning Board. "I don't know what the purpose would be sending it to committee."

Wilkinson, who had initially said he would support going to committee, changed his mind, picking up on Hopkins' comments.

"We have to have faith in the Planning Board," he said. "At this point, do we have the information necessary to vote on this tonight? ... the amount of money somebody is paying for this is beyond what we've seen in years."

Councilor Eric Buddington also eschewed the need to go to committee, saying the developers wouldn't be able to answer any questions until they had possession of the buildings.

"There are risks but it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling that they're not our risks," he said

Daunis spoke during public comments to assure the councilors and two citizens who live on Pleasant Street that she was aware of what impact the hotel could have.

"I live on Cherry Street," she said. "I walk my children by Notre Dame every day to school ... I've been looking at it considering what could bring some sort of vibrancy to the neighborhood."

The sale of the Ashland Street salt shed was easier, with councilors pleased that B&B was expanding and providing a manufacturing opportunity to diversify the city's economy. Wilkinson said he thought the lot could have been used for a public safety building but had been convinced otherwise. Councilor Benjamin Lamb abstained from discussion and vote because of transactions with B&B. The bid was not the highest but was deemed the best use.

The proposals were reviewed by the assessor, community development officer, chief procurement officer and the mayor. The other church property offers were by David Moresi for $1 that would renovate the school as apartments and church as event space and Eric Rudd for $25,000 with plans to expand his Berkshire Art Museum and use the school for studios and possibly housing.

"This was the hardest of the bids to evaluate," the mayor said, adding the group had "walked away" for a day before coming back to vote unanimously. "We really believe that this was the most advantageous proposal."

The city has purchased Notre Dame in 2008 to save the steeple and with the assumption the buildings would sell quickly but only the rectory was purchased by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Art Foundation before the economic collapse hit.

Bernard said he had also filed a 23B disclosure with the state Ethics Commission because Wallis had been a volunteer on his mayoral campaign. He didn't believe it would be an issue because the proposal had to go through so many layers of authorization, including procurement laws, the review committee, the council, and permitting and site review process.

The city had released the requests for proposals in July on those properties and two more. The former Sullivan School received no bid and the Pownal, Vt., watershed land a low bid that was rejected. RFPs on all of the properties had also been issued in 2017, along with the old City Yard and the Windsor Mill, both of which are nearing sale closure.

Bernard will now enter into negotiations with the purchasers on any conditions. The process could take close to a year.



iciHaiti - DR : Haitian nurses on internship at Moscoso Puello Hospital





10 Haitian nurses from Haiti's Help School Of Nursing (Jeanne Star Ilas, Gilda Jean Baptiste, Danilka Lines, Tabitha Police, Edline Sejour, Anne Gersica Souverain, Cynthia Watermann, Myriline Morisset, Lynce Marie Nicole and Louis Sephonie) completed a 3-day internship at the Dr. Francisco Moscoso Puello hospital (Santo Domingo), new knowledge about the Dominican health system



Dr. Francisco Moscoso Puello Hospital completely renovated last April at the cost of 600 million pesos ( 12.2 million dollars), with a capacity of 196 beds is equipped with the latest technology and is one of the most modern Health Center of the country. The nurses were followed by Martha Cordero, Head of the Nursing Sub-Directorate, and Claudia Adon, the Department's Director of Education, who judged this type of exchange with Haitian professionals very positive.



Haitian nurses appreciated the work methodology of the hospital staff and the processes developed for those who come to the Center in search of care "Here, there is more equipment and personnel than in the hospitals of my country, it's great that the health staff is assisting so many people and providing the right kind of service," said Haitian nurse Lynce Marie Nicole.



The Haitian women made rotations in various services to acquire new knowledge including: emergency rooms (including pediatric emergency), radiology (4 rooms), internment of patients, operating theaters, treatment units. intensive care, dialysis service (15 posts) and laboratory



The trainees, delighted with their experiences and new knowledge, said that they would apply to their return to Haiti, what they had learned at the Dominican hospital.



S/ iciHaiti

















Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, a retired Catholic Archbishop of Lagos has warned of attempts by some unscrupulous politicians to destabilise Nigeria before the 2019 general elections even as he urged Nigerians not to vote on ethnic, religious or regional lines.

In a letter entitled: Beware the Ides of March, Okogie said; no true lover of Nigeria would want to drag this country into bloodshed.

The cleric said: It will be their Ides of March when the grandstanding and insolence of presidential and gubernatorial media spokespersons will be utterly unhelpful. Approaching another year of elections, this admonition has become frightfully pertinent. For what is being witnessed looks like a re-enactment of Shakespeares Julius Caesar. In this re-enactment, Julius Caesar would represent Nigeria; the Roman politicians who plotted his assassination would represent the average Nigerian politician, with Brutus, the politician pretending to be Caesars friend, representing politicians who, in their diabolically deadly intrigues, pretend to love Nigeria, but are actually plotting her descent into bloody disintegration.

Nigeria, like Caesar, must beware of the Ides of March. We have been witnessing politically inspired violence by Boko Haram. We have also seen how Nigerians in the states of the middle belt are slaughtered by armed herdsmen. While the issues of Boko Haram and murderous herdsmen are yet to be given the attention they deserve, making refugees of some Nigerians on their homeland, we continue to read disturbing news of importation of arms to Nigeria. Previous importations have come and gone without any conviction or sanction. We ask, as we have been doing: Who are those importing arms into Nigeria? Are they ghosts? What is government doing about them?

Why is it that some Nigerians kill other Nigerians with impunity? Why is it that those who masterminded the highly treasonable act of armed invasion of the National Assembly are yet to be identified, apprehended and arraigned before the courts? The build-up to the 2019 elections gives the impression that some people are out to destroy Nigeria.

We must hold every political office holder and contender to an uncompromisingly rigorous standard. This is not the time to vote on ethnic, religious or regional lines. This is the time to vote on past records of public service. Let us not cast our votes for those who have ruined, are ruining and will ruin this country. Nigerians must beware of the Ides of March. We are still watching.leverage leverage

Regulation and risk management expert Bozena Gulija looks at how they are measured in the banking sector

What is leverage?

In simplified terms, leverage in finance refers to any use of borrowed sources for funding an enterprise in order to achieve an additional, multiplied effect for the owner. The leverage becomes higher as the proportion of external sources of financing increases compared to the owner's own investment. It can be measured in different ways, but the most common method is the debt-to-equity ratio. Depending on the relation between equity costs and borrowing costs, additional leverage  reflected in higher leverage indicators  can bring additional return on equity, but this opportunity is usually accompanied by increased risk.

In the banking sector, leverage ratios have historically been used by some national supervisors and the prevailing format for measuring leverage involved employing capital divided by assets, although there have been some exceptions (eg the asset-to-capital multiple in Canada).

The reasoning for choosing such a measure, which is contrary to the leverage definition logic and indicators used for real sector companies, is that it follows the same principle as the risk-based bank capital adequacy measure where the capital also appears in the ratio's numerator. Therefore, the higher a bank's leverage (and the related risk), the lower its leverage ratio. Compared to non-financial sectors, banking is by its very nature a highly leveraged industry as its core business is based on financial intermediation, transformation and risk management. However, it should be noted that in the 19th century, the average bank balance sheet leverage ratio in the US and in other developed economies was around 50%, a level that fell continuously until the 1940s. It has remained below the 10% mark since then.

An international standard for banks

One of the underlying causes behind the 2007 financial crisis is considered to be the problematic build-up of excessive leverage in the banking sector, which was not properly reflected in the risk-based ratio used as the key capital adequacy indicator at the time. Criticism with regard to risk-based ratios mainly focused on their complexity, over-reliance on external ratings, and dubious internal models used for regulatory purposes, while some statistical evidence even showed that leverage ratios provided a better prediction of a bank's failure during a crisis than risk-based ratios. On the other hand, it is difficult to disregard the inherent disadvantage of leverage ratios as they treat banks with the same leverage identically regardless of, for example, the riskiness of their loans.

The Basel Committee (BCBS) decided to make use of the complementary characteristics of both ratios, and for the first time introduced an international standard for leverage ratio in addition to the risk-sensitive capital adequacy ratio(s), as part of the ongoing Basel III reform. Its main objectives are to act as a backstop against unsustainable leverage accumulation and as a constraint against model risk and measurement errors.

The main difference between the leverage ratio and the risk-based ratio arises from the denominator

Some of the important strengths of the leverage ratio are simplicity and comparability, and the BCBS formula for calculating leverage ratios is very straightforward: the capital measure is divided by the exposure measure, with the minimum ratio is set at three percent. However, some adjustments, national discretion, accounting frameworks, as well as divergent policy objectives, have already revealed that national implementation has a potential for complexity.

The capital measure in the nominator is tier 1 capital  the same as defined for risk-based capital framework and applicable in accordance with transitional arrangements. In essence, it is the going-concern capital that includes the highest quality components of regulatory capital such as common equity, retained earnings, disclosed reserves and some capital-like instruments.

The main difference between the leverage ratio and the risk-based ratio arises from the denominator  in the risk-based ratio assets are risk-weighted, while in the leverage ratio they are not adjusted for risk. The exposure measure in the denominator of the Basel III leverage ratio includes both on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet (OBS) items. On-balance sheet items  except derivatives and securities financing transactions (SFTs) which are subject to separate treatments  are, in principle, included at their accounting value.

The BCBS expanded the leverage ratio beyond on-balance sheet leverage and included OBSs with similar underlying effect as on-balance sheet leverage (for example, credit and liquidity facilities/commitments and guarantees). In order to calculate their leverage exposure, credit conversion factors (CCFs) are applied (ie OBS item's nominal value is multiplied by the corresponding CCF). The CCFs are the same as those used for credit risk under the risk-based capital framework, subject to a floor of 10%. Although some elements for the leverage exposure calculation are borrowed from risk-based methodologies, they don't reflect risk (eg after applying CCFs, OBS exposures are subject to risk weights for the purpose of risk-based ratios, which is not the case with leverage ratios).

Initially the Basel Committee started with a monitoring phase, but from the beginning of 2018, the leverage ratio was scheduled to become a binding requirement for large internationally active banks. Additionally, two modifications, which should be implemented by 2022, came up as a result of the Basel III finalisation agreed in December 2017:

(1) the revised leverage exposure measure (eg changes to derivatives exposure calculation, updated treatment of some OBS items, national discretion for temporary exemption of central bank reserves from exposure); and

(2) the global systematically important bank (G-Sib) leverage ratio buffer (50% of risk-weighted higher-loss absorbency requirements).

Implementation and national developments

The Basel Committee monitors the implementation of Basel standards according to the agreed timelines, consistency and outcomes. The latest progress report on the adoption of the Basel III framework, updated at the end of March 2018, assessed implementation of the leverage ratio in 19 jurisdictions (if the EU member states are not observed on a solo basis).

Pursuant to the BCBS exposure definition from 2014, the leverage ratio is fully implemented in 14 jurisdictions. As for jurisdictions that are behind schedule, Australia and Indonesia plan to implement the leverage ratio using the 2017 revised exposure measure, Mexico and the EU have legislative processes in progress (with the UK having implemented its leverage ratio), while Japan has not started the implementation.

From the beginning of 2018, the leverage ratio was scheduled to become a binding requirement for large internationally active banks

Although currently under review, there are three types of leverage requirements in the US:

(a) the generally applicable leverage ratio of four percent of tier 1 capital to total on-balance sheet assets;

(b) the supplementary leverage ratio (SLR) compliant with the Basel III standard and applicable to banks subject to the advanced approaches rule (ie intended for large internationally active banks); and

(c) enhanced SLR (eSLR) for US G-Sibs which must maintain a leverage buffer greater than two percentage points above the minimum SLR requirement of three percent.

The EU introduced leverage ratios into its legislation as part of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR)/fourth Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV), but it still isn't a binding Pillar 1 requirement. The risk reduction measures with the banking reform package proposed in November 2016 include the CRR II provisions for a capital requirement based on the leverage ratio: the legislative process is in its final stages. The leverage ratio has recently received additional publicity in the EU due to a ruling from the European Court of Justice in a dispute between French banks and the European Central Bank which, in a broader context, can be seen as a signal about possible ambiguities in the calculation and implementation of a simple ratio.

Looking ahead

Compared to the initial Basel III proposals which date back from 2010/2011, the minimum ratio percentage and the capital measure have remained basically the same, but some significant changes have been made to the exposure measure following monitoring and consultations with banks. The refinement of exposure calculations and the provision of flexibility to national jurisdictions have taken a toll on simplicity and comparability.

Finally, the actual impact of national implementations of the binding Pillar 1 leverage ratio requirement, and subsequently G-Sibs buffer, remains to be assessed in terms of its main goal of limiting excessive leverage, and its effect on the banking system and the economy. In that context, a trade-off between additional risk-taking and increased capital coverage, as well as complementary benefits and burdens due to simultaneous implementation of leverage and risk-based ratios, should be taken into account.

 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs.

Share this articleOn July 5 2018, the Brazilian Senate passed a new resolution explicitly allowing public consortia to raise money via credit transactions (Resolution 15/2018), amending the previous Senate Resolution 43, of 2001, which regulates and imposes limitations on Brazilian states, municipalities and the federal district when engaging in domestic and international financing arrangements.

Under Brazilian law, a public consortium is any party formed exclusively by federated entities for establishing cooperation among each other with the purpose of reaching common ground and achieving mutual goals. The consortium is usually conceived either as a public association, subject to public law, with a legal personality apart from its members, or as a not-for-profit private organisation. Before the changes introduced by Resolution 15/2018, public consortia were not expressly mentioned by the law and, for that reason, they were unable to obtain proper approval from the National Treasury Secretariat for receiving credit from the market.

Public consortia have a fundamental role to play in providing a wide array of services to the population and enable economies of scale by federated entities. Some municipalities, when acting alone or independently, may face certain difficulties due to reduced size, population and, consequently, low demand. In such cases, public consortia become crucial for increasing the levels of supply and demand, therefore facilitating fundraising and creating new investment opportunities.

Resolution 15/2018 is an important tool for public policies directed at addressing the needs of a society at a time when certain regulatory frameworks in the infrastructure sector are being adjusted to attract and foster new investment, from both the public and private sectors. Take the water and sanitation industry, for instance. This is a historically outdated sector which has been receiving low, or at best insufficient investment, and this has resulted in only 44.9% of the Brazilian population having access to sewage treatment, according to the Brazilian Sanitation Information System (SNIS Sistema Nacional de Informacoes sobre Saneamento). Its regulatory framework was recently modified through this year's Provisional Measure 844 (MP 844), the latest effort of the federal government to address the lack of regulation at state and municipal levels, and to boost capabilities of providing universal sewage treatment by increasing both investment and training personnel.

In this situation, the changes implemented by Resolution 15/2018 might be an important driver for new investment into the sanitation industry, enhancing credit options for smaller municipalities, where investments have been historically scarce due to the absence of economies of scale, among other things. The changes promoted by Resolution 15/2018 and MP 844 will probably serve to encourage the association of municipalities and consequently attract investment into sanitation through financing arrangements with a shared risk credit profile of debtors. It is important to highlight, however, that credit transactions for public consortia must fulfil certain requirements. These include abiding by the limits and conditions imposed for the credit transactions of each party within the consortium, as required by Complementary Law 101/2000, which imposes limits for indebtedness of municipalities, states and other public entities.

Fernando

Gomes Alexandre

Leite

 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs.

Share this articleCyprus's new law on alternative investment funds, Law 124(I)/2018, has now entered into effect following its publication in the official gazette.

The new law repeals and replaces Law 131(I)/2014. It introduces a new form of alternative investment fund, known as the registered AIF, or RAIF, with the aim of reducing the time and cost involved in establishing an AIF in Cyprus. RAIFs which are externally managed by an AIF manager (AIFM) established in an EU member state do not require authorisation by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to operate in Cyprus; they are merely required to notify CySEC, which will maintain a register of RAIFs. RAIFs may not be marketed to retail investors, but only to professional or well-informed investors.

The RAIF structure offers great flexibility. RAIFs will be required to appoint a local depository but supervision will be only at the level of the AIFM: there is no minimum capital requirement and RAIFs may be open- or closed-ended and standalone, or with an umbrella structure. They may take the form of a mutual fund, an investment company with fixed or variable capital, or a limited partnership, and the new law introduces the concept of limited partnerships with separate legal personality.

As an incentive for funds to establish their operations in Cyprus, the Income Tax Law has been amended to provide for carried interest paid to senior employees of fund managers to be taxed at the highly beneficial rate of eight per cent for the first 10 years following the recipient's relocation to Cyprus, subject to a minimum 10,000 ($11,500 approximately) tax liability per year, and provided the net book value of the fund's assets is greater than the initial investment by the investors.



Elias Neocleous

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Share this articleAn amendment to the act on employment services came into force on May 1 2018, substantially simplifying the process of hiring third-country nationals (TCNs). The amendment establishes simplified conditions for hiring TCNs in selected professions with a documented shortage of qualified labour in districts with an average registered unemployment rate of less than five percent. In these situations, in the process of granting temporary residence permits for employment purposes, the employment offices are no longer required to review the job market to determine whether Slovak or EU nationals can be considered first to fill vacancies. Likewise, the vacancies for which there is a labour shortage need not be advertised on the official jobs bulletin board at the Labour Office, in print or on the internet.

At the time the amendment came into force, it was not yet clear how the shortage occupations would be defined or how many professions the change would affect. On June 26 2018, the Central Labour Office published a list of shortage occupations on its website, and as of that date, the simplified model for hiring foreign workers could be applied in practice. The changes affect a total of 31 districts in seven regions. The labour shortage is greatest in the Bratislava region, where 70 shortage occupations were identified. The list includes assembly line workers, construction specialists, doctors, nurses, grocery sales associates, lorry drivers, and auto mechanics.

The simplified model for hiring TCNs also accelerates the date on which these workers can begin work. As a rule, TCNs cannot start to work until they have been issued a temporary residence permit for employment purposes, while the immigration police have 90 days to issue the permit. For most employers this is an excessive amount of time, as often the needs of a business require new employees to start right away. Lawmakers have therefore introduced legislation whereby employers will be able to hire a TCN for training purposes for a maximum period of six consecutive weeks in a calendar year. This is strictly applicable to hiring foreign workers for vacancies in shortage occupations who have already applied to the immigration police for a temporary residence permit for employment purposes, for the same job and the same employer for which they are to undergo the training. These workers will be able to work in Slovakia for six weeks without holding a temporary residence permit for employment purposes or a work permit.

The employer need only report the hire to the appropriate Labout Office and provide proof of accommodation that satisfies the minimum criteria required by law. Employment for training purposes is conditional on the right to stay in the Slovak Republic, which means that only nationals of third countries that have no visa requirement with the Slovak Republic may be hired in this manner for training purposes.

Although for employers this new legislation means TCNs will be able to start work sooner, its practical application has already raised numerous questions. The most serious concerns relate to the inconsistencies in the maximum time period for issuing temporary residence permits and for hiring TCNs for training purposes. While the immigration police have 90 days to issue the permit, the employer will only be able to employ a TCN for a maximum of six weeks. This could disrupt the continuity between the duration of employment for training purposes and proper employment once a temporary residence permit for employment purposes has been issued. This would be detrimental to both the employer and the employee because employment would have to be interrupted, which means the employer would be short a worker and the worker would lose pay. This could cause problems particularly for low-skilled jobs where there is already a high turnover rate, because the worker would have to temporarily return to their home country and/or look for other forms of income, and there is also the possibility that the employee would not return to work after the temporary residence permit had been issued.

In addition, employers have already had to face other adverse effects associated with a conflict between the new legislation and labour laws. For instance, the Slovak Labour Code allows for a probationary period of up to three months during which the employee may be summarily dismissed without cause. Yet at the same time, the law does not allow for a probationary period for an employee entering into successive fixed-term employment contracts (ie employment established before the expiry of a six-month period after the end of the preceding employment relationship). The maximum period of employment for training purposes is six weeks, which means the maximum probationary period is also six weeks without the possibility of its extension or a repeated agreement after a new employment contract has been concluded once the temporary residence permit has been issued to the employee.

Notwithstanding these shortcomings, the amendment to the act on employment services introduces ground-breaking changes that are expected to greatly simplify the hiring of TCNs  something the Slovak economy was sorely in need of.



Daniel Futej Dalimir

Jancovic

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Share this articleThe OECD published in October 2015 an action plan comprising 15 measures to fight base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) of companies in the international tax environment. In the meantime, more than 100 countries have signed this initiative  the so-called inclusive framework means it's not only limited to OECD/G20 member states anymore.

Multilateral instrument

Action 15 addresses how the measures can effectively be implemented between the different states. This shall be done via a multilateral instrument, ie the multilateral convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent BEPS (MLI) signed in June 2017. It currently covers more than 75 countries. Switzerland, as an OECD member state, has also signed the MLI and initiated the legislative process to implement it (in the Federal Resolution regarding the ratification of the MLI  Federal Resolution  MLI). The MLI comes with various options, and also allows states not to implement certain provisions.

Switzerland has  like many other countries  taken the approach to generally cover only the mandatory minimum BEPS standards when implementing the MLI. Contrary to the majority of countries, Switzerland follows the amending view, ie. requires that the existing double tax treaties will be amended with the new wording. Thus, an agreement both on the content of the MLI provisions and this procedural view has currently been found with 14 countries, including Luxembourg, Italy and Austria. Further, Switzerland will also continue its bilateral treaty negotiations, like currently with the UK, where it reflects its positions under the MLI (Federal Resolution regarding amendment protocol to the Swiss-UK double-tax treaty; together with the MLI and the Federal Resolution  MLI, the legislative dispatch).

Principal purpose test to avoid treaty abuse

One of the main material changes will be the introduction of the principal purpose test (PPT) to avoid treaty abuse, as outlined in BEPS Action 6. This will be important for multinational groups but also the financial services industry and (private equity) funds. Switzerland will apply this minimum standard and has made a reservation to the application of other specific anti-abuse rules (dividend transfer transactions, rules regarding capital gains, permanent establishments in third jurisdictions and the saving clause to secure the right to tax Swiss residents). According to the PPT, benefits under a double tax treaty shall generally not be granted if it is reasonable to conclude that obtaining that benefit was one of the principal purposes of any arrangement or transaction that resulted directly or indirectly in that benefit. Other than current rules that focused on obtaining withholding tax treaty relief, the PPT covers all benefits under a double tax treaty.

Switzerland has already reflected this principal purpose approach in recent tax treaties with respect to dividend withholding tax, where obtaining the treaty benefit was the (not one) principal purpose. According to the legislative dispatch, this should generally not result in changes to the current practice, since the PPT also includes an exception ('unless the granting of the benefit would be in accordance with the object and purpose of the treaty'). However, it is important to note that Switzerland will  in addition to the PPT  also apply a beneficial ownership test to assess whether the 35% Swiss domestic withholding tax on dividends may be reduced under a tax treaty. Beneficial ownership generally requires the entitlement of the owner to the proceeds and the power to dispose of the income. In past  and often highly disputed  court decisions in Switzerland, the beneficial ownership test has been applied rather extensively, and withholding tax reduction or refund claims were in most cases denied because of missing beneficial ownership rather than treaty abuse. Thus, this will likely not change with the PPT: it will be important not only to document non-treaty-benefit reasons for a certain structure, eg the shareholding in a Swiss company, but also to justify the beneficial ownership. Criteria for the latter are according to the Swiss Federal Court eg whether the recipient bears the risk to receive the dividend at all and whether there is an inter-dependency between the receipt of the dividend and the obligation to pass it on, ie the receipt of the income depends on the obligation to transfer it and the obligation to transfer the income depends on the receipt of the income.

It remains to be seen how the different tax authorities will implement the PPT in practice. Although the MLI intends to establish a level playing field with certain mandatory minimum standards, the wording and interpretation guidelines of the PPT are quite broad and leave room for interpretation. Further, the interaction of the PPT with general and specific anti-abuse rules can be different from country to country. Switzerland's general anti-abuse rule requires based on case law that the sole reason for a certain transaction is the intended tax saving, which would be narrower than the PPT. In practice, both tests will likely be rather similar from the tax authorities' perspective.

Application to Swiss-EU intragroup transactions

The former EU-Swiss interest savings agreement which included similar provisions like the EU Parent Subsidiary Directive regarding the full withholding tax reduction in intra-group scenarios for dividend, interest and royalty is now covered by article 9 of the EU-Swiss agreement on the automatic exchange of financial information for tax purposes. This article includes a general anti-abuse provision which  based on the legislative dispatch  should reflect the PPT once implemented in the respective double tax treaties.

Timeline

The consultation phase for the Swiss legislative dispatch ended in April. With respect to mandatory rules, only limited comments were made. The legislative dispatch should be discussed in parliament in autumn 2018 and could be ratified in 2019. The amendments of these double tax treaties would be effective three months after the notification (to the beginning of the next month) and by the beginning of the following calendar year for withholding tax purposes (not before January 1 2020).

Susanne

Schreiber Cyrill

Diefenbacher

 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs.

Share this articleA new court filing issued Aug. 20 noted that senior-level officials at the Department of Homeland Security are reviewing a rule that would revoke work authorization for thousands of H-4 visa holders, primarily women from India whose spouses are on green card track. Indian American attorney Cyrus Mehta told India-West the government has stalled on this long-awaited decision because it cannot prove that rescinding H-4 work authorization would severely impact the U.S. economy. Seen above is a group meeting with Molly Keenan of Washington Rep. Suzan DelBenes office. (Twitter/SaveH4EAD photo)Home Search ICH Russia Deploys Fleet Off Syria - Says U.S. Preparing for Possible Attack



Up to 13 Russian warships have crossed the Bosphorus toward Syria so far this week as tensions between the U.S. and Syria continue to rise



By Haaretz and Reuters August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Monday it had noticed Washington was building up its military forces in the Middle East in preparation for what Moscow feared was a possible strike on Syrian government forces, Russian news agencies reported.



Major-General Igor Konashenkov was quoted by agencies as saying that the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer, had entered the Mediterranean on Aug. 25 armed with 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting any target in Syria. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Up to 13 Russian warships have crossed the Bosphorus toward Syria so far this week as tensions between the U.S. and Syria continue to rise, according to ship spotters based in the Bosphorus Strait.



Now in Med Sea:

CG Marshal Ustinov

DDG Severomorsk

DDG Yaroslav Mudryy

FFG Admiral Grigorovich

FFG Admiral Essen

FFL Pytlivyy

FSG Vyshniy Volochek

FSG Grad Sviyazhsk

FSG Velikiy Ustyug

LST Orsk

LST Nikolay Fil'chenkov

MS Turbinist

MS Valentin Pikul

SS Kolpino

SS Velikiy Novgorod

 Capt(N) (@Capt_Navy) August 25, 2018



Russia ramping up its presence in the eastern Med for the conclusion of #Syria campaign: Rejoining Russian Navys Mediterranean deployment after 85 days, # Project1135M # BSF Krivak II frigate Pytlivy 868 transited Bosphorus towards Med en route to #Tartus. pic.twitter.com/56XWIWstKK

 Yoruk Isk (@YorukIsik) August 24, 2018



The deployment of the Russian fleet comes as the U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strike the Syrian Army ahead of the long-awaited battle of Idlib. Syria, Turkey, Russia and U.S. are about to square off in the northern Syria city with millions of civilians in the crosshairs.



Turkey's foreign minister said last Friday it would be disastrous to seek a military solution in the Idlib region, a rebel-held enclave which the Syrian government says it aims to recapture.



Idlib is a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as for powerful jihadist forces. It has been hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month in a possible prelude to a full-scale government offensive.



Turkey has backed some rebel groups in the region and set up a dozen military observation posts. It is trying to avert an attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Moscow. August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.CHANGCHUN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Military fans will have the chance to visit air force barracks in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, feasting their eyes on air shows and equipment on Saturday and Sunday.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force will open the barracks to the public, offering performances such as skydiving, aerobatic flights, model planes and real combat simulations. Visitors can also take a turn in aircraft simulators.

The barracks at the Aviation University of Air Forces will open to visitors who can have an insider's look into students' lives.

Visitors can get free tickets by answering questionnaires or submitting photos of the air force.

The general office of China's Central Military Commission issued a guideline on opening PLA barracks in October 2017, and China this July announced plans to open more than 600 barracks to the public during major festivals and days of commemoration.

According to the plan, barracks of PLA army, navy, air and rocket forces and armed police at the division, brigade, regiment, battalion and company levels will be available for public visits, covering 31 provincial-level regions across the country.The Other Side of John McCain



If the paeans to McCain by diverse political climbers seems detached from reality, its because they reflect the elite view of U.S. military interventions as a chess game, with the millions killed by unprovoked aggression mere statistics, says Max Blumenthal.



By Max Blumenthal

August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - As the Cold War entered its final act in 1985, journalist Helena Cobban participated in an academic conference at an upscale resort near Tucson, Arizona, on U.S.-Soviet interactions in the Middle East. When she attended what was listed as the Gala Dinner with keynote speech, she quickly learned that the virtual theme of the evening was, Adopt a Muj.

I remember mingling with all of these wealthy Republican women from the Phoenix suburbs and being asked, Have you adopted a muj? Cobban told me. Each one had pledged money to sponsor a member of the Afghan mujahedin in the name of beating the communists. Some were even seated at the event next to their personal muj.

The keynote speaker of the evening, according to Cobban, was a hard-charging freshman member of Congress named John McCain .

During the Vietnam war, McCain had been captured by the North Vietnamese Army after being shot down on his way to bomb a civilian lightbulb factory. He spent two years in solitary confinement and underwent torture that left him with crippling injuries. McCain returned from the war with a deep, abiding loathing of his former captors, remarking as late as 2000, I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live. After he was criticized for the racist remark, McCain refused to apologize. I was referring to my prison guards, he said, and I will continue to refer to them in language that might offend some people because of the beating and torture of my friends.

McCains visceral resentment informed his vocal support for the mujahedin as well as the right-wing contra death squads in Central America  any proxy group sworn to the destruction of communist governments.

So committed was McCain to the anti-communist cause that in the mid-1980s he had joined the advisory board of the United States Council for World Freedom, the American affiliate of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). Geoffrey Stewart-Smith, a former leader of WACLs British chapter who had turned against the group in 1974, described the organization as a collection of Nazis, fascists, anti-Semites, sellers of forgeries, vicious racialists, and corrupt self-seekers. It has evolved into an anti-Semitic international.

Joining McCain in the organization were notables such as Jaroslav Stetsko, the Ukrainian Nazi collaborator who helped oversee the extermination of 7,000 Jews in 1941; the brutal Argentinian former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla; and Guatemalan death squad leader Mario Sandoval Alarcon. Then-President Ronald Reagan honored the group for playing a leadership role in drawing attention to the gallant struggle now being waged by the true freedom fighters of our day.

Being Lauded as a Hero

On the occasion of his death, McCain is being honored in much the same way  as a patriotic hero and freedom fighter for democracy. A stream of hagiographies is pouring forth from the Beltway press corps that he described as his true political base. Among McCains most enthusiastic groupies is CNNs Jake Tapper, whom he chose as his personal stenographer for a 2000 trip to Vietnam. When the former CNN host Howard Kurtz asked Tapper in February, 2000, When youre on the [campaign] bus, do you make a conscious effort not to fall under the magical McCain spell?

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Oh, you cant. You become like Patty Hearst when the SLA took her, Tapper joked in reply.

But the late senator has also been treated to gratuitous tributes from an array of prominent liberals, from George Soros to his soft power-pushing client, Ken Roth, along with three fellow directors of Human Rights Watch and democratic socialist celebrity Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who hailed McCain as an unparalleled example of human decency. Rep. John Lewis, the favorite civil rights symbol of the Beltway political class, weighed in as well to memorialize McCain as a warrior for peace.

If the paeans to McCain by this diverse cast of political climbers and Davos denizens seemed detached from reality, thats because they perfectly reflected the elite view of American military interventions as akin to a game of chess, and the millions of dead left in the wake of the Wests unprovoked aggression as mere statistics.

There were few figures in recent American life who dedicated themselves so personally to the perpetuation of war and empire as McCain. But in Washington, the most defining aspect of his career was studiously overlooked, or waved away as the trivial idiosyncrasy of a noble servant who nonetheless deserved everyones reverence.

McCain did not simply thunder for every major intervention of the post-Cold War era from the Senate floor, while pushing for sanctions and assorted campaigns of subterfuge on the side. He was uniquely ruthless when it came to advancing imperial goals, barnstorming from one conflict zone to another to personally recruit far-right fanatics as American proxies.

In Libya and Syria, he cultivated affiliates of Al Qaeda as allies, and in Ukraine, McCain courted actual, sig-heiling neo-Nazis.

While McCains Senate office functioned as a clubhouse for arms industry lobbyists and neocon operatives, his fascistic allies waged a campaign of human devastation that will continue until long after the flowers dry up on his grave.

American media may have sought to bury this legacy with the senators body, but it is what much of the outside world will remember him for.

They are Not al-Qaeda

When a violent insurgency swept through Libya in 2011, McCain parachuted into the country to meet with leaders of the main insurgent outfit, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), battling the government of Moamar Gaddafi. His goal was to make kosher this band of hardline Islamists in the eyes of the Obama administration, which was considering a military intervention at the time.

What happened next is well documented, though it is scarcely discussed by a Washington political class that depended on the Benghazi charade to deflect from the real scandal of Libyas societal destruction. Gaddafis motorcade was attacked by NATO jets , enabling a band of LIFG fighters to capture him, sodomize him with a bayonet, then murder him and leave his body to rot in a butcher shop in Misrata while rebel fanboys snapped cellphone selfies of his fetid corpse.

A slaughter of Black citizens of Libya by the racist sectarian militias recruited by McCain immediately followed the killing of the pan-African leader. ISIS took over Gaddafis hometown of Sirte while Belhajs militia took control of Tripoli, and a war of the warlords began. Just as Gaddafi had warned , the ruined country became a staging ground for migrant smugglers on the Mediterranean, fueling the rise of the far-right across Europe and enabling the return of slavery to Africa.

Many might describe Libya as a failed state, but it also represents a successful realization of the vision McCain and his allies have advanced on the global stage.

Following the NATO-orchestrated murder of Libyas leader, McCain tweeted , Qaddafi on his way out, Bashar al Assad is next.

McCains Syrian Boondoggle

Like Libya, Syria had resisted aligning with the West and was suddenly confronted with a Salafi-jihadi insurgency armed by the CIA. Once again, McCain made it his personal duty to market Islamist insurgents to America as a cross between the Minutemen and the Freedom Riders of the civil rights era. To do so, he took under his wing a youthful DC-based Syria-American operative named Mouaz Moustafa who had been a consultant to the Libyan Transitional Council during the run-up to the NATO invasion.

In May 2013, Moustafa convinced McCain to take an illegal trip across the Syrian border and meet some freedom fighters. An Israeli millionaire named Moti Kahana who coordinated efforts between the Syrian opposition and the Israeli military through his NGO, Amaliah, claimed to have financed the opposition group which took senator John McCain to visit war-torn Syria.

This could be like his Benghazi moment, Moustafa remarked excitedly in a scene from a documentary, Red Lines, that depicted his efforts for regime change. [McCain] went to Benghazi, he came back, we bombed.

During his brief excursion into Syria, McCain met with a group of CIA-backed insurgents and blessed their struggle. The senator wanted to assure the Free Syrian Army that the American people support their cry for freedom, support their revolution, Moustafa said in an interview with CNN. McCains office promptly released a photo showing the senator posing beside a beaming Moustafa and two grim-looking gunmen.

Days later, the men were named by the Lebanese Daily Star as Mohammad Nour and Abu Ibrahim. Both had been implicated in the kidnapping a year prior of 11 Shia pilgrims, and were identified by one of the survivors. McCain and Moustafa returned to the U.S. the targets of mockery from Daily Show host John Stewart and the subject of harshly critical reports from across the media spectrum. At a town hall in Arizona, McCain was berated by constituents, including Jumana Hadid, a Syrian Christian woman who warned that the sectarian militants he had cozied up to threatened her community with genocide.

But McCain pressed ahead anyway. On Capitol Hill, he introduced another shady young operative into his interventionist theater. Named Elizabeth OBagy, she was a fellow at the Institute for the Study of War, an arms industry-funded think tank directed by Kimberly Kagan of the neoconservative Kagan clan. Behind the scenes, OBagy was consulting for Moustafa at his Syrian Emergency Task Force, a clear conflict of interest that her top Senate patron was well aware of. Before the Senate, McCain cited a Wall Street Journal editorial by OBagy to support his assessment of the Syrian rebels as predominately moderate, and potentially Western-friendly.

Days later, OBagy was exposed for faking her PhD in Arabic studies. As soon as the humiliated Kagan fired OBagy, the academic fraudster took another pass through the Beltways revolving door, striding into the halls of Congress as McCains newest foreign policy aide.

McCain ultimately failed to see the Islamist revolutionaries he glad handled take control of Damascus. Syrias government held on thanks to help from his mortal enemies in Tehran and Moscow, but not before a billion dollar CIA arm-and-equip operation helped spawn one of the worst refugee crises in post-war history. Luckily for McCain, there were other intrigues seeking his attention, and new bands of fanatical rogues in need of his blessing. Months after his Syrian boondoggle, the ornery militarist turned his attention to Ukraine, then in the throes of an upheaval stimulated by U.S. and EU-funded soft power NGOs.

Coddling the Neo-Nazis of Ukraine

On December 14, 2013, McCain materialized in Kiev for a meeting with Oleh Tyanhbok , an unreconstructed fascist who had emerged as a top opposition leader. Tyanhbok had co-founded the fascist Social-National Party, a far-right political outfit that touted itself as the last hope of the white race, of humankind as such. No fan of Jews, he had complained that a Muscovite-Jewish mafia had taken control of his country, and had been photographed throwing up a sieg heil Nazi salute during a speech.

None of this apparently mattered to McCain. Nor did the scene of Right Sector neo-Nazis filling up Kievs Maidan Square while he appeared on stage to egg them on.

Ukraine will make Europe better and Europe will make Ukraine better! McCain proclaimed to cheering throngs while Tyanhbok stood by his side. The only issue that mattered to him at the time was the refusal of Ukraines elected president to sign a European Union austerity plan, opting instead for an economic deal with Moscow.

McCain was so committed to replacing an independent-minded government with a NATO vassal that he even mulled a military assault on Kiev. I do not see a military option and that is tragic, McCain lamented in an interview about the crisis. Fortunately for him, regime change arrived soon after his appearance on the Maidan, and Tyanhboks allies rushed in to fill the void.

By the end of the year, the Ukrainian military had become bogged down in a bloody trench war with pro-Russian, anti-coup separatists in the countrys east. A militia affiliated with the new government in Kiev called Dnipro-1 was accused by Amnesty International observers of blocking humanitarian aid into a separatist-held area, including food and clothing for the war torn population.

Six months later, McCain appeared at Dnipro-1s training base alongside Sen.s Tom Cotton and John Barasso. The people of my country are proud of your fight and your courage, McCain told an assembly of soldiers from the militia. When he completed his remarks, the fighters belted out a World War II-era salute made famous by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators: Glory to Ukraine!

Today, far-right nationalists occupy key posts in Ukraines pro-Western government. The speaker of its parliament is Andriy Parubiy , a co-founder with Tyanhbok of the Social-National Party and leader of the movement to honor World World Two-era Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera. On the cover of his 1998 manifesto, View From The Right, Parubiy appeared in a Nazi-style brown shirt with a pistol strapped to his waist. In June 2017, McCain and Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan welcomed Parubiy on Capitol Hill for what McCain called a good meeting. It was a shot in the arm for the fascist forces sweeping across Ukraine.

The past months in Ukraine have seen a state sponsored neo-Nazi militia called C14 carrying out a pogromist rampage against Ukraines Roma population, the countrys parliament erecting an exhibition honoring Nazi collaborators, and the Ukrainian military formally approving the pro-Nazi Glory to Ukraine greeting as its own official salute.

Ukraine is now the sick man of Europe, a perpetual aid case bogged down in an endless war in its east. In a testament to the countrys demise since its so-called Revolution of Dignity, the deeply unpopular President Petro Poroshenko has promised White House National Security Advisor John Bolton that his country  once a plentiful source of coal on par with Pennsylvania  will now purchase coal from the U.S. Once again, a regime change operation that generated a failing, fascistic state stands as one of McCains greatest triumphs.

McCains history conjures up memory of one of the most inflammatory statements by Sarah Palin, another cretinous fanatic he foisted onto the world stage. During a characteristically rambling stump speech in October 2008, Palin accused Barack Obama of palling around with terrorists. The line was dismissed as ridiculous and borderline slander, as it should have been. But looking back at McCains career, the accusation seems richly ironic.

By any objective standard, it was McCain who had palled around with terrorists, and who wrested as much resources as he could from the American taxpayer to maximize their mayhem. Heres hoping that the societies shattered by McCains proxies will someday rest in peace.

Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of books including best-selling Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, The Fifty One Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza, and the forthcoming The Management of Savagery, which will be published by Verso. He has also produced numerous print articles for an array of publications, many video reports and several documentaries including Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie and the newly released Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded the GrayzoneProject.com in 2015 and serves as its editor.By Daniel Larison

August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Defense Secretary Mattis held a rare press conference earlier today. He was asked more than once about U.S. support for the war on Yemen, but each time he repeated some version of the same discredited excuses he has used for months:

Mattis rejects the notion that US efforts haven't helped prevent civilian deaths in Yemen. Says there aren't news reports when Saudi coalition pilots exercise restraint.  William Gallo (@GalloVOA) August 28, 2018

As I said when I saw this, this is an infuriating and ridiculous response to a very important question. Civilian casualties from coalition airstrikes have increased in the last year, so clearly the coalition is getting worse rather than better when it comes to avoiding civilian casualties. The repeated slaughters of civilians when there is no legitimate military target anywhere nearby show that the coalition is not even seriously trying to avoid them. According to the Yemen Data Project, roughly one-third of coalition attacks are on non-military targets. That rate has remained consistent throughout the war. There is no noticeable improvement in coalition targeting, and more civilians are dying from coalition attacks than before. There is no evidence to support Mattis contention that the U.S. has helped prevent civilian deaths, and the evidence that our support has enabled numerous war crimes is substantial.

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The biggest problem with Mattis position is that the coalition depends on U.S. support to conduct their bombing campaign. Our government cant pretend that it is limiting the damage when it is providing the coalition with the weapons and refueling they need to continue the bombing. The surest way to reduce the harm done to Yemeni civilians would be to pull the plug on the entire operation. It appears that Trump and Mattis still have no intention of doing anything like that, and so we are treated to more absurd excuses that our government isnt involved in a war that could not be fought without its assistance.

The American Conservative

"By Nick Pemberton

August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The grossest thing in American society is the reactionary sentimentality that fill our gossip infected hearts with a chemical reaction every time one of our supposed war heroes moves on to a more peaceful place. The carefully rehearsed statements from useless political figures numb our minds as all those who are sane must collectively wonder what on earth has a fusty bag of bones like John McCain ever done for us? Donald Trump was once new to the political scene and was still capable of burning bridges that were worth burning. It was Mr. Trumps finest moment when he said that McCain was not a war hero. Such a statement was so necessary one would have to say it was the finest moment the Not-So-Great Pumpkin has ever brought the American people. It goes without saying that the day Trump meets his twisted maker, all politically correct sentimentality for his passing must be resisted.

Donald Trumps machometer for a war hero was whether or not they got caught. The phrase war hero is a paradox to begin with, so we must forgive the dull Cheeseball for his lackluster definition. His instincts were right. John McCain is no hero.

John McCain was a fierce Zionist, but such a trait is almost as American as apple pie. McCain, more than almost anybody else, pushed for more troops in Iraq. When George W. Bush caved and sent in 20,000 extra troops to Iraq in 2007, Democrats labeled the move The McCain doctrine. Americans even dumber than Bush II have begun to label Bush reasonable. The reasonable Bush talked of 50 years in Iraq, McCain raised him to 100. McCain was among the most enthusiastic advocates of war in Afghanistan as well. And like his buddy Barack across the aisle, he felt threatened by Libyas success under Muammar Gaddafi. McCains virile posturing against Vladimir Putin has been just as eye-opening as Trumps bromance with Putin.

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It all smelled rotten when John McCain sided with those good ol American values and invited his brother from another party Barack Obama to speak at his funeralpresumably to spite Donald Trump. Politicians nowadays like to pretend that the good ol boys club of the past was free of Trumps virulent misogyny. But dig through McCains public statements and you will find that there are plenty of sexist ones. Give Trump this: he wastes little time on sentimentality. He believes in nothing and nobody. Trump is the natural next step for a society that is morally bankrupt and relies purely on inauthentic jingoistic kitsch to justify its ridiculousness.

John McCain and his brand of old school Americana died upon the arrival of the wrecking ball Donald Trump. McCains body may have stuck around a little longer than we wanted, but it was only a matter of time before he joined his ideology in the grave. Now it is on the Democrats to take up the mantle, and they have done so honorably. Democrats preach an influx of women into the fray, but for a party that is already abandoning #MeToo and reproductive rights, we are left to wonder what this really means. What is clear is that the Democrats have become the safe haven for clean cut self-righteous ex-military/intelligence candidates. The Democrats are the party of McCain now.

I remember the day Osama bin Laden was assassinated. It was hard to find an American who was not in heat. Parades erupted. Bloodthirsty politicians licked their chops. There was a certain pride that it was our guy Obama who brought him down. This was enough to make anyone queasy. If this many Americans had a taste for blood then, who was surprised that so many of us have salivated over Donald Trumps madcap bullying. American culture is just too extreme. We divide everyone into friends and foes. If our friends die, we all have to lie about them. If our foes die, we have a parade. I dont purpose a parade over John McCains death, just a little perspective.

John McCain helped orchestrate the devastation of several countries. Millions of deaths are on his bloody hands. The world is more peaceful with him gone from it. Why didnt the 22 Yemeni children killed the day before cause the same amount of grief as McCains death? The U.S.-Saudi war on Yemen was backed by McCain as well. John McCain will be remembered as a war hero, but if I can paraphrase the merciless hawk Donald Trump, Real heroes dont go to war.By Cesar Chelala

August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - These are not easy times for Pope Francis. Within two days he received strong criticism for Catholic priests sexual abuse of more than a thousand children in Pennsylvania. He was also confronted by Irelands Prime Minister and then by a high officer of the Catholic Church.

During his recent visit to Ireland, the first papal visit in almost 40 years, Leo Varadkar, Irelands Prime Minister, told Pope Francis, Magdalene Laundries, Mother and Baby Homes, industrial schools, illegal adoptions, and clerical child abuse are stains on our state, our society and also the Catholic Church [Magdalene Laundries, and Mother and Baby Homes are places where nuns mistreated single mothers and illegally gave their children up for adoption]. Wounds are still open and there is much to be done to bring about justice and truth and healing for victims and survivors.

While the Pope listened as Varadkar talked about the children abused in Pennsylvania detailing the brutal crimes perpetrated by people within the Catholic Church and then obscured to protect the institution at the expense of innocent victims. This is a story, he said, all too tragically familiar here in Ireland.

Not all of Varadkars words were critical of the Church. In measured tone he told Pope Francis, Holy Father, we thank you for your care for the Earth, for emphasizing the urgent challenge of climate change, and for reminding us of our responsibilities. We thank you for the empathy you have shown for the poor, for migrants and for refugees.

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But Varadkar also added, There can only be zero tolerance for those who abuse innocent children or who facilitate that abuse. We must now ensure that from words flow actions. Above all, Holy Father, I ask for you to listen to the victims.

Prime Minister Varadkar made his position clear on other topics where there is divergence with the Churchs position saying, We have voted in our parliament and by referendum to modernize our laws understanding that marriages do not always work, that women should make their own decisions, and that families come in many forms including those headed by a grandparent, lone parent or same-sex parents or parents who are divorced.

Varadkars words echoed a similar but even stronger standtaken by his predecessor, Enda Kenny. In 2011, Mr. Kenny openly confronted the Vatican for its handling of the childrens abuse question, and for failing to cooperate with the investigation carried out by the Irish government.

Pope Francis responded, I cannot fail to acknowledge the grave scandal caused in Ireland by the abuse of young people by members of the church charged with responsibility for their protection and education. And added, It is my hope that the gravity of the abuse scandals, which have cast light on the failings of many, will serve to emphasize the importance of the protection of minors and vulnerable adults on the part of society as a whole.

Just as Pope Francis was ending his visit to Ireland, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was apostolic nuncio in Washington D.C. from 2011 to 2016, accused Pope Francis and several senior prelates of complicity in covering up Archbishop Theodore McCarricks allegations of sexual abuse. Archbishop Vigano claimed that Pope Francis knew about sanctions imposed on then-Cardinal McCarrick by Pope Benedict XVI, but not only chose to repeal them and made him his trusted advisor.

Archbishop Vigano said that Pope Francis is abdicating the mandate which Christ gave to Peter to confirm the brethren, urged him to acknowledge his mistakes and set a good example to cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarricks abuses and resign along with all of them. The Vatican press office refused to respond to Archbishop Viganos letter.

These are trying times for Pope Francis and for the Catholic Church. The determination with which abusers are punished and effective policies are put in place to prevent further abuses will be an indication of how seriously Pope Francis decides to reform the Church and honor the survivors of abuse at the hands of catholic clergy.President Trump is only his handyman

By Paul Craig Roberts

August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - When I first read this  I thought it was a caricature of fake news. Then I realized it was a New York Times article, and being fairly certain that the arrogant presstitute organization was not taking the piss out of itself, as it is one of the main purveyors of fake news, I found the conclusion unavoidable that Julian E. Barnes and Matthew Rosenberg were so tightly bound inside The Matrix that they might actually believe the nonsense that they wrote.

Here is an overview of the fantasy that the two presstitutes have penned in the New York Times:

US intelligence (sic) had informants close to President Vladimir V. Putin and in the Kremiln who provided urgent and explicit warnings about Russias intentions to try to tip the [2016] American presidential election. The NYT presstitutes do not say why nothing was done by US intelligence which had inside information from the Kremlin itself that Putin was about to steal for Trump the US election. Certainly CIA Director Brennan and FBI Director Comey, both of whom are Hillarys allies, would not have approved of Putin stealing the election for Trump. But there is no criticism from the NY Times presstitutes for this massive intelligence failure to act to prevent Putin from stealing the election from Hillary. Brennan and Comey sat on their hands and permitted Putin to steal the election for Trump. So, who is really guilty of Russiagate?

Obviously, this NY Times article is a hoax written by imbeciles. The claim that the Putin/Trump conspiracy was leaked to US intelligence from inside the Kremlin is an invention to help to provide a background history in an effort to boost the credibility of the Russiagate orchestation that is directed against President Trump. The presstitutes in their effort to boost Russiagates credibility inadvertently portrayed US intelligence as negligent in its duty.

Barnes and Rosenberg say that Putin is continuing with his dirty tricks, but the Russian traitors inside the Kremlin within Putins close circles have gone silent, depriving us of information about how the Russians are going to steal the midterm elections. The presstitutes suggest that Washingtons informers inside Putins government have gone to ground to avoid being murdered like the poisoning in March in Britain of a former Russian intelligence officer that utilized a rare Russian-made nerve agent.

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It is difficult to know what to make of presstitutes like Barnes and Rosenberg and the NYTimes who refuse to acknowledge the fact that there has been zero evidence produced that supports the alleged attack on the Skirpals, both of whom suvived a deadly nerve agent. There is no evidence whatsoever that the alleged deadly nerve agent was made in Russia, and there is no explanation why the deadly nerve agent was not deadly. The only possible conclusion from the total absence of any evidence is that no such attack occurred. It is just another propaganda hoax against Russia.

More proof that there was no such attack is provided by the refusal of the British government to share its investigation, if there actually was an investigation, with anyone, not even with the accused Russians. Accusations without a shred of evidence are not a good basis for a trusting relationship with a nuclear power.

Barnes and Rosenberg suggest that the House Intelligence Committee, encouraged by President Trump, chilled intelligence collection by outing an FBI informant, leaving Washington in the dark about Putins precise intentions.

No, this is not a conspiracy story from the National Inquirer, now a more reliable newspaper than the New York Times. This utter nonsense is published in the New York Times, the newspaper of record. What a false record historians are going to have.

What are the NYTimes sources for this fantasy? The presstitute organization cannot tell us. American intelligence agencies have not been able to say precisely what are Mr. Putins intentions: He could be trying to tilt the midterm elections, simply sow chaos or generally undermine trust in the democratic process. But the NYTimes knows that Putin is up to something, because senior intelligence officials, including Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, have warned that Russians are intent on subverting American democratic institutions.

So here we have Trumps own appointment, Dan Coats, undermining Trumps effort to normalize relations with Russia. Who among Trumps advisors advised him to appoint a Russiaphobic moron like Dan Coats? If Trump had any sense, he would fire both of them.

Washington routinely subverts democratic institutions in other countries, such as Honduras, Nicaguara, Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, Indonesia. Read Stephen Kinsers The Brothers for a number of examples:

Washington finances opposition candidates who are bought and paid for by Washington and uses various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) financed by the National Endowment for Democracy, George Soros, the International Republican Institute, and many other front groups for subversion of countries uncooperative with Washington in order to install a Washington puppet. Washington even has NGOs operating in Russia where they are even permitted by the Russian government to own newspapers. All anti-Putin protests are organized by Washington using the NGOs that Washington funds.

Russia, however, has no NGOs operating in the US, and, unlike Israel, does not own the US Congress and White House. So how exactly, Director of National Intelligence (sic) Dan Coats, are the Russians going to subvert American democratic institutions?

Dont expect an answer.

Try to understand the insults to Trump voters of the charge that they are puppets at the end of Putins string: Trump voters are portrayed as morons who are not capable of thinking for themselves. If they were, they would have voted for Hillary so that America could demonstrate its escape from misogyny and male domination by electing its First Woman President on the heels of the First Half-Black President. Instead the minds of American voters were warped by Putin. The $100,000 dollars spent by a Russian Internet company trying to attract advertisers prevailed over the multi-billion dollars spent by the Democrats and Republicans and by American economic interests focused on capturing the government for their agendas. The Russian plot is so powerful that a dollar spent by Russia is thousands of times more powerful than a dollar spent by Wall Street, the military/security compex, George Soros, Sheldon Adelson, etc., and so on.

In the official story, no American voted for Trump because his/her job was sent to Asia or Mexico by global US corporations pursuing high monetary rewards for executives and shareholders at the expense of the American work force. The Trump Deplorables voted for Trump because they were brainwashed by a few Russian Internet ads directed at maximizing clicks in order to attract advertisers.

No one voted for Trump because their son and daughter, on whose education the family used up its savings, acquired student loan debts and possibly a second mortgage, can only find a job as a waitress and bartender because the jobs for which they prepared at great expense are handed over to lowly paid foreigners in order that shareholders can receive large capital gains and a handful of corporate executives can receive multimillion dollar bonuses for raising profits by closing down Americas vaunted opportunity society. Today Americans have debts and no opportunities.

Assuming you have some sense and some ability to think independently of the lies that are fed to you daily, can you possibly believe that Americans voted for Trump because Putin tricked them with Internet ads that are unlikely to have been seen by as many as one percent of voters?

Can you possibly believe that the loss of Trump voters jobs, their prospects, their childrens prospects, their home, their declining living standards, the insults heaped upon Americans by Hillarys Democratic PartyTrump deplorables, white male oppressors, Russias Fifth Column, misogynists, racists, homophobic, gun nuts had no impact on why Americans voted for Trump? How could any sentient American believe that Putin is the source of their problems?

The NY Times pressitutes report without any evidence alleged efforts of Russia to create chaos in America. I could not stop laughing. There is no Russian National Endowment for Democracy operating in the US. There is no Russian funded George Soros operating in America. There are no Russian funded Non-Governmental Organizations operating in America. Yet Russis is full of Washington-funded organizations doing everything in their power to sow chaos in Russia.

Why isnt this most obvious of all truths reported in the NY Times?

The answer is that no truth whatsoever, not even a tiny morsel, fits the fabricated explanations in which the insouciant Western peoples live. Everywhere in the Western World people are shielded from reality by controlled explanations handed down to them by the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, et. al, and the UK, EU, Canadian, and Australian newspapers, every one of which is a propagandist for American hegemony.

A few years ago a famous philosopher concluded that the world lives in a constructed virtual reality. At the time I thought he was crazy, but I have learned that he is correct. The entire worldeven the Russians and the Chinese and the Iranianslive in a world shaped by American propaganda. The truth is that a country, the USA, which endorses freedom of determination, is in fact determined to control the world and smother all self-determination. Every country, whether Russia, China, Syria, Iran, India, Turkey, North Korea, Venezuela, that resists Washingtons hegemony is declared by Washington to be a threat to the international order.

The international order is Washingtons order. The International Order is Washintons hegemony over the word. Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and now Turkey and India are threats to international order because they do not accept Washingtons hegemony.

Barnes and Rosenberg report that Coats is concerned about Russias effort to weaken and divide the United States. There is no sign of Russia doing any such thing, and there is no explanation of how Putin conducts a broad chaos campaign to undermine faith in American democracy. If the Director of National Intelligence is concerned about the forces of division in America, he should turn his attention to the divisive consequences of the Democratic Partys Identity Politics, to ANTIFA, to the divisive consequences of the fabricated attack on President Trump by the military/security complex and presstitute media. Indeed, the constant drumbeat of lies from the New York Times alone has caused far move divisiveness than anything Russia is alleged to have done.

Divisiveness is what happens when the military/security complex and its media pimps turn on a President for threatening their budget by proposing peace with the enemy that they have constructed in order to justify their power and profit. It is this divisiveness that the United States is experiencing.

The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West

How America Was Lost

The Neoconservative Threat to World OrderHome Search ICH Skripals  When the BBC Hide the Truth By Craig Murray August 28, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - On 8 July 2018 a lady named Kirsty Eccles asked what, in its enormous ramifications, historians may one day see as the most important Freedom of Information request ever made. The rest of this post requires extremely close and careful reading, and some thought, for you to understand that claim. Dear British Broadcasting Corporation, 1: Why did BBC Newsnight correspondent Mark Urban keep secret from the licence payers that he had been having meetings with Sergei Skripal only last summer. 2: When did the BBC know this? 3: Please provide me with copies of all correspondence between yourselves and Mark Urban on the subject of Sergei Skripal. Yours faithfully, Kirsty Eccles The ramifications of this little request are enormous as they cut right to the heart of the ramping up of the new Cold War, of the BBCs propaganda collusion with the security services to that end, and of the concoction of fraudulent evidence in the Steele dirty dossier. This also of course casts a strong light on more plausible motives for an attack on the Skripals. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Which is why the BBC point blank refused to answer Kirstys request, stating that it was subject to the Freedom of Information exemption for Journalism. 10th July 2018

Dear Ms Eccles

Freedom of Information request  RFI20181319

Thank you for your request to the BBC of 8th July 2018, seeking the following information under the

Freedom of Information Act 2000:

1: Why did BBC Newsnight correspondent Mark Urban keep secret from the licence payers that he

had been having meetings with Sergei Skripal only last summer.

2: When did the BBC know this?

3: Please provide me with copies of all correspondence between yourselves and Mark Urban on the

subject of Sergei Skripal.

The information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes of

journalism, art or literature. The BBC is therefore not obliged to provide this information to you. Part VI

of Schedule 1 to FOIA provides that information held by the BBC and the other public service broadcasters

is only covered by the Act if it is held for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature. The

BBC is not required to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBCs output or

information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities. The BBC is of course being entirely tendentious here  journalism does not include the deliberate suppression of vital information from the public, particularly in order to facilitate the propagation of fake news on behalf of the security services. That black propaganda is precisely what the BBC is knowingly engaged in, and here trying hard to hide. I have today attempted to contact Mark Urban at Newsnight by phone, with no success, and sent him this email: To: mark.urban@bbc.co.uk Dear Mark, As you may know, I am a journalist working in alternative media, a member of the NUJ, as well as a former British Ambassador. I am researching the Skripal case. I wish to ask you the following questions. 1) When the Skripals were first poisoned, it was the largest news story in the entire World and you were uniquely positioned having held several meetings with Sergei Skripal the previous year. Yet faced with what should have been a massive career break, you withheld that unique information on a major story from the public for four months. Why?

2) You were an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment together with Skripals MI6 handler, Pablo Miller, who also lived in Salisbury. Have you maintained friendship with Miller over the years and how often do you communicate?

3) When you met Skripal in Salisbury, was Miller present all or part of the time, or did you meet Miller separately?

4) Was the BBC aware of your meetings with Miller and/or Skripal at the time?

5) When, four months later, you told the world about your meetings with Skripal after the Rowley/Sturgess incident, you said you had met him to research a book. Yet the only forthcoming book by you advertised is on the Skripal attack. What was the subject of your discussions with Skripal?

6) Pablo Miller worked for Orbis Intelligence. Do you know if Miller contributed to the Christopher Steele dossier on Trump/Russia?

7) Did you discuss the Trump dossier with Skripal and/or Miller?

8) Do you know whether Skripal contributed to the Trump dossier?

9) In your Newsnight piece following the Rowley/Sturgess incident, you stated that security service sources had told you that Yulia Skripals telephone may have been bugged. Since January 2017, how many security service briefings or discussions have you had on any of the matter above. I look forward to hearing from you. Craig Murray I should very much welcome others also sending emails to Mark Urban to emphasise the public demand for an answer from the BBC to these vital questions. If you have time, write your own email, or if not copy and paste from mine. To quote that great Scot John Paul Jones, We have not yet begun to fight. Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.While preaching in his church recently, the senior pastor of the Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, took a swipe at Nigerian comedians who take delight in using Jesus Christ to crack jokes.

According to him, no one can dare use Mohammed to crack jokes. He also took a swipe at Christians that do not stand up in defence of clergymen as they get dragged online.

No regard. Imagine comedians will be cracking jokes and using Jesus for joke, calling Jesus Bros J and a pastor doesnt go to the altar and give him sound slap. Can you joke with Mohammed like that? They will kill you he said

Watch the video below;

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnDGDaDHY9N/?utm_source=ig_embedFormer vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, Senate president Bukola Saraki and former Aviation Minister, Femi fani-Kayode have reacted to the refusal of the Federal Capital Territory Administration to allow Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso use the Eagle Square, Abuja for his presidential declaration.

According to the former vice president, president Muhammadu Buhari, as a presidential aspirant in 2014 was allowed by a Peoples democratic Party led government to use the Eagles Square for his declaration. Atiku said the date was of Buhari presidential declaration was a work day and the PDP posed no hindrance whatsoever.

Bukola Saraki on the other hand says the refusal sends a wrong message in our democracy. He stressed that the Eagles square belongs to all Nigerians.

Fani Kayode in his opinion said that the decision to deny Kwankwaso to use the Eagles Square has made him more popular, adding that the PDP will beat the APC hands down in the February polls.

See what they wrote below

Atiku Abubakar

The last minute cancellation of an approval granted @RMKwankwaso is unfortunate. On October 15, 2014, under the @officialPDPNig led administration, then presidential aspirant; @MBuhari, declared for President at Eagle Square with no hindrance whatsoever. This was a work day.  Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) August 29, 2018

Bukola Saraki

The refusal to allow Senator Kwankwasos campaign to utilize Eagle Square for his declaration, despite an earlier approval, sends a wrong message about our democracy, particularly the tolerance level in our politics. Eagle Square belongs to all Nigerians.  Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) August 29, 2018

Fani KayodePhotos have shown the moment some villagers gathered in their numbers after three elephants were spotted yesterday in Koko Besse local government area, Kebbi state. Photos have shown the moment some villagers gathered in their numbers after three elephants were spotted yesterday in Koko Besse local government area, Kebbi state. The excited villagers came out in the numbers to watch the animals move about as they took selfies. The LG authorities assisted by security forces in the area successfully mobilized the community, secured the animals and kept them away from harm A video of the residents gathered to watch the elephants was posted on Facebook by Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu. The woman made a lengthy post about saving The Elephants Of Kebbi

She wrote: Saving The Elephants Of Kebbi

Every year, herds of Elephants migrate around the forests straddling the Kainji, Republics of Benin and Niger. Three were spotted today in Koko Besse LGA, Kebbi.

Elephants unfortunate enough to be caught are immediately killed as game. Trade in poached Elephant tusks forms most of the illegal Ivory trade and has led to the endangerment of the species. Although Custom authorities in the axis often intercept such poachers, control is poor.

One such elephant caught last year had its killing and chopping videotaped and widely distributed. My 6 year old nephew Amir, an intense and true animal lover, cried unconsolably when he saw that carnage. The host community and hunters trooped to the Kebbi State Government House with great pride to present Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu with the slaughtered elephants Tusks. To them, they had successfully defended their territory from a single invading elephant.

Oh boy, did they get a shock! Instead of the accolades the expected, they received a lifetimes worth of telling off and an educational lecture- interspersed with threats of imprisonment. Most do not realize the criminality or concept of endangered species. Slowly, Gov Bagudu has been educating his people about this.





It is working. I screamed with delight when he sent me this clip today. Not only were the 3 alive, the Koko LG authorities assisted by security forces in the area successfully mobilized the community, secured the animals and kept them away from the usual threats from hunters etc. I am not sure who is happier today that these elephants are alive- my dear husband? or my dear nephew Amir.

The lesson I wish to draw here is simple. Being a leader is like being a mother.

She loves you. When you err, she shouts, she dangles the slipper, but she is a mother so calms down. She is a patient mother so she forgives you. She is a loving mother and your first teacher so she gives you an educational lecture. You learn. You want to please your mother. You behave better. And so the cycle continuesThus, If we want better leadership then we have to learn to behave better.

May God bless all our leaders for the work of mothering that they go through with us daily.

Today, Atiku Bagudu isnt just a leader; he is also a mother to the human beings of Kebbi State, as well as to our elephants.

Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, Dr

Founder Medicaid Cancer Foundation

#nature #animals #Kebbi #leadership #chroniclesofdrzsb #savinglives #tourkebbi #tournigeria 

Watch a video of the moment below:By Zhou Na, Guo Chen

BEIJING, August 29 (ChinaMil) -- The joint free medical examination by Chinese and Vietnamese militaries for people in border areas of the two countries themed serving the military and people together to create a healthy future officially concluded on the afternoon of August 28.

The seven-day free medical examination was the first such activity that the Chinese and Vietnamese armed forces have jointly conducted in border regions of China and Vietnam. The two military medical teams jointly provided medical services to the residents in Hoa Thuan township of Vietnams northern border province Cao Bang and Longzhou County in southwestern Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They also conducted academic seminars and cultural exchange activities.

During the free medical examination, the Chinese and Vietnamese militaries' medical teams provided outreach treatment, physical examination and specialist treatment services to more than 4,100 people in the border areas of China and Vietnam. The two teams also jointly sent a team of experts to villages to provide family health service and drug delivery service for 18 families in need.

Wang Shuqian, director of the Medical Management Office of the Health Bureau of the Logistic Support Department under China's Central Military Commission (CMC), said, The joint free medical examination has enhanced mutual trust between Chinese and Vietnamese militaries, deepened the friendship between the two peoples, and provided more positive energy to promote the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership.

Through this activity, the Vietnamese medical team has gained a lot of valuable experience from the Chinese side. We hope that under the framework of the annual Vietnam-China border defense friendship exchange programme, the friendly activities of the two militaries will be further improved and be more rich in content, thus making positive contributions to promoting the unity and cooperation between the military and people of both countries, said Nguyen Huu My, deputy director of the Military Medical Bureau of the General Logistics Department of the Vietnams People's Army (VPA).The police in Lagos police said they arrested 57 men for alleged homosexual activity at Kelly Ann Hotel/ Event Centre in Egbeda, Lagos, on Sunday morning.

The police said on arrival, young men numbering about 80 were met in a hall taking different types of drinks including banned substance like Tramadol, Shisha laced with substances suspected to be Marijuana.

When the men sighted the police, they took to their heels but the police arrested 57 of them.

One of the arrested suspects, a 20-year-old man identified as James Brown told journalists they were attending a birthday party and that he is not a homosexual.

The young man who said he is a dancer  told journalists during the parade in Lagos, that he disclosed to the police that he is HIV positive and yet they arrested him and labelled him gay even though he was at the night club to perform.

When asked how he contacted HIV, he said that he got from birth (through his mother).

The young man said; I went there to work and get paid. The party was on Saturday and it is (was) meant to be overnight. I was arrested and have been denied to even take my drugs which is for medical reasons.

James Brown also said that they were about 25 girls at the birthday venue but the police left them to arrest the guys and labelled them gays. He said he regrets the day he was born in this country.A Nigerian man is of the opinion that former US President Barack Obama is responsible for a lot of the problems Nigeria is currently facing.

He took to popular social media platform, Twitter to share his views about the Obama administration.

Kelvin Odanz says Obama wrecked Nigeria by forcing LGBTQ upon us thereby creating division and chaos. He also blames Obama for the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria.

Read his tweets below;

https://twitter.com/Kelvin_Odanz/status/1034409746487500800

How did Obama wreck Nigeria?

1. Forcing LGBTQ upon us ergo creating further division and chaos

2. Libya/ISIS and the unchecked weapons that flowed down to an emboldened Boko Haram.

3. Refusing to sell weapons to Nigeria to fight against BH because of human (LGBTQ) rights

Of course the official reasons for him blocking the sale of weapons to Nigeria was human rights violation by the Nigerian army.

But you and I know it was more of the fallout from the same sex marriage bill during GEJ regime.

Libya fell apart under Obama. ISIS created a state (caliphate) under Obama.

Weapon proliferation was on the high under Obama.

Boko Haram became stronger under Obama. And Nigerias inability to fend off BH attacks was enabled by Obama.

Obama was disaster. Eloquent disaster

When people say Obama was an anti-Christ, it is both a metaphor and an understatement.

He was a dark force against anything good. The devil in sheeps clothing.

The day he dies, there wont be an RIP from me. Just one less evil gone from the world.

He also went further to say;

You see that law against same sex marriage in Nigeria? A majority of us support it.

And young people like myself will be the politicians of the future. And we will uphold that law by a simple majority.

Call us uneducated, unexposed, ignorant, Bigots, X-phobics or whatever.Vanguard

A dismissed police corporal identified as Michael Eriarebhe and other suspects were, yesterday, in Benin paraded by the Police for various crimes.

Thisday

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said there is no verifiable evidence of underhand dealings or N9 trillion corruption in the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as was alleged by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The SunThe Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in statement on August 27th, said the reports quoting the United States President, Donald Trump, describing President Muhammadu Buhari as lifeless has opened our nation to international ridicule and opprobrium.

In the statement, the opposition party said Trumps remark underscores the result that accompanies move by incompetent leader to seek international endorsement out of inferiority complex.

This embarrassment is a backlash a nation gets when incompetent leaders, out of inferiority complex and misgovernance, resort to jumping around the world, desperately shopping for endorsements from world leaders.

The PDP therefore asked president Buhari to take a cue from what was said about him by Trump and deliver his duties as president or accept that he has failed. They wrote:

We therefore charge Mr. President to take a cue from the comments ascribed to President Trump by settling down at home and discharge his responsibilities to Nigerians or humbly accept his failings.

The PDP also expressed worry as to how other world leaders view president Buhari, whom they claim has failed woefully.

The PDP and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians are now sore worry over how other world leaders have been perceiving our President, who has not only failed in governance but has continued to demarket our nation in the international community.@MBuhari @OfficialAPCNg  Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) August 27, 2018

Nigerians have expressed displeasure as to PDPs stand in the matter. Many were of the view that the opposition party shouldnt be celebrating an insult to Nigerias president. According to them, an insult to the president, is an insult to all Nigerians.

See reactions below

If all you can do as an opposition in reaction to this insult on us as a people is to politisize rather than condemn it , it shows that there is no reasonable person left in the partu any longer and Nigerians should take you up for that.  adenee temitope (@temmynee) August 27, 2018

This is a foreign president talking about your countrys president in a bad light. No matter how true it is, you should actually ridicule that President. Our unity as a nation should COME FIRST!!! Its rather unfortunate that we are the ones bringing on the misery on ourselves.  GWalt (@gamerwalt) August 27, 2018

When @realDonaldTrump called AFRICA shithole, he doesnt know how to talk, when he calls @MBuhari lifeless, he knows how to talk. Smh PDP go sleep!!! If you had prioritized national interest, you should be frowning at Trump not otherwise. Or better still just keep mute.  Taiwo Tolulope J (@JayTeeVisualz) August 27, 2018

Is Trump God Why are u guys being so petty. The same Trump of a man, insulted France President as being weak, told Germany chancellor as being insane and so many other Only an epileptic party like pdp will be interested in his nonsense talk  abdulkadir moshood (@mkoaabiolar) August 28, 2018President Buhari played host to the Ooni of Ife Imperial majesty, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II and billionaire Arab businessman, Sherif Ahmad Bin Zuhir Al-Natour in Aso Rock, Abuja

The Ooni of Ife recently signed a business partnership with Sharif Ahmad Bin Jaber Al Natour to create massive job opportunities for the youths in Yorubaland and in Nigeria in general.

The partnership between Ooni Ogunwusi and the Jordanian business mongul cum philatropist was formally announced during an unveiling ceremony that took place at the Ile-Oodua palace in Ile-Ife on Monday during which they both singed a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU).

The wealthy Jordanian prince based in Morocco who owns Global Trade And Development Corporation(GTDC) group that recently disbursed US$800m fund for commercial ventures in livestock, sugar and sugarcane in North Central Timor Global conglomerate is in the country on a 3 day visit to meet the Ooni and President Muhammadu Buhari on various areas of possible collaboration.

Al Natour said he has visited Ooni of Ife because of the kings efforts in unifiying the Africans in Diaspora through his peace and unity agenda.

He further stated his commitment to build green cities in Nigeria under the auspices of GDTC Investment Nigeria Limited as a collective instruments of social, humanitarian, industrial and commercial projects to provide happiness and new lease of lives to millions of Nigerians through his partnership and collaboration with Ooni Ogunwusi through GDTC Investment Nigeria Limited.

I have met many kings and world leaders but Ooni of Ife dazzles me most. I love him so much. I follow his activities a lot. He goes around the world to unify Africans in Diaspora through his peace and unity agenda. I also love his Youth development quest. That is why I am here at Ile-Ife to partner with him on green energy and green environment for the benefit of the good people of Yoruba and Nigeria Al Natour said.

He went further to admit Ile-Ife as his second home and assured that with the MoU, the technological hub in its first phase is expected to facilitate massive employment of youths.The spokesperson to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has praised billionaire son and music superstar Davido who registered for the one year mandatory National Youth Service Corps, NYSC.

He also slammed president Buhari for protecting Kemi Adeosun who has been accused of not going for the mandatory scheme and allegedly forged her NYSC discharge certificate.

See his tweet below

If @iam_Davido, a billionaire son, a multimillionaire in his own right and an international music superstar who makes Nigeria proud, can serve his nation in the compulsory National Youth Service Corp, then why didnt @HMKemiAdeosun? And why is @MBuhari protecting her? #RenosDartsFollowing the vice president, Yemi Osinbajos directives that the management and activities of the Special Anti-robbery Squad(SARS) be overhauled, the Nigerian police has now released new guidelines.

Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who was acting president at the time, had asked the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to immediately overhaul all activities of SARS following series of complaints and petitions from Nigerians over their excesses.

The police in compliance with the directive, has now released 12 facts Nigerians should know about the new Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad.

Take a look below

A young mans tweet asking who can take a bullet for him may have led to something greater after a lady replied and things quickly picked up from there.

The Twitter users, who are both from Northern Nigeria,threw caution to the wind and soon began flirting on Twitter. They have now scored a date and if things continue the way they started, the pair might have a happy ending.

Read their tweets below:Senator Ben Murray Bruce has said the federal government denying presidential aspirant, Rabiu Kwankwaso use of the Eagles Square, Abuja for his declaration today shows for government doesnt abide by the rule of law.

According to the lawmaker, it goes a long way in showing the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, who is visiting Nigeria today that the regime doesnt believe in democracy.

He also asked what it would have cost president Muhammadu Buhari to allow Kwankwaso use the venue.

In a twitter post this afternoon, the Common sense senator wrote:

The sad thing about denying Kwankwaso the venue is that it will only show visiting British Prime Minister, @theresa_may that she is dealing with a regime that does not believe in democracy and the rule of law. What could @MBuhari have lost by allowing Kwankwaso use Eagles Square?  Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) August 29, 2018

Reno Omokri on his part, using the excuse that Kwakwaso was denied using Eagles Square is a dumb idea as it would have been better for the government to use UK Prime Ministers visit as the excuse.

He wrote this via his twitter handle this afternoon.File photo

By Liu Junyi and Li Jianwen

CHANGCHUN, Aug. 29 (ChinaMil)  The PLA Air Force will host aviation open day activities featuring "Dream High in Aerospace" at the Aviation University of the PLA Air Force from August 30 to September 2, according to a media briefing in Changchun city, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province on August 28, 2018.

The PLA Air Force will welcome more than 1,400 new pilot cadets at the opening ceremony on August 30. The open days, which include various activities such as aerobatic show, skydiving performance, model airplane performance, actual combat simulations, static equipment exhibition, aviation simulator experience and barracks opening, will be hosted from Steptember1 to 2.

"The aerobatic show for this year's aviation open day is expected to be more diverse compared to previous years. We have new equipment to display and the audience can experience the atmosphere of simulated air battle on site," Chief of Staff of the PLA Air Force Aviation University Senior Colonel Qiao Zengqiang said.

Those activities will demonstrate the achievements of strategic transformation and construction of the PLA Air Force in the new era, which can enhance the sense of responsibility of the whole society in aerospace safety, and inspire the enthusiasm and motivation of people from all walks of life to support the construction of the Chinese Air Force, said Qiao.

There are three highlights of the open day activity this year.

First, the aerobatic show is more diverse. The Aviation University of the PLA Air Force will send two flight demonstration teams, the "Sky Wing" and the "Red Eagle", as well as the "Blue Eagle" parachute team and a model airplane team to participate in the open day activities. The J-10 fighter jets and JL-10 fighter trainer airplanes of the Bayi Aerobatics Team will put on performance, too. Among them, the "Red Eagle" team will demonstrate two new special maneuvers, including a formation with six planes diving simultaneously like scattering flowers and a formation with two planes conducting circulating flight around the same axis, making the performance both interesting and visually appealing.

Second, new equipment will be exhibited during the activity. Forty-two types of equipment will be displayed in the show, setting a new record in the aviation open day activities. The HQ-12A ground-to-air anti-aircraft missile weapon system will participate in the static display for the first time. Y-8C transport aircraft and Su-30 fighter jet will also be exhibited. The newly added air combat and air delivery sectors will demonstrate the air force's main battle equipment style.

Third, the actual combat demonstration will also make its debut. The ground combat by airborne troops and the simulated air combat by J-10S and J-11BS fighters will be held for the first time to provide the audience a unique opportunity to experience the actual combat atmosphere at close range and learn the actual combat training level of the PLA Air Force.Focus on Lisa Netz, co-owner of The Lavish Loft

Submitted by Haleh Rabizadeh Resnick, Federation Business and Community Development Director For the Voice What was your path to South Jersey? I grew up in...

Focus on Peter Hecht Partner at Magna Legal Services

Tell me about your connection to the South Jersey Jewish Community? I actually grew up in East Brunswick, Exit 9 off the Turnpike. But weve...

Focus on Abigail Dahan: Owner of the Bake School

Tell me a bit about your life in South Jersey. I grew up in Cherry Hill. We moved here from Paris when I was six...Japan said on Tuesday North Korea still posed a dire threat to its security despite a halt to ballistic missile tests and a pledge by leader Kim Jong-un to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

"North Korea's military activities pose the most serious and pressing threat our nation has faced," said an annual white paper published on Tuesday by Japan's Ministry of Defense.

The document outlines security concerns about nuclear-armed North Korea, China's growing military might and territorial ambitions, and Russia's intent to rebuild its power that paint a picture of Japan surrounded by potential adversaries in East Asia.

The latest security assessment also comes after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a planned fourth trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang this week as part of a fresh bid to push North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles following the unprecedented summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June.

Trump hailed his meeting with Kim as a success and agreed to halt joint military exercises with South Korea. The North Korean leader reiterated an earlier pledge to work towards removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula. However, negotiations have since ground to a halt with Washington demanding tangible steps and Pyongyang asking for U.S. concessions first.Russia will next month hold its biggest war games in nearly four decades, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, a massive military exercise that will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies.

The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia's naval fleets, and all its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement.

The maneuvers will take place at a time of heightened tension between the West and Russia, which is concerned about what it says is an unjustified build-up of the NATO military alliance on its western flank. NATO says it has beefed up its forces in Eastern Europe to deter potential Russian military action after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.

The war games, which will take place from September 11-15, are likely to displease Japan which has already complained about what it says is a Russian military build-up in the Far East.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to attend a forum in Vladivostok over the same period, and a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday Tokyo always paid attention to shifts in Russian-Chinese military cooperation. Shoigu said the war games would be the biggest since a Soviet military exercise, Zapad-81 (West-81) in 1981. "In some ways they will repeat aspects of Zapad-81, but in other ways the scale will be bigger," Shoigu told reporters, while visiting the Russian region of Khakassia.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has said that Chinese and Mongolian military units will also take part in the exercise.BISE Peshawar Board Jobs 2018 for Naib Qasid & Sweeper

Latest Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education BISE Posts Peshawar 2021 Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education BISE Peshawar, Government of the KPK required applications from qualified candidates for the posts of Mali, Sweeper and Naib Qasid.

How to Apply on Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education BISE Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.Relatives of several people slain in the Philippine president's anti-drug campaign asked the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to prosecute him for alleged crimes against humanity, in the second such request for a ruling on thousands of deaths that have occurred during the crackdown.

Lawyer Edre Olalia said a 50-page complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte was sent to an ICC prosecutor by e-mail. Olalia said it accuses Duterte of ordering, inciting or tolerating the drug killings from the start of his presidency in mid-2016 to this month. The Duterte administration said it expects the effort to fail.

A similar complaint against Duterte was filed by a Filipino lawyer before the ICC last year and is currently being examined by a prosecutor. It focuses on killings during an earlier crackdown by Duterte when he was mayor of southern Davao city.

In their complaint Tuesday, the parents, sisters and wife of eight slain drug suspects seek an indictment of Duterte and reparations for the deaths that occurred during police anti-drug raids. The complainants also include a nongovernment group that helps families of victims, and are represented by a legal group, the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, led by Olalia.

"It is our hope that with the court taking jurisdiction of herein complaint, it may force President Duterte to re-examine, if not abandon, his distorted notion of mass murder to solve the country's drug and crime problem," the complainants said.

"The intervention of the ICC will save thousands more from slaughter," they said in the complaint, adding that instead of showing remorse Duterte had vowed to "continue his killing rampage" during a state of the nation speech last month in which he stressed the crackdown will press on "as relentless and chilling as on the first day it began."A "belligerent" letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's right-hand man Kim Yong-chol prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to cancel Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

"Pompeo received the letter from Kim Yong-chol... on Friday morning, and showed it to Trump in the White House, two senior administration officials confirmed," according to the daily.

Trump tweeted, "We are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

"The exact contents of the message are unclear, but it was sufficiently belligerent that Trump and Pompeo decided to call off Pompeo's journey," the daily said.

CNN said the North Korean letter warned that denuclearization talks are "again at stake and may fall apart."

It came in response to a letter from Trump encouraging the North "to make more progress on denuclearization while warning against further backsliding," according to the Post.

"Trump isn't expected to totally abandon the diplomacy he began in his June 12 Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un. But unless Pyongyang responds positively to his latest move, Trump could side with officials who want to apply more pressure to the Kim regime through increased sanctions or other means, including National Security Adviser John Bolton," it said.

"Bolton and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are opposed to Trump issuing a declaration of the end of the Korean War at this time."

Korean Air is set to deploy CS300 jets on its international flights.

The jets will fly on routes linking Busan to Nagoya, Japan, starting in November and their routes will be expanded to more Japanese cities such as Fukuoka, Narita and Sapporo, the flagship carrier said on Tuesday.

Korean Air took delivery of its first CS300 from Canadian jet-maker Bombardier in December last year to bolster its short-haul domestic routes.

Alterations made to software that opens a bypass valve while a car is being driven could be the cause of BMWs spontaneously catching fire, a consumer group alleged Tuesday.

BMW blames defects in the exhaust gas recirculation module that reduces emissions in diesel cars.

But the Korea Consumer Association, which has filed a class action lawsuit against BMW, at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday accused the German automaker of changing the software setting on the electronic control unit so that bypass valves open too often while driving.

To minimize the accumulation of debris, diesel cars send exhaust gases into the EGR module for cooling before they are sent back to the engine. But if the bypass valves open, the exhaust that enters the EGR is sent back to the engine without being cooled.

The primary goal in denuclearization talks is to persuade North Korea to scrap about 60 percent of its nuclear warheads, South Korea's spy chief said Tuesday.

National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon was quoted as making the remarks in the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee.

"The ultimate goal is to remove all of the North's nuclear warheads," Suh added, but he said yes when an opposition lawmaker asked, "A British expert said the first goal of denuclearization is to remove 60 percent of them. Is that what you think?"

The government drastically slashed the budget for promoting human rights and denuclearization of North Korea but hiked funding for cross-border economic cooperation next year.

Next year's budget bill envisages increasing funding for cross-border projects by a whopping 46 percent to about W500 billion (US$1=W1,109).

The Unification Ministry earmarked W1.1 trillion for the inter-Korean cooperation fund next year, up 14.4 percent from this year. The budget for modernizing North Korea's railways and roads increased from some W344.5 billion this year to some W504.3 billion next year, up W159.7 billion or 46.4 percent. Most of it will be spent on inspecting the project and purchasing materials and equipment.

The budget for inter-Korean exchanges also increased 58.6 percent to W20.5 billion. The budget for cross-border talks soared a massive 104.3 percent from W766 million to W1.57 billion.

MEDFORD, Ore. -- Cabin fever is one way to describe what the seniors living at Horton Plaza have been experiencing over the past few weeks. Employees have had to cancel most of the fun, outdoor field trips scheduled for the summer because of the terrible air quality.

"The smoke is our biggest problem right now. We measure clear days by hours, and smoky days by weeks," said Horton Plaza resident Charles Mettler.

Hes lived in the Rogue Valley for decades and in the Horton Plaza retirement living center in Medford for one of those. He's thrilled to be able to finally see the summer sky he's missed over the past few weeks.

"I keep saying clear days because the smoke is still in the back of my mind, Mettler added.

Horton Plaza has had to change the summer schedule because of the terrible air quality brought on by wildfire smoke, cancelling outdoor field trips for more indoor activities.

"[Weve canceled out] our Crater Lake trip, the Pennington Farms trip, we were going to go into Becky's Cafe and stuff like that but we've had to cancel all of those and try to do more stuff in house," said Assistant Manager, Kristen Williams.

She said the seniors health is their number one priority especially while the air quality has been so poor. The retirement living center has run through plenty of air filters for the air conditioning and N-95 masks as well.

"So even in our courtyard, they usually like to hang out on a nice day but we just try to encourage them when the smoke's out to stay inside as much as possible," Williams added.

Mettler said choking on summer smoke was not always the norm and isn't quite sure how that can be improved in order to have less-smoky summers.

Disappointment and sometimes its clear at night and smoky in the morning. And I don't know how long that lasts," Mettler added.

Over the last few days, Williams has noticed the overall mood at the retirement community brighten since everyone's been able to see the sky.The WFN flag was added to the Central Okanagan regional district's boardroom in 2008. Now, the local government is proposing to create a new 'First Nations Engagement Service'. Shown here are regional district chairman Gail Given and Tim Konert, a former WFN rep on the regional board.Woman works nonstop to aid afflicted villagers

From:ChinaDaily | 2018-08-29 09:13

It was noontime on Sunday. Inside a temporary shelter for villagers whose houses had been leveled by floods eight days earlier, some villagers lined up for lunch - instant noodles, a bottle of water, a package of pickles and a sausage. Volunteers cleaned the dining table after each person finished eating to make way for others.

Outside, three pickup trucks loaded with necessities, including disinfectant, food and water were waiting to be unloaded. Some residents were sitting in the shade of trees, engaging in small talk. Everything was proceeding in an orderly way.

Chen Jianjun, 37, who is in charge of the government-held settlement, was finally able to sit down for lunch at nearly 1 pm - instant noodles. She got up three times as she was summoned to arrange incoming relief supplies.

The settlement, located at Second Middle School of Yingli, Shouguang, in Shandong province, can house a maximum of about 6,000 villagers. They come from 24 communities.

Yingli is one of the towns in Shouguang that was most affected by Typhoon Rumbia and the flooding that came with it starting on Aug 19.

Thanks to timely evacuation, there were no casualties in Yingli. But more than 95 percent of the town's planted cornfields - the major agricultural product - was inundated. Forty of the 41 vegetable greenhouses were damaged.

Chen recalled learning of the potential flood danger on that first morning, and Party leaders in each village were told to notify villagers to evacuate.

"We went to each family to ensure that they understood the danger of flooding and told them they should prepare to leave," said Chen, who serves as deputy Party secretary in Yingli. "It's still summer vacation for students, so we chose the school as a temporary settlement. It has a dining hall and dormitories."

Early on Aug 20, the population of the settlement reached its peak.

"Since then, more than 100 people have come to work as volunteers, making my work much easier," Chen said.

Chen divided the volunteers into four responsibility groups - setting up tenants, distributing relief materials, overseeing medical matters and sanitation, and watching out for villagers' safety.

"She is considerate and helpful," said Wang Zhiqiang, a volunteer. "She often talks to the residents to understand their needs and, more important, to boost their confidence about rebuilding their homes."

All villagers have returned home as villages recovered. Chen, however, is too busy to go home for other work. She had been at the school around the clock for eight days.

"I'm afraid that once I leave, there will be emergencies. Villagers have suffered great losses, and I don't want anything bad to happen again," said Chen through dry lips.

"My husband understands me but my son misses me a lot. Every time we have a call, my son keeps calling 'Mama'. I miss him so much," said Chen, whose son is 8 years old.

Chen said she will not leave until the last villager goes home.VENETA, Ore. -- A wildland firefighter is facing DUII and reckless driving charges, accused of slamming into three other vehicles in a construction zone near Veneta Wednesday.

Oregon State Police said the crash happened at about 2:12 a.m. on Highway 126, near milepost 49.

They said Cassidy Ann DeBlois, 25, from Veneta was headed west in a Kia Rio when she hit the back of a Toyota Tacoma that was stopped in a construction zone, causing the Tacoma to hit a Toyota 4Runner, which then hit a Chevrolet pickup.

The construction zone flagger wasn't hurt.

DeBlois was arrested for DUII, reckless driving, five counts of reckless endangering and endangering a highway worker. They said her blood alcohol content was .17 percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent.

DeBlois suffered severe injuries in the crash.

Highway 126W was closed for an hour and a half following the crash.

Oregon State Police said DeBlois is a wildland firefighter who was returning from a fire.ALBANY, Ore. -- An Albany woman who needs a new heart soon is looking for answers after Oregon Health and Science University is suspending services for their heart-transplant program for at least the next two weeks.

Diana Howell reached out to KEZI 9 News very concerned with what the future would hold during the suspension.

Howell says she has to be on oxygen at all times because of a serious heart condition. She was put on OHSUs heart transplant list a little more than a year ago. She was told at the time she would need a new heart within 18 months. Howell said her concerns for her life continue to grow, especially now that the program has been suspended.

Because of the suspension, she's been taken off the heart transplant list.

"My life is depending on you (OHSU), Howell said. You need to fix this, you need to fix your program, you need to fix the issues that are causing the doctors to leave and you need to get your doctors back. Our lives depend on it. I don't know what else to say. People will die without it."

Howell said someone from OHSU called her Monday evening and told her they will try to transfer her to a hospital in Seattle, but said there are no guarantees she will get on their heart transplant list.

KEZI reached out to OHSU on the recent suspension. Tamara Hargens-Bradley, the Associate Director OHSU Strategic Communications sent a statement that said:

"The decision was made following the departure of one specialist and the planned departure of two others from the heart transplant program team," Associate Director of OHSU Strategic Communications Tamara Hargens-Bradley said in a statement. "The remainder of the program team will continue to work and actively care for patients. If a longer suspension of transplant services is needed, OHSU will immediately inform patients and the community."

The statement also said they have notified Network for Organ Sharing, the national organization that manages the organ donation and transplant system, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of its decision to temporarily suspend their heart transplant services.

OHSU staff also said they will continue to keep in touch with patients and will work on reactivating the program as soon as possible.PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Authorities say the U.S. Coast Guard arrested the captain of a commercial fishing vessel off the coast of Oregon after receiving an anonymous call about a woman in distress earlier this month.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports 38-year-old Branden Vanderploeg of Winchester Bay was charged with assault within maritime jurisdiction and operating a commercial vessel under the influence of alcohol.

The Coast Guard says Vanderploeg was intoxicated and attacked the woman on board the fishing vessel Pescadero. The woman had a cut on her right cheek, a nose fracture and multiple contusions to her knees and arms.

Vanderploeg told the newspaper that he was intoxicated and was in the wrong for drinking. He declined to discuss the assault allegation, but noted there are "two sides to each story."Home  Just In  One killed in Dhading truck accident

Dhading, August 29

A truck en route to Naryangadh of Chitwan district from Kathmandu skidded off the road and plunged into the Trishuli River last night, killing one and leaving three others injured.

One has gone missing in the accident near Pokharekhola of Gajuri-6.

Police confirmed the deceased as Keshar Pulami of Gajuri-6 in Dhading. Ramkrishna Bhujuel, 21, is missing as the truck (Ba 4 Kha 7781) fell into the river.

Police are searching for him.

The injured have been sent to Kathmandu-based Trauma Center for treatment, Superintendent of Police, Dambar Bahadur BK said.

RSSKathmandu, August 29

Chinas Three Gorges group, which is being courted by the government to build the 750 MW West Seti hydropower plant, has rejected a revised proposal to develop the project,

In a meeting between representatives of the group and Nepal Investment Board, Nepali officials said they were ready to reduce the installed capacity of the project to 620 MW and buy power from the project in US dollars. The Nepali side proposed that work on the project be started at the earliest.

But the Chinese group, which submitted a long list of demands to the Nepali government, rejected the proposal saying that its concerns related to the rehabilitation of settlements that will be affected by the project have not been addressed. Similarly, they said that without addressing this sticking point, the project is not financially viable.

China Three Gorges Groups subsidiary CWE Investment Corporation and Nepal Investment board had reached an understanding in 2011 to develop the project. According to the original terms, the Rs 120 billion project will by jointly financed by the group (75%) and the Nepal Electricity Authority (25%).

During earlier rounds of negotiations, Three Gorges proposed that the project be downgraded to 600 MW. The Nepali side rejected the proposal for sometime, but later decided to agree.

The Chinese delegation has also met the Energy Minister and the Finance Minister to express its reservations related to the project.AUSTIN - "To really hear these orchestras come together and really play very musically, something that's beyond just the notes. I mean we see notes here, but this is just ink. They bring it to life. I help, but they are the ones who are playing it. There's nothing better than that," Austin High School director of orchestras Gene Schott muses about his favorite spot in his orchestra room: his podium.

But soon, he'll have a new room to conduct his student orchestras in.

Construction will begin in January 2019 to remodel the existing annex behind the main building of Austin High School, and to add a second level to the annex to house the music department.

"There's things that our kids haven't had the opportunity to do just because of the space limitations so it'll really be able to provide us new and bright facilities but also opportunities in music creation," says Austin Public Schools superintendent David Krenz.

"As we move forward and we look at what this means for our kids, it's gonna be some really dynamic music spaces that they're going to be able to produce amazing music. We already have really strong music programs and this is just going to take us to an even high level," adds Austin High School principal Andrea Malo.

MacPhail Center for Music and community music organizations such as the Austin Community Band and Austin Symphony Orchestra will also utilize the facility.

60% of the project is being funded by the Hormel Institute, and the school district will pay the remaining 40% with the assitance of various sources. The project is anticipated to be completed in 2020.

"We've had such a long history and tradition of musical excellence here at Austin High School, and it will be great to have a facility that reflects that," says Schott.FOREST CITY, Iowa  Sexually abusing two young girls results in two life sentences for a Britt man.

Chad Allen Bonner, 48, was convicted by a judge in April of two counts of 2nd degree sexual abuse. He was arrested in June 2017 and accused of performing sex acts on two females under the age of 12 between January 2005 and September 2008.

Court documents state the abuse happened in Forest city and Thompson.

Bonner has a previous conviction in Cerro Gordo County in 1991 for 3rd degree sexual abuse and 2010 convictions in Winnebago County for sexual exploitation of a minor and dissemination of obscene material.

On Monday, a judge sentenced Bonner to life in prison on both counts, with sentences to be served at the same time.CHARLES CITY, Iowa  A North Iowa man is facing multiple criminal charges after police say he smashed into two parked vehicles.

Charles City police were called to the intersection of 6th Avenue and D Street just before 4 pm Monday for a two-vehicle accident. Officers say Shawn E. Gray, 44 of Charles City, was driving north on D Street when he hit a tilt bed trailer parked in the 400 block, then hit a car a little further down the street.

Police say both motor vehicles were a total loss.

Police say Gray abandoned his vehicle in the middle of the street and left the scene on foot. Officers say they found Gray a few blocks away and arrested him.

The Charles City Police Department says Gray is charged with OWI-1st offense, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to maintain control, open container, no insurance, and no drivers license. Court documents says Grays blood alcohol content tested at .207 after the crashes, over twice the legal limit.CLEAR LAKE, Iowa  Clear Lake Police said two people it wanted to talk to regarding a jet ski theft have been in contact with police and the jet ski has been recovered.

Clear Lake police said Wednesday morning that no charges have been filed yet.

Clear Lake police released photos of both individuals and a Dodge Ram truck with a motorcycle in the bed they were reportedly seen driving. Police say the jet ski was stolen in Clear Lake on Monday.

Anyone with any information about these individuals should contact police at 641-357-2186 or police@cityofclearlake.org.FOREST CITY, Iowa  The first of four defendants is sentenced for a Winnebago County drug bust.

Valerie Lynn ODell, 42 of Forest City, pleaded guilty to gathering where drugs are used and child endangerment. She was arrested on December 17, 2017, along with Audrey ODell, Charles Barnish, and Joseph Luna after authorities searched ODells home and said they found methamphetamine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.

Authorities say minor children were also living in the home.

Valerie ODell has been ordered to spend 36 days in jail, with credit for time served, followed by three years of probation.

Audrey ODell and Charles Barnish are scheduled to stand trial on September 12 on drug charges. Audrey ODell is also accused of child endangerment.

Winnebago County charges against Joseph Luna were dismissed to allow for his federal prosecution for drug crimes. Luna has pleaded guilty to two charges in federal court but no sentencing date has been set.NEW HAMPTON, Iowa  The case of a poisoned dog has now produced a guilty plea and a dismissal of charges.

Anthony Hoffman, 44 of Nashua, has pleaded guilty to one count of animal neglect and a charge of child endangerment has been dismissed against Jennifer Hoffman, 34 of Nashua. Those two along with Christopher Dann of Charles City were arrested in March after authorities say Anthony Hoffman and Dann poisoned someone elses dog and kept the animal in a basement freezer.

A child in the Hoffmans home reportedly said his uncle admitted to poisoning the dog and threatened to put the same poison in the childs milk.

Dann is scheduled to stand trial on October 24 for child endangerment, animal abuse, and unlawful possession of a prescription drug.

The Chickasaw County Attorneys Office says the charge against Jennifer Hoffman was dropped in the interest of justice.DECORAH, Iowa  A woman who wrote back checks to a car dealer is getting a deferred judgment.

Aimee Lynn Rosenbaum, 49 of Lawler, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of 1st degree theft. Winneshiek County law enforcement says Rosenbaum wrote bad checks totaling $24,842 to Decorah Auto Center between July and August of 2017.

Rosenbaum has been ordered to spend two to five years on supervised probation and pay restitution.

By receiving a deferred judgment, these crimes will be wiped from Rosenbaums record if she meets all the conditions of her probation.ROCHESTER, Minn.- Its a legacy that will live on, that of US Senator John McCain.

Today, KIMT spoke to veterans about the legacy of the Vietnam War vet.

Floyd Riester is the commander at the Rochesters VFW Post 1215.

He tells KIMT that the his contribution to this country will live on in the history books.

McCain to me was an American icon, said the commander.

We also spoke to a man who met McCain.

He was like an old friend, said Scott Eggert.

Eggert is the National Commander for POW-MIA Riders Association.

He said the senator and his own grandfather had a lot in common, surviving being prisoners.

Eggert adds his grandfather and McCain share similar traits.

Even though we have a disagreement about something and we dont see eye to eye it doesnt mean I have to hate you, said Eggert.KOSSUTH COUNTY, Iowa  Jeffrey Winters, 60, of Livermore, is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection to a Kossuth County death.

The Kossuth County Sheriffs Office has identified 54-year-old Randy Merle Page, of LuVerne, as the person killed.

Winters has been arrested and is being held in the Kossuth County Jail on $2M cash only bond.

Page was found deceased in his garage Monday at 202 Hanna Ave. after a woman reported finding her husband unresponsive, according to court documents.

Police found four 9mm bullet casings near the body.

Law enforcement learned that several neighbors had seen a man matching Winters description at the residence.

LuVerne city video captured an older silver Ford Explorer driving in the town before leaving at 5:03 p.m., and according to Iowa DOT vehicle records, Winters owns a 2005 Ford Explorer.

A search of the defendants residence at 403 2nd Ave. in Livermore resulted in the finding of an empty handgun holster along with ammunition, according to court documents.

A witness said there was an ongoing relationship between Page and the defendant, according to court records.

According to court documents, Winters was charged in July in Humboldt County for willful injury  causing bodily injury  for allegedly stabbing a man at a Livermore bar.

In that case, the victim stated that the defendant spoke to him in the bar about having been in prison for murder, documents state.

When the victim left the bar, Winters allegedly followed the man outside, pulled out a pocket knife and attempted to stab the victim twice, striking him once in the back.MASON CITY, Iowa  A woman has been arrested for charging thousands of dollars on her mothers credit card.

Marissa Castine Nichols, 32 of Mason City, is facing one count of unauthorized use of a credit card. Authorities say she took the card from a box under her mothers bed and rang up more than $3,400 in purchases at several local and out-of-state businesses.

Court records say the illegal purchases began on June 30 and continued until the card was cancelled on July 23.

Nichols was arrested Monday and booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $5,000 bond.ROCHESTER, Minn. - A recount of ballots took place on Tuesday for Ward 1 of the Rochester City Council.

According to City Clerk Anissa Hollingshead, the recount saw a "slight change to the total votes for one candidate."

That candidate was Paul Myhrom, who requested the recount and picked up three votes from it.

After the Primary Elections in Minnesota, Myhrom walked away with 930 votes. That was behind frontrunner Patrick Keane, who won outright with 1,242 votes, and Heather Holmes who walked away with 935 votes.

Myhrom's 933 votes is still behind Holme's 935. Therefore, according to Hollingshead, Holmes is the unofficial winner.

The top two vote getters get to move forward to the general election ballot in November.

Following the recounts for both Ward 1 and 5, the City Council will meet as the canvassing board to review finalize the results.

Myhrom tells KIMT he asked for the recount on behalf of his supporters, and was the only candidate from Ward 1 present.

"It is not just a simple recount," Myhrom said. "When you look at the process, and that was one of the reasons I came here today, was to review the process and if I wasn't comfortable I would stay."

Myrhom said he was confident in the election judges.

"I think they're doing a fine job and I certainly have faith in their skill, their integrity, and their intent," Myrhom said, "and I have faith in the electronic machines that count the ballots."

What the election judges check for are is mistakes people could have made on the ballots.

They will recount the ballots for Ward 5 on Wednesday, Aug. 29.ROCHESTER, Minn.  A man who allegedly was by a playground with a knife and watching children at Soldiers Park is facing charges for obstructing the legal process and fleeing an officer on foot.

Christopher Battle, 29, of Rochester, was apprehended after a struggle with officers and was found with a 10-inch knife.

Police say they approached the man Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and asked for identification.

The man told police his name was Hanson Hanson, and while talking police say he went for his knife. An attempt to use a Taser was twice ineffective, police said, and a struggle ensued and the suspect took off running. Another attempt to use a Taser was ineffective before officers were able to take the man down.

Police believe he may have been under the influence of something.Digitally resurrected: The parasitic wasp Xenomorphia resurrecta deposits an egg in a fly pupa. (Figure: Thomas van de Kamp, KIT; Nature Communications)

Parasitic wasps existed as early as several million years ago. Within a project coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), researchers of various disciplines for the first time definitively discovered fossil parasites inside their hosts. The scientists studied fly pupae from old collections using ultrafast X-ray imaging. They found 55 cases of parasitation and described four extinct wasp species that were unknown until now. Their findings are reported in Nature Communications (Open Access, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05654-y).

The results of the project provide major information on the evolution of parasitism. Parasitism is widely spread and impacts ecosystems essentially. Today, about 50% of all animal species are deemed parasites. The relation between the diversity of species and parasitism is particularly obvious in the insect order Hymenoptera, to which wasps belong. Within the KIT-coordinated project, researchers identified four so far unknown extinct wasp species that were endoparasites, i.e. parasites developing inside their host, from the Paleogene that spanned the period from about 66 million years ago to about 23 million years ago. Each of the four parasitic wasp species had its own strategy for adaptation to the host. The most frequently observed species of the four was named Xenomorphia resurrecta by the scientists. The genus Xenomorphia is named after the creature from the Alien science fiction series, which is known as Xenomorph and also develops endoparasitically. The species name resurrecta refers to the digital resurrection of the species, says project coordinator Dr. Thomas van de Kamp from KITs Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation (LAS). Our project proves that it is worthwhile to study old collections afresh with latest technology.

The fossils the scientists studied, more than 1,500 mineralized fly pupae, belong to collections of the Natural History Museum of Basel and the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet of Stockholm. In the late 19th century, they were collected in phosphorite mines in the region of Quercy, France. In 1944, Swiss entomologist Eduard Handschin described the fossils in detail and emphasized the value of the externally inconspicuous pieces of merely 3 mm in length. Still, they have fallen into oblivion for more than 70 years. At that time, Handschin had suspected the contours of a parasitic wasp in a thin section of a probably 34 to 40-million-year-old fly pupa, but could not prove it. This was the point of departure of the current project, the results of which are published in Nature Communications under the heading Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils.

Synchrotron X-ray micro tomography enables view into the interior of several million-year-old fly pupae. (Figure: Georg Oleschinski, University of Bonn (Photograph) & Thomas van de Kamp, KIT (Rendering); Nature Communications)

Ultrafast X-ray imaging, largely developed and refined by KIT, enabled new access to the fossils. The researchers studied the samples with synchrotron X-ray microtomography. In optically dense samples, inner structures can only be observed non-invasively and in three dimensions with X-rays. Synchrotron radiation sources, a type of particle accelerators, produce electromagnetic radiation with a much broader spectrum and at much higher intensity than conventional sources. The measurements for the project were made at the UFO high-speed tomography station of the KIT synchrotron. Sample throughput is high. Imaging and evaluation of the data take place in a partly automated manner, which makes such measurements feasible, says van de Kamp. Two years ago, the team already imaged fossil beetles found in Quercy and made their inner anatomy visible. At the UFO station, however, not only fossils are scanned. The setup is equally suited for other projects, in which a large number of pieces have to be imaged. Hence, UFO is of interest to a variety of disciplines, among others to materials science.

Following imaging of the mineralized fly pupae, the parasitic wasps from the Paleogene were reconstructed digitally. Thus, the project did not only require comprehensive know-how relating to synchrotron X-ray microtomography, but also detailed biological and paleontological knowledge. Project coordinator Dr. Thomas van de Kamp of KITs LAS is a biologist and has specialized in insect morphology and digital imaging of biological samples. Also, he linked physics to biology. Other main authors are paleontologist Dr. Achim H. Schwermann of the LWL-Museum of Natural History in Munster, expert for fossilization processes, and biologist Dr. Lars Krogmann from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, specialist for parasitic wasps, who systematically classified the discovered parasites and wrote the formal species descriptions. Overall, 18 scientists  biologists, paleontologists, physicists, computer scientists, and mathematicians  from several universities and museums participated in the interdisciplinary project, of these, eight researchers of KIT. Apart from the institutions mentioned, KITs Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) and Institute for Data Processing and Electronics (IPE) as well as institutions of the universities of Heidelberg and Bonn were involved.

The data sets with the discovered parasites are available at http://www.fossils.kit.edu

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Original Publication (Open Access):

Thomas van de Kamp, Achim H. Schwermann, Tomy dos Santos Rolo, Philipp D. Losel, Thomas Engler, Walter Etter, Tomas Farago, Jorg Gottlicher, Vincent Heuveline, Andreas Kopmann, Bastian Mahler, Thomas Mors, Janes Odar, Jes Rust, Nicholas Tan Jerome, Matthias Vogelgesang, Tilo Baumbach, Lars Krogmann: Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils. Nature Communications. 2018. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05654-y

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,600 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 23,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.Holdings of gold by global exchange-traded funds are continuing to decline, reports Commerzbank. The ETFs trade like a stock but track the price of the commodity, with metal put into storage to back the shares. They give investors exposure to the gold price without incurring certain expenses such as assaying and storage. ETF investors  [who] tend to take a longer-term view  are continuing to withdraw, Commerzbank says. The gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg registered outflows of 4.5 tonnes yesterday, their highest in two weeks. Holdings have been reduced by a good 45 tonnes in August so far. By contrast, silver ETF holdings have remained largely stable, and platinum and palladium ETFs have even recorded inflows of 25,000 and 40,000 ounces, respectively, since the start of the month.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

MKS: Gold Break Of $1,215/Oz Would Make Shorts 'Nervous'

MKS (Switzerland) S.A. sees gold drawing support below $1,200 an ounce, with likely nervousness among bearish traders, known as shorts, if prices rise above $1,215. Around 8:36 a.m. EDT, spot metal was up $2.80 to $1,203.30 an ounce. We feel dips below $1,200 should be supported for the interim and look for a retest of $1,215 in the near term, a break of which will make shorts nervous, MKS says. This could prompt short covering, which is when traders buy to exit from bearish trades. MKS describes gold trading as reserved during Asia-Pacific hours but making a slow and steady push higher to start the day. There was modest demand in Shanghai trading, although volume was a little disappointing considering Tuesdays retreat in prices, MKS says. The premium still remained healthy though and in the middle of the recent range at around $6-6.50 over the loco London price, MKS says.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

BBH: U.S. Faces Tight Timeframe In Pushing Through NAFTA Changes

While the Trump administration is putting pressure on Canada to renegotiate a trade deal within days, the U.S. may actually be the country running out of time for any deal to be ratified by Congress, explains Brown Brothers Harriman. The government has announced a deal with Mexico and insinuated the U.S. will go on without Canada, but BBH says Canada plays a more significant role than the U.S. wants to admit. The trade-promotion authority he [Trump] was granted by Congress was the renegotiation of a trilateral agreement, BBH says. It is not clear to Washington insiders that Congress would approve a deal that excluded Canada, which is the main foreign trading partner of 36 of the 50 U.S. states. Meanwhile, the schedule is not flexible, BBH explains. Mexicos next president takes office Dec. 1. If Congress can be notified on Aug. 31, that means that a revised NAFTA bill Congress can vote on is Nov. 30, BBH says. The 115th Congress is likely to conclude in early December. A lame-duck session of Congress could be called to vote on it, but this seems less probable, especially after the first week or so of the December. That could leave it in the hands of the 116th Congress, which will be decided in November, and as is typically the case, the polls show the party occupying the White House will lose seats in both chambers.Roberta Rampton, Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House counsel Don McGahn, whose time serving President Donald Trump has been marked by tension related to the investigation of Russian election interference, will leave the job in the coming weeks.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!

McGahn voluntarily cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team in a continuing investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas, indictments and cooperation deals and one conviction for several Trump insiders.

Trump has not settled on a replacement for McGahn, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. There has been speculation the job would go to Emmett Flood, a veteran Washington lawyer who joined the White House in May to help with the Russia probe, but Sanders said he had not been offered the job.

People like him (Flood). Hes super well-respected around the building, but theres not a plan locked in place at this point, Sanders said.

McGahn could not be reached for comment.

The relationship between Trump and McGahn, a Washington insider who was chief counsel for Trumps presidential run, has become strained by the pressures of Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, sources familiar with their relationship have said.

As White House counsel, McGahn was charged with untangling a thicket of conflicts of interest between Trumps international business interests and his presidency.

The New Jersey native, who played bass guitar in an 1980s cover band before joining the White House, will be the latest in a large number of high-ranking White House officials to leave Trumps side in what has been an unprecedented level of senior staff turnover.

McGahn had been a partner at Jones Day, one of the worlds largest law firms, before joining Trump as counsel to his campaign. He specialized in campaign finance issues, having served on the Federal Election Commission from 2008 to 2013.

Trump named McGahn White House counsel in November 2016 shortly after winning the presidential election.

He led Trumps nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch through the Senate confirmation process in 2017, running murder boards in his office to bombard Gorsuch with questions he might face at his confirmation hearings.

In July, McGahn was chosen to reprise that role, overseeing Trumps selection of Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

McGahns departure had been widely expected but was met with dismay by Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, who wrote in a tweet addressed to Trump: I hope its not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U cant let that happen.

In one of the stormiest moments as White House lawyer, McGahn threatened to quit in June 2017 because he was fed up after Trump insisted he take steps to remove Mueller, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this year.

The source said Trump asked McGahn to raise what he said were Muellers conflicts with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because the president thought they were serious enough to remove Mueller.

McGahn did not discuss the issue with Rosenstein and threatened to quit when Trump continued to insist that he do so, the person said.

McGahn also was involved in the controversy surrounding Trumps firing of former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

In January 2017, then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informed McGahn that Flynn had misled the FBI about discussions he had had with former Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI.

Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Makini Brice, Anthony Lin and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Bill TrottNorth Korea said Wednesday that it will strengthen relations with Cuba as the two marked the anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties almost six decades ago.

North Korea and Cuba have "consolidated their friendly ties in their fight for building socialism for the past 58 years," said the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea, calling the ties those of "invincible" and "eternal comrades."

"Our people will continue to make active efforts to strengthen and advance the time-honored and friendly relations with Cuba based on principles of revolution and camaraderie," it added.

The newspaper also heaped praise on Cuba for making progress in improving its economy, which it said have been devastated by oppression from imperialists, apparently pointing to the sanctions imposed by the United States.

North Korea and Cuba established diplomatic ties on Aug. 29, 1960. The North recently sent high-ranking officials, including its No. 2, Choe Ryong-hae, to the island country in a bid to demonstrate their long and friendly relations. (Yonhap)The 24th Tashkent International Tourism Fair (TITF)  "Tourism on the Silk Road" is to be held in Uzbekistan from Oct. 3 to 5, 2018. / Embassy of Uzbekistan



The history of Uzbekistan dates back to the second millennium BC and is more than three and a half thousand years old. Some of the cities of Uzbekistan, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Shakhrisabz, the contemporaries of Rome and Babylon, are the centers of civilizations of the Great Silk Road. The Great Silk Road is one of the most significant cultural and socio-economic phenomena of world history. These cities which were the most important hubs of the Silk Road and ancient culture developed science, education, crafts and art, trade. Palaces, temples and mosques were being built as early as the Middle Ages. All of these ancient civilizations and cultures that emerged and developed in the area turned Uzbekistan into one of the centers of world tourism.

Today, the country has more than 7,000 ancient archaeological sites from different eras and civilizations. The country ranks 9th in the number of historical monuments and attractions.

Tourists coming to see with their own eyes the historical cities of the country and its historical monuments are greatly impressed by the achievements of the human culture. Especially having seen Samarkand, tourists are amazed by the historical significance and beauty of the country. The city, rich with nearly two thousand years history, attracts the attention of travelers, tourists and visitors for its magnificent architectural monuments, its blue domes, unique oriental appearance and zest.







Shakhi Zinda is a mausoleum complex in the ancient city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. / Embassy of Uzbekistan







Ichan Kala is the walled inner town of the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan. / Embassy of Uzbekistan



More than 20 of the most beautiful monuments of Samarkand are recognized as the greatest achievements of world culture: the Registan, "Gur-Emir" mausoleum, "Bibi Khanum" palace, "Shakhi Zinda" ensemble, and the historical center of the city were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List (2001). Samarkand is the home of the largest observatory of the Middle Ages, "Ulugbek" (1428), which houses the grand marble sextant to measure the coordinates of the sun, moon and planets.

Bukhara has for centuries fascinated the entire world. Many unique ancient monuments are being preserved in the holy Bukhara. Architectural structures of the city are well maintained at present, and are considered treasures of universal significance. Bukhara is the home of the world-famous architectural monuments such as the Mausoleum of Ismail Samani, Ark Fortress, Kalyan minaret and mosque, Ulugbek madrassa, ensemble "Labi-Hauz," and "Chor Minor" mosque.













By Lee Min-hyung





Rep. Park Jie-won of minor liberal Party for Democracy and PeaceBy Ted Gover





Although the June 12 Singapore summit is unlikely to lead to North Korea's denuclearization, U.S. President Donald Trump's outreach to Pyongyang may set in motion a seismic shift in Northeast Asia's geopolitical order that could work to Washington's advantage.



Trump has stated on different occasions his intention of developing a productive relationship with Kim. Such an arrangement may help set the stage for luring Pyongyang away from Beijing, the North's sponsor and sole military partner.



Undoubtedly, this scenario seems ludicrous to many in the U.S. Yet, such a development has long been a source of apprehension for Chinese policymakers. For decades, Beijing has worried that Washington and Pyongyang would develop a partnership  even an alliance  that would leave Beijing on the outside, devoid of influence on the Korean Peninsula.



Trump's unpredictable ways that place a premium on developing relationships have kept Beijing up at night. This was indicated by Xi's scrambling to host Kim in Beijing shortly after Trump agreed to a summit.



The U.S. would be well served to play to these Chinese fears. Developing a new relationship with Pyongyang would serve as a blow to China's stature in the region. It would also force Beijing to grapple with the strategic challenges associated with yet another nuclear-armed state on its border that pursues a foreign policy divergent from Chinese interests.



While it is unrealistic to expect that Washington and Pyongyang will become allies, it is possible for both countries to develop a working relationship based on transactional exchanges, possibly even cooperation in some areas.



What would Kim want out of such a relationship? For starters, sanctions relief and assurances of his personal security while not giving up any political control. This would involve a game of balancing larger powers against one another, thereby developing a relationship with Washington in order to shield the North from Chinese coercion.



Some initial areas of cooperation may be 1) a U.S. security guarantee for Kim in exchange for pledges not to attack the U.S. or its allies, 2) a peace treaty and normalization of relations, 3) an agreement that leaves partially intact the North's nuclear program and keeps U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula, and 4) economic investment commitments by the U.S. on the condition that the North cease its proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and take specified steps to improve its human rights record.



A scenario of this nature would possibly open the doors to collaboration on food security and economic development. It may also become a wedge between Pyongyang and Beijing, degrading Beijing's ability to determine facts on the ground in North Korea while strengthening Washington's influence.



Moving U.S.-North Korean relations from a state of impending war to one of basic, working ties could lend itself to geopolitical cooperation, yielding strategic benefits in Washington's decades-long rivalry with Beijing.





Ted Gover (amberjack_shoal@yahoo.com), Ph.D. is associate director of the Tribal Administration Program at Claremont Graduate University.

By Do Je-hae





Murphy Brown, the CBS sitcom which ran for 10 seasons from 1988 to 1998, is coming back to TV next month.



Portrayed by the fabulous Candice Bergen, Murphy is a star broadcast journalist on a major TV network and lead anchor of a newsmagazine. She is fiercely competitive, but also has a great sense of humor. She once proclaimed herself to be a "much bigger star than Connie Chung" in one of the episodes in season three. Chung was the famous anchor of the CBS Evening News at the height of the show's popularity in the early 1990s.



Murphy was an unforgettable TV character not just because she was an exceptional star in a profession dominated by men, but also for the rare choices she made in her personal life. After all these years since the show ended, many still recall the controversy ignited by Murphy's decision to become a single mother in season four, prompting a row with then-U.S. vice president Dan Quayle, who slammed Murphy for "mocking the importance of fathers."



What I remember most about Murphy is that she sought to excel at her job at all times. Even when she decided to embark on single motherhood, her devotion to her work remained unchanged. Murphy was also a pioneering journalist who fought to change outdated perceptions of women. In one episode, Murphy cut her long hair in protest of her network's focus on her looks. The unannounced haircut triggered panic from management, including Eugene Kinsella, the executive of the news division. Bergen's fantastic portrayal of the feisty, iconic character brought her multiple Emmy awards.



Having grown up with the show, I was sad to see it end in 1998, even though I had lost a lot of the interest I formerly had in the show after Murphy became a mom and started fretting over mom's issues, such as finding the right nanny for her son. But I have always had a soft spot for her and occasionally watch it on the DVD set I purchased from Amazon a few years ago.



A revival of the show is something totally unexpected. Aside from the initial joy over the reboot, it led me to think about the portrayal of women on TV. It is interesting that CBS created a lead role as a professional journalist for an actress in her 70s. This is in contrast to the situation in Korea where many actresses over 50 face limited roles beyond mothers, grandmothers or mother-in-laws. Will Korean TV writers and producers break this long tradition and create roles like Murphy for older actresses?



So much in the journalism scene has changed since the show was on air. There was no such thing as the internet or social media when the show began and TV news had a lot more impact on people's lives compared to today. Reflecting the rise of social media, the Murphy Brown reboot will include a character that was not there before, a 20-something social media department manager who has never even seen a flip cellphone.



Murphy is not the same either. When she started the show, she was in her early 40s, and had already reached the top of her profession. Now she is a woman in her 70s and will be hosting a morning show, something the Murphy in her 40s dismissed as a "disgrace to broadcast journalism."



What remains the same, according to the show's executive producer Diane English, is the show's focus on the tough issues of the times. There will be an episode about the #Metoo movement.



It will be hugely exciting to hear Murphy's views on the Trump administration and other hot topics in the news today.

By Casey Lartigue Jr.





I am hereby calling a meeting of all of the people who believe I am part of a conspiracy. They seem to contradict each other so much, perhaps they can resolve their differences face-to-face.



In the book "A Culture of Conspiracy," Michael Barkun of Syracuse University and a former FBI consultant wrote that "a conspiracist worldview implies a universe governed by design rather than by randomness."



He notes that three principles are found in virtually every conspiracy theory: "Nothing happens by accident." "Nothing is as it seems." "Everything is connected."



I have learned there is a fourth factor: If you question a conspiracy theory, you'll be accused of being part of it.



I received an email recently from a person demanding proof for something I said on the radio  11 years ago. Yes, back in 2007, I was burning up the airwaves as host of the Casey Lartigue Show on XM Radio. The show didn't last long.



Callers, colleagues and other hosts accused me of engaging in "counter-intelligence," and were asking if they had been "infiltrated" by an FBI agent, libertarian or conservative.



My radio show ended when a senior director, disgusted with my last show about conspiracy theories, berated me in a phone call: "I'm two seconds from pulling you off the air."



I slowly counted for him: "One  TWO!" Then asked him what happens next. After we cursed each other out at his office the next day, he did fire me (he was fired months later).



I was famous for being fired, invited for speeches and interviews, but was also the whipping boy for conspiracy theorists on black talk radio.



Washington D.C.'s congressional representative even denounced me and my co-host in a Washington Post rebuttal that was littered with conspiracy theories.



Back in 2003, I received several calls from people telling me I was being investigated by the D.C. public school system. The callers told me "to watch your back," as some people were trying to find "dirt" to destroy me and whoever was funding me.



A prominent advocate for the school system was denouncing me as a "dangerous man" and warning parents to stay away from me.



The school board president routinely denounced me (even after she publicly switched her position in favor of school choice), and the chief of staff to the superintendent of schools said at a meeting with parents that he wanted to punch me in the nose.



I knew why they were focusing on me: I was working directly with parents. The school board president was shocked when, in a public debate with me, parents came to my defense and criticized her.



I had gained so much credibility among parents that they were inviting me to parent meetings and asking me to investigate school spending. I told the parents the truth: "I'm a policy analyst, but I wouldn't know what to look for in a school budget."



They insisted that, as parents, school leaders would ignore them, but I had the power to scare the system. They may have been right, and that could explain the phone calls warning me I was being investigated.



As Yogi Berra would say, it was deja vu all over again when I began working with North Korean refugees in South Korea. It didn't take long for me to start hearing that some South Koreans were asking if the CIA had sent me.



When people ask me if the North Korean government is watching me, I say it is more likely the South Korean government is doing so.



A few years ago there were so many conspiracy theories about me that I wanted to gather together the people spreading them at a conference to have a debate among themselves.



Western defenders of North Korea accused me of a being a government agent for the CIA, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and various government agencies. But wait, some others presented me as a government-hater leading a libertarian conspiracy against North Korea.



I wouldn't mind being part of such a conspiracy, but since my focus is on educational freedom, I would hate to be accused of slacking off when North Korea didn't collapse because I was too busy recruiting English tutors for North Korean refugees.



Shortly after receiving the email demanding I provide proof for what I said 11 years ago on the radio, I read online some crazy suggestion that my tiny nonprofit helping North Korean refugees is "some kind of a CIA-Park Geun-hye league propaganda tool." You, sir or madam, for adding Park Geun-hye to the conspiracy, deserve a VIP pass to a conspiracies conference about me.



To guarantee maximum attendance, I would spread the rumor that the CIA, NIS and libertarian organizations were going to release their top-secret records about me. Then I would accuse everyone in attendance of being in a conspiracy  against me.





Casey Lartigue Jr. (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu), co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR), is the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and the 2017 winner of the Global Award from Challenge Korea.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping / Reuters



By Wendy Wu

China is "keeping a wary eye" on the United States and the European Union  its two biggest trade partners  as they try to pressure Beijing to make changes, diplomatic sources and observers said. China is "keeping a wary eye" on the United States and the European Union  its two biggest trade partners  as they try to pressure Beijing to make changes, diplomatic sources and observers said.

Amid an escalating trade war, Washington wants Beijing, among other things, to stop subsidising its industrial development and technology sectors and to significantly lower market barriers.

Its discontent over China's slow progress on reform in these areas is shared in Europe, though the EU has opposed the US approach of using tariffs to force Beijing to change.

"The Chinese government keeps a wary eye on EU-US relations," a European diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "They know that pressure on China would rise immensely if they joined forces in trade issues.

"To avoid such a situation, the Chinese side is trying much harder than before to accommodate European concerns. China seems to be more and more aware that the country's lack of will to fully embrace an open, market-oriented economy since its accession to the WTO won't be sustainable."

Talks between Washington and Beijing concluded on Thursday with no concrete steps towards ending the trade war. The following day, the US met the EU and Japan in Washington to discuss how to upgrade the World Trade Organisation rules, in an apparent move to apply more pressure on China.

The US Trade Representative will also hold a hearing on October 3 about China's commitments to the WTO. The USTR said earlier this year that it was a mistake for the US to allow Beijing to join the WTO, while US researchers have warned that the White House may revoke the country's "most favoured nation" status, which could lead to much higher tariffs being imposed on China.

Some European firms and diplomats say that, to some extent, US President Donald Trump's high-pressure tactics may prove effective  even if they do not agree with them.

"Just think about how little China did in its market openness commitment during the [Barack] Obama administration," another European diplomatic source said.

"We don't agree with the tariff approach, but Trump does have a point regarding US concerns about China. The hard line and high pressure of Trump could force China to change," he said.

Beijing would eventually be forced to make compromises, including taking concrete steps on market access and reducing overcapacity, he said, as well as measures to ward off threats to social stability.

He added that China was nervous about the EU and US working together, and needed to move closer to its neighbours and key trading partners. "The ball is in China's court at the moment," he said.

Adam Dunnett, secretary general of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, said that Beijing had made progress on opening its markets but had "not caught up with the pace of China's economic growth".

Every country has its own path for development but the tipping point comes when it starts to affect other economies negatively, Dunnett told a seminar organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing on Thursday.

At the heart of the conflict is China's state-led economic model, which is problematic under the global trading system.

"The global trading rules are based on assumptions that market economies are more efficient than state-led economies and that countries benefit from the free trade due to the principle of comparative advantages," said Timothy Stratford, a former assistant US trade representative.

"However, China is trying to develop many key sectors of its economy through state intervention and has also set a goal to be self-sufficient in certain key sectors such as semiconductors.

"These policies, and geopolitical considerations, constrict the space for the normal trade rules to operate," said Stratford, now managing partner of law firm Covington & Burling's Beijing office.

While the latest negotiations were under way in Washington, the US and China imposed 25 per cent tariffs on another US$16 billion of each other's products on Thursday  raising the total amount of imports from each side that are now subject to duties to US$50 billion. That came after Trump earlier reiterated his threat to slap a 25 per cent tariff on every car imported from the EU.

Still, Chinese analysts saw little likelihood of the EU and the US joining forces against China.

Lu Xiang, a US specialist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the structural conflicts in trade between Washington and Brussels were larger than those between China and the US.

"Trump's wishful thinking is to force America's trade partners, one by one, into submission," Lu said. "If China falls [in the trade war], then it would be the turn of the EU and Japan."

Wang Yiwei, head of the Centre for EU Studies at Renmin University of China, said that Beijing was opening up too slowly for the West, and that the lack of fairness in its markets had made Europeans feel that China was "winning twice"  rather than the "win-win" situation it often touts.

"Also, China's rise up the production chain is challenging the technology dominance of the US and the EU and their power to make rules  and they are growing wary of China's influence," he said.

Wang added that China was still attractive to foreign companies, but that it needed to speed up reform and adjust its strategy by forging more alliances rather than creating enemies.

China has warned the EU "not to stab us in the back", yet it has also tried to find common ground with Europe to defend the rules-based trading system with the WTO at its centre.

In the latest China-EU summit held in Beijing last month, disputes were set aside and the two sides released a communique  a sharp contrast with the talks held in previous years.

Offers for more talks on a bilateral investment treaty, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, were also exchanged during the summit. Details of the Chinese offer are not known, but the EU embassy in Beijing said that both sides would meet after the summer to "seek technical clarification".

The embassy said the European offer was "ambitious" and also provided "important transparency with a detailed listing and legal citations of the existing measures at all levels of government".

"We only hope to see a similar level of ambition in terms of the sectorial coverage, level of openness and transparency in China's first offer to us. We need to bear in mind the significant disparity in our current levels of openness, which we seek to rebalance," the embassy said.Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.

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Wildfires, earthquakes, mudslides -- living in disaster-prone Los Angeles, we're all watching out for the next emergency. But how do you find out about them as they're happening?

If you're not on social media or watching TV as a large fire develops, there's a good chance you might not know about it until you spot it coming down a hill toward your home.

The good news: L.A. has emergency notification systems designed to text or phone or email you. The trouble: there are several of them, with the police department, the fire department and the city's emergency management department each doing their thing -- and each requiring you to opt in to a different system.

On Tuesday, a new audit by the L.A. City Controller's office said emergency officials need to overhaul the way they communicate alerts to the public and make better use of the city's official system, NotifyLA.

WHY DON'T PEOPLE USE NOTIFYLA?

NotifyLA is run by the Emergency Management Department and is available for all emergency responders to use to notify the public. But for years, police and fire officials have largely ignored or underused it, Controller Ron Galperin said.

To illustrate just how siloed first responding agencies had become, Galperin analyzed the 2017 La Tuna Fire, the city's largest fire in a half-century. Fire and police officials sent out hundreds of messages on social media, the LAPD Nixle system and Twitter. However, not one message was sent on NotifyLA.

The public isn't using the system either. The need to opt-in to receive alerts has kept the system from wider public acceptance. Fewer than 200,000 have subscribed to alerts in a city of nearly 4 million people. Not exactly critical mass.

On top of that, when alerts are received, they're often in English and not duplicated in Spanish or other languages that Angelenos speak.

Only four messages from NotifyLA sent since its 2014 inception were in Spanish, and none were in other popular languages like Korean, Chinese, Tagalog, or Armenian. For comparison, the emergency notification system used by Los Angeles Unified School District communicates in five languages.

The problem was not a lack of interest in communicating with people who don't speak English. It's just that the messaging software does not accommodate other languages easily, L.A. Fire Department Chief Deputy Al Poirier said.

The city is switching to a new digital platform to address those issues, he said.

WHEN WILL THIS BE FIXED?

Leaders of the police and fire departments now agree that they need to unify their messaging behind NotifyLA. However, they won't be giving up on supplemental communication channels like Twitter and Facebook anytime soon.

They are drafting standard procedures for when to send messages and what they should say, but it's unclear when that will be completed.

SO HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR THE RIGHT ALERTS?

For now, there is still no one place to get all the right alerts. Depending on where the emergency is happening, following the local police and fire departments on Facebook and Twitter may be your best bet.

Another option is signing up for LAPD's Nixle, which will get you all the public safety alerts in your area.

And to cover your bases, you can still opt in to NotifyLA alerts. Just text your zip code to 888-777.

You can also sign up online at the NotifyLA opt-in page.

News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now.Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.

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Sean Kayode says he watched his whole world roll away from him at 3 in the morning.

Kayode had been living in his car in San Francisco about two years. During the early morning March 5, traffic police towed and impounded his black 2005 Mercedes Benz -- for having too many overdue parking tickets.

"I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and there was a guy behind me. And I'm like, 'What are you doing behind my car?'" Kayode said, now standing in the lobby of the Next Door homeless shelter in downtown San Francisco. "He says, 'I'm just waiting for the tow truck to come get you.'"

For Kayode, who now lives at Next Door, his car wasn't just a place to sleep, it was how he earned a living, he said, delivering food through Uber Eats. He shakes his head in disbelief at where he was, and where he is now.

"I am a homeless guy that worked my way out of homelessness," Kayode said. "Bought my own car. Now you've taken my car, taken my job and now giving me food stamps. It doesn't make sense."

An estimated half million cars a year in California are impounded, unclaimed and sold, according to Jude Pond of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco. He said many of those cars belonged to poor people living in them.

Pond helped file a lawsuit on Kayode's behalf to challenge the California law that allows cities to tow a car away if that car has five or more overdue parking tickets. Many cities follow that policy, and Pond said it's unconstitutional in several ways.

Sean Kayode at the Next Door homeless shelter in San Francisco on July 26, 2018. Kayode is suing the city, saying he lost his means of food-delivery employment and his home when his car was impounded in March -- for having too many parking tickets. (Photo by David Gorn/CALmatters)

The government should not be allowed to take someone's property without any notice and without a warrant, he said. That's doubly true because these vehicles weren't used in a crime, but were towed simply for financial reasons -- just to collect fines.

Cities do not issue warnings, outside of the fine print on a parking ticket, that they're coming to impound a vehicle. Parking officers just show up and take it away. And in the case of the homeless who live in their cars, city officials are taking their temporary home from them, which raises the stakes above the taking of a vehicle, Pond said.

"We're hoping that this case sets the precedent that the city should not take people's only asset, in this case their car, for the purpose of satisfying a debt, based on just outstanding parking tickets," Pond said.

In San Francisco, officers towing a car with a homeless occupant will contact the police department and social services to help that person get services, according to Paul Rose, spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, who responded by email.

"There will be times when the [Homeless Outreach Team] will not be available to respond. If there is no urgency regarding the towing of the vehicle we will make an effort to delay the tow to allow services to respond," Rose said. "We cannot completely avoid the removal of the vehicle as this would create an unintended exemption for vehicles that are in violation of city or state law."

Tens of thousands of Californians are living in their cars. In Los Angeles alone, nearly 2,000 residents sleep in their car on any given night, according to the 2018 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. Another 6,900 sleep in vans, RVs or campers.

Because losing those vehicles to impoundment can mean the loss of work and home, it can be a tipping point into a life on the streets.

For many people, having their car towed for overdue parking tickets is a major annoyance and life disruption. But for homeless people, it's a permanent loss, because most of them can't afford to recover their cars.

The costs escalate quickly. Offenders must reimburse the tow charge, roughly $500. They also need to pay off their original tickets and the accrued fines on those tickets, which can be $1,000 or more. On top of all of that, it usually costs $71 for every day the car is stored at the tow yard.

In Kayode's case, more than five months after his car was impounded, it would cost him more than $21,000 to get his car back.

That's about $20,000 more than he paid for it.

Ostensibly, the city is towing the car to collect a debt, but in many cases where cars are unclaimed and eventually sold, the city doesn't make much money on the sale, if anything. That's because the tow yard has first dibs on any cash collected.

For the cities, though, it's not about the money, according to UCLA political expert Zev Yaroslavsky.

"It's the credibility of the restrictions," Yaroslavsky said. "If the restrictions were not enforced, then no one would comply with them. The reason you and I rush out to the parking meter when it's about to expire, to put another quarter in there, is because we don't want to pay $80 for the privilege of having overstayed our welcome by a minute."

Yaroslavsky spent four decades in local government in Los Angeles, most of it on the county Board of Supervisors. He said he understands why cities hold onto their impound power with both hands.

"As a local elected official I was never concerned about the revenue stream we were getting out of the parking," Yaroslavsky said. "It was motivated by getting turnover in the limited parking spaces we had available at curbside."

At the same time, he said, there has to be a middle ground when towing cars from the homeless.

"It makes absolutely no sense to take a homeless person's car, confiscating it, impounding it. If you take away their car, they're going to be on the street. That's not a benefit to society. Common sense has to be in play."

At the moment, though, the middle ground is hard to find.

Homeless advocates say cities could make exceptions for extremely low-income citizens - maybe let them hold onto the car, but pay off the tickets in installments.

Some cities, including San Francisco, have a payment-plan program -- but nothing in place to return cars to the homeless or restrict impoundment of those cars in the first place.

A federal district court judge in San Francisco is expected to hear Kayode's motion in September for a preliminary injunction to get his car back. A hearing on his lawsuit would be scheduled after a ruling on the injunction.

Of course, if the preliminary injunction is granted and San Francisco has to return Kayode's car, he will still technically owe that $21,000 in parking, towing and storage fees until the case is decided.

Kayode, who has been homeless the past six years, looks back on the incident and its aftermath with a mixture of anger and despair.

"If I have my car, I have my phone. That's all I need. I can earn money," Kayode said. "But right now, they are holding my car hostage. What I want to know is, does taking my car from me help the city budget in one way or another? Is my car going to make them or break them?"

He stops a moment, looks around the crowded and chaotic lobby of the homeless shelter he now calls home.

"I am back in the same hole," Kayode said. "And I don't have any way to get out."

The California Dream series is a statewide media collaboration of CALmatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the James Irvine Foundation.

News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now.Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.

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By Annie Gilbertson and Mary Knauf

It wasn't unusual for Spencer Vodnoy to get calls from Los Angeles County jails. As a defense attorney, he regularly strategized with inmate clients on the phone. But in 2014, Vodnoy learned someone else had been listening to his conversation with a client in Lancaster: a special agent working with L.A. County prosecutors.

"Outrageous!" said Vodnoy. "If you can't talk on the phone to your clients, that's a big problem."

The prosecutor was Deputy District Attorney Craig Kleffman, who now has at least two cases, including Vodnoy's, in which the recording of inmates and their attorneys have come to light.

Kleffman's most recent attorney-client recording operation -- at a courthouse in downtown L.A. -- resulted in investigations at the public defender's office and inside the county's largest law enforcement agencies: the LAPD, the district attorney's office and the sheriff's department.

It's a felony in California to eavesdrop or record conversations between a person who is in custody and that person's attorney without permission. The revelation prompted alarm about the scope of such operations across the county.

"We are concerned about a pattern of misconduct," said Tiffiny Blacknell, an L.A. County deputy public defender who's been championing the probe into prosecutors' and officers' actions.

"We have not seen anything so far that would indicate anyone was targeted with their attorney-client conversations in this case," District Attorney Spokeswoman Shiara Davila-Morales said in a statement, "but the investigation is ongoing."

"IMMEDIATELY STOP LISTENING"

In the Lancaster case involving Vodnoy, Kleffman had been working with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Agent William Yarbrough, according to Kleffman's court declaration. Yarbrough was investigating Andre Scott, a former Lancaster prison guard who prosecutors accused of smuggling contraband such as phones, heroin and marijuana into the prison.

Yarbrough retrieved around 300 hours of audio from 425 jail calls from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which operates the jail in which Scott was being held, according to court records. Among the recordings were nine conversations between Scott and his attorney.

The agent listened to three of them, and texted Kleffman about it. By the third text, Kleffman said in his declaration that he realized the agent was hearing attorney-client conversations.

"Within seconds of receiving that text message, I picked up my office phone and dialed SA Yarborough's number," Kleffman wrote. Kleffman declined to comment for this story.

Kleffman told the court he instructed the agent to "immediately stop listening" and "not to reveal the contents of those calls." After conferring with several attorneys, he called Vodnoy the next day.

Vodnoy was furious. He asked the judge to remove Kleffman from the case and to have the case tossed out for prosecutorial misconduct.

The judge asked Kleffman to read him each text. How much had he learned? The answer to the question could backfire on the prosecution. If Vodnoy's motion to dismiss was granted, it could set a guilty man free.

A SURGE OF ALLEGATIONS

Kleffman's past conduct is part of a surge of allegations that have deluged law enforcement in Los Angeles, Orange and Alameda counties this summer. Each one involves recording or accessing private conversations between defendants and their attorneys and has raised questions about whether proper safeguards are in place.

Los Angeles County law enforcement came under scrutiny in July after Kleffman requested the LAPD surreptitiously record conversations among inmates at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown L.A. The operation, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, was conducted in an attorney-client conference room. Law enforcement failed to turn off the recording devices when Blacknell, the deputy public defender, came in to discuss the case with her client. Prosecutors say they haven't listened to the tapes.

"It was outrageous government conduct," said Blacknell, who is now gathering information about the scope of courthouse recordings in Los Angeles County.

In court last week, public defenders stated they learned of at least 19 recordings by the LAPD at that single courthouse in the last five years, though it's not yet known if any captured attorney-client conversations.

In a statement, sheriff's department spokesperson Nicole Nishida said its policy is to "not record conversations between attorneys and their client without a court order." While the internal investigation is ongoing, earlier this month sheriff's officials decreed that "all audio recordings of inmates in secured areas designated at attorney rooms, or areas that would otherwise designated to have attorney-client privileges, are restricted," according to Nishida.

"These recordings are deeply problematic," said Beth Colgan, an assistant professor at UCLA School of Law. "If anyone is suggesting to you that that is appropriate behavior, it's definitely not."

Colgan said access to attorney-client conversations can put prosecutors at an unfair advantage.

But it can also thwart their case.

The Orange County Register reported in July that more than 1,000 phone calls between inmates and their attorneys had been improperly recorded, sending Orange County Sheriff's officials and their telephone contractor, GTL Corp., scrambling to explain the breech. Of the 1,000 calls, 58 were accessed by sheriff's staff. It is unclear if information from the calls was shared with prosecutors and the Orange County District Attorney's office is looking into whether cases have been affected.

In a letter to the sheriff, representatives for GTL Corp. said when it learned of the error, the company immediately took corrective action. GTL Corp. could not be reached for comment.

Weeks after that revelation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the Alameda County Public Defender's office accused that county's sheriff's department of illegally recording at least one conversation between a juvenile suspect and his attorney.

The case against the juvenile has since been thrown out, and other cases may follow suit. According to The Chronicle, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office is reviewing every juvenile case filed this year and is investigating whether to file charges.

WHERE'S THE LINE?

In the Lancaster case, Kleffman blamed Vodnoy and his client, Andre Scott, for agreeing when prompted by the automated phone system for permission to record. According to sheriff's department policy, attorneys may register their phone numbers to prevent the recording of their calls.

Though Kleffman put a stop to the investigator listening to the calls, he later maintained that the conversation was not privileged.

"An attorney-client privilege is easily destroyed with a simple waiver. That's precisely what happened in this case," Kleffman told the court.

Some legal experts questioned that interpretation.

Peter Joy, legal ethicist at Washington University, said pre-call warnings don't necessarily waive a defendant's right.

"First of all, saying you understand that it's being recorded is different than saying you waive your attorney-client privilege," Joy said. "I think the law is not clear on this."

This remains an issue in the case of the Orange County jail recordings. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens stated that although each jail call is prefaced with a warning, attorney-client conversations should not have been recorded.

Vodnoy was emphatic. He told the court the law his client's rights had been "trampled."

In the end, the recordings in the Lancaster case did not set Scott free. Judge Charles Chung allowed Kleffman to remain on the case and refused to dismiss the charges. Scott eventually took a deal, pleading guilty to smuggling contraband.

Vodnoy now runs a cannabis business. He said he grew disillusioned by the criminal courts.

"When I think about it I get so upset," Vodnoy said. "What a disservice to the system - to justice."

News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now.Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.

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Los Angeles's 10th Council District, which covers most of South L.A., is home to streets named after America's first, second and third presidents. Soon, it will get a street named after No. 44. The L.A. City Council voted Tuesday night to turn Rodeo Road into Obama Boulevard.

"We're thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President (Barack Obama) when traveling across L.A.," Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote in a tweet.

The soon-to-be former Rodeo Road (not to be confused with Bevery Hills' Rodeo Drive) runs east-west in the Baldwin Hills-Leimert Park area before it merges with Exposition Boulevard, west of USC.

City Council President Herb Wesson, who represents District 10, championed the effort to rename the street and pointed out the historic ties to yesterday's vote.

Also #OTD in 2008, @BarackObama became the first African-American presidential nominee from a major political party. Today our council gave final approval to our motion to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard. Proud to take this next step on a day that meant so much to so many. pic.twitter.com/fpGqikmQtD  Herb J. Wesson, Jr. (@HerbJWesson) August 28, 2018

In 2007, then-presidential candidate Obama made South L.A. his first campaign stop in the city.

You made it! Congrats, you read the entire story, you gorgeous human. This story was made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism costs $$$$$. And now that LAist is part of KPCC, we rely on that support. So if you aren't already, be one of us! Help us help you live your best life in Southern California. Donate now.Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.

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This story has been updated.

The California Medical Board has stripped former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall of his ability to practice medicine in the state.

On its website, the California Medical Board says the suspension is on an interim basis and took place on Monday of this week.

Tyndall faces criminal investigation after hundreds of women came forward after the Los Angeles Times reported that Tyndall carried out improper pelvic examinations, took unnecessary photos of women during exams, and made sexually suggestive statements to women during their exams.

On Wednesday the LA County District Attorney said the LAPD had sent the DA 38 cases against Tyndall in the last two months as a result of a police investigation. The DA's sex crimes division is reviewing the cases to determine if criminal charges should be filed.

The Medical Board would not reveal details about the investigation against Tyndall, but spokeswoman Susan Wolbarst said an interim suspension is typically ordered "in the interest of public safety and when the person poses a risk to the public."

Wolbarst said an administrative hearing into allegations against Tyndall was scheduled for Friday, but was postponed. She did not say when the hearing would be rescheduled.

Tyndall's lawyers, Leonard Levine and Peter Osinoff, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

According to news reports, Tyndall's patients had reported his improper actions for decades and the university had not taken action to discipline him or remove him from his job. The fallout from so many accusers telling their story of abuse led to the resignation of USC President Max Nikias this summer.

(RELATED: 5 Things USC's New President Could Do To Stop Sexual Harassment)

Lawyer Gloria Allred has helped dozens of former Tyndall patients sue Tyndall and the university for the alleged abuse. Her office announced a press conference on Wednesday morning. In the announcement, she said her clients had a role in Tyndall's suspension.

At the press conference Allred said her office had given the attorney general's office testimony of three women alleging abuse by Tyndall. The testimony was in preparation for a hearing about the interim suspension on Friday. That hearing was cancelled and Tyndall agreed to the suspension.

"[The suspension] means that the public is protected from him and that women are no longer at risk of harm from him," Allred said at the press conference.

"George Tyndall, I hope no one ever refers to you or thinks of you as a doctor again," said Daniella Mohazab at the press conference "you put shame on our institution and now your actions will continue to shame you."

Tyndall had worked as a gynecologist at USC for nearly three decades. According to the medical board, Tyndall has been licensed to practice medicine since 1986.

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UPDATED -- Jan. 16

Teachers union members in the Los Angeles Unified School District walked off the job Monday in their first strike since 1989 -- a work stoppage that has disrupted the lives of roughly 480,000 public school students and their parents.

After three days on rainy picket lines -- and five days after last sitting down to talk -- UTLA negotiators said late Wednesday that they were ready to go back to the table.

"We believe the district will bargain tomorrow," United Teachers Los Angeles Preside Alex Caputo-Pearl said, adding that negotiations are likely to proceed through the weekend.

Shortly after Caputo-Pearl spoke came official word that talks were back on for noon at L.A. City Hall, with Mayor Eric Garcetti's office facilitating.

Top UTLA and LAUSD officials had last met on Friday, Jan. 11, to try to hammer out a last-minute deal. Initially, both Caputo-Pearl and district superintendent Austin Beutner said they'd meet through last weekend if those talks fell short. That didn't happen.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Contract talks first stalled back in July after about a year and a half of negotiations. Then in September, an overwhelming majority of UTLA's rank-and-file approved a strike during a union-wide vote. Almost every day since, the already tattered relationship between UTLA leaders -- who represent more than 30,000 teachers, librarians, nurses, social workers and counselors -- and LAUSD leadership has frayed a little more.

The union has since accused LAUSD of failing to respond substantively to what it believes are crucial bargaining demands. For its part, the district believes UTLA leaders have had their sights set on a strike from the beginning.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW? DO I STILL SEND MY KID TO SCHOOL?

Schools will remain open -- for the same hours, serving the same school meals, offering the same morning and after-school programs.

According to this district FAQ, students will even receive instruction during a strike from "qualified L.A. Unified staff," including more than 2,000 administrators pulled from central office jobs. Another 400 non-union substitutes, at least, will be on-hand.

But while the FAQ reiterates that students "are expected to attend school every day" -- even in the event of a strike -- district leaders also fear attendance will plummet if teachers walk off the job.

In the first days of the strike, attendance was far lower than normal.

ATTENDANCE UPDATE: @LASchools reports at least 132,000 students showed up to school on Day Three of #UTLAStrike. (The number tends to rise overnight as more reports come in.) pic.twitter.com/c5OunzKTzg  Kyle Stokes (@kystokes) January 17, 2019

Among the reasons fewer students showed up: some LAUSD parents kept their children home as a show of solidarity with the striking union, saying they wouldn't want to send their children to school across UTLA picket lines. Others may be keeping their children home because of uncertainty about who will be supervising the students.

Also: while K-12 services will continue in some form, many early childhood education programs will be interrupted.

LAUSD's Early Education Centers and state-run pre-K programs will not be open for the duration of the strike. However, children enrolled in the Preschool Collaborative Program, however -- which serves students with special needs -- may attend classes from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

L.A. Unified School District teachers and allies of the district's teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, protest outside the library at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex in Koreatown, on Thurs., Sept. 13, 2018. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? WHY ARE UTLA AND LAUSD AT A STALEMATE?

LAUSD leaders believe the district is fast running out of money. UTLA leaders believe that's baloney.

If there's one thing preventing the two sides from reaching a deal right now, it is this disagreement. Both sides are dug in over several expensive contract items: salaries, class sizes, special education caseloads and staffing levels for counselors, deans and nurses.

The district contends accepting the union's proposals -- and this is not an exaggeration -- would bankrupt LAUSD. "Simple math," the district's top negotiator wrote in a July 26 letter, "shows that [the district's] reserves would be exhausted this school year should L.A. Unified accept your 'final offer.'"

But UTLA contends exactly the opposite: that the district could afford its demands but is exaggerating its current level of fiscal calamity to get the union to accept a cheaper deal.

To be sure, there are contract items that are controversial for reasons other than cost. But even if the two sides resolved those non-costly items, UTLA and LAUSD are still potentially almost $3 billion apart.

WHAT ARE THE TEACHERS ASKING FOR THAT COSTS SO MUCH?

Both sides are bargaining on a contract that would begin retroactively in June 2017 and last through June 2020. Here's what the teachers want:

Higher salaries: UTLA wants a 6.5 percent, across-the-board salary increase -- a pay bump that the district estimated would cost more than $189 million per year. LAUSD officials, who initially contended that might be too high a price to pay, have been slowly increasing their salary offer throughout the talks. LAUSD has been offering a 6 percent increase and recently dropped demands to make the salary hike contingent on the district's finances and on teachers completing extra training. But the district still wants new hires should have to put in one or two more years of service to the district in order to become eligible for retirement benefits -- it's known as the "Rule of 87," and UTLA leaders don't want to agree to that.

UTLA wants a 6.5 percent, across-the-board salary increase -- a pay bump that the district estimated would cost more than $189 million per year. LAUSD officials, who initially contended that might be too high a price to pay, have been slowly increasing their salary offer throughout the talks. LAUSD has been offering a 6 percent increase and recently dropped demands to make the salary hike contingent on the district's finances and on teachers completing extra training. But the district still wants new hires should have to put in one or two more years of service to the district in order to become eligible for retirement benefits -- it's known as the "Rule of 87," and UTLA leaders don't want to agree to that. Smaller class sizes: Among other changes, the teachers want to remove a provision in the contract that currently lets the district skirt rules on how big classes are allowed to be. The district has been open to this idea, but only if the new contract can include a replacement provision -- which union officials happen to believe would make it even easier to raise class sizes. But the union doesn't only want to prevent class sizes from growing; UTLA also wants to make overall class sizes smaller. In the end, both proposals would require LAUSD to increase the number of teachers per student. LAUSD recently proposed spending $130 million on targeted reductions in class sizes in certain grades and schools. UTLA thinks the district can afford to do far more. LAUSD already employs more than 2,000 credentialed teachers in non-teaching roles -- so their move into the classroom would be cost-neutral, the union argues.

Among other changes, the teachers want to remove a provision in the contract that currently lets the district skirt rules on how big classes are allowed to be. The district has been open to this idea, but only if the new contract can include a replacement provision -- which union officials happen to believe would make it even to raise class sizes. But the union doesn't only want to prevent class sizes from growing; UTLA also wants to make overall class sizes smaller. In the end, both proposals would require LAUSD to increase the number of teachers per student. LAUSD recently proposed spending $130 million on targeted reductions in class sizes in certain grades and schools. UTLA thinks the district can afford to do far more. LAUSD already employs more than 2,000 credentialed teachers in non-teaching roles -- so their move into the classroom would be cost-neutral, the union argues. More nurses and librarians: UTLA proposes to hire a full-time nurse for every LAUSD school and a full-time librarian for every middle and high school. School district officials partially addressed this demand as part of its $130 million class size package, which also guaranteed "library services" and a doubling of available nursing services in LAUSD middle schools. County officials recently offered to forward up to $10 million in mental health funding to the school district -- enough, district officials say, to provide full-day nursing services at every elementary school. Union leaders don't believe the district's latest offer will ensure nursing services on enough campuses.

UTLA proposes to hire a full-time nurse for every LAUSD school and a full-time librarian for every middle and high school. School district officials partially addressed this demand as part of its $130 million class size package, which also guaranteed "library services" and a doubling of available nursing services in LAUSD middle schools. County officials recently offered to forward up to $10 million in mental health funding to the school district -- enough, district officials say, to provide full-day nursing services at every elementary school. Union leaders don't believe the district's latest offer will ensure nursing services on enough campuses. More counselors, social workers and deans: The union wants the district to hire a raft of new counselors for secondary schools and to provide one restorative justice advisor, dean or social worker for every 500 students in a school.

The union wants the district to hire a raft of new counselors for secondary schools and to provide one restorative justice advisor, dean or social worker for every 500 students in a school. Smaller special education caseloads: Where the district proposes to create a task force to study special education caseloads, the union proposes to reduce the number of students assigned to one special education teacher.

For all the attention salaries get, the district estimates the union's demands to reduce class sizes and increase staffing levels are far more expensive: between $500 and $600 million per year.

The union disagrees, asserting that all of its proposals to lower class sizes and hire more nurses, librarians and counselors could cost as little as $35 million.

According to one district estimate, all of the union's demands would add nearly $1 billion a year to the district's budget.

For perspective, LAUSD's total annual budget is just over $8 billion.

A member of United Teachers Los Angeles holds up a copy of the L.A. Unified School District's latest contract offer on Mon., Jan. 7, 2019. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

BUT UTLA SAYS THE DISTRICT HAS $1.9 BILLION IN RESERVE. IS THAT TRUE?

Technically speaking, that's true. But the union's statement also leaves the misleading impression that LAUSD is perched atop a $1.9 billion pile of cash and refusing to spend it.

In reality, the district already has plans to spend almost all of this money.

LAUSD is spending roughly half-a-billion dollars more each year than it's taking in. So district officials say they need to burn through most of this $1.9 billion over the next three years in order to break even. For example, this year, the district set aside roughly $1 billion to cover future expenses -- including anticipated salary increases.

On this point, it's worth noting: some of this $1.9 billion the district set aside is earmarked for "future salary increases" -- essentially, for raises for the teachers and the other unions with which LAUSD negotiated contracts this year. In other words, the district appears to be trying to inject at least a portion of that $1.9 billion directly into negotiations.

In an August letter to UTLA leaders, Beutner essentially dangled a deal for teachers at a 6 percent salary increase -- which Beutner argues is roughly equivalent to what other unions received.

At the end of September, L.A. Unified's board voted to formally offer this "6 percent" increase to UTLA. By the end of October, district officials removed several of the strings attached to its offer -- including dropping its demand to make half of the raise contingent on LAUSD's deficit projections.

LAUSD OFFICIALS SAY THE DISTRICT IS CURRENTLY RUNNING A DEFICIT. IS THAT TRUE?

Again, LAUSD is spending more than it's taking in, officials say.

LAUSD's budget is balanced this school year. It's balanced next year. But there is a question mark over whether the district can end the third year, 2020-21, in the black.

The district plans to ensure a balanced budget if it nips and tucks about $260 million out of its budget over the next three years -- to say nothing of setting aside some of that $1.9 billion.

Without those steps, LAUSD projects its budget would sink into the red over the next three years, weighed down by flat state funding and rising costs for pensions. Making matters worse: enrollment in LAUSD is declining -- and enrollment basically determines the district's funding.

But the union points out the district's budget forecasts have been off -- drastically off -- before.

For example, if the forecasts in the district's July 2016 budget held true, the district would -- best case -- end this year more than $400 million in the hole. (It won't.)

LAUSD budget officials say these projections haven't come true because the district usually is able to make cuts to prevent the most drastic scenarios before they play out. State lawmakers have also come through in recent years with one-time cash the district has used to help patch holes in its budget.

Still, the repeating cycle of warnings that haven't come true fuels UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl's belief that, as he said in a recent interview, "there's money there to make movement on these items. We need it for the kids."

SO WHAT DO THE TEACHERS WANT THAT WON'T COST AS MUCH?

Even if money were no object, the contract talks still might be hung up on other issues.

UTLA recently dropped six of its demands that wouldn't have cost as much, but would've significantly changed district regulations on magnet schools, the use of standardized tests and how much power Local School Leadership Councils should have.

Other less-costly items on the table are still sticking points:

Evaluation: LAUSD uses a three-tiered evaluation scale for its teachers, and most rank as either "effective" or "meeting expectations." The district wants to add a fourth tier to recognize "highly-effective" teachers. Teachers unions have objected to this for years, seeing it as a gateway to "merit pay" -- that is, linking teacher pay with their evaluation rating.

LAUSD uses a three-tiered evaluation scale for its teachers, and most rank as either "effective" or "meeting expectations." The district wants to add a fourth tier to recognize "highly-effective" teachers. Teachers unions have objected to this for years, seeing it as a gateway to "merit pay" -- that is, linking teacher pay with their evaluation rating. Charter school regulation: UTLA wants to create several new regulations that would govern charter schools in the district. Charter schools receive public funds and are regulated by LAUSD, but they operate outside of the district's control and compete with district-run schools for student enrollment and funding. Of particular issue to UTLA are charter school "co-locations" -- when charter schools operate on LAUSD-run campuses, as allowed under state law. UTLA's demands call for giving union members on those campuses more authority to ensure "co-locations don't diminish the learning and working conditions at schools."

UTLA wants to create several new regulations that would govern charter schools in the district. Charter schools receive public funds and are regulated by LAUSD, but they operate outside of the district's control and compete with district-run schools for student enrollment and funding. Of particular issue to UTLA are charter school "co-locations" -- when charter schools operate on LAUSD-run campuses, as allowed under state law. UTLA's demands call for giving union members on those campuses more authority to ensure "co-locations don't diminish the learning and working conditions at schools." Early education: UTLA wants to change how early education workers are paid and "give them an equitable workday, with lunch break." In March, UTLA officials said the district had refused this demand -- and recently said the district hasn't addressed this issue in recent talks.

PLEASE TELL ME THIS WILL ALL END SOON.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. Negotiations began in Jan. 2017. At first, there was very little movement in the ensuing year and a half at the bargaining table. But now, events are accelerating, not slowing down:

Officers and volunteers in the United Teachers Los Angeles union, which represents more than 30,000 L.A. Unified School District employees, help open envelopes during a count of strike authorization ballots at the union's headquarters on Fri., Aug. 31, 2018. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC) (Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

Aug. 24: UTLA filed an "unfair labor practice" complaint with the state's Public Employment Relations Commission. They objected to LAUSD's unusually fast reply to a request by some news outfit called KPCC/LAist to see UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl's discipline file. It wasn't the request they found galling so much as the timeline for the district's response: UTLA says it has been waiting for, in some cases, up to four months for the district to hand over documents and information relevant to their contract talks.

UTLA filed an "unfair labor practice" complaint with the state's Public Employment Relations Commission. They objected to LAUSD's unusually fast reply to a request by some news outfit called KPCC/LAist to see UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl's discipline file. It wasn't the request they found galling so much as the timeline for the district's response: UTLA says it has been waiting for, in some cases, up to four months for the district to hand over documents and information relevant to their contract talks. Aug. 28: LAUSD countered with an unfair labor practice charge of its own. The district said UTLA had not seriously engaged during almost a year-and-a-half of talks on a new contract -- and even comes close to saying the teachers union has been hoping talks end with a strike from the beginning. The district said UTLA "calculated to time a strike for a period where it can inflict maximum punishment on children and parents so that UTLA may extract financial concessions from the district." LAUSD complains about UTLA's decision to hold a strike vote before the state's mediation process could even begin.

LAUSD countered with an unfair labor practice charge of its own. The district said UTLA had not seriously engaged during almost a year-and-a-half of talks on a new contract -- and even comes close to saying the teachers union has been hoping talks end with a strike from the beginning. The district said UTLA "calculated to time a strike for a period where it can inflict maximum punishment on children and parents so that UTLA may extract financial concessions from the district." LAUSD complains about UTLA's decision to hold a strike vote before the state's mediation process could even begin. Aug. 31: UTLA announces the results of its strike vote and -- to almost no one's suprise -- the results are overwhelming. Of the roughly 81 percent of UTLA members casting ballots, 98 percent favored authorizing union leadership to call a strike.

UTLA announces the results of its strike vote and -- to almost no one's suprise -- the results are overwhelming. Of the roughly 81 percent of UTLA members casting ballots, 98 percent favored authorizing union leadership to call a strike. Sept. 6: In a speech to district principals, Beutner said he did not believe state mediation alone would break the impasse: "I'm open-minded, but I'm not optimistic because we've been at this 18 months and UTLA hasn't changed their list of demands ... It's hard for me to understand how we can go to mediation and say, 'We want you to accept our offer that would bankrupt us.' I don't know how the district can respond constructively to that other than 'no.'" Beutner went on to say he believed contract talks would not likely be solved before the two sides reach the next step of the dispute resolution process: hearing the recommendations of a fact-finder.

In a speech to district principals, Beutner said he did not believe state mediation alone would break the impasse: "I'm open-minded, but I'm not optimistic because we've been at this 18 months and UTLA hasn't changed their list of demands ... It's hard for me to understand how we can go to mediation and say, 'We want you to accept our offer that would bankrupt us.' I don't know how the district can respond constructively to that other than 'no.'" Beutner went on to say he believed contract talks would not likely be solved before the two sides reach the next step of the dispute resolution process: hearing the recommendations of a fact-finder. Sept. 25: L.A. Unified School Board members voted in closed session to boost the district's salary offer to UTLA. Their new offer: a 6 percent raise, split into a 3 percent raise retroactive to July 2017 and another 3 percent raise for the current school year. The current year's raise would be contingent upon teachers performing "extra work and/or training," and if the district's finances are not on solid footing in spring of 2019, the raise would go away next school year. (The district had previously offered 2 percent ongoing and a one-time 2 percent bonus.) The district also promised a limited package of class size reductions. In a statement, UTLA leaders called the offer "insulting".

L.A. Unified School Board members voted in closed session to boost the district's salary offer to UTLA. Their new offer: a 6 percent raise, split into a 3 percent raise retroactive to July 2017 and another 3 percent raise for the current school year. The current year's raise would be contingent upon teachers performing "extra work and/or training," and if the district's finances are not on solid footing in spring of 2019, the raise would go away next school year. (The district had previously offered 2 percent ongoing and a one-time 2 percent bonus.) The district also promised a limited package of class size reductions. In a statement, UTLA leaders called the offer "insulting". Sept. 27: Mediation began.

Mediation began. Oct. 4: UTLA leaders released portions of Beutner's official schedule, criticizing the superintendent for holding meetings with prominent charter school supporters including philanthropist Eli Broad. District representatives noted the meetings UTLA highlighted represented a small fraction of Beutner's full calendar.

UTLA leaders released portions of Beutner's official schedule, criticizing the superintendent for holding meetings with prominent charter school supporters including philanthropist Eli Broad. District representatives noted the meetings UTLA highlighted represented a small fraction of Beutner's full calendar. Oct. 12: State mediators released LAUSD and UTLA to fact-finding, the final stage of the state's "impasse resolution procedures." At the end of the weeks-long process, a state-appointed fact-finder will issue non-binding recommendations for resolving the contract dispute. The two sides can use these recommendations as a blueprint for a deal -- or they can simply ignore it.

State mediators released LAUSD and UTLA to fact-finding, the final stage of the state's "impasse resolution procedures." At the end of the weeks-long process, a state-appointed fact-finder will issue non-binding recommendations for resolving the contract dispute. The two sides can use these recommendations as a blueprint for a deal -- or they can simply ignore it. Oct. 30: LAUSD officials made a new offer. They again offered a 6 percent raise -- 3 percent retroactive, 3 percent ongoing -- but drop their request to make part of the raise contingent on the district's finances. LAUSD negotiators also propose to remove a contract provision that allows the district to raise class sizes almost at will -- but in its place proposes a new set of conditions under which class sizes could be raised. UTLA leaders said the new conditions are worse than the old provision, telling members "Beutner is trying to buy us off with a raise."

L.A. Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner addresses reporters following union negotiations with United Teachers Los Angeles on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

Dec. 3: The fact-finder heard arguments from representatives of both LAUSD and UTLA. After the fact-finding presentations, the two sides "agreed to participate in a mediation session, but a settlement was not reached," according to a statement from the union.

The fact-finder heard arguments from representatives of both LAUSD and UTLA. After the fact-finding presentations, the two sides "agreed to participate in a mediation session, but a settlement was not reached," according to a statement from the union. Dec. 15: UTLA convened thousands of supporters for a march through downtown L.A., starting at Grand Park near City Hall. The union ended its march at the Broad Museum -- named for philanthropist Eli Broad, who's also a supporter of charter schools and other so-called "education reforms." UTLA's Facebook invite for the event said: "We'll either be celebrating a great bargaining victory if the district meets our demands between now and then, or sending LAUSD and Beutner an irrefutably powerful message that a strike is going to happen if they don't."

UTLA convened thousands of supporters for a march through downtown L.A., starting at Grand Park near City Hall. The union ended its march at the Broad Museum -- named for philanthropist Eli Broad, who's also a supporter of charter schools and other so-called "education reforms." UTLA's Facebook invite for the event said: "We'll either be celebrating a great bargaining victory if the district meets our demands between now and then, or sending LAUSD and Beutner an irrefutably powerful message that a strike is going to happen if they don't." Dec. 17: Neutral fact-finder David A. Weinberg issued his recommendations for settling the dispute. He pushed UTLA to settle at the district's salary offer: a 6 percent raise. The fact-finder also concluded, despite the financial pressures facing the district, that LAUSD could afford to spend a little more money to lower class sizes and that the two should return to negotiations to hash out the details. But he also urged the two sides to punt on almost all other outstanding contract items, citing them as too complicated, too ambitious or too costly.

Neutral fact-finder David A. Weinberg issued his recommendations for settling the dispute. He pushed UTLA to settle at the district's salary offer: a 6 percent raise. The fact-finder also concluded, despite the financial pressures facing the district, that LAUSD could afford to spend a little more money to lower class sizes and that the two should return to negotiations to hash out the details. But he also urged the two sides to punt on almost all other outstanding contract items, citing them as too complicated, too ambitious or too costly. Dec. 18: LAUSD released the fact-finder's report to the public at a morning press conference. There, Superintendent Austin Beutner touched off a new dispute over whether the two sides had reached a deal on salary. Beutner, an LAUSD press release, and several visual aids at his press conference all claimed the union had "agreed" to the district's proposed 6 percent increase. By that evening, the union had issued a statement asserting that Beutner's claim was misleading. The union has not agreed to a 6 percent raise as a matter of contract negotiations; the union's appointee to the fact-finding panel had merely concurred with the fact-finder's recommendation of accepting the district's salary offer. Behind the scenes, LAUSD negotiators email UTLA leaders suggesting that the two sides resume bargaining.

LAUSD released the fact-finder's report to the public at a morning press conference. There, Superintendent Austin Beutner touched off a new dispute over whether the two sides had reached a deal on salary. Beutner, an LAUSD press release, and several visual aids at his press conference all claimed the union had "agreed" to the district's proposed 6 percent increase. By that evening, the union had issued a statement asserting that Beutner's claim was misleading. The union has not agreed to a 6 percent raise as a matter of contract negotiations; the union's appointee to the fact-finding panel had merely concurred with the fact-finder's recommendation of accepting the district's salary offer. Behind the scenes, LAUSD negotiators email UTLA leaders suggesting that the two sides resume bargaining. Dec. 19: UTLA leaders announced that they would strike on Jan. 10 if they hadn't reached a deal with the district. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl said that, in the union's estimation, the district had failed to make serious counter-offers to the union's demands on several issues, including on standardized testing and early childhood education. Caputo-Pearl said UTLA had no plans to return to the bargaining table until the district came forward with an offer that responded to those demands. "The district knows where we are," he said. "We're right down the street from each other." Meanwhile, behind the scenes, union leaders emailed the district saying they felt the fact-finder's recommendations "don't ... serve as a basis for resolving the bargaining dispute between UTLA and LAUSD."

UTLA leaders announced that they would strike on Jan. 10 if they hadn't reached a deal with the district. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl said that, in the union's estimation, the district had failed to make serious counter-offers to the union's demands on several issues, including on standardized testing and early childhood education. Caputo-Pearl said UTLA had no plans to return to the bargaining table until the district came forward with an offer that responded to those demands. "The district knows where we are," he said. "We're right down the street from each other." Meanwhile, behind the scenes, union leaders emailed the district saying they felt the fact-finder's recommendations "don't ... serve as a basis for resolving the bargaining dispute between UTLA and LAUSD." Dec. 18-Jan. 2: Without in-person talks underway, union officials and district leaders engage in a dizzying and confusing email back-and-forth. Copies of the emails were ultimately released by the district. The chain began with the head of LAUSD's bargaining team, Rob Samples, e-mailing the union to say the district was essentially folding many of the recommendations in the fact-finder's report as part of its negotiating position. Would that be enough, he asked, to bring the union back to the table? At first, union leaders responded by questioning whether this really constituted the new "offer" -- the documents the district sent over were confusing and lacking detail, UTLA said. "Yes," Samples replied on Jan. 2, "this was an offer." UTLA executive director Jeff Good responds by asking the district to "provide a legitimate bargaining proposal that comprehensively addresses the UTLA package of demands." If LAUSD can do this, Good says the union is available to resume talks on Monday, Jan. 7.

United Teachers Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl (center) and members of the teachers union's bargaining team announce at a news conference on Fri., Jan. 11, 2019. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

Jan. 3: UTLA issues a statement announcing they had rejected LAUSD's "so-called offer," but floated the possibility of meeting Monday, Jan. 7. LAUSD jumped at the opening, issuing a statement: "We welcome UTLA's willingness to return to contract negotiations."

UTLA issues a statement announcing they had rejected LAUSD's "so-called offer," but floated the possibility of meeting Monday, Jan. 7. LAUSD jumped at the opening, issuing a statement: "We welcome UTLA's willingness to return to contract negotiations." Jan. 3: LAUSD attorneys asked a federal judge to block UTLA members who serve students with disabilities from striking. The district's special education services have been under court monitoring ever since a 1996 settlement in the Chanda Smith case. LAUSD argued a teacher strike could throw the district out of compliance with that settlement. UTLA called the move "the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass," accusing the district of "using our most vulnerable students as pawns."

LAUSD attorneys asked a federal judge to block UTLA members who serve students with disabilities from striking. The district's special education services have been under court monitoring ever since a 1996 settlement in the Chanda Smith case. LAUSD argued a teacher strike could throw the district out of compliance with that settlement. UTLA called the move "the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass," accusing the district of "using our most vulnerable students as pawns." Jan. 4: Behind the scenes, LAUSD negotiator Rob Samples emails in reply to UTLA to confirm a Monday, Jan. 7, meeting would work.

Behind the scenes, LAUSD negotiator Rob Samples emails in reply to UTLA to confirm a Monday, Jan. 7, meeting would work. Jan. 4: U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew rejected LAUSD's move to block special ed teachers from striking. The judge's ruling turned down LAUSD's request on technical grounds, but left open the door for the district to file a new lawsuit that might block special education teachers from striking.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew rejected LAUSD's move to block special ed teachers from striking. The judge's ruling turned down LAUSD's request on technical grounds, but left open the door for the district to file a new lawsuit that might block special education teachers from striking. Jan. 6: UTLA releases a statement acknowledging that their members may not be able to begin their strike on Thurs., Jan. 10, as they had initially planned. Union officials said there was a legal disagreement about when and whether UTLA had filed the right paperwork giving formal notice of their intent to strike. Though the union promised to "proactively" go to court in the coming week to ensure its members could still strike on Jan. 10, the union acknowledged the snafu could delay a strike by "a few days" -- to Jan. 14.

UTLA releases a statement acknowledging that their members may not be able to begin their strike on Thurs., Jan. 10, as they had initially planned. Union officials said there was a legal disagreement about when and whether UTLA had filed the right paperwork giving formal notice of their intent to strike. Though the union promised to "proactively" go to court in the coming week to ensure its members could still strike on Jan. 10, the union acknowledged the snafu could delay a strike by "a few days" -- to Jan. 14. Jan. 7: Negotiators for the two sides meet for the first face-to-face talks since at least Dec. 3. Both UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl and LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner -- who had previously left much of the face-to-face negotiation to their bargaining teams -- personally joined the talks.

Negotiators for the two sides meet for the first face-to-face talks since at least Dec. 3. Both UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl and LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner -- who had previously left much of the face-to-face negotiation to their bargaining teams -- personally joined the talks. Jan. 8: In court, a lawyer for UTLA tells a judge that if there's no clarity by Thursday Jan. 10 about the legality of a strike, he's concerned union members might stage "wildcat strikes" -- in other words, unauthorized strike activity. But before the judge can even get to the matter at hand, the case gets hung up on a procedural matter that throws the strike date into question.

In court, a lawyer for UTLA tells a judge that if there's no clarity by Thursday Jan. 10 about the legality of a strike, he's concerned union members might stage "wildcat strikes" -- in other words, unauthorized strike activity. But before the judge can even get to the matter at hand, the case gets hung up on a procedural matter that throws the strike date into question. Jan. 9: UTLA announces it will postpone the strike until Monday, Jan. 14, at the earliest over uncertainty about how a judge would rule on the legality of its strike date. LAUSD announces plans to argue for an even further delay in the strike date. The L.A. County Office of Education appoints a "fiscal expert" to monitor the district's budget.

UTLA announces it will postpone the strike until Monday, Jan. 14, at the earliest over uncertainty about how a judge would rule on the legality of its strike date. LAUSD announces plans to argue for in the strike date. The L.A. County Office of Education appoints a "fiscal expert" to monitor the district's budget. Jan. 10: A judge rules that a the strike can go forward on Monday, Jan. 14. Also, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces a state budget proposal that, if approved, would include an increase in funding for K-12 education -- which means millions more dollars LAUSD could use to meet UTLA's costliest demands. LAUSD officials took the opening: "It is our intention," Superintendent Austin Beutner announced, "to propose a revised offer to UTLA tomorrow" (Fri., Jan. 11), based on the "good news."

A judge rules that a the strike can go forward on Monday, Jan. 14. Also, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces a state budget proposal that, if approved, would include an increase in funding for K-12 education -- which means millions more dollars LAUSD could use to meet UTLA's costliest demands. LAUSD officials took the opening: "It is our intention," Superintendent Austin Beutner announced, "to propose a revised offer to UTLA tomorrow" (Fri., Jan. 11), based on the "good news." Jan. 11: UTLA leaders reject LAUSD's latest offer, saying they have no plans to return to talks over the weekend, setting the stage for a strike.

UTLA leaders reject LAUSD's latest offer, saying they have no plans to return to talks over the weekend, setting the stage for a strike. Jan. 13: In an interview, Beutner said the two sides did not negotiate over the weekend. A strike is now a certainty.

In an interview, Beutner said the two sides did not negotiate over the weekend. A strike is now a certainty. Jan. 14: The first teachers strike in Los Angeles in 30 years is set to begin.

The first teachers strike in Los Angeles in 30 years is set to begin. Jan. 16: Pro-teacher marchers rally at the private home of LAUSD school board resident Monica Garcia. UTLA negotiators say they are ready to sit back down to resume contract talks. Talks are confirmed back on for Thursday at City Hall.

Pro-teacher marchers rally at the private home of LAUSD school board resident Monica Garcia. UTLA negotiators say they are ready to sit back down to resume contract talks. Talks are confirmed back on for Thursday at City Hall. Jan. 17: Talks between UTLA and LAUSD begin. Principals union leader Juan Flecha sends letter to LAUSD officials suggesting they shut down schools for remainder of the strike. LAUSD Superintendent responds that schools will stay open.

UPDATES & CORRECTIONS

Correction, Aug. 30: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said LAUSD was spending "half-a-million" dollars more each year than it was taking in. The district is currently spending roughly $500 million more each year than it's taking in. KPCC/LAist regrets the error.

Update & Clarification, Sept. 4: The post was updated with results of the union's strike authorization vote. Additionally, a reference to enhancing the power of "local school site councils" was updated to clarify that UTLA wishes to give more power to "Local School Leadership Councils."

UPDATES

Sept. 26: This post was updated to reflect additional events from the last month, including L.A. Unified's revised salary offer of Sept. 25.

Oct. 12: This post was updated to reflect additional events from the last month, including the release of Beutner's calendar on Oct. 4.

Oct. 15: This post was updated to note the end of state mediation and the beginning of fact-finding.

Oct. 17: This post was updated to include the district's FAQ for parents on the district's contingency plan in the event of a strike.

Nov. 30: This post was updated to reflect additional events, including the district's Oct. 30 offer and plans to meet with the fact-finder on Dec. 3.

Dec. 14: This post was updated to reflect additional events, including the end of fact-finding and the planned march through downtown Los Angeles.

Dec. 15: This post was updated with additional information about the next steps in the process.

Dec. 26: This post was updated throughout to reflect the release of the fact-finder's report and UTLA's announcement of its strike date.

Jan. 7: This post was updated throughout to reflect the new uncertainty about the strike date and Jan. 7 negotiations.

Jan. 8: This post was updated to reflect court-filing hiccups by UTLA and ongoing uncertainty about the strike date.

Jan. 9: This post was updated with news that UTLA postponed the strike to Jan. 14 at the earliest.

Jan. 11: This post was updated to reflect the Jan. 7 offers from both LAUSD and UTLA as well as recent developments with the state budget.

Jan. 13: This post was updated to reflect the Jan. 11 offer from LAUSD and other more recent events. Other portions of this post that are now outdated were removed.

Jan. 16: This post was updated to reflect the current status of the strike and news that talks were scheduled to resume the next day.

Jan. 17: This post was updated to reflect the current status of the strike and news that the principals union asked LAUSD to consider shutting schools for the remainder of the strike.

News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now.On Aug. 20, 2018, surfing became Californias official state sport when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill enshrining it in State code.

For the three surf clubs that dominate the beaches in and around La Jolla, surfing has been codified since the early 60s. WindanSea Surf Club, Pacific Beach Surf Club and the La Jolla Shores Surfing Association have more or less survived for longer than a half century by offering rules for good conduct in the water, teams for surfers to compete on against rivals up and down the coast, and an instant army of friends to party with once the woodies are loaded up.

Californias surf clubs werent always about good conduct out of the water, however. Originally, WindanSea was almost like a biker gang with boards instead of motorcycles.

I dont think thats an unfair comparison, says WindanSea Surf Club president Bill Fitzmaurice. I would say that definitely it was more countercultural.

WindanSea Surf Club president Bill Fitzmaurice reflects on his club's history during its latest Day at the Beach charity event at La Jolla Shores (used because it accommodates more event parking than WindanSea). COREY LEVITAN

The Windansea Surf Club was formed in 1963 by surfers Mike Hynson and Chuck Hasley and quickly developed a reputation for bad behavior. (The first stop on the bus to Malibu for its very first invitational was to bail member Butch van Artsdalen, a frequent brawler, out of jail after he dumped a pitcher of beer onto the roof of a police car.)

People are a lot friendlier than they used to be, says Fitzmaurice. Its a different feel.

Surf clubs were also once active political organizations. All three of La Jollas protested a 1963 City Council proposal to establish Tourmaline Surfing Park just south of La Jolla in Pacific Beach. (If youre wondering why surfers would oppose a park built just for them, back then, the break had almost no wave. The City eventually deposited sand dredged from the San Diego River into Tourmaline. Rocks began to fill in, reinforced by several El Nino storm batterings in the 80s, which is why the waves there are good today.)

The WindanSea and La Jolla Shores clubs petered out in the 70s, then returned in the 80s in more family-friendly incarnations. (The Pacific Beach Surf Club went dormant after 1963 and was brought back in 1994 by Glenn Paculba, owner of Star Surfing.)

The original members became parents, which kept them busy for a while, but then their kids started to like surfing, too, says Fitzmaurice, whose day job is running a renewable energy company.

Chris Volk, Ron Greene, Bob Peacock, Teresa Burdick, Dan Dodd and Vince Bodie hold a recent Pacific Beach Surf Club meeting at VFW Post 5985 on Turquoise Street. COREY LEVITAN

These days, though all still maintain surf teams, surf clubs are nonprofit organizations run more like Kiwanis Clubs with surfboards. Instead of roughing up avowed club enemies, theyre nailing up houses for Habitat For Humanity. (WindanSea participates in this charity event each year, as well as hosting separate events that give children with disabilities and children of homeless families a day at the beach.)

Were mostly geared toward charity and service now, Fitzmaurice says.

Which club to join?

Where they live has pretty much always determined whether surfers joined the Pacific Beach or La Jolla Shores surf clubs.

This is my home, says currrent president Lorraine Schmalenberger, who was born in a house overlooking Kellogg Park.

But WindanSea is more about skill level than zip code. The waves here break with incredible power, six-to-eight feet high, against rocky underwater reefs that can easily pound in the heads of inexperienced surfers.

Youre not going to go to WindanSea as a beginner, because its not a beginner break, says Fitzmaurice, adding that his members come from all over San Diego  and from as far aboard as Australia and Hawaii. These are very difficult waves.

Fitzmaurice is too diplomatic to come out and say it, but WindanSeas members are better surfers. (At that Malibu invitational, they took five of the top six spots and they were No. 2 in the Coaltion of Surfing Clubs ranking last year  behind Oceanside Longboard Surfing Club.)

All the clubs have a rivalry with WindanSea, says Ron Greene, president of the Pacific Beach Surf Club, which was No. 4 in last years standings. They seem to be the top dog.

To join WindanSea, not only do prospective members need to be expert surfers, they need an invite to join. To join La Jolla Shores, for example, all they need to do is email Schmalenberger.

But we dont really care about where we stand in the rankings, Schmalenberger says. Only five or six groups really do.

Lorraine Schmalenberger, president of the La Jolla Shores Surfing Association, poses with her board in front of a $10,000 mural that, she says, WindanSea Surf Club donated the final $1,000 to build. COREY LEVITAN

However, Schmalenberger says that one thing does bug her about the rivalry: We dont necessarily like that notion that our beach is easier, because in the winter, we have some of the most profound, expert surf swells anywhere in Southern California.

Hey, grandpa!

In todays world, all three area surf clubs face a bigger foe than each other anyway: millennial apathy. Schmalenberger calls it a huge problem that only 10 percent of her club was born after 1980.

Every year, I beg people, the 61-year-old says. I even hand-pick successors. I say to myself, Who grew up here? Whos got the leadership skills? And I cant find anyone to replace me.

Its not that millennials dont surf. The breaks are still clogged with young wave-catchers every summer beach day. Its just that they dont see clubbing up around a sport as something thats for them.

This is actually a problem for all social clubs and professional associations. According to the trade organization Association Trends, fewer than 1 percent of current U.S. association members fall in the 25-34 age range.

Although hard evidence for the explanation is lacking, its thought that millennials dont experience the traditional need for personal contact that social and professional clubs once filled, because they already fill it by texting dozens of people a day they already care about.

Theyre also just too damn busy, working all the time and raising their kids, Schmalenberger says. In their free time, millennials just want to chill. They want to surf, enjoy the beach, not engage in organized activities.

Fitzmaurice, 64, agrees that attrition is the primary threat to his clubs future. He estimates WindanSeas millennial ranks at about 30-40 percent  most of whom are the offspring of current members  which he says is not good enough. So WindanSea now competes in youth-oriented events such as the West Coast shortboard series.Longboards are for the old guys, Fitzmaurice says. Some 15-year-old isnt going to look up to me and my surfing, like, Hey, grandpa, all due respect, but your surfing doesnt thrill me.

COURTESY

WindanSea Surf Club



Home surf: WindanSea Beach



Founded: 1963 by Mike Hynson and Chuck Hasley

Members: 250

Annual dues: $36

How to join: by invitation, followed by an initiation that involves community services and competing

Surfing qualifications: expert

Annual charity events: about 7

$$ raised: about $75,000 a year

Annual competitions: 12-14

2017 Coalition of Surfing Clubs ranking: No. 2 of 20





COURTESY

Pacific Beach Surf Club



Home surf: Tourmaline Surfing Park



Founded: 1956 by Bobby Challenger Thomas

Members: about 100

Annual dues: $40

How to join: www.pacificbeachsurfclub.com to download the club application

Surfing qualifications: none

Annual charity events: two (the Summer Classic and the Tourmaline Club Classic)

$$ raised: Probably six figures since 1994, says Greene

Annual competitions: about 12

2017 Coalition of Surfing Clubs ranking: No. 4 of 20





COURTESY

La Jolla Shores Surfing Association

Home surf: La Jolla Shores



Founded: in the early 60s, founder/s unknown

Members: 65

Annual dues: $35

How to join: www.ljssa.org to download the club application or e-mail lorraine@ljssa.org



Surfing qualifications: noneAssyrians in Syria Protest US-backed YPG for Shutting Down Schools

Christians came together in the Qamishli town center, demanding the reopening of their schools. Unrest erupted among Syrian Christians in recent weeks against PKK-affiliated groups in northern Syria due to the closure of their schools as part of the oppressive policies of the terrorist organization. A protest was organized Tuesday against local security forces of the U.S-backed People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian affiliation of the PKK terrorist group, in Hasakah province of northern Syria, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Dozens of Christians gathered in the center of Qamishli to protest the closure of two Christian schools in mid-August. The protesters shouted slogans, demanding their schools to be reopened. The protesters were confronted by the YPG terrorists, who opened fire in the air to disperse the crowd. The crowd dissolved after an hour-long of demonstration. On Aug.18, the pastors and heads of the churches in Hasakah came together in Qamishli and declared that it was unacceptable for the YPG to shut down their schools. The U.S. support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by the YPG, has long been a cause of tension between Ankara and Washington. The U.S. had also given truckloads of military support to the YPG, despite Ankara's repeated warnings that the group is organically linked to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Turkey and the European Union. YPG indoctrinates students, intervenes in curriculum The YPG has used schools in areas under its control to indoctrinate students with its militarist, ethnocentric ideologies. The terrorist organization has been teaching militarist ideas based on ethnic belonging in the schools for three years now. During the upcoming academic year, the YPG reportedly hopes to expand the use of its curriculum to high schools. The YPG hopes to make the curriculum it teaches to primary schools and ninth grades more widespread by teaching it to the 10th and 11th grades, as well. Parents who aim to keep their children away from terrorist propaganda lean toward private schools; however, the terrorist organization has not left these schools untouched either, raiding, threatening and eventually shutting them down. On Aug.10, the terrorist organization widened its pressure on education and shut down the Assyrian schools in Qamishli. The Armenian and Assyrian private schools in the town of Malikiyah, also known as Derik in Kurdish, were also closed on Aug. 7 with decrees issued by YPG-linked local education authorities citing that they did not take necessary permissions or abide by the curriculum. The Assyrian Democratic Society (ADS) had accused the YPG of "intimidating" the region's Assyrian community. "The YPG is harming education by promoting its ideologies through school curriculum," the ADS said in a statement, going on to demand that the terrorist group immediately allow the schools to reopen. Various Christian groups also condemned the closures. The private Assyrian schools, administered by the Syriac Orthodox Church, have been operating in the region since the mid-1950s and have been implementing a curriculum specializing in the Assyrian language and religion developed jointly with the Syrian Education Ministry. YPG criticized for poor human rights record The YPG previously received numerous condemnations by international human rights bodies, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International and the United Nations, for its violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests, forced recruitment of ch ld soldiers and forceful relocation of locals.In August, HRW said the YPG is recruiting children from displacement camps in the country's northeast in violation of international law. Last year, the U.N. found 224 cases of child recruitment by the YPG and its female forces, nearly five times the number in 2016. It said the YPG had forcibly abducted the children in at least three cases. The YPG has kidnapped dissident Kurdish politicians, particularly from the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS) and figures who criticized them for a number of reasons, in addition to collecting ransom from businesses.Less than two weeks after it was brought to light that the lack of sufficient trash pick-up in La Jolla Shores was causing much distress to residents and tourists, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer directed staff to look into corrective action to address the unsightly, unsanitary pileups.

Following complaints from the La Jolla Shores Association (LJSA) about overflowing trash cans, and a hefty discussion on the subject during its Aug. 8 monthly meeting, LJSA chair Janie Emerson and Faulconers District 1 representative Anthony George walked Avenida de la Playa (the main thoroughfare) together on Aug. 23 to inventory the situation.

As a result of their findings, Faulconer asked staff to begin a second daily trash pickup in La Jolla Shores  seven days a week  and to evaluate moving the existing trash cans to better accommodate the communitys needs. On Aug. 28 it was reported to the Light that additional cans were in place.

Faulconer told La Jolla Light: San Diegans deserve clean public spaces. Thats why weve significantly increased cleanup efforts across the City, and why Ive ordered staff to begin a second round of trash pickup each day for La Jolla Shores to address concerns that have been ignored for far too long.

Emerson added: Its wonderful! Im glad to see this happen. When citizens work together and communicate at a higher level, we get action. It took all of us working together to get this done.

During the walk-through Aug. 23, Emerson noted there are several types of City trash cans on the street: ones with heavy lids that cannot be easily removed, ones that have lighter plastic lids, and Big Belly trash receptacles. As with most things, there are plusses and minuses to each of these, she said.

The heavy-lidded trash cans, for example, do not have liners or trash bags, and must be emptied manually, but cannot be tampered with by animals; the lighter plastic ones can have the lids removed by animals, which spreads the trash, but has liners that are easier to remove; and the Big Belly cans, which use solar power to compact trash and hold four times as much trash, are privately managed by area business owners.

In terms of placement, there are also opportunities for improvement. As of the walk-through, there were no City trash cans on the two blocks of Avenida de la Playa closest to the beach (from Camino del Sol and west).

On the busy 2100 block of Avenida de la Playa, there are four trash cans within 120 feet, in two pairs on the same block.

Trash cans grouped close together may be spaced out as part of San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconers evaluation of the area. Ashley Mackin-Solomon

The only other City trash cans are located on the two corners of Avenida de la Playa at El Paseo Grande (one in front of Laureate Park and one near Piatti restaurant).

Otherwise, the trash receptacles are private trash cans maintained by local business owners.

As such, George said he would recommend the trash cans be spread out and more added. However, these would be subject to confirmation from the Department of Collection Services to ensure the new trash cans fit the pickup route.

This solution is seemingly a welcome one, and called awesome by Ocean Girl apparel shop owner Terry Kraszewski, when compared to the alternative the City previously offered.

Earlier this year, the City deemed the frequency of trash pick-up and number of cans sufficient; but on further reassessment, the City suggested that businesses add more private trash cans, and blamed take-out businesses for forcing visitors to use City trash cans, which San Diego Environmental Services Department representatives say are not designed for this type or volume of waste.

At the August LJSA meeting, District 1 City Council member Barbara Brys field rep Mauricio Medina noted that in 2017, the City added two more trash cans, but that has not eliminated the issue, he told the group. Continuing to add more City street litter containers in front of these businesses would likely not resolve the issue.In the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, a woman from Minnesota descends Yucca Trail from its clifftop parking lot toward Flat Rock Beach with her young daughter. She says it wasnt until they began their hike this morning that they were told about the incident that occurred near here on Aug. 19, when a 33-year-old woman was bitten by a rattlesnake and airlifted by San Diego Fire-Rescue to Scripps Hospital.



But theyre not that concerned, the woman from Minnesota says, because the snakes no longer here, right?



A passing hiker who overhears the conversation informs the woman from Minnesota that the hills around them are home to thousands of rattlesnakes. In fact, there are no fewer than six signs posted on the Yucca Trail stating that rattlesnakes may be found in this area and that they are important members of the natural community.



The woman suddenly changes direction, back up to the parking lot, tightly grabbing her daughters hand.

Her voice quavers as she shouts: I dont like snakes!

A family with a young boy walks the Yucca Trail above Torrey Pines State Beach, near where a woman was bitten by a rattlesnake a few days before. COREY LEVITAN

Few people know more about Southern California snakes than herpetologist Steve Bledsoe. Founder of the Southwestern Field Herping Association, the San Clemente resident lives, breathes and sleeps reptiles.

Bledsoe meets the Light at the top of the trail. He wears a hat adorned with the rattle from a black-tailed rattlesnake he once found dead on an Arizona road. And he pulls from his car a terrarium of museum-quality snake replicas that he hand-crafts from plastic resin molds at home, which impresses the Torrey Pines docents so much, they offer to display it at their welcome table.

Bledsoe was on hand to help determine what, if anything, the hiker who got bitten did wrong and if theres anything all hikers can learn from it.

Herpetologist Steve Bledsoe pokes around the trail for evidence of recent viper activity. COREY LEVITAN

During the daytime in the summer, Bledsoe explains, rattlesnakes usually hide in the shade. Snakes are cold-blooded but dont have that same high body-heat tolerance as lizards, he says. If their body temperature gets over 100 degrees, they can die.



The problem is, a snakes idea of shade might be beneath a shrub you brush against or underneath a step on the trail in front of you.

If somebody gets too close, it might panic the snake and they bite, says Bledsoe. Theyre very unpredictable  especially the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake.

Bledsoe says this species, common in San Diego, is considered one of the Top 5 dangerous snakes in the U.S. One reason is simply that they get up to four feet long  all of which gets converted to striking distance. Also, their venom is high on the toxicity scale. And, if that werent enough, theyre very quick to bite.

Basically, Bledsoe says, theyre crazy.If it was a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake that bit the hiker on this trail, therefore, she may have actually done nothing wrong.

The rendering of a snake posted on warning signs all over Torrey Pines State Nature Reserve represents a Western Rattlesnake, which comprises five subspecies including the dreaded Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. COREY LEVITAN

The good news, Bledsoe says, is that 35-40 percent of rattlesnake bites in the U.S. are dry (venomless).

Rattlesnakes arent trying to eat us, Bledsoe says, so they are not likely to intentionally inject venom. They just want us to go away. (The surprisingly low human death rate from rattlesnake bites bears this out: 0.1 percent, or one death in every 1,000 cases.)



Bledsoe said they probably airlifted the hiker out just to be safe.



Snakebites are serious wounds, Bledsoe adds. If left untreated, they can result in the loss of a digit or limb, or in permanent muscle or nerve damage. But honestly, youre more likely to die from the hospital bill than from the bite. (Bledsoe says anti-venom, which is supplied exclusively by a British company that holds the U.S. patent, can cost upwards of $400,000.)



This morning, there are zero signs of snakes along the trail, rattlers or otherwise.

Theyre hiding, Bledsoe explains. They hide from bigger animals. The rules are the same whether youre venomous or not: If youre a little animal, you fear anything bigger than yourselves because it may eat you.

Ranger Dave Richards offers the missing piece to solve the puzzle that bought us here. He tells us why he thinks the woman got bitten.

I wasnt on the call, but from what I heard, she may have gone slightly off-trail, Richards says, adding that she may have stepped around a barrier blocking off the closed Broken Hill Trail Loop, and that the rattlesnake may have been hiding on the other side of it.

Too bad the hiker from Minnesota didnt stick around to hear that.

While crossing trails, snakes may hide in spaces like this, below a step up to a bridge, to avoid approaching humans. COREY LEVITAN

FOR SAFETYS SNAKE



Based on information from herpetologist Steve Bledsoe and Torrey Pines Park Ranger Dave Richards, the Light offers this handy checklist of how to avoid rattler run-ins:

1) Stay in the center of every trail and never wander off-trail.

For that matter, never go or anywhere you cant see the ground in front of you.

2) Wear closed-toed shoes.

The unlucky hiker was bitten on the toe, according to Richards. A snake probably assumed the digit was a mouse.

3) Wear jeans.

Sturdy long pants can absorb more than half the venom a snake attempts to inject.



4) Never listen to music or read texts.

Look and listen only to whats in front of you.

5) If you have to step over something or down a stair, check where youre stepping first.



6) Wavy tracks means a snake has recently crossed and could be hiding just off the edge of either side of the trail.

7) If a snake blocks a trail in front of you and doesnt move, stay at least 10 feet away, turn around nonchalantly and go back the way you came. (If youre in a park, do the same and then call a ranger.)

Remaining motionless is a snakes favorite defense mechanism. (The camouflage that makes this trick work so well in the bush doesnt work on a trail, but the snake isnt smart enough to realize this.) Once it can no longer see you or feel your vibrations, itll continue where it was going before you surprised it.

8) Always let a hiding snake think you cant see it.

If you walk toward it and then suddenly freeze and stare, you are perceived as a predator who has seen and is stalking it. The snake is likely to graduate to its next defense: coiling and rattling.In the living room of her WindanSea house, Tamlyn Shusterman rifles through a box of costumes sent by her sister-in-law, who made them for a production of The Wizard of Oz at her daughters school in North Carolina. Shusterman will use them to stage the first musical ever in the West African country of Liberia.

Opening three weeks after Shusterman arrives on Aug. 28, in a generator-powered church, The Wiz will feature a local cast of 40 chosen (via video submission), choreographed and co-directed by Shusterman. Helping her mount the 1970s African-American stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz will be an all-volunteer collective of producers, directors and crew members she met during a successful Broadway career that included dancing in 42nd Street and as one of the Radio City Rockettes in the early 2000s.But the most important thing about the project to Shusterman is something else entirely.

The stars of Shusterman's production of 'The Wiz' rehearse in a structure in their village square. COURTESY

In April 2016, only a week after she relocated to La Jolla from New Jersey with her husband, financial manager Joe Orlando, a car turned right into the Urban Outfitters at 4516 Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach. Surfboards blocked the view out its passenger window, where Orlando was riding his bicycle. He clenched the brakes so hard, he avoided hitting the car but sent himself sailing over his handlebars. A year-and-a-half later, Orlando died of complications from his head injury at 55 years old. (He was wearing a helmet.)

Ive finally past that year mark where I dont cry every single time I talk about him, Shusterman says.

The Wiz will be the biggest project Shusterman tackles since the death of her husband, who retired at age 40 to dedicate his life to helping young people.

My whole life was all about me  my audition, get the show, compete, the 45-year-old Philadelphia native says. Joe changed my life. He worked with these youths in extreme poverty that you cant even believe exists in the United States.

In her WindanSea living room, Shusterman packs the costumes she will bring on her groundbreaking trip to Africa. COREY LEVITAN

On Dec. 2, 2017, Shusterman was walking through the La Jolla Open Aire Farmers Market when she was inspired by the African music of the Matsiko World Orphan Choir, a troupe of talented children the International Childrens Network brought with them around the U.S. to sing and dance in hopes of soliciting monetary sponsors.

I was in a space at the time when I didnt know what the purpose of my life was, Shusterman says. I dont have children, I lost the love of my life, Im in a new community. And I just kept thinking that Joe would say, Go out and help others. But I didnt know how to make that happen. And then this lands in my lap.

If the details ring a little familiar, this was the very same public performance that convinced La Jolla dentist Kristine Tran to travel to Liberia and perform the very first Western dental work ever offered there. (The Light published that story on June 20.)

One day, I heard that auditions had to be interrupted because the kids were getting dental work done, Shusterman says. I had no idea it was by my neighbor in La Jolla! (The two have yet to meet, but Shusterman says she reached out on Facebook.)

Shusterman and her friends are lugging over their own sound and lighting boards, microphones, costumes and makeup for the show. A GoFundMe campaign, Broadway to Africa to Fight Poverty, is paying for the trip. (So far, its raised $8,700 of its $15,000 goal.)

This project gave my life purpose, Shusterman says. Its not just a lack of money that plagues the lives of these impoverished kids, its a lack of hope. And for them to be able to sing and dance in the first musical in their country is to give them that hope.Soledad home robbed of $250,000 worth of jewelry

San Diego Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect who stole more than $250,000 of jewelry from a home in the Mount Soledad neighborhood.

On June 16, 2018, an unknown suspect(s) forced entry into an area residence by using a tool to pry open the front door. The suspects stole numerous pieces of jewelry with a total value of more than $250,000. Most of the jewelry pieces were large in size and very distinctive.

An example of the jewelry stolen from a Mount Soledad home (Courtesy)

Surveillance video captured the suspects vehicle arriving at the residence and a suspect wearing dark clothing exiting the front passengers seat. Investigators determined the suspects vehicle is a newer model white Nissan Rogue.

Anyone with information on the identity and/or location of the suspects is asked to call the SDPDs Northern Division at (858) 552-1727 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477. Visit the Crime Stoppers website at sdcrimestoppers.org for more information on how to send anonymous web and mobile app tips.

Broken water main floods Village intersection

A broken water main flooded and shut down the busy La Jolla intersection of Girard Avenue at Pearl Street on Friday, Aug. 24. The break was reported around 4:50 p.m., police and fire officials said. The intersection remained closed for several hours thereafter, but the City representatives said no businesses were flooded.

Police Blotter

Aug. 12

Petty theft, 5400 block La Jolla Blvd. 4 p.m.

Aug. 14

Residential burglary, 6300 block Muirlands Drive, 9 a.m.

Aug. 17

Assault, two homeless individuals got into a disagreement over ownership of the sidewalk, and one used a cardboard sign and an open hand to strike the other, 1000 block Torrey Pines Road, 11:30 a.m.

Aug. 19

Assault, an assailant punched the victim in the face during an argument over a parking space, 6800 block Neptune Place, 4:25 p.m.

Aug. 20

Misdemeanor vandalism, 900 block Archer St., 3:07 a.m.

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8600 block La Jolla Shores Drive, 6:30 p.m.

Residential burglary, 7500 block Caminito Avola, 10 p.m.

Aug. 21

Residential burglary, 5500 block Pacifica Drive, 8:15 a.m.

Assault, a known-to-the-victim suspect pushed the victim during an argument, 9500 block Poole St., 9:48 a.m.

Assault, an unknown male used his stomach and chest area to bump the victim three times on a construction site. The victim did not sustain any injuries, 9300 block North Torrey Pines Road, 11:12 a.m.

Commercial burglary, 8800 block Villa La Jolla Drive, 6 p.m.

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8700 block La Jolla Shores Drive, 6 p.m.

Misdemeanor vandalism, 800 block Turquoise St., 6:35 p.m.

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8600 block Via Mallorca, 8 p.m.

Aug. 23

Fraud, 2200 block Caminto Cabala, 3:30 p.m.

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8500 block La Jolla Shores Drive, 6:15 p.m.

Aug. 24

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8600 block Villa La Jolla Drive, 5:10 p.m.

Vandalism (less than $400), 500 block Calle Miramar, 9 p.m.

Aug. 25

Petty theft, 7600 block Girard Ave., 5:30 p.m.

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8000 block El Paseo Grande, 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 26

Vehicle break-in/theft, 8300 block Camino del Oro, 10:30 a.m.

Petty theft, 8100 block Camino del Oro, 12:10 p.m.

 Compiled by Ashley Mackin-SolomonA harrowing rescue off the coast of La Jolla earlier this summer was recognized by the San Diego Fire & Rescue Department as the Rescue of the Year (by a seasonal lifeguard). The feat required fast action by La Jolla guard James Earnest, who credited the happy ending to listening to his gut, knowledge of the ocean conditions in the area, and a bit of good luck.

Involved with the lifeguard service since 2011, Earnest comes from a family of lifeguards, and is considered a good addition to the lifeguard family, by Lifeguard Sgt. Brian Clark. James is a really good lifeguard; very attentive and very proactive, Clark said. If he sees something off, he goes out of the way to educate the public. He wants to do everything he can to provide the best experience for the most number of people. (The rescue he is being lauded for) was a critical rescue and I dont think (the victim) would be alive without James.

Describing the situation to La Jolla Light, Earnest said: It was a little bit overwhelming, but it was a team effort and we got the job done. Everyone responded like they should have ... we crushed it. The two other lifeguards involved in the rescue were Aaron Estes and Shane McIntyre.

Rescue recap

On June 9, Earnest reported for duty at 9 a.m. and was scheduled to work solo until the early afternoon at Marine Street beach. Around noon, he noticed a strong rip current at Little Point about a quarter mile away and a swimmer heading for it.

As he explains it: I saw someone swim out right into the rip current and dive under some waves toward where the surfers were. That area is not really a swimming beach, and I was fairly far away, so I couldnt tell what he was doing and knew it would take a while to get there (to warn him). I just had a gut feeling that something was off.

I called the main tower (at Childrens Pool) and told them I was going to run over and to be on standby, and they sent a unit to back me up. By the time I got there, the swimmer was face down and unconscious, but the surfers were helping him. I radioed to get more resources and swam out. We all helped bring him in. He was unconscious and I did a pulse and breath check and he didnt have either.

Serendipitously, Estes, the second guard who was set to join Earnest on duty that day, showed up early and ran down to assist. Aaron was there within minutes of all this happening, Earnest said. McIntyre was also on foot nearby and joined the rescue effort. Together they performed rescue breaths and chest compressions.

The backup that Earnest had asked for by radio arrived a few seconds later with an AED trauma pack. But before lifeguards could shock the victim with the AED pack, he regained a pulse and was transported to a local hospital. From there, the swimmer made a full recovery.

A couple of days later, he and some family members took us all out for a beer. He was grateful and glad to be alive, Earnest said.

Swimmer precautions

As to how this rescue compares to others in his six years of patrolling La Jolla beaches, Earnest said: This was definitely an intense one. During a lot of our rescues, were able to get there quickly  sometimes before the person knows theyre in trouble. Ive been involved with other CPR (rescues), but you dont ever really get used to them. You try to not to think about bringing a dead person back to life, you revert back to your training and freak out after.

Ernest shared three safety tips for swimmers: 1) Swim close to an existing lifeguard station so that in the event of an incident, lifeguards do not have to travel far to reach you; 2) Ask lifeguards about swimming conditions, as the safety of an area can vary from day to day; 3) Listen to lifeguards cautions.

Next season, Earnest plans to return to La Jolla lifeguarding. I love this job, he said, and its hard to leave it. You get paid to be at the beach, paid to help people and you can make a huge difference in peoples lives.Remembered for his big heart and strong work ethic, James Theodore Jim Bashor (1931-2018) was posthumously recognized with a plaque atop Mount Soledad that was unveiled Aug. 24, when friends and family gathered at the Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial to hear tribute speakers and watch a special flyover.

His plaque, now on view, reads: Jim honorably served his country during the Korean conflict and participated in the Berlin Airlift at the conclusion of World War II. His lifelong patriotism culminated in one of the San Diego Zoos largest gifts, providing support for the Wounded Warrior Project, providing free admission in perpetuity for active members of the military and their families.

As part of the ceremony, speakers shared the impact of his Zoo gift, his widow Dianne received a commemorative memorial flag, and guests were treated to a flyover in the missing man formation. The aerial salute is often performed in memory of a fallen service-member, and involves six planes flying in a V formation before one breaks off to fly upward, signifying the members ascension into the heavens.

A plane breaks formation as part of the missing man salute (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

Dianne said between the flyover and the outpouring of support from loved ones in attendance, the event would be one she would never forget.

The Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial includes more than 5,000 veteran tributes embedded on black granite plaques, mounted onto 11 curved walls. They honor United States veterans, living and deceased, from Revolutionary War times through to today.

An enlarged version of the plaque honoring Jim Bashor. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

The Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial is located at 6905 La Jolla Scenic Drive South. (858) 459-2314. soledadmemorial.comElon Musk returned to a controversial  and some would say counterproductive  topic Tuesday night, launching a new round of tweets implying that the cave rescuer he accused of being a pedophile might actually be one.

On Wednesday, a lawyer said that he had sent Musk a letter threatening legal action and that hes in the process of filing a libel suit against Musk on behalf of Vernon Unsworth, a diver instrumental in rescuing Thai children trapped in a cave in July.

You published three different tweets to your twenty-two million followers that Mr. Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children, Unsworth attorney L. Lin Wood of Atlanta wrote in the letter.

The letter, which Wood said was sent to Musks Bel-Air home, said the lawyer is in the process of preparing a civil complaint for libel against you.

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Musk has a reputation for going pugilistic on Twitter and investors have repeatedly asked him to cool it. The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating an Aug. 7 tweet in which Musk claimed he had funding secured to take Tesla private; it turned out that he had not.

At least one Tesla investor  Ross Gerber of Santa Monica investment firm Gerber Kawasaki  said Wednesday that hes getting tired of Musks antics.

Im pissed off, Gerber said in an email.

Musk called Unsworth pedo guy in a July tweet, after the diver criticized Musks plan to rescue the children with a miniature submarine. On Tuesday, Musk responded to a Twitter user named Drew, who goes by @yoda.

You dont think its strange he hasnt sued me? Musk tweeted back. He was offered free legal services

Did you investigate at all? Im guessing the answer is no, Musk said in a continued back-and-forth.

Attorney Wood chimed in on the same thread Wednesday, saying, @elonmusk should check his mail before tweeting.

Asked whether Musk had received Woods letter, or whether the company had anything to say about Musks habit of kicking up controversy on his Twitter account, a Tesla spokeswoman said by email, No further comment on this

On an up day for Wall Street, Tesla stock closed down 2.2%, to $305.01, on Wednesday.

russ.mitchell@latimes.com

Twitter: @russ1mitchellDuring the final holiday of the summer, a record 16.5 million people are expected to fly on U.S. airlines, a 3.5% increase over the Labor Day weekend in 2017, according to Airlines for America, the trade group for the nations air carriers.

The countrys airlines are expected to fly 2.36 million passengers a day over a seven-day holiday period, an increase of 79,000 travelers a day from the same period in 2017, according to the trade group. The carriers are expected to fly 2.76 million additional seats a day to meet the higher demand.



For the record: A previous version of this story said Airlines for America predicts 16.5 million people will fly on U.S. carriers over a four-day weekend. The forecast is for a seven-day holiday period.

Airline industry experts attribute the increase in air travel to affordable airline tickets but say the demand for travel has been increasing for several years along with the rebound of the U.S. economy and the strengthening of consumer confidence.

In the first three months of 2018, the average domestic airline ticket sold for $360, a decline of 3.7% from the same period last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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But the airline industry trade group warns that fuel prices are on the rise, which has begun pushing down the profit margins of the countrys airlines. Some airline experts have warned that such conditions may push fares up soon.

Fuel prices have increased 31.1%, with labor costs rising 5.7% in the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last year, according to Airlines for America. That has pushed profit margins for the nations airlines from an average of 11.5% in the first six months of 2017 to 7.2% in the same period this year, the group said.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled Wednesday that imports of Canadian newsprint do not threaten or materially harm the U.S. newsprint industry, a decision that reverses tariffs put in place by the Trump administration this year.

The commissions 5-0 ruling comes after the Commerce Department had put in place two sets of duties levied on producers and exporters of uncoated groundwood paper  the material on which most newspapers are printed  from Canada.

The first set of duties, levied in January, ranged from 4.42% to 9.93% of the wholesale price after a preliminary determination from the Commerce Department that suppliers had received financial assistance from the Canadian government. Two months later, another preliminary determination from the Commerce Department led to a separate round of anti-dumping duties of 22.16% for some Canadian paper producers and exporters.

After a final determination this month, the Commerce Department lowered the rates that producers and exporters of Canadian uncoated groundwood paper would pay. The anti-dumping duties were revised to 16.88% for one particular company and eliminated for all others, while the tariffs levied in January were decreased to a range of 0.82% to 9.81% of the wholesale price.

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Newspaper groups have said the duties increased newsprint costs by nearly 30% for news organizations, which were already struggling with declining ad revenue. The Tampa Bay Times eliminated 50 jobs to cope with the estimated $3.5-million additional cost the paper expected to pay annually for newsprint as a result of the tariffs.

Paul Tash, chairman and chief executive of the Tampa Bay Times/Times Publishing Co., called the commissions ruling welcome news.

Newspaper publishing is still a tough business, but this is a good day, he said. Well see now that the tariffs are removed what happens to prices.

However, he said it seems unlikely at this point that the newspaper would be able to bring back any of the jobs that were eliminated because of the tariffs, citing pronounced pressures in the retail business that have decreased advertising.

The Los Angeles Times was pleased with the ruling, as it will help us continue to serve our print readers, Los Angeles Times spokeswoman Hillary Manning said in a statement. During an earnings call in May, executives from The Times then-parent company, Tronc Inc., said they strongly opposed the tariffs, noting that newsprint was at historically extraordinarily high prices because of it.

Canadian paper mills provide about 60% of the 2.4-million-ton demand for newsprint in the U.S., according to an official from the News Media Alliance, a trade group that represents almost 2,000 news organizations. Twenty years ago, the U.S. was home to about 15 newsprint mills, but now there are only a handful left.

The Commerce Department has said imports of Canadian uncoated groundwood paper last year were valued at about $1.21 billion.

Both the International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department need to weigh in with affirmative rulings for any anti-dumping and counterveiling tariffs to go into effect. In January, the commission ruled that imported solar cells and modules did cause material harm to domestic manufacturers, leading to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

A Commerce Department spokesman said in a statement Wednesday that the commissions decision shows that the process, and its division of responsibilities is fair and transparent.

We have said from the beginning that ITC would determine if there is injury to U.S. companies  a key step in strict implementation of U.S. trade laws, the statement said. The Commerce Departments role is to determine whether dumping or improper subsidies occurred and at what rate. We did that.

A commission hearing on the issue in July lasted nine hours and included bipartisan testimony against the tariffs from more than a dozen congressional leaders, Tash said.

The commission will release a report with its opinion on the ruling to the Commerce Department in late September, and no statements on the reasoning will be released before then, a spokeswoman said.

The petitions that led to the tariffs were filed by a single paper mill: North Pacific Paper Co., a Longview, Wash., producer of uncoated groundwood paper that is owned by private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month, citing government records, that a team from One Rock met with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross about the effect of Canadian newsprint imports on the firms investment in North Pacific Paper. Canadian firms low-cost access to trees cut on public land has also long been a complaint of U.S. lumber and paper companies, the Journal reported.

North Pacific Paper Chief Executive Craig Anneberg said in a statement that the company was very disappointed in the ruling and that it will assess its options after the commissions written opinion is released.

In a statement this month after the Commerce Departments final determination, North Pacific Paper said Canadian paper producers were engaged in unfair trade practices, which harm American workers and cause material injury to our industry.

The company said in a statement in May that it was to hire 50 new employees and restart one of its paper producing machines on a limited basis to meet the expected growth in demand created by the tariffs.

But the News Media Alliance, which cheered the commissions ruling, said it has emphasized that the decline in demand for newsprint was due to a decades-long shift from print to digital platforms, not imports from Canada.

David Chavern, chief executive of the trade group, said in a statement that the group hopes the reversal of the tariffs will restore stability to the market and that publishers will see a full and quick recovery.

A price decrease could take at least a month or two to kick in, said Frank Romano, professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, who consults with newspapers and other publishers on print production.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga

UPDATES:

4:30 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with comments from the News Media Alliance trade group, Rochester Institute of Technology professor emeritus Frank Romano and Paul Tash, chairman and CEO of the Tampa Bay Times/Times Publishing Co.

This article was originally published at 12:40 p.m.President Trumps big NAFTA promise all along has been for a trade revolution that would bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States and slash the trade deficit with Mexico.

The contours of a very special and incredible deal with Mexico that Trump announced Monday remain preliminary and are subject to Congress approval. However, the deal may meet neither of Trumps main goals, industry experts and analysts say. If anything, the deal, which now needs Canada to sign on, could do the opposite. And that may come back to bite the president politically.

It will cost us jobs, was the blunt assessment offered by Mickey Kantor, who shepherded NAFTA into existence when he was then-President Clintons trade representative. Why were doing this is mainly to fulfill a political philosophy rather than create jobs.

The evaluation from Goldman Sachs economists was more polite: We do not expect the revised terms to have substantial macroeconomic effects in the U.S. if they do take effect.

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Rust Belt carnage

Trump and his advisors insist they are rewriting the quarter-century-old North American Free Trade Agreement to live up to his campaign promises to repair the economic carnage in Rust Belt states such as Michigan and Ohio that led many voters to back him.

Kevin Hassett, the head of Trumps Council of Economic Advisors, said the White Houses own modeling shows that when the new NAFTA goes into effect it will create many, many thousands of manufacturing jobs and reduce a trade deficit with Mexico that in goods was worth about $70 billion last year.

Any way an economist would model this, you end up with a big positive shock to manufacturing jobs in the U.S., he said in an interview, predicting a flood of capital spending on new plants.

The main reason to believe that, administration officials say, is the new package of auto content rules that are designed to encourage companies to locate more plants in the United States and source more parts from within North America rather than places such as China and Thailand.

The new rules would within three years raise the percentage of a car that has to be produced in North America to enjoy its duty-free benefits to 75% from the current 62.5%.

The key innovation included is a requirement that 40% to 45% of that content be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour.

Those headline numbers, however, skirt some business realities that mean the new rules would do little to change North Americas automotive supply chains. And if they do, it would take years.

Wiggle room

Although the headline 75% number is notionally an increase, it would apply to the entire car rather than a specific list of parts as it does now, potentially giving companies more wiggle room to adjust.

Auto companies would also be allowed for the first time to include research and development as well as headquarters costs to meet the new content rules.

Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research pointed out that many cars made in North America already exceed the new NAFTA content requirements and even the new high wage thresholds. Those include many popular foreign models such as the Honda Civic, with 70% of its content originating in the United States or Canada let alone Mexico.

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said 70% of Mexican auto exports to the United States already meet the new NAFTA rules, and the remaining 30% would be subject only to the existing 2.5% U.S. tariff.

The North American auto industry also still has plenty of spare capacity, Dziczek points out, with sales down from a 2016 peak. That means no one is hurrying to build new factories.

The bottom line: I dont think it shifts things a whole lot right now, she said.

Weaker demand

Critics such as Kantor, the former Clinton trade czar, argue that the new content rules would act as a disincentive to use NAFTA and build cars in North America. They also would raise the cost of cars for consumers and hurt the international competitiveness of the North American auto industry and the continents place as a potential export hub for growing markets overseas.

The complex economics of the new agreement are likely to trigger a very real political debate. For one, the politics of NAFTA have long been toxic. Trump pointed to that Monday, saying he was eager to find a new name because NAFTA has a bad connotation.

Many business leaders offered a tepid welcome to the Mexico deal and emphasized that Canada needed to be part of any final agreement. But one way administration officials have been working to preempt the politics is by trying to secure the backing of labor unions, something they believe will help draw Democratic support in Congress.

The endorsement of a labor movement that has long been skeptical of grand promises on trade is not a sure thing. In a statement Monday, labor leaders declared there is more work that needs to be done on NAFTA, and people close to the unions are still wary.

There are a lot of people who have been working very hard on the renegotiation of NAFTA, said Robert Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that draws some of its funding from labor unions. But I dont think thats going to bring jobs home in vast numbers. I just dont see it.

Midterm election

People on Capitol Hill also warn that the congressional politics remain difficult, as they have for any trade agreement since NAFTA first was ratified in 1993. If Democrats secure control of the House of Representatives in Novembers midterm elections, would the partys leaders really be ready to bring the new deal to a floor vote and give Trump a win?

Still, Robert Lighthizer, who as Trumps U.S. trade representative has been leading the negotiations, has pitched the NAFTA efforts as a way to rebalance the politics of trade and build a grand coalition to back not just NAFTA but other future trade pacts as well.

For now, that effort is on track as far as Lighthizer is concerned. Im not going to worry about the votes at this point, he told reporters Monday. But my expectation is that it will pass overwhelmingly.

Donnan writes for Bloomberg.Former Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Adrian Gonzalez, who was playing for the New York Mets earlier this year, has bought a grand estate in Hancock Park for $10.5 million.

Set on two lots totaling about an acre, the Mediterranean Revival-style home was built in 1926 for J.B. Leonis, a banker and industrial developer who founded the city of Vernon. It had remained in the Leonis family until the sale to Gonzalez, which closed last week.

The two-story mansion, which blends Palladian and Italianate design elements, was designed by architect Richard D. King.

1 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 2 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 3 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 4 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 5 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 6 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 7 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 8 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 9 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 10 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 11 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland) 12 / 12 J.B. Leonis estate in Hancock Park | Hot Property (Hilton & Hyland)

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Within the 8,500-square-foot interior are a beamed-ceiling entry hall, a paneled library with a fireplace, five bedrooms and separate staff quarters. Built as a showplace for entertaining, the home boasts a large-scale living room and dining rooms and multiple loggias set beneath groin vault ceilings.

On the basement level remains a holdover from the prohibition era: a walk-in liquor vault. Recreation and media rooms also lie on the lower floor.

Rolling lawns, specimen trees, fountains, a swimming pool and a pool house make up the grounds. A three-car garage and detached cottage sit at the rear of the property.

Brett Lawyer of Hilton & Hyland had the listing.

Gonzalez, a five-time all-star, was released by the Mets in June after appearing in 54 games for the team.

The 36-year-old first baseman began last offseason as a member of the Dodgers, with whom he spent the previous 5  years, but was traded to the Atlanta Braves in December as part of a deal that returned Matt Kemp to L.A. He was released by the Braves two days after the trade and signed by the Mets in January.

neal.leitereg@latimes.com | Twitter: @LATHotPropertyLife would be easier if everything were black and white.

This has been illustrated time and again during the #MeToo movement. Heroes are revealed to be villains. Villains are revealed to be monsters. As people continue to share their stories of abuse, it appears that an entire industry was complicit.

There are no good guys and bad guys anymore. Theres only a town full of deeply flawed people.

And then theres Asia Argento.

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The Italian director and actress was one of the New Yorkers original accusers in its expose on Harvey Weinstein and a powerful voice as #MeToo gained momentum.

But Argentos place in the movement was suddenly questioned and upended last week as accusations surfaced that she had paid $380,000 to settle a sexual assault claim made against her by Jimmy Bennett. The actor accused Argento of sexually assaulting him when he was 17, sparking questions about the validity of #MeToo and the complexities of victimhood.

If Bennetts accusations are true, doesnt that negate Argentos own claims against Weinstein?

Model Rain Dove has emerged as a voice of reason during this brewing scandal, as they were revealed on Monday to have been instrumental in turning over damning text messages from Argento to the police.

While the conflict may feel murky, Dove wrote in a statement released to The Times on Wednesday, the situation is cut and dry.

They  Dove is gender-nonconforming and prefers non-gendered pronouns  explained that Argento admitted to having sex with a minor and had no intention of being forthcoming about it. That spurred Dove into action.

All victims deserve justice. Justice can rarely exist without honesty, they wrote.

Dove advanced the conversation and tackled whether Bennetts accusations against Argento somehow invalidated Argentos own allegations against Weinstein.

I would also like to state that the case between [Weinstein] and Argento is separate from Jimmy Bennetts case and that Asia deserves the same respect in that case that Jimmy should receive in this one, they wrote.

[Argentos] choice to lie to the NYT does not mean that they are lying about [Weinstein], Dove continued. Their accounts for that case should be held separately and fairly.

It really is that simple.

It seems complicated  illogical, even  that Argento could be both a victim and an abuser. In reality, cyclical abuse has been documented for decades in children raised in abusive households.

You can be both victim and abuser. And being one doesnt invalidate the other.

Whats actually complicated is how we feel about people who fit into both categories. Its not so dissimilar to the dissonance at the heart of the debate of the art vs. artist. Can you still enjoy great art made by terrible people? Can you accept that someone has been abused and also has abused others?

Its the shades of gray that collectively confuse us. Theres a yearning for individuals to be only one thing, and its why we constantly chase the myth of the perfect victim.

All are equal, Dove wrote, and their struggles equally valid  we must remember that.

libby.hill@latimes.com

@midwestspitfireContemporary Japanese restaurant Inko Nito, which opened in the Arts District in 2017, is coming to Beverly Grove.

The second location opens Saturday on a bustling section of West 3rd Street, on the same block as Joans on Third and Son of a Gun.

The original downtown location will remain, but an Inko Nito spokesman said the new Beverly Grove space will be the flagship, with an expanded menu, lunch service and, eventually, brunch.

The Japanese-inspired concept is known for its unconventional robatayaki and shared plates. The heart of the new restaurant, which can seat 130, is a central robata grill surrounded by counter seating.

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Many of the restaurants menu items integrate ingredients cooked over the open binchotan charcoal grill, such as beef cheek with spicy Korean miso, picked daikon and butter lettuce; yellowtail collar with brown butter, ponzu and lemon; and cauliower with garlic-soy aioli and Parmesan panko.

Theres also a selection of nigaki, the restaurants interpretation of classic nigiri and maki rolls.

The beverage program is inuenced by Japanese bar culture. Guests will be able to choose from locally crafted spirits, beer, sake, wine and cocktails. A secluded bar pod will highlight hard-to-nd Japanese whiskeys.

Inko Nito was designed by local firm Studio Mai; the industrial space features exposed beams, natural wood, concrete accents and greenery. It is backed by the London-based restaurant group Zuma.

8338 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (310) 439-3076, www.inkonitorestaurant.com.

andrea.chang@latimes.com

Twitter: @byandreachang

Instagram: @byandreachangThe Los Angeles City Council voted to rename Rodeo Road as Obama Boulevard in honor of former President Obama, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in a tweet Tuesday night.

Were thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A., he said in the tweet.

City Council President Herb Wesson proposed the name change in June 2017.

Not to be confused with the upscale Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Rodeo Road is a 3.5-mile street that runs from near the Culver City border east to Mid-City.

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In his proposal, Wesson noted that Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Park on Rodeo Road when running for president and that the area already has streets named after presidents, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Its official: our City Council has voted to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard!



Were thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A. pic.twitter.com/gnVNgBgndn  Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) August 29, 2018

Also #OTD in 2008, @BarackObama became the first African-American presidential nominee from a major political party. Today our council gave final approval to our motion to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard. Proud to take this next step on a day that meant so much to so many. pic.twitter.com/fpGqikmQtD  L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson (@HerbJWesson) August 28, 2018

Its a residential strip in a predominantly African American community.

The road is also home to Dorsey High School, Baldwin Hills Elementary School and Rancho Cienega Sports Center and Park  where Obama held a campaign rally when he was running for president.

The move is not the first to honor the former president. In September, a resolution by state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge) to rename a portion of the 134 Freeway passed. Several California schools have also been named after Obama, and in the Monterey Bay town of Seaside, city leaders designated one street Obama Way.

(Los Angeles Times)

UPDATES:

6:50 a.m.: This article was updated with more details about Rodeo Road.

Originally published Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.When Andrew Gillum stepped up to accept the Democratic nomination for Florida governor, he went back to the beginning  back to his working-class roots, back to the lesson he learned at an early age from his grandmother.

She would say, Bring it home, he said. Baby, it aint just about you. ... There was a belief that if I went far in life, we would all go far in life, that if I did good, we would all do good. Well, Florida, yall know what? Weve got to bring that sense of community, collection and collectivism back to the state of Florida.

Gillums upset victory in Tuesdays primary made the 39-year-old Tallahassee mayor the first African American to win a major party nomination for Florida governor.

The win immediately set up Gillum as a national champion of the Democratic left and will almost surely turn the contest for governor in the nations largest swing state into one of the most intensely watched elections of the year  a test for the partys progressive wing and for racial politics in the Trump era.

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Gillum, a strongly liberal candidate who comes endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), now confronts Rep. Ron DeSantis, a staunchly conservative Iraq War veteran and Fox News commentator who wooed the Republican base  and the president  by presenting himself as a Trump loyalist.

Looming over the contest is the question of whether a black, left-of-center Democrat can win Florida. Within hours of the last primary votes being counted, the fraught issue of race had already taken center stage.

During the campaign, Gillum stood on a platform of Medicare for all, a $15-an-hour minimum wage, abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, standing up against the National Rifle Assn., and repealing Floridas so-called stand-your-ground law  which justifies a persons use of lethal force in certain cases.

DeSantis quickly went on the offensive, presenting his rival as a far-left socialist who would cripple the states economy and usher in an apocalyptic era of high crime.

Im trying to make Florida even better; he wants to make Florida Venezuela, DeSantis said in a postelection interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News. This guy cant even run the city of Tallahassee. Theres no way Florida voters can entrust him with our entire state.

But it was another remark Wednesday morning on Fox that generated the most attention: DeSantis warned Floridians not to monkey this up by choosing Gillum, drawing protests from Democrats, who accused him of using a racially charged phrase.

Its disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo said in a statement.

A spokesman for DeSantis said it was absurd to say the candidates comment was racial in nature.

He was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses, said the spokesman, Stephen Lawson.

Democrats, however, were not about to let the issue drop. Gillum, also doing an interview on Fox, said DeSantis was mimicking Trump.

In the handbook of Donald Trump they no longer do whistle calls  theyre now using full bullhorns, he said, adding that voters are sick of it.

Gillum has played down the significance of his skin color, emphasizing that his campaign was geared toward all voters.

Asked in a postelection interview by CNNs Don Lemon about vying to be the states first black governor, Gillum responded, Im vying to be the next governor of the state of Florida. I just so happen to be black.

Born in Richmond Heights, a blue-collar community about 15 miles southwest of downtown Miami, Gillum has made much of his origins, branding himself during the primary as the only non-millionaire in the race.

His mother, Frances, was a bus driver who pressed clothes in a dry cleaning shop in the summer. His father, Charles, was a construction worker who took on side jobs selling fruit and vegetables on a street corner.

Gillum was the first of seven siblings to graduate from high school and college; at 23, he became the youngest city commissioner in the history of Tallahassee. At 35, he was elected mayor.

Throughout the primary, the conventional wisdom was that Gillum was a longshot. Critics noted that Tallahassee has the highest crime rate in the state. Its city hall is the subject of an FBI investigation into corruption. Gillum counters that he is not the target of the inquiry and has emphasized Tallahassees progress in having the fastest-growing economy in the state per capita and its tripling of solar energy production.

Although vastly outspent by his rivals, Gillum was boosted in late June when Tom Steyer, the billionaire Democratic donor from Silicon Valley, announced that his NextGen America organization would commit $1 million to Gillums campaign. In the final week of the race, Steyer, fellow billionaire George Soros and anonymous donors offered a last-minute boost of $650,000.

Even as Gillum gained in late polls, his rivals largely attacked one another, giving him a clear path in a multi-candidate field.

Gillum was flying a campaign under the radar, said Michael McDonald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida.

Gillum ended surging ahead of four wealthy challengers, beating the more moderate establishment favorite, Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress and daughter of a former Florida governor and U.S. senator, by 34% to 31%.

Although Florida has famously been one of the countrys most evenly divided states in presidential elections, a Democrat has not won its governorship in more than 20 years. Some party strategists  and many Republicans  believe Gillum is too far to the left to break that streak.

Others, however, note that the strategy of nominating a moderate, white politician has failed repeatedly for Democrats in the state. Gillums victory in the primary showed he has an ability to inspire young and minority voters to the polls.

What you saw in Gillums win is the changing of the guard generationally in Florida, a pattern youre seeing across the country, said Susan MacManus, a political analyst and professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Florida.

While Florida is often seen as a state of aging retirees, MacManus noted that about half of Floridas current registered voters are in the three youngest generations  Gen Xers, millennials and now Generation Z. Among Florida Democrats, the majority of registered voters are nonwhite.

Gillums victory echoes what happened next door in Georgia in May, when Stacey Abrams became the first black female candidate to win the Democratic nomination for governor. Yet, unlike Georgia, which is a predominantly black-white state, Floridas minority composition is far more diverse, with greater numbers of Latino, Asian and Caribbean blacks, as well as African American voters.

He kind of fits an Obama mold, McDonald said of Gillum. Obama hit the stage as a relatively unknown candidate, but was able to excite the progressive side of the Democratic Party. Thats what the mold is for him.

While much has been made of his endorsement from Sanders, Gillum has pitched himself as someone who can unite all wings of the Democratic Party. He is quick to note he was a committed supporter of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

Our candidacy has the ability to bring together the Hillary wing, the Barack Obama wing, the Bernie Sanders wing, he told Lemon on CNN.

Honestly, if were going to win in November, we have to have a candidate that can bring those folks together and [bring] some disaffected Republicans right along with us. But the way were going to do it is not by capitulating and shrinking from what we believe, but by giving our voters a reason to go out and vote for something.

jenny.jarvie@latimes.com

@jennyjarvie

UPDATES:

3:05 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment by DeSantis spokesman and a further comment by Gillum.

This article was originally published at 12:30 p.m.All through the Catholic Church molestation scandals that rocked Los Angeles and Orange Counties, I checked in regularly with an ex-priest named Richard Sipe.

From his home in La Jolla, Sipe would offer me scholarly breakdowns on what was happening in California and the rest of the world  on how an institution whose cross stands as a moral compass could harm children, scar them for life and dismiss their suffering in the interest of self-preservation.

Sipe would throw a light on that dark culture of hypocrisy, abuse and cover-ups, and tell me it extended all the way to Rome. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles run by Cardinal Roger Mahony was one of the worst examples of the churchs failings, in his opinion.

Mahony has no conscience, Sipe told me in 2013, just after the release of church records that documented efforts by Mahony and a top advisor to conceal molesting priests from police. Sipe decried Mahonys self-serving spin on years of misdeeds that had resulted in a $660-million settlement involving more than 500 cases of abuse.

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A Vatican official alleges Pope Francis, above, and his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI of covering up sex abuse by U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. ( / Associated Press)

Even when scandals were splashed onto the pages of newspapers in Los Angeles, Boston and elsewhere  and church leaders were shamed into adopting reforms on the reporting of suspected abusers  Sipe did not rest.

He warned that the sins of the church were deeply ingrained, and that the culture of corruption had not changed.

Bishops are not accountable, he said in 2008. They can  and do  what they want.

Sipe was not out to destroy the church over its malevolent hypocrisy, but rather to save it from its own worst instincts, to preserve what was honorable about the institution and the service of good priests, and to prevent the abuse of more children.

Whether ignored or vindicated, Sipe kept burning candles, fighting for transparency and true reform until his death, at 85, earlier this month at his home in La Jolla. Before and after he died, the news was filled with more evidence of the moral failings he had chronicled.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, formerly archbishop of Washington, D.C., was removed from public ministry by Pope Francis amidst allegations that include sexual contact with seminarians and the fondling of an altar boy.

Sipe had warned the church about McCarrick for years, detailing allegations on his website, to no avail.

In Pennsylvania, a grand jury released findings of an investigation into abuses of more than 1,000 children by 301 predator priests. The report outlined the church playbook for concealing the truth. One of those implicated was Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who transferred an accused molester to parishes in California. Wuerl later replaced McCarrick as archbishop in Washington.

Sipe had warned the church about Wuerl in 2016, to no avail.

And now, in the midst of abuse scandals in the U.S., Chile and Australia, a Vatican official alleged Pope Francis and his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI knew about but did not act on allegations against McCarrick.

Its as if, in Sipes death, the churchs penance is the validation of his lifes work.

He would be in the middle of this, Sipes wife, Dr. Marianne Benkert Sipe, told me this week. Its all there in his early writings.

Sipe was ordained in 1959 and soon became aware of priests who had relationships with adults and children. Later, he worked at a Baltimore psychiatric institute where abusive priests were sent for treatment and evaluation, and he began documenting their stories. With the help of his future wife, a psychiatrist at the institute, he published a 1990 book called, A Secret World: Sexuality and the Search for Celibacy.

Sipe, an expert witness in hundreds of clergy abuse cases, argued that celibacy and abuse were connected. Were sexual creatures, he said, so celibacy is an unnatural expectation, and sex and sexual abuse are rampant among priests.

Those who abuse minors, he explained, have a convenient racket going. Peers may keep quiet because theyre predators too, and even if the abuse is reported to superiors, theyve got reasons to maintain the code of silence. Maybe they dont want to damage the image of the church. Or maybe they have their own sins to hide.

So pedophiles remain in ministry, or theyre shuffled to another parish, or to Mexico. Often, theres no attempt to explain whats happening to parishioners, to call the police or to do the most basic, caring, human thing  to offer an apology, comfort and support to victims.

Every time Richard wrote, and every time he spoke to an investigator or a journalist, he would say this goes to the highest realms of the Vatican, said Patrick Wall, a friend and colleague of Sipes who is also a former priest and is a canon lawyer.

Sipe is one of the heroes in the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight, when his character, played by Richard Jenkins, delivers a bombshell to investigative reporters from the Boston Globe. Based on his years of research, he tells them, celibacy is a lie, and as many as 50% of priests are sexually active and 6% are molesters.

The team quickly does the math. With 1,500 priests in Boston, if Sipe was right, that meant 90 potential molesters. If anything, Sipes estimate was low.

Richard Sipe was our guide, our teacher, our chief cheerleader, Globe correspondent Michael Rezendes wrote in an appreciation of the ex-priests insights.

Phil Saviano, one of the victims in Boston and another character in Spotlight, said he first understood that abuse was widespread by reading Sipes Secret World. Sipe, he said, became a heroic figure to him, and later a friend.

The priesthood was a great place for pedophiles, said Saviano. You get assigned to a parish and from the first day of your assignment you have immediate respectability because youre wearing the collar and you were sent by the bishop. And supposedly, because youre celibate, youre sexually safe. And then you have access to all these kids, these altar boys, these Girl Scout troops that meet in the church basement.

Sipes wife said three ways forward for the church are for priests to be allowed to marry, for women to be ordained as priests, and for bishops to break the code of silence and report abuse.

Saviano said the church wont change until parishioners stop donating on Sunday and more prosecutors do what the attorney generals office just did in Pennsylvania. Despite only two indictments so far, outrage over the revelations has led to calls for extending the statute of limitations so molesters and those who cover for them can face civil or criminal charges.

In California, local and federal investigations did not lead to charges against Mahony and his top minions, to the dismay of many. Prosecutors argued that the statute of limitations made it difficult to prosecute.

Lawyer Anthony DeMarco, who represented about 400 plaintiffs in the $660-million settlement with the L.A. archdiocese, said victims were thirsting for a grand jury crackdown that never happened, despite strong evidence of abuse and cover-ups.

Wall, the ex-priest and Sipes colleague, is one of several church reform activists hoping California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra follows the Pennsylvania model.

If a grand jury report ever happened in California, said Wall, it would show you the road map and it would show you the ultimate cover-up that leads all the way to the Holy See.

In a letter he wrote to San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy two years ago this week, Sipe listed misdeeds he knew of that involved numerous high-ranking archbishops, bishops and monsignors. He laid out the systemic dynamic  that fosters sexual violations.

In the case of Mahony, Sipe detailed extreme defense tactics  the hiring of several law firms and a crisis management company used by Enron and the tobacco industry.

Sooner or later it will become broadly obvious that there is a systemic connection between the sexual activity by, among and between clerics  and the abuse of children, Sipe wrote to McElroy, whose diocese settled 144 cases for nearly $200 million in 2007.

Sipe appealed to McElroy for pastoral attention to victims of abuse, including those who attempted to take their own lives.

Only a bishop can minister to these wounds, Sipe wrote. Enclosed you will find a list of all the bishops who have been found wanting in their duties to the people of God.

Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopezRep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and his wife Margaret were charged a week ago on 60 counts in a federal indictment alleging they improperly spent some $250,000 in campaign contributions on lavish vacations, meals and personal items.

Hunter insists the corruption charges are politically motivated and meant to undermine his reelection campaign  and now is urging the media to leave his wife out of the matter.

On Thursday, Hunter said of his wife to a Fox News reporter: She handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress .... She was also the campaign manager. Whatever she did, thatll be looked at too, Im sure, but I didnt do it. He added, I didnt spend any money illegally.

But on Tuesday, after Hunters apparent attempt to blame his wife became an internet meme, he told KGTV News in San Diego: Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it. Its me theyre after, anyway. Theyre not after my wife; they want to take me down, thats what theyre up to. So lets get this in the arena and have this settled.

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Both Hunter and his wife pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court last week, but in an appearance with Fox News Martha MacCallum, the five-term congressman said his campaign made mistakes and that his wife had power of attorney and oversaw family expenses as well as campaign funds.

You also said yesterday that your wife handled a lot of the family expenses and campaign finances, so are you saying that its more her fault than your fault? MacCallum asked Hunter.

Thats when Hunter explained that his wife handled his finances while he was in the military and later in Congress.

Gomez writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.San Francisco police say they have found human remains in a fish tank inside the home of a man who was reported missing weeks ago.

Police Cmdr. Greg McEachern said Tuesday that investigators discovered the remains Aug. 17 and are awaiting the results of an autopsy and identification of the body.

McEachern said the body was found in the home of 65-year-old Brian Egg, who was reported missing in late July. He said officers visited and left Eggs home three times in early August without making contact with anyone.

Neighbors called police Aug. 14 when they spotted a private crime-scene cleaning company and a stranger outside Eggs home. Responding officers reported a strong decaying odor and cleaning supplies inside.

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Scott Free, one of Eggs neighbors, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he called police after two strangers answered Eggs door.

Its horrifying, Free said. A dead body was in the house this entire time.

McEachern said Lance Silva, 39, and 52 year-old Robert McCaffrey, were arrested Aug. 16 on suspicion of homicide, fraud, theft, identity theft and elder abuse.

McCaffrey was released from jail after the San Francisco district attorneys office said it required more evidence to charge the men, including cause of death and the identity of the body found.

Silva remains in custody for a probation violation.

UPDATES:

8:20 p.m.: This article was updated with information about possible suspects.

This article was originally published at 4:15 p.m.It was during a broiling heat wave in September when the La Tuna fire erupted and sent firefighters and police officers scrambling to warn residents as flames swept through the Verdugo Mountains.

Three months later, the Creek fire sent residents in Sylmar and Little Tujunga Canyon fleeing for their lives after the blaze jumped the 210 Freeway. In this case, however, emergency crews warned residents of the fast-moving threat by tapping into the citys underused NotifyLA emergency alert system.

On Tuesday, City Controller Ron Galperin issued a report saying firefighters erred by failing to use the alert system during the La Tuna fire.

In light of the systems inconsistent use, Galperins report suggests that the city codify a set of standard operating procedures for the NotifyLA system, including a description of events that would trigger its use.

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The recommendations would effectively limit the discretion of incident commanders who may be reluctant to issue alerts beyond official tweets and emails. It would also address instances in which commanders are not in touch with the citys Emergency Management Department.

The Emergency Management Department  and our police and fire departments  work around the clock to keep Los Angeles safe. But we are collectively falling short on providing an emergency notification system that should be more widely disseminated and accessible to more Angelenos, Galperin said. The city can do better and I am confident that working together, we can improve.

The report calls for the citys police and fire departments to use NotifyLA in large-scale emergencies so the public knows where to find vital information, and isnt left guessing.

NotifyLA is similar to many other subscriber-based community messaging systems that cover parts of California and the nation. It uses third-party software to make reverse 911 phone calls or contact individuals by cellphone or email. It can also send out information through social media.

Currently, less than 5% of the city is enrolled in the program, Galperin said.

The system, however, has the potential to reach many more people because it can use the federal Wireless Emergency Alert system, which transmits Amber Alert-style messages through cellphone towers to all phones in a designated area, officials said.

Historically, municipalities have hesitated to use these alerts because they reach more phones than officials intend to reach, and because the messages have to be short. Officials also worry that people may eventually ignore the alerts if they are used too often.

Officials in Sonoma County, for example, cited these concerns when they failed to use the alerts during the wine country fires last year. Dozens of people were killed in those fires. Leaders in Santa Barbara County were equally concerned about using the alerts before mudslides buried Montecito in January. Those slides left 21 people dead.

But Galperin pointed to the Thomas fire in December, when Santa Barbara County issued 13 Wireless Emergency Alerts notifying residents about evacuations amid the blaze and no one died in their home.

In light of those experiences, city officials said theyd rather err on the side of caution and provide more information to the public than less. A standardized approach to what kinds of situations trigger an emergency alert would eliminate messaging fatigue among members of the public, said Aram Sahakian, general manager for the city Emergency Management Department.

Its a sensitive situation. You pull the trigger too early, it could backfire; you pull the trigger too late, it could backfire, he said. We would rather be cautious. Its not trigger happy. Were saving lives.

The report also recommends that NotifyLA be expanded to include more languages. Currently, information is provided almost exclusively in English. Fewer than a quarter of the messages sent out in 2014 were in Spanish.

The city should consider using up to 13 languages in future emergency alerts, the report stated. The recommendations eventually will have to be approved by the City Council so they can be mandated.

On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a statement applauding the controllers report.

Mayor Garcetti is grateful for the thoughtful recommendations in Controller Galperins report, wrote Alex Comisar. The department is already putting in place many of the upgrades highlighted in the audit, and is working to make use of the system more consistent. But because preparedness begins at home, we urge every Angeleno to make certain they can get the most up-to-date, accurate information in case of emergency  and it takes just a few seconds to sign up at emergency.lacity.org/notifyla.

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.A 3.7-mile stretch of road in the heart of Los Angeles Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw neighborhood is getting a new name in honor of the countrys first African American president, and local leaders say the symbolism is important.

Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles), who represents the area, said she loved that former President Obama would have a permanent presence there.

Its the merging of a historic president [and] street with an iconic black community, she said.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to rename Rodeo Road, a main east-west artery in the city, as Obama Boulevard.

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The newly minted thoroughfare runs from Jefferson Boulevard near Ballona Creek, at the edge of the citys boundary with Culver City, to Gramercy Place, just short of Exposition Boulevard.

Obama Boulevard will slice through a mix of residential streets and strip malls at the northern border of Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park and will pass by Dorsey High School, Baldwin Hills Elementary School and the Rancho Cienega Recreation Center.

In 2007, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama held a rally at the Rancho Cienega rec center near the beginning of his historic presidential campaign.

(Los Angeles Times)

City Council President Herb Wesson first proposed the streets name change in June 2017, citing Obamas rally there as reason for the change. The area already has streets named after presidents, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Were thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A., Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote in a tweet Tuesday night.

Sen. Barack Obama made his first visit to Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2007, as a presidential candidate, speaking to supporters at Rancho Cienega Recreation Center. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The change was announced on the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s 1963 I Have a Dream speech as well as the anniversary of Obamas acceptance of the Democratic Partys nomination for president in 2008.

The park where Obama held his 2007 rally will now be at the intersection of streets named after the two men.

I look forward to standing at the intersection of MLK Boulevard (formerly Santa Barbara Boulevard) and the newly minted Barack Obama Boulevard and raising my fist in cultural pride, state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement.

Also #OTD in 2008, @BarackObama became the first African-American presidential nominee from a major political party. Today our council gave final approval to our motion to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard. Proud to take this next step on a day that meant so much to so many. pic.twitter.com/fpGqikmQtD  L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson (@HerbJWesson) August 28, 2018

Obama Boulevard is set to be unveiled on Presidents Day 2019, said Vanessa Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Wesson. Wessons office has had preliminary talks with the former presidents and first ladys offices about having them attend the unveiling, she said.

The City of Angels would be honored to again host the President and First Lady, she said in an email.

The move is not the first to honor the former president in Southern California. In September, a resolution by state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge) to rename a portion of the 134 Freeway passed. Several California schools also have been named after Obama, and in the Monterey Bay town of Seaside, city leaders designated one street Obama Way.

The name change sparked some debate in 2017, with some residents saying that Obama deserved to have his name on a more prominent street in Los Angeles. But Wesson defended the choice of Rodeo Road.

People wanted a longer street, but what I have said to the people, its not about the length of the street, its about the significance of the street, it is about what happened on that street, Wesson said at a council meeting in 2017.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

javier.panzar@latimes.com

UPDATES:

3:30 p.m.: This post was updated with details on the boulevards unveiling.

This article was originally published at 1:40 p.m.The diverse group charged with selecting USCs next president includes a former Goldman Sachs executive, a prominent social worker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and the founding CEO of the nations largest health benefits company.

Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer leading the search committee, said Tuesday that the 23 faculty members and trustees on the panel reflect a broad spectrum of views but have the singular goal of choosing a leader who can guide the university out of a series of damaging scandals.

The committee includes Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and a tenured professor; Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a real estate developer who has prominently supported President Trump; David Bohnett, a tech entrepreneur and philanthropist; and Elizabeth M. Daley, the dean of USCs School of Cinematic Arts and the longest-tenured dean at the university.

The committees task is to sift through candidates and identify the successor to Dr. C.L. Max Nikias, who resigned this summer after revelations by The Times of sexual misconduct allegations against the longtime campus health center gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall. The newspapers reporting catalyzed a wave of public criticism of Nikias leadership and triggered mounting litigation against USC.

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This is a monumental moment for the future of our university and we commit to this undertaking with the utmost faith, trust and confidence, Caruso said in a letter that named the committee and outlined the search process. He said the group would use as much time as needed to pick a president.

Dr. Wanda Austin, the former chief executive of the Aerospace Corp. and a USC alumna, was named interim president this month and serves on the search committee.

The sprawling private university has about 45,000 students, tens of thousands of employees, a vast healthcare enterprise in partnership with Los Angeles County and an annual budget that approaches $5 billion. The president posts unique challenges are compounded by the revelations about Tyndall, who has been accused of sexually harassing and abusing scores of young women during their gynecological exams over a career that spanned nearly three decades.

Hundreds of women came forward after The Times documented the record of complaints about Tyndall and recounted in graphic detail their experiences on his exam table. Tyndall, 71, has denied wrongdoing, but L.A. County prosecutors are evaluating dozens of cases for possible criminal charges.

Caruso, who took over as chairman of the Board of Trustees in May, said in Tuesdays letter that the process of replacing Nikias will include multiple chances for the community to participate. The search committee has launched a website to provide updates, collect nominations of prospective candidates and gather feedback via an online questionnaire.

The committee will also hold forums on campus for students, alumni, faculty and staff.

There are listening sessions where you can directly share your views and recommendations, Caruso said of the forums.

Although several alumni sit on the committee, none of the members is a student now  a move that current and former students criticized.

After numerous scandals that sacrificed student safety, you choose not to include a student voice on the presidential search committee, said Rini Sampath, a former student body president, on Twitter. This is a grave mistake.

William Tierney, a USC professor who studies governance in higher education, praised how Caruso assembled the search committee and communicated the groups work.

He has listened, and hes a good listener, Tierney said. There will always be nitpicking. No search committee is perfect. Some will say the staff are not on the committee. Some will say a student is not on the committee. But this isnt the United Nations. This is a committee that would pass muster at any major university.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjournoDr. George Tyndall, the USC gynecologist accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of students, has given up his medical license temporarily as he confronts a police investigation and a barrage of lawsuits.

The physician reached an agreement this week with the Medical Board of California that prohibits him from practicing medicine until the board makes a final decision on the status of his license.

State investigators for the board have been examining Tyndalls treatment of young women at USCs student health clinic since May when The Times revealed the physicians troubled tenure at the university. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The medical board informed Tyndall, 71, this month that they planned to seek the suspension of his license, according to a board filing Monday. Tyndall decided to forgo a hearing and accept the suspension, according to the filing.

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The physician, who treated tens of thousands of women over three decades at USC, has said he never mistreated a patient and that his exams were medically legitimate.

FULL COVERAGE: USC former gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior 

The attorney representing him before the medical board, Peter Osinoff, did not immediately return a request for comment. Osinoff previously represented former USC medical school dean Carmen Puliafito, who was stripped of his medical license after The Times exposed his drug use.

Under the interim suspension, Tyndall cannot see patients, hold himself out as a doctor or prescribe medicine. He is also required to surrender to the board his wall certificates and his prescription pad.

Tyndall is not known to have practiced medicine since leaving USC last year. His criminal defense attorney told The Times last month that the gynecologist did not plan to resume his medical career while under investigation.

He is devoting all his time to defending himself against all of the accusations against him, attorney Leonard Levine said.

The Los Angeles Police Department has mounted an investigation of Tyndall with a team of more than a dozen elite detectives traveling the country to interview former patients.

The LAPD is working with the lead sex crimes prosecutor at the Los Angeles County district attorneys office and recently turned over close to 30 cases for possible prosecution.

More than 340 women have filed civil suits against Tyndall and USC alleging the doctor sexually abused them and the university failed to protect them. USC has signaled that it wants to settle the suits quickly and as a group.

Tyndall was the sole gynecologist at the campus clinic for 27 years. For much of that time, there were complaints from patients and clinic colleagues about creepy conduct. He was accused of taking improper photos of unclothed students, touching them inappropriately during pelvic exams and making lewd comments about their bodies and sex lives.

USC allowed Tyndall to continue to practice until 2016 when a nurse reported him to the rape crisis center. A university investigation concluded that Tyndalls pelvic exams and suggestive remarks constituted sexual harassment. Administrators allowed him to resign last year with a financial payout.

They did not report him to the medical board until earlier this year, after The Times had started approaching current and former employees about Tyndall. USC has said that in hindsight they should have reported him earlier.

The universitys response created outrage among faculty and students, and earlier this month USC president C.L. Max Nikias resigned. A search for his replacement is under way.

harriet.ryan@latimes.com

@latimesharrietGood morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Wednesday, Aug. 29, and heres whats happening across California:

TOP STORIES

Gov. Jerry Brown has championed legislation and ballot measures downgrading drug crimes, expanding chances of early release for prisoners and easing punishment for juvenile offenders. On Tuesday, he ushered in one of the most sweeping criminal justice reforms of his administration, signing a bill abolishing the states current money bail system, and replacing it with one that grants judges greater power to decide who should remain incarcerated ahead of trial. Los Angeles Times

 Bail reform could destroy a storied but controversial industry. Sacramento Business Journal

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 Why the most die-hard advocates of criminal justice reform arent happy with Californias action. Mother Jones

Cleaning up

California would set some of the nations strongest clean energy goals under legislation that cleared a key vote in the Assembly on Tuesday, bringing the state a step closer to ending its reliance on fossil fuels by phasing out their use to generate electricity. The bill would require California to obtain 100% of its power from renewable sources by 2045. Lawmakers supporting the bill said it was important that the state continue its pioneering efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Los Angeles Times

Labor moves

The union once led by Cesar Chavez has handed over its top post to a Mexican immigrant: Teresa Romero. The departure of Chavez son-in-law, Arturo Rodriguez, marks several firsts for the United Farm Workers Union  a woman, an immigrant and the first person outside the family to head the union. Los Angeles Times

 Trumps latest trade deal with Mexico could bring some needed good news for California farmers. Sacramento Bee

-- In California, the gig economy is a pretty hard life. CNBC

Get the Essential California newsletter 

Norm Langer, left, with his father, Al, in front of Langers Deli in 1997. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. STORIES

Legendary location: The home of Langers Deli, the Los Angeles pastrami institution that has occupied the southeast corner of Alvarado and 7th streets since 1947, is up for sale. Los Angeles Times

Shifting gears: A new direction for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation  and millions in new funding  will make their presence felt in Los Angeles schools. Los Angeles Times

Cliffhanger: How one couple bought a Pacific Palisades lot cheap, not sure whether the land could support a house. It worked out well for them. New York Times

Small world: After Pixar Fest, what does Disneyland have planned as a follow up? Orange County Register

Big rollout: Randys Donuts in Inglewood is one of L.A.s most famous food landmarks. Now its expanding across Southern California. Can it work? Daily Breeze

Shaky ground: Parts of Southern California were rattled by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake Tuesday night that was centered near La Verne but felt over a wide area. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Freed: A Long Beach resident who was held as political prisoner in Cambodia has been released. Los Angeles Times

Sigh: The side of the white ice cream truck in north Long Beach advertised various frozen treats that ranged from ice cream sandwiches to Popsicles shaped like Spider-Man and SpongeBob SquarePants, but police allege meth was also on the menu. Los Angeles Times

On the case: How to investigate a wildfire? Wired

Ouch: A bow hunter is recovering after authorities say he was severely mauled by a black bear that he had wounded with an arrow in the Banning Canyon area of Riverside County. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Its official: The Anaheim City Council voted Tuesday to end agreements that offer the Disneyland Resort tax breaks for investing in its theme parks and an adjacent shopping district, a move requested by theme-park owner Walt Disney Co. Los Angeles Times

Backlash: A GOP candidates decision to post a photo of himself in front of the Muslim Community of Folsom has sparked debate. Sacramento Bee

New normal: The school where more than 150 students lost their homes in the Santa Rosa fires. Press Democrat

About time: The battered 60 Freeway in the Inland Empire is up for a major upgrade. Press-Enterprise

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Not so fast: Jeff Robinovs Studio 8 launched four years ago with everything a Hollywood player could want: $1 billion in financing, the support of a major studio, and a partnership with a deep-pocketed Chinese conglomerate. It has been a humbling journey for a company that, as its name suggests, aimed to rival the seven biggest U.S. studios. Los Angeles Times

Eye on the future: A new breed of helicopter being made in Silicon Valley could eventually be that flying car. San Francisco Chronicle

True original: I obviously like stuff that can be a little bit more macabre, a little bit darker. He pauses in front of a skeleton holding marionette strings connected to two smaller skeletons in baby bonnets. But I do like it when things are dark with a humorous twist. Inside a hot L.A. gallery that is also a haunted house of sorts. Los Angeles Times

A vestige of a previous era: HBO has dropped its erotic films and documentary series from its channels and streaming service. It means racy reality shows such as Taxicab Confessions, the documentary series Real Sex and Cathouse, which chronicled life in a Nevada brothel, and specials featuring adult film star Katie Morgan, are no longer available to HBO subscribers. Los Angeles Times

Vow of poverty? Outrage after a San Jose bishop gets a $2.3-million home. Mercury News

Fresh: Rotten Tomatoes is trying to diversify its critic ranks. New York Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: mostly sunny, 84, Wednesday; partly cloudy, 86, Thursday. San Diego: partly cloudy, 81, Wednesday; partly cloudy, 82, Thursday. San Francisco area: partly cloudy, 69, Wednesday; partly cloudy, 66, Thursday. San Jose: partly cloudy, 78, Wednesday; mostly sunny, 76, Thursday. Sacramento: sunny, 80, Wednesday; partly cloudy, 82, Thursday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Todays California memory comes from Pamela Hinchcliffe:

When I arrived in San Francisco 50 years ago, I traveled to the Eastern Sierra with my daughters. As I drove down Highway 395 from Mono Lake, the snow of Mt. Whitney was floating down on us in 70-degree weather. We were definitely not at the Jersey Shore anymore. What an amazing state.

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.President Trump fired off an angry Twitter broadside against Google before the sun rose Tuesday, accusing the search company of skewing its results in favor of fake news outlets at the expense of conservative ones. Relying on reporting from the right-of-center PJ Media site, Trump asserted that Google had rigged its search results to shut out stories about him from conservative and fair media outlets.

He went on to broaden his accusation: Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!

Not long thereafter, Larry Kudlow, Trumps top economic advisor, told reporters that were taking a look at it.

It doesnt take much of a look to recognize whats going on here. Famously thin-skinned, Trump doesnt like the barrage of criticism hes getting online, much of delivered in the form of news and opinion pieces from the countrys mainstream media. So in addition to trying to discredit those outlets as fake news, hes now trying to sow distrust in the search engine that leads people to them  and, worse yet, threatening to take action against them.

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In addition to trying to discredit those outlets as fake news, hes now trying to sow distrust in the search engine that leads people to them.

Yet Trump has company on this issue. Its become an article of faith in some conservative circles that tech companies are warping their products and services to discriminate against conservatives. Among other pieces of evidence, these critics point to incidents on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter that, they argue, show companies disproportionately downgrading or blocking content from conservatives. For example, they allege that Twitter tweaked its search function to make it harder to find some conservatives feeds  an allegation thats been convincingly debunked by multiple analysts.

For its part, Google insists that its only goal is to deliver relevant search results, and that its engineers never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment. The company wont say exactly how its continually updated search technology does work, however  thats a closely guarded trade secret.

Still, theres an easy way to judge whether Google has, in fact, cleverly rigged its search engine to elevate bad news about the president over the hosannas of a grateful nation. Search for Trump news on another site  Microsofts Bing, say, or DuckDuckGo  and compare the results with Googles. There will be differences on the margins, but the thrust will be the same. Most of the results will come from mainstream news outlets with large audiences.

Users have to dig a little deeper to unearth links to smaller or more specialized sites. But will they bother? Thats one of the things that critics of the tech platforms assert: The vast majority of internet users rely on the shortcuts that these platforms provide, and wont bother to hunt for the stories and tweets  conservative, liberal or otherwise  that dont get promoted.

Research bears that out, at least for Google, where 95% of users dont look past the first page of links. Dont blame Google for that. If anything, its a sign of a worrisome lack of curiosity among internet users and an apparent disinterest in diverse information sources.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion 

Even if Google were making conservative outlets harder to find, that would be within its right as a private company. Like liberals, libertarians and know-nothings, conservatives are not a protected class. If Google did put a leftist spin on its search results, however, it would be doing its users a disservice and inviting competition from search engines promising unfiltered or even right-leaning results.

Admittedly, Googles search algorithm doesnt rank sites purely on the basis of popularity and authenticity. European regulators fined the company more than $2.8 billion last year for favoring its own shopping service over competing comparison-shopping sites. But the company doesnt claim to be neutral  it claims to offer results that are relevant, which tells users that its doing some kind of filtering.

Some conservatives are calling on the government to use antitrust law against Google and other tech giants that dominate their markets. But Trump seems to be calling for something different: Using the power of government to change how Googles technology works. Such a big-government solution, turning Washington into a manipulator of search results, would be worse than the supposed problem it purports to solve. The president should stop Googling himself and pay more attention to the duties of his office.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookCalifornia now has an official state sport: surfing. Are you excited yet?

Hanging ten joins 30-plus state emblems, including our official bird (quail) and our official pattern (tartan, of all things).

Theyre all nice gestures; politicians are trying, in their small way, to create a shared heritage for such a vast state. But most designations have little day-to-day significance for Californians  when was the last time you had any use for our official state lichen? And who has time to surf?

If Sacramento wants anyone to care about an official state designation, if it wants that designation to be meaningful, it should pick an official state cuisine. And the choice should be Cal-Mex.

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Im not talking about Mexican food, which (contrary to what Tucker Carlson asserts) belongs to Mexico. Im talking about its manifestation in California, where a unique food culture rose up over the past 170 years to influence all of Americas eating habits and keep us full and hungry.

Fans of other cuisines will complain that Cal-Mex isnt worthy to represent the whole state, but theyre all pretenders to the throne.

Heres just a small combo plate of our accomplishments: San Francisco gave America the Mission burrito, that foil-wrapped brick of meat, beans and rice made famous by Chipotle. San Diego offered the French-fry-stuffed California burrito, which is slowly spreading across college towns because its the ultimate undergrad grub. Downey threw in Taco Bell  hate their food all you want, but the company served up the first taste of tacos for millions, and set the table for better things to come.

East L.A. gifted America the taco truck; Orange County, Korean tacos. Right now, Mexican American cooks like Wes Avila of Guerrilla Tacos and Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria are teaching Americans that classical kitchen techniques work just fine with Mexican food. Even Encino made its contribution: It was the home of the first El Torito, which taught America how to love margaritas. And lets not forget the Hass avocado, the fruit that launched a thousand guacamole bowls and hipster toasts.

We need an official state cuisine now because food culture is more popular than ever. Nearly everyone under 40 whips out their smartphones to Instagram the meal in front of them. The stories of the men and women who cook our meals are getting told online, in podcasts and on television. People are newly obsessed with how we eat in the Golden State, from high-end dinners to the tamale lady.

Declaring Cal-Mex our official state cuisine will not only attract culinary tourism, but also also inspire Californians to explore their state one living, delicious bite of history at a time. You must visit different regions to grasp the nature of our foodways. Swing through the Central Valley and order steak ranchero, the regions favorite Cal-Mex entree. Go visit Mi Ranchito in Stockton and feast on huge combo plates with a side of chicanas, an appetizer of sauteed steak and vegetables found only in Northern California. Get a Parmesan-cheese-spiked taco from Jimboys, a chain that started in Lake Tahoe thats now spreading across Southern California and isnt half bad.

Drop into Yermo and try to guess the location of the first Del Taco, or make a trek to the original El Cholo on Western Avenue, which is going to celebrate its 95th anniversary this fall and is the third-oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in the United States (after Leruas and El Charro Cafe in Tucson).

Cal-Mex also deserves an official designation because its long been disrespected. Food writers and historians have mocked our bolder contributions  pastrami burritos, Mexican teriyaki bowls, Doritos (invented at Disneyland) and Flamin Hot Cheetos (created in Rancho Cucamonga by Richard Montanez, a Mexican American janitor whos now a PepsiCo executive)  as a mongrelization of authentic Mexican food.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion 

Even now, a lot of food lovers ignore Cal-Mex and would rather obsess about regional Mexican food that has come to California over the past generation  Oaxacan moles, Sinaloan seafood, Mexico City sandwiches. Those newcomers are great, but would have never drawn a crowd without dishes like chile verde, tamale pie, and hard-shell tacos to prepare Americans appetites.

Fans of other cuisines will complain that Cal-Mex isnt worthy to represent the whole state, but theyre all pretenders to the throne. Wine country food is too frou-frou; fast-food culture, too soulless. The California cuisine pioneered by Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck and others was important, because it taught urban and suburban diners that the best food is the freshest, healthiest and most local, and that fusion food can be fun. But lets be honest: All they did was ape the farmers and immigrants whove eaten like that for generations, but never got book deals out of it.

We might worship differently, be registered to different parties, and not even speak the same language. But we all eventually eat Cal-Mex. Its the state at its finest: always innovative, partly Mexican, and forever sabroso.

OK, Sacramento: Who there will call me so we can work on a bill? Taquitos at Cielito Lindo are on me  if the FPPC allows it, of course!

mexicanwithglasses@gmail.com

Follow @GustavoArellano on Twitter

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or FacebookIn the immigration courts that Americans saw in news stories this summer, children were appearing alone at bewildering legal proceedings. But the nations immigration courts  about 350 judges with monumental caseloads  handle all manner of immigration matters, including asylum cases and deportations. Their union has filed a labor grievance against its boss, the Justice Department, over a judge removed from his cases after he questioned whether the governments come to court notices were actually correct and reaching the people facing deportation.

Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, speaking as president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, explains the groups rare step in making a labor grievance public. The unusual role and status of the nations immigration courts just got a lot more unusual.

Click here for the full archive of "Patt Morrison Asks" podcasts 

You are judges, but you are not part of the judiciary branch of the U.S. government. You work for the Department of Justice, in the executive branch.

That's probably one of the most misunderstood parts of our court system. Our immigration court system is situated within the Department of Justice, and we are all ultimately accountable to the U.S. attorney general, who appointed us to this position as an immigration judge.

And this is frankly where the fundamental flaw of the whole system is born out of: The fact that on a daily basis, our duties and responsibilities are to be a judge. When I go to court, I'm wearing a robe. I'm sitting behind the bench. I have two parties before me. One is always the government and the other one is the individual that the government is seeking to remove from the United States. I hear both sides of the case. I am bound by my oath of office and by law to be an impartial decision maker, and to limit my decision based on the facts and the law of the case.

But because I'm an immigration judge who has been appointed to the position by the attorney general, I'm treated as a regular federal government attorney within the prosecutorial branch of the government. And as such, we run into all the issues that we've had to deal with from the birth of this court, but which have become much more pronounced in the recent past, with the approach of the [Justice] Department to the court as an essentially prosecutorial tool rather than an immigration court independent from the immigration law enforcement policies of the executive branch.

And that's the genesis of your grievance. Because you are a labor organization of employees within the Department of Justice, you filed a formal grievance against your employer, the Department of Justice. What is that grievance?

I think it's definitely a head-scratcher that I can relate to, for most people to imagine that: Why would judges need a labor union? It just seems incongruent and I can completely understand that.

But that's where the problem comes from, which is that we are expected to wear two basically mutually exclusive hats. We're expected to be judges, but to also then be treated as regular attorneys by the Department of Justice.

Our grievance is born out of the departments crossing the line in terms of interfering with the decisional independence and oath of office of an immigration judge.

In the case of the particular grievance is Judge Stephen Morley, a very well-known and respected judge in Philadelphia. He was assigned the case of [Reynaldo] Castro-Tum, which the attorney general at some point had certified himself to use as a mechanism to pronounce new law and to restrict the judge's authority.

Reynaldo Castro-Tum was 17 years old when he crossed the border illegally in 2014. He's from Guatemala. He was caught by the Border Patrol, handed over to Health and Human Services as an unaccompanied minor, released to the care of his brother-in-law. And then, when the letters started coming from the government, they couldnt find him at that address.

Correct. But by the time the immigration court proceedings were initiated and the hearings were scheduled, the court had some concerns about whether this sort of chain of evidence showing that that person had received proper notice had been met.

So the judge had raised concerns about that, which is a fundamental due process right of the parties  to be given proper notice.

Then the case was taken away from Morley and given to a supervising judge who is not a member of your union organization. And this judge was brought from Washington to Philadelphia for this one case to find in favor of the government, for deportation?

Thats where the problem arises, because the case was taken away from Judge Morley in the middle of him exercising his judgment and discretion over that case, which is part of his decisional independence.

This is what the oath of office is. This is what his authority is. And the [Justice Department] just took the case away from him and gave it to a supervisory judge, who doesn't have the same protections of being a member of the association.

Certainly it appears that the supervisor was assigned on purpose, came in for that single case, and ordered the person deported.

Are you concerned that what happened to Morley is supposed to be a message from the Justice Department on how these deportation cases should be handled?

We're very concerned, because the very essence of what it means to be a judge is to have that decisional independence  that the judge cannot be influenced, that the proceedings cannot be intervened with by the agency in order to secure a specific type of result.

In this case, what was very clear was that they were not happy with the fact that he had raised some questions regarding due process, that they were not happy with the exercise of his judgment over that case, and just wanted it to be done another way.

And he had raised similar issues in about several dozen other cases. All shared the same pattern of problems that he saw, and they took all of those cases away from him and had reassigned them, presumably to other judges. And, to us, that just crosses the line. It's an absolute indefensible action on the part of the agency.

It's one thing for the agency to administer and support the judges from an administrative perspective. But it's another to use that opportunity to reassign a case in a middle of a pending matter before a judge, just because they're not happy with the decisions that he's making on that case.

The grievance says that the reassignment of this case violated Morleys decisional independence, that it flies in the face of the prohibition on the agency of directing the result of a pending assigned matter before an immigration judge. Is it happening elsewhere?

Were concerned that if this is allowed to proceed without being challenged, it is going to set a precedent for the agency to take such actions, which are in direct violation of the decision on independence of the judges.

This is the first example we're seeing and it's a pretty egregious example, and we want to make sure that this is stopped dead in its tracks.

The shorthand phrase for this would be judge shopping, that a case would be taken away and given to a judge that the government thinks would have a better outcome for what the Justice Department would like to see, i.e., deportation.

That is exactly what we're concerned about. The authority to assign cases is for the pure purpose of administration of the court, not for the purpose of reaching a certain result or doing judge-shopping, and that cannot be tolerated.

What's the response of the Justice Department to your grievance?

They haven't responded formally to us yet. We do have, under our grievance procedurem, which is under the collective bargaining agreement, an opportunity to have a discussion with the agency, after which they have a period of time to respond to our grievance from the date of the filing. There's a 60-day period for them to resolve the grievance, or else we have the opportunity to take it to arbitration.

Since the Trump administration began, has your caseload changed? Has the nature of the work changed?

A lot of our problems all stem from the fundamental flaw of having an immigration court system in the Justice Department, which is a prosecutorial agency.

Many of the issues we've seen with this inherent conflict predate this administration, but this administration has taken all of the weak points, all of those weak links, and has essentially put it on steroids. So we are seeing the use of the courts just for political reasons, to send a political message by redirecting or reshuffling our docket. We had about a third of our judges all of a sudden sent to the border, to try to send the message of law enforcement.

Then we have the [Justice Department] announcing that they're going to subject judges to quotas and deadlines as a part of keeping their job.

Even the prior administrations had agreed that individual judge performance evaluations should never be connected to numbers. Because the minute you connect it to numbers, you're introducing a personal financial interest of the judge into each case. And whether or not the judge is actually thinking about it, the parties then have a reasonable basis to question every one of the judge's decisions.

It's in violation of all the judicial canons for traditional courts.

This sounds a little bit like sweatshop work, that you only get paid by the number of pieces you produce.

My colleague calls it assembly-line justice. And that's exactly the problem that we're facing, that the administration basically views the judges as tools in just pushing numbers through the system, rather than recognizing that a judge is not a factory worker, that you cannot impose these type of quotas and deadlines onto courts.

Once you use that as a stick, then you basically destroy the inherent integrity of a court system.

You and your fellow judges, you're neither fish nor fowl, in a way. Youre judges, but you're not part of the judiciary. Would a solution be moving immigration judges into the judiciary, in which case they would have to be approved by the Senate, presumably, and appointed by the president to lifetime positions?

You've definitely hit the nail on its head there. The long-term solution is to ensure that the immigration court is an independent court from the prosecutorial policies of the department or the influence of the private sector on the court, which means you have to move it out of the Department of Justice.

There's precedent in other types of courts, for example the tax court or the bankruptcy court, where the same types of issues of conflict of interest and the appearance of impropriety, and the agencys influence over the judges where Congress created a separate court, put it in a separate sort of independent status.

So this way, you are able to protect the independence of the court without then introducing some of the challenges of having to go through the Senate confirmation process.

What is your sense of the risk that you're fighting over here, with your grievance?

This is the heart and soul of what it means to be a judge, because if the judges do not have true decisional independence, we are essentially then prosecutors in a judge's robe, and that is not a reflection of our American principles of democracy.

Patt Morrisons latest book is Dont Stop the Presses! Truth, Justice and the American Newspaper.

Subscribe to Patt Morrison Asks and never miss a podcast.

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook.

MORE PATT MORRISON ASKS:

Guess what? The rich really are different from everyone else  and it aint pretty

Have tech companies like Facebook tricked us into abandoning our humanity?

Ken Burns on making his Vietnam War documentary: 'I was humiliated by what I didn't know'To the editor: Accountability for sex abuse is what this all comes down to.

When the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal was exposed in 2002, I, a practicing Catholic, waited to see what the church leaders would do. They set up panels to ensure this would never happen again and paid hundreds of millions to the victims, but they never addressed what really bothered me: the cover-up.

I continued to practice my faith, but now I am torn. It appears as if the church has, once again, tried to protect the men who covered up these abuses. It is these men who need to be exposed and face consequences.

One of the only things keeping me from walking away from my lifelong religion are priests like Father Mark Menegatti of Los Feliz and my own pastor, who work to protect the their parishoners before the institution. Priests like these keep me hanging on by a thread. Every priest across this country should speak to their flock about this crisis, and the Vatican should open all its files so the men who perpetuated the cover-up face the consequences.

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Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said church leaders are committed to reform. The reform needed is very simple: Deal with the people who covered up abuse.

Lindsay Soderlund, Glendale

..

To the editor: Ive never been a Roman Catholic, but Pope Francis always impressed me  until now. Revelations about enduring child abuse by priests and systemic cover-ups by church officials have made me reconsider.

The pontiff offers no comment to the accusation that he abided those cover-ups. True, this accusation is not proven true, but at best Francis seems to have remained willfully uninformed and not diligently investigated the clerical culture that yielded many claims of abuse and expensive payoffs to victims.

For all the evident good that Francis has done, he bears the ineradicable taint of papal malfeasance. He should resign and pray that his successor will find divine inspiration to guide the church back to respectability.

Edward Alston, Santa Maria, Calif.

..

To the editor: The spectacle of Archbishop Gomez appearing humbly penitent and expressing concern for sexual abuse victims of predator priests and bishops is a little too much to take for this still-practicing Catholic. Apparently he thinks we all have short memories.

This is the same Gomez who continued his predecessor Cardinal Roger Mahonys cover-up for the first two years he was in Los Angeles. This is the same Gomez who colluded with other California bishops to block legislation that would have changed the statute of limitations so sexual abuse victims could have their day in court.

Perhaps a major reason (among many) why so many are leaving the church is the crass hypocrisy of the American hierarchy.

Michael Briley, Ojai

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: Beware any evangelical who views a dubious course of conduct as part of Gods plan. Through history devout souls have employed that meme to countenance various evils. (Why Mike Pence is such a sycophant, Opinion, Aug. 24)

For example, Gods plan for racial segregation was evident in his placement of different races on separate continents. Evangelicals didnt discard race-based bigotry with the 1960s civil rights laws. Until 18 years ago, Bob Jones University, one of evangelical Christianitys most important colleges, forbid its students to engage in interracial dating or marriage.

Even now, evangelicals abide the biblical notion that LGBTQ people are sinners. Why? Because God assigns immutable sexual orientation and identity at birth.

Any supposed divine plan that Vice President Mike Pence or any other politician cites to govern our secular democracy should be deemed diabolical nonsense.

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Kendra Strozyk, Cameron Park, Calif.

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To the editor: Thank you to op-ed article writers Michael DAntonio and Peter Eisner for defining Vice Pences political ambitions as they relate to his brand of evangelical Christianity, comparing him to the prophet Daniel and President Trump to Nebuchadnezzar.

While Pence preaches that he abides by the will of God as a devout Christian, where is that devotion toward all children of God and not just the president?

Wendy C. Souza, Seal Beach

..

To the editor: Isnt it possible that Pences sycophancy has led him across ethical and legal lines, like so many other Trump associates?

Isnt it even probable that when Pence told the American people that retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trumps first national security adviser, assured him of no sanctions-related discussions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., that he was lying?

If this turns out to be the case, might this be grounds for impeaching Pence, either as vice president or as president?

Larry Zempel, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookRon DeSantis, an upstart Republican riding the endorsement of President Trump, surged to win Floridas gubernatorial primary Tuesday, setting up a starkly ideological fight with a Bernie Sanders acolyte vying to become the first black governor in state history.

The contest in the countrys preeminent battleground state  already the costliest governors race in the country  will pit two 39-year-old candidates, U.S. Rep. DeSantis and Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who both started the campaign as considerable long shots.

In Tuesdays other marquee contest, the U.S. Senate race in Arizona, Rep. Martha McSally easily bested former state lawmaker Kelli Ward and ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to win the GOP nomination for the seat being vacated by Republican Jeff Flake.

McSally, a two-term congresswoman from Tucson who ran as the favorite of the party establishment, will face Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who ran away with the Democratic primary, in a contest that could be key to deciding which party controls the Senate.

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DeSantis, an Iraqi War veteran and three-term congressman from the Jacksonville suburbs, vaulted into competition in Florida after capturing the presidents attention  and subsequent endorsement  as a frequent guest on Fox News. He crushed Adam Putnam, Floridas agricultural commissioner and the onetime favorite to succeed GOP Gov. Rick Scott, by a commanding 57% to 37%.

On the Democratic side, Gillum narrowly bested the more moderate Gwen Graham  the daughter of a former governor and longtime U.S. senator  who was vying to become Floridas first female chief executive.

Gillum, the first member of his family to graduate from college, became the first African American to win a major-party nomination for Florida governor, edging Graham 34% to 31%.

Gillum ran with the support of Vermont Sen. Sanders and his liberal followers, embracing a wholeheartedly progressive platform calling for Medicare expansion, a higher minimum wage and welcoming policies to the states large immigration population.

The victory by DeSantis, a down-the-line conservative, extended Trumps nearly unbroken streak of anointing favored primary candidates and helping lift them to victory, underscoring his hegemony over the GOP.

The question is whether the presidential embrace will serve candidates as well in the general election.

Democrats are hoping a Trump loyalist will flop with the broader electorate in November  fewer than half the states voters approve of Trumps performance, according to polls  giving the party control of the governors mansion for the first time in nearly two decades.

More than $120 million has been spent in the contest  the bulk of it by losing candidates and their supporters.

In other Florida contests, three-term Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson won his primary without opposition and will face Gov. Scott, who easily topped the GOP field, in November. The race is expected to be one of the nations hardest-fought and costliest Senate contests, as Nelson is considered among the most vulnerable Democrats seeking reelection.

The Democratic Party needs a gain of two seats to take control of the Senate, provided every one of their incumbents wins reelection  no small feat, given a number are running in states that Trump won overwhelmingly.

Among a handful of competitive House primaries, Donna Shalala, who was Health and Human Services secretary in the Clinton administration, won her Democratic primary and will face Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, a former journalist and TV presenter, in an open-seat contest centered in Miami.

The district, represented by retiring GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is considered one of the Democrats best pickup opportunities in the country. The party needs to gain 23 seats to win control of the House.

In Arizona, the Republican contest was a fight for the chance to succeed GOP incumbent Sen. Flake, whose criticisms of Trump made him persona non grata with the presidents base. It is one of two Republican-held seats considered a tossup in November; the other is Nevada.

McSally vied with Ward and Arpaio for the mantle of most Trump-worthy, a primary strategy that could prove troublesome in the general election in another state where the president is not widely popular beyond his core Republican supporters.

Despite entreaties from the candidates and their allies, Trump did not endorse anyone in Arizonas contest.

On the Democratic side, three-term Rep. Sinema faced a challenge from civil rights attorney Deedra Abboud, who ran on a Sanders-style liberal agenda.

Even before the polls closed, McSally assailed the Phoenix-area lawmaker, calling Sinema a political chameleon who shed her past left-wing leanings to assume a more centrist persona.

But McSallys ardent embrace of Trump marked a conversion of her own, from a skeptic who had criticized Trumps proposed Muslim ban and vulgar comments about women and skipped his nominating convention. She refused to say whether she voted for the president, which was widely taken as an indication that she did not.

The final days of the race were overshadowed by the death of Arizonas senior senator, Republican John McCain, and a suggestion by Ward that his family intended to harm her candidacy by announcing, the day before he died, that McCain was ceasing medical treatment.

The remark, widely criticized as insensitive, was in keeping with years of scathing attacks from Ward. She unsuccessfully challenged McCain two years ago in what proved the last primary of his 30-year-plus political career.

In the race for Arizona governor, incumbent Republican Doug Ducey will face Democrat David Garcia, an education policy expert and professor at Arizona State University, who narrowly lost a 2014 bid for state superintendent of public instruction.

Ducey will appoint McCains successor, who  should he or she choose to run  will face voters in November 2020 for the right to finish a term ending in January 2023.

Barabak reported from San Francisco and Jarvie from Atlanta.

mark.barabak@latimes.com | @markzbarabak

jenny.jarvie@latimes.com | @JennyJarvie

UPDATES:

9:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the Arizona primary.

8:30 p.m.: This article was updated with added analysis and results from Arizonas primary.

7 p.m.: This article was updated with Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and Donna Shalala winning the partys nomination for a U.S. House seat.

This article was originally published at 5:30 p.m.Rep. Kyrsten Sinema was once a member of the liberal Green Party and a self-described Prada socialist, but now shes one of the congressional Democrats most likely to vote with President Donald Trump and a champion of moderate compromise. Though she had token opposition from the left in Tuesdays Arizona primary for the partys nomination for U.S. Senate, Democrats are largely united behind her.

Rep. Martha McSally represents a moderate Arizona district and was a Trump critic in 2016, but she has since warmly embraced him and won her partys Senate nomination. She defeated two challengers from her right in the Republican primary Tuesday, but may emerge with less than half of GOP primary voters supporting her after being slammed as a flip-flopper by opponents.

The Senate race in Arizona is shaping up to be a tale of two pivots - Sinemas transformation over the years against McSallys more abrupt swing on Trump, the most divisive issue in politics today. The different ways the two congresswomens maneuverings have been received by their parties illustrate how Republicans and Democrats police their own politicians, especially in Arizona, where the GOP has won every statewide election since 2006.

The Democrats who are unhappy with who she is are willing to put up with that just to win a Senate seat, said Constantine Querard, a GOP strategist renowned for helping conservative Arizona Republicans win primaries. Republicans are used to winning, so now we want a good one.

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McSally and Sinema will face off for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jeff Flake, whos stepping down after his criticisms of Trump made his re-election impossible. And their race begins in the shadow of the death of John McCain, the states senior senator whose refusal to follow GOP orthodoxy helped fuel the Republican bases demands for purity.

Not only have potential voters responded differently to their shifts, Sinema and McSally describe them differently as well.

Sinema, who once served in the Arizona Legislature, acknowledges her shift, casting it as part of a decadelong learning process. What I learned early on, my very first term in the Statehouse is when I was willing to listen to other people, to their ideas and work together, you can get a lot of stuff done, she told reporters at a food bank in Phoenix last week.

U.S. Senate candidate Martha McSally (R-AZ) speaks during her primary election night gathering Aug. 28. (Justin Sullivan / AFP/Getty Images)

McSally bristles at any suggestion that shes changed, noting she only entered politics six years ago  before that she was an Air Force colonel who had served as the first female combat pilot. Its a false narrative, McSally said of the idea shes tacked rightward. During a campaign trip to the border last week, McSally noted that she met with Trump in March of 2017, before the Senate seat opened up. I have been working very closely with him since hes been in office.

Nonetheless, McSally was relentlessly characterized by the other Republicans in the primary  former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state Sen Kelli Ward  as disloyal to Trump. They noted that McSally said Trumps behavior was not how leaders carry themselves and called Trump disgusting after a tape of him bragging about groping women surfaced in October of 2016.

Shes the biggest flip-flopper in history, Arpaio said of McSally in a recent interview.

Eric Beach, a Ward adviser, said in an interview last week that even if McSally wins shell still be wounded  especially given conservatives anger at Flake and McCain for bucking Trump.Racism immediately became an issue in the Florida governors race on Wednesday as both nominees made predictions: The Democrat said voters arent looking for a misogynist, racist or bigot, while the Republican said voters shouldnt monkey this up by choosing his African American opponent.

Only hours after their primary election victories, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis made it clear the race is going to be a nasty contest between two candidates who couldnt be more opposed politically.

Asked if hes afraid of President Trumps support for DeSantis, Gillum told CNN that his race is about uniting the state.

I actually believe that Florida and its rich diversity are going to be looking for a governor whos going to bring us together, not divide us. Not misogynist, not racist, not bigots, theyre going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state, Gillum said. DeSantis can do the bidding of big business and big lobbyists and Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric.

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Meanwhile, on Fox News, DeSantis called Gillum an articulate candidate, but said the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting this state. That is not going to work. Its not going to be good for Florida.

The Florida Democratic Party immediately decried DeSantis comment as racist.

Its disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles, said party Chairwoman Terry Rizzo in a statement emailed to reporters.

The DeSantis campaign clarified in an email that his comments were directed at Gillums policies, not the candidate himself. To characterize it as anything else is absurd, his spokesman Stephen Lawson said.

DeSantis came from behind with the help of Trump to beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who campaigned longer, raised more money and built the support of the party establishment.

Gillum upset a field of five that included former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who was hoping to become the states first female governor and win the office once held by her father, Bob Graham.

Gillum spent the least money of the major candidates and barely mounted a television campaign, but he won the hearts of people who consider themselves progressives, and was given a late boost by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Theyre competing for the office held by Rick Scott, who cant run for reelection because of term limits and is instead challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. After an easy win in Tuesdays GOP primary, Scott now joins a bitter  and expensive  showdown with Nelson that could play a decisive role in determining whether Republicans maintain control of the Senate.

The governors race, in a state sure to be a battleground in the 2020 presidential election, will essentially be a referendum on Trump.

Were going to make clear to the rest of the world that the dark days that weve been under coming out of Washington, that the derision and the division that have been coming out of our White House, that right here in the state of Florida that we are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way, Gillum told his cheering supporters.

DeSantis also came out fighting, criticizing Gillum as way, way, way too liberal for the state of Florida.

That is not what Floridians want, DeSantis told reporters. I think its going to be a great contrast and we will make sure we take it to him.

DeSantis based nearly his entire campaign around the president, and acknowledged after the victory that Trumps endorsement was the key.

With one tweet, that kind of put me on the map, DeSantis said.

DeSantis, who turns 40 next month, is a former Navy lawyer who won his seat in 2012 running as a Washington outsider. He ran for Senate in 2016 but dropped out when Republican Sen. Marco Rubio shut down his presidential campaign and ran for reelection. He entered the race a month after Trumps December tweet that he would make a GREAT governor. Later Trump held a rally for him in Tampa.

Suddenly, he was considered the favorite over Putnam, who seemingly spent his entire adult life building toward the run for governor.

DeSantis television ads were Trump-focused, including one where his toddler stacks bricks while DeSantis exclaims, Build the wall!

Gillum, meanwhile, relied on a grass-roots campaign in the big-money Democratic primary. Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine poured $29 million of his personal wealth into the race and saturated the state with 30 different campaign ads. Billionaire Jeff Greene spent about $38 million of his own money. Orlando-area businessman Chris King also ran, and finished last.

Gillum was a 23-year-old Florida A&M student when he became the youngest person elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in 2003. He was elected mayor in 2014, but the FBI is investigating Tallahassee city hall for corruption. Gillum has said hes not a target.

Their policy differences are pronounced: DeSantis is pro-gun and anti-tax; Gillum boasts about beating the National Rifle Assn. in a lawsuit and is calling for an increase in corporate taxes.

Gillum didnt make race an issue during the primary. But he acknowledged in a recent interview that it would be big to be Floridas first black governor.

I have been really slow to try to think on it because its too big, he said. There will absolutely be a part of this that I cant even put words to around what it might mean for my children and other peoples kids. Especially growing up for them in the age of Donald Trump.If Republicans are hoping Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will help them knock down Obamacare in the courts, they might be in for a disappointment.

Kavanaugh has signaled in private meetings with Senate Democrats that he is skeptical of some of the legal claims being asserted in the latest GOP-led effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

The lawsuit, which has oral arguments next week in Texas, claims that because Congress last year effectively invalidated a key provision of Obamacare  the requirement that all Americans have health insurance  the entire 2010 law should be struck down.

After repeatedly failing to repeal Obamacare in Congress last year, Republicans are again turning to the courts to strike down the law, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has twice upheld it.

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As Kavanaugh made the rounds on Capitol Hill in recent weeks, he suggested that even if one piece of the healthcare law is ruled invalid, the entire law doesnt necessarily have to come down with it, three Democrats who were in the meetings told the Los Angeles Times.

In response to questions about the lawsuit, he declined to comment on it directly, but repeatedly pointed to the legal idea that one unconstitutional provision shouldnt eliminate an entire statute.

Kavanaughs views on the issue could be important if the Texas case  which the Trump administration has partially endorsed  eventually makes its way to the Supreme Court, as some expect it will.

Democrats said they were viewing Kavanaughs comments warily, unsure if they indicated his beliefs or were merely an attempt to use legal semantics to alleviate fears that he would support the renewed legal attack on the Affordable Care Act.

Democratic senators are expected to press Kavanaugh on the issue during his confirmation hearing next week, particularly emphasizing the need to preserve Obamacares protections that ban insurers from refusing to cover people with preexisting medical conditions.

I think this becomes the narrative of his nomination, which could bring it down, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who met Kavanaugh earlier this month. If people realize that their insurance is at risk because of this court nominee, I think there is going to be a lot of pressure put on a lot of people to vote no.

Brown said it was unclear if Kavanaugh was using legalese to try to address Democratic concerns about the future of the healthcare law.

Kavanaugh did not directly indicate how he would rule on this or any other Obamacare case in the closed-door meetings, Brown and the other Democrats said. But when asked about the lawsuit, Kavanaugh repeatedly pointed to the legal concept of severability, or how much of a law needs to be invalidated when one piece is struck down by the courts.

Asked about the Texas lawsuit, what Kavanaugh brought up was severability, said another person who attended one of the meetings with a Democratic senator. The person did not want to be identified speaking about the private conversation.

His comments are likely to frustrate some conservatives who had criticized Kavanaughs views on an earlier Obamacare case.

In 2011, he wrote in a dissenting opinion that the courts couldnt decide on the legal challenge to the individual mandate until the mandate and its penalty went into effect in 2014. He cited an obscure tax law that says Americans cannot challenge a tax until it goes into effect. At the time, the decision  which echoed a similar ruling in a different circuit court  was viewed as a way of dodging issuing a high-profile decision on the controversial healthcare law.

In some ways, Kavanaughs comments are not surprising. Conservative legal theory suggests that if one piece of a law is struck down, judges should limit how much of the remainder of the law needs to be unwound.

In 2016, he suggested in the Harvard Law Review that the courts develop a default rule that if a piece of a law is ruled invalid, judges should cut the statute to the narrowest extent possible unless Congress has indicated otherwise in the text of the statute.

In the same Harvard Review piece, he said deciding how much of the healthcare law could have been cut in the 2012 Supreme Court decision on the individual mandate is an extraordinarily difficult question.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the idea of severability did not come up in his meeting with Kavanaugh, but he left the meeting convinced that President Trumps nominee would not protect the health law.

I asked him if he could give me any assurance that he would not throw out statutory protections for insurance coverage for people with preexisting conditions, and he would not, Whitehouse said.

At issue is a lawsuit filed by Texas and other GOP-led states that argues that the individual mandate is a foundation of the law, and without it, the entire law cannot stand.

The Trump administration responded to the suit by saying that Obamacare should not be struck down in its entirety, but that some parts should be invalidated, including protections for preexisting conditions.

Legal experts say the lawsuit is a long shot at best. But the Supreme Court has shown significant interest in cases related to the healthcare law, having heard four of them since 2012.

In the end, Kavanaughs position on Obamacare may not determine the laws fate. The justice he was nominated to replace, Anthony M. Kennedy, voted in 2012 to strike the individual mandate.

It was Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. who angered Republicans by twice voting with liberal appointees to allow the law to stand.

The latest from Washington 

jennifer.haberkorn@latimes.com

Twitter: @jenhabRepublican congressional candidate Omar Navarros meeting with the FBI about a fake letter he posted to social media about his opponent, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), has been moved to next week, he said Wednesday.

The FBI had asked to speak with Navarro this week, he said, but the meeting was pushed to next week so his lawyer could be present.

Waters filed a complaint with Capitol Police and the FBI in December after Navarro tweeted the image. The letter, which appeared to be on an altered version of Waters official letterhead, falsely claimed the congresswoman wanted to resettle tens of thousands of Somali refugees in her Los Angeles district. It includes her signature and the official House seal.

Misusing a government seal or posing as a government official is a federal crime.

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Navarro said a person he does not know, and has not had contact with since, sent the letter to his campaign. He did not vet it before putting the letter online, and has told The Times he assumed his followers would let him know if it was fake. I dont know if its real or not, so I put it out there, he said in December. Navarro has not deleted the tweet with the fake letter and it continues to be circulated.

Since announcing the FBI meeting on Twitter on Monday, Navarro has used it in multiple fundraising pleas.

I cant be intimidated. The people will help me fire back at Maxine Waters. Lets put pressure on her by helping me raise money to defeat her, he tweeted Tuesday.

In the congresswomans December complaint, Waters said she had not communicated about refugees with the person the letter was addressed to  Teri Williams, president of the Los Angeles-based OneUnited Bank.

This is Navarros second attempt to be elected to the southern Los Angeles County district, which Waters has represented for nearly 30 years.

He got 14% of the vote in the June primary, coming in second to Waters, who received 72.3%.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Sarah D. Wire 

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of Californias delegation

UPDATES:

2:55 p.m.: This article was updated with more background.

This article was originally published at 10:35 a.m.California Gov. Jerry Brown has championed legislation and ballot measures downgrading drug crimes, expanding chances of early release for prisoners and easing punishment for juvenile offenders.

On Tuesday, he ushered in one of the most sweeping criminal justice reforms of his administration, signing a bill abolishing the states current money bail system, and replacing it with one that grants judges greater power to decide who should remain incarcerated ahead of trial.

The legislation virtually eliminates the payment of money as a condition of release. Under last-minute changes to the proposal, judges will have greater power to decide which people are a danger to the community and should be held without possibility of release in a practice known as preventive detention.

Brown first urged the Legislature to take on bail reform decades ago, calling it a tax on poor people in his 1979 State of the State address. The new law puts California at the forefront of a national push to stop courts from imposing a heavy financial burden on defendants before they have faced a jury.

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Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly, Brown said in a statement.

The law, which will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2019, is expected to decimate the bail-bond industry, and many unanswered questions remain about how the shift will alter the criminal justice system.

Some bail agents are talking about leaving California and going to other states because there are few, if any, state legislatures that would be this irresponsible, said Sacramento bail agent Greg Topo Padilla, president of the Golden State Bail Agents Assn.

Supporters of the change  who include top state officials, judges, probation officers and civil rights groups  hailed what they called a shift away from a pretrial system based on wealth to one focused on public safety.

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who helped craft the new law through the formation of a judicial task force that spent a year studying the issue, described the money-bail system as outdated, unsafe and unfair.

A persons checking account balance should never determine how they are treated under the law, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

But the final bill didnt satisfy some early backers, who complained that the final version of the legislation would allow judges to incarcerate more people, and did not include enough oversight over risk-assessment tools found to be biased against communities of color.

No one should be in jail because they are too poor to afford bail, but neither should they be torn apart from their family because of unjust preventative detention, said a statement from American Civil Liberties Union directors Abdi Soltani in Northern California, Hector Villagra in Southern California and Norma Chavez Peterson, representing San Diego and Imperial counties.

John Raphling, a senior researcher with the nonprofit Human Rights Watch, said the law replaced an unfair system with a potentially worse one, empowering judges to take away our liberty based on biased algorithms and the judges own subjective choices, with no standards and no due process.

Bail is currently set according to a list of fixed fees that depend on the gravity of the crime; amounts often vary widely by county.

Offenders are required to post the amount upfront, or pay a 10% fee to a bond company before they are released. Those who cant afford the fee can remain incarcerated up to an additional 48 hours, or longer on weekends or holidays, before they are formally charged and arraigned.

Some argue that the system is prone to abuse by bail agents and bounty hunters who face little regulation or training requirements, putting vulnerable communities at risk of fraud, embezzlement and other forms of victimization. In recent years, complaints about the bail industry in California have significantly increased.

Under Senate Bill 10, counties would have to establish their own pretrial services agencies, which would use risk-assessment tools, or analysis, to evaluate people arrested to determine whether, and under what conditions, they should be released.

Only people charged with certain low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors  a list of charges that can be further narrowed by county  would be eligible for automatic release within 12 hours of being booked into jail.

All others arrested would have to undergo the risk analysis, a procedure that would sort defendants based on criminal history and other criteria into low-, medium- or high-risk categories. Courts would be required to release low-level defendants without assigning bail, pending a hearing. Pretrial services offices would decide whether to hold or release medium-risk offenders. Judges would have control over high-risk offenders and all prisoners in the system.

Whether the new bail system will lead to higher incarceration rates is unknown because courts dont track the data that would make such an analysis possible, lawmakers have said. But the new law requires courts to collect and report incarceration rates and undergo in 2023 an independent review of the legislations impact on the criminal justice system.

Still, in the days before its passage, some criminal justice reform groups that once supported the bill worked to kill it, landing on the same side as a bail industry that worked to sink the bill from the beginning.

This week, a delegation of criminal justice reform advocates from across the state sent a veto letter to Brown, which said that the bill sets up a system that allows judges nearly unlimited discretion to order people accused of crimes, but not convicted and presumptively innocent, to be held in jail with no recourse until their case is resolved.

On Tuesday, the ACLU called on lawmakers to ensure fairness in the pretrial justice system, and to address through new legislation potential racial bias in the new systems risk-assessment tools.

Priscilla Ocen, a professor at Loyola Law School, said the new law would make California a leader in terms of the abolition of money bail. But she said it remained to be seen whether it would also reduce populations at overcrowded jails across the state, including in Los Angeles, home to the nations largest jail system.

It might be to soon to declare victory, she said. I am very skeptical of this very current form of reform but I do hope that folks of goodwill will continue working on it.

On the Senate and Assembly floors and in statements this week, state lawmakers stressed that the legislation was only the first step in overhauling the bail system.

For too long, our system has allowed the wealthy to purchase their freedom regardless of their risk, while the poor who pose no danger languish in jail, Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Alameda), who co-authored the bill, said Friday. No more. Freedom and liberty should never be pay-to-play.

More stories from Jazmine Ulloa 

The latest from Washington 

jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com

@jazmineulloaCalifornia would set some of the nations strongest clean energy goals under legislation that cleared a key vote in the Assembly on Tuesday, bringing the state a step closer to ending its reliance on fossil fuels by phasing out their use to generate electricity.

The bill, which would require California to obtain 100% of its power from clean sources by 2045, has been debated by lawmakers for nearly two years as it faced cost and feasibility concerns. This week, high-profile state and national politicians gave the cause a push by arguing the plan would strengthen Californias leadership on the environment.

Lawmakers supporting the bill said it was important that the state continue its pioneering efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A new state report released this week warned that California will face higher temperatures, more wildfires and sea-level rise in the coming decades due to climate change.

The damage will continue to be done as long as we refuse to act, Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) said. There are no more tomorrows left.

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In addition to the 2045 target, Senate Bill 100 would also require electric utilities and other service providers to generate 60% of their power from renewable sources by 2030, up from the current 50% goal set for that date.

The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote. If it is signed by the governor, California would become the second state in the U.S. to rely solely on clean energy by 2045. Hawaii was the first to implement such a plan.

This is a huge victory for the state of California, said state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), the bills author. Its a victory for clean air. Its a victory to tackle climate change and the devastation that its leaving in its wake.

California clean energy proposals face demise as opposition fails to yield 

The measures opponents, chiefly Republican legislators, argued that phasing out fossil fuels by 2045 was not achievable, and could sharply increase energy prices while state regulators tried to design policies to reach the target.

Why would this body come out now and further increase costs on struggling California families? Assemblyman Steven Choi (R-Irvine) said.

Last year, lawmakers shelved SB 100 after they were unable to reach agreement on the plan alongside other climate-related legislation, including a proposal from Gov. Jerry Brown to integrate Californias electricity grid with other states in the region.

This year, SB 100 has again been part of the larger debate about energy policy. Also included in the discussion are the electric grid bill, which remains in a legislative committee awaiting further action, and comprehensive legislation to address wildfires that have raged across California.

Brown has not taken a public position on SB 100, and De Leon said after the vote that he has not received a firm commitment from the governor that hed sign the bill. The governor used the power of his office to push other climate change bills, including extending the states cap-and-trade program last year. But on the clean energy bill, representatives for Brown have said the governor doesnt usually weigh in on pending legislation.

The clean energy proposal didnt originate with the governor, so his ability to shape the debate might be more limited because hes in his final year in office, said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, adding that Browns former top deputy, Nancy McFadden, died earlier this year.

If he wasnt a lame duck governor and if he hadnt lost his finest lieutenant to cancer, I think there would be a lot more activity coming from the governors office, Phillips said.

Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Brown, sharply rejected Phillips characterization, calling it baseless. He declined a request to address the governors involvement.

Although Brown hasnt made his opinion clear, others have.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter to lawmakers Monday backing the bill, and argued that Trump administration policies rolling back federal efforts to combat climate change made it all the more urgent.

California must take a stand and tell the world we are, as always, undeterred by those who wish to stop our progress and move backwards, Schwarzenegger wrote. We continue to move forward, and passing SB 100 is one of the boldest moves we can make to help save our climate and way of life.

Former Vice President Al Gore also cited White House policies in his endorsement of the bill, saying that California must respond by leading on climate change.

I hope California will once again rise to the occasion and put the Golden State on a path to 100% clean energy by the middle of the century, Gore wrote in a letter to lawmakers Friday. This action will be seen around the world as a major step forward on our path toward a sustainable future.

Tuesdays decision came on an afternoon that saw De Leon working to convince a handful of on-the-fence Democrats to vote yes. Thirteen Democrats initially held off voting on SB 100, and the first tally left the bill four votes short of passage.

Ultimately, the bill cleared its final hurdle after De Leon arrived on the Assembly floor and had a lengthy conversation with Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova), one of the holdouts who voted yes.

Some Democrats cast their votes against the policy. Assemblyman Adam Gray of Merced opposed the proposal, saying that supporters were motivated to impress national progressives rather than poor residents in rural communities who would face higher electric bills as a result of the legislation.

This is yet another in a laundry list of bills that are discriminatory to the people I represent, Gray said.

The politics over the bill go beyond energy policy. De Leon, former president pro tem of the state Senate, is running for U.S. Senate against fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who is seeking a fifth full term.

A number of legislators, including Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), have endorsed Feinstein over De Leon. On the Assembly floor, debate over the bill veered into the personal.

You dont have to like the author. I dont care, said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), who presented the bill on De Leons behalf.

Gonzalez Fletcher then paused for laughter throughout the chamber.

I think hes a great guy, she continued. But this is about whether or not we want to set goals that we can reach and be proud of ourselves to reduce the effects of climate change here in California.

Coverage of California politics 

liam.dillon@latimes.com

@dillonliam

UPDATES:

10 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from a spokesperson for Gov. Jerry Brown.

7 p.m.: This article was updated with an additional comment from De Leon.

5:40 p.m. This article was updated with comments from state Sen. Kevin de Leon.

This article was originally published at 5:20 p.m.There was an abundance of praise, admiration and love directed toward Providence High School French teacher Linda Wyatt, who bid au revoir during a retirement luncheon and sendoff Sunday afternoon at Taix restaurant in Los Angeles.

Her 44 years of service to the school brought together students, teachers, alumni, co-workers and people of different backgrounds to celebrate the career of a school icon.

The former Burbank resident, who began her tenure in 1974 fresh out of UCLA, drew eventgoers from Taiwan to Seattle, with memories and stories ranging from the 1970s to last year.

About 70 people said thank you, presented gifts and generally overwhelmed the veteran teacher with appreciation.

Oh, my goodness, this means so much for me I think Im going to start crying, Wyatt said. Its a great way to put closure to that chapter to my life and, of course, Providence has always been my second family, so this is wonderful.

Wyatt was the pillar of the schools world languages department, which offers courses in Spanish, French, Latin and Mandarin.

In 1994, Wyatt was named a Los Angeles Times Teacher of the Year, has led dozens of class trips to France and held several prominent positions in the high schools French National Honor Society.

She inspired the French language to so many kids at a time when French was kind of leaving schools. Providence High School Head of School Joe Sciuto

She inspired the French language to so many kids at a time when French was kind of leaving schools, said Joe Sciuto, Providences head of school. The reason it stayed at Providence is Linda Wyatt, and her legacy will keep it here.

Maybe no person was better suited to speak to the total Wyatt experience than Providence instructor Marisa Paolone, a former Wyatt student who also attended a trip to France with her mentor in the summer of 1996.

Weve been colleagues for 14 years, and I think a lot of Linda has rubbed off on me as far as how I teach, Paolone said. Shes full of life and, no matter what could be happening to her personally, shes always smiling and laughing. She loved her subject matter and it came out in how she taught every day.

While Providence only requires two years of language classes for graduation, many students studied for four years, in part, because of Wyatts influence.

She taught me a lot about French language and culture, said Analy Mejia, who graduated in 2010, attended the Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and now works as a design coordinator.

I really enjoyed just being in her class and I took four years. I just wanted to keep learning more and I loved the atmosphere. It was so fun, Mejia added.

Sisters Mary Hawkins, Lucille Dean and Barbara Schamber, members of the Roman Catholic religious order the Sisters of Providence, traveled from Seattle for the festivities. All had worked with Wyatt throughout her time at Providence.

Guest of honor Linda Wyatt poses for a group photo with current and former teachers and alumni during her retirement party Sunday at Taix restaurant. The Providence High School French teacher retired after 44 years of service. (Photo by Ross Benson)

Though a former Providence principal, Dean wasnt directly involved in Wyatts hiring. Nonetheless she shared an anecdote about the application process.

The principal at the time had many candidates, Dean said. She asked Linda, Why should I hire you with all the candidates I have? Linda responded, Because Ill be the best French teacher you ever had. And it was true. It was so true.

Wyatt credits her love of French to her own language instructor at Milne High School in Albany, N.Y.

Wyatts retirement party was almost a year in the making as she completed her 44th year at the conclusion of the 2016-17 school calendar and then missed the following year for medical reasons.

I think the planning started during the middle of last school year, Sciuto said. Linda had made the decision at that point that she was not coming back and we knew it had to be a major celebration.

One thing Wyatt said she will miss is the international trips.

Taking them to Europe and then seeing them using the language, it was wonderful, Wyatt said. It helped to see people who used the language. Everything they had been taught came to life. The language was alive.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresportsThose attending the 10th annual Burbank International Film Festival will see homages to some of the greatest science fiction movies ever made, such as velociraptors from Jurassic Park and the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future.

Festival director Jeff Rector said the five-day event, beginning Sept. 5 and running through Sept. 9, will screen about 30 world premieres and more than 200 feature and short films at the AMC 16 theaters in downtown Burbank.

Its the 10-year anniversary of the only film festival in the media capital of the world, Rector said Monday.

Special effects and make-up artist Kazuhiro Tsuji will be honored for his latest work on the 2017 film Darkest Hour. Tsuji recently won an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for his work on the movie about Winston Churchill.

Additional honorees and awards will be announced later.

Science fiction wont be the theme at this years film festival, but the genre will be prominently featured and recognized throughout the week.

Nobody really breaks up their film festival like that. Nobody has a special night for genres and specific movies, Rector said.

One of the films premiering Thursday night will be Eleven Eleven, a film starring Charles Baker and Krista Allen, about a UFO fanatic who risks being abducted by aliens.

Actor Gary Lockwood will join a panel on Saturday night discussing the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubricks 1968 science-fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which Lockwood starred as astronaut Frank Poole.

Rector said the film will not be shown during the festival because Warner Bros. has been rereleasing it throughout the year.

The nostalgic buzz about 2001: A Space Odyssey has led to more rereleases this year. Last week, Warner Bros. played the film in select IMAX theaters. In May, Christopher Nolan convinced Warner Bros. to show it in an unmarked building in Burbank.

Saturday night will also feature the premiere of White Space, a film about a deep space fishing vessel starring Holt McCallany, Zulay Henao and Dave Sheridan and directed by Ken Locsmandi.

On Sunday, director Robert Young and actor Casper Van Dien will discuss the history of Tarzan, the British-born boy who was raised by apes in the African jungle. A documentary will be shown about the characters genesis and his reinventions.

Tickets and additional information about the Burbank International Film Festival can be found at burbankfilmfest.org.

michael.livingston@latimes.com

@MLivingston06An engineer with Lockheed Martin will speak at a local library next month about the companys upcoming space missions, both unmanned and ones expected to take humans to the moon and beyond.

Chris Nie, a systems and integration engineer at Lockheed Martin, will speak at 7 p.m. on Sept. 12 at the Buena Vista Branch Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St., Burbank.

This is a big step forward for our nations human-flight capability, Nie said Tuesday afternoon.

Lockheed Martin will launch an unmanned test mission next year. The mission, called Exploration Mission-1, or EM-1, will send a newly-built spacecraft called Orion thousands of miles past the moon  farther than any spacecraft built for humans can travel.

Exploration-Mission 1 aims to launch around December 2019.

Nie, a three-year engineer at Lockheed Martin, worked on the environmental-control and life-support subsystems so astronauts will be able to live comfortably in space.

Lockheed Martin has built a new spacecraft that is designed to be part of the replacement for the shuttle program to get humans into space, Nie said. Orion will be used in the first stages of missions to get us to Mars in the 2030s. The first step is to take astronauts back to the moon, and well build an orbiting platform to get to Mars.

Chris Nie, a Lockheed Martin engineer, will discuss the planned 2019 unmanned launch of the new Orion spacecraft to the Moon at a September event at the Burbank Public Library. (Courtesy of Lockheed Martin)

Hubert Kozak, librarian at the Buena Vista Branch Library, coordinated the upcoming free event.

[The mission] is the first of a series of missions NASA has planned that will eventually get us to the point where we will be able to land human beings on Mars, Kozak wrote in an email.

Kozak said Lockheed Martins history in Burbank dates back to when the company moved into the city in 1928.

Lockheed was in this town for many years. It developed its corporate life and history in Burbank. There are a lot of people connected to it, and I thought theyd be interested in that, Kozak said.

Its like they left Burbank, but theyre going to Mars, Kozak added.

For more information, visit burbanklibrary.org.

michael.livingston@latimes.com

@MLivingston06About 40 students at College View Elementary School in Huntington Beach received new backpacks stuffed with school supplies Tuesday, thanks to a donation from OnTrac, an Arizona-based package delivery company.

The schools office staff selected the backpack recipients based on which families would benefit the most from the donated supplies, said Julie Jennings, spokeswoman for the Ocean View School District.

College View parent Maria Aguilar said she was excited to learn that her third-grader Daniel and kindergartner Benjamin were receiving free backpacks.

I have a teenager, so its very expensive. But now I can save some money, Aguilar said.

Among the supplies tucked into each backpack were colored pencils and folders, a composition book, lined paper and glue sticks. There also was a postcard addressed to OnTracs corporate headquarters, enabling students to share their grade level and favorite color, food and school subject.

OnTrac distributed 1,000 backpacks to schools across the western United States, said Leslie Hodges, a facilities general manager for the company.

Lizeth Paz, 10, said she was looking forward to seeing her friends Sept. 5, her first day of fifth grade, with her new backpack. She was especially excited to get new art supplies because she likes to decorate, paint and draw.

Lizeth and her schoolmates met their new principal, Elaine Burney, while picking up their backpacks Tuesday. Burney, a 12-year veteran of Ocean View schools, said it was heartwarming to see the business community step up to help her students.

Now they have all the supplies they need to get organized, Burney said. It gets them started on the right track.

In Laguna Beach, about 20 children from the Boys & Girls Club went to the Laguna Police Department on Friday to receive backpacks filled with crayons, pencils, notebooks and other supplies.

The Police Department partnered with the Purist Group  an organization of car enthusiasts  for the event, which also included a vehicle display and tours of the station.

Daily Pilot staff contributed to this report.

Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News.Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial of Rachel Buffett, who is accused of being an accessory after the fact for her former fiance, convicted double murderer Daniel Wozniak.

Buffett, who was arrested in 2012, is charged in Orange County Superior Court with three felony counts of accessory after the fact or knowledge of a crime.

In May 2010, Wozniak, a community theater actor, needed money for rent and his upcoming wedding and honeymoon with Buffett, authorities said. He plotted to kill Sam Herr, 26, his neighbor at the Camden Martinique apartment complex in Costa Mesa, prosecutors said.

Wozniak wanted to steal $62,000 that Herr had saved from serving in the Army in Afghanistan. After shooting Herr at a Los Alamitos theater, Wozniak used Herrs phone to lure Juri Julie Kibuishi, 23, to Herrs apartment, where Wozniak shot her twice in the head.

After performing in a play, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body so he could hide it at the theater and El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach. He staged the scene of Kibuishis killing to appear as though Herr had raped her and fled, prosecutors said.

Wozniak was arrested at his bachelor party days after the killings after ATM withdrawals from Herrs bank account led police to him. Police said Wozniak confessed to both slayings after he called Buffett from jail.

In the call, a recording of which was played for jurors at his trial, Wozniak learned police would soon discover a bag of evidence, including the murder weapon.

Wozniak was convicted in December 2015 of two counts of murder and was later sentenced to death.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscellaThe Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously ordered an investigation Tuesday into recent revelations that more than 1,000 privileged phone calls between county jail inmates and their attorneys were improperly recorded over a three-year period.

The decision directs the countys Office of Independent Review to delve into the issue and report back within 90 days.

Board Chairman Andrew Do said Tuesday that the goal is to outline where we are, what happened  and, more importantly, what exposure we have as a county.

The boards vote came a week after the county sent a letter informing Global Tel Link Corp.  a contractor that oversees the jail phone system  that the county and Sheriffs Department are considering legal options regarding the breach that resulted in 1,079 privileged calls being recorded in violation of state law.

During a court hearing last week, GTL employees said the issue was a case of human error, as some 1,300 phone numbers designated as do not record were not properly transferred as part of a system update in January 2015.

Company officials also revealed that the same issue had happened twice before, in Pinellas and Charlotte counties in Florida.

In Orange Countys case, the company corrected what it initially called a technical error in July and no longer is recording attorney-client phone calls, according to GTL and Sheriffs Department officials.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who is running for Orange County district attorney this year, called for the immediate termination of GTLs contract and said he plans to put that discussion on the agenda for a future board meeting.

Depending on who listened to the calls, dozens of felonies may have been committed by jail personnel, compromising criminal cases, Spitzer said in a statement Tuesday. Our judicial system in this county is in crisis. We desperately need an outside, impartial investigation.

According to Spitzers office, GTLs contract comes up for renewal in November and is worth an estimated $4.6 million annually.

Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said she doesnt think were in a position to terminate, as there arent a lot of vendors out there that do this kind of work and provide these services.

In an Aug. 21 letter to GTL, the county counsels office wrote that county officials were considering legal options.

We believe GTL has breached the contract by failing to retain in the system the 1,300-plus phone numbers that existed prior to the upgrade [in] 2015, the letter stated. The fallout from this breach continues to grow, seemingly on a daily basis, and has captured significant media attention as well as the attention of the criminal defense bar in Orange County.

Moving forward, the letter continued, we request assurances from GTL that the system is presently working as required under the contract and that there will not be future breaches of a similar ilk  potentially impacting the rights of inmates.

Also last week, an Orange County Superior Court judge appointed a special master to review the calls.

At Tuesdays board meeting, county Sheriff Sandra Hutchens told supervisors that we have made it very clear to G-Tel, with the assistance of county counsel, that theres a real issue here and said she welcomes the Office of Independent Review investigation.

I think thats the only way that everybody will feel comfortable that this was looked at independently and thoroughly, she said.

Among the communications recorded by law enforcement was at least one jailhouse phone call in 2016 between Joshua Waring, son of former Real Housewives of Orange County cast member Lauri Peterson, and his then-defense attorney.

Waring, 29, is facing three counts of attempted murder and other felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with a shooting at a former Costa Mesa sober-living home in June 2016. He could face multiple life sentences if convicted.

His current defense attorney, Joel Garson, has been digging into allegations that law enforcement monitored and shared Warings phone calls in Orange County Jail while he was representing himself in his criminal case. Garson is trying to have the case dismissed on grounds of outrageous governmental conduct.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoneyThe past several years, visitors to the Sawdust Art & Craft Festival in Laguna Beach were greeted by a huge mural at the easternmost entrance. The mural changes annually  last year, it depicted the effects of ocean pollution on marine life.

This year, Sawdusts public mural was defaced with spray paint before the event began June 29. The mural, painted by artists Charmaine Olivia and Alec deMarco, portrayed an array of goddesses and was intended to set the tone for the 52nd annual festival.

The artists were unable to restore the vandalized piece, so the festival opened with guests seeing a white wall instead of a vibrant mural.

Some knucklehead just decided to spray paint all over the mural just to cover it up, said Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jim Cota.

The vandalism was reported May 22 by a Sawdust employee who had just arrived to work. According to a police report, the mural was covered with Xs and incomprehensible markings.

Local artist Walter Viszolay stepped in with one goal in mind: Fill that white wall with a mural before the Sawdust Festival closes Sunday.

The artist has been at his post every morning recently, adding depth and detail. Now the mural is there for all to see.

The painting, a panorama of Victoria Beach, depicts foamy waves crashing onto a secluded shoreline, with families playing on the sand and the iconic Pirate Tower to the right.

We were devastated by the vandalism but inspired by Walters willingness to undertake the project on short notice, Franky Duschane, Sawdust Festival marketing and public relations coordinator, said in a statement. It would not have been a Sawdust Festival without our iconic mural to greet visitors.

Viszolay did not respond to a request for comment.

The artist was born near Budapest, Hungary, before he immigrated to Southern California when he was 7, according to his website. He developed a knack for art and found encouragement among his teachers and peers.

After high school, Viszolay moved to Hawaii, where he became known for his island scenes in oil, acrylic and pastel paintings. He now lives in Laguna Beach.

FINAL WEEK FOR ART FESTIVALS

Laguna Beachs annual summer art festivals end this weekend. Here are details if you go:

Sawdust Art & Craft Festival: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily through Sunday, 935 Laguna Canyon Road. Tickets: $9 adults, $7 senior citizens, $4 children, free for kids 5 and younger. Information: sawdustartfestival.org.

Laguna Art-A-Fair: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Sunday, 777 Laguna Canyon Road. Tickets: $9 general, $7 senior citizens, military personnel and students, free for children 12 and younger. Information: art-a-fair.com.

Festival of Arts: Noon to 11:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. weekends through Saturday, 650 Laguna Canyon Road. Tickets: Weekdays: $10 general, $7 students and senior citizens, $5 children ages 6-12. Weekends: $15 general, $11 students and seniors, $5 children 6-12. Free for Laguna Beach residents, children 5 and younger, military personnel and Festival of Arts members. Information: foapom.com.

Pageant of the Masters: Living pictures show, part of the Festival of Arts: 8:30 p.m. daily through Saturday, Irvine Bowl at Festival of Arts grounds, 650 Laguna Canyon Road. Tickets: $15 to $240. Information: foapom.com/pageant-of-the-masters.

miranda.ceja@latimes.com

Twitter: @newsmirandI was encouraged to learn that only three of 900 drivers were suspected of driving under the influence during a recent Laguna Beach checkpoint that lasted six hours.

This tells me that people drive sober, and that this massive inconvenience to 897 drivers was not needed, ill-conceived and should not be repeated. If the Laguna Beach police have resources to spare, I suggest they focus on drivers who routinely run red lights in town and speed through our streets.

Merrill Anderson

Laguna Beach

Others opposed clean-needle program

Costa Mesa Mayor Sandy Genis claims in her candidate statement that she was the only candidate to stand up against the Orange County Needle Exchange Program.

The entire City Council unanimously opposed this plan near an elementary school in a residential neighborhood. Councilwoman Katrina Foley publicly and vociferously opposed it, wrote about it in the Aug. 2 Daily Pilot (Costa Mesa will find a legal way to stop the needle exchange program), attended Orange County Board of Supervisors meetings to voice opposition and voted to support the lawsuit against the needle exchange.

Clay Epperson

Costa Mesa

Support for offshore drilling is a deal-breaker

Another seminal issue has come front and center in todays headlines that affects voters in the 48th Congressional District: offshore drilling for oil.

The Democratic candidate for the 48th Congressional District, Harley Rouda, is opposed to it. And yet, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is enthusiastically supporting offshore oil drilling, choosing to side with President Trump and his cronies over his own constituents. This is not representation; it is a slap in the face.

We should not turn the other cheek. It is time for Rohrabacher to go.

Tim Geddes

Huntington Beach

Trump capitalized on racial tensions

President Trump won mostly because of racial resentment and as a performance artist  not because as a serially bankrupted businessman he nevertheless knew how to conjure newly created jobs.

I have read and observed that his supporters never had illusions. Ive yet to meet one who did not have a pretty clear picture of Trump. Theyve known all along that hes a needy, self-absorbed thin-skinned narcissist, a womanizer, a liar, a braggart and a generally miserable human being.

Denny Osborne

Newport Beach

How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.It wasnt until producer Sev Ohanian was pulled away from a Sundance after-party to participate in an all-night bidding war among studios wanting to buy his computer-screen-based thriller, Searching, that it hit him: People really like the film.

The entire time during the screening, I was convinced the film wasnt working, and the audience wasnt feeling it. said Glendale-raised Ohanian of the film slated for wide release on Friday. When the movie ended, we started to realize people felt like we had made something special.

The crime drama that stars John Cho (Star Trek, Columbus) and plays out entirely through Facetime, Instagram posts, home videos, texts, livestream footage and other screen-based media took home three awards at Sundance. Sony Pictures ended up buying the film in the early morning after the premiere. Ohanian and the films director and co-writer Aneesh Chaganty already have another studio-backed project underway.

Shock at his own success has been a running theme in Ohanians career.

As a new college graduate, Ohanian, now 31, made an $800 movie on his dads video camera parodying the cultural experience of growing up Armenian American.

One month after self-releasing My Big Fat Armenian Family at Glendale High School, selling tickets and DVDs, Ohanian had made enough money to afford to go to USC, where he attended grad school for film.

It blew my mind, Ohanian said. It was never my intention to pursue filmmaking as a career path, but the support of my community empowered me.

It was at USC that Ohanian connected with Chaganty, who was an undergrad in a class in which Ohanian was a teaching assistant. The two eventually collaborated on a commercial shot using the now-defunct Google Glass device.

What was supposed to be a music video turned into a heartfelt short about a young man who travels to a remote part of the world to deliver a special message to his mom. The two-minute clip garnered more than a million views in two days. Following the video, Chaganty accepted a job making commercials at Google, Ohanian landed a spot on The Wraps 2014 list of Hollywood innovators, and the two have been in close collaboration ever since.

Even Ohanians first film, a documentary for his AP Environmental Science class at Hoover High ended up a success.

His teacher, who teared up at the film about a trash problem at Hoover that Ohanian made, pledged to screen it every year.

Cho also coincidentally grew up in Glendale and attended Hoover. While that didnt have anything to do with the decision to cast Cho, Ohanian said they did end up bonding over their connection to the Jewel City during production.

In Searching, San Jose widower David (Cho) is keeping up with his teenage daughter, Margot (Michelle La), through video calls and texts  until she suddenly stops responding. When it becomes apparent Margot is missing, David begins to scour her digital stomping grounds, prompting him to acknowledge to the lead investigator on the case (Debra Messing) that he didnt know his daughter as well as he thought.

Beyond the screen- and tech-centric technique employed by the creators, the film has been hailed for casting a Korean American as the lead in a film where ethnicity is incidental.

Why not? is Ohanians response to queries about why they chose to center the story on an Asian family.

I do think there needs to be films about diversity, about representation, and Ive made a couple of those movies  this isnt one of them, Ohanian said. Our hope, as a team, is that in the future, people can look back on Searching and not realize what the big deal was.

lila.seidman@latimes.com

Twitter: @lila_seidmanWhen the Glendale Community College board ratifies its budget, as expected, at the next meeting Sept. 11, the 91-year institution will begin a new era of funding, one that is based on student success rather than enrollment size.

The board held the first of two readings of the proposed 2018-19 budget earlier this month and the budget report focused on a few issues, highlighted by a new system called Student-Focused Funding Formula.

California community colleges receive their funding from a variety of sources, including state money, property taxes and enrollment fees.

The bulk, however, comes from the state of California, which for years has allocated money based on enrollment.

In June, the California legislature approved the landmark funding change, which will add student success metrics over a three-year, phased-in period.

Overall, the formula that has been developed on the state level is valuable in that it encourages students success in their college efforts, said David Viar, superintendent/president of Glendale Community College.

At the first reading, Anthony Culpepper, the colleges executive vice president of administrative services, laid out the formula, which will change during each of the next three years.

For the 2018-19 school year, 70% of state funding will be based on enrollment, 20% on low-income and first-generation student enrollment and 10% for student success.

The student-success portion only grows after this school year, while the enrollment total decreases. For 2019-20, the percentages are 65-20-15, while 2020-21 calls for 60-20-20, for enrollment, low-income attendance and student success, respectively.

The new student-success allocation awards points for the completion of transfer-level math and English classes within the first year of enrollment (two points), culmination of an associates degree for transfer (four points), an associates degree (three points), credit certificates of 16 or more units (two points) or attainment of nine career technical education units (one point).

The new formula also factors whether a student is able to attain a regional living wage within one year of school completion, which is worth a point.

One funding point is equal to $876.00 per student from the state.

There are also bonus or equity allocations for low-income and first-generation students, whose successful finalization would result in increases of $660.00 per point achieved.

So, a low-income student who earns an associates degree for transfer would net four points under the student-success category, totaling $3,504, and four equity points, adding $2,640, which combined would be $6,144.00.

While Culpepper said student success has always been at the heart of the schools directives, he added that the legislature and chancellors office are more apt toward demonstrating that.

The new funding formula is now intentionally targeting other attributes of the campus when it comes to the students were serving, he said. They are more focused on and they want to intentionally show that they want to give a portion of revenues based on how youre successfully graduating your students.

While there is some angst statewide as to whether colleges will lose money, the formula includes a provision that guarantees that no district will make less than it did during the 2017-18 school year, while each district will receive a cost-of-living adjustment.

While there is an emphasis on getting students transferring or graduating at a quicker pace, particularly low-income and first-generation students, Culpepper also said there is room for the casual student looking to pick up a skill without being part of a degree or certificate program.

Even though the chancellors office is changing the funding formula to encourage community colleges to insure that students  get degrees, they are by no means trying to not encourage other students who just may take a class or two, Culpepper said. You can still do that here.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresportsHell turn 29 on Tuesday, much too young, in his eyes, to be a mentor.

Andrelton Simmons cant see himself as that yet, and he doesnt really have the older, cagey-veteran look of a player well into his 30s.

Simmons didnt see the Angels season veering off track either, and this is the role he ha taken on  teacher to a pair of rookie infielders on both sides of him with the Angels out of contention.

This hasnt been the best past couple of weeks, but you still go out there and try to compete and do your best, Simmons said. You try to [help] the young guys and try to teach them. They can be an asset for us going forward. Its time to learn.

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Simmons has set a stellar example for third baseman Taylor Ward and second baseman David Fletcher. The veteran led all shortstops with 189 putouts, with only eight errors, in 120 games through Tuesday.

Hes kind of like a general out there, Fletcher said. He kind of runs everything. It makes it easier on me.

Simmons is vocal but he knows when to back off when working with Fletcher and Ward, who have played a combined 76 games in the majors and are still learning their positions.

Simmons next game will be his 902nd, and the three-time Gold Glove winner has seen practically every type of play come his way. Mostly, he sees the big picture, after the Angels traded Ian Kinsler and Martin Maldonado at the trade deadline. It was time for the team to focus on future seasons.

Its fun to see them grow, Simmons said of Ward and Fletcher. I try to help them whenever I can. If they make a mistake here and there, Ill show them some pointers or what I think they can do better.

But also, you have to give them time to play. You cant just stay on them at all times. Youve got to let them make those mistakes. They kind of understand. Theyre quick learners. Im optimistic of what theyll be able to do.

To Ward, its almost unrealistic to have Simmons as the blueprint. Before January, Ward had never played third base. The Angels decided his arm and physical ability warranted giving him a look, and hes learning alongside Simmons.

Hes seen so many ground balls, [and] obviously everything comes a lot easier to him, Ward said. Im nowhere near that. Actually, being able to watch him, I dont think its going to help all that much because of the way he does it. Its so smooth and effortless. He doesnt have to think and move the way that I have to move to get into positions. That just comes with experience.

Simmons also has shown the way at the plate. Hes struck out only 31 times while hitting .293. The last player to hit .300 with fewer than 40 strikeouts with a minimum 550 plate appearances was Placido Polanco in 2007.

That disciplined season wont carry over to the playoffs, and that speaks to the Angels soon-to-be four-year postseason drought. Simmons has played only five playoff games in his career and none since 2013, with the Atlanta Braves.

Andrelton Simmons bats against the Texas Rangers on Aug. 19. (Mike Stone / Associated Press)

When he broke into the majors with Atlanta, in 2012, shortstop Jack Wilson was a mentor to him. So his career has come full circle, before hes reached 30. Just dont bring up the m-word.

Ive never seen myself as a mentor, Simmons said. I just try to help where I can. I have a little bit of knowledge and some ideas. But I also discuss some ideas with them  in this situation, what do you think we should do? Im always willing to learn, but Im willing to put my two cents in too, if we can all get better.

Rivera claimed

Rene Rivera was awarded to Atlanta on a waivers claim. The veteran catcher was a free agent signing in January and missed 76 games with a knee injury. He hit .244 in 30 games with the Angels.

Prospect signed

The Angels reportedly signed Alexander Ramirez, 16, an outfielder prospect from the Dominican Republic. Ramirez is ranked a top-30 international prospect by MLB.com.

curtis.zupke@latimes.com

Twitter: @curtiszupkeBudget travelers may bite on the latest bargain fare between Los Angeles and New Delhi. Iceland-based Wow Air in December will begin flying to the Indian city from major U.S. hubs, including L.A. The initial ticket price: $199 each way.

Tickets are on sale now for flights that begin Dec. 5 and stop in Reykjavik. I checked the airlines website Tuesday and found the $199 fare from L.A. available Jan. 21. However, the cheapest return I could find for the week of Jan. 27 was $354 (I selected Jan. 30 to test this fare). Total round-trip airfare costs $554, including tax, one of the cheapest fares around.

But that price assumes you are bringing only a personal item on board, defined as something roughly 17-by-13-by-10 inches.

Anything larger, expect to pay $49.99 for a carry-on bag and $69.99 for a checked bag  for each leg of your trip. Round-trip airfare with one carry-on, one checked bag and seat selections (yes, there are fees) comes out to roughly $828.

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As a comparison, on the same dates, Priceline was showing an $848 airfare for L.A.-New Delhi on KLM, which includes bags and stops in Amsterdam.

Bottom line: You cant beat Wow Airs bare-bones price. Once you start adding extras, you might as well comparative shop on Kayak.com or Google Flights.

Wow Air service to New Delhi also is available from Boston, Washington, D.C./Baltimore (BWI), New York (EWR in Newark, N.J.); Chicago; Detroit and San Francisco.

The airline offers regular service between the U.S. and Europe (via Iceland).

Info: Wow Air

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Your U.S. chipped card will work just fine abroad, until it doesnt

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelMexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday again defended the widely criticized original investigation of the 2014 disappearance of 43 students, an apparent massacre that shook confidence in his government.

In a short video released via Twitter, Pena Nieto said he remained convinced that the students from the teachers college at Ayotzinapa were killed by a drug gang and incinerated in a massive fire.

The Sept. 26, 2014, incident in Iguala, Guerrero, knocked Pena Nietos administration off its axis after early success passing structural reforms, and it never appeared to regain balance as the countrys crime rate soared.

The case was especially damaging for public confidence in officials because local police allegedly turned the students over to the gang and later investigators found that an army base in the town had been closely monitoring the situation and, at best, did not intervene.

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International experts cast doubt on what the then-attorney general had called the historic truth and the students families never accepted it. The investigation has been strongly criticized inside Mexico and abroad for the alleged use of torture to coerce confessions and failure to follow leads.

In June, a federal court ordered a new investigation into the students disappearance that would be supervised by a truth commission. The attorney generals office challenged the courts decision.

Personally, and with the pain it causes, and the sorrow it signifies for the families, Im convinced that unfortunately it happened just like the investigation showed, Pena Nieto said.

But Pena Nieto went on to say that he will leave office unsatisfied with Mexicos security situation.

Regrettably, at the close of this six-year term, there was a rise in criminality, he said. We have not achieved the objective to give Mexicans peace and calm in any part of the national landscape.

Three months remain in Pena Nietos term and he appears to be trying to give some final framing to key moments of his presidency. His partys candidate was soundly defeated in the July 1 election in what many saw as a referendum on his administration.

In another video released Tuesday, Pena Nieto defended his decision to host then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. He conceded that he had underestimated how angry Trumps candidacy had made Mexicans, but said ultimately the meeting opened a line of communication that has served Mexico.

On Monday, the United States and Mexico announced that they had reached a bilateral agreement that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexican officials say they expect Canada to join as well.A United Nations report released Wednesday on four months of unrest in Nicaragua describes a comprehensive effort of repression by the government that extends from the streets to the courts.

The report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the government of President Daniel Ortega to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for many of the killings and arbitrary detentions.

More than 300 people have been killed in violence since mid-April in the Central American nation. Neighboring Costa Rica has been flooded with thousands of requests for asylum by people fleeing Nicaragua.

The report describes illegal arrests, torture and closed trials. Doctors, professors and judges who have spoken out or protested have been dismissed from their jobs to discourage people from participating in or supporting the protests.

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The level of persecution is such that many of those who have participated in the protests, defended the rights of the protesters, or simply expressed dissenting opinion, have been forced to hide, have left Nicaragua or are trying to do so, according to the U.N. report.

Zeid Raad Hussein, the U.N. human rights chief, told reporters in Geneva that repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away. He urged the international community to take concrete action to prevent the current crisis in Nicaragua from descending into deeper social and political turmoil.

Ortegas government dismissed the report as baseless and relying on anti-government media accounts. It denied accusations of excessive use of force against protesters.

The report is biased and slanted with subjective assertions, the government said in its response to the U.N. office, also noting that it included no mention of the attempted coup detat alleged by Ortega.

In mid-April, retirees and students marched to protest cuts to Nicaraguas social security benefits decreed by Ortega. They were met with violence from young government supporters and riot police. The president eventually retracted the changes, but protests quickly evolved into calls for him to step down.

University students across the country led the protest effort and took over a number of campuses. But in July the government unleashed heavily armed civilian forces that worked with police to clear the barricades that had been erected on strategic highways and throughout some neighborhoods.

There was a short-lived dialogue between the government and opponents, but Ortega accused the Roman Catholic bishops mediating the talks of being part of a coup conspiracy and talks have not resumed. The president has blamed international agents and internal enemies of conspiring to overthrow his government. He has said he will not step down before his term ends in 2021.

Protests continue, but they are smaller as student leaders have been arrested or forced into hiding or exile.No one planned for this verdant region in Syrias northwest to become the site of the rebels last stand.

But with the Syrian government preparing for a multi-front offensive it hopes will provide a path for finally ending a grinding civil war, the fate of Idlib province and its 3 million residents is now the subject of diplomatic jockeying among the world powers that have had a hand in the war.

As government forces overpowered opposition enclaves one by one, they offered defeated rebels and their families a choice: Lay down their arms and accept government rule, or go to Idlib, which borders Turkey.

Many chose Idlib, doubling the size of the province and turning it into a dumping ground for opposition militants.

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But now as the government masses its troops near Idlib for an offensive it says could come any day, its military planners will have no such exit plan to offer Idlibs rebels.

The United Nations warns that hundreds of thousands could be displaced by a Syrian assault on Idlib, many of them people whove been displaced before. Though rebel forces could decide they have no choice but to remain in Idlib and fight back, others could try to flee to Turkey, which tightened border controls once the Syrian government took the upper hand in the civil war.

Turkeys foreign minister cautioned that bombing the province would be catastrophic not only for the Idlib region but for the future of Syria, and the United States said it is poised to strike if Syria uses chemical weapons in an attack.

Russia, meanwhile, has warned the U.S. and its allies against any new reckless moves, and it dispatched two additional frigates this week to bolster its fleet off Syrias Mediterranean coast.

For residents in Idlib, theres much to fear. Wherever the Russian-backed Syrian army and its associated paramilitary factions have gone, destruction has followed.

Some people have already lost everything, but for most of us, were terrified. The regime, wherever it hits today, it strikes a family. Every time a plane drops a bomb, it kills a family, said Wael Malshi, 45, a day laborer in Idlib contacted via the WhatsApp messaging service.

Kathem, a 52-year-old fruit vendor who used his first name only out of fear for his family, said hed already been displaced twice and now expects he and his family will be killed in Idlib.

(Los Angeles Times)

Its all useless. Weve been sent here to die, Kathem said in a WhatsApp conversation. He suggested the government would use the jihadis who have settled in Idlib as a pretext to bomb us without mercy.

At the same time, those who have attempted to negotiate reconciliation deals to spare the regions villages have been arrested by the provinces primary defenders, the Al Qaeda-linked Organization for the Liberation of Syria, which sought to turn Idlib into a Talibanesque Islamic emirate. The jihadis also vowed to attack any group that surrenders.

The group has also been a liability for a civilian population in which most people depend on humanitarian aid: Much of the international community, including the U.S., considers the Organization for the Liberation of Syria to be a terrorist group and has suspended aid programs. Moscow, meanwhile, uses the presence of the group to justify its offensive.

Other groups in the province, including some factions more palatable to the West, saw their support dry up long ago, and nothing has changed in the run-up to an offensive, said Jamal Maarouf, a rebel commander and onetime recipient of U.S. support who was ousted by the jihadis in 2014.

Al Qaeda destroyed the revolution, but we didnt invite them in. All the nations who made it easier for jihadis to enter Syria, they should deal with the true revolutionary factors, bring them back to Idlib to destroy the terrorists, Maarouf said in a phone interview last week from southern Turkey.

But he also insisted there was little point in negotiating with a government that has engaged in mass killing.

Its all useless. Weve been sent here to die. Kathem, a fruit vendor in Idlib in northern Syria

That has left many civilians looking to Turkey, whose government has become a vital overseer of rebel-held areas in the north.

Turkish aid organizations such as IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation provide basic supplies, including 2 million loaves of bread every day to Syrians. Millions of dollars worth of goods pass every day through Bab Hawa, the opposition-controlled crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Turkey also has established a presence in Syria: Its postal service is used to transfer aid money to local humanitarian organizations. In some parts of the province, its the Turkish flag thats flown. And many of the more moderate rebels depend on the Turkish army for training and support.

But Turkey, which has taken in more than 3.5 million refugees and once supported an alliance that included the Organization for the Liberation of Syria, is eager to repatriate Syrians and has sealed its border.

It would be a massacre to bomb Idlib, civilians, hospitals, schools just because there are terrorists, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a recent news conference, Turkish media reported.

In recent days, Syrian state and pro-government news outlets reported significant troop movements, with the armys elite Tiger Forces and 4th Division already massing near Idlib. The government has even brought in reconciled rebels from vanquished enclaves to fight against their former brothers in arms.

But figuring out who is a jihadi, rebel or civilian is difficult in a province where militants bases are often integrated inside a town or village.

Washington, meanwhile, has threatened to strike government forces if they attack Idlibs rebels with chemical weapons.

Damascus has been accused since 2013 of deploying munitions filled with chlorine and sarin on opposition areas; one attack in April prompted a missile strike on government targets by the U.S., France and Britain.

But Russia, whose primary air base in Syria is less than 40 miles from Idlib, warned the U.S. and its allies against any new reckless moves, according to a statement by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov given to the state-owned Sputnik news network.

We can hear ultimatums voiced by Washington, including public statements, Ryabkov said. This does not affect our commitment to fully eliminate terror cells in Syria and return this country to normal life.

Whatever is decided among the outside powers, however, the jihadis vow they will not succumb to agreements that saw other rebel enclaves emptied, said Abu Mohammed Jolani, the groups commander, in a speech last week.

He warned Idlib residents that Turkey could not to be trusted and that its political position could change from one moment to the next.

The only solution, he said, was to mount a unified defense.

Just thinking about surrendering to the enemy and handing them our arms is betrayal, Jolani said.

nabih.bulos@latimes.com

Twitter: @nabihbulos

Times staff writer Alexandra Zavis contributed to this report from Beirut.It was one of the most controversial moves of his six years in office. In August 2016, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto invited then-candidate Donald Trump to meet with him in Mexico City.

That visit set off street protests as lawmakers expressed outrage at the presence of Trump, who had angered many here with his verbal assaults on Mexicans and his vow that Mexico would pay for a new border wall.

Now two years later, Pena Nieto has issued a public explanation for why he did it.

In a two-minute video clip released Tuesday, Pena Nieto argued that the invitation to the GOP hopeful was meant to avert dire consequences for Mexico should Trump be elected.

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It left open the door to have dialogue and familiarity with the new government of the United States, Pena Nieto said in the clip, filmed in a wood-paneled presidential office, with a Mexican flag in the background.

It was unclear why Pena Nieto decided to dredge up one of his most politically damaging moments. But it appears he is striving to create a positive legacy for what is widely viewed as a failed presidency.

He leaves office in December. The video is one of a series of formal presentations that he is recording in preparation for his final annual address to the nation.

It was released a day after the two presidents announced in a public speakerphone conversation  with Trump in the Oval Office and Pena Nieto in Mexico City  that Mexico and the United States had reached agreement on a new bilateral trade accord.

Pena Nieto had invited both Trump and the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, to Mexico City in 2016. But only Trump accepted.

Pena Nieto upset his critics even more during the visit by failing to confront Trump about the wall issue and other instances of perceived Mexico-bashing.

At a news conference at the end of the visit, Trump heaped praise on Mexicans as amazing and spectacular people  in contrast to earlier comments depicting Mexicans as drug traffickers, criminals and rapists. But the softer tone did little to endear him to Mexico.

The public relations fiasco haunted Pena Nieto and contributed to his plummeting approval ratings.

His unpopularity, along with a sluggish economy and rising crime, led to the dismal showing of his Institutional Revolutionary Party in national balloting last month. It was the worst performance in the partys history.

Pena Nieto was not a candidate, because Mexican presidents serve just one term. But the ruling-party nominee lost in a landslide to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office Dec. 1.

In the video clip, Pena Nieto acknowledged that he had underestimated the great social resentment against Trump. He said that Trumps visit was hurried, but insisted that it produced positive results in establishing a relationship with him.

At the time, Pena Nieto noted, Trumps anti-Mexican rhetoric was having an impact on public finances and had hastened a steady slide in the value of the Mexican peso. Trump had promised to revoke or revise the North American Free Trade Agreement, which governs more than $1 trillion in mostly tariff-free commerce among Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The Trump visit, Pena Nieto said, set the stage so that today we have dialogue, we have communication, despite enormous differences with the Trump administration.

Trump continues to insist that Mexico will pay for a border wall. Mexico has said that will never happen.

Since Trump took office last year, the Mexican president has twice canceled planned visits to Washington, largely because of disagreements about the border wall issue.

During Mondays speakerphone spectacle, Trump called Pena Nieto his friend, and the Mexican president proposed a tequila toast to mark agreement on the new trade pact. Pena Nieto signed off on the call offering an affectionate hug to Trump.

The new trade deal spurred considerable praise in Mexico for Pena Nieto and his lame-duck government, including from political opponents. Many here feared an economic collapse should a new trade regimen not be hammered out with the United States, which accounts for about 80% of Mexicos export market.

But street interviews here indicate that many Mexicans are still irate at Pena Nietos perceived cozying up to Trump.

So now youre telling me that Pena Nieto was a visionary and that he knew that the meeting with Trump would be good for Mexico? asked Javier Morelos, 41, an engineer. Please. Maybe your grandmother would believe that, but not most Mexicans. Trump hates us. Does Pena Nieto really have confidence in him?

Added Martha Gonzalez, 48, a secretary: Pena Nieto offered Trump a tequila, what is he thinking? You offer a tequila to a friend, not to someone who seeks to benefit themselves and doesnt care what happens to you.

Cecilia Sanchez of The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLATCape Coral City Council rejected a hearing examiners recommendation and unanimously denied a special exception to allow a boat rental company to install a gas tank at the Del Prado Boulevard strip mall where it does business.

The council sided with neighbors on the canal where Paradise Boat Rental is located. Those residents expressed concerns about compatibility, possible pollution to the canal and a failure to meet the basic requirements.

Paradise Boat Rental is at 3013 Del Prado Blvd.

Were obviously pleased the council followed the law and applied the facts to it appropriately, said Eric Feichthaler, the attorney who represented the Cornwallis and Palaco Grande neighborhood associations. Everyone in this room is pro-business, but at the end of the day, their application did not fit in with the requirements of city code.

Michael Dixon, owner of Paradise Boat Rental, said he needed the fuel pump as a way to fill up his rental boats as opposed to filling them through five-gallon containers and to remain competitive in the boat rental business and profitable through a mark-up on refueling.

The applicant, Bob Gerrero, is the owner of the strip mall where the rental place is located.

Dixon also said that much of what the residents were hearing was through faulty information and hyperbole that resulted in near hysteria, and that City Council should not listen to what they had to say, which drew a buzz from the dozens of residents who came to the meeting.

Feichthaler said the special exception Dixon sought is for self-service only stations such as what they have at most convenience stores. He also cited numerous code violations at the strip mall from a previous boat rental and said that the 500-gallon fuel tank is not vital to the health and welfare of the residents.

City staff also made a presentation stating the exception did meet all standards for compatibility, location, setbacks, lot frontage and access.

Staff recommended approval of the fuel tank under numerous conditions in regards to buffering, the use to refuel their boats only, tank size limits and numerous other conditions.

Since Feichthaler made the residents case so thoroughly, public comment was brief, with most everyone expressing their concerns.

Resident Dan Sheppard was for the plan, however. He said much of what the residents were feeling was fear from what they went through from the previous business that was there. He also said the tank is a better alternative than a five-gallon container, which he saw explode one time.

I see people filling up their five-gallon jugs and put them in the garage or along the side of the house. Thats extremely unsafe, Sheppard said. Having the five-gallon containers pollutes even more.

City Council came to the conclusion that the rental place had existed without the fuel pump and will continue to do so.

My big issue is its the wrong thing in the wrong place, said Councilmember Rick Williams, who refused to support it.

Councilmember Jennifer Nelson made a motion to pass a resolution to overrule the hearing examiners ruling, which passed 8-0, much to the glee of the community.

I am so relieved because as one of the council members said it was the wrong application for the wrong place. We were so concerned about fire, water pollution and Im delighted with the result, said resident Joan Hampton.The Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District approved a collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 79 during its regular monthly meeting held on Aug. 20. This allowed the district to finalize contract agreements with the local union.

Bargaining agreement discussions primarily revolve around job descriptions and suggested amendments to duties; qualifications; education, certifications, licenses and registrations; and other items such as salaries.

According to Dis-trict Manager David Lindsay, this particular agreement included a few job description changes plus employees received a 2.87 percent COLA and a 1 percent merit increase.

While board members decided to unanimously approve the agreement with the union, Commissioner Mike Welch asked that in the future the district hold an executive session prior to finalizing these types of contracts.

During the executive session we can all get the chance to put our two cents in collectively. There are a few points in the contract that I feel we could have tightened up, Welch said.

Welch also pointed out to the importance of the district having a set of norms in place as it moves towards the leadership role set forth by legislators.

Chair David Deetscreek asked Lindsay for an approximate time-frame from the start and ending of future negotiations with union members, so that the board could plan an executive session to go over all contracts prior to execution.

Once we know a time frame, then we can set a policy on these procedures for the future, said Welch.

Under action agenda items was the approval of the Able Canal pathway alignment with the county and FDOT.

According to District Manager David Lindsay, the county has looked at several alignment options for the pathway.

We feel that the north side will allow for a lot more right-of-way, so our recommendations are to keep the pathway on the north side. Its safer for pedestrians, said Lindsay.

Board members agreed to unanimously approve the action agenda item.

The Lehigh Acres Architectural Zoning Review Board also made a presentation during this months meeting. Board Vice Chair Tami Baker asked to bring back discussions on how they could come under the umbrella of LA-MSID in the future.

We are looking to give our recommendations more validity and offer a better voice for the residents on matters concerning zoning here in Lehigh Acres, said Baker.

Commissioner Welch suggested that the zoning board hold a meeting with its district manager to discuss the logistics and how the relationship between the two entities would work. They could then bring it back before the board for ratification.

Board Vice Chair Mike Bonacolta seconded approval to look into the matter further.

I think its a good idea and something that we should definitely look into more seriously, said Bonacolta.

Commissioners also discussed the districts legislative requests, which would be presented during the next legislative session by their legal counsel, Persson and Cohen. This would authorize the law firm to draft language for a cleanup bill that includes priority items to be introduced during the upcoming session.

The Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District will hold its next meeting Oct. 22, at 5:30 p.m., at the LA-MSID, at 601 East County Lane.Strides are already taking place with the Develop Lehigh campaign.

A few years ago the Lee County EDO started the campaign Develop Lehigh. Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce Presi-dent Ed Moore said their goal was to find business owners and people in each area, MLK, North Fort Myers and Lehigh, that have been long standing community members to work with to help develop those areas further.

I went to a couple of meetings probably about a year ago only because I have been in the Chamber for a while and I heard about it, Moore said. When I became the chairman in January I started going to them every month because that is part of our goal as a Chamber, not only have a good networking group for Lehigh, but to help develop business.

With Moores entire philosophy to help Lehigh grow, getting involved in Develop Lehigh was a logical move.

Moore, who lives in Gateway and is a Fort Myers business owner, wanted to become the president of the Chamber because his grandfather always told him, You are supposed to help your neighbors.

Lehigh is my neighbor. That is why I am here, he said.

When Moore began attending the Develop Lehigh meetings, he did so to learn about the community.

I have learned that Lehigh has very little commercial property available. When the developers laid all of this stuff out, they only allotted 3 percent of this area as zoned commercial, he said. We have 91,000 lots that are still uninhabited.

Moore said they have taken maps and dotted everybody who is pass due 10 years on their taxes.

While there is not a ton of properties, there are a significant amount, he said.

Discussions are being had with the county of what they should do with the delinquent accounts.

Do we take that land and put it into a land bank? If I have two acres there and need to add three more acres on it, can we pull from that land bank and swap those parcels, Moore asked.

He said there is not enough land in the same spot available to put in a store such as Home Depot, which requires a minimum of 10 acres.

With 91,000 lots sold to individuals and some investors, we dont have 10 acres all together to be able to do that, Moore said.

If a land bank was feasible, he said they could swap acres to bring in more commercial businesses.

Part of the conversation for Develop Lehigh stemmed around figuring out how to rezone property, which has been accomplished. Lee County, Moore said, has implemented a mix-use overlay, which promotes a blend of commercial and residential uses in certain areas of Lehigh Acres.

There has been a noticeable change in Lehigh Acres as a result of the overlay. Moore said Lee Health is putting up a new building on the east side of Lee Boulevard, as well as filling a strip center near Publix and State Road 82.

They have taken over the majority of the strip center putting in diagnostic labs. Its making a big difference, Moore said.

Committees have been created to help decide what types of businesses should be brought to Lehigh Acres with the limited amount of land and resources. That type of business is retail.

There is a team that went to Orlando to a tradeshow last week to invite retail businesses to open their stores here, Moore said.

Another committee is focusing on water, having discussions with FGUA. Moore said the current water company is a holding company and not a full fledged water company. He said they need to find someone to develop waterlines because the majority of water in Lehigh is well based.

With Moore having a background in technology, his focus and passion is bringing better broadband to the area.

I have been told and experienced that the Comcast and CenturyLink broadband is really unreliable. Part of the reason is because of the fiber that is piped into it, he said. I am working with the county. Lee, Collier and Hendry County have formed a coalition of bringing better broadband to the area.

Another focal point of Develop Lehigh is roads. Moore said the county has increased its $1 million budget of resurfacing existing roads to $5 million.

Lehigh is really being watched because it is growing so fast, he said. There are so many people here. The politicians and people at the county level realize that Lehigh is a very viable place to live. People want to live there.

As far as roads, Moore said some projects are already in place, such as the widening of Homestead Road, and the State Road 82 continuous flow project.

He said another road that people may not be aware of is where Alico Road connects with I-75 by Gulf Coast Town Center.

That road takes you all the way to 82. We are going to have another four-lane road taking us out of Lehigh, he said.

Another plan, which is supposed to begin in three years, will take place on the west side of Luckett Road and I-75. He explained that road to be another entry and exit point to I-75.

The more businesses that come into Lehigh, the more people will stay in Lehigh and not have to travel to 82. It will help relieve the traffic flow, he said.

Moore said they are looking to grow the Chambers membership base, so they can hire a full-time director.

I made it my mission because education is so important to me. Education has to be geared towards the business owners and what they need coming out of high school. We have to gear our education towards the businesses that are hiring, Moore said.

This past summer the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce paired up with the Lee County School District for the SOS program, a program that matches students with employers. Moore explained the program to be similiar to an internship.

We find out what the employers need and find out what the students are wanting and marry those two up for six weeks, he said. We are looking forward to doing it next year on a larger scale.Youngsters are encouraged to join Gunner at East County Regional Library Saturday, Sept. 8, to practice their reading skills in a fun environment.

Youth Services Programming Coordinator Amy-Jane McWilliam said the R.E.A.D. to Dog program is geared towards children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Its a way for them to improve their literacy skills in a nonintimidating way, she said. Children dont have to sign up, but they do have to sign in. They are each given time to read to the therapy dog.

McWilliam said the library has offered the program for quite some time, but not always on a consistent basis throughout all of the branches due to the availability of therapy dogs.

Its a nice way for children that may be nervous about reading, unsure or shy, become more comfortable to read in front of an animal and in public, she said. Its another way to practice.

Lisa Talcott and her chocolate lab, pointer mix, Gunner, visit the East County Regional Library the second Saturday of every month from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Gunner and I have been doing it pretty close to two years now, she said of the R.E.A.D. to Dog program.

Gunner, a registered therapy dog, was rescued from the Caloosa Humane Society four years ago.

Before Talcott adopted Gunner, she found out that he was owner-surrendered twice at the Humane Society.

He sat at the shelter for a year and nobody even looked at him, she said.

For a couple of weeks, Talcott watched Gunner online before she traveled to the Humane Society.

As soon as I met him, I just knew he would be a therapy dog. His demeanor was calm. He liked people and he was smart, she said.

Talcott is the therapy dog coordinator at the Childrens Advocacy Center in Fort Myers. She said they have close to 30 therapy dogs.

He comes to work with me three days a week. Sometimes he will help out here, Talcott said, adding that they spend their weekends at Gulf Coast Hospital doing therapy work.

Before Gunner and Talcott leave their home for the Saturday reading affair, he gets a bath and has his teeth brushed before hes dressed in his therapy dog collar and vest.

He is just him. He knows who needs therapy. He just loves people, Talcott said.

While at the library, Gunner sits in a special spot, which is accompanied by a blanket. The therapy dog sits on the blanket, while the kids sit around him.

While one child is reading the others are petting and talking to Gunner, Talcott said.

Since the duo started, she said she has seen a lot of changes with the kids.

It gives them confidence in their reading. Gunner is not judging them. It helps with their social skills as well. They interact with Gunner and are able to interact with the kids around him, she said.

Talcott said therapy work is her passion.

It makes my heart feel good to know that my dog is helping someone else. This dog is my heart. I am so proud of him and what he can do and the affect he has on people, she explained.

East County Regional Library is located at 881 Gunnery Road North. For more information, call (239) 533-4200.This week, the Lee Board of County Commission had the opportunity to discuss our successful Conservation 20/20 program. I voted NO on Administrative Agenda Item #2 that recommends changes to the programs application review criteria and approval process. I voted against this proposed change in order to keep the integrity of the program that is currently in place at the will and approval of the voters and the policy direction of the County Commission. I do not want to see extra credit given to land acquisition for the use of utility projects or storm water storage. I support water treatment, but not at the cost of our Conservation lands, wildlife habitat and taxpayers dollars. In the last six years, I have had the opportunity to vote in favor of every Conservation land purchase that has come before me for consideration into the 20/20 program. I proudly voted to place the 20/20 question back on the 2016 ballot as a straw poll, so that the voters could reaffirm their support. As we know, the voters overwhelmingly approved of Lee County continuing the program and as a straw poll, non-binding referendum. As Chairman of this current Board of County Commission, we have now set policy to acquire Conservation lands to protect our quality of life in Lee County. As of today, there is a total of 95,290 acres held in Conservation, covering 21 percent of the county. In the last four years, we have acquired 5,724 acres of land from development requirements set by this current Board; lands that the developer had to maintain in Conservation at no additional cost to you or me, the taxpayer.

Our environment economy is still healthy, yet we all know the challenges still ahead as we address the red tide and blue-green algae inflicting our beloved beaches and waterways. The violation of our County Ordinance 08-08, which bans the use of fertilizer containing phosphorus and nitrogen during the summer months, is wreaking havoc in our water. We must continue to protect our natural resources by reducing the nutrient loads from runoff coming from developed areas. It is so critical to have programs like Conservation 20/20 in place that give us the ability to actively pursue the Conservation lands that can provide green space, homes for habitat and reduce storm water from entering our waterways.

In 2015, the County Commission adopted Ordinance 15-08, which provided a number of amendments to the 20/20 Program. Ordinance 15-08 reiterates that the Conservation 20/20 Program is an ongoing County activity financed through the Lee County General Fund. In this law, we also adopted a rule that states the fund must be replenished once it drops below $40 million. The 20/20 Acquisition Fund balance is currently $47 Million. For the Fiscal Year 2018/2019 upcoming Budget Hearings, the County Manager has proposed additional $3.5 million into the 20/20 fund. Do I think that is enough? I absolutely do not and I look forward to our future conversations about funding during the Budget Hearings this coming month.

It continues to be my privilege to represent over 720,000 (and counting) citizens of Lee County. I remain dedicated to a life of public service as your County Commissioner and Chairman!

 Cecil Pendergrass represents District 2 on the Lee County Board of County Commissioners. He serves as the boards chair.To the editor:

Its clear and its absolute  anyone who advocates the entry into the United States without the proper documents is committing a treasonous act! The particulars surrounding the law in this respect, all created by Congress, offer no exclusions. As a matter of fact, I would say that pressing for illegal immigration is tantamount to colluding with criminals. And this is a crime!

Sure, if one wants to feel sorry for individuals who would like to come to America and escape lesser advantages, thats understood. After all, theres no doubt that the United States is the greatest nation on earth

However, there is also no doubt that dopey Democrats who rail for open borders are encouraging criminality and, as a result, they should be prosecuted for assisting in the weakening of our nation  and thats treason!

Elected officials when taking office sign an oath to protect and defend the United States. Time and again, those here illegally have been responsible for murder and mayhem along with drug smuggling and the general depreciation of this nation.

The solution proposed by the Dems is open the borders, fire the border law enforcement officers, and let those here illegally vote and receive welfare benefits.

Sounds like this group should be arrested and given a sobriety test.

We need the wall and we desperately need elected officials who respect the law and value the lives and welfare of American citizens!

Its clear to me that Mollie Tibbets was murdered by an illegal immigrant and her blood is on the hands of every jackass who advocates entry into America without the proper regulation.

Were a nation of laws and all those involved in protecting us by way of law enforcement should be revered and respected!

The over-paid and useless elected officials who are pushing for harm for America need to be dismissed from office at our earliest opportunity.

Dick Kalfus

Cape CoralCouncils respond to CCC call for governance reforms

Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) has responded to the State Government regarding the recommendations of the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) in its report Operation Windage, which further examined the activities of Ipswich City Council.

LGAQ President and Sunshine Coast Council Mayor, Mark Jamieson, reaffirmed that councils welcome all actions that genuinely support greater adherence to good governance and ways to strengthen public trust in the system of local government.

Mayor Jamieson said the LGAQ supported many of the recommendations made by the CCC, including restrictions on the use of private email accounts to conduct council business.

Without a doubt, we agree with the CCC that certain policy and procedural reforms for local government are needed.

Councils are keenly aware that they should be seen to meet the communitys expectations regarding openness, accountability and transparency.

The LGAQ has however, cautioned the Palaszczuk Government against moving to restrict the use of controlled entities by local councils to do business on behalf of their communities.

The LGAQ has told the Government that controlled entities  when established with sound governance arrangements in place  can (and do) conduct their business activities in a manner that serves the public interest.

The findings against one council should not be used to force unwieldy and unnecessary restrictions on the entire local government sector, Mayor Jamieson said.

Councils that use controlled entities appropriately, do so in the best interests of the communities they represent.

Mayor Jamieson said the LGAQ agreed that elected councillors should not sit on the boards of controlled entities but would oppose excessive restrictions.

We believe the standards of behaviour, transparency and accountability expected of local government should be the same as those applied to the State Government.

It is in that spirit that we will work with the Government to chart the best way forward for local councils in Queensland.Stock Market News

USA Markets - Asia markets mixed as NAFTA talks and US-China trade tensions remain in focus 29-08-2018 04:17



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.ukAs Marshall prepares to return from its bye week, Marshall head coach Charles Huff wants his team to remember the lessons of the season's first half - good and bad - in preparation for the final five weeks of Conference USA play.It is common for companies to organize various informal events where workers can come with their partners. One of those...Voting 96-6, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on third and final reading a measure institutionalizing the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which aims to reduce poverty and promote human capital development. House Bill 7773, principally authored by Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, proposes to prioritize investments on human capital, provide resources and improve delivery of servicesparticularly education, health, and nutritionto the poor, ending the cycle of inter-generational poverty. During the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the 4s was introduced to assist the poor families through an executive order. The program was continued by the Aquino administration, and even up to the present time. The House will transmit the bill to the Senate for action. The 4Ps Act also seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, empower women and girls and achieve gender equality, and capacitate those who cannot provide for themselves so that they become productive and healthy members of society. HB 7773 defines the poor as those households whose income falls below the poverty threshold as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority and who cannot afford in a sustained manner to provide their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing, and other amenities. The program will be implemented until it has covered 60 percent of the total number of extremely poor households in the country, as may be determined by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Under the measure, qualified households will be selected by the Department of Social Welfare and Development on a nationwide basis through a standardized targeting system. The DSWD is also mandated to conduct a revalidation of targeting of beneficiaries every three years. Each qualified household-beneficiary shall be entitled to a lump-sum conditional cash transfer equivalent to P2,200 each month for expenses on health, nutrition, and education. In sum, a household-beneficiary may receive up to P26,400 in a year, for a maximum of five years. The measure also allows for loan assistance if the beneficiary had successfully completed the required skills training.The bill also provides that the DSWD will provide beneficiaries with direct and secured access to cash grants through authorized government depository banks. If the locality is not adequately served by an AGDB, the DSWD may contract the services of rural banks, thrift banks, and other similar institutions duly accredited by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The 4Ps Act also provides conditionalities of coverage. For instance, children up to five years must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccinations, minors up to 18 years old must avail of de-worming pills at least twice a year, and pregnant women must avail of pre- and post-natal care and give birth with the assistance of a skilled or trained health care professional in a health facility. The measure places emphasis on education as well, as it sets conditionalities that children three to four years of age must attend day care or pre-school classes at least 85 percent of the time, while children from 5 to 18 years old must attend elementary or secondary classes at least 85 percent of the time. Moreover, at least one responsible person from the family must attend family development sessions conducted by the DSWD at least once a month. At least one responsible person must also join and complete at least two government-recognized or accredited non-government organization-sponsored skills training programs or must be engaged in livelihood activities. Should beneficiaries fail to comply with set conditions, they shall be dealt with through a case management system as provided under HB 7773. Oversight and evaluation of the implementation of the program shall be under the purview of an Advisory Council to be created for the purpose. It shall be established at the municipal, regional, and national levels and shall be chaired by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary. Members of the Advisory Council shall be composed of representatives from the implementing national government agencies including the Neda, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, the local government unit concerned, and accredited NGOs. To complement the monitoring activities of DSWD, an independent monitoring committee composed of representatives from the private sector and civil society organizations shall be established.The House of Representatives has set for Oct. 12 the approval of the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 after the Executive department agreed to defer for at least two to three years the full implementation of the cash-based budgeting system. House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said the House will pass the budget bill before Congress adjourns in October. We want a new budget, Andaya told reporters as the House committee on appropriations, led by Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, resumed its deliberations on the budget. We have agreed on a two-to-three-year transition period [for the full implementation of the cash-based budgeting system], Andaya said. The agreement came following a lunch meeting in Malacanang attended by Andaya, Nograles, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. The House appropriations committee suspended the budget deliberations for two weeks after lawmakers opposed the cash-based budgeting system that the Budget department had adopted. To resolve the budget impasse, the Executive department and the House agreed to adopt a hybrid budgeting system that is a mix of the cash-based scheme and the current obligation-based system.The cash-based budgeting system limits appropriations, bidding, completion of projects and payments within a single year and the first three months of the following year. Under the present obligation-based budgeting, the government can spread out the appropriations across two years or more to allow the completion of projects. The House and the Executive agreed to extend the implementation of projects to 18 months from 15 months that the Budget department proposed initially. Andaya said the Budget department agreed to restore some of the budget cuts in social services, particularly in health and education and even public works. A part of it will be restored. We have agreed that it [the budget for social services] is insufficient, Andaya said. He said the funding could come either from unprogrammed funds or a supplemental budget that might be filed later on.Phnom PenhFourteen Cambodia opposition supporters jailed for insurrection were released Tuesday, the largest pardon since Premier Hun Sen extended his grip on power in an election that turned the kingdom into a one-party state. The main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved months before the July election, giving Hun Sens ruling Cambodia Peoples Party a clean sweep of seats in parliament, and many CNRP members and government critics were rounded up in a crackdown on dissent. The 14 released Tuesday from Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh were pardoned by the Cambodian king for convictions that carried between seven and 20 years behind bars. Their pardons came after they all apologized to Hun Sen in letters. They were arrested in 2015 and charged with insurrection after clashes that left dozens of security officers and protesters wounded. We could work together. We may argue when it comes to politics, but we shouldnt kill each other, Meach Sovannara, a former press officer who had been sentenced to 20 years, said in a Facebook Live broadcast after he was released.Last week Cambodias strongman ruler said more pardons were likely but rejected suggestions he was bending to international pressure following his one-sided election win. Analysts have said Hun Sen could use pardons and the kingdoms pliant courts to help deflect criticism, as he has in the past, after Julys vote was widely decried as a sham. The US widened travel bans on the country after the vote but Cambodias main concern is its tariff-free access to European garment markets, where sales fuel the countrys largest industry. Land rights activists and a former lawmaker have also been freed in recent days. But the pardons have yet to include the CNRPs co-founder Kem Sokha, who was arrested before the partys dissolution last November and thrown in jail on treason charges.What Would Impeaching Trump Mean for Gold and Silver?

Clint Siegner : Robert Mueller appeared to be spinning his wheels for the last year and a half. But recent prosecutions of prominent Trump campaign figures now have Democrats giddy over the possibility of being handed grounds for impeachment.



Tasked with investigating whether or not Donald Trump and people working for him colluded with the Russians during the presidential campaign, the special counsel finally got some traction last week.





Metals investors are wondering if political turmoil ratcheting several notches higher might have ramifications for gold and silver prices.



The chances for impeachment did get a boost, although it would seem to hinge primarily on whether the Republicans lose the House and Senate in November.



Suddenly a number of people in Trumps orbit have either fallen to prosecution or appear eager to cooperate with the investigation against him.



Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman, was convicted of financial fraud and tax evasion early last week.



Suddenly a number of people in Trumps orbit have either fallen to prosecution or appear eager to cooperate with the investigation against him.



Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman, was convicted of financial fraud and tax evasion early last week.



One of the presidents former attorneys, Michael Cohen, pled guilty to charges related to paying off two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.



David Peck, who owns the National Enquirer and is considered to be a friend of the president, was given immunity for whatever testimony he can provide on the subject.



And finally, Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization also got immunity for whatever he might have to share about his boss.



Some are now speculating on how an impeachment effort might play out in the metals markets. But well get a much better idea of which way the political winds are blowing for the White House after the crucial November mid-term election.



Last week isnt even the first-time investors have contemplated the possibility of impeachment. So far, the markets seem to be ignoring the possibility.



With McCain dead and Corker & Flake retiring, there are fewer Republican senators around obsessed with sticking it to Trump.

Its a very daunting political task. Only two presidents have ever been impeached  Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Neither were convicted in the Senate and removed from office, however. That can only be done with a  majority vote.



Even the most optimistic Democrats are not expecting to win a majority of that size in this Falls midterm elections.



To convict, Democrats will need some help from Republicans  and with John McCain now dead and Bob Corker and Jeff Flake retiring, there are fewer Republican senators around obsessed with sticking it to Trump.



It could certainly be said Trump doesnt have too many true friends amongst the Republican leadership in Congress. However, the President has plenty of loyalty amongst his base. It seems unlikely Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is going to risk suiciding the party by collaborating with Trumps enemies across the aisle.



Impeachment looks like a bad bet based on what we in the public know today.



If the threat of impeachment somehow becomes more credible based on the revelation of more serious crimes, then all bets are off. It will move markets. But, for now at least, it remains a longshot.



Major political turmoil is just one of many reasons to buy insurance in the form of gold and silver bullion. Investors can add upheaval in Washington to a longer list, which, at the moment, also includes:

Precious metals looking oversold.

Extremely bullish relative positioning of banks versus speculators in the Commitment of Traders data.

Several potential catalysts which could reignite safe-haven buying  not the least of which is a major correction in the exuberant stock markets.

By Clint Siegner

MoneyMetals.com

Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, perhaps the nation's fastest-growing dealer of low-premium precious metals coins, rounds, and bars. Siegner, a graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals' brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs.

 2018 Clint Siegner - 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.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.



BNSF Railway is promoting Libby as an area ripe for new rail-reliant development. The Kootenai Business Park is one of three industrial sites nationwide BNSF is spotlighting this year.

BNSFs Certified Sites program identifies and promotes areas it deems "shovel-ready" for new businesses to set up shop. The designation is based on an evaluation of environmental standards, available utilities and existing infrastructure. Its meant to lower risk for companies looking to develop quickly in an area that can speedily ship goods to market.

Tina Oliphant is the executive director of the Lincoln County Port Authority, which owns and operates the 400-acre Kootenai Business Park. She says being showcased by BNSF is a marketing windfall Libby wouldnt come by on its own.

By Nicky Ouellet

http://www.mtpr.org/post/bnsf-libby-industrial-park-ready-new-rail-reliant-businessThis week, I am welcoming everyone in Montana back to school and I am looking forward to another incredible school year full of opportunities to learn, explore, and make a difference in our state.

As the father of three school aged children, nothing is more important to me than making sure Montanas students have the same opportunities that were afforded to me by a quality public education in Montana.

Our education system is our nations great equalizer. Regardless of our backgrounds or where we live our schools open the doors of opportunity to all Montanans.

My wife Lisa and I are both products of public education in Montana and our three kids go to the same schools we attended.

Montanas students will grow up to become the next entrepreneurs and business leaders, the construction workers and pipefitters who build our homes and businesses, the doctors and nurses who care for our families and neighbors, and the engineers and architects who design our growing communities. Some will even become the next teachers within our schools who educate the future generations of Montanans. But it all starts today.

Today, we are making an investment in our future and in the future of our great state. Because it is these very students who will one day lead the people of Montana.

When we look back on this school year and all the success Montanas students have had in the classroom, in our communities, or on the field, lets make sure everyone has shared in that success. Lets lift each other up, be kind to one another, and share in the progress of building an even greater Montana than before.

Heres to another successful school year and to all of the amazing things Montana students will accomplish this year and in the future.

Sincerely,

STEVE BULLOCK

GovernorSouth Dakota health officials are asking the Trump administration to approve a program that would impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients who are parents or caretakers.

Under the proposal, parents aged 19 to 59 and other caretakers on Medicaid who live in South Dakotas two most populous counties would have to work at least 80 hours a month, take classes or complete other activities to keep their coverage.

By Jessie Hellmann

Full Story: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/403960-south-dakota-asks-trump-administration-to-approve-medicaid-workThe value of the deal was under $10 million and was Identity Automations second acquisition in just under two years, James Litton, CEO and co-founder of Identity Automation, told the Houston Business Journal.

"HealthCast has done an excellent job of building a reputation in the health care industry for providing very robust security solutions," said Litton. "Identity Automation, with our rapid identity product, really is able to come in and extend the capabilities quite significantly to help these health care organizations ensure that theyre as secure as they need to be."

By Chris Mathews

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/07/26/houston-cybersecurity-firm-acquires-health-care.htmlOhio Director of Health updates school quarantine guidelines Audio Article On Monday, Oct. 25, the director of the Ohio Department of Health Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, MBA announced two new additional COVID-19 quarantine options: Mask to Stay and Test to Play. According to a release from the Ohio Department of Health on Monday, Vanderhoff gave school districts and local health departments...

Chesterhill Village Council making progress with projects Audio Article Councilwoman Chastity Mayle received a call from Morgan County Fortuna Grant to see if the village wants to apply for funding for its park project. Mayor Wetzel said they do not fund village projects. Randy Shook said Wayne Shaw might be able to apply as an individual. The Community Center...

Malta Council receives gift from Village of McConnelsville Audio Article VA Drake said council has been gifted a leaf vacuum by McConnelsville Council. They have purchased a new leaf vacuum and have offered their old vacuum to Malta Village. It needs a new impeller. It works as it is, but to be most effective it does need the impeller replaced....

Morgan County Sheriffs Office Daily Call Reports Audio Article Editors Note: The following are initial incident reports from callers to a Morgan County Sheriffs Office Dispatcher. Any details, charges or situations may have been distorted by the caller, or perhaps may have been found to be different after the officer further investigated the incident. Tuesday, July 6, 2021 ...

HINDSIGHT 2021 Audio Article 10 Years Ago (2011)  John Walter Finley, a mayoral candidate on the November ballot, was named mayor following action taken at the village council meeting prior to the election. Finley was sworn in recently to fill the council seat vacated by the resignation of Steve Inman. Councilwoman Michele Blackburn...

McConnelsville Council seeking wastewater treatment plant operator Audio Article Village Administrator Jennifer Ponchak reported she received a resignation from the wastewater treatment plant operator. His last day will be October 22. The position has been posted as a village employee and also for contract private operators. The deadline for posting is October 15. She stated she has had several...KABUL  Acting and Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Nasir Ahmad Andisha met with the Indian Ambassador to Kabul, Mr. Vinay Kumar this Afternoon.

At the outset, Dr. Andisha deemed valuable the expansion and strengthening of cooperation between Afghanistan and India in economic, political, cultural, military, aviation, civil services, and regional spheres.

Both sides discussed and exchanged opinion on the upcoming political, economic, and trade programs between the two countries due to be held in Afghanistan and India in September 2018. They also talked on the dynamics of the peace process in Afghanistan in coordination with the countries in the region and the world.

Later on, the Indian Ambassador to Kabul stated that India remains committed to sustain cooperation with Afghanistan.

Dr. Andisha thanked the Indian government for its cooperation with the government and people of Afghanistan and deemed significant the political and economic cooperation between the two countries for the purpose of a politically and economically stable region and emphasized the expansion of such cooperation.KABUL  Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mrs. Adela Raz is heading a delegation consisted of representatives from various institutions of Afghanistan to participate in the 28th summit of World Water Week in Stockholm.

At this summit, high level delegations from over 130 countries, representatives of international aid organizations, specialized entities in the area of water, researchers and credible academic institutions from all over the world have participated. At the sidelines of the main summit, Mrs. Raz delivered a talk in the high level panel on Water Diplomacy. She hinted at the significance of regional cooperation and Afghanistans role as a bridge connecting the countries in the region, referred to Water Diplomacy as an important element in strengthening economic cooperation and mentioned the impacts of climate change on ground water resources in Afghanistan and the region.

Furthermore, the Deputy Foreign Minister responded to questions regarding the opportunities and challenges of Water Diplomacy in the region in the SOFA program arranged by the Stockholm International Water Institute.

World Water Week is the greatest gathering of states, experts, professors, international organizations and academia at the global level that is held annually at the last week of August in Stockholm-Sweden.

At the sidelines of the summit, Mrs. Raz is set to meet and hold discussions with representatives of various states and organizations to seek cooperation in the area of water in Afghanistan.KABUL  Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Hekmat Khalil Karzai met with the State Commissioner for Counter-Terrorism & Security Issues of the Peoples Republic of China, Mr. Ching Koping who arrived Kabul at the head of a high-level delegation of his country last evening.

In this meeting, the two sides discussed and exchanged views on: establishment of better mechanisms for combating terrorism, further expansion of friendly diplomatic, economic and security relations between the two countries, training of Afghan diplomats in China, the Trilateral Commission of Afghanistan-China-Pakistan, the Trilateral Commission of Afghanistan-China-India, Afghanistans preparations for holding the Trilateral Meeting between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan-China-Pakistan in the near future, current dynamics in the region and Afghan-Pak relations particularly in the context of APAPPS.

Mr. Karzai emphasized maintaining cooperation between the two countries in various areas as well as the Afghan policy towards a united China.KABUL  Holding of the contest for creating, publishing and disseminating disrespectful cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the beloved Prophet of Muslims around the world is not only a source of deep offence for the People and Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan but has also provoked the feelings of all Muslims around the world.

Insulting any religion and sacred values of human beings is an undesired deed. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan condemns in strongest terms, this heinous and inhumane act and one that is in contradiction of recognized moral, human rights and freedom of speech standards.

We seriously call on relevant entities at the United Nations and the International Community to prevent any such acts that cause hatred and turmoil among the followers of religions.The states highest court Aug. 23 reached a decision in a Morgan Hill case that questions a 30-plus-year-old interpretation of zoning law in California.

The California Supreme Court decision affirms the right of citizens to challenge government actions through ballot referendumsspecifically, the actions of a city or a developer that tell property owners how they can use their land.

The potential landmark decision in the City of Morgan Hill vs. Bushey forces the city back to the drawing board on a 2015 effort to rezone a property north of town where a developer wanted to build a hotel. The city may either hold a ballot referendum or rezone the site using some other classification that doesnt allow a hotel.

Remaining legal questions about the ultimate use for that propertya 3.39-acre site near the corner of Madrone Parkway and Lightpost Waycould get kicked back to the trial courts, Morgan Hill City Attorney Don Larkin said.

What is clear is that the voters have the right to referend zoning ordinances, even where a successful referendum will result in zoning that is inconsistent with the General Plan, Larkin said. While this is a significant change in the law, we respect the courts thoughtful reasoning in reaching this result.

Attorneys for the city, developer River Park Hospitality and the Morgan Hill Hotel Coalition argued their competing cases before the states six Supreme Court justices May 30. On Aug. 23, the judges unanimously decided in favor of arguments posed by the hotel coalition, that the peoples right to referendums outweighs the citys legal requirement to keep its zoning ordinances consistent with the General Plan.

The city and River Park essentially urge us (in previous arguments to different courts) to find that the policies underlying general plans are of such great importance that they require us to eliminate the right to referendum, the Aug. 23 Supreme Court opinion reads. That would not be harmonization, but victory of General Plans over the referendum right. Such a result would be contrary to our approach to statutory interpretation, and our liberal construction of the peoples reserved power of referendum.

The legal battle started when the Morgan Hill City Council in March 2015 rezoned the Lightpost Way property from industrial to general commercial. River Park Hospitality requested the rezoning, and planned to build a 149-room hotel on the site.

The council later rejected a petitionfiled by the Morgan Hill Hotel Coalition and signed by more than 4,000 votersto repeal the new zoning or put the question on a ballot in a general election.

In January 2016, the coalition sued the city for violating the state elections code by rejecting the certified, voter-initiated petition. The coalition of local hotel owners had been arguing to the council at the time that another new hotel would harm the existing market.

In February 2016, then-interim City Attorney Gary Baum revisited the councils original rejection of the petition. He recommended the council approve a ballot measure asking the voters if they wanted the River Park property to retain its original industrial zoning, but at the same time challenge the measure in court by filing litigation against Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey.

Santa Clara County Superior Court sided with the city in a March 2016 ruling.

The hotel coalition appealed that decision, which was overturned in the coalitions favor May 30, 2017, by the California Sixth Appellate District Court.

That brought the case to the states Supreme Court. The Aug. 23 opinion is a tentative ruling that wont be certified for another 30 days.

Throughout the case, city officials have argued that if the council had approved the River Park zoning referendum and the voters decided to keep the property zoned industrial, that would create an illegal inconsistency between the zoning ordinance (industrial) and the citys general plan (commercial). The city, like many municipalities before it, cited a case from 1985, deBottari vs. the City of Norco, to support this argument.

The Supreme Court justices, however, disapprove(d) of the reasoning in the deBottari decision. The Aug. 23 opinion says it is legally OK for the result of a referendum to create a temporary inconsistency between the two documents, as long as the city moves to correct the lapse within a reasonable period. Specifically, the city could eliminate the inconsistency by rezoning the property to a more appropriate classification, creating a new land use zone that jibes with the general plan, or even amend the general plan to make it consistent with the peoples preferred zoning, the justices opinion explains.

Attorneys for the hotel coalition have argued that the city could rezone the Lightpost Way to any one of 12 commercial zones contained in Morgan Hills zoning ordinance, even if the selected zone does not allow hotel use.

The Aug. 23 Supreme Court decision leaves it to the lower trial courts to settle whether the application of one of these zones would be satisfactory and consistent with the citys General Plan.

Attorneys for the hotel coalition said the Supreme Courts opinion on the Morgan Hill case is a victory for the voters of California. Attorney Randall Toch thinks it is a remote possibility that the lower courts will agree that the city has no other zoning options or dismiss the suggestion that the city could create a new commercial zoning classification.

In the course of the (Aug. 23) opinion, the Supreme Court methodically rejects virtually every argument that the city and the developer made to the court in their unsuccessful attempt to deny the people their Constitutional right to vote on the proposed law, Toch said in an email.A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge has added a Morgan Hill school trustee candidate to the November ballot, upholding an appeal by the candidate, Vanessa Sutter, who argued she had been given wrong information about the filing deadline by a county elections clerk.

The Aug 23 ruling by Judge Theodore Zayner means voters in Trustee Area 5, in Morgan Hill, will have a choice on Nov. 6 between Sutter, a Morgan Hill parent and political newcomer, and Angelica Diaz, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2016.

The trustee race will be one of the four contested trustee seats on the seven-member Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education. The fifth seat went uncontested and candidate Heather Orosco will be appointed.

Sutter missed the filing deadline and asked the court to allow her to file late, and on Thursday (Aug. 23) the court said OK, said Eric Kurhi, communications specialist with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. Its not an unusual occurrence and there is a provision for it in the California Elections Code.

Sutters first venture into politics has been a rollercoaster. After pulling candidate papers Aug. 3, she said the clerk who helped her at the county elections office explained that Sutter had until Aug. 10 to file the papers, unless the incumbent (in this case, Tom Arnett) failed to file for re-election. Sutter said in an interview that she was told by the clerk that if the incumbent failed to file for re-election, she had until Aug. 15 to file. Since Arnett had already resigned as MHUSD Board President with two years remaining on his four-year term and had moved out of the area, he was not going to run again in Morgan Hill.

At that time, they told me I had until the 15th as long as Tom Arnett didnt reapply (because) their records showed there was an incumbent (for Trustee Area 5), explained Sutter, a parent in the local district for 16 years.

With the understanding that the candidate filing period would be extended, Sutter left town to take her son to college over the weekend of Aug. 10-12 and said she planned to file her paperwork at the county office when she returned. However, when she brought in her documents Aug. 13, Sutter was told she had missed the candidacy filing deadline.

They didnt refute that (the clerk) gave me wrong information, she said.They just said they were not liable for the information that was shared in good faith and they were sorry, but I had missed the deadline.

The frustrating part is if I dont get on the ballot, then we dont even get to have an election for this district, Sutter added prior to the judges ruling.

That changed on Aug. 23, when Sutters appeal in Santa Clara County Superior Court was heard and Zayner issued a writ of mandate order that allowed Sutter to get on the Nov. 6 ballot. Sutter filed the judges order with the County Board of Supervisors, which forwarded it to the Registrar of Voters, according to Sutter. She then brought in her paperwork to the county office on Aug. 24.

It was successful, said Sutter of her appeal. The process seemed kind of new to most people involved (but) I was basing it on facts of what I was told by the county.

As a parent in this school district for the past 16 years, I felt it was my responsibility to give back now, Sutter added. I was committed to seeing the candidate process through and I am glad that I am on the ballot. Voters deserve a choice.

Diaz, also a Morgan Hill parent and a program manager, could not agree more: I think its a good thing that the residents living in Area 5 will get to elect their next MHUSD board of education member.

Name: Vanessa Sutter

Age: 43

Family: Married with four children: two graduates of Ann Sobrato High School, one eighth grader and one fifth grader.

No previous elected or appointed office

Current Occupation: Student services advisor

Campaign slogan: The Choice for Better SchoolsWelcome to Morningstar.co.uk!

You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.The Lab Expands in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane

In Australia, The Lab Insight & Strategy Group has expanded its senior team with seven appointments across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.



Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Melbourne, the firm offers a variety of brand strategy and positioning, qualitative research and insights, and semiotics services. In Melbourne, Mark Hobart joins as Strategy Director with more than twenty years' brand strategy, innovation and insight consulting experience gained in director roles at Push Collective and Kantar TNS, in Melbourne and London. Rebecca Brody joins as a Senior Strategy Consultant with more than seven years' consulting experience, most recently at Carat; and Daniel Bluzer-Fry returns to the company as a Senior Strategy Consultant following a stint in the US at Flamingo.



In Sydney, Nikki Dahlgren joins as a Strategy Director, heading up The Lab's Behavioural Consulting offer, having previously worked for GfK, The Behavioural Architects and Bread and Butter. She is joined by Mandy Abel, who takes up a Senior Strategy Consultant role with more than fifteen years' consulting experience in Australia and the UK, working for firms including GfK, Vivid Research and Synovate. Katie Lucas takes the same title, also in Sydney, with seven years' consulting experience gained in Europe, Australia and Asia. Prior to joining, Lucas worked on brand strategy and innovation projects at Fiftyfive5.



In Brisbane, Simone Gair joins the team led by founder Paul Labagnara, alongside Amanda Windus and Ava Hawes. She joins as a Strategy Director bringing thirteen years of consulting experience, including more than six at The Leading Edge in London.



Neale Cotton, Group CEO, says of the hires: 'We couldn't be happier with the new additions to our team, together they bring a brilliant mix of experience across a wide range of industries, and further enhance our capability in innovation, behavioural economics and cultural strategy'.



Web site: www.thelabstrategy.com .



Infotainment

Mayans M.C. stars discuss filming in California border town: It was eye-opening

Aug 29 (Agencies) | Publish Date: 8/29/2018 11:47:44 AM IST

Mayans M.C., the high-speed spin-off of the wildly popular gang drama Sons of Anarchy, is facing some fierce comparisons, but its stars insist they arent feeling the pressure.

The Kurt Sutter follow-up for FX tells the story of EZ Reyes (JD Pardo), an outlaw fresh out of prison who is a prospect in the Mayan M.C. charter on the California-Mexico border. Oscar-nominated actor Edward James Olmos plays EZs father Felipe Reyes. Olmos, 71, told Fox News that unlike the world of Jax Teller, the upcoming stories for the upcoming series are completely different from each other.

It doesnt deal with the Sons of Anarchy world, Olmos stressed. This is a uniquely different storytelling process...This one takes off from that place where it ended and moves forward. Its very strong [and] very well understood by Kurt Sutter and [co-creator] Elgin James and all the producers and writers that are taking part in it.

But viewers arent just pointing out the correlations between both shows. Some critics have claimed that Mayans M.C. comes across as stereotypically depicting Latinos as criminals. Olmos said not only is it far from it, but it embraces the same dark side that makes good entertainment, which led to Sons of Anarchy becoming a lasting TV sensation. The drama aired from 2008 until 2014.

Were not only dealing with the dark side of it, we are dealing with the human aspect of the family, the understanding of who we are as people, he explained. You can criticize almost anything Theres something about what happens when you deal with the dark side like the Dexters, like the Sons of Anarchy,  they become very powerful pieces of work because the audience really [is] driven to it.

But Sutter isnt shying away from real-life political happenings. While politics or border issues arent dominant themes of the story, they are part of the journey audiences will embark on.

To keep the storyline authentic, Pardo confirmed Mayans M.C. was not only filmed in a real-life California border town but also at times across the border in Mexico.

The Caucasian actors work extremely, a lot, compared to Asian Americans, Indigenous, Latino. African Americans are starting to get a balance overall, but it hasnt changed.

Its gotten worse, because theres so much more diversity in this country, and yet the art forms are not catching up to it and are not equal on par. Its a [really] difficult journey, but were doing it one step at a time.

Pardo added hes grateful for the role. He insisted that curious viewers who tune in will be taken for a ride  one they wont soon forget.

Kurt Sutter brought up one time that during the auditioning process for this, there was a smaller pool, there was a limited pool of Latino actors that he had, he explained. Thats when it hit me that the reason why theres a smaller pool is because there is a lack of opportunity.

I look at this job, and Im just grateful. Im grateful that Ive been given an opportunity today because it is a blessing. There are just a lot of Latino actors out there that just dont have that opportunity.

(FoxNews)State

Aug 23 Senapati declaration: Naga Hoho snubs its president

DIMAPUR, AUG 28 (NPN) | Publish Date: 8/28/2018 12:28:58 PM IST

Naga Hoho (NH) through its general secretary, Mutsikhoyo Yhobuh and information and publicity secretary C. Daipao Tuesday clarified that joint declaration signed by NH president Chuba Ozukum along with the United Naga Council (UNC) on August 23 at Senapati, was a unilateral decision of Ozukum, without discussing with the executive council nor the Federal Assembly of Naga Hoho.

NH said Nagas were well aware, that Chuba Ozukum has been requested to demit his office gracefully following the resolution passed on October 31, 2017 taking into cognizance the letter served by the Ao Senden of its dissociation from the Hoho and directing the president to resign from the post. Besides, four tribes i.e. Pochury Hoho, Rengma Hoho, Chakhesang Public Organisation and Angami Public Organisation have put a stricture on the functioning of the Naga Hoho and for which the executive had served a reminder to Ozukum to demit his office, NH stated.

Notwithstanding such requests, the hoho said Ozukum in total defiance continue to issue press statements and has even gone to the extent of signing declaration as the president of Naga Hoho, which was against the spirit of the Yezabo of the Naga Hoho. While appreciating the progress in the Naga peace process, NH said it was eagerly waiting for its honorable and final settlement. The inordinate delay caused by the Government of India is rueful and we urge for an expeditious settlement, it added.

NH affirmed to continue to uphold the solidarity and unity of the Nagas and defend the rights of the Nagas in politics for securing lasting peace in our land as enshrined in our Yezabo. It however said that intimidation or ostracization of certain section of people as contained in the declaration were contrarian views of the Naga Hoho to achieve peace.By UNI

MUMBAI: Continuing its focus on growing its domestic presence, India's premier full-service international airline Jet Airways is set to introduce 28 new flights in the coming month, including flights from Indore to Jodhpur and Vadodara and between Chandigarh and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Jodhpur as well as Vadodara and Jaipur.

Being a network carrier, Jet Airways' new services - including industry firsts as well as a mix of non-stop and one-stop flights - will strengthen the airline's footprint, enabling it to meet the rising demand for domestic and international air travel in emerging cities.

The new services will also help connect guests with other cities including metros as well as the airline's global network via its hubs in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru.

ALSO READ | Jet Airways gets USD 300 million as lease incentives, debt from banks

In a series of industry-firsts, Jet Airways will introduce daily flights from Indore, connecting the 'largest city in Madhya Pradesh' to Jodhpur as well as to Vadodara.

In other notable firsts, Jet Airways is also set to commence flight operations between Chandigarh and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Jodhpur as well as Vadodara and Jaipur.

Jet Airways will be the only airline in the country operating these routes which will improve connectivity between north India and central as well as western India.

The airline is also introducing additional frequencies on key existing routes, expanding non-stop capacity between Mumbai - Guwahati and Delhi -Bagdogra and providing additional one-stop connectivity on the Mumbai -Bagdogra and New Delhi - Guwahati routes.

ALSO READ | Crisis-hit Jet Airways reports net loss of Rs 1,323 crore for first quarter

Among other network enhancements, the schedule will see Jet Airways launch non-stop flights connecting Bengaluru with Lucknow, Indore with Kolkata, Kolkata with Chandigarh, Coimbatore with Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam with Mumbai and Delhi, reflecting the growing demand for its services to facilitate the travel aspirations of its guests.

The airline's focus on Indore is evident, given that the city is fast shaping up as a key pillar in its pan-India network due to its central location and expanding infrastructure.

Jet Airways is all set to deepen it's connect with Indore by offering services to 14 cities across the country.

In fact, the airline will be the only one providing non-stop connectivity from Indore to emerging markets and mini metros such as Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Vadodara, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Nagpur and Pune.

ALSO READ | Jet Airways stock erases early losses; gains nearly 5 per cent

Jet Airways will also provide non-stop connectivity from Indore to metros such as Kolkata and Hyderabad as well as its hubs in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru channelising network traffic seamlessly to its international network.

The airline's latest service to Kolkata will finally link it to the main commercial and financial hub of East.

The new and existing flights will also enable Jet Airways' guests to avail the airline's day-return services from Indore to Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Nagpur.

Further, guests from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata will now have additional connectivity to Jodhpur, Allahabad, Vadodara and vice versa via Indore, according to a company statement here.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Sixty-five-year-old Aliamma, a ragpicker from Kamakhya slum, has been running from one office to another for the past five years to avail widow pension. I have been denied pension due to incorrect age and name on the Aadhaar card, the frail woman said.

Each elderly member present at a rally and dharna organised at Maurya Circle by the Karnataka State Pension Parishad (KSPP) on Tuesday seemed to share similar experiences of humiliation by officials in government offices. We are trying to make ends meet in this age which has lost all its vitality, said another elderly woman Jyothi.

Hundreds of women, under the banner of KSPP, took out a rally from Freedom Park and later staged a dharna near Maurya Circle urging the government to increase their pension and initiate action against revenue officials who had not organised pension adalats or not created any awareness about social welfare schemes. Prabhanand Hegde of the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) highlighted the prominent of their nine demands and urged the government to increase pension up to `8,000 or 50 per cent of minimum wages guaranteed under the law.

The pension should be revised periodically and disbursed to all needy persons before seventh of every month according to orders of Supreme Court, he added.

Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy promised to facilitate a meeting of elderly persons with Revenue Minister R V Deshpande and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. She recollected raising the issue of increasing pension in the assembly.

The elderly women will also travel to New Delhi to participate in a meeting on September 30 to demand pension for all needy persons.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council on Tuesday passed a new advertisement policy and draft by-laws forbidding commercial boards or hoardings anywhere except on bus shelters, skywalks and public toilets built on public-private partnership. No advertisements promoting individual products will be allowed on name boards of shops or commercial establishments. Exceptions have also been made for public welfare messages and publicising government schemes.

The council decided not to change the new advertisement policy passed on Tuesday, but is open to modifying the draft by-laws after submitting the policy to the state government. One months time has been set aside for the public/agencies to raise objections. The policy will be submitted to the High Court during the next hearing on August 31, after which it will be sent to the state government for approval.

The complete ban on all types of advertisement structures for a period of one year will continue to be enforced.

Earlier, the court had rapped the civic body over delays in formulating the new policy. The approval for the new advertisement policy found support from councillors across party lines.

The BBMP has specified in detail the types of permitted and prohibited structures and has also provided an option for illegal structures to be made legal. In addition, illegal structures which are not removed or corrected within 30 days of the civic body issuing a notice will be removed by the BBMP at the property owners expense.

Opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy raised a few objections to the policy, advocating that advertisements on BBMP shelters and skywalks should also be prohibited. The policy outlines a thorough application process for approval of advertisement structures. An advertisement committee will also be constituted to review orders passed by the approving authority.

As per provisions of the new policy, a non-conforming advertisement structure can be brought to conformity with the policy if it is altered.

WHAT IS banned

 New policy prohibits signage on telecommunication towers

 Signs interfering with traffic or motoring instructions

 All hoardings against the public right of way

 Flashing or animated signs, except permitted ones

In addition, in a move similar to the Akrama Sakrama scheme for regularisation of unauthorised constructions, if an existing advertisement is in excess of the requirement of setback, height and size of no more than 10%, it will be deemed as conforming.

Only one freestanding sign is permitted per street facing any property. Freestanding signs must provide landscaping in the ratio of 2.5 times the surface area of the sign. The planting must be perennial and must be maintained.

Any sign that constitutes a traffic hazard is prohibited, including signs illuminated in red, green or amber colour that could resemble a traffic signal. Additionally, use of words that could confuse motorists, such as stop, look, danger, detour among others are also prohibited. However, temporary festival decorations have been permitted.

M K Gunashekar, councillor and former chairman of the Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance, said the policy was prepared based on the guidelines that the Supreme Court had given to the Delhi Municipal Corporation. The main objectives of the policy are to not compromise on the citys aesthetics, not to cause issues for movement of public, and to only allow structures in commercial areas and to give importance to digital ads, he said.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: You wouldnt think that a man who didnt get a job at an airport would make bomb hoax calls just out of revenge. That is precisely what 34-year-old Adithya Rao Krishnamurthy did, according to police. Ironically, he had approached the Kempegowda International Airport seeking the job of a security personnel at least thrice. And each time he was rejected.

The city police who are interrogating Aditya Rao for making hoax calls to the airport have learned that he was a habitual offender who made the calls as an act of revenge as he did not get the job at the airport.

Rao had made hoax calls to the airport three times within a week beginning August 20 using two SIM cards. Police took the case very seriously as a few flights were delayed following the calls.

Rao had similarly taken revenge and made a bomb hoax call to the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) city railway station for being charged additional fee as he had kept his luggage in the cloakroom for extra time.

A senior police officer said the police found he had completed BE Mechanical and MBA course from the University of Mysore. Rao who was unemployed spent a few months at home in Kundapura and came to Bengaluru six months ago. He joined an insurance company in Jayanagar and allegedly stole a laptop. When the manager of the insurance company filed a case, he quit his job and escaped, the interrogation revealed.

Then he stayed with one of his friends in a PG in Tavarekere and allegedly stole his laptop and escaped from there too. His friend filed a case with Sudduguntepalya police. After this stint, began his airport saga on August 15 when he went to the airport seeking a job.

Meanwhile, he had kept a bag at the cloakroom in KSR city railway station and went to collect it after a month. As the security personnel demanded additional charge, he had a fight with him and left without collecting the bag. Then he made the hoax call to the railway control room saying a bomb was placed in a bag kept in the cloakroom.

On August 25 he joined Inchara Hotel in Banaswadi, where he worked for only one day before escaping from there.

Venkatesh, owner of Inchara, told TNIE that Rao came to the hotel on August 25 and asked for a cashiers job. He said he had experience working in two well-known hotels and asked for `10,000 as salary. I asked him to provide all documents but he gave only driving licence, saying he would give the required documents within a few days.

I asked him to work as a waiter to begin with. He would behave oddly. Meanwhile, he took money from two customers and escaped without handing it over at the cash counter. It was caught on CCTV camera installed near the cash counter. We did not take that offence seriously and allowed him to work. Next day around 11.30am he left the hotel carrying a small bag and informed that he had to attend a pooja at a nearby temple. But he did not return. He had shaved his head when he

joined work.

Rao had a book on crime

Venkatesh, owner of Inchara Hotel, said police who came to the hotel found Raos luggage containing his clothes and a book titled Criminal activities and relief. He had also kept a screwdriver, a cutting plier, a knife and a packet of ganja. The staff were shocked to see it. He was allotted a common room to stay with other staffers, he added.

In judicial custody

Rao was arrested on Tuesday from Baiyappanahalli station. KIA police handed him over to judicial custody. The Railway police will interrogate him as he made a hoax call to KSR Railway station on Monday.SV Krishna Chaitanya By

Express News Service

CHENNAI : Guest authentication, domestic help management, dealing with entry of cab drivers, and management of delivery boys from the web of food stores  managing security at gated communities is a herculean task, thanks to an increasing external footprint due to the advent of e-commerce. Bengaluru-based start-up myGate has now entered the Chennai market, offering a mobile app-based intelligent security system. Co-founder and chief operations officer Abhishek Kumar, said on Tuesday that the company plans to offer services to over 15 gated communities with 5,000 homes each and secure 50,000 residences in Chennai by the end of the year.

Kumar said the myGate app digitises and automates all the manual tasks carried out by guards. The solution comprises an Android app for security guards and an Android or iOS app for residents, with a fallback to a regular voice call for non-smartphone users. With this system, all entries and exits are approved and logged digitally, with complete visibility and control for the residents or management. The app also offers an e-intercom (automatic visitor authentication), child safety alerts, staff attendance, infrastructure-free vehicle management, resident identification, and visitor overstay alerts. Its a hassle-free app with a simple interface that makes it easy to be used by everyone, he said.

As Chennai is the largest commercial and industrial centre of south India, with an estimated population of 4.9 million people, Kumar says there has been an upsurge of high-rise residential complexes and gated communities. Apartment complexes in Chennai can deploy myGate in less than a week without investing in hardware or capital. The security device is provided in a pay-as-you-go pricing model. The start-up also provides and manages the training of staff, security guards, and residents, he said.

Among the popular communities in Chennai who have already subscribed to myGate are Arun Excello Estancia, Pbel City, Jains Sundarsana and Olympia Opaline. Joint secretary, Sivabaskaran, Olympia Opaline Owners Association, said, We have a large community of over 1000 flats and it was getting difficult to manage visitor traffic. After the myGate demo, we realized that the solution caters to lot of our problems and we signed up. It is a great solution to manage and have a digital view of the traffic in the community.Murali Krishna CH By

Express News Service

Aadhi Pinisetty has found acceptance from both Telugu and Tamil audiences during the last decade since he made his debut with Oka V Chitram (2006). Its been hard for him to strike a balance between the industries though. Its like sailing on two boats at the same time. One wrong step can change the course of your whole career, he says.

He began as a hero, but since, has played varied roles, including that of a villain. The reason for his transition from hero to villain roles has been misunderstood, he says.People thought I did that because I wasnt getting enough offers to play a hero. The truth is, I have been offered lead roles too, but they just did not work out for various reasons. The actor, who played the villain in Sarrainodu, has made up his mind not to accept repetitive roles. When your role has been received well, people keep coming to you with similar roles. After Sarrainodu, I was offered very similar characters in many films, including in Singam 3.

In the upcoming Tamil remake of RX 100, he will play the lead, and naturally, this means a lot to him. I think it is our responsibility to take such stories to the audience. The female leads characterisation is a reflection of whats going on in todays world, he says. The story is always of paramount importance to him. I have some set parameters when it comes to signing a film. I expect the director to possess the strong technical knowledge, and the producer to exude a passion for cinema. The story, of course, should be really good. Thats how I can get to be a part of quality cinema.

Aadhi is insistent that the remake has its own originality. I watched RX 100 at a time when I didnt know Id be doing its remake. Ive now forgotten the original as I dont want to be influenced by it. We are also making many changes and taking care not to lose the films soul in the process. I strongly believe that the RX 100 remake will become a classic in Tamil cinema.

The cast and crew have not been finalised yet. Rumours that Taapsee is part of the film are false. We havent finalised the director too. For a film like this, casting has to be spot on. So, we are planning to rope in several theatre actors in important roles. We have brought in Pasupathi, who I feel is one of the best theatre actors in India.

 Murali Krishna CH

muralikrishna.db

@newindianexpress

@onlymuraliBy Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories to not allow the sale, distribution and usage of e-cigarettes, vape, flavoured hookahs, e-Sheesha and e-Nicotine-products in larger public health interest. The move comes following an expert panels recommendations that these products contain carcinogens and do not offer a safe alternative to tobacco smoking.

Sources in the Ministry for Health and Family Welfare said the advisory was being sent out noting that products such as e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah contain hazardous substances and have not been approved by the government. ENDS, of which e-cigarette is a prototype, is a battery operated device that uses liquid nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings and water among other substances, to give the user the sense of real cigarette.

A technical committee evaluated findings of a WHO 2016 report which had shown some surprising findings saying e-cigarette is lethal and can lead to many serious health conditions, an official said.

In its report, the committee had pointed out that though companies claim that e-cigarettes help give up smoking, in reality, they help initiate cigarette smoking as they deliver nicotine in an attractive way and attract youth. It also said consumers of e-cigarette are largely young adults.

We are looking into the laws to see how the import, manufacture, distribution, sale, including online promotion, advertising of nontherapeutic nicotine as an extractor in chemical form can be prevented, the official said. Some states, including Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, had already banned e-cigarettes invoking either Drugs and Cosmetics Act, or the Poisons Act.By PTI

JAMSHEDPUR: Thirty-four children, mostly tribals, were allegedly trafficked from Bihar and Jharkhand to Ludhiana in Punjab and some were converted to Christianity, a police official said today.

They were lodged in a missionary-run child shelter home in Ludhiana, Superintendent of Police (SP), West Singhbhum, G Kranthi Kumar, said.

Kumar said the police swung into action after Jyotsana Tirkey, a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Chaibasa, lodged a complaint on August 26.

Her complaint was based on a media report that claimed that 34 children from Chaibasa in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district and Bihar were illegally kept in a missionary-run child shelter home in Ludhiana, he said.

Following the complaint, a police team was sent to Ludhiana and it along with the Punjab Police arrested a man He was produced at a court there before he is brought to Chaibasa on transit remand, the officer said.

"Police has contacted 12 children of the 20 reportedly sent back to West Singhbhum before the police team reached there (Ludhiana) following disclosure of the alleged human trafficking incident," Kumar said.

Police are trying to trace the remaining children. The 34 children from Bihar and Jharkhand were also admitted to an illegal school in Ludhiana, and later shifted to another city-based school which was registered under the JJ Act and legal, the SP said.

Two each are from Khunti and Ranchi are still pursuing their studies in the legal school, he said, adding that the matter is being investigated.

Kumar said the school, which was running illegally, did not inform the local CWC members about the children brought from Jharkhand and Bihar.

On the alleged conversion, he said it was a matter of investigation, but prima facie, the report stated that some children were converted.

"We'll be in a position to comment only when the man arrested in this connection is brought here," he said.

The SP said as per record, around 300 children from Jharkhand were taken to Ludhiana, Punjab, since 2006.

The Chaibasa CWC member, Tirkey, also alleged that attempts were being made to convert them to Christianity and engaged them as child labour.

On the basis of the complaint, Kumar has constituted a police team, headed by Anti-Human Trafficking Unit Officer-in-charge Banarasi Ram, and sent them to Ludhiana to bring back the remaining children.

Tirkey alleged that the child shelter home authorities had sent back 30 children, including the 20 form West Singhbhum, without informing the members of CWC in Chaibasa and Ludhiana.

Four children were shifted to other child homes, she said in the complaint One Junul Longo, a resident of Serenga village under Gudri police station of West Singhbhum district, had allegedly lured the children on the false promise of education and employment.

The SP aid most of the children were from Gudri, Sonua, Goilkera, Chaibasa and other remote areas of West Singhbhum district.

"We are yet to contact some children living in remote areas after their return from Ludhiana," he said.By Online Desk

Following the major swoop to arrest rights activists by Maharashtra police in multi-city raids across the country, historian Romila Thapar along with four other human rights activists has moved the Supreme Court seeking the release of all activists arrested in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence.

The petitioners have further urged the SC to direct an independent probe into the arrest. They have also requested that the Maharashtra government gives an explanation for 'sweeping round of arrest' in the case.

The apex court has agreed to hear the plea at 3.45 PM.

Meanwhile, Delhi HC has fixed 2.15 PM hearing on the plea of rights activist Gautam Navlakha, claiming his arrest by the Pune police to be illegal.

The Maharashtra Police has informed the Delhi HC that translated copies of the document are not yet ready and will be given to Navlakha's counsel by 12 pm.

In simultaneous multi-city raids, the Pune police on Tuesday had conducted searches at the houses of nine civil rights activists and arrested five of them for alleged Maoist links, sparking outrage among activists and intellectuals across India.

Those arrested included Pendyala Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Gautam Navlakha in Delhi, Sudha Bharadwaj in Faridabad, Vernon Gonsalves in Mumbai and Arun Ferreira in Thane.

The searches and arrests were made in connection with the investigations into the clashes between Dalits and upper caste Marathas at Bhima Koregaon in Pune on January 1 that was allegedly triggered by the Elgar Parishad (conclave) organised a day earlier.By PTI

PUNE: Three of the five rights activists, who were arrested yesterday by Maharashtra Police in connection with its ongoing probe into suspected Maoist links to an event held in Pune, were brought to the city late last night, the police said.

A senior Pune police officer said that prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira are likely to be produced in a court later in the day.

Near-simultaneous searches were carried out yesterday at the residences of Rao in Hyderabad, Gonzalves and Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi, a senior police official had said.

READ| Historian Romila Thapar, four others move SC against rights activists' arrest, hearing at 3.45 PM

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the official.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed against those arrested, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged Naxal activities," said the police official, without elaborating.

Five people allegedly having close Maoist links were arrested in June from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in connection with Elgar Parishad event held on December 31 last year which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune district.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad event which triggered the violence at Koregaon-Bhima, according to an FIR registered at the Vishrambaug police station here after the event.Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Patna High Court, which is monitoring the CBI investigation into the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuses case, once again pulled up the central agency on Wednesday over the sudden transfer of the SP heading the probe and asked it to form a SIT and ensure faster probe into the case.

Conducting a hearing on the matter for the third consecutive day, a Bench of Chief Justice Mukesh R Shah and Justice Ravi Ranjan ordered that the progress of the probe be monitored by CBI special director Rakesh Asthana. "If there is a necessity to ensure a faster probe, a special investigation team may be formed to conduct the probe," said the Chief Justice.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the explanation CBI offered about the transfer of its SP, JP Mishra, on August 21, the Bench asked the central agency to furnish before it the official communication that led to the transfer. While CBI DIG Abhay Singh was present at the court during the hearing in the past two days, his absence on Wednesday irked the Bench.

The HC also appointed a lawyer, Prakritika Sharma, to conduct discreet interviews with the 34 minor girls who were allegedly sexually abused over a period of time during their stay at the government-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur and submit a report to the court. Besides, the HC also asked the Bihar government to present before it a comprehensive report about the shelter homes run by the social welfare department in the state during the next hearing scheduled on September 17.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the HC had directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority and the state government to pay compensation to the victims of the sexual abuse at the shelter home within three weeks. The court asked the government to ensure that the victims' identity is not disclosed during the process.Ever since it took over the probe on July 29, CBI has conducted several raids across Bihar, including on the residences of former social welfare minister Manju Verma and her husband.

Ten people, including Brajesh Mishra, the chief of the NGO running the shelter home, were arrested by the state police in June. The transfer of CBI SP JP Mishra evoked sharp criticism from the Opposition parties, who suspected it of aiming at derailing the probe in order to protect influential people who had a role in the scandal.Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Without mentioning actual figures, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday claimed that the 36 Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft which the government agreed to buy from France in 2016 were at least nine per cent cheaper than the price negotiated by the UPA government in 2007.

The opposition Congress has launched an aggressive campaign over the deal, saying the discrepancy in price amounts to a loss of Rs 35,000 crore to the exchequer, with party president Rahul Gandhi repeatedly accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having personally benefited from the deal.

The government's conflicting statements and assertions that it could not disclose the actual figures owning to a secrecy pact added further fuel to the charges.

The Congress also accused Modi of cronyism by allowing Reliance industries to benefit from the offset clause, which mandates that the supplier has to invest at least 30 per cent of the total project cost into joint ventures with Indian firms.

At a press conference in New Delhi August 8, activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan and former BJP stalwarts Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie declared that the deal was "a major scandal, gross misuse of office, and monumental criminal misconduct. Nor is this an ordinary scandal or ordinary misconduct: it is one that imperils the security of the country."

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Jaitley, who resumed work recently after a successful kidney transplant, insisted that the government has maintained complete transparency in the matter, and negotiated hard to bring down the costs of the fighter jets.

"What was negotiated from 2015 to 2016 and finally executed in 2016, with the escalations and the currency variations, the basic aircraft price turns out to be 9 per cent cheaper," he asserted.

Accusing the Congress of comparing apples with oranges, chalk with cheese, Jaitley asked: "Can you compare a basic aircraft's pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare a simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft?"

In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official visit to France announced that the government had decided to scrap the negotiations for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), under which India was expected to buy 126 Rafales from France, of which 18 would be delivered by France and the rest jointly produced in India in collaboration with HAL.

Instead, he said India would buy 36 Rafales directly from France in a government to government deal. After some negotiations over the pricing and aircraft configuration, the deal was finally sealed in 2016.

Insisting that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi were compromising national security by raking up the deal, he said that "Every fact that they have said on pricing is factually false, I repeat, every fact is false and not one fact is true. Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer."By UNI

SRINAGAR: Four policemen were killed in a militant attack and three weapons looted in south Kashmir district of Shopian on Wednesday, official sources said.

They said that militants fired at the escort of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) headquarters Shopian at Arhama on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in injuries to four policemen.

"The injured were immediately taken to a hospital where they succumbed," they said.

They said the escort part had gone to Arhama to repair a police vehicle.

"The militants after the attack, also decamped with three rifles," they said.

"Security forces have been rushed and a search operation has been launched to nab the attackers," they added.

The slain policemen have been identified as Mohammad Iqbal, Javaid Ahmad, Adil Ahmad and Ishfaq Ahmad.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: There was outrage and condemnation of the alleged move by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena Singh to drop her last name from campaign material, social media accounts and the partys official website, on Tuesday. The communalisation of Indian politics is alarming. In 1977 George Fernandes won an election with a thumping majority from parochial Bihar. In 2019 a candidate has to change her name in cosmopolitan Delhi, said eminent historian Ramchandra Guha.

Her Twitter handle has now changed from @Atishimarlena to @AtishiAAP. Her name has been amended on the AAP website. Similarly in the coming days various posters, banners would just have her first name.

Marlena who is the AAPs candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from East Delhi has served as an advisor in the education department of Delhi.

The change has created so much traction because the party which rushed into the political arena with a plank to bring about a positive change in politics is taking positions based on the caste calculus of the area.

A progressive politician like @AtishiAAP who DOES NOT use her caste name 'Singh' to ask for votes, is being targeted for using only Atishi without 'Marlena'



Our discourse is around education and healthcare, not on identities of caste and religion.  Akshay Marathe (@AkshayMarathe) August 28, 2018

However, AAP leader Akshay Marathe denied that the party had asked Atishi to ditch her surname. A progressive politician like Atishi who does not use her caste name Singh to ask for votes, is being targeted for using only Atishi without Marlena. Our discourse is around education and healthcare, not on identities of caste and religion, Marathe tweeted.By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: In a sensational incident in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, heads of a father and son were blown to smithereens with explosives by keeping IED near their cots while they were sleeping outside their house on late Tuesday night.

As per the police sources, Lalaji Yadav (48) and his son Ajay Yadav (22) were sleeping outside their home in Milkipur village under Chaubepur Police Station in Varanasi district when assailants detonated explosives using IED to blow their heads.

SSP, Varanasi, Anand Kulkarni, who rushed to the spot said that the assailants seems to have used improvised explosive device (IED) to commit the double murder. "Wires and pieces of detonators were recovered from the spot. It seems that assailants put explosives under their 'charpoy' and detonated it from a distance of not less than 50 metres," said the SSP.

Pieces of their heads were found scattered around 40 meters away from their bodies. The forensic team has taken samples from the site to ascertain the type of explosives and detonating device used in the crime.

"Past midnight, there was a huge sound but we thought that it was tire burst. We were shocked to find in the morning that they were killed so brutally," said Vivek, a villager. Tension gripped the village on Wednesday morning when villagers saw their heads are blown apart and bodies lying in a pool of blood. Residents from nearby villages also rushed to the spot after hearing the brutal double murder of father and son.

According to sources, the double murder could be due to old enmity and a land dispute which Lalji Yadav was having with the owner of a nearby factory. However, police authorities believe that the way the explosive was used to kill the duo, only professionals with good knowledge about explosives and training in devices could have carried it out. "We are collecting details from the family members and relatives and working all possible angles to ascertain reasons behind the double murder," said the SSP.The Police claimed that explosives used in the crime seem similar to those used in mining in nearby Sonebhadra district.

Agitated villagers jammed the Chandra-Balua Road demanding Rs 25 lakh compensation to the family of those murdered. A heavy posse of the police force were deployed at the village to avert any untoward incident.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India and Bulgaria will soon have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a bid to promote tourism. The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of MoU between India and Bulgaria for strengthening cooperation in tourism.

Bulgaria is a potential tourism market for India as the latter received over 5,200 tourists from Bulgaria in 2017. The signing of the MoU with Bulgaria will be instrumental in increasing its tourist arrival from what is being seen as an important source market.

In addition to expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, the MoU also facilitates exchange of information and data related to tourism. The signing of the MoU is also likely to enhance cooperation among the different groups of stakeholders, including hotels, tour operators who would also be responsible for arranging exchange visits of tour operators, media, opinion makers for promotions of two-way tourism.

The two countries will also exchange experiences in areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management. Fostering bilateral cooperation through film tourism not only helps promote the countries as attractive tourist destinations but also as safe and sustainable, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

In another effort to make India a popular Buddhist circuit destination, the Ministry of Tourism recently held the sixth international Buddhist conclave on the theme of Buddha Path - The Living Heritage. Delegates were taken for site visits to Aurangabad, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Sarnath during the conclave.

Delegates from 29 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mangolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA and Vietnam participated in the conclave.By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Women and Child Development Ministry has summoned the in-charge of a Madhya Pradesh adoption agency next week after reports emerged that a girl adopted from there was later abandoned in Spain, an official said today.

A Spanish couple had abandoned the 13-year-old girl after they were allegedly deceived by the Bhopal-based institution, which reportedly told them that she was seven-years-old at the time of adoption earlier this year.

The girl is currently living at a government home in Zargoza in Spain.

The Udaan institution has been accused of defaulting under various provisions and not responding to show-cause notices.

An inquiry has been initiated and its in-charge, Apoorva Sharma, asked to appear before the ministry on September 6, the official said.

WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi has also asked the Indian envoy in Spain, D B Venkatesh Varma, to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to bring her back to India.

"While we are in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the Child Care Institution in Bhopal, I am worried about the state of the girl," she had said yesterday.

The Union minister said the girl, on her return, would be placed under care and protection in a local agency.

In her letter to Varma yesterday, Gandhi said, "I also understand that the Centre Adoption Resource Agency is in touch with you."

It has been ascertained that the girl wants to return to India.

"I request you to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to send her back to India where we will place her under care and protection of a suitable local agency."By IANS

BEIJING: Incidents of lynching have hurt India's image, Tourism Minister K.J. Alphons, who is in China to draw in more tourists, has admitted.

The minister, however, said that the ban on beef has not affected tourism in the country and sought to debunk a survey showing India as the most unsafe country for women in the world.

"Well, it (lynching) shouldn't happen. Simple. And, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has called them criminals. And, he told the states you have to take action because law and order is a state subject," Alphons said on Tuesday interacting with Indian journalsits.

Asked if incidents of lynching have affected tourism in India, the Minister said: "Well, not on a big time basis...not really. But anything happening like that is bad for the reputation of the country. We won't say it's good for the reputation of the country."

Has the ban on beef kept foreign tourists away from India, Alphons said that was not the case. "Not really... you see there are states like Kerala, Goa and the Northeast... these are all beef eating states."

"These are all big tourism destinations... So people would go wherever they are comfortable

"I think we need to respect the sentiment of the people anywhere... that's so fundamental."

Alwar lynching victim Rakbar Khan's grieving wife. (Photo |EPS)

India has witnessed incidents of lynching over cow slaughter and beef eating in the country. The majority of Hindus in the country consider the animal as sacred.

Alphons is visiting China to attract Chinese tourists who currently generate some 21 per cent of tourism receipts in destinations in the world. He opened a road show in Beijing on Tuesday and will visit Shanghai and Wuhan.

Despite swelling number of outbound Chinese tourists, Indian receives only a very small fraction of them.

"Last year, 144 million Chinese were abroad, but only 300,000 came to India," the minister said.

He said India plans to get at least 14 million Chinese tourists in the next three years.

Asked about women's safety, an issue which is among the prime concerns among Chinese to visit India, Alphons said it was "a perception battle".

He tore apart a recent survey by Thomson Reuters which said India is the most unsafe country for women.

"Thomson Reuters put out a story saying it's (India) unsafe. We asked them how? They say they interviewed 540 people or something out which 43 from India."

"You can't ask the 43 so-called knowledgeable people of India whether India is safe or not because most of these so-called feminists would be anti-government ... it is the politics of it," he said.

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Culture, and TourismFayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Militants attacked the residence of senior National Conference leader Abdul Rahim Rather in central Kashmir and also targeted an Army vehicle by triggering an IED blast in volatile south Kashmir.

Rather, who had served as Finance Minister during the NC-led regimes, was not present at his house when the attack took place.

A police officer said militants fired some shots at the residence of senior NC leader Abdul Rahim Rather at Badipora village in central Kashmir's Budgam district. He said the security guards deployed at Rather's residence retaliated and fired back. "After a brief shoot-out, the militants escaped from the area. No damage or injuries was caused during the shoot-out."

After the militant attack, the police and paramilitary personnel rushed to take stock of the situation. The security personnel also launched an hour-long cordon and search operation in the area to track down the militants. However, no arrests were reported during the operation.

The police officer said militants might have fired at the policemen with an intention to snatch their weapons. "However, the police retaliation foiled their bid."

Militant outfit Al-Badar Mujhadeen claimed responsibility of the attack. An Atif Hijazi spokesman told a local news agency that a policeman was injured in the attack. He warned that attacks on political workers would be intensified in Kashmir.

At Navpora Payeen village in Pulwama district, militants in a pre-dawn attack tried to blow up an Army armoured vehicle. They detonated an IED and also fired after the blast. Sources said army vehicle suffered minor damage in the IED blast.

It was the second IED blast carried out by militants targeting Army vehicle in south Kashmir in last four months.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Stating that probe by Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Rafale Deal would make little headway, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha reiterated that a forensic audit should be conducted by Comptroller and Auditor General, to find out 'criminal intent or negligence' in the deal. By kicking out Hindustan Aeronautics Limited completely out from the deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reduced 'Make in India' to a mere slogan, he said here on Wednesday.

"Congress has been demanding a JPC probe. Since it will be headed by a member of the ruling party, there is no use of the Committee probe," he said, stating that a JPC on Bofors too had made little headway. Rather than that, the forensic audit should be completed by December 31 to find out to assess the irregularities in the deal, he demanded.

HAL kicked out

He said that while the initial agreement was to procure 126 Rafale jets for Rs 90,000 crore, "according to our information, the new agreement will procure 36 jets for Rs 60,000 cr." It is a question for the people to judge as the arithmetic behind the deal is very clear, he said.

ALSO READ: Congress peddling untruth on Rafale, alleges Arun Jaitley

Posing 10 questions to Modi, he questioned why "HAL was kicked out completely from this deal and not even given the responsibility of meeting the offset obligation?". If HAL was part of it, there would have been technology transfer and 108 Rafale fighter jets would have been produced in India, he said, adding that despite tall claims by the Central government the Make in India scheme has reduced to an 'empty slogan'.

Sinha, who quit BJP in April earlier this year, questioned why a newly formed company was allowed to walk with the offset contract while refusing to name the company. "I cannot face a Rs 5,000 cr defamation suit', he said.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Echoing for the rights of the human rights activists, the Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government's crackdown on them and stayed their arrests till next week.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said the five activists must be kept in "house arrest in their own homes" till the next hearing on September 6.

"Dissent is the safety wall of any democracy, if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," Justice D Y Chandrachud told Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who opposed the court intervention.

The court also issued notices to the Centre and Maharashtra government on the petition that has challenged the validity of ten arrests.

The plea also sought an independent investigation into the entire episode of nationwide raids and subsequent arrests.

On Tuesday, Pune police began multi-city searches and arrested revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao from Hyderabad, advocate Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad, Gautam Navlakha from New Delhi, and Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves from Mumbai.Rao, Bharadwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Read More | Crack-down on activists is attempt to shift focus away from Sanatan Sanstha: Prakash Ambedkar

Bharadwaj and Navlakha are currently under house arrest after the high courts of Delhi and Punjab & Haryana intervened Tuesday night, but Rao and three others were taken to Pune and produced before a magistrate. They will now have to be released.

Five eminent citizens, including historian Romila Thapar, moved the top court early Wednesday against the arrests in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence this January.

Questioning the standing of the five petitioners, Mehta said, "They may be good citizens, we don't know." He also erroneously claimed that those arrested have a "previous record," referring specifically to Sudha Bharadwaj.

But Justice Chandrachud shot back: "What are you saying. they are professors. They say it is an attempt to muzzle the voice of dissent. Let us examine it."

This led senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Thapar to say that democracy will be dead if such arbitrary arrests are permitted, the CJI replied, "That is why we have issued notices."

"The larger issue is the chilling effect merely because on does not agree with you (government). FIR has no mention of arrested people," Singhvi argued.

Senior advocates also strongly batted for those arrested. Indira Jaising said Bharadwaj was her junior, while Rajeev Dhawan said he's been funding her organisation for over five years.

"It could be any of us next. You can't go after those who defend human rights," Jaising told the court.

The case will be heard next on September 6.Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Sutter County Sherriff's Office in California, USA has charged two pro-Khalistan supporters, Sukhwinder Singh and Gurdeep Singh for attacking Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) President and senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjit GK during his visit to Yuba City Gurdwara on August 25.

US based advocacy group Sikhs For Justice (SJF) had said the charges were not justified and accused Puneet Chandhok of instigating the attacks. "All evidence and videos show that Puneet Chandok who is close to Manjit GK instigated the violence against the Referendum 2020 campaigners who were exercising their right of protest protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. We will be defending the charges against both our campaigners since they were only protesting GK's presence outside Yuba City Gurdwara,'' said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun dvisor to SFJ.

SFJ in its August 27 communique to Kirstjen M. Nielsen, Secretary Department of Homeland Security urged that visa of Manjit Singh GK should be revoked for -"engaging in political propaganda on behalf of a foreign principal without registering as required under -"Foreign Agents Registration Act-" (22 USC Section 611(c)). Sukhwinder and Gurdeep both residents of California are closely associated with Referendum 2020 Campaign.

The court date for the case has been set for October 15 before Sutter County Superior Court, Yuba City, California. This was the second attack on Manjit GK as earlier last week Manjit along with his family was attacked by protesters outside a TV studio in New York by pro-Khalistan supporters.

Yesterday evening US Ambassador Kenneth I Juster had a 45-minute long meeting with Shiromani Akali Dal president and former Deputy CM Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal at the party's headquarters here. Sukhbir discussed the issue of problems being faced by members of the Sikh community in the USA and referred to the incidence of racial attacks against them, especially in the recent times. He specifically urged Juster to use his good office to expedite action against hose guilty of an attack on the DSGMC President Manjit Singh GK during his trip to the USA. Juster assured Sukhbir that he would do all he can to ensure that justice is delivered expeditiously in the case.

Earlier leading a Akali Dal delegation Union Minster Harsimrat Kaur Badal had met US Ambassador Juster on Monday and raised the matter pertaining to attack on Manit Singh GK in California. "We met the US ambassador and he assured us action will be taken and all help will be extended,'' she said then.By Express News Service

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI/ HYDERABAD: In simultaneous multi-city raids, the Pune police on Tuesday searched the houses of nine civil rights activists and arrested five of them for alleged Maoist links, sparking outrage among activists and intellectuals across India. Those arrested included Pendyala Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Gautam Navlakha in Delhi, Sudha Bharadwaj in Faridabad, Vernon Gonsalves in Mumbai and Arun Ferreira in Thane.

However, the Delhi High Court stayed Navlakhas arrest until Wednesday morning, when it will hear his plea opposing the transit remand granted to the Pune police by a local court. In a late evening hearing, the Punjab and Haryana High Court also stayed the transit remand of Bharadwaj for two days. Both of them have been put under house arrest until their pleas are disposed of. Varavara Rao was arrested after eight hours of search at his house and sent to Pune. Various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code were invoked against all five activists. The police seized books, diaries, documents and gadgets like laptops, mobiles, SIM cards, pen drives and CDs from their premises.

The searches and arrests were made in connection with the investigations into the clashes between Dalits and upper caste Marathas at Bhima Koregaon in Pune on January 1 that was allegedly triggered by the Elgar Parishad (conclave) organised a day earlier. Other activists whose houses were searched but were not arrested included Susan Abraham in Mumbai, Kranthi Tekula in Telangana, Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Anand Teltumbde in Sanquelim (Goa).

This is the second major crackdown by the Pune police on alleged Maoist sympathisers in three months. In June, it had arrested five of them  Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen  for making provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad, which allegedly led to the violence.

The police had produced in court letters allegedly recovered from the five arrested activists, which mentioned a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In Hyderabad, Varavara Raos relatives claimed they were told by the raiding team that his name figured in the plot. Police sources in Maharashtra said Tuesdays action was based on the information received from the five arrested activists.

The arrests evoked sharp reactions from academics, activists and intellectuals, with many dubbing it as an undeclared Emergency. Author Arundhati Roy called the raids an attempted coup against the Indian Constitution. Historian Ramachandra Guha took to Twitter to express his outrage. This is absolutely chilling. The Supreme Court must intervene to stop this persecution and harassment of independent voices, he said. Congress president Rahul Gandhi saw in it an attempt to shut down all NGOs other than the RSS. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India, he tweeted.By Express News Service

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Diamond Harbour MP, Abhishek Banerjee, filed a defamation suit against BJP president Amit Shah at Bankshal Court here on Tuesday for the latters statement accusing him of siphoning off central government funds meant for development in West Bengal.

Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek appeared before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court and filed a written submission that Shah had made defamatory statements against him. The court directed him to issue a notice to Shah and set the date of hearing for the case on September 28.

During a BJYM rally on August 11, Shah had said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 3.59 lakh crore to West Bengal but the money never reached the public and was siphoned off by nephew and syndicates.

The same day, TMC MP and party spokesperson Derek O'Brien called a Press conference and demanded an apology from Shah within 72 hours, failing which the party threatened legal action him.

On August 11, Abhisheks lawyer Sanjay Basu sent a legal notice to Shah demanding an apology.

The notice to Shah said, Since, it is well known that my client is the nephew of Smt. Mamata Banerjee and is actively involved in politics, the contents of your speech left little to the imagination of my clients well-wishers that you were referring to my client.By PTI

MUMBAI: With the RBI announcing that almost all the demonetised currency notes have returned to the system, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge today said the note-ban has failed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be ready to face "punishment".

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today announced that 99.3 per cent of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the system, prompting the Opposition to question the efficacy of demonetisation in curbing the black money menace.

Speaking to reporters here, Kharge claimed his party has opposed demonetisation right from day one.

The RBI report proved that the BJP-led government's claim of combating corruption, terrorism and black money through demonetisation was wrong, Kharge said.

"We have been saying this in Parliament. He (prime minister Narendra Modi) announced demonetisation to tackle corruption, terrorism, black money. But has it happened?" Kharge asked.

Asked by a reporter about Modi's "punish me if I have made any mistake" comment after demonetisation, Kharge said, "I will ask him in the (Parliament) session that sahab, you had stated so, so where should we punish you? In Vijay Chowk (in New Delhi) or somewhere else?. I will remind him about this."

As much as 99.3 per cent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system, the RBI said today.

Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016, when the note ban was announced, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned.

Facing criticism in the aftermath of demonetisation, the prime minister had said he was ready to face any punishment the country would give him if "there are shortcomings in my work or there are mistakes or bad intention found in my work".Pushkar Gireesh Banakar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: An independent fact-finding team investigating the Republic Day communal clashes in Kasganj found loopholes in the police investigation and also accused them of covering up the incident. Their report titled 'The Truth of Kasganj' was released here.

Kasganj had erupted in communal violence after one Chandan Gupta was killed following altercations with Muslims over the route of the Tiranga Yatra. Around 29 Muslims have been accused of the crime.

According to the report, the police had sided with the accused right from the time of filing of the FIRs.

Some of the loopholes on the part of the police that the report points out include filing of two FIRs in the incident  one against the Hindus and another against the Muslims. While the Hindus have been given bail, the latter had been behind bars for a prolonged period of time.

Anukalp Chauhan, Chandans brother, had been declared absconding by the police but he was seen at his brothers funeral the very next day of the announcement. Anukalp had also called for violence against Muslims in a video he posted on social media, a few days before Republic Day but these factors were ignored by the police.

A General Diary entry had clearly mentioned that the Hindus in the rally belonged to the Hindu Yuva Vahini, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths organization, but the fact was again ignored by the police.

Another flaw that the team pointed out was that the main eyewitness of the Chandans murder is his father Sushil, who admitted that he was not at the site of the incident.The Indian Army is a volunteer service, and conscription has never been applied in India. Vacancies in our Armed Forces are filled only on merit. This is one of the chief reasons why the Army is among the most reliable and efficient organisations in India. Despite this, the rank and file of our Army have been given a raw deal.After Independence, India had a troublesome neighbourhood and political transformations were taking place all around the world. It was rumoured that our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru feared a coup by the Army.

To ensure the Army didnt get a high standing in governance and political decision-making, the civilian bureaucracy was placed ahead of the Army. Although this is true of most democracies, it has been done so beyond acceptable levels in India. Over the years, this initial framework has solidified and now the Army has been relegated to a much lower level. An unforeseen impact of this process is that the youth now dont consider the Army as a career option that can meet their aspirations.

Take a look at the qualification and interview processes: A youngster gets into the civil services after passing written tests; this is followed by an interview that probably lasts an hour. The Army, on the other hand, through the Services Selection Board carries out detailed tests for over a week. A candidate must pass a written exam conducted by the UPSC before being selected by the SSB followed by week-long medical tests. The SSB tests the candidates knowledge, intellect, IQ, decision-making, planning capability, psychology, extempore speaking, etc.

In the US, soldiers are paid more than their civilian counterparts when equated for skills and education. If an American soldier is fighting overseas, he and his family are taken care of wellfinancially, in housing, education facility for children and so on. But in India, it is the reverse.There is a lot of disparity between the Army, IPS and IAS. For example, an IAS officer becomes a deputy secretary after five years of service; an IPS officer becomes an SSP, the equivalent rank, after nine years of service, while the equivalent rank in the Armythat of lieutenant colonelis reached after 13 years of service!

Further, time-bound promotions in the Army are only up to the Lt. Col. levelthis too is based on success in promotion exams. And a competitive exam has to be passed to be considered for promotion to higher ranks and coveted posts. Promotion beyond Lt. Col. is through selection by the board. Many officers beyond the rank of Lt. Col. are passed over depending upon their capabilities. Unlike the IAS, the organisation of the Army is like a pyramid. Every IAS and IPS officer rises to the highest level without a single promotion exam after their entry into the services.

The criterion taken into consideration while giving equivalence in protocol is the level at which one can take independent financial decisions. This is wrong as the finances are handled by bureaucrats alone and not by the Army or police as their domain of work is different. This is done probably to keep the bureaucracy above the other two realms; the hierarchy of protocol is drawn by the bureaucrats.Somebody in the government is managing a budget that measures the money spent on salaries and pensions of Armed Forces and equipment. But they are ignoring the cost of selecting competent people, development of an efficient fighting forces, preservation of the countrys sovereignty and eradication of terror and providing help during calamities.

So what should be done to make the Army an attractive career option? One, those with equal years of service in their respective domains should have equal status and pay and perks, irrespective of what epaulets they wear or which chair they occupy. Two, Army veterans should be compensated enough to live the standard of life commensurate with the status of their rank. The fatality rates of the Army cannot be compared to IPS or IAS, where it is much lower. Hence the death benefit suggested for military personnel should be significantly increased. Further, the disability rates are high in the Army. Presently the disability pension is given to disabled Army soldiers for his life period; it is stopped with his demise. The pension takes care of the soldier as well as his family and should be paid at the family pension rates after his death.

Three, to improve civilian-Army relations, there can be limited tenures for Army and IPS personnel to perform each others duties in their services. Four, many officers are passed over in promotion at different ranks (from the rank of Lt. Col.) and the government encourages premature retirement for the superseded officers. The government should take concrete steps to upskill and reskill the retirees to help them get absorbed into the private sector through partnerships.

Five, a childs suitability and bent of mind can be judged in high school for a career as per studies on emotional intelligence. Schools across the country can identify the children with an inclination to join the Army, meet with the parents and provide details of the benefits of joining the Armed Forces, and channelise them into training institutions to be set up by the government. The NCC can train cadets for the written test, SSB interview and physical fitness tests. The state governments should organise residential training camps in rural areas for recruitment as jawans in the Army. Campus interviews and recruitment should be organised to fill vacancies in the Army.

Six, the media and the film industry can be provided funding and guidance to portray the Forces in good light and help in recruitment. A case in point is the blockbuster Hollywood movie Top Gun, after which the number of youngsters enlisting for the US Air Force showed a record increase.The points I have made should hold good for the other two services too. We shoul make joining our Armed Forces a good career option. The time to act is now.These are indeed unprecedented times in more ways than one. Call it the power of social media: it brought out such a penchant for instant opinion-making that at times the old structures are struggling to keep up. US President Donald Trumps decisions are often to be discovered on everyones favourite micro-blogging site than in White House briefings. Our own PM is also active on Twitter, though he has not gone down the route of indicating policy decisions on social media.

External affairs, the only domain where the Centre has exclusive purview, is most at risk in this changed environ. One does not have to wait for artificial intelligence to pose a real threat, as the ex-RAW chief Vikram Sood warned in his new book; one can see the countrys diplomacy getting hijacked on social media. Maldives has not taken kindly to a prominent voice from the Indian ruling dispensation issuing an invasion threat on Twitter.

The fact that Subramanian Swamy met Mohamed Nasheed, the ousted Maldives leader, in Colombo just prior to his inflammatory tweet added to it. Not that Maldives has not been acting up of late, denying work permit to Indians etc. But Swamys rather sharp messaging had the MEA running for cover and Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra was left firefighting.

Earlier, the BJPs garrulous and not always well-informed IT cell head Amit Malviya was found muddying the flood waters in a tweet, where he not only called the UAE offer of `700 crore to Kerala fake but described it the sign of a Communist-Islamist nexus! Thankfully, bilateral ties have not been hit, beyond a few sarcastic but tangential tweets by the UAE ruler.

This laissez-faire market of opinions is an unnerving place. Not that opinions should not be expressed, but unnuanced articulation is becoming the norm. Witness how Rahul Gandhi thought it fit to discuss Doklam and Sino-Indian ties while in the UK. Maybe its time for collective introspection. Perhaps the PM should call the leaders of his own party and the Opposition for a meeting to draw a line somewhere.By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna--son of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister NT Rama Rao-- died in a road accident in Nalgonda Wednesday morning.

The 61-year-old was driving a Toyota Fortuner from Hyderabad to Nellore when the accident happened near Anneparthy village. Two others were present with him in the SUV. They suffered injuries and are undergoing treatment. They were on their way to attend a marriage in Nellore today.

The vehicle-suspected to be overspeeding- hit the median, rolled over and collided with a vehicle coming on the opposite side and a culvert.

Nandamuri Harikrishna (left) with son Jr NTR with his father and the latter's father-in law Narne Srinivasa Rao (right) at the Lagnapathrika veduka in Hyderabad, 13 February 2011. (File | EPS)

Passersby shifted a seriously injured Harikrishna to Kamineni Hospital, Narketpally. But he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

ALSO READ | Telugu film industry shocked by Nandamuri Harikrishna's tragic demise leaves film industry sad, shocked

Deeply saddened by the news of Harikrishna garu's untimely demise. May his soul rest in peace. Strength and love to my brother @tarak9999 and his entire family in this time of grief.  Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) August 29, 2018

Harikrishna's sons Junior NTR, Kalyanram and other family members rushed to Kamineni hospital.

Andhra Pradesh CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu and family are also expected to reach hospital shortly.

Deeply saddened by the tragic death of Shri Harikrishna, former Rajya Sabha MP and son of Late Shri NT Rama Rao, in a road accident. pic.twitter.com/Bnlxi95q8N  VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) August 29, 2018

On the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway four years ago, near Kodad, Harikrishna's son Janakiram had also died in a similar road accident.

His another son Tollywood star Junior NTR was also seriously injured in a road accident on the same highway at Munagala in the year of 2009.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: In a huge relief for BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, a special court constituted to try cases against elected representatives on Tuesday dismissed the land denotification case against him. Five cases were registered on a complaint related to denotification of two acres of land in Rachenahalli when he was chief minister in 2011. On Monday, the court had dropped the denotification case against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

According to the counsel for Yeddyurappa, the issue of denotification of land was pending before the special court after all cases registered against elected representatives were transferred from different courts, including the Lokayukta Court. Prior to the special court taking up this case for a hearing, a similar case based on the same set of facts was dismissed by the CBI Special Court. In view of this, the special court too dismissed the case.

The counsel added that the Lokayukta had already dismissed the four cases against Yeddyurappa on denotification of land, after the Karnataka High Court quashed the sanction given to prosecute him.

Of the five cases registered against him, only one case was pending before the special court regarding denotification of two acres in Rachenahalli. Now, this case was also dismissed on the same grounds. The five cases were lodged against Yeddyurappa based on a private complaint filed by lawyer Sirajin Basha. All the five cases have been dismissed.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders have welcomed the court order. This, according to them, will boost morale of the party workers ahead of urban local body elections on August 31 and also in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP general secretary and MLC N Ravi Kumar demanded Congress leaders to apologise for the misinformation campaign against Yeddyurappa. It is a tight slap on the face of those who worked hard to frame Yeddyurappa with false denotification charges. The court order will boost the morale of party workers in the state, Ravi Kumar said.

BJP general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Muralidhar Rao took to Twitter to welcome the order. "Satyameva Jayate! All charges of denotification against BSY were fabricated and today's verdict vindicates him of all the false allegations," he tweeted.Prajna G R By

Express News Service

MADIKERI: Nearly a week since landslides ravaged this village in Kodagu district, residents have not returned. And the fear is that they may not.

Once in two days, a few cattle owners trek through the steep paths (over 6 km) to feed their cattle and take a look at their houses. However, their hopes of resuming normal life have faded. One of the worst-affected, this ghost village is now inhabited by only cattle and dogs. With carcasses spread across the area, a foul smell pervades.

Days after the disaster, 2nd Monnangeri village has seen no improvement in terms of weather or relief work (there is a 1st Monnangeri village nearby which has not been affected as much).



The landslide that began from one of the resorts at Nishane Motte hills has consumed the village completely, with red-mud-filled-water still flowing through the estates in fearful fury, leaving all the houses uninhabitable. Most of the 300 families are now accommodated in relief centres while very few stay with relatives.

The damaged highway near Monnangeri-2 | prajna g r

With no estates or houses, roads or electricity, the residents wonder if their village could be made habitable again. The villagers, who make a trip to their houses every alternate day, trek through the forests and cross a makeshift bridge standing in place of the concrete one.

The bridge is washed away and now there is no connectivity to the village. While younger people walked uphill and reached a safe spot, the older people were stranded. That is when we built this bridge on our own. Each day a few labourers hold the bridge up with wires on either side, which also serve as a handhold, and help villagers reach their houses to feed the cattle, explains Poovaiah, one of the villagers.

A massive landslide broke just a few feet away from our house and we fled from the village and reached Madikeri after trekking through forests, recalls Savithri, who is now staying at a relief centre.

While her house is saved from the landslides, the earth here is cracking further, making this village unsuitable for human stay. I am going back to my house to get school bags and books for my children as schools have started, she adds.

Says Sunanda, another resident, I will admit my son to a school in Kaikeri, near my mothers house, as the school at 2nd Monnangeri has been destroyed. We dont own an estate. A few years back my uncle handed over his areca nut estate to us and we had just begun to enjoy the fruits of our hard work. But the entire estate has now been destroyed, she says.

The approach roads to the village have been destroyed, and on walking paths lie half-eaten (by hungry dogs), rotting carcasses of cattle that have died due to low body temperature.

Narayana, an old man who trekked through the muddy path wearing his newly owned shoes given to him at the relief centre (which had a broken sole at the end of his trek), carried cattle feed and fed the cattle. I dont know if my house is still there. I cannot reach the spot as the path is blocked by the landslide, which hasnt been cleared yet.

While the highway which is close to the village is undergoing repair work, there is no sign of any relief work at thevillage itself.

Many news channels claim their reports to be exclusive. But not one of them has come to our village to report ground reality, laments an estate labourer adding, The estate labourers from Assam have been sent back. What are we to donow? The estate we worked in is totally wrecked. Once appreciated for its abundant natural beauty, the village waits for reconstruction.

Mluru-Bluru trains cancelled

Mangaluru: Railways on Tuesday cancelled the trains being operated between Mangaluru and Bengaluru via Coimbatore, Erode and Thirupattur. After landslides at many locations between Donigal - Yedekumeri - Kadagara Valli - Shribagilu block of Sakleshpur - Subrahmanya Road Ghat Sections in Mysuru Division, the trains were diverted via Coimbatore a week ago. It was taking about 12 hours for the trains to reach the destination as they had to wait at every station for regular trains to pass on.

Rs 200 crore released for relief works

Bengaluru: To repair roads and take up relief works in the flood-hit districts, the state government on Tuesday released D200 crore. According to the government order, `85 crore was released for Kodagu, D20.88 crore for Dakshina Kannada, D14.54 crore for Udupi, D25.15 crore for Chikkamagaluru, D27.94 crore for Hassan, D11.51 crore for Uttara Kannada and D15 crore was released for Shivamogga. The government directed deputy commissioners to use the funds to take up relief works, including restoration of road connectivity.

landslides in Shiradi Ghat

Hassan: Landslide continues to create havoc in Shiradi ghat stretch. The stretch between Shiravase-Subramanya railway line in Shiradi is blocked by derbies in different places since last couple of days. According to railway officials, the landslides occurred on four different spots between Sakleshpur and Subramanya line on Sunday and Monday. The railway officials along with the technical team from Mysuru are camping in Sakleshpur to clear debris from the track. The work is getting hampered due to continuous rains in the area.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Keen to dispel any apprehensions about the stability of the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government, Congress leadership on Tuesday put up a concerted effort to convince JD(S) of its commitment to walk the talk in ensuring the full five-year term for the government.

Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao went the extra mile in this regard as he said, We have made a written agreement with JD(S) assuring full cooperation for the Kumarasawmy government to run its full term of five years. We will adhere to our commitment.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara too intensified his efforts to allay the feeling of instability in the coalition government. The government is stable and there is no need to worry on that, he said.

Hitting back at BJP leaders, including Union minister H N Ananth Kumar, who are predicting the fall of the government after the current month of Shravan, Parameshwara said, Let us see, after Shravan it is Bhadrapada and after that Karthika months too will come.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy too showed signs of a rapproachment. In a departure from his earlier displeasure at former CM Siddaramaiahs expression of intent to return as the CM again which has caused a ripple within the coalition, Kumaraswamy changed the tune on Tuesday. There is no problem between Congress and JD(S) at the national and state levels. We will resolve whatever differences that exist at local level, Kumaraswamy told reporters in Mysuru.

Meanwhile, BJP continued its campaign predicting the fall of the Kumaraswamy government. A day after Union minister Ananth Kumar predicted the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government within 15 days due to differences within, his ministerial colleague D V Sadananda Gowda reiterated it in Mangaluru on Tuesday.

BJP continued its campaign predicting the fall of the Kumaraswamy government. A day after Union minister Ananth Kumar predicted the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government within 15 days due to differences within, his ministerial colleague D V Sadananda Gowda reiterated it in Mangaluru on Tuesday. This government will collapse within 15 days or one month, he said.

It is impossible for Siddaramaiah, Deve Gowda (JD-S supremo) and Kumaraswamy to work together. Siddaramaiah has joined hands with them only because of pressure from the top in Congress, Sadananda Gowda added.

However, Congress has clearly ramped up its efforts to counter BJPs campaign by initiating moves to even contain the dissidence within the party through ministry expansion and appointing some of its MLAs as heads of various boards and corporations to lend greater stability for the government.By Express News Service

ALAPPUZHA: Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran on Monday said the state would need around Rs 6,000 crore to repair the bridges and nearly 14,000 km of roads which were destroyed in the floods. He was speaking at a review meeting held at the collectorate to discuss the rehabilitation of Kuttanad.

The department has started removing waste from roads and bridges. Direction has been given to repair the roads if they become motorable after the repair. The Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) will repair the Alappuzha-Changanassery (AC) Road. KSTP officers have held discussions with the World Bank for the same. The government is also planning to entrust the reconstruction of some other roads with KSTP, Sudhakaran said.

To speed up reconstruction process, changes in the guidelines were needed, Sudhakaran said.Since the tender process is time-consuming, changes are need in it. Discussions on the same will be held with the Finance and other departments, Sudhakaran said.

AC Road to be made motorable on a war footing

Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said the government will take steps to remove water from AC Road on a war footing. While three high capacity motors are removing water from the road at present, they are not enough. So, more high capacity motors will be purchased. Outer bunds which were destroyed in the floods will be reconstructed soon. Discussions will be held with padasekhra samithis to remove the water, he said.He said the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) will begin pumping to remove water from paddy polders. Potable water availability is a problem in Kuttanad. So, KWA should take steps to distribute it in the region. The authority will distribute water in tanker lorries. Country boats will be used to distribute potable water in areas lacking road connectivity, said Isaac, who discussed the matters with KWA secretary Tinku Biswal later.By Express News Service

KOCHI:The state government is responsible for helping you rebuild your houses, said Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who called on Congress workers to take up the job of cleaning the houses ravaged by the flood.

We are the Opposition and it is our job to pressure the government so the compensation would be disbursed as soon as possible. Your houses would be rebuilt as soon as possible, said Rahul. We are not in power either in New Delhi or in Kerala, so we cannot do big things. Whatever we can do is to help as much as possible, he said. The Congress will extend all assistance to rebuild the houses. The party is raising funds and we can also help to rebuild the houses. The whole world witnessed how Kerala had overcome the disaster.

Also Read | Kerala floods: Rahul Gandhi allows air ambulance to fly first

Every Keralite should be proud of how this state reacted to this tragedy. You stood together, all religions, all communities and all castes stood together and fought against the disaster, he said, stating Kerala was an example for the rest of the states.By Express News Service

BALASORE: A signboard that was illegally put up by the Irrigation and Waterways department of West Bengal Government, near Udaypur beach in Balasore district, was pulled down by the district administration on Tuesday.

A group of officials, including Sub-Collector Nilu Mohapatra, Jaleswar SDPO Ramchandra Gouda, Bhograi Tehsildar Ramchandra Kisku and IIC of Udaypur-Talsari Marine police station Santosh Kumar Behera arrived at the site with five platoons of police force and demolished the signboard.

Although, 10 police personnel of Digha police station of West Bengal came to the site, they did not protest the demolition drive.

The Irrigation and Waterways department of West Bengal Government had illegally erected a signboard near Udaypur beach within Bhograi block, located along the border of Balasore district on July 13. The matter was brought to the notice of the State Government, which held a meeting and informed West Bengal Government about it.

The Collector informed that although the neighbouring State was asked to pull down the signboard, it did not respond. Hence, as per the order of State Government, the signboard was pulled down on Tuesday.R Sivakumar By

Express News Service

CHENNAI : With hardly three weeks to go before the DMK is to step into its 70th year, the political organisation has witnessed the emergence of a fifth generation leader at the helm a leader who was born, in fact, a couple of years after the birth of the Dravidian party.With MK Stalin being crowned as the DMK president, the Dravidian party, founded in 1949, has experienced a generational change in leadership after about five decades.The partys general secretary, K Anbazhagan, who has been occupying the post for 41 years, made the announcement of Stalins unanimous election to the post of party president at the general council meeting held here on Tuesday.

Even before Anbazhagan completed his announcement, the ecstatic cadre and delegates gathered for the occasion burst into raptures. The deafening sound of crackers and percussion instruments rent the air while sweets were distributed to share the joy of their Thalapathi becoming the Thalaivar.

As many as 1, 107 party workers had proposed the nomination of Stalin to the post of party president.

Senior leader and principal secretary Durai Murugan was declared elected as treasurer  a post vacated by Stalin.

Stalin is a fifth generation leader to head the DMK, which is an offshoot of the Justice Party founded by the trio - Natesan Mudaliyar, Dr TM Nair and Pitty Theagaroya  in the pre-Independence era (1916). Later, social reformer EV Ramasamy, fondly called Thanthai Periyar, established the Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944, heading the organisation.Late Chief Minister CN Annadurai founded the DMK, branching out of the DK in 1949 after deciding to participate in electoral politics. After the demise of Annadurai, the crown fell on M Karunanidhi who headed the party as its president until breathing his last on August 7.

Three weeks after his demise, his son Stalin assumed office as the chief of the party at the age of 65.

Stalin has held several posts, both in the party and government, before ascending to the peak in the party organisation now, despite serving as the de facto chief for about two years since his father was incapacitated by ailing health.

The general council has also adopted a resolution abolishing the post of working president.

It also passed resolutions condoling the death of Karunanidhi, former Speaker of Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterji and former Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, among others.Soon after elected president, Stalin drove to the Marina Beach to pay floral tributes to Annadurai and Karunanidhi, before visiting the Periyar memorial at Vepery.Later in the afternoon, he stepped into Anna Arivalayam to occupy the chair of DMK president formally. A large number of party leaders and cadre thronged to greet him.T Muruganandham By

Express News Service

CHENNAI : The State Disaster Management Perspective Plan 2018-30, released by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday, is all set to bring in a paradigm shift in Tamil Nadu governments approach to disaster management and risk reduction, on all counts. This plan has set out clear-cut goals to be achieved by 2030 with regard to strengthening disaster risk governance, investing in disaster risk reduction and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, structural and non-structural measures.

Commissioner of Revenue Administration K Satyagopal, explaining the salient features of the plan, told Express that It focuses on systems approach for risk management rather than the conventional approach. Focus areas for risk reduction will be natural resources conservation on watershed basis, comprehensive management of river basins, sustainable management of ecologically-fragile areas, sustainable agricultural development, mainstreaming of developmental plans, social inclusion and integrated development of vulnerable areas, etc.

The system approach would focus on understanding the big picture as against the local picture alone. For example, the general notion is that 2015 Chennai floods occurred because of reasons within the city - like inadequate storm water drains etc., But actually, the floods were caused by the four river systems - Adyar, Cooum, Kosasthalaiyar and Kovalam. So, actually, the problem for Chennai originated from Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.

He said according to this perspective plan, the government would address the problem from the ecosystem called river which has direct connection with oceanic system. In this inter-related system, there are fragile ecosystems like creek, marshland, estuary etc., that would also be taken into account for risk management.

Natural resources conservation on a watershed basis, comprehensive management of river basins, sustainable management of ecologically-fragile areas, sustainable agricultural development, mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into developmental plans, social inclusion and integrated development of vulnerable areas would be the focus areas for risk reduction under the systems approach.

We will have a comprehensive flood protection through structural and non-structural interventions and enhance resistance and resilience of the community with special reference to seven coastal districts - Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram and Kanniyakumari districts, Satyagopal added.

Minimising the risk of urban flooding with special focus on Greater Chennai Corporation would be another aspect of this plan, he said and added that We want to enhance the resilience of farmers to face the vagaries of monsoon and the impact of climate change. This will be with special reference to delta areas because they are more impacted by the fluctuations of the monsoon, he added.

The 200-page document includes - profile of the State, hazard vulnerability analysis of different parts of the State to different forms of disasters, institutional mechanism for risk governance - roles and responsibilities of different departments of the State, preparedness measures to be taken and the capacity building, measures to be adopted for prevention and mitigation of disasters and the manner in which mitigation measures should be integrated with developmental plans and projects.

Water release from Gunderipallam

Chennai: Following requests from farmers, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday ordered release of water from Gunderipallam reservoir, for a special wetting of standing crops

in 2,499 acres in Gopichettipalayam taluk in Erode district. He said water would be released for 10 days from August 30 to September 8.By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The state BJP too is prepared to face early polls to the Assembly and it will go alone without forging an alliance with any party. In the wake of talk of early polls to the Assembly, the core committee of the BJP met at party office on Tuesday night and discussed about its strategy for the elections. BJP state president K Laxman and others were present at the meeting.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, BJP state general secretaries G Premender Reddy and Achari said that the core committee met in the wake of speculation of early polls to the Assembly. They said that they had no information on early polls from the BJP national committee.

As the TRS government failed to implement its assurances to the people, it was planning early polls to avoid anti-incumbency in future. TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao should clarify to the people why he was going in for early polls. The State government was creating confusion among the public, they said.

Vajpayee statue

A day after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao returned from Delhi, a BJP delegation led by president K Laxman called on the Chief Minister at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday. The BJP delegation wanted the Chief Minister to develop former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees memorial on one acre and also install the statue of the former Prime Minister in the city. According to Laxman, the Chief Minister responded positively to the request.Pinto Deepak By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Among the activists arrested from across the country on Tuesday was city-based revolutionary writer Pendyala Varavara Rao. He was arrested from his Jawahar Nagar residence early Tuesday after an 8-hour search at his house by cops from Pune.

Simultaneously, searches were also conducted at residences of journalists K V Kurmanath and Kranti Tekula, and Central University professor K Satyanarayana.

While the three others whose houses were raided are closely associated with Rao -- Satyanarayana and Kurmanath are married to his daughters Pavana and Anala -- they were not arrested.

The action began early on Tuesday morning, at around 6.30 am, as more than 20 cops dressed in plain clothes arrived at Varavara Raos residence.Rao and his wife Hemalatha were planning to leave for Warangal to meet their eldest daughter Sahaja. The cops seized mobile phones of the couple, disconnected their land line and began searching their house.

The cops reportedly seized literature, mobile phones, laptops and computer hard disks apart from letters that were allegedly addressed to Maoist organisations and sympathisers.After the arrest, Rao, 78, was shifted to Gandhi Hospital for a medical checkup and later produced at XII Additional Metropolitan Court in Nampally. He was later taken by air to Pune on a transit warrant.

The police reportedly informed Rao that he was being arrested in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence case, which led to unearthing of the alleged Kill Modi plot.By AFP

ABUJA: Britain's Theresa May held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

Buhari said Brexit offers an opportunity to strengthen historic ties with London which ruled Nigeria as a colony to 1960.

"We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time," he told May.

"I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries."

Both leaders oversaw the signing of agreements on a security partnership and an economic development forum after meeting in the capital Abuja.

"This clearly highlights the two priority areas in our relationship at the moment," Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters.

He said a defence and security pact was to help tackle Nigeria's challenges such as military training, policing and human rights.

The economic forum sought "to leverage areas where we have, as countries, competitive advantages: the financial centre that London is and the investment opportunities in our country, to build that up with the private sector as well as at the government level," Onyeama said.

"This is in the context of the UK's Brexit, coming out of the European Union. They feel freer now to engage with countries on a bilateral level and build up trade relations with those countries.

"For us this also fits into our economic recovery and growth plan ... and so this partnership will be a framework that will achieve very much in our economic recovery and growth plan," the minister said.

'Greatest rights abuse of our times'

Buhari welcomed British support to strengthen democratic institutions.

"I assure you that Im all out for free, fair and credible elections," the president told May ahead of a vote due next year.

She kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town on Tuesday pledging to prioritise investment in Africa -- although it was her diffident dance moves rather than diplomacy that captured the headlines.

The three-day tour, which will also take her to Kenya, is part of a campaign to promote Britain's global ambitions.

With just seven months until Britain formally leaves the EU, May is under pressure to forge post-Brexit trade deals.

British officials are eyeing a doubling of bilateral trade with Nigeria by 2030 from the 4.2 billion ($5.42 billion, 4.64 billion euros) in 2017.

China is currently Nigeria's biggest trading partner with Abuja importing some $7 billion in goods from Beijing.

After Abuja, May headed to Lagos, the economic capital, for talks on efforts to stem the migrant flow to Europe and meet victims of modern slavery.

"Modern slavery is one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time and the UK is a world leader in making it an international mission to end this heinous crime," she said in a Commonwealth statement.

"Today we are stepping up our partnership with Nigerian authorities to find traffickers and bring them to justice," May added.

A 10.5 million pound ($13.5 million) aid package would target human and drug traffickers and help repatriate 1,700 Nigerian slavery victims.

As Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria is one of the main migrant departure for Europe, with 37,500 nationals reaching the Italian coast in 2016 and 18,000 in 2017, according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures.

In December, the IOM said 36,000 Nigerians were stranded in Libya and Niger. Nigeria's immigration agency estimates 10,000 of its citizens died trying to cross the Sahara or the Mediterranean between January and May 2017.By PTI

UNITED NATIONS: Conditions are still not suitable for the safe, voluntary and sustainable return of over 700,000 Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said as he called for accountability for the "horrendous persecution" of the minority community in the country.

The Secretary-General was briefing the Security Council on the situation in Myanmar, where 12 months ago a military operation in northern Rakhine state sparked an exodus of desperate Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh that quickly became one of the world's worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

Guterres' remarks also follow the release of an independent UN investigation into alleged human rights abuses carried out against the mainly Muslim Rohingya and which called for the country's military leaders to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide and war crimes.

"Following my direct engagement with the Myanmar authorities and several initiatives on the ground by the UN system, I expressed my concerns regarding the dramatic humanitarian and human rights situations," he said.

"And I emphasized the risks to regional peace and security of further degeneration. As you know, I have also been working to advance a policy of engagement and unified action to encourage positive actions by the Government, help defuse tensions between communities and build confidence and trust. I do not yet see the needed commitment for that investment to take place," he said.

"It is clear that conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice," Guterres added.

Cate Blanchett, the Academy Award winning actor and Goodwill Ambassador for the Office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and Tegegnework Gettu, Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) also addressed the briefing, which was chaired by Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN for the United Kingdom, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council.

Over 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to ramshackle refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar area, Bangladesh after being forced from their homes by a military operation which UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein compared, at the time, to ethnic cleansing.

Guterres, recounting his experience of visiting the camps this past July, said that he had heard stories of horrendous persecution and suffering.

The trigger for the military crackdown one year ago was a series of attacks on Myanmar security forces by insurgents that were immediately condemned by the Secretary-General.

Guterres said that the disproportionate use of force against civilian populations and the gross human rights violations that followed, could never be justified.

Since then, despite his direct engagement with the Myanmar authorities, and the launch of several UN system initiatives on the ground, the Secretary General has expressed concern regarding the dramatic humanitarian and human rights situations, as well as the risks to regional peace and security of further degeneration.

This engagement includes the advancement of a policy of engagement and unified action to defuse tensions and build trust, and the appointment of Christine Schraner as Special Envoy on Myanmar, which has led to a process of broad consultations with the Government, military, civil society and women's groups.

Guterres said that, despite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Myanmar authorities and UN agencies in June, the country's leaders have not made the investment in reconstruction, reconciliation and respect for human rights necessary for all communities to live improved and resilient lives in Rakhine state.

UNDP's Gettu said the agency shares international concerns about the situation in Rakhine and the plight of the Rohingya, and he emphasised the need to address Rakhine's significant development challenges and to lift restrictions on free movement and access to services.

The UNDP, UNHCR and other UN agencies have been implementing the MOU and working in Rakhine to put a wide-ranging development and humanitarian assistance initiative in place with support from major donors.

He underlined that addressing the needs of the refugees in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, is also of primary importance.

Guterres asked the Security Council to urge Myanmar's leaders to ensure immediate, unimpeded and effective access for the Organisation's agencies and partners, and release journalists arrested for reporting on the human tragedy.

He added that there can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return home, and benefit from freedom of movement, an end to discrimination and the re-establishment of the rule of law.

His call for action was amplified by Blanchett, who said that "the focus of all our efforts must be to provide much-needed support inside Bangladesh while working to ensure conditions in Myanmar are conducive to return."

Guterres concluded with a call for accountability as an essential prerequisite for regional security and stability, and for the Security Council to give serious consideration to the report released on Monday by the UN-appointed Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar.

He added that effective, international cooperation will be "critical to ensuring that accountability mechanisms are credible, transparent, impartial, independent and comply with Myanmar's obligations under international law."By AFP

CAIRO: Egypt's army said Wednesday it has killed 20 jihadists in the latest round of military operations in the Western Desert and Sinai Peninsula.

The military launched a sweeping operation in February focused on Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out militants, including from the Islamic State group, who have been waging a bloody insurgency.

Operations over the past few days had "resulted in the elimination of seven extremely dangerous" jihadists close to Egypt's western border with Libya, the army said in a statement.

It said 13 militants were also killed in shootouts with government forces during army raids in central and northern Sinai.

Security forces in Sinai had arrested 18 wanted suspected militants and destroyed 18 hideouts.

Jihadists launched an insurgency in Egypt after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, forced out by the military in the face of mass protests against his rule.

Attacks have largely been concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula but militants have also struck elsewhere across the country.

The military says around 300 suspected jihadists and at least 35 soldiers have been killed in the "Sinai 2018" operation.By PTI

WASHINGTON: Google today strongly denied US President Donald Trump's claim that its news search results were skewed to suppress conservative voices and positive stories about his administration.

"Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," a Google spokesperson said in an email after Trump's attack on the internet giant.

"Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries.

We continually work to improve Google search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

Earlier, Trump said on Twitter: "Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good.

They are controlling what we can & cannot see.

This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!"By PTI

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government today told a special court hearing the high-profile treason case against Pervez Musharraf that Interpol has rejected its request to arrest the former military dictator as it does not want to interfere in the cases of political nature.

The government's reply came as the tribunal resumed hearing in the treason case against the Dubai-based former president for suspending the Constitution in 2007 by imposing emergency.

Musharraf, 75, has repeatedly refused to return to Pakistan citing security reasons.

The Interior Ministry in its reply on efforts to bring Musharraf back to the country informed the court that a letter was written to Interpol to issue Red Warrant.

But it returned the letter by refusing to interfere in cases of political nature.

On August 20, the special court in Islamabad had summoned the interior secretary over non-arrest of Musharraf in the case despite issuance of non-bailable warrants against him.

"The government had approached Interpol to bring back Musharraf, however, they rejected the request," the interior secretary said.

"Interpol officials had said that the high treason case does fall under their legal ambit," he added.

Further, Justice Yawar Ali questioned if Musharraf's statement in the case can be recorded via Skype.

"Can the investigation move forward without the statement in the case?" he asked.

Adjourning the case till September 10, the court ordered that during the next hearing arguments be given over whether Musharraf's statement can be recorded via Skype or the investigations can move forward without it.

Musharraf's lawyer Akhar Shah said that the former ruler could not appear in person due to security reasons.

He also said that Musharraf's health was not good and was not allowed by the doctors in Dubai to travel.

Shah said that Musharraf will appear before the court if the president-level security was provided to him.

The case was launched in 2013 and Musharraf was subsequently indicted but he left for Dubai on March 2016 for medical treatment with a commitment to come back.

Musharraf, the former army chief, has rejected all charges.

Musharraf took power in 1999 by toppling democratic government and ruled until 2008 when he was forced to step down.By AFP

TEHRAN: Iran's intelligence minister said "dozens of spies" had been arrested as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals and alluded to an agent Iran had placed in the Israeli government, Iranian media reported today.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi did not provide details of the "dozens of spies", or over what period they had been arrested in the interview televised yesterday. He said Iran had planted the agent "in the cabinet of a country that has a very strong intelligence service".

The conservative Tasnim news agency said this was a reference to Gonen Segev, a former Israeli energy and infrastructure minister who was charged with spying by a Jerusalem court last month.

"Financially and through other means, our enemies try to get information on our country," Alavi said the interview.

"They act by spying and infiltration. Fortunately the anti-espionage section is one of the strongest sections of this ministry."

The minister said there was also a concerted effort to root out dual nationals working in official positions.

"If you know anyone, tell us about them," he said.

Alavi spoke of the threat from the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State group (IS), which sees Shiite-majority Iran as one of its main enemies in the region.

He said 230 "terrorist cells" had been intercepted over the past year.

"We foiled plots on places such as universities and the metro but we published little information about this," Alavi said.

IS carried out a multi-pronged attack on Iran's parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini in June 2017 that killed 17 people.

Alavi also talked about a crackdown by the authorities on corruption and those manipulating Iran's chaotic currency rates, which have been a major focus of discontent in recent months.

"If we want to have a dynamic economy, we must fight economic corruption. In the intelligence ministry, we have opened 130 files and more than 180 suspects have been arrested," he said.By Associated Press

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis lamented Wednesday how Irish church authorities failed to respond to the crimes of sexual abuse, speaking during his first public appearance at the Vatican after bombshell accusations that he himself covered up for an American cardinal's misdeeds.

Francis presided over his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square and spoke about his weekend trip to Ireland, where the abuse scandal has devastated the Catholic Church's credibility. The final day of the trip was overshadowed by release of a document from a retired Holy See diplomat accusing Vatican authorities, including Francis, of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite knowing for years that he regularly slept with seminarians.

The author of the document  retired Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano  said Francis should resign for his complicity in the McCarrick scandal, which has implicated two decades' worth of U.S. and Vatican church leaders.

Francis referred Wednesday to the Irish culture of cover-up, but he omitted from his remarks a line in his prepared text noting how he had prayed in Ireland for the Virgin Mary to intervene to give the church strength to "firmly pursue truth and justice" to help victims heal.

U.S. bishops, as well as rank-and-file Catholics, have called for an independent investigation to find out who knew about McCarrick's abuse and when, and how he was able to rise through the ranks even though it was an open secret that he regularly invited seminarians to his New Jersey beach house and into his bed.

Francis last month removed McCarrick as a cardinal and ordered him to live a lifetime of penance and prayer after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

Vigano's 11-page j'accuse alleges that Francis knew of McCarrick's penchant for adult seminarians starting in 2013, but rehabilitated him from sanctions that Pope Benedict XVI had allegedly imposed on him in 2009 or 2010. The claims have shaken Francis' five-year papacy.

There is ample evidence, however, that the Vatican under Benedict and St. John Paul II also covered up the information, and that any reported sanctions Benedict imposed were never enforced since McCarrick travelled widely for the church during those years, including to Rome to meet with Benedict and celebrate Mass with other U.S. bishops at the tomb of St. Peter.

Vigano provided no evidence that Francis had lifted the alleged sanctions, saying only that McCarrick announced after a meeting with the pope that he was going to China.

But he said McCarrick had become a close adviser to Francis, who was seeking to appoint more pastorally-minded bishops to the U.S. church, which he believed had become too ideologically driven by right-wingers.By IANS

UNITED NATIONS: Describing the Rohingya refugee situation as one of the worst humanitarian and human rights crises of the past year, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for international action to ensure Myanmar is held to account for the crimes of its security forces.

Speaking at a Security Council session convened on Tuesday for the one-year anniversary of the start of the exodus of 720,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh, Guterres also condemned the attacks by extremists against the security forces.

However, he added that nothing can ever justify the disproportionate use of force against civilians and the horrendous violation of human rights violations by the security forces.

Urging united action by the divided Security Council, Guterres cited a report issued on Monday by a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) fact-finding team and said the human rights abuses amounted to "the gravest crimes under international law".

He thanked the Bangladesh government for its generosity in hosting the refugees and said more needs to be done by the world community as only 33 per cent of the $951 million UN appeal for assistance has been met and the the monsoon season looms.

The current crisis began in August 2017 with attacks on Myanmar security posts by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which is led by Karachi-born Ata Ullah.

The Myanmar armed forces and vigilantes retaliated brutally against the Rohingyas starting an exodus that began on August 25.

Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, the British Minister of State for the UN, who presided over the Security Council session, said that it should be prepared to use all the tools it has to ensure justice for the Rohingyas.

The strongly-worded report by the UNHRC team headed by former Indonesian attorney-general Marzuki Darusman said that allegations of genocide against Myanmar officials should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to a special tribunal.

The Netherlands and Sweden backed the suggestion and asked the Security Council to refer the matter to the ICC.

But Russia and China countered saying that the situation required a non-confrontational approach and only a bilateral diplomatic solution involving Myanmar and Bangladesh would work.

Myanmar's Permanent Representative Hau Do Suan said that his country did not accept the findings of the UNHRC team as it was biased.

However, he added that Myanmar does not condone human rights abuses and would take action against anyone guilty if there was evidence of their conduct.

He alleged that the ARSA had set up terrorist bases in some areas along the border with Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Permanent Representative Masud Bin Momen said that in the light of the UNHRC team's report, it was imperative that the Security Council should act decisively.

He said that the Rohingyas could not return to their homes in Rakhine state unless they were assured of their safety.

For this, the Myanmar government should take several steps like curbing hate speech, allowing free access to UN agencies for relief operations and dismantling internal camps for Rohingyas and giving them freedom of movement.

Australian-born actor Cate Blanchett, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, spoke at the Security Council session about her encounters with Rohingya refugees who told her harrowing tales of their experiences in Myanmar.

She said that as a mother she was moved by the plight of the children she met as she saw her children reflected in them.By AFP

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday proposed a series of measures to soften a deeply unpopular pension reform, in an apparent attempt to stem a major fall in his approval ratings.

In a rare televised address, Putin suggested raising the state pension age by five years to 60 years for women, instead of the earlier proposed eight-year hike to 63, among other measures.

"The treatment of women in our country is special, gentle," Putin said in the 30-minute speech.

The proposed retirement age hike for men -- by five years to 65 -- will remain unchanged. The Russian leader, who is 65, also suggested early retirement for mothers with large families. And he said companies that fire or refuse to hire employees because they are nearing pension age should face administrative or criminal liability.

The proposed reform -- already approved by parliament's lower house in a first reading last month -- has led to a rare of outburst of public anger, with tens of thousands rallying across Russia in recent weeks.

Putin had sought to distance himself from the controversial measures and had been widely expected to soften the proposals to buttress his falling approval ratings.

Approval ratings low



At the same time Putin reiterated Wednesday that tough measures were needed, citing "serious demographic problems" stemming from the country's huge losses during World War II and the fallout from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"We will have to make a hard, difficult but necessary decision," Putin said, adding his proposals would soon be sent to the Russian parliament's lower house, the State Duma.

"I ask you to treat this with understanding," he said.

The state pension age in Russia is among the lowest in the world and the proposed reform will be the first such hike in nearly 90 years.

But given Russians' low life expectancy, many will not live long enough under the proposed system to receive a state pension.

However, the government says the burden is simply too great for its stretched finances as the economy struggles under Western sanctions.

Putin, who had previously vowed not to raise the pension age, has seen public trust in his presidency fall to 64 percent last month, down from 80 percent in May, according to VTsIOM state pollster.

The last time his approval ratings were so low was in January 2014, just months before his popularity skyrocketed following the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Ahead of the televised address, a Moscow court jailed Putin's top critic Alexei Navalny for 30 days on Monday, just days before he planned to stage a rally against the reform.Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: China declared that the SCO anti-terror exercise in which both Indian and Pakistani forces are participating will not only improve relations between the two nations, but also help Sino-Indian ties.

In a significant statement, the state-run Global Times also said most of the frequent terrorist attacks in India come from or are supported by Pakistan-based terrorist groups.

Over seven decades, the two countries have paid a high price for their conflict but havent been able to resolve it. Since they both possess nuclear weapons, its impossible for them to resolve disputes through war. They can either resolve the border dispute in a pragmatic manner or shelve it for later generations to deal with, said the editorial.

Expressing optimism over the recent exchanges between PM Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, it argued that improvement in India-Pakistan relations can help reduce terror attacks in the two countries.It said India regarded China-Pakistan friendship as an obstacle to its ties with China, believing that Beijing is using Islamabad to restrain India. New Delhi sees Chinas support to Pakistans military and economy as a threat, and it strongly opposes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Better India-Pakistan relations can help improve Sino-Indian ties. And a normal China-India-Pakistan relationship will promote Chinas economic cooperation with South Asia so that the CPEC may be upgraded to China-South Asia economic corridor. China and India will be more confident in the two plus one format in South Asia.

Noting that the SCO is a new platform for counter-terrorism talks between the two countries, the Global Times said improved India-Pakistan relations would benefit Afghanistan by bringing more stability.

Welcoming the admission that Pakistan was behind terror attacks, a senior diplomat noted that the main reason for Chinas eagerness to bridge the India-Pakistan row is the CPEC, which loses a lot of its lustre because of New Delhis opposition. And frankly, do we really need China to confirm the fact that Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism not just against India, but globally?By AFP

RAMADI: A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle in the town of Al-Qaim in western Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people, five of them security personnel, police said.

The 9 am (0600 GMT) bombing at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Al-Qaim also wounded 16 people -- 11 civilians and five security personnel, police Captain Mahmud Jassem told AFP.

The town, on the Syrian border some 340 kilometres (215 miles) from Baghdad, was one of the last in Iraq to be recaptured from the Islamic State group in November last year.

One month later, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the jihadists.

But since then, the security forces have announced a number of campaigns to flush out holdout IS fighters from sparsely populated areas from which they have continued to mount attacks.

The vast desert that straddles the border with Syria on either side of the Euphrates valley town of Al-Qaim has been one the jihadists' principal hideouts.By AFP

DAMASCUS: An expected government assault on Syria's last rebel-held province, Idlib, and surrounding areas could displace as many as 800,000 people already in a dire humanitarian situation, the UN warned Wednesday.

In an interview with AFP, a representative of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA) in Damascus said an attack could be catastrophic.

"We fear that -- should there be an increased escalation of hostilities in that area -- up to 800,000 people could be displaced and that the number of people who are in need of humanitarian assistance, which is already high, could increase dramatically," said Linda Tom.

Idlib in northwest Syria along the border with Turkey is the last province still held by the country's beleaguered rebels.

An estimated three million people live in Idlib and adjacent rebel-held territory, many of them already displaced from other parts of Syria since the conflict erupted in 2011.

Most rely heavily on food, medicine and other humanitarian aid brought in across the Turkish border by the UN and charity groups.

Tom said she feared that assistance "will be compromised" by clashes, further threatening civilians in the densely-populated territory.

"For aid workers who are working in this area, they might become displaced as well and that would compromise the delivery of services to people in need," she said.

"It's just the immense scale of the humanitarian catastrophe that could take place in the Idlib area," she added.

President Bashar al-Assad is looking to recapture Idlib to cap a string of major regime victories in recent months, including around Damascus and the south, that have put him in control of around two-thirds of the country.

Those offensives have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes across Syria, where a total of six million remain internally displaced.

On Tuesday in New York, several UN Security Council ambassadors voiced deep concern over the fate of civilians in Idlib.

Swedish envoy Carl Skau said an assault "would have catastrophic consequences and can lead to a humanitarian disaster".

Experts have said Syrian troops could instead opt for a more limited operation on the province's periphery, where hundreds of thousands live.Jodi Heckel, a writer for the University of Illinois News Bureau, is a runner and triathlete. You can email her at prairieathlete@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter (@jodiheckel).Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021Tigers maul the Red Devils 44-36 On Friday night, the Washington Wilkes Tigers took on the Lincoln County Red Devils in the 85 meeting of the 378 War. The first drive for both teams stalled, with...

Washington Firefighters assist Oglethorpe County Firefighters with raging barn fire On October 20, an Oglethorpe Fire and Rescue truck from Salem sent out a call for mutual aid to battle an enflamed 500-gallon fuel tank, which Wilkes County stations promptly...

EMTs and firefighters train for farm rescues Over October 23-24, several EMTs and firefighters from around the southeast came to Wilkes County to receive training in responding to agricultural medical emergencies. Training over the first day focused...Antifa terrorists in Austin, Texas planning extremely violent paramilitary attacks on patriots

In Austin, Texas, a far-left extremist group is calling for a red army to be formed to annihilate those it considers enemies  namely those who do not agree with its communist ideals.

According to a posting to the Facebook account for the Red Guards Austin, theyd like to see the formation of paramilitary organizations, one of which specializes in fist fighting and the use of blunt weapons like flagpoles or axe handles. A second level would involve those who have undergone military training and would operate as the groups soldiers.

The posting goes on to call for members to confront their enemies physically and ensure they are bombarded from all sides.

The end of the post makes it clear that they are quite committed to their cause, and their words are frightening:

On the basis of our principled united front work, fascists and their collaborators can be drowned out, run out, routed, beaten bloody, and even annihilated. These are our principles and we aim to hold them to the very finish.

The Red Guards Austin say they are a MarxistLeninistMaoist violent Antifa group. Theyre based in Austin, but they work together with Red Guards Los Angeles, Red Guards Charlotte, Red Guards Pittsburgh, and Red Guards Kansas City. It might be tempting to dismiss their words as the ramblings of a few deranged individuals, but the Austin cells group page on Facebook currently has nearly 8,000 followers  and they regularly call for other masked individuals to join their group.

This group claims that the whole country is a battlefield and that the war is here and now rather than something that is coming in the future. They want to teach their followers how to use weapons in carrying out revolutionary violence. Theyve also said that it is time to walk away from the comfort zone of the legal left. On their website, youll find photos of masked demonstrators carrying rifles marching through the streets.

Its interesting to note that Facebook has not taken any steps to remove their account because they call for violence, even though they are incredibly quick to shadow ban and censor conservative accounts for saying things they disagree with that dont mention any type of violent acts.

There are more violent antifa groups out there than youd like to think

Red Guards Austin is not the only radical far left group out there looking to cause trouble. For example, Redneck Revolt is a self-described above-ground militant formation that claims to have more than 30 branches throughout the nation. Much like the Red Guards Austins opposition to what they call the ruling class democracy, Redneck Revolt backs the idea of militant resistance to capitalism. Their 36-page handbook, which is published on their website, contain sections on topics like guerrilla warfare that reference terrorism, kidnapping, sabotage, and even executions.

This is why it is so essential to be informed and be prepared. How many groups like this are trying to organize violence in your area? Would you know what to do if this angry mob confronted you? Would you be able to get home to your family if they caused havoc in the streets while you were out? If you havent given preparedness and survival careful consideration before, its time to get your head out of the sand and recognize all the danger that is brewing.

Sources for this article include:

RayGano.com

BigLeaguePolitics.com

NaturalNews.comThe law is silent on what ought to start. The President might appoint since those elected are now known and were duly declared so by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. What is left for them is to be sworn in so that they could start parliamentary business, another official said.We are expecting the President and his Government to work with all people of Zimbabwe and ensure they have access to finances for SMEs and also create a desk to deal with all issues concerning SMEs.Police made investigations into these reports and interviewed the MDC Alliance Muzarabani Constituency chairperson Jaface Mufira who resides in ward 20. He stated that he was unaware of that information and that there were no threats of violence in the area. Police also interviewed the MDC Alliance ward 20 councillor contestant Steven Sado, who said he had not been intimidated or threatened by anyone up to date, said Snr Asst Comm Charamba.In a related matter, the High Court recently held ZETDC liable for the death of an eight-year-old boy who fell on naked power cables in Harare in 2012 before ordering the firm to pay $15 000 in damages. ZETDC paid damages to the deceased boys mother, Ms Constance Sinachinga, as compensation for the psychological trauma and emotional shock occasioned by the companys gross negligence at No. 284 Herbert Chitepo Avenue.Oxford's Word of the Year

Is an 'Attention-Grabbing' One(Newser)  Since the fall of the Soviet Union nearly 30 years ago, the US has shifted from preparing for large-scale thermonuclear war to preparing for a much smaller attack with a radioactive dirty bomb. But as North Korea seemingly continues with efforts to develop long-range nuclear weapons, "the threat picture has changed," says Tener Veenema, a disaster nursing student at Johns Hopkins University who co-chaired a nuclear preparedness conference in Washington DC this month. Participants in the conference, organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, came to a "blunt" conclusion: the US is unprepared to deal with the aftermath of a major nuclear attack, Nature reports.

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Now that thermonuclear is back on the table, were back to people saying, We cant deal with this, says public-health researcher Cham Dallas. One of the key issues: a lack of medical personnel with the know-how (and inclination) to treat radiation victims, according to a 2017 study. Also, as Nature notes, detonation of a nuclear bomb could result in hundreds of thousands of burn victims and there are just about 300 burn surgeons in the US who know how to perform skin grafting, the best treatment. Meanwhile, optimism that North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat, as President Trump previously declared, is fading. Last week, Trump asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to the country because "I feel we are not making sufficient progress." (Read more nuclear weapons stories.)(Newser)  Drew Calver, 44, survived a heart attack last year only to be hit with a bill that, he tells NPR, could practically "give me another heart attack": St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, said the teacher owed $108,951.31almost double his annual salary. St. David's is out-of-network on his school district health plan, but the hospital assured a concerned Calver it would accept his insurance. The total bill for a surgery to implant stents in his clogged artery plus four days in the hospital came to $164,941; his insurer paid $55,840 and the hospital billed him for the rest. As NPR explains, two practices known as surprise bills and balance billing often come into play in cases like this:

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Surprise bills: A person goes to an in-network hospital, but receives treatment from an out-of-network doctor while there and ends up with a bill from that doctor.

A person goes to an in-network hospital, but receives treatment from an out-of-network doctor while there and ends up with a bill from that doctor. Balance billing: An insurer agrees to pay for the necessary emergency care at an out-of-network hospital if it's the closest one, but then disagrees with the hospital on a reasonable price. The patient is then billed the difference.

Texas is one of several states with laws aimed at helping to protect consumers from such practices, but the protections don't apply to those whose employers self-insureand about 60% of people who are covered by employer health insurance plans, including Calver, are indeed covered by a self-insured plan and may not even know it. See NPR for more, including experts who say Calver's total bill was significantly more than it should have been, but the bottom line is that after the article was published, St. David's said Calver could apply to see his balance reduced to $782.29. (Read more health care stories.)(Newser)  A couple on their honeymoon died Sunday in a rollover crash in southern Washington. Authorities believe Amy Moffat, 28, fell asleep at the wheel of the red Ford F-150 while driving on I-82 near Prosser, KSL reports. As the truck drifted to the left, she reportedly overcorrected, which caused the truck to roll over. Moffat and her new husband, 30-year-old Stephen Graham, were pronounced dead at the scene. The Utah newlyweds were headed to Whistler, according to reports. Friend Spencer Luczak was driving behind the couple at the time of the crash, which occurred around 7:30pm. He tells KSTU that the truck went airborne as it rolled. "I slowed just in time because it landed right in our path," he says.

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Luczak says he ran to the truck: "When I got to them, I knew right away they were gone."

Aubree Bosen, Moffat's cousin, tells KTSU she takes consolation in the fact that the pair died together. "They were happy," she says, "and they were going on an adventure." According to Facebook posts, Moffat and Graham were married Aug. 11 "beside a babbling summer creek," the Gephardt Daily reports. "I felt like the luckiest girl in the world," Moffat wrote in an Aug. 13 Facebook post. "I can't tell you how much I love this man." "Stephen waited his whole life to meet someone like Amy," Luczak tells KTSU. "Shakespeare couldn't have written this story." (Read more traffic fatalities stories.)(Newser)  A professor at the University of Hong Kong emailed students Tuesday morning to calm them regarding a police presence at the residence hall in which he lived with his family and served as warden. "They are here to investigate a missing person case," wrote Cheung Kie-chung, who'd told police his wife vanished on Aug. 17 following an argument. "There is nothing to worry about among the students." Later that day, police say they found a wooden box at Cheung's office on the university's main campus. Inside was a malodorous, bloody suitcase holding a woman's body, an electrical wire around her neck, police superintendent Law Kwok-hoi says, per the New York Times. Police allege 53-year-old Cheung strangled his 52-year-old wife after a family dispute.

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The dispute allegedly involved the couple's daughter and bathroom cleanliness, per CNN, while the Hong Kong Free Press specifically refers to "toilet hygiene." After the daughter left their residence, Cheung's wife is believed to have confronted her husband for not supporting her in the dispute, police say. She wasn't seen exiting the building, though surveillance video did show Cheung taking out a wooden box measuring roughly 10 by 20 by 30 inches. A member of the department of engineering as well as the school's governing council, he was charged Wednesday with murder as university officials offered counseling to Wei Lun Hall residents, per the South China Morning Post. (Another Hong Kong professor is accused of killing his wife and daughter with a gas-filled yoga ball.)(Newser)  Philip Snider's story was unusual from the start. In January, the 73-year-old told police a convoluted tale: That he and his 70-year-old wife, who was in poor health, traveled from Hartville, Ohio, to to see Elvis Presley's Graceland in what was to be their last trip. Except, per Snider, Roberta Snider died in a hotel parking lot, he flagged down an ambulance, and he never saw her body again. Fast forward to Monday, when Snider was sentenced to life in prison with the chance for parole in 20 years. He pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, and gross abuse of a corpse. What happened between January and that sentencing is a bizarre tale. Here it is:

CantonRep.com notes Snider's story changed a number of times, with Snider abandoning the ambulance story and claiming instead that Roberta died on the way to Memphis, that he kept her body in the back of his truck, stayed at a Days Inn near Gracelandpolice have verified that only he checked inand dumped his wife's body into the Tennessee River from an I-40 bridge on Jan. 6.

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But WKYC reports no body was found in that area of the river, and investigators later confirmed that he was solo when stopping at a gas station just hours into his drive in Wooster, Ohio, reports the Washington Post. Per his story, Roberta should have been with him. A search of his home found a blood-stained sweatshirt belonging to Roberta in a Rubbermaid container; tests showed there was only a 0.1% chance the blood wasn't hers.

Snider, who at this point had tried to take his own life and had been hospitalized, now had a new story: That Roberta died at home, and that the end was the same: He put her in trash bags and dumped her in the Tennessee River en route to Memphis.

But then the twist to end all twists: WKYC reports that Snider was released from the hospital in April and became friendly with a 50-year-old undercover female cop who told him she had come to Hartville to tend to her dying motherand, ultimately, confided in him that she had thought about killing the woman, who she had a difficult relationship with. He allegedly opened up about ways she could do so and get away with it.

When he finally proposed marriage, she said she needed him to come clean about his first wifeand prosecutors detailed what he allegedly told her, reports WREG: that after fighting with Roberta on Jan. 2, she went to sleep in their living room. He went to Burger King for coffee the next morning and returned home to find Roberta still asleep. He then put a shop cloth on her head and delivered two fatal blows with a 2-pound stake hammer. All the evidence, including her body, went into his truck, and he dumped the items at spots along the way to Memphis.

News5Cleveland reports Snider was being recorded by the undercover cop during their discussion, which took place at a Wendy's, and has these lines: "Can you imagine a hammer this big and this big around? Say I bonked her in the head and her tongue came out." He was arrested April 20.

Fox 8 reports that as part of his plea agreement, Snider is to tell prosecutors where he disposed of Roberta's body. CantonRep.com reports he simply said he put her in the Tennessee River. It notes he'll have to show prosecutors where, and if he doesn't, he could be brought back to court.

What the judge had to say about Snider: "The hottest places in hell are reserved for people like you."

(Read more murder stories.)Mumbai:

As much as 99.3 per cent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system, the RBI said on Wednesday, indicating that just a minuscule percentage of currency was left out of the system after the government's unprecedented note ban aimed at curbing black money and corruption.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has taken an awfully long time to count the currency that was returned in the limited period window provided by the government to exchange or deposit the demonetised currency, said in its Annual Report for 2017-18 that the exercise is finally over.

Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016, when the note ban was announced, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned.

This meant just Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency did not return to the banking system.

After the note ban, old junked notes, called specified bank notes (SBNs), were allowed to be deposited in banks with unusual deposits coming under income tax scrutiny.

Read | Rupee falls 22 paise to 70.32 against US dollar

The "humungous task of processing and verification of specified bank notes (SBNs) was successfully achieved," it said.

The SBNs received were verified, counted and processed in the sophisticated high-speed currency verification and processing system (CVPS) for accuracy and genuineness and then shredded, it added.

RBI said the processing of SBNs has since been completed. "The total SBNs returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion."

A collateral damage as a result of rising in printing and other cost was dividend RBI pays to the government.

The government replaced old Rs 500 notes with new ones, but no replacement for Rs 1,000 notes have been made. Instead, a new Rs 2,000 notes were introduced post note ban.

Post-demonetisation, RBI spent Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17 on printing new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and other denomination notes, more than double the Rs 3,421 crore spent in the previous year.

Read | Nestle seals deal to market Starbucks coffee

In 2017-18 (July 2017 to June 2018), it spent another Rs 4,912 crore on the printing of currency, the annual report said.

The demonetisation was hailed as a step that would curb black money, corruption and check counterfeit currency but RBI said, "Counterfeit notes detected in SBNs decreased by 59.7 and 59.6 per cent in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, respectively."

"Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 35 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 100, while there was a noticeable increase of 154.3 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 50," RBI said adding that counterfeit notes detected in the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes during 2017-18 were 9,892 and 17,929 as against 199 and 638, respectively, during the previous year.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Chennai:

The SBI has approached the Madras High Court in the Rs 820 crore debt recovery proceedings against Kanishk Gold Private Limited seeking quashing of proceedings by the Enforcement Directorate attaching the firms property.

Justice R Mahadevan, before whom the petition came up on Wednesday issued notice to ED counsel and posted the matter for further hearing on September 3.

According to the assistant general manager of SBIs Stressed Assets Management branch, Kanishk Gold Private Limited is liable to pay an amount of Rs 8,19,56,38,017 as on March 15 to a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India.

An application has already been filed by the SBI along with other banks before the Debt Recovery Tribunal-II to recover the outstanding loan amount, the counsel submitted.

Also Read | Japan to be country partner for Make in Odisha Conclave: CM Naveen Patnaik

The DRT-II has already passed an interim order directing the promoter-directors of the company not to leave the country pending disposal of the above application.

The company had deposited the original title deeds pertaining to the properties to create equitable mortgage in favour of the SBI and its consortium banks.

Since loan accounts had become non-performing assets, the SBI and its consortium banks had jointly issued a demand notice under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002 (also known as SARFAESI Act) to the companys directors.

Following this, it took symbolic possession of nine properties.

The SBI and its consortium banks also lodged a complaint before the CBI, it was submitted.

Bhupesh Kumar Jain, one of the firms directors, was arrested by the Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence for alleged evasion of duty.

Meanwhile the Director of Enforcement Directorate had passed an order freezing the properties during search and seizure under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED had also passed a provisional attachment order attaching all secured properties under the PMLA.

Read More | Demonetisation: Centre must come out with 'white paper', demands Arvind Kejriwal

It further ordered that the secured properties shall not be transferred, disposed, removed or otherwise dealt with unless or until specifically permitted to do so by them.

The SBI submitted that by effecting the provisional attachment order, the ED had scuttled the frantic efforts of the Banks from realising public money.

In its plea, the SBI sought a direction for quashing the proceedings under the PMLA act as it is violative of rule of law, more particularly the provisions of Recovery of debts and Insolvency Act as well as SARFAESI Act.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

At least three people were killed and 17 others injured following violent political clashes over the formation of a panchayat board in West Bengals North 24 Parganas district, police said on Wednesday.

The two groups, allegedly belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), hurled bombs and fired bullets at each other in North 24 Parganas districts Amdanga Block on Tuesday last night, leading to the death of three persons, the police said.

Also Read | West Bengal: Over 30 injured in clashes over panchayat board formation

Two people were arrested and 12 others detained in connection with the violence, the police said, adding the situation was now under control.

The Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed in the disturbed areas, the police said.

North 24 Parganas district Trinamool Congress president Jyoti Priya Mallick claimed that two of the deceased were members of his party, adding 15 TMC workers were injured in the clashes.

Also Read | SC orders house arrest of activists till September 6

While, Mallick accused the CPI-M and the BJP of resorting to violence saying the police would unearth all the illegal arms and weapons which were smuggled in from Bangladesh, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the politics of terror and violence was patronised by the ruling party and it was a daylight murder of democracy.

Since Monday, four people were killed and several others injured following clashes in North Dinajpur, Malda and Purulia districts.

(With inputs from PTI)New Delhi:

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday locked horns over the Rafale deal with the former accusing the opposition party of peddling untruth, and the latter responding by calling it the Great Robbery.

Jaitley on Wednesday, posted a set of 15 questions for Rahul Gandhi in response to Congress posers on the multi-billion dollar deal on Facebook.

Also Read | In Kerala, Rahul Gandhi continues from where he left off in Germany and UK on two ideas of India

The finance minister accusing the Congress of carrying out a false campaign, sought Rahul Gandhis response on questions varying from delays in finalising the jet fighter order to procedural knowledge and foreign supplier being allowed freedom to choose private partner to meet offset requirement.

Jaitley also asked if the delays on buying fighter jets during the Congress regime were based on collateral considerations like the ones witnessed in the purchase of Bofors guns.

Jaitley said that if Rahul Gandhi failed to respond, he would come up with further specific facts that they were merely peddling falsehood.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi rebuked Jaitleys remarks by calling the deal the Great Rafale Robbery and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to protect his business friend.

Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 29, 2018

Also Read | Congress demands PM apology for allegedly lying to the country

The finance minister was quick to comment.

In a series of tweets, Jaitley stated that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Bofors deal had called kickbacks winding up charges and the whole world rejected the findings.

Let me remind you of a JPC the Congress Government appointed in 1987 on the Bofors deal. It was headed by Mr. Shankaranand. It gave a report that the kickbacks were winding up charges. The whole world rejected the findings of that JPC. Why a JPC to satisfy your falsehood?  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) August 29, 2018

Mr. Gandhi, you have not attempted to answer my questions on the 'Rafale purchase in the interest of national security. When no answers are given, obviously no answers could have been given by those who resort only to falsehood, Jaitley tweeted.

Mr. Gandhi, truth holds together, falsehood falls apart that is the fate of your Rafale falsehood, he said in another tweet.

Jaitley on Wednesday rubbished the Congress allegations that NDA government agreed to pay a higher price and favouring a private industrialist was complete falsehood.

Can Rahul Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Indian government has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these aircraft in India, Jaitley said in his Facebook post.

Jaitley, maintainging that the Rafale controversy was based on complete falsehood, said that it was expected from national political parties and their responsible leaders to keep themselves informed of the basic facts before they enter a public discourse on defence transactions.

Also Read | Demonetisation: Centre must come out with 'white paper'

Congress partys false campaign launched on Rafale aircraft deal based on peddled untruth has been casting a cloud on the Inter-Governmental agreement and seriously compromising national security, Jaitley said.

Jaitley said that the BJP-led NDA government is purchasing the 36 Rafale fighter jets at a 20 per cent lower price than the one negotiated by the UPA government in 2007.

Rahul Gandhi deny that when the add-ons such as India-specific adaptations, weaponry, etc. are installed on the basic aircraft, the UPA price, which was mentioned in the 2007 L1 offer, would be at least 20% costlier than the more favourable price negotiated by the NDA, Jaitley added.

(With PTI inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, hearing a plea questioning Tuesdays arrests of five activists for their alleged connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, ordered that the arrested five activists- Sudha Bhardwaj, P Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, be kept under house arrest till September 6, 2018, saying dissent was the safety valve of democracy.

Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you dont allow these safety valves, it will burst, the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

Also Read | Bhima Koregaon violence: Supreme Court to hear petition challenging activists arrest today

A three-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra questioned the Maharashtra police for arresting these persons after around nine months of the Bhima-Koregaon incident.

The apex also issued notice to the Maharashtra state government and the state police on the plea filed by five intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, against the arrest of the rights activists on Tuesday in connection with the case.

The counsel, appearing for Maharashtra, raised the issue of maintainability of the plea, saying a stranger cannot seek relief for the activists who have already approached the high courts.

On Tuesday, Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, civil rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers and activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested over an alleged Maoist activity, that rocked Maharashtras Bhima Koregaon on January 1 during the 200th anniversary celebration of a British-era war.

Also Read | Arrests of activists a declaration of emergency: Rights groups

The Maharashtra Police had arrested them in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event - Elgaar Parishad (conclave) - held on December 31, 2018 that had triggered violence at Koregaon's Bhima village.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 6.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A day after the Pune police in a coordinated raid across India, arrested five right activists for their alleged connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, several eminent personalities such as Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Darnall on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court to challenge the same.

A three-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra is scheduled to hear the matter at 3:45 pm on Wednesday. Senior lawyers Prashant Bhushan, Abhishek Singhvi, Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising will appear for the petitioners before the Supreme Court.

The group of activists on Wednesday reached the apex court seeking an independent investigation into the matter and asserted that the arrest of the activists was malafide and arbitrary. They also urged the court to seek an explanation from Maharashtra for sweeping round of arrests in the case, according to report.

#BhimaKoregaon Eminent persons Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande, Maya Darnall and one other person move the Supreme Court against the arrest of activists Sudha Bhardwaj and activist Gautam Navlakha. SC to hear the matter at 3:45 pm today.  ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2018

Read | Nandamuri Harikrishna, Tollywood actor and TDP leader dies in car accident

Apart from the Supreme Court hearing, the Delhi High Court is also scheduled to hear the matter pertaining to activist Gautam Navlakha's arrest at 2:15 pm after police sought more time for translation of documents from Marathi to English.

Meanwhile, speaking to ANI, DCP, NIT Faridabad said that Sudha Bharadwaj, one of the five detained activists, will be "produced before High Court on Wednesday. Media would be barred from talking to her. But she can meet her advocates". Bharadwaj is currently under house arrest in connection with famous Bhima Koregaon violence.

On Tuesday, Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, civil rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers and activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested over an alleged Maoist activity, that rocked Maharashtra's Bhima Koregaon on January 1 during the 200th anniversary celebration of a British-era war.

The police team also searched the residence of Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi but could not arrest him due to lack of evidence.

Read | J&K: Security forces gun down two Hizbul terrorists, close aids of late commander Burhan Wani

The raids, which were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane also found a shocking letter that describes a chilling plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the lines of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

This was the second such operation in the last three months. Earlier in June, the Pune police had carried out similar searches and arrested five urban Maoist operatives from Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday held a day-long meeting to review their flagship schemes ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed a number of decisions and legislation effected by his government benefiting all sections of society, particularly Dalits, Other Backward Communities, the poor and farmers. The Chief Ministers' Council meeting, which took place at BJP headquarters in Delhi, is considered as part of party's efforts to retain power in 2019.

Apart from the Lok Sabha polls, the Saffron party also discussed their upcoming agendas in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, three BJP-governed states, which are slated to go to poll later this year.

The meeting, under the leadership of PM Modi, was attended by 14 of the 15 BJP chief ministers, several Union ministers and party president Amit Shah.

Briefing reporters on August 28 meeting, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said, "We have taken a pledge that we will win the Lok Sabha polls with a majority bigger than the one we had in the 2014 polls. We will also ensure our victory in three state polls.

Read | EVM row: Whiners fuelling unjustifiable doubts over election process

Talking about Swachh Bharat exercise, Singh further said the government has been building toilets and focussing on cleanliness, and the ongoing Gram Swaraj project in over 48,000 villages, adding that PM Modi has asked the partys chief ministers to focus on their speedy execution and take it to the masses during elections.

The bill passed in Parliament to grant constitutional status to the OBC commission has also generated a lot of positive response, Singh said.

The issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was also discussed with the party asserting that the presence of illegal infiltrators could not be tolerated in the country. They also said that minority Hindus in neighbouring countries must find a home in India if they are persecuted there, he added.

Meanwhile, party chief Shah also made a mention of overwhelming tributes paid by people to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee following his death on August 16. The meeting passed a resolution remembering the BJP stalwart and hailing his works for the country.

The hike in MSP for crops has been of a huge help for the agriculture sector, Shah said during his interaction with reporters.

Speaking to reporters, Raman Singh also mocked the Opposition over its efforts to unite to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), saying they are engaging in a futile exercise as Modi is certain to return to power. The central governments scheme has benefitted all sections of society, he added.

Read | Rahul Gandhis Muslim Brotherhood remark against RSS and the Sanghs sweet invite

Addressing the ministers at BJP headquarters, PM Modi also vowed for social justice while speaking about laws passed by Parliament for the welfare of Dalits, tribals and Other Backward Communities, besides measures such as hiking minimum support price for crops to benefit farmers.

Fruitful meeting with Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of states where the BJP is in power, Modi tweeted following the August 28 meeting in Delhi.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

In yet another encounter with terrorists at Muniward-Harnag area of Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, security forces were engaged in heavy shooting, according to police. The operation, which is being carried out by the police, Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) gunned down two militants in the gunfight that broke out this morning.

The slain terrorists, who were part of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, have been identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar and Umar Rashid Wani, two of the close aids of late commander Burhan Wani.

A cordon and search operation were launched in Muniward village of Khanabal area in the wee hours following specific information about the presence of militants in the region, police said. Following this ongoing operation at Anantnag, mobile and internet services have been suspended in the district, 61 km from Srinagar.

Here are the LIVEA updates on Anantnag encounter:

# 11:24 am:A Two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists killed in Anantnag encounter have been identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar (top HM commander) and Umar Rashid Wani. Police have registered a case and investigation has been initiated.

# 09:24 am: Two terrorists killed, arms and ammunition recovered; Search operation underway.

# 06:25 am: Amid an ongoing operation between security forces and terrorists, mobile and internet services have been suspended in the district.

#JammuAndKashmir: An encounter is underway in Anantnag's Munward. 1-2 terrorists are believed to be trapped. Police, Army and CRPF are carrying out operations. Mobile internet services have been suspended in the district. (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/8JWq59ZHvT a ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2018

# 06:22 am:A Police, Army and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) are carrying out operations to engage terrorists.

# 06:20 am:A An encounter has started in Anantnag's Muniward. two-three terrorists are believed to be trapped.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Nandamuri Harikrishna, Telugu actor and TDP leader, died in a road accident in Telangana on Wednesday, according to reports.

"Actor and TDP leader Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a car accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district," the news agency ANI reported.

The vehicle in which Nandamuri, son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao was travelling, met with an accident on the Narketpally-Addanki highway in Nalgonda district. Following the mishap, Nandamuri was rushed to the hospital but later succumbed to his injuries. He suffered serious wounds on his chest and head.

#SpotVisuals: Actor and TDP leader Nandamuri Harikrishna dies in a car accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district. pic.twitter.com/4EusxbqXmw  ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2018

Jammu and Kashmir: Security forces gun down two Hizbul terrorists in Anantnag encounter; Internet services suspended

The accident took place at about 6:30 am in Nalgonda, 100 km from Hyderabad. Harikrishna, the former parliamentarian was thrown out of the driver's seat after his SUV, a Toyota Fortune hit a divider and flipped, landing on its side.

As per the police reports, Harikrishna was on his way to Nelloree and was driving at a speed of up to 150 km per hour to make it to a wedding function by 9 am.

Talking about Harikrishna's political career, the 61-year-old leader was elevated state transport minister back in 1980 after NTR became Andhra Pradesh chief minister. The TDP leader was also the brother-in-law of now Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and a member of the politburo of the state's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Read | Former Bengal captain Gopal Bose passes away

In 2014, Harikrishna's son Janakiram also died in an accident near Nalgonda.

Harikrishna is survived by his wife, daughter Sushasini and two sons Kalyan Ram and Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, who are also part of Tollywood industry.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to rain-battered Kerala, on Wednesday said that his visit to the southern state of India is to support the flood-affected people but not to politicise the situation. I have come here as a support and not to politicise the situation. I will not comment on the nature of this crisis, the Gandhi scion said on being asked if Kerala Flood is a man-made crisis or wrath of God. Addressing the media from Kochi, Gandhi also promised Kerala that the Congress would put pressure on the Centre to release more amount of compensation.

I have visited a large no of camps yesterday, people are worried. I spoke to Kerela CM too. It is important that the govt gives a sense to the people that it is going to help rebuild the houses. Compensation promised should be delivered quickly, the Congress chief said.

To criticise the Narendra Modi government for a small amount of fund, Gandhi further said, "The extent of support that the central govt has given should be more. This is owed to the people of Kerala. It is their right. I am sad that the central govt has not given as much aid as they should".

There are two different visions of India, one is a centralized vision and other is a decentralised vision. One respects only one ideology, based out of Nagpur and other respects all different ideas, cultures, different people in this country. That fight is on, Gandhi added.

Read | Rahul Gandhis Muslim Brotherhood remark against RSS and the Sanghs sweet invite

Here are the highlights on Gandhi's Kerala visit:

# 11:35 am: Gandhi flags off the Relief Material Trucks from Marine Drive, Kochi.

Congress President @RahulGandhi flags off the Relief Material Trucks from Marine Drive, Kochi #RebuildingKerala pic.twitter.com/duNHVKMYFc  Congress (@INCIndia) August 29, 2018

# 11:10 am: Congress president Rahul Gandhi addresses the media during his two-day visit to Kerala.

Congress President @RahulGandhi addresses the media during his two day visit to Kerala. #RebuildingKerala pic.twitter.com/5DvaJzYaWz  Congress (@INCIndia) August 29, 2018

Gandhi, who reached Kerala on Tuesday morning, has visited relief camps in Chengannur and Alapuzha and Ernakulam district, some of the worst-hit areas in Kerala floods. In Chengannur, the Congress chief visited the relief camp at the Christian College and that at an engineering college. He interacted with flood-affected people at both the centres.

Read | Kerala floods 'very big tragedy', we are all with you, says Rahul Gandhi

Later in the day, Gandhi also felicitated fishermen and party volunteers who were involved in relief operation during monsoon fury in Kerala.

During his two-day visit to Kerala, Gandhi will tour flood-hit areas of Wayanad and Kozhikode districts on Wednesday.

As per the latest data released by the Disaster Management's state control room, 474 persons have died in Kerala Floods, one of the most devastating disasters in nearly a century.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The latest salvo fired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders to possibly invite Congress president Rahul Gandhi among others to the RSS event in New Delhi in September points to the fact that the ideological parents of the Sangh Parivar, including that of the ruling party or the BJP, want only lovey-dovey talks. And this is going to take place at the cost of real issues dogging the people.

The show is indeed billed in the cool comforts of Delhis plush Vigyan Bhavan at a time when floods are in full fury through quite a few parts of South while threatening others in the North. Hardly bothered about peoples plight, the father figures of the Parivar have their eyes fixed on another stint in power for the BJP. And, thus, they have ostensibly got provoked by one of the remarks made by Rahul during his jaunt in London putting the RSS on virtually the same pedestal as Muslim Brotherhood has been in case of mainly Egypt and generally its nearby West Asian countries.

This is so despite the fact that yesteryears BJPs leading voice LK Advani had in one of his visits to London amid the heat of Ayodhyas Mandir movement told the BBC bosses that he did not mind the Parivar or his party being called as Indias Hindu militant organisations. Thus, taking umbrage to Rahuls remarks today can only be driven by the desire to refurbish an image that the BJP and Parivar had once vied to build. Such are the contradictions that the partys journey to power has brought. And as the next stop through this is going to be another general election in a few months time from now the party is obviously looking at new ploys and possibly a new image.

Read | No RSS invite for Rahul Gandhi yet; will respond once received: Congress

Only about a couple of months ago the world had witnessed the visit of former President Pranab Mukherjee to Nagpur headquarters of the RSS. The several-hour-long show at the Sangh citadel turned out to be only mawkish and pedantic. Thus, to expect anything other than this from its September event in Delhi will only be a tall order for the participants as also the observers. And without prejudging it can easily be said that by inviting other parties leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, the Sangh aims at monopolising politics cutting across party lines. It is trying to be the moral guardian of a politics that has put its offspring in power on the one hand and creating a defence mechanism for the Government of the day on the other by inviting leaders from rival parties.

It is not for the first time that the Congress president is possibly going to get an invitation from the RSS. In 2007, Sonia Gandhi was invited by the Sangh to take part in a commemoration function held in February that year in honour of the second RSS Sarsanghchalak the late MS Golwalkar. She had stayed away from the event as may well be the case with Rahul Gandhi this time. It can well be so since the Sangh has been seeking to improve its moral position by inviting some of the top guns of the country. Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Ratan Tata of Tata group of companies have already been to RSS events besides Pranab Mukherjee.

Yet, the invitation that the RSS is flaunting now for Rahul Gandhi has too obvious political overtones to be missed. In fact, the invite has been moved virtually through media and it is actually yet to be delivered to the Congress chief. Its immediate purpose is to forestall the spree of criticism of the RSS by Rahul. The RSS through its much-touted invitation has also tried to answer the Muslim Brotherhood remark made by Rahul Gandhi. Both the RSS and BJP spokesmen tried to make a case at their separate interaction with the Press about Rahuls lack of knowledge about Indianness. So the intended or feigned invite is meant to convey to the public a visibly polite response by the RSS to what it thinks otherwise to be quite a harsh and blatant comparison of the RSS with Muslim Brotherhood.

Read | Congress will win 2019 general elections, claims Rahul Gandhi

The Parivar has somehow been successful in its moves. This is more so since by announcing its possible decision to invite Rahul Gandhi to its public and possibly televised show the RSS has taken a soft position on what could have been a serious issue. When the charge is that the RSS approach can be as violent as has been that of the Muslim Brotherhood, the RSS is apparently taking the route of deliberations. It is aimed at posing a moral question to Rahul Gandhi who was seen hugging Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last months debate on the no-confidence motion against the Government in Parliament. In case Rahul turns down the invitation questions may arise about the Congress chiefs earlier show of warm embrace on the floor of the House.

Yet, whatever may be the case or turn that the moves by the RSS, BJP and the Congress may take the question is going to be whether Rahul was as off the mark as the Parivar has tried to look it like and may continue to do so through its September event in Delhi. The answer to this may not be very straight or precise. But the parallel drawn by Rahul between the RSS and Muslim Brotherhood take the attention to the assassination of the former Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi by a Muslim Brotherhood supporter in 1948. And it was also the year when Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by a zealot whose ideological leanings are well known not only back home but also the world over.New Delhi:

The tweet by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, calling upon India to invade the Maldives if the presidential polls in that island nation are rigged has understandably disturbed a hornets nest.

That Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen has been cocking a snook at India and embarrassing this country with utter disdain is terrible but to hold out a brazen threat to invade a sovereign country can only be a last resort.

It is common knowledge that Yameens behaviour suggests that he would try to win the September 23 election by hook or crook. It is also clear that the force behind Yameens audacity is his excellent equation with Chinese leaders who are responsible for weaning Maldives away from India after the pro-India duly elected President Nasheed was forced to quit by Yameen.

Yet, India has to tread warily and that requires tact and diplomacy of the highest order and not a slapstick approach.

Also Read | In Kerala, Gandhi continues from where he left off in UK

Swamy is indeed a man of action as he has shown in the pursuit of the 2G spectrum sale case which shook the erstwhile UPA government and in the National Herald case in which Congress bigwigs Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi are in the dock on serious graft charges which hang like the Democles sword on their head. He is also pursuing the cases against former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti with rare relentlessness. The remarkable aspect is that Swamy often argues the cases himself.

On Yameen and Maldives, Swamys threat came after he had a meeting with Nasheed in Colombo. Though the Indian foreign office has predictably washed its hands off Swamys comment, it is not inconceivable that the threat may have been delivered at the instance of the Modi government with tactical motive.

Maldives is too tiny a country to cock a snook at mighty India and in some way this country has to hold its clout aloft and assert its position while leaving the escalation short of final action. The Chinese too have much at stake in India and can ill afford to encourage Yameen to go out of limits against India.

Also Read | Gandhis Muslim Brotherhood remark against RSS and their sweet invite

While Indias relations with Yameen were never great, they escalated when India opposed the state of emergency promulgated by the Yameen government pursuant to a Supreme Court ruling calling for release of opposition leaders. India had been urging for the restoration of democratic processes and had also called for release of opposition leaders to have a free and fair presidential election.

The Maldivian Government said that the charges and convictions were as per the law of the land. But the trials were dubbed by international rights groups and Western governments as a witch hunt by a dictatorial Yameen. As a result of Yameens anger, the Maldivian Navy declined to participate in Indias eight-day naval exercise codenamed Milan in the Andaman and Nicobar seas.

The Maldives followed this up with a request to India to take back one of the two Indian Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) stationed in the archipelago to perform rescue missions.

The mood changed somewhat after the Modi-Xi Jinping Summit in China. The Chinese Ambassador in India Luo Zhaohui told a senior Indian journalist that China was ready to have joint projects with India in Sri Lanka and Maldives also. The Maldivian envoy in India Ahmed Mohamed said in Chennai that like China, India too could undertake projects in his country. But he made it clear that the initiative must come from India. As per recent reports, the stand-off between India and Maldives over the fate of Indian military helicopters leased to the island country could possibly be heading for a breakthrough.

Also Read | EVM row: Whiners fuelling unjustifiable doubts over election process

It has been reported that talks between the two nations have been moving on a positive note with the island nation open to the idea of continued deployment of the military choppers along with their full complement crew and support staff.

Yet, the strains in Indias relations with Maldives remain. The September 23 elections would indeed be crucial for Indo-Maldivian ties. Yameen, the Modi government and the Xi government in China all know this only too well.

Read More OPINIONNew Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi continued from where he left of on his foreign tour  in targeting the Narendra Modi government  even when he was visiting flood-ravaged Kerala on a two-day visit over Tuesday and Wednesday.

Clearly, he is losing no opportunity to build on a narrative that paints the central government and Prime Minister Modi as the oppressive entity that was wedded to one party, one thought, one nation kind of an idea that the BJP and the RSS stood for.

Reaching out to Kerala flood victims, the Congress chief squarely blamed the central government for its failure to give adequate aid to Kerala that has suffered all round destruction and its people in despair. The Centre could and should have done more for the flood victims and Kerala, Rahul Gandhi said when media persons got him to answer a few questions on Wednesday, the second day of his Kerala visit that took him to the worst affected areas in the state.

During the course of his visit, in which he also squeezed in Kogadu of Karnataka that also suffered flooding and landslides and destruction, Rahul Gandhi said it saddened him that natural disaster was sought to be used as a means to drive the idea of hate and bigotry. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said The Kerala floods reveal two ideas of India; The first is one of love and compassion for all living beings, particularly in their suffering. The second is driven by hate and bigotry that is unrelenting even in the face of suffering.

Read | Rahul Gandhi in Kerala: Congress chief flags off Relief Material Trucks from Marine Drive, Kochi

The Congress leaders relentless attack against Modi and the central government on the battle between the ideas of India that he referred to at a meeting in Germany recently indicates that even Rahul Gandhi has moved into a 24X7 election mode. Even when visiting flood victims in Kerala, Rahul Gandhi chose to maintain his attack on the BJP.

The Congress leader interacted with the fishermen community and paid his respects to the fishermen who went out of their way and on their own helped save thousands of marooned people. He also praised the work of several good Samaritans and said this was evident in Kerala as entire India stood behind Kerala in its hour of need.

But the same cannot be said of the government and some other people, Rahul Gandhi said training his guns on the Modi government. The central government did not give enough financial support to Kerala, he charged but said the Congress will do everything it can to help Keralites and extend help in rebuilding the state.

Assuring all support to flood victims, whom he visited at different flood-affected areas like Chengannur and relief camps where thousands were temporarily housed. Rahul Gandhi promised to the victims that his party men and women would be in touch with them and extend help to the extent possible.

Read | Rahul Gandhis Muslim Brotherhood remark against RSS and the Sanghs sweet invite

Interacting with fishermen in Alappuzha, Gandhi promised to set up a separate ministry for fisheries to look after their needs if the Congress was voted to power at the centre. The Congress president felt that the centre was found wanting even at the time Cyclone Ockhi hit Kerala.

In Kochi on Wednesday, winding up his tour, Rahul Gandhi launched a broad side against Modi and the central government for neglecting the state when it was in despair.

The central government ought to have declared Kerala floods a national disaster, but did not, he said.Dhaka:

A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh has been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, media reports said on Wednesday.

Subarna Akter Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private news channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, bdnews24.com reported.

Also Read | Two women journalists sexually assaulted in Noida, NCW seeks report

She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 kms from here.

Nodi, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house at around 10:45 PM on Wednesday, it said.

When she answered the door, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, police said.

Some locals rushed her to hospital where she was declared brought dead.

Also Read | Sri Lanka arrests two Indians on suspicion of match-fixing

Police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, Additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said.

Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.

Meanwhile, the family of Nodi said that they suspect her former husband Rajib Hossain, and father-in-law Abul Hossain are behind the killing, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Her mother claimed that her daughter had named her ex-husband as one of the attackers before she died.

Nodi had sued Rajib in a dowry case. Her elder sister Champa Begum was scheduled to testify before the court in the case yesterday, the report said.

Also Read | Blast kills seven security personnel in Burkina Faso

Champa claimed that Rajib and his associates had verbally abused her on the court premises before the hearing, the report added.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Tripoli:

Fresh fighting erupted in the Libyan capital on Wednesday after the collapse of a truce, a witness and military source said, after the UN called for calm.

A military officer with forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord said there had been intermittent fighting in Tripolis southern suburbs.

A combined force from the ministry of defence and (ministry of) interior of the GNA led an offensive against positions of the 7th Brigade, he said.

The militia had been trying to advance along the road to Tripolis international airport which has largely been closed since fighting in 2014.

Also Read | US to end suspension of military drills, amid North Korea tensions

The 7th Brigade supposedly operates under the GNAs defence ministry.

But on Monday Interior Minister Abdessalam Ashour said security forces were fighting the militia, which hails from the town of Tarhuna southeast of Tripoli.

Those clashes left at least five people dead and 33 wounded, according to a health ministry toll, before a truce was reached in the evening.

Fighting resumed on Wednesday in the Salaheddin neighbourhood of southern Tripoli, a resident said.

He reported machine guns and anti-aircraft guns being fired, which could be heard over the phone.

Overnight the UN Support Mission in Libya warned of attempts to tamper with the security (of) Tripoli and its residents.

There is no justification for the bloodshed. UNSMIL calls on all to spare lives, stop military mobilisation and allow for mediation, the mission wrote on Twitter.

Read More | Blast kills seven security personnel in Burkina Faso

The UNs plea followed reports that forces from the city of Misrata, 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Tripoli, intended to head to the capital.

Powerful armed groups from Misrata spearheaded the Fajr Libya coalition of militias which seized Tripoli in 2014.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted in 2011.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Drinking water supplied to a large number of households and shops in Manama is unhealthy and unhygienic, according to apparent evidence. Apart from the seemingly dirty containers and bottles used in storing and delivering water, many of the containers also had holes and were left exposed in the open on the streets.

According to sources, illegal drinking water suppliers have been mixing tap water with sweet water in a 50% ratio. The tap water is not purified in any way and is thought to be added for adulteration, sources said. The tanker truck delivering the water have mold formation inside, according to claims. A Bahraini citizen, who is a resident of Manama, said he has resorted sealed containers or water after being suspicious about the quality of sweet water.

I started noticing how dirty the bottles they used to deliver were. One day as I opened the bottle and looked behind the cap, I saw something green which very much looked like mold or bacteria. I tried to wipe it off and it clung to my hand, at this point I was sure that it was mold and that it would be unwise to drink it. This is when I stopped drinking water that is refilled from these shops. It is unhygienic and I do not want to put my health in danger.

Initially, when I found out about this I tried to warn people and tried to complain but I could not make a long lasting impact. I kept myself safe by avoiding it but I could not make an impact for other people. However, after reading the news in Tribune recently about the two boys who died after drinking contaminated water that came from out of an unhygienic water tank, I once again decided to speak out.

Now I am doubly conscious about the water I consume. Many of the cheap restaurants will give you free water which they pour out of a jug. Just imagine the process it goes through before it reaches your glass. First of all they buy from these free visa suppliers who do not keep their containers clean, secondly they keep the water in their tank, which is also dirty.

Unlike food, water is much easier to pollute. Food can be cleaned by washing off with water while water cannot be cleaned in such a manner. They are playing with the lives of the people by distributing such water, he warned. According to sources, gangs of free-visa workers control the water supply business.

This is basically an illegal business as they dont have any approval from the health authorities. They earn a profit of minimum BD10 per day or more in most cases, so they are quite happy to continue doing this. This is a business that expatriates manage, although the vehicle belongs to Bahrainis, who allow them to do this. These workers would pay a monthly amount to the Bahrainis to be able to run and profit from the business. The expatriates are often free visa workers, they do not work under a company name or own a licence, the sources added.His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has praised the outstanding international achievement made by the Kingdom, as it has become the first Arab State to reach Tier 1 in the US Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Report.

This came as His Majesty received Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of Labour Market Regulatory Authority, Chairman of the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Ausamah Al Absi, and members of the committee received at Safriya Palace yesterday.

HM the King expressed appreciation of the sincere efforts that contributed to bringing the achievement under constant keenness to maintain values based on respect, equality and justice.

HM the King paid tribute to the role of the Coordination Committee, led by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, in laying out initiatives and programmes to address trafficking in persons and to safeguard freedoms and human rights.The main target of Iran-sponsored terrorists in the Kingdom is its national economy, Head of Public Security, Major General Tariq Al Hassan said yesterday.

Maj Gen Al Hassan was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on Best practices during the investigation and funding of terror crimes at the Public Security Officers Club, when he made this remark. The terrorists are trying to destabilise Bahrain, target the lives of security men, hit the national economy and endanger national interests.

Maj Gen Al Hassan praised the security efforts exerted by the Ministry of Interior, and the security authorities, in dealing with terrorist acts, and in taking the necessary measures to thwart these crimes, in order to protect citizens and residents and preserve their safety.

He hailed the sacrifices of the security men who even offered their lives in defence of the security and stability of the homeland. The head of public security stressed the importance of continuing to develop the skills of the security man and the need to provide them with sufficient knowledge to confront any kind of terrorist acts while performing work.

Maj Gen Al Hassan stressed that the fight against terrorism and its financing cannot be carried out by a single institution or state, but rather is a collective action that requires joint national and international efforts.Bahrain will use the expertise of British Accreditation Council to assess the credibility of higher education institutions operating in the Kingdom, Dr Abdul Ghani Al Shuwaikh, the Secretary-General of the Higher Education Council, said yesterday.

Mr Al Shuwaikh said that the council is preparing to implement the third phase of the academic accreditation programme in coordination and cooperation with the British Accreditation Council with the start of the new academic year 2018-2019. He said that all academic institutions will be assessed to ensure that they meet all required standards.

He pointed out that a team of experts has been hired, from the British Accreditation Council, to assess the credibility of higher education institutions.Yousif and Aysha Almoayyed Charity donates BD3,500 to help flood victims of Kerala

Many charity organisations and societies continue to send relief material to Kerala, the Indian state which was devastated by floods and landslides over a week ago. Yousif and Aysha Almoayyed Charity made a donation worth BD 3,500 to Bahrain Keraleeya Samajan (BKS) in aid of the people in the affected areas of the state.

The donation was handed over to officials from BKS and includes dry rations and other essentials such as toothpaste, toothbrush, baby diapers, soaps, antiseptic lotions and other relief materials to be shipped to Kerala. The Indian Club Senior Member T V Suresh handed over a cheque for INR 100,000 towards Kerala Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Fund through Indian Club.

The Clubs Acting President Thankachan Vithayathil along with Acting General Secretary Siby Varghese and Indian Club Kerala Flood Relief Committees Convener Mohamed Hussain Malim received the cheque from T V Suresh. Meanwhile, the Cochin International Airport, which was closed due to incessant flooding in Kerala, will resume its full-scale operations at 2pm today.

The airport, among the busiest in the country, had been rendered non-functional since August 15 due to flooding and torrential rains. The airlines have been notified regarding the same and asked to make sure the smooth functioning of the services as per the schedule.

Passengers can now book tickets to/from COK as most of the airline s sites have already started facilitating journey planner on or after august 29, Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) stated.The High Criminal Court has rejected an appeal filed by a Bangladeshi man, who provided taxi services without a licence. He was earlier fined BD1,000 and was ordered to be expelled out of Bahrain as well as denied entry for three years.

The defendant was arrested offering transportation services to pedestrians without having the required permissions from the competent authorities. He was reported to police by a Bahraini citizen who saw him transporting several people to Bahrain International Airport, after which they paid him moneyKate Middleton has once again proved she knows exactly how to rock jewellery fit for a literal queen. The mother of three was photographed heading to church on Sunday during her familys visit to Queen Elizabeths summer retreat in Scotland, Balmoral Castle, People.com reported.

Kate rode in the backseat of a car next to the 92-yearold monarch herself and wore earrings straight from her grandmother-in-laws jewellery box: the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings. According to Her Majestys Jewel Vault, the earrings were made from a shell containing seven pearls gifted to Queen Elizabeth from the ruler of Bahrain for her wedding in 1947.

The earrings contain a large round diamond with a smaller circle diamond hanging below it. Three baguette diamonds hang from there, with three more small diamonds making way to the dangling pearl.A Bahraini man, in his twenties, is set to stand trial before the High Criminal Court for giving shelter to a wanted man in a serious security case.

The fugitive had been awarded a 15-year imprisonment sentence in absentia after he was held guilty in a security case, but the 22-year-old provided him shelter despite knowing his status.London : Kate Middleton has once again proved she knows exactly how to rock jewellery fit for a literal queen. The mother of three was photographed heading to church on Sunday during her familys visit to Queen Elizabeths summer retreat in Scotland, Balmoral Castle, People.com reported.

Kate rode in the backseat of a car next to the 92-year-old monarch herself and wore earrings straight from her grandmother-in-laws jewellery box: the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings. According to Her Majestys Jewel Vault, the earrings were made from a shell containing seven pearls gifted to Queen Elizabeth from the ruler of Bahrain for her wedding in 1947. The earrings contain a large round diamond with a smaller circle diamond hanging below it. Three baguette diamonds hang from there, with three more small diamonds making way to the dangling pearl.

Prince Williams grandmother is more than generous in lending pieces from her jewelry vault to her relatives for special occasions. As Kate walked onto the steps of the Lindo Wing outside St. Marys Hospital to introduce her newborn son, Prince Louis to the world, she paid homage to the Queen by wearing another pair of diamond and pearl drop earrings, the website said. The simpler earrings have proved to be one of Kates favorites. She has worn them on several occasions, including during a 2016 visit to the Mauritshuis gallery in Holland, where she viewed the iconic painting Girl with a Pearl Earring.Manama : The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, yesterday agreed to reinvigorate economic and investment relations between their countries to boost the current bilateral trade volume of $310 million. The two sides expressed the commitment as Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid telephoned Shah Mehmood Qureshi to congratulate him on assuming the office of foreign minister, Pakistan newspaper The News reported.

The two foreign ministers agreed to revive institutional mechanisms of joint ministerial commission and bilateral political consultations to explore fresh avenues of bilateral cooperation. Foreign Minister Qureshi congratulated Shaikh Khalid on achieving the Tier-1 status on anti-human trafficking efforts and termed it a remarkable achievement that made the entire Muslim world proud, The News reported.

Shaikh Khalid stressed the keenness of the Kingdom to support these relations and to continue joint cooperation between both countries to achieve common aspirations. Shaikh Khalid also said that he looks forward to the second meeting of the Joint Bahraini-Pakistani Ministerial Committee which will be held in the Kingdom of Bahrain next year. For his part, the Pakistan Minister expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for his congratulations.

The Pakistan Minister affirmed the pride of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in its strong and distinguished relations with the Kingdom of Bahrain, praising the stances of the Kingdom of Bahrain that support the security and stability of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and wishing the Kingdom further progress and prosperity. He expressed gratitude for Bahrains assistance in setting up Hamad University in Islamabad and for hosting more than 100,000 Pakistani workers in Bahrain.Another elderly patient at a hospital has died, police said Wednesday, following the deaths of four others possibly due to heatstroke after the air conditioners broke down.

The fifth person was an 84-year-old male patient who died at Y&M Fujikake Daiichi Hospital in the city of Gifu in Gifu Prefecture on Tuesday evening.

The hospital previously denied that its air-conditioning failure had led to the deaths of the other patients, also in their 80s, who passed away on Sunday and Monday.

It argued that staff members had moved patients with serious conditions to air-conditioned rooms and used fans to substitute for air conditioners.

The police received a report on Monday evening that four people had died at the hospital possibly due to heatstroke after the air conditioners broke down. They have since launched an investigation, suspecting it could possibly be a case of professional negligence.

Prefectural and city government officials inspected the hospital on Tuesday based on a law concerning hospital management. The temperature in Gifu city rose as high as 36.2 C on Sunday, according to a local meteorological observatory.

According to the police, two men and two women aged 83 to 85 were staying on the hospital's third and fourth floors and died between 8:40 p.m. Sunday and 11:35 a.m. Monday.

The hospital, which specializes in treating the elderly, said the air conditioners broke down on Aug. 20 and it had since used nine fans because it would need one month to fix the equipment.Japan and China are expected to discuss reinstating their currency swap pact at their financial dialogue to be held in Beijing on Friday, informed sources said Tuesday.

The two countries will also exchange opinions on the intensifying trade row between the United States and China, the sources said.

The Japan-China financial dialogue will be the first since May 2017. The upcoming talks will be attended by Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and his Chinese counterpart, Liu Kun, among other participants.

The meeting is apparently intended to lay the groundwork as well for a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping that may take place in October.

In their talks held in Tokyo in May, Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed to bring back the two countries' currency swap pact at an early date.Toyota Motor said it will invest 500 million dollars in US ride-hailing company Uber to help develop self-driving vehicles.

Toyota said the investment will advance the companies' partnership as competition intensifies in the race to commercialize self-driving vehicles.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says the partnership is a natural fit and signals a commitment to developing world-class technologies.

In a related move, four auto-parts makers in the Toyota group will form a joint venture to develop software for self-driving vehicles.

Denso President & CEO Koji Arima says, "The 4 companies will combine know-how to help promote self-driving technology that allows safe and secure transportation for everyone."

The parts makers say the JV will supply its software to Toyota and other carmakers in Japan and overseas.

Toyota Motor has said it aims to commercialize auto-driving technology for expressways by 2020.A Japanese government panel of experts started discussions on Wednesday on a planned review of the country's long-term defense policy guidelines.

One focal point is how to strengthen the cooperation between Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military in view of the tense security situation in Northeast Asia, sources familiar with the situation said. Other major issues include countermeasures against new threats, such as cyberattacks, the sources said.

The panel plans to meet once or twice a month. The government aims to compile a draft of the revised defense guidelines in early December, partly based on the panel's opinions, and formalize them in the middle of the month.

"The severity and uncertainties (in the security environment surrounding Japan) are increasing far faster than we anticipated five years ago," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the first meeting of the panel.

"Japan needs to seek defense capabilities that are truly necessary for the country, rather than considering the matter in an extension of the existing policy," he stressed.Get a briefing of all the latest stories from The News Record, delivered right to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.Former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Roland Owie, has dismissed the 2019 presidential aspiration of Southern politicians, saying it was against the order of natural justice.Owie, who is the chairman of the National Contact Committee of Action Democratic Party, ADP, in a statement, said that the principle of rotation between the North and South was based on natural justice which he said should not be violated at this time.He said: It is unfortunate that very many of our Southern politicians are very naive and shallow. Some years ago, Nigerians agreed, at least as a convention, that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between North and South.It started in 1999. The South took the first shot through President Olusegun Obasanjo 1999-2007. The North took over with President Umaru Yar`Adua but unfortunately Yar`Adua died and President Goodluck Jonathan took over.If we calculate from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2019, the South would have produced the President of Nigeria for a total of 14 years and 240 days, while the North would have had the presidency for five years and 339 days.So from May 29, 2019, the North still has eight years of presidency. Where there is no justice, there can never be peace. For justice and peace to reign, presidency should be zoned to the North and Vice-President to South East, and when North completes her tenure in 2027 then Presidency goes to the South East.The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, on Wednesday afternoon arrived the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, as part of her visit to Lagos State, where she is billed to spend time with victims of modern slavery during her brief stay in the nations commercial hub.The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the UK prime minister arrived at exactly 4:18p.m. at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, aboard an aircraft of the Royal Air Force.NAN reports that the prime ministers visit to Lagos comes barely eight weeks after the French President, Mr Emmanuel Macron, visited the African Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos.Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, accompanied by his deputy, among other state officials, had earlier arrived at the presidential lounge of the MMA to receive the British leader.Also on ground at the airport were the top echelon of the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service.May had earlier arrived in the country and met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the New Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja.Nigeria and Britain also signed two agreements on Defence and Security partnership as well as Economic Development Forum before she headed to Lagos.Mays visit to Nigeria is part of her tour of some African countries.The Prime Minister is expected in Nairobi on Thursday, where she will meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and see British soldiers troops from Kenya and other African countries in the techniques needed to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices before they go to fight Al-Shabaab in Somalia.The prime minister is on a trade mission in an attempt to bolster Britains post-Brexit fortunes. This is her first visit to Africa since she became Prime Minister in 2016.She is accompanied by a 30-man business delegation as part of her efforts to deepen and strengthen partnerships around the world as the UK prepares to leave the European Union next year.British PM Theresa May has departed the State House after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.She left the precinct of the State House about 1:50pm with the normal funfare of the Brigade Band playing to her delight.After the meeting there was no usual press briefing by the two world leaders as is usually the case.Theresa May, prime minister of the United Kingdom, has arrived in Nigeria.

Theresa May, prime minister of the United Kingdom, has arrived in Nigeria.







Upon arrival, May proceeded to the presidential villa, Abuja, where she is meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. Upon arrival, May proceeded to the presidential villa, Abuja, where she is meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.









Mays visit to Nigeria is part of her tour of some African countries. She visited South Africa on Tuesday and is expected to head to Kenya from Nigeria.





While in Nigeria, May and Buhari will discuss the security challenges in the country, the economy, 2019 elections and will also sign defence and economic agreements.





After the meeting with Buhari, May will proceed to Lagos, where she is expected to visit victims of modern slavery.





The UK prime minister had described Nigeria as home to the highest number of very poor people in the world.



The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, party lied to Nigerians with false promise of restructuring. PDP also said that the president and his party deceived Nigerians during the 2015 election.In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP said the statement credited to the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo dismissing the promise the APC party made concerning restructuring the country is a further proof that the party lied to Nigerians just to win the 2015 election.According to the statement, the comment by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo dismissing the promise by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the nation, if voted into power, has further confirmed that the ruling party outrightly lied to Nigerians, just to win the 2015 general elections.The PDP notes that the APC made the issue of restructuring a cardinal agenda in its manifesto, alongside other bogus promises which it had failed to fulfill, adding that the ruling partys dodgy approach to the issue of restructuring has earned it the odious reputation as the most deceptive political organization in the history of our nation.The PDP recalls that the APC, in line with its duplicitous script, went ahead to set up a deceptive committee on restructuring, which made several recommendations that they never contemplated implementing, but only to create an impression that their dysfunctional party and incompetent government are committed to their promises.Now that the 2019 general elections are around the corner, the APC has become apprehensive that Nigerians will hold it to task on its promises, including that of restructuring, hence the resort to rhetoric and desperate recants, for which the loquaciousness of persons like Prof. Osinbajo has been enlisted.In all, the PDP counsels the APC and the Buhari Presidency to learn that there is no way they can hide from their shadows as they must be ready to face Nigerians on all scores, in all their lies, deception and false promises, with which they fraudulently took over power in 2015.The General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, on Tuesday revealed how he prophesied about the intercepted N...

The General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, on Tuesday revealed how he prophesied about the intercepted Nigerian-bound Russian ship with explosives.

Suleiman recalled that he had urged faithful and Nigerians to pray for the country to avert danger against the nation.





The cleric had on a Sunday service of August, 19, 2018, declared Tuesday 21st and Wednesday, 22nd August fasting and prayer days for Nigeria, saying the aim was to avert possible threat to the nation.





On Tuesday, the Omega Ministries replayed a clip of the earlier prophesy.





Suleiman said: When I give instructions, it may not be sensible but it is spiritual. Tuesday, Wednesday, everybody fast. Pray for yourself and the whole Nigeria.





Actually, it will start on Tuesday, enter Wednesday. Full manifestation, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You will see it. Tuesday, Wednesday, we fast to arrest Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You will read it on paper.





The cleric further urged Nigerians to turn to pages of spiritual sensitivity and be security conscious in order that we may be delivered from inexcusable ignorance.





Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that the explosives were owned by desperate politicians and their political parties.



Jonah Jang, former Plateau governor, has declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election.

Jonah Jang, former Plateau governor, has declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election.

Jang made his decision known on Tuesday at the secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jos, Plateau state.





The former governor also presented his letter of intent at the PDP secretariat.





Jang is currently standing trial for alleged misappropriation of N6.3 billion between 2007 and 2015 when he was governor.





A state high court sitting in Jos, in July, adjourned his trial till October 30.





A 12-count charge of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds was brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Daniel Longji, a justice of the court.





Jang is being tried alongside Yusuf Gyang Pam, a former cashier in the office of the secretary to the Plateau state government.





The offences were said to have been perpetrated a few months before the end of Jangs tenure as governor in 2015.



An Abuja Federal High Court has warned against any unlawful move to impeach the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

An Abuja Federal High Court has warned against any unlawful move to impeach the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.





Justice Nnamdi Dimgba held that Saraki should not be illegally removed from office pending the determination of a suit filed by some Senators.





Recalled that Senator Rafiu Adebayo and Senator Isa Misau had instituted a case against the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and the Department of State Services.





The lawmakers had dragged them before the court in a bid to restrain them from aiding the forceful removal or impeachment of Saraki.





When the matter was called, plaintiffs counsel, Emeka Etiaba informed the court that he had a motion exparte dated August 27, 2018, and filed same day.





The lawyer informed the court that the exparte motion which seeks an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from taking any untoward action or move to forcefully remove or impeach the Senate President from office.





After listening to Etiabas submission, the trial judge, Dimgba held that I believe the proper order to make is an order of accelerated hearing of the suit so that the court can consider and determine the merits of the substantive case expeditiously.



Meg Otanwa, Nollywood actress, has written to Theresa May, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, asking her to help seek the release o...

Meg Otanwa, Nollywood actress, has written to Theresa May, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, asking her to help seek the release of Leah Sharibu.





Sharibu was among the victims in the Dapchi schoolgirls abduction in February.





The girls were released a few weeks later with the exemption of Sharibu who refused to denounce her Christian faith.





TheCable recently published a proof of life recording and picture of the abducted schoolgirl. On the recording, Sharibu pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to secure her release from captivity.





May visited Nigeria on Wednesday as part of a three-day trade mission to boots ties with Africa.





The Ojuju actress used the opportunity to appeal to the prime minister to use her position and influence to lobby for the release of Sharibu.





THE LETTER IN FULL





Madam Prime Minister,





Welcome to Nigeria!





It is apparent that the federal government of Nigeria is excited at the trades, exports and foreign-investment opportunities your visit aims to bring. Why such level of excitement I dare to ask. Could it be because of what you stand for?





You stand for the mighty Great Britain and her people, working to implement an array of policies for workers, women, people below the poverty line, young, old and the general welfare of the people of Great Britain. You have spent your time in office pursuing such.





For these reasons you are celebrated and revered globally as one of the most powerful women of our time.





It is in this light that I write to you. Seeing as you are a world leader, a woman and a mother.





Coming from North-central Nigeria, I am too familiar with stories of deprivation of education for the girl child. You see, life is twice as hard for her up north than it is for those in other parts of the country.





The girl child appears to be defeated on every front. She grows up being taught to clean, cook and cater to her father and brothers and in the event that she makes it into the four walls of classroom, she faces even a bigger monster.





On the night of 14th. April 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok in the North-eastern part of the country. It was an event that shook and traumatized the world at large as we all carried the Bring Back Our Girls placards demanding their release. Some of these girls were never to be seen again. This incident, coupled with other challenges are enough to deter these innocent girls from the pursuit of an education but no, many courageous and brave young girls forged on in the quest for a brighter tomorrow through education.





On February 19th 2018, the monsters struck again, this time, it was at Government Girls Science and Technology College Dapchi. One hundred and ten (110) school girls abducted. Five lost their lives.





A few weeks later, the girls were released with the exemption of Leah Shuaibu.





Leah, a Christian had refused to renounce her faith even in the face of death. She is still held in captivity because of her beliefs and what she stands for.





For how long will our girls continue to live in fear? For how long will they be left unprotected and accessible to the monsters who crawl to them at night? How much longer and how many more girls will be taken from their families?





Madam Prime Minister Theresa May, as an activist, I challenge you, as woman I plead with you, as a sister, I implore you and as a human being, I demand empathy through action. SEEK THE RELEASE OF LEAH SHUAIBU as you go about your diplomatic negotiations and discussions with our president from one leader to another.





We know that where there is a will, theres a way; If Imam Abdullahi Abubakar of Plateau state could save about 300 Christian lives from blood thirsty Fulani herdsmen by rolling in the mud in sheer determination, how much more the Commander in Chief Of The Armed Forces who has sworn to protect the life of every Nigerian.



Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, has reportedly received the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to join the 2019 governorsh...

Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, has reportedly received the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to join the 2019 governorship race in Oyo state.





Shittu will be contesting under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).





According to NAN, the approval was contained in a letter dated August 27, 2018, and signed by Buhari.





I have today received your letter notifying me of your intention to contest for the governorship seat of Oyo State in the 2019 general elections, the letter read.





I note with passion your past contributions to our great party APC during and after the 2015 elections.





As you are aware, I am totally committed to free and fair elections. Our policy is to support all APC candidates. I wish you well in you ambition to be governor of your state.





Buhari reportedly thanked Shittu for his service as a minister under the present administration.





The presidents letter was a response to the one written by the minister seeking the presidents approval for his intention to govern Oyo state.





Shittu, who is from Saki area of the state, was a one-time member of the Oyo state house of assembly and a two-time commissioner.





The APC in the state currently has about 14 aspirants, including Shittu, who have indicated their interests to contest the governorship position.



The pan-Yorubasocio-political organisation, Afenifere, has described the statement credited to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, about Nigeria as unfortunate.May reportedly remarked during her visit to South Africa on Tuesday that Nigeria was a home to the highest number of worlds very poor people.Speaking with our correspondent in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Wednesday, the Secretary-General of Afenifere, Chief Sehinde Arogbofa, said Mays comments should spur the Nigerian government to work and make life better for the citizens.According to him, the current administration should be able to change the perception of the world leaders about Nigeria by finding a solution to the various challenges facing the country.He recalled that the President of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump regarded President Muhammadu Buhari as being lifeless, saying the word was derogatory to the Nigerian President.He said, The comments of some world leaders about our President and country are not good remarks, some days ago Trump regarded our President as lifeless. That is unfair. The word lifeless is derogatory and weighty to be said to the President of the country with the largest economy in Africa.After that, Theresa May came with another bad remark, saying 87 million Nigerians live on $1.90 per day, making Nigeria the home of very poor people in the world, that is a very serious indictment. I know some have reacted to Trumps comment and some will still react to Mays remarks. But I think the government should now look beyond defences, we should now look at the issues with our eyes open. I think our government should take all these remarks as a serious challenge to do better. Everybody knows that the common man is suffering in this country.Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governor of Delta state, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Con...

Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governor of Delta state, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).





Uduaghan confirmed his defection on Tuesday at a meeting of the APC national caucus held at the presidential villa in Abuja.





The meeting was attended by leaders of the party including national officers, state governors, former state governors, ministers and national assembly members.





Uduaghan, a founding member of the PDP, described himself as John the Baptist to the numerous Deltans that are coming into the APC.





The former governor said he is defecting to attract development and bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis.





THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW





The toughest challenge for any leader in the Niger Delta since 1997 has been the issue of Peace and Security. For over 12 years, I was deeply involved in the management of the issues of the region, first as Secretary to State Government, SSG, and then as Governor of Delta State for 8 years. Strategically, we had ENGAGEMENT as our major tool. This involved government officials, with me in the forefront (sometimes personally going into the creeks without security at nocturnal hours), community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our youths, retired military officers, activists, etc. Of course, ensuring that Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, was active was also part of the engagement process.





Encouraging Interests, Activities

Since the inception of the current All Progressives Congress, APC, administration at the federal level, there has been an encouraging interest and activities by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis. This has pointed in a direction that is at once progressive and developmental.





Topmost in these activities are the engagement processes. Rather than using the military to harass our people, the Buhari administration has embarked on various engagement processes that have led to agreements and brought hope to the people of the Niger Delta.





In the last years, Mr. President has personally engaged several regional leaders and youths. Senior officials of his administration also engaged many Niger Delta leaders and youths. Very significant is that Mr. President mandated the Vice President Prof Yemi Osibajo SAN, to visit virtually all the oil producing states, engaging various stakeholders. This is unprecedented in the history of the region. Such engagement processes have brought some measure of peace in the Niger Delta. Things can only get better.





Beyond the engagement processes, however, the Buhari administration has embarked on some infrastructural and human capital development activities in the region. In Delta State, the opening of a Maritime University; the setting up of a steering committee for the EPZ (GAS CITY), the plan for a deep sea port, the dredging of the Escravos-Warri River; the opening of the railway line to Delta Steel Company, the soon to be flagged off, by Mr. President, the Omadino-Escravos Road that will pass through many riverine communities; the various road construction works by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the various TCN projects across the State are some of the positive activities in the region.





There are also various human capital development programmes especially the school feeding and the social security net that is making 5,000 Naira available to the poor, the continuation of the YouWin programme, the various SME programmes, and several other projects across the region have brought hope to the people.





Indeed, once Mr. President was able to set his priorities pursuant to creating an environment for peace in the region, it became incumbent on every well-meaning Niger Deltan and Nigerian to assist the process of building an economically prosperous nation.





In this era of partisan politics, it is necessary for the people of the Niger Delta, and Delta State in particular, to identify more with the Federal Government led by the APC. By so doing, we can push some of the agreements between our leaders and the Federal Government through, and also engage the government to do more. Politics is about interests.





The Niger Delta is a major area of interest for me, because I staked my life going into the creeks severally without security and sometimes coming back at night negotiating peace. I will, therefore, give the strongest support to any President that shows commitment in the affairs of the Niger Delta. I call on, and enjoin, other well-meaning leaders in the region, who have very useful contributions to make, to come on board and join hands in helping this Federal Government to pursue a robust development agenda that would uplift our people. Whatever milestone that appears not to have been achieved yet is not for lack of efforts. Joining hands with and supporting the process will lead to a faster delivery on expectations.





It is in the pursuit of this noble objective that Im offering myself to help drive a process that would give the lives of our people in the Niger Delta more meaning. President Muhammadu Buhari needs people who will join hands with him to uplift our people. From my political experience, you have to be well represented and actively so at the boardroom when decisions are being taken. Delta State must be well represented. Niger Delta must be well represented.





It is noteworthy to state that some organisations have been deeply involved in efforts to develop the Niger Delta and can always be relied on to collaborate with our President. It is also noteworthy to add that some previous administrations made significant efforts to develop the region. The current administration made such a significant impact in spite of the fact that apart from Edo State, President Buhari did not score the required 25% in the entire Niger Delta in the election that brought him into government in 2015. This speak volumes of his genuineness to uplift the Niger Delta. Such an administration should be encouraged by the people of the Niger Delta. We can never be sure of the genuiness of another person who becomes the President.



The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has said contrary to agitations in some quarters that its registration fee for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, be reduced,it has no such intention.JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, addressing the media, Tuesday, in Abuja, following increasing concerns raised by stakeholders in education sector about the fee for the registration, insisted that JAMB registration fee would still be pegged at the current amount.Oloyode, who spoke after a computer-based promotion examination held for JAMBs staff, said the fee being charged by the board was one of the lowest in the entire world.Why are they not asking WAEC (to reduce fee)? Why are they not asking NECO? Why are they not asking NABTEB? Why JAMB? We charge the least and you are saying reduce.The issue is because we have a means of managing the resources properly and we now have what you can call surplus and because we are open enough to return the surplus to government you now say we should crash the cost.What should be the basis of crashing the cost assuming the method we are using now is no longer available and we have to use the old method, he said.He, however, said the examination body would only follow directive from the appropriate quarters on the cost of UTME.If the government feels we should adjust, we will adjust and not as a result of unqualified, baseless request (in some quarters), Oloyede said.On the staff promotion exam, the JAMB boss said the exercise was to further assured of the Boards readiness to always conduct seamless examination, adding that the new software used in the exam which cost N6 million will now be deployed for third-party clients exams to avoid issues that trailed the one conducted for Police Service Commission (PSC).One of the last one we did is the PSC and we saw that because we are trying to save money some mischievous people wanted to embarrass us.Because the software we were using before has some inbuilt mechanism that it must carry 180 questions that if not complete it will not move; so you can tell people write exam from question 1 to 120 but dont do anything below, in such an instance some mischievous people decided to see what is below and started saying they were setting Arabic and so on, we saw that was capable of generating unnecessary ill-feelings, Oloyede said.On the 2018 admission, the JAMB boss said 24,148 candidates have gained admission as at Wednesday August 29, adding that the exercise is a continuous processJAMB had sold its 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, application form for N5, 000 while it remitted N7.8billion to the Federal Government at the end of the exam.President Muhammadu Buhari says the country is nervously monitoring the proceedings of Brexit. The president made this statement on W...

President Muhammadu Buhari says the country is nervously monitoring the proceedings of Brexit.





The president made this statement on Wednesday when Theresa May, British prime minister, paid him a visit in the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, Abuja.





In his remarks, Buhari said Nigeria and the United Kingdom will continue to enhance their cooperation in tackling corruption and reducing poverty.





Madam Theresa, I welcome you most sincerely to Nigeria and I am very grateful to the British government under your leadership for the help you are giving us in the area of security, he said.





I also thank you very much for the improvement in trade relationship between us since you assumed office.





We are nervously watching developments about Brexit because we know that relationship has been on since 1938 and people are here looking at the opportunities in education, businesses and so on and I assure you that we will take the necessary steps to improve on the trade relationship between our two countries.





On her part, May said the UK needs to seek more economic ties to Nigeria after exiting the European Union.





As you have said, we already have very good cooperation between the UK and Nigeria which include education, defence, security and trade relations, she said.





We are ready to cooperate together on global and regional issues; to strengthen that cooperation and partnership, I have with me a business delegation, as we look to enhance our ties in future and explore more trading opportunities.





We will also be looking to work together to step up efforts against security threats from Boko Haram, human trafficking and the likes. And of course, also cooperate to fight corruption and lifting people out of poverty.





I am pleased that I am going to visit Lagos as well because as far as our partnership is working, we are doing well in Nigeria. We look forward to enhancing this relationship in the future.





Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, said the defence and security pact will not be limited to the military.





Coming out of the European Union, they feel freer now to engage with countries on a bilateral level and build up trade relations with those countries, he said referring to the Economic Development Forum





For us, this also fits into our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan where Mr President has put forward a roadmap that is really transforming this country. So this partnership is a framework that is very key to our Economic Growth and Development Plan.The immediate past governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who has officially dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the ruling All Progressives Congress, said he ditched his former party owing to President Muhammadu Buharis passionate interest for the development of the Niger Delta region.Uduaghan in a statement made available to our correspondent on Wednesday morning and titled Moving On To The Bigger Playing Field, the former governor noted that despite Buhari inability to score the required 25 per cent in the 2015 election in the region, he has given direct focus to the development of the region.While listing some of the development efforts by Buharis government, Uduaghan said, Since the inception of the current All Progressives Congress, APC, administration at the federal level, there has been an encouraging interest and activities by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis. This has pointed in a direction that is at once progressive and developmental.Topmost in these activities are the Engagement Processes. Rather than using the military to harass our people, the Buhari administration has embarked on various engagement processes that have led to agreements and brought hope to the people of the Niger Delta. In the last years, Mr. President has personally engaged several regional leaders and youths. Senior officials of his administration also engaged many Niger Delta leaders and youths.Very significant is that Mr. President mandated the Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo SAN, to visit virtually all the oil producing states, engaging various stakeholders. This is unprecedented in the history of the region. Such engagement processes have brought some measure of peace in the Niger Delta. Things can only get better.The former governor who is contesting the Delta South Senatorial District in 2019, called on leaders in region to support efforts being made by the present administration to bring lasting peace to the area, adding that his defection to the APC was to offer such support.In this era of partisan politics, it is necessary for the people of the Niger Delta, and Delta State in particular, to identify more with the Federal Government led by the APC. By so doing, we can push some of the agreements between our leaders and the Federal Government through, and also engage the government to do more. Politics is about interests.The Niger Delta is a major area of interest for me, because I staked my life going into the creeks severally without security and sometimes coming back at night negotiating peace. I will, therefore, give the strongest support to any President that shows commitment in the affairs of the Niger Delta. I call on, and enjoin, other well-meaning leaders in the region, who have very useful contributions to make, to come on board and join hands in helping this Federal Government to pursue a robust development agenda that would uplift our people. Whatever milestone that appears not to have been achieved yet is not for lack of efforts. Joining hands with and supporting the process will lead to a faster delivery on expectations.It is in the pursuit of this noble objective that Im offering myself to help drive a process that would give the lives of our people in the Niger Delta more meaning. President Muhammadu Buhari needs people who will join hands with him to uplift our people. From my political experience, you have to be well represented and actively so at the board room when decisions are being taken. Delta State must be well represented. Niger Delta must be well represented the statement added.Uduaghan, who thanked leaders and members of his former party for urging him to stay, added that he prayed fervently divine direction before agreeing to leave the PDP where he served as commissioner, Secretary to the State Government and two-term as a governor.I have, therefore, after series of consultations and prayers, taken the decision to leave the PDP and join the APC. In doing this, I want to thank the numerous leaders, supporters and interest groups that have been urging me to remain in PDP. I am happy that after explaining some of the deeper issues to you, some of you that are politicians have agreed to join the APC in the near future.So I am going into APC as John the Baptist to the numerous Deltans that are coming in, soon  very soon.The race for the U.S. Representative District 17 seat produced two primaries for the first time in years. What it didnt produce was drama.

Democrat April Freeman and Republican Greg Steube both won their primaries easily, sending them on a collision course in the Nov. 6 General Election to fill the seat being given up by Tom Rooney, who chose not to seek re-election.

Freeman, who was the Democratic choice to run against Rooney two years ago and ran in 2014 in D-19, got an unexpected challenge from Bill Pollard. Yet, she still won by a more than 3-to-1 margin, taking 76.94 percent of the vote (32,683) to Pollards 23.06 percent (9,798).

Its truly an honor and privilege to have earned the votes from so many Democrats throughout this vast nine-county district. This didnt come easy, this is the result of hard work years in the making. Now, the real hard work starts as we begin to change this longtime Republican district to give it the overdue Democratic representation it deserves in November, Freeman said in a statement.

Steube, currently a state senator in the 23rd District who fought a rather brutal campaign against Julio Gonzalez and Bill Akins, was an easy winner in taking 62.21 percent (47,349), more than triple of Akins 19.33 percent (14,711) and Gonzalez, who took up the rear at 18.46 percent (14,048).

District 17, which also encompasses northern Lee County in North Fort Myers, Alva and parts of Lehigh Acres and Buckingham, will now have to decide from two candidates that are mirror opposites of each other.

Steube supports the agenda of President Trump. He supports the Second Amendment, supports an immigration policy that does away with chain migration, backs the effort to build a border wall and seeks to end the visa lottery system.

Freeman has a more progressive agenda, with her focus on the environment, education, tax reform and getting dark money out of politics.For Spencer Roach, the reality of him being the Republican candidate in State House District 79 hadnt really sunk in even after he learned he had won.

More than 200 people turned out for his victory party Tuesday at Three Fishermen in North Fort Myers. Roach made his rounds, thanking his supporters while looking at the big picture of what lies ahead, the General Election.

Its kind of surreal. It hasnt sunk in yet and Im trying to process it, Roach said minutes after learning of his victory.

Roach, running for public office for the first time, took 58.72 percent of the vote (7,408), defeating challenger Matt Miller and his 41.42 percent (5,207).

I said from the beginning our campaign was going to be run on grass roots support. I have personally knocked on 4,000 doors in District 79 from Suncoast Estates to eastern Lehigh, Roach said.

Roach will take on Democrat Mark Lipton, who was unopposed on the Democratic side in the Nov. 6 General Election, with the winner taking Matt Caldwells seat, who termed out.

Roach, who ran a clean campaign with Miller, expects to do the same against Lipton, and even though the district has leaned Republican in recent years, he is not going to take his opponent lightly, especially in this political climate.

Voters are like juries. You think you know the outcome, but you really dont know until the case goes to them. We are expecting a tough race, Roach said, using terms from when he served as an attorney. I know Mark. Hes a great guy and hes going to be a real competitor in the race and were going to take him seriously.

Miller, who didnt take any outside campaign money and still got more than 40 percent, was disappointed in losing for the third time as an anti-establishment candidate, but understood it was hard to beat the establishment money.

I guess I lost again. Ive been fighting the establishment for years and we have to take money out of politics, Miller said, who promised to donate his salary to charity if he won. Id like to know how much they spent on this race because I didnt take money from anyone.

All election results are unofficial until certified.If you like shopping for bargains and helping out a good cause, Labor Day weekend will offer an event that features both.

Hope Chest Resale Stores in Bonita Springs and North Fort Myers will celebrate Labor Day by offering shoppers 50 percent off the price of most items purchased Saturday, Sept. 1 and Monday, Sept. 3.

Amy Objartel, marketing director of Hope Healthcare, said designer-brand clothing and accessories, high-quality furniture, sporting equipment, antiques and unique collectibles will be half off, among many other things.

There will be so many clothes. We also have a boutique and so many awesome things, Objartel said. We always have new donations coming in and we need the floor looking fresh with new offerings.

Shoppers can discover discounts in the newly expanded The North Fort Myers Hope Chest store, which recently added 7,000 square feet of retail space designated for home decor, including lighting, silk flowers and artwork.

No coupons are necessary for the sale, and some exceptions may apply.

Its a win-win. We open the doors for people to come in for 50 percent off and introduce us to new people when we have these sales and make great income for Hope hospice and the services we provide, Objartel said.

Proceeds from Hope Chest benefit the numerous unfunded programs and services of Hope Healthcare, which provides care and support to individuals and their loved ones as they fulfill lifes journey, regardless of their ability to pay for it.

We provide things that insurers do not cover, such as Hopeful Wishes, a Parkinsons Program, we take care of pets for people in our care, Objartel said. We offer many things not funded by natural sources.

The two stores bring in about $900,000 annually to provide these services, with a third store in South Fort Myers expected to open sometime in the fall.

Hope Chest Resale stores are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Hope Chest at The Crossings is at 28520 Bonita Crossings Blvd., off U.S. 41 just south of Bonita Beach Road. Hope Chest in North Fort Myers is at 13821 N. Cleveland Ave.

For information about volunteer opportunities or donating items to the Hope Chest resale stores, call 482-4673 or visit www.HopeHCS.org.It was the dream of Richard Garlands grandson, Kyle, to open a bait shop.

Sadly, Kyle did not live to see that dream come true. He died before the shop opened, leaving the future of the store in doubt before it even began.

However, the Bait Station, at 104 Pondella Road, opened two years ago, and business has remained strong, thanks to Richard, who has poured effort into the endeavor in memory of his grandson and his grandsons dream.

Garland, whose family owns the business, said Kyle had struggled with addiction in his hometown in Michigan.

In July 2016, the Garlands became Kyles conservator and brought him to Southwest Florida. He went to Salus Care in Fort Myers but, due to depth of his issues and his young age, they would not put him in inpatient.

Kyle did, however, clean up his act, even helping fellow teens try to kick the habit. As he was doing so, he told his grandfather, I want to have a bait shop. I want to be a guide, as he had fished every day in Michigan, even in the winter when the lakes froze.

I had a small bait shop for a few years and it was time to start something bigger. My grandson wanted a bait shop, Garland said. I let him come up with a couple of locations and names and came up with the Bait Station and this location.

The Bait Station was set to open in November 2016. However a family member who also had addiction issues convinced Kyle to come to Michigan to see him for a few days.

Kyle went and died as a result of an overdose.

The Garlans then decided to open The Bait Station in December 2016 with the intent on making it an inexpensive store.

A health issue of his own then intruded: Richard learned he had metastatic skin cancer, which means it will never go away and can spread to the other organs.

The main sign is energy depletion. Thats a reminder for him to get it taken care of, which he has done for more than three years.

As long as he keeps it in the skin and he gets to it fast enough its good, but at some point it will spread and get his organs, said co-owner and wife Carol Garland. So far, hes been able to keep it under wraps.

He got Annabel Brewster, a North Fort Myers High School student, to paint a mural on the side of the building and on the stores floor, giving the store a gorgeous nautical theme.

To succeed, the Garlands used old-fashioned customer service to bring in and keep clients, many of whom knew Kyle.

Its North Fort Myers and we treat everybody the same. Many of our clients knew Kyle, so we have people from all walks of life, Garland said. Weve been known to give away rods, reels and bait when we find out they literally eat what they catch.

Much of the equipment is mid-level, not too expensive, but still durable. The result has been a growing clientele that donates because they know the story and want the store to give equipment to those who need it.

They also have kayaks made for fishing that run from $495 to about a grand. They are an authorized Vibe kayak dealer, among the most popular in the country.

But the name says bait and they have the best in town. Shiners, which they say is the best anywhere, and shrimp up to jumbos.

We carry shrimp, most of which is the largest in the county. We have fiddler crabs, pinfish, fresh water shiners and minnows and worms, said Carol Garland. People love the shiners in the fresh and brackish water. They call them bass candy.

Their work has resulted in them winning the Best of North Fort Myers for best bait station in 2018.

We have fantastic service. We are friendly and try to please everyone. Our bait is good and clean, Carol said. We do rod and reel repair and just thrilled to be here.

They also do a lot of work with kids and get them into fishing as a way to give back, including perhaps giving them things as a way to give them a kickstart.

The Bait Station also has a smaller location on Fort Myers Beach and is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information, visit thebaitstation.com.A young Russian artist was recently sentenced to 11.5 years in prison for bringing home two small bottles of ayahuasca  a famous spiritual medicine prepared by indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin  that he bought while visiting Peru.

Maxim Gert, a resident of Nizhny Tagil, a city in Russias Sverdlovsk Oblast, had no idea that a simple souvenir he bought on a business trip to Peru could land him behind bars for over a decade. Maxim had long been suffering from back pain, and while in the South American country, someone suggested he meet one of the local shamans and try ayahuasca, a traditional spiritual medicine with known psychoactive properties. Its unclear whether he noticed an improvement while consuming the brew in Peru, but he did decide to continue his ayahuasca treatment at home, so he took two small bottles with him on the flight home. That turned out to be a huge mistake.

Photo: Terpsichore/Wikimedia Commons

On his way back from Peru to Nizhny Tagil, Maxim had stopovers in several countries, but the bottles of ayahuasca never attracted the attention of customs officers. However, things were very different when he landed at Domodedovo airport, in Russia. During a routine control, airport staff found the artists ayahuasca bottles and sent them to the laboratory for quick testing. The results showed a high concentration of dimethyltryptamine, a strong psychoactive compound that happens to be illegal in Russia.

Maxim Gert was arrested and charged with possession of drugs with an intention to sell them. The mans lawyer claims his client was shocked by these accusations, as he never even imagined that the ayahuasca could get him in trouble. He believed it was a natural remedy that could help him with his back pain, nothing more.

This drink is freely and legally sold throughout Peru, it is a national treasure, attorney Vladimir Brigadin told 1tv. It is called ayahuasca. Maxim bought two bottles of this drink, absolutely confident that there is nothing illegal in them, and casually put them in his baggage.

Photo: Terpsichore/Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately, this explanation didnt convince the judge presiding over this case, and Maxim Gert was recently sentenced to 11.5 years in prison for drug smuggling. The lack of a criminal record and testimonies of his friends and family that he had never used or dealt drugs didnt seem to matter too much. Maxims lawyer is already working on an appeal, but chances of success are slim at best.

Theres no question that tourists like Maxim Gert should really think twice before bringing back this kind of products back home with them. After all, ayahuasca is illegal in many countries, not just Russia, but people have been outraged by the severe punishment issued in this case. All the evidence points to negligence and ignorance, yet the justice system is treating Maxim as a drug smuggler.

This isnt the first time someone has been detained for bringing ayahuasca into Russia. Big Picture reports that the same judge who sentenced Maxim Gert, previously sentenced a well-known Brazilian shaman to 3 years in prison for bringing in six bottles of the hallucinogenic brew into Russia. Why was Maxims sentence almost four times as long? Well, the Brazilian president himself is said to have intervened on behalf of the shaman, but the young Russian artist has no such connections.



This case is reminiscent of another shocking case of Russian justice, where a man was sentenced to 10 years in jail over a bag of imported herbal tea, which authorities allege contained illegal substances.TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blockchain Power Trust (Blockchain Power or the Trust) (TSXV: BPWR.UN) today released its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018. All amounts in this release are expressed in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise indicated.







Highlights

Produced 34,778 MWh of energy for the second quarter ending June 30, 2018, an increase of 74% from the second quarter of 2017. Produced 80,133 MWh of energy for six months ending June 30, 2018, an increase of 103% from the comparative period in 2017.





Revenue of $4.8 million for the second quarter, an increase of 43% from the second quarter of 2017. Revenue of $9.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018, an increase of 61% from the comparative period of 2017.





Net earnings of $2.8 million for the second quarter of 2018, an increase of 180% over the net earnings of $1.0 million in the second quarter of 2017. Net loss of $2.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018.





Earned operating margin (revenue less cost of sales excluding depreciation) of $2.8 million for the quarter, an increase of 22% over the operating margin of $2.3 million for the second quarter of 2017 (see reconciliation of operating margin under Non-GAAP Measures) and $5.8 million in operating margin for the six months ended June 30, 2018, an increase of 33% from 2017.





Commenced cryptocurrency mining operations in June 2018. Commissioned 1,550 mining units (2.09 MW, 21.7 PH/s) and subsequent to quarter end commissioned an additional 432 machines utilising liquid immersion cooling for aggregate 27.8 PH/s of computing capacity consuming approximately 2.8 MW.





Mined 22 Bitcoin during the second quarter of 2018 with revenue of $0.2 million from mining operations at an average realized price of $8,720 (US$6,637) per Bitcoin.

J. Colter Eadie, Chief Executive Officer of Blockchain Power commented We are very pleased by the continued performance according to plan across our renewable energy portfolio. We are also excited to have commenced cryptocurrency mining in Romania and achieved a state of stable operation. Our growing portfolio of operations continues to perform in a consistent and predictable manner, the value of which we believe is currently being underestimated and we hope to communicate more effectively to capital markets.

For further information please contact: Ravi Sood

Chairman

+1 647-987-7663

rsood@blockchainpower.com J. Colter Eadie

Chief Executive Officer

+351 938 810 979

jceadie@blockchainpower.com Betty Soares

Chief Financial Officer

+1 416-803-6760

bsoares@blockchainpower.com

About Blockchain Power Trust

The Trust, through its direct and indirect subsidiaries in Canada, the Netherlands and Romania, acquires interests in renewable energy, blockchain and cryptocurrency related assets in Romania, other countries in Europe and abroad that can provide stable cash flow to the Trust and a suitable risk-adjusted return on investment. The Trust seeks to provide investors with long-term, stable value creation, while preserving the capital value of its investment portfolio through investment in a range of operational green energy, blockchain and cryptocurrency related assets. The Trust intends to qualify as a mutual fund trust under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the Tax Act). The Trust will not be a SIFT trust (as defined in the Tax Act), provided that the Trust complies at all times with its investment restriction which precludes the Trust from holding any non-portfolio property (as defined in the Tax Act). All material information about the Trust may be found under the Trusts issuer profile at www.sedar.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release contain forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as anticipates, plans, proposes, estimates, intends, expects, believes, may and will. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by the Trust. Details of the risk factors relating to Blockchain Power and its business are discussed under the heading Business Risks and Uncertainties in Blockchain Powers annual managements discussion & analysis dated May 15, 2018, a copy of which is available on Blockchain Powers SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com . Most of these factors are outside the control of the Trust. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, Blockchain Power expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSXV nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

NON-GAAP MEASURES

The Trust has included certain non-GAAP measures to supplement its consolidated financial statements, which are presented in accordance with IFRS, including operating margin, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation per Unit.

Operating margin is calculated as cost of sales from revenues as follows:

For the three months ended For the six months ended (in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise noted) June 30, 2018 June 30, 2017 June 30, 2018 June 30, 2017 Total revenue $ 4,810,982 $ 3,368,019 $ 9,870,481 $ 6,147,989 Less: Cost of sales excluding depreciation 1,963,302 1,038,129 4,100,475 1,816,694 Operating margin $ 2,847,680 $ 2,329,890 $ 5,770,006 $ 4,331,295

The Trust believes that operating margin, together with measures determined in accordance with IFRS, provide investors with an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Trust. Non-GAAP financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore they may not be comparable to similar measures employed by other entities. The data is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Management's determination of the components of non-GAAP and additional measures are evaluated on a periodic basis influenced by new items and transactions, a review of investor uses and new regulations as applicable. Any changes to the measures are duly noted and retrospectively applied as applicable.We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.PERTH, Western Australia, Aug. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West African gold producer Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX/TSX : PRU) (Perseus or the Company) has released its Financial Report for the financial year ending June 30, 2018 (FY2018 or the Period).



In the accompanying release an incorrect amount of $28.6 million was stated for asset impairment charges and write-offs. The correct amount is $24.3 million.

For further information, please contact:

Managing Director: Jeff Quartermaine at telephone +61 8 6144 1700 or email jeff.quartermaine@perseusmining.com ; Chief Financial Officer: Elissa Brown at telephone +61 8 6144 1700 or email Elissa.brown@perseusmining.com Media Relations: Nathan Ryan at telephone +61 4 20 582 887 or email nathan.ryan@nwrcommunications.com.au (Melbourne)







Things That Look Good for Cryptocurrencies 29 August, 2018





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AEO Partners `Play Fair` to Kick start Migration Services Although there have been market improvements in cryptocurrency in 2018, everyone believes that the best is yet to come back. We have seen a lot of activities in the market which have changed the wave for the better. With proper evaluation and the best dose of positive outlook, any person who invested in this crypto market can easily make tens of millions from the jawhorse. Cryptocurrency companies are not going anywhere in the future. Here in this informative article, we provide you with 5 pluses that can encourage further development and market price in cryptocurrencies. In 2017, cryptographic trading markets set the new level for simple earnings. Nearly every chip or piece made amazing returns. "A rising wave punches all the boats," as we say, and the end of 2017 was a flood. The rise in price levels has created an optimistic feedback cycle, which is bringing in increasingly more investment into Crypto. However, undoubtedly, this galloping industry is ultimately causing a massive financial commitment. Revenue has been thrown simultaneously in all varieties of suspicious projects, a few of which won't bear fruit. 1. Development in Scaling Bitcoin is undoubtedly the first cryptocurrency in this market. It has the optimum number of people and the highest worth. It rules the entire worth string of the cryptocurrency system. On the other hand, it's not without troubles. Its key bottleneck is that it can deal with only half a dozen to 7 transactions per seconds. In contrast, credit card transactions are somehow average at a couple of thousands for each second. Unsurprisingly, there's scope for advancement in the particular scaling of transactions. With the aid of peer to peer transaction systems over the blockchain technology, you'll be able to increase your transaction amount per second. 2. Legit Icos While you will find cryptocoins with steady value in this market, more recent coins are being made which are usually designed to serve a particular purpose. Coins such as IOTA are meant to support the Internet of Things market swapping power currencies. A few coins tackle the problem of cybersecurity by giving encoded digital vaults for saving the money. Latest ICOs tend to be coming up with revolutionary alternatives that affect the existing industry and bring in a brand-new worth in the particular transactions. They're also accumulating recognition in the market with their user-friendly trades and dependable after-sales operations. They are usually searching for both on the technology side about utilization of specialized equipment for mining and financial industry side by providing more flexibility and alternatives to people in the exchange. 3. Clarity on Legislation In this current situation, the majority of government authorities are staring at the effect of cryptocurrencies on the modern society and the way its advantages can be built up to the local community as a whole. We all can expect that there may be fair findings as per the particular result of the research. A couple of government authorities are already using this route of legalizing and controlling crypto markets just like any other sector. This may prevent uninformed retail investors from taking a loss and protect all of them from damage. Abling policies that improve cryptocurrency development are required to appear in 2018. This may possibly create widespread ownership in future 4. Improvement in Application There's huge excitement for the particular application of blockchain technologies in virtually any industry. Some online companies are picking out the list of the best cryptocurrencies to invest in and innovative options such as digital wallets, debit cards for cryptocurrencies, and so forth. This may increase the number of vendors who are willing to work in cryptocurrencies which experts claim improve the number of users. The trustworthiness of crypto assets as a new transaction medium will certainly be strengthened as more people have confidence in this system. Even though some online companies may not make it through, they will favorably give rise to the overall health of the industry creating competitors and development. 5. Investment from Finance Companies Many global financial institutions are watching the cryptocurrency arena. This may lead to the entry of institutional people into this market. The influx of significant institutional opportunities will power the next stage of growth of the crypto markets. It has grabbed the extravagant of many financial institutions and banking institutions. Since the unexpected situations and bottlenecks around cryptocurrencies decrease, you will see more customer base from conventional investors. This may result in a lot of dynamism and assets much needed for just about any growing markets. Cryptocurrency will certainly become the actual defacto currency for transactions around the globe. This particular surge in the world economy is securing the money of stakeholders around the world. The scammers and faux entities are also around the corner to take your money. You need not worry because the number of legitimate platforms to transact your money is increasing.Against the backdrop of GlobalFoundries' decision to dump 7-nanometer (nm) semiconductor manufacturing technology, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the designer of infamous Ryzen, announced the shift of its 7nm production to Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC).

In a blog post this week AMD said that its "work with TSMC on 7nm has gone very well," as it has already tapped out several products at TSMC, "including first 7nm GPU planned to launch later this year," and its "first 7nm server CPU" launching later in 2019

On one hand, AMD is in a position to negotiate a favorable wafer supply agreement with GlobalFoundries as a result of this development. On the other hand, this gives Taiwan Semiconductor additional pricing power as the only manufacturer of 7nm ICs in 2018.

GlobalFoundries granted AMD a limited waver that allows the chip designer to work with other foundries when GlobalFoundries can't provide the required services.

Not only is 7nm expensive, thanks to multi-patterning that's needed to enhance feature density of integrated circuits at 7nm and beyond, but the departure of GlobalFoundries from the 7nm scene gives Taiwan Semiconductor room for aggressive pricing.

TSMC will be the only manufacturer of 7nm chips during 2018; Samsung is expected to start manufacturing 7nm chips for third parties at some point in 2019. Taiwan Semiconductor is already manufacturing 7nm A12 for Apple (AAPL)'s upcoming iPhone. Qualcomm also has no choice but to manufacture its leading-edge Snapdragon at TSMC for now as Samsung's 7nm manufacturing will only be available for in-house products during 2018.

Lastly, the report noted that "For Taiwan Semiconductor, it's quite a positive development. As a lone manufacturer of 7nm chips, the company can negotiate favorable terms with Apple, Qualcomm and AMD, leading to a higher margin for the chip foundry."

While TSMC will have the power to raise prices, I highly doubt that TSMC would temporarily squeeze Apple who would have the option of shifting their chip business to Samsung in 2019 if prices were to materially change for iPhones this year.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.

AMD Zen 2 processor 7nmIQE extends global footprint in high growth 3D sensing markets through multiple VCSEL investments in H1 2018



Cardiff, UK. 29 August 2018: IQE plc (AIM: IQE, IQE or the Group), the leading global supplier of advanced wafer products and wafer services to the semiconductor industry, announces its unaudited half year results for the six months to 30 June 2018.

 MILLION (except EPS and gross profit %) 30 June 2018



30 June 2017

Restated Change REVENUE

WAFERS

LICENSING







WAFERS GROSS PROFIT*







WAFERS GROSS PROFIT %* 73.4

73.4

0.0







17.1







23.3



























%



70.6

69.6

1.0







17.2







24.7



























%



+4.0%

+5.4%

(100%)







(0.5%)







(5.6%)



OPERATING PROFIT*

WAFERS

LICENSING



7.6

7.6

0.0 10.7

9.7

1.0 (28.6%)

(21.6%)

(100%) PROFIT BEFORE TAX*

Adjustments*

REPORTED PROFIT BEFORE TAX







TAXATION (CHARGE)/CREDIT 7.6

(1.0)

6.6







(2.5) 9.7

(4.1)

5.6







2.8 (21.2%)

76.3%

+18.9%







n/a REPORTED PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD 4.2 8.4 (50.3 %) FULLY DILUTED EPS*



0.76p 1.37p



(44.5 %) CASH GENERATED FROM OPERATIONS



7.6 11.2



(32.3 %) CAPITAL INVESTMENT



13.0 15.4



(15.5 %) NET CASH /(NET DEBT)



40.6







(41.9







)







n/a









* Adjusted Measures: The Directors believe that the adjusted measures provide a more useful comparison of business trends and performance. Adjusted measures exclude exceptional items, share based payments and non-cash acquisition accounting charges as detailed in note 7. The following highlights of the first half results is based on these adjusted profit measures, unless otherwise stated.

HIGHLIGHTS

Overview

Sales growth at constant currency in all three primary markets with Wireless up 11%, Photonics up 30%, and InfraRed up 11% compared with H1 2017.



Multiple H1 2018 investments in VCSEL qualification programs extending the global footprint for 3D sensing in consumer and other high growth applications



Since period end, qualification of a further two major supply chain partners has been completed, with initial production for Android OEMs now commenced.



Guidance re-confirms consensus forecasts range as H2 2018 ramp in VCSELS re-commences.

Finance

Currency headwind, accelerated customer qualification programs and Newport Foundry pre-production costs results in drag on H1 2018 profits of approximately 3.5m. Excluding these factors, Profit Before Tax would have increased by 14.4% to 11.1m (H1 2017: 9.7m).



Wafer sales up 5.4% against H1 2017 and total revenue up 4.0% delivered against the currency headwind of approximately 10%.



Currency headwinds were caused by the average underlying currency UK:US$ FX rates fluctuating from 1.26 in H1 2017 to 1.38 in H1 2018.

Revenue at constant currency from the largest photonics customer was flat H1 2018 on H1 2017 as inventory from the very successful and aggressive first mass market ramp of VCSEL epiwafers in H2 2017 was consumed in the supply chain. Other photonics customers were up 40% H1 2018 on H1 2017 in constant currency demonstrating the breadth and depth of photonics engagements.

Photonics business unit increased to 25.8% of total wafer revenues (H1 2017: 21.9%).

Wafers gross profit was flat at 17.1m (H1 2017 17.2m) as wafers gross margin contracted by 140bps from 24.7% in H1 2017 to 23.3% in H1 2018. Photonics gross profit margins were adversely impacted by Newport Foundry pre-production costs of 0.9m and low margin customer funded product development (primarily new VCSEL customers) reducing photonics margins by a further 0.6m.

The Newport pre-production costs of 0.9m (H1 2017: nil) were incurred on recruitment, increased headcount and training and have secured the human capital required to support and deliver the team for a 24/7 operation of the Newport Foundry.

Reported Profit before tax increased by 1.0m (18.9%) to 6.6m (H1 2017: 5.6m). Forex headwind produced a drag on Reported Profit before tax of c. 2m.

Conversion of operating profit 7.6m (H1 2017: 10.7m) into operating cash 7.6m (H1 2017: 11.2m) of 100% (H1 2017: 105%) after funding a 6.6m increase in working capital (H1 2017: 4.5m) as a consequence of an increase in both trade and other receivables and inventories since 31 Dec 2017.

Investment in capex and product development was 13.0m (H1 2017: 15.4m). This was funded in H1 2018 through organic cash generation and from cash reserves following the November 2017 share placing.



Net cash at the end of H1 2018 was 40.6m (h1 2017: net debt 41.9m)

Operational and Strategic

Nature and extent of customer and research and development engagements by the Groups two joint ventures continue to expand.



The Newport, UK foundry construction and fit out is proceeding well. Five reactors had been successfully installed by the end of H1 2018 and a further two have been delivered in August 2018, with three more scheduled for H2 to bring the total to ten reactors during H2 2018. Commissioning and qualifications are ongoing and initial production is expected to commence in the latter part of H2 2018.



Option exercised in March 2018 to acquire the cREO technology and IP portfolio from Translucent Inc for US$ 5m.



Milestone first production order received for $250k of edge emitting DFB lasers using the Groups NIL technology.



Re-negotiated a long term supply contract with a tier 1 wireless customer through to September 2019, securing an extended range of products and increased share of their epi-wafer requirements.



A healthy wireless business and VCSEL engagements with more than 20 chip companies for sensing, mobile, industrial and data communications demonstrates the breadth and depth of customer engagements across a range of technologies and applications and sets the scene for increasing revenue diversity and growth through H2 2018 and beyond.



Head-hunters have been engaged in the recruitment of a CFO to replace Mr Phillip Rasmussen, following his tragic death while on holiday in Menorca on 1st April 2018. Initial shortlist interviewing is complete and final interviews are scheduled for early September 2018.

Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive, said:

IQE has taken the opportunity during H1 2018 to accelerate and expand its qualification activities for the fast growing VCSEL market for consumer applications, and is now successfully engaged with over 20 companies in this arena. Coupled with the installation, staffing and run up of the initial high volume production tools in our flagship Newport Epi-Foundry, these activities represent major steps forward in securing and further strengthening IQEs leading position in the global supply of VCSEL wafers for multiple consumer and industrial 3D sensing applications. Although the costs of these investments have impacted first half profitability, we are confident they will be pivotal in delivering strong increases in revenue, margin expansion and profitability as 3D sensing is widely adopted in global mobile platforms and other large volume applications.

Each of our business sectors delivered strong top line growth at constant currency during the first half. Reported wafer revenue increased 5.4% despite strong forex headwinds of ~10%. Together with the renewal of our long term supply agreement with our largest tier 1 wireless customer and the manufacturing milestone reached with our first NIL edge emitting DFB laser production order, this demonstrates both the strength of our existing core business and the new opportunities that we are creating as we continue to bring our unique innovative material capabilities and associated nanoscale fabrication technologies to market.

As we transition our business model from being the global leading supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers to a global leader in advanced material solutions, we already see significant engagements for our other core technologies, including GaN on Silicon, cREO and QPC. We look forward to the rest of 2018 and in particular the further multi-customer ramp which is expected in 2019, with considerable anticipation.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

VCSEL............... Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser

GaN.................... Gallium Nitride

RF...................... Radio Frequency

DFB.................... Distributed Feedback Laser

cREO(TM)............Crystalline Rare Earth Oxide

QPCQuasi Photonic Crystals

NIL Nano Imprint Lithography

CONTACTS

IQE plc +44 (0) 29 2083 9400

Godfrey Ainsworth

Drew Nelson

Chris Meadows

Canaccord Genuity + 44 (0) 20 7523 8000

Simon Bridges

Richard Andrews

Peel Hunt +44 (0) 20 7418 8900

Edward Knight

Nick Prowting

NOTE TO EDITORS

http://iqep.com





IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers that enable a diverse range of applications, supported by an innovative outsourced foundry services portfolio that allows the Group to provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers.





IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and supply bespoke semiconductor wafers 'epi-wafers' to the major chip manufacturing companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips which form the key components of virtually all high technology systems. IQE is unique in being able to supply wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms.



IQE's products are found in many leading-edge consumer, communication, computing and industrial applications, including a complete range of wafer products for the wireless industry, such as smartphones and wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, base stations, and satellite communications; optical communications, optical storage, printing, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical technologies, automotive and aerospace technologies, a variety of advanced silicon based systems and high efficiency concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar cells.





IQE operates multiple manufacturing and R&D facilities worldwide.

INTERIM RESULTS 2018

1. INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

Semiconductors in the form of both silicon and compound semiconductors, are at the heart of virtually all major industrial, consumer and communication systems. Without semiconductors, many devices and applications that we rely on in our everyday lives would simply not exist, yet these atomically engineered materials go largely unnoticed amongst the end user brands with which we are so familiar.

Semiconductor materials have significantly changed the way we work, live and socialise. Silicon has been the backbone of the electronics revolution since the early 1960s, largely by virtue of the continuous miniaturisation of chips (Moores Law) which has led to an exponential increase in performance and reduction in cost. However, Moores Law has reached the point of diminishing returns, which is where epitaxy and compound semiconductors are playing an increasingly important role. Compound Semiconductors are a key enabling technology that feed into multiple supply chains which in turn feed a wide range of market sectors including: aerospace, healthcare technologies, safety & security, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), energy efficiency (generation and consumption), 3D sensing, robotics and automotive products.

IQEs core business is the manufacture of compound semiconductor wafers or epiwafers using a process known as epitaxy, which is a nanotechnology that enables multiple atomic elements to be combined to produce materials that have far superior properties to silicon. These advanced semiconductors are termed Compound Semiconductors (CS). Specifically, epitaxy is the atomic engineering of highly uniform crystals of these elements at a nanoscale. These advanced CS materials can then be converted into chips which in turn exceed the performance capabilities of silicon chips, especially in terms of their optical, radio-frequency and electronic properties.

For the last decade, compound semiconductors based on combinations of gallium and arsenic (gallium arsenide or GaAs) have dominated some of the critical communication components in smartphones thanks to their high-speed wireless communication properties, thereby enabling the smartphone revolution. Similarly, optical communication (enabling internet connectivity), and LEDs (the lighting revolution) have only been possible through atomically engineering elements such as gallium, arsenic, indium, phosphorous, aluminium and nitrogen using epitaxy.

IQEs end product is a pure, crystalline, semiconductor wafer comprising many individual atomic layers, often utilising quantum technologies that uniquely define the wireless, photonic and electronic performance of our epiwafers which are then processed by our customers to produce the chips that are found in virtually all of todays technology devices and gadgets.

2. IQE AND THE COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR SUPPLY CHAIN

The inflection in CS technology adoption is well under-way, with 2017 and the first half of 2018 marking the first time laser technology was adopted in mass consumer markets, following the mass adoption of power amplifiers (PAs) for wireless communications using compound semiconductors, and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), which are also wholly based on compound semiconductor technology. The adoption of CS lasers in mass consumer applications has been facilitated by the complex epiwafer technology behind Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), which has enabled for the first time a CS laser at a cost point which enables mass consumer adoption. IQE is the global leader in VCSEL epi wafer technology and production, having first established the technology over 25 years ago, and since developed it to mass production, building on IQEs position as the global leader in the production of power amplifier wafers. It is this leadership which led to a more than doubling of our Photonics revenues in 2017, and established IQE with an estimated market share of over 90% for mass consumer VCSEL production.

Combined with continuing growth in our other markets, 2017 was a record year for the Group in financial performance terms, with significant investment in new product development, and the building of an ever more comprehensive IP portfolio, the Group is poised for continuing strong growth as it evolves its business model from being the leading global advanced semiconductor wafer supplier to the leading global advanced materials solution provider.

IQE designs and fabricates compound semiconductor wafers, generating revenues primarily from selling bespoke wafers to its customers, who in turn fabricate these wafers into compound semiconductor chips such as wireless communication chips, laser devices, or advanced sensors for applications including 3D sensing and LIDAR. These chips are then incorporated into devices such as smartphones, base-stations, or other electronic systems and gadgets.

The Group also generates income from licensing IP to joint ventures, being related entities which are not controlled by IQE. These joint ventures (JVs) were established with IQEs partners to provide a bridge between academia and industry. Our university partners are participating in these JVs to provide a cost effective route to commercialise their new technologies, whereas IQE and its industrial partner are using the JVs to seed future revenues by using their right of first refusal over the commercial supply for these new technologies.

IQE differentiates itself from its competitors through technology leadership, economies of scale, and multiple site manufacturing for security of supply. This has enabled IQE to develop a strong leadership position, where it is recognised globally as the market leader, with an estimated 55% share of the wireless market and an unparalleled breadth of materials technologies.

Whilst both the silicon and the compound semiconductor industry sectors have evolved independently, it is widely acknowledged that the future of the semiconductor industry is to combine the advanced properties of compound semiconductors with the low cost of silicon production to create a high performance - low cost hybrid technology which has the best of both worlds. This hybrid technology requires the adoption of highly complex epitaxial techniques to produce layers of compound semiconductors on a base silicon material. IQE has been a pioneer in this space over more than a decade, and through many development programmes and collaborations it has built a powerful portfolio of IP including patents and trade secrets. With its strong pedigree in innovation and high-volume manufacturing, IQE is uniquely positioned to develop and commercialise its expertise.

IQE has built a strong leadership position in the market for CS materials. This leadership has been built around an unparalleled breadth of IP, in contrast to IQEs competitors who operate within the constraints of their narrow IP portfolios and inferior research and development capabilities. Uniquely, this makes IQE a one stop shop for CS materials, at a time when the market is increasingly seeking multiple material solutions to meet expanding and diverse end markets. This represents a powerful competitive advantage for IQE in a market where qualification barriers are high, and microscopic variations in wafer crystals can have dramatic adverse operational and financial implications downstream.

IQE is leveraging the strength and depth of its IP portfolio to transition its business model from a materials solutions company, where we develop bespoke wafer solutions to customer defined specification, to an innovative enabler where IQE provides innovative material solutions to chip designers, enabling them to develop new chip designs which push the boundaries of performance and reduce the barriers of cost. A couple of examples illustrate the power of this strategy:

Wireless Front End Modules  The Front End Module (FEM) refers to the communications module in a smartphone. It is the FEM that performs all of the wireless communications. The FEM is made up of many individual chips, which can essentially be grouped into Filters (for filtering out undesired wireless frequencies), Switches (for high speed, high efficiency switches), and Power Amplifiers (for high efficiency amplification of wireless signals). Each of these three types of chips is made from different semiconductor materials technology. The sweet spot for IQE has historically been the Power Amplifier, but it has also developed the technologies for Switches (SOI) and for Filters (AlN). Armed with its patented cREO technology, IQE has a clear route to combining these three material systems on a single wafer, which paves the way for higher levels of integration of the FEM on a single chip. This would be highly disruptive. An FEM solution on a single chip would be more efficient, with a smaller footprint at a dramatically lower cost of production.



3D sensing solutions  tear downs of the first 3D sensing solutions show a combination of technologies in a complex module: a VCSEL light source, optical components, and silicon sensing components. Again, IQE has the underlying materials technologies for these components, and the benefit of several patents including Quasi Photonic Crystals and Nanoimprint Lithography for wafer level optics. So again, with its cREO technology, IQE has a route to much higher levels of integration of these technologies. This again would be highly disruptive as it would result in the potential for 3D sensing solutions with more functionality on single chipsets resulting in more efficient, smaller footprint products at much lower costs of production.

3. RESULTS

The Groups results are reported after a number of one-off items and non-cash accounting charges. In aggregate, these resulted in a net charge after tax of 2.1m in H1 2018 (H1 2017: 1.6m charge). These items are fully detailed in note 7 in order to assist with an assessment of the Groups underlying business performance. The following commentary on the first half results is based on these adjusted profit measures.

First half revenues increased by 4.0% to 73.4m (H1 2017: 70.6m). Wafer sales of 73.4m were up 5.4% against H1 2017. This reflects increased sales in each of the Groups primary markets achieved against a currency headwind of approximately 10%. In constant currency, Wireless sales were up 11%, Photonics sales up 30% and InfraRed sales up 11%. There was no license income from joint ventures (H1 2017: 0.95m). Reported photonics revenues grew by 3.7m (24%) to 18.9m (H1 2017: 15.2m) and accounted for 26% of IQEs wafer sales in H1 2018, up from 22% in H1 2017. This remains IQEs most rapidly growing business segment.

Wireless inventory channels, depleted as a consequence of the rapid ramp of VCSELs in H2 2017, were partially replenished during H1 2018 and photonics capacity was directed to satisfy more than twenty VCSEL chip manufacturer engagements in order to significantly broaden IQEs global reach in the rapidly growing 3D sensing markets.

Wafers gross profit was flat at 17.1m (H1 2017 17.2m) as wafers gross margin contracted by 140bps from 24.7% in H1 2017 to 23.3% in H1 2018. Photonics gross profit margins were adversely impacted by Newport Foundry pre-production costs of 0.9m and low margin customer funded product development (primarily new VCSEL customers) reducing photonics margins by a further 0.6m.

Segment operating profit, detailed in note 6, was 7.6m (H1 2017: 9.7m). Segment operating margins were 10.4% (H1 2017: 13.8%). Wireless operating profit margins were 13.9% (H1 2017: 15.6%) and reduced as a consequence of reactor conversion costs relating to switching reactors from Photonics to Wireless production during H1 2018. Photonics 25.8% (H1 2017: 41.6%), reduced as a consequence of the high level of low margin photonics customer qualifications undertaken in H1 2018 and the pre-production costs which were expensed in relation to the new Newport Foundry. Taking into account the Newport Foundry pre-production costs and the investment in qualification programmes for new VCSEL customers, the underlying photonics operating profit was 6.4m (H1 2017: 6.3m) at an operating profit margin of 33.4% (H1 2017: 41.6%). Central corporate costs were flat at 4.5m (H1 2017: 4.5m). Photonics margins will return to 35% for H2 2018 as the production efficiencies of the ramp in output are realised.

Conversion of operating profit 7.6m (H1 2017: 10.7m) into operating cash 7.6m (H1 2017: 11.2m) of 100% (H1 2017: 105%) after funding 6.6m in working capital increase (H1 2017: 4.5m). Investment in capex and product development was 13.0m (H1 2017: 15.4m), including 6.4m (H1 2017: 9.4m) in capitalised research and development expenditure relating to VCSELs, GaN, cREO and dilute nitride developments and 6.3m (H1 2017: 5.8m) in property plant and equipment associated predominantly with the new Newport Foundry. This was funded in H1 2018 through organic cash generation and from surplus cash reserves arising following the November 2017 share placing.

Reported Profit before tax increased by 1.0m (18.9%) to 6.6m (H1 2017: 5.6m). Reported profits before tax in H1 2018 were depressed by approximately 3.5m; approximately. 2m as a consequence of the impact of the forex headwind compared with H1 2017 and 1.5m relating to the Newport Foundry pre-production costs and VCSEL qualifications referred to above.

Pre-tax adjusted items were 1.0m (H1 2017: 4.1m). The tax charge on the adjusted items was 1.1m (H1 2017: tax credit 2.5m) leaving adjusted items net of tax of 2.1m (H1 2017: 1.6m). These items are fully detailed in note 7 and include the cost of employee share based payments, exceptional share based payment costs from accelerated vesting of options and insurance income both relating to the death in service of Mr Phillip Rasmussen and legal fees relating to an ongoing patent dispute defence.

The tax charge on adjusted profits was 1.4m (H1 2017: tax credit 0.3m) reflecting an effective tax rate of 18% (H1 2017: -2.7%), FY2017: 2.9%) The tax rate increase primarily reflects recognition of 2.2m tax losses in H1 2017 (H1 2018: nil, FY 2017 4.0m), see note 8 for further details. The reported effective tax rate of 37.3% (H1 2017; -49.8%. FY 2017: 2.9%) reflects the tax effect on exceptional items as detailed in note 7 in addition to the underlying tax charge.

The Group has approximately 110m (H1 2017: 115m) of accumulated tax losses which represent a potential reduction in future tax payable of 22m (H1 2017: 33m), the reduction being a consequence of the reduction announced in Dec 2017 in US tax rates from 35% to 21%.

Adjusted profit after tax reduced 3.7m to 6.2m (H1 2017: 9.9m), which combined with an increase of 11.3% in the weighted average number of fully diluted shares in H1 2018 to 807.8m shares (H1 2017: 725.6m shares) resulted in a 43.7% decrease in adjusted fully diluted EPS from 1.37p to 0.76p.

After exceptional charges of 2.1m (H1 2017: 1.6m), the Reported Profit after Tax decreased from 6.2m (H1 2017: 9.9m) to 4.2m (H1 2017: 8.4m).

The Groups net cash at 30 June 2018 was 40.6m (30 June 2017: net debt 41.9m) a decrease of 5.0m since the prior year end (31 Dec 2017: 45.6m). The reversal in the 12 months to 30 June 2018 was a result of the successful placing completed in November 2017, raising in excess of 90m to repay debt and fund capacity expansion.

Balance sheet net assets at 30 June 2018 were 301m (H1 2017: 192m) an increase of 109m since H1 2017 and 9.9m since 31 Dec 2017.

4. VISION AND STRATEGY





Compound semiconductors continue to play an increasingly important role in the electronics industry as their advanced properties exceed the performance limitations of silicon semiconductors. Through continuing innovation, compound semiconductor technologies are now achieving the cost-performance thresholds that is accelerating their adoption on many fronts. Moreover, as the technology continues through this inflection point of mass adoption, it is approaching a paradigm shift with the emergence of Compound Semiconductor on Silicon technology (CS-on-Si).

IQEs vision is to maintain and grow our established position as the leading global provider of advanced semiconductor materials  the global go to compound semiconductor materials specialist in the electronics industry.

To realise this vision requires the ability to deliver enabling technology, which meets the price points needed for adoption, and which can be delivered reliably, on-time, every-time with the ability to scale rapidly. IQE has positioned itself well for this challenge, having built the broadest portfolio of materials IP in the industry, and developed a unique platform for a secure low cost supply. Moreover, IQE has developed a reputation to match  for excellence and reliability.

5. MARKETS

IQE has developed a market facing organisational structure, based around its 6 key markets: Wireless, Photonics, Infrared, Solar, Power, and CMOS++. The emerging markets of Solar and Power control are not yet significant enough to be separated in our segmental reporting.

Wireless

Compound Semiconductors play an essential role in high speed wireless communications and have been an enabling technology for mass market applications such as smartphones and WiFi. IQE is market leader with an estimated 55%-60% share of this global market.

Despite slower growth in smartphone sales in recent years, the relentless increase in data traffic continues to drive the need for more sophisticated wireless chip solutions in handsets. There is little doubt that the world will become increasingly more connected with advances in areas such as connected and autonomous vehicles (AVs) driving demand for 5G communications. IQE sees the acceleration of the roll-out of 5G infrastructures around the world as a significant upside potential for its wireless business as this transition will require much more complex material technologies.

Current infrastructure applications such as base stations, radar and CATV are a small but rapidly growing part of IQEs wireless segment. This is becoming an increasingly important part of IQEs business as the superior performance of this CS technology continues to replace the incumbent silicon LDMOS technology. Indeed, in partnership with our lead customer, IQE has developed a high performance low cost solution (GaN on Silicon) to accelerate the displacement of LDMOS. Our lead customer is in the process of qualifying this technology downstream and concluded a high volume chip fabrication partnership in late 2017, in anticipation of a production ramp on completion of these qualifications.

The fastest growing segment of the wireless chip market over the past few years has been for high performance Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filters. Although the primary materials technology for BAW filters (aluminium nitride, or AlN) is made from compound semiconductor elements, the wafers have been fabricated using a less sophisticated process called sputtering, reflecting that producing a more sophisticated single crystal epitaxial solution has been a significant IP challenge. IQE is currently prototyping the key technologies for the realisation of much higher cystalline quality AlN wafer product and is actively engaged with multiple customers who see this advance as a potentially disruptive solution.

Wireless continues to be a significant and stable business for the group and is expected to grow at a rate of up to 5% in the near term. Furthermore, this division has several exciting developments which provide routes for a return to double digit growth, including:

innovation in smartphone hardware, including the adoption of advanced photonics sensors;

adoption of GaN on Silicon technology for base stations; and

the transition to 5G communications, requiring more advanced CS materials and adoption of high quality CS materials solutions enabled by cREO for wireless filters.

The Group also announced in July 2018 that it had re-negotiated a long term supply contract with a tier 1 wireless customer through to September 2019, securing an extended range of products and increased share of their epiwafer requirements.

Photonics

Photonics refers to devices that emit or detect light, such as advanced laser and sensors. They enable a wide range of end markets in the communications, consumer, and industrial spaces.

There are two critical technologies in this segment:

Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) - the key enabling technology behind a number of high growth markets including 3D sensing, data communications, data centres, gesture recognition, health, cosmetics, illumination and heating applications. IQE is the market leader for outsourced VCSEL materials, which has been achieved by virtue of its technology leadership. This includes the demonstration of VCSELs with record speeds, efficiencies and temperature performance. In addition, with its 6 wafer capability IQE has been successful at enabling its customers to reduce significantly the unit cost of chips which is further accelerating the adoption of this technology.



Indium Phosphide (InP)  this technology enables fibre to the premises (FTTX). The continued development of this technology to achieve higher performance at lower costs, plus the explosive growth in data traffic is leading to the extension of the fibre optic network to the premises  also known as the last mile. IQE has developed advanced laser technologies with differentiated IP which underpins our high growth expectations for this business.

There is little doubt that sensing technologies, from 3D sensing to gesture recognition and LIDAR, will represent a major growth area in the near term and extending into the future. Some analysts have referred to this as the start of a super cycle. Indeed, this is reflected in the breadth of product development programmes in which IQE is engaged, and which now span multiple Tier 1 OEMs (directly and via chip customers) who are targeting mass market ramps in 3D sensing applications over the next 6 to 18 months.

However, VCSELs have many more applications beyond sensing, including fibre optics for data centres, industrial heating, and machine vision to name a few. IQE has built a strong technical lead in this market, which combined with its unparalleled track record for mass market delivery, positions IQE well for continuing strong growth.

Alongside our growing VCSEL business, our InP business continues to perform well. This market is being driven by the need for higher speed, higher capacity fibre optic systems to address continuing growth in data traffic. As a result, more sophisticated materials solutions are becoming critical to achieve higher levels of performance. To address this evolving market, IQE has developed novel technologies which enable higher performance with lower cost of manufacture. This includes an innovative solution for Distributed Feedback Lasers (DFBs) for high speed FTTX chips. We are engaged in qualifications with several customers for this technology and received our first milestone production order during H1 2018 for DFB lasers made using our proprietary NIL process.

InfraRed

IQE is a global leader in the supply of indium antimonide and gallium antimonide wafers for advanced infrared technology, primarily see in the dark defence applications. We are the technology leader with the launch of the industrys first 150mm indium antimonide wafers, a major milestone in reducing the overall cost of chips to drive increasing adoption. This has enabled the business to secure several contract wins and drive sales growth.

Beyond defence, the InfraRed division has been successful in broadening its customer engagements into product development for mass market consumer applications. Indeed, we are now engaged with major OEM and device companies in developing InfraRed products for consumer applications including sensing. This provides potential for higher growth rates, and therefore we will highlight new technologies as these reach commercial adoption.

Advanced Solar (CPV)

Technologies which convert sunlight into electricity are also called PhotoVoltaics (or PV). The prevalent solar technology is based on silicon material, which typically achieves a conversion of between 15%-18% of the suns energy into electricity. IQE has been at the centre of developing solar materials using compound semiconductors, which can deliver much higher levels of efficiency. This technology, which is also known as Concentrating Photovoltaics, or CPV, can already deliver efficiencies in excess of 44%, and has a route map to much higher levels of efficiency. Although this offers a lower overall cost of energy generation in sunny territories, the challenge in mass adoption is in reducing the end system install costs, which has been hampered by global macroeconomics.

The terrestrial market remains an exciting market opportunity, but as a result of the shifting macroeconomics, focus has shifted to the space market, where these advanced materials are used to power satellites and UAVs, where the higher efficiency has a dramatic cost benefit on payload. Product qualifications are underway with leading UAV/satellite manufacturers, paving the way for commercial revenues, therefore we will highlight new technologies as these reach commercial adoption.

Power

Gallium Nitride on Silicon (GaN on Si) is driving a technology shift in the multi-billion dollar power switching and LED markets. IQE has continued to push the technology boundaries and is making rapid progress both technically and in developing commercial relationships in the supply chain. The power switching market alone is approximately 3-4 times the size of the current wireless PA chip market, and represents a major growth opportunity for IQE. IQEs patented technology, cREO, provides a significant competitive advantage in this space. We will highlight new technologies as these reach commercial adoption.

CMOS++

Future semiconductor technology architectures are moving strongly toward hybrid integrated chips using a combination of traditional CMOS based chips with Compound Semiconductor chips, all built on a silicon base wafer. This provides the market with the significant technical advantages of Compound Semiconductors at the cost point of silicon, and allows the CS industry to utilise the huge investment already made into large scale Silicon chip manufacturing. As a result, this greatly increases the available market for Compound Semiconductors. IQE has developed multiple routes to delivering this powerful new hybrid, and the addition of cREO and other IP provides unique solutions to achieving the end goal. IQE is involved in multiple programmes across the globe, which are developing the core technologies from which we expect highly significant revenue streams to emerge over the next 3-5 years.

JOINT VENTURES

Compound Semiconductor Centre Limited (CSC)

The CSC is a joint venture, jointly controlled by the parties with equal voting rights, between the Company and Cardiff University as a centre of excellence for the development and commercialisation of advanced semiconductor products using MOCVD. During H1 2018, the CSC expanded funded Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) project activity, and realised its first third party commercial manufacturing revenues.

The CRD strategy has built on its successes of 2017 (Techworks Research Collaboration Award, Economic Impact title: 2017 Business and Education Partnerships Award, shortlisted for the Times Higher Education awards: Knowledge Exchange Initiative of the Year). A total of nine CRD projects are underway, with a value of 5.4m across all partners and total funding of approximately 1.3m to the CSC, with a typical project duration of two years. The projects have resulted in formal product development partnerships with five multinationals, four mid-size companies, four SMEs and three additional academic partners in critical areas such as next generation Optical Communications, Quantum Technologies, novel Power and RF components and applications of Compound Semiconductors in Healthcare and Cosmetic applications.

Routes to commercial income streams are now maturing and the first commercial orders driven by outcomes from the CRD projects were delivered in H1 2018. The percentage of non-IQE revenue received by the Centre is increasing steadily, and expected to be in the range of 15-20% for full year 2018.

A second phase capital expansion focussed on the installation of new cleanroom and a GaN MOCVD reactor designed for Cardiff University research activity was initiated in October 2017 and completed in April 2018. The CSC has welcomed the Cardiff University research team on site at St Mellons, and is working closely to qualify the new reactor and increase collaboration on a wide range of commercially relevant research topics.

The CSC management look forward to progressing several key areas in H2 2018 including delivery of further exploitable outcomes of the CRD programme, diversification of the research roadmap and wider industry engagement to develop the commercial revenue pipeline.

Compound Semiconductor Development Centre (CSDC)

The CSDC is joint venture between the Company, WIN Semiconductors Corp. and Nangyang Technological University in Singapore. The entity is jointly controlled by the shareholders who have equal shares of the voting rights. The CSDC is a centre of excellence in Asia for the development and commercialisation of advanced semiconductor products using MBE. The joint venture is engaged in a number of early stage qualifications for new customers in China.

Twelve new Chinese customer engagements were initiated in H1 2018 for fifteen separate product qualifications including five for wireless pHEMTs and seven for photonics products. The Chinese Government announced the formation of the China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (CNICIIF) in 2014 to provide funding support of US$ 21.8bn (RMB 138.7bn) for start-up semiconductor businesses and research and development and the CSDCs engagements provide an excellent opportunity to build relationships with emerging key players. Following the recent move, subsequently reversed, by the US Government to ban the sale of US technology to China ZTE Corp., and the growing tensions in the US and Chinas trade and economic relations, China is reported to have sought to accelerate its efforts to gain semiconductor self-sufficiency by increasing funding to the successor of the CNICIIF to US$ 47bn.

The CSDC is well placed, as is the Companys business in Taiwan, to service the requirements of the Chinese market should other supply routes become difficult or expensive.

Revenue from the joint venture is only recognised to the extent that it generates surplus cash.

6. CURRENT TRADING AND OUTLOOK

The Group is strongly positioned to deliver healthy profit growth and cash generation in the coming periods built on the firm foundations of technology and market leadership combined with a growing pipeline of high growth opportunities.

The VCSEL wafer ramp for H2 2018 for existing 3D consumer applications commenced as expected at the end of H1 2018, and since the period end, the first production for new 3D sensing customers has also started. At this time, the Group has customer forecast demand to meet consensus revenue, with a 40:60 revenue split for H1/H2 2018. This exaggerated seasonality, when compared with our historic wireless splits, is driven by OEM product launches expected in late Q3 2018 and the demand from other qualified chip manufacturers for new entrant OEMs in the fast-developing 3D sensing VCSEL market which are expected to start in late 2018 and ramp strongly through 2019.

The Group will invest approximately 6m in expanding GaN capacity in its facility in Taunton, MA in order to transition and combine its GaN activities from its NJ plant, providing a strong position for the upcoming wide ranging 5G deployment of GaN solutions. This investment will commence in H2 2018 and be completed by H1 2019. The GaN facility in Somerset, NJ will close in December 2018 as the transfer of its business to Taunton is completed. The consolidation of GaN production capacity is expected to save approximately 1.5m in 2019, after allowing for severance and decommissioning costs, and approximately 3m per annum thereafter.

The Group will also invest approximately 15m in additional wireless capacity at its plant in Hsinchu, Taiwan. This project will commence in September 2018 and will complete in H1 2019, increasing capacity there by 40%. With this investment the Company will be able to avoid the costs of converting and reconverting reactors from Wireless to Photonics and back again which have totalled approximately 3m in the last 18 months in costs and lost opportunity and provide additional capacity for the continued growth of the Groups wireless business.

These investments will enable the Group to better balance its production capabilities, provide capacity to fulfil market growth expectations and reduce costs, improving efficiency to underpin margin expansion. Updated guidance on capital investment is detailed below.

The Board remain confident of achieving current market expectations at current :US$ exchange rates.

GUIDANCE

IQE provides the following updated guidance for the 2018 financial year, initial guidance for FY 2019 and over a 3-5 year horizon.

FY 2018



FY 2019 3-5 year Wafer revenue CAGR

(constant currency) Wireless: 0-5%

Photonics: 35-50%

InfraRed: 5-15% Wireless: 0-5%

Photonics: 40-60%

InfraRed: 5-15% Wireless: 0-10%

Photonics: 40-60%

InfraRed: 5-15% Adjusted Operating Margins

(Key wafer segments) Wireless: ~15%

Photonics: ~35%

InfraRed: ~27% Wireless: ~15%

Photonics: ~40%

InfraRed: ~28%



Target Group Margin 25%+ Central Costs CAGR 5-10% 5-10% 3-10% pa License Income from JVs  0  0 0-2m Tax Rate Effective tax rate ~18%

Cash tax 1-2m Effective tax rate ~18%

Cash tax 1-2m Effective Tax Rate ~20%

Cash tax 1-2m Capital Expenditure Intangibles: 12-15m

PPE: 30-35m Intangibles: 10-15m

PPE: 20-30m Intangibles: 10-15m

PPE: 25m+ Sales phasing H1:H2*

(*Heavily influenced by the timing of OEM new product launches)



40:60



42:58



45:55

Dr Drew Nelson, OBE, DSc, FREng, FLSW

President & Chief Executive Officer

29 August 2018







CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT



6 months to Restated

6 months to Restated

12 months to 30 Jun 2018 30 Jun 2017 31 Dec 2017 (All figures 000s) Note Unaudited Unaudited Audited Revenue 73,396 70,562 154,553 Cost of sales (57,279 ) (54,671 ) (115,755 ) Gross profit 16,117 15,891 38,798 Other income 1,648 - - Selling, general and administrative expenses (11,163 ) (9,380 ) (21,582 ) Loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment - (4 ) (22 ) Operating profit 6,602 6,507 17,194 Net finance income / (costs) 46 (914 ) (2,099 ) Adjusted profit before tax 7,615 9,668 24,515 Adjustments 7 (967 ) (4,075 ) (9,420 ) Profit before tax 6,648 5,593 15,095 Income tax (charge) / credit (2,485 ) 2,786 (435 ) Profit for the period 4,163 8,379 14,660 Profit attributable to: Equity shareholders 4,023 8,354 14,560 Non-controlling interests 140 25 100 4,163 8,379 14,660 Basic earnings per share 9 0.53p 1.24p 2.11p Diluted earnings per share 9 0.50p 1.15p 1.98p

Adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share is presented in Note 9.















CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF



6 months to Restated

6 months to Restated

12 months to COMPREHENSIVE INCOME 30 Jun 2018 30 Jun 2017 31 Dec 2017 (All figures 000s) Unaudited Unaudited Audited Profit for the period 4,163 8,379 14,660 Currency translation differences on foreign currency net investments* 3,028 (7,249 ) (10,948 ) Total comprehensive income for the period 7,191 1,130 3,712 Total comprehensive income attributable to: Equity shareholders 7,063 1,093 3,640 Non-controlling interests 128 37 72 7,191 1,130 3,712

* This may be subsequently reclassified to the income statement when it becomes realised.











As At Restated

As At Restated

As At CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET 30 Jun 2018 30 Jun 2017 31 Dec 2017 (All figures 000s) Note Unaudited Unaudited Audited Non-current assets : Intangible assets 116,607 105,903 108,513 Fixed asset investments 75 - 75 Property, plant and equipment 107,494 81,968 90,800 Deferred tax asset 15,372 20,375 17,768 Financial Assets 7,776 7,000 7,680 Total non-current assets 247,324 215,246 224,836 Current assets : Inventories 35,433 29,543 33,044 Trade and other receivables 40,590 32,784 33,269 Cash and cash equivalents 11 40,634 5,465 45,612 Total current assets 116,657 67,792 111,925 Total assets 363,981 283,038 336,761 Current liabilities : Borrowings 11 - (5,778 ) - Trade and other payables (61,056 ) (36,250 ) (43,172 ) Current tax liabilities (405 ) (4,383 ) (210 ) Provisions for other liabilities and charges 12 (1,477 ) (1,544 ) (1,534 ) Total current liabilities (62,938 ) (47,955 ) (44,916 ) Non-current liabilities : Borrowings 11 - (41,549 ) - Provisions for other liabilities and charges 12 - (1,455 ) (666 ) Total non-current liabilities - (43,004 ) (666 ) Total liabilities (62,938 ) (90,959 ) (45,582 ) Net assets 301,043 192,079 291,179 Equity attributable to shareholders : Share capital 13 7,608 6,830 7,560 Share premium 147,318 52,735 145,927 Retained earnings 102,356 92,127 98,333 Other reserves 40,404 37,193 36,130 297,686 188,885 287,950 Non-controlling Interest 3,357 3,194 3,229 Total equity 301,043 192,079 291,179







CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

Unaudited







(All figures 000s) Share capital Share premium Retained earnings Exchange rate reserve Other reserves Non-controlling interests Total equity At 1 January 2018 7,560 145,927 98,333 20,069 16,061 3,229 291,179 Profit for the period - - 4,023 - - 140 4,163 Foreign exchange - - - 3,040 - (12 ) 3,028 Total comprehensive income - - 4,023 3,040 - 128 7,191 Share based payments - - - - 2,586 - 2,586 Tax relating to share options - - - - (455 ) - (455 ) Proceeds from shares issued 48 1,391 - - (897 ) - 542 Total transactions with owners 48 1,391 - - 1,234 - 2,673 At 30 June 2018 7,608 147,318 102,356 23,109 17,295 3,357 301,043



Unaudited







(All figures 000s) Share capital Share premium Retained earnings Exchange rate reserve Other reserves Non-controlling interests Total equity At 1 January 2017 - restated 6,755 51,081 83,773 30,989 12,263 3,157 188,018 Profit for the period - - 8,354 - - 25 8,379 Foreign exchange - - - (7,261 ) - 12 (7,249 ) Total comprehensive income - - 8,354 (7,261 ) - 37 1,130 Share based payments - - - - 1,941 - 1,941 Tax relating to share options - - - - - - - Proceeds from shares issued 75 1,654 - - (739 ) - 990 Total transactions with owners 75 1,654 - - 1,202 - 2,931 At 30 June 2017 - restated 6,830 52,735 92,127 23,728 13,465 3,194 192,079





Audited







(All figures 000s) Share capital Share premium Retained earnings Exchange rate reserve Other reserves Non-controlling interests Total equity At 1 January 2017 - restated 6,755 51,081 83,773 30,989 12,263 3,157 188,018 Profit for the year - - 14,560 - - 100 14,660 Foreign exchange - - - (10,920 ) - (28 ) (10,948 ) Total comprehensive income - - 14,560 (10,920 ) - 72 3,712 Share based payments - - - - 3,854 - 3,854 Tax relating to share options - - - - 683 - 683 Proceeds from shares issued 805 94,846 - - (739 ) - 94,912 Total transactions with owners 805 94,846 - - 3,798 - 99,449 At 31 December 2017 - restated 7,560 145,927 98,333 20,069 16,061 3,229 291,179













6 months to Restated

6 months to Restated

12 months to CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT 30 Jun 2018 30 Jun 2017 31 Dec 2017 (All figures 000s) Note Unaudited Unaudited Audited Cash flows from operating activities : Adjusted cash inflow from operations 8,303 11,877 31,089 Cash impact of adjustments 7 (723 ) (682 ) (1,372 ) Cash inflow from operations 10 7,580 11,195 29,717 Net interest received/(paid) 1 (1,043 ) (2,125 ) Income tax paid (232 ) (946 ) (5,844 ) Net cash generated from operating activities 7,349 9,206 21,748 Cash flows from investing activities : Purchase of intangible assets (317 ) (185 ) (2,419 ) Capitalised development expenditure (6,372 ) (9,419 ) (14,511 ) Purchase of property, plant and equipment (6,292 ) (5,763 ) (11,260 ) Net cash used in investing activities (12,981 ) (15,367 ) (28,190 ) Cash flows from financing activities : Issues of ordinary share capital 542 989 94,912 Repayment of borrowings - (9,395 ) (75,430 ) Proceeds from borrowings - 15,239 27,864 Net cash generated from financing activities 542 6,833 47,346 Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (5,090 ) 672 40,904 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 45,612 4,957 4,957 Exchange gains/(losses) on cash and cash equivalents 112 (164 ) (249 ) Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 11 40,634 5,465 45,612







REPORTING ENTITY

IQE plc is a public limited company incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006. The Company is domiciled in the United Kingdom and is quoted on AIM.

These condensed consolidated interim financial statements (interim financial statements) as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2018 comprise the Company and its Subsidiaries (together referred to as the Group). The principal activities of the Group are the development, manufacture and sale of advanced semiconductor materials.

BASIS OF PREPARATION

These interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting, and should be read in conjunction with the Groups last annual consolidated financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 December 2017 which were approved by the Board of Directors on 20 March 2018 and were delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditors on those financial statements was unqualified, did not contain an emphasis of matter paragraph and did not contain any statement under section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

The interim financial statements do not include all of the information required for a complete set of IFRS financial statements and do not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. However, selected explanatory notes are included to explain events and transactions that are significant to an understanding of the changes in the Groups financial position and performance since the last annual financial statements.

This is the first set of the Groups financial statements where IFRS 15 and IFRS 9 have been applied. Changes to significant accounting policies are described in Note 4.

Comparative information in the interim financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 December 2017 has been taken from the published audited financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 December 2017 and restated to reflect the implementation of the new accounting standard, IFRS 15, which is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018. All other periods presented are unaudited.

The financial information contained in these interim financial statements has been reviewed by the Companys auditor in accordance with ISRE 2410 however this does not constitute an audit.

The interim financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee on 29 August 2018.

USE OF JUDGEMENTS AND ESTIMATES

In preparing these interim financial statements, management has made judgements and estimates that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expense. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The significant judgements made by management in applying the Groups accounting policies and the key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same as those described in the last annual financial statements, except for new significant judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty related to the application of IFRS 15, which is described in Note 4.

CHANGES IN SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017, as described in those financial statements on pages 91 to 99, except for the impact of the implementation of IFRS 15 Revenue from contracts with customers.

Recent accounting developments

In preparing the interim financial statements the Group has adopted the following Standards, amendments and interpretations which are effective for 2018 and will be adopted for the year ended 31 December 2018:

Annual improvements 2014-2016 cycle

Amendment to IFRS 2, Share based payments to clarify the classification and measurement of certain share based payment transactions

IFRS 9 Financial instruments

IFRS 15 Revenue from contracts with customers



The adoption of these standards and amendments has not had a material impact on the interim financial statements, except for IFRS 15, Revenue from contracts with customers.

CHANGES IN SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Change in accounting policy  IFRS 15 Revenue from contracts with customers

IFRS15, Revenue from contracts with customers deals with revenue recognition and establishes principles for reporting useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. Revenue is recognised when a customer obtains control of a good or service and thus has the ability to direct the use and obtain the benefits from the good or service.

The standard replaces IAS 18 Revenue and IAS 11 Construction Contracts, and related interpretations and is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018.

The group has implemented the requirements of IFRS 15, Revenue from contracts with customers from 1 January 2018 and restated its comparative financial information contained in these interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2017 and the twelve months ended 31 December 2017 accordingly.

Implementation of IFRS 15, Revenue from contracts with customers has resulted in changes in the recognition of revenue in circumstances where the Group produces bespoke customer products with a guaranteed contractual right to payment. In these situations revenue is recognised on an overtime basis earlier in the manufacturing process than was historically the case where revenue was typically recognised on delivery and acceptance of the goods by the customer.

The comparative financial information as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to reflect the impact of this change in accounting policy. Brought forward retained earnings at 1 January 2017 in the balance sheet and statement of changes in equity have been restated by 191,000 and brought forward other reserves at 1 January 2017 in the balance sheet and statement of changes in equity have been restated for the impact of foreign exchange by 4,000. Revenue in the income statement for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to include a net credit of 192,000 and cost of sales has been restated to include an additional net charge of 85,000 with an associated reduction in inventory of 815,000, increase in accrued income of 1,101,000 and foreign exchange impact in other reserves of 16,000 recorded in the balance sheet. The adjustment has increased net assets at 30 June 2017 by 286,000.

The comparative financial information as at and for the twelve months ended 31 December 2017 has been restated to reflect the impact of this change in accounting policy. The opening adjustments described for the six month period ended 30 June 2017 remain consistent for the twelve month period ended 31 December 2017. Revenue in the income statement for the twelve month period has been restated to include a net credit of 73,000 and cost of sales has been restated to include an additional net credit of 102,000 with an associated reduction in inventory of 663,000, increase in accrued income of 1,029,000 and foreign exchange impact in other reserves of 4,000 recorded in the balance sheet. The adjustment has increased net assets at 31 December 2017 by 366,000.

Prior year adjustments

The comparative information contained in the interim financial statements as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to reflect certain prior year adjustments included in the financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 December 2017. The impact of these prior year adjustment on the comparative financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2017 is detailed below.

Taxation

In October 2017, the Group identified historical tax liabilities totalling 4,671,000 dating back to 2013 in a US subsidiary that were treated as a prior year adjustment in the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017.

The comparative financial information as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to reflect the impact of this prior year adjustment. Brought forward retained earnings and other reserves at 1 January 2017 in the balance sheet and statement of changes in equity have been restated by 4,671,000 to reflect the historic tax liability. Other comprehensive income in the statement of changes in equity for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated by 288,000 to reflect an exchange gain on the opening 1 January 2017 restated tax liability which has been restated in the 30 June 2017 balance sheet to 4,383,000.

Preference share debt

The Group classifies its preference share financial assets as debt instruments which were originally recognised at their nominal value. The initial fair value of the debt instruments was restated in the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017 using a market rate of interest of 5.5% which resulted in the recognition of a discounted asset value.

The comparative financial information as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to reflect the impact of this prior year adjustment. Brought forward retained earnings at 1 January 2017 in the balance sheet and statement of changes in equity have been restated by 1,111,000 to reflect the initial fair value discount (net of discount unwind). The interest charge in the income statement for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to include a credit of 111,000 to reflect the non cash unwind of the discount and the financial asset represented by the debt instruments has been restated in the balance sheet to 7,000,000.

CHANGES IN SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Social security costs associated with outstanding LTIP and share option awards

Social security costs associated with outstanding LTIP and share option awards were unrecorded and restated as a prior year adjustment in the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017.

The comparative financial information as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to reflect the impact of this prior year adjustment. Brought forward retained earnings at 1 January 2017 in the balance sheet and statement of changes in equity have been restated by 839,000 to reflect the recognition of social security liabilities on outstanding LTIP and share option awards. Operating profit in the income statement for the six months ended 30 June 2017 has been restated to include a charge of 1,381,000 to reflect an increase in the social security liability from the restated opening 1 January 2017 position whilst the tax credit in the income statement has been restated to include a deferred tax credit of 2,220,000 representing the related deferred tax asset.

The impact of the change in accounting policies and prior year adjustments on the comparative financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2017 and the twelve months ended 31 December 2017 is set out in the summarised income statements and balance sheets below.





Impact on the condensed interim consolidated Income statement for the 6 months ended 30 June 2017 Reported IFRS 15 Taxation Preference share debt Social Security Restated 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 000 000 000 000 000 000 Revenue 70,370 192 - - - 70,562 Cost of sales (53,665 ) (85 ) - - (921 ) (54,671 ) Gross profit 16,705 107 - - (921 ) 15,891 SG&A (8,920 ) - - - (460 ) (9,380 ) Loss on PPE (4 ) - - - - (4 ) Operating profit 7,781 107 - - (1,381 ) 6,507 Finance costs (1,025 ) - - 111 - (914 ) Profit before tax 6,756 107 - 111 (1,381 ) 5,593 Income tax credit 566 - - - 2,220 2,786 Profit for the period 7,322 107 - 111 839 8,379 Impact on the condensed interim consolidated balance sheet as at 30 June 2017 Reported IFRS 15 Taxation Preference share debt Social Security Restated 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 30-Jun 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 000 000 000 000 000 000 Non-current assets 214,026 - - (1,000 ) 2,220 215,246 Inventories 30,358 (815 ) - - - 29,543 Trade and other receivables 31,683 1,101 - - - 32,784 Cash and cash equivalents 5,465 - - - - 5,465 Total assets 281,532 286 - (1,000 ) 2,220 283,038 Current liabilities (41,352 ) - (4,383 ) - (2,220 ) (47,955 ) Non-current liabilities (43,004 ) - - - - (43,004 ) Total liabilities (84,356 ) - (4,383 ) - (2,220 ) (90,959 ) Net assets 197,176 286 (4,383 ) (1,000 ) - 192,079 Equity Retained earnings 96,773 298 (3,944 ) (1,000 ) - 92,127 Other reserves 100,403 (12 ) (439 ) - - 99,952 Total equity 197,176 286 (4,383 ) (1,000 ) - 192,079





CHANGES IN SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Impact on the condensed interim consolidated Income statement for the 12 months ended 31 December 2017 Reported Opening IFRS 15 Closing IFRS 15 Restated 31-Dec 31-Dec 31-Dec 31-Dec 2017 2017 2017 2017 000 000 000 000 Revenue 154,480 (956 ) 1,029 154,553 Cost of sales (115,857 ) 765 (663 ) (115,755 ) Gross profit 38,623 (191 ) 366 38,798 Operating profit 17,019 (191 ) 366 17,194 Profit before tax 14,920 (191 ) 366 15,095 Income tax expense (435 ) - - (435 ) Profit for the period 14,485 (191 ) 366 14,660 Impact on the condensed interim consolidated balance sheet as at 31 December 2017 Reported Opening IFRS 15 Closing IFRS 15 Restated 31-Dec 31-Dec 31-Dec 31-Dec 2017 2017 2017 2017 000 000 000 000 Non-current assets 224,836 - - 224,836 Inventories 33,707 - (663 ) 33,044 Trade and other receivables 32,240 - 1,029 33,269 Cash and cash equivalents 45,612 - - 45,612 Total assets 336,395 - 366 336,761 Current liabilities (44,916 ) - - (44,916 ) Non-current liabilities (666 ) - - (666 ) Total liabilities (45,582 ) - - (45,582 ) Net assets 290,813 - 366 291,179 Equity Retained earnings at 1 January 83,582 191 83,773 Profit for the period 14,385 (191 ) 366 14,560 Retained earnings at 31 December 97,967 - 366 98,333 Other reserves 192,846 - - 192,846 Total equity 290,813 - 366 291,179

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The principal risks and uncertainties impacting the Group are described on pages 28 to 36 of our 2017 Annual Report and remain unchanged at 30 June 2018.

They include: competition, technological change, health, safety and environment, human resourcing, natural disasters, financial liquidity, business interruption, customer concentration, legal compliance, loss of intellectual property, information technology failure and tax liability.





SEGMENTAL INFORMATION

6 Months to 30 June 2018







Unaudited



6 Months to 30 June 2017

Restated

Unaudited



12 Months to 31 Dec 2017

Restated

Audited



000 000 000 Revenue Wireless 47,844 48,080 91,666 Photonics 18,945 15,236 47,676 Infra Red 5,773 5,594 11,955 CMOS++ 834 702 1,382 Total Segment Revenue 73,396 69,612 152,679 License income from sales to joint ventures - 950 1,874 Total Revenue 73,396 70,562 154,553 Adjusted operating profit Wireless 6,636 7,512 13,736 Photonics 4,892 6,344 18,355 Infra Red 1,364 1,360 3,259 CMOS++ (791 ) (977 ) (1,677 ) Central corporate costs (4,487 ) (4,531 ) (9,013 ) Segment adjusted operating profit 7,614 9,708 24,660 Profit from license income from sales to joint ventures* - 950 1,874 Adjusted operating profit 7,614 10,658 26,534 Adjusted items (1,012 ) (4,151 ) (9,340 ) Operating profit 6,602 6,507 17,194 Finance costs 46 (914 ) (2,099 ) Profit before tax 6,648 5,593 15,095

The comparative financial information for six months ended 30 June 2017 and 31 December 2017 have been restated. Details of the restatement are set out in note 4.





ADJUSTED PROFIT MEASURES

The groups results are reported after a number of adjusted items. The directors believe that the selected adjusted measures allow management and other stakeholders to better compare the performance of the Group between the current and prior year, without the effects of one-off or non-operational items and better reflects the normalised underlying earnings in the year. The tables below provide additional information to aid an understanding of the adjusted items and the impact on the Groups performance.

6 months to 6 months to 12 months to 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 (All figures 000s) Adjusted Adjusted Reported Adjusted Adjusted Reported Adjusted Adjusted Reported Results Items Results Results Items Results Results Items Results Revenue 73,396 - 73,396 70,562 - 70,562 154,553 - 154,553 Cost of sales (56,279 ) (1,000 ) (57,279 ) (52,408 ) (2,263 ) (54,671 ) (110,738 ) (5,017 ) (115,755 ) Gross profit 17,117 (1,000 ) 16,117 18,154 (2,263 ) 15,891 43,815 (5,017 ) 38,798 Other income - 1,648 1,648 - - - - - - SG&A (9,503 ) (1,660 ) (11,163 ) (7,492 ) (1,888 ) (9,380 ) (17,259 ) (4,323 ) (21,582 ) Profit on disposal of PPE - - - (4 ) - (4 ) (22 ) - (22 ) Operating profit 7,614 (1,012 ) 6,602 10,658 (4,151 ) 6,507 26,534 (9,340 ) 17,194 Finance costs 1 45 46 (990 ) 76 (914 ) (2,019 ) (80 ) (2,099 ) Profit before tax 7,615 (967 ) 6,648 9,668 (4,075 ) 5,593 24,515 (9,420 ) 15,095 Taxation (1,369 ) (1,116 ) (2,485 ) 265 2,521 2,786 483 (918 ) (435 ) Profit for the period 6,246 (2,083 ) 4,163 9,933 (1,554 ) 8,379 24,998 (10,338 ) 14,660

The comparative financial information for six months ended 30 June 2017 and 31 December 2017 have been restated. Details of the restatement are set out in note 4.

6 months to 6 months to 12 months to 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 Pre tax Tax Adjusted Pre tax Tax Adjusted Pre tax Tax Adjusted (All figures 000s) Adjustment Impact Results Adjustment Impact Results Adjustment Impact Results Share based payments (1,500 ) (1,317 ) (2,817 ) (3,415 ) 2,220 (1,195 ) (7,526 ) 5,439 (2,087 ) Amortisation of acquired intangibles (252 ) 45 (207 ) (736 ) 309 (427 ) (1,429 ) 563 (866 ) Non cash rent charge - - - - - - (385 ) 69 (316 ) Discounting 45 (8 ) 37 76 (8 ) 68 (80 ) 14 (66 ) Insurance income 1,648 - 1,648 - - - - - - Exceptional legal fees (908 ) 164 (744 ) - - - - - - Change in US tax rate - - - - - - - (7,003 ) (7,003 ) Total (967 ) (1,116 ) (2,083 ) (4,075 ) 2,521 (1,554 ) (9,420 ) (918 ) (10,338 )

The nature of the adjusted items is as follows:

Share based payments  the charge recorded in accordance with IFRS 2 share based payment of which 1.0m (H1 2017: 2.3m, FY17 5.0m) has been classified within cost of sales in gross profit and 0.5m (H1 2017: 1.1m, FY17 2.5m) in selling, general and administrative expenses within operating profit.



Amortisation of acquired intangibles  The amortisation of customer contract intangible assets which arose in respect of the fair value exercise in previous acquisitions. The charge of 0.3m (H1 2017: 0.7m, FY17 1.4m) has been classified as selling general and administrative expenses within operating profit.

Non-cash rent charge  The charge associated with rent free periods on leased property (New foundry in Newport) classified as selling, general and administrative expenses within operating profit in the prior period (H1 2017: nil, FY17: 0.4m) has been included as part of the on-going commissioning cost of the foundry in H1 2018.



Insurance income  This relates to the accrued insurance income receivable following the death of the Chief Financial Officer, Phillip Rasmussen, in April 2018. Costs of 0.4m (H1 2017 and FY17: nil) have been netted off the gross receivable of 2.1m (H1 2017 and FY17: nil) which has been classified as other income within operating profit.



Exceptional legal costs  This relates to the accrued legal fees incurred in respect of a patent dispute defence. Costs of 0.9m (H1 2017 and FY17: nil) have been classified within selling, general and administrative expenses within operating profit.



Discounting  This relates to the unwinding of the discounting on long term financial assets of 0.1m (H1 2017: 0.1m, FY17: 0.2m) and the unwinding of discounting on long term financial liabilities of 0.1m (H1 2017: nil, FY17 0.2m) and has been classified as finance costs within profit before tax.



Change in US tax rate  This refers to a deferred tax charge of 7.0m in FY17 relating to the impact of the change in US Federal tax rates from 35% to 21% and the associated reduction in value of the Groups US deferred tax asset.

The cash flow impact of adjustments in the first half of 2018 relates to the onerous lease rental payments which are offset by the unwinding of the onerous lease provision.

Certain items noted above are accounting estimates based on judgements, accordingly, the actual amounts may differ from these estimates.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) have been calculated as follows:

6 months

to 30 Jun

2018



Unaudited 6 months to 30 Jun 2017

Restated Unaudited 12 months

to 31 Dec

2017

Restated

Audited (All figures 000s) Profit attributable to equity shareholders 4,023 8,354 14,560 Non-controlling interest 140 25 100 Tax 2,485 (2,786 ) 435 Share based payments 1,500 3,415 7,526 Finance (income)/costs (46 ) 914 2,099 Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 3,162 3,092 5,637 Amortisation of intangible fixed assets 2,944 2,714 6,388 Loss/(Profit) on disposal of fixed assets - 4 22 Non cash property lease charge (rent free period)* - - 385 Insurance income (1,648 ) - - Exceptional legal fees 908 - - Adjusted EBITDA* 13,468 15,732 37,152

*Exceptional items impacting EBITDA include the following items: share based payments, profit and loss on disposal of fixed assets, non-cash lease charges, insurance income and one-off legal fees.





TAXATION

6 months to 6 months to 12 months to 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 Restated Unaudited Unaudited Audited Current tax on profits for the year 427 456 505 Total Current tax charge 427 456 505 Origination and reversal of temporary differences 2,058 (3,242 ) (70 ) Total deferred tax charge/(credit) 2,058 (3,242 ) (70 ) Total tax charge/(credit) 2,485 (2,786 ) 435

The tax charge assessed for the year is different to that resulting from applying the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK of 19.00% (2017: 19.25%). The differences are explained below:

6 months to 6 months to 12 months to 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 Restated Restated Unaudited Unaudited Audited Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 6,648 5,593 15,095 Tax charge at 19.00% thereon (2017: 19.25%) (1,263 ) (1,077 ) (2,906 ) Differences in overseas tax rates (48 ) 97 309 Recognition of losses - 2,160 3,957 Change in tax rates - - (7,003 ) Utilisation of previously unrecognised losses - - 1,250 Expenses not deductible for tax (111 ) (278 ) (1,063 ) Income not subject to tax 313 - - Premeasurement of deferred tax - change in UK tax rate 5 (70 ) (407 ) Other deferred tax movements (1,381 ) 1,954 5,428 Total tax (charge) / credit (2,485 ) 2,786 (435 )

EARNINGS PER SHARE

6 months to 6 months to 12 months to 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 Restated Restated Unaudited Unaudited Audited Results in 000s: Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders 4,023 8,354 14,560 Adjustments to profit after tax (note 7) 2,083 1,554 10,338 Adjusted profit attributable to ordinary shareholders 6,106 9,908 24,898 Number of shares: Weighted average number of ordinary shares 756,614,361 676,378,550 689,537,776 Dilutive share options 51,197,646 49,256,183 47,142,160 Adjusted weighted average number of ordinary shares 807,812,007 725,634,733 736,679,936 Adjusted basic earnings per share 0.81p 1.46p 3.61p Basic earnings per share 0.53p 1.24p 2.11p Adjusted diluted earnings per share 0.76p 1.37p 3.38p Diluted earnings per share 0.50p 1.15p 1.98p

EARNINGS PER SHARE (CONTINUED)

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares during the period.

Diluted earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of shares and in the money share options in issue. Share options are classified as in the money if their exercise price is lower than the average share price for the period. As required by IAS 33, this calculation assumes that the proceeds receivable from the exercise of in the money options would be used to purchase shares in the open market in order to reduce the number of new shares that would need to be issued.

CASH GENERATED FROM OPERATIONS

6 months to 6 months to 12 months to 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 Restated Restated (All figures 000s) Unaudited Unaudited Audited Profit before tax 6,648 5,593 15,095 Finance (income)/costs (46 ) 914 2,099 Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 3,162 3,092 5,637 Amortisation of intangible assets 2,944 2,714 6,388 Loss on disposal of fixed assets - 4 22 Non cash rent charges on rent free periods on leased property - - 385 Share based payments 1,500 3,415 7,526 Cash inflow from operations before changes in working capital 14,208 15,732 37,152 Increase in inventories (2,058 ) (2,661 ) (6,506 ) Increase in trade and other receivables (4,772 ) (3,110 ) (6,822 ) Increase in trade and other payables 202 1,234 5,893 Cash inflow from operations 7,580 11,195 29,717

ANALYSIS OF NET FUNDS / (DEBT)

30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 (All figures 000s) Unaudited Unaudited Audited Bank borrowings due after one year - (41,549 ) - Bank borrowings due within one year - (5,778 ) - Finance leases due after one year - - - Finance leases due within one year - - - Total borrowings - (47,327 ) - Cash and cash equivalents 40,634 5,465 45,612 Net funds/(debt) 40,634 (41,862 ) 45,612



Cash and cash equivalents include 3.8m held in escrow following the Groups decision, announced on 16 March 2018, to exercise its exclusive option to acquire the cREO  technology and IP portfolio from Translucent Inc. The Group has until 12 October to settle the outstanding purchase consideration either in cash or equity to the value of 3.8m.





PROVISIONS FOR OTHER LIABILITIES AND CHARGES

As at As at As at 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 (All figures 000s) Unaudited Unaudited Audited As at 1 January 2,200 3,588 3,588 Charged to the income statement - 140 - Utilised during the period (723 ) (682 ) (1,372 ) Foreign exchange - (47 ) (16 ) As at 30 June / 31 December 1,477 2,999 2,200

As part of the re-organisation and rationalisation of the Groups facilities the Group ceased its manufacturing activities in Singapore and established the Compound Semiconductor Development Centre. The provision above represents the onerous lease obligation in respect of the Singapore property. This is expected to be utilised over the next two years. The provision has been discounted using a risk free rate of 2.5%.

SHARE CAPITAL

As At As At As at 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 Number of shares Unaudited Unaudited Audited As at 1 January 756,050,549 675,506,061 675,506,061 Employee share schemes 4,749,808 7,516,861 12,602,907 Equity placing - - 67,941,581 As at 30 June / 31 December 760,800,357 683,022,922 756,050,549

In the period to the 30 June 2018 4,749,808 (H1 2017: 7,516,861, FY17:12,602,907) ordinary shares were issued to satisfy employee share schemes.

As At As at As at 30-Jun-18 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 (All figures 000s) Unaudited Unaudited Audited As at 1 January 7,561 6,755 6,755 Employee share schemes 47 75 126 Shares issued to settle Translucent consideration - - 679 As at 30 June / 31 December 7,608 6,830 7,560

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The Group recognised revenue of nil (H1 2017: 1.0m, FY17: 1.9m) and made purchases of 1.8m (H1 2017: 6.4m, FY17: 10.4m) from its joint venture in Singapore, the Compound Semiconductor Development Centre Private Limited.

The Group also made purchases of 3.8m (H1 2017: 3.3m, FY17: 6.1m) and recharged other costs of 1.6m (H1 2017: 1.4m, FY17: 4.5m) with its joint venture in the UK the Compound Semiconductor Centre Limited.Iranian American Prisoner in Iran, Baquer Namazi, On Medical Leave

08/29/18

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Lawyers File Appeals With Iran's Supreme Court and the UN



Bagher and Siamak Namazi

#FreeTheNamazis

Baquer Namazi, an Iranian American dual national who was imprisoned in Iran in February 2016, has been on furlough "for a considerable length of time" to receive treatment for heart complications, his lawyer Mehrdad Ghorbani Saraei informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

"He is currently with his family and undergoing treatment," Saraei told CHRI on August 27, 2018, without specifying exactly how long Namazi has been on medical leave.

In October 2016, Namazi, 82, and his son, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, 46, were sentenced to 10 years in prison each for the charge of "collaborating with enemy states." The sentences were upheld in August 2017.

On August 28, the Namazis' US counsel emailed a press release to CHRI stating that their lawyers in Iran had lodged an appeal with the Iranian Supreme Court arguing that their convictions cannot legally stand because they were convicted of collaborating with the US, a "hostile" state. But according to Article I of the Treaty of Amity, to which Iran is a party, "[t]here shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran."

The press release added that in a ruling in a case identical to the Namazis' in 2014, Iran's Supreme Court explicitly stated that "no government [including the United States] is in a state of hostility with Iran" and that "political differences" are not sufficient to classify a state as "hostile." It accordingly reversed the conviction of an Iranian under the very same law under which the Namazis were convicted because it found the US could not be properly classified as a hostile state.

"Baquer and Siamak Namazi have a right to seek a review of these heavy sentences and we did so on their behalf on August 20 with Branch 33 of the Supreme Court, which we hope will result in freedom for both of them," Saraei told CHRI.

Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF official, was arrested in Tehran in March 2016 by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after visiting Iran to seek the release of his son, who had been arrested in October 2015.

In addition, international counsel to the Namazis also filed a complaint on August 28 with Diego Garca-Sayan, the UN's special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

According to the press release, "It requests that he begin an investigation into the Namazis' detention emphasizing that (1) Iran's reliance and recognition of the Treaty of Amity prevents it from legally sustaining the conviction of the Namazis, and (2) the judiciary in Iran clearly cannot be independent or impartial because it was the very same judge and appeals court in the 2014 case whose finding that the U.S. was a hostile state had been reversed. Thus, in light of Iran's affirmation of the validity of the Treaty of Amity as well as the Supreme Court prior precedent, those courts should have no choice but to acquit the Namazis."

During the last two years, the elderly Namazi has been hospitalized a number of times for heart-related issues, including in February 2018 when he was granted eight days of medical leave from Evin Prison.

Siamak Namazi's requests for furlough have been repeatedly rejected. His family continues to submit requests, Saraei told CHRI.

Unfortunately, Siamak is incarcerated in Evin prison at a time, where his work could help convince US stakeholders to create channels of trade and financing in order to prevent unintended pressure on the #Iranian people. Shame on those who arrested Siamak and other dual nationals https://t.co/r6DVzi2ffy  Bijan Khajehpour (@BijanKK) August 7, 2018

Furlough, temporary leave typically granted to prisoners in Iran for a variety of familial, holiday, and medical reasons, is routinely denied to political prisoners as a form of additional punishment.

At least 11 other dual and foreign nationals as well as foreign permanent residents were imprisoned in Iran as of August 2018.Iran's buoyant grain stocks face US sanctions test

08/29/18

Source: Press TV

The Iranian government has so far bought a record 9.5 million tonnes of wheat from local farmers who experienced better crop yields this year despite a 30% drop in rainfall against the year before, an official says. Iran has been pushing to boost production of wheat and other strategic products as part of its bid to cut dependency on foreign imports.



Harvesting wheat in Iran's Kurdestan province.

photo by Mehr News Agency

Last year, the government bought 8.8 million tonnes of wheat under the country's scheme of state purchases from farmers at guaranteed prices but this year's buys have hit a new record, according to Deputy Agriculture Minister Ali Morad Akbari.



"The guaranteed wheat purchases have surpassed 9.5 million tonnes and broken last year's record, while rainfall has declined by 30% compared to last year," he told Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.



Iran has 6.1 million hectares of land used for farming wheat. Two thirds of it is unirrigated, making the staple grain susceptible to drought in one of the world's driest countries, with an average 250mm of rain a year.



Wheat is among the products dealing with people's purchasing power in Iran where any disruption in supplies could impact their livelihood.

In the past few weeks, wheat prices have surged more than 20 percent on European and US markets on mounting worries over global wheat supplies.



Moreover, Iran faces fresh US sanctions and even though the country has never been barred from buying food, the antagonistic measures have made trade more difficult by hindering payments and ocean shipping.



Iran was largely self-sufficient in wheat a decade ago but it has emerged as one of the world's biggest importers.



The country now seeks to return to the place it was, with the government providing business cover and incentives to wheat growers.



Those measures include imposing import duties on wheat in an effort to protect Iranian farmers from cheap imports and to prevent imported grain being re-sold to the government at higher prices.

Officials say Iran is already self-sufficient in wheat. Last October, the country exported 31,000 tonnes of quality durum wheat to Italy for the first time.



For years, Iran has been bartering locally-produced durum wheat with milling wheat. Last year, the country exported 300,000 tonnes of durum wheat.



Durum or macaroni wheat, used in pasta-making, is the hardest of all wheats, which is widely cultivated across the world.A total of $463.56 million, comprising lifting proceeds of the Ghana Group, surface rentals, PHF income and corporation income tax, was deposited into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) for the first half of this year.



A report by the Central Bank  Petroleum Holding Fund & Ghana Petroleum Funds Semi Annual Report  which made this known, said total petroleum revenue distributed was $475.86 million, adding that $12.29 million received in the 2nd half of 2017 was distributed in the first half of 2018 with the 41st Jubilee lifting.



GNPC, it said, received $142.82 million, ABFA received $117.55 million, while GSF and GHF received an allocation of $150.84 million and US$64.65 million respectively during the period under review.



GHF and GSF total return year to date (year-to-date) was -0.90% and 0.65% respectively.



Realised income on the GPFs in the first half was $6.49 million (GHF contributed $4.04 million and GSF contributed $2.45 million) as compared to the 2017 total net realised income of $4.82 million.



GSF and GHF accumulated reserves were US$428.67 million and $413.58 million respectively.



The lifting proceeds received into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) in the first half of this year were $123.88 million for the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) field, $203.10 million for Jubilee and $63.03 million for Sankofa Gye Nyame (SGN).



The Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) received a total amount of US$390.02 million from lifting proceeds in the first half of this year compared to receipts of $251.49 million in second half of 2017.



Total receipts from TEN (5th and 6th liftings) was $123.88 million compared to $98.64 million received in the second half of 2017 (3rd and 4th TEN liftings), while receipts from Jubilee (41st to 43rd) was $203.10 million compared to $152.85 million received in second half of 2017 (38th to 40th liftings).



The 1st lifting of Sankofa Gye Nyame (SGN) yielded $63.03 million.



The higher lifting receipts were predominantly a result of higher crude oil prices and the on-boarding of Sankofa Gye Nyame.



During the period under review, a total amount of $73.55 million was received from various entities for the payment of surface rental, corporation income tax, and interest accrued on the PHF account.



The amounts received in respect of other income were $0.372 million for surface rental and $72.42 million for corporation income tax.



Additionally, interest of US$0.758 million was earned on undistributed funds held in the PHF.

Source: Daily Guide









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Featured VideoThe Government of Ghana and the United Kingdom, on Tuesday, 28th August, 2018, signed a 20 million trade and economic diversification pact, aimed at creating jobs and promoting Ghanas economic transformation agenda.



The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which represents United Kingdoms new working programme in Ghana, has been tailored along President Akufo-Addos vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.



According to the UK Minister of State for Africa, Harriet Baldwin (MP), who signed the MOU on behalf of the British government, the 20 Million programme will focus its attention on four key areas.



It will focus on some of the policy suggestions to make it easier to do business in Ghana, and on promoting of opportunities for inward investment into Ghana, she said.



Harriet Baldwin added that focus will be brought to bear on ensuring more value-added activities take place within Ghana for the export market, and the development of infrastructure that will attract inward investment into Ghana.



She was confident that the programme will attract at least 15million of further inward investments into Ghana, which is expected to create an estimated 15,000 jobs for Ghanaians.



Representing Ghana, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, noted that the current level of trade relations between Ghana and the United Kingdom do not reflect the longstanding bonds of friendship and commercial interests that the countries have enjoyed for many years.



I, therefore, see this as a game changer, a turning point in opening a new chapter in UK-Ghana relations. It is glad to note that this jobs and economic transformation programme is, indeed, signaling this transition to focus on trade and investment, the Trade Minister added.



He stated that Ghana has already embarked on a comprehensive programme for industrial transformation based on ten different components, and the 20 million trade and economic diversification pact will support Ghana develop key pillars of the 10-point transformation agenda.









Source: classfmonline.com









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Featured VideoMr Egbert Faibille, Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission (PC) Ghana, has assured Norwegian oil businesses of a continuous conducive business climate in Ghana that is ready to welcome all genuine investors in the oil sector.



He reiterated that Ghana was opened for business and the government and its people were looking forward to building the necessary synergies and partnerships with investors that would partner local companies to take the upstream oil industry to another level.



For those of you who seek to come to Ghana, the Petroleum Commission runs an open door, and is ready to welcome investors who seek to pitch with Ghanaian companies.



Mr Faibille said this on Tuesday during an interaction session between Norwegian and Ghanaian businesses at the Ghana Pavilion at the ongoing Offshore North Sea 2018 conference and exhibition in Stavanger, Norway.



He urged the Ghanaian companies to take advantage of the fact that the Norwegian Aker Energy, which had already acquired an oil block in Ghana, and to strike the necessary partnerships so they could win some of the contracts that would emerge out of Akers operation in the country.



Mr Faibille said the PC would continue to ensure transparency in contracts within both the foreign and local firms operations in the sector.



He asked Aker Energy to bring on board, the Norwegian model of oil production and business, which Ghana was following as a country, so that the needed partnerships would be done as subcontracts emerged from the main Aker contract.



He said the PC remained ready to unbundle contracts, which any one indigenous company would try to form under multiple companies, so it could get all the contracts in a particular value chain, saying, when we see that we will stop it and unbundle, and free some of the contracts for everyone else who is fit proper, to get something to do.



Mr Joseph Cudjoe, Deputy Minister of Energy, on his part said all the 40 companies on the trade mission were credible indigenous companies and so the Norwegian companies should feel free to partner them and do businesses with them back home in Ghana.



Mr Jan Helge Skoken, Country Manager of Aker Energy said his Company would count on the continuous collaboration of the PC, the GNPC and Ghanas Ministry of Energy to help facilitate and deepened local content operations under Akers contract in Ghana.



Dr Gulbrand Wangen, Director of Africa Mid Stream, Norwegian Energy Partners, congratulated Ghana for presenting the biggest delegation to enable them explore business opportunities that would positively impact on the economy of country in the long term.







Source: GNA









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Featured VideoPage 16 of today, 29th August 29, 2018, featured a story titled well not abandon friends, partners  President Akufo-Addo tells UK Minister.



This was when the UK Minister paid a courtesy call on the president at the Jubilee House for a bilateral talk on trade and other matters of mutual interest.



Paragraph two of the story said to strengthen its partnership with its partners, Ghana was exploring all avenues to attract strategic investors who could help add value to its resources and thereby create employment and develop its infrastructure, according to the President Akufo-Addo.



The story said Ms. Harriette Baldwin, the UK Minister of State for Africa, is in Ghana to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a 20million pounds facility from the UK government to help implement projects that will create jobs and promote the governments economic transformation agenda.



Paragraph seven states President Akufo-Addo said it was to develop the country through the development of its resources that Ghana had embraced the programme of economic transformation that would lead to greater positive change, specifically job creation.



Paragraph fifteen says Ms. Baldwin said Ghana had benefitted from the UKs private sector investment which had led to the creation of companies such as Blue Skies at Dobro in the Greater Accra region



Now, analyzing the above account from the perspective of globalization and foreign policy in contemporary geopolitics, in my capacity as a student of International Relations and Diplomacy, I would break it down to what Ghana stands to gain, is-a-vis the UK, in this mutual agreement, why and how.



Brexit



Firstly, the dynamics of UKs influence in the EU has changed dramatically, with its economic prospects very much uncertain following the decision to embark on BREXIT, a decision which has turned out to be rather detrimental.



In the light of this, the UK government is desperately seeking other trade partners and markets outside the EU, and Africa, with its enormous untapped natural and human resources, has proven to be an attractive destination.



This therefore explains the recent 3-nation tour of Africa by the UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Her visits to South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, are very strategic since these are the three African countries with both markets and relatively thriving economies.



Effectively, these are destinations where the UK government knows it can reap maximum returns on their investments.



In this era of globalization where the world has become so integrated through technology, nations have become interdependent by way of economics, commerce and trade.



But the reality is that, nations always go to the negotiation-table with interest of their people as paramount objective and this is where the categorization of global structure comes to play. This global structure consists of the Periphery, semi-periphery and core.



Periphery



This captures the under-developed States whose main source of survival is untapped natural minerals and primary products. These are predominantly African-Caribbean States that go to the negotiation-table with expectations of being assisted to with funds or technical expertise to either exploit natural resources or build infrastructure.



And what often happens at this level of trade is that assistance offered by the wealthy nations are tied to stringent conditions like privatization of state-owned enterprises and laying off workers.



Funding for infrastructure developments are always tied to procurement restrictions where receiving States are made to rely on products, equipment and even personnel, from the donner countries.



In the end, the loans and grants end up being repatriated into the donner countries, resulting in perpetual stagnation of the recipient counties.



Semi-periphery



These are nations medium with relatively stable and thriving economies but still grappling with debt, lack of infrastructure and low production base. South Africa, Brazil, and most of these South East Asian Nations fall under this category.



These nations, though also receive assistance, are able to put it to good use because structures are well-in place to ensure value for money and strict accountability.



Core



This represents the industrialized world like America, China, Canada, Germany etc., where democratic governance is well-established and accountability is strictly adhered to.



Nations of this bloc have strong economic and military power which they exhibit as bargaining chip during negotiations with both semi and periphery blocs.



Europe and America, for centuries, for centuries, have the sole trading partner of Africa but with the emergence of china overtaking America as the potential top global economic super-power, there is a lot of nervousness in the western economies.

Presently, the influence of china on the African continent is so huge.



In Djibouti for example, the US military base used to be the only foreign presence in that country but china, recently, has also built a multi-billion-dollar Free Zone Area for manufacturing products for export.



Within the last few months, there have been visits to Africa, the president of France, Turkey, China and German Chancellor. These leaders have been accompanied on the trips, large delegation of business entrepreneurs seeking avenues to invest and take advantage of Africa's huge untapped market.



Conclusion



As presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addos cardinal vision was to transform Ghana beyond Aid, through turning our primary products into finished ones on the wheels of industrialization and modernization of our economy. And this is precisely what he reiterated during the discussion with the UK Minister.



Corruption has also been a bane to our nations socioeconomic advancements, with billions of dollars of State funds earmarked for developmental projects actually being siphoned by public officials whose duties, ironically, are to protects the national coffers and to ensure value-for-money and maximum returns on government investments.



Finally, Ghana, a nation at the periphery of the ladder of globalization structure, is fortunate to have a President in the character of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo: a man whose personal integrity is beyond question, of impeccable vision and incontestable patriotism.



Our nations resources are therefore in very safe hands, and I pray that those of us privileged to have been selected, to be focused and strive to give off our best to assist him actualize his social contract with the good people of Ghana.

Source: Newton-Offei Justice Abeeku / School of International Relations and Diplomacy, GIMPA, Accra/ email: [email protected]









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Featured VideoThe Founder of defunct UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng has denied reports that he failed to account for 5 million cedis debt repayment to the Board which contributed to the revocation of the banks license in August 2017.



In his major public comment after the revocation of the banks license over a year now, Mr. Amoabeng said he is saddened by the turn of events especially with the fact that the organization he toiled so hard to build over 20 years ceases to exist.



A statement from Mr. Amoabeng to Citi Business News said that the 5 million cedis transaction rather involved the purchase of his personal property which the buyer agreed to transfer payments to his [Prince Amoabengs] personal account with UT Bank at the time at the time.



UT Bank is one of the two banks that had their licenses revoked in August 2017.



Outlining his side of the story, Mr. Amoabeng said that the said amount in question rather emanated from the sale of his property proceeds of which were supposed to be lodged in his personal account with the bank.



He explains that the move was also to help shore up the banks liquidity and therefore could not fathom why Boulders Advisors Limited could not capture his response in their conclusions for their report.



Due to UT Banks challenges at the time, I instructed that payment of the said house be made to my personal bank account at UT Bank to help shore up the companys liquidity. I wonder then, how, my decision not to disclose payment of monies into my personal account for the purchase of my personal residence constitutes a misdeed as suggested by several news reports, excerpts of the statement said.



The report by Boulders Advisors Limited also cited indebtedness to the bank including that of three companies belonging to Ibrahim Mahama to the tune of 302 million cedis.



But Ibrahim Mahama has since dismissed claims of owing the said amount.



His lawyers rather blamed the bank for breaching a contract of providing a credit facility to help the company carry out some major investment plans including the establishment of a cement factory.



Again, Mr. Amoabeng says he is saddened at the turn of events as he had wished to build an international Ghanaian owned company.



Meanwhile the former UT Bank CEO says that the move is impacting the operations of other companies of UT which has made it difficult to service payments due investors.



The actions so far taken by the central bank have adversely affected the operations of the remaining group of companies of UT. The UT brand which was previously a superbrand a few years ago has been totally defamed. The situation has for instance led to difficulties in the servicing of payments due investors.



However, Mr. Amoabeng says he will continue to co-operate with all state agencies probing the development for finality to be brought to this matter.

Source: citinewsroom.com









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Featured VideoGeneral Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has proposed that a state burial is held for the former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.



According to Mr Nketia, it will show how the country appreciates his contribution to the development of the country and the world.



Kofi Annan was a principled man who believed in the well-being of humans. His contribution was not only for Ghana but for the whole world and that made us special. So I believe it will be best if he is given a state burial, he said on Accra-based Neat FM monitored by Adomonline.com.



Mr Kofi Annan passed on in Swiss Capital, Berne, on Saturday morning after a short illness.



Mr Nketia described Mr Annan as a representation of peace and someone who preached peace throughout his life and therefore Ghanaians must champion his legacy.



Paying tribute to the late Kofi Anan, the illustrious Ghanaian, and former UN secretary general, Mr Nketia described the Ghanaian diplomat, who was the seventh secretary-general as a great mentor who was an inspiration to many.









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Featured VideoThe government of Ghana has confirmed reports of a planned demolition exercise at Ridge to make way for the construction of the National Cathedral.



Earlier this month, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., revealed that he had intercepted documents which indicated government's intention to demolish buildings from the Passport office all the way to the roundabout close to the Ridge Hospital.



Click to read Kwesi Pratt on the demolition.



This demolition is to make way for the construction of the National Cathedral; an edifice which is going to be an iconic centre for thanksgiving and to worship God for His mercies, according to President Akufo-Addo.



But some have questioned the rationale behind pulling down all buildings ffor the take-off of the multipurpose Cathedral.



Among residents on that stretch are some nine Judges who are also going to lose their homes - 10 six-bedroom bungalows built by the Judicial Service to house Court of Appeal Judges - before the take-off of the project which is scheduled as part of Ghana's 60th-anniversary celebrations.



These nine Judges whose bungalows have been affected will be moved into a rented apartment while government constructs new bungalows at Cantonments to be handed over to the Judicial Service in 2020. About 21 plush residential villas as well as a training facility for the Judicial Service, are to be built to replace the structures set to be demolished.







Below is a copy of a letter from the office of the Chief Justice informing the affected Justices about the relocation



I write to apologise to all Judges affected by the relocation of bungalows exercise for the Administrations inability to provide you with timely written notification to relocate from your present accommodation.



On the 5th of April 2018, a delegation from the Office of the President informed me of the Governments intention to utilize the entire area of land between the State House Ridge Roundabout for the construction of the proposed National Cathedral Project.



The delegation, which was led by the Rev. Dr. Asante Antwi (Chairman) included Most Rev. Bishop Justice Offei Akrofi (the former Anglican Archbishop of Accra), the Hon. Peter Amewu (the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources) and Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah.



As proposed, the National Cathedral Project will result in the demolition of all buildings within the project catchment area, from the Ridge Circle to the Scholarship Secretariat, including bungalows occupied by our Judges and the Judicial Training Institute at East Ridge.



In lieu of this, the Government has committed to construct twenty one (21) new bungalows on the Second Circular Road, Cantonments to replace the ones affected by the project. Construction of the new bungalow is expected to be completed and handed over to the Service by January 2020.



Meanwhile, Government has provided temporary residential buildings for all Judges affected for the period the new bungalows would be under construction. These bungalows have been allocated to enable all Judges affected to temporarily relocate from their present accommodation.



The Hon. Minister of Lands and Natural Resources by a letter dated 24th July 2018 formally confirmed the verbal representations made at the 5th April 2018 meeting, i.e. the relocation of the Judges affected by the National Cathedral Project and the construction of the twenty-one (21) new bungalows, as well as land for the Judicial Training Institute.



The late formal communication from the Senior Minister made it difficult for us to give you early notification on the relocation from your current residential accommodation, although I admit that since the agreement in principle had been reached, it would have been proper for us to give you a hint at least.



Please accept our apologies for the delay in notifying you of the relocation.



JUSTICE JULIUS ANSAH

AG. CHIEF JUSTICE



Justice F. Kusi Appioh

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Mariama Owusu

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Clemence J. Honyenuga



H/L Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Margaret Welbourne

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Saeed Kwaku Gyan

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Lawrence L. Mensah

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Gbiel S. Suurbareh

Justice of Appeal



H/L Justice Anthony Oppong

Justice of Appeal

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Featured VideoCHICAGO, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new partnership between TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) and the University of Chicagos Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will take startups to the next level with the use of cutting-edge data assets.

The program supports entrepreneurial innovation and provides University of Chicago students with access to TransUnions Startup Credit Kit , a suite of innovative solutions to support FinTech startup development. Student-led startups that are referred into the program and approved by TransUnion will be able to utilize TransUnions anonymized data to test out business model concepts, determine product viability, and explore untapped opportunities in high-potential market segments.

We are thrilled to partner with TransUnion and offer this program to our students so they may access crucial tools and information for successfully launching a business, said Starr Marcello, executive director of the Polsky Center and an assistant adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago.

The Startup Credit Kit offers faster access to cutting-edge alternative and trended credit and fraud prevention data, allowing entrepreneurs to quickly take a concept into a market-ready solution. The two available packages support startups through the planning and launch phases. The Planning Package involves depersonalized solutions for early stage planning and development. The Launch Package includes personalized solutions for new startups going live.



To kick-off the partnership, TransUnion hosted 57 students from the CUPP Fintech Bootcamp, a partnership program between Hong Kong Cyberport, Chicago Booth Executive Education and the Polsky Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The event showcased TransUnions approach to supporting FinTech innovation at a global level and covered topics such as technology and consumer data to present a comprehensive overview of the startup lifecycle.

Hong Kong is part of a strong tech ecosystem and has become a leading hub for FinTech startups, said John Wirth, vice president of FinTech strategy and market development at TransUnion. It is great to connect with tomorrows business leaders in an emerging FinTech market and offer insight into our data-driven solutions and analytics capabilities.

Investors, universities, and non-profits that are interested in launching a similar program and would like their portfolio companies to gain access to these solutions, are encouraged to contact TransUnion at startup_creditkit@transunion.com for more information.

About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide.

We call this Information for GoodSM. http://www.transunion.com/business

About the Polsky Center

The University of Chicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation brings the power of ideas in the laboratory, classroom and community to the world. Through education, resources, and programs, the Polsky Center commercializes discoveries, partners with companies, and attracts venture capital. The Polsky Center runs UChicagos top-ranked business accelerator, the Edward L. Kaplan, 71, New Venture Challenge, which has helped launch more than 200 companies worldwide that have gone on to achieve more than $9 billion in value and raised over $600 million in funding. The mission of the Polsky Center is to support students, faculty, alumni, and community members by bridging the gap between knowledge and practice, idea and action, and research and impact. By igniting a spirit of innovation and fostering connections that extend across the University, city, region and world, the Polsky Center enables more ideas to have a meaningful impact on society. Learn more at polsky.uchicago.edu.A Law Lecturer at the Ghana Law School, Moses Foh-Amoaning has commended the government for its decision to build a national cathedral, describing the ideas as perfect.



I think that that is perfect; that is a good idea, he said, noting that there was no reason for people to debate over why government is supporting the building a national cathedral.



Mr Foh-Amoaning's comment comes in the wake of discussions as to the necessity of a national cathedral which is to be situated at Ridge.



The proposed land for the construction of the cathedral is also in contention as government plans to evict some nine Justices of the Court of Appeal to make way for the edifice.



But speaking on Accra-based Joy FM Tuesday morning, Mr Foh-Amoaning said the argument that Ghana is a circular state and thus, building a national cathedral for Christians contravenes the very moral fiber of the country, cannot hold water.



According to him, describing a state as a circular one does not mean that that state does not have a culture or religion.



When we say that the state is circular in the constitution, it doesnt mean that the state doesnt have a culture; doesnt have a religion, he said, adding that majority of Ghanaians are Christians followed by Muslims and other religious sects.



Mr Foh-Amoaning was of the view that describing Ghana as a circular state also doesnt mean Ghana is atheistic, saying that many countries have embarked on a similar path of being circular and they are now morally rot, citing America, UK, and Western Europe as examples.



He said it is dangerous for people to advance an argument against the building of the national cathedral, arguing that if we allow ourselves as a circular state and forget about God, the devil would superimpose his values on us.



He explained, for instance, that President Akufo-Addo during his campaign in the 2016 elections campaigned on a religious mantra that the battle is the Lords and so he (President Akufo-Addo) building a national cathedral was in the right direction and that there is nothing wrong with it.



According to Mr Foh-Amoaning, about 99 per cent of Ghanaians are faith-based people who want to be ruled by a certain moral direction and that it is good the president has decided to build a national cathedral.



Ghanaians want to have leadership that is moral and spiritual, he said, reiterating that we must encourage the building of the national cathedral.



He said people expressing views against the building of the national cathedral on social media do not represent the views of majority of Ghanaians.

Source: Daily Graphic









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Featured VideoMadam Harriett Baldwin, the United Kingdom Minister is on a working visit to Ghana.



A statement issued by the British High Commission in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency said it was her first visit since her appointment as the UK Governments Minister of State for Africa.



It said she was expected to meet President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, underlining the UKs support for the Presidents ambition to move Ghana Beyond Aid.



It noted that Madam Baldwin was also expected to meet Mr Alan Kyerematen, Minister of Trade and Industry, to discuss the creation of a UK-Ghana Business Council which would support economic diversification, industrialisation and job creation; strengthening partnerships and delivering long-term prosperity for both countries.



Ahead of the visit, Minister Baldwin said: The UK and Ghana have a long-standing friendship based on shared values and strong links between our people.



Under President Akufo-Addo, the country is making remarkable strides towards a Ghana Beyond Aid. The UK continues to support this vision, which is why we are moving towards a modern partnership for prosperity and growth for both of our countries, by unlocking new opportunities for businesses and investment.



The statement said the Minister would visit Blue Skies Factory in which CDC, the UKs development finance institution, had invested, to see the importance of private investment in boosting Ghanaian business and how the company had developed a successful business model that could be replicated across Ghana.



It said the fruit factory now employed over 3,500 Ghanaians and supported many small businesses through its supply chain.



The statement said during her visit, the Minister would announce the UKs new 20 million Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) Programme.



It said over the next six years, the JET Programme would create over 15,000 jobs for Ghanaians and was expected to facilitate over 50 million of additional private sector investment that would drive Ghanas economic transformation.



It said the Minister would also announce a three-day UK-Ghana Investment Summit to be held in Accra this October.



The statement noted the Summit would bring 50+ British flagship companies and major investors together to seek new commercial opportunities in Ghana that would support economic growth in Government of Ghana priority sectors such as financial and legal services, agro-processing, light manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.



It said the JET Programme and the Investment Summit were the most recent examples of a partnership that was delivering results.



The statement said in recent years, the UK had supported: a 1 billion worth of CDC investment in Ghana; a doubling of UK Export Finance credit to Ghana, giving 500 million to support business activity with the UK and the creation of a better functioning agricultural market for small holder farmers and rural enterprises in Northern Ghana (MADE).



Others are [the streamlining of procedures to reduce the time and cost of doing business in Ghana (BEEP) and the development of Ghanas largest irrigated commercial farm at Babator (AgDevCo).



It said over the last two decades, the UK had invested over 2 billion of development funding, working with partners to support the Government of Ghana to achieve remarkable results: halving poverty; establishing a National Health Service; tackling malaria; achieving universal primary education; and creation of social safety net systems.



It said while concerted efforts were still needed to fully achieve the Sustainable Development Goals - making sure that no one was left behind  the partnership between the UK and Ghana was creating a more prosperous future for both countries.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoGhana and the United Kingdom have signed an agreement under which the UK will give Ghana a 20-million pound grant under a jobs and economic transformation programme.



The expected outcome of the programme, which will be implemented in the next six years, includes economic diversification and trade boost that will deliver 15,000 formal jobs in the targeted sectors.



The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, initialled for Ghana, while the UK Minister of State for Africa, Ms Harriet Baldwin, signed for her country.



Diversify



Addressing the media at the Jubilee House after the signing ceremony on Tuesday, Mr Kyerematen said the government was working to reduce the volatility of the economy by diversifying its sources of growth, especially from being an export base to a sector that created jobs.



He said the government was also pursuing comprehensive initiatives and strategic interventions to open up investment opportunities for domestic and foreign companies.



The interventions, he said, covered agro-manufacturing, automobile assembling, pharmaceutical, salt-based chemicals and garments and textiles industries.



Ms Baldwin



For her part, Ms Baldwin stated that the provision of the grant represented a new relationship that would make the UK help Ghana realise its policy of a Ghana Beyond Aid.



She said the support would facilitate value addition, promote industrialisation and focus on ensuring that doing business in Ghana was easier.



Ms Baldwin is in Ghana on a visit, and while here, she will visit Blue Skies, a factory in which the CDC, the UKs development finance institution, has invested.



The visit is to enable her to learn at first hand the state of the company, the business model it uses and how it could be replicated to spur economic growth.



The fruit factory currently employs over 3,500 Ghanaians and supports many small businesses through its supply chain.







Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoGovernment of Ghana has announced activities for the funeral and interment rites of the late former UN Secretary General, Dr. Kofi Annan.



This announcement was made at a Press Briefing addressed by the Minister of Information designate, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on the 29th of August 2018 at the Ministry of Information.



According to the minister, the remains of the late Dr. Kofi Annan is set to arrive at the Accra International Airport on the 10th of September 2018 by 4pm. The remains which will be accompanied by his wife, children and some UN officials will be received with a brief ceremony led by President Akufo- Addo and the Ghana Armed Forces.



Mr Oppong Nkrumah announced Tuesday 11 September 2018 as the date set for the general public to file past the mortal remains of the late Dr. Kofi Annan.



There will be filing past and paying of last respects by members of the General Public at the Accra International Conference Centre. This will be between 10 am and 4pm. The general public is encouraged to come pay their last respects to this illustrious son of Ghana.



He further stated that Wednesday September 12, 2018 is slated for filing past and paying of last respects by Dignitaries which include recognised groups, Chiefs. Members of Parliament and Ministers of State.



The burial service for Dr. Annan is set to take place on Thursday13 September at the Accra International Conference Centre at 9am. According to the Minister, the service will see the attendance of UN officials, Heads of State, Diplomatic delegations and the general public. This will be followed by a private burial at midday at the Military Cemetery with full military honours and 17 gun salutes.



According to sources, the late Dr. Annans personal statement stressed on a simple and solemn final ceremony void of any frills.









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.

Featured VideoPresident Akufo Addo will on Thursday 30th August 2018, receive German Chancellor Angela Merkel for bilateral discussions as part of her three nation West African tour.



The German Chancellor will on her arrival hold bilateral discussions at the Jubilee House which will focus on Efforts at Ghanas Economic Resurgence and Migration.



Among issues to be discussed is security in the sub region and Ghanas role in addressing it. Countries which will be in focus during the discussion will be Togo, Mali and Nigeria and the recent efforts of Ghana led by President Akufo-Addo in providing leadership to address the challenges.



Minister for Information designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced at a press briefing on Wednesday that Chancellor Merkel will later participate in a panel discussion on Compact for Africa focusing on the areas of priority for partnership.



He explained that Ghana has been included in the Compact for Africa and about 100 million Euros are going towards energy and financial services as part of the Governments efforts to improve the situation in the aforementioned areas.



Moving forward, its important to discuss the relationship around the compact and what next steps to take, He averred.



Angela Merkel will also visit Nigeria and Senegal as part of the three nation West African tour.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Featured VideoPresident Akufo-Addo will visit the Peoples Republic of China on Friday, August 31, 2018.



The Information Minister-designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced at a press briefing that President Akufo-Addo will hold bilateral engagements with Chinese President Xi-Jiping on economic relations between the two countries.



President Akufo-Addo will also lead a delegation to participate in a Business Forum in the Chandong province that will ensure that more business opportunities are open to Ghana. At least 8 Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) are expected to be signed between China and Ghana. These MOUs will focus on areas such as infrastructure, education, health and smart cities.



Ghana seeks to deepen her already strong relations with China, hence this visit the Minister designate stated.



When you have your President leading a business delegation, it opens more doors for business opportunities, he added.



President Akufo-Addo will also attend the Forum on China-Africa Corporation (FOCAC) which will be attended by 40 heads of state from Africa who have signed up to Continental Free Trade Area to discuss infrastructure, power, education and industry on the continent.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Featured VideoThe Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye, has objected to the popular narrative about Ghanas independence being declared by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah at the Old Polo Grounds in Accra.



The independence of Ghana has over the years been told of famously as the At long last, the battle has ended, Ghana is free forever declaration by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on March 5, 1957 at the Old Polo Grounds.



Dr Kwame Nkrumah was addressing a CPP rally here, according to Prof Mike Oquaye

But speaking at the 40th anniversary lecture of Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia, on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, at the Accra International Conference Centre, Prof Oquaye said the declaration by Dr Nkrumah was only a teaser at a Convention Peoples Partys rally, which preceded the actual declaration of independence later on March 6, 1957 in Parliament.



That was a CPP rally and Nkrumah was entitled to let his supporters know that the struggle was in fact ended. Independence was declared hours later in Parliament, he said.



According to the Speaker,Dr Busia, who became the second Prime Minister, was the man who supported the motion moved by Kwame Nkrumah for independence.



In this connection, let me say categorically that Nkrumah did not declare independence at the Old Polo Grounds. The motion for independence was supported by Busia and was carried and the Duchess of Kent declared Ghana independent at the National Assembly by the authority of Queen Elizabeth II, he noted.



He has thus cautioned: No Ghanaian child should be taught that Nkrumah declared independence at the Old Polo Ground.



Eulogizing Busia, Professor Oquaye observed that he had been very instrumental to the struggle and attainment of Ghanas independence, noting that never in his life was he not supportive of Ghanas independence.



I want to use this occasion to remind Ghanaians that when Nkrumah moved the motion of destiny in the National Assembly for independence, it was Busia who seconded it and it was unanimously carried.



He added that Busia never stopped upholding democratic principles and condemning tyrannical tendencies while in Parliament.



His role in Parliament was a prophet. He was opposed to the anti-democratic methods adopted by Nkrumah and the CPP, and spoke up against them.







Source: 3news.com









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Featured VideoKennedy Ohene Agyapong, Member of Parliament for Assin Central in the Central Region claims pressure is mounting on President Nana Akufo-Addo to sack him from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for his vociferousness.



He believes the president is under immense pressure by certain elements within the party to push him out of the elephants family.



The maverick politician stated that he was particularly pained by machinations and plots to sack him from the NPP, vowing to campaign against some Members of Parliament in the Eastern and Ashanti region in the 2020 elections.



They are always calling my name, the pressure on him [Akufo-Addo] to sack me from the party, he called John Boadu to write a letter. Im pained but Im quiet, on the said day, I cried before Frema [Chief of Staff]



Mr Agyapong was recently hauled before the Parliamentary Privileges Committee over some comments the House deems to be unsavory.



The Assin Central MP has not rested on his oars in openly criticizing party some members.



But speaking on The Dialogue on NET 2 TV on last week Mr. Agyapong said there were too many ingrates and backbiting within the NPP and vowed to expose those people.



According to him, the party is repeating the mistakes that took them to opposition in 2009.



He said: when I was in China they were writing letters to convince the president to sack me from the party, it was John Boadu who defended meand I dont blame the president because everyone knows he likes me and so persistently they tell him, he is over pampering me, why would he not support them to sack me from the party.



Mr. Agyapong recalled: President Kufuor during his time realised he had made mistakes but it was too late and this government is doing the same mistake.



What hurt most is that Nana Akufo-Addo does not know what those people said about him before he became president and today, they are enjoying. I swear to God when Im done in 2020, Ill campaign against some people in the Ashanti and Eastern region.

Source: The Publisher









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Featured VideoTHE ASHANTI Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako has waded into the controversy about the supposed snub of Otiko Afisa Djaba, the ex-Gender Minister.



According to the chairman aka Wontumi, it is an insult to the President Nana Akufo-Addo and Ghanaians in general for Otiko to reject an ambassadorial appointment from the Ghana leader.



Wontumi argued that it is necessary for Otiko to quickly come out and publicly apologize to the president and the entire Ghanaians over her decision to reject an offer from the president.



The former Gender Minister was axed in the recent ministerial reshuffle and reassigned as Ghanas envoy to Italy.



The tough-talking minister, days after her new post is widely speculated to have rejected the presidents appointment with the excuse to look after her sick husband.





The decision triggered spontaneous reaction especially from politicians over her decision to reject such an offer from no mean a person than President Nana Akufo-Addo.



Sharing his views on the issue, Wontumi told a Kumasi radio station that whether Otikos husband is sick or not, it is disrespectful on her part to reject such an ambassadorial appointment from the president.



Otiko should apologize to the president and Ghanaians for disrespecting the president, he said, asking at the time she accepted the Gender minister position was his husband not sick?

Source: The Publisher









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Featured VideoA Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Gyampo has warned that Former President Mahama would lose the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential race if he depends on popularity.



According to him, the former leader should look beyond popularity within his party to cause acceptance for himself.



Speaking on an Accra based FM Station, he said There is a difference between popularity and acceptance. In the 2016 election Mahama was popular but in spite of the popularity he still lost the election.



Professor Gyampos comment comes after John Mahama officially declared his intention to contest in the partys presidential primaries.



Several political analysts have waded into Mr. Mahamas decision to contest for the partys seat.



Whereas some perceive it as a wrong move, others believe he has the capabilities to lead the party in the 2020 Presidential elections.



Mr. Mahama would be facing stiffer competition from the likes of Sylvester Mensah former CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority, Alban Bagbin, MP for Nadoli Kaleo, Ekow Spio-Garbrah and Joshua Alabi who have already expressed their intent to contest ahead of the partys polls.



However, Professor Gyampo believes the former President stands tall amongst the other candidates who have declared their intentions, but would lose if he thrives on popularity.



He said Mahama may be popular within his party but he should also be mindful that the others are also working hard behind the scenes.



Meanwhile, former Trade Minister under the erstwhile Mahama government, Dr. Spio Gabrah, who also intends to contest in the race, has warned party delegates against voting for Mahama in the upcoming party elections.



According to him, the description of Mahama being incompetent during the 2016 elections would go against the party should he be voted to lead the party in the 2020 Presidential elections.



The NDC is expected to hold its Presidential elections on December 7, this year.



The one who emerges victorious would lead the party to contest in the 2020 general election.

Source: The Publisher









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoTORONTO, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lydian International Limited (TSX: LYD) ("Lydian" or "the Company") announced today that it has received an inspection report for the Companys 100%-owned Amulsar Gold Project from the Republic of Armenia Environmental and Mining Inspection Body in connection with the previously announced compliance audits of Armenias mining sector.



Following the audit, the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body made the following recommendations:

Improve annual statistical reports;

Restore any agricultural land that was disturbed during construction activities;

Decommission two temporary mobile crushers that were not contemplated in the original construction program;

Review and modify the permit for higher than expected static-sources-generated atmospheric emissions;

Install temporary fencing around construction areas and construct a site carwash station to prevent mud from being carried offsite; and

Manage and document hazardous waste (such as, oils and diesel) disposal through appropriately licensed means.

The Company will work with the government to address these matters in an expeditious manner. The regulatory process allows Lydian to appeal any of these recommendations within a two-month period following receipt of this report.

Following the inspection report, Mr. Artur Grigoryan, head of the Republic of Armenia Environmental and Mining Inspection Body, directed the Company to refrain from any mining-related activities until the Ministry of Nature Protection conducts a study of ecological factors regarding Mr. Grigoryans statement in which he alleges newly found red-listed plants and animal species, specifically, the fact that Acantholimon caryophyllaceum Boiss plant species and Parnassius apollo animal species have been identified at the Amulsar Gold Project for the first time. The Company disagrees with this finding based on the Companys previously accepted Environmental Impact Assessment and intends to take all necessary action to reverse this assertion, including appealing the issuance of the directive.

Mr. Joao Carrelo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lydian, stated, We will work with the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body to address its concerns and consider its recommendations. However, we do not believe Mr. Grigoryans directive is applicable and are taking actions to have it withdrawn. We continue to work with the government and our stakeholders to re-enter the site and respond to the audit recommendations as appropriate.

About Lydian International Limited

Lydian is a gold developer focusing on construction at its 100%-owned Amulsar Gold Project, located in south-central Armenia. Amulsar will be a large-scale, low-cost operation with production targeted to average approximately 225,000 ounces annually over an initial 10-year mine life. Open pit mining and conventional heap leach processing contribute to excellent scale and economic potential. Estimated mineral resources contain 3.5 million measured and indicated gold ounces and 1.3 million inferred gold ounces as outlined in the Q1 2017 Technical Report. Existing mineral resources beyond current reserves and open extensions provide opportunities to improve average annual production and extend the mine life. Lydian is committed to good international industry practices in all aspects of its operations including production, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. For more information and to directly contact us, please visit www.lydianinternational.co.uk .

For further information, please contact:

Doug Tobler, Chief Financial Officer

+1 720-307-5087 Pamela Solly, Vice President of Investor Relations

+1 720-464-5649

Or: moreinfo@Lydianinternational.co.uk

Caution regarding forward-looking information

Certain information contained in this news release is forward looking. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects, is expected, intends, anticipates or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, will, would, should, or occur or the negative or other variations of such terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to: obtaining regulatory approval for amendments to the credit agreement and stream agreement; the Companys ability to carry out comprehensive revisions to its senior credit, stream, and offtake agreements; the realization of mineral resource estimates and the timing of development of the Amulsar Gold Project, including the expected start date of gold production; the expected and estimated cost of operations and capital costs at the Amulsar Gold Project; the current Amulsar Gold Project construction schedule, the commitment to and implementation of good international industry practices; the expected gold production from, and life of mine of, the Amulsar Gold Project; the impact of management in relation to the Companys strategic growth objectives; the magnitude or impact of the inspection report and the success of the Companys ongoing attempts to respond to the report, including the implementation of certain recommendations and the appeal of the issuance of the directive; the response of the Armenian government to the implementation of the recommendations and the appeal of the issuance of the directive; the Companys ability to re-enter the site to implement the recommendations; the impact of the inspection report and related recommendations and directive on the Companys construction, operations and financial performance; and the expected mining methods at the Amulsar Gold Project. Statements concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking information to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered when the property is developed.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, without limitation: changes in gold and silver prices; adverse general economic, political, market or business conditions; unwillingness of the Companys creditors to amend the senior credit, stream, and offtake agreements; failure to achieve the objectives of the future exploration and drilling programs; regulatory changes; as well as "Risk Factors" included in the disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.Former Deputy National Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)Dominic Eduah says President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will defeat and render former President John Mahama in the 2020 polls useless.



His comment is based on the backdrop that former President Mahama has declared his intention to contest for the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) flagbearer slot ahead of the 2020 elections.



Speaking on UTV Dawuros programme, he indicated that Akufo Addo will use the sinohydro infrastructure deal to cancel all the so called Mahama infrastructure.



Former president John Mahama declared his interest to contest the 2020 elections on the ticket of the main opposition National Democratic Congress last weekend.



Mr. Mahama who had been coy about his interest for the slot wrote on Facebook Saturday evening that he has reflected on the numerous calls to contest and will not disappoint his supporters.



I want to congratulate the rank & file and executives of our party, the NDC. At all levels for the commitment and work rate we have put into our reorganization efforts.



The zeal and determination of the average sympathizer of our great party is greater and miles ahead of what it was after the December 2016 Elections. We need to keep up with the momentum generated and follow the published timelines.



To you the teeming supporters and sympathizers calling and requesting me to declare my intentions for the future, I wish to assure you today, that as a servant-leader, I have listened to your calls and reflected. I will not disappoint you even as we await the publication of the partys guidelines for selecting a new leader, Mahama wrote.



Reacting to this, Mr. Eduah reiterated that if Nana Addo declares his intention to run again Mr. Mahama will have no chance or be a match to him.



Mr. Mahama cannot boast of any achievements apart from some few infrastructures and if he decides to run on the ticket of his few achievements, President Akufo Addo will render him useless, he emphasized .

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoGeneral Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has described the Special Prosecutor, Mr. Martin A.B.K. Amidu as a talkative, who is likely to be charged with causing financial loss.



He said he might be the one likely to be charged after his tenure of office as nothing shows he is working.



According to him, after his appointment as Special Prosecutor no work has been executed by his office, though he draws salary from the public purse.



"He has nothing to offer, just talking to waste public ear," he said.



Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he said the Special Prosecutor has reduced himself into a talkative other than executing his assigned duties.



"Look at the number of scandals that has rocked the NPP government, Ameri Deal, cash-for-seat among others, but he has refused to investigate all these scandals.



"Martin Amidu like I have said has nothing to offer Ghanaians and will not be able to execute or prosecute anybody within his term in office as Special Prosecutor," he added.



Mandate of Special Prosecutor



Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu was sworn in as Ghana's first Special Prosecutor by the President HE Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo.



The President, in his remarks, described the enactment of Act 959 and the successful appointment of Special Prosecutor as a historic event in Ghana's modern history.



President Akufo-Addo said in response to the overwhelming number of Ghanaians who had denounced the canker of corruption that had eaten up the fabric of public life, it had become necessary to establish an independent, non-political body with the relevant capacity to lead the fight against corruption in the country.



He said it was the expectation of Ghanaians that both past and present public officials were accountable for their stewardship.



"We expect the Special Prosecutor to discharge his duties vigorously with courage, without fear or favour, ill will or malice in accordance with the rule of Law, Presdent Akufo-Addo stated.



President Akufo-Addo indicated that the establishment of the Office of Special Prosecutor was for a high purpose and should not, therefore, under any circumstance, be used as an avenue for persecution or vengeance.







Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoHeavily-endowed Ghanaian songstress Francesca Duncan Williams well known Sista Afia wants to own a restaurant with bikini wearing waitresses.



Yes, the Jeje songstress who has always got the attraction of men either with her seductive outfits or endowed behind in an interview with radio personality Abeiku Santana on popular TV programme Atuu made the revelation.



According to the songstress, the intent to own a restaurant with bikini wearing waitresses is to do something out of the ordinary, invest into other business and widen her sources of income than just music.



The restaurant and pub according to Sista Afia will be located in East Legon in Ghana.



This will not be the first time a restaurant with bikini wearing restaurants would have been established if Sista Afias dream does come through.



There exists one in Changcha in China where reports suggest sales have always jumped through the roof.



Watch Sista Afia talk to Abeiku Santana on Atuu.

VIDEO









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoGhana has won a three-year bid to host the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) aimed at promoting a distinct and rich African music worldwide, engaging millions of fans by propelling African music to glorious pinnacles beyond the borders of Africa.



Ghana met all parameters of the African Union Commission-AFRIMA including immigration and visa application management, availability of functional airport and good land transportation system, venue infrastructure, hotels and hospitality facilities as well as adequate provision of security for guests and officials.



The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ziblim Barri Iddi, on Friday August 24 announced Ghana as host during a ceremony to inaugurate the National Planning Committee for AFRIMA 2018.



The Deputy Minister of Tourism pledged the Ministrys support in having a successful event themed Africa is Music.



Ghana is ready to host AFRIMA 2018, as AFRIMA creates a platform for opportunities for collaboration for between Ghanaian artists and other African countries he said.



The Regional Director for AFRIMA, Francis Doku said Ghana was selected because we are capable and have the needed expertise.



He added that after four years of Nigeria as host, AFRIMA will take place in Ghana this year in November 2018. AFRIMA is engaging the rest of the world on an intellectual platform with conferences and the music awards.



West Africa Director for AFRIMA, Dan Obilor said Morocco, South Africa, and Nigeria showed strong interest in hosting Africa's biggest music events 2018-2020 editions as announced by the international Committee of AFRIMA. AFRIMA will galvanize the creative energies of Ghanas music and art industry. He reassured the committee this years event will be exciting.



Present at the ceremony were representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, AFRIMA Regional and West Africa Executives, Agencies of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Event Organizers representing the Private Sector.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoFlorida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis (R) began his post-primary campaign today by warning voters not to monkey this up by electing African-American Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum. Were he to be elected, Gillum would be the states first African-American governor.

DeSantis, who currently serves as a U.S. Representative in Floridas 6th district, made the comments in an interview with Fox News this morning.

Beginning his attack by saying Gillum is much too liberal Florida and an articulate spokesman for those far-left views, DeSantis went on to modify a well-known adage to add a racist twist.

Florida elections are always competitive, and this is a guy who, although he is much too liberal for Florida, he has huge problems with how hes governed Tallahassee, he is an articulate spokesman for those far left views, he said. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda.

For the record, the adage is actually muck up, not monkey up. The difference  particularly in light of Roseanne Barrs recent foray into racist ape comparisons  is important. Comparing people of color to monkeys and apes is a well-known, overused racist trope DeSantis should be aware of.

When reached by NBC News for comment, DeSantis said he uses the phrase frequently to express something that was messed up or not done right, adding that it had nothing to do with race or anything like that.

Be that as it may, the version of the idiom he used isnt the actual, proper form of the adage. That it references an well-worn racist trope in an era where racism has taken center stage isnt a coincidence, either. He also has the explicit endorsement of Donald Trump.

But its more than that. In addition to using a racist trope to refer to Gillum, DeSantis used a less-obvious racist reference in the same statement: referring to his Democratic opponent as articulate.

The Root wrote an entire article around use of the word articulate when referring to people of color. They said, in part:

Articulate, of course, doesnt have the same negative connotations as bossy. But were all familiar with the scenario in which someone comments in surprise at how professional or well-spoken a new black co-worker comes across, or how articulate an African-American presidential candidate might beas then-Sen. Joe Biden once remarked about then-Sen. Barack Obama, an episode chronicled at the time for the New York Times by former managing editor of The Root Lynette Clemetson in the essay The Racial Politics of Speaking Well. In that context, the underlying message is clear: We (a white-dominant society) expect black folks to be less competent. And, speaking as a white person, when we register surprise at a black individuals articulateness, we also send the not-so-subtle message that that person is part of a group that we dont expect to see sitting at the table, taking on a leadership role.

Given recent controversies over comparing people of color to apes and monkeys paired with the racist references in his statement, DeSantis explanation doesnt seem to hold water.

As GOP pundit Ana Navarro succinctly put it, As a Floridian, it was my hope this Governors race would be about the pressing issues facing our state -rising tides, algae outbreak, trade, economy, jobs. I had hoped it would not be one were racism was front and center. That hope lasted all of 10 hours.

Heres video of the exchange:

Uh Ron DeSantis just said FL shouldnt monkey this up by electing Andrew Gillum pic.twitter.com/nDPp3Hx7zc  Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) August 29, 2018

Peacock Panache readers:

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time hes worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.

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Completed the sale of an NSR royalty to Royal Gold for USD $10.8M

Completed the repayment in early Q3 2018 of the USD $8.5M gold linked credit facility

Settled CAD $1.2M of payables by issuing shares in early Q3 2018

Appointed Marc Ducharme as Chief Exploration Geologist

Commenced a 10,000m drill program on the flagship Mara Rosa Project

Assay results on 4 geotech holes confirm good ore body thickness and grade continuity

TORONTO, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amarillo Gold Corporation (Amarillo or the Company) (TSX.V:AGC; OTCQB:AGCBF) today announces its financial results for the second quarter (Q2) ended June 30, 2018. This press release should be read in conjunction with the Companys condensed interim consolidated financial statements and Managements Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, available on the Companys website at www.amarillogold.com and under the Companys name on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All monetary amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified.

Mike Mutchler, CEO of Amarillo commented, "We continued our exciting repositioning of the company in Q2 2018. With the proceeds from the private placement and the sale of the royalty, we were able to clean up our balance sheet and are in a substantially improved financial position to restart exploration drilling at Mara Rosa. We are preparing for a resource update on Mara Rosa later this year and a Feasibility Study early next year in preparation for our application for the License to Install (LI) permit by the middle of 2019. I would like to thank all of our dedicated employees and shareholders for their continued support."

FINANCIAL RESULTS Operating Expenses  Three and Six Months 2018 and 2017 Three Months ended June 30 Six Months ended June 30 2018 2017 2018 2017 ($) ($) ($) ($) Management and consulting fees 353,705 135,952 520,000 416,501 General and administrative 88,360 65,730 206,128 171,800 Stock-based compensation 87,433 686,392 875,564 751,063 Professional fees 215,448 69,739 309,276 136,581 Other expenses 157,703 50,291 222,895 102,321 Write-off of accounts payable - - (138,816) - Subtotal before other items 902,649 1,008,104 1,995,047 1,578,266 Accretion on gold loans 366,752 322,009 713,271 635,425 Foreign exchange (gain)/loss 73,949 (4,299) 390,094 33,994 (Gain)/loss on FV of derivatives (487,363) (20,652) (284,152) 674,360 Loss before tax 855,987 1,305,162 2,814,260 2,922,045 Deferred tax expense 120,000 - 230,000 - Net Loss 975,987 1,305,162 3,044,260 2,922,045

The Companys losses include non-cash items related to the gold linked loan consisting of accretion, mark to market adjustments for gold price fluctuation and foreign exchange; non-cash stock compensation expense; and non-cash deferred tax expense which aggregate to $160,771 for Q2 2018 (Q1 2017: $983,450) and $1,924,777 for YTD 2018 (YTD 2017: $2,094,842).

ABOUT AMARILLO

Amarillo is developing an open pit gold resource at its Mara Rosa Project in the mining friendly jurisdiction of Goias State in Brazil. An Updated Pre-Feasibility Study (NI 43-101 technical report) for the Mara Rosa Project was filed on SEDAR on May 4, 2017. The Mara Rosa Project was awarded its main (LP) permit which provides the social and environment permission to mine. Amarillo is progressing toward obtaining an installation permit (LI). The Posse Deposit at the Mara Rosa Project contains 540,567 ounces of gold in the Proven category from 9.27MT at 1.81 g/t Au, and 456,968 ounces in the Probable category from 9.74MT at 1.46 g/t Au, for total Reserves of 997,536 ounces from 19.01 MT at 1.63 g/t Au. In addition to the Mara Rosa Project, Amarillo has an advanced exploration project with excellent grades at Lavras do Sul, Brazil. A Mineral Resource Estimate Study (NI 43-101 technical report) for Lavras do Sul was filed on SEDAR on October 4, 2010. The Lavras do Sul Project is an advanced exploration stage property (190 sq. km.) comprising of more than 22 prospects centered on historic gold workings. The initial resource estimate at the Butia prospect reported 215,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated category from 6.4 MT at 1.05 g/t Au, and 308,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred category from 12.9 MT at 0.74 g/t Au using a 0.3 g/t cut-off grade. Both projects have excellent nearby infrastructure.

Mike Mutchler, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

For further information, please contact:

Mike Mutchler or Karen Mate President & CEO External Communications 416-294-0736 416-230-6454 mike.mutchler@amarillogold.com karen.mate@amarillogold.com 32 Richmond St. East Suite 201 Toronto, ON Canada, M5C 1P1 Website: www.amarillogold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains Forward Looking Statements regarding the Companys current expectations regarding future events, including with respect to the Companys business, operations and condition, and managements objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Various factors may prevent or delay our plans, including but not limited to, the trading price of the Common Shares, the ability of the Company to obtain approvals from the TSX-V in respect of the transactions contemplated hereby, contractor availability and performance, weather, access, mineral prices, and success and failure of the exploration and development carried out at various stages of the program. Permission from the Government and community is also required to proceed with future mining production. Readers should review the Companys ongoing quarterly and annual filings, as well as any other additional documentation comprising the Companys public disclosure record, for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements. Readers should also review the risk factors applicable to junior mining exploration companies generally to better understand the variety of risks that can affect the Company. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any Forward Looking Statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as me be required by law.China is bracing itself for further African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks, while there are also fears the virus could spread to neighbouring countries.

So far, in efforts to control the spread of the disease, Chinese authorities have culled more than 24,000 pigs in four provinces, following confirmation of four cases so far in August. China accounts for approximately half the global pig population, estimated at 500 million, incorporating a wide range of producers from small family holdings to large-scale commercial operators.

The countrys agriculture ministry has said it cannot rule out the possibility of new outbreaks. The risk of African swine fever transmission from neighboring countries remains large, it said, according to an Asian news channel. The ministry acknowledged that it is not clear how widely the disease has spread, and that there is much uncertainty over how the situation will develop.

In a statement on its website, the ministry pointed out that ASF is not a zoonotic disease. It warned pig producers to stop pig transportation from infected areas, pay attention to daily disinfection, keep pigs in closed zones and take isolative protection measures.

Meanwhile, pigs should be kept away from wild boars and ornithodoros papillipes and pig farmers are prohibited from feeding pig with swill and food wastes without high-temperature treatment, the statement added, urging farmers to report unexplained death with ASF symptoms in a timely manner.

The ministry said emergency measures taken in response to the first outbreak, detected in Shenyang, in the Liaoning Province on August 3, ensure that at present, the epidemic has been effectively controlled. A total of 47 pigs out of 383 on the farm died.

However, the virus has also been detected in other parts of the country, with infected pigs known to have travelled long distances to abattoirs. China announced its fourth case last week in the province of Zhejiang, four days after it was reported in neighboring Jiangsu, which is more than 1,000 kilometres from the initial outbreak.

Further spread?

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the rapid onset of ASF in China and its detection in areas so far apart could mean the deadly pig virus may spread to other Asian countries anytime. It fears that the disease will cross to neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia or the Korean Peninsula where trade and consumption of pork products is also high.

There is no effective vaccine to protect swine from the disease. And, while the disease poses no direct threat to human health, outbreaks can be devastating with the most virulent forms lethal in 100 per cent of infected animals, the FAO said.

The ASF virus is very hardy and can survive long periods in very cold and very hot weather, and even in dried or cured pork products. The strain detected in China is similar to one that infected pigs in eastern Russia in 2017 but, so far, and while the investigations continue, the China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center has found no conclusive evidence of this latest outbreaks source or linkages.

The movement of pig products can spread diseases quickly and, as in this case of ASF, its likely that the movement of such products, rather than live pigs, has caused the spread of the virus to other parts of China, said Juan Lubroth, FAOs Chief Veterinarian.

Wantanee Kalpravidh, FAOs Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) regional coordinator said the immediate response to this outbreak will be to stamp it out as quickly as possible, Kalpravidh added.

However, a complete restriction in the movement of animal and pork products could undermine those efforts, he warned, as it could lead to illegal methods of transportation.

Get Our E-Newsletter - Pig World's best stories in your in-box twice a week See e-newsletter example Will be used in accordance with our Privacy PolicyPune, India, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global smart meters market is anticipated to reach USD 29,583.1 million by 2023 from USD 15,728.6 Mn in 2016, as per a new report by Market Research Future (MRFR). The increasing demand for energy-efficient methods to manage energy consumption is likely to spur smart meters market to grow at a healthy CAGR of 9.55% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2023. Need for technological solutions to manage energy consumption effectively is expected to drive market growth.

Market Scope

The demand for uninterrupted electricity amid growing industrialization and urbanization is touted to fuel market demand. Installation of smart grid projects and investments by private companies to distribute electricity at cost-effective prices are other factors which can influence the market. Support by various regulatory bodies and initiatives by nations can bolster its growth over the forecast period.

The spike in energy consumption noted by the growing population and the need for smart monitoring to is expected to induce the demand for smart technologies such as smart meters. Smart meters are electronic devices which can record the consumption of electricity and transfer the information to utility providers for faster and accurate billing. The installation of grids to store energy and the inclination of nations towards renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions can bode well for smart meters in the coming years.

Key Players and Competition Analysis

Notable players in the smart meters market include Badger Meter, Inc., Schneider Electric, Landis+Gyr, DIEHL Metering, Zenner, EDMI, Kamstrup A/S, Aclara Technologies LLC, Xylem, Inc., Itron Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Apator Group, and Siemens AG. Among these, Itron, Landis+Gyr, and Honeywell have a major share in the market. Players in the market can retain their position through extensive collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and expansions.

Companies such as Honeywell are spinning off their utility divisions to capitalize on the upcoming trends of energy-efficiency and infrastructure investment.

Request a Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4569

Industry News

States globally have recognized the hurdles faced by state-owned companies and private companies and introduced incentives to improve system inefficiencies. The use of third-party providers and service contracts to overcome operational and capital expenditures and earn higher margins is certain to interest various firms. The Smart Grid Policy Act of 2010 enforced in Maine, U.S., has led them to implement an agreed-upon rate incentive proposal which enables utility providers to promote smart grids over traditional transmission and distribution utilities.

Segmentation Analysis

The Smart Meters Market is segmented by type, technology, and application. Types of smart meters include water, gas, and electric meters. Electric meters have led the market in 2016. It accounted for 55.6% share in the same year. There has been an investment of over USD 10 billion in 2018 and the segment can experience maximum growth as a result. It is predicted to grow at a 9.56% CAGR during the forecast period.

Technologies fueling the market include advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automatic meter reading (AMR). The AMI segment is touted to grow at a swift pace thanks to electricity providers adopting the utility business model. Policies by various states in the U.S. to incentivize improvements in system efficiency and recover adequate costs. This segment can experience a 9.77% CAGR during the review period.

Major market applications include water meters, commercial, and residential. The residential segment can balloon at a 9.81% CAGR during the forecast period owing to rapid urbanization and demand for electricity in urban and rural households.

Browse the market data and information spread across 117 pages with 61 data tables and 71 figures of the report Smart Meters Market Report - Forecast 2017-2023 in-depth alongside table of content (TOC) at: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/smart-meters-market-4569

Regional Analysis

Region-wise, the smart meters market report covers North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Europe.

The APAC smart meters market can experience a sharp spike in demand owing to various smart meter projects in India, China, Thailand, and others. Changes in lifestyles of consumers in the suburbs and the burgeoning populace has led to investments by private players. The region can exhibit a 9.81% CAGR during the forecast period thanks to China and India.

North America can expand at a notable 9.46% CAGR during the review period owing to consumers adhering to sustainable technologies and mandates outlined by governments can bolster regional demand in the forthcoming years.

Europe has the potential to contribute to global smart meters market coffers owing to initiatives by various governments in the region to adopt green technologies. This is buttressed by the U.K. governments plan to invest nearly USD 14 billion to install 53 million smart meters in homes and businesses can bode well for the market in the coming years.

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Power Metering Market Information by Type (Smart, Digital, Analog), Phase (Single Phase, Three Phase), Application (Residential, Commercial and Industrial), and Region - Forecast to 2022

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/power-metering-market-2570

About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Marty Ambrose, author of five Mango Bay Mysteries, has turned her attention from local murder mystery to historical fiction with her newest release, Claires Last Secret. This new novel is the first book in a trilogy.

Ambrose describes the book as a Historical Mystery about Claire Clairmont  The Last Survivor of the Byron/Shelley Haunted Summer.' The books central character, Claire Clairmont, is the rebellious step-sister of Mary Shelley, author of the gothic novel Frankenstein.

During the summer of 1816, the four central characters of the book gather at Villa Diodati in Geneva, Switzerland. Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley, Marys husband Percy Shelley  one of the premier poets of the 19th century, and the flamboyant and notorious Lord Byron, the premier poet of the 19th century. Claire is expecting Byrons baby.

At the time, Geneva was under a heavy cloud of ash from the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora. The previous year the volcano erupted creating a cloud of ash that disbursed around the world. By the summer of 1816, the cloud had reached Geneva and produced unusually cold temperatures with severe thunderstorms and heavy rains.

The book opens in 1873 with Claire as a 75-year-old woman, the only survivor of that 1816 summer. Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and even Claires baby daughter, Allegra, have all died leaving her alone in the world except for her niece, Paula.

Claire is living out her final years with her niece in Florence, Italy, when she receives a letter with an intriguing proposition. A British tourist, William Michael Rossetti, is interested in purchasing Claires personal letters from Lord Byron and Percy Shelley for a book hes writing. Nearly destitute, Claire considers the offer.

A visit from Rossetti produces a series of events linked to the summer of 1816 and Claire and Lord Byrons now deceased daughter. Following Rossettis visit, Claire finds a mysterious note stating, Your daughter lives.

Claire visits her parish priest and dearest friend Father Gianni to confide the secrets of her illicit affair with Lord Byron, her lost daughter and the note stating your daughter lives. The next day the priest is murdered.

This wonderfully researched historical novel is also a mystery who-done-it. Is Claires daughter still alive 50+ years later? Is the visit from Rossetti and the appearance of the note coincidence, or is Rossetti part of a plot? And, who murdered the priest and why was he murdered?

Claires Last Secret is a departure from Ambrose previous murder mysteries. The inspiration for the book began with a back injury that left Ambrose housebound with nothing to do but watch the History channel and read new books, old books, any book.

I happened to pick up Daisy Hays biography, The Young Romantics, and learned that she had found a fragment of Claire Clairmonts (Mary Shelleys stepsister) journal saying that the famous Byron/Shelley summer of free love in 1816 had created a perfect hell for her, Ambrose said. As I delved into Claires life, pieces came together in my thoughts

Ambrose displays extraordinary writing skills in this first of three books about Claire Claremont. Claires Last Secret crafts history and mystery together with Claires life of risks, tragedy, and consequences and was a great read.

Ambrose retired from teaching English and creative writing at Florida Southwestern State College. She has been a writer for most of her life and over the last 15 years has created and published her own fiction in five Mango Bay Mysteries.

Claires Last Secret is published by Severn House. The book was released in the U.K. on May 31, 2018, and will be released in the United States and Canada on Sept. 1, 2018.

Claires Last Secret is available at Amazon.comFollowing a successful protest three weeks ago, a Pine Island advocacy group was looking to continue to make water quality in Southwest Florida the key issue with another protest along the Matlacha Bridge.

Sunday, about 150 people, many carrying signs, showed up at the bridge to show lawmakers they are being held accountable for the blue-green algae and red tide in the water, and that their commitment to clean water will be the determining factor at the ballot box on Tuesday in the Primary Election and in the General Election in November.

We want the public to be up to date on whats going on with the water quality and flows when its time to vote, said Judy Ott. We need to share our responsibilities for taking care of water quality and the water sheds in the area.

Pine Islands ROAR group once again organized the bridge event with hundreds of vehicles passing through on both sides honking their horns in support of the protestors.

Melanie Hoff, one of the co-organizers, said ROAR (Rise-Up, Organize, Agitate and Resist), which was founded after the 2016 presidential election and advocates for progressive causes, held this event because water quality effects everyone regardless.

Water is a bi-partisan issue. We need and want clean water and our elected officials need to be held accountable. The status quo is unacceptable, Hoff said.

The Aug. 5 event drew more than 100 people pretty much through word of mouth. This time around, ROAR used social media and other promotion to bring everyone back out, Hoff said.

Throughout the Pine Island area, people have been affected by the blue-green algae. People arent using their boats or fishing or enjoying the water in other ways. Restaurants and other businesses are suffering and many people arent even going outside anymore.

Medical experts are saying long-term health ramifications from breathing in the toxins created by the decaying fish and algae could result in neurological diseases such as ALS

We have 14 straight days of water releases from Lake Okeechobee. If there was an ounce of recovery, thats pretty much gone, said Guylyn DeMeyere, a ROAR facilitator from St. James City. On this issue we have to vote clean water, not Republican or Democrat. As things stand, the ones who have the strongest plan are the Democrats.

Area residents have noticed how things have changed in the last six weeks.

Marge Fessman of St. James City, who moved from New Jersey two years ago so she can use her boat year round, cant go outside without wearing a respirator. The friend she was with had to go home because she has COPD and couldnt breathe in the air.

This started about a month ago when our canal got a reddish tinge and I have asthma. The algae is starting to float over to our canal, Fessman said, who later joined the protest, ventilator and all. There are no more birds around and nobody is walking outside. It makes you feel nauseous.

Capt. Dino Joannides of Bonita Springs wore a shirt that read Water is a Basic Human Right while leading the chants on the bridge. He said the algae has decimated his business.

Business was great until about six weeks ago. It was so good I bought a new boat. Now, its sitting on a lift and Ive had to cancel charters. I figured I might as well be out here to get the word out, Joannides said, who has attended all the protests and events. Hopefully, well elect politicians who will do what theyre supposed to do.After more than two dozen speakers asked Lee County commissioners to weigh in against a staff-tendered plan to modify the Conservation 20/20 land acquisition process, the elected board approved a change to how lands are evaluated for purchase while postponing its decision on when parcels may be submitted into the consideration queue.

The Lee County Board of County Com-missioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to update the review criteria to more heavily weigh parcels that could result in water quality improvements.

The commission postponed a decision that would coincide land acquisition proposals with the budget process.

This is the most important project Lee County has had or has ever had, said Frank Mann, District 5 commissioner.

The Conservation 20/20 program was signed into action in 1996, and in 2016, supported with 84 percent of voters saying they support the taxpayer-funded initiative.

The program is designed for Lee County to buy and preserve wild lands that are home to many different kinds of wildlife and natural landscapes.

Since its inception, through Conservation 20/20, the county has acquired 28,978 acres on 130 properties and miles of shorelines arose the county.

Some major acquisitions include Edison Farms Preserve and Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.

The postponement of potential adopted criteria for these land submissions will include future workshopping of new ideas on how to improve the process.

District 3 Commissioner Larry Kiker said he wants county staff to improve on the policy aspect of the proposal, as he believes the plan highlights operation aspects.

We all want to make this work. Whats key is if we can find the proper way to evaluate them and decide whether to buy them or not, he told the staff.

The major components of the new changes would be to adopt a formal process for applications in an annual cycle to be evaluated and ranked by the county staff, not the Conservation Land Acquisition and Stewardship Advisory Committee, which currently reviews parcels.

The commissioners agreed to a 100-point system to determine desirability, with 50 points available to parcels that have water resources in some fashion.

County staff explained the purpose of the changes is to find a way to better leverage acquisition funds and to respond to requests more efficiently  especially for the sellers who are waiting to hear whether the county wishes to obtain their land.

These changes would not effect 20/20s funding or parcels, it is simply an evaluation and criteria change for applicants, proponents said.

A major turn-off for the commissioners was the idea of only reviewing nominations once a year, as opposed to the rolling cycle instituted presently.

All of the commissioners were vocal about their support of Conservation 20/20.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, residents urged no changes to the current structural components of the program and championed for an increase in funding.

Though water quality is a major issue currently across Lee County, the 50 points granted to all land involving water may result in unbalanced scales, especially for wildlife, such as burrowing owls, which may not live in aquatic conditions.

I havent had one email saying We need to change this because 20/20 is running amuck,' said Mann. What were contemplating could put the brakes on the program.

We have to review the process and make changes to line up with the economy and Lee County, Kiker added.

Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cjThe Lee County Florida Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Lee County School District reached an agreement last week, resulting in NAACP dropping a civil rights complaint filed last September.

The complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education, which alleged that black students were disciplined disproportionally to white students, as well as disproportionately held back, will be dropped in return to the adoption of district practices.

Ricky Watson Jr., co-director of the Youth Justice Project at Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said he believes they were successful in doing what they were really hoping to do  draw attention to issues and open up the lines of communication to get on the right track.

The mutual agreement between NAACP and the School District of Lee County states, The district recognizes that racial equity is an integral part of a public school education and that racial equity and the mission of the district require that all students be provided equitable educational opportunities.

The agreement states that the district is committed to ensuring to the maximum extent possible that its student discipline policies and procedures are designed and implemented in such a way as to ensure that disciplinary sanctions do not include the loss of educational instruction time for any students . . .

The exception lies within cases to ensure immediate safety of students and staff. It further states that the district will ensure the student is not removed from the educational program to the maximum extent possible.

Lee County School District Director of Student Services Dr. Pete Bohatch said they are excited about the opportunity of working to keep kids in school.

Students with out-of-school suspensions are more inclined to drop out of school, which further leads them to being out on the street making bad decisions.

As a former principal, I can tell you that out-of-school suspension is the last resort. They see that as a vacation, he said.

Two years ago the district revised its Code of Conduct, providing principals with more flexibility with what types of consequences to enforce. Before, every offense led to out-of-school suspension. The revision gives staff the opportunity to work with students, Bohatch said.

Over the past three years, the district has seen a significant reduction in out-of-school suspension across the district for kindergarten through 12th grade students.

Bohatch said NAACP is satisfied with the way the district is headed in keeping kids in school.

I dont believe out-of-school suspension can go away entirely. I really believe we need to have it for the more serious offenses, he said, citing battery or bringing weapons on campus.

Out-of-school suspension should be reduced for minor offenses, Bohatch said.

The concerns were in regards to matters of equity  discipline and academic achievement  in the school district, Watson Jr. said.

The complaint we filed was meant to draw attention to that . . . conversations that were essential and needing to happen, he said. We were trying to come up with the solutions to be meaningful and impactful with students in Lee County.

Now that the two groups have created an agreement, he believes this is where the real work begins.

We will be able to see how committed Lee County schools is to staying true to what we agreed upon and the spirit of what we agreed upon in the coming months, Watson Jr. said, adding that he hopes that the school district will prove that coming to the agreement was the right thing to do. I hope they will put their money where their mouth is.

The agreement stems around the district continuing six current practices:

n Fund the Office of Diversity and Inclusion

n Use restorative practices and alternatives to suspension

n Provide ongoing training about structural racism, implicit bias and disparities

n Review student disciplinary processes and gather community input

n Allocate resources in a manner that allows schools that are in the most need to receive additional funding

n Data already collected on referrals for discipline, referrals to law enforcement and expulsions will now be shared with other schools

Bohatch said the district began restorative practices about three years ago in phases. The first year all the high schools were trained, followed by middle schools the second year and elementary schools the third year. The practices were done through a train to trainer model.

Every high school was required to send a team of up to four from their school for training. Those four folks would take that information to train the staff back at the school, he said. Some schools are utilizing the practices better than others.

Lehigh Middle School has been a champion with restorative practices. Bohatch said they are using such practices as peer mediation, an accountability board and respect agreements.

Another school, Dunbar Middle, has also implemented a restorative practice called a walk about. If there is a student disturbing class, the teacher sends a text message to administration, who then comes to the classroom and takes over the lesson while the teacher and student go for a walk about.

The teacher and student go for a walk and talk about the behavior. They are talking and trying to repair what happened in the classroom, Bohatch said.

The restorative practices is creating a culture of caring and mutual respect, while building a relationship and talking through things, he said.

The new practices outlined in the agreement include conveying quarterly community forums and public conversations, as well as provide training on the appropriate use and engagement of School Resource Officers.

Bohatch said NAACP wants organized forums, which they experimented with last year at the Stars Complex. He said it was not as well attended as hoped, but important information was provided for those in attendance.

We have to figure out, in my opinion, a better time and location because parents work. Maybe doing something at a church? Maybe on a Saturday? They want the outreach. We are going to do what we can, Bohatch said.

In May, Jarrett Eady started his new role as the director of Diversity and Inclusion. He reports directly to the superintendent.

He grew up in Lee County and is a product of the Lee County school system. He is wonderful. Most of his work is going to center around the training piece, Bohatch said. The training is so necessary because we are so diverse in Lee County.

He said the districts commitment to NAACP is the right thing to do and a professional director dedicated to that charge is needed.As we close out the month, the waters along are coast still have high concentrations of red tide in areas and algae blooms, plus fresh water releases from Lake Okeechobee continues to plague Southwest Florida. While some of our waters are clean and offer good fishing, other areas are still feeling the impact of toxic waters.

Areas in-shore where anglers found good water and hungry fish included the far eastern side of Pine Island Sound and Matlacha Pass from the powerlines north, plus the eastern half of Charlotte Harbor from Pirates Harbor to Bokeelia.

In Pine Island Sound, the best bet was fishing live or cut bait in sand or pot holes on the low water and working along shorelines mid-way up on the rising tide. The main catch was redfish, plus a few snook, sea trout and mangrove snapper. Sharks from 2 to 5 feet were also working these areas.

In Matlacha Pass, a mix of pompano, permit, redfish, sea trout, snapper, jack crevalle and bluefish were caught. Shrimp was the top bait, with cut mullet, live pilchards and pinfish, plus a mix of artificials all catching fish. Best fishing came along shoreline points, oyster bars and channel edges.

Across Charlotte Harbor, tarpon were sighted over the early morning hours between Burnt Store Marina and the point of Cape Haze. Schools of ladyfish were also in the same area. Spanish mackerel mixed with ladyfish, bluefish, jack crevalle and small sharks were hooked in 4 to 8 feet of water off bar edges near Bokeelia. Fishing from the Bokeelia Fishing Pier yielded mangrove snapper, pompano and a few big snook. Along the eastern side of the harbor, redfish and snook were concentrated along shoreline and Island Points.

Offshore, there were no reports inside of about 70 feet. Boats fishing from 70 out to deeper water caught a mix of bottom fish, including mangrove and lane snapper, grunts, triggerfish, lots of undersize grouper, plus a few keeper-size red grouper.

Since returning from vacation, I have stayed on my side of the island to fish. From Matlacha, to the west side of Bokeelia, and across the eastern side of Charlotte Harbor, thats the only area I have fished or seen for that matter. No dead fish, plenty of bait and decent fishing, no real reason to go anywhere else. Well, Friday I decided to round the corner and go take a look around the outer islands. I wished I would have stayed on my side of the island.

We started at Boca Grande Pass and it looked pretty good, clean water and plenty of healthy snook. As we headed south towards Captiva Pass running about a half mile off the beach, the further south we went the worse it got.

From the south end of Cayo Costa to Redfish Pass the Gulf was littered with dead fish as far as the eye could see. Fish of all species, including some big snook and goliath grouper. I cant even begin to tell you what the smell was like.

We headed in through Redfish Pass and north up the Sound and a lot of dead fish dotted the surface all the way to Useppa Island. I never knew there were so many puffer fish in our waters. As we were idling along Captiva Pass, we were witnessing sea robins and flounder coming up for their last living breath. You see it on the news or social media and hear people talking about it, but when you witness it first hand it really hits home. The sight and smell will stay with you for a long time.

I know things will improve, I like to keep this column positive. This area is getting a lot of national attention and many people and organizations are putting a lot of time and effort demanding change moving forward. Its going to take all of us to make that change happen. In the meantime, I sure hope conditions improve along the coast quickly.

If you have a fishing report or for charter information, please contact us at 239-283-7960, via the Website www.fishpineisland.com or email gcl2fish@live.com

Have a safe week and good fishin.

As a native of Pine Island, Capt. Bill Russell has spent his entire life fishing and learning the waters surrounding Pine Island and as a professional fishing guide for the past 18 years.When I last wrote about New Horizons in January, I described the LORRI software improvements that enabled the 30-second exposures that, in turn, enabled them to spot MU69 so far out. (Skip down to the header on "New Horizons' timeline for 2018..." to learn about that.) Congratulations to the team for making this difficult observation work!

Both of these images contain the same good news: Bennu and 2014 MU69 are quite close to the locations that we expected them to be. This is a vindication of the hard work of the astronomers who discovered and tracked the objects and predicted their future paths. It's also great news for the missions' navigators, who find themselves right on course toward their eventual destinations. Steady as she goes!

The next four months are going to be super for both New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx, especially December. Both mission teams will be getting their first science results from small worlds at the end of 2018.

Apart from their coincidence in timing, the two missions couldn't be much more different. New Horizons is much farther from its target -- in fact, it's about 100 times farther away from MU69 than OSIRIS-REx is from Bennu. New Horizons is also closing the distance at much higher speed. Consequently, MU69 is really just going to be a dot right up until the final moments before the New Year's Day flyby, and then New Horizons will zip on past; all the good science data (including the really good views of MU69 as a world) will come from a 48-hour period of observations, and it'll take weeks to return those best observations to Earth.

By contrast, OSIRIS-REx is closing the distance much more slowly, because unlike New Horizons, its goal is to brake to a relative speed of just about zero when it finally enters orbit at Bennu at the end of this year. It'll be the first space mission to orbit such a tiny world; Bennu is far smaller than Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Beginning around October 15, we should be able to see the asteroid grow slowly in OSIRIS-REx's viewscreen. For more detail on what to expect from OSIRIS-REx, check out this June blog post.

The sportier Hayabusa2 will already have dropped several rovers on Ryugu by then. It's a small-body mission bonanza!KAMPALA  Court will this morning August 29 deliver its final verdict in the case in which former works minister, Eng Abraham Byandala and 7 others are accused of embezzling over Shs24billion that was meant to up-grade Mukono-Katosi road project.

Justice Lawrence Gidudu of the Anti-Corruption Court at Kololo set August 29 to determine the fate Eng. Byandala.

Eng Byandala is jointly charged with businessman Apolo Senkeeto alias Mark Kalyesubula who was the country representative of Eutaw Construction Company, which is accused of fleecing Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) of Shs24.7 billion in the collapsed Katosi road contract.

Other suspects include former Acting Executive Director of the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) Eng Berunado Ssebugga Kimeze the former UNRA director of finance and administration, Mr Joe Ssemugooma, Mr Wilberforce Senjako (former regional accountant) and Mr Isaac Mugote (former staff of Housing Finance Bank).

Prosecution states that Eng Byandala abused his office while holding the Works ministry by a November 14, 2013 letter, when he directed the immediate signing of the contract between UNRA and Eutaw yet the company lacked the capacity to carry out the roadworks.

IGG accuses the minister who was dropped from holding the Works docket in March 2015, for having, in an August 27, 2014 letter, abused his office by ordering for the continuation of the works on the Mukono-Katosi road by Chongqing International Construction Corporation (CICO).

The IGG contends that this act also amounted to disobeyed lawful orders by Byandala.

The IGG alleges that Eng Kimeze abused his office when he signed a contract with Eutaw without establishing that there was a valid performance guarantee and issued a payment guarantee which allowed the payment of over Shs24 billion to the detriment of UNRAs interests.

Eng Kimeze is separately and jointly charged with Mr Semugooma over causing financial loss to the government by approving payment of the Shs24 billion to Eutaw despite glaring defects in the due-diligence report.

RelatedKAMPALA  Following threats by President Museveni to disband the Electoral Commission describing it as an institution full of rotten people that have failed to manage elections, the Commission has set up a team to investigate the remarks by the President.

In a 28th August 2018 letter by Justice Simon Byabakama, Chairman Independent Electoral Commission, he revealed of plans to investigate the allegations so as to give Ugandans free and credible elections.

Justice Byabakama deliberately declined to point out President Musevenis name and instead stated in his letter that the EC has noted the concerns raised by some stakeholders in the electoral process about the integrity of National Voters Register used in the recent Parliamentary by-elections.

While presiding over the induction ceremony of the just elected women council leaders at Hotel Africana over the weekend, Museveni blamed the Commission for watching on as voters from other parts of the country fluked the voters registers in places like Jinja East that resulted into chaos, saying there is no need to keep the EC officials on their jobs yet NRM has manpower to deliver the results Government desires.

The Commission Chairman welcomed the Presidents criticism describing his assessment of events as valuable feedback that would be critical at informing the Commission on the quality of electoral service delivery and areas that may require the Commissions attention.

He then announced that a team has been set up to investigate the reports, In light of the concerns about the integrity of the National Voters Register, the Commission is reviewing the reports on the by-elections and has appointed a Technical Committee to investigate any claims related to the integrity of the Register with a view of establishing the facts of the claims and be able to apply the necessary remedial measures where necessary in future elections.

RelatedKAMPALA  Makerere University Institute of Social Research (MISR) director, Prof. Mahmood Mamdani has said he is not answerable to the university hierarchy but rather, to donors.

In a letter dated July 16 to Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe the Makerere University vice-chancellor, Prof. Mamdani says he cant implement orders from his office that are contrary to what donors want.

Mamdanis letter was in response to directives from the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training [DRGT], a body responsible for all postgraduate trainings at Makerere, which MISR is part of.

The directorates April 26 letter addressed to Prof. Nawangwe had directed Prof. Mamdani to reinstate the scholarship of one of its students, Judith Ikiring Obore, wife to former Mamdanis deputy and senior lecturer in the department of literature James Ocita.

Ms Ikiring was admitted on March 13, 2014, as a graduate student at Makerere University but her scholarship was withdrawn in her third year for being academically weak for the demanding five- year Doctor of Philosophy multidisciplinary degree of social studies.

However, the timing of the termination was suspect as it came at a time when Prof. Mamdani had fallen out with Ocita over the management of MISR.

Ikiring appealed the decision at DRGT which in March held a meeting and decided that her scholarship be reinstated and any arrears arising out of the withdrawal of the scholarship be paid to her.

Because of the delay on the part of DRGT to decide her case, Ikiring dragged both Makerere and Mamdani, to High Court over malice and victimization of students and abuse of academic procedures, negligence of duty, and breach of contract among others.

In DRGTs communication to Mamdani, Ikiring is also advised to withdraw her court case. The letter also recommends that the institute should follow university rules and regulations regarding student enrollment and studies.

Misr should harmonize its study time, procedure processes and guidelines to be in line with the general university regulations. Admission of students should be separated from scholarship award and the scholarship offer should have clear terms and conditions, the letter signed by Dr Eria Hisali on behalf of Prof Buyinza Mukadasi, the director for DRGT, reads.

But Mamdani responded that there is no way he can reinstate Obores scholarship because she failed to submit a satisfactory proposal for admission to the fourth year of the programme.

She failed to submit a revised proposal, in spite of being invited to do so. She thus failed to be in good academic standing, Mamdani wrote.

He added that Ikiring is not the first student to lose her fellowship for failing to be in good academic standing. That Misr academic boards decision to withdraw her fellowship was in accordance with and protects the academic integrity of the programme.

This decision is also in accord with the terms under which Misr draws fellowship funds from donors. These include the requirement that only students in good academic standing be awarded fellowship. It is the duty of the director to protect the integrity of the unit and its programme and to ensure that commitments to donors are honoured promptly, fully and in good faith, Mamdani wrote.

He advised that since DRGT has decided that Ikiring continues with her PhD, then it should award her a fellowship and also find a unit willing to accept her. And this includes paying her the arrears she has missed.

Other than Ikiring, two other students, Yusuf Serunkuma and Vincent Nuwagaba; lecturers James Ocita and Virginie Tallio have dragged Mamdani to court, accusing him of various things relating to his management of Misr.

RelatedKAMPALA  President Museveni has tasked Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, to explain how Brazilian sugar found itself on Ugandas market, saying this has affected the market for Ugandas locally manufactured sugar in the regional market.

He has ordered for its immediate closure.

In a leaked August 19 letter to the Prime Minister, the President revealed how he was informed that some genius authorised the existence of a so-called Sugar Bond in Kampala.

He went ahead explaining the meaning behind Sugar Bond saying it meant a warehouse where foreign subsidised sugar from for instance Brazil is stored for re-export to Congo, South Sudan.

Museveni said that as a result of Brazillian sugar hitting Kampala, this has left the neighbouring countries sceptical of Ugandas capacity to supply the East African region with enough sugar, given the fact that the country has allowed a Sugar Bond in her territory.

With the installed capacity of 550,000 tonnes, Uganda is the only East African country with surplus sugar of about 80,000 tonnes per annum.

As such, Museveni argued that the regional members have been thrown into doubt whether the sugar coming from Uganda is really Ugandan or is part of the so-called Bond Sugar imported from foreign sources.

General Museveni continued with his missive listing a number of questions Rugunda has to provide answers: Who allowed this sugar bond to be established? I really demand to know. Was a Paper brought to Cabinet to allow a self-undermining policy of being the promoters of imported sugar while our own sugar industry was recovering.?

The President went on with his questions: More importantly, I now direct that working with the Attorney General this Sugar Bond should be immediately closed, never to be reopened again. Who is operating this Sugar Bond in any case? I really want to know who they are and who allowed them?

Musevenis letter comes at a time when Kenya and Uganda were recently hit by reports that poisonous sugar had hit their markets, with the reports having originated from Kenya and this saw the Nations Government ban and destroy the sugar.

However, as Uganda was recovering from the scandal, reports emerged that the banned sugar from Kenya had found its way in Uganda, reports the sugar manufacturers and Ministry of Trade vehemently denied.

RelatedVANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TrackX Holdings Inc. (TSX.V:TKX) (TrackX or the Company), is pleased to announce it has entered into secured loan facilities with affiliates of G&G Private Capital, Inc. (the Lenders) for up to C$5.2 million (collectively, the Loan) and has completed the first drawdown on the Loan for an aggregate amount of C$2,600,000.



Outstanding principal of the Loan will bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum payable in cash payable quarterly in arrears; or 12% in kind payable quarterly in arrears; or, subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), 13.5% payable in common shares of the Company (the Common Shares), valued at the closing price on the TSX-V on the last trading day preceding payment, less the maximum allowable discount permitted by the TSX-V. No repayment of outstanding principal is required before August 29, 2019. The Loan will mature on August 29, 2022.

The proceeds of the Loan will be used by the Company to fund expansion of the TrackX team in sales, delivery services, and customer success. This expansion will enable TrackX to accelerate the delivery of both existing customer expansion opportunities and its growing pipeline of new customer implementations.

TrackX is very pleased to complete this financing with G&G Private Capital, said Tim Harvie, TrackX CEO. G&Gs knowledge of SaaS-based software and experience in the capital markets will provide tremendous strategic value to TrackX.

Given the strength of TrackXs leadership team, technology platform and presence within the growing Industrial Internet of Things and Asset Management industries, we believe TrackX is uniquely positioned with significant potential, said George Small, G&G Principal. This financing will not only strengthen TrackXs balance sheet, but provide funds necessary for TrackX to more readily achieve its potential in the industry.

The Loan is secured against all current and future assets of the Company and its subsidiary, TrackX, Inc., as outlined in a general security agreement corresponding to the loan agreements. To facilitate the Loan, broTECH Solutions LLC agreed to release an existing security interest that it held over certain assets that the Company purchased from broTECH Solutions LLC in June 2017. In consideration for the release of such security, the Company agreed to accelerate certain payments owing to broTECH Solutions LLC pursuant to that transaction, including the early release of TrackX shares that were held in a voluntary escrow

In connection with the first drawdown under the Loan, the Company has issued to the Lenders an aggregate of 800,000 non-transferable common share purchase warrants (the Warrants). On the date of any subsequent drawdown under the Loan, the Company will issue to the Lenders 200,000 Warrants for each drawdown of C$650,000. Each Warrant may be exercised by the holder to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price equal to the market price for the Common Shares as of the date of the applicable drawdown for a period of four years from the date of issuance, subject to adjustment. The Warrants, and the underlying Common Shares, will be subject to a four-month hold period from their date of issuance. The Company has also paid financing and drawdown fees of 1.5% each to the Lenders concurrently with the first drawdown. Additional drawdown fees of 1.5% of the amount of each drawdown will be payable concurrently with each subsequent drawdown.

Further drawdowns on the Loan will be available to the Company subject to:

the Company having achieved an average fifteen percent (15%) increase in recurring and total revenue for two (2) successive fiscal quarters commencing October 1, 2018; and



the Company having achieved a positive adjusted EBITDA as calculated pursuant to the Companys Managements Discussion and Analysis for the same successive fiscal quarters as above.

About G&G Private Capital

G&G Private Capital Inc. (G&G), based in Toronto, Canada is an independent finance and investment company that provides private and public companies with debt and/or equity financing. G&Gs principals are experienced business people and former entrepreneurs focused on the capital and investments needs of high-growth technology companies. G&G works with profitable and near-profitable organizations and aligns itself with the long-term interests of its clients.

For more information, please contact:

George Small, G&G Private Capital Inc.

george.small@ggprivatecapital.com

1-416-460-7605

About TrackX

TrackX, based in Denver, Colorado, is an enterprise Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) software platform provider leveraging multiple auto-ID technologies for the comprehensive management of physical assets. TrackXs Global Asset Management for Enterprises (GAME) platform enables the IIoT by providing unique item level tracking, workflow processing, event management, alerts and powerful analytics to deliver solutions across a growing number of industries. This platform creates unprecedented visibility and business intelligence of man-to-machine and machine-to-machine interaction. TrackX delivers significant value to a growing list of Fortune 500 companies and for customers in industries such as transportation, beverage, brewery, healthcare, hi-tech, hospitality, mining, agriculture, horticulture, manufacturing and government.

For more information, please contact:

Tim Harvie, TrackX Holdings Inc.

tharvie@trackx.com

1-303-325-7300

Sean Peasgood, Sophic Capital

Sean@SophicCapital.com

1-647-361-8358

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements in respect of future drawdowns under the Loan and the proposed use of proceeds. Forward looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur including the Companys anticipated pipeline and value of current and customer deployments and future opportunities are the managements best estimates and cannot be guaranteed or relied upon and is forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this news release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.



KAMPALA  Arua Municipality Member of Parliament Kassiano Wadri has narrated how he and his colleagues including Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi a.k.a Bobi Wine were beaten by security forces, including President Musevenis guards from the Special Forces Command following the fracas that ensured on the last day of campaigns in Arua.

Mr Wadri and 32 others are facing treason charges over allegations that they stoned President Musevenis car.

Speaking to a local NBS television in Kampala on Wednesday morning ahead of his swearing-in, Mr Wadri denied that he was involved in any stoning of the presidential convoy, saying he did not meet or see the presidential motorcade, adding that the charges were a premeditated act.

We were in totally different areas for our rallies but I think what caused problems for us were the large crowds we had. The NRM [National Resistance Movement] rally only had children and I think thats what annoyed him, how on earth would anybody harm the president, hes the fountain of honour, Wadri explained before being sworn in as Arua MP.

He slammed Special Forces Command (SFC) for unprofessionalism narrating that no one who was arrested by SFC came out the same, they all had bruises!.

We were locked up in a crowded cell on bare cement with a lot of mosquitoes feeding on us every other second, so we really suffered, Mr Wadri said.

He said that opposition MPs Bobi Wine and Zaake were arrested by the SFC and tortured gravely.

We actually couldnt believe Hon. [Francis] Zaake [Mityana Municipality] was still alive; we had to plead with police to take him to Gulu hospital because he was in the worst state. The SFC people are the worst human beings, Mr Wadri explained adding those of us who were harassed and beaten by the police are a little better but the special guards for the president caused immense pain and torture to our people.

Mr Wadri said while in police custody, they were barely given food and that the police chased away well-wishers who had come with food.

However, he praised Ugandas prison services after they were relocated from the police cell, saying that they had remained professional and treated them with dignity.

It was during the last day of the by-election campaign for the West Nile town of Arua town municipality seat that the stoning of a vehicle in the presidential convoy allegedly happened.

RelatedKAMPALA  Experts from several African countries are in Uganda to review the status of radioactive waste management, update national inventories, develop the work plans and implementation strategies for strengthening radioactive waste management among member countries.

The meeting at Hotel Africana in Kampala is also attended by experts from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which supports safe and peaceful use of atomic technology.

Honey Malinga, representing the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, while opening the meeting on Monday, said proper radioactive waste management is essential for a healthy environment.

Malinga said that the energy ministry is developing specific objectives for radioactive waste management adding that We should create awareness on proper radioactive waste management to ensure that both people and the environment are healthy and safe.

The mention raises fear about nuclear and Atomic weapons and threats to the environment but some participants at the meeting insist that the nuclear, and atomic technology, once safely applied, can be used to address a range of problems especially energy.

He told journalists outside the conference hall at Hotel Africana that apprehension that has existed whenever atomic is mentioned should not deter countries that intend to use it in peaceful applications.

Radioactive waste is generated not only by the nuclear power industry but also by hospitals, universities and non-nuclear industries. The waste requires proper collecting, sorting, treating, conditioning, storing and disposing of radioactive it with utmost precaution to ensure the safety of both the people and the environment within which they live.

On his part, Noah Deogratius Luwalira, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Atomic Energy Council, revealed that Uganda has developed regulatory guidelines on the radioactive waste management and preparations are underway to a waste management center set up by the end of next year in Mukono.

The facility will be built to international standards and contrary to what the people of Mukono thought. It will not have any health threats to the people living near it as alleged, Luwalira said.

The meeting is hosted by Uganda this week is a follow up to the one held in 2014. It is expected that experts will agree on strategies of enlarging the contribution of waste management science and technology to social welfare, health, and energy using Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC).

Uganda is a member of the African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA)

Countries in the Africa region in 1988 requested IAEA to help them establish a regional arrangement for cooperation in the field of nuclear science and technology, similar to arrangements already existing in Asia and Latin America.

AFRA aims at maximizing the utilization of available infrastructure and expertise in Africa in the field of nuclear science and technology. It also wants to accelerate regional self-sufficiency in the peaceful applications of nuclear techniques.

The countries participating in the summit include; Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Chad, Cote Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, united republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and Uganda.

RelatedAn Oklahoma officer, who was acquitted of manslaughter charges in the fatal 2016 shooting of an unarmed subject who was high on PCP and failing to comply with lawful orders given by her and other officers, is being protested for teaching a class to fellow law enforcement professionals about what to expect if it happens to them.

"I talk about the challenges that I face after my critical incident; the challenges that my husband and I were not prepared for," former Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview of what her classes entail.

"So I take what I learned and developed what I call tools and I pass that on to other officers so maybe they can be better prepared to deal with a critical incident."

Despite the demonstrations this week, Shelby, now a Rogers County sheriffs deputy, went ahead Tuesday with the scheduled class titled "Surviving the Aftermath of a Critical Incident," attended by about two dozen Tulsa County sheriff's deputies, officials said.

The "critical incident" does not solely refer to an officer-involved shooting, Shelby said, but can be an event that simply "tests the limits of their coping skills."

Shelby was arrested and charged two years ago with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, 40, after she came across an idling SUV stopped in the middle of a two-lane roadway and spotted Crutcher walking toward the vehicle.

Police video showed Crutcher with his hands in the air as Shelby and other officers approached him with their guns pointed at him. Crutcher can be seen in the video lowering his hands and apparently attempting to reach into the vehicle when Shelby opened fire, killing him.

Shelby went to trial on manslaughter charges and a jury acquitted her in August 2017, prompting outrage from activists in Tulsa and angry protests in the city's streets.

Word of Shelbys teaching such a class in Tulsa ignited protests Monday outside the Civic Center in the city's downtown area, where one demonstrator, Marq Lewis, called the move "a slap in the face to all African-Americans."

Crutcher's sister, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, is also outraged by the news of Shelbys teaching fellow officers.A Dallas County jury has found former Balch Springs, TX, police officer Roy Oliver guilty of murder in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, who was shot and killed in April 2017.

The jury deliberated for about 12 hours over a period of two days before reaching its verdict. The courtroom erupted in cries and cheers from Edwards family afterward as they clapped and hugged each other.

As the jury rendered its verdict, a photo of Edwards rested underneath Judge Brandon Birminghams bench  where it was left during the duration of the weeklong trial, the Star-Telegram reports.

Oliver shot into the back of a 2004 black Impala where Edwards was a passenger on April 29 last year. He claimed the car was about to run over his partner, Officer Tyler Gross, but several witnesses and video taken from the officers body camera show the car was moving away from Gross.

Officer Gross himself testified on the first day of the trial against Oliver. He said he never feared for his life. An expert in the use of force also testified that Oliver was not justified in shooting Edwards.A Cherokee County, SC, deputy was airlifted from the scene of a traffic stop on Monday night, where he was injured in a rollover incident. The suspect was reportedly trying to flee when his car rolled onto the deputy after turning over in a ditch.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office says one of its narcotics deputies stopped a vehicle driven by Cornelius Sentell Mayberry around 10 p.m. Monday night, Fox Carolina reports.

The sheriff's office says Mayberry tried to flee the scene, causing a deputy to reach in the window of his vehicle to stop him. The sheriff says that the vehicle traveled about 20 feet when it went into a ditch and up an embankment, with the deputy's upper body still inside the car. The vehicle then overturned onto the driver's side, pinning the deputy's lower body under the vehicle.

The deputy sustained two broken ankles and a broken leg.Crisp County, GA, Sheriff's deputies Martelle Davis and Shawana Davis were arrested in Mexico for packing their duty weapons and ammo. They have been released and are back in the United States. (Photo: Crisp County SO)

On Thursday night, two Crisp County, GA, Sheriff's deputies were arrested in Cancun and taken into custody by Mexican authorities for bringing guns into the country.

According to Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock, Martelle and Shawana Davis were traveling to Cancun for vacation. The pair are married and both work for the Crisp County Sheriff's Office.

Hancock told 13WMAZ the Crisp County Sheriff's Office has a policy in place that allows officers to carry their weapons while off duty. The pair did not violate office policy, but they did violate Mexican law.

"Mexican law says that you cannot bring a firearm into their country," said Hancock. "They're certified law enforcement officers. They're trained to protect people, so they carried their weapons with them thinking in their minds that they are going to do what they do every day. Protect people and protect myself."

Hancock says the pair was handed a fine and released on bond Saturday night. They returned to American soil on Monday morning.SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Macurco Gas Detection, a leading developer of gas detection solutions for oil and gas, industrial safety, HVAC, fire and security, building operations, and EMS response, today announced its innovative new portable gas detection monitors, AimSafety PM100 single gas monitor, and the four-gas AimSafety PM400 multigas monitor.

The new AimSafety by Macurco Gas Detection portable gas detection solutions combine innovation, ease-of-use, fast response time and data aggregation to help workers and organizations provide better safety, and workplace toxic threat protection, which helps increase revenue and productivity.

AimSafety PM100 Newest, Advanced Disposable Single Gas, Personal Monitor for Worker Safety

The AimSafety by Macurco PM100 is a maintenance-free, disposable portable single-gas monitor that protects workers by providing exposure detection for specific gases in hazardous environments. The PM100 operates continuously for two years and monitors ambient air conditions and provides real-time gas concentrations on an easy to read LCD display. A three-tier alarm system warns the user of the presence of unsafe gas levels with audible, visual, and vibrating alarms. The PM100 has sensor options for Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and Oxygen (O2). The AimSafety PM100 product line will also include Ammonia (NH3), and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) monitors in Q4 2018.

Advanced, Easy to use, PM400 Four-Gas Monitor Delivers Continuous Worker Protection

The innovative, new AimSafety PM400 four-gas portable monitor brings enhanced user-friendliness and flexibility to gas detection in hazardous environments and in confined spaces. The ergonomic PM400 diffusion gas monitor simultaneously detects up to four gases, including hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon monoxide (CO), oxygen (O2) and combustibles (LEL). The PM400 IR will operate continuously for up to 60 days on a single battery charge. AimSafetys PM400 is easy to use and delivers continuous visibility of toxic gas threats for faster, more informed decisions that help protect workers, operational assets, and increase revenue and productivity.

The new AimSafety PM100 and PM400 personal monitors deliver the most effective, worker-protection-oriented, innovative, and ergonomic portable gas detection solutions line to the global safety market, said Jeffrey Christiansen, Macurco Gas Detection President. These cost-effective, durable, easily-managed and deployed gas monitors provide 24/7 real-time information, compliance and as a result, increased revenues to operations that are faced with unseen dangers of toxic gas in everyday production.

Pricing and Availability of the AimSafety PM100 and AimSafety PM400

The AimSafety PM100 and PM400 monitors are available now from Macurco Gas Detection-authorized distributors. Bulk pricing for both the PM100 and PM400 is available to organizations, via Macurco distributors. Accessories, including a remote PM-Link for data downloading and archiving, as well as bump/calibration stations, are also available.

About Macurco Gas Detection

Macurco Gas Detection is a division of Aerionics Inc. Macurco designs, develops and manufactures a full set of fixed and portable gas detection monitors for the protection of workers, responders and the community. Macurco has more than 45-years of proven gas detection experience in residential, commercial and industrial gas monitoring. Macurco gas detection systems are widely recognized by distributors and users for their high performance and consistent reliability.

Macurcos products provide the most advanced gas detection and protection of workers and the community via three product solutions. These solutions include: the superior TracXP fixed and wireless gas transmitters for Oil and Gas and industrial applications ; the innovative, industry-standard Macurco fixed gas detectors for security systems , building automation, HVAC systems , parking structure s, cold storage, beverage and restaurant CO2 detection, and home/personal safety; and the groundbreaking AimSafety by Macurco portable gas detection monitors for monitoring specific gases in potentially hazardous environments including fire and hazmat, oil and gas and industrial safety gas detection.

Macurco, AimSafety by Macurco, and TracXP gas monitors are used in more than 50-countries around the world by major organizations protect workers and the community and save lives and maintain safety. Macurco is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Learn more at www.macurco.com .

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/58b7ada5-03ac-4299-8e20-a1711975bbd9

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0f41bbbd-879b-4783-a9bf-007bae6f7b57GURUGRAM, India, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

August 2018 | Key Takeaway from Ken Research Report titled, Sweden Telemedicine Market Outlook to 2022

Tele Home and M-Health segment has witnessed a strong growth under the telemedicine services segment. The segment is expected to witness stronger growth in the forecast period due to shortage of medical staff in the country.

Telepathology and Telepsychology have registered highest growth during the review period with a double digit 5-year CAGR. The segment has been witnessing demand from new end users. This trend would continue to prevail in the forecast period.

Telemedicine market is projected to expand in the forecast period primarily due to rise in the number of general practitioners which will allow the Telemedicine companies to expand by hiring more practitioners. The smartphone users' penetration is expected to reach 95% (of the overall population) by 2022. As the number of smartphone user's increase, more number of people will be able to use the mobile apps services extended by the Telemedicine companies. This would facilitate connecting to remotely based doctors and healthcare service providers in an easy & cost effective way. Moreover, the health insurance coverage is also expected to rise in the near future which will further increase the demand for Telemedicine services. Government (social health insurance) coverage has also been growing in Sweden. As more number of people is covered by insurance, the demand for Telemedicine services is expected to increase proportionally. The market is expected to achieve significant growth due to a momentous rise in the number of geriatric population. Geriatric population requires a lot of medical care moreover, finds it difficult to commute frequently.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661352/Ken_Research_Logo.jpg )



New players have been entering the market in form of small start-ups and the existing players are expanding their service portfolio by providing more number of medical applications. There has been an acute shortage of nurses and hospital beds per capita in Sweden. To overcome this shortage, hospitals have increasingly started providing telemedicine services.

The elderly population of Sweden is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2% which will increase the demand for Telemedicine services especially Tele Assistance and Tele Psychology. The numbers of domestically trained doctors who migrate overseas has increased and will continue to increase at an approximate CAGR of 1.6%. As more number of doctors is expected to migrate, hospitals and clinics would face a shortage of doctors. Hospitals can use Telemedicine services to connect to these overseas doctors and provide medical care to patients domestically.

Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "Sweden Telemedicine Market Outlook to 2022 - By Technology (Software and Hardware) and By Services (Service Platform-Tele Hospitals & Clinics, Tele Home and M-Health and By Clinical Application -Tele Consultation, Tele Radiology, Tele Assistance, Tele Pathology, Tele Psychology and Others)" believe that focusing on specific clinical application such as Tele Assistance and Tele Psychology and expanding the service portfolio by providing primary care for more number of medical applications will create a positive impact on the market.

Sweden Telemedicine market is expected to register a positive CAGR of approximately 12% during the forecast period. The market is further expected to be driven by entry of new players.

Keywords

Telemedicine Market in Sweden

Telemedicine Market Europe

Sweden Telehealth Market

Telemedicine Technology Sweden

Telemedicine Services Sweden

Telemedicine Major Companies Sweden

Telemedicine Software Sweden

Telemedicine Hardware Sweden

Sweden ICT Providers Telemedicine

Telemedicine Sweden KRY

Com Telemedicine Sweden My Doctor

Telemedicine Sweden Telemedicine Clinic

Telemedicine Sweden Doktor.se

Telemedicine Sweden Doktor24

Telemedicine Sweden Ortivus

Tele Consultation Service Sweden

Tele Radiology Services Sweden

Tele Psychology Services Sweden

Tele Hospitals Sweden

M-Health Telemedicine Sweden

Home Care Telemedicine Sweden

Sweden Telemedicine Government Regulations

EU Telemedicine Market

Monitoring Devices Telemedicine Sweden

Products Covered:

By Clinical Application Tele Consultation Tele radiology Tele Assistance Tele Pathology Tele Psychology

By Service Platform Tele Hospitals and Clinics Tele Home M-Health



Companies Covered:

KRY

Telemedicine Clinic

Doktor.se

My Doctor

Doktor24

Ortivus

Polycom

Philips Healthcare

DocOnNet

For More Information, Refer to the Link below:

https://www.kenresearch.com/healthcare/general-healthcare/sweden-telemedicine-market/152237-91.html

Related Reports:

Africa Telemedicine Outlook and Opportunities

The report titled "Africa Telemedicine Outlook and Opportunities" provides a comprehensive analysis of e-Health scenario in Africa covering market challenges and success case studies by countries and at multinational levels.

UK Telemedicine Market Outlook to 2022 - by Services (Tele Home & M-Health and Tele Hospital), by Technology Platform (Software, Hardware and Telecom), by Clinical Applications (Tele Cancer Services, Tele Radiology, Tele Pathology, Tele Neurology, Tele Psychology and Others)

The report provides a comprehensive analysis on the UK telemedicine services and technology platform Market. The report covers introduction and genesis, market size, market segmentation by service platforms (Tele Home & M-Health and Tele Hospital), by type of technology platform (Software, Hardware and Telecom), by type of clinical applications (Tele Cancer Services, Tele Radiology, Tele Pathology, Tele Neurology, Tele Psychology and Others) and by delivery mode (Cloud Based and Web Based).

Contact Us:

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

+91-9015378249



SOURCE Ken ResearchMOSCOW, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Board of Directors of PJSC Aeroflot has re-elected Vitaly Saveliev as CEO for a term of five years. The appointment was approved on 28 August 2018 at a meeting of the Board of Directors chaired by Mikhail Poluboyarinov, pursuant to a Directive from the Russian government.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/561410/Aeroflot_Logo.jpg )



Vitaly Saveliev has led Aeroflot since his appointment on 10 April 2009. At that time, the Company was considered a regional carrier by global standards with passenger traffic of 8.6 million (11.1 million including subsidiaries). Aeroflot together with its subsidiaries ranked 68th internationally.

In 2010 President Vladimir Putin tasked Vitaly Saveliev with creating Russia's first full-fledged airline group. The state transferred a number of regional carriers to Aeroflot's management, and from these assets the construction of Aeroflot Group began. Following the transformation the Group included Russia's second biggest airline Rossiya Airlines (created from St. Petersburg-based regional airline Rossiya, as well as Donavia and Orenburg Airlines) and Far Eastern airline Aurora (created out of SAT Airlines and Vladivostok Avia).

The creation of Russia's first-ever genuine low-cost carrier, Pobeda, as part of Aeroflot Group represented a genuine breakthrough. Thanks to Vitaly Saveliev, important amendments to Russia's Aviation Code were passed, including the introduction of non-refundable tickets, the ability for airlines to charge for baggage and hire pilots from abroad, and the introduction of blacklists for disruptive passengers. It was these changes that harmonised Russia's Aviation Code and made it possible for low-cost flights to take off in Russia.

Pobeda launched its first flight on 1 December 2014. Since then it has had an enormous impact on making air transport accessible to ordinary Russians, with more than a million people flying for the first time in the low-cost carrier's first two years of operations. Since its first flight, Pobeda has already carried more than 15 million passengers.

In 2011, Vitaly Saveliev presented Aeroflot Group's Strategy-2025 to President Putin. The key goal of the strategy was to establish Aeroflot as one of the world's leading airlines, ranking in the top flight of global aviation. By 2025, Aeroflot Group was called on to become one of Europe's top five and the world's 20 largest aviation groups.

These goals were achieved significantly ahead of time, with Aeroflot becoming one of the world's top 20 airlines and one of Europe's five largest as early as 2017 (among legacy carriers). In 2018, Aeroflot confirmed its place among the 20 leading airlines worldwide, according to two authoritative global aviation publications, Flight Airline Business and Air Transport World. Over the years Aeroflot airline's passenger traffic has significantly increased, from 8.6 million passengers in 2009 to 32.8 million in 2017. In total, Aeroflot and its subsidiaries carried a record 50.1 million passengers in 2017.

This year, Aeroflot was named the world's strongest airline brand for the second time by Brand Finance, the leading independent brand valuation consultancy. Aeroflot's brand value is growing steadily and today amounts to USD 1.429 billion.

Aeroflot is a recognised premium carrier, holding 4-Star Airline status from Skytrax and a 5-Star Global Airline rating from US aviation association APEX. The Company regularly wins prestigious international awards: it was named Best Airline in Eastern Europe for the seventh time at 2018 Skytrax World Airline Awards, and has twice been recognised as China's Favourite International Airline at the Flyer Awards. Russia's flag carrier was also named the world's leading airline brand at World Travel Awards 2017, known as the Oscars of the tourism industry.

Under Vitaly Saveliev Aeroflot has become the largest operator of modern Russian aircraft. The company operates 50 of the latest Sukhoi Superjet 100. In the coming years the Company is expected to take delivery of 50 MC-21. Aeroflot is considering further expansion of its fleet of Russian aircraft.

Aeroflot intends to strengthen its status as a leading global airline. Vitaly Saveliev and the Company's management team have prepared an updated Aeroflot Group Strategy-2023, which will be presented in the near future to President Vladimir Putin.

SOURCE AeroflotMUMBAI, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Ranveer Singh receives 'Pride Actor of the Year' for Padmaavat

The 3rd edition of IDEASFEST 2018 was a unique and special event in itself with many creme de la creme industry stalwarts gracing the event. This occasion did not only see some stellar talk sessions and the deserving nominations take away the trophies, but it also endorsed the theme of IDEASFEST 2018 'Lead the Change'.

World's leading brand equity research and consulting firm WCRCINT released the 'Annual Research Report 2018' on India's Best Brands, Leaders and Celebrities. The evening glittered with all the industry stalwarts, who synchronically, with one accord celebrated the most trusted CEOs, Brand of the Year and celebrities who are leading the change. Laurels, victories and trophies for inimitable and paramount brands and leaders marked the essence of IDEASFEST 2018. The research has been done by ibrands360, leaders in Brand Equity studies.

Shri Deepak Vasant Kesarkar, Honorable Minister of State for Home, Finance and Planning, Maharashtra and Honorable Senior Cabinet Minister, Mahadev Jagannath Jankar Saheb, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Fisheries Development, Maharashtra were the special guests of honour.

The conclave kicked off with an expert discussion on 'Technology and Social Media - Looking at the nature of responsibility in turbulent times'. The panelists included Mr. Tapan Singhel - MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited, Chandru Kalro-MD & CEO TTK Prestige and Monish Chatrath CEO MGC, KNAV Global Risk Advisory LLP.

The 2018 edition of 'LEAD THE CHANGE', INDIA KA DIL, PRIDE AWARDS included Rani Mukerji, Ranveer Singh, Rishi Kapoor, Subhash Ghai, Ekta Kapoor, Nakuul Mehta, Jennifer Winget, Kishore Lulla, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Nandita Das, Pirodjsha Adi Godrej, Sudesh Lehri, amongst others.

Rani Mukerji on being awarded as the Pride Actor of the Year for Hichki, said, "I would like to thank KVG MEDIA and WCRC Leaders Asia for honoring me. Hichki is a reflection of how we all have weaknesses and, how we need to overcome them. I am very proud and thankful that Hichki has been accepted and loved by audiences. The theme of the event is Lead the Change and the core message of Hichki is also about that. We all have that right and duty to become the enablers of change in society and effect positive change in our communities."

Ranveer Singh happily accepting the Pride Actor of the Year for one of his greatest roles played onscreen as Khilaji in Padmaavat, said "I thank my director Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali for convincing me to take up this challenge and bring out the best in me. I hope to continue to take on such interesting challenges and entertaining you all."

Abhimanyu Ghosh, Editor-In-Chief, WCRCINT, said, "WCRC's team of experts has spent long months of research, analysis and studies to arrive at our list of awardees tonight. They are all not just leaders in their fields, but also role models for the youth of India as an entire generation prepares to take on the world. Winners of all awards - Pride of India, India's Most Trusted CEOs and Brand of the Year - are icons who will spearhead India into its next phase of growth. We have worked hard to make this night a success and with all the love we have received, I'd like to thank all our partners, winners and supporters who came out in full strength tonight. We promise to be back bigger, better, stronger."

WCRCLEADERS also honoured 'India's Most Trusted CEOs'. The 2018 edition of India's Most Trusted CEO's research is divided into 3 segments. The Iconic, Inspirational and the Trailblazers. WCRCLEADERS 2nd edition, India's Most Trusted CEOs include BhaskarBhat - MD & CEO Titan, Ashish Bhasin - CEO Dentsu Aegis, Mohit Malhotra - CEO Godrej Properties, Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal - Chairman & MD NBCC, Chandru Kalro - MD & CEO TTK Prestige, Rajeev Krishnan - CEO SPAR Hypermarket, Vipul Mathur - CEO Welspun, Tapan Singhel - MD & CEO Bajaj Allianz, Amit Gainda - CEO Avanse Financial Services, Dr. Hari Prasad - President Apollo Hospital, Ashish Mehrotra - CEO Max Bupa, Rishika Lulla - CEO EROS, Tarun Rai - CEO JWT South Asia, Nisha Narayan - CEO Red FM, Dr. Sandeep Gupta - MD, Richa Industries Limited, Bhaskar Patel - MD, Technip India Limited, Ravindra Sannareddy, MD, Sricity and many more.

The 2018 edition of Brand of the Year 2018 was released by Shri Deepak Vasant Kesarkar, Honorable Minister of State for Home, Finance and Planning, Maharashtra. WCRCINT Brand of the Year is India's only voting engine-based People's Choice Brand Research. 25 brands from different categories were selected for Brands of the Year 2018, India's Best Brands. Some of the selected brands for 2018 are BMW, Titan, Apollo Hospital, SPAR Hypermarket, TTK Prestige, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Tanishq, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Avanse Financial Services, Frooti, Dettol, Horlicks, Marriott-Walnut Grove Resort, Hindustan Petroleum - Power, Hindustan Petroleum - Power 99, Maggi, Jaguar Overseas, Embassy Group, Himalaya Face Wash, Utkarsh Pipes, Skyline Builders, Laurus School, Elica and Metropolitan Stock Exchange, Himalaya Baby Care, Kommerling, Sri City, Ballantines and many more.

Commenting on the award, Tarun Rai, CEO, J Walter Thompson South Asia, said, "An award for trust is special. Trust has so many dimensions. As a CEO you need to 'earn' the trust of so many stakeholders. Your employees, your leadership team, your partners, your clients, your global company, shareholders, and trust goes beyond meeting budgeted numbers. It has to do with the culture you build, of creating a conducive work environment, of empowering people, of investing in their growth. I believe trust is the most important attribute for a leader. If you have your people's trust you can move mountains."

Nisha Narayanan, COO & Director, Red FM & Redtro and CEO, Digital Radio (Mumbai), said, "It feels great to be recognized by WCRCINT. It's a matter of pride for all of us at Red FM to receive this prestigious award as I see to it as a team effort. My endeavor has always been to promote a participatory culture at the workplace fostering some of the most innovative ideas that we have worked on be it 'Malishka ko mat sun' or 'Mumbai khadde main' or even the most recent campaign 'National Jock Exchange'. My goal for the brand is to take a geographical spread to cover all the important tier 1 and tier 2 towns as these would be the growth hubs for us in the near future."

Vocalising the essence of leadership, seminal business leader Rajeev Krishnan, CEO, Spar Hypermarket, said, "This definitely has to be one of the most humble experiences in my life. To be able to do what you do, to be able to love doing it every day of your life, and to be able to do it with people you love, is the ultimate in life. The word 'trust' is an extremely powerful word and to be given that responsibility is even more breathtaking in itself. I'm extremely grateful and I certainly hope I can live up to this honor for years to come."

About WCRCINT:

WCRC lives by the core values 'Your Brand is the Business'. Hence it strives hard to make that happen. WCRCINT is a global leading firm in Research and Niche Publications. It has the leading number of Brand Intellectual Properties.

For more information, please visit http://www.wcrcint.com .

About ibrands360 Brand Architecture:

ibrands360 is a specialized brand architecture and research company that is totally dedicated towards brands research, brand fortification strategies and company evaluation studies. ibrands360 research on brands have set new industry benchmarks. Its research methodology in evaluating brands and its well-being have immensely accentuated many brands positioning and dynamics in the marketplace. Its intellectual properties on brands have set new standards.

For more information, please visit http://www.ibrands360.com.

Media Contact:

Pratiksha Munjal

[email protected]

+91-11-65373445

Head - Corporate Communications

WCRCINT



SOURCE WCRCINTEnglish Finnish

GOFORE PLC COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT 29 AUGUST 2018 AT 14:55 EET



Helsinki-based digital consulting company Solinor joins forces with Gofore



Gofore is expanding in Helsinki. Gofore has agreed to purchase the entire share capital of Solinor Oy, a specialist in digital solutions. Through the acquisition, Gofore will strengthen its position as one of the leading providers of digital change services and software development in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The purchase will also open up new interesting opportunities for the professionals at both companies.

"The corporate acquisition is in line with Gofore's growth strategy. We have sought to develop our ability to serve our large customers in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area locally by means of a line-up of top experts in the field. Solinor will help us strengthen our capabilities in this regard. The acquisition will make us a notable operator in the region," says Gofore CEO Timur Karki.

In total, Solinor's Helsinki office employs some 50 experts.

Genuinely customer-oriented

Gofore is known as a prominent and capable supplier for the Finnish public and private sector, and increasingly on an international scale. Its services span the entire value chain from management consultation to service design and implementation as well as cloud services. Solinor's expertise in modern software development particularly strengthens its competence in constructing digital services. The companies share the goal of creating added value for customers in the current digital age.

"Gofore shares our vision of the future. We believe that the best way to realise that vision is to work together with Gofore as a larger company. In the new arrangement, we can better meet our customers' demand thanks to a wider service offering and enhanced expertise," says Aki Koikkalainen, the CEO of Solinor.

The acquisition will improve Gofore's supply capacity. Due to the high demand for competent software developers, the company's customers, particularly in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, have found themselves having to compete for expertise. By joining forces with Solinor, Gofore is taking an important step towards securing its ability to continue to serve customer interests.

In 2017, the adjusted operating net sales of the business operations being acquired stood at EUR 4.0 million and the EBITDA was EUR 518,000. Solinor's reported net sales was EUR 4.4 million while the EBITDA stood at EUR 116,000.

The trade involves Gofore purchasing the entire share capital of Solinor and making former Solinor shareholders owners in Gofore through a directed issue of shares. The purchase price consists of the debt-free price of the business operations at EUR 4.0 million and the compensation of approximately EUR 716,000 to be paid from the net cash. EUR 1.4 million of the purchase price will be paid by means of a directed share issue of 159,830 Gofore shares to the sellers. The subscription price has been determined according to the average price weighted based on the trade volume between 30 July and 28 August, 2018. Remaining trade price will be paid cash.

The intention is for the to be completed on 31 August, 2018. Gofore estimates that the trade's effect on the company will be about EUR 1.0 million in 2018. The company's Board of Directors will not be amending the guidelines issued in the half-year report published on 15 August, 2018.

"We are setting out to write a shared story in Helsinki."

Digitalisation requires new operating methods and the ability to adapt to constant change. Increasing the agility of a company stems from the corporate culture, which is defined by the entire staff. People are at the centre of everything at both Gofore - the winner of the Great Place to Work 2017 study - and Solinor in all operational areas, from the development of customers' working culture to the companies' own daily activities.

"At our company, employee satisfaction is the basis for everything. We want to provide the best possible workplace for all of our employees. The acquisition at hand will provide our staff with the opportunity to expand their competence with regard to technologies and segments, for example. Solinor's employees will become part of our wonderful and open work community, and we will set out to write a shared story for ourselves in Helsinki. I am looking forward to seeing people and competences come together and experiencing the joy of shaping a new community," Karki says in summary.

For further information:

Timur Karki, CEO, Gofore Plc

tel. +358(0)40 828 5886

timur.karki@gofore.com



Aki Koikkalainen, CEO, Solinor Oy

tel. +358 (0)50 321 4756

aki.koikkalainen@solinor.comPune, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Research Future's research report has divulged that the Automotive Aftermarket Report: Information by Offering (Parts, Services), Channel (Authorized Repair, Independent Repair), Vehicle Age (0-4 years, 4-8 years, Above 8 years) and Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicle, Commercial Vehicle)  Forecast till 2023

The ramped-up car production globally has led to the demand for a strong aftermarket service from manufacturers. Automotive aftermarket is concerned with retailing, manufacturing, remanufacturing, and distribution of vehicle parts, equipment, and other accessories. The changing emission regulations and emphasis on safety by various nations has made the aftermarket industry the second-biggest revenue generator in the automotive sector.

Market Scope

The automotive aftermarket industry can exceed a valuation of over USD 1000 billion by 2023, as per a new insightful report by Market Research Future (MRFR). Changing technologies and evolving customer expectations from manufacturers are factors likely to drive market growth over the forecast period (2017-2023). The increase in disposable income levels of consumers in developing economies in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa is likely to open up growth opportunities for the market.

The market is set to experience a 4.40% CAGR during the forecast period thanks to investments by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and partnerships by various OEMs. Changes in emission norms outlined by government regulatory bodies coupled with entry of new players is expected to disrupt the current market. The entry of electric vehicles (EVs) has paved open new avenues for the growth. Developments in drivetrains to increase the mileage of EVs and adherence to latest Euro VI norms can positively impact the market growth in the coming years.

Request a Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6251

Competition Analysis

Key players in the automotive aftermarket industry include Denso Corporation, Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Robert Bosch GmbH, Federal-Mogul Corporation, 3M, Valeo, Magneti Marelli S.p.A., Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., Continental AG, and Aptiv PLC. Partnerships, collaborations, mergers & acquisitions, and launch of new products are bound to fetch high returns for these players in the coming years. For instance, Valeo, a French automotive parts supplier, has partnered with OEMs in more than 32 countries in an effort to expand its business.

Segmentation Analysis

The global market is segmented on the basis of offering, channel type, vehicle type, and vehicle age.

By offering, the market is segmented into parts and services. The parts segment is expected to remain highly profitable during the forecast period. This can be credited to dampening prices of spare parts and offering a variety of choices to consumers. This can culminate in high customer retention numbers.

Channels for Automotive Aftermarket discussed include authorized and independent repair. The authorized repair segment currently dominates the market. This trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. Nearly half the passenger vehicles in North America attain services at registered points in the city. Extended warranties, service contracts to entice customers, and discounted wear & tear solutions are factors expected to fuel the segment growth in the coming years.

Types of vehicles dealt in the automotive aftermarket industry include passenger and commercial vehicles. The passenger vehicle segment will outperform its counterpart till 2023. The expansion of automotive manufacturers in developed economies has culminated in a bevy of choices of cars for consumers. Increase in expendable income levels can be a catalyst for the segment growth in the forthcoming years.

By vehicle age, the automotive aftermarket is segmented into 0-4 years, 4-8 years, and above 8 years. The 0-4 years segment is deemed to remain lucrative over the forecast period. The above 8 years segment is likely to reign over market fortunes owing to customers requiring regular checkups for optimal maintenance of their respective cars. It can reach a valuation of USD 610.4 billion by 2023.

Regional Analysis

Geographically, the market covers trends of the market in the following regions  North America, Latin America, the Middle East & Africa (MEA), Europe, and Asia Pacific (APAC).

North America is expected to dominate the automotive aftermarket industry thanks to the strong economic growth of the U.S. and Canada, prime contributors to the market. The U.S. is a major hub for automotive components and caters premium and luxury vehicle segment.

The Europe market has assumed the second position in the market owing to Euro VI emission standards and the emphasis of countries to achieve sustainability goals.

The APAC market is a strong contender for the top position owing to developing economies of India and China. The behavior of shoppers to search online for parts and accessories can provide an impetus for distributors to market their merchandise online and gain a share of the industry profits. Introduction of Bharat Stage VI emission standards in India to order to keep pollution levels under control and shift to digital-driven models can bolster the market growth.

Browse Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-aftermarket-industry-6251

Industry News

Companies are moving to rural areas to cater to the needs for automotive parts and accessories. Riding on the wave are startups such as NayaGaadi, MeriCAR, and Sparehub. These companies buy new vehicles or required parts for mechanics.

Related Reports

Automotive Cleaner & Degreaser Market Report Research Report, by Cleaner (Brake, Carburetor, Engine Flush), Degreaser (Engine, Exhaust, Transmission), Type (Water, Solvent Based), Supply (Aerosol Can, Spray Bottle), Vehicle Type, Region -Forecast till 2023. The global automotive cleaner & degreaser aftermarket is expected to expand with a CAGR of approx. 6% (2017 to 2023).

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-cleaner-degreaser-market-5896

Electric vehicle Charging Station Market Information Report by charging station (AC charging station, DC charging station and inductive charging station), Connector Type (chademo, CCS and others), and by Regions - Global Forecast To 2023.

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/electric-vehicle-charging-station-market-5401

About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trevali Mining Corporation (Trevali or the Company) (TSX: TV, BVL: TV; OTCQX: TREVF, Frankfurt: 4TI) provides an update on the Murray Brook Project located approximately 10 km west of the Caribou Mill complex in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Canada.



In conjunction with joint venture partner Puma Exploration Inc. (Puma) a seven hole, 1,700-metre geotechnical and metallurgical drill program was undertaken to provide material for ongoing mine design and planning purposes. Drilling targeted a variety of mineral domains to provide representative sample suites from the deposit, including the copper zone (see Table 1 and Figure 1). Metallurgical recovery testing is in process at RPC in Fredericton, New Brunswick with results anticipated in October.

Drilling confirmed good to excellent mineral continuity and significant zinc, lead and copper grades were returned over wide intervals, with highlights including:

MB18-01 intersecting 36.6 metres grading 1.4% Cu (including a 9-metre interval of 4.0% Cu);

MB18-02 intersecting 19.0 metres averaging 2.1% Cu (including a 5-metre interval of 4.3% Cu);

MB18-03 intersecting 24.0 metres of 2.5% Cu (including a 6-metre interval of 4.0% Cu);

MB18-05 intersected 120.9 metres grading 6.1% Zn and 2.1% Pb (including a 27-metre interval of 13.1% Zn and 4.8% Pb); and

MB18-07 intersected 87.1 metres averaging 6.9% Zn and 2.4% Pb (including a 21-metre interval of 10.2% Zn and 3.1% Pb)

These drill results illustrate the continuity and the high-grade core of the Murray Brook deposit and will feed into ongoing geotechnical/metallurgical studies and mine development plans, stated Dr. Mark Cruise, Trevalis President and CEO. Murray Brook, given its proximity to our Caribou operations, is an important component of our Bathurst Mining Camp life-of-mill strategy whereby we look to leverage our existing processing complex to facilitate long-term production in the region.

DDH # From (m) To (m) Length (m) Zn (%) Pb (%) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) MB-2018-01 46.7 101.0 54.4 1.23 0.57 1.16 37 including 48.0 54.0 6.0 1.71 0.83 2.00 51 including 64.4 101.0 36.6 1.38 0.63 1.35 41 incl. 86.0 100.0 14.0 1.17 0.46 2.97 42 incl. 91.0 100.0 9.0 0.68 0.26 4.00 36 MB-2018-02 19.0 228.0 209.0 2.83 0.84 0.38 33 including 19.0 88.0 69.0 3.71 1.07 0.79 31 incl. 19.0 38.0 19.0 1.85 0.61 2.11 31 incl. 20.0 29.0 9.0 1.99 0.7 3.12 37 incl. 21.0 26.0 5.0 2.25 0.84 4.29 40 incl. 53.0 63.0 10.0 6.23 2.23 0.17 41 including 133.0 178.0 45.0 3.72 1.13 0.12 48 incl. 136.0 140.0 4.0 6.01 2.24 0.02 58 including 168.0 177.0 9.0 6.02 1.78 0.09 74 incl. 169.0 174.0 5.0 8.33 2.70 0.06 97 including 212.0 215.0 3.0 5.49 2.42 0.15 51 MB-2018-03 11.4 110.0 98.6 2.51 0.48 0.79 29 including 12.0 36.0 24.0 3.19 0.63 2.53 41 incl. 12.0 26.0 14.0 2.75 0.43 3.12 42 incl. 12.0 18.0 6.0 2.84 0.61 4.00 63 including 26.0 42.0 16.0 3.70 0.75 1.01 32 incl. 26.0 34.0 8.0 5.06 1.09 1.57 39 incl. 63.0 66.0 3.0 6.77 0.28 0.15 28 including 80.0 102.0 22.0 3.73 0.87 0.19 42 incl. 85.0 99.0 14.0 4.87 1.22 0.20 52 incl. 85.0 92.0 7.0 6.10 1.38 0.11 60 MB-2018-04 114.0 252.3 138.3 1.56 0.69 0.65 37 including 199.0 228.0 29.0 3.08 1.16 0.22 63 incl. 218.0 228.0 10.0 3.95 1.21 0.41 65 MB-2018-05 109.4 230.3 120.9 6.11 2.05 0.11 70 including 112.0 139.0 27.0 7.31 2.22 0.07 88 incl. 112.0 122.0 10.0 8.17 2.38 0.06 88 including 179.0 230.3 51.3 8.54 3.07 0.13 93 incl. 182.0 217.0 35.0 10.72 3.84 0.15 117 incl. 190.0 217.0 27.0 13.09 4.80 0.11 142 incl. 198.0 210.0 12.0 17.25 7.38 0.12 196 incl. 204.0 207.0 3.0 20.10 8.17 0.15 207 MB-2018-06A 57.0 215.1 158.1 3.75 1.20 0.15 38 including 79.0 97.0 18.0 6.08 1.76 0.10 89 incl. 86.0 96.0 10.0 8.05 2.08 0.08 84 including 120.0 125.0 5.0 5.17 1.24 0.08 35 including 146.0 151.0 5.0 5.33 1.79 0.03 52 including 173.0 214.0 41.0 5.45 1.82 0.13 46 incl. 190.0 214.0 24.0 7.56 2.81 0.06 61 incl. 190.0 207.0 17.0 8.07 2.84 0.06 64 incl. 202.0 207.0 5.0 10.12 4.10 0.06 60 MB-2018-07 154.9 242.0 87.1 6.86 2.35 0.13 96 including 154.9 193.0 38.1 9.04 2.93 0.12 142 incl. 157.0 168.0 11.0 10.89 3.30 0.15 161 incl. 157.0 161.0 4.0 15.08 4.46 0.18 215 including 181.0 242.0 61.0 7.42 2.46 0.15 96 incl. 181.0 202.0 21.0 10.18 3.09 0.14 144 incl. 181.0 193.0 12.0 16.64 4.75 0.19 243 incl. 182.0 189.0 7.0 19.66 5.27 0.20 274 including 223.0 241.0 18.0 9.66 3.16 0.23 97 incl. 223.0 228.0 5.0 14.67 3.68 0.22 107

Table 1: Murray Brook drill results. True thickness ranges from 70-90% of the core intervals.

MURRAY BROOK PROJECT

Trevali has an option to acquire up to a 75% interest in the Murray Brook Project by providing $7.5 million in financing for Puma to complete its acquisition of a 100% interest in the project (see March 2, 2018 Trevali news release for details). The Murray Brook deposit is located 10 kilometres west of the Caribou Mill and 10 kilometres east of the Restigouche Deposit along the Caribou ore horizon.

The deposit has a measured mineral resource of 3.68 million tonnes grading 5.57% Zn, 1.87% Pb, 0.36% Cu, 70.5 g/t Ag and 0.56 g/t Au, plus indicated mineral resources of 1.60 million tonnes grading 4.48% Zn, 1.63% Pb, 0.70% Cu, 65.3 g/t Ag and 0.88 g/t Au (for a combined measured and indicated resource of 5.28 million tonnes averaging 5.24% Zn, 1.80% Pb, 0.46% Cu, 68.9 g/t Ag and 0.65 g/t Au containing approximately 610 million pounds of zinc, 209 million pounds of lead and 11.7 million ounces of silver) as of December 21, 2016.

The core of the mineral resource occurs in the West Zone (zinc-lead dominant) which is approximately 200 metres wide, extending from surface to approximately 300 metres vertical; the true thickness of the massive sulphide body varies from 75 metres to 100 metres. The East Zone (copper-gold dominant) is approximately 100 metres wide, also extending from surface to approximately 300 vertical metres. On February 20, 2017, Puma filed on SEDAR a technical report entitled Amended and Restated Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate on the Murray Brook Project.

In conjunction with Puma, Trevali plans to advance the Murray Brook deposit to a production decision in a timely but disciplined manner.

Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance

Daniel Marinov, P.Geo, Trevalis VP Exploration, is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Marinov is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance programs. Mr. Marinov is not independent of the Company as he is an officer and shareholder.

All sampling, drilling, testing and analysis are conducted using rigorous QA/QC procedures to ensure reliability and validity of results beyond basic regulatory guidelines. Samples are shipped, stored and assayed at the Caribou mine site lab. The samples are crushed, split and pulverized at a range of 80 to 100 microns. The crusher and pulverizer are cleaned with pressurized air between each sample. Zinc, lead, copper and silver assays were obtained by four acid Aqua-Regia dissolution followed by Atomic Absorption measurements. Values of zinc over 10% are assayed by volumetric method. For QA/QC, there are typically 8 standards run with a batch of 25. A duplicate is done at least once every 50 samples, no blanks are run. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of lab reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Pulps are currently stored in the lab in labelled brown sealed bags which in turn are stored in organized labelled boxes. Coarse rejects are stored in labelled 18-litre pails on pallets inside the Alliance warehouse.

ABOUT TREVALI MINING CORPORATION

Trevali is a zinc-focused, base metals company with four mines: the wholly-owned Santander mine in Peru, the wholly-owned Caribou mine in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick, the 90% owned Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia and the 90% owned Perkoa mine in Burkina Faso.

The shares of Trevali are listed on the TSX (symbol TV), the OTCQX (symbol TREVF), the Lima Stock Exchange (symbol TV), and the Frankfurt Exchange (symbol 4TI). For further details on Trevali, readers are referred to the Companys website (www.trevali.com) and to Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

TREVALI MINING CORPORATION

Mark D. Cruise (signed)

Mark D. Cruise, President

Contact Information:

Steve Stakiw, Vice President - Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

Email: sstakiw@trevali.com

Phone: (604) 488-1661 / Direct: (604) 638-5623

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the United States Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, or in releases made by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, all as may be amended from time. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Companys plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results. Such forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to statements as to: the timing and amount of estimated future production; the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves; costs and timing of development; operating efficiencies, including the ability to manage water while reducing power consumption, costs and expenditures; expectations regarding milling operations and metal production shortfalls; metal output and throughput rates; cost guidance and anticipated annual results; anticipated results of future exploration; and forecast future metal prices.

These statements reflect the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. If any assumptions are untrue, it could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including commodity prices, anticipated costs and ability to achieve goals.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the Companys actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to joint venture operations; fluctuations in spot and forward markets for silver, zinc, base metals and certain other commodities (such as natural gas, fuel oil and electricity); fluctuations in currency markets; risks related to the technological and operational nature of the Companys business; changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, the United States, Peru, Namibia, Burkina Faso, or other countries where the Company may carry on business in the future; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological or structural formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom the Company does business; inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks and hazards; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; diminishing quantities or grades of Mineral Resources as properties are mined; global financial conditions; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company; the Companys ability to complete and successfully integrate acquisitions and to mitigate other business combination risks; challenges to, or difficulty in maintaining, the Companys title to properties and continued ownership thereof; the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, and changes in project parameters to deal with unanticipated economic or other factors; increased competition in the mining industry for properties, equipment, qualified personnel, and their costs, as well as other risks as more fully described in the Companys annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2017, which is available on the Companys website ( www.trevali.com ) and filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty or reliance on forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

Note to United States Investors

In accordance with applicable Canadian securities regulatory requirements, all mineral resource estimates of the Company disclosed or incorporated by reference in this news release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, classified in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum's CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves Definitions and Guidelines.

The Company uses the terms "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". While these terms are recognized by Canadian securities regulatory authorities, they are not recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. US investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the material in these categories will ever be converted into reserves.

Source: Trevali Mining Corporation

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ff92eb37-bd00-4d17-9d58-d01df2e0e8fc



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Welcome Guest! You Are Here:Sterling, VA, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cuisine Solutions is pleased to announce that Cafe + Teria will be implemented into three Virginia districts to launch the 2018-2019 school year. The fast-casual school lunch program will expand into Loudoun County and Alexandria City Schools. The pilot program for Cafe + Teria was introduced to high school students attending Arlington, Virginias three public high schools, Wakefield, Yorktown and Washington-Lee in 2017 after a brainstorming forum which was held with Cuisine Solutions and 10 of Virginias school districts and food management companies. Bill Stablein, Cuisine Solutions manager K-12 programs, spearheaded this effort sharing the feedback from the districts with Cuisine Solutions chefs, enabling the team to work together to create the menu especially for Cafe + Teria with an emphasis on local ingredients.

Due to the success of this fresh lunch experience, Arlington County is commencing their second year of Cafe + Teria on September 4 as the high schools reopen. New additions to the program in 2018 include the Italian bowl, featuring a basil vinaigrette and whole grain pasta.

Arlington County Director of Food and Nutrition Services Amy Maclosky notes, Cafe Teria has allowed us to broaden our menu options responding to our students desire for more customized meals.

On August 23, the new Academies of Loudoun in Leesburg, Virginia opened with a Cafe + Teria in the Ignition service area on the first floor of this over 300,000 square-foot facility which will serve 1,600 students. Loudoun County also has plans to expand in its district by rolling out Cafe + Teria in high schools this academic year.

Working with a local, Loudoun-based company is great, states Loudoun County Public Schools Nutrition Services Director Dr. Becky Domokos-Bays, Cuisine Solutions has worked hard to understand the school nutrition business and has been a valuable partner in our work to bring fresher, speed scratch items into our schools. The Academies of Loudoun venue will offer students a variety of choices and the opportunity to build their own meals from different themes.

Additionally, T.C. Williams High School, King Street Campus, will begin the school year on September 4 with Cafe + Teria offered daily. This healthy lunch offering, which mirrors a fast-casual restaurant appealing to young diners, will travel to various secondary schools in Alexandria City throughout the year. The option of customization is exactly what our students have been requesting. Plus, contributing back to the local economy in the process is an added bonus! states Alexandria City Public Schools Nutrition Coordinator Robyn Douglas.

At each Cafe +Teria, students select ingredients in four steps to build a nutritious meal by picking a base of grain, salad or a wrap; a protein: antibiotic-free chicken, ground beef, or Paneer cheese; a topping of vegetables, cheese and sauces, and a dressing. Every Cafe +Teria in the Virginia districts will have a serving line with bold graphics that invite exploration with a distinctive, modern look.

The concept for this innovative school lunch program is designed around using Cuisine Solutions proteins, exclusively. Cafe + Terias protein choices will all be prepared with the sous-vide method, which fully cooks and pasteurizes the food. Sous-vide is French for "under vacuum" which describes a cooking technique in which food is vacuum-sealed, then slow cooked in hot water. Cuisine Solutions, the worlds leading expert in sous-vide cooking, pioneered, perfected and popularized sous-vide, which allows for food to cook at a steady temperature to retain nutrients, flavors and moisture that are often lost during conventional cooking techniques.

Cafe + Teria will also provide students with additional allotted amounts of vegetables and will likely increase their consumption through this program. It also provides a more modern dining experience with several different international cuisine types including Mexican, Indian, Asian, Mediterranean and Caribbean to address menu fatigue. Parents will see Cafe + Teria as a consistent fresh dining option that their children will appreciate. Cuisine Solutions is also providing the school partners with the recipes, standard operating procedures, name brand and marketing materials to support the new program. Cafe + Teria resembles a franchise for schools, which can be replicated at any school district in the country.

Cuisine Solutions chefs and its Cafe + Teria team will continue to source product selections with recipe creations that will appeal to students and provide healthy, quality, delicious options with pleasing combinations, incorporating local produce from area farms for the toppings. The recipes are also low in sodium, fat and sugar. Additionally, dressing recipes and ingredient combinations for each type of cuisine were developed through The Culinary Research and Education Academy (CREA), the global leader in culinary research, education and consulting, and the sister company to Cuisine Solutions.





Photos here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ev7phel9hlhh58a/AADz7qOmK890vq-sL3qOlpvsa?dl=0

About Cuisine Solutions

The worlds leading manufacturer and distributor of sous-vide foods, Cuisine Solutions is recognized by top chefs as the authority on sous-videthe innovative slow-cooking technique that the company pioneered, perfected and popularized decades ago. Cuisine Solutions culinary research and development team innovates new cooking techniques and recipes every day, anticipating clients needs and market trends while incorporating the finest ingredients. Computerized monitoring systems and precise cooking times and temperatures ensure that every dish is consistently excellent. Launched in 1989 and based in Sterling, Virginia, Cuisine Solutions services more than 22,000 restaurants, as well as airlines, cruise ships and major hotels. For more information, visit www.cuisinesolutions.com.

About CREA

The Culinary Research and Education Academy (CREA) is a global leader in culinary research, education and consulting. Founded in 1991 in France by Chief Scientist Dr. Bruno Goussault as Centre de Recherche et dEtudes pour lAlimentation, CREA aims to change the way chefs prepare food through rigorous training, food science innovation and food consulting. To date, CREA and Dr. Goussault have trained over 5,000 chefs around the world and over 80% of the worlds 3-Star Michelin chefs. Through its headquarters in Paris and Washington, D.C., CREA educates and consults professional chefs and top industry professionals alike through educational programs, global seminars, online video courses and customized engagements. For more information, visit http://www.lecrea.com.

###Batty Over Halloween Celebration Was A Treat! The Central Astoria LDCs 6th annual Batty Over Halloween Celebration held on Sunday, October 24 was a real treat for everyone who came out. Excited...

Invest In Violence Intervention This week U.S. Senator Charles Schumer advocated for at least $5 billion in funding for Community-based Violence Intervention (CVI) programs to be included in the...AUDUBON, Pa., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Globus Medical, Inc. (NYSE:GMED), a leading musculoskeletal solutions company, will feature its ExcelsiusGPS revolutionary robotic guidance and navigation system along with its latest advancements in expandable interbody technology at the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS) Annual Forum being held September 6-8, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada.



As part of the Forums scientific agenda, two clinical studies will be presented highlighting Globus Medicals expandable lateral interbody spacer technology designed to restore disc height, increase lordosis, and reduce subsidence compared to traditional static spacers. The company will also host an ExcelsiusGPS workshop presented by Dr. Sabino DAgostino, a neurosurgeon from South Carolina, who will discuss his transition to the ExcelsiusGPS platform and the impact it has had on his minimally invasive spine surgery procedures.

As leaders in the musculoskeletal device industry, we are committed to supporting research, education, and development of medical advancements through minimally invasive spine surgery, said Andrew Iott, Senior Vice President, Global Product Development. We are proud to be a sponsor of SMISS and are excited to showcase our state-of-the-art ExcelsiusGPS robotic system and best-in-class platform of innovative expandable implants for MIS spine surgery.

Globus welcomes SMISS attendees to clinical presentations and workshops on Friday, September 7.

7:30am: Pompeian III/IV

ExcelsiusGPS First Clinical Experience

Sabino DAgostino, MD; Charleston Brain and Spine, Charleston, SC



11:05am: Florentine Ballroom

A Clinical Study to Evaluate Static versus Expandable Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion Devices: With One-year Follow-up

Richard Frisch, MD; Southeastern Spine Institute, Mount Pleasant, SC



11:17am: Florentine Ballroom

Do Expandable Cages Lead to a Higher Incidence of Subsidence? Two-year Follow-up of Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusions

Dan Cohen, MD; Spine Care Institute of Miami Beach, Miami Beach, FL

Globus Medical invites meeting attendees to Booth# 201 to experience its most recent product innovations and discuss MIS advancements.



About Globus Medical, Inc.

Globus Medical, Inc. is a leading musculoskeletal solutions company based in Audubon, PA. The company was founded in 2003 by an experienced team of professionals with a shared vision to create products that enable surgeons to promote healing in patients with musculoskeletal disorders. Additional information can be accessed at http://www.globusmedical.com.

Safe Harbor Statements

All statements included in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and may be identified by their use of words such as believe, may, might, could, will, aim, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend, expect, plan and other similar terms. These forward-looking statements are based on our current assumptions, expectations and estimates of future events and trends. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to many risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect our businesses and operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, factors affecting our quarterly results, our ability to manage our growth, our ability to sustain our profitability, demand for our products, our ability to compete successfully (including without limitation our ability to convince surgeons to use our products and our ability to attract and retain sales and other personnel), our ability to rapidly develop and introduce new products, our ability to develop and execute on successful business strategies, our ability to comply with changing laws and regulations that are applicable to our businesses, our ability to safeguard our intellectual property, our success in defending legal proceedings brought against us, trends in the medical device industry, general economic conditions, and other risks. For a discussion of these and other risks, uncertainties and other factors that could affect our results, you should refer to the disclosure contained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the sections labeled Risk Factors and Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements, and in our Forms 10-Q, Forms 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available at www.sec.gov. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risk factors and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, events or circumstances or other factors arising or coming to our attention after the date hereof.

Contact:

Brian Kearns

Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations

Phone: (610) 930-1800

Email: investors@globusmedical.com

www.globusmedical.comMoscow court registers appeal against recovery of $32.5 mln from ex-FSIN director

 RIA Novosti, Valery Melnikov

10:41 29/08/2018

MOSCOW, August 29 (RAPSI)  The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has registered an appeal against ruling on recovery of over 2.2 billion rubles ($32.5 million) from ex-director of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Alexander Reimer and his accomplices convicted of embezzlement, the press-service of the court has told RAPSI.

The appeal was filed by one of the defendants, Nikolay Krivolapov, convicted ex-deputy of FSIN.

On August 22, the court granted FSINs claim in full.

Along with Reimer and Krivolapov, another defendant in the case us an ex-director of FSINs Information and Technical Support Center Viktor Opredelyonov.

In June 2017, the Zamoskvorestsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Reimer to 8 years in a penal colony for embezzling funds allocated for procurement of ankle bracelets, fined him 800,000 rubles (about $12,000), and stripped of his General rank.

Krivolapov and Opredelyonov received 5 years and 8 months and 6 years in prison respectively. Krivolapov was fined 600,000 rubles ($9,000) while Opredelyonov got a 700,000-ruble fine ($10,300).

Lawyers of the defendants asked to repeal or soften the sentences. A lawyer representing Reimer said that the Zamoskvorestsky District Court issued a ruling with numerous violations and that it did not study some of the case documents.

According to investigators, Reimer, Krivolapov and Opredelyonov conspired with businessman Nikolay Martynov to embezzle monetary funds from the Russian state budget.

Between 2010 and 2012, Reimer and his accomplices stole money allocated for the purchase of ankle bracelets for persons placed under house arrest. The procurement was pursued at an enormously overvalued price. Damage allegedly caused to the state budget was estimated at no less than 2.7 billion rubles ($40 million at the current exchange rate).

The defendants have been charged, depending of their role, with abuse of office and embezzlement committed through abuse of office. Krivolapov was additionally charged with illegal possession of ammunition. They pleaded not guilty.

A case against Martynov was reviewed separately as he fully admitted his guilt in large-scale embezzlement. The businessman cooperated with investigators and announced that he is going to compensate the government with delivery of 7,000 new ankle bracelets. Martynov is a head of NPF Meta company that was supplying bracelets for prison inmates.Orenburg court puts high-ranking official under house arrest

 RIA Novosti, Mikhail Kutuzov

12:59 29/08/2018

MOSCOW, August 29 (RAPSI)  The Leninsky District Court of Orenburg has transferred deputy head of the construction department for the city of Orenburg in Southern Russia Gennady Borisov, charged with receiving a 2-million-ruble bribe ($30,200), under house arrest, the press-service of the court has told RAPSI.

Borisov is charged with receiving a large-scale bribe in the monetary form for providing assistance. The defendant admitted wrongdoing and signed a pre-trial plea. He is to stay under house arrest until October 8.

According to the law enforcement, on August 8, the official received 2 million rubles from the CEO of a commercial organization, who sought help with construction and sale of real estate in Orenburg. Borisov was apprehended soon afterwards.Jurors announce acquittal in Moscow district court

 RIA Novosti, Igor Zarembo

14:33 29/08/2018

MOSCOW, August 29 (RAPSI)  A jury panel announced acquittal in the criminal case against Dmitry Butov, who was charged with murder, which was the first time someone was acquitted by a jury in a Moscow district court after the jury trial jurisdiction had been extended, the press-service of the Tverskoy District Court has stated.

The panel unanimously found Butov innocent and the court declared his innocence as well, returning the criminal case for repeated investigation. Prosecutors appealed the ruling. Butov was charged with beating a person to death in 2017.

This is the first time a jury panel in Moscow acquitted a defendant after the reform. On July 24, the Cherymushkinsky District Court of Moscow announced jurors decision in a criminal case over attempted murder, finding the defendant guilty of attempted murder.

The law extending jury trial institutions competence took effect in Russia on June 1.

Amendments submitted to the Criminal Procedural Code of Russia are aimed to implement decisions of the Constitutional Court regarding cases in the framework of which the most severe punishments would not envisage life imprisonment or death penalty. According to the law, these cases may be reviewed by a jury panel in district and garrison military courts.

The legislation extends the list of crimes which may be considered by jurors. They include cases over infringement on life of public officials, persons executing justice or conducting investigation and law enforcement officers.

Moreover, jurors have been entitled to consider cases on genocide, murder, infliction of grievous bodily harm, illegal producing and selling drugs and drug trafficking. As some of these crimes carry harsh sentence, their noncompletion could become a key element for jury trials.

The law also stipulates that cases against women and men aged 65 and older may be considered by jurors.

Previously, women as well as men over age of 65 cannot be sentenced to exceptional measure of punishment and therefore their cases cant be reviewed by a jury trial. The Constitutional Court has found that the provision to contradict the Constitution and ruled to lift the restriction in order to ensure equal access to justice.Pune, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Progressive Markets published a report, titled, Global Hydraulic Power Tools Market by Product Type (Hydraulic Cylinder & Jack, Tightening & Loosening Tools, and Cutting Tools & Separating Tools), and End User (Industrial Manufacturing, Oil, Gas & Petrochemical, Electric Utility, Railway, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2025. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the global market based on the current market trends, future market potential, top investment areas and also provides the competitive market landscape. According to the report, the global hydraulic power tools market accounted for $1.39 billion in 2017, and is expected to garner $2.31 billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 6.8% from 2018 to 2025.

Request for Sample of Hydraulic Power Tools Market @ https://www.progressivemarkets.com/request-sample/hydraulic-power-tools-market

Rapid construction activities in developing countries, growing impetus toward automation, and recent technological advancements in the automotive industry have fueled the growth of the global hydraulic power tools market. Moreover, spiraling growth of other industries, such as manufacturing and oil & gas, have supplemented the adoption of hydraulic tools, which in turn have supplemented the market growth. However, factors such as high costs of manufacturing and maintenance coupled with frequent critical check-ups of hydraulic tools hinder the growth of the global hydraulic power tools market. On the contrary, continuous innovations in hydraulic technology would offer lucrative opportunities for the market players in the near future.

Tension and torque tools to witness huge demand by 2025

The report splits the product segment into hydraulic cylinder & jack, hydraulic rescue tools, tension and torque tools, and others. The hydraulic cylinder & jack segment dominated the market in 2017, contributing more than one-third share of the market. However, the tension and torque tools segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 7.6% through 2025.

Major end user industries in the market

The report discusses various end user industries of the industry, which include industrial manufacturing, oil, gas & petrochemical, electric utility, railway, and others. In 2017, the industrial manufacturing segment manifested the highest demand for hydraulic tools, contributing more than half of the total market revenue. The segment is expected to continue its growth trend, registering 7.3% CAGR from 2018 to 2025.

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Asia-Pacific to govern the industry by 2025

The report includes the analysis of several geographical regions such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. The North American region dominated the global market in 2017, contributing about 36% share of the total market. However, Asia-Pacific would dominate the global hydraulic power tools market throughout the study period, registering a CAGR of 7.7% through 2025.

Torchbearers of the market

The global hydraulic power tools market report includes an in-depth analysis of the following key companies namely, Actuant Corporation, SPX Flow, Textron Inc., HTL Worldwide Ltd., Hi-Force, Atlas Copco AB, KUDOS MECHANICAL CO., LTD., IDEX Corporation, Shinn Fu, and Cembre Inc. These market players have adopted several strategies such as partnerships, collaborations, product launch, and mergers & acquisitions to maintain their leading position in the market.Two more penitentiary officials arrested as part of notorious prison torture case

 RIA Novosti, Vladimir Vyatkin

11:59 29/08/2018

MOSCOW, August 29 (RAPSI)  Two more employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) have been arrested on suspicion of using violence against the inmates of the Yaroslavl Penal Colony One, the press-service of the Investigative Committee has stated.

According to investigators, in November 2016, during scheduled operation involving employees of the Yaroslavl Penal Colony Eight, the inmates were beaten with batons by these employees. Investigators seek to detain the suspects: Sardor Ziyabov and Dmitry Nikitenko.

On August 2, the Investigative Committee of Russia brought charges against 12 employees of the Yaroslavl Penal Colony One as part of the criminal case over beating and torture of an inmate.

Names of the defendants are: Maksim Yablokov, Igor Bogdanov, Ruslan Tsvetkov, Aleksey Brovkin, Dmitry Solovyov, Sergey Drachev, Ivan Kalashnikov, Sergey Yefremov, Alexander Morozov, Andrey Zybin, Aleksey Andreyev and Aleksey Mikityuk.

The case is classified as abuse of office involving use of violence, which is being investigated by the main directorate of the Investigative Committee. The crime may be punished by a prison term of up to 10 years.

Earlier, Novaya Gazeta newspaper published a video showing an inmate being tortured by some persons wearing grey camouflage uniforms. Later, it was revealed that the victim in the video had been identified as Yevgeny Makarov, who is serving his term in the Yaroslavl penal colony. The video was filmed by one of the staff members according to lawyers representing Makarov.

Irina Biryukova, the inmates attorney, who handed the footage to the media, has asked the Federal Chamber of Attorneys to ensure her safety because of threats from the prison staff. She also announced that she was leaving Russia.

The Chairman of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov visited the penal colony on July 23. The Council filed its reports to the Investigative Committee and the General Prosecutors Office.WABASH, Ind., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FFW Corporation (OTC PINK: FFWC) (8/28/2018 Close: $43.50), parent corporation of Crossroads Bank, has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per share of common stock, which represents an increase of 10.5% from the prior quarter. The dividend is payable September 28, 2018 to shareholders of record on August 31, 2018.

The book value of FFW Corporation stock was $34.57 per share as of July 31, 2018. The last reported trade of stock at the close of business on August 28, 2018 was $43.50 per share and the number of outstanding shares was 1,149,980 as of the same date. On July 31, 2018, the corporation had assets of $383.3 million and shareholders' equity of $40.3 million. The Board of FFW Corporation and Crossroads Bank will continue to evaluate the payment of a dividend on a quarterly basis.

Crossroads Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of FFW Corporation providing an extensive array of banking services and a wide range of investments and securities products through its main office in Wabash and five banking centers located in Columbia City, North Manchester, South Whitley, Syracuse, and Peru, IN. The Bank provides leasing services at its banking centers and its Fishers, IN leasing and commercial loan office. Insurance products are offered through an affiliated company, Insurance 1 Services, Inc. The corporation's stock is traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol "FFWC." Our website address is www.crossroadsbanking.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Emily Boardman

Treasurer

(260) 563-3185Analysts said with more power sector companies referred to the NCLT by banks, large companies would be at an advantage.

Better credit metrics and a zero default track record with banks is helping large conglomerates, led by Adani group, Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries (RIL), and Tata group, snap up bankrupt companies.

They are fast emerging winners under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.

The Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Group is also in the race to buy stressed assets, but so far it has had limited success.

After Tata Steel took over Bhushan Steel by paying Rs 352 billion to banks, Tata Power, in a joint venture (JV) with ICICI Ventures, is leading the race to bag Prayagraj Power by offering Rs 60 billion and 15 per cent equity to banks, say bankers.

Similarly, the Adani group is set to take over GMR groups 1,370-megawatt Chhattisgarh project by offering Rs 3,800 crore.

Adani Power will also assume another Rs 1,400 crore of non-funded liabilities. Adani Wilmar has also emerged the highest bidder for Ruchi Soya. Adanis Rs 6,000 crore offer for Ruchi Soya will require banks to take a 60 per cent haircut.

Lenders said RIL has emerged the highest bidder of Alok Industries and has already signed an agreement with the Anil Ambani group to take over the beleaguered Reliance Communications telecom infrastructure for Rs 18,100 crore.

It is clear that the large companies are the biggest beneficiaries of the IBC, 2016.

"Since the new owners are taking over only half the debt of these companies, they will be able to turn around these companies faster than the erstwhile promoters; interest costs will also go down sharply, said a lender.

JSW Group is also leading the race to bag Bhushan Power for Rs 19,700 crore after pipping Tata Steel in the race.

JSW Group has already taken over Monnet Ispat, which was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) last year by banks, following the Reserve Bank of Indias directive to send bank defaulters to the NCLT for debt resolution.

Bankers said both Tata Power and Adani Power are facing difficulties in running their mega power projects in Mundra, Gujarat, and have sought help from the local government to take over a majority stake in these projects after a Supreme Court decision ruled out higher tariff due to an increase in imported coal price.

The Gujarat government has set up a committee to take the views of banks, companies, and state electricity boards to seek a solution.

Analysts said with more power sector companies referred to the NCLT by banks, large companies would be at an advantage.

JSW Energy has the strongest balance sheet with an appetite to absorb stressed projects. Tata Power through Resurgent Power JV with ICICI Ventures with a 26 per cent stake and Adani Power, too, could exploit this M&A opportunity despite their stretched balance sheets, said Swarnim Maheshwari, an Edelweiss analyst.

Indian banks have more than $210 billion of stressed debt on their balance sheet and have one of the worst bad loan ratios among the top 10 economies at 11.6 per cent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

This ratio will worsen to 12.2 per cent by March 2016.

The IBC, 2016, was introduced by the Narendra Modi government to stop banks to evergreen loans by disbursing more loans to erring promoters.

At the same time, the Modi government recapitalised banks by Rs 80,000 crore early this year so that they could meet their capital requirements.

`In total, banks will receive Rs 2.11 trillion over the next two years as recapitalisation from the government.

Photograph: Joshua Lott/ReutersAfter the Chennai floods, insurance companies had got 50,000 claims worth Rs 4,800 crore.

The initial estimates of general insurance claims from Kerala floods, reportedly at Rs 1,000 crore, is lower than the total claims during the Chennai floods in 2015.

This shows that the penetration of insurance was low in households of the state, said a senior industry official.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Insurance Advisors Meet in Chennai, K B Vijay Srinivas, chairman-cum-managing director (joint charge), United India Insurance Company, said his company had 5,000 claims to the tune of Rs 350 crore.

The state government has estimated a loss of about Rs 19,500 crore. It (insurance claims) is not even 10 per cent (of estimated loss). It is our responsibility to see that more people get insured, said Srinivas.

While motor vehicle insurance is mandatory, more people now seem interested in health insurance, with the increase in healthcare expenditure, he said, adding that households and shops were very often not insured.

After the Chennai floods, insurance companies had got 50,000 claims worth Rs 4,800 crore.

We are still waiting, claims are still coming, and we dont know what the final figure will be. We are the biggest player there (Kerala), among all the insurance companies, said Srinivas.

The meeting of public sector insurance companies was held in Chennai, in which it was decided to simplify procedures for the Kerala clients.

It will to some extent have an impact on the companys financial performance. How much can be moved to reinsurance arrangements has to be looked into. We are trying to do things fast, but there may not be any particular deadline, he added.

Some of its major accounts in Kerala include Cochin Shipyard and public sector fertiliser maker FACT, among others.

While the Kochi airport is not our account, there is a small claim on the solar panels in the airport, he added.

For the year ended March 31, the general insurer reported a net profit of Rs 1,003 crore and gross premium income, driven primarily by motor, health, and crop, grew by 9 per cent at Rs 17,430 crore.

During this fiscal year, the company registered a solvency ratio to 1.54 per cent (1.5 per cent is stipulated by the regulator).

It expects the solvency ratio to be around 1.5 per cent at the end of this fiscal year also.

Photograph: PTI Photo'I suspect the recovery that the banks are going to get out of this IBC is not going to be more than 30 per cent.'

'If you leave the steel industry aside, the recovery rates are not looking very, very healthy,' Jairam Ramesh tells the Rajya Sabha.

IMAGE: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr Urjit Patel. This photograph was shot earlier. Doctors have asked Jaitley to maintain a distance of at least five feet between him and others as he recovers from kidney replacement surgery. Photograph: PTI

Sir, the first point is, in the last two years, there are about 700 cases that have been admitted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Out of these 700 cases, only three per cent have been resolved, 12 per cent have gone into liquidation, and 10 per cent have been closed.

In other words, out of 700 cases, over 500 cases are active. Now, the court says, within 270 days, the process must be complete.

So, my first question to the honourable minister is this. Is not this a very high proportion of cases that are still ongoing?

This is not meant to be a criticism because a lot of this has got stuck in liquidation. But, we, as Parliament, have passed a law which says that in 270 days, the whole process will be complete.

But, here we have over 75 per cent of the cases which are still going through some process or the other, and I would urge the honourable minister to pay close attention to this.

The second point is, I have looked at 35 of these cases, and I find that the recovery rate for the banks is about 40 per cent.

Now, I don't want to use the word 'haircut which is used by the finance ministry very frequently because this is a very ugly word.

It is actually recovery. We are talking of recovery of public money by banks.

The recovery, I find, in these 37 cases, is about 40 per cent.

Now, this 40 per cent is also a very optimistic figure because this includes recovery in steel industry, and steel, as the honourable minister knows, is cyclical, and now, the steel industry is looking up, and therefore, they are getting very healthy recoveries.

I suspect the recovery that the banks are going to get out of this IBC is not going to be more than 30 per cent.

This is not a very healthy figure, and I would urge the honourable minister to pay close attention to the fact that while there may be one or two cases where the recovery is very good, those happen to be in the steel industry.

If you leave the steel industry aside, the recovery rates are not looking very, very healthy.

Sir, there are some cases where the bid value is lower than the liquidation value. This is very, very disturbing, Sir.

The bid value should be higher than the liquidation value. This is not something that we should accept for a long period of time.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters

On February 12, 2018, the Reserve Bank of India issued a circular on stressed assets. Sir, what this circular says is that even if you have defaulted by one day, that asset becomes a stressed asset. I welcome that circular.

The circular then goes on to say that if within 180 days a resolution plan is not finalised, you are then considered a defaulter.

Sir, I welcome this RBI circular. But I am amazed that the Government of India has challenged the RBI circular in the Allahabad high court. The hearing was held on the 2nd of August.

The Government of India -- obviously the finance ministry -- has given an affidavit, or has given some statement in the court which actually dilutes the RBI circular.

Sir, this is an extraordinary situation.

The RBI is issuing a circular on stressed assets which is being challenged not by industry, it is being challenged by the finance ministry; it is being challenged by the Government of India.

The situation that I find is extraordinary. I would like the officiating finance minister to clarify what is the exact position on this circular because this has a bearing on the IBC.

I would like a clarity from the minister concerned as to what is the Government of India's position on this circular because this was issued by the RBI; it defines what a stressed asset is; it defines what a default is.

This has a grave implication for the IBC. This is my third point.

Photograph: Ajay Verma/Reuters

My fourth point, Sir, is that it appears to me that the IBC benefits the bank, obviously; it benefits the secured creditors, obviously; it benefits the operational creditors, and at some period of time; it benefits the economy. We welcome it.

But, what about the promoters who have actually led to the asset being a default or an NPA in the first place? It should not be the case that the promoters go away scotfree.

There are legitimate promoters who have gone into trouble because of economic cycles. But there are also promoters, we know, who have defaulted wilfully.

On August 9, the news came that the Serious Frauds Investigations Office has actually apprehended one particular promoter, whose name I would not take.

I do believe that this is a very important point if the Serious Frauds Investigations Office has taken the step; I welcome and applaud that step. I believe that we should use the IBC to call wilful defaulters to book.

While the finance minister at that point of time had acknowledged this point and said he would come back with some elucidation on this. I would urge the finance minister to revisit this issue because the MSME sector accounts for a large proportion in terms of numbers; in terms of rupees crores, it may be a small number, and if we are going to debar MSME promoters, we are not going to be able to get a revival of the MSME sector.

I am not speaking on behalf of any wilful defaulter, but I believe, Sir, that in most cases the MSME sector has become a stressed asset or an NPA because of market conditions and not because of wilful default.

Sir, my final point is that recently the finance minister announced a new programme called Sashakt. Now I don't see what the need for this Sashakt was when you have the RBI Circular of the 12th of February 2018 and when we have the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which we are amending from time to time as we gain experience.

So, I would like the finance minister to give us some clarity as to how Sashakt actually contributes to the objectives of the IBC.

I expect that in the months ahead, as we gain more experience in the implementation, we will continue this process of fine-tuning both the IBC as well as the GST which has been very much on the anvil.

Edited excerpts from a speech by Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Amendment) Code, 2016, August 10, 2018.For the past five months, ever since he was appointed the Ayushman CEO, Indu Bhushan, a former bureaucrat, has made Nirman Bhawan his second home, working nine to nine with his dedicated team on the Modi governments biggest initiative after the Goods and Services Tax, says Nivedita Mookerji.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/rediff.com

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was announcing the launch of Ayushman Bharat at Red Fort on Independence Day, the man spearheading the mega health mission was in the audience.

No doubt, the September 25 deadline was top of the mind.

Soon after the function, Indu Bhushan, a former bureaucrat who left the Indian Administrative Service to pursue other goals, was taking questions on how exactly the prime ministers plan would be executed and how the pilots would take off.

For the past five months, ever since he was appointed the Ayushman CEO in March, Nirman Bhawan has been Bhushans second home, working nine to nine with his dedicated team, as he puts it.

He could certainly do with more resources but his core team has been lean so far with just about 15 people.

Theres been much travel as well (some 10 states in the last 10 days itself to review Ayushman plans), but thats not enough, he says.

His deputy, Dinesh Arora, chips in too, going to places to make sure all is well with this governments biggest initiative after the Goods and Services Tax.

The GST yardstick is both good and bad. Its good because of the size and scale of the project to which it is being compared.

But the tricky part is GSTs rough ride with technology when it made its debut.

The government, especially the Prime Ministers Office, has made it clear that Ayushman should do everything to prevent any GST-like software glitches.

The health mission, that aims to provide a benefit cover of Rs 500,000 per family per year to more than 10 crore (100 million) underprivileged, will be enabled through a software network.

If GST had the backing of Infosys, Ayushmans tech side is being managed by Tata Consultancy Services.

Bhushan realises how critical the next 40 days would be to make Ayushmans countrywide launch flawless.

When Business Standard caught up with Bhushan a few days before the prime ministers announcement, he was already working to a plan but refused to divulge the launch date.

In that sense, hes still a secretive bureaucrat. But thats about all, he carries little of the typical baggage you associate with civil servants.

The 1983 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS comes out of his room to usher you in and is available to answer questions related to Ayushman most of the time.

Hes been away from the government stuff for far too long now -- after nine years in the bureaucracy, he joined World Bank and then went to Asian Development Bank.

After 20-odd years at ADB, he resigned earlier this year to become CEO of Ayushman Bharat.

Was it easy to make the shift from an international high-paying position?

For me, it was a big decision because I was doing very well.

"But the opportunity to lead this fascinating scheme and the potential to benefit such a large population was difficult to give up, he says.

He adds that the decision to jump the ship was a no-brainer.

There have been others like him in the past.

For instance, 1981 batch UP cadre IAS Parameswaran Iyer had left a World Bank job to lead the Swachh Bharat programme.

Both are projects close to Modi and monitored by him personally every now and then.

Since Bhushans appointment is for two years, does he have plans to go back to ADB? Maybe I will stay back, he replies without elaborating.

Obviously its too early to say whether Bhushan and his team will be able to deliver Modis ambitious plan, but the meticulousness of planning is impressive.

A large whiteboard at the corner of his office, which resembles a war room, shows state-wise data almost in real-time.

The data captures everything about the states stance on the scheme.

Which ones have joined, which are resisting, the borderline cases and much, much more on the intricacies of the plans that could be on offer.

Theres a review meeting at 10 am every day, followed by many more video and audio conferences, apart from face-to-face interactions.

The work goes on six days a week; on Saturdays its just his team and the monkeys in the building, he says laughing.

Some days he goes home frustrated; on others, he feels part of a mega scheme that might transform India.

Bhushan, it is believed, was chosen to lead Ayushman for his international experience in working for similar health schemes in China, Mongolia, Vietnam and so on.

His take on this comes as bit of a surprise.

"My experience in IAS has been much more useful than any international experience I have."

India, according to him, is unique and experiences from China, Vietnam, Mongolia cannot be replicated here in any way.

So, even staying away from bureaucracy, his trust in the service shows.

Not unrelated to that is his understanding of political diplomacy that he keeps referring to in his dealings with states.

In fact, as some six to seven states have already gone live with Ayushman pilots, West Bengal is top of the mind for him.

Irrespective of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees stand on the Modi government, West Bengal has been among the first states to go ahead with Ayushman.

According to Bhushan, Bengals own state health insurance programme is doing extremely well.

Just the next moment, the phone rings and hes talking to the Haryana chief ministers office: Haryana wants to scale up the Ayushman pilot.

He must be brushing up his IAS skills to take all of it in his stride.For many, he is the Dhirubhai Ambani of Kerala.

For others, he is the most influential Indian in West Asia.

M A Yusuff is back in the spotlight after the controversy surrounding the UAE's reported offer of a Rs 7 billion aid package for flood-hit Kerala.

Shine Jacob reports.

IMAGE: M A Yusuff Ali, chairman and managing director, LuLu Group International. Photograph: Kind courtesy yusuffali.com

The politics over the purported aid has been frenetic.

No sooner had Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced the UAE's offer, the Centre said "thanks, but no thanks."

Later, the UAE embassy in New Delhi stated that the country had not announced any specific financial aid for Kerala's flood victims.

This, despite the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi had thanked the UAE for the aid offer via a tweet after a telephonic conversation with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Meanwhile, the Kerala chief minister announced at a press conference that the offer came about after the crown prince met M A Yussuf Ali, chairman and managing director, LuLu Group International.

Ali, who has close links with the UAE royal family as well as the government in Kerala and the government at the Centre, has himself donated 5 million dirhams to the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation towards Kerala's flood relief.

IMAGE: Yusuff Ali seen here with Badr bin Mohammed Al-Otaishan, governor of Jubail, Saudi Prince Saud Bin Abdulla bin Abdul Aziz and other dignitaries at a newly opened Lulu hypermarket. Photograph: Kind courtesy Yusuff Ali/Facebook

Did he get the Rs 7 billion pledge from the UAE crown prince?

While no one knows for sure, there's no doubt that given his influence and reach, he could well have done so.

Indeed, tales of Ali's influence in West Asia are legion.

IMAGE: Yusuff Ali greets Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. Photograph: Kind courtesy Yusuff Ali/Facebook

"Ali can be seen in almost every bilateral discussion between India and countries such as the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. He has proximity to all the ruling families there and to leaders of all political parties in India," says a person close to his inner circle.

According to a media reports, in 2013 Ali helped facilitate the back-channel talks for the Jet-Etihad deal.

In 2016 he hit the headlines when he acquired the iconic Scotland Yard police station building in London's Whitehall for $170 million, which he is now converting into a luxury hotel.

IMAGE: Yusuff Ali is the chairman and managing director of the $5.8 billion Lulu Group. Photograph: Kind courtesy Yusuff Ali/Facebook

The owner of LuLu International ranks 388th on Forbes magazine's World's Richest List and holds the 21st place among richest Indians -- ahead of Vedanta's Anil Agarwal (37), Anil Ambani (50) and Adi Godrej (44).

The 63-year-old businessman also owns a 10 per cent stake in the East India Company (which acted as the agent of British imperialism in India until 1857), as well as a substantial minority stake in the the Kerala-based Catholic Syrian Bank and Federal Bank.

Born in the Thrissur district of Kerala, Ali migrated to Abu Dhabi in 1973.

He started working in a small grocery shop with his uncle, but before long, he struck out on his own, and steadily expanded his retail businesses.

Ali's business empire currently has interests in hypermarkets, shopping malls, imports and exports, trading, shipping, IT, travel and tourism and education.

The LuLu International Group Web site puts the group's annual turnover in excess of $6.9 billion, with a staff strength of over 40,000, and a presence in about 35 countries, including India.

Around 25,000 of his employees are Keralites. Little wonder that Ali is the most loved businessman among Malayalis.

His group had also lined up Rs 130 billion worth of investments across India recently.

IMAGE: Yusuff Ali seen with the late President A P J Abdul Kalam. Photograph: Kind courtesy Yusuff Ali/Facebook

According to his biography by R Roshan, the turning point of Ali's life was the Gulf War of 1991.

It was during this time, when the UAE economy was in serious trouble, that an advertisement caught the eye of then king Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Ali, who was starting UAE's largest shopping mall, had put out an ad stating: 'I believe in this country'.

The king called him immediately and asked him why he was investing in the country when others were leaving.

Ali replied that as long as Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the ruler, no harm would come to the UAE.

The king was pleased and that was the beginning of Ali's special relationship with the royal family.

The Wall Street Journal had called the Padma Shri award winner among the most influential non-royals in the Emirates.

Ali is also the first foreigner on the board of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of Abu Dhabi's Zakat fund as well.

Often a member of Prime Minister Modi's foreign delegations, Ali, sources say, has been in the loop whenever Indian nationals have been caught in crisis situations in West Asia.'...incarcerated in jails, ruining their entire families.'

'You would see that Dalits who displayed so much agitation over the Bhima-Koregaon issue are effectively silenced by the arrests of their activists by the police.'

'What can be a more pitiable state than this for a people who had just seen a ray of hope after darkness of millennia?'

IMAGE: Dalit protesters block a train at Dadar, central Mumbai, January 3, 2018 during a Maharashtra bandh called to protest the Bhima Koregaon violence. Photograph: PTI Photo

Dr Anand Teltumbde was one of the intellectuals and civil rights activists whose homes were raided by the Pune police on Tuesday, August 28.

Professor Teltumbde was in Mumbai when a Pune police team searched his home in Panaji.

"What reaction shall I give to you? There is nothing. We are not even remotely connected to the allegations that they have been levelling against us," Dr Teltumbde told PTI over the phone from Mumbai.

"Whatever are my opinions, they are in the public domain. What reaction can I offer to you? I cannot even remotely think of such a kind of thing happening to me," Dr Teltumbde added.

What the police were claiming about Maoist links of Left-wing activists is "nonsense", Dr Teltumbde said. "We are not in such kind of business. We are respected people. They are doing nonsense. Most of them (the arrested activists) are human right activists."

"It is natural that they will talk in favour of those people whose rights are violated."

Earlier this month, Dr Teltumbde published his latest book, Republic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal Hindutva.

In the book, he explains how the condition of Dalits has remained more or less the same post-Independence, how various political parties were able to co-opt them from time to time, and how the masses were betrayed by Dalit leaders who benefitted from the concern of the ruling classes for their votes.

"Dalit leaders only have to chant 'Ambedkar' and occasionally mouth abuses on harmless abstractions such as Brahminism, Manu, upper castes and so on in lieu of Dalit concern, to extract their political rent from the ruling classes," Dr Teltumbde told Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf in an interview conducted a couple of weeks before the police raid on his home.

The first of a multi-part interview:

After reading your book, it looks like nothing has changed for Dalits in the last 70 years. Their leaders have repeatedly failed them.

If Y B Chavan got Dalit leaders into the Congress, Namdeo Dhasal went to the Shiv Sena and now Narendra Damodardas Modi has got Dalit leaders into his party.

Indeed, the situation of Dalits in India for the last 70 years essentially remains unchanged. This has been somewhat by design as the ruling classes to whom power was transferred in 1947 wanted caste to live on and, in corollary, the victims of caste too.

Unfortunately, nobody cares to look at that.

You habitually keep taking the Constitution as sacrosanct and the founding fathers as angels sans their class/caste politics.

It is unfortunate that such a growing menace of caste and communalism (even) after seven decades (of Independence) doesn't wake up our scholars and intellectuals to smell some rot at the foundation of the Republic itself.

It is not my profession to do all this but, when I took it upon myself to connect all the dots, I found everything falling in place, exposing how the ruling classes systematically served the interests of capitalist classes using pro-people rhetoric.

It is one of the important themes of my book.

When the Communist Party got misled by this carefully constructed rhetoric and took to the parliamentary path, what to speak of Dalit leadership!

After the death of Babasaheb Ambedkar there was not a single leader who could get into his shoes. They wisely constituted a collective leadership in the form of a presidium, but personal rivalries and ambitions of some leaders began cracking it up.

But one must note, it is to the credit of leaders like Dadasaheb Gaikwad who tried to impart proper direction to the party and organised two massive land satyagrahas, the first in 1959 and the second in 1964-1965, that shook the establishment to its bones.

This was very much in deference to the wishes of Ambedkar, but it provided fodder for others to castigate it as anti-Ambedkar because they charged that speaking of land, etc was the method of the Communists.

Shaken by the last land satyagraha, the Congress forged the co-option policy, which was first tried out by Yashwantrao Chavan, by offering none other than Gaikwad a Rajya Sabha seat.

It opened up the floodgates for the vested interests. They just had to chant 'Ambedkar' or 'Dalit interests' and run after greener pastures.

The RPI (Republican Party of India) episode was re-enacted after a decade in the split of the Dalit Panthers.

As you noted, the stormy petrel of the Panthers like Namdeo Dhasal did not have any qualms to sing paeans to Indira Gandhi during her most reactionary phase and thereafter go over to thank Ambedkar-hater Bal Thackeray.

Today, all the Rams (referring to Dalit leaders Ramdas Athawale, Ram Vilas Paswan and Ram (Udit) Raj in one of his Economic and Political Weekly columns) are seen playing 'Hanuman' to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

You mention in your book that Dalits were given reservations to let them live with guilt in Independent India, that they were made to feel guilty of 'stealing jobs in the name of reservations'.

No, I think you got it wrong. What I said is that the reservations to Dalits came in colonial times in the form of the India Act 1935 that incorporated the Poona Pact between Dr Ambedkar and (Mahatma) Gandhi in the political sphere and thereafter in 1943 in public sector employments and educational institutions supported by public funds.

Although not defined in so many words, it was in the spirit of an exceptional measure of social justice for exceptional people.

There was no doubt that Dalits were such people and as such it did not create any bad blood in society.

But after Independence, this innocuous measure was used skilfully to consecrate castes into the Constitution and to link it to the notion of backwardness.

In the colonial system, the reservation policy was instituted on the basis of 'scheduled caste', a novel administrative category, thus snapping its connection with caste itself.

After Independence, the category was adopted, but its lid was opened for the politicians to include and exclude castes, thereby restoring its relationship with caste.

In colonial policy, implicitly, the disability was of Indian society which would not give Dalits their dues, howsoever meritorious they would be.

It followed that in order to do away with such an exceptional policy, the onus belonged to the larger society, which could be motivated to do away with caste so as to avoid this ignominy in a reasonable timeframe.

Dalits would be seen as a wronged people.

In post-colonial times, this implicit logic was completely destroyed. It came out as the magnanimity of society to extend a helping hand to the incapable people called Dalits.

Everything was turned on its head. As the development process induced competition among people, Dalits began to be seen as undeserving usurpers of non-Dalit share.

The policy that was meant to progressively do away social discrimination of Dalits became the means of its persistence.

Republic of Castes explicates this dynamics.

Why are Dalit leaders so vulnerable?

It is not Dalit leaders, but the masses who are vulnerable.

Dalit leaders have to just chant 'Ambedkar' and occasionally mouth abuses on harmless abstractions such as Brahminism, Manu, upper castes and so on in lieu of Dalit concern, to extract their political rent from the ruling classes.

The Dalit masses, however, have to believe in such self-seeking cheats in the hope of amelioration of their worsening lot.

In what way is the condition of Dalits worsening? There are quite a few Dalit teachers in prominent institutions of the country and high-ranked government officials.

Yes, this illusion hides the reality.

It is absolutely true that Dalits have reached every sphere of national life and have even gone abroad to constitute a sizable Diaspora.

A section of Dalits has also come up as Dalit capitalists, claiming that they are no more job seekers but job givers.

All this is good and can be taken as natural progression of all communities.

It is not Dalits alone but all other people also have progressed. The question is how much.

The visible class of Dalits who appear well-off does not count for even 10 per cent of the Dalit population.

The rest 90 per cent are left high and dry, invisible, without hope.

A hundred years ago, when the Dalit movement was taking shape, they had so much of hope. Today, there is none.

In the neo-liberal era, they have been deprived of what little came in their share in terms of developmental inputs.

They have been cut off as rural people from education of any consequence. They do not have any protection of healthcare, do not have any livelihood security.

On the other hand, they are seen as undeserving beneficiaries of reservations.

If they open their mouths in protest, they are labelled as Maoists and incarcerated in jails, ruining their entire families.

You would see that Dalits who displayed so much agitation over the Bhima-Koregaon issue are effectively silenced by the arrests of their activists by the police.

What can be a more pitiable state than this for a people who had just seen a ray of hope after darkness of millennia?

In your book, you attribute atrocities on Dalits as well as the symbolism around Ambedkar to post-colonial developments. Can you explain?

That again is an important theme of the book which nobody speaks about. People are bewildered by the perplexing phenomenon where the ruling parties shower praises on Ambedkar but unleash all kinds of injustice on Dalits.

It is not difficult to see that the former is to woo Dalits into voting for them and the latter is symbolic that they do not want to displease the dominant communities in society that ill-treat Dalits.

What is important is to see that it is rooted in the developmental process followed by the post-colonial rulers.

As I explained in the book, the Congress implemented land reforms in the name of the people, but to create a class of rich farmers in the vast rural tracts and followed it by the capitalist strategy of the Green Revolution.

In the process, the erstwhile upper caste landlords were displaced from villages, their place being taken by the rich farmers belonging to the most populous Shudra castes.

The rising political ambition of this class could not be contained by the Congress and they began to spill out in the form of regional parties or defections, challenging the electoral monopoly of the Congress.

This process brought importance to vote banks and valorisation to castes and communities.

Dalits came to be seen as an important vote bank, that is relatively cheaper and manipulable with the Ambedkar icon.

I have chronologically shown in the book how Babasaheb Ambedkar, who was ignored by the entire ruling establishment, began to be treated as an important icon.

The same capitalist process destroyed the traditional systems of interdependence in villages, reducing Dalits to the rural proletariat utterly dependent on the rich Shudra farmers for wages.

The resultant class contradiction between capitalist rich farmers and Dalit wage labourers flowed through familiar fault lines of caste, giving rise to a new genre of caste atrocities.'This is how Narendra Modi-Amit Shah rule. They are now announcing that these arrested Naxalites want to kill Modi.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi arrives at a meeting in Gujarat. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

On August 28, the Maharashtra police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai and Thane, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi -- for suspected Maoist links, sparking a national chorus of outraged protests.

The raids were carried out following a Pune police probe into the violence that erupted after an event, the Elgar Parishad, was held at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune on December 31 last year.

Police officers claim two letters, purportedly exchanged among the Maoists, indicated a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Anilchandra Shah, following which the raids were carried out, first in June and then on August 28.

Justice B G Kolse Patil, a retired judge of the Bombay high court, is the co-founder of the Elgar Parishad that organised the December 31, 2017, event to commemorate 200 years of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in Pune.

"Every agency under Modi's regime is under pressure and politicised," Justice Kolse Patil tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

All of a sudden these arrests were made across states, and there is talk of a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Modi. What do you have to say about it?

They just want to divert the people's attention from Manuvadis to Naxalites.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad was compelled to take action because of the ATS Karnakata which linked the killing of Gauri Lankesh and M M Kalburgi to Maharashtra.

The Karnataka ATS wanted these people from Maharashtra in their custody so the Maharashtra ATS has taken this action (by arresting the activists).

These Manuvadi people want to divert the attention of the Indian public to Naxalites.

In fact, the Elgar Parishad and Naxalites have no connection at all. Even then the ATS is connecting the Elgar Parishad (a cultural organisation) to the Naxalites.

(They are linking these raids to) one so-called Naxalite who was acquitted honourably by the courts (in 2014) and that too not on benefit of doubt. His name was (Sudhir) Dhawale and he was one of the workers in the Elgar Parishad.

The Elgar Parishad is organised by myself and Justice (retired) P B Sawant with a view that so-called progressive people will be attending on January 1 the Bhima-Koregaon event. Therefore, we wanted them to come a day in advance.

When they came we gave them an oath that they will not vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party. That is pinching them.

Secondly, Justice Sawant inquired into the 2002 riots and recommended Modi's prosecution. Thereafter, we have been telling the nation and especially after Rana Ayyub's book, The Gujarat Files, we are saying how they killed innocent people.

Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh were killed in Gujarat during Modi's time as chief minister.

That is old news. What is the connection between that and these arrests?

That is not old news. This is how Narendra Modi-Amit Shah rule. They are now announcing that these arrested Naxalites want to kill Modi.

There are several instances where Modi said they are coming to kill him whereas they (Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin) were in custody.

Please try to understand their modus operandi -- they tell people that Naxalites are coming to kill Modi.

The Elgar Parishad has no connection with Naxalites. No funding of Naxalites.

Ambedkarites came to our January 1 function and there was no question of expenses.

There was not a single Naxalwadi in our meeting.

Dhawale, who was acquitted by the high court and sessions court honourably, and even if he may have a connection to the Naxalites, why are they connecting the Elgar Parishad to the Naxalites?

They are doing this because Justice Sawant submitted a report and I am speaking against Modi all the time.

These raid took place nationwide.

I have been telling people that all television news is propagating that the Elgar Parishad was financed by the Naxalites.

Nobody from the Elgar Parishad is connected to the Naxalites.

Dhawale was there, but he is acquitted. So how can you connect the Elgar Parishad with the Naxalites and that too with the charge to murder Modi?

Urban Naxalites are a threat to the nation. Are they not?;

Now, brother, have you seen the activities of the Sanatan Sanstha? No action has been taken against them.

Have you seen the case of Colonel Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya? They wanted to establish Hindu Rashtra on the basis of Manu Smriti. That was their aim.

It was recorded in court. We have a certified copy of that. Now they are released on bail.

On the other hand, people like us, who are honestly trying to oppose this regime Constitutionally, we are being made scapegoats.

But you are too insignificant a force politically. So why would the State go after people like you?

They have not taken any action against me. They are just defaming us.

They can carry out raids and they will not find anything.

Justice Sawant is a big person and he had submitted a report against Modi in 2002.

When you say all this, what does it mean for human rights in India?

There is no value for human rights in India.

About 80 per cent of Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis are undertrials. The maximum punishment for their offences will be for one or two years, but they remain in jail for 10 years or more.

What is human rights? Who cares?

You must read Rana Ayyub's book where the ATS officer says Modi-Shah have no regard for human rights.

And these so-called Naxalites, have they committed any offence? They are not in jungles, they are in urban areas, have they committed any offence?

The Naxalites plan to overthrow the Indian State by force.

Who says that? It is only the police who says this. Nothing is proved against them.

When we have tape recorded conversations of Pragya Thakur and Colonel Purohit, no action is taken against them, but imaginary Naxalites are being prosecuted.

You have to credit Devendra Fadnavis' government for taking action against extremist Hindu organisations in Maharashtra.

Modi and Fadnavis have not done this. It is the Karnataka ATS that has done it.

They wanted these Hindu extremists in their custody for the killing of Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi, so to counter that the Maharashtra ATS has taken action.

In the Bhima-Koregaon case, immediately a satyashodak (fact-finding) committee was appointed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Vishwas Nangre Patil. That committee report said Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide caused the riots in Bhima-Koregaon.

Now that report is suppressed, but we have a copy of it.

The BJP wants to suppress the offences of Manuvadis and expose those who are rationalists.

Are you saying the Karnataka ATS and Maharashtra ATS have different agendas? What it means is that there is politicisation of the ATS forces too.

It is bound to happen. Every agency under Modi's regime is under pressure and politicised.

This happened during the Congress too, but Modi has gone a step further and pressurised them.

So what is the point of talking human rights and justice? It is a waste of time and it is only for name's sake.

You don't think there is truth in the police statement that someone is planning to kill the prime minister?

This is only an election gimmick, no one wants to kill Modi.

Ishrat Jahan was in custody and Modi said she came to kill him.

Sohrabuddin was in custody and Modi said he came to kill him.

There are the same fake encounters and same police officers.Police did not produce a warrant before searching their house and took away computer hard disks besides mobile phones, Hemalatha, wife of Telugu poet Varavara Rao who was arrested for alleged links with Maoists, alleged on Wednesday.

She said about 20 police personnel, including two women officials, arrived at their home on Tuesday.

They did not produce any warrant. They seized computer hard disks and mobile phones. They also disconnected the intercom system that connects with other flats.

He (Varavara Rao) was arrested several times earlier also and no case has been established against him... He wants to spread his ideology through the pen (writings), not the gun, Hemalatha said.

She said they initially refused to allow the police to enter their flat at Gandhi Nagar, but they let them in after a local police official informed that they did not need a search or arrest warrant under the sections Rao was booked.

The Telegu poet was arrested by a police team from Pune. The team also conducted searches at the residences of Raos two daughters.

Hemalatha alleged that the police even seized and took away her grandsons computer hard disk.

Rights activist and senior member of Telangana Civil Liberties Committee G Haragopal flayed Raos arrest.

Rao was imprisoned on various charges earlier also. His health is a cause of concern now as he has become old, the activist said.

The Maharashtra Police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Rao is a founder member of Virasam (revolutionary writerss association).Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday battled over the Rafale deal with the former accusing the opposition party of peddling untruth, and the latter responding by calling it the Great Robbery.

It all started with Jaitley, in a Facebook blog, posting a set of 15 questions for Gandhi in response to Congress posers on the multi-billion dollar deal.

He said the 36 Rafale fighter jets which the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government is purchasing are 20 per cent cheaper than the ones the previous United Progressive Alliance government had received offers for.

Charging Congress with carrying out a false campaign, he sought Gandhis response on questions varying from delays in finalising the fighter jet order to procedural knowledge and foreign supplier being allowed freedom to choose private partner to meet offset requirement.

He also sought to bring up the Bofors ghost, asking if delays in decision on buying fighter jets during the Congress regime were based on collateral considerations like the ones witnessed in the purchase of Bofors guns. He asked Gandhi to respond, failing which he would come up with further specific facts that they were merely peddling falsehood.

Gandhi responded by calling the deal the Great Rafale Robbery and alluded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to protect his business friend.

Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!, he tweeted.

Jaitley replied to this by stating that a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Bofors deal had called kickbacks winding up charges and the whole world rejected the findings.

Mr Gandhi, you have not attempted to answer my questions on the Rafale purchase in the interest of national security. When no answers are given, obviously no answers could have been given by those who resort only to falsehood, he tweeted. Mr Gandhi, truth holds together, falsehood falls apart  that is the fate of your Rafale falsehood.

In another tweet he said: Let me remind you of a JPC the Congress Government appointed in 1987 on the Bofors deal. It was headed by Mr. Shankaranand. It gave a report that the kickbacks were winding up charges. The whole world rejected the findings of that JPC. Why a JPC to satisfy your falsehood?

Earlier in the day, Jaitley said in the Facebook blog that the deal NDA government had entered into with France on April 10, 2015 for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets was on better terms than the one agreed to in 2007 under the UPA regime.

French manufacturer Dassault had offered to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft in 2007.

Refusing to disclose details of the deal such as the price of the aircraft, due to constraints placed by secrecy clause in the contract, he said the Congress allegations that NDA government agreed to pay a higher price and is favouring a private industrialist are complete falsehood.

He then went on to pose 15 questions that included one about the decision-making paralysis under the UPA regime which led to the delay of over one decade in ordering the aircraft, which compromised national security.

Can Rahul Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Indian government has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these aircraft in India, he said.

Congress has repeatedly alleged a scam in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets claiming the cost per aircraft in 2012 was agreed at Rs 526.10 crore while the one signed by the Modi government costs 7.5 billion (Rs 1,670.70 crore per aircraft).

Its leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa had on Sunday called the deal as the biggest scam in countrys defence sector post independence.

Stating that the Rafale controversy was based on complete falsehood, Jaitley said it was expected from national political parties and their responsible leaders to keep themselves informed of the basic facts before they enter a public discourse on defence transactions.

Congress partys false campaign launched on Rafale aircraft deal based on peddled untruth has been casting a cloud on the Inter-Governmental agreement & seriously compromising national security, he said.

Jaitley said Congress and Gandhi were guilty on three counts - delaying the deal by over a decade compromising national security, speaking of falsehood on pricing and procedure, and further delaying the defence procurement by raising these issues.

Rahul Gandhi deny that when the add-ons such as India-specific adaptations, weaponry, etc. are installed on the basic aircraft, the UPA price, which was mentioned in the 2007 L1 offer, would be at least 20% costlier than the more favourable price negotiated by the NDA?, he added.

Jaitley asked if Gandhi was aware that there was a price escalation clause in the bid received during UPA regime, and if the Congress was aware that basic aircraft price is 9 per cent cheaper under the NDA than it was under the UPA.

Other questions pertained to Gandhis knowledge of defence procurement procedure and on offset policy that allows a supplier to select any number of Indian partners.Two letters, purportedly exchanged by Maoist leaders, indicated plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, leading to police action against prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrest of five of them for suspected links with the red ultras, security officials said.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Home Minster Rajnath Singh during the BJP chief ministers' council in New Delhi on Tuesday, August 28, 2018. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI Photo

While the 2016 letter suggested that there were deliberations among the Naxals to kill Modi, Shah and Singh, the 2017 letter referred to a plan to carry out a Rajiv Gandhi assassination-type attack on the prime minister during one of his roadshows, they claimed.

The second letter was addressed to one "Comrade Prakash" and was found from the residence of a Delhi-based activist, Rona Wilson, on June 6, according to a security official privy to the development.

Along with Wilson, four others were also arrested during raids in June by police in different parts of the country in connection with the matter.

The letters were reportedly recovered after the anti-Naxal operations in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, in which 39 Maoists were killed, in April.

The 2017 letter also referred about "senior comrades" suggesting "concrete steps" to end the National Democratic Alliance dispensation and about raising several crore of rupees to buy American M-4 rifles and some ammunition, the official said.

Tuesday's police action started at 6 am and was carried out simultaneously by Maharashtra Police, led by Joint Commissioner of Pune, Ravindra Kadam, in Ranchi, Goa, Delhi and Hyderabad.

Five persons have been arrested so far, another official said.

Searches were carried out at the residences of Arun Ferreira, Susan Abrahams and Vernon Gonsalvez in Mumbai, Gautam Navlakha in Delhi, Anand Teltumbde in Goa, Vara Vara Rao's daughter Anala and Journalist Kurmanath in Hyderabad.

Police have also confiscated during the searches several items like computers, laptop, CDs, papers and books.English Finnish

Uponor Corporation Stock exchange release 29 August 2018 15:45 EET

On 13 September 2017, The Supreme Administrative Court gave its decisions concerning Uponors appeals that the company has submitted in January 2016. In the decision, the reassessment of the amount of the arms length principle of Uponor Business Solutions Oys service fees charged during 2006-2009 was returned to the Finnish Tax Administration.

The Finnish Tax Administration has today given its decision. According to the reassessment of the Finnish Tax Administration, no taxable income will be added to Uponor Business Solutions Oy, because the companys original pricing model did not include material deviation from the arms length principle.

Due to the Finnish Tax Administrations decision, taxes, surtaxes and delay interests, recorded by Uponor in 2011, in total approximately EUR 11.4 million as well as statutory interests will be returned to the company. The decision impacts only on Uponors cash flow presumably in the third quarter of the year.

Uponor has earlier issued stock exchange releases on this matter, latest on 13 September 2017.

Uponor Corporation





Susanna Inkinen

Vice President, Communications and Corporate Responsibility

Tel. +358 20 129 2081

DISTRIBUTION:

Nasdaq Helsinki

Media

www.uponor.com

www.investors.uponor.com

Uponor in brief

The year 2018 marks Uponor's 100-year anniversary. Our success is built on strong partnerships with our customers and stakeholders in the past, present and future.

Uponor is a leading international systems and solutions provider for safe drinking water delivery, energy-efficient radiant heating and cooling and reliable infrastructure. The company serves a variety of building markets including residential, commercial, industrial and civil engineering. Uponor employs about 4,000 employees in 30 countries, mainly in Europe and North America. In 2017, Uponor's net sales totalled nearly 1.2 billion. Uponor is based in Finland and listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. Uponor builds on you - www.uponor.comThe 'Swachhta Abhiyan' is not just about sanitation but also about mental purity, he said, asking people to share good things around them on social media.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged people not to use social media to "spread dirt", saying the issue was not about any ideology but it simply does not behove a decent society.

In a video interaction with Bharatiya Janata Party workers and volunteers from Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency, Modi stressed on the need to create an atmosphere of positive news about the country and share information that strengthens the society.

He lamented that a quarrel between two families in a 'mohalla' becomes a national news nowadays.

Replying to a question, he said, "People at times overstep the bounds of decorum. They hear or see something false and forward it. They don't notice that how much damage they are doing to society. Some people use such words that do not behove any decent society. They say or write anything about women."

He then continued, saying that the issue is not about any political party or ideology.

"It is about 125 crore Indians... and everybody should train themselves to never spread dirt through the social media," the PM said.

The 'Swachhta Abhiyan' or cleanliness drive is not just about sanitation but also about mental purity, he said, asking people to share good things around them on social media.

Use of foul language or abuses on social media has often divided opinions among political parties with BJP's rivals accusing its supporters or those aligned to right wing ideology of using invectives against those they don't like.

The BJP has always rejected the charge and its supporters have argued that they are often a target of abuses by their rivals.

In the interaction with party workers, he called for sharing videos highlighting the "changing face of India", saying the country is now witnessing "historic and unprecedented" progress.

Modi said every village in India has now electricity, schools and toilets while the country has become the largest manufacturer of mobile phones.

It has also become the fastest growing economy and fastest growing aviation market with more people flying than travelling in AC trains.

"These developments will fill every Indian with pride," he said.

Speaking about the development work carried out by his government in Varanasi, Modi said change is visible from roads to railways station to its airport and that it is committed to the holy city's progress.

He asked locals to work to ensure that visiting people of Indian origins during the 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' during January 21-23 in 2019 witness the best of Indian culture.

He also urged them to contribute to cleanliness drive during 'Swachhta hi Sewa' (Cleanliness is service) campaign from September 15 to October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi also spoke about measures being taken by his government to make the region a health hub and also referred to 'Ayushman Bharat', a health insurance scheme that aims to provide cover to over 10 crore families.The apex court questioning the police about the arrests said that dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you dont allow these safety valves, it will burst.

IMAGE: Human rights activist Gautam Navlakha at his residence after he was arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo

The Maharashtra Polices move to arrest five well known activists was punctured on Wednesday with the Supreme Court observing that dissent is the safety valve of democracy and directing that those in its custody be kept under house arrest.

The five human rights activists -- Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha -- who were arrested after the pan India crackdown on Tuesday will not be sent to jail but be under house arrest until September 6, the court ruled.

Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you dont allow these safety valves it will burst, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said.

Dealing a blow to the Maharashtra police, the apex court questioned it for arresting the activists nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas in Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune following the Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered in a Pune police station.

The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra government and the state police on the plea by five leading intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, against the arrests in connection with the case.

The Supreme Court order has passed an order that covers all who were arrested, said lawyer Vrinda Grover after the ruling.

She added that they would be taken back to their homes.

While trade unionist and lawyer Bharadwaj is confined to her home in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Navlakha to his Delhi residence, Telugu poet Rao and activists Gonsalves and Ferreira were taken to Pune late last night.

They were arrested for their suspected links to Maoists following near simultaneous searches at Raos home in Hyderabad, Gonzalves and Ferreiras residences in Mumbai as well as in Faridabad and Delhi, officials said.

They were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed, along with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for their alleged naxal activities, an official said, without elaborating.

As activists and others breathed a little easier following the apex court ruling, the Delhi high court, which was hearing Navlakhas plea, observed that even if all other arrests were found to be valid, it would not lend validity to his arrest.

The National Human Rights Commission also stepped into the controversy, saying it appears standard operating procedure was not properly followed and this may amount to a violation of the human rights of those arrested.

It issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the states police chief and asked for a factual report within four weeks.

As the courts gave their ruling in Delhi, police in Pune said it had evidence suggesting a plan to target the highest political functionaries.

Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists. The Elgar Parishad, he told reporters, was funded by the Maoists.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said all procedures were followed before conducting the raids against the activists.

It is due to their links with naxal movements that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action, he said.

The others whose premises were reportedly searched were Father Stan Swamy, Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde.

The entire case is a political ploy against political dissent by this vindictive and cowardly government..., Navlakha said in a statement issued by civil rights group Peoples Union for Democratic Rights of which he is a part.

Navlakhas transit remand was secured from the Saket district court to take him to Pune. The order, however, was stayed by the high court.

It was a night of dramatic developments for those following Bharadwajs case.

The chief judicial magistrate of Faridabad had granted Bharadwajs transit remand to the Maharashtra police. However, it had to reverse its order in the early hours of Wednesday in keeping with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court that had stayed her transit remand for three days.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit history -- it witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on January 1, 1818 by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Tuesdays events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in June.'The entire rescue operation was very dangerous, and something we have not experienced before.'

'It was different from what we experience on the seas.'

IMAGE: A fisherman in one of the boats used in the rescue operations. All photographs: Kind courtesy Jack Mandalo

IMAGE: A view of Aranmula village. The entire village was flooded with water.

The Kerala floods have been described as the worst the state has faced in a century.

Hundreds of people were involved in the massive rescue operations and the contributions of the fishermen of Kerala and the Indian Navy were unparalleled.

Jack Mandalo and a group of fishermen from Valiaveli in Thiruvananthapuram were involved in the rescue operations in Aranmula. He recounts his experience to Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.

August 15. Early morning we got a message from the Thumba SI (police sub-inspector) asking for volunteers to rescue people in Chengannur.

Many people came forward and we immediately arranged for two boats to be taken to Chengannur along with a few fishermen.

At night, we were told they needed more men and more boats. That was when I along with 18 others went to Aranmula.

We had taken with us five boats, but from Valiaveli and Vizhinjam, 40 boats were sent for rescue operations at various places in central Kerala.

IMAGE: Boats and fishermen brought to Aranmula by trucks.

The boats were transported in trucks by the police while we traveled by bus. We did not have enough fuel, so the police had to forcibly take fuel from many blackmarketeers.

We also collected petrol at night from a petrol bunk. In fact, the pump owner who was recuperating from dialysis came to the pump himself to help us fill petrol.

We started at 2 at night, but when we reached Adoor, we found that the boats and men we had sent in the morning were still there, waiting for orders from above to start working.

Early in the morning, we were asked to go to Aranmula and they went to Chengannur.

When we reached Aranmula, all we could see was water everywhere.

It was beyond our expectations and a chilling sight.

The first floor of almost all the houses were under water and we saw people either on the first floor or on the terrace. It was also raining heavily.

There was nobody there; no media, no army personnel. Rescue operations had not started though a day had passed.

But they had already opened a camp and those who could escape before the water reached unprecedented heights were there in the relief camp.

We were told that the locals had rescued around 15 people using a raft made of bamboo.

By 10 in the morning on the 16th, we started rescue operations.

In each boat, other than two fishermen, there was a local who knew the place as we had no knowledge of the area and a policeman.

The local person used to navigate and tell us how many people were trapped in each house. In fact, when we reached, they had already with them a list of people trapped.

There was a lot of pressure and pleas from relatives and we were clueless where to go first. The pressure from people resulted in a lot of confusion.

Everybody wanted us to go to where their people were first.

Our first trip was to a hospital, the first floor of which was completely under water. It was not just stagnant water, it was more like a river flowing fiercely.

That was why we had to tie the boat to the first floor railings of the hospital. Then, one of us got in.

We helped the people get down from the first floor while our person standing on the boat assisted them to land on the boat.

There were 16 patients, a few doctors and nurses in the hospital.

The first people we rescued were a mother and a nine-day old baby. They had gone to the hospital because the baby was not well and got trapped there.

Then, there was a very old lady with an oxygen cylinder connected to her.

Rescuing her was very difficult as we had to carry her along with the oxygen cylinder.

We evacuated the patients first and only in the afternoon, the doctors and nurses were rescued.

On the first day, we may have rescued around 700 people using seven boats.

When night fell, the collector asked us to stop the rescue operations as the place was not known to us.

Next day, we started at 4 in the morning. The second day was the toughest because that was the day we were trying to go to places that were inaccessible.

We had to take small boats to go to these places, bring these people to where the big boat was tied to some post.

We then transferred them to the big one. It was a huge task.

We saw people stranded on the terraces, but the gates were locked. They may have locked the gates at night and by the morning, there was water inside the house.

Without opening the gate, we could not take the boats inside and there was no way we could fetch the keys.

There were many instances of us going underwater with iron rods, breaking open the locks of the gates and entering the compound.

The flow of water was so strong that we held onto electric wires at many places and moved ahead.

Still, we hit trees and walls frequently, and with each impact, the boat shook violently.

With each collision, people on the boat would shout in fear.

Our fear was about the boat capsizing. If it had happened, there was no way we could rescue all the 15 or 20 people on the boat. Luckily, nothing of that sort happened.

We would tell everyone to look down all through the ride and not look up as they got panic attacks when the boat got collided somewhere and shook.

If they moved violently, it could even topple the boat. None of these people had any experience in travelling on a boat and that too under such circumstances.

Most of them didn't even know swimming.

We saw these people praying loudly during the entire trip.

I heard Hindus, Christians and Muslims praying to their gods at the same time.

That was when I felt only floods could unite these people who might have been fighting in the name of religion till then!

By the second night, they found that we had rescued 95% of the people stranded. The rest had decided to stay back and wait for the water to recede.

The collector decided to end the rescue mission and gave us permission to go back. We must have rescued around 2,000 people in Aranmula in two days.

Aranmula panchayat sent us back only after giving us a letter of appreciation.

We cannot but thank the people of Aranmula who were there with food and hot tea or coffee whenever we came back with people, and we had it as we went back to bring more people.

They took care of us so well that we will never forget their love and affection.

By the third morning, we were back in Thiruvananthapuram.

We decided to turn down the Rs 3,000 offered by the state government as we did not go expecting any money.

It was a voluntary service. Nobody forced us to go.

Our boats and engines were badly affected after the rescue missions.

What destroyed our boats were the nails stuck on compound walls.

When the boats got caught between the nails and the compound walls, we had to get out of the boat into the water and pull it away. The propellers of the engines were also broken.

We have accepted the government's decision to repair them. These boats are our livelihood and it is expensive to repair them.

IMAGE: Jack Mandalo takes a selfie with other fishermen involved in the rescue

The entire rescue operation was very dangerous, and something we have not experienced before. It was different from what we experience on the seas.

Till we came back, we didn't know what a major mission it was.

We were just doing what we had to do at that time. There was no time to think or look back.

Only when we read about it later did we realise the magnanimity of the situation.

We are happy that the people appreciated our work. We are happier when the chief minister described us as the Coastal Army!Afghanistan: Action pledged on Taleban school takeover

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 5 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Action pledged on Taleban school takeover, 5 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b866096a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

05 Mar 18

Officials vow to address concerns over insurgent influence on education.

By IWPR Afghanistan

An IWPR report that revealed how the Taleban were attempting to impose their own curriculum in schools in Logar province has made headline news across Afghanistan.

Local officials said that, having been alerted to the issue by IWPR, they would now act to prevent the insurgents from forcing their own version of religious study onto students.

In a number of areas of the eastern province, IWPR found that the Taleban had banned lessons on cultural subjects, such as music, and those being taught around issues of terrorism and extremism. They had also inserted their own programme of religious study into schools, often taught by their own members.

Saleem Saleh, the spokesman of Logar's governor, said that the IWPR story had already made a difference, helping focus local efforts on vital educational work.

"After the publication of your report concerning the teaching of the Taleban's curriculum in school, Logar's local government has become more committed to solve the problems which exist in the education department," said. "We are trying to rescue the areas mentioned in your report from the influence of the Taleban."

Mohammad Zahid Sultani, a reporter for the Bakhtar news agency, said that the IWPR story had been picked up by much of the local and national media and was an illustration of how reporters could act to hold the government to account on such serious social issues.

"If the media is utilised properly to publish factual reports then it makes the government face its problems," he said. "With the release of such reports, fundamental reforms can be implemented and the gap between the government and people reduced".

Mohammad Nasim Samadai, a reporter with Zinat Radio, also said that the IWPR story would impel the education department to improve its performance.

"The media has a major role in social reforms and in solving the issues people face," he continued. "I can say that if such reports are published, it will be unlikely that problems will persist in our community."

Officials agreed that the story had raised important issues which they would now follow up on.

"This report had a significant impact," said Mohammad Akbar Stanikzai, Logar's director of education. "We have not heard anything like that in the districts and centre, but we will still investigate."

However, he rejected claims by the Taleban in the original story that they sent their own religious scholars to district schools in order to teach students.

Stanikzai said that the curriculum was "taught equally in the districts including the centre, Pul-e-Alam, and we will not allow anyone to alter or interfere with it".

Kabir Haqmal, the director general of communications at the ministry of education, said that they had also been unaware of the problem before reading the IWPR article.

"The curriculum of the ministry of education is an Islamic, Afghan and standards-based curriculum," he said. "There is nothing in this curriculum that violates Afghan and Islamic principles. The position and policy of the ministry of education is to promote only the Afghan education curriculum and we will not allow others to disseminate another curriculum."

In some areas, local elders had negotiated compromise agreements with Taleban leaders over the amount of influence they were allowed to have over the curriculum. But security officials said that a new offensive was planned when the weather improved that would further reduce insurgent influence in Logar.

Logar police chief Esmatullah Alizai said, "Security in Logar province has improved compared to the past and at the beginning of spring we plan to increase our operations against the Taleban  who prevent the implementation of the ministry of education's training programmes as well as government development projects  and clear the remaining areas of Taleban presence so that they won't be able to teach their own curriculum in schools."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Female reporters hide their identities

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 8 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Female reporters hide their identities, 8 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b866098a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

08 Mar 18

Fear of social exclusion or even violence force many to remain anonymous.

By Sodaba Ahrari

IWPR reporter Mina Habib. (Photo: IWPR)

Sadaf has been working at a Herat radio station for the past four years. Now in a senior position, she presides over a popular radio show and says that in some respects she has fulfilled her childhood dream of a flourishing career in the media.

But in others she remains deeply frustrated. Although she has become well-known in the local area, Sadaf is not her real name  it's a pseudonym she adopted to avoid the social stigma of being a woman working in journalism.

"It's true that people are familiar with me these days and follow my programme, but I am not happy with my work because this is not my real identity," she told IWPR.

Sadaf said that her family was supportive of her decision to work in the media. The problem was that others in the wider community viewed female journalists as depraved and immoral.

"I've heard people saying many times that if a woman becomes a journalist she is no longer decent, even though see the goal of female journalists as only to serve the public and their community," she said. "In general, people don't approve of us and don't have a positive viewsof women working in the media, particularly in a traditional society like Herat."

Sadaf's experience is not unique. Many female journalists working in the western province say that they have been forced to adopt false identities for fear of censure or even violence.

Karima Azizi (not her real name) is another radio reporter in Herat who has used a pseudonym for the entire six years she has been working in the media.

Like Sadaf, she said that although her immediate family was supportive she feared that she would face problems from a broader social circle if her job was known.

"If my uncles or my aunts learn that I'm working in radio, they will cause a lot of problems and no longer see me as a respectable girl," she said. "They think I am working in a government job."

Although Karima said that she would love to one day use her real identity and be credited for her work, she feared that this would never happen. Afghanistan's conservative traditions, she continued, had made it extremely hard for female reporters to easily pursue their interests. In the current climate, she was glad to be able to work in her chosen field at all.

"I have many friends who, despite their passion and talent, could not continue to work in this sector and left their jobs because of problems created by the community and their family," Karima said.

Officials and activists agree that social and security challenges force some female reporters to hide their true identities.

"Some families of young women working in the media consider their work to be shameful, and this has led girls not to use their real name or identity despite the importance of their work," said Naqiba Barakzai, head of the Herat Female Journalists' Institute.

She said that she and her colleagues had encouraged young women to fight these prejudices and not be cowed into anonymity  but without success.

"We sat down and talked with these girls, but they say that if we do something to highlight the issue we will make the situation worse for them," Barakzai concluded.

Officials from the Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee (AJSC) in the western zone also said that security threats, along with family prejudice, often prevent women from disclosing their real names or identity in the media.

Atifa Ghafouri, women's affairs officer at the AJSC, could not estimate how widespread this phenomenon was, but said that women did not feel able to stand up against such pervasive stigma.

"I know girls who use a pseudonym to protect themselves and their lives although their families are happy [with their choice of career], but there are also girls who use a pseudonym for fear of both their family and the wider society," she said.

Hosseinia Nikzad, head of the Afghan Women's Network in the west of the country, said that many female journalists felt forced to adopt pseudonyms so as to be and be accepted by their family and community, as well as for fear of more sinister consequences.

"Hiding their real names is actually a tactic that women use to protect their lives," Nikzad said, adding, "This problem can be resolved by building greater trust and confidence in the media, as well as media owners creating a more secure environment."

Hamid Momen, head of the western branch of NAI Foundation-Supporting Open Media, said that his institution supported journalists who chose to use a pseudonym, although he said that even organisations whose sole purpose was to help media workers under threat could not tell the extent of the phenomemon.

"The atmosphere of distrust has made it unclear how many women work under a pseudonym," he said.

Jilani Farhad, the spokesman of Herat's governor, said that they had tried to address the concerns of female journalists in a number of ways.

He highlighted the establishment of a special committee for security, safety and support for journalists, headed by the governor's deputy.

But Soheila Sabri, media and public relations officer at the department of women's affairs, said that this kind of misogyny was a problem felt across the entire workplace and Afghan society itself.

"Women cannot freely use their names or photos even in social media," she said. "They know they will be been threatened over and over again."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingMONTREAL, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Origin Gold Corporation ("Origin or the Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: OIC) is pleased to announce the nomination of Dr. Kevin Telmer, to its Advisory Board.



Dr. Kevin Telmer, is the Executive Director of the Artisanal Gold Council (AGC), a non-profit organization that develops innovative programs to improve the environment, economics, and health of the artisanal and small scale gold mining sector in developing countries. Dr. Telmer received his PhD from the University of Ottawa in Geochemistry and held a tenured Professorship at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria from 1999 until 2011 before taking the lead position at the Artisanal Gold Council.

He started his work in artisanal mining in 1995 in the Brazilian Amazon and in the following 20 years has worked in numerous countries across three continents. He has extensive experience in technical, policy, and business capacities in the field with miners, governments, international institutions, and industry. He has become a world renowned expert and a voice on the international stage with numerous publications on the issue, including authoring the global estimate on mercury use in artisanal gold mining used to negotiate the Minamata Convention. The objective of the Minamata Convention is to protect human health and the environment from mercury releases. It has been signed by 128 countries.

Creating sustainable business opportunities for investors and the bullion and jewelry markets while improving the economics, health and environment of miners and their communities in collaboration with governments is a direction that Dr. Telmer brings to the council. A primary goal is to increase responsible artisanal gold production to volumes that are significant relative to the size of the burgeoning sector.

Dr. Telmer welcomes the opportunity to join the advisory committee of Origin where he expects to help lead the Corporation to become a world leading transformative engine for the artisanal gold mining sector, aiming to professionalize it and build a scalable responsible gold production system. Dr. Telmer will contribute in a variety of ways to technical, management, governance needs, innovations and financing.

"We are pleased to see Dr. Telmer joining our team of experts," comments Jean Depatie, Chairman of the board of Origin. His arrival will certainly help to create a climate of confidence, in our efforts to develop a winning combination that will satisfy the artisanal gold producers that operate in the area of our recently acquired La Pantera gold project in Northern Colombia (news release dated August 17, 2018).

About Origin

Origin is a mineral exploration company with its exploration activities focused in Colombia.

The information set forth in this press release includes certain forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on assumptions exposed to major risks and uncertainties. Although Origin deems the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements to be reasonable, the Corporation cannot provide any guarantee as to the materialization of the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements. The Corporation expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.



Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.Afghanistan: Action follows IWPR report on harassment

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 9 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Action follows IWPR report on harassment, 9 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b86609aa.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

09 Mar 18

Reporters thanked for tackling critical and sensitive subject.

By Mahfuz-ul-Haq

Officials in Nangarhar province have vowed to take action following the publication of an IWPR investigation into the extent of sexual harassment at universities.

Academics and civil society activists in the eastern province also welcomed the recent expose, and thanked reporters for their efforts.

Speaking at a debate held in Jalalabad on February 11, officials said they wholeheartedly supported initiatives to combat the problem.

Students also said IWPR's willingness to tackle such a sensitive topic had helped open up discussions on other subjects deemed equally taboo.

Niamatullah Hamdard, head of higher education in Nangarhar, said, "We will fight this problem as hard as we can.

"We've placed complaint boxes in all private and government universities and higher education institutions so that girls can share any issues they have with us.

"I personally visit each university every week to collect letters from the boxes and we intended to carefully investigate any complaint and do our level best to make suitable reforms."

Around 60 people, including 20 female students, attended the IWPR event, which was later broadcast by a number of radio stations across Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan.

Hamdard opened the debate by thanking IWPR for publishing their recent expose on the levels of sexual harassment faced by female university students in Nangarhar women from both classmates and lecturers.

Hashima Sharif, provincial head of women's rights at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said it was the responsibility of all university chancellors to monitor staff more closely and crack down on any improper behavior.

She told the audience, "This was an important report which highlighted the facts around this problem.

"I was once a victim of sexual harassment and I take the issue very seriously. I know there are university lecturers in Nangarhar province who sexually harass students on campus."

Baghdad Armani, a psychologist, told the debate that he believed that for some men, sexually harassing women was a form of compulsion.

He asked mothers to ensure their daughters were aware of the types of problems they may encounter while on campus, and to stress to them that no one should feel shy about reporting instances of abuse.

"IWPR has focused in on an issue that no media network has dared to tackle and I thank them for organising this event," Armani said. "Investigating and discussing these sorts of problems can be very effective."

Khalilulllah Shinwari, a lecturer at Jalalabad's Alfalah University, said his institution was attempting to appoint more female staff and in some instances had organised women-only classrooms.

"Prevention is better than treatment," he argued.

In the final stages of the debate, students were given the opportunity to question the panel.

Computer science student Saira Saleem asked Hamdard how faculty officials treated complaints from students regarding inappropriate sexual behaviour.

She asked, "If a female student shares what has happened to her with the university's administration, how seriously will the issue be investigated?"

Hamdard repeated that he intended to fight harassment to "the fullest possible extent" so that no students were made to feel uncomfortable in the future.

Audience member Huma Zaland then asked Sharif how effective she believed the AIHRC had been in combatting sexual harassment.

Sharif said that she was aware of ten cases in the province  outside of universities  where men had been jailed for violence against women.

"These men are now behind the bars," she said. "We urge all women to come to us and report abuse without hesitating so that we can do our best to help them."

Attaullah Khugyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, also thanked IWPR and called for further such investigations.

He said, "I have read the report and listened to the debate and from now on we will meet with universities to help them address this issue."

Zabihullah Rahimzai, a reporter for the BBC in Nangarhar, described IWPR's reportage as "an innovation".

"This is a sensitive issue which has now been read about and listened to on the radio by potentially thousands of people," he continued.

Social activist Muqadasa Ahmadzai agreed, adding, "This is the very first time that such a debate on sexual harassment has been held in Nangarhar. I thank IWPR for working to improve the lives of so many women."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingOvernight ban on telecoms in Afghan provinces

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 12 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Overnight ban on telecoms in Afghan provinces, 12 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b86609c9.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 Mar 18

Insurgents order shut down to avoid being tracked by security forces.

By Arzo Mohammadai

A cellphone and communications tower rises from a modest urban landscape in Shinwar, Afghanistan. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

Residents in two northern Afghan provinces have complained that their telecommunication services are suspended each night, leaving them effectively cut off from the outside world.

Threats from Taleban forces in Baghlan and Kunduz provinces have led to the six pm to six am shutdown. This night-time ban on mobile services is a commonly used tactic by the insurgents to stop security forces tracking their movements and to prevent locals providing tip-offs to the Afghan army.

Sometimes they destroy phone antennas if mobile companies refuse to obey a ban.

Locals told IWPR that private telecom companies including Roshan, Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC), Multinational Telecommunication Network (MTN) and Etisalat all now shut their services down each night.

Mohammad Ali, a 30-year-old from Fabrika-e-Qand in Baghlan said that he could not use his Etisalat phone services after dark.

"Security conditions are poor in Baghlan province, and when we want to know about our friends and relatives we find that our mobile phone services, our only means of communication, are disabled," he said. "Similarly, our relatives face the same problem when they want to contact us."

The only telecoms company that provides limited services at night is the state-owned Salam Communication Company. However, people living in areas under Taleban control say thnat it is too dangerous for them to access these services.

Dand-e-Shahabuddin, Burka and Baghlan-e-Markazi districts all have a significant Talbean presence. Another district, Dahana-e-Ghori has been fully under Taleban control for the past two years.

Abdul Mateen is a 20-year-old student who travels to the provincial capital from the Poza Eshan area of Baghlan-e-Markazi district, which is under the control of Taleban.

He said that the insurgents have warned that they will kill anyone they find using a Salam SIM card.

"After I pass the part . . . where Taleban are present and arrive in the city, I then activate my Salam SIM card," Mateen said. "But when I want to return home, I either give my Salam SIM card to one of my friends or I hide it so that Taleban don't find it during their search."

Mahmood Akmal, the spokesman for the Baghlan governor, confirmed the shutdown.

"The Taleban have threatened to set the antennas of telecom companies on fire if they don't cut their services off at night," he said, adding that they were trying to find ways to address this problem.

The Taleban also said that they had instructed networks to deactivate overnight so that their groups' whereabouts could not be tracked.

Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, "All the telecom networks have been warned to suspend their services during the night because Afghan and international security forces have in the past traced and attacked Taleban groups through their mobile phone signals."

For their part, Baghlan security officials said that the Taleban threats were a sign that the government counter-insurgency strategy had put them on the defensive.

Baghlan police head of press Zabeullah Shijah told IWPR, "The Taleban haven't made any significant advances in the past few years and their group attacks in the provincial capital and cities of Baghlan province have been repelled, so now the Taleban are trying to pose obstacles to the activities of security forces by using these techniques."

He explained that they had informed Kabul of the issue and were waiting for instructions as to how to proceed.

Nazar Mohammad Hamaward, director of Baghlan's department of communications and information technology, said that the Taleban had already destroyed telecom towers in some areas, leaving phone and internet providers afraid that their infrastructure would be damaged if they failed to comply with the threats.

He added that "the services of Roshan, MTN, Etisalat and AWCC telecommunication networks have been suspended for nearly two months but security officials are making their best efforts to solve this problem as soon as possible."

People in neighbouring Kunduz said that they had been facing the same issue for the last six months.

Kunduz resident Nasrullah said, "My nine-month-old was very sick last night, so I tried to contact a taxi driver whose phone number I had to take my baby to hospital but I couldn't reach him. I had to leave home to search for a taxi, and finally found one with great difficulty and took my baby to the hospital. If I hadn't taken him to hospital, he would have died at home," the 35-year-old concluded.

Niamatullah Temor, the spokesman for the Kunduz governor, confirmed that private telecom companies suspended their services after 6pm across the province.

"The branches of these telecom companies in Kunduz province don't have the authority to activate their networks and to provide communication services during the night because the services are disabled directly from Kabul," he said. "But we will try to hold talks with the offices in the capital so that we can find a solution and enable telecom services."

Officials at the communications and IT ministry in Kabul said that they were aware of the problem.

The ministry's head of press, Khan Zaman Amarkhel, said, "Although we haven't received anything official from Baghlan and Kunduz provinces on this issue, we have found out through people that such problems do exist. Private telecom networks are being threatened to suspend their services in less insecure areas or areas under the control of Taleban."

Mohammad Shafeh Sharifi, Roshan's head of media, refused to comment as he said he had not been given the authority to discuss the issue. Representatives of Etisalat and MTN also refused to discuss the issue.

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingPresidential backing for Afghan school initiative

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 12 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Presidential backing for Afghan school initiative, 12 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b86609e4.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 Mar 18

Cost-effective mud brick buildings could accommodate many more students.

By Khairuddin Zaki

A student reads aloud at a school in Paktika province. (Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

An initiative to build new schools in the southeastern province of Paktika has been boosted by a large private donation from the Afghan president himself.

Ashraf Ghani contributed 300,000 US dollars to a scheme aimed at improving access to education in the province.

Local officials had initially planned to build six fully-equipped, concrete block schools in several remote districts of Paktika. But following a review, the strategy was adapted so that 24 mud-brick schools  which are much cheaper to construct  could be built within the same budget.

Paktika governor Mohammad Elias said, "We knew that by using mud brick instead of concrete we could build more schools with the same amount of money and improve students' access to education even more.

"Our proposal was welcomed by the president and the idea was considered so effective that he then advised the ministry of education to implement the strategy across the country."

Wahdat added, "By implementing the original plan we could have provided schools for an additional 1,000 students. But by building cheaper facilities, we hope as many as 10,000 students will now have classrooms to go to and many of these students will be girls."

The large, southeastern province of Paktika has a population of just over 430,000 people. Official figures show there are currently 389 schools in the region, although around 250 of these are open-air classrooms with no physical infrastructure. Out of 3,500 teachers employed to teach 15,000 students in the province, just 56 are women.

Wahdat told IWPR that the president's initiative was born following a meeting with provincial council members in January this year to discuss efforts to improve educational facilities and boost the region's economy.

After the conference, Ghani took the highly unusual step of announcing he would personally donate 300,000 dollars to help build more schools. It is not known if he has ever personally financed a project of this type before.

Mohammad Karim Atalwal, acting director of Paktika's department for education, told IWPR that work on the new schools was already well underway.

He said five girls' schools had already been built in the province and that new classrooms in numerous other districts  including Yusufkhel, Jani Khel, Surobi, Wor Mamay, Wazakhwa and Khayr kot  had also been completed. A total of seven schools for boys in Sar Hawza, Yahyakhel, and Charbaran districts were now finished, he added.

Atalwal said that their project could provide a blueprint for school building across Afghanistan.

"Since our meeting with the president, the minister for education has announced plans to build 8,000 mud constructed schools across the country over the next five years," he continued. "The ministry has also sent out a letter to officially confirm the scheme in writing."

Habibullah, headteacher at one of the newly-built schools in Kotwalo village in Paktika's provincial capital, Sharana, said until recently students had been taught in tents or, during the summer months, under the shade of trees.

He said, "Our new primary school has 12 classrooms which all have the necessary teaching equipment. It's a great environment for learning."

Abdul Khaliq, the headmaster of Fatima-ul-Zahra girls' school in Yusufkhel district, added that although his new building was very basic, an elaborate structure could always be built at a future date.

"By constructing this building 300 girls are now receiving an education," he told IWPR. "The people of Paktika will forever be grateful for the president's donation."

Abdul Rauf, a teacher at the newly-constructed Tawdachina school in Mata Khan district, also thanked Ghani.

"The president has helped Paktika province enormously and we urge him to continue to do so," he said. "There are still a large number of schools here that don't have buildings."

Pupils at the new schools also said they were delighted with their improved conditions.

Nasima, a student at the Fatima-ul-Zahra secondary school, described how the intense heat and extreme cold of Afghanistan's changing seasons had made studying in makeshift tents very difficult.

"For the last few years we've had to study in tents which can be really tough," she said. "Often in the summer or winter the school is shut because the temperatures become too extreme.

"It's long been our dream to have proper classrooms and now we have the president to thank for it."

Nasrullah, who studies at Tawdachina school, added, "Now it doesn't matter is it's raining or sunny  it doesn't affect our studies."

Tribal elder Mullah Abdul Manan Herar also thanked the president. He said, "In the past this frontier province has always been ignored by previous governments.

"The level of education here is much lower compared with other provinces and we hope the government remains committed to helping us now."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingFamilies flee IS in northern Afghanistan

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 14 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Families flee IS in northern Afghanistan, 14 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660a1a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

14 Mar 18

Aid agencies under pressure to provide food, shelter and education to those seeking refuge.

By Qamaruddin Poya Aziz

Officials in Jowzjan province warn that local services are struggling to cope with an influx of thousands of displaced people (IDPs) escaping fighting in Darzab and Qush Tepa districts.

Insurgents affiliated to Islamic State (IS) have gained ground in parts of the northern province. Clashes between them and the Taleban have further threatened local communities, with around 11,000 families fleeing to the centre of the province.

Jowzjan provincial council head Babur Ishchi said that although humanitarian efforts were underway, the extent of the crisis was stretching local resources.

"Our primary concern is for displaced people in the cold weather, who are living in tents without any proper shelter," he said.

IDPs described fleeing in the face of insurgent violence, with militants abducting and raping women and setting fire to villagers' houses.

One man, Kashmir, said that the threats posed by both the Taleban and IS-affiliated groups had forced him to flee his home in Darzab.

"During the fighting, I lost my father and some of my family members," he said. "I had to leave my house and seek shelter in the centre, which is relatively peaceful," he said.

Having left all their possessions behind, Kashmir said that he and his family were in desperate need of help.

"We need food, drinking water and a warm place for our children to live. The aid which has been provided doesn't begin to meet our needs or solve our problems," he concluded.

Women from the areas under IS attack described widespread sexual violence.

Rahila (not her real name) fled her village of Sardara in Darzab district to seek refuge in central Jowzjan. She told IWPR that fighters from the groups affiliated with IS forced their way into people's homes to kill the men and abduct the young women.

"IS entered our home and killed my sister's husband, then they took my sister with them and raped her and now she lives with them, along with dozens of other girls," Rahila said, adding that although this had happened all over the district, people felt too ashamed to discuss it.

Sayed Talib Sadat, acting director of the provincial department of refugees and repatriation, said that nearly 12,000 families from Aqcha, Qush Tepa and Darzab districts had been displaced to the centre of Jowzjan.

Of these, around 7,500 families had been provided with aid including cash, food and warm clothing for their children as well as basic household items such as tents, kitchen utensils and first aid kits.

Sadat said that around 4,000 families had been helped by donor organisations and the rest by humanitarian assistance from government agencies.

"A survey of the remaining displaced people is ongoing and once it is finished we will distribute aid, together with donor organisations, and we'll provide them with whatever assistance we can."

Sadat said that around a dozen aid agencies including the United Nations had been co-operating with his department, providing displaced people with food and drinking water as well as money.

ACTED, one of the donor organisations, said that they were trying to ensure that displaced children did not miss out on their education.

Amanullah, the acting director of ACTED's provincial office, said that they had managed to accommodate nearly 2,000 students.

"In addition to building schools for needy and displaced people, we also donated 707 blankets and 101 tents," he continued, adding that they planned to distribute more non-food aid, in the near future.

Mohammad Reza Ghafouri, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said that he believed the situation was now under control.

Some needy families had received a three-month supply of food, and the process of distribution was ongoing.

"Mobile health clinics have been built for the displaced people in order to prevent the spread of disease," he continued, adding that they would try to provide literacy courses for children in the near future.

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghan boys still beaten at school

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 15 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghan boys still beaten at school, 15 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660a3a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

15 Mar 18

Ban on corporal punishment continues to be widely ignored.

By Nasratullah Nasrat

An Afghan boy writes on a chalkboard at a rural school in Afghanistan. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

One day, 13-year-old Farhad schoolboy decided that the frequent beatings his teachers subjected him to were just too much to bear.

Horrified by the prospect of being hit yet again, he and his parents agreed that he would simply leave school and get a job.

Today the teenager earns just two dollars a day working at a blacksmiths near his home in Mehtar Lam city, the provincial capital of Laghman.

"My teachers used to beat me very hard," Farhad told IWPR. "I became so afraid of them that I used to skip school two or even three times a week.

"Finally, my parents suggested that I look for a job so that I could avoid the abuse and earn some money as well. So now I've left school and work at a blacksmiths. It's very tough work."

Farhad's father, Mohammad Azghar Niazai, said that this was not the future he had envisaged for his son.

"It's so disappointing to hear about teachers beating students these days," he continued. "I'd wanted my son to receive a proper education but that dream has been shattered now."

Farhad's is not an isolated case in a country where  although theoretically illegal  corporal punishment remains common in schools. Schoolchildren in the eastern province of Laghman told IWPR that it was not unusual for boys to leave education early rather than suffer the abuse.

The situation is not helped by the fact that many parents in Afghanistan see corporal punishment as an important part of school discipline.

Shahidullah Khan, a 12-year-old pupil at Sayeed Murad school in Alisheng district, said that he regularly played truant to avoid being beaten.

He said he pretended to leave home for class in the mornings, but often spent the day wandering the streets with friends.

"One day a teacher beat me so hard on the head with a stick that my head was covered in blood," he told IWPR.

"After this happened I asked my father to move me to a private school because teachers don't beat up the students there. But because my family can't afford it I still continue to study at my old school."

But Shahidullah's father Atlas said that he had little sympathy with his son's plight.

The 46-year-old explained that teachers needed to physically punish young boys, claiming that "good manners do not come without beatings".

"Children won't obey or respect their elders unless they are threatened and punished," he continued.

For some students lucky enough to have families who can afford it, moving to a private school can provide a solution.

Mazullah, a 17-year-old pupil at Saheeb private school in Mehtar Lam, added, "One day a teacher came to our class and started beating me with a stick just because I had grown my hair.

"Now I'm studying in a private school and I feel relaxed and comfortable. I really enjoy my studies here and am one of the best students."

Syed Aslam Mesaq, a psychologist, told IWPR that it was now widely recognised among those in his profession that corporal punishment was both an outdated and ineffective response to poor discipline.

He emphasised how mistreating children could damage their confidence and lead to a variety of other problems in adult life.

"Behaving appropriately in front of children  showing them respect  is critical to their development," he said. "Treating them with dignity allows them to gain self-confidence."

Jamal Ahmad Mujahid, a religious scholar, also told IWPR that Islamic teachings suggested beating children was wrong.

He urged schools to show appropriate compassion to their students and recognise that all pupils required careful nurturing.

Drawing a comparison with the way in which the prophet Muhammad treated his two grandchildren  Hasan and Hussain  he said, "Sometimes Hasan and Hussain sat with him during prayers.

"When prophet Mohammad finished praying, we're told how he hugged and kissed his grandchildren."

Officials insist that attitudes were changing in favour of a gentler approach to discipline.

Mohammad Karim Rahimi, a spokesman for Laghman's department for education, said that there was a growing acceptance in schools that corporal punishment was harmful to a child's development and should no longer be tolerated.

"The issue of teachers beating students isn't one that exists very much anymore," he said.

"We've taken tough action to tackle the problem, including holding meetings with school principles to stress that corporal punishment is now banned.

"We've also sent out documents which make it very clear that any such beatings will no longer be tolerated."

Shah Mahmood Sarhadi, headmaster of the Dr Abdullah Laghmani High School in Mehtar Lam, also said his staff were working hard to ensure physical beatings had no place on modern schooling. He acknowledged that instances still occurred but claimed they were few and far between.

"Whenever there's an occasion where a teacher has hit a student we instruct that teacher to apologise and to put into writing that he will never beat a student again," he said.

Abdul Aleem, a teacher at Gul Pacha school in Mehtar Lam, admitted that he had previously beaten some of his students. But he went on to say that he had learned that a more compassionate approach produced much better results.

"Over the last three years I've altered my behavior and I've treated my students much better," he said. "I've seen how they show more interest in their lessons and respect me more if I refrain from beating them. I regret the way I behaved in the past."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: One woman's story of success

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 15 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: One woman's story of success, 15 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660a5a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

15 Mar 18

The lawyer defying conservative prejudice and motivating others.

By IWPR Afghanistan

An IWPR story about the sole female prosecutor working in the Afghan province of Kandahar has sparked domestic and international attention as well as being hailed as a huge inspiration by local women.

The story, about 26-year-old Zainab and her work in Kandahar's attorney general's office, was picked up by outlets including Tolo News, Salam Watandar radio, the BBC and the Guardian.

Having graduated from the Sharia faculty of Kabul university, Zainab has been working in the elimination of violence against women department for the last one-and-a-half years. Her work has been particularly important as conservative traditions mean that it is very hard for many women to talk openly about their problems to a male lawyer.

She told IWPR that the attention and praise she had received following the report about her had been a huge confidence boost.

"I sincerely thank IWPR and appreciate their efforts, which have helped raise my confidence as well as my public profile," Zainab said. "It has made me even more aware of my duty to serve women."

The IWPR article quickly caught the attention of numerous domestic media outlets.

Abdul Qadir Takin, a reporter for Tolo Afghan, said that he had followed up the IWPR article by interviewing Zainab for his own newspaper.

Mohammad Rahim, a reporter for Kandahar's Salam Watandar radio, also picked up the IWPR story.

"I liked the IWPR report about Zainab, and after reading it I immediately contacted her and we prepared a report for our women's magazine show," he said, adding that the package had received overwhelmingly positive feedback from staff and listeners alike.

Rahim continued, "I check IWPR's website every morning, particularly any stories regarding Afghanistan, so as to read about new issues and use them later to prepare my reports."

Hayatullah Rafiqi, a former anthropology professor at Kandahar University, said that such reports had a wider social impact, motivating others to also fulfill their potential.

"All media outlets should fulfill their responsibilities like IWPR does, and their reporters should also travel around to pick up such effective topic for their reports," he said.

Kandahar activist Abdul Samad Wijdan said that the media had an important role to play in highlighting the achievements of strong, productive men and women and in doing so promote civic involvement.

Although a longtime Kandahar resident, he said that he had never previously heard of Zainab and her achievements. Now he felt the promotion of her story would have a significant impact on the wider society.

Abdul Rahman Koshan, director of prosecution at the Kandahar appellate court, agreed.

"I am pleased with Zainab's performance as it is getting better day by day and she is now a prosecutor at the regional level," he said. "I hope that other female prosecutors also come to serve their people."

Indeed Pashtana, a second-year law student at a private university in Kandahar, said that she had been so inspired by Zainab's story that she now planned to join the attorney general's office after graduation.

In a country where social attitudes militate against girls continuing their education past puberty, Zainab's story has proved particularly inspiring.

Khair Mohammad, a shopkeeper in the Hazrat Jee Baba area of Kandahar province, told IWPR that he had decided to take his 14-year-old daughter out of school due to the taunts and ridicule his family had been subjected to from the local community.

After hearing about Zainab's story on a number of radio shows, he decided to defy conservative prejudices and allow her to continue her education.

Khair Mohammad said, "I will send my daughter back into the 7th grade in school at the beginning of the new educational year to continue her studies so she can serve her people, just like Zainab the prosecutor."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingHopes overflow for Afghan water project

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 16 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Hopes overflow for Afghan water project, 16 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660a7a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

16 Mar 18

Much-anticipated development will irrigate farmland and boost power supplies.

By Safiullah Amiri

Residents of Nimruz have high hopes about the dramatic differences a major dam project will have on life in the semi-arid province.

Now in its third and final phase, the Kamal Khan dam is anticipated to have a massive impact on both agriculture and electricity generation in the southwest of the country.

When complete the dam in Chahar Burjak district will irrigate some 80,000 hectares of land in what is the country's most sparsely-populated province, as well as generating nine megawatts of electricity.

Nimruz resident Ali Ahmed Mahajer said he was very optimistic now the dam was moving into its final phase, given that swathes of the province had long been uncultivated desert.

"The construction of Kamal Khan and its operation will provide a lot of facilities for people. Building the dam will help to reduce water shortages in barren and dry areas in the north of the province," Mahajer said, adding that this would enable thousands more people to make a living through farming.

Although locals believe the dam could transform their fortunes, water has been a persistent source of regional tension.

The Helmand river runs 700 miles from its source in the Hindu Kush mountains to the Iranian-Afghan border, and the dam will disrupt this flow along the way.

According to a bilateral water agreement signed in 1973 under the supervision of then-prime minister Musa Shafiq, Article 5 of the treaty precludes any measures that would cut off the flow of Helmand river to Iran. It also obligates Afghanistan to channel at least 22 cubic metres a second annually to Iran.

Both countries have accused the other of violating the agreement. In 2015, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complained that "the treaty provisions are being enforced inadequately and inconsistently by the Afghan government".

But officials from the Afghan ministry of energy and water said that the dam project would not harm Iran's water supply, and that their country remained committed to supplying 820 million cubic metres of water to their neighbour each year.

Asif Ghafouri, head of the provincial ministry of energy and water, said that by regulating the supply of water, the dam would actually help implement the 1973 agreement.

Taleban attacks have hampered development work in the past, but Nimruz officials said that they believed security was now under control.

Khalid Parwani, spokesman for the Nimruz governor, said that the final stage, which began in April 2017, had been contracted to a Turkish company that had pledged to complete construction within 42 months, and it was likely that work would be finished even before this deadline.

This third phase involves installing three turbines and a power station as well as digging extensive canals. It is funded by 78 million dollars from the Afghan government's development budget.

Parwani added that security forces had been deployed to the site and he did not anticipate any major threats to derail the project's progress.

"The security forces are executing their duties according to plan," agreed Nimruz police chief Ghulam Jilani Abu Bakr. "The reserve units situated in the Char Burjak district are cooperating with the company that runs the construction work of the third phase of Kamal Khan dam, and so far no challenges have been posed to it."

For now, Nimruz residents eagerly anticipate some dramatic improvements to their lives.

"Kamal Khan is one of the best-known projects in Nimruz province, it will offer and provide a lot of facilities for people," said local man Ajab Gul. "We want the government to be serious about the construction of this dam so that the people of Nimruz can benefit."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Women's stories left untold

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 19 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Women's stories left untold, 19 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660a9a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

19 Mar 18

Social barriers still prevent female reporters from working in the media.

By Mukhtar Amiri

Not a single woman is employed at any of the radio stations currently broadcasting in the southern province of Zabul, an IWPR investigation has found.

Radio broadcasts reach an enormous number of people across the country, and the medium is a key part of the diverse media scene that has flourished in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taleban in 2001.

More than 170 FM radio stations operate nationwide, and in Zabul three independent radio stations and a state-run broadcaster share the airwaves.

However, Nisar Ahmad Sapand, head of Zabul's Shaikh Mati radio, told IWPR that the lack of female staff meant that many topics went unreported.

"We've talked to women about this and although they're interested in working within the media industry, they tend to cite poor security and conservative cultural norms as a barrier to following this career path," he said.

"The women's families, for instance, may not allow them to work with us and because of this we've found we've had to cancel various programmes where we've needed female journalists to help us report on issues relating to women. It's a major problem."

Part of the issue is the failure of more conservative elements within Afghan society to embrace change, with many families frowning on the idea of women working outside the home at all.

Azizullah Bismil, acting director of Zabul's department of information and culture, agreed that social barriers had largely prevented women from working in this field.

He said that officials had promoted workshops to increase public awareness of possible careers in the media. But he added that so far only men had attended the seminars.

"I agree there are cultural obstacles at play here but I urge the people of Zabul to allow women to work as journalists," he said. "Women must be allowed to take a stand; to fight for their rights and report back to the government and the international community on the difficulties they face."

Activists emphasised that female journalists could make a real impact on the lives of other women.

Shabana Khushal, the head of Zabul NGO Khushal Khairia Bansat, said that female journalists were the ones best placed to cover gender issues.

She said, "When I invite male reporters to meetings to discuss the programmes our foundation's involved in, I very often get hesitant responses.

"The difficulty is that our female participants may not feel they're able to talk to male reporters and vice versa.

"Government departments in Zabul that work on behalf of women must take steps to encourage local media here to hire more female staff."

Another activist, Mohammad Hotak, also told IWPR that female voices were needed to bring true social change.

"If more women worked in the media or in civil society then public awareness of the issues they face would be hugely increased," he said. "Violence against women, for example, would come down."

While women interested in pursuing a job in journalism agree that the career can bring wider social benefits, some say they are not prepared to pay what can be a high personal price.

"There are some issues that women can only really share with female reporters," said Shabnam Fazli, a 25-year-old resident of the provincial capital Qalat. "Problems such as domestic violence and sexual harassment aren't going to be discussed in front of a male journalist."

Nonetheless, she said, she did not feel she could take her interest any further.

"I've attended some of the training courses on journalism, but due to the instability of Zabul province, as well as the cultural restrictions, I can't work in the media," Shabnam concluded.

Sediqa Jalali, director of Zabul's department of women's affairs, said that the state had an important role to play in changing this reality.

She said that while many young women in the province were clearly interested in journalism, there was a clear lack of training resources available to them.

"Female journalists are as important to our society as female doctors," Jalali said. "And if Zabul media outlets are struggling for whatever reason to recruit women, then national outlets from Kabul such as Radio Television of Afghanistan (RTA) should make it their responsibility to send their female journalists out to our province at least once a month to report on women's issues here."

Fawzia Younusi Kakar, the secretary of Zabul's provincial council, said that she believed this was a problem that could be solved.

"The Afghan government and the ministry of information and culture need to pay special attention to Zabul so that they can identify and eliminate the barriers preventing women from working in journalism," she continued.

"This issue isn't unprecedented. The problem existed elsewhere in other provinces but local authorities were able to step in and solve it. Relevant departments must work together."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingControversy over Afghans issued Pakistani IDs

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 22 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Controversy over Afghans issued Pakistani IDs, 22 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660ab4.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

22 Mar 18

Residents of southeastern border region appeal for government action.

By Khairuddin Zaki

Residents of a district in the border province of Paktika are being issued with Pakistani ID cards, an IWPR investigation has found.

Local leaders have urged central government authorities to intervene, suggesting the practice amounted to an act of aggression by the neighbouring country.

"Many people in Barmal district now have Pakistani IDs," said Baryali Jabarkhail, a member of Paktika's youth parliament. "If this isn't stopped now, Pakistan will likely start to distribute their cards in other districts as well."

Aziz, a resident of Urgun district, said, "Every government has the responsibility to protect and secure its own borders, but the Afghan government has not understood this.

"Pakistan is trying to influence people's attitudes and strengthen their country's influence on Afghan soil.

"They can do pretty much anything they want here; from conducting military operations to building border installations.

"Now they've started a new game by distrubuting Pakistani IDs to Afghans in Barmal district. This is aggressive behaviour."

Hayatullah Safi, the governor of Barmal district, said he had requested that Afghan border police attempt to put a stop to citizens using Pakistani IDs.

He told IWPR, "I have informed both Paktika's provincial office and the Afghan ministry of interior about the issue so that they can take the necessary actions.

"I have also begun arranging tribal gatherings to inform local people about their responsibilities and the government's responsibilities in the region."

The issue is highly sensitive, not least because of ongoing border disputes between the two countries.

No Afghan government has ever recognised the legitimacy of the 1,500 mile Durand Line, established by the British in 1896, as it cuts off traditional Pashtun tribal lands which Afghans see as theirs.

Pakistan's attempts to establish fences and border posts in the region have met with stiff resistance. Periodic skirmishes between the two countries have also continued to aggravate an already delicate relationship.

Paktika council member Abdul Mubeen Faqirzada accused Pakistan of aggressive interference.

He urged authorities to stop turning a blind eye to the phenomenon and said that continued neglect could only lead to further hostilities.

"The government has to focus on our borders," he argued. "And for the sake of unity and patriotism our people have to support the government."

Civil activist Khushal Tasal said he regarded the distribution of Pakistani IDs as a disgrace.

He said, "The Afghan government needs to respond. If Pakistan is distributing their IDs today then who knows what tomorrow brings.

"They could try to impose their curriculum on Afghans. It will become impossible to stand against them."

Ali Mohammad Nazari, a civil activist living in the region, said that local Afghans were accepting Pakistani IDs out of growing frustration with their own government's failures.

He said that the region was in desperate need of investment in health, education and infrastructure, and that the Afghan authorities had ignored its peoples' plight.

"This investment  these opportunities  are not being provided here and so people start to look to Pakistan for help," he said. "The public need to have trust and confidence in their own government but this is lacking. The Afghan government must take responsibility for its borders.

Paktika governor Mohammad Elyas Wahdat acknowledged the fact that Pakistani IDs were being distributed in some areas of the province.

He denied the matter posed a risk to the stability of the region, however, and instead argued tribal groups had long carried both Afghan and Pakistani IDs.

This was a practical measure step to allow local people  who often owned homes and land on both sides of the border  to move freely. Residents of Barmal district often had relatives in the Pakistani areas of North and South Waziristan, he said, and without the cards crossing the border would become a huge bureaucratic headache.

But he continued, "Afghans should understand that carrying a foreign identity card should not be a source of pride for them.

"They should continue to see Afghanistan as their home country, allowing them the dignity they deserve."

Paktika provincial council member Niamatullah Baburi said that Wahdat's apparent lack of concern was "dangerous" and urged officials in Kabul to take action.

He claimed the tactic was a deliberate ploy by Pakistan to further cement the validity of the Durand Line, the international border between the two countries which remains largely unrecognised by Afghanistan.

"If the government continues to remain silent and ignore this issue then Pakistan will likely extend their issuing of IDs to wider areas," Baburi continued.

"In time, the result may be that groups in this area are more likely to consider themselves Pakistani rather than Afghan."

The Pakistani embassy in Kabul failed to respond to repeated requests for comment on this story.

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingThe perils of taking an Afghan bus

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 26 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The perils of taking an Afghan bus, 26 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660b14.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

26 Mar 18

Casualty rate along major artery alarms leading bus corporation.

By Naqiba Barikzai

A traffic company that operates buses along the 1,400-kilometer Kabul-Herat highway has vowed to implement new safety measures after a series of shocking crashes in which dozens of people were killed.

It is impossible to give definitive figures on traffic accidents and associated casualties due to problems with information gathering and sharing in Afghanistan.

But information gathered by IWPR on incidents along a route that locals nickname "the Highway of Death" reveal an alarming casualty rate.

IWPR gathered data relating to one of Afghanistan's best-known licensed transport companies, Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali.

Hikmatullah Qawanch, a spokesman for the ministry of transport and civil aviation, told IWPR that Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali had been ranked among the country's top transportation companies in 2017.

Some of the more spectacular incidents involving Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali vehicles have been widely reported in the Afghan media, such as a pile-up two years ago that resulted in the deaths of 73 people. On May 9, 2016 in the Muqur district of Ghazni province, two Ahmad Shah Abdali passenger buses crashed into a loaded fuel tanker. Most of the victims died in the ensuing conflagration.

IWPR received hugely varying answers to requests from various agencies to clarify the number of accidents involving Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali buses on this particular route over the last three years.

The traffic department of Afghanistan's interior ministry reported that the company had been involved in 37 incidents. Abdul Hakeem Bakhtyar, head of the office dealing with traffic accidents, told IWPR that as far as they knew 70 civilians had been killed, but that casualty figures might be even higher.

Jan Agha, head of Ghazni police's traffic accidents investigation branch, said that Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali passenger buses had been involved in 40 accidents in the last three years on the Ghazni stretch of the highway alone. He added that 170 people had died in these accidents.

In Maidan Wardak, police spokesman Naqeebullah Amini said that over the same time period in the stretch of the highway that ran through the province, 23 people had been killed in 12 accidents involving Ahmad Shah Abdali buses.

However, IWPR looked at just 22 traffic accidents involving Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali vehicles which took place over the last three years on Kabul-Herat highway. Based on statements made by injured people themselves and the relatives of those killed in the accidents, IWPR calculated that as many as 350 people may have died in these incidents.

Figures from Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali varied even further from these estimates.

Ahmadullah, an employee in Ahmad Shah Baba Abdali's Kabul office, said that their vehicles had been involved in just six accidents over the past three years in which only three civilians had been killed.

He added that their drivers committed to driving at a reasonable speed and said he was sure they were keeping to this promise.

ROUTE OF DEATH

The highway that links Kandahar, Kabul and Herat was once hailed as an important achievement for Afghan reconstruction. In recent years, conditions have deteriorated significantly due to a lack of maintenance as well as continued insurgent attack.

There is also little oversight. Ghulam Nabi Farkhi, acting director of Herat's traffic department, said that although speeding was the main cause of traffic accidents on the Kabul-Herat route, officials had failed to take any action.

"The traffic police of the Kabul-Herat highway don't have any role in controlling the vehicles," he concluded.

IWPR spoke to a former driver for Ahmad Shah Abdali who worked on the Kabul-Herat highway between 2014 and 2016.

Mohammad Umar, a 30-year-old from Chambaran village in Ghazni's Muqur district, said that he had been advised by other staff to overtake the buses of rival companies on this route. He added that any driver who reached his destination faster than his colleagues would receive a special commendation.

Others have alleged that bus drivers use drugs including hashish.

Abdullah, a resident of Herar's Khwajah Kala, travels to Kandahar once every 15 days to transport tyres. The 38-year-old described one incident in early February this year when he was riding in an Ahmad Shah Abdali bus.

When the driver stopped his bus in the Chak Ab area of Farah province so that passengers could pray next to the road. Abdullah said he noticed him rubbing some hashish in the palm of his hand

"Then I saw the driver smoking hashish," he said, adding that the driver told him he smoked hashish so that he wouldn't fall asleep while he was driving.

Other regular travelers along the route said that they had witnessed multiple crashes involving the firms' buses.

Naseer Ahmad, a resident of Wardak's provincial capital Maidan Shar, is a tanker driver who has been transporting fuel from Nimroz to Herat and Kabul for the past 20 years. The 45-year-old told IWPR that he could recall many traffic accidents on the highway, but one that had stuck in his mind was an incident in October, 2017 in which ten people were killed, including women and children.

Ahmad had been driving through the Qalah-e-Haidar Khan area in the western part of Kabul at around three am when he came across the collision.

"Two Ahmad Shah Abdali buses were moving in the direction of Kabul and two other buses, one of them also belonging to Ahmad Shah Abdali and the other one to the Wardak Baba transport company that were towards Kandahar had collided," Ahmad said.

Another man, Nasir, said that he had been working as a Herat ambulance driver for the past two years. The 30-year-old recalled an accident involving an Ahmad Shah Abdali bus in July 2016 on the Kabul-Herat highway.

"I saw the dead bodies of 15 passengers of this accident in the morgue of Herat's regional hospital, and the dead body of the driver had been severed into two parts," he recalled.

Nasir also said that he had helped transport the bodies of 28 passengers riding in an Ahmad Shah Abdali bus which had crashed into a truck loaded with cements in the Toot area of Farah province on December 18, 2016.

Following that accident, Herat's provincial council suspended all Ahmad Shah Abdali services until its local representative Agha Jan promised to implement moves that would decrease future casualty figures.

Herat provincial council head Kamran Alizai told IWPR that they had imposed conditions on Ahmad Shah Abdali including having two drivers on board each vehicle, sacking drivers who took drugs and reducing speeds.

The company's deputy head, Noorullah, agreed that their drivers did use to speed in the past, but he said that this was because of fear of attack as they travelled along the Kabul-Herat highway.

Noorullah told IWPR that bandits and robbers set up ambushes along this route meaning drivers had to drive fast to keep their passengers safe.

"We had many traffic accidents in the past, but now our drivers are under control," Noorullah said.

As for the allegations that their drivers took drugs, Noorullah said that this was untrue. He added that staff now underwent testing by medics and Kandahar traffic police to prove this.

"The Abdali company has 250 passenger buses and each of them costs 60,000 dollars. If we hired drug addicts as drivers, it's clear that the company would soon go bankrupt."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingNEW YORK, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After 37 years as head of the leading international credential evaluation service in the United States and Canada, Mariam Assefa has announced her decision to retire from her role as Executive Director of World Education Services (WES).



I make this decision with the knowledge that WES is stronger than it has ever been, both in its commitment to its mission and vision and in its business, said Assefa. I look forward to the transition with mixed emotionsgratitude toward my colleagues and many friends here at WES, amazement at how WES has changed and grown over the last 37 years, and excitement about the potential and possibilities that lie before the organization.

World Education Services was founded in New York in 1974 and began operations in Toronto in 2000. In that time, it has provided credential evaluations for nearly two million people. Under Assefas leadership, WES became the top credential evaluation provider in the United States and Canada. In 2017, the organization received nearly 300,000 applications for credential evaluation.

For over 40 years, WES has provided leadership and innovation in the field of credential evaluation, said June Noronha, Chair of the WES Board of Directors. More recently it has begun providing services to help skilled immigrants find work that matches their training. Mariam has been key to the organizations thrust and success. She leaves a legacy of excellence, care, and deep commitment that positions WES for a strong and vibrant future.

Many immigrants to Canada and the United States find that, even with evidence of their academic qualifications in hand, they face acute barriers to resuming their professional careers, said Paul Feltman, Deputy Executive Director of Global Talent Policy and Programs at WES. Mariam saw the need for a bridge to help these individuals put their talent and professional know-how to work in their chosen fields. That perspective led to the establishment of WES Global Talent Bridge in 2009.

Mariam has not only made WES the leading credential evaluation service in North America, she has helped to shape the worlds approach to international credential recognition, said Hans de Wit, Director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, and a longtime WES board member. She was at the founding conference of the European Association for International Education in 1989, and served as president of NAFSA: Association of International Educators in 2006. Her work and knowledge have enriched the field of international education in profound ways.

Over the last few years, Assefa has focused on ensuring that WES is in a position to help alleviate the challenge faced by thousands of highly educated individuals who have fled their homelands because of conflict or other disasters. In 2017, WES completed a pilot to determine how best to validate and recognize the credentials of Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada with incomplete documentation of their academic achievements. The pilot paved the way for a soon-to-be-launched program that will reach additional newcomers to Canada who were displaced by war or other crises and who lack complete academic documentation.

As the leader and spokesperson for WES for more than three decades, Mariam has long exemplified the expert knowledge, objectivity, recognized authority, and impeccable professionalism that characterize WES and that infuse its mission, character, and values, said WES board member Stephen C. Dunnett, Vice Provost for International Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has instilled confidence and lasting trust in WES among clients and stakeholders around the world.

Assefa will continue to serve until a successor is named and the transition is complete in mid-2019. I am proud of all that WES has done in the time I have been here and humbled by my colleagues commitment to the successful integration of skilled immigrants and international students, said Assefa. As I plan for retirement, I have full confidence that the organization is well positioned to push forward with new and innovative strategies to empower our clients to thrive in new professional and academic environments in Canada and the U.S.

For more information contact Ashley Craddock, Director of Strategic Communications, World Education Services T: 512.212.3998 E: acraddock@WES.org

About WES

World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1974 and dedicated to helping individuals achieve their higher education and professional goals. WES evaluates and advocates for the recognition of international education qualifications in the U.S. and Canada. WES delivers credential evaluations recognized by 2,500 academic, business, and governmental institutions to almost two million people worldwide.Underage girls recruited to Kurdish forces

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 29 March 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Underage girls recruited to Kurdish forces, 29 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660b34.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

29 Mar 18

Concerns that military forces are using child soldiers.

By Jullnar Abdul Kareem

PKK uses underage girls in hostilities. (Photo: Spodaren Roje/YPJ organisation)

The case of a 12-year old Kurdish Syrian girl recruited to fight alongside local militias has highlighted ongoing concerns about the recruitment of child soldiers by Kurdish forces.

Avin Saroxan appeared on a Kurdish TV channel dressed in military uniform with a group of other underage girls in Deir ez-Zor, apparently all engaged in fighting against Islamic State forces.

According to eye-witnesses, Avin was last seen standing outside her school in the city of Darbassiye in al-Hasaka Rif before men believed to belong to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) took her to a black car and drove away.

Her parents contacted officials from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) who initially denied any knowledge of the incident. Later, they acknowledged that Avin had been sent to what they described as a political training course for one month.

"Asayish forces [the police force of the autonomous Kurdish cantons] kidnapped Avin in an act of revenge over an issue related to the marriage of her sister Amina," Avin's uncle Aram Saroxan told Syria Stories. "Those militias recently kidnapped several young girls from Darbassiye, all aged between 13 and 14 years-old, handed them weapons, and threw them into the frontline battles in Deir ez-Zor province."

In 2014, the YPG signed a pledge to demobilize all its fighters aged under 18 within a month.

Although nearly 150 children were indeed demobilized, Human Rights Watch continued to document cases of under 18s joining and fighting with both the YPG and the YPJ, its female branch.

Media activist Juwan Remmo said that although the Kurdish militias claimed that there was no compulsory draft, they routinely recruited young teenagers to their ranks.

"The PKK and its militias are renowned for committing such acts, it's nothing new," he said. "This is not the first case of that kind, as . . . many other similar incidents occurred in regions under the control of the PKK and its militias."

Kurdish journalist Raman Youssef said that the militias were a convenient and attractive destination for young runaways.

"The PKK is renowned for convincing people to join its ranks, particularly teenagers, and has always implemented this practice in all Kurdish regions. It also has special training camps to support and guide new recruits in the Rmeilan region. Tens of minors are sent there after being taken from their parents to receive special training for long periods of time," Youssef said.

However, he said that reports of abductions were exaggerated.

"I do not buy into the stories that the PKK and the Asayish forcefully kidnap minors in broad daylight and take them to training camps," Youssef continued. "There were cases where teenagers were sent to training camps because their families abused them, where under-aged girls were forced into marriage, or where they were forced into marrying men they did not wish to marry and into dropping out of school. These actions often ended with the suicide of some girls."

The issue was, he said, that girls found it hard to extricate themselves once they had joined the ranks of the militias.

"After that they are isolated and all communications with their families are interrupted for a long time and even if they wanted to return to their parents, they would not be allowed to do so," he concluded.

Modr al-Asaad, a human rights activist, said that the militias lured teenagers with a combination of threats and enticements.

"Numerous kidnappings of minors and underage girls to serve in militias have been conducted using a carrot-and-stick policy to the point where such practices became the norm in al-Hasaka province and all regions under the control of the PKK and its militias," he said. "This is considered a legal and moral violation, as children should not be recruited and sent to fight in battles and wars. This is a war crime."

"The number of children exposed to immediate danger is increasing significantly as a result of those kidnappings, as they are recruited by the PYD militia and usually tasked with carrying messages, being guards, informants, fighters or human shields," al-Asaad continued.

Al-Asaad said that, in 2015, a group of 125 Syrian Kurdish activists and intellectuals signed a statement condemning the PYD policy of recruiting underage girls, which they described as a violation of international law. They stated that children should be in school and not on the frontline.

Recruitment had continued, he said adding, "International human rights law forbids all sides of the conflict from recruiting minors or using them in military operations, and it compels all sides to ensure the safety of civilians and grant them safe passage out of conflict zones," he said.

This article was originally published on IWPR's Syria platform: SyriaStories.net.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghan women fight for inheritance rights

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 4 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghan women fight for inheritance rights, 4 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660b4a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

04 Apr 18

A combination of ignorance and willful neglect means female relatives are often excluded.

By Ahmad Lodin

Afghan women often remain excluded from their legitimate inheritances. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Women in the southern province of Kandahar are still routinely being denied access to their rightful inheritance by male family members, an IWPR investigation has found.

Under Islamic law, female family members are entitled to receive a share of a relative's will. However, this is often ignored, and numerous interviewees told IWPR that they had been refused money or land following the death of a loved-one.

Zarmina, a 40-year-old widow, said that her brothers had denied her a share in thier father's inheritance.

Her husband was killed in a traffic accident two years ago, leaving Zarmina to raise her 11-year-old son and five-year-old daughter alone.

"My brothers' behaviour is neither fair nor just," she said. "They don't care about my poverty and haven't divided my father's inheritance to enable me to receive my rightful share."

Under Islamic law, a daughter is entitled to receive one third of the inheritance of her brother or brothers. However, due to a combination of ignorance and willful neglect, male heirs often choose to cut female family members out of their rightful inheritance.

Kandahar resident Noor Mohammad told IWPR that he was well aware of his duty under Islamic law, but nonetheless had taken the decision not to share his father's estate with his sister.

He said to do so would be to break with what had become the cultural norm in the province  and that acting in this way would be to the detriment of both himself and his sister.

"If a woman inherits a share of a property here, then people quickly regard her brothers as cowards," he said.

"The sister will also be regarded as a beggar  someone who is shameless. Local families will taunt her and her family will have to deal with their comments for years.

"My sister is a widow but she won't receive her inheritance. Neither does she want to claim it."

Some women say they have been left facing poverty due to this kind of treatment from their siblings. Maryam, who lives in the third district of Kandahar city, described how her family had married her off aged 15 in exchange for a bride price of 8,000 US dollars.

She said she had lived with her husband for three years before he had become addicted to drugs and had left her to seek treatment at a rehabilitation centre in Kandahar's Spin Boldak district.

Since then, Maryam had lived with her in-laws who she said cared little about her welfare. But with no access to her late father's estate, she said she had no other option.

"There is no food to eat from morning till evening and all the money my father left has been taken by my brothers," Maryam said.

"When I told one of my brothers about the difficulties I face and asked him for some money from my inheritance he got upset with me. He left my home and has never returned."

Ruqia Asakzai, director of the provincial department of women's affairs, said women courageous enough to report such mistreatment still faced an uphill battle for justice.

She said that in all the cases she was aware of where women had been denied their inheritance, none of the claimants had been supported by the courts.

"Due to poor management and corruption in the justice sector, none of the cases have yet been resolved," she said. "Not a single woman has been helped by the court to fight for their rights and so many have simply given up."

Other officials denied this was the case, with various agencies giving different figures for the number of cases being dealt with by the system.

Nek Mohammad Ahmadi, director of Kandahar's department of justice, said that he was aware of 21 such instances that had been investigated over the last year.

He said that 11 had already been resolved, with the outstanding ten due to be concluded soon.

"There is not a single case of inheritance which has been delayed, where a claimant's rights have been violated or where an individual has faced corruption," he said.

Shugofa Sahar, head of the regional branch of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), told IWPR that the issue of access to inheritance remained largely unreported.

She said that women were wary of coming forward to make a claim given the resulting scorn and resentment of family members.

Sahar said that she was aware of only four instances of women making official complaints to authorities last year over their exclusion from a family inheritance. All four cases had been investigated and sent on for a decision from the courts, she said.

"Women don't dare to raise their voice here," she remarked. "Asking for a share of inheritance is seen as bringing shame and humiliation on your family."

Khalida Ahmadi, the secretary of Kandahar's provincial council, said officials were aware of the issue and were working to resolve disputes though both mediation and the courts. She said eight cases had been referred to them last year.

"We approach this problem in two different ways," she said. "Either we try to settle the cases through mediation or, in more complex instances where parties can't agree, we send them on to be dealt with by the courts."

But not every family refuses to share any inheritance they receive. Haji Nasratullah, a resident of Kandahar city, said that he had divided his father's estate fairly between his brothers and three sisters.

He added, "Although my sisters didn't need their share of the inheritance it was their Islamic right, so I convinced my brothers that the correct thing to do was to divide the inheritance with them."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingJobless Afghans slip into crime

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 4 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Jobless Afghans slip into crime, 4 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660b6a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

04 Apr 18

Country's rising unemployment is proving hard to challenge.

By Mina Habib

There are few prospects for young Afghans, even those with an education. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Mohammad Naeem, 26, is in a Kabul jail awaiting trial on charges of stealing a mobile phone. Arrested on March 2, 2018 in the Karta-e-Chahr area of Kabul city, he says he will be pleading guilty to the crime.

Naeem told IWPR that he had felt under huge pressure since losing his job in a bakery three months ago.

"I made lots of applications to government departments and private institutions to find a job, but I couldn't. My fiancee kept on asking me to buy her a mobile phone, but I couldn't say yes as I couldn't afford it," Naeem said. "So I committed this crime and stole someone's mobile phone."

Rising unemployment in Afghanistan is being cited as a major factor in the country's rate of petty crime.

According to the ministry of labour, social affairs, martyrs and the disabled (MoLSAMD), 8.1 million Afghans are out of work. This means that  according to a March 2018 survey by the ministry of economy  23 per cent of work-age Afghans are unemployed. A further 39 per cent of all citizens live below the poverty line.

In a series of interviews carried out in Kabul's central detention centre, unemployment was the main reason given for criminal activity.

Mohammad Wali (not his real name) said he had fallen into drug addiction as a labour migrant in Iran, a common fate for young men who travel to the neighbouring country to seek work.

The 32-year-old, originally from Wardak province, said, "I couldn't find a job in Afghanistan, so I went to Iran where I started working in a factory. I also began using drugs and became addicted. When I returned to Afghanistan, there were people who wanted me to transfer narcotics from one place to another in exchange for giving me some drugs and so I did that until I was arrested by police on March 8, 2018 in the Pul-e-Sokhta area of Kabul."

Now awaiting trial, Wali said that he regretted his actions and said he hoped the Afghan government would try to create more jobs so that other young men would not suffer the same fate.

Mohammad Salem Almas, chief of criminal investigation for Kabul police, confirmed that unemployment was cited as a major factor in youth crime.

"Most of those arrested by the police say that they were unemployed and therefore had no choice but to commit the crimes," Almas said.

MoLSAMD spokesman Abdul Fateh Ashrat Ahmadzai said that not enough new jobs were being created to satisfy the demands of the 400,000 young people who joined the job market each year.

He said that without serious planning from MoLSAMD the unemployment rate would continue to rise, and that his department's ultimate target was to reduce unemployment from 8.5 to 1.9 million.

One problem is that private sector investment in Afghanistan has simply not kept pace with the huge need for jobs.

Sayam Pesarlai, spokesman for the chamber of commerce and industries, said that one of the main causes for rising unemployment was the lack of security, which had not only discouraged entrepreneurs from investing in the country but also encouraged investors to move their assets abroad.

Pesarlai added that a lack of state support for privately owned companies also exacerbated the situation.

Economic expert Saihoon said that despite its rich natural resources, Afghanistan lacked any coherent job-creation strategy.

"Afghanistan's economic system is one of the most ineffective in the world in terms of entrepreneurship and creating job opportunities," he said. "Afghanistan has vast agricultural lands as well as untapped mineral resources that could be used for creating jobs but unfortunately there is no rational strategy to save young people from unemployment."

He said that infrastructure projects such as power and water provision could be a very effective way of job creation, although he claimed the government had made little effort in this area.

Unemployment could have serious social effects, he warned.

"If government fails to provide jobs to the young people it will have bad consequences, and it's likely that criminals would take advantage of unemployed youths which would leading to a rise in crime."

Even young people with university degrees say they find it difficult to find work.

Benafsha Karimi, an economic graduate from Kabul university, said she had applied repeatedly for government jobs, but without success.

"It's been two years since I graduated from the economics faculty of Kabul state, university but when I approach a government department to find a job, they tell me there's no work for me. I have frequently waited at the entrance to the MoLSAMD offices to apply for a newly-announced post, but this dream hasn't come true yet," Karimi said.

At the same time, official data from Afghanistan's administrative reform and civil services commission shows that 15,000 government posts remain vacant.

Infrastructure projects are another big employer in Afghanistan, but the country has in the past been forced to import skilled workers for the construction sector. More skilled in modern building techniques, Pakistani and Iranian labourers were sometimes preferred over Afghan citizens.

MoLSAMD spokesman Ahmadzai said that the number of foreign workers in the country had decreased since 2014 as Afghan workers had learned new and more specialised skills.

He said that compared to 100,000 foreign workers in 2014, there are now few than 10,000.

While all look to the government to take action to improve the situation, officials caution that more time is needed for current project to bear fruit.

Dawa Khan Menapal, deputy presidential spokesman, said, "The Afghan government is making its best efforts to open state-run factories and to build new plants so that many job opportunities can be created for young people."

He added that the country was currently dependent on imports, and that it would take many years to become an exporter of goods.

But he added stressed that the government was committed to creating job opportunities for young people though major economic and infrastructure projects.

"The implementation of the TAPI [pipeline] project, which will take gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan, will create job opportunities for many youths," he said. "In addition, the construction of hydroelectric dams  which is part of the Afghan government's programme  will also create jobs for young people, but these projects need time till they can be of public use. For example, the construction of a hydroelectric dam may take six years until it's complete.

"Taking this into consideration, the country's unemployment problem can't be solved quickly."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingUzbek president reins in security service

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 4 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Uzbek president reins in security service, 4 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660b8a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

04 Apr 18

Once-mighty intelligence agency weakened by a serious shake-up.

By Timur Toktonaliev, Turonbek Kozokov

Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev. (Photo: Press Service of the Uzbek President)

Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has launched a major reorganisation of the powerful National Security Service (SNB) in what appears to be the most ambitious series of reforms since he took power in December 2016.

In mid-March, Mirziyoyev issued a decree slashing the powers of an intelligence agency long seen as a repressive secret police  a month after the resignation of formidable chairman Rustam Inoyatov, who had headed the SNB since 1995.

Mirziyoyev's decree transferred responsibility for a range of issues, including the security of state institutions, from SNB to the Interior Ministry (MVD) as of April 1. Other tasks, including building and maintaining security installations, will be transferred to the ministry of defence. The SNB was also renamed the State Security Service (GSB).

The president made clear that what he described as the "unjustified expansion" of the agency's authority would end. In the past, "any local issue could be seen as a national security threat. This reorganisation will draw the attention of the agency to the real state-level threats".

The decree also specifies that the intelligence agencies must "strictly uphold people's rights, freedoms and legitimate interests" as well as protecting the state from external and internal threats.

Although the SNB is a large agency with numerous departments throughout the country and an extensive agent network abroad, Mirziyoyev said that its centralised control had "contributed to unjustified intervention in all spheres of the activities of state authorities".

The resignation of the the SNB's head was particularly significant as Inoyatov was one of Uzbekistan's most powerful officials during the regime of former president Islam Karimov, who died in September 2016. He has now become a presidential adviser and senator of the upper house of the Uzbek parliament, which ensures immunity from criminal prosecution.

Some of his subordinates have not been so fortunate since the dawn of the Mirziyoyev era. In August 2017, local media outlets reported that the SNB's first deputy chair, Shukhrat Gulyamov, was sentenced to life by the supreme court and fined more than a billion US dollars on charges of money laundering, arms and drugs trading and bribery.

The legal fate of two other deputies and a dozen high-ranking officials of the central office and regional departments, who all resigned, are unknown.

Ikhtiyor Abdullaev, prosecutor general of Uzbekistan since 2015, took over from Inoyatov as chairman of the State Security Service.

At recent meetings with residents of Surkhandarya and Bukhara in southern Uzbekistan, the president explained that during his previous tenure as prime minister he had learned that SNB chiefs mistreated local officials and entrepreneurs by initiating fake criminal cases against them and imprisoning them.

"No one ever gave them such powers, they did it themselves," he said. "We'll tighten control to re-establish justice. No state has such dishonest officers with so many powers," Mirziyoyev told activists in Bukhara, according to the Uzbekistan-based Radio Liberty.

"Many of them will be held liable. Now they will sing another song. Many of them haven't been in the places [prisons] where they have put many other people," the president said.

Uzbekistan has a dismal human rights record, and the SNB has been seen as responsible for the arrest and torture of hundreds of ordinary citizens as well as activists and religious figures.

Karimov had rejected all criticisms from the human rights community, justifying his extreme measures as a necessity to combat terrorism and extremists.

After taking office, Mirziyoyev made no specific comment on past violations, but noted that the authorities needed to serve the citizens and treat them fairly. Some convicted politicians and human rights defenders have since been released.

"The National Security Service as one of the state power structures should operate according to the principle, "It's not the people who benefit the state authorities, but the state authorities who benefit the people,"  which is now the guidance for all ministries and agencies in the republic," Mirziyoyev said on January 31 at the meeting of special service officers where Inoyatov's resignation was announced.

Shukhrat Ganiev, director of the Humanitarian Legal Centre in the Uzbek town of Bukhara, said that the president was really trying to change the SNB.

"I still believe it is the president's sincere intention to reform the intelligence agencies. The situation has become so tense that it would have caused social problems had the structure been left as it was," he said, adding that prosecutions of journalists and human rights activists had reduced significantly.

"The establishment of a checks and balances system would be the best warranty against the SNB turning into an uncontrollable monster. That's where we need independent media outlets, and independent judiciary and parliament. These three structures would . . . ensure systematic and irreversible reforms in Uzbekistan," Ganiev concluded.

But Nadezhda Ataeva, an Uzbek activist based in France and head of the Human Rights in Central Asia association, said that Inoyatov should not have been given effective immunity.

"There have been cases of the attempted murder of Uzbek nationals residing abroad. The SNB is the organiser of such crimes. All cases of political and religious persecution should be highlighted and the new authorities should review them, because all the oppressed are still on the SNB's black list, even those who have completed their sentences," Ataeva told IWPR.

Andrei Grozin, a Russian expert on Central Asia, said that the president's actions would continue to "undercut the influence of SNB and diminish the total control it used to have over all security, society and business structures".

During the Karimov era, he explained, the SNB and the interior ministry competed for both power and the president's favour. Following the 2005 Andijan massacre, when Uzbek security forces opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators in the eastern city and killed hundreds of people, the interior ministry was castigated for its handling of events and the SNB gained supremacy.

"I believe the president has set himself a task- to return to the previous system that used to be before the Andijan events, that is, when there was absolutely no dominating power-wielding centre, and when various [power] groups competed with each other, primarily, the MVD and SNB," Grozin said.

Then there is the Executive Protective Service, responsible for the security of senior figures including the president, prime minister and speaker, which Grozin noted was currently headed by Mirziyoyev's son-in-law and said could become a "significant pole of influence".

He also said that rather than falling out of favour, Inoyatov might be being positioned for another important role. The two men had previously been allies.

"I am not sure that Inoyatov was removed despite his wish," he continued. "It might have been a behind-the-scenes process when two major figures agreed on their further actions."

Timur Toktonaliev is IWPR's Central Asia editor. Turonbek Kozokov is an IWPR-trained journalist.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghan women excluded from public life

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 9 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghan women excluded from public life, 9 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660bca.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

09 Apr 18

A lack of representation has led to a vicious circle of marginalisation.

By Mohammad Hakim

Women in Afghanistan's southern province of Ghor say that they are being routinely excluded from public life, with almost no representation in local government, the justice system or any other decision-making bo

There are only 27 women among the province's 9,000 local government employees, according to Mohammad Shoaib Khalili, an advisor to Ghor's Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission.

A lone female prosecutor serves the entire province, and Ghor governor Ghor governor Ghulam Nasir Khazay said that there was only one woman working in his 70-strong team.

Ghor is one of Afghanistan's most underdeveloped provinces, with some areas ruled by insurgents and entirely out of government control. Gender violence is widespread.

Underage and forced marriages are a major problem along with "baad", the custom of settling disputes by handing over a girl to the family of the perceived victim of a crime.

Those few women who manage to take on jobs in male-dominated spheres sometimes even risk their lives.

In March 2018, 30-year-old police officer Panjagul was shot dead in a motorcycle ambush outside her house in Ghazi Dara Ferozkoh one morning.

Panjagul had been working in the domestic violence department and her mother Zuleikha said that she had been killed simply because she was a woman.

Zuleikha said that her daughter had twice received telephone death threats, including a message left on her voice mail that said, "First you are a woman, and then you are a police officer, so we cannot tolerate your work."

Former Afghan lawmaker Sima Joyeenda, who spent six months as Ghor governor in 2015, said that women not only lacked access to education and health but were deprived of justice, she said.

"A woman is viewed as an object of male sexual desire created to meet men's needs," she continued, adding that women were bought and sold like animals in the province.

However, Joyenda herself was criticised for defending harsh punishments for so-called "morality crimes". After a court-ordered flogging of a couple accused of adultery in Firozkoh during her time as governor, she told Afghan media outlets that the punishment was in keeping with Islamic law.

Khazay, the current governor, acknowledged that women faced complex challenges in the province.

"Women do not have job security in government offices in Ghor," he said.

He added that a lack of access to education meant that women in Ghor were simply more poorly educated than men, further excluding them from decision-making roles.

As well as 36 girls' school across the province, there is one state-run college for women, the Higher Education Institute of Ghor, which opened nine years ago.

Lailuma, a resident of Ferozkoh, graduated from there in computer science in 2016, but has had little luck in getting a job since.

She said that she had applied for an administrative position at the municipality in April 2017 and had been interviewed by Ghor mayor Muhammad Arif Qazizada.

However, during the interview, he lectured Lailuma that she should improve her character and morals if she ever wanted to get a job.

"I was shocked by the mayor's speech and I did not apply to the municipality again," Lailuma said.

Qazizada confirmed that he had made the comments to Lailuma, but said that his intentions had been good.

Then in December 2017, Lailuma successfully applied for a teaching position at the state-run Sultan Raziah high school. She said that she when she took her letter of appointment to Ghor's education department, its director Khalil Ahmad Mobarez rejected it.

Mobarez declined to comment when IWPR asked him why Lailuma had been rejected.

Although there is no university in Ghor, some young women manage to study in other provinces.

But many educated young women say they have been unable to find jobs once back in Ghor, highlighting prejudice as the major reason.

Qandi Gul, 24, is from Dara Sheikhan in Shahri Ferozkoh district. She said she had overcome many challenges to graduate in social science from Kabul university in 2016, but had since failed to find any work.

Immediately after graduating, Gul applied for an administrative role in the department of education and then for a social worker position at the department of labour and social affairs. Neither attempt was successful.

"Officials in Ghor province are misogynists, and that's the reason why I couldn't get a job," she said.

Fatima, 24, also graduated from Herat university two years ago but is still unemployed.

She said that she had applied for roles at the Ghor governor's office and the provincial department of education but had been stymied by the requirement to have three years of work experience.

"How can I have three years of working experience when I've just graduated from college?" she asked.

Hajira Bashiri, head of the legal affairs at the provincial department of women's affairs, said that these kinds of difficulties in pursuing a career had deterred girls and young women from going on to higher education.

"Girls in Ghor now think of getting married after they graduate from school rather than of continuing their studies, because they are sure that they will remain unemployed even with qualifications," she said.

Local civil rights activist Gul Aqa Ramish told IWPR that the lack of representation in local government had further alienated women, creating a vicious circle.

"Women in Ghor are not even willing to go to government departments to make complaints," Ramish said.

Ghor provincial council member Anisa Ghayour said that she was among only three female representatives on a 15-member body and herself felt excluded.

"We three women do not have executive power and authority in the provincial council, although we do what we can to raise women's issues to get justice," she said.

Those few women who have managed to take on senior roles stress the importance of having female representation in public life. Obaida Sharar is the only female prosecutor among 37 officials at the attorney general's office working on gender violence. She said that 70 lawsuits were filed with their department last year.

Sharar explained that the lack of female prosecutors had left women unable to seek justice. Conservative traditions meant that it was extremely difficult for women to speak freely to male officials, especially about sensitive subjects such as domestic violence.

"In many cases, male prosecutors can't understand the issues women bring before them and this gap means the cases are not properly addressed. Women are the ones who end up being worse affected."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Child abuse going unpunished

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 20 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Child abuse going unpunished, 20 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660bea.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

20 Apr 18

Locals turn to tribal mediation in the absence of access to formal justice processes.

By Zulmai Ashna

Activists in the northeastern province of Takhar are warning that despite hundreds of cases of child sexual assault reported to the police each year, very few criminal investigations are ever opened.

They claim that not only are the police apparently reluctant to pursue cases, but that widespread corruption has also served to derail any access to justice. Issues of shame associated with these types of crime also mean that families of victims also often prefer to turn to tribal mediation and other informal justice processes.

As part of a two-month investigation, IWPR looked at 38 cases of alleged sexual assault on children carried out over a two-year period.

Most of the families of these victims complained to the police, but never had their cases referred to the attorney's office.

Some instances involved the practice of keeping so-called dancing boys, known as "bacha bazi". Condemned by rights activists and clerics, this custom involves older men making young boys perform at private parties, after which they are often sexually abused.

Psychologist Waseem Rahel told IWPR that the practice of bacha bazi was partly responsible for the cases of child sexual abuse, exacerbated by high rates of poverty and large families with many children to support.

Hayatullah Mawlawizada has headed the Takhar police children's rights support unit for the last four years. He said he believed that many accused attackers had influence with officials in the criminal investigation department, meaning that they avoided prosecution.

"Takhar's police prefer personal relations to justice, and that means people don't trust law enforcement," he said, adding that a lack of oversight by the ministry of interior affairs allowed this practice to continue year after year.

"Opposing police justice is a clear violation of the laws," he continued.

Mawlawizada estimated that as many as 400 cases of child sexual assault were reported across the province each year.

However, local police units, generally failed to pursue these reports, preferring to refer them to tribal mediation instead. As a result, he said, only ten to 15 cases were registered each year.

Some cases are prosecuted, but end with the assailant receiving a very light sentence.

Sharafatullah, (not his real name) a 13-year-old from Guzar-e-Marshal Fahim in Taluqan city told IWPR that he had been assaulted after leaving his home on the evening of December 23, 2017 to visit relatives in Balak Wartebz village. On the way there he met Naqeebullah, the owner of a bakery shop, who told him it was too late in the day to travel to a remote village and invited him to stay at his shop. New to the area, the boy said that he felt he had no other choice but to accept, and when they arrived at the bakery Naqeebullah offered him some food and drink.

"When it was night and I wanted to sleep, Naqeebullah came to my bed and told me that he wanted to stay with me because the weather was cold and together we would be warm in bed. Then he asked me to have anal sex with him. I said no but he raped me," Sharafatullah said.

Naqeebullah was arrested after a community member alerted the police. Fareeda Shijaee, Naqeebullah's defence lawyer, told IWPR that Takhar's primary court had sentenced her client to four months in prison on March 17, 2018.

Another boy, 12-year-old Shahabuddin (not his real name) from Jeetbar village in Takhar's Chal district, told IWPR that he had been assaulted by a local youth on the morning of November 21, 2017 as he walked to the mosque. He said that 19-year-old Mirwais forced him to go with him into an abandoned building.

"I screamed and shouted, but no one heard me and then Mirwais took my trousers off and raped me," Shahabuddin said.

The boy's mother told IWPR that she had found her son unconscious and bleeding. The family informed the police about the attack and Shahabuddin underwent a medical examination that verified the assault.

Najeebullah Sabori, a prosecutor with Takhar's primary court, said that Mirwais had been sentenced to three years in prison for sexual assault on December 31, 2017.

As in Mirwais' case, alleged assaults are often referred to the provincial forensic medical department for tests to verify that an assault had taken place.

But Atta Mohammad Shafiq, head of forensic medicine at Takhar's department of public health, said that he had personally been put under pressure several times not to report confirmed evidence of abuse.

Shafiq said that they had recorded 97 cases of child sexual abuse in the last year. Out of these, 55 were cases of sexual assault on girls and 42 on boys. Many had occurred in the villages of Takhar province.

Shafiq said that until a year ago they had lacked any processes to record the number of cases of assault, so he was unable to provide figures for previous years. The ministry of public health in Kabul had not asked them to keep records either.

But he said he believed around 100 cases of child sexual abuse were referred to them each year.

Shafiq said that if their tests confirmed that a child had indeed been abused, the finding were supposed to be sent to the tTakhar's attorney office. There, however, officials had in the past put pressure on him to alter the results.

"The prosecutors threatened and pressured me to show positive forensic results as negative, and I had to do this, although I don't want to," Shafiq said.

Syed Akbar, head of the Takhar's lawyers' union, told IWPR that the number of child sexual abuse cases in Takhar was far higher than any official figures showed. He said that shame over sexual assault also meant that most incidents were never reported.

"I assume that rape and sexual assault cases aren't referred to judiciary and justice sectors. So justice isn't served and done and the rights of victims are violated," Akbar said.

IWPR made seven requests for an interview with Mohammad Ghaws Amiri, chief of Takhar's attorney appellate office, to ask him about the concerns raised by Shafiq. However, Amiri refused to speak to IWPR.

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingTajik suicides continue unchecked

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 20 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Tajik suicides continue unchecked, 20 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660c0a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

20 Apr 18

Young women turn to desperate measures to escape domestic abuse.

By IWPR Central Asia

In February 2018, Farizai Hujanazar, a 21-year-old from the Sangvor district in eastern Tajikistan, killed herself in her husband's family house. She had a one-year-old son and was three months pregnant.

Farizai, originally from the village of Layron, had been married to Khikmatullo Jurabekov for just two years. Her relatives claimed that she had repeatedly complained to her parents about her mistreatment at the hands of her in-laws.

Her father Hujanazar Aliev told journalists that his daughter had been unhappy ever since she had moved in with her husband's family. He said that the last time he had spoken to Farizai had been on February 10, the day before her death, when she had called to remind them about her son's birthday was on February 16.

Farizai's body was found on February 11 and buried the next day in accordance with Islamic traditions. But on February 16 her body was exhumed for an autopsy at the request of her father, who said he found it hard to believe she had committed suicide.

Although the results of the autopsy have not been released, the police have charged Hujanazar's brother-in-law and mother-in-law for incitement to suicide. The investigation is still under way.

A spate of suicides attributed to abuse by in-laws have sparked a new round of debate in Tajik society about the plight of young women in unhappy marriages.

There have long been concerns about high suicide rates among young Tajik women, particularly in rural areas.

In Tajik society, a bride traditionally moves to her in-laws' home and joins a large extended family that she is expected to serve. These conservative traditions mean she has little protection from her own relatives and is vulnerable to systematic bullying and abuse.

The latest discussions were sparked by a case in the summer of 2017 that made headlines across the country.

Rajabbi Hurshed, an 18-year-old resident of Vose district in the southern Khatlon region, poisoned herself just 40 days after her wedding.

Before she died in hospital, she claimed that her husband Zafar Pirov had abused and beaten her after accusing her of not being a virgin. A video of 24-year-old Pirov making these claims had also been uploaded online.

Pirov was subsequently convicted under Article 109 of the Criminal Code for inciting his wife to suicide and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Although domestic violence is common, talking about family problems is frowned upon and it is very rare for a daughter-in-law to make such claims. In these circumstances, young women who attempt to kill themselves are often dismissed as having suffered from mental illness.

Another case that won public attention was that of 28-year-old Alifmoh Hudoynazarova from the village of Langar. Her body was found in the river Vakhsh last summer, a month after she disappeared.

It is hard to get a clear picture of the number of deaths by suicide among young women as there are large variations in figures reported by various agencies.

But Idigul Kosimzoda, the chairman of the state committee on women and family affairs announced that the rate of suicides among young women had fallen.

He also said that suicide among this demographic was associated with emotional disorders and family problems, although in most of the cases recently discussed in the Tajik media, the young women had no history of mental health issues.

Observers say that young women are sometimes driven to take such extreme measures because family affairs are considered strictly private, with divorce particularly frowned upon.

Human rights activist Faiziniso Vohidova said that Tajik society as a whole should be concerned by such desperate acts.

"With this, a woman protests against her husband, mother-in-law or another person who has been violence towards her. It is, in a way, a form of revenge, which is not right," she said.

Young women needed education and support to them deal with the difficulties they might face in married life, Vohidova continued.

"With our religious values in mind, we must explain to them that it is forbidden and a great sin to take one's own life," she added. "The relevant authorities need to make more effort in countering this trend."

Article 109 of the Tajik criminal code categorises inciting a person to suicide as a serious crime punishable by a prison term of between five and eight years.

But proving guilt in such cases is difficult, as family members usually try to conceal the details and avoid social condemnation.

Sociologist Safarbi Pulodova agreed that such taboos meant that women could not share their suffering at the hands of husbands or in-laws.

"Trying to guard their honour and that of their loved ones, Tajik women refrain from talking in public about the abusive behaviour and violence against them," she said. "This is why the men remain unpunished."

Sabohat Homidova, a doctor, said it was tragic that young women were driven to such acts without thinking of the consequences.

"A woman dies, but the pain and grief remain in the hearts of her loved ones for the rest of their lives," she said. "They do not think that no other woman can be as kind to their children as their own mothers."

Tajik psychologist Mahmudshoh Kabirov said that a series of measures could help reduce the suicide rate among young married women.

Setting up crisis centres, running public awareness campaigns in the media and ensuring young women had more access to counseling could help deal with the issue.

Tajik society, he continued, "should be more attentive to suicide prevention.

"It is necessary to pay attention to the reasons for suicide among women, mainly mental illness, slander, betrayal, family scandal, revenge, persistent violence and other factors," Kabirov concluded.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghans angry over telecom charges

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 23 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghans angry over telecom charges, 23 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660c2a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

23 Apr 18

Customers in southern province complain that they are being treated unfairly.

By Gul Ahmad Ehsan

A man talks on the phone in the western neighbourhood of Kabul known as TV Hill. (Photo: Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)

Mobile phone users in Helmand say that they are angry over the high charges they are being asked to pay for telecommunication services.

Consumers argue that networks demand disproportionately high tariffs compared with neighbouring provinces and are calling on the government to intervene to put pressure on the companies involved.

In turn, the corporations involved claim that higher overheads due to poor security in Helmand meant they had no choice but to increase charges.

Dawood Darman, a resident of Lashkar Gah, said he was so fed up with one firm's high prices that he had smashed his phone's SIM card.

Uploading a picture of the broken SIM onto his Facebook page, he criticised the Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC).

"If the government does not control the activities of these companies, we will call on people to protest on the streets," he claimed.

"We'll also urge all customers to cut their ties with AWCC. I've already broken my SIM so our relationship is over."

"Making money by setting high prices is stealing," he added.

Another AWCC customer in Helmand, Sayed Ehsanullah Noori, told IWPR that he too had deliberately smashed his SIM card.

"I've broken it now and I no longer want anything to do with this network," he said. "If the company is hostile to us, we will be hostile to them."

Helmand province, in the far south of Afghanistan, is served by a number of mobile networks including AWCC, Multinational Telecommunication Network (MTN), Etisalat and Salam.

But despite this apparent competition in the telecoms sector, many customers are not convinced they are getting value for money. Some in the province are calling on users to join a Facebook campaign called Eshas Kry (Feel It) in protest at the high prices.

One activist, Mirwais Kany, claimed AWCC was charging 72 US cents for a one gigabyte (GB) internet bundle in Kandahar, Herat and Balkh provinces. In Helmand, he said, the company charged three times as much for the same package.

Similarly, he said that AWCC charged three US dollars for a three GB bundle in Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, but five US dollars in Helmand.

Kany said, "It's not just AWCC that's treating Helmand residents differently. Other firms also use price discrimination.

"But we accuse AWCC as being the biggest culprit as 80 per cent of people in Helmand use this network."

Shah Wali Zyarmal, a teacher in Helmand who uses the Etisalat and MTN networks, added, "I'm not satisfied with the services of any of these companies.

"My salary is low and the internet tariffs being charged are too high. It has wasted a lot of my money.

"Are officials at these telecom firms not aware of the problems in Helmand? Do they not know the economic hardships the people face? They should take our protests seriously."

Another consumer, Abdul Wali Omari, said there was widespread local anger over the tariffs.

"We will continue our fight to pressurise the networks until we're given the same service as other provinces," he said. "We won't tolerate our rights being violated anymore."

Spokespeople for a number of networks operating in Helmand said that the current situation was a product of poor security in the province.

Sardar Wali Halim, a local spokesman for AWCC, dismissed the criticisms and denied the firm's tariffs were unduly high.

He said the ongoing insurgency in the region did mean the company's operational costs in Helmand were higher than in other areas of Afghanistan, but that costs to consumers were always kept to a minimum.

Should stability be restored to the province, he added, and his network was able to ensure all its mobile antenna masts were functioning, then the company would be better placed to lower prices for its customers.

"Those who want to protest against us should first see how high the network's operational costs are,' he argued. "Then they can judge whether our prices are too high."

Omaidullah Zaheer, director of Telecoms and IT in Helmand, told IWPR that he was aware of customers' concerns and had raised the matter with ministers in Kabul.

He said the response from government officials had been that whilst they were sympathetic to complaints they were unable to influence private sector pricing.

He added, "We've received written complaints regarding the pricing of internet bundles and many of these refer to the AWCC network.

"We've discuss the complaints with the ministry but the pricing structures of private companies is something that is beyond government control."

But Omar Zwak, a spokesman for Helmand's governor, suggested he would stand firm with customers should networks be found to be at fault.

"Discussions and negotiations with telecom officials are ongoing," he said. "If there is proved to be price discrimination in Helmand then we will stand with the people and support their demands."

This report was produced under IWPR's Supporting Investigative Reporting in Local Media and Strengthening Civil Society across Afghanistan initiative, funded by the British Embassy Kabul.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingIdlib hospitals on the brink of collapse

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 23 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Idlib hospitals on the brink of collapse, 23 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660c4a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

23 Apr 18

Medical facilities struggle to keep providing services.

By Razan al-Sayid

A residence in Maarat Al Numan has become a field hospital. (Photo: Razan al-Sayid)

Souad al-Masri had just left the national hospital in Maarat an-Numan where her 13-year-old son Mounir was receiving treatment, when the building was hit by an airstrike.

"When I was told that the hospital had been targeted, I rushed in panic to the site to find out what had happened to my son," she said. "I looked for him in the ruins of the hospital but could not find him. I was told that the patients and the injured were transferred to a house."

There she found her son lying on a bed with several other children, all covered with thick blankets. "The house was cold and very small, the injured and patients were whimpering in pain. I thanked God my son was ok," Souad said. Mounir was later transferred to another hospital on the border where his situation was stabilised.

Airstrikes are continuing to target what medical facilities remain in Idlib, with doctors warning of a "catastrophic" impact on much-needed services.

Mazen as-Saoud is the dean of medicine at the Free Aleppo University and was previously the director of al-Quds Hospital before it completely destroyed in February 2016.

"The Syrian regime air force and its Russian ally launched unprecedentedly severe attacks targeting this region in January 2018," he said.

"Hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands injured as a result of this campaign which targeted the most vital locations in villages and cities and caused horrific massacres. Hospitals, medical centres and civil defense headquarters were all targeted," the 57-year-old continued.

In the face of this crisis, a group of doctors and activists launched an initiative to turn private houses in Idlib Rif into emergency medical centres where those wounded in airstrikes can receive first aid before being transferred to hospitals in Darkoush, Oqairbat and Bab al-Hawa.

"These houses lack the medical equipments needed, but they help us a lot in stabilising patients' conditions, at least until they are transferred to hospitals further away," as-Soud explained.

As Saoud also praised the efforts of the Turkish authorities for opening up their borders to allow the wounded to be transferred to hospitals in Turkey. Many lives had been saved in this way, he continued.

One of the most severe problems was "a general state of confusion and panic regarding how to help those stuck under the rubble," he said, recalling an attack on Maarat an-Numan in February 2018 which destroyed many homes and led to raging fires.

When the fire fighters tried to put out the conflagration, airstrikes targeted those same locations again.

This is a major challenge for emergency responders. Obada al-Zikra, 24, head of civil defence in Maarat an-Numan said, "We usually have to deal with two attacks launched by the Russian air forces on the same target. When we reach the location we are hit by several airstrikes, causing more casualties among the civil defence members."

Al-Zikra said that this meant that this tactic had put many civil defence stations out of use, including in Ariha and Saraqeb. In Khan Shaikoun, he continued, the stations had been leveled to the ground, all their vehicles destroyed and three of its staff members killed and four wounded.

Medical facilities put completely destroyed by this latest campaign on Idlib and its Rif include the Odey Hospital in Saraqeb, the Sarja medical centre and the Saraqeb blood bank as well as the Kfar Nabel medical dispensary and Meshemshan's primary care centre.

Zaher Hannak, 41, is the former director of the Kfar Nabel surgical hospital, another facility which was wrecked by bombing. He said it was targeted by up to five airstrikes, injuring several medical staff as well as many patients.

Hannak explained that "the campaign aimed at increasing the level and amount of people's suffering, particularly in terms of transferring the wounded to the nearest medical facility, so targeting hospitals this way led to an increasing number of casualties".

This strain on resources meant that people needing planned rather than emergency procedures had only two options.

"Either private expensive hospitals which they cannot afford, or going to hospitals in the north by the border; and to get there they have to pay travelling expenses and put themselves at high risk due to the airstrikes that have targeted vehicles heading in that direction," Hannak said, adding, "If nothing is done, this situation will worsen and have to catastrophic implications.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingA safe haven for those fleeing IS

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 24 April 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, A safe haven for those fleeing IS, 24 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660c6a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

24 Apr 18

Displaced people share hopes for their return home.

By Shivan Ibrahim

A group of refugees returning to northeast Syria. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

"I will put lipstick and eyeliner on, then smoke and wear whatever I want; I will go to parks and dance at weddings and maybe in public squares. The nightmare is over!" said 21-year-old Mayyada, imagining what she will do when she finally returns to her home in al-Joura, Deir ez-Zor.

Mayyada had to drop out of university when the region fell under the control of Islamic State (IS). The militants forbade subjects including law, philosophy and foreign languages.

"I will never forget that for two years, I couldn't even put on a little lipstick. I always had to be covered when I went out. I'll never again be subjected to their ridiculous concept of decency," she added.

Like many others who fled in Deir ez-Zor, Mayyada now lives in the Mabrouka camp, set up in 2016 by local authorities in Syria's Hasakeh governorate to house those escaping IS rule.

Although only a few pockets of IS influence remain in the area, many former residents say that they prefer to wait a while longer in the camp before risking the return homes.

For Alia, 22, it was a long and expensive struggle to reach Mabrouka in the first place.

After several failed attempts to flee Deir ez-Zor with her elderly parents, the youn



g woman finally paid 1.5 million Syrian pounds to people smugglers. IS had not only killed her brother after he refused to join them, but her three other siblings had also disappeared.

"We had to pay a ridiculous amount of money to be able to escape hell," Alia told Syria Stories. "When ISIS first controlled the area, it acted as if we were its enemy, torturing us slowly to kill us," she recalled.

Children were subject to the same strict rules as adults under IS control. Rouba, 12, still cries when she remembers how she was beaten and verbally abused by a so-called IS modesty patrol. Her mother recounted how the girl had been on her way home one day when three women stopped her.

"My daughter was returning home from our neighbours' house when a female IS patrol tracking women wearing make-up and so on stopped her. One of these women was huge and had a wooden stick as well as a rifle. Rouba looked at those women innocently and did not know what was awaiting her," she continued.

"She was asked to come closer, and before she could say a word, they started beating her and insulting her. One of them broke Rouba's hair clip and called her a whore," her mother continued, adding that her daughter had returned home bleeding and crying.

Mona, 15, became so accustomed to wearing the black abaya and face veil mandatory under IS rule that she kept it on even after she left Deir ez-Zor.

This caused confusion and panic when she visited the Ras al-Ain hospital before travelling to the refugee camp.

"I entered the hospital with my mother; I left her in the examination room and went out to look at other patients. I couldn't understand why everybody was afraid of me. At the end I found myself surrounded by a group of adults wearing black military uniforms," Mona said.

She was taken away and searched by a bomb disposal expert, before being returned  with some sweets and biscuits  to her mother.

The hospital authorities had received a warning about a potential attack by a child suicide bomber.

"I couldn't move or even speak; we still feel afraid of just talking to any military, security or other apparatuses, I could not understand why they took my daughter from me" Mona's mother recalled.

For others, the camp represents a space where they can recover from their trauma. Former fabric salesman Abbad, 52, said that he now liked nothing more than to sit quietly soaking up the sun after spending a harrowing prison term in an IS cell.

"I could not see the sun for three months in the cellar I was kept in. The smell of dead bodies and blood there made you want to throw up," he said.

He was seized by an IS unit calling itself Infidel Trackers who accused him of blasphemy.

"They pushed me into a room. I was blindfolded and my hands were tied. After a long while, I heard a deep, terrifying voice and I knew from his accent that he was not from an Arab country. He told me, 'You are an apostate, and we will execute you, and then he shut up,'" Abbad said.

Abbad was accused of not washing properly before prayer and not reciting the verses correctly. He was sentenced to death by lashing, which was later commuted to 100 lashes, three months imprisonment and a fine.

As soon as he had served his sentence, Abbad sold everything he had so as to leave the city. He still dreams of the day he can go back to his life in Deir ez-Zor.

Some displaced people have managed to move out of the camp, although they have so far been unable to return home.

Ahlam refused to join IS when members came to recruit her. She hid in her neighbour's chicken coup until the militants left. The 30-year-old, who graduated in sociology from the University of Damascus in 2010, then paid a hefty sum of money to be smuggled out of the city of Raqqa.

"When I arrived in al-Hasaka, we were taken to the camp. We couldn't get everything we needed there of course, but it was still better than living on death row, not knowing when our turn is. I decided to join the Asayish [Kurdish security forces] women's section where I could improve my skills and work in my field of expertise. I am happy about that," Ahlam said.

Ahlam now earns enough to be able to rent a house in the suburbs of al-Hasaka where she lives with her family. She accepts that al-Hasaka is her home for the time being, but also dreams of returning to her own city.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingMONTREAL, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Wuhan General Group (China), Inc. (OTC PINK: WUHN) (the "Company"), a Nevada investment company focused on the industrial technology market space, announces today that, starting next week, they will begin a series of common share cancellations to reorganize the share structure of the Company to increase shareholder value.



The company intent to reduce its outstanding common shares from 100 million to approx. 35 million shares, with a press release confirming each transaction as they occur. All canceled shares will be returned to the company treasury to be used in future acquisitions of businesses and assets. This will work to stimulate the company's growth and increase value for current and future shareholders.

Ramy Kamaneh, CEO said: "We are excited about initiating our strategy roadmap, hence creating wealth for our investors. It shows the trust we have in the process of expanding this company, and we look forward to what is to come."

This restructuring is not only an important step for the company, but also signifies a growing strength in mining electrification, cryptocurrencies, industrial batteries, Internet of Things hardware, and artificial intelligence -- all promising niche markets. As Wuhan General Group continues to narrow its focus on the service of growth, ethics, sustainability, and safety in growing industries, investors are provided an opportunity to get the best shareholder value.

Addressing the name and ticker change, the company has decided to postpone this change until Q1 2019. At that time, the company will audit their past three years' finances to secure their title as a fully reporting company. Once this is achieved, Wuhan General Group will reapply with Finra.

About Wuhan General Group

Wuhan General Group (China) Inc. is a Nevada based investment company focused in the areas of Cryptocurrency mining operations, battery & electric material handling equipment manufacturing, services in artificial intelligence, as well as Internet of Things hardware. In addition to this, they are also dedicated to working in the application of blockchain technologies to mining, agriculture and construction industries.

Wuhan General Group (China), Inc.

Publicly traded company (OTC Pink: WUHN)

Website:www.sdtholdings.com

For further information contact:

Public Relations

Phone: (514) 928-7368

E-mail:info@sdtholdings.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Safe Harbour Statement - In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse developments with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this press release can also be found on the Company's website. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.

Source: Wuhan General Group (China), IncDeadliest day for Afghan media

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 2 May 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Deadliest day for Afghan media, 2 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660c8a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

02 May 18

Reporters rally to insist that they will not be intimidated into silence.

By IWPR Afghanistan

The Afghan journalist community has been left devastated by a day of violence in which media workers were specifically targeted.

A twin suicide bombing in the Shash Darak area of Kabul on April 30 killed 29 people, including nine journalists. On the same day, longstanding IWPR contributor Ahmad Shah was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Khost province.

The 29-year-old had written for IWPR for the last five years and was currently employed by the BBC. His last feature story for IWPR, about local officials failing to deliver on infrastructure promises in Khost, was published only three months ago.

In Kabul, the initial attack was followed up by a second suicide bomber, this time carrying a camera and posing as a reporter, with the specific intention of targeting security forces and reporters as they arrived on the scene.

Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack and made clear that they had indeed intended to kill media workers.

A diverse and free media environment is often cited as one of the major achievements of post-2001 Afghanistan and one that has helped make the public much more politically and socially aware.

But multiple challenges remain, primarily the threat of harassment and violence, and journalist groups have repeatedly called on the government to do more to protect them.

"This terrorist attack is a war crime and an organised attack on the Afghan media," the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists said in a statement, demanding a UN investigation. "The attack in the heart of Kabul and in the Green Zone indicates a serious lack of security by the government."

In the aftermath of the Kabul attack, journalists and civil society activists rallied at the site of the explosion in a show of solidarity and defiance.

Sidiquallah Tawhidi, the head of the Afghan journalists safety committee, told the crowd that the attack was intended to intimidate the media as a whole.

"Our presence here now means that such criminal actions cannot stop our efforts," he continued. "Wherever the terrorists carry out a suicide attack and kill us, we will appear there to carry on our work."

Ahmad Nader Naderi, the head of the administrative reform and civil service commission, also attended the protest.

"The crime that happened here today will not affect the future performance of the Afghan media, he said, adding that it was a black day in the history of Afghanistan.

IWPR country director Noorrahman Rahmani said that the day of violence had been a deliberate attempt to silence those speaking out about injustice.

"Attacks on the Afghan media and the journalists have increased since last year," he continued. "A major reason for the rise can be linked to the fears the anti-government elements and their foreign backers may have about ordinary Afghans knowing more about the realities of the ongoing conflicts through these brave journalists and a vibrant media.

"While these attacks will undoubtedly impact on the journalists and their work, they are committed to continuing their work as before."

Danish Karokhail, director of Pajhwok news agency, agreed, adding, "The Afghan media witnessed significant improvements in recent years, so the enemy  in order to halt such progress  targeted journalists to threaten and censor them."

Abdul Mujeeb Khalvetgar, executive director of Nai Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan said, "The incident caused casualties on a scale unprecedented over the past 17 years."

One journalist in attendance, Salma Rasa, said she was in shock after losing co-workers in the bombing.

"An attack on reporters is an attack on freedom of speech and causes ignorance," she said. "We see that large number of journalists, even more than the number of security forces, reach the sites of terrorist attacks to cover it, and that's why we lost so many reporters in oday's attack."

According to a report by the Afghan journalists safety committee published on January 11, 2018, 2017 was the deadliest year on record for Afghan reporters.

Sabir Fahim, the director of Media Watch Afghanistan, said, "Over the past 17 years, 90 reporters and journalists have lost their lives; 22 were killed in the year 2017 alone."

Media organisations have repeatedly called on the government to more forcefully prosecute instances of violence and harassment of media workers.

Jamshid Rasouly, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, told IWPR that they were investigating 13 cases of violence against journalists reported to them in the previous year.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Tributes paid to murdered IWPR contributor

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 3 May 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Tributes paid to murdered IWPR contributor, 3 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660caa.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

03 May 18

Killing took place on the country's deadliest ever day for journalists.

By IWPR Afghanistan

Ahmed Shah (right) receives a certificate on completing a three-day IWPR training in investigative journalism in October, 2017. (Photo: IWPR)

Tributes have been paid to Ahmed Shah, the 29-year-old IWPR reporter shot dead in the southern Afghan province of Khost earlier this week.

Colleagues described the young man as an energetic, highly respected reporter with a particular interest in social justice and human rights issues.

Having been trained by IWPR in 2013, he had contributed stories for the last five years and was working for the BBC at the time of his death.

Shah was killed on what was the deadliest day ever for Afghan journalists. A twin suicide bombing in the Shash Darak area of Kabul earlier on April 30 killed 29 people, including nine journalists. The initial attack was followed up by a second suicide bomber, this time carrying a camera and posing as a reporter, with the specific intention of targeting security forces and reporters as they arrived on the scene.

Although journalists in Afghanistan often face harassment and violence, Shah's father Mirwais told IWPR that his son had never previously complained of any threats against him.

"When I heard about Ahmad Shah's murder, the first question that sprang to my mind was, why was killed as he had harmed nobody nor had any enemies?" he said, adding that his son was well-known and respected locally.

But Mirwais said that it was possible his son's journalism might have antagonised some people.

"We always asked Ahmad Shah to let us know if there was any threat made against him, but ever since he began his career, he never shared such concerns with his family," his father said.

Mirwais called on the Afghan government to find his son's murderers and bring them to justice.

Khost police chief Abdul Hanan said that Shah had been killed in the Mando Khail area of the province.

"The cause of his murder is still unknown, but is being investigated," he said.

Current and former colleagues of Shah expressed their grief and shock over his death.

Hafizullah Gardesh, IWPR's senior local editor, had worked with Shah since 2013, including participating with a number of trainings over the years.

Shah's last feature for IWPR, looking at local government's failure to deliver a promised business park in Khost, was published on January 5, 2018.

"When I heard the news of Ahmad Shah's death, all of a sudden I saw him in my mind, his energy, his chubby face, white clothes, courteous eyes and smiles," Gardesh said, recalling that he had immediately broken down in tears.

"Ahmad Shah was such a hardworking and industrious young man who was really going places and had already earned a high reputation in the Afghan media," Gardesh continued, adding that Shah had been particularly skilled in identifying as-yet-untold stories that deserved public attention.

"Ahmad Shah was so energetic. He was so quick in his work . . . indeed a professional journalist."

Shah studied journalism at Khost's Shikh Zahid university, graduating in 2011. He went on to spend a year working as programme manager for the province's Kilid Radio.

Kilid director Norajan Bahir said that Shah's interest in social justice and human rights had been clear at his job interview.

"He was a hardworking person, he was passionate about his job and always ensured that his work was of a high quality," Bahir recalled, adding that Shah was particularly interested in giving disadvantaged people a voice through his reports.

"He was also a very moderate, courteous and considerate person."

Shah went on to contribute to various media outlets including Sta Radio, Zwan Ghag Radio and Khidmatgar Daily. He had been working for the BBC for more than a year at the time of his death.

BBC World Service director Jamie Angus called the murder a "devastating loss".

Sahel Mangal, a friend of Shah and a Pajhwok reporter in Khost and Paktia provinces, also said that he had been a diligent reporter who took an in-depth approach to covering critical issues.

"Four years ago I met Ahmad Shah at a press event and I soon felt as if we had been friends for years. We helped each other over the years," he said. "He was a soft-hearted person and never said a spiteful word about anyone."

For more on Ahmad Shah's work for IWPR, click here.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingWhere are the women in Armenia's revolution?

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 17 May 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Where are the women in Armenia's revolution?, 17 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660ce6.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

17 May 18

Female participation in the protests has not translated into political power.

By Sara Khojoyan

Lawmaker Lena Nazaryan and Pashinyan's Civil Contract party members on stage in Yerevan's Republic Square. (Photo: Inna Mkhitaryan/4plus)

Women had a highly visible role in the peaceful protests that unseated Armenian premier Serzh Sargsyan last month, with female activists seen on the barricades and setting up the roadblocks in demonstrations that brought the capital Yerevan to a standstill.

But those who hoped that this level of involvement would lead to a new government with a fairer gender balance have been disappointed.

The journalist-turned-politician who led the protests, Nikol Pashinyan, promised the National Assembly on May 8 he would ensure proper representation for women, who he acknowledged "played a major role" in unseating Sargsyan and the ruling Republican party.

"We need to create equal opportunities for all women to continue being part of political decisions in the new Armenia," Pashinyan said.

Some hailed this as a historic speech, the first time in Armenia's history when a prime minister had highlighted the role of women in the country's future success.

However, just a few days later, Pashinyan warned that that there would in fact be few female politicians in his cabinet due to an agreement he had reached to share positions amongst a number of other parties.

Indeed, only two of the new government's 17 ministers  for culture and for labour and social affairs  are women. All three deputy prime ministers are all men.

The extraordinary events that led to the fall of the government began on March 30, when Pashinyan began walking from Armenia's second city Gyumri to Yerevan with the stated intention to bring down Sargsyan and his Republican party after more than 20 years' rule.

Although Pashinyan was met by only a few thousand supporters in Yerevan on April 13, many more flooded the capital four days later when Sargsyan was re-elected as prime minister by a parliamentary vote. The streets were filled with tens of thousands of people angry over corruption and political reform that seemed calculated to concentrate power in the hands of a select few. Sargsyan resigned on April 23.

A handful of women were among those addressing the crowds gathered at Republic Square. The first was Maria Karapetyan, development director of the Imagine Centre of Conflict Transformation.

"I want to address my sisters who stand together, hand in hand and fought a double fight for the change of power in Armenia and for their equal rights in public. Long live sisters!" she told the crowds.

But although there was a high level of female involvement in the protests, they made up a far less visible part of the protest movement's leadership.

This was the subject of much discussion on social media during the so-called velvet revolution, and there were hopes that the country's new leadership would reflect a fresh approach to inclusion.

Ashot Khurshudyan, an economic expert at Yerevan's International Centre of Human Development, said that it was important to note that, although the public speeches were dominated by men, the extent of female participation in the protests was unprecedented.

"Women are the most neglected part of our society. And these demonstrations are a signal not only to the system of governance but to the entire society that we have an able part of society which is alienated," he said.

Armenia is still a patriarchal society where women are expected to conform to certain gender roles. It is ranked 97 out of 144 countries by the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2017. Armenian women lack access to political empowerment, making up around 17 per cent of the country's parliament, with 18 female MPs out of 105.

There are no female governors or mayors anywhere in the country.

Barely two per cent of those with leadership roles in rural communities are women, according to a study carried out by academic Ruzanna Tsaturyan.

"In political discourse, women were viewed in reproductive roles typical for a patriarchal society," she said. "Their child-bearing and maternal functions were emphasised. Women were presented in sexist and stereotypical feminine models in politician's speeches. These texts were identical and one-dimensional," Tsaturyan concluded.

Many female civil society activists who played a key role during the protests say that they are disappointed with how little the political culture has changed.

Lara Aharonian, the founder and manager of Yerevan's Women's Resource Centre, spent many days in April on the street protesting and was even detained at one point.

She said that as the role of women in social change had long been minimised in Armenian culture, Pashinyan's public address marked a significant step forward.

"Women were active for years over many issues  environment, issues in the army or women's rights and etc. And it was the first time that women's role in all the fights was acknowledged."

Nonetheless, Aharonian noted, "His speech doesn't mean we have reached our aims. There is still a long fight ahead to change the patriarchal values that almost everyone in Armenia has. Maybe with this new government, our chances to reach our goals have increased."

Some have played down the gender imbalance in the new government. Political analyst Hrant Ter-Abrahamyan said that this should not be seen as a major issue.

"When we start counting, we start considering women as objects, as if enough women in the cabinet will solve the gender issues," he said, adding, "We will have women ministers and women prime ministers in Armenia, and not because of their gender but for their respective qualities."

However others argue that the only way to fight for gender equality is to institute quotas for women in public positions.

Yerevan city council member Zara Batoyan, from Pashinyan's Civil Contract party, also spoke from the stage in Republic Square. She said that more needed to be done to encourage women to take a public stance.

"I was calling on women through the whole process to make speeches on stage. Women were always involved in important issues and I was happy when four of them agreed to speak on one of the days because they actually had a say," she continued, adding, "Yes, nobody forbade or hindered them, but as we know, not stopping doesn't mean supporting or encouraging."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingKazak opposition movement stirs

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 24 May 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Kazak opposition movement stirs, 24 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660d1a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

24 May 18

The authorities appear to be weighing their response as to how best reign in dissent.

By Andrei Grishin

Police detain an opposition activist during recent protests in Kazakstan. (Photo: Inga Imanbay)

A renewed flurry of activity by Kazakstan's long moribund opposition movements may be awakening new interest in political activism in a country that has been headed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev for nearly 30 years.

But analysts say that any imminent or dramatic political change is unlikely, warning that the government is canny enough to try to play any emerging opposition groups off against each other.

Developments include a recent series of rallies held by supporters of the Democratic Choice of Kazakstan (DVK) opposition movement. A new political platform was also formed by opposition figures at a conference last month held in Brussels.

These events are particularly interesting in a context where public protests are de facto banned and opposition movements  including the DVK  are denied formal registration or deemed to be extremist organisations.

Police violently broke up the May 10 protests, in which activists demanded that the authorities release political prisoners and stop torture, and detained over 100 participants, including elderly people and teenagers.

Exiled billionaire businessman Mukhtar Ablyazov, the driving force behind the DVK, had issued a social media call for people to join the rallies.

Since the most recent protests, the DVK group has experienced a surge of interest on social media. Their group on Telegram, for instance, has grown almost tenfold.

However, almost every evening  usually coinciding with a live broadcast by Ablyazov  Telegram, Facebook and YouTube crash. The ministry of information and communications warned that this was a likely outcome of their efforts to remove "illegal materials of the Democratic Choice of Kazakstan as an extremist movement".

On March 13, 2018, the General Prosecutor's Office announced the judgement of the Yesil District Court of Astana that found the Democratic Choice of Kazakstan to be an extremist movement.

Oksana Loskutova, a spokeswoman for the General Prosecutor's Office, said that Ablyazov "deliberately incites social hostility and hatred" with the intention of "the overthrow and assumption of power".

On that same day, the authorities announced that they had initiated cases against DVK activists across Kazakstan. Police also arrested three people in Almaty who had expressed support for Ablyazov online.

The police and the prosecutor's office have also called in activists for questioning and warned them that any form of approval for the DVK online would be interpreted as supporting extremism.

However, the authorities have refused to make public the court judgement which found the movement to be extremist.

OPPOSITION INCARNATIONS

The roots of today's DVK lie in a movement that began in late 2001, when a group of young public officials and businessmen established a party to campaign for reform.

Ablyazov, then the chairman of the board of directors of Temir-bank, and Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, at that time the governor of the Pavlodar region, were its leaders.

In January 2002, the DVK movement split into a radical faction led by Ablyazov and Zhakiyanov, and a more moderate wing. In the spring of that year, the leaders of the radical wing were arrested and sentenced to six and seven years in prison.

In December, 2004, supporters of this radical wing announced the creation of a new political party that would retain the same name and elected Zhakiyanov, who was still in detention, as their chairman.

The party was never registered and was shut down completely in January 2005 after being charged with extremism and "incitement to social hostility and hatred".

The DVK morphed into the People's Party "Alga!" (Go Forward), led by Vladimir Kozlov.

However, Alga was supportive of the protracted strike by oil workers in the western town of Zhanaozen. On December 16, 2011  independence day  police fired on protesters in Zhanaozen, killing killed 17 according to official data, although other sources put the toll as high as 70. Police also used live fire on strikers at Shetpe Station on the same day.

The authorities blamed the unrest on Alga and sentenced Kozlov to seven and-a half-years in prison. Alga was deemed to be an extremist organisation on December 21, 2012.

After Ablyazov was pardoned and released in May 2013, he was allowed to take up the post of chairman of a major national bank in what was interpreted as a sign of Nazarbayev's forgiveness.

However, in 2009 he was accused of embezzling five billion US dollars and left the country for the UK. From exile, Ablyazov declared his own presidential ambitions and began to speak openly about unseating Nazarbayev.

In April 2017, Ablyazov announced the revival of the Democratic Choice of Kazakstan Movement with a swathe of new activity on social media.

Political consultant Danila Bekturganov, who used to work with Alga, said that Ablyazov and Astana were playing a game of cat-and-mouse with little real significance.

"Mukhtar Ablyazov has to play the role of the opposition, at least before the West," he said. "For this purpose, he regularly 'throws in' statements [critical of Nazarbayev] on the internet. The authorities also have to respond because Ablyazov and DVK antagonise them a great deal, and also it would be a sign of weakness not to respond to his attack."

Some have connected the regime's calm treatment of a political platform dubbed New Kazakhstan with Ablyazov renewed activism.

Held in Brussels on April 8-10, convenor Akezhan Kazhegeldin, a former prime minister of Kazakstan turned opposition activist, said that Ablyazov had been invited to participate but had declined.

Kazhegeldin, formed the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan (RNPK) after leaving power in 1998 and lives in exile, having been sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison on charges that remain unclear.

Some interpreted the fact that the Kazak authorities did not prevent opposition figures from attending the conference as a way of countering Ablyazov's influence.

Sergei Duvanov, a journalist who has long cooperated with the RNPK, said the creation of the New Kazakstan was an "autonomous project of the opposition" rather than connected in any way with the government.

However, he stressed that unlike the DVK, New Kazakstan had no ambitions for regime change and were prepared to wait until Nazarbayev chose to leave office.

Andrei Sviridov, a historian who has tracked the Kazak opposition movement, said that the two movements would not necessarily clash with each other.

"I can see no contradictions with the creation of New Kazakstan, despite of the DVK being newly [reformed] last year. Moreover, we have many people who want to protest or feel critical about the authorities. Anyway, they can join both DVK and New Kazakstan. However, after the DVK was deemed an extremist organisation, it would be risky for many people to be associated with it, so they prefer to join New Kazakstan."

There are currently only three opposition parties in existence in Kazakstan, and they generally support the government.

But even though public demonstrations are banned, there are still occasional outbreaks of dissent.

In 2017, there were protests against reforms that allowed foreign citizens to acquire ownership of land. The two activists who initiated the protests were imprisoned for five years each, but the president imposed a moratorium on the proposed law.

In recent years, more than a dozen people have killed or attempted to attempted to kill themselves in protest against issues such as police harassment or unfair trials.

Andrei Grishin is a human rights activist and IWPR-trained journalist based in Almaty.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghans apathetic ahead of upcoming elections

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 31 May 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghans apathetic ahead of upcoming elections, 31 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660d3a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

31 May 18

People reluctant to even register to vote amid security threats and ongoing corruption.

By Mina Habib

Analysts are warning that low voter registration for the upcoming Afghan elections  especially among women  does not bode well for the October polls.

In 2014, seven million citizens took part in presidential and provincial council elections. This year, although the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has said it hoped to register up to 14 million adults at over 7,000 centres, only around two million people have put their names down to vote.

Yousuf Rasheed, executive director of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA), said, "The voter registration process is so far unsatisfactory, and unfortunately not only participation by women but also by men is very low up until now."

Rasheed said that one reason for the low level of participation could be the failure to deliver awareness programmes to encourage both men and women to come to the centres to register their names.

"Then there is security, which has frightened both men and women because they care more about their lives [than voting], and they don't feel safe visiting voter registration centres," he said. "The other reason for low participation by women is that some don't have national ID cards, especially in more remote regions. And there is a lack of voter registration centres in some areas due to security issues."

Insurgent groups have delivered on their promises to do everything they can to derail the polls. A series of deadly attacks on voter centres, including an April suicide bombing in Kabul that killed some 60 people, have proved a powerful deterrent to registration.

IEC operational chief Zemari Qalamyar said that more than a quarter of voter registration centres had remained closed due to security risks. A further 354 were open but faced a high level of threat.

Voter apathy is also part of the equation. Although the country's security forces were praised for their relative success in safeguarding the 2014 elections, the results led to a lengthy political stalemate before a national unity government was formed.

Rashid said that people were still disgruntled from their experience of 2014, with no serious measures to reform election laws taken in the past four years to improve public trust in more transparent or credible elections.

It was a tragedy, Rasheed continued, that the elections were a vital process that had been secured with great struggle, including the cost of thousands of lives, but lack of public interest meant their value was now being lost.

IEC spokeswoman Marzia agreed that the process had so far been unsatisfactory. She said that more than 2.6 million people had so far registered to vote, including only 700,000 women.

The closing date for voter registration has been extended until June 14, 2018, and in an attempt to increase registration, the authorities have airdropped information leaflets in a number of provinces.

Fawzia Naseryar, a member of parliament for Kabul who is running for a further term, emphasised the obstacles women faced to political participation.

Many women lack national ID cards, a pre-requisite for registering to vote in the first place.

"One reason is cultural," Naseryar explained. "Women in remote areas don't experience any situations where they would need an ID card. For example, girls who do not go to school are not asked for national ID cards. They normally don't travel abroad, so they don't need to get a passport for which an ID card is a necessity.

"So most women in Afghanistan don't hold these cards, which has now proven to be a big challenge for participation in the election process. I hope that the Independent Election Commission consider this issue in the future, and help distribute national ID cards to women."

The public in general did not understand the value and importance of elections, she continued.

Naseryar said, "It's likely that these upcoming elections will involve more corruption compared with the previous ones. As a representative of the people, I believe that mafia and smuggling networks have more influence [than politicians]."

She said that violations were already apparent, with some figures having launched their elections campaigns before the official start.

"Although campaigning has not started yet, some people have already begun; they are taking groups of people from province to province and to voter registration centres, they circulate their posters and even put ads on social media. I hope that our security and intelligence institutions don't ignore this, and bring to justice all those who act against the law campaign before the given time."

Women's rights activist Leeya Jawad said most women in more remote places lacked national ID cards and so could not register in the first place. But the problems went deeper than that, she added.

"Due to the high level of dishonesty in the previous elections, people were disappointed and do not trust the process, believing that whoever the government wants will be selected; the votes do not make any difference."

Jawad said that her own doubts over the credibility and transparency of the process meant that she would not be registering herself.

Kabul resident Fatema, 33, said that she had also not registered because she had no intention of casting her vote.

"I don't want to visit the voter registration centres because of the security threats. We have seen attacks on these centres that killed and wounded women and children," Fatema said.

Other female activists, however, stressed the importance of participation in the democratic process.

Najiba Moram, publication's director of the Bakhtar state-owned media outlet, said that elections were a national responsibility and vital for political stability.

She said that it was her duty to not only participate, but also encourage others to take part and register.

Seema, 33, a teacher who also lives in Kabul, said that she did intend to register despite the possible security risks.

"As a teacher, I consider elections a very important means through which the people of Afghanistan can build their future with their own hands," she said. "I agree that we are faced with many challenges, but it doesn't mean that we should not participate in important national affairs."

Inaction would not solve anything, she continued, adding that she understood that many felt disillusioned by the claims of corruption that dogged the last polls.

"It is true that there was some manipulation in the previous, which also caused issues of credibility among the public, but we should understand that a lack of participation will not only fail to solve our current problems, but will let them grow bigger."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingGrave worries over Tajik desecrations

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 7 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Grave worries over Tajik desecrations, 7 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660d5a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

07 Jun 18

Christians say that their cemeteries are being stripped bare by thieves.

By IWPR Central Asia

Orthodox Church in Bokhtar. (Photo: IWPR Central Asia)

Representatives of Christian communities in Tajikistan have warned that cemeteries in the southern Khatlon region are being desecrated, with crosses and tomb ornaments looted for the value of their metal.

According to official statistics, half of the 3,000 Christian graves in the Khatlon region have been looted.

Tajikistan is now overwhelming Muslim, but during the Soviet era, it had a significant Christian minority. Russians, Germans, Tatars and other nationalities moved to the country to work on construction projects such as the Nurek dam and a nitrogen fertilizer plant in the Vakhsh valley.

Most left Tajikistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the start of the 1992-1997 civil war. Now, the largely elderly community is made up of mostly Orthodox and Baptist Christians.

According to the most recent official figures available, there were 3,896 Christians and 1,102 Tatars living in the Khatlon region in 2010, out of a total population of 2.7 million.

"Only old and elderly people remain, as they have nowhere to go," said Lyudmila Hodjaeva, head of the Christian Society of the Khatlon region. "There also are those who would like to leave, but have no money, or are stopped for other reasons. The youth left. There is no work here. The Tajiks themselves are leaving for Russia to work."

Tikhon Kireev was recently appointed rector of the Orthodox church in the city of Bokhtar, the administrative centre of Khatlon region.

Kireev said that he had visited Bokhtar's Christian cemetery and been appalled by its dire state. There were no fences, with cattle grazing and children playing freely on the graves.

"As the cemetery is a state of disrepair, relatives cannot find the graves of their loved ones," he continued. "Christians often complain to me about this. For them, it is very sad and painful when the graves of their parents and relatives are destroyed. This is vandalism."

He described a small and dwindling community.

"There are very few Russians left here, sometimes they attend church," he said. "During the service, there are 20 to 30 people in the church. Some of them live in poverty. There are many lonely, elderly people, mostly women, whose children moved to Russia leaving them alone. But they support and visit each other."

Relations were good with the local Muslim population, Kireev continued, and he did not blame ordinary members of the community.

"To be honest, I did not notice any Muslim Tajiks, among whom I live here, doing anything wrong. They respect us. We respect Muslim believers too," he said.

In Farkhar district, 350 km south of the capital, more than 100 graves have been stripped of their memorial plates, fences and crosses.

Valentina Pigilova, 59, is one of only 15 Russian-speaking residents left in the district.

She said that she was broken-hearted over the desecration of graves, including those of her own relatives, in the local cemetery. In recent years there had been so many thefts of crosses and memorial plates that the graveyard had almost been stripped bare, Pigilova continued.

"The situation in the cemeteries is terrible," she said. "Everything is being plundered. The situation is very bad and we can't see it improving, it can become even worse. They take the fences and any metal, they steal everything they can and use it for their own needs."

In the Kulob districts, Christians have taken to burying their loved ones without fencing the grave with metal bars or erecting a cross. As they expect any such traditional decoration to be plundered.

In Yavan, another Khatlon district, memorial plates, crosses and fences were looted from 50 graves in the area's two Christian cemeteries during the first five months of this year.

Pensioner Boboradzhab Norasov, 83, has worked as a guard at Yavan's Christian cemetery for the last 25 years, earning 190 somoni (21 US dollars) a month.

Norasov said that there had been dozens of attempted robberies at the site over the last six months. Several intruders had been detained.

"A few were seized and handed over to the police," he continued. "They were young guys who cut metal into pieces and sell it. They were unemployed and tried to earn money from this."

Members of the 300-strong local community say that they are extremely concerned.

Vera Timofeeva, chairwoman of the Yavan Christian Society, said that two years ago she had discovered that the cross and fence had been stolen from the grave of her former teacher.

"They [clearly] wanted to loot my mother's grave as well, but since the fence was very firmly embedded in the ground, they could not wrench it off," she said. "I think people from other areas steal and sell the metals."

Observers say that the authorities need to act to protect Christian cemeteries.

Bahodur Abdusalom, a sociologist, said that minority groups had made a significant contribution to Khatlon's development and deserved respect.

"During the times of the Soviet Union, there were a lot of Russians here and we had beautiful villages," he said. "Now only a few remain in the cities of southern Tajikistan. They worked a lot on improving the national economy and now they must be helped. The looting of Christian cemeteries is an attack on the religious feelings of people of a friendly nationality."

Local authorities in Yavan said that law enforcement agencies were monitoring the situation and would punish the perpetrators.

"We listened to complaints from Christians in our district that someone is destroying cemeteries," said Ismat Azizov, a representative of Yavan's department for religious affairs. "This should not be allowed. So we reported it to the police, they monitor the situation and take the necessary measures."

In Bokhtar, Kireev said that the community had plans to tackle the cemetery's state of disrepair, but stressed that currently all their financial resources were being dedicated to restoring the region's main orthodox church.

"The parish is small, the people are few. Of course, people continue to quietly clean the graves," he said. "We even receive calls [about the state of the graveyard] from Russia, but we have not had the opportunity to properly address the problem yet, there are a lot of other things to do. The church is not completely restored, but now, with the help of patrons, staff of the Russian military base, we are gradually working on it."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Voter registration centres out of reach

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 8 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Voter registration centres out of reach, 8 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660d7a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

08 Jun 18

Locals complain of having to travel unreasonable distances for the chance to participate in upcoming polls.

By Khan Wali Salarzai

Residents of the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar are warning that a scarcity of voter registration facilities means that many people  including in main population centres  are simply not registering to vote.

Even those living in the provincial capital Asadabad say they are being forced to travel long distances to register. Amid ongoing security risks, this is proving a powerful deterrent to participation in parliamentary and district council elections due in October. There are fears that women, whose movements are already restricted by Afghanistan's conservative cultural traditions, are likely to be most affected.

Parwaiz, 27, lives in the Dandono are of Asadabad neighbourhood of the provincial capital. He said that although his area was safe, the only way to register to vote was to travel for nearly an hour to a centre in Nawabad.

"Most people, especially women, haven't registered their ID cards so far," he said. "If a voter registration centre is not established in the Dandono area, I believe most residents will be deprived of their right to cast a vote."

Others agreed that even relatively secure areas were poorly-served by registration centres.

Mohammadullah, who lives in Lachgali in Asadabad, said, "Our area is located on the highway between Asadabad and Jalalabad. This is the most secure area in the whole of Kunar, but there is still not even a single are still voter registration centre. We have asked the provincial governor's office and the Independent Election Commission [IEC] to establish a centre here, but it has not been set up yet."

"On one hand, people's awareness level is low, and on the other, the security situation is not that good that people dare to travel far to register themselves," added Qazafimal, who lives in Asadabad's Doshakhil area. "Moreover, men in this area don't allow their women to travel such a long distance for registration purpose."

Shah Jahan Sardari, a representative of the IEC in Kunar, told IWPR that the province had been allotted 137 voter registration centres. Out of this number, 67 were operational, but seven centres in Nari, Dangan, Watipor, Narang and Shigal  as well as two in the Ghazi Abad district  had been closed due to security threats.

He said that around 900,000 people had so far registered in Kunar province, including more than 24,000 women, and that the IEC was pleased with the progress that had been made.

"It is due to the support and cooperation of people including tribal elders, religious leaders and civil society activists that the registration process is going well," Sardari said. "So far, we have not faced any challenges."

He did acknowledge some concerns about the long distances that had to be travelled, adding, "Residents of some areas have complained that the centres are located very far from them; we've shared these concerns with central office in Kabul, and we look forward to a response and instructions in this regard."

Civil society activist Mohammad Shoaib Gharwal said that he had also been working to raise awareness of the upcoming elections and the importance of voter participation. This had included simply ferrying young people to and from the registration centres.

Sohaila Baber, director of the provincial department of women's affairs, said that she was extremely worried about how access for female voters.

"In order to encourage women to participate in the elections, we've run public awareness campaigns by reaching out to many villages and private homes," she said, warning that this would have little impact if registration centres were too remote to reach easily.

"Women cannot travel to these centres with full confidence to register," she continued. "We have heard some complains from women who want centres to be located in areas more suitable for them to access. We've shared their complaints and requests with the provincial governor's office and the IEC, but have not received any positive response yet."

Kunar provincial council head Haji Walayat Khan said, "Some of the residents came to the provincial council and complained about the lack of voter registration centres in their. We shared their messages with the provincial governor's office."

Security is the major challenge to the upcoming elections, with voter registration centres in a number of provinces coming under attack. Kunar, which borders Pakistan, is particularly unstable.

Fareed Dehqan, spokesman for the Kunar police chief, said that their assessment showed that 64 of the province's voter registration centres were considered to be low risk and 26 at medium risk, with a further 47 thought to be at high risk of insurgent attack.

However, he encouraged people to go out to register.

"So far, there have been no problems in Kunar province. In order to keep these registration centres operating, we have taken some precautionary measures . . . [and] we have provided good security, so citizens can go to these centres with confidence," he said.

Voter registration for the parliamentary and district council elections began on April 14, 2018. According to the IEC, 1,500 voter registration centres have been established in all the 34 provinces across the country, employing more than 10,000 people. More than five million people have registered so far, including 1.5 million women.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingConcerns mount over Afghan election security

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 11 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Concerns mount over Afghan election security, 11 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660daa.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 Jun 18

A low turn-out risks undermining the credibility of the outcome.

By Khan Mohammad Danishjo

(Photo: Marcel Mettelsiefen/Getty Images)

Analysts warn that ongoing security concerns are continuing to deter Afghans from registering to vote in the run-up to parliamentary and district council elections due in October.

A number of high-profile insurgent attacks on voter registration centres in recent weeks have led to high numbers of casualties. Attacks on centres in Kabul and Baghlan on April 22 killed at least 63 people, while another attack in Khost killed some 13 citizens who had come to register.

The violence has led to concerns that voter turn-out will be lower than that of the presidential election in 2014, undermining the credibility of the outcome.

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) reported that security threats meant that 800 voter registration centres across the country had failed to open as planned. Of these, 120 were in Kunduz and 42 in both Paktya and Jawzjan.

IEC operational chief Zemarai Qalamyar said that 26 per cent of their voter registration centres had remained closed due to security threats. Out of those that were operational, 354 had been deemed to be at high risk of attack.

According to the IEC, more than 4.6 million people have so far registered to vote. The body had initially announced that it hoped to register as many as 14 million citizens at over 7,000 centres across the country.

For some prospective voters, the risks clearly outweigh the possible benfits of voting. Mirza, a 27-year-old resident of the Kart-e-Naw area of Kabul province, said that he had not yet registered. The father-of-seven said he was the sole breadwinner for his children and did not want to take the risk of getting caught up in an attack on a registration centre.

"I want the government to secure these centres by whatever means possible so that everyone can go there with peace of mind and register for voting, and make this national process more inclusive," he said. "As far as the security at voter registration centres is concerned, I suggest that the government should prioritise [securing] the provincial capitals because of their higher population density and turn next to the districts."

The ongoing security challenges mean that some people are doubtful that the elections will even take place. The Taleban have been explicit in their aim of disrupting the elections, and on previous occasions have followed through on threats to cut off fingers marked with indelible ink  a sign that people had voted.

"Considering the current security situation of the country, where it continues to worsen day by day, I don't think that the elections will be held," said military affairs specialist Attiqullah Amarkhail.

"Some parts of districts in different places have fallen under the control of Taleban. For several hours, the Taleban turned up in [previously relatively peaceful] Farah province. I don't think that people will go to voting centres in the districts, because there is a risk that the Taleban may cut off fingers of those who cast votes, and other possible consequences too. So due to all these issues, I believe it will be difficult to bring voters to ballot boxes," he concluded.

However, others disagree, arguing that the public are determined to participate in the process.

Political analyst and Kabul University lecturer Faizullah Jalal said he was sure that the vote would go ahead, although he said it was possible that turnout would be lower than in 2014.

"If elections are not held, the government will have no longer have any credibility," he said. "I know that the security situation is not stable, but in spite of all these issues, elections will take place and people will cast their votes for those they want and trust."

Candidates themselves acknowledge the ongoing security challenges.

"I know that there are a lot of security challenges," said Zakia Sangeen, a lawmaker from Parwan province. "We saw that three people from Parwan province lost their lives in the previous elections, in 2014, but since this is a national issue and I have a responsibility to participate, I will once again put myself forward myself for parliament so that I can amplify my people's voices to those in power and serve them.

"I agree that most people are not satisfied with the performance of the previous parliament, but I have always tried to reach out to my people and listen to them, and I am sure that they will vote for me once again. But I am also worried about security."

Security challenges have thus far overshadowed issues of fraud, a persistent part of previous elections. More than a million votes were disqualified following the 2009 elections, and there were similar accusations of cheating in 2014, although final vote totals were never released.

In April 2018, there were reports that more than 200 fake ID cards had been distributed in the Kama district of Nangarhar province.

Humayun Mohtat, the director of population registration, had asked the judicial authorities to investigate, but no arrests have yet been made. Ministry of interior spokesman Najib Danish confirmed that police were looking into the allegations.

IEC commissioner Sayed Hafizullah Hashimi said that security was the body's greatest concern and one raised in their meetings on a daily basis.

But he said that the number of people registering to vote was also on the rise, which he interpreted as a sign of ongoing voter interest.

Basir Mujahid, the spokesman for Kabul's chief of police, said that they were preparing special security measures to protect polling stations in the upcoming elections.

He called on citizens to support their national police as well as participate in the elections to show that they are confident and trust their national police capabilities to provide security.

Dawa Khan Menapal, deputy spokesman for Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, said that special security operations were being carried out ahead of the elections in some provinces.

He also stressed that that the government's main focus was on ensuring security around the elections and providing voters with a safe environment.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingFemale runaways on the rise in Afghan province

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 12 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Female runaways on the rise in Afghan province, 12 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660dca.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 Jun 18

Most cases are never reported as they are resolved by tribal elders.

By Fareed Tanha

Officials in the northeastern Afghan province of Panjshir are warning that the number of girls and young women running away from home, often to escape forced marriage, is on the rise.

Tahmina Rezayee, legal officer at Panjshir's department of women's affairs, said that her office had logged 21 instances of women running away from home in the first five months of 2018. In the same period last year, they had recorded only seven such cases.

"When parents force their daughters to marry someone whom they don't like, this makes the girl run away," she said, warning that the number of runaways would only increase if such marriage practices continued.

Under Afghan law, women and girls who run away from home can be put in prison for up to a year, and the shame associated with such cases means their families sometimes refuse to take them back.

In conservative Afghan society, many decisions about a woman's future are taken by male family members. But sometimes young couples fall in love and try to run away together.

Panjshir resident Ahmad Jawad, 23, told IWPR that he had been courting a girl from the same village for the last year. Matters came to a head in January, when her family tried to marry her off to someone else.

"The girl also loved me and said to her family that she wanted to get engaged, to me but her family did not agree. When her family wanted to betroth her to someone else, she ran away with me," he said.

Jawad said that they had been prevented from performing the nikah, the Islamic marriage ceremony, from fear of creating a feud between the two families.

"The girl is being hosted by a local elder, and elders are negotiating to try and convince her family to allow our betrothal."

Sometimes mediation leads to a positive resolution. Shamsia, a 20-year-old from Logar province, met Jamshid when they were both studying law and political science at Kabul University.

"My family wanted to marry me to an old man; this made me run away from home in 2017," she said, explaining that the couple had fled to Panjshir. "After two months, once my family agreed, I married him [Jamshid], and we now live a happy life."

Provincial spokesman Abdul Wadod Alimardan confirmed that the number of female runaways had increased, adding, "Their cases are settled by the judicial institutions, through the department of women's affairs."

Dozens of other cases were resolved informally through local elders, he continued.

Rezayee also said that female runaways were usually hosted by tribal elders until their cases were resolved through traditional justice procedures, but said that the government should also provide refuges for vulnerable women and girls.

Despite several requests to the ministry of women's affairs, she said that no action had been taken to provide safe houses.

Abdul Ahad Farzam is the head of the Kabul regional office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), covering seven provinces including Kapisa, Parwan, Panjshir, Logar, Maidan Wardak and Ghazni.

He said that his department had registered 108 cases of women or girls running away from home last year, but said the true number was likely to be far higher.

"Insecurity, problematic social traditions and the intervention of powerful individuals meant that many cases are resolved unofficially," he said, adding that running away from home was "a serious social issue and can have immense consequences both for the female runaways and their families".

Islamic law gives women the right to choose their own husband and forbids forced marriage. But in practice, customary law often takes precedence.

Legal expert Abdul Mujeeb Fana explained that the issue of runaways could even lead to the practice of "baad" a traditional means of settling disputes in Afghanistan which involves giving a young girl to the family of the perceived victim of a crime.

"In some cases, running away from home causes social issues that leads to feuds between families, and such antagonism eventually leads to providing the boy's family with a bride, a baad marriage, which is haram [forbidden] in Islam."

"In cases where a young man and woman decided to run away together," he continued, "They bring their case to a court for the purpose of marriage. The court gives them a three-day time period so that they can also bring their families. If they fail to do so, then the judge, subject to their mutual agreement, will perform their nikah."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghan women excluded from upcoming vote

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 13 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghan women excluded from upcoming vote, 13 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660dec.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

13 Jun 18

Conservative traditions mean that most do not even have national ID cards.

By Fareedullah Zahir

Officials and activists are warning that very few women are registering to vote in upcoming elections. (Photo: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Officials and activists in the southeastern Afghan province of Khost are warning that very few women are registering to vote in upcoming parliamentary and district council elections.

Abdulrahman Mohabat, head of the Afghanistan Independent Election Commission's (IEC) provincial office, said that only 23,000 women were among the 130,000 people who have so far registered to vote in October's elections.

Mohabat said that 400,000 Khost residents voted in the 2014 elections, including 120,000 women.

He warned that the anticipated low turnout this year meant that results would not be credible, adding that locals already had little faith in the transparency of the process.

The local authorities in Khost are also concerned about the low level of participation by women.

Khost governor Hakam Khan Habibi said that a World Health Organisation (WHO) vaccination survey of more than 1,100 villages in the province in April 2018 had been the first accurate study made of the local populace. The WHO put the population of Khost at around 1.5 million, although it is not known how many are of a legal age to vote.

"Before the survey, we did not know the exact population of Khost province," he said, adding that it was also clear that most women did not have ID cards, known as taskera, which are now a prerequisite for being eligible to vote.

Habibi said that the allocation of ID cards should have been the first step in any kind of electoral process, and something that central government, with all its superior resources, should have been able to accomplish.

"If the government fails to distribute national ID cards to women in Khost, half of the population of this province will certainly be deprived of their right to participate in elections," he concluded.

Other Khost residents said that conservative traditions meant that most women did not have ID cards.

Tamim Khaksar, a 30-year-old teacher, is a resident of the Qeeran village of Alisher district, which he said was home to around 70 families.

Men in the village, he continued, only obtained ID cards for female family members families if they needed a passport for travel abroad.

"In our village, male family members never allow female members to get a national ID card."

Rahimgul, 51, is a tribal elder in the Pahlawankhail village in Bak district, also said that local women only applied for tazkera if they needed a passport to make the haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia or travel to India or Pakistan for medical treatment.

"Pashtuns regard it as a shameful act to obtain tazkera for their women," he said, adding that out of the 150 families in his village, not a single woman had ever had an ID card.

Khost provincial council member Naat Bibi Omari said that as local women and girls were routinely denied access to education, they had no idea of their rights or the importance of obtaining an ID card. Very few even knew what they were.

"I can say with confidence that out of every 100 women in Khost, 95 of them do not have national ID cards," she concluded.

Her theory appeared to be borne out by Zahra, 26, who lives in the Qaser area of Khost city.

Although she voted in the 2014 elections, when a national ID card was not a prerequisite for voter registration, she cannot read or write and was not planning to try and vote in the October polls.

"I don't know what a tazkera is, and how it can benefit me," Zahra said.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingEnglish Lithuanian

Equity of the Company and the Company's net asset value as of 30 June 2018 was EUR 23,5 mln or EUR 1.9306 per share.

Investments of the Company into managed companies amounted to EUR 19.7 million at the end of June 2018.

The net loss of the Company for 6 months of 2018 was EUR 306 thousand.



Additional information:

INVL Technology, a company that invests in IT businesses, had equity of EUR 23.51 million, or EUR 1.93 per share, at the end of the first half of this year. Equity per share was down 1.3% from the start of the year but rose 0.7% during the second quarter.

The companys investments in the businesses it owns totalled EUR 19.7 million at the end of June, which is EUR 1.1 million less than at the start of the year mainly due to dividends paid out by some of the businesses.

INVL Technologys net loss in the reporting period was EUR 306 thousand, while in the same period last year it had a profit of EUR 21 thousand.

In the first half of this year most of the business holdings grew their incomes and profit and also signed many new contracts, especially in Bangladesh, a market that Algoritmu Sistemos has also entered. At the same time, the companies enlarged their palette of proprietary products, said Kazimieras Tonkunas, INVL Technologys managing partner.

In Lithuania, the INVL Technology-owned business Etronika contributed to the creation of a mobile payment platform MoQ, while NRD Systems (UAB NRD) signed a new contract on further development of the State Tax Inspectorates Electronic Declaration System (EDS) and Algoritmu Sistemos signed a contract on the census of 2020. The companies also signed other agreements on the development and maintenance of information systems, IT infrastructure management and modernization, and cybersecurity enhancement.

In Bangladesh, meanwhile, NRD CS signed a new contract on capacity building of the governments cybersecurity incident response team (BGD e-GOV CIRT), and BAIP and Norway Registers Development AS signed one on the modernization of Bangladeshs National Data Centre. NRD CSs experts together with Oxford Universitys Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre conducted a cybersecurity maturity assessment for Bangladesh.

Algoritmu Sistemos signed its first contract in Bangladesh, together with Norway Registers Development AS and NRD CS. They will advise on the countrys national cybersecurity strategy and create a critical information infrastructure protection strategy as well as a cyber-risk assessment framework for critical infrastructure. INVL Technologys businesses were active in East Africa, especially Zanzibar, and in other countries.

Also, at the end of June this year INVL Technology repaid a loan from Luminor Bank together with the accrued interest. The loan was granted to the company last year to finance a business acquisition. In addition, INVL Technology, which continually assesses the value of its investment assets, plans to announce a tender for the purchase of such valuation services.

Performance of businesses

NRD Companies had revenue of EUR 3.56 million in the first half of this year, or 33% more than in the same period last year, while its EBITDA was EUR 295 thousand and increased 88% versus the comparative period.

The revenues of BAIP and Acena in the first half of this year shrank 8.8% from the same period last year to EUR 4.7 million. Their EBITDA was EUR 58 thousand and compared to the first half of 2017 decreased by more than five times (from EUR 329 thousand).

Algoritmu Sistemoss revenue, meanwhile, grew 35% in the first half of this year compared to the same period of 2017 to EUR 1.2 million. Its EBITDA was EUR 17 thousand (versus a negative EUR 14 thousand last year).

Andmevara ASs half-year revenue, compared to the same period last year, grew 17.3% to EUR 671 thousand, while its EBITDA was EUR 2 thousand (versus a negative EUR 120 thousand last year).

NRD CSs first-half revenue this year more than doubled to EUR 1.5 million (compared to EUR 705 thousand in the first half of last year). Its EBITDA increased 23% compared with the first half last year to EUR 65 thousand.









The person authorized to provide additional information:

Kazimieras Tonkunas

INVL Technology Managing Partner

E-mail k.tonkunas@invltechnology.lt

AttachmentsChild rape case shocks Afghan province

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 13 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Child rape case shocks Afghan province, 13 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660e04.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

13 Jun 18

Locals accuse government of indifference.

By Safiullah Amiri

A case of child rape in the western Afghan city of Herat has highlighted concerns that the state is powerless to bring perpetrators of sexual violence to justice.

The 12-year-old girl, who has special needs, was seized on her way home one day and gang raped by unknown assailants.

She remains hospitalised in the psychiatric wing of Herat's regional hospital. Family members said that she has been so traumatized that she becomes hysterical at the sight of men.

"I pray God to punish them [the perpetrators]," her mother said. "Then I also call on the government to arrest and bring the assailants to justice."

Abdul Ahad Walizada, the spokesman for Herat police chief, said, "So far, no one has been arrested in connection to this case, but it is being investigated."

Waheed Noorzad, head of the department where the girl is being treated, said that the trauma would leave a livelong scar. Since March 2018, seven cases of sexual assault had been recorded at the hospital.

Locals said that the incident was particularly shocking as it came during the holy month of Ramadan, and called for the perpetrators to be caught and an example made of them.

"This is not the first time we've heard about such an incident," said Herat resident Aziz Ahmad. "We've heard such reports several times in the past, but never about the perpetrators being punished."

Zainab, a law student at Herat University, also said that she had heard of numerous similar assaults on children.

"What disappoints me most is that the government and the public remain indifferent to such crimes," she said. "Hearing the news of a child being gang-raped, the people should rise up and hold demonstrations to demand the government bring the perpetrators to justice.

"If we don't make the government focus on this, we may see more such incidents," Zainab concluded.

Women's rights activist Marya Bashir said that corruption and inefficiency within the justice system meant that few perpetrators of sexual violence were even brought to trial.

She noted that according to paragraph 2 of article 17 of the groundbreaking Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, perpetrators of a sexual assault on an underage girl can be sentenced to life in prison. If the victim dies due to the assault, then they are sentenced to death.

The law prohibits a range of abuses from assault and rape to marriages that were coercive, involve minors or amount to a transaction between two families. However, implementation has been patchy.

The UN highlighted the lack of action over this crucial law in a report last month, in which it severely criticized the Afghan government for its shortcomings in processing VAW cases.

In this year's annual report, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) noted 228 cases of violence against women reported nationwide in 2017. It was impossible to know exact figures of such assaults, the report continued, as most people tried to keep such incidents secret.

Sohaila Sabri, public awareness officer of Herat's provincial department of women's affairs, agreed that it was still uncommon for sexual assaults to be reported to the authorities.

She said that her office had recorded around 40 cases of sexual assault over the last two years, explaining many incidents, especially involving children, were not reported to the authorities due to issues of shame. At best, these assaults were resolved through traditional justice procedures or mediation by tribal elders.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Women's ID cards traded ahead of elections

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 15 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Women's ID cards traded ahead of elections, 15 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660e24.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

15 Jun 18

Lucrative trade risks further delegitimising electoral process.

By Sahel Mangal

Afghan women show identification cards as they wait to cast their votes. (Photo: Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

Residents of the southeastern Afghan province of Paktia are warning that a flourishing trade in women's ID cards has sprung up ahead of the October elections, fuelling fears that corrupt candidates could exploit the stolen votes.

Conservative traditions mean that most women in Paktia do not have ID cards, also known as tazkera, which are a prerequisite for registering to vote. After registration at one of the many centres that have been set up ahead of the elections, a small sticker is fixed to the card to show the holder is eligible to vote.

Although applications for the cards themselves  as well as registering to vote  need to be made in person, it appears that some locals are managing to obtain tazkera by an indirect route.

While there are those who claim that they are merely trying to help out women who are often restricted in their ability to travel, others are quite open about this lucrative form of fraud.

Haji Padshah, a tribal elder in Andwam village in Mirzaka district, told IWPR that he was travelling round the villages with two photographers. They took pictures of women in the presence of their husbands or male relatives and used these photographs to apply for tazkera.

Padshah said that he managed to get 20 to 30 ID cards at a time,and would then also register the tazkera for voting so as to obtain the required sticker.

"I am doing it to serve the women and make the process easier for them," he said.

For some, this has become a full-time occupation. Habib Gul (not his real name), lives in the village of Slimankhail in Samkani district and said that he now makes a living from buying and selling tazkeras.

The 45-year-old said that in recent weeks he sold 37 tazkeras in women's names.

He said, "The price of one woman's tazkera is between ten and 30 dollars."

Some men appear to view the ID cards of female family members as a useful resource to be exploited.

Khatera, 24, lives in the Zahawi area of the capital Gardiz. She said that a week ago, her uncle brought home voter-registered tazkera for her and six other women of their family.

"Last night, my father along with my brothers and uncles, were discussing what price they should sell these ID cards at," Khatera said.

Political analyst Zaheergul Zaheer said that the trade in women's ID cards represented a new low in electoral corruption, and castigated workers at tazkera distribution centres and IEC officials for not stamping out such fraud.

"The buying and selling of ID cards signals the start of new crisis that might delegitimise the upcoming elections," he said.

Some local officials deny that women's ID cards are being traded..

Saidullah Bismel is head of Paktia's population registration department and in charge of the distribution of tazkeras. He rejected allegations of fraud, adding that women had to visit their centres in person to receive their ID cards, just as men had to.

"Every day we distribute more than 100 national ID cards to women," Bismel said.

Others are less confident that women are not being exploited in an attempt by local strongmen to skew the elections in their favour.

Moska Mangal, a representative of the provincial department of women's affairs, said that this type of fraud robbed female citizens of the fundamental right to take part in their country's democratic processes. There was also very little awareness amongst women that the elections were taking place at all.

Due to the cruel traditions prevalent in Paktia, she continued, "women do not [in effect] have the right to stand as candidates or to vote for others".

She concluded, "It is unforgivable that a husband sells his wife's vote."

For their part, women in many of Paktia's villages insist that the practice is ongoing.

Khatema, a 21-year-old from Dodai village in Lazha Mangal district, told IWPR that her father had sold the ID cards belonging to the seven female members of her family to the local headman for 60 dollars.

Nasima, 43, a resident of the Kohseen area in Sayed Karam district, said that a few days ago her husband Khan Zaman and his brother Faqir Mohammad had brought a photographer to the village to take her picture.

Some days later, her brother-in-law returned with 16 tazkera, all with voter registration stickers already attached.

"From their talks, I have learned only that my husband and Faqir Mohammad want to sell these tazkeras," Nasima said.

Bibi Hawa, 51 who lives in the Kalalgo village of Zurmat district, said that her husband had also recently got a tazkera for her and had it registered at a local centre.

Hawa said that her husband had taken some photos of her and told her that he would get her a national ID card, but added that she had never visited any official institution at any point during the process.

"I am an uneducated person; I do whatever my husband tells me," Hawa said.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingFemale candidates face tough fight in Afghanistan

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 18 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Female candidates face tough fight in Afghanistan, 18 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660e3a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

18 Jun 18

Traditional mores often prevent women even working outside the home, let alone running for office.

By Pazhman Pazhohish

Women face widespread discrimination when it comes to political participation. (Photo: Lynsey Addario/Getty Images Reportage)

Female candidates in October's Afghan elections have been discussing the multiple challenges they face as women running for public office in a highly conservative society.

In addition to ongoing security concerns and public scepticism over the transparency of the entire process, women face widespread discrimination when it comes to political participation.

The 2,070 people running in parliamentary and district council elections include 278 women, while 2,565 men and 64 women are taking part in the district council elections.

Most female candidates are located in Kabul, Balkh and Herat provinces, while some areas, including Nuristan, do not have even a single woman in the race.

Traditional mores in Afghanistan often militate against women even working outside the home, let alone running for public office.

"When I decided to nominate myself, my family immediately disapproved of my decision, with my close relatives then following suit by expressing negative ideas that as a girl, I would be unable to succeed," explained Shahba Shahrukhi, a parliamentary candidate from Samangan province.

"[They told me] that there were too many problems, that this society and its traditions have always been against women who somehow make trouble for men. All these words and excuses were intended to change my mind, but I refused to accept this."

Women from the capital Kabul had an easier task, she continued.

"In the provinces, the situation is different; a woman in the provinces has to overcome cultural issues, fight against her husband, father, brother and other close relatives, and even those women who are envious of her success and who don't want her to overtake their own achievements," Shahrukhi said.

The 2014 presidential elections were accompanied by widespread allegations of vote-rigging, leading to a stand-off that was only resolved when US secretary of state John Kerry stepped in to help negotiate a unity government agreement.

There are mixed hopes for these elections, with a low rate of voter registration not boding well for their legitimacy.

According to the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC), as of June 5, 2018, more than five million voters had registered to vote, including 1.5 million women. Their aim is to register up to 14 million voters.

Political analyst Shekiba Parsa said that there was very little public enthusiasm for taking part in the entire process. He said that the chief problem was the lack of security, with people fearing that the deadly attacks on registration centres will continue.

There have been numerous attacks already around the country, and the Taleban have made it clear that they see anyone who participates in the process as a legitimate target. In previous polls, they have cut fingers off voters, who have them marked with indelible ink at the polling station.

Ordinary Afghans were unwilling to risk so much for an unsatisfactory election whose results might not be credible, Parsa continued.

"What will those groups, who do not accept the election process and call it haram [unlawful], do to those who wants to participate but live in the areas under their control? In the previous elections, some of our fellow countrymen lost their fingers but didn't achieve the outcome they desired despite all their sacrifices."

Parliamentary candidate Maryam Mahtab said that the election system in Afghanistan had always been flawed. The fact that tazkera were marked with voter registration stickers was itself problematic, she continued.

"These stickers on ID cards put people's lives at risk because the militants reject the election process and will harm all those who've registered to participate in the elections and have stickers attached to their tazkeras," Mahtab said. "Fearing this, most people won't register, especially women because most of them even do not have national ID cards. [This means that] female candidates will not be able to count on the votes of other women."

A female candidate in local elections in Takhar province was recently kidnapped by armed men.

Fazela, who is running for office in Darqad district in Takhar, was seized alongside her brother on June 5 as they travelled to the provincial capital Taluqan.

Khalil Aseer, the spokesman for Takhar's chief of police, said that gunmen abducted them as they travelled through Alqanaq village in Darqad district. Their whereabouts were still unknown.

Khalida Ataee, a civil society activist in Takhar province and a prospective candidate in district council elections, said that Fazela's abduction had been a shock.

"I was terrified, but I have still not changed my mind."

Weeda Saghari, a parliamentary candidate from Kabul province, also said that she was determined to take part in the elections despite her own security concerns.

"I think the first problem is that a woman's position in society is judged based on a religious viewpoint by which a woman should not lead any group. This is more so among people who are illiterate or have little education. Secondly, our society is patriarchal, so people rely more on men than women. Thirdly, women are economically weaker and dependent on men. Another factor is people's low level of awareness about elections and the role of women in this process."

Female candidates face further problems when it comes to running their election campaigns.

Naweeda Safdari, a parliamentary hopeful from Kabul province, said that women had fewer economic resources to draw on than men. This meant that their ability to campaign and lobby business leaders and local strongmen was automatically limited, which is in any case was already hampered by traditional norms.

"If women approach powerful figures and businessmen in order to seek their support, the first thing that may happen may be that they get the wrong idea and make sexual demands," she said, adding that it was also common for people to sell their votes. Even online campaigning was harder for women, Safdari continued.

"In Afghanistan's patriarchal society, it's even difficult for women to campaign on social media because their photos are edited and misused on fake accounts to humiliate them."

However, IEC officials say they remain optimistic about the prospective rate of participation, also arguing that male and female candidates were on a level playing field.

IEC commissioner Mazullah Dawlati said that he was satisfied with how the registration process was going, noting that more than five million had registered as of early June. This included 3.4 million men and 1.6 million women.

Minority groups were also participating, he continued, noting that more than 97,000 Kuchi nomads had registered and even around 500 memebrs of the country's tiny Sikh population.

Dawlati said that candidates were given treated identically regardless of the gender, assuring the public that the process was fully transparent.

"If there challenges exist, they are the same for male and female candidates. We provide equal opportunities to both male and female candidates, and the rules are implemented the same way too."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Sexual violence needs justice, not mediation

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 29 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Sexual violence needs justice, not mediation, 29 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660e7a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

29 Jun 18

Critics argue that traditional processes undermine entire legal system.

By Mina Habib

(Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Afghan officials have hit back at a UN report that criticised their government for allowing mediation to replace formal justice proceedings in cases of violence against women. Rights activists, however, argue that the study highlights key problems with the legal approach to gender abuse.

The UNAMA document, published in May 2018, said that women's limited access to justice was exacerbated by a reliance on mediation rather than prosecution.

Neither the Afghan penal code nor the flagship Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women  enacted by presidential decree in 2009  allow mediation in criminal cases.

However, the UN report, Injustice and Impunity: Mediation of Criminal Offences of Violence against Women, documented numerous cases of mediation between August 2015 and December 2017.

Danielle Bell, head of human rights at UNAMA, said. "Many of the women interviewed for this report said that they were pressured into withdrawing their official complaints and agreeing to mediation, as if no actual crime had occurred."

Traditional justice procedures are common in Afghanistan, with local elders or community gatherings convened to arbitrate on a wide range of disputes. UN officials said that this was counterproductive.

"The use of mediation in criminal cases serves not only to normalise violence against women but also to undermine confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole," Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN secretary general's special representative for Afghanistan, told reports at a press conference in May 2018.

However, Afghan officials at the ministry of women's affairs argued that  although the report made some good points  it had failed to appreciate the advances made in the fight against gender violence.

"The report stated that VAW cases are being settled through traditional jirgas and gatherings involving mediation by elders," Nasrat Elahi, the ministry's acting director of legal affairs, said. "This might be the case in remote places, but in urban areas all cases related to violence against women are resolved through legal and judicial bodies. Unfortunately, the report did not mention this."

Jamshid Rasouli, spokesman for the Attorney's General office, also stressed that his department "regards the protection and freedom of citizens as its responsibility and has prioritised cases of violence against women".

He said that 2,300 VAW cases had been processed over the last year, including instances of beatings, harassment, and sexual violence. Some of the perpetrators had been convicted and sentenced, Rasouli continued.

He added that the attorney general had established prosecutors' office in all 34 provinces of the country with the mandate to process cases of gender violence and to increase public awareness. In addition, female prosecutors had been hired for courts in 31 provinces, and a dedicated psychotherapy centre established to help women with associated mental health issues.

But women's rights activists say that multiple factors still prevent women suffering gender violence from even seeking help.

"It's considered to be a shameful act if a woman registers her complaint at a judicial institution," said Shahla Fareed, a women's rights activist and law lecturer at Kabul University.

"According to the dominant traditions, women should not complain. Unfortunately, all these factors provide opportunities for perpetrators to commit more crimes."

She continued, "Women who want to speak out are threatened by their husbands. For example, they are told if they approach the police to make a complaint, then they will never be able to go home again. Elders also say that if a woman goes to the police she should never be allowed back into society so as not to encourage other women [to follow suit]."

Roshan Sirran, director of the Training Human Rights Association for Afghan Women (THRA), said, "There is a law for elimination of violence against women in existence in Afghanistan, but it's not being implemented, and the main reason is a lack of security."

One issue, Sirran continued, was that the law was not applied equally. Those with money and power escaped prosecution or received very light sentences, while others remain in prison for years waiting for their cases to be processed.

Fareed agreed that a culture of impunity meant that abusers were confident that their crimes would go unpunished.

"When women are mistreated, their husbands tell them that ever if they report the case to the police, [the husband] can bribe the police with 2,000 Afghanis to be released," she said. "Similarly, they can sort out the case at prosecutors' office by paying 5,000 Afghanis, or even  because they are men  they can get the whole case by paying 10,000 Afghani. So women do not approach legal and judicial bodies, and try to tolerate the pain they face at home."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingBoosting business for Afghan women

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 29 June 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Boosting business for Afghan women, 29 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660e9a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

29 Jun 18

Small-scale producers say they need start-up funding and dedicated space.

By Benafsha Benish

(Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Female entrepreneurs in the northwestern Afghan province of Baghdis say that they have high hopes for a new infrastructure project that aims to boost their business opportunities.

President Ashraf Ghani has personally intervened to allocate more than 300,000 US dollars of state funds to build a dedicated centre for around 300 local women to showcase their products.

Municipal officials said that they had received approval to begin construction in April 2018. Badghis mayor Qadeer Kamran said, "It's been a month since the construction began, and it will be completed by the end of this year."

Local female entrepreneurs mainly produce honey, jams, fresh and dried fruits as well as handicrafts such as clothes, luggage, gloves, and carpets.

The first and second storeys of the building have been allocated to tailoring, handicrafts, foodstuffs and art workshops, while its third storey will house carpet-weaving studios.

Small-scale businesses such as these can make a huge difference to the lives of women in Afghanistan. But those wishing to launch these enterprises face numerous obstacles.

Conservative traditions means that women are often excluded from public spaces such as markets, and struggle to afford rents in shopping malls. They also have greater difficulty finding the funding they need to set up small enterprises in the first place.

Women say that they need between 20,000 to 500,000 afghanis to launch a small business, such as food processing or handicrafts.

Ferishta Rafat, who recently established a sewing workshop, said, "Economics have a tremendous role in developing people's lives, so I decided to start small in order to eventually reach my more ambitious goals."

But she faces a problem with cash flow, explaining that they receive orders for formal suits and are only paid after delivering these custom-made items.

"In spite of their poor economic situation, women are still interested in business and merchandising," said Hafeeza Tookhi, head of the association of Badghis businesswomen. "It is the lack of even basic funds that is the main obstacle preventing women from entering the market."

She said that 70 women currently had workshops in another building, but that between 30 and 40 women approached her each week to ask for helping in launching a small business. They simply lacked the initial capital and space to host their venture, she continued.

Behzad Wahdat, the provincial director of economy, said that Badghis had one state and three private banks in operation, but that none of them ran any loan schemes specifically for female entrepreneurs.

Female entrepreneurs also say that the government has to do more to promote their businesses beyond a highly localised market.

Dunia Gul, who keeps bees and sells their honey, said, "The government should arrange exhibitions for our products at both the national and international level. Badghis is a small province, and due to unemployment and poverty, locals can't afford to buy these products. If our goods are presented through exhibitions in other cities and abroad, it will increase both demand and sales."

A further obstacle is that registering each new business requires a license from the municipality, which is not always easy to obtain.

"So far this year, only 20 women got their business license from this administration," said Badghis mayor Kamran.

Experts argue that little can be achieved without direct government intervention to support women who want to start up small businesses. Although the dedicated Baghdis shopping centre was a good start, a more comprehensive approach was needed.

"So far, the government's promises to support businesswomen have remained just words on paper," said conomist Tariq Aziz. "It's necessary to take practical steps in order to develop their business. Government support could include holding exhibitions, providing bank loans and delivering professional and technical training."

A spokesman for the ministry of industry and commerce spokesman, Musafar Quqandi, said that the government was doing what it could.

"The government is not able to provide initial funding or small loans to the businesswomen, but it has provided them with 30 per cent of the spaces at national and international exhibitions," he continued, adding that banks needed to supply female entrepreneurs with seed funding.

Quqandi also suggested that female entrepreneurs in Badghis should establish a proper organisation to liaise with the chamber of commerce in neighbouring Herat  where most of their goods are sold  and in turn with officials in Kabul.

Tookhi said that none of the women she knew had approached any banks to apply for a loan as they had no understanding of the process. Her organisation had asked various bodies including the municipality, the provincial governor's office, the department of women's affairs and foreign organisations for assistance or small loans. But although she had received offers of office equipment and other tools, no one had been willing to provide funding.

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan: Few options for leukaemia patients

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 2 July 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Few options for leukaemia patients, 2 July 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660eba.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

02 Jul 18

Limited resources to treat blood cancer leaves many resigned to their fate.

By Pazhman Pazhohish

Attached to a drip, 13-year-old Zabiullah looks pale and frustrated as he gazes around his hospital room in Kabul's Jamhuriat hospital.

"The doctors tell me that I have a low blood count, and sometimes talk to each other that I don't knowas if I have no idea [what's happening]," he said. "But I know that I'm involved to a suffering from a dangerous disease."

Zabiullah's consultant, Walid Yousafzai, treatment Doctor said that the teenager had been admitted 20 days ago with early stage blood cancer. Currently, the doctor continued, the boy's condition was treatable.

"We do treatment as much as possible in our country all we can, and use everything that is available in this country. If this is more advanced, but if the illness gets worsen then we will will counsel with the patient's relatives to take him out of the countryabroad for treatment," Yousafzai concluded.

Leukaemia patients in Afghanistan face an uphill struggle to both gain a diagnosis and access effective treatment.

There are few resources available within the country; bone marrow transplants, for example, are not accessible in Afghanistan. Lack of access to healthcare and public education mean that people often only seek treatment when their cancer is advanced or even terminal.

Jamhuriat Hospital saw 146 cases of blood cancer last year, made up of 85 male and 61 female patients. Ten per cent of the patients were children under the age of 18.

One nurse at Jamhuriat Hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, said,;"Aassaid, "As far as I see, there is no treatment at all. We just provide some first aid for the patients, and the hospital does not keep the patient more than 15 days in the hospital."

He added that terminal cases and those who appeared close to death were simply discharged., most of the patients that they are no longer capable of help and treatment, that there is no chance of living for them, then the hospital will discharge them.

Yousafzai said that this was not true, adding that patients were treated in cycles and then released to make room for the next case.

" He added, the The first stage of treatment is 15 days. The patient is given six months' worth of medication, and six months laterand after that, they patient is askedneed to come back and we do afor a follow-up re-examination and we will recommend the patient with the necessary advicesconsultation," Yousafzai said.

But he acknowledged that the hospital could only provide with blood transfusions and iron supplements. There were no facilities for anything more complex.

Other hospitals in the capital have a similarly low level of resources.

The Indira Gandhi pediatric hospital has 30 rooms dedicated to cancer patients. Asad Saadat, the hospital's internal medicine specialist, said that; last year 183 children with leukemia were referred to the hospital, which out of whom 27 of them died.

Doctors at the hospital made clear that they also only had very basic facilities to treat leukemia patients, such as blood transfusions.

Farid Rafiee, another internal medicine specialist, said that childhood leukemia could be directly blamed on the ongoing conflict and high levels of poverty in Afghanistan, as well as associated high levels of environmental pollution.

"War torn countries are always in danger," he said. "Afghanistan also experiences these awful consequences."

Patients' relatives said that although the hospital provided patients with free beds and consultations, all medicines had to be purchased privately.

Shahnaz brought her nine-year-old daughter Mursal to the pediatric hospital a week ago. She says that although she was satisfied with the treatment her child had received so far, it was clear that there was little more the doctors could do.

"They give blood to patients here, and ; some medicines that are very expensive," she said. "We are poor and we have no money left to even buy food for her. We simply don't have the money to pay for more blood transfusions if she needs them."

For others, the outlook is even more bleak.

Parvin's one-year-old son is receiving treatment at the pediatric hospital, but she said they were resigning themselves to the inevitable.

"My child became ill three months ago," she said. "He suddenly became weak and we went to see doctors who told us it was malnutrition, but after a lot of examinations it turned out that he had leukemia."

She added sadly, "This disease is not curable in Afghanistan and we are not able to go abroad. We are just watching our child die."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghan Sikhs hit by suicide attack

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 5 July 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghan Sikhs hit by suicide attack, 5 July 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660efa.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

05 Jul 18

Bomber defies tight security to launch deadly strike on communal leadership

By IWPR Afghanistan

Afghanistan's tiny community of Hindus and Sikhs have been questioning their future in the country after a suicide attacker targeted a group of dignitaries travelling to meet President Ashraf Ghani in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the July 1 attack in which 17 people were killed and seven more injured.

Among the dead was Awtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

One survivor, Gorbit Singh, said that he had been among some 25 Hindu and Sikh representatives due to meet the president at the governor's office that morning to discuss community concerns. That meeting had been cancelled, and they were asked to return at 3.30 pm.

"When we got together once again later, we were attacked," he said. "The soldiers just watched while our friends were burning. They didn't help us with medical evacuation."

Another delegate, Guljit Singh, from the Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, also criticised the security services for their response.

"Our friends were in flames, but no one came to help," he said. "The police did not even not allow other civilians to lend a helping hand."

Awtar Singh's son Narinder Singh called for a rigorous government investigation into how a suicide bomber had managed to reach the site of the attack despite numerous checkpoints and the tight security measures in place that day.

"We lost all our elders in this incident, and we don't have any leaders in Afghanistan now," he said, adding that if the perpetrators were not arrested, the community would launch a series of public demonstrations.

Other community figures said that the Sikh and Hindu leaders had been planning to discuss issues including land appropriation. They had brought a number of title deeds with them, which had been destroyed in the bombing.

Hindus make up the smallest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Having lived in the country for centuries in relative peace, problems began with the establishment of the Mujahiddin government in 1992. Their lands were seized, children were excluded from education and they faced religious persecution.

Many left for India, while life got even worse under the Taleban regime for those who remained when their freedom to practice their religion was hugely restricted.

Now, the community numbers around 1,000. Discrimination remains rife, even though the Afghan constitution guarantees their religious rights as full citizens and under Islamic law, the state must safeguard those non-Muslims that it has pledged to protect.

Naweed Ahmad Hamim, a religious scholar, told IWPR, "According to Islamic teachings, it is obligatory on Muslims to treat such non-Muslims well."

He continued, "The prophet Mohammad has said that whoever kills an infidel who has been granted protection shall not smell the fragrance of paradise."

Iqbal Singh, who was injured in the July 1 attack, said that although it was IS who claimed the responsibility for the suicide bombing, his community was targeted in multiple other ways on a daily basis.

He said that their homes, shops and other properties had been appropriated, and they faced routine prejudice and abuse.

"If the situation continues this way, all Sikhs and Hindus may leave Afghanistan," Iqbal Singh continued, calling for the Afghan government to intervene.

The attack was widely condemned both inside and outside Afghanistan, but the local government's reaction angered some in the community.

Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said that no meeting had been scheduled between the president and the delegation, adding, "The president and the governor of Nangarhar were saddened by the incident and have asked the security bodies to investigate the issue."

Some social media users debated whether the local government was trying to evade responsibility for their security failure.

Given the tight security in place that day, many observers were surprised that the attackers had managed to penetrate the cordon.

Nangarhar's police chief Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai said that invesitgations had begun and " later we will share more information with the media on how the suicide attacker reached the place".

But local activist Asadullah Zamir said that police checkpoints had been set up everywhere in the city in the three days prior to the president's arrival. The day before, all offices and shopping malls had been closed. But despite these precautions, the suicide attackers had managed to strike so close to the governor's office.

"They must get to the bottom of this case because on that day, only police were there and all roads were blocked," he said.

Following the attack, dignitaries visited a local Sikh gurdwara, where Nangarhar provincial council secretary Zabihullah Zmari told IWPR, "We are following this case to make sure that the investigators do their job honestly."

At the same event Nangarhar governor Hayatullah Hayat said, "We will respect all the rights of our Hindu and Sikh countrymen, and not allow anyone to harm them. By killing our Hindu fellow citizens, the enemy of our country, IS showed that they neither follow any religion nor respect any kind of values."

Since the sole candidate from the Sikh and Hindu community was killed in the attack, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC), announced that it would allow them time to find a replacement.

IEC commissioner Sayed Hafizullah Hashimi, told reporters, "Taking into consideration the rights of Sikhs and Hindus, the IEC plans to give another chance for people to nominate themselves for the upcoming elections."

But reeling from the attack, some Hindus and Sikhs feel that the government has little interest in protecting them or assuring their future in Afghanistan.

A Sikh resident of Jalalabad city, who asked to remain anonymous, wept as he told IWPR, "Now we have to go to the presidential palace, and tell them that since you are neither paying attention to us nor providing us with security, we are leaving this country."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghanistan's perilous talc mines

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 6 July 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan's perilous talc mines, 6 July 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660f1a.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

06 Jul 18

Workers speak out over harsh and risky conditions.

By Asad Jabarkhail

Talc, a mineral made up mainly of the elements magnesium, silicon and oxygen. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Safdigul Shirzad spends his days working in a talc mine in Markikhail village in the eastern province of Nangarhar's Shirzad district. In return, he gets two meals and four US dollars each day. The work is hard and dangerous, but he said he had no hope that conditions at the mine were ever likely to improve.

"We are slaves in return for four dollars," he said, adding, "Labourers cannot speak out about their rights because their bosses warn them they will get the sack."

Talc, a soft clay mineral used in many industries such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, rubber and oil production, is mined in a number of Afghan provinces with the largest resources located in Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan.

Most talc mined in Afghanistan  around 500,000 tonnes a year  is exported to international markets via Pakistan.

Although it is an important national industry, workers say that the sector is often poorly regulated. They charge that as well as poor safety measures on-site, there is little provision for those who are injured or for their families if they are killed in a work accident.

In addition, employees face a number of health risks associated with working in talc mines, especially without proper protective gear, including a number of cancers.

"When there is no protective equipment, workmen in talc mines risk many diseases because talc contains a kind of harmful substance," said Islamudin, who works in a Pachiragam district. "Some of the workmen have damaged their eyes and hands and as a result were not able to keep working and had to leave their jobs, but the employers did not help them at all and just left them with their problems."

This lack of long-term care is cited by a number of former miners and their families. Zarwali, a young man living in Nangarhar's Srarood district, lost a leg following an onsite accident and can no longer work.

"While I was working at a talc mine, I was hit by talc stones as a lorry was being unloaded," he said. "I broke my leg. I was taken to Nangarhar regional hospital for first aid, and the cost was paid by my employer. But for further treatment, I needed to go either to Pakistan or India. Since the mine's owner abandoned me, and I couldn't afford the cost of travel and treatment abroad, my leg was finally amputated."

He added that he had received 100 dollars a month for three months following the accident, but after that his employer cut off all contact with him.

Zarmina, a resident of district five in Jalalabad city, lost her husband in an accident at a talc mine.

"My husband was killed when he fell from a mountain while at work. The owner of the mine covered the cost of the funeral ceremony, and paid us 400 dollars, but since then, he has not asked about us."

She continued, "The owners of mines and these businesses have no feelings. They are lying when they say that they provide permanent assistance to the families of victims. I wash people's clothes in order to earn money to buy food for my orphans."

The All-Afghanistan Federation of Trade Unions (AAFTU) agreed that there was a real problem in safeguarding workers in talc mines.

"We have also told the owners of mines and factories that they should increase the wages of their workers because they do hard labour and are continuously faced with danger, but they don't listen to us," AAFTU head Mohammad Liaqat Adil said. "The wages currently paid to workers in talc mines is very low."

Local officials also acknowledge that there are problems with safety conditions.

Hakeem Shah Shirzad, director of the provincial department of labour and social affairs, told IWPR, "I have had meetings with the owners and CEOs of private sector companies on a number of occasions, and have asked them to be stringent in their care for their workers.'

He said that he was aware of a number of incidents in which workers were killed or badly injured in talc mines, but said that no exact figures were available.

Shirzad noted that according to article 31 of the Afghan labour law, it was the responsibility of employers and directors of private sector companies to provide all the facilities required for the workers to safely deliver their duties.

Government legislation to put in place a pension system for private sector employees was in process, he continued, and this would further help safeguard the rights of workers.

Officials from the local department of mining said that they had tried to ensure that workers recruited were able to cope with the demands of mining.

Nangarhar director of mines Nasratullah Akbari told IWPR, "We have asked the firms, in writing, to not hire underage or elderly people so as to avoid any problems."

For their part, the owners of the talc mines in Nangarhar reject any suggestion that they mistreat or fail to support victims of workplace accidents.

Sayed Wahab Khogyani heads the Habib Shahab Mine Extraction and Processing Firm, located in Nangarhar's Sheikh Mesri industrial park.

"To date, two of my workers have been disabled [in accidents] at my company," he said. "I paid for their full treatment, and after that have supported them permanently."

Khogyani added that he provided his workers with a full complement of protective gear but that they sometimes failed to use them.

Mohammad Wali Khogyani, head of the Nangarhar talc traders' association, said, "I personally oversee such issues. Whenever someone is killed during their work, as well as the mine's owner, our association also helps their families. We defray the cost of their funeral ceremony as well as providing permanent assistance to the victim's family."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAfghans sceptical over new election database

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 11 July 2018 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghans sceptical over new election database, 11 July 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8660f54.html [accessed 2 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 Jul 18

A system intended to ensure transparency in October's polls may not go far enough.

By Mina Habib

Afghan workers of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) load ballot boxes to be distributed to polling stations. (Photo: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) has launched a voter registration database they argue will be a key defence against corruption in the country's upcoming elections. Voters and candidates, however, are less confident.

The so-called information bank logs all identity cards and monitors polling stations nationwide. IEC commissioner Hafizullah Sayed Hashimi said that it would be effective in preventing any type of fraud in October's parliamentary and district council elections..

"The information bank system, created by the IEC, aims to prevent repeated and duplicate ID cards from being registered," he said. "The system also records reports of polling stations, and once the votes of different candidates are counted and recorded to the system, then there is no possibility of manipulation."

Claims of voter fraud dogged the 2014 presidential run-off between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, and it took intervention by then-US secretary of state John Kerry for the eventual formation of a national unity government.

The long and drawn-out process did not help already widespread scepticism about the election process in Afghanistan. Voter apathy, along with security, are among the main concerns in the run-up to the October polls.

A total of 2,471 candidates are running for seats in parliament  including 391 women  with 3,731 registered in district council elections. Of these, 271 are women, and Hashimi expressed concern that there were still no female candidates in 130 districts across the country.

Some of those running in the election races have yet to be convinced by the IEC's promises that the database will ensure transparency.

Mohammad Alem Samawi, a council candidate in Baghlan's Doshi district, said that while the information bank might help decrease the level of corruption, he did not believe it would stamp out fraud completely.

He said that local powerbrokers could still use their private militias to intimidate ordinary people and so sway the vote in their favour.

"The information bank alone can't assure fair and transparent elections," agreed Mahazuddin Osmani, a parliamentary candidate from Kabul, arguing that the whole electoral system needed to be professionalised so as to eliminate corruption.

Political analyst Younas Fakoor also argued that whatever benefits the database system might have, the process could still be undermined by a few bad apples within the system.

"If all IEC commissioners and employees are honest, and don't intend to receive bribes from candidates, and abide by the rules, we can say with confidence that the election will be free of any kind of corruption and fraud," he said. "But if these people are corrupt, no method and no system can assure the transparency of the elections."

The Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA), a monitoring organisation, also said that information bank alone was not enough to root out graft.

"There does seem a possibility of fraud in the upcoming elections," executive director Yousuf Rasheed said. "National ID cards are sold, IEC employees are forced to help candidates, IEC officials who work in remote areas are threatened, candidates provide fake information to the IEC, all these are factors are criminal, and they are likely to happen in the upcoming elections. We want perpetrators of such crimes to be brought to justice, but unfortunately this has not happened yet. Dozens of cases of lawbreaking were reported by the media.

"Considering all these issues, I am sure that the upcoming elections will include fraudulent acts. However, the IEC, in spite of all these complaints, says that there will be no room for fraud because they have created the information bank system."

The challenge remains to ensure people actually do vote on election day. The registration period has been extended to try and ensure that a higher turn-out results in a more credible result. But even those who have registered are often ambivalent about just how useful their vote can be.

"Although I've registered my ID card at the voter registration centre, I'm not sure whether to participate in the elections or not," said Kabul resident Mohmmad Salim, 27. "We witnessed a lot of corruption in the previous election . . . We believe that people's votes are not valued; whatever the government wants to happen, happens."

Link to original story on IWPR website

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace ReportingAlbany, NY, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research delivers key insights on the Blood Collection Tubes Market in its published report, titled  Global Blood Collection Tubes Market : Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20182026. In terms of revenue, the global Blood Collection Tubes market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, owing to numerous factors, about which TMR offers thorough insights and forecasts in this report.

Blood Collection Tubes are useful diagnostic tools in the practice of laboratory testing. Blood Collection Tubes provide accuracy and precision, safety, ease-of-use and speed of diagnostic process. Blood Collection Tubes provide greater accuracy in blood-to-additive ratios. Blood Collection Tubes are made up of plastic and glass. Plastic Blood Collection Tubes are highly preferred due to decreased breakage hazard and decreased weight. Blood Collection Tubes contain clot activators coated with water soluble polymer or anticoagulant. Blood collection tubes include Plasma Separating Tube, Serum Separating Tube, Heparin Tubes and EDTA tubes. The tube stoppers are color coded to indicate tube type for specific test. This color coding of tubes helps the laboratory staff in distinguishing the tubes for various laboratory tests.

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The global market for Blood Collection Tubes market is segmented as per product type, material type and end use. The growing demand for accuracy and precision in the medical tests is acknowledged as a key factor driving the Blood Collection Tubes market. Blood Collection tubes are the standard means of collecting blood specimen throughout healthcare & medical research to this day as they provide greater accuracy in blood-to-additive ratios. On the basis of product type, blood collection tubes are segmented as plasma separating tubes, serum separating tubes, heparin tubes, EDTA tubes and rest (ESR, RST tubes). Among these serum separating tubes accounts for a larger share.

On the basis of material type, blood collection tubes are segmented as plastic and glass tubes. Plastic blood collection tubes are highly preferred as they are inexpensive and safer than glass. Plastic Blood collection tubes offer certain practical operational advantages and are suitable for routine chemistry analysis. The shatter-resistant plastic reduces the risk of exposure to blood borne pathogens. On the basis of end use, blood collection tubes are segmented into healthcare centers which include hospitals and blood banks, R&D centers and diagnostic centers which include clinics and laboratories.

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This report assesses trends driving the growth of each market segment on the global level and offers potential takeaways that prove substantially useful for other potential market entrants in the blood collection tubes market.

The North America Blood Collection Tubes market includes country level analysis for the U.S. and Canada. The U.S Blood Collection Tubes market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period wherein plastic tubes segment enjoy dominant share, by material type. The Latin America Blood Collection Tubes market includes country level analysis for Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Rest of Latin America. The Brazil Blood Collection Tubes market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period. The Europe Blood Collection Tubes market includes country level analysis for Germany, Italy, U.K., France, Spain, Benelux, Nordic, Russia, Poland and Rest of Europe. Germany and Italy account for a significant market share in the Europe Blood Collection Tubes market.

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The Asia Pacific Blood Collection Tubes market includes country level analysis for China, India, ASEAN, Japan, Australia & New Zealand and Rest of APAC. The APAC Blood Collection Tubes market represents most lucrative geographic region wherein India and China represent substantial incremental opportunity during the forecast period. The APAC Blood Collection Tubes market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) Blood Collection Tubes market includes country level analysis for GCC, South Africa, North Africa and Rest of MEA. Blood Collection Tubes market in the GCC region is particularly driven by high growth in the industrial segment. The MEA Blood Collection Tubes market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.4% over the forecast period.

Key players operating in the global market for Blood Collection Tubes include Beckton Dickinson & Co. Greiner Group AG, Terumo Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Cardinal Health Inc, Qiagen N.V, Improve Medical Instruments., Medtronic PLC, Chengdu Rich Science Industry, and Sarstedt AG & Co.

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Contact UsSYDNEY, Australia and MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Medibio Limited (MEB or the Company)(ASX: MEB)(OTCQB: MDBIF), today announced that Mr. Jack Cosentino will cease as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. His departure is effective from August 28, 2018. Mr. Cosentino was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on February 16, 2017.

Medibio further advises that Mr. Brian Mower has been appointed Interim CEO effective as at August 28, 2018. Mr. Mower is the Companys Chief Financial Officer and has been part of the Medibio team since April 2017. The Board will commence a search immediately for a new CEO and Managing Director and will consider both internal and external candidates.

Medibio Board of Directors Chairman Chris Indermaur said The Company will remain focused and steadfast on its continued mission in identifying the link between physiological measures and mental health. We are fortunate to have the experience and dedication of Brian to move the company forward in the right direction whilst we embark on our search for a new CEO.

About Medibio Limited

Medibio (ASX: MEB) (OTCQB: MDBIF) is a mental health technology company that has pioneered the use of objective biometrics to assist in the screening, diagnosing, monitoring and management of depression and other mental health conditions. The company was founded in Australia, with offices now located in Melbourne (Vic), Perth (WA) and Minneapolis, MN. Medibio is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Ltd and trades on the OTCQB Venture Market. Investors can find additional information on www.otcmarkets.com and www.asx.com.au.SHAFTER, Calif., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wonderful Real Estate announced that it has negotiated a lease with Ross Stores, INC (Ross) for 1,003,071 square feet of industrial space at 4100 Express Avenue in Wonderful Industrial Park (WIP), a fully-entitled 1,625-acre, world-class distribution center located in Shafter, California.



Wonderful Industrial Park is a rail-served industrial development entitled for 26 million square feet and currently has 7.6 million square feet of completed buildings. Shafter is 18 miles north of Bakersfield on CA-99 and about 20 minutes to Interstate 5 in Californias Central Valley.

http://www.wonderfulindustrialpark.com/tour-the-park.html

We are very pleased that Ross chose Wonderful Industrial Park for its expansion. They have enjoyed success here, as have other retailers, manufacturing and distribution companies because of the ready access to a dependable labor pool living within minutes of the park. Further, occupants of WIP have benefitted by having exceptionally large trailer and equipment parking space that has increased the efficiency of importing goods from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, said Joe Vargas, President of Wonderful Real Estate Development.

The industrial parks location allows access to 14 percent of the U.S. population within 300 miles and same-day delivery to 30 million Californians. It has a FedEx Ground hub onsite and a UPS ground hub in Bakersfield, CA with Meadows Field Airport located only seven miles away.

Ross has been an occupant of Wonderful Industrial Park since 2014 and currently owns a 1.7 million square foot distribution center located near 4100 Express Avenue. WIP is also home to corporate industrial users including Target, American Tire Distributors, Essendant, DMSI, MRC Global, and Formica. The park features an onsite rail yard with more than 17,000 feet of track to accommodate unit trains with direct access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railways mainline.

The Wonderful Company develops, manages and invests in a diversified portfolio of real estate, with a particular focus on office and industrial properties. Wonderful Real Estate and its affiliates have invested almost $2 billion since 2008 for commercial real estate development, facility improvements, processing equipment and real estate acquisitions.

Media Contacts: Gary Marsh 415.999.3793 or gary@marshmarketing.com and

Erin Poulson Morris 310.966.5748 or erin.poulson.morris@wonderful.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0f294b01-3ec7-46fb-84d5-2a763296e7e5Japan will on Wednesday see August results for its consumer confidence index, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The index is expected to see a score of 43.3, down from 43.5 in July.

Singapore will release July numbers for producer prices; in June, producer prices were down 0.5 percent on month and up 7.8 percent on year.

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.Indian shares opened largely unchanged on Wednesday as investors kept an eye on the latest developments on global trade and the upcoming derivatives expiry.

As the U.S.-Mexico trade deal fades, traders shifted focus to the next batch of proposed tariffs from the Trump administration, covering $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was marginally higher to rise above 38,900 after gaining around half a percent on Tuesday to hit a fresh record high as the U.S.-Mexico trade deal helped boost optimism for an easing of global trade tensions.

The broader Nifty index was down 5 points at 11,734.

HCL Technologies, UltraTech, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Tech Mahindra and Coal India dropped 1-2 percent, while Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and Vedanta climbed 1-2 percent.

IDBI Bank shares fell slightly after the LIC board gave an in-principle approval to take 14.9 percent stake in the bank.

Bharti Airtel rose half a percent after it received FDI clearance to offload 20 percent stake in its DTH arm.

State Bank of India also gained half a percent on news it would sell 3.9 percent stake in National Stock Exchange of India through secondary sale.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market AnalysisTelecom giant AT&T (T) announced Wednesday that it has invested nearly $7.0 billion in Texas wireless and wired networks during 2015-2017. The company made 1,903 wireless network upgrades in Texas in 2017.

According to the company, these investments boost reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses. They also improve critical services that support public safety and first responders.

Dave Nichols, president of AT&T Texas, said, "Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation that encourages companies to invest more in wireless infrastructure. We're now speeding our wireless build out plans in Texas with hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to improving its mobile network. This investment will also pave the path to 5G mobile services in the years ahead."

The AT&T LTE network now covers more than 400 million people in North America. The company recently announced plans to bring 5G to Dallas and Waco this year. LTE-LAA availability was announced in Austin, Dallas, Houston, McAllen, and San Antonio. The company is also launching 5G Evolution in nearly 30 cities across Texas.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsVolkswagen Group (VKW.L,VLKAF.PK, VOW.BE) announced Wednesday that it has acquired a minority stake in the development company FDTech GmbH. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chemnitz -based FDTech, which was established in 2017, currently employs about 30 experts and develops algorithms for systems in the field of automated and autonomous driving. FDTech provides key building bricks for the extension of current mobility and the reshaping of future mobility.

Friedrich Eichler, Head of Chassis Development of the Volkswagen brand, said, "We are working flat out to integrate highly automated driving in the next generation of Volkswagen cars. Through our participation in FDTech, we have gained further essential expertise. The company from Saxony is a fantastic example of the innovative power of German small and medium-sized companies."

With about 10,000 employees, Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH operates two major production plants of the Volkswagen brand in Saxony, at Chemnitz and Zwickau.

Up to 2020, the Zwickau vehicle plant is to be expanded to form the largest e-mobility center in Europe. The world's first vehicle based on the modular electric toolkit will roll off the production line there at the end of 2019.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsJust hours after his surprise victory in the race to be the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum came under attack from President Donald Trump.

Trump criticized Senator Bernie Sanders-backed Gillum as a "failed Socialist Mayor" in a post on Twitter on Wednesday.

"Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream....a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!" Trump tweeted.

Gillum responded to Trump with a Twitter post of his own, calling on the president to tweet to him directly next time.

"What our state and country needs is decency, hope, and leadership. If you agree, join us at http://AndrewGillum.com . Also, @ me next time, @realDonaldTrump," Gillum tweeted.

However, in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Gillum suggested talking about Trump would not motivate the voters he needs to win the general election.

"We believe that we have to talk to Floridians, and largely Floridians who have chosen not to participate in this political process," Gillum said.

He added, "Talking about Donald Trump and reminding folks about how bad he is, and how unqualified he is for the job he holds, doesn't do anything to insure that they're able to make ends meet."

Gillum became the first African-American to win the gubernatorial nomination of a major party in Florida after his upset win over former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, D-Fla., and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.

In the general election, Gillum will face off against Congressman Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who defeated state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam in the Republican primary.

DeSantis is closely allied with Trump, giving Florida voters a stark choice in the race to replace term-limited Republican Governor Rick Scott.

Meanwhile, Scott easily won the Republican Senate nomination, setting up a battle with Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that is predicted to be the most expensive Senate race of the cycle.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political NewsDENVER, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AppIt Ventures , a Denver-based custom software development company that builds cutting-edge, high-quality technology, today announced it has named Amanda Moriuchi as chief executive officer. Moriuchi will assume day-to-day leadership of the company to help continue strong growth.

I could not be more excited to tackle the challenges my new role will pose and for the future of the company, said Moriuchi. We have an incredibly talented team focused on transforming business for our clients, continuing to innovate and unlocking future growth opportunities. I am honored to serve as AppIts new CEO.

Moriuchi joined AppIt in 2017 as vice president of sales, leading the companys sales team and mapping out the companys seven-year sales strategy. Moriuchi helped the company match its 2017 sales in the first six months of 2018 and tripled the team size in just three months along with making positive changes to the companys benefits and pay package.

Prior to joining AppIt, Moriuchi founded and organized the successful meetup, Denver Women in Tech . With more than 10 years of experience in tech, she has also worked for various Denver-area technology startups as well as Sandler Training, Amadeus Consulting and Pulte Homes Corporation in various sales and business development roles. Moriuchi attended the University of Colorados Leeds School of Business and earned her bachelors degree in business administration.

Former CEO and founder Rob Carpenter has stepped down and will transition out of his leadership role, but he will remain with AppIt with the title of founder. As a part of the transition, Moriuchi recruited and hired AppIts executive leadership team, including adding industry leaders Chris Taylor (chief marketing officer) and Jim Maggio (chief information officer).

I am incredibly proud of everything our team has been able to accomplish in the past six years and certain Amanda is the right professional to lead the next phase of our growth, said Carpenter. As the world moves into an increasingly digital space, custom software development has never been more important in this digital transformation.

Based in Denver, AppIt specializes in custom mobile application development and has added additional service lines in custom web application development, custom integrations, enterprise application and database development and technology consulting services. For more information, please visit appitventures.com .

About AppIt Ventures

AppIt Ventures is a Denver-based, full-service custom software developmenty company that focuses on achieving their clients business goals through thoughtful architecture, design and quality development. AppIt Ventures strengths are in custom software and mobile app development for small- to medium-sized businesses.

###Smurfit Kappa Group plc (SKG.L) confirmed that the Government of Venezuela has taken temporary control of Smurfit Kappa Carton de Venezuela's in Venezuela for a period of 90 days.

Smurfit Kappa Carton de Venezuela has been providing goods and services to its customers in Venezuela for almost 80 years giving employment today to almost 1,600 direct employees and many more indirectly.

As a result of this action by the Government of Venezuela it is impossible for Smurfit Kappa Carton de Venezuela to manage its affairs in a way that complies with our normal business standards. Consequently, as of 28 August 2018, Smurfit Kappa Carton de Venezuela is not responsible for the use of its installations, machinery and equipment, its employees' safety, that of its surrounding communities, any environmental impact, or the quality of the paper and packaging manufactured in the operations, Smurfit Kappa said.

In addition, the Government of Venezuela has detained two of our employees and we are making all possible efforts to secure their release.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsThe United States has decided to restart joint military drills with South Korea on the Korean peninsula, a reversal from one of the key assurances given by U.S. President Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a historic summit in return for the communist nation's denuclearization pledge.

Announcing the decision at a Pentagon news conference, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Tuesday the suspension of the drills as a show of "good faith" toward North Korea has not yielded the intended result.

In the biggest ever breakthrough for peace on the Korean peninsula as well as the restoration of bilateral ties, the U.S. and North Korea agreed on June 12th to halt two major defense deterrents that posed the biggest threat to each other.

North Korea committed to work towards "the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." In return, the U.S. gave assurance to North Korea that it is ready to stop "provocative and expensive" war games with South Korea. Trump added that he wanted to see U.S. troops withdraw from the South.

Following the Singapore summit, the U.S. and South Korea agreed to suspend several of the largest military exercises "as a good-faith measure," Mattis told reporters.

Known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, the annual defensive war game involving U.S. and South Korean defense forces, has been highly provocative in the eyes of Pyongyang.

Negotiations on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula are ongoing and within the realm of the State Department, but at this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions, Mattis said.

Smaller military exercises in South Korea continued even after the suspension of the larger exercises, the Defense Secretary said.

"The reason you've not heard much about them is North Korea could not in any way misinterpret those as somehow breaking faith with the negotiation," Mattis added. "So the exercises continue. What it means in practical terms is that we're making no changes to the exercise program at this time."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political NewsRetail bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) has been sued by its former Chief Executive Officer Demos Parneros for his termination in July over alleged policy violations.

In his lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Parneros accused Barnes & Noble for breach of contract and defamation. He also accused Leonard Riggio, the founder and chairman of the company, for his "firing without cause" and for "falsely and irrevocably" damaging his reputation.

According to Parneros' complaint, Riggio became hostile to him after a deal to sell the company fell through in June.

Parneros added that a day before the announcement of his termination, he was told by Riggio that he would be fired for cause for violating the company's sexual harassment policy due to his alleged interaction with an executive assistant and "purported mistreatment" of Allen Lindstrom, the company's chief financial officer.

However, Parneros said he has not violated company policies and had "always conduced himself in a professional manner." He accused Riggio of being volatile and refusing to let go of control of the company.

Parneros added that he was owed severance as he was fired without cause. He is also seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

In response to Parneros' lawsuit, Barnes & Noble said Tuesday, "The lawsuit filed by Demos Parneros is nothing but an attempt to extort money from the Company by a CEO who was terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behavior and other violations of company policies after being in the role for approximately one year. The allegations contained in the complaint about Len Riggio are replete with lies and mischaracterizations."

When Barnes & Noble announced in early July that it terminated Parneros for violations of its policies, it did not specify them.

At that time, the company just said the termination was not due to any disagreement regarding its financial reporting, practices or any potential fraud. However, the company also said Parneros would not receive any severance payment.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsCongresswoman Martha McSally, R-Ariz., easily won the Republican Senate primary in Arizona on Tuesday, as her two major opponents appeared to split the hardline conservative vote.

Results from the Arizona Secretary of State showed McSally received 52.9 percent of the vote in the GOP primary compared to 28.2 percent for former state Senator Kelli Ward and 18.9 percent for former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio.

McSally was seen as the Republican establishment choice in the race to replace retiring Senator Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

President Donald Trump did not officially endorse any of the candidates in the Republican primary but offered praise for McSally following her victory.

"Martha McSally is an extraordinary woman. She was a very talented fighter jet pilot and is now a highly respected member of Congress," Trump said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday.

He added, "She is Strong on Crime, the Border and our under siege 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military and our Vets. Has my total and complete Endorsement!"

Trump claimed McSally turned down an endorsement from Flake, a frequent critic of the president, although the Senator refuted the assertion.

The primary elections in Arizona came just days after the death of longtime Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., following his prolonged battle with brain cancer.

In the general election, McSally will face off against Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who won the Democratic nomination in a landslide.

The race between McSally and Sinema is likely to be hard fought, as winning Flake's seat will be key to Democratic efforts to retake control of the Senate.

Meanwhile, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who is tasked with naming McCain's replacement, cruised to victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary as he seeks a second term.

Ducey will be challenged by education professor and military veteran David Garcia, who defeated state Senator Steve Farley and YWCA leader Kelly Fryer on the Democratic side.

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political NewsArmy attacks Saudi-paid mercenaries' gatherings in Nehm [29/August/2018] MAREB, Aug. 29 (Saba) The army supported by the popular forces on Wednesday attacked the sites of Saudi-paid mercenaries in Nehm district, a military official told Saba.



The mercenaries were inflicted heavy losses during the attack that targeted theirs sites in Tibab Soud area.



Meanwhile, the artillery shelled fortification of the mercenaries in the same area killing and wounding dozens of the mercenaries.





Ahmed Al-Mutawakel



SabaBy SA Commercial Prop News

British Prime Minister Theresa May addressing a business leaders forum in with South Africas President Cyril Ramaphosa



British Prime Minister Theresa May says the United Kingdom has for some time supported land reform in South Africa - as it is a process carried out in a legal, transparent and democratic manner.

This comes after US President Donald Trump last week, reportedly after watching a Fox News segment detailing Pretoria's plan to change the constitution to speed up expropriation of land without compensation to redress racial imbalances in land ownership, tweeted that he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to closely study the situation.

Prime Minister May said this in response to a question by the SABC at a business forum event in Cape Town ahead of meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Presidential headquarters in Tuynhuys on Tuesday.

The UK has for some time now supported land reform. Land reform that is legal, that is transparent, that is generated through a democratic process, Prime Minister May said.

She went on to say that SAs land reform programme is an issue that I raised and discussed with President Ramaphosa when he was in London earlier this year. Ill be talking about it with him later today.

The Prime Minister said that during those discussions, President Ramaphosa has further briefed her about South Africas approach to the talks, which she welcomed. She reportedly went on to say that the support was on condition that there will be no land grabs during the process.



Her remarks come after International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said at a media briefing on Monday that the department had decided not to sit back and allow lobby groups to go around the world spreading false information about SAs land reform.



We indicated to the charge de afire that what they had reported was unfortunate and it was based on information that was not verified, she said during the media briefing, adding that she wished they had contacted South Africa first to clarify the information.



This statement was originally published on article19.org on 10 August 2018.

On 6 August 2018, Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam was arrested and detained for allegedly "making provocative comments", and "giving false information" to media, contrary to the Information Communications Technology Act (ICT Act). He remains in detention. Since being taken into custody, Alam has been denied access to his lawyers, and was reportedly beaten and is in poor health. Authorities initially agreed that Alam would be taken to hospital for medical assistance, but after a brief visit on 8 August he has been returned to detention. We, the undersigned civil society organisations, call for Shahidul Alams immediate and unconditional release, that all allegations against him be dropped, and that he receive proper medical care.

63-year old Alam was arrested at his home in Dhaka on the evening of 5 August 2018 and brought into police custody a few hours after he posted a video on Facebook and participated in an interview with Al Jazeera about the ongoing road safety protests in Dhaka, where more than 40 journalists and media workers have been injured by groups of armed men.

Alam is accused of violations under Section 57 of the Information Communications Technology Act. However, journalists and rights activists have consistently raised concerns that the law is incompatible with international human rights standards, including Bangladeshs international obligations under Article 19 of the ICCPR, due to its broad powers to restrict online expression. It has been widely applied against journalists and ordinary citizens who have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed solely for their expression.

On 9 August, a petition by Alams lawyers was heard at the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh demanding they have access to Alam, that he be brought before the court and seeking a court order that he is not subjected to ill-treatment while in custody. The High Court ordered the Home Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh to "arrange medical treatment" for Alam in accordance with Section 2(6) of the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention Act 2013, to make a full medical assessment for ill-treatment, and to report to the court by 13 August 2018.

ARTICLE 19 and the undersigned national and international human rights organisations call for Shahidul Alams immediate and unconditional release, and that all allegations against him be dropped as they represent a blatant violation of his right to freedom of expression. We further urge the Ministry of Home Affairs to immediately comply with the courts order and grant Alam proper medical assistance without delay.

We remain deeply concerned by the use of laws such as the ICT Act in Bangladesh to legally harass journalists and media workers and violate the right to freedom of expression, and call for its urgent repeal.

Signed

ARTICLE 19

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

IFEX

Index on Censorship

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)

Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF)

Bandhu Social Welfare Society (BSWF)

Bangladesh Adivasi Forum

Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movements (BDERM)

Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC)

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP)

German Section of Amnesty International

Sramik Nirapotta Forum (SNF)

Boys of Bangladesh (BOB)

Friends Association for Integrated Revolution (FAIR)

Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF)

National Alliance of Disabled Peoples Organizations

Nijera Kori

Steps Towards Development

Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB)

Nagorik Uddyog

Open Society Foundations Program on Independent Journalism

Jagriti Prokashoni

NHRC Taking suo moto cognizance, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served a notice on the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests of five civil rights activists in a nationwide swoop by the Pune police on Tuesday.



The



It pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.



Following the arrests (in June), the



Tuesday's arrests of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves,



As in June, the arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima, Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.



Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti L.C., Fr. Stan Swami, and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.



Officials described Tuesday's operations as a 'follow-up' to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.



The next day, on January 1 (2018), caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar. "The Commission has observed that it appears the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police, which may amount to violation of their human rights," the NHRC said in the notice to state DGP Datta Padsalgikar and the Chief Secretary.The NHRC has asked them to file their replies within four weeks.It pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.Following the arrests (in June), the NHRC had issued a similar notice to the state government on June 29, but the latter has not submitted its report yet.Tuesday's arrests of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and poet-activist Varavara Rao from different parts of India, triggered a massive outcry.As in June, the arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima, Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti L.C., Fr. Stan Swami, and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.Officials described Tuesday's operations as a 'follow-up' to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.The next day, on January 1 (2018), caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.



Profit attributable to shareholders from continuing operations increased by 73% to RMB34.4 Million (Approx. CAD6.5 Million)

TORONTO, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Changfeng Energy Inc. (Changfeng or the Company) (TSXV:CFY) today announced its interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2018 (1H 2018).

Financial Highlights

Revenue increased by 20% to RMB204.9 million (Approx. CAD41.1 million) compared to 1H 2017: RMB170.2 million (Approx. CAD34.2 million)

Gross profit grew by 14% to RMB89.2 million (CAD17.9 million) compared to 1H 2017: RMB78.3 million (CAD15.7 million)

Profit attributable to shareholders from continuing operations increased by 73% to RMB 34.4 million (CAD 6.9 million) compared to 1H 2017: RMB19.8 million (CAD4.0 million)

Total gas volume sold up by 19%

Basic earnings per share from continuing operations was RMB0.53 (CAD0.11 compared to1H 2017: RMB0.30 (CAD0.06)

For 1H 2018, the Company recorded total revenue of RMB204.9 million (CAD41.1 million) compared to1H 2017: RMB170.2 million (CAD32.4 million), up by 20% year-on-year (YoY). Of the total revenue, gas distribution utility and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle refueling contributed RMB176.3 million (CAD35.4 million) and RMB28.6 million (CAD5.7 million) respectively. Gross profit rose by 14% to RMB89.2 million (CAD17.9 million) compared 1H 2017: RMB78.3 million (CAD15.7 million). EBITDA from continuing operations was RMB32.2 million (CAD6.5 million) compared to1H: 2017: RMB 28.0 million (CAD5.6 million). Profit attributable to shareholders from continuing operations was RMB34.4 million (CAD6.9 million) compared to 1H 2017: RMB19.8 million (CAD4.0 million), increased by 73% YoY, due to increase in profit from continuing operations and fair value change of RMB 14.5 million (CAD2.9 million) on put option arising from the disposal of our controlling interest in a subsidiary. Basic earnings per share from continuing operations amounted to RMB0.53 (CAD0.11) compared to 1H 2017: RMB0.30 (CAD0.06).

This is the second year of Changfengs three-year plan to strategically shift its corporate focus to sustainable energy in combination with natural gas to become an integrated energy provider in the PRC. During the reported period, total gas sales volume rose by 19% to 29.5 million cubic metres, mainly contributed by Sanya and the commencement of gas sales in Hebei region in the second quarter of 2018. Increase in gas price continued since May 2017.

Mr. Huajun Lin, Chairman, President and CEO of Changfeng, said: We are pleased to have delivered satisfactory results with growing revenue and improved profitability. We expect the volume of gas sold during the rest of the year to increase with our existing pipeline networks in the Sanya Region continuing to add both residential and commercial and industrial customers to its network, the industrial customers in Hebei Province, and the successful procurement of the two new LNG supply customers in Wenchang City, Hainan Province this month, which marked Changfengs first step into extending its natural gas distribution business outside of Sanya City on the Hainan Island.

We will continue to put great effort in the preparation of the HK IPO as to meet the target of successful listing on the HKEX within the first half of 2019, which will serve to broaden Changfengs investor base, increase stock liquidity, and allow the company to gain access to and recognition of strategic investors in the Chinese market.

Business Review

Projects in Operation

Currently Changfeng has six projects in operation: two pipeline natural gas distribution projects, two liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply distribution projects, and two compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle refueling stations. Changfeng has a 30-year exclusive concession right to distribute natural gas in Sanya City and the supply of natural gas to three factories in Xingtai City, Shijiazhuang City and Baoding City, Hebei Province, which officially commenced in March 2018, April 2018 and May 2018 respectively.

Projects under Development

Major projects under development include the integrated smart energy project (the Haitang Bay Integrated Smart Energy Project) which combines the usage of multiple clean energy sources, including solar, hydro, electricity, and natural gas (CCHP/Co-Gen), to supply cooling, heating, as well as hot water to the hotels, shopping centers, and households in the Haitang Bay area of Sanya City, Hainan Province, with the 30-year concession right to build, own and operate four energy-processing stations there.

Prospects

For the rest of 2018, Changfeng will continue to implement its long-term growth strategy through its proposed Guangdong Grid pipelined gas project in the Western Guangdong area of the Guangdong Province and work towards moving forward the development of the Haitang Bay Integrated Smart Energy Project with the EDF Group in Sanya City to commence commercial operation by the end of 2018.

The unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial results and Managements Discussion and Analysis can be downloaded from www.SEDAR.com or from the Company's website at www.changfengenergy.com .

Mr. Lin concluded: Since the Companys inception over 20 years ago, Changfeng has always strived to provide natural gas, a cleaner alternative to coal, to our customers. We believe that Chinas smart energy is on a strong growth trend and presents huge potential with opportunities. Changfeng will continue to adhere to its development strategies and leverage its abundant experience in operating an advanced model so as to provide cleaner energy, striving for the highest returns to our shareholders.

About Changfeng Energy Inc.

Changfeng Energy Inc. is a leading integrated smart energy provider and natural gas distribution company (or natural gas utility) in China. Changfeng was listed on the Toronto stock exchange of Canada (TSXV) since 2008, and is the only natural gas company in China listed on TSXV. In 2009, Changfeng was recognized as one of China's Top Ten Most Influential Brands in the natural gas industry.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, Forward-Looking Statements). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated by reference in this document are Forward-Looking Statements, including statements regarding activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. These Forward-Looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as will, expect, intend, plan, estimate, anticipate, believe or continue or similar words or the negative thereof. No assurance can be given that the plans, intentions or expectations or assumptions upon which these Forward-Looking Statements are based will prove to be correct and such Forward-Looking Statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon.

Although management believes that the expectations represented in such Forward-Looking Statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such Forward-Looking Statements are not a guarantee of performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking Statements. These factors include, without limitation, no significant and continuing adverse changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. Readers are cautioned that all Forward-Looking Statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in the Corporations filings with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, copies of which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company urges readers to carefully consider those factors.

The Forward-Looking Statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this document and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any Forward-Looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact Information

Corporate Investment Relations

Investor.relations@changfengenergy.cn

Ann Siyin Lin VP, Corporate Development

ann.lin@changfengenergy.cn

Tele-conferenceFirst time visitors to Samoa, Anne-Laure Campergue and Olivier Casalta from Christchurch, New Zealand have been impressed with Samoa.

Originally from France, the couple has been living in New Zealand for two years.

They heard about Samoa through a friend who recommended Samoa because of the affordable accommodations and the people.

Another reason they chose Samoa was to escape the winter in New Zealand.

The differences between Samoa and New Zealand were evident when they first set foot on Samoas shores.

There are so many churches everywhere. Everything here is kind of different, the people who are very relaxed, the infrastructure, the organisation of how, when and what kind of work people do, Anne-Laure said.

Olivier added: The people are very cool here, at the first approach the facial impression seemed a bit rough but when you start talking they open up with a big smile.

While travelling through Morocco and other countries, their experience with the locals was not good.

According to them, as tourists, Samoa never disappointed them because they feel so comfortable and welcomed.

In terms of commercialising the country, they explained that for them it isnt so much about the number of businesses but the kind of stores and offers.

Anne-Laure said: There is the fast-food culture arriving, which we personally arent a big fan of and they have so many amazing fruits here.

Olivier mentioned that they had to search for fruits even in the market but they were not available.

The big variety of the valuable local food is, according to them, not promoted enough, especially for tourists who wish to have a taste of tropical fruits.

It is not a problem to find chips, those are everywhere, especially here where they have very good fish and fruits I would like to see that more, Anne-Laure said.

Olivier added: There is plastic everywhere and in my point of view, something should be done about it because there are beautiful beaches and this disturbs it, he said.

They hope to experience more of the village life in Samoa by driving around the island and visiting Savaii too.

They are spending two weeks at the Olivias Accommodation in town and for them, Samoa exceeded their expectations.David Lomas enjoys his visits to Samoa every time he gets the chance to fly over from New Zealand.

This is his third time in Samoa. This time, he is accompanying his wife who is attending a conference.

He told the Dear Tourist team that there are so many reasons to return to the island.

It is just a very nice place to come to relax and chill out, David said.

It is great to come for the sunshine and having the opportunity to wear the shorts again because it is winter back home.

He first visited the island some eight years ago and since then, he highlighted the visible changes, which include resorts and accommodations.

And although infrastructural changes are evident, David said the people of Samoa are still the same and that to him is very important.

David said with the wave of change slowly sweeping over the island with new foreign businesses, he fears the loss of culture.

I cant see the loss of culture yet, but I guess with more changes in the future it could happen with the worldwide trade and all the shops coming in etc., he explained.

For David, he prefers that Samoa keep its authentic culture and beauty.

He believes people define the country and its culture.

He shared the purpose of accompanying his wife is to just relax and escape the cold back home.

One thing that I would be concerned about is when I come with my grandchildren to the pool, I dont see anyone watching over them for safety reasons, David said.

The experience hes had in this trip will definitely see his return soon.The Audit Office has completed its investigation into the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Sefuiva Charlene Malele.

Audit Office director (legal) Vaipou Fetuliai Lagaaia said he anticipates the final report being submitted to the Parliament tomorrow.

As for your question on the O.C.L.A. we have now completed our audit field work and investigation process into the O.C.L.A. We are now in the process of reviewing and finalizing our report. We are anticipating a report to be submitted to Parliament by Friday 31 Aug 2018, he said, when responding to questions from Samoa Observer.

Vaipou said the findings of the audit had to be communicated back to the responsible Ministry and the authorities for a decision to be made.

As such our audit investigation report of the O.C.L.A. will be submitted to the relevant authorities, which is the Honorable Speaker of Parliament and also to the Honorable Prime Minister, as he is the responsible Minister for the Legislative Assembly. As for the Audit report to Parliament, please note that it will be tabled through the usual process. Therefore, the audit report on the O.C.L.A. investigation will be included in our six-months report ending December 31, 2018.

He also urged Samoa Observer to wait for the report to be tabled in Parliament before its findings can be made public.

We respect your keen interest in publishing this upcoming audit report but we kindly advise that you wait for the report to be tabled in Parliament pursuant to Standing Order and section 42 of the Audit Act 2013 before it can become a public document.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr Sailele Malielegaoi, who is also Minister for the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly (O.C.L.A.), said the Government will always do its due diligence and investigate complaints.

He assured the public that the inquiry will be completed soon and warned that violations of the law cannot be hidden.

Earlier this month, Sergeant at Arms for Parliament, Luatalo Setima, confirmed the investigation and indicated that it was the result of an official complaint filed by a Parliamentary driver to the Office of the Prime Minister.

As reported earlier, Sefuiva has refused to comment when approached by Samoa Observer.Popular burger joint in Saleufi Kilo Shack was broken into by a group of men who helped themselves to ice cream and soda and vandalised the cafe before leaving with stolen equipment.

The owner Anna Brown told Samoa Observer they were shocked to find that their shop was broken into and vandalized when they arrived yesterday morning.

She said thieves forced their way in through the back door and helped themselves to ice cream and soda and made a mess before leaving with stolen equipment.

They ripped the back door off and took my speaker, it was a brand new speaker that I just bought and they also took the box for the camera. Everything was just a mess in there, they opened up the big freezers and messed up the ice creams. They ate the ice creams and drank cans of soda  it looks like they had a party in here, she said.

After filing a report with the police, she checked with other nearby businesses and found out that another shop Qin Long also had an attempted break-in. Video footage obtained from security cameras installed by Qin Long showed that the thieves made a futile attempt to break into the shop as well as the Local Style retail shop using crowbars at around 1.00 a.m. yesterday morning. The video footage has been supplied to the police to assist in their investigations.

Anna described the men as in their late 20's with the youngest around 17 years of age. The police used the footage from Qin Long to get a suspect, she added.

Despite the break-in, Kilo Shack opened for business at lunch yesterday, but not without Anna lamenting the losses she made from the criminal act.

We had to open at 12 p.m. yesterday today (Wednesday) so we lost business in the morning but we had to do a big clean up and throw away a lot of product. It makes me mad because we are here for the local people and the workers  its where everyone comes for lunch."

We keep the prices low and affordable for everyone. You cant find a place that sell burgers and lamb curry this good for the prices we have  you cant beat the price. And thats the thing were supposed to be here for the locals and then these kids just come and mess up everything, she added.San Diegos Molecular Assemblies, one of a number of companies looking to use DNA as the ultimate data storage system, says it has made a significant advance in making practical use of the famed double helix.

The privately held company says it has developed a faster and more accurate way of storing and retrieving information, the critical read/write process performed routinely by hard drives.

Such traditional storage methods are reaching their limits, as photos, videos, health and financial records and other information piles up. By 2025, research firm IDC estimates global annual data production of 163 zettabytes. One zettabyte can hold about 167 trillion high-definition movies averaging two hours each.

As a proof of concept, Molecular Assemblies converted text messages into the 0s and 1s of computer-speak, encoded that binary data into the four-letter DNA alphabet, then wrote the sequence into DNA. The process was then reversed to recover the text message, said Michael Kamdar, president and CEO of Molecular Assemblies.

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Molecular Assemblys method writes longer stretches of DNA letters at a time than traditional chemical synthesis, Kamdar said. It also uses non-toxic materials and doesnt require processing. It is based on enzymes, proteins that catalyze chemical reactions without themselves being consumed in the process. The process is also far less energy-intensive than traditional storage.

Its really the first time in the industry that weve seen that data can be stored and retrieved using enzymatic DNA, Kamdar said.

In nature, DNA compacts a huge amount of information into a microscopic package. The human genome consists of a sequence of 3 billion DNA letters, tightly wrapped up in the cell nucleus. Elegant molecular mechanisms package the DNA so it can be stored and retrieved as needed.

Something like this storage and retrieval process will be needed to make the enzyme-based system feasible for large-scale use, a task Molecular Assemblies is working on.

The company was founded in 2013 by Bill Efcavitch and Curt Becker. They are veterans of Applied Biosystems, a DNA synthesis company that merged with Carlsbads Invitrogen in 2008 to found Life Technologies. Its now a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Competitors include Iridia, with offices in Carlsbad. Iridias chairman, Jay Flatley, was the longtime CEO of DNA sequencing giant Illumina, itself a major contributor to the data tsunami as human genome sequencing becomes routine.

Microsoft is also researching DNA storage. So is Boston-based Catalog, founded by scientists from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For all these companies, stability of storage is critical. In the biological hubbub of a living being, DNA molecules are continually broken and repaired. Kamdar said that outside the body, DNA can be stored very stable manner.

Molecular Assemblies plans to raise money in the fall to advance its work, Kamdar said. In December 2016, the company said it had raised $2.3 million in seed funding.

Related reading

The next big thing in data storage is actually microscopic

Data Storage Solution May Be in the DNA

What Will We Do When The Worlds Data Hits 163 Zettabytes In 2025?

Video clip encoded in DNA of living bacteria and played back

Scientists work toward storing digital information in DNA

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020August 29, 1965 The San Diego Union

The San Diego Union-Tribune will mark its 150th anniversary in 2018 by presenting a significant front page from the archives each day throughout the year.

August 29, 1965

In 1965 SeaLab II, a cigar-shaped habitat, was established on the ocean floor not far from the pier at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Three teams of aquanauts spent 15 days each underwater between August 28 and October 10.

The SeaLab experiment was part of a largely forgotten endeavor by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Navy, among others, to established a manned base on the sea floor and explore humans' ability to live and work undersea.

Also on this day, the Beatles played their only San Diego concert, before 18,000 fans in Balboa Stadium.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the story:

Aquanauts Begin Sea-Bottom Vigil

10 On 1st Team Dive To Enter Ocean Capsule

Carpenter Leads Group; Reports Connections OK

By Bryant Evans, The San Diego Unions Science Writer

Two aquanauts in black, wet diving suits opened the hatch to SeaLab II at 1:53 p.m. yesterday to start the largest and most elaborate effort ever tired to test the ability of man to work under the sea.

They were followed by eight others of the first SeaLab team, which is to spend 15 days under 205 feet of water, 3,000 feet off the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at La Jolla.

By 6 p.m. all 10 were aboard  testing their utilities and looking very much at home, over the closed circuit television aboard the SeaLabs mother ship, SS Berkone.

The first two to enter the habitat were Cmdr. M. Scott Carpenter, team captain and former astronaut and Wilbur Eaton, first class gunners mate of Panama City, Fla. They reported that the freshwater line from the surface was working, and that the temperature inside the SeaLab was a comfortable 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

HIGH-PITCHED VOICES

An effect of the helium-rich atmosphere was noticed in the high pitch of their voices.

Helium is used in place of most of the nitrogen in air to prevent the drunken-like, often fatal sleep that attacks divers breathing nitrogen under pressure.

The other two divers of the first four to enter the water were Cyril Tuckfield, chief engineman, and Berry L. Cannon, electrical engineer, both of Panama City, Fla. Their first assignment on reaching the bottom was to check the exterior lines to both the SeaLab and the personnel transport capsule 30 feet away. Then they joined Carpenter and Eaton inside the SeaLab.

DESCENT TIME

It had taken Carpenter and Eaton just eight minutes to appear on the television camera connected to SeaLab after they disappeared from the surface off the fantail of th Beberkone.

View anniversary front pages online at sandiegouniontribune.com/150-years. For more from the Union-Tribune digital archives, go to newslibrary.com/sites/sdub. Searching is free, with registration. A fee is required to view full stories.Parts of Southern California were rattled by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake Tuesday evening that was centered near La Verne but felt over a wide area.

The quake occurred at 7:33 p.m. at a depth of 3.7 miles. It was followed by smaller aftershocks.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicenter was three miles from San Dimas, four miles from Claremont and five miles from Glendora.

There have been no reports of injuries or damage at this time, a La Verne Police Department spokesperson said.

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The dormitories at the University of La Verne were evacuated as a precaution, a spokesman said, but no damage had been found.

Related: Earthquake early-warning system sent alarm 3 seconds before La Verne temblor 

At home in La Verne, Vickie Carillo was sitting with her son on the couch watching Jaws 2 when they felt the shaking start.

It was like if somebody had grabbed it and was shaking the house, she said.

Carillo estimated that her home is only about a mile from the quakes epicenter. She said she screamed and their two Jack Russell terriers started running around. The family picked them up and ran outside, joining about a dozen neighbors.

They walked around for about 20 minutes, hearing the rumbling of the aftershocks, before going back inside. Carillo said several closed doors had swung open and the family found trophies, books and other items on the floor.

We havent had an earthquake in quite a while  I mean not like that, she said. Im just glad I didnt get in the shower like I was going to.

Victor Flores, who lives in a two-story house in the hills of La Verne, said the shaking was extremely violent.

It was moving the whole house, he said. It shook hard for what seemed like 10 to 20 seconds, and then it just kept going. It was really loud too, kind of like thunder. It just hit really hard and quick.

Flores, his wife and daughters ran to their backyard, but when they saw the water in their pool swaying back and forth, they ran back inside.

Flores, who owns two aerospace manufacturing businesses in La Verne, called to check on his employees. So far, he said, only small things seemed to have fallen off shelves.

Rochelle Puente was watching her 7-year-old sons football practice at Bonita High School in La Verne when she felt the shaking. She and at least 100 other people at the field looked up at the tall trees and swaying poles.

Puente heard people scream. She knew the kids practicing in the middle of the field were safe, but she was nervous for the parents and other family members sitting along the perimeter near the poles. Her instinct was to watch the poles and prepare to run to the center of the field if necessary.

Everyone got out of their chairs and just started looking around, she said. I didnt feel any rolling at all. It just came on as the shaking, a little subtle and then really strong.

It felt way stronger than a 4.4, Puente added.

The main quake was widely felt, either as a sharp jolt near the epicenter or a rolling motion farther away.

It shook buildings for several seconds in downtown Los Angeles.

The jolt also was felt 40 miles away in Sylmar to the northwest and 30 miles south in Huntington Beach.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

8:40 p.m.: This article was updated with the experience of a La Verne resident.

9:15 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the evacuation of dormitories at the University of La Verne and another residents experience.

8:10 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from a resident of La Verne.

8 p.m.: This article was updated with information on how widely the quake was felt.

7:50 p.m.: This article was updated with information from the La Verne Police Department and the local time of the quake.

This article was originally published at 7:35 p.m.English Lithuanian

The Board of public limited liability company NOVATURAS, legal entity code 135567698, registered at A. Mickeviciaus St. 27, Kaunas, the Republic of Lithuania (the Company), decided to cancel the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on 5 September 2018 at 9.30 and to convene a new extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on 28 September 2018 at 9.30 (the Meeting).

The venue of the Meeting is hotel Radisson Blu Hotel Lietuva, Conference Centre (Konstitucijos Ave. 20, Vilnius), the Meeting commences at 9.30 a.m. (registration of shareholders starts at 8.30 a.m. and ends at 9.15 a.m.).

The date of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders has been postponed taking into account the recommendation of the Supervisory Council of the Company as well as approval to postpone the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and the new request of the Companys shareholder Central European Tour Operator S.a.r.l, on whose initiative the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Company was convened on 5 September 2018. The Company will not manage to finish annual negotiations and sign the agreement, which is concluded each year with bank for granting of a short-term loan, which is intended to partially finance the Companys working capital in 2019, before the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Company to be held on 5 September 2018. Therefore, the Supervisory Council recommended to the Board of the Company, upon obtaining an approval of the shareholder of the Company, who initiated the convocation of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on 5 September 2018 regarding payment of dividend for a period shorter than a financial year to postpone the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Company convened on 5 September 2018 to a later date after the date of signing the planned agreement for the short-term loan.

The specified purpose of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Company is to propose to allocate dividends for shareholders of the Company for a period shorter than a financial year.

The record date of the Meeting is 21 September 2018. The persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of the record date of the general meeting of shareholders of the Company or persons authorized by them, or the persons with whom shareholders concluded agreements on the transfer of voting right, will have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting.

The Meeting is initiated and convened by the Board of the Company, which on 29 August 2018 approved the same following agenda of the Meeting as that of the extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders to be convened on 5 September 2018:

Announcement of the Interim Report of public limited liability company Novaturas for the period of six months ended on 30 June 2018.

Draft decision proposed:

The Interim Report of public limited liability company Novaturas for the period of six months ended on 30 June 2018 has been announced for the shareholders of the Company. No decision is to be adopted on this matter of the agenda.

Approval of the set of audited interim financial statements of the Company for a period shorter than a financial year ended on 30 June 2018.

Draft decision proposed:

To approve the set of interim financial statements of public limited liability company Novaturas for the period of six months ended on 30 June 2018 audited by UAB DELOITTE LIETUVA, the Companys auditor.

The allocation of dividends for shareholders of public limited liability company Novaturas for a period shorter than a financial year ended on 30 June 2018.

Draft decision proposed:

Considering the fact that all conditions for the allocation of dividends for a period shorter than a financial year set out in paragraph 5 of Article 601 of the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania are fulfilled, to allocate dividends for shareholders of public limited liability company Novaturas in the amount of EUR 0.77 per share of public limited liability company Novaturas for the period of six months ended on 30 June 2018.

Election of the auditor for the performance of the audit of the set of annual financial statements of the Company group and determination of the conditions of audit services for the period of 20182019.

Draft decision proposed:

To elect audit firm UAB DELOITTE LIETUVA for the performance of audit of annual financial statements of the Company group for 2018 and 2019 and to determine that the payment for the performance of the services of the Companys audit will be no more than EUR 85,000, the VAT excl., for 2018 and no more than EUR 95,000, the VAT excl., for 2019.

Public limited liability company Novaturas notes that the right to receive dividends lies only with those persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of the record date of the shareholders rights, i.e. at the end of 12 October 2018, and dividend will be paid to such persons in accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 60 of the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania, i.e. within 1 (one) month from the day of the adoption of the decision on the allocation of dividends.

The total number of the Companys shares with the par value of EUR 0.03 each and the number of shares granting voting rights during the general meeting of shareholders is the same and amounts to 7,807,000.

ISIN code of the Companys shares is LT0000131872.

The Company will not provide a possibility to participate and vote in the Meeting by means of electronic communication.

Draft decisions on the Meeting agenda matters, documents to be submitted to the Meeting and information related to the exercise of the shareholders rights are available on the website of the Company www.novaturasgroup.com on the menu item For investors. This information will also be available to shareholders at the registered office of the Company (A. Mickeviciaus St. 27, Kaunas, the Republic of Lithuania) on business days from 8 a.m. till 4 p.m.

The shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the Meeting by providing a draft decision of the general meeting of shareholders on each additionally proposed matter or in case no decision is required  a relevant explanation. The proposals to supplement the agenda must be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals must be presented in writing to the Company on business days or must be sent by registered mail at the Companys address A. Mickeviciaus St. 27, LT-44245 Kaunas, the Republic of Lithuania. The proposals submitted by e-mail must be sent to tomas.staskunas@novaturas.lt . The proposals to supplement the agenda with additional matters must be received in the Company by 14 September 2018, 4 p.m. In case the agenda of the Meeting is supplemented, the Company will notify shareholders about it no later than 10 days before the Meeting in the same manner as when notifying on convocation of the Meeting.

Each shareholder holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes, at any time before the general meeting of shareholders or during the general meeting of shareholders, has the right of proposing new draft decisions on the matters already included or to be included in the agenda of the general meeting of shareholders. The proposed draft decisions must be presented in writing delivering them against signature to the Company or sending them by registered mail at the address of the registered office of the Company indicated in the notification.

The shareholders have the right to present questions related to the matters on the agenda of the Meeting to the Company in advance in writing. Questions can be presented to the Company in writing at A. Mickeviciaus St. 27, LT-44245 Kaunas, the Republic of Lithuania, or by e-mail to tomas.staskunas@novaturas.lt no later than 3 business days before the Meeting. The Company will answer the submitted questions by e-mail before the Meeting, except for the questions related to the Companys commercial (industrial) secret, confidential information, as well as if the questions are received in the Company later than 3 business days before the Meeting.

Answers of general character will be posted on the Companys website www.novaturasgroup.com . The Company will not respond to a shareholder, who has asked a question, personally if the respective information is posted on the Companys website.

Each shareholder has a right, in the manner established by the laws, to authorise another (natural or legal) person to attend and vote at the general meeting of shareholders on his/her behalf. At the general meeting of shareholders an authorised person (proxy) will have the same rights as would be held by the shareholder represented by him/her, unless the proxys rights are limited by the power of attorney issued to him/her or by laws. The proxy must provide a power of attorney certified in the manner established by laws. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalised in the manner established by laws.

A shareholder also has the right to authorize, through electronic communication means, another natural or legal person to participate and vote in the Meeting on the shareholders behalf. Such authorization does not need to be notarised. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication means must be confirmed by the shareholder with his/her electronic signature created by the secure signature formation software and certified by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder must inform the Company of the power of attorney issued through electronic communication means by e-mail tomas.staskunas@novaturas.lt no later than by 4:00 p.m. on the last business day before the Meeting. The power of attorney and the notification must be in writing. It is the power of attorney and the notification to the Company that must be signed with the electronic signature, but not a letter sent by e-mail. By submitting a notification to the Company, the shareholder must indicate the Internet address from which it is possible to download free of charge software to verify the electronic signature of the shareholder. The Company has not approved a special form of the power of attorney for the general meeting of shareholders.

Each shareholder or proxy thereof has the right to cast his/her vote in advance in writing by filling out a general ballot paper. The form of the general ballot paper is provided on the Companys website www.novaturasgroup.com on the menu item For investors. Upon a written shareholders request, the Company no later than 10 days before the Meeting will send a general ballot paper by registered mail or deliver it in person against signature. The filled general ballot paper must be signed by the shareholder or his/her proxy. In case the general ballot paper is signed by the shareholders proxy, it must be presented along with the document confirming the right to vote. The filled general ballot paper with enclosed documents (if required) must be submitted to the Company by registered mail at A. Mickeviciaus St. 27, LT-44245 Kaunas, the Republic of Lithuania, or delivering it to the Company in person. Dully filled ballot papers, received in the Company before the Meeting, will be considered valid.

Enclosed:

General ballot paper; Set of audited interim financial statements with the Interim Report.

AttachmentsPresident Donald Trump undoubtedly will be a factor in local elections this November, where he could be an asset, a liability or both for some candidates.

The president has become an issue in three high-profile elections  two congressional races and one county supervisor campaign  and the candidates are dealing with that in very different ways.

Perhaps no one is in a more precarious position regarding Trump than Diane Harkey, the Republican running in the 49th Congressional District, which stretches from Del Mar to Dana Point. The president essentially created the opening for Harkey to run  because Republican incumbent Darrell Issas support for the president and some of his policies forced him to call it quits after this term.

Harkey, a member of the state Board of Equalization and a former legislator, finished first in the June primary with 25.5 percent of the vote, with Democratic attorney Mike Levin coming in second at 17.5 percent

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Levin and the Democrats have made Trump a key focus in the campaign. Harkey has to deal with the president gingerly. Trump lost the district to Hillary Clinton in 2016 by more than 7 points, even though Republicans had an advantage in voter registration  which has since shrunk to 5 percentage points. More than a quarter of the districts voters dont belong to any political party. Polls across the country consistently show Trump continues to have strong support among Republicans.

Thats why the presidents Twitter endorsement of Harkey was seen as both a liability and an asset.

@DianeHarkey is an extraordinary woman of great accomplishment & potential. She is running as a very popular Republican for the Congressional seat of my friend Darrell Issa-with his complete support. Diane is strong on crime, loves our Military & Vets-has my total Endorsement! the president tweeted last week.

Levin immediately pounced, but used Trump as a segue to refer to a court decision against Harkeys husband, Dan Harkey, who was accused of making ill-advised loans through his real estate lending company and pocketing fees and commissions from the failed transactions.

No surprise that @RealDonaldTrump, an expert in failed real estate scams, would endorse my opponent @DianeHarkey, whose campaigns have been funded by a Ponzi Scheme.

Diane Harkeys campaign fired back, saying, It comes as no surprise that a candidate who supports higher gas taxes and amnesty for illegal aliens would resort to false personal attacks.

Clearly, theres a lot more to this campaign than Trump. In any event, Republican officials are emphasizing the presidents support for Harkey to fire up voter enthusiasm and raise money, both of which have been in short supply.

President Trump and the Republican Party of Orange County are all in for Diane, said Orange County GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker, who referred to the presidents tweet in a fundraising appeal.

Harkey will have to walk a tightrope in the fall campaign. While she cant be all in for Trump because of the divisions he engenders in the district, his administration has overseen much that would give a boost to her campaign, particularly among Republicans: a humming economy, surging stock market, tax cuts, a crackdown on illegal immigration and an emerging renegotiated NAFTA deal.

The presidents performance and controversies would seem to be distant matters for a county supervisor race, but not this year. Former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican, issued a tough statement through her campaign critical of Trump because of the legal problems swirling around him.

On the day Trumps former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to numerous charges and Trumps former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty by a jury, Dumanis had this to say:

Theres a stark reality that every Republican, Democrat, and Independent should face head on  this president has proven an embarrassment in his actions, and his response to the legitimate investigation into his administration and his campaign. We can no longer tolerate the culture justifying this behavior, she said.

As a former judge and district attorney, I refuse to stand by any longer in tolerating the reckless behavior of Donald Trump, which at a minimum shows negligence, if not collusion.

It probably shouldnt come as a surprise that the countys former top prosecutor has strong feelings about Trumps moves to undermine the federal investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russians in their effort to influence the 2016 election, as well as probing other possible wrongdoings by people associated with the president.

Her stance also could deflect one line of potential attack by her opponent, Democrat Nathan Fletcher. The former Assembly member sought to link incumbent Republican supervisors with Trump during the primary because a majority agreed to support the presidents lawsuit aimed at overturning Californias laws that provide sanctuary to some unauthorized immigrants.

The Fletcher campaign believes it was effective, contending that was a factor in his first-place finish in the June primary and likely will continue on with it. Trying to use that against Dumanis might seem a leap, however. While endorsed by many of the supervisors, she questioned using county resources to support the sanctuary lawsuit. Further, she had been increasingly critical of Trump even before her latest statement, though she refused to tell The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board in the spring whether she voted for him.

One candidate who gladly embraces the president is Rep. Duncan Hunter. He was one of the first members of Congress to endorse Trump and his support, if anything, has become even stronger. He agrees with the president on most issues and had no hesitation appearing with him here in March, when Trump toured the prototypes for his proposed extended border wall. Hunter also contends both he and the president are the targets of politically motivated investigations.

Trump continues to be popular in Hunters 50th district, which he won by 15 points. That may be why Hunters opponent, Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, doesnt spend a lot of time tearing into Trump, even while hes critical of the administrations policies and what he says is Washingtons culture of corruption.

Campa-Najjar says Hunter has become part of that culture, pointing to the recent federal indictment of the congressman and his wife, Margaret, on charges related to personal use of campaign funds.

The incumbents association with Trump may help him get re-elected in November, but its hard to see how that would benefit him legally  unless, of course, Hunters looking for a pardon in his future.Peanut butter sandwiches may not be permitted in some schools these days because of concerns about allergies, but this classic kids favorite can still be enjoyed for breakfast or as an afternoon snack during the academic year.

In time for back-to-school planning, Food & Dining set out to find the best creamy, no-stir peanut butter in a blind taste test. Sure, your house probably has a favorite brand, but dont you wonder about the other jars crowding store shelves?

We settled on creamy because women and kids, apparently, prefer creamy over crunchy, according to the National Peanut Board, an industry group. And kids are, eventually, the target audience for this article  though we recognize plenty of grown-ups still love a PB&J.

And why no-stir? I love the old-fashioned type of peanut butter in which oil rises to the top and you have to mix the peanut butter and oil together with a knife or spoon. Given the growing amount of shelf space devoted to that style, its clear others do too. But, the back-to-school rationale behind this tasting calls to mind the harried parents putting together lunches.

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I remember well my days as a frazzled dad trying to get my daughter to the school bus. If someone had handed me a jar of peanut butter and told me to mix it before school, I would have tossed the jar out the window and sent Caroline off with an extra bag or two of Doritos.

For the tasting, I purchased 10 jars of peanut butter. Some were labeled as peanut butter spread. Why the difference? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a definition for peanut butter. To be so labeled, the product must contain at least 90 percent peanuts to which safe and suitable seasoning and stabilizing ingredients may be added.

RELATED: Check out our other tastings for tomato sauce, mayonnaise, vanilla ice cream and more.

Allowable ingredients include salt, sweeteners and hydrogenated vegetable oil, notes the National Peanut Board. Peanut butters that use, say, palm oil instead of hydrogenated vegetable oil should be labeled as peanut butter spread.

The peanut butters and peanut butter spreads were purchased near the Chicago Tribunes Loop location at a Marianos supermarket, a Jewel-Osco supermarket in Chicagos Rogers Park neighborhood, and a Trader Joes and a Whole Foods Market, both in Evanston. I did not buy membership-only club brands because I wanted peanut butter the general public had a reasonable chance of buying. Prices listed are what I paid  some brands were on sale.

This was a blind tasting, meaning tasters didnt know which peanut butter was which. Each participant was asked to rate each brand on appearance, aroma, texture and flavor.

Again, curious to see who won? Please click through the photo gallery at the top of this article.

wdaley@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @BillDaley

MORE COVERAGE

Which vanilla ice cream is the cream of the crop? We taste test 12 top brands 

Battle of the ketchups: We taste 12, and winner is probably not your favorite brand 

Who makes the best jarred pasta sauce? We taste the top brands. On the 55th anniversary of his fathers I Have A Dream speech, Martin Luther King III criticized the Trump administrations decision to separate multitudes of families at the border and demanded immigration policies that protect basic human dignity.

The way the Trump administration has carried out immigration enforcement both inside the U.S. and at the border runs counter to the values and principles laid out by the elder King in his famous speech at the March on Washington in 1963, the younger King said as he stood yards from the fencing that separates San Diego and Tijuana.

There is a sense of crisis in the United States and around the globe that my father warned would come if we did not find a way to live together as a common humanity, King said. We are experiencing a climate of incivility, lack of empathy and outright denial of human dignity that is arguably unprecedented in recent times.

King decided to commemorate his fathers famous speech by traveling to the southwest border after learning about migrant children who had recently been separated from their parents by the federal government. He said he chose San Diego based on its engaged local community organizations and because the border here has significant numbers of people crossing.

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Kings backdrop of Friendship Park was the same location where a migrant caravan that drew the ire of President Donald Trump demonstrated in April to call for protections of asylum seekers rights. Attorney General Jeff Sessions used the same stretch of border soon after as a stage for announcing the zero-tolerance policy that would lead to mass separations of migrant families.

Trump has made border security one of his top priorities and has sought funding for a barrier along segments of the nearly 2,000-mile border that the United States shares with Mexico. He continues to oppose the diversity lottery visa, which randomly awards visas to tens of thousands of people from underrepresented countries and he has criticized what he calls chain migration that he said enables legal immigrants to sponsor relatives for U.S. visas. In June, he reversed course on a policy that resulted in immigrant family separations at the border, signing an executive order that would keep families together.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, King called for all immigrants and refugees to be treated with dignity and respect.

Fifty-five years ago, Kings father emphasized that the unalienable rights that were promised at the founding of the U.S. belong to everyone.

This includes not just ourselves, but our neighbors and the stranger at our door, the younger King said Tuesday.

He criticized the way the Trump administration had left unauthorized immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in limbo when it ended the program last year without a solution from Congress. King said DACA recipients should have a pathway to citizenship. He also condemned policies separating any child from his or her parents.

When I first heard of the caging of children, I was stunned, I was appalled, I was shaken to my core, King said. A great democracy does not bully the most vulnerable among us.

He praised people of conscience who have protested such policies and called on Americans to vote out politicians who support those policies in Novembers election.

If we want to fulfill my fathers dream, weve got to invigorate our democracy with a fresh passion for constructive social change, King said. We must become active civic agents of change.

At the end of Kings speech, he introduced his 10-year-old daughter Yolanda Renee.

Dreamers must stick together, she said.

Switching to Spanish, she delivered some of the most famous lines of her grandfathers speech:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

One woman yelled, Yolanda for president!

Trump also commemorated the famous I Have a Dream speech on Tuesday.

More than half a century after his speech, our nation reaffirms our commitment to protecting the promise of America for all our people, Trump said in a statement. For this reason, my administration is continuing to create an environment where the American Dream  and its many opportunities  are available for all hardworking Americans. As a result, for example, we have already seen the unemployment rate for African Americans reach a record low.

Douglas Moore Jr., executive director of the United Domestic Workers union in San Diego, said Kings fathers words are often looked at as part of history, but he believes that the King dream is more relevant than ever and should guide the U.S. on immigration.

Andrea Guerrero, executive director of Alliance San Diego, welcomed the younger King to the border, saying he was the right person in the right place at the right time to address how people are treated by the U.S. immigration system.

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee U.S./Mexico Border Program, said Kings visit was important and carried on the legacy of his father.

It expands the notion that those who live along the border and those crossing the border are deserving of civil rights protections, Rios said.

Irving Hernandez, a 23-year-old DACA recipient, said Kings speech captured what the battle has been for him, pushing for protections both for DACA recipients as well as other groups in the immigrant community.

Truly the fight for equality takes time, Hernandez said.

Kings speech opened with a procession up from the beach to the mesa at Friendship Park in the southwestern-most part of San Diego. A group of fifth graders from Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School sang One Day as King approached.

After his speech, King went between the fences with his family to talk to people on the Mexican side of the barrier. They told him about meeting with relatives at the Friendship Park fence on weekends to touch pinkie fingers briefly between the steel mesh.

We can do better than what were doing, King said. Were operating at a low level right now.

He met a Haitian immigrant who had traveled up from Brazil through deadly jungles in Central America before settling in Tijuana. He found that story of what migrants go through particularly compelling, he said.

He also met a deported U.S. military veteran.

How do you mistreat the people who stood up to protect this country? King said. Its almost insane.

King said hes grateful to his parents for showing him a path to human rights work and also thankful that his mother didnt make him feel like he had to be another version of his father.

Nothing comes easy, particularly when following in footsteps so gigantic, King said.

He hopes to be a catalyst for change in his own way.

King was scheduled to meet with San Diego community members through the United Domestic Workers union later in the afternoon.

Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on TwitterThe Roman Catholic Church went into crisis mode this week after a Vatican official published an 11-page letter alleging that Pope Francis and U.S. Catholic leaders covered up sexual abuse by an American cardinal.

In the unusually detailed and direct letter, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., made unsubstantiated claims that Francis and several American cardinals and archbishops had teamed up over the years to protect Theodore McCarrick, who as a cardinal was one of the most powerful figures in the church.

Vigano, who released the letter as the pope was visiting Ireland, blamed church leaders for protecting a widespread homosexual current in the Vatican and said Francis must resign. He also said church leaders had a pro-gay ideology that ran counter to long-standing church prohibitions against homosexual acts.

But church experts say the letters significance may be less about those allegations than about power struggles within the church hierarchy.

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Francis has set a more liberal tone by meeting with gay people and expressing more tolerance for homosexuality than any pope in history, though still hewing to the churchs prohibition on same-sex marriage. Vigano, who was the Vaticans ambassador to the U.S. until 2016, is part of a more conservative wing of the church that has protested Francis leadership, especially on issues of sexuality.

Read a translation of the 11-page letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano 

This letter has everything to do with factions in the church that are vying for power and influence, said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University who studies the Vatican. You have a convergence of interests that is making this a huge mess in the U.S. Catholic Church.

Viganos long and intimate access to the inner workings of the papacy makes the letter difficult for the pope to brush aside.

Born into a rich Italian family, Vigano eventually became an archbishop in 1992 at the behest of Pope John Paul II. From there, he ascended the churchs ranks, becoming a diplomat for the Vatican, the secretary of the governorate of Vatican City and the Vaticans ambassador to the U.S.

Protesters demonstrate against clerical sex abuse on Aug. 26, 2018, in Dublin, Ireland, as Pope Francis visits the once-fervently Catholic country. (EPA / Shutterstock)

But throughout his rise, he clashed with church officials  including Pope Benedict XVI and Francis  over whether Vatican leaders were supportive of him, his attempts to change church governance and his views of homosexuality in the church.

He has said that by not cracking down on homosexuality within the church, the leadership has contributed to the problem of pedophile priests  a contention that is roundly disputed by liberal Catholic leaders and victims advocates who say sexual orientation has no bearing on whether somebody commits abuse.

In widely publicized leaked church documents in 2012, Vigano was shown appealing to church leadership to discredit anonymously sourced articles in the Italian press criticizing his performance and role in the Vatican. The documents  dubbed VatiLeaks  showed that the leaders refused to defend him.

The documents also showed that Vigano was desperate to not be transferred to the diplomatic position in Washington and protested to his superiors, including Benedicts second-in-command, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Vigano said in the leaked letters that he was being punished for uncovering corruption in the Vatican. Bertone is among the church leaders Vigano named in his recent letter as co-conspirators in Vatican cover-ups.

In 2015, when Francis visited Washington, Philadelphia and New York, Vigano played a key role in one of the most controversial moments of the trip.

He arranged for the pope  who had until then received widely positive news coverage for saying it was not his place to judge gay people  to meet Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who had become embroiled in national controversy over her refusal to give marriage certificates to gay couples. Vatican insiders said the pope, who shook hands and took photographs with many people during his visit, did not fully understand who Davis was when he posed with her at the ambassadors residence.

The incident, which overtook otherwise glowing reports on the popes U.S. visit, was blamed internally on Vigano and said to be one of the reasons Francis did not ask him to stay in his post upon reaching the retirement age of 75. Catholic officials frequently stay in posts beyond retirement age at the request of the pope.

In his letter released over the weekend, Vigano wrote that Francis and Benedict were aware of sexual abuse by McCarrick, the former cardinal who led churches in the Washington region from 2001 to 2006.

McCarrick resigned in July and was stripped of his title of cardinal after U.S. news outlets reported that he had abused seminarians. Vigano also said that other Catholic figures, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, were aware of the abuse.

Wuerl said through a spokesman that he was never told that the Vatican had barred McCarrick from celebrating Mass.

Reaction to the letter varied.

In a statement released Monday, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the allegations must be investigated.

The questions raised deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence, DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston, said. Without those answers, innocent men may be tainted by false accusation and the guilty may be left to repeat sins of the past.

Also named in the letter was Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J., who said in a statement that the allegations had factual errors, innuendo and fearful ideology. Tobin said there needed to be scrutiny of the claims to help establish the truth.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, a leader among conservative Catholics, issued a statement praising Viganos integrity but said he could not comment on the letter because it had details beyond his personal experience.

Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, went further. In a letter to church members, he said that the details in Viganos letter are still allegations but as your shepherd I find them to be credible.

Though the U.S. church indicated it will investigate, its unclear what the Vatican will do.

When asked about the allegations after he departed Ireland on Sunday, Francis refused to address them.

I will not say a single word on this, he said. I think this statement speaks for itself, and you have the sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions.

jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com

Twitter: @jaweedkaleem

More national headlinesTwo construction workers fell to their deaths when scaffolding collapsed above the sixth floor of a hotel under construction near Disney World early Wednesday. A third worker managed to hang on and climb to safety, a fire-rescue spokesman said.

The accident happened just outside Disney property, Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said.

They were on the scaffolding, and for reasons unknown at this time, that support structure gave way, sending two workers plummeting to the ground below. Both died on the scene. A third worker managed to hang onto the scaffolding and managed to climb to safety, Jachles told the Associated Press.

Marriott International has described the project as a 16-story, $282-million JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, featuring 516 rooms near Orlandos popular theme parks. Its owned and developed by DCS Investment Holdings, a private equity group based in West Palm Beach and owned by Dwight C. Schar, co-owner of the Washington Redskins.

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Fire Rescue got the call at about 4:15 a.m., when about 18 workers were at the scene.

Jachles said it happened at the top of the construction project, which is still in the concrete-pouring stage. The Orange County Sheriffs office and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate, he said.A former police officer in Texas has been found guilty of murder in the high-profile shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards  a rare victory for civil rights activists seeking justice for the dozens of unarmed African American men and boys who have been killed by police officers in recent years.

As Judge Brandon Birmingham read the verdict Tuesday against Roy Oliver, who worked in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs, sobs came from the gallery of the packed courtroom. The last time an on-duty police officer in Dallas County was convicted of murder was in 1973. Oliver could be sentenced to life in prison.

Im just so thankful, Jordans father, Odell Edwards, told reporters. Thankful, thankful.

Daryl Washington, an attorney representing the family, said the verdict meant more than justice for Jordan.

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Its about Tamir Rice. Its about Walter Scott. Its about Alton Sterling, he said, naming victims of police shootings in recent years. Its about every, every African American, unarmed African American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted a link to a news story about the conviction, saying that Jordans life should never have been lost.

On the night of April 29, 2017, Oliver fired an MC5 rifle into a Chevrolet Impala carrying Jordan and two of his brothers as it pulled away from a high school house party. Jordan, who was struck in the head, died later at a hospital.

Police initially said the vehicle had backed up toward Oliver in an aggressive manner, but body camera video showed the car was moving away from him and his partner. Days after the shooting, Oliver, who had served in the department for six years, was fired.

Jordans stepbrother, Vidal Allen, was driving the car the night of the shooting.

I was very scared, Allen testified. I just wanted to get home and get everyone safe.

Oliver, 38, has said he feared for his life and his partners safety.

I had to make a decision. This car is about to hit my partner, Oliver testified in the trial. I had no other option.

After a weeklong trial, it took the jury one day to reach a verdict.

Jordans death echoes other police shootings involving black boys and men. But no convictions were handed down in most of those cases.

In November 2014, Cleveland police got a 911 call about someone brandishing a pistol near a park  the weapon, the caller said, was probably fake. But in an incident captured on camera, a police cruiser pulled into the park and Officer Timothy Loehmann jumped out and opened fire. Within seconds, 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had a toy gun, was dead.

Even before Tamirs death, the U.S. Department of Justice had been investigating the Cleveland Police Department. A month after his shooting, it released a report saying Cleveland police displayed a pattern of using unnecessary force.

A year later, a grand jury decided not to indict Loehmann in Tamirs death, saying he had reason to fear for his life.

In September 2016, in Columbus, Ohio, police shot and killed Tyre King, 13, who was carrying a BB gun while running from police. A grand jury declined to file criminal charges against the officer who killed him.

And in May 2017, an Oklahoma jury acquitted an officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher, 40, as he stood with his hands above his head along a rural highway.

Those cases and others illustrate the difficulty of convicting police officers. The law in most places gives them the benefit of the doubt.

Prosecutors usually must show that an officer knowingly and intentionally killed without justification or provocation. A fear of harm has been successfully used as the justification for many shootings, even when the victim turned out to be unarmed.

The most recent case that ended in a conviction came last year when Michael Slager, a former officer in North Charleston, S.C., was first tried on murder charges in the April 2015 shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was stopped for a driving with a broken taillight. But after those proceedings ended in a mistrial, Slager pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The last Dallas County police officer convicted for murder while on duty was Darrell Cain, who shot and killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez after forcing him to endure a version of Russian roulette while handcuffed inside a patrol car.

There was no immediate reaction to Thursdays verdict from local or national police groups.

John Fullinwider, a longtime Dallas activist and co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality, said Olivers conviction came as a surprise.

I expected to see an angel fly over City Hall before I saw this murder conviction, he said. This is a victory, but we really need independent federal prosecutors in all fatal police shootings.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who represents the Edwards family, said the conviction was justice for the country.

Weve seen time and time again, no charges, let alone convictions, in these high-profile shootings, he said. It is my hope that this is a turning point in the fight against police brutality against blacks.

Odell Edwards, father of Jordan Edwards, hugs Dallas County District Atty. Faith Johnson after hearing the verdict Aug. 28. (Rose Baca / Pool Photo)

kurtis.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @kurtisalee

UPDATES:

6:35 p.m.: This article was updated with reaction to the verdict and background on the difficulty of convicting police officers in on-the-job shootings.

This article was originally published at 2:20 p.m.A woman who died over the weekend in a freeway crash caused by motorists braking for a dog was identified Tuesday as a 53-year-old San Diego resident.

Grace Tapit Villar was in the backseat of a Toyota Camry that braked to a halt around 10:30 a.m. Saturday to avoid a dog in the fast lane of westbound state Route 94 near downtown San Diego, according to the California Highway Patrol and San Diego County Medical Examiners Office.

Authorities said that just prior to the crash, a San Diego Humane Society truck was parked in the center divider, and two officers were planning to try to capture the dog, which was on the median.

When the dog darted into the traffic lanes, the Camry stopped suddenly, and a Dodge Ram pickup behind the Camry swerved to the center divider to avoid the sedan, the CHP said.

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But a GMC Yukon driver pulling a small trailer wasnt able to stop as quickly and hit the back of the Ram pickup, the CHP said. That sent the Ram forward, hitting the Camry and pushing it into the back of the San Diego Humane Society truck.

All three people in the Camry were injured and taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital, but Villars major head injuries were the most grave, authorities said. Doctors at the Hillcrest hospital pronounced her dead at 10:59 a.m.

No other injuries were reported among occupants of the other vehicles, and CHP officials did not know whether the dog was captured.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.comAuthorities on Tuesday identified the 41-year-old Santee woman who was jogging Monday night in Lakeside when she was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver.

Susana Gotell was running about 6:40 p.m. on the north side of North Woodside Avenue, a two-lane road, when a plumbing truck veered across both lanes and struck her, according to the California Highway Patrol and county Medical Examiners Office.

Medics rushed Gotell to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, where despite aggressive life-saving medical intervention, she was pronounced dead at 7:37 p.m., the Medical Examiners Office said.

The driver of the plumbing truck, identified as 46-year-old Santee resident Michael Jason Woodfill, was initially taken into custody on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, CHP Officer Travis Garrow said Monday night.

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Jail records showed Woodfill was booked into San Diego Central Jail just after midnight Tuesday and remained held without bail Tuesday evening on suspicion of four felonies, including murder, gross vehicle manslaughter and driving under the influence causing injury.

Garrow said Woodfill was eastbound in the 2017 Chevrolet truck, which appeared to belong to a local plumbing company, when he drifted off the south side of North Woodside Avenue near Riverford Road. He allegedly hit a chain link fence, then over-corrected the truck to the left, veered across the opposite lane and struck Gotell, who was jogging on the north side of the road.

After striking Gotell, the truck continued down a dirt embankment, where it overturned, Garrow said.

Woodfill remained at the scene, and investigators determined he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the deadly collision, Garrow said.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.comA motorcyclist suffered significant injuries when he was thrown from his ride after striking a car that turned into his path Tuesday in La Mesa, police said.

Both the 54-year-old motorcyclist and the 34-year-old driver of the other vehicle, who sustained minor injuries when his car rolled, were expected to survive, La Mesa police Lt. Brian Stoney said.

The crash happened about 10:30 a.m. when a westbound 2014 Hyundai tried to make a left turn from University Avenue onto Lee Avenue, Stoney said. The Hyundai turned into the path of the motorcyclist, riding a 2016 Harley Davidson, who was headed east on University Avenue.

When the officers arrived on scene, they found the rider of the motorcycle lying in the roadway after being ejected from his motorcycle, Stoney said in a statement. He sustained significant injuries and was immediately transported to the hospital.

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The collision caused the Hyundai to roll and come to rest on its roof, Stoney said. The driver was able to crawl out of the car on his own and was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Witnesses told investigators the motorcyclist was speeding, which may have contributed to the crash, Stoney said.

Eastbound University Avenue in the area was shut down for more than five hours as the La Mesa Police Departments traffic division investigated the collision.

Investigators asked anyone with information about the crash to call the LMPD at (619) 667-1400.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.comA girl who went missing from her National City middle school Tuesday afternoon was found unharmed about six hours later, police said.

The 13-year-old was unaccounted for after her parents reported going to National City Middle School to pick her up about 2:45 p.m., but she wasnt there, police Sgt. Matt Smith said.

Patrol officers searched the area around the school, while a police helicopter circled overhead searching for her and making announcements.

Police released information about her disappearance in a statement around 7:30 p.m. and sought the publics help to find her. A little less than two hours later, just before 9:20 p.m., she was found unharmed.

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No details were immediately available regarding her disappearance or eventual discovery.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

9:35 p.m.: This article was updated with police confirmation that the missing 13-year-old was found unharmed.

This article was originally published at 8 p.m.COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ramboll experienced significant overall growth in the first six months of 2018, which includes the addition of more than 700 employees over the last year, bringing the total workforce to more than 14,000 employees globally. Gross revenue of DKK 5,680 million was slightly higher than in the first half of 2017. Organic growth was 7.1% compared to 0,5% in the same period last year. Operating profit before amortisation (EBITA) of DKK 275 million was slightly lower than in the first half of 2017, primarily due to exchange rate movements and fewer working days in the year, giving an EBITA margin of 4.8% compared to 5.1% in the first half of 2017. Profit before tax amounted to DKK 205 million compared to DKK 183 million in the first half of 2017. At the end of the first half year, Rambolls order book amounts to DKK 6.6 billion, which is an increase of 17% compared to year-end 2017 (DKK 5.6 billion).



Our first-half result confirms that our strategic initiatives and growth measures are paying off, says Group CEO Jens-Peter Saul. We have achieved strong organic growth with significant improvements in the US, UK, Middle East and Asia and in our Environment & Health international business unit. We are also pleased by enhanced organic growth in Norway, whereas we are impacted by reduced public investment in transport and energy in Denmark.

Looking ahead, we will continue our strategic priorities for 2020 to ensure that Ramboll is at the forefront of digital development and create value for our clients through innovation and digitalisation. We will also concentrate on our global Spearhead services, which are already performing well, as drivers for future growth.

We are continuously increasing our order book and we are confident that we will finish 2018 with strong growth and a profit on level with last year, says Jens-Peter Saul.

Large-scale projects worldwide

Across all markets, Ramboll succeeded in winning and delivering inspiring, high-profile projects around the world.

In the US, Ramboll has entered into a pioneering collaboration agreement with Stanford University to develop Danish water technology solutions and apply these to Californias new groundwater program. In recent years, California has faced problems with groundwater pollution and decreasing groundwater levels due to long-lasting drought and a booming agricultural industry. One of the projects focus areas is to map the California groundwater with a combination of systematic helicopter missions and detailed mapping of the subsoil to manage groundwater resources in a more efficient and sustainable way.

In Denmark, Ramboll won the competition to design Denmarks tallest residential building, which will be situated on the harbour front in Aarhus. The clay subsoil in Aarhus harbour poses special challenges for the foundations, which means that new methods are needed - including some never used before in Denmark. The iconic building therefore calls for engineering expertise far beyond the ordinary, and Rambolls foreign high-rise experts were a decisive factor in winning the project.

In India, Ramboll won a significant contract for detailed design services and technical support during the construction of Indias longest sea bridge. The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, joining Mumbai with the satellite city of Navi Mumbai, will be a six-lane highway with two emergency exit lanes and a length of 21.8 kilometres. The new bridge will play a crucial role in future growth in India, providing access to new jobs and housing for hundreds of thousands of people in the fast-growing Navi Mumbai when completed by the end of 2022.

In Cyprus, Ramboll will provide consultancy services in support of the retrofit of environmental emission abatement technologies and for natural gas infrastructure and heavy fuel oil to natural gas boiler conversion works at Vasilikos power station. The power station, the largest in Cyprus comprising five separate generating units, will undergo significant environmental performance improvement works and also preparatory works for fuel conversion to natural gas, aligned with plans to bring natural gas to Cyprus.

Key figures and financial ratios H1 2018 H1 2018 H1 2017 2017 Income statement, DKK million

EUR m Revenue 762.5 5,680.8 5,432.4 10,740.3 Operating profit before depreciation and amort. (EBITDA) 47.2 351.7 365.4 788.3 Operating profit before goodwill amort. (EBITA) 36.9 275.2 278.9 618.9 Operating profit (EBIT) 24.7 183.7 268.4 441.1 Profit before tax 27.5 204.6 183.2 307.8 Profit for the period 15.9 118.5 101.9 146.1

Balance sheet Total assets 890.7 6,635.6 6,091.0 6,412.6 Total equity 296.4 2,208.5 2,180.3 2,180.1 Net interest-bearing cash/ (debt) (78.4 ) (584.3 ) (90.7 ) 81.3

Cash flow, DKK million

Cash flow from operating activities (15.3 ) (113.8 ) (28.0 ) 317.1 Investment in tangible assets, net (11.7 ) (87.2 ) (63.1 ) (147.9 )

Free cash flow (27.0 ) (201.0 ) (91.1 ) 169.2 Acquisitions of companies (49.5 ) (368.8 ) (101.4 ) (116.0 )

Employees Number of employees, end of period 14,020 13,263 13,401 Number of full-time employee equivalents 12,748 12,432 12,527

Financial ratios in % Revenue growth 4.6 0.4 1.2 Organic growth 7.1 0.5 2.8 EBITDA margin 6.2 6.7 7.3 EBITA margin 4.8 5.1 5.8 EBIT margin 3.2 4.9 4.1 Return on invested capital (ROIC) 14.9 15.3 17.9 Return on equity (ROE) 7.4 9.6 6.7 Cash conversion ratio (8.8 ) 20.5 64.5 Equity ratio 33.3 35.7 34.0

About Ramboll

Ramboll is a leading engineering, design and consultancy company founded in Denmark in 1945. The company employs more than 14,000 people globally and has especially strong representation in the Nordics, UK, North America, Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific.



With 300 offices in 35 countries, Ramboll combines local experience with a global knowledgebase constantly striving to achieve inspiring and exacting solutions that make a genuine difference to our clients, the end-users, and society at large. Ramboll works across the following markets: Buildings, Transport, Planning & Urban Design, Water, Environment & Health, Energy and Management Consulting. www.ramboll.com



Ownership

The Ramboll Foundation is the main owner of Ramboll Group A/S and its main objective is to promote the companys continuance alongside the long-term development of the company, its employees and the communities it serves. All shares in Ramboll Group A/S are owned either by the Ramboll Foundation (98%) or by employees in Ramboll (2%).

Contact

Jens-Peter Saul, Group Chief Executive Officer, +45 5161 1893, CEO@ramboll.com

Marianne Srensen, Group Chief Financial Officer, +45 5161 1893, MASRE@ramboll.comPresident Trump announced Wednesday that White House Counsel Donald McGahn, who has been serving since the beginning of the administration in 2017, will step down in the coming weeks.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington 

Though McGahn was an early supporter and advisor to Trumps campaign, tensions between the president and the attorney have been growing in recent months, especially as it became clear that McGahn could emerge as a significant witness in any obstruction of justice case against the president.

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The New York Times reported recently that McGahn had spent 30 hours with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is leading the probe into whether Trumps campaign colluded with Russians and whether Trump intervened to obstruct that investigation.

According to the report, McGahns cooperation with the special counsel was driven by a concern that the president, who initially authorized all of his associates to speak with investigators, might have been setting him up to take the blame for possible wrongdoing in a potential obstruction of justice case. Trump responded to the report by tweeting last week that he allowed McGahn to speak to Mueller.

During an event at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, Trump told reporters that he had no concerns about what McGahn told Mueller.

I have a lot of affection for Don, Trump said. Hes done an excellent job.

But Trump, who has sometimes struggled to comprehend or accept that government officials are not tasked with defending his personal interests, privately has lashed out at McGahn on several occasions.

He blamed McGahn for not preventing Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recusal from the Mueller probe last year, and demanded last summer that McGahn fire Mueller. McGahn reportedly threatened to resign rather than carry out the order and the president relented.

McGahn, who was the general counsel for Trumps campaign, has focused much of his efforts as White House counsel on the appointment of conservative judges to the nations top courts and to cutting federal regulations, both of which have endeared him to Republicans in Congress.

Following Trumps tweet Wednesday about McGahns departure, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) expressed his displeasure in a tweet of his own.

@realDonaldTrump I hope its not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U cant let that happen, Grassley wrote.

Grassleys acknowledgement of ignorance was unusual. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, typically he would be informed by the administration, especially one of the same party, about such a significant change at the White House counsel office.

Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who has worked closely with McGahn to put a conservative stamp on the federal judiciary, issued a statement saying that if its true hes leaving the White House, that is sad news for our country. McConnell, who came to the Senate 33 years ago, called McGahn the most impressive White House counsel during my time in Washington.

Trumps announcement came just hours after the website Axios reported that McGahn would leave some time this fall, and shortly after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters she had no announcements to make at this time.

The president took matters into his own hands with his tweet hours after he began the day by urging his Twitter followers not to believe any anonymously sourced news reports. The Axios report he later confirmed was based on anonymous White House sources.

Veteran attorney Emmet Flood, who joined the White House legal team earlier this year, is the likeliest replacement for McGahn, according to two administration sources, who cautioned that no final decision has been made.

Flood was a special counsel to President George W. Bush and previously advised President Clinton during the impeachment investigation in the late 1990s.

eli.stokols@latimes.com | Twitter: @stokols

noah.bierman@latimes.com | Twitter: @noahbierman

UPDATES:

12:25 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from President Trump on Wednesday.

10:05 a.m.: This article was updated with Sen. Mitch McConnells statement and additional details.

8:55 a.m.: This article was updated with Sen. Charles E. Grassleys comments and other background.

This article was originally published at 7:45 a.m.Stranded on the side of a Wisconsin road, friends and fellow ministers Demetrius Williams and John Patterson felt a sense of relief when they spotted a Waukesha County sheriffs cruiser peel away from the traffic and pull up behind them.

The duo had been on their way back to Milwaukee from a fishing trip in May when a tire on Pattersons boat trailer blew out on Interstate 94 in Brookfield, the Journal Sentinel reported. He called his insurance company, who said they would be along with a spare in the next half hour to 40 minutes  so Patterson and Williams waited alongside the Chevy Silverado as traffic continued to zip by.

Deputy Erik Michalsen pulled over next to them and asked if theyd requested help. Once Patterson finished explaining their situation, Michalsen, the men say, asked them whether they had any drugs, guns or alcohol in the vehicle.

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The deputy also asked for both of their licenses  standard procedure, he told them  but not once did he offer them any help, according to the men.

Were pastors driving home from fishing, and yet were treated with suspicion when we should have been offered assistance, Williams told the Journal Sentinel.

Michalsen allegedly slapped an orange sticker on their boat and drove off, leaving the friends both enraged and stranded.

Instead we were treated with suspicion and background checked, Patterson told CBS 58. Instead we were treated like criminals because were African American men.

Common Ground, a faith-based activist organization recently announced its plans to investigate the possibility of racial profiling during the traffic stop. The group during a demonstration outside the Sheriffs office Monday morning said they delivered a letter to authorities requesting more information on the incident, which happened in May.

Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson in a statement denied racism was a factor, emphasizing that racially biased policing is not trained, condoned or tolerated. He added that they took the pastors allegations seriously and have already taken steps to investigate the motor assist incident.

The Sheriff also said members of Common Ground had already been offered access to the departments full investigative report regarding the incident.

No violations of policy, training, or procedure have been uncovered during this investigation, Severson continued. I have reasonably concluded that no evidence exists that actions taken by deputies were motivated by race. No detention, arrest, use of force, or other unprofessional conduct has been identified.

The department conducted an investigation without speaking to either Williams or Patterson, according to the Washington Post. Michalsen asks every driver he approaches about weapons and drugs, it said.

Now Common Ground is requesting records of Michalsens past 45 days of narratives from traffic stops and disabled vehicle interactions. It is also requesting the community share its experiences with the Waukesha Sheriffs Department  both good and bad  under #waukeshasheriffstories.

This goes way beyond these two men. Theres a whole community of people affected by this every day, Common Ground executive director Keish Krumm told the Post.

We have a suspicion this is a pattern.What kind of voters support malfeasance?

Re Hunter polling at 47 percent; Campa-Najjar has 39 percent (Aug. 28): Really? How can that be? Sixty counts by federal prosecutors, stripped of committee responsibilities by Paul Ryan, throwing his wife under the bus, embarrassing his Marine heritage and then calling the whole thing politically motivated. OK, I get it. Some are die-hard Hunter supporters, no matter what; some dont believe what they read or see; some see any Democrat opponent as a lefty who will turn America into a socialist/communist state; and a very few are racists and would never vote for a candidate with Mexican and Palestinian roots (Ammar Campa-Najjar).

But what about the majority of Republicans? What about morals, values, principles, integrity, honesty? Dont these things matter any more? If not, this republic is headed for trouble. Our wise Founding Fathers set up our system of government based on checks and balances and the rule of law.

Take a step back voters and re-evaluate. Voting for Duncan Hunter sends the wrong message to our children too.

Advertisement

Arthur Pearl

Ranch Bernardo

I thought Republicans were for law and order. Yet, the article by Joshua Emerson Smith reports that 72 percent of Republicans in a new poll say that Duncan Hunters indictment either made no difference or actually increased their support for him.

Allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands from campaign funds and lying to cover it up doesnt raise their hackles just a little bit? What am I missing about the new Republican Party?

Darrell Netherton

North Park

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.Pursuant to the Notice of 7 August 2018, an Extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders of Prosafe SE was held today, 29 August 2018, at Prosafe's offices, Forusparken 2, 4031 Stavanger, Norway.

As follows from the attached Minutes from the Extraordinary General Meeting, all items on the agenda were duly approved as proposed in the Notice.

Prosafe is a leading owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS. For more information, please refer to www.prosafe.com

Stavanger, 29 August 2018

Prosafe SE

For further information, please contact:

Glen Ole Rdland, Chairman

Phone: +47 907 41 662

Jesper K. Andresen, CEO

Phone: +47 907 65 155

Stig Harry Christiansen, Deputy CEO and CFO

Phone: +47 478 07 813



Californias most ambitious green-energy plan yet got praise and some questions after legislators in Sacramento voted on Tuesday to make 100 percent of the states electricity come from carbon-free sources by 2045.

The State Assembly voted 44 to 33 approving the bill, similar to one previously passed on the State Senate floor in 2017, bring it closer to making California the second state after Hawaii to set high clean energy targets. A final agreement is expected to be reached by Friday, The New York Times reported, which would then head to Gov. Jerry Browns desk for a signature.

Environmentalists, world leaders and others praised the bill.

So, what makes the 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018 so remarkable? Here are some of points that made this one of the biggest news conversations of the day.

California has huge influence

As some have noted, including energy expert Jesse Jenkins, the 2045 clean energy goal is a significant one in California given that it is the fifth largest economy in the world and carries so much influence over other states and countries.

California also has some of the strictest tailpipe emission standards for vehicles  a set of standard that the Trump administration is challenging.

One Assemblywoman, Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, put it more bluntly in The Desert Sun: "As California goes, so does the nation. And as the United States goes, so does the world.

California has a long way to go, but its making good progress

Bloomberg News reports that California still relies heavily on fossil fuels to power the millions of homes, businesses and factories all over the state. Coal and other fuels make up 13 percent of the states energy sources, according to the California Energy Commission.

A former broker, Ron Loewen, shared that pie graph on Twitter.

There is some confidence that renewable energy like solar and wind is on the uptick. Construction for solar and wind generation soared after 2002, the MIT Technology Review reported.

California is also on its way to get 50 percent of its energy from renewables by the year 2020, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Some still skeptical that the bill doesnt do enough

To reverse carbon emission trends that scientists say contribute to global warming, world leaders and countries have largely backed the climate change Paris Agreement which aims to keep global average temperatures at 2 degrees Celsius or lower.

The U.S. remains part of that agreement but in 2017 President Donald Trump said he would pull the nation out of the Paris Agreement.

Even with Californias ambitious goal, one meteorologist on Twitter said the bill doesnt do enough unless the entire United States is on board.

Whats next for California?

Whats next is a signature from Gov. Jerry Brown, but one HuffPost reporter tweeted Wednesday afternoon that the governor seems to be withholding his signature on the bill to persuade state lawmakers to back his own priorities, including a measure to create an expanded Western electricity market.

Will Gov. Brown sign it? What will California look like under a 100-percent carbon-free electric grid?

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Read The Conversation on Flipboard.Since Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, and his wife, Margaret, were charged a week ago on 60 counts in a federal indictment alleging they spent some $250,000 in campaign contributions on lavish vacations, meals and personal items, the couple has been in the news often but only the congressman has spoken publicly in interviews.

Hunter has said the corruption charges are politically motivated and meant to undermine his re-election campaign.

On Thursday, Hunter said of his wife to a Fox News reporter: She handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress. ... She was also the campaign manager. Whatever she did, that'll be looked at too, I'm sure, but I didn't do it." He added, "I didn't spend any money illegally."

On Tuesday, a day after Hunters blaming of his wife became an internet meme, he told 10 News, the ABC affiliate in San Diego: Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it. Its me theyre after anyway. Theyre not after my wife; they want to take me down, thats what theyre up to. So lets get this in the arena and have this settled."

Both Hunter and his wife pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court last week, but in an appearance on Fox News The Story with Martha MacCallum, the five-term congressman said his campaign made mistakes and that his wife had power of attorney and oversaw family expenses as well as campaign funds.

You also said yesterday that your wife handled a lot of the family expenses and campaign finances, so are you saying that its more her fault than your fault? MacCallum asked Hunter.

Thats when Hunter explained how his wife handled his finances while he was in the military and later in Congress, saying, she was his campaign manager. Whatever she did, thatll be looked at, too, Im sure, he said. But I didnt do it.

After the interview aired last Thursday, some voters interviewed by The San Diego Union-Tribune in his 50th Congressional District said they were disappointed in him and said they would not vote for him. Others stood by him, and still others took issue with his shifting of the blame to his wife.

On Friday, a four-woman panel on Fox News also tore into Hunter for blaming his own wife.

Stutter much? said Capri Cafaro, a contributor to the Washington Examiner. This guy  his body language, the way hes presenting himself  clearly I know hes innocent until proven guilty but let me say a few things about this: what kind of wimp blames their wife?

politics, comedy

The internet has also been unforgiving territory for the congressman. Dozens of critics and would-be comedians, including a handful of prominent Hollywood actors such as Bradley Whitford, Patton Oswalt. Ed Asner, Elizabeth Perkins and Patricia Arquette, have been jokingly blaming Hunters wife for personal errors or bad life choices.

The Hunters were both named in a 60-count indictment alleging they committed a number of crimes, including wire fraud, falsifying records and misusing campaign contributions, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported last week when federal prosecutors filed the charges.

Hunter, facing re-election in November, was at a campaign event Tuesday on Shelter Island, where he pushed back on the criticism over his finger-pointing and told a camera, Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it.

This is not the first time another Hunter family member has been implicated in this scandal.

After the Federal Election Commission began questioning Hunter over campaign spending on video games in 2016, his then-spokesman Joe Kasper said the candidates teenage son used the campaigns credit card for one video game purchase, the Union-Tribune reported.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Read The Conversation on Flipboard.A visually spectacular updated version of The Phantom of the Opera is playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre that is guaranteed be a wonderful treat for both longtime fans and newcomers to the multi-award-winning musical.

Playing through Sunday, Cameron Mackintoshs new production of Andrew Lloyd Webbers show has been reinvented through both its staging and scenic design. According to Mackintosh in a press release, talk to update the show that debuted in 1986 began more than a decade ago and was unveiled in 2012 when this new production featuring a set design by Paul Brown opened on stage.

What Brown has created is a visually stunning late 19th century Paris Opera House that portrays its opulence, especially during Act 2s Grand Ballroom scene during Masquerade that features a gold and mirrored room. The mirrors surrounding and above allow for the audience to see more of the actors as they dance around to celebrate New Years Eve.

Combined with the opera stage set  it features two beautiful gold-covered opera box scenic elements  the richness and beauty of the opera world is contrasted even more greatly with the dark starkness of The Phantoms underground lair to which he drags his beloved Christine. The portion of the opera house visible to the public and its internal structure are interestingly and creatively presented as the scenes transition.

In addition, the new chandelier designed by Howard Eaton  well known for its role in a pivotal scene at the close of Act 1  is stunning. It features more than 6,000 beads (with 632 beads per strand) and weighs 1 ton, per a press release.

As for the cast members, they aptly rise to the challenge of not being overshadowed by the set. The leads  Quentin Oliver Lee as The Phantom, Eva Tavares as the young ballerina turned opera star Christine Daae and Jordan Craig as Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny  are terrific. Their voices are golden and their acting believable, pulling one into their complicated love triangle that is as tragic and sad as it is terrifying. While it can be believed that in some way The Phantom truly loves Christine, his deadly obsession for her is psychologically damaging, abusive and selfish. In contrast, Raouls love for her is much more pure and what a true romance should be. Yet, due to the cruelty The Phantom claims to have experienced since birth, Lee manages to make him both a terrifying yet sympathetic figure. One can almost forgive him for his actions, were they not so murderous.

Tavares is wonderful portraying the torment experienced by Christine as events unfold. The seemingly naive and sheltered young woman is torn between her love of music, a misunderstood promise from her deceased father, a welcomed romance from a childhood friend and a mix of admiration, gratitude and eventual fear of her Angel of Music who anonymously guides her career until her mythical angel decides to make his very human, disfigured appearance known.

As for Craig, he is wonderful as well in showing his bravery and romantic side as the love-struck Raoul, who is willing to risk all to save his beloved Christine.

All three have gorgeous opera voices, as does Trista Moldovan as the diva Carlotta Giudicelli and Phumzile Sojola as her co-star Ubaldo Piangi. Both are among The Phantoms unfortunate victims in his attempts to take over his opera house and make Christine its star. Also deserving note for their performances are David Foley, Jr. (who played Monsieur Firmin through Tuesday  he has been succeeded in the role by David Benoit) and Rob Lindley as Monsieur Andre. The opera house owners provide many of the shows comedic moments that are aptly placed throughout to provide additional emotional impact when The Phantom wreaks his terror on the opera houses performers and crew members.

With such an iconic and well-known show, all have big expectations to fill, especially vocally, and none disappoint. All the beloved songs including Think of Me, The Music of the Night, All I Ask of You, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and The Point of No Return were performed with perfection. Combined with creative staging, lovely choreography, a very talented supporting cast and 17 orchestra members, this show easily meets the expectations presented in previous versions.

The Phantom of the Opera can be seen in matinee and evening performances through Sunday, Sept. 2 at the San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 3rd and B St. in downtown San Diego. Tickets are $27.50 to $186.50. Discounts for groups of 10-plus are available. Purchase at broadwaysd.com.

email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.Colorado Springs, Colorado, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Swimming Pool Foundation (NSPF) announces recipients of the 2018 Step Into Swim (SIS) Campaign, a 10-year initiative to create one million more swimmers. NSPF is humbled by the generosity of forward thinking organizations and individuals who support SIS, thereby enabling more people to enjoy happier and healthier living through water-based activities.

Teaching children to swim should be the number one charitable outreach of our industry, suggests NSPF CEO, Thomas Lachocki, Ph. D. Not only is swimming a vital life skill that opens the door to a world of activities, but knowing how to swim reduces the likelihood that a child will drown by 88%. That statistic is even more impressive than that of seatbelts, attributed to reducing toddler fatality by 54% percent, according to the CDC.

The following organizations will benefit from the $112,000 received this year: Angels of Americas Fallen, YMCA of Greater Charlotte, Jewish Community Center Association, New York State Parks, SwimToday (a program of USA Swimming), Cincinnati Public School System, and many individual learn to swim programs selected by Master Pools Guild members and dealers of Pentair and Hayward. All donated funds are directed toward learn to swim programs, with NSPF covering all administrative cost.

There is nothing more important to the short-term and long-term health of the pool industry than ensuring more peopleespecially the youngest among usare comfortable and safe around water, says Lauren Stack, NSPF, Managing Director  Residential Division. The fact that donations to SIS are nearly double this year shows that industry leaders are increasingly behind an effort to support learn to swim organizations throughout the country, adds Stack.

Master Pools Guild (MPG) has contributed $120,000 to SIS over the past three years. Executive Director Dick Covert recognizes that swimming builds demand for the industry, short and long term. For this reason, Covert states, We want to help NSPF create a culture of giving among builders and service companies, directed toward learn to swim organizations local to them. Joining MPG in dealer outreach this year are Pentair, Hayward, and the Florida Swimming Pool Association.

Angels of Americas Fallen (AoAF) is a fourth-year SIS recipient that supports children of fallen military and first responders by engaging them in healthy activities throughout their entire childhood. The SIS grant supports their Lessons from Lylah program (Lessons), named in honor of a twoyear old girl who fell into the family pool and tragically drowned while on AoAFs wait list. Through Lessons, all children within AoAFor on their waitlistmay receive swim lessons free of charge. NSPF is the Title Sponsor for AoAFs 2019 Angel Gala, to be held February 16, 2019, in Colorado Springs, where Lylahs mother will be the keynote speaker. The American Chemistry Council is supporting the program and NSPF will seek additional donations from the industry for the Gala, 100% of which will provide lessons from Lylah.

Another perennial benefactor of SIS funding is the New York State Parks Learn to Swim program. Over six years, the program has expanded from a single location to 28, reaching well over 3,000 children each year. The program, made possible through a partnership with American Red Cross, is heavily backed by Governor Cuomo, the New York Department of Health, the Natural Heritage Trust, the Northeast Spa & Pools Association Foundation, and general industry donations to SIS. This is a great example of government, non-profits, and industry collaborating and changing thousands of peoples lives for the better, says NSPF Board Chairman Bruce Dunn. SIS is looking for the next state to step up and follow New Yorks successful blueprint.

Two new programs for lower-income populations received SIS grants this year. The YMCA of Greater Charlotte, South Carolina, received $10,000 to augment $140,000 in additional funding to teach swimming and water safety to children living in apartment complexes around the city. Most, if not all, of the pools in such complexes are unguarded and have been the sites of drownings and near drownings in the recent past. A second program is led by Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), which is partnering with the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati to pilot a program with the eventual goal of giving all first and second graders swimming lessons and water safety instruction. Because 88% of CPS students qualify for free lunches, the Bill Kent Family Foundation is directing their $10,000 donation to fund the pilot effort. Dr. Bill Kent, CEO of Team Horner Group and native of Cincinnati, says I am most pleased to support this program that reaches some of the most economically disadvantaged among us.

Every dollar donated to Step Into Swim goes directly toward qualified learn to swim programs. To help change the world, one swimmer at a time, and to learn more about Step Into Swim, visit stepintoswim.org .

About the National Swimming Pool Foundation

We believe everything we do helps people live happier and healthier lives. Whether its encouraging more aquatic activity, making pools safer, or keeping pools open, we believe we make a difference. Founded in 1965 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, NSPF proceeds go to fund education, research, and to help create swimmers. For a full listing of the NSPF family of products, programs, and services, visit nspf.org.

AttachmentEnglish Norwegian

Orkla ASA has on 29 August 2018 bought 320,000 Orkla shares through broker at an average price of NOK 70.4242 per share.

Orkla's total holding of treasury shares after this transaction is 19.410.259 shares.

The share buy-back programme initiated 16 July 2018 is now completed.

Orkla ASA

Oslo, 29 August 2018



Ref.:



IR & Communications Manager

Elise A. Heidenreich

Tel.: +47 951 41 147

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.Does the president have the right to silence people who criticize him or his policies? Woodrow Wilson thought so.

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Earlier this month, President Trump, angered over critical reporting by journalists, pondered via Twitter whether he should revoke their press credentials. This bitter feud between press and president has raised an old question: Does the president have the right to silence people who criticize him or his policies?

Congress debated that question 100 years ago and believed so strongly in such executive privilege that it passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts to stifle dissent in America.

President Woodrow Wilson expected criticism after he asked Congress to declare war on Germany, sending America into World War I. He had, after all, been elected on his record of keeping the U.S. out of the war. Now hed committed the country to that contest, and he knew hed need strong public support for the war effort. He would tolerate no criticism that might discourage military enlistment, the sale of war bonds, or cooperation with rationing programs. He needed loyal Americans  loyal, that is, to his plans.

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But there were strong anti-war feelings among pacifists, socialists, and union organizers, as well as immigrants. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were eight million first- and second-generation Germans living in the U.S. Many retained a strong attachment to the land of their birth. Wilson believed they might dampen the war effort with pro-German sentiments, and he feared German agents hid among them, embedded at all levels of American society. German saboteurs had already destroyed a major munitions depot in New York Harbor.

Wilson proposed a bill to silence criticism of the war. The result was the Espionage Act, which became law on June 15, 1917, and prohibited anyone from aiding Americas enemies in wartime or interfering with the armed forces and its recruitment efforts. It also made it illegal to make false statements that disrupted military operations, promoted the enemys success, or led to insubordination or disloyalty.

But the Espionage Act didnt end the dissent. A Montana rancher publicly called President Wilson a Wall Street tool and said hed leave the country rather than go to war. He was tried under the Espionage Act but acquitted on appeal because he didnt directly affect war efforts. In response, the U.S. attorney general called for a law to broaden the Acts powers.

So Congress extended government control to affect speech and writing. The Sedition Act of 1918 made it a crime to use disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about Americas government, its flag, or its armed forces. Making any statement that inspired contempt in others for the government or its institutions was also outlawed.

Theodore Roosevelt protested the law, saying it was a proposal to make Americans subjects instead of citizens.

But some legislators thought it didnt go far enough to root out dissident thinking. A New Mexico congressman was disappointed the Act didnt provide the death penalty. And an unsigned editorial in The Washington Post stated, Enemy propaganda must be stopped, even if a few lynchings may occur.

The Saturday Evening Post editors supported the Act. The government didnt need a sedition law to protect itself, they said, but it had to show patriotic Americans it wouldnt allow anyone to criticize their loyalty or the national cause. This explanation probably referred to the mobs of outraged citizens who had attacked and even lynched people suspected of disloyalty.

It was in the Posts best interest to support the law at the time. Had the editors been critical instead, the Sedition Act would have empowered the postmaster general to block all delivery of the Post, as he had with other publications.

Two thousand cases were tried under the Sedition Act, half of which resulted in conviction. It was invoked most often in Western states, where it was used frequently to prosecute members of what was considered a radical workers group, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

The Sedition Act was repealed in 1920 and the offenders were pardoned, though well after the war had ended. The U.S. attorney responsible for the pardons praised the government for detaining a number of dissidents in prison after the war to set an example of firmness that will go down in history as a warning to those who in the future might be inclined to harbinger and harass the government.

As much as the president would enjoy being able to legally silence his detractors, their public criticism is still protected by law.

Featured image: ShutterstockWeekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join

This column by American studies professor Ben Railton explores the connections between Americas past and present.

One hundred fifty years ago, Andrew Johnson became the first president of the United States to be impeached.

In 1864, facing a stiff challenge to his reelection campaign from Democratic nominee (and former Union general) George McClellan, President Abraham Lincoln decided to replace his current vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, on the ticket with a Democrat, Tennessee Senator and military governor Andrew Johnson. This choice allowed Lincoln and Johnson to run under the banner of the newly created National Union Party, emphasizing opposition to the Confederacy across the nation (and especially in contested border states like Tennessee). It was a pragmatic and clever strategic move, and likely contributed greatly to Lincolns eventual easy victory over McClellan in November 1864.

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Yet as early as inauguration day, March 4, 1865, there were indications that Lincolns practical decision might have also been a mistake. Johnson may have been drunk at the inauguration (he had been witnessed drinking heavily at a party the night before and asked Hannibal Hamlin for two additional drinks just before the inauguration began), and in any case delivered a rambling, belligerent speech that was hastily cut off when Hamlin swore him in as the new vice president. And this ominous opening foreshadowed what would become, after Lincolns tragic April 14th assassination, one of the most divisive and destructive presidencies in American history.

Johnson continued his pattern of belligerent and bellicose public statements as President. When supporters came to the White House in February 1866 for a Washingtons Birthday celebration, Johnson addressed them in another long, rambling speech, highlighting his own accomplishments more than 200 times and attacking men still opposed to the Union who were as much laboring to pervert or destroy [fundamental American principles] as were the men who fought against us. When pressed by audience members, he named Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner (among others) as these enemies. In August and September of that year he would embark on a national speaking tour unprecedented for a sitting president; known as the Swing Around the Circle, the tour featured more than twenty rallies in which Johnson continued to attack Congressional enemies and make the case for his divisive Presidential Reconstruction policies ahead of the November midterm elections.

Those extreme Presidential Reconstruction policies truly defined Johnsons divisive and disastrous administration, both on their own terms and in contrast to what might have been the case had Lincoln not been killed. Although Johnson had been perceived as a moderate on issues of slavery and sectionalism prior to and during the Civil War, as president he revealed himself to be both a staunch ally of the neo-Confederate South and a virulent white supremacist. Among his earliest presidential proclamations, Johnson first recognized a provisional Virginia government that was practicing policies of forgiveness toward ex-Confederates and then provided federal amnesty for nearly all ex-rebels. He went on to support additional amnesty policies such as one that allowed ex-Confederates (such as former vice president of the Confederacy Alexander Stephens) to serve in Congress; since Johnsons administration likewise opposed proposals for African American voting rights, nearly all of the Southerners elected to Congress in these early post-war years were former Confederates.

Johnsons opposition to post-war rights for African Americans went far beyond opposing suffrage proposals. In February 1866 he vetoed a bill that would have extended the vital operations of the Freedmens Bureau beyond the agencys scheduled 1867 abolition, claiming that the law would not be consistent with the public welfare. In March of the same year he vetoed the groundbreaking Civil Rights Bill, arguing in his veto message that the distinction of race and color is by the bill made to operate in favor of the colored against the white race. Johnson also opposed the 14th Amendment and campaigned extensively (if unsuccessfully) against its ratification by the states, solidifying his administrations overall hostility to nearly all Reconstruction measures that focused on civil rights rather than reintegrating the Confederate South into the nation as smoothly as possible.

All those conflicts contributed to Johnsons February 1868 impeachment by the House of Representatives, but it was his blatant, authoritarian violation of a specific law that directly precipitated the Congressional action. During his 1866 speaking tour, Johnson had pledged to fire Cabinet secretaries who did not agree with him (especially those who had been appointed under Lincoln), and in March 1867 he vetoed the Tenure of Office Act, which required Senate approval for such firings; Congress overrode his veto and passed the act into law. Throughout that year Johnson battled with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointee and advocate of Congressional Reconstruction, harsher treatment of former Confederates, and African American rights. In August, with Congress out of session and unable to approve any Cabinet actions, Johnson demanded Stantons resignation; when Stanton refused, Johnson suspended him and replaced him with General of the Army Ulysses S. Grant. The conflict continued for many months, and when Johnson permanently dismissed Stanton in February 1868 without gaining Senate approval as required by law, the House of Representatives voted 128 to 47 to impeach.

After a three-month trial in the Senate, featuring so much wheeling and dealing that Johnson and his allies would later be investigated by Representative Benjamin Butler for bribery, the Senate on May 16, 1868, fell a single vote short of the two-thirds majority necessary to convict the president. Johnson would complete the remainder of his term, but as a deeply unpopular president; even his own Democratic Party denied him the 1868 presidential nomination in favor of former New York Governor Horatio Seymour (who would lose to the Republican nominee Ulysses S. Grant). On Christmas Day, 1868, Johnson took advantage of one of his last opportunities to further his neo-Confederate and white supremacist agendas, issuing a blanket amnesty that covered all former Confederates including the Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Johnsons political career did not quite end with Grants election, as he made a successful run for a Tennessee Senate seat (at that time still decided by the state legislature) in early 1875. He would only serve for a few months before dying unexpectedly of a stroke in July, but during that time expressed his neo-Confederate views one last time (his only official remarks during his brief Senate term), criticizing Grants use of federal troops in Louisiana and asking, How far off is military despotism? One final belligerent and extreme remark from a president who remains one of the most divisive and destructive in American history.Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/29/2018 -- A fresh report has been added to the wide database of Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE). The research study is titled "Hydrofluoric Acid Market: China to Lead in Terms of Both Supply & Demand Throughout the Forecast Period: Global Industry Analysis 2013-2017 and Opportunity Assessment 2018-2028" which encloses important data about the production, consumption, revenue and market share, merged with information related to the market scope and product overview.



Get Direct Copy of this Report @ https://www.mrrse.com/sample/16980



Hydrofluoric acid, also referred to as hydrogen fluoride (HF), is a weak acid and a highly toxic and corrosive substance. It is manufactured through two processes: Fluorspar and Fluorosilicic acid. More than 90% of the hydrogen fluoride is produced using fluorspar whereas fluorosilicic acid based hydrogen fluoride accounts for a relatively smaller share (~5-8%).



Hydrofluoric acid is majorly used as an intermediate or starting material for the manufacturing of a number of a fluorochemicals used as refrigerants and air conditioning agents. It can be used in the anhydrous form -- anhydrous hydrofluoric acid (AHF) -- or in the dilute form -- aqueous hydrofluoric acid. The dilution ratio can vary as per the requirements. Two most popularly used aqueous grades  40%-50% and 70%-80% -- are used across a number of applications. Sales revenue of Hydrofluoric Acid is expected to be approximately 4,313.2 Mn in 2018.



Factors Influencing Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market Growth



Hydrofluoric Acid is used as an intermediate or starting material for the production of a number of fluorochemicals. It is widely used as a raw material and fluorine source for the manufacturing of fluorocarbons, such as HCFCs, HFCs and HFOs, used in air conditioning and refrigeration equipment. However, the use of such chemicals has been stringently regulated by government and environmental protection organisations, such as US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Fluoropolymers, such as PTFE, are increasingly being manufactured from hydrofluoric acid. That apart, growing use of hydrofluoric acid in cable wires, cookwares and other applications is projected to create traction in the Hydrofluoric Acid market long run.



Hydrofluoric acid is also used in the manufacturing of aluminium fluoride, which is predominantly used as a raw material for the manufacturing of aluminium. An increase in the use of aluminium across major end-use industries, such as automotive, packaging and others, has been noticed over the past few years, which will lead to the growth of hydrofluoric acid market.



Hydrofluoric acid is also used in steel pickling and metal treatment to remove layers and stains from a surface and give it shine and finish. Other industries, such as glass etching, uranium fuel production, petroleum catalyst, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and other niche applications, are also projected to drive the demand for hydrofluoric acid in the coming decade.



To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in this market, click the link below: https://www.mrrse.com/hydrofluoric-acid-market



However, the global Hydrofluoric Acid Market is projected to face numerous challenges. For starters, fluorspar -- the raw material majorly used for hydrofluoric acid production -- is unevenly distributed, with more than 50% of the reserves located in China. To benefit the local manufacturers, China has restricted the export of fluorspar to the other regions, thereby creating a significantly negative impact on the profitability and margins of manufacturers.



Thus, the manufacturers are entering into long-term supply agreements with raw material suppliers and are also investing in the development of other novel technologies that do not require fluorspar for the production of hydrofluoric acid.Ho



Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market Segmentation and Forecast



The Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market is segmented on the basis of grade, application and region. On the basis of grade, the Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market is segmented into anhydrous and aqueous. On the basis of application, the Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market can be segmented into fluorochemicals, steel pickling/metal treatment, petroleum catalyst, glass etching, electronics and semiconductors and others. On the basis of region, the Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, SEA and Pacific, China, India, Japan and MEA.



Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market Analysis, by Grade



On the basis of grade, the Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market is dominated by the anhydrous grade, which is majorly being used for the manufacturing of fluorochemicals, which account for more than 60% of the overall demand for hydrofluoric acid. The aqueous grade or the dilute form of hydrofluoric acid is used for applications, such as steel pickling and metal processing, rust removing and other such applications, which account for a relatively small share.



Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market Analysis, by Application



The use of hydrofluoric acid as an intermediate for the manufacturing of fluorochemicals is the largest application segment accounting for a share of ~65% in the overall demand. Other applications, such as metal processing, steel pickling, metal surface treatment, amongst others, are projected to expand significantly over the forecast period. Hydrofluoric acid is also being widely used in the glass etching process to provide finish and shine to the glass surface and to improve the fuel efficiency in the alkylation process in the petrochemical industry.



Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market Analysis, by Region



From a regional perspective, China is projected to lead the Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market, both in terms of production and consumption of hydrofluoric acid. The country has an added advantage of ease of raw material procurement and hence, the manufacturers are able to offer their products at relatively cheaper prices. The growth in end-use industries and increase in demand for fluorochemicals from the refrigeration and air conditioning system segments is projected to create significant opportunities in the market. India is also projected to expand at a relatively higher growth rate over the forecast period. Western Europe is considered as a relatively mature market and will witness sluggish growth owing to the stringent regulations regarding the use of fluorochemicals. North America imports a majority of the raw material, fluorspar, from Mexico and is expected to witness moderate growth rate. Latin America and MEA are projected to hold significant share in terms of production in the Global Hydrofluoric Acid Market. However, the consumption of hydrofluoric acid is projected to exhibit low volume and high growth.



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Email: sales@mrrse.comWilliston, VT -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/29/2018 -- Griswold Home Care, one of the leading non-medical home care providers in the state, celebrated its 15th year in business this past June. As the company assists the local communities with compassionate and personal home care services into its 16th year, now is the perfect time to reflect on the home care provider's incredible journey and an unmatched standard of care that has led the team to earn such a favorable reputation in the region.



What is now the oldest non-medical franchise home care agency in the country, Griswold Home Care was initially founded as a volunteer sitter service in 1982 by the late Jean Griswold. When Jean began the company at her dining room table, she was confined to a wheelchair due to her multiple sclerosis. Jean understood first-hand the importance of loving, daily support for those in need. After hearing the news of a local woman who had passed away after failing to find help for her daily activities, she knew something had to be done. Thus, Griswold Home Care was born.



All of the caregivers started out as volunteers until the company began to grow into a more established home care organization. From that point on, the biggest focus of Griswold Home Care has been finding and matching the right caregiver to meet the specific needs of each client. Jean passed away on January 28, 2017, but her legacy lives on in the hearts of every person that crossed her path, and in every Griswold Home Care agency across the nation.



Griswold Home Care Northern Vermont is just one of many Griswold Home Care agencies that follow Jean's vision of providing the highest standard of care with some of the most compassionate caregivers the world has seen. Griswold Home Care caregivers really take the time to get to know their clients and their families, which helps tremendously when caring for them on a daily basis. Whether it's only a few hours a week or 24-hour live-in care, Griswold Home Care is honored to be of assistance during a time of need.



To learn more about Griswold Home Care and the home care services it provides, give the company a call today at 802-662-1799 or visit http://www.GriswoldHomeCare.com/Northern-Vermont.



About Griswold Home Care Northern Vermont

Griswold Home Care Northern Vermont is a home care agency that has been proudly serving the Burlington, Vermont, area for over 15 years. David Rosen, a Registered Nurse (RN) and Executive Director of Griswold Home Care Northern Vermont, became passionate about the home care industry when he found his grandmother needed care. Since then, it has been his mission to help others age in place and live the most independent lifestyle possible. In addition to David, other devoted staff members include Sue Richardson, VP of Operations, Lauren Chase, Senior Care Coordinator/Community Liaison, and Kim Bombard, Care Coordinator. Sue, Lauren, and Kim work closely with every client to ensure his or her needs are met with the highest level of compassion, professionalism, and customer care. Ultimately, everything about the agency's culture is very personal, from the level of service to the extensive caregiver screening processes.



To learn more about Griswold Home Care and the services it offers, please visit http://www.GriswoldHomeCare.com/Northern-Vermont/.Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/28/2018 -- The growth of the insulated concrete form market can be attributed to the increase in demand for new constructions due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, coupled with large-scale investments in the residential sector. The rising number of construction activities in emerging economies and the increasing inclination toward sustainable construction methods are increasing the reliance on modern construction techniques, thereby creating growth opportunities for the insulated concrete form market.



To know about the assumptions considered for the study, download PDF brochure at https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=241701346



Based on end-use industry, the residential segment of the insulated concrete form market is expected to gain maximum traction during the forecast period.



The residential end-use industry segment is estimated to lead the insulated concrete form market in 2018. The growth of the residential end-use industry segment can be attributed to rapid urbanization, primarily driven by the surge in demand for new residential constructions worldwide. In addition, the increasing demand for energy-efficient and durable residential spaces is also contributing to the growth of the residential end-use industry segment of the insulated concrete form market.



Based on material, the expanded polystyrene foam segment is estimated to account for the largest share of the insulated concrete form market in 2018.



Expanded polystyrene foam is used in the residential and non-residential sectors for a wide range of applications, such as roofs, floors, and walls. The market for expanded polystyrene foam is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to its superior properties that include compressive strength, durability, moisture resistance, acoustic absorption, low thermal conductivity, and resistance to adverse climatic conditions.



The North America region accounted for the largest share of the insulated concrete form market.



North America contributed a major share to the insulated concrete form market in 2017. This large share can be attributed to the increasing residential projects in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The demand for insulated concrete form from the construction sector due to its energy-efficiency, durability, and eco-friendly properties is another significant factor driving the growth of the insulated concrete form market in North America. Additionally, government investments in residential constructions provide potential for growth of the insulated concrete form market in the North American region.



For more information, speak with analyst at https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=241701346



Key players operating in the insulated concrete form market include NUDURA Corporation (Canada), Quad-Lock Building Systems (Canada), AMVIC (Canada), Fox Blocks (US), BASF (Germany), LOGIX Insulated Concrete Forms (UK), ConForm Global (US), KORE (Ireland), Polycrete International (Canada), LiteForm (US), Sunbloc (UK), Rastra (US), SuperForm Products (Denmark), Durisol (Australia), and Beco Products (UK).



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sales@marketsandmarkets.comDublin, OH -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/29/2018 -- Rea & Associates, a regional CPA and business consulting firm, recently announced that a supervisor at its Dublin office completed an eight month leadership training program led and coordinated by the City of Dublin's Chamber of Commerce. According to an earlier announcement from a Rea spokesperson, Esselburn was honored as a member of the program's 2018 graduating class.



Leadership Dublin, according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce website, is an executive leadership program that provides participants with tools needed to become active and influential leaders in the Dublin community.



A spokesperson with Rea & Associates CPA went on to share that the firm's leadership considers the Leadership Dublin program to be a valuable resource for up-and-coming leaders within the firm.



"Our firm's guiding principles encourage us to be active and invested in our communities," explained Mark McKinley, CPA, principal and president of Rea's West Central Region, which includes the firm's Dublin and Lima offices. "We've had several team members participate in Leadership Dublin over the years and we have plans to send many more. Not only has this program proved to be incredibly educational to participants from a leadership perspective, more members of our Dublin team have become more active in the community than ever before. We are big fans of the great work the Chamber continues to do for our local business community, especially with regard to our up-and-coming professionals."



According to a public statement from Rea, Leadership Dublin encourages participants to participate in local community service initiatives and facilitate community-oriented projects.



During his tenure as a Leadership Dublin participant, Esselburn said he was a part of a group project that focused on creating and implementing a plan to develop an internet-based database for the Emerald Campus. The database is designed to connect students with businesses for the purpose of gaining experience and insight into their desired area of interest. The Emerald Campus, explained Esselburn, is a non-traditional learning environment that offers career exploration opportunities for students and young professionals.



"Leadership Dublin's eight month course was a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to network with other professionals in the Dublin area," said Esselburn. "City officials continue to take pride in making this city the best it can be and Dublin will continue to be a great place to live and work."



A graduate of Texas A&M University, Esselburn joined Rea & Associates in 2011. He resides in Dublin where, he said, he enjoys volunteering in the community. Esselburn also serves as the Chancellor for Knights of Columbus. More information about him can be found at https://www.reacpa.com/biography/nathan-esselburn/.



About Rea & Associates

Founded in 1938, during the hardships of the Great Depression, Rea & Associates has established a proud reputation of serving as a financial guide to individuals and businesses, alike. Today, according to the firm's website, Rea employs a team of more than 300 professionals and industry specialists across 13 Ohio-based offices.



To learn more about the company, follow them at https://www.find-us-here.com/businesses/Rea-Associates-CPA-Dublin-Ohio-USA/32779009/.



Rea & Associates CPA

Becca Davis

5775 Perimeter Dr Suite 200 Dublin, OH 43017

614-889-0159

https://www.reacpa.com/dublin-cpa-firm/ESOs Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at Paranal Observatory in Chile has taken a spectacular infrared image of the Carina Nebula, a huge star-formation region in the constellation of Carina.

The Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372 and Caldwell 92, is located an estimated 7,500 light-years away.

Discovered in the 1750s by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, this object is a dynamic, evolving cloud of thinly spread interstellar gas and dust.

The massive stars in its interior emit intense radiation that causes the surrounding gas to glow. By contrast, other regions contain dark pillars of dust cloaking newborn stars.

Theres a battle raging between stars and dust in the nebula, and the newly-formed stars are winning  they produce high-energy radiation and stellar winds which evaporate and disperse the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed.

Spanning over 300 light-years, the Carina Nebula is one of the Milky Way Galaxys largest star-forming regions and is easily visible to the unaided eye under dark skies.

One of the nebulas most famous denizens is the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae.

Among the largest and brightest star systems in the Milky Way, this stellar duo is known for its spectacular, periodic outbursts.

The larger of the pair is an enormous 90 solar masses, while its smaller companion is 30 solar masses. The more massive star is destined to explode soon as a supernova.

Eta Carinae can be seen in this VISTA image as part of the bright patch of light just above the point of the V shape made by the dust clouds.

Directly to the right of Eta Carinae is the Keyhole Nebula  a small, dense cloud of cold molecules and gas within the Carina Nebula  which hosts several massive stars.Paleontologists at the University of Texas at Austin have identified three new species of omomyine primates that lived between 42 and 46 million years ago (Eocene epoch).

The three new species  named Ekwiiyemakius walshi, Gunnelltarsius randalli and Brontomomys cerutti  belong to Omomyinae, a subfamily of early primates.

The fossils came from the Friars Formation of San Diego County, southern California.

Ekwiiyemakius walshi, the smallest of the three new species, had a mass of 113-125 grams, comparable in size to some modern bushbabies, said University of Texas at Austins Professor Chris Kirk and graduate student Amy Atwater.

The species is named for paleontologist Stephen Walsh from the San Diego Museum of Natural History, who collected and prepared many of the specimens from the Friars Formation, and also derives from the Native American Kumeyaay tribes place name, Ekwiiyemak  meaning behind the clouds  for the location of the headwaters of the San Diego and Sweetwater Rivers.

Gunnelltarsius randalli is named for Gregg Gunnell, expert on Eocene mammals, and for San Diego Museum of Natural History fossil collections manager Kesler Randall. It had a mass of 275-303 grams, about the size of todays fat-tailed dwarf lemur.

Brontomomys cerutti was large compared with most other omomyoids and had a mass of 719-796 grams, about the size of a living sportive lemur.

Due to its large size, its name derives from the Greek word bronte (thunder), as well as for Richard Cerutti, the retired San Diego Museum of Natural History paleontologist responsible for collecting many of the Brontomomys specimens.

These findings increase the total number of known Eocene omomyine primates from 15 to 18.

The addition of these primates provides for a better understanding of primate richness in the middle Eocene, Atwater said.

Previous research in the Rocky Mountain basins suggested the primate richness declined during this time period, but we argue that primate richness increased concurrently in other locations.

The three new species are described in a paper published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

_____

Amy L. Atwater & E. Christopher Kirk. New middle Eocene omomyines (Primates, Haplorhini) from San Diego County, California. Journal of Human Evolution, published online August 24, 2018; doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.010PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thanks to passionate Wetzels Pretzels team members, franchisees and customers across the country, the brand has announced it will donate more than $100,000 to No Kid Hungry, helping to provide one-million meals to children in need across the country. To raise the funds and cross the one million meal mark, the company implemented a systemwide promotion from July 1 through July 22 at more than 300 Wetzels Pretzels locations across the country, with each $1 donation from guests providing 10 healthy meals to children in the U.S. To thank guests for their generosity, Wetzels Pretzels provided a Free Original Pretzel for each donation made.



"We are so thankful for the incredible support of Wetzel's Pretzels and their guests, who blew us away with their first promotion for No Kid Hungry. The funds raised will help us end hunger for kids across this country, said Diana Hovey, SVP of Dine Out for No Kid Hungry.

Funds raised support No Kid Hungrys work to connect vulnerable children to effective nutrition programs like School Breakfast and Summer Meals, creating public-private partnerships that work together to identify and break down barriers to giving children access to meals, and teaching low-income families how to stretch their food budgets and cook healthy, affordable meals.

Steve Leibsohn, one of our largest multi-unit operators and an active philanthropist in the Arizona market, spearheaded the idea of partnering with No Kid Hungry. We started with a pilot in Arizona and it was an overwhelming success, said Jennifer Schuler, Wetzels Pretzels President. The combination of Steves leadership and the amount raised in his market was a catalyst for us bringing this fundraising initiative to all our stores across the nation. Everyone on the Wetzels Pretzels team couldnt be more thrilled with how the entire brand got behind this effort.

When thinking about philanthropy, I go back to my motto that together we can transform small wishes into big dreams, said Leibsohn. Thus, by providing a million meals to the children, they can reach their maximum potential and manifest their own dreams.

For more information, visit www.wetzels.com, and follow along on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram @wetzelspretzels for fresh-twisted goodness.

About Wetzel's Pretzels

Armed with a vision and a tasty recipe for soft pretzel perfection, Bill Phelps and Rick Wetzel opened the first Wetzel's Pretzels bakery in Redondo Beach, Calif., in 1994. Long lines of hungry customers soon formed, attracted by mouth-watering soft pretzels that were hand-rolled, baked fresh and served hot from the oven. As word spread about these golden-on-the-outside pretzels, the company added additional offerings to its menu. Today, Wetzel's Pretzels has grown to more than 340 fresh bakeries across the United States and around the world, including premier locations at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Every Wetzel's Pretzels bakery adheres to the original vision of its founders; that each super-premium pretzel will be crafted from fresh dough and baked in-store consistently throughout the day, to ensure a delicious offering for each consumer, regardless of when the craving for a pretzel strikes. For additional information on Wetzel's Pretzels or franchise opportunities, please visit the website , call (626) 432-6900, "Like" them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram .

About No Kid Hungry

No child should go hungry in America. But 1 in 6 kids will face hunger this year. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger through effective programs that provide kids with the food they need. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. Join us at NoKidHungry.org

Media Contact:

Josh Levitt

Canvas Blue for Wetzels Pretzels

949.215.1438

JLevitt@canvasblue.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b86d585b-9c8e-45cd-81ab-5f06afcb09fdROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Kidney Fund today commended a new opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that protects the job security of living organ donors under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). With this opinion, any eligible employee who wishes to be a living donor is entitled to unpaid, job-protected leave for the surgery and recovery period.

The DOL opinion is a game-changer for many Americans who may have considered donating a kidney, but who could not take the time off for fear of losing their jobs, said LaVarne A. Burton, president and chief executive officer of the American Kidney Fund. Supporting and encouraging living donation is good public policy and we commend the Department of Labor for recognizing this.

The DOL opinion letter builds upon some existing protections for living donors. Employees of the U.S. government are already permitted 30 days of paid leave for organ donation and seven days for bone marrow donation; many states have similar leave policies for state government employees. Some states extend paid leave to private sector employees as well. Most recently, in May 2018, Colorado passed the Living Organ Donor Support Act, extending paid leave to living donors by providing a voluntary tax credit to their employers. And in March, Maryland passed House Bill 96 which gives living organ donors a tax credit of up to $7,500 to offset their expenses, joining other states that provide tax breaks to encourage living organ donation.

Declaring that living donation is a qualifying condition that triggers FMLA for employees in every state is an important first step in creating a consistent national policy that protects living donors, Burton said. We call on Congress to go even further and pass the Living Donor Protection Act, which codifies important anti-discrimination measures for living donors.

In addition to qualifying living donation under FMLA, the Living Donor Protection Act (H.R. 1270) would also prohibit life, disability and long-term care insurers from denying policies to living donors or charging them higher premiums.

Today, more than 114,000 Americans are on the organ transplant waiting list, with more than 96,000 waiting for a kidney. In 2017, of nearly 20,000 kidney transplants, only 5,811 were from living donors.

About the American Kidney Fund

As the nations leading nonprofit working on behalf of the 30 million Americans with kidney disease, the American Kidney Fund is dedicated to ensuring that every kidney patient has access to health care, and that every person at risk for kidney disease is empowered to prevent it. AKF provides a complete spectrum of programs and services: prevention outreach, top-rated health educational resources, and direct financial assistance enabling 1 in 5 U.S. dialysis patients to access lifesaving medical care, including dialysis and transplantation. AKF holds the highest ratings from the nations charity watchdog groups, including Charity Navigator, which includes AKF on its top 10 list of nonprofits with the longest track records of outstanding stewardship of the donated dollar, and GuideStar, which has awarded AKF its Platinum Seal of Transparency.

For more information, please visit KidneyFund.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Exciting times at ISI:

Excellent 1H results with normalised pre-tax profit up 71% through good underlying profit growth and the Oceanpath Irish acquisition positively impacting the group. Outlook for year strong with Spanish acquisition of Icelandic Iberica creating significant opportunity for future profit growth.

Revenues for 1H 2018 of 150m, up 29% from 1H 2017

Net margin of 11.7m up 2.2m, from 1H 2017

Divisional normalised PBT (pre HQ) of 3.2m, up 1.1m from 1H 2017

Normalised PBT of 2.2m was 0.9m up from 1H 2017

Total assets increase of  31.3m - Net debt increase of 18.3m

ISI acquires Oceanpath Limited in Ireland on March 15th

ISI signs a sales and purchase agreement on August 1 st to acquire Solo Seafood/Icelandic Iberica

to acquire Solo Seafood/Icelandic Iberica Proforma pre-tax profit, including full year Oceanpath and Solo Seafood acquisitions of 9.6-10.6m pre synergy benefits





Helgi Anton Eiriksson, CEO

"It is very pleasing to report strong results for the first half of the year and a successful completion of the acquisition of Oceanpath in line with our announced strategic intent of investing in value added companies internationally. Oceanpath is performing strongly and contributing well to our group. This year we have also agreed terms to acquire Solo Seafood, the parent of Icelandic Iberica and its subsidiaries. This acquisition is transformational for ISI and takes the group, on a full year basis, to over 400m of revenue and in excess of 10m in pre-tax profits, pre- synergy benefits and the benefit of a more strongly integrated group with the large seafood companies of Fisk, Nesfiskur and Jakob Valgeir becoming signficant shareholders of ISI. The transaction is expected to complete in mid to late September and will see ISI at completion operate 7 value added factories globally.

In the 1H we saw strong growth in our value-added division which includes our two UK businesses, the business in Spain and Oceanpath in Ireland. In the period the Value-added division saw sales growth of 36% to 78m and normalised pre-tax profit growth of 71% to 2.7m driven by new listings, higher activity levels and the inclusion of Oceanpath.

Our Sales and Distribution division which includes our businesses in Iceland, France, Germany and USA saw a positive sales increase of 15m to 92m, after 2017 being affected by the strike, normalised pre-tax profit of 0.5m in line with plans. The 1H provides a solid platform for the stronger 2H which benefits from higher pelagic sales activity.

Year on year total assets increased by 31.3m and Net debt by 18.3m reflecting the increased sales activities and the acquisition of Oceanpath.

The acquisition of Solo Seafood/Icelandic Iberica (post completion deliverables anticipated to be finalised in mid to late September) will positively impact our profit outlook for 2018 to 6.1-6.6m. Assuming combined 12-month operating effect of acquired businesses, in combination with our existing divisions strong organic growth performance leads to a proforma annualised PBT of 9.6-10.6m, which would triple our groups normalised pre-tax profit since listing in 2016."

Investor meeting

On August 30th at 8.30 am (GMT), Iceland Seafood International hf will host a meeting for market participants and investors, where management will present and discuss half year results. The meeting will be held at Hilton Reykjavik Nordica, Suurlandsbraut 2, 108 Reykjavik.

Disclaimer

This announcement is furnished and intended for European market participants and should be viewed in that manner.

Any potential forward looking statements contained in this announcement are reflective of managements current views on future events and performance, whilst the views are based on positions that management believes are reasonable there is no assurances that these events and views will be achieved. Forward looking views naturally involve uncertainties and risk and consequently actual results may differ to the statements or views expressed.

Financial Calendar

Publication of 2018 Annual results  March 27th 2019

For more information:

Iceland Seafood International hf. +354 550 8000

Helgi Anton Eiriksson, Chief Executive Officer

Lee Camfield, Chief Operating Officer

Reynir Jonsson, Chief Financial Officer

http://www.icelandseafood.com/Investors





AttachmentEnglish Icelandic

The interim financial report for Syn hf. for the second quarter of 2018, was approved by the company's Board of Directors and CEO at a board meeting on August 29th, 2018. In December 2017, the company acquired certain assets and operations of 365 Media hf., this affects the comparisons of amounts between years.

 Income in the second quarter of 2018 amounted to ISK 5,444 million, an increase of 61% from the previous year. Income in the first half of the year amounted to ISK 4,221 million, a 3% decrease from previous year.

 The quarter's EBITDA amounted to ISK 718 million, a 3% decrease from previous year. EBITDA for the first six months amounted to ISK 1,436 million, a 3% decrease from previous year.

 EBITDA adjusted for one off items in relation to the acquisition amounted to ISK 748 million, a 3% decrease from the previous year.

 Loss in the period amounted to ISK 4 million, a decrease of 102% from the previous year. Profit for the first half of the year amounted to ISK 52 million, an 88% decrease from previous year.

 Loss per share was ISK 0.01 in Q2 and was ISK 0.19 for the first six months of the year.

 The quarter's investment activies amounted to ISK 854 million, an increase of 59% from the previous year due to intergration projects.

 EBITDA outlook for 2018 is estimated at ISK 4,000-4,400 million from regular operations. The company' forecast for 2018 is currently in the lower end of the range. One-off items in the first half of the year are ISK 145 million. It is expected that the one-off items will not have material effect on the second half of the year. The estimated capital expenditure ratio is 8-10% of income and will be close to the upper bound considering front-loaded investment in relation to integration projects.While some local residents footed the bill for $40 general admission tickets to the annual Thunder Over Michigan air show this weekend, others found the perfect spot to watch the show for free. Aircraft of all kinds, including the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, took to the skies at Willow Run Airport on Aug. 25 and 26 for the show presented by the Wayne County Airport Authority. We spoke with residents both inside and outside the confines of the airport about their experiences enjoying the air show as members of a community whose history is intricately linked to aviation.

Tom Simon

Director of enrollment for Eastern Michigan Universitys aviation program

Simon, a Troy native, moved to Ypsi in 2012 when he joined the aviation program at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). He decided to study at EMU because of its proximity to Detroit Metro Airport and Willow Run Airport.

"I love being at a historical airport, especially with Willow Run here being the heart of the World War II operations," Simon says. "'Rosie the Riveter' was coined here. One of our hangars houses the (North American Aviation) P-51 Mustang."

As the director of enrollment for the aviation program, Simon was manning a tent at this year's Thunder Over Michigan in an effort to spread the word about the program, but he's been attending the annual event since he was a kid. His favorite part of the air show is the community building that occurs because everyone in attendance shares an interest in aviation.

"I remember being one of those kids out there, staring at these huge aircraft, wanting to fly them," Simon says.

Virginia Basler

Former employee at the Willow Run Bomber Plant

Basler moved from Alpena to Ypsi to work at the Willow Run Bomber Plant during World War II (WWII). For about two years she says she "drilled the holes so Rosie could rivet them" in the fuselage of B-24 planes. Then she joined the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve, known as the SPARS, and served as a cook for just over a year until the end of the war. She moved back to Ypsi to work for the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation at Willow Run, and still lives in Ypsi today.

"Im a pioneer woman, I guess," Basler says with a laugh. "First to work in a factory and then first into the service."

Since the 95-year-old is one of the area's original "Rosie the Riveters," she participates in various events with the Yankee Air Museum, 47884 D St. in Belleville, including Thunder Over Michigan. She was among several original Rosies who posed for pictures and chatted with Thunder Over Michigan attendees over the weekend.

When she was a young woman working in the bomber plant, Basler didn't understand the historical significance of how she was contributing to the war effort. Then 19 years old, she was just interested in getting paid. But now she realizes what she and the other original Rosies did.

"It was just a job at the time," Basler says. "I didnt think of it as being something really historic. I knew I was working in this huge plant, that were putting out a plane an hour, and there were these Air Force people that were there to fly it off the line. It was amazing, but I didnt see that."

Jeannette Gutierrez

Volunteer with the Yankee Air Museum

Gutierrez, who recently moved to Ypsi from Ann Arbor, started volunteering with the Yankee Air Museum in May 2013 when it launched the Save the Willow Run Bomber Plant campaign. She initially got involved because she wanted to see part of the bomber plant preserved and transformed into the new home of the Yankee Air Museum.

"Its an important piece of history," Gutierrez says of the bomber plant. "They had never built airplanes on a production line before. So that was Detroit know-how and Detroit innovation in southeast Michigan, and Im so proud to be from this area and I want that bomber plant to be saved as a museum for everyone."

Gutierrez says the best part of her experience as a volunteer over the last five years has been meeting and getting to know the "amazing" original Rosies who participate in events with the museum. She says they "stand for so much," including feminism and patriotism, and she believes they still carry the same spirit with them today.

Gutierrez has been attending Thunder Over Michigan since she got involved in the Yankee Air Museum in 2013. She loves meeting people at the event who have personal connections to WWII or the Willow Run Bomber Plant. Her favorite memory of the air show happened this year when she listened to a conversation between Basler and a former Tuskegee Airman.

Dianne Salata

Michigan Aerospace Foundation



Salata has been managing a VIP tent for the Michigan Aerospace Foundation, the direct fundraising entity for the Yankee Air Museum, at Thunder Over Michigan for about 12 years. But before that, the Ypsi Township resident had attended the air show for years.

"We love seeing the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds and all of the other airplanes that are here as well," Salata says. "My husband, Phil Salata, is a big aviation buff as well and we come to the museum a lot and enjoy it. Were just very dedicated to supporting the history and the next generation to understand what happened in the past."

Salata tries to invite more families with children to Thunder Over Michigan so younger generations can get involved in the Michigan Aerospace Foundation and learn about the Yankee Air Museum. She thinks it's important to remember the role that the Ypsi area played in the outcome of WWII since Ford Motor Company helped the U.S. government establish its "Arsenal of Democracy" by building the Willow Run Bomber Plant.

Darlene and Thomas Johnson

The Johnsons live in Ypsi Township near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and the US-12 business loop, where they pulled off in their car to watch the Thunderbirds perform during Thunder Over Michigan. They used to be able to watch the air show from their yard, but the trees have grown a little too tall, so they found a new place to get a clearer view. They've seen people park in the spot where they chose to watch from every year.

The couple tries to watch Thunder Over Michigan every year. Darlene says she likes watching the planes do tricks and Thomas says he likes the loud noise.

The Johnsons were kicking off their date night with the Thunderbirds before they headed down to Belle Isle in Detroit for the rest of the evening. The couple has been together for 32 years and married for 29 years. Darlene thinks it's important for couples to enjoy date nights together.

"That's how we got to 32 years," she says.

Ed and Kathy Hizer



Thunder Over Michigan has been an annual tradition for the Hizers since the '70s. They've previously paid for entrance to the air show, but in recent years they've just hopped in their car and scouted out an area with a clear view of the flight path. They watched from the same place as last year because it's the best spot they've found so far.

The Hizers' favorite part of Thunder Over Michigan is the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels, whichever flight demonstration squadron is set to perform.

"I grew up in Florida," Kathy says. "Ive seen them practicing back in the 50s. The Blue Angels would come in the summertime. I think the Thunderbirds would come out of Homestead Air Force base (in Miami-Dade County, Fla.). We used to see them all the time so I was always fascinated. Plus my dad worked for an airline, so planes were kind of a thing."

The couple lives in Ypsi Township near Willow Run Airport, so they enjoy watching the planes fly over their house. They think a lot of their neighbors are interested in the planes flying overhead too.

"As soon as you hear them come over, youre out the door," Kathy says.

Andrew and Aiden Kindshoven



Andrew was born and raised in Ypsi Township, so he's been watching Thunder Over Michigan since before he can remember. He used to watch the air show with his family from inside Willow Run Airport or at his aunt's house in Gault Village, but most of his relatives have moved or were out of town, so he and his 4-year-old son, Aiden, decided to drive around and find a place to watch from their car. Andrew thinks this might be the first year that Aiden will remember watching the air show with him.

Thunder Over Michigan is an annual event that Andrew looks forward to every year. His favorite part is the "thrills" and "adrenaline" that he gets from watching the planes fly low. He recalls watching the air show from his mom's house and waiting for the finale when a plane would usually fly directly over the home.

"You hear them (practicing) Thursday and Friday and you start getting pumped up to see them," Andrew says. "I grew up in Ypsi, so even being in elementary school, youd see them flying over while playing at the playground in my neighborhood. You hear them and your heart starts going and youre excited to see them."

Brianna Kelly is the project manager for On the Ground Ypsi and an Ypsilanti resident. She has worked for The Associated Press and has freelanced for The Detroit News and Crain's Detroit Business.

All photos by

Doug CoombePHOENIX, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nemaska Lithium, Inc., (OTCQB:NMKEF) (the Company) CEO Guy Bourassa is making another stop on Uptick Newswires Stock Day podcast with Everett Jolly.



Bourassa discusses the companys $1.1 billion financing package, which he says is the largest ever single product financing by a new developer in the lithium industry. The Quebec government, a global technology player from Japan and a Nordic bond offering sold worldwide are part of the financing package, as is a new streaming deal with Orion Mine Finance II LP.

The financing, Bourassa says, will allow the company to complete construction of mine and concentrator facilities as well as a state-of-the-art electrochemical plant to make high purity lithium hydroxide. Bourassa says the mine and concentrator facilities are on a 12-month construction timetable while the electrochemical plant is a couple of years away.

In the podcast, Bourassa also addresses the current dip in lithium stocks worldwide. He says Nemaska is currently a good deal because its the only lithium project with new facilities already financed through completion of construction.

The interview is now available for streaming. To listen to the interview in its entirety, please go to:

https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-guy-bourassa-of-nemaska-lithium-inc-otcqx-nmkef/

About Nemaska Lithium

Nemaska Lithium is a developing chemical company whose activities will be vertically integrated, from spodumene mining to the commercialization of high-purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. These lithium salts are mainly destined for the fast-growing lithium-ion battery market, which is driven by the increasing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage worldwide. With its products and processes, Nemaska Lithium intends to facilitate access to green energy.

The Corporation will be operating the Whabouchi mine in Quebec, Canada, one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in volume and grade. The spodumene concentrate produced at the Whabouchi mine will be processed at the Shawinigan plant using a unique membrane electrolysis process for which the Corporation holds several patents.

Nemaska Lithium is a member of the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index, S&P/TSX Global Mining Index, S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals Index, and the MSCI Canada Small Cap Index. For more information, visit nemaskalithium.com or twitter.com/Nemaska_Lithium .

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the Corporation bringing all the funding needed to execute the project, constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of certain securities laws and are based on expectations and projections as of the date of this press release. Certain important assumptions by the Corporation in making forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Corporation receiving all proceeds from the Streaming Agreement and the Bond offering.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, those related to (i) the receipt by the Corporation of the second USD 75M tranche from the Streaming Agreement, (ii) the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the Long Stop Date, (iii) the project moving on track, and (iv) generally, the above "About Nemaska Lithium" paragraph which essentially describes the Corporation's outlook. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that the Corporation will meet all requirements to the Long Stop Date and will receive the second USD 75M tranche from the Streaming Agreement, as future events could differ materially what is currently anticipated by the Corporation.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's endeavors to complete its project financing and, more generally, its expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada including, but not limited to, the cautionary statements made in the "Risk Factors" section of the Corporation's Annual Information Form dated October 5, 2017 and the "Risk Exposure and Management" section of the Corporation's quarterly Management Discussion & Analysis. The Corporation cautions that the foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive, and new, unforeseeable risks may arise from time to time. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Further information regarding Nemaska Lithium is available in the SEDAR database (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website at: www.nemaskalithium.com .

About Uptick Newswire and the Stock Day Podcast

Founded in 2013, Uptick Newswire is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Uptick provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. Uptick is the sole producer of its Stock Day Podcast, which is the number one radio show of its kind in America. The Uptick Newswire Stock Day Podcast is an extension of Uptick Newswire, which recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona.

Contact

Victor Cantore

Investor Relations

514 831-3809

victor.cantore@nemaskalithium.com

Wanda Cutler

Investor Relations

416 303-6460

wanda.cutler@nemaskalithium.com

Fanny-Eve Tapp

Media Relations

B. 514 935 2777 # 204

C. 514 442 0445

fanny-eve.tapp@nemaskalithium.com

www.nemaskalithium.com

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of Stock Day, and Uptick Newswire encourages listeners to visit the companys message board at https://investorshangout.com/Press Release

August 29, 2018 ANGARA CALLS FOR STRONGER PASSENGER PROTECTION AFTER NAIA RUNWAY MISHAP Senator Sonny Angara has called on airport authorities to look into the compliance of air carriers with the air passenger bill of rights which guarantees compensation for cancelled flights following the Xiamen Airways plane mishap at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) runway. "While our primary goal is to prevent such NAIA runway incident from happening again, we must also ensure that all affected passengers of the over 600 cancelled flights were given proper care and assistance. Maraming pamilya ang naabala sa insidenteng ito, kasama na ang daan-daang OFWs na nangamba para sa kanilang trabaho," Angara said. The Department of Foreign Affairs has provided P5,000 cash assistance to 403 stranded OFWS. It has also instructed Philippine embassies to issue certifications to OFWs, who would have to explain their delayed arrival to foreign employers. Angara, sponsor of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) law, said OWWA should have also stepped in, as the incident "clearly qualified as OFWs in distress, and thus deserve assistance." Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism said it will meet with the Manila International Airport Authority and the Civil Aeronautics Board on August 30 to further discuss the instances of Compensation for Cancelled Flights under the Air Passenger Bill of Rights. Under the said Bill of Rights, in cases of flight cancellation, air carriers are obligated to provide sufficient refreshments and meals, hotel accommodation, transportation from airport to the hotel, free phone calls, texts or emails, and first aid, if necessary. Furthermore, passengers must be reimbursed of the value of the fare, or endorsed to another air carrier, or rebooked to the next flight available without additional charge. During today's Senate hearing, it was revealed that not all passengers were given food and accommodation, and not all were informed on the changes of flight schedule. "We encourage our authorities to discuss whether reforms and additional aid are necessary to further strengthen the protection of passengers, and to ensure that immediate compensation is provided. Kasabay nito, dapat ay madaliin na rin ang pag-decongest ng NAIA, pati na ang pag-develop ng secondary international gateways at provincial airports," the senator said. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, of the 71 airports in the country, only 11 can accommodate international flights. "Ang NAIA at iba pang airport ay dapat ituring na bahagi ng ating turismo na dapat pagandahin at ayusin. Anumang aberya sa ating mga airport, partikular na sa NAIA, ay makaaapekto sa ating efforts na mag-attract ng mga turista sa bansa. "We should get our acts together to sustain our tourism growth to help boost the economy and create jobs," Angara added.Press Release

August 29, 2018 Nancy Binay lauds passage of Filipino Sign Language bill Senator Nancy Binay lauded the passage of the Filipino Sign Language (FSL) bill in the third and final reading in the Senate, which will give the Filipino deaf an official medium of instruction and communication. Senate Bill number 1455 mandates that the Filipino Sign Language shall be recognized, promoted, and supported as the medium of official communication in all transactions involving the deaf, and as the language of instruction of deaf education, without prejudice to the use of other forms of communication depending on individual choice or preference. "Filipinos who are hard of hearing will be able to exercise their right to expression and opinion without prejudice to their condition," Binay, the author and co-sponsor of SB 1455. "There is a need to identify and adopt standards that would guide the development and advancement, especially in communicating of the deaf and hard of hearing," she added. It is estimated that around 120,000 Filipinos are deaf, according to the national census done in the year 2000. "Maaaring tumaas pa ang figures during the past 18 years, at natatakot ako na maraming mga PWDs ang hindi nakakatamasa ng kanilang mga karapatan," Binay said. SB1455 also mandates that: FSL will be used in all government transactions, most especially in the Judiciary, in the Health system, and in frontline offices that provide services to the deaf.

There will be a national system of standards, accreditations, and procedures for FSL interpreting, as well as policies on the practice of interpreting as a profession.

FSL will be the medium of instruction in deaf education, as well as part of the curriculum for deaf learners. Training materials in the education of the deaf will also be developed and training for teachers will be undertaken.

The KBP and the MTRCB, the deaf community, and other stakeholders will create a national system of standards, procedures and accreditation for broadcast media interpreting in FSL. All videos published online including those on social media, shall also conform to Philippine web accessibility standards.

Appropriate steps to propagate sign language competency among hearing people will also be promoted. "With the bill's passage into law, it would free our fellow Filipinos who are deaf or hard of hearing from illiteracy, marginalization, and oppression; and make them partners in nation-building," Binay said. "Closer to home, qualified FSL interpreters would be provided in our Senate hearings, sessions, and other activities," she added. Binay's party, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) first provided sign language support in most, if not all, of its 2013 campaign rallies for the benefit of persons with disabilities, particularly the deaf community. She also filed Senate Resolution number 480, which urged to make the Senate a PWD-friendly institution by urging the body to provide sign language interpreters in Senate sessions and committee hearings.Press Release

August 29, 2018 De Lima alarmed over rise of human trafficking cases in PH Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has expressed alarm over the huge increase in the number of trafficking incidents in the country that might put in jeopardy the government's efforts in combatting the scourge of human trafficking. De Lima, a known anti-human trafficking advocate, said the issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery in the Philippines requires more concerted attention from the concerned government agencies and civil society organizations. "Although the Philippines has retained its Tier 1 status in complying with the United States' minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, records show that there are still tens of thousands of Filipino men, women and children who easily fall victim to human trafficking and slavery," she said. "The government must show that it is exerting all efforts to reduce the cases of, if not eradicate, human trafficking by enhancing cooperative efforts with other countries to combat human trafficking while raising awareness about the issue," she added. Citing the recent Global Slavery Index, Australia-Asia Program to Combat Trafficking in Persons Country Director Archimedes Siguan disclosed that about 784,000 Filipinos are living in modern slavery conditions in the Philippines, up from 260,000 in 2014. The Australia-based think tank also noted that there are at least seven persons out of every 1,000 Filipinos who are living in modern slavery conditions. When she was justice secretary, De Lima worked hard to upgrade the country's status on the US Trafficking-in-Person (TIP) Report after consistently being on Tier 2 Watchlist from 2009 to 2010 under the Arroyo administration. Tier 2 countries are those who are making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). As part of the parting legacy of former president Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III in 2016, however, the Philippines becomes the only Southeast Asian country to be upgraded and ranked under Tier 1 of the US State Department's TIP Report. De Lima, who once chaired the Inter-Agency Council on Anti-Trafficking (IACAT), said the government should strictly implement the laws on human trafficking by ensuring that offenders, regardless of their positions in the society, should be held accountable of their crime. "The so-called 'sellers' and 'buyers' of trafficked individuals must face prison terms and fines for their crime. The government should not be complacent in their fight against human trafficking to maintain its Tier 1 status," she said. The Senator from Bicol said it also pays to encourage more advocates, especially among civil society organizations, to spread public awareness about all forms of human trafficking to educate people of their rights and duties, especially among children and women. To date, the Philippines still ranks Tier 1 in the TIP report for "fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking" for third consecutive year.Press Release

August 29, 2018 Dispatch from Crame No. 370:

On the SC's denial of Sen. De Lima's and her co-petitioners' request to appear and orally argue on the case questioning Duterte's withdrawal from the ICC 8/29/18 A citizen and sitting Senator is accused of conspiring to engage in the trade of an unspecified amount or type of drug, purely on the say-so of convicted felons. No corpus delicti has been produced or even alleged. She is presumed innocent. She has no violent history. Neither has she tried to evade justice. In fact, even when she was already under severe political attacks and experiencing real threats to her personal security, she promptly came back, with no delays whatsoever, after traveling abroad. Yet, whenever she asks for furloughs - primarily to discharge her mandate as a Senator - they are always denied. Because she's a security threat, a "high" flight risk. Meanwhile, there is a man who is accused of participating in the planning and execution of the massacre of 58 people. 58 dead bodies thrown into a pit as if their lives were but garbage being disposed in a landfill. It is a crime as violent as any our country has seen. All so that a political opponent cannot contest the accused's clan in the then upcoming elections. Bail has been denied because the evidence of guilt is strong. Yet, when he asks to go on furloughs to attend personal events in posh hotels, the request is granted. It is obvious, given the facts, that there is a double-standard, even injustice at play here. It is obvious that the denial of my request to argue on my own behalf, as petitioner before the Supreme Court, to question the validity of Duterte's unilateral withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, has no basis in fact or in law. The denial is purely political. I simply cannot understand how attending a wedding can trump appearance in an important case with grave constitutional and political implications in the court's hierarchy of considerations in granting furlough to detention prisoners. As disheartened and disappointed as I am, I know that neither I nor my fellow petitioners carry any blame. We exhausted all possible remedies. We even suggested to the Supreme Court to allow the use of existing technology in order to negate any fears that I may escape. As if! All our reasonable requests were denied. Discretion exercised without any basis in fact or law. They simply do not want me to, again, speak the truth about Duterte's attempts to evade accountability for his blood-soaked regime. Because that is what the ICC withdrawal is all about. He unilaterally withdrew NOT because it was in the national interest. Duterte withdrew because remaining under the ICC jurisdiction is not in his personal, selfish interest. He fears that his time to pay for his crimes has come. And yet I am the flight risk? I have killed no one. I have smuggled and sold no drugs. I have not profited from the national coffers. That is why they want me silenced, away from the spotlight. Only evil fears the light. Only Duterte and his minions fear the ICC.Press Release

August 29, 2018 GORDON WANTS ADDITIONAL BUDGET FOR DFA SO IT COULD TRAIN EXPERTS FOR THE EMBASSIES In line with his proposal that the country's diplomatic service should train and become experts on the countries that they are posted to, Senator Richard J. Gordon has proposed allocating additional budget to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Gordon said the members of the diplomatic service are not only the country's representatives, but they are also its eyes and ears in their posts, hence they should not only be an expert on the language, but also on the culture and the country itself. "Hindi lang language skills ang kailangan natin, but experts in the country they're posted in. Kailangan din natin yan para sa Department of National Defense, kailangan din natin sa negosyo. Makikipagnegotiate ka, kung hindi marunong, nawawala sa translation. Dapat meron talagang mga experts sa mga embassies. Hindi lang marunong sa history and government, dapat alam din nila halimbawa ano ba nagagawa ng mga computers nila doon sa bansang yun, ano ba ang kakayahan nila? For example in the Middle East, Arab-speaking? How many Arab-speaking ambassadors do we have? Not only Arab-speaking diplomats but also knowing how Arabs think? Dapat they can provide an in-depth analysis of events happening in their posts. We should be adequately prepared so we can study the world and we can make the right decisions," he said. The senator cited the case of two Filipinos who were accused of espionage and have been imprisoned since December 2017 in Iran. "The problem in this case is that we do not have any Iranian speakers who can communicate with the Iranian government. Do we have experts who know the law of Iran?" he asked during the hearing for the DFA's 2019 budget. Gordon noted that the DFA has a lot of important and strategic things to do for the country such as taking care of the problems of overseas Filipino workers, finding out where business trends are going in the world, what the country can bring in, what it can trade and the security strengths of our neighboring countries. "That's why it's so important. I really think we take it for granted, the country takes it for granted that the DFA is the premiere Cabinet position in the country. They are our eyes and ears to the whole world. They listen to the footsteps of the world. They look at trends and that's why we have to fully support them going forward," he said. Meanwhile, Gordon said the DFA's foreign language program, for which he made a P20-million allocation in the 2018 budget, should be extended or expanded to other government agencies. He also suggested that the DFA could explore a possible partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, which offers language programs. The two agencies could team up so that the DFA can look for jobs abroad for the graduates of the TESDA program.The New Zealand dollar held its gains against the greenback as Canada headed back to the bargaining table with the US and Mexico, however, upcoming US and domestic data could knock it off its perch.

The kiwi traded at 67.10 US cents at 5pm in Wellington versus 67.09 cents at 8am, up from 66.81 cents late yesterday. The trade-weighted index increased to 72.30 from 72.08.

The local currency benefited from improving risk appetite after the US and Mexico agreed to new trade terms and Canada headed back to the bargaining table. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland arrived in Washington to meet with US counterparts while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said they looked forward to signing a deal "as long as it's good for Canadians." A number of contentious issues, however, persist, including around dairy and Canada's supply management system.

According to The Canadian Press, Larry Kudlow, the director of the presidents National Economic Council, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross both said Tuesday concessions from Canada on dairy are essential to getting a deal. Trudeau, however, has said he won't back down. "We will defend supply management," he said.

While trade ructions percolate in the background, the focus will now shift to the US second-quarter gross domestic product report for a steer on the health of the world's biggest economy. Economists expect the US economy grew at an annual pace of 4 percent in the second quarter. A stronger number will benefit the greenback.

Domestically, tomorrow's ANZ business confidence survey will also garner interest given growing concerns that faltering business sentiment could flow into the economy. The main focus will be on respondents expectations of own-activity, employment and investment. If those slip into negative territory the kiwi will likely fall.

The local currency rallied "but is now in a holding pattern," said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional foreign exchange sales at ASB Bank. It is "sitting right around resistance. The US GDP might give it a push either way ... and the ANZ business confidence will a big one," he said.

Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr is due to speak to financial services professionals this evening in an off-the-record speech.

The kiwi rose to 91.32 Australian cents from 91.19 cents yesterday and gained to 4.5693 Chinese yuan from 4.5548 yuan. It advanced to 74.62 yen from 74.29 yen yesterday and traded at 57.36 euro cents from 57.26 cents. The local currency increased to 52.10 British pence from 51.92 pence yesterday.

New Zealand's two-year swap rate rose 1 basis point to 2.03 percent and 10-year swaps eased 1 basis point to 2.87.

(BusinessDesk)

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Genesis Energy reported an 8 percent increase in full-year operating earnings after dry, still weather boosted demand for coal- and gas-fired generation from its Huntly site.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and changes in financial instruments climbed to $360.5 million in the year ended June 30, from $332.5 million a year before.

Despite an unplanned maintenance shut at one of the firms Tekapo plants, generation volumes increased 11 percent. The firm also benefitted from an increased share of record gas production from the offshore Kupe field.

Genesis, the countrys biggest power retailer, last year increased its stake in Kupe, the countrys fourth-biggest gas producer, to 46 percent. It also bought rival Nova Energys LPG business to gain a national distribution network and scale efficiencies from a commercial customer base.

The firm also ran its coal-fired Rankine units more during dry periods at the start of the financial year and again over the summer. It has a swaption agreement to cover Meridian Energys output when that firms South Island dams are low, and also uses the Rankine units to cap prices for other retailers and those of its industrial customers who buy power at spot rates.

The result reflects strong performance as the integration between Kupe and the companys flexible generation portfolio delivered value in response to variable wholesale market conditions, chair Jenny Shipley said in a statement to the NZX.

The customer segment performed well in a year of transition that included the integration of a new LPG operation, a billing system migration and a brand relaunch with the backdrop of increasing electricity market competition.

Genesis shares slipped 0.8 percent to $2.545, having gained about 2 percent this year.

Investors registered on Oct. 5 will receive an 8.6 cent final dividend on Oct. 19. A year ago the company paid 8.4 cents.

Genesis had forecast full-year ebitdaf of $350 million to $360 million. It expects earnings of $350 million to $370 million in the current year, assuming a return to more normal hydrology, on-going customer growth, and allowing for a 50-day mid-life shut at its largest power station, the 400 MW gas-fired E3P plant at Huntly.

That work is expected to trim earnings by about $10 million and could push capex $11 million higher to $85 million. The company invested $80 million last year, including upgrades at Tekapo, Tuai and Tokaanu, integrating the new LPG business and new digital retail products.

Net profit fell to $19.8 million, down 83 percent from $118.7 million the year before. The change reflects higher depreciation charges and a $100 million swing in the value of the Rankine units.

Genesis has pledged to stop running the coal units routinely by 2025 and shut them entirely by 2030. Having written up their value by $51.5 million last year, it wrote them down by almost $49 million this year.

The company said the lower valuation reflects lower price and generation volume assumptions for the units, offset by the life extension to 2030.

Kupe was the driver of the earnings improvement, with the increased holding  46 percent from 31 percent previously  and higher oil prices lifting the divisions earnings to $115 million from $84 million last year.

While generation prices and volumes improved, margins were lower and the reduced output from the low-cost Tekapo plants trimmed earnings by about $5 million. Carbon costs also increased by about $6 million. After allowing for operating cost improvements and insurance received for the Tekapo fault, wholesale division earnings increased by only $2 million to $178 million.

Earnings from the customer division were unchanged at $110 million. While efficiency and mix improvements lifted margins by $11 million, investments in new products and services and reduced volumes from customer losses reduced earnings by a matching amount.

Genesis is the countrys biggest retailer by accounts. While its digital Energy Online brand gained about 4,000 accounts during the past year, the firms main Genesis brand dropped about 10,000 over the same period, according to Electricity Authority data.

It is working to get more power consumers to also buy gas and LPG from it. It has also used its dual-fuel capability to push aggressively into the industrial and commercial market.

New branding and better services saw the firms customer losses slow during 2018. Its brand reputation has also increased markedly, bad debts are down and customers carried out 1.3 million digital self-service interactions  46 percent more than the year before.

But those improvements came at a cost. Group operating costs increased by $21 million to $305 million, of which Genesis said about $12 million was growth-related spending on brands and sales and technology staff.

Chief executive Marc England said the firm had spent the past year creating a multi-fuel, single service platform to support its yields and growth proposition.

Genesis customers have more knowledge and visibility than they have ever had to help them monitor, predict and compare their energy spend. We are now also adding a holistic approach to sustainability as we demonstrate commitment to supporting New Zealands transition to a low emissions economy, he said.

(BusinessDesk)

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Trans-Tasman Resources is disappointed the High Court quashed its marine consent for an offshore iron sands project and is considering its options.

The appeals were lodged by seven conservation, fishing and iwi groups after the company was given permission to extract 50 million tonnes of seabed material a year. It would export up to 5 million tonnes of iron sand per year from the ocean floor in the South Taranaki Bight, generating $400 million of export revenue annually.

The 35-year consent was granted in August on the casting vote of the chair of a decision-making committee appointed by the Environmental Protection Authority and included a series of conditions.

On Tuesday, the High Court ruled the committee's interpretation of an adaptive management approach was too narrow and inconsistent with the Exclusive Economic Zone Act and sent it back to the DMC for reconsideration.

"TTR is disappointed with the High Court outcome," executive chair Alan Eggers said in an emailed response to questions. "TTR is reviewing our QCs detailed assessment of the ruling and considering our options before being able to comment further."

Eggers said just one of eight different grounds of appeal was upheld, "and that was solely in relation to the correct legal meaning of 'adaptive management' or the type of environmental compliance monitoring required to be incorporated in the TTR consents."

In yesterday's judgment, Justice Peter Churchman said the committee's interpretation was inconsistent with the purpose of the act of "protecting the environment from pollution by regulating or prohibiting the discharge of harmful substances." It was also inconsistent with the obligation that where information available is uncertain or inadequate, a marine consent authority must favour caution and environmental protection.

"The error was material and may well have influenced the outcome of the consent application," the judgment said.

The court rejected claims that: the EPA should have rejected the application as incomplete; that the committee had failed to apply the legislation's information principles correctly; that the committee had not properly considered the effects of the proposal on existing interests; that the committee had not taken a sufficiently cautious approach; and that it had failed to observe the principles of natural justice.

TTR has faced a number of obstacles in its bid to begin mining. Its initial consent bid for the project was turned down in 2014 - largely due to a lack of baseline information on the expected impacts of its proposal.

(BusinessDesk)

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English French

NOT FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY,

IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN

PRESS RELEASE

Clermont-Ferrand, August 29, 2018

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN

Michelin announces the success of its three-tranche bond offering for a total amount of 2.5 billion

Michelin has successfully placed today a three-tranche bond offering for a total amount of 2.5 billion, with 7-year, 12-year and 20-year maturities respectively.

The 7-year tranche amounts to 750 million euros. It will bear a coupon of 0.875% per annum and will be issued at 99.099% of the nominal value.

The 12-year tranche amounts to 1 billion euros. It will bear a coupon of 1.75% per annum and will be issued at 99.262% of the nominal value.

The 20-year tranche amounts to 750 million euros. It will bear a coupon of 2.50% per annum and will be issued at 99.363% of the nominal value.

The net proceeds from the issue of the bonds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The issue was largely oversubscribed, reflecting institutional investors' confidence in Michelin's credit quality, rated A- by Standard & Poor's and A3 by Moody's. The issue has been rated A- by Standard & Poor's and A3 by Moody's.

The issue supports the Group's strategy of actively managing its debt and strengthening its liquidity. It helps to diversify Michelin's sources of financing and enhance its financial flexibility by lengthening the average maturity of its debt.

The settlement of the offering is expected to take place on September 3, 2018, once the listing prospectus has received the visa of the French Financial Market Authority (Autorite des Marches financiers) (AMF). The bonds will then be admitted to trading on Euronext Paris.

Citigroup acted as Global Coordinator and active Joint Bookrunner for the 7-year tranche and the 12-year tranche and as Structuring Advisor and active Joint Bookrunner for the 20-year tranche.

Credit Agricole CIB acted as Global Coordinator and active Joint Bookrunner for the 20-year tranche and as Structuring Advisor and active Joint Bookrunner the 7-year tranche and for the 12-year tranche.

Banco Santander, S.A., Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, MUFG Securities EMEA plc, Natixis and Societe Generale acted as active Joint Bookrunners for the three-tranche bond offering.

This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for or to sell the bonds and the offering of the bonds is not an offer to the public in any jurisdiction, including France.

Investor Relations







Edouard de Peufeilhoux

+33 (0) 4 73 32 74 47

+33 (0) 6 89 71 93 73 (cell)

edouard.de-peufeilhoux@michelin.com







Matthieu Dewavrin

+33 (0) 4 73 32 18 02

+33 (0) 6 71 14 17 05 (cell)

matthieu.dewavrin@michelin.com







Humbert de Feydeau

+33 (0) 4 73 32 68 39

+33 (0) 6 82 22 39 78 (cell)

humbert.de-feydeau@fr.michelin.com



Media Relations







Corinne Meutey

+33 (0) 1 78 76 45 27

+33 (0) 6 08 00 13 85 (cell)

corinne.meutey@michelin.com









DISCLAIMER

Important information

This press release may not be published, distributed or released directly or indirectly in the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan. The distribution of this press release may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to herein comes, should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

No communication or information relating to the offering may be transmitted to the public in a country where there is a registration obligation or where an approval is required. No action has been or will be taken in any country in which such registration or approval would be required. The issuance or the subscription of the bonds may be subject to legal and regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions; Michelin assumes no liability in connection with the breach by any person of such restrictions.

This press release is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of November 4, 2003 as amended (the "Prospectus Directive").

The bonds have been offered only by way of a private placement in France to persons referred to in Article L.411-2-II of the French monetary and financial code (Code monetaire et financier) and outside France (excluding the United States of America, Australia, Canada and Japan), and there will be no public offering in any country (including France). This press release does not constitute a recommendation concerning the issue of the bonds. The value of the bonds can decrease as well as increase. Potential investors should consult a professional adviser as to the suitability of the bonds for the person concerned.

Prohibition of sales to European Economic Area retail investors

No action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make available any bonds to any retail investor in the European Economic Area. For the purposes of this provision:

the expression "retail investor" means a person who is one (or more) of the following:

a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); or

a customer within the meaning of Directive 2002/92/EC (as amended, the "Insurance Mediation Directive"), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or

not a "qualified investor" as defined in the Prospectus Directive; and

the expression "offer" includes the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the bonds to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the bonds.

Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the bonds or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the bonds or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPS Regulation.

France

The bonds have not been and will not be offered or sold or cause to be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, to the public in France. Any offer or sale of the bonds and distribution of any offering material relating to the bonds have been and will be made in France only to (a) persons providing investment services relating to portfolio management for the account of third parties (personnes fournissant le service d'investissement de gestion de portefeuille pour compte de tiers), and/or (b) qualified investors (investisseurs qualifies) acting for their own account, as defined in, and in accordance with, Articles L.411-1, L.411-2 and D. 411-1 of the French monetary and financial Code (Code monetaire et financier).

United Kingdom

This press release is addressed and directed only (i) to persons located outside the United Kingdom, (ii) to investment professionals as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order"), (iii) to people designated by Article 49(2) (a) to (d) of the Order or (iv) to any other person to whom this press release could be addressed pursuant to applicable law (the persons mentioned in paragraphs (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) all deemed relevant persons ("Relevant Persons")). The bonds are intended only for Relevant Persons and any invitation, offer of contract related to the subscription, tender, or acquisition of the bonds may be addressed and/or concluded only with Relevant Persons. All persons other than Relevant Persons must abstain from using or relying on this document and all information contained therein.

This press release is not a prospectus which has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority or any other United Kingdom regulatory authority for the purposes of Section 85 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

United States of America

This press release may not be published, distributed or transmitted in the United States of America (including its territories and dependencies, any State of the United States of America and the District of Columbia). This press release does not constitute or form a part of any offer or solicitation to purchase for securities in the United States of America. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States of America except pursuant to an exemption from, or a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Michelin does not intend to register any portion of the proposed offering in the United States of America and no public offering will be made in the United States of America.

Australia, Canada and Japan

The bonds may not and will not be offered, sold or purchased in Australia, Canada or Japan. The information contained in this press release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in Australia, Canada or Japan.

The distribution of this press release in certain countries may constitute a breach of applicable law.Veritas Investments reported a profit in 2018 due to the $6.3 million gain from selling the Mad Butcher franchise, though its auditors couldn't confirm that figure, while its only remaining business wrote down $1.2 million in goodwill and assets.

Net profit was $4.5 million in the year ended June 30, from a loss of $793,000 in 2017. The company posted a $338,600 loss from continuing operations compared to a $1.4 million profit the year before. Revenue rose 0.7 percent to $23.8 million.

The accounts come with two qualifications from the company's auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers. First, after the Mad Butcher franchise was sold to chief executive Michael Morton for $8 million in March, the directors couldn't access underlying books and records so PwC was "unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support the trading results, closure costs and gain on sale" of the business and stores.

Second, the auditors disclaimed their opinion from 2017 as there wasn't enough evidence for them to determine whether they should make adjustments to the reported gain on sale figure of $6.3 million, or the trading profits for discontinued operations figure of $800,000. They couldn't determine whether they should adjust the value of the business in the 2017 accounts.

The company sold the Mad Butcher franchise to Morton for less than a quarter of the price he sold it to them in a reverse listing almost five years earlier. Cornerstone shareholder Morton left Veritas' board in June, replaced by investment banker Craig Norris. Veritas today announced that it has appointed Geoff Tuttle, chief executive of its Better Bar Company business, as group CEO.

In June, Veritas took a $27.5 million refinancing deal with Japan's Nomura Holdings which gave the food and beverage investor enough cash to repay ANZ Bank New Zealand and a $5 million credit line to use with the investment bank's approval.

Veritas' remaining business is The Better Bar Company, which operates eight Irish pubs and bars in Auckland and Hamilton. Today, it said The BBC's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was $3.7 million, from $5.9 million a year before.

"This result reflects increased staff costs brought about by changes to minimum wage legislation and a more competitive employment market, additional provisions for maintenance (much of which had previously been deferred due to banking restrictions) and increased operating and property expenses," Veritas said.

The company also said The BBC had written down goodwill by $613,000 and impaired fixed assets by $613,000 across two of its outlets due to increased competition cutting their potential recoverable value. The board is considering selling, rebranding or redeveloping the two outlets.

Veritas said the results reflect "a year of significant challenge, restructuring, asset sales and refinancing" and its board "has taken a proactive approach to clean up the balance sheet".

"The board considers that the group has a clear strategy and direction for its future, with an objective of becoming the number one hospitality operator in New Zealand," it said.

Veritas shares last traded at 9 cents, up from 6 cents at the beginning of the year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Pyne Gould Corp says it's more likely to head to court to recover what it claims it's owed on the sale of Perpetual Trust to Bath Street Capital five years ago.

Last year the firm raised the spectre of litigation, having dropped a claim and counter-claim over the trustee transaction in 2016.

Today, the Guernsey-based, NZX-listed wealth management firm lowered the valuation of its receivable for the Perpetual business to $16.6 million from $17.7 million a year earlier.

"The directors consider the receivable remains recoverable, however, time will be required to achieve this outcome," managing director George Kerr said in his report. "Litigation is looking increasingly likely to be necessary in order to progress recovery of this asset."

Pyne Gould has been embroiled in a number of separate legal disputes for several years. Most recently, it took control of the distressed asset manager Torchlight Fund as part of a settlement with unhappy investors including Accident Compensation Corp and Crown Asset Management, which had pursued that firm through the Cayman Islands courts.

Kerr, who owns a controlling stake in Pyne Gould, today said the Torchlight settlement will materially lift net tangible assets in the 2019 financial year. The fund's biggest asset is Australian property developer RCL, with projects in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Queenstown.

Pyne Gould reported a net profit of 8.3 million British pounds in the year ended June 30, compared to a loss of 19.7 million pounds a year earlier. Much of the reversal related to a settlement with Australian businessman John Grills Wilaci unit earlier over a disputed loan repayment.,

"We are still only part way towards our goal of realising significant value from all the distressed assets acquired over the past decade, but considerable progress has been made," Kerr said. "With TFLP having successfully defended the Cayman litigation and agreed settlement on terms favourable for the remaining limited partners, its full focus is now on maximising returns for its investors and PGC."

Pyne Gould reported a net investment loss of 71,000 pounds in the year, compared to a gain of 9.9 million pounds a year earlier. The latest figure included net revenue of 2.1 million pounds from land development and resales.

The company's audited accounts are due by the end of September. Pyne Gould's auditor Grant Thornton NZ resigned in July after a waiver from the Guernsey regulator expired.

The firm managed to get its audited accounts in on time last year having filed them late in 2014 through 2016. Pyne Gould blamed some of those delays on a slow handover when Grant Thornton took over the audit from PwC. The firm has gone through three audit firms since 2012 when KPMG quit over a disagreement with Kerr over whether some related party transactions needed disclosing.

The shares rose 3 percent to 34, adding to the 10 percent gain so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Steel & Tube Holdings says improving sales have continued into the current financial year and it expects to resume dividends as its business overhaul begins to pay off.

The Lower Hutt-based supplier of steel building products, restructured under the guidance of a refreshed board and new chief executive Mark Malpass, now "has a balanced exposure across the rural, manufacturing and construction sectors, with consistent demand and activity forecast in all sectors over the next few years," it said in a statement.

"Steel & Tube has begun to see positive results from the implementation of its change programme  specifically increasing both volumes and sales," the company said.

The overhaul uncovered a number of legacy issues which materially impacted earnings in the year to June 30. The company reiterated its loss on an earnings before interest and tax basis was $36.2 million in the year ended June 30 while normalised ebit was $16.5 million. Both were slightly better than expected. There was no change from the unaudited results announced earlier this month.

The normalised figure stripped out $53.8 million of non-trading costs and impairments and a $1.1 million benefit from reduced software amortisation costs due to delays implementing a new enterprise resource planning system.

"These issues have now been addressed and the initiatives being implemented as part of Steel & Tubes Project Strive business transformation programme are delivering early results," it said.

According to Steel & Tube, the improving sales trends in the three months to June 30 "have continued into the current financial year." It reiterated that it expects to report ebit of at least $25 million in the current financial year.

While no final dividend will be paid for FY18, the company expects to resume dividend payments in FY19 consistent with its stated policy of paying 60-80 percent of normalised net profit.

Among other things, it has initiated an $80.9 million capital raising to strengthen the balance sheet. The funds will pay down debt and, following completion, gearing is expected to be approximately 1.15 times normalised ebitda The capital structure policy has been reset to operate with net debt of less than 2.0 times normalised ebitda, it said.

Steel & Tube needed a waiver from its banks earlier this year after writedowns and impairments put it in breach of at least one lending covenant.

A $20.8 million placement was successfully completed on Aug. 7, with strong support from existing and new institutional investors. A $60.1 million, pro rata, 1-for-1.9 rights offer at an issue price of $1.05 per share closes at 5pm on Monday.

The stock last traded at $1.16 and has fallen about 40 percent so far this year.

Steel & Tube said it still sees a highly competitive construction market. The North Island is experiencing high demand and that activity is "expected to drive reinforcing, piping, roll-forming and structural steel revenue."

It said manufacturing is expected to remain stable with significant opportunities in the food subsector where demand will likely drive growth in plates, coils, sections and fasteners. The rural sector is driving demand for stainless steel, it said.

(BusinessDesk)

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Strong export growth in its lead North American market and in Asia pushed New Zealand King Salmon to record operating earnings in the year to June 30.

The result would have been stronger had the company not experienced high mortality among its salmon stocks because of high Marlborough Sounds water temperatures.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - the benchmark measure the company used for forecasts in its prospectus before listing on the NZX in 2016 - came in at $26.2 million, a 21 percent increase on the previous financial year and 17 percent ahead of prospectus forecasts.

On a net profit after tax basis, excluding the valuation impact of changes in the value of its salmon stocks, the aquaculture firm reported earnings of $16.1 million, 14 percent higher than forecast in the 2016 prospectus.

However, an extended period of higher than average water temperatures at its Marlborough Sounds operations over the summer months saw fish deaths increase to 20.4 percent of total biomass for the year, compared with 8 percent a year earlier and 11 percent forecast in the listing prospectus.

The company is working on new heat mitigation methods and breeding for heat resistance, and waiting for ministerial decisions stalled since the term of the last government to allow it to move some of its operations to higher-flow, deeper locations in the Sounds, where the impact of higher water temperatures would be reduced.

In the meantime, "higher mortality has resulted in a reduction in our closing biomass (down 13 percent from 2017), which will limit volume growth in FY19", the company said. Reflecting this, the company is forecasting ebitda in a range similar to this year's result, at between $25 million and $28.5 million, with gains from a weaker New Zealand dollar against the US dollar muted by hedging already in place.

Whilst the year was impacted by an extended summer period of higher water temperatures, our strong H1 performance coupled with product and pricing mix strategies helped us maintain the highest possible value," said managing director Grant Rosewarne in a statement to the NZX.

The total fish harvest in the last financial year was 7,779 tonnes, with around 8,000 tonnes expected in the current financial year and slow growth to around 9,500 tonnes in the 2021 financial year.

However, the value of its fish is expected to continue climbing, supported by the company's premium branding strategy, which has seen the establishment of 'Ora King'' as a differentiated salmon brand in key markets, notably the US. Total revenue for the year, at $160.3 million, was 18 percent ahead of the previous year despite the higher mortality rates.

"We saw continued sales momentum in our lead international market, North America," said Rosewarne. "Total sales to this market were up 27 percent on FY17, with corresponding volumes of 2,175 tonnes, or 28 percent of all sales. We also recorded excellent sales growth to markets in China and South East Asia, up 43 percent on FY17, as well as solid performance in export generally. Domestic sales remained relatively flat during FY18, as premium branded opportunities were prioritised.

Demand growth continued to exceed available supply, the company said.

Slides accompanying the profit announcement say Ora King salmon, sold through foodservice channels rather than retail, is now on the menu of more than 1,200 restaurants worldwide. North America accounted for 65 percent of total Ora King sales. NZKS also launched its lower-cost Regal Salmon brand in the North American retail market during the year and established a subsidiary there to assist distribution.

Longer term, NZKS is examining deep water salmon farming in sheltered parts of Cook Strait and announced it has lodged "initial consents for a trial farm in the ocean open near Marlborough", which could be operational by 2022, but would be unlikely to be producing commercial fish volumes before 2028. It is also "continuing to explore water space options in other regions of New Zealand".

Rosewarne told BusinessDesk earlier this year that it had no interest in trying to establish salmon farming in Fiordland because of its protected park status, but that it continued to assess potential sites off Stewart Island. NZKS is closely monitoring the development of new deep water, offshore salmon farming technology by the Norwegian industry.

Directors declared a fully imputed 3 cents per share final dividend, payable on Sept. 21, making total dividends of 5 cents last year.

NZKS shares have risen 65 percent to $2.86 over the last year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Genesis Energy, the countrys largest thermal generator, says it is not worried by proposals to lift the cap on carbon prices in the countrys emissions trading scheme.

The company said it is important that consumers see the true carbon cost in the energy they use and noted that its recent increase in retail natural gas prices  its first since 2013  is in part a reflection of a 20 percent increase in gas costs due to changes in the ETS regime.

Chief financial officer Chris Jewell told analysts and journalists today that the firm has plenty of options for hedging its long-term carbon exposure but to date has chosen not to use them.

That has been a function of its Rankine strategy, but also the fact that there are cheaper primary ways of accessing carbon. The firm is conscious that the cap may be lifted but we have lots of different ways of hedging carbon.

We clearly dont want to be paying $50 for carbon and we have no intention to, Jewell said. And weve got plenty of time to make those decisions.

Genesis has more than 950 MW of coal- or gas-fired capacity at its Huntly site. Low lake levels increased demand for production from the firms dual-fuel Rankine units during the past year and that saw emissions from the firms generation activities jump 45 percent to 2.14 million tonnes.

But the company today showed that its carbon exposure is fully hedged out to 2022, and partially hedged out to 2024. During the past year its average carbon cost was $6 a tonne, and that figure rises to $15-$20 in the 2020 financial year and $17-$22 in the 2022 year.

New Zealand carbon units were recently trading at $24.80 a tonne on the spot market, according to OMF. April 2022 contracts were at $27.90.

The Labour-led coalition has picked up a review of the ETS started by the former government aimed at making it more effective, easier for foresters to participate in and open to the addition of agriculture over time. A halving of firms carbon bills  introduced in 2009 after the global financial crisis  is being wound out and firms will face their full exposure from Jan. 1. The current cap is set at $25 a tonne.

Jewell said the company expects to be able to fully pass on emission costs from its gas businesses and the Rankine generators. The 400 MW fifth unit at Huntly will take a little longer given the more fixed nature of its take-or-pay gas supply agreements, he said.

Genesis, which also operates the Tongariro, Waikaremoana and Tekapo hydro schemes, is committed to reducing its emissions. It has slashed coal use at Huntly and pledged to stop using the Rankine units routinely by 2025 and entirely by 2030.

Chief executive Marc England told analysts today they can assume the firm will operate two of the three operational 250 MW Rankine units until 2022  the end date of the firms swaption agreement with Meridian Energy. After that the options range from zero to three, and they could be hedged or unhedged, he said.

Two dry periods in the past year saw the Rankines generate 1,042 GWh of electricity, more than twice that a year earlier, with 63 percent of it fuelled by coal.

But only 12 percent of their output was for the companys customers and that reflects the far greater value the market gets from them than Genesis, England said.

That said, they remain a key strategic asset for the firm and getting the maximum value from them is important.

England said the company has great flexibility to run them on gas, local coal or imported coal, and the firm is also looking at other ways to contract their capacity longer term.

We dont see recontracting swaptions as the only path forward for Genesis, he said.

Genesis has been expanding multi-fuel offerings to businesses and homes and has developed new digital tools to give consumers greater control of their consumption. It has also been trialing solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles to see how families and firms may use those technologies in future.

England said take-up of those services will be important for the sector in the future but that may not really get underway until early in the new decade.

In the meantime, the firm will press on developing tools and services that will help establish it as an energy management firm  rather than an energy supplier.

Were not rushing to create new products for customers around solar, storage and EVs.

Its more about prioritisation of our effort to maximise the value of that when it happens, he said.

We dont need to wait for a solar panel on a roof, or an EV being plugged into a home, to help consumers manage their energy choices through technology.

By creating that platform with whats available today, well be well positioned to be the energy manager of choice when someone wants a solar panel on their roof or a car plugged into their garage.

(BusinessDesk)

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PHILADELPHIA and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hill International, the global leader in managing construction risk, announced that it has received a three-year contract from Bank Aljazira, the leading and innovative Shari'ah-compliant financial institution in Saudi Arabia and the region, to provide project management services for the pre-design, design, and construction of Bank Aljaziras Regional Management Office Building in Riyadh.



The project will be one of Riyadhs landmarks, reflecting Bank Aljaziras image and its alignment with the Saudi Arabia National Vision 2030 by contributing to a vibrant society and more thriving economy. The project location is planned to be north of the Capital, in the center of new major developments for the next 20 years.

This project marks Bank Aljaziras remarkable growth and success story, said Hills Regional President for the Middle East, Abdo Kardous. We are honored by this appointment and look forward to providing Hills expertise and experience in delivering a quality project on time and within budget while supporting the regions plans for economic growth.

Hill International, with approximately 3,000 professionals in more than 50 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management, and other consulting services to clients in a variety of market sectors. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the eighth-largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, please visit our website at www.hillintl.com .

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein may be considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and it is our intent that any such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby. Except for historical information, the matters set forth herein including, but not limited to, any statements of belief or intent, any statements concerning our plans, strategies and objectives for future operations; and any statements regarding our intent to file late periodic reports or relisting on a national securities exchange, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that the expectations, estimates and assumptions reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements are set forth in the Risk Factors section and elsewhere in the reports we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including that unfavorable global economic conditions may adversely impact our business, our backlog may not be fully realized as revenue, our expenses may be higher than anticipated, and the review of the Company's accounting, accounting policies and internal control over financial reporting, and the preparation of and the audit or review, as applicable, of filings may take longer than currently anticipated or additional restatement adjustments may be identified. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.

Hill International, Inc.

Elizabeth J. Zipf, LEED AP BD+C

Senior Vice President

Hill International, Inc.

One Commerce Square

2005 Market Street, 17th Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Tel: 215-309-7707

elizabethzipf@hillintl.com

Hill International, Inc.

Marco A. Martinez

SVP & Interim Chief Financial Officer

(215) 309-7951

marcomartinez@hillintl.com

InvestorCom

John Glenn Grau

President

(203) 295-7841

jgrau@investor-com.com

(HIL-G)GALLATIN, Tenn., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Disaster restoration specialists with SERVPRO  remind property owners that September is National Preparedness Month . This annual event, sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), provides families and businesses with the information and resources they need to plan for, react to, survive, and recover from an emergency, before the emergency happens.

For National Preparedness Month 2018, themed Disasters happen, prepare now, learn how, FEMA has prepared a week-by-week calendar of recommended actions property owners can take to be ready if disaster does strike:

Week 1. Create an emergency plan that includes signing up for emergency alerts and making contingency plans for shelter, evacuation, and family communication.

Week 2. Learn life-saving skills. CPR is a good place to start, but also be certain you know how to turn off the utilities in your home and ensure your smoke and CO detectors are properly installed and working.

Week 3. Check your insurance coverage. Once the emergency is over, appropriate and sufficient insurance will be key to getting your life back to normal, or at least on track.

Week 4. Plan financially for the possibility of a disaster. This goes beyond having a rainy day fund for immediate needs. Gather and organize important home, business, insurance, financial, and personal documents and keep them up-to-date and stored in a secure, water-and-fire proof location.

Theres a difference between surviving a disaster and recovering from a disaster, says Sue Steen, Servpro Industries, Inc., chief executive officer. Families and businesses who take the time to create both a short- and long-term plan to deal with the unexpected are better able to respond quickly if the unexpected happens, which can improve their chances of survival. Having key information at their fingertips in the aftermath of the emergency can set them on the path to recovery more quickly and with less stress.

Because SERVPRO recognizes a fast response is critical in any emergency, Steen invites commercial and residential property owners to download the SERVPRO READY app for free at https://ready.servpro.com/home/mobileapp. The app allows users to store essential contact and property information electronically, where it can be accessed with a mobile device in seconds, right from the scene, if disaster strikes. For business owners who designate their local SERVPRO system member as their disaster mitigation and restoration provider, SERVPRO professionals will conduct a no-cost assessment of their facility, help the owner complete a comprehensive Emergency READY Profile (ERP), and store that profile in the READY app.

SERVPRO disaster cleanup and restoration specialists are ready to respond to emergencies big and small, said Steen. From SERVPROs Disaster Recovery Team, a group of elite large-loss specialists, prequalified and strategically positioned throughout the United States to handle any size disaster, to SERVPRO professionals in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, we specialize in disaster restoration, cleanup and repair services, helping make it Like it never even happened for both commercial and residential customers.

For more information on SERVPRO please visit www.servpro.com/ .

About SERVPRO

Founded in 1967, the SERVPRO Franchise System is a leader and provider of fire and water cleanup and restoration services and mold mitigation and remediation. SERVPROs professional services network of more than 1,700 individually owned and operated Franchises responds to property damage emergencies ranging from small individual disasters to multi-million dollar large-loss events. Providing coverage in the United States and Canada, the SERVPRO System has established relationships with major insurance companies and commercial clients, as well as individual homeowners.

SERVPROs Disaster Recovery Team mobilizes from across the country, as needed, to support large storm events. SERVPROs Disaster Recovery Team has responded to large loss and storm events across the country, including: 2018 California Wildfires, 2017 Hurricane Harvey, 2017 Hurricane Irma, 2016 Hurricane Matthew, 2016 Louisiana Flooding, 2016 Houston Flooding, 2015 Siberian Express, 2014 Mid-Atlantic Flooding, 2014 Polar Vortex, 2013 Colorado Floods, 2013 Alberta, Canada Floods, 2012 Hurricane Sandy, 2012 Hurricane Isaac, 2011 Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, 2011 North Dakota Floods, 2010 Tennessee Floods, 2010 New England Floods, 2009 California Wildfires and 2008 Hurricane Ike.English French

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

QUEBEC CITY, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nemaska Lithium Inc. (Nemaska Lithium or the Corporation) (TSX:NMX) (OTCQX:NMKEF) (FRANCFORT:N0T) is pleased to confirm that it has satisfied the conditions required before the the Long Stop Date (as defined in the terms of the Bonds) pursuant to its offering of senior secured callable bonds in the aggregate principal amount of USD 350M (the "Bonds"), the completion of which was announced on May 30, 2018 (the "Bond Offering").

As indicated at the time of the pricing and closing of the books for the Bond Offering (see May 10, 2018 press release), the Corporation had until August 30, 2018, to satisfy a series of conditions precedent to the transfer of proceeds to the trustee in charge of holding same for the benefit of the bondholders, before the Corporation may draw on such proceeds. The main conditions met are:

(a) having raised minimum net equity proceeds of USD 299M (see May 30, 2018 press release); (b) having received the first instalment of USD 75M of the streaming facility (see August 23, 2018 press release); (c) having executed and/or obtained, as applicable, material project documents, agreements and governmental, regulatory and environmental permits and authorizations related to the project;

(d) having obtained the intercreditor agreement in respect of the streaming facility; and (e) having put in place the security package over all of the assets determined in connection with the Bond Offering.

Meeting the conditions precedent required to make the proceeds from the Bonds offering available proves an important Project financing milestone, said Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium. As per our schedule relating to the various components of the $1.1B financing completed on last May 30, our first drawdown from the Bonds will occur once we have invested the proceeds from the equity offerings raised in respect of the project (USD 299M) as well as the USD 150M ensuing from the streaming agreement. The Project execution progresses well, namely as regards engineering, purchasing of long lead items and construction.



As previously announced (see May 10 and 30, 2018 press releases), the Bonds are USD-denominated with a five-year term and bear interest at 11.25% per annum, payable quarterly and in arrears on the relevant interest payment day in February, May, August and November of each year, commencing on August 30, 2018. The first interest payment was made.

The Corporation will have to satisfy various customary conditions precedent prior to each disbursement of funds from the Bonds. The Corporation will be entitled to make a minimum of three drawdowns until June 2021. The main conditions are the following: (i) drawdown amounts will be limited to the aggregate amount of Project costs outstanding at the time plus Project costs falling due for payment over the 60 following days, (ii) each drawdown must be accompanied by a notice which, among other things, must be countersigned by an independent engineer confirming that that the cost-to-complete test (i.e. the Corporation has sufficient funds available to achieve completion of the Project) has been satisfied.

The full text of the terms of the Bonds was filed and is available on the Corporations corporate profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com ; readers are urged to refer to this full text.

About Nemaska Lithium

Nemaska Lithium is a developing chemical company whose activities will be vertically integrated, from spodumene mining to the commercialization of high-purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. These lithium salts are mainly destined for the fast-growing lithium-ion battery market, which is driven by the increasing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage worldwide. With its products and processes, Nemaska Lithium intends to facilitate access to green energy, for the benefit of humanity.

The Corporation will be operating the Whabouchi mine in Quebec, Canada, one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in volume and grade. The spodumene concentrate produced at the Whabouchi mine will be processed at the Shawinigan plant using a unique membrane electrolysis process for which the Corporation holds several patents.

Nemaska Lithium is a member of the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index, S&P/TSX Global Mining Index, S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals Index, and the MSCI Canada Small Cap Index. For more information, visit nemaskalithium.com or twitter.com/Nemaska_Lithium.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the Corporation using the proceeds of the Bond Offering to fund costs associated with the Project, constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of certain securities laws and are based on expectations and projections as of the date of this press release. Certain important assumptions by the Corporation in making forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (a) the satisfaction, in a timely manner, by the Corporation of certain conditions precedent required to permit the disbursement of the proceeds of the Bond Offering, and (b) the Corporation having met the conditions precedent to receive the remainder (USD 75M) of the streaming facility. There can be no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release including, without limitation, those related to (i) the satisfaction of the cost-to-complete test and other conditions precedent to proceed with the drawdowns under the Bond Offering, (ii) the use of Bond proceeds for the Project, and (iii) generally, the above "About Nemaska Lithium" paragraph which essentially describes the Corporation's outlook, constitute ''forward-looking information'' or ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of certain securities laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that the Corporation will meet conditions precedent to receive (i) the remainder (USD 75 million) of the streaming facility and (ii) the full proceeds of the Bond Offering.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada including, but not limited to, the cautionary statements made in the "Risk Factors" section of the Corporation's Annual Information Form dated October 5, 2017 and the "Risk Exposure and Management" section of the Corporation's quarterly Management Discussion & Analysis. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Further information regarding Nemaska Lithium is available in the SEDAR database (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website at: www.nemaskalithium.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Victor Cantore

Investor Relations

514 831-3809

victor.cantore@nemaskalithium.com



Fanny-Eve Tapp

Media Relations

514 442-0445

fanny-eve.tapp@nemaskalithium.com Wanda Cutler

Investor Relations

416 303-6460

wanda.cutler@nemaskalithium.com





www.nemaskalithium.com



Trump says China making things 'much more difficult' with N. Korea



Washington, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China of complicating Washington's relationship with North Korea by rendering its ally economic assistance, as talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization are at a standstill.

But he insisted his relationship with Kim Jong Un remained "very good" and said he was not considering resuming joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula that Pyongyang considers "provocative."

Trump's refusal to direct criticism at Kim and instead blame other parties for a lack of progress comes despite reports the US received a belligerent letter from Pyongyang, which prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to North Korea last weekend.

"China makes it much more difficult in terms of our relationship with North Korea," Trump said at the White House, though he insisted his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping were "great."

He also noted his "fantastic relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he met in Singapore in June.

"Part of the North Korea problem is caused by the trade disputes with China," Trump said.

Beijing is Pyongyang's sole major ally, and the main transit country for any goods entering the North. Trump said that China -- angered by US moves on trade -- is no longer being as tough as it could be on North Korea.

"We know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful!" he tweeted on Wednesday evening.

On the subject of military exercises, which the US suspended as a "good faith" measure following Trump's summit with Kim, the president said "there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games" though added these could resume if the need arose.

It came a day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon was not planning to suspend any more military drills, before appearing to backtrack on Wednesday by insisting "no decisions" had been made on the matter.

Trump also reiterated his wish to fundamentally alter the trade status quo between the United States and China, the world's top two economies.

He said he needed to take a tough stance with Beijing on trade "because it was really not fair to our country," criticizing his predecessors who "closed their eyes" to the issue.



- Belligerent letter -



In June, Trump and Kim pledged to work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

But those efforts stalled several weeks ago, and last week, Trump ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to Pyongyang.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Washington remains ready to engage "when it is clear that Chairman Kim stands ready to deliver on the commitments that he made at the Singapore summit to President Trump to completely denuclearize North Korea."

According to the Washington Post, Pyongyang sent Pompeo a belligerent letter that prompted him to cancel the visit, though its precise contents were not known.

US news site Vox meanwhile reported Trump at June's summit pledged to sign a declaration ending the Korean War, and now the two countries remain deadlocked over who will follow through on their commitment first.

On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that Washington believes "denuclearization has to take place before we get to other parts," confirming that included such a declaration.System error

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The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Xiaozhu Pang as Chief Financial Officer to replace Ms. Xu.



About Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc.:

Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SAI) is a public company listed on the TSX Venture exchange. The Company is currently engaged in the research, development, production and sales of bio-feed, microbial feed additives and related products that aim to improve the health and performance of animals. The Company's line of products include: (a) bio-feed; and, (b) microbial feed additives. The Company currently sells its products throughout China and Japan, and is beginning expansion into Southeast Asia. The Company is based in the city of Dalian in the Peoples Republic of China.



On Behalf of the Board of Directors



SUNSHINE AGRI-TECH INC.



Baojun Zhang, PhD



Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



CONTACT INFORMATION

Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc.

Xiaozhu Pang

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 778.865.2296Belleville, Illinois, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the addition of five conditions to the Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program on Aug. 20. This program is critical for individuals with severe health conditions when they apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, according to TrueHelp, a division of Allsup, which has helped tens of thousands of people receive their disability benefits.

The five new health conditions added to CAL are:

Fibrolamellar Cancer

Megacystis Microcolon Intestinal Hypoperistalsis Syndrome (MMIHS)

Megalencephaly Capillary Malformation Syndrome (MCAP)

Superficial Siderosis of the Central Nervous System

Tetrasomy 18p

Established in 2008, the CAL program has developed into a list of 233 conditions. Many of the qualifying impairments are brain disorders or types of cancers that put a claimants application for Social Security disability benefits on the fast track for approval.

"There are 30 million Americans living with a rare disease," said Peter Saltonstall, president and CEO of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), whose organization praised the SSAs recent announcement. "That's 1 in 10 people. Many of them face overwhelming medical and financial challenges."

Approval for Social Security disability benefits can happen within weeks of medical confirmation of a diagnosis, versus months or years. The Compassionate Allowances program helps to ensure that applicants who are clearly eligible due to the severity of their health condition receive fast review when they apply for disability benefits, said Mike Stein, Allsup assistant vice president.

Allsup helps individuals with rare diseases navigate the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) application process if they cannot continue working. A representative can help to ensure your condition is clearly flagged for Social Securitys expedited review under Compassionate Allowances, Stein added.

To date, more than 500,000 individuals with disabilities have been approved for benefits under the Compassionate Allowances program. Find a complete list of CAL conditions online.

Learn more about applying for Social Security disability benefits at FileSSDI.TrueHelp.com.

ABOUT ALLSUP

Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, exchange plan and Medicare services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Learn more at TrueHelp.com and @Allsup or download a free copy of Applying for Social Security Disability Insurance: Getting It Right The First Time.CHARLESTON, S.C., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Smithfield Foods, Inc. and Harris Teeter joined forces to donate more than 40,000 pounds of protein to the Lowcountry Food Bank. Smithfields contribution was part of the companys 2018 Helping Hungry Homes donation tour. Now in the programs 10th year, Helping Hungry Homes is Smithfields signature hunger-relief initiative focused on alleviating hunger and helping Americans become more food secure. The donation, equivalent to more than 160,000 meals, will help families fight hunger in South Carolina.

Our guiding principles to feed, advocate, and empower are supported through generous donations like the one weve received today from Smithfield, said Pat Walker, president and CEO of the Lowcountry Food Bank. High-quality protein allows us to better serve the community in a healthy way with nutritious food choices, a key focus for our efforts in alleviating hunger.

Smithfield and Harris Teeter representatives presented the donation to the Lowcountry Food Bank at an event at the food bank this morning. Members of each organization discussed food insecurity in the local community and the significance of this donation, which will provide protein throughout the food banks service area, reaching more than 200,000 food insecure individuals across 10 counties.

Harris Teeter supports our local communities for one simple, yet very important reasonit is vital to our people and the places we call home, said Danna Robinson, communication manager for Harris Teeter. We believe it is equally important to align with our partners to take a stand against food insecurity, and are proud to take part in this donation with Smithfield.

This is the 42nd large scale protein donation made by Smithfield to food banks across the country during its 2018 Helping Hungry Homes tour. Since the programs inception in 2008, Smithfield has provided more than 100 million servings of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts, and community outreach programs nationwide.

At Smithfield, we strive to support a better quality-of-life for our neighbors in need through donations of nutrient-rich protein to underserved communities across the country, said Jonathan Toms, associate manager of charitable initiatives for Smithfield Foods. It is our hope that this donation will provide much-needed and well-deserved relief to those the Lowcountry Food Bank serves.

For more information about Smithfield Foods Helping Hungry Homes initiative and a list of upcoming donation events, visit helpinghungryhomes.com .

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, John Morrell, Cook's, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curly's, Healthy Ones, Morliny, Krakus and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com .

About The Lowcountry Food Bank

The Lowcountry Food Bank serves the 10 coastal counties of South Carolina and distributed more than 28 million pounds of food in 2017. The Lowcountry Food Bank helps fight hunger by distributing food to nearly 300 partner agencies including soup kitchens, homeless shelters and emergency food pantries. The Lowcountry Food Bank is a member of the national Feeding America network. The Lowcountry Food Bank advocates on behalf of the hungry and helps empower people to make healthy and nutritious food choices. For more information go to http://www.lowcountryfoodbank.org and connect with us on Facebook , Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn .

About Harris Teeter Companies

Harris Teeter, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), was co-founded in 1960 by North Carolina grocers W.T. Harris and Willis Teeter. Harris Teeter operates over 250 stores and 25 fuel centers in seven states and the District of Columbia. In addition to its retail stores, Harris Teeter also owns grocery, frozen food, and perishable distribution centers in Greensboro, NC and Indian Trail, NC, as well as a dairy in High Point, NC. Harris Teeter is headquartered in Matthews, NC and has approximately 30,000 associates.

Media Contacts:

Dalton Agency for Smithfield

Jana Beasley

(904) 534-8568

jbeasley@daltonagency.com Lowcountry Food Bank

Alexis Barbalace

(843) 747-8146 ext. 105

abarbalace@lcfbank.org



Harris Teeter

Danna Robinson

(704) 774-9319

drobinson@harristeeter.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ebac6b2d-1449-4b16-8363-3598dda36c53Star Gosling took flying lessons for new astronaut film



Venice, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



Hollywood star Ryan Gosling said Wednesday that he tried to learn to fly to play astronaut Neil Armstrong in an emotional new biopic about the strong but silent space hero.

The Canadian actor renewed his Oscar-winning partnership with "La La Land" director Damien Chazalle for "First Man", which tells how Armstrong overcame tragedy after tragedy to become the first man to walk on the moon.

Gosling revealed how he took flying lessons so he could get inside the mind of the engineer and test pilot as the film opened the Venice film festival.

"I thought what I should do was learn how to fly. Neil could fly before he could drive. But not too long in when the instructor asked me to take the plane into a controlled stall, I thought 'this is a terrible idea'," the actor told reporters.

"There was a reason why Neil Armstrong was destined to be one of the best pilots of all time and I'm not.

"There was something very different about him and a lot of other astronauts," Gosling said.

It took a "certain breed of person to get into a plane that has never been flown before and push it to its breaking point for the sole purpose of furthering our knowledge of aeronautics".

Chazalle, who is half French and half Canadian, said the astronauts were universal heroes.

"When I first saw a Gemini I thought it was just part of the spacecraft -- but it was the whole thing. I wanted to capture how terrifying it felt searching in the void of space in flying tin cans."

Gosling, 37, and Australian co-star Jason Clarke paid tribute to the courage of the astronauts, admitting that just grappling with the claustrophobia of the space capsules was enough for them.

"The crew created capsules that were too authentic," said Clarke. "It was a kind of meltdown. We had a seriously hard time sitting in the capsule locked in our space suits with three levels of doors closing on you."

British star Claire Foy, who played Armstrong's late wife Janet, said the film owed a "huge debt" to Armstrong's sons and his late widow Janet, who helped vet the script and met the actors.

Asked what he looks for in a director, Gosling joked: "Good hair. A strong head of hair is important. And Damien (Chazelle) is half-Canadian, so that helps as well."English French

MONTREAL, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. (MOBI724 or the Company) (TSX-V:MOS) (OTCQB:MOBIF), a global Fintech company offering a fully integrated suite of multiple Card-Linked Offers and Rewards (CLOR), Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence (DMBI) and Payment Solutions is pleased to announce its financial and operational results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018.



Following are the highlights for Q2 2018 vs. Q1 2018.

 Total revenues increased 52% to $793K for the second quarter

Revenues from Card-Linked Offers and Rewards increased 73%

Revenues from Payments increased 31%

Revenues from Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence increased 52%

 Operating expenses decreased 23% to $1.7M compared to $2.2M

 Operating loss decreased 47% to $879K compared to $1.7M

 Net loss decreased 44% to $0.9M compared to $1.6M

 Cards under management increased 25% to 16.2M cards compared to 12M cards

Q2 2018 Highlights :

Sales pipeline continues to grow as the Company aggressively advances it business development plan. Key accomplishments were:

 Shortening of the sales cycle to 12 months from 15 months

 Pursuing multiple prospects, clients and partnerships simultaneously in several countries

 Increasing number of cards under management

 Increased efficiencies, reduced costs and improved cash flow

Implementation of process optimization initiatives resulted in a significant reduction of costs. The Company continues to invest in the development of a distributed ledger architecture for the platform (blockchain) and artificial intelligence capabilities. MOBI724 is confident, that these innovations will enhance its product offerings and sales.

In the CLOR segment in Argentina, the Company successfully transitioned operations from a legacy coupon business, to generating revenues from a new line of solutions. Increase in the DMBI segment is related to the launch of key accounts. In the Payments segment, the Company continues to grow returns from onboarding new clients in the Caribbean and extracting first revenues from the Philippines.

Results - Q2 2018 vs. Q2 2017 :

Revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2018 slightly increased to $793K from $782K in Q2 2017.

Operating expenses decreased 40% in Q2 2018 to $1.7M compared to $2.8M. The decrease is due to lower professional fees, lower travel expenses, the e-business credit recorded during the period, lower share-based compensation and the gain on settlement of liabilities compared to a loss in 2017, partially offset by an increase in salaries and contract labor.

Net loss was $0.9M vs. a net income of $0.5M. The higher net loss is primarily related to the one-time, non-cash change in fair value, related to the acquisition of Mobi724 Solutions (which is absent in Q2 2018) and the gain on the renegotiation of the business price (also absent in Q2 2018) partially offset by the gain on settlement of liabilities and the lower operating expenses.

The Company had cash of $1.9M on June 30, 2018.

Cash flows used in operating activities for the second quarter of 2018 were $1.0M compared to $1.3M for the same quarter a year ago. The decrease is attributable mainly to lower general and administrative charges and the gain on settlement of liabilities, partially offset by the increase in cash flow used in non-cash working capital. Cash flows from financing activities in the second quarter of 2018 decreased by $8.2M to $0.9M due mainly to lower proceeds from the issuance of warrants and common shares, partially offset by the proceeds received from the exercise of warrants. Cash flows used in investing activities during the second quarter of 2018 decreased by $0.7M attributable to the absence of business acquisition activities during 2018.

Marcel Vienneau, MOBI724s CEO, said "We are very pleased with the quarter over quarter revenue growth, even better when we consider that we replaced the legacy coupon revenues this past quarter. Our operations optimization initiatives in Q2 yielded tangible results and have continued in Q3 with the full positive effect to show in Q4 2018 and beyond. One of our main objectives is to put the Company on an accelerated revenue growth path, and the strong growth in cards under management this quarter is a key indicator that we are setting the Company on a solid foundation in terms of value creation.

About Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.

We enable smart transactions anywhere

MOBI724, a global Fintech company, offers a fully integrated suite of multiple Card-Linked Offers and Rewards, Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence and Payment Solutions (including a mobile EMV compliant payment platform), which work with any payment card, on any mobile device and at any Point of Sale. MOBI724 provides turn-key solutions for card associations, card issuers, banks, retailers, manufacturers, offer providers, to create, manage, deliver and track and measure incentive campaigns worldwide in real time. The company captures value from big data to deliver seamless and personalized user experiences for the benefits of all parties in the ecosystem. MOBI724 headquarters are in Montreal, Canada, and the company presently has operations in North and Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific.

Legal Disclaimer

Certain statements in this document, including those which express managements expectations or estimations with regard to the Companys future performance, constitute forward-looking statements as understood by applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are, of necessity, based on a certain number of estimates and hypotheses; while management considers these to be accurate at the time they are expressed, they are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and risks on the commercial, economic and competitive levels. We advise readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other known and unknown factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to not rely unduly on the forward-looking statements. This advisory applies to all forward-looking statements, whether expressed orally or in writing, attributed to the Company or to any individual expressing them in the name of the Company. Unless required by law, the Company is under no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events, or other circumstances.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell any securities in the United States.

For further information, please visit www.MOBI724.com or contact:



Investor Relations:

Mr. George Aizpurua

Vice-President, Communications

First Canadian Capital Corp.

T: 647-500-2389/416-742-5600; E: gaizpurua@firstcanadiancapital.com

Mr. Derek Lindsay

Chief Financial Officer

MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc.

T: 514-394-5200; E: derek.lindsay@mobi724.comBrazil deploys military to boost security at Venezuela border



Brasilia, Aug 28 (AFP) Aug 28, 2018



Brazil President Michel Temer signed a decree Tuesday to send the army to "guarantee law and order" on the border with crisis-hit Venezuela after recent violent clashes.

Earlier this month, more than a thousand homeless Venezuelan immigrants who had flooded over the border into Brazil's northwestern Roraima state were driven back by an angry mob that rampaged through their makeshift tent following rumours a local shopkeeper had been brutally beaten by migrants.

Temer said his measure was aimed at providing "security for Brazilian citizens but also Venezuelan immigrants fleeing their country."

He also branded Venezuela's crisis as "tragic," saying it "threatens the harmony of practically the entire continent."

Temer called on "the international community to adopt diplomatic measures" to halt the Venezuelan exodus, as economic and political crises under President Nicolas Maduro's regime drive hundreds of thousands to leave in hope of finding a better life elsewhere.

The United Nations says some 2.3 million Venezuelans are living outside their homeland, with 1.6 million of those having left since 2015.

Oil-rich but over-reliant, Venezuela is in a fourth year of recession brought on by a crash in oil prices in 2014. Some 96 percent of the country's revenue is generated through crude.

Temer didn't reveal how many soldiers would be deployed to Roraima, but Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna said "troops are already in place" on the border.

Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen warned that Brazil "needs to discipline" the influx of migrants.Texan begins selling 3D-printed gun plans despite judge's order



Chicago, Aug 28 (AFP) Aug 28, 2018



A Texas man on Tuesday began selling digital gun-making blueprints, including for a 3D-printed plastic handgun, despite a judge's order barring the distribution of the material.

Cody Wilson had initially published the downloadable files on his website four weeks ago, after a deal struck with the Donald Trump administration that ended the federal government's efforts to block him.

Wilson's actions caused a political firestorm, and even prompted Trump to tweet that making gun blueprints easily available online "doesn't seem to make much sense!"

Multiple states filed a joint lawsuit claiming Wilson endangered public safety. One of the homemade weapons could evade metal detectors and all lacked traceable serial numbers.

A federal judge issued a temporary order on July 31 barring the distribution of the digital blueprints, and on Monday extended that order until the states' lawsuit is adjudicated.

Wilson told a news conference Tuesday that he interpreted the judge's ruling as only barring the free online distribution of the blueprints. He instead began to offer the files for sale, and promised to send physical copies on flash drives or by email.

Visitors to his online marketplace, which was once again active Tuesday, could name their own price for the information.

"Everyone in America who wants these files will get them," Wilson said. "I'm happy now to become the iTunes of downloadable guns, if I can't be the Napster."

Wilson insisted that the digital files had already been available elsewhere online for years, and that barring him from distributing the content was akin to free speech censorship.

"What's at stake in the courts is simply the government is trying to tell you what you can and can't have, what you can and can't download online," he said.

Seattle-based US District Judge Robert Lasnik said in his Monday ruling that free speech rights were "dwarfed" by the harm that Wilson's actions could cause.

"The very purpose for which the private defendants seek to release this technical data is to arm every citizen outside of the government's traditional control mechanisms of licenses, serial numbers, and registration," Lasnik wrote in his ruling.

"It is the untraceable and undetectable nature of these small firearms that poses a unique danger."

The Washington state attorney general, who is leading the multi-state lawsuit, responded to Wilson's latest move by reiterating that it was "again illegal to post downloadable gun files to the internet."

"I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson, a self-described 'crypto-anarchist,' accountable to that law," Bob Ferguson said.Suicide car bomber kills 11 in western Iraq



Ramadi, Iraq, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle in the town of Al-Qaim in western Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people, five of them security personnel, police said.

The 9 am (0600 GMT) bombing at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Al-Qaim also wounded 16 people -- 11 civilians and five security personnel, police Captain Mahmud Jassem told AFP.

The town, on the Syrian border some 340 kilometres (215 miles) from Baghdad, was one of the last in Iraq to be recaptured from the Islamic State group in November last year.

One month later, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the jihadists.

But since then, the security forces have announced a number of campaigns to flush out holdout IS fighters from sparsely populated areas from which they have continued to mount attacks.

The vast desert that straddles the border with Syria on either side of the Euphrates valley town of Al-Qaim has been one the jihadists' principal hideouts.Court orders arrest of Sri Lanka's top military officer



Colombo, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



A court Wednesday ordered the arrest of Sri Lanka's top military officer in connection with the abduction and murder of 11 people during the island's civil war.

Colombo Fort magistrate Lanka Jayaratne directed police to detain Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of the Defence Staff, for allegedly helping the main person acused in the killings escape prosecution.

Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, a navy intelligence officer, was accused of leading a hit squad that kidnapped 11 young men between 2008 and 2009 during the final stages of the war.

They are believed to have been murdered while being illegally held by the navy. Their bodies were never found.

Hettiarachchi was arrested earlier this month in Colombo after a months-long manhunt that saw an alert issued worldwide.

"There is evidence against Admiral Wijegunaratne's role in allowing the accused to evade arrest," Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department told the magistrate.

D.K.P. Dissanayake, at the time a spokesman for the navy, is also suspected of involvement. He was arrested last year and is currently on bail.

Police have told the court that Hettiarachchi was also wanted in connection with the 2006 murder of Tamil lawmaker Nadarajah Raviraj.

There have been persistent allegations that senior military personnel and regime figures loyal to then-president Mahinda Rajapakse were responsible for a number of high-profile murders.

Several military intelligence officers are facing prosecution in connection with the assassination of a prominent newspaper editor and for orchestrating attacks on other journalists and dissidents during Rajapakse's rule that ended in January 2015.

Rajapakse himself was questioned two weeks ago in relation to the abduction and torture of a newspaper journalist in 2008.

The former strongman, and several members of his family, are also being investigated for large-scale financial fraud and murder during his decade as president.

Troops crushed Tamil separatists known as the Tamil Tigers in 2009, ending the decades-long civil war.

But the final days of the government offensive, spearheaded by Rajapakse, were marked by allegations of major rights violations.

A former UN official has claimed that up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the war.Car bomb kills 11 in west Iraq after IS chief jihad call



Ramadi, Iraq, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people in Iraq on Wednesday in an attack that underscored the threat still posed by the Islamic State group despite a string of defeats.

The assailant blew up a vehicle at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Al-Qaim, one of the last towns in Iraq to be recaptured from IS, near the Syrian border.

Five members of the security forces were among 11 people killed in the blast, which also wounded 16 other people, mostly civilians, police Captain Mahmud Jassem told AFP.

IS said in a statement that it carried out the attack, which it claimed had left 50 people dead or wounded.

Al-Qaim, around 340 kilometres (215 miles) from Baghdad, was retaken from IS in November last year.

One month later, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the jihadists.

But since then, the security forces have announced a number of campaigns to flush out holdout IS fighters from sparsely populated areas from which they have continued to mount attacks.

Iraq's security services said the vehicle used in the attack had been rigged with explosives in a desert area on the edge of Syria.

The attacker drove past two roadblocks before detonating the bomb at a third checkpoint after security forces opened fire.

The latest bombing is intended by IS to send a message that "we can act quickly and strike wherever we want", said Hisham al-Hashemi, an expert on radical Islamist groups.

He said the jihadists had chosen the area because of its strategic location on the border and the presence of US and French forces belonging to the international coalition against IS.

The vast desert that straddles the frontier with Syria on either side of the Euphrates valley town of Al-Qaim has been one of the jihadists' principal hideouts.

Hashemi said about 2,000 IS jihadists are still active in Iraq including around 100 foreigners whose objective is "to take revenge on thoe who have driven them out".

On the Syrian side of the border, offensives by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and a US-backed coalition have pushed IS jihadists out of most of the territory they once controlled.

In a purported new audio message released last week, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on his followers to "not give up the jihad against their enemy".

Baghdadi was thought to have been killed several times, and the US has offered up a $25-million (21.5-million euro) reward for information leading to his capture or death.Moscow blocks UN sanctions on Russian entities accused of breaking NKorea ban



United Nations, United States, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



Russia has blocked a US request that UN sanctions be slapped on two Russian shipping companies and six of their ships over oil shipments to North Korea, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

The Russian move was supported by China, North Korea's main trading partner. Members of the UN Security Council had until Wednesday to raise objections to the US request.

The Russian decision was not a surprise. Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations had vowed last week to oppose sanctions on the targeted entities, contending that the US evidence was unconvincing .

The United States announced its own sanctions on August 21 against Russian shippers Primorye Maritime Logistics and Gudzon Shipping as well as six of their ships, saying they had violated an international ban on oil shipments to North Korea.

Russia and China had previously blocked a US attempt in early August to have a Russian bank added to the UN sanctions list as well as an official and two North Korean entities.

In July, the two countries refused to order a halt to oil exports to North Korea, despite a US report asserting that Pyongyang had exceeded its import quota for 2018 set under UN sanctions.

Moscow and Beijing have asked the Security Council to consider easing the sanctions to reward North Korea for opening a dialogue with the United States and halting its ballistic missile tests. The dialogue is currently at an impasse.Saudi-led coalition rejects UN's Yemen 'war crimes' report



Riyadh, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



A Saudi-led coalition battling in Yemen on Wednesday dismissed as inaccurate a report by UN investigators that highlighted possible war crimes in the conflict-torn country including deadly air strikes by the alliance.

"We affirm the inaccuracies in the report and its non-neutrality," the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.

"The report did not mention Iran's role in the continuation of the war... and its continued support for the Huthi" militias.

The coalition added that it would later provide a "comprehensive and detailed legal response" to the report.

In their first report released on Tuesday, a team of UN-mandated investigators said all parties in Yemen's bloody conflict have committed a "substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law".

Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes", the report said, pointing to widespread arbitrary detention, rape and torture.

The report said coalition air strikes had caused "most of the documented civilian casualties", pointing to a large number of strikes on residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings and medical facilities.

It said there were "serious concerns about the targeting process applied by the coalition," pointing out that in many cases there were no apparent military targets in the vicinity of the attacks.

Yemen's devastating conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Huthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

The UN human rights office said Tuesday that some 6,660 civilians were among the dead, while more than 10,500 had been injured.

The UN has already described the situation in Yemen as world's worst humanitarian crisis.

UN-backed talks between Yemen's government and the Iran-aligned Huthi militias are to open in Geneva on September 6 -- a first step toward resuming peace negotiations that broke down two years ago.English Icelandic

Shareholders meeting will be held at the Companys headquarters, Korngarar 2, Reykjavik, on 6 September 2018 at 16:00.

No proposal or amendment was received from shareholders.

Final agenda:

Election of the Board of Directors. Other matters, lawfully presented.

Written notice on candidature to the Board of Directors shall be announced the latest five days prior to the shareholders meeting, or before 16:00 GMT on 1 September 2018. Declaration of candidacy shall be sent to Eimskips headquarters, Korngarar 2, or to complianceofficer@eimskip.is



Final information on the candidates to the Board of Directors will be published no later than two days prior to the shareholders meeting, cf. Art. 63 a. of act no. 2/1995 on Public Limited Companies.

Further information on the meeting are available at the Companys Investor site: www.eimskip.com/investors

Shareholders and holders of power of attorney can register for the meeting on the meeting day from 15:30 at the Companys headquarters.Occupied Aaiun, 29 August 2018 (SPS) - The Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Jails has sounded an terrifying alarm an over the serious health situation of Sahrawi political prisoners who are on hunger strike in Moroccan prisons, especially the prison of Ait Melloul.

Abdel Mawla El Hafedi and Mohamed Dada on hunger strike for more than 38 days, along with thiern political comrade Ali Chargui who spent more than 27 days in his hunger strike

The Association has appealed all international human rights bodies and organizations to pressure the Moroccan occupation to stop its arbitrary policy against the Sahrawi political prisoners who are hunger strikers shouldering , in this regard, the Moroccan occupation the full responsibility of their safety .

Many of Sahrawi political prisoners have entered a hunger strike, denouncing the harsh conditions of detention they are living in the Moroccan occupation prisons. It should be recalled SPS

125/090/TRAHelsinki (Finland), 29, August 2018 (SPS) - The Sahrawi issue has strongly presented at the festival, hosted by Fartia city in Finland held on 25 - 26 August, according to a source from Frente POLISARIO representive to Finland.

The representative of the Frente POLISARIO in Finland, Ms. Menna Lehbib, along with several members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Finland, the Chairman of the Norwegian Committee for Solidarity with the Saharawi People, Mr. Eric Hagen, as well as the President of the Finnish Peace Society.

The festival, which marks the centennial anniversary of the Communist Party of Finland (FCP), has seen the screening of the documentary "Three Stolen Cameras"

Menna Lehbib has stressed "the awareness-raising of the Sahrawi issue in the Finnish community, among the components of civil society of students, professors, researchers and others is necessary, since it works to convey the reality of the Sahrawi revolution and the struggle led by the POLISARIO, the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people to snatch the right of freedom and independance.

In his intervention during the festival, Mr. Eric Hagen, gave a valuable lecture in which he asserted the right of the Saharawi people to freedom and independence, and their right to enjoy their natural wealth as a basic and legitimate right Linked to the question of self-determination SPS

125/090/TRAEnglish28/08/2018

FOUR ILLEGAL MIGRANTS DISCOVERED

NOVI GRAD, August 28 /SRNA/ - Novi Grad police officers have discovered four illegal migrants in the area of Novi Grad Municipality.



SRNA has unofficially learned that they are nationals of Iran who were discovered last night after citizens reported them to the police.



Police officers surrendered illegal migrants to the BiH Border Police. /end/sgEnglish28/08/2018

BISHOP TEODOSIJE CELEBRATED HOLY LITURGY IN GRACANICA MONASTERY

GRACANICA, August 28 /SRNA/ - His Eminence the Bishop of Raska and Prizren of the Serbian Orthodox Church /SOC/, Teodosije, celebrated today the Holy Liturgy in the Gracanica Monastery on the occasion of Monasterys Patron St.s Day /Slava/, the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, and said that the Serbian people will defeat their enemies with the assistance and blessing of the Theotokos.



Todays celebration is our consolation. We are praying to God and the Most Holy Mother of God to protect us in these difficult times because we did not go astray from our cross-bearing road, but continued to walk upright with the hope in God, Bishop Teodosije said after the Holy Liturgy.



He has said that with the aid and blessing of the Most Holy Mother of God, the Serbian people will defeat all their enemies.



We must not let ourselves to human protection, since God will find way to save faithful Christian people, Bishop Teodosije has said.



Bishop Teodosije has said that the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God is celebrated in the whole world and announced that the Belt of the Virgin Mary, which is kept on Mount Athos, will be brought to Serbia in 2020.



The Belt of the Virgin Mary will visit Serbia where it will be brought by monks from Mount Athos so that the Most Holy Mother of God could enlighten us not to think of worldly, transient things, Bishop Teodosije has said.



Bishop Teodosije has said that the Serbian land will thus be blessed.



This visit to our Serbian land will bless us to leave heritage to our posterity, but not any heritage, but the one that will be kept and nurtured, that which we inherited from our ancestors, Bishop Teodosije has said. /end/sgBOONE, Iowa, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kansas State University and Topcon Agriculture are collaborating to develop tools and systems to advance precision agriculture and support farmers.





By working with the university, Topcon Agriculture aims to develop product concepts through gathering requirements, drafting specifications and conducting market research as well as to test products in the lab, on the university farm, and around the state leveraging K-States unique knowledge in the domain and using K-State Research and Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station facilities.

The strategic advantage of using our combined resources for product development and testing is paramount as Topcon Agriculture is squarely focused on creating value for farmers, dealers and original equipment manufacturers. We encourage farmers to Grow without Limits, said Brian Sorbe, VP Sales and Marketing for Topcon Agriculture.

Topcon is globally taking an increasing tactical interest in university partnerships, similar to this great step with K-State. We believe that the intersection between sensors, data, and action are within our grasp, and progressive universities like K-State are in a unique position to help us achieve this, said Fabio Isaia, CEO of Topcon Agriculture. For example, we see K-State as one of the most important partners of TAP, our Ag Platform, and we look forward to developing together value-added services for our customers.

Our facilities and research strengths are an excellent fit for Topcons business, said Ernie Minton, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension.

Minton said researchers are interested in working with the company because of its broad, interdisciplinary approach and involvement in many areas that are highly relevant to Kansas producers.

Partnership with Topcon Agriculture demonstrates our commitment to keeping Kansas producers up-to-date. Precision agriculture offers new tools that will help farmers prosper as they work to feed the worlds growing population, Minton said.

Kansas State University emphasizes industry collaboration and has seen an 80 percent increase in the number of industry-funded projects in the last five years. The university has successfully pursued master research and service agreements with a number of industry partners.

Partnership with Topcon Agriculture aligns with our strategy to engage in collaborative research with industry, said Peter Dorhout, vice president for research. We are committed to strategic, enduring alliances to ensure that some of our applied research results in technology transfer and real-world applications that boost the Kansas economy, he said.

The research collaborations established with Topcon are the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership, and we look forward to expanding the relationship to advance innovation in precision agriculture in Kansas and beyond, said Rebecca Robinson, director of economic development at the Kansas State University Institute for Commercialization.

About Topcon Agriculture Group

Topcon Agriculture Group is a division of the Topcon Positioning Group, headquartered in Livermore, California, USA (topconpositioning.com). The global Topcon Agriculture Group (topconagriculture.com) headquarters is located in Turin, Italy, with its North American regional headquarters in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Topcon Agriculture Group provides advanced IoT connected field and farm management solutions for aftermarket and OEM customers in the agriculture industry, integrating high-precision hardware, software and data to bring efficiency and enhance productivity to every phase of the farming operations. Its brands include Topcon, Digi-Star, RDS Technology, and NORAC. Topcon Corporation (topcon.com), founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732).

AttachmentChinas developing taste for chips and crisps will soon be fuelled by British produce, as International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox MP secures a deal which enables the UK to export seed potatoes to China.

The deal is expected to bring major benefits to Scotland, with around 70% of the 100,000 tonnes of seed potatoes exported annually from the UK coming from Scottish farms. The seed potato export market is already worth an annual 90 million to the UK, with some varieties fetching up to 900 per tonne.

China is the largest global consumer of potatoes in the world. As the countrys demand for potato-based foods increases, the humble spud is now Chinas fourth staple crop after rice, corn and wheat  with demand increasing at a rapid rate.

It follows news that the UK dairy sector is set to receive a multi-million pound export boost, with Dr Fox meeting with the Chinese government to reach an agreement to allow the import of UK dairy products made with milk from third countries into China.

The agreement was signed by the International Trade Secretary during his visit to China. Dr Fox is also meeting businesses and senior Chinese government ministers to discuss further trading opportunities between the 2 countries.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox MP said:

The rapidly-growing Chinese market offers huge potential for UK farmers. According to research by Barclays, around 60% of people in China would actually pay more for a product, just because they knew it was British.

With China expected to have 220 cities with a population of more than a million by 2030, that is a huge market that UK potato farmers will now be able to make the most of.

My international economic department is in 108 markets across the world, helping UK businesses to export whilst liberalising international trade by removing barriers to commerce. Im delighted that this latest deal is set to boost our 67.5 billion trading relationship with China even further.

UK Government Minister Lord Duncan said:

Scotland is known for high-quality food and drink exports, and our seed potatoes are renowned for their excellence and breeding through scientific institutions such as the James Hutton Institute in Dundee.

Leaving the European Union means we can pursue an independent trade policy, and the quality of our exports will drive new trading opportunities like this one. Linking the worlds largest consumer of potatoes, China, with Scotlands exceptional potato seed is a welcome next step for the UK on a global stage.NEW YORK, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Nevro Corporation (Nevro or the Company) (NYSE: NVRO). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.



The investigation concerns whether Nevro and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On April 27, 2018, it was reported that Boston Scientific Corp. (Boston Scientific) had filed an action against Nevro, asserting claims of patent infringement, theft of trade secrets, and tortious interference with contract, alleging that as early as 2009, Nevro had been recruiting and hiring dozens of former Boston Scientific employees and was using trade secrets contained in more than 34,000 documents stolen from Boston Scientific by those former employees to develop and improve Nevros Senza I and Senza II SCS systems. On this news, Nevros stock price fell $1.46 per share, or 1.61%, to close at $89.36 on April 30, 2018, the next trading day.

On May 7, 2018, Nevro reported first-quarter 2018 financial results that fell significantly short of estimates. The Company attributed the results to a 31% increase in quarterly operating expenses, driven primarily by legal expenses associated with Nevros patent infringement litigation with Boston Scientific. On this news, Nevros stock price fell $14.67 per share, or 15.9%, to close at $77.59 on May 8, 2018.

On July 10, 2018, multiple analysts reported on a tentative ruling in Nevros ongoing patent litigation against Boston Scientific. The tentative ruling invalidated at least five of the patents related to Nevros purportedly proprietary HF10 therapy and Senza systems. On this news, Nevros stock price fell $11.43 per share, or 15.15%, to close at $64.04 on July 10, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, 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

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- News Release  TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP), (NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) today announced the expiry of the solicitation of consents by TransCanada PipeLines Limited (TCPL) in connection with proposed amendments to TCPLs 1970 Indenture and 1993 Indenture pursuant to which the outstanding notes listed below were issued (respectively, the 1970 Notes and the 1993 Notes).



The solicitation of the consents is described in the Consent and Proxy Solicitation Statement dated August 1, 2018 which can be found at www.sedar.com . Adoption of the proposed amendments to the 1970 Indenture and the 1993 Indenture require the consents of holders of at least 662/3 per cent of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the 1970 Notes and the 1993 Notes, respectively (each, the 1970 Requisite Consent and the 1993 Requisite Consent).

The cut-off time for delivery of the Consent and Proxy Forms was 10 a.m. MT on August 27, 2018. Consents in excess of the 1993 Requisite Consent have been received. The 1970 Requisite Consent was not attained, however, the proposed amendments to the 1970 Indenture may still be approved by holders of the 1970 Notes at the special meeting of such holders scheduled on August 30, 2018 (as detailed below).

Pursuant to the terms of the Consent and Proxy Solicitation, an amendment payment of $0.50 for each $1,000 principal amount of 1993 Notes will be paid to holders of record, as applicable, as of July 26, 2018 (1993 Amendment Payment). As outlined in the Consent and Proxy Solicitation Statement, the 1993 Amendment Payment will be paid conditional on and following the execution of the supplemental indenture to the 1993 Indenture which will implement the approved amendments. The equivalent amendment payment for holders of the 1970 Notes will only be paid if (i) the amendments to the 1970 Indenture are approved at the special meeting detailed below; and (ii) a supplemental indenture to the 1970 Indenture implementing the approved amendments is executed.

Cancellation of Special Meeting of Holders of 1993 Notes

Concurrent with the receipt of the 1993 Requisite Consent, TransCanada also announced that the previously scheduled special meeting of the holders of 1993 Notes that was to occur on August 30, 2018 has been cancelled.

Confirmation of Special Meeting of Holders of 1970 Notes

TransCanada confirms the previously scheduled special meeting for the holders of the 1970 Notes will proceed on August 30, 2018 at 10 a.m. MT at the offices of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, 3500, 855 - 2nd Street SW, Calgary, Alberta. At the meeting, adoption of the proposed amendments to the 1970 Indenture requires the holders of at least 51 per cent of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of 1970 Notes represented in person or by proxy, and 75 per cent of such holders to vote for the proposed amendments.

Notes Outstanding Under the 1970 Indenture

Series ISIN 10.50% due March 20, 2019

CA893526BU65 CA89352ZCM91 11.80% due November 20, 2020 CA893526CA92 CA89352ZGL72

CA89354ZAE75

Notes Outstanding Under the 1993 Indenture

Series ISIN 9.35% due May 27, 2019 CA893526CP61 9.95% due December 1, 2022 CA893526CT83 CA89352ZML09 8.29% due February 5, 2026 CA89353ZAP32 CA89355ZBH88 8.21% due April 25, 2030 CA89353ZAS70 8.23% due January 16, 2031 CA89353ZAR97 8.20% due August 15, 2031 CA89353ZAT53 7.31% due January 15, 2027 CA89353ZAU27 7.90% due April 15, 2027 CA89353ZAX65 7.34% due July 18, 2028 CA89353ZAY49 6.89% due August 7, 2028 CA89353ZBA53 6.28% due May 26, 2028 CA89353ZBE75 5.65% due June 20, 2029 CA89353ZBF41 6.50% due December 9, 2030 CA89353ZBK36

Further Information

CIBC World Markets Inc. served as solicitation agent for the solicitation.

Shorecrest Group Ltd. served as consent solicitation and information agent for the solicitation.

With more than 65 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and liquids pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada operates one of the largest natural gas transmission networks that extends more than 91,900 kilometres (57,100 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is a leading provider of gas storage and related services with 653 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A large independent power producer, TransCanada currently owns or has interests in approximately 6,100 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is also the developer and operator of one of North Americas leading liquids pipeline systems that extends approximately 4,900 kilometres (3,000 miles), connecting growing continental oil supplies to key markets and refineries. TransCanadas common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. Visit TransCanada.com to learn more, or connect with us on social media .

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This publication contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "intend" or other similar words). Forward-looking statements in this document are intended to provide TransCanada security holders and potential investors with information regarding TransCanada and its subsidiaries, including statements regarding the payment of the 1993 Amendment Payment and management's assessment of TransCanada's and its subsidiaries' future plans and financial outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TransCanada's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made and as such are not guarantees of future events or performance. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this news release, and not to use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. TransCanada undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information except as required by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to the Quarterly Report to Shareholders dated August 2, 2018 and 2017 Annual Report filed under TransCanada's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

Media Inquiries:

Grady Semmens

403.920.7859 or 800.608.7859

TransCanada Investor & Analyst Inquiries:

David Moneta / Duane Alexander

403.920.7911 or 800.361.6522In early August 2018 the U.S. Department of Defense banned all personnel in operational areas (usually overseas combat zones) from using commercial devices with geolocation capability (GPS). This included cell phones and PSMs (Physiological Status Monitors) like Fitbit. What triggered this was the discovery that a social network for athletes called Strava had developed software that enabled anyone to track users wearing a FitBit or other GPS enabled PSMs. Dedicated (often professional) athletes joined Strava to exchange PSM information and that led to Strava developing features that enabled user locations worldwide. Turns out that intelligence agencies had discovered Strava as well and reported that they could not only detect PSM users anywhere in the world but could often identify these users by name. Turned out that many intelligence and military personnel used their Fitbits while overseas, often secret missions. From January to July 2018 the extent and implications of this became quite clear. The intel agencies quickly (and quietly) ordered their personnel overseas (and often at home as well) to stop using PSMs that made their data accessible to public networks, even ones that were not open to the public. These could be hacked. Now there is a market for secure (encrypted) PSMs for military and intelligence personnel. Actually, work on that sort of thing has already been underway

Since the 1990s the U.S. military has been developing equipment to monitor the physical condition of troops, especially in stressful situations. This is not easy, because stressful usually means combat. There has been a lot of progress since 2001 and the goal of such PSMs was to make them useful (provide needed data), reliable, wearable in combat, unobtrusive (does not interfere with combat activities), sustainable (battery power) and affordable. Commercial devices like FitBit achieved that goal faster and cheaper but FitBit was not military grade gear (secure from eavesdropping and encrypted).

Getting this kind of technology to the point where troops, especially infantry in combat, can use it regularly often takes a decade or more from the first version capable of being actually carried or worn by troops, to one that becomes a regular part of their combat gear. PSMs arent there yet, but they are getting close. Many troops decided to use commercial devices in the meantime, mainly for physical conditioning. But there was still a practical need for such devices rugged enough, and secure enough, to operate in a combat zone.

With equipment like PSM progress comes in stages, often with help from similar technology that is useful in training or becomes standard gear for some civilian occupations. For example, PSMs that measure a lot of the stresses combat pilots experience, including respiration, air supply and quality, G (gravity) forces and various factors contributing to stress or disorientation, are becoming practical. Not so much for every pilot on every flight but for test pilots or for situations where some kind of problem is suspected but the nature and source is vague. Such PSMs were useful in finding out what was causing pilot air supply problems on certain types of jet fighters over the last few years. PSMs were also a practical tool for use in exploring better solutions to handling high-heat situations and the dehydration, disorientation and disabling (and sometimes fatal) effects. PSMs have been used to test new recruits undergoing basic and advanced combat training to see if they are physically able to handle high heat conditions.

PSMs have proven that, like so many other capabilities, some people are better able to cope with heat problems, even if some require additional training and conditioning to do so. Some troops just dont have the capability. PSMs make it possible to get a better idea of what the limits are and who has them to what degree. Such lack of innate physical capabilities has always been an issue in sports, many civilian occupations and the military. For centuries there were tests that became more and more effective at determining who could handle what. Thus the most difficult military jobs (fighter pilot, special operations troops) have a lot of aspirants who never make it through all the training.

Some of the latest PSMs have been easier to wear and durable but they are still expensive and some dont last long in combat. For example, a pill containing a number of sensors, which you swallow and measure internal conditions as the pill passes through the digestive system would be difficult to reuse in combat, especially since these pass through the digestive system within 48 hours. Another PSM that collects numerous bits of data is similar to the chest strap type heart rate monitors that athletes (amateur and pro) have been using for over decade. These capabilities are now built into some watches (FitBit) and items like this have evolved to measure all sorts of stuff. Again, they are OK for many civilian and military uses, but not quite ready for the rigors of sustained ground combat.

Even with the growing number of developing, or very specialized PSMs these devices have been having a growing impact on obtaining practical data that saves lives. In 2008, for example, 1,145 American paratroopers had a 17 g (6 ounce) PSM added to the back of their helmets. They wore the device for over a year (their entire tour of duty in Afghanistan). The tiny sensor package could record 527 different types of movement. In particular, U.S. Army medical researchers were interested in what happens when troops are hit by the blast of an explosion. There had been a lot of that since 2003 because of the wide use of roadside bombs by terrorists. The troops had to download data from the device once a month while the battery lasted six months. This PSM device was the first test of a long-planned effort to equip troops with medical sensors, in order to assist in treatment for battlefield wounds. Sort of like a "black box" for those on the battlefield. These devices will ultimately hook into the battlefield Internet, and alert medics, and medical personnel in general, that someone is hurt, to what extent and where they are. These devices, as the current use shows, are also able to collect precise injury data for research on trends, and the details of the injury process. This makes it possible to build better protective devices (helmets and body armor) and develop more effective treatments.

The goal of a system that would constantly monitor soldier health and make that data available to commanders and medics in real time is still somewhere in the future, as the goal of electronic military health records that be updated automatically and accurately during medical treatment. Once more the developers of military PSMs will find themselves facing competition (and lots of good ideas and user experience data) from commercial PSMs. In this case, there is no large market for something like military PSMs that would be commercially attractive but the commercial PSM developers have proved capable to creating a military grade product if they can do so profitably and that often happens, like with battlefield robots from the folks who created Roomba.The United States continues to cut military ties with Pakistan because of Pakistani refusal to shut down its support of Islamic terror groups that, in effect, do the bidding of the Pakistani military. The latest cuts include training for Pakistani officers in American military schools (alongside American and other foreign officers). Russia immediately stepped in and offered to replace the American training with equivalent Russian training. This is a major loss for Pakistan as their officers gained more useful instruction and more useful contacts (with American and other foreign officers) at the American senior schools.

Pakistan already has a number of defense relationships with Russia. For example, in 2015 India and Pakistan joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and became full members in 2017. India and Pakistan recently sent troops to Russia to take part in SCO joint training exercises. This is the first time Indian and Pakistani troops have jointly participated in counter-terrorism training. These SCO joint training exercises take place every two years. SCO is a regional security forum founded in Shanghai in 2001 by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and China. The main purpose of the SCO was originally fighting Islamic terrorism. Russia, however, hoped to build the SCO into a counterbalance against NATO. That has not happened as no one has joined since India and Pakistan did. SCO members conduct joint military exercises, mostly for show. They also share intel on terrorists, which is often useful. Iran, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, and Turkey were all favorably disposed towards joining the SCO. These nations were allowed to send observers to meetings.

China has put more emphasis on economic cooperation because greater Chinese economic power means that China is replacing Russia as the principal investor and trading partner throughout the region. Russia does not like to dwell on this, because it means China is expanding its economic and political power. This is particularly true in Pakistan. On paper, China is now the dominant military power in Eurasia, a fact that Russia likes to downplay. Many Russians fear that the aggression China is demonstrating towards India and everyone bordering the South China Sea will eventually be turned towards Russia. As the old saying goes; hold your friends close, and your enemies closer.

China and India have used this mutual SCO experience to improve military relationships and discuss mutual problems (aside from all the Chinese claims on Indian territory). India is willing to talk, if only because Indian military capabilities are falling further behind those of China. That is no secret in China and India has only itself to blame because China has done a better job of creating an efficient manufacturing capability and reducing corruption in the procurement process. Indian military procurement is still crippled by corruption and very ineffective state-owned weapons development and manufacturing organizations. The only thing stopping China from just taking disputed border areas is the Indian nuclear weapons capability. The Indian nukes are also less effective than their Chinese counterparts but not to the extent that there is not a high risk of China suffering heavy losses in a nuclear exchange. So China will continue grabbing bits of Indian territory, bits too small to risk a nuclear war over. China is patient and India gets weaker so China makes the most of the situation.

Speaking of friends and enemies, Pakistan has some bizarre relationships in that department. Consider the Taliban movement, which is a major reason for the Americans cutting aid. Actually, there are two Taliban movements, both of them staffed largely by Pushtun tribesmen (long dominant in southern Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan). Both Taliban movements were founded in Pakistan, one by the military and the other because of the military. The original Taliban was created by the Pakistani military in the mid-1990s (by recruiting Afghan Pushtun refugees) and sending them back home to win, or come close to winning, the civil war that had been underway since the Russians left in 1989. This Afghan Taliban still works for the Pakistani military but by 2007 that inspired the formation of a Pakistani Taliban, recruited from Pakistani Pushtuns, to overthrow the Pakistani government and, as the Afghan Taliban tried to do, establish a religious dictatorship. The Pakistani military declared war on the Pakistani Taliban in 2014 and quickly crushed but did destroy them.

The Afghan Taliban are another matter. Because the Afghan Taliban still have the support of the Pakistani military they are still a threat to the Afghan government and that is mainly because the Afghan Taliban have a sanctuary in southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan), right across the border from Helmand province, where most of the heroin (in the world) is produced. The Pakistan military facilitates getting whatever the Afghan Taliban need from Pakistan and, for a fee, getting the Afghan heroin into Pakistan and out to the world via the port of Karachi.

Meanwhile, the remnants of the Pakistani Taliban hideout in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. A favorite hideout for all sorts of Islamic terrorists, smugglers and outlaws is Nangarhar province where the Afghan military and American forces are constantly seeking out all manner of Islamic terrorists (Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, ISIL and both flavors of Taliban). For example, on August 25th an American airstrike killed the head of the Afghan branch of ISIL. This sort of thing is one reason ISIL has not been able to spread into Pakistan. This is something the Pakistani military would rather not dwell on because Pakistan prefers to insist that Afghanistan and the Americans are not doing enough to suppress Islamic terrorists who are hostile to Pakistan (especially the Pakistani Taliban).

Although a growing number of Afghan Taliban leaders want peace and an end to being manipulated by the Pakistanis the senior Afghan Taliban leader and the Pakistani generals are not inclined to consider peace talks because of all that money from the drug gangs as well as the ability to control (or at least disrupt) Afghanistan. Direct peace talks between Afghan Taliban leaders and the United States, which is now a possibility, are very risky for the Taliban and their Pakistani patrons because the existence of their sanctuaries in Pakistan, while denied by the Pakistani military, are an open secret in Pakistan where it is also obvious that the Pakistan military and its intelligence agency (the ISI) handles these sanctuaries. Those sanctuaries make it possible for the Afghan Taliban to plan and organize attacks on internal enemies (factions that oppose Pakistani control). Peace talks between the Americans and factions of the Afghan Taliban are just one of the problems the Afghan Taliban faces. There has been growing internal unrest, mainly between factions that believe they are serving Pakistan at the expense of Afghans. On an individual basis, more Afghan Taliban veterans are quitting to join ISIL because they see the Afghan Taliban becoming more of a drug gang security force than anything else. Other Taliban veterans just quit. The Afghan Taliban is gradually losing its true believers (in the original goal of establishing a religious dictatorship in Afghanistan) and turning into mercenaries.

Whatever the Afghan Taliban evolves into the Pakistani military will have a major role to play. The Pakistani military does what it wants in Afghanistan, just like it does in Pakistan, where the military is very much above the law and can usually do whatever it wants. That is not a secret because about half the time since Pakistan was created in 1947 the military has openly run the government (after a coup) until popular opposition (and frustration at the task of governing) forced the generals to allow elections again. The Afghan Taliban insist their main goal is to get foreign troops out of Afghanistan but say nothing about suppressing the widely unpopular drug trade. Moreover, terrorism related deaths are overwhelmingly caused by the Islamic terrorists, mainly Taliban and Haqqani Network terror attacks. These men die protecting the drug production that has turned millions of Afghans into addicts and crippled efforts to build the economy and educate the children. Few Taliban really believe they are doing anything good for Afghanistan or the average Afghan.

To maintain control of the Afghan Taliban the ISI calls on another of their protected Islamic terror groups; the Haqqani Network. This group was once a faction in the 1990s Afghan civil war but always had a good relationship with the ISI. Over the last two decades, Haqqani have turned into a criminal gang that also manages terror operations in Afghanistan for ISI. Because of that Haqqani, at the behest of ISI, also became part of the current Afghan Taliban senior leadership. Most Afghans know all about this and are not happy with how the Pakistani military gets away with it.

The Unwanted Bengalis

Its not just Burma that has a problem with unwanted migrants from Bangladesh. Most of these Burmese Moslems are technically stateless because during the colonial period the British needed more workers in Burma and simply offered the jobs to Moslem Bengalis who stayed in Buddhist Burma after the British left in 1948 and now find themselves declared stateless and forced back into Bangladesh. Thus there are at least a million Moslems in Burma who originally (often over a century ago) came from Bangladesh but dont want to return there. They prefer to live in Burma, where most of the population is Buddhist.

India has a similar problem in its northeast tribal territories, especially Assam, where four million Bengali migrants (most of them or their ancestors entered illegally) are being denied citizen status. The tribal locals have long resented the illegal migrants, more so than the legal migrants. India sees this citizenship crackdown as a way of reducing support for local tribal separatist rebels. It wasnt the British who brought the Bengalis into Assam before 1948 but Indian politicians (mainly from the ruling BJP party) who encouraged the illegal migration after 1948 so these new residents of Assam would show their gratitude by registering to vote and do so regularly for BJP candidates. This is an old problem and India passed a law in 1950 making it clear that these Bengali migrants were illegal and not to be considered citizens. Now another law has been passed to enforce the original 1950 who is a citizen act. Bangladesh considers this an unfriendly (to Bangladesh) act. What this really demonstrates is that Bangladesh has long been very poor and very overpopulated. Illegal migrants have long been a problem and one that is not going away.

Islamic terrorism And Other Fatal Distractions

The Pakistani military continues to suppress Islamic terrorist violence in Pakistan while increasing it in Afghanistan and India. In 2014, when the Pakistani army finally decided to shut down sanctuaries for Islamic terror groups not under military control, there were 5,496 Islamic terror related deaths in Pakistan and the Pakistani public was enraged at the military. In 2015 that Islamic terror related deaths in Pakistan dropped to 3,682, then to 1,803 in 2016, 1260 in 2017 and so far in 2018 it looks like these deaths will fall to under a thousand and possibly even below 800. These are low casualty levels not seen in Pakistan since 2003.

India, with six times as many people, has had terror related deaths under a thousand a year since 2012 and most of those have nothing to do with Islamic terrorism. That trend continues, despite increased Pakistani efforts in Kashmir. For 2018 India will have more terrorism related deaths but still under a thousand. In 2017, for the first time in many years, India had more fatalities from Islamic terrorism than from leftist rebels in eastern India. But if you added deaths from tribal separatists in the northeast the Islamic terrorism only accounted for 45 percent of deaths. That trend has reverted to the traditional one in 2018, with Islamic terror related deaths lower. This is mainly because Islamic terror related deaths will not increase much for 2018 while deaths related to the leftist rebels (Maoists) in eastern India are up (mainly among the Maoists and their civilian victims).

The big difference between the Kashmir casualties compared to everything else (communist rebels in eastern India and the tribal separatists in the northeast) is that only the Kashmir Islamic terrorists have outside help. Pakistan has been supporting violence in Kashmir for over 60 years and added Islamic terrorism support in the 1980s. That failed but it did ruin the Kashmir economy and Pakistan continued to get enough Islamic terrorists (recruited and trained in Pakistan) across the LOC (Line of Control) into Indian Kashmir to keep the area dangerous for tourists or investment. Then Pakistan realized that a new generation of Kashmiri Moslems had access to the Internet and Pakistan created a local fan (of Pakistan ruling Kashmir rather than India) that eventually achieved celebrity status. When this young guy got himself killed he was elevated to martyr status and suddenly making the street violence a regular thing and Islamic terrorism fashionable once more, economic recovery became even less likely and casualties increased. For the first time in many years, local recruits for Islamic terror groups were higher than those able to get across the LOC from Pakistan. In the last decade, Indian border security has greatly improved but the LOC is largely in rugged terrain that is thinly populated. So it is not certain death to make the crossing. But with a larger number of active Islamic terrorists on the Indian side of the LOC those getting across from Pakistan have a longer life expectancy. This means more Islamic terrorist violence in Kashmir. While the Islamic terrorists try to confine their attacks to the security forces there are still civilian bystanders getting killed and with more Islamic terrorists active there is more opportunity to murder locals who support the government and dont want to be part of Pakistan.

This Pakistani aggression in Kashmir is pushing the two nations towards war, despite the possibility of both sides using nukes. This has brought more pressure on the Pakistani military to behave but so far the Pakistani generals are resisting the popular pressure inside Pakistan for less violence on the Indian border. The Pakistani generals see Kashmir as a victory for Pakistan, but one that Pakistan cannot take proper credit for because supporting Islamic terrorism and sending those Islamic terrorists into India (and Afghanistan) is a violation of international law. While the Pakistani military denies culpability the evidence has piled up to the extent that most of the world is convinced that the Pakistani military is, indeed, violating international norms and supporting Islamic terrorism.

When it comes to Islamic terrorism it is not all bad news. Consider Bangladesh. Despite the growing popularity (among Moslems) of Islamic radicalism in the last three decades, Moslem majority Bangladesh has been largely free of it. Compared to Pakistan (with a ten percent larger population) Bangladesh still had only six percent as many terrorist deaths as Pakistan during 2017. So far it looks like Bangladeshi terror related deaths will decline even more in 2018, to less than three percent of the Pakistani total and lower than they have been since 2012. That means under 30 deaths a year and 2018 is headed for another record low.

August 25, 2018: Russia is trying to work out a way to get paid for military equipment sold to India. Because of new American sanctions India has not been able to pay Russia since April. Like most international trade, most goods are paid for in dollars. India and Russia are certain they will work something out. In the meantime, these sanctions have made it more difficult for Russia to sell India new weapons systems. From 2007 to 2015 Russia was the largest customer for Russian weapons exports. Now India is just paying Russia for previous sales (spare parts, upgrades and the line). India has made no new weapons purchases from Russia since 2012 and is unlikely to change that in the near future. There was some interest in buying the Russian S-400 air defense system, but this would have been a five billion dollar purchase and with the banking sanctions and bad experiences with the reliability and effectiveness of Russian tech, India has been looking elsewhere (mainly Israel and the West.)

August 24, 2018: In Pakistan, the newly elected prime minister Imran Khan stated his goals; reduce corruption, reduce debt (and constant borrowing to cover budget deficits) and make peace with India by negotiating a deal on Kashmir. What was most telling was what was not mentioned; the dominant political power of the Pakistani military, the militarys use of Islamic terrorists to get Kashmir from India by force and to keep Afghanistan in a constant state of disorder because the Pakistani military prefers it that way. All these unmentioned issues have a lot to do with the high levels of corruption and Indian determination to hang onto Kashmir and deal with the Pakistani use of Islamic terrorists. That has caused Pakistan to become more isolated as more nations agree that for decades the Pakistani military has been supporting and using Islamic terror groups to attack its neighbors. Imran Khan may try to ignore this issue but the rest of the world will not. Imran Khan is believed to be prime minister because the Pakistani generals allowed it to happen and will remove him if the prime minister threatens military wealth, immunity and power. Imran Khan won the elections but did not, as the Pakistani constitution mandates, become the head of a government that actually rules Pakistan.

August 23, 2018: In northwest Pakistan, across the Afghan border in Ghazni province the Afghan Taliban have been waging a major campaign over the last two weeks to gain control of the province. This effort has failed and the Taliban have suffered about a thousand casualties. This is exceptionally high for the Taliban and led to some embarrassing consequences for Pakistan. Among the more than 300 Taliban dead Afghan security forces were able to examine many foreigners (Pakistani, Central Asian and Chechen) were identified. Since the 1990s the Pakistani ISI (military intel) has sent reinforcements recruited in Pakistan to the Afghan Taliban. Officially the Pakistani denies this happens but occasionally evidence becomes so visible that it is difficult to ignore or deny with any assurance of being believed. In addition to the foreign dead left behind the Afghan Taliban took some of their dead with them (as they always try to do to prevent identification) and those from Pakistan were smuggled across the border so their families in Pakistan could bury them. This practice is essential if the Afghan Taliban want to continue recruiting from Pushtun tribes across the border in Pakistan and maintain good relations with those tribes. A growing number of people in those tribes now have smartphones and access to social media sites where they post family news, like recent funerals and who the deceased was. A lot of deaths recently were young men who, gossip indicated, were working in Afghanistan. The pay was good but it was dangerous. But at least the family got the body back and a substantial cash payment.

In addition, a lot of the Taliban casualties showed up in Pakistani hospitals and received treatment. That became news because it was rare for there to be so many casualties like this at once when, officially, there was nothing going on in Pakistan. Those casualties were the result of unexpectedly prompt and effective resistance by Afghan security forces, armed locals and American air support in Ghazni province. This disrupted and defeated the large-scale effort against the city and several rural areas nearby. Ghazni is near the Pakistani border and contains some major heroin smuggling routes into Pakistan. These routes are kept open by the Taliban. Ghazni has long been fought over, because of the heroin smuggling routes. Normally the drug gangs find it cheaper and more reliable to use bribes but because of the growing number of addicts inside Afghanistan the bribes sometimes dont work and the national government often sends down commandos and NDS (Afghan intel) agents to carry out specific tasks which tend to be bribe-proof. Massive intimidation attacks like this often fail, mainly because of the popular anger towards the drug gangs that keep supplying the local addicts. The fact that the Afghan Taliban has always been supported by Pakistan is another incentive to fight back.

Opposing Pakistani meddling in Afghan affairs is a popular issue among most Afghans. One reason Western troops are tolerated in Afghanistan, which has, for thousands of years been hostile to foreigners, is because the Westerners and Afghans are both eager to shut down the drug trade and keep the Pakistanis out. Pakistan sees battles like Ghazni as a success because over 400 Afghans (including security personnel and civilians) were killed and there was a degree of intimidation achieved. Operations like this cost Pakistan little as the Afghan drug gangs supply the cash required. They have no choice because the ISI can deny easy access to Pakistan for needed supplies (chemicals for converting opium into heroin) and secure smuggling routes through Pakistan to the port city of Karachi. It was later discovered that most of the 500 (or more) foreign fighters ISI supplied for the Ghazni battle cane from three known Pakistan based Islamic terror groups known to work for ISI. The most prominent of those with a contingent in Ghazni was the Haqqani Network, whose leader currently runs the Afghan Taliban.

The Afghan prime minister is demanding that his newly elected Pakistani counterpart do something about what happened in Ghazni province. So the official Pakistani response is; it wasnt us. Imran Kahn will eventually meet with his Afghan counterpart but first, he has to meet with leaders of nations that are more important to Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia and China. To Pakistanis, Afghanistan is more than of a potential problem than anything else. But to Afghanistan, and most of the world community, the biggest problem in Afghanistan is not the Taliban or the drug gangs, but Pakistan.

August 20, 2018: Pakistan has agreed to build a walled and restricted residential area near the port of Gwadar to house half a million Chinese working in Pakistan. The Chinese construction work on the new Pakistani Gwadar port facilities are visible to anyone on the ground or flying by and in 2017 it was noticed that some features of the new port and airport facilities are clearly intended for military use. India has long accused China (despite denials) was planning to use Gwadar as a base for Chinese warships and naval aircraft. Pakistan never had a problem with Chinese military using Gwadar as it helps keep local troublemakers out. Pakistan has assured China that there would be no terrorist violence against Chinese working on upgrading the port of Gwadar and land links north to China. Pakistan is willing to pay a high price to get CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) done because it means Pakistan has an ally against Iran and even Western powers that might have some violent disagreement with Pakistan. Best of all China is picking up most of the $55 billion cost. In early 2017 China and Pakistan finally signed the agreement that grants China a 40 year lease on new facilities China is building in the southwestern port of Gwadar. The lease grants China most (over 80 percent) of the revenue brought in by port and free trade zone operations. China usually imports its own workers from China to do most of the work on projects like this. By 2022 China expects to have about half a million Chinese in Pakistan, some of them with their families. The easiest way to provide protection is to have most of them live in a heavily guarded and restricted access area.

Gwadar is a key part of CPEC and it has the misfortune of being in a province (Baluchistan) that does not want to be part of Pakistan. China and the Pakistanis try to ignore this by not reporting on non-Islamic terror attacks on CPEC construction projects. The government has long been accused of suppressing news of tribal separatists in Baluchistan attacking government targets and especially those related to CPEC. The separatists claim they regularly carry out attacks on CPEC construction projects, but most of their attacks are still directed at Pakistani security forces and government facilities.

August 16, 2018: Israel announced that the Israeli Navy has ordered the LRSAM version of the Barak air defense system for Israeli Saar 6 corvettes. LRSAM is a modified naval version of Barak 8 that was jointly developed by India and Israel. Although this project has been in the works since 2006 it encountered problems, mainly on the Indian side, that held up completing the work, and getting the missile into production. The Indian Navy took delivery of the first customized (for India) Barak 8 SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems a year ago. The Israeli manufacturer (IAI) always mentions the Indian joint development, which makes the Indians feel good and encourages more such deals. Despite the problems encountered working with Indian defense officials and contractors, the Israelis have gained valuable experience in how to make projects work in spite of the Indian problems. Both Israel and India recognize this and the Indians are willing to do more business with the Israelis.

August 15, 2018: Five weeks after their launch on a Chinese rocket China has turned control of two Pakistani satellites to a Pakistani ground control center in Pakistan. One Chinese rocket put two Pakistani satellites (PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A) into orbit on July 9th. These photo satellites are primarily for commercial operations as their multi-spectral cameras only have a one meter (39 inch) resolution. Chinese ground control made sure the Pakistani satellites were inserted into the right orbit and that the equipment in the Chinese made PRSS-1satellite was operating properly. This is important because PRSS-1 is built to last for at least seven years. PakTES-1A is a smaller experimental satellite built with the help of a South African firm.

August 14, 2018: The renewed American sanctions on Iran will hurt Afghans working in Iran but will not interfere with the new trade route from Afghanistan, via Iran to the port of Chabahar. The Americans make exceptions for these sanctions and in this case, Pakistan is seen as a larger threat to Afghanistan than Iran. Most of the truck traffic that used to go through Pakistan to the port of Karachi is now using the new route via Iran to Chabahar (built by India and Iran mainly for traffic to Afghanistan and Central Asia). At least $5 billion worth of trade to and from Afghanistan will use Chabahar each year. Pakistan is the big loser here, especially since they had recently increased higher traffic on Afghan goods moving through Karachi. In addition, since mid-January Pakistan has closed the main border crossings to Afghan traffic entering Pakistan. Yet Pakistani goods are allowed into Afghanistan and now the Afghans are considering blocking that and depending on trade links via Iran and Central Asia. This is an undeclared trade war by Pakistan. The main reason is growing trade with India and switching from Karachi to Chabahar for Afghan imports and exports.

Pakistan is willing to discuss improved relations with Iran but in the meantime, Pakistan already has considerable financial and military ties with Saudi Arabia. While many Pakistanis would prefer improving relations with Iran and India and backing away from Saudi Arabia (seen as a close ally of the United States) the reality is that Iran is broke, run by an unstable religious dictatorship facing growing internal unrest and at war with the Sunni Arab world. While Iran and Pakistan share a short land border the Iranians have a long history of hostility towards whoever was running what is now Pakistan. Iran is in a bad position and Pakistan is willing to consider offers from Iran. Meanwhile, Iran and India have developed mutually profitable relations that neither nations want to upset.

August 12, 2018: Over the last two days Indias first locally designed and built nuclear-powered submarine, the 5,000 ton SSBN (ballistic missile carrying sub) INS Arihant, conducted the first test launches for three K-15 SLBMs (Sea Launched Ballistic Missiles.) These are short range (700 kilometer) single-stage missiles. Arihant can carry 12 of them, or four of the larger (two-stage) K-4 SLBMs that have a range of 3,500 kilometers and were test fired successfully from Arihant in 2016. With the successful firing of the K-15s the Arihant will finally complete its sea trials and should enter service before the end of 2018. Meanwhile, in 2015 India announced ambitious plans to build six nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) but admits development and building will probably take at least fifteen years. In 2009 India launched Arihant, after eleven years of planning and construction. By 2015 Arihant was undergoing sea trials and was supposed to enter service before the end of 2015. That was delayed and a major accident in 2017 put Arihant back in the shipyard for repairs. The apparent success of Arihant led to the SSN program, which received some development money but is otherwise stalled. One locally made nuclear sub doesn't change the balance of naval power much for India, which is already dominant in the region but it does show that India can build nuclear subs and six SSNs will make a difference. A shortage of cash and competent procurement personnel has put those plans on hold.

August 10, 2018: Pakistan reports it is nearly halfway done recruiting and training 60,000 new border guards to work on the Afghan border. All 60,000 of these new border guards should be on duty by 2020.

August 1, 2018: Indian military planners are growing more concerned about Chinese aggression, especially a two front war in which Chinese ally Pakistan would actively join in fighting India if there were another conflict between China and India. China uses its economic power to increase its presence, and influence, in nations bordering India, especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma and Nepal. This is made possible by the much larger (4.2 times) Chinese GDP ($12.3 trillion compared to $2.9 trillion for India.) China has a lot more cash to invest and trading opportunities to offer. That may account for the relatively lower Chinese spending on defense. China spends $229 billion a year compared to $64 billion for India. More humiliating is that while Chinese spending is 3.6 times what India spends but that China only spends 1.9 percent of GDP on defense while India spends 2.5 percent.At the end of July China put a new type of photo satellite into orbit; the Gaofen 11 optical remote-sensing satellite. This one has a claimed resolution of 10cm (able to capture objects on the surface that are less than four inches wide). Previously only American photo satellites had that degree of resolution. Current American photo satellites have a resolution of about 2 cm (less than an inch). Meanwhile, the Americans have four improved KH-11 (sometimes called KH-12s) satellites in orbit, the last of these launched in 2013. The first of new KH-11s (sometimes called KH-13s) is to be launched before the end of 2018 and, like the KH-12s, will cost over $4 billion each.

China describes its Gaofen photo satellites as being put into orbit for largely non-military uses and to reduce Chinese dependence on commercial photo satellites. That is largely true but what makes a photo satellite a military grade photo reconnaissance satellite are a lot of additional features that rarely make it into official press releases. Since these satellites can be seen (in great detail) and photographed from the ground it is easy enough to judge the exact purpose of photo satellites. The latest Geofens look a lot like American KH-11s put into service during the 1990s and has a mirror (lens) diameter of 1.7 meters. The four American currently KH-11s in orbit have 2.4 meter mirror diameter. Thats the same size as the mirror in the Hubble space telescope, which was turned on distant galaxies rather than the earth surface.

In other respect, the Chinese were correct in saying they wanted to reduce their dependence on commercial photo satellites. In 2015 the American NGA (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency) recently admitted what everyone already suspected, that it gets most of its satellite photos from commercial satellites. This was no secret inside the military. Thats because, since the late 1990s, when commercial photo satellites began to show up, military users were quick to buy and use this unclassified data. The commercial photo satellites gradually caught up with their military counterparts (which first appeared in the 1960s) and got even more business from the military. What really got this movement going was the 2005 appearance of Google Earth (earth.google.com). This easy-to-use web-based app revolutionized military intelligence. The military didn't like to admit it at first. But Google Earth putting so much satellite photography at the disposal of so many people, in such an easy-to-use fashion, also made much more information available to military professionals (and terrorists, and criminals and academics as well). All of these military users quickly appreciated what a splendid new tool they had.

To the U.S. Department of Defense, Google Earth's major problem was not the ease-of-use, but the manner in which it showcased the shortcomings of the NGA, which was responsible for taking the satellite photos, spiffing them up as needed, and getting them to the troops. Trouble is, the stuff still wasn't getting to the troops that needed it when they needed it. This was made very obvious when Google Earth showed up and demonstrated how you can get satellite images to anyone, when they need them and do it with minimal hassle.

The NGA and other government agencies liked to keep all satellite (and aerial) in classified archives, just in case they contained some secrets a potential enemy could use. Google Earth did great damage to this attitude. Changing minds in the military intelligence community isnt easy. The restricted access to satellite photos is an old problem. Since the 1980s (when lots more satellite images became available, often on very short notice) generals, and other officers with access to "satellite imagery" have been complaining about the difficulty they had in getting their hands on this stuff or passing it on to the officers and troops who need it most.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on photo satellites since the 1960s, and the troops always seemed to get leftovers, if anything and usually too late to be of any use. Yet the satellite people regularly conned Congress out of more money so they could build more satellites and neat systems that would get the satellite imagery "to the troops." The goods never arrived, or never arrived in time. Generals gave angry testimony before Congress about this non-performance after the 1991 Kuwait War. The satellite people seemed contrite and said they would make it right. If given the money to do it. They got the money and the troops got nothing.

Then the troops got access to Google Earth in 2005 and saw firsthand what they have been missing. To make matters worse the software Google Earth uses to get the job done was first developed for the NGA. But the way the NGA operates you had to worry about security considerations and all manner of bureaucratic details before you could deploy a useful tool so they really couldnt use the Google interface on a wide scale. Mention that the troops in question are fighting a war and the NGA will point out that you still have to deal with security and keeping the paperwork straight.

Soon after 2005, the troops were beating NGA over the head with Google Earth and Congress took notice. However, NGA bureaucrats were close at hand and the angry troops are far away. Progress was still slow. But at least the troops had Google Earth. Unfortunately, so does the enemy. Nevertheless, over the next decade, the army was able to go directly to commercial satellite photo providers who, every year, were putting up more capable photo satellites. Many of the photos from these new satellites were higher resolution and not available on Google Earth. But the army could afford to buy them (as could other commercial customers) and give the troops instant access because all these commercial satellite photos were unclassified.

After a while, NGA stopped pouting and got on board with the use of lots of unclassified satellite photos. This also spurred the NGA to make the high quality (high resolution and with other enhancements) spy satellite photos more easily available to the troops, or at least the army intel and planning specialists who worked out the details of how battles would be fought. This led to other intel agencies making their data (especially from electronic data collection satellites) available quickly (often in real time) to the troops who needed it.

While Google Earth opened the floodgates and gave the troops instant access, what happened first was the availability of high-resolution satellite photos that could be of use to combat forces. This began in the 1960s with the first appearance of the KH (Key Hole) series of photo satellites. The first film camera satellite, KH 1, went up in 1959 but the first successful one was in 1960. Thus until the 1970s the film-using satellites supplied coverage of hostile nations. The KH 1 through 9 series satellites sent the film back in canisters (for high-resolution pictures), to be developed. The Keyhole 9, the first of which went up in 1971, was not only the last of the film satellites but the largest and most capable. Its basic design was used by the subsequent digital camera birds. The KH 9 could cover large areas at high (for the time) resolution of .6 meters (24 inches). This was more than adequate to spot and count tanks, aircraft, and even small warships. The 19th, and last, KH 9 went up in 1984. The KH-9 was a 13 ton satellite with multiple cameras and 4 or 5 reentry vehicles for returning the film for developing and analysis. The KH-9s were nicknamed Big Bird.

The age of film began to fade when the first digital satellite, the KH 11, was launched in 1976. These birds were large, nearly 15 tons, and the digital cameras could obtain better resolution and broadcast the photos back to earth. The resolution was such that objects 70mm (a few inches) in size could be identified from 200 kilometers. Digital cameras were more flexible than film and eventually surpassed film in all categories. The KH-11 telescopic cameras operated like a high-resolution TV camera. Images were captured continuously and transmitted to earth stations. Computers were used to finish the process and produce photos identical to those taken by a conventional film camera. You could even have motion pictures, as well as indications of heat and the nature of the various items. KH-11 could often tell what kind of metal an object on the ground was made of.

All this did not come cheap. These birds cost over $400 million each and lasted three or four years, depending on fuel usage. Moreover, you needed two of them up at the same time in order to guarantee coverage and save the birds from having to change orbit too frequently. The most recent KH-11, the 15th, was launched in 2013. There have been at least four models of the KH-11 since the first of five "Block 1s" was launched in 1976. Since the 1960s over a hundred KH series satellites have been launched. The Big Bird film using KH-9s didnt last long because once their film supply was gone they were useless.

The next generation of digital satellites, the KH-12 (officially improved KH-11), was supposed to have been launched in 1987. But because of problems with the space shuttle (one had exploded during launch), only a belated KH-11 was launched in October 1987. The KH-12 was delayed, even though it had several advantages over the KH-11. Along with improvements in ground data processing equipment, the KH-12 could send back data in real time. You could watch events on a large, high-resolution screen as they were happening. This would also allow military headquarters and other users to get their satellite information directly, without going through a CIA or NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) processing center. Data from the more esoteric sensors would still have to be studied by the specialists elsewhere. The KH-12 was expected to make users even more enthusiastic about satellite reconnaissance. It did, in the form of a much upgraded KH-11. Actually, these birds were called KH-12s but are still officially known as KH-11 and still are. That is something of a tribute to the capability and flexibility of the original KH-11 design, the first of which went into orbit during 1976.

The flood of photographic and electronic data was growing far larger than the force of analysts available to make something of it. In addition to the KH series birds, there were radar and SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) satellites constantly broadcasting data. Then there are the Defense Support Program satellites, which use heat sensors to locate the hot plumes of missile launches. So although no new KH-11s have been launched since 2013 there have been plenty of new spy satellites put into orbit, especially radar satellites for monitoring the earths surface in any kind of weather.

There still isn't a real KH-12 (a new design), and that's partly because commercial photo satellites have become cheaper and more convenient for military use. Many KH-12 features were simply added to subsequent KH-11 models. This was cheaper than building the new KH-12 design and involved less paperwork. Thus, those in charge of American space operations are asking that less money be spent on developing new satellites and more spent on building up a reserve of GPS and communications satellites that can quickly be launched to replace wartime losses. The Department of Defense has already been buying more commercial satellites, rather than much more expensive, usually late, and sometimes canceled, custom designed military birds. Contributing to this change were bumbling bureaucrats who mismanaged development projects and journalists who headlined the failures.

In 2007 the Department of Defense agreed to spend $10 billion to build two military-grade photo-satellites, similar to the ones already in orbit, plus two commercial grade photo satellites. This uncharacteristically prudent behavior was forced on them by Congress. The politicians were angry over the failure of the Department of Defense to design and build a new generation of military photo satellites. For example, in 2005 the U.S. canceled the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) system. This disaster cost the government more than $10 billion when a poorly conceived and run effort to create a more powerful new generation of intelligence satellites failed. Instead of FIA, the two existing military photo satellites were simply replaced with similar designs. In addition, the Pentagon bought two commercial photo satellites, for about $850 million each, to replace what the Department of Defense is currently spending on photos from commercial photo satellite companies. The two commercial birds, which were owned by the Department of Defense.

The FIA (Future Imagery Architecture) system was to be a new generation of smaller and more numerous spy satellites that would provide more coverage of targets down below and, because of the larger number of satellites, a more difficult target for anyone seeking to destroy the U.S. spy satellite capability. The KH series birds were to retire in 2005, replaced by FIA satellites. The project, begun in 1998, was poorly designed and managed. In retrospect, it was doomed from the start because of a lack of technical talent on the government side and the selection of the low bidder (Boeing) that lacked the experience and capabilities to carry out a job like this. When FIA was canceled in 2005 work continued on individual new satellites. One of the FIA designs, the Topaz radar satellite managed to see two in orbit by the end of 2013. The KH birds are not going to retire by the end of the decade, having been extended by the continued use of the KH-12. This is not a new design but a much improved and upgraded KH-11. The KH-12 always existed as a nickname for the latest version of the KH-11.

It has long been suggested that the government just rely on commercial photo satellites for their low resolution (able to detect vehicles and buildings) photo satellite needs. But the military and intelligence agencies often need more photo satellite time than the commercial companies can provide. The government also wants to ensure secrets are kept by having complete control over at least a pair of commercial grade satellites.

The two new government-owned commercial birds took over the task of tracking troop movements, bases, and military operations in general. The two new high resolution, military grade, spy satellites were improved versions of existing ones. These are used to get detailed (able to detect something smaller than an inch) photos of something the commercial grade images (able to detect something 30-45 cm/12-18 inches in size) found interesting.

The troops and military planners are also big users of Google Earth, which annoys the people running the military satellite program. But for many military satellite needs, Google Earth does the job. The two military, commercial grade, photo satellites eliminated the potential for information leaks (about what the military is buying images of) and provide much more capacity to do low-resolution jobs.

The people who run the military satellite system are increasingly concerned with wartime needs, and that is what brought out the request for spare GPS and communications satellites. These are relatively cheap, compared to the spy satellites, and most needed if a future war spreads to the orbital zone and puts some American birds out of action. There is also growing concern about the debris in orbit and the increasing risk of satellites being damaged, or destroyed, by these small fragments of older satellites and the rockets that put them there. China and Russia are paying a lot more attention to techniques for destroying satellites and the most likely targets are all American.President Bouteflika appears to have carried out another purge of the security forces leadership before he left for Switzerland yesterday. This was not sudden as in late June Bouteflika fired a senior police general, Abdelghani Hamel, who has the head of the National Security Division and considered one of the few remaining potential rivals in the 2019 presidential elections. Hamels personal driver had been arrested on a cocaine trafficking charge but there was no apparent connection to Hamel. Since Hamel was seen a potential rival for Bouteflika any excuse would do to remove the rival candidate. Over the next two months, there were indications that this was indeed another purge. This was made easier by the fact that the police had been corrupted by the drug gangs, who had the cash to offer bribes too large for many police officials to refuse. Even the military was aware of this and had become reluctant to work with police in many cases because they feared shared intelligence data would be for sale by corrupt cops.

Bouteflika has often eliminated potential rivals via crackdowns on corruption. There was a power struggle in 2013 that went public with the 2015 arrest of Abdelkader Ait Ouarab. This was the guy who led the counter-terror campaign in the 1990s that defeated the Islamic terrorists. Ouarab continued serving until he retired (apparently under pressure) in late 2013. All this internal strife has been going on, quietly, for over a decade. Things heated up in early 2013 when Bouteflika had his stroke and was disabled. Pro-reform members of the senior leadership pushed for Bouteflika to resign followed by free elections. The Bouteflika clan and corrupt officials allied with the Bouteflikas got organized and resisted. No one wanted a civil war, but the two sides were sharply divided and a compromise was not possible. By late 2013 it was clear that most Algerians wanted the government to clean up the rampant corruption and that there was support for that on the inside led by several senior Intelligence officers. Most of the corrupt officials and their civilian allies belong to the extended family of the elderly Bouteflika. The clans of several other families that led the country after freedom was achieved in the 1960s have dominated government and the economy ever since. The Bouteflikas were apparently slow to realize that their most dangerous political enemies were the senior people in the intelligence and security agencies who had decided that some fundamental changes (cleaning up the corruption) were needed. There were also a lot of military officers who favored anti-corruption reforms. Fortunately for Bouteflika many senior military commanders were corrupt, some because they felt refusing the economic perks offered when they achieved high rank would be seen as disloyal. Bouteflika always believed the loyalty of the military was essential to keeping his corrupt crew in power. Yet by late 2013 many Bouteflika loyalists noted the split within the military and began moving more of their assets out of the country, just in case. Thats because if theres another large-scale uprising and the military refuses to suppress it (or, worse, splits or falls apart because of disagreements among officers) the current government is done.

Bouteflika realized that most of the troops favored anti-corruption efforts. After 2013 the purged, and thus more loyal intelligence services will devote most of their efforts to ensuring the loyalty of the army and police. There had already been hints of trouble after the 2013 stroke. In late July 2015 local media revealed that the government had unexpectedly replaced three of the most powerful generals in the military (the heads of counter-intelligence, the Republican Guard and presidential security). This was immediately linked with two other odd events. First, there was the large number of troops showing up at the presidential residence in July. Whatever was going on there was never made public. Finally, there is the fact that president Bouteflika had not spoken or appeared in public for months and many Algerians believed he was dying or at the very least not getting any better. Then in August 2015 general Ouarab was arrested and in mid-September came the news that general Mohammed Medien was retiring. In power since 1990 Medien headed the powerful DRS (intelligence and security department) and was always believed more powerful than the president. But he was only two years younger than Bouteflika and rarely seen. It is still unclear what his views on corruption and the current political situation was. Medien was mostly concerned with keeping tabs on Islamic terrorism and other threats to Algeria.

The security forces have a lot of competent commanders and the forced retirements of so many senior commanders provides promotion opportunities for those who appear most loyal (to the ruling families). The security services continue to be effective, making Algeria one of the safest (according to international security firms that monitor that sort of thing) in North Africa and the Middle East. Yet the persistence of pro-reform officers in the security forces is a mixed blessing for the ruling families and a ray of hope for Algerians in general. The need for reform is also necessary to get the most out of being one of the safest nations in North Africa. That designation does not mean being safe from the many corrupt practices that Algerian criminals (and local officials) impose on tourists and commercial visitors. One of the more visible examples of this is how many public beaches have been illegally taken over by criminal gangs that coerce tourists to pay illegal fees to park and be on the beach. Complaining to the police or local government often does not work because bribes are paid to ensure the gangsters are not interfered with. This sort of thing costs Algeria a lot of tourism income and efforts to clean up the corruption that makes it possible is still difficult.

Stubbornly Defending Islamic Terror

There is still some support for Islamic radicalism in Algeria although those who speak openly of an Islamic solution to the corruption and government mismanagement can expect to be harassed, or worse, by the security forces. This persistent support for Islamic law and rule by clerics is usually denied news coverage everywhere with one exception. It is common for some wealthy Moslems to openly support Islamic conservatism and, directly or indirectly, Islamic terrorists. For example, a wealthy Algerian businessman has paid the fines (over $350,000 worth) for over 1,500 European Moslem women who wore the veil that conceals the face (except for the eyes) despite laws against it. This face covering practice is illegal in many European countries, not because it makes the masked Moslems difficult to identify but because Islamic terrorists (male and female) have frequently used such Islamic clothing to disguise their identity as well as conceal weapons or suicide bomb vests. These wealthy Moslems are often the primary support for Islamic charities that divert some or all of their money to support Islamic terrorism. This continues to be a problem with wealthy Persian Gulf Arabs who have long financed groups like al Qaeda and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) even when their governments explicitly outlawed such contributions. Since 2001 there have been more restrictions placed on such stealthy funding for Islamic terrorists but it continues. The wealthy donors can afford lawyers, accountants and bribes for corrupt bankers to make the donations anyway. Some of these donors prefer open and high-profile philanthropy and will, for example, pay for young Moslems to travel to nations with a lot of madrassas (Islamic schools). Sometimes this is legitimate, but often it is a cover for getting new recruits to the many madrassas in some countries that are notorious for pushing Islamic terrorism as the solution for everything. Some wealthy Moslems even paid for local Moslems (as in Indonesia) to travel to the Middle East to live in the new Islamic State that ISIL ran between 2014 and 2017 in Iraq and Syria.

August 27, 2018: President Bouteflika replaced three more senior army generals including the land forces commander and two more of the six regional army commanders. Later in the day, Bouteflika left the country for Switzerland where he will undergo unspecified medical treatments. Bouteflika has yet to completely recover from his 2013 stroke.

August 23, 2018: The government announced that an anti-corruption investigation would lead to the replacement of a number of senior military and police commanders. The changes include replacement of several security commanders, including the one in charge of capital security. Two of the six regional army commanders were replaced.

August 18, 2018: In Bouira province (120 kilometers southeast of the capital) an Islamic terrorist bomb went off killing a 12 year old child and wounding four others aged 10-16.

August 11, 2018: In the far south (Tamanrasset province, 2,000 kilometers south of the capital) near the Mali border Sultan Ould Bady, a veteran Mali al Qaeda leader, surrendered to an army patrol. Since May the government has publicized border zones where Islamic terrorists seeking to surrender can cross while armed and not be shot on sight. Islamic terrorists seeking to surrender are advised what to do when they encounter troops. After the surrender of Bady was revealed there were rumors he had actually surrendered (or been captured) in late June (when a group of unidentified Mali Islamic terrorists surrendered) and that was kept secret while Bady was interrogated and what he revealed was acted on. Intelligence indicates there are a growing number of Islamic terrorists in northern Mali who want to get out of the terrorism business. Algeria has about 80,000 troops guarding its 3,000 kilometer long border with Mali and Libya and has been effective in detecting, if not always stopping. Those crossing illegally.

July 30, 2018: In the east (Skikda province, 500 kilometers from the capital) troops patrolling a mountainous area encountered four Islamic terrorists who were killed, along with seven soldiers, in a gun battle.Stratford Armouries first Land Rover Show took place earlier this month in collaboration with the charity Convoy for Heroes.

Around 60 Land Rovers rolled in, with Convoy for Heroes supporters converging from far and wide for the fundraising event.

James Wigington, who owns Stratford Armouries, said: I and my son have always had a keen interest in Land Rovers and we bumped into one of the organisers of Convoy for Heroes and suggested they might want to hold their annual event here.

Lots of people turned up at the weekend and Convoy for Heroes are going to return next Easter for another convoy and fundraising event. Were planning to host two regular Land Rover events each year, one at Easter and one in August.

Convoy for Heroes raises money for the charity Help for Heroes, which supports injured servicemen and their families.You walk into a casino and try to figure out whether or not it is rigged. You notice that 1% of the people are winning 20% of all the money. Does this mean that the casino is rigged? It might seem a little suspicious but, then again, talent is not distributed equally, and some people are always luckier than others, so it is not necessarily surprising that a small fraction of the people get most of the winnings.



While looking at the casinos record books you find that 40 years ago the top 1% were only winning 10% of all the money. This seems more suspicious. Are they that much more talented now or does luck matter that much more? You might also notice that in other casinos in Europe and elsewhere the top 1% is taking more like 9-14% of all the money.



In an attempt to strain the metaphor of the American economy well beyond where it should go, you come back to the casino a generation later and find that the children of the bottom 20% of winners in the previous generation have only a 7% chance of being in the top 20% today, again suspiciously less than in many other countries.



If this casino had a roulette wheel and the house was winning more than about 10% of the money you would infer it was rigged even if you could not observe exactly how it was rigged or who was doing the rigging. Similarly, the outcomes in the American economy are prima facie evidence that it is tilted towards societal elites.



We can, however, observe many of the ways the economy systematically favours the wealthy and powerful. For most people inequality begins at birth. In America one-fifth of four- and five-year-old children do not go to school, putting us 29th in the OECD in this regardbelow much poorer countries like Mexico. When the child does eventually enter school, the amount spent per pupil varies from over $28,000 per pupil in rich areas to less than $8,000 per pupil in poorer ones because America has chosen to primarily fund schools at the local level and thus further perpetuate local inequality. A game where the participants have purposefully been given radically different amounts of preparation could be fairly described as rigged.



Then there is the fact that, as Adam Smith observed nearly 250 years ago, People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. The fewer businesses engaged in the same trade, the easier it is to collude, either tacitly or explicitly and illegally.



And in most trades there are many fewer businesses today: hospitals, beer, railroads, trucking, retail, technology, airlines, and most other categories of the economy. In certain industries this may have been a natural outgrowth of economies of scale, but it is hard to not also see that increased government-sponsored monopolies, through stronger intellectual-property protections, and reduced antitrust enforcement have also played an important role.



The result can be higher prices or worse service for consumers. Witness the cases of air travel and broadband internet. Or it can be lower wages for workers. Witness the illegal collusion that has taken place to lower the wages of nurses and software workers or much more extensive but legal practices, such as non-compete agreements, which help to keep those wages down.



The less cited second half of Smiths quote is no less important: [the law] ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary. A regulation which obliges all those of the same trade in a particular town to enter their names and places of abode in a public register, facilitates such assemblies The regulations that facilitate collusion and the perpetuation of economic rents do not just come from nowhere. They come from the beneficiaries of those gains.



These regulations manifest themselves as overly strong intellectual-property protections, occupational licensing that requires a florist to undertake extensive certification work, or land-use restrictions that keep housing prices high and make it more difficult for more people to move to areas with better jobs, schools and amenities.



Capitalism does not exist in a vacuum. It requires laws that establish property rights, adjudicate disputes, fund public infrastructure and finance all of these inputs. If you look at how elites currently shape the operational rules of capitalism, the outcome of these rules in terms of inequality and low levels of intergenerational mobility, or observe the many specific policies that establish and perpetuate inequality. It is clear that capitalism today could fairly be described as rigged in favour of elites.A Brooklyn woman is breathing a sigh of relief on Wednesday after prosecutors decided to dismiss all the charges against her related to a nail salon brawl.

"It's sad it took so long, but I'm definitely relieved they dropped the charges," Christina Thomas told Gothamist outside her Flatbush home.

Thomas, 21, her grandmother Thelma Medley, and another relative were attacked by multiple salon workers of New Red Apple Nails (also listed as 888 Happy Red Apple Nails) on August 3rd. The ensuing brawl, which was captured on the store's surveillance cameras and another customer's cell phone, allegedly started because of Thomas's refusal to pay for a botched $5 eyebrow wax.

The footage went viral and resulted in several days of protests outside the still-shuttered 1426 Nostrand Avenue business.

Community organizers, led by Carol Branch, called for the predominantly African-American community to cease spending money at Asian nail salons. An online petition collected close to 10,000 signatures calling for Governor Cuomo to permanently shut down the business.

The demonstrators also called for Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez to investigate arresting all of the employees involved in the fight and to drop the charges against Thomas.

On Wednesday morning, DA Gonzalez announced that prosecutors were dismissing all the charges against Thomas and would continue investigating the incident.

"After reviewing all the evidence, interviewing more than a dozen witnesses and analyzing video footage, we dismissed the charges today against Ms. Thomas in the interest of justice," said Gonzalez in a statement.

To date only one salon staffer, HuiYue Zheng, 32, was charged with misdemeanor assault for beating Thomas on the back with the wooden stick, according to the criminal complaint.

If convicted, Zheng faces up to a year on Rikers Island.

Branch is currently planning a protest leading up to Labor Day calling for the arrest of the other workers.

"While we got justice for Christinawe will celebrate thatwe will continue to protest to make sure nothing like this happens again," said Branch.

Update: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adam told Gothamist, "I appreciate District Attorney Gonzalez and Judge Perlmutter for their thoughtful and ongoing investigation into the assault earlier this month at the New Red Apple Nails salon. The video I reviewed, shortly after it went viral, was deeply disturbing and unacceptable. The district attorney promised me he would thoroughly review the video and other evidence in the case, and the dropping of charges against Ms. Thomas is justice in action. I have spoken with family representatives in the days and weeks following the ordeal they've faced, and I sincerely hope that this news helps them and our greater Flatbush community heal."

"The Thomas family, advocates, and our community, we all stand for justice. That is why I welcome Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez's decision to drop the charges against Christina Thomas," State Senator Jesse Hamilton, who previously expressed a desire for an apology from the salon's owner as well as "more arrests," said to Gothamist. "We must continue to demand dignity and respect for every member of our shared communities."

Christina Carrega is a Brooklyn native who dedicated her journalism career to telling stories surrounding the criminal justice system. When Christina's not reporting hard news, she writes for a lifestyle website she co-founded called 32Letter.com and enjoys traveling.Tonight, Governor Andrew Cuomo and his primary challenger, Cynthia Nixon, will sit in a Hofstra University auditorium of precisely calibrated temperature for an hourlong debate. The painstakingly negotiated meetingairing via tape delay on WCBS at 7 p.m.will be their first and only time in a room together ahead of the September 13th primary. For many New Yorkers, it will be their first introduction to the former "Sex and the City" star turned candidate as well; Cuomo has maintained a comfortable lead in the polls, and over a quarter of surveyed voters say they don't know enough about Nixon's politics to form an opinion on her.

As the underdog candidate seeks to court still-undecided votersand to coax the governor's foot into his mouthmoderators Marcia Kramer and Maurice DuBois will also be looking for details on Nixon's policy goals for New York. Five months of careful campaigning from Nixon may have pushed Cuomo left, but political observers and advocates say that certain planks of her platformon subjects ranging from housing to education to transitcould stand to be fleshed out. Flawed or not, Cuomo has been governor for nearly eight years, and New Yorkers know how his, um, civic sausage is made. Below are a few questions Nixon may be called to answer as we draw closer to the September 13th primary. We've reached out to her campaign, and will update if they respond.



#NixonsMTA

Ever since Cynthia Nixon announced she was running for governorat an event in Brownsville, which she arrived at via a heavily-delayed 3 trainthe candidate has rarely missed a chance to point to the failing subways as evidence of her opponent's incompetence. In sleek ad buys and rush hour press conferences, Nixon has elevated "#CuomosMTA" to a sort of campaign rallying cry (for a time, it was the sole policy-related tab on her website), while repeatedly slamming the governor for showing "no urgency" in the face of a crisis.

Yet in substance, at least, Nixon's own plan for fixing the subway closely resembles the blueprint put forth by her rival: Both are backing Andy Byford's sweeping subway and bus overhaul proposal, and both have endorsed congestion pricing to pay for the plan's enormous price tag. Nixon's platform also calls for additional revenue streams for the MTA through Mayor de Blasio's millionaire's tax ("not feasible," per Cuomo) along with a short-on-details polluter fee.

The biggest difference in their platforms, however, may be Nixon's willingness to force the issue on congestion pricing. "Cuomo certainly hasn't seemed to wrap his arms around it, and when he had the opportunity to really knock heads in the legislature, he failed to do that," said StreetsPAC Executive Director Eric McClure, who added that he was largely impressed by the candidate's transit promises. "It's clear that this is a priority for Nixon, so the question would be: how as governor would you make this happen on an expedited time frame, given the reticence in both houses of the legislature to get on board with congestion pricing?"

Cynthia's Billions



Alain Kaloyeros, who was in charge of Governor Cuomo's marquee economic development project, the "Buffalo Billion," was convicted last month of steering millions of dollars to firms that donated to Governor Cuomo. Joseph Percoco, Cuomo's old enforcer and Mario Cuomo's "third son," was convicted of taking bribes from companies with state business. A $15 million tax payer-funded movie studio outside of Syracuse is a dud. Oswego, New York, population 18,000, just got a $10 million economic development injection from the governor, but no one seems to know what that money is for.

"If Cynthia Nixon were governor and she followed the Cuomo mold, she would basically have complete control over about $3 billion in economic development money," says Susan Lerner, the executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York. "It's not 20 percent of the budget, but it's still a lot of money."

Nixon supports banning "pay-to-play" donations from companies with business before the state, lowering campaign contributions limits, closing the LLC loophole, and wants to reinstate the Moreland Commission that Cuomo shut down all too soon. Her 16-page plan to fight corruption and waste calls for more oversight of state contracts and the passage of pending legislation that would create a public database for all of the business subsidies the state has doled out. What's missing from Nixon's plan is what she would do with all that discretionary cash.

"It's easy to say this is wrong, and we should have some accountability. Well, lay out the right way to do it, from your point of view," Lerner says. "How are you going to parcel that money out? Are you going to give it back to the legislature? Will you abolish the Empire State Development Corporation? What will you replace it with? How are you going to do it?"



The One Kind Of School That Shant Be Named

When the governor inevitably casts his opponent as a political neophyte on Wednesday night, you can bet that Cynthia Nixon will bring up her nearly two decades of experience as a public schools advocate. She's repeatedly cited that activism as her inspiration for running, and centered much of her platform on a hugely ambitious education proposal that would increase the state's yearly investment in K-12 by $4.2 billion, expand child care subsidies by $700 million, and establish a "real 'Free College for All' program."

But despite staking her candidacy on educational equity, Nixon has so far managed to steer clear of one of the city's thorniest education issues: yeshivas, and what role the state should play in ensuring that students at the ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools receive a proper secular education. Her 24-page education plan, released amid a long-stalled investigation into the quality of instruction at the religious institutions, did not once mention yeshivas. Asked about the call for more oversight during a June press conference, Nixon replied that she was "not going to weigh in on that today." To date, it appears she has not spoken publicly about the subject.

For Naftuli Moster, executive director of the yeshiva reform group Young Advocates For A Fair Education, the candidate's silence is "disappointing." He speculated that Nixon's hesitancy to speak out against evidence of educational neglect at the religious schools might be a political calculationpotentially related to her friendship with Mayor de Blasio, who's been widely criticized for dragging out the investigation into the city's yeshivas. "That's problematic because children's right to an equal education should not be subject to political consideration," said Moster.

Universal Rent Control (In Her Own Words)



Universal rent control is an umbrella term encompassing a fluid set of demands within a rising nationwide housing rights movement. In New York, it typically refers to a multi-pronged platform that would extend rent stabilization protections to those who do not currently live in New York City or three neighboring countiesthrough expanding the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, closing rent stabilization loopholes extended by the governor, and preventing unjust evictions. As Curbed recently noted, a new coalition of tenant and homeless advocacy groups, the Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance, has mounted a statewide mobilizing effort in support of such protections, with an eye toward upcoming elections.

The group has already found a committed ally in Cynthia Nixon, whose Rent Justice for All proposal covers all of the alliance's demandsand even takes them a step further, calling for rent stabilization laws to be applied not just to buildings with six or more units built before 1974, but to all new construction as well. But when asked about the proposal during a campaign event earlier this month, Nixon reportedly "stumbled on the details," declining to elaborate on specifics such as what percentage increase in rent she'd like to see.

While the real estate industry and Cuomo's team pounced on the gaffe, tenants rights advocates have stuck with Nixon. "It's a very new idea, and it's been hard to get candidates to even talk about strengthening rent rules, so we're excited to work with any elected official who's willing to work with us," said Andrea Shapiro, an organizer with the Metropolitan Council on Housing, which is a member of the Upstate/Downstate Alliance. The next step, said Shapiro, is figuring out the "nitty-gritty" of what universal rent control means for New York.



Not-So-Special Elections

Cynthia Nixon's voting rights reform platform includes automatic voter registration, early voting, and party registration dates that expand, not narrow, the pool of potential voters. But it doesn't mention New York's addiction to special elections. A 2017 report from Citizens Union found that 29 percent (61 total) of all New York legislators seated that year got there after a special election. Those candidates are chosen by party leadership, not the actual voters who make up the party.

"The winners of almost all special election contests are determined prior to the special election because the legislative districts are drawn to favor one major political party over another," says Rachel Bloom, the director of public policy and programs for Citizens Union. "This means that in almost all special elections, the candidate chosen by the leaders of the dominant party wins, rendering useless the ballots of the voters since they are simply approving the predetermined candidate choices."

Bloom says she would ask Nixon, "As Governor, what specific reforms would you put forward to reform this process and give the choice back to the voters, not the parties?"

Here's how (and where) you can watch tonight's debate.Take A Mulligan: The Big 7-0

Here is the $64,000 question. Just exactly how old is old? In my teens, I figured it was about 35 but when I was getting close to that age, it ...The "notoriously unfinished" final film of Orson Welles, The Other Side of the Wind, is being screened for the first time at the Venice Film Festival this weekendand will get its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival this fallbefore being available on, yes, Netflix. Now the streaming giant has a trailer for the film, which stars director John Huston, director Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strarsberg, Oja Kodar, Mercedes McCambridge, Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom, Claude Chabrol, and many more.

A press release describes the film, and its history, thus:

In 1970, legendary director Orson Welles (CITIZEN KANE) began filming what would ultimately be his final cinematic opus with a cast of Hollywood luminaries including John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg and Welles's partner during his later years, Oja Kodar. Beset by financial issues, the production ultimately stretched years and gained notoriety, never to be completed or released. More than a thousand reels of film negatives languished in a Paris vault until March of 2017, when producers Frank Marshall (who served as Welles's production manager during his initial shooting) and Filip Jan Rymsza spearheaded efforts to have the film completed after over 40 years.



Featuring a new score by Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand and reassembled by a technical team including Oscar-winning editor Bob Murawski, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND is Orson Welles's vision fulfilled. It tells the story of grizzled director J.J. "Jake" Hannaford (Huston), who returns to Los Angeles after years in self-exile in Europe with plans to complete work on his own innovative comeback movie. Both a satire of the classic studio system and the New Hollywood that was shaking things up, Welles's last artistic testament is a fascinating time capsule of a now-distant era in moviemaking as well as the long-awaited "new" work from an indisputable master.

Besides the amount of film to go through, many parties needed to give their approval. Marshall, who has produced blockbuster franchises (Jurassic, Indiana Jones, and Bourne), told IndieWire, "[Netflix] offered to pay for the post-production and the acquiring of the rights from everybody, which no one had done before, Marshall told IndieWire.

He added, "This has been a long, agonizing journey, obviously. Finally, when we were able to get into the lab in Paris with the agreement with Netflix, did we really know what were up against. They were very flexible with adjusting things to give us what we needed to really finish the movie and that was really great."

According to Deadline's Peter Bart, "Wind is not so much a movie as a gripping collision of two movies: one is an edgy, sexy drama about loyalty and betrayal, the other a satiric faux documentary about the egotism of European filmmakers. In true Welles fashion, they were shot in fragments between 1970 and 1977. Welles didnt even cast his lead, John Huston, playing a legendary filmmaker, until three years into production. He shot one seven-minute sex scene over the course of two years in three different locations."

Welles, of course, was known for his groundbreaking works, from his radio production of The War of the Worlds to his masterful debut as a filmmaker, Citizen Kane, but, as Bart points out, he was "an inept fundraiser," and his films kept running out of money to complete. Bogdanovish told Bart, "With all its confusions and problems, the shooting of Wind turned out to be the ultimate fun set. Welles saw it all as a take-off on [Michelangelo] Antonioni and his imitators. It was a perfect representation of Orsons vision of film and filmmakers, reflecting his humor and his sensibility.

Speaking of Welles's sensibility:

The Other Side of the Wind will been shown at select theaters and be available on Netflix on November 2.Investigators are currently seeking a woman suspected of setting suspicious trash fires in a Midtown hotel on Tuesday.

According to the NYPD, the alleged arsonist "used an open flame to set fire to the inside of a room" at the Staybridge Suites Times Square, located on West 40th Street. "In addition, she set fire to two garbage cans that were located in the hallway of two separate floors" before fleeing the scene. Police released a photo of the suspect, and describe her as between 20 and 30 years old, roughly 5'7" tall, and last seen wearing black pants, a black shirt, and black shoes.



(Courtesy of the NYPD)

The fires were reported to police around 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday, and while no injuries were reported, the hotel did have to evacuate over 500 people, according to ABC 7. The culprit ignited the blazes on the third, eight, and 18th floors, and although they were reportedly extinguished in short order, occupants on other floors were affected as well.

"From the ninth floor, the smell became stronger," guest Llyod Harrington told ABC 7. "By that time, everybody was in the stairwell on their way down, and we actually met firemen on their way up."

Guest Leigh Jenkins, who was not initially aware that fires had been kindled in a few different parts of the hotel, added that the pervasive nature of smoke in the stairwellwhich reportedly remained heavy as she and her son made their way to the ground floor"caused some panic on the way down."

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.In 2008, New York City unveiled the first of 20 self-cleaning public toilets to great fanfare and bathroom humor. "What a relief!" deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff said in a statement, while DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan initiated the first official flush at the inaugural public toilet in Madison Square Park. But if you've never seen or used one of the toilets, which cost 25 cents for 15 minutes of uninterrupted bathroom time, that may be because 15 of them are still sitting in a warehouse in Queens.

On a scorching, 95-degree Tuesday afternoon, City Councilmember Antonio Reynoso and Picture the Homeless held a rally in Madison Square Park to decry the lack of public restrooms in New York City. The event was held next to the first public toilet, which was locked. Behind the structure, out in the open air, there was a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag, tied to a spike in the gate bordering the park. Next to it were two plastic buckets, one with a considerable amount of urine, and the other nearly filled with used toilet paper.

They need to release those bathrooms. We have nowhere else to go. Restaurants wont let us. Subway toilets are all closed," said "Unc" Bobbitt, a member of Picture the Homeless who is currently experiencing street homelessness. "Everybody goes to the bathroom, so these automated public toilets will benefit everyone, not just homeless people."

According to Monique George, the executive director of Picture the Homeless, the NYPD has issued more than 300,000 citations for public urination since 2006. "Nobody should have to choose between a trip to the precinct and a trip to the hospital when they have to pee," George said. (In 2017, the city's Criminal Justice Reform Act directed the NYPD to issue civil summonses for "quality of life" offenses like public urination, instead of criminal summonses.)

Councilmember Reynoso said that the fight for access to public restrooms goes far beyond the homeless. "When I want to use the restroom I don't want to have to walk into a business and ask to use the restroom. I don't want a homeless person in the city of New York to feel uncomfortable asking to use a public bathroom in a business. I want them to know that we have their backs," said Reynoso.

The Department of Transportation says that it is often challenging to find spaces for the toilets, given the rigorous requirements for their installation, such as access to a sewer, available sidewalk space, clearance from subsurface infrastructure, and also community support for the location. According to the DOT, the vast majority of the toilet sites proposed in last 10 years have not been feasible due to either location restrictions or lack of community support.

DOT will continue to work with communities and elected officials to find feasible locations for Automatic Public Toilets, a NYC Department of Transportation spokesperson said in an email statement.

A 2014 story in the New York Times noted that "each toilet can cost up to $500,000 to install, depending on its proximity to electric lines, water mains and sewers." Annual maintenance runs around $40,000.



Behind the public toilet at Madison Square Park. The white bucket contained a considerable amount of urine (Andres O'Hara/Gothamist)

The DOT said they were aware of the broken toilet in Madison Square Park, and that they have alerted JCDecaux, the company responsible for the toilets' maintenance and construction.Anti-Trump billboard erected in New Jersey: "Our leader the idiot" https://t.co/gaZpA3x1wx pic.twitter.com/Yr9SVhxBrd  The Hill (@thehill) August 23, 2018

Nothing truly gets across to people that you are pro or anti-Trump like a giant sign. Since he was elected, we've seen animated billboards in Times Square, lawn art, and phone booth takeovers pop up in our area. And now, a town in New Jersey has been torn asunder due to one such anti-Trump billboard, proclaiming him "Our Leader The Idiot."

Neil Harrison told News12 that he paid about $1,000 to put the anti-Trump billboard up on Morris Avenue in Union Township recently. "Manafort was convicted. Cohen's giving up everything he can, and we're hoping that Trump is next," Harrison said. "Basically that's what we are out here for. I'm an activist and that's what I do. And we're trying to drum up some real support here."

Harrison, who actually lives in The Bronx, decided to put the billboard up in NJ because he claimed NYC does not allow political messages on its billboards.

Harrison added that he was planning on producing a documentary on Trump, which is mentioned on the billboard. This is particularly significant because the Township of Union has been responding to angry comments on Facebook by telling people "they are purporting this as an advertisement for an upcoming film and as such it doesn't violate any ordinances or laws."

What is a bit strange is that the Townshipor at least whoever is in charge of their Facebook pagekeeps apologizing for the billboard, and has been "encouraging the residents (and non-residents) offended by the advertisement to contact Out Front Media, the owners of the Billboard, and reiterate their demands and complaints to them." If it's a private billboard that has been paid for and doesn't break any laws, why would a local government actively try to encourage people to complain about it, with the implication being that officials want it taken down as well?

That's because they really do want it taken down. Union Township Public Information Officer Natalie Pineiro told the Daily Record that Harrison's motive in putting up the billboard was "transparent."

"It's clear what his intentions were and now the township has been the recipient of his circus-like crusade," Pineiro said. However, the billboard does not reflect the town's values, she said. Pineiro said much of the outrage is because people believe it is a reflection of the community. "No matter what, it's about common decency and respect for us," she said, noting the town has a strong unity campaign in the town no matter what someone's politics or beliefs are.

And during a Union Township Committee meeting on Tuesday, they unanimously passed a resolution denouncing it (but not barring it, because legally they can't). "The Township Committee prides itself on the Townships diversity and inclusion, and does not promote hate speech of any kind," states the resolution. "The Township of Union does not support hate speech of any kind in the Township of Union, nor does it support or condone a billboard in the Township of Union that is critical of the sitting President of the United States."

Hmm, considering the fact that Union Township voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton over Trump in the last election (16K votes for Clinton vs. 6K for Trump), it seems that Harrison's message might not be so extreme to locals.

In my lovely NJ town there is a huge billboard up with the president's face on it and it says "our leader the idiot" and people are getting super worked up about it and I'm like \_()_/  Isabel Serrano (@isabelpatriciaa) August 28, 2018

Harrison noted during the meeting that he was planning on keeping the billboard up at least through September, and possibly longer. He added that he doesn't even care if anyone sees his upcoming documentary, as long as the billboard is out there: "I think its awesome that people are getting together all over the world to protest. Mass protests are so crucial and it hits the news and thats great. But then its over. The billboard keeps it out there."

If Trump tries to Google "Idiot" today he might not like what he finds...OK computer: How AI could help forecast quake aftershocks



Tokyo, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2018



Lightning might not strike twice, but earthquakes can. And forecasting where aftershocks will hit might now be a little easier thanks to an assist from artificial intelligence.

Aftershocks can be more destructive than the quakes they follow, making it all the more important for experts to be able to predict them.

But while seismologists have methods to forecast when aftershocks will hit and how strong they will be, there is more uncertainty about how to predict where they will strike.

Hoping to address that, a group of researchers trained a "deep learning" programme with data about tens of thousands of earthquakes and aftershocks to see if they improve predictions.

"The previous baseline for aftershock forecasting has a precision of around three percent across the testing data set. Our neural network approach has a precision of around six percent," said Phoebe DeVries, co-author of the study published in the journal Nature on Thursday.

"This approach is more accurate because it was developed without a strongly held prior belief about where aftershocks ought to occur," DeVries, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard, told AFP.

The researchers used a type of artificial intelligence known as deep learning, which is loosely modelled on the way the human brain makes connections.

The programme allowed the researchers to map relationships "between the characteristics of a large earthquake -- the shape of the fault, how much did it slip, and how did it stress the earth -- and where aftershocks occurred," said Brendan Meade, professor of earth and planetary science at Harvard, and a study co-author.

The researchers tested the network by holding back a quarter of their data set, and feeding the remaining information into the programme.

They then tested how well the programme predicted the aftershock locations of the 25 percent of cases it hadn't been fed.

They found six percent of the areas the programme identified as high-risk did in fact experience aftershocks, up from three percent using existing methods.

Analysing the research, Gregory Beroza, a professor of geophysics at Stanford University, cautioned it "might be premature to infer... an improved physical understanding of aftershock triggering".

In an article published in Nature alongside the study, he said the research had focused on only one set of changes caused by earthquakes that can affect where aftershocks occur.

"Another reason for caution is that the authors' analysis relies on factors that are fraught with uncertainty," Beroza wrote.

DeVries acknowledged that additional factors affect where aftershocks occur and that there is "much more to be done".

"We definitely agree that this work is a motivating beginning, rather than an ending," she said.

And Beroza said the research had established a "beachhead" for additional study into how artificial intelligence could help forecasting.

"The application of machine-learning methods has the potential to extract meaning from these large and complex sources of information, but we are still in the early stages of this process."I am offering the solution to a problem most Republicans don't know they have -- that they can be outmaneuvered and thrown on the defensive endlessly, on nearly any issue, because they accept as true Democrat lies about the Republican Party. To correct that misperception and to help the Republican Party get 'back to basics' is why I'm a man on a mission.

A few years ago, after one of my speeches, a man told me "Do you know what your problem is? You're too far ahead of your time!" My efforts to show Republicans how they would benefit from celebrating the heritage of our Grand Old Party have been arduous, but if this were easy someone else would have already done it.

Among my speech topics are Reconciling the Tea Party and the GOP; Barack Obama, the Worst President Ever; Socialism, the new Slavery; Appreciating the Heritage of our Grand Old Party; Returning to the Founding Principles of the United States; The Womens Rights Achievements of our Grand Old Party; Abraham Lincoln, Republican; Frederick Douglass, Republican; Martin Luther King and the Republican Civil Rights Legacy.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Stephan Wulffraat (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 14:10 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087705455e 3 Opinion orangutan,wildlife,animal-conservation,endangered-species,endangered-animal,IUCN Free

Most people nowadays feel great sympathy for the orangutan, the great ape of Southeast Asia that reminds us so much of our own human species. However, the overall population of this top primate has been driven into a sharp decline in the last few decades.



This is caused mainly by the continuous destruction of their living areas and also by illegal hunting and the pet trade. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has therefore downgraded the status of the orangutan from endangered to critically endangered.



So, what can we do to ensure the orangutan will survive for future generations? First, we need to know exactly the current state of the orangutan, then follow that up with inventories and action plans of urgently required conservation interventions. It was recently found that 78 groups of orangutans remain in Kalimantan. Our analysis revealed that only 20 groups can be considered safe, living in sufficiently large areas that are either protected or sustainably managed.



The other 58 are threatened by fragmentation and conversion of their habitats. The only positive news is that all of the largest populations are living in relative safety and receive much attention from conservation organizations and the local governments.



The application of state-of-the-art geographic information systems combined with field data has made it relatively easy to check where and how much orangutan habitat was lost between 2005 and 2016, as published in the Environmental Status of Borneo report. This enables us to identify trends and actors of habitat conversion. Further, almost 2 million hectares of orangutan habitat were lost and most of the conversions occurred of lowland rainforest and peat swamp forest, the most suitable forest types for orangutans.



The conversions mainly took place to develop land for oil palm and pulpwood plantations.



It was also possible to check the regional spatial planning for threats and opportunities in the near future. The central and provincial governments have all developed land use plans, which indicate where natural forests are to be retained, either as protected or production forests, and where forests can be converted to make place for other developments, such as industrial plantations, local agriculture and infrastructure.



Still, large areas of orangutan habitats are allocated for conversion in the latest land-use plans. In West Kalimantan, there is a total area of 200,000 ha of orangutan habitats allocated for other (non-forest) land uses.



In Central Kalimantan, a total of 500,000 ha of orangutan habitats were allocated for other (non-forest) land uses. As governments are now highly aware of the importance of orangutan habitat conservation, these allocations are probably due to the previous lack of information on the presence of orangutans in the allocated areas. With the right approach, in many locations it is still possible to convince the governments to revise their spatial planning.



The above investigations have led to a large comprehensive set of recommendations of conservation interventions. All orangutan locations of Kalimantan where urgent action is required are identified, and for each of the locations the conservation interventions are examined.



Most of the recommendations are formulated as action for halting habitat destruction, connecting fragmented habitats and developing management plans with companies to ensure the survival of orangutans in the areas.



Three-quarters of the orangutan populations are living outside protected areas, and large-scale conservation initiatives have the resources to engage with concession holders in entire landscapes.



At this wide level, spatial planning can ensure that orangutan areas remain covered by forests and that habitats remain connected so that orangutans have the freedom to move around.



This is very important for fragmented landscapes, which are particularly common in West Kalimantan, where very small orangutan populations are projected to undergo total habitat loss without spatial planning efforts, combined with integrated stakeholder approach including forest concessions who must managed their forest sustainably.



At the landscape level, initiatives like Heart of Borneo can contribute to ensure connectivity among all orangutan habitats.



Some of the orangutan conservation projects done by WWF Indonesia in West Kalimantan show effective results when local communities get involved. This is currently in progress and includes the development of wildlife corridors to connect the forest fragments.



Local communities play a major role in preserving the orangutan habitats in the vicinity of their fields. Community development and ecotourism projects generate benefits for now and in the future.



If all local stakeholders are willing to respect the orangutans and their habitats, then it is still possible to save the remaining orangutan populations of Kalimantan.

***

The writer is a landscapes ecology specialist for the Heart of Borneo initiative, a conservation program under WWF Indonesia involving Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia to manage tropical forests of Borneo.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 08:11 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308770387ac 4 Editorial Aung-San-Suu-Kyi,Myanmar,Rohingya-Muslims,minority-rights,persecution,genocide,United-Nations,#Editorial Free

How will history judge 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Myanmars de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi? How does the once global icon of human rights and democracy wish to be remembered by the world? And will the Rohingya Muslims and other oppressed minorities in Myanmar forgive the daughter of the nations independence hero Aung San for her silence on the sufferings of millions of people in her own country?



Unless she eventually finds the political courage and goodwill to stand up against the militarys decades-long rampant and systemic persecution of her people, she will likely be remembered as one of the most responsible persons for the gross human rights abuses inside Myanmar, a member of ASEAN.



Unfortunately, there is little hope that she will practice what she committed to do in her Nobel Lecture in Oslo, on June 16, 2012. During her 15-year house arrest she said she had gained strength from the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts, which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspirations of the common people.



On Monday, a United Nations-backed fact-finding mission into violations of human rights in its report urged the world body to investigate and prosecute Myanmars top generals, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief, for genocide.



It also concluded that state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi had failed to use her moral authority to prevent violence against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state. The report was released one year after the military forced at least 700,000 Rohingya people to leave their native land.



Military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages. The [militarys] tactics are consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats, especially in Rakhine State, but also in northern Myanmar, the report states.



Indonesia has actively participated in convincing Myanmars generals in the past to hand over power to civilians. The country is now enjoying the fruits of political reform in terms of economic growth. But Myanmar could become a pariah state again, if its leaders continue to defy the international outcry against the ongoing attrocities.



Suu Kyi still has a chance to leave a huge legacy for the next generations if she has the willingness to uphold justice for the victims of the human rights abuses in her country.



A single individual would indeed face huge challenges against the apparently still entrenched junta. Therefore ASEAN also must show what it means by its centrality regarding Myanmar. Is it the centrality of national leaders or their people? Following informal approaches by Myanmars neighbors, especially Indonesia, to alleviate the Rohingyas suffering, ASEAN now has the backing of the UN, whose report recommended that organizations like ASEAN develop strategies to ensure accountability for perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin - (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Wed, August 29, 2018 13:56 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308770537d7 4 Inforial Free

The Indonesian government, through the Directorate General of Immigration, is opening up registration for the Issuance of Indonesian Government Recommendation Letters (SRPI), which is a document needed to get work and holiday visas for Australia.

This program is part of a bilateral partnership on immigration between the Indonesian and Australian governments that has been ongoing since 2009.

Applicants can download the necessary files by using an e-SRPI application via whv.imigrasi.go.id. This application for work and holiday visas is the latest innovation by the directorate to realize its goal of providing e-government services.

The government has established a quota of 1,000 applicants who will be selected through both online and face-to-face administrative processes. There are also terms and conditions for getting a visa, which are in accordance with agreements made between the two countries.

These work and holiday visas can be used for temporary stays in Australia. It can also be used for other purposes, such as education and part-time employment.

The visas are being promoted to encourage and boost cultural exchanges as well as to maintain relations, especially among the youth. The goal is for Indonesians and Australians to get to know one another and to understand each other's cultures and traditions.In the past they were viewed as a springboard for young actors, but nowadays TV series are seen as serious projects in the careers of well-known actors. At a time when streaming platforms are enjoying rapid growth, stars are increasingly visible in original small-screen series, which are attracting new audiences whose taste for this audiovisual format has only recently emerged.

Maniac

Netflix pulled off quite a feat when it recruited Oscar-winner Emma Stone (La La Land) for its forthcoming science-fiction series, Maniac. Stone, who is one of Hollywoods most bankable actresses, will be joined by another cinema star, Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street). They will play two mentally disturbed characters involved in a clinical trial that promises to resolve their problems with a miracle remedy. Needless to say, the experiment does not quite work out as planned.

The First

Sean Penn, who has won two Oscars for Best Actor for his performances in Mystic River and Milk as well as nominations for Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown and I Am Sam, will land on the small screen in a new futurist TV series commissioned by the platform Hulu. In The First, Penn will play the role of Tom Hagerty, an astronaut leading an expedition to found a colony on Mars. Beau Willimon, the creator of House of Cards, has been tasked with the direction of the series which is set to air on Sept.14 on Hulu.

Read also: John Krasinski to produce new movie, 'Life on Mars'

Jack Ryan

In the wake of the box-office success of his third film entitled A Quiet Place alongside actress Emily Blunt (who is also his spouse), John Krasinski is returning to TV with Jack Ryan. The man who took on the role of Jim Halpert in the The Office will star in the new Amazon Prime Video series. John Krasinski plays a CIA agent, who becomes embroiled in a terrorist plot. Amazon has already ordered a second season ahead of the release of the first season, which will air from Aug. 31 on Amazon Prime Video.

The Deuce

Since 2017, award-winning actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has topped the cast in the The Deuce in which she takes on the role of Candy, a prostitute who hopes to break into the pornography industry. The actress who featured in The Dark Knight plays opposite another successful cinema actor, James Franco. The second season of The Deuce will air on HBO from Sept. 9on HBO.

Sharp Objects

Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson lead the cast in the drama miniseries Sharp Objects, which was released on HBO in July. Adams was much noted for her performance in Enchanted, while Clarkson has featured in The Maze Runner trilogy by Wes Ball. Sharp Objects tells the tale of alcoholic journalist Camille Preaker who returns to her hometown in the wake of the murder of two young girls. The finale of the series, which aired this week, got viewers talking.

Already available on HBO.Bumblebees acquire a taste for food laced with a pesticide known to harm them, according to a study suggesting the chemicals pose an even greater threat to pollinators than previously thought.

In experiments, researchers showed that bees initially put off by sugar water containing neonicotinoids -- the most widely-used class of insecticide worldwide -- soon started seeking them out to the exclusion of untainted food.

The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Neonicotinoids, earlier research has shown, disrupt the ability of bees to reproduce and lower their resistance to disease.

"At first, it appeared that the bees did avoid the food containing the pesticide," said lead author Andres Arce, a researcher at Imperial College London.

"However, as individual bees increasingly experience the treated food they develop a preference for it."

Even when the position of their feeders was switched, the pollinators made a beeline for the one laced with insecticide.

Neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects much in the way nicotine -- the addictive ingredient in tobacco -- does in humans and other mammals.

"Our findings... tick certain symptoms of addictive behavior, which is intriguing given the addictive properties of nicotine on humans," said lead researcher Richard Gill, also from Imperial.

Read also: Malaysia's honey hunters defy angry bees to harvest treetop treasure

Unlike contact pesticides, which remain on the plant surface, neonicotinoids are absorbed by seeds and transported to leaves, flowers, roots, and stems as the plant grows.

Several countries have banned forms of the insecticide, mainly due to its impact on Nature's little helpers.

In the European Union, three neonicotinoid-based products will be off-limits in open fields starting on December 19. France has banned five chemical variants starting Saturday.

Canada recently announced it would phase out two neonicotinoids used on canola, corn, and soybean crops.

Widely used over the last two decades, neonicotinoids were designed to control sap-feeding insects such as aphids and root-feeding grubs.

In recent years, fears have been growing over the declining health of bees globally, and the possible role of neonicotinoids.

Pesticides have been blamed as a cause of colony collapse disorder, along with mites, viruses, and fungi, or some combination.

The United Nations warned last year that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators -- particularly bees and butterflies -- risk global extinction.As long as sandwiches are still en vogue, so are burgers. This food item consists simply of a bun, a cooked meat patty and a few condiments such as vegetables, cheese and pickles. Most burgers are simple and filling, so cooks like to make it and hungry diners opt for it as well.

Considering its fun factor and versatility, a burger bar can become the perfect concept for a casual eatery. The newest burger bar to arrive in Jakarta is Le Burger, located at the site where the upcoming Alila SCBD hotel is expected to open.

The bar at Le Burger Jakarta. (JP/Muthi Kautsar)

Le Burger positions itself as a modern, casual and fun late-night gourmet burger bar curated by celebrated chefs, the father and son duo Jean-Georges and Cedric Vongerichten. Its main dining area is graced with a spacious bar serving craft beer and cocktails on tap, surrounded by dimly lit dining tables and booths. There is also a long communal table overlooking its outdoor area, where guests like to take photos or simply dine under natural lighting.

Knowing the prominent names behind Le Burger, it is natural that one would expect a tall burger filled with the fanciest ingredients. Well, the burgers are not intimidatingly tall, apparently. The Jakarta Post ordered a truffle burger. It is easily held in one hand, with only the beef patty, brie and lettuce visibly prominent. There is the aroma of truffle, and the flavor is promising from the first bite.

Apart from the truffle burger, the crispy chicken and shrimp burger are also popular. The Post has to admit that deciding which one to eat between the three is not an easy task.

Read also: Australian black truffles to delight Jakarta foodies

Restaurant staff would be glad to give recommendations on which beer to pair with the burger. Meanwhile, gin and tonic or a tequila-based cocktail are also interesting options.

Banana pudding from Le Burger. (JP/Muthi Kautsar)

Still have room for dessert? There is a cheesecake milkshake that gives the experience of eating cheesecake in a different way, or the very creamy banana pudding. You may want to share with a friend or two.A massive film-art project in the German capital is set to rebuild part of the Berlin Wall to create a closed-off mini-state, complete with visa checks, organisers said Tuesday.

The walled-in "city within a city" will host the world premiere of the mysterious and mammoth "DAU" film project and social experiment of enigmatic Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky, 43.

Pending final approval from Berlin city authorities, which organisers said was "in the works", staff plan to erect 900 concrete wall slabs, each 3.60 metres (about 12 feet) tall, for the 6.6 million euro ($7.7 million) event.

Visitors to the parallel world will have to apply online for entrance "visas" and swap their cellphones for off-line digital devices with an algorithm that will suggest a personalised tour.

Set on a city block on Unter den Linden boulevard, the time-capsule project is due to launch on October 12 and end with a ritualistic tearing down of the wall on November 9, the day of the historic event in 1989.

The aim is not to create "a Disney GDR" (German Democratic Republic), said Thomas Oberender, director of culture festival Berliner Festspiele which will host the mega-event.

"It is not a film premiere but a mixture of social experiment, artistic experiment and... an impressive form of world-building," he told a Berlin press conference.

The aim, said organisers, is to spark "a political and social debate about freedom and totalitarianism, surveillance, co-existence and national identity".

Read also: 'Political' Cannes film festival makes plea for dissidents

- 'Most insane film shoot' -

Long shrouded in mystery, a trickle of news and cryptic clues has created buzz and sparked controversy about the project, with critics labelling it a stunt hurtful to people who lived in communist East Germany.

"Out of respect for the victims who really experienced such situations, we should step away from this," Berlin politician Sabina Bangert of the Greens party said, according to Tagesspiegel daily.

Others are excited about a convention-busting art event that will evoke, but not seek to replicate, the Cold War past of Berlin.

Germany's minister of culture, Monika Gruetters, said she was "absolutely convinced this will be a world event".

Lending star power to the project are conductor Teodor Currentzis, composer Brian Eno, director Tom Tykwer, performance artist Marina Abramovic, the band Massive Attack and, according to German news agency DPA, the legendary anonymous street artist Banksy.

Berlin's "DAU-Freedom" is set to kick off follow-up events in Paris in November ("DAU-Equality") and London in early 2019 ("DAU-Fraternity"), all organised by the London-based Phenomen Trust, co-founded by Russian millionaire Sergey Adoniev.

The epic "DAU" film project, more than a decade in the making, has been labelled "Apocalypse Dau: the most insane film shoot of all time" by Britain's Daily Telegraph.

Dau was the nickname of Soviet nuclear physicist and Nobel laureate Lev Landau (1908-68), one of the fathers of the Russian nuclear bomb and an advocate of free love.

The project started in 2005 as a conventional biopic, with funding from several European countries, but evolved into what Caravan magazine labelled a "brutal and baroque movie project/human experiment".

Read also: Soderbergh in Berlin unveils 'Unsane' thriller shot on iPhone

- 'Experiment is ongoing' -

Hundreds of amateur actors were asked to live full-time from 2009-11 in a mock-up secret Soviet nuclear research facility dubbed "The Institute" that was built in Ukraine.

Participants reportedly had to dress, speak and act as if living under the Soviet regime, with penalties for using cellphones or social media.

They wore scratchy underwear, ate tinned food, used roubles, carried ID cards and endured other privations of bleak Soviet life.

"They fell in love, betrayed friends, cheated on their partners, conducted experiments, were arrested, gave birth to children, grew older," says the event's press release.

Veteran cinematographer Juergen Juerges, who spent three years on the set, said the aim was to shoot their unscripted interactions "everywhere, anytime... They lived, and we filmed them."

A rare journalist to visit the site, from GQ magazine, wrote that Khrzhanovsky was ever-present, projecting "a carefully crafted self-portrait of a tyrannical genius".

At the end, Khrzhanovsky reportedly had neo-Nazis destroy the elaborate set.

The resulting over 700 hours of footage have been edited into 13 feature films, several TV series and are due to appear in an online multimedia project, said producer Susanne Marian.

"The experiment is ongoing," promises a trailer on the project website.

Reclusive Khrzhanovsky did not attend the Berlin press event.

Oberender thanked the "very many people who for months, and up to two years, didn't speak about this project -- a small miracle in a city like Berlin".The Jakarta Dance Meet Up (JDMU) #Selection not only draws in a tremendous crowd but also bonds dance communities alike in their lively performance.

Created by the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ), the JDMU #Selection edition is the successor of last years JDMU Regular.



After a stunning performance in 2017, the DKJ curated six choreographers  all with potential to grow  to perform once again in 2018.



After undergoing further training and practice arranged by the council through focus group discussions and a three-day Choreo-Lab, the group of six went to perform their dances, which centered on a variety of themes and sources of inspiration chosen by each choreographer.



We do not decide what the theme of their performances will be [] This is a very open performance. During selection, when we were choosing the choreographers, they would either improve their previously showcased dances or create something entirely new. This is also something that we do not decide, because this is supposed to be something very open for choreographers, said Hartati, head of the DKJ dance committee.

Above and beyond: Melo Sang is a dance that was inspired by choreographer Irfan Setiawans past, growing up as a son of a pepper farmer. During harvesting and refining of the peppers, one of the steps caught the attention of Setiawan, which led him to make the dance. (Leo Muliadi/File)

The energetic performances that took place in the Jakarta Art Building on Aug. 10 featured dances by choreographers Gege Diaz from the Cipta Urban Team, Siti Suryani from Citra Art Studio, Kresna Kurnia Wijaya from EKI Dance Company, Irfan Setiawan from Ali Dance Company, Andhini Rosawiranti from Namarina Dance Academy and Josh Marcy from Indonesian Dance Theater.



For around two hours, dancers from all kinds backgrounds filled the stage.



To start the night, choreographer Gege Diaz took the stage with his Cipta Urban Team to perform an emotional choreography titled Ina Ama (Mother Father). Diazs inspiration for this dance is his mother and father, who represent balance in his life. The dance conveys a message of stability in everyones existence between the good and the bad.

Up next was the Namarina Dance Academy with their dance titled Energy. Under the choreography of Andhini Rosawiranti, the performance was a combination of contemporary dance routines and ballet.



Through the choreography, Roswiranti hoped to show the characteristics of energy within humans through powerful movements and animated steps.



Behind the dance, a vigorous song played as dancers flitted the stage, changing from black outfits to eye-catching colorful numbers to white bodysuits decorated in black markings.

Identical beings: No Distinction is a dance choreographed by Kresna Kurnia Wijaya that delves deeper into the thinning line between gender roles. (Leo Muliadi/File)

Up next was a more traditional dance titled Sedanau by Siti Suryani, which follows a story from Natuna regency in Riau Islands where, during the dry season, the people experience a struggle in their economy and activities as resources cannot be transported to the islands. The choreographer of Citra Art Studio hopes that the dance will allow them to portray those struggling with enthusiasm and effort through harsh times.



Under choreographer Kresna Kurnia Wijaya, the Eki Dance Company performed No Distinction  a dance that describes the blurring line between gender roles.



Dressed in identical bright red ensembles, female and male dancers alike moved flawlessly across the stage to the ever-changing music, ending their dance to RuPauls song Call Me Mother.



Rooted from simple observation, the Indonesian Dance Theater came up next with a choreography titled Pedestrian by Josh Marcy. This performance was inspired by the human movements in day-to-day life when they are amongst other people and as individuals.

Light in the dark: Gege Diaz with the Cipta Urban Team performs Ina Ama (Mother Father), a dance that talks about the balance in everyones life. (Leo Muliadi/File)

The choreography also delves deeper into the issue of social inequality, visible through the daily movements of many in the city.



To end the night, the Ali Dance Company took the stage with choreography by Irfan Setiawan. Titled Melo Sang, the dance was inspired by the philosophy of pepper.



Setiawan grew up as the son of a pepper farmer from Bangka Belitung Islands. As a kid, he would spend hours watching his father harvest and refine peppers.



One particular step caught his attention  the soaking and stepping of the peppers  which brought about his inspiration for the movements of this dance. Adorned in sarongs and white numbers, the dancers moved to no music, creating sounds only through their voices as they went about their steps. At one point, they went as far as tossing up one of their dancers to portray the pepper farming process.



Through this edition of the JDMU, the DKJ not only hopes to provide a platform for the Indonesian dance community but also help its members bond through this event.



The JDMU is actually a forum for choreographers and dance communities in Jakarta to meet up and get to know each other better. We have also published a book where choreographers in Jakarta can find better strategies to develop the dance culture. Mainly we are aiming towards the younger generation with the JDMU, said Rusdy Rukmarata, a representative of the DKJ.



There will be more to come from the JDMU in the upcoming years as over 40 dance communities are already lining up to join the growing platform.More than 50 young adults of different backgrounds in terms of religion, ethnicity and culture gathered for the Peace Train program in Malang, East Java, from Aug. 24 to 26. Utilizing trains, the program team heads to towns to introduce people to the many religions and beliefs in Indonesia and spread tolerance across the country. The team visited Rembang and Wonosobo in Central Java earlier this year.

Khoirul Anam, the programs organizer, said the high level of prejudice still prevailing in Indonesia could lead to discord, especially with the general elections in 2019. That is why we invite the young generation to meet and talk, along with religious figures. Through discussions, we hope there will be a feeling of companionship, said Khoirul.

In its sixth edition, the program was held in Malang with regard to harmony among its diverse residents. Aside from visiting and engaging in dialogue with residents of different religions and beliefs, it also held social media campaign workshops and interactive discussions among participants and religious figures.

Ana Fitra, a 21-year-old Muslim university student from Sidoarjo, East Java, said the program was appealing and gave her guidance in how to act among rampant religious tensions. I first got to know people of other religions in junior high school, as I lived in a Muslim-dominant neighborhood. School is where I encountered different religions, through friends and lessons, said Ana.

Peace Train participants visit the Kwan Im Tong temple in Batu, East Java. (JP/Aman Rochman)

Read also: Ethnic harmony in Surakarta Chinatown

In the program, I had the chance to step into a Catholic church and a Hindu temple. While I was timid at first, the pastor and the Hindu leaders welcomed we with open arms and made me feel at ease, she added.

Ertheo Siswadi, a 21-year-old Christian from Jakarta, said the program made it possible for him to enter other religions places of worship. It was a joy to meet with friends of different beliefs and to share my experience as a minority of Chinese descent, he said. I gained knowledge and I became informed, such as knowing what to do when facing hoaxes spread through social media. I also became more aware of terrorism and persecution, and I realized that the information Ive so far received was lopsided.

Khoirul said an encounter could be the way for people to shed grudges or hatred. With conversation, we hope the young generation will cultivate tolerance and harmony in the face of diversity. They could become agents of information in their surroundings as peace ambassadors. They would know what to do should acts of intolerance, terrorism, violence or persecution happen. They are also encouraged to campaign for diversity and the unity of the nation through blogs and animated videos in social media.

In Malang, the Peace Train campaign visited the Dhammadipa Arama Buddhist temple, the St. Albertus de Trapani Catholic church, the Jemaat Sukun Protestant church, Islamic boarding school Al Hidayah, the Luhur Giri Arjuno Hindu temple, the Kwan Im Tong Buddhist temple and people of the Sapta Darma belief. (wng)What is in a name?

A great deal, as far as the US state of Missouri is concerned.

A new state law went into effect Tuesday banning manufacturers from marketing lab-grown and plant-based meat substitutes with terms that previously implied meat products.

In short, no burgers made of tofu or sausages made of vegetables. If it didn't come from an animal, it isn't meat in Missouri.

The law -- the first of its kind in the country -- was championed by the state's powerful beef industry. The legislature approved it in May.

"This is about protecting the integrity of the products that farm and ranch families throughout the country work hard to raise each and every day," Mike Deering of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association said in a statement when the law passed.

The group hopes other states will follow Missouri's lead.

Read also: Existential debate in US food industry: What is meat?

The meat substitute industry, represented by the Good Food Institute, expressed its displeasure Monday with a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the law, claiming it is akin to censorship.

"No one buys Tofurky 'PLANT-BASED' deli slices thinking they were carved from a slaughtered animal any more than people are buying almond milk thinking it was squeezed from a cow's udder," the institute said in a written statement.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, which files lawsuits on behalf of animals and joined the Missouri case, accused the state's politicians of picking sides in a gastronomic battle.

"Missouri is putting its thumb on the scale," said the fund's Stephen Wells.

Missouri is not alone, no matter its motives. A similar debate is raging in Europe, where the EU's Court of Justice last year ruled plant-based producers of dairy-like products cannot market with dairy terms such as cheese and yogurt.

The French parliament approved a similar meat term ban earlier this year.An event held in Cirebon, West Java, on Aug. 25 and 26, sought to explore Islam in Indonesia from the point of view of justice and equality.

"Tetirah Cirebon: Exploring Feminism in Islam" was the first event in the Xpedisi Feminis series. The town of Cirebon was chosen as it is considered the entry point of Islam centuries ago and the starting place for the religions spread across Indonesia.

Twenty-three people took part in the maiden event, including NGO activists, journalists and housewives. The program is supported by online platform Indonesia Feminis as well as by the Cherbon Feminist community, online publication magdalene.co and online traveling platform iwashere.id.

The program started with a visit to the Fahmina Islamic Study Institute (ISIF), where a discussion about feminism in Islam was held with Mariana Amiruddin from the National Commission on Violence Against Women, and the Fahmina Institutes KH Marzuki Wahid and KH Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir as speakers.

Mariana said feminism was a tool for the betterment of womens lives. She told stories of female leaders that are often hidden in history, such as Tribhuwana Tunggadewi of Majapahit, Queen Kalinyamat of Japara and Nyi Ratu Mas Gandasari from Aceh. She reckoned that it was high time for history to be written from a feminist point of view.

Read also: 'Feminism' is US dictionary 'Word of the Year'

Meanwhile, KH Marzuki Wahid stated his belief that Islam was just and believed in gender equality. The claim that the Prophet Muhammad was a feminist had been proven in the Arabian Peninsula. With the spread of Islam, women were seen as humans and equal to men, Marzuki said.

A discussion of feminism in Islam with KH Marzuki Wahid. (Xpedisi Feminis/-)

He said a reinterpretation of the Quran was needed, adhering to justice, freedom, equality, brotherhood, wisdom and the benefit of the people.

KH Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir presented the concept of Mubadalah, a perspective and interpretation method for understanding gender in Islam. He said the dichotomy between texts for men and women had spawned interpretations that were considered absolute, though they were sexist and perpetuated violence against women. This very dichotomy has created a dominant and hegemonic culture, by men over women, that eventually led to being destructive, he added.

Afterward, the group visited Kebon Jambu al-Islamy led by Nyai Hj. Masriyah Amva, known as a feminist boarding school. Along with providing elementary education, the school offers Mahad Aly with a focus on gender equality, and its degree program is equivalent to a bachelor program. The next day, participants visited the oldest palace in Cirebon, Kasepuhan, which was built in the 14th century.

Speaker Mariana said she appreciated the efforts of Xpedisi Feminis and viewed it as a modern movement for women. It explores Indonesia from a feminist view and tries to find different narratives, she said. (wng)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post) Jambi  Wed, August 29, 2018 06:40 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087703680b 1 National Jambi,rape,Incest,high-court,child-protection,rape-culture,rape-victim Free

A landmark ruling by the Jambi High Court has exonerated a 15-year-old rape victim of all criminal charges, but it will be some time before she can return home.

In a controversial case that captured the attention of local and international news media, the teenager, who was raped by her 18-year-old brother, had been sentenced to six months in prison by the Muarabulian District Court after she was found guilty of aborting her eight-month pregnancy.

The Jambi High Court on Monday changed her fate and acquitted her of all charges, saying she had the abortion while under extreme duress.

An official from the Jambi Social Affairs Agency, Tuti Rosmalinda, said she and her team were ready to return the girl to her home in Pulau village in Batanghari regency, Jambi, but they were concerned about her safety as her mother was her sole guardian but was on trial at the Muarabulian District Court for abetting in her daughters abortion.

The girl and her brother have been exiled from their village.

Although the villagers have said that they are willing to accept her return, we are still waiting for the verdict in [the mother's] case. The girl needs her mother after such an ordeal, said Tuti on Tuesday.

Read also: Court suspends prison sentence for Jambi rape victim

If the district court acquits the mother, Tuti said the girl could return to her village. However, if the court sentenced the mother to more than two years in prison, the girl would stay at Alyatama, a social institution in Jambi run by the provincial social agency.

Tuti said the social agency was looking for a school for the 15-year-old to attend.

The Muarabulian court declared the girl guilty of abortion her pregnancy as stipulated in Article 77 of the Child Protection Law, while her brother was found guilty of abortion and sexual assault as stipulated in Article 81 of the same law.

According to the 2009 Health Law, rape victims can legally abort their pregnancies within 40 days after conception. However, the pregnancy in the teenager's case was aborted after eight months.

The girl and her lawyer appealed the courts decision, citing Article 75, Paragraph 2b of the Health Law, which stipulates that a woman who aborts a pregnancy caused by rape that resulted in psychological trauma is exempt from criminal punishment.

The 15-year-old has been staying at Alyatama since July 30, after being removed from the Muarabulian Womens Penitentiary. She is accompanied by officials from the Jambi Social Affairs Agency.

Read also: Jambi villagers welcome banished, jailed rape victim to return after uproar

The high court ruling has been praised by human rights activists and advocates who have been assisting similar rape victims.

Uli Pangaribuan, a lawyer from the Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Womens Association for Justice (LBH Apik), lauded the court decision, saying the judges had answered public calls for justice.

Many of the cases that we handle usually end in the victim being sentenced to a facility to receive counseling, she said. So this ruling could be considered extraordinary.

In 2017, LBH Apik handled the case of a 16-year-old rape victim who was found guilty for aborting her pregnancy and sentenced to a counseling facility in East Jakarta for 18 months where she receives counseling and continues her education.

Pulau village head Daman Huri said he was glad the high court had acquitted the 15-year-old. He guaranteed that the girl would be safe in the village.

We will welcome her. We will not reject her, he said.

Daman Huri said, however, that if the girl's mother was incarcerated the girl would have to stay with relatives, because the village officials did not want to be accused of mistreatment. (ris/wit)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 07:58 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877037dda 1 City extortion,West-Jakarta,thuggery,arrest Free

The West Jakarta Police have arrested seven suspects for allegedly extorting money from shop owners in a shopping complex in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

Police crimes unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edy Suranta Sitepu said the extortionists wrecked construction work at one premises after the owner refused to pay Rp 24 million (US$1,600).

The extortionists, dressed as security officers, argued that the previous tenant had not paid rent along with fines.

The shop owner had just bought and occupied the shop and wanted to build a small bridge in front of it. The gang then demanded the shop owner give them money, Edy said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Tuesday.

The gang destroyed the bridge construction when the shop owner rejected their demand.

The police are trying to determine whether the men are staff of a legitimate security agency.

Intan, a shop assistant, said that people in the shopping complex were aware of the gang which often extorted money from the shop owners.

We know [about them], but none of us had the courage to report them [to the police], she said as reported by kompas.com.

A shop owner, Sueb, confirmed Intans account, saying that although the gang caused trouble people had no choice other than to give them money.

Their main targets are new tenants. Ive been running my business here for five years, hence they only ask for money from me on a monthly basis, he said, declining to reveal the sums he pays. (vla)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi, Apriadi Gunawan and Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Medan and Bandung  Wed, August 29, 2018 07:12 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877036f70 2 National #KPK,KPK,Meiliana,#Blasphemy,blasphemy,corruption,#corruption,judges Free

A judge at the Medan District Court in North Sumatra, Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo, was recently under the spotlight when he presided over the controversial blasphemy trial of Meiliana, a Buddhist resident of Tanjung Balai.

The case reached its climax last week when the court sentenced the 44-year-old mother of four to one-and-a-half years in prison for complaining about the volume of the adzan (Islamic call to prayer) from a speaker at a mosque near her house.

On Tuesday, Wahyus name returned to the spotlight after he was apprehended by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in an investigation into bribery allegedly involving Medan court officials.

At least eight people were apprehended during the operation, including judges, court clerks and other parties. Investigators are still working to verify information obtained from citizens, KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo told The Jakarta Post.

Investigators, he said, had seized an undisclosed sum of cash in Singapore dollar banknotes during the operation.

Medan District Court spokesman Erintuah Damanik said Wahyu, who is the courts deputy chief, was nabbed along with three other judges  the courts Chief Judge Marsudin Nainggolan, Judge Sontan Merauke Sinaga and Judge Merry Purba  and two court clerks.

However, whether or not Wahyu was among the KPKs persons of interests or merely a witness remains unclear as the KPK is still investigating the case.

The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), which had been vocal in criticizing Meilianas conviction, lauded the KPKs investigation into the possible corruption within the Medan court.

If a judge cant resist the urge to accept illicit money, he or she should also be suspected of not being able to resist giving in to pressure. Therefore, he or she is not fit for the job of maintaining the courts integrity, ICJR executive director Anggara said.

Previously, many perceived the Medan Courts guilty verdict against Meiliana as being the result of pressure from the public empowered by the local chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council, which allegedly described Meilianas remark as blasphemous.

The alleged remark was believed to have triggered riots, during which several Buddhist temples were burned or ransacked. Over a dozen people were sentenced to one to four months in prison for their roles in the riot.

Tuesdays KPK operation has also brought back old concerns over the integrity of the court and judges, as the KPK suspects the bribery was related to a case being handled by the court.

[The arrest was] related to a corruption case, in which the judges recently issued a verdict, KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said, stopping short of revealing which case it was.

Suspicions point to a corruption case related to land-use rights implicating businessman Tamin Sukardi.

Tamin was sentenced to six years in prison by a panel comprising three of the arrested judges  Wahyu, Sontan and Merry  on Monday, only hours before the KPK launched the operation. The sentence was lighter than the 10 years imprisonment demanded by the prosecutors from the Attorney Generals Office (AGO).

Although his case was handled by the AGO, Tamins trial had been monitored closely by both the antigraft body and the Judicial Commission since May.

Should the antigraft body bring a formal accusation against the judges in Medan, their case would add to the list of court officials to be investigated or prosecuted on corruption allegations by the KPK.

According to data from the KPKs Anticorruption Clearing House (ACCH), at least 18 judges were prosecuted from 2010 to May 2018.

One of the cases occurred in October 2017, when KPK investigators arrested Manado High Court Judge Sudiwardono for bribery. In June, Sudiwardono was sentenced to six years in prison for accepting bribes that were paid to influence an appellate bench handling a corruption case related to allowances for village officials (TPAPD) in Bolaang Mongondow, North Sulawesi.

The Judical Commission was quick to deplore Tuesdays arrest, with its spokesman Farid Wajdi saying: We have been warning heads of courts to minimize the potential for ethical violations. A huge commitment and concrete actions are more important than regulations [to prevent further arrests].Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Severianus Endi (The Jakarta Post) Pontianak  Wed, August 29, 2018 11:40 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087704e091 1 National forest-fires,West-Kalimantan,Pontianak Free

The West Kalimantan Police have named 27 people as suspects in the forest and land fire cases that have caused thick smog, which affected residents in the province.

There were 20 police reports related to forest and land fires with 27 people named suspects, West Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Didi Haryono said on Monday. From those numbers, 14 were arrested and 11 were released, while two other suspects died in the fire.

The police, along with other officers, monitor a 147,307-square-kilometer area spread across 14 regencies and municipalities, where 1.68 million hectares are peatland areas and the rest are mineral soil, Didi said. The police had also conducted operations for prevention as well as promotion to raise awareness among members of the public.

We will keep making maximum efforts, he said on Monday.

The forest fires have caused thick smog covering several areas in the province affecting thousands of people and disrupting flights in Pontianak on Monday.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the agency had deployed eight helicopters for water bombing operations. The agency also worked on artificial rain with Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) using Casa 212 aircraft from the Air Force.

Authorities in Pontianak decided to close schools last week following thick haze blanketing the city. A number of flights from Supadio International Airport in Pontianak were also disrupted by thick haze on Monday. (vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung, West Java  Wed, August 29, 2018 12:17 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087704f78a 1 National munir-said-thalib,Munir,murder,murder-case,crime,human-rights Free

Convicted murderer of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, was finally declared a free man from the Class I Bandung Correctional Center in West Java on Wednesday morning after finishing his parole.

The former Garuda Indonesia pilot came with his wife, Yosepha Hera Iswandari, to the correctional center on Wednesday morning to report for the last time and take care of the administration regarding the end of his sentence. After about 20 minutes, he came out of the prison officially a free man.

I feel like I no longer have any burden now, he told journalists, adding that he had been serving his sentence without having a clue about why he was convicted of Munirs murder.

Polycarpus was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2005 for his role in the death of the prominent human rights campaigner during a flight from Jakarta to Singapore on Sept. 6, 2004. He was granted parole by the government in 2014.

When asked whether he wanted to meet with Munirs widow, Suciwati, he revealed that he was open to the idea.

Im ready [if I have to meet Suciwati], but what does she need from me? Suddenly were all related, he answered.

However, out of his 14-year sentence, Pollycarpus only served eight years in Sukamiskin Penitentiary in Bandung and was released on parole in November 2014.

There has been mounting pressure from the public and rights activists for law enforcement to prosecute the mastermind, as despite Pollycarpus being sentenced, it remains unclear who masterminded the murder. Activists have also called on the government to establish a new fact-finding team to investigate individuals allegedly involved in the murder, who many believe to be important people, as alleged in a 2005 investigative document by the murder case's fact-finding team. (ris)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) The Hague, Netherlands  Wed, August 29, 2018 10:40 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087704993e 2 World #MurderCase,Dutch,police,arrest,murder,Geert-Wilders Free

The Dutch police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of planning an attack against far-right politician Geert Wilders after he said he intended to hold a Prophet Mohammad cartoon competition.

Police said in a statement they arrested the still unidentified suspect at the main railway station in The Hague.

He was currently being questioned and was expected to appear before a judge on Friday, the statement said.

Police said they had been alerted by a video on Facebook in which the 26-year-old man talked about attacking anti-Islam MP Wilders, as well as the Dutch parliament.

Wilders, who announced plans for a competition of Mohammad cartoons earlier this year, said he had been told about the plot by the Netherlands' counterterrorism police, NCTb.

"I was told by NCTb this morning that a man on Facebook had said that he had arrived in the Netherlands for the purpose of killing me," Wilders said via his Twitter account.

"Fortunately, he has been arrested. It is madness that this is happening because of a drawing contest and that it is raining death threats."

The head of the Netherlands' Party for Freedom or PVV, Wilders is known for his virulent anti-Islam statements.

Last week, Pakistan expressed objections to what it described as the "blasphemous" cartoon competition and summoned a high-ranking Dutch diplomat in Islamabad to protest.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also described the competition as "disrespectful" and "provocative", even though he defended the principle of freedom of expression.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok also insisted that the competition was not a government initiative.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Takehiro Masutomo (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29 2018

Coming to a close: Bosnia-Herzegovinas outgoing ambassador to Indonesia, Muhamed Cengic (center), smiles at a photo exhibition at the Foreign Ministry compound in Jakarta on Monday. The exhibition showcases Cengics photography in Papua  a parting gift for Indonesia before he ends his three-year tenure on Friday. (JP/Takehiro Masutomo)

Fascinated by the charms of Indonesias nature and people, a European ambassador has used his skills as a photographer to capture the beauty of the archipelagic nation.



Bosnia-Herzegovinas Ambassador to Indonesia Muhamed Cengic attended the opening ceremony for his first-ever photo exhibition, The Eyes of Papua, at the Foreign Ministry on Monday.



On display were 30 photos that show the expressive faces of locals in traditional costumes, as well as magnificent scenes showing the beauty of Mother Nature. They had been selected from more than a thousand pictures taken by Cengic during his tour to Sorong and Raja Ampat in West Papua in July.



The exhibitions opening ceremony took place on the second floor of the ministrys Diplomacy Canteen and was attended by dozens of staff members from several embassies and media outlets.



The Eyes of Papua exhibition is available for public viewing until Thursday.



[When] I arrived in Indonesia, I discovered that this country [was] so beautiful that it had to be recorded. It is the universal impression [held by] everyone coming to Indonesia, Cengic told The Jakarta Post.



Cengic said he was once a photo-passionate teenager, but after he became a reporter and later a diplomat, photography was somewhat sidelined as a mere hobby.



However, the inner and outer serenity he witnessed in the archipelago made him an earnest photographer once again.



During his years in Indonesia, Cengic tirelessly took pictures in his spare time while enjoying interactions with Indonesian photographers  amateurs and professionals alike  across the country.



The 64-year-old envoy said he would miss the people, nature and the food  everything that makes Indonesia a unique place in the world.



Completing his three-year tenure, Cengic is set to depart for his home country on Friday.



Cengic told the Post that Indonesia showed continuous economic progress followed by the many positive developments in its political, social and even cultural life.



This is not just an impression of mine; this is a simple and almost obvious fact. I wish this positive development will last long and [contribute] to the regional and global economic and overall stability, he said.



Cengics drive is not limited to the artistic sphere. He said he would like to use pictures as a tool of public diplomacy.



Cengic intends to bring back these photos to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an almost landlocked country in Southeastern Europe, to show them to the general public.



His hope is that other ambassadors in Jakarta can rally behind him and continue group exhibitions as a new tradition.



Speaking at the ceremony, the ministrys Director General for American and European Affairs Muhammad Anshor revealed that Cengic had taken photos everywhere during his visits in Indonesia, at times with his cellphone.



Anshor hailed Cengics efforts, saying: He tries to relate to the people, tries to relate with Indonesia and promote the visibility of friendship between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Indonesia through photography.



Meanwhile, Womens Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Susana Yembise, who officially opened the exhibition, detailed the fruitful diplomatic tour with Cengic, which was organized by her ministry.



Why dont you change your citizenship to become Indonesian? Yohana, who was born in the West Papuan provincial capital of Manokwari, said jokingly in her speech.



The envoy emphasized that bilateral relations had always been excellent, with a constant trend of growth.



Unfortunately, our economic cooperation is not on that level. During my tenure in Jakarta, the focus of both governments was on changing this imbalance in favor of enhancing economic ties, he said.



The result would be visible this year when a group of business people will arrive to participate in Trade Expo Indonesia, he said.



Cengic said that traditionally, both countries could count on cooperation in renewable energy, agriculture and tourism while efforts by the Indonesian Embassy in Sarajevo had led to more interest in coffee, palm oil, paper and rubber.



He also added that more students from Bosnia-Herzegovina are studying in Indonesia with some universities already establishing academic cooperation agreements.

____________________



-The writer is an intern at The Jakarta PostShare this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 08:13 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877039140 1 National Indonesia,population,aging-population Free

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has estimated that the countrys population will surpass 310 million people by the time it commemorates its 100th anniversary in 2045.

National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said recently that, by 2045, Indonesias total population would reach between 311 million to 318.9 million people. The number is based on data from Statistics Indonesia's (BPS) latest report, "Indonesia Population Projections 2015-2045", which was released on Friday.

He said that to hit 311 million people, there must be an average of two children per family and an infant mortality rate of 3 percent per year.

This projection means that we should improve the quality of our healthcare facilities, as well as our healthcare professionals during birth to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates to prevent a fast decline in population growth, Bambang said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

In the report, the BPS estimates the 15-and-under child mortality rate to decrease to 2.4 percent in 2045 from 9.3 percent in 2015. An estimated 74.9 percent of deaths in 2045 are expected to occur among the elderly, an increase from 50.2 percent in 2015.

The country will have an ageing population once it hits 310 million people, as the percentage of the elderly will reach 19.8 percent of the entire country. (ris)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Wed, August 29 2018

How will history judge 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Myanmars de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi? How does the once global icon of human rights and democracy wish to be remembered by the world? And will the Rohingya Muslims and other oppressed minorities in Myanmar forgive the daughter of the nations independence hero Aung San for her silence on the sufferings of millions of people in her own country?

Unless she eventually finds the political courage and goodwill to stand up against the militarys decades-long rampant and systemic persecution of her people, she will likely be remembered as one of the most responsible persons for the gross human rights abuses inside Myanmar, a member of ASEAN.

Unfortunately, there is little hope that she will practice what she committed to do in her Nobel Lecture in Oslo, on June 16, 2012. During her 15-year house arrest she said she had gained strength from the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts, which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspirations of the common people.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 17:56 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087705d90d 1 City rape,daughter,Tangerang,arrest Free

The Tangerang Police have arrested a 58-year-old man on suspicion of raping his 15-year-old stepdaughter at his house in Sindang Jaya last Thursday.

Yes, we have arrested him. He often became aroused when watching his stepdaughter preparing to shower, the head of the criminal division of the Pasar Kemis Police, First Insp. Ferdo Elfianto, said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

The suspect also allegedly raped the victim on Aug. 15.

Ferdo said the victim was suffering psychological trauma because of the incident.

We, along with relevant agencies, will offer trauma counseling to help her heal psychologically, he said.

The suspect is likely be charged under Law No. 35/2014 on child protection, which carries maximum punishment of 15 years imprisonment. (gis)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 22:54 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877067958 1 City Chinese,woman,death,Central-Jakarta Free

A Chinese woman that had been missing since Thursday was found dead in a hotel room in Gambir, Central Jakarta, on Sunday, an official has said.

Taman Sari Police criminal division head Ajd. Comr. Rango Siregar said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com that the woman was reported missing by her family member, also a Chinese national, who lived near her at Mediterania Apartment in Taman Sari, West Jakarta.

Her family went to the Taman Sari Police accompanied by a translator, Rango said.

According to the report, the victim had lived in the apartment since last year and worked as a freelancer. She left the apartment on Thursday and was not seen until Sunday, when she was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a hotel room in Gambir.

The hotels CCTV footage and an explanation from the hotel staff indicate that the woman checked in on Thursday, accompanied by a man who wore a surgical mask. (gis)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Rachmadea Aisyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 12:30 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308770508d5 1 Business pertamina,CEO,Nicke-Widyawati,appointment Free

Newly appointed president director of state-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati, has promised to speed up the development of oil refineries in a number of places to try to boost the countrys fuel production and to pay attention to a number of upstream projects.

She said the immediate target was the development of refineries in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, followed by those in Cilacap, Central Java.

I will focus on what assignments I have received. [] I will fulfill my duty to the public, said Nicke in Jakarta on Wednesday during a press conference organized by the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry to announce her appointment.

She said she would also pay attention to a number of upstream projects of the energy giant that have been granted by the government due to ends of operatorship contracts between the government and multinational oil companies in a number of oil and gas blocks.

During the press conference, two other new members of Pertaminas board of directors were announced, namely Darmawan Samsu replacing Syamsu Alam as upstream director and Kuswiro Kushartanto replacing Nicke as human resources development director.

Previously, SOEs Minister Rini Soemarno announced the appointment of Nicke as the Pertamina president director when inaugurating three electricity infrastructure projects in Papua, Jayapura.

SOEs Ministry strategic industry and media affairs undersecretary Fajar Harry Sampurno said Nicke's appointment had been approved by President Joko Jokowi Widodo. This appointment is based on the Presidents approval, he said during Wednesdays press conference.

It has been four months since the removal of Elia Massa Manik from his position as Pertamina president director. Since then, the energy holding company has been led by Nicke.

The government official linked Elias removal with a series of problems at the company, including a recent oil spill and slow progress in refinery developments, but analysts have also linked it to his reluctance to carry out the governments populist programs, including the one-price fuel policy to provide low-price fuel in remote regions. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Cotabato, Philippines  Wed, August 29, 2018 09:19 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087703b312 2 World #Philippine,#bomb-blast,Philippines-bombing,ISIS Free

A bomb blast tore through a crowd at a festival in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding dozens more in the second deadly attack in under a month in the region, authorities said.

The powerful bomb in the town of Isulan went off near a night market that was part of local celebrations, sending people running in terror.

"It was loud, we immediately left the area but I can't forget the images of a young girl carried by her father, her shirt covered in blood," said witness Judy Sapto, an area resident.

The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, is the latest violence in the south of the majority Catholic archipelago, where Islamist militants have been fighting a decades-long insurgency.

"It's obvious that the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) with links to ISIS (Islamic State) has the strongest desire to initiate these kind of attacks", said Army Captain Arvin Encinas.

The local mayor's office said two other bombs were discovered in the area and defused by authorities.

One person was killed and at least 36 were hurt in the blast, the mayor's office added. There was no immediate word on the victims' conditions.

Local police officials said the bomb went off near a petrol station as Isulan was celebrating the 61st anniversary of its founding.

The attack comes less than a month after a van bomb ripped through a military checkpoint on the neighbouring island of Basilan, killing 10 people.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for that bombing and authorities believe the man behind the wheel of the explosives-laden van may have intended to target a nearby children's parade.

President Rodrigo Duterte put the southern Philippines under martial rule until the end of this year after pro-IS militants seized the southern city of Marawi last year.

Several armed groups are active against government forces in the south of the Southeast Asian country, where a decades-long rebellion has claimed more than 100,000 lives by government count.

These latest blasts follow the Duterte government enacting a law to create greater autonomy for the Muslim minority in the south and which is hoped to help end the conflict.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Wed, August 29, 2018 15:32 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877058fba 1 National Papua,armed-civilian-groups,Poland,security Free

A Polish citizen is currently in custody with police in Papua over his alleged attempt to film what the Indonesian Military (TNI) claims was a planned ammunition trade between two armed groups in the restive province.

The Pole, identified only as JF, 39, was arrested on his way to the location of the handover at Habema Lake in Jayawijaya last Friday, according to the police.

172/PWY Military Command commander Col. Inf. J. Binsar P. Sianipar told reporters on Wednesday that his personnel had found indications that he was linked to an armed group.

He had communicated with the armed group, and that day he was going to Habema Lake to cover the sale of hundreds of rounds of ammunition, he said, adding that the suspect had been planning to expose the event to the world.

Binsar said JF had come to Indonesia on a tourist visa and had visited Raja Ampat in West Papua. It is reprehensible that [he] entered Indonesia using a tourist visa but is also engaging in another activitybuilding relations with armed groups.

Jayawijaya Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yan Piet Reba told The Jakarta Post that the ammunition transaction was between an armed group operating in Wamena and another group from Puncak Jaya.

JF was planning to go to Habema Lake, where representatives of the armed group from Puncak Jaya were waiting to buy the ammunition, he said.

Police have questioned four people linked to the case.

Three people have been sent to the Papua Police, one is a Polish national and the other two are locals, Yan Piet said. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 21:32 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877066c06 2 National obituary,leo-batubara,Press-Council Free

Former Indonesian Press Council deputy chairman and press activist Sabam Leo Batubara died on Wednesday in a workplace accident at the age of 79.

Born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, in 1939, Leo served as the councils deputy chairman from 2007 to 2009.

Even at an advanced age and hours before his death, Leo remained active in the Press Council as a member of the complaint commission.

Leo died at about 4:30 p.m. after being taken to Gatot Subroto Army Hospital [RSPAD] by a council staff member after he fell when returning to his office from the bathroom, Press Council member and The Jakarta Post chief editor Nezar Patria said.

Nezar remembered Leo as a disciplined and healthy man who was astute at assessing every complaint.

At the start of the Reform Era in 1999, Leo was involved in designing the Press Law, which is still used today.

He was a senior editor at Suara Karya from 2005 to 2009.

Leos passion in upholding press freedom was revealed in a book called Menegakkan Kebebasan Pers (Maintaining Press Freedom), which was published in 2007. (ris)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Boyolali, Central Java  Wed, August 29, 2018 16:02 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877059d1f 1 National Central-Java,Boyolali,murder,murder-case,police,crime Free

The Juwangi Police named a resident, Suroto, 27, a suspect for allegedly murdering his neighbor, Karmin, 54, who had been having a relationship with his mother.

Suroto was reportedly upset that Karmin was having an affair with his mother, Hartini, 40, after he repeatedly told him to stay away from her, Juwangi Police chief First. Insp. Tri Mulyono said. Surotos father works as a migrant worker in Malaysia.

Tri said Karmin was lounging on his front porch with his family on Tuesday when Suroto confronted him and told him to end his affair with Hartini. Karmin then got angry and hit Suroto, who later retaliated by assaulting him with a wooden staff, which he used to strike the back of Karmin's head.

Karmins wife and children reportedly screamed hysterically as he fell to the floor. Neighbors came to his house and tried to bring Karmin to a nearby community health center.

Unfortunately, doctors could not help him and he was pronounced dead, so we arrested the suspect immediately, Tri said on Tuesday.

Suroto said Karmin and his mother had been having an affair for six years. He admitted that he had even threatened to end the affair in his own way, but neither of them paid attention to him.

I never intended to kill him. I was only teaching him a lesson because he wouldnt stay away from my mother, he told journalists while being detained at the Boyolali Police headquarters.

Boyolali Police criminal investigation department head Willy Budiyanto said Suroto had been arrested at his house without resistance only an hour after the incident.

Suroto could face up to 10 years in prison for violating Article 351 of the Criminal Code on assault that resulted in death. (ris)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, August 29, 2018 19:07 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308770610b9 4 National KPK,bribery,bribery-case,Supreme-Court,Medan,judicial-system Free

The Supreme Court will impose a temporary suspension on four judges apprehended by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Medan, North Sumatra as soon as they are declared suspects in a bribery case.

Pending an official announcement from the KPK, the court will immediately suspend the judges serving at the Medan District Court.

We will temporarily dismiss them as the permanent dismissal is under the authority of the President, Supreme Court spokesman Abdullah said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

The KPK apprehended four judges from the Medan District Court, namely the courts Chief Judge Marsudin Nainggolan, Deputy Chief Judge Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo, Judge Sontan Merauke Sinaga and Judge Merry Purba, as well as two court clerks, in a raid on Tuesday. The raid was related to bribery allegations reported by citizens to the antigraft agency. Investigators also seized an undisclosed sum of money in Singapore dollar bank notes during the operation.

Judge Wahyu was recently under the spotlight for sentencing a Buddhist resident of Tanjung Balai, Meiliana, to 1.5 years in prison in a blasphemy case for complaining about the volume of the adzan (Islamic call to prayer) from a speaker at a mosque near her house.

Meanwhile, KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said that after further investigation, the agency had so far named Judge Merry a suspect in the case for allegedly receiving S$280,000.

The investigation process is still ongoing. There is a possibility [that more suspects will be named] as the investigation develops, we dont know yet. In the meantime the evidence points at MP [Merry Purba], he said in a press conference on Wednesday. (ris)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Washington, United States  Wed, August 29, 2018 14:12 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877054de7 2 World DonaldTrump,#China,Donald-Trump,accusation,China,emails,hacking Free

US President Donald Trump said on Twitter early on Wednesday China hacked the emails of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but did not offer any evidence or further information.

"Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!" he tweeted a little after midnight on Wednesday.

Trump said in an earlier tweet on Tuesday night: "China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server. Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!"

U.S. intelligence officials have said Russia orchestrated the hacking of Democratic officials to meddle with the 2016 presidential election.

A US federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in July on charges of hacking the computer networks of Clinton and the Democratic Party.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russias role in the 2016 election and whether the campaign of Republican candidate Trump colluded with Moscow. Russia denies meddling in the elections, while Trump has denied any collusion.

Trump said in April 2017 China may have hacked the emails of Democratic officials to meddle with the 2016 presidential election. He also did not provide any evidence backing his allegation at that time.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Damascus, Syria  Wed, August 29, 2018 19:27 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877061c69 2 World #UnitedNations,#Syria,UnitedNations,Syria,refugees Free

An expected government assault on Syria's last rebel-held province, Idlib, and surrounding areas could displace as many as 800,000 people already in a dire humanitarian situation, the UN warned Wednesday.

In an interview with AFP, a representative of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA) in Damascus said an attack could be catastrophic.

"We fear that -- should there be an increased escalation of hostilities in that area -- up to 800,000 people could be displaced and that the number of people who are in need of humanitarian assistance, which is already high, could increase dramatically," said Linda Tom.

Idlib in northwest Syria along the border with Turkey is the last province still held by the country's beleaguered rebels.

An estimated three million people live in Idlib and adjacent rebel-held territory, many of them already displaced from other parts of Syria since the conflict erupted in 2011.

Most rely heavily on food, medicine and other humanitarian aid brought in across the Turkish border by the UN and charity groups.

Tom said she feared that assistance "will be compromised" by clashes, further threatening civilians in the densely-populated territory.

"For aid workers who are working in this area, they might become displaced as well and that would compromise the delivery of services to people in need," she said.

"It's just the immense scale of the humanitarian catastrophe that could take place in the Idlib area," she added.

President Bashar al-Assad is looking to recapture Idlib to cap a string of major regime victories in recent months, including around Damascus and the south, that have put him in control of around two-thirds of the country.

Those offensives have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes across Syria, where a total of six million remain internally displaced.

On Tuesday in New York, several UN Security Council ambassadors voiced deep concern over the fate of civilians in Idlib.

Swedish envoy Carl Skau said an assault "would have catastrophic consequences and can lead to a humanitarian disaster".

Experts have said Syrian troops could instead opt for a more limited operation on the province's periphery, where hundreds of thousands live.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Chicago, United States  Wed, August 29, 2018 08:08 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877037e44 2 World #USA,#shooting,black-Americans,shooting-incident,police Free

A Texas jury found a white police officer guilty of murder Tuesday for the shooting death of a 15-year-old African American boy -- a rare conviction resulting from a high-profile police shooting case.

Roy Oliver fired five bullets into a car full of teens last year, killing Jordan Edwards while responding to a call of underage drinking at a party in a Dallas suburb.

The unarmed Edwards and four others were leaving the party after hearing gunfire, which had come from another nearby location. Oliver fired a rifle into the car, hitting the teen in the head.

The trial jury also found the officer, who was reportedly fired from his job, not guilty of two aggravated assault charges.

Oliver could face between five to 99 years in prison for the murder conviction.

Tearful family members could be seen embracing during a court recess after the verdict was read.

"I'm happy, very happy. It's been a long time," the slain teen's father Odell Edwards told assembled news media.

The trial resumed shortly after with the sentencing phase.

The jury had deliberated for just two days before returning the rare conviction of a police officer in a high-profile shooting.

Similar convictions in other cases have proven mostly elusive, illustrating the difficulty of convicting officers in deadly encounters where split-second decisions are made.

Edwards family attorney Daryl Washington said the case was "about every African American, unarmed African American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."

- 'No other option' -

Police originally said Oliver opened fire because the car was backing up aggressively toward him, but the department changed its account after viewing bodycam footage, saying the car was driving away when Edwards was shot.

At trial, Oliver testified that he fired because the car was driving toward his partner.

"I had to make a decision," Oliver testified. "This car is about to hit my partner, there are threats inside the car and when lethal force is being presented toward us, I had no other option but to use lethal force."

But Oliver's partner Tyler Gross testified at trial that he had not felt in danger, according to US media reports.

"I just wanted them to stop," Gross said, according to WFAA TV. "I was not in fear at that point."

The Dallas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement announcing Oliver's arrest warrant last year that evidence suggested the police officer "intended to cause serious bodily injury."

The shooting was among a growing list of similar cases in which African Americans were killed by white police officers.

The high-profile incidents, often accompanied by official or eyewitness video footage, have fueled outrage across the United States and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Oliver was the first on-duty Texas officer in more than 40 years to be convicted in a shooting death, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union hailed the conviction for sending "a powerful message."

"There is a long history in this country of failing to hold law enforcement responsible for even the gravest abuses of power," the group's Sharon Watkins Jones said in a statement.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, August 30 2018

Indonesia is urging Myanmar to implement the Formula 4+1 approach for the Rakhine conflict, following a United Nations report that finds alleged genocide to have been committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesia had taken notes on the investigation, calling it an initial report.

From all development that we have seen, including the recent report, Indonesia is increasingly believing and encouraging Myanmar to implement the formula we proposed last year, which is Formula 4+1, he told a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Richard Sargent (Agence France-Presse) Yangon, Myanmar  Wed, August 29, 2018 18:16 1160 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087705eea8 2 SE Asia #Myanmar,#UnitedNations,Myanmar,UnitedNations,investigation,Rohingya,genocide Free

Myanmar Wednesday rejected the findings of a UN investigation alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, after the US and other countries joined growing calls for them to face justice.

Mainly Buddhist Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

On Monday the UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" against the Rohingya, including acts of rape, sexual violence and mass killings.

In a UN Security Council session a day later, several countries -- including the US, Britain, France and Sweden -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable.

The meeting was one of the most high-profile to date to address the crisis and featured graphic testimony from actress Cate Blanchett, who visited the refugee camps in May as a goodwill ambassador.

"I am a mother and I saw my own children in the eyes of every single refugee child that I met. I saw myself in every parent," she told the Security Council.

"How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire? Their experiences will never leave me."

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett listens during the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Myanmar at UN Headquarters in New York on August 28, 2018. DOMINICK REUTER / AFP (AFP/Dominick Reuter)

Myanmar rejected the UN mission's findings in a typically defiant response to a crisis that has heaped international opprobrium on both its military and civilian leadership.

"We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," said government spokesman Zaw Htay, according to Wednesday's state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

The country has "zero tolerance for human rights violations," Zaw Htay said, but he added that "strong evidence" including records and dates of any alleged abuses must be provided before investigations are undertaken.

The government would take "legal action against any violation of human rights," he said.

- Facebook ban -

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for shutting down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass on Monday, saying the move could hamper the government's efforts at "national reconciliation".

The social media giant has admitted it was previously too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform -- wildly popular in Myanmar -- become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.

Much of Myanmar's public has vilified the Rohingya since the army's crackdown, with little sympathy for a minority who have for years been refused citizenship and denied freedom of movement and access to healthcare and education.

Myanmar's military retains significant constitutional and political power and is essentially free of civilian oversight.

But the country's civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate and de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly defended the military crackdown as a proportionate response to Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine state who staged deadly raids on police posts on August 25, 2017.

However the UN report agreed with rights groups who say the crackdown was premeditated, a key factor in determining if a genocide has taken place.

It pointed to the large-scale military deployments to Rakhine in the weeks leading up to the campaign in a "broader oppressive context".

Around a million Rohingya now languish in refugee camps in Bangladesh, which has struggled to deal with the huge influx into an already impoverished country.

Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a deal to repatriate last year's wave of refugees but there has been little progress given Rohingya fears of returning without guarantees for their safety.

Meanwhile the drumbeat of calls for accountability is getting louder, with UN investigators calling on the Security Council to refer the Myanmar crisis to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to create an ad hoc tribunal.

Several Security Council members threw support behind the idea while also calling for a mechanism to "collect and preserve proof" of abuses.

Myanmar's ambassador to the UN Hau Do Suan questioned the UN report's findings, reiterating that Myanmar "did not accept the mandate of the mission because we have our concern about the mission's impartiality."

China and Russia, holding veto powers as permanent members of the Security Council, have said they prefer to engage in "dialogue" with Myanmar's leadership to resolve the conflict.

The ICC is soon due to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the crisis because it spilt across the border into Bangladesh.

Myanmar is not a signatory to the court.Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, is one of the biggest cities in Indonesia and known for its wide variety of food. The city also offers unique tourist spots, as seen a list compiled by KompasTravel.

1. Maimun Palace

Built by an Italian architect during the rule of Sultan Deli Makmun Al Rasyid in 1888, the two-story palace is an icon of Medan. Situated on Jl. Brigjen Katamso, the palace spans 2,772 square meters and includes 30 rooms.

The interior design is an appealing blend of Malay, Persian, Indian and Italian cultural elements. Visitors are allowed to take pictures around the palace, as well as taking the time to look at elements of Dutch legacy and Sultan Delis family pictures.

2. Tjong A Fie Mansion

A heritage building once home to the Tjong A Fie, the first millionaire in Sumatra, its architecture is a blend of Chinese, Malay and art deco style.

Located on Jl. Ahmad Yani, the mansion was built in 1895 on an area of 8,000 square meters and houses dozens of rooms. Adhering to feng shui principles, the rooms are on four sides of the building and surround a big open-air courtyard.

Read also: Kualanamu airport train launches cashless payment system

3. Asam Kumbang Crocodile Park

Located in the village of Asam Kumabang around 5 kilometers from Medan, the park is home to more than 2,000 saltwater crocodiles. It is recognized as the biggest reptile park in Indonesia. Visitors are allowed to feed the crocodiles as well as take pictures with them.

4. Merdeka Walk

Merdeka Walk is open daily from 11 a.m. till midnight. Initiated by the Medan administration in 2005, it is the citys culinary center on an area of 6,600 square meters near the Merdeka Field.

Food stands are neatly arranged surrounding the eating area, with around 700 seats available. Enjoy the trademark dishes of Medan, such as durian pancake or nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf), while listening to live music.

5. Battle Museum

At the Battle Museum on Jl. Zainul Arifin, visitors can find historic artefacts of military and civilian life in North Sumatra. They include guns, medical supplies and uniforms worn in the 1958 war of Indonesia against a separatist movement. (wng)Baked by a blazing summer and keen to reduce their use of plastic bottles, Londoners are welcoming a scheme to re-introduce drinking-water fountains across the British capital.

Four have already been installed and one of them, off 1960s fashion hotspot Carnaby Street, has been used more than 10,000 times a month this summer, the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Tuesday.

Now 16 more are planned this year for locations such as Windrush Square, Brixton; Paddington recreation ground; Guy's Hospital in Southwark and the Natural History Museum in Kensington.

Public drinking fountains were common in London as long ago as the Victorian era but have long since made way for plastic bottles, with the average adult Londoner buying more than three a week, according to Khan's office.

"Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones," said Khan in a statement.

Read also: Notting Hill Carnival crowds defy London rain for annual celebration

"Some of these are already attracting thousands of visitors a day and City Hall are working on plans to secure many more across London."

The Mayor's office has worked with the Zoological Society of Londons (ZSL) #OneLess campaign to secure the locations of the fountains. ZSL assessed the site applications on accessibility, visibility and footfall to ensure water refills are available for as many people as possible.

Heather Koldewey, #OneLess campaign Director and Head of Marine and Freshwater Conservation at ZSL, said there was big demand for the fountains.

"We were taken aback by the number of applications we received ... There is definitely huge appetite in London to stop using single-use plastic and establish a new culture of refilling."

A full list of fountain locations can be found on the Mayor of London website.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Sonia Elks (Reuters) London, United Kingdom  Wed, August 29, 2018 11:02 1161 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087704a72c 2 News Britain,teenagers,self-harm,sexuality,LGBT,research Free

Almost half of British teenagers who are LGBT or questioning their sexuality have self-harmed, according to a study released on Wednesday that found they have significantly lower life satisfaction than their peers.

Homophobic bullying and "highly gendered" environments were adding to pressure on young people struggling with their sexuality, according to the report from The Children's Society.

"There's still an awful lot of stigma," Richard Crellin, policy and research manager at the charity, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"There are still too many schools where being called gay is an insult, where there isn't an inclusive atmosphere, and young people might feel like they need to hide their sexuality because they might be bullied by staff or by pupils."

Although Britain is one of a handful of countries where LGBT people have equal constitutional rights, activists say young people often face intense pressure over their sexuality.

Nearly half of LGBT pupils face homophobic bullying in school, according to a report by charity Stonewall last year.

Last week, a nine-year-old boy killed himself after facing intense homophobic bullying at his school in the U.S. state of Colorado, local media reported.

Read also: Gay conversion film at London festival hits home for campaigners

"Four days is all it took at school," his mother Leia Pierce told the local news station KDVR. "My son told my oldest daughter the kids at school told him to kill himself."

The Children's Society report found a wide gulf between the happiness of teenagers who experienced same-sex attractions and those who did not, in an analysis of data collected from about 19,000 14-year-olds in 2015.

More than a quarter of LGBT or questioning teenagers were found to have low life satisfaction, compared just over ten percent among all respondents. Almost 40 percent had high depressive symptoms.

Just over 15 percent of all the children surveyed said they had self-harmed in the previous year, a figure that rose to nearly half among those who reported same-sex attractions.

LGBT charity Stonewall said both parents and schools should take action to ensure children were supported.

"When bullying is not tackled it can have a deeply damaging and long-lasting effect on young people," said a spokesman.

"We would encourage schools who want to help support LGBT students to ensure that there are no tolerance policies on this specific type of bullying."NYC Ferry operated by Hornblower is excited to announce the launch of its Lower East Side Route this Wednesday, August 29th. The sixth NYC Ferry Route will connect Corlears Hook, Manhattan, and Stuyvesant Cove, Manhattan to hubs on 34th St., Long Island City, and Wall St./Pier 11, connecting millions of New Yorkers to new neighborhoods, growing job centers, housing and more.

The Lower East Side Route will run from Long Island City (Gantry Plaza State Park), to Corlears Hook, to Stuyvesant Cove, to E. 34th St, ending its run at Wall St./Pier 11 in under 40 minutes.

Heres Everything you need to know to #commuteincomfort with NYC Ferry

Riders will be able to travel from Manhattan to Queens in under 40 minutes.

View their downloadable schedule here: https://www.ferry.nyc/routes-and-schedules/route/lower-east-side/ for departure and arrival times.

To travel with NYC Ferry, there are various tickets options available for purchase. Bikes are welcome on board for a $1 fee.

You can purchase tickets from the NYC Ferry app which is available to download on your iPhone and Android phone. It is the fastest way to travel with a tap and go option. Tickets are also available for purchase on all NYC Ferry Landings. Inactivated tickets are valid up to 1-year from date of purchase.

Commute in comfort for the same price as a subway ride:

Adult One-Way Pass ($2.75)

Bicycle ticket options ($1.00)

Adult One-Way & Bike ($3.75)

Adult Pass ($121.00)

30-Day Adult Pass with Bike ($141.00)

Children under the height of 44 inches can ride for free when accompanied by an adult. Stroller parking is available onboard.

NYC Ferry also offers free transfers between routes. From E 34th St. commuters can transfer, for free, to our Astoria, East River, and Lower East Side Routes. From Wall St./Pier 11 commuters can transfer for free to our Astoria, South Brooklyn, East River, Rockaway and Soundview Routes. From Long Island City commuters can transfer for free to our Astoria Route.

NYC Ferry is excited to welcome you on board to Work. Live. Play. and explore new connections to waterfront communities via the East River. Download the NYC Ferry App today and plan your future commutes!

Follow NYC Ferry social channels @nycferry @nyc_ferry and blog for events, updates and all things NYC Ferry.

*This is a paid advertisement.I love antiques of all kinds and have been collecting for many years, so whenever my schedule allows, I always try to attend a show.

Not long ago while still vacationing in Maine, Kevin Sharkey and I took a day trip to New Hampshire to visit a couple gardens and to attend the 61st annual New Hampshire Antiques Show. The three-day event is hosted by the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association. This year, 67-exhibitors gathered at the Manchester Downtown Hotel to showcase some of their finest early American pieces - folk art, porcelain, country and formal furniture, paintings and prints, glassware, metalware, pottery and much more. It was a fun morning, followed by a fun lunch and a visit to the country's longest wooden covered bridge.

Enjoy these photos.Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here

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Home PageOn March 29, 2006, at about 5:00 Pm I told the world press at the Roberts International Airport, speaking on behalf of the Liberian Government, as Solicitor General, that the arrest of Charles Taylor was the beginning of the end of impunity in Liberia. Following the trial and conviction of Mr. Taylor, we have begun to see the world arresting and putting on trial, some notorious perpetrators of world crimes during the fourteen-year civil conflict in Liberia.



In the United States of America and Europe, the arrest and trial of some of the notorious perpetrators of war crimes in Liberia have clearly shown that the world has clear and cogent evidence on those who committed atrocities in Liberia. The quality of evidence produced during the trial of Jungle Jarbah and Tom Woewiyu should be a clear signal to those who committed war crimes and have not been brought to justice that justice is on the way and it will make no mistake when it arrives in Liberia. The best that the suspects of war crimes can do for themselves is to begin to seek the services of the best lawyers that they can retain to represent them during their expected trials for war crimes.



Many persons, including perpetrators of war crimes in Liberia and their associates and sympathizes have maintained the argument that Liberians should let bygones be bygones and forget the past for the sake of peace and that Liberians should focus more on development instead of talking about war crimes. Those who are maintaining this view are not guarded by history. I disagree with this position. I am on the side of the victims and their families. In order to have sustainable peace and development, there must be justice for the victims of war crimes in Liberia. To hold the view that we must ignore the pain and agony with which many individuals are living within Liberia today and to only talk about developing our country would be like building a house upon the sand. Those who committed war crimes in Liberia have no right to tell the victims of the war to forget the past and move on, especially so when they have not made any attempt to meet the families of those who were killed or injured to express sorrow for their actions. Some even justify their actions during the conflict, thereby bringing more bad feelings to the families of those killed by them. Lasting peace and sustainable development in Liberia are only possible when those who committed atrocities in Liberia are made to account for their criminal conducts.



In our advocacy for war crimes court in Liberia, it is important to be clear about those whom we refer to as war criminals. We are not referring to men and women in arms who killed other men and women in arms on the opposite side. If an armed combatant kills even ten thousand men and women in arms, he has committed no war crime. But if that same person kills or even inflict wound on one civilian during a war, he has committed a war crime.



There are many Liberians who fought in the Liberian civil conflict without committing war crimes. Some combatants even went out of their ways to help Liberians with food and to protect them from other combatants. Just because a person fought for any of the warring faction in Liberia does not make a person a war criminal.



A war criminal is a person who violates the law of war. Therefore, those whom we refer to as war criminals in Liberia are those who killed civilians and committed other gruesome acts during the fourteen years of civil conflict in Liberia. These people are well-known to the Liberian people and others, including employees of non-governmental organizations and journalists who covered the war. They cannot be forgotten and they cannot hide. The testimonies that were given by Liberians against Jungle Jarbah and Tom Woweiyu in the United States of America, recently, show that the events of the war are still fresh in the minds of the victims, families of victims and those who witnessed the perpetrators of war crimes in Liberia.



Those who fought in the Liberian civil conflict and did not commit war crimes, who suffer prejudice today in their communities only because they participated in the civil conflict, should join the call for the establishment of war crimes tribunal in Liberia, because the setting up of the tribunal will help them to clear all doubts about their roles during the civil conflict. If nobody brings a case against them or if someone makes a false claim against them and they are exonerated, their good names will be restored in their communities. Without an accountability mechanism such as the war crimes tribunal good people who fought in the Liberian civil conflict will continue to suffer from collective guilt.



Some people in Liberia harbor the fear that if those who committed war crimes in Liberia are brought to justice, then those people will bring war. This is not true. This is a propaganda by war criminals and their associates and sympathizers to create far in the Liberian people. We should not listen to them. They made the Liberian people live in fear during the war when they were in charge.



Today, we live in peace guided by the rule of law; therefore, only criminals should live in fear and not law-abiding citizens. Liberians must rely on the rule of law in order to shift the burden of fear to the war criminals. This will only happen when more Liberians call for bringing to justice those who committed war crimes during the Liberian civil conflict. The Late Arch-Bishop Micheal Kpakala Francis repeatedly told us, There cannot be genuine peace without justice All Liberians, including those who fought in the Liberian conflict, must call for war crimes.



We especially call upon our president, whom by all known accounts did not participate in the Liberian civil conflict to take the lead in the efforts to establish a war crimes tribunal in Liberia in order to bring to justice those who committed crimes against humanity during the Liberian civil conflict. We call upon the law-makers to take every step in the interest of the people whom they represent, to establish a war crimes tribunal in Liberia.



Until, we Liberians muster the courage to examine the immediate past history of this country and hold accountable those who committed atrocities in the Liberian civil conflict, Liberia will not enjoy genuine peace, reconciliation, unity and sustained national development and prosperity. Lets act today to create a better Liberia tomorrow for our childrens children.



I will end my presentation with two important quotations. The first is from a German Protestant Pastor and social activist, Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemoller who wrote the following based on his experience from the during the World War II:

When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.



When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.



When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.



When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I wasn't a Jew.



When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out.

The second quotation is from Albert Einstein. Einstein said, The world will not be

destroyed by those who do evil, by those who watch them without doing

anything. It is time to do something about the evil that was done during the

Liberian civil conflict. Let us all support the call for a war crimes tribunal for Liberia.

I thank you.

Multinational corporations and institutions have and continue to deceptively coerce poor countries to prohibit governments role in managing profit-making assets, but at the same time allow certain governments of Japan, Germany, Botswana, etc. to own and, or manage profit-making-lucrative assets. For instance, Germany owns about 34% shares in Mercedes Benz car company and, or Japan owns shares in countless profit-making companies.



In the case of Japan, the government does not just buy shares to make profits, but also it buys stocks in order to influence the market, according to Wolf Richer. For instance, in 2014, at the request of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), bought $350 billion worth of stocks in 2014 and later purchased $59 billion worth of stocks at a time the stock market was tanking, Mr. Richer stated. I have not heard about or read any letter of protest or disapproval by capitalists of Japans attempt to influence the stock market. Neither has the World Bank along with its allies condemned the purchase of stocks by government bureaucrats or the economic arrangement of Germany for government to own shares of companies.



It is not clear whether the World Bank has one standard for poor countries and a different standard for certain countries such as Japan, etc. However, certain things are clear. Governments purchase of shares will increase governments influence in the stock market; it is also clear that the government, like any other investor, will receive revenue from corporations. And, of course with additional revenue, a country will have no need to borrow money and will use its cash to manage its currency exchange rate. As in the case of Germany, bureaucrats used the additional revenue form companies to finance social programs such as the tuition-free-university programs.



Do multinational institutions not refer to Japan as an example of a capitalistic country, whose economic fundamentals of achievements should be embraced? If yes, why are multinational institutions allowing certain countries to earn revenue form profit-making activities; but prohibiting other countries such as Liberia from generating revenue from gold, diamonds, etc.? More so, the World Bank is not just coercing Liberia into privatizing utility entities, but it has encouraged Liberia to give its messy educational system to profiteers. But results of Public Exams indicate that private-run-schools are also messy.

It is not only Liberian private-run-schools that are messy, private corporations were bailed out in 2008. Yet, the World Bank insists that only profiteers should invest in profit-making activities such as food production. In fact, in Ghana, the Bank told the government that, they (the World Bank and the IMF) would not give Ghana any more loans unless the government cut the farming subsidies completely. (http://www.africaw.com/how-the-world-bank-and-the-imf-destroy-africa). The main reason behind this was that profiteers had to import rice from western countries like the United States (whos a major partner of the World Bank and the IMF). Ghana is said to lose over US $500 million every year through the importation of foreign rice.



Why would the World Bank stop Ghanaians from producing rice and encourage food importation when the IMF (its ally) stated in its Report 18/172 that increase in importation is not good? This is because investment in importation contributes to the depreciation of a countrys currency exchange rate, thereby, forcing the country to borrow money from outside the country, the Report stated? IMF also stated that export usually generates revenue for the country, but importation requires using up a countrys rainy-day-cash.



Deceiving the weak and poor in order for a few privileged people to get rich and, or maintain power is not new. For instance, in 64 AD, Emperor Nero, looking for a way to deflect accusations by his subjects that he was responsible for the fire that burned Rome for six days and seven nights, placated and laid the blame for the fire on the Christians. He then ordered the arrest of a few members of the sect who, under torture, accused others until the entire Christian populace was implicated and became fair game for retribution. (www.history.com/this-day-in-history/neros-rome-burns).

Prior to black slavery, European merchants had realized that they could increase profit if they enslave some of their kinsmen. So, they propagated the myth that those whites who were vulnerable, poor, unemployed, etc. were inferior and should be controlled. Later, the masters forcibly shipped a large number of white slaves from Europe into North America. Unable to continue enslaving their kinsmen, they discovered black slaves. Intimidation, fear, and or death was not sufficient to continue enslaving the blacks. So, in order to keep making money, they lied and stated that enslaving blacks was necessary because blacks needed to be saved from harming themselves.

Profiteers might have abandoned the cruel method of making profits, but their desire to exploit the poor has not changed, according to Ms. Saskia Sassen in her book called Expulsion-Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy. She stated that capitalists nowadays do hire scientists, mathematicians, engineers, lawyers, and accountants to hide their deception in order to make a profit. Continuing, she stated that it was the $62 trillion-dollar Credit Default Swap (i.e., a complex financial arrangement that is understood by a few handful people) that destroyed wealth in 2008, and not the $10 trillion-dollar subprime mortgage foreclosures that began in August of 2007. Guess what, even after people realized that poor-home-owners were not the culprits, rather chief executives were responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown, U.S. President Barack Obama awarded them (chief executives) $13B as bonuses, she added.

Liberians should not expect profiteers to willingly trickledown any share of the profits from gold, etc., because mankind, by nature, is greedy. Japanese, Germans, Botswanans, etc. are not getting revenue from companies because profiteers are generous or benevolent. If you have any doubt, let us review the past twelve years. Guided by international experts from 2006, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf limited the role of government in the economy as her predecessors have done since 1847. More so, she added another lie that is excessive payment to a few economic advisers would reduce the demand for bribes. Well, in fact, it was the President herself, who openly began the bribery scheme when she bribed Liberian Lawmakers with vehicles on behalf of Mittal Steel. And, instead of reducing bribes offering, exploitation is on the rise in Liberia.

If Ms. Sassan and others are right in stating that profiteers will never abandon the exploitation of the poor, then Liberia must institute an economic system that will guarantee its share of the income generated from gold, etc. Additionally, the Pro-Poor government should invest, at least, in food production since profiteers prefer to invest in import/export, gold, diamonds, etc. As the old saying goes, freedom is acquired through hard work, and not by appeasing the rich and the powerful.

In terms of human development potential, Morocco is a nation of immense promise. It is where gifted fortunes of nature (including agricultural) come together with dynamic social development Frameworks that could launch the country into a bottom-up haven in Africa and the Near East of community-managed projects and change.



Sadly, however, for the majority of people, the application of the countrys combined initiatives for development is not seeming consequential. The problem is that Moroccos programs for national growth and development through peoples participation are not being orchestrated together. Integrating these programs would enable their mutual reinforcement to promote accelerated growth and success of development initiatives.



Commenting on the calls in Morocco, publicly by King Mohammed VI, that the nation must now reconsider its development model: I submit that it is specifically the model to implement the nations development model that requires the major reevaluation and overhaul.



These Moroccan Frameworks--among others, including those that intend to advance womens and youth empowerment--set out to structurally guide local and national growth:

1) The Municipal Charter, amended in 2010, requires the creation of multi-year community development plans that are formed by peoples participation;

2) The National Initiative for Human Development was launched in 2005 to provide access to sub-nationally managed funding for multidimensional development projects; and

3) The Decentralization Roadmap, first unveiled in 2008, innovatively synthesizes three pathways--delegation, deconcentration, and devolution--to empower regions in development;



How can the three Frameworks better fulfill their individual purposes, and how can they relate with each other to create a human development that is sustained by the local beneficiaries?



The first Framework, the Municipal Charter, requires locally elected representatives to assist participatory community planning in the determination of projects. This could and should be a major pathway for sustainable development to take hold, due to the fact that peoples participation (along with finance) is the key factor of sustainability.



Further, people-driven projects, instituted in the Municipal Charter, are necessary for sustainable development and actualization of the other Frameworks that compose the Moroccan model. However, in Morocco there is a constant challenge: elected members to municipal councils are typically not trained in facilitating participatory methods.



Catalyzing widespread, inclusive development projects, means first implementing experiential training programs for university students, school teachers, technicians, civil society members, elected officials, and local people, for example, to be active agents of participatory development. Through training-by-doing, the aforementioned municipal development plans can then reflect the actual will of the people in regards to the projects and future they most want.



The second Framework, Moroccos National Initiative for Human Development, is a national fund for infrastructure projects, capacity-building, social and cultural revitalization, and job-generating activities on sub-national levels. This fund should include a multi-billion-dollar budget over five years for participatory planning training and community-identified projects.



The NIHD should primarily help actualize the development projects designed according to the Municipal Charter. Indeed, the NIHD and the Municipal Charter can only be successful if they work in tandem. NIHD should help fund the participatory development plans embodied in the Charter, and finance projects that local people expressed they most need and want to implement.



Third, the Roadmap of Moroccan decentralization--taken from the public statements of the King of Morocco since 2008--aims to utilize ongoing national level engagement (devolution) along with sub-national partnerships (deconcentration), to help implement community projects (delegation). In other words, the Moroccan pathway aims to rally national resources and partnerships for local development, which in principle is good for the sake of sustainability.



Without the Municipal Charter and the NIHD working together, however, adequate decentralized arrangements of public administrations will not be enduring. Overall in Morocco, decentralization is not significantly taking hold, which further adds to the suppression of new local development. The national level still generally decides the parameters, terms, cases, and situations for sub-regional actions.



As far as destabilizing political outcomes that may be a concern and caused by decentralization, as described in international cases, the following seems clear in regards to the Moroccan case, certainly based on my experience: the entire emphasis of people during community-based discussions centers on livelihoods and meeting immediate human needs. I have observed no basis for concerns that stem beyond these developmental factors.



Understandably, executing decentralization, particularly in regards to its pace, is a delicate process. The local level is stratified socio-economically, environmentally, and in regards to gender just as it is on the societal level and globally. Advancing decentralization quickly can be fraught with unhelpful consequences, such as entrenching further the locally affluent and political classes. However, genuine implementation of the Municipal Charter in close conjunction with the NIHD could create the needed participatory democratic conditions which would enable Morocco to eventually opt for an emerging form of communalization--or decentralized management to the municipal level.



The Moroccan Frameworks for development bear essentially what are needed in order for sustainable development for marginalized areas and groups to be catalyzed with enduring results. The Municipal Charter could provide the plans for projects that the NIHD may then help accomplish. Decentralized arrangements are subsequently built in that wake of community project implementation that involves multi-sectoral partnership.



Moroccan agriculture, with its enormous income-generating and environmental-enhancing potential, can and should be the engine for the self-reliant financing of the peoples projects. Agriculture projects may also become identified and determined through the process of implementing the mandates of the Municipal Charter.



It is not the insufficiency of these Frameworks that accounts for the hardships that afflict Moroccan people, especially in rural areas. It is their inadequate implementation stemming from a considerable lack of their popular understanding and the skills that are needed in order to translate them into reality. I have found that all that is needed is to give men and women of all ages the chance to come together for community workshops that if followed through can ultimately deliver the projects that they and their families have hoped for far too long.



Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir (yossef@highatlasfoundation.org) is a sociologist and president of the High Atlas Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable development in Morocco.



A project planning meeting in Marrakech, with visiting community representatives from the nearby Al Haouz province (Photo by the High Atlas Foundation, 2018).



President George Manneh Weah

The idea that Liberia can become a one-party state seems like a distant reality, but the probability of such is becoming all too real under the Coalition of Democratic Changes administration. Recent statements by Mulbah Morlu, Chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change in Brooklyn Park, MN USA and Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor in Bong County are clear and irrefutable evidence that the grand vision of the Coalition of Democratic Change or CDC is to transform Liberia into a one-party state.To understand the looming danger that a one-party state it is noteworthy to highlight some of the underpinning defects of such a state. A one-party state is one in which only one political party has the right to form a government. This concept is based on political orthodoxy and the danger that comes with it runs contrary to the democratic founding principles that undergird our republic. These founding principles encourage pluralism; a sort of diversity-centered system in which race, class, viewpoints and political groups coexist in the governance of the Republic. Furthermore, these founding principles were designed to breed a multi-party-political system that allows parties across the political spectrum to compete in elections in order to control national government.A one-party state is undemocratic; it does not allow the electorates alternatives from which to make informed political choices. Decision making is often exoteric and vested in a small unit of the governing party and anyone outside the sphere of the ruling clique is considered politically irrelevant. Moreover, the state becomes dictatorial and supreme power is vested in the hands of one man. In such society, freedom is suppressed, and modernity is rarely achieved because those outside of the governing cliques do not freely contribute their quotas to the development of the state, and the overarching effect of that is that certain segment of society becomes disenfranchised, discontent and rebellious. So, when Mr. Mulba Morlu opined to CDCs loyalist that the ultimate goal of the CDC is to make Liberia a one-party state, we are left to wonder if it a bluster or a designed vision of CDC? But even if we are to assume that Mr. Morlus statement is wacky, contemptible and far-fetched, recent statement by Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor in Bong County, admonishing her constituents that if you want job in this government you have to join CDC confirms Mr. Morlus statement of creating a one-party state in Liberia; a vision which in my mind is in breach of the dual approach to governance that our forbearers envisioned.What makes Chairman Morlus and Vice President Taylors statement worrisome is that the CDC-led government is actually behaving in ways that conform to the sentiments expressed by Mr. Morlu and Ms. Taylor. Under the CDC-led government journalist had been threatened and publicly scolded for being critical of government policies. In some cases, critical views of the government have been met with a cantankerous rebuttal and smearing label like Enemies of the Country. Not too long ago, Journalist Jonathan Paye-layleh was publicly scolded by pres. George Weah for daring to ask an opened question. Despite public outrage over the Presidents undignified outburst towards Mr. Paye-layleh, the President double-down in Bong County by referring to critics of the Eton loan agreement as enemies of the country. In addition to its desire for conformity, this administration is also buying loyalty and promising jobs as incentives to the opposition who will cross-carpet and the results have been cross-carpeting of gravy-seekers to CDC.Moreover, the administrations aggressive posture in handling oppositions has emboldened some elements within the governing CDC to clamp down harshly on those who have openly questioned the President authority; such was the case when state security brutally assaulted members of the Student Unification Party (SUP) for daring to demand that the President declares his asset. Currently, there is also a pending impeachment proceeding against Justice Kabina Janeh who stands accused by Rep. Acarous Gray and Rep. Thomas Fallah of engaging in malfeasance, despite the lack of independent investigations to establish his guilt. It is widely known however that Justice Janehs opinion in the election saga, which was presumed to be unfavorable to CDC is the cardinal sin of the astute Justice and the reasoning behind his impeachment rancor amongst CDCians in the House of Representative.As I see it, there is no other explanation for this governments continuous intimidations of critics, but to force those it considers oppositions to be loyal followers; thereby creating a monolithic political society in which CDCs grand vision of a one-party state will prevail. But Liberians have come a long way in pursuit of multiparty democracy and the notion that Liberia will be a one-party state is a dangerous foreplay in our political dialectics and a choice we are unwilling to stomach.About the author: Nyaquoi Gehgan Bowman is a Liberian writer who is a passionate observer of Liberian government and politics. He is an avid observer of the Liberian presidency. He can be reached at Vera4nya@yahoo.comSuccess! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.This is a proud day for the borough as many employees from administration, our Urban Planning and Public Works have been working diligently to make sure that this project came to fruition and the city of Montreal confirmed that ours will be the next pool project constructed, Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Dimitrios Jim Beis said at a press conference last week about the borough getting a new indoor pool for 2021. He is flanked by councillors Catherine Clement-Talbot and Benoit Langevin.

remaining of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.Japanese carmaker Toyota is ploughing $500million (387m) into Uber to help the taxi firm get ahead in the race to develop self-driving cars.

The tie-up will supposedly result in the mass-production of autonomous vehicles to be used on Ubers ride sharing network, with driverless taxis being tested by 2021.

Uber's self-driving technology will be integrated into purpose-built Toyota vehicles based on its Sienna Minivan model.

Cash injection: Japanese carmaker Toyota has announced it will invest $500m (387m) in Uber to jointly develop self-driving cars in a bid to catch up with its rivals

The cars will also be equipped with Toyotas so-called 'Guardian' technology - advanced safety features, such as lane-keeping.

The tie-up values Uber at some $72bn (56bn), up 15 per cent since its last investment in May.

Uber has scaled back its autonomous vehicle trials after a fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona in March when a self-driving Uber SUV killed a pedestrian.

The firm removed its driverless cars from the road and shut down its Arizona operations.

This is despite Uber spending approximately 800,000 to 1.5million on self-driving vehicles every day.

Ubers self-driving unit has weighed on its bottom line, contributing to losses of 690million in its second quarter.

However, its hoped the move will allow both companies to square up to their rivals, such as Waymo, who are also producing autonomous cars.

Shigeki Tomoyama, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation, said: This agreement and investment marks an important milestone in our transformation to a mobility company as we help provide a path for safe and secure expansion of mobility services like ride-sharing.

Jeff Miller, Ubers head of business development for strategic initiatives, added that the partnership really paints the picture of how we envision deploying autonomous technology in the long term.

Bumper deal: The tie-up values Uber at some $72bn (56bn), matching the valuation in a deal with Waymo this year, up 15% since its last investment in May

That includes licensing its autonomous technology to carmakers and enlisting a third party, yet to be determined, to own and maintain the fleet.

Shares in Toyota spiked at reports of the deal.

Toyota has been less aggressive than some of its competitors in moving towards fully-fledged autonomous driving, focusing on partially driverless systems.

But it has invested in research and plans to begin testing self-driving electric cars by around 2020.

Partner progress: The deal furthers Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's strategy of developing autonomous driving technology through partnerships

A Toyota official said the company would continue its research into self-driving technology, and that it would not combine its research efforts with Uber.

The deal extends an existing relationship with Toyota, and furthers Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's strategy of developing autonomous driving technology through partnerships.

Two years ago, Toyota invested an undisclosed sum in Uber and the two companies partnered on a car-leasing programme for Uber drivers and an electric mobility project.

Cutting edge: Uber also has a deal to buy cars from Volvo and fit and maintain them with its technology

Uber said yesterday it planned to focus more on its electric scooter and bike business, and less on cars despite increased revenue from its taxi business.

Analysts believe personal car ownership will drop dramatically because of self-driving and ride-sharing, with major firms buying huge fleets of vehicles to meet demand.Facebook's PR boss Rachel Whetstone is leaving for Netflix

NETWORK JOB Facebooks top public relations executive is to leave the company for a role at video streaming giant Netflix.

Rachel Whetstones exit comes after the social network battled a series of high-profile data and privacy scandals.

DEFENCE CONTRACT Satellite company Avanti Communications announced it had signed a seven-year deal to supply the US government and Department of Defence.

SAVINGS WOE Investors who had trusted crisis-hit Swiss savings firm GAM with their money will get 87p in the pound back from funds it is shutting down.

GAM suspended top manager Tim Haywood last month after concerns over record keeping and has since been forced to shut down some of its funds.

BUFFETT BOOST Warren Buffett is plotting to plough 233million into the owner of Paytm, Indias largest mobile payments firm, through his company Berkshire Hathaway.

FRAUD BOSS The new head of Britains fraud squad has started work today. Lisa Osofsky, 56, a former lawyer for the FBI, started work today as head of the Serious Fraud Office.

REBELS YELL Major shareholder rebellions have hit 120 public companies so far this year, according to the Investment Association  up 25 per cent on 2017.

NEW CHAIR Recruitment consultancy Hays has appointed former senior independent director Andrew Martin as permanent chairman to replace predecessor Alan Thomson, who died last month.

FUNDING SUPPORT Financial giant Legal & General has backed a 15.5million funding round for Salary Finance, a firm which works with employers to give employees loans, savings and financial education.

EXPANSION CASH UK start-up Apperio, which allows companies to track in real-time how much they are spending on pricey legal advice, has raised 7.5million to expand.

ITALIAN JOB Italys finance minister, Giovanni Tria, denied suggestions it could breach EU budget rules after deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio indicated plans for tax cuts and income support schemes would likely see the countrys deficit exceed 3 per cent of GDP.The big four accountants will face fresh demands to clean up their act after posting bumper profits and paying partners thousands of pounds a day.

KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte have been slammed for missing frauds and funding crises at firms whose books they audit.

The four are facing a public inquiry after they were all accused of missing the failure of outsourcer Carillion in January, with mounting calls to break them up.

KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte are facing a public inquiry after they were all accused of missing the failure of outsourcer Carillion in January, with mounting calls to break them up

Labour MP Peter Kyle, a member of the Business Select Committee, said: In recent years, the big four have squeezed out competition and started acting more and more like a cartel.

The time is ripe for a root and branch rethink of how our big companies are audited.

Deloitte revealed its 702 equity partners made an average 832,000 of profits each in the year to May 31, the highest pay-out for nine years.

It faces action for failing to spot major problems in the accounts of IT firm Autonomy ahead of a tainted acquisition by rival Hewlett Packard.

Meanwhile EY earned record revenues of 2.4billion in the year to June 2017, their most recent accounts, and raised partner pay by 15,000 to 677,000 each.

PWC  slammed for missing a 263million mistake in Tescos profits in 2014  had recordsales of 3.6billion for the year to June 2017, and paid its partners 652,000.

KPMG  accused of missing scandals at the Co-op Bank and HBOS  paid partners 519,000 each in the year to September 2017.Shares in Countrywide hit all-time lows as investors threw the crisis-hit estate agent a 140million lifeline.

In another brutal day of trading for the firm, its stock fell 10.7 per cent, or 1.5p, to 13.3p, bringing its total losses this year to more than 80 per cent.

The slump in the share price was yet another setback for executive chairman Peter Long who has come under fire for his running of Countrywide as well as Royal Mail where he is also chairman.

The slump in Countrywide's share price was another setback for executive chairman Peter Long who has come under fire for his running of Countrywide as well as Royal Mail

The 66-year-old serial part-timer was rocked by one of the biggest shareholder revolts in British corporate history at Royal Mail last month when more than 70 per cent of investors voted against fat-cat pay at the company.

Just weeks later he faced a furious backlash from investors at Countrywide over a pay deal that would have handed three executives  including himself  20million.

Those plans were hastily scrapped ahead of a crucial meeting yesterday where shareholders backed the 140million rescue plan.

Under the deal, Countrywide sold 1.4bn new shares in a bid to more than halve its crippling debts of 200million.

Long, who also works for travel group Tui, has said the cash injection from investors is vital to the estate agents turnaround plans after a string of profit warnings.

However, analysts were still gloomy about the problems facing the company, including a slowdown in the housing market and competition from online rivals such as Purplebricks.

Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: Countrywide is back from the brink, though it is still fighting an uphill battle on a rather slippery slope.

The injection of cash will keep the wheels turning for now, but that money is being used to pay down debt rather than to fund growth.Ryanair shares were on the ascent yesterday as US activist investor Harris Associates revealed it had bought a 3.1 per cent stake in the budget airline.

Harris, a Chicago-based firm which has previously battled for change at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi and mining giant Glencore, is now in the top five Ryanair shareholders and owns 457million worth of stock.

Since Harris calls itself a value investor, and latches onto companies which it believes are trading at a substantial discount to intrinsic value, its interest in Ryanair could be seen as an endorsement for the stuttering airline.

Shares climbed 2.6 per cent, or 0.36c, to 14.25 following the announcement  a welcome break for the airline which has recently struggled with striking pilots, customers compensation cheques bouncing and outcry over its more expensive cabin baggage policy.

Harris, a Chicago-based firm which has previously battled for change at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi and mining giant Glencore, is now in the top five Ryanair shareholders

Ryanair has suffered its worst-ever strikes this summer, as pilots across Europe have rebelled over working conditions, causing hundreds of flight cancellations and delays.

It has been working with unions to try to quell the unrest, making steps towards an agreement with the Irish pilots union last week and signing a collective labour agreement with the Italian equivalent yesterday.

Harris did not respond to a request regarding what shape its involvement with Ryanair would take.

Stock Watch - Petroneft Resources Shares in Russian oil and gas explorer Petroneft soared as it hit the jackpot. It said flow rates from its C-4 well in the licence 67 area of the Cheremshanskoye field were very encouraging, making shares surge 12.5 per cent, or 0.18p, to 1.58p. Licence 67 is in the Tomsk region of Siberia. Petroneft owns half of the asset, while Arawak Energy  part of energy company Vitol  owns the other half. This was the first well drilled by Petroneft with the help of 3D seismic data.

The US firm has been quiet during its involvement with Lloyds Banking Group, where it is the largest shareholder, but in its most high-profile case in 1994 its chief investment officer David Herro was credited with orchestrating a shareholder rebellion which ousted Maurice and Charles Saatchi from the advertising agency they had founded.

The FTSE 100 was revived after the bank holiday, climbing 0.52 per cent, or 39.73 points, to 7617.22.

Miners got a boost as investors risk appetite rose, after the US and Mexico signed a trade agreement.

Russian steelmaker Evraz was the blue chip indexs largest riser climbing 5.4 per cent, or 26.4p, to 518p.

Gulf-focused private healthcare company NMC Health also jumped as it denied speculation it was heading into India.

The firm, which operates private hospitals and fertility clinics in countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, said it was focused on the Gulf region - with the exception of its fertility business, which it previously announced was branching out into Europe and Africa.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: Big strategic moves can generate headlines and market excitement but often it is best for a companys management to stick to the knitting, focusing on what they are good at rather than operating outside of their realm of expertise. Shares rose 3.6 per cent, or 136p, to 3948p.

On Londons junior market, Angle, a medical firm which is investigating new techniques to identify cancer tumours using blood tests, was given the thumbs up from investors.

A study showed its Parsortix system can detect glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, from a blood test. Previously, experts had thought that the cancer cells could not pass through the blood-brain barrier.

Angles founder and chief executive Andrew Newland said the company would report further developments in due course. Shares were up 5.4 per cent, or 2.5p, to 49p.Corrugated cardboard giant Smurfit Kappa is in hot water with the government of Venezuela.

President Nicolas Maduro's henchmen have seized the FTSE 100 firm's paper-making business there for at least 90 days.

They say Smurfit engaged in price speculation, smuggling and refusing to sell to local businesses. Two employees have also been detained. Smurfit, which has served customers in Venezuela for almost 80 years and employs almost 1,600 people, said it had 'operated to the highest business and ethical standards'.

The company said it was impossible for its Venezuelan business to 'manage its affairs in a way that complies with our normal business standards'.

It therefore washed its hands of responsibility for 'the use of its installations, machinery and equipment, its employees' safety, that of its surrounding communities, any environmental impact, or the quality of the paper and packaging manufactured in the operations'. Smurfit's shares slid 1.7 per cent, or 56p, to 3236p.

There were also signs of trouble elsewhere in the FTSE 100. A debt downgrade meant asset management giant Standard Life Aberdeen had 3.1 per cent, or 10.3p, shaved off its share price, as it ended the day at 319.3p.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's, which evaluates companies' ability to pay back their debt, downgraded it from A to A-minus, saying the planned sale of its insurance business would reduce its diversification and scale.

British Gas owner Centrica managed to end the day marginally up, by 0.6 per cent, or 0.9p, at 142.85p, even after being walloped by the energy regulator Ofgem, which said British Gas had paid out 2.65m after overcharging more than 94,000 switching customers and wrongly imposing exit fees.

Software company Micro Focus made the blue-chip index's biggest gains, as it announced it would buy back 153.8m worth of investors' shares. The move, which effectively makes remaining shares more valuable, lifted shares 2.9 per cent, or 37.5p, to 1319.5p.

But this was not enough to keep the FTSE 100 in the black, as it ended the day down by 0.7 per cent, or 54.01 points, at 7563.21.

The Johnston Press rollercoaster ride continued as the newspaper owner released its half-year results. Shares in the company, which owns titles such as The i and The Scotsman, sank 17.7 per cent, or 0.9p, to 4.2p as revenues continued to limp.

Total revenue slid 10 per cent to 93m, though strong performance from The i stemmed a steeper decline. Overall operating profit even managed to rise 50.1 per cent to 7.4m. Chief executive David King said Johnston was continuing to 'explore its options for the refinancing or restructuring of the group's debt but, as yet, no decisions have been made nor agreements reached'.

Amid the smaller London-listed companies, it was a poor day for restaurant groups Barkby and Richoux. Barkby, which owns gastropubs around Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, dropped by 16.1 per cent, or 0.63p, to 3.25p.

This came despite the group announcing that it had seen 'strong trading' and better occupancy in its hotels after improving its use of social media and booking platforms.

Meanwhile Richoux, which operates 18 restaurants under the Richoux, Villagio, Friendly Phil's, Zintino and Broadwick brands, sank 14.3 per cent, or 1p, to 6p.

It said it had been blighted by the sector-wide 'pressure on trading'. It said it would issue new shares at 6p each to raise 1.1m, and was in 'advanced negotiations' to sell a central London lease for around 1.35m.A further 27 pensioners have joined an undercover army of OAPs fighting postal scammers since Money Mail highlighted the scheme last month.

In July, Money Mail revealed how Trading Standards officials work with the police to recruit pensioners who have been victims of postal fraud.

Trading Standards give the victims specialist training from fraud experts. They then pose as unsuspecting victims and pass letters on to the authorities to track down the crooks.

Enforcer: Sigrid Hambley became a Mail Marshal after falling victim to a scam. She received a letter from a fake law firm telling her that a distant relation had left her 2 million in their will

Around 250 people  with an average age of over 75  have been recruited.

But Trading Standards needs more because once scammers think something is wrong, they try elsewhere.

A spokesman for the National Trading Standards Scams Team says: I would encourage anyone who may have been a victim of a scam in the past to consider becoming a Mail Marshal.

* If you want to help fight fraudsters call National Trading Standards on 01323 463484.

Or write to Mail Marshals, National Trading Scams Team, 5th Floor St Marys House, 52 St Leonards Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 3UU.

s.partington@dailymail.co.ukElon Musks aborted plan to take Tesla private has damaged the electric car firms credibility and distracted it during a critical time, Wall Street analysts have warned.

They said the billionaires surprise announcement of a possible buyout on Twitter  and his subsequent U-turn less than three weeks later  showed the plans had not been properly thought through.

And it is feared the fiasco at a time when the company is struggling to become profitable could hinder Tesla in its battle to raise fresh funds.

Tesla boss Elon Musk's announcement of a possible buyout on Twitter  and his subsequent U-turn less than three weeks later  showed the plans had not been properly thought through

The company has an 8billion debt mountain and is burning through hundreds of millions of dollars each month.

Musk has insisted he will not need to seek more cash from investors.

However the companys troubles could also be worsened by rival electric vehicles being launched by European rivals.

Mercedes, Porsche, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover are all launching cars which could challenge Teslas dominance of the market.

Musk has been working 120-hour weeks as part of efforts to ramp up production of the companys flagship Model 3 sedan, with the exhausted chief executive saying he was worried about the impact on his health.

Blaming the confusion around the buyout proposals, Canaccord Genuity slashed it price target for Tesla and said it had lost confidence the company would hit its production targets for the next quarter.

Analyst Jed Dorsheimer said: What was at best a premature announcement has generated three weeks of distraction from one of Teslas most important quarters to date. We feel less confident in the companys ability to meet its production guidance.

Referring to Musks blog post last Friday, which said he was abandoning plans to take Tesla private, RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak added: We think credibility has taken a hit. It has become clear that funding was not secured or there was not sufficient interest to take the company private.

And Citi Research analyst Itay Michaeli said the debacle would refocus attention of Teslas finances.

Musk first tweeted his plan to take Tesla private on August 7. It caused the companys shares to temporarily shoot up, prompting speculation about the deal - and an investigation by regulators over Musks claim he had funding secured.

The 47-year-old later revealed Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund was a possible backer but admitted its support was not formal yet.

Dorsheimer said: Tesla will need to secure profitability by the end of the year to maintain solvency.An attractive new account from Nottingham BS helps first-time buyers get on the housing ladder.

Its Lifetime cash Isa, which pays 1 per cent, is only the second of its type available for those looking to save a deposit to buy their first home and benefit from a big Government bonus.

Skipton BSs account, also paying 1 per cent, which has been on sale since June 2017, has proved popular. Some 112,000 savers have snapped up the chance to earn the 25 per cent boost.

Nottingham BS's Lifetime cash Isa is only the second of its type available for those looking to save for their first home and benefit from a big Government bonus

Lifetime Isas, which launched in April 2017, allow those aged 18 to 39 to open an account and save for their first home or retirement in one place. The Government adds a 25 per cent bonus of up to 1,000 a year for every 4,000 saved.

Most Lifetime Isas link your money to shares, where its value follows the stock market. But this has made them less appealing to homebuyers.

By contrast, cash is considered safer when saving for a house  and these types of Lifetime Isas have also proved a better deal for homebuyers than the Help to Buy Isa, introduced in 2015.

Andrew Hagger, finance expert at MoneyComms, says: The Lifetime Isa is a no-brainer for many first-time buyers. Skipton has been extremely successful.

Compared with the Help To Buy Isa, the Lifetime cash Isa is a faster way to build up funds.

You can also buy a more expensive first home and have quicker access to the cash when you start the buying process.

Both accounts give a 25 per cent bonus when you buy a home, but have different savings limits.

With the Help to Buy Isa, you can save 2,400 a year (3,400 in year one, including an initial 1,000 deposit), or 12,000 in total. That gives a bonus of up to 600 a year (850 in year one) and a maximum of 3,000.

With the Lifetime Isa, you can save up to 4,000 a year, with a bonus of up to 1,000 a year, and save for longer (maximum bonus 33,000).

You must hold the account for at least a year to qualify for the bonus, so it wont suit you if you plan to buy before then (with the Help To Buy Isa, you qualify for the bonus once youve saved 1,600).

You can use your Lifetime Isa to buy a first home for up to 450,000 and it can go towards the initial deposit at the start of the process.

With the Help to Buy version, the maximum house price is 250,000, unless you are buying in London, where its 450,000. You dont get the bonus until you complete the purchase.

Note the Lifetime Isa has a fierce 25 per cent charge if you use the cash for anything other than a first home or retirement, which can leave you with less than you put in.

So, if you put in 4,000 (5,000 with the bonus), the penalty is 1,250. That leaves 3,750  a 250 loss.

The Nottingham account is on sale via its 67 branches. When you buy your first home, it will also help find you the best mortgage from the whole market for free (this service usually costs up to 249).

The Skipton account is online-only. You could get 250 cashback if you take out your mortgage with the society.

sy.morris@dailymail.co.ukNew Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 79F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers later at night. Low 61F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.MBABANE  Britain Prime Minister (PM) Theresa May has assured Eswatini of continued access to the British market.



May guaranteed the kingdom that even after the UK leaves the European Union (EU) trade bloc, all terms contained in the European Partnership Agreement (EPA) would continue to be existent.



Others countries that will enjoy the same benefit will be Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, according to the Daily Mail which reported on the PMs visit to Cape Town as part of a three-day tour of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.



The EPA, which came into force on October 1, 2016, guarantees 100 per cent free access to the EU market. Under this trade agreement, the EU liberalised 9 600 products which could be exported by qualifying countries. The exports to the EU are quota free and duty free.



Eswatinis main exports to the EU include sugar, wood pulp, beef and animal products, vegetables, fruits and miscellaneous edibles. However, it should be mentioned that the Swaziland Sugar Association (SSA) recently reported that Eswatini sugar sales to the European Union (EU) fell by 36 per cent.

SSA said this was both as a result of loss in value in that market as well as the abolition of the EU production quotas in October 2017, which led to the EU market becoming self-sufficient.



Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade Principal Secretary Siboniso Nkambule asked not to immediately respond to Mays assurance until such time when he has seen or heard the PMs comments. I have been in a meeting for the better part of the day. I will comment when I have seen the article, briefly said Nkambule.



Federation of the Swaziland Business Community (FESBC) President Tum Du Pont appreciated the assurance given by May for the country to continue trading with the Britain. He urged government to formally update the business community on the latest developments with a view to empower them as to how they could fully utilise the available business community.



We urge government to also take it upon themselves to provide us with all the essential information as to how we will be expected to trade with Britain when it eventually leaves the EU, said Du Pont.



It should be mentioned that the processing of an E84 million cash injection, which could greatly improve Eswatini businesses access to exporting goods and services to the EU, purely rested on the formulation of an all encompassing EPA trade facilitation strategy.MANZINI  The teacher alleged to have floored a station commander faces a total six charges.



Maxwell Zondiyinkhundla Myeni (35) of Mgampondo was arrested following a violent clash between teachers and police officers last Friday.

Myeni is alleged to have assaulted Manzini Police Station Commander Raphael Maseko.



About 200 teachers came to support their colleague during his appearance in court yesterday.

The teachers were first informed that the remand hearing would be held inside Courtroom Four.



However, senior officers and prosecutors left the courtroom to discuss where the matter could be held after they suspected that there could be drama and disturbances during proceedings.



Public Prosecutor Anson Mkhaliphi was heard conversing with Manzini Regional Crime Branch Officer (RCBO) Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane about the matter and a few minutes later, the senior officer ordered that the suspect should be taken to Courtroom Three. Principal Magistrate David Khumalo was already seated in Courtroom Three, waiting for the prosecution and other court officials to arrive.



Myeni was represented by Bonginkhosi Xaba who informed the court that the instructions he had received from his client was to make a bail application. The attorney added that Myeni had a wife and a minor child and all the six charges had emanated from a single transaction.



I would like to implore the court to be reasonable when granting my client bail, considering that he is just a primary school teacher with not enough financial resources, Xaba said.

The principal magistrate informed the court that the prosecution was not opposing bail, however, it should be noted that the accused was faced with serious offences, especially the one where he was charged with public violence.MBABANE  A mother and daughter have endured the agony of being allegedly raped by the same perpetrator.



The daughter (name withheld for ethical reasons) is 12 years old and is two months pregnant as a result of the alleged rape by a family relative.

The irony in this alleged rape ordeal is that the minors mother was also raped at the same age some years ago.



The offender served time in prison for raping the minors mother, but is yet to be arrested and charged for the latest incident which occurred about two months ago.



What has delayed the process of apprehending the suspect, who has been reported to the police for the incident, is that legal experts have advised that the alleged rape survivor should carry a full-term pregnancy.

The police said the experts suggested that this would then enable the minor to undergo a Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test that would prove the paternity of the child to the perpetrator.



*Joyce, the mother of the minor who has a disability, when narrating the alleged rape said she was still traumatised by the incident that occurred about 25 years ago. She alleged that she did not receive any counselling save for the fact that the perpetrator was arrested.



She said the psychological bruises had been compounded by the latest alleged rape incident of her daughter, and the same person is a suspect. She said her child had been subjected to the same trauma she suffered and what made things worse was that for her child, she would have to grapple with an unwanted pregnancy.



The mother said the minor let out the cat out of the bag after being cornered about her sudden change in behaviour. She said her child alleged that she was threatened with death by the perpetrator and bribed with E5, not to reveal the secret.

What also raised suspicions was that the girl would now and again vomit and craved sour things.



She said she was taken to the hospital where she was treated but the vomiting did not stop, until they called a relative who then bought tablets to stop it.

It is then that she revealed that the uncle had raped her and threatened to kill her if she ever revealed this to anyone, the mother alleged.PIGGS PEAK  A 22-year-old Form III pupil, Frezer Chauke, has bowed out of the race to Parliament but says it was a great experience.



Chauke had been nominated for the position of MP under Mayiwane Inkhundla at Mfasini Umphakatsi.

His journey to Parliament ended on Saturday when the results of the Primary Elections were announced.



Chauke lost to Donald Nkonyane, who is a Head teacher at Gijimani Primary School.

After the counting was completed, Chauke had 95 votes while Nkonyane had 382.



He, however, said he was happy that at least he participated and that it was a learning experience for him.

Chauke said many people, especially the youth, were disappointed that he did not make it. He said they had contacted him to express their disappointment that he had not made it.



Chauke, however, said he was happy he had been nominated in the first place.

I now know what goes on and I will be back, he said.

He said he was competing with much more experienced people, including Nkonyane, who is a head teacher.

Chauke is a pupil at Gija Emkhuzweni High School.



This school is one of the poorly performing schools as it produces poor results in the Junior Certificate exams.

Another young person who did not make it was Gcebile Dlamini who is also a former beauty contestant who participated in the Miss Piggs Peak 2017/18.

Gcebile was nominated under Mshingishingini Umphakatsi under Ntfonjeni Inkhundla.



Sompisi Magagula obtained the highest votes at the chiefdom followed by businessman Bhekithemba Dlamini.MBABANE  There are three admitted lawyers who are running for the Member of Parliament (MP) position in the country from their different constituencies.



Stanley Malindzisa, Makhosi Vilakati and Sikhumbuzo Hlophe have been praised by the Law Society of Swaziland (LLS)for winning the Primary Elections.

Malindzisa is under the Motshane Constituency, while Vilakati comes from lamgabhi Constituency and Hlophe is under Mpolonjeni in Mbabane.

President of the LSS Bongani Bhanyaza Mdluli stated that the three men had exercised their freedom of choice.



Mdluli stated that if they were to win, it would benefit the country, as it would change the peoples mindset about Parliament.

He stated that people now take being an MP as a career in politics, when important laws for the country have to be enacted by parliamentarians.



In Parliament there are laws made, we need the participation of lawyers in Parliament, when making these laws. If they make it to Parliament they will help to make or direct certain issues about the law, Mdluli said.



Mdluli stated that they were happy as a society that the three men had joined to become parliamentarians to help the nation.

The president mentioned that some people who wanted to be MPs do so just to ensure that they have a pension at the end of their term and not to better the country.



He elaborated that there were some conflicting laws in the Constitution and having lawyers in Parliament to harmonise these would help.

We wish these good men the best of luck in the Secondary Elections because Parliament is a very important place for the country, Mdluli said.The Enlightened Armenia and Republic political parties will field candidates in the September 23 Yerevan Municipal Council election under the Light Alliance ticket.

The top three candidates heading the ticket, in descending order, are Artak Zeynalyan (the current minister of Justice), Davit Khazhakyan (head of the Yelk faction in the current Yerevan Municipal Council), and Ani Khachatryan (member of the Yerevan Municipal Councils Yelk faction).

Zeynalyan, heading the ticket, is the Light Alliances candidate for the post of Yerevan mayor.

Once formed, the council will then elect a new Yerevan mayor, from the list of candidates heading each ticket, to replace Taron Margaryan who resigned in July.George Parseghian, a Syrian-Armenian who resettled in Armenia six yeaers ago, has gifted a revolver, used by his great-grandfather Krikor/Kevirg Parseghian during the 1920-1921 Armenian resistance in Aintab, to the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute in Yerevan.

This is its final resting place, a worthy one. This holy place that memorializes for all eternity the one and a half million victims. It rests as close to their souls as possible, Mr. Parseghian, a doctor by profession, said on the occasion.

In 1918, following the French occupation of Cilicia, several thousand Armenians who survived the 1915 Genocide returned to the region, only the be attacked for a second time by the Turkish army.

From April 1, 1920 to February 8, 1921, 1,500 Armenians, men and women, battled Ataturk's Turkish National Forces until the French capitulated. By January 1922, only a handful of Armenians remained in Aintab.Two new outlets in the towns of Kalamata and Pyrgos in the Peloponnese

Danish homeware retailer JYSK is opening two new outlets in the towns of Kalamata and Pyrgos in the Peloponnese on Thursday, bringing the number of stores it operates in Greece to 21.

According to the companys plan, its Greek network will come to a total of 40 stores, with owner Lars Larsen pledging conclusion by the end of 2020.

The expansion of our network allows more customers from across Greece to visit our stores and make their purchases quickly and easily, without having to travel long distances, noted Giorgos Tsironis, JYSKs district sales manager for Greece, ahead of the new openings.

Read more at ekathimerini.com

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

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Zakupak License: CC-BY-SABrazil exported $ 514 million worth of beef to Arab states during this years first seven months, said the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC).



ABCC added that Brazil shipped 149,700 tons of beef during the period, a 15.8 per cent growth from last years first seven months.



Latest statistics also show that Egypt, the leading Arab market and third worldwide, bought $246 million worth of Brazilian beef, up 19.58 per cent compared to last years first seven months. The country purchased 81,071 tons, a growth of 41.2 per cent in the same comparison.



Michel Alaby, secretary general and CEO, ABCC, said: For the remainder of the year, we are confident that we will witness stronger growth in Brazils beef exports as demand in the Arab region continues to take the upward trajectory trend.



The ABCC will be active in exploring other effective and efficient mechanisms to boost their already vibrant trade ties and bolster growth of their respective business communities. As for our outlook for 2019, we remain upbeat that we will see the same ascent in demand for beef and other products from different Arab markets.



Brazilians global beef exports from January to July 2018 totalled $2.8 billion, up 8 per cent over the same period of last year. The country shipped 691,000 tons, up 10 per cent in the same comparison. The main markets were Hong Kong, China, Egypt, Chile, Iran, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe answer to that question is the United States of America. Wow! How can that be? This must be a misprint. Fake news. America never signed the Kyoto Protocol some two decades ago. We never enacted a carbon tax. We dont have a cap-and-trade carbon emission program. That environmental villain Donald Trump pulled America out of the Paris climate accord that was signed by almost the entire rest of the civilized world.

Take a wild guess what country is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions the most? Canada? Britain? France? India? Germany? Japan? No, no, no, no, no, and no.

Yet the latest world climate report from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy finds that in 2017, America reduced its carbon emissions by 0.5 percent, the most of all major countries. Thats especially impressive given that our economy grew by nearly 3 percentso we had more growth and less pollutionthe best of all worlds.

The major reason for the reduced pollution levels is the shale oil and gas revolution that is transitioning the world to cheap and clean natural gas for electric power generation.

Meanwhile, as our emissions fell, the pollution levels rose internationally and by a larger amount than in previous years. So much for the rest of the world going green.

[Stephen Moore, New Report Shows US, Not Countries Promoting Climate Change Activism, Reducing Emissions the Most, The Daily Signal, August 24]Royal Jordanian (RJ) and Tunisair have announced a new codeshare agreement which will enable Tunisair customers from around the world to discover new destinations in Jordan and across its wider route network.



Under the new deal, Tunisair will market RJ flights and thus put its carrier code on these flights running between Amman and Tunis.



The codeshare, four-weekly flights are now open for sale.



RJ president/CEO, Stefan Pichler, said: We are glad to offer our services to Tunisair passengers, who will experience compelling services on board our aircraft. This partnership is the first step on the way to enhancing relations with Tunisair, and will bring great benefit to both airlines, from a commercial perspective.



This agreement will give Tunisair customers the opportunity to visit Jordan and learn about its historical and tourist attractions, he added.



Tunisair CEO, Elyes Mnakbi, said: We are delighted to be working with Royal Jordanian as a leading carrier in the Middle East and provide high-quality services to passengers on the ground and in the air. This agreement is a new step in the strategic and historical partnership between our countries. It is also an added value towards enhanced air traffic between our companies. - TradeArabia News Service

Turkey welcomed some 90,590 Kuwaiti travellers during the first five months of the year, up 17.25 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the Turkish Consulate General Cultural and Information office for the GCC countries.



Kuwait leads the region in terms of the number of travellers going to Turkey for business, medical and leisure tourism, accounting for 54 per cent of the total tourist outflow from the GCC.



In 2016, some 61,189 holidaymakers from Kuwait travelled to Turkey, a number that grew to 77,259 travellers in 2017.



Turkey continues to be an attractive destination for Kuwaiti business people, holidaymakers and those seeking medical services due to our strong cultural ties together, said Salah Ozer, Turkeys Attache of Culture and Information.



The data was released as Kuwait Airways announced its intention to increase the number of flights, and destinations, to Turkey this summer.



The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recently named Turkey as the worlds sixth most visited country in 2017, welcoming 39.9 million tourists. Such achievements and accolades will help in growing the number of tourists travelling to Turkey in 2018, he said.



Other countries in the GCC also witnessed significant growth in outbound travellers to Turkey between January and May - Bahrain recorded 28,775 travellers depart to the holiday destination, while 28,775 jetted off from Qatar and 15,417 from the UAE over the same period. - TradeArabia News Service

As the Court notes, the internet has served as a means of allowing new retailers to reach the same consumer base that established nationwide retailers already have access to. It can be extremely difficult for new retailers to contend with the complexity inherent in a system with 45 states (and D.C.) having their own sales tax regimes and an estimated 12,000 tax jurisdictions.

Tax compliance is already a greater burden for smaller retailers. A 2014 study by the National Association of Manufacturers found that the cost of tax compliance was over $1,500 per employee for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but under $700 for businesses with more than 100 employees.

Considering that many affected businesses will be small groups selling products on platforms like Etsy, this cost could be prohibitive. The giants of retail, such as Amazon and Walmart, already have physical presence in the form of stores or distribution warehouses spread across the country. This means that theyalready collected sales tax, and the Wayfair decision wont change their tax bills much. It will be the small retailers that have to invest the substantial time and effort into complying with multiple tax regimes, or possibly change their business models. [...]

In positively citing the small seller exception in South Dakotas law, the Court gave some support to the notion that states ought to distinguish between large businesses with many resources to handle tax compliance and smaller ones that would be crippled by complex tax obligations. Even this guidance is subject to dispute, however, since it is quite broad and not contained in the actual holding of the Court.Women Micro-Entrepreneurs Helping to Achieve the SDGs

WASHINGTON, August 29, 2018  Today the global SDGs and Her Competition announced its inaugural 2018 winner chosen from over 1,200 entries. The contest -- co-sponsored by the World Bank Group, the Wharton School Zicklin Center, UNDP, and UN Women -- showcases women micro-entrepreneurs helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their business operations.

The winning entry is Tanzania-based WomenChoice Industries owned by Lucy Odiwa. Her micro-enterprise seeks to empower women and girls in Tanzania by promoting safer menstrual health hygiene management (MHM), sharing information, products, and related services. The lack of MHM products often affects the ability of low-income women and girls to attend school and to work, Odiwa says. WomenChoice Industries produces reusable sanitary pads, post-partum maternity pads, child and adult diapers, and promotes MHM in schools to promote quality education for all, helping Tanzania to achieve SDG target 3.7 (Womens health), and SDG target 4.1 (Girls access to education).

The second-place winner is Mukuru Clean Stoves of Kenya, owned by Charlot Magayi, which recycles waste metal to produce improved, reliable, and affordable cook stoves to reduce indoor air pollution, which is a major health challenge in the developing world. Her business addresses SDG8 (Decent Work), SDG1 (End Poverty), and SDG3 (Good Health).

Odiwa and Magayi will be flown to New York City this September to attend the UN General Assembly and to discuss their work and impact, and may also receive leadership training and mentoring from partner organizations.

Over 1,200 entries from 88 countries were submitted, and while nearly half of the entries were from Sub-Saharan Africa, submissions were received from every region of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, the Middle East and North Arica, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific.

The SDGs and Her competition seeks to increase knowledge about the SDGs and their potential impacts on women, as well as to collaborate with private sector partners, and share best practices and innovative ideas.

SDGs and Her is open to women who own and/or lead microenterprises, have nine or fewer employees, and which have loan eligibility under USD $10,000 or annual sales under $100,000. Applicants completed a short online template, describing their work and linking their initiative/product to one or more SDGs. Entries will be accepted for the 2019 competition between September 24 and December 31, 2018. Winners will be announced in early 2019.

The winners were chosen based on their impact on the SDGs, vision and purpose, and clarity of the entries. The final judging panel included: Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Achim Steiner; United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; World Bank Group Senior Vice President, Mahmoud Mohieldin; Lecturer and Senior Fellow, Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at Wharton School, Djordjija Petkoski; Senior Director for Gender at the World Bank Group, Caren Grown; and Head, Gender Secretariat, International Finance Corporation, Henriette Kolb.

In 2015, all 193 United Nations member countries signed on to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to "create the future we want in 2030." To learn more about the SDGs, the SDGS and Her Competition, or to enter, click here or visit worldbank.org/sdgs.

Contacts:

World Bank, Washington: Mike Kelleher, mkelleher1@worldbank.org, (202) 473-4440



UNDP, New York: Sangita Khadka, Communications Specialist, sangita.khadka@undp.org Tel: + 1 212 906 5043

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees gather outside a UNHCR transit camp in Bangladesh, November 2017.  UNHCR/Andy Hall

Thank you Mr. President.

Distinguished delegates, Mr. Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen.

I am honoured by the opportunity to address the Security Council at this critical juncture. I am not here as an expert. I stand before you only as a witness. As someone who has seen and cannot look away.

I went to Bangladesh last March as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, to see what I could contribute in responding to the massive humanitarian needs unfolding there.

Nothing could have prepared me for the extent and depth of the suffering I saw.

An eighteen year old woman who Ill call Laila is chief among my memories. One of the 720,000 stateless Rohingya refugees who fled violence and abuse in Myanmars Rakhine State since last August, Laila fled her burning village with her infant son, Yousuf. As she cradled Yousuf in her arms, she described to me how her husband was forcibly taken from their village and how he has not been heard from since.

How five days later, these same people returned, setting fire to her home and forcing her to flee alone with her baby. She saw her uncle killed by men with knives. She told me: when I saw this, I just ran. She and her son hid in a forest for months, surviving off plants and trees. Her harrowing journey ended in Bangladesh, where her present hardship persists.

Another refugee family took her and Yousuf in, sharing their cramped shelter.

As I sat with Laila, a small child played behind me and I noticed terrible scars on his leg. When I asked how he came by these, his family told me he had been caught in the flames when their home had been torched. Luckily they pulled him free, but the scars will remain: both the physical and the psychological.

If only such stories were atypical. But visiting with refugee families in Bangladesh, I found that they were shockingly routine.

Like you, I have heard the gut-wrenching accounts. Stories of grave torture, of women brutally violated, people who have had their loved ones killed before their eyes. Children who have seen their grandparents locked in houses that were set alight.

I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every single refugee child I met. I saw myself in every parent. How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire?

Their experiences will never leave me.

And this is why I am immensely grateful that the Security Council  the principle body responsible for maintaining international peace and security  is working in unison to resolve this crisis.

I am particularly thankful to you, Mr. Secretary-General, for giving a voice to the Rohingya for over a decade, and for continuing to demonstrate exemplary leadership on this matter.

And I must also pay homage to the former Secretary-General, the late Dr. Kofi Annan who has given us a clear and practical vision to resolve the crisis in Rakhine State. A vision shared by this Council and one which the Government of Myanmar has committed to implementing. A vision that, if realized, will ensure that women, men and children of different religions, ethnicities and backgrounds in Rakhine State can thrive collectively.

But as this Council and the UN work with the Government of Myanmar to ensure this, urgent efforts are still needed for the Rohingya in Bangladesh.



Mr. President,

It is important to recall that this is not the first wave of massive forced displacement of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh in the past 40 years. The scale of displacement is so large and so severe that today there are more Rohingya living in exile than in Myanmar itself.

In 1978, 200,000 Rohingya refugees streamed into Bangladesh, fleeing brutality and widespread abuse. Gul Zahar, a young Rohingya woman, was amongst those who fled.

Fourteen years later, in 1992, another wave of violence forced 250,000 stateless Rohingya refugees to seek safety once again in neighboring Bangladesh. Once again, Gul Zahar was amongst those who fled.

Today, there are 900,000 stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Gul Zahar, now 90-years of age, is sadly amongst them once more.

Four decades following her initial flight, Gul lives in abject poverty in Bangladesh with the sole wish that her great grandchildren will have a better future.

The need for this future to transpire inside Myanmar has never been more urgent.

If we fail to act now, Guls grandchildren, like thousands of others, will be unable to escape this relentless cycle that generations of Rohingya have experienced.



Mr President,

Bangladeshs recent response, receiving over 700,000 refugees in a matter of months and providing them safety, is one of the most visible and significant gestures of humanity in our time. But the needs are vast. The suffering is acute. Much more international support is needed.

Thanks to the efforts of the Bangladeshi government, the host communities, UN agencies, NGOs and the refugees themselves, lifesaving efforts have ensured that the Rohingya refugees have endured the monsoons, largely unscathed.

Yet, as you yourselves have seen, they continue to live in squalid conditions.

With only 33 per cent of the refugee operation funded  amounting to less than 70 cents per person per day  this is not surprising. Rather, it is quite embarrassing.

Many Bangladeshi villagers living nearby, with very little to call their own, have been helping the Rohingya refugees over the past year. If people with so little can step up, why cant we do better?

Refugees need to feed their families. They need clean water and sanitation facilities to wash, to cook, to clean. They need a secure shelter to weather the monsoons and the heat. Their children need an education. Their grandparents need to be cared for.

But they need more than just food and water, informal schools, temporary shelter. They need a future.

In the refugee settlements of Bangladesh today, women who were raped in Myanmar are now giving birth to children. These children, already burdened by statelessness, are likely to carry this stigma for the rest of their lives.

So many women, like Laila, along with their children, continue to be vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

Many are still battling the scars of trauma and injury they received before and during their flight to Bangladesh.

It is imperative that governments, development and humanitarian agencies, the private sector and individuals work in solidarity to find innovative ways to help the refugees and the Bangladeshi host communities.



Mr President,

The focus of all our efforts must be to provide much-needed support inside Bangladesh while working to ensure conditions in Myanmar are conducive to return.

The many refugees that I spoke with consider Myanmar their home but they have real, deep fears about returning there.

The denial of their rights to move; their right to marry; their right to work; their right to health care and education, renders them among the most vulnerable people on the planet.

Refugees move back home when it is safe and secure to do so.

The Rohingya cannot return to the very conditions they were forced to flee.

They cannot settle for half solutions.

They must know that they belong. A clear pathway to full citizenship is essential.

This is not a luxury.

This is not a privilege.

This is a basic right that all of us here enjoy.

A right that the Rohingya do not have.

I implore this Council not to forget this imperative and to support all efforts to make it a reality. In the meantime, to encourage more robust international support required to meet urgent and pressing needs within Bangladesh.



My mind often returns to Laila and her neighbours.

Did she find out what happened to her husband?

Did her shared temporary shelter survive the monsoons?

Did she manage to celebrate Eid last week?

Will her young son Yousuf be able to return home in Myanmar and go to school one day?

Or like Gul Zahar, will he too suffer an endless cycle of fear and forced displacement



Mr. President,

Together, we need to change the future of Laila, of Yousuf, of Gul Zahar and of all the Rohingya living in Myanmar, in Bangladesh and beyond.

There are no short cuts. There are no alternatives.

We have failed the Rohingya before.

Please, let us not fail them again.

Thank you.One year after the latest exodus of Rohingya refugees began, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett appealed to the UN Security Council to provide much-needed support in Bangladesh, as well as to ensure conditions in Myanmar that would allow refugees to return.

It is imperative that governments, development and humanitarian agencies, the private sector and individuals work in solidarity to find innovative ways to help the refugees and the Bangladeshi host communities, Blanchett said in her address today.

In the past year, more than 720,000 Rohingya refugees have fled violence and human rights abuses in Myanmars Rakhine State  the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world in decades. The vast majority who reached Bangladesh are women and children, and more than 40 per cent are under 12 years old.

Blanchett, who is a dedicated advocate for refugees, shared the stories of some of the Rohingya refugees she met during her mission to Bangladesh in March 2018  stories of grave torture, of women brutally violated and those who witnessed killings of their loved ones.

Nothing could have prepared me for the extent and depth of the suffering I saw.

Nothing could have prepared me for the extent and depth of the suffering I saw, she said to the political leaders in the room. I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every single refugee child I met. I saw myself in every parent.

Blanchett commended the efforts of Bangladesh in responding to the refugee emergency. The country generously received over 700,000 refugees in three months. It is one of the most visible and significant gestures of humanity in our time, she added. But the needs are vast. The suffering is acute.

More than 600,000 Rohingya are living in and around Kutupalong, the worlds largest refugee settlement, covering 13 square kilometres  comprising one of the highest population densities on the planet. The scale of the influx, combined with the challenges with the monsoon rains, put great pressure on the Bangladeshi host community, existing facilities and services.

UNHCRs Goodwill Ambassador underscored that, despite huge needs, only 33 per cent of the Rohingya refugee operation is funded  amounting to less than 70 cents per person per day.

The Rohingya cannot return to the very conditions they were forced to flee.

Refugees need to feed their families, she said. They need clean water and sanitation facilities to wash, to cook, to clean. They need a proper house to weather the monsoons and the heat. Their children need an education. Their grandparents need to be cared for.

But Rohingya refugees need more than shelter, schools or food, Blanchett added  they hope to go back home someday. Today, that is still not possible.

The Rohingya cannot return to the very conditions they were forced to flee, she said, and shared the story of Gul Zahar, a Rohingya woman who has survived three waves of displacement from Rakhine State.

Blanchett urged political leaders to help break the relentless cycle that generations of Rohingya have faced and to work towards a clear path to full citizenship for the stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar.

This is not a luxury, she said. This is not a privilege. This is a basic right that all of us here enjoy. A right that the Rohingya do not have.

Blanchett called on the Security Council to support all efforts to make it a reality as well as to encourage more robust international support required to meet urgent and pressing needs within Bangladesh.

We have failed the Rohingya before, she said. Please, let us not fail them again.

We have failed the Rohingya before. Please, let us not fail them again.

In his opening address to the Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that the response to the crisis must be a global one.

Conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice, said Guterres, and he urged Myanmar authorities to cooperate with the United Nations to ensure immediate, unimpeded and effective access for its agencies and partners.

Access is critical to meet the enormous needs, the UN Secretary-General said, and to allay the fears of refugees who would like to return home. He reaffirmed the UNs disposition to develop a plan for refugees to return to their areas of origin in safety and dignity, in line with international standards and human rights.

Before returns can happen, Guterres pointed at the need to provide the necessary conditions for stable peace in Rakhine State: Accountability is essential for genuine reconciliation between all ethnic groups and is a prerequisite for regional security and stability.

Read the full text of Blanchett's remarks to the UN Security Council on the situation in Myanmar and the Rohingya refugee crisis here.While the population uprooted by wars and persecution is on the rise worldwide, the numbers of refugee children enrolled in schools is failing to keep pace, according to a new report by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency released today.

The study, Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis, found that four million refugee children do not attend school, an increase of half a million of out-of-school refugee children in just one year.

By the end of 2017, there were more than 25.4 million refugees around the world, 19.9 million of them under UNHCRs mandate. More than half  52 per cent  were children. Among them, 7.4 million were of school age.

Education is a way to help children heal, but it is also key to rebuilding their countries, said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Without education, the future of these children and their communities will be irrevocably damaged.

Only 61 per cent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to 92 per cent of children globally.

Education is a way to help children heal, but it is also key to rebuilding their countries.

As refugee children get older, this gap grows. Nearly two thirds of refugee children who go to primary school do not make it to secondary school. In total, 23 per cent of refugee children attend secondary school, compared to 84 per cent of children globally.

At tertiary level, the gap becomes a chasm. Globally, enrolment in higher education stands at 37 per cent, while only one per cent of refugees have the same opportunity  a figure that has not changed in three years.

School is the first place in months or even years where refugee children find any normality, adds Grandi. Based on current patterns, unless urgent investment is undertaken, hundreds of thousands more children will join these disturbing statistics.

The report highlights progress made by those committed to the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in enrolling an additional 500,000 formerly out-of-school refugee children in 2017. At the same time, it calls for more to be done to ensure all refugees get the quality education they deserve.

The report urges host countries to enrol refugee children in national systems, with a proper curriculum, all the way through primary and secondary school, to allow for recognized qualifications that can be their springboard to university or higher vocational training.

It further notes that countries in developing regions host 92 per cent of the worlds school-age refugees and need more sustained financial support from the international community.

Finally, the report calls for stronger partnerships with the private sector, humanitarian and development organizations and governments to increase sustainable solutions for refugee education.

Read a news release on the report here.Burundi refugee children at Furaha Primary School in Nduta Refugee Camp in western Tanzania, study in a makeshift classroom under the trees.  UNHCR/Georgina Goodwin

Four million refugee children do not attend school, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says in a report released today. This is an increase of half a million of out-of-school refugee children in just one year.

The report, Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis, shows that, despite the efforts of governments, UNHCR and its partners, enrolment of refugee children in school is failing to keep pace with the growing refugee population. By the end of 2017, there were more than 25.4 million refugees around the world, 19.9 million of them under UNHCRs mandate. More than half  52 per cent  were children. Among them, 7.4 million were of school age.

Education is a way to help children heal, but it is also key to rebuilding their countries, said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Without education, the future of these children and their communities will be irrevocably damaged.

Only 61 per cent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to 92 per cent of children globally.

As refugee children get older, this gap grows. Nearly two thirds of refugee children who go to primary school do not make it to secondary school. In total, 23 per cent of refugee children attend secondary school, compared to 84 per cent of children globally.

At tertiary level, the gap becomes a chasm. Globally, enrolment in higher education stands at 37 per cent, while only one per cent of refugees have the same opportunity  a figure that has not changed in three years.

School is the first place in months or even years where refugee children find any normality, adds Grandi. Based on current patterns, unless urgent investment is undertaken, hundreds of thousands more children will join these disturbing statistics.

The report highlights progress made by those committed to the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in enrolling an additional 500,000 formerly out-of-school refugee children in 2017. At the same time, it calls for more to be done to ensure all refugees get the quality education they deserve.

The report urges host countries to enrol refugee children in national systems, with a proper curriculum, all the way through primary and secondary school, to allow for recognized qualifications that can be their springboard to university or higher vocational training.

It further notes that countries in developing regions host 92 per cent of the worlds school-age refugees and need more sustained financial support from the international community.

Finally, the report calls for stronger partnerships with the private sector, humanitarian and development organizations and governments to increase sustainable solutions for refugee education.

Note to Editors:

About the report

Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis is the third annual education report from UNHCR. The first, Missing Out, was released in 2016 in advance of the UN General Assemblys Summit for Refugees and Migrants in September 2016. It called for donors to provide multi-year and predictable funding for refugee education. The second, Left Behind, was released in 2017. It highlighted the gap in opportunity between refugee children and their non-refugee peers and called for education to be considered fundamental to the response to refugee emergencies.

The report includes a preface by Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, as well as final remarks by UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie.

About UNHCR

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We deliver life-saving assistance like shelter, food and water, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality.

Media contacts in Geneva:

Media contacts elsewhere:

For broadcasters, news organizations and other media professionals: A full multimedia content package, the full report, and contact details for UNHCRs country and global spokespersons can be found on the media page.FB India to appear before Delhi Legislative Assembly on Nov 18 now 02 Nov 2021 | 2:08 PM New Delhi, Nov 2 (UNI) The Delhi Legislative Assembly's Committee for 'Peace and Harmony' on Tuesday told Facebook India officials to appear before it on November 18, after the social media giant sought 14-day time to select an appropriate officer for the purpose. see more..

Coldest night of season in Delhi as AQI turns 'very poor' ahead of Diwali 02 Nov 2021 | 1:16 PM New Delhi, Nov 2 (UNI) The air in the National Capital Region will remain in the poor category on Tuesday and further deteriorate over the next two days with Diwali coming up on Thursday, the IMD said as it also recorded the coldest night of the season here. see more..

India logs 10,423 new cases, 443 Covid deaths 02 Nov 2021 | 12:19 PM New Delhi, Nov 2 (UNI) India has reported 10,423 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest in 259 days, as 443 new deaths were recorded in the same period, according to the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday. see more..

Three students score full marks in NEET UG 2021 01 Nov 2021 | 11:24 PM New Delhi, Nov 1 (UNI) The results of NEET examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses were announced tonight with three candidates scoring full marks. see more..Bengaluru, Aug 29 (UNI) "Many influential Congress leaders are joining BJP in the coming days," Opposition leader in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and BJP State President B S Yeddyurappa claimed here on Wednesday.

However, replying to a question Mr Yeddyurappa was quick enough to state that "I have not said Ministers or MLAs, I have only said that influential leaders are in touch with me and have expressed their desire to join the party and decision about admitting them will be taken soon," he added.

Mr Yeddyurappa was addressing a press conference after admitting former Minister and senior Congress leader Baburao Chinchansur into the party fold. Mr Chinchansur was the Minister in the previous Siddaramaiah Cabinet.Srinagar, Aug 29 (UNI) Members from various trade and industry bodies on Wednesday staged a sit-in protest at historic Lal Chowk in this summer capital, against the alleged attempts being made to abrogate Article 35-A from the Constitution of India.

The protest comes after the Supreme Court (SC) decided to hear on August 31 the petitions challenging the validity of Article 35-A, which empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define permanent residents of the state. The Article provides special rights and privileges to the permanent residents.

Representatives from various trade and industry bodies and civil society hit the streets at Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, urging the apex court to dismiss the writ petition, challenging the validity of Article 35-A.

Holding placards, which read, 'Let us unite to safeguard the constitutional status of J&K', Stand together save Article 35-A and 'Dismiss The Petition Challenging Article 35-A', the protesters held a sit-in protest in Lal Chowk. The protesters said that any attempts to abrogate Article 35-A will lead to widespread protests in the valley.

They have also backed a two-day strike call, given by the separatists on Thursday and Friday against the alleged abrogation attempts.

Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) chairman Muhammad Yasin Khan, who led the sit in protest, said the 'sole' peaceful solution to controversy surroundings attempts to the abrogate Article 35 A was that 'the case is dismissed.'

Mr Khan, who also heads the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation ( KTMF), said the Article 35-A and 370 safeguard the interests of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh who enjoy special status. Revocation of Article 35 A will mean that people of all the three regions will lose their share of all resources in the state including jobs and land.

This state will end up as another Palestinians whose land will be taken away by outsiders. We all will lose our identify--collective and individual, he said.

Given the prevalent uneasy situation in Kashmir, Mr Khan appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask his government to seek dismissal of the case as had happened twice in the past when similar attempts were made to alter the laws. Let the Centre make efforts for improving the situation and not festering the prevalent crises any further as any such attempt will prove catastrophic, Khan said.

Stating that the business fraternity was willing to sacrifice everything for the safeguard of Article 35-A, he said any attempt to even tinker with the twin laws of Article 370 and 35 A will drag the region towards a catastrophe and the onus of which shall lie on New Delhi alone.

People of Kashmir are peace-loving and want restoration of sustainable peace so that every sector of life including business community prospers but if our existence is put at stake we wont shy away scarifying everything, Mr Khan said.

The protestors later dispersed peacefully.

As many as 27 Kashmir-based trade and industry bodies, including the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), have presented a united front to protest against any attempts made to abrogate the Article.

UNI ABS PS 1548Hundreds of AkzoNobel employees joined the event

Aiming to relocate 100 schools across the country to welcome the new school year, this activity is part of the AkzoNobel accompanies you to school project which has been implemented since 2017. On this occasion, AkzoNobel also announced its ninth year of handing out scholarships to excellent students from Vietnamese architecture universities.

After two years of implementation, AkzoNobel accompanies you to school redecorated 30 schools with more than 60,000 litres of innovative exterior and interior paints from the Dulux and Maxilite portfolio. The project has contributed to create colourful and fresh learning spaces for students at disadvantaged schools to celebrate the new school year.

Renovating schools is an investment into the future

Colour has an important value to strengthen the effectiveness of learning. Scientific research into the effect of colour on childrens behaviour and learning by Sussex University revealed that colour affects performance and impacts the feelings of happiness and excitement.

Lets Colour initiatives AkzoNobel accompanies you to school offers the most suitable colour schemes for school spaces to positively motivate learning spirit, enhance concentration, and lead to better academic performance for students.

For instance, earthen tone colour schemes are usually used in the classrooms to reduce stress, pale white and cool colours to enhance concentration, and yellow to make the space spacious and airy. For others spaces in the school, such as the dining room or the hall, AkzoNobel used neutral colours combined with darker colours such as violet, navy blue, crimson or dark green to create an intimate and cosy space for everyone. Meanwhile, pale grey, pale white, blue, and green have been used in the art rooms to inspire and motivate students.

Selected schools in the project are those in disadvantaged areas with visible degradation, lack of funds for classroom renovation and other learning space improvement. The project will provide these schools with coating products to redecorate the learning space, encouraging Vietnamese students to study and grow well.

Happier, more lively classrooms are more conducive to learning

In addition, hundreds of employees from AkzoNobel Vietnam across the country have spent several working days worth of time to participate directly in the school painting activity during the last two years.

Our school is in a remote area and is severely degraded, but we lack the funds to renovate it. We highly appreciate AkzoNobel Vietnams contribution to our school that helps students learn in a more spacious and inspiring space in the new school year, shared Vu Thi Hoai, principal of An Duc Elementary School, Thai Binh province.

AkzoNobels contribution to Vietnams education development is demonstrated not only through the renovation and repainting of school facilities, but also in its goal of nurturing young talents. Since 2009, the scholarship sponsoring excellent students of the University of Architecture Ho Chi Minh City has been an annual activity.

In the new school year beginning in next September, AkzoNobel will continue to accompany Vietnamese architecture students with 11 scholarship packages, including 10 packages for excellent students and one package for an outstanding project. From 2018 onwards, talented students of Hanoi University of Architecture and Danang Architecture University will also be able to benefit from the project.

Pamela Phua, general director of AkzoNobel Vietnam Decorative Paint Company, emphasised, Supporting education and nurturing the growth of the next generation are among our key focuses in contributing to the local communities where AkzoNobel is doing business. We hope that our tireless contribution to education in Vietnam will help to motivate the spirit and facilitate young Vietnamese students to achieve better academic performance.

Apart from simply helping learning, the brighter spaces make for a happier atmosphere

Apart from education, AkzoNobel has implemented many practical programmes for the community, such as donating Dulux Weathershield paint to repaint and draw 3D frescos in Canh Duong fishing village (Quang Binh province) after the Doksuri typhoon in October 2017.

The company also provided more than 8,000 litres of paint to Ly Son Island to paint frescoes and repaint some houses to protect them from the impacts of extreme weather. Recently, the company have donated more than 3,000 litres of exterior paint for the Green Volunteer Summer Campaign 2018 which beautified 60 alleys and three apartment buildings in Ho Chi Minh City.

Especially, the One Community Day themed AkzoNobel sharing love in mid-August 2018 has contributed numerous volunteer hours from all AkzoNobel Vietnam employees to repaint school facilities, providing the necessary equipment and water filtration systems for poor household, improving the lives of disabled people, orphans, and single elderly people.

AkzoNobel has a passion for paint. It is an expert in the proud craft of making paints and coatings, setting the standards in colour and protection since 1792. The companys world-class portfolio of brandsincluding Dulux, International, Sikkens, and Interponis trusted by customers around the globe.Duong Thanh Long, general director of VNPT-Media Corporation, and Nguyen Thanh Nhung, general director of VietBank, signing the agreement

To catch up with the global development trend and the governments policies on Industry 4.0, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) has transformed itself into a digital services provider from its original telecommunications services. The group targets to become the leading digital services provider in Vietnam.

In order to implement this target, digital financial and fintech service (DFS) is one of the four major pillars that VNPT will focus on. One year ago, VNPT-Media Corporation, a subsidiary of VNPT, was granted the certificate to operate intermediate payments and released a number of services, including e-payments, bill payments, and e-wallet on the vnptpay.vn system. This marked VNPTs entry into e-payment, one of the most potential digital services in the 4.0 era.

Yesterday, on August 28, VNPT-Media and VietBank (Vietnam Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank), a subsidiary of Hoa Lam Group, have just signed a co-operation agreement in the fields of healthcare, pharmaceuticals, finance-banking, and investment. This co-operation will create comfortable services and products, along with increasing benefits for customers, to further a non-cash society.

Accordingly, VietBanks clients could easily pay online for train/air tickets, shopping, and invoices, among others. VietBank was evaluated as on of the most stable and best performing banks in Vietnam, and the two sides will develop other services, such as credit scoring and credit loans, based on their data and technology foundations.

Huynh Quang Liem, deputy general director of VNPT cum chairman of VNPT-Media, confirmed: Based on the two sides large customer base and wide sales network, this co-operation will surely increase the performance of our operations as well as contribute to the development of the digital economy.

Nguyen Thanh Nhung, VietBanks general director said: VietBank serves hundreds of thousands of clients and has tight regulations, experience in risk management, great liquidity, and anti-money laundering measures in place. In collaboration with VNPT-Media, we will use all of our advantages to expand the distribution network, strengthen the multi-faceted co-operation, and benefit both sides.Executives from foreign food and beverage, education and services franchises meet with executives of Vietnamese firms at an international business matching event in HCM City on Tuesday. - VNS Photo

Executives from leading food and beverage, education and services franchises from Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and the US met with executives of Vietnamese firms at an international business matching event yesterday in HCM City.

Participants included Little Caesars Pizza, The Edge Learning Centre, Sureclean, Cha Ji Tang, Yang Xiang Ting, Machida Shoten/EAK Ramen, Coldstone Creamery, Mennya Kokoro, Pronto, Bin Girl, and Fidele.

Speaking to the media, Akihito Koga, managing director of Japan Food Culture Pte Ltd, which helps Japanese brands expand abroad, said he was optimistic about the franchise market in Vietnam due to its population and economic performance.

His company has a Vietnamese partner, and since business is good it wants to find more partners for many Japanese clients, he said.

Now it is looking for potential partners for three brands: Machida Shoten, the second biggest ramen brand in Japan; Mennya Kokoro, which offers dry ramen; and Pronto, a cafe brand.

We expect our partners to have funds to invest in three to five restaurants, with each restaurant needing a minimum investment of US$300,000, he said.

He hoped to find a business partner who can get a good location because location is quite important [for restaurants] and has good connections with locals.

Andy Hsu, general manager of Taiwan-based Reng Feng International Food Co, Ltd, said he wants to introduce to Vietnamese partners four out of his companys six food and beverage brands.

One of them is Cha Ji Tang, which sells many kinds of bubble tea. It makes its own bubbles with a machine that is displayed at each of its outlets unlike other operators, who keep their bubble making a secret, he said.

Hsu said this is the first time his company is planning to take its brands abroad.

The company plans to itself open a shop under each brand, with the first scheduled to open next month at the Takashimaya shopping mall in HCM Citys District 1, before franchising them.

Explaining the rationale behind this, he said: We are still new, customers do not know us.

Sean T.Ngo, founder and CEO of VF Franchise Consulting, a leading franchising consultancy in Southeast Asia, said figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that over 200 brands have registered as foreign franchises in Vietnam.

But Thailand and the Philippines have over 1,500 each, and so there is still a lot of potential for growth in the franchise business in Vietnam, he said.

The event was organised by VF Franchise Consulting.Liep Latsavong was caught red-handed while transporting the pills, which were contained in 329 bags.

The arrested man was Liep Latsavong, 19, residing in the Lao province of Savannakhet. He was caught red-handed while transporting the pills, which were contained in 329 bags.

Based on the mans testimony, the border force station at the Lao Bao international border gate and the drug and crime prevention team of the provincial border guard arrested Tran Khac Hoang, 27, in Bac Giang province and Nguyen Anh Quynh, 19, in Tuyen Quang province, who hired Liep Latsavong to transfer the drugs to Vietnam.

One day earlier, the border guard force in the central province of Nghe An also caught a suspect who was trafficking a large volume of crystal meth from Laos to Vietnam.

Accordingly, the forces unit at Nam Can international border gate, in collaboration with the provincial Customs Department, arrested Phan Tuan Anh when he was illegally transporting Ketamine 10-percent INJ cross the border.

Anh, born in 1992 and residing in Nghe Ans Yen Thanh district, was found hiding 285 phials of Ketamine 10-percent INJ in his luggage while passing the border gate.

Thirty-six out of 285 phials of Ketamine were detected in Anhs handbag and the remaining ones were found in the luggage compartment of a passenger car with Lao registration number UN 0279, which was entering immigration procedures in the border gate.

Anh admitted that he transported the drugs into Vietnam to sell to a Vietnamese person.

Both cases are under further investigations.Cat Linh-Ha Dong elevated railway will have a trial run next month.-VNA/VNS Photo

The move was made after materials and equipment reportedly stolen from stations and depots of the railway project.

Since August 1, the line has been connected to the national power grid for trial operation. Therefore, another important task for the project management board is to ensure the safety of its electricity system.

The project EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) general contractor, the China Railway Sixth Group (CRSG), was asked to strengthen security personnel presence, install surveillance cameras and fences to control people entering the station and prevent unauthorised persons from entering the construction site.

All Chinese-Vietnamese bilingual documents planned for the project must be examined and approved by the management board before being printed and used at the site. It is strictly forbidden to post or publicise the documents before this approval to avoid misleading the public.

On August 11, the general contractor invited all of the workers and their relatives to attend a trial run of the elevated train. In order to control entrance, bilingual Chinese  Vietnamese metro tickets were used with one-day validity.

Regarding the using of signboards and printed documents in Chinese and Vietnamese in the project area, the board reported that the materials are only for internal and temporary use during the construction to facilitate the work of on-site Chinese engineers and experts.

The ministry also required the EPC contractor to allocate human resources to ensure the remaining work of the project is completed in accordance with the schedule and quality requirements.

Since the metro line was also connected to the national power grid for its trial operation last month, electrical hazards are a new worry.

The work must comply with the provisions of the contract and the detailed plan approved by competent authorities, according to the transport ministry.

In case the contractor performs tasks other than those laid out in the project plan, it must report to the management board for consideration and approval beforehand.

Connecting Dong Da Districts Cat Linh Street with Ha Dong Districts Yen Nghia bus station, the 13km-long elevated railway includes 12 stations and a depot at Phu Luong Ward in Ha Dong District. The railway will operate 13 trains with four carriages each running every two minutes at speeds of 35 to 80kmph.

The railway has been constructed using Official Development Assistance (ODA) from China with a total investment of US$868 million. The railway will run on a trial next month.In this file photo taken on Aug 27, 2018 US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after a phone conversation with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto. (Photo: AFP/ MANDEL NGAN)

The president has attacked US social media giants in the past days for allegedly censoring conservative voices, an unfounded claim widely believed by his followers.

"Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media," the president tweeted on Tuesday.

"In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?"

According to Trump, "96% of results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media," which he describes as "very dangerous".

"Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation - will be addressed!"

A Pew Research Center survey released in June found 43 per cent of Americans think major technology firms support the views of liberals over conservatives, and 72 per cent accepted the idea that social media platforms actively censor opposing political views.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 85 per cent said they think social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints, Pew found.

However various studies suggest conservatives are thriving on social media. Twitter and Facebook have both denied bias in policing their platforms.Deadly strikes have killed dozens of children in rebel-held areas and sparked international outrage AFP/STRINGER

In their first report, a team of UN-mandated investigators said they had "reasonable grounds to believe that the parties to the armed conflict in Yemen have committed a substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law".

Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes" the report said, adding that the investigators had identified a number of alleged perpetrators.

The devastating conflict in Yemen has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Huthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

The conflict in what was already one of the world's poorest countries has caused what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN's so-called Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts, which was created by the UN Human Rights Council last September, detailed a long line of abuses committed by all parties to the conflict.

"There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimise civilian casualties," said the group's chairman Kamel Jendoubi in a statement.

The report concluded that "coalition air strikes have caused most of the documented civilian casualties", pointing to a large number of strikes on residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and medical facilities.

"The specific cases investigated by the Group of Experts raise serious concerns about the targeting process applied by the coalition," the report said, pointing out that in many cases there were no apparent military targets in the vicinity of the attacks.

CHILD SOLDIERS

The report covers the period from September 2014 through June 2018, and does not address the latest series of deadly strikes that have killed dozens of children in rebel-held areas and sparked international outrage.

The coalition has not confirmed or denied it carried out two air raids last Thursday that the UN said killed at least 26 children and four women south of the flashpoint rebel-held city of Hodeida.

Those deaths came after a coalition attack on a bus in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada early this month killed 40 children, prompting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call for an independent investigation of attacks targeting civilians in the three-year war.

Children have not only died in air strikes in Yemen.

The experts said they had "received substantial information indicating that the Government of Yemen, the coalition-backed forces and the Houthi-Saleh forces have all conscripted or enlisted children into armed forces or groups and used them to participate actively in hostilities".

"In most cases, the children were between 11 and 17 years old, but there have been consistent reports of the recruitment or use of children as young as eight years old," they added.US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged a few letters since their Jun 12 summit in Singapore. (Photos: AFP/Nicholas Kamm, Saul Loeb)

Discussions have grown prickly after a historic summit in June between President Donald Trump and Pyongyang strongman Kim Jong Un, where the leaders embraced and pledged to work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

But despite the bonhomie of the occasion, Pyongyang has taken few concrete steps toward that stated goal and signs of frustration abound.

Last week, Trump nixed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's planned trip to North Korea, reportedly because he received what US officials deemed to be a "belligerent" letter from Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling party.

And on Tuesday, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon is not planning to suspend any more military drills on the Korean peninsula.

"We took the step to suspend several of the largest military exercises as a good faith measure," Mattis told reporters. "We have no plans to suspend any more."

Still, Pompeo said Washington remains ready to engage with North Korea.

It will do so "when it is clear that Chairman Kim stands ready to deliver on the commitments that he made at the Singapore summit to President Trump to completely denuclearize North Korea," he said in a statement read aloud by his spokeswoman.

WIGGLE ROOM

Following his summit with Kim, Trump scrapped this summer's massive Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint exercise with South Korea.

Carefully calibrating his words, Mattis would not say when exercises would resume, apparently leaving some wiggle room for North Korea.

"We are going to see how the negotiations go, and then we will calculate the future, how we go forward," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

The next large-scale US-South Korean drills, known as Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, are set for next spring.

While North Korea views the exercises as a "provocation," they are loathed by China too. Trump last week berated Beijing, saying it was not helping enough with denuclearization.

Trump has staked a lot on his talks with North Korea. He prides himself on his being able to make deals and after the summit, he famously declared: "There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea."

Vipin Narang, a professor in security studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said recent developments are the first public acknowledgment that Trump is frustrated with the pace of talks.

But North Korea holds important cards in the talks, he said, noting Pyongyang's moratorium on missile and nuclear testing could be conditional on negotiations continuing in good faith.

"So if all this falls apart we could go back ... Kim Jong Un could do something like a satellite launch," Narang told AFP.

SLOW AND TOUGH

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, insisted talks are headed in the right direction.

"Is it moving fast? No, but we never thought it would. We knew that this was going to be a slow, tough process," she told an audience at a Washington think tank.

Last month, officials told the Washington Post that Pyongyang seems to be developing at least one or two liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles.

When asked if the Pentagon agrees with Trump's assertion the North Korea nuclear threat is over, Mattis pointed to the calming of tensions that spiked last year when the US president and Kim traded personal attacks amid apocalyptic rhetoric.

"The whole world saw that progress when the two leaders sat down," he said.

"We also knew very clearly this was going to be a long and challenging effort."

Still, several observers say American diplomats believe Kim has no intention of ever giving up his atomic bombs and is leveraging his relationship with Trump for more concessions.

The North Koreans are "confident they can get what they want from another Kim-Trump summit," noted Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in East Asian Studies at Stanford University.Craig Hart, acting mission director of USAID Mission in Vietnam

On August 28, USAID Wildlife Asia Activity has launched the third phase of the Chi Initiative, a programme to help decrease consumer demand for rhino horn in Vietnam.

The US government remains committed to collaborating with countries around the world to combat wildlife crime and end demand for illegal wildlife products, said Craig Hart, acting mission director of the US Agency for International Development Mission in Vietnam.

Demand for rhino horn in Asian countries, including Vietnam, drives the illegal poaching of rhinos in Africa, putting the species in jeopardy of extinction. The Vietnamese government has made strides in countering wildlife crime, notably with a new penal code that features stricter penalties for the possession and trade of illegal wildlife products. Despite these efforts, Vietnam is still considered a major consumer market and transit hub for rhino horn.

The Chi, or Strength of Will, social marketing initiative seeks to reduce demand for rhino horn by using a social behaviour change communication approach to tackle consumption driven by social status.

We were excited to welcome representatives from the government, civil society, businesspeople, and the media at the launch, which showed an increasing consensus for wildlife protection in Vietnam, said Sarah Ferguson, head of Traffic in Vietnam. As part of USAID Wildlife Asia and with a strong commitment from Vietnamese partners, we will continue to explore innovative behavioural change solutions and work to further reduce illegal wildlife consumption in the country.

USAID has launched the third phase of the Chi Initiative to change the Vietnamese society for the better

USAID Wildlife Asia works to address wildlife trafficking as a transnational crime. The activity works to reduce consumer demand for wildlife parts and products, strengthen law enforcement, enhance legal and political commitment, and support regional collaboration to reduce wildlife crime in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. USAID Wildlife Asia focuses on four species: elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, and pangolin.President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

We have just finished talks with the President of Finland. They were held in a constructive atmosphere.

Recently, in mid-July, Mr Niinisto and I had a meeting in Helsinki, and today we continued to discuss topical issues on the bilateral and international agendas.

Russian-Finnish relations are traditionally neighbourly and mutually beneficial. This includes trade and economic ties, most importantly. At the end of 2017, bilateral trade grew 37 percent to almost $12.5 billion, followed by 27 percent more in the first six months of this year.

Over 7,000 Finnish companies maintain business contacts with their Russian partners. Finlands total direct cumulative investment in the Russian economy is $4.4 billion, but if we count Finnish affiliates in third countries this would be up to $14 billion. Russian companies have invested $3.4 billion in the Finnish economy.

We have discussed various areas of economic cooperation, as well as the issues that Russian and Finnish citizens are interested in. Issues like environmental events and our joint efforts to protect the environment affect all of our citizens.

As you may know, Finland is taking part in the programme to mitigate the Krasny Bor hazardous waste landfill site near St Petersburg. We will continue to expand our environmental cooperation with Finland. Tourism exchanges are also growing: in 2017 that growth was 15 percent.

We also discussed international matters. I again thanked my Finnish colleague for organising the Russia-US summit in Helsinki. We expressed mutual interest in cooperating to improve stability and security in the north of Europe. Russia supports the Finnish Presidents proposal to improve the security of flights over the Baltic Sea.

We also touched on the settlement in Syria and in southeastern Ukraine, but we will have an opportunity to have a more detailed conversation on these matters.

My colleague and I also discussed Arctic issues, first, regarding Finlands current presidency in the Arctic Council. In all, talks with the President of Finland were quite constructive. Certainly, they will contribute to the further improvement of bilateral relations.

I would like to thank Mr President for accepting our invitation and for coming to Sochi today.

President of Finland Sauli Niinisto (retranslated): Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

It was a real pleasure to meet with you today. I agree with you that we had a very clear, constructive and productive meeting.

First, the economy should be mentioned. We see positive developments, and we hope that this will continue.

I say this despite the fact  a small reminder, you could say  that there is a trade deficit in favour of Russia, not Finland. I say this because it is in fashion to mention this during international contacts.

Finland is very pleased to see how cooperation along our state border is progressing. It is working well despite the fact that traffic is intensifying right now. I apologise to people who had delays when crossing the border.

We discussed many aspects of environmental issues. First, we spoke about the fact that environmental issues, among other things, have come to the fore while Finland chairs the Arctic Council.

We have outlined several specific issues we are working on, and we have already taken some steps in the right direction, even if these steps are small. This involves both countering black carbon  soot, and the use of liquefied natural gas in sea transport. I would like to thank Russia for supporting us in these issues. As far as I know, we both are ready to take part in the Arctic Summit if it will be held.

I would also like to say something about the Northern Dimension, a joint programme of the European Union and the Russian Federation that made it possible to build waste treatment facilities in St Petersburg. Finland would like the Northern Dimension to continue and prosper in the future, and we hope that we will be able to find new joint projects to undertake in waste management.

I also heard that Russia has implemented almost the same forest restoration principle that we have had in Finland for many years. I am sure that there are opportunities to cooperate here as well. Also, when we speak about forests, we should mention wildfires, too. Perhaps they surprised us due to the exceptional weather conditions in Finland, Russia and Sweden this summer, and we should be working on this issue more actively.

I am also pleased that after this news conference, President Putin and I will continue our discussion of the international agenda. I am always interested in the Presidents opinion and views in this area.

Thank you for the conversation. You could probably describe our conversation here as sunny.

Question (retranslated): Sometime in late July, Defence Minister Shoigu said that Finlands cooperation with NATO is forcing Russia to take countermeasures. How would you comment on this statement? This question is for both presidents.

Vladimir Putin: My comment is very simple. We are not deploying our military contingents far away from our borders and close to NATO countries whereas NATO military infrastructure is moving closer to our borders. The number of personnel and materiel near our borders is increasing. More military exercises are being conducted. Major NATO exercises are being planned right here, next to this place, as well as in the Baltic region. Of course, we must be aware of what is happening there, and improve our infrastructure. We must respond to US missile defence assets deployed next to our borders.

Please note that these are not just regular anti-missile systems. These systems can also be used for medium-range missile launches. As I mentioned, we welcome the proposal of the President of Finland to reduce all tensions, including combat aircraft flights.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation has developed certain rules but they do not apply to military aviation. They are recommendations. We are willing to discuss this with our partners from NATO, but they refuse to do so. We think that this is not a constructive position and hope that this will change.

Thank you.

Sauli Niinisto: I think about six years ago I told Mr Putin that like any self-respecting nation Finland provides itself with the best self-defence capabilities. I have not heard a single word of criticism with regard to Finland during my trip. However, President Putin, for example, mentioned missiles of a certain type. There are no such missiles in Finland at all, none. I think it is critical that we all work to promote mutual understanding across the world. This is my approach to this visit.

Question: Mr Niinisto, my question is primarily for you.

Last year, at The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue forum, you proposed holding the Arctic Summit, but later you said it was necessary to have a concrete agenda. Today you have already mentioned this while speaking about environmental problems. Which topics do you believe should be raised at this event?

Mr Putin, another question for you. When opening todays meeting with your colleague, you said how you felt about the Arctic Summit. Which problems, in your opinion, should be raised at this summit?

In addition, let us go back a few days, to your visit to Austria, if we may. Colleagues in Berlin tried to ask you about it, but unfortunately you were unable to answer. Was it just a private visit or did you manage to have any substantive meetings with your colleagues?

Thank you.

Sauli Niinisto: So, three questions in one, right?

Yes, it is true that I said so about a year ago and I have discussed this issue with President Putin many times since. I am very glad that Russia is ready to consider participation and regards this idea positively.

What issues can be raised at such a summit? I have already said that if the Arctic ice melts, if we lose the Arctic, we will lose the entire world.

Maybe fighting black carbon, soot could be the first and easiest step. Today we are already taking certain measures, for example, on the Kola Peninsula they are working to switch from fuel that damages the environment to a more environmentally friendly fuel at thermal power stations.

Transitioning to liquefied natural gas instead of fuel oil and other heavier kinds of fuel in Arctic navigation could be the second measure.

These steps may seem really small. But it is either these small steps or nothing, most likely.

I also see a possibility to discuss such a major and serious issue as the correlation between the economic exploitation of the Arctic Region and environmental protection as well as how to find the right balance.

Vladimir Putin: First, I would like to agree with everything my colleague said. Perhaps I will try to elaborate a bit.

There is no doubt that we need to talk about the rules of commercial activity, including for large projects being implemented. We should discuss issues related to the security of navigation in these latitudes, including in case of adverse environmental conditions.

It would be very useful to discuss opportunities for joint work to preserve the fauna, the wildlife, because many animals in the Arctic face a difficult situation. For example, polar bears are in danger because of the melting ice.

And finally, scientists from all the countries of the Arctic region could join their efforts, and the state must support them in organising various kinds of research, including climate change and, as I have said, preserving the fauna in the widest sense of the word.

As for the second part of your question  the trip to Austria  it was strictly private. I would like to thank my Austrian friends for the invitation once again. I have to say that all of them are adults in important positions in society and the state, but they are also a very open and lively bunch. I would like to congratulate them with all my heart on the occasion I was fortunate enough to take part in, the wedding ceremony. In addition, the groom is someone I know: a former athlete and judoka, which is always a bond.

However, while this was a celebration, of course I found time to briefly discuss business with the Foreign Minister and the Chancellor of the Republic of Austria. I would like to note that Austria plays a very positive role in general by trying to advance bilateral relations while also promoting dialogue between Russia and the entire European Union.

Soon Finland will assume the presidency of the European Union, in the second half of 2019, I think. We hope that during Finlands presidency we will also manage to do something positive to restore normal relations between Russia and the EU.

Thank you.

Question (retranslated): What is your take on the outcome of your meeting with the US President in Helsinki? The summit took place five weeks ago. New US sanctions on Russia are coming into force today. The United States is also threatening with more sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. What do you think?

Vladimir Putin: Europe needs Nord Stream 2.

The President just mentioned the need to switch to more environmentally friendly fuel in the Arctic. This is an absolutely correct proposal. However, this is not the only use of natural gas. Most importantly, gas consumption, including in Europe, is on the rise. Gazprom, for example, increased its volume to the EU by almost 13 percent last year at a time when European countries such as Norway and Great Britain and others are seeing their reserves dwindle. This is simply a fact established by analysts. Rest assured, this is how things are.

This business is regulated by certain rules such as the volume of gas and the length of the route. Given the volumes of Russias gas supplies to Europe and the distance between the production sites and points of delivery, Russia is the best supplier for European economy. We are prepared to compete with anyone. We hope for fair competition within existing international legal norms.

With regard to the meeting with President Trump, I think of it positively and believe it was useful. No one expected a two-hour conversation to resolve every controversial issue. President Trump expressed his position on these matters, I said what I thought. An exchange of views and a direct conversation are always very useful.

With regard to the sanctions, these actions are counterproductive and meaningless, especially with respect to a country such as Russia. And it is not just the position of the President of the United States that matters. It is the position of the so-called deep state, the ruling class in the broad sense of the word. I hope that the realisation that this policy has no future will someday reach our American partners, and we will begin to cooperate in a normal way.

And, again, we want to thank Helsinki for hosting this meeting.

Question: My question is for the President of Finland.

If we may, let us return to a topic that has already been mentioned. I am speaking about your initiative to secure flights above the Baltics. This means that military aircrafts should fly in this region with their transponders turned on.

Russia has said many times, and President Putin has said again today, that Russia agrees with your proposal, but the problem lies in NATOs position: the alliance in not ready to follow these recommendations and will not agree to do this. Can you say, considering NATOs position, that your initiative has failed and should be given up?

Thank you.

Sauli Niinisto: My view on this issue is not as gloomy as you have described it.

Which stage or phase are we in right now? The stage when all the parties have delegated this issue to the ICAO as a civil aviation organisation. Some progress has been made in this work. We have developed good practices that can be applied; these mechanisms can also be used in military aviation.

This spring Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and his US colleague Joseph Dunford had a meeting in Helsinki, and I had meetings with both of them. I was surprised by how clear the interaction is in Syria in order to avoid any collisions or incidents. And, of course, the risks in that region are higher than in the Baltics. So I still hope that we will succeed in the Baltic Region and the situation will stabilise there.

Vladimir Putin: I agree with President of Finland. I do not think that the idea of scaling back confrontation and improving security in the Baltic Sea has failed. Of course not, just the opposite, it has become even more relevant lately. There are some technical problems, because the Russian army, Russian aviation and NATO countries aviation use slightly different equipment, which should be discussed by experts. But I believe the idea itself is important right now, and we will carefully continue to discuss it with our partners.Govt Confirms Air Quality Monitoring in the North District

Government have confirmed that the Environmental Agency will install new air quality monitoring devices in the North district this September.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Government explains that the programme forms part of the Department of the Environments expansion of the Air Quality Monitoring Network which will see air quality data collected from the Waterport area as well as the frontier. Similar monitoring devices will also be installed in the South District as a quality control measure.

"The device at the frontier forms part of an occupational exposure assessment whereas the Waterport monitoring station is geared towards monitoring the impacts of power generation and road traffic pollution."

"The new equipment to be deployed in Gibraltar is widely used in the UK by Local Authorities and will have the ability to monitor pollutants such as Particulate Matter, Nitrogen Oxide and Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Ozone. Data collected will be incorporated into the existing data management programme of the Gibraltar Air Quality Monitoring Programme. The Department will use these data to formulate evidence-based policies to ensure that air quality in different parts of Gibraltar meets EU standards."Photo: Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Earlier this month, the incomparable indie rock songwriter Mitski released her fifth album, Be the Cowboy. On it, slinky disco and country twinges intermingle with her ever-discerning ear for bringing revealing characters to life. Its a huge a sonic leap for a songwriter who, since 2012s Lush, has shown that she possesses a preternatural ability to encapsulate the messiness of growing up, falling in and out of love  and trying to find a foothold within a constant whiplash of changing people in a shifting world. In celebration of the new album, weve selected ten brilliant songs from her growing catalogue that illustrate her singular gifts for wordplay and songwriting.

Fireproof

Mitskis been known to pepper unexpected and sensational covers in her live sets (Im still thinking about her rendition of How Deep Is Your Love?). But last year, she recorded a distortion-laden cover of One Directions Fireproof for the First 100 Days benefit compilation. Its endlessly listenable, much like the original, but in a completely different way: What was originally an effervescent song becomes an absolute barnburner with Mitskis touch.

Once More to See You

On the bass-driven Once More to See You, Mitski delivers a heartbreaking ode to grappling with a love thats in stalemate. She and her beloved fear judgment from the world if they make their love known (we do have reputations, she says) but are incapable of being alone together. At once, this secret is a shared bond and a burden: If you would let me give you pinky promise kisses / Then I wouldnt have to scream your name atop of every roof in the city of my heart.

Dan the Dancer

The breakneck Dan the Dancer puts two of Mitskis great talents  for buoyant wordplay and taking on the perspective of a new character  front and center. She introduces the titular Dan as someone having very long limbs, from leading day to day, then details him as someone who lives on a very particular edge: Hanging onto a cliff that stretched him every day, now with only one hand because he extended it to a loved one. And through this, shes able to unpack the struggle it often is to show yourself fully to someone else.

A Burning Hill

A Burning Hill is nothing short of a revelation, a mastery of perspective that takes listeners through the role of observer and participant alike. This stripped-down number is a culmination of the growing pains Mitski orbits in Puberty 2. In particular, she pinpoints the fact that shes tired of wanting more / I think Im finally worn, all while trying to love the littler things amid going to work and sleeping. Sometimes thats all we can do, and thats okay!

First Love/Late Spring

The bittersweet nature of loving someone is a frequent fixture of Mitskis universe. First Love/Late Spring is at once a confession and a plea, the simultaneous realization that love is at once life-giving and life-altering. Wild women dont get the blues / But I find that / Lately Ive been crying like a tall child, she admits. Then, she sighs in the chorus: So please, hurry, leave me, I cant breathe, amid twinkles of piano and a mighty percussive section.

Jobless Monday

Few songwriters are as adept at picking apart the intricacies of intimacy as Mitski, and its especially true of songs like Jobless Monday, one of the many standouts on Makeout Creek. In just over two minutes, she struggles to get by without money to eat, while contending with a lover who only loves me when / theres a means he means to end. The song rises high and fast, not unlike the adrenaline rush of a doomed love, as she wishes for when they first met (He didnt know me yet, she wryly admits) while pleading for him to just do normal stuff like take her out in the daylight.

Last Words of a Shooting Star

The closing song on Makeout Creek, Last Words of a Shooting Star is a smoldering guitar ballad that also delivers some of the most devastating lyrics Mitskis ever penned. In it, she sings a farewell tune from the perspective of someone who lived a fleeting life. She imagines people walking into her home after shes passed away, at once feeling relief at the fact that that Id left my room tidy / Theyll think of me kindly / When they come for my things, while noting how theyll never know how Id stared at the dark in that room / With no thoughts / Like a blood-sniffing shark.

I Want You

While studying at SUNY Purchase, Mitski recorded her second album, Retired From Sad, New Career in Business, as her senior project that also featured her working with a 60-piece student orchestra. The collaboration is illuminating, not least because it suggested early on that Mitski was thinking about big sounds while drawing attention to a decidedly human struggle: indecision.

Abbey

Mitskis incredible vocal range  capable of shifting from snarls to howls at will  has always been an element central to her songwriting. In this early song from Lush, she toys with her voice as an instrument, allowing it to swirl around her words through vocal acrobatics and loops. Its a display of another side of her vocal talents while acting as a potent affirmation: I am something / I have been something, she sings.

Liquid Smooth

Mitskis first two albums, 2012s Lush and 2013s Retired From Sad, New Career in Business, were informed by her work as a studio composition major in college. Back then, she was mostly using piano to tell her stories through song. Yet her keen examinations of the futility of beauty, identity, and love  a fixture of her work  are evident from the first track from her first album. In it, she acknowledges the inevitability of aging (Biology, I am an organism, Im chemical) while simultaneously making an uncompromising statement about desire.Bachelor in Paradise Week 4, Part 2 Season 5 Episode 7 Editors Rating 3 stars * * *  Previous Next Photo: Paul Hebert/ABC

Its time we admit a few things about Bachelor in Paradise. First, they do not have enough footage to fill four hours a week. CUT AN HOUR OUT! How many minutes of a man walking sadly on a beach throwing sand into the ocean do we need? Second, and this is probably the most important thing:

WATCHING MEN BEHAVE IN A TOXIC WAY ISNT DRAMA OR INTRIGUE. ITS HARMFUL. JUST BECAUSE YOU PUT IT ON TELEVISION AND PUT A FUN CRAB WALKING THROUGH THE FRAME DOESNT MAKE IT ANYTHING OTHER THAN AWFUL.

Bachelor in Paradise decided to put another toxic, gross, violent man in a situation where he had access to women who are looking to ignore mens flaws to find love on a deadline. This time, Leo lashed out at Joe and Kendall after his gaslighting campaign. Why are we doing this? Who decided this was a good idea? Its fucking stressful to watch anyone fight and everyone looks tense and uncomfortable with Leo being there. Lets go back to the beginning of the episode and figure out how the fuck we got here.

The episode opens with Kendall still talking to Leo about him kissing Chelsea. Kendall needs to just WALK AWAY. When confronted with gaslighting, some women think that they can just convince the man to tell the truth and the problem will go away. Oh, Kendall, it wont go away. A huge part of your personality is obviously based on being the logical, clear-headed one, but this aint the one, girlie. Joe comes to pull Kendall away to save her from the poisonous feedback loop. When she sits down with Joe, shes still trying to figure out what is going on in Leos head. She thought if she could just tell him why hurting people is bad  DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF, KENDALL? She makes out with Joe when she realizes that the only thing going on in his head is visions of dancing giardiniera.

Before the rose ceremony, Benoit tries to understand whats going on in Jennas head. Another fools errand. He has a perfectly legitimate gripe. Hes upset that when Jenna dumped him she told him it was for his own benefit. She told him it was what was best for him. Hes an adult man with shorts and socks. Do not presume you know whats best for him. He tries to tell her that she dismissed his feelings and was complicating the situation. Jenna turns on the waterworks and starts yelling, MAYBE I AM COMPLICATED. The second a drunk white girl starts screaming MAYBE I AM COMPLICATED, run.

Jenna runs to Jordan to tell her that Benoit made her cry. She completely leaves out that Benoit was upset and trying to work through their breakup and deal with how dismissive she was of his feelings. Nah. Nope. None of that. Benoit yelled at me. Jordan tries to storm over to Benoit to let him know that making a lady cry is bad.

Once in fifth grade, I won a debate in my humanities class and the girl I beat was convinced I cheated. She thought I had my best friends fill out my scores before I delivered my talking points. I said she had no idea what she was talking about and she was just mad she lost. She dispatched her seventh-grade boyfriend, who sounded exactly like Homestar Runner, to get in my face about it. All he could muster was, If I ever hear youre talking about my girlfriend, youre gonna wish you never heard my voice.

Thats basically what this Jordan/Benoit fight was.

The next morning all the couples are deep in sensual bliss and Chelsea is the only one who has a rose up for grabs. So here come the untethered penises. Benoit convinces himself that Chelsea is the real woman for him and hes never felt this way before. They make out in a hammock.

The date card for the day is for Eric. He takes Angela on a date to a hotel suite with a seafood platter, a cheese cart, a bathtub full of 12 Champagne bottles, and a sundae the size of a toddler. This is the first date Ive ever seen that I would go on. This is my ideal date. Seafood. Platter. The most adorable thing is Eric cracking up while they wheel in cheese cart after dessert cart after cheese cart. While on the date, Angela and Eric pledge to be all-in. Is this irony or foreshadowing?

Chris tries to show Krystal how much he cares  by asking her to do her job for free. PAY HER, CHRIS.

Back at the resort, Kendall goes to chat with John and kisses him. I think John and Kenny might be tied for most kisses in Paradise. John might surpass Kenny by the end of the episode. Kendall immediately feels bad and runs off to tell Joe. Kendall tells herself and Joe that shes only kissing other people because she likes Joe so much. I cannot with these people. They both confess that theyre falling for each other.

Its time for the cocktail party. Leo decides to do a toast. Someone stop this. This toast is basically Kendall is a bitch and youre all phony. He calls Joe Grocery Store Bitch and that Taylor Street came out. Thats a Chicago reference. Joe gets riiiiiiiiiiiiiight up in his face, and Leos big move is to throw a drink in his face. THIS AINT HOUSEWIVES, BITCH. Leo is escorted out and the cocktail party continues. Colton gives Tia a plate of hot dogs and they eat one Lady and the Trampstyle. Why do they keep doing this? STOP KISSING WITH FOOD IN YOUR MOUTHS. Especially hot dogs.

Its time for the rose ceremony, all the usual couples stay together and its time for Chelseas wild card rose. She picks John and John thinks its because hes half-Asian and her ex-boyfriend is half-Asian. Is he fetishizing  himself? Oh, Chelsea.

Connor, Benoit, and David all are headed home.

Its a new morning in Paradise and there are a few new female arrivals. The men have the roses and Jenna sums up the problem with that: You cant come to paradise and expect the men to be any better. Theyre men. The first woman to come in is Olivia and shes got a FULL ON LEWK. She was on Aries season  I guess? She takes a few guys aside and everyone is locked down. Except for John. Oh, Chelsea. She takes him to a childs quinceanera and they make out.

The next female arrival starts a bit more drama. Up next is Cassandra and shes so hot, everyone loses their fucking minds. She looks like a baby Morena Baccarin and shes wearing so much makeup in what has to be 90-degree weather. Shes not here to play. She takes a few guys aside and they tell her shes locked down. Then she takes Eric aside, and suddenly, hes more open to new possibilities. He agrees to the date.

This is Defcon 1. This is relationship and emotional Defcon 1. Eric tells Angela that while he did say last night that he was all-in, he woke up with a newfound horniness for Cassandras booty. He needs to pursue other options to know if what he has with Angela is real.

I kept asking my boyfriend last night, Why dont these people just agree to date other people while still being together? They all met six days ago. Just say, Yeah, youre my boyfriend but kiss other people if you want. The second you have feelings, lets talk about it. You smooch. I smooch. We good? It would solve a lot of problems.

While Eric gets ready for his date, Angela stands around in the pool with a few of the other people as a coven of sadness. Astrid says that if one couple goes down, whats to stop the other ones too? Angela retreats to her room to weep while Cassandra and Eric walk off to their date.

TO BE CONTINUED Castle Rock Past Perfect Season 1 Episode 8 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * *  Previous Next Photo: Dana Starbard/Hulu

Does Henry Deaver really bring death with him wherever he goes? As a colleague of the now-deceased Alan Pangborn brutally reminds him, Henry has brought only pain to Castle Rock. Not only was he basically run out of town after people suspected him of killing his father, but there has been a lot of death since he returned, including the massacre at Shawshank and now the death of a Castle Rock legend. And thats not even the end of it. Before Past Perfect, more death will visit the life of Henry Deaver in the form of the lunatics who bought Warden Lacys house. Theres a Grim Reaper over the shoulder of Henry Deaver, and he definitely gets more active whenever the boy who disappeared comes back to Maine.

After the harrowing finale of The Queen, the writers of Past Perfect pull an interesting trick by delaying our return to characters we know and love, like Ruth and Henry. Its a very King device, ending one chapter on a cliffhanger but then delaying our return to the protagonist or regular supporting characters with something that first feels like a tangent or even a short story within a main story. In this case, its the story of a professor named Gordon and his wife. Remember them? They were interested in buying Warden Lacys house from Molly Strand. Well, it turns out they did! And things went downhill fast from there.

With the modern love of true-crime stories, it makes a certain kind of twisted sense to open a bed and breakfast centered on our obsession with such things, especially in a place with as much of a violent history as Castle Rock. However, Gordon probably had no idea what he would unleash within himself, killing their first paying customers in the middle of the night. Was Gordon always going to be a murderer or did Castle Rock bring it out of him?

Gordons wife helps him cover up the crime but Jackie Torrance stumbles on the scene, suspicious that something isnt quite right here, and its not just the creepy paintings of the Kid hanging everywhere. Later that night, Henry makes his way to the Lacy home, curious about what was in the wardens basement. He breaks into the house, making his way to a room filled with the aforementioned creepy art, and he has a momentous revelation. We already knew the Kid was immortal, but Andre Holland beautifully sells the terror that sinks in as he notices the dates on all the paintings change but the face remains the same. Hes looked this way for 27 years, since the year Henry Deaver disappeared as a child. Just then, a wonderfully choreographed and remarkably inept fight scene breaks out as Gordons wife tries to stab Henry, getting her husband instead and then nailing her own jugular in the process. Jackie comes to the rescue, saving Henry with, of course, an ax. Would a Torrance have it any other way?

While this odd little short story within a big story was the main focus of Past Perfect, other plot threads progressed this week that are worth discussing. First, theres the development of Wendell, Henrys son, who first seemed like he might be a bit of a plot device, a way to play with Ruths memory even more, but now appears to be much more. Henry tries to get him on a bus out of town, but its almost as if theres a force that doesnt want him to leave. A bird crashes into the windshield of the bus before its even hit the road, and then Wendell experiences what sounds like feedback  hes clearly inherited his fathers gift. In the middle of the night, while dad is fighting for his life, Wendell gets off the bus and starts walking back to Castle Rock.

And then theres Molly. Mrs. Strand, the woman with a supernatural connection to Henry Deaver, gets a visitor in the final scenes of the episode, but thats after she saves Henry from Odins camper. We see Odin dead outside. Molly takes Henry home to the nightmare that is the accidental murder of Alan by Ruth, and theres a beat there worth considering as well. When the Kid shows Henry Deaver the body, he offers to help protect Ruth. If Wendell hadnt called the cops, would Henry have taken it? Does anyone get the sense that the Kid is trying to partner with Henry rather than be an antagonist? He wants someone else who hears it too.

Back to Molly. First, its worth noting that Molly takes a bunch of pills to quiet her visions  which is the best explanation as to why she doesnt feel whats going on with Henry at the B&B From Hell. The episode climaxes in a visit from the Kid to Mollys house, a legendary location in Castle Rock. He makes it clear how supernatural he is, revealing how much he knows about her background. As Henry gets a call from the pastor about a confused Ruth, the Kid says something wonderfully mysterious and threatening. As he looks out the window with Molly at the woods, he says he was out there with her. And he tells her, Thats where you died.

Four Past Midnight

 Theres an intriguing beat when, after saving Henrys life, Jackie says, I wasnt myself anymore. It might sound standard on any other show, but theres been a lot of implications this year that people in Castle Rock can be controlled by others, including Molly/Henry and the Kid. Was Jackie being controlled in that moment?

 Wondering about that terrifying audio in the final scenes that sound like far-off voices and a record scratch? Its actually a song called Miste by Haxan Cloak.

 This episode has such a different structure than The Queen, paced with longer scenes and less-stylized editing. Its fun to see a show that can switch it up formally week to week and still feel consistent.

 There are only two episodes left! Ill miss the characters of Castle Rock, but youll be happy to know it was just renewed for a second season.Ken Jeong. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

As their hit romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians continues to rake in the box-office dollars, director Jon M. Chu and actor Ken Jeong have decided to collaborate again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeong has just signed a deal with Netflix for his first-ever comedy special, with Chu attached to helm the project. Right now its called Ken Jeong: First Date (though that title is described as tentative) and it will find the doctor turned entertainer discussing his transition from the medical field to comedy, while touching on personal topics like how his wifes breast cancer battle influenced his decision to be in The Hangover. The special is set to arrive sometime next year.Kanye. Photo: Randy Holmes/ABC

It mightve taken him a deep breath and a pause that extended over two weeks, but Kanye is finally ready to answer Jimmy Kimmels question about whether or not he thinks Donald Trump cares about black people. Earlier this month, Kanye got out of answering the question by taking too long to respond so that Kimmel had to cut to a commercial break, which Kanye later said wasnt him intentionally avoiding the question or being stumped by it, he just needed time to think. And that time was 19 days, apparently. West appeared on Chicagos WGCI radio station this morning where he was once again faced with Kimmels exact same question  and once again took another pause, blinked repeatedly, then actually answered:

I feel that he cares about the way that black people feel about him and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool and in rap songs. And he will do the things that are necessary to make that happen. Because hes got an ego like the rest of us and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he cant be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community. So its something that hes gon have to work towards, but we gon have to speak to him.

He also touched on his relationship with Drake, saying there isnt any beef on his end, and he believes Drake was upset over a beat. It hits me in a really sensitive place because you hang around people, they come to your house and be around your family, then they get mad over a beat and send you purple demon emoji. He continued, I feel that it was insensitive for him to stress me out in any way after TMZ while I was in Wyoming healing, pulling all pieces together, and working on my music. But well reconcile that one day because we got to. Weve got work to do. Our voices are too powerful. Kanye also said he did not intervene in the DrakePusha T beef ([Pusha] is his own man) and did not feed Pusha T the information about Drakes son. Dont pull me into this conversation, he said.

Later, the interview turned emotional as host Kendra G confronted Kanye about his comments to TMZ that slavery was a choice  which Kanye once again insisted were taken out of context  and why his words brought such intense pain to the black community, prompting her to break down in tears and him to apologize: I have never really approached or addressed the slavery comment fully. And its not something for me to overly intellectualize. This is something about the fact that it hurt peoples feelings and the way that I presented that piece of information. I could present in a way more calm way, but I was ramped up. And I apologize. That happens sometimes when people are  Im not blaming mental health, but Im explaining mental health.

Kanye also revealed that he took media training following the slavery comment, but hed rather have spoken to people affected by the comment. He added that the TMZ debacle couldve been avoided entirely were his old manager, Don C, still in the picture. The downfall of Kanye West is directly related to Don C not being around, he said, fighting back tears.Younger Lizability Season 5 Episode 12 Editors Rating 3 stars * * *  Previous Next  Photo: TVLand

No. No. No. Were going to give Liza and Charles everything they ever wanted  including holding hands in public  and end this glorious season on their happy, hopeful faces turning into straight-up terrified ones? Is this The Graduate? I know we need story for season six, but hard pass. Let these two live! Give me the SeaGlass Carousel or give me death!

Several things went haywire in order for Liza and Charles to end on that ominous note. Lets start with Chick(y), which everyone agrees is the actual worst name for an imprint; even Cheryl Sussman, in her heart of hearts, is gagging. Chick(y) is the name of the womens fiction imprint Cheryl is giving to Liza to run, should she sign a contract with Plaza Publishing. Plaza is a much larger operation than Empirical, and Cheryl is offering the salary to prove it. Still, as sure as Liza seemed about moving on from Empirical in Frankfurt, shes not ready to sign a contract just yet.

Shell be glad she waited. Charles has lunch with Quinn Tyler, who informs him that after being privy to the wonderful things going on at his company  shes very impressed with Kelsey and Liza  shes gathered a group of investors who want to inject some capital into the struggling company. I want to put my money where my passion is, she says, eyeing Charles like hes what shes eating for lunch. Regardless of if Quinns passion is books or Brooks, its great news and Charles is obviously very excited about it as he relays the message to Kelsey and Liza  but theres a catch. Theres always a catch!

Quinn wants to make Millennial the flagship brand of the company. Kelsey and Liza would be leading the way. As Kelsey fends off a wave of nausea, she tells her partner that theres no way she can leave now. This is the big time, and Kelsey needs her. But Liza disagrees  this investment is exactly why she needs to go. If she stays and Quinn makes an investment predicated on Liza misrepresenting herself, it wont end well. Kelsey can do this on her own, Liza is sure of it. And also, no big deal, but Liza leaving means she and Charles can make out publicly, which everyone is in favor of. So its decided  Liza will officially accept the job at Chick(y).

Except, she wont. Liza tells Quinn that shes leaving Empirical and Quinn goes all Claws on her. It makes absolutely no sense for Liza to leave an imprint she basically created just as it is about to jump into the big leagues. So Liza tells Quinn the real reason. As in, Liza tells Quinn everything. Man, Liza has been playing fast and loose with this lie that she guarded so closely for several seasons. Just shout it from the streets at this point  or, at the very least, tell Diana.

Quinn is shocked, but also sees this as an opportunity. Shell make Liza a star  and increase sales of her own book  by exposing the story. Theres no way Lizas leaving Empirical now. She talks it over with Charles and, like, I know they are saying very cute things about holding hands while talking in third-person pronouns, but my brain doesnt fully register it because Charles is holding his jacket over his shoulder with one finger as they stroll through Bryant Park like he is some kind of old-timey movie star. Between this and him cooking cacio e pepe, season five of Younger should really be called, wait for it  Mon-Swoon Season. Thank you and goodnight, I shall now retire from this cruel world.

Okay, Im back. Charles is onboard with Liza staying  shed be an executive of Millennial and not an assistant, so taking their relationship public would be much less scandalous. It could work out. But it doesnt.

Liza meets with Cheryl the next day to reject the Chick(y) offer and stumbles into a surprise welcoming party. When Liza drops the bomb, Cheryl is livid. That woman from Plaza dressed in an actual chicken costume must be questioning her life choices. In retaliation, Cheryl leaks the story of Charles dating a 27-year old assistant to both Page Six and Quinn Tyler. Quinns not pleased and the investors are going to back out. They dont want to be part of a sex scandal that involves the face of the company. But Charles has an idea: What if he werent the face of the company?

Which brings us to Charles and Quinn making some pretty monumental announcements: Millennial is the Brand and Empirical is taking a backseat. Charles is becoming chairman of the board (or, as Diana explains, is being put out to pasture), and Kelsey  our little Kelsey, you guys  is being promoted to Charless old job. This seems like a terrible and also implausible idea!

Yes, Charles tells Liza that hes happy because he gets a new life with his daughters and Liza, and he gets to watch his fathers company grow with Liza there. And yes, they share a rom-com-worthy kiss. But again: their final, anxiety-ridden expressions tell a completely different story. But that is a story for season six.

Hey! Kelsey will have a lot to deal with next season too, what with her overwhelming responsibilities as publisher at a major publishing house. Heres hoping Zane will still be causing her trouble even though he jumps the Empirical ship once he hears that Millennial is becoming the focus of the company. Before he leaves, Kelsey learns from Charles that Zane turned down taking Capitol Letters from Kelsey when Jake requested a change and she learns from Zane that he did it because he was in love with her. Kelseys dated a lot of guys on this show, but shes never had more chemistry than with Zane. Our girl deserves a great love story too  fingers crossed this is it.

Finally, Ive saved the biggest gasp-inducing cliffhanger for last. Josh is seriously considering being Malkies sperm donor. To help her pal make this huge decision, Lauren suggests partaking in a sacred cacao ceremony to reach true enlightenment. Its a very weird turn of events, but never expect anything less with Lauren.

In his enlightened state, Josh sees himself with both an adorable baby and also Liza. Blessings to all the #TeamJosh people out there who have been starving for something like this. Josh interprets the vision to mean that when he has a child, he wants it to be with someone he loves. So, no sperm donation. But Laurens sacred cacao has obviously awoken some type of cosmic force because a surprising visitor comes a-calling for Josh. Theres a knock at the door. Its Clare. And shes pregnant. Lay off the cacao, everybody!

Its Trout Season

 Diana finally gets her rom-com moment  and it all has to do with a fatberg (a solid sewer blockage made from cooking fat and other things you shouldnt dump down the drain). Doesnt that feel right for our Queen Trout?

 Enzo is selected to be part of the Fatberg Five, an elite team chosen to go in and remove the blockage. It sounds like a Michael Bay movie. (Is it a Michael Bay movie?) Enzo warns Diana of the dangers, but Diana cannot take a plumbing emergency seriously. They get into a big fight and Diana fears it might be over, until she sees on the news that theres been a fatberg accident and Enzo has gone missing. She goes to him, hes rescued, and they reunite in the street. She does not gag. Not even once. I cannot say enough how much I love this for Diana.

 Same goes for how often Younger gives us these precious little Diana-Liza moments. Diana tries to blow off the possible end to her relationship, but Liza doesnt let her off so easy. She offers words of comfort, even if Diana doesnt want to show that she might be hurting. These two wont ever hug, but they should.

 Obviously, Diana always has killer outfits, but her pink bodycon dress with her giant black-and-white floral necklace in this episode is one of the all-time greats.

 So, the Fatberg is real and it is disgusting.

 I dont totally buy this Kelsey-as-a-publisher thing, but I am extremely ready to watch Kelsey and Diana butt heads next season. Dont mess with the Trout, Kels.

 Savor these words of wisdom as we head into our Trout Hiatus: Im a grown woman, Liza. I dont need a man to hold my hand during a spa treatment.There's a great tradition of farewell addresses in American life, usually written by departing presidents saying goodbye to our nation after their terms in office.

But Sen. John McCain, a man whose patriotic stature rivals and even exceeds many presidents, issued his farewell address in a letter read two days after his death by his long-time aide Rick Davis. As emotional as it was for Davis to read, it was equally poignant for those of us who admired McCain to listen to.

George Washington John McCain Political Figures - US

As with all farewell addresses, it offered a distillation of hard-won wisdom from his life in war and peace.

George Washington's Farewell Address is the first and perhaps still most iconic leave-taking in American history and established a tradition that McCain followed by instinct.

Washington's Farewell begins with an expression of gratitude to his "friends and fellow citizens" for a lifetime of service, an admission of having made mistakes and an expression of hope that those mistakes are outweighed by his attempt to serve our nation with honor.

McCain did just that at the outset of his address to his "Fellow Americans," writing: "I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them."

Farewell addresses also define core principles of our country, as McCain's did: "We are citizens of the world's greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world."

But the other great tradition of farewell addresses is that they offer a warning to future generations. Washington warned about the forces that could destroy our democratic republic, drawing on the lessons of his life and understanding of history, a subject I covered extensively in my book, "Washington's Farewell." Andrew Jackson's farewell warned against the siren song of secession. Dwight David Eisenhower famously warned against the rise of the "military industrial complex." And in January 2017, Barack Obama warned against threats to our democracy at home and abroad.

McCain warned against departing from our deepest ideals, which are the cornerstone of American exceptionalism: "We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been."

It is hard not to hear in those words an implicit diss to President Donald Trump and the divisive politics he has come to symbolize. But the fact that those sentiments have an urgent edge in the current environment is one way to gauge how far we have lurched from traditional American terms of debate. After all, "us and against them" is the opposite of our national motto, e pluribus unum: Out of many, one.

But farewell addresses always offer a redeeming hope, a renewable source of strength we can draw upon to get through hard times. McCain's did the same, reminding Americans that for all our differences and sometimes "vociferous" debates, "we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country, we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do."

McCain's final advice was to tap into the wellspring of defiant optimism that has always defined us as Americans: "Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history."

It was an eloquent final statement from a great man who is part of an even greater American tradition. His powerful example in life -- and now in death -- can continue to inspire and guide us through stormy skies.

Godspeed John McCain, from your fellow Americans.It's a really unusual day when state authorities have to call the Navy's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team.

But when there's what looks like a mine floating in a bay not far from a marina, that's what you do.

Armed forces Military Unexploded ordnance Weapons and arms

While people on land were told to stay inside, the Coast Guard on Tuesday set up a safety zone and Navy divers went into Port Orchard Bay in Puget Sound in Washington to lasso the big, round, rusted object with metal prongs bobbing in the water.

"Upon initial inspection, the unidentified moored mine was found to have decades of marine growth," the Navy said.

The mine broke loose from its anchor, spokeswoman Sheila Murray said.

The crew towed the mine away for hours while authorities tried to keep residents and news helicopters circling the area away.

They asked residents to take shelter in their homes, keep their pets inside and avoid the beaches.

Just after 8 p.m. local time, the decades-old mine was detonated, sending water rushing up into the air.

It was safer to detonate the mine far from the shore, the Navy said.

The US Coast Guard had established a 1,500-yard safety zone around the unexploded ordnance, Coast Guard spokeswoman Ali Flockerzi said.

The object was discovered by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.Surveillance video shows two people breaking into a Pennsylvania pet store and stealing three baby alligators.

Posted: Aug 29, 2018 10:05 AMAn Ohio teenager missing since witnessing the murder of his dad a year ago has been found safe.

Posted: Aug 29, 2018 10:20 AMA letter to Madison County school board members says former Hazel Green High principal Darrell Long wants to rescind his resignation.

Darrell Long resigned as principal in early August for family and personal reasons according to a Madison County School Board member.

The letter from The Law Offices of Mastando and Artrip states as we understand it, Mr. Long was forced to resign as a result of the threat of termination and criminal prosecution for something he did not do.

The letter goes into background information stating Superintendent Matt Masseys opinion of Long changed in 2017 when Massey learned Long had aspirations of becoming a school superintendent. The letter states in the spring of 2017, Massey encouraged Long to seek appointment to the Decatur City Schools Superintendents position and when Long failed to do so, Massey encouraged him to keep looking into the possibility and Long shared he wanted to go to the Superintendent Academy. In 2018, according to Mastando and Artrip, Long told Massey he planned to enroll in the Superintendent College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this fall, which according to the letter proved to be his undoing.

The letter goes on to state in 2018 Ms. Kathy Helton asked Mr. Long if he wanted her to remove certain absence notations from school records for those students who failed to matriculate and instead left school never to return. Mr. Long gave his consent. The letter states this is a process thats performed in every high school in the state and is referred to as the process of purging the roles of teenagers who drop out.

According to the letter, there was an investigation conducted by Superintendent Matt Massey and the details of that investigation are still a mystery and as a result Mr. Long was accused of wrongdoing. He was threatened with criminal prosecution and termination if he did not resign. Mr. Massey never revealed to Mr. Long what he was accused of. The letter goes on to state there was never any credible evidence of criminal conduct. The crime does not exist. Thats when, according to the letter, Long was given 24 hours to decide his course of action.

Long is requesting one of the following to happen:

1) Reinstatement pursuant to his three-year employment agreement

2) Payment of the balance of the remuneration under the agreement

3) A date by which a proper termination hearing be set and conducted

WAAY 31 did ask Superintendent Matt Massey about the allegations in the letter, he told us The things that were in that letter, or that were reported, are just not true.

Massey recommended Dr. Quinn Headen as the new principal of Hazel Green High at Tuesday nights Madison County Board of Education meeting.Two construction workers died in the collapse of scaffolding at a hotel under construction outside Orlando, Florida, WFTV reported. The collapse happened Wednesday shortly after 4:15 AM Eastern time. Authorities said four workers were on the scaffolding when it suddenly left go sending two workers to the ground six stories below. A third was pulled to safety by the fourth workers - neither were hurt.

This happened as the workers were ready to pour concrete at the project. OSHA, the Occupational Safety Hazard Administration, will step in to investigate the incident. The names of the two workers killed in the collapse were not released.Deputies in Morgan County arrested two men on drug charges following a drug bust behind a gas station on Tuesday morning. Deputies found the men inside a car behind a Chevron near Highway 36 and I-65. The two men inside were traveling from New York to Ozark, Alabama. A search of their vehicle turned up marijuana, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. The Morgan County Sheriff's Office also reported $12,000 cash which is believed to be the profits from illegal drug sales.

Lee Dewert is now charged with Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance- Methamphetamine and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond is set at $1,800.

Theodore Hartman is charged with two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance- Methamphetamine & Suboxone as well as Unlawful Possession of Marijuana 2nd Degree and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond is $3,600.As part of the ongoing Mercator programme assistance provided to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) of Sierra Leone to support the implementation of the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, the WCO conducted a valuation mission in Freetown between 20 and 24 August. This mission was conducted in the framework of the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme, financially supported by the Government of the United Kingdom through Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

As part of this mission, a four-day workshop was conducted, designed to strengthen the technical valuation and training delivery skills of 15 NRA officials. The workshop included a refresher on WTO Valuation methodology, a series of technical exercises and discussions on practical aspects of valuation control, based on the WCOs Revenue Package. The workshop was opened by Ms. Lizbal Heroe, Assistant Commissioner, Central Services of the NRA and facilitated by two representatives of the WCO and a WCO-accredited Valuation expert from the Tanzania Revenue Authority. Previously WCO-trained trainers from the NRA were also given the opportunity to deliver certain part of the workshop as part of the mentoring process.

In addition, the mission included a meeting with development partners with permanent representation in Sierra Leone, including the UK funded Department for International Development (DfiD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The purpose of this meeting was to ensure coordinated and complementary efforts in the implementation of TFA related support in Sierra Leone and to avoid any type of duplications, an approach which is fully supported by the Management of the NRA.

This mission was delivered to support the implementation of Article 10.5 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which outlines the importance of terminating private sector inspection contracts and taking back control of core Customs functions, including Customs valuation and tariff classification. The WCO looks forward to continuing its collaboration with Sierra Leone in line with the tailor-made track of the Mercator Programme.Flags fly at the new veteran's memorial in Kimball's Gotte Park following the dedication ceremony on Monday, Aug. 27, though they will remain at half-staff until the late Senator John McCain III is buried. Turn to page 8 for more photos.

Flags fly high at Kimball's Gotte Park with the completion of phase one of the Veteran's Memorial, a project two years in the making.

On Monday, Aug. 27, citizens gathered with community leaders, local scouts, and representatives from Francis E. Warren Air Force Base of Cheyenne, Wyo., as well as Carol Brehm, a representative of ACE (Alliance for Community Energy).

Nearly $8,000 in ACE returns were used to complete the first phase of this project, which include ground breaking, a concrete base, one 30 foot flag pole and six 25 foot poles as well as the flags that now grace the park.

"It is events like this that really underscores what ACE is really all about. Now in its 20th year, I can say ACE has been a success to its Nebraska communities," Brehm said. "Through ACE's revenue return program, ACE has returned $2 million into Nebraska communities to fund community projects such as playgrounds, parks and youth programs. Congratulations on a very fitting project, honoring our military men and women."

United State Air Force Lieutenant Colonel George L. "Ripper" Chapman, Commander of the 320th Missile Squadron added, "Kimball is a very special community. As we were driving into Kimball, the streets are just lined with American flags. I asked my flight commander, 'Why do they have all the flags out?' and he responded to me, 'Because its America, Sir.'"

Local girl scouts, Dakota Vrbas and Grace Moore raised the United States flag with the assistance of troop leader Amira Moore. Boy Scout Troop leader Jon Shepard assisted local scout Parker Kudebeh in the raising of the Nebraska State flag.

Veterans from Kimball County raised flags representing the United State Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

Tonia Copeland/Western Nebraska Observer

"It is a pleasure to be out here and I am very grateful to have been extended the invitation," Chapman said. "The dedication and the flagpoles you have set up to honor your veterans is very telling of this community. Those flags represent something to people, and behind each of those flags represents individuals who served their country for a cause that was greater than themselves."

Phase two will include memorial bricks that can be purchased to lay in the v-shape semi-circle made by the poles.

"People can by bricks with a veterans name engraved on them," Prunty said. "Phase three would be a kiosk, similar to the one at the cemetery, with the information of any veteran, past or present, in the County of Kimball. You can have a picture, commendations, and other information for a nominal fee."

Prunty added that there would eventually be a gazebo covering the kiosk at the park as well.Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Aug. 28, 2018 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 28, 2018 | 08:53 PM | PADUCAH

At Tuesday's meeting, Paducah city commissioners took action to address recent incidents at the Keeton Correctional Facility.



Commissioners approved an emergency ordinance requiring all private correctional facilities in the city to inform the Paducah Police Department, McCracken County Sheriffs Department, Kentucky State Police and all correctional facility employees upon determining that a probationer, inmate, or parolee may have escaped from custody or is otherwise unaccounted for.



The emergency ordinance came in response to previous escapes of inmates at the facility located at 621 Clarence Gaines Street. In an incident earlier this month, several hours reportedly went by before the public was notified.



The issue was brought before the commission at the August 21 meeting by commissioner Richard Abraham. Abraham told the board that he believes the Keeton Correctional Facility needs to move out of Paducah. He said that it is not good enough to just "treat the symptoms."



Last week Abraham said there have reportedly been over 160 escapes from the facility since 2013, and moving elsewhere seems to be the only solution to fix the problem.Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Aug. 29, 2018 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 29, 2018 | 05:08 PM | PADUCAH

Police are warning residents again that they should lock their vehicles and hide or remove their valuables.



Paducah Police say they are investigating a series of thefts from vehicles on Martin Circle, which is just off Lone Oak Road. All of the thefts took place overnight, and all of the vehicles were unlocked. Electronics, money, firearm accessories, purses and backpacks were taken.



Police also say a 2003 Honda Pilot was stolen after it was left unlocked with the keys in it. The SUV was recovered Wednesday morning in a wooded area near South 23rd and Barnett Streets.



Anyone with information on these thefts is asked to contact Paducah Police at 270-444-8550 or Crime Stoppers at 270-443-TELL, or use the new "WKY Crime Stoppers" app, which is available at Google Play or the Apple Store.By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 29, 2018 | 08:30 AM | CALLOWAY COUNTY

A Calloway County man has been arrested on child sexual exploitation charges.

The Kentucky State Police Electronic Crime Branch arrested 38-year-old Derik G. Timmons Tuesday night on charges related to the distribution and possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor. Timmons was arrested as the result of an undercover Internet Crimes Against Children investigation.

The KSP Electronic Crime Branch began the investigation after discovering Timmons sharing files of child sexual exploitation online. The investigation resulted in the execution of a search warrant at a home in Almo, where equipment used to facilitate the crime was seized and taken to KSPs forensic laboratory for examination. The investigation is ongoing.

Timmons was jailed in the Calloway County Jail on three counts of distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, 20 counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and one count of tampering with physical evidence. Each charge is a Class-D felony punishable by one to five years in prison.By Leah Long Aug. 28, 2018 | 08:08 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Paducah's City Commission took swift action Tuesday evening, approving by motion, a unanimous recommendation from the Traffic Commission to implement a three-way stop sign at the intersection of Pecan Drive and Buckner Lane.City Manager Jim Arndt explained that the three-way stop sign would be the first phase and the the city would implement the second phase of a right turn lane with traffic lights in the fiscal year 2020, which would take effect in July of 2019.The intersection of Buckner Lane and Pines Road was also discussed, but the Traffic Commission's recommendation was to do nothing at this time. That decision is the same as recommended in the HDR engineering study.City engineer Rick Murphy told the commission that the city would most likely install new oversized stop signs to get the attention of drivers.Commissioner Richard Abraham said, "We're talking about changing behavior in driving. that's going to take a minute. So anything we put there that's not there now is going to start that process. So if this is the first phase of it, then by the time we get the traffic light there folks are really going to appreciate that a lot more than the three-way stop."Prior to the start of regular business, Michelle Smolen, City of Paducah administrative assistant, introduced Ashley Starks of Innovations Branding House. The city has contracted with the company to provide research the determine the early adopters, the people in the community who engage with city government and are first to adopt ideas; what are the effective communication tools to reach them; and what is the strategy for communicating the strategic plan that is under development.Starks, a brand strategist, explained that to complete the research, Innovations Branding House is conducting community surveys and a survey of employees. They also are reviewing how other cities communicated their strategic plan elements and engaged citizens. To take the survey, individuals may visit www.paducahinsights.com.In other action, two emergency ordinances for change order number three and change order number four for the city hall phase one project. These change orders are related to activities on the interior of the building around the lantern, the atrium area with the skylights.One of the items in the city hall rehabilitation project is the replacement of the skylight windows and their trim in addition to the refinishing of the wood grid on the interior of the ceiling around the skylights. The replacement of the skylight windows and trim has been completed. However, Baccus Oliver of Bacon Farmer Workman Engineering explained to the commissioners when the wood grid on the ceiling was being removed, a small portion of the ceiling material fell. This caused the work in that area to stop until more review could take place.After reviewing the material, two points were observed: 1) the ceiling material is not fully intact and in danger of coming loose; therefore, it needs to be removed and replaced; and 2) the material is more than just the concrete as outlined in the 1963 construction plans. The concrete material has a thin plaster finish applied to it, which testing reveals contains a low level of asbestos.City Hall has been tested through air monitoring and surface testing. Testing reveals that exposure to any asbestos for staff and the public was negligible. To safely remove the material from the ceiling, crews will work during the city hall closure time from late Thursday, August 30 through Monday, September 3. Employees and the public will not be allowed in the building during that time.Change order number three is related to work that has been completed so far related to the ceiling issue. Items in the change order include the placement of large scaffolding and a curtain barrier in the interior of city hall and the testing and clean-up services. Change order number three increases the contract with A&K construction by $63,854.Change order number four is related to work that will take place this upcoming weekend to remove the interior ceiling material and the future work to repair and paint the ceiling. Change order number four increases the A&K contract by $154,193. With these two change orders, the total contract with A&K Construction is $4,322,283.The contract with A&K to rehabilitate City Hall was approved by the Paducah Board of Commissioners in January, and work began in March. The project includes the rehabilitating and improving of City Halls roofing membrane, concrete overhang (canopy) through steel beam stabilization of roof cantilevers, facade, heating and cooling systems, skylights, windows, and exterior doors. To read highlights from the meeting, visit the link below.

On the Net:By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 28, 2018 | 02:17 PM | MURRAY

A live hand grenade and its disposal caused the closure of an intersection in Murray Tuesday afternoon.Sgt. Brant Shutt of Murray Police Department told Murray State News that a person was cleaning out a home and found the World War II era grenade. The man brought it to the police department at 5th and Poplar Streets because he wasn't sure if it was real. After checking the device, detectives determined that the grenade could be live, so they took it to a nearby park and set up a 300-foot perimeter to protect buildings and people.Shutt said residents in a couple of neighboring homes were asked to shelter in place. Police also issued a press release asking everyone to avoid the area.With help from the Paducah Police Department bomb squad and Kentucky State Police hazardous device unit, an x-ray determined that the grenade was live. It was secured and taken to another area to be destroyed.Streets in the area, which had been closed for over an hour, reopened after the investigation.

On the Net:Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Aug. 28, 2018 | MARSHALL COUNTY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 28, 2018 | 07:44 PM | MARSHALL COUNTY

Law enforcement agencies in multiple states are looking for a Murray man that is wanted on numerous charges from several locations.



Marshall County Sheriff Kevin Byars told West Kentucky Star on Tuesday, that Marshall County Sheriff's deputies were assisting Calloway County Sheriff's deputies in serving warrants on 32-year-old Brock Mardis, earlier this month.



According to Byars, when Mardis saw law enforcement approaching, he fled, and a high speed chase began. Deputies chased Mardis to the Soldier Creek Bottoms area of southeastern Marshall County, where Mardis abandoned his vehicle, and fled on foot. Deputies were unable to locate him after that.



Byars said they had information that Mardis possibly fled to the Paducah area, but searches have not been successful. He also said that he had previously lived in Florida, and that information received indicates that he may have returned there.



Mardis is charged in Marshall County with 1st degree wanton endangerment of a police officer, reckless driving, and 1st degree fleeing and evading police. He also has charges pending in Calloway and McCracken Counties, and according to the Florida Department of Corrections, has violated probation in Palm Beach County.



Anyone with information on Brock Mardis is asked to contact the Marshall County Sheriff's Department or the Calloway County Sheriff's Department.On April 27, while in the custody of the Wetzel County Sheriffs Office, Joseph Marcum took control of a police cruiser in an attempt to escape. The two citizens who managed to detain Marcum were recognized for their heroic acts on Tuesday, Aug. 21.

On April 27, the police cruiser was parked at the Wetzel County Magistrate Office, with Marcum inside, when Deputy Donald Bordenkircher exited the cruiser briefly to speak with Chief Deputy Rob Hayes. At that point Marcum managed to slip to the front of the cruiser, where he gained control of the vehicle in an attempt to escape.

Marcum headed north on Main Street before crashing into a telephone pole. Tim Martie and Joey Dawson who were working nearby, were able to detain Marcum until deputies arrived shortly thereafter.

On Tuesday, Aug. 21, the WCSO honored the two citizens for their assistance in detaining the escaped prisoner.

We wish to show our appreciation to Tim and Joey for their assistance. Without their presence and assistance it is uncertain what else might have occurred to any innocent bystanders that day, commented Sheriff Mike Kootnz.

Both Martie and Dawson said they were glad to be of help and thanked the sheriffs office for the nice recognition and plaques on their behalf.Joseph Tyler Marcum, 28, of 1421 Sixth Ave., Charleston, W.Va., was sentenced on Thursday, Aug. 23 for the felony offense of escape from custody and the felony offense of grand larceny.

Marcum had recently pleaded guilty to the charges through a plea agreement with the state. The offenses stem from an incident on April 27, 2018 when Marcum took possession of a sheriff deputys vehicle while in custody on another charge.

The Honorable Judge Jeffrey Cramer told Marcum that his (Marcums) criminal history shows he has been in trouble almost every year for the past five years. Cramer said Marcums actions on April 27 put the public as well as the police in danger and could have resulted in an even larger event had Marcum not wrecked the police cruiser soon after escaping.

Marcum was sentenced to a determinate five years in prison on the escape charge and one to 10 years for the grand larceny charge. The sentences were ordered to run consecutive, and Marcum was ordered to make restitution. He was remanded to the West Virginia Division of Corrections to begin serving the sentence. He was given credit for time served.

James Robert Bradley, 47, appeared in court alongside his attorney Brett Ferro on a petition to revoke Bradleys probation.

Bradley pleaded guilty in May 2016, by way of Alford, to one count of displaying obscene material to a minor.

On Aug. 23 Bradley agreed to waive his preliminary hearing and admitted to drug and alcohol use and illegal use of a controlled substance, which are against the rules of his probation. There are new charges against Bradley which Ferro says the defense plans to contest.

Judge Cramer sentenced Bradley to one year in prison with credit for time served. Bradley was also ordered to report to the West Virginia State Police within three days upon his release. He was remanded to jail to begin serving his term.

Stacy Nicole Jones, 35, of 186 Scaffold Run, Spencer, W.Va., was scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 23 for a sentencing hearing; she failed to appear, and Judge Cramer issued a capias warrant for her arrest. Jones was indicted by he January term of the grand jury on a one count felony charge of grand larceny. She also has a capias warrant for her arrest from the Wetzel County Magistrate Office for failing to appear on Wednesday, Aug. 22.

Robert Lee Greathouse, 42, of Pine Grove, W.Va., appeared in court alongside Attorney Ferro on a petition to revoke his probation and an adjudicatory hearing. Greathouse was accused of violating a protective order by allegedly making a phone call to his ex-girlfriends mother and leaving a message threatening his ex-girlfriend and their child.

At the hearing on Thursday, Aug. 23, after hearing testimony from several witnesses, Judge Cramer made the ruling there was a lack of clear and convincing evidence to keep Greathouse in custody. Cramer gave Greathouse a stern warning not to, in anyway, break the protective order, which is good until 2099.

Cramer released Greathouse from custody, but it was brought to the judges attention there are charges pending against Greathouse in Tyler County. Cramer then remanded Greathouse to jail, pending his Tyler County charges.Embed from Getty Images

Yaya Toure looks to have found himself a new club, specifically one based in London, if his agents latest social media missive is anything to go by.

The 35-year-old Ivorian was released by Man City at the end of last season after winning three Premier League titles and two FA Cups in the space of 316 appearances.

On Wednesday morning, agent Dimitri Seluk announced that Toure has since passed a medical in London but stopped short of saying exactly where.

He then proceeded to rule out a couple of potential destinations, roasting Crystal Palace and West Ham as he went

The Independent seem to have installed Arsenal as favourites to take Toure on, while bracketing Chelsea and Tottenham as less likely alternatives and positively scoffing at the thought of him joining Watford or Fulham.

Yaya actually turned out in Arsenal colours as a much younger man, playing on trial in a pre-season friendly in 2003 before work permit issues scuppered his chances of securing a full contract at the club.

Back to the present day  Do the Gunners really need another cumbersome, slow central midfielder? Looks like theyre fairly well stocked in that department.

Given their lavish spending already these past couple of months, well have a shiny groat on the Cottagers please.A jury has awarded $800,000 to the estate of a woman killed by police while in a car with a violent crime suspect who had fired at officers.

India Kager was killed when SWAT officers tried to arrest Angelo Perry, a suspect in four violent crimes. Both Kager and Perry were killed, while their 4-month-old child was unharmed in the backseat.

On September 5, 2015, Kager drove Perry from Maryland to Virginia Beach. SWAT officers planned a vehicle takedown procedure against Perry. Perry was a known violent criminal, guilty of shootings, robbery, and homicide.

According to WVEC, officers believed Perry was about to commit murder that September night and believed Kager was driving him to the location.

When Kager pulled into a 7-Eleven, a police vehicle hit the back of Kagers car, officers descended, threw a flash grenade and smashed the windows. Perry started shooting at officers and officers returned fire.

Edward Brady, who represented the Kager family in court, argued that officers gave no regard to Kager's life, despite knowing Perr was armed and dangerous, when they fired 30 rounds in 9 seconds into the car.

The plaintiffs also argued police knew it was possible there was a third person sitting behind Kager in the car but didnt confirm before launching the assault. That person was Kager and Perrys 4-month-old son.

The jury decided that two of the officers whose bullets were found in Kager's body were grossly negligent. The other two were cleared. The department is supporting all the officers, who weren't charged.

Deputy City Attorney Christopher Boynton said the officers followed the safest plan of action and when Perry fired, the officers had no other choice but to fire back.

that the money would come from the city of Virginia Beach, but may be held up by appeals.

The family originally sought $30 million in damages.China will soon become the world's biggest market for air travel, but American carriers are having trouble profiting from the rapid growth.

Some US airlines are cutting routes to China, the world's second-biggest economy. American Airlines is dropping its service between Chicago and Shanghai, while Hawaiian is suspending flights between Honolulu and Beijing.

American said last week it's shelving the Chicago-Shanghai route from October because it "is unprofitable and simply not sustainable in this high fuel cost environment." The airline announced earlier this year it was scrapping its Chicago to Beijing route.

United axed its service between San Francisco and Hangzhou last year after operating it for just 15 months.

The difficulties faced by US carriers are largely the result of fierce competition from state-backed Chinese rivals, which have rapidly increased their international routes.

"It's a very competitive marketplace, even for the Chinese airlines," said Peter Harbison, the executive chairman of research firm CAPA - Center for Aviation in Sydney.

'Difficult to make a profit'

Chinese carriers have improved their fleets and quality of service markedly over the past few years compared with other big international airlines, according to industry experts.

They've also pursued aggressive growth on US routes, pushing down passenger yields  a key revenue metric  for everyone, said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at aviation website FlightGlobal in Singapore. "It is difficult to make a profit," he added.

The problem has been compounded by the rise in oil prices over the past two years.

"Higher fuel prices make a marginal route impossible," Harbison said.

Subsidies help Chinese carriers

Chinese airlines benefit from government subsidies that help them keep ticket prices low, according to analysts.

"The Chinese carriers will be the ultimate winners because they have strong government backing and they have deep pockets," said Shukor Yusof, the founder of aviation-focused consulting firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia.

"US carriers are going to find the going incredibly difficult in being profitable flying into China," he added.

Research by Singapore-based bank DBS this year found that government subsidies to China's aviation industry have doubled in the past four years.

1.5 billion travelers

Despite the challenges, US airlines have strong incentives to stay the course. China will displace the United States as the world's largest aviation market by 2022, including flights to, from and within the country, according to the International Air Transport Association.

DBS forecasts that the number of Chinese air travelers will triple to 1.5 billion by 2036 as the population gets wealthier and travels more.

American carriers have in the past complained about their treatment by Chinese authorities. They have claimed they have been given unfavorable landing slots  such as late at night  or been denied them altogether in some cases.

Some have also found themselves caught in a political storm when Beijing demanded that they change their websites to conform with its stance on Taiwan.

Besides government assistance, Chinese airlines have other advantages over their American rivals, according to Shukor. More Chinese travelers visit the United States than vice versa, and they gravitate towards domestic carriers because of familiarity and a sense of patriotism, he said.

Cooperation, not competition, could be a better solution for US airlines in China. American and Delta have both taken small stakes in major Chinese airlines in the past few years.

US airlines have also expanded their code-share agreements with their Chinese counterparts, which allow them to share certain routes and coordinate some services.

"China is a market that US carriers cannot afford to ignore, but it won't be easy," Waldron said.The sound you heard Monday was global automakers exhaling.

The preliminary trade agreement reached by the United States and Mexico would rewrite parts of NAFTA and establish stricter requirements for cars sold in North America to be free of tariffs.

But it would not dramatically change how the car industry does business. That's a win for the industry. The deal, if enacted, would not be nearly as disruptive as what President Donald Trump has long threatened. Trump had said he wanted to get rid of NAFTA, which he claimed had cost thousands of auto jobs.

Trump promised that a new deal would bring those auto jobs back home to the United States. But experts are skeptical about how many jobs will return if the agreement becomes law.

"The supply chain is not being substantially impacted," said Miro Copic, business professor at San Diego State. "It gives the manufacturers the flexibility they wanted."

Investors in US automakers are already showing signs of relief. GM stock was up almost 5% Monday, and Ford climbed more than 3%.

The new rules outline a couple of major changes that would affect auto companies.

The agreement says at least 40% to 45% of the car must be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour to avoid tariffs when the vehicles are moved across the US-Mexico border.

It also requires that 75% of a car's parts must come from North America to avoid tariffs. That's about 12 percentage points higher than the current threshold.

Experts say the wage provision could tip the balance when automakers are deciding whether to build a plant in the United States or Mexico, but its effectiveness may also depend on how it is enforced.

Matthew Rooney, director of economic growth at the George W. Bush Institute, sees it as a potential "enforcement nightmare."

"[It] leaves a lot of discretion to customs officers, and could be very difficult to manage," Rooney added.

Others say the changes might not matter much, because many of the cars being assembled in Mexico already comply with the new rules. That may have been one of the reasons the Trump administration was able to reach a deal.

"I don't anticipate there will be any major dent in the Mexican economy as a result of this deal," said Chris Garcia, CEO of Vicar Financial, and a former high ranking official at the Commerce Department under Trump.

Executives in the auto industry were huddling on conference calls Monday trying to sort out the details. But they've also been lobbying the Trump administration since its inception to make sure any rules were not as draconian as Trump's original promises.

"This deal is the result of a very concise and targeted advocacy effort to make sure the administration understood the implications of driving too hard a bargain," Garcia said.

Instead, the real losers could be parts plants in Asia or even Europe, because the agreement would require that more car parts must come from North America to avoid tariffs.

"I would think it won't mean any closing of the plants here [in Mexico]," said Gaston Pereira, CEO of the digital finance firm QPagos, based in Mexico City. "In fact the requirement for [more] regional content could mean more investment in Mexican plants."

Still, automakers will have to look closely at their supply chains should the deal go through.

If changing things up would cost more than the tariff on foreign autos, which is around 2.5%, companies may decide to just take the hit and import their cars as foreign vehicles.The beating of a 33-year-old man by five Mesa, Arizona, police officers was justified, according to the results of an investigation released Monday.

The findings from the Scottsdale Police Department come three months after Mesa police officers punched and kneed Robert Johnson as he stood in the hallway of an apartment complex on May 23. The encounter was captured on surveillance video.

Arizona Arrests Celebrities Continents and regions Crime, law enforcement and corrections Criminal law Investigations Law and legal system Law enforcement North America Policing and police forces Robert Johnson Scottsdale Southwestern United States The Americas United States Criminal investigations

The Mesa Police Department, about 20 miles east of Phoenix, asked the Scottsdale Police Department to conduct an independent criminal investigation of its officers. Scottsdale officials said they "thoroughly reviewed eight On Body Camera videos which consisted of just over two hours of footage as well as the apartment complex surveillance video."

Based on their investigation, Scottsdale investigators determined "no criminal charges are warranted against the involved officers as the use of force was legally authorized and justified under Arizona State Law." Scottsdale officials also said the Maricopa County Attorney's Office agrees with their findings.

Benjamin Taylor, an attorney for Johnson, maintains that the beating was not justified.

"The video flatly contradicts the self-serving accounts of the police officers involved," Taylor said. "The use of government violence against cooperating citizens, who have committed no crime and who pose no threat, is a crime without justification or legal authorization."

Taylor also said that he will seek justice "before a civil jury."

Surveillance video shows beating

On the day of the incident, Johnson was with a friend who police say was trying to enter an ex-girlfriend's apartment, prompting a 911 call, officials told CNN affiliate KNXV. The responding officer was told of a possible weapon at the apartment. Johnson lives in the building and was not trespassing, Taylor said.

Mesa police officers said Johnson resisted arrest and did not comply with their commands. Taylor says his client did nothing to provoke officers.

The surveillance video shows the incident after an officer encounters Johnson and his friend in the hallway of the apartment complex. Johnson appears to be standing near an elevator, making a call on a cell phone. His friend is nearby, seated on the floor around the corner.

In the body camera footage, an officer who has joined the scene, is heard telling Johnson to sit on the floor near the landing of the elevator. That officer or one of the other two officers near Johnson repeats the instruction for him to have a seat.

Johnson puts his buttocks against the wall and leans back. The officers say they want him to go "all the way down, all the way down."

Within a few seconds, they converge on him, and force him to the ground. The video shows one officer grabbing Johnson by the neck and kneeing him in the torso twice. An officer repeatedly punches Johnson in the face until he falls to the ground.

One officer says during the heated confrontation, "See what happens. See what happens."

Another officer says, "Just relax, buddy."

One of the arresting officers wrote in an incident report that Johnson was being confrontational and had refused to sit down, where he would be less of a threat.

"Johnson's body language was projecting he was preparing for a physical altercation," the officer wrote.

The officer said that during the confrontation he used hard strikes to Johnson's jaw because other efforts to get him to comply had failed.

Another officer wrote that knee strikes were used because Johnson had fought off an attempted leg sweep.

Johnson was held on charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly kicking the door of the apartment where his friend's ex-girlfriend lives and hindering prosecution for refusing commands during his detention. Charges against Johnson were dropped in June, CNN affiliate KNXV reported.

Before the investigation, Mesa Police Chief Ramon Batista said he was "disappointed" by the video. He put the officers on leave after viewing it.

Other police beatings in Mesa

Johnson's beating was one of three incidents to come to light this summer in which Mesa police officers are caught on camera aggressively handling citizens.

Two of those incidents, including Johnson's beating, prompted Batista to ask the Police Executive Research Forum "to conduct a comprehensive and fully independent investigation looking into our use of force events over the past three years, as well as our policies, procedure and training."

In June, police bodycam footage was released showing the May 17 arrest of a 15-year-old boy who was suspected of committing a robbery.

In the bodycam video, an officer can be seen placing a foot behind the boy's head while he is on the ground. Officers also appear to pull the teenager's handcuffed arms behind his back and toward his head, and he appears to react in pain.

The teenager was arrested and booked on multiple charges, including armed robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Two officers were placed on administrative leave after video of the arrest was reviewed. An internal investigation is ongoing.

Another bodycam video from a January 28 arrest, also released in June, shows an officer repeatedly punching 23-year-old Jose Conde. Conde was later mocked by an officer as he lay on a hospital floor covered in blood. A police report said Conde resisted arrest and threw punches at an officer who found cocaine concealed in his sock. Batista said in a statement the department was reviewing the incident.The preliminary US-Mexico trade deal announced Monday is a positive step forward in the negotiation process and hopefully one which will bring the United States, Mexico and Canada back to the table to revise and modernize the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). That the American and Mexican negotiators could agree to progress past the sticking point involving the automobile industry and rules of origin is a sign of not only the potential for negotiating "NAFTA 2.0" but also for a more productive US-Mexico relationship.

NAFTA was originally negotiated 25 years ago, before the internet changed the way we do business and when Mexico had a much more inward-looking economy. Mexico has transformed dramatically since NAFTA went into effect -- in large part because of NAFTA -- evolving in everything from its work force, consumer culture and technical know-how to its integrated supply chains, industrial capacities and global trading networks.

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Still, Mexico's economic expansion over the last quarter century is inextricably linked to the US economy, with around 80% of its exports going to the United States. In short, Mexico has much to lose if NAFTA negotiations ultimately fail.

Thus, the preliminary trade deal is significant for the success of a more comprehensive, renegotiated "NAFTA 2.0" (or whatever they decide to call the agreement to make it more politically palatable).

Despite the strong-arming negotiating tactics of the Trump administration, Canada wants an updated NAFTA, too. With Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland heading to Washington, Canada seems willing to move forward with negotiations related to the preliminary terms struck between the United States and Mexico.

Regarding auto trade and rules of origin, the two parties agreed that 75% of auto parts be made in the United States and Mexico, as opposed to the current 62.5%. They also expanded the timeline horizon for the agreement, making it a 16-year agreement to be reviewed every six years. This represents a softening of the US stance on the so-called "sunset clause" and Trump's original demands for a five-year automatic expiration of the agreement, which was a deal-breaker for Mexico and Canada.

A revised, modernized and expanded NAFTA was always the goal for the business community, and, indeed, markets responded favorably to news of the preliminary deal. Increasing opportunities for the free flow of goods and services, finding willing buyers and sellers, and creating efficiencies in the market are good for the American, Mexican and Canadian economies.

And just as significantly, it may mark the beginning of a new and improved US-Mexico relationship, which has suffered tremendously as a result of the difficult NAFTA negotiations and the often-negative rhetoric President Donald Trump has used with respect to Mexico. The election of the leftist, nationalist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (popularly known as "AMLO") as the next Mexican President is certainly some evidence of the strained alliance between the United States and Mexico.

Lopez Obrador ran on a campaign as critical of Trump as he was of current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. On the campaign trail, Lopez Obrador said that "Mexico and its people will not be the pinata of any foreign government" and promised to stand up to Trump. Indeed, Lopez Obrador's popularity increased with the "Trump effect," which galvanized Mexicans looking for strong leadership in the face of Trump's attacks.

For the moment, at least, Lopez Obrador has signaled his approval of the preliminary deal between the United States and Mexico. His trade advisers worked with the Pena Nieto team to negotiate with the US, lending support to the talks and establishing Mexico's new administration as more pragmatic on economic policy issues.

This is good news for the future of NAFTA, trade relations and the business community -- it is also good news for the Mexican economy. Lopez Obrador's economic views have tempered since he first ran for president in 2006, and he now seems less of an interventionist and more motivated to maintain macroeconomic stability in Mexico once he takes office on December 1.

This preliminary NAFTA deal may also set the stage for the United States and Mexico to deal with a host of other thorny and complicated issues, including immigration, fighting drug trafficking and border security. With luck, this is the beginning of a more balanced bilateral relationship and a modernized NAFTA. If coupled with continued market-friendly economic policies in Mexico, this will be the foundation for a broader agenda and enhanced cooperation between the two countries.President Donald Trump took a huge risk by holding a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and hailing it as a stunning history-changing success.

Now, with diplomacy with Pyongyang at an impasse and tensions rising, the payout for that gamble may be coming due.

The world is not yet back to the brinkmanship and "fire and fury" rhetoric between Trump and the isolated state that sparked fears of a slide to war last year.

But if rising angst between the US and North Korea turns into a more permanent fracture of the diplomatic initiative that peaked with June's summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore, fears of a conflict that could kill millions on the Korean Peninsula might return.

Apart from the human and geopolitical stakes, Trump would face an acute, personal political embarrassment if the prestige he has invested in the process turns out to have been for nothing. And Republican leaders, keen to paint him as a statesman with difficult midterm elections looming, could become collateral damage.

But the lack of progress is alarming many seasoned Washington foreign policy leaders, and may be a direct result of the lack of ironclad commitments won by the President in Singapore.

"I think we are back at a very tense moment," David Petraeus, the former Iraq War general and CIA director, said Tuesday on CNN's "New Day."

"I think, frankly, that the declaration that was achieved back when the President and Chairman Kim met was probably vaguer than one would have hoped. Denuclearization doesn't mean the same thing to us as it means to them."

The weeks since the summit have tested Trump's diplomatic credibility.

Since he returned home from Singapore boasting that he had removed the North Korean nuclear threat, Kim has taken few meaningful steps toward denuclearization. North Korea appears to be pressing ahead with the production of missile and nuclear material and has not given an accounting of its weapons programs that would be the basis for any meaningful disarmament process.

Last week, Trump suddenly ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to make a fourth visit to Pyongyang, throwing the diplomatic situation into yet more turmoil. CNN reported that North Korea had sent the administration a letter warning that diplomacy "may fall apart." The letter, which was first reported by The Washington Post, left the diplomatic process on a precipice and took the President closer to a looming decision point on whether to crank up political and military pressure on Kim or to offer concessions to pick the deadlock.

The latest developments have also put Trump in a tough political position, as critics argue that his naivete in holding a summit with no preconditions, in the absence of a planned out diplomatic process with a ruthless and resourceful foe, has backfired.

"One of the problems is that this administration doesn't seem to want to remember history. This is the fifth time we've been in negotiations about nuclear weapons with North Korea, and the dance has been pretty much the same each time," Maine's independent Sen. Angus King said Tuesday on CNN's "New Day."

New Hampshire's Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said the diplomatic slump "speaks to the lack of the President's preparation before the meeting."

The criticism has the administration on the defensive.

"This is going to be a tough process, but this is still going in the right direction," US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley insisted on Tuesday.

Events test upbeat White House message

The shifting politics of the North Korea diplomatic opening are, however, leaving open the question of how long the administration's line -- that it has stopped Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests and won the return of the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War -- is sustainable.

After all, while those concessions from North Korea are welcome, it's obvious that the fundamentals of the threat -- Pyongyang's arsenal of atomic weapons and missiles -- have not fundamentally changed.

As the situation deteriorates, and apparently seeking to insulate himself from political damage, Trump has taken to blaming China for easing up on North Korea as a tactic to increase pressure on the US in an unfolding trade war.

Following the cancellation of Pompeo's visit, Defense Secretary James Mattis on Tuesday declined to commit to extending a suspension of annual military maneuvers between South Korea and the US, a concession Trump made at the Singapore summit that shocked his own administration.

The administration, while noting that it did not lift sanctions on North Korea, appears to be trying to claw back the leverage that Trump ceded by meeting Kim -- a huge expenditure of diplomatic capital since the isolated state has for decades sought equal billing with the United States on the global stage.

The stalled diplomacy leaves Trump with a set of fateful questions.

Is the Singapore summit now exposed as a total bust and a disastrous error by the President? Is the US back on an inevitable path to confrontation with Kim? Will Trump pay a political price for assuring Americans he'd solved the nuclear crisis in a few hours in Singapore? And what are the flashpoints that could pull the two sides towards confrontation?

The problem with assessing what happens next is that the administration's approach on North Korea is almost as inscrutable as the maneuverings coming out of the world's most closed state.

It is impossible to know whether Kim is turning his back on diplomacy or is trying to play hardball with Trump in the knowledge that he has substantial prestige invested in the process.

From the US side, it's unclear what Trump and his team offered the North Koreans in the talks, and whether they are open to a reciprocal process to move toward US recognition of North Korea and a peace treaty to end the Korean War in return for moves on denuclearization.

Without such an approach -- which has in the past been viewed skeptically by officials like national security adviser John Bolton -- meaningful North Korean concessions seem unlikely, and antagonism across the Pacific seems certain to spike.

Keeping a line open to Kim

What is clear is that Trump -- partly out of a desire to avoid a self-made October surprise in the form of a sudden national security crisis on the Korean Peninsula ahead of the midterms -- still has a strong incentive to keep diplomacy alive. By pulling Pompeo's trip, he called Kim's bluff.

But in a tweet on Friday, the President also sought to avoid closing off what he had gushed in June was a warm, personal bond with the North Korean tyrant.

"I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!" Trump tweeted.

As unorthodox as it may be, that relationship between the two leaders could be one wild card with the capacity to stop a slide into open confrontation.

It was the case in June and appears to be now that both men have strong political and diplomatic incentives to keep their channels open -- and that alone means that Trump's decision to hold a summit, despite fierce criticism, may still eventually pay off.

"This was a nontraditional strategy, but sometimes nontraditional strategies work," said Jim Walsh, an expert in North Korea nuclear diplomacy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program.

Walsh argued that it was always unrealistic to think North Korea would throw itself on the mercy of the United States by unilaterally dispensing with its nuclear arsenal.

Perhaps the biggest risk of an escalation lies in the impulsive and prickly natures of Kim and Trump themselves.

Trump is notoriously sensitive to slights and dings to his image or any sense that his achievements are not being respected. Therefore, it will be crucial for Kim, seeking to play on Trump's need for breakthroughs, not to push the President too far or to give him the impression that he is being taken advantage of.One advantage to living in polarized times is that it makes spy movies easier to accept on their typically black-and-white terms. Good versus evil is allowed only one natural outcome. The action on the screen is important, for sure  but moral clarity is important, too.

That's the central ambition behind director Chris Weitz's new film, "Operation Finale," starring Sir Ben Kingsley. It is no ordinary spy thriller. In depicting the 1960 abduction of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina to stand trial in Israel for his role as one of the masterminds of the Holocaust, it deals with an event that forever shaped the Israeli psyche, but it also makes a statement about how evil can be shown on the silver screen.

Adolf Eichmann Arts and entertainment Ben Kingsley Celebrities Conflicts and wars Continents and regions Government and public administration Government bodies and offices Government departments and authorities Holocaust Intelligence services International relations and national security Israel Jewish people Middle East Middle East and North Africa Minority and ethnic groups Misc people Movies National security Society Unrest, conflicts and war World War II

As a spy movie, it arrives at the right time. Counterespionage has never been more exciting. The Jason Bourne films, and the Israeli-import Netflix series, "Fauda," are electric in their intensity. James Bond is replenished every few years from a blokes' gallery of ever-younger British-accented men.

But before James Bond ever ordered a martini or crashed an Aston Martin on screen, the Israeli intelligence agencies, Mossad and Shin Bet, pulled off what was then, and perhaps still is today, the most impossible mission of all: the story of Eichmann's kidnapping in Buenos Aires and his subsequent trial in Jerusalem, which dominated world headlines for two years before he was convicted and hanged in Israel.

The audacity of the Eichmann operation no doubt influenced the making of movies about espionage and counterespionage throughout the heady days of the Cold War. It also shaped the world's opinion of this tiny country, populated with Holocaust survivors from 12 years before, now displaying the derring-do and sheer chutzpah that dazzled even the CIA and KGB.

Yet surprisingly, the story itself of how Israel brought international justice home to its own courthouse, and the Holocaust to the world's attention, has received scant cinematic treatment.

Until now.

This finely directed suspense drama has the added benefit of being relevant to today's geopolitics. The capture and prosecution of Eichmann became a national metaphor for the state of Israel, transforming Jews from victims to avengers in less than a generation. Israel may have been created in 1948, but it symbolically announced its arrival as a nation by kidnapping Eichmann. The trial, for its own part, reminded the world of the moral urgency of a Jewish homeland. "Operation Finale" conveys all the political and emotional drama of Israel's transformation, which owed so much to the Eichmann affair, but places it in the context of an exhilarating spy and psychological thriller.

Additionally, the film provides contemporary audiences with a reminder that targeted assassinations are not the only way to achieve international justice. President Obama declared that "justice has been done" after the killing of Osama bin Laden. There was no day in court offered to the mastermind of 9/11. Israel, likewise, could have clandestinely rid the world of Eichmann with a single bullet and avoided the condemnation it received for having abducted a citizen of a sovereign state. And even after Eichmann, especially in the aftermath of the massacre of its Olympic team at Munich in 1972, the Israelis, too, resorted to targeted assassinations to achieve justice.

Eichmann was the architect of the Final Solution. Operation Finale, the actual name the Israelis gave to the mission to apprehend Eichmann, was conceived as a coda to the Holocaust, a way of bringing justice to the Jewish people by putting the Holocaust itself on trial for the world to see. Before these events occurred, the slaughter of 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime was not nearly as widely known as it is today. The Nuremberg trials, convened immediately after the war and which put officials and leaders of the Nazi regime on trial, were not especially focused on Jewish victims or voices. The evidence before those courts relied primarily on incriminating Nazi documents, and not on survivor testimony.

The Eichmann trial, by contrast, produced 14 weeks of televised national anguish, with the harrowing testimonies of 100 survivors forming the heart of the prosecution's case.

Kingsley, as Eichmann, is clearly playing against type in "Operation Finale." After all, he has portrayed Itzhak Stern in "Schindler's List," famed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal in "Murderers Among Us," and even Anne Frank's father in a television drama.

Eichmann, the epitome of the anti-hero, was the embodiment of Nazi evil, literally the man who made the trains to Auschwitz run on time. How does a human being, even someone who is a professional actor and Oscar winner, convincingly depict a monster?

The film takes the position that the phrase "man's inhumanity to man," the legal term of art created during the Nuremberg trials to establish the crime of mass murder, makes no mention of monsters. It is groundbreaking in its attempt to render Adolf Eichmann in human terms, an effort that is, by definition, infinitely complicated.

With "Operation Finale," Weitz and Kingsley, along with Oscar Isaac, who plays Peter Malkin, one of the key Mossad intelligence agents who, in signing on with the mission, was also seeking redress for the murder of his sister and her children during the Holocaust, are making a larger point about humanity itself.

Yes, Eichmann may have had the most Jewish blood on his hands, but unpleasant though it may be to accept, he was also a human being.

In the movie, with a touch of artistic license, Eichmann develops a curious relationship with Malkin during nightly talk sessions in the safe house. While other moments offer more conventional cloak and dagger fare, it is this mental chess game between Eichmann and Malkin that showcases a very different kind of tradecraft, one in which Eichmann emerges as a loving father, and even a somewhat empathic friend who understands the depth of Malkin's loss and professes to have been merely a "cog" in the machinery of murder.

Here the film adopts the premises of Hannah Arendt's 1963 book, "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil." Arendt introduced the concept that evil is, actually, quite ordinary. Everyone is capable of becoming complicit in a debased moral order. It is the system that is inherently evil, not its participants.

Of course, at trial Eichmann clearly showed himself to be an unrepentant anti-Semite, proud to have set in motion the most efficient means of killing Jews. The man was no cog; he was very much in command.

And that's why he's still the only person in Israel's history to have received the death penalty since 1948.

Of course, watching an Eichmann possessed of evil that was not banal would be an altogether different movie. Weitz and Kingsley weren't making "Raiders of the Lost Ark," or even "Inglourious Basterds" -- with their Nazis as menacing cartoons. What they had in mind was a monster of evident complexity -- morally twisted, but human nonetheless.

Depicting Eichmann as he really was may have been more faithful to the man even if not to the conceit of the movie. "Operation Finale" is not a documentary, after all. It has car chase scenes and breathtaking action sequences. There's even a love interest. A humanized Eichmann, frankly, gives Kingsley a much richer part to play.

Arendt's thesis, and this film's point of view, can be comforting even if false. Blurring the line between good and evil is not the message Hollywood usually likes to leave its audiences. But Israel's improbable transformation may have given Weitz a new idea.More than 44 million people collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, and Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, a candidate for the 22nd Congressional District, is pushing for more protection for borrowers.

Brindisi held a press conference Wednesday outside Bradley Elementary School in New Hartford, demanding change in the student loan industry.

Last week, one of the heads of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resigned because of unfair and deceptive practices regarding student loans.

Brindisi says that will mean one giant mess for students who are applying to and paying down their student loands. Hes urging the state attorney general to take action, but hes also calling out his opponent, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, saying shes done nothing to address the growing crisis.

"She has also taken campaign cash from most major financial institutions, from Bank of America to Morgan Stanley, from Wells Fargo to JP Morgan Chase, while serving on the House Financial Services Committee, Brindisi said. Chances are if you have student loan debt, you are paying one of Claudia Tenney's contributors."

We reached out to Tenneys office on Wednesday and her campaign manager sent us the following response:

"While politician Anthony Brindisi has voted three times to give reduced college tuition to illegal immigrants and worked with Governor Cuomo to devastate upstate New York's economy so there are no jobs for students to come home to, representative Tenney has worked to increase federal Pell grant money to low income students, extend federal student programs, and increase career and technical education so every young American has a chance for a good job without attending college."HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon will soon face off in their only scheduled debate before New York holds its Democratic primary next month.

The two-term incumbent and the former "Sex and the City" star will face off Wednesday at Hofstra University.

Nixon is expected to accuse Cuomo of doing too little to address political corruption, income inequality or New York City's aging subways, while Cuomo touts his experience and liberal accomplishments like a higher minimum wage and same-sex marriage.

Cuomo leads in polls and fundraising.

The winner of the Sept. 13 primary faces Republican Marc Molinaro, Libertarian candidate Larry Sharpe, independent candidate Stephanie Miner and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins in the November election.

___

VIEWERS NOTE: The debate will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on CBS Utica.The former head of the Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers organization who is now a candidate for Montgomery County sheriff is facing charges related to his campaign, according to New York State Police.

James Glorioso, 41, of Amsterdam, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.

Police say they were contacted earlier this month by the Democratic and Republican commissioners for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, asking them to conduct an investigation into an Opportunity to Ballot Petition submitted by Glorioso to run on the Conservative Party line for the sheriffs race. The commissioners said they had been told that one of the signatures on the petition was made by a relative of the person whose name was signed.

Police say seven of the signatures  including the one in question  were notarized by 36-year-old Kirsten Lemire of Amsterdam, who is charged with first-degree making an apparently sworn false statement.

Police say they interviewed five of those signers, who said Glorioso had presented the petition for them to sign and there was no female present at the time. They said there was a female who remained in the vehicle Glorioso arrived in, but they never spoke with her.

Glorioso is accused of filing his petition with the Board of Elections while knowing that one of the signatures wasnt made by that voter, and knowing that the signatures werent properly witnesses and notarized. In a statement on his campaigns Facebook page, Glorioso said the signature in question was the signature of a father who signed for his autistic son.

Lemire is accused of signing that each voter on the petition was duly sworn by her and that they had signed the petition in her presence.

A portion of a statement released by Glorioso on Wednesday stated:

Today I took the difficult step of surrendering myself to the New York State Police to answer a charge of Offering a False Instrument for Filing. It is a sad abuse of our law enforcement when a possible simple mistake is turned into a crime, all in an attempt for a headline to de-rail a positive campaign. This all stemmed from my opponent hiring a Private Eye to investigate the signature of the father who signed for his autistic son.

This does not force me to suspend my campaign, which is the intended purpose. This makes me want to fight harder to win.Another suspect on the Oneida County Sheriffs Offices Ten Most Wanted list has been arrested, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Mylon Green, 26, was wanted for a probation violation on the charge of felony fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. She was the No. 3 suspect on the Ten Most Wanted list.

Deputies say around Aug. 15, Green had contact with police officers in Groton, Connecticut. After the Groton officers checked Greens name for warrants, they found that she was wanted on the warrant in Oneida County.

Groton police then contacted the Oneida County Sheriffs Office and began the process to bring her back to the local area. She was arraigned as a fugitive from justice in Connecticut, then waived her extradition back to New York.

Deputies say the Sheriffs Offices Warrants Unit and the U.S. Marshalls Service traveled to New London, Connecticut on Wednesday to get Green, then transported her back to Oneida County.

Green is being held in the Oneida County Jail pending her arraignment in Oneida County Court.ONEONTA  An Oneonta man is facing a list of charges after he allegedly struck two police cruisers with his vehicle, hit a tractor trailer, injured an officer and led police on a 45-minute car chase, according to the Oneonta Police Department.

Police say they tried to arrest 62-year-old James Hone  who was wanted on a warrant for criminal contempt after he allegedly violated an order of protection  after he arrived home around 9:38 p.m. Tuesday.

As an officer attempted to arrest Hone, he drove his car into that officers patrol car, according to police. The officer dove over the hood of the car and got out of the way of Hones vehicle, then followed him onto Fairview Avenue.

Police say a second officer then tried to block Hones vehicle on Fairview Avenue, and Hone then rammed his vehicle into the drivers side of the second patrol car several times.

Police say they continued following Hone onto several roads, including I-88, where they say Hone drove 80 mph through a construction zone. He then struck the back of a tractor trailer, drove onto the median and then went around the tractor trailer, according to police.

New York State Police and Otsego County Sheriffs deputies then assisted Oneonta police with the chase as Hone took the Route 205 exit off of I-88. The car chase continued onto several different roads, and while they were on Route 205 in the area of Airport Road, Hone drove behind another tractor trailer and had to slow down. Police were then able to block Hones vehicle in and take him into custody.

Hone is charged with the following:

- Two counts of attempted assault of a police officer with a weapon

- Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon (car considered a weapon)

- Criminal mischief

- Second-degree assault

- Second-degree menacing

- Unlawful fleeing in a motor vehicle

- Reckless endangerment

- Resisting arrest

- Reckless driving

- Two counts of leaving the scene of an accident

- Several vehicle and traffic tickets

Police say one of the officers was treated at a local hospital for a shoulder injury and then released.

One of the patrol vehicles struck by Hone is totaled and the other is temporarily out of use due to damage.UTICA, NY-- Utica police have confirmed that an arrest has been made in the homicide case of 17-year-old Stefan Medina.

Eighteen-year-old Jorge Campos of Utica is charged with the following:

- First-degree manslaughter (F)

- Second-degree criminall possession of a weapon (F)

- Criminal possession of a firearm (F)

- Third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (F)

- Fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (F)

- Seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (M)

Medina was found lying in a driveway on Elizabeth Street with a gunshot wound on Aug. 19. He was taken to the hospital where he later died. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Medina's family - you can find that here.

Police say the investigation remains ongoing and additional charges may be levied.

There have been seven homicides in the cty of Utica so far in 2018. Out of the seven, six arrests have been made.UTICA  City of Utica residents will not be voting on term limits for city officials this fall, after Oneida County Supreme Court Judge Erin Gall ruled in favor of the city of Uticas clerk, Michelle George.

Former Utica Councilman Lou Critelli was trying to get a measure placed on the ballot this fall for Utica residents to vote on whether or not term limits for city officials should remain at 12 years, or be changed back to eight years. Back in the fall of 2017, the Common Council voted in favor of extending term limits for the mayor, comptroller, Common Council president and council members to 12 years.

Critelli gathered 774 signatures on a petition to get term limits on the ballot, which was hundreds more than he needed. Critelli and his supporters believed that the city clerk had to certify the signatures within 20 days, but the clerk said she had to wait 60 days before certifying them.

They took the matter to the county supreme court, and Judge Gall voted in favor of the city clerk, which means the measure to vote on term limits will not make it onto the ballot this fall. Instead, the term limits will remain at 12 years.FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) -- Just one day after the Frankfort city council heard testimony on the budget for a Humane Society program, the city's mayor is asking council members to deny the budget at its next vote. The reason, he says, is a lawsuit threat.

For the past couple of weeks, the Clinton County humane society has been under fire for abruptly firing its director and staff.

Due to the controversy, Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes promised the public at last night's council meeting he would post the organization's bylaws on his facebook page. But this afternoon, he posted a different message.

It reads in part "My recommendation to the City Council is PULL FUNDING FROM THE TRAP, NEUTER AND RELEASE PROGRAM IMMEDIATELY. If simple By Laws and Articles of Incorporation are secretive the Humane Society should not be receiving tax dollars."

McBarnes explained that shortly after posting the bylaws, he got a phone call from the humane society attorney, threatening to sue the city if the post wasn't removed.

He's taken down the original bylaws post for now, but still believes the documents are public record through the IRS.

In a phone conversation with News 18, McBarnes took his feelings step further, saying he plans to veto the budget for the trap and neuter program if it is passed. That would send the measure back to city council, where it would need a two-thirds majority approval.

We've reached out the board of directors for their take on the matter, but haven't heard back.

As we reported yesterday, the budget vote was delayed just last night over insufficient data. It's expected to be picked up again next month.



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Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home pageSeven assaults on police over Bank Holiday weekend  including an incident in Wrexham

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Aug 29th, 2018

Officers across the region were assaulted seven times over the Bank Holiday weekend  including an incident in the Wrexham area.

Police say there were also incidents in Caernarfon, Bangor, Bala and Flintshire; resulting in an officer having his eye gouged, whilst others were head butted, kicked, pushed and scratched.

This morning these assaults were discussed by senior officers, with representatives from the Police Federation. A specialist group is being established to review these assaults in detail, which will report to the Force Operations Committee.

Temporary Chief Constable Gareth Pritchard said the incidents were completely unacceptable and very concerning.

Our officers are out there doing a demanding job, working hard to protect the most vulnerable and to keep people safe, he continued.

An assault of any kind should never be considered part of the job. Our officers get good training and equipment and we seek to ensure that welfare arrangements are readily available when they become victims of an assault.

These attacks leave their mark physically and mentally on the officers and in some cases their families.

Some of the assaults are very serious and we include impact statements on these assaults to ensure the courts are fully sighted on the effect on the officers and their families.

I have today signed an impact statement on a serious assault an officer suffered, as I feel that as chief constable it is my duty to support my officers and highlight to the courts the effect of those injuries on our staff who are working hard to safeguard the public.

Four people have been charged with five assaults on officers in Gwynedd, a further two offenders have been arrested in Wrexham and work continues to apprehend others suspected to be involved in the other incidents.

Police say that to improve the safety of officers the number of taser trained officers has increased to nearly 300 in local policing spread across the force area, with additional cover from our firearms officers.

Chief Constable Pritchard added: What we want is to make sure that our officers are equipped to protect themselves as best they can and to feel confident out on duty on our streets.

Tasers and also body worn video play an important part in this.The Court of Appeal has ruled that Dr. Hadiza Bawa-Garba, who was struck off the General Medical Council (GMC) register in January 2018, should be reinstated.

Bawa-Garba has faced an ordeal lasting over seven years after making mistakes, which contributed to the tragic and preventable death of six-year-old Jack Adcock in February 2011.

The High Court judges correctly ruled that Bawa-Garbas actions were neither deliberate nor reckless and she should not have been struck off.

However, despite the court ruling, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said it has no plans to reinstate a nurse, Isabel Amaro, who was struck off the register in 2016 as part of the same incident. On what was only her 12th shift in the unit, Amaro failed to take regular readings and record Jacks vital signs, including temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate, his pulse and his oxygen saturation levels.

In her defence, Amaro, who had an impeccable record since 1990 as a nurse in Portugal and the UK, told the panel that struck her off that there were systemic problems within the Childrens Assessment Unit (CAU) in Leicester Royal Infirmary, where Jack Adcock was treated. These included that it was not fully staffed and there was a lack of experience among nursing staff.

In 2015, Bawa-Garba was convicted along with Amaro of gross negligence manslaughter for their part in the death of Jack Adcock from sepsis at Leicester Royal Infirmary on February 18, 2011. Both professionals were given two-year suspended prison sentences.

The truth is that Jack Adcock was failed by a public health system being stripped of resources and plagued with chronic staff shortages. They took the blame for a catalogue of failures created by systematic attacks on the National Health Service (NHS).

The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not sufficient evidence of hospital culpability to pursue criminal charges. Instead, the hospital was told to put in place a wide range of actions on how sick children were managed in the aftermath of Jack Adcocks death. Reports drew parallels between the failings in Leicester Royal Infirmary and the conditions that prevailed in MidStaffordshire hospital and led to many unnecessary deaths.

Bawa-Garbas personal and honest reflections on her e-portfolio were used by the hospital in the court case against her. What was ignored was that Bawa-Garba, a trainee paediatrician, and nurse Amaro were functioning in a severely compromised working environment.

In June 2017, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) suspended Bawa-Garba for 12 months, acknowledging the systemic failings at the hospital and extreme pressure under which she was working. They concluded that erasure of Bawa-Garbas name from the register was disproportionate.

The GMC had appealed to the High Court against the MPT decision, claiming it was not sufficient to protect the public. The High Court ruled in favour of GMC and Bawa-Garba was struck off in January this year.

The GMCs decision outraged many in the profession, not only in the UK but worldwide. Supporters raised more than 350,000 to crowdfund her appeal against the High Court ruling and 1,500 doctors signed an open letter in support of Dr. Bawa-Garba.

Many doctors work under circumstances of chronic understaffing, rota gaps, and precarious working conditions across the NHS, and will have backed Bawa-Garba in the knowledge that it could have been me.

Jack Adcock, who had Down syndrome and a pre-existing heart condition, was admitted to the CAU with diarrhoea and vomiting. He died 11 hours after his admission due to septicaemia caused by group A streptococci, a notorious killer.

He was under the care of Bawa-Garba, who was specialising in paediatrics in the hospital. That morning she had volunteered to work in the CAU, as the main doctor supposed to be working there was on a course. Prior to this Bawa-Garba had been working in the general paediatric ward all week. She had returned to work recently after 13 months of maternity leave, having given birth to her first baby.

Despite only being a trainee paediatrician at the time and not a qualified consultant, the responsibilities heaped on Bawa-Garba as a junior doctor that day were extraordinary. In what was her first shift in an acute setting, she was covering six wards across four floors of the busy Leicester Royal Infirmary, and in addition carried a messenger that alerts her about patients who need urgent medical attention and treatment. She was doing the job of two registrars and making sure that other junior colleagues, new to paediatric care, were supervised.

The consultant supposed to be in charge was not in work for most of the day, as he had double-booked himself with teaching commitments. He arrived only in the afternoon, with Bawa-Garba running the unit for hours by that time. By the end of her shift Bawa-Garba had worked for 12 hours with no break.

CAU was poorly staffed, with a severely diluted skill mix. The head nurse, known as the ward sister, in charge of the unit was looking after patients with two agency nurses who were not allowed to do many nursing procedures. Moreover, there was an IT system failure which lasted for four hours, making it difficult for the doctors to access blood results. Flagging of abnormal blood results on computer screens was not available for the same reason.

Human error played a part in the death of Jack Adcock in this context.

Dr. Bawa-Garba assessed Jack in the morning, as requested by the CAU nursing sister. She inserted a cannula to give intravenous fluids and had taken blood for fast-track investigations. She had also done an urgent blood gas. She treated Jack with a provisional diagnosis of gastroenteritis and dehydration. According to her own admission, she did not think it was sepsis initially, although the blood gas results had clues pointing to that.

Bawa-Garba had viewed Jacks chest X-ray as soon as she had the first opportunity in the afternoon, after being busy with other patients, including a baby with sepsis that needed a lumbar puncture test. The X-ray had been available for a few hours but was not brought to her attention. She then prescribed Jack antibiotics as tests showed a chest infection. She later recorded how she wished she had given Jack antibiotics sooner.

An early mitigation against Jacks provisional diagnosis of more serious sepsis and escalation was therefore missed due to multiple factors, including lack of senior assessment, unavailability of blood results due to IT failures and difficulties staff faced in obtaining a repeat blood gas test. Jack had also shown some signs of improvement due to the treatment he received in the meantime.

Jack was transferred to another ward in the evening and his condition started to deteriorate rapidly. He died despite attempts to resuscitate him. There was a brief interruption to the resuscitation process from Bawa-Garba because she had mistaken Jack for another patient she had attended that morning who had a do not attempt resuscitation form in place.

Any serious examination of the situation that led to the tragic death cannot ignore the systemic failures, which facilitated the human errors of health professionals.

This tragedy occurred in a period in which the disastrous effects of severe underfunding of the NHS began to take their toll. In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the Labour government outlined 20 billion in cuts to the NHS budget through efficiency savingswhich were then carried out by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government that came to power in 2010.

In 2004, the Labour government of Tony Blair began transforming the hospital trusts to foundation trusts, which were semi-autonomous business entities. The trusts continued building and maintaining hospitals under Private Finance Initiatives (PFI), giving rise to a massive debt burden for years to come.

Only a year after Jacks death, the Conservative/Liberal Democratic government brought in the Health and Social Care Act to accelerate the privatization process and further slash services. Funding for the NHS was severely reduced, regardless of patients dying in busy corridors of accident and emergency departments.

In 2016, further slashing the pay, terms and conditions that junior doctors like Bawa-Garba worked under, the Tories imposed far inferior contracts on junior doctors following a betrayal of their year-long struggle by the health trade unions.

The junior doctors determination to fight the attacks on the NHS and imposition of new contracts brought to light the intolerable conditions they work under.

This is shown in the failings at Mid-Staffordshire hospital and others, including Leicester Royal Infirmary, the recurrent winter crisis that engulfs the NHS, the missing of targets in every aspect of patient care and the rationing of services. A repetition of avoidable deaths, such as that of Jack Adcock, is inevitable under a deliberately decimated NHS, despite the devoted efforts of its workers.

Experts and health professionals have voiced their opposition to prosecuting and scapegoating individuals for the ills in a continuously eroding system. But these genuine concerns will fall on deaf ears in a system which ensures profits for big corporations, banks and the super-wealthy elitenot universal, comprehensive and free health care for all.

For further information visit: nhsfightback.org and facebook.com/Fight4theNHSOn Tuesday, US President Donald Trump accused technology monopolist Google of manipulating search results to suppress right-wing news sources.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media, Trump wrote in a Twitter post. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Trump added, Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see.

Later in the day, Trump told reporters that by engaging in censorship, Facebook, Google and Twitter are really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.

Trump was reacting to actions by the Internet giants to promote publications aligned with his opponents in the ruling class, like CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Facebook and Twitter have also taken action in recent weeks against the fascistic social media personality Alex Jones.

Contrary to Trumps claims, however, the main target of the censorship measures adopted by the Internet companies is not right-wing, but rather left-wing, socialist and anti-war publications. In August 2017, the World Socialist Web Site revealed that changes to Googles search algorithm announced in April sharply reduced search traffic to left-wing sites, with search traffic to the World Socialist Web Site falling by 75 percent.

On August 25, 2017, the World Socialist Web Site published an open letter to Google demanding that the company stop its censorship of the internet. Google never replied to the letter.

In response to Trumps criticisms, Google said in a Tuesday statement that its search service was not used to set a political agenda and we dont bias our results toward any political ideology.

The company added, Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users queries We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.

These statements are false. In an April 25, 2017, blog post, Google engineering VP Ben Gomes reported that the company had made algorithmic updates to surface more authoritative content. In practice, Gomes explained, this involved a team of paid evaluators reviewing Google searches and downgrading those that showed alternative viewpoints unless the query indicates the user is seeking an alternative viewpoint.

The ratings by these evaluators are then input into Googles deep learning systems to modify search rankings. The effect of these changes was to bury left-wing political viewpoints in Google search results. As one example, the World Socialist Web Site does not appear in search results for socialism, while right-wing criticisms of socialism are disproportionately represented. Prior to the changes, the WSWS ranked high on search terms related to socialism, inequality and opposition to war.

Facebook has taken similar measures. In January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a notice stating that the company had taken action to promote broadly trusted and high-quality sources such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, while reducing exposure to blogs that have intense followings but are not widely trusted beyond their core audience.

Rather than use Trumps tweets to critically evaluate claims that Google, Facebook and other companies are engaged in censorship, the entire establishment media has fallen in line behind the internet giants, defending their actions and excoriating Trumps statements as an example of fake news.

Leading the pack was CNN, whose article, Trump slams Google search as riggedbut its not, was the lead item on Googles widely-used news aggregator. CNN stated, The articles that were the basis for Trumps claim of rigging ignored the fact that Googles most fundamental interest is returning search results that users find helpful, because thats how it gets them to come back. It does that, in part, by prioritizing results from trusted news outlets with large audiences.

In fact, Facebook, in announcing that it would follow Googles example in promoting trusted news sources, acknowledged that the changes would decrease the amount of time users spend on the social network. When Facebook announced earlier this year that engagement had in fact decreased, the companys stock price fell by 20 percent.

Trump is raising the issue of censorship as a weapon against his political opponents, exploiting the fact that the Democrats campaign against fake news and Russian meddling in US politics has been, from the start, part of the deepening factional struggle within the ruling elite over foreign policy.

The president and his political allies in the extreme right are only able to posture as opponents of censorship because of the leading role of the Democrats in the campaign to censor the internet, and the utter silence on censorship on the part of the middle-class left, which has largely signed onto the Democrats anti-Russian witch hunt.

The Trump administration has itself taken measures to strengthen the control of the giant corporations over the Internet. In June, the administration ended the policy of net neutrality, giving internet service providers vast powers to censor the internet, including those sections not controlled by the social media monopolies.

Over one year since the publication of the WSWSs open letter to Google, it is more urgent than ever to develop the struggle against internet censorship, and to root it in the working class, the only social force capable of defending democratic rights and the freedom of expression.The drug spice is increasingly popular among the most vulnerable groups in Britainincluding the young, homeless and imprisoned.

The drug has horrific effects, with users, often homeless, invariably found in a semi-comatose state, slumped in the centre of cities such as Manchester and Sheffield.

Although the drug was designed to be a harmless alternative to cannabis, it is anything but. Known by a multitude of other names such as K2 and fake pot, spice is a mixture of herbs and synthetic cannabinoids, intended to mimic the effects of cannabis.

Effects range from anxiety to paranoia to hallucinations; with users exhibiting violent behaviour and feeling brain-dead, hence the label zombie drug. Spice can also raise blood pressure, sometimes leading to heart attacks and even death.

One of the factors contributing to the dangers of spice is the fact that its production does not involve a controlled environment and it is not professionally tested, which means that any potentially harmful effects of the drug are unknown until it is taken. Due to its ever-changing composition, users are often unaware of the chemicals it contains.

Spice is among a multitude of cheap, synthetic drugs that are widely accessible and popular with vulnerable layers. These include the stimulant monkey dust, available for as little as 2, that causes severe hallucinations, paranoia and a loss of sense of pain. Emergency services spoke of a monkey dust epidemic in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, with users exhibiting dangerous behaviour such as jumping off buildings and running into traffic.

Staffordshire Police report they have taken 950 monkey dust related calls in the last three months alone. Its use has led to several deaths, with one 54-year-old man, Anthony Pepper, found dead by his girlfriend with packets of the drug in his hand. A 35-year-old man, John Rigby, died after he took the drug and climbed over a safety barrier onto the A50 road and was hit by a truck as he tried to weave through oncoming evening traffic.

Although the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 made the production and supply of psychoactive drugs such as spice illegal, manufacturers have gotten around this by changing ingredients.

A paper, Adding spice to the porridge, by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University noted that 60-90 percent of prisoners were regular spice smokers. Addiction to spice in prison often leads to addicts amassing huge debts to dealers and becomes a source of violence. In an indication of the social crisis, some prisoners are deliberately getting themselves arrested just to smuggle spice back into prison to repay debts or make money.

Interviewed by Vice magazine, Andy, who had been released from prison recently, said, You make sure you are plugged when you go and commit a crime, in case you go straight back in. So you go with spice up your arse for a burglary. You deliberately get yourself arrested or break your license so you can go back in jail and sell spice.

Users said the drug makes them feel happy and that they experience a blackout when taking it. Speaking to Daily Star about his spice use Dan Nicholson, a 31-year old homeless man, said, I did them [legal highs] once when they were legal in shops [before 2016]. I had a really bad experience. I blacked out for six hours. I woke up not knowing who I was, where I was or anything. He had lost his job, which led to his eviction from his flat.

Another spice user, Jed, who has been homeless for 20 years, said, Yes I take spice, but who wouldnt if they were living my life? It makes me feel good, it puts me to sleep, it blocks stuff out. It passes the time, and I have a lot of that.

Dr. Robert Ralphs, a lecturer and researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, says that prisoners use the drug to kill time and that it provides a warm blanket that apparently gives a sense of comfort and security to those experiencing the most insecure conditions.

The prevalence of the drug and the correlation of homelessness with its use highlights that the roots of the spice pandemic are social, not individualhomeless and prison-bound people use the drug to ameliorate the material conditions in which they find themselves.

A 2015 report carried out by the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research estimates that around 35,000 young people are homeless at any one time across the UK. Moreover, 26 percent of young people surveyed by the study said that they had slept rough, constituting the hidden homeless.

Last month, a House of Commons briefing on youth unemployment said that 524,000 young people aged 16-24 were unemployed. Although official statistics show unemployment is decreasing, the number of hidden unemployedthose not in education, employment or training (NEETs)is increasing. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated: There were 808,000 young people (aged 16 to 24 years) in the UK who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in January to March 2018. The number increased by 14,000 from October to December 2017.

Not only is unemployment widespread, so is insecure work on low pay. According to the ONS, the number of zero-hour contracts rose by 100,000 to 1.8 million in the UK in 2017, with prevalence among youth, students and women. Zero-hour contracts are those in which the employer is not obliged to provide a minimum number of hours for a worker.

With uncertainty over whether they will be able to provide for themselves, people on zero-hour contracts are 50 percent more likely to have mental health problems.

Last week the Guardian reported that, according to NHS figures, 400,000 under-18s were in contact with mental health services. Although these numbers are rising, constant cuts to the NHS mean that less help is available to match the demand. There has been a 30 percent fall in the number of hospital beds for the mentally ill since 2009. Young people must wait for exorbitant amounts of time to access services and, at times, the hardships and pressures upon youth are so great that some decide to end their own lives.

The global capitalist crisis finds youth everywhere struggling to get by, with the resort to drugs, including spice, a desperate attempt at escaping their situation.

The New York Times reported that in Brooklyn, 33 people were suspected of overdosing on spice in just one day in July. Witnessing three spice users collapse on his way to work, Brian described the scene to the NYT as something out of a zombie movie, a horrible scene.

In the richest country in the world, a health catastrophe is steadily unfolding. In 2016, drug overdoses accounted for 64,070 deaths and more Americans have died from drug use in this century than in all of Americas wars. This disaster likewise has its roots in unemployment and poverty, as the countrys working class has been bled dry by the profit hungry capitalist elites.

In Australia, the drug iceotherwise known as crystal methgained popularity, as shown by a study by the Medical Journal of Australia, which found that the number of regular ice users aged 15-34 doubled over a five-year period from 2009 to 2014. These are young people whose lives are very precarious. We cant just give them drug treatment ... and then send them on their way, said Dr. Nathan, a researcher from the University of New South Wales in Australia.

In South Africa, which has the second highest youth unemployment in the world, 80 percent of male youth deaths are alcohol or drug related, according to the SACENDU project. This correlates with the hardships and a lack of future that youth face.

In the bourgeois media, the growth of the use of spice and similar drugs is never linked to the fundamental social problems that underlie any addiction because doing so would mean criticising the system they defend. In typical disdainful fashion, David Nutt of the Guardian exclaimed, Spice ruins lives and costs taxpayers a fortune. It is undoubtedly the case that the National Health Service and emergency services, already overwhelmed by a chronic lack of funding, are struggling to cope with an influx of spice users.

But such commentary only serves to channel the outrage at the pillaging of the NHS and other services away from its source in the capitalist system, based on the accumulation of vast profits for the owners of the means of production, whilst condemning the producers of the wealth of societythe working class and its future generationsto a life of poverty, disease and ignorance.

For these young people, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality offers the only perspective of ending the exploitation, poverty and misery that is the ultimate source of drug addiction. We fight to build a new revolutionary movement with the aim of overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism, a system based on the common ownership and enjoyment of societys resources.In back-to-back announcements last week, the social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ reported that they had removed hundreds of user accounts, pages, channels and posts on the grounds of coordinated inauthentic behavior and spreading divisive content and misinformation. The social media companies further justified their censorship measures with assertions that the closed accounts were linked to a political influence campaign of the Iranian government.

On August 21, Twitter posted the following on its Twitter Safety account: Working with our industry peers today, we have suspended 284 accounts from Twitter for engaging in coordinated manipulation. Based on our existing analysis, it appears many of these accounts originated from Iran.

On the same day, the head of Facebook cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gliecher, published a blog post titled, What We Have Found So Far. He wrote, We've removed 652 pages, groups and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior that originated in Iran and targeted people across multiple internet services in the Middle East, Latin America, UK and US.

Two days later, Google SVP of Global Affairs Kent Walker published a blog entry titled, An update on state-sponsored activity, writing, We identified and terminated a number of accounts linked to the IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) organization that disguised their connection to this effort, including while sharing English-language political content in the U.S.: 39 YouTube channels that had 13,466 total US views on relevant videos; 6 blogs on Blogger; 13 Google+ accounts.

Many of the shuttered accounts were connected to web sites with left-wing views and political positions opposing the crimes of the American, Saudi, and Israeli governments in the Middle East. Other accounts purported to be in support of US Senator Bernie Sanders and expressed support for Palestinians and opposition to the state of Israel.

As the World Socialist Web Site has explained, the unified actions of the social media companies represent a new stage in an expanding US government-directed censorship of the Internet that began more than a year ago. In August 2017, the WSWS proved that changes to Googles search algorithms that promote authoritative news sources were also suppressing left-wing, socialist and anti-war websites.

That the content of the social posts of supposed bad actors and coordinated manipulation is in direct conflict with US foreign policy agenda demonstrates that Twitter, Facebook and Google are acting in concert with government entities. In fact, the common thread between the unified censorship of the social media companies was their reliance upon information provided by FireEye, an IT firm with close ties to the US State Department and Wall Street and managed by former military intelligence and law enforcement officers.

What is Fire Eye?

FireEye is a publicly listed $3 billion cyber-security company founded in 2004 and based north of San Jose, in Milpitas, California. The company began by developing expertise in tracking and shutting down botnets that spread email spamming operations around the globe. According to one industry expert FireEye has become the Navy SEALs of cybersecurity, especially for next-generation cybersecurity threats.

Through a series of acquisitions over the past five years, FireEye has emerged as a prominent provider of investigative services for high-profile cyber-attacks on American corporations such as the breach of customer data at Target (2013), the hack of Sony Pictures email servers (2014) and the Experian data breach (2017).

A major aspect of the present-day operations of FireEye is government contracts for network security at the state and federal level. FireEye has contracts with US government departments and there have been reports of close ties between the company and the National Security Agency.

FireEye has played a prominent role in the campaign regarding Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and it is a proponent of the claims that Russia has weaponized social media. The firm published a report on the alleged disinformation and influence campaign of the Russian government following the testimony of FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia before Congress on March 30, 2017.

Mandia served in the United States Air Force and was a computer security officer in the 7th Communications Group at the Pentagon and a special agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He began his commercial cyber-security career working as a contractor for Lockheed and later founded Mandiant, a company that investigated espionage by the Chinese government and also held contracts with the Defense Department.

The President of FireEye is Travis Reese, who was co-founder of the Computer Forensic and Intrusion Analysis Group at Aegis Research Corporation, which has held multiple Defense Department contracts over the past 15 years. Previously he was a Special Agent with the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

The main financial muscle behind FireEye is Bain Capital Management, the hedge fund once run by Mitt Romney. FireEyes chairman of the board is Enrique Salem, managing director of Bain Capital Ventures, formerly CEO of Symantec, a director of ADP and other software giants, as well as a member of President Obamas Management Advisory Board.

The FireEye report on Iranian Influence

The censoring of social media accounts by Twitter, Facebook and Google was based primarily upon information provided to them by FireEye. On August 23, FireEye published a 38-page report titled, Suspected Iranian Influence Operation.

The report includes flowcharts, account names and screen shots of specific websites and social media accounts that it claims exist to promote political narratives in line with Iranian interests, adding, These narratives include anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli, and pro-Palestinian themes, as well as support for specific U.S. policies favorable to Iran, such as the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).

However, as the title of the document suggests, FireEye provides only speculation of any connection between the targeted online publishers and the Iranian government. As with the previous Russian interference campaign, where no proof of social media meddling in the 2016 elections was ever provided, the FireEye report says, While highly unlikely given the evidence we have identified, some possibility nonetheless remains that the activity could originate from elsewhere, was designed for alternative purposes, or includes some small percentage of authentic online behavior. We do not currently possess additional visibility into the specific actors, organizations, or entities behind this activity.

The concept of coordinated inauthentic behavior, a phrase that reeks of state repression, is being developed and promoted as part of advanced forms of Internet and social media censorship. The technology monopolies are preparing measures, with the assistance of government contractors like FireEye, to shut down the websites, email accounts, social media pages and blog posts of forms of expression that they deem are outside the spectrum of authentic sources.

The targeting of supposed Russian and Iranian influence in US politics is part of the strategic rollout of these censorship techniques as they are being tested and perfected. These methods will be used to stifle and shut down social and political opposition by masses of people against growing inequality, war and attacks on democratic rights. We encourage readers to contact the World Socialist Web Site and report instances of social media censorship and to join our campaign to defend freedom of speech on the Internet.Over the past week medical professionals and social workers have blown the whistle on the dire conditions facing refugees being held in Australian detention on the tiny Pacific Island nation of Nauru. They have reported widespread trauma and self-harm among children, untreated health problems and medical crises threatening deaths.

The exposures are a damning indictment of successive federal governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, which have denied asylum to refugees seeking to arrive in Australia by boat, consigning them indefinitely to virtual concentration camps.

The reports have shown that a number of children have suffered life-threatening medical crises. One staff-member on Nauru told the Guardian: Everyone on the island knows how serious this is. We have been saying for months a child is going to die in these circumstances.

Anonymous statements from government employees, published by the Guardian, revealed that at least three children were flown from the island to Australia last week to receive urgent medical care.

On Friday a federal court judge ordered that a female child be transported immediately to Australia for hospitalisation. For much of the past three weeks she had refused to eat or drink.

Three separate doctors had issued reports to government authorities calling for her to be flown to Australia. They stated that she was suffering from resignation syndrome, a condition common among imprisoned child refugees who withdraw from all interaction and activity.

According to the Guardian, the girl recently told an Australian advocate: I cant live in this island anymore. I hate everything and everyone around me. I hate to go outside. We left our country to have a good and better life, but we faced the worst life ever, the life which forced us to end it.

In another case, authorities had repeatedly blocked the medical transfer of a 12-year-old Iranian refugee boy to Australia despite warnings from staff that he could die. As of last week the boy, who has been imprisoned on the island for five years, had refused all food and water for up to a fortnight and was being fed intravenously. A staff member stated: They know about this in Canberra but nothing is happening.

One of the children reportedly removed from the island last week was a 14-year-old boy who has not left his bed for at least four months. Medical staff reported that his depression was so severe he no longer ate, washed or went to the toilet. They warned that he may suffer permanent disabilities as a result of severe muscle wastage.

Other child victims are even younger. The Guardian reported on the case of Ahoora, a seven-year-old whose Iranian family has been incarcerated on Nauru since he was just three-years-old.

The boy cannot read or write, has been prescribed strong anti-depressants, and has been described by doctors as experiencing deep psychic suffering and post-traumatic stress disorder. They have warned that these conditions will only worsen with continued imprisonment.

Ahooras mother self-harms by burning herself with cigarettes. She sent a letter of complaint about the treatment of her son to the company that manages the refugee camp, Canstruct, daubed in her own blood.

Confidential government documents obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporations 7:30 program, aired on Monday night, revealed shocking suicidal crises among the more than 100 children detained on Nauru.

In one instance last June, a 14-year-old girl doused herself in petrol as she was holding a lighter. In another, a ten-year-old attempted to self-harm by ingesting some sharp metal objects, which appeared to be taken from fencing wire.

Dr Vernon Reynolds, a child psychiatrist who worked at International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), an Australian government contractor on Nauru, told 7:30 he was surprised that no refugee children had yet taken their life on the island. He insisted that Australian authorities were neglecting these kids, and that if nothing were done, further injuries, and possibly deaths would occur.

Reynolds had been due to return to Nauru in April, but was allegedly blocked by Australian authorities who were hostile to his clinical recommendations and critical reports.

Fiona Owens, a social worker who headed IHMS child mental health team on the island from May to July, told 7:30: The only thing a lot of the children are thinking about is how to die. They Google it on the internet. The extreme possibilities are death of children, death of adults, continual death of adults and children.

Jacinta OLeary, another whistleblower who worked as a nurse on Nauru last year, reviewed the trauma caused by the governments refusal to transfer refugee women to Australia for abortions. Until threatened court action late last year, the Australian government had claimed, for several months, that all medical treatment, including pregnancy terminations, was the responsibility of Nauru authorities. Abortions are illegal in Nauru.

The whistleblowers have taken a courageous stand in defence of democratic rights and against the bipartisan persecution of refugees. Current and former staff who expose crimes at detention centres have previously been threatened with prosecution and imprisonment.

The 2015 Border Force Act passed by the Liberal-National Coalition government and the Labor Party made it a crime for any person working in a detention centre to publicly reveal the conditions of asylum-seekers, with violations punishable by up to two years incarceration.

The government last year made amendments to the legislation in response to legal action taken in the high court. The changed laws, however, included punishments for the release of information that could harm national security, a sweeping and vaguely defined provision.

The dire plight of refugees on Nauru is a damning indictment of the entire political establishment. It was the Greens-backed minority Labor government that, in 2013, reopened the brutal detention camps on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island, and decreed that the asylum-seekers incarcerated in them would never be allowed to set foot in Australia.

This vicious program has made Australia a world model for the abrogation of the right to asylum and the brutal persecution of the most vulnerable sections of the working class, fleeing US-led wars, invariably supported by Australia, and government persecution. The countrys border protection program has also been hailed by US President Donald Trump, along with neo-fascists across Europe.There are tragedies that reveal the reality of social life for the entire world to see. The horrific fire that tore through a Chicago home on Sunday, killing 10 children aged three months to sixteen years, is one such event.

Two children have now died in hospital of injuries sustained in the fire. Eight others were killed immediately when the house in which they were staying, on Sacramento Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, went up in flames.

The children have been identified as Maya Almaraz, 3 months; Lonni Ayala, 3 years; Ariel Garcia, 5; Gialanni Ayala, 5; Giovanni Ayala, 10; Xavier Contreras, 11; Nathan Contreras, 13; Adrian Hernandez, 14; Cesar Contreras, 15; and Victor Mendoza, 16. The children came from several families, two of which were related.

The fire has devastated the predominantly working poor and immigrant neighborhood of Little Village, known as La Villita. The blaze and its agonizing aftermath have reverberated across Chicago as an expression of the human cost of endemic poverty and social inequality in America.

While the cause of the fire remains under investigation, it is known that the home did not have working smoke detectors, which could have prevented the loss of life. It was not hard to get out, fire official Larry Langford said. The fire started in the rear, and the entryway to the front was wide open. Had they been awake, or if someone had woken them, they would have gotten out.

John, a resident of the block, spoke to the World Socialist Web Site on Sunday at the scene of the fire. He said: I did not hear any smoke alarms. It took probably 30 minutes for the fire department to get here. If this happened in a rich neighborhood like the Gold Coast there would have been firefighters there right away, and everyone would have been saved. But the rich dont care about this place. It has been neglected and abused for a long time.

The building where the fire started is over 100 years old. The property has a history of tenant complaints and city building code violations, failing four of seven inspections in the last three years. City records indicate that violations have ranged from vermin to extreme neglect and disrepair. The most recent citations included dangerous electrical problems.

Little Village is home to generations of immigrant families, mostly the working poor. The neighborhood has a median annual household income of about $35,000. A third of the residents live below the official poverty line.

As reports of code violations and neglect emerged in the days following the fire, officials tried to cast blame on the families. Twelfth Ward Alderman George Cardenas, head of the Chicago City Councils Latino Caucus and close supporter of Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel, told the local ABC News outlet: Leaving an infant, three months old, in the hands of a sixteen-year old What were they thinking?

On Monday evening Alissandra Calderon, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, confirmed that the agency was investigating allegations of child neglect.

Earlier on Monday, Cardenas offered apologetics for landlords in an interview with the Sun-Times. He explained that to fix certain problems in a building, [Y]ou have to evict people. The owner is looking for time to improve. Hes got to have a chance to correct those violations.

Such is the social chasm that divides the Democratic Party from the working class!

Responsibility for this tragedy lies squarely with the ruling class and its political representatives. Chicago is controlled by the Democrats. It is the political home of Barack Obama and has been run for years by Mayor Emanuel, Obamas former chief of staff and a multi-millionaire former investment banker.

The Democrats, no less than the Republicans, have overseen the extreme growth of social inequality that has left housing and basic infrastructure to rot while the wealth of the citys elite ballooned. The Democrats have nominated for Illinois governor a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, J.B. Pritzker, a major fundraiser for Obama. In November, Pritzker will face off against Republican Bruce Rauner, himself a former hedge fund manager.

Now in his second term, Emanuel is personally identified with ruthless pro-business policies, in particular the closure of 50 elementary schools and layoff of thousands of teachers. But the destruction of public education is just one aspect of the attack on the working class.

The supply of safe, affordable housing in Chicago has been throttled by city leaders, contributing to the growing number of families forced to turn to dangerous, ill-maintained buildings. Last year, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) was discovered to have played a critical role in limiting the number of affordable housing units. For years, CHA denied rent vouchers to qualifying households, despite having received federal funds for that purpose. Between 2007 and 2012, years of great need after the 2008 mortgage crisis, the CHA wait list soared to more than 91,000 households.

The social landscape of Chicago is aptly described by Andrew Diamond in his 2017 book, City on the Make. He characterizes Chicago as a combination of Manhattan smashed against Detroit. Chicago, home to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Board of Trade as well as numerous investment and banking firms, combines aspects of a major financial center like New York with those of a rustbelt city that has suffered the ravages of deindustrialization such as Detroit. Both cities exemplify the extreme growth of social inequality that has been the dominant feature of American society over the past several decades.

The hundreds of thousands of jobs that once existed in manufactureautomotive, steel, meatpackinghave been replaced, if they have been replaced at all, by low-wage and part-time positions in the service and logistics sectors. Concentrated toward the city center are wealthy and upper-middle class neighborhoods. Stretching out into the further reaches are lower-middle class, working class and impoverished neighborhoods, with working and poor households increasingly pushed into the suburbs and surrounding counties.

Working class areas are starved of funds while limitless resources are made available for vanity projects like the Obama Presidential Center in the South Side, currently estimated to cost about $500 million, $175 million of which is expected to come from public sources.

Conditions in the city of Chicago express the character of social relations throughout the United Statesa society dominated by a corporate and financial oligarchy that controls both political parties and has accumulated unimaginable sums through the exploitation and impoverishment of the vast majority, a society in which the most basic requirements of modern life, such as safe housing and working smoke detectors, are sacrificed at the altar of profit, with all of the predictably horrific consequences. The needless death of ten children in a fire resulting from poverty and official neglect is the ugly face of American capitalism.A draft report prepared by a United Nations human rights panel has spelled out in detail the massive and savage war crimes that have been carried out against the people of Yemen in the three-year-old war waged by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with indispensable military and political backing from Washington.

The report was produced by the Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, a body formed by the United Nations human rights council in September of last year with a year-long mandate to investigate human rights abuses in the impoverished and war-ravaged country.

The groups formation represented a reversal for Riyadh and Washington, which had successfully fought off previous attempts to mount an investigation into the near-genocidal war against the Yemeni people. Nonetheless, the group of experts lacked even the limited power of a full-scale UN commission of inquiry to recommend prosecution for war crimes in the international criminal court.

The report attributes the vast majority of civilian casualtieswhich it places at 6,475 killed and 10,231 wounded, while admitting that the real toll is far higherto Saudi air strikes that have hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities.

The report comes in the immediate wake of two horrific atrocities in the space of just two weeks that claimed the lives of at least 60 children and over a dozen others. The first took place on August 9, when a Saudi warplane launched a 500-pound bomb against a bus carrying students from their summer camp to a traditional end-of-summer ceremony, killing 40 children and at least 11 others. While Saudi officials denied responsibility for the attack, and the Pentagon claimed it was still investigating the matter, CNN reported from the scene that remains of the bomb dropped revealed it was made by the giant US arms contractor, Lockheed Martin.

This was followed by another murderous attack on women and children fleeing a neighborhood in the besieged port city of Hodeidah on August 23. A Saudi missile struck the truck in which they were riding, killing at least 22 children and four women.

As the report makes clear, these massacres are by no means an aberration.

The Group of Experts reviewed 60 cases in which Saudi air strikes were carried out against residential areas, killing more than 500 civilians, including 84 women and 233 children. It investigated 29 cases in which strikes were carried out against public spaces, including hotels, killing another 300 civilians. It reviewed 11 air strikes targeting marketplaces, killing and maiming hundreds more. It also probed bombing raids staged against funerals and weddings, most infamously the October 2016 attack on Al-Kubra Hall in the city of Sanaa during the funeral of the father of a senior official, which killed at least 137 civilians and injured 695.

Also investigated were air raids against detention facilities, civilian boats carrying both fishermen and refugees, and numerous medical facilities and ambulances as well as educational, cultural and religious sites.

The panel also cited the use by the Saudi warplanes of double strikes, in which a second attack is carried out against a target quickly after the first in order to kill first responders and others rushing to the scene to help the wounded.

The incidents cited in the report are by no means a comprehensive list of all the air strikes  estimated at over 18,000  conducted against Yemen over the past three years, but only representative of the carnage that is taking place.

The report uses mealy-mouthed language that conceals the murderous campaign to force the Yemeni people to submit to Saudi domination. It questions the targeting process and the effectiveness of precautionary measures adopted to protect civilians by the Saudi-led coalition, and expresses serious concerns about the respect of the principle of distinction between military and civilian targets.

At the same time, it acknowledges that Saudi warplanes are employing US-supplied precision-guided munitions that would normally indicate that the object struck was the target.

Precisely. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies are carrying out a protracted and deliberate massacre of a largely defenseless Yemeni population.

Also cited as a violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, i.e., a war crime, are the Saudi-led and US-backed de facto blockades of Yemens borders, as well as its sea ports and airports.

The impact of these developments on the civilian population has been immense, the report states, referring to the blockades. The accessibility of food and fuel has significantly declined, due to increased costs of bringing goods to markets. These costs have been passed on to consumers, rendering the limited goods available unaffordable for the majority of the population. The problem has been exacerbated by the Governments non-payment of public sector salaries, affecting one quarter of the population, since August 2016. The effects of the price increases coupled with the erosion of their purchasing power have been disastrous for the population.

As a result, the report adds, As of April 2018, nearly 17.8 million people were food insecure and 8.4 million were on the brink of famine. Health-care facilities were not functioning, clean water was less accessible and Yemen was still suffering from the largest outbreak of cholera in recent history.

The blockade has also prevented people from seeking medical treatment that they are unable to secure inside Yemen. Last August, the Ministry of Health in Sanaa reported that 13,000 Yemenis had died from health conditions that could have been treated if the Saudis had not shut down the countrys airports. Just this week, the health minister issued an appeal to suspend the blockade so that victims of the recent bombings, including badly wounded children, could travel to hospitals abroad.

The report also cites as war crimes the systematic forced disappearances, arbitrary detention and systematic torture and rape of Yemenis taken into custody by the Saudi-led coalition, in particular military forces deployed in the country by the UAE.

At Bir Ahmed Prison, forces of the United Arab Emirates raided the facility and perpetrated sexual violence, the report states. In March 2018, nearly 200 detainees were stripped naked in a group while personnel of the United Arab Emirates forcibly examined their anuses. During this search, multiple detainees were raped digitally and with tools and sticks.

In addition, detainees have been beaten, electrocuted, suspended upside down, drowned, threatened with violence against their families and held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods.

The report also cites the rampant torture and rape of refugees, particularly Somalis and Eritreans, at the hands of Security Belt Forces, comprised of Islamist militias deployed by the Saudi-led coalition on Yemens borders.

The report concludes that the panel of experts has identified, where possible, individuals who may be responsible for international crimes, and the list of individuals has been submitted to the UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights.

There is no indication, however, that this list includes the names of individual political and military officials without whose participation the war in Yemen would have been impossible. These would include Barack Obama, Donald Trump, James Mattis, Gen. Joseph Votel and many others in the top ranks of the Pentagon and CIA, as well as the Democratic and Republican parties.

The only oblique reference to Washingtons role is a recommendation that the international community  refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict in Yemen.

US support for the Saudi-led war, initiated under Obama, has included not merely supplying the tens of billions of dollars worth of US weaponry that has been turned on the Yemeni people, but also indispensable collaboration by the Pentagon in providing mid-air refueling for Saudi warplanes, without which they could not carry out their murderous bombing raids. A joint logistical center has been set up in Riyadh to supply US intelligence for Saudi strikes and, since last December, US special operations troops have been secretively deployed on the ground to aid Saudi forces.

The White House and the Pentagon have no intention of halting their participation in the Yemen war, which they see as part of a region-wide campaign to roll back Iranian influence and establish US hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East.

This was made clear Tuesday by Defense Secretary Mattis at a Pentagon press conference at which he dismissed the recent atrocities that claimed the lives of over 60 children. He claimed that the US was working with the Saudis to reduce civilian casualties, but we recognize we are not going to achieve perfection. He referred to the bus full of children blown to bits by an American bomb as a dynamic target.

The UNs experts make no pretense of holding Washington accountable for the war crimes in Yemen, just as the international body has done nothing to bring to justice the US officials responsible for the series of wars, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya and Syria, that have claimed the lives of millions and turned tens of millions into refugees.

In any genuine accounting for the slaughter in Yemen, as well as the wider sociocide carried out by US imperialism throughout the Middle East, figures like Mattis, Obama, Trump, et al., would be standing in the dock like the surviving leaders of Hitlers Third Reich in Nuremberg.

Settling accounts with Washingtons war criminals is the task of the American working class, united in struggle with the working people of the Middle East and the entire planet.After traveling to the hotbed of illegal immigration and drug trafficking, Republican Rep. Will Hurd is more convinced than ever that America doesn't need a border wall.

"The $32 billion that would go into a border wall, I'm just even more convinced that it would be better spent with some of these existing programs, and we'd see a quicker decrease in drugs and illegal immigration," Hurd said, referring to US initiatives to help Central America.

Border control Central America Continents and regions Controlled substances Donald Trump Drugs and society Government and public administration Illegal drugs Immigration Immigration politics Immigration, citizenship and displacement International relations International relations and national security National security North America Political Figures - US Political platforms and issues Politics Society Territorial and national borders The Americas Undocumented immigrants United States US-Mexico border wall

Hurd spoke with CNN after a three-day trip to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, three countries that drive most of the illegal immigration to the southern US border. In Central America, Hurd met with national security officials and community representatives.

A Texas lawmaker with the largest stretch of US-Mexico border of any congressional district, Hurd has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump's promised border wall and the administration's family separations at the border.

The moderate Republican's seat is also one of the races Democrats are targeting aggressively in their hopes to flip control of the House. Hurd is facing a well-funded Democratic challenger, Gina Ortiz Jones, in a race that has already cost millions.

Trump has only doubled down on his hardline immigration policies headed into the midterms, including a border wall costing tens of billions of dollars. Though he and his base remain convinced that such aggressive policies are key to Republicans' political success, Hurd has been a strong voice on the right for more moderate policies.

A former CIA officer, Hurd has authored bipartisan legislation that would support border security but focus more on technology and strategy than a physical wall.

Hurd said his trip focused primarily on two issues: drug trafficking and illegal immigration. He said his conversations left him convinced the Central American countries are interested in working with the US to do more to stop the flow of both, but that the US must invest more resources to do it.

And, he said, the US must stop pursuing strategies like family separations or spending on the border wall that would do little to stem the tide. Investment in expanding existing pilot programs to build up Central America would do much more, he said.

"I've been pretty clear that separating kids from their parents is a terrible idea, so we should not be going back to that," Hurd said. "And we shouldn't be looking at reducing foreign aid into Central America because many of these programs that we're doing can be scaled and are addressing the root causes of illegal immigration."

The congressman also disagreed with the Department of Homeland Security that would-be migrants need more effective messaging about US laws to deter them.

"(Family separation is) not working as a deterrent measure and the stats show that," Hurd said. "Somebody from the hinterlands from Guatemala, a woman and her child who is getting beaten by her husband or threatened by a violent gang, I think that is a larger driver than some messaging campaign. There is no data that suggests that a root cause that drives illegal immigration is people not knowing that it's illegal."

He also said the countries' officials are concerned that if the administration does in fact require hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were protected under Temporary Protected Status, which the administration is terminating, to return to Honduras and El Salvador, it could make the situations in those countries worse.

"How those countries can assimilate tens of thousands of new people is a definite concern and something they're trying to figure out how the heck they do that," Hurd said.CLINTON, Ind. (WTHI) - For more than 50 years, Labor Day Weekend has been Clinton, Indianas "time to shine." That's with the Little Italy Festival. The festival celebrates the Italian immigrants who founded the community.

Of course, the amusement rides are a huge draw to the festival for kids and adults alike. But this year, there was a bit of a hiccup in the set-up.

News 10 spoke with Lynell McCracken, the festivals president. She says the rides are brought in by a company from Ohio. As the drivers were heading to the festival, they were met with the construction at the Lyford "Y". The drivers were unable to get through with the large equipment. That meant a "Plan B" had to be thought of quickly!

McCracken shares, "They were kind of tight bringing some of them through there, so they did have to take some detours and end up coming down 163 through town. Which, coming into town with some of that stuff is also pretty difficult because of the trees and things like that."

As it turns out, the amusement rides werent the part of the festival that had to be re-worked due to road construction. McCracken says the location where the fireworks would be shot off had to be moved.

She says, "With all of the new road construction in Clinton, the extra parking lot I guess you would call it that we have set them off in the past, has kind of got stuff sitting on it like extra gravel and where they've torn up the streets, all of that extra stuff."

McCracken says not to worry though, the festival is securing a different location for the fireworks display.

As for resident Bonnie Sabalick, she has 35 years of great memories with the Little Italy Festival. She says the town is always packed for the festival, so the constructions timing isnt ideal.

Sabalick shares, "I can assume that when the action starts it's going to be a little bit of an issue. I hope that it doesn't cause any decrease in folks coming out to the festival. Again, this is Clintons time to shine."

City Police Chief Billy Maclaren is already thinking ahead to traffic control.

He says, "Use caution give yourself plenty of time with the construction going on at the Lyford Y/T area, giving yourself time to get through the traffic signals there, and just be careful."

A reminder to motorists, at the Lyford intersection, traffic is not allowed to or from Rockville. Parke County attendees can take US Highway 36, to State Road 63 into Clinton

The Little Italy Festival starts Friday night with a parade and ends Monday night with fireworks.

For more information, click here.Update 08/29/18 2:46 p.m.

Officers say the three youths know each other. Sheriff Chris Dickinson says Keene contacted Franz in order to pick her up. The two reportedly picked up Lease at a Fulton store.

(L-R): Lease, Keene | Photo: MBI (L-R): Lease, Keene | Photo: MBI

The sheriff says Franz dropped the girls off briefly in Alabama, then all three returned to Mississippi in Tishomingo County where the two girls were spotted.

The sheriff says a Tishomingo County deputy saw Franz at a gas station and took him into custody. That's when he reportedly told officers the girls were left at the Iuka Walmart.

Even though the girls voluntarily got into the car, the 18-year-old is being charged with two counts of statutory kidnapping due to the girls' age.

Franz also faces charges in Alabama.

Dickinson says Keene is currently at the Lee County Juvenile Detention Center for violating a parole. The sheriff didn't go into details about the youth's past.

Update 08/29/18 9:37 a.m.

Dylan Franz, 18, of Fulton, has been charged with two counts of kidnapping.

Dylan Franz, 18, of Fulton, has just had his initial court appearance. He faces two counts of kidnapping, and his bond has been set at $50,000. @wtva9news pic.twitter.com/aaW3wUMUe2  Kayla Thompson (@KThompsonTV) August 29, 2018

UPDATE: August 29, 8:45 a.m.

One person is in custody for the girls' disappearance, according to the Itawamba County Sheriff's Office. The suspect's name has not been released. The case is ruled a kidnapping, the sheriff's office said. The suspect with have an initial court hearing today.

UPDATE: August 28,10:47 p.m.

Sheriff Chris Dickinson of the Itawamba County Sheriff's Department reports that Anna Grace Lease and Victoria Keene have been located in Tishomingo County. Deputies are currently en route to pick up the two. Dickinson says the two were in Alabama for a brief time Tuesday before returning to Iuka. The sheriff also says that at least one person will be charged in the girls' disappearance.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) - The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has issued an Endangered/Missing Child Alert for two girls from Fulton believed to be traveling together and may be in the Tupelo area.

They are Anna Grace Lease, 14, and Victoria Keene, 12.

Law enforcement says Lease was last seen about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday in the 400 block of East Hill Street in Fulton.

Keene was last seen about 10 p.m. Monday night in the 1200 block of John Rankin Highway in Fulton.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the Itawamba County Sheriff's Department at 662-862-3401.

Itawamba County Sheriff Chris Dickinson says Lease has been in contact with her mother as of 10 a.m. Tuesday morning via text message. In the message Lease indicated she didn't want to go to juvenile detention, the sheriff confirmed.

The sheriff believes someone is helping the two girls and investigators want to find that person and talk with them.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on Florida's primary election (all times local):

10:20 p.m.

A Florida congressman who is a staunch defender of President Donald Trump has easily won the Republican nomination for his northwest Florida seat.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz defeated former Marine official Cris Dosev and John Mills in the primary Tuesday.

District 1 is a conservative district that is home to several military bases and includes the city of Pensacola.

Gaetz has emerged on national television as a vocal backer of Trump and a critic of the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump endorsed Gaetz in his primary contest this summer.

Gaetz is an attorney and former state legislator. He will square off against Democrat Jennifer Zimmerman in the general election. Zimmerman, a Santa Rosa pediatrician, won the primary over Phil Ehr.

___

Businessman Nicolas Kimaz was nominated by Republicans to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch in Florida.

Kimaz, who is originally from Lebanon, says he is a health entrepreneur, life coach and television and film producer. He has lived in the U.S. since 1978 and defeated two other Republican candidates in Tuesday's election.

He will run against Deutch in the House 22nd District that includes large parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties and is considered safely Democratic.

Deutch has been in Congress since 2010 and easily won his primary Tuesday night.

___

A former Leon County commissioner has won the Democratic nomination for a north Florida congressional seat.

Bob Rackleff on Tuesday defeated Brandon Peters in the Democratic primary for District 2. The district stretches all the way from Panama City to northern Marion County.

The winner of the primary will square off against incumbent U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn in November. Dunn, a Panama City surgeon, easily won the solid GOP seat in 2016.

The 74-year-old Rackleff is a former speechwriter who once worked for the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Peters is an attorney and mediator who lives in Levy County.

___

10:10 p.m.

State Rep. Ross Spano has captured the Republican nomination, and attorney Kristen Carlson has secured the Democratic nomination in a wide-open contest for a central Florida congressional seat.

Spano won a five-way Republican primary on Tuesday that included Neil Combee, a former state legislator who worked for the Trump administration. Carlson secured a majority in a three-way race.

Spano is an attorney who initially planned to run for attorney general but dropped out of that race to run for Congress instead.

District 15 is just east of Tampa and includes Lakeland and a swath of Polk and Lake counties. The scramble for the seat occurred after Republican U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross retired.

___

Joseph Kaufman emerged from a field of three candidates to win the GOP nomination in a Florida House seat occupied by Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Kaufman defeated Carlos Reyes on Tuesday. Wasserman Schultz has held the Broward County-based seat since 2004.

Kaufman is a counter-terrorism researcher who closely studies Middle East issues. He has tried three previous times to defeat Wasserman Schultz and is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump.

Wasserman Schultz won in 2016 with 56 percent of the vote.

___

9:45 p.m.

Former Clinton administration Cabinet member and university president Donna Shalala has won the Democratic nomination for a U.S. House seat in South Florida.

Shalala defeated four candidates Tuesday in the Miami-area race. Incumbent Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is retiring. The seat is widely viewed as one of the Democrats' best chances for a pickup. Shalala will face the Republican primary winner, Hispanic TV journalist Maria Elvira Salazar, in November.

Seventy-seven-year-old Shalala served eight years as President Bill Clinton's Health and Human Services secretary. She also was president of both the University of Miami and the University of Wisconsin.

Shalala banked that voters would see her experience as an asset. The Democratic candidates had similar positions on most key issues, such as tackling climate change, reducing gun violence, improving health care, and overhauling immigration. But none could match Shalala's lengthy record or familiar name.

___

A Republican state representative from Fort Myers will face a Democratic lawyer from South Florida to become Florida's next agriculture commissioner.

Matt Caldwell defeated fellow GOP candidates Baxter Troutman, Denise Grimsley and Mike McCalister.

Nikki Fried won the Democrats nomination, defeating Jeff Porter and Roy David Walker.

The 37-year old Caldwell, whose family has a history in farming, was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010 but is unable to run again due to term limits.

The 40-year old Fried helped lobby for medical marijuana legislation two years ago. Last week Wells Fargo shut down Fried's campaign account after she had "funds received from lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry."

___

9:30 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Al Lawson has fended off a challenge from former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown.

Lawson defeated Brown on Tuesday after a bruising Democratic primary in which Brown attacked Lawson over his past support for the state's "stand your ground" law when he was in the Legislature. Brown also contended that Lawson was too supportive of President Donald Trump.

Lawson responded by criticizing Brown's record as mayor.

Lawson, who is from Tallahassee, won the seat two years ago after he knocked off incumbent U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown in the Democratic primary. Brown was facing felony fraud charges at the time and was later convicted.

Lawson will face Republican Virginia Fuller in the November general election, but the district that stretches across a long swath of north Florida is heavily Democratic.

___

A Republican businessman with a military background will square off against a former top official in the administration of President Bill Clinton in a battle for coastal Florida congressional seat.

Nancy Soderberg defeated two other Democrats to win the party primary for District 6. Former Army Green Beret Michael Waltz defeated two other GOP candidates to win the Republican nomination.

The district covers three Atlantic coast counties as well as part of Lake County in central Florida. GOP U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis gave up the seat in order to run for governor.

___

State legislator Mike Miller defeated two other Republicans in a congressional primary to face U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy in November.

Miller defeated Scott Sturgill on Tuesday. Murphy easily won the Democratic nomination for her battleground district in central Florida.

Murphy pulled off an upset in 2016 when she beat 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica to represent this Orlando-area district that includes the University of Central Florida and suburbs northeast of the city. The district barely went for President Barack Obama in 2012 but went for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

___

8:55 p.m.

The race for Florida's next attorney general will be between two people from the Tampa area, a former Republican Hillsborough County judge and a Democratic state representative.

Ashley Moody won the Republican primary, defeating Pensacola state Rep. Frank White. Sean Shaw beat Ryan Torrens in the Democratic primary.

The 43-year-old Moody had the endorsement of outgoing attorney general Pam Bondi, who is unable to run due to term limits, and most of the state's law enforcement groups.

The race between Moody and White was rife with partisan infighting usually seen in higher-profile races. Both tried to position themselves as the most conservative and best suited to carry out the policies of President Trump.

The 40-year old Shaw has served in the Florida House for only two years. His father is Leander Shaw, who was the first black chief justice on the Florida Supreme Court.

The race between Shaw and Torrens was mire in litigation for the past month. A Leon County judge ruled on Friday that Torrens had flouted the state's campaign finance laws in order to qualify and threw him off the ballot. A state appeals court issued a stay on that ruling on Monday, allowing the race to proceed as normal.

Torrens, an attorney from Tampa who specializes in consumer protection cases, has filed a countersuit against Shaw for libel.

___

A lawyer from South Florida with ties to the state's medical marijuana industry has won the Florida Democratic primary for agriculture commissioner.

Nikki Fried defeated Jeff Porter and Roy David Walker on Tuesday.

The 40-year old Fried helped lobby for medical marijuana legislation two years ago. Last week, Wells Fargo shut down Fried's campaign account after she had "funds received from lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry."

Fried would be the state's first woman agriculture commissioner if elected.

The Republican race has four challengers - Matt Caldwell, Denise Grimsley, Mike McCalister and Baxter Troutman.

___

A Florida congressman who is a staunch defender of President Donald Trump has easily won the Republican nomination for his northwest Florida seat.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz Gaetz defeated former Marine official Cris Dosev and John Mills in the primary Tuesday.

District 1 is a conservative district that is to home to several military bases and includes the city of Pensacola.

Gaetz has emerged on national television as a vocal backer of Trump and a critic of the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump endorsed Gaetz in his primary contest this summer.

Gaetz is an attorney and former state legislator. He will square off against Democrat Jennifer Zimmerman in the general election. Zimmerman, a Santa Rosa pediatrician, won the primary over Phil Ehr.

___

Veteran U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings is likely to win his 14th term in Congress.

Hastings on Tuesday defeated Miramar Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to win the Democratic nomination for District 20. The district includes neighborhoods in Broward and Palm Beach counties in south Florida.

Hastings has only a write-in opponent in November, meaning he will probably win a new term.

He was first elected to Congress in 1992. Hastings has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and boycotted the inauguration.

___

8:45 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast is headed to a November showdown with a one-time member of the Obama administration after he defeated two Republican challengers in the primary.

Mast won the three-way primary for District 18 over GOP rivals Dave Cummings and Mark Freeman. The district is on Florida's east coast and stretches from northern Palm Beach County to St. Lucie County.

Mast was criticized by his Republican opponents because he called for a ban on the sale of certain types of military-styled weapons after 17 people were killed at a Florida school.

Mast will face Lauren Baer in the general election. Baer defeated Pam Keith in the Democratic primary. Baer was a foreign policy adviser in President Barack Obama's administration.

___

A Florida Democrat who tangled with President Donald Trump has been re-elected.

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson on Tuesday handily defeated California businessman Ricardo De La Fuente in the primary.

Wilson won re-election because there are no Republicans or members of other parties challenging her in District 24.

The district consists of neighborhoods in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The 75-year-old Wilson is a former teacher and Miami-Dade schools administrator who was first elected to Congress in 2010. Wilson also spent 12 years in the Florida Legislature.

Wilson criticized President Donald Trump last year over his remarks to the widow of a soldier killed in Niger that she called insensitive. Trump responded with insulting tweets, calling Wilson "wacky" while White House Chief of Staff John Kelly called her an "empty barrel."

___

A Republican state senator who pushed to let guns be carried on college campuses has won the GOP nomination for a southwest Florida congressional seat.

State Sen. Greg Steube defeated State Rep. Julio Gonzalez and another Republican candidate in a bitter GOP primary for District 17. The district stretches from Venice on the Gulf coast to Lake Okeechobee.

During his time in the Florida Legislature Steube has pushed for several gun rights bills including one that would allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry guns on college campuses.

Steube goes on to face Cape Coral film and television producer April Freeman in the November general election. Freeman defeated Bill Pollard in the Democratic primary.

The winner of the general election replaces outgoing Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney.

___

8:20 p.m.

A state representative from Tampa has won Florida's Democratic primary for attorney general.

Sean Shaw easily won his party's nomination, defeating Ryan Torrens.

The 40-year old Shaw has served in the Florida House for only two years. His father is Leander Shaw, who was the first black chief justice on the Florida Supreme Court.

The race between Shaw and Torrens was mire in litigation for the past month. A Leon County judge ruled on Friday that Torrens had flouted the state's campaign finance laws in order to qualify and threw him off the ballot. A state appeals court issued a stay on that ruling on Monday, allowing the race to proceed as normal.

Torrens, an attorney from Tampa who specializes in consumer protection cases, has filed a countersuit against Shaw for libel.

The Republican primary matches former Hillsborough County judge Ashley Moody against Pensacola state Rep. Frank White.

___

U.S. Rep. Val Demings is heading to a new term in Congress.

The Orlando Democrat on Tuesday defeated Wade Darius in the primary. Demings won re-election because there are no Republicans or members of other parties challenging her.

Because there were no other opponents the primary was open to all registered voters in District 10. The district is based in west Orlando and western Orange County.

The 61-year-old Demings is the former police chief for Orlando and is married to Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings. She ran unsuccessfully in 2012 before she was elected in 2016 to a newly-configured District 10.

The 37-year-old Darius is president of T.D. Homes Marketing Group and lives in neighboring Polk County.

___

Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will face off against U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo in November.

Mucarsel-Powell beat Demetries Grimes for the nomination on Tuesday.

The district has switched back and forth between both parties in the past few elections and is again considered a battleground for control of the House.

Mucarsel-Powell, a native of Ecuador, runs a consulting business and unsuccessfully sought a Florida state Senate seat in 2016.

Curbelo, the son of Cuban exiles, won re-election in 2016 with 53 percent of the vote.

___

A Siesta Key attorney has won the Democratic nomination for a Tampa Bay area congressional seat.

David Shapiro defeated Jan Schneider in the District 16 Democratic primary. The district includes south Hillsborough county as well as parts of Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Shapiro will face Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan in the November general election.

Even before the primary, Buchanan was airing attacks ads that targeted Shapiro. Shapiro has already gotten support from national Democrats in his effort to unseat Buchanan.

Schneider, who is also an attorney, has run for Congress six times including against Buchanan two years ago.

___

A disaster management consultant and former college instructor has captured the Republican nomination for a Tampa Bay area congressional seat.

George Buck defeated Brad Sostack in the GOP primary for District 13. District 13 includes St. Petersburg and south Pinellas County.

The winner of the Republican primary will face U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist in November.

Crist was a Republican when he was elected governor in 2006, but he became a Democrat after he mounted an unsuccessful U.S. Senate run as an independent in 2010. Crist lost to Gov. Rick Scott in the 2014 governor's race.

___

A financial adviser from Naples has won the Democratic primary for a southwest Florida congressional seat.

Doug Holden defeated social worker and health care administrator Todd James Truax in the District 19 primary.

The seat includes parts of Lee and Collier counties and is solidly Republican.

Holden will face U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney. Rooney, a former United States ambassador, was first elected to Congress in 2016.

___

8:10 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Darren Soto is ending firebrand Alan Grayson's attempt to return to Congress.

Soto on Tuesday defeated the former congressman to win the Democratic nomination for a central Florida congressional seat.

Soto is a former state legislator and was the first Floridian of Puerto Rican descent elected to Congress.

Soto and Grayson blasted each other in the weeks leading up to the primary.

Grayson contended that Soto was not a true progressive and vowed to seek impeachment of President Donald Trump if he were elected. Soto, however, won the endorsement of many liberal groups.

Grayson earned national attention in 2009 when he said the Republican plan for health care was "don't get sick" and "if you do get sick, die quickly."

___

U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho handily won the Republican nomination for his north Florida congressional seat.

Yoho on Tuesday defeated Judson Sapp in the GOP primary for the District 3 seat. District 3 includes Gainesville but also includes the suburbs of Jacksonville and rural areas in between.

President Donald Trump had endorsed Yoho for a fourth term earlier in the month. He will now square off against one of three Democrats in the November general election.

Yoho, a veterinarian, defeated U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns in the 2012 GOP primary.

___

8 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy easily won the Democratic nomination for her battleground district in central Florida.

Murphy defeated Chardo Richardson on Tuesday. She will square off against a Republican challenger in the November general election.

Murphy pulled off an upset in 2016 when she beat 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica to represent this Orlando-area district that includes the University of Central Florida and suburbs northeast of the city. The district barely went for President Barack Obama in 2012 but went for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

The 39-year-old Murphy was the first Vietnamese-American woman and second Vietnamese-American to be elected to Congress.

___

7:55 p.m.

A former federal prosecutor and FBI agent won the Democratic nomination for a Tampa Bay area congressional seat.

Chris Hunter defeated two other candidates in the three-way Democratic primary for District 12. District 12 is on Florida's west coast and includes Pasco County as well as parts of northern Hillsborough and Pinellas County.

The other candidates in the race are Tarpon Springs tax consultant Stephen Perenich and Lutz criminal defense attorney Robert Tager.

The Democratic winner will go on to face U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis in November. The 55-year-old Bilirakis is an attorney and former state legislator who was first elected to Congress in 2006.

___

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo easily won the Republican nomination for his South Florida congressional seat, setting up a battle with a Democratic challenger in a swing district.

Curbelo defeated Souraya Fass on Tuesday.

The district has switched back and forth between both parties in the past few elections and is again considered a battleground for control of the House. Curbelo, the son of Cuban exiles, won re-election in 2016 with 53 percent of the vote.

___

7 p.m.

Polls have closed for most of Florida, though voting locations remain open in the Panhandle's Central Time Zone areas.

Florida voters on Tuesday were selecting the nominees for governor, agriculture commissioner, attorney general, and several congressional seats.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam faces U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in a Republican gubernatorial primary where President Donald Trump has taken DeSantis' side.

The Democratic primary is the most crowded since 1978, the year Bob Graham eventually won the governor's race. Graham's daughter, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, is on the ballot and has been polling favorably.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Polls don't close in Florida for another two hours, but unofficial Leon County turnout numbers suggest turnout is at 30 percent.

Votes cast Tuesday have now surpassed early numbers.

Although we don't have poll results yet, here's a quick recap on who's running in the major races.

We begin with the Democratic governor's primary: Seven candidates are vying to be your next democratic nominee for governor.

They are Andrew Gillum, Gwen Graham, Jeff Greene, Chris King, Philip Levine, Alex Lundmark, and John Wetherbee.

Meanwhile, eight candidates are competing for the GOP nomination: They are Don Baldauf, Ron DeSantis, Timothy Devine, Bob Langford, John Joseph Mercadante, Bruce Nathan, Adam Putnam, and Bob White.

Both Gwen Graham and Andrew Gillum have ties to Tallahassee.

Former U.S. Representative Gwen Graham is seeking to win the nomination in hopes of following her father, Bob Graham, into the governor's office. Meanwhile, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum is hoping to move down the road, from city hall to the governor's mansion.

We were live from Hotel Duval where Gillum's election results watch party will be held Tuesday night.

Some of the final polls ahead of Tuesday night are showing what many political experts have expected all along. Gwen Graham is ahead, followed closely by Andrew Gillum and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.

Now, as we know, that doesn't mean it's a done deal. It's still a close race between the top democratic contenders trying to get into the governor's mansion.

However, this year, more Floridians voted early than ever before, so as early voting becomes more and more the norm, we get an earlier sense of who's ahead.

There is a ray of hope for Gillum and Levine: According to the latest poll from website Florida Politics, eight percent of Democrats are still undecided, and 5 percent say they're backing a second-tier candidate.

The winner of Tuesday night's election will go up against either Rep. Ron DeSantis or Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in November. Polling on the GOP side shows DeSantis could win the Republican bid by a long shot.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - One of the busiest places to cast your ballot Tuesday has been on the campus of Florida State University.

Voters in three precincts have been steadily streaming into the Student Services Building:TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - For U.S. Representative District 5 seat Democratic Primary, incumbent Al Lawson beat Alvin Brown by a wide margin of over 20 percent.

Lawson will face GOP candidate Virginia Fuller in the General election.

Al Lawson spoke about his victory Tuesday night at his watch party.

"This new generation, I'm out there fighting for them over the last 18 months to make sure that they have an America that they can be proud of," said Lawson. "An America that you now that you've elected someone that will be there to fight for you because you represent our future."TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a legal fight about whether voters should cast ballots in November on a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at ending greyhound racing at pari-mutuel facilities.

Justices appeared skeptical at times about arguments raised by the Florida Greyhound Association, a group of breeders, owners and trainers that filed a lawsuit seeking to block the ballot proposal.

The group feels the ballot title and summary fail to properly disclose that the amendment would make the humane treatment of animals a fundamental value.

As a result, spokesman Jack Cory says voters will not be properly informed as to what the potential constitutional changes would be.

The vague ballot language and the vague title do not disclose everything to the people of the state of Florida thats included in the proposed amendment," said Cory.

The Florida Constitution Revision Commission this spring placed the proposed dog-racing ban on the November ballot.

But the Supreme Court is considering whether the ballot title and summary accurately reflect the intent of the measure.

Following the court hearing, supporters of the proposed amendment, including Stephen Turner with the Committee to Protect Dogs, felt optimistic.

We dont think that the other sides arguments are meritorious. This amendment should go and be voted upon," said Turner. "Its clear that the people have a right to choose whether they want a gambling activity of greyhound racing, which is cruel to animals, to continue. Its that simple.

Earlier this month, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers sided with the greyhound association, ruling that the amendment should not go on the ballot because she said it was misleading.

The state appealed Gievers ruling, setting up the Supreme Court arguments Wednesday, little more than two months before the Nov. 6 general election.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Leon County Sheriff's Office is investigating child sex abuse allegations against a former Tallahassee priest and is urging victims to come forward.

Earlier this month, the Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee removed former Tallahassee priest Father Edward Jones as pastor of two churches in Wakulla County, following a credible allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor.

LCSO says they contacted church officials on two occasions and about potential victims. Investigators say, to date, no information about potential victims has been reported to them.

Now, they are urging anyone who believes they may have been victimized in this or any case, to come forward.

Jones was pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crawfordville and Sacred Heart Parish in Lanark. The accusation against Jones stemmed from an incident that occurred 14 years ago, when he served as Parochial Vicar at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Tallahassee.

He served in the parish from 2003 to 2007.

If you believe you are a victim in this or any other case, you are asked to call LCSO at (850) 606-3600. They remind anyone in need of LCSO Victim Advocate services to call (850) 606-3487 or email victiminfo@leoncountyfl.gov.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Two churches in Wakulla County won't have their pastor on Sunday.

The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee removed Father Edward Jones after reportedly finding a credible allegation of sexual abuse.

To his congregations, hes known as Father Eddie.

He used to serve at Blessed Sacrament in Tallahassee, but something happened 14 years ago when he was there thats come to light this week.

A victim reached out to the diocese on Monday, accusing Father Edward Jones of inappropriate contact with a minor.

The diocese investigated the claim and found it credible.

Right now, this is the only allegation the diocese knows of against Father Eddie or any other serving clergy.

Still, the bishop of the diocese says abuse has no place in the church.

I'm devastated and embarrassed and sometimes lost as well in the face of so much sin in the world, not just in this instance, but in all, we have to be people of hope," said Bishop Bill Wack of Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. "We have to know how all of this ends. It ends in glory. It's just that we need to work harder to build up the kingdom of God here on earth."

Father Eddie served here from 2003 to 2007. The diocese says if anyone else has been abused by him or any other priest, they can, and should, come forward.

The diocese says it has priests who will fill-in at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crawfordville and Sacred Heart Parish in Lanark.

The bishop says the diocese will also search to find a permanent replacement.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee priest has been removed from his position at two local churches after allegations of inappropriate contact with a minor were found to be "credible."

According to the Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Father Edward Jones was removed as Pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crawfordville and Sacred Heart Parish in Lanark.

The Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee received an accusation against Jones on Monday, alleging inappropriate contact with a minor involving Jones.

An investigation was then launched to determine whether or not this accusation was true. The allegations turned out to be "credible," according to officials, resulting in Jones' removal.

They say the accusation deals with an incident that occurred 14 years ago when Jones served as Parochial Vicar at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Tallahassee. He served in the parish for four years from 2003 to 2007.

Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee posted a statement on their website about the investigation:

"It is a priority in all of our parishes and schools to uphold the dignity of every person. We are deeply saddened when we learn of the alleged abuse of any vulnerable person. Bishop Wack expresses his sadness over the incident and offers the assistance of the Diocese to the victim and the victims family and friends who have over the years been affected by the inappropriate behavior. In light of this recent accusation, the Diocese wishes to appeal to anyone who has been abused by a priest to come forward. This Diocese is committed to stopping clergy abuse and appreciates your help in making that happen."

They encourage anyone who may have additional information to come forward to DCF by calling (800) 962-2873 or (800) 96ABUSE or local law enforcement.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-28 20:10:25|Editor: Li Xia

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Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha speaks to reporters after a meeting of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 28, 2018. Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Tuesday that he will exercise his executive power under Section 44 of the interim constitution to lift some of the political restrictions. (Xinhua/Thai Government House)

BANGKOK, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Tuesday that he will exercise his executive power under Section 44 of the interim constitution to lift some of the political restrictions.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), Prayut, who concurrently acts as head of the ruling military council, confirmed that he will apply Section 44 "shortly" in order to "unlock" some of the restrictions, imposed by the NCPO, for all parties to resume political activity between September and December.

Prayut did not mention how soon he will exercise such executive power to allow the political parties to do varied activities, except for canvassing for votes in the kingdom.

The premier assured that he will lift some of the political restrictions which ban parties from doing such things as recruiting members, amending a party's rules, organizing primary votes, holding caucuses and naming members of a party's executive board.

Nevertheless, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said earlier that the NCPO orders which prohibit canvassing for votes among constituents or running of any party's electoral campaigns will still be enforced, regardless of the imminent waiver of some restrictions.

The premier assured that "the earliest" date for the general election has been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 24, 2019.

According to Wissanu, electoral campaigns will only be allowed after a royal decree for the general election has been issued and proclaimed.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 03:12:30|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday that it is taking measures to ensure "a smooth and safe start" to the new school year in Ebola-affected regions in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UNICEF said there are some 250 schools in the Ebola-affected zones, with some 82,500 pupils.

The measures to be taken included training of school principals and of more than 1,750 teachers about Ebola and about protective measures against the virus, setting up procedures for early detection, isolation and referral to health services of children with Ebola-like symptoms, distributing laser thermometers, installing hand washing units and distributing megaphones and providing prevention posters to every school.

The World Health Organization has reported that the next seven to 10 days are "critical" in controlling the spread of the Ebola virus in eastern DRC. Its latest update reported 111 cases of Ebola, with 83 confirmed and 28 probable, including 75 deaths.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 07:03:12|Editor: Li Xia

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Cate Blanchett (front), United Nations Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador, attends the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar and the Rohingya refugee crisis, at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 28, 2018. Cate Blanchett on Tuesday asked for efforts to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and to create the right conditions for their return to Myanmar. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cate Blanchett, a goodwill ambassador of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), on Tuesday asked for efforts to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and to create the right conditions for their return to Myanmar.

"The focus of all our efforts must be to provide much-needed support inside Bangladesh while working to ensure conditions in Myanmar are conducive to return," the Oscar-winning Australian actress told the UN Security Council.

"The many refugees that I spoke with consider Myanmar their home but they have real, deep fears about returning there," she said.

Blanchett visited Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in March. "Nothing could have prepared me for the extent and depth of the suffering I saw," she said of the trip.

The denial of their rights to move, their right to marry, their right to work, their right to health care and education renders them among the most vulnerable people on the planet, she said. "Refugees move back home when it is safe and secure to do so. The Rohingya cannot return to the very conditions they were forced to flee."

Currently, about 900,000 Rohingya refugees are living in make-shift shelters in Bangladesh, 700,000 of them have fled Myanmar during the past 12 months.

Blanchett stressed the importance of citizenship for the Rohingya refugees.

"A clear pathway to full citizenship is essential. This is not a luxury. This is not a privilege. This is a basic right that all of us here enjoy. A right that the Rohingya do not have."

The Security Council held a debate on the issue of Rohingya refugees on Tuesday, a year after the start of the exodus of the Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine State.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 07:18:14|Editor: Li Xia

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Photo taken on Aug. 28, 2018 shows a general view of the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar and the Rohingya refugee crisis, at the UN headquarters in New York. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the international humanitarian appeal for the Rohingya crisis "remains significantly underfunded at 33 percent." (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the international humanitarian appeal for the Rohingya crisis "remains significantly underfunded at 33 percent."

Noting that the massive refugee emergency that began one year ago in Rakhine State, Myanmar, has become "one of the world's worst humanitarian and human rights crises," the UN chief said that "the response to the crisis must be a global one."

Speaking at a Security Council meeting to mark one year of the refugee exodus from Myanmar, Guterres said that "much more must be done to alleviate the very real risks to life from current and impending monsoons."

The secretary-general expressed his gratitude to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim for mobilizing almost half a billion dollars in grant-based support for Rohingya refugees and host communities.

"The grant-based assistance approved by the Asian Development Bank is also crucial in meeting medium-term needs and providing assistance towards life-saving priorities," he said.

Noting that "conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice," the UN chief said that he wants members of the Security Council to join him in urging the Myanmar authorities to cooperate with the UN, and to ensure immediate, unimpeded and effective access for its agencies and partners.

"Access is critical to meet the enormous needs, and to allay the fears of refugees who would like to return home," he said.

"There can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return to their areas of origin in safety and dignity, in line with international standards and human rights. The United Nations remains ready to help develop such a plan," said the UN chief.

"Voluntary relocation along with freedom of movement, an end to segregation and discrimination, inclusive development, the re-establishment of the rule of law and public safety are essential," he added.

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Associate Administrator Tegegnework Gettu said the agency shares international concerns about the situation in Rakhine and the plight of the Rohingya.

Creating sustainable conditions for the voluntary return of refugees from Bangladesh will require comprehensive and durable solutions, he said, emphasizing the need to address Rakhine's significant development challenges and to lift restrictions on free movement and access to services.

Every refugee must also be free to decide when to return, he said, emphasizing that dealing with such issues might go far towards building trust among the people of Rakhine State.

Outlining efforts by UNDP and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to create conditions suitable for voluntary returns, he said effective access and streamlined procedures are essential to accessing entire village tracts and undertaking area-based programmes that will help to build social cohesion.

In addition to implementing the tripartite memorandum of understanding, UNDP, UNHCR and other UN agencies have been working in Rakhine to put a wide-ranging development and humanitarian assistance initiative in place with support from major donors, he said.

He also acknowledged the support from the Government of Bangladesh to Rohingya refugees, while noting that only 34 percent of the needs identified by the 2018 Joint Response Plan have been funded.

"Creating the conditions for voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable returns to Myanmar will require at least medium-term planning," he said, adding that addressing the needs of the refugees in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, is also of primary importance.

The Security Council on Tuesday afternoon was also briefed by the UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett on the situation in Myanmar and the Rohingya refugee crisis. British Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN, Lord Ahmad, chaired the meeting.

Britain, this month's president and the lead on Myanmar in the Council, has chosen to hold a meeting on Myanmar to mark the one-year anniversary of the crisis that has led to more than 750,000 refugees fleeing to Bangladesh.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 07:53:17|Editor: ZX

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A boy of Valley High School Chamber Orchestra performs in a concert in Des Moines of Iowa State, the United States, Aug. 27, 2018. Midwestern U.S. State of Iowa has held a concert here in celebration of the 35th anniversary of its Sister State Partnership with China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

DES MOINES, the United States, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Midwestern U.S. State of Iowa has held a concert here in celebration of the 35th anniversary of its Sister States Partnership with China's Hebei Province.

The 35th Anniversary Concert took place Monday night at Staplin Performing Arts Center of Valley High School in Des Moines, involving students from the high school and visiting Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School.

Before the concert, guests from China and the United States made brief speeches. Iowa State Representative Zach Nunn highly praised the 35-year friendship between the state and the province.

"We witness the friendship blossoms in all sectors of life, from culture to agriculture, business, sports, education and so on. I wish this friendly states partnership further promotes deeper understanding and closer friendship between the two states," said Nunn.

Xia Yanjun, Vice Governor of Hebei Province, extended her thanks to local American host families to accommodate students from Heibei during the past years, saying that "we can see seeds of friendship are being sowed among the young people between Hebei and Iowa."

During the concert, 16 students from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School Folk Music Troupe performed music pieces like 'Jasmine', 'It's a small world', 'Full of Joy', 'Flying Kites', 'Do Re Mi' with Chinese musical instruments. Valley High School Chamber Orchestra performed Brandenburg No.3.

The concert culminated with a chorus "An Eternal Memory," a song about the relationship between China and Muscatine of Iowa state. All the audience stood up with applause.

"It is an amazing and wonderful concert and I hope we can have more exchange and cooperation in the future," said David Maxwell, principal of Valley High School.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 10:03:30|Editor: Li Xia

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GENEVA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Global trade is under threat and whether or not the current situation is a trade war, the first shots have been fired and this calls for action, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevedo has said.

WTO data showed a marked escalation of trade restrictive measures over the last six months, he wrote in an opinion piece released Tuesday by Swissinfo, the website of the Swiss national broadcaster.

"A continued escalation would risk a major economic impact, threatening jobs and growth in all countries, hitting the poorest the hardest," Azevedo said.

"A number of import-facilitating measures were also recorded during the same period, but crucially the value of trade covered by these measures is falling, whereas the coverage of the restrictive measures is rising rapidly," he said.

Azevedo said the whole international community has a responsibility to help resolve these issues.

He said he has been consulting with governments and leaders around the world, urging dialogue and exploring steps to unwind the current situation.

Azevedo said he has also been talking to a wider range of contacts across civil society including parliaments, businesses, think tanks and the media to raise awareness of what is at stake.

"I am calling on everyone who believes in trade as a force for good, and that global trade rules are an essential foundation for economic stability and prosperity, to speak up," said the WTO chief.

"Silence could prove as damaging as actions that lead to a trade war," he said.

He noted that there have been some signs of progress and that people are beginning to speak up. "Business leaders and associations are calling on governments to refrain from putting up new barriers. They are asking for governments to negotiate and find solutions."

There is, he said, a wider understanding that higher tariffs mean higher prices and lower salaries in real terms, and that greater uncertainty risks investors pulling back and jobs being lost.

"And from leaders around the world, we are seeing much greater engagement in the WTO. Instead of tearing it up, they want to strengthen the system and improve it," said Azevedo.

He said this could potentially help defuse tensions and find "a path out of the current crisis in global trade."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 10:33:34|Editor: Li Xia

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CANBERRA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A committee investigating a controversial funding grant awarded by the Australian government will compel the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to give evidence if needed.

The Australian Senate's environment and communications committee is scrutinizing the decision by Turnbull and former Minister for the Environment Josh Frydenberg to award the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) 444 million Australian dollars (326 million U.S. dollars).

The funding became a contentious issue in Turnbull's final weeks as prime minister after it was revealed that the GBRF, which employed only six full-time staff before receiving the grant, did not apply for the funding, which was the largest grant ever given to an Australian nonprofit organization.

Peter Whish-Wilson, a Greens senator and chairman of the committee, said Turnbull would be required to offer proof on an private meeting in April with Frydenberg and Josh Schubert, chairman of the GBRF, where the charity was offered the money.

A sitting member of parliament cannot be forced to appear before the committee, but the former prime minister can be compelled to do so when he resigns from parliament on Friday.

"I'll be seeking to work with the committee to invite him as a witness and compel him if we have to," Whish-Wilson told News Corp Australia on Tuesday night.

"I want to know exactly what was discussed, and where did the idea start. It didn't just materialize. Someone has come up with the idea and driven it at the highest level."

Questions about the decision were amplified earlier in August when Michael Myer, a foundational board member of the organization, described it as "shocking and almost mind-blowing."

Schubert and fellow board members Stephen Fitzgerald, Paul Greenfield and Grant King have agreed to give evidence to the committee on Sept. 18.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 10:33:35|Editor: Li Xia

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CANBERRA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accepted a role as the government's special envoy on indigenous affairs, local media reported Wednesday.

Abbott was offered the position by new Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday after he was not offered a ministerial portfolio.

In a letter to the prime minister, Abbott accepted the role but made recommendations on what his priorities should be.

"What I expect to be asked to do is to make recommendations on how we can improve remote area education," Abbott told News Corp Australia on Wednesday.

"In particular, how we can improve attendance rates and school performance because this is the absolute key to a better future for Indigenous kids and this is the key to reconciliation."

Abbott will join former deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce as special envoys with Joyce taking up a role as an envoy on the drought.

Earlier in the week, Abbott said he would "love" to do the job but did not want to "trip over the toes" of Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion.

The appointment has been met with disapproval from indigenous leaders who say Abbott failed on the issue during his time as prime minister.

"Many of us don't have any confidence in Tony Abbott's return to save us," Jackie Huggins, co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First People, told Fairfax Media on Monday.

"I haven't spoken to an Aboriginal leader that is supportive.

"We reflect on his history of supporting harmful and paternalistic policies relating to our people.

"One of his accomplishments has been to rob our people of a right to self-determination. And not listening to us - but listening to the selected few."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 10:48:40|Editor: Li Xia

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CANBERRA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- One of the Australian government's leading advisers has warned that its drought relief efforts are "condemned to failure."

Peter Harris, chairman of the Productivity Commission, said the government was repeating the mistakes of the past in its drought relief policy.

His warning came as new Prime Minister Scott Morrison was working on a new response to the drought, which has affected 100 percent of New South Wales (NSW), having declared the disaster his top priority.

Harris said farmer subsidies worth 1.8 billion Australian dollars (about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars), announced by Morrison's predecessor Malcolm Turnbull in his final weeks as the premier, had led to higher freight and feed prices.

"If it hasn't worked in the past we are condemned to fail if we keep repeating it," he told Fairfax Media on Tuesday night.

"When you see subsidies being introduced for the cartage of feed around the country, look at the history of what that has induced, higher freight rates and a higher cost of feed."

Turnbull's drought relief package included 500 million Australian dollars (about 366 million U.S. dollars) in low-interest loans for farmers.

Barnaby Joyce, the former deputy PM and Morrison's special drought envoy, dismissed Harris' comments, saying he did not possess a deep understanding of the issue.

"It might be a complete waste of money for Mr Harris with his six-figure job, in his office in the middle of town, but the people who are actually trying to survive don't think it is a joke," Joyce told Fairfax.

Joyce joined Morrison in a tour of farms in south Queensland on Monday where the PM re-committed to drought relief as his "most urgent and pressing need."

Morrison promised that assistance would be available "for as long as the drought goes on."

"It's about drought relief and it's about drought recovery as well," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 10:58:42|Editor: ZX

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MACAO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 327 meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition (MICE) events were held in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in the second quarter of 2018, the SAR's statistic service said here on Wednesday.

The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that the total number of events decreased by six year-on-year, while the number of participants and attendees increased by 1.7 percent to 411,000.

According to the information provided by the nine exhibition organizers in the second quarter, revenues of the exhibitions amounted to 82.66 million patacas (about 10.25 million U.S. dollars), with 91.3 percent generating from rental of exhibition booths.

Expenditure totaled 69.64 million patacas (about 8.63 million dollars), mainly incurred on public relations, production, construction and decoration, accounting for 21.3 percent and 19.4 percent respectively.

The exhibitions in the second quarter attracted 1,525 exhibitors, and 34 percent of them came from the Chinese mainland.

Regarding the exhibitions organized by non-government organizations, 43.2 percent of the exhibitors (609) were from China's Hong Kong SAR, and professional visitors (10,000) were mainly from Macao, taking up 26.2 percent of the total.Photo taken on April 19, 2018 shows the construction site of Colombo Port City in Colombo, SriLanka. (Xinhua/CHEC)

by Jamila Najmuddin

COLOMBO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka hoped to attract more Chinese investments under the Belt and Road Initiative and aimed to increase trade and investment ties with other global partners in order to emerge as a dynamic trading hub, a Sri Lankan minister said on Monday.

State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Harsha De Silva told Xinhua in an interview that Sri Lanka had the potential to emerge as a trading nation due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean and the government was committed to maintaining strong ties with its foreign partners including China.

He said the relations between China and Sri Lanka had expanded in recent years. Sri Lanka had been benefiting from the Chinese projects which were spread out across the island.

China's assistance to develop Sri Lanka, especially after the end of its three-decade civil war in May 2009, was appreciated by the island nation, he added.

De Silva said while there were Chinese-funded projects in the south and west, talks were also presently ongoing to expand these projects to the north and east of the country.

"Chinese investments have played an important role in this country, such as the Colombo International Container Terminal which is presently ranked as the 13th best-connected port in the world," he said.

Photo taken on Aug. 2, 2018 shows the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) in Sri Lanka. (Xinhua/Zhu Ruiqing)

The minister said such projects had created employment for local people, generated wealth and increased foreign exchange in the country.

While Sri Lanka had immense potential, De Silva said the island country was going to become more important in the decades to come.

"No major power is going to be able to ignore us because of our location and our strategic importance on the Indian Ocean. So in that context many people have been our friends for centuries," De Silva said.

"Sri Lanka is at the center of the Indian Ocean. I do not consider Sri Lanka as a South Asian country, but instead Sri Lanka should be considered as an Indian Ocean country. It is a different paradigm," he added.

De Silva explained that from the east coast of Africa, all the way to Australia and the Pacific, Sri Lanka was at the center of shipping and could provide resources from the west to the east and finished products from east to the west.

"So given our location, we must attempt our very best to partner with all our friends to leverage our ports," he said.

Photo taken on Feb. 8, 2017 shows the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. (Xinhua/Yang Meiju)

De Silva said that in terms of the Hambantota Port in the south of the island, the government together with China Merchants Port Holdings was aiming to transform it into a dynamic port.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority and China Merchants Port Holdings signed an agreement in July last year to co-run the Hambantota Port.

In addition to the port, plans were also underway to develop an industrial zone close to the Hambantota Port premises.

De Silva said in the future, several investors from all parts of the world would set up operations in the industrial zone and use the port facilities to plug into the global production networks.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 11:18:45|Editor: Li Xia

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Delegates pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony of the 50th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Ministers' meeting and related meetings held in Singapore on Aug. 29, 2018. The ASEAN economic ministers' meeting and related meetings kicked off here on Wednesday, with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong calling on member states to continue strengthening regional economic cooperation and integration. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic ministers' meeting and related meetings kicked off here on Wednesday, with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong calling on member states to continue strengthening regional economic cooperation and integration.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Lee said the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is a prime example of how a united ASEAN is much larger than the sum of its parts.

According to Lee, ASEAN is forecast to become the fourth-largest economy in the world by 2030.

But he added that ASEAN is facing growing geopolitical uncertainties, including the escalating trade tensions between the United States and other dialogue partners of ASEAN and the under-pressure rules-based multilateral trading system.

Therefore, Lee called on ASEAN member states to stay united, strive to maintain their cohesion and effectiveness, and press on with regional economic integration and fully implement the AEC Blueprint 2025.

Lee also said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations have reached a critical stage, and after a great deal of work, the possibility of substantively concluding the RCEP talks is finally in sight.

"Given the diversity of RCEP's members, we all have to make trade-offs and compromises," he said, adding that "but we should weigh these against the significant strategic and economic value of RCEP."

Therefore, Lee encourages RCEP countries to take a long term view, keep up the momentum, engage constructively and with maximum flexibility, so that they can deliver a high quality RCEP agreement this year.

Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said in his welcome remarks that the 50th ASEAN economic ministers' meeting and related meetings are important for the AEC, because ASEAN member states are expected to achieve fruitful outcomes as they renew their existing efforts, and undertake additional commitments to strengthen the AEC and foster deeper partnerships with the dialogue partners.

"This will serve as a bulwark against unilateralism and protectionism and keep us on a path towards growth, progress and prosperity for all our peoples," he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 11:23:46|Editor: Li Xia

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CANBERRA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Australian National University (ANU) researchers have developed a bio-optics diagnostic device which can help prevent heart attacks and stroke, according to the researchers.

The device can identify imminent and dangerous blood clots before they form, potentially saving patients from experiencing stroke or heart attack.

Using a sample of a patient's blood, the device provides a 3D map of how that patient's platelets react when damaged.

Steve Lee, the team leader on the project, said the map provided medical practitioners with a profile of how a patient's platelets react when they are at risk of developing a blood clot.

"Using the new diagnostic device that our team has developed, we can create and quantify clot formation in 3D view from a blood sample without any form of labelling such as fluorescence or radiotracer - this had been impossible to achieve until now," he said in a media release on Wednesday.

The diagnostic device creates the map by measuring the time it takes for light to travel through damaged platelets.

Researchers believe the technology will revolutionize how doctors treat blood clots.

The current approach for doctors treating clots is to prescribe a common blood thinner.

However, the new device will allow a doctor to assess a patient's risk of heart attack or stroke with precision for the first time and undertake tailored treatment.

"It's a personalized approach," fellow team leader Elizabeth Gardiner told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"There are clear differences in how people respond to a standard injury and... now we need to evaluate specific patient types."

"I would imagine we would be able to reduce the amount of medication."

The method is not yet suitable for regular use in hospitals but the ANU team is optimistic that it will become commonplace within two years.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 11:23:46|Editor: ZX

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VIENTIANE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Laos and Cambodia have vowed to continue cooperation with China in pushing ahead with the transition from analogue television to the Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) system.

Speaking at the International DTV Summit Forum in Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday, Lao Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Savankhone Razmountry said Laos was making every effort to switch from the analogue television system to DTMB by the 2020.

DTMB allows additional services using a new television broadcasting system and is compatible with fixed reception (indoor and outdoor) and mobile digital terrestrial television.

Lao National Television joined China's Yunnan Digital TV Company to establish Lao Digital TV in 2008, and the service has proved popular since its inception.

Savankhone said the ministry is establishing radio and television networks across the country to utilize the DTMB system.

Chairman of National Engineering Laboratory for Digital TV (Beijing) Yang Zhixing said transitioning from an analogue television system to DTMB is important for rural people as they could access a more modern system, while it also helped television business growth.

Yang said China-Laos cooperation in digital TV development had resulted in the installation of DTMB networks in the provinces of Savannakhet, Champassak and Luang Prabang.

In addition, the forum would encourage a closer working relationship among the three countries which was important for expanding regional cooperation on DTMB development, he said.

Royal Government Delegate Consultant to Cambodia's Ministry of Information Kem Gunawadh said the forum allowed Cambodia, China and Laos to cooperate further in the field of broadcasting to connect people, allowing them to share their experiences, local daily Vientiane Times reported Wednesday.

With the 21st century being the new era of information technology and digitalization, the DTMB system was a great advancement in terrestrial broadcasting compared with the past, he said.

Kem believed China DTV technology using the DTMB system would help Laos and Cambodia provide audiences with a comprehensive range of services.Photo taken on Aug. 28, 2018 shows a seminar on the Pacific Islands and the Belt and RoadInitiative jointly organized by the Confucius Institute and the School of Economics of the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva, Fiji. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

by Zhang Yongxing

SUVA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has provided significant opportunities for China and other countries to cooperate in the fields including infrastructure and climate change in the South Pacific region, experts from China and Fiji said here on Tuesday.

Jointly organized by the Confucius Institute and the School of Economics of the University of the South Pacific (USP), a seminar on the Pacific Islands and the Belt and Road Initiative was held here on Tuesday with the participation of experts from China and Fiji, students, local Chinese community leaders and representatives of Chinese enterprises.

Wang Yiwei, a professor and director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, delivered a keynote speech on the South Pacific in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

He said that the Belt and Road Initiative is to seek the way for the global prosperity.

"As the new engine of global economic growth, China brings its advantages in productivity, technology, funding, experience, and development into package and offer. The Belt and Road Initiative is the result of this and China's new phase of all-around opening-up," he said.

Desribed as the longest economic corridor across the globe, Wang said that the initiative has connected Asia-Pacific region, acting as the world economic engine, with the European Union (EU), and would create new opportunities and development space for the continent of Eurasia and formulate an economic radiated area in East Asia, West Asia and South Asia.

He told Xinhua that the goal of the initiative is to optimize allocation of resources and trade, to advance regional economic integration, and to realize the synchronous development of economy and society.

Seeing the initiative as a good thing for the world, including the South Pacific region, Wang said that it has brought tangible benefits to the world through foreign direct investments (FDI), tourists, international capacity cooperation and joint development of the third market.

Stressing that the initiative is a contribution China has made to the world, he said it can link projects into lines, and lines will grow into belts, zones, and economies of prosperity.

"We need a new model for regional cooperation for the 21st century. The economic belt is an innovation in regional cooperation."

Wang believed that the initiative will have a bright future and urged the rest of the world to cooperate with China for common development through the initiative.

Echoing Wang, Neelesh Gounder, a lecturer of School of Economics of USP, said that the initiative offers a "China solution to global and regional economic issues" by promoting connectivity in policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people-to-people links.

He, along with Wesley Morgan, a lecturer of School of Government, Development and International Affairs of USP, said that China has done a lot in the South Pacific region over the past years and there are significant opportunities for China and the region's traditional partners like Australia and New Zealand to cooperate in the fields such as infrastructure financing and climate change.

Photo taken on July 3, 2018 shows the China-aided Stinson Parade Bridge in Suva, Fiji. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

For his part, Keshmeer Makun, a lecturer of USP, told Xinhua that the Belt and Road Initiative is China's important initiative in shaping globalization with the rest of the world. Although it is from China, it is open to all countries willing to participate."

The global impetus of the initiative is growing. Multi-lateral and international organisations are calling on countries to strengthen regional cooperation via the initiative, he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:04:01|Editor: Li Xia

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PHNOM PENH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said Wednesday that there will be no any release of former opposition leader Kem Sokha, who has been behind bars since September last year in a treason case.

"There will be no acquittal of charges against him because this is the treason case," he said in a speech during a get-together with nearly 15,000 garment factory workers in Phnom Penh's western suburb. "No one will free him because he has not been sentenced yet."

Hun Sen said the government still sued the 65-year-old former opposition leader for his treasonous acts.

Kem Sokha, president of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on Sept. 3 last year and charged with treason for conspiring with a foreign power in an attempt to overthrow the government. He is facing up to 30 years in prison if found guilty of committing treason.

More than two months after his arrest, the CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court and 118 senior party members were banned from joining politics for five years.

The prime minister said that because Kem Sokha is a "culprit," not a "convict," so he has no rights to ask the nation's King Norodom Sihamoni to pardon him.

Under the kingdom's law, the prime minister has rights to ask the king to give amnesty to any convicts.

Hun Sen's remarks came a day before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court is scheduled to visit Kem Sokha in the Trapaing Thlong Prison in southeastern Tboung Khmum province for a hearing on whether to extend his pre-trial detention.

Also, the remarks were made after Kem Sokha's loyalists have planned to rally in front of the prison on Thursday in hope of their leader's release.

Meanwhile, Hun Sen reiterated that the recent releases of 15 jailed CNRP members, one former president of minor opposition Khmer Power Party, and four land rights activists were made after they wrote letters to apologize for their mistakes, not because of international pressure.

A series of releases occurred after Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party won all 125 parliamentary seats in the sixth general election last month. Through the triumph, Hun Sen will continue to lead the government for another five years.

A new parliament and a new government will be formed on Sept. 5 and 6, respectively, according to a parliament's statement on Monday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:09:02|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis chats with the press before a press briefing at the Pentagon, the United States on Aug. 28, 2018. The United States and Turkey plan to conduct combined patrols in northern Syria to enhance security there, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Turkey plan to conduct combined patrols in northern Syria to enhance security there, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing, Dunford said that the two nations began working together about two months ago on the security in northern Syria with a focus on Manbij area.

The patrols will be conducted in two phases.

"One is independent patrols with coordination and communication between Turkish forces, U.S. and coalition forces. The second phase is combined patrols," he said.

"We are now conducting the independent patrols with communication between the Turks, and we're still planning, with the Turks, for combined patrols," he added.

In order to do combined patrols, both sides need a "command and control construct set-up," joint training in Turkey and an agreement "on rules of engagement and other details of patrolling," Dunford noted.

The bilateral conversation in these respects is ongoing, he said. "It's ongoing. We're both satisfied, that is the Turks and the United States, with the pace of our planning ...We're talking about making some refinements to that security in the future."

Also at the press briefing, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Turkey's purchase of Russia-made S-400 system does "concern" the U.S. side.

"Clearly Turkey is bringing a Russian anti-aircraft, anti-missile system into a NATO country. We cannot integrate that into NATO. Yes, it does concern us, and we do not recommend that," he added.

The move came in line with the roadmap on Manbij agreed to by Turkey and the United States earlier this year, which focused on the withdrawal of the People's Protection Units (YPG) militants from northern Syria.

Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and has long been urging the United States to remove the YPG from Manbij, where about 2,000 U.S. soldiers are currently deployed.

Relations between Turkey and the United States have been strained over Washington's support for the YPG.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:14:03|Editor: Li Xia

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MANILA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a blast in the southern Philippine province of Sultan Kudarat has risen to two, with one of the injured in critical condition, authorities said on Wednesday.

Initial reports said one was killed and 35 others injured in the blast that rocked Isulan town at 8:35 p.m. (1235 GMT) on Tuesday. Authorities said on Wednesday one of those wounded died later at a local hospital.

Investigation was underway to get into the bottom of the deadly incident, authorities said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast yet. Authorities said there was no proof that Islamic State terrorists were behind the bombing.

Provincial police chief Noel Kinazo said Tuesday night that the homemade bomb went off at in front of a restaurant near a gas station along a highway. He said the improvised explosive device was placed under a parked motorbike by the road.

The explosion occurred while residents were celebrating a local holiday, he added.

The latest bombing occurred while Mindanao is under martial rule. The entire southern Philippine region has been under martial rule since May 2017 when terrorists occupied Marawi city for five months.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:24:04|Editor: Li Xia

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MEXICO CITY, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Mexico, the United States and Canada may wrap up renegotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by the end of the week, a Mexican business leader said Tuesday.

The United States and Mexico on Monday reached a trade agreement that would pave the way for overhauling NAFTA. Canada's negotiation team was in Washington on Tuesday to review the points agreed upon by Mexico and the United States.

The bulk of the agreement already has Canada's approval and all that is left is reviewing sensitive issues that have been preliminarily negotiated, said Gustavo de Hoyos, president of the Mexican Employers' Association (Coparmex) in a press conference in Mexico City.

"There is a good possibility we'll have things finalized between now and Friday," said de Hoyos, who is one of the advisors appointed by the Mexican government.

Talks on renegotiating NAFTA began in August 2017 as Trump threatened to withdraw from the trilateral trade deal, which he claimed harmed U.S. industries and jobs.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Monday that he expected to send a notice to Congress on Friday, with a possibility of the agreement being signed by the end of November after the mid-term elections scheduled for Nov. 6.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:49:08|Editor: Li Xia

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LA PAZ, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Bolivian government planned to update its hydrocarbons law in order to boost investment in the energy sector, Energy Minister Luis Sanchez said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the First International Forum on Gas, Petrochemical and Green Fuels in the central Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, the minister said that it was important to refresh the eight-year-old law.

Modifications to the Hydrocarbon 3058 Law are required to fit the energy sector's modern reality, as the dynamism, price challenges and advances in the industry demand changes, Sanchez said,

According to the minister, since 2007, 100 laws, 194 decrees and 176 regulatory resolutions have been made to invigorate the sector, all of which now need to be incorporated into a single law.

"We came to refresh the sector's laws and realized they are very dispersed, so they need to be concentrated in a new hydrocarbons law," said Sanchez.

The Bolivian economy relies on raw materials, concrete and hydrocarbons,.

"The new regulation will be shaped to increase investment into the whole hydrocarbon chain," said the minister.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:54:11|Editor: Li Xia

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NEW DELHI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- India's private internet and mobile services provider Reliance Jio has emerged as the biggest player with a whopping nearly 38 percent of the market share.

The company's total internet base stood at around 494 million at the end of March 2018, while the total subscribers stood at 186.5 million, the Times of India reported while quoting figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday.

The success of Reliance Jio is attributed to "4G" only services and very low data tariffs, compared to its competitors, added the newspaper.

Notably, Reliance Jio had started mobile internet operations only in 2016.

With a market share of 23.5 percent, "Airtel" is the next best mobile and internet provider. "Airtel" started services in late 1990s. The company is saddled with a large base of "2G" subscribers, out of whom many use non-internet feature phones only for voice-calls.

The other two cellular companies "Vodafone" and "Idea", which are on for a merger soon, are way behind with a market share of 15.4 percent (76 million users) and 9.5 percent (47 million).

Meanwhile, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) which has provides services across the country, except the cities of Delhi and Mumbai has a share of 6.4 percent (31.4 million users).Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:54:12|Editor: Li Xia

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SYDNEY, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Despite landing its highest ever domestic earnings, Virgin Australia's full-year statutory profit failed to take off for the 6th consecutive year.

Announced to the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday, the airline posted a loss of 681 million Australian dollars (500 million U.S. dollars).

According to the company's statement, deferred tax accounting write-offs to the tune of 451.9 million Australian dollars (331.83 million U.S. dollars), along with the impairment of 120.8 million Australian dollars (88.70 million U.S. dollars) of business assets were the main reasons for the statutory losses.

A 45 million Australian dollars (33 million U.S. dollars) lift in the cost of fuel also dragged on the bottom line.

"While these adjustments have impacted our statutory result for the year, they are non-cash and have no impact on the fundamentals of the Group's underlying business," Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti said.

In total, full-year revenue actually shot up 7.4 percent to 5.42 billion Australian dollars (3.98 billion U.S. dollars) to give the carrier an underlying before tax profit of 109.6 million Australian dollars (80.48 million U.S. dollars).

"This outcome was driven by record earnings in our core domestic business, which represents two thirds of our revenue base, and supported by significant improvements in our cash and leverage results," Borghetti said.

"Today's financial results show that the business is in a good position to achieve sustainable profitability going forward."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 13:59:12|Editor: Li Xia

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KATHMANDU, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Five members of the same family have been killed when their house collapsed in a remote village of Salyan District in western Nepal Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday.

A 40-year-old man, his wife aged 35, his two daughters aged six and seven respectively, and a four-year-old son were killed after their house at Setogurans in Bagachaur Municipality collapsed due to landslides triggered by incessant rainfalls, Birendra Bahadur Shahi, police chief of Salyan, told Xinhua.

"The wall of their house collapsed when the victims were in deep sleep," Shahi said.

The man's other daughter, 11, was injured.

Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has been urging people across the country to remain on high alert amid heavy rainfall.

The flood forecasting division has been sending flood warning messages amid the heavy rainfall in different parts of the Himalayan country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 14:24:17|Editor: Liu

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VIENTIANE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese state-owned China Tower, together with the Lao government and local firm Click Lao Marketing and Consultancy, signed an agreement in the Lao capital to jointly establish Southeast Asia Tower company.

The Southeast Asia Tower Company will mainly be engaged in the construction, maintenance and operation of communication towers, base stations, power supplies and other supporting facilities, as well as that of indoor distribution systems and transmission systems in Laos.

According to the agreement inked on Tuesday evening, the shareholding ratio of the three parties is 70 percent, 15 percent, and 15 percent respectively.

The chairman and general manager of Southeast Asia Tower will be appointed by China Tower, the controlling shareholder, which will also lead the operation and management of the joint venture.

Officials from China Tower told Xinhua that the Southeast Asia Tower company is its first overseas investment project, and has received strong support from the Lao government. The joint venture will rely on the experience and capabilities of China Tower in technology, operation management, and industrial chain integration to further explore the synergies between the two markets of China and Laos and improve the communication infrastructure construction and operation level in Laos.

China Tower, established on July 15, 2014, is mainly engaged in construction, maintenance, and operation of base station supporting facilities such as communication towers and large indoor distribution systems.

As of the end of June 2018, the China Tower runs about 1.9 million base stations, ranked as the world's largest provider of communication tower infrastructure services.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 14:29:17|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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People gather near a house damaged during a gunfight at village Muniward in Anantnag district, 51 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 29, 2018. Two militants were killed Wednesday in a fierce gunfight with Indian troops in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Two militants were killed Wednesday in a fierce gunfight with Indian troops in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The gunfight erupted at village Muniward in Anantnag district, 51 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"A gunfight started this morning between militants and government forces in Muniward village here and during the gunfight two militants were killed," a senior police official posted in Anantnag told Xinhua. "The bodies of militants have been recovered and two assault rifles belonging to these militants were seized from the spot."

According to police, the village was cordoned off early morning following specific intelligence information about presence of militants inside a residential house.

Indian army or police have not suffered any damage in the stand-off, police said.

Authorities have imposed restrictions in Anantnag town and outskirts as a precautionary measure and suspended Internet services in the district.

Police said they were ascertaining the identity of slain militants.

Locals said they heard sound of gunfire and blasts in the village and the gunfight lasted for around four hours.

As per locals, the house from where militants were firing on army and police positions has completely got damaged.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in the region since 1989.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 15:14:22|Editor: Liu

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PARIS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in a northwestern French commune have banned swimming and diving off its beaches due to an amorous dolphin, local media reported.

Roger Lars, the mayor of Landevennec, said he issued the order after a number of bathers were terrified by the 10-foot (about 3.05 meters) bottlenose dolphin, known as Zafar, said to be a common sight in the waters off northwestern France's Brittany.

Though considered friendly and non-aggressive, recent attempts by the dolphin in heat to be more intimate with swimmers and boats by rubbing against them have triggered safety concerns.

Last month, Zafar tried to prevent a swimmer from returning to land, requiring rescue efforts by the coast guard. It also leapt over a kayaker's head and recently, appeared to have thrown a bather in the air. Local media reported that Zafar is looking for a mate.

The ban will be in force whenever Zafar is sighted and offenders risk being fined 39 euros (45.6 U.S. dollars).

A local lawyer said he would challenge the restriction, saying the mayor has overstepped his authority and harmed the positive approach people have toward dolphins.

However, in a tweet Tuesday, the French prefect of Finistere said it supports the practical decision taken by the mayor since the ban ensures security for people, including experienced swimmers.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 15:34:25|Editor: Yamei

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SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States has made no request to South Korea for talks about the resumption of their joint annual military drills, which the two allies agreed to suspend as long as dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) lasts, South Korea's presidential Blue House said Wednesday.

Kim Eui-keum, spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told a press briefing that Seoul and Washington have never discussed the issue to date, saying it will be an issue to be discussed and determined by the two allies after considering progress in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Kim said the U.S. side made no request to South Korea for consultations on the military drill issue.

The remarks came after U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said his country had no plans to suspend any more military exercises with South Korea.

Seoul and Washington halted the summertime joint annual war games, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) originally scheduled for August, as top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump held the first-ever DPRK-U.S. summit in Singapore on June 12.

The UFG is a computer-simulated command post exercise, which the DPRK had denounced as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.

Asked about the third summit between Moon and Kim, the Blue House spokesman said the upcoming summit will play a bigger role in finding a breakthrough in standoff between Pyongyang and Washington.

He noted that Trump and Kim maintained an unwavering will toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the settlement of a lasting peace, which the two leaders agreed to during their summit meeting.

The leaders of the two Koreas agreed to hold their third summit in Pyongyang before the end of September. They met at the border village of Panmunjom twice in April and May.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:14:29|Editor: Liu

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SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unification ministry said Wednesday that talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are underway to open a joint liaison office in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.

Unification Ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a press briefing that talks are currently underway between the two Koreas about the opening of the inter-Korean liaison office though no specific progress has been made yet.

The launch of the joint liaison office was agreed upon by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un during their first summit on April 27 in the border village of Panmunjom.

South Korea aims to open the liaison office by the end of August to increase communication with the DPRK, but it became difficult to open it as planned given the remaining date of this month.

Asked about whether the cancelled visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the DPRK influenced the opening date of the liaison office, the spokesman said there was a virtuous cycle between the inter-Korean relations and the DPRK-U.S. relations.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently asked Pompeo to cancel his scheduled visit to Pyongyang.

The spokesman said inter-Korean talks are underway through various channels to determine the date of the third summit between the current leaders of the two Koreas.

South Korea and the DPRK agreed to hold the third Moon-Kim summit in Pyongyang before the end of September.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:14:30|Editor: Liu

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GABORONE, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Botswana is ready to host the 8th General Assembly of the Consortium of African Funds for the Environment (CAFE) to raise funds for climate change, Forest Conservation Botswana (FCB) said Tuesday.

Themed "Fundraising and Climate Financing",the annual general assembly will be held from Sept. 3 to 7 in Botswana's tourism heartland Kasane, attended by over 50 delegates from 16 environmental funds across Africa.

CAFE was founded in 2011 after a period of informal collaboration between several African environmental funds.

Speaking during a press briefing, Joshua Moloi, the chief executive officer of FCB, said it is a well-known fact that lack of access to climate finance affects environmental funds in Africa.

One of the main objectives of CAFE is to catalyze support for the fund to access resources from financial partners, part of which could be done through collaborations by partner countries, he said.

The CAFE assembly comes at a time when the FCB is in the process of seeking accreditation for the green climate fund, which will be used to address climate change adaptation and mitigation issues in Botswana, according to Moloi.

To date, the CAFE assembly has been hosted by Mauritania, Malawi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda, Madagascar and Tanzania.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:14:30|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called on young people to take an active part in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), support solidarity and cooperation between China and Africa, and make their own contribution to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Xi made the statement Tuesday when replying to a letter from participants of the International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Road, held in the Chinese cities of Changsha and Nanjing in May.

Xi pointed out that the BRI has transformed from an idea and vision to action and reality, and yielded fruitful achievements since he put forward the initiative five years ago, and this was not possible without warm responses and active participation of young people.

Noting that the BRI has injected strong impetus in China-Africa cooperation, he told them that Chinese and African leaders will discuss friendly cooperation and development under new circumstances at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, to be held in September.

Xi said young people are the future of a nation, and young people from China and Africa represent the future of China-Africa friendship.

He urged them to engage in more cultural exchanges, continue actively participating the building of the Belt and Road, and carry on traditional friendship between China and African countries.

He also encouraged them to play their own part in jointly building an even stronger community with a shared future for China and Africa and a community with a shared future for mankind.

A total of 73 young representatives from 51 countries attended the youth forum. Some of them wrote a letter to Xi about their experience at the forum and ideas on the BRI, China-Africa cooperation and youth exchanges.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:14:30|Editor: Liu

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazil on Tuesday denied any intention to make a federal intervention in Roraima, its northernmost state that borders Venezuela and is facing an immigration crisis.

"An intervention was not considered," Institutional Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen said. "We have been treating this situation with the measures we have, in a gradual manner."

Earlier in the day, President Michel Temer signed a decree to send armed forces to reinforce security in Roraima, which led to rumors about a federal intervention.

Since February, the state of Rio de Janeiro has been put under a public security federal intervention in response to a series of acts of violence. With the intervention, the federal government takes over the entire public security sector, which is usually under the state administration.

As for Roraima, the military will not "invade the state's competencies," Etchegoyen said, adding that interference would be made only if Roraima's governor requested it, which was not the case.

Brazil has experienced a sharp rise in the arrival of Venezuelan immigrants in the past year and a half. The majority of them enter through the small town of Pacaraima in Roraima, which recently witnessed tension following xenophobic attacks on Venezuelan immigrants.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:14:30|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Professor Chen Yuanmeng has taught Kiswahili, one of the major languages in East Africa, at the Communication University of China for over 50 years.

As one of the most senior Kiswahili teachers in the university, Chen has seen major changes over the years and the importance of promoting communication between China and African countries.

Kiswahili is one of the widely spoken languages in East Africa. It is used in countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda and Mozambique.

"Kiswahili is our golden key to understanding Africa," said 76-year-old Chen, "We can only begin to understand each other when we speak the same language."

Chen started teaching Kiswahili in 1966, six years after the major was set up in the university, the first of its kind in China.

"We didn't even have textbooks at the very beginning," Chen recalled.

"We had to use radio and newspapers as learning materials back then," said Chen,"It wasn't until 1971 that the first Kiswahili-Chinese dictionary was published."

Thirty-six-year-old Hu Bo, who graduated in 2004, said that when he attended school in early 2000, there were only dozens of copies of the Kiswahili-Chinese dictionary across the country. "There were 24 students in my class," Hu said, "Professor Chen bought a dictionary for each one of us. The dictionary was like a treasure for us back then."

Like many of his alumni, Hu went to Africa after graduation. After working in several different African countries for a few years, he built his own fertilizer import and export business there.

"Many other graduates become interpreters or diplomats, contributing to the friendship between China and Africa as well," Hu said.

During 50 years of teaching, Chen has edited textbooks and translated several Kiswahili books into Chinese.

His student Li Kunruonan has followed in his footsteps and became a teacher at the university after graduation.

"I chose to become a teacher because I think there are still many Chinese people who don't know about Africa," said Li, "I want to help more people learn about the real Africa."

Also working as a translator, Li has been translating novels in Kiswahili into Chinese. "I wish I could help Chinese people in Africa learn Kiswahili and about African culture, while also helping African people learn some Chinese and understand more about China," said Li.

Han Mei, a graduate from the early 1990s, has been working as a reporter at the West African center for China Radio International, telling the Chinese story to African people.

Han is looking forward to the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in early September in Beijing. She said that many African countries have a strong will to develop and are looking forward to learning from China's experience.

"Wenzhou is my first home, and Africa is like my second home," said Chen.

"I hope more young people can join us and contribute to the development and cooperation between China and African countries," Chen said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:14:30|Editor: Yamei

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HARBIN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- All the victims of a hotel fire on Saturday that killed 20 people in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, have been identified, the city's information office said.

The bereaved families had been reached and arrived in Harbin by Monday. After on-site identification and DNA matching, all the bodies have been identified by their families.

The deadly fire started at 4:36 a.m. Saturday at Beilong Hot Spring Leisure Hotel in Songbei District, and was put out at 7:50 a.m. The legal representative of the hotel is under criminal detention while two other hotel managers are under investigation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:19:32|Editor: Yamei

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Florida, the United States' third most populated state and a known swing state, held its primaries Tuesday, choosing a follower of President Donald Trump and a liberal Democrat as governor candidates to face off in the midterm elections.

Ron DeSantis, a Republican Congressman, won an easy victory over his biggest opponent Adam Putnam, the state's agriculture commissioner, to become his party's nominee for the governorship race in November.

The 39-year-old made painstaking efforts during the campaign to appeal to Trump, even featuring his toddler child in an advertisement in support of Trump's controversial policies.

He emerged victorious after Trump endorsed him, making him the favorite in the race.

Trump touted the victory on Twitter, cheering him on for the showdown in November.

DeSantis will compete with Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, capital of Florida.

On the Democratic side, the victory of Gillum was seen as an upset over former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, whose centrist view was thought to be more appealing to voters in the midterms.

Former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, who shares similar views with Gillum, said in a statement that Gillum's victory was the result of "a political revolution."

In the Senate race, incumbent Governor Rick Scott, who won 88.6 percent of the primary votes, will present a stiff challenge for incumbent Bill Nelson, who has served three terms in the Senate and is the only current statewide elected Democratic official in Florida.

The state of Arizona also held its primary Tuesday, where the governorship and a senate seat are at stake.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:24:33|Editor: Yamei

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ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least five Yemeni soldiers were killed and four others injured after al-Qaida militants stormed a military checkpoint in the turbulent southern province of Abyan overnight, a local official said Wednesday.

Dozens of militants launched an armed attack from different directions and targeted a key checkpoint in the coastal area of Ahwar Tuesday night, triggering a fierce gunfight at the scene, an official said on condition of anonymity.

The gunfight with al-Qaida attackers caused five soldiers killed and four others injured, he said, adding that the targeted checkpoint belongs to the Yemeni troops backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A security source confirmed to Xinhua saying that some of the attackers were either killed or injured, but their number couldn't be exactly specified as the terrorist group evacuated its casualties during the fighting.

Some social media accounts affiliated to the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed that the attackers seized an amount of weapons, ammunition and military vehicles after the overnight attack against the UAE-backed Yemeni troops.

The province of Abyan, former main stronghold of AQAP, has been the scene of sporadic attacks or heavy clashes between UAE-backed security forces and al-Qaida militants from time to time.

In recent weeks, AQAP carried out several armed attacks against UAE-backed Yemeni security forces that established a number of military bases in Abyan to combat al-Qaida.

The AQAP network mostly operating in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country.

The U.S. military has carried out several airstrikes against AQAP fighters in different provinces of the war-torn Arab country since U.S. President Donald Trump approved expanded military operations against the group.

That included intensified overnight airstrikes and ground military raids against the al-Qaida hideouts in the mountainous areas of al-Bayda and southeastern province of Shabwa.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in southeastern provinces.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:29:35|Editor: Liu

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BAGHDAD, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A suicide car bomb killed eight and wounded 16 others in Iraq's western province of Anbar Wednesday, a provincial security source said.

The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a checkpoint managed by Iraqi soldiers and local Sunni tribal fighters in the early morning at the southern entrance of al-Qaim, a former Islamic State (IS) stronghold on Anbar's borders with Syria, Major Subhi Ibrahim from Anbar's Operations Command told Xinhua.

In December 2017, Iraq officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group, including the border areas and desert in western Iraq.

However, militant remnants regrouped in urban and rugged areas, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 16:34:36|Editor: Liu

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LAMU, Kenya, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least five soldiers were killed and 10 others seriously injured in eastern Kenya early Wednesday.

The Kenya Defence Forces and government officials have confirmed the incident which took place at around 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) along the Kiunga and Sankuri road in coastal county of Lamu.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 18:25:03|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WINDHOEK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Safety helmets, overalls, safety shoes and lab coats are what Catherine Shifotoka, and Iyaloo Amadhila wear on a daily basis at a Chinese-owned mine in Namibia.

Twenty six-year-old Shifotoka works as a Junior Metallurgical Engineer, while Amadhila, 27, is a Chemist at the Husab Mine, one of China's biggest single investments in Africa, and over the years the duo has managed to climb the ladder from trainees to their current positions.

Shifotoka studied Bsc (Honours) Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Namibia, while Amadhila graduated with a BSc Degree in Chemistry and Geology (Honours) in 2015 at the same university.

Upon completion of studies the two were enrolled at the graduate trainee program at the Husab mine for two years.

"I have been with the mine for two and half years now, of which the two years I have been a Metallurgical Engineering Trainee and successfully completed my training program. I am currently employed as a Junior Metallurgist," Shifotoka told Xinhua in an interview.

According to her, when she started the career at the mine, she had been actively involved in plant operations. Part of her daily tasks involved analyzing and interpreting performance trends and variances and subsequently initiating the required changes in the plant.

"As a young and dedicated Metallurgist over the two year training program, I was privileged to have met and worked with some of the best project engineers the world has to offer. I was quite fortunate to have been involved in such a distinguished and diversified project," she added.

Shifotoka told Xinhua that since then her growth at the uranium mine has been huge.

"I gained hands-on experience on the entire processing plant circuit, with extended insights on the processes which play an extremely huge aspect on the recovery of uranium from the ore we receive from mining," she explained.

According to Shifotoka, her plans are to continue growing and build her career.

"I would like to continue contributing to the effective concentration and purification of uranium production by continuously developing new methods to increase uranium concentration in solution streams," she said.

Amadhila, one the other hand, told Xinhua that upon completion of her studies in 2015, she got employed at the mine as a graduate Chemist.

"In this role, I went through a training program for two years which groomed me and allowed me to pick up the skills, expertise and technical know-how required for my current position," she added.

During her training she picked up a lot of experience as she was involved in exciting projects such as the setting up of the lab.

"This was a great experience as it allowed me to learn from my seniors and practically apply the theoretical knowledge gained at university. Upon successful completion of my program, I was then promoted to Chemist," she added.

Amadhila said working for the mine has been a great opportunity and she feels privileged to be part of such a dynamic team of individuals from all walks of life.

According to the two young women, since the development of the mine, its contribution towards employment creation, skills transfer and the country's economy as a whole has been stellar.

"Being part of the employees at the mine has improved the economic situation of many people and in doing so, contributed to the country's economic growth. I believe that Husab mine has made great strides in the development of semi-skilled, skilled and professional employees. The graduate internship program is a classic example of this," Amadhila said.

Despite the various challenges associated with the mining industry, the two young ladies are convinced that if they continue to work hard, they can significantly contribute towards the overall performance of the mine as well as gain exposure to other areas of the operations.

Currently the Husab mine is one of the biggest uranium mines in the world. Permanent employees at the mine were numbered at 1,620 by the end of 2017, in addition to 176 temporary employees and 522 contractors.Locals perform a traditional dance during a Chinese firm's donation ceremony in Yaounde, capital of Cameroon in 2016. (Xinhua file photo)

YAOUNDE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Michael Fru, 49, looks proudly at his merchandise exhibited in front of his shop, Fru and Sons Enterprise, in downtown Douala, the most populous city in Cameroon.

Covering a surface area of approximately 10,000 square feet (about 930 square meters), Fru's shop is one of the biggest in town.

The store sells household utensils, furniture, electronics, clothes, shoes, toys, furs and car parts. "Everything you see here is imported from China," Fru said.

In 2008, Fru, then a struggling businessman, forged connections in China, and began travelling to the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen to buy goods.

He started off with a few thousand U.S. dollars, but now handles 400,000 to 500,000 dollars in orders at a time.

"I travel to China at least six times a year. I have sustained a mutually beneficial relationship with my Chinese partners since 2008," he said, describing China as his "second country."

Fru, one of many Cameroonians who've benefited from a close relationship with China, hopes that the upcoming Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will push bilateral ties to a new high.

Jean Magloire, rapporteur at Cameroon's Ministry of Economy and Finance, said economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has yielded very positive results in the areas of agriculture, technology, infrastructure, health and energy, since 1971, when Cameroon and China established full diplomatic relations.

In March, Cameroonian President Paul Biya was the first African leader to visit China this year. It was the sixth trip to China by the president.

Samuel Bambo, a foreign affairs officer at Cameroon's Ministry of External Relations, said the FOCAC summit in Beijing is more than just Africa-China cooperation talks; it's about sitting down with one of Africa's greatest partners.

President Biya's China visit in March "gave the reassurance of not only a friendly but rich and fruitful Sino-Cameroon relationship that has existed for decades now," he said. "China has been very supportive in the areas of development and is a strategic partner for the quest of emergence of Cameroon by 2035."

During the visit, Biya made it clear that Cameroon is committed to enhancing strategic cooperation with China, and welcomes more investment from China in such areas as industry, agriculture, energy, transportation, social housing, and new technology, Bambo said.

Prof. Kizitus Mpoche, vice-dean of the Faculty of Modern Letters and Social Sciences of the University of Douala, said the sectors highlighted by President Biya are essential to Cameroon.

"Fruitful deals from FOCAC Beijing summit can significantly revamp the country's economy," Mpoche said. "That is why, I think the Belt and Road Initiative is laudable."

Nick Ngwanyam, political scientist and CEO of St. Louis University Institute, says the FOCAC could be a game changer for Cameroon if the country has a mindset geared toward development, integrity and accountability.

"We have to warm up the relationship based on what is at stake and what we want. We want to bring something from FOCAC that will help us move ahead as a nation and as a people," Ngwanyam said.

According to the Cartel of Cameroon Entrepreneurs, known in its French acronym as GICAM, close to 100 Cameroonian businessmen will visit China on the sidelines of the Beijing summit, scheduled for early September.

The businessmen traveling to China intend to seize the opportunity and sign deals with Chinese private companies to "boost our cooperation and create more jobs for the youths back home," said Magloire, the rapporteur at Cameroon's Ministry of Economy and Finance.

For his part, Ngwanyam said signing deals is not enough.

Cameroon needs to learn from the best practices of China, he said. "We have to work with China... to add value to our systems."

"China can give us something that is worth more than dollars," Ngwanyam said.

"We must bring back from China the capacity to create wealth and jobs in Cameroon," he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 18:45:05|Editor: xuxin

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WELLINGTON, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Fisheries New Zealand on Wednesday announced several fisheries science scholarships open to application in order to "invest in the next generation of fisheries scientists."

"We are excited to invite applications for the joint Fisheries New Zealand and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) master's scholarships, and Fisheries New Zealand undergraduate scholarships," Dan Bolger, head of Fisheries New Zealand, said in a statement.

"While we have the challenges of climate change and increasing use of the marine environment ahead of us, we will also have access to far greater volumes of data, and we will be getting it faster," Bolger said, adding that students will be equipped to deal with the changing world and will have the tools to process the increasing volume of information.

The scholarships are also an opportunity to encourage students to research and study in areas such as marine biology and statistics which currently have a shortage of trained graduates, he said.

"As part of the master's scholarship, winners will carry out research with NIWA and/or Fisheries New Zealand scientists as mentors, which will be fantastic, real-world experience for students," Bolger said.

The total value for each master's scholarship is 20,000 NZ dollars (13,419 U.S. dollars) per annum for up to two years, and 5,000 NZ dollars (3,355 U.S. dollars) for the undergraduate scholarship which is available for the final year of the degree, he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:00:10|Editor: xuxin

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TIRIN KOT, Afghanistan, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants have dynamited a key bridge in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province, a provincial government official Sayed Shah Habibi said Wednesday.

"The Taliban insurgents in the latest attack against government interests dynamited a key bridge in provincial capital Tirin Kot city on Wednesday morning," Habibi told Xinhua.

Describing the attack on the bridge as "enmity with people", the official said that the bridge was constructed in 2012 to connect provincial capital Tirin Kot city to several districts and villages.

The destruction of the bridge had added to the suffering of people in the restive province, the official said.

Taliban militants have yet to make comments.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:00:10|Editor: mmm

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attends the opening ceremony of the 10th National Congress of Returned Overseas Chinese and their Relatives in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- About 3,000 people attended the opening ceremony of the 10th National Congress of Returned Overseas Chinese and their Relatives in Beijing Wednesday.

Chinese leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attended the ceremony.

On behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Zhao Leji delivered a speech at the event, expressing congratulations to the congress and extending greetings to returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, Chinese people living abroad and workers with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (AFROC).

During his speech, Zhao expressed appreciation to the contributions made by returned overseas Chinese, their relatives and Chinese people living overseas as well as the patriotic sentiment, striving spirit and the confident image they displayed.

Zhao said the important discourses by President Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on the work related to returned overseas Chinese affairs has provided the fundamental guideline for relevant work in the new era.

He also called on returned overseas Chinese, their relatives and Chinese people living overseas to keep firmly in mind the hopes of the Party and the people, uphold the greater national interests, promote Chinese culture and make new contributions to the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Decisions to honor models of returned overseas Chinese and outstanding individuals and groups under the AFROC and affiliated organizations were also announced at the ceremony.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:10:12|Editor: mmm

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OUAGADOUGOU, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Burkina Faso will strengthen cooperation with China in all areas as Africa-China relations develop for mutual benefit, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said.

Kabore, whose country resumed diplomatic ties with Beijing in late May, will pay a state visit to China from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, during which he will also attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

"For us, this trip is an important mission as it will help build up and consolidate the two countries' relationship, which is founded on win-win, legal and transparency principles," Kabore said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

It will also help the two sides select priorities and see how they can make headway together, the president added.

"We expect to reinforce cooperation with China in all areas," he said, expecting a partnership "as broad as possible."

As for China's relations with all of Africa, Kabore said Africa-China cooperation is based on the principles of mutual benefit, equal opportunity and the need to develop international trade.

"We don't have any regrets about this existing China-Africa cooperation, which is developing day by day in favor of our respective peoples," he said. "Africa has chosen China ... It is our choice and we stick to that."

Africa can learn from China's success in developing into the second largest economy in the world, and the China-championed notion of building a community with a shared future for mankind will promote Africa-China ties, he said.

Kabore called the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative a "sound initiative" intended to develop infrastructure links and boost trade between different countries.

"I think it is an initiative that should be supported," he said, adding that it will probably take some time but is an initiative "which is necessary if we want to develop international trade."

Regarding the rising protectionism and unilateralism in the world, the president said the upcoming China-Africa summit "shows the interest of multilateralism."

"This is what we have always defended together because protectionism in our current times raises problems as it is a real threat to international and world peace," he said. "Therefore, the holding of this summit is a real success as we tell supporters of protectionist policies that we have opted for multilateralism."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:20:16|Editor: xuxin

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PHNOM PENH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The trial of jailed Australian filmmaker James Ricketson in a spy case ended in Cambodia on Wednesday with a verdict expected to be pronounced on Friday.

Ricketson, 69, was arrested on June 3, 2017 in Phnom Penh while flying a drone illegally to capture images of a rally by the court-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

He was charged with collecting information which could jeopardize Cambodia's national security with the intent to pass it on to a foreign entity. He is facing up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of espionage.

During the seven days of hearings, Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Seang Sok showed a number of evidence against Ricketson including his emails to former CNRP leader Sam Rainsy on an anti-government strategy and his letter to then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urging him to cancel Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen's visit to Australia, as well as his photographs and video clips of armed forces on duty.

The prosecutor said that Ricketson's humanitarian work with poor children in Cambodia was just a front to disguise his gathering information on Cambodia's national security.

However, Ricketson's defence rejected the allegations and found several witnesses to testify that their client was a "good man".

Ricketson had repeatedly denied the espionage charges, saying that he was not a spy but a journalist.

In a July 1 letter to Hun Sen published in the Khmer Times, the jailed filmmaker apologized for his mistake.

"I apologize unreservedly and without condition for any distress I may have caused as a result of my ignorance of Cambodian issues. If there is anything I can do to remedy my mistake, please let me know as I only want the best for you and Cambodia," the letter said.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court presiding judge Seng Leang said that a verdict for Ricketson will be pronounced on Aug. 31 at 8:30 a.m. local time.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:25:18|Editor: mmm

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- If history is any guide, the entire tire market would see a price hike should the United States impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports, a U.S. tire importer told Xinhua in a recent interview.

American consumers would be put in harm's way, said Walter J. Weller, senior vice president of China Manufacturers Alliance.

Weller was one of the many corporate executives and industry leaders speaking at the hearings held by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on slapping an additional 25-percent tariff on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese goods. Most of them urged the commission to exclude the items necessary for their businesses from the list.

"The implementation of these tariffs, if they go as high as 25 percent, will be significant (for) the marketplace. After all, 40 percent of the U.S. replacement tire market is satisfied by imports from China," Weller told Xinhua.

Weller's company imports truck and bus radial (TBR) tires from China and Thailand and sells them to about 100 U.S. dealers, who represent over 1,000 points of sale as well as 20,000 employees.

If the tariffs were in place, Weller said there would be a shortage of radial truck tires in the United States, which would lead to a price hike for all tires, whether they have a tariff on them or not.

U.S. domestic manufacturers would take the opportunity to improve their profit margins even though those tariffs would not be directed at them, just as the price went up during the 2016-2017 anti-dumping probe against Chinese tires, he explained.

On Feb. 22, 2017, the USITC announced that China-made tires exported to the United States did not pose substantial damage or threat to the U.S. tire industry, overruling the decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2016 that accused China of dumping tires.

According to Weller, the U.S. TBR tire manufacturing capacity is not enough to meet the domestic demand. The only market that has the capacity to satisfy this demand is China, which now provides for more than half of the world's TBR tire demands.

If an additional 25-percent tariff is levied on TBR tires from China, Weller said his company would import more from its Thailand plant to offset the effect. But the step takes time and is difficult for importers doing business exclusively with China.

Weller doesn't think the United States could find any other exporter to replace China. According to figures gathered by his company, China sold 7.2 million TBR tires to the United States in 2016, four times as many as the second largest exporter, Thailand, which is already at its full capacity.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:30:19|Editor: xuxin

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BERLIN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel left Germany on Wednesday morning for a multi-day diplomatic mission which will take her to the West African states of Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria.

The trip follows close on the heels of an announcement by Berlin to reduce obstacles to German-African trade and underscores the growing importance which the federal government attaches to the continent in its foreign policy. Talks between Merkel and local dignitaries in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria are expected to focus on migration, trade and investment.

"The economic perspective is so important for most countries in Africa because there are many young people in need of training and jobs," the chancellor said during her latest weekly podcast.

During recent years, West African countries have become a major source of irregular migration to Germany. Officials estimate that there are currently 14,000 citizens from Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal living in the federal public without a valid residence permit.

Germany is now such a popular destination for Nigerians that they accounted for seven percent of all new asylum applications filed with German authorities during the first half of 2018. As a consequence, the country ranked third behind Syria and Iraq in a table of places of asylum seekers' origin compiled by the government.

Merkel has come under intense political pressure to toughen her stance on asylum policy. Her own interior minister Horst Seehofer has vowed to implement a "migration master plan" which will lead to a sharp reduction in the number of asylum seekers coming to Germany. The chancellor is hopeful that leaders in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria will hereby cooperate with Berlin in taking back migrants who have failed to obtain residence on humanitarian grounds.

Germany is already funding so-called "migration advisory centers" in Ghana and Senegal where failed asylums seekers who return home voluntarily are offered assistance during their job hunt. A further center is scheduled to open in Nigeria in the course of the year. Once passed, some West Africans may also benefit from new legislation which is currently being drafted by Merkel's cabinet to attract more skilled labor from abroad.

Nevertheless, Berlin has also repeatedly clashed with local authorities in the issue area of migration. While German authorities complain about a West African bureaucracy which they say works slowly, governments in the region have insisted that they must be completely certain that the deportees are genuine citizens of the country in question.

Aside from the sensitive topic of deportations, Merkel will also raise the G20 "Compact with Africa" initiative which it has launched to promote investment on the continent as a potential means to address the root courses of emigration. West African leaders have previously expressed a desire to increase their volume of trade with Germany and reduce a current imbalance between high levels of imports from, and relatively small amounts of exports to, the European country.

Stefan Liebling, the president of the German-African Business Association, recently announced that German companies are planning to ramp up their investments on the African continent during the coming years. According to his association, new investments by German companies in Africa will rise by more than 10 percent to a total of more than one billion euros.

Back in June, the federal government also eased the conditions which must be met for domestic small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access export guarantees in trade with certain African countries. Towards this end, Berlin lowered the insurance excess shouldered by these firms or the banks they work with in international trade between Germany and African states. The new regulations apply to countries which have joined the G20 "Compact with Africa" initiative.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:35:21|Editor: Liangyu

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A press conference on the 2018 China Cybersecurity Week is held in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2018. The cybersecurity week will be held nationwide from Sept. 17 to 23. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 China Cybersecurity Week will be held from Sept. 17 to 23, the Cyberspace Administration of China said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The theme of the publicity week on internet security this year centers on "cybersecurity for the people and cybersecurity through the people."

A series of events will be held nationwide by 10 departments including the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Cyberspace Administration of China, All-China Federation of Trade Unions and Ministry of Education.

Major events such as the opening ceremony, cybersecurity exhibition, and cybersecurity technology summit will be held in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The cybersecurity exhibition this year will incorporate new content such as talent training and technology innovation, according to Yang Chunyan, an official with the Cyberspace Administration of China.

Yang added the exhibition also features the intellectual voice navigation, question and answer challenge as well as a lecture room, enabling the public to better understand and involve themselves in cybersecurity.

China officially initiated the first China Cybersecurity Week in 2014.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:45:23|Editor: xuxin

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RAMALLAH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) started on Wednesday the new school year for more than 300,000 students at the primary and middle school levels in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, amid a tight financial crisis.

At the opening ceremony for the new school year at Al-Jalazon refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner general of UNRWA, said the school year starting on time represents "a message of hope that the UNRWA stands for."

"We are very determined to keep the schools open. I told the students they should focus and concentrate on their studies and we will concentrate on getting the money to ensure that they continue their studies," said Krahenbuhl, referring to the current funding shortage of the UN refugee agency.

Schools in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will start as planned early next week, he added.

The UNRWA has over 700 schools serving almost 525,000 children and offers healthcare for some 3.5 million refugees through a network of 150 clinics.

In addition, the agency's food and cash assistance program offers some 1.7 million U.S. dollars to the extremely vulnerable refugees.

However, the United States cut down its contribution to the UNRWA from 125 million dollars to 65 million dollars at the beginning of the year.

Hussein Elayyan, deputy head of the Al-Jalazon Refugee Camp Popular Committee, told Xinhua that education is what Palestinian refugees value most as part of the struggle against displacement that started 70 years ago.

"As refugees, we have nothing but education, and so we are determined on our education ... Our main gain is the education of our children so that they are at least educated and not ignorant," said Elayyan.

Meanwhile, he urged donor countries to step up their contributions, as the UNRWA opened schools this year amid an unprecedented 200-million-dollar deficit.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 19:45:23|Editor: mmm

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MANILA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Jordan next month to hold talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, the Philippine foreign department announced on Wednesday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement Duterte is visiting Jordan from September 5 to September 8 on Abdullah's invitation. It will be the first visit to be made by a Philippine president to Jordan.

"The President will hold talks with King Abdullah II on broadening cooperation in key areas to advance shared aspirations for greater peace, progress and prosperity," the statement added.

The DFA said Duterte is expected to discuss with Abdullah "a wide range of issues of mutual concern to the Philippines and Jordan."

Business leaders from both countries will likewise meet to explore ways of increasing two-way trade and investments, the DFA said.

The DFA said Duterte will also meet with members of the Filipino community in Jordan.

Before his Jordan visit, Duterte will first visit Israel from September 2 to September 5 to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Duterte's official visit to Israel will be the first by a Philippine president since diplomatic ties were established between the two countries in 1957.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:00:29|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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GENEVA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Four million refugee children in the world do not attend school and the total has increased dramatically, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said in a report released Wednesday.

The figure has grown by half a million children in just one year, said the agency.

The report, Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis, shows that despite the efforts of governments, the UNHCR and its partners, enrolment of refugee children in school is not keeping pace with the growing refugee population.

By the end of 2017, there were more than 25.4 million refugees around the world. More than half of the refugees -- 52 percent -- were children and among them, 7.4 million were of school age.

"Education is a way to help children heal, but it is also key to rebuilding their countries," said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"Without education, the future of these children and their communities will be irrevocably damaged."

A mere 61 percent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to 92 percent of children globally. As refugee children get older, this gap grows, according to the report.

Nearly two-thirds of refugee children who go to primary school do not make it to secondary school. In total, 23 percent of refugee children attend secondary school, compared to 84 percent of children globally.

At the tertiary level, the gap changes to a chasm. Globally, enrolment in higher education is 37 percent, while only one percent of refugees have the same opportunity, which has not changed in three years.

Based on current patterns, unless an urgent investment is made, hundreds of thousands more children will join "these disturbing statistics", said Grandi.

The report urges host countries to enroll refugee children in national education systems all the way through primary and secondary school, to allow for recognized qualifications that can lead to university or higher vocational training.

It further notes that countries in developing regions host 92 percent of the world's school-aged refugees and need more sustained financial support from the international community.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:20:36|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TRIPOLI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Fresh clashes erupted on Wednesday in the south of Tripoli between forces of the UN-backed government and militias from the nearby city of Tarhuna, some 80 km southeast of the capital.

"Our forces used heavy weapons and attacked a number of sites in Qasr Ben Ghashir area, the southern outskirts of Tripoli. We want to restore the sites controlled by the Seventh Brigade gunmen of Tarhuna," a source of the joint security chamber told Xinhua,

The clashes have continued since the morning, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) warned against military actions in Tripoli.

Southern Tripoli has been witnessing violent clashes between government forces and armed militias over the past few days, killing at least five and injuring 33 others, according to the Ministry of Health.

Interior Minister Abdulsalam Ashour told a local TV channel on Monday that a cease-fire agreement in Tripoli had been reached.

Witnesses, however, said gun firing could still be heard in southern Tripoli occasionally, even after the cease-fire announcement.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:55:02|Editor: mmm

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Chai Zhanzhu, the representative inheritor of Dangyangyu kiln Jiao Tai pottery firing, "weaves" feather patterns into the clay at Dangyangyu Village of Xiuwu County in Jiaozuo, central China's Henan Province, Aug, 27, 2018. The Dangyangyu kiln Jiao Tai pottery firing is a handicraft that was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2014. The Jiao Tai pottery is made by blending clays of differing colours together, creating distinctive veined or mottled patterns. The handicraft is therefore recognized as "weaving patterns into the clay". (Xinhua/Feng Dapeng)Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:40:41|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lawmakers on Wednesday reviewed revisions to the individual income tax law during panel discussions at the ongoing bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which runs from Monday to Friday.

According to a draft amendment to the law, the minimum threshold for the personal income tax exemption is expected to be raised from 3,500 yuan (about 512 U.S. dollars) to 5,000 yuan per month or 60,000 yuan per year.

It also adds special expense deductions for items like caring for the elderly, children's education, continuing education, treatment for serious diseases, as well as housing loan interest and rent.

The revisions have lived up to the will of the people and are conducive to improving tax equity, thus enabling taxation to better play its role in adjusting income distribution, lawmaker Zhang Chunxian said during panel discussions.

The central authorities' will to reform taxation is aimed at reducing the burden on taxpayers by raising the threshold of the individual income tax exemption and adding the category of special expense deductions, Zhang said.

Lawmaker Wang Dongming said the revisions will help lower-and-middle income groups increase their income, and then bridge the income gap and advance a more reasonable and orderly pattern of income distribution.

There should be a special expense deduction item for raising children as the cost for raising children is mounting in China, lawmaker Shen Yueyue suggested.

Lawmaker Feng Zhonghua suggested that related authorities should conduct research on a specific range, standards and enforcement of the special expenses deductions, so as to ensure lower-and-middle income groups share the benefits.

According to the draft law, the State Council should set the range, standards, and enforcement steps for the special expense deductions and then report to the NPC Standing Committee.

The individual income tax was the third major contributor to China's total tax revenue, following value-added tax and enterprise income tax. In 2017, China collected individual income taxes worth nearly 1.2 trillion yuan, about 8.3 percent of the total tax revenue.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:50:18|Editor: mmm

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Malawian doctor Ulemu Bridget Chikhadzula (C) learns to examine the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 28, 2018. Five doctors from Malawi participate in a two-month medical training at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University as part of a cooperation project between China and Malawi on maternal and child health. The healthcare project signed by the National Health Commission of China and the Ministry of Health of Malawi aims to improve the capabilities of Malawian doctors and promote the healthcare level for women and children in Malawi. The medical aids to Malawi include donating devices and medicine, sending Chinese doctors to deliver medical services in Malawi, and having Malawi doctors come to China to receive medical training. By the end of the first half of 2018, China has sent a total of 101 medical workers in 6 batches to Malawi to promote local medical development. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:55:44|Editor: ZD

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An Egyptian worker directs engineering vehicles at the construction site of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port of Suez Governorate, Egypt, Aug. 28, 2018. China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) started on Tuesday the main phase of the construction of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port, south of the Suez Canal in northeast of Egypt. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

AIN SOKHNA, Egypt, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) started on Tuesday the main phase of the construction of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port south of the Suez Canal northeast of Egypt.

The project was assigned to CHEC by the Sokhna branch of the Emirati corporation DP World, the main investor and container operator in the port located at the Gulf of Suez.

At a launching ceremony, CHEC said it will deliver the "Basin 2" project in fewer than 12 months ahead of the deadline.

"Today's event is to show our determination to finish the project quickly and with high quality," Chen Shuang, deputy director of CHEC marketing department, told Xinhua at the construction site.

Sokhna Port is located within the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), a main economic region in Egypt whose development is one of the country's mega projects to attract foreign investments for further economic growth.

Mahfouz Taha, SCZone vice chairman, hailed CHEC as "one of the largest and most remarkable port builders and designers in the world," eyeing further cooperation with the Chinese side in the economic zone in the light of China's Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.

The initiative, proposed in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

"We are stretching our hands to our Chinese friends and we are encouraging all aspects of the initiative," said the Egyptian official, stressing that Egypt can be one of the main hubs for the initiative rather than a transit point.

For his part, Ajayy Kumar Singh, CEO of DP World Sokhna, said CHEC agreed to deliver the project in 2019 and he is confident of its ability.

"CHEC is one of the leading operators in building ports. We're happy to partner with them in this Basin 2 project. We're quite hopeful that they will deliver the project much ahead of the target date," Singh told Xinhua.

He said his company selected CHEC from many bidders to carry out the project after it met all the strict specifications set by DP World.

"Egypt has been growing tremendously in the last couple of years with new investments coming in, which has basically created a demand for a new additional capacity for our business in Egypt," Singh explained, adding that the new terminal basin is part of DP World's expansion plan for Sokhna Port.

The container business in Sokhna Port has grown by 10 percent and the bulk business has grown by about 30 to 40 percent from 2017 to 2018.

"This growth defines that Egypt has the potential to be a top country in the MENA region with its location at the edge of the Suez Canal that opens up a lot of trade routes to the country," the chief of DP World Sokhna said.

Dozens of enthusiastic Egyptian and Chinese workers as well as scores of trucks have been mobilized to start the new phase of the "Basin 2" project that is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2019.

Ahmed Omar, deputy project manager who has been working for CHEC for 10 years, said the second terminal basin is being built without dredgers through dry excavation, "which reduces the project cost by more than 30 percent."

"During the 100-day mobilization stage that started in late May, we safely brought all the materials and heavy equipment and finished a large part of dry excavation, so the project will be finished in fewer than 12 months, which is ahead of the timeline," Omar told Xinhua.

The first terminal basin is already operating and the second one which is under construction, will be 1,350 meters long and lengthen the first one to receive more ships.

"The project will increase the annual number of containers to 2 million and attract more shipping lines for container transit in the port," the Egyptian engineer pointed out.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:55:45|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 30 young people from around 20 African countries attended the week-long "Youth Leadership Program in the Belt and Road and South-South Agricultural Cooperation," which started Monday.

Jointly launched by the Institute for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture, China Agricultural University, and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, the training program includes a series of sessions, a field trip to the northeast city of Shenyang and dialogue among participants.

China's South-South agricultural cooperation focuses on utilizing its advantages and sharing its experiences to promote agricultural development with other developing countries in Africa and along the Belt and Road, said Zhao Lijun, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, at the opening ceremony.

The exchange, training and field studies can further deepen the understanding between China and Africa and enhance South-South cooperation in poverty alleviation, ending hunger, achieving food security and improve nutrition in Africa, said Alwin Chinyun Wesseh, the assistant minister from the Ministry of Agriculture of Liberia.

The program also gained support from the World Food Programme, the World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The upcoming 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is scheduled for Sept. 3 to 4, themed "China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 20:55:46|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Wednesday stressed strengthening students' traffic safety as they return to campus to start a new school year.

Safety checks will be launched around primary and middle schools, kindergartens and school bus enterprises nationwide, targeting school buses and their drivers, said the Traffic Management Bureau under the MPS.

Meanwhile, traffic police will increase patrols on the street to crack down on overloading, speeding, illegally-assembled school buses, and other violations, said the bureau.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:05:49|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Deepening the mutual trust of young people is of fundamental importance to the long-term cooperation and friendship between China and Japan, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here Wednesday.

Li made the remarks in a congratulatory message to an exchange conference attended by more than 1,000 Chinese and Japanese university students at Peking University in Beijing to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

In his message, Li noted that 40 years ago, the leaders of the two countries made the decision to sign the treaty and affirmed various principles in the China-Japan Joint Statement in the form of law, setting the fundamental guidelines for bilateral relations.

Li recalled that he had recently exchanged congratulatory messages with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the treaty, in which both sides agree to carry on the spirit of the Treaty and work for the long-term healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

China stands ready to work with Japan and follow the principles laid out in the four political documents signed between the two sides, the premier said.

He called on the two countries to see the past as a mirror, look forward to the future, deepen cooperation for mutual benefits, promote common development, and safeguard prosperity and stability.

Noting that youth represents the future, Li said the Chinese government would always support mutual visits and exchanges between young people of the two countries.

He expressed the hope that through Wednesday's conference, young people of the two countries will review the spirit of the treaty, expand the paths of communication, encourage and learn from each other, and enhance mutual understanding and trust to contribute to the long-term healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

Abe also sent a congratulatory message to the conference, saying that Premier Li's visit to Japan in May was of great significance to the development of Japan-China relations.

Japan and China should develop a friendly and stable relationship, he said, adding the two sides should continue promoting exchanges between the young people and building more bridges of communication to enhance bilateral friendship.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:15:54|Editor: Liangyu

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Photo taken on Aug. 23, 2018 shows Chinese Ambassador to Morocco Li Li during an interview in Rabat, Morocco. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit to be held in Beijing next month will be "an important accelerator" to promote China-Africa cooperation, and China-Morocco ties in particular, the Chinese Ambassador to Morocco, Li Li, said in a recent interview. (Xinhua)

RABAT, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit to be held in Beijing next month will be "an important accelerator" to promote China-Africa cooperation, and China-Morocco ties in particular, the Chinese Ambassador to Morocco, Li Li, said in a recent interview.

China and Africa are facing both opportunities and development challenges, Li told Xinhua. At the Beijing summit slated for Sept. 3-4, Chinese and African leaders will discuss ways to promote the development of China-Africa relations.

"It will become a new starting point for China-Africa cooperation," the ambassador said.

He said the friendly relations between China and Morocco have grown. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

In 2016, King Mohammed VI paid a state visit to China and the two nations established a strategic partnership.

In 2017, during his visit to China, Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the Belt and Road Initiative. Morocco became the first Maghreb country to sign such a document.

The initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network that will connect Asia with Africa and Europe along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Li said the initiative provides a good opportunity for developing China-Morocco ties, which are an important part of the broader cooperation between China and Arab countries.

Morocco can play a unique role in the initiative's construction and provide a platform for Chinese companies to integrate into the international production chain, he said.

China has become Morocco's third largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2017 totalled 3.8 billion U.S. dollars.

Morocco's investor-friendly economic environment, favorable geographical location, comfortable social culture and stable political ecology have attracted more and more Chinese companies to invest in the northern African country.

Li said the potential for deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and Morocco is huge, at a time when Morocco's automobile, aerospace, textile and other industries are entering a new stage of development.

With the accelerated development of Moroccan industry, the trade structure between the two countries will undergo changes, Li added.

Since Morocco's visa-free policy for Chinese citizens was implemented in June 2016, the number of Chinese tourists to Morocco has risen rapidly.

Nearly 120,000 Chinese tourists visited Morocco in 2017, which became a new source of revenue for the country, according to the Moroccan National Tourism Office's bureau in China. In the first five months this year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Morocco reached 100,000.

Li said the rise in the number of Chinese tourists has not only brought foreign currency to Morocco to help its economy, but also promoted mutual understanding between the two peoples.

"The cooperation between China and Morocco emphasizes mutual benefit and common development. I am full of confidence in the prospect of future China-Morocco cooperation," the Chinese ambassador said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:15:57|Editor: mmm

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The 2018 Summit of China Top 500 Private Enterprises is held in Shenyang, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Aug. 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

SHENYANG, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's private businesses have gained momentum in 2017, adding to positive signs of an economy that pushes forward high-quality growth.

China on Wednesday unveiled its latest ranking for top 500 private enterprises, with telecom equipment giant Huawei and e-commerce firm Suning atop the list amid sound development of the country's private business.

The list by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) came at the 2018 Summit of China Top 500 Private Enterprises held in Shenyang, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Revenues of the nine largest private firms all exceeded 300 billion yuan (44 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017. The top companies include Huawei, Suning, Amer International, JD.com, Weiqiao Pioneering Group, Legend Holdings, Evergrande, and Gome Holdings.

Of the top 500 private companies, 61 firms saw their total assets surpass 100 billion yuan last year, 11 more than in 2016.

To be listed as China's top 500 private companies last year, an enterprise need to have its revenues exceeding 15.68 billion yuan.

According to ACFIC vice chairman Huang Rong, the list came out of more than 4,600 Chinese private firms which voluntarily participated in an ACFIC survey. Not all big private enterprises are covered.

Since reform and opening up in the late 1970s, private businesses have assumed a bigger role in driving growth. The sector now contributes more than 60 percent of China's GDP growth and provides over 80 percent of jobs.

"The development of private investment and businesses are key to China's economic vitality. Changes on the 500 top private firms list show new trends in the country's economy," said Zhang Wanqiang, an economist with Liaoning Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

The trends, observed by Hu Biliang, an economist with Beijing Normal University, include industrial structure optimization, fewer irrational outbound investment and more research and development (R&D) input.

"China's private businesses continued to take on a sound development momentum in 2017," Huang said, adding the private companies have steadily optimized its industrial structure with greater contribution to society.

Last year, 162 private firms in the service sector were on the list, up 38.46 percent compared with the figure in 2012. Meanwhile, the number of firms in the secondary industry fell in the fifth consecutive year from 380 in 2012 to 333 in 2017.

The number of export-oriented firms on the list declined from 259 in 2016 to 230 last year. The total exports of the top 500 private enterprises dropped by 16.28 percent year on year to around 125.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.

"The number of overseas investment projects for top 500 private firms has declined in 2017, for the first time in over the past five years," said Wang Zhile, head of Beijing New Century Academy on Transnational Corporations.

"The decline is a result of the government's strengthened efforts to curb irrational outbound investment and companies' more prudent attitude toward overseas projects," said Hu.

The trends are in line with China's massive transformation toward quality development, which is to turn the Chinese economy, once heavily reliant on fixed-asset investment and exports, into a service and consumption-led growth pattern.

Nonetheless, more Chinese private companies started investing in countries and regions along the Belt and Road last year, which fuelled export growth.

"Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, around 47 percent of our sales volume came from overseas markets last year. The initiative offers us a good platform to go global. I believe that TCL's growth in overseas markets will continue outpacing that in the domestic market in the future," said Li Dongsheng, chairman of Chinese home appliance giant TCL.

Another trend lies in R&D input increase. R&D workers in 189 private firms on Wednesday's list account for over 10 percent of their total business employment, compared with 12 companies in 2016.

They play a vital role in creating new ideas and technologies that keep companies competitive, create new markets and spur economic growth. "Leading companies have realized the importance of R&D input for firms," said Huang.

Zhang Jin, board chairman of Cedar Holdings Group, said that nation and company alike, their development will be limited if they lack independent innovation.

At the end of 2017, there were 65.79 million individually-owned businesses and 27.26 million private enterprises in China, which employed some 340 million people.

China's private investment grew 6 percent year on year, 2.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier, to 38.2 trillion yuan last year, according to official data.

But in recent years, activities in the private sector have become less vibrant due to economic headwinds, higher labor and material costs, entry restrictions and financing difficulties.

The trend has alarmed authorities, prompting the implementation of further measures to stimulate activities, such as streamlining investment project approvals for private investors, lowering the threshold for private firms to enter key areas, and making financing more accessible and affordable.

"Aimless and speculative enterprises will not live long. Most of the 500 top private firms thrive in the real economy, engaging in a specific field for decades," said Zhang Jindong, chairman of Chinese electronics retailer Suning Holdings Group, adding that a down-to-earth approach is the secret for a successful company.

(Video editor: Cao Ying)Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:25:59|Editor: mmm

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CHANGSHA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- As the new school semester approaches, more than 1.3 million copies of textbooks and teacher's guidebooks written by Chinese experts have arrived in South Sudan.

With South Sudan's national flag being printed on the upper left of the book covers and the China Aid label on the lower right, these teaching materials are part of the Technical Cooperation Project of Education in South Sudan. The project is organized by China's Ministry of Commerce and contracted to China South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd, a major book publisher in China.

The publisher put together a Chinese team which developed a curriculum framework as well as compiled and printed Grade 1 student textbooks and teacher's books for English, Science, and Mathematics with experts from South Sudan.

A delivery ceremony was held last week in Beijing in the days prior to the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, marking the completion of the project's first phase.

Michael Lopuke Lotyam, undersecretary of the Ministry of General Education and Instruction of South Sudan, hailed the project as "a successful pilot project which shows a very good example for cooperation on education between China and South Sudan" in the ministry's feedback letter.

"This project has met the needs of education and substantially improved the basic education environment of South Sudan," he said.

Before compiling the textbooks, the Chinese team visited schools and other educational institutions in South Sudan and found that, after five years of civil war, the seven-year-old country attached great importance to the development of education but their hands were tied by a lack of funding and talent.

The shortage of textbooks was particularly serious in the country. Often six or seven students share one textbook in class.

Three consultancy reports including the Research Report on Education Development of South Sudan, Guide on Developing Modern Education System for South Sudan, Guide on Developing ICT Education for South Sudan were subsequently submitted to South Sudanese government.

The reports "are in accordance with the reality and needs of South Sudan. Also, Chinese experience in education development is shared by these reports and communications from the Chinese team," according to the country's education ministry.

When writing the textbooks, experts from both countries work closely to make sure their work was suitable to South Sudanese. The characters in the textbooks are designed based on the photos of local children provided by the Ministry of General Education and Instruction of South Sudan. Their names were selected from various local tribes to help pupils get a natural closeness to the textbooks.

When introducing South Sudan's flora and fauna, the Chinese textbook developers also consulted South Sudanese experts and requested pictures and names of local species familiar to the teachers and students there.

Lotyam said that the teaching materials "are of high quality with both well-arranged content and detailed guiding manuals and teaching material, which will be happily accepted by pupils and teachers in South Sudan."

Two hundred South Sudanese educators have been invited to China to receive training from the textbook-developing team. The trainees learned to use the textbooks and teacher's guides in class with the help of Chinese experts.

Elizabeth Martin, a science teacher with 11 years' experience, said after her training in China that the previous textbooks were "teacher-centered," and the biggest advantage of the new textbooks was that they are "student-centered."

"We are very grateful to the Chinese government and all the leaders who supported this project and all the experts and team members who contributed to this project from the Chinese side," Lotyam said.

"We hope this project will continue and the cooperation on education between China and South Sudan will extend more deeply and widely," he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:31:01|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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CAIRO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army said on Wednesday that 20 militants were killed over the past few days in raids in North Sinai Province and the Western Desert region.

In northern and central Sinai, the forces killed 13 militants, destroyed 18 hideouts, and captured 18 wanted suspects, according to Egyptian military spokesman Tamer al-Refai.

The forces also defused 41 explosive devices and destroyed 49 vehicles used by militants and smugglers, he said.

The raids are part of the "Sinai 2018" comprehensive anti-terror operation, which has killed more than 400 militants since its launched in February, with more than 30 soldiers losing their lives during the confrontations.

Egypt has been fighting a wave of terrorism that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians, since the military removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Muslim Brotherhood group that is currently blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

A Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks in Egypt over the past few years.

Meanwhile, security forces killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's removal.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:41:05|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday through his official website that Iran will quit the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal if the interests of his country are not secured.

Iran and six world powers, namely China, Russia, Britain, France, the United States and Germany, struck a landmark agreement over Iran's nuclear program in 2015, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

However, U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw Washington from the deal on May 8 and re-impose sanctions, including oil embargo, on Iran.

"If we come to the conclusion that JCPOA cannot serve the national interests, we will leave it," Khamenei said during a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his administration.

The Iranian top leader also expressed dismay over the EU, saying the Islamic republic "pins no hope on Europeans over JCPOA and economic issues."

Iran has incessantly urged Europe to take "practical and tangible measures" to protect Iranian interests since the U.S. pullout.

"From the words and the deeds of the Iranians, the Europeans should know about the reaction and the measures of the Islamic republic" in case the talks with them bear no result, Khamenei noted.

Iran is currently in talks with France, Britain and Germany to revive the blocking statute, a 1996 regulation that prohibits EU companies and courts from complying with foreign sanctions laws.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 21:46:09|Editor: mmm

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by Li Binian, Zheng Siyuan

CAIRO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Some 120 km away from the Egyptian capital city of Cairo, a huge cement plant has come up in the vast desert in just two years.

Located on the outskirts of Beni Suef, a city in central Egypt, the plant boasts six production lines with a total production capacity of 6,000 tons per day.

"It is the biggest cement plant in the world to be built all at one time and in one place," said Wu Yong, project manager at China National Materials Group (Sinoma), the Chinese firm responsible for building the plant.

He said there are cement plants in the world that can produce more, but those were built in separate stages.

"The schedule was really tight for us. We signed the contract on June 1, 2016 and were required to start production by the end of 2017," Wu said. "That meant we had to do all the geological exploration, topographic survey, design and mining as well as build the 17,000-sq-m living area in less than two years."

Wu vividly remembers the first day at the construction site when everyone got lost in the desert.

"But we did not give up. The next day we brought all the measuring instruments and laid the first coordinates," he said.

Then the workers swarmed in and the construction site was dotted with white-board makeshift houses and drilling rigs.

"The site was full of life when Chinese workers and their Egyptian colleagues worked in the scorching sun," Wu said.

The plant produced its first clinkers in December 2017 and passed all inspections in May 2018 with all the indicators meeting or exceeding the contract standards.

On Aug. 15, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated the cement plant, saying industrial projects like it can help reduce imports, save the country's foreign currency reserves, and provide thousands of job opportunities.

"Egyptians are really impressed by our speed. Some Egyptian people told me that we built the plant with hurricane speed," Wu said proudly.

Egypt has launched several mega projects, including the construction of a new administrative capital east of Cairo and the Suez Canal area development project, to boost its economy. All these need large amounts of cement.

The Egyptian Armed Forces and the real estate sector are the biggest cement consumers in Egypt. With the production of the Beni Suef cement plant, prices of cement have dropped 25 to 30 percent, an Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority official said.

"The project has made outstanding contributions to local economic development and set a model of Chinese standards and 'China speed' to serve the Belt and Road Initiative," said Liu Xiaoning, deputy general manager of Chengdu Design and Research Institute of Building Materials Industry Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Sinoma.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 22:01:14|Editor: Liangyu

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Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, listens to advice on strengthening and improving the work of the people's congresses and playing a better role as lawmakers at a symposium in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2018. Li presided over the meeting attended by 52 NPC deputies. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu on Wednesday listened to advice on strengthening and improving the work of the people's congresses and playing a better role as lawmakers at a symposium.

Legislators should think and voice opinions in big-picture terms, said Li, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, who presided over the meeting attended by 52 NPC deputies.

Li called on lawmakers to improve their political integrity and the ability to perform duties, and play their role as bridges linking the Party and the country with the people.

Lawmakers should also build good images, cherish their identities as legislators and be open to public supervision, said Li.Palestinian children sit in a classroom at a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, on the first day of a new school year, in the southern Gaza Strip City of Rafah, on Aug. 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

RAMALLAH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) started on Wednesday the new school year for more than 300,000 students at the primary and middle school levels in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, amid a tight financial crisis.

At the opening ceremony for the new school year at Al-Jalazon refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner general of UNRWA, said the school year starting on time represents "a message of hope that the UNRWA stands for."

"We are very determined to keep the schools open. I told the students they should focus and concentrate on their studies and we will concentrate on getting the money to ensure that they continue their studies," said Krahenbuhl, referring to the current funding shortage of the UN refugee agency.

Schools in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will start as planned early next week, he added.

The UNRWA has over 700 schools serving almost 525,000 children and offers healthcare for some 3.5 million refugees through a network of 150 clinics.

In addition, the agency's food and cash assistance program offers some 1.7 million U.S. dollars to the extremely vulnerable refugees.

However, the United States cut down its contribution to the UNRWA from 125 million dollars to 65 million dollars at the beginning of the year.

Hussein Elayyan, deputy head of the Al-Jalazon Refugee Camp Popular Committee, told Xinhua that education is what Palestinian refugees value most as part of the struggle against displacement that started 70 years ago.

"As refugees, we have nothing but education, and so we are determined on our education ... Our main gain is the education of our children so that they are at least educated and not ignorant," said Elayyan.

Meanwhile, he urged donor countries to step up their contributions, as the UNRWA opened schools this year amid an unprecedented 200-million-dollar deficit.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 22:21:20|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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ANKARA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey increased year-on-year by nearly 25 percent from January to July, the Turkish authorities said Wednesday.

Around 21.64 million tourists visited Turkey in the first seven months of this year, compared to 17.3 million in the same period of last year, according to a statement released by Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Russia led the list with 15.14 percent, or 3.3 million visitors, followed by Germany with around 11 percent, or 2.3 million, and Iran with 6 percent, or 1.3 million. Georgia and Britain are also the main sources for tourists.

As a popular holiday destination for neighboring countries, Turkey has set a goal of 40 million tourists and 32 billion U.S. dollars in tourism revenue for 2018.

Turkey received 36.8 million foreigners in 2014 and 36.3 million in 2015. The figure decreased sharply to 25.3 million in 2016 because of internal instability but recovered partly in 2017.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 22:41:24|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lawmakers on Wednesday voiced their support for a draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law during panel discussions at the ongoing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

According to the draft amendment, a default judgment can be applied to not only corruption-related criminal cases, and also serious cases endangering state security and terrorist activities that have been examined and approved by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) and need to be judged timely.

"The draft amendment further clarifies that a default judgment can be applied to cases involving the three types of crime, which makes it more specific," said Tan Yaozong, a legislator, during the discussion.

"I agreed with the amendment that requires the default judgment to be 'approved by the SPP,' which can avoid abuse by judicial authorities at lower levels," said Xian Tieke, a lawmaker, who suggested making full use of default judgment to prevent suspects from escaping by fleeing overseas.

The court can adjudicate the case by default, if the defendant fails to appear while the evidence is sufficient and concrete, according to the draft amendment.

Default judgment was initially raised in a draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law submitted to the top legislature for the first reading in April this year. The prior draft amendment only stated that a default judgment can be applied to corruption-related criminal cases, without specifying other crimes.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 22:56:26|Editor: Liangyu

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GABORONE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- With Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi paying a state visit to China from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5 and attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit in Beijing, China-Botswana ties are at a new starting point with significant development opportunities, the Chinese ambassador to Botswana, Zhao Yanbo, said.

The ambassador said 2018 is a big year for China-Botswana relations. Masisi's visit is his first trip to China since assuming presidency in April, and also the first visit to China by a head of state of Botswana in 12 years.

"The visit will be a historic milestone in the development of China-Botswana relations," Zhao said.

China and Botswana have a time-honored friendship since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1975. Over the years, they have been like brothers who share weal and woe and support each other, Zhao said.

China has funded over 40 projects in Botswana, ranging from refurbishing railways and constructing houses to building primary schools. Chinese medical teams have treated more than 2 million people in the African country over the past decades.

During Masisi's visit, he will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and witness the signing of important cooperation agreements, Zhao said.

Zhao said both China and Botswana have entered a new era in terms of national development. China is willing to align its national development strategy with Botswana's.

China and Botswana are highly complementary in their economy and have great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation, the envoy said. Botswana is rich in mineral resources and China is the second largest consumer of Botswana's diamonds.

China is also one of Botswana's largest project contractors and major trade partners. China will explore the feasibility of increasing imports of diamonds, beef and other products from Botswana.

China has advantages in industrial equipment manufacturing, technology, capital and market. Zhao said the two countries should seize the opportunities to develop bilateral relations under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and FOCAC to bring more tangible benefits to their people.

China welcomes Botswana to participate in the BRI as well as the China International Import Expo to be held in Shanghai in November, Zhao said.

The FOCAC Summit, scheduled for Sept. 3-4, is themed "China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-win Cooperation".Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 22:56:26|Editor: yan

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by Raheela Nazir

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's new government under Prime Minister Imran Khan has demonstrated mammoth interest to support tourism in Pakistan.

In his first speech to the nation after being elected as prime minister, Imran Khan said Pakistan has god-gifted tourist sites and the country is bestowed with huge tourism potential. He vowed to promote tourism to strengthen the country's economy.

"The government will promote and position Pakistan as Asia's Best Kept Secret in the global tourism market in order to boost tourism," Raja Khurram Nawaz, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told media recently.

He said four new tourist resorts would be opened every year to promote the tourism industry, adding that the government will revamp the accommodation infrastructure and transport services across the country.

As the new government has shown determination and keen interest to improve and promote the tourism sector by taking result-oriented measures, Pakistan's tourism sector is optimistic and expecting a further boost.

Hamayun Iqbal Shami, Chairman of Pakistan Economic Forum Islamabad, told Xinhua that tourism is considered as one of the most important sectors to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Apart from the GDP, it is also one of the important indicators which depict the improved security situation in the country.

"Pakistan can double its GDP size within a few years if tourism is established on a scientific and technical basis. It can create around 10 million new jobs and substantial share in tax revenue and earn handsome foreign exchange too," Shami opined.

While appreciating and being hopeful about the vision of Imran Khan to make tourism one of the priorities, Shami was of the view that tourism is an important sector which can solve Pakistan's economic difficulties in a short time span.

He said many countries are getting 30 percent of its GDP from the tourism sector, but tourism earning in Pakistan only makes up around two percent in the GDP, mainly due to the war on terrorism, nominal marketing, outdated public and private sector infrastructure and services.

Khawaja Ali Imran, director of the Tourist Service at the Ministry of Tourism of Pakistan, told Xinhua that "the incumbent government will definitely improve the tourism industry as the newly-elected prime minister has shown special interest and attention for its improvement and promotion."

"We need to devise a patent and effective tourism policy at the federal and provincial level to further improve tourism," the official said.

He stressed the importance of promoting tourism at the international level and attracting big international tourism marketing companies to cooperate with Pakistani ones.

Tameezudin Khan, a resident of the country's northwest Chitral district, who owns a hotel in Kelash valley and has been engaged in the hoteling business for the last 18 years, said that for many years, tourists were scared of visiting far-off valleys in Chitral due to the fear of militancy but as the security situation improved, the area has seen an upsurge in the number of tourists.

"During the last five-year tenure of the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, the tourism sector has witnessed a remarkable improvement in attracting tourists both locally and internationally due to the adoption of vibrant tourism policy," the hotel owner said.

"As the PTI has assumed power at the center recently, I hope the Pakistani tourism industry will thrive under their leadership."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 22:56:26|Editor: Liangyu

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by Tafara Mugwara

HARARE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The exponential growth of Chinese universities as world class institutions has resulted in the Asian country emerging as a popular overseas study destination among Zimbabwean students.

Pamhidzai Matambanadzo from Obepa Education and Scholarship Center said the dramatic increase in Zimbabweans students seeking higher education in China ahead of traditional study destinations can be explained in part by the Chinese government's commitment to higher education and China's technological advancements over the past decades.

"Technology in China is far much advanced, and students prefer to go where technology is more dynamic. Engineering programs are the ones that attract most students. The most popular program is civil engineering, followed by aircraft engineering, mechanical engineering and software engineering," she said.

Matambanadzo said lower tuition fees and scholarships provided by Chinese universities also attract many students.

At the FOCAC summit held in Johannesburg in 2015, the Chinese government pledged to provide 30,000 scholarships to African students during the three years till 2018.

While the Chinese government is using its financial ability to grab a growing share of students seeking higher education abroad, the rise of China as a strong competitor in the education sector has also spurred the trend.

Chinese universities have performed well in global rankings in recent years. China's top universities, Tsinghua University and Peking University broke in the global top 20 for the first time in 2017 in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.

In addition, another seven Chinese universities appeared on the league's top 100 schools in 2018.

Lydia Porusingazi, a financial analyst at an insurance firm in Harare, who graduated with a Master's degree in Quantitative Economics at Shanghai University in 2013, said students head to China for various reasons.

"China is going global. Historically many students have preferred western countries like the UK and the United States. But as the importance of China's economy and the quality of its higher education increases, so does the country's appeal as a top study destination for international students," she said.

"Most Zimbabwean students go to China to pursue an education that is affordable, while others go for the chance to develop business connections, considering that China is Zimbabwe's largest overseas trading partner," she added.

Porusingazi, who is going back to China for a doctorate program through the Chinese Government Scholarship University Postgraduate Program said due to Chinese visa rules, most international students cannot stay in China after completing their education.

"This prevents brain-drain, since most students who graduate in Chinese institutions are very likely to return home, unlike their counterparts in English speaking countries like South Africa, UK or Australia," she added.

Her sentiments were supported by Herbert Mushangwe, a Professor at the Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe (UZCI).

"From our statistics, all students will at one point come back to Zimbabwe, there are some who remain in China for a while, the period of stay in China ranges from 2 to 4 years after they graduate. However those who want to settle still come back home to secure stable jobs," he said.

The Confucius Institute is a non-profit public organization affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education whose aim is to promote the teaching of the Chinese language and culture and to facilitate cultural exchanges.

CIUZ, which was established in 2006, is one of more than 500 Confucius Institutes scattered all over the world.

Since 2006, more than 5,000 students have enrolled for Chinese language courses at CIUZ, and the Confucius Institute has provided scholarships to more than 500 Zimbabwean students to further their studies in China, many of them have since returned home and are working in Zimbabwe.

One of Mushangwe's students Stella Rudo Mandaza who will be enrolling for a Chinese language program at a university in Beijing this September said she never intended to learn Chinese when she graduated from high school.

"I chose to further my studies in China because Chinese is the most spoken language in the world making it an important language for business," Mandaza said.

Another student, Tafadzwa Anthony Mutambarade is confident that he will come back to Zimbabwe to put to use the skills that he has gained.

"By going to further my studies in China I will be actually using the language on a daily basis, I will come back to Zimbabwe fully equipped to use Chinese in different situations given that China has become Zimbabwe's major economic partner." he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 23:01:27|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Within hours of going into effect on Wednesday, the new ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has been violated dozens of times, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said.

The OSCE's special monitoring mission in Ukraine said on its Twitter account that it has registered more than 70 ceasefire violations in the first hours of the truce despite the declared commitment of the conflicting sides to stop hostilities.

However, the mission did not specify who had committed the violations.

Last week, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine reached an agreement on a fresh round of ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict-hit Donbas region from Aug. 29.

The group consists of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. It was formed to facilitate a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that has been underway in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 23:51:49|Editor: yan

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SINGAPORE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed two agreements in Singapore on Wednesday, which are expected to benefit ASEAN's service providers and exporters.

One of the two agreements is the 10th package of commitments for the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS). The document is the final package of services liberalization commitments under the AFAS, which was first signed in 1995.

The other agreement is the First Protocol to Amend the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, which will introduce the necessary legal amendments in order to effect the ASEAN-wide Self-Certification scheme.

Besides signing the documents, the economic ministers endorsed ASEAN member states' commitment to transit their ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement Reservation Lists to a two-annex negative list structure, which will instil greater transparency and clarity on the nature of commitments taken by each nation.

They also endorsed the ASEAN Agreement on e-Commerce, which is ASEAN's first agreement in the area of e-commerce and is now slated for signing on the sidelines of the 17th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting in November 2018, and endorsed the ASEAN Digital Integration Framework, which will assist ASEAN member states in making improvements to the regional digital ecosystem and monitoring the region's progress in digital integration.

The economic ministers exchanged views on global and regional developments and reviewed the implementation of the AEC Blueprint 2025, including progress in ASEAN's external economic relations.

The ministers highlighted that Singapore's chairmanship theme of "resilient and innovative" has created the momentum for ASEAN to make strides in its work on the digital economy and e-commerce, among others, which contributed to the region's long-term competitiveness amidst the threat of escalating trade tensions and continued global uncertainties.

The 50th ASEAN Economic Ministers' meeting and related meetings formally kicked off here on Wednesday morning with an opening ceremony participated by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The meetings will be concluded on Sept. 1.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 23:51:50|Editor: yan

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BEIRUT, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's General Labor Union head on Wednesday called for shutting down businesses that employ foreign workers instead of Lebanese nationals.

"We call upon authorities to implement the law and shut down businesses that employ foreigners," Bechara El Asmar was quoted by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper, as saying.

He pointed to the hotel industry as one of the sectors employing non-Lebanese most.

"We ask all Lebanese employees in the hotel sector to submit a complaint to the Syndicate of Hotels Employees if they get replaced by foreign workers," he said.

Ola Boutros, advisor to the foreign affairs minister, announced earlier this month that 270,000 Lebanese people have lost their jobs after 384,000 Syrian refugees poured into the country's employment market.

"Around 150,000 of those who lost their jobs used to work in the service sector," she said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-29 23:51:51|Editor: ZD

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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (R) shakes hands with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May at the State House in Abuja, Nigeria, Aug. 29, 2018. Theresa May arrived in Abuja on Wednesday as part of her first visit to Africa as British prime minister, seeking closer relations on security and trade with Nigeria. (Xinhua/NAN)

ABUJA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Theresa May arrived in Abuja on Wednesday as part of her first visit to Africa as British prime minister, seeking closer relations on security and trade with Nigeria.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met the visiting British prime minister at the State House. The two leaders started a behind-door meeting shortly after May's arrival around 1 p.m.

May's visit to Nigeria is the second leg of her tour of three African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral agreements on trade and defence and security.

May will visit Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center, after her short stay in Aubja.

May had announced plans to boost Britain's investment in Africa during her stay in South Africa.

In a speech in Cape Town, she pledged 4 billion British pound in support for African economies with a special focus on creating jobs for young people.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:06:55|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday said it has allocated relief fund totaling 177 million yuan (about 26 million U.S. dollars) for the flood-hit Shandong Province.

The fund was part of the central government's budget investment for disaster relief and emergency subsidies, which will be used for restoring infrastructure and public facilities in the disaster-hit regions, according to the NDRC.

Shandong have suffered from severe floods after Typhoon Rumbia, the 18th this year, brought heavy rains to the coastal province. As of Aug. 23, at least 3.8 million people were affected, with six dead and 15 missing, according to local authorities.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:11:56|Editor: yan

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MOSCOW, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Turkey are examining a possible anti-terrorist operation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib on the border with Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

"Idlib is the last big stronghold of terrorists who attempt to misuse the status of a de-escalation zone to hold civilians as hostages, to use them as living shields, and to steamroll armed groups ready for talks with the government," Lavrov said.

"From all points of view, this abscess must be eliminated," he said at a press conference after talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir.

Idlib is one of the so-called de-escalation zones agreed to by Russia, Turkey and Iran last year amid a dispute between Moscow and Washington over the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government in this region.

On Tuesday, the United States, France and Britain warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons, saying they "remain resolved to act if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons again."

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a separate statement late Tuesday that it had information on a large volume of toxic substances delivered to Idlib. It alleged the substances were intended to be used so that the Syrian Government would be accused of using chemical weapons.Srinagar, August 29: Two militants were killed in a gunfight in Islamabad district of South Kashmir.

The troops killed the youth during a military operation at Munward area of the district. The troops also blasted a house in the area.

The authorities blocked mobile internet services in this south Kashmir district. The train service between Srinagar and Banihal has also been suspended.

The killing led to clashes between protesters and the Indian forces in the area. Youth took to streets soon after the troops launched the cordon and search operation in the village located near Khanabal area of the district. The troops fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters who pelted them with stones. Several protesters were injured.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:11:56|Editor: yan

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NEW DELHI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday said he will visit Nepal to attend the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit.

Modi will be travelling to the neighbouring country on Thursday on a two-day visit.

"I will be in Kathmandu on 30th and 31st August to take part in the fourth BIMSTEC Summit," Modi in a statement said. "The summit focuses on the theme -- Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region."

Modi would be interacting with various world leaders during the summit and holding interactions with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

This will be Modi's fourth visit to the country ever since he took over as prime minister of India.

"I look forward to meeting PM KP Sharma Oli and reviewing the progress we have made in India-Nepal bilateral relations," Modi said.

BIMSTEC is a regional organisation comprising seven countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, which lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:21:58|Editor: yan

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HARARE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday announced a seven-member Commission of Inquiry into the post-election violence that resulted in the death of six people when soldiers opened fire on protesting opposition supporters in Harare on Aug. 1.

The commission, made up of local, regional and international members, is chaired by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and will be sworn in by Mnangagwa next week.

After completing its investigations, the commission is expected to make recommendations and report to Mnangagwa within three months from the date of its swearing in.

Foreign members of the commission are Rodney Dickson QC from Britain, former Commonwealth secretary-general Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria and former chief of defense forces of Tanzania Davies Mwamunyange.

Mnangagwa said he had appointed the Commission of Inquiry in order to deal with the matter in a transparent manner and in the public interest.

Post-election violence erupted in the streets of Harare two days after the July 30 polls when opposition supporters held protests against alleged vote rigging and the delay in the announcement of the presidential election results.

This resulted in the death of six people while many others were injured when soldiers, called out by police to help quell the protests, opened fire on the protesters.

Mnangagwa has regretted the deaths and blamed the opposition MDC Alliance for the violence while many election observers present at the time deplored the violence and use of excessive force by the military.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:26:59|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel's top court sentenced on Wednesday the country's former most powerful tycoon to three years in prison for security fraud.

A panel of three Supreme Court judges decided to reject Nochi Dankner's appeal against his conviction for manipulating the stocks of the IDB group.

Dankner was once the main shareholder of the group.

Dankner was originally meted out a two-year prison term by a district court in 2017.

"The case before us is of one of the most severe and unusual securities scams uncovered in recent years, within the most prominent and influential company of the time," the judges wrote in their decision, a copy of which was sent to Xinhua.

"Dankner and (his colleague Itay) Strum executed a vast fraud, in which millions were invested in fraudulent stock transactions in an attempt to influence and stabilize the IDB share price," they said.

Dankner, 63, will start serving his prison term on Oct. 2, the court said.

His pyramid-like company included a major supermarket chain, a large cellular company, an internet company, a cement monopoly company, a large insurance company, and one of Israel's main newspapers.

Dankner's business began to collapse in the 2007 global financial crisis.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:47:03|Editor: yan

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BANGKOK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme Court of Thailand on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on the malfeasance charge for ordering the finance ministry to administer the rehabilitation of a Thai company in 2003.

The court found the finance ministry's implementation of the rehabilitation plan was agreed by related commercial banks, debtors and the labor union as well as the central bankruptcy court.

The court ruled that Thaksin could not have an intention of seeking benefits for himself or others. It also found it is reasonable that the finance ministry stepped in to help Thai Petrochemical Industry(TPI) with the plan as the ministry is a state agency responsible for solving the country's economic problems.

The case filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) against Thaksin was the seventh since he was ousted by the 2006 coup.

The TPI went bankrupt soon after the 1997 economic crisis. Its foreign debts doubled overnight to 130 billion baht (about 3,900 million U.S. dollars) from 65 billion baht. It then entered a rehabilitation scheme.

Thaksin fled the country in August 2008 just before the Supreme Court sentenced him to two years in jail for conflict of interest as his ex-wife won an auction to buy a state-owned land in inner Bangkok in 2003.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 00:57:05|Editor: yan

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NEW DELHI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Tourism plays an important role in promoting mutual understanding between our two peoples and enhancing bilateral relations between China and India, said Counselor of Chinese embassy in Delhi Zhu Xiaohong on Wednesday at an event to promote tourism in China's Hangzhou city.

Speaking on the occasion, Zhu said that Hangzhou was just like heaven in China. Tourism plays an important role in promoting people to people ties, she stated.

"China-India relations is so important that our two countries could not afford to isolate one from the other. Amity between the people was the key to the good relations. Tourism plays an important role in promoting mutual understanding between our two peoples and enhancing bilateral relations between China and India," said Zhu.

There are 14 pairs of sister cities and provinces between China and India, she said, adding "we wish to encourage exchanges between cities of our two countries."

Addressing the gathering in Delhi, Hangzhou city mayor Xu Liyi said that both Delhi and Hangzhou had historical and civilizational links.

"Hangzhou is the best tourist destination in China. Out of the total 4 million foreign tourists who visited Hangzhou last year, over 34,900 were from India, which was an increase of 9.92 percent over the preceding year," he said while inviting the Indian tourists to his hometown.

According to him, Hangzhou was adjudged as one of the top 15 global tourist destinations last year, and it's the home of the world's largest e-commerce giant "Alibaba".

He told the audience about the theory how the word China originated from the Indian language of Sanskrit's word which means "silk".

"Some professionals propose that the name of China had originated from ancient India language Sanskrit word which is related to silk," he said in a bid to strike age-old commonality between India and China.

The theme of the tourism promotion event was "Memory of the silk road, most memorable is Hangzhou."

The glittering event was sponsored by Hangzhou Municipal People's government. Among those who attended it were Indians from the tourism industry, government officials from the tourism ministry, besides Chinese embassy officials.

Regional Director (North) of India Tourism Anil Oraw said that there were so many similarities between the Indian and Chinese tourism products.

"Both are fascinating destinations, both countries have cultural diversities and historical warm relations, and travelling distances are short and hence package tours could be more economical," he said.

He added that the India-China relationship was special in many ways as "our historical and civilizational links naturally bond us together."Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 01:17:09|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed on Wednesday his threat to target on Iranian targets in Syria.

The remark, made during the renaming ceremony for the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, came two days after Iran and Syria signed a military cooperation deal.

"We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria," Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.

"In the military sphere, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria," he said.

"No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us," he warned, adding that "whoever threatens us with destruction, puts himself in similar danger."

Netanyahu said that Israel will continue its diplomatic efforts to cancel the 2015 nuclear deal to curb Iran's nuclear program. "We will not relent in pursuit" of the cancelation of the "bad" agreement, he said.

Israel has lobbied European countries and the U.S. to cancel the deal. In May, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal and later reimpose economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 01:27:12|Editor: yan

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DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Standard Chartered Bank's Group on Wednesday agreed to give Tanzania a concessional loan of 1.46 billion U.S. dollars for the construction of the Morogoro-Dodoma section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), said a statement by Tanzania's Ministry of Finance and Planning.

The statement said the agreement was reached in Dar es Salam between Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango and Standard Chartered Bank Group Executive Director Bill Winters.

The amount will fund the 426-kilometre section from Morogoro to Makutupora in Dodoma region as more resources were being sought to construct the remaining sections all the way to the border with Rwanda, said the statement.

Winters said he was keen on ensuring that Tanzania gets the financial support to fund projects that benefit the majority of citizens, including infrastructure development.

In May last year, President John Magufuli launched the first construction phase of the SGR from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro.

The 522-km Dar es Salaam-Dodoma line is being constructed by Turkish firms.

And in March this year, Magufuli laid the foundation stone for the second construction phase from Morogoro to Makutupora.

President Magufuli said upon completion, the SGR will help create 30,000 direct employment opportunities and some 60,000 indirect jobs.

"The SGR and a dry port in Dodoma will boost the development of central regions," he said.

The total cost from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza covering 1,219 kilometers is estimated at 7 billion U.S. dollars.

Upon completion, the SGR is expected to usher in the country, for the first time, a fast and modern passenger train with a speed of 160 km per hour and a freight train with a top speed of 120 km per hour.

The SGR will also help ease the flow of goods and people in the neighboring landlocked countries of Uganda, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 01:37:17|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The pressure for European banks to merge in response to geo-political uncertainty and intense competition is set to increase in the coming years, Deutsche Bank chief executive officer (CEO) Christian Sewing warned on Wednesday.

Sewing's comments were made at a banking industry summit in the German financial hub of Frankfurt. "Europe does not need as many banks as possible, what it needs above all are strong banks", the Deutsche Bank CEO argued. He highlighted that there were already around 5,500 financial institutes in the Eurozone alone.

Contrary to earlier reports that Germany's bank is preparing to retreat from Wall Street to focus on its European home market, Sewing insisted that Deutsche Bank was determined to maintain a strong presence across international capital markets. "Our global ambitions are not up for debate under my leadership", he said.

Given growing transatlantic tensions over trade, Sewing cautioned that it would be politically and economically risky to surrender critical financing activities to "a few non-European banks". As a consequence, he called on policymakers to facilitate the rise of continental champions by using the looming exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) as an opportunity to create a more integrated market for financial services.

The Deutsche Bank CEO hereby echoed demands made by Hans-Walter Peters, president of the German private banking association, on Wednesday. Speaking at the Frankfurt conference, Peters said that steps were overdue to end the "legal and regulatory patchwork" encountered in European banking.

Referring to the protectionist policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, Sewing emphasized that his industry currently faced some of its "largest challenges in decades." During a period of nationalistic economic policy in which governments sacrificed global stability to perceived national interests, the world was bound to be more prone to financial shocks.

At the same time, Sewing downplayed the threat posed by "Fintech" start-ups such as Wirecard to Deutsche Bank. The Munich-based payments company founded in 1999 already has a higher valuation than Deutsche Bank.

The Fintech is seen as a likely candidate to enter the German Dax stock exchange for the first time in September, potentially taking the place of the embattled lender Commerzbank in the prestigious blue-chip index. Sewing argued that while the development of Wirecard. was "absolutely impressive", it still operated in a specific niche of the payments industry and could hence not be compared to traditional retail- and investment banks.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 01:57:22|Editor: yan

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LUSAKA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Newly-elected mayor of Lusaka, the Zambian capital, apologized on Wednesday for posing for photos on Facebook with a gun.

Miles Sampa caused a stir when he posted pictures of himself with a gun, accompanied by words that he will protect himself during his tour of duty.

He has since pulled down the photos.

This follows an incident on Monday in which alleged supporters of the ruling party confronted him over his strict stance to tackle the illegal land sale in the city.

Sampa, whose action has received wide condemnation, said he was sorry over his action as his office demands highest degrees of integrity and decorum both in speech and action.

"I therefore wish to apologize unreservedly to all that I may have offended consequently. I regret and am sorry to all that had reservations on my response out of the ordeal," he said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

He further clarified that the incident on Monday where he was confronted does not amount to kidnapping attempt but threatening violence, adding that he felt his life was in danger hence the decision to post with a gun.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 02:07:24|Editor: yan

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ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian police have arrested six former senior officials from the restive Somali regional state in the eastern part of the country, state affiliated media outlet Fana Broadcasting Corporate said on Wednesday.

The six former senior officials include Abdijemal Kelonbi, Head of Justice Bureau at Somali regional state, Ibrahim Mohammed Mubarak, Mayor of Jijiga city, capital of Somali regional state and Ibrahim Mehd, Head of Education Bureau at Somali regional state.

The arrest of the six former senior Somali regional state officials follows the arrest of former Somali regional state President Abdi Mohammed on Monday.

On Sunday, the Somali regional state assembly voted to the lift the immunity of Mohammed and the six other senior former officials, paving the way for their prosecution.

Mohammed and the six other former Somali regional state officials are accused of complicity and participation in gross corruption and human rights abuses in the region.

The arrest of the seven former Somali regional state officials caps a month of political turmoil, ever since on August 4 Ethiopian army soldiers moved to occupy Somali regional state assembly hall and TV station in a bid to oust the then President of Somali regional state Abdi Mohammed.

The army intervention set off several days of violence and arson by supporters of Mohammed in Jijiga city and other cities in Somali regional states before a joint bid from the Ethiopian federal government and regional authorities quelled the violence.

The army intervention on August 4 came amid reports of tension between the Ethiopian federal government and ex-Somali regional state president over allegations of grave human rights abuses in Mohammed's administration.Abduction, murder of 9-month-old baby: Locals protest demanding swift police action

Locals of Aurahi Municipality in Mahottari District on Wednesday protested against the sluggish pace of police investigation into the abduction and murder of a nine-month-old baby girl.File photo: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attending a meeting with Iranian Azeri ethnics in Tehran on February 16, 2013. (Iranian Supreme Leader's website)

TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday that Iran will quit the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal if the interests of his country are not secured, official IRNA news agency reported.

"If we come to the conclusion that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) cannot serve the national interests, we will leave it," Khamenei said during a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet members.

The Iranian top leader also expressed dismay over the EU, saying the Islamic republic "pins no hope on Europeans over JCPOA and economic issues."

Iran and six world powers, namely China, Russia, Britain, France, the United States and Germany, struck a deal over Iran's nuclear program in 2015.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw Washington from the deal earlier this year and re-impose sanctions on Iran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khamenei touched on the issue of the Iranian economy and called on Rouhani's administration to work profusely to solve the economic problems facing the nation.

"With regards to the economy, there is a need for full force, large-scale and proficient work; and authorities in charge of economic affairs must work hard day and night to solve the problems," he was quoted as saying by Press TV.

Iran's enemy has been focusing its attention on Iran's economy due to certain economic weaknesses in the country, he said, adding that in dealing with economic woes, officials need to concentrate on the policies of the "resistance economy" that is based on domestic production as a defensive tool.

The resistance economy will help Iran build a stronghold and boost capabilities against the enemy and will move forward, the Iranian leader said.

On Wednesday, President Rouhani criticized the United States for re-imposing sanctions against Iran "in contravention" of all international regulations and said "Washington is committed to nothing."

The relapse of sanctions on Iran is not aimed at the country's economy only, he said, noting that Washington is seeking to dominate the country once again.

"They seek to trample on Iran's economy once again and rule over the Iranians, but the Iranian nation will by no means submit to this and will prove it to the world through resistance," he added.

On Tuesday, Rouhani could not convince Iranian lawmakers with most of his answers to their questions about his administration's performance over current hardship in the country's economy.

Rouhani attended parliament to answer questions by the lawmakers about his government's failure to control goods smuggling, continuation of western banking sanctions, unemployment rate, economic recession and increase in forex rate.

The lawmakers were only contented by Rouhani's answer about the banking sanctions while his answers to other questions failed to win the lawmakers' approval.

Rouhani acknowledged that his administration had made some mistakes in handling the economic issues.

The lawmakers can send the questions to Iran's judiciary for further review. This would be a warning note to Rouhani if he is impeached by the parliament over the country's economic situation.

On Sunday, the Iranian lawmakers dismissed Rouhani's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance over the current economic situation and refrained from giving a vote of confidence to him.

The Iranian lawmakers have complained that the administration's mismanagement of the conditions has resulted in price hikes and diminishing purchasing power.

The Iranian rial plunged to a record low against the U.S. dollar in August. There has been growing demand for dollars among Iranians for fear of more plunge in their assets values and growing price.

Foreign currency values began to rise in Iran after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and announced plans for a fresh wave of sanctions against the Islamic republic.

However, Khamenei said that the economic problems are not wholly caused by the U.S. sanctions, but a series of internal issues and mismanagement.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 02:32:27|Editor: Liu

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said on Wednesday that the United States has not changed its military posture regarding the Korean Peninsula after the historic meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, in June.

White tweeted that "our #military posture has not changed since the conclusion of the #Singapore summit."

"No decisions have been made about suspending any future exercises," she noted, adding that "the #DoD suspended three individual military exercises in order to provide space for our diplomats to negotiate the verifiable, irreversible and complete denuclearization of the #KoreanPeninsula."

"The US-#ROK alliance remains ironclad. Our forces maintain a high state of military readiness and vigilance in full support of a diplomatically-led effort to bring peace, prosperity and stability to the #KoreanPeninsula," White added.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Tuesday that the United States has no plans to suspend any more military exercises with South Korea.

He added that Washington has not made decisions on whether to continue suspending major military exercises with South Korea for next year, noting "we are going to see how the negotiations go, and then we will calculate the future, how we go forward."

South Korea's presidential Blue House said Wednesday in response that the United States has made no request to South Korea for talks about the resumption of their joint annual military drills, which the two allies had agreed to suspend as long as dialogue with the DPRK lasts.

Kim Eui-keum, spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said that it will be an issue to be discussed and determined by the two allies after considering progress in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Asked about the third summit between Moon and Kim, the spokesman said the upcoming summit will play a bigger role in finding a breakthrough in standoff between Pyongyang and Washington.

Trump met with Kim on June 12, when they promised to build new bilateral relations and work toward a "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

After the meeting, Trump said the United States would stop war games with South Korea "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should." He also said the drills were "very expensive" and "provocative" "war games."

Last year's Ulchi Freedom Guardian, attended by about 17,500 U.S. military forces, went on for 11 days.

Another major U.S. exercises with South Korea, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, took place earlier this spring.

Pyongyang has denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for northward invasion and a violation of the spirit of the Panmunjom Declaration issued during the inter-Korean summit in late April.Chinese and Egyptian workers attend the launching ceremony of a 100-day construction competition in Sokhna Port of Suez Governorate, Egypt, Aug. 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

AIN SOKHNA, Egypt, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) started on Tuesday the main phase of the construction of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port south of the Suez Canal northeast of Egypt.

The project was assigned to CHEC by the Sokhna branch of the Emirati corporation DP World, the main investor and container operator in the port located at the Gulf of Suez.

At a launching ceremony, CHEC said it will deliver the "Basin 2" project in fewer than 12 months ahead of the deadline.

"Today's event is to show our determination to finish the project quickly and with high quality," Chen Shuang, deputy director of CHEC marketing department, told Xinhua at the construction site.

Sokhna Port is located within the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), a main economic region in Egypt whose development is one of the country's mega projects to attract foreign investments for further economic growth.

Mahfouz Taha, SCZone vice chairman, hailed CHEC as "one of the largest and most remarkable port builders and designers in the world," eyeing further cooperation with the Chinese side in the economic zone in the light of China's Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.

The initiative, proposed in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Engineering vehicles are seen at the construction site of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port of Suez Governorate, Egypt, Aug. 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

"We are stretching our hands to our Chinese friends and we are encouraging all aspects of the initiative," said the Egyptian official, stressing that Egypt can be one of the main hubs for the initiative rather than a transit point.

For his part, Ajayy Kumar Singh, CEO of DP World Sokhna, said CHEC agreed to deliver the project in 2019 and he is confident of its ability.

"CHEC is one of the leading operators in building ports. We're happy to partner with them in this Basin 2 project. We're quite hopeful that they will deliver the project much ahead of the target date," Singh told Xinhua.

He said his company selected CHEC from many bidders to carry out the project after it met all the strict specifications set by DP World.

"Egypt has been growing tremendously in the last couple of years with new investments coming in, which has basically created a demand for a new additional capacity for our business in Egypt," Singh explained, adding that the new terminal basin is part of DP World's expansion plan for Sokhna Port.

The container business in Sokhna Port has grown by 10 percent and the bulk business has grown by about 30 to 40 percent from 2017 to 2018.

"This growth defines that Egypt has the potential to be a top country in the MENA region with its location at the edge of the Suez Canal that opens up a lot of trade routes to the country," the chief of DP World Sokhna said.

Dozens of enthusiastic Egyptian and Chinese workers as well as scores of trucks have been mobilized to start the new phase of the "Basin 2" project that is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2019.

Ahmed Omar, deputy project manager who has been working for CHEC for 10 years, said the second terminal basin is being built without dredgers through dry excavation, "which reduces the project cost by more than 30 percent."

"During the 100-day mobilization stage that started in late May, we safely brought all the materials and heavy equipment and finished a large part of dry excavation, so the project will be finished in fewer than 12 months, which is ahead of the timeline," Omar told Xinhua.

The first terminal basin is already operating and the second one which is under construction, will be 1,350 meters long and lengthen the first one to receive more ships.

"The project will increase the annual number of containers to 2 million and attract more shipping lines for container transit in the port," the Egyptian engineer pointed out.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 02:37:28|Editor: yan

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CAIRO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Wednesday that his country will participate in the coming meetings on Syria in Geneva, which was called for by the United Nations.

At a press conference held here on Wednesday with his Sudanese counterpart Dardiry Mohamed Ahmed, Shoukry said that situations in Syria are "still complicated."

"We still insist on the importance of reaching a political solution and the need to draft a new constitution in Syria that includes holding elections," Shoukry said.

The Syrian people bore heavy burdens, and it is time to restore their hope and to reconstruct their country, he added, noting that Egypt will remain committed to this framework.

He said that military situation there has calmed down thanks to the agreements that were signed including some with Egyptian mediation.

The top Egyptian diplomat pledged that Egypt will continue to back all efforts that are in the interests of Syrian people and can help restore stability in the country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 02:47:30|Editor: yan

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SKOPJE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Macedonian Ministry of Interior Affairs and the United States (US) Department of Energy signed on Wednesday a memorandum of cooperation on preventing illicit trafficking of dangerous radioactive materials.

The memorandum of cooperation was signed in Skopje by Macedonian Interior Affairs Minister Oliver Spasovski and U.S. Ambassador Jess Baily.

Spasovski said that this memo will further contribute to enhance the detection and prevention of the illicit trafficking of nuclear and radioactive materials by introducing higher technical, operative standards.

According to Spasovski, the institution that will engage in this will be the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Customs Administration and the Radiation Safety Directorate in Macedonia.

Moreover, the minister noted that by the end of 2018 the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Office will donate two mobile radiation detection systems worth 555,000 U.S. dollars to Macedonia.

The American side will also provide training for operating and maintaining the mobile radiation detection systems.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 02:57:33|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine is willing to expand the free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada, Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko said in Kiev on Wednesday.

"It's time to expand the FTA into services and investment. This is the next logical step," Shevchenko said in an interview with local radio station "Radio NV".

He said that Ukraine intends to launch talks with Canada over the FTA expansion in the coming months.

The Canada-Ukraine FTA, which went into force on Aug. 1, 2017, covers the trade in goods between the two countries. The deal eliminates 98 percent of tariffs on Ukraine exports and 72 percent of duties on Canada exports.

According to Ukraine's Economic Development and Trade Ministry, Ukraine started last year exporting more than 150 new commodity items to Canada and increased the supplies of traditional goods with a high-added value.

The total trade turnover between Ukraine and Canada increased by about 42 percent in 2017 to 349.63 million U.S. dollars.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 03:32:38|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed concern about the "growing risks of a humanitarian catastrophe" in the event of a full-scale military operation in the northern Idlib province of Syria.

Guterres' statement followed the briefing a day before by director of operations for UN humanitarian affairs John Ging to the Security Council. Ging warned such a government offensive in Idlib "has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen" in the seven-year civil war.

Speaking through his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, Guterres reaffirmed that any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable, in an apparent response to allegations emerged recently of possible staging of chemical attacks in the province.

The United States, Britain and France have warned that they will respond "appropriately" to any chemical weapons attack in Idlib, a warning repeated at the Security Council Tuesday by the three countries.

Russia, for its part, said Syrian rebels are preparing a chemical attack, which Moscow said the West would use to justify a strike against Syrian forces.

Guterres called on the guarantors of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, to step up efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib, the last remaining de-escalation zone, one of the four that the process helped to create.

Complementary to the Geneva talks, the Astana process kicked off in early 2017 with a meeting providing for indirect talks between the Syrian government and rebel factions in the neutral Kazakh capital. In tandem with the Geneva talks, the process aims to achieve a peaceful and stable solution to the conflict in Syria.

Concluding his statement, Guterres urged all parties to take all necessary measures to safeguard civilian lives, allow freedom of movement, and protect civilian infrastructure, including medical and educational facilities, in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Reports have said the Syrian government is gearing up for an offensive in Idlib province, which is home to nearly 3 million people and has a large al-Qaida presence in addition to Syrian rebel groups.A Palestinian woman walks past a mural on the controversial Israeli barrier depicting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, at Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 26, 2012. (REUTERS)

RAMALLAH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian families and advocates Wednesday marked the national day for the retrieval of the bodies and disclosure of the fate of the missing, in wars and conflicts between Palestine and Israel.

Salwa Hammad, coordinator of the national campaign for the retrieval of the bodies of Palestinian and Arab war victims and disclosure of the fate of those missing, said "this national day is of high importance to the families and the Palestinian society."

The move aims to tell the entire world that Israel withholds bodies of war victims and that it still deliberately withholds bodies of war victims and tries to use them as a bargain chip in negotiations for prisoners swap with Gaza, she said.

The campaign organizers also launched an electronic campaign on social media platforms, submitted a letter to the UN high commissioner for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, and held a march in Ramallah by the families of the deceased or missing Palestinians.

"Today we mark ten years of our systematic work to retrieve their bodies, and we will continue until the very last one of them, whether they were the documented cases by our national campaign or not," Hammad said.

Since its launch in 2008, the campaign has documented the cases of over 400 slain Palestinians.

According to Israeli officials, the cemeteries in Israel are labeled as military zones bearing no indicator for graves except numbered metal plates written "cemeteries of the enemy's deceased," and families were not allowed to visit.

Israel begun exercising the policy of withholding bodies of slain Palestinians after 1967, but it stopped after a legal activity of the Israeli courts in 2008.

However, Israel resumed the policy in 2015 after a wave of alleged ramming and stabbing attacks broke out between Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank, during which it withheld bodies of 28 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

The campaign believes there are at least 65 Palestinian fighters who went missing as a result of the 1967 war, saying that Israel refuses to give out any information about them, or the number of those buried in the cemeteries "of the enemy's deceased."

Israeli authorities released a total of 131 bodies of those withheld in the past four decades. The High Israeli court ruled in 2014 in favor of releasing 37 of those bodies, but the authorities only released 28 of them. The campaign accused Israel of using the deceased bodies in political pressure.

Rights group behind this campaign, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, said that this policy is a form of collective punishment and "an unprecedented punishment of the dead," slamming what it described as "Israel's exploitation of the pains of parents of martyrs for political ends."

Fatima Al-Faqih told Xinhua that her cousin's body was released a few years ago after the campaign's persistent work, and now calls for the release of her brother's body who has been withheld by Israel for two years.

"Our family will continue to join efforts in every solidarity activity and we will not get tired. We will continue to demand the release of the bodies, whether they are in cemeteries or in refrigerators," she said.

Zainab Ankoush, whose son was killed by Israeli soldiers after an alleged stabbing attack in Jerusalem over 14 months, said "the least they can do is giving back the body of my son and the others, so that we can bury them and know that this is where he lies, this is his grave, where I can go see him when I miss him or at holiday."

Hamda Abu Jildeh, the daughter of a Palestinian fighter who was killed by Israeli forces in 1969, joined the march in Ramallah, coming from Nablus to shed light on her long quest to find her father's body and bury him in his hometown.

"I'm the daughter of martyr Mufadhi Hamad Abu Jildeh, who died on Oct. 9, 1969 but till now his body is withheld and we never got the chance to bid a final farewell. We never saw him. He died without us seeing him, so now we demand that his body is handed over so that we can honor his memory and burial duty," said Abu Jildeh.

Over the past decade, lawyers and families of slain and missing Palestinians have argued that the biological and physical characteristics are fading away due to lack of attention and thus have demanded the establishment of a DNA bank in order to identify the bodies upon their release.

Under International law, returning the corpses of those who fall within war zones upon the request of their family or state is binding. Geneva conventions have stressed such commitment based on humanitarian rights and respect to human dignity.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 03:37:40|Editor: yan

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BUCHAREST, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday asked the government to take prompt and effective measures to deal with the massive outbreaks of African swine fever in the country, while compensating the affected producers as soon as possible.

"The priority needs to be taking all measures to prevent the spreading of the virus and to compensate the affected producers as quickly as possible, so as to soften the social impact," the president was quoted as saying in a press release sent by the Presidential Administration.

He stressed that "those who managed in a defective way this crisis should take the responsibility of the state of fact."

The president criticized the government for the "defective" crisis management that "pushed local producers to the brink of bankruptcy."

The criticism was immediately refuted by Agriculture Minister Petre Daea, who stressed that the government has always acted fairly, swiftly and effectively with regard to African swine fever.

According to him, Romania has taken all measures to prevent the entrance of this virus into the country since an outbreak in Ukraine in 2012, at the border with Romania. When the first outbreak occurred in Romania at the end of July 2017 the authorities acted quickly on the basis of the contingency plan and avoided the spread of the virus and new outbreaks.

"The European Commission, through the specialized structures, decided that the area was free," the minister explained.

The new outbreak at the beginning of the current year was most likely caused by foreign contaminated products of animal origin that entered the country, the minister pointed out.

Meanwhile, President of the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority Geronimo Branescu told the press on Wednesday that Romania and Europe are currently facing the worst animal disease after the Second World War.

The latest official statistics as of Wednesday showed that as many as 123,411 pigs were slaughtered after 781 outbreaks appeared in 10 of the country's 41 counties, affecting 165 localities. Out of the outbreaks, 11 are in industrial holdings and one is in a slaughterhouse. Also, 40 wild boars were also affected by the virus.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 03:47:43|Editor: yan

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CAIRO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned on Wednesday the terrorist attack that targeted an army personnel vehicle in the southern Kenyan Lamo province.

The attack killed five soldiers and wounded 10 others.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry extended condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery for the injured.

The statement voiced the support of the Egyptian government and people to the African country in the fight against terrorism.

Kenyan army announced that the attack happened when the army personnel vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) along the Kiunga and Sankuri road.

Soldiers in the vehicle were on a humanitarian civil assignment to fetch and distribute water to local residents in the area, the army said.

The IED is suspected to have been planted by Somali militant group al-Shabaab militants who continuously wreak havoc in the region, the army added.Accused Bista sent to Kathmandu for medical examination

Dilip Singh Bista, the man that Kanchanpur police claim to have raped and murdered 13-year-old Nirmala Panta, was sent to Kathmandu for medical examination on Tuesday.Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks to U.S. President Donald Trump during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. (REUTERS PHOTO)

MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Xinhua) -- Moscow will put forward a wide range of counterarguments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in dispute with Washington over increased duties on a number of U.S. products imposed by Russia, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

"We do not consider it normal. On the other hand, this is their legal right, and, of course, Russia in this case will use a wide range of counterarguments," Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russia's Sputnik news agency.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. filed a complaint at the WTO requesting consultations with Russia over its "unfair" new tariffs on certain U.S. goods.

On August 5, Russia started imposing additional import tariffs of 25-40 percent for a range of U.S. goods, in retaliation to U.S. extra tariffs of 25 percent on steel and of 10 percent on aluminum starting on March 23.

The request for consultations served as the first step in the legal proceedings within the WTO framework. If the consultations fail to yield results, a specific panel will be set up to settle the dispute.

On Wednesday, the Russian Economic Development Ministry also dismissed the U.S. move, saying that Washington "incorrectly interpreted the nature of the measures taken by Moscow."

"We are acting within the framework of WTO agreement on special protective measures, which allows countries to compensate for damages caused by 'special protective measures' taken by another country (the U.S. in this case)," the ministry said in a statement.

The volume of new Russian tariffs at the current stage will amount to 87.6 million U.S. dollars a year, according to a previous statement by the ministry.A tractor clears the rubble of destroyed buildings on Aug. 12, 2018 following an explosion at an arms depot in a residential area in Syria's northern Idlib province city of Sarmada in which 39 people were reportedly killed. (AFP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed concern about the "growing risks of a humanitarian catastrophe" in the event of a full-scale military operation in the northern Idlib province of Syria.

Guterres' statement followed the briefing a day before by director of operations for UN humanitarian affairs John Ging to the Security Council. Ging warned such a government offensive in Idlib "has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen" in the seven-year civil war.

Speaking through his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, Guterres reaffirmed that any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable, in an apparent response to allegations emerged recently of possible staging of chemical attacks in the province.

The United States, Britain and France have warned that they will respond "appropriately" to any chemical weapons attack in Idlib, a warning repeated at the Security Council Tuesday by the three countries.

Russia, for its part, said Syrian rebels are preparing a chemical attack, which Moscow said the West would use to justify a strike against Syrian forces.

Guterres called on the guarantors of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, to step up efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib, the last remaining de-escalation zone, one of the four that the process helped to create.

Complementary to the Geneva talks, the Astana process kicked off in early 2017 with a meeting providing for indirect talks between the Syrian government and rebel factions in the neutral Kazakh capital. In tandem with the Geneva talks, the process aims to achieve a peaceful and stable solution to the conflict in Syria.

Concluding his statement, Guterres urged all parties to take all necessary measures to safeguard civilian lives, allow freedom of movement, and protect civilian infrastructure, including medical and educational facilities, in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Reports have said the Syrian government is gearing up for an offensive in Idlib province, which is home to nearly 3 million people and has a large al-Qaida presence in addition to Syrian rebel groups.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 04:27:51|Editor: yan

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SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. leading aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company said Wednesday that Australia's second largest air carrier has signed a new deal to convert orders for 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger jets to MAX 10 models to grow its single-aisle fleet.

Brisbane-based Virgin Australia Group, which has about 30 MAX 8 aircraft on order, saw the value of adding the MAX 10 to the mix as the aircraft will provide additional capacity and flexibility.

With more than 130 aircraft in service, the next-generation 737 jets has formed the backbone of the group's fleet as more than 80 are currently in operation and the 737 MAX is expected to bolster the group's overall strength.

"The addition of the 737 MAX 10 will provide us with additional flexibility and capability to support our network and operations," said Virgin Australia Group Chief Financial Officer Geoff Smith.

The Australia airline expects to take delivery of its first Max 10 in 2022, about three years after it takes the continent's first Max 8 in November 2019.

Up to now, the Boeing 737 MAX 10 variant, the largest of the MAX family, has gained over 500 orders and commitments from airlines all around the world.

Powered by Two CFM LEAP-1B engines, the MAX 10 airplane will offer operators the lowest cost per seat mile of any commercial aircraft and fly about 370 km farther than today's next-generation 737s, Boeing said.

The extended range means that the 737 MAX 10 will be able to cover 99 percent of single-aisle routes around the world, it added.

Virgin Australia is one of Boeing's more than 20 global customers that have placed over 500 orders and commitments for the MAX 10.

The Australian air carrier has taken delivery of its last five 737-800s on order earlier this year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 04:42:57|Editor: yan

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ACCRA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The body of Kofi Annan, the late former secretary-general of the United Nations, will arrive in Ghana on September 10, the government announced here on Wednesday.

The arrival of the body would mark the beginning of a three-day state funeral for the global statesman and Nobel peace laureate, said Deputy Minister for Information Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah to the media.

Kofi Annan passed on at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, on August 18 after a short illness.

President Nana Akufo-Addo had told the family the late statesman would be buried at the new military cemetery located at the Burma Camp in the capital, Accra, with funeral expenses borne by the state.

According to the minister, the body will be received by President Akufo-Addo accompanied by the wife and children of Kofi Annan, and UN officials.

The general public will have the opportunity to file past the body on the following day to pay their last respects.

Oppong-Nkrumah, substantive minister for information-designate, said this would be followed by a solemn memorial service after which the body would be interred at the military cemetery.

According to him, several heads of state, UN officials and diplomatic delegations will join the family for the burial service.

"Mr. Annan's personal testament requested a simple, solemn final set of activities. And so the state, while it wishes to give him a befitting burial, will accommodate his wishes as well," the deputy minister said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 04:53:01|Editor: yan

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TRIPOLI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Adviser of Philippine President Abdullah Mamao on Wednesday confirmed that the Philippines is willing to provide Libyan hospitals with medical teams.

Mamao made his remarks during a meeting with Libyan UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, in the Libyan capital Tripoli, where the two officials discussed issues of mutual concern.

Serraj stressed importance of the relations between the two countries, expressing hope for further cooperation in health, education and infrastructure, said a statement issued by the prime minister's information office.

More than half of the medical staff in the Libyan hospitals are from the Philippines. However, many medical workers from the Philippines left Libya following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Gaddafi's regime, due to insecurity and chaos in the country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 05:03:03|Editor: Li Xia

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks at a press conference after the EU Reform Action Group meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on Aug. 29, 2018. After nearly three-year-long freeze, the Turkish government Wednesday met with ministers of the EU Reform Action Group to step up its agenda to rewarm ties with the neighboring block. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

ANKARA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- After nearly three-year-long freeze, the Turkish government Wednesday met with ministers of the EU Reform Action Group to step up its agenda to rewarm ties with the neighboring block.

"In the upcoming process, all our institutions and the EU directorate of Foreign Ministry will focus on the negotiation chapters on judiciary, fundamental rights, freedom and security," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference after meeting justice, interior and economy ministers who forms the EU reform action group.

They agreed to "accelerate political reform process" at the meeting, he said, noting that Ankara will also enhance cooperation with the Council of Europe in the upcoming period.

Turkey will continue to work on remaining six benchmarks required in order to launch visa liberalization process, which envisages visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, he stated.

The minister noted that Turkey wants to see steps from the EU as well, such as launching visa waiver for Turks and upgrading current Customs Union agreement.

The Turkish government will increase confidence on judiciary and speed up judicial in the upcoming period, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul said at the press conference.

Economic threats toward Turkey and statements of the United States that effects economic system become a good opportunity for Turkey and the EU for understanding the value of each other, said a statement after the action group's meeting.

The last meeting of the EU reform action group, which assesses requirements to meet EU criteria, was gathered in November 2015. However, Turkey and the EU has achieved almost no progress in the accession process of Ankara.

The EU has long been increasingly critical on worsening human rights record of Turkey.

Turkey's accession process to the block has been officially suspended with European Council decisions that stipulates no chapters to be opened.

A state of emergency declared in the aftermath of the coup attempt in July 15, 2016, caused ties between the EU and Turkey to hit the bottom as Brussels criticized the Turkish government's post-coup measures as antidemocratic.

Despite escalated rhetoric in the past few years, bilateral economic potential enhanced and the EU remained Turkey's top trading partner, accounting for 36.4 percent of Turkey's imports and 47.1 percent of exports in 2017, according to EU figures.

Early the month, Turkish economy is hit by decreasing value of Turkish lira and Turkish leaders accuses the United States for staging economic war against their country over sanctions against Turkish ministers and increased tariffs on imports such as steel and aluminum.

"I have for a while been seeing Ankara's effort to take advantage of the new situation with the EU. Turkish authorities want to restart the reform process and revive the harmonization process with the EU," said Abdulkadir Selvi, a columnist known for having insights from the government.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 05:13:05|Editor: yan

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BUCHAREST, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Canada has decided to send five Hornet airplanes to ensure NATO enhanced Air Policing Missions in Romania for the following four months, the Romanian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday.

The Canadian detachment will consist of five CF-188 Hornets, together with approximately 135 soldiers, pilots and technical staff at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Constanta of southeastern Romania, according to a Romanian ministry statement.

During deployment from September to December 2018, the five Hornets will fly and train alongside the Romanian Air Force's air policing aircraft.

According to NATO, the Air Policing is a peacetime mission for "safeguarding the integrity of the NATO Alliance Member's airspace," with member states taking part in it on a rotating basis.

This is the fourth deployment of the Royal Canadian Air Force in Romania, after the ones carried out in 2014, 2016 and 2017.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 05:23:07|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- An explosion rocked the rebel-held Afrin enclave in northern Syria on Wednesday, killing two and wounding 18 others, activists reported.

The explosion was caused by a roadside bomb left on a sidewalk in a popular marketplace in Afrin in the northern countryside of Aleppo province, leaving many women and children wounded.

Kurdish activists said ambulances rushed to the scene and transported the wounded to hospital, adding that many of the wounded are in critical condition.

According to the emerging information, the bomb targeted the military commander of the Failaq al-Sham rebel group, Khaled Obeidat, amid reports that he was killed in the attack.

Afrin, a predominantly-Kurdish enclave near the Turkish border, fell to the Turkish-led rebels in March, which led to the displacement of thousands of Kurdish people.

The area was controlled by the Kurdish militiamen, mainly the People's Protection Units (YPG), which is regarded as a terror group by Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that infighting erupted among the Turkey-backed rebels in the city of Jarablus in the northern countryside of Aleppo province.

The state of chaos also extends to the northwestern province of Idlib, which has become the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, where rebels are staging explosions, and kidnapping amid a state of lawlessness, according to the Observatory.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 06:08:18|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that innovative thinking on mediation in resolving conflicts is a necessity.

"As the conflict landscape has changed, so has our understanding of what constitutes an effective mediation process. Innovative thinking on mediation is no longer an option, it is a necessity," said the UN chief at the Security Council's debate on the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Mediation and the Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts.

"War is becoming increasingly complex, and so is mediating peace," he said.

According to a concept note circulated by Britain, which is the Council president of this month, the debate was intended to provide member states with the opportunity to consider the role of the UN in both "leading and supporting inclusive mediation efforts, how it can be strengthened, and how the Security Council and member states can best support these efforts."

Speakers were presenting their views on how the Security Council can support mediation at many different levels, ranging from the local to the international level, which was the core theme of the debate.

"Today, internal conflicts frequently take on regional and transnational dimensions. Many feature a deadly mix of fragmented armed groups and political interests, funded by criminal activities," said Guterres at the debate.

"Conflicts around the world drag on for years and decades, holding back development and stunting opportunities," he added.

Comprehensive peace agreements are "becoming more elusive and short-lived. Political will wanes, international attention drifts," said the secretary-general.

"I urge you to commit to more effective use of mediation as a tool to save and improve the lives of millions of people around the world," he added.

Again, the UN chief talked about the importance of prevention diplomacy.

"As bad as the situation is in many parts of the world, I am convinced that it is within our power to tackle and reverse these trends," he said. "This is why, since the beginning of my tenure, one of my key priorities has been a surge in diplomacy for peace."

"We must make prevention our priority. But prevention also includes investment in mediation, peacebuilding and sustainable development," said the secretary-general.

Guterres noted that "we must be bold and creative in bringing together the avenues and capacities that are available for mediation."

He told the debate that he was grateful to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, a member of his high-level advisory board, who traveled to Liberia on his behalf to support the peaceful transfer of power after the 2017 elections.

"This is just one example of how we can deploy board members in the cause of conflict prevention," he said.

"The board's members have experience and networks across the entire spectrum of mediation. I look to them to provide tailored advice, to find new entry points, and to help train and build capacity amongst our partners," the secretary-general added.

"Discreet engagement also plays a role," Guterres said, while speaking about the weight of engagement in mediation.

"Continuing talks with the Taliban, despite years of war and continued fighting, and away from the glare of publicity, allows for positions to be clarified. Renewed engagement with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has also benefitted from this approach," the UN chief noted.

As for private mediation actors, Guterres said that the UN works with these actors including non-governmental organizations, "which may have greater freedom to establish contacts and foster dialogue with armed groups, militias and others."

"Meanwhile, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, an enormous range of other actors, national bodies and civil society groups, including women's organizations, religious leaders and young activists, play a part in mediation at a local and community level," he said.

"Mediating an end to today's complex conflicts means we must bring all these tracks together, in a coordinated way," the secretary-general noted.

"We must also find new ways to pursue the more inclusive approaches that are critical to successful mediation," he said, adding "that is what we in the United Nations are trying to do."

Mossarat Qadeem, Executive Director of Paiman Alumni Trust, a nonprofit organization in Pakistan, highlighted how women have been excluded in mediation, but how they could play a key role in such efforts.

"Despite the rhetoric of support and even the resolutions and national plans that you have adopted, we as women remain largely outside the door," she said.

There is a misconception about the role of mediator, who is seen as having power and gravitas, terms that are inherently masculine and associated with the ability to knock heads or press for compromises. Many are skeptical of the ability of women to talk to violent extremist groups like the Taliban, Boko Haram or the Tamil Tigers, she said.

Years ago, a group of mothers of missing soldiers in Sri Lanka "successfully mediated a ceasefire," which was followed by peace talks between the Tamil Tigers and the government, she said. She also shared her own experience of speaking with the Taliban in Pakistan.

"I found the courage not only to speak with them to release my staff members they had captured, but I took the chance to seek support for the implementation of health and education projects. This is mediation," she said.

Women, because of their connections to communities and households, are helpful in localized peacebuilding, she said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 06:23:22|Editor: yan

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DUBLIN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of overseas visitors to Ireland reached over 1.16 million in July, up 12.5 percent year-on-year, said Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Ireland on Wednesday.

Britain was the largest country in terms of its number of visitors to Ireland in July, said the CSO, adding that over 350,000 British residents visited the country last month, up 3.4 percent year-on-year.

In July, significant increases were recorded in the numbers of visitors from the United States and Canada as well as from other European countries, it said.

Last month, close to 300,000 residents from the United States and Canada visited Ireland, up nearly 25 percent over a year ago while the number of visitors from European countries other than Britain stood at over 420,000, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent, said the CSO.

The number of visitors from other areas of the world also witnessed a double-digit increase in July, it said, adding that the number of such visitors to the country stood at over 85,000 last month,up 16.1 percent over a year ago.

During the first seven months of this year, over six million overseas residents visited Ireland, up 7.8 percent compared with the same period last year, it said.

Last year a total of 9.93 million overseas residents visited Ireland, generating nearly 6.5 billion euros (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) in earnings for the country, according to the CSO.Air traffic movement to be affected for 4 days

Air traffic movement is expected to be significantly affected for four days from Wednesday due to the arrival of VVIPs for the fourth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit slated to be held from August 30-31, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) said Tuesday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 06:48:24|Editor: Liu

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HELSINKI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Finland has seen heated debate on the hiring of retirees as bus drivers after a deadly crash of a bus with a 67-year-old driver, who is not a company staffer, last week.

Four people were killed and six others were injured in the Aug. 24 accident in Kuopio.

The driver initially claimed the brakes had failed, but passengers said the man had been driving recklessly prior to the crash. Investigating officials have not commented on his condition or health condition so far, but faulty brakes have been excluded.

The use of retiree-turned drivers is especially common on charter assignments. Industry sources told newspaper Keskisuomalainen that retirees often accept less pay than the union rate. "Actually a retired driver is just happy to get away from home and to the road," a driver named "Pertti" told the paper.

A salaried driver would have to be paid a daily allowance and extras for evening and night hours, but retired drivers are not. Retired drivers are commonly used for charter trips to Lapland or Estonia that take several days.

The official retirement age for drivers is 68, but there is currently no age limit for driving as a non-staffer. Drivers over 68 must undergo an extensive health check every two years though.

Until 2010 Finnish law set 70 years of age as a limit to driving a bus, but the restriction was taken off the legislation in 2014. Harri Pasanen, vice chairman of the automotive and transport workers union said the union did not like the abrogation of the overall age limit.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 06:48:24|Editor: Liu

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GABORONE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi left the country Wednesday, on a state visit and to participate in the 2018 Beijing Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

In an interview on Wednesday in the capital Gaborone, Nonofo Molefhi, Acting Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, said China as one of the developing and advanced nations, is committed to strengthening ties with African countries to assist them better in ensuring economic growth and socio-economic development.

He said Botswana and China have shared cordial relations in areas of health, construction and other developments and therefore participation in FOCAC will help both countries to strengthen ties even further.

"FOCAC will award African countries willing to change the state of their nations to positively benefit from China by learning various strategies that China uses to develop and improve the lives of its people," he said.

Molefhi further indicated that President Masisi will pay a state visit ahead of the forum.

"The president will engage in discussions with his counterpart to discuss issues of interest to Botswana and to try and forge more relations between the two countries for the benefits of its people," he said.

President Masisi will pay a state visit to China from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5 and also attend the FOCAC Summit in Beijing.Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-28 18:04:49|Editor: xuxin

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by Jamila Najmuddin

COLOMBO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka hoped to attract more Chinese investments under the Belt and Road Initiative and aimed to increase trade and investment ties with other global partners in order to emerge as a dynamic trading hub, a Sri Lankan minister said on Monday.

State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Harsha De Silva told Xinhua in an interview that Sri Lanka had the potential to emerge as a trading nation due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean and the government was committed to maintaining strong ties with its foreign partners including China.

He said the relations between China and Sri Lanka had expanded in recent years. Sri Lanka had been benefiting from the Chinese projects which were spread out across the island.

China's assistance to develop Sri Lanka, especially after the end of its three-decade civil war in May 2009, was appreciated by the island nation, he added.

De Silva said while there were Chinese-funded projects in the south and west, talks were also presently ongoing to expand these projects to the north and east of the country.

"Chinese investments have played an important role in this country, such as the Colombo International Container Terminal which is presently ranked as the 13th best-connected port in the world," he said.

The minister said such projects had created employment for local people, generated wealth and increased foreign exchange in the country.

While Sri Lanka had immense potential, De Silva said the island country was going to become more important in the decades to come.

"No major power is going to be able to ignore us because of our location and our strategic importance on the Indian Ocean. So in that context many people have been our friends for centuries," De Silva said.

"Sri Lanka is at the center of the Indian Ocean. I do not consider Sri Lanka as a South Asian country, but instead Sri Lanka should be considered as an Indian Ocean country. It is a different paradigm," he added.

De Silva explained that from the east coast of Africa, all the way to Australia and the Pacific, Sri Lanka was at the center of shipping and could provide resources from the west to the east and finished products from east to the west.

"So given our location, we must attempt our very best to partner with all our friends to leverage our ports," he said.

De Silva said that in terms of the Hambantota Port in the south of the island, the government together with China Merchants Port Holdings was aiming to transform it into a dynamic port.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority and China Merchants Port Holdings signed an agreement in July last year to co-run the Hambantota Port.

In addition to the port, plans were also underway to develop an industrial zone close to the Hambantota Port premises.

De Silva said in the future, several investors from all parts of the world would set up operations in the industrial zone and use the port facilities to plug into the global production networks.The Csongrad County prosecutors office has raised charges against a Kurdish man and woman for supporting a terrorist group, the head of the office said.

The suspects are believed to have supported militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, which is classified as a terrorist organisation, between 2010 and 2015, Zsolt Kopasz told MTI.



According to the indictment, the man, who is a Turkish citizen but of Kurdish nationality, joined the group in 2009, while the woman of Iranian citizenship joined in 2010.



They are both believed to have received military training and served under the PKK in Iraq. Rather than serving on the battlefield, their job was to transport clothes and food to the units returning from and fighting in Turkey.



In 2014, the suspects were transferred to Syria, where they were stationed at a base near the town of Kobani.



There they were tasked with carrying out logistics operations under the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, the PKKs local affiliate.



The suspects - who became romantically involved during their service in Syria - later decided to flee to Iraq. In 2016, shortly after marrying, they set off for Europe with the help of people smugglers.



On Dec. 6, 2017, they submitted asylum applications at the transit zone in Hungarys southern border town of Tompa, which were rejected by the authorities.



The suspects will be tried at the Szeged Court of Justice in southern Hungary.The public opinion tide in Europe is turning and people on the continent are fed up with Brusselss promigration policy, the government spokesman told public news channel M1 late on Monday.

Migration has become a matter of European democracy; the issue has created a rift between the left wing elite that upholds its utopian pro-migration ideology and ordinary citizens who have opposite interests, Zoltan Kovacs

told the broadcaster. A solution to the problem of migration must be found outside Europe, he said, adding that economic migrants must be returned to their home countries.



Speaking prior to Prime Minister Viktor Orbans talks with Matteo Salvini, Italys deputy prime minister and leader of the League Party, Kovacs said Hungary and Italy agree that illegal migrants must be sent back to their home countries.



He noted that over 90% of migrants staying in Italy had entered the country illegally.



Policies encouraging migration go nowhere, the spokesman said, stressing that illegal migration must be stopped.



Photo: Arvai Karoly/kormany.huVodafone is seeking a judicial review of the decision by the telecoms and media authority NMHH to fine the company Ft 40 million over its handling of new identity confirmation rules.

The NMHH issued the fine because Vodafone verified the identity of about a third of pre-paid service subscribers by using its own database rather than asking clients to turn up personally in 2017.



Vodafone argues that its actions complied with the law and served the interest and comfort of clients by reducing long lines and excessive administration.



Vodafone appealed against the initial ruling of the NMHH, but a second instance authority upheld it on August 24.Trucks laden with hop bines are showing up on the roads around the Yakima Valley, and soon the air will be filled with the aroma of this yearCommuters fume as KMC closes Khula Manch for four days

The decision of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) to close Khula Manch (Open Theatre) for four days starting from Tuesday has affected the daily routine of hundreds of commuters.Emersyn Sbraggia, 4, is all set to start kindergarten at the Hurley school after receiving her new backpack loaded with school supplies.

By JEAN NORDINE

[email protected]

Hurley - The Hurley Lioness free backpack program was held Tuesday afternoon at the Hurley school. Fifty excited Hurley elementary students received new backpacks loaded with school supplies they will need during the school year.

The program is sponsored by the Hurley Lioness Club, which has been in existence for 27 years. For the past 12 years its members have been handing out free backpacks to students from Northwoods Christian Academy, All Saints Academy, and the Ironwood and Hurley schools. The free backpack program originated from a suggestion by Lori Lorendo, a charter member of the Lioness club, who wanted to do something special for the kids of the area.

After the passing of Lorendo, six years ago, the Lioness members continue the program in her memory. Donations from area businesses, Lori's friends and the Lioness club pay for the supplies and the packs are assembled and distributed by club members.

Tuesday afternoon, Jenny Madden, Joyce Mullard and Pat Kangas -all three original charter club members - distributed the backpacks in the school's cafeteria. The project actually begins at the end of the school year when a letter is sent home with the students to inform their parents of the program. Over the summer the parents get back to the group as to whether they would like their child to receive a backpack. The list of students in then turned over to the teachers who compile a supply list according to what grade the student is in.

There is no criteria to be eligible for the backpacks, as Jenny Madden said, "this in not based on finances, we fill backpacks for anyone."Delayed consignment of fertilisers finally arrive at Dry Port

The first consignment of Nepal-bound fertilisers, which was stuck at the Vishakhapatnam Port, in India, for quite some time, due to an unavailability of railway rakes, finally arrived at the Dry Port in Sirsiya, in Birgunj, on Sunday.A marijuana plant in the flowering stage is pictured at the Compassionate Care Foundation medical marijuana dispensary and cutivation center in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. The foundation hopes to open additional dispensaries in South Jersey and also plans to convert a former greenhouse in Sewell, N.J., into another cultivation facility. Read more

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has replaced its top regulator for the state's medical marijuana program.

The change comes at a key moment as the commonwealth prepares to award a second round of permits to prospective dispensary owners, grant permits to university health systems that want to conduct research into cannabis, grant permits for marijuana growers who want to partner with those health systems, and fend off persistent law suits challenging the awarding of those permits.

Larry Clark served for two years as the program's policy director and head of field operations. Clark, who holds a law degrees and a master degree in public health, was reassigned this week to "develop the larger regulatory agenda for the Department of Health," said a department spokeswoman.

Industry insiders described Clark "as the glue that holds the medical marijuana program together."

"It's been his steady hand that has protected the patients of Pennsylvania and allowed for the successful rollout of the program," said Michael Bronstein, founder of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, which represents marijuana growers and dispensaries across the nation. "He's one of the best regulators I've ever worked with and I've worked with regulators all over the country. He's had the toughest job in the world."

Sunny Podolak, an assistant director who has been with the program since its inception, has assumed Clark's duties, said April Hutcheson. "There are no implications to Clark leaving," she said. Clark's annual salary is about $121,000. Podolak was reportedly earning about $87,000, according to pennwatch.pa.gov.

Hutcheson said Secretary of Health Rachel Levine needed Clark "to move back into the executive office to focus on important regulations that are long overdue for revision."

Clark's reassignment has no connection to chronic problems with MJ Freeway, the $10.4 million regulatory software that forms the backbone of the program, Hutcheson said. The software is prone to regular crashes that have held up sales and forced some dispensaries to close temporarily while the system boots back up. MJ Freeway also has been hit by several illegal hacks of its database.

Clark, who was unavailable to comment, was beloved by growers and dispensary owners for his willingness to fix systemic problems at any time of the day or night.

Though the Pennsylvania program has experienced some hiccups, industry experts consider its launch to be largely a success. Eight of the state's 12 growers are shipping refined oils, tinctures, capsules and "dry leaf" (better known IRL as flower or bud). About 40,000 patients have been certified for the program and 750 physicians have been approved to write recommendations. Since sales began in February, there have been 150,000 "dispensing events" or individual sales to patients.

This is a developing story.Pennsylvania Attorney The office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro, pictured above, is continuing to fight a legal battle for the entire grand jury report to be made public. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer Read more

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday that it is seeking more than $75,000 in restitution for consumers from businesses and persons who allegedly failed to comply with court orders.

The office's Bureau of Consumer Protection has filed 12 legal actions to enforce settlements involving businesses and individuals in nine counties, authorities said. In addition to restitution, the bureau wants to impose additional fines and bar some of the businesses from operating in the state. In a few cases, the bureau seeks to put defendants in jail for the alleged violations.

"If a court issues an order, we expect people to respect the court's authority by fully complying," said Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.

The legal actions followed a review of compliance issues related to the settlements and court orders, authorities said.

Among the alleged violators are Andrei Losev, of Richboro, and his company, Lars Group Inc., which operates under the name "Hot Ride Motors" in Levittown. The defendants were accused in 2011 of misrepresenting the condition of cars they sold on eBay. They still owe $30,000 in restitution and civil penalties and have not made a payment since 2014, according to court filings in Philadelphia County.

Authorities allege that Losev and his company continued to engage in deceptive business practices by selling at least three unroadworthy cars on eBay under an account that hid their true identities. One of the victims was a Pennsylvania consumer who paid the defendants $6,960 in an eBay auction for a 1992 Chevrolet pickup truck that would have likely failed inspection, according to the state's petition for contempt.

The eBay account connected to Losev and his company claimed the truck "runs, drives great," but the consumer received a vehicle with "holes rusted through and cracks" in the frame, according to the petition.

A representative from Hot Ride Motors declined comment. Losev could not be reached for comment.

The bureau wants a court order forcing Losev and Lars Group to pay $15,000 each in civil penalties, $30,000 to cover the past due balance and make restitution to consumers who were sold the clunkers. The attorney generals office also seeks to bar Losev and Lars Group from conducting business in the state.The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating an incident involving a ground crew worker who was badly injured at Philadelphia International Airport on Friday evening, during pushback for a departing Aer Lingus flight. Police identified the victim as a 60-year-old man, and said he was caught under an airplane moving tug and the wheel of the plane. The man was placed in critical condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, police said.

"The NTSB is investigating this accident," a spokesman for the safety board said. "We're still at the early stages."

The Aer Lingus flight, bound for Dublin, was being operated by a different airline, ASL Ireland. The injured worker was employed by a separate ground handling company, Dubai-based Dnata. According to ASL spokesman Andrew Kelly, the ground handling crew had control of the airplane during the incident, which ASL also reported to safety regulators in Ireland.

Dnata confirmed the injured worker is their employee. "We are providing him and his family with all possible support," a spokesman said. The company didn't comment on how the incident occurred, or the type of work the man was performing when it happened.

"A formal investigation is currently being undertaken to determine the facts and we will continue to work with the relevant authorities," the Dnata spokesman said.

Airlines routinely contract with service providers to handle the pushback from the gate before takeoff.

Philadelphia International Airport spokeswoman Mary Flannery said PHL reported the incident to federal authorities Friday night. "The NTSB has requested basic information about this incident and the airport responded."Artist's rendering of 1300 Fairmount apartment complex, as seen from Ridge Avenue-facing commercial space, from 2015 submission to Philadelphia's Civic Design Review board. Read more

Discount grocer Aldi is set to fill almost half of the lower-story commercial space in the sprawling apartment complex planned near Broad and Fairmount Streets north of Center City, as the chain rejiggers its traditional strip-mall-friendly format to better fit the dense urban areas where it senses future growth.

The German-based grocer has signed a lease for 25,430 square feet at the 14-story project under development by RAL Cos. and Affiliates LLC at 1300 Fairmount St., now a vacant lot beside the recently renovated Divine Lorraine Hotel apartments, RAL told the Inquirer and Daily News ahead of an official announcement planned for this week.

With the move, Aldi's U.S. operation, based in Batavia, Ill., is hoping to sustain a growth spurt by bringing its stripped-down inventory of deeply discounted store-brand staples to city dwellers' doorsteps. It follows similar steps by higher-end grocers such as Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. that have nestled themselves into other central Philadelphia apartment complexes.

"The areas that they haven't entered that much have been the denser urban areas," Craig Johnson, president of retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners LLC in Madison, Conn., said of Aldi. "This is a way they can kind of shoehorn in there."

Aldi also has opened or is in the process of opening what it calls "mixed-use development" stores in Chicago, Minneapolis, and the Washington, D.C., area, Bob Grammer, vice president for the Aldi division that covers eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and northern Delaware, said in an email.

The format accounts for "only a handful" of its more than 1,800 U.S. stores in 35 states, but "as we rapidly grow and expand to meet the needs of our evolving customer base, we're exploring more mixed-use development opportunities, mainly in urban areas," he said.

Aldi, which opened its first U.S. store in Iowa in 1976, has been able to undercut competing discounters such as Walmart Inc. by sourcing huge volumes of everyday foods such as eggs, milk and meat, and selling them under its in-house labels, which avoids marketing costs and other expenses associated with selling national brands.

If it is to fulfill its growth targets, it will likely have to make inroads into more affluent areas such as city centers. Aldi's expansion plans announced last year called for spending $3.4 billion to lift its store count to 2,500 locations by the end of 2022, putting it on track to become the nation's third-largest grocer after Walmart and Kroger Co.

Alongside that expansion, Aldi is in the midst of a $1.6 billion effort to renovate more than 1,300 of its existing stores by 2020 to better feature its produce, meat and bakery offerings, at least in part to lure more quality-conscious shoppers for whom price is not as important.

"They have worked in recent years to dial up the perception of freshness and quality," said Josh Broehl, senior vice president of Columbus, Ohio-based branding agency Big Red Rooster, part of real estate services firm JLL, which has worked with the grocer on its image. "That may have not been as clearly distinguished in the past."

Aldi recently remodeled its store on MacDade Boulevard in Collingdale, and more redone stores are due to open in the coming weeks in Exton, Norristown, and Marlton. Late last year it also opened a new Blue Bell store about two miles up Dekalb Pike from where it had operated an older location.

At the 1300 Fairmount apartment project, which will be Aldi's first in the Philadelphia area to deploy its mixed-use format, the grocer will share 58,760 square feet of commercial space with other tenants, including a 12,490-square-foot preschool to be operated by West Chester-based Nobel Learning Communities Inc.

"In a city where many people rely on walking or public transportation, a new supermarket in the area will be extremely valuable not only for the building's residents but also for the surrounding community," Spencer Levine, managing director of New York-based RAL, said in a release. The company aims to complete the project in 2020, it said.

Johnson, the retail consultant, said Aldi is wise to establish its first central Philadelphia project on Center City's northern fringe, where it's accessible to the chain's established clientele of value hunters as well as the presumably higher-income apartment dwellers who will live upstairs.

"They're trying to capture people not just in a lower-income situation, but in any income quintile," he said. "They are, in a sense, trying to have their cake and eat it, too."Protestors Sam Sitrin, left, and Sarah Gawricki, right, block traffic on the East side of City hall, around noon, during an overdose crisis protest in Philadelphia Wednesday. Read more

They blocked traffic. They held signs. They spoke of dead friends.

But the march for safe injection sites outside City Hall on Wednesday was encouraging  simply because advocates were bringing the fight downtown.

Of course, the politicians managed to hide anyway.

With 1,217 people dead from overdoses here in 2017, the highest rate of any major city, not a single City Council member bothered to show his or her face  if not in support of safe injection sites, at least in support of finding other measures to keep people alive.

And that's how it is in Council chambers. The crisis killing Philadelphians at a rate of four times the murder toll has somehow become untouchable, and our legislators are pulling disappearing acts any time anyone says the magic words "safe injection site."

Here's the thing  the city believes it can open a safe injection site with or without Council.

So, most representatives have done the usual: taken no position and slowed momentum with at worst silence or at best, a few hearings that devolved into health officials explaining to Council members the nuts and bolts of the crisis.

In private, advocates said Wednesday, some Council members are comfortable offering tepid support  or at least the classic Philadelphia definition of it: We won't support you publicly or do anything to help you, but maybe we won't cut you off at the knees.

There are exceptions. Helen Gym was the first Council member to express support for safe-injection sites  although she hasn't made it a signature issue. Maria Quinones-Sanchez, whose Kensington district has been devastated by successive drug crises for decades, has been left holding the ball while Bobby Henon and Mark Squilla, whose districts border hers, have mostly gotten away with treating the opioid crisis as someone else's problem.

I went looking for them through the halls Wednesday while protesters shut down traffic on Market Street. Henon wasn't around. Neither was Cindy Bass, the head of Council's health committee. The protesters sent a funeral wreath to Council President Darrell L. Clarke's office: "Mourning demands action," the card read.

Jane Roh, Clarke's chief of staff, said her boss is in a "wait-and-see" mode as the city considers legal liability and issues of equity  how to help people incarcerated and otherwise affected by previous drug epidemics who weren't afforded safe injection spaces.

These are valid and important concerns  but Council could bring those issues to the forefront of the conversation instead of shying from it.

Squilla poked his head out the window and said he didn't know about the protest taking place below. He was off to a lunch date at Capital Grille. For his part, he at least met with advocates earlier this summer, but he was adamant: "I promised them nothing."

Also to his credit, Squilla was part of a push to clear the encampments in Kensington and get people into treatment and shelter. But good luck figuring out where he stands on safe injection sites. In the space of a six-minute conversation, he told me, variously, that he was "open to looking," "no," and that if I could give him "a means to put it together, then I would support it." Thanks for clearing that up, Councilman.

Quinones-Sanchez, whose district has been hardest hit, is one of the few pols who's spent political capital to help people with addiction and save lives in her district. She has a record of supporting harm-reduction measures, such as the Kensington needle exchange Prevention Point, when other politicians would have zoned them out. And she, more than anyone else, has held the city's feet to the fire about clearing heroin encampments.

But she's drawn a line on safe injection sites, even though more than 200 people died last year in her district. And she, more than any Council member, was the target of protesters' ire Wednesday. They chanted, "If Maria says no, she's got to go." She was not around.

Meanwhile, two or three Philadelphians a day, of every race and color, are dying.

After 20 minutes in the street, the protesters moved to the sidewalk. They thanked the motorists, who had been screaming and honking, for bearing witness. After all, it was more than their City Council had done.For the second year in a row, contract talks aimed at averting a teachers' strike before the start of classes at 17 Philadelphia-area Catholic high schools are going down to the wire.

Negotiators for the 650-member Association of Catholic Teachers and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have scheduled a series of last-minute talks ahead of Wednesday's scheduled start of school for roughly 12,000 students, with major issues around pay and health-care costs still unresolved.

"The most important thing for us is that schools continue, because our jobs are dependent on the schools continuing," said union president Rita Schwartz, referring to the long-term financial issues that area Catholic schools have been confronting. "We're certainly not going to ask for anything that is crazy."

Schwartz said teachers expect a pay raise and protection against rising medical costs. Last year's agreement, continuing a recent trend of one-year deals, gave teachers a $1,200 across-the-board raise. The teachers' 15 percent share of medical premiums stayed the same.

Currently, pay for the unionized Catholic high school teachers starts at $39,800 and rises to a top of $80,505, which requires a doctorate and 40 years' experience. Without a doctorate, the top pay is about $79,000, and Schwartz said about 10 percent of teachers are at that level. A 20-year veteran makes $54,480, with about half the membership serving that long, according to Schwartz.

The archdiocese said in a statement that the Office of Catholic Education "strives to provide the best possible compensation and benefits package." It said the proposals "ensure that no teacher will experience a rise in cost for health benefits. Salaries for high school teachers in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are consistently ranked among the top in the nation, according to the annual survey completed by the National Association of Catholic School Teachers."

The two sides bargained last year past the contract's expiration and through Labor Day weekend before reaching an agreement the day before classes resumed. The last time Philadelphia-area Catholic high school teachers walked out was 2011, when a strike disrupted much of the first two weeks of school.

That job action took place when the schools in Philadelphia and four suburban counties in Pennsylvania were still under the direct control of the archdiocese.

The following year, the nonprofit Faith in the Future Foundation took over operations of the schools, with a mission of halting a long-running decline in enrollment while containing costs. The archdiocese retained responsibility for negotiating contracts.

Schwartz isn't guaranteeing a repeat of last year's brinkmanship, saying that if she took the current archdiocese offer to her membership, "It would not be acceptable, absolutely not." But she added that "nobody wants a strike."

The current contract expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. There have been 13 negotiating sessions since April 10, according to the archdiocese.

The sides have tentatively scheduled four bargaining sessions for Thursday through Monday, with the hope that a new agreement will be in place ahead of a general union membership meeting to be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 facility on Columbus Boulevard. The teachers voted to authorize a strike, if necessary, in May.

Teachers are scheduled to return to school on Tuesday for organizational meetings. "Assuming we have a contract approval, they'll go back," Schwartz said.

Schwartz said talks have gone up to the deadline in the last couple of years because the archdiocese has insisted on renegotiating the entire contract  including provisions covering working conditions  and not just salary and benefits. She added that the union would love to come to an agreement that goes beyond one year.

"What happens is, we can't seem to make the second year work financially," Schwartz said. "I can't take back something to the teachers that I know they're not going to accept."

Students enrolled at parish and regional Catholic elementary schools in the archdiocese are not affected by the negotiations. Their teachers are not unionized.Rapper Meek Mill greets students at James G. Blaine Public School in Philadelphia, Wednesday, August 29, 2018. He donated backpacks with school supplies to students at this school. Read more

The rapper Meek Mill surprised hundreds of uniform-clad students at his alma mater, North Philadelphia's James G. Blaine School, Wednesday morning.

Only minutes earlier, the room had been calm, as principal Gianeen Anyika led them in reciting the Blaine pledge: "We are smart, talented, and peaceful."

Once Mill appeared, however, "peaceful" was out the window as students waved, shouted, and posed for selfies.

Mill visited Blaine to donate a backpack filled with school supplies to every student. The donation was supported by Puma, his longtime sponsor.

"I just wanted to come back and share my support to my hometown and the first school I ever attended," the "Millidelphia" rapper said.

Mill's visit to Blaine was part of a collaboration between the rapper and the School District of Philadelphia to donate more than 6,000 backpacks to students in need. Donated school supplies will also be distributed at Strawberry Mansion High School (another Mill alma mater), Wright Elementary, Edward Gideon School, Edison High School, William Dick School, William D. Kelley School, Mastbaum High School, LINC High School, Benjamin Franklin High School, Randolph Technical High School, and the U School.

Assistant superintendent Amelia Coleman Brown said, "I'm also a native of North Philadelphia, so to have [Mill] come back and be a model of what it is to work hard and make your dreams come true, as you can see, it's exciting for the students, it's great motivation to start the school year." She said the new backpacks will make a huge difference for young students.

Mill's face lit up as he handed young fans their backpacks, gamely exchanging fist bumps and smiling for pictures.

"It's a good feeling, I've been up all night, I was in the studio all night till 7 in the morning, flew here, came and gave out book bags and met the children. I seem a little ruffled but it's out of love for the people in my city," Mill, who is headlining this weekend's Made in America festival, said.

The adults in attendance mirrored Mill's message of support: "We're all here this morning to celebrate you," said superintendent William R. Hite Jr. Mayor Kenney said, "All the adults in this room love you and care about you." He joked that he was getting old and called on Blaine students to succeed him, pointing out that they are the future.

"Some people need it because some parents can't afford it," seventh grader Jon'et Stratford said of the gift.

"I was like this," said seventh grader A'Keira Nelson, demonstrating her response by screaming and clapping.

"He came to our school," added seventh grader Sabrina Gaymon.

Mill was released from prison in April after serving time for probation violations stemming from a 2007 arrest. Mill was sentenced to two to four years in prison, but in April, the state Supreme Court granted the rapper "extraordinary relief" amid questions about his arresting officer, allowing him to be released from prison on bail. Mill has been busy since his release, creating the Legends of Summer EP and speaking out on social justice reform.Can you tell a story without any characters?

That's a challenge artist Frank Stella decided to take on in the mid-1980s, and some of the results are on view in the Princeton University Art Museum's major exhibition "Frank Stella Unbound, Literature and Printmaking" through Sept. 23.

The show consists of four sets of huge bravura prints, all done between 1984 and 1999, each series inspired by a literary work and striving to tell a story with abstract shapes. "It wouldn't be a literal story," says a Stella quotation on the introductory panel to the show, "but the shapes and the interaction of the shapes and colors would give you a narrative sense."

The 37 works on view are technically astounding. Stella explores every known printmaking technique, often several on the same sheet. If you know something about prints, you will want to examine each one for a long time to see how it was made. And if you don't know much about prints, you will be surprised at how monumental a medium Stella has made of it. The vibrant colors and the density of the visual imagery will knock your eyes out.

Whats the story?

The story though, remains elusive. Perhaps Stella knows it, and even feels it, but the works don't tell it. The show is immensely impressive, but once you stop marveling at the ingenuity of their making, most of the works here are utterly unengaging.

Stella has always been the most impersonal of artists, committed to exploring the possibilities of geometry rather than providing a window on our world. When he was a student at Princeton, from which he graduated in 1958, he refused to participate in a figural painting class. Faced with depicting a live model, he wrote, "I Can't Draw," on his easel. His impact has come not from the marks he has made but from his relentless exploration of the possibilities of abstract shapes and nonrepresentational colors.

Each of his ideas would produce not just one canvas but a series of works in which he created variations or manipulations of a similar set of stripes or half circles. They were more like objects than pictures. As Stella declared, famously, "What you see is what you see." A couple of earlier Stellas are on display at Princeton in a gallery just beyond the special exhibition, including the simple yet potent aluminum-painted Kingsbury Run (1960).

In 1984, when he made the first of the prints on display here, Stella was probably the leading candidate to be the great American artist of his time. "Stella's career has become an exemplary one, a kind of guarantee of the whole art enterprise," wrote Calvin Tomkins in a long New Yorker profile that year.

Stella had recently delivered a prestigious Norton lecture at Harvard, in which he shockingly proposed that abstract artists should learn the lessons of the turn-of-the-17th-century master Caravaggio and energize three-dimensional space. Stella's canvases were already metamorphosing into sculptural reliefs, as their curves flew out of the frame and into the room. Mr. Plane Geometry was going for baroque.

The prints on display were one result of this quest. The first, made in 1984, were inspired by the artist El Lissitzky's 1919 illustrations of the Had Gadya, a song traditionally sung at the end of the Passover seder. The song recounts a set of events  the purchase of a goat, a cat eating the goat, a dog biting the cat, a stick hitting the dog, the stick burning in the fire, and so on.

While Lissitzky actually illustrated the story, Stella made prints of pillars, cones, striped semicircles, pieces of cloth, and other less recognizable objects which he cut and pasted onto the sheet, often adding some paint. These are the freest and most visually enjoyable of the series shown here.

The rest of the work on display was made in collaboration with Tyler Graphics in Mount Kisco, N.Y. In this case, the printing plate is itself a collage of elements created with disparate printing processes, including lithograph, etching, aquatint, engraving, and screen printing that were cut and fitted together. Items that recur in these works are gridded plastic fence, lace, computer renderings of cigar smoke, and a roof gutter.

The series based on Italo Calvino's Folk Tales is represented by four impressions of the same plate, Bene come il sale (As Dear as Salt, 1989). Each of the prints has a different feeling, depending on the colors used and the density of the inking. On the wall labels, the curators reprint the entire story, which is about a princess who hides in a candle stand to escape from her father, who wants to kill her. (Spoiler: She is discovered there by a prince who falls head over heels in love with her.) The story is charming, though the prints have little to do with it.

Perhaps the single most satisfying print in the show is Juam (1997) from the series Imaginary Places. It is centered on a swirling striped spiral, with interlocked rings and patches created with molten metal, and it does evoke the magical island its text describes. Stella seems to have stopped just in time. A more elaborate variant of this print that hangs next to it is much less interesting.

Mitra Abbaspour and Calvin Brown, the show's curators, not Stella, picked all the literary passages that appear on the labels. Throughout his career, Stella has used titles that have no obvious relationship to the works they name. There is reason to doubt the literary works are as important to Stella as the curators say.

But then there's Moby Dick. Stella's interest in the book grew from a shape that had emerged in some of his earlier prints that can be read either as a wave or as a whale. Stella's first thought was to do a series based on all 135 chapter titles, but over 12 years, he produced 266 works in different media inspired by Herman Melville's novel.

You can sort of see the whale in The Cabin. Ahab and Starbuck (Dome), from 1991, in which the paper is pressed around a rounded shape that makes the print look pregnant. The chapter itself, though, is more about Ahab, "the wondrous old man" on his monomaniacal quest.

Stella has acknowledged that he identifies with Ahab in his obsession and frustration. Stella's quest for a wholly abstract art that offers the pleasures and the meanings of narrative seems just as doomed.In the important ways, ice cream  or, more generically, frozen dairy dessert  is essentially the same across cultures and countries. Milk, sugar, flavoring; slurp, drip, repeat. The style made popular in Philadelphia in the 19th century remains among the most prevalent in the U.S. Yet there's a world of nuanced distinction among international confectionery variations like kulfi, semifreddo, and falooda.

"We know that China was the first to make frozen desserts, and that Italy's gelato was the first modern version of ice cream," says Bruce Tharp, principal of Tharp's Food Technology, an ice cream industry consultant in Wayne. "The product has evolved to conform to mass production for the retail market, but we still see really only a narrow range in the general composition of the stuff."

Gelato differs from ice cream in its fat content, with a denser texture and lack of egg. Ice cream is defined by U.S. industrial standards (the reason you see certain products labeled "frozen dessert") as having 10 percent to 16 percent milk fat. Gelato must have 3.5 percent milk fat by Italian law.

"Mostly, though, I think it's a difference of presentation. Gelato is set out in beautiful trays of different colors with decorations to make it attractive," Tharp says.

Ian Moroney, who makes both ice cream and gelato at Pumpkin, says the difference for him is in the flavor.

"Not having yolks in gelato gives you more clarity of flavor. When I want to make flavors like corn or peach or pistachio, I use a gelato base."

One of his favorites is a caramel-coffee gelato that is neither strictly caramel nor coffee in taste, but something in between that approaches the mellow bitterness of chocolate, or Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. One of the ways he accomplishes its subtlety is by steeping the cream with whole coffee beans.

"I serve it with sticky toffee pudding or with blackberries. It ends up being more than the sum of its parts," he says.

If gelato is usually devoid of eggs and cream, Italian semifreddo packs the fat back in. Air is churned not into the whole mix, but just into the cream first, which is gently folded into the custard. The result is sweet and slightly fluffy with less "chew" than ice cream.

On the other hand, Thai rolled ice cream, that still-trendy variation that involves chopping in flavorings and scraping a dense frozen mixture into curls on a cold slab, is made with the same ratio of milk and sugar as American ice cream  it just lacks the air that American-style churning machines whip into the mix.

Indian kulfi, like Italian semifreddo, involves no whipping at all. (The beauty of making it at home is that it doesn't require an ice cream maker.) The milk is cooked down slowly and reduced, increasing its fat, protein, and lactose content. It's then frozen in molds or on sticks.

"I have fond memories of eating kulfi on the street when I was growing up in Delhi. You can get it all over the place. Even now, when I make it in the restaurant I know I don't need to taste every batch, but I always end up keeping one for myself," says Vipul Bhasin, chef of Veda in Center City.

At Veda, the luxuriant dessert is traditionally flavored with cardamom, mango puree, and crushed pistachios and/or almonds, and served with poached blueberries. Falooda involves kulfi but is served with rose syrup and starchy vermicelli noodles mixed in.

Mexican ice cream is traditionally made with unpasteurized raw milk and churned in a large metal cylinder inside a wooden barrel with a handheld paddle. Short of having the right ingredients and equipment, Stateside cooks can at least replicate the imaginative flavors, like caramelized milk ice cream, which takes vanilla to a buttery-rich new height. Like kulfi, the recipe demands a long, slow reduction on the stove top. Even better (and more instantly gratifying): Visit a neveria, such as Paleteria Bambino or La Guerrerense, both in the Italian Market, with a full panoply of choices like cheese, guava, and avocado.

"The main thing I see when I travel is the incredible range of flavors," Tharp says. "In Japan, you find oyster, octopus, and eel ice cream. In Malaysia, yam ice cream is very popular, and in the Philippines, sweet corn ice cream is mixed with bits of cheddar cheese."

One product that stands out from its global cousins is Turkish ice cream, or dondurma, which is harder to come by in Philadelphia. It's thickened with salep, the dried root of an orchid plant, and made with mastic, a gummy resin that gives it a stretchy quality.

"I have seen some people actually using it to jump rope," says Tharp, who travels around the world to meet with ice cream manufacturers.

When it comes to dessert time, Tharp returns to his own family traditions  he grew up around a family creamery business in Pennsylvania, and although he appreciates global renditions, he prefers American-style ice cream.

"My favorite flavor is very exotic  regular old chocolate."

Caramelized Milk Ice Cream

Makes about 1 quart

INGREDIENTS

4 cups whole milk

1 cups sugar

 teaspoon baking soda

 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of kosher salt

1 cups whole milk

1 cups heavy cream

 teaspoon kosher salt

 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

To make the caramelized milk, in a heavy-bottomed large saucepan, stir together the milk, sugar and baking soda. Bring to a boil over high heat, turn down the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened and is pale caramel in color, 1 to 1 hours; stir more frequently as the mixture becomes thicker. You should have about 1 cup. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla and salt. If not using it right away, cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Partially fill a large bowl with ice and water, place a medium bowl in the ice water and set a fine-mesh strainer across the top. In a saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat, add the salt, vanilla extract, and caramelized milk, and whisk until smooth and combined. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the prepared bowl. Remove the bowl from the ice bath, cover and refrigerate until the base is cold, at least 4 hours or overnight. Whisk the base to recombine. Freeze and churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. For a soft consistency serve the ice cream right away; for a firmer consistency, transfer it to a container, cover, and allow to harden in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours.

 From "Mexican Ice Cream" by Fany Gerson (Ten Speed, 2017)

Mango Kulfi

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

 gallon whole milk

 cup heavy cream

 cup mango puree (preferably Alphonso mangos)

 cup sugar

 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds

slivered almonds and pistachios, to garnish

DIRECTIONS

Place the milk and the cream in a heavy-bottomed wide pot, such as a large wok or saucepan, and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Let the milk cook, and thicken. Stir the milk every few minutes. When the milk is approximately a third of its original volume, stir in the sugar, bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Cool the milk and stir in the mango puree and crushed cardamom seeds. Pour the mixture into kulfi molds or any small cup and freeze for 4-6 hours or until set. To serve, remove from the molds by dipping the molds in warm water for a few seconds or by removing from the freezer 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with slivered almonds and pistachios to serve.

 Vipul Bhasin of Veda

Coffee Caramel Gelato

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

4 cups milk

4 black cardamom pods, cracked

3 cinnamon sticks

2 cups sugar, divided

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole coffee beans

DIRECTIONS

Add milk, cardamom, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of sugar to a saucepan. Heat mixture to 180 degrees or just before it boils if you don't have a thermometer available. Remove from heat and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes. Strain milk to remove solids. In a separate pot, scald 2 cups of cream, then keep warm on low heat. In a separate large pot, add 2 cups sugar and let it caramelize, without stirring, over moderately low heat. When the sugar caramelizes (turning a deep amber color) remove from heat. Slowly add the hot cream to the caramel, stirring carefully (do not add all the cream at once). When all the cream is added, pour in the remaining milk. Add 2 cups of whole coffee beans to mixture. Pour into a container and refrigerate overnight. Strain mixture to remove any solids and coffee beans. Freeze in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer's instructions.

 Ian Moroney of PumpkinLouann Speese-Stanley, 59, of Grantham, gives her daughter Diana Stanley, 21, medical marijuana to treat a rare form of epilepsy. Read more

Louann Speese-Stanley spent years advocating for a medical marijuana program in Pennsylvania that could offer relief to her daughter, Diana, and other sick children for whom traditional medications have not worked.

But now that the program is finally up and running, the treatment Speese-Stanley fought so hard to make accessible is still out of reach for her daughter.

Speese-Stanley is a single mother of five in Grantham, a small town in Cumberland County. She cannot work outside the home because she is the full-time caregiver for Diana, 21, who has a severe form of epilepsy. In addition to Diana, two teenage daughters live at home, and the family barely scrapes by.

"I'm very happy we did this," Speese-Stanley, 59, said of advocating for the medical marijuana program, "but I'm very sad for my daughter."

Medical marijuana programs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have opened up a new realm of possible treatment for patients with chronic pain, cancer and neurological disorders. There is limited clinical research on medical marijuana's effectiveness, in large part because of problems with studying a banned substance. But federal regulators recently approved an epilepsy drug with an active ingredient derived from marijuana, and, anecdotally, patients report that cannabis has helped them manage a range of conditions.

But even as marijuana gains medical and political acceptance in more states, it is still illegal under federal law and not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which means it's not covered by insurance. That means patients who want the treatment must pay for it out of pocket, so those who can't afford it  such as Speese-Stanley's daughter  go without.

An Inquirer reader asked about the problem through Curious Philly, our forum for issues in need of further examination.

"So many patients have been impoverished by their illness  they may be on Social Security and surviving on $15,000 a year. To spend that amount of money for medical marijuana really becomes an unworkable situation," said Ken Wolski, executive director of Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey, a patient advocacy group.

In New Jersey, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2010, a gram of flower, the plant product most people associate with marijuana, costs about $15.

Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana in processed forms, such as oils, in 2016, and earlier this year opened sales of flower, which costs $10 to $15 for a gram. A month's supply could cost hundreds of dollars.

Growers, processors and dispensary owners say they are aware of the financial challenges their patients face and hope that as the business matures prices will come down.

For now, marijuana prices reflect the high start-up costs of breaking into an industry with more hurdles  due to the federal ban  than traditional businesses, said Mike Whiter, activist and video producer on marijuana topics for Now This, a news site.

State regulation adds to the administrative burden. Every package sold must be labeled with tracking codes, and marketing and any sales or discounts must be approved by state regulators.

Whiter said prices can be higher than what is sold illegally on the street, but so is the quality.

"I think it is somewhat cost prohibitive, but I think safe access makes it somewhat worth it being a little more expensive," he said.

Get creative

Discounts available at some dispensaries can help  if you qualify.

At Curaleaf in Bellmawr, N.J., discounts range from 20 percent to 40 percent for veterans, children and patients who have proof of receiving Social Security or disability benefits, said president George Schidlovsky.

Restore, in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood, gives a 20 percent discount to veterans and a 15 percent discount to seniors, said Rob Stanley, the dispensary manager. The dispensary hopes to add more discounts soon.

"It's important to us because we want to make sure the people who need the medication get it," he said.

Patients who don't quality for discounts sometimes find their own workarounds.

"I've had to get creative," said Dana Belka, 46, of Collingswood. Instead of paying up to $120 for a quarter-ounce of a top-notch flower, Belka pays $40 for what she calls "ready to roll," the leaves and dregs from a flower batch. In Belka's opinion, the more finely ground leaves are as effective as full buds, but are often marked down.

Because Speese-Stanley can't afford Pennsylvania prices, she buys marijuana from Oregon and California, where the industry has had years to get established.

Her daughter used to take at least five anti-epileptic medications  all paid for by insurance  but they didn't do much to help the seizures she had multiple times a day and left her listless, Speese-Stanley said.

Her seizures have been shorter since Speese-Stanley started administering drops of cannabis oil along Diana's bottom gums in 2013. Diana is more engaged in her environment, smiling and laughing at the comedy shows she likes to watch on television, Speese-Stanley said.

"There was a point last year I said maybe I'm going to stop because it's not affordable and my girls at home said, 'No, Mom, she is the best she's ever been,'" she said. "She's nonverbal and still has seizures, but she can have a quality of life she hasn't had before."

A ridiculous process

Product price isn't the only barrier.

Medical marijuana cards cost $50 in Pennsylvania. New Jersey recently reduced its fee from $200 to $100, with a discounted rate of $20 for veterans, seniors and patients who qualify for other public assistance programs.

To get a card, patients must first receive a recommendation for medical marijuana from a doctor who is registered with the program and certifies that the patient needs treatment of an approved condition.

If your current doctor is on the list, you're in luck  the appointment may be covered by insurance as part of ongoing treatment. But an appointment with a new doctor specifically for a cannabis referral can cost $100 to $450, and likely will not be covered by insurance.

"It's that on top of everything else and at this point, it's just getting to be so hard," said Min Jung, 42, of West Philadelphia, who does not work because of chronic pain and is finding it increasingly difficult to get opioid prescriptions from her physician, who is not certified to recommend marijuana.

Bonnie Queen, who has Parkinson's disease, faces paying $150 for an upcoming appointment with a psychiatrist who is certified to recommend marijuana for symptoms related to her condition.

"There are people who don't have money and are in terrible shape because Parkinson's messes with your cognition," said Queen, 71, of Wyndmoor, who hopes marijuana will help her sleep. "There are people who could be helped who really don't have the energy or the wherewithal to go through that ridiculous process."Government defends taxes

Despite complaints about heavy rises in taxes being imposed by the local units across the country, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration said that there has not been unjustified rise in taxes in most of the cases.Dr. Afua Mintah MD speaks about her practice in an exam room Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Southampton, Pennsylvania. Dr. Mintah is a young female OB-GYN who is watching the older men retire and seeing few men choosing residencies in OB-GYN. Read more

During her obstetrics and gynecology residency, Afua Mintah noticed that many patients were reluctant to allow male students to watch their exams.

After she completed her residency at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York and went into practice, the trend seemed to intensify. Now 39 and a physician at St. Mary Medical Center in Bucks County, Mintah is trying to recruit another ob-gyn to join her practice.

Not one man has applied, and she wonders whether the kind of patient concerns she saw in New York might be a reason far fewer men are entering the specialty.

"When [men] don't get that experience at the medical school level, it deters them from looking at [ob-gyn] as a potential career," said Mintah, whose own ob-gyn is a man.

"The entire face of the specialty is shifting," she notes, and it's happening fast.

Ten years ago, 57 percent of active ob-gyns were men. By 2015, women made up 55 percent of the specialty, and that proportion will climb as new doctors join the profession. Among U.S. ob-gyn residents in 2017, nearly 85 percent were female.

The reasons for the trend? Partly, it's patient preference, with younger women showing more of a bias toward female providers than their elders, according to surveys. But there are plenty of women who either don't care about their doctor's sex or would prefer to see a man. Yet that's not a message many male students are getting.

"Students are hearing from deans of medical schools and other people that there isn't a need for men," said Peter Schnatz, president of the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia, who practices at Reading Hospital.

According to a 2016 study, 41 percent of patients reported no preference in the sex of their ob-gyns, and 8 percent preferred males. The other half of the patients preferred female providers. A 2005 survey showed that 80 percent of patients believe that the sex of the physician does not affect the quality of care.

But, as Mintah observed, patients in teaching hospitals are much more likely to ask that male medical students leave during their exams, according to a 2012 study that Schnatz co-authored.

The patients were fine with having a male physician present, the researchers found. But getting shut out as a student might discourage a male from pursuing ob-gyn, Schnatz said.

"I think certainly it's a field that women are interested in," Schnatz said. "Mix that with the negative comments that [male] students are hearing, and they think, 'I guess this isn't a field for me.'"

At Thomas Jefferson University, over 90 percent of the ob-gyn residents, from those who started in 2010 to those who will complete their training in 2022, are female. At the University of Pennsylvania, 85 percent of ob-gyn residents from 2006 to 2022 are women.

Of current residents in the Drexel/Hahnemann ob-gyn residency, 80 percent are female. At Temple University, only one of the 21 students currently in the program is a male.

Overall, women are choosing medicine as a profession in greater numbers than ever before. But still, among residents from all specialties in 2017, men slightly outnumbered women, 53 percent to 47 percent.

The female advantage

Alissa Higgins, owner of the mom-centered fitness studio Fit4Mom Philadelphia, is pregnant with her second child and consistently asks for a female doctor when she has her appointments at the prenatal clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania  since obstetric check-ups are so frequent, most practices tell patients not to expect to see the same provider every time.

"If they were to assign me a male, I would switch," said Higgins, 31. "I understand they study and know everything, but do they actually know what I'm going through? Not really."

On the other hand, Sandy Ludewig, 22, a personal trainer from New Jersey, sees a male gynecologist and likes him just fine.

"Both the male and female doctors have gone to the same schooling, and the procedure goes the same way each time," said Ludewig, whose first gynecology exam was with a female doctor. She thinks more women would make her choice if they could.

"Most of my friends see females, but that's just because they're more prevalent," she said.

Frank White, an ob-gyn in Media, says most new patients under age 35 ask for a female doctor.

"I think it's a very generational thing," said White, 56. But after a woman has her first child, the sex of her ob-gyn seems to matter less, he has noticed.

At Riddle Health Center, where he has practiced since 1996, White is the lone male doctor in an office of four physicians. Many other suburban ob-gyn practices he knows of are all women. But 22 years ago, "to have an all-female ob-gyn group would have been exceedingly rare," White said.

"I think it's a shame that one specialty in medicine is really almost eliminated from a male's choice," White said. His suggestion to men determined to get into ob-gyn: Train for a sub-specialty, rather than trying to become a generalist.

He isn't the only physician who suggests men take on additional training for a sub-specialty, such as maternal-fetal medicine or gynecologic oncology.

"As a generalist, it's an advantage to be a female. It's easier for a woman than a man to get busier, quicker if you're an ob-gyn," said Stephen Krell, CEO of clinical practice at Axia Women's Health, which has more than 100 patient-care centers across New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Enrique Hernandez, a Temple University professor and chair of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, said he would like to see more diversity in Temple's program, but the infrequency of male applicants makes that very difficult.

"As you get more and more women in the programs, the men think, 'Maybe we're not competitive,'" Hernandez said.

There still are plenty of male ob-gyns practicing, though the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists predicts that, in 10 years, their numbers will decline to one-third.

Some think that's not particularly a problem. Others think a lack of diversity is always a problem, both for giving patients more choice, and for offering different perspectives.

"There's some concern in the field saying, 'What are we going to do if there's no men?'" Schnatz said. "People want a balance of women and men."

The implications might also be financial. In a specialty that is already paid under the average for medical specialties, the influx of women could drive down salaries even more, Hernandez said.

"Women get paid less than men, and ob-gyn is paid less than urology," Hernandez said. "The one concern I have is whether the revenue and salary will decrease."I'm not one of the experts you would expect to be writing about how a Pennsylvania telemedicine law would help improve school safety.

I'm not a physician, mental health professional, teacher, or IT expert. I don't even have kids, and, according to my husband, I'm not a great listener.

But I have talked to (and, yes, listened to) all those professionals. I came away really believing that telemental health  mental health screening and counseling delivered securely and confidentially via tablets, laptops, and other electronic devices  is an idea whose time has come.

Here's why:

America's growing mental health crisis is affecting children as well as adults  and our society's ability to address mental health, or to consider it an integral part of overall health, is underwhelming. Finding ways to help kids struggling with mental health issues is part of fostering a safe, healthy, respectful school environment conducive to learning. Telemental health counseling is an efficient and effective way to help children struggling with behavioral health issues.

Telemental health is working in Texas schools.

According to mHealthIntelligence, 34,000 students in 11 Texas school districts have used Texas Tech University's Telemedicine Wellness, Intervention, Triage and Referral program.

As a result of the program's telemedicine visits, 10 percent of students have received counseling. About 300 have been referred for psychiatric care. In addition, 25 students were taken out of school because they showed "heightened risk of suicidal or homicidal actions."

Imagine if Pennsylvania could provide help and counseling for school children before a tragedy happens.

We screen for physical health before entering school. Why do mental health and physical health remain mutually exclusive?

Locally, a Pennsylvania school district is expanding its telemedicine pilot. Their next focus is telemental health.

Together, the Norristown Area School District and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia piloted the use of telemedicine to support the work of school nurses in three of the district's schools.

Grant funding and about 30 of the hospital's doctors, who volunteered to contribute their clinical services via telemedicine, got the pilot off the ground. A Norristown district school nurse, teacher, and student show the pilot's benefits in this short, two-minute video.

With little public policy support, they made the pilot work. During the 2018-2019 school year, telemedicine services will be expanded to all 12 schools in the Norristown Area School District.

Hospital and school leaders are now turning their discussions to the possibility of establishing a telemental health pilot  behavioral health support using telemedicine technology, as explained in this short video.

Their shared vision is a safer, healthier school environment  emotionally as well as physically. These leaders believe that using telemental health to reach children who are emotionally fragile and may be at risk can be an important resource in efforts to improve young lives and prevent school violence.

To help spread telemedicine to more schools, a Pennsylvania telemedicine law is a crucial first step. Here's why.

Fortunately, state lawmakers are already working on a law that would provide some common ground rules to help spread the use of telemedicine in Pennsylvania.

Several months ago, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 780 to:

Define the key components of telemedicine.

Set licensing requirements to make sure that patients and consumers are cared for by the appropriate professionals.

Require health insurers to pay for care delivered via telemedicine if they pay for that same care when provided in person in a health care setting.

Now it's up to the House to pass Senate Bill 780. Adopting a law that provides consumer protections and greater clarity about telemedicine will pave the way for more opportunities to expand its use in schools.

Stephanie Watkins is the vice president of state legislative advocacy at The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.Alyssa with some of her children: KaMaya (left), Hakeem (right), and baby Makenna. Not pictured are her other sons, Jaheem and Emmanuel. Read more

THE PARENT: Alyssa Spruill, 30, of Atlantic City

THE KIDS: Hakeem, 11; Jaheem, 10; KaMaya, 9; Emmanuel, 7; MaKenna, born March 12, 2018

THE HARDEST MOMENTS WHEN MAKENNA WAS IN THE NICU: "At home, looking at all the stuff I had for this baby, but there was no baby to show for it."

By the time Alyssa was pregnant with her fifth child, she knew a few things about survival.

She'd endured one pregnancy while still in high school  so petrified of her mother's response that she wished there were a back door to the bathroom where she got the positive test result  then welcomed three more children in the next four years while switchbacking between El Paso, where her husband was stationed in the Army, and her mother's home in Pleasantville.

Alyssa had experienced four C-sections, the dissolution of her marriage, a surprise pregnancy (she thought she had food poisoning), and an abrupt change of heart by the man who was the father of that baby. He bailed out when she was less than five months along.

But Alyssa had never seen anything like MaKenna, delivered 16 weeks early, a 13.7-ounce, translucent-skinned infant who fit in the palm of an adult's hand.

"She was so tiny and so fragile," remembers Alyssa, who first glimpsed her daughter in a photo on a nurse's cellphone; her own condition, severe preeclampsia that prompted the emergency delivery, resulted in a stay of several days in the AtlantiCare ICU.

"She looked like a little alien. I couldn't see her head or her eyes; this little hat covered her face. Even the smallest Pampers didn't fit her. She was still under the lights. She had tubes coming out of her stomach.

"I was happy she was here, but so sad. The doctor had told me  she was really honest  there's a good chance she's not going to make it."

Alyssa's family likes to joke about the fertility of its women; Alyssa is the oldest of five and remembers caring for her youngest sister, born when Alyssa was 11. She babysat for nieces and nephews and fantasized, along with her boyfriend, about having at least four kids.

Still, she was stunned to find herself, during her senior year in high school, hunkered in a bathroom with a pregnancy test in hand. "I kept getting sick," she remembers, "but I thought, 'No, I can't be pregnant.' I was scared, but then I was excited. I wanted a boy."

That boy  Hakeem, named for his father, was born via emergency C-section because of insufficient amniotic fluid. "He came out so pale. The first thing I said was, 'He's so white. Is he OK?' They said, 'Yeah, he's fine.' "

Alyssa was pregnant with her second child when her boyfriend proposed. By the time they wed  a courthouse ceremony with Hakeem blowing soap bubbles he'd borrowed from another wedding couple  Jaheem was 6 months old.

With her third pregnancy, Alyssa thought to herself: "This better not be a boy." She was more nauseated this time around, unable to keep down any food for the first trimester. When she was four months pregnant, her husband was sent to Kuwait; Alyssa and the boys returned to her mother's house. Her husband was overseas again, in Dubai this time, just after Emmanuel came along.

"Emmanuel was a total surprise," Alyssa says. "My sister laughed so hard: You said you wanted four!" The other jolt was the end of her marriage; the couple divorced shortly after Emmanuel's birth.

Seven years later, Alyssa thought she'd come down with a violent case of stomach flu. When a coworker asked, "Are you pregnant?" the words felt like a flashback. "MaKenna's dad was excited, like I was. But somewhere in the middle of the pregnancy, he changed his mind. I decided I was just going to go through with it."

At 24 weeks, Alyssa was diagnosed with preeclampsia. She couldn't even look at the blood-pressure readings  at one point, the upper number topped 200  because they just amped up her stress.

Her doctors hoped to hold off delivery until at least 30 weeks, but Alyssa's blood pressure couldn't be stabilized, and they feared she might have seizures or a stroke. They delivered MaKenna March 12.

Every day, Alyssa sat in the NICU, talking to her daughter through a porthole in the incubator. "I would open it up and wave to her, sing to her. I just started singing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough.' My kids love that song."

She prayed, too: Give me the strength. Give her the strength. Give the doctors the strength. She's going to get through this. She's going to get through.

<< READ MORE: Saving MaKenna: Born 4 months early, an odyssey to survival

Alyssa had named MaKenna after watching a Discovery Channel program about a girl who'd survived a shark attack off Makena Beach, on Maui. In the NICU, nurses started calling the infant "Mighty MaKenna." They added beads to a bracelet for every milestone: when she came off the ventilator, when she was able to swallow the breast milk Alyssa diligently pumped.

Her skin became less fragile, her fingers less skeletal. "You could see the muscles forming in her arms and her calves," Alyssa says. "And I always noticed when her head got bigger." She held MaKenna for the first time when the baby was two months old; by then, she stretched from the tip of Alyssa's middle finger to the base of her wrist. Alyssa sat in a NICU rocker, holding MaKenna skin-to-skin, and cried.

"When I first came into the NICU, I didn't understand half the things they were saying," she recalls. "By the end, I knew how the monitors worked, how the incubator worked. It became second nature."

She cried again, along with members of MaKenna's care team, when they finally left the hospital July 3. Hakeem beamed as he pushed the stroller. The staff had made a bouquet of 113 pink and white carnations, one for each day MaKenna spent in the NICU, a journey chronicled in an Aug. 19 story in the Inquirer. Everyone hugged everyone. Alyssa pocketed the milestone-bead bracelet, a series of minuscule footprints.

Then she took MaKenna home, unwound her oxygen tubes, and did the thing she'd been longing to do for nearly four months: She lay down on the bed and cuddled her daughter close.Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is representing fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low in federal asset forfeiture cases in California. Read more

Federal officials are investigating whether a fugitive Malaysian financier laundered tens of millions of dollars and used the funds to pay a legal team that includes former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Marc Kasowitz, an attorney for President Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The financier, Jho Low, allegedly played a central role in the embezzlement of $4.5 billion from a Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Bhd, according to U.S. court filings cited by the Journal. Low also is wanted by Malaysian authorities in connection with the scandal.

There is no indication anyone paid with the allegedly laundered funds knew the money was tainted, according to the newspaper.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed civil lawsuits in federal court in California seeking to recover assets from Low, including mansions, artwork and a yacht bought with the allegedly pilfered funds and is now pursuing a criminal investigation against Low, the newspaper said.

Citing "people familiar with the matter," the Journal says the Justice Department is investigating Low's potential use of two intermediaries to facilitate the payments using allegedly stolen funds through the international financial system.

Wary banks have sharply curtailed Low's access to the global financial system, making it hard for him to directly pay bills for such things as lifestyle expenses to legal and advisory services, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for Christie told the Journal that the former governor, who was a U.S. attorney before seeking elected office, is representing Low in the asset-forfeiture cases in California.

"There has been no communication by Governor Christie with any other area of government on Mr. Low's behalf," the spokesman said, adding there has been "no inquiry made to him by the Department of Justice with regard to any other investigation regarding funding or otherwise."

A spokesman for Kasowitz Benson Torres, Kasowitz's New York law firm, confirmed the firm represents Low, the Journal said.

"Here, as with all of our clients, our job as attorneys is to represent and vindicate our clients' interests; and here, as with all of our non-pro-bono clients, we are paid for the legal services we provide," the spokesman said in a statement.Rashena Carter, left, and her daughter Letoya Ramseure, right, meet with advocates to discuss the case. Read more

Letoya Ramseure was in shock, pacing up and down the street with the gun still glued to her hand. Ramseure had never used a gun before  had never been charged with a crime. Yet she'd fired this one five times, killing Devon Roye, her daughter's father and her first love.

Ramseure didn't ask for a lawyer after her mother calmed her down and called the police. "I didn't think I needed one," she said. To her, it was a clear case of self-defense: She had a protection-from-abuse order against Roye, who, she claims, had texted her a death threat on July 12 before he burst into her Frankford home and assaulted her and her mother. She says Roye was coming at her when she shot him  with his own gun.

Yet, on July 14, she was charged with third-degree murder.

With that, Ramseure became  if her telling is true  one of thousands of victims of domestic violence who wind up facing criminal charges. The number of women in jail is now 14 times higher than it was in 1970, according to a Vera Institute analysis, and 77 percent have experienced intimate-partner violence.

One survey of 60 women at a maximum-security prison found nearly half had committed assaults in self-defense or in retaliation against abuse.

Over the past several years, however, victims who've fought back against abusers have gained a new national platform. #FreeBresha trended after Bresha Meadows, then 14, faced a possible life sentence for fatally shooting her father, who reportedly had abused her. A GoFundMe drive raised $157,000 for her defense. She was ultimately charged as a juvenile and diverted into a treatment program. Marissa Alexander, a Florida woman sentenced to 20 years for firing a "warning shot" during a domestic dispute, became the focus of a national advocacy campaign and in 2014 received a plea deal reducing her sentence.

Now, activists are seeking a similar wave of support for Ramseure.

Step one: Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, with help from National Bailout, scraped together 10 percent of Ramseure's $100,000 bail. That got her out of Riverside Correctional Facility, where she'd spent three weeks, some portion of it on suicide watch after she attempted to hang herself with a towel.

Next, a week before Wednesday's preliminary hearing, the Center for Returning Citizens, an organization that assists people with reentry into life outside of prison, convened a meeting with Ramseure and supporters to strategize, explain the court process, and assess her needs: a safe place to stay, supporters in the courtroom, therapy, help enrolling in school.

"We all feel strongly that people should not be punished for being survivors of abuse," said Cara Tratner, a Bail Fund organizer. "That's a common thing we've seen in women we've posted bail for: They were acting in self-defense or were survivors of abuse, so we've been trying to support women who've been criminalized because they survived."

Up until the preliminary hearing, her lawyer, Michael Coard, still hoped to avoid a trial altogether.

But on Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope argued it was a clear case of third-degree murder, a charge defined as an intentional, knowing, negligent, or reckless killing. She pointed out that Ramseure could have left, gone for help, called 911  and instead grabbed the gun and shot Roye.

"I don't know if she intended to kill him, but I do believe she intentionally shot him five times," Pope told Common Pleas Court Judge James DeLeon.

Coard urged DeLeon to dismiss the charges. "There's no evidence of a crime," he said. "A killing, a homicide, but not a criminal homicide."

The District Attorney's Office and Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit declined to comment on the case. But in an interview, Roye's mother, Kelley Roye, said it's simple. "This girl murdered my son. We told him to stay away from the girl, because the girl is crazy."

Roye's mother described him as a loving father and a hard worker. She said Ramseure, on the other hand, "she's a fighter. She likes to hit. She fights everyone." She believes it was her son who was trying to leave, and Ramseure who couldn't let go.

Why did I go back?

Roye showed up in Ramseure's life when she was just 13, a student at Julia de Burgos Elementary School. He was about 20, and seemed worldly and mature. He was studying at Lincoln Tech and also, according to court records, dealing crack and marijuana, a trade that would mire him in the justice system for much of his adult life, with convictions of possessing drugs and illegal guns.

"I liked older guys. I actually liked him as a person," said Ramseure, now 24.

When her mother, Rashena Carter, found out, she sought help from the Department of Human Services, she said, in order to protect her daughter. But at 14, Ramseure got pregnant. That's when Carter decided to make the best of the situation for her granddaughter's sake. "Even though it was statutory rape, I was like, well, it is what it is," Carter said.

According to Ramseure, it was shortly after their daughter was born that Roye first hit her.

Their relationship was on and off in between his jail and prison stays, and their relationships with other people. She was left with the occasional black eye or busted lip, she said, but avoided contacting authorities, seeking medical care or even revealing the violence to her family when she could avoid it.

A cousin, Yasmine Moorefield, 31, said one night last year she heard an argument outside on Ninth Street: She and her boyfriend ran out to find Roye choking Ramseure. They had to pull him off her.

It wasn't until last July, when Ramseure claims Roye pistol-whipped her, that she sought a protection-from-abuse order. The order, signed by both Roye and Ramseure, notes that a weapon was involved in the incident but specifically states the agreement was not an admission of guilt.

Still, this past March, they started talking again, Ramseure said. "I ask myself every day: Why did I go back?"

The fights worsened. Roye didn't like it when she went out at night, said Ramseure, a home health aide, so she dropped out of school to appease his insecurity. Another night, after he'd warned her not to go out, she found her car tires flat.

It all culminated July 12, when Ramseure told Roye it was over and to come get a bag of his things, including the gun he'd left tucked under a mattress. She tried to push the bag out the door  but he burst into the house, first punching and kicking her, then tackling her mother. He was demanding to know where his gun was, Ramseure said. So, she went and grabbed it from the bag and, pointing it at Roye, told him to leave. Instead, he came toward her, and she fired. "I really thought he was going to kill me," she said.

Men run, women confess

Ramseures case is not shocking to those who study domestic violence, like Susan B. Sorenson, a professor of social policy at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Penns Ortner Center on Violence and Abuse in Relationships.

"We've known for decades from research that when a woman tries to end a relationship, when she's doing exactly what society tells her to do, that's when she increases her risk for being murdered by the abuser," said Sorenson. "The highest-risk time for homicide is not when she's in the relationship, but when she's trying to end it."

Women kill far less frequently than men do, but when they do, their victims are most often family members. One study, by the New York Department of Corrections, found that 67 percent of women in prison for killing someone close to them had been abused by the victim.

Sorenson said one reason so many women are convicted in these cases is that, like Ramseure, they tend to call the police and confess. "Whereas male perpetrators or abusers who kill their victims don't call the police  they get out of there  the women seem to be many times stunned by their actions and then call authorities."

Because of that risk of violence  which is even higher among non-married partners, Sorenson found in new research  she's been advocating to extend laws barring gun ownership for abusers to those in such relationships. Ownership of a gun, she said, increases the risk of death in an abusive relationship four- or five-fold. Harrisburg lawmakers all but killed such a bill in June.

At the Wednesday hearing, the prosecutor played Ramseure's tearful confession to a Philadelphia homicide detective in a scuffed white interrogation room.

To Judge DeLeon, her claim that she put Roye's gun outside the house made clear that she had no intention of shooting him.

"If it was a purposeful thing, she could have kept the gun in the house," he said. That made it manslaughter. He dismissed the murder charge.

That means whether it was manslaughter or a justifiable case of self-defense will be up to a judge or jury to decide at trial.

Cindene Pezzell, legal coordinator at the Philadelphia-based National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, said she couldn't comment on Ramseure's case. In general, she said, women face a difficult road in pursuing a claim that a killing was justifiable self-defense.

"When victims of battering use self-defense, there are often stereotypes and misconceptions at play," she said. "For example, a jury might disbelieve a defendant's claim that she was in fear of her abuser because she chose to be in a relationship with him."Zair Bennet-Warwick, 23, is being sought in the fatal stabbing of David Simpson, 28, at Jefferson Station last week. Read more

Philadelphia police have arrested a man who had been sought in the fatal stabbing of another man this month in SEPTA's Jefferson Station in Center City.

Based on a phone tip, police on Tuesday found 23-year-old Zair Bennet-Warrick at a house on the 1200 block of West Sergeant Street in North Philadelphia.

Bennet-Warrick was charged with murder and possession of an instrument of a crime in the Aug. 9 slaying of David Simpson, 28.

A week after the slaying, police identified Bennet-Warrick as a suspect and announced they were seeking him.

Simpson, of the 2500 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, was stabbed at least four times just after 3 a.m. Aug. 9 during what police called a "very violent struggle" on the platform for Tracks 1 and 2 in the B section of the underground station. The incident was recorded on surveillance video.

Simpson was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:16 that morning.Johnny Bobbitt, Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico give an update on the status of the Gofundme progress December 5, 2017. Read more

Editor's Note: On Nov. 15, 2018, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office announced that the three central figures in this story had been arrested and charged with second-degree theft by deception and other offenses. Prosecutors concluded that their dramatic tale of rescue and redemption had been "completely made up." Story detailing the findings can be found here.

Lawyers for Johnny Bobbitt took legal action Tuesday to stop a Burlington County couple from using what remains from a $400,000 fund-raising campaign they created to help the homeless man get back on his feet.

The move comes after Bobbitt told an Inquirer and Daily News reporter that he was concerned that Mark D'Amico, 39, and Kate McClure, 28, may have mismanaged a large amount of the donations over the last 10 months, and refused to show him financial records.

Documents filed in Superior Court in Mount Holly with the lawsuit seeking an injunction and monetary relief contend the couple committed fraud and conspiracy by taking for their personal use a "substantial portions of the money raised," instead of putting the funds toward getting Bobbitt off the streets, as the GoFundMe page stated. The request for an injunction also alleges that D'Amico and McClure deposited the money into personal accounts, and denied Bobbitt access to the donations.

The filing also seeks compensatory damages and interest and counsel fees, and that a "guardian ad litem" be appointed for Bobbitt. Such a person investigates what would be in the best interests for a minor child or an incapacitated adult who cannot represent his or her own interests.

McClure and D'Amico "conspired to utilize [Bobbitt's] money to enjoy a lifestyle that they could not afford. Defendants admitted to commingling the funds raised for [Bobbitt] in their own personal accounts and have denied [Bobbitt] access to the account," according to the court filing.

The documents also allege that D'Amico and McClure have considered the "GoFundMe account as their personal piggy bank."

In an interview this month with the Inquirer and Daily News, Bobbitt questioned how the couple paid for a recently acquired BMW and vacations to Las Vegas and Florida.

Christopher C. Fallon, one of Bobbitt's lawyers, said the legal action was taken after D'Amico ignored multiple requests for a full accounting of the money raised by the GoFundMe campaign.

"He's really left us with no choice but to go forward," said Fallon, one of two pro bono lawyers from Cozen O'Connor in Philadelphia whom Bobbitt retained last week.

A judge is scheduled to hear the case on Thursday, court spokeswoman Donna Mazzanti said.

Messages left for McClure and D'Amico seeking comment on the legal action were not immediately returned. The couple have said they have not used the donations for their personal use.

McClure and D'Amico started the GoFundMe campaign last fall after a stranded McClure ran out of gas near I-95 in Kensington, where Bobbitt was panhandling under a ramp. Bobbitt used his last $20 to help McClure, who then started the fund-raising effort.

The feel-good story grabbed worldwide attention, but the couple's relationship with Bobbitt soon soured.

After funds poured into the GoFundMe account last fall from 14,000 donors, the couple bought Bobbitt a camper and parked it on land McClure's family owns in Florence. The couple said in recent interviews with the Inquirer and Daily News and NBC's Megyn Kelly that they were wary of giving Bobbitt large sums because they feared he would buy drugs.

D'Amico said Bobbitt spent $25,000 in less than two weeks in December on drugs, in addition to paying overdue legal bills and sending money to his family. He told Kelly "every dollar [Bobbitt] ever touched was used for drugs."

In April, D'Amico told an Inquirer and Daily News reporter that the remaining GoFundMe money had been put into two trusts for Bobbitt. But last week, D'Amico told the reporter the trusts were never created.

D'Amico had agreed to meet with the Cozen O'Connor attorneys on Monday, but canceled the meeting before appearing on national television to tell his side of the story on Megyn Kelly Today. On Monday, D'Amico told Kelly there was well over $150,000 left of the donations. The week before, he told the Inquirer and Daily News that roughly $200,000 remained.

Bobbitt became homeless again after D'Amico told him in June that he had to leave the Florence property.

"We're filing an injunction to enjoin them from doing anything with the money other than delivering it to us or paying Johnny Bobbitt," Fallon said. "We're happy to help Johnny and help see that the generous donations of 14,000 people are honored."Rutgers Professor John Farmer, a former Attorney General, sat on the New Jersey Redistricting Committee and broke the tie to create the current Congressional map, New Brunswick. He will be teaching a new class on gerrymandering this fall at Rutgers. Read more

Being in the middle doesn't win you many friends in politics  at least that was John Farmer's experience when he helped map the boundaries for New Jersey's congressional districts.

Now, he's bringing that lesson to Rutgers University with a new course on gerrymandering.

An independent, Farmer chaired a 13-member state commission tasked with redistricting after the 2010 census. As the tie-breaking vote, he chose the map Republicans favored.

That didn't stop criticism from both sides.

"You get into the weeds when drawing maps.  It's very frustrating, but if you're doing it right, everyone gets aggravated," the former state attorney general said.

In a room inside the historic Wood Lawn mansion in New Brunswick this fall, Farmer will teach students the history of manipulating electoral boundaries in America and Supreme Court rules dictating how districts are drawn. They will then use a computer program to redraw some of the country's most controversial (and bizarrely shaped) maps.

Farmer envisions the class as a breeding ground for future nonpartisan mapmakers who could represent the nearly 50 percent of New Jersey voters who are independent. Two retired Superior Court judges, Travis L. Francis and Steven Lefelt, gave Farmer the idea for the class last spring.

"We want to develop a stable of people who know how to do this in a nonpartisan way," Farmer said. "We're in such a divided country right now, there should be an interest in something that makes elections fairer."

Looking forward to the 2020 census, Francis said the class "will train students who  will have the necessary knowledge and skills to assist in refocusing redistricting patterns."

Farmer hopes in the future the course turns into an open-source project. Students would be assigned maps to redraw from some of the most gerrymandered states, and the final products would be published on a university website.

The class comes as New Jersey gears up for a November general election in which a U.S. senator and a dozen House representatives will be chosen.

In South Jersey, two Republican seats may be up for grabs as a result of anti-Trump sentiment. Most notably, in the Third District, Rep. Tom MacArthur faces a challenge from Democratic candidate Andy Kim. In the Second District, Democratic State Sen. Jeff Van Drew is going up against pro-Trump Republican Seth Grossman. But across the country, Farmer said, gerrymandering could downplay any coming "blue wave."

"If the maps across the country are as gerrymandered as people say, then there won't be as much of a blue wave," Farmer said.

New Jersey's boundaries are not considered as skewed as other states'. The map has a slight Republican lean, according to the Brennan Center for Justice Extreme Maps report from 2017, but parties rarely have more than a two-seat advantage. Five of the state's districts are highly competitive, while six are usually represented by Democrats and one usually votes Republican, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight.

That's because New Jersey's system is unique, Farmer said. Like three other states, New Jersey has a constitutional commission to redraw the electoral boundaries after each census. Each party appoints six members to the bipartisan commission and submits its own suggested map with built-in advantages. Republicans and Democrats choose a 13th, independent member to act as the tie-breaker.

"Nobody typically is the chair twice because if you do it right, they're all mad at you by the end," he said.

Sitting around a small table, the nine students enrolled in the course will pore over maps as they gain insight from the man behind New Jersey's boundaries.

After the last census, the state lost one congressional seat as South Jersey's population increased and people left North Jersey. One district had to go, so the commission adopted a map that pit former U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, a Democrat in the Ninth District, against Scott Garrett, a Republican in the Fifth District, where incumbent Garrett had an advantage.

Farmer and 12 Rutgers law students spent months meeting with incumbents and challengers across the state to learn the ins and outs of each district. The final map met key criteria, he said: It is compact, contiguous, and has equal populations in each area.

"I annoyed the hell out of everyone," he said. "I kept insisting on changes to the maps. It was a hard process.  Hopefully students will learn how to navigate it."The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has placed prisons statewide on lockdown, after a series of incidents in which correctional officers were hospitalized in connection with exposure to an unknown substance.

"The safety and security of our employees is my No. 1 concern," Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said in a statement released Wednesday. "Our state prisons, especially those in the western part of the state, have experienced recent incidents in which employees have been sickened, and we need to get to the bottom of this issue now."

That means visiting rooms are closed, non-legal mail service is suspended, and employees will be given training and personal protective gear to prevent further exposure.

"There has been one confirmed case of exposure to a synthetic cannabinoid at SCI Greene on Aug. 13," a spokesperson said in an email. "The DOC suspects the substance sickening individuals is a form of K2 but there is only that one confirmed case so far."

READ MORE: Overdose just by touching fentanyl? Highly unlikely, experts say.

Wetzel cited media reports that 24 staff and inmates at Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, Ohio, were sickened Wednesday morning  and many received doses of naloxone  after contact with a substance authorities said may be fentanyl.

But whether fentanyl can actually sicken workers who come into incidental contact with it is another matter. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health describes fentanyl as a "potential hazard" and recommends that emergency responders use protective equipment. However, the American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology issued a position paper last year describing the risk from incidental contact to the drug as extremely low. Medical authorities have warned against "opioid hysteria," and noted that just because someone received naloxone and later recovered doesn't mean it was an appropriate treatment.

Here in Pennsylvania, state police are still working to identify what sickened at least 23 officers at the state prisons at Camp Hill, Smithfield, Fayette, Greene, and Mercer over the last month.

Six staffers were infected in a single incident Aug. 6 at Camp Hill, the DOC said in a statement. They were admitted to a hospital after searching a cell and packing an inmate's property. "All had either come into direct contact with a suspicious substance or had been in contact with someone who had contact with the substance. One employee required administration of Narcan and was admitted to the hospital," the statement noted. "Prison officials were informed that the entire hospital, including the ER, was shut down for decontamination."

The DOC noted it has uncovered several instances of suspected smuggling in past weeks.

On Aug. 21, the department outlined a series of measures in the works to improve security at the prisons.

Those include purchasing body scanning devices, expanding the K-9 unit (and purchasing special doses of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone for dogs), and updating mail-delivery procedures. One option under review would involve contracting with a third-party vendor to scan and forward all incoming mail to prevent the possible delivery of illicit substances hidden under stamps or saturated into paper.

Gov. Wolf issued a statement praising the DOC for working "diligently to address the emerging issue of synthetic drugs in our prison system.  Today's action to lock down all of the state's correctional facilities is a necessary step to ensure the safety of our officers."

The Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association president, Jason Bloom, said in a statement that the union was monitoring the situation.

"Corrections officers already work a very dangerous job," he said. "We expect the department to do all that it can to ensure this issue is eradicated in state prisons."

This article has been updated to include information about one confirmed case of exposure to a synthetic cannabinoid.Jonathan Harris was arrested Wednesday and charged with the homicide of Christina Carlin-Kraft, according to investigators in Montgomery County. Read more

Federal agents in Pittsburgh on Wednesday arrested the man police believe killed Christina Carlin-Kraft, the 36-year-old model who was strangled inside her Ardmore apartment last week.

"This arrest comes on the day of Christina's funeral. She was surrounded by her family and friends today," said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.

>>READ MORE: Slain Ardmore model's father says she was the 'brightest light that ever lived'

Steele wouldn't comment on a motive in the killing but said there was no indication that the two had met before the night of her violent death.

Jonathan Wesley Harris, 30, was taken into custody by U.S. marshals just before 4 p.m. Wednesday as he stepped off a commuter bus, Steele said.

He was charged with first-, second-, and third-degree murder, robbery, receiving stolen property, and related crimes in the death of Carlin-Kraft, whose body was discovered the night of Aug. 22 by Lower Merion police conducting a wellness check in her second-floor unit at the Cambridge Square apartments at 120 Sibley Ave. According to the warrant filed in his arrest, she met Harris in Center City just hours earlier.

She had been severely beaten and had black eyes and a broken nose, Steele said. The cause of her death was listed as "ligature strangulation," meaning the killer used a cordlike object, such as a rope, to choke her until she died. Steele said he could not comment on what was used to strangle Carlin-Kraft but said investigators were analyzing objects found in her apartment.

"For someone's life to be taken with strangulation takes a lot of pressure and time," Steele said. "This is a violent death, and we will pursue justice."

Court records show Harris was released from the State Correctional Institution at Greene on July 15 after serving a three-year sentence on robbery charges. His arrest record includes drug possession, assault, and harassment. Harris, a native of Johnstown, Cambria County, has a sister who lives in Philadelphia, according to his arrest warrant.

Police in Lower Merion were led to Harris by a tipster who recognized him from surveillance images released Monday by the District Attorney's Office. The tipster, who is known to law enforcement but whose identity was not disclosed in the warrant, said he or she received text messages from Harris just before 3 a.m. on Aug. 22, two hours before police believe Carlin-Kraft was killed.

"I just met this sexy-ass white [expletive]," Harris allegedly texted the tipster, according to the warrant. "I'm at her crib in Ardmore."

With help from the tipster, as well as other sources, investigators determined that Harris had fled the area and was heading toward Pittsburgh.

Investigators were first called to Carlin-Kraft's apartment around 9:15 p.m. on Aug. 22 by Alexander Ciccotelli, her boyfriend. Ciccotelli, who splits his time between New York and Ardmore, had told police he was concerned because he hadn't spoken to her since Aug. 20 and she wasn't answering his calls or texts. He said he had been unable to enter the apartment  which he owns  because the dead bolt had been locked from inside.

When police forced the door, they found Carlin-Kraft dead in a bedroom. She was in bed, with pillows, sheets, and a comforter all around her, and the carpet and walls were "significantly bloodstained," according to the warrant.

Once inside the apartment, Ciccotelli told police he noticed that a white shirt that he kept in the apartment was missing, as was Carlin-Kraft's iPhone and house keys.

Surveillance from the apartment building shows Carlin-Kraft leaving alone just after 1 a.m. on Aug. 22, and returning two hours later with a man investigators believe was Harris.

The apartment's security system showed that someone exited from the "apartment's back door onto a terrace" at 5:19 a.m. and that no one else had entered the unit until police arrived.

Additional surveillance from around Carlin-Kraft's apartment building showed the man believed to be Harris walking beneath the terrace connected to her unit just before 5:30 that morning.

Detectives were able to follow his movements using other surveillance as he walked on Montgomery Avenue and later City Avenue.

Days later, detectives found the shirt that Ciccotelli had reported missing from the apartment about a block away, in shrubbery near Sibley and Church Road. The shirt appeared to be bloodstained.

Detectives also found Carlin-Kraft's iPhone near Montgomery and Bryn Mawr Avenues in Bala Cynwyd.

Detectives from Montgomery County contacted officials from Lyft, whose records showed that Carlin-Kraft had taken a vehicle at 1:11 a.m. into Center City, the warrant states. The ride-share driver who picked her up told police that she was alone and had requested to be dropped off near the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets, with one stop in Manayunk.

Surveillance collected from Broad and Chestnut showed her walking to Broad and Locust Streets, where she allegedly encountered Harris. The two walked the streets in the area for a short period before appearing to enter a parked vehicle.

Lower Merion detectives late Wednesday were on their way to Pittsburgh to interview Harris, and Steele said it could be some time before he is transported to Montgomery County.

Detectives, meanwhile, are continuing to investigate a burglary reported at her apartment days before her death. Andre Melton, of Southwest Philadelphia, was being sought in that case, according to a warrant filed in Ardmore District Court last week.

Steele said Wednesday that it was unclear whether the burglary is connected to her homicide. It occurred under similar circumstances, with Carlin-Kraft taking a Lyft into Philadelphia on Aug. 17, only to return hours later with Melton, authorities say. In reporting the burglary, she told police her memory of the evening was fragmented, and couldn't remember how she had gotten home.

A man believed to be Melton was seen on surveillance leaving her apartment early the next morning with a box full of what police believe were her belongings, including designer purses and jewelry. Police recovered those items on Aug. 22 inside Melton's home.

Anyone with information on Melton was asked to call Montgomery County detectives at 610-278-3368 or Lower Merion police at 610-649-1000.Cheese maker Stefanie Angstadt is shown inspecting a repening wheel of cheese in at her Oley cheese shop. Read more

Scrolling through Instagram, Scott Schroeder sees a picture of Sue Miller posing for a selfie with a block of cheese.

Not long after, that cheese  handmade and aged in Miller's Chester County creamery  has traveled an hour east into Philadelphia and ended up at Schroeder's Queen Village restaurant, Hungry Pigeon. There, the cheese is carved up and served at the rustic, exposed-brick eatery where Schroeder is the owner and chef. One order of cheese is $7. Five is $25. Pricier than Kraft Singles or the goopy Philly tourist novelty, Cheez Whiz? For sure.

But the sale of fancier cheeses, both farmers and artisanal cheese-makers say, has partially offset dipping milk prices in Pennsylvania's languishing dairy industry and provided some dairy farmers and cheese-makers with the option to transform an increasingly financially fragile commodity into one for which restaurateurs and consumers are willing to pay a premium.

"We're talking about making cheeses that are highly specialized, very unique and hard to find on the market," said Miller, owner and operator of the Chester Springs-based Birchrun Hills Farm, home to a cheese-making facility and a herd of about 80 cows that she milks to make her cheeses.

With the help of her family, Miller, 52, makes a naturally rinded blue cheese made out of raw milk called "Birchrun Blue." Also lining the shelves of her 800-square-foot creamery is an alpine cheese she's named "Equinox," an American farmhouse-style raw-milk cheese named "Fat Cat," and a washed-rind cheese dubbed "Red Cat." ("A little, stinky cheese," she calls it.)

Miller, president of the Pennsylvania Cheese Guild, considers herself to be one of the fortunate dairy farmers.

Not only has her dairy farm stood up so far to mounting industry financial pressures, but she's able to produce cheese because she has space to make it, she said. She currently leases her cheese-making facility from a nearby farm but is awaiting a permit to open a 4,800-square-foot cheese production space on her own farm. Not all dairy farmers have those resources, especially when it generally costs $400,000 to $600,000 to build a creamery, she said.

"It's a huge upfront investment in many cases," said Sherry Bunting, a Lancaster County-based agricultural writer for 35 years.

As it stands, most milk production isn't a booming source of revenue. Farmers in Southeastern Pennsylvania are currently paid about $15 per 100 pounds of milk, Miller said, and $13 for 100 pounds on the commodity market. The average price for 100 pounds of milk in Pennsylvania is about $17, she said.

"Part of the issue is that there's a lot of milk being made nationally and there's also a lot of consolidation happening," Bunting said. "Milk is moving into different parts of the country.  And there is  and has been until now  an oversupply of milk."

With greater production, Bunting said, the U.S. has increased its global exports of milk, which has lowered revenue for American farms.

"The lower that it goes, the more we can export because it makes us more globally competitive," Bunting said. "That's fine, but we haven't figured out how to compensate farmers."

There are also dwindling numbers of cow-milk drinkers, Miller said, with more consumers choosing to buy plant-based "milks."

"That's why these farms are burning through their equity," Miller said. "They can't carry through these losses."

And so, for some dairy enthusiasts, fancy cheese is the way to go.

"I think cheese is such a great way to transfer wealth and interest from urban communities to rural ones," said Stefanie Angstadt, an artisanal cheese-maker who owns and operates the Valley Milkhouse, based in Oley, Berks County.

Angstadt, a Berks native, makes only cheese. For milk, she turns to Berks County's Spring Creek Farms. There, she said, she buys 100 gallons of certified organic milk on each of the four days she makes cheese each week.

"All the cheeses are very creamy," Angstadt said. "They kind of coat your mouth."

At her small cheese-making facility, she makes a creamy blue that has a "dense, fudgy texture"; a hard-aged gouda that was created using a recipe she learned during a trip to Belgium; a younger, cider-washed gouda; and a blue-gray-colored, pyramid-shaped cheese that gets its hue from being ripened with charcoal ash.

"One thing that's pretty cool is that cheese made in the United States and specifically in Pennsylvania is getting a lot of buzz right now, even in international food communities," Angstadt said.

The proximity of Angstadt's creamery to Philadelphia means her cheeses get some visibility in restaurants, like Roots on Frankford Avenue in Kensington, and farmer's markets around the city.

"Philadelphia is a really special place for the food world," said Miller, of Birchrun Hills Farm, whose cheeses also appear on the menus at The Love, in Rittenhouse Square, and Talula's, both of which are owned by restaurateur Aimee Olexy.

"It has some nuances each time and it's fantastic each time," said Olexy. "And it's in such good shape you can serve it on a cheese course or develop a whole recipe around it."

At Hungry Pigeon, his South Fourth Street restaurant, Schroeder serves Miller's Birchrun Blue and a baked version of the Fat Cat.

"You cut into the cheese, you know who made it," Schroeder said. "There's a connection there. I see her take a selfie with the cheeses. And then they're on the menu. And I think that's really special."Carol Brodie-Mackin sits with her dog Junior, and the two jury duty notices she received in May, on the front steps of her South Philadelphia home on Aug. 23, 2018. Read more

Carol Brodie-Mackin says she's gotten a lot of jury notices in her lifetime  including two this past spring, just a few weeks apart.

"Bad enough getting one, to get two I thought I was really lucky," she said.

Brodie-Mackin, 63, of South Philadelphia, said she's been tapped for jury duty in Philadelphia nearly a dozen times. Her inquiry of why it seems as if some people get summoned so often was submitted through Curious Philly, a platform where readers can ask our journalists questions.

>> MORE CURIOUS PHILLY: Hunting Park used to have a popular carousel. It lives on, nearly 500 miles away.

"If she were called more than once in a year, that could happen with her because of the multiple files," Rendine said. "Women are particularly susceptible to this problem because they change their name more than men do."

But the issue isn't isolated to women. It's anyone who may have differences between their license and voter registration  like men with "Jr." or "Sr." in their names, or people who just moved. It could happen to people who list a middle initial or hyphenated name on their voter registration and not their license, or people with accented letters on one record but not the other, Rendine said.

The office gets updated versions of PennDot and voter-registration rolls each year, said Lorraine Bellinger-Alston, supervisor of the office's administrative unit.

The office's IT department, an outside vendor, and the U.S. Postal Service all play roles in preventing duplicates, Rendine said, and people with duplicate listings are sent instructions on how to correct their records. He considers the issue to be "fairly widespread."

"We don't have a record as to how many dupes we have over a year," he said. "When we get them, we change it."

>> MORE CURIOUS PHILLY: Why Philadelphia's Suburban Station is in the heart of the city

Citizens summoned for jury duty are exempt from being called again for a year, while those who serve for three days or more are then exempt for three years, Rendine said. Those who think they get called too often because of a duplication issue can call the commissioner's office to see how many times they appear in the database.

"We would need to review individual examples to understand why a specific voter's record differs from their PennDot record," said Ellen Lyon, a Department of State spokesperson. "The PennDot record and county voter rolls are separate databases and individuals may update their PennDot records more frequently."

Lyon said the department has joined the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center, which should help "improve the process for generating lists of jury candidates" through better voter-roll accuracy.

It's not just a Philly thing, either. The Montgomery County Jury Selection Commission's Office said the issue of duplicates arises about 10 times a week. And while duplicates could be a reason people think they're called to jury duty more often than a neighbor, some could be confusing federal and local summons. Federal jurors locally are chosen from voter-registration lists, according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

>> MORE CURIOUS PHILLY: Why the statue of William Penn atop Philly's City Hall looks to the northeast

Lynn Marks, chair of the First Judicial District's Juror Participation Initiative Committee, can understand why people like Brodie-Mackin get frustrated.

"There are a lot of reasons why somebody might be in the system more than once, so I know that that can be annoying," she said.

There's no secret sauce as to why someone may receive a summons more regularly than others. A report released last spring from Marks' committee found that more than one-third of Philadelphians don't respond to calls for jury service, taxing a system that struggles to process hundreds of cases a year and Philadelphians who do respond to summonses.

"This high nonresponse rate raises a potential threat to the court's ability to provide sufficient panels of would-be jurors for civil and criminal trials and results in the court's excessive reliance on those who do fulfill their civic duty by responding to the summons for jury service," the report said.

Nearly 100,000 citizens are called for jury duty every year in Philadelphia, according to the Philadelphia courts' website. No-shows cause others to get called more frequently, Rendine said.

Jade Perry, 25 of South Philadelphia, said she thinks she's been called to jury duty a bit excessively  four times, serving on a trial once, she said. Rendine's office said Perry appeared in its system only once.

"I think you need to serve on the trial to realize how important it is," Perry said. She added that it might be inconvenient, but "if you get summoned, just suck it up and go."H.R. McMaster, President Trump's former national security adviser, will join a fellowship program at the University of Pennsylvania for the 2018-19 academic year. Read more

WASHINGTON  President Trump's former national security adviser H.R. McMaster is among several high-profile public figures set to join a fellowship program at the University of Pennsylvania, linking him with the city's academic community and with wider public events in Philadelphia.

Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, ex-Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent, and President Barack Obama's former national security adviser Susan Rice are among eight others who will join a fellowship program at Penn's Perry World House for the coming academic year.

Together, the group includes people who have had front-row seats to some of the most contentious issues of recent times. Each will work with Penn academics and give public presentations as part of Perry World House, which focuses on global affairs.

McMaster, a Philadelphia native and retired Army three-star general, is the name with perhaps the widest recent profile, having left the Trump administration in March. He is expected to guest-teach some classes on foreign policy and on international law, work with faculty who focus on national security, and deliver a public keynote speech.

McMaster, who grew up in Roxborough, said he hoped to study, think, and write about "what are essentially new battleground or contested spaces," such as Russian propaganda attacks meant to undermine public trust, and economic aggression from competitors like China.

"We have to put our best minds to work on how to advance and protect our interests for a new era," he said in an interview.

Calderon, the Mexican president from 2006 to 2012, arrives as Trump has tried to reset America's relationship with its neighbors, by both tightening border laws and reworking trade agreements.

"No doubt about it, the relationship has become more complicated," Calderon said in a telephone interview. "It's quite important for the people on both sides of the border to learn a little bit more about what is happening with their neighbors."

Calderon offered mixed reviews of the preliminary agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"It's positive to know that there will be some kind of continuations," he said, but added that he needs to see more details to determine how the deal could affect both countries.

He worried that Canada is not part of the tentative deal, though talks with that country's representatives are ongoing.

"I'm surprised that Canada was left aside. I would prefer to see a trilateral negotiation," Calderon said. "Honestly, I don't understand very well that part."

He also warned that requirements to increase wages for Mexican autoworkers could lead to more automation and job losses, potentially sparking more immigration to the U.S.

Dent, of Allentown, was a leading moderate voice in the House and one of the few Republicans who openly criticized Trump.

William Burke-White, director of the Perry World House, said the fellows will help Penn faculty and students obtain real-world input on their work. He also hoped the fellows could promote Penn's academic work and studies to policymakers.

He said the fellows would also participate in public discussions and events on other local campuses.

"They bring the global home to Philadelphia, but they also help Penn faculty and students think about global issues," Burke-White said.Drink lots of water and stay inside when you can: the heat wave continues today with temperatures expected to reach the mid-90s. Philly public schools will close early again today, too. Our top story this morning is on an odd trend you may have encountered around town: third-party retailers that look like Verizon-owned stores. They walk, talk, and act like Verizon storesuntil they don't, and that's often at the register. We're also following big news this morning after Pennsylvania's attorney general made shocking comments about the Vatican.

Reading this online? Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox every morning.

 Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

What if the Verizon store where you purchased your very expensive phone wasnt actually a Verizon store, exactly?

Nearly 400 stores nationwide are Wireless Zones, a third-party authorized retailer that uses Verizon's branding and products but can set its own prices and policies.

The Verizon-owned and third-party stories often look alike, but there can be major (and expensive) differences for customers.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro appeared on two national news shows Tuesday to drop a bit of a bombshell: his office has knowledge that Vatican officials knew of efforts to cover up sexual abuse by priests in the state.

His remarks referred to particular references to the Vatican in parts of the grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse released earlier this month.

The statements come days after a former Vatican envoy alleged that Pope Francis had known of an American cardinal's sexual misconduct long before he was forced to step down.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which operates the giant South Philadelphia refinery complex and is often criticized for its air pollution, is trying to get greener.

PES is teaming up with another acronym, RNG Energy Solutions, to convert food waste (the fattier and gassier, the better) into transportation fuel.

To do so, it's building a $120 million digester that can convert more than 1,100 tons of food waste into methane gas a day.

What you need to know today

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Now that's a sunset, @falseclimax.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we'll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

Thats Interesting

Opinions

"Count your blessings, and maybe go say hello to your new little friends. If nothing else, they're better than us adults."  South Philly writer Monica Weymouth on the Rittenhouse residents worried about the sound of children if a daycare opens up nearby.

Hindsight is no reason to attack judicial independence by reviewing the judge who let the father of Kayden Mancuso have unsupervised visits with the girl before he killed her, writes Temple law professor Jules Epstein.

A 29-second clip from a 2008 town meeting helped solidify the myth of John McCain and defined the coming American crisis, writes columnist Will Bunch.

What were reading

Your Daily Dose of | Dessert

Theres no better time to learn how to make frozen desserts from around the globe in your own home. Heat wave, schmeat wave.Churchgoers leave the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul after Sunday Mass. Read more

For the last five weeks, the Sunday gospels have focused on readings from the sixth chapter of John, which focuses on Jesus offering the bread of life and the gift of faith to his followers.

Not all of them were up to the arduous journey of faith and love to which Jesus called them. As a result, John writes, "Many of His disciples returned to their former way of life."

Their desertion rattled the faith of the few who remained.

"Do you also want to leave?" Jesus asked them.

The question stunned Simon Peter, one of the Lord's most beloved followers.

"Master, to whom shall we go?" he asked, bewildered. "You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God!"

Peter's crisis was that he could not return to his former life, yet his faith had been shaken to its core.

In a very real way, this is where so many Catholics are in the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report of sex abuse in six of the state's dioceses.

Worse, I believe our faith will continue to be shaken as more grand juries launch more investigations  state by state, county by county, diocese by diocese.

Each will further expose the systemic failures of the institutional church and its bishops. As a result, many Catholics will abandon Catholicism. Others will remain, but they will be as devastated as Simon Peter was by the crisis in the church they love.

What we need to ask in the midst of our pain and anger is "Why did this happen?"

I believe the seed of the crisis is planted anew at every priest's ordination, when the bishop asks him, "Do you promise obedience to me and my successors?"

If you want to be ordained in the Roman Catholic Church, the only correct answer to that question is "Yes!"

A former secretary of the clergy made this clear during his trial on charges that he led a cover-up of sexual abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

"Priests are trained to respect and obey their bishops," he testified. "When a bishop tells you to do something, you do it."

Think how differently the lives of priests and parishioners would unfold if at ordination, the bishops asked a better question:

"Do you promise to assist me and my successors, to the very best of your human abilities, in ministering to all people of God in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ?"

And while we're at it, let's toss into the dustbin of history the "theology of the priesthood," which teaches that, once ordained, a priest is ontologically different from the laity.

Priests are not different from anyone else. We are human beings who happen to be priests, not priests who happen to be human beings.

Teaching otherwise breeds the kind of clericalism, power, and control that create crises like the one we're in. It promotes religion over faith, when only faith can sustain us. It holds that rituals, rites, and ceremonies are more important than community, even though community is where we find God.

Perhaps this is what Pope Francis had in mind when he said that priests should "be shepherds with the smell of sheep."

Maybe he meant we should support, care, and accompany all on this earthly journey  saint and sinner; rich and poor; friend and enemy; the marginalized and abused; those who are married, single, divorced, or remarried; those of every nationality, culture, tradition, and faith.

And we must understand and respect the mystery of human sexuality, from heterosexuality to homosexuality and all along the continuum between them.

John's gospel tells us that when confronted with Jesus' difficult but redemptive call to follow him, "many of His disciples returned to their former way of life."

In this present crisis, the institutional church cannot return to its former way of life. It needs to follow Jesus, the Holy One of God, and find once again the faith, hope, and unconditional love in ministering to and walking with all of the people of God.

The Rev. Charles Noone has been a priest, pastor, and teacher in the Philadelphia Archdiocese for 52 years.Over the years, President Donald Trump, above during Tuesday's news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, has used the trade issue to put himself on the map as more than a real estate developer. Must credit: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford Read more

President Trump's decision to rework trade deals is provoking criticism from those who fear that the United States is turning its back on free trade. These criticisms lack perspective.

As a representative from New Jersey, I generally voted in favor of free trade, which I considered an investment in peace and progress. But although I agreed with the general consensus in Congress that it was critical to integrate the U.S. into the global economy, I came to understand that getting there requires more than ideological veneration of international commerce.

One issue on which I voted as a congressman was the steel import ban. The resolution came as a reaction to the Clinton administration's reluctance to address the fact that our foreign competitors, such as Japan, Brazil, and Russia, were dumping steel into the U.S. at unfair prices. My colleagues and I generally shared the Clinton administration's support for free trade. But we also came to recognize that without "aggressive action" on steel imports, our trade partners would continue to undercut our steel industry with unfair practices. By expressing the sentiment of Congress that a one-year ban on imported steel might be an appropriate measure in this situation, both the Clinton administration and our allies saw that there would be a price to pay for abusing trade agreements with the United States.

Like those who tried to dismiss our resolution on the steel import ban as "protectionist," today's critics of Trump's trade strategy are missing the point. Trump is not shy about delivering fiery America First rhetoric. He was elected to do so, after all, by a political base that wants the president to stand up for domestic industries.

A careful look at Trump's record, however, suggests that he is hardly the protectionist caricature of his opponents. Trump's gripe is not with free trade per se, it is with bad deals in which our trade partners' protectionist actions go unaddressed.

Indeed, it is Trump, not the globalist talking heads in Washington, who has broken ground with his call for a free trade zone between the G-7 countries as well as a new U.S.-European Union trade relationship in which both sides "drop all tariffs, barriers, and subsidies."

What about Trump's actions?

He has threatened but not approved tariffs on South Korean steel and autos. What has resulted concretely is an agreement that keeps the core tenets of the two countries' free trade agreement intact, but extracts from South Korea promises to limit exports of trucks and cars into the U.S. and to provide greater access to its pharmaceutical market.

As with South Korea, Trump threatened but refrained from imposing auto tariffs on Europe during ongoing negotiations. The actual agreement the administration reached with the EU entailed precisely the opposite: a formal process to lower tariffs and slash red tape in fractious areas such as energy and soybean exports.

Time will tell whether Trump's strategy pays off, but the early signs are good. The administration's decision to slap duties on steel and aluminum invigorated much-needed talks on NAFTA, leading to the recent breakthrough with Mexico that updates but ultimately preserves the main substance of the original free trade pact.

Even more remarkable are indications that the administration is reviving the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Under President Barack Obama, TPP had come to embody every excess of the one-sided trade deals the American people have come to resent. Trump, with the support of farm-state and rural legislators, has tamped down the populist backlash and is now positioned to strike a more sustainable deal.

As they did with the Republican Congress of the late 1990s, well-meaning free traders, caught up in the rhetoric, are missing the bigger picture. Trump's tariffs are not a gambit to destroy free trade. They are a tactic to shore up our trade partnerships in a changing world, and to do so without losing sight of the forgotten man he was elected to defend.

Michael Pappas was a U.S. representative from the 12th Congressional District of New Jersey from 1997 to 1999.House panel tells water ministry to draft bill

Sensing absence of law for proper functioning of the Ministry of Water Supply, the Development and Technology Committee of the Legislature Parliament on Tuesday directed the ministry to draft a bill and table it at Parliament at the possible earliest.Dhaka: A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh has been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, media reports said today.

Subarna Akter Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private news channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, bdnews24.Com reported.

She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 kms from here.

Nodi, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house at around 10:45 PM yesterday, it said.

When she answered the door, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, police said.

Some locals rushed her to hospital where she was declared brought dead.

Police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, Additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said.

Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.

Meanwhile, the family of Nodi said that they suspect her former husband Rajib Hossain, and father-in-law Abul Hossain are behind the killing, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Her mother claimed that her daughter had named her ex-husband as one of the attackers before she died.

Nodi had sued Rajib in a dowry case. Her elder sister Champa Begum was scheduled to testify before the court in the case yesterday, the report said.

Champa claimed that Rajib and his associates had verbally abused her on the court premises before the hearing, the report added.It has been reported in many national media channels that there was lack of consensus on the Parliamentary Standing Committee's report on demonetisation. Indeed, I would have been agitated had there been consensus. Nevertheless, the findings proposed by the chairman, Veerappa Moily, relates concomitant effects of demonetisation on the economy, like a fall in GDP growth by 1%, setting the economy back and job losses. I do not want to comment on these findings. I would only like to recall my earlier blog on the subject. I had brought before the public, the 'coincidence' of a suicide in Karachi within one month of demonetisation being announced.

Replies in Parliament over the quantum of FICNs

I would like to reinforce what has been said already through replies of the Government of India to several questions tabled in Parliament. Firstly, let me illustrate with a question replied in Rajya Sabha on 7/3/2007. Let us first appreciate that finance is the life line of terrorism. The government had acknowledged that the FICN share of terror funding is about 10 percent of the total of the terror funding. This was in 2007. Maybe, this share has grown over the years. Readers who desire to have the exact share of different components of terror funding (as of 2007) may refer to my book, 'Hindu Terror: Insider account of Ministry of Home Affairs'.



Now, let me take you to the reply to another question in Lok Sabha. This had conveyed that an estimated Rs 15-20 crores per annum was the value of FICN being injected into the economy. This reply was based purely on figures of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

NCRB data

May I convey to the readers that NCRB data is collated based the number of crimes reported. I want to make two clarifications here. It is well known that police cutting across states have a tendency of burking the registration of cases. It is only to mitigate this that the then Union Home Secretary had on 23/1/2008 written to all state Chief Secretaries and DGPs to kindly register these cases, so that a reliable assessment is available on the magnitude of the menace.

An interesting anecdote I recall here. My son was studying in Chennai at that time. He used to come for vacations twice a year. While going back, we gave him some currency for out-of-pocket expenses after withdrawing the same from an ATM of the Union Bank of India. That one of the Rs 1000 notes that we received from the ATM was fake was noticed by a shopkeeper when my son tried to pay him using the note. No police case was registered. What is more important is that this case would not be captured in NCRB data.

Other seizures of FICN not in reporting mechanism

Similarly, there are several seizures by intelligence agencies, BSF and other border-guarding forces, and information used to come to us during those days. Also remember, the case of Ravi Dhiren Ghosh in Mumbai, in which the NIA got a conviction and the amount involved was big. Hence, the amount of purported faced value of trafficked FICN used to be much more than what was captured in the NCRB data.

FICN, terror funding and terror attacks

Also, before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks happened, fake currency notes had leaked in the State Bank of India branch at Domariyaganj in Uttar Pradesh, which was intended for funding terrorist attacks in India. Besides, repeatedly our agencies have seized FICNs from several places in Kashmir, Delhi, Gurgaon, etc, a prominent example being the notes seized from the ATMs of ICICI Bank. Hence, there is no denying the fact that FICNs had a direct link with terrorism funding.

Repeated intelligence inputs on FICN

Interestingly, many sleeper cells of ISI planning terror attacks, moving funds for terror attacks including carrying huge face value amounts of FICN in their personal baggage were busted during the period 2006 onwards. These were mostly based on the intelligence inputs of IB and other agencies.

Veerappa Moily

Veerappa Moily, readers may recall, was the chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission set up when the UPA government was formed in 2004. Amongst the several reports of the Commission, the Eighth Report was on 'Combatting Terrorism'. As regards the recommendations and their efficacy, it is outside the purview of this blog. However, the one recommendation that was outstanding was that he wanted political oversight over our intelligence agencies. Till then, intelligence agencies were under the oversight of the National Intelligence Board, a highly professional body of security experts.

Political oversight of intelligence machinery

This recommendation prima facie appeared mischievous to those in the security apparatus. Those days, the Ishrat Jehan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh cases were in the headlines. In both cases, pinpointed intelligence input was generated and shared with respective state governments. Further, the concerned state governments had taken action, and what happened in media later is for all to see.

Are politicians reliable to oversee intelligence agencies?

Please recall, I have detailed in my book how one hawala dealer, who was also a Congressman and had been elected MLA of the Maharashtra Assembly, had moved funds for a terror attack. Hawala dealers also used their couriers for foot soldiering FICNs during those days.

Hence, it is a poser to the readers. Demonetisation might or might not have set the economy backward. But was the Congress and Veerappa Moily seeking to revive their agenda of discrediting the intelligence and security agencies, which might have generated the input leading to immediate demonetisation.

Incidentally, the connect between the suicide of Javed Khanani in Karachi and demonetisation does exist and is in the know of the security apparatus. Why is that certain vested interests are still discrediting the government and its agencies?

Also, please do not take the figures on drop in GDP growth on face value. What would have happened if the planned amount of FICN had been pumped into India between November 7-9, 2016. What impact would it have had on your GDP growth? God forbid, if the funds had been used for the intent for which its meant, successfully, what would have been the loss of national assets.

These are points to ponder.

(RVS Mani is a former Central government officer who shot to prominence as a whistleblower in 2009, when he alleged he had been forced to sign documents that fabricated a narrative of 'Saffron Terror'. His book, 'Hindu Terror: Insider account of Ministry of Home Affairs', was released recently.)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)New Delhi: Desi girl Priyanka Chopra, who was earlier set to be seen in Salman Khan's 'Bharat' left the movie midway citing her own personal reasons. The talented actress recently got engaged to beau Nick Jonas and that remained the buzz maker for days.

All eyes are set on what other Hindi movie project does the actress gives her nod to. Maverick filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj recently revealed that he might collaborate with PeeCee soon. According to Pinkvilla.com, the director in a media interaction was quoted as saying, Priyanka (also) wants to work with me. And we are working with each other. Hopefully, we will start the film next year.

The movie is reportedly based on Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. The actress has previously worked with the filmmaker in 'Saat Khoon Maaf' and 'Kaminey'.

Besides, Priyanka has also signed 'Margarita With A Straw' fame director Shonali Bose's next which is tentatively titled 'The Sky Is Pink'. It also features Farhan Akhtar and Zaira Wasim in the lead roles. The film is reportedly based on motivational speaker Aisha Chaudhary who was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.New Delhi: The auspicious occasion of Kajri Teej happens to be on August 29, 2018. The festival is celebrated during the Lunar month of Bhadrapad, as per Hindu calendar. It usually falls on the third day of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada. It is majorly celebrated in North India.

In Rajasthan, Kajri Teej goes by the name of Boorhi Teej. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati are worshipped on this day and womenfolk dress up to their best, singing and praying to the god for the well-being of their better halves.

Timings:

According to Drikpanchang.com, here are the timings:

Tritiya Tithi Begins = 20:39 on 28/Aug/2018

Tritiya Tithi Ends = 21:38 on 29/Aug/2018

Puja Vidhi:

According to NDTV.com, the puja vidhi of Kajri Teej is as follows:

After getting up early and taking a bath, wear new clothes and take a vow to be on fast the whole day. Food and water is prohibited for all those who observe fast on this day. You can sit in your puja room or set-up a make-shift place of worship in the right direction.

At this place of worship, make a small pond using sand and cow dung. Around the edges of the pond tie a Neem plant fig and place a red coloured cloth over it. After that, keep the idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi there.

Now, once this is done, you need to tie the red-coloured dhaaga or mauli around the Kalash and draw an auspicious Swastik sign on it. Put some kumkum, rice, jaggery and a coin on the Kalash. Offer these in front of the idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi respectively.

Then fold your hands and pray to Teej Mata, the Goddess of the festival and offer her Sattu.

You will have to add milk and water to the sand pond. If you are married then make 7 dots using Kumkum, Mehandi and Kajal. And in case you are unmarried then make 16 dots.

Light the diya and start the Katha (story). After the Teej Katha is over, you need to see the reflection of all those things which you offered to the Teej Goddess. Post that, see the reflection of your jewellery and the diya.

Then you must sing the Kajri songs, pray to the Teej Goddess and do the parikrama around her three times. On the day of Kajri Teej, worshipping the cow holds utmost importance, so you can make 7 rotis using flour, ghee and jaggery. Then offer it to the cow.

Once the moon is visible, offer your prayers to it using water and rice. Then break the fast by drinking water from your husband's hands.

Kajri Teej celebrations:

Women observe fast for the long life of their husbands on this day. Also, it is mandatory to sing folk songs known as kajris while celebrating the festival of Kajri or Kajli Teej. The kajri is a folk song composed and sung in the regions of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and in parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

All those who observe fast on Kajri Teej, refrain from taking food and water for the whole day. In some parts, it is also called Kajli Teej as it involves praying to the moon.

Usually, the fast is broken after consuming Sattu. Womenfolk pray to the Neem tree and an annual fair is held in Bundi, Rajasthan to celebrate Kajri Teej.Koshi River inundates 300 homes in Saptari

More than 300 houses at Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality and Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality in Saptari district have been inundated after floodwaters from the Koshi River entered the settlements.NEW DELHI: Launching a scathing attack on Congress Party and its chief Rahul Gandhi, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday penned 15 Questions that expose Congresss falsehood on Rafale.

In a long Facebook blog, the finance minister claims that the Congress has launched a false campaign on Rafale aircraft deal based on peddled untruth has been casting a cloud on the Inter-Governmental agreement & seriously compromising national security.

Jaitley claimed that Congress and Rahul are guilty of three accounts:

1. Firstly, the UPA delayed the deal by over a decade comprising national security.

2. Secondly, Rahul and Congress have statements on price and procedure are completely false.

3. Thirdly, Congress is trying to delay a defence procurement by raising these issues and as a result, Indias defence preparedness further is suffering.

The Congress Party and its leader, Shri Rahul Gandhi, are guilty on three counts: firstly, the UPA delayed the deal by over a decade comprising national security;  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) August 29, 2018

Secondly, every fact that Shri Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party has spoken on pricing and procedure are completely false, & thirdly, Congress Partys effort of raising these issues is to further delay a defence procurement so that Indias defence preparedness further suffers.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) August 29, 2018

Jaitley added that the Congress is peddling falsehoods by using various figures for the Rafale aircraft at different platforms.

Rahul Gandhi quoted a price of Rs.700 Cr per aircraft in Delhi and Karnataka in April and May this year. In Parliament, he reduced it to Rs.520 Cr per aircraft, in Raipur he increased it to Rs.540 Cr;

In Jaipur he used the two figures  Rs.520Cr & Rs.540Cr in the same speech. In Hyderabad, he invented a new price of Rs.526 Cr. Truth has only one version, falsehood has many. Are these allegations being made without any familiarity with the facts of the Rafale purchase? questioned Jaitley.

Congress and BJP have been at loggerheads over the Rafale issue for some time now.

Demanding an immediate response from Congress, Jaitley posted 15 questions on FB.

Read his complete blog post below.

15 Questions that Expose Congress Partys Falsehood on Rafale

ARUN JAITLEY

Why these questions?

Considering the security environment around India, the highest standards of defence preparedness are required. After the Kargil experience, the Armed Forces and the Raksha Mantralaya were of the opinion that combat ability of the Indian Air Force to strike at targets needs to be radically improved. This need was first recorded by the Raksha Mantralaya in the year 2001.

Considerations of the national security demanded that the IAF has the best available aircraft with the appropriate weaponry loaded on it. In principle approval for acceptance of necessity of procurement of 126 replacement aircrafts was recorded by the Raksha Mantri way back on 1st June, 2001. After the UPA Government came into power, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for procurement of 126 medium multi-role combat aircrafts. An aircraft without weaponry is of little use in a war. It is only a flying instrument. It adds to the combat strength of the forces only when it is loaded with the requisite weaponry, which enables it to strike targets. The UPA Government issued a request for proposal on 28th August, 2007 and found two vendors, viz., M/s Dassault Aviation and M/s EADS to be compliant to the RFP requirements. It took the UPA five more years to commence the negotiations and in January, 2012 the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) determined Dassault Aviation to be L1.

For reasons best known to the UPA Government, on 27th June, 2012, the deal was directed to be re-examined, which effectively meant that the entire eleven-year exercise was abandoned and the process was to be undertaken afresh. Indias squadron strength was depleting because of age. This slow and casual approach of the UPA Government seriously compromised national security requirements.

The NDA approach

On 10th April, 2015, the Government of India and the French Government issued a joint statement where India decided to procure 36 Rafale aircrafts from the French Government on terms better than the ones conveyed by Dassault in the L1 bid of 2007. The same was approved by the DAC on 13th May, 2015 and finally the agreement, after a detailed procedure, was signed on 23rd September, 2016.

The false campaign

A false campaign based on untruth has been launched by the Congress Party casting a cloud on the Inter-Governmental agreement. The principal arguments of this campaign are the following:

(i) The NDA Government paid higher price than what the UPA would have paid if the deal would have completed on the basis of the 2007 offer of Dassault.

(ii) Proper procedures such as negotiations by the Contract Negotiation Committee and approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) were not obtained.

(iii) A private industrialist in India was favoured and the interest of public sector undertaking was compromised.

Each one of the above issues raised is based on complete falsehood. It is expected from national political parties and its responsible leaders to keep themselves informed of the basic facts before they enter a public discourse on defence transactions. The Congress Party and its leader, Shri Rahul Gandhi, are guilty on three counts:

(i) The UPA delayed the deal by over a decade and seriously compromised national security.

(ii) Every fact that Shri Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party has spoken on pricing and procedure are completely false.

(iii) Its effort of raising these issues is to further delay a defence procurement so that Indias defence preparedness further suffers.

The questions

I have, therefore, decided to ask the following questions to the Congress Party and its President. Needless to say that if replies are received in the public space or even if there is an issue diversion and no reply is received, I would be constrained to come out with further specific facts which establish truth as a victim of Shri Rahul Gandhi and his party merely peddling his falsehoods. Needless to say that I am constrained by the secrecy clause, which exists in the Contract and whatever I ask or respond to would be constrained by that limitation. My question to Shri Rahul Gandhi and his Party are as follows:

On Delay

(1) The UPA was a Government which suffered from a decision- making paralysis. Do you agree that the delay of over one decade was only on account of the incompetence and indecisiveness of the UPA Government?

(2) Did this delay seriously compromise national security? Is not the medium multi-role combat aircraft required by our forces to identify and strike at targets particularly when two of our neighbours have already enhanced their strength in this area?

(3) Was this delay and eventual abatement of the purchase by the UPA based on collateral considerations as had been witnessed in earlier transactions such as the purchase of the 155 mm Bofors gun?

Unsure of facts

(4) How is it that Shri Rahul Gandhi quoted a price of Rs.700 crores per aircraft in Delhi and Karnataka in April and May this year? In Parliament, he reduced it to Rs.520 crore per aircraft, in Raipur he increased it to Rs.540 crores; in Jaipur he used the two figures  Rs.520 crores and Rs.540 crores in the same speech. In Hyderabad, he invented a new price of Rs.526 crores. Truth has only one version, falsehood has many. Are these allegations being made without any familiarity with the facts of the Rafale purchase?

(5) Is Mr. Gandhi or the Congress Party aware of price comparison? Is Mr. Gandhi aware of the aircraft price, which was quoted in 2007 in the L1 bid? Is he aware that there was an escalation clause, which by 2015 when the NDA struck the price deal, would have further escalated the price? Would not the escalation clause have continued to escalate the price till each of the aircraft was supplied? Have the significant exchange rate variations between Rupee and Euro during the same period been considered?

(6) Is he aware of the fact that if the basic aircraft price on which UPA was to purchase the aircraft along with the escalation clause is compared at the price with the better terms on which the NDA Government signed the deal. The basic aircraft price itself is 9% cheaper under the NDA than it was under the UPA?

(7) Can Shri Rahul Gandhi deny that when the add-ons such as India-specific adaptations, weaponry, etc. are installed on the basic aircraft, the UPA price, which was mentioned in the 2007 L1 offer, would be at least 20% costlier than the more favourable price negotiated by the NDA?

(8) Can Shri Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party deny if the total contract cost, that is, basic aircraft plus add-ons, including weaponry, etc., Indian adaptations plus future supplies and maintenance are all added, the NDA terms become far more favourable than the 2007 L1 offer?

Role of private industries

(9) Can Shri Rahul Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Government of India has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these 36 aircrafts in India.

(10) Any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) under the offset policy of the UPA can select any number of Indian partners, both from the private sector and the public sector, for offset supplies? This has nothing to do with the Government of India and, therefore, any private industry having benefitted from the Government of India is a complete lie. Can Shri Gandhi and his Party deny this?

On procedure

(11) Are Shri Gandhi and his Party aware of the fact that there are two ways of acquiring a defence equipment, i.e., either by competitive bidding or by an Inter-Governmental Agreement?

(12) Can Mr. Gandhi and his Party deny that the UPA Government in 2007 itself had shortlisted the Rafale as technically- acceptable and L1 in price competition?

(13) Can Shri Gandhi and his Party deny that considering the urgency of the defence requirement, the Government of India and the French Government agreed to execute the supply of 36 Rafale aircrafts at terms better than the 2007 offer of the UPA?

(14) Can it be denied that both the Price Negotiation Committee and the Contract Negotiation Committee negotiated for 14 months before concluding the deal?

(15) Can it be denied that before the deal was executed, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the transaction?

I am asking the above questions and I hope Shri Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party would respond immediately.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying the nations IQ is higher than yours. Responding to a tweet by Rahul Gandhi targeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over Rafel fighter jets deal, the BJP president accused the Gandhi scion of spreading lies.

With the Congress president seeking a joint Parliamentary committee on Rafale deal, Amit Shah referred to JPC as Jhoothi Party Congress. The BJP leader pointed that Rafale jet prices quoted by Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, Karnataka, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Parliament had varied.

Why wait 24 hours when you already have your JPC-Jhoothi Party Congress. Your lies to fool the nation are self-evident when Rafale price you quote vary in Delhi, Karnataka, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur & Parliament. But the nation's IQ is higher than yours!https://t.co/5fQlS7gV1L https://t.co/69IkaKeXSZ  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 29, 2018

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Amit Shah said, Why wait 24 hours when you already have your JPC-Jhoothi Party Congress. Your lies to fool the nation are self-evident when Rafale price you quote vary in Delhi, Karnataka, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur & Parliament. But the nation's IQ is higher than yours!

He posted the same retweeting a tweet by the Congress chief wherein he had thanked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for bringing the nations attention back to great Rafale robbery. The Gandhi scion had also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to protect his friend.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted, Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!

Earlier on Wednesday, Finance Minister Jaitley had said that Rahul Gandhi had converted the Rafale issue into a kindergarten or primary school debate. Can you compare a basic aircraft's pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft? Jaitley had said.

Terming Rahul Gandhis allegations as factually false, Jaitley had said, Every fact that they have said on pricing is factually false... Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer. And the simple case is they have made it as if it is a kindergarten or primary school debate.At least four policemen were on Wednesday killed by terrorists in Arahama area of Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir. Another policeman reportedly got injured in the attack.

According to local media reports, the police personnel were part of the escort party of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) headquarters in Arahama village.

The policemen reportedly got injured in the incident and were rushed to a nearby hospital. They, however, succumbed to their injuries. The terrorists also snatched three AK 47s from the security personnel.

The area has been cordoned off as security forces are conducting search operations to nab the terrorists involved in the attack. Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen have claimed responsibility for the attack.

More details are awaited.New Delhi: Maharashtra Police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least four of them for suspected Maoist links.



Near simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj and Farreira were arrested. Although Navalakha was also arrested, the Delhi High Court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday.



According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided are Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula, Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Here are their brief profiles:-

VARAVARA RAO

Rao has been writing poetry since 1957. He is the founder member of Virasam (Revolutionary Writers' Association). He was arrested in October 1973 under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Rao was released and arrested on more than one occasions between 1975 and 1986 in different cases, including the 1986 Ramnagar conspiracy case in which he was acquitted in 2003 after 17 years. Rao was again arrested on 19 August 2005 under AP Public Security Act and sent to Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad. The case was struck down under the Public Security Act on 31 March 2006 and Rao obtained bails in all other cases.

ARUN FERREIRA

An activist based in Mumbai, Ferreira was claimed to be the leader of the propaganda and communications wing of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2007. He was acquitted of all charges in 2014. In his book, Colours of the Cage: A Prison Memoir, published the same year, Ferreira, recounted the details of his imprisonment of nearly five years.

SUDHA BHARADWAJ

Bharadwaj is best known for her work in Chhattisgarh, where she has lived for 29 years and fought for the rights of mine workers in Bhilai, as a member of late Shankar Guha Niyogi's Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha. She began working with the Mukti Morcha in 1986, after witnessing the abysmal working conditions of labourers in West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during her stint as a student in IIT Kanpur. A civil rights activist and lawyer, Bharadwaj has also been fighting against land acquisition, and is currently the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

SUSAN ABRAHAM

Abraham, a civil rights lawyer, represented many of those arrested during the June raids by the police in connection with the Elgar Parishad event. The wife of activist Vernon Gonzalves, Abraham was born in Kerala to schoolteacher parents and studied in Zambia. She has been part of protests against demonetisation, fake encounters and for workers and women's rights. She has written extensively against the rigorous sentences given to Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, activist Prashant Rahi among others, calling it a "misuse of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act". Her name can be seen in the credits of a film, Court, in which she guided the filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane through the intricacies of the law.

VERNON GONZALVES

A blog run by his friends describe Vernon Gonzalves as a "leader of the Altar Boys" and "a strong believer of justice, equality & freedom". A gold medallist from Mumbai University and a former lecturer at Ruparel College and HR College, Gonzalves, security agencies allege, was an ex-central committee member and former secretary of Maharashtra State Rajya Committee of Naxalites. He was charged in around 20 cases and has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, after serving six years in jail.

GAUTAM NAVLAKHA

Navlakha has been associated with People's Union for Democratic Rights and is a Delhi-based journalist. He is also an editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly. He, along with Sudha Bharadwaj, demanded repeal of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. They said, the Act, passed to regulate the activities of unlawful organisations, has been used by the government to curb extremist activities as opposed to unlawful activities. Navlakha, a frequent traveller to Kashmir Valley for the last two decades, has also written extensively about alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

ANAND TELTUMBDE

An engineer, MBA and former CEO, Teltumbde is also a leading scholar and activist for Dalit rights. He has authored books on people's movement particularly about leftist agitations and Dalit rights struggles. He also has a doctorate in cybernetics from Mumbai University. It is no coincidence that he has often argued that reservation for Dalits has, in fact, stigmatised them and consecrated caste in India's polity.

FATHER STAN SWAMY

Human rights activist father Stan Swamy founded the Vistapan Virodhi Janvikash Andolan (VVJA), a platform that advocates the rights of indigenous people including Adivasis and Dalits. Swamy was among the 20 people against whom a sedition case was filed in July this year, for posting statements against the Jharkhand government for inciting tension over the Pathalgadi movement.

KRANTHI TEKULA

TEKULA is a journalist with Namaste Telangana.

(With PTI inputs)A day after five activists were arrested in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence, the NHRC on Wednesday issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief, saying "it appears" that standard operating procedure was not properly followed in the arrests and this may amount to a violation of their human rights.

The Maharashtra chief secretary and the director general of police have been asked to submit a 'factual report' in the matter within four weeks.

A senior official of the National Human Rights Commission said the notices were sent after the rights panel took cognisance of the reports of arrests in multiple cities on Tuesday. "On the basis of the media reports, the Commission has observed that it appears that the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to the violation of their human rights," an official said.

Earlier on Tuesday several prominent activists -- P Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bhardwaj and her daughter Anu Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves were detained by the police for their suspected Maoist links. The arrest took place after police conducted multiple raids across five states in Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village following an event held in Pune in 2017.

The raids began early on Tuesday and were conducted at Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane. All the accused have been booked under sections 153 A, 505(1) B, 117, 120 B, 13, 16, 18, 20, 38, 39, 40 and UPA, said news agency ANI.

Quoting media reports, the NHRC said the Delhi High Court had stayed Navlakha's transit remand, observing that police have not been able to satisfactorily explain the offence he had been arrested for.

"The decision on a transit remand for lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj is also pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Faridabad. The activist has told the court that she had nothing to do with the incident for which she has been arrested. According to her, the FIR did not even name her and she is being harassed and arrested only because of her ideology," the NHRC said in a statement.

"In the case of activist Gautam Navlakha, reportedly, the court has questioned how Pune police managed to get a transit remand from a Delhi court without any local witness," it added. The court, it said, has directed translation of police documents into English which are in vernacular language.

Varavara Rao was arrested from Pune. Raids were conducted at his residences in Hyderabad and Telangana. Varavara's name had cropped up in a letter seized by the police during searches at the premises of one of the five people arrested in June in connection with the Elgar Parishad event on December 31 last year to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle in 1818.

Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi and was produced before Saket court. He was produced before the Saket police following which the police got his transit remand till August 30. However, shortly after the transit orders, a plea was filed in the Delhi High Court following which the court stayed his transit remand to Pune. As per the court's direction, Navlakha would be put under the house arrest until the case is heard by Wednesday.

Renowned Human Rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bhardawaj was picked up from Faridabad and produced before a local court by a team of Maharashtra police. Her daughter Anu Bhardwaj was also taken into custody from her Badrapur residence in Delhi.

Arun Ferreira was detained from Pune and activist Vernon Gonsalves was detained from Mumbai.

Raids were conducted at Stan Swamy's residential premises at Ranchi. But he wasn't arrested.

Civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde's residence in Goa was also raided by the police, however, the cops were unable to trace him. All the accused, including Navalakha, who have been remanded by the court will be taken to Pune.

In June, five people were arrested for having close Maoist links after they allegedly made provocative speeches at the event, triggering violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune, according to an FIR registered at the Vishrambaug Police Station after the event.

Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in simultaneous raids in June. Police said probes were being conducted at homes of the five arrested and those who were directly or indirectly connected with them.NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will on Wednesday hear the plea against the arrest of five rights activists by Maharashtra Police in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence. Historian Romila Thapar along with human right activists Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande, Maya Darnall have moved SC seeking the release of the arrested activists.

The SC will hear the plea against the arrest of five activists at 3.45 pm. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi had mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra but since the CJI court was sitting in a Constitution Bench combination, the CJI asked him to mention the plea at 3.45 pm.

The petitioners have urged the SC to order an independent probe into arrest of the activists. They have also urged the SC to seek an explanation from Maharashtra for "sweeping round of arrest" in the case.

Meanwhile, the Delhi HC will be hearing the plea seeking the release of rights activist Gautam Navlakha at 2:15 pm on Wednesday. The plea has termed his arrest by Maharashtra Police as illegal. The Maharashtra Police has told the Delhi HC that translated copies of the document are not yet ready and will be given to Navlakha's counsel by 12 pm.

Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year. Security officials said two letters recovered over the past few months, indicating Maoist plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, were also a reason for the raids.

Searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi. Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed against those arrested, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged naxal activities," a police official said. The premises of Father Stan Swamy, a tribal leader in Jharkhand, too were searched but he was not detained.

Soon after Navalakha's arrest, the Delhi High Court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday. The High Court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Navalakha by his advocate Warisha Farasat after he was picked up from his Delhi home this afternoon by the Maharashtra Police. The Punjab and Haryana High Court also ordered that Sudha Bhardwaj be kept at her own home until Maharashtra Police obtain transit remand for her.

As per the police, the speeches made at the conclave on December 31, a day before the 200th anniversary of the historic Koregaon-Bhima battle, were one of the triggers for the violence. "While arresting them, we had seized some documents, and while scrutinising these documents the connection of these five people surfaced. Their exact role in the case is part of the investigation," said the police official.

Rao's name had figured in a letter which the Pune police claimed to have seized during searches at the premises of one of the five people arrested in June in connection with the Elgar Parishad. They were accused of having close Maoist links, according to an FIR registered then at the Vishrambaug Police Station. He was arrested from his residence at Gandhi Nagar in Hyderabad by a Pune police team, which earlier searched the residences of his two daughters.

The arrests have led to massive outrage across the country from human rights defenders.Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, saying the country is moving towards dictatorship. Speaking to mediapersons after being brought from Patna to Ranchi, the former Bihar chief minister condemned the arrests of activists by police on Wednesday.

The RJD supremo said, This country is moving towards dictatorship. The arrests of the five intellectuals show that the country is moving towards emergency and I condemn it.

The former chief minister made the remarks after he was taken from Patna to Ranchi after Jharkhand High Court asked him to surrender by August 30.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress and the CPM, have lashed out at the government over the arrest of activists and raids by police at their residences across five states. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also issued notice to Maharashtra government and Director General of Police. According to the NHRC, standard operating procedures were not followed in the arrest of the activists.

The Supreme Court also gave interim relief to the activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, saying they can be kept only under house arrest till the next hearing of the case. The top court also issued a notice to the Maharashtra government. The case will next be heard on September 6.

Attacking the government over the police action on Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said that there was place for just one NGO in India, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the Gandhi scion said, There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon.

The arrest took place after police conducted multiple raids across five states in Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village following an event held in Pune last year.NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs (MoS, Home) Kiren Rijiju has urged Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi to keep national security interests above politics, a day after the latter expressed concerns over the arrests of five activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Rijiju said, "As Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had declared that Maoists are the No.1 threat to India's internal security. Now the Congress president openly supports the front organisations and sympathisers of the Maoists."

"Keep national security above politics," MoS Home added.

As Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had declared that Maoists are No.1 threat to India's internal security. Now the Congress president openly supports the front organisations & sympathisers of the

Maoists.

Keep national security above politics  Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) August 29, 2018

Remarks from Rijiju came a day after Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and questioned the arrest of five activists by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case.

"There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon," the Gandhi scion tweeted.

Pune Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them - poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalit and the upper caste groups at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad on December 31 last year.

A police official later said that the five arrested are suspected to have Maoist links and had allegedly funded the Elgar Parishad conclave.

The police have booked all the accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief, saying "it appears" that standard operating procedure was not properly followed in the arrests of five activists and this may amount to a violation of their human rights.

The Maharashtra Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police have been asked to submit a 'factual report' in the matter within four weeks.

A senior official of the National Human Rights Commission said that the notices were sent after the rights panel took cognisance of the reports of arrests in multiple cities yesterday.

Apart from Rahul Gandhi, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also condemned the arrests, saying that it was a "blatant attack on democratic rights in the country," and that it was worse than the declaration of the Emergency in 1975.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.

The police have booked all the accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Apart from Gandhi, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also condemned the arrests, saying that it was a "blatant attack on democratic rights in the country," and that it was worse than the declaration of the Emergency in 1975.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.

(With ANI Inputs)NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies have warned that several suspected Naxal sympathisers are trying to establish a direct link between the CPI-M Maoists and various terror outfits active in the Kashmir Valley.

If intelligence sources are to be believed, the pro-Naxal groups or the Urban Naxals have been covertly trying to establish close contacts with the terrorist outfits in Jammu and Kashmir for quite some time now.

The assessment done by the intelligence agencies is based on inputs received from various sources in Kashmir and the letters seized by the Maharashtra Police as part of its ongoing probe into the Bhima-Koregaon violence last year.

The letters seized by the Maharashtra Police has revealed the Naxal link with Kashmiri Separatists and their keen interest in the financial support being received for terror activists in the Valley.

Based on these inputs, the intelligence agencies have warned that there is a clear evidence which shows that separatist and terror organisations are being directly supported and funded by Urban Naxals in the several cities.

As part of their plan to further strengthen its network in J&K, 15 members of a pro-Naxal outfit had visited parts of Kashmir in May this year, the agencies said.

The members of the group secretly visited several areas including Anantnag, Badgam, Baramulla, Kupwara and Shopian in north and south Kashmir.

The group also collected details of the terror-related cases pending in the various courts here and devised a strategy to deal with them legally.

The group members had collected facts and figures related to various encounters done by the security forces in Kashmir so as to build a strong human rights violation case against them at the international level.

The strategy of the pro-Naxal groups is to build maximum pressure on the Centre and the state government and expose them at the international level.

The alarming revelations from the intelligence agencies have come a day after Maharashtra Police detained several prominent Maoist sympathisers following massive raids across various locations on Tuesday.

Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least four of them for suspected links with the Maoists.



Near-simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj and Farreira were arrested. Although Navalakha was also arrested, the Delhi High Court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday.



According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided are Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula, Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

As part of its probe into the Bhima-Koregaon violence, the Pune Police had seized two letters exchanged by Maoists detailing their plans to eliminate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Union Minister Rajnath Singh.

The raids conducted by the Maharashtra Police were severely criticised by the civil rights groups and the opposition parties which likened it to a virtual declaration of Emergency in the country.NEW DELHI: Giving interim relief to the five rights activists who were arrested by Maharashtra Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that they will be be kept under house arrest till the next date of hearing. The apex court will hear the case again on September 6.

The order was given by a three-judge bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on the petition filed against the arrest of five activists. The plea was filed by historian Romila Thapar along with human right activists Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Darnall.

The petitioners had urged the SC to order an independent probe into arrest of the activists. They have also urged the SC to seek an explanation from Maharashtra for "sweeping round of arrest" in the case.

Arguing for the petitioners, lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the FIR has no mention of the arrested people and there are no allegations that they were a part of any meeting. "The larger issue is the chilling effect merely because one does not agree with you (govt)," Singhvi said.

Strongly opposing the plea, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta says people with no connection to the case are placing the matter before the SC.

Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Security officials said two letters recovered over the past few months, indicating Maoist plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, were also a reason for the raids.

Searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.Myanmar Prez Myint visits Lumbini

Myanmars President Win Myint has arrived in Lumbini, the birth place of Gautam Buddha, on Wednesday.Outraged over the arrest of several prominent activists across five states, as part of the probe into the Bhima Koregaon violence, a number of political leaders, noted lawyers, academics, authors, human rights defenders has termed the action as a 'virtual declaration of emergency' in the run-up to elections.

P Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bhardwaj and her daughter Anu Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves were detained by the police on Tuesday for their suspected Maoist links. The arrest took place after police conducted multiple raids across five states in Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village following an event held in Pune in 2017.

Most of the activists will be produced in the court on Wednesday.

Reacting to the house arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj, her lawyer said, "The matter will once again be taken up before the Chandigarh High Court after three days. Still, the Pune police arrested her, it's a complete violation of the order of the High Court. Her transit bail application was dismissed. We had informed the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) that the Chandigarh HIgh Court has intervened and passed an interim order that Pune police won't take her under custody and she'll be under house arrest for 3 days."

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, "I understand from Sudha Bharadwaj's lawyer Vrinda Grover, that despite the order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court staying Sudha bhardwaj's transit remand, the Mah police is still insisting on it in the Magistrate's court in Faridabad&even her lawyers are not being allowed there!"

Several leaders have criticised the arrest of the activists. Taking a dig, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said there was place for only one NGO in "the new India" and it was the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). "Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain," he tweeted.

CPI(M) party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, "The CPI(M) strongly condemns the raids conducted by police authorities on the homes of several civil rights, human rights and Left intellectuals. This is a blatant attack on democratic rights. This is not acceptable and is one of the most authoritarian moves by the present government. This is an emergency."

He added, Those who sympathised with the dalits were picked up but those who are guilty and were engaged in violence are roaming freely. Ever since the Bhima Koregoan violence against dalits began, the Maharashtra Police along with central agencies have been targeting dalit rights activists and lawyers who have been taking up their cases. The activists have been arrested under the UAPA charges. This is not justified. CPI(M) demands immediate release of all these activists.

Historian Ramachandra Guha called the action "absolutely chilling" and demanded the Supreme Court's intervention to stop this "persecution and harassment" of independent voices.

"Sudha Bharadwaj is as far from violence and illegality as Amit Shah is close to those things," tweeted Guha, adding if Mahatma Gandhi was alive, he would have defended Bharadwaj.

"As a biographer of Gandhi, I have no doubt that if the Mahatma was alive today, he would don his lawyer's robes and defend Sudha Bharadwaj in court; that is assuming the Modi Sarkar hadn't yet detained and arrested him too," he tweeted.

Author Arundhati Roy said, "In the run up to elections, it is an attempted coup against the Indian Constitution and all the freedoms that we cherish". Roy said, "The simultaneous state-wide arrests are a dangerous sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate and is falling into panic."

"That lawyers, poets, writers, Dalit rights activists and intellectuals are being arrested on ludicrous charges... While those who make up lynch mobs and threaten and murder people in broad daylight roam free, tells us very clearly where India is headed," she said.

Roy alleged that "murderers are being honoured and protected" and anybody who speaks up for justice or against Hindu majoritarianism is being made into a criminal.

She said it was as close to declaration of an emergency as it can get.

Another activist Kavita Krishnan also described the action as "undeclared emergency".

Several activists said it was like an undeclared emergency when the rights defenders and dissenters are being raided, arrested, jailed and even killed.

According to unconfirmed reports, raids were also carried out at residences of several other activists including Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula, Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

Condemning the police action, the CPI(M) accused the BJP-led government of "attacking the democratic rights of people" to shield the real culprits of Koregaon-Bhima violence.

Congress spokesperson Jaipal Reddy condemned the raids and arrests and said, "They are selfless NGOs, activists who are obliged to fight the enveloping darkness of dictatorial tendencies."

In a statement, the PUCL said, "Such systematic and pre-meditated crackdown on human rights activists is unprecedented and unheard of in a democracy."

Noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, "Fascist fangs are now openly bared. It is a clear declaration of emergency. They are going after anyone who has spoken against the government on rights issues. They are against any dissent.

Amnesty International and several other groups including People's Union for Civil Liberties called the action a concerted attempt to crush human rights interventions and to silence voices of dissent.

Senior CPM leader Prakash Karat said, "These constitute a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties. The CPI-M demands withdrawal of the cases against these activists and their immediate release." A statement from the CPM read, "Ever since the Bhima Koregoan violence against Dalits, the Maharashtra Police along with central agencies has been targeting Dalit rights activists and lawyers who have been taking up their cases."

The government must take action against culprits but its steps should not be politically motivated, said the Maharashtra Congress. "Truth must come out before the people. The government must go to the root of the issue. Culprits, if there are any, should be caught. But the action should not be politically motivated," said Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant.New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office received over 12,500 RTI applications during 2016-17, highest since 2012, according to an official data.

There has also been an increase in the number of appeals filed by citizens, aggrieved over initial response to their applications from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), it said.

A total of 12,787 applications were filed with the PMO in 2016-17 as against 11,138 in 2015-16 and 12,674 during 2014-15. As many as 7,077 such queries were raised in 2013-14 and 5,828 during 2012-13, the PMO said in response to the RTI query filed by this PTI correspondent.

The PMO was asked to provide details of RTI applications and appeals received by it and also those rejected by it between 2013 and 2018.

A total of 1,306 RTI applications were rejected during 2016-17 as against 2,234 and 2,795 in 2015-16 and 2014-15 respectively. As many as 1,450 such queries were rejected in 2013-14 and 1,130 in 2012-13, according to the data.

"It is stated that the rejection of applications is done as per provisions prescribed in the Right to Information Act," the PMO said.

The RTI Act allows Indian citizens to seek governance-related information from government departments in a time-bound manner. The Act has provisions to raise appeal in case the applicant is not satisfied with the response provided by the government department concerned.

As many as 1,592 appeals were received by the PMO during 2016-17, 1,478 in 2015-16, 1,306 during 2014-15, 701 in 2013-14 and 632 in 2012-13. Of these, 1,098 appeals were rejected in 2016-17, 1,155 in 2015-16, 1,035 during 2014-15, 506 and 493 in 2013-14 and 2012-13 respectively, the PMO said.

"It is stated that appeals filed with this office under the RTI Act are decided on merit of each individual case," it said.

The PMO, however, refused to share total number of RTI applications and appeals pending disposal, saying the "compilation of information will disproportionately divert the public resources".New Delhi: Focusing on strategies to win the upcoming 2019 polls and three state Assembly elections, the day-long meeting of the BJP Chief Ministers' Council on Tuesday listed out the key parameters including social justice, implementation of development programmes and promises it made in 2014 election manifesto.

The annual stock-taking exercise with BJP chief ministers and deputy CMs was led by party chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The issues of social justice with an eye on Dalits and backward castes, national security, especially NRC, and welfare schemes of the Modi government emerged during the meeting, reported news agency PTI.

Chief Ministers and deputy CMs of 15 states took a pledge to ensure that the party comes back to power with a bigger majority in Parliament.

"We have taken a pledge that we will win the Lok Sabha polls with a majority bigger than the one we had in the 2014 polls. We will also ensure our victory in three state polls," said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

Briefing on the meeting attended by 14 of the 15 BJP chief ministers, PM Modi tweeted, "Fruitful meeting with Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of states where the BJP is in power."

Fruitful meeting with Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of states where @BJP4India is in power. pic.twitter.com/YBKTBuIzab  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2018

Goa was not represented in the crucial meeting since CM Manohar Parrikar is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mumbai, while senior minister Francis D'Souza is in the USA for treatment.

"The Prime Minister took stock of the work done by the states and also discussed the situation in the states in the wake of the Center`s initiative on higher MSP (minimum support price) for farmers, passage of OBC Commission Bill giving it a constitutional status, restoration of provisions of SC/ST Act, the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the Citizens Amendment Bill," Singh said.

PM Modi also spoke about 'Swachh Bharat' exercise, under which the government has been building toilets and focussing on cleanliness, and the ongoing 'Gram Swaraj' project in over 48,000 villages.

He asked the CMs to focus on their speedy execution and take it to the masses during elections, Singh said.

The issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was also discussed with the party asserting that the presence of illegal infiltrators could not be tolerated in the country.

They also said that minority Hindus in neighbouring countries must find a home in India if they are persecuted there, Singh said.

Taking a dig at the Congress for its plans to form a grand alliance with regional parties to defeat Modi in 2014, Singh said that it was too early to comment as they have not yet decided their leader.

"They have not yet decided the criteria for selection of the Prime Ministerial candidate. One party says the candidate will be of the party that wins maximum seats while other says that the candidate would be of the largest party. I think they won`t be able to decide the issue till the elections. It is only Narendra Modi who will be the Prime Minister in 2019," he said.

The Lok Sabha polls are less than eight months away while assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are slated for later this year.

With agency inputsCongress president Rahul Gandhi has hit back at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the latters attack on the issue of Rafale fighter jets. The Congress chief thanked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader for bringing the nations attention back to the great Rafale robbery.

Suggesting that a joint Parliamentary committee be constituted to look into the purchase of the fighter jets from France, the Congress president sought a response from Arun Jaitley in the next 24 hours.

Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 29, 2018

He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the supreme leader is protecting his friend, adding that because of this, the government may not agree for the formation of a joint Parliamentary committee over the issue.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the Gandhi scion said, Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!

This came after the Union Finance Minister attacked Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of converting the Rafale issue into a kindergarten or primary school debate. He had also asked the Congress chief whether a weaponised aircraft could be compared with a simple aircraft.

Can you compare a basic aircraft's pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft? said Jaitley.

Terming Rahul Gandhis allegations as factually false, Jaitley had said, Every fact that they have said on pricing is factually false... Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer. And the simple case is they have made it as if it is a kindergarten or primary school debate.

The Congress party had rejected the contention of the Union Finance Minister that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma had said, "For him (Jaitley) to say that offset is not part of the contract is wrong," he said. Sharma also demanded a probe alleging that Anil Ambani's Reliance Group had prior information that PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would not get the offset contract.Hours after prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from his residence in Hyderabad on Tuesday, a relative of Rao accused Pune Police of "forcing" him and his wife Hemalatha to sign a 'punchnama' in the Marathi language.

Rao was arrested by the Pune police for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presented before a Nampally criminal court. He was shifted to the government-run Gandhi Hospital for a medical check-up. He is likely to be produced before a court here before shifting him to Pune.

"Both Rao and his wife Hemalatha don't know Marathi...they were forced to sign on the punchnama written in Marathi," journalist N Venugopal, the son-in-law of Rao, told the media.

According to Venugopal, as per the law, the punchnama -- a document prepared by police and signed by respectable witnesses -- should be in a language the accused is familiar with. "Without any search warrant, they (police) entered his house, snatched away cell phones. They also disconnected the landline phone and intercom and kept Rao incommunicado for eight hours," he claimed.

As for Rao's health, Venugopal said, "He is 78-year-old, has so many ailments and needs regular medicines."

A police team from Pune arrested the revolutionary writer after searching his house and the houses of his family members and friends including a journalist.

In June, police in Pune had allegedly recovered a letter mentioning a plan to assassinate Modi from the house of one of the five persons arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

The letter was written by a person identified only as 'R' reportedly mentions a plot to kill the Prime Minister on the lines of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

It also referred to the requirement of Rs 8 crore to purchase an M-4 rifle and four lakh rounds to execute the plot. The letter reportedly mentions Varvara Rao`s name.

Varvara Rao, who heads `Veerasam`, an association of revolutionary writers, had strongly denied the allegations. He had said that all five arrested in the case were working for the betterment of the downtrodden.

Rao has been writing poetry since 1957 and is the founder member of Virasam (Revolutionary Writers' Association). He was arrested in October 1973 under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

He was released and arrested on more than one occasions between 1975 and 1986 in different cases, including the 1986 Ramnagar conspiracy case in which he was acquitted in 2003 after 17 years.

The writer was again arrested on August 19, 2005, under the AP Public Security Act and sent to Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad. The case was struck down under the Public Security Act on March 31, 2006, and Rao obtained bails in all other cases.Violence continued in West Bengal for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, as Amdanga in North 24 Parganas district witnessed massive clashes between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and CPM over the panchayat board formation in which three people were killed and 17 injured. More than 10 people were arrested in connection with the clashes.

Out of the three killed two of them belonged to TMC and the third person to the CPM. The TMC members have been identified as -- Nasir Haldar and Kuddus Gani and the CPM member have been identified as Muzzafar Ahmed. The injured people are currently undergoing treatment at Barasat, Barrackpore and RG Kar Hospital.

In the clashes, a series of houses were also torched and fire is still raging in a few village houses. Live crude bombs in huge numbers are still lying in the area. A huge police force has been rushed to the spot. Police are carrying out raids in the area. Meanwhile, board formation in three gram panchayats of Amdanga - Taraberia, Moricha and Bodai has been postponed.

According to reports, on Tuesday evening the power was disconnected in the Amadanga area. Simultaneously, bombing and firing had also started. The clashes took such a turn initially that not even the police of four police stations could enter the area for a long time.

As the clashes continued, more police forces were called to the spot. The police were then able to evacuate the bodies from the area.

TMC MLA Jyotipriya Mallick and Rafiqur Rahaman reached the hospital and spoke to the families of the injured.

They said that arms were already procured from Bangladesh and Pakistan and according to the plan, the CPM started violence in the evening.

Massive clashes were reported in Howrah and North Dinajpur district of West Bengal on Tuesday. Itahar and Daspara in North Dinajpur district also remained on the boil with three party cadres  TMC, Congress and BJP clashing with each other.

Party cadres hurled crude bombs, pelted stones at each other. Police rushed to the spot to control the situation but was instead attacked by the agitated crowd. They hurled stones at the police injuring several policemen in the attack. Party cadres even torched a police vehicle in Itahar. In retaliation, the police had to resort to tear gas shelling and lathicharge.

In North Dinajpurs Itahar, there are a total of 25 seats. Of the total 25, BJP bagged 13 seats and TMC managed to secure 12 seats and in Daspur gram panchayat all 13 seats were won by TMC.

On the other hand, clashes broke out once again in Howrahs Uluberia area over the formation of panchayat board. BJP cadres clashed with the TMC and the situation remained tense for the second consecutive day in Uluberia. In Uluberia's Tulsiberia gram panchayat, out of the total 18 seats, BJP secured 10 seats, TMC secured 7 seats and one independent candidate later joined TMC.

On Monday, four people were killed amid the formation of panchayat board across West Bengal.A Jammu and Kashmir police officer has been arrested by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) on charges of sending local youth to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) for terror training. The police officer has been identified as Feroz Ahmad Lone who was posted as the Deputy Jail Superintendent at Jammu's Ambphala jail since the past five months.

Along with Lone, the NIA also arrested Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) overground worker Ishaq Palla on Tuesday in connection with the Kupwara-HM conspiracy case.

The case pertains to an attempt by accused persons Suhail Ahmad Bhat and Danish Ghulam Lone to travel to POK for arms training for waging war against the State. The two accused who were arrested earlier, were motivated by Ishaq Palla.

At the time of the incident, Ishaq Palla was lodged in the Central prison in Srinagar in connection with a different case. The NIA said that he was instrumental in hatching the conspiracy from jail. He was actively assisted by Feroze Ahmad Lone, who was posted as Deputy Jail Superintendent Central Jail Srinagar at that time.

The conspiracy meeting at the central prison in Srinagar was held on 25 October 2017. The accused persons were in contact with each other through blackberry messenger during the whole of October before they were apprehended by the police on 30 October 2017.

While Ishaq has been remanded to 10 days' NIA custody by the Special NIA court Jammu, Lone will be produced before the court on Wednesday where the NIA will seek his custody.

An investigation to unearth the larger conspiracy is underway.JAMMU: Two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terrorists were killed in a fierce encounter in the Anantnag district of south Kashmir on Wednesday.

A huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the slain terrorists.

The two terrorists were killed in a joint operation carried out by the J&K Police, Army and the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) since early morning.

The operation was launched following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of several terrorists in Anantnag's Muniward village in the Khanabal area of the district.

The security forces had laid a cordon to trap the terrorists from all sides.

Mobile and internet services were also temporarily suspended in the district in view of the operation.

The security forces have launched a massive search operation to nab other terrorists.

There has been a sudden spurt in the terrorist activities in the Kashmir Valley with several incidents of attack on security forces and civilians reported recently.

Three days back, a terrorist linked to the JeM was gunned down by the security forces in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district. The slain terrorist was a Pakistani national, said reports.

Just recently, a group of unidentified terrorists barged into the residence of a forest department official and shot him down. The official, 38-year-old Tariq Ahmad Malik, later succumbed to his injuries. The incident was reported in Zandpal area at Kunzer in Tangmarg, Baramulla.

Prior to the Baramulla attack, terrorists had shot dead three policemen in Pulwama. J&K Police later said that an unknown number of terrorists barged into the house of Inspector Muhammad Ashraf Dar in Larve village in Pulwama district and killed him.

These incidents were reported months after Army rifleman Aurangzeb was abducted and later killed by the terrorists when he was on his way home in Rajouri district for Eid celebrations.SRINAGAR: In a major breakthrough for the security forces, two top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists - Altaf Ahmad Dar and Umar Rashid Wani  were killed in an encounter in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.

The two Hizbul terrorists were killed in a gunbattle that broke out in Khanabal area. They were identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Altaf Kachroo  a top Hizbul commander  and his associate Umar Rashid Wani.

The gunfight started in the wee hours after the security forces surrounded Binpora village following information about the presence of the terrorists there.

"As the joint forces of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Special Operations Group (SOG) of state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) approached the house, the holed up terrorists fired upon them triggering the encounter," a police officer said.

"Firing exchanges have now stopped. The bodies of the slain terrorists and their weapons have been recovered," the officer said.

Kachroo hailed from Redwani village of Kulgam district and carried a reward of Rs 15 lakh on his head.

His killing is being seen as a major success in the anti-terror operations in the south Kashmir area.

Meanwhile, curfew has been announced in Anantnag town to maintain law and order.

Clashes between stone-pelting youths and the security forces were also reported from the area soon after the encounter was over.

Train services between Baramulla and Bannihil towns were suspended immediately after the gunfight started.

Mobile Internet services have also been suspended as a precautionary measure in the Anantnag and Kulgam districts.Kochi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is currently touring Kerala in the aftermath of the worst floods here, made a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government for not doing enough for the southern state and accused it of running according to the diktats of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on Wednesday.

The Congress president, while addressing a press conference in Kochi said, ''There are two different visions of India, one is a centralized vision and other is decentralized vision. One respects only one ideology, based out of Nagpur, and the other respects all different ideas, cultures, different people in this country. That fight is on.''

While refraining to comment on the nature of the calamity in Kerala, Rahul said that he has come here to support those affected by the worst floods and rain-related incidents.

''I have come here as a support and not to politicise the situation. I will not comment on the nature of this crisis, ' the Congress president said on being asked if floods in Kerala were a man-made crisis.

Rahul said that he had visited a large number of relief camps on Tuesday and came to know that people are worried and unsure about their future.

''I spoke to Kerala CM too. It is important that the government gives a sense to the people that it is going to help rebuild their houses,'' Rahul said adding that ''compensation promised should be delivered quickly.''

The Congress leader also lamented that the financial assistance announced by the Centre for Kerala was not enough and more was needed to help rebuild the state.

''The extent of support that the central govt has given should be more. This is owed to the people of Kerala. It is their right. I am sad that central govt has not given as much aid as they should,'' Rahul Gandhi said in Kochi.

The extent of support that the central govt has given should be more. This is owed to the people of Kerala. It is their right. I am sad that central govt has not given as much aid as they should: Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Kochi #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/y9OUVlTXSc  ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2018

Rahul Gandhi had arrived in Trivandrum on Tuesday on a two-day visit to Kerala to review the relief and rescue operations being carried out in the aftermath of the worst floods here.

He visited a relief camp in Chengannur and interacted with the flood-affected families.

Ahead of Rahul Gandhi, several political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had visited the state to take stock of the relief work that has been going on.

Rahul visited flood-hit regions in the state including Chengannur, Alappuzha and Angamaly. He is due to visit flood-affected areas in Wayanad district on Wednesday.

Rahul will also flag off trucks carrying relief material from the Marine Drive in Kochi.

The Congress president also honoured the fishermen community of Kerala for their unforgettable service at the time of Kerala floods.

While interacting with media on Tuesday evening, Rahul said the Congress leaders are going to pressurize the Government so that Kerala people get their compensation as soon as possible and citizens face minimum discomfort.

Addressing people at a relief camp in North Paravur, Rahul said, ''The Government owes you compensation and Government has to help you build your houses. We are in opposition and it is our job to make them do their duties. Every single Congress leader is going to pressurize the Government so that your compensation is paid as soon as possible and you face minimum discomfort."

He also reminded people that since the Congress party is not in power both in Delhi and Kerala, they can't do 'big things'.

Rahul Gandhi also kicked off a fund-collection drive for Kerala Congress project of building 1001 homes for the flood-affected victims.

Kerala has been witnessing its worst floods in a century. The deadly monsoon rains savaged the state with heavy rains and severe floods. The rains and floods have claimed over 300 lives since August 8 in the second spell of the monsoon.

(With Agency inputs)Oli deflects blame for the sluggish performance

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has blamed the lack of preparations by his predecessors in drafting the laws and laying the ground for three tiers of government for the seemingly sluggish progress of his government in the last six months.KOLKATA: A metropolitan magistrate court in Kolkata summoned Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on 28 September in connection with a criminal defamation case filed against him by Trinamool Congress.

TMC MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee had filed a criminal defamation case against Shah alleging that the BJP president made slanderous statements against him at a public rally on August 11 in Kolkata. Abhishek appeared before the eighth bench of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Kolkata and filed a written submission claiming that Shah has made defamatory statements against him.

The eighth metropolitan magistrate then directed him to issue a notice to Shah. The court said the criminal defamation suit filed by Banerjee will be taken up for hearing on September 28.

On August 13, a legal notice was sent to Shah in which Abhishek had sought an apology from him for allegedly making defamatory statements against him. He had warned that if the BJP chief did not apologise, he will file a criminal defamation case against him.

Abhishek's lawyer Sanjay Basu had claimed the 'false statements' against his client had caused grave loss and prejudice to his clients reputation. The notice to Shah said: "Since it is well known that my client is the nephew of Smt. Mamata Banerjee and is actively involved in politics, the contents of your speech left little to the imagination of my clients well-wishers that you were referring to my client."

Abhishek denied the allegations of his involvement in any purported diversion of public and/or government funds to the tune of Rs 3,59,000 crore or any other sum purportedly allotted from the Centre to the State of West Bengal. He also asked Shah to desist from making or circulating defamatory statements against him.New Delhi: Renowned scriptwriter, writer, poet and IPRS chairman Javed Akhtar was honoured with the 'Person of the Year' award by the Indian Music Industry.

Javed Akhtar has been given this honour for the tremendous work he has done for the music industry. The talented writer believes that the award is very special for him and the award has a connection not just with him, but with all the stakeholders in the music industry.

Javed Akhtar got this honour during the Indian Music Conference. The event was organized by the Indian Music Industry (IMI).

In the award function, many people belonging to the music industry congratulated Javed. Video messages of many people like Oscar Winning musician AR Rahman and maverick filmmaker Karan Johar were also played.

Akhtar was earlier quoted by IANS as saying, "When I started writing poetry, initially it was nostalgic. It was mostly about my childhood, my mother, the place I used to live in and so on. But then after that other interests and other concerns entered my poetry, be it about the socio-economic climate or the people."

Akhtar has won a number of national awards for his lyrics in Hindi blockbuster films like Godmother, Border and Lagaan.Mumbai: Fans of Bhai aka Salman Khan are eagerly looking forward to seeing their bhabhi, but they may have to wait longer. A photograph reportedly shared by the superstar's sister Arpita Khan has caught people's imagination on social media.

However, the same has been deleted by Arpita after netizens misinterpreted the picture.

The photo shared by Arpita had Katrina (dressed as a bride) hugging Salman's mother Salma Khan. The original photo may have been deleted, but the same is in circulation on Instagram. It was probably taken between shots.

A fan club of Salman has shared the image in question.

A post shared by Being salman_fan_club (@real_salman_fan_club) on Aug 28, 2018 at 8:19pm PDT

The cast and crew of Salman's 2019 Eid release Bharat was in Malta to shoot for the film. His mother Salma too had accompanied the team of Bharat along with her daughter Alvira.

Katrina, who is very close to Salman's family, shared a photograph with Alvira on Instagram.

Take a look at it here:

My @atulreellife A post shared by Katrina Kaif (@katrinakaif) on Aug 25, 2018 at 5:41am PDT

The film had former Miss World Priyanka Chopra on board but she walked out of it a few days back. Now, Salman's former real-life ladylove has stepped in to play the leading lady. Bharat, is an official Hindi remake of South Korean film Ode to My Father. Tabu, Disha Patani, Sunil Grover, Aasif Sheikh and Nora Fatehi too are a part of this film.

Bharat set in the backdrop of India in the 1940s and will take us through the events during the countrys partition. Not just that, the film will showcase significant events over a period of 70 years since partition, reports suggest.

The film will mark Salman and Ali Abbas Zafars third collaboration. The duo has already delivered two blockbusters  Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai.Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today congratulated heptathlete Swapna Barman for winning gold in the Asian Games held at Jakarta.

"Heartiest congratulations to @Swapna_Barman96 our heptathlon queen from India and Bangla, on winning the gold at the Asian Games. You have made us very proud," Banerjee tweeted.

Swapna today created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold, a feat she achieved despite competing with a toothache.

Swapna, who hails from Ghoshpara Colony in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, had to fight all odds including acute poverty.

The people of the district and her neighbours in particular, were elated on her achievement.

Her mother worked as a labourer in small tea gardens while her father was a rickshaw puller and is now bedridden.WASHINGTON: Canada`s top trade negotiator praised Mexico`s trade concessions on autos and labour rights on Tuesday as she rejoined NAFTA talks, while US lawmakers warned that a bilateral US-Mexico trade deal would struggle to win approval in Congress.

Automotive executives and other sources also told Reuters on Tuesday that the bilateral US-Mexico deal announced on Monday allows President Donald Trump to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports of Mexican-made passenger vehicles and auto parts above certain volumes.

If Trump proceeds with the tariffs now under consideration based on national security concerns, Mexican duty-free exports of cars and sport-utility vehicles to the United States would be capped at 2.4 million vehicles annually. Volumes above that level would be subject to tariffs, auto industry officials and other sources said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said that Mexico`s "difficult" concessions to the United States on Monday would pave the way for productive talks this week as all three countries race toward a Friday deadline for a deal to modernize the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.

"These concessions are really going to be important for workers in Canada and the United States," she told reporters after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Freeland, who later met with Mexican officials on Tuesday evening, said she is due to dig into detailed discussions with Lighthizer on Wednesday.

Trump warned on Monday he could proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board with the revised trade terms.

After being sidelined from the talks for more than two months, Freeland will be under pressure to accept terms the United States and Mexico worked out on a trade deal announced on Monday.

One of the main sticking points for Canada in the revised deal is the U.S. effort to dump the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. Lighthizer said on Monday that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.

Other hurdles include intellectual property rights, such as the U.S.-Mexico 10-year data exclusivity for biologic drug makers and extensions of copyright protections to 75 years from 50, all higher thresholds than Canada has previously supported.

Dan Ujczo, a Columbus, Ohio-based trade lawyer who focuses on U.S.-Canada issues, said it would be hard for Freeland to win concessions from Lighthizer on these issues.

"I think he`s going to sit there with his arms folded a lot," Ujczo added.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Mexican television on Tuesday the three sides would work for a three-way deal. "We are now going to devote long hours to the negotiation with Canada," he said.

Negotiations among the three partners, whose mutual trade totals more than $1.2 trillion annually, have dragged on for more than a year, putting pressure on the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar. Both currencies gained against the U.S. dollar on Monday, but the peso weakened on Tuesday.

If a deal is not reached with Canada, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the Trump administration intends to proceed with a separate trade agreement with Mexico.

The Mexican government has also taken that position, even as it says it wants a trilateral deal. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is keen to sign the agreement before leaving office at the end of November.

Some lawmakers said however, that a bilateral pact could lose the benefits of U.S. "fast-track" negotiating authority, which calls for a trilateral deal.

A trilateral deal would need only 51 votes in the Senate, while a bilateral pact would need a far more difficult 60-vote threshold, Republican Senator Pat Toomey said. If Republicans retain 51 of the Senate`s 100 seats in November elections, they could approve a new NAFTA agreement next year without the support of Democrats.

Canada`s main stock index <.GSPTSE> opened higher on Tuesday on hopes for a NAFTA trade deal, before ending lower. U.S. stocks edged to record highs for a third consecutive session.

Trump said he still could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada did not join its neighbours and warned he expected concessions on Canada`s dairy protections.

Canada`s dairy farmers operate under a protectionist system that manages supplies and prices, and imposes high tariffs to limit imports. U.S. demands have ranged from ending those tariffs to scrapping a pricing system for milk ingredients that hurt U.S. exports of milk proteins.

"It seems like a pretty steep challenge to now resolve these issues in three days," said David Wines, a Manitoba dairy farmer and vice president of industry group Dairy Farmers of Canada.

If talks with Canada are not wrapped up by Friday, Trump plans to notify Congress that he intends to sign a deal with Mexico, but would be open to Canada joining, Lighthizer told reporters on Monday.

The White House has said Trump will sign the deal 90 days after notification. Congress needs to approve it in a process that will take several months, extending well into 2019.Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Wednesday told a special court hearing the high-profile treason case against Pervez Musharraf that Interpol has rejected its request to arrest the former military dictator as it does not want to interfere in the cases of political nature.

The government's reply came as the tribunal resumed hearing in the treason case against the Dubai-based former president for suspending the Constitution in 2007 by imposing emergency. Musharraf, 75, has repeatedly refused to return to Pakistan citing security reasons.

The Interior Ministry in its reply on efforts to bring Musharraf back to the country informed the court that a letter was written to Interpol to issue Red Warrant. But it returned the letter by refusing to interfere in cases of political nature.

On August 20, the special court in Islamabad had summoned the interior secretary over non-arrest of Musharraf in the case despite issuance of non-bailable warrants against him. "The government had approached Interpol to bring back Musharraf, however, they rejected the request," the interior secretary said. "Interpol officials had said that the high treason case does fall under their legal ambit," he added.

Further, Justice Yawar Ali questioned if Musharraf's statement in the case can be recorded via Skype. "Can the investigation move forward without the statement in the case?" he asked.

Adjourning the case till September 10, the court ordered that during the next hearing arguments be given over whether Musharraf's statement can be recorded via Skype or the investigations can move forward without it. Musharraf's lawyer Akhar Shah said that the former ruler could not appear in person due to security reasons. He also said that Musharraf's health was not good and was not allowed by the doctors in Dubai to travel.

Shah said that Musharraf will appear before the court if the president-level security was provided to him.

The case was launched in 2013 and Musharraf was subsequently indicted but he left for Dubai on March 2016 for medical treatment with a commitment to come back. Musharraf, the former army chief, has rejected all charges.

Musharraf took power in 1999 by toppling democratic government and ruled until 2008 when he was forced to step down.WASHINGTON: The US military has no plans yet to suspend any more major military exercises with South Korea, the defence secretary said on Tuesday, in the middle of a breakdown in diplomacy with North Korea over its nuclear weapons.

Defence Secretary James Mattis told a Pentagon news conference that no decisions had been made about major exercises for next year, but noted that the suspension of drills this summer as a good-faith gesture to North Korea was not open-ended.

US President Donald Trump`s June decision to unilaterally suspend the drills caught many American military planners off guard and was broadly criticized as a premature concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who Trump wants to give up his nuclear weapons.

"We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit," Mattis told reporters, referring to the June 12 meeting between Trump and Kim.

"We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," he said, adding that no decisions had yet been made on major exercises for next year.

Mattis also said smaller exercises deemed to be exempt from the suspension were ongoing.

Mattis` comments on the drills come at a delicate time for negotiations between the United States and North Korea after Trump scrapped plans for a meeting between top officials from both countries.

At the June summit, the first meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader, Kim agreed in broad terms to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But North Korea has given no indication it is willing to give up its weapons unilaterally as the Trump administration has demanded.

Since then, diplomats have failed to advance the process.

North Korean officials even warned in a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week that denuclearisation talks risked falling apart, US officials told Reuters.

In particular, the North wants steps towards a peace treaty. The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving U.S.-led U.N. forces technically still at war with North Korea.

US officials fear North Korea might turn its attention to cutting a separate deal with South Korea and driving a wedge between the US-South Korea alliance.

A South Korea presidential spokesman acknowledged that talks between Washington and Pyongyang were at a stalemate.

"With North Korea and the U.S. remaining stalemated, there is an even bigger need for an inter-Korea summit," Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House, told a briefing.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said this month his planned third summit with North Korea`s Kim next month would be another step towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and an end to the Korean War.



TRIP CANCELLED

Trump abruptly cancelled his top diplomats planned trip to North Korea on Friday, publicly acknowledging for the first time that his effort to get Pyongyang to denuclearize had stalled since his summit with the North`s leader.

Trump partly blamed China for the lack of progress with North Korea and suggested that talks with Pyongyang, led so far by Pompeo, could be on hold until after Washington resolved its bitter trade dispute with Beijing.

On Sunday, North Korea`s state media accused the United States of "double-dealing" and "hatching a criminal plot," but did not mention Pompeo`s cancelled visit.

US intelligence and defence officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about North Korea`s willingness to give up its nuclear weapons and they had not expected Pompeo`s trip to yield positive results.

Mattis declined to comment on the broader diplomatic efforts, deferring to Pompeo`s State Department.

"We will work very closely, as I said, with the secretary of state and what he needs done we will certainly do to reinforce his effort. But at this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions," Mattis said.

The traditional US calendar for other major drills does not pick up again until next spring, officials say, which could give diplomats and military planners time.

The US-South Korean exercise calendar hits a high point every spring with the Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, which take months to plan.

One US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preliminary planning for next year`s drills was already taking place. Still, the official acknowledged that would not be indicative of whether the drills will go forward.

Max Thunder`s air combat exercises so unnerved North Korea this year that it issued threatening statements that nearly scuttled the June summit between Trump and Kim.

Foal Eagle is designed to simulate war scenarios and involves ground, air, naval and special operations forces.WASHINGTON: White House counsel Don McGahn, whose time serving President Donald Trump has been marked by tension related to the investigation of Russian election interference, will leave the job in the coming weeks.

"White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!"

McGahn voluntarily cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team in a continuing investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas, indictments and cooperation deals and one conviction for several Trump insiders.

Trump has not settled on a replacement for McGahn, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. There has been speculation the job would go to Emmett Flood, a veteran Washington lawyer who joined the White House in May to help with the Russia probe, but Sanders said he had not been offered the job.

"People like him (Flood). He`s super well-respected around the building, but there`s not a plan locked in place at this point," Sanders said.

McGahn could not be reached for comment.

The relationship between Trump and McGahn, a Washington insider who was chief counsel for Trump`s presidential run, has become strained by the pressures of Mueller`s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, sources familiar with their relationship have said.

As White House counsel, McGahn was charged with untangling a thicket of conflicts of interest between Trump`s international business interests and his presidency.

The New Jersey native, who played bass guitar in an 1980s cover band before joining the White House, will be the latest in a large number of high-ranking White House officials to leave Trump`s side in what has been an unprecedented level of senior staff turnover.

McGahn had been a partner at Jones Day, one of the world`s largest law firms, before joining Trump as counsel to his campaign. He specialized in campaign finance issues, having served on the Federal Election Commission from 2008 to 2013.

Trump named McGahn White House counsel in November 2016 shortly after winning the presidential election.

He led Trump`s nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch through the Senate confirmation process in 2017, running "murder boards" in his office to bombard Gorsuch with questions he might face at his confirmation hearings.

In July, McGahn was chosen to reprise that role, overseeing Trump`s selection of Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

McGahn`s departure had been widely expected but was met with dismay by Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, who wrote in a tweet addressed to Trump: "I hope its not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U cant let that happen."

In one of the stormiest moments as White House lawyer, McGahn threatened to quit in June 2017 because he was "fed up" after Trump insisted he take steps to remove Mueller, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this year.

The source said Trump asked McGahn to raise what he said were Mueller`s conflicts with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because the president thought they were serious enough to remove Mueller.

McGahn did not discuss the issue with Rosenstein and threatened to quit when Trump continued to insist that he do so, the person said.

McGahn also was involved in the controversy surrounding Trumps firing of former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

In January 2017, then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informed McGahn that Flynn had misled the FBI about discussions he had had with former Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI.Opportunity knocks

Nepal should use the BIMSTEC meet to enhance its global image and boost tourismOpen source

Information has appeared that on September 11-15 the Russian armed forces would conduct large-scale Vostok-18 or East-2018 military exercises in the Far East, in which China and Mongolia will also take part. The future maneuvers will involve 200,000 servicemen of the Central and Eastern military districts, ships of the Northern and Pacific navies, the Russian aerospace forces, and three assault and assault brigades. More than 3,000 Chinese servicemen will take part in military exercises, at least 400 units of military and special equipment, about 30 aircraft to be involved. The exercise will be led by representatives of the Eastern Military District of the Russian Federation and the Northern Zone of the Chinese Combat Command, which will establish a joint headquarters. The Vostok-2018 exercise has been conducted by Russia since 2010, and its purpose is to check the large military formations for the ability to quickly move over significant distances and operate in unfamiliar theaters of military operations. Military According to senior research fellow at the Center for International Strategy and Assistance, Rick Fisher, during the Vostok-18 exercises, a simulation of the use of low-power nuclear weapons might be carried out. American officials demand clarification from their Russian counterparts.

Russia already compares Vostok-18 with military maneuvers during the Cold War. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called the upcoming Vostok-2018, or East-2018, exercises "the largest preparatory action for the armed forces since Zapad-81," referring to a Soviet military exercise in 1981 involving about 100,000 to 150,000 troops, according to a CIA estimate at the time. Then the Soviet Union demonstrated the strength in Europe to the then-new administration of the American Republican President Ronald Reagan. History is repeated. Now Russia and China decided to flex its muscles before the United States in the Far East. China is trying to get its benefits from the exercises, which can threaten Russia with unpleasant consequences.

The Kremlin's demarche in response to sanctions

With the help of the Vostok-18 exercises, Russians are trying to create a stereotype that, despite sanctions and deterioration of relations with America and Europe, they have enough money to maintain a high level of combat training for the Russian army and navy. Russia is trying to create the impression that it allegedly has an influential military-political partner, China, which has recently had a complicated relationship with the United States. The Russian leadership is trying to convince the international community that the Russian Federation, together with the PRC, has all the necessary resources to change the alignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) and shake the influence of the White House. Since the Cold War, the stronghold of the US geopolitical influence in the Asia-Pacific region has been represented in a powerful navy, economic and security ties with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. With the help of military exercises, Russia exerts psychological pressure on the regional allies of the United States - South Korea and Japan, with which Russians have a dispute around the Kuril Islands.

The Kremlin is trying to embarrass the administration of US President Donald Trump, which continues the policy of anti-Russian sanctions and introduces new restrictive measures against Russian individuals and legal entities. On Friday, August 24, the US State Department confirmed the imposition of new sanctions against Russia in response to a chemical attack in the British city of Salisbury and poisoning of Sergey and Yulia Skripal. At the first stage, the United States will impose a ban on the supply of goods and services for the defense sector of Russia, technologies that can be used to produce chemical weapons. At the second stage, American banks will be banned from lending to the government of the Russian Federation, bilateral trade will be suspended (excluding agricultural products), and Russian state airlines will not be able to fly to the US. The other day the US Treasury imposed sanctions against Russian shipping companies Primorye Maritime Logistics and Hudson Shipping, the management of the Patriot trade vessel for transferring processed oil to the North Korean ships, which is prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions. Also, the US Congress is working on a new bill that provides for sanctions against companies that are involved in the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

The Kremlin is trying to blackmail the US with a military-political rapprochement with China if sanctions continue. The Russian authorities want the Republicans to give back and begin to establish relations with the Putin regime in order to avoid the formation of a full-fledged anti-American military alliance between the two nuclear powers in the Far East. Otherwise, it makes no sense to conduct Vostok-18 exercises on the eve of the midterm elections to the US Congress and to involve China in maneuvers. If Russia's previous military exercises in the Far East were perceived as training the armed forces in the event of China's armed aggression, now only the US can be perceived as a common conventional enemy for the Russian and Chinese military. It is impossible to treat the demarche of Russia without a share of skepticism. The military exercises of the Russian Federation and its partners, including last year's Russian-Belarusian West-17 maneuvers, did not make the West more compliant. On the contrary, the US increases military spending and invests in the development of new types of weapons to deter Russia.

Leady greetings from the Middle Kingdom

At first glance, it may seem that China pursues the same goal as Russia, participating in the Vostok-18 exercise. According to the information of the Ministry of Defense of China, the goal of the exercises is to strengthen Russian-Chinese strategic military cooperation, strengthen the parties' potential in the field of joint response to various security threats, as well as the maintenance of peace and stability in the region. In other words, China is trying to play on US concerns about the formation of a military-political alliance with Russia in the Far East, where the leading role will be played by Beijing. The Chinese military takes part in the so-called International Army Games (a hybrid of military exercises and sports), which Russia organized for the first time in 2015. In July 2018, four competitions were held in the territory of China. China conducts a situational tactical rapprochement with the Russian Federation in the military and political sphere in order to press the United States and help reduce the import duties on Chinese products, imposed by the Trump administration.

Now bilateral relations between the US and China are in a state of a trade war. With the help of high import duties, Trump wants to force the Chinese to buy more American products and reduce the trade deficit ($ 376 billion). China delivers goods to the US market more than it buys in the US, creating competition for the local producers. In 2017, China exported to the US products worth $ 505.6 billion (while the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $ 600 billion). In March 2018, the US imposed duties on Chinese steel (at a rate of 25%) and on aluminum (at a rate of 10%). In June, the States introduced 25% import duties on more than 800 Chinese goods worth $ 34 billion. In response to the US actions, the Chinese introduced similar duties on US imports worth $ 34 billion. China stole from the US intellectual property and trade secrets for hundreds of billions of dollars, including military technology.

China participates in the Vostok-18 exercises for the sake of demonstrating strength in the Far East. China has territorial disputes with the US regional allies: with Japan around the Senkaku islands, with Malaysia, Taiwan around the islands in the South China Sea. Moscow and Beijing are against the desire of the US for world leadership. Vostok-18 is only part of the military-political events of the Celestial Empire aimed at strengthening its influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The Chinese Communists are interested in strengthening the military presence in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, where the United States is active. The US Navy is modernizing its navy create a counterweight to the Pacific Fleet, it includes 714 ships, boats, and submarines. Starting in 2018, the Chinese plan to build 30 frigates and to put into operation the second aircraft carrier by 2019-20. China creates artificial islands in the South China Sea, builds runways, warehouses for the weapons storage.

However, it is too early to say that China's naval forces are able to compete on an equal footing with the American armada in the Pacific. The Pacific Fleet of the US Navy is the largest regional naval formation in the world. It consists of 200 ships, including aircraft carriers, 2 thousand aircraft, 250 thousand sailors, and marines. According to Business Insider, 11 US aircraft carriers are constantly kept at sea in the world various regions, including the APR. The Chinese sailors have only one aircraft carrier in the ranks, which was converted from the Soviet aircraft ship in Mykolaiv, the aircraft carrying cruiser ("Riga", "Varyag"), inherited by independent Ukraine.

China borrows some experience of the Third Reich

Power projection in front of the US is not China's only goal in terms of Vostok-18. The Russian leadership made a big mistake, revealing to the Chinese military the maps of the modern defensive and offensive tactics of the Russian armed forces. The Kremlin has not learned the lessons of history. In the 20-30-ies, the future personnel German military pilots and tankmen were practicing at the military training grounds of the Soviet Union, who were able to familiarize themselves with the terrain of the European part of the country, which during the Second World War became the theater of military operations of the Third Reich. China has already tried to change the borders in the Far East, using military force. In 1969, the Chinese military wanted to seize Damansky Island, which resulted in a local border conflict with the use of Soviet military MLRS Grad (in 1991 the RF voluntarily transferred the island to the PRC). In the long term, China can carry out provocations in the Far East, drawing conclusions about the combat capability of the Russian army, which will be based on the results of the Vostok-18 exercises.

China is practicing passive territorial expansion in the Far East. Celestial Empire develops and strengthens its bank of the Amur River, carries out dredging works, influencing the change of the riverbed. As a result of the actions of the Chinese side, the flow of the Amur is washing away the Russian coast, and the riverbed goes to Russia. Since the Russian-Chinese border is in the middle of the Amur River bed, the territories on which the river had previously flowed are on the Chinese shore. China is carrying out demographic expansion in the Far East and Siberia, which the Kremlin does not focus on, calling it a myth or an exaggeration. Last year, 400,000 migrant workers arrived in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia, while in recent years about 2 million Russian citizens left the depressed region (the population of the Far East is 6.3 million people). People from Central Asia, China, and the DPRK come to the Far East for work. According to the results of the 2010 population census, about 30,000 Chinese lived in Russia. Nevertheless, according to the Japanese publicist Hideaki Sakamoto, from 1977 to 2016, The number of Chinese living in the Far East and Siberia has grown from 250 thousand to 2 million people. In 20-30 years, the Chinese can become the largest diaspora in the Far East.

Interests of Ulaanbaatar

For the first time, military units of the Mongolian armed forces will take part in the military exercises with the Russian Federation and China. Mongolia is considered a neutral state and pursues a multi-vector foreign policy, China and Russia are its only neighbors  a window to the outside world. During his election campaign, incumbent Mongolian President Battulga Khaltmaa of the opposition Democratic Party was creating his campaign on anti-Chinese rhetoric. Relations with China were complex until the early 90's. From the 17th century to the beginning of 20-ies Mongolia has been under the control and occupation of China. North China's autonomy Inner Mongolia tended to reunite with independent Mongolia (Outer Mongolia). Now Battulga conducts rapprochement with Beijing, as evidenced by the participation of the country in the military exercises "Vostok-18". He is interested in China implementing some of the projects of the "Silk Road" in the territory of his country and giving a reprieve on the payment of the debt. Mongolia delays payment of $ 2.2 billion in debt to China.

Battulga uses participation in the Vostok-18 exercises to intensify relations with Moscow. During the Cold War, Moscow and Ulaanbaatar were allies in containing Beijing in the Far East. There were Soviet troops on the territory of the country. After 1991, relations with China began to improve, and Russia fell into the background. Participation in military exercises with Russia is a kind of attempt by Battulga to gainPutins confidence. Since coming to power in July last year, the Mongolian president held four tripartite meetings with his Russian counterpart Putin and Chairman of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. Former Transport Minister Battulga, who, like Putin, knows judo, is interested in rearming the Mongolian army, increasing the supply of the Russian weapons. He wants Russia to take part in the construction of a hydroelectric power station, the modernization of the railway in Mongolia. Battulga is interested in boosting trade and economic cooperation with Russia. In 2016, Mongolia's exports to Russia amounted to only 47.9 million dollars. Mongolia is trying to diversify export routes and reduce economic dependence on China. China's share in Mongolia's exports is 90% and represents a third of imports.

The Russian market is perceived by the Mongols as an alternative to the United States, with which it has not been possible to fully realize cooperation in the business sphere. Since the Reagan administration, the United States has been drawing closer to Mongolia in the humanitarian sphere, and during the reign of former President George W. Bush, they began to conduct military-political cooperation. After 9/11 in New York, the United States began to modernize the Mongolian army (Khan Quest military exercises).

In 2016, the United States allocated $ 28.4 million to Mongolia for the development of education and health. However, this is not quite what the Mongols needed from the Americans. During a meeting with US Ambassador Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, Battulga asked to release Mongolian exports of sewing and knitted goods from import duties on the American market. There were only promises to consider this issue, any measures were taken. Mongolia is out of US interest as a trade and economic partner.

Read the original text at 112.ua.The mission urges the sides to honour their recommitment to protect Ukrainians on both sides of the contact line

Open source

From the beginning of August 29, when school ceasefire began in Donbas conflict zone, the observers of OSCE SMM recorded more than 70 violations, as they reported on Twitter.

#OSCE SMM Alexander Hug: Since 00:01 SMM registered more than 70 ceasefire violations. Sides need to honour their recommitment. Firing has to stop now. To protect Ukrainians on both sides of the contact line  OSCE SMM Ukraine (@OSCE_SMM) August 29, 2018

As it was reported, according to the agreement of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk a school ceasefire began in Donbas since midnight on August 29.

Moreover, the representatives of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters reported that from the beginning of August 29 as at 7 am the occupants attacked the positions of the Ukrainian soldier from heavy machine guns near Hnutove and Talakivka.

Related video:Open source

Ukrainian business associations representing the countrys largest freight-dispatching enterprises have presented their plan to prevent a collapse in the area of freight transportation to the Cabinet of Ministers. The president of the Ukrmetalurgprom Oleksandr Kalenkov said this while commenting on the meeting between the Ukrzaliznytsya task force and representatives of companies involved in freight transportation for MinProm, 112.ua reports.

According to Kalenkov, the relevant document has been submitted by industry associations for the consideration of the First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv and Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion. The main issue in the current crisis situation with rail transportation, wherein Ukrainian producers are not able to dispatch readymade products to their consumers, is caused by the lack of locomotive traction of the state monopoly PAO Ukrzaliznytsya, Kalenkov explained. This is why Ukrainian businesses are requesting the Cabinet to temporarily halt the transit of Russian freight through Ukraine. Such measure would allow a 10% increase in the crossing capacity of Ukrainian railroads at Western border crossings, the president of Ukrmetalurgprom pointed out.

He also noted that the shortage of traction is the result of a high degree of exhaustion of the locomotive supply, which is estimated at as high as 95%. This is why a large fraction of diesel-electric and electric locomotives are permanently undergoing repairs  which takes longer than it should due to the difficult contest procedures and the abuse by participants, who are delaying contests by many months. This is why businesses have decided to support the idea of Ukrzaliznytsya, which allows the state-owned corporation to obtain a permission from the Cabinet to procure parts for its locomotives from domestic manufacturers without contest. A Cabinet decision is required for that, - Kalenkov said. Ukrainian corporations also suggested the Cabinet examines the possibility of leasing locomotive traction in other CIS nations or Baltic states, as well as from other private firms  until the situation in railroad freight transportation is resolved.

Those are substantial measures that would allow to alleviate the issue with locomotive traction and to remove the state of emergency we are currently seeing with freight dispatch on railroads, - Kalenkov said. He also reminded that Ukraines manufacturers are facing serious losses due to Ukrzaliznytsyas inability to ensure prompt freight shipments to counteragents overseas. Just the iron-ore enterprises of Ukraine alone will receive at least $100 million less than planned in August.

"As long as this is the case, there can be no serious talk of freight fare increase  for example through the unification of tariffs on empty carriages that Ukrzaliznytsya appears to be so fond of right now", - the president of Ukrmetalurgprom summed up.Open source

Valeriy Chaly, Ukrainian Ambassador to the USA claimed that mass media has misrepresented his words about Ukraines request for the purchase of military equipment and weapons from the USA. He claimed this on the air of Radio Svoboda.

Unfortunately, many mass media have misrepresented what Ive said, having brought together the phrases from different parts of the interview. Indeed, it is true that we work on this. Saying that there is a specific request for the number of air-defense systems  first of all, it is a top secret information, the work is being carried out though, and will be kept carried out, Valeriy Chaly said.

Earlier, mass media disseminated the information with a reference to Valeriy Chaly on that Ukraine sent a formal request to Washington about the acquisition of the air-defense systems of $750m for one unit, if necessary, at least three corresponding military complexes for the Ukrainian army.Open source

At the meeting with the Prime Ministers of Italy and Malta on issues of illegal migration from Africa states, Andrej Babis, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, stated that the Czech Republic will no longer host any refugee as it receives Ukrainians, Radio Praha reports.

Just before the flight to Italy the Czech Prime Minister stated that the Czech Republic will not accept the refugees who cross the Mediterranean Sea to the European Union as it hosts people from Ukraine, the message says.

After the visit ends, Babis intends to meet with the representatives of the Visegrad Group countries which includes also Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

Related video:Such offer was put forward in advance of the second trial over Manafort connected to his activity in Ukraine

Open source

The defense of American political consultant and former leader of Donald Trump's election campaign Paul Manafort claimed about the intention to ask the court to move the hearing of his case out of Washington as Reuters reported.

The issue is about the second trial over Manafort connected to his activity in Ukraine. The lawyers are concerned that the jury-democrats will be prejudiced against Manafort who worked with the representatives of the Republican Party at the last election.

At the same time, the consultant of the jury questioned by the agency confirmed that such demands on the move of the hearing are rarely satisfied.

As we reported President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes. After a 16-day trial Manafort was found guilty of five tax fraud charges, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 10 counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.

Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison. He faces a second criminal trial next month in Washington on seven other charges brought by the special counsel, including obstruction of justice, failure to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to launder money.

Paul Manafort is charged with laundering money and evading taxes over ten years of cooperation with former Ukrainian leaders. Previously, an investigation team released over 300 documents, which reveal the details of Manafort's cooperation with the currently disbanded Party of Regions - the-then pro-presidential and ruling political force in Ukraine.

Related video:Open source

Dozens of activists took part in the silent meeting in support of Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, which took place in Prague. Radio Liberty reported that on Tuesday evening.

'Over 50 participants of the silent demonstration carried images of Oleg Sentsov along the quarter of the Russian diplomatic mission. They passed the images to the embassy and the demands to release the Ukrainian director', reads the message.

As is known, Oleg Sentsov, the Ukrainian political prisoner, has been starving in Russia penal colony of Labytnangi for 100 days now. He announced a hunger strike in May 2014, demanding to release him and the rest of Ukrainian political prisoners illegally held by the Kremlin. Sentsov already survived three health crises; the medics warn that the fourth one, which might involve the breakdown of the body's internal organs, could begin anytime.

The native of Crimea, film director and political activist, Sentsov was illegally detained in Crimea in 2014, then taken to Russia. They judged him and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment at a high-security penal colony. The prosecutors charged Sentsov with preparing terrorist acts in the occupied Crimea. Sentsov denies his guilt. Ukraine's government, common citizens and the international society - politicians, artists, public figures - urge the Kremlin to release him.Olga Pavlenko is the member of Ukrainian Cultural Centre, a pro-Ukrainian NGO in the occupied peninsula

Open source

Operatives of the FSB, Russian federal security service searched the house of Ukrainian civil activist Olga Pavlenko in the annexed Crimea. Crimean Human Rights Protection Group reported this on Facebook on Wednesday morning.

The search began at about 6.40 a.m. August 29.

Previously, in April 2018, prosecutor's office in Simferopol summoned Pavlenko and her colleague Olena Popova, while looking into the activity of the pro-Ukrainian NGO - specifically, printing of the local newspaper called 'Crimean Blackthorn'. The summoned activists used their right not to testify against themselves.

According to Krym.Realii, Pavlenko's friends assume that the search could take place after someone fed the information to the pro-Russian web portal Russkaya Vesna (Russian Spring, - 112 International).Open source

Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv refused the defense of the MP Nadia Savchenko to the change of preventive measure, she will be under arrest. Interfax-Ukraine reports.

On Wednesday, August 29, the court viewed the complaint of Sovchenkos lawyers to change the preventive measure. The defense asked to send her under house arrest or bail.

Reportedly, Savchenko underwent a polygraph test. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko has confirmed her intentions of the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament.

Shevchenkivskyi District Court decided on preventive measures for Nadiya Savchenko, Ukrainian peoples deputy  detention on custody for two months till May 20, 2018, without a right for bailment. During her speech, she declared a hunger strike. She also noted that she wasnt going to escape Ukraine. Later, Appeal Court enhanced Savchenkos detention until July 14.

On July 13, her detention was extended and she declared an indefinite hunger strike.

Nadiya Savcheko, MP is suspected of organizing a terrorist act in the Ukrainian Parliament and in the government district of Kyiv. Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General claimed that he has proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have brought to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of Prosecutor General's office, she planned to shell Kyiv from grenade launcher. Furthermore, she together with early detained Volodymyr Ruban are suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.According to him, the first thing they are going to discuss is the expansion of the Free Trade Agreement

Soon, Ukraine and Canada are intended to start negotiations about the expansion of the Free Trade Agreement. Andriy Shevchenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Canada claimed this on the of Radio NV.

I think it is time for expanding the Free Trade Agreement in the areas of services and investments. This is the next step, I think, and we even run late with the start of these talks In the coming months, I think till October, we will start negotiations about the expansion of the scope of the Agreement, Andriy Shevchenko claimed.

According to him, there is a preliminary agreement that First Vice-Prime-Minister, Minister of the Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv to visit Canada to hold the bilateral meeting of the commission, which administrates the Free Trade Agreement.

The Ambassador stressed that Canada is interested in anything associated with the IT.

This is a very powerful realm for our cooperation. As of now, major Canadian companies transmit serious orders to Ukrainian software engineers. It is about thousands of Ukrainian programmers who are involved in the coding of software for Canadian companies. The Agreement should forge the better conditions for that, Andriy Shevchenko stressed.

Reportedly, the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Canada came into force on August 1, 2017.PM says summit will propel economic cooperation and regional connectivity

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday apprised Parliament about the fourth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) that is taking place in Kathmandu on August 30 and 31.The country needs at least three such systems, with each being worth 750 million dollars, Valeriy Chaly said

Open source

Ukraine filed an official request to Washington, asking to sell anti-aircraft defense systems - to cover the airspace and territorial waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Valeriy Chaly, the ambassador of Ukraine in the U.S. said that on the air of Radio NV.

The official added that Ukraine needs at least three such weapon systems; each is worth 750 million dollars, he said.

'In my opinion, our needs in the near time are to protect the naval space and the airspace; without it, we simply won't be able to provide due protection for the country,' Chaly admitted.

He added that Ukraine needs drones, counter-artillery radars and counter-sniper systems.

The ambassador also said that the respective request was announced on the highest level, during the meeting of presidents in Brussels, as well as meetings of the Ukrainian officials with John Bolton, the U.S. presidential counselor for national security.The incident is of no harm for citizens, Russian Emergencies Ministry says

Open source

The situation with the emission of the unknown chemical substance in Crimea is now beyond normal. Sergei Aksenov, the pro-Kremlin 'leader' of the Cabinet of the Russian-annexed Crimea posted that on Facebook.

'According to the preliminary data of Rospotrebnadzor, the said incident is not a threat to the public health. From the point of view of visual signs, the situation is beyond normal', Aksenov wrote.

He added that the necessary samples were collected; so far, the given substance's origins are unknown.

According to Aksenov, the emission of the substance occurred at 'Titan', the factory owned by Groop DF, which, in turn, belongs to Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash.

An unknown substance was discharged in the air in the North Crimea, as Ihor Mikhaylichenko, so-called Vice-Premier of the peninsula, said, RIA News reported.

An unknown substance was discharged in Armyansk. A greasy mud with a yellow shade appeared on metallic objects, roofs and leaves on the trees, Mikhaylichenko told the journalists.

Related: Detained Crimean Tatar released, - Deputy Head of Mejlis

According to him, an expert team of Ministry of Ecology and natural resources of Crimea, of the interregional directorate of Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Oversight of Russia, and the representatives of the Prosecutors Office arrived at the site.Open source

On August 28, a minibus got in the car accident not far from Nowogrodek Pomorski in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. As a result, one person died, another four were injured as Ono24.info reported.

According to the newspaper, the deceased is the citizen of Ukraine, one more Ukrainian.

All injured were hospitalized.

According to the unofficial information, a driver of the minibus was outrunning a truck and was not able to break before the vehicle of the road authorities. A driver of the minibus was sober.

S3 highway was blocked for another few hours in both directions.

Earlier a citizen of Ukraine died in the car accident in Lublin, Poland.

As we reported a Ukrainian bus with tourists had an accident in Podkarpackie Voivodeship in Poland on August 17. As a result of the accident, three people deceased, and 51 are injured. The Ukrainian Consul urgently headed out to the scene.

Also, a car accident took place in Luhansk region, as a result of which, an 18-year-old passenger died at the scene, the 17-year-old and three girls at the age of 17-18 were injured.

Related video:The court session will take place in the second decade of September

Obolon District Court of Kyiv calls ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to the court session on September 13, 14, 17, 18 on the case of the state treason as Uryadovy Kuryer reported.

According to the subpoena, Viktor Yanukovych should come on September 13, 14, 17, 19 at 10:00 for the participation in the court sessions on the criminal proceeding on the accusation of the ex-president in the commitment of the crimes provided by the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As it was reported earlier, the Chief Military Prosecutors Office asks the court to sentence ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to 15 years of imprisonment in the case on state treason, as Prosecutor Maksym Krym said during the debates in the court on Thursday, August 16.

Reportedly, fee-based lawyers of Viktor Yanukovych started a skirmish with police in the building of Obolon District Court of Kyiv, where the next court hearing in the case of treason against former Ukrainian President took place.

Yanukovych is charged with state treason, assistance in deliberate actions against Ukraines state border, sovereignty and territorial integrity and assistance in leading the aggressive war against Ukraine.

Related video:, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council has to define the list of the channels which will continue broadcasting till December 31, 2018

Open source

Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers left analogue television on the territories close to the border with Russia and for the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and local television companies which doesnt have a license for digital broadcasting on the list of the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council till December 31, 2018. The decision was made at the session of the Government on Wednesday, August 29, as Interfax-Ukraine reports.

According to the regulation and explanatory note, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council has to define the list of the channels which will continue broadcasting till December 31 this year to protect Ukraines national information space while the country switches to the digital broadcasting from the analogue one.

These are the channels which operate on the territories bordering Russia in the Joint Forces Operation zone, occupied Crimea, and the those of the local television companies which dont have a license for digital broadcasting.

Earlier, Ukraines Government approved a plan of digital broadcasting introduction in Ukraine in October 2016.

In March, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council approved a draft plan of a phased blackout of the analogue broadcasting with the beginning in August 2018.

Later, the Cabinet of Ministers extended the time frame for the analogue broadcasting till August 31, 2018.

Related video:The sanctions will make the economic relations with Ukraine impossible and they allow to restrict or stop the economic relations with the countries of the EU and the U.S.

Open source

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will introduce the list of the legal entities against which the sanctions for the illegal construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge should be imposed for the consideration of the National Security and Defense Council as the press service of the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs reported.

The ministry initiated the issue of the imposing of the sanctions against 19 legal entities (private companies and companies of the federal property of Russia, federal entities of Russia), which are the directors or founders of the legal entities involved in the process of the illegal construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge with the consideration of the present information and prepared the proper parcel of the documents, the message said.

Particularly, the companies Stroigazmontazh (executor on the designing and construction), its affiliated company SGM  Most (Moscow), the chief designer of the project Institute Giprobudmist  Sankt Peterburg (St. Petersburg), subcontractors Mostotrest (Moscow), Portgidrobut (Novorossiysk) and so on.

It is noted that the sanction will make the economic relations with Ukraine impossible and they allow to restrict or stop the economic relations with the countries of the EU and the U.S.

Earlier the EU imposed the sanctions against the companies that participated in the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge in annexed Crimea.

Two companies of the Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg  PJSC Mostotrest and Stroygazmontazh Corporation (SGM Group)  are put under EU sanctions. Both companies have already been included into the U.S. sanction list.

Apart from that, AO Institute Giprostroymost  Saint-Petersburg, JSC Zaliv Shipyard, Stroygazmontazh Most, CJSC VAD are also added into the list of entities.

As it was reported earlier, President of Russia Vladimir Putin has opened a vehicle part of the bridge over the Kerch Strait that unites annexed Crimea and Krasnodar Krai. Putin at the wheel of Kamaz headed the convoy of the vehicles and cargo equipment that made the first trip over the bridge. The automobile traffic over the bridge was opened prematurely at 5:30 am, on May 16 (Moscow time).

Related video:Rob M.

The cannabis vote is probably a real thing in New Mexico. I've met plenty of people who plan on voting to legalize this gubernatorial election, and Democratic candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham must have heard about it, because she's recently become a very sure-footed and passionate supporter of legalizing, taxing and regulating recreational cannabis for adult use. And she seems sincere.

In an interview with ABC-7 in El Paso, given while she toured the US-Mexico border, Lujan Grisham said she doesn't believe cannabis is a gateway drug, and that it will bring money into the state. I want our intelligence community and our law enforcement, who are working statewide, to deal with real drug threats, including the cartel.

Oh, thank God. That means we've got at least half a chance.

Republican candidate Steve Pearce, on the other hand, has said he would oppose cannabis legalization. In April, he told a crowd that legalized recreational cannabis would be an economic obstacle for those who are less fortunate. It was one of the weirdest arguments this reporter had ever heard. Huffington Post even ran a story with the headline: GOP Congressman: Only Wealthy States Can Afford To Smoke Weed.

He hasn't said much on the subject since.

Come on, Stevie. Shake that rot out of your ears and listen up. Your argument hardly makes sense. Don't you want to win? Supporting legalization would definitely close that yawning gap you can feel opening between you and victorythe one that keeps you awake at night, chewing your pillowcase and holding back tears.

I've met my share of Republican cannabis users out in the trenches, and I can guarantee you're only hurting your chances.

But who listens to reason these days?

NJ Judge Denies MJ Patient's Lawsuit

The subject of pre-employment drug testing in the workplace has become a hot topic of debate recently. THC can supposedly stay in your system for up to 90 days. (I pissed hot for six months, mind you). Combine that with the fact that you can't drive in any direction without hitting a state where cannabis has been legalized, and I'll bet you can guess the problem: Jobs that drug test are suddenly finding less and less qualified applicants.

In service industries this won't be that big of a deal. Phasing out old drug laws won't affect business as usual for the most part. Some of them are already doing away with the practice, and a Wisconsin-based staffing company released a statement last week urging employers to get rid of drug tests altogether.

But at jobs where employees are working with dangerous machinery or sensitive materials, insurance requirements will make it much harder.

Case in point: Last week US District Judge Robert Kugler ruled that New Jersey's medical cannabis laws do not protect patients from employers with a no-drug policy, according to the New Jersey Law Journal. Plaintiff Daniel Cotto Jr. claimed he was the victim of disability discrimination when employer Ardagh Glass Packing Inc. fired him for refusing a drug test.

Cotto, a forklift driver, was allegedly involved in a minor workplace accident. As per company policy, he was required to take breath and urine tests, which he declined. The suit claimed that legalization of medical cannabis obligated his employer to provide him accommodation under the Law Against Discrimination. The judge disagreed and ruled in favor of the defendant.

Alabama Says 'No' to CBD

Authorities with the Lauderdale and Colbert County Drug Task Force made public statements last week informing retailers and consumers that CBD is illegal to own in Alabama unless you qualify for medicinal use under the state's Carly's or Leni's Law.

Lauderdale County Assistant District Attorney Angie Hamilton spoke to reporters at a press conference and clarified a few dangling issues. CBD oil is unlawful. It is illegal for someone to possess it or distribute it, she said. If something came back once we sent it to the lab that said it did not contain any controlled substance, it is still illegal in that state of Alabama to falsely advertise a product. So, either youre selling a controlled substance or youre falsely advertising your controlled substance.

Director of the Lauderdale County Drug Task Force Tim Glover said, There is a lot of bad information coming out that these items are legal. They are not; they are illegal in Alabama. Anyone in possession of CBD was urged to turn it into authorities without fear of penalty.

Alabama might seem like a long way off, but compounded with the recent felony charge leveled against a traveler passing through Wyoming with a bottle of CBD, and the authorities' subsequent raids on local retailers carrying CBD products on their shelves, I think it's likely we'll start seeing more cases like this. The golden age of CBD is probably over.

So far New Mexico has been turning a blind eye to the huge number of CBD shops scattershot across the land, but the health department came down on dispensaries last month for selling CBD products that had been sourced from outside the state. This means that those unregulated CBD shops have a significant advantage over the dispensaries now. I'm predicting this will not bode well for CBD shops. Remember this for the I told you so's later.PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)Thursday 30

One Dollar (CBS All Access streaming anytime) This mystery thriller is set in a small, rust belt town where a single one-dollar bill changing hands connects a group of characters involved in a shocking multiple murder. Its nice to see something told from the cashs point of view for a change.

The Archer (LMN 6pm) Lifetime Movie Network goes full-on Southern drive-in movie circuit exploitation with this tale of a high school archery champion who ends up an inmate at an all-girls reform camp. Realizing the camp is a corrupt and twisted prison, our heroine (Bailey Noble from True Blood) and another prisoner (Jeanine Mason from Greys Anatomy) escape with the warden hot on their heels.

Friday 31

Tom Clancys Jack Ryan (Amazon streaming anytime) Or John Krasinskis Tom Clancys Jack Ryan, if you wanna get specific. The star of The Office takes over for Chris Pine, who took over for Ben Affleck, who took over for Harrison Ford, who took over for Alec Baldwin as the CIA analyst who always gets his terrorist.

Saturday 1

Monkey Twins (Netflix streaming anytime) Inspired by Khon dance drama and Thai martial arts comes this action series starring Phakhin Khamwilaisak and Sumret Muengput. Its about a fighter scarred by the past who teams up with a determined cop to battle an organized crime ring. Now go to the internet and look up Khon dance.

Transformers: Cyberverse (Cartoon Network 7:30am) Seems that transforming robot/car Bumblebee has lost his memory. Fellow Transformers work to repair his memory chips, enabling him to rediscover his past adventures home back on Cybertonwhich look a hell of a lot like the old school, Generation 1 cartoon.

Sunday 2

Dinner For Two (TVOne 5pm) Actor/R&B sensation Tristan Mack Wilds stars in this complicated love story about life and sacrifice in which a brokenhearted alcoholic shares one last dinner with his former beloved (Chaley Rose from Nashville), reflecting on memories over favorite dishes and multiple glasses of wine.

Monday 3

A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities (Netflix streaming anytime) This Mandarin-language drama tracks two womena traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Taipei and a Taiwanese-American programmer in San Franciscowho swap homes.

Tuesday 4

The Bobby Brown Story (BET 7pm) From his time in New Edition to his reality show with Whitney Houston, this two-part miniseries charts the life of the bad boy of R&B.

Mayans M.C. (FX 11pm) This spinoff of Sons of Anarchy deals with the trials and tribulations of rival motorcycle club the Mayans. Edward James Olmos plays the patriarch of the gang.

The Purge (USA 8pm) How can you confine one night of lawless anarchy to a mere four movies? Now we have a TV series in which Americans put on masks and try to kill their neighbors.

Wednesday 5

Back to School Just For Laughs (KWBQ-19 8pm) Comedians reflect on how school shaped them during their performances at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival.Last month at the San Diego Comic-Con, Cartoon Network representatives announced that their animated fantasy series Adventure Time would come to an end on Sept. 3. Over the past eight years, creator Pendleton Wards cartoon has grown from an item of obscure cult worship to a backbone of the network (compete with comic, video game, book and toy spinoffs). Although its been speculated for some time that the series would be concluding, that end date has arrived all too swiftly, and frankly Im still not ready.

A unique mash-up of Dungeons & Dragons, video games and boy-and-his-dog stories, Adventure Time followed the exploits of rough-and-tumble, quest-loving boy Finn and his laid-back, shape-shifting canine companion Jake in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo.

Aimed initially at children, the series quickly developed a loyal following of teens and adults. As it went on, the show accrued a dense mythology. Various storylines fleshed out the Great Mushroom War that destroyed Earth, turning ita thousand years henceinto a magic-filled world ruled by candy people (see for reference: Holly Jolly Secrets, Everything Stays, Simon and Marcy and the heartbreaking I Remember You). It explored alternate timelines and parallel dimensions (Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, Crossover, Is That You?). It examined parent-child dynamics with surprising depth (Fry Song, Daddys Little Monster, Joshua and Margaret Investigations Min and Marty, Escape From the Citadel). And it even took time to check in on the budding sexual awakening of our teenager hero (Go With Me, Marcelines Closet, Incendium, Frost & Fire) as he aged from 12 (in the pilot) to 17 (as of Season 9s episode Seventeen).

Over the course of a 10-season run, fan-fave characters like Marceline the Vampire Queen (Olivia Olson), Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch), Ice King (Tom Kenny) and Lumpy Space Princess (Pendleton Ward himself) regularly interacted with choice guest stars (Neil Patrick Harris, George Takei, Kumail Nanjiani, Matthew Broderick, Henry Rollins, Maria Bamford, Emo Philips, Lou Ferrigno, Brian Posehn). The voice talent was memorable, the writing smart, the design imaginative and the setting occasionally quite surreal. Adventure Time was easy to obsess over.

Production had slowed to a trickle of episodes in the past few years. (Season 5 had 52 episodes! Season 10, a mere 16.) But the creators treated viewers with a trio of excellent miniseries2015s Stakes, 2016s Islands and 2017s Elementsto make up for it. Obviously not all of the shows crazy, divergent storylines will be wrapped up in a neat bow by the shows 44-minute series finale (titled Come Along With Me). This will leave viewers to speculate, as they always have, with fan theories and head canon. (Did What Was Missing imply Bubblegum and Marceline were once a couple? Whats the deal with Abraham Lincoln and Mars? Does Finn suffer from xenomelia?) But, for a series so rooted in imagination, that seems completely, adventurously appropriate.Policyholders fourth group to be paid

Policyholders are the fourth group of creditors to be paid in case an insurance company goes into liquidation as per the Insurance Bill currently being discussed in Parliament. Insurance Board (IB) officials said the provision could discourage people from buying insurance policies.PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Reel World Projecting the Pueblo The 5th Annual Pueblo Film Festival takes place Nov. 16 through 18 at Albuquerques Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (2401 12th St. NW). Its the only film festival in the country devoted to the work of Pueblo filmmakers and actors, as well as films that explore the Pueblo experience. The weekend consists of film screenings, presentations and discussions with renowned Pueblo filmmakers. If youre a local filmmaker who is interested in contributing something to this years event, you have until Friday, Aug. 31 to submit your work. Organizers are seeking entries for the following categories: animation, documentary, youth-led/created, feature length, music video and female-directed. Films are required to address at least one of the following themes: perseverance, governance and sovereignty, resilience, gifts of the creator and female-focused. There is no fee to submit. To download an application, go to indianpueblo. org/ centerevent/ 5th- annual- pueblo- film- fest.

Cinema Down South The Las Cruces International Film Fesival is also on the hunt for submissions. That fourth annual festival takes place in March of 2019. This Friday, Aug. 31, is the regular deadline to submit films for consideration. Awards are handed out for Best Documentary Short, Best Animation, Best Student Film, Best Music Video, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography, as well as Grand Jury selection and Audience Choice. All films must be submitted though filmfreeway.com. Fees range from $20 for student films to $40 for features. For more info on the event, go to lascrucesfilmfest. com.

Local Color The Albuquerque Public Librarys Special Collections Library will host a special screening featuring two COLORES! episodes, courtesy of New Mexico PBS. Author John Nichols: My Heart Belongs to Nature, a look at John Nichols new book from UNM Press, will be shown back-to-back with Acequia, a historical exploration of our states traditional Native American irrigation system. The event will take place from 2 to 3pm in the Special Collections Librarys Botts Hall (423 Central Ave. NE) Admission is free to the public. View in Alibi calendarHow do families deal with children who are very different from them? Thats the probing premise behind Rachel Dretzins honest and empathetic documentary Far From the Tree.

Based on Andrew Solomons New York Times best-selling book of the same name, the film begins by consulting with Solomon himself. The son of high society parents, Solomon knew from a very early age that he was different. His parents could handle his love of fashion, his taste for opera, his obsession with Emily Dickenson. But they drew the line when he declared he was a homosexual. Loving of their first-born offspring, but shaken by the revelation, they never quite got around to fully accepting him for who he was. Determined to understand his parents conflicted feelings, Solomon spent 10 years researching and writing his nonfiction book.

Like Solomons book, Dretzins documentary casts its focus across a wide range of different children. We meet those with Down syndrome, those with dwarfism, autism. We meet a man in jail for a heinous crime. Some of the differences are physical, some are psychological, others are moral. But the common thread is that clear wall of division between parent and child, and the guilt that accompanies it. As Solomon explains it, the research he put into his deeply personal book was akin to investigating the very nature of family itself.

We meet, by way of example, Emily and Charles Kingsley, parents to Jason, who was born with Down Syndrome. Put off by the advice of doctors and obstetricians in the 70s, who suggested institutionalizing Jason before imprinting occurred, Emily and Charles became determined to help their son break the mold. You dont write off a person because of the label he carries, says Jasons stalwart mother. Unwilling to let Jasons disability dictate his life story, his progressive parents work hard to educate him. Under their patient tutelage, hes soon reading, writing and doing math at grade level, disproving many preconceptions about people with Down syndrome. Jasons skills even turn him into a celebrity of sorts, appearing on talk shows and a segment of Sesame Street as a child.

Normally, that would be the whole of the storyan inspirational tale of parent and child overcoming adversity. But Far From the Tree follows the story further. Its now decades later, and Jason is a 41-year-old adult living on his own. Even to his still-supportive mother, Jason has become an outlier. His early potential seems to have sagged under the weight of parental expectations. His understanding of the separation between fantasy and reality has eroded. In the past several years, he has become positively obsessed with the Disney film Frozen. Much to the consternation of his roommates, he watches it constantly. He refuses to wear anything but blue and wants to visit Norway, convinced that he will meet and marry the princess of his dreams there. It has kind of taken over his life, and it is difficult to talk any kind of common sense to him about it, his mother confesses. What are ya gonna do? she concludes, her assessment devolving into exasperated shrugs. Even among tolerant, understanding, helpful parents, there are difficulties.

Between family profiles, Dretzins camera returns to Solomon, watching him as he recounts his many youthful attempts to change his sexuality. The desire to fix something that isnt broken to begin with is a theme in Far From the Tree. But this isnt simply the story of children learning to grow comfortable with themselves. Its the story of parents struggling to adjust their expectations and hopes under what are often monumentally difficult circumstances.

Another key moment in the film is the story of Jack Ullnut. Born with severe autism, Jack soon tests the limits of his parents loving willpower. Frustrated with an inability to talk or otherwise express himself, he frequently scratches his face bloody or attacks his parents. Tearfully, his mother Amy confesses the years she spent wondering what she did to cause this. Did she not take the proper vitamins during pregnancy? Was her child exposed to something as a baby? The heartbreakingyet resolutely hopeful stories presented here prove that just because a story is inspirational to others doesnt mean its any easier to live through.

In the end Far From the Tree doesnt advance any particularly groundbreaking theory. Few people these days expect families to be perfect or children to be well-conformed carbon copies of their parents. But for its ability to capture the drama of these unique children and their often conflicted parents, Far From the Tree is a compelling, compassionate and ultimately upbeat glimpse into the complicated, peril-fraught crapshoot that is parenthood.Show Up!

Youve Got That Right!

Its Showtime, Labor Day EditionDateline: England

A man who allegedly posed as his ex-fiancee's dead mother in an attempt to rekindle the relationship has received a suspended prison sentence. Cornwall Live reports that Roy Meadwell was sentenced to four months in prison after he violated a restraining order banning him from contacting Kay Wimbury or entering Cornwall, where she lived. According to authorities, Meadwell broke a court order that was given to him after he attacked Wimbury in 2016. He reportedly went to a psychic shop for a consultation and took a leaflet home with him. He then sent an anonymous letter to Wimbury which appeared to have been written by her dead mother. The letter described a Christmas ornament given to her by her mother that had broken but was fixed by Meadwell. It urged her to call the man who sacrificed everything for her and listed a number of favors Meadwell had performed for Wimbury. A second anonymous message purportedly written by Meadwell was also delivered to Wimbury's home. This message, supposedly written by an anonymous friend, read OMG, cant you see the greatness in this man. Meadwell denied five counts of breaking a restraining order, but was found guilty of four of them by a jury. He was sentenced to four months in jail, suspended for two years so that the restraining order can remain in effect.

Dateline: New Jersey

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla has received criticism after it appeared that he thanked himself on Facebook. According to New Jersey 101.5, Ravi Bhalla, Mayor of Hoboken made a post on Facebook concerning his own efforts to help relieve residents who were affected by a broken water main. Photos of the mayor handing out bottles of water at his constituent's doors were accompanied by a message that the water would be turned back on within hours. Soon after the post was published, a comment by Ravi Bhalla, Mayor of Hoboken appeared, saying, Thanks for the hands on work and unrelenting pressure youre placing on Suez. It's needed and necessary. Other users quickly noticed the mistake and pointed it out. You realize you've posted this comment yourself, right? one commenter asked. Michael DeFusco, a Hoboken City Councilman and previous rival of Bhalla's for mayor, took to Twitter to give the mayor some advice: Thanks for being there during the latest #hoboken water main burst, but just a suggestionnext time, wait to get actual feedback from residents before making up things all by yourself. Bhalla's brother Amardeep Singh later claimed that he had accessed the account and mistakenly created the post, not the mayor.

Dateline: Mexico

A restaurant in Mexico City was told to stop serving tarantula tacos after it was discovered that the spider being used was a protected species. A video was released to Facebook earlier this month depicting footage of a chef at the Mexico En El Paladar restaurant using an aerosol can and lighter to torch a tarantula for use in an expensive, exotic taco. The video went viral and soon attracted the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency. FOX News reports the arachnid was identified as a Mexican red rump tarantulaa species protected under federal law. Agents sent into the restaurant confiscated four spider carcasses. Mexico En El Paladar was reportedly selling the tacos for 500 pesosnearly $27. Restaurant patrons looking for insect-based dishes won't be disappointed, however, since the menu retains grasshoppers, scorpions, moth larvae and worm and ant eggs. It is unclear if any penalty will be leveled against the restaurant's owners, who have said they will stop serving the dish until they can prove that they've obtained their ingredients legally.

Dateline: Florida

A Florida security guard was fired after filming himself farting in his workplace for six months. AV Club reports that a man using the name Paul Flart on Instagram recently gained viral fame for a series of videos documenting his farts. The videos generally consist of Flart looking directly into the camera accompanied by the sound of flatulence. Flart was interviewed by Vice last week and revealed that his first name was actually Doug, though he declined to reveal his last name. In the interview he commented on the sudden success of his Instagram accountwhich recently gained over 50,000 followerssaying, It transcends all languages. Theres no translation necessary, its just funny. He said he started recording his farts after admiring the acoustic quality of the hospital lobby in which he worked. A compilation of the videos was uploaded to Reddit, where it gained a large amount of public attention. Staff at the hospital where Flart worked were made aware of the videos, and he was promptly terminated from his position. He was informed that he was being fired for using a mobile phone during work hours in violation of company policy. Flart filmed the confrontation.Eric Williams Photography

Several million dollars in hope is on its way to north Downtown after the Albuquerque City Council approved a project that will bring a chance for a better life to some of the citys most vulnerable residents.

Working Hope

At its Aug. 20 meeting, the Council tallied up a 5 to 3 approval vote for a homeless housing projectwith Democrat Councilors Ken Sanchez, Isaac Benton, Klarissa Pena, Cynthia Borrego and Diane Gibson saying yes and Democrat Councilor Pat Davis joining Republican nay sayer Councilors Brad Winter and Trudy Jones. Councilor Don Harris was excused.

The local homeless service provider St. Martins Hopeworks/YES Housing was the sole bidder to build the project that is aptly called Hopeworks Village. This is a proposed 42-unit supportive multi-family housing development for homeless citizens with behavioral health issues. The site is near the St. Martins Hospitality Center on Third Street and Mountain. The $2 million in newly approved city funds joins $4 million from the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority and about $3 million in funding and housing vouchers from Bernalillo County.

Many of the public comments were from people who said they live in the neighborhood and they are tired of the homeless population that is already drawn to the area. Many other commenters said this was a good location because it is where the need is most recognizable. Some stressed that it will help get some of the homeless off the street. And this, they said, was a good start at addressing the increasing number of people having to live on the streets due to any number of reasons, from health and behavioral issues to a bad economy in Burque.

Revamping Downtown

Councilors approved a $30 million metropolitan redevelopment bond for a project in north Downtown. Just about the entire city block, from Lomas on the north to Roma on the south, and 3rd Street on the east and Fourth Street on the west, is slated for rebuild or renovation, except for the portion with the longtime pink Sunwest Silver building that takes up the northwest corner of that block.

In a nutshell, metropolitan redevelopment bonds give developers a tax abatement which in turn their company reinvest back into the project.

Plans for that prime Downtown spot include a new 7-story building with residential, retail, restaurant and other work spaces. Gone will be the longtime parking structure many people used while taking care of courthouse and other Downtown business. Other buildings on the property will be renovated with many exterior and interior upgrades. Check it out here: documents. cabq. gov/ planning/ abq- development- commission/ 2018/ ADC- StaffReport- Supplment- 1- 18- 18. pdf.

Stepping Up Thunderously

Wow! All these Albuquerque folks stepped up to take spots on one of the many Citys boards and commissions: Audrey C. Brunner, Evan J. OConnell, Shane M. Conley, Atlanta R. Taylor-Campagna, Isaac D. Castillo, Analise A. Granados, Eilean V. McFadden, Mahdi Hossaini, Fernando M. Barrios, Isis I. Lopez, Fermin C. Gonzales and Jae Lihua R. Salazar were assigned to the Youth Advisory Council; Mary Moskal and Heather Brewer made a commitment to the Library Advisory Board; Lisa Huval was appointed to the Affordable Housing Committee; John Carey has been chosen for the Accountability in Government Oversight Committee; Meghan E. Ferguson Mraz was re-appointed to the Arts Board; Ryan Centerwall went to the Albuquerque Energy Council; Margaret A. (Peg) Cronin and Juli Hendren are now members of the Arts Board; Maria Griego-Raby is now on the Albuquerque Museum Board of Trustees; Dr. Alan B. Reed was appointed to the Open Space Advisory Board; Rene C. Fernandez now serves on the Para Transit Advisory Board; Robert J. Bacon and Kirstin L. McGrath are now members of the Balloon Museum Board of Trustees; Kimberly M. Pruett and Chelsea C. White joined the EMS Medical Control Board; Kelly J. Garvin and Jason P. Hackett were appointed and reappointed, respectively, to the EMS Providers Advisory Committee; Enrique J. Cardiel is now a member of the Indicators Progress Commission and Jacqueline H. Smith now serves on the Para Transit Advisory Board.

Quick Hits

In other business, the Council approved a loan agreement with the New Mexico Finance Authority for about $2.74 million to fund some Fire Department projects and a Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) project with Advanced Network Management Inc. It also approved the mayors appointment of Katy Duhigg as City Clerk.

The council deferred the reappointment of Edward Harness as the Executive Director of Civilian Police Oversight Agency for 90 days while the agency, the council and the public figure out the parameters of policies related to the acceptable use of force. The oversight board held a special meeting last week to gain public input on the proposed use-of-force policy before they debate it at their Sept. 13 regular meeting. To weigh in or to check out the proposed use of force policy, log on to: cabq. gov/ cpoa/ police- oversight- board/ policies- currently- being- reviewed- by- pob.

Thank You, Citizens

The council also honored some city employees for their above and beyond service, not only to their jobs, but to the community. Those honored in person include: Gregory Mondragon, Angelo Lucero, Erika Anaya, Jessica Benevidez, Rebecca Stansifer and Donna White.courtesy of the candidate

The days following Labor Dayostensibly the holiday marking the yearly end of the American summerare the days during election years when the thin hibernation of politicians is firmly cast aside. Their full faces with half-closed eyes are replaced with a sort of artful hunger that, while common to American politics, is still shocking in its obsessive, passionate desire to be sated, finally, exquisitely and undeniably, by victory.

This year is different though. Its as if the American political animalan apex predator of some renown, it must be rememberedhas been wholly replaced. On one side of the historic march forward is a deleterious devolution; on the limb of the bifurcation, a creature that is trying to adapt, to survive and overcome the downward path of its misguided peers.

Thats poetic, to be sure, but its also damn true. The stakes are that high this year, folks, and after youre done with the customary barbecue picnics that grace this weekend, you might want to spend some time perusing this or any other American newspaperas well as your own particular county clerks office websiteto find out just where your options, nay your duties, shall reside come November.

Historic Election Time

This years general election has some historic ramifications. For example the control of the US House of Representatives will be a battle fought on slim margins and new progressive advances. Currently, with the House decidedly tilted toward the GOP, there is little chance that this legislative body will try to exercise any substantive oversight or investigation of the Trump administration.

But if the Democrats can hold onto the 194 seats they currently hold, as well as gain at least 24 more seats, they will become the majority party in the House of Representatives and thereby be able to set the agenda for this part of Congress. Many progressives believe that such a change in the house leadership would result in investigative and subsequently, punitive measures to be taken against Donald Trump, his administration and perhaps, even his enablers.

This is a scenario which becomes more and more plausible as one looks into the opportunities available to progressive candidates throughout the nation. Democrats are competitive in many states all over the union, but to take control of the lower house of Congress, they must win several key races in California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In fact, the University of Virginia Center for Politics recently predicted that the chances of a Democratic takeover are only 50 percent.

In New Mexico that race to overcome the stultified Republican majorityin order to effect oversight of the possibly criminal Trump administrationcan be symbolized by the congressional and gubernatorial contests gearing up for autumn here in the Land of Enchantment.

District One

If you live in central Nuevo Mexico then you are probably from District One. Michelle Lujan Grisham is currently the representative from this Bernalillo County-centered congressional division, but she effectively gave up the seat to run for governor. In her place are Deb Haaland, a Democrat, Janice Arnold Jones, the Republican, and Lloyd Princeton, a candidate from the Libertarian Party. Haaland has long been a progressive voice in the community, and served as chairwoman of the state Democratic party. If elected Haaland would be the nations first Native American Congresswoman.

Jones is vocally pro-life and sees value in detaining certain immigrants and their families. Princeton is a motivational speaker who wants New Mexicans to take personal responsibility in determining their lives outcomes.

Its very important that Democrats retain this seat in the US House of Representatives, which first saw Democratic guidance with the election of Martin Heinrich to the post in 2009. Before that, it was dark days indeed, as current Air Force Secretary Leather Heather Wilson held the post before Heinrich; she took the post after moderate former Burque DA Steve Schiff died in office. Before that, it was some GOP insurance salesman from the heights named Lujan, sabes?

District Two

On the other side of things, literally just south of Burque, lies US House District Two. Unlike its neighbor to the north, the second congressional district has been traditionally guided by the services of the elephants. Steve Pearce is the current representative from the southern geographic area, but as readers may well know, he is giving up his seat to run forwait for it, hombresgovernor of the great state of New Mexico! His predecessors have included sundry semi-effective GOPers like the inimitable Joe Skeen, a cattle rancher by trade, but also the well known old-school New Mexico centrist Democrat Harold Runnels, who died in office in 1980.

It just may be possible recapture Runnels legacy and then some. The Democratic contender in this race, Xochitl Torres Small is a water rights lawyer from Las Cruces. Shes running on a platform that recognizes the importance of Hispanic women and children, particularly those of immigrant status, in moving New Mexican culture forward. Contrariwise, her opponent State Representative Yvette Harrell recently told US News and World Report that, I strongly support the president, and I think he's doing a marvelous job. Early polling shows Torres Small to have a 2-point advantage going into the heart of campaign season; it will take sustained interest and committed voter turnout to flip this seat, but it may indeed be part of the blue wave coming this fall.

District Three

In District Three, comprising el Norte, Ben Ray Lujan, whose tenure is stretching toward the decade mark, will face Republican Jerald Steve McFall, a ski tech at Angel Fire resort who perennially runs for a variety of offices in the area. Christopher Manning, a US Army National Guard member, is the Libertarian candidate. If Lujan loses this one, Ill eat a healthy hunk of crow for damn suresomething Id sure as hell hate to do since they are such smart animals. But I reckon I wont have to do it this year.

The Race for Governor

If all of this sounds familiar, you are right. Ive written about this stuff before, made these sorts of intimations and declarations on behalf of Weekly Alibi for going on a couple of years now. You know why, dont you. Its because you must vote to end this madness and you can end this madness by voting. Its that simple. I am just going to remind you every week from here on out, just to make my case.

Oh, by the way, Steve Pearcea man who said wives should submit to their husbands and who believes that tolerating homosexuality will lead to an American culture where polygamy is the normhas a chance to win in the battle for governor, against a valuable and reliable voice of reason, Michelle Lujan Grisham. Pearces election would also preclude any end to the criminalization of recreational cannabis in the state, too, by the way.

But those are only hellish possibilities that start looking like reality when you decide you aint gonna vote, after all.

So, you ought to reconsider, compadre. Just Saying.Rautahat boat capsize: Body of fifth missing person found

The body of a fifth person who went missing after a boat capsized at Lalbakaiya River in TikuliyaGhat of Gaur Municipality-4, Rautahat district on Saturday, was found on Wednesday, taking the death toll to five.Shot in the arm

Nepal has been certified for outstanding performance in immunisationSix rogues gang rape woman, 20

A 20-year-old woman was raped by a group of six assailants at Shambhunath Muncipality-6 in Saptari district on Sunday.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.TRC rues lack of funds for investigating cases

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which faces scathing criticism for delaying investigation into the war-era cases of human rights violations, has said its work will be bogged down deeper since the government hasnt released funds necessary for the probe.Forty days after the new fiscal year, the TRC has received budget enough only for the salary of its staff while there is no money to cover their travel expenses or payments for the services of experts investigating the cases.West Seti project hangs in the balance

The fate of the West Seti Hydroelectric Project, which has been in limbo since 2012, hangs in the balance as an all-important meeting on the project began in Kathmandu on Tuesday.Yarsa smuggling up due to lax border controls

Smuggling of yarsagumba into Tibet, China has risen due to lax control at the customs offices in Dolpa and Mugu. As a result of the illegal trade, the government is losing millions of rupees in revenue, officials said.1. Yes. If a city of 150,000 cant provide safe drinking water for 10 days, a probe is needed.

2. Yes. Not only should there be a state investigation, but customers should get a rebate.

3. No. The city will be working with TCEQ to develop an after-action plan. That will suffice.

4. No. The whole episode was just an annoyance. An outside investigaton is unnecessary.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without knowing more details about the issue.

Vote

View ResultsBy Sam Ssebuliba.

The deputy speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanya has sworn in the Arua municipality MP elect Kassiano Waddri in his boardroom.

Kassiano and 32 others were granted bail by the Gulu high court on Monday after they were charged with treason following the Arua fracas.

Kassiano was declared the winner of the hotly contested Arua poll after defeating NRMs Nusura Tiperu while in police custody.

Oulanya has now urged him to work for the truth and live harmoniously with other legislators.

Kassiano was however barred by the Gulu court from accessing his constituency for a period of three months to avoid jeopardizing investigations.By Ritah Kemigisa.

The Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda has called for comprehensive and independent investigations into claims of a compromised national voters register.

Responding to the electoral bodys commitment to investigate these claims, the coalitions national coordinator Crispi Kaheru these claims indicate that the electoral commission is careless in executing its constitutional mandate.

Kaheru says investigations by the electoral commission itself would not offer much confidence to the public and thus an independent one is better.

He adds that the findings of the independent investigations should be made public so that they can serve as a foundation for the future elections.

The electoral commission yesterday revealed that it has set up a committee to investigate the related claims related to the integrity of the register.By Ivan Ssenabulya.

Buvuma Member of Parliament Robert Migadde has asked President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to give directives for the arrest of police officers who paraded false evidence against Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.

His comments followed the dropped charges of being in possession of guns and ammunition before the general court martial.

The legislator says giving false information by security organs is likely to compromise national security.

Related Stories

Hotel owner denies Bobi wine had a gun

Bobi wine charged, airlifted to Makindye barracks

Bobi Wine, Kasiano and 10 others granted bailBy Ruth Anderah.

The Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze has been charged before the Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court with incitement of the public to commit an offense.

Nambooze was driven to court in an ambulance from the police Criminal Investigations Directorate headquarters in Kibuli where she was summoned to appear this morning since her return from a hospital in India.

Namboozedid not enter in the dock because she is confined to a wheel chair because of spinal cord and leg injuries suffered during the fracas that ensued in parliament last year.

She has however pleaded not guilty to the offense and Grade One Magistrate Noah Sajjabi has released her on a non cash bail of Shs 5 million.

Her sureties have executed a non cash bond of ten million shillings to ensure that she returns to court on September 27th for mention.

According to prosecutions Deborah Itau, on June 9th 2018 through utterings and writings in the media, Nambooze incited the public to attack and murder public figures however guarded they may be since government could not secure them.

It should be remembered that Nambooze was summoned to explain her utterances after the former Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga was shot dead by unknown people, a few meters away from his home at Mattuga.By Ritah Kemigisa.

The Unwanted Witness Uganda has asked Ugandan Security agencies to desist from Curtailing the Freedom of speech of all Ugandans on the Internet.

The groups chief executive officer Dorothy Mukasa says such threats are undemocratic, unconstitutional and violates internet freedoms.

She adds that the threats instill fear among Internet users who have in the past weeks used the platform for a common cause.

Mukasa now wants the constitutional court expedite the process of determining the numerous constitutional petitions challenging Ugandas repressive cyber laws including section 25 of the Computer Misuse Act, 2011 as filed in 2017.

In the past two weeks Ugandans particularly the youths in Uganda were visibly active online under the #FreeBobiWine campaign, calling for the release of jailed and tortured political prisoners in Uganda.

This has been the highly trending hashtag in the history of internet use in Uganda.By Benjamin Jumbe.

The US Ambassador to Uganda Deborah Malac says as the country moves towards developing its attractive sector, revenues accrued from the sector should be put to proper use to avoid what befell mineral rich countries.

Speaking during a dialogue on contract transparency and accountability in the attractive sector, the ambassador said management of these resources should be transparent to avoid throwing the country into anarchy.

Malac notes that 29 out of the 50 countries that are rich in minerals have remained low income countries as a result of mismanagement of the resources.

The dialogue was organized by the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)10:41 | Beijing (China), Aug. 29.









Popolizio remarked Peru will always be a supportive nation and under this perspective expects the international community to contribute to finding a solution to such a mass exodus









"We need support from the international community to deal with a problem that cannot be tackled by a single country on its own, the approach needs regional and multilateral measures because the mass exodus of Venezuelans  resulting from the crisis  is significant," he stated.





In order to address this issue, he explained, countries in the region need to carry out closer cooperation under a multilateral framework.









"It is crucial to keep on working all together , plus we need the support from specific countries to extend an adequate welcome to Venezuelans reaching our nations," he affirmed.





(END) SMA/FHG/RMB/MVB

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Foreign Affairs Minister Nestor Popolizio on Wednesday said the influx of Venezuelan citizens into Peruvian territory caused by the current humanitarian crisis facing the Bolivarian country must be conducted in an informed, orderly, and safe manner.Publicado: 29/8/2018YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Three masked gunmen have breached into the home of Arman Mkrtumyan, the former president of the Court of Cassation of Armenia, late Tuesday evening in a village outside of Yerevan.

Mkrtumyan and his family were in the house at the time of the attack, Investigative Committee spokesperson Sona Truzyan said on Facebook.

Arman Mkrtumyan and his son went outside after noticing them [gunmen] with surveillance cameras. According to preliminary information the gunmen opened sporadic gunfire from automatic weapons, Truzyan said.

She said that one of the suspects was arrested.

An investigation has been launched, according to Truzyan.

No other details were available at the moment.

UPDATE

10:20 - Law enforcement agencies said they have discovered 20 bullet cases and one loaded assault rifle at the scene. CCTV recordings of the house have been confiscated. The Investigative Committee did not specify whether or not the former court official or his family have been injured.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissians office has announced a nice surprise for kids for September 1, known as Knowledge Day.

On this day, when school kids and students will once again start their academic year, the Presidents office said that the Presidential Palace in Yerevan will have a day of open doors for children and parents. The children and their families will have the chance to spend some time and have fun at the outdoor area and the adjacent park of Sarkissians office.

And before this, Sarkissians office will also host children from orphanages, from special care centers and socially vulnerable families  with support from UNICEF.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. US President Donald Trumps administration backed off on Tuesday on plans to bypass Congress and roll back billions of dollars from the U.S. foreign aid budget after lawmakers pushed back, senators, congressional aides and U.S. officials said, Reuters reported.

Reuters reported on Aug. 16 that the White House Office of Management and Budget had asked the State Department and Agency for International Development to submit information for a rescission package that would have led to sharp cuts in foreign assistance.

Rescissions cut money appropriated by Congress but not spent. The plan would have defied Congress by eliminating foreign assistance it had already approved.

Donald Trumps focus on his America First agenda has meant fewer funds for foreign aid. His administration has pushed repeatedly to cut the amount of money sent abroad since he took office in January 2017.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the administration at a meeting on Tuesday to abandon the plan in the face of congressional opposition, several sources with knowledge of the situation said

Trump sought to slash foreign aid in this years budget, but he ended up signing a budget without those cuts after Congress objected.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. The Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case over the armed assault on the house of former president of the Court of Cassation Arman Mkrtumyan, the Investigative Committee told Armenpress.

On August 28, at 22:00, three masked gunmen entered into the house of Arman Mkrtumyan: one of the gunmen has been arrested, the others managed to escape. Arman Mkrtumyan and his family members were in the house at the time of the incident.

All necessary actions are being taken to clarify all details of the incident.

Investigation continues.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian-American internet personality and professional poker player Dan Bilzerians Armenia trip has made international headlines.

The British Daily Mail noted Bilzerians visit to Armenia, when the King of Instagram, who is known for his lavish lifestyle, acquired Armenian citizenship and signed up for the military, as required by law.

Daily Mail published a photo of Bilzerian which was taken in Artsakh. It also showed a video of the gun enthusiast firing large caliber weapons in a local shooting range.

Looks like Bilzerian is going to like his new homeland, The Blast reported, showing a photo of the Armenian-American millionaire firing an RPG.

Bilzerian himself posted a photo of him shooting an RPG on Instagram, and said : First day as Armenian citizen.

First day as Armenian citizen A post shared by Dan Bilzerian (@danbilzerian) on Aug 28, 2018 at 8:38am PDT

Dan Bilzerian arrived to Armenia on August 27 with his brother Adam and his father Paul. He is also accompanied by two of his girlfriends.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament has completely adopted the bill on making amendments in the law on Approving the annual and complex action plan for restoration, reproduction and use of eco system of Lake Sevan at the second reading, reports Armenpress.

80 MPs voted in favor of the bill, 1 voted against.

Before the voting RPA faction MP Hayk Babukhanyan said he will vote in favor of the bill as he saw the rural people who do not have water, but added that he hasnt yet received the responses to his questions regarding the problem and proposed all parliamentary factions to create an investigative commission to discuss water resource management issues.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Republicans disagree with former President Robert Kocharyans opinion whereby former President Serzh Sargsyan failed because of the Constitutional reforms and the attempt to take office as prime minister, Republican Party (HHK) spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov told reporters today in the parliament.

Sharmazanov, who also serves as Deputy Speaker of Parliament, said that Kocharyans opinions about the Constitutional reforms arent new.

Oppositionists of the constitutional reforms, including Robert Kocharyan, have expressed their assessments. I can only reiterate my opinion and our partys opinion: there was a necessity for the constitutional reforms and for transitioning into a parliamentary system of administration, and I find it to be a very positive step in terms of strengthening democracy and national security in Armenia. Time will show that the complete transition into a parliamentary system stemmed from priorities of state security and state interest, Sharmazanov said.

He also disagrees with Kocharyan over the latters opinion that Serzh Sargsyan amended the Constitution to rule for a third term. According to Sharmazanov, Serzh Sargsyans April 17 election stemmed out of state interests of Armenia.

At that time the HHK garnered political majority in the election and according to the Constitution we had to decide whom to entrust the office of prime minister. We in our team do not have a more prepared, more wise, more experienced figure to realize national security and protect Artsakhs interest other than Serzh Sargsyan, Sharmazanov said.

However, Sharmazanov also did not rule out that Republicans might cooperate with Robert Kocharyan despite the disagreements over the abovementioned issues.

We have our political agenda, we are ready to struggle for the strengthening of the Republic of Armenia together with all those figures who share our opinion. Our struggle isnt against any particular one, but rather for the strengthening of our homeland, he said.

Eduard Sharmazanov also noted that Kocharyan has still things to say and do in politics.

In an interview to the Russian NTV, former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan had said that Sargsyans failure and the revolution of April was caused by the Constitutional reforms initiated by Sargsyan himself and his aspiration to maintain power for a third term.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan and Police Chief Valeri Osipyan get acquainted with the service process, conditions of the police troops who conduct combat duty in Tavush province, reports Armenpress.

On August 28 I and Police Chief Valeri Osipyan visited Tavush province to get acquainted with the service process, conditions and issues of the police troops who are in a combat duty and came to replace the soldiers in the border according to the decision of the Prime Minister. Accompanied by the military leadership, we visited the deployment points of the divisions, got acquainted with the conditions, problems and discussed a number of issues relating to the service, Grigoryan said on Facebook.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan City Hall has unilaterally terminated the contract with Unigraph X, a company which was supposed to deal with stray animal control and sterilization. The City Hall said the company failed to implement its commitments under the contract.

The company was also fined 11,422,720 drams in contract obligations.

The City Hall said soon it will choose a new contractor for the service.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of the Parliament of Artsakh Ashot Ghoulyan on August 29 received the members of the delegation led by member of the European Parliament Martin

Sonneborn who arrived in Artsakh accompanied by chairman of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) Gaspar Karapetyan and Executive Director of the Federation Heghine Evinyan, the Artsakh Parliament told Armenpress.

Welcoming the guests, the Speaker of the Parliament expressed confidence that such visits enable to expand the list of Artsakhs friends in Germany and Europe and will create new opportunities for the European Parliament and their political groups to be more informed about Artsakh. In this context he highlighted the need to shift to institutional relations with the European structures.

In his turn MEP Martin Sonneborn said they support the peoples right to self-determination and in this sense are ready to assist the Artsakh people.

The meeting was also attended by Vice Speaker of the Parliament Vahram Balayan and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs Arzik Mkhitaryan.

Following the narrow format meeting, the MEP and his partners met with the members of the Artsakh-European Parliament friendship group.

Head of the friendship group Vahram Balayan expressed hope that this new cooperation will be long-lasting and productive.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) Masis Mayilian held a meeting today with the delegation of the European Parliament headed by MEP Martin Sonneborn, the foreign ministry of Artsakh said.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the issues of cooperation between Artsakh and the European Parliament aimed at the further consolidation of the democratic institutions in the Republic. The Foreign Minister expressed his confidence that the cooperation of the European Parliament with the Republic of Artsakh would become an important contribution to the strengthening of peace and stability in the region, demonstrating the unacceptability of Azerbaijan's policy of isolating Artsakh as a means for resolving the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict.

At the request of the guests, Masis Mayilian briefed on the priorities of the foreign policy of Artsakh, in particular, on the steps aimed at achieving progress in the processes of international recognition of Artsakh and peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, based on the fact of realization of the right to self-determination by the people of Artsakh.

Touching upon the state-building process in the Republic, the Foreign Minister stressed the adherence of the people and authorities of the Republic of Artsakh to the strengthening of the independent statehood, based on democratic values and principles.

The meeting participants emphasized the importance of such visits for the further development and expansion of cooperation between the Republic of Artsakh and European structures. Chairman of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy Kaspar Karampetian and Executive Director of the Federation Heghine Evinyan also participated in the meeting.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian law enforcement agencies said theyve gathered information during an ongoing criminal investigation regarding fraud and abuse of power committed by officials.

The case involves Hovik Abrahamyan, a former Prime Minister of Armenia (in office 2014-2016) and Speaker of Parliament (in office 2012-2014), and Alik Sargsyan, a former Police Chief of Armenia. Sargsyan is currently a Republican lawmaker. Hovik Abrahamyans brother, Jonik Abrahamyan, is also involved in the case.

The case evolved around a mining company which was founded back in 2000 in Ararat. The company made around 80,000 dollars in capital investment, but in 2008 it faced artificial obstructions by government officials, the investigative committee said. It said that the officials demanded the company to hand over 60% of its shares. The officials threatened to shut down the mine if they did not receive the share.

The company executive and other witnesses have identified Hovik Abrahamyan, Jonik Abrahamyan and Alik Sargsyan in their testimonies, among others, as the persons who were involved in the abuse.

The criminal case was forwarded to the Special Investigative Service.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Charges can be pressed against the leadership of the Israeli Aeronautics Defense Systems company engaged in UAV production for testing the combat UAVs against the Armenian positions at the request of Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS reports timesofisrael.com informs.

Its mentioned that the State Attorney's Office of Israel has announced that the conclusion over the representatives of Aeronautics Defense Systems is in the stage of hearings for testing the UAVs against the Armenian positions after Azerbaijan demanded to do so during the showcase in Baku.

The State Attorney's Office has announced that they plan to press charges against the leadership of the company who tested the UAVs against the Armenian positions last year at the request of Azerbaijan.

This announcement came after a year of investigation.

The announcement says that the company's representatives are suspected of fraud, as well as violating the provisions of the law on export of defense products.

The companys representatives reject the accusations.

The Police of Israel launched a criminal investigation against an Israeli drone manufacturer that allegedly attempted to bomb the Armenian military on behalf of Azerbaijan during a demonstration of one of unmanned aerial vehicles in 2017.

The Police statement says: An investigation is ongoing against Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd. in regards to a deal with a significant customer.

The Israel Polices Unit of International Crime Investigations, known in Hebrew by its acronym Yahbal, is leading the investigation. News of the investigation came out on Monday as an Israeli court approved a gag order for the case, limiting the information that can be published about it. For instance, police would not identify the significant customer.

Aeronautics Defense Systems said in a statement that they are ready to fully cooperate with any examination on any issue and to do the best of their capabilities so the investigation will be as swift as possible.

In late August, the Defense Ministry Defense Export Controls Agency halted Aeronautics export license for its Orbiter 1K model UAV to a significant customer.

According to Aeronautics, the company was poised to make a NIS 71.5 million ($20 million) deal over the next two years with the significant customer. The company noted that the Defense Ministrys decision only affected the sale of its drone to the significant customer and not to other foreign buyers.

The Times of Israel writes that as a rule, Israeli defense contractors refrain from naming their customers directly. However, it could be understood from the statement that the country in question was Azerbaijan.

The decision to halt the sale came approximately two weeks after a complaint was filed with the ministry saying that the company had, at the request of the Azerbaijanis, launched one of its Orbiter 1K model drones at Armenian forces in Nagorno Karabakh.

Two Armenian soldiers were wounded during the attack of July 7.

A copy of the complaint was first leaked to the Maariv newspaper. According to the report, the firm sent a team to the Azerbaijan capital Baku to demonstrate the unmanned aerial vehicle, which can be outfitted with a small explosive payload, 2.2 to 4.4 pounds (one to two kilograms), and flown into an enemy target on a suicide mission.

According to the complaint, while demonstrating the Orbiter 1K system to the Azerbaijani military sometime last month, the company was asked to carry out a live-fire test of the system against an Armenian military position. Such a test would be illegal under Israeli law, as it would require a seldom-granted permit to carry out demonstrations against real targets.

In this case, Aeronautics Defense Systems would be even less likely to receive such a permit, as Israel does not consider Armenia to be an enemy state, The Times of Israel writes.

Maariv reported that the two Israelis operating the two Orbiter 1K drones during the test refused to carry out the attack, despite threats from their superiors.Two higher-ranking members of the Aeronautics Defense Systems delegation in Baku then attempted to carry out the Azerbaijani request, but, lacking the necessary experience, did not directly hit their targets, according to the report.

The Israeli Defense Ministry said they are investigating the case, but would not discuss it further.

The Times of Israel recalled that in 2016 Azerbaijan used another Israeli suicide drone, an Israeli Aerospace Industries Harop-model, in an attack on a bus that killed seven Armenians.

Translated and edited by Tigran SirekanyanEl defensa del Celta Gustavo Cabral destaco las "similitudes" existentes entre su entrenador, Antonio Mohamed, y Diego Pablo Simeone, con el que compartio vestuario en el Racing de Avellanada antes de que el actual tecnico del Atletico de Madrid le dirigiese en el River Plate. "Mas o menos en los partidos nos sale esa idea del Atletico, de agruparnos y salir a la contra. Y luego esta la intensidad, que es importante en el sistema de Mohamed y tambien en el de Simeone. Veo muchas similitudes entre ambos", dijo el central argentino.

Cabral auguro un duelo "intenso" este sabado en Balaidos, adonde Celta y Atletico llegan igualados a cuatro puntos tras sumar una victoria y un empate en las dos primeras jornadas. "Es verdad que el Atletico ha cambiado un poco pero su idea sigue siendo la misma, agruparse y salir a la contra con los jugadores rapidos y letales que tiene arriba. Habra que estar atentos, saber cuando salir y cuando no y tratar de mantener la porteria a cero", aviso Cabral.

El central argentino, titular en los dos primeros partidos, resalto la importancia de "igualar" la intensidad del conjunto rojiblanco, y no escondio su admiracion por el trabajo que el delantero Diego Costa hace para su equipo. "Diego -Costa- le ha puesto esa entrega, ese ir a chocar con los centrales, y eso le permite a Griezmann tener mas libertad. Habra que estar atentos a lo que pueda hacer Griezmann en una segunda pelota o en un paso que le pueda dar Costa. Y luego habra que tener cuidado con la pelota parada porque Gimenez y Godin son jugadores muy importantes", concluyo.Nothing can send parents into panic mode faster than their child informing them school is holding a bake sale tomorrow, theyve signed them up to provide two dozen cupcakes, its already 9:00pm and the house is out of sugar.

I distinctly remember my mother, near tears, covered in powder sugar of homemade frosting telling me only to offer to bring napkins and paper plates going forward. The lesson was so ingrained that I still offer to bring paper plates to any dinner party Im invited to.

Nothing worse than having a bake sale sprung on you. Photo: Getty

One school has finally thrown a bone to exhausted parents in the form of an opt out fundraiser, and honestly, where has this been all our lives?

Auburn High School in Alabama sent out letters asking for donations and the hilarious alternative to a bake sale was quickly shared on social media.



Parents who still wish to volunteer their services to future bake sales and fundraisers are encouraged to submit their email address, but parents who are too busy to respond to phone calls and emails can offer a $25USD donation.

Or, if theyre feeling generous and want to bribe the school to forget my name & my face and not ask me for anything else all year except to complete this form, they can send in $50USD or more.

Plenty of people on social media can relate to the mother, Briana Leggett Woods, who initially shared a photo of the fundraiser and shared her relief on LoveWhatMatters.com.

Perhaps in the future parents will have the option to tell schools to take their money and leave them alone  please!

Got a story tip? Send it to tips@yahoo7.com.au

Want more celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news? Follow Be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram.A seemingly incompetent phone scammer has been left lost for words after he picked out the worst target imaginable.

Greg, who claimed to be from New Zealand telecommunications provider Spark was oblivious to the fact the person he was trying to hang one over just happened to be a New Zealand police officer.

Hello, this is Greg and Im calling you from Spark, sir Im calling regarding your internet connection, okay? he said.

You did an online survery according to our survey you need to know that your internet is not running on a secure line, okay?

The scammer might want to double check who he is calling next time. File image: Getty

His intended victim, Dan from the New Zealand Police Communication Centre, allowed the charade to go on for a moment before breaking the news to him.

Well youve called the New Zealand Police so Id be very surprised if our internet wasnt secure, he said.

Its the police? the suddenly less confident scammer replied.

Oh okay, Im sorry to bother you.

While it may have seemed obvious, New Zealand Police reiterated the scammer had no affiliation to spark.

Its really important that people are wary and know what to look out for, as this is the best way to protect themselves, NZ Police said alongside the video.Brazil President Michel Temer signed a decree Tuesday to send the army to "guarantee law and order" on the border with crisis-hit Venezuela after recent violent clashes. Earlier this month, more than a thousand homeless Venezuelan immigrants who had flooded over the border into Brazil's northwestern Roraima state were driven back by an angry mob that rampaged through their makeshift tent following rumours a local shopkeeper had been brutally beaten by migrants. Temer said his measure was aimed at providing "security for Brazilian citizens but also Venezuelan immigrants fleeing their country." He also branded Venezuela's crisis as "tragic," saying it "threatens the harmony of practically the entire continent." Temer called on "the international community to adopt diplomatic measures" to halt the Venezuelan exodus, as economic and political crises under President Nicolas Maduro's regime drive hundreds of thousands to leave in hope of finding a better life elsewhere. The United Nations says some 2.3 million Venezuelans are living outside their homeland, with 1.6 million of those having left since 2015. Oil-rich but over-reliant, Venezuela is in a fourth year of recession brought on by a crash in oil prices in 2014. Some 96 percent of the country's revenue is generated through crude. Temer didn't reveal how many soldiers would be deployed to Roraima, but Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna said "troops are already in place" on the border. Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen warned that Brazil "needs to discipline" the influx of migrants. Brazilian President Michel Temer is deploying the military to the tense border with VenezuelaA row between Italy's populist government and the EU could sink hopes of ending Europe's longstanding crisis over migrants, and even raises doubts about Rome's place in the bloc, analysts and officials say. Despite a sharp drop in asylum seekers entering Europe since a 2015 peak, Italy is turning away ships with migrants rescued at sea in a campaign to make EU countries take their share. In the latest standoff, Rome has threatened to cut its annual contribution to the EU budget, triggering a warning of sanctions from Brussels and dark threats that it would be breaching the very treaties that underpin the bloc's existence. The increasingly bitter dispute highlights how elusive a three-year search for EU solidarity on migration has been -- a problem some warn could even sink the post-war European project. "We do have a crisis of solidarity," Marie De Somer, an analyst with the Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre (EPC) told AFP. Despite an apparent deal by EU leaders meeting in Brussels on June 29, Italy has continued to reject rescue ships until EU countries agree to take their share of migrants. Nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in. But the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation bloc, is still trying to broker a deal for a permanent mechanism among EU countries to take in migrants aboard these ships. - 'Heavy sanctions' possible - As the week-long standoff over the Diciotti worsened on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio warned that Rome could cut its funding for the bloc. "The European Union has decided to turn its back on Italy once again," complained Di Maio, from the populist Five Star movement, which is in coalition with a hardline anti-immigration party. The European Commission, which coordinates migration policy, said the EU "operates on the basis of rules, not threats" as it hit back at Di Maio's comments. Guenther Oettinger?, the EU's budget commissioner, warned Italy would be running risks by becoming the first in EU history to refuse to pay its budget contribution. "This would result in late payment interests. And a breach of Treaty obligations leading to possible further heavy sanctions," Oettinger warned on Twitter. The EPC's De Somer said the split is not as deep as it seems as the Commission and the European Parliament both back Italy's demand that other member countries share more of the responsibility for migrants. "It's the same policy Italy is advocating for," De Somer told AFP. The problem is with many EU member countries -- particularly with the former communist states in eastern Europe that refuse to admit asylum seekers. "There is no worse deaf person than someone who doesn't want to hear," Sylvie Guillaume, a member of a European Parliament committee dealing with migration, told AFP. Countries led by Hungary rejected an EU scheme agreed in 2015 to relocate 160,000 Syrian and other asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, the main landing points during Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II. - 'No longer alone' - Under international law, EU countries must grant asylum to people fleeing war and persecution but not to those escaping poverty and seeking jobs, who can be sent back to their countries, especially in West Africa. Italy has pleaded for distinguishing genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants before they disembark from ships, and has gradually hardened its tone. Even though Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte proclaimed Rome was "no longer alone" after the June summit, his government is increasingly sceptical of the results. The summit called for setting up "disembarkation platforms" outside the bloc, most likely in North Africa, in a bid to discourage migrants boarding EU-bound smuggler boats. But so far no deals have been struck. "It will take enormous diplomatic and financial capital, and it will take years before they even start working," De Somer said. The summit also called for EU states to set up migrant processing centres -- but while they all welcomed the plan, no one has volunteered to host one. "You'll still have to agree on which member states will take how many refugees," Somer said. Despite a sharp drop in asylum seekers entering Europe since a 2015 peak, Italy is turning away migrant rescue ships in a bid to force other EU countries to take their share Map of the Mediterranean Sea region showing migrant arrivals by sea along with a tally of those dead and missing Governments in eastern and central Europe are locked in a standoff with Brussels over their refusal to admit migrantsThree weeks and one tireless Facebook campaign after a one-year-old pet dog was thrown from a wrecked car in the Rocky Mountains, an emotional video has captured the moment he was reunited with his grieving family

Jennifer Orr was killed and her grown daughter, Samantha Orr, seriously injured when their Jeep Wrangler fell 180 metres off a cliff in the Colorado mountains on August 7.

Their beloved goldendoodle Bentley was thrown from the car and was last seen running down the mountainside.

Samantha, who suffered displaced ribs and a compressed vertebra in the accident, was determined to find her mums best friend, launching the Bring Bentley Home Facebook page.

After three weeks missing in the Rocky Mountains, a visibly nervous Bentley was spotted. Image: Facebook/Bring Bentley Home

As she recovered in hospital, kind-hearted strangers took to the mountains in search for Bentley. Days passed with no sighting and chances of a reunion began to fade. That was until a stranger named Joseph Stratmann caught a glimpse of a fluffy pooch that matched the missing dog poster.

Upon hearing the news I sobbed in the car and couldnt WAIT to meet this incredible person who saw my baby with his own eyes, alive and healthy! Samantha wrote online.

She immediately flew back to Colorado and on Saturday started the climb into the mountains with Mr Strattman.

Three hours in they spotted Bentley, but the visibly frightened dog turned in the other direction and headed for the summit.

Samantha Orr breaks down in tears after finally being reunited with Bentley. Facebook/Bring Bentley Home

I slowly but surely followed him, upon reaching the summit, I could see him watching me.

He never moved an inch for over 15 minutes, she said. Eventually I decided to give him some space, back off for a few minutes, and that got his attention.

Samantha pulled out her phone and began filming, pleading come here, come, its mumma.

Bentley edged closer and after a few uncertain moments, the pair were reunited, the camera was on the ground and the tears were flowing.

This guy has been what can only be compared to a mountain goat for the past 19 days, she captioned the video, praising Mr Strattman for his incredible efforts.

Story continues

For the past three days he has been spotted far far above the accident site, laying amongst the rocks along the ridge of the mountain.

She said beside being slightly malnourished and dehydrated, Bentley suffered no major injuries and is expected to be fine.The brothel has six different silicone sex dolls to chose from (Aura Dolls)

The first sex doll brothel is set to open in North America.

Six man-made silicone sex dolls will provide sexual services at Aura Dolls in Toronto.

The firm say their aim is to fulfil sexual desires without the many restrictions and limitations that a real partner may come with.

The brothel, which is scheduled to open on September 8, have a selection of six synthetic dolls, which they describe as exotic girls to cater to everyones choice of beauty.

Claire Lee, a spokesperson for Aura Dolls, said: We tried really hard to try to cater to every single standard of beauty, we have different ethnicity, different eye colours, different hair colour.

Lee added that the dolls were washed between client appointments using a three-step routine and use of condoms while penetrating the silicone dolls was still highly recommended.

A nondescript Toronto shopping plaza is set to welcome a new tenant in the shape of a sex doll brothel



A half hour slot with a doll will cost $80, or 30 minutes with two dolls costs $120.

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The lengthiest appointment listed is four hours, which costs $480 per doll.

The Aura Dolls brothel will open in a shopping centre, south of Sheppard Avenue.

Although the exact location is only revealed upon booking and customers with be granted maximum privacy and have very little staff interaction while using the brothel.

A new mum has revealed she mistook the symptoms of deadly bowel cancer for the side effects of pregnancy and is now urging others to be aware of the signs.

First-time UK mum Tasha Burton, 36, suffered stomach pains and extreme fatigue during her pregnancy with Alaric Corley, now 16 months, but put it down to a difficult pregnancy.

When the stomach pains, which Ms Burton initially believed to be indigestion and heartburn, continued after her baby boy was born in April 2017 the mum returned to the doctors and was diagnosed with bowel cancer six months later.

The operation to remove part of her colon last month revealed the cancer had spread. Its unlikely the mum will live past the next five years.

First-time UK mum Tasha Burton, 36, suffered stomach pains and extreme fatigue during her pregnancy with Alaric Corley, now 16 months, but put it down to a difficult pregnancy. It turns out she had bowel cancer. Source: Caters

She is focusing on making memories with warehouse worker fiance Dan Corley, 23, and their son, and has planned to marry him.

It hurts more than anything that Im not going to be in my sons life, Ms Burton said.

I cant imagine not being around for him. It breaks my heart every day but Im going to fight as much as I can.

I dont want to die, I want to see him grow up. I have to fight and feel positive and stay strong.

Ms Burton said she wants a life with her partner but their priorities have since changed after her diagnosis.

We should be planning our future together  our wedding, holidays, days out, future schools for Alaric where I should be walking him through the school gates  but now were also having to consider funeral plans, she said.

Ms Burton with her partner Dan Corley and their little boy Alaric. Source: Caters

Ms Burton started to feel unwell just over half-way through the pregnancy but put it down to what she believed were typical symptoms.

I was extremely tired, she said.

I was still having morning sickness and stomach pains. I was working full-time so just put the tiredness down to that.

She added she put the stomach aches down to indigestion and heartburn. Ms Burton said shed had stomach pains in the past but hadnt suffered with this before.

The symptoms only got worse after her son was born and after she got home her health began to deteoriate.

Story continues

Ms Burton now wants to focus on the time she has left with her little boy. Source: Just Giving/ Support Tashas Journey

They (stomach aches) actually felt like contractions, she said.

At first, I was sort of able to ignore them because I thought it was just the body going back to normal.

But then I started to worry that I was still having contraction-like feelings after he was born. I was being sick about once a week.

The 36-year-old spoke to the doctors about eight weeks after Alaric was born and they agreed to do an ultrasound.

After finding a cyst on her pancreas they sent her for more tests. It was thought the mum may have had appendicitis, but six months after the contraction pain she began to have trouble eating and couldnt stand up.

Ms Burton had a CT scan which showed she had a thickening of the bowel and it was arranged that shed meet with a specialist.

However, before the appointment the pain became unbearable so the mum went to Watford General Hospitals A&E where they did another CT scan and operated on her the next day. She was in the operating theatre for about seven hours.

They said it was an aggressive tumour and they removed quite a lot of my colon and 23 of my lymph nodes  nine of which tested positive for cancer, she said.

She then spent five weeks in hospital including three weeks in intensive care after developing sepsis.

The mums health began to get worse after she returned home with her newborn son. Source: Just Giving/ Support Tashas Journey

My body had started to shut down and my family and friends were worried I wouldnt pull through, Ms Burton said.

I wasnt allowed to see my son because the risk of infection was too high.

It was so hard, it broke my heart. He was only six months old when I went into hospital and not being able to see him for five whole weeks was the worst part.

They thought the cancer had been removed but were talking about a round of chemotherapy to make sure theyd caught it all.

The mum found chemotherapy very tough but forced herself to carry on to be with her son.

Ms Burton also discovered a blood clot on her lung, which affected her breathing but managed to recover.

But last month, more cancer cells were found after another CT scan.

That showed I had two tumours, one about 5cm in my neck and one in my back. The bowel cancer had spread via my lymph nodes, she said.

We had been starting to look ahead as a family and it was devastating to hear that  to think youre getting better and then to hear that its spread. Its not easy to take in.

Ms Burton was told the cancer was terminal and that it was too dangerous to operate on the tumours because of their location.

Shes now on another course of chemotherapy at Mount Vernon hospital in Northwood, Middlesex, to try and prolong her life.

I questioned life expectancy and about five per cent reach five years. We hope the chemo will prolong my life, she said.

The cancers not going to go away which is really hard to take. Theyre trying to treat it the best as they can and give me as long as possible.

Most people get to think about future events, simple things like taking your children to nursery or to primary school. I do wonder if Im going to be around for that. That hurts to think about.

Ms Burton and her partner, who met three years ago, were ecstatic on discovering she was pregnant with Alaric after she earlier suffered a miscarriage.

They family are now trying to put behind more tragedy and focus on the time they have left together.

Were making an extra effort now to make sure we get photos of the things were doing and to put them in the memory book so that Alaric can look back on it when hes older, she said.

His dad is going to be there for him and hes a good dad who really looks after him.

Ms Burtons family and friends have started a crowdfunding page to raise money.Berlin will on Wednesday hand back human remains seized from Namibia a century ago after the slaughter of indigenous people under German colonial rule, but descendants are still waiting for an apology. A Namibian government delegation will receive the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during a solemn church service in Berlin. "We want to help heal the wounds from the atrocities committed by Germans at the time," said Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry. But representatives of descendants of the tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people massacred between 1904 and 1908 after rebelling against their colonial overlords have criticised the ceremony as insufficient. Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover would have been "the perfect opportunity" for Germany to officially apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century. "Is that asking too much? I don't think so," she told a Berlin press conference this week, describing the attitude of the German government as "shocking". - No reparations - State Minister Muentefering told reporters on Monday that Germany still has "a lot of catching up to do in coming to terms with our colonial heritage". As part of ongoing talks with the Namibian government on addressing its brutal legacy in what was then South West Africa, the German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology. But the negotiations aimed at coming up with a joint declaration on the massacres are still ongoing. Although Berlin has acknowledged the horrors that occurred at the hands of German imperial troops, it has refused to pay direct reparations. It has argued instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was "for the benefit of all Namibians". Angered by Berlin's stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama people have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations. They also want to be included in the discussions between Germany and Namibia. Germany wants the lawsuit thrown out on the grounds of state immunity for prosecution. The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit. Namibian Culture Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, speaking alongside Muentefering in Berlin, said the two countries "still have many problems to solve". "We must ensure that after we've reached agreements on damages, recognition and an apology, there's a future in which the German and Namibian nations join hands and move forward." - 'Extermination order' - Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Hereros revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905. Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious "extermination order" that would lead to the deaths of some 60,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people. Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, rounded up in prison camps, died from hunger and exposure. Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited "scientific" experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans. In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass. Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews. Wednesday's handover proceedings mark the third time that Germany has repatriated human remains to Namibia, the previous occasions were in 2011 and 2014. The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were "often stolen... brought to Germany without respect for human dignity", according to the German foreign ministry. Herero activist Muinjangue said the homecoming of the bones was always "very emotional". "I'm looking at the skull of a Herero or Nama peasant. A peasant who could have been my great-grandmother or great-great grandmother or father." Dozens of Herero and Nama were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited 'scientific' experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans Map of Namibia, where the Herero and Nama people have urged Germany to finally apologise for a genocide a century ago. Esther Utjiua Muinjangue (L), chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation in Namibia, said Germany's reluctance to offer an apology and damages was 'shocking'Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was on Wednesday holding previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said. Zarif went into the talks at the headquarters of Erdogan's ruling party, as expectations grow of an offensive in the Idlib province of northwest Syria bordering Turkey by Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey has been keeping a wary eye on the possibility of the offensive, as it seeks to bring peace to Syria along with Iran and Assad's other main ally Russia. Ankara has throughout the seven year civil war in Syria supported rebels seeking to oust Assad but has put differences aside to form a three way alliance with Tehran and Moscow. Erdogan and his counterparts Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Russia's Vladimir Putin are due to meet for a third summit on Syria in Iran on September 7, Turkish reports have said. But analysts say that Idlib, which is largely controlled by rebel groups, could test the alliance with Turkey, as Ankara warns a military solution could lead to catastrophe and a new influx of refugees across its borders. Turkey has 12 observation posts staffed by its military inside Idlib aimed at monitoring a de-escalation zone and media reports have said it has sent concrete blocks over the border to reinforce them in case of an offensive. But analysts also say that Turkey is keen to preserve the three-way alliance and may be prepared to support a more limited offensive against the most extreme factions in Idlib. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib. Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey and said it was necessary to "disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists." Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went into the talks at the headquarters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, as expectations grow of an offensive in Syria's Idlib province by Tehran's ally President Bashar al-AssadIran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his government should be ready to "set aside" the 2015 nuclear deal if it is no longer in the country's national interests. "The JCPOA (nuclear deal) is not the objective, it is only a means," he said in a meeting with the cabinet, according to his website. "Naturally, if we reach the conclusion that it is no longer maintaining our national interests, we will put it aside." Khamenei said talks should continue with Europe, which is trying to salvage the 2015 agreement despite the withdrawal of the United States. But he said the Iranian government "must not pin hope on the Europeans for issues such as the JCPOA or the economy". "We must examine their promises with scepticism," he added. Khamenei reiterated that Iran would not engage in any negotiations with the administration of US President Donald Trump, despite his offer of unconditional talks. "(The Americans) want to say they can bring anyone, even the Islamic republic, to the negotiating table. "But as I have previously said in detail, no negotiations with them will take place," Khamenei said. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen meeting foreign ministry officials in Tehran on July 21, 2018Rome will on Thursday ask the European Union to rotate the ports where migrants rescued at sea disembark, Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta said, with France and Spain expected to top the list. Trenta will put the plan to her European counterparts during an informal meeting in Vienna. "Tomorrow ... I will carry in the name of the Italian government a proposal to modify the rules of the Sophia mission concerning the port of disembarkation," she wrote on Facebook. The proposal calls for a revision of the EU's military operation codenamed Sophia -- currently commanded by Italy -- and under which all migrants rescued disembark at an Italian port. "We consider this principle unacceptable and want it to be reviewed," Trenta added. "Tomorrow the ball will be in the EU camp: by accepting our proposal it will have the opportunity to show it is a real community of values and intentions; by refusing it will deny its own fundamental principles." Sophia was launched in June 2015 following a series of deadly shipwrecks involving migrants and has since picked up thousands of migrants floundering in the Mediterranean. "The proposal aims for a rotation of landing ports ... our goal is to ensure that Italy is not the only one taking charge of the problem, but also other member states," a defence ministry source told AFP. According to La Stampa newspaper, Italy's idea is to rotate landings between Mediterranean ports, with a particular emphasis on France and Spain, and with Greece and Malta also sharing the load. Italy has been turning away ships with migrants rescued at sea in a campaign to make EU countries take their share. Last week, it threatened to stop billions of euros of EU funding over the issue, accusing Europe of turning its back as Italy grapples with seemingly endless migrant arrivals. In the latest incident, nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in. However tensions spilled over Wednesday outside a church centre housing some 100 Eritreans from the Diciotti at Rocca di Papa near Rome. Dozens of far right protestors and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators yelled insults and had to be kept apart by riot police. The migrants were to be moved on to other areas within days. "They are exhausted but in good health and happy to have arrived," Caritas charity official Manuela De Marco told AFP. Tensions spilled over outside a church centre housing some 100 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti rescue vessel at Rocca di Papa near Rome Italy has accused the EU of turning its back as the country grapples with seemingly endless migrant arrivalsIn a dimly-lit classroom in a Lebanese mountain town, students of all ages pore over Cyrillic workbooks and repeat carefully after their blonde instructor. "Privet. Kak dela?" -- "Hello, how are you?" Moscow may have won influence in war-torn Syria through its blistering military intervention, but it is adopting a softer approach in neighbouring Lebanon, where France and the US have held stronger sway. Whether through cultural outreach, planned business deals or traditional diplomacy, Russia appears to be trying to put down deep roots in the tiny Mediterranean country. In her classroom at the Russian-Lebanese Cultural Center, nestled in the town of Aley, instructor Galina Pavlova says she hopes her native tongue will find more fans among Lebanese, who in addition to Arabic often speak French and English. "We don't want France and the United States to be the only ones present in Lebanon -- Russia is a very important country too," she tells AFP. The Aley centre is one of three new such hubs to have opened in Lebanon this summer alone, established with the backing of Moscow's embassy in Beirut. "This expansion falls within the framework of a strategy aiming to strengthen Moscow's presence in the Middle East," says Imad Rizk, who heads the Isticharia Centre for Strategic and Communication Studies. Ties between Moscow and Beirut intensified in the 1950s with the rise of Lebanon's left, before fading after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Lebanon, still strongly associated to the West, is one certainly symbolic piece of (Russia's) broader desire to remodel the world governance," says Julien Nocetti, a specialist in Russia's role in the Middle East. The aim, he says, is to hasten "the coming of a post-West world order." - 'Put down roots' - As new cultural centres open, Moscow is also boosting to 60 the number of university scholarships it gives to Lebanese students this year and deepening its economic ties to Beirut. It nearly doubled the value of its exports to the tiny country from $423 million in 2012 to $770 million last year, according to Lebanese customs data. The two countries are in talks over potentially opening a "green corridor" for Lebanese agricultural exports to Russia. And Novatek, one of Russia's largest natural gas producers, is part of a consortium expected to begin exploring for gas off Lebanon's coast next year. Lebanon's top diplomat Gebran Bassil travelled to Moscow recently, encouraging more Russian companies to take part in a new upcoming tender for further exploration. Beirut is relying on external help to revive its struggling economy, and in April a donor conference raised $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for the state to improve basic public services. "We hope to make the Russians participate in the vast project to modernise Lebanese infrastructure," says Jacques Sarraf, who heads the Lebanese-Russian Business Council. In addition, Sarraf says, "Russian businesses intend to put down roots in Lebanon's north ahead of Syria's reconstruction." But the process is complicated, with both Syrian and Russian firms facing European and American sanctions that have left Lebanese banks "reluctant to deal with their Russian counterparts," he adds. Lebanon's banking sector is already being carefully monitored by the US Treasury, which is seeking to weaken the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement by targeting "suspicious" banking. - Influence through repatriation? - Lebanon's growth has slowed to a crawl in recent years as political divisions have paralysed the government and services have been strained by the arrival of 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Moscow is looking to lend a helping hand there too, launching an initiative in July to repatriate refugees from around the region. The proposal has been welcomed by the political class in Lebanon, which hosts some 900,000 refugees who could return to Syria, according to President Michel Aoun, who is close to both Damascus and Hezbollah. Moscow has also proposed a billion-dollar defence contract to arm Lebanese troops, but Beirut pulled out at the "last minute," says Sarraf. Such a deal could have jeopardised the sizeable US support Beirut receives from the US, including the $1.7 billion it has received in military aid since 2006. Aram Nerguizian, co-director of the Carnegie Middle East Center's department on civil-military relations, says Lebanon's ties to the US were at stake. "If Lebanon accepts or even insinuates an intent to accept a Russian credit line for the purchase of Russian defence articles, it will have significant -- and potentially irreversible -- geopolitical consequences on Lebanon's existing bilateral and multilateral commitments and partnerships, especially ties to the US," he tells AFP. Lebanese girls attend a ballet class at the Russian-Lebanese cultural centre in the city of Aley Whether through cultural outreach, planned business deals or traditional diplomacy, Russia appears to be trying to put down deep roots in the tiny Mediterranean country The Aley centre is one of three new such hubs to have opened in Lebanon this summer alone, established with the backing of Moscow's embassy in Beirut Moscow may have won influence in war-torn Syria through its military intervention but it is adopting a softer approach in neighbouring LebanonAn 86-year-old Victorian man has been found dead in a forest after wandering off in his pyjamas in below-zero weather.

The body of Thomas Alex Thompson was found in bushland approximately 500 metres away from his home in Bright, four hours north-east of Melbourne.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious and are yet to establish Mr Thompsons exact cause of death. A report will be prepared for the Coroner.

It ends the desperate search for Mr Thompson, who went missing on Tuesday.

The body of Victorian man Thomas Thompson (pictured) was found in a forest 500 metres away from his home in Bright, Victoria on Wednesday. Source: Victoria Police

Mr Thompson, 86, had been last seen walking south on Iarias Lane, towards the Bright State Forest (pictured) at about 9.15am on Tuesday. Source: Google Maps Street View

Bright police found Mr Thompsons body after recommencing their search on Wednesday morning.

Mr Thompson had been last seen walking south on Iarias Lane, towards the Bright State Forest at about 9.15am on Tuesday.A man has been detained on suspicion of assaulting a 22-year-old student after video was shared online of a shocking attack outside a Paris cafe last month.

Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man hurling an ashtray from a table outside the cafe at Marie Laguerre, allegedly after she told him to shut up following lewd comments.

A police source said the suspect was detained on Monday  as he was leaving a psychiatric hospital  on suspicion of assault and sexual harassment. Ms Laguerre was due to identify him.

Ms Laguerre wrote on Facebook that she was returning home when a man started using dirty language, in a humiliating and provocative manner.

Surveillance footage of the attack on Marie Laguerre in Paris went viral. Source: Facebook/Marie Laguerre

I told him to shut up and kept walking away, because I cant stand this kind of behaviour. I cant keep quiet, and we mustnt keep quiet any longer, she said.

The man then threw the ashtray at her before punching her in the face in the middle of the street and in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses.

We are all harassed website set up to garner support

Ms Laguerre set up a website after the incident, Nous Toutes Harcelement (We are all harassed), to collect similar stories after receiving messages of support from around the world.

Marie Laguerre called out a man who made obscene comments as he passed her in Paris. Source: AP/Nicolas Garriga

French lawmakers passed a new law against sexist violence this month which makes catcalling in the street a crime punishable with on-the-spot fines.

The law covers behaviour including comments on a womans looks or clothing, catcalling, intrusive questions, unwanted following and upskirting  taking pictures under a womans dress without her knowing.

Ms Laguerre says women can no longer remain silent over street harassmentMyanmar Wednesday rejected the findings of a UN investigation alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, after the US and other countries joined growing calls for them to face justice. Mainly Buddhist Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh. On Monday the UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" against the Rohingya, including acts of rape, sexual violence and mass killings. In a UN Security Council session a day later, several countries -- including the US, Britain, France and Sweden -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable. The meeting was one of the most high-profile to date to address the crisis and featured graphic testimony from actress Cate Blanchett, who visited the refugee camps in May as a goodwill ambassador. "I am a mother and I saw my own children in the eyes of every single refugee child that I met. I saw myself in every parent," she told the Security Council. "How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire? Their experiences will never leave me." Myanmar rejected the UN mission's findings in a typically defiant response to a crisis that has heaped international opprobrium on both its military and civilian leadership. "We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," said government spokesman Zaw Htay, according to Wednesday's state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities". The country has "zero tolerance for human rights violations," Zaw Htay said, but he added that "strong evidence" including records and dates of any alleged abuses must be provided before investigations are undertaken. The government would take "legal action against any violation of human rights," he said. - Facebook ban - Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for shutting down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass on Monday, saying the move could hamper the government's efforts at "national reconciliation". The social media giant has admitted it was previously too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform -- wildly popular in Myanmar -- become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya. Much of Myanmar's public has vilified the Rohingya since the army's crackdown, with little sympathy for a minority who have for years been refused citizenship and denied freedom of movement and access to healthcare and education. Myanmar's military retains significant constitutional and political power and is essentially free of civilian oversight. But the country's civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate and de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly defended the military crackdown as a proportionate response to Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine state who staged deadly raids on police posts on August 25, 2017. However the UN report agreed with rights groups who say the crackdown was premeditated, a key factor in determining if a genocide has taken place. It pointed to the large-scale military deployments to Rakhine in the weeks leading up to the campaign in a "broader oppressive context". Around a million Rohingya now languish in refugee camps in Bangladesh, which has struggled to deal with the huge influx into an already impoverished country. Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a deal to repatriate last year's wave of refugees but there has been little progress given Rohingya fears of returning without guarantees for their safety. Meanwhile the drumbeat of calls for accountability is getting louder, with UN investigators calling on the Security Council to refer the Myanmar crisis to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to create an ad hoc tribunal. Several Security Council members threw support behind the idea while also calling for a mechanism to "collect and preserve proof" of abuses. Myanmar's ambassador to the UN Hau Do Suan questioned the UN report's findings, reiterating that Myanmar "did not accept the mandate of the mission because we have our concern about the mission's impartiality." China and Russia, holding veto powers as permanent members of the Security Council, have said they prefer to engage in "dialogue" with Myanmar's leadership to resolve the conflict. The ICC is soon due to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the crisis because it spilt across the border into Bangladesh. Myanmar is not a signatory to the court. Several countries have called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable for its alleged genocide of the country's Rohingya minority US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks during the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar

Police have released an image of a man who they allege grabbed and tried to kiss a teenage girl after she got off a bus on Wednesday morning.

The indecent assault occurred in southwest Sydney just after 8.30am.

The girl got off a bus at the T-way bus stop near Elizabeth Drive in Bonnyrigg when the man approached her.

Police said he followed the girl and grabbed her, trying to kiss her several times before she managed to break free and run away.

Police have released an image of a man (left) wanted over an indecent assault in Bonnyrigg. Source: NSW Police (left)/Google Maps (right)

Police have released an image of a man who they wish to speak to. He is believed to be of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance.

He is thought to be aged in his 60s, with a white beard, a solid build and is between 150-160cm tall. The man was wearing a black beanie, black sweater, black zipper jacket and black running shoes.

The bus stop was near the rear of Bunnings, a NSW Police spokesman told Yahoo7.

The Fairfield City Police Area Command were notified and have begun investigations. Anyone with information is urged to come forward.

-With AAPPresident Vladimir Putin proposed Wednesday measures to soften a pension reform deeply unpopular among Russians, in an apparent attempt to stem a major fall in his approval ratings. In a rare televised address, Putin suggested raising the state pension age by five years to 60 years for women, instead of the earlier proposed eight years to 63, among other measures. However, he stuck to the overall government plan, warning of the collapse of the financial system and hyperinflation if the pension system was not reformed and evoking the country's enormous losses during World War II. Putin, who is 65, proposed a number of concessions, suggesting early retirement for mothers with large families. He also said companies that fire or refuse to hire employees because they are nearing pension age should face administrative or criminal liability. The retirement age for men would still rise by five years to 65, as originally planned. He insisted tough measures are needed, citing "serious demographic problems" stemming from the country's losses during World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. "We will have to make a hard, difficult but necessary decision," Putin said. "I ask you to treat this with understanding." - 'Sweetening the pill' - The proposed reform -- already approved by parliament's lower house in a first reading last month -- has sparked a rare outburst of public anger, with tens of thousands rallying across Russia in recent weeks. Putin had sought to distance himself from the unpopular measures and had been widely expected to soften the proposals to buttress his falling approval ratings. He said that before announcing the amendments he had studied all "constructive proposals", including those put forward by the opposition. But a Moscow court jailed his top critic, Alexei Navalny, for 30 days on Monday, just a couple weeks before he planned to stage a rally against the reform. "Putin is panicking and is trying to sweeten the pill," Navalny wrote, calling on everyone to protest on September 9 despite his arrest. The Communist Party said it would not back the reform despite the changes, adding it still wanted to conduct a referendum on the subject. Most Russians have been against the hike in the retirement age and critics said the reform would essentially rob ordinary people of their earnings. Navalny estimated that Russian women would lose around one million rubles ($14,700) if they retire at 60. Unlike in some Western countries, pensions in Russia are meagre and many have to work past their state pension age to survive, while others rely on financial help from their children. - 'Huge injustice' - Irina Petrova, a 44-year-old Saint Petersburger, said the reform was a "huge injustice", even despite the proposed changes. "I am very much disappointed in the authorities in principle," she told AFP. The pension age in Russia is among the lowest in the world and the proposed reform will be the first increase in nearly 90 years. But given the low life expectancy of Russian men -- 65 years -- many would not live long enough under the reform to receive a state pension. The situation is different for women, who live on average to 76. However, the government says the burden is simply too great for its stretched finances as the economy struggles under Western sanctions. Putin said that unlike a decade ago, the country's economy was ready for such reforms, pointing to the lowest unemployment rate since 1991 and increasing life expectancy. Putin said the reform would allow authorities to better adjust pensions for inflation, raising them from some 14,000 rubles ($200 dollars, 175 euros) now to around 20,000 rubles ($353) a month in 2024. He also said various categories of employees, such as miners, would get to keep their benefits and proposed doubling the size of unemployment allowances for people close to pension age. Putin, who had previously vowed not to raise the pension age, has seen public trust in his presidency fall to 64 percent last month from 80 percent in May, according to VTsIOM state pollster. The last time his approval ratings were this low was in January 2014, just months before his popularity skyrocketed following the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said Putin essentially assumed full responsibility for the reform. "His approval ratings will no longer keep going up," he said. Putin says tough measures are needed to solve Russia's "serious demographic problems" Russian pensions average around $200 per monthRenowned Austrian photographer Erich Lessing has died at the age of 95, Austria's Jewish community organisation, the IKG, said on Wednesday. Lessing's career in photojournalism saw him document many of the key moments of postwar European history, such as the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and Charles de Gaulle's 1958 visit to Algeria. Lessing worked with the Associated Press and the Magnum Agency and his photos also appeared in publications such as Time, Paris Match and Fortune. Born in 1923 in Vienna, the son of a dentist and a concert pianist, Lessing fled the Nazis to Palestine at the age of 16. His mother and grandmother were murdered in the Holocaust. In 1947 he returned to Austria, having taken up his childhood hobby of photography as a profession, including for the British Army during the war. From the 1960s he increasingly focused on art and historical subjects in his work. He later taught photography at various venues and his work was published in around 60 volumes. In 2013 he donated 60,000 images to the archives of the Austrian National Library. Austrian photographer Erich Lessing, who has died aged 95, with pictures of the 1956 Hungarian uprisingRussia on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib, as speculation grows Damascus is planning a Russian-backed offensive on the rebel-held province. "I hope our Western partners will not give in to (rebel) provocations and will not obstruct an anti-terror operation" in Idlib, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow. Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey, who support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war but are currently in intense negotiations to ensure Idlib does not become a breaking point in their alliance. "It is necessary to disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists and at the same time prepare an operation against them while minimising risks for the civilian population," Lavrov said. "This abscess needs to be liquidated." Lavrov went on to accuse the West of "actively heating up" the idea of a "so-called planned chemical attack by the (Syrian) government." Over the last week, Moscow has accused Syrian rebels of planning to stage a chemical attack in the northwestern province that would "provoke" Western strikes on its ally Damascus. It also accused British secret services of being "actively involved" in the plot. Moscow's accusations came after US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said Washington will respond "very strongly" if Syrian regime forces used chemical weapons to retake Idlib. This week Russian media reported Moscow is reinforcing its military presence in the Mediterranean near Syria. In April, the US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma that left scores of people dead. Russian stuck by its ally Syria and angrily insisted the Douma attack was staged by the White Helmets volunteer rescue service. Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, launched a military intervention in 2015 to support the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a move that changed the course of the war. Damascus still holds the southeastern tip of Idlib, a strategically important province adjacent to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast that is home to Assad's clan. More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) met his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow on WednesdayStunned tourists watched as a boat load of migrants landed on a popular Spanish beach and quickly scrambled up nearby cliffs towards a luxury resort area.

A semi-inflatable boat pulled up at the shore of a busy beach at Cadiz on Spains southern coast at about 3.30pm on Sunday.

Footage shows the boat landing on the shore of Barrosa beach, as the migrants jump out and climb up a rock face towards an area of luxurious hotels and restaurants.

Some of the group were assisted by hotel and restaurant staff, according to local outlet El Pais.

Stunned tourists watched as a boat load of migrants landed at a popular Spanish beach and quickly scrambled up nearby cliffs. Source: El Pais

A spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard said that the boat contained nearly 50 Moroccan nationals, including 19 minors, The Metro UK reported on Monday.

The Spanish Civil Guard said that 25 had been detained, comprising 19 minors and 6 adults, in holding centres, according to The Sun.

None of those intercepted have been arrested as they havent committed a crime, said a Civil Guard spokesman.

They will be dealt with differently depending on whether they are adults or minors.

The minors will be taken to youth centres and the adults to a secure migrant holding centre called a CIE. The return of the adults to their country of origin will be fairly quick.

Footage shows the boat landing on the shore at Barossa beach in Cadiz, Spain as the Moroccan migrants jump out and climb up a rock face. Source: El Pais

Asylum seekers are legally entitled to enter countries without valid visas to seek protection, according to international law.

Spain is the leading destination for migrants and refugees trying to enter Europe, in 2018, according to UN Migration Agency, the IOM.

The country has received just under 230 migrants per day since May 31, with 19,844 refugee or migrant arrivals. Currently, Spain receives more than twice the amount of migrants as Greece and more than four times that of Italy.

Atleast 1,549 people have died crossing from Mediterranean sea in 2018. This year, 67,122 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea in 2018, with 27,994 to Spain.

Boat of migrants runs ashore in the Daintree Rainforest

The news comes after up to 30 suspected asylum seekers were believed to be hiding in Queenslands crocodile infested Daintree rainforest after they disembarked their boat on Sunday morning.

Refugee advocates confirmed that 15 people, who are believed to be from Vietnam have been detained and transferred to Christmas Island after a two-day search of mangroves and rainforest by SES volunteers, Queensland Police and Australian Federal Police.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran for more than two years on sedition charges, was taken to the prison clinic after blacking out on Wednesday, her husband said. Richard Ratcliffe said she had suffered a series of panic attacks and Iranian authorities were considering requests for her to go to hospital. "Nazanin had a panic attack today and yesterday, and passed out today," he told AFP in an email. "She was at the prison clinic, and there are various requests for her to be hospitalised, but this has not yet been approved." Zaghari-Ratcliffe was unexpectedly released for a three-day furlough on Thursday, and was reunited with members of her family outside the Iranian capital. She was returned to prison on Sunday after the temporary release ended. "She had the panic attack, got taken down to the clinic and they said... she had very low blood pressure," her husband added to Britain's Press Association. "I think it feels like the physical symptoms of crushing disappointment since she went back into prison." The family had hoped that the furlough would be extended. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation -- the media organisation's philanthropic arm -- was arrested at Tehran airport on April 3, 2016. She is serving a five-year jail sentence for alleged sedition. She has denied all charges filed against her. Picture released by the Free Nazanin campaign on August 23, 2018 shows Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (R) embracing her daughter Gabriella in Damavand, Iran following her temporary release from prison for three daysHundreds of people gathered in Kiev on Wednesday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of one of the deadliest battles in Ukraine's war with Russia-backed rebels. Kiev has blamed the massacre on Russian troops armed with heavy weapons it says helped the rebels surround Ukrainian troops in the eastern town of Ilovaysk in August 2014. Some 366 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, over 450 wounded, 300 captured and 84 went missing in the battle, according to Kiev officials. More than four hundred people flocked to the Russian embassy in Kiev to mark the battle on Wednesday, placing hundreds of white crosses with portraits of slain Ukrainian soldiers in front of the building and pouring red paint over them to symbolise the terrible bloodshed. Ukrainian soldiers who returned from Ilovaysk came to honour the memory of their fellow servicemen holding the country's blue and yellow national flags. Some of the activists held portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin saying: "The face of the war." "Each interrupted life is a crime of the Russian aggressor, for which he will certainly be punished," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page. The Ilovaysk massacre followed weeks of battles around the town which led to Ukrainian forces in the area becoming surrounded. Most died trying to break through enemy ranks. An investigation by Kiev found that a massive incursion of Russian troops on August 23-24 shot at Ukrainian forces as they tried to escape, despite an agreement with Russian command to provide them with a safe corridor. Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of funnelling troops and arms across the border. Moscow has denied the allegations despite evidence it has been involved in the fighting and gives open political support to the rebels. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the rebel insurgency broke out in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions in April 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Hundreds of white crosses with portraits of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the 2014 Ilovaysk massacre were placed outside the Russian embassy in Kiev on Wednesday More than four hundred people flocked to the Russian embassy in Kiev to mark one of the deadliest battles in Ukraine's war with Russian-backed rebelsThe United Nations called Wednesday for urgent action to prevent Nicaragua from descending further into turmoil after months of violent repression of protests against President Daniel Ortega's rule. In a fresh report, the UN human rights office detailed a wide range of serious violations, including disproportionate use of force by police, which in some cases resulted in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture. "The violence and impunity of these past four months have exposed the fragility of the country's institutions and the rule of law," UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein warned in a statement, describing a "climate of fear and mistrust". Nicaragua's descent into chaos was triggered on April 18 when relatively small protests against now-scrapped social security reforms were met with a government crackdown. Those demonstrations mushroomed into a popular uprising, with anti-government protesters facing off against police and paramilitaries supporting Ortega, whom critics accuse of acting like a dictator. Violent actions by police and armed paramilitaries have contributed to a death toll that rights groups put at more than 300, with another 2,000 injured. - 'Shock forces' - Wednesday's report said that information obtained by the UN rights office "strongly indicates that pro-Government armed elements, including those known as 'shock forces' or 'mobs', acted with the acquiescence of high-level State authorities and of the national police, and often in a joint and coordinated manner." It pointed out that the government, which initially denied the existence of such groups, now "condones their actions and allows them to operate with impunity." "Repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away," said Zeid, who is to step down at the end of this week. The report also highlighted violence by the protestors, pointing to attacks on members of the ruling Sandinista party, government officials and security forces, with 22 police officers killed. "The level of brutality in some of these episodes, including burning, amputations and desecration of corpses illustrates the serious degeneration of the crisis," the report said. It noted that the sheer suppression of protests during the initial stage of the crisis had given way to a new stage where demonstrators and others seen as government opponents were increasingly being criminalised. As of August 18, at least 300 people were being prosecuted for having participated in or supported the protests, the report said. "Rather than recognising responsibility for any wrongdoing during the crisis, the government has placed the blame on social and opposition leaders for what they have termed 'coup-related violence' as well as for the negative impact of the political crisis on the country," it said. The report urged the government to immediately halt all harassment, intimidation and criminalisation of its opponents. It also called on authorities to dismantle and disarm the pro-government groups, halt unlawful arrests and release all of those who have been arbitrarily detained. The international community meanwhile should closely monitor developments in Nicaragua, and "consider taking measures to prevent a further deterioration of the human rights situation" it said. The report also urged the UN to consider creating a high-level international investigation or support the creation of a truth commission "to ensure access to truth, justice and reparation for victims." An anti-government protester fires a homemade mortar during a march dubbed "United Nicaragua will never be defeated" in Granada, Nicaragua Police officer with face covered stands guard outside the National Judicial Complex building in Managua Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega waves to supporters during a rally in ManaguaTens of thousands of Palestinian children returned to United Nations-run schools on Wednesday after the summer holidays, though major US cuts have thrown their funding into jeopardy beyond next month. Children wearing chequered uniforms and backpacks thronged schools across the Palestinian territories for the first classes of the new school year, AFP correspondents reported. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said all 711 schools it runs for 526,000 pupils in Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria would reopen in the next few days despite the $300 million US funding cut. Fears raised by UN chief Antonio Guterres that the schools might not be able to reopen at all have failed to materialise, but UNRWA warned it might still be forced to close them again in a month if additional new funding is not found. "At the moment, we do not have enough money to keep the schools open after the end of September," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP. "At the end of September, UNRWA will be running on empty for all its services, including schools and medical facilities." In 2017, the United States, which is traditionally the largest single donor to UNRWA, contributed more than $360 million. But so far this year, it has given just $60 million following President Donald Trump's decision to withhold aid to the Palestinians. - 'There is fear' - Parents expressed deep concern about the uncertainty hanging over their children's education. "We are afraid of the schools closing," Soha Abu Hasara told AFP in Gaza City as she dropped her children off for their first day back in the classroom. Pupil Hala Muhanna, 11, said her "message to the world is that no-one has the right to close schools". "Even if they take away our schools we will bring them back," she said. UNRWA was formed to support 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel. With their descendants, they now number more than five million across the Middle East. The United States has sought to use its aid to pressure the Palestinian government into resuming dealing with it after a nearly nine-month rupture. The Palestinians have boycotted the US administration since it recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December. Last week, Trump cancelled a further $200 million in aid projects for Palestinians not funded through UNRWA. Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi accused the US president of "cheap blackmail". - US criticises school curriculum - Israel and the United States accuse UNRWA of perpetuating the Israel-Palestinian crisis by maintaining the idea of the right of return -- that Palestinians will be able to return to the homes from which they fled. Palestinians see the US embassy move and efforts to change the mandate of UNRWA as attempts to strip them of their rights. On Tuesday, Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, said her country would want to "look at right of return". She cited reports that UNRWA's school curriculum included unjust criticism of Israel and the United States, charges which the agency rejects. "UNRWA can stay there, and we will be a donor if it reforms what it does. If it goes and makes sure that they're not doing those teachings in textbooks, if they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them." Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday that the US embassy move and pressure over the right of return were having a "devastating effect" on the peace process. Gunness pointed out that the US could not force the agency to change its mandate, as that would need a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. "If one member state decides to reduce our funds, that doesn't change our mandate, it just means we have less money to do it," he said. A child walks past a mural depicting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on her way to school in Balata refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on August 29, 2018 Pupils and teachers gather in front of a school run by UNRWA in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on August 29, 2018 "Balata school for girls, no entry allowed to those who have no official purpose," reads a sign in Arabic outside a school run by UNRWA, pictured on August 29, 2018 A Palestinian child walks to school in the West Bank's Balata refugee camp, on the first day of classes after the summer holidays, on August 29, 2018Three matches to watch on Wednesday, the third day of the US Open (x denotes seeding): Serena Williams (USA x17) v Carina Witthoeft (GER) A potential third-round meeting between Serena and Venus Williams adds spice to the sisters' second-round matches on Wednesday. Serena, whose 23 Grand Slam titles include six US Opens, went from strength to strength in a first-round win over Magda Linette and she's likely to star again under the floodlights on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Even though she's playing just her seventh tournament since the birth of daughter Olympia last September 1, the US superstar will start as overwhelming favorite in her first meeting against Germany's Witthoeft, the world 101 who claimed her only WTA title at Luxembourg last year. Camila Giorgi (ITA) v Venus Williams (USA x16) Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams negotiated a tricky opening encounter with former US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she can expect another tough challenge from hard-hitting Italian Giorgi when they meet on Louis Armstrong Stadium on what promises to be another sweltering afternoon. "That's her game style," said Venus, who was taken to three sets by Giorgi in the third round of the 2015 Australian Open in their only prior meeting. "I definitely have some pace, too. I'm definitely going to go out there with some weapons." Like Serena, Venus was reluctant to look ahead to a possible all-Williams third-rounder, which would be their earliest meeting at a Grand Slam in 20 years. "Obviously the next match, my opponent is not going to roll over," she said. "That's really my focus." Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) v Vasek Pospisil (CAN) World number one Nadal eased into his title defense with an abbreviated victory over David Ferrer when his old friend retired in the second set with a calf injury. That means the Spaniard will be well-rested for his second career match with Canada's Pospisil, a straight-sets winner over Lukas Lacko in the first round. The two have met once previously, with Nadal edging Pospisil 7-6, 6-4 in the second round of the 2015 China Open. Pospisil, once ranked as high as 25th in the world, has slipped to 88th. He'll need his big serve and booming forehand to be spot-on if he is to provide any challenge at all for 17-time Grand Slam champion Nadal as they close out the night session on Ashe. Night time: Serena Williams faces Germany's Carina Witthoeft Italian mission: Venus Williams faces Camila Giorgi Power-packed: Rafael NadalThe U.S. International Trade Commission voted Wednesday to invalidate tariffs imposed on Canadian newsprint after finding the paper imports don't harm American producers.

The panel's decision concludes a year-long attempt by a northwestern U.S. paper company to have tariffs imposed on Canadian producers. The North Pacific Paper Company, which is based in Washington, argued that imports of uncoated groundwood paper hurt its business because Canada subsidized the product.

Earlier this year, the Commerce Department sided with the company and imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint imports. The agency issued its final determination in early August and lowered the tariffs.

But the U.S. International Trade Commission found that the U.S. paper industry "is not materially injured or threatened with material injury" by imports of Canadian newsprint.

"As a result of the USITC's negative determinations, no antidumping or countervailing duty orders will be issued on imports of this product from Canada," the commission wrote in a press release.

The determination was hailed as a victory by newspapers and publishing companies. Newspapers, including The Citizen, use uncoated groundwood paper from Canada for their print editions.

After the Commerce Department imposed tariffs on the imports, costs increased for newspapers.

"The Department of Commerce recently upheld the tariffs and, though they revised them to slightly lower levels (but still as high as 20 percent), the tariffs would have been unsustainable for newspapers, other printers and publishers and printers," said David Chavern, president and CEO of the News Media Alliance, an industry group that opposed the tariffs.

Elected officials also praised the commission's vote. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission to end the tariffs. He believed the duties harmed New York businesses and could lead to job cuts.

In a statement, Schumer said the commission "made the exactly right decision today to completely eliminate" the tariffs.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a northern New York Republican who opposed the tariffs, applauded the commission's decision.

"Our district is home to a thriving local press corps that would be unfairly burdened by these costs, harming local journalism and the families across our district that rely on these important organizations," she said.

The commission will officially notify the Commerce Department of its decision by Sept. 24. Its public report will be released by Oct. 8.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1The National Weather Service has extended a heat advisory first issued Sunday to a third day in a row, warning that the heat index in parts of Cayuga County Wednesday could exceed 100 degrees.

The weather service's Binghamton office announced Tuesday that the previously issued heat advisory would remain in effect until 8 p.m. Wednesday for large sections of New York, including northern and southern Cayuga County.

In the south, the weather service said the highest indices, reaching up to 104 degrees, would occur from mid to late afternoon Tuesday and again Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures remaining warm and muggy overnight.

Things will feel only slightly cooler in the north of the county, with the heat index predicted to reach into the mid to upper 90s. Here, the highest levels were expected early Tuesday evening before reoccurring late Wednesday morning through the early evening.

A hazardous weather outlook also applied to both portions of the county, as the weather service expects a cold front to cross the region late Wednesday, with showers and thunderstorms likely.

People are advised to drink plenty of water, stay in air conditioning and out of the sun when possible and check on relatives and neighbors. Anyone working outside is urged to take frequent breaks.

The Fingerlakes Mall in Aurelius is designated as a cooling center by the state Department of Health where the public can access air conditioning. Call (315) 253-3477 to check if the center is open.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0AUBURN  A Skaneateles man pleaded guilty in Cayuga County Court on Tuesday to a crime he said he doesn't remember committing.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Diane Adsit explained that around 10 p.m. on Sept. 1 of 2017 defendant Michael DeMarco, 40, went through a DWI checkpoint in Auburn and then fled  leading the police on a short high-speed chase that ended with DeMarco crashing into another vehicle at the intersection of Arterial East and Seymour Street.

The occupants of the second vehicle  Jene Smith, 26, and her 6-year-old son  were transported to Auburn Community Hospital to be treated for injuries. DeMarco was transported to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse with a head injury.

Judge Thomas Leone outlined the charges as first-degree vehicular assault, a class D felony; second-degree fleeing from police, a class E felony; and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. DeMarco's blood alcohol content was .15 percent and he was going about 25 mph above the speed limit at the time of the accident, Leone added.

DeMarco said that he doesn't remember the incident because he sustained a traumatic brain injury in the crash. He said he remembers only waking up at Upstate three days later. However, he pleaded guilty to all three charges as he had no reason to believe that the events described by Adsit were untrue.

Adsit also noted that DeMarco had a prior DWAI conviction in the town of Skaneateles in May 2016.

Although the maximum sentence for DeMarco's crimes would be seven years in prison, the sentence discussed on Tuesday was five years of probation with a felony drug court component. He made his first appearance in drug court on Tuesday and is scheduled to appear for sentencing Oct. 30.

Also in court

 A Moravia teen was sentenced Tuesday for the unlawful possession of a firearm.

Frankie Putt, 19, of 1582 Lick St., has been at Cayuga County Jail since July 3 when he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm.

District Attorney Jon Budelmann explained to Judge Mark Fandrich that on March 2 police responded to a call that reported someone heard a gunshot. Once on the scene, police found Putt had shot himself in the leg.

"Thankfully there was no indication to (use the firearm) on anyone else, just himself, apparently," Budelmann said.

Budelmann added that Putt has a history of misdemeanors, no license to possess a firearm  which was also stolen  and admitted to regular use of alcohol and marijuana.

Putt's attorney, Charles Thomas, voiced that all officers and teachers think Putt should be given a second chance and be allowed to finish his senior year of high school and graduate.

"He understood that he did wrong. He came in and pleaded guilty," Thomas said.

On Tuesday Putt again acknowledged to Fandrich that he was sorry for what he did.

Fandrich said he wants Putt to be able to go to school, and therefore sentenced him to five years of shock probation and weekends in the Cayuga County Jail for the next four months. Putt will be released from jail on Sept. 4 so he can attend the first day of school on Sept. 5.

 A Syracuse woman plead guilty to promoting prison contraband.

Elizabeth Trice, 45, of 131 Cordova St., brought prescription suboxone and synthetic marijuana into the Cayuga Correction Facility in Moravia on March 10.

On Tuesday, she plead guilty to first-degree promotion of prison contraband, a class D felony, and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell.

Trice admitted that she brought the drugs in, knowing it was wrong, to give them to an inmate.

Fandrich said that he will give Trice some form of probation for five years, either straight or shock, but will decide after reviewing her pre-sentence report prior to her sentencing scheduled for Oct. 30.

Staff writer Megan Ehrhart can be reached at (315) 282-2244 or megan.ehrhart@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @MeganEhrhart.

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Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.SKANEATELES  Security officers familiar with the Skaneateles Central School District will be coming back to school grounds  at least for a time.

The district's board of education opted to reinstate retired New York state troopers James O'Brien and Aileen Sherman at a meeting Tuesday night. The two are set to be with the district from the beginning of the school year to Dec. 31.

Board vice president Julie Abbott-Kenan said keeping the officers until December was recommended by the district's Safe Schools Community Advisory Committee, which gave safety recommendations to the district. Abbott-Kenan said this allows the committee to vet further information in the meantime. She stressed that the district could choose to keep the retain the positions through the end of the school year. The district also approved a committee recommendation that training from the I love U Guys Foundation, a school safety organization, be designated as the district's main emergency situation training.

O'Brien and Sherman were originally brought aboard in April to work part-time until the end of the 2017-2018 school year. A total of $60,000 is budgeted for their salaries. They were also authorized to carry a firearm and pepper spray, as long as they are licensed to do so.

The officers will will not be able to interrogate students on any issues unless authorized by the district, and any interrogations must follow current district policy. Additionally, both will be restricted from physically intervening on student behavior unless students or staff are at risk of physical harm.

The two will also have to be recertified in firearm use though the state police, a training facility approved by the state Department of Criminal Justice or other organization approved by the superintendent. They will also need to receive active shooter training, training with mental health assistance for young people and other training.

Earlier this month the Onondaga County School Safety Task Force, created in response to the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February to create suggestions on school safety issues, released its recommendations. Among them, from the group's law enforcement committee, was the idea that school resource officers "should be the preferred method of providing safety within schools."

The board discussed reinstating the positions at a meeting earlier this month. At that meeting, Abbott-Kenan and other board members suggested gathering more information to avoid making a choice before the safety committee gave its suggestions.

The committee was formed by the district in April after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February and the incident in which the Skaneateles middle and high schools went into a "shelter in place" in March. The committee includes parents, teachers, district administrators, law enforcement personnel, mental health professionals and board of education members.

During the public comments sections of the meeting, Sarah Kiefer asked why the district didn't decide to keep the guards for the entire school year.

"My fear is in December you will again be discussing the idea of not bringing back the guards, and that to me is unacceptable because of the evidence that has been presented," she said.

Abbott-Kenan said the district may reinstate O'Brien and Sherman's time to the end of the year.

"The intention is not 'Oh, we're only going to do it for three months and walk away.' We just truly need let the committee do its work," she said.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.A new pilot program from the state is set to use advanced monitoring stations on Owasco, Skaneateles and Seneca lakes to help understand how harmful algal blooms form and how best to combat them, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

The new program last week deployed two monitoring stations on Skaneateles Lake. Owasco and Seneca lakes are set to have their monitoring stations installed mid-September, according to a press release from the governor's office.

Protecting water quality is a top priority to ensure safe drinking water and the health of New Yorkers, Cuomo said in the release. This pilot program allows us to continue to monitor the status of harmful algal blooms across our lakes, but more importantly will help us to gather crucial information that will assist us as we work to eliminate these blooms altogether.

The monitoring stations are equipped with sensors that measure temperature, specific conductance, acidity, dissolved oxygen, percent oxygen saturation, turbidity, chlorophyll fluorescence, phyococyanin fluorescence and dissolved organic matter fluorescence, all to help direct the implementation of future strategies to mitigate HABs.

Sensors aboard the stations measure those conditions every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day and send it in real-time to the USGS National Water Information System. Once uploaded, it is immediately available to the public via the Water Quality Data Viewer.

Dr. John Halfman, a professor with the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, has maintained a similar buoy near the middle of Owasco Lake as part of a wider sampling program for several years.

Halfman said in an email that the buoy's used by the state will most likely have more modern sensors to measure additional parameters than his buoy is capable of, which he said "will help the cause as well."

"Even if they deploy another mid-lake buoy similar to mine at another location in the lake from my buoy, it will provide very interesting and useful information concerning lake dynamics that have implications on the genesis of [blue-green algae] blooms," Halfman said.

Both Auburn Mayor Michael Quill and Owasco Town Supervisor Ed Wagner, whose municipalities water systems provide Owasco Lake-sourced drinking water to a large portion of Cayuga County, are quoted in the press release thanking the governor for funding the pilot program to ensure access to safe and clean water. Skaneateles village Mayor Martin Hubbard and town Supervisor Janet Aaron also expressed their appreciation for the monitors in their lake, which supplies drinking water to their municipalities, the city of Syracuse and several other Onondaga County communities.

Part of the $65 million initiative to combat HABS that included the development of 12 action plans, the project is the result of a collaboration between the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the United States Geological Surveys New York Water Science Center.

The action plans, including ones for Owasco, Skaneateles and Cayuga lakes, were developed through regional summits that connected local stakeholders with national experts to develop lake-specific strategies to combat HABs. With approximately $60 million in grant funding available, specific projects must go through an application and approval process to receive funding from the state.

Calling the anti-HAB initiative the most comprehensive of its kind in the country, DEC Commissioner Basil Segos said the partnership will serve to bolster state efforts to reduce the blooms.

New York State is committed to identifying the underlying causes of HABS and implementing new and innovative strategies to treat and prevent future occurrences to safeguard our clean water for future generations, Seggos said in a release.

Staff writer Ryan Franklin can be reached at (315) 282-2252 or ryan.franklin@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @RyanNYFranklin

Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0PORT BYRON  Construction has resumed on the controversial manure lagoon in Mentz and residents are continuing to make it clear that they arent happy about the project.

Construction on the manure lagoon, being built by CH4 Generate Cayuga on land leased from Hourigan Farms, resumed last week the Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed in an email to The Citizen on Thursday. The lagoon will be used to store digestate produced by the Cayuga Regional Digester, run by CH4, and Hourigan farms will inject the digestate as manure on the 400 acres of land the lagoon is situated on.

A spokesperson stated that the DEC recently received new information from CH4 and Hourigan Farms with respect to ownership of the project. Hourigan Farms will now own, operate, maintain and be responsible for the environmental compliance of the lagoon, the DEC explained, and in light of that change the DEC determined the project meets CAFO standards for construction and operation of a storage lagoon.

Tuesday night, at the Port Byron Central School's auditorium, more than 50 people attended an informational meeting with a panel of various representatives and officials  including the DEC, Hourigan Farms, Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District, CH4 and the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets  that spanned more than two hours. Various members of the panel took turns presenting before fielding residents' questions.

Reggie Parker, the regional engineer for DEC Region 7, which includes Cayuga County, explained that Hourigan Farms had coverage for the project under a general CAFO permit issued last July. Initially, the DEC believed that Hourigan Farms was installing the lagoon with their CAFO permit, Parker explained, and it wasnt until further communication with Hourigan and CH4 that DEC found that Hourigan Farms didnt own, and wasn't legally responsible for, the lagoon.

This led the DEC to issue a notice of violation to CH4, which then stopped work voluntarily in response. Parker explained that the DEC did not issue a do not work order, so the halting of the work was voluntary on CH4s behalf.

Since then, Parker explained, CH4 and Hourigan Farms have changed their agreement and now that Hourigan has accepted the responsibility to own and operate the lagoon, the project can again be under the farm's CAFO.

Additional DEC officials spoke to the construction of the lagoon and confirmed that it will be built with a liner and has plenty of capacity included in the design to account for large storms so there should never be either infiltration or overflow from the lagoon into the land.

AJ Wormuth, the farm's manager who introduced himself as "the alleged bad guy" at the meeting, explained that he hopes to offer a new perspective to residents. He explained that, as a member of the community he is just as concerned about the environmental fears that residents have  especially since the farm couldn't survive if it didn't care for the land.

In response to a question about what would happen if there ever were to be an issue with the lagoon, DEC Regional Director Matthew Marko explained that the DEC would investigate and would take actions against the farm if there were issues that stemmed from a violation of the CAFO permit.

There is a lot of assumption in these questions that its going to leak and there is going to be contamination, Wormuth said. In the event that something did happen  in the extremely rare event that the lagoon would leak  we would be responsible  bottom line.

He said even in the cases that residents' wells become contaminated, if it can be proven that the farm caused the contamination, the farm will take the responsibility to fix it.

Wormuth also confirmed, in response to a question, that as of right now Hourigan Farms will be the only farm taking the digestate out of the lagoon to spread on their land, "but we never say never," he added.

Although the panel spent time presenting and answering questions residents had sent to the town board ahead of time, many still were not satisfied.

No matter what you say here tonight  its a manure lagoon, said Bonnie Warrick, who lives 1/4 mile from the lagoon, "and I'm not happy about it."

She explained that she sat and listened to all the rules, and heard them talk about how great the project is and how it maybe won't affect the roads, their wells, their air quality or home assessments, but she still doesn't like it.

"Weve had this pushed right down our throats, and we dont like it ... I am ticked, as she finished speaking the audience erupted in loud cheers.

Although the official meeting had ended, as of 9:15 p.m. Tuesday night, residents were still interacting with the panel and asking individual questions.

Staff writer Megan Ehrhart can be reached at (315) 282-2244 or megan.ehrhart@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @MeganEhrhart.

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Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich.Well, the proverbial excrement has hit the fan at the Van Buren Township elementary school, with the township's school board voting on Monday in a closed session to put "reading teacher for struggling students" Linda Janack on paid leave for appearing in sexually explicit videos with her husband, and according to the news site mlive.com, it "may vote on whether to terminated Janack at the next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 10," according to Schools Superintendent Peter Kudlak.

Kudlak referenced Janack's Twitter account HotForTeachers and "an adult website that features the sale of pornographic videos featuring the couple"likely CamSoda, which previously issued a statement in support of the couple.

Reportedly, the school district is investigating to see whether Janack's extracurricular activities have "violated school morality policies," although a web search for such policies brought no results. AVN contacted Superintendent Kudlak's office seeking a copy of the school district's morality policy, but was told that the superintendent was unavailable for the rest of the day and would have to get back to us tomorrow. His assistant said she was unsure whether such a written policy existed.

Interestingly, the first comment on mlive.com's article that comes up in the "comments" section asks, "How well defined is the morality clause?"

Another comment, this one from "J" (not his real handle), reads in part, "they perform on a regular basis and publish the videos. Most people do not do this and I'm guessing most parents would not want someone with this type of moral character teaching their kids," to which another reader responded, "Just for the sake of argument, what part of this situation makes their 'moral character' questionable?"

But J was undeterred, responding to another comment with, "Having sex with your spouse or whomever you choose (of legal consent) is not the issue. The issue is whether an elementary school teacher who performs with her husband on a regular basis and publishes these videos should be allowed to teach elementary school kids." That opinion drew another response: "last I read, consensual sex with your partner is legal. Our country is based on laws, not shifting morals or perceptions. Everything she is doing is legal."

Indeed. That legality was first tested in 2007 after math teacher Anna Land of the L'Anse Creuse school district "engaged in a simulated sex act with a male mannequin" during the 2005 annual Lake St. Clair gathering of boaters on Gull Island known as "Jobbie Nooner." Photos of Land in action were posted on the internet in 2007, and some of her students managed to see them, leading the L'Anse Creuse school board to fire her for her behavior at the non-school event.

Although Land had tenure, her firing was upheld by an administrative law judge, but reversed by the Michigan Tenure Commission, which according to the Macomb Daily newspaper "determined the photograph was taken without Land's knowledge and her conduct did not provide just conduct for dismissal."

The school district appealed the commission's ruling, but the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld Land's reinstatement, ruling that "legal, off-duty, off-premises, conduct not involving students" was not professional misconduct.

"Those idiots at the Court of Appeals who say this didn't affect the students are totally wrong," said senior board member John Hart. "The kids brought the pictures to the districtthat's how we found out about it, from her students." (In the Janack case, since the oldest student she teaches would be 12 or 13, it's unlikely that any student of hers would see her and her husband's videos.)

The board then took the controversy to the Michigan Supreme Court, which in October of 2010 declined to review the lower court's decision.With the California State Assembly set to debate and possibly vote Tuesday on what would be the countrys strongest net neutrality legislation, big internet service providers are resorting to questionable tactics to put the kibosh on the bill, according to a report by the technology news site Motherboard.

Specifically, a group with financial ties to AT&T recently began targeting California senior citizens with a robocallthat is, a prerecorded, automated phone messageclaiming that passage of the net neutrality bill, SB 822, would cause cell phone rates to go up, and data speeds to slow down.

The tech news site Ars Technica reported that both AT&T as well as fellow internet service giant Verizon have denied being linked to or behind the robocalls.

The Republican-controlled FCC repealed Obama-era net neutrality rules effective on June 11 of this year. But the rules had been in effect for almost exactly three years, since June of 2015, and cell phone bills overall did not risein fact, they went down, according to a Wall Street Journal report last year. Nor did wireless data speeds slow during that three-year period. On the contrary, according to a report by the wireless industry trade association CTIA, download speeds increased by up to 40 percent from 2015 to 2017despite the fact that mobile networks transmitted 35 times more data in 2016 than they did in 2010.

But the robocall sponsored by the lobbying group Civil Justice Association of California simply ignores those facts.

Your Assembly member will be voting on a proposal by San Francisco politicians that could increase your cellphone bill by $30 a month and slow down your data, the prerecorded message says. We can't afford higher cell phone bills. We can't afford slower data. We can't afford Senate Bill 822.

Hear a recording of the anti-net neutrality robocall at this link.

San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener, the chief sponsor of SB 822, lashed out against the deceptive robocall on his Twitter account.

Were now dealing with a straight-up misinformation campaign on our #NetNeutrality bill, #SB822, Wiener wrote. Industry robo-calls to seniors falsely telling them that protecting net neutrality will increase their phone bills by $30. Scaring seniors with lies about their financial security? Gross.

Apple Computer belongs to the CJAC Board of Directors, but Apple has opposed the repeal of net neutrality rules.

Photo by Michael Rivera / Wikimedia CommonsMONTREALNewcomer Emily Willis makes her debut with Pure Taboo in new scene Uncle Charming, available now at PureTaboo.com.

Elaborates a company synopsis, "Emily's family welcomes a new member of their family to stay at the house, Blake (Logan Pierce), soon after her grandfather's new marriage. The 18-year-old finds herself captivated by her new uncle, much to the chagrin of her parents (Marcus London and Chanel Preston, in non-sex roles)."

Directed by Craven Moorehead and written by 3X West, Uncle Charming "checks off all the boxes of a parent's worst fear," commented producer Bree Mills, head of production for parent company Gamma Films. "A young man in the house, a teenage daughter, hormones and curiosity ... you just might be asking for trouble!"

The trailer and full Uncle Charming scene can be viewed here. Learn more about Emily Willis on her official Pure Taboo cast page.Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Rudy Douven (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Monique Burger; and Erik Schut ask Does managed competition constrain hospitals contract prices? Evidence from the Netherlands.

ABSTRACT: In the Dutch health care system health insurers negotiate with hospitals about the pricing of hospital products in a managed competition framework. In this paper, we study these contract prices that became for the first time publicly available in 2016. The data show substantive price variation between hospitals for the same products, and within a hospital for the same product across insurers. About 27% of the contract prices for a hospital product is 20% higher or lower than the average contract price in the market. For about half of the products the highest and lowest contract price across hospitals differ by a factor three or more. Moreover, hospital product prices do not follow a consistent ranking across hospitals, suggesting substantial cross subsidization between hospital products. Potential explanations for the large and seemingly random price variation are: (i) different cost pricing methods used by hospitals, (ii) uncertainty due to frequent changes in the hospital payment system; (iii) price adjustments related to negotiated lumpsum payments, and (iv) differences in hospital and insurer market power. Several policy options are discussed to reduce variation and increase transparency of hospital prices.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/antitrustprof_blog/2018/08/does-managed-competition-constrain-hospitals-contract-prices-evidence-from-the-netherlands.htmlShould Beaufort County's commissioners be resolved to ask the federal government to defend our Southern Border by ending the Biden /Harris Open Border policy in regards to that one border that is intentionally made OPEN?

Yes, Illegal Migrants are a huge expense to local governments.

No, the cost of Undocumented Immigrants is insignificant in our providing a pathway for the "Browning of America".After a historic protest that ended in the illegal takedown of Silent Sam, a Confederate statue at UNC-Chapel Hill, the university faces tough inquiries about campus security and law enforcement.A striking question - about how a handful of people tore down a weighty statue under watch of city and university police - so far has reaped cryptic answers.On Monday, Aug. 20, around 9:20 p.m., a group of roughly 250 people cheered as Silent Sam fell from his pedestal. Installed in 1913, Sam has for decades been subject to controversy, drawing both scorn and support.Protesters who dethroned the statue likely used torches to cut the bolts that secured Silent Sam to his base, sources familiar with the situation told Carolina Journal.Barricades formerly placed around the monument were ordered by top university officials to be taken down ahead of the protests, sources also revealed. A video published by Blacklisted News on Aug. 23 shows campus police filing away from Silent Sam just before the crowd toppled it with ropes.CJ spoke with representatives from UNC-Chapel Hill and the N.C. Historical Commission - which oversees public monuments - asking for more details on the dismantling of the monument.Jeni Cook, a spokeswoman for UNC-Chapel Hill, did not answer questions but pointed CJ to a general statement condemning the activity of the protesters. A representative of the historical commission said the commission isn't familiar with details of Silent Sam's physical condition prior to the protest.No one in UNC's administration ordered officers to allow protesters to disassemble the monument, UNC officials said in an Aug. 21 press release.the statement reads.The police and the State Bureau of Investigation are working to sort things out, said Harry Smith, chairman of the UNC System Board of Governors. He didn't comment on the mechanics of the statue's overthrow but called the story "fluid."Consequences are inevitable for those who committed crimes, Smith said. Security is the top concern for UNC officials, many of whom have supported active shooter drills and safety training across the system's 17 schools.Smith said.UNC's governing body will support UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt and will work with the school's Board of Trustees to handle the issuesSmith said.Smith said he's had many discussions with Folt about the situation.Violence is never excusable, but the United States carries a history of vandalism and disobedience when related to protests and issues of civil rights, said Gerry Cohen, former special counsel to the General Assembly. The Boston Tea Party and civil rights movement offer examples, Cohen said, though not fully comparable to the Silent Sam situation.Cohen said.Folt is in a tough spot, and administratorssaid UNC board member Marty Kotis.If university leaders don't set boundaries and rules, lawless behavior will only escalate, Kotis said.The six living retired N.C. Supreme Court chief justices have signed onto a letter opposing two constitutional amendments that sit now in legal limbo.Retired Chief Justices Rhoda Billings, James Exum, Henry Frye, Beverly Lake, Burley Mitchell, and Sarah Parker signed the " Statement of Concerned Lawyers ." Billings and Lake were elected as Republicans. The others were elected as Democrats. Twenty-nine other N.C. lawyers also added their names to the letter.according to the statement.At this point, neither amendment would appear on North Carolina's election ballot. A three-judge Superior Court panel blocked them in a Tuesday, Aug. 21 order. State legislative leaders, who support the amendments, have appealed that decision to the N.C. Court of Appeals. Gov. Roy Cooper, who opposes both measures, has asked the N.C. Supreme Court to bypass the Appeals Court and resolve the matter itself.One amendment would change the way the state fills judicial vacancies.according to the lawyers' letter.The second amendment would change the makeup of the state board overseeing elections and ethics issues. It also would establish the General Assembly's control over appointments to state boards and commissions created by law.the lawyers argue in their letter.The lawyers' letter arrives 10 days after all five living former N.C. governors announced their opposition to the same two amendments. The lawyers note their agreement with the former governors.the lawyers write.Another signee, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Phil Carlton, is listed as the primary media contact in connection with the letter. Carlton also served as a District and Appeals Court judge. Former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt appointed Carlton as the first secretary of the Department of Crime Control in 1977.Former Asheville Mayor Larry McDevitt, a Republican, is listed as a second media contact.With an election deadline looming, Republican legislative leaders are calling a special legislative session Friday, Aug. 24, to rewrite two constitutional amendments a three-judge Superior Court panel removed from the Nov. 6 general election ballot.GOP leaders maintain the panel erred by issuing a preliminary injunction due to unconstitutionally deceptive ballot language describing the amendments. They shift appointment power for boards and commissions, and for judicial vacancies, from the governor to the legislature. But in the interest of time, and to avoid election chaos, they decided to comply with the order, made public Tuesday.House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said in a news release Thursday, Aug. 23, the House will have the required 72 signatures from members to call the chamber into special session Friday.In a written statement Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said Lt. Gov. Dan Forest will call the body into special session after receiving the requisite 30 signatures, but would not take up new draft language until Monday.This will be the second special session of 2018."The General Assembly will write new ballot referendums in compliance with the court's ruling," Moore said. The proposals "provide a popular bipartisan balance in our state government that will benefit the people of North Carolina, who deserve a voice in considering reforms to their constitution."Moore said Republicans "hope this will end the unnecessary litigation, and allow our state to move forward with the democratic process to let the people decide these issues for themselves.""I disagree with the court's decision on the merits. It's clear, though, that protracted litigation could delay ballot printing, and only further the chance for voter confusion," Berger said. "Given those circumstances, I support a special session to write amendments that comply with the court order as quickly as possible."The court's order removing legislatively passed constitutional amendments from the ballot, denying voters a chance to pass or reject them, hasn't happened since 1934. Lawyers and the judges agreed during hearings on the lawsuits they were in uncharted territory with no direct case law to guide them.The preliminary injunction expires at midnight Aug. 31. The order anticipated appeals from all opposing sides, notices of which were already submitted Wednesday, Aug. 22. The order alternatively allowed for the General Assembly to return to Raleigh to correct the impermissible ballot language in time to place revised constitutional amendments on the election ballot.Sept. 1 is a hard-and-fast date to begin the 21-day process of preparing, testing, and printing ballots. That's because federal law mandates mail-in absentee ballots must be available 45 days before an election. That deadine falls Sept. 22.Both Berger and Moore said Cooper's decision to wait five weeks after the General Assembly passed the constitutional amendments in June before filing his lawsuit on Aug. 6 created the time crunch. The General Assembly passed the bills in late June.The newly drafted amendments will require substantial internal legal review, Berger's release said. The proposed amendments will be public for at least three days before final General Assembly action.State Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, House Elections and Ethics Law chairman, said no action other than rewriting the constitutional amendments would be taken up during the session. He released draft language with the caveat that the drafts are subject to change."The General Assembly has addressed supposed threats to the Governor's veto power, though we do not agree with that claim," Lewis' written release said. The draft says:"Constitutional amendment to change the process for filling judicial vacancies that occur between judicial elections from a process in which the appointment is solely at the will of the Governor to a process in which the people of the State will nominate individuals to fill vacancies by way of a commission comprised of appointees made by the judicial, executive, and legislative branches charged with making recommendations to the legislature as to which nominees are deemed qualified; then the legislature will recommend nominees to the Governor via legislative action that would not be subject to gubernatorial veto; and the Governor will appoint judges from among these nominees."The draft language for the Bipartisan Ethics and Elections Enforcement Board amendment states:"Constitutional amendment to establish an eight-member Bipartisan Board of Ethics and Elections Enforcement to administer ethics and elections law."Lewis' release says under this constitutional amendment, the governor "would select two nominees each from recommendations provided by the legislative leaders of the two largest political parties in the House and Senate. This would constitute an eight-member board. Presently that would mean the Governor would select two each from recommendations provided by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate and two each from the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate. The General Assembly could provide for legislation to deal with a gubernatorial refusal to appoint a member within 10 days. It will make no amendments to the Separation of Powers Clause or the Appointments Clause, and would apply only to elections and ethics governance."In his suit, Cooper, a Democrat, challenged a constitutional amendment to create a new state elections board, and another amendment transferring judicial vacancy appointments from the governor to the legislature. He claimed the ballot language describing them failed to state the consequences of approving them.A majority of the three-judge panel agreed on the state election board amendment, saying it "does not sufficiently inform the voters and is not stated in such manner as to enable them intelligently to express their opinion upon it."The court accepted Cooper's argument the amendment shifts thousands of appointments to hundreds of state boards and commissions from the governor to the legislature, but the ballot language didn't mention the effects on the executive branch. Nor did it inform voters the amendment makes significant changes to the governor's constitutional duty to exercise his powers.Cooper contended the ballot description of the judicial vacancies amendment deceived voters because it did not mention two new provisions in the proposed amendment removed the governor's veto power over those appointments. That would allow lawmakers to attach unrelated legislation they want to pass to a judicial vacancy bill to avoid a veto.A panel majority agreed. By omitting language saying that restriction was tied solely to judicial vacancies, "proposed Bills coupled with judicial appointments would be immune to a veto by the Governor," the order stated.The N.C. Conference of NAACP also filed suit to strike those two amendments from the ballot. Clean Air Carolina originally joined the NAACP in the lawsuit. But the court agreed with Berger and Moore the environmental organization lacked standing to bring a court challenge.The NAACP unsuccessfully challenged two other amendments - requiring photo ID to vote, and capping the state income tax rate - on the same grounds of being vague and misleading.The judges unanimously disagreed, and left those two on the ballot.They ruled the tax amendment ballot language "may not be perfect, but it is virtually identical to the wording of the amendment itself."Likewise on the photo ID ballot language the order stated, "There can be little doubt whether or not the voters will be able to identify the issue on which they will be voting with respect to this proposed amendment."The General Assembly passed six constitutional amendments in regular session this year. In addition to these four, others on the ballot are Right to Hunt and Fish , and Strengthening Victims' RightsThe potential impact of unaffiliated voters on the upcoming election was the focus of the Thursday, Aug. 23 discussion of latest statewide poll by Civitas.Donald Bryson, CEO and president of Civitas Institute, a conservative public policy organization.Unaffiliated voters amount to around 31 percent of voters in the state. The August 2018 Civitas Poll, conducted by Harper Polling, surveyed 500 likely unaffiliated voters between Aug. 8 to Aug. 21. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percent.The poll asked unaffiliated likely voters a wide variety of questions, ranging from who they will vote for in the future and thoughts on the proposed constitutional amendments.Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the N.C. Republican Party, and Matt Hughes, second vice chair of the N.C. Democratic Party, shared their thoughts on the poll during a luncheon at the DoubleTree by Hilton.Woodhouse said it's a mistake to assume unaffiliated voters are moderates.Woodhouse said.Woodhouse said civic participation is down and people are less likely to want to be labeled as a member of any party.Woodhouse said.Hughes agreed, adding that research shows unaffiliated voters react more positively or negatively to policy propositions depending on who proposed them.Hughes said.With this poll, unaffiliated likely voters appear to lean more favorably toward the Democratic candidates in the generic ballots for state legislative, judicial, and congressional seats.For the generic state legislative ballot, 34 percent of unaffiliated likely voters favored a Democratic candidate; 27 percent said they would vote for a Republican candidate. Nine percent said they would vote for a third-party candidate, and 29 percent were undecided.Bryson said.Hughes said while the undecided vote is high, people usually don't pay close attention to these elections this early.Hughes said.The generic judicial ballot told a similar story. Thirty percent said they would vote for a Democratic candidate, while 26 percent favored a Republican candidate. Ten percent said they would vote for someone else, and 34 percent percent were undecided.The generic congressional ballot showed the smallest Democratic advantage. Thirty-five percent of unaffiliated likely voters would vote for a Democratic candidate, compared to 32 percent who would choose a Republican. Again, 9 percent would choose a third party candidate, and 25 percent were undecided.Woodhouse said the numbers improve for Republican candidates on a named ballot.Woodhouse said.Poll participants were asked for their opinions of three of the proposed constitutional amendments. A majority of unaffiliated likely voters favored all three amendments.Overall support for the voter ID amendment was 63 percent, while overall opposition amounted to 31 percent. For the right to hunt and fish amendment, 65 percent supported it, and 24 percent opposed it. The income tax cap amendment received 60 percent of overall support and 27 percent of overall opposition.The poll asked respondents whether they were more or less likely to support a candidate based on their support of the three proposed constitutional amendments included in the poll. For each proposed constitutional amendment, a little more than 50 percent said they were more likely to support a candidate if they were in favor of one of the amendments.Hughes said.Hughes said not many people are single-issue voters. Just because they support an amendment, but a candidate doesn't, doesn't mean that person won't vote for the candidate.Hughes said.Woodhouse said the amendments may not cause a huge turnout of voters, but they are popular nonetheless. This could pose a problem for Democratic candidates who oppose the amendments.The Supreme Courts May 2018 decision in McCoy v. Louisiana has been hailed as a decisive statement of the priority of the value of a criminal defendants autonomy over the fairness and reliability interests that also inform both the Sixth Amendment and the ethical obligations of defense counsel. It also appears to be a victory for the vision of client-centered representation and the humanistic value of the inherent dignity of the accused. However the decision is susceptible to being read too broadly in ways that harm certain categories of defendants. This paper offers a couple of cautionary notes, in response to McCoy, regarding the ethical obligations of defense counsel. The most important caution is that, as a matter of constitutional law and professional ethics, the preference for autonomy and the standard allocation of decision making authority presupposes a fully competent client, not a client who merely passes the extremely low constitutional bar of competency to stand trial. A client capable of participating in a fully autonomous way in the representation is far more than minimally competent.In 2017, the North Carolina legislature passed House Bill 527 (now State Law 2017-196) in order to foster free, open inquiry in the state's colleges and universities.One of the provisions ordered the University of North Carolina system Board of Governors to produce an annual report on two major categories of intellectual freedom: free speech and institutional neutrality. This report is due on September 1.The free speech provisions of the law protect students exercising their First Amendment rights and require institutions to punish anyone who infringes upon these rights. This is fundamental to the purpose of a university, permitting the free exchange of ideas that is a pre-requisite for the search for truth. The law protects students and guest speakers alike from being disrupted or silenced. It also states that higher education institutions should aspire to "institutional neutrality," which means they "may not take action, as an institution, on the public policy controversies of the day in such a way as to require students, faculty, or administrators to publicly express a given view of a social policy." Institutional neutrality, in other words, is integral to developing a campus culture that does not demand students follow a particular set of ideas.The end of the 2017-2018 academic year marks the first year of implementation of S.L. 2017-196 and provides an opportunity to review how it has affected the UNC system.In light of this opportunity, the Martin Center has conducted a review of UNC campuses to measure how well free speech and institutional neutrality have been protected. The detailed report compiled by the Martin Center can be found here The Martin Center examined three facets of free speech. The first is a rating system of free speech regulations created by a non-profit organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).The second facet concerns incidents in which groups or individuals have had their free speech rights infringed upon.The third concerns the commissioning of "bias response teams" that are likely to infringe upon campus community members' rights.North Carolina universities have done an admirable job of protecting and respecting free speech on campuses-except for the growing use of bias response teams.FIRE has an excellent system for rating the free speech climate on campuses. It looks at an institution's regulations, practices, and actions to determine whether it deserves a green-, red-, or yellow-light rating, with green meaning no observable problems, red meaning that the school has at least one policy that is a "clear and substantial" impediment to free speech, and yellow meaning that the school's policies are in a gray area between acceptable and not. It has rated more than 450 institutions across the country, including all 16 universities in the UNC system. Seven UNC institutions hold green ratings and are free of policies that infringe upon free speech rights. The other nine have yellow-light ratings, meaning there are policies that can inhibit free speech. Yellow ratings can be the result of overly restrictive social media policies, like at North Carolina A&T University, or vague and broad sexual harassment policies, like at Fayetteville State University.The UNC system can be proud that none of their institutions received a red-light rating.The UNC system should also be proud that no shout-downs, disinvitations, or administrative interference in regard to inviting speakers to campus have been reported by FIRE or student-based organizations. Over the past year, speakers who tend to attract threats and protests, such as Tucker Carlson, Christina Hoff Sommers, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, and more, have been hosted by clubs at UNC system schools. While there were protests and backlash, the speakers themselves received no heckling nor did they experience any activity that prevented them from speaking to their intended listeners.Conservative-leaning clubs from all across the UNC system, such as College Republicans and Turning Point USA, were contacted and asked if they have experienced any issues; none were reported.The low point for free speech on UNC campuses came with the emergence of "bias response teams." In response to concerns over bias, racism, and bigotry, colleges nationwide have created these groups, which are usually composed of students and administrators-and sometimes even campus law enforcement. Six UNC universities have bias response teams or some other formal process to report bias incidents.One example is UNC Asheville's Bias Incident Response Team, or BIRT. BIRT is part of Asheville's Office of Multicultural Affairs; its members include students, the dean of students, the associate dean of students and director of residential education, and the assistant vice chancellor for public safety. BIRT's website states that it helps students with bias complaints, which are defined as "an act of bigotry, harassment or intimidation-verbal, written or physical-which is personally directed against or targets a University of North Carolina-Asheville student because of that student's race, age, color, disability, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, religion, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or veteran status." BIRT members are not considered to be "fact-finders," nor do they have any judiciary authority.Though they lack judicial or disciplinary weight, BIRT can assist students in filing a report to a disciplinary body at UNC-Asheville. While BIRT is commissioned to "promote conversation about diversity issues," it may be more likely to chill student speech for fear that saying an impolite, awkward, or unpopular political idea could lead to punishment. Empowering students to report other students for offensive speech is unwise at best and dangerous for serious debate of uncomfortable and complex political issues.The lack of neutrality at some UNC schools is concerning. In a variety of ways, administrations have failed to make political neutrality a priority. Free speech protections are necessary but not sufficient on a public campus; students should not feel pressured to conform to the political sentiment favored by administrators and professors.Political bias is common in the books that universities choose for their first-year or summer reading programs. The reading selections are normally discussed during the first few weeks of classes in roundtable discussions and small reading groups.But these books can also be used to make a political statement. For example, East Carolina University chose their 2018 summer reading to be Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. This winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction is more than just a book; it "transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of 21st-century America's most devastating problems," according to the book's description . Though a better understanding of poverty may be an appropriate topic in higher education, a writer's partisan preferences can affect how they present economic and political solutions for poverty reduction. And that appears to be the case with Evicted.And it is not just East Carolina that chose biased literature for their summer reading list. The readings for seven UNC campuses could be identified as left-wing, but no campuses assigned readings that could be identified as right-wing. UNC-Greensboro urged their students to read The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, a book that follows the story of an undocumented immigrant and her family. Across the state at Western Carolina University, first-year students are encouraged to read The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez. Henriquez's book has twinges of immigration partisanship present as it follows the story of Latin American immigrants. The books chosen for summer readings tend to be linked to recent political developments and often favor one political party's views over another.Aside from summer readings, institutional neutrality on college campuses can be undermined even before students set foot in the classroom. Programs, skits, and speeches during freshman orientation can indoctrinate students and set the social climate. Freshmen learn, for instance, that if you do not go out of your way not to "offend" anyone, and if you don't lean liberal, then your opinions are not welcome.Most UNC system schools have nothing clearly presented as biased in their freshman orientation schedules. But North Carolina State University, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Chapel Hill, and UNC-Asheville have programs where political bias and barriers to free speech can arise. Particularly, UNC-Wilmington's "Fostering an Inclusive Seahawk Community" and UNC-Chapel Hill's "Heels United: Our Carolina Community" have great potential to be breeding grounds for politicization. UNC-Chapel Hill's freshman orientation program gained media attention in 2015 when it was revealed that it included skits that focused on changing students' speech not to offend others and to subordinate personal beliefs in favor of "culturally appropriate speech." At the same time, their orientation skits encouraged political conformity and portrayed white, middle-class men in a negative light. It is unclear whether this skit has been updated or changed.Upon graduation, students walk across the stage to receive congratulations, applause, and their college degrees, but they also may be forced to listen to a partisan speech, depending on whom the university chooses as commencement speaker. Taken as a whole, UNC schools' choices for 2018 did not seem particularly unbalanced. Roughly half were apolitical, featuring speakers from the business community, the arts, an Olympic athlete, and the mainstream media. Two representatives of the UNC system who are Republicans, system president Margaret Spellings and Board of Governors member Steve Long, were also selected. Three speakers promoted causes, two of which appeared to lean to the left: one argued for "clean" energy and another was a "social entrepreneur." (There was also a representative of a charity that worked with the homeless.)Political figures speaking at UNC commencements included two moderate Republicans, Senator Richard Burr and Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon. There were four Democrats, two of whom are known to be quite far to the left: Congressman G.K. Butterfield and children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman.While most institutions have not released any statements regarding climate change, the ones that have are quite politicized. In 2015, UNC-Wilmington, Appalachian State University, North Carolina A&T, and UNC-Chapel Hill signed the American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge. This Obama administration initiative aimedThe Climate Pledge is a clear violation of institutional neutrality, likely to silence faculty and student critics of anthropogenic global warming.The Martin Center was not able to find diversity statements at some UNC schools. These include Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Central University, and Elizabeth City State College. At other schools, statements fall within acceptable boundaries, offering boilerplate assurances that administrators will not discriminate against students and want to create an open environment for learning, including those at UNC-Greensboro, Appalachian State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, The School of the Arts, Winston-Salem State University, UNC-Pembroke, UNC-Wilmington, and UNC-Charlotte.However, statements at other campuses imply a biased interpretation of diversity and inclusion, including those at East Carolina University and UNC-Asheville. This can have a chilling effect on students and faculty whose beliefs differ from the official statement.The UNC system has shown itself willing to address its shortcomings as free speech on campus became a bigger political issue in recent years. Though some policies remain vulnerable to manipulation or abuse, campus leaders deserve recognition for their fealty to the First Amendment.The growing popularity of bias response teams, on the other hand, is a serious affront to intellectual liberty; such units should be disbanded.But regarding institutional neutrality-the other half of S.L. 2017-196-many campuses have much work to do. The issue deserves more serious consideration by colleges who pride themselves on being truth-seeking institutions. To live up to their mission statements and public responsibility, politicized hands must be tied and neutrality respected.Hopefully, now that schools must report to the Board of Governors on institutional neutrality, they will show the same improvement that has occurred with free speech.A damning report by RealClearInvestigations' Paul Sperry presents compelling evidence indicating that former FBI Director James Comey prematurely closed the investigation into Hillary Clinton based on political motivations and lied to the American people when he insisted days before the 2016 election that his agency had "reviewed all of the communications" found on the laptop of Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner.Sperry notes that many wondered aloud at the time how the FBI could have possibly reviewed hundreds of thousands of emails in a matter of weeks. It turns out, Sperry explains, that they simply didn't. In fact, evidence suggests they didn't even come close, despite Comey's assurances that they'd fully reviewed the communications:But virtually none of his account was true, a growing body of evidence reveals.In fact, a technical glitch prevented FBI technicians from accurately comparing the new emails with the old emails. Only 3,077 of the 694,000 emails were directly reviewed for classified or incriminating information. Three FBI officials completed that work in a single 12-hour spurt the day before Comey again cleared Clinton of criminal charges.Sperry points out that even that "extremely narrow" review of just a small fraction of the emails found that classified information was being either sent or received via Clinton's unauthorized, unsecured private server.Sperry reports.And Comey's FBI allegedly never bothered to refer the matter to proper U.S. intelligence agencies, as required by federal law:The newly discovered classified material "was never previously sent out to the relevant original classification authorities for security review," the official, who spoke to RealClearInvestigations on the condition of anonymity, said.Sperry reports that important parts of the investigation remained open when Comey prematurely declared that the case was wrapped up in front of Congress ahead of the election.Sperry writes.said FBI veteran Michael Biasello.Read the full report hereSilent Sam, once in Chapel Hill

Every day I get angrier and angrier at people who act out their aggressions which are based on lies, mistruths, and liberal indoctrination. I'm talking about the desecration and the toppling of the Silent Sam monument at Chapel Hill - a monument dedicated NOT to the Confederate cause and NOT to the support of slavery and NOT in support of white supremacy, but rather erected simply to remember the 1000 or so young men who were students at Chapel Hill during the years 1861-65 who enlisted and fought for their state. The monument to those young men was akin to a headstone or other grave marker, or even to the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier. And yet, a group of protesters, many from the hate/home-grown terrorist group Antifa, sought to tear it down.I'm sorry, but these people need to study their history before acting out like a bunch of mental defective crybabies, destroying public property, and disrespecting the sacrifice of those who fought in a war that they didn't ask for and probably couldn't even comprehend why it was being forced on them. *Hint: It has NOTHING to do with slavery or white supremacy. For those looking for the true committed white supremacists, look to Abraham Lincoln himself and his party affiliates), and look to the northern and western states/territories).North Carolina did NOT want to secede. It had great affection and loyalty to the Union, despite all the efforts the North took to tax her and the other southern states discriminately and punishingly and to frustrate and harm her interests. In fact, it was the last state to secede. The reason it seceded was because Abraham Lincoln, thru his War Secretary, Simon Cameron, demanded that North Carolina send thousands of troops to "put down the rebellion" in the wake of Fort Sumter (ie, to invade the South and wage war against her). The Governor of NC, John Ellis, replied on April 15: "I regard the levy of troops made by the administration as a usurpation of authority. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country and to the war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina."The next month, the state called a convention to consider secession and this time, on May 20, 1861, the people of the state voted to approve an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. [Only three months earlier, in February, North Carolinians by popular vote refused to even call a convention to consider a Secession Ordinance. That's how strongly they wishes to remain a part of the Union, EVEN as hostilities grew against the south and against its institution of slavery, and even as sentiment was growing and getting more heated for its abolition].So, the REAL history of North Carolina and the Civil War (more aptly, the War of Northern Aggression or the War to Prevent Southern Independence), is that she seceded ONLY when Lincoln gave her the ultimatum: If she was to remain in the Union, she would need to pick up arms and wage war against her neighbors, the states she was close to and the ones she had far more in common with than any in the North. North Carolina seceded over principle. She seceded over the proper construction of the US Constitution and the authority it granted to each of the branches of government in DC and especially as that power with respect to the sovereignty of each individual state. She did NOT understand the Constitution (nor would she have ever ratified it) to have the power to force or coerce one state to wage war or engage in violence against another state, and MOST especially, to do so for the government's bidding, to further its ambitious agenda, or to consolidate power in the federal government).She did NOT secede over slavery, she did NOT secede over any white supremacy agenda, she did NOT secede to further any oppression against black persons....... She seceded on principle. She seceded in support of the greatest government principle of all - the federal government was created for only limited purposes and when a government exceeds its delegated authority, it becomes tyrannical and ambitious and the people - ANY people - when they so decide, have the natural right to alter or abolish that government and establish a new one that suits them better.The Silent Sam incident serves to show us here in North Carolina that our state history is not known and is not being properly taught. It is a proud and distinguished history. Perhaps the remedy is to gut the political and history departments of our state universities and have their programs reviewed by state historians to make sure that accurate and respectful history is taught, and not some progressive/liberal view that seeks to taint her principles that serves its purposes: to excuses the gross constitutional violations of Abraham Lincoln and his administration, that justifies his willing slaughter of over 620,000 Americans, that justifies the government's initiation and prosecution of the war, that justifies the consolidation of government power over the states, and that justifies the grand monument to Lincoln on the national mall ("He saved the nation! He preserved the Union!")As I have said for years in describing the notion that Lincoln "saved the Union" - LINCOLN SAVING THE UNION IS LIKE A HUSBAND BEATING HIS WIFE TO SAVE THE MARRIAGE.Don't let North Carolina down. Remember the principles she, at one time, held so dear. Remember the cause she so honorably and so generously gave. Preserve her history and her honor.Wednesday, August 29, 2018

The full Maine Supreme Judicial Court has vacated a six-month suspension imposed by a single justice and remanded for a more severe sanction determination.

The order was sought by the Board of Bar Overseers.

The attorney had been reinstated after a money laundering conspiracy conviction

In June 2014, as a result of his guilty plea to, and resulting conviction of, federal charges of conspiracy to launder money and aiding and abetting, 18 U.S.C.S.  1956(a)(1), (h) 1957(2) (LEXIS through Pub. L. No. 115-231), Prolman was suspended indefinitely from the practice of law in Maine. Following his guilty plea, Prolman received a sentence of twenty-four months imprisonment and twenty-four months supervised release. In November 2015, the Board filed a motion seeking further disciplinary action against Prolman, and Prolman responded with a motion seeking limitation or termination of his suspension. After a hearing on those motions in February 2016, a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court (Alexander, J.) issued a decision concluding that Prolman had violated M.R. Prof. Conduct 8.4(a)-(d) but nonetheless ordering the termination of Prolmans suspension as of July 1, 2016, thereby reinstating him to the practice of law. Pursuant to that order, Prolmans reinstatement and continued active practice was conditioned upon his compliance with the terms and conditions of his federal supervised release.

And was then the subject of a complaint from a vulnerable client

When he arranged for his client to live in his apartment, Prolman was aware of his clients social history, history of abuse, submissiveness to men, and vulnerability to abusive physical and sexual relationships. Despite this knowledge, on more than one occasion while Prolman and his client were residing at his apartment between March 29 and April 9, 2017, Prolman approached his client seeking sexual gratification and engaged in sexual acts with her. The client regarded Prolmans sexual acts as gross. Although she did not consent, she also did not communicate her objection to Prolmans sexual acts, simply submitting to what Prolman demanded as she had done in past relationships with men who had taken advantage of her vulnerability...

...During the time his client was residing at the apartment, Prolman consumed and provided his client with wine. Prolmans conditions of supervised release prohibited his use or possession of alcoholic beverages, and a violation of those conditions also would be a violation of the March 17, 2016, disciplinary order requiring compliance with the terms of his supervised release.

The court here

We all agree that the sanctions imposed were simply insufficient and represent an abuse of discretion. Three of us would conclude that the ABA Sanction Standards have been engrafted onto the Maine Rules of Professional Conduct, and that the court erred as a matter of law and therefore abused his discretion in failing to apply those Standards. Three of us would look to those Standards for guidance but would not determine that they have been wholly engrafted into the Maine Rules.

Unanimously, we vacate the judgment and remand the proceedings to the court for the imposition of a sanction that reflects the serious behavior of the attorney and that, at a minimum, would require Prolman to apply for readmission upon demonstration of a thorough understanding of the ethical obligations of a Maine attorney.

Three justices concurred

We would... hold that Maine Bar Rule 21(c) incorporates the ABA Sanction Standards, and we would vacate the judgment and remand this matter to the court to impose a sanction using the methodology and framework set out in those ABA Sanction Standards.

(Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2018/08/the-full-maine-supreme-judicial-court-has-vacated-a-six-month-suspension-and-remanded-for-a-sanction-determination.htmlHVR says there are very few other hotels being proposed using this 'non-profit' method--though a couple are 'confidential and he can't talk about them'Fake news is a defining fear about our post-factual Trumpian era, which makes it important enough (or perceived to be so) that government regulators surely must do something about it. In response, the California legislature, demonstrating its characteristic leadership on tough issues, passed one of the nations first new laws addressing fake news. The law decisively calls for a government study of the problemand only if the private sector pays for it. Wait, what???

* * *

Yesterday, the California legislature passed SB 1424. It is now awaiting Gov. Browns signature (which is always a tossup). The law requires the AG to assemble a working group consisting of at least one member of the Department of Justice, Internet-based social media providers, civil liberties advocates, and First Amendment scholars. This group will be charged with studying the problem of the spread of false information through Internet-based social media platforms and drafting a model strategic plan to mitigate this.

Who cares about this work product? Well, everyone would care greatly if the legislature mandates the plans requirements. However, its very likely that the First Amendment will prevent that. Accordingly, social media providers almost certainly will be free to adopt or ignore the plan as they choose.

Its possible this plan will be so brilliant that social media providers will eagerly adopt it. But if the social media providers really wanted to voluntarily adopt an anti-fake news plan, they could easily undertake this effort without any help from the California legislature or the state AG. Indeed, having the AGs office running the project seems likely to unhelpfully steer the discussion towards enforcement and regulatory considerations, not the wide range of technological or marketplace considerations that are probably bigger levers to combat false online information. About the only benefit I see from a state-mandated and -coordinated study is that it might minimize the risks that the conversation will violate antitrust law or constitute illegal collusion.

But heres the kickersomeone is going to have to fund this effort, and it wont be the California government. While the advisory groups pricetag should be de minimis for the worlds fifth largest economy, apparently the legislature didnt believe in the reports value enough to actually pay for it. Instead, the law says that the AG isnt obligated to do anything until it receives sufficient private funding; and if no one ponies up by Dec. 31, 2021, then the law expires.

The private funding requirement was added just this week, and with it, the law passed immediately. After all, if the effort wont cost the government anything, whats not to like? I dont know the backstory, but Im guessing the private payment mechanism emerged when someone represented to the California legislature that they would be the private benefactor. But who is this mystery benefactor? If its a social media provider, then Im even more confused why they would prefer this law over simply running and funding the initiative privately.

While the law seemingly gives California something for nothing, it is truly free? The law encourages future enforcement targets to provide financial support to the AGs officepayoffs that create potentially significant conflicts-of-interest or opportunities to curry financial favor with regulators. As much as I hate fake news, I hate government corruption even more, and this law does far more to encourage the latter than combat the former.

Side note: this is the second time in the past week that the California AG has apparently objected to unfunded Internet law-related mandates being imposed on it by the California legislature. Last week, AG Xavier Becerra wrote a blistering letter to the California legislature about the California Consumer Privacy Act, complaining that the laws financial burdens were more than the DOJ could bear. I cant tell if the California DOJ is facing bona fide resource constraints, or if the AG is just making negotiating ploys to gross up the DOJs budget.

Despite my criticisms, if anyone reading the post is involved in the initiative, Im willing to be considered as one of the First Amendment scholar participants. I may be skeptical about the process leading to the advisory group, but ultimately Im as interested in developing workable solutions to combat fake news as anyone.Our animal rescue helpline has been inundated with calls from pet owners worried about animals they were forced to leave behind, and, working with local animal groups across Kerala, we have been going house to house rescuing any stranded animals. Photo by HSI

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The floods have now abated in Kerala, but theyve left massive destruction in their wake. Millions of people and animals have been left homeless by the calamity that has also claimed more than 400 human lives and, according to the government of Kerala, millions of animals, including large numbers of birds on poultry farms.

Our Humane Society International Animal Rescue Team was one of the first to arrive after the floods hit, and we are still on the ground there. Among other important work, we have been helping farmers affected by the floods by providing their animals with feed, and we have been working with local shelters to reunite lost animals with their families. Our animal rescue helpline has been inundated with calls from pet owners worried about animals they were forced to leave behind, and, working with local animal groups across Kerala, we have been going house to house rescuing any stranded animals. In the past two weeks, we have helped rescue more than 200 animals and coordinated the rescue of almost 1,000 others with the help of volunteers and allied rescue organizations.

One such animal was Appu, a dog separated from his family when they evacuated to a relief camp. They were among hundreds of families forced to choose between saving their families and their animals when humanitarian rescue crews refused to let people bring their animals with them. When Appus family returned home, they couldnt find their beloved dog. Our HSI team received information about a dog who seemed to fit Appus description: he was living in an area near a river that had been hit by a landslide, and by the time we found him he was very scared and starving. We reunited Appu with his family, fed many other dogs who had also swum to that area seeking higher ground, and left behind supplies for those trying to help the animals.

In another case, HSI rescuers walked through waist-deep water to find Ray, a German Shepherd, who had fled his home in terror as the waters rose. He became disoriented after the water submerged the once-familiar landscape around him, and was missing for five days before HSI found him and reunited him with his family.

It is possible, as often happens after disasters of this scale, that hundreds of animals could go on to develop respiratory and infectious diseases, and the area could see outbreaks of canine distemper and parvovirus. So after the floodwaters have subsided, HSI/India will assist local groups with their efforts to provide veterinary care, and to implement large-scale feeding programs for starving animals in remote and poverty-stricken areas. Well also arrange an adoption event to find loving homes for puppies rescued from the floods.

HSI/India already has an established vaccination and sterilization program in Kerala, which we launched in January 2017 to humanely manage street dog populations, so we were well-placed to spring into action when the floods hit the state. Now that the worst of the floods are over, we will extend our deployment in order to make sure that the animals continue to be safe from diseases that could loom as a result of the waterlogging. As HSI/India Director Rahul Sehgal says, if we were to simply pack up and leave after the initial rescue, we would be condemning hundreds of animals to perish later on as their weakened bodies are overwhelmed with disease or infection.

HSI is also helping animals in Coorg, in the neighboring state of Karnataka, which was also affected by heavy rains and landslides. We teamed up with local partners CUPA India and Woof Wagon Pet Services to help rescue animals in Coorg and feed street animals. Last week, we distributed relief materials donated online by supporters around the country to local animal rescuers and pet parents who lost everything in the floods.

Through all of the suffering and sadness, we have seen heartwarming examples of the deep bond between people and their animals. In my first Kerala blog, I told you about one woman, Sunitha Sinto, who refused to leave her dogs behind. She managed to contact HSI and we arranged for a local team to rescue her and her dogs. However, when the relief camp refused her entry with her dogs, she returned to her house where HSI provided the animals with veterinary care, including sterilization, as well as food for her and her dogs.

Sunithas dwelling has been ravaged by the floods and she was not able to get food for herself or her dogs, so HSI has been continuing to supply her with rice and dog food and other basic provisions. Sunitha is one of us, and we want the world to know that well stand strong behind animal rescue workers who emerge in times of crisis to support animals in need.

My dogs are my children, and if ever I am in a life or death situation like the floods, I will never leave without them, she told our team. Im so happy  HSI/India was here to offer help when I needed it, and still now after the flood when we are still in need  I want to let people around the world know that animal lives matter too, and when calamity strikes they rely on us to save them.

Support HSIs International Disaster Relief Fund"This is a pivotal moment for California, for the country, and the world."

On Tuesday, California state lawmakers passed SB100, a major bill that would commit to making the state's electricity supply completely emissions-free by the year 2045. SB100 passed 43-32.

Mother Jones reports the bill would amend California's Renewable Portfolio Standard, which currently requires half of all the state's electricity to come from clean, renewable sources of energy by 2030.

From MoJo:Cardinal Blase Cupich offers a distinctively Catholic response to the church's renewed abuse crisis: the Pope "has a bigger agenda" than going down the "rabbit hole" of allegations. "He's got to get on with other things."

In a bizarre interview with a Chicago NBC affiliate, Cardinal Blaise Cupich, head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, suggested recent claims made by a former apostolic nuncio  the Vatican's envoy to the United States  that Pope Francis not only disregarded sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, but promoted McCarrick and sought his counsel, were going down a "rabbit hole." The Pope, Cupich told NBC, has more important things to attend to than sex abuse scandals, like climate change and immigration.

The video of his statements is essential viewing.

If you want them held responsible, you're going to have to stop caring how.Congressman Devin Nunes, who is an oddly enthusiastic supporter of President Donald Trump's personal legal interests and chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, unsuccessfully tried to meet the leaders of Britain's three intelligence agencies on a recent trip to London, report multiple news agencies today citing sources familiar with Nunes' travel schedule.

MI5, MI6, and GCHQ all declined to meet with him, we are told.

Did taxpayers pay for this trip?

Or did Putin?

Will we ever know?

New: Devin Nunes flew to the U.K. this month to gather intel on Chris Steele from MI5, MI6, & GCHQ. But the agencieswary that he was "trying to stir up a controversy," per a sourcedidn't meet with him. https://t.co/KfTqc7Gmby  Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) August 28, 2018

Natasha Bertrand first reported that Nunes flew to London to gather intel on Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer who compiled the dossier alleging Trump-campaign ties with Russia. But MI5, MI6, and GCHQ didn't seem interested.

Reuters has confirmed Bertrand's reporting.

The sources said representatives of the British agencies initially considered meeting with Nunes during the trip which took place in recent weeks, but that scheduling difficulties made it impossible. Ultimately, the sources said, after consultation with the three agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, Prime Minister Theresa May's deputy national security advisor, Madeline Alessandri, met Nunes. His London visit and his unsuccessful effort to meet British spy chiefs were originally reported by the Atlantic. Nunes and staffers working for him have used Congressional powers to investigate persons and organizations Trump and his supporters view as enemies. At one point last year, two Nunes aides unsuccessfully traveled to London to question former British spy Christopher Steele who compiled a controversial "dossier" on Trump. Nunes' House committee has sought testimony and business records from Fusion GPS, a Washington D.C. private investigations firm which was hired first by Republicans and then by Democratic Party lawyers to gather derogatory information on 2016 Republican presidential candidates.

[PHOTO: Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) briefs reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst]

@DevinNunes & the @HouseIntelComm is radioactive to foreign intelligence. The reason is simple, they know he's Trumps bootlick. They assume both work for Moscow. The Brits well remember every Benedict Arnold has a Major Andre. #TrumpsPersonalSnowden https://t.co/eG25yI8wa4  Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) August 28, 2018

Nunes is really laser focused on the people of Fresno, Visalia, and Tulare. https://t.co/XpiaO6QqUl  Jason Putorti (@putorti) August 28, 2018

"Your paper is a joke to even bring these issues up or raise these issues," @DevinNunes told the @sacbee_news. Meanwhile He was doing this. https://t.co/UTfUJOuLKw  Henry Williams (@digitalhen) August 28, 2018

While the idea of @DevinNunes on a secret mission to London is rich, it'd be nice if he spent his time meeting and representing his own constituents. https://t.co/RAFt5wjhAE  Foon Rhee (@foonrhee) August 28, 2018CALLING ALL EARTHLINGS, the new documentary from filmmaker Jonathan Berman ('Commune,' 'The Schvitz') has it all: UFOs, a mystical dome in the Joshua Tree desert, psychic experiences, time travel, Howard Hughes, Nikolai Tesla, communists, eternal life, murder oh yeah, and Nazis.

You can watch the trailer above [YouTube], and you can watch the movie here starting today.

"Calling All Earthlings" tells the story of George Van Tassel as he follows alien guidance and Nikola Tesla's scientific principles, and attempts to build a time machine in the California desert.

It doesn't answer any of the big questions about alien existence or time travel, but I still found this film to be a fascinating, enjoyable, and worthwhile look inside the protagonist's weird world.

I spoke to filmmaker Jonathan Berman about the project.

"I've always been entranced by the Johnson Smith catalogue  X-Ray Specs, Sea Monkeys, DIY Submarines," Berman said.

"So when I saw a photo of this gothic, unearthly, 1950s dome with a sign perched on it that read, 'For basic experimentation in life extension'," he said, "I knew I had to go there."

Jonathan Berman:

"Once I landed in the desert, I got sucked into the many mysteries of the story. Could there actually be a time machine? Is free energy possible?"

"I felt a little bit like Richard Dreyfuss in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' The way he was obsessed with that formation was similar to the way I became obsessed with the dome."

"Seven years later, our investigation and documentary are complete."

Trailer on [YouTube], and here's the movie on Amazon.ICYMI: Today, Pretend President Donald Trump feuded with an algorithm after Googling his own name.

Today the Trump administration threatened to regulate Google and internet search results, based on an early morning vanity search by Donald Trump. Democrats and Republicans said that would be a violation of free speech protections. So, Trump's "re-election campaign" [aka slush fund for whatever he wants] went and fundraised off the whole thing.

It's so dumb.

Trump tweeted this morning, "Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media."

Then, as our Rob writes, the internet freaked out.

And then, as Tony Romm at the Washington Post reports, the grift was revealed:In 2017, nearly 2.3 million STD cases were diagnosed in the USA, the highest number ever reported, topping previously highest year of 2016 by 200,000 cases.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released new numbers on STDs in America.

New cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were up about 10 percent in 2017. In this year, some 2.29 million new cases of these three common (and treatable) sexually transmitted diseases were diagnosed.

These new STD stats continue a four-year trend of increased reports of sexually transmitted diseases, fueled by what CDC officials today said was a lack of health science awareness, and changes in sexual behavior trends.

The lack of federal funding for sexually transmitted disease prevention under the Trump administration is also blamed by health experts for the spike in STDs.

President Donald Trump once described his own personal challenges of avoiding STDs while being sexually active with multiple partners as his "own personal Vietnam."

A pity his difficulties did not lead him to want others to be spared.

From USA Today:

The number of new STD cases continued a "steep, sustained increase" since 2013, the CDC reported. The rise in cases is at record levels, but the federal budget has not increased STD program funding since 2013, leaving health departments scrambling to address the problem with fewer resources. "There is a shocking increase in STDs in America," said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. "We think there is a direct correlation between the increase in the number of STDs" and the lack of federal funding increases. From 2016 to 2017, cases of primary and secondary syphilis grew more than 10 percent, chlamydia increased nearly 7 percent, and gonorrhea surged nearly 19 percent, according to preliminary CDC figures released Tuesday. Left untreated, these infections can result in infertility or pregnancy complications or increase the risk of HIV transmission.

/"Are you fucking kidding me?" Susan Greene responds. "Act like a lady?"

"There you go," the police officer says. "Now you can go to jail."

Video released today from Denver Police body cameras shows two officers telling The Colorado Independent editor Susan Greene to "act like a lady" while they handcuff and detain her. The incident happened in July, and Greene was singled out for trying to photograph the cops while they responded to a call on a public sidewalk involving a black man.

The officers will not be charged.

Excerpt from a report in The Colorado Independent:

Greene was driving along East Colfax Avenue near the Colorado State Capitol building on the afternoon of July 5 when, by her account, she noticed Denver police surrounding a nearly naked African American man sitting handcuffed on the sidewalk, and stopped to see what was happening. (The man was later taken to the hospital and then released that night, the city has said.)

Greene is an veteran investigative reporter who has written extensively about police brutality and incidents in which African-American men have been killed by law enforcement while in custody.

As Greene detailed in a post the next day, and as the body-cam footage confirms, she approached the scene and was immediately blocked by Officer James Brooks.

He continues to block her as she tries to keep shooting, at one point raising the camera high above Brooks's head.

Brooks is quickly joined by Officer Adam Paulsen, and the two advise her that she can not take photographs because doing so violates the HIPAA rights of the nearly naked man they have cuffed. HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act outlines an individual's rights to medical privacy.

"There's also a First Amendment," Greene responds. "Have you heard of it?"

"That doesn't supersede HIPAA," Paulsen says.

Brooks repeats Paulsen's line, and adds, "Step away, or you'll be arrested for interference."

The footage shows Greene then directed her iPhone camera at Brooks's badge, at which point Brook's swats the phone away and repeats himself: "Step away, or you'll be arrested for interference."

Not a second after his warning, the footage shows, the officers handcuff Greene, who shouts, "Ow!"

"Stand up straight," Paulsen tells Greene. "Act like a lady."

"Stand up and act like a lady," Brooks says.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Greene responds. "Act like a lady?"

"There you go," Brooks says. "Now you can go to jail."

After the officers handcuff her, the body-cam footage shows, Greene complains the officers are hurting her as Brooks and Paulsen lead her to the back of a squad car. The officers can be heard telling her that the pain is a result of how she is walking, and that she should "stop resisting."

"Stop hurting me," shouts Greene, who also shouts to people on the street witnessing the incident to photograph it.

"You are hurting me," she says.

"No we're not," Paulsen responds. "Walk normal. Stop resisting."

Greene was held in a police car at the scene for about 12 minutes before being released.

Footage shows that once Greene is released from the police car, she and the officers had a brief exchange in which she asks for their badge numbers and they ask her for her press badge.All of a sudden, I care about Andrew Gillum, whom I'd never heard of before he won the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Florida Tuesday night.

Gillum, the mayor of the state capital, Tallahassee, joins Georgia's Stacey Abrams as progressive black candidates seeking historic victories in governor's races in the deep South.

Like Abrams, Gillum faces a hard-right GOP acolyte of Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis, who easily won the Florida Republican primary for governor Tuesday night, is even more of a Trump lapdog than Brian Kemp, Abrams' GOP opponent in Georgia. DeSantis was propelled to victory by a strange ad in which he reads his children a Trump storybook and helps them build a Trumpian wall.

Florida and Georgia voters will have a clear choice in the November election. Outside money will flow into both states, which will be seen as a referendum on Trump. No doubt Trump will head to both states for bizarro rant rallies.

Gillum and Abrams represent the multicultural future, DeSantis and Kemp the regressive past.

I'm hoping Gillum and Abrams are part of a blue wave that restores Democratic control of the House and Senate and heralds the end of Trump's era of GOP oligarchy. I fear another morning of deep and dark despair.Sarah Jeong's book The Internet of Garbage was first published in 2015. Then a timely primer about online harassment, the structure of the internet, and why corporate policies can't and won't deal with it, things have since changed: everything is now worse. The Verge is publishing a new edition, The Internet of Garbage 1.5 [Amazon], which they're also giving away as a free-of-charge eBook. This excerpt about copyright law and harassmentespecially the complex dangers of using the former to counteract the latteris an excellent taster.

When people are harassed on the internet, the instinctive feeling of those targeted is that the internet is out of control and must be reined in. The most prominent and broad regulation of the internet is through copyright, as publicized in the thousands of lawsuits that the Recording Industry Association of America launched against individual downloaders, the subpoenas the RIAA issued to the ISPs to unmask downloaders, and the RIAA and MPAA's massive lawsuits against the Napsters, Groksters, and even YouTubes of the world.

In our mass cultural consciousness, we have absorbed the overall success of the RIAA and the MPAA in these suits, and have come to believe that copyright law is how one successfully manages to reach through a computer screen and punch someone else in the face.InstantSunrise on Twitter embarked upon a Twitter epic: dragging every single U.S. president in chronological order. [via Kottke]

George Washington: Dude was a shit-ass general who owned slaves and when the working class realized that they were getting the same shit ass deal as before under the British and rose up, Washington came down on them like a ton of bricks to secure power.

John Adams: you want somebody who hates freedom of speech. Adams signed a bill saying you couldn't talk shit about him, and made it harder to become a citizen (though not as hard as it is today). In fairness though, he didn't own slaves, this is going to be a rarity going forwar.

Thomas Jefferson: Motherfucker owned slaves, and was a rapist, committed forced removal against Native Americans. Started an actual war in North Africa and a trade [war] with with Britain that would eventually escalate into an actual war.

Jimmy Carter: Began a long tradition of democratic candidates moving to the right to appeal to conservatives, only to get spat in the face and appeasing them by moving to the right even more. Stabbed labor in the back with deregulation.We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. It used to be that kids said the darnedest things. Now kids are doing the most to separate themselves from the generation before them (who, let's be honest, are clearly embarrassing READ THE RESTRon DeSantis, who won the GOP nomination in Florida's gubernatorial race, went on Fox News to issue a dire warning not to "monkey this up" by voting for Andrew Gillum, the black mayor of Tallahassee who is running against DeSantis.

What? Excuse me?

That Republican dog whistle is more like a megaphone lately.

GOP nominee for #FLGov Ron DeSantis just said Florida shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Andrew Gillum.

What. The. Holy. Balls.#WednesdayWisdom #TakeItBackpic.twitter.com/tUlyFQBUSs

 Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) August 29, 2018For nearly two months now, the people of Poland have been captivated by the tale of a missing 16-foot python that is believed to be slithering around Warsaw still.

As the Wall Street Journal writers deftly summed it up, "Poland has been transfixed over finding a giant python on the loose, using drones, choppers and a sniffer dog called Cocaine."

Um. CLICK.

The missing snake has a name (Bertha) and none of the high-profile search efforts have turned her up. However, they did find three other "exotic snakes slithering through town," which makes you wonder what the deal is with Poland and exotic snakes.

Here is a rough translation of the original Facebook post from the animal rescue group, from Polish to English:

On 07/07/2018, the Animal Rescue Poland Animal Protection and Rescue Service received a notification about finding an escaped snake. 2 meters long. The patrol went to the indicated place on the Vistula at the height of Gassy and Cieciszew. The indicated moult was found on the site, and after a more detailed search of the area, the second part was found in tall grass. Measured molt had a length of 5.30 meters without head and a circumference of about 50 cm. The expert described it as the moult of adult Python Tigris. The molt is fresh, so the snake is hungry and can be aggressive. The Animal Protection and Emergency Service informed the local services and the Poviat Crisis Management Center. It is possible that this is a mindless joke of the snakes' breeder, who has dropped the moult of his pet on the bank of the Vistula. Until this scenario is confirmed, we assume that the threat is real and we make daily attempts to find a snake. Our intervention vehicle is not suitable for areas as difficult as the banks of the Vistula, therefore yesterday, the "Szarak" hunting club had to come to our aid and pull out our buried car, for which we thank you very much. We ask everyone to refrain from walking and sleeping in the open air in this area, and please watch the area closely. At risk of attack are mainly children and pets. All people who come across a snake, its moult or have information about the origin of molt are asked to contact us at 223506691 or 792112 222. If a person comes up and admits to planting the moult, we guarantee no consequences at this stage of the search. After engaging in the search of other services, the situation will change.

Here's an update from National Public Radio:

For more than a decade, Connecticut public schools have banned the sale of sodas to students as part of a health initiative. But at West Haven High School, sodas could still be purchased if you knew which door to knock on: the office of the school's two police officers. From WTNH:





Officers Kim DeMayo and Doug Bauman were caught running a side hustle selling sodas to students right from their office inside West Haven High School, according to records uncovered only by News 8







Superintendent Neil Cavallaro released a statement saying in part, "When the administration found out the officers were selling soda, their supervisors were immediately contacted, and put an end to it. We work very closely with the West Haven Police Department. I have been assured the matter was handled, and am confident nothing similar will happen in the future."





Police Chief John Karajanis declined to comment for this story.News / National

by Staff reporter

GOVERNMENT should consider legalising and regulating the use of crypto-currencies so as to benefit from tax collections and minimise financial crimes such as money laundering.This was said by professional accountants who attended the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) meeting which ended in Victoria Falls on Sunday.A crypto-currency is a digital currency used as a medium of exchange in which encryption techniques are used to regulate generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds operating independently of a central bank.The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) early this year banned crypto-currencies and ordered banks to comply with the directive. The country's financial services sector is not allowed to work with crypto-currency exchanges or hold any accounts of people trading in cryptos.However, the crypto-currency has remained uncontrolled in Zimbabwe after the High Court in May overturned the central bank ban on Bitfinance Private Limited, operating as Golix, to trade in the country. Speaking during a panel discussion following a presentation by the founder of Westcase Consultants, Mr Mkhululi Ndlovu, about digital disruptions-crypto-currency and block chain, participants said Government would not be able to control crypto-currencies unless it legalises them."The crypto-currency is now worth millions of dollars but the question is whether Treasury is benefitting from it," said a participant.Another participant weighed in: "One of the concerns by the regulator is that crypto currencies are anonymous and therefore prone to money laundering and not auditable.Tax-authorities are not benefitting from crypto-currencies and that's why some countries are legalising them so that they can take part. As long as regulators resist, the anonymity of Bitcoin makes it susceptible to crime."Participants said Government should allow use of block chains, especially now that the country also uses the plastic money payment system."RBZ rejected the crypto-currency saying it wasn't good for Zimbabwe especially buying with something which one has no control over. The fear was that the Crypto-currency encourages money laundering, but the question is does it?"Mr Ndlovu said the role of Government as an authority was to monitor usage and regulate where possible."There is nothing wrong with professionals embracing crypto-currencies. What matters is your values as professionals as long as you use the crypto-currency for legal purposes like paying fees without engaging in corrupt or criminal activities. What we need is proper infrastructure," he said.Some of the world crypto-currency companies include Styx24 and Bitcoin. Bitclub Network runs one of the world's largest Bitcoin mining operations.A few months ago, the network encouraged tourism players to embrace crypto-currencies, which are being used by the tourism international market. The currency entails one becoming a member of the network before buying Bitcoins or mining machines, which will start earning money.News / National

by Staff reporter

Jostling for Cabinet posts has reached fever pitch, as pressure mounts on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to appoint a young, dynamic and small Cabinet capable of breathing fresh life into the country's comatose economy.Mnangagwa, who took oath of office on Sunday - ending the uncertainty that had persisted for more than three weeks after the MDC Alliance challenged his slender victory in court - is spoilt for choice as he picks his Cabinet.His Zanu-PF party secured a two-thirds majority in Parliament, with 145 seats and 34 seats in the Senate  giving him a wide pool to choose from.In terms of the Constitution, he can also handpick five non-constituency Members of Parliament to add depth to his Cabinet.But as Mnangagwa weighs his options, officials in his party are busy positioning themselves for strategic postings in government.Covert and overt lobbying has been on show lately, with officials trying to curry favour with Mnangagwa and some of his trusted lieutenants.On Sunday, Zanu-PF officials went to great lengths to get his attention, with others exaggerating their contribution to his wafer-thin victory.Mnangagwa is, however, under pressure to desist from the previous winner-take-all mentality, which has not helped in bridging the divide characterising Zimbabwe's body politic.His Cabinet, according to analysts, must be one that delivers on the economic front to enable the 75-year-old Zanu-PF leader to confound his critics, and make a strong case for a second and final term in office at the 2023 polls.There are more ringing calls for Mnangagwa to dump the old guard such as Obert Mpofu, Patrick Chinamasa, Oppah Muchinguri, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Sithembiso Nyoni, Simon Khaya Moyo and July Moyo and go for the young turks.Some of the old guard made themselves vulnerable by failing to go past the party primary polls held in April this year and the July 30 harmonised elections, among them Moyo, Chinamasa, Christopher Mutsvangwa and Petronella Kagonye.Analysts canvassed by the Daily News said Mnangagwa could fail or succeed, based on the men and women he is going to choose to be part of his Cabinet.Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said he needs to appoint a lean Cabinet of not more than 16 ministers, and do away with deputies."He needs to appoint an inclusive and bipartisan Cabinet that includes talent from opposition parties. He needs to look in the private sector, non-governmental organisations sector and other sectors for talent," he said.Saungweme said Mnangagwa should take into his Cabinet technocrats such as Mthuli Ncube, the chief economist and vice president of the African Development Bank, to head a critical portfolio such as Finance.He also made reference to Alliance for the People's Agenda leader Nkosana Moyo as one of the technocrats who could add value to his Cabinet.Moyo, a former Industry minister in former president Robert Mugabe's Cabinet, was one of the 23 presidential candidates that participated in the just-ended polls.While Mnangagwa has heralded his leadership as a new dispensation, his last appointments failed to inspire confidence after he recycled the old guard and disregarded calls for gender parity.Analysts now expect him to change his strategy and bring in new faces that would transform the economy and ultimately revive the country's fortunes.Economist Kipson Gundani said Zimbabweans were expecting a fresh start, new faces, and delivery.He said those who have been part of the Cabinet for the past 10 to 20 years should give way to fresh faces.To unite a divided nation, Gundani said Mnangagwa must be all-inclusive, paying attention to the need to be gender-sensitive."We expect a new-look Cabinet for new thinking, new parameters and new views. Certain people should be allowed to rest in order to build confidence," Gundani said.Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Denford Mutashu said appointees must not have any history of being directly or indirectly involved in corrupt activities."The appointments are key in the stimulation of the economy in terms of creating confidence. The last Cabinet appointed after November 24 last year does not arouse confidence in the market. There has to be a selection of people with a good track record in terms of their governing principles," Mutashu said."There is no harm for the president to select a Cabinet that transcends gender; that transcends colour, religion or creed. There is need for the president to select people with tenets of good governance and rule of law. The challenge is having people that might not move with the same pace with him. If someone has been a minister since 1985, what more do we expect from him? The society has changed and we require people with the tenacity and modernity to try and turn around the fortunes of the country."We also expect change in the structure in terms of ministries, because there are people that have overstayed. As business we are not going to support mediocre, we expect a lot of changes and the president taking painful decisions to retire some of the old civil servants and bring young, dynamic minds that resonate with his vision," he said.Former MDC member Eddie Cross also emphasised the need for a lean Cabinet."What we need in the next week is the selection of a new Cabinet which will be smaller than in the past, under 20 members please, made up of men and women with three main characteristics, they must be people of known integrity, both intellectual and fiduciary, they must have experience and they must have the capacity in both energy and leadership terms to take over the leadership of the tens of thousands employed in our civil service and who must do much of the work to turn this country and its economy around," he said.Cross said even though Mnangagwa has made notable developments that are aimed at improving the country's fortunes, it is his choice in the new Cabinet that will be of importance."If he recycles the old guard and fails to appoint new blood, even from outside his party, he will disappoint and this will make his task even greater than it has to be," he said.According to the Constitution, the tenure of office of a minister or deputy minister becomes vacant upon the assumption of office by a new president.While Mnangagwa is yet to indicate when he would announce his Cabinet, his assumption of office on Sunday means he would be able to do so anytime.His spokesperson George Charamba could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.News / National

by Staff reporter

An unlicensed kombi driver is in a fix after reportedly hitting a car that was part of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga's motorcade last Friday.Silent Hungwe appeared before Harare magistrate Rumbidzayi Mugwagwa charged with contravening the Road Traffic Act by driving without a licence and negligent driving.He was denied bail and remanded in custody to September 4.Prosecutor Linda Gadzikwa alleged that on August 24 along Borrowdale Road at the intersection of Kingsmead, Hungwe was driving a commuter omnibus and avoided cars that had blocked the road paving way for Chiwenga's motorcade.Hungwe proceeded and hit one of the motorcade vehicles on the rear right side.He was immediately arrested.In another matter dealt with by the same court, Joseph Chakanetsa, 28, was jailed for two years for intercepting former president Robert Mugabe's motorcade.Chakanetsa sped off after he had realised that he drove into Mugabe's motorcade but claimed in court that he was overcome with fear.The court heard that Chakanetsa drove his truck through red traffic lights and against oncoming traffic.It was proved that he never stopped at intersections until the police caught up with him in Rugare.However, in mitigation Chakanetsa told the court it was common cause that anyone driving such a heavy vehicle may not hear the sound of the siren because of the noise the truck produces.He said when he realised that Mugabe was passing he could not stop immediately as this would pose danger to him and other motorists.News / National

by Staff reporter

PROSTITUTION could soon be out of fashion for some ladies of the night in Hwange and Victoria Falls with the introduction of income generating projects for them.Speaking at the launch of the Killer Zivhu Foundation in Jabulani Village, Lupunyu outside Victoria Falls over the weekend, Chivi South Member of National Assembly-elect Dr Killer Zivhu said sex workers had to work and earn a decent living through projects he introduced in the area.Dr Zivhu said society should not just condemn prostitutes without proffering solutions so that they leave the profession.In combating the woes facing people at large Dr Zivhu launched a goat project targeting poverty stricken rural districts countrywide, where each beneficiary will get five goats as seed capital.Dr Zivhu said the Killer Zivhu Foundation had the welfare of prostitutes high on its priorities as it rolls out a number of projects targeting the needy in the country.He said the idea was to empower prostitutes with income generating projects such as cross border trading and handiwork among others."We are resuscitating the project with prostitutes where we want them to earn a living by buying and selling. We once helped them in Harare and now we want to start sustainable projects for them here in Victoria Falls and the whole country at large," said Dr Zivhu.Dr Zivhu who is the president of the Zimbabwe Cross Border Traders Association said there was a wide range of projects lined up by the foundation ranging from farming to vending and handcraft.He said society should understand that most sex workers didn't choose that path but were forced by fate."We want them in contract farming where we will ask for land in different parts of the country so that they can do projects."We are looking into their issue so that they start income generating projects like cross border trading, handiwork or peanut butter making among others."The truth is we are aware that most of them are not in that situation by choice but they don't have resources."They sleep for a dollar or 50 cents because they are desperate and can't afford that dollar. Yes, some are into prostitution because they want to but the majority are desperate and if given an opportunity for business they will leave sex work," added Dr Zivhu.He said once empowered, most sex workers will opt out of prostitution."Those who say prostitutes are a problem should have to rethink and empower them."If you don't want them to do what they are doing, help them with sustainable projects than just to condemn."Some are willing to work and it's for us political leaders to think beyond political ideology," he added.Dr Zivhu said having helped some sex workers before, the foundation is concerned that some joined the trade because they are orphans and victims of sexual abuse.Empowering prostitutes will also help the country in the fight against HIV through behaviour change, said Dr ZivhuHe said the foundation aimed at reaching out to as many sex workers as possible countrywide as he appealed to every citizen to help by engaging them in their respective areas.Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. 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by Staff reporter

President Mnangagwa will soon embark on a countrywide tour to thank the people for voting him and zanu-pf in the July 30 harmonised elections, and will take the opportunity to outline Government's programme on devolution of power.The President said this when he handed over 90 cars to chiefs in fulfilment of Government's commitment to improving the welfare of the traditional leaders."We are going to have rallies in your respective areas to thank the people for voting me into power," he said."We will be saying the message of peace that we have been saying all along and we will also announce the plans we have to improve provincial economies because we do not want everything to be centred on Harare."We will also take the time to explain devolution to the people."President Mnangagwa pledged to work to improve the livelihoods of every Zimbabwean irrespective of political affiliation."I know there are some people who did not vote for me, but my message to them is that I am a President of the whole country, including those that did not vote for me," he said.The President also briefed the chiefs about his inauguration and the support he has received from Sadc and other African countries."As you may be aware, yesterday (Sunday) I was inaugurated into office and we had a number of visitors that came to celebrate with us," he said."The whole of Sadc was represented, while the chairman of the African Union was also there."Even our former President Mugabe, who had earlier said he no longer supported zanu-pf and was supporting (Nelson) Chamisa also sent a letter to congratulate me."He sent his daughter Bona because he could not attend because of ill-health. We are happy that he has realised that he had made a mistake."President Mnangagwa said Government had already started distributing inputs to ensure people were fully prepared aheadof the summer cropping season."The distribution of inputs under the Presidential Input Scheme is already underway because we don't want people to be unprepared when the farming season starts," he said. "As Government, we have said the inputs should be distributed on time."President Mnangagwa said there had been delays in buying the chiefs' cars because of foreign currency shortages."I am, however, glad that with the distribution of these 90 vehicles, all the chiefs now have their cars except in areas where the chiefs are yet to be installed," he said.President Mnangagwa presented the first batch of chiefs with their vehicles after the Chiefs meeting at the zanu-pf Convention Centre in Gweru in January.News / National

by Sithabile Mafu

Since the overwhelming victory of President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the recent presidential elections, congratulatory messages to ED have unceasingly poured from across the globe.Speaking after a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Sibusiso Moyo on Tuesday afternoon, Germany Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr Gerd Muller congratulated President Mnangagwa on his election.Speaking through an interpreter, Dr Muller said he was hopeful Mnangagwa will implement the reforms he has announced. Said Muller:"Zimbabwe just held elections, and it elected a new President and a new parliament and this was extremely important that the elections take place and that the country waited for the result of the court ruling and that this court ruling was recognised. Now I will congratulate the new President on his election and we are very hopeful that the reforms that have been announced will be launched and brought on the way that we want to build-on".News / National

by Staff reporter

KWEKWE Central MP elect Masango Matambanadzo (National Patriotic Front) has dismissed MDC Alliance losing candidate Blessing Chebundo as a bitter soul that cannot stomach electoral defeat, and was now flogging a dead horse by challenging the July 30 constituency results.Chebundo is challenging Matambanadzo's victory, accusing him of vote-buying and abusing the logo of the MDC Alliance to win the July 30 polls.In opposing the petition brought before the Electoral Court, Matambanadzo, through his lawyer Liberty Mashanyare, denied buying votes and instead accused Chebundo of being a sore loser."Although the respondent denies having taken malpractices or irregularities, no issues other than that arise. Of importance to note is the fact that I defeated Chebundo in 2013 both in the election and in court and come again on the 30th of July 2018, I defeated him again," Matambanadzo said."It is known from history that the petitioner does not accept an election result other than the one in which he is the winner. This is not the first time I have won the Kwekwe Central parliamentary seat against the petitioner. In 2013, after losing in similar elections, the petitioner approached this court with similar allegations, but still lost in court."Matambanadzo also accused Chebundo of filing his petition without paying security costs and for failing to abide by the rules of the court."The petitioner has failed to show proof of payment of security for costs in terms of Section 168 (3) of the Electoral Act," he said.Chebundo is also accused of filing his papers in Bulawayo, but instead demanding that opposing papers be filed in Harare, violating court rules."In the petition, the petitioner calls upon respondent to file the opposing papers in the Harare court yet he issued his petition out of the Bulawayo Court. This renders the petition fatal for non-compliance with the rules. Accordingly, the petitioner is non-suited before the court and the petition should fall on these legal hurdles," he said.Chebundo accused Matambanadzo of using an ambulance he bought using the Constituency Development Fund to get votes, an allegation the MP-elect denied."It is wondering to believe that an ambulance with political insignia compels people to vote in a particular way. As appears on Annexure MM5A and B, the ambulance was handed over to Kwekwe Municipality as it arrived. I had no ulterior motive neither do I hold such motive, but the town clerk who was a candidate in the Zanu-PF primary election for the post of Member of Parliament for Kwekwe Central did not accept the donation in time," he said.MDC Alliance, led by Nelson Chamisa, has set out to challenge 21 parliamentary seats which it alleges were fraught with electoral malpractice and should be set aside.The major allegations include use of food aid and cash payments to buy votes in violation of the Electoral Act.News / National

by Stephen Jakes

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has met British Ambassador to Zimbabwe to discuss future of Zimbabwe and the post election challenges.Chamisa tweeted that "THE FUTURE IS VERY BRIGHT.... Had a great meeting with the British Ambasador @CatrionaLaing1 on Zimbabwe's economy, national debt, governance and the post-election way forward. Zim-UK relations key flourish!!!"News / National

by Staff reporter

SOUTH Africa's land issue exploded into an international dispute after President Cyril Ramaphosa told US counterpart Donald Trump to "keep your America" in a rant akin to former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's outbursts in 2002.Trump last week, in a tweet, said the US was watching events in Zimbabwe's southern neighbour."I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers'," Trump said.The response from Ramaphosa was swift and savage."This issue of the land; this issue that Donald Trump fears so much," said the South African leader."I don't know what Donald Trump with South African land because he has never been here. He must keep his America and we will keep our South Africa, that's what he must do."South Africa is our land. South Africa belongs to all the people who live here. It does not belong to Donald Trump. He can keep his America."At the height of Zimbabwe's chaotic land expropriation exercise at the turn of the century, Mugabe told then British Premier Tony Blair off, arguing the program was non-negotiable."We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood  So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe," Mugabe told a stunned Blair at the 2002 Earth Summit, ironically in South Africa.Opinion / Columnist

Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa's inauguration as Zimbabwe's second president and commander-in-chief consummated power for the main beneficiary of the November 2017 coup that forced Robert Mugabe's long delayed retirement.Zimbabwean scholar and activist Brian Raftopoulos' remarks during a public meeting at the University of Cape Town five years ago come to mind. As all were wondering what would happen in the weeks before the much-marred 2013 Zimbabwean election, Raftopoulos argued that Zimbabwe's military-economic elite  a new capitalist class at an early stage  will not be removed just with elections.Mnangagwa's next five years may see this prediction reach its endpoint. His billboards said he would deliver the new country Zimbabweans want: the promise remains poised on tenterhooks. The classic dynamic in politics everywhere  the interplay between militarisation and democratisation  looms large.Raftopoulos' proviso that a "partnership to prevent militaristic moves" was necessary in 2013 may be more apposite (and trickier) now than ever. The prospects for the next elections in 2023 (barring constitutional changes  possible because Zanu-PF MPs make up more than the two-thirds in Parliament needed to change that hard-won document) could take stark contours.The contest is, and will be, far beyond a battle of two parties and their main protagonists. It will be between increasing democratic participation  starting with the classic precepts of free and fair elections  or a securitisation process much less stealthy than before.This is the most important point to consider about Zimbabwe's medium-term prospects. The others are moves within Zanu-PF itself, dynamics within the MDC-Alliance and what happens to the economy.MDC-AllianceAfter the Constitutional Court's ruling confirming Mnangagwa as the "duly" elected president, MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa suggested that he and Mnangagwa needed a serious discussion that would lead to the breaking of Zimbabwe's legacy of violent and jimmied elections.It's still an open question whether such a discussion would lead to a coalition government, or the space for the faction-ridden MDC-Alliance to flex the muscles of a loyal opposition and to rebuild. Its bad experience during the 2009-2013 "government of national unity" might militate against a repeat. But the wider need to cushion the new regime from militarisation is worth considering.The cautionary note to the MDC-Alliance about any such new dispensation might be: don't neglect your badly fractured party and its allies needing to be in the fold; and don't sideline your enemies within precipitously.Meanwhile, many among the MDC-Alliance and its supporters fear the Zanu-PF machine is poised to wipe them out permanently.Zanu-PFMuch related to the above and perhaps the key, is Zanu-PF itself. The battle between Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga could be overdrawn, but the tragic killings of August 1 have thrown it into stark relief.Can no one in power know who shot the demonstrators and innocent bystanders? Could Chiwenga really say that news of the shootings was "fake" and aver the MDC-Alliance deployed cadres to do the shooting to discredit Zanu-PF?In any case, a military unit came in, because - so says "the state" - the police could not contain the violence. On site observers, however, attest that the police and the demonstrators were enjoying a friendly encounter, including selfies and dancing. Then the soldiers arrived.The journalists who were there say the men with guns were the Presidential Guard, under Chiwenga's control: after they arrived and started killing, the violence and car burning ensued.One analysis says this tragedy has exposed Zimbabwe's parallel states. Furthermore, the senior soldiers have just had their retirements deferred. Perhaps Mnangagwa's inaugural Freudian slip  when he failed to acknowledge his vice- presidents  revealed his inner desire to be rid of Chiwenga.One can only hope that the promised commission of inquiry will unearth what happened, and deal with it summarily.The Patriot, one of the fractured ruling party's media mouthpieces, reveals some party propagandists' thinking about democracy and human rights. 'Unmasking CSU' (Counselling Services Unit, a long-serving source of succour for wounded democracy activists, as well as an advocacy NGO) paints the CSU and other human rights organisations writing "fake reports" to fan "tribalism and violence to achieve regime change". Only words? If they turn into bullets Zimbabwe will have stepped down the ladder a long, long way.The economyTicking like a time bomb is the ruined economy. No real money and a gargantuan number of unemployed embedded in the precarious "informal sector", if they're not eking out a penurious peasant's existence. Their situation is so miserable that they are easily bribed  with flour and subsidised prices for their maize backed by intimidation from the chiefs  to vote.Help from elsewhere might not be forthcoming either, or not helpful if it is. The rulers' faux pas against the demonstrators has worried even its dedicated supporters in the wider world, imperilling even the demanding strictures of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank re-engagement. The "West" dangled the slightly less rigorous chalice of Heavily Indebted Poor Country status in front of Mnangagwa's finance bureaucrats before the elections. Even though Zimbabwe is considered "too rich" for the easier debt-relief packages that comes with the status, broad hints were made. It's doubtful if those whispers will get louder now.In any case, as civil society activist Takura Zhangazha has written, IMF and World Bank policies are woefully inadequate for Zimbabwe's problems: it is highly unlikely that its poor majority will be lifted to a decent life under their aegis.As for private investment: Zimbabwe will again be fair game for the cowboys - from the east as well as the west these days.Zimbabwe is in a precarious position. Its immediate future rests under the sword of Damocles. The threads of democracy have to be thickened. One hopes the chronicle of its demise cannot be foretold.The Conversation

David B. Moore, Professor of Development Studies and Visiting Researcher, Institute of Pan-African Thought and Conversation, University of Johannesburg

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Opinion / Columnist

The decision by the MDC Alliance to ratchet up pressure to overturn President Emmerson Mnangagwa's victory confirmed by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) last week in reaching out to the African Commission for Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) might be a lost cause in light of the nature of African politics, which are usually run by an "old boys" club.While the ACHPR provides a channel for aggrieved political players on African soil to raise their grievances and seek redress, chances that the MDC Alliance will exert any influence that can change the outcome of the ConCourt are almost zero.The fact that the African Union itself is a tightly-woven club of African Heads of State  some of them with more significant problems in their countries  might prove to be the major stumbling block in the MDC Alliance's efforts to seek justice.This, in our view, is almost a dead-end case and perhaps the only way forward is for the two protagonist political parties  Zanu-PF and MDC Alliance  to find each other and work together in the national interest.We however, believe that can only work if there is sincerity especially between the parties. But is it true that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has extended an olive branch to MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa or he has only made the claim on social media platforms?If Mnangagwa has been in touch with Chamisa we believe there is no reason why the opposition leader would rebuff that gesture. But Zimbabweans would remember that Chamisa wrote several letters asking to meet Mnangagwa to chat the future of the country during the campaign period but the President is said to have refused and is reportedly yet to respond to all those requests. So it is Mnangagwa who should show he has changed as he would want the world to believe.Already there are reports of political violence in some rural outposts where Zanu-PF supporters are reportedly hunting down MDC Alliance supporters, with some forced to abandon their homes. Mnangagwa should seek to address this by reining in his party supporters.Only after stopping post-election violence by his supporters will Mnangagwa show that he means his word when urging Chamisa to join him. Now is the time for Mnangagwa to walk the talk.This demands more than posting invitations on his Twitter handle. This should be done for the country to move forward for it is now time for everyone to put their hands on the deck. The country needs to move forward.Citizens cannot continue living in a polarised State, and/or be dragged back to the dark era of former President Robert Mugabe, where violence was used to curtail dissenting voices. It would appear this culture is still deeply entrenched in some rural areas.If, indeed, Mnangagwa is prepared to work with Chamisa, whom the former want to demonstrate good leadership and maturity by respecting the outcome of the ConCourt, then the President is duty-bound to play ball by ensuring that cases of violence are nipped in the bud.We believe Mnangagwa is alive to the fact that Zimbabweans have suffered for far too long and this is time to get to work to alleviate the suffering by getting the economy back on track. Zimbabweans are tired of unnecessary political uncertainty and it is our hope that the country unites so we can put our heads together in tackling unemployment, cash crisis, price instability and other ills bedevilling our economy. Let us unite as one nation and move forward for the sake of the national agenda and heal the wounds that Zimbabweans have been experiencing for the past 38 years.And Mnangagwa should get the ball rolling by actioning his promises.Opinion / Columnist

Chaguta0@gmail.com

Nelson Chamisa the current MDC Alliance president has to account for himself to the people at the people's court. This is so because in this article I'm going to outline Chamisa's misdemeanors and crimes against the people. It is indeed up to him to exonerate himself before the people.1. Before the elections upon taking the leadership of the party, Nelson Chamisa demanded electoral reforms before elections were to be held. He threatened to unleash the people to stop the elections if reforms were not done. Unfortunately no reforms were done and the party was plunged into the elections without these necessary reforms. Chamisa need to explain why this happened?2. During the campaign period, Nelson Chamisa assured people that the rigging machinery of Zanu-PF was well countered. He told the nation that he had all the rigging mechanisms in check. He promised to expose everything irregular and the people believed him. Unfortunately we now clearly see that nothing was done to stop the rigging and he didn't demand for recount of the vote. This is a serious shortcoming on a leader and must stand before the people's court to explain himself on this too.3. The utterances by Nelson Chamisa that he will retire from politics if Munangagwa wins 5% , must be fulfilled forthwith. As a genuine people centered leader he must be seen to honour his promises. Chamisa went on to say that he would give Munangagwa his sister if he lost the plebiscite by 20%. Although this was discriminatory to females and such kind of utterances could not be tolerated from a leader. Having lost the elections Chamisa failed to honour that promise. Indeed he has to account for his utterances and the people have to decide on his fate.4. Nelson Chamisa claimed during his press conferences to the whole world that he had won by 56% and that he was the winner. Where did he get those figures from? Why did he not even present such figures to the Constitutional court. The above clearly shows that Nelson Chamisa was not saying the truth to people. He should stand against the people and state why he lied to them. Indeed only the people's court would judge him accordingly.5. After results were eventually announced, again, Nelson Chamisa held several press conferences telling the nation and the world that he had evidence of the rigging that took place, there was overwhelming evidence in his possession that will be shown in court. He told the nation that there were truck loads of evidence and now noone knows how that evidence was never taken to court.Once asked about the evidence by a reporter, he replied that it was premature to disclose the information, again it seems it was a lie. Why would he lie so plainly to us the citizenry. It is because of these misdemeanors that this man has to face the people's court now.6. The nation was informed that there were over 1000 lawyers who had volunteered to take the case to the Con court, that was good news to the suffering citizens of Zimbabwe, there was hope planted in all the people who had voted for him.Considering all the above, MDC Alliance knew that there was going to be rigging and also that there were no electoral reforms, why now complain something that was known before hand?What measures were put in place to counter the rigging or what plan was in place to stop or expose it? The answer is NONE.All the utterances by Nelson Chamisa were lies and he must apologise for misleading the citizenry at the people's court . He gave hope to people knowing very well that it was not true.The team of lawyers that represented him tried their best, there was no evidence at all,one wonders what people like Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti, Mwonzora, Coltart Sikala and all the lawyers in MDC Alliance were doing? Where in the world has a case been won without evidence? Going to court to prove fraud without any piece of evidence was foolish and a waste of time. In courts all over the world, once a person is accused of theft, there must be evidence or exhibit, the lack of evidence has seen courts discharging criminals back to society. Every lawyer knows that and this case was no different.Where did things go wrong? These are the questions he has to give the people at the people's court.7. At Tsvangirai's funeral, the party split, the constitution was thrown into the dustbin and a coup was done. The party split and caused confusion hence the loss to Zanu-PF. The saying, United we stand and divided we fall, is very true and was ignored. Indeed Chamisa has to exonerate himself at the people's court.8. The failure to have polling agents in all polling stations allowed rigging to take place unnoticed. That's the reason why noone can tell which polling station's figures were cooked. That is why no one can give a name of any one polling station were results were altered. Without evidence produced, it all remains an opinion and opinions are not admissible in a court of law. This actually contributed to the throwing out of his election application at the Constitutional Court.9. After the judgement by the Electoral Court, Chamisa accepted the judgement only to refuse it at a later stage. Indeed Chamisa has to account for himself to the people of Zimbabwe whose faith and trust he betrayed.In light of the above facts Chamisa has to stand before the people and exonerate himself of any wrong doing. It is at the people's court that his fate would be decided. Whether he would be given a second chance or whether he deserves the firing square. The people's movement need to continue moving forward but after all the above questions have been answered at the people's court.China Overseas Property Holdings Limited (HKG:2669), a HK$8.51b small-cap, is a real estate company operating in an industry which remains the single largest sector globally, and has continued to play a key role in investor portfolios. Real estate analysts are forecasting for the entire industry, a positive double-digit growth of 12.9% in the upcoming year , and an enormous growth of 92.2% over the next couple of years. This rate is larger than the growth rate of the Hong Kong stock market as a whole. Today, I will analyse the industry outlook, and also determine whether China Overseas Property Holdings is a laggard or leader relative to its real estate sector peers.

See our latest analysis for China Overseas Property Holdings

Whats the catalyst for China Overseas Property Holdingss sector growth?

SEHK:2669 Past Future Earnings August 29th 18

As yields for high quality real estate investments came under pressure, investors have swung towards more niche buildings such as student housing and data storage facilities. Over the past year, the industry saw growth in the forties, beating the Hong Kong market growth of 14.8%. China Overseas Property Holdings lags the pack with its lower growth rate of 37.8% over the past year, which indicates the company has been growing at a slower pace than its real estate peers. However, the future seems brighter, as analysts expect an industry-beating growth rate of 16.7% in the upcoming year. This future growth may make China Overseas Property Holdings a more expensive stock relative to its peers.

Is China Overseas Property Holdings and the sector relatively cheap?

SEHK:2669 PE PEG Gauge August 29th 18

Real estate companies are typically trading at a PE of 6.33x, lower than the rest of the Hong Kong stock market PE of 11.83x. This illustrates a somewhat under-priced sector compared to the rest of the market. Though, the industry returned a similar 9.5% on equities compared to the markets 9.7%. On the stock-level, China Overseas Property Holdings is trading at a higher PE ratio of 22.13x, making it more expensive than the average real estate stock. In terms of returns, China Overseas Property Holdings generated 35.7% in the past year, which is 26.1% over the real estate sector.

Story continues

Next Steps:

China Overseas Property Holdingss future growth prospect aligns with that of the broader market, however its relative value seems to be above the rest of the industry. This could indicate the price is reflective of factors other than growth. If China Overseas Property Holdings has been on your watchlist for a while, now may not be the best time to enter into the stock since it is trading at a higher valuation compared to other real estate companies. If youre looking for growth, it seems other industry peers are also delivering the same rate. However, before you make a decision on the stock, I suggest you look at China Overseas Property Holdingss fundamentals in order to build a holistic investment thesis.

Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Historical Track Record: What has 2669s performance been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of China Overseas Property Holdings? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.By Ayenat Mersie NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, with Brent at its highest in seven weeks and U.S. crude touching a three-week peak, supported by a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks and reduced Iranian crude shipments as U.S. sanctions deter buyers. Brent crude jumped $1.19, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $77.14, after touching $77.41, its highest since July 11. U.S. oil settled 98 cents, or 1.4 percent higher at $69.51 a barrel, after touching $69.75, its highest since Aug. 7. U.S. crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, exceeding the 686,000-barrel draw forecast by analysts polled by Reuters. [EIA/S] "Crude oil got additional support today from the declining inventories across the board," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. Declining Iranian exports and reduced exports from Venezuela due to terminal damage also lent support to the price, he said. U.S. crude's discount to Brent retreated slightly from the more than 10-week high hit Tuesday. Oil prices were buoyed by indications that Iranian crude exports were falling faster than previously expected, analysts said. Iran's crude oil and condensate exports in August are set to drop below 70 million barrels for the first time since April 2017, preliminary trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon show. Many crude buyers have reduced orders from Iran, OPEC's third-biggest producer, ahead of the Nov. 4 start date for U.S. sanctions. The head of Iraqi state oil producer SOMO said on Wednesday that the sanctions will prompt a crude shortage, and that OPEC will discuss compensating for the supply drop. (Graphic: Average Iranian crude exports by month: https://reut.rs/2LClnmH) (Graphic: Iran crude oil exports from Jan 2016 to August 2018: https://reut.rs/2PGtjqB) In Venezuela, where production has halved since 2016, the state-run oil firm PDVSA said on Tuesday it had signed a $430 million investment agreement to increase production by 640,000 bpd, although some analysts doubted whether this investment would go through given ongoing instability. Meanwhile, the preliminary export plan for fellow OPEC member Angola indicates that its shipments have dropped to the lowest level since December 2006, as a lack of investment in ageing infrastructure limits production. Despite the risk of disruption from these OPEC producers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said global supply could climb toward the end of the year, in part due to increased non-OPEC output from Canada, the United States and Brazil. Norway's Equinor said it plans to develop new oil fields in Brazil and raise output from 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to between 300,000 and 500,000 boepd by 2030. (Graphic: Venezuela crude oil exports: https://tmsnrt.rs/2LvCPtl) (Reporting by Ayenat Mersie; Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by David Evans and Lisa Shumaker)Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average

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Page: 1 2 US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441607

08-29-2018 03:50 AM











Post: #1 US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

Advertisement



How is this not treason?

https://shareblue.com/cia-informant-russ...-agencies/



When Trump and his Republican allies like Rep. Devin Nunes pushed to expose the identity of an FBI informant involved in the Russia investigation earlier this year, officials from the intelligence community warned that their actions could have grave consequences, both for the informants security as well as for intelligence collection more broadly.

Those consequences are already being realized, as CIA sources in Russia have reportedly gone quiet ahead of the 2018 midterms, leaving U.S. intelligence agencies in the dark about the Kremlins plans to interfere in the elections and potentially other sectors of American society.



They've hacked our electrical grid, our air traffic control, even our nuclear power plants. And the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is outing assets while they continue to do this.



How much clearer does it need to be that Trump is an active agent of the Kremlin operating to destroy the US from the inside? He actively undermined the safety of assets undercover in Russia.How is this not treason?They've hacked our electrical grid, our air traffic control, even our nuclear power plants. And the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is outing assets while they continue to do this.How much clearer does it need to be that Trump is an active agent of the Kremlin operating to destroy the US from the inside? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 451761

08-29-2018 03:51 AM











Post: #2 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

We've really got him this time, oh yes we do! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441607

08-29-2018 03:55 AM











Post: #3 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:51 AM) We've really got him this time, oh yes we do!

That the GOP is ignoring this is all the proof anyone should need that they're all complicit in Trump's treason. That the GOP is ignoring this is all the proof anyone should need that they're all complicit in Trump's treason. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459259

08-29-2018 03:57 AM











Post: #4 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

Shareblow. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 451761

08-29-2018 03:58 AM











Post: #5 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:55 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:51 AM) We've really got him this time, oh yes we do!

That the GOP is ignoring this is all the proof anyone should need that they're all complicit in Trump's treason.

You should write a letter to the newspaper editor about that. You should write a letter to the newspaper editor about that. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444645

08-29-2018 04:00 AM











Post: #6 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:50 AM) He actively undermined the safety of assets undercover in Russia.



How is this not treason?

https://shareblue.com/cia-informant-russ...-agencies/



When Trump and his Republican allies like Rep. Devin Nunes pushed to expose the identity of an FBI informant involved in the Russia investigation earlier this year, officials from the intelligence community warned that their actions could have grave consequences, both for the informants security as well as for intelligence collection more broadly.

Those consequences are already being realized, as CIA sources in Russia have reportedly gone quiet ahead of the 2018 midterms, leaving U.S. intelligence agencies in the dark about the Kremlins plans to interfere in the elections and potentially other sectors of American society.



They've hacked our electrical grid, our air traffic control, even our nuclear power plants. And the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is outing assets while they continue to do this.



How much clearer does it need to be that Trump is an active agent of the Kremlin operating to destroy the US from the inside?

Fall off a building. This sh*t is old..



Nice share blue link Fall off a building. This sh*t is old..Nice share blue link LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459008

08-29-2018 04:02 AM











Post: #7 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:57 AM) Shareblow.

you prefer Breitfart, yes? you prefer Breitfart, yes? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459328

08-29-2018 04:11 AM











Post: #8 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:50 AM) He actively undermined the safety of assets undercover in Russia.



How is this not treason?

https://shareblue.com/cia-informant-russ...-agencies/



When Trump and his Republican allies like Rep. Devin Nunes pushed to expose the identity of an FBI informant involved in the Russia investigation earlier this year, officials from the intelligence community warned that their actions could have grave consequences, both for the informants security as well as for intelligence collection more broadly.

Those consequences are already being realized, as CIA sources in Russia have reportedly gone quiet ahead of the 2018 midterms, leaving U.S. intelligence agencies in the dark about the Kremlins plans to interfere in the elections and potentially other sectors of American society.



They've hacked our electrical grid, our air traffic control, even our nuclear power plants. And the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is outing assets while they continue to do this.



How much clearer does it need to be that Trump is an active agent of the Kremlin operating to destroy the US from the inside?

More fake news......



"according to American officials familiar with the intelligence"



Articles and or journalism needs a verifyable source, anonymous sourced stories are bogus. More fake news......"according to American officials familiar with the intelligence"Articles and or journalism needs a verifyable source, anonymous sourced stories are bogus. pooky

Registered User

User ID: 451507

08-29-2018 04:13 AM



Posts: 5,991









Post: #9 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

Seen lot's of threads around about Hillary selling us out to China and how she compromised the lives of our agents in China. Now I read this. smh LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459008

08-29-2018 04:15 AM











Post: #10 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

pooky Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:13 AM) Seen lot's of threads around about Hillary selling us out to China and how she compromised the lives of our agents in China. Now I read this. smh

right. so now it's china.



whatever happened to selling out to the Russians?



any old bullshit you desperados can come up with right. so now it's china.whatever happened to selling out to the Russians?any old bullshit you desperados can come up with LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441607

08-29-2018 04:17 AM











Post: #11 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

If you support Trump, you support treason. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459328

08-29-2018 04:19 AM











Post: #12 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:11 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 03:50 AM) He actively undermined the safety of assets undercover in Russia.



How is this not treason?

https://shareblue.com/cia-informant-russ...-agencies/



When Trump and his Republican allies like Rep. Devin Nunes pushed to expose the identity of an FBI informant involved in the Russia investigation earlier this year, officials from the intelligence community warned that their actions could have grave consequences, both for the informants security as well as for intelligence collection more broadly.

Those consequences are already being realized, as CIA sources in Russia have reportedly gone quiet ahead of the 2018 midterms, leaving U.S. intelligence agencies in the dark about the Kremlins plans to interfere in the elections and potentially other sectors of American society.



They've hacked our electrical grid, our air traffic control, even our nuclear power plants. And the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is outing assets while they continue to do this.



How much clearer does it need to be that Trump is an active agent of the Kremlin operating to destroy the US from the inside?

More fake news......



"according to American officials familiar with the intelligence"



Articles and or journalism needs a verifyable source, anonymous sourced stories are bogus.

LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459008

08-29-2018 04:19 AM











Post: #13 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:17 AM) If you support Trump, you support treason.











[ ] TRE45ON [/size] LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444340

08-29-2018 04:22 AM











Post: #14 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:17 AM) If you support Trump, you support treason.

I support Trunp. I support Trunp. pooky

Registered User

User ID: 451507

08-29-2018 04:36 AM



Posts: 5,991









Post: #15 RE: US intel sources in Russia go dark after Trump outs FBI informant

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:15 AM) pooky Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:13 AM) Seen lot's of threads around about Hillary selling us out to China and how she compromised the lives of our agents in China. Now I read this. smh

right. so now it's china.



whatever happened to selling out to the Russians?



any old bullshit you desperados can come up with

Hidog sold that US gov ass out to whoever was willing to tap it. Hidog sold that US gov ass out to whoever was willing to tap it. Advertisement

















By Matt Scuffham TORONTO (Reuters) - Bank of Montreal outshone rival Canadian lender Bank of Nova Scotia on Tuesday, posting third-quarter earnings that came in ahead of market expectations, helped by growth in the United States. Shares in Scotiabank, down 5 percent since the start of the year, were 1.8 percent lower at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT). Shares in BMO, up 5 percent so far this year, were down 0.25 percent, with the broader market for Canadian banks 0.5 percent lower.. BMO, Canada's fourth-biggest lender, said earnings per share, excluding one-off items, jumped 16 percent to C$2.36 in the quarter ended July 31, compared with the average analyst forecast of C$2.27, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Net income, excluding one-off items, at the bank's U.S. business grew by 34 percent, benefiting in part from tax changes. Net income, excluding one-off items, at its Canadian business rose 5 percent. Scotiabank, Canada's third-biggest lender, reported a 5 percent increase in third-quarter earnings, in line with market expectations. Earnings per share, excluding one-off items, rose to C$1.76 ($1.35) in the quarter ended July 31, up from C$1.68 a year ago. Analysts had on average forecast earnings per share of C$1.75, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce analyst Robert Sedran said BMO had benefited from a strong U.S. performance and also highlighted its investment banking business, which lifted net income by 7 percent helped by stronger trading revenues. In contrast, he said Scotiabank's performance was unlikely to be greeted positively by the market since other Canadian banks had exceeded expectations this quarter. Royal Bank of Canada and CIBC both beat forecasts last week. Scotiabank, which has the biggest overseas presence of Canada's major banks, said its net income, excluding one-off items, rose to C$2.26 billion during the period, from C$2.12 billion in the year-ago quarter. The bank's international business grew net income by 15 percent, helped by loan growth of over 10 percent in the Pacific Alliance trading bloc, comprising Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia, where its international strategy is focused. Speaking to reporters, Chief Executive Brian Porter said Monday's announcement of a preliminary trade deal between the United States and Mexico was a "solid step in the right direction," and he was hopeful a deal with Canada will be agreed. "This alleviates ambiguity in the market's mind," he said. "We look forward to the next piece of NAFTA being solved with Canada's inclusion." ($1 = 1.3055 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bill Trott and G Crosse)Regina is one step closer to having the Wascana Centre protected from future commercial development.

During Monday's city council meeting, councillors voted unanimously in favour of three recommendations to help restrict future commercial development in the centre, also referred to as Wascana Park.

The recommendations include city council committing to protect Wascana Centre from "future commercial development that does not directly serve the needs of, or benefits those using the park."

The motion also recommends city council oppose future commercial development in the centre that does not meet the city's Master Plan and has not undergone public consultation, as well as city council requesting a public consultation from the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) regarding the centre's future.

"Our residents have spoken in a near unanimous voice," said Bob Hawkins, who has been outspoken about restricting commercial developments in the centre. "This is our chance, perhaps our only chance, to protect the park."

"I call on the premier to hear your voices. I call on the Regina MLAs to speak for all of us. I call on the opposition to insist on transparency and accountability," he said.

Mayor Michael Fougere emphasized his support for the motion but called it "symbolic," saying the city does not have the authority to direct PCC decisions.

Developments in Wasanca Centre are decided by the PCC, which is a board comprised of three representatives from the province, one from the University of Regina, and one from the City of Regina.

Fougere also said the city does not have the authority to control or undo projects already in the works.

Delegations

There were 14 delegations scheduled to speak at the meeting, nearly all of whom spoke in favour of the motion with the exception of Vianne Timmons, president of the University of Regina.

She expressed concerns the motion would limit the university's development, saying the U of R is the biggest developer in the park.

Story continues

"We have to undertake development on our campuses from time to time, as we have always done," she said.

The university currently enrolls about 15,000 students, as well as over 3,000 faculty and staff, according to Timmons.

"We need to develop and enhance our facilities to meet growing and demanding needs," she said.

In a deal with Conexus Credit Union, the U of R is receiving $8.25 million from Conexus Credit Union for building upgrades to their College Avenue Campus, which sees about 8,000 students every year.

In exchange, Conexus is building an 80,000-square-foot office building on park land transferred to the U of R from the city. Timmons said Conexus has a 90-year lease and will be paying rent to the U of R.

Timmons also addressed concerns about tree removal in the centre, saying Conexus will plant three mature trees for each tree removed during construction.

According to city officials, Conexus is projected to pay about $160,000 per year in property taxes.

Councillor Jerry Flegel was also hesitant on the motion.

"I don't see any teeth in it. All I see is words and we have those words with the provincial government already," he said.

Flegel pointed out the centre is largely controlled by the provincial government and recommended people reach out to their MLA's regarding concerns about Wascana Centre.

He did, however, end up voting in favour of the motion.Student entrepreneurs in Fredericton have created a new app that could shorten wait times in New Brunswick emergency rooms.

Queue, also known as a "mobile wait-time concierge," is a new system that would allow patients to spend less time actually sitting in the ER waiting room.

"In essence, you would wait a shorter period of time," said Joshua Sallos, chief communications officer at Queue.

- 47,000 people with doctors rely on ERs instead, health council says

- Campaign to reduce wait times at Moncton ER not working

"It would alert you that your estimated time for treatment is coming up within a certain threshold."

Sallos, a communications and public policy student at St. Thomas University, compared the app to popular, restaurant wait-list apps, that decrease the wait times for walk-in diners.

People would still go through the triage system at the hospital, but less urgent cases would then leave and expect to be notified when to return to see a doctor.

The Fredericton native said he and his team of three others would rely on data from historical records of the health-care system and partners with Horizon Health Network to get estimated wait times.

Sallos said the app's main focus would be on lower-priority cases, such as people with sinus infections or sore arms or whose doctors' offices are closed.

Wait times eliminated

Although the developers are still discussing the time frame for how much time people would be given to get to the ER before their turn comes up, it could range from 45 minutes to an hour.

"We want to have a reasonable enough time that you're not waiting for nine hours in an emergency room, but we also don't want to burden the system by having people miss their appointments," he said.

The alerts would come through as a text message, a phone call or a notification from the application.

Patients could also access the app through the Queue website.

The app would be free for users.

Story continues

"It comes down to health-care accessibility and public health care," he said.

Emely Poitras, a spokesperson for Horizon Health Network, said that under the triage system used by emergency rooms, the sickest and most vulnerable patients are cared for first.

She said patients with symptoms such as chest pain, for example, would fall under Levels 1 or 2, and would be examined and treated immediately.

Wait times for patients with non-urgent symptoms, such as sore throat, can vary considerably and can often be treated faster by using other healthcare options like a family doctor, nurse practitioner, after-hours or walk-in clinics, Tele-Care 811, and local pharmacist.

'An interesting concept'

The Fredericton startup was founded during a business competition in February called Startup Weekend, which included entrepreneurs from across the province.

Although the app is in its early stages, founders are hopeful it will take off soon and said they are working with the New Brunswick Medical Society and Horizon Health Network to discuss implementation.

"We find the concept interesting," said Emely Poitras, a spokesperson with Horizon Health Network. "However, it is too early for us to determine its feasibility at this time.

"We do look forward to learning more about this app and its uses."

Anthony Knight, CEO of the New Brunswick Medical Society, said there are a number of private-sector developers like Queue that are looking to enter the health-care system in Canada.

Knight hasn't met with Queue and doesn't have anything scheduled.

But he said the app might encourage patients to choose one emergency room over another in the province, as some patients want to have a sense of the time they might have to wait in certain parts of the province.

"It's certainly information that patients could benefit from if they're trying to decide whether or not to attend an emergency rooms," he said.QUITO (Reuters) - A New York man charged with trying to defraud Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg is fighting extradition from Ecuador where he was arrested after fleeing before his trial in the United States more than three years ago. Paul Ceglia, 45, a wood pellet salesman, faced charges of mail fraud and wire fraud over his alleged forging of documents to extort Facebook and Zuckerberg. In March 2015, he removed his ankle bracelet and disappeared with his wife, two kids and dog. His arrest in Ecuador was announced on Thursday. Ceglia in a court hearing on Saturday said he did not want to be extradited, arguing his life was at risk. "The judge's resolution indicates that the extradition process continues and that he his still detained," said Ceglia's lawyer Roberto Calderon by telephone. "I think the process will last 45 days." He said the extradition treaty between the United States and Ecuador does not cover the crimes of which Ceglia is accused. The criminal case arose from Ceglia's conduct related to a2010 civil lawsuit he had filed against Zuckerberg. Ceglia claimed that Zuckerberg had, while a student at Harvard University, signed a 2003 contract giving him half of a planned social networking website that later became Facebook. U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara in Buffalo dismissed Ceglia's lawsuit after another judge said the contract was doctored. The market value of Menlo Park, California-based Facebook is about $500 billion, and Forbes magazine said Zuckerberg's own net worth is about $64.8 billion. Ceglia was criminally charged in November 2012. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia, writing by Brian Ellsworth)Health care has displaced the economy as the top priority for voters early in the Quebec election campaign, according to a survey of more than 50,000 people.

In the two previous elections  2012, 2014  the economy was the most commonly cited issue of Quebec voters who opted to take an online questionnaire known as Vote Compass.

The economy was also the top issue in the Vote Compass survey conducted for the June election in Ontario and the current campaign underway in New Brunswick.

But after several years of sturdy economic growth here, the economy has dropped off as a concern of Quebec voters.

Only 21 per cent of respondents chose the economy as their top issue this year, compared to nearly half (47 per cent) in 2014, when the Liberals defeated a short-lived minority Parti Quebecois government.

"It's surprising to see the drop, but the economy is doing well so maybe people feel they don't have to worry about it," said Charles Breton, research director of Vox Pop Labs, the data science firm that runs Vote Compass in partnership with CBC and Radio-Canada.

Taking the economy's place in the top spot is health, chosen as the primary concern of 30 per cent of respondents.

That comes following a series of contentious health-care reforms imposed by the Liberal government and widespread debate in the province about how to care for Quebec's aging population.

Not surprisingly, it has also been raised on the campaign trail. Current frontrunners, the Coalition Avenir Quebec, have repeatedly attacked the Liberals for their handling of the health-care file.

"Health care is what the parties have been talking about," said Breton.

"Whether it's care for the elderly or doctor's salaries  those are the discussions that have been happening so far on the campaign trail."

Generational divide on environment

Education (24 per cent) and the environment (13 per cent) round out the top four issues at the forefront of the minds of respondents.

Story continues

But there is also a sharp generational divide when it comes to the issue that voters care about the most.

Younger voters (aged 18-34) most commonly cited the environment, while health care was the dominant issue for voters over 55.

In 2014, said Breton, only around 10 per cent of young voters singled out the environment as a priority. Now 27 per cent of them do. More women (19 per cent) also cited the environment than men (13 per cent).

In addition to the generational divide, there were linguistic difference. English-speakers were more likely to cite the environment as their top issue, whereas francophones were more likely to choose health.

And those things people don't care about

The issues that have dropped off in importance are, arguably, just as telling as the priorities.

Sovereignty and language issues were roughly twice as important in the elections of 2012 and 2014 than they are now.

This reflects the fact that none of the main parties, not even the PQ, have much to say about a referendum.

The PQ's leader, Jean-Francois Lisee, has promised not to hold a vote on Quebec independence until 2022, or in the other words, not until a second PQ mandate.

That has contributed to the historic nature of the campaign, the first in more than a generation where the prospect of a referendum is off the table.

Some analysts expected concerns over immigration and diversity could fill the space once occupied by sovereignty.

But the Vote Compass results suggest that too isn't a major concern of voters, despite being amply debated among the parties and in the media.

Even following the controversy surrounding the PQ's Charter of Values, only five per cent of respondents selected it as their top issue in the 2014 election.

This year four per cent said it was the issue that mattered most to them.

Here are some more findings.

A word about methodology

The Vote Compass questionnaire asks a series of multiple choice policy questions to help voters locate themselves on the political spectrum. It includes an open-ended question: "What issue is most important to you in this election?"

An algorithm works to combine similar words under general headings. So, for example, mentions of "doctor," "health" or "hospitals" were included under health care.

- Sign up for our election newsletter for added insight and analysis here.

The findings are based on 53,542 respondents who participated in Vote Compass and answered the "Most important issue" open question from August 24, 2018 to August 28, 2018.

Unlike online opinion polls, respondents to Vote Compass are not pre-selected. Similar to opinion polls, however, the data are a non-random sample from the population and have been weighted in order to approximate a representative sample.

Vote Compass data have been weighted by gender, age, education and country of birth to ensure the sample's composition reflects that of the actual population of Quebec according to census data and other population estimates.A man walks past the rubble of the family house of Palestinian assailant Mohammed Youssef after it was demolished by Israeli troops in the village of Kobar near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

By Ali Sawafta

KAUBER, West Bank (Reuters) - The Israeli military on Tuesday demolished the family home of a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank who killed an Israeli in a Jewish settlement a month ago and was shot dead in the attack.

Footage distributed by the military showed an armoured bulldozer tearing into the one-storey structure in the village of Kauber, north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

Mohammed Tareq Ibraham Dar Youssef, 17, broke into the settlement of Adam on July 26, and stabbed three people, killing Yotam Ovadia, 31. One of those wounded in the assault fatally shot the Palestinian, the military said.

Dar Youssef's uncle, Khaled Abu Ayyoush, said the youth's parents, two brothers and two sisters had lived in the house razed in the night-time operation. The family, he said, had known nothing of his intention to carry out an attack.

"Why are they at fault? Israel's continued policy of collective punishment is merciless," Abu Ayyoush said.

Israel's Supreme Court has upheld the demolition policy, which Israeli officials have termed both punitive and a deterrence to potential attackers.

In a statement, the military said dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks, firebombs and pipe bombs at troops who deployed in the village and that they responded with "riot dispersal means". It said none of the soldiers was hurt. There were no immediate reports of any Palestinian injuries.

"We entered tonight to close a circle and we destroyed the terrorist's home," Lieutenant-Colonel Liron Appleman, a battalion commander, said at the scene in the video clip provided by the military.

Although stabbings and car-rammings carried out by Palestinians since late 2015 have become less frequent in the West Bank, tensions have remained high in the aftermath of U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December.

Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital, and say Israel's expansion of settlements in occupied territory could deny them a viable and contiguous country.

Story continues

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.



Related Video: Israel to Approve More Than 1,000 New West Bank Homes





Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View.



(Additional reporting and writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams)Montreal woman kicked out of courtroom for wearing hijab still looking for answers

Rania El-Alloul, the Montreal woman who was asked to remove her hijab in order to have her case heard in court, was back in a courtroom today, trying to get a clear ruling stating that a judge can't refuse to hear a case in Quebec based on someone's religious attire.

El-Alloul appeared before Quebec Court Judge Eliana Marengo in February 2015 on a routine matter, trying to get back a vehicle that had been seized by the Quebec Automobile Insurance Board.

Marengo told El-Alloul she would not hear her case unless she removed her hijab.

The judge said the courtroom was a secular space and compared the hijab to a hat and sunglasses, which would not normally be allowed in a courtroom.

Politicians and civil rights groups condemned the judge's remarks at the time, but El-Alloul has yet to receive an official apology or acknowledgement that Marengo did anything wrong.

"She's left wondering, 'What happens the next time I go to the Court of Quebec?'" El-Alloul's lawyer, Catherine McKenzie, told a panel of Quebec Court of Appeal justices Wednesday.

Seeking clarification

El-Alloul has been trying to seek justice on a number of legal fronts.

In 2016, her legal team asked a Quebec Superior Court justice to issue a "declaratory judgment"  a ruling from the bench clearly stating that a judge can't refuse to hear the case of El-Alloul or any other woman because they wear a hijab.

In his decision, Justice Wilbrod Decarie said he sympathized with El-Alloul and regretted how she'd been treated.

But Decarie stopped short of issuing the requested declaratory judgment, saying it was beyond his jurisdiction and largely unnecessary, given that the Supreme Court of Canada had already ruled on such matters.

"Indeed, the thesis adopted by Judge Marengo that a courtroom is a secular space where the religious beliefs of a person have no right to be cited has no force of law in Canada," Decarie wrote.

Story continues

El-Alloul's lawyers presented their arguments in the Quebec Court of Appeal Wednesday, challenging Decarie's ruling.

'Startling proposition'

McKenzie and El-Alloul's other lawyer, Julius Grey, argued the declaratory judgment was needed to reassure both El-Alloul and anyone else who wears religious attire that they have a right to be heard in Quebec courts.

Grey argued that Decarie's ruling was based on a "startling proposition" because it acknowledged that Judge Marengo made a mistake, but refused to offer any remedy for that mistake.

Grey said Decarie's ruling doesn't clarify anything.

"There will always be a possibility that Ms. El-Alloul will be challenged if she goes to court in the future," Grey said.

The lawyer representing the Court of Quebec argued that a declaratory judgment could threaten judicial independence in future, hypothetical situations.

El-Alloul emotional in court

El-Alloul was in the courtroom for the arguments, wearing a hijab.

"I hope the decision will be positive. I'm doing [what] I think is right, and it is my right," she said in a brief statement to reporters after the hearing.

"When my lawyer was talking, I cried. It brought it all back again for me," she told CBC News as she left the courthouse.

The panel of appeal court judges will take time to a consider the case.

Disciplinary complaint against judge on hold

In the meantime, an investigation by Quebec's Council of the Magistrature  the body responsible for disciplining judges in Quebec is on hold.

Dozens of people complained to the council after Marengo's remarks.

But Marengo is challenging the council's jurisdiction to investigate her in court. Lower courts rejected her challenge, but she is now taking the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The council says until there's a ruling, the investigation is suspended.

That means it could be months or years before there's a decision about whether Marengo should be officially sanctioned for her remarks.

She is still working as a judge.WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean officials have warned in a letter to the United States that denuclearization talks were "again at stake and may fall apart", CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The letter was delivered directly to U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government felt that the process could not move forward. "The U.S. is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty," CNN reported, citing sources. https://cnn.it/2MAI9AT The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving U.S.-led U.N. forces technically still at war with North Korea. The North has long made clear that it sees an official end to the state of war as crucial to lowering tensions on the Korean peninsula. The United States has been reluctant to declare an end to the Korean War until after North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program. The Washington Post reported on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump called off a visit to North Korea by Pompeo after the latter received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official just hours after the trip was announced last week. CNN reported that the letter was sent by the former head of North Korea's spy agency, Kim Yong Chol, but it was not known how it was sent. The Washington Post said North Korea had been increasingly communicating through its U.N. mission. CNN reported that the letter also mentioned that if a compromise could not be reached and the nascent talks crumbles, North Korea could resume "nuclear and missile activities". 'PLOT' On Sunday, North Korea's state media accused the United States of "double-dealing" and "hatching a criminal plot" but did not mention Pompeo's canceled visit. (nL2N1VI1WU) The Washington Post said the exact contents of the message were unclear, but it was sufficiently belligerent that Trump and Pompeo decided to call off the planned trip. The trip had been announced the previous day for this week and Pompeo had intended to introduce a newly named special envoy, Stephen Biegun, to his North Korean counterparts. The White House referred queries on the Washington Post report to the State Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In cancelling Pompeo's trip, Trump publicly acknowledged for the first time that his effort to get North Korea to denuclearize had stalled since his June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore. {nL2N1VF10N] U.S. intelligence and defense officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about North Korea's willingness to give up its nuclear weapons and they had not expected Pompeo's trip to yield positive results. A South Korea presidential spokesman said he was not in a position to comment on the authenticity of the letter but acknowledged that talks between Washington and Pyongyang were in a stalemate. "With North Korea and the U.S. remaining stalemated, there is a even bigger need for an inter-Korea summit," Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House told a briefing. South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said this month his planned third summit with North Korea's Kim next month would be another step towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an end to the Korean War. (Reporting by Mekhla Raina in BENGALURU, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in WASHINGTON, Cynthia Kim in SEOUL; Editing by Peter Cooney, Robert Birsel)By Cecilie Kallestrup NAIROBI (Reuters) - The number of Somalis left homeless has surged this year as thousands who had already fled war, drought and floods were forcibly evicted from mostly makeshift homes, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said. The aid group, in a report published on Tuesday, said one of the main factors driving people out of their homes was property developers requisitioning land, often without warning, during a building boom in the capital Mogadishu. More than 200,000 Somalis, or one in 60 of the population, were forcibly evicted from their homes in January-July, more than double the number in the same period last year, the group said. NRC said most evictions were done without due process, including without prior notice, and called on the government to address the problem by developing land policies and improving access to land for people who were forced from their homes. Many had fled to urban areas after being displaced by natural disasters and conflict in other parts of the country. The aid group said Somali authorities and landowners were evicting people from public and private land mainly in battle-scarred Mogadishu, which is seeing a building boom. "These people are already in a vulnerable position. They have nowhere to go," Evelyn Aero, NRC's adviser for information, counseling and legal assistance, said. Somali government officials were not immediately available to comment. A farmer with eight children who was interviewed by the NRC said she was not at home in Mogadishu when her family was forced out. "I came back to see my children on the street," said Halimo Sidow, who had fled drought last year in the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia. A devastating drought last year and this year's floods forced "a massive migration to urban areas", NRC said. Somalia is also struggling to recover from more than 25 years of civil war and an ongoing battle between its federal government and Islamist insurgents, but is starting to attract investment again from Somalis living abroad. They send back home $2.3 billion annually and some of that cash - as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in aid - has been financing the construction of hotels, commercial buildings and houses in the capital of Mogadishu. In 2017, the United Nations estimated that more than half the population of 12 million needed food aid. A similar drought in 2011, exacerbated by years of war that began in 1991, sparked the world's last famine, which killed 260,000 people. (Reporting by Cecilie Kallestrup; Editing by Omar Mohammed/Maggie Fick/Susan Fenton)The Ontario government is refusing to make Premier Doug Ford's mandate letters to cabinet ministers public in a move it says mirrors "every Ontario government prior to Kathleen Wynne's Liberals"  but CBC Toronto has learned from staffers in some of those previous governments that the letters weren't necessarily "private" at all.

A senior advisor to former premier Dalton McGuinty says that Liberal government was the first to make mandate letters publicly available and the Wynne goverment continued the practice.

"At first, we gave them to reporters. Over time, we also released them to the public," said Lloyd Rang, who was also a communications director for McGuinty. "Folks in hospitals, universities and businesses grew to expect and rely on them because the letters made our government's actions fully transparent and easier to understand."

Before then there might not have been much interest in mandate letters.

According to a former Tory cabinet minister, no one from the media requested copies of mandate letters during her time at Queen's Park.

"It wasn't the big deal it's become," said Janet Ecker, who served as a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister in former premier Mike Harris' government. Mandate letters she received were "fairly intensive binders," she added.

The letters traditionally layout a checklist of expectations a premier has for each of their cabinet ministers.

Ecker believes mandate letters matter more now because Ford was only party leader for a couple of months before the election and there "just wasn't the opportunity to put out the details" of what a Ford government planned to do.

The province's Cabinet Office recently denied CBC Toronto's freedom of information request for all of the mandate letters sent to Ontario's 22 ministries and two non-portfolio responsibilities. In its denial, the office claimed the records are exempt from access legislation because their "disclosure would reveal the substance of deliberations of the executive council or its committees."

Story continues

Wynne's Liberal government posted their mandate letters publicly on the province's website, a practice that became the norm across most of the country since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his own letters public in 2015.

Does the public care?

Those precedents don't really matter though, according to political science professor Nelson Wiseman, who said he doesn't think "this means Ontario's less democratic."

"The average person has no idea what a mandate letter is and I don't think they care," Wiseman told CBC Toronto.

"Their attitude is, 'We had an election, Ford got elected. Let him step in it, let him do something good. We'll weigh-in on it in four years.'"

Wiseman, who specializes in Canadian government and politics at the University of Toronto, said mandate letters are a "very recent development" he traces back to former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

The records evolved out of a growing distance between premiers, or prime ministers, and their cabinet ministers, according to Wiseman.

In the case of the current government, Wiseman said the fact Ford was elected on a "paper-thin platform" means his government might feel like it doesn't need to publicly provide more information on its mandate.

"I think for the most part people think. 'Look, the election's over. The guy got elected. If he wants to release a mandate letter, that's up to him.'"

CBC Toronto requested an interview with Ford about his government's decision to not to release his mandate letters, but instead received an emailed statement from his spokesperson, Simon Jefferies.

The statement focuses on Ford's campaign promises.

"We campaigned on a plan for the people, and every cabinet minister was given a clear direction to implement this plan and deliver real relief to families," said Jefferies.

"Our government has 5 core commitments: we will put more money in people's pockets, clean up the hydro mess, create and protect jobs, restore accountability and trust in government, and work to fix health care."

The statement later goes on to say that "every Ontario Government prior to Kathleen Wynne's Liberals kept mandate letters private."

'A shift to secrecy'

One Ottawa-based citizen's advocate says the public should demand more.

Ken Rubin has made thousands of access to information requests in over 50 years working as an investigative researcher. He believes the province should be proactively disclosing records like mandate letters.

"The election was held and you would quite rightly expect after that public discourse that you would have the basic information about the mandate," Rubin said.

Denying access to the letters is a "step in the totally wrong direction" and will "signal a shift to secrecy in the government more generally," he continued.

While Rubin "wouldn't put too much faith" in the mandate letters themselves, he said they're one way to keep the government accountable.

"You need to have some benchmarks if you're going to have evidence-based democracy. So, that's one of them, and one less if you don't have it available to the people."

Before filing an access request, CBC Toronto reached out to about half of Ontario's ministries, asking for a copy of the mandate letter they'd received from the premier's office.

None of the ministries addressed the request for the mandate letter in their response, but instead provided nearly identical statements. All of them cited Ford's "five core commitments" from his campaign for premier.

With files from Michelle Cheung

Clarification : An earlier version of this story stated that Janet Ecker was a press secretary in the government of former premier Mike Harris. In fact, Ecker was a cabinet minister under Harris. She had served previously as a press secretary during the Bill Davis years at Queen's Park. (Aug 29, 2018 8:34 AM)Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 1 Average

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Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-29-2018 04:35 AM











Post: #1 Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

Advertisement



@realDonaldTrump

Report just out: China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server. Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!

8:16 PM - Aug 28, 2018 Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrumpReport just out: China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server. Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!8:16 PM - Aug 28, 2018 pooky

Registered User

User ID: 451507

08-29-2018 04:39 AM



Posts: 5,991









Post: #2 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

Hacked? *cough* bullshit Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-29-2018 04:39 AM











Post: #3 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

Like....what exactly....Is fukking Sessions going to say none of this warrants investigation:

>>>>

A Chinese-owned company penetrated former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons private server, according to sources briefed on the matter.

The company inserted code that forwarded copies of Clintons emails to the Chinese company in real time.

The Intelligence Community Inspector General warned of the problem, but the FBI subsequently failed to act, Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert said during a July hearing.

A Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington, D.C., area hacked Hillary Clintons private server throughout her term as secretary of state and obtained nearly all her emails, two sources briefed on the matter told The Daily Caller News Foundation.



The Chinese firm obtained Clintons emails in real time as she sent and received communications and documents through her personal server, according to the sources, who said the hacking was conducted as part of an intelligence operation.



The Chinese wrote code that was embedded in the server, which was kept in Clintons residence in upstate New York. The code generated an instant courtesy copy for nearly all of her emails and forwarded them to the Chinese company, according to the sources.



The Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) found that virtually all of Clintons emails were sent to a foreign entity, Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, said at a July 12 House Committee on the Judiciary hearing. He did not reveal the entitys identity, but said it was unrelated to Russia. (RELATED: Gohmert: Watchdog Found Clinton Emails Were Sent To Foreign Entity)





Two officials with the ICIG, investigator Frank Rucker and attorney Janette McMillan, met repeatedly with FBI officials to warn them of the Chinese intrusion, according to a former intelligence officer with expertise in cybersecurity issues, who was briefed on the matter. He spoke anonymously, as he was not authorized to publicly address the Chineses role with Clintons server.



Among those FBI officials was Peter Strzok, who was then the bureaus top counterintelligence official. Strzok was fired this month following the discovery he sent anti-Trump texts to his mistress and co-worker, Lisa Page. Strzok didnt act on the information the ICIG provided him, according to Gohmert.



Gohmert mentioned in the Judiciary Committee hearing that ICIG officials told Strzok and three other top FBI officials that they found an anomaly on Clintons server.<<<<



Really Jeff??



It's on. With or without the Elf. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459325

08-29-2018 04:43 AM











Post: #4 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

"Trump [ ]Licking[/size] Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server" is a more accurate title. Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-29-2018 04:47 AM











Post: #5 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:43 AM) "Trump [ ]Licking[/size] Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server" is a more accurate title.

Other than rhyming a word with another word, what have you accomplished? Other than rhyming a word with another word, what have you accomplished? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444645

08-29-2018 04:48 AM











Post: #6 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

f*#k off op, seriously take a hint. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 423870

08-29-2018 04:51 AM











Post: #7 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

He will find them in a jar on Hillary's nightstand. Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-29-2018 04:51 AM











Post: #8 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 04:48 AM) f*#k off op, seriously take a hint.

No hints received.....not seeing any hints. Where are these hints? How would I "take" one? No hints received.....not seeing any hints. Where are these hints? How would I "take" one? Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-29-2018 04:57 AM











Post: #9 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server





That's a huge no-no in terms of security.



DNS-IP records:



https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/05/did-...d-printer/



Internet Census 2012:



http://www.exfiltrated.com/query.php?sta...tnames=Yes



IP Port Domains Hostname

24.187.234.186 5900 rosencrans.dyndns.ws ool-18bbeaba.static.optonline.net 24.187.234.187 25, 80, 443, 3389

wjcoffice.com ool-18bbeabb.static.optonline.net mail.clintonemail.com mail.presidentclinton.com 24.187.234.188 printer.clintonemail.com printer.presidentclinton.com

24.187.234.190 443 sslvpn.clintonemail.com

ool-18bbeabe.static.optonline.net



https://www.venafi.com/blog/digital-cert...ail-server



However, for the first 3 months of Secretary Clintons term, access to the server was not encrypted or authenticated with a digital certificate. During this time, Secretary Clinton travelled to China, Egypt, Israel, South Korea and other locations outside of the U.S.



https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room...on-emails/



E. On January 9, 2011, the non-Departmental advisor (Justin Cooper) to President Clinton who provided technical support to the Clinton email system notified the Secretarys Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations that he had to shut down the server because he believed someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in i didnt [sic] want to let them have the chance to. Later that day, the advisor again wrote to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, We were attacked again so I shut [the server] down for a few min. On January 10, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations emailed the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning and instructed them not to email the Secretary anything sensitive and stated that she could explain more in person. clintonemail.com RDP port 3389 was left wide open to the internet.That's a huge no-no in terms of security.DNS-IP records:Internet Census 2012:IP Port Domains Hostname24.187.234.186 5900 rosencrans.dyndns.ws ool-18bbeaba.static.optonline.net 24.187.234.187 25, 80, 443, 3389wjcoffice.com ool-18bbeabb.static.optonline.net mail.clintonemail.com mail.presidentclinton.com 24.187.234.188 printer.clintonemail.com printer.presidentclinton.com24.187.234.190 443 sslvpn.clintonemail.comool-18bbeabe.static.optonline.netHowever, for the first 3 months of Secretary Clintons term, access to the server was not encrypted or authenticated with a digital certificate. During this time, Secretary Clinton travelled to China, Egypt, Israel, South Korea and other locations outside of the U.S.E. On January 9, 2011, the non-Departmental advisor (Justin Cooper) to President Clinton who provided technical support to the Clinton email system notified the Secretarys Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations that he had to shut down the server because he believed someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in i didnt [sic] want to let them have the chance to. Later that day, the advisor again wrote to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, We were attacked again so I shut [the server] down for a few min. On January 10, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations emailed the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning and instructed them not to email the Secretary anything sensitive and stated that she could explain more in person. Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-29-2018 05:00 AM











Post: #10 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

>>>Can't wait for CNN's inevitable "Debunking Trump's latest conspiracy theory about China hacking Hillary's email server"<<<



Lol LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 423870

08-29-2018 05:50 AM











Post: #11 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

This would be like robbing a bank and throwing the money on the street, and having the cops go after the passersby picking up bills while letting the robber get away. Loud Sneeze

lop guest

User ID: 397577

08-30-2018 02:26 AM











Post: #12 RE: Trump kicking Sessions' balls to investigate China hacked Hillary unsecure server

LoP Guest Wrote: (08-29-2018 05:50 AM) This would be like robbing a bank and throwing the money on the street, and having the cops go after the passersby picking up bills while letting the robber get away.

It is Democrat privelege. It is Democrat privelege.















More than 1,000 medical trainees from Saudi Arabia have been told they can stay in their Canadian positions for a while longer, bringing relief to teaching hospitals and universities that have come to depend on them.

The Saudi medical residents and fellows received news from Saudi authorities Monday that they would be "allowed to continue in their present training programs until such time as an alternative assignment could be arranged," Dr. Andrew Padmos, chief executive of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, said Tuesday morning.

A diplomatic spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada erupted earlier this month when Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called for the release of jailed Saudi women's rights activists.

The dispute has escalated with a series of measures taken by the Saudis that include recalling students  including medical students and residents  to Saudi Arabia.

'Human cost'

The reprieve for medical trainees does not include the 8,000 or more Saudi university students who are enrolled in other programs across Canada. They are not being permitted to continue their studies at Canadian universities.

Padmos said Tuesday that while "the sword still hangs over" the medical trainees, there is a general sense of relief among everyone involved.

"The human cost and the chaos caused by their abrupt recall to Saudi Arabia was really mounting and most distressing to everybody concerned," he said, noting that "13 or 14" of Canada's 17 medical schools and their associated teaching hospitals have Saudi trainees.

'Integral parts of our health system'

There are 1,053 medical trainees in Canadian posts supported through the scholarship program at the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in Ottawa, Padmos said.

The trainees tend to have "five or six years of post-MD training under their belt" and are in Canada doing clinical practice or advanced research, he added.

Story continues

"The [Saudi] trainees are not just students who are here for a year or two and kicking around our universities," Padmos said.

"They're actually working in our hospitals, looking after our relatives and our community and are really very integral parts of our health system and health workforce."

Saudi authorities did not give the medical trainees a specific deadline by which they have to leave Canada, but it appears they will be allowed to wrap up residencies and fellowships, said Paul-Emil Cloutier, president and chief executive of HealthCareCAN, which represents Canadian hospitals.

"[The email] points out that they need to be looking elsewhere, but you know it's not always easy to find a posting," Cloutier said.

"A posting could take between 12 and 18 months before you actually find it. So if I'm in my fourth year and I still have a fifth year, I think that my choice will be to remain where I am in Canada."

Some medical trainees have already left the country, Cloutier said, leaving hospitals scrambling to try to bring them back or fill the empty spots.

"The situation is very fluid," he said.

With files from CBC's Yvette Brend and The Canadian Press

Read more from CBC British ColumbiaRCMP in Alberta have arrested a 16-year-old boy and charged him with attempted murder and possession of a prohibited weapon in the shooting of a German tourist west of Calgary earlier this month.

The 60-year-old victim, identified in court documents as Horst Stewin, was driving east on Highway 1A on Aug. 2 with his wife, son and son's girlfriend when he was shot in the head near the Morley rodeo grounds, about 55 kilometres west of Calgary.

The Dodge Durango he was driving veered off the roadway and crashed into a tree. The three other people in the vehicle suffered minor injuries and the injured man was flown to hospital in Calgary by STARS Air Ambulance.

The teen was taken into custody without incident on Aug. 24 on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, said RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters at a news conference on Tuesday.

The RCMP Serious Crimes Branch laid 14 charges against the teen, whose name cannot be released as per the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

"This investigation has been progressed by what I could call good old-fashioned police work," said Peters.

The charges against the teen include:

- Attempted murder.

- Uttering threats.

- Criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

- Assault with a weapon.

- Aggravated assault.

- Possession of stolen property under $5,000.

The teen also faces eight gun-related charges that include unauthorized possession of a firearm and careless use of a weapon.

Court appearance

On Tuesday afternoon, the 16-year-old was brought into the Cochrane courtroom in a blue sweatsuit and sat on a bench looking at the floor as his mother sat in the gallery with tears in her eyes.

The two waved at each other as he was taken back into custody by sheriffs after the brief appearance.

Defence lawyer Alain Hepner told provincial court Judge G.W. Paul he has not yet received disclosure from the assigned prosecutor and the matter was put over to next week.

"I don't want to give you the rhetoric that you get so often, but I really don't have facts. I have allegations and I have information, which means charges," said Hepner.

Story continues

"So I know what the allegations are, I don't have police reports, I don't have witness statements, I don't have a synopsis or a summary of what occurred. I interviewed the boy and I know a little bit about his background, but it's far too serious to jump into a bail hearing right now."

Hepner said his client is "very emotional" but he's not sure the boy realizes what he's facing.

"I don't think he understands the scope of what's going on. He's 16 years old, I just don't think he has a full comprehension of the court process and just how serious this is," said Hepner.

Bullet removed from head

Earlier on Tuesday, Peters said no further information will be released about a possible motive for the shooting. He did confirm that the suspect and Stewin were not known to each other.

RCMP have said previously that the victim was shot from the passenger side of a vehicle being driven on the same highway. Peters said on Tuesday that a vehicle believed to have been involved in the shooting has been seized along with a firearm.

He said the suspect was not the sole occupant of the vehicle, but that there are no other suspects.

Doctors in Calgary were not able to safely remove the bullet from Stewin's head. After nearly two weeks in hospital, he was flown to Germany, where doctors have since successfully removed the bullet.

It will be brought back to Canada to see if it's a forensic match with the firearm recovered by RCMP.

"He has a very long road of recovery ahead of him," Peters said. "This has been a life-changing event for him."

Earlier arrest

Stewin's family expressed gratitude to the investigative team for their work in finding and charging a suspect, Peters said.

RCMP initially thought the shooting was a case of road rage, but later said they believe it may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Police detained a man in Cochrane, Alta., one day after the shooting and seized a black Chrysler Sebring from the same residence.

That man was released without charges.

- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Enmax envisions solar-powered skyscrapers that feed the grid

- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Calgary girl playing in blanket fort paralyzed by broken glass

- Read more articles by CBC Calgary, like us on Facebook for updates and subscribe to our CBC Calgary newsletter for the day's news at a glance.China has been making many investments in third-world countries, often in exchange for resource concessions. There is growing concern that some of these projects leave the host country with too much debtindeed, last December, Sri Lanka sold control of its port of Hambantota to a Chinese state-owned company after falling behind in repaying $1.5 billion in loans from Beijing. Further such situations seem likely. (See interesting article about Chinese investment in Malaysia here.)

China has also been accused of using aid and investment funds to influence other countries policies toward Taiwan, an accusation that they unsurprisingly denyand Taiwan is now down to only one diplomatic ally in Africa, the kingdom of eSwatini (prevously known as Swaziland.) El Salvador, too, has recently dropped diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

See also my recent post about Chinese influence efforts targeted at other nations, including the limiting of US film content and the firing of an American employee of Marriott for liking a tweet which offended the regime.Photo - Kingfisher, a New Testament symbol of a fisher of men

The Uniting Church Australias (UCA) has an evangelical network, the Assembly of Confessing Congregations (ACC) and it is straight shooting over and against the UCAs same sex marriage policy.

In short, the UCAs same sex marriage policy is that it is left to each and every congregation to decide about property use for marriages, and each minister is able to decide whether to conduct same sex marriages or not.

That sounds very reasonable and courteous and in community good-will, but those in the ACC grouping are greatly distressed over the theological implications of such a loose governance outcome.

There are two questions here  the first, will this split the UCA, and, the second, does this in effect mean the UCA splitting and what it means for those who oppose.

The ACC maintains it is the UCA that is divisive by revising marriage, and especially making this decision without referring to the wider councils of the church. It is well acknowledged that the UCA has the politics down-pat within its structures, they hold all the levers of actual power.

The editor of the ACC publication AC Catalyst, Peter Bentley from Sydney, says at the present time the UCA is focusing on containment of any public dissent (though this is difficult in a social media age), and they are hoping everyone will lay down and play dead.

The Assembly is pressing on with approving a new marriage liturgy and I understand they hope to have that available for us by late September and that will then much more public in terms of what the UCA has actually done.

Photo - a theological frame work established

Opposition

Opposition is however growing in Queensland, South Australia and parts of NSW. One illustration of this, the New Life Church in Robina (Gold Coast) which are a significant section of the UCA in Qld, and organised 40 days of prayer and discernment, about their future, along with many larger UCA churches.

Many Uniting Church evangelical congregations, networks and groups are working out their arrangements for the future, and this may be short-term, while longer-term arrangements are considered.

If any congregation leaves (and the UCA says technically only the people leave) property remains in the UCA Property Trust for that Synod, so that weighs on any decision to leave, though many congregations did leave in 2003-2006.

The UCA is not unaccustomed to this. In 1977 when the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational denominations combined to establish the Uniting Church in Australia, many members of those congregations moved to other denominations such as the Baptists, Churches of Christ, Salvation Army, Anglican.

Moreover, the Presbyterians saw a split with one group going alone as the Free Presbyterians.

As the Church Life Surveys illustrate, the UCA has leaked congregants continuously, with many congregations are struggling. The UCA strength is in their long held financial and structural wealth that supports the UCAs many ministry institutions  retirement villages, hospitals, hospices, schools, child care, youth hostels, welfare arms and which draw significant sums of Government grants and subsidy funding.

Peter Bentley says: I dont think anyone knows what will be the overall outcome of this decision yet, though it will undoubtedly cause people (mainly individuals at present to leave) and rural and smaller congregations will be left in a more vulnerable position than they are now, and their long-term viability will be compromised.

In my view, the UCA hopes it will all become quiet and the PR (especially in the two ABC interviews I have heard with the new President would make it appear it is going wonderfully well). There is a list of articles and some references are on the ACC website:

http://www.confessingcongregations.com/news-views/item/responses-to-the-15th-assembly/

Photo - The frame work falls off the truck

Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.

Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.htmlEvery year, Altadis U.S.A. is one of the must see booths at IPCPR, and 2018 was no exception. This year we saw Altadis have a larger booth than seen in the previous few IPCPR Trade Shows. There was an additional energy and excitement this years Altadis booth. Not only did they have plenty of product being showcased, but there was even an Alfa Romeo automobile being raffled off.

Altadis U.S.A. has undergone many changes over the past eighteen months. The wheels were put in motion when Rob Norris was named General Manager of Altadis U.S.A. This was followed up when Rafael Nodal would come on-board as Director of Product Capability. Subsequently, there have been changes in the marketing team. Meanwhile, Eddy Guerra would come over from Gurkha and become a senior brand manager.

There is a large number of brands under the Altadis U.S.A. umbrella, but it seems that Altadis has settled on three of its key brands that have been successful for them: Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, and H. Upmann. To some extent Aging Room, a brand coming from Boutique Blends and distributed by Altadis U.S.A could also be considered a fourth key brand. Strategy-wise, the company continues to look to Nicaragua for some of its production and has continued its strong partnerships with the Plasencia and AJ Fernandez factories.

Montecristo

Each year Montecristo is a featured brand by Altadis U.S.A  and a brand with plenty ofactivityy. This years featured release is the Montecristo Nicaragua. Its the third Montecristo done by AJ Fernandez and seventh project done by Fernandez for Altadis and its parent company Tabacalera USA. Its also the sixth Montecristo done in Nicaragua.

Montecristo Nicaragua is a Nicaraguan puro made at Tabacalera Fernandez. Its available in four sizes: Robusto (5 x 54), Toro (6 x 54), No. 2 (6 1/2 x 52), and Churchill (7 x 56). The cigars are packaged in 20-count boxes.

There are a couple of limited edition Montecristo series that are going to have their final installments that had a debut at the trade show  namely the Montecristo Artesian Series and Montecristo Grupo de Maestros Private Batch Series. According to Altadis plans are for both of the limited edition lines to come to a close.

Montecristo Artisan Series Batch III is a project done by Altadis Grupo de Maestros, a team that represents Altadis most skilled cigar rollers. The cigar utilizes some of the best tobaccos that are available for the team. Each blend in the series is one-and-done release that features a different blend in a different size. For Batch III, this project is an all-Dominican cigar made at Tabacalera de Garcia in the Dominican Republic. Batch III is available in one size  a 6 1/4 x 52 Belicoso packaged in 25-count boxes. Pricing is set at $19.50 per cigar  one of Altadis most premium offerings this year.

The Montecristo Private Batch is a series that releases blends originally produced for the Grupo de Maestros own private consumption. These blends have been periodically made available on a limited basis, with Private Batch IV the fourth release. Each year the blend and size has differed. The Private Batch IV marks the first time the cigar is a 100% Dominican puro in a 6 3/4 x 48 Churchill format. The cigars feature the lines signature 100-count trunk boxes with burlap covering. Pricing is set at $16.50 per cigar.

Romeo y Julieta

Nicaragua was the theme with this staple brand of Altadis. The year the company showcased Nicaraguan-made blends for both Romeo y Julieta 1875 and Romeo by Romeo y Julieta.

Making its official launch at the trade show was the Romeo y Julieta 1875 Nicaragua. The Romeo y Julieta 1875 consists of 100% Nicaraguan tobaccos and will be available in four sizes: Bully (5 x 50), Toro (6 x 50), Magnum (6 x 60), and Churchill. It will be available in 25-count boxes. The cigar comes from Plasencia S.A. and its the second Romeo y Julieta cigar to come out of that factory, joining Romeo 505 Nicaragua.

Earlier this year, there was the Romeo San Andres by Romeo y Julieta. This cigar became the fifth Romeo by Romeo y Julieta branded cigar. As the name indicates, it uses a San Andres wrapper, but also contains Nicaraguan binder and filler. This cigar also comes from Nicaragua, but its produced by AJ Fernandez at Tabacalera Fernandez. This was the second AJ Fernandez branded cigar for Romeo y Julieta. The other one is the Romeo y Julieta Crafted by AJ Fernandez which is distributed by Santa Clara Cigars.

Romeo by Romeo y Julieta San Andres is available in Robusto: (5 x 50), Piramides: (6 1/8 x 52), Toro (6 x 54), and Magnum (5 1/2 x 60). Each is presented in 20-count boxes.

H. Upmann

Next year will mark a big milestone for the H. Upmann brand as it celebrates its 175th anniversary. Rafael Nodal worked with the Grupo de Maestros to create a special cigar to commemorate the occasion  the H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros. While Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta had their focus on Nicaragua, the H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros is being produced at the famed Tabacalera de Garcia in the Dominican Republic.

The blend for the H. Upmann Connecticut consists of an Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed wrapper over a Dominican binder and filler. The blend includes Pilotico tobacco, a seed varietal grown by the Mendez family that Altadis has used before  most notably on the Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez. It will be released in four sizes Robusto (5 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), Belicoso (6 1/8 x 52), and Churchill (6 3/4 x 48). Each size is presented in 20-count boxes.

The cigar is finished with a maduro cap.

Nicaragua wasnt forgotten about when it came to H. Upmann. Last year Altadis launched the H. Upmann Nicaragua by AJ Fernandez. As the name indicates, its a project where AJ Fernandez put his interpretation on the iconic brand. The cigar became a huge hit for Altadis. This year, the company added a fourth vitola  a 6 1/8 x 52 box-pressed belicoso.

The H. Upmann Nicaragua by AJ Fernandez features an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, a Nicaraguan Corojo 99 binder, and a combination of Criollo 98 and Piloto Cubano in the filler. The new Belicoso is available in 20-count boxes.

Aging Room Cigars

Last year, Boutique Blends entered into a strategic partnership where Altadis would handle its sales and distribution, and Rafael Nodal would also join the team of Altadis as Director of Product Capability. Prior to IPCPR, Boutique Blends announced a revamping of its portfolio which would consolidate its offerings under the Aging Room brand. As mentioned Aging Room was pretty much the fourth featured brand by Altadis.

Incidentally, of all of the brands showcased at the trade show, Aging Room was the most active with five new releases. We covered the details of Aging Room in our Spotlight on Boutique Blends feature story.

Other Brands

Onyx

Its been a while since Onyx had been showcased at IPCPR. This year, Altadis used IPCPR to launch some all-new packaging around the Onyx Reserve.

There are no changes to the blend. It features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over Dominican binder and a combination of Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Peruvian fillers.





Henry Clay

Slowly Altadis seems to be growing this brand. This past spring Altadis launched the Henry Clay Rustic Cheroot. The blend features a Broadleaf wrapper, Honduran binder, and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic. The filler incorporates what are known as reborn tobacco leaves. These are leaves that grow on the plant after choice leaves have been picked and give the cigar a richer, stronger blend. The Rustic Cheroot comes in one size  a 5 5/8 x 38 vitola.

Henry Clay Cheroot joins the original Henry Clay and Henry Clay Stalk Cut as current offerings by Altadis.

Trinidad

Trinidad had been a brand that had not seen a regular production release in over six years. That changed late last year with the launch of Trinidad Santiago. It was one of Rafael Nodals first projects he did under the Altadis umbrella. Its a Dominican puro made at Tabacalera Palma, the company owned by Jochy Blanco  and its a factory Nodal knows well from Aging Room.

Trinidad was a brand not as prominently featured by Altadis at the Trade Show, but Trinidad Santiago was being showcased.

VegaFina

The brand didnt have any new releases over the past year. While several of VegaFina lines were on display at the show, the VegaFina Anejado 7 Anos Robusto Extra Pigtail was showcased in a special display. I found this fitting because it was one of our highest rated Altadis releases over the past year. The VegaFina Anejado 7 Anos Robusto Extra Pigtail consists of a five-country multi-national blend highlighted by an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder, and fillers from Columbia, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Its available in a 6 x 50 vitola with a pig-tail.

There were some other brands that were also featured at IPCPR 2018. Other noteworthy brands seen at the booth included: Don Diego, Saint Luis Rey, Gispert, and Juan Lopez.

2018 Product Reports

Also included:

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where notedWEDNESDAY, Aug. 29, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Changing the type of breathing tube that first responders use to resuscitate cardiac arrest patients can boost the chances of survival, a new study contends.

There are about 400,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the United States each year. More than 90 percent of those patients die before, or soon after, they reach the hospital.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, cutting off blood flow to the brain and other vital organs.

The standard resuscitation technique used by emergency medical service (EMS) providers has been insertion of a plastic tube into the trachea, known as endotracheal intubation, to maintain an open airway. This is meant to mirror the care given in hospitals.

But new devices such as laryngeal tubes provide an easier, simpler way to open an airway and improve survival rates, according to the study funded by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

"While identical to techniques used by doctors in the hospital, intubation in these severe and stressful prehospital settings is very difficult and fraught with errors," explained study lead author Dr. Henry Wang. He's vice chair for research with the University of Texas Health Science Center's department of emergency medicine.

Study co-author Dr. George Sopko is program director in the division of cardiovascular sciences at the NHLBI. He noted that getting it right is critical.

"During resuscitation, opening the airway and having proper access to it is a key factor for the survival of someone who goes into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital," Sopko said in an institute news release.

"But one of the burning questions in prehospital emergency care has been, 'Which is the best airway device?' " he said.

"This study demonstrated that just by managing the airway well in the early stage of resuscitation, we could save more than 10,000 lives every year," Sopko added.

The researchers compared survival rates among 3,000 adult cardiac arrest patients in five large U.S. cities. About half the patients received the newer laryngeal tube treatment, while the other half received traditional endotracheal intubation.

In the laryngeal tube group, 18.3 percent of patients survived three days in the hospital and 10.8 percent survived until being discharged from the hospital. The survival rates in the traditional endotracheal intubation group were 15.4 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

The researchers also found that rates of survival with good brain function were higher in the laryngeal tube group.

The findings were published online Aug. 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

The American Heart Association has more on cardiac arrest.WEDNESDAY, Aug. 29, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- A drug that has long been used in Japan for asthma may slow down brain shrinkage in people with progressive multiple sclerosis, a preliminary trial has found.

The study, published Aug. 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine, tested an oral drug called ibudilast. It is not approved in the United States, but has been used for years in Japan as a treatment for asthma and for vertigo in stroke survivors.

Researchers found that the drug slowed brain shrinkage by 48 percent when compared with an inactive placebo among patients with progressive MS.

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder caused by a misguided immune system attack on the protective sheath around nerve fibers in the spine and brain. Depending on where the damage occurs, symptoms include vision problems, muscle weakness, numbness, and difficulty with balance and coordination.

Most people with MS are initially diagnosed with the "relapsing-remitting" form, meaning that their symptoms flare up for a time and then ease.

Patients in this trial had progressive MS, where the disease steadily worsens without periods of recovery.

And while more than a dozen drugs are available to manage relapsing MS, there are few options for progressive forms of the disease, said Dr. Robert Fox, lead researcher on the new study.

In general, the drugs for relapsing MS do not work for people with progressive forms, said Fox, a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

The biology of progressive MS, Fox explained, seems to be "fundamentally different." Inflammation drives relapsing MS, while the progressive forms seem to be driven by degeneration of nerve cells in the brain, following damage from the inflammatory phase.

Ibudilast can suppress inflammation, and it was first tested against relapsing MS -- where it failed to prevent relapses. But, Fox said, the drug did slow brain shrinkage (atrophy). And that led researchers to suspect it might help patients with progressive MS.

Fox and his colleagues recruited 255 patients with progressive MS from 28 U.S. medical centers. Patients were randomly assigned to take either ibudilast or placebo pills every day for 96 weeks.

In the end, patients on the drug showed, on average, 48 percent less atrophy in their brain tissue.

The big question, Fox said, is whether that will slow patients' progression to disability.

"This is a proof-of-concept," he said. "We've shown that this slows brain atrophy. We haven't shown that it slows clinical progression."

Longer-term studies are needed to prove that. For now, Fox stressed, "this drug is not available in the U.S., and it will be some time before it is."

Bruce Bebo is executive vice president of research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society -- which partly funded the trial.

Bebo called the findings a "milestone," but cautioned that the drug will have to show benefits against the disease's course, and not only brain shrinkage.

"Those clinical benefits take a longer time to measure," he said. For patients and families, though, this is one more positive step against progressive MS, he added.

"This is one of a number of trials testing new therapies for progressive MS," Bebo said. "It's only a matter of time before we'll have more and better treatments."

Ibudilast did have side effects: 92 percent of patients in the trial reported "adverse events," though 88 percent of placebo patients did, too. Headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms -- like abdominal pain and nausea -- were the main problems tied to the drug.

In addition, 9 percent of ibudilast patients developed depression, compared to 3 percent of placebo patients.

Fox said, "That's something we'll want to watch very carefully going forward."

But overall, only 8 percent of ibudilast patients withdrew from the study because of a side effect. That suggests the drug was well-tolerated, Fox said.

There are two forms of progressive MS: secondary, which develops after an initial diagnosis of relapsing MS; and primary, which means it progressively worsens from the start, with no periods of remission.

About half of Americans with MS have a progressive form of the disease, according to Bebo.

Yet, Fox said, they've been "underserved" when it comes to research into new treatments.

"Progressive MS has been the forgotten child," Fox said. "I think this study can provide them with another chapter of hope."

More information

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has more on treating MS.WEDNESDAY, Aug. 29, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Many U.S. Army soldiers who attempt suicide have no prior diagnosis of a mental health issue, new research shows, and such histories may not be a good predictor of a soldier's suicide risk.

"The study is one of few to be able to examine risk of suicide attempt among those without a past mental health diagnosis," said study lead author Dr. Robert Ursano. He directs the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

Ursano and his colleagues tracked the medical histories of thousands of enlisted soldiers (not including Guard or Reserve members) who served from 2004 through 2009. Attempted suicide risk factors were similar for soldiers with and without a prior diagnosis of a mental health disorder, the researchers found.

What did seem to raise the odds for suicide attempts?

According to the new data, female soldiers were more at risk than males; younger soldiers were at higher odds than older ones; less educated soldiers face higher risks than more educated service members, and odds for a suicide attempt were especially high during a soldier's first year of service.

Other risk factors included being demoted or late for promotion, or having been in a combat arms or combat medic military occupational specialty.

The risk of suicide attempt was also higher among soldiers with a history of family violence, having been the victim of a crime, or having committed a crime.

"Important times for identifying risk may be present after recent physical injury, family violence or being a victim or perpetrator of a crime," Ursano said in a university news release.

Health issues also seemed key. The study found that soldiers who attempted suicide were more likely to have had at least one outpatient clinic visit in the two months before their attempted suicide, and those with eight or more visits were three to five times more likely to attempt suicide.

Interestingly, combat injury was associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide only among those without a history of a mental health disorder, Ursano's group reported.

Psychiatrists weren't overly surprised by the finding that a soldier's history of mental illness wasn't a big predictor of suicide risk.

"The ability to predict suicidal acts or behavior has been found historically to be quite limited worldwide, and there is evidence that military services members are especially vulnerable due to their exposure to increased, variable stressors," noted Dr. Shawna Newman, of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Dr. Brian Keefe is a psychiatrist and medical director at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y. Reviewing the study, he said that "suicide is a complicated, multifactorial problem. The significant percentage of soldiers with no psychiatric diagnosis who attempt suicide shouldn't surprise any mental health clinician who routinely works with suicidal patients."

He also stressed that lack of a prior diagnosis does not necessarily mean that mental health issues weren't there.

"Estimates in civilian populations suggest that somewhere between 40-50 percent of people with psychiatric disorders don't receive any treatment at all," Keefe said.

And because members of the military are trained to "wear both physical and psychological armor" as they defend the United States, they may be even more reluctant to seek out mental health services than civilians are, he reasoned.

Finally, Keefe said, "there is a growing body of literature demonstrating that most complete suicides are impulsive in nature -- that the time between decision to kill oneself and action may be minutes, not hours or days."

So, efforts to "suicide-proof" the living environment might be key to preventing suicidal thoughts from becoming suicidal acts, Keefe said.

"From nets on bridges, to home safes for unloaded weapons, to breakaway closet and shower rods in college dorms, all members of society -- not just doctors -- can take steps to reduce the rising suicide rate," he said.

The study was published Aug. 29 in JAMA Psychiatry.

More information

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration has more on suicide prevention.Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Salmonella Outbreak in 4 States Linked to Kosher Chicken: CDC

One person has died and 16 others sickened in a four-state salmonella outbreak linked to kosher chicken, U.S. health officials say.

Cases have been reported in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Eight people have been hospitalized, including one patient who died in New York.

Illnesses began between Sept. 25, 2017 and June 4, 2018, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began investigating the outbreak in late June after after the New York State Department of Health found that several ill people reported eating kosher chicken.

Tests revealed that some kosher chicken products are contaminated with salmonella, and several ill people said they'd eaten Empire Kosher brand chicken. The outbreak strain was identified in samples of raw chicken collected from two facilities, including one facility that processes Empire Kosher brand chicken, the CDC said.

The investigation is ongoing, the CDC said.

People become sick from salmonella 12 to 72 hours after swallowing the germ and develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. Most people recover within a week, but some cases last longer and are more severe.

Always cook raw chicken, including chicken breasts, whole chickens, and ground chicken, to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent food poisoning. Use a food thermometer to make sure, the CDC advised.

Thoroughly wash hands, counters, cutting boards, and utensils with warm, soapy water after they're in contact with raw chicken. Use a separate cutting board for raw chicken and other raw meats to avoid contaminating fruits, vegetables, and other food that won't be cooked before being eaten.

Don't wash raw chicken before cooking. Doing so can spread chicken juices in the kitchen and contaminate other food, utensils, and countertops, the CDC said.

-----

Label Mix-up Spurs Recall of Accord Blood Pressure Meds

One lot of high blood pressure medication is being recalled after a labeling mix-up, Accord Healthcare Inc. says.

The recall is for 100-count bottles of hydrochlorothiazide tablets USP, 12.5 mg., lot PW05264. One of the bottles in that lot was found to contain 100 tablets of spironolactone, a drug used to treat heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver and other conditions.

Using spironolactone instead of hydrochlorothiazide could have life-threatening consequences for some patients, Accord said. To date, the company has not received any reports of patient harm associated with the recall.

The hydrochlorothiazide tablets are light orange to peach colored, round, biconvex tablets debossed with H on one side and 1 on another side. People with Accord hydrochlorothiazide tablets that do not look like this, or those who are unsure, should check with their pharmacists or healthcare provider for confirmation, the company said.

It also advised patients to contact their healthcare provider if they've had any problems that may be related to taking the recalled medication.

For more information about the recall, contact Accord by phone at 1-855-869-1081.

-----

250,000 Gun Deaths Worldwide in 2016: Study

The United States is one of six countries that accounted for half of the 250,000 gun deaths worldwide in 2016, researchers say.

The other countries are Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela, the AP reported.

The authors of an accompanying editorial described gun deaths as a "major public health problem for humanity."

The number of gun deaths worldwide rose from about 209,000 in 1990 to 251,000 in 2016, but the average rate remained about 4 per 100,000 people. Two thirds of gun deaths in 2016 were homicides, 27 percent were suicides and 9 percent were accidental.

In the U.S., gun deaths rose from 35,800 in 1990 to 37,200 in 2016, but the rate fell slightly to 11 per 100,000. Gun suicides increased from 19,700 to 23,800, and the U.S. had the second-highest gun suicide rate in 2016, just over 6 deaths per 100,000. The highest rate was in Greenland, 22 per 100,000, but that amounted to just 11 suicides, the AP reported.

The highest gun death rate was in El Salvador at nearly 40 per 100,000 people, and the lowest was in Singapore at 0.1 per 100,000.

The were more gun deaths than deaths from terrorism and combat every year in the study except 1994, when 800,000 people died in the Rwandan genocide, the AP reported.

The study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

-----

Pfizer Recalls a Type of Children's Advil

One lot of 4-ounce bottles of Children's Advil Suspension Bubble Gum Flavored is being recalled because a packaging problem could lead to an overdose, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare says.

The dosage cup is marked in teaspoons while the dosage instructions on the label use milliliters, the company explained.

Common symptoms associated with ibuprofen overdose include nausea, vomiting, headache, drowsiness, blurred vision and dizziness.

The recalled lot is R51129 and was distributed nationwide in the United States from May 2018 through June 2018.

For more information, consumers can call 1-800-882-3845, Mon-Fri, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. EST.

Consumers should contact their healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to this drug product, Pfizer said.Share this: Twitter

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Bogota, Colombia, August 29, 2018A Nicaraguan court on August 27 found two men guilty in the shooting death of journalist Angel Eduardo Gahona in a trial that the journalists widow, defense lawyers, and human rights groups characterized as flawed. CPJ today called on authorities to conduct a transparent investigation and trial to ensure that Gahonas killers are brought to justice.

Gahona, the director of the independent television program El Meridiano, was fatally shot on April 21 in the eastern town of Bluefields while providing live coverage of protests against government pension reforms.

In his ruling, Sixth District Criminal Court judge Ernesto Rodriguez in Managua found that Brandon Lovo and Glen Slate, residents of Bluefields who took part in the April 21 protests, were guilty of firing a homemade weapon that allegedly killed Gahona, according to news reports. At the trial, defense attorney Maynor Curtis said that no fingerprints were on the weapon allegedly used in the crime and that there were no traces of gunpowder found on the defendants, according to news reports.

In a telephone interview from Miami, Florida, where she is now living, Migueliut Sandoval, Gahonas widow, claimed that the two men were scapegoats. She pointed out that the trial was held in Managua, the stronghold of the Ortega government, rather than in Bluefields, and that relatives, human rights groups, and the independent media were barred from the courtroom while pro-government news outlets were allowed to cover the proceedings. The prosecutors showed no evidence that these two men were guilty, Sandoval told CPJ. It was the anti-riot police who did it. Police did not respond to CPJs call and email seeking comment.

The conviction of these two men after a trial closed to independent witnesses and full of irregularities does not bring justice to Angel Eduardo Gahona, CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said from New York. We call on the government of Daniel Ortega to quickly launch a transparent and thorough investigation into this killing.

Lead prosecutor Ines Miranda Mercado insisted that there was no doubt whatsoever that the two accused men are guilty, according to news reports. Lovo and Slate could face 25 years in prison, though their defense attorneys as well as the Gahona family lawyer, Boanerges Fornos, plan to appeal, Sandoval told CPJ.

On Twitter, the independent Nicaraguan Human Rights Center said that Lovo and Slate were innocent, called the two men political prisoners, and declared that the guilty verdict showed that the countrys judicial system is manipulated by the Ortega government.

Since Gahonas death in April, the protests have morphed into nationwide demonstrations against President Daniel Ortegas authoritarian government. More than 300 people have been killed mainly by police and pro-government paramilitaries, according to human rights groups. Government security forces have frequently roughed up and shot at journalists, according to CPJ research.Union Government (Finance Ministry) has inked $220 million Loan Agreement with World Bank to scale-up Inidas Energy Efficiency Program. It also signed $80 million guarantee agreement with World Bank.

The loan will be provided to EESL by World Bank through its lending arm International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). It has maturity of 19 years and 5-year grace period. The $80 million IBRD guarantee will partially cover re-payment risks to commercial lenders or investors to enable EESL to raise funds for its program.

Energy Efficiency Program (EEP)

It will be implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). It will help to scale-up deployment of energy saving measures in residential and public sectors, strengthen EESLs institutional capacity and enhance its access to commercial financing. Under it, EESL will deploy 219 million LED bulbs and tube lights, 5.8 million ceiling fans, and 7.2 million street lights, which will be supplied by private sector manufacturers and suppliers.

Key Components of Program

Create sustainable markets for LED lights and energy efficient ceiling fans.

Facilitate well-structured and scalable investments in public street lighting.

Develop sustainable business models for emerging market segments such as super-efficient air conditioning and agricultural water pumping systems.

Strengthen institutional capacity of EESL.

Increase private sector participation in energy efficiency, including through private sector energy service companies.

Significance

The World Bank investments under this program are expected to avoid lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of 170 million tons of CO2. It will also contribute to avoiding an estimated 10 GW of additional generation capacity. This will help to achieve 50% of National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency target of 19.6 GW indicated in Indias Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under 2015 Paris Agreement (India has committed to reduce carbon emissions by 33-35% by 2030 under NDC). Thus, help India to move further towards a more resource-efficient growth path. It will help tackle financing, awareness, technical and capacity barriers faced by new energy efficiency programs and also support Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) program of Central Government.Sri Lanka: Navy assists apprehension of 14 persons engaged in illegal acts

August 29,2018 | Source: SRI LANKA NAVY

Navy apprehended 14 persons for engaging in illegal fishing at different locations and transportation of turtle flesh for sale, during the last few days. Accordingly, Naval personnel attached to the North Western Naval Command apprehended 02 persons who were transferring flesh of illegally killed turtles, for sale, at Arrippu area on 20th August 2018. Twenty two (22) Kg of turtle flesh, a dinghy and 5 banned nets were also taken into Naval custody and these items along with the persons were handed over to the Wildlife Conservation Department at Madu for onward legal action.



A troop of naval personnel attached to the Eastern Naval Command in a coordination with STF Pulmodai and Kuchchaweli Police apprehended 2 persons who were transferring a haul of fish caught by using illegal explosive, on last 19th August. Along with the suspects 1269 Kg of caught fish and the small lorry used for transportation fish were taken into Naval custody. The apprehended persons, fish and the lorry were handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries-Trincomalee. Meanwhile, 5 persons engaged in illegal fishing in the sea area off Norway island were apprehend by a naval troop attached to the Eastern Naval Command, on 23rd August.



Along with them, an unauthorized fishing net and a dinghy were also taken into naval custody. The apprehended persons along with their fishing gear were handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in Muthoor, for onward action. Further, a group of naval personnel attached to the Eastern Naval Command on last 26th August, apprehended 5 persons engaged in illegal fishing practices in the seas off Kallaru. Five (05) Kg of caught fish, a banned net and a dinghy were also nabbed by the Navy. The apprehended suspects together with the caught fish and fishing gears were handed over to the Kuchchaweli Police for onward legal action.

 Sri Lanka Navy 2017PHOENIX (KSAZ) -- In a rare and shocking twist of fate, a former police officer could find himself on death row.





The ex-phoenix detective and his wife are being held behind bars, without bail, both accused of abusing and killing the detective's seven-year-old daughter.





Germayne and Lisa Cunningham were first charged with the death of Sanaa Cunningham last year, but were not taken to jail.





That changed this week, when a judge has ruled that there is enough evidence to pursue the death penalty.





"I was relieved they were put in handcuffs," said Sylvia Norwood, mother of Sanaa Cunningham. Sanaa would have turned nine this year, and Norwood has been waiting for justice.





Germayne and Lisa Cunningham were taken to jail Monday, each charged with 11 counts of child abuse and murder. Now - they're facing the death penalty.





"I don't think they deserve to die because where they are now," said Norwood. "I don't want to say karma, but they're getting what they deserve."





Goodyear Police detectives say the couple forced Sanaa to sleep outside, tied her up, locked her up, and didn't get her medical help.





During the evidentiary hearing, prosecutors showed graphic photos of Sanaa's injuries.





"She lived as long as she could, due to having a wound on her foot," said Norwood. "Pneumonia, sepsis, she just living in distress, tied up. I was trying to put myself in her shoes. No child should ever have to go through anything like that in life. Ever."





Norwood and her attorney were in the courtroom when the Cunninghams were handcuffed. They say the couple showed no emotion.





"There hasn't been much remorse and acceptance of behavior in the whole process," said Quacy Smith, the attorney for the victim's mother.





The Cunninghams will likely be separated from the general jail population, since Germayne Cunningham is a former officer, and Lisa Cunningham tried to commit suicide in the past.





The trial isn't expected to begin for at least a couple years, and there is a possibility of a plea deal.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeIn a rare move, the Alameda County District Attorneys Office is seeking the death penalty against a man accused of killing a Hayward police sergeant in 2015.





OAKLAND, California  In a rare move, the Alameda County District Attorneys Office is seeking the death penalty against a man accused of killing a Hayward police sergeant in 2015.





In only the second time in her career, District Attorney Nancy OMalley will pursue the death penalty for defendant Mark Estrada, accused of killing Sgt. Scott Lunger, 48, a Brentwood father of two. Lunger was fatally shot in the head and thigh shortly after he approached a white Chevrolet Silverado he had stopped for swerving in the roadway at 3:15 a.m. July 22, 2015, in Hayward.





In court on Thursday afternoon for motions to change his attorneys, Estrada, 24, appeared in red and white striped jail clothes, his once longer shoulder-length hair cut short in a buzzcut.





His trial date is expected for Nov. 26. However, Judge James Cramer granted his motion to remove one of his retained attorneys on record, Christopher Morales, which could potentially affect the trial date.





In May 2017, Estrada was held to answer on all his charges, including murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait and drive by shooting, which qualified him for the death penalty. The District Attorneys Office typically assembles a team of prosecutors, including OMalley herself and in this case John Brouhard, who is prosecuting Estradas case. After a meeting, OMalley makes the final decision on whether seek the death penalty.





Since she was appointed top prosecutor in 2009, OMalley has only sought death for one other defendant, Darnell Williams, who was convicted in May 2016 for the deaths of 8-year-old Alaysha Carradine and 22-year-old Anthony Medearis in separate instances. The jury in that case recommended death. Brouhard also prosecuted that case.





During Estradas preliminary hearing, Brouhard argued that Estrada had enough time to prepare and arm himself with his gun.





When his prey is close enough to kill, he immediately takes action, said Brouhard during the hearing in 2017.





Lunger, who had been on the force for 15 years, had pulled over the truck that night in what was described as a routine traffic stop, after the vehicle was seen swerving.





Officer Justin Green said in testimony that he knew something wasnt right. Green had already begun running toward the truck when he heard a gunshot fired from inside the cab and saw Lunger collapse.





Estrada, hysterically sobbing and bleeding, showed up at his friends doorstop in East Oakland a little more than an hour later, a friend testified.





Estrada told his friend he had been shot by a cop, and refused to go to the hospital, that he wanted to sleep through it instead. He had a gunshot wound to the lower back and reeked of alcohol. His friend testified that it was out of character for Estrada, who has no criminal record.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!





"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde



The decision has been heavily criticized by many parties as a travesty of justice, but stands pending appeal. One week later, the head judge in that trial is now facing his own serious legal problems after being arrested by Indonesias anti-corruption agency.





Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) today arrested Medan District Court Deputy Chairman Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo, along with seven other people, based on the results of an undercover operation.









Of the eight people (arrested), there were those who served as judges, clerks and other parties. They are suspected of being involved in transactions relating to the handling of corruption cases in Medan, KPK Deputy Chairman Basaria Pandjaitan told Detik today.





Wahyu acted as the presiding judge in Meilianas trial and read out her verdict in court on August 21. There is no evidence yet to suggest that he was arrested for anything related to her case.





Instead, the arrests are related to allegations that suspects charged by the KPK had been bribing officials in the Medan Corruption Court.





KPK officials that they had confiscated a large amount of Singaporean dollars as evidence in the case.





Officials have yet to reveal any more details, saying that a final determination of the suspects legal status would be made following a day of interrogations.





Meilianas verdict and sentence has been heavily criticized by many, including senior religious and political figures who argued that complaining about the volume of a mosque loudspeaker should not be considered blasphemy.

















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Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has begun a hunger strike in prison, accusing the authorities of harassing her family and friends in recent days.





"I see no other option but to start a hunger strike from August 23. It is the only way I can express my protest against the continued pressure on my family and friends," wrote jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh in a note posted on her husband's Facebook page.





Sotoudeh is one of the best-known human rights lawyers in Iran. She served about half of a six-year jail sentence imposed in 2010 for "spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security"  charges she denied  before being freed in 2013.





The 55-year-old lawyer was again arrested on June 13 and has been languishing in Tehran's Evin Prison since then.





The authorities have yet to present any evidence to support their claims that the lawyer has endangered Iran's national security.





"Not only our apartment  but also my sister's home  were illegally raided. The authorities have found a few badges with slogans like, 'I am against the forced veil.' They are trying to use these badges as evidence to substantiate their accusations," Sotoudeh's husband Reza Khandan told DW. "Pointing to these badges, they have also arrested a friend of my wife, the human rights activist Farhad Meisami. He is also now on hunger strike," Khandan added.





Shortly before speaking to DW, Khandan had phoned his wife in prison. "Today she was examined by the prison doctor and she briefly met her friend Farhad Meisami," the husband said. "She told me that as long as Farhad is not released, she will continue her hunger strike."





Espionage charges





Sotoudeh was arrested in June and told she had already been found guilty "in absentia" on spying charges by Tehran's Revolutionary Court.





"At the beginning, they said it's about espionage," says Khandan. "My wife was convicted for allegedly supporting espionage in Iran through contact with foreign diplomats. It's just ridiculous. How did she know that the diplomats were spies? What was the Iranian secret service doing when those foreign spies traveled to Iran?" Khandan questioned.





The espionage allegation against the human rights lawyer was initially leveled in 2014, shortly after she met with a delegation of European parliamentarians in Tehran and discussed the human rights situation as well as the state of opposition in the Islamic Republic.





In December 2013, this delegation had presented her with the Sakharov Prize, which the European Parliament awarded her the year before in recognition of her civic engagement.





In support of opposition and activists





In 2006, Sotoudeh, together with the Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, founded the Center for the Protection of Human Rights in Iran. In 2010, she was arrested for defending protesters of the opposition "Green Movement" and subsequently sentenced to years behind bars. Her arrest drew worldwide condemnation and criticism. After spending three years in prison, she was released in 2013, but remains banned from representing political cases or leaving Iran until 2022.





Following her arrest again in July 2018, Sotoudeh wrote in a letter from prison: "I realized that they had arrested me for my work on human rights, the defense of women's rights activists and the fight against the death penalty. Still, I will not be silenced."





MEPs protest





In an open letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, 68 members of European Parliament (MEPs) protested last week against the repeated arbitrary action against Sotoudeh. The Iranian government has so far not responded to the letter.





Barbara Lochbihler, a Green EU lawmaker and co-signatory, told DW that the EU support for Iran, including financial aid, is justifiable, particularly in view of the renewed US sanctions against the country. But at the same time, she underlined, this shouldn't mean the EU will have to withdraw its commitment to ensuring human rights in Iran.





Lochbihler said in case she travels to Iran, she will try to arrange a visit to the prison and meet Sotoudeh. This would be "an important step, especially since there is no EU delegation in Tehran that can work for the cause of human rights activists on the ground," the MEP pointed out.





The European politician said she wants the EU to take a clearer stand with regard to promoting human rights. "There hasn't been an unequivocal statement from the EU calling for Sotoudeh's immediate release from prison," she said.

A Closer Look At The Charges Against A Prominent Iranian Lawyer

Three days after going on hunger strike, prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has been charged with new offenses, her husband, Reza Khandan, tells Radio Farda.





Sotoudeh announced her hunger strike on August 25 in a note posted on her husbands Facebook page.





Sotoudeh who has been behind bars at Tehrans notorious Evin Prison since June 13, said in the post, Since none of my correspondence with the authorities has produced a result, I have no option other than starting a hunger strike as of [August 25] to protest the judicial arrests and pressure against my family, relatives, and friends.





She concluded the note by saying, With the hope of the establishment of law and justice in our beloved country, Iran.





While deprived of the right to personally assign a lawyer to represent her, Sotoudeh has insisted she will not attend any court hearing.





The new charges include attempts to hold protest sit-ins and assemblies, participation in anti-death penalty campaigns, LEGAM (the Persian acronym for a step-by-step abolishment of the death penalty), encouraging people to demand a referendum, and helping to launch home churches.





In a Q&A with veteran Iranian lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, Radio Fardas Farhang Qavimi asks about the validity of the new charges against Sotoudeh.





RFE/RL: Is it a crime to help others launch home churches?





Mohammad Hossein Aghasi: There are no articles or notes in the Islamic Penal Code that ban launching home churches, let alone assisting others to do so. However, if such a move leads to apostasy, it might be counted as abetting a crime. Meanwhile, for every charge, there should be at least evidence along with witnesses who testify that Sotoudeh has been practically active in assisting people to launch home churches or has called upon others to do so and has invested in such activities. [Such evidence and witnesses are missing,] therefore Sotoudeh cannot be charged with it.





RFE/RL: Sotoudehs husband tells Radio Farda that the authorities have said his wife was detained last June for being found guilty for espionage in absentia, but her initial indictment had no reference to espionage. Is it possible to sentence someone on the basis of a charge not mentioned in the original indictment?





Aghasi: No. The courts are not authorized to sentence suspects for charges that are not mentioned in the arraignments or original criminal charges. The judge is not authorized to issue a verdict based outside of the frame of legally declared criminal charges and indictments. If, during the trial, a new charge is raised against the defendant, the judge is duty-bound to return the case to the primary court for further investigation. No judge is authorized to independently charge and sentence a suspect. Therefore, what has happened in Sotoudehs case is legally baseless and invalid. If a judge insisted on their verdict, the court of appeals would overrule them.





RFE/RL: Is it a crime to demand holding a referendum or calling on people to do so?





Aghasi: Inciting people to commit a crime is a crime and punishable by the law, but demanding a referendum -- which is not banned by the law -- cannot be counted as a crime. Article 2 of the Islamic Penal Code stipulates that Any act or omission, for which punishment is provided by law, constitutes an offense.





RFE/RL: And what about campaigning or calling for an end to death penalty?





Aghasi: One should distinguish between qissas and the death penalty. Qissas is an Islamic term meaning a retaliation in kind, revenge, or retributive justice. It is a category of crimes in Islamic jurisprudence, where Sharia allows for equal retaliation as the punishment. Murderers might be executed if not pardoned by the relatives of their victims. Meanwhile, there are people, such as drug smugglers, who might also be put to death for their crimes. Sotoudehs participation in LEGAM is focused on this type of capital punishment, which has nothing to do with the Islamic term of qissas.





RFE/RL: Sotoudeh says she has been deprived of the right to freely choose a lawyer to represent her and therefore cannot be forced to pick a lawyer from the limited list of attorneys endorsed by the judiciary. Is there a law that limits the right to pick an attorney?





Aghasi: Sadly, there is. And again, sadly, it is against Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution, which stipulates, Both parties to a lawsuit have the right in all courts of law to select an attorney, and if they are unable to do so, arrangements must be made to provide them with legal counsel. However, without informing an open session of the Iranian Parliament, its Legal and Judicial Commission adds a note to a law that authorizes the chief-justice to endorse qualification of the lawyers responsible for defending individuals charged with security-related crimes in the preliminary stages of legal proceedings. Therefore, the judiciary head has issued a list of attorneys whose qualifications have been endorsed for such cases.





Respecting the note, the head of the judiciary [Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani] has published a list of 20 attorneys whose qualifications he has endorsed. There are 20,000 lawyers practicing, and [Larijanis] endorsed list means that 18,980 are not qualified to defend a suspect in the preliminary stages of a legal proceeding related to security cases.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeHamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker sent serial killer Anthony Kirkland to Ohio's death row Tuesday, saying it was the right thing to do for legal and theological reasons.





The reference to theology came weeks after Pope Francis strengthened the Catholic church's opposition to the death penalty, declaring it inappropriate under all circumstances.





Dinkelacker, who is Catholic, did not directly mention the church's position, but his comments during Kirkland's sentencing included comments about theology and "the sanctity of life."





"As a person who morally believes in the sanctity of life, to judge another to determine if the imposition of the death penalty is appropriate is not a duty I take lightly," he said. "In this great land of America, we live by the rule of law."





Without it, Dinkelacker added, there would be anarchy where "those not able to protect themselves become prey for those like Kirkland."





"I took an oath to follow the law and I will do that," he said. "To do otherwise, is morally, legally, philosophically and theologically wrong."





Kirkland, 49, killed three women and two teenage girls, a string that ended in 2009. He is serving a life prison term for killing two of the adult women, but a death sentence for killing 14-year-old Casonya Crawford and 13-year-old Esme Kenney was overturned, prompting a new sentencing hearing.





During the more than two-week hearing that started last month, the Vatican changed church policy on the death penalty. In addition to the judge, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, who sought the death penalty for Kirkland, also is Catholic.





Deters told The Enquirer the Vatican's stance was misguided because evil exists in the world and as prosecutor, it was his duty to protect society.





Kirkland, if not put to death, would kill again, Deters said.





After that, the Rev. Paul Mueller, vice director and superior of the Jesuit community at the Vatican Observatory outside Rome, wrote Deters a letter, telling Deters he was disappointed, embarrassed and scandalized that the longtime prosecutor would openly defy the Roman Catholic Church.





Mueller and Deters attended St. Xavier High School together, though they did not know each other.





Mueller suggested Deters go to confession.





As Prosecutor, Mueller wrote, you are obliged to enforce civil law. But as a Catholic, you are obliged to endeavor to conform your own mind and heart to the higher moral law and help others in their efforts to do the same  not to undermine their efforts. The teaching of the Church is clear: in defending society against evil, it is morally unacceptable to make use of the evil of the death penalty.





Deters said the comments did not bother him.

'Have a nice life,' 'You too': Judge sentences convicted serial killer to death

A judge sentenced a convicted Cincinnati serial killer to death Tuesday morning.





"Have a nice life," were the last words spoken by Anthony Kirkland, 49, to Judge Patrick Dinkelacker as he exited the courtroom, following his death sentence.





"You too," responded the judge after reading the verdict aloud.





That was not the only tense moment between the convicted serial killer and the judge during Tuesday's sentencing.





Kirkland killed Esme Kenney, 13, Casonya Crawford, 14, Kimya Rolison, 25 and Mary Jo Newton, 45, between 2006 and 2009.





The judge announced March 9, 2019 would be the day Kirkland is put to death, "which happens to be 10 years to the date that you took the life of Esme Kenney," said Judge Dinkelacker.





Before Dinkelacker handed down the sentence, Kirkland's defense attorney Richard Wendel asked for "mercy" and for life in prison without the possibility of parole.





Wendel argued that Kirkland suffered severe childhood abuse, a toxic developmental environment, physical abuse, emotional and physical neglect, psychological abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, mental illness, substance abuse, and separation from his parents.





"He's confused as to why he would kill people that did not deserve it," said Wendel.





Despite Wendel's argument of abuse, the judge disagreed that the argument held up.





"The court does not count that Mr. Kirkland suffered from brain damage that contributed to his inability to conform to the law and by conform to the law I mean not viciously killing human beings," said Judge Dinkelacker, adding there was 'very little' mitigation in Kirkland's favor.





Kirkland was also allowed to make a final plea to the judge before his sentence was announced.





In a moment that did not sit well with the judge, nor Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, Kirkland and his defense attorney asked for his court costs to be waived.





Kirkland said he makes a $3 a month assisted payment, but the court clerk's office is asking for $25 a month. Kirkland argued that he only gets $16 a month and his current court costs total $9,000.





His attorney asked if there was anything else Kirkland would like to tell the judge before the sentence was handed down.





"Basically everything that was said in my sworn statement and I stand by that. That's basically it if that's what we're getting at," Kirkland said.





Judge Dinkelacker was not pleased that Kirkland used his time to talk about his court costs.





"It makes me sick to my stomach to have you stand here and talk about your money in your prison account when we are talking about 13 and 14-year-old kids that were killed by you," said Dinkelacker.





During Kirkland's recent resentencing, a jury unanimously recommended death.





Kirkland strangled three of his victims and burned each of their bodies, telling police in his 8-hour confession, "Fire purifies."





"I would say this and I mean it from the bottom of my heart I took an oath to follow the law and I will do that to do otherwise is morally, legally, philosophically, and theologically wrong," said Judge Dinkelacker, "So we as a people, believers in the rules of law and justice, are going to have the death penalty imposed on the worst of the worst; then if not you, Anthony Kirkland, than who?"





Dinkelacker said he made his decision without any regret.





"May your victims now rest in peace," said Dinkelacker after pronouncing sentence.





Kirkland's defense attorney says he plans to appeal.





Before exiting the court room, Kirkland tried to speak to the judge once more.





"I have a question, your honor, on a comment you just made," said Kirkland.





"You know what? I don't care," said Judge Dinkelacker, cutting Kirkland off.





Outside the courtroom, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters did not mince words when it came to Kirkland.





"He is a homicidal piece of garbage. That's what he is," said Deters.





Deters said that Kirkland showed no remorse.





"He needs to be executed, period. I hate to be so cold and callous about it but he needs to be executed and as far as I'm concerned, it can't happen soon enough," said Deters.





The prosecutor noted that religious figures have spoken out against the death penalty, but he said Kirkland can't be forgiven.





"He ought to be on Fountain Square, gone, executed. Everyone can see what happens to people like that, and that's the end of the story," said Deters.





The family of Casonya Crawford was in court for the sentencing.





"I guess the next time I see him, he'll be laying down. It's over for me, it's over," said Casonya's mother, Tanika Crawford.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeBengaluru: A monstrous son gouged out the right eye of his 65-year-old father over a property row, in JP Nagar on Tuesday afternoon. The incident was even more sorrowful as the entire family was still grieving the death of their mother, who passed away recently.

The gruesome incident occurred in Shakambhari Nagar in J.P. Nagar around 12.30 pm on Tuesday. The accused, 35-year-old Abhishek Chethan, works in an automobile company.

The injured S.S. Parmeshwar, a retired government employee, was working at the Chief Secretarys office in Vidhana Soudha. He was rushed to a private hospital, where he is being treated.

On Tuesday, the father and son were arguing about a property when Abhishek, who was allegedly high on drugs, attacked his father and gouged his right eye with a car key. Parmeshwars eye popped out of the socket and fell on the bed. He was left bleeding profusely, a senior police officer said. Abhishek tried to run away after attacking his mourning father, but alert public caught him and handed him over to the police.

Parameshwar, who has two sons and a daughter, owns a building in Shakambari Nagar. While he lives on the first floor, Chethan is on the second floor. The other son and daughter live separately. While the family had gathered for the last rites of Vasantha, who passed away recently, Abhishek picked up a fight with his brother over the property.

On Tuesday morning, he barged into his parents house and demanded his father to transfer the property to his name. But Parameshwar refused. An enraged Chethan then punched his fathers face with the car key in his hand and Parameshwars right eye fell out, the police said.

When Parameshwar cried out in pain and shouted for help, his other son and daughter rushed in and saw their father bleeding profusely. Abhishek ran out of the house, but was caught by the public. The police rushed to the spot and took his custody.

The police said that Parameshwars granddaughter is an eyewitness to the entire incident. Abhishek has been arrested based on a complaint filed by his brother and sister. Mr Parameshwar is not yet fit to give a statement to the police.Avijit Das Patnaik had on August 14 posted a picture on the Facebook page of the Singapore Indians & Expats group, showing the Singapore flag on a T-shirt being ripped up to reveal the Indian flag underneath. (Photo: Facebook)

New Delhi/Singapore: An Indian-origin employee of Singapore's DBS Bank has lost his job after he posted on Facebook an image of the country's torn flag to reveal the Indian flag underneath on the eve of India's Independence Day.

Avijit Das Patnaik had on August 14 posted a picture on the Facebook page of the Singapore Indians & Expats group, showing the Singapore flag on a T-shirt being ripped up to reveal the Indian flag underneath. The group has 11,000 members, according to a Channel News Asia report.

Avijit Patnaik, who had been living in Singapore for a decade, had posted the image along with the caption  Phir Bhi dil hai (Still my heart heart is Indian) and alludes to a popular Bollywood song.

Also Read: Outrage after Indian posts image of ripped Singapore flag on Facebook

The post had caused outrage in the city-state, with many terming it "offensive" and "insulting to Singapore". The post has since been taken down.

Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank, in a comment to complaints on its Facebook page on August 19, had said that Avijit Patnaik had posted the image because he "wanted to show that even as he is in Singapore, he remains Indian at heart".

"Upon realising the graphic was offensive, he took it down immediately," DBS said, adding that it had counselled Avijit Patnaik.

Today, the Bank released a statement on its Facebook page, saying that Avijit Patnaik was no longer its employee.

"Since the incident, a disciplinary committee has been convened and as of August 24, he (Patnaik) is no longer with the bank," the DBS Bank said in the post.

"DBS strongly disapproves of such actions by our employees. At the same time, it is fair and right that all employees are given the benefit of due process," it said.

When asked about the circumstances surrounding Avijit Patnaik's departure, including whether he resigned or was sacked, a DBS spokesman declined to elaborate, according to the report.

"We have nothing further to share beyond the post," it said quoting the bank as saying.

According to the Singapore Arms and Flag National Anthem Act, any person that treats the flag with disrespect may be fined a maximum of 1,000 Singapore dollar.

Meanwhile, according to the Channel News Asia report, police have confirmed that a report has been made and investigations are underway.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday met her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn and discussed bilateral, multilateral and key international issues. (Photo: Twitter | @indembcam)

Phnom Penh/New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday met her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn and discussed bilateral, multilateral and key international issues.

Swaraj, who is in Cambodia on the concluding leg of her four-day two-nation tour, was received by Sokhonn. The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important international issues at delegation-level talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Twitter account of the Embassy of India in Phnom Penh said in a tweet that Swaraj was warmly received by Sokhonn. "The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important International issues today at delegation level talks at MOFA," it said in the tweet.

She will call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of the Senate Say Chhum. Swaraj reached Cambodia on Tuesday from Vietnam where she held wide-ranging talks with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh and discussed steps to boost bilateral trade, investment, maritime and defence cooperation.

India's ties are on an upswing with Vietnam and Cambodia -- the two major countries in the powerful Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping.

India and Cambodia have enjoyed friendly relations for a long time. Both the countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1952. In 2000, Cambodia vowed its full support for India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Swaraj's visit to the two key ASEAN nations is seen as India's attempt to balance China's rising influence in the Southeast Asian region.Ireland and the Vatican moved significantly closer over the weekend to forging a more rational Church-state relationship that would not only strengthen Irish secularism but also restore the confidence of many among the worlds 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Ostensibly, Pope Francis historic two-day visit was to attend the triennial Festival of Families in Dublin. But since he chose the venue, an element of long-term planning cannot be ruled out. Symbolically, the first family to tell their story to His Holiness and the gathering of nearly 43,000 people in the Croke Park Stadium was a father, mother and two children from Mumbai. Speaking of information technology and the social media, they warned to public applause of the danger of technology overwhelming family values.

That is only one challenge that faces this divided, war-torn and yet indomitable island and the modernis-ing Leo Varadkar, who became Irelands youngest ever Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in June 2017. To take one small example, the black humour of a play titled A Skull in Connemara that I saw in Dublins Olympia Theatre two days before the Pope landed showed graves being dug up and skulls and bones being merrily smashed while swipes were taken at the Catholic clergy. All that would have been unthinkable when I last sat in the slightly tired red and gold Victorian splendour of the Olympia Theatre in 1959: Indias Ram Gopal was dancing there and I, a young reporter in Newcastle upon Tyne, was handling the publicity.

Ireland has moved since then from religious conservatism to thrusting modernity.Although Mr Varadkar, who was brought up as a Roman Catholic, respectfully addressed the Pope as Holy Father, his welcome speech in Dublin Castle was almost a scolding. He spoke of the shame and sorrow of the Catholic legacy and demanded corrective action. It was a far cry from the last and first papal visit in 1979, when nearly three million devotees che-ered Pope John Paul II as a sovereign head of state and keeper of the nations conscience.

Abortion, contraception, divorce and gay sex were forbidden then. No one complained of high-ranking priests sodomizing young boys or of babies being taken away from unmarried mothers and sold into adoption. No one mentioned the notorious Magdalene Laundries, which were supposed to rescue, support and rehabilitate fallen women but were really vicious Church-run dens where helpless women were sexually, physically and mentally exploited.

Pope Francis bravely acknowledged all these crimes. He spent 90 minutes with eight victims of sexual abuse, expressed regret and promised redress. Its Mr Varadkars legitimate boast that the Churchs hand no longer lies so heavily on secular affairs. His own life as Irelands first (and the worlds fourth) openly gay head of government symbolises this revolution. Ireland was the first country in Europe  probably in the world  to legalise same-sex marriage.

India can take some pride in this transformation. The Taoiseachs father, Dr Ashok Varadkar, was a Mumbai-trained doctor who migrated to Ireland. Mr Varadkar himself, who has visited his ancestral country several times, completed his medical internship at Mumbais KEM Hospital. Whether or not he has a smattering of Marathi I dont know, but his English has an Irish accent and he is fluent enough in Gaelic to make speeches in that dead but patriotically honoured language.

Mr Varadkar tried to make his reception for Pope Francis as wide-based as possible, inviting leaders of other Christian sects, members of the Council of State and European Parliament, lawyers and judges. But Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party of British-held Northern Ireland, ungraciously refused his invitation, thereby drawing attention to the minority fanaticism that  shades of India  has partitioned the island.

When I interviewed the ultra-Protestant DUPs founder, Ian Paisley, a fundamentalist firebrand preacher, during what the Irish call the Troubles of 1969, he informed me that Indias problems were due to Papa (meaning Pope Paul VI) visiting Bombay four years earlier. He called Pope John Paul II the anti-Christ when he addressed the European Parliament in 1988. On Sunday, Pope Francis sent his love to Northern Ireland, but it will be some time before passions have cooled sufficiently for him to take up Mr Varadkars suggestion and visit the British province.

There is no doubt that even in Ireland, the Pope is no longer the figure of awed veneration he once was. No more than 45,000 worshippers attended his Holy Mass at the Knock shrine where a village boy claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1879. Its a different Ireland. Following the May referendum when 66.4 per cent of 4.8 million Irish people supported removing the ban on abortion, Mr Varadkar promised a new law by the end of the year. This will meet a demand that has been gathering strength since 2012 when a 31-year-old Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, died at Univer-sity Hospital in Galway due to the complications of a septic miscarriage and the denial of her request for an abortion.

During a radio interview on January 18, 2015 (his 36th birthday), Mr Varadkar spoke publicly for the first time about being gay: Its not something that defines me. Im not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. Its just part of who I am, it doesnt define me, it is part of my character I suppose. Ireland sent the Irish Brothers to run schools in India. It also sent the Loreto nuns who educated millions of Indians, including West Bengals Jyoti Basu. India has returned the compliment with a Prime Minister of whom the world can be proud. Leo Varadkar would be a fitting guest of honour for one of our Republic Day ceremonies.The exodus has strained Venezuela's neighbours, Colombia and Brazil in particular, but also other countries hosting thousands of migrants such as Ecuador, Peru and Chile.(Representional Image)

Brasilia: Brazilian President Michel Temer signed a decree on Tuesday to send the army to guarantee law and order on the border with crisis-hit Venezuela after recent violent clashes. Earlier in August, more than a thousand homeless Venezuelan immigrants who had flooded over the border into Brazils northwestern Roraima state were driven back by an angry mob that rampaged through their makeshift tent following rumours a local shopkeeper was brutally beaten by migrants.

Temer said his measure was aimed at providing security for Brazilian citizens, but also Venezuelan immigrants fleeing their country. He also branded Venezuelas crisis as tragic, saying it threatens the harmony of practically the entire continent. Temer called on the international community to adopt diplomatic measures to halt the Venezuelan exodus, as economic and political crises under President Nicolas Maduros regime drive hundreds of thousands to leave in hope of finding a better life elsewhere. Brazil respects the sovereignty of other states but we have to remember that a country is only sovereign if it respects its people and looks after them, he added in an ominous warning to Maduro.

The United Nations says some 2.3 million Venezuelans are living outside their homeland, with 1.6 million of those having left since 2015.

Oil-rich but over-reliant, Venezuela is in a fourth year of recession brought on by a crash in oil prices in 2014. Some 96 percent of the country's revenue is generated through crude.

The exodus has strained Venezuela's neighbours, Colombia and Brazil in particular, but also other countries hosting thousands of migrants such as Ecuador, Peru and Chile.

Like Brazil, Peru has seen outbreaks of anti-Venezuelan xenophobia.

Urgent situation It's not just Brazil enduring the consequences, but Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and other Latin American countries, Temer said in a televised address.

That's why we urgently have to find the way to change this situation.Some 60,000 refugees are in Brazil, while Peru recently tightened its border controls on Venezuelans after seeing more than 400,000 enter the country.

Temer didn't reveal how many soldiers would be deployed to Roraima, but Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna said troops are already in place at the border.

Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen warned that Brazil needs to discipline the influx of migrants.

Meanwhile, Brazil said it was negotiating with Caracas to avoid Venezuela's state electricity provider Corpelec turning off the lights in Roraima over a $40 million unpaid debt.

Brazil can't pay it because of European Union and United States sanctions against Venezuela.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes told AFP the country wanted to settle its debt but was struggling to find a financial path without breaking the restrictions and sanctions applied by Europe and the United States against Maduro and his government.

Nunes said Brasilia has proposed an exchange of accounts since Venezuela is indebted to Brazil far more than the $40 million we owe the company.Any electricity cut would not only hit hard the small and impoverished state of Roraima, but also the thousands of Venezuelans who have fled there, thus exacerbating their already precarious situation.Brazil has studied potential short and long-term solutions for Roraima's electricity but those are both costly and harmful to the environment, while there is also the possibility of inciting a territorial conflict with indigenous people in the area.I am a retired newspaperman. I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 44 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather.



Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.comVua Nems is Vietnams largest retailer distributing various products of blanket, bed sheet, pillow and mattress.



In a peak season of the mattress and pillow market as currently, Vua Nem is increasingly opening new stores in order to serve high demand of consumers.

Only in June this year, the company has opened six new stores in Hanoi city and Ho Chi Minh City, which bring the total number of Vua Nem stores to 44.

Currently, Vua Nem is present in 23 provinces of Vietnam, in which Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi city are the two biggest markets of the company with a total of 22 stores.

Vua Nem aims to develop its store number to 70 this year

"Vua Nem aims to develop its store number to 70 this year and plans to open 60 to 100 new stores annually to reach the target of 200 stores by 2020," said representative from Vua Nem.



Hoang Tuan Anh, founder of Vua Nem once emphasized that the company aims to become the largest retailer of mattress and bedding solutions in Vietnam.



According to the assessment of Vua Nem, Vietnam currently has about 25 million families, of which 40 per cent is mattress users. As a result, it is estimated that this market is worth hundred of million dollars annually.

With the investment of Mekong Capital, Vua Nem is currently focusing on building retail management systems based on information technology, and investing in human resource to improve human capacity. Once the platform is firmly built, the expansion of the store system will become much simpler and faster.TEC received government thumbs-up for its investment plans in 2008. Photo acquired by VnExpress

Tan Taos long-delayed Kien Luong power projects are posing a big headache to the government following disagreement over project spending so far.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) is unable to pull the plug on the two thermal power plants due to concern it might embroil the government in a dispute with private firm Tan Tao Energy (TEC), which claims to have already spent a massive amount of money.

In a report recently sent to the government, the ministry quoted the Kien Giang Province Peoples Committee as saying TEC had spent VND77.2 billion ($3.3 million) in 2009-2013 on land clearance for the Kien Luong power plants 1 and 2.

But TEC had earlier reported to the prime minister it had spent more than VND6.3 trillion ($270 million) on carrying out 146 legal procedures from the central to local levels, surveys, a feasibility study, land clearance, and installing technical infrastructure.

TEC received government thumbs-up for its investment plans in 2008.

It said it was ready to build the plants, arrange finance and coal supply and invite tenders from international EPC contractors.

The gap between the figures reported by the two parties needs close scrutiny by multiple state agencies, the ministry said.

The MOIT proposed two options, saying one is including the 1,200 MW Kien Luong 1 as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project in the national power development plan for 2021-2030 if it is considered essential for power supply.

This option would help avoid possible legal disputes and demands for compensation from the company, it said.

But the MOIT noted that it also depends on whether the central province of Kien Giang wants to continue with the $2 billion project and the companys capability.

It admitted however that implementing the project in BOT form would be difficult given that the tough public debt management laws would make it difficult for the project to acquire any government guarantee.

The MOIT said the second option is scrapping the project on the grounds the investor is entirely at fault and declining to negotiate for compensation.

But, especially given that the project had been converted from a build-own-operate (BOO) project into a BOT one, there is no solid legal basis for scrapping it without embroiling the government in a dispute with the firm, it said.

There needs to be a solution that harmonizes the interests of the government, Kien Giang Province and the investor to avoid any dispute, the ministry said in the report.

Originally approved as a BOO project, Kien Luong Power Plant 1 was allowed by the government in 2014 to become a BOT project.

In 2015 the ministry and the company signed a memorandum of understanding for building Kien Luong 1 in BOT mode.

Meanwhile, preparations for building Kien Luong 2 were not made since it was not listed in the country's amended Power Development Plan VII.

In 2016 Kien Giang urged the government not to include the two plants in the 2011-2020 power development plan and the coal sector development plan until 2020.Beverage tycoon Tran Qui Thanh and his two daughters. Photo acquired by VnExpress

The two daughters of beverage tycoon Tran Qui Thanh have set up a debt trading company.

According to the National Business Registration Portal, VNAMC has been set up with an initial charter capital of VND100 billion ($4.4 million) for the purpose of debt trading and debt trading brokerage and consulting, with Tran Ngoc Bich and Tran Uyen Phuong owning a 50 percent stake each.

The two also serve as vice presidents of their fathers Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group, Vietnam's largest domestic private soft drinks company.

Bich is in charge of the groups production management while Phuong is responsible for its marketing, public relations, and CSR programs.

Observers said the establishment of VNAMC might be related to the entry of Tan Hiep Phat in realty industry.

With the debt trading firm, Tan Hiep Phat can buy properties mortgaged by borrowing companies to enlarge its land fund, they said.

Thanh recently bought more than 550,000 shares, equivalent to a 1.2 percent stake, in Saigon Real Estate Joint Stock Company.

Founded in 1994, Tan Hiep Phat is one of Vietnams top fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies and owns three of the countrys leading soft drink brands: Zero Degrees ready-to-drink tea, Dr Thanh Herbal Tea and energy drink Number 1.

Its profit increased from $42.9 million in 2016 to $69.5 million last year.

Debt trading is a relatively new business in Vietnam despite the banking systems huge pile of bad debts, and there is no secondary market for trading yet.

On August 28 the State Bank of Vietnam reported that local banks bad debts were 6.6-6.7 percent, down from over 10 percent last year.

The Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC), a state-owned debt trading firm, buys bad debts from banks by issuing special bonds in return.

Its chairman, Nguyen Tien Dong, said since its establishment in 2013 the firm has recovered VND100 trillion ($4.44 billion) worth of bad debts out of a total of VND280 trillion ($12.4 billion) it bought from credit institutions.Vietnams north-south high-speed railway is expected to cost $58 billion, according to a feasibility report released at a meeting Tuesday.

The 1,545-kilometer route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City will have double standard-gauge tracks of 1.435-m width and 23 stations, according to a consultancy consortium comprising Vietnamese firms TEDI, TRICC and TEDIS.

It will adopt the distributed traction technology used by Japanese high-speed trains.

Sixty percent of the tracks will be on viaducts, 10 percent underground and 30 percent on the surface, completely protected by fencing and without a single crossing.

Two sections - from Hanoi to the central city of Vinh and from the central city of Nha Trang to HCMC - will be built first in 2020-2030 at a cost of $24 billion, and commercial operations are likely to begin in 2032.

All sections are expected to be completed and operational by 2040-2045. Transport time from Hanoi to HCMC will be eight hours, while the current train takes 24 hours.

The speed of the trains on the route would determine the attractiveness of the project, the report said, explaining that if it runs at 200 kilometers an hour, it would only account for 2.7 percent of the transportation share on the Hanoi - Nha Trang section.

But if it increases to 350 kilometers, the share could reach 14 percent and the railroad could compete with airlines, it said.

The proposal is for trains to run at 160-200 km speed after the first section is complete, and 350 km when the entire project is finished.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said this feasibility report would be considered by authorities before being scrutinized by a European consultancy.

The transport ministry will invite bids to select that consultancy.

Efficiency unclear

Experts at the meeting said the consultants need to make the projects financials clear.

It should be divided into smaller sections to improve efficiency instead of the three large sections proposed now, Dr Nguyen Ngoc Long, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Bridge and Road Association, said.

Whatever option is selected, the infrastructure must allow a speed of 350 kilometers an hour.

Vu Hoai Nam, head of the urban railway faculty at the National University of Civil Engineering, said the feasibility report does not have a risk analysis.

If there is no detailed analysis of the ability to recover the investment, clearance and exchange rate fluctuations, the risk will be high.

The railroad would impact the passenger shares of airlines, putting pressure on the economy, and that should be taken into account, he added.

Revived

The north-south high-speed railroad was recently revived after being rejected by the National Assembly in 2010 due to its $56-billion price tag, which was half of Vietnams GDP then.

If approved by the government now, it will be submitted to the house again next year.

Experts said it might be more favorably viewed by the NA as well as the public due to Vietnams better financial position and greater demand for advanced infrastructure.

The existing 3,000-kilometer railroad network has not received any major investment since it was built 140 years ago, and does not have the capacity for high speeds.

Investment in railways currently accounts for only one percent of the transportation sectors total budget.

The NA approved a plan earlier this month to upgrade it at a cost of $300 million.Taiwan's top court ruled in May 2017 that preventing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional but htere has been little progress on the issue since. Photo: AFP

Conservative campaigners on Tuesday threw a roadblock in the path to legalizing same-sex unions in Taiwan.

It proposed a public vote on the issue, saying any reforms would jeopardise "family values."

Taiwan's top court ruled in May 2017 that preventing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and gave a two-year deadline for its legalisation -- which would make the island the first place in Asia to do so.

But there has been little progress on the issue since then, with President Tsai Ing-wen saying society is still divided on the issue.

The anti-gay marriage Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance submitted a referendum petition to election authorities on Tuesday to try to prevent the civil code from being amended to recognise same-sex partnerships.

If successful, the move may instead require a separate law to be enacted for civil unions between same-sex couples -- a move that gay marriage campaigners say would be discriminatory and offer fewer legal protections.

"The bottom line of basic family values shouldn't be overturned," alliance spokesman Tseng Hsien-ying told reporters after the petition was brought to the election commission.

"The collapse of the family system will deal a huge blow to society."

Last year's court decision did not give specific guidance on how same-sex relationships should be legislated.

The petition collected more than 678,000 signatures. If vetted and approved by the Central Election Commission, the referendum will be held to coincide with local elections in November.

The group said it would also lodge two more petitions with the commission later Tuesday.

One would remove same-sex education from the school curriculum, while the other redefines the civil code's definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The commission said it had a number of other referendum proposals to process first and will handle the group's petition later Tuesday or Wednesday.

Gay rights campaigners are also rushing to gather signatures for their own referendum proposal, which would ask the public to vote to enshrine same-sex marriage in the civil code.

"We have to let those in power see very clearly the wishes of the people, and we hope they can amend the legislation as soon as possible," said Miao Bo-ya, a key activist behind the campaign.

Referendum proposals in Taiwan are put to a public vote if they are supported by 1.5 percent of the electorate -- a little over 280,000 signatures.

Plebiscites are legally binding and the government is obliged to propose laws that reflect their results.China is the world's largest producer and consumer of pork. Photo by AFP

An outbreak of African swine fever in China may spread to other parts of Asia, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned Tuesday.

China, the world's largest pork producer, has culled more than 24,000 pigs in four provinces to stop the disease from proliferating, the FAO said in a statement. The first outbreak was reported in early August.

The FAO said the cases have been detected in areas more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) apart, meaning it could cross national borders.

"The deadly pig virus may spread to other Asian countries anytime," the FAO said.

The "diverse geographical spread of the outbreaks in China have raised fears that the disease will move across borders to neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia or the Korean Peninsula where trade and consumption of pork products is also high," it added.

China reported its first case of the disease in northeast Liaoning province earlier this month.

Last week, the eastern city of Lianyungang announced it had culled 14,500 pigs in an attempt to check the disease's spread.

"The movement of pig products can spread diseases quickly and, as in this case of African swine fever, it's likely that the movement of such products, rather than live pigs, has caused the spread of the virus to other parts of China," explained Juan Lubroth, FAO's chief veterinarian.

African swine fever is not harmful to humans but causes haemorrhagic fever in domesticated pigs and wild boar that almost always ends in death within a few days.

There is no antidote or vaccine, and the only known method to prevent the disease from spreading is a mass cull of the infected livestock.

In a report to the World Organisation for Animal Health, Beijing said an emergency plan had been launched and control measures taken to halt the spread of the disease.

The FAO warned in May of the risk of the spread of African swine fever from Russia.

Around half of the world's pigs are raised in China, and the Chinese are the biggest consumers of pork per capita, according to the FAO.More and more brands are continuing to show interest in millennials these days and view them as their target market.

For several brands, this segment is like a gold mine which can not be skipped. More millennials in your demographic segmentation means more gains. That's typically how most brands think nowadays.

It is attributable, among other things, to the size and weight of millennials, or the Y generation, as they represent majority of the world's population. Millennials are generally considered to be born between 1984 and 1996, and thus aged 22 up to 34 years. Besides their sheer size and the strong influence they cast in shaping perceptions and driving behaviors of other generations, millennials are also sought after in this digital age, because they represent a tech-savvy generation, with their enormous Internet appetite and voracious consumption and sharing of information through their smartphones and other devices.

The 4th ASEAN Marketing Summit 2018, presented by MarkPlus, Inc., aims to discuss the problems that Millennials in ASEAN are facing and how the brands capture this market by learning the millennials character and behaviour, and come up with solutions.

"A large part of them today work as young professionals, and more and more of the millennials are becoming entrepreneurs. At their young age, it is believed they will bring significant changes and power to global economy," said the world marketing expert Hermawan Kartajaya, who is also chairman and founder of well-known marketing consulting firm MarkPlus, Inc.

But is it easy to conquer the millennials market? Of course not. With a very big market being eyed, the competition is indeed intense too. All brands keep their ammo pointed at them at all times to capture the attention of millennials.

Moreover, technology has, to an extent, made millennials an 'instant gratification' market, wherein everything is supposed to be easier, faster, and this culture of impatience sometimes results in unfavorable financial conditions. All these temptations in this tech era also makes them a somewhat unprepared and unplanned generation.

Millennials, like their predecessor generations, also harbor similar goals to settle into their lives, start a family, own vehicles and build a home of their own. But their tendency to 'live-in-the-moment' and limited attention towards financial planning does not always make it easy for them to realize these goals. This is also aggravated by their spending behavior which is more geared towards higher lifestyle expenses, for example concerts and hangouts, traveling and owning expensive items and gadgets, which eventually affects their savings.

The situation surrounding their savings and spending behaviors also snowballs into a greater 'debt' problem. A consequence of this phenomenon is that millennials, in general, are less invested into 'brands.' They consider products for their functional value and will not shy from buying unbranded products, as long as it meets their needs. This results in millennial generation being somewhat less loyalist towards brands, compared with other generations.

But this should not stop brands from trying to maximize the opportunity to get millennials' attention. In fact, owing to a less loyalist behavior, most brands tend to have similar a leveler playing field when it comes to reaching the millennial market and winning it. Hence, how do we know the winning strategies to capture the millennials, especially in ASEAN, where millennials represent the majority of population?

ASEAN Marketing Summit 2018 is an event that aims to provide answers to that question, and much more, concerning millennials in ASEAN. This event will be bringing together distinguished experts and industry commentators from business and marketing arenas to discuss the most pressing issues facing ASEAN as a region today, from famous brands and agencies such as Facebook, LINE, Post10 Worlwide, and Hakuhodo.

Themed "Marketing to Millennials," AMS will welcome these brands to come together under one roof and show how they address issues concerning millennials and provide solutions to win in the ASEAN millennials market. In the 4th edition of this annual event, speakers will cover a variety of topics related to ASEAN millennials and share industry dynamics from tourism, commercial, financial, and also digital world.

"The most important thing is how to communicate, like them, speak like them, use popular media so brands can be accepted by millennials. The trick is to follow the trending topics. What is the most relevant issue among millennials," said Hermawan.

ASEAN Marketing Summit 2018 will be held on September 6, 2018, in Raffles Hotel Jakarta and tickets are available on aseanmarketingsummit.com.Traders said crude prices have been supported by the prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which will start to target its oil industry from November.

Oil markets were stable on Wednesday, buoyed by falling supplies from Iran ahead of U.S. sanctions but held in check by rising production outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $76 per barrel at 0257 GMT, up 5 cents from their last close, Reuters said.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up 6 cents at $68.59 a barrel.

Traders said crude prices have been supported by the prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which will start to target its oil industry from November.

Read alsoReuters: Oil prices edge up on supply disruption worries

Bowing to pressure from Washington, many crude buyers have already reduced orders from OPECs third-biggest producer.

Although Tehran is offering steep discounts, Iran's August crude oil and condensate loadings are estimated at 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd), versus a peak of 3.09 million bpd in April, trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.

Another concern is crisis-struck OPEC-member Venezuela, where oil exports have dropped by half since 2016 to below 1 million bpd.

To stem tumbling output, Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA said on Tuesday it had signed a $430 million investment agreement to increase production by 640,000 bpd at 14 oil fields, valuing the investment at $430 million. However, given the country's political and economic instability, many analysts doubted whether this investment would go through.

Despite the risk of disruption especially from OPEC-countries like Venezuela, Iran, Libya and Nigeria, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said global supply could climb towards year-end.

"Heading into 4Q18, we expect rising non-OPEC oil production as supply outages abate and greenfield projects ramp up," the U.S. bank said in a note to clients.

"Currently, non-OPEC supply outages are at a 15-month high of 730,000 barrels per day. However, nearly half of these volumes are in the process of being restored," it said.Household subsidy debts estimated at US$297.6 mln as of July 1  Ukraine's Accounting Chamber

The Chamber warned about risks of failure to provide the relevant payments in full by the end of the year.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterUkraine's Accounting Chamber warns of risk of failing to fulfill budget in 2018

The national budget's general fund in the first half of 2018 fell short of US$538 million in revenue.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterCreated last year by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen analyzed violations and abuses of international human rights law, humanitarian law and criminal law, making more than a dozen visits to the war-torn country and neighboring States.

The Group of Eminent Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the Governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are responsible for human rights violations, panel member Charles Garraway told reporters in Geneva Tuesday.

Turning to the Houthi opposition forces, which he also described as de facto authorities, Garraway added that the UN panel also has reasonable grounds to believe, that the de facto authorities are responsible, in the areas over which they exercise effective control, for human rights violations.

The experts findings cover the situation in Yemen from September 2014 to June 2018.

The roots of the conflict date back to uprisings in 2011, but fighting escalated in March 2015, when an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened militarily at the request of Yemens President against Houthi-Saleh opposition forces  a reference to the former Yemeni President, Ali Abdallah Saleh.

In recent years, the conflict has been marked by repeated airstrikes on public spaces including market places, funerals, civilian boats, detention facilities and hospitals.

Just last week, an airstrike in opposition-held Hudaydah governorate, in western Yemen, killed at least 26 children and four women.

The report notes that coalition airstrikes have caused most direct civilian casualties, giving the UN panel reasonable grounds to believe that the attacks overstepped key war crimes thresholds.

Individuals in the Government of Yemen and the coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, may have conducted attacks in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and/or proportions, which may amount to war crimes, Garraway said. He said a confidential list of names would be handed over to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), pending further investigations.

More information is needed on some incidents documented by the Group of Experts to establish responsibility, the UN panel said in a statement, before calling on the Human Rights Council to renew its mandate when it meets next month.

According to UN human rights office (OHCHR), since March 2015 up to 23 August 2018, 6,660 civilians were killed and 10,563 injured; however, the real figures are likely to be significantly higher.

According to the UN panel, more than 22 million people remain in need inside Yemen; almost all of them are women and children.

Even before the conflict, Yemen was one of the poorest countries on earth, importing almost all of its food, fuel and medicines.Groysman urges Ukrainian ambassadors to encourage foreign investors to take part in privatization

Ukraine's Cabinet on May 10 endorsed a list of 26 companies for large-scale privatization in 2018.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterNBU expects US$11.5 bln in remittances from Ukrainian labor migrants in 2018

Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva said more than 3.2 million Ukrainians work abroad on a permanent basis.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterUkraine mulls sanctions against 19 Russian companies over Kerch Strait bridge construction

New sanctions, in particular, will make it impossible for targeted companies to maintain any economic ties with Ukrainian counterparts.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterGazprom's shares in Blue Stream arrested in The Netherlands

The Ukrainian company is seeking to recover from Gazprom more than US$2.5 billion.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterGermany's Uniper may withdraw from Nord Stream 2 fearing U.S. sanctions

"However, the company hopes that everyone would remain reasonable in the current situation," Uniper CFO said.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterZimbabwe has a new president. Emmerson Mnangagwa was officially sworn in on August 27 following a ruling by the Constitutional Court declaring Mr. Mnangagwa the winner of the July 30 presidential election. The court dismissed a legal challenge brought by the political opposition, Movement for Democratic Change Alliance. The United States urges all parties to respect the Zimbabwean constitution and the rule of law.

The IRI-NDI Zimbabwe International Electoral Observation Mission reported several improvements to the electoral process compared to Zimbabwes past elections, though equally important problems gave rise to deep concerns that the process thus far has not made the mark. Further reforms are necessary to meet standards Zimbabweans expect and deserve and which reflect regional and international best practices for democratic elections.

The United States remains concerned over politically motivated human rights violations and abuses, and acts of post-electoral retribution in Zimbabwe.

Violence and unlawful activity should not be part of the political process, and those responsible for such transgressions must be held accountable, said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert. Human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression and association, must be respected, and victims and witnesses of human rights violations and abuses deserve protection under the law.

The United States encourages the government of Zimbabwe to hold substantive discussions with all stakeholders and implement electoral and broader political and economic reforms.

The United States stands ready to continue its dialogue with Zimbabwes political, economic, and civil society leaders to foster inclusive democratic governance for the betterment of all citizens.UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday said Britain will use its international aid budget to help private British companies invest more in Africa than competitors from any other country.

In a speech in Cape Town, May said she wanted Britain to become the biggest investor in Africa to outstrip those from the U.S. and France by 2022.

She recommitted to maintaining the overall British aid budget at 0.7 percent of economic output but said she would use it in a way that helped Britain.

UKs overseas aid amounted to $18 billion last year. The direct investment in Africa was $55.5 billion in 2016, compared to $56.7 billion from the United States, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

In her speech in Cape Town on Tuesday, May has endorsed South African proposals for land reform, a practice that Trump criticized in a tweet last week.

May said that she believes the process will encourage economic growth, citing previous conversations between herself and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Theresa May has embarked on a three-day visit to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya with ministers and business people on Monday, promising to transform Britains relations with the continent ahead of the Brexit next year.Ameriabank has Raised USD 17.5M Tier 2 Capital

UNIGHT TO UNITE. UCOM CELEBRATED ITS REBIRTH

Ameriabank and HSBC Armenia to provide their customers access to each others ATMs without additional fees

Ameriabank. 62.5% Growth in Taxes YOY

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans have provided 300 million AMD to overcome the infertility in Armenia

UCOM has officially launched the sale of IPHONE 13

Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition

S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive

Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk

Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide

1217 new cases

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel

Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch

"Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia

Google Ad

UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month

The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York

Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency

UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers

Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland

Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden.

"The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer

Generation A 13  your chance to be the change

President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev

"uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days onlyEduard Sharmazanov: We do not share Kocharyan's opinion on constitutional amendments (video)

RA NA Vice Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov stated this at a briefing in the National Assembly that there was a need for constitutional reforms. "We respect the second president Robert Kocharyan's opinion, but we do not share it." In an interview with NTV Russian media company, Robert Kocharyan, answering the question of the reasons for the revolution in Armenia, said: "I have analyzed it. I think he (Serzh Sargsyan) should not have done constitutional amendments. I have come up with criticism of those changes in time. He should not try to hold the power in his hands by sitting down at the prime minister's seat from his chair." According to Sharmazanov, the constitutional amendments were not linked to Sargsyan's attempt to hold the power for the third term. He believes that passing to the parliamentary system was a very positive step for strengthening democracy and national security. He stated that when Republican Party (RPA) gained the majority in the elections, and they decided whom they see in that post. "We did not have more experienced players in our team to be wiser, prepared to face challenges, to realize national security, to defend Artsakh's interests." At the same time, Sharmazanov stressed that not sharing the same opinion with Kocharyan in this issue does not mean that they cannot cooperate in a wider range of issues. He believes that Kocharyan has something to say and do in the political field. According to him, RPA will work with those politicians who will share the political agenda of the RPA. The NA Vice President noted that the party's agenda is not to endanger Christian and national values, to defend Artsakh's interests, to continue the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide, to strengthen Armenia's position in the CSTO and the Eurasian Union, to implement all the points of the agreement with the EU.President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso will seek Chinese support for its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund about a bailout, a government spokesman told Bloomberg.

According to Thierry Moungala, Brazzaville will solicit Chinas support during the China-Africa Cooperation Forum to be held in Beijing September 3 to 4.

Congo is seeking to restructure its debt with commodities trading houses after borrowing $2 billion from merchants including Trafigura and Glencore. The bulk of its external debt, however, is owed to Chinese entities.

Talks on support began last year, but within a few months, the IMF called for action on tackling corruption, debt and poor governance before considering any bailout. Last year, the Washington-based fund accused Congo-Brazzaville of having hidden part of its debt from the organization by claiming it was 77% of GDP. The IMF said the ratio is 117%.

According to Bloomberg, the continents fourth-largest oil producer owes creditors at least $9.14 billion and has been trying to secure funding from the international lenders since March 2017 to revive an economy that contracted for the past two years.

Sassou Nguesso, 74, is one of the worlds longest-serving leaders. He was re-elected in March 2016.PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia has signed contracts with Xinjiang Beiken Energy Engineering (XBEE) and Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Group (ZPNGG) to drill 36 wells for UAH 4.032 billion.

According to a report in the ProZorro e-procurement system, at the end of July the contract with ZPNGG for UAH 723.52 million was signed (lot 7), and the contract with XBEE for UAH 3.308 billion (lots 1-5) was signed at the end of August.

The company rejected the proposal of Energofinance LLC for lot 6 and plans to sign a contract with XBEE for UAH 776.991 million.

As reported, Ukrgazvydobuvannia announced a tender for drilling 42 more wells at the end of December 2017. The tender was held early February.

The strategy of the company until 2020 envisaged the increase in gas production from 14.5 billion cubic meters in 2015 and 2016 to 15.2 billion cubic meters in 2017, 16.5 billion cubic meters in 2018, 18.3 billion cubic meters in 2019, and 20.1 billion cubic meters in 2020.Xoom, a subsidiary structure of the PayPal payment service, has launched a service of money transfer from the United States to Ukraine, the initiator of the group on the introduction of PayPal in Ukraine, Ilia Kenigshtein, has said.

"Xoom is a money transfer system that PayPal bought in November 2015. Earlier Xoom was able to send money to 44 countries, Ukraine was not on this list. Starting from today, Xoom allows sending money from the U.S. to 130 countries, which include Ukraine," he wrote on his Facebook page.

According to Kenigshtein, currently only one of the system services, Cash Pickup, which allows recipients in Ukraine to take remittance in one of the banks listed on the Xoom website.

Among the partner banks are Oschadbank, PrivatBank, Pravex-Bank, Ukrgasbank, Universal Bank, VS Bank, Accordbank, Industrialbank, Kredobank, Pivdenny Bank, Credit Dnipro, Vostok, Globus, IBOX Bank, as well as Ukrainian Financial Group.

"As for the limits: you can send up to $2,999 per day, but not more than $6,000 during 30 days, or expand the limits through the form on the website, providing additional documents," the expert said.

The group's initiator expects that in time PayPal, the parent company, will also provide services in Ukraine.

"In fact, this is a historical moment, confirming that sooner or later PayPal will come to Ukraine," he noted.

As reported, the volume of private money transfers to Ukraine in January-May 2018 increased by 30% compared to the same period in 2017, to $4.5 billion.Ukraine has completed harvesting early grain and leguminous crops, threshing 34.3 million tonnes from 9.9 million hectares with a yield of 34.8 centners per hectare against 37.3 million tonnes from 9.6 million hectares in 2017, Ukraine's Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has said.

Ukrainian farmers harvested 25.1 million tonnes of wheat from 6.6 million hectares with a yield of 38 centners per hectare, 7.5 million tonnes of barley from 2.5 million hectares with a crop yield of 30.3 centners per hectare, 391,600 tonnes of rye from 147,500 hectares with a yield of 26.5 centners per hectare, 451,000 tonnes of oat from 195,200 hectares with a yield of 23.1 centners per hectare, and 801,000 tonnes of peas from 431,500 hectares with a yield of 18.6 centners per hectare.

Farmers also threshed 22,000 tonnes of buckwheat from 16,000 hectares with a crop yield of 13.7 centners per hectare, 22,000 tonnes of millet from 15,000 hectares with a yield of 14.5 centners per hectare.

The harvest of sunflower was 241,000 tonnes from 138,000 hectares with a yield of 17.5 centners per ha, rapeseeds some 2.7 million tonnes from one million hectares with a yield of 26.1 centners per hectare.

As of August 29, agrarians from Zaporizhia, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy and Kharkiv regions have started collecting soybeans. The first 40,000 tonnes have already been threshed from 14,000 hectares with a yield of 27.7 centners per ha.Russian occupation forces mount two attacks on Ukrainian army positions since start of 'school truce' in Donbas

Over the past day, the militants opened fire on the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces 32 times, including with the use of illegal heavy weapons, and twice shot at the Ukrainian military this night, the press service of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) headquarters has reported.

"The militants of illegal armed units fired guided missiles from infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms, and in separate directions - from tanks, 122 mm barrels and 82 and 120 mm mortar shells ... No casualties among the Ukrainian troops have been reported over the past day," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in its update on Facebook on Wednesday.

Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire to attack the defenders of Krymske, Popasna, Troyitske, Novoluhanske, Mayorske, Pivdenne, Novhorodske, Avdiyivka, Krasnohorivka, Maryinka, Novomykhailivka, Chermalyk, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Lebedynske, Vodiane and Shyrokyne.

The invaders carried out nine attacks on the Ukrainian positions near Troyitske, Novoluhanske, Novhorodske, Novomykhailivka, Chermalyk, Hnutove, and Vodiane, using proscribed artillery systems and mortars. In addition, the Ukrainian positions near Lebedynske were attacked by main battle tanks.

Units of the Joint Forces fired back to suppress the enemy's fire activity amid escalation.

"Since Wednesday midnight, Russian-led forces have mounted two attacks from heavy machine guns on the Ukrainian positions outside the villages of Hnutove and Talakivka," the report says.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, three militants of illegal armed formations were killed.Of the Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the August 2014 battle in Ilovaisk in Donetsk region, 84 are still missing, and 11 are being held captive in Luhansk and Donetsk today, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"We know that 128 were captured. If I'm not mistaken, 11 servicemen and Interior Ministry officers that participated in the combat episode near Ilovaisk are still being held," Oleksiy Nozdrachov, the director of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' civilian-military cooperation department, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

In total, 158 soldiers went missing in the battles near Ilovaisk, he said.

The number of missing soldiers includes dead bodies and fragments of bodies that have been found but currently cannot be identified, Nozdrachov said.

"If we just take the period of the Ilovaisk battle, there are another 15 missing people, whose bodies, which we cannot identify right now, remain in morgues," he said.

A total of 366 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action near Ilovaisk in August 2014, including 150 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Nozdrachov said.

In late August 2014, enemy militias surrounded several Ukrainian volunteer battalions and Interior Ministry and Army units outside Ilovaisk, causing great losses of life and resulting in Ukrainian soldiers being captured by the enemy.

According to official information from the Ukrainian side, 366 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another 429 injured in the hostilities.

On August 14, 2017, Ukraine's Chief Military Prosecutor's Office sent information about evidence of "war crimes committed by the divisions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, including the killings of Ukrainian soldiers near Ilovaisk in 2014" to the office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court "with a view to opening criminal proceedings," the Ukrainian prosecutors said.Ukraine has filed a request to the official Washington for the purchase of air defense systems worth $750 million for one unit, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly said on the air of Novoye Vremia radio.

"In my opinion, sea space, military airspace is our needs of the next period. This is something without which we simply cannot ensure the defense of the country," the diplomat said.

He also said that Ukraine needed at least three such complexes, but did not specify which type of air defense he was talking about.

Chaly also expressed the opinion that the Ukrainian Armed Forces need complexes of UAVs, counter battery radars and counter-sniper systems.

The ambassador added that the relevant request was voiced at the "highest and high level", namely at the meeting of the presidents of Ukraine and the United States in Brussels, as well as at meetings of the Ukrainian side with the U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton.

Chaly refused to voice other details of this request, referring to the secrecy of information.Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv summons former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to court sessions on September 13, 14, 17 and Septemebr 18 on the case of accusing him of high treason.

According to the agenda published on Wednesday in the government's official newspaper Uriadovy Kurier, Yanukovych is due to arrive at 10:00 on September 13, 14, 17 and September 18 to participate in the court session in criminal proceedings on charges of ex-president in committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 110, part 1 of Article 111, Part 5 of Article 27, and Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As reported, on August 16, Kyiv's Obolonsky District Court gave one month to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's lawyers to prepare for debates in the hearing of a high treason case against him. Both lawyers said they needed at least three months to prepare for the debates.

After that, the court announced a recess in the hearings until September 13 and 14. Considering that five lawyers hired by Yanukovych and one state-appointed lawyer are entitled to present their case in the debates, the court also determined September 17 and 18 as reserve dates for the defense.Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy spoke at the 13th meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine in Kyiv on August 28, the press service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has reported.

"Informing the world about the importance of Ukraine's struggle and the importance of Ukrainian statehood is among the key tasks of Ukrainian diplomacy," the press service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine said.

Speaker Parubiy thanked each of the representatives of the diplomatic corps for the fact that they in their place broadcast diplomacy information in the host countries. "During the Maidan times, I insisted on creating an anti-Putin coalition, and it was thanks to you that the whole civilized world united in support of Ukraine's independence," he said and stressed that "the entire civilized world perceives the extension of sanctions as an obligatory norm," he said.

Emphasizing the importance of obtaining lethal weapons, Parubiy noted that this is the result of work and diplomats: "The key direction for Ukraine is the Euro-Atlantic path, and in fact you have to work hard in that direction, but we achieved very significant results. Javelin is not just the type of weapons; this is a symbol of Ukraine's support."

The Chairman of the Parliament noted that "it is extremely important to find the key areas of common interest to be guided by the needs that ambassadors experience in their countries in the resolutions adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in our laws, in our decisions." "Communication between us is very important to work out a common state strategy, especially in the election year, when emotions will be imposed by certain political forces to the electoral race, and not the opinion of the main thing - of the state," he stressed.

Parubiy expressed confidence that Ukrainian diplomats, like the Ukrainian diplomatic front, will be at the forefront of strengthening and consolidating Ukrainian interests and the Ukrainian state. "I am confident that we were able to pass through the difficult years of our history, the most difficult tests that have fallen to us. I am confident that we will continue consolidating the Ukrainian state shoulder to shoulder," the Verkhovna Rada chairman said.President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on the anniversary of the Ilovaisk tragedy said that the Russian aggressor should be punished for every killed Ukrainian soldier.

"Each life of our defender, taken by the war, leaves a scar on the heart of Ukraine, at the heart of the whole people, at the heart of each of us. Each broken life is a crime of the Russian aggressor, for which it will certainly be punished. This war is our common pain, which cannot be forgotten for a minute," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

"Heroes do not die," the president of Ukraine said and attached a video on Facebook created by volunteers for the Day of Remembrance for the killed defenders of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014.There are plans to deploy additional marine units, coastal artillery, and ships to the Azov Sea, according to Ukrainian Navy Commander Ihor Voronchenko.

"We are planning to increase our naval group, marines, and artillery in the Azov Sea in order to ensure solid protection of the entire perimeter and peaceful industrial activity in the Azov Sea waters," the press center of the Ukrainian Navy commander cited Voronchenko as saying on Wednesday.

The Navy began the command-and-staff exercise Storm 2018 together with other military forces and law enforcement agencies in the south of Ukraine on August 28, he said.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff will take part in the exercise together with the Ground Forces, the Air Force, the Special Operations Forces, the State Border Service, the National Guard, and the Defense Ministry's Special Transport Service.

The exercise will have two stages, namely troop control in an air defense and stabilization operation, and defense of the Black Sea coast.Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has created a new office to oversee and implement an agreement with former rebel groups, local media reported on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the Horn of Africa nation has signed an agreement to end hostilities with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which it had previously declared a terrorist movement.

The deal was reached between President of the Oromo Region, Lemma Mergesa and OLF Chairman, Dawd Ibsa.

The agreement covers disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former fighters, according to Abiys chief of staff.

The Premier has appointed Tesfaye Yegezu to lead the Project Office tasked to coordinate this effort, a tweet from the chief of staff read.

Since the 1970s, the rebels have fought a low-level insurgency for self-determination for the Oromo region. The Oromo region has a handful of historical demands that have been amplified since the protests broke out three years ago.

This month deal is part of PM Abys reforms to improve security in the East African nation and upgrade its diplomatic relations.

Since he took office in April, his reforms have included extending an olive branch to dissidents overseas. He has also acknowledged abuses by security services and ended a military stalemate with Eritrea.The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has observed over 70 violations of the Donbas "school truce" since midnight.

"OSCE SMM Alexander Hug: Since 00:01 SMM registered more than 70 ceasefire violations. Sides need to honor their recommitment. Firing has to stop now. To protect Ukrainians on both sides of the contact line," the mission wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine (TCG) agreed at its latest meeting in Minsk to establish another ceasefire at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, August 29, on the occasion of the new school year. This is the 24th truce established by the sides since the conflict broke out in 2014 but none of them has been fully honored.Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) Alexander Hug has called on the opposing sides in Donbas to observe the "school truce," which will take effect on Wednesday, August 29.

The OSCE SMM urges the opposing parties to observe the ceasefire, Hug said at a press briefing in Donetsk, adding that the sides can end the hostilities if they want to.

They must ensure that all of their forces know that complying with the ceasefire is mandatory, and the orders must be issued and published so that children can go to school in peace, he said.

The opportunity presented by the ceasefire's taking effect at 12:01 on Wednesday cannot be missed, Hug said.

For a lasting truce, it is necessary to disengage forces and military hardware and withdraw heavy weapons from the contact line, he said. If these measures are implemented, a steady and irreversible ceasefire will be achieved, Hug said.

The opposing sides should provide OSCE SMM monitors free access along the entire contact line, he said.

Constant attacks on OSCE SMM drones make it impossible for the mission to use its full capacity to help the conflicting parties comply with their commitments, Hug said.

The Trilateral Contact Group agreed on the new truce at its last meeting.The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) to Ukraine has recorded an increase in the use of prohibited weapons in Donbas, OSCE SMM Principle Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said at a press briefing.

The total number of ceasefire breaches last week was 5,500, and roughly 3.5 times more cases involving weapons prohibited under the Minsk Agreements were recorded than in the previous week, he said.

The main hotspots are still the area of Avdiyivka - Donetsk Airport - Yasynuvata, the southern and eastern sectors of Svitlodarsk, some neighborhoods of Mariupol, and the village of Zholobok, Hug said.

In all of those places, OSCE SMM recorded an increase in the number of ceasefire violations, except in the eastern sector near Mariupol, where the number decreased, he said.

The SMM is also seeing cases where civilian infrastructure is destroyed as a result of the ongoing hostilities, Hug said.

He also said that after the Mayorsk checkpoint was reopened, lines of people were observed there, probably due to the fact that it had been closed for several days.

Before the checkpoint was closed, the SMM had recorded ceasefire violations in its immediate vicinity, Hug said.

The SMM spent several days establishing a dialogue between the conflicting parties, which led to the opening of the Mayorsk checkpoint this morning, he said.Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Lilia Hrynevych states that the rights of Ukrainian-speaking residents are violated in the occupied Crimea.

"They completely violate the rights of the Ukrainian-speaking population. And this is nothing more than a manifestation of repressions they are carrying out against the Ukrainian-speaking population and the Crimean Tatars. This is terrible Russian policy, the policy of the aggressor who illegally occupied Ukrainian territory," she said at a briefing after government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday, responding to a question from journalists about the absence of Ukrainian schools on the territory of Crimea annexed by Russia.

According to the minister, the policy of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education towards the Crimeans is "openness to children." In particular, there are special conditions in Ukraine for the introductory campaign and distance education for residents of the occupied peninsula.

As for the possible introduction of mirror measures against Russian-speaking schools in Ukraine, Hrynevych stated: "Ukraine is not an aggressor! We are not invaders and we respect other national minorities."

The minister stressed that the Russian national minority in Ukraine is subject to the same rules as for other national minorities.Final procedural decision on Ilovaisk tragedy to be taken after interviewing all participants, bringing the guilty to justice

Ukraine's Main Military Prosecutor's Office has in essence completed its investigation into the circumstances of the Ilovaisk tragedy. However, the final procedural decision on the investigation will be taken after interviewing each Ukrainian solder about the events and bringing those guilty to criminal justice, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has said.

PGO Spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on his Facebook page on Wednesday that the Military Main Prosecutor's Office continues to conduct its pretrial investigation of Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine that resulted in the deaths of people and other dire consequences.

Lysenko's note mentions results of two expert analyses and collected evidence, which establishes that from May through June 2014 Anti-Terrorist Operation forces conducted a number of successful operations to liberate towns in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and that on August 11 an order was given to liberate Ilovaisk from members of illegal armed formations. According to Lysenko, Russian military leaders "organized a direct invasion using Russian military units in Donetsk region and simultaneously shelled Ukrainian positions from Russian territory."

Direct Russian intervention occurred on the night of August 24, 2014, when nine tactical Russian military battalions with 3,500 Russian troops, up to 60 main battle tanks and up to 320 armored vehicles and other equipment intervened.

To save Ukrainian soldiers' life, Ukrainian army chiefs started negotiations with the Russian representatives and agreed on a "humanitarian corridor" for the besieged Ukrainian troops to retreat.

"On August 29 on the direct order of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Russian soldiers fired from heavy weapons at columns of Ukrainian soldiers, including three Russian airborne troops who had been taken prisoner," Lysenko said, adding that 366 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, 429 were wounded and 300 were taken prisoner.

Lysenko said expert testimony and evidence gathered demonstrates conclusively that "Russian military aggression is the sole cause of the Ilovaisk tragedy."Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has decided to continue analogue broadcasting in territories bordering Russia, as well as for the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and local TV companies that do not have licenses for digital broadcasting on the list of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting until December 31 2018.

This decision was passed by the Cabinet at a meeting on Wednesday.

The Cabinet's respective resolution and its explanatory note, which are available to Interfax-Ukraine, say that the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting should identify a number of channels that will continue broadcasting until December 31 of this year with the goal of protecting the national information space of Ukraine during the transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

In particular, such channels will include those based in the territories adjacent to the Ukrainian-Russian border, in the Joint Forces Operation zone, in Russian-occupied Crimea, as well as UA:PBC channels and local TV companies that do not have licenses for digital broadcasting.

The list of such channels, according to the Cabinet resolution, will be determined by the National Council separately.

Also, the Cabinet instructed the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine to finalize within two days the resolution in terms of clarifying the terms and entities involved in broadcasting.

As reported earlier, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council asked the Cabinet of Ministers to keep analogue broadcasting in the border areas, for UA:PBC and local TV companies.

In June, the Cabinet extended the use of radio technologies for analogue TV broadcast until August 31, 2018, for all regions except the city of Kyiv and Kirovohrad region, where the deadline for the end of analog broadcasting is July 31, 2018.KYIV. Aug 29 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Oilseeds harvest in Ukraine could grow by 1.5 million tonnes this year compared with 2017, to 21.7 million, according to the UkrAgroConsult consulting agency.

"According to the results of this year, we forecast growth of the harvest to 21.7 million tonnes for three main oil crops - sunflower, rapeseeds and soybeans," Director General of the UkrAgroConsult consulting agency Serhiy Feofilov said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, Ukrainian farmers continue expanding crop areas, increasing yield and general production of sunflower and other oilseeds, as these crops are currently the most profitable.

"Now the prices for wheat and barley are very close to each other, it is about $230 per tonne FOB, but even six months ago wheat was at around $180-190 per tonne FOB. The prices for corn are about $185 per tonne FOB, which is due to expectations of a high harvest, but even these prices are $30 higher than a year ago," the UkrAgroConsult director general said.

At the same time, he said that even now grain crops will not be able to compete significantly with oilseeds, although the prices for grain have grown by 15-20%.

"Presumably, the main reason for the increase in grain prices will be the current unfavorable weather conditions in the three major grain-producing regions of the planet, but probably in 12-18 months the prices for grain will return to the previous level," Feofilov said.

In his opinion, despite the increase in oilseed crushing capacities, the demand for raw materials and the supply of oil, the growth of exports is not accompanied by an increase in foreign exchange earnings, which is the fundamental reason for the trend towards a decrease in the profitability of the oilseed complex of Ukraine.

"Currently, the prices of vegetable oils, including sunflower, are at the lowest level over the past decade - about $700 per tonne FOB. It should be emphasized that the export of oilseed products - oil, meal, soy and rape is about 40% of all agrarian and food exports of Ukraine," Feofilov said.

According to the forecasts of UkrAgroConsult, in Ukraine the production and stocks of both sunflower and sunflower oil will be significant by the end of the next season, and this will put pressure on prices both domestic and export.

"It is likely that sunflower areas (6.5 million hectares in 2018) will be stable in the structure of crops in Ukraine in the future, which is due to the considerable demand and crushing capacities, which in Ukraine are 20 million tonnes," Feofilov said.

The director general of the consulting agency said that the creation and promotion of a national brand of sunflower oil is an effective and proven tool for overcoming the tendency of falling profitability.

"Manufacturers now do not think about creating a national brand, most likely because they are getting enough margin, but the situation may change, moreover, it is already changing. Export in physical terms, in tonnes, is a trend towards growth, and exports in revenue at cost, in dollars - a downward trend. Branding is expensive, we are talking about hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars, but the results will be extremely positive," he said.Three days after going on hunger strike, prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has been charged with new offenses, her husband, Reza Khandan, tells Radio Farda.

Sotoudeh announced her hunger strike on August 25 in a note posted on her husbands Facebook page.

Sotoudeh who has been behind bars at Tehrans notorious Evin Prison since June 13, said in the post, Since none of my correspondence with the authorities has produced a result, I have no option other than starting a hunger strike as of [August 25] to protest the judicial arrests and pressure against my family, relatives, and friends.

She concluded the note by saying, With the hope of the establishment of law and justice in our beloved country, Iran.

While deprived of the right to personally assign a lawyer to represent her, Sotoudeh has insisted she will not attend any court hearing.

The new charges include attempts to hold protest sit-ins and assemblies, participation in anti-death penalty campaigns, LEGAM (the Persian acronym for a step-by-step abolishment of the death penalty), encouraging people to demand a referendum, and helping to launch home churches.

In a Q&A with veteran Iranian lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, Radio Fardas Farhang Qavimi asks about the validity of the new charges against Sotoudeh.

RFE/RL: Is it a crime to help others launch home churches?

Mohammad Hossein Aghasi: There are no articles or notes in the Islamic Penal Code that ban launching home churches, let alone assisting others to do so. However, if such a move leads to apostasy, it might be counted as abetting a crime. Meanwhile, for every charge, there should be at least evidence along with witnesses who testify that Sotoudeh has been practically active in assisting people to launch home churches or has called upon others to do so and has invested in such activities. [Such evidence and witnesses are missing,] therefore Sotoudeh cannot be charged with it.

RFE/RL: Sotoudehs husband tells Radio Farda that the authorities have said his wife was detained last June for being found guilty for espionage in absentia, but her initial indictment had no reference to espionage. Is it possible to sentence someone on the basis of a charge not mentioned in the original indictment?

Aghasi: No. The courts are not authorized to sentence suspects for charges that are not mentioned in the arraignments or original criminal charges. The judge is not authorized to issue a verdict based outside of the frame of legally declared criminal charges and indictments. If, during the trial, a new charge is raised against the defendant, the judge is duty-bound to return the case to the primary court for further investigation. No judge is authorized to independently charge and sentence a suspect. Therefore, what has happened in Sotoudehs case is legally baseless and invalid. If a judge insisted on their verdict, the court of appeals would overrule them.

RFE/RL: Is it a crime to demand holding a referendum or calling on people to do so?

Aghasi: Inciting people to commit a crime is a crime and punishable by the law, but demanding a referendum -- which is not banned by the law -- cannot be counted as a crime. Article 2 of the Islamic Penal Code stipulates that Any act or omission, for which punishment is provided by law, constitutes an offense.

RFE/RL: And what about campaigning or calling for an end to death penalty?

Aghasi: One should distinguish between qissas and the death penalty. Qissas is an Islamic term meaning a retaliation in kind, revenge, or retributive justice. It is a category of crimes in Islamic jurisprudence, where Sharia allows for equal retaliation as the punishment. Murderers might be executed if not pardoned by the relatives of their victims. Meanwhile, there are people, such as drug smugglers, who might also be put to death for their crimes. Sotoudehs participation in LEGAM is focused on this type of capital punishment, which has nothing to do with the Islamic term of qissas.

RFE/RL: Sotoudeh says she has been deprived of the right to freely choose a lawyer to represent her and therefore cannot be forced to pick a lawyer from the limited list of attorneys endorsed by the judiciary. Is there a law that limits the right to pick an attorney?

Aghasi: Sadly, there is. And again, sadly, it is against Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution, which stipulates, Both parties to a lawsuit have the right in all courts of law to select an attorney, and if they are unable to do so, arrangements must be made to provide them with legal counsel. However, without informing an open session of the Iranian Parliament, its Legal and Judicial Commission adds a note to a law that authorizes the chief-justice to endorse qualification of the lawyers responsible for defending individuals charged with security-related crimes in the preliminary stages of legal proceedings. Therefore, the judiciary head has issued a list of attorneys whose qualifications have been endorsed for such cases.

Respecting the note, the head of the judiciary [Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani] has published a list of 20 attorneys whose qualifications he has endorsed. There are 20,000 lawyers practicing, and [Larijanis] endorsed list means that 18,980 are not qualified to defend a suspect in the preliminary stages of a legal proceeding related to security cases.One day after Iranian Parliament grilled President Hassan Rouhani over his economic performance, it appears that there is no plan for further investigation as Majles Speaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday August 29 that there will be no follow-up of the case.

Based on Majles procedures, the case should have been handed over to the Judiciary and Rouhani should have appeared before judges to defend his performance as he failed to convince members of the Parliament about the failure of his economic policies.

However, according to the procedure, the Majles should prove that the President has broken the law. Speaker Larijani has ruled out violation of the law by Rouhani.

The issue is clear and is based on the Parliament Rules of Procedure, Larijani said, adding, 'The questions from the president will not be referred to the Judiciary because the legislators have not mentioned any case of violation or disobedience of law in their questions from President Rouhani.

According to the law of amendment of Article 213 of the Parliament Rules of Procedure, a question from the president will be sent to the Judiciary, if majority of the representatives present in the session are not convinced with the response of the president to a question and the topic under question is proved to be a violation of law or disobedience of the law by the government.

Meanwhile, Guardian Council Spokesman, Abbasali Kadkhodaei also admitted on Wednesday that majlis internal regulations and bylaws are obscure about the case.

It is up to majlis to clarify the ambiguity and decide upon the outcome of a situation when a majority of the representatives present in the session are not convinced with the response of the president to a question(s), Kadkhodaei reiterated.

Nonetheless, the conservative allies of the Supreme Leader, who have recently increased their pressure on the so-called moderate President, are insisting to find a way to refer the controversial questions to the judiciary.

Indicating to the fact that Rouhanis responses did not convince 200 MPs on Tuesday, a prominent conservative legislator, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, challenged majlis speaker, asking, Whether questioning the President was in vain?

Haji Deligani argued that majlis Research Center and Government Accountability Office, as well as numerous Parliamentary Commissions, have repeatedly reported on violation of law and ignoring rules by President Rouhani and his Administration.

All these reports should be combined and pave the way for referring the questions raised by MPs to the judiciary for further investigation, Haji Deligani maintained.

Another conservative MP and member of parliaments influential Legal & Judicial Commission, Mohammad Dehghan also argued that it is up to the legislators, not majlis board of directors, to say whether the case should be referred to judiciary or not.

Parliaments board of directors is not authorized to assess MPs decisions; it is dutybound to obey the representatives will and transfer the case to the judiciary, Dehghan argued.

Nonetheless, the speaker of the parliament has stressed that, in such matters, majlis board of directors has the final say.

The embattled Rouhani, who has been under pressure for the last eight months to dismiss his economic team amid the countrys worsening economic crisis, attended a parliamentary session on Tuesday. He had earlier promised to grab the opportunity to share truth with

the nation. However, his responses did not reflect any substantial truth, while his conservative MPs successfully used the stage to grill him with a barrage of criticism.

Rouhanis performance in response to MPs questions was so weak that it even his own supporters and allies have publicly criticized it.

Questions raised by Iranian MPs from President Hassan Rouhani about the current economic situation are not to be referred to the Judiciary as there has been no example of violating or disrespecting a law by the government, the Islamic Republics official news agency, IRNA, cited the Majlis (Parliament) speaker as saying on Wednesday.

Ali Larijani made the announcement while responding to a legislator about the possibility of referring the question to the Judiciary.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Guardian Council (GC), Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, also described parliaments internal regulations on questioning the President as dubious. On Tuesday, August 28, President Rouhani was summoned to Majlis to answer five questions raised by 82 out of 290 Iranian MPs about his government's failure to control goods and currency smuggling, continuation of the banking sanctions against Iran, increased rate of unemployment, growing economic depression and the downfall of the value of the national currency, rial, against hard currencies.

Apparently, Rouhanis responses, save the one on the continuation of banking sanctions imposed on Iran, failed to convince the MPs.

Earlier, several MPs, including hardline cleric Mojtaba Zolnour and former Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander, Javad Karimi Ghoddousi had cautioned that the MPs, if not convinced by Rouhanis responses, would refer the case to the Islamic Republics judiciary.The Iranian Parliament announced its plan to impeach Education Minister Mohammad Bathai within the next 10 days, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on August 29.

The motion to impeach Bathai was tabled by 20 members of the parliament, the report said.

The parliament, which has impeached and dismissed President Hassan Rouhani's labor and economic ministers over the past three weeks, is also examining another motion to impeach Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari.

The motion to impeach Shariatmadari has been signed by 60 members of the parliament, who have accused him of failing in 17 areas including the failure to control the market that eventually led to a dramatic rise in commodity prices.

The motion also accuses Shariatmadari of wasting billions of dollars by allocating subsidized foreign currencies to profiteering individuals or companies who did not import anything or imported goods at low-rate foreign currencies and sold them on the Iranian market at higher prices.

A large part of the criticism directed at the government during Iran's most serious foreign currency crisis in July was reportedly about the mishandling of funds by the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry.

According to Mehr news agency, the motion to impeach Shariatmadari is being reviewed by the Industry and Mining Committee, but government critics outside Iran say the parliament is hesitant to impeach Shariatmadari, a former deputy intelligence minister who is believed to hold considerable sway in the Iranian intelligence community.

In Shariatmadari's case, if at least 10 signatories of the motion insist on impeaching him after the committees review, the parliament will order him to appear for impeachment.

In recent months, particularly since the U.S. pull-out from the nuclear deal with Iran in May adversely affected the countrys ailing economy, the parliament has redoubled its criticism of the Rouhani administration's handling of the crisis.

Members of parliament as well as other critics and the media called on Rouhani to change his economic team and correct his economic policy. However, Rouhani's answer was minimal as he changed the governor of the Central Bank at the peak of Iran's worst foreign currency crisis.

During the past three weeks, the parliament impeached and dismissed two of Rouhani's ministers, both from his economic team, and questioned Rouhani on five areas of his economic policy on August 28.

Rouhani, who denied his policy had been the cause of the country's economic problems, failed to convince MPs with his answers to four of the five questions.

Although the media and Iranians on social media have welcomed the impeachments, economic analysts maintain that changing individuals in key economic positions will not necessarily solve Iran's problems. They say the economic crisis will continue and could even worsen so long as there is no change in fundamental economic policy.

Most analysts and critics agree that Iran's economic problems are largely the outcome of essential structural flaws in its political system, which allows the armed forces, particularly the IRGC, to meddle in economic affairs. The companies under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which operate without paying taxes or undergoing other checks and balances, also contribute to the problem.

A larger part of Iran's economic woes is the outcome of its failing foreign policy and the insistence by its hard-line rulers on their high-cost regional ambitions.Govt to Provide Highland Villages with Internet and Electricity

By Tea Mariamidze

National Council for Development of Highlands of Georgia decided to provide over 100 highland villages in Georgias Pshav-Khevsureti and Gudamakari with the electricity and internet.The costs of internet works will be fully covered by the Fund for Development of Highlands of Georgia.As for the electricity, solar panels and power supply to over 100 villages are considered by the Government of Georgia for joint funding with the United States Agency of International Development (USAID).As the meeting participants stated, around 400 households in Pshav-Khevsureti and Gudamakari villages will get a power supply, which currently has neither electricity nor internet.Moreover, it was stated that the medical training of locals of highlands is necessary so that they could provide the first aid assistance before the ambulance reaches the destinations.National Council for Development of Highlands of Georgia was chaired by the Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. According to him, the ruling political party Georgian Dream (GD) team is focused on the development of mountainous regions.We should have a perception and expectation that yield needs to be increased. Effectiveness and efficiency should undoubtedly be boosted, he said.The second meeting of the National Council for Development of Highlands of Georgia discussed key components of the Strategy for Development of Highlands of Georgia for 2019-2023.As reported, the Strategy and Action Plan will be developed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia. Programs to be implemented in mountains of the country in 2018-2019 were also discussed, including the development of forests and tourism in the woods as a niche segment.The government endorsed law of Georgia on Development of High Mountainous Regions in 2015.Currently, 1730 settlements are granted with the status of High Terrain Communities, and 330,000 people benefit from the financial incentives under the law.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Bakcell - the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan has announced the winners of the stimulating draw-based lottery, conducted under the title of Trip abroad from Bakcell Ulduzum and Bank of Baku.

Winners of the lotterys main prizes were automatically determined via special computer software, during the draw ceremony held on 27th of August 2018 with participation of mass media representatives. As a result of the draw, the main prize being a trip to Dubai went to Bakcell subscriber and Bank of Baku customer Kamran Shamiyev. The prize package includes a visa, one round-trip ticket from Baku to Dubai, accommodation in 3* or 4* hotel for 3 nights and 4 days, transfer from airport to hotel (and from hotel to airport), as well as the travel insurance. Winner of the second main prize  Yaman Farzaliyeva, became a lucky owner of an iPhone smartphone. Bakcell and Bank of Baku representatives, who were hosting the event, have immediately contacted and congratulated the winners.

It should be noted that all the Bakcell subscribers, being at the same time the customers of Bank of Baku, who participated in this lottery held in the period from 18th of May to 18th of August, have won prizes. Thus, thousands of participants have won lots of calling minutes and free internet packages from Bakcell and special discounts from Bank of Baku.

With well over 2.9 million users and more than 250 active partners, Ulduzum has proved itself to be one of the best customer service programs not only in Azerbaijan, but in the whole Middle East, Central and Southern Asia and Northern Africa region, by offering a wide range of discounts and services to the subscribers and promoting corporate loyalty among own customers and customers of the programs partner companies.

Every Bakcell customer can join the Ulduzum loyalty program, and absolutely no subscription fee is required. To join the Ulduzum program one should simply send a free SMS with text 1 to number 5555. Bakcells Ulduzum mobile application, created to facilitate the usage of the loyalty program, can be downloaded for both iOS and Android platforms from www.ulduzum.az

***

About Bakcell

Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, offers a wide range of products and Services to users of modern mobile communications Services. The company provides its customers with the best-in-class 4G mobile internet.

With more than 7000 base stations, Bakcell network covers 99% of the population and 93% of the land area of the country (except for the occupied territories). Bakcell network has been recognized as the Best in Test in Azerbaijan by P3 Communications, being the international leader and most trusted independent authority in mobile benchmarking.

For more information about Bakcell products and services, please visit www.bakcell.com or call 555. For press releases please see www.bakcell.com/az/news (or www.bakcell.com/en/news for press releases in English).

If you are not a Bakcell subscriber, but wish to find out about Bakcell and its products and services, please call 012 498 89 89.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Every newborn child should have a workplace in the future, and this will be achieved by expanding agriculture, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks during the opening of a vine-growing and wine-making complex owned by "Shirvan wines" LLC in Meysari village, Shamakhi district.

I am quite delighted that viticulture has gained momentum in Shamakhi district, he said. Beautiful vineyards have been established and people have been provided with work. So the policy our country is pursuing in the field of agriculture manifests itself in these new vineyards. This makes me very happy. Shamakhi district is a traditional wine growing region. There are great traditions of viticulture here. Back in the Soviet period, great leader Heydar Aliyev repeatedly visited Shamakhi district to give the necessary instructions and guidance related to viticulture. At that time, Azerbaijan collected two million tons of grapes.

Unfortunately, after that the vineyards were uprooted and we practically lost viticulture, Ilham Aliyev noted. We are restoring it now. This is not the first viticulture farm in Shamakhi district. While in Shamakhi last year, I got acquainted with the work carried out in large vineyards. The launch of the winery today and the establishment of vineyards are, of course, very significant events.

Viticulture in Azerbaijan has a bright future, he said. Shamakhi district should become a center of viticulture in Azerbaijan  just as it was in the ancient times. And we are now restoring the viticulture glory of Shamakhi.

A fine winery has been put into operation, he noted. The factory operates on French technologies. The most modern equipment has been installed here, and the wines produced here will enhance the export potential of Azerbaijan. We are now creating homes of Azerbaijani wines in various countries. The wines produced here will benefit our country.

Viticulture is a labor-intensive branch of agriculture, he said. According to the information i have, up to 200 people have been provided with work on 300 hectares of vineyards that have been set up here. They are the inhabitants of this village. I am told that the problem of unemployment in this village has been eliminated. Our main goal is to create jobs and to enable people to get a good salary, so that every citizen could build his life on honest work, support his family and address his needs.

Viticulture is a very profitable sector and, according to the information I have, the salaries of those working here are quite good, the Azerbaijani president added. As it expands further, more labor will be needed and a higher salary will be paid. Thus, Shamakhi will become one of the important viticulture centers not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the region.

I have signed numerous instructions related to the development of Shamakhi district as a whole, he said. I often come to Shamakhi district. I was here last year too. This is my seventh visit to Shamakhi as president. A large amount of work has been done towards social and economic development of Shamakhi district. Last year, we marked the opening of a drinking water project in the city of Shamakhi. This issue has been resolved.

He noted that 95 percent of households have been supplied with gas.

Those still without gas supply will soon be provided with gas, he said. Electricity problems are being addressed too. Rural roads are under construction. Another executive order will be signed in the next few days. When I was in Shamakhi last time, we marked the opening of a big rural road here.

A diagnostic center, a central hospital, an Olympic center, a center of culture, and more than 40 schools have been built and renovated in Shamakhi district, he added. On my initiative, the Juma Mosque of Shamakhi, which is a temple of great importance not only for Azerbaijan but also for the entire Muslim world, has also been thoroughly renovated. It is possible to say that it has been reconstructed. This mosque was built in 743 and is our national treasure. It is an asset of the entire Muslim world, and I have repeatedly said this at international events.

When I was here last time, we marked the opening of a mosque in the village of Damirchi after renovation, he said. A road from Shamakhi to Lahij, to the village of Damirchi is opening now. We opened this road last year, and now we will open the road from Damirchi to Lahij. So it is a travel destination. Now those traveling from Baku to Lahij will pass through Shamakhi more. Thus, they will come here, relax, look at these orchards, visit the factory. There are hotels in Shamakhi. Shamakhi is one of the most developed districts of Azerbaijan. And this is natural, because Shamakhi has a very long history. Shamakhi was present on ancient maps. It is the center of ancient culture and art. This is a very valuable part of Azerbaijan. I am glad that this work is paying off.

Just have a look, the Baku-Shamakhi road is now being expanded, Ilham Aliyev noted. At the first stage, we built a beautiful road because the old road was in poor condition. Then I issued the instruction to make it a four-lane road. Most of it has already been commissioned now. All this requires a lot of money. The state invests money. The opening of a school today is a major event in itself. A beautiful school has opened in Meysari village. Infrastructure projects, agriculture and agricultural estates.

A large grain farm has now been created on an area of 42,000 hectares, on the territory of Shamakhi and Hajigabul districts, he said. There are many people working there. At present, new areas are being put into circulation. Our policy manifests itself precisely in these matters. I congratulate you on the establishment of this wonderful farm and wish you success. Keep working well, so that your business goes well and our people live even better. I congratulate you and wish you continued success.

The Azerbaijani president went on to add that new orchards will be set up, and the sowing area will be expanded.

In other words, there will be a lot of work here, he said. The population of Azerbaijan is increasing, and every newborn child should have a workplace in the future. We will achieve this by expanding agriculture.

Of course, Shamakhi, as I said before and want to say again, has great tourist potential, he noted. Ancient monuments, as well as nature, air and such beautiful places in Shamakhi attract tourists. At the same time, this will be a travel destination. The house of wine, the store, the small recreation area will attract tourists, in particular foreign tourists. Therefore, they will come here, spend money and buy products from your villagers. And things will be even better.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order providing funds for the renovation of Lankaran-Lerik highway.

Under the presidential order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 5 million manats for the renovation of the road.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

By Samir Ali - Trend:

German Chancellor Angela Merkels statements in Baku over the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are of special importance both for Azerbaijan and for all international circles interested in the early settlement of the conflict, Aydin Guliyev, editor-in-chief of the "Baki Khabar" newspaper, told Trend.

As Merkel noted, the formation of a new government in Armenia may lead to an improvement in the situation in this area, may give impetus to the negotiations [over the conflicts settlement], Guliyev said.

It is enough to conduct a comparative analysis of statements by the German chancellor during her stay in Baku and Yerevan in order to make sure what a significant partner Azerbaijan is, Guliyev added.

The expert stressed that Azerbaijan is considered as a reliable partner in global economic, trade, energy, investment and logistics projects.

He also noted that Azerbaijans policy in the energy supply to Europe was regarded as an important factor, and the German companies demonstrated great interest to participate in the development of Azerbaijans non-oil sector.

Guliyev stressed that the dialogue of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Baku will have a big impact on the relations between Azerbaijan and the EU as well.Details added (first version posted at 11:27)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia Zurab Pataradze.

Ambassador Pataradze reviewed the guard of honor, and presented his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

President Ilham Aliyev then spoke with the ambassador.

Pointing out rich history of Azerbaijan-Georgia relations, the head of state said the friendly ties between the two countries are developing in different areas.

President Ilham Aliyev said global projects implemented as a result of Azerbaijan-Georgia cooperation are of great importance not only for the region, but also for a wider area. The head of state expressed confidence that the relations between the two countries will continue developing, and wished the ambassador success.

Zurab Pataradze said he is honored to be appointed as ambassador to the friendly Azerbaijan. Describing Azerbaijan as an important strategic partner for Georgia, the ambassador expressed his confidence that the brotherly ties between the two countries will always strengthen.

Zurab Pataradze said he will spare no efforts to expand the bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, trade, humanitarian and other areas.Details added (first version posted on 12:53)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Binali Yildirim.

The head of state congratulated Binali Yildirim on his election as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

President Ilham Aliyev emphasized Binali Yildirims contribution to the strengthening of the Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherly relations and to the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project during his tenure as prime minister and in other positions.

Noting that the friendly and brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are developing in all areas, the head of state underlined great importance of the joint global projects implemented by the two countries, including Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, TANAP and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars.

The president said that Turkey and Azerbaijan have always supported each other and are together today.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his confidence that inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries will successfully develop during Binali Yildirims tenure as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and wished him success in this post.

Binali Yildirim thanked President Ilham Aliyev for warm words and congratulations. He extended President Recep Tayyip Erdogans greetings to the head of state. Hailing the successful development of the friendly and brotherly relations between the two countries, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey expressed his confidence that these ties will continue to strengthen.

Yildirim said he is glad to pay his first official visit as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to Azerbaijan. He said Azerbaijan has made great strides since his first visit to the country 15 years ago, adding that Azerbaijan's progress is a source of great joy for Turkey.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked for President Recep Tayyip Erdogans greetings and asked Binali Yildirim to extend his greetings to the Turkish president.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

In accordance with the regulations of the meeting of the Azerbaijan-Turkey High-Level Military Dialogue, the delegation led by Chief of the Main Directorate for Inspection and Assessment of the Land Forces of the Turkish Armed Forces Brigadier General Faruk Yildirim is paying a visit to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said in a message Aug. 29.

As part of the visit, the Turkish delegation met with Major General Zakir Aghayev, chief of the Main Military Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

The sides exchanged views on the current state and prospects for the development of cooperation, and also discussed the possibilities for further development of bilateral relations.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

A member of a radical religious extremist group has been liquidated in Azerbaijans Khachmaz District, reads a joint statement by the Prosecutor Generals Office and the State Security Service.

During the investigation it was confirmed that a member of the radical religious extremist group Nizami Najafov acquired weapons, ammunition and explosives, and was planning to commit a terror attack in Azerbaijans northern districts.

In this regard, employees of Azerbaijans State Security Service and the Prosecutor Generals Office held joint urgent measures.

During the measures to disarm Nizami Najafov in Khachmaz on August 29, he put up armed resistance and was liquidated by retaliatory fire.

During the inspection of the scene and the body, one machine gun of Aksu type, ammunition and an explosive device were found and seized.

Investigative and operational measures on the criminal case continue.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Issues concerning introduction of mandatory medical insurance in Azerbaijan were discussed August 29 during the business forum arranged by the Caspian European Club and attended by Zaur Aliyev, Chairman of the Board of the State Agency for Mandatory Insurance.

Addressing the business forum, Chairman of the Board of the State Agency for Mandatory Insurance Zaur Aliyev provided information about the activity and further plans of the Agency.

Zaur Aliyev noted about successful completion of the pilot project on introduction of the mandatory medical insurance in Mingachevir, Yevlah and Aghdash districts.

Speaking about measures taken in the pilot region within the framework of this project, and following the order of President Ilham Aliyev, Zaur Aliyev stressed the importance of upgrading the structure of health facilities operating within the state system of healthcare, as well as reconstructing diagnostic labs, primary health care facilities, and creating family health centers in these regions. Noting about the start-up of broad introduction of electronic systems in hospitals, meant for management over pilot health facilities, Z.Aliyev informed also about launch of a new electronic service by the Agency.

Noting about population satisfaction surveys which were held in several pilot regions on basis of undertaken measures, the Chairman told the event participants that the population, as the primary results say, had expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the Mandatory Medical Insurance.

During the Business Forum the member companies of the Caspian European Club asked questions about introduction of mandatory insurance in Azerbaijan, and also made suggestions regarding the continuation of an active dialogue between business and the State Agency for Mandatory Medical Insurance.

Telman Aliyev noted that prior to the appointment to the position of the Director of the State Agency for Mandatory Medical Insurance, Zaur Aliyev had been a member of the Board of the Caspian European Club and had been actively engaged in discussions and implementation of different projects. Addressing the business forum, the First Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Caspian European Club Telman Aliyev thanked Zaur Aliyev for a constructive dialogue, as well as for an attention to suggestions and requests expressed by the Club members in the course of the event.

Telman Aliyev invited all participants to attend the forth coming 7th International Caspian Energy Forum Baku-2018, which will take place on September 20 with the support of the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic and Caspian European Club. He noted that the Contract of the Century was signed on September 20, 1994 under the leadership of All-National Leader Heydar Aliyev, which gave main impetus to the development of the oil-gas and non-oil sector of the Caspian-Black Sea region countries.

That was when the basis of the energy security of Europe owing to the Caspian energy resources was laid. Due to this, we will hold Caspian Energy Forum in Baku every year. This was made possible owing to new conditions created by the top management of the Caspian

European Club in order to arrange Caspian Energy Forum Baku 2018, Telman Aliyev emphasized.

In the course of the business forum Zaur Aliyev was presented an honorary membership certificate of the Caspian European Club. Heads of companies, Ambassadors, representatives of a number of diplomatic missions and international organizations attended the business forum

The Caspian European Club, which brings together more than 5,000 member companies and organizations from 70 countries around the world, was established in June 2002 with the support of the largest oil and gas companies working in the Caspian-Black Sea region and with the active involvement of the Caspian Energy International Media Group.

The Caspian American Club (established on 24 December 2016) and Caspian Asian Club (26 January 2018) will be managed by the Members of the Board of the Caspian European Club for 2 years. All companies that join the Caspian European Club as members get an automatic membership within the Caspian American Club, Caspian Asian Club and vice-versa.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has been the Chairman of the Caspian European Club since its establishment.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 27

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

The Azerbaijan-Iran joint car plant Khazar plans to produce 1,500 cars until the end of this year, AzerMash, one of the plants owners, told Trend Aug. 27.

The company noted that during the next 2-3 years there are plans to increase production at the plant by more than three times.

"It is planned to increase production to 3,000 cars per year in 2019 and to 5,000 cars in 2020-2021," the company said.

Presently, the plant produces Khazar LD and Khazar SD models.

In the near future, it is planned to set up production of cars under the Renault and Peugeot brands, which will cost 18,000-21,000 manats. The cost of cars presently produced at the plant is 14,000-16,000 manats.

The Khazar car plant is located in southeast Azerbaijan in the Neftchala Industrial District. All cars produced there comply with Euro 5 standards.

On Aug. 6, 2016, a major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani company Azeurocar (a subsidiary of AzerMash) signed an agreement to establish a joint automobile factory in Neftchala. The total cost of the project is estimated at 24 million manats. The Azerbaijani side invested 75 percent in the factory, and the Iranian side invested 25 percent.Case of International Black Sea University

By Levan Khutsishvili

On August 23, 2018, group of Georgian NGOs spread the statement about the ongoing processes in International Black Sea University (IBSU). As it became known, by the decision of Authorization Council of Higher Education Institution, on August 20, IBSU was entitled to the right to receive students for a year, even though by the same decision of the Authorization Council the International Black Sea University has been granted authorization for 6 years, and this part of the decision was based on the report of the group of experts, that worked in the university on April 24-27, and positively evaluated authorization standards of the university."As a result of the study analysis and factual circumstances, a group of experts prepared a report on which the university meets the authorization standards: none of the seven standards (19 sub-standard) have been evaluated negatively."  is written in the statement of IBSU.However, the university is still not allowed to get new students this year, an official reason of this is financial problems, in particular, the tax penalty imposed in 2013 and the sequestered property that the university was obliged to avoid tax liabilities. The amount of the fine is now 700 000 GEL, and the legal dispute is still on its fairness, though Authorization Council did not take into consideration that fact. As it is said in the statement of NGOs Authorization Board is allowed to entitle university to the right to receive students for one year if institution partly doesnt fit with authorization standards, and In the present case, the Council considered alleged violation of the standard of material, information and financial resources, the financial dispute with the state, but IBSU explains that the fact did not have any significant impact on the university, especially its study process.University property is sequestrated because of the fine, but IBSU is ready is ready to cover a tax penalty if the court will decide it. Real Estate and other assets of the International Black University are more than GEL 700,000; Secondly, the decision made by the Authorization Council only reduces the revenue of the university (which will serve a variety of educational objectives) up to GEL 2 million this year.Besides, according to the authorization expert's report, the university's material and financial resources are in line with the requirements. It turns out that the Authorization Board ignores and casts a qualified assessment of its local and foreign experts.The irresponsible decision of the authorization council hinders the development of one of the most rated and internationally recognizable universities in Georgia, which has 23 years of successful academic work experience, is distinguished by graduates' high employment rates and cooperates with more than 60 universities in the world. Up to 2000 international and local students are currently studying in the university, there are 400 qualified staff members.  is written in the statement of the IBSU.Are there any other circumstances that could influence the decision of the Authorization Council?Group of NGOs think, that this decision could be determined by the pressure coming from the Government of Turkey. As it is known IBSU is the part of Caglar Education Institutions, and therefore is affiliated with the name of Fethullah Gulen  the person who is considered by the official Ankara as a chief organizer of the coup attempt in July 2016. On August 16, 2018, Ambassador of Turkey in Georgia Fatma Ceren Yazgan said regarding fighting against "Gulenists" Turkey is not satisfied with the steps taken by the Georgian side."We should pay attention to those people who threaten our bilateral relations. Regrettably, our expectations regarding FETO by the Georgian government have not yet been fulfilled and we would like to take a serious step on this issue," said Ambassador.FETO is an organization that is affiliated with Fethullah Gulen and for official Ankara, it is a terrorist organization.The fact the Turkish government can influence the case of IBSU is not illogical, as in previous years other institutions from Caglar Education network were closed (Shaheen school in Batumi, Demirel school in Tbilisi) and also case of extradition of Mustafa Emre Cabuk (Manager of Demirel school) is directly linked with the demands from Turkish Government and personally the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

A meeting of the 11th joint Azerbaijani-Uzbek intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation is expected to be held in Uzbekistans Tashkent city, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan Sherzod Fayziyev told Trend Aug. 29.

The results of the meeting will give an additional impetus to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries in the trade, economic and investment spheres, he added.

"The intensification of trade, economic and investment ties is a priority of bilateral cooperation and a starting point for the promotion of other interrelations," Fayziyev said. Presently, the efforts of the international community are aimed at overcoming the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis.

Thus, the issues of outlining a joint program of action, strengthening of cooperation between enterprises and companies of our countries, maintaining and increasing of the achieved rates of mutual trade turnover are extremely topical, he added. As part of the implementation of these tasks, our countries are actively using the potential of the joint intergovernmental commission on cooperation. Thus, ten meetings have been already held."

An important direction is also the establishment of ties between industrial enterprises and business circles of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, Fayziyev added. In this regard, the beginning of the year was marked by an important event, which laid a solid foundation for intensifying mutually beneficial ties between the business circles of the two countries. In particular, in February 2018, an Azerbaijani delegation headed by President of the Azerbaijan National Confederation of Entrepreneurs` (Employers) Organizations Mammad Musayev visited Uzbekistan.

A business forum with the participation of more than 20 representatives of Azerbaijans big companies and over 50 heads of Uzbekistans enterprises operating in the fields of construction, trade, pharmaceutics, packaging materials, printing, ICT, etc. was organized during the visit. Uzbekistans Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation signed an agreement on cooperation at the end of the business forum.

"This visit and the events held within the visit played an important role in our further work in the sphere of economic diplomacy, Fayziyev said. Afterwards, a big number of visits were made by representatives of business circles of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Following the visits, the sides reached agreements on establishing mutually beneficial ties in trade, economic and investment spheres. The trade turnover volume between the countries greatly increased thanks to this activity. In particular, the bilateral trade volume increased by 129 percent in January-July 2018 compared to the same period of 2017."

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovBaku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

The President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Kyrgyzstan Marat Sharshekeev has paid a visit to Japan, Kabar agency reported.

The trip was made possible thanks to the invitation of the government of Japan and the Chambers of Commerce of Tokyo and Osaka cities.

Sharshekeev said Japan is determined to intensify trade and economic cooperation with the countries of Central Asia, and Kyrgyzstan was the first country which received an invitation to get acquainted with the economic potential of Japan.

The meetings were held with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Kyrgyz ambassador to Japan, Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Tokyo, Osaka cities and the Association of Industrial Enterprises.

During the talks with the Chairman of the OCCI (Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Hiroshi Ozaki, who is also the Deputy Secretary General of the Japanese Organizing Committee of EXPO-2015, Sharshekeev discussed the program of assistance to Kyrgyz entrepreneurs in preparation for participation in EXPO-2025.

During his stay, Sharshkeev also visited industrial enterprises - automobile factories of Honda and Daihatsu, as well as Yamanashi Kanzume (canned food production company).

He also invited the Japanese side to consider the creation of joint automobile manufacturing enterprises in Kyrgyzstan, since the Kyrgyz Republic has access to multi-million markets of the EAEU countries.

Also, the Yamanashi Kanzume officials got interested in processing organic agricultural foods, after tasting honey, nuts and dried fruits brought by Sharshkeev. They also expressed willingness to consider establishing a manufacturing facility in Kyrgyzstan.

Sharshekeev said Japan stated its readiness to cooperate with the business community of Kyrgyzstan.

"On our part, it is necessary to improve the legal framework for the arrival of investors in terms of preferential tax administration and to create favorable conditions for the development of foreign entrepreneurship," he said.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov has signed the Law on ratification of the agreement between the government of Kyrgyzstan and the government of Kazakhstan on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh state border regime signed Dec. 25, 2017 in Astana city, Kabar news agency reported.

The law was adopted by the Kyrgyz parliament on June 28, 2018.

In accordance with this agreement, the Kyrgyz-Kazakh state border regime envisages the rules for the maintenance and crossing of the state border, the passage of persons, vehicles and the movement of cargoes, goods and animals across the state border, the settlement of border incidents, conducting economic, fishing or other activities, as well as political, cultural or other events at the state border.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

On August 29, the Uzbek Metallurgical Combine has launched a workshop for the production of ferroalloys, the correspondent of Podrobno.uz agency reported.

The launch ceremony was attended by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, employees of the enterprise, representatives of the government of Uzbekistan and foreign investors.

The cost of the implemented project is $60 million, the workshop is equipped with up-to-date energy-saving technologies and the advanced equipment.

The new facilities were built with the participation of the South Korean Posco Daewoo company and are able to produce 25,000 tons of ferrosilicon and ferrosilicon manganese per year.

This will allow to not only meet the needs of the steel industry, but also to export an average of 8,000 tons of ferroalloys per year, to ensure the inflow of foreign currency in the amount of $12 million, as well as to reduce imports. Some 330 young men and women will be employed in the new workshop.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the technological processes in the new workshop, talked with South Korean partners. The projects within the investment program of "Uzmetkombinat" JSC were presented to the head of state.

The president gave instructions to the combine's management and responsible persons to increase the number of such facilities through the implementation of new investment projects, to create additional jobs and to increase the level of employment of the population.

In September last year, Uzbekistan handed over the state share in the authorized capital of "Uzmetkombinat" JSC - the country's only metallurgical enterprise - under the trust management by a foreign company - SFI Management Group. The management of this company is carried out by people close to the companies of the Russian businessman of Uzbek origin Alisher Usmanov.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Uzbekistans Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly with the United Nations Development Program developed and issued an investment handbook for potential investors wishing to discover promising areas for doing business in the Kuyichirchi district of Uzbekistans Tashkent region.

Situated 67 kilometers from the center of the capital, the Kuyichirchi district is becoming a promising area for the implementation of investment projects.

Besides the convenient location, this area is able to offer the investor the opportunity to acquire state-owned property at a "zero" redemption value, a package of benefits within the free economic zone, a convenient location for storing and exporting fresh and processed fruits and vegetables.

The handbook entitled "Kuyichirchi district: investment opportunities" reveals the uniqueness of this region, emphasizing the investors' attention on priority areas for making investments. It includes the detailed statistics, descriptive and contact information necessary to launch business projects.

The publication of this handbook is an opportunity to draw the attention of the private sector to the benefits of the Kuyichirchi district for business development.

The presentation of the handbook was held on August 22, 2018 as part of a business forum dedicated to the investment attractiveness of the Tashkent region.Tehran, Iran, August 27

Trend:

The Iranian energy minister said German engineering conglomerate Siemens has vowed to continue to collaborate on the transfer of know-how for the F-class gas turbine technology to Iran despite its withdrawal from Iran following new US sanctions.

"Siemens is respecting its contracts with Iran and its commitments with respect to the transfer of know-how for the F-class gas turbine technology to Iran have not been halted," Reza Ardakanian told Tasnim.

On August 26, Siemens said it was scaling back its Iran business after re-imposition of economic sanctions by the United States.

"Recently, I had a meeting with senior managers of Siemens during which they gave assurances that their contracts with Iran will be honored," he added.

In March 2016, Siemens signed an agreement with MAPNA, Irans largest power plant EPC contractor, to collaborate on the transfer of know-how for the F-class gas turbine technology to modernize the Iranian power supply system.

During the course of this agreement, the two companies also signed a contract that covers not only the two SGT5-4000F gas turbines but also two SGen5-2000H generators and the associated power plant instrumentation and controls.Baku, Azerbaijan, August 29

Trend:

All equipment and investment committed by Total in Iran's South Pars project will remain in the country despite the French energy giant's exit, said Asadollah Gharehkhani, the spokesperson for the Parliament's Energy Commission.

Gharehkhani said Total terminated a contract to develop Phase 11 of Iran's South Pars energy hub since the French energy giant started to feel that its continued presence in Iran would lead to a heavy loss for the company, Irans Iran Daily newspaper reported Aug. 29.

Total  with a leading share of 50.1 percent in the development of Phase 11  announced two months ago that it was withdrawing from the project. CNPC has a 30 percent stake, while PetroPars holds the remaining 19.9 percent.

In July 2017, the NIOC (the National Iranian Oil Company) awarded the project to the trio through a contract worth around $4 billion.

Last week, the French oil and gas major confirmed that it had notified the Iranian authorities of its withdrawal from the multi-billion dollar project after it failed to obtain a waiver from US sanctions.

Gharehkhani said that the contract between Iran and Total included a paragraph that indicated in the event of Total's exit from the project, CNPC would replace the French company.

He noted, "All costs and equipment committed by Total [in South Pars project] will remain in Iran, and there is no contract on returning any of them."

Iran, he added, has given no guarantees to Total, either from the banking, public or private sectors that would allow the French company to ask for the return of its equipment and investment.

The United States reimposed stiff economic sanctions on Iran on August 6, ratcheting up pressure on the Islamic Republic despite statements of deep dismay from European allies, three months after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear deal.



A first set of reimposed US sanctions affect financial transactions that involve US dollars, Iran's automotive sector, the purchase of commercial planes and metals including gold.



A second batch of US sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector and central bank are to be reimposed in early November.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

The latest statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute indicates that the exports of Turkey to Iran in July 2018 were valued at about $191.77 million, 30.3 percent less compared to $274.97 million in July 2017.

Turkey exported $1,504.8 million worth of goods to Iran in January-July 2018, 16.9 percent less year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the country imported goods worth $728.5 million from Iran in the seventh month of current year, compared to $729.15 million worth of imports in July 2017 (0.1 percent less).

Turkey's imports from Iran in the seven months of 2018 amounted to $4,538.9 million, 0.6 percent more year-on-year.

Trade turnover between Iran and Turkey stood at $10.75 billion in January-December 2017.

The figure indicates a rise by 11.2 percent compared to the same period of the preceding year ($9.67 billion).Tehran, Iran, August 29

Trend:

An Iranian deputy foreign minister said the judicial process of Tehrans complaint against the US for breaching the 1955 Treaty of Amity will be lengthy, adding also that any final decision by the court will be nonbinding.

Irans deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi said the judicial process of Irans complaint against the US at the International Court of Justice and its demand for the suspension of US sanctions recently re-imposed on Tehran will be lengthy, Tasnim news agency reported Aug. 29.

He also said that any final court ruling on the case will be nonbinding under the international law.

The deputy foreign minister then explained that Iran has not taken the case to court to see the US lose the trial, but has launched the process to display the Islamic Republic of Irans rightfulness to the international community.

Taking the case to court would mount political and mental pressure on the US, Araqchi added.

Iran has recently filed a lawsuit against the United States stating that Washington's decision in May to re-impose sanctions after pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal violates the 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two countries.

In comments on Tuesday, US State Department lawyer Jennifer Newstead said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague "lacks prima facie jurisdiction to hear Iran's claims".

On Monday, Iran's lawyers said the sanctions were threatening the welfare of its citizens and disrupting tens of billions of dollars worth of business deals.

The Islamic Republic's lead representative in the case, Mohsen Mohebi, branded the sanctions "naked economic aggression".Tehran, Iran, August 29

Trend:

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said if the JCPOA fails to serve Irans national interests, the Islamic Republic would put it aside, calling on the government to continue talks and trade with Europe and at the same time stop pinning its hopes on the EU.

I see no problem with continuing talks and relations with Europe, but hope should be abandoned regarding matters such as economy and the nuclear deal, Khamenei said on Wednesday in a meeting with Rouhani and his cabinet on the occasion of the Iranian Week of Government, Leader.ir website reported on August 29.

Europeans should be aware that their measures against Iran would bring the Islamic Republics proportionate response, the Supreme leader said.

Stressing that the Islamic Republic will never again hold talks with insolent and rude US officials, he warned that Iran would leave the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers if it fails to serve the country national interests.

On August 8, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Washington is willing to engage in new talks with Iran to seek a new deal.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khamenei called on President Hassan Rouhanis administration to work all around the clock to tackle the economic problems in the country following re-imposition of new sanctions against Tehran.

With respect to the economy, we should be strong and economic officials should work hard day and night to solve the problems, he said.

The United States reimposed stiff economic sanctions on Iran on Monday, ratcheting up pressure on the Islamic Republic despite statements of deep dismay from European allies, three months after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

A first set of reimposed US sanctions affect financial transactions that involve US dollars, Iran's automotive sector, the purchase of commercial planes and metals including gold.

A second batch of US sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector and central bank are to be reimposed in early November.

Trump warned that those who don't wind down their economic ties to Iran "risk severe consequences."Ambassador of Belarus A.Grinkevich meets the State Secretary of Romanian Ministry of Tourism

29-08-2018

On August 28, 2018 the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Romania Andrei Grinkevich met with the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Tourism of Romania Cristina-Ionela Tarteata.

During the meeting, a wide range of issues related to the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism was discussed, including the early completion of the draft Belarusian-Romanian intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism. Special attention was paid to the holding of the II European Games in Minsk in 2019.

The head of the Belarusian diplomatic mission held a presentation of the tourist potential of our country.

The parties agreed to assist arrangement of the meeting between Belarusian and Romanian Tour operators within the framework of the Intergovernmental Belarusian-Romanian Commission on Economic Cooperation, which would be timed to the International Agricultural Exhibition INDAGRA in Bucharest in early November this year.

The interlocutors also considered the issue of working out direct air communication between Minsk and Bucharest.

K.Terteaca stressed the importance of steps taken in Belarus to liberalize visa legislation that contribute to the greater tourist attractiveness of the country.

print versionEgyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Wednesday that his country will participate in the coming meetings on Syria in Geneva, which was called for by the United Nations, Xinhua reported.

At a press conference held here on Wednesday with his Sudanese counterpart Dardiry Mohamed Ahmed, Shoukry said that situations in Syria are "still complicated."

"We still insist on the importance of reaching a political solution and the need to draft a new constitution in Syria that includes holding elections," Shoukry said.

The Syrian people bore heavy burdens, and it is time to restore their hope and to reconstruct their country, he added, noting that Egypt will remain committed to this framework.

He said that military situation there has calmed down thanks to the agreements that were signed including some with Egyptian mediation.

The top Egyptian diplomat pledged that Egypt will continue to back all efforts that are in the interests of Syrian people and can help restore stability in the country.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the security of the European Union largely relies on the success of the anti-migrant policy of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Sputnik reports. The two politicians, who are known for their tough stance on migrants, met in Milan on Tuesday.

The security of the European Union depends on Salvinis success. We are urging him not to step back. We are ready to provide any possible assistance to protect borders, Orban said at a joint press conference with the Italian Prime Minister, as quoted by the RaiNews2 broadcaster.

Hungary has proved that the flow of migrants could be stopped both legally and physically, while Italy is demonstrating that the maritime migrant entry points could also be closed.

At the same time, Salvini urged French President Emmanuel Macron to refrain from giving lessons to foreign governments on the migrant issue and instead open Frances borders for migrant coming from Italy.

Hungary has long been critical of the European Union's open-door policy, initially introduced at the onset of the migration crisis, and opposed the mandatory migrant relocation quotas.

Budapests stance prompted the European Commission to launch its first infringement procedure against Hungary over its asylum legislation in December 2015.

On Thursday, Salvini said that Italy was no longer a refugee camp and that his goal was to implement the toughest policy toward illegal migrants arriving in the country by sea, similar to the Australian "No Way" principle, which has cut nearly all access to the continent to migrants arriving by boat.British Prime Minister Theresa May declared her support to an assessment that a no-deal Brexit wouldn't be the end of the world," ignoring her finance ministers warning of significant consequences from such an outcome, Press TV reported.

Speaking to reporters during her trip to Africa, May claimed that crashing out of the European Union without a deal wouldnt be a walk in the park but went on to argue that the UK could make an economic success of the unprecedented situation if it proved impossible to negotiate a satisfactory divorce.

Her comments were designed to distance herself from the warnings issued by her finance minister Phillip Hammond after he suggested last week that failure to reach an agreement with the EU would have substantial economic consequences.

Hammond has warned against a no deal Brexit, saying that Britain's GDP could fall and borrowing would increase by 80 billion a year by 2033-34 if Britain fell out on the terms of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Hammond, who is Chancellor of the Exchequer, said such a move would have "large fiscal consequences".

When asked whether she thought her chancellor was right in his assessment of the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit, May stated that the figures he quoted were out of date.

The British government has expressed a desire to explore trade relations with developing African countries to help boost the country's moral following a tense Brexit negotiation period.

Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel is also set to begin her tour of three West African countries, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, with efforts to boost economic ties amid negotiations with the UK.

This will likely pit the two European nations against each other as both look for vital trade deals to protect the now fragile Euro zone economy.Canadian Foreign Minister Chyrstia Freeland told reporters on Tuesday she had constructive talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and looks forward to meeting her Mexican counterparts, Sputnik reported.

Freeland is in Washington, DC to resume trade talks following Monday's announcement that a trade agreement was struck between the United States and Mexico as part of the efforts to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"Were looking forward to meeting our Mexican counterparts later today," Freeland said. "So as I said, today we had a very good, constructive, first conversation for the week." The Canadian foreign minister added that they will begin discussing specific trade issues concerning the NAFTA on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Tuesday he continues to defend Canadas supply management in the ongoing efforts to renegotiate the NAFTA agreement. "My position on defending supply management has not changed, we will defend supply management," Trudeau said.

Trudeau stressed Ottawa is encouraged by the progress made between the United States and Mexico, which marks an important step toward advancing negotiations to improve NAFTA. Canada will join the US-Mexico agreement as long as it benefits Canada and its middle class, Trudeau added.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States reached a preliminary trade deal with Mexico to replace NAFTA. In particular, the deal will change rules governing auto manufacturing in NAFTA in an attempt to bring more car production back to the United States, but little else is known about the latest agreement, which must eventually be approved by the US Congress.

The Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) said later on Tuesday that it was committed to ensuring Canada's integration into the new trade agreement that it took part in negotiating between the United States and Mexico.

"We will continue to participate in the negotiations as part of the Room Together [consultation group] to integrate Canada in order to ensure that the outcome maintains the current plant production, the best integration in the North American region and the competitiveness of the region," AMIA said in a press release.

AMIA emphasized that the negotiation process is not yet finished, adding that it is necessary for Canada to join the deal in order to complete the modernization of the trilateral pact, which promotes and consolidates the productive chains of the automotive sector.Ukraine is willing to expand the free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada, Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko said in Kiev on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

"It's time to expand the FTA into services and investment. This is the next logical step," Shevchenko said in an interview with local radio station "Radio NV".

He said that Ukraine intends to launch talks with Canada over the FTA expansion in the coming months.

The Canada-Ukraine FTA, which went into force on Aug. 1, 2017, covers the trade in goods between the two countries. The deal eliminates 98 percent of tariffs on Ukraine exports and 72 percent of duties on Canada exports.

According to Ukraine's Economic Development and Trade Ministry, Ukraine started last year exporting more than 150 new commodity items to Canada and increased the supplies of traditional goods with a high-added value.

The total trade turnover between Ukraine and Canada increased by about 42 percent in 2017 to 349.63 million U.S. dollars.Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

A bus transporting Russian tourists has turned over in the Turkish province of Antalya, Turkish media reported Aug. 29.

According to preliminary data, 13 people were injured in the accident.

All the injured were taken to the nearest hospitals.

There were 26 Russian tourists on the bus. Other details of the accident have not been reported.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluA Turkish fighter pilot carried out the first flight in the United States with one of Turkey's new F-35 jets on August 28, Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement released late Tuesday Daly Sabah reported.

Early July, the Pentagon said Turkish pilots and maintenance personnel were being trained on the F-35 fighter jet in the state of Arizona.

Late June, Turkey took delivery of its first F-35 fighter jet at a ceremony in Forth Worth, Texas.

Turkey and the U.S. have recently been at loggerheads over the former's purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems and the arrest of terror-linked American pastor Andrew Brunson.

The Trump administration had decided to delay the delivery of the warplane to Turkey, citing the pastor's case and later its purchase from the Russians.

In early August, U.S. President Donald Trump approved a defense budget law delaying delivery of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to Turkey. An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), quickly approved by Congress, prohibits F-35 sales to Turkey until the Pentagon issues a report on Turkish-American relations in 90 days.

Still, the F-35 Joint Program Office announced on Aug. 16 that it would continue to execute current program plans with all partners, including Turkey, and to abide by any future policy guidelines.

Turkey has been in the F-35 program since 1999, and the Turkish defense industry has taken an active role in the production of aircraft and invested $1.25 billion in the aircraft's development. Alp Aviation, AYESAS, Kale Aviation, Kale Pratt & Whitney and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) have been producing parts for the first F-35 fighter jet. AYESAS is also the sole provider of two key components of the plane.

Turkey plans to purchase 100 F-35 fighter jets in the coming years. Out of 100 aircraft, 30 have been approved. The country took delivery of its first F-35 fighter jet at a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 21. The first F-35 aircraft delivered is also the first fifth-generation fighter jet to enter the Turkish Air Force Command inventoryA fifth person was detained on Aug. 28 in connection with August 20 attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital Ankara, Daily Sabah reported.

Ahmet Celikten and Osman Gundash, each with criminal records, were arrested earlier for firing shots at a security guard's booth at the entrance of the embassy compound and claimed they were drunk at the time of the attack. No one was injured in the attack that left bullet holes on the windows of the booth.

The identity of the fifth person arrested was not revealed. The other suspects arrested earlier include employer of Osman Gundash and a man accused of supplying the gun used in the attack.

Celikten and Gundash are still being interrogated by counterterrorism police. Police set up a special unit for a thorough investigation of the incidentBaku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29

Trend:

Five terrorists were liquidated in the Turkish province of Hatay, the Turkish media reported August 29.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey states that the terrorists, in order to ensure their food, on August 28 took five hostages who were released today.

"Terrorists were liquidated as a result of a special operation conducted in the province with air support," the media said.A statement released by the White House on Tuesday affirmed that US President Donald Trump doesn't believe joint war games with South Korea are necessary at present time and that China is placing a "tremendous" amount of pressure on North Korea as Washington and Pyongyang continue delicate negotiations, Sputnik reported.

The statement, which was shared on Trump's Twitter page, reads, "North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese government." The president also said Beijing's aid to its neighbor was "not helpful."

Trump has opined before against the need for joint military exercises with South Korea, a practice that is a thorn in the side of North Korea. In this statement, Trump noted that he could "instantly" restart such joint exercises if he wanted to. "Nonetheless, the president believes that his relationship with [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint US-South Korea war games. Besides, the president can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan," the statement says.

The latest remarks comes days after it was revealed by the Washington Post that a letter from Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Korean Workers Party Central Committee, was the cause of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recently canceled trip to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The letter, which reportedly arrived hours before Pompeo was set to leave, is said to have expressed the North Korean official's concern for the fate of future talks between the two countries.

Kim and Trump first met in early June for the first time in Singapore, marking a historic moment for the two leaders. At the end of the meeting, the pair signed a four-point declaration that outlined how the two countries would improve ties. The US and Beijing, on the other hand, are locked in a trade war, with both sides slapping tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods.Ambassador of Belarus O.Paferov meets the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela

29-08-2018

On August 28, 2018, the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus in Venezuela, Oleg Paferov, met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela for Europe, Yvan Gil.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the issues of trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and Venezuela, implementation of the project for the construction of residential houses in the area Fuerte Tiuna (Caracas), current state and development trends of a bilateral legal framework.

Agreements were reached to hold a number of videoconferences at the level of heads of the government bodies of both countries.

print versionKYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2018 - 07:54 | All, World

New U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit Japan and South Korea within weeks to coordinate policies on North Korea, the State Department said Wednesday.

It will be Biegun's first trip to the region since being appointed as the U.S. special representative for North Korea last week.

(Stephen Biegun, left, and Mike Pompeo)

[Courtesy of U.S. Department of State]

Biegun was initially due to accompany Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a foiled trip to North Korea this week, after which he was expected to hold talks with Japanese and South Korean officials in Tokyo.

President Donald Trump called off Pompeo's trip, citing insufficient progress made in denuclearization talks with North Korea since he held a historic summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a news briefing that there was no trip to North Korea by Biegun to announce at this juncture.

She also denied some news reports saying a difference exists between the United States and South Korea over the North, saying the two countries plus Japan have been in close coordination about Pyongyang.

"We closely coordinate and have an excellent relationship with these countries and share information all the time," Nauert said.KYODO NEWS - Aug 29, 2018 - 19:55 | All, Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday called for strengthening Japan's defense capabilities in new fields such as cyberspace and outer space, citing the rapidly changing security situation surrounding the country.

"It is impossible to protect our country from every threat if our thinking is limited to conventional categories of land, sea and air," Abe said during a meeting of a governmental advisory panel on reviewing national defense buildup guidelines.

"It will be especially vital for Japan to maintain an advantage in the new realms," he said, referring to space and cybersecurity.

The first meeting of the panel, consisting of defense and diplomatic experts and scholars, was held a day after the Defense Ministry released its annual white paper which pointed out that North Korea's nuclear and missile programs remain a serious threat to Japan despite the historic U.S.-North Korean summit in June.

The ministry is seeking to compile a revised version of the National Defense Program Guidelines based on debates by the panel and gain the Cabinet's approval by the end of this year.

The guidelines, which were last approved in December 2013, set defense capability targets that Japan should achieve over the next decade.

In the meeting, Abe said the security environment facing Japan has become severe and uncertain "at a much faster speed" than five years ago.

He has instructed Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera to review the current guidelines in the face of security challenges including North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and missile threats and China's growing military power.

The ministry is also planning to work out the Mid-Term Defense Program, which specifies a five-year defense spending and procurement plan, by the end of the year.

The nine-member panel headed by Akio Mimura, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is scheduled to meet every two or three weeks by early December.

Ryozo Kato, Japan's former ambassador to the United States, Shigeru Iwasaki, a former chief of staff of the Self-Defense Forces, and Shinichi Kitaoka, a politics scholar and president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, are among the panel members.Swapna, a former employees of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, was nabbed from Bengaluru by the NIA in September 2020.Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus V.Makei meets the U.S. Charge dAffaires

29-08-2018

On August 29, 2018 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, met with the Charge dAffaires of the United States in Belarus, Jenifer Moore, on the occasion of the beginning of her diplomatic mission in our country.

During the meeting, the parties discussed current state and prospects for development of Belarus  U.S. relations.

   

print versionMinister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus V.Makei meets the Ambassador of Russia

29-08-2018

On August 29, 2018 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Surikov, on the occasion of the completion of his diplomatic mission to our country.

During the meeting, the sides discussed current issues of the Belarusian-Russian cooperation, interaction within integration associations.

V.Makei expressed gratitude to A.Surikov for his contribution to further development of multifaceted relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.

   

print versionIf you remember Nokia 808, it came with a Nokia's flagship camera. Yes, we are talking about the same Nokia 808 phone with a 41-megapixel camera. Nokia's 808 phone once again is ready to return to the market.

Nokia 808 PureView launched six years ago in which Symbian OS was given. Now Nokia phone license is near HMD Global and the company has also purchased PureView's trademark. It is said that HMD Global will soon introduce Nokia 808 PureView in a new fashion. Recently, HMD Gaglob has recently launched many phones like Nokia's 3310, with the makeover in the market.

What is PureView Technology and what are its implications?

The world's first phone to launch with this technology was Nokia 808. This phone had a 41-megapixel camera. Photographs with photos of Nokia 808, with the first 441-megapixel camera in the world, finest photographs could be clicked. Carl's Optics was supported in its camera lens. In addition to digital zoom, there were features such as Face Detection, Micro Focus and Touch Focus. Apart from this, there is also Dolby audio and clear sound in this technique.

This technology was later released for Nokia's Lumia 920, 1020 and 1520 and Microsoft 950 smartphones. Actually, most smartphone phones use Sony's lens. Just a few days ago, Sony introduced the IMX586 camera sensor which supports a 48-megapixel camera.

Also Read:

Xiaomi and Samsung's competition this Diwali will benefit the users

India gets a profit of millions of rupees in the field of mobile phones through Make in India

Whatsapp agrees that Google can read your Whatsapp messageVia @AlexTDaugherty and @ChuckRabin

Donna Shalala fended off a well-funded challenge from her left to emerge victorious in the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinens seat, setting the stage for a Democrat to represent Little Havana in Washington.

The 77-year-old Shalala bested state Rep. David Richardson, her closest competition for the Democratic nomination, who argued that Shalala wasnt liberal enough for a Democratic electorate angry with Donald Trumps presidency. Shalalas long career included stints as the president of the University of Miami and the Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

Ready or not, here I come, Shalala told the crowd of about 100 people gathered at Little Havanas Ball and Chain. November 6th is the day, its judgment day in Miami.

Shalala won close to 32 percent of the vote compared to Richardsons 27.5 percent.

Click here to read more.The European MACUSTAR consortium is conducting a multi-country clinical study on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) coordinated by the University of Bonn. The clinical study focuses on the intermediate stage of the disease, in which a person's vision under low-light and low-contrast conditions is impaired. Throughout Europe, a total of 20 study centers will recruit and follow-up with 750 patients. The study rationale and protocol has recently been published in the journal Opthalmologica.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is associated with a progressive loss of photoreceptor cells at the point of sharpest vision. People older than 60 years are most affected, corresponding to around 2.5 million people in the European Union. The number of persons affected by AMD is expected to rise due to increasing life expectancy. Disease progress from an early stage to an intermediate stage is typically associated with low-light and low-contrast vision problems. Late stage AMD usually leads to irreversible central vision loss.

Currently, clinical tests available are good at diagnosing the loss of vision in late stage AMD. However, they are not sensitive to changes in vision in earlier stages of the disease, thus, hampering the testing of treatment methods to prevent or delay progression of early AMD stages. Therefore, MACUSTAR is developing novel tests to assess earlier stages of AMD.

20 Study Centers Examine 750 Patients in Europe

The core of the MACUSTAR project is a three-year observational study of 750 patients who have intermediate and other stages of AMD. They will be recruited by 20 participating clinical trial centers in seven European countries. Aim of the investigation is to find variables that provide reliable information on disease progression or stability, which could then be further developed into clinical tests.

The article published in the peer-reviewed journal Ophthalmologica summarizes the methods used to assess AMD and its impact on function and quality of life. For example, high-resolution imaging techniques will provide information on anatomical changes in the retina. Besides conventional visual function tests, vision under low-light conditions and contrast vision will be determined. Researchers will also capture the light sensitivity of the macula, the duration of dark adaptation, and reading speed and visual path navigation under low-light conditions. In addition, questionnaires will provide information on how visual impairment is perceived by the study participants. The MACUSTAR consortium aims to identify the best method or combination of methods that indicate if a novel therapeutic approach can stop AMD progression in the future.

The Consortium

Besides the University of Bonn and GRADE Reading Center Bonn, Moorfields Eye Hospital London (MBRC), University College London (UCL), City University of London (City), Fondation Voir et Entendre (FVE) Paris, Association for Innovation and Biomedical Research on Light and Image (AIBILI) Coimbra, Radbound University Medical Center (RUMC) Nijmegen, University of Sheffield and the European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN) Paris as well as the companies Bayer AG, Novartis Pharma AG, Carl Zeiss-Meditec and F. Hoffmann La-Roche are involved.

The MACUSTAR consortium received a 16 million grant from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (IMI2 JU) supported by the Horizon 2020 European Union Research and Innovation Framework Program and EFPIA.

###

More Information: http://www.macustar.eu or http://www.imi.europa.eu

Publication: Robert P. Finger, Steffen Schmitz-Valckenberg, Matthias Schmid, Gary S. Rubin, Hannah Dunbar, Adnan Tufail, David P. Crabb, Alison Binns, Clara I. Sanchez, Philippe Margaron, Guillaume Normand, Mary Durbin, Ulrich F. O. Luhmann, Parisa Zamiri, Jose Cunha-Vaz, Friedrich Asmus, Frank G. Holz: Development and clinical validation of functional, structural and patientreported endpoints in intermediate age-related macular degeneration, Ophthalmologica, DOI: 10.1159/000491402.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. med. Frank G. Holz

Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Robert Finger

University of Bonn, Dpt. of Ophthalmology

Phone 0228/287-15647

E-Mail: Frank.Holz@ukbonn.de, Robert.Finger@ukbonn.de

Web: http://www.augenklinik.uni-bonn.de

Acknowledgement: This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 116076. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA

Disclaimer: The contents of this press release reflect the view of the author. Neither the IMI nor the European Union or EFPIA are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.An English bibliotaph of fifty years residence in Wales pontificates about politics (slightly off-message), films and trivia. Acting secretary of Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats. Candidate for Neath in the Westminster elections of 1997 & 2017 and the Welsh general election of 2016.Do you have plans to get away for the unofficial last weekend of summer? Expect more crowds if youre heading to Las Vegas or Chicago.

Those cities top the list of Labor Day weekend destinations this year, according to Priceline. Analysts at the booking site crunched the numbers based on hotel bookings for stays checking in on Aug. 31 and checking out on Sept. 3. Priceline also provided data for the most popular flight routes.

(Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance

The complete list of destinations:

Las Vegas, Nev. Chicago, Ill. New Orleans, La. New York, N.Y. Orlando, Fla. Atlanta, Ga. Boston, Mass. St. Louis, Mo. Minneapolis, Minn. Denver, Co.

The flight data was based on the most popular routes for flights departing on 8/31/18 and returning on 9/3/18. It looks like New Yorkers are trying to escape the city just as more tourists are funneling in.

Six of the top 10 most popular flights are departing from New York City, landing in Orlando (#3), Los Angeles (#4), San Francisco (#6), Atlanta (#7), Seattle (#8), and Chicago (#10).

Also on the list are routes from Orlando, Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale to the Big Apple.

When compared with Labor Day weekend pricing from last year, the cities offering the deepest discounts for the 2018 holiday weekend are Quebec City, Rapid City, S.D., and Montreal.

For Americans who are driving somewhere, its worth considering filling up on gas a few days early.

If you see a great place at the pump before the weekend,  fill up now. Yahoo Finances Jeanie Ahn says in the video above.

READ MORE: Singapore Airlines VP discusses the worlds longest flightFlorida voters on Tuesday propelled a Trump-endorsed congressman and the African-American mayor of Tallahassee on toward Novembers general election in the race to replace Rick Scott as governor, setting up a clash of ideologies in the nations largest swing state.

On the right: U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, a 39-year-old conservative, Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran who rode presidential tweets and FOX News interviews to a resounding primary win over Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam.

And on the left: Andrew Gillum, a 39-year-old liberal who with the help of progressive political organizations surged in the last weeks of his campaign to upset a better-funded field.

The surprise matchup figures to be a pure test of partisan strength between a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus and a Democrat who scored his partys nomination with the help of Democratic-Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. Voters will choose between a candidate in DeSantis who wants to build Trumps border wall and believes people should have a right to pursue the healthcare that they want, and one in Gillum who wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and create a Medicare-for-All system.

In a lot of ways its the perfect matchup, said Democratic political consultant Ben Pollara. My big fear about DeSantis has been that hes this avatar of the Trump wing of the party. Is being that person enough to beat a center-of-the-road Democratic candidate? This is a base-versus-base year and I like the way that Andrew fires up the base.

Click here for more.(Updates with source confirming newspaper reports)

SAO PAULO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Brazilian pulpmaker Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA's controlling shareholder, conglomerate J&F Investimentos SA, and Netherlands-based Paper Excellence, which agreed to buy Eldorado a year ago, are disputing the final price and the deal will not close as scheduled next week, one source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

Brazilian newspapers had reported the dispute earlier on Wednesday.

Under the terms of the contract, the parties had one year to Sept. 2 to close the transaction at the price agreed upon nearly a year ago, the reports said. Paper Excellence, controlled by the owners of Indonesia's Asia Pulp & Paper Co Ltd, agreed to buy Eldorado for 15 billion reais ($3.61 billion).

But now J&F wants a higher price for Eldorado in light of a local currency devaluation and rise in international pulp prices, newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and Valor Economico reported, citing unnamed sources.

A person with knowledge of the matter said arbitration would begin if the deal does not close on Sept. 2 in the International Chamber of Commerce, chosen by the parties to rule on disputes. The source asked for anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

J&F alleges Paper Excellence did not comply with all conditions to close the deal. The reports said the parties may take the dispute to arbitration.

J&F declined to comment. Paper Excellence said all conditions to close the deal were met. "Paper Excellence is ready to close the deal and has had the 10.8 billion reais needed to conclude the transaction available since July," it said. (Reporting by Alberto Alerigi, Tatiana Bautzer and Ana Mano Editing by Bill Trott and Cynthia Osterman)By Julie Gordon and Sharay Angulo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada's top trade negotiator joins her Mexican and U.S. counterparts in Washington on Tuesday in a bid to remain part of a revamped trilateral North American trade pact, as U.S. officials expressed optimism a deal could be reached this week.

But Ottawa will be under pressure to accept new terms on autos trade, dispute settlement and intellectual property rules after the United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

U.S. President Donald Trump warned he could proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board with the revised trade terms.

A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who arrived in Washington on Tuesday for the talks, said Canada would only sign a new agreement that is good for the country.

Freeland rejoins the year-long talks following a hiatus of several weeks as the United States and Mexico ironed out bilateral differences in the renegotiation of the 24-year-old accord.

They have agreed on several provisions that Canada opposes, making it harder for Freeland to win concessions from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

"I think he's going to sit there with his arms folded a lot," said Dan Ujczo, a Columbus, Ohio-based trade lawyer who focuses on U.S.-Canada issues. "It's not going to be a positive discussion this week."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Tuesday that he believed the United States could also reach a trade deal with Canada this week.

"The U.S. market and the Canadian markets are very intertwined," Mnuchin said. "It's important for them to get this deal and it's important for us to get this deal."

Story continues

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Mexican television on Tuesday the three sides would work for a three-way deal. "We are now going to devote long hours to the negotiation with Canada," he said.

Negotiations among the three partners, whose mutual trade totals more than $1.2 trillion annually, have dragged on for more than a year, putting pressure on the Mexican peso (MXN=) and the Canadian dollar (CAD=). Both currencies gained against the U.S. dollar on Monday, but the peso weakened on Tuesday.

Canada's main stock index (.GSPTSE) opened higher on Tuesday on hopes for a NAFTA trade deal, before dipping. U.S. stocks edged to record highs for a third consecutive session.

A sticking point for Canada is the U.S. effort to dump the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. Lighthizer said on Monday that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.

Other hurdles include intellectual property rights, such as the U.S.-Mexico 10-year data exclusivity for biologic drug makers and extensions of copyright protections to 75 years from 50, all higher thresholds than Canada has previously supported.

Trump says he still could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada did not join its neighbors and warned he expected concessions on Canada's dairy protections.

Canada's dairy farmers operate under a protectionist system that manages supplies and prices, and imposes high tariffs to limit imports. U.S. demands have ranged from ending those tariffs to scrapping a pricing system for milk ingredients that hurt U.S. exports of milk proteins.

"It seems like a pretty steep challenge to now resolve these issues in three days," said David Wiens, a Manitoba dairy farmer and vice-president of industry group Dairy Farmers of Canada.

BILATERAL LEGAL CONCERNS

If a deal is not reached with Canada, Mnuchin said, the United States would proceed with a separate trade agreement with Mexico.

The Mexican government has also taken that position, even as it says it wants a trilateral deal. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is keen to sign the agreement before leaving office at the end of November.

But U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said a bilateral U.S.-Mexico raises "serious legal concerns" because the "fast track" negotiating authority used for NAFTA requires a trilateral deal. This may require a far more difficult 60-vote threshold in the Senate for ratification of a U.S.-Mexico bilateral trade deal.

If talks with Canada are not wrapped up by Friday, Trump plans to notify Congress that he intends to sign a deal with Mexico, but would be open to Canada joining, Lighthizer told reporters on Monday.

The White House has said Trump will sign the deal 90 days after notification. Congress needs to approve it in a process that will take several months, extending well into 2019.

(Additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Miguel Angel Gutierrez in Mexico City; Writing by Anthony Esposito and David Lawder; Editing by Dave Graham and Susan Thomas)OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is encouraged by the continued optimism shown by its NAFTA partners and will continue to negotiate for a deal, but will only sign a new agreement that is good for Canada, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday.

"Progress between Mexico and the United States is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement. We are in regular contact with our negotiating partners, and we will continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA. We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class. Canadas signature is required," spokesman Adam Austen said in an email.

(Reporting by Andrea Hopkins)As massive growth for the marijuana industry is already the trend, and further expansion this year and beyond seems imminent, keen investors are in a unique position to take advantage of a burgeoning market that has yet to reach its forecasted potential.

2017 was a year of record growth for the legal cannabis industry and the sentiment continues throughout 2018. Leading analytical research estimates that total economic output worldwide from legal cannabis reached about $16 billion; that figure is expected to increase considerably in the next few years as the legalization of medical use around the world gradually becomes more widespread.

Led by industry growth in North America and Europe particularly, the global legal cannabis market is forecast to reach $57 billion by 2027, according to Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics.

This upward trend is being prompted by changing public opinion on legal cannabis, and emerging legislation seems to be a direct reflection of this greater acceptance. Ever growing research on cannabis points to an effective and safer solution for pain management, and the cannabis industry has also proven itself to be beneficial financially for governments, creating jobs and tax revenue.

Canada and the United States are spearheading the growth, paving the way for other countries such as the UK, Germany, Italy, and France to adopt favorable stances on marijuana production and sales. Several licensed North American companies are already experiencing global expansion, having begun exporting cannabis products and setting up production deals in Europe, as well as South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Suggested Articles

As massive growth for the marijuana industry is already the trend, and further expansion this year and beyond seems imminent, keen investors are in a unique position to take advantage of a burgeoning market that has yet to reach its forecasted potential. How can investors take advantage of this opportunity? One way is through a unique CopyFund investment strategy that eToro has developed specifically around the legal cannabis market.

Story continues

In regards to CopyFunds, we are looking at an interesting industry emerging in the public sectorwhich is cannabis, says eToro CEO Yoni Assia.

eToros investment committee has created a CopyFund comprising North American stocks in the medical marijuana industry called CannabisCare. By selecting the top players in this growing market and rebalancing the CopyFund regularly, eToro allows clients to gain exposure to this sector through a diversified investment portfolio.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:missouri retirement system

The state retirement system of Missouri covers the multiple types of employees working on behalf of the state. The Missouri State Employees Retirement System (MOSERS) was established in 1957. Under the management of a board of trustees, it currently provides retirement benefits to most state public employees. MOSERS delivers those retirement benefits through pension trust funds. And per its 2017 annual report, MOSERS serves more than 49,000 active employees. In addition, it pays benefits to more than 47,000 benefit recipients. If you would value some extra assistance navigating the complex Missouri retirement system, considering consulting an expert. SmartAssets financial advisor matching tool can pair you with financial advisors who will best meet your needs.

Types of Retirement Systems in Missouri

Missouri has a large number of retirement systems for it public employees, with distinct offerings across many different public employments. The benefits and retirement requirements that accompany these plans hinge on what the position entails.

According to the MOSERS website, whether a Missouri resident works as an eductor, doctor, county supervisor, engineer or other type of public employee, MOSERS vows to provide a secure and stable retirement. Currently, eligible members of MOSERS include permanent, full-time employees of public schools, public defenders, agricultural workers, government office workers and other public entities.

Missouri Retirement Systems System Title, by Employee Classification Eligible Employees General Employees All eligible State of Missouri are filed under this umbrella MOSERS category. Conservation Employees This classification covers all parks, recreation, agricultural and environment protection employees. College/University Employees Public workers employed by the any of the public universities and community colleges in participating Missouri districts, excluding University of Missouri employees, who are not members of MOSERS but instead receive benefits from the U. of MO system. State Legislators & Judges Employees of the State legislature as well as justices of peace and judges sitting on district courts. MoDOT (Dept, of Transportation) & Patrol Emplyees Retirement System (MPERS) A separate but much smaller system from MOSERS made specifically for workers in the Dept. of Transportation and state highway patrol; includes additional benefits for job health risks.

Story continues

The retirement systems Missouri offers its public employees aim to provide participating active and retired members full financial security during retirement. Beyond that, in the event of the employees disability or death, the benefits will be enough to support the worker and his or her family. The systems trust fund helps accomplish this feat. Contributions from employees themselves and their employers bolster that fund.

Overview of Mississippis Main Retirement Systems

missouri retirement system

As shown in the above table, MOSERS largely dominates Missouris retirement plans. But MPERS is a smaller and more selective system that is also available to a group of state employees. Their primary differences come in terms of their benefits, especially which ones benefit offerings are more competitive. However, both are administered and funded by the same board of trustees. So benefits are the best metric on which to compare the two.

MOSERS  Benefits with the Missouri State Employees Retirement System include

Retirement and survivor benefits

Term life insurance

Disability

Medical insurance

Dental and vision insurance

Universal life insurance

MPERS  Benefits with the MoDOT & Patrol Employees Retirement System include

Retirement and survivor benefits

Disability

Partial medical insurance

Universal life insurance

Benefits available to all employees, in either retirement system, include deferred compensation, MO Cafe Cafeteria Plan and Universal Life Insurance.

Retirement Taxes in Missouri

Federal

On a federal level, the money that you contribute to your pension plan isnt taxed, making it a tax-deferred account. However, any payments that you take directly from your pension after you retire will be taxed as income. The good news is that youll still have the chance to decide whether youd prefer to have these funds withheld from each pension check or if youd rather make estimated tax payments.

You cant predict how much will be withheld from your income. Many factors that change from year to year may have an impact. But luckily, the government will do those calculations for you and supply you with a refund (or charge the dividends) at the end of the year. Retirement plans, like many of South Dakotas, include rollovers. In this instance, you send your funds directly from your pension plan to a separate tax-deferred retirement account. If, instead, you have a Roth IRA, youll need to pay taxes up-front. But your distributions will be tax-free.

State

As detailed in our thorough Missouri Retirement Tax Friendliness Guide, the state of Missouri is moderately tax-friendly toward its retirees. You pay partial taxes on Social Security. But you pay full tax on retirement account withdrawals. You pay taxes on wages at normal rates. The marginal state tax rate is 6.00%. Finally, you pay partial taxes on public pension incomes and full taxes on private pension income.

Current Financial Health of the Missouri Retirement System

missouri retirement system

The current state of the Missouri Retirement System, per its 2017 report, is healthy. It has seen vast percentage increases in benefits rolled out for those on its retirement plans, as well as upticks in value and income for such public work jobs. Enrollment numbers are unable to match those of larger and more populated states. But a large percentage of public employees duly rely on the MOSERS and MPERS systems for retirement security.

Tips for a Successful Retirement

Creating a financial plan is the best way to ensure that youre not under-saving. This will make it easier to decide where you want to end up financially, which can make retirement more attainable.

Even with all the benefits of a state-set pension, retirement can nonetheless prove difficult to prepare for. Help from a financial advisor might be the best way to get your ducks in a row. SmartAssets financial advisor matching tool can set you up with skilled financial advisors in your area tailored to your financial needs.

Photo credit: iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages, iStock.com/DenisTangneyJr, iStock.com/Geber86

The post Missouri Retirement System appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

Related Articles:Via @HarrisAlexC

Daphne Campbell, Miamis scandal-plagued and sole Haitian-American state legislator, is out in District 38  and wealthy former prosecutor Jason Pizzo is in  after a tough primary battle open to all voters no matter the political affiliation.

Campbell was outflanked on the left in a district that leans so Democratic that Republicans didnt bother putting up a challenger. Eight years of conservative-leaning votes on abortion, gay rights, school prayer and charter schools left her on the outs with Democrats. The Miami-Dade party recently sent her a letter highlighting her questionable ethics and asking that she answer for an illegal mailer sent to Republicans that urged a vote for Campbell in District 38.

The diverse northeast Miami-Dade district, which includes the largest Haitian population in the country, is now headed by Pizzo, who spent more than a million dollars of his own money on a campaign emphasizing public safety, climate change and a living wage for workers. Last election he came in second in a crowded six-way primary that Campbell narrowly won.

This time, with all the votes tallied late Tuesday, Pizzo walked away easily with nearly a 9-percent victory margin.

Click here to read the rest.south dakota retirement system

The state retirement system of South Dakota covers the multiple types of employees working on behalf of the state. The South Dakota Retirement System (SDRS) is a cost-sharing, multi-employer retirement system for public employees, and it supports over 200,000 participants. SDRS excels in providing retirement, disability and survivor benefits for state employees and political subdivisions. If youre new to pensions and would value some extra assistance navigating the complex system, SmartAssets financial advisor matching tool can pair you with financial advisors who will best meet your needs.

Types of Retirement Systems in South Dakota

South Dakota has a substantial number of retirement systems for it public employees, with distinct offerings across many different public employments. The benefits and retirement requirements that accompany these plans are based on what the position entails. According to the SDRS website, whether a South Dakota resident works as a teacher, doctor, county supervisor, engineer, accountant or other type of public employee, SDRS vows to provide a secure retirement. Currently, eligible members of SDRS include permanent, full-time employees of public schools, the state, the Board of Regents, city and county governments and other public entities. Separating into spheres, SDRS includes three classes of members: Class A general members, Class B public safety and judicial members and Class C Cement Plant members.

South Dakota Retirement Systems System Title Eligible Employees Legislative Employees of South Dakota State All eligible State of South Dakota employees of the legislature, including public employees whose employers have elected to participate, and elected members of the State Legislature and President of the Senate. Teachers and Administrative Employees of the South Dakota Public School Districts This classification covers all educators, teachers and school employees in South Dakota public schools. Faculty and Administration of the South Dakota Board of Regents Public workers employed by the S.D. Board of Regents, both part-time and full-time. Municipal Employees of the State Public workers employed by the S.D. Board of Regents, both part-time and full-time. Faculty and Administration of the South Dakota Board of Regents General employees, firefighters and police

officers serving in the participating cities, with South Dakota state general laws governing distinct eligibility. County Employees of the State Public employees working on behalf of their given county  considered local employees rather than state employees.

Story continues

The retirement systems South Dakota offers for its public employees aim to offer the members therein full financial security during retirement. Beyond that, due to any disability or death, the benefits provided will be enough to support the worker and his or her family regardless of circumstance. The assistance from the SDRS Trust Fund helps accomplish this feat. Contributions from both the employees themselves as well as the employers help bolster that fund.

Overview of South Dakotas Main Retirement Systems by Membership Classes

south dakota retirement system

The South Dakota Retirement System has three main categories of membership, which enable employees to better understand their specific benefits. The categories are Class A, Class B Public Safety and Class B Judicial.

Class A

All state administrative employees

Board of Regents employees

Teachers/educators

Classified employees of participating school districts

General employees of participating municipalities and counties

All elected officials (excluding justices and judges) may choose to participate

Class B

State law enforcement officers

Municipal police officers

Municipal firefighters

County sheriffs

Deputy county sheriffs

Correctional security staff

Parole agents

Air rescue firefighters

Campus security officers

Court services officers

Juvenile corrections agents

Conservation officers

Park rangers

Approved jailer

Class B Judicial members

Justices

Judges

Magistrate judges

Judiciary careers typically begin in middle age. That results in a condensed time frame during which to accumulate benefits.

Retirement Taxes in South Dakota

Federal

On a federal level, you dont pay taxes on the money you contribute to your pension plan. That makes it a tax-deferred account. However, any payments you take directly from your pension after you retire will be taxed as income. The good news is that youll still have the chance to decide whether youd prefer to have these funds withheld from each pension check or if youd rather make estimated tax payments.

You cant predict how much will be withheld from your income. Many factors that change year to year may have an impact. But luckily, the government will do those calculations for you and supply you with a refund (or charge the dividends) at the end of the year. Retirement plans, like many of South Dakotas, include rollovers. In this instance, you send your money directly from your pension plan to a separate tax-deferred retirement account. If, instead, you have a Roth IRA, youll need to pay taxes up-frontbut your distributions will be tax-free.

State

As detailed in our thorough South Dakota Retirement Tax Friendliness Guide, the state of South Dakota is generally tax-friendly toward its retirees. It does not tax Social Security or retirement account withdrawals. You pay standard tax rates on wages. And the marginal state tax rate is 0%. Finally, you dont pay taxes on public and private pension incomes. Suffice it to say, retirees are in good hands.

Current Financial Health of the South Dakota Retirement System

south dakota retirement system

The current state of the South Dakota Retirement System, per its 2017 report, is excellent. It has seen vast percentage increases in benefits rolled out for those on its retirement plans. There have also been upticks in value and income for such public work jobs.

Tips for a Successful Retirement

Creating a financial plan is the best way to ensure that youre not under-saving. This will make it easier to decide where you want to end up financially, which can make retirement more attainable.

Even with all the benefits of a state-set pension you find with the South Dakota Retirement System, retirement can nonetheless prove difficult to prepare for. Help from a financial advisor might be the best way to get your ducks in a row. SmartAssets financial advisor matching tool can set you up with skilled financial advisors in your area tailored to your financial needs.

Photo credit: iStock.com/gilaxia, iStock.com/KenCanning, iStock.com/stevecoleimages

The post South Dakota Retirement System appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

Related Articles:South Korea has become a regular fixture in Blockchain and cryptocurrency news reports. Beyond featuring prominently in the crypto news, events from the country often determines whether the price of cryptocurrencies trade up or down in the rest of the world. The reason for South Koreas strong presence in the crypto space is not far-fetched. As much as 33% of the countrys adult population is actively investing in and using cryptocurrency. Another survey released earlier this week shows that South Korean youths are the most active crypto investors in the whole world. As much as 22.7% of South Koreans in the twenties are active in the cryptocurrency space.

Interestingly, the two biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, Upbit and Bithumb are listed in the top 25 crypto exchanges in the world and they pull their weight with a combined daily trading volume of $200 million. This piece provides insight into the emerging blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem in Korea and how the country could potentially be one of the places where the mass-market adoption of Blockchain technology is realized.

South Korea is a playmaker in the world of cryptocurrencies

The estimated size of the blockchain market in South Korea jumped more than 100% from 20.1 billion Won in 2016 to 52.4 billion Won this year and the market size is expected to grow by 579% to 356.2 billion Won by 2022 as seen in the chart below.

{alt}

Earlier this year, applications analytics company, Wiseapp revealed that the number of virtual currency app users in Korea increased by about 1,300% from 140,000 in October 2017 to 1.96 million in January 2018. In the data (see chart below) the increase in the number of users tracked the strong bullish performance in cryptocurrencies in the tell end of last year. Of course, recent data suggests that the number of cryptocurrency app users might have dropped; yet, South Korea remains one of the most fertile grounds for cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology.

Story continues

Wise App Users

The South Korean Won is the third most traded national currency for Bitcoin, trailing only the USD and the Japanese Yen. The Korean Won is responsible for trade volume of about 59,573BTC to control a crypto market share of 5.81% ahead of the Euro with a market share of 1.53% and the British Pound with a measly 0.21% market share as seen in the chart below.

{alt}

In fact, BTC is currently being traded as 11 market pairs against the KRW base currency with a 24-hours trading volume of 59,206BTC on 11 cryptocurrency exchanges globally.

Korea to host a global summit for crypto innovators and investors

South Korea will be hosting Block Seoul, one of the largest blockchain conferences of its kind from September 16 through September 19 at the Sebitseom Island Complex on Seouls Han River. The conference among other things will bring together stakeholders in the cryptocurrency space as part of efforts to help them forge powerful connections and real-world relationships.

Theres an important need to start paying more attention to the practical applications of Blockchain technology beyond cryptocurrencies. Block Seoul is being set up to be a hub for investors, VCs, traditional financial institutions, and ICOs to connect, engage, and collaborate.

Hosting Block Seoul is particularly symbolic for Korea after the country had moved to ban ICOs and regulate the operations of cryptocurrency exchanges within its territory. Block Seoul will play host to heavyweights in business, governance, tech, the blockchain, and cryptocurrency  who will lend their voices to how regulations could be used to guide and power the mass-market adoption of blockchain technology. The more than 40 speakers include former directors of the CIA, NSA, U.S National Intelligence, founders of blockchain startups, partners in VC funds, and investment bankers.

North Korea to host a crypto conference

North Korea, not to be outdone by its neighbor on the south has also revealed that it is planning to host its maiden international conference on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in October. The details of North Koreas blockchain conference are still sketchy and the country doesnt have a developed conference tourism industry.

However, Radio Free Asia suggests that the event will be held in Pyongyang and for two days. Attendees can also look forward to a meet a greet session with North Korean business leaders as well displays of the countrys technological capabilities.

North Korea is not particularly the first port of call for cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiasts, last year there were allegations that state-sponsored hackers from the country attacked exchanges and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies. Hence, it would be interesting to see how Pyongyang is able to leverage the conference to improve its image in the global crypto market.

The whole world is looking to South Korea for direction

From the foregoing, it is obvious that the whole world is fixated on developments in Asia and their effects on the global cryptocurrency markets. When Asia sneezes on crypto, the rest of the world tend to catch a cold. The fast-paced adoption of cryptocurrency in South Korea and its hosting of Block Seoul suggests that the country might yet be able to wrestle back the position to it lost to Hong Kong and Singapore by its premature decision to ban ICOs.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Donald Trump

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Hours after claiming Google had "rigged" search results to suppress conservative media outlets, US President Donald Trump attacked the company again, this time from the Oval Office.

Trump claimed Google was "really taking advantage of a lot of people."

He also warned tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter  which have been accused of anti-conservative bias by some groups  to "be careful."

US President Donald Trump continued on Tuesday to take aim at Google.

During an afternoon meeting in the Oval Office, Trump claimed that the search company was "really taking advantage of a lot of people," according to the Associated Press and other outlets. He also warned Google, Twitter, and Facebook  the large tech firms often accused by conservative groups of political bias  to "be careful."

He added that those companies were "treading on very, very troubled territory."

Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Twitter that Google had "rigged" search results to stifle conservative voices and leave the masses with a negative impression of his administration. Trump included no proof to back his claims.

Tweet Embed:

//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1034456273306243076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of....

Asked to respond to Trump's latest broadside, a Google spokesman issued a written statement.

"When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds," Google wrote. "Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology. Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

Story continues

Google is an easy target for Trump. Many conservatives have suspected Google of harboring bias against them for a long time. The company had very close ties to the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president whom Trump defeated in the 2016 US presidential election.

Earlier this months, several of the big tech firms, including Google and Facebook, booted Alex Jones, the popular far-right commentator, for violations of their terms of service. Conspiracists on the right have had a field day, alleging Jones was a victim of a plot by left-leaning tech execs.

But this is not the first time Trump has accused Google of gaming search results. During the presidential campaign, Trump claimed that Google was "suppressing" negative stories about Clinton, his opponent. The company responded by providing proof that his claims were inaccurate.

NOW WATCH: This machine turns a truck into a tent in seconds - here's how it's installed

See Also:

SEE ALSO: We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment': Google responds to Trump's claim that the company is 'suppressing the voices of conservatives and hiding informationAsbury Automotive (ABG) shares have started gaining and might continue moving higher in the near term, as indicated by solid earnings estimate revisions.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL August 29, 2018  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon AMZN, Alibaba BABA, Apple AAPL and JD.com JD.

Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog:

Alphabet Roundup: Hardware, Privacy, App Store & More

Of the ton of Alphabet news in the last few weeks, the following appear to be the most significant-

Hardware News

Alphabet has toyed with the idea of making hardware for quite a while now although it hasnt really made a play for market share or made a big deal about share it picked up. But the fact remains that the company acquired Motorola Mobility only to swallow most of its patents and discard the rest of the company. Then earlier this year, it picked up HTCs mobile business, again spurring rumors that it may be venturing into hardware, but we dont really know.

What we do know, however, is that its flagship Pixel line of hardware, including the Pixelbook (high-end Chromebook), Pixel smartphones and Pixel Watch, as well as Google Home smart home speakers are picking up mindshare.

Google doesnt yet need a hardware line of its own (licensing its technology to other hardware makers is a far more profitable proposition and regulatory pressure hasnt materially harmed it). But it continues to pick up all the pieces it needs to create leading edge devices and continues to improve upon device quality. Hardware makers can use the devices as prototypes.

But the market is changing quickly with the advent of IoT devices where connectivity is more closely tied to the hardware itself, with the services the devices enable being the biggest selling point. In such an environment, involving more players in the device making itself can increase chances of regulatory scrutiny while making it more difficult to generate profits.

Story continues

The Google Home device for example, allows the user to shop, listen to music, catch up on news, make calls, connect with other devices to facilitate household operations and so forth. Google or market leader Amazon gets to collect user data about habits, preferences, etc. to advertise and sell more effectively. So now, capturing the hardware share that can sell the services is more important. Which is why the smart speaker numbers from Strategy Analytics are so significant.

Amazons market share dropped from 76% in 2Q17 to 41% in 2Q18 despite growing units from 2.9 million to 4.8 million as the market grew 200% from 3.9 million units to 11.7 million units. Alphabet was the biggest gainer, growing from 16% to 28% (3.2 million units) followed by Alibaba and Apple, which went from 0 to a respective 7% and 6%. Even JD.com took a 2% share.

Standalone Retail Store

The Chicago Tribune reports that Google is planning a two-level store in Chicagos Fulton Market district, close to its Midwest headquarters. While company spokespersons maintain that they dont comment on rumors and speculation, its an interesting development that seems to point at its hardware ambitions.

Privacy Pains

San Diego resident Napoleon Patacsil has sued Google for collecting user location data even when they have location history turned off and is seeking unspecified damages. In his words, Google's "principal goal was to surreptitiously monitor [the claimant] and to allow third-parties to do the same."

The legal challenge was issued under California's Consumer Privacy Act, which was framed in line with the stringent GDPR that Europe adopted in May this year and is seeking class action status. If granted, millions of Android and iPhone users may join the case.

The complaints have been ongoing for quite some time now although this suit is the most formal approach. Even last week, privacy-focused Big Brother Watch accused Google of harvesting data "secretly, against peoples will."

Googles wrongdoing appears clear from its actions-

Earlier its support policy read: "With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored."

A Google spokesperson also clarified earlier: "There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people's experience, including: Location, History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location ServicesWe provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.

But on Friday, the support policy was changed to: "This setting does not affect other location services on your device... some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps. Moreover, the company now says that "We have been updating the explanatory language about Location History to make it more consistent and clear across our platforms and help centers."

On that very day, privacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center complained to the FTC that the companys recording of time-stamped location data even after users have turned off Location History was in clear violation of its 2011 settlement.

ACLU legislative counsel Neema Singh Guliani also told Bloomberg that this kind of data collection is a concern, particularly if theres deception involved, she strongly advocated a GDPR-like legislation for the U.S. and also said that Congress was debating the issue.

Separately, Professor Douglas Schmidt of Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) found in a study that people browsing with Chrome in Incognito mode could have their activity linked retrospectively to account information in Google-owned services like Gmail and YouTube. Also, "While such data is collected with user-anonymous identifiers, Google has the ability to connect this collected information with a user's personal credentials stored in their Google Account."

Incognito mode is worded carefully. It reads: "Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity."

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Zacks Investment ResearchThe Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has said the decision to arrest Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu is not politically motivated.

The DPP was responding to speculation that the high-profile arrest is linked to President Uhuru Kenyattas 2017 remark when he said he will fix the Judiciary when he is reelected.

We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem, he said on September.

President Uhuru Kenyatta made the statement after the Supreme Court annulled his election and ordered a new poll within 60 days.

But speaking on Tuesday, DPP Haji said every decision made on the arrest of DCJ Mwilu was done independently.

The issue about revisiting; we are an independent institution and not being directed by anyone or by any statements given out there.

This decision was made independently of all other matters and factors that you might think might have brought this about, he said.

Haji noted that there have been concerted efforts to fight corruption and economic crimes, and DCJ Mwilus arrest was one of them.

The fight has seen several high ranking officials and entities charged with various offences including asset forfeiture and confiscation, the DPP said.

Noordin Haji said there was enough evidence to charge Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu in court. He said there was evidence the Supreme Court Judge had abused her office for personal gain and accepted money as a gift in dubious circumstances.

Philomena Mwilu is also accused of failing to pay taxes and executing a security belonging to the Imperial Bank, which collapsed in 2015, under false pretences.

The evidence in our possession reveals that Lady Justice Mwilu abused her office for personal gain; accepted a gift in the form of money in circumstances which undermine public confidence in the integrity of her office, obtaining execution of a security belonging to Imperial Bank Limited, now in receivership, by false pretense, unlawful failure to pay taxes, conducted herself in disregard of the law, said DPP Haji.

In view of the above, I have concluded that the evidence is sufficient with the reasonable prospect of conviction and it is in public interest that criminal proceedings should be preferred. Investigating and punishing wrongdoing is difficult and painful but it must be done.

Haji said Mwilus alleged offences happened while she was at the Court of Appeal.

The DCJ was arraigned at the Milimani Law Court and freed on Sh5m personal bond.The recent resignation of Afghanistans national adviser casts a shadow over the countrys national unity government as it deals with pressing military challenges amid political turmoil ahead of scheduled parliamentary and presidential elections.

As major political factions and strongmen unite in a broad coalition to challenge President Ashraf Ghani in the elections, the resignation of key confidante Hanif Atmar adds to Kabuls challenges as it reels from bold Taliban attacks and threats from the Islamic State (IS) militants.

This resignation clearly shows that former national security adviser Atmar wants to draw a political line between himself and the president as he highlights the policy disconnect that has emerged in the domestic as well as foreign and security arenas, noted Omar Samad, a former Afghan diplomat.

Samad served as Afghanistans ambassador to France and Canada and knows the Afghan elites well. He sees political implications for one of the countrys top security officials. This resignation will also speed up the political horse-trading and coalition-building efforts underway in a crowded and disjointed political field, he told Radio Free Afghanistan.

The development will have broad ramifications at a time when politicians are focused on electioneering and security, economic conditions are challenging, and there is even uncertainty about the embryonic reconciliation process [with the Taliban], he added.

Atmars resignation follows a recent Taliban assault on Ghazni. Hundreds of soldiers, insurgents, and civilians were killed amid a botched Taliban attempt on the strategic southeastern Afghan city near Kabul this month. The insurgents also refused to engage in another cease-fire with the Afghan government.

On the political front, Ghanis opposition united under the banner of the Grand National Coalition of Afghanistan. The coalition, officially launched in July, is an alliance of influential political figures such as Ghanis first vice president, Abdul Rashid Dostum; Mohammad Mohaqiq, second deputy to the chief executive office; and Atta Mohammad Noor, the powerful former governor of northern Balkh Province.

In his resignation letter, Atmar hinted at his growing differences with Ghani over such issues.

I deem it necessary to resign from my position due to the serious disagreements with the policies and methods of the government's leadership, he wrote in the resignation letter obtained by Radio Free Afghanistan on August 25. We could not reach an understanding in maintaining and consolidating unity and national consensus, maintaining peace and security, political management and electoral affairs, good governance and consolidating the regional and international relations of the country in recent months.

Days after Atmars resignation, opinions are divided over his departure. Lawmaker Ali Akbar Qasemi is a member of the parliamentary committee on defense and represents Ghazni in the lower house of the Afghan legislature. He told Radio Free Afghanistan that the resignation was linked to the recent fighting in Ghazni.

However, Reuters quoted an Afghan official close to Atmar as saying, "He has resigned because he is preparing to run [in the] presidential election next year.

Whatever led to his leaving the government, Atmars departure is seen as a blow to the Ghani-led national unity government.

When someone as powerful as Atmar resigns from a government already plagued by dysfunction, youre really looking at the potential for trouble, said Michael Kugleman, a South Asia specialist at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington. The move also raises questions as to whether its more a case of him being asked to leave, which suggests the possibility of more rifts within a national unity government that is united only in name.

In Kabul, Haroun Mir, founder of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies, agrees. He sees Atmars resignation as a setback for the Afghan leader. Atmar's departure creates a vacuum that President Ghani cannot fill with anyone else, he said.

But Ghani is looking forward. It was a difficult decision for me to accept the resignation of a friend and longtime colleague, he told the Afghan National Security Council staff while introducing his former Washington envoy, Hamdullah Mohib, as Atmars replacement on August 26.

But for the country's greater interests, I made this difficult decision. I appreciate his service, and his expertise will be utilized in other areas [of government], Ghani added.

Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, a Kabul-based political observer, says Atmars swift replacement will have a positive impact. There is no vacuum, and I am not concerned about any resignation or sacking impacting the security situation in Afghanistan, he said.

Najeeb Nangyal, a Kabul-based writer and political analyst, agrees. He says that greater unanimity among the 16 members of the Afghan Security Council will have a positive upturn. The council includes the defense and interior ministers and the head of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan spy services. Ghani turned down their resignations on August 26.

In the past, there was no coordination between Ghani and Atmar on some issues, and their differences had a negative impact on the security and defense situation, Nangyal said.

Kugleman, however, argues that amid mounting Taliban violence, Atmars successor faces daunting challenges.

Atmars successor will have to hit the ground running to try to manage a security environment that is looking increasingly difficult to control, he said.WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis rebuffed suggestions that private military forces could join the fight in Afghanistan and possibly replace regular U.S. troops.

Mattis made the comments at a Pentagon press briefing on August 28, where he was asked about such proposals that have been floated in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

"When Americans put their nation's credibility on the line, privatizing it is probably not a wise idea," Mattis said.

The main proponent of the idea has been Erik Prince, the former head of a controversial private military contractor once known as Blackwater.

A longtime Republican supporter and brother of President Donald Trump's education secretary, Prince has argued that using private mercenaries would help decrease the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after 17 years of war.

In recent weeks, Prince has engaged in a public relations campaign, including publishing online videos, to press his arguments.

About 14,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, providing the largest contingent of NATO's mission and helping lead increasingly tense offensive operations against Taliban fighters.



A suspected paedophile who shocked Kenyan netizens after bragging about his sexual encounters with several minors on Facebook has been charged.

William Hanga Mwazombo, 23, appeared before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi on Tuesday and was charged with child sex tourism.

He was charged with publishing information that is intended to promote or facilitate conduct that would constitute a sexual offence against a child. The Wells Fargo employee denied the charges.

The suspect was freed on a surety bond of Sh300, 000 with a surety of similar amount.

Magistrate Francis Andayi warned Hanga that the charges he is facing are serious as they attracted a penalty of minimum 10 years imprisonment.

The magistrate directed him to formally write to the court indicating the inability to hire a lawyer so that the court can issue orders for the state to provide him with one.

Hanga was arrested by the DCIs Serious Crime Unit in Mpeketoni, Lamu County on August 23.Colorado Springs Utilities is celebrating what it touts as a historic water-sharing pact that will benefit agriculture in the Lower Arkansas River Basin and boost the citys water supplies. But others point to the record of Karl Nyquist, a key figure behind the deal, as a reason to be skeptical.

The agreement vows to preserve farmland while helping to meet water demand in a growing city. But Nyquist has made similar promises that havent come to pass, sometimes leaving behind dried-up farmland.

The Pueblo Chieftain, which has followed Nyquist for years, wrote in a 2016 editorial of his notorious history of diverting agricultural water from the Arkansas River Valley to the Northern Colorado cities surrounding Denver.

The complex water deal boils down to this:

 The utility would get 2,500 shares of water through the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association. Thats about 2,100 acre-feet of water a year for five out of 10 years, in perpetuity. (An acre-foot of water is 326,000 gallons, enough to supply two typical families of four per year.)

 The utility would pay $8.75 million for the shares, about $3,500 per share. That represents about 13 percent of Lower Arkansas Water Management Associations shares, said General Manager Don Higbee.

 The Lower Arkansas Water Management Association would get the water in the other five years to benefit about 210 shareholders, most of them farmers, Higbee said. Thats more water per share in those five years and could mean better crop yields.

 The Lower Arkansas Water Management Association also would get a place to store the water. A gravel pit near Lamar and $1.75 million from Colorado Springs Utilities would make that storage a reality.

The deal still must be approved by the state Water Court, which could take several years.

The water shares that Utilities has agreed to buy are held by C&A of Littleton, which owns two properties in the Lower Ark, known as Arkansas River Farms. C&A also owns the gravel pit in Lamar.

Nyquist is C&As principal and co-founder.

Utilities news release about the pact doesnt mention Arkansas River Farms or Nyquist. It also doesnt say that the utilitys $10.5 million payment  $8.75 million for the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association shares, plus $1.75 million toward storage  would go to one shareholder, Arkansas River Farms.

Nyquist isnt a farmer. Hes a developer with a portfolio of multimillion dollar deals all along the Front Range. Hes also been generous with political contributions over the past half-dozen years.

For years, he has been active on water projects in the Lower Ark, and hes ruffled some feathers. A 2011 Pueblo Chieftain editorial accused him of peddling snake oil, one of many Chieftain editorials that have criticized Nyquist in recent years.

In 2011, according to the Chieftain, Nyquist proposed a deal to sell the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association water to Elbert County southwest of Denver through a 150-mile pipeline at a cost of $350 million. He said the pipeline would bring jobs and tax revenues to Bent County. That deal never came to fruition.

Last year, said former Bent County Commissioner Bill Long, C&A went to county officials and promised to build a dairy on an Arkansas River Farms property that would employ 35 to 40 people. But it also would mean drying up the land and selling off the water rights.

County commissioners issued whats known as a 1041 permit for about a third of the property. A 1041, named for the law that created it, allows local governments to maintain controls in development for areas and activities of state interest.

But that dairy deal has fallen apart, said Long, who worked with the county on the 1041 permit. All of the water theyre selling is a result of drying up irrigated agriculture.

The largest Arkansas River Farms property, about 18,000 acres, has a controversial history in water. Years ago, it was owned by High Plains A&M, which tried in 2002 and 2003 to obtain Water Court approval for a change in water use.

It asked to change its water rights from irrigation and other decreed uses to any beneficial use, including over 50 identified potential uses, in any location within 28 Colorado counties, says a write-up on the case by attorneys at the Greenwood Village-based law firm Burns, Figa & Will. High Plains applications did not identify end users of the water beside the farmers who currently use the water.

The Water Court rejected the application, calling it speculation. Its illegal to buy water rights for speculative purposes in Colorado.

High Plains then sold the property to Pure Cycle, a Watkins-based publicly traded water company.

Pure Cycle sold the property three years ago to Arkansas River Farms.

Nyquist, through a spokeswoman, said some of his projects have ended up keeping water in the (Lower Arkansas River) valley and bringing much-needed jobs to the area.

But he acknowledged that some of his projects have and will dry up farmland, with the water headed elsewhere.

In the 2011 deal, another Nyquist company, GP Irrigated Farms, originally acquired 12,000 acres, of which 8,000 were irrigated, and developed plans to supply water to cities on the Front Range, Nyquist said.

After challenges with a municipal contract and listening to negative input from a variety of stakeholders, I made the decision to take GP Farms in a different direction, he said. That led to the gravel pit in Lamar, which employs 20 people, and a dairy in Prowers County, which he says will become one of the largest agribusinesses in the region.

As for the Bent County dairy, Nyquist said, the countys resolution for the 1041 permit gives him three years to attract agribusiness there to offset any potential economic impacts caused by the drying up of (Arkansas River Farms) farm acreage.

If those efforts fail, he said, Arkansas River Farms has agreed to provide Bent County with a $1.7 million letter of credit to ensure no economic harm can come to Bent County as a result of the drying up of these farms.

Despite noting that some of his projects will dry up farmland in the valley, Nyquist said Arkansas River Farms has made no plans to dry-up farms for water to be sold to the Front Range. Instead, Arkansas River Farms has been and continues to be focused on consolidating farm operations to its best parcels in the Arkansas River basin. The company has opted to use a combined approach of divesting unproductive farmland, consolidating water rights for ongoing farm operations or selling water rights and then dryland farming or restoring the remaining parcels to natural vegetation.

In the deal with Utilities, 4,434 acres would be dried up, with another 843 acres already dried up by other parties unrelated to Arkansas River Farms, he said.

The company wants to consolidate and improve farming on its most productive parcels in the Arkansas River Basin, Nyquist said. The projects have created economic and job growth in the valley, with more than $100 million invested. Our focus is supporting these investments and then by extension the local economy.

If the proposition is to move water from lower-producing to higher-producing acreage, it makes sense economically and environmentally, said Matt Heimerich, a Crowley County farmer and three-term county commissioner with experience in water issues.

But Heimerich, the Palmer Land Trusts conservation director for the Lower Arkansas Valley, also said his 31 years of experience taught him that when water is removed, revegetation succeeds only when surface or irrigation water is applied to grow a permanent cover. It can be a combination of native and non-native species, he said, but that might not have a high value for grazing.

Crowley Countys experience with revegetation in the 1970s is telling. When water rights were sold to Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Aurora, the planned restoration of more than 45,000 acres didnt work.

There was a significant breakdown of responsibilities for when those water rights were changed to municipal use, Heimerich said. In all fairness, the city of Aurora, when they bought 14,000 acres, they did do a relatively good job, rigorous in their revegetation efforts.

But that also relied on another crop on the ground with grasses, and then applying water over one or more seasons. What broke down, he said, was a lack of follow-through in how those lands were managed and whose responsibility it was to steward the revegetated land into perpetuity.

Today, large swaths of the county, especially in dry years, look more like the dust bowl of the 1930s. Crowley went from 50,000 irrigated acres to 5,000 and even less in drought years.

The other proposal for dried-up farmland  dryland farming  hasnt succeeded in the Arkansas River Valley either. Heimerich said hes never seen a dryland crop in Crowley County, and neither has his family, which came to the county in the 1950s.

Dryland farming is a terrible challenge, he said, because soils changed after decades of farming. Its not that healthy, native soil that you would see on the prairie. Its very silty. And when the ground has been used for crop rotation, its ability to sustain dryland seeding or farming is diminished.Colorado Politics senior political reporter

Joey Bunch is the senior correspondent and deputy managing editor of Colorado Politics. His 32-year career includes the last 16 in Colorado. He was part of the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and he is a two-time finalist.Rachel Stovall is a longtime community advocate and organizer. Also a fundraising, media and marketing consultant, Stovall is most known for singing with her dance band Phat Daddy and the Phat Horn Doctors.The Black Sea Fleets Project 11356 guided missiles frigates Admiral Grigorovich (hull number 494) and Admiral Essen (hull number 490) have made a scheduled passage from Sevastopol to the Mediterranean Sea, the Southern Military District press-service reports.

The Black Sea Fleets Project 11356 guided missiles frigates Admiral Grigorovich (hull number 494) and Admiral Essen (hull number 490) have made a scheduled passage from Sevastopol to the Mediterranean Sea, the Southern Military District press-service reports.eports.

Source : Izvestia

"During the voyage the ships performed a set of operational exercises at the Black Sea test ranges. In particular, the frigate crews, jointly with the crews of Ka-27PL helicopters, practiced the takeoffs and landings on ship decks, and drilled a submarine search and tracking procedure. Simultaneously, for checking the coordination between all of the ships aviation complexes, exercises were carried out with the ships crews tasked with helicopter flight support," the press-service reports.

On August 16, the naval group at the Mediterranean was joined by Project 21631 guided missile corvette Vyshnii Volochok (code name Buyan-M). A few days later, a second serial (third in count) Project 11356 guided missile frigate Admiral Makarov (hull number 799) started a voyage from the Baltic to the Black Sea at the permanent base in Sevastopol. It is expected that in the next few days it also will join the group at the Mediterranean Sea.

On August 18, the SMD press-service said that the Baltic Fleets Project 11540 frigate Yaroslav Mudry (hull number 777) has completed the tasks of the long-range voyage and headed for a permanent base. On ending the commercial call at Port Sudan it headed towards the Suez Canal. Now the ship may be in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean.

On August 23, the Northern Fleet press-service reported that a detachment of the Northern Fleets warships comprised of Project 1164 missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov (code name Atlant), (hull number 055) and Project 1155 large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk (hull number 619) held exercises in anti-submarine defense at the Mediterranean Sea. The Northern Sea ships left Severomorsk on July 5, 2018. As of August 23, they had covered more than 6,800 sea miles. The crews of the "Marshal Ustinov" and the "Severomorsk" represented the Northern Fleet at the chief naval parade, took part in the inter-fleet exercise at the Baltic Sea together with the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets ships and made a commercial call at the capital of Algeria. In all likelihood the ships of the Northern Fleet moved eastward and are now at Syrias borders. The cruiser Marshal Ustinov may become the flagship of the group.

On the same day, the Turkish mass media reported that three ships of the Russian Navy, two Project 1171 large landing ships Nikolai Filchenkov and Orsk, passed through the Bosphorus Straits accompanied by Project 1135M patrol ship Pytlivy (hull number 868).

The Vyshny Volochek. Project 21631 corvettes are armed with Kalibr missiles (SS-N-27 Sizzler by NATO classification). They are fired by an eight-cell vertical 3S-14 launcher. Kalibr strikes with cruise missiles at sea (3M-54 missiles) and ground (3M-14) targets. Picture: Russian MoD

Two Project 21631 guided missile corvettes of the Caspian flotilla, the Grad Sviyazhsk (hull number 652) and the Veliky Ustyg (hull number) have been operating at the Mediterranean Sea since as early as mid-June. The SMD press-service reports that since August 2017 Project 636.3 B-268 Veliky Novgorod and B-271 Kolpino diesel-electric submarines have been operating near the Syrian borders.

In addition, the Black Sea Fleet sea trawler Valentin Pikul will soon reinforce the permanent force of the Russian Navy at the Mediterranean where, based on the planned rotation, it will replace the trawler "Turbinist" that performs its duties since May 2018.

Thus, the Russian Navy group in the Eastern Mediterranean has concentrated a large quantity of ships armed with anti-ship missiles and 3M-14 ship-based cruise missiles of the Kalibr high precision family for strikes against land-based targets.

Beefing up the Navys force near Syrias shores can be explained by two factors. The first is preparation by terrorist groups of another provocation with "the use of chemical weapon" in Idlib province, mentioned on August 25 by the Russian Defense Ministry. Obviously, following the demonstration of a video footage of the faked "chemical attack" the Western coalition comprised of the US, the UK and France will be prepared to deliver more strikes against the Syrian governmental forces. For this purpose, a few days ago the US Navys Arleigh Burke type of guided missile destroyer Sullivans, DDG-68, armed with Tomahawk ship-based cruise missiles has arrived in the Persian Gulf, while the US AFs B-1B Lancer strategic bomber with 24 AGM-158 JASSM was deployed to the El-Udeid airbase.

The second factor is preparation for hostilities in Idlib province. On August 25, major-general Aleksey Tsygankov, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, reported that several thousand militants armed with heavy weapons and armor have gathered in Idlib for advance on Hama and Aleppo. At present, 70% of the Idlib province territory is controlled by terrorist groups, the biggest of which is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (previously Jabhat al-Nusra, prohibited in Russia). On the following day Ali Ayyoub, the Syrian Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Defense Minister, said that Idlib would be returned to Syria and cleared of terrorists either through a military operation or reconciliation agreements. In all likelihood, in the next few weeks a likely scenario is serious slashes between the Syrian governmental troops and militants in that area.

The Russian Navy may support the Syrian army by 3M-14 cruise missile strikes against the terrorists vital facilities. With the arrival in the Eastern Mediterranean of the frigate Admiral Makarov, eight (8) ship-based cruise missile craft (3 Project 11356 GM frigates, 3 Project 21631 GM corvettes , and 2 Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarines) will be concentrated in the area. Each of the frigates and corvettes is fitted the 8-cell 3S-14 vertical launcher, the submarines can use ship-based cruise missiles from 533mm tubes (each DES is fitted with 6 torpedo tubes). In addition, the presence in the Eastern Mediterranean of a large number of the Russian Navy ships with high precision weapons may influence the Western coalitions decision on a new operation against the Syrian legal forces.

 Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.A community info session was held last week at Monument Academy Elementary School for the public to learn more about the $350 million construction project on Interstate 25 between Monument and Castle Rock. By 2022, this 18-mile stretch of I-25 will include improved wildlife crossings, widened shoulders and a toll lane. Construction is scheduled to begin next week. Photo by Justice BurnaughThe Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District received a sorely needed boost in revenue through a multimillion-dollar mill levy passed last November. Photo courtesy of TLMFPDThe People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) commissioned its 28th Type 054A Frigate (Jiangkai II-class) 'Xianning' ( with hull number 500). The Commissioning ceremony took place on August 28, 2018 at (what seems to be) Yulin Naval Base located in the Yalong Bay (city of Sanya) on Hainan island. The frigate joined the PLAN South Sea Fleet.

The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) commissioned its 28th Type 054A Frigate (Jiangkai II-class) 'Xianning' ( with hull number 500). The Commissioning ceremony took place on August 28, 2018 at (what seems to be) Yulin Naval Base located in the Yalong Bay (city of Sanya) on Hainan island. The frigate joined the PLAN South Sea Fleet.

Photo via 

There are now five Type 054A Frigates in the 9th destroyer flottila of the PLAN South Sea Fleet. One more frigate and the unit will be considered "complete": The new organization calls for six frigates and six destroyers per destroyer flottila, which corresponds to an expansion of around 50% compared to the previous format.

Type 054A Frigate

Based on the Type 054 Frigates, the Type 054A incorporates a larger number of more-advanced indigenous systems. The first of class entered service with the PLAN in January 2008.

Type 054A Frigates are fitted with 32 VLS (Vertical Launch System) cells for HQ-16 surface to air missiles, 8x YJ-83 (export designation C-803) anti-ship missiles, a H/PJ-26 76mm main gun, two H/PJ12 seven-barreled 30mm CIWS guns (for frigates 1 to 16 in the series) or H/PJ11 eleven-barreled 30mm CIWS for new vessels starting with Huanggang (hull number 577) the seventeenth ship of the class. Two triple YU-7 torpedo launchers and YU-8 anti-submarine rocket launchers are fitted for ASW warfare.

Photo via 

Xianning was launched on September 22, 2017 at the Huangpu shipyard in Guangzhou. This first line surface combatant is the 13th frigate of the class built in this shipyard and the 28th to enter service with the Chinese Navy, which started introducing this new class of versatile frigate over 10 years ago in January 2008.

The Xianning frigate is 134.1 meters long, 31 meters high and displaces 4,270 tons full load. The vessel has a range of over 4,000 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 18 knots.

The Type 054A is, pending the arrival of its successor Type 054B electric propulsion, the best anti-submarine warfare platform of the Chinese Navy. It is equipped with a complete suite dedicated to this function, including a hull sonar, a towed variable depth sonar, an acoustic control system, submarine communication and of course torpedoes. What is likely the last and final Type 054A frigate (30th in the series) was launched in June this year.gvij2017

So IMO, C is saying older students don't think academics as best indicators and they think there are better available.

but it does not clarify why do they react to grades negatively..does it?

this makes me think about school days, when praise from teachers/grades led to standing out from crowd.

and that makes you superior from peers. sometimes peers don't like this and disapprove this. so older students hate it and act negatively just to avoid disapproval from their peers. while younger student don't act this way.

this choice perfectly explains negative reaction from older students.

Hence it is preferred choice over C.sushruthi wrote:

Undergrad: IIT (top 2), 7.2/10

GMAT : 720 (50Q, 38V)

WE: 7 years at enrollment



Management Trainee - > Manager 3 years at Indian e-commerce market leader (recently acquired by Walmart for $16bn)



Interesting work experience across business development, supply chain and corporate strategy. Promoted once, worked directly with founder COO on special projects. Large impact - one role involves leading a team that added $18 m to bottom line.



Senior Manager - > Head of Growth (mid 2015 - Apr 2018)

3 years at a high growth, well funded startup in India - market leader in category.



Early employee, Promoted once, helped grow grow revenues 10x to $9 million over the period



Chief of Staff (present role)

High growth startup in the bike rental space, head hunted to be the CEO's Chief of Staff - leading product, growth & investor relations functions at the moment.

Early employee, driving rapid growth (4x in 4 months)

Helped close Series A round with largest bike manufacturer in India and largest cab aggregator in India as well as large US based VC fund (think Uber in the region)



Short term goal: International growth at a large consumer tech company (think Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Uber)



Long term goal: Entrepreneurship



Target schools: M7



Posted from my mobile device

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Contact us for a complimentary profile evaluation Susan BerishajSia Admissionsinfo@siaadmissions.com+1 (646) 690 - 9996website: http://www.SiaAdmissions.com Contact us for a Signature Read MoreHi demo1,Im glad you reached out, and Im happy to help. Improving from 350 to 650 is a significant task, so you may need more than just three months to achieve your score goal. Thus, I recommend that you track your progress over the next few months, and if you are not improving at the pace you need, then consider scheduling your exam for a later date. You can read more about this in my article about how long to study for the GMAT Since you self-admittedly have weak GMAT quant skills, you will need to follow a linear study plan that allows you to slowly build GMAT mastery of one topic prior to moving on to the next. Within each topic, begin with the foundations and progress toward more advanced concepts. For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills.Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new verbal and quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses You also may find my article with more information regarding how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.Feel free to reach out with any further questions.Good luck!_________________



IceViking strongly condemns physical attacks and harassment directed towards them.





They are also often victims of the Islamic idea. This is true when it comes to the cruel and tragic treatment of Muslim women and children when it is in accord with the Koran, the example of Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia, which may be applied regardless of where a Muslim male may find himself in the world, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country.





However, in no way, shape or form should one judge all Muslim men because of what is in Islamic scripture and what constitutes the Islamic law, Sharia.





"Race", ethnicity or basically anything that you are "merely" born with should never be a basis for bigotry and discrimination.





Apostates from Islam have been executed for 1400 years in accord with the Koran and the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia.





They should be lovingly helped.





Furthermore, approximately as many as 11,000,000 Muslims may have been killed by other Muslims since 1948.





To quote the website The Religion of Peace (TROP), edited by Glen Roberts:





While it may be safe to say that a true Muslim would not intentionally kill another true Muslim ( 4:92-93 ), the Quran places no such value on the life of a Muslim who is not true. Consider verse 9:73 :

Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell.

The Arabic for strive hard uses the same root as Jihad - and the context in this sura is holy war (see v. 86 and 91). Thus, there are two distinct classes of people that a true Muslim is to target with harshness: disbelievers and hypocrites.



A disbeliever obviously refers to a non-Muslim, so a "hypocrite" must be a Muslim of some sort. In fact, hypocrites are those who say they believe, but do not act as they should. In other words, they are "Muslims", but not true Muslims. They will go to hell just as unbelievers do, and so, according to the verse, their lives matter for naught.



The same sura says that a hypocrite can be recognized not just by lack of piety (reluctance to follow Sharia), but by fear of death ( 9:56 ), reluctance to fight ( 9:44-45 ) and even friendliness toward non-believers ( 9:67 ). A true Muslim would thus be a pious person who relishes martyrdom, is eager to fight, and shuns non-believers.



Even the Quranic passage that warns against killing "believers" ( 4:88-94 ) is more complicated than it first appears. It never says that a true Muslim is incapable of killing another Muslim, just that it should not be done. In fact, it makes exceptions for the unintentional killing of "believers" in war and mandates the killing of "hypocrites."



Verse 17:33 says, "Do not kill anyone which Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause" . The greatest cause of all is that Islam be superior ( 9:33 ), which is exactly what Islamic terrorists say is their goal. Thus believing Muslims are allowed to be collateral damage in the war on unbelievers.









There is sadly a phenomena that I`ve noticed in Sweden and elsewhere of people using true facts about Islamic doctrine and history as a cover for all sorts of irrational targeting of Muslims, ranging from xenophobia and racism to verbal abuse and physical attacks.





This is strongly condemned by this website and does not in any way serve serious criticism of orthodox Islam and other important work.





It`s also important that one tries to express oneself in a civilized way. Words matter.





In this bloggers humble opinion the root cause of the problem is the ancient doctrine of orthodox Islam.













In simple terms a non-Muslim is a Kafir.





" The Koran defines the kafir and kafir is not a neutral word. A kafir is not merely someone who does not agree with Islam, but a kafir is evil, disgusting, the lowest form of life."





An exact quote, as stated in the writings of Dr. Bill Warner in the article "Kafir" at http://www.politicalislam.com/kafir .





In the perfect Koran (Allah`s direct and literal word as revealed to Mohammed through the angel Jibril), Muslims are told 89 times to emulate Mohammed in all ways (see Koran 33:21 for instance).





Mohammed`s example, the Sunna, is found in the Hadith (stories of what Mohammed said and did) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed).





Islamic law, Sharia , is directly derived from these unchanging scriptures. It is based on the Koran`s numerous commands to obey Allah and obey the Messenger, that is Mohammed (see Koran 4:59 for instance).









Islam is Sharia. Sharia is Islam.





It is a capital crime for Muslims to deny Sharia in any way.





A Muslim is someone who submits to Islam and submitting to Islam means obeying the Sharia of Allah.





Sharia law includes pronouncements for both Muslims and non-Muslims (Kafirs).









Islam is a "complete way of life", a "complete code of life", a "complete system of life".





Islam is not just a religion but also a comprehensive ideology.





Islam is a supremacist ideology.





Islam is a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology akin to Communism and Nazism.





Islam is a civilization.

Islamic law, Sharia, is a manual for a civilization.





Islamic law, Sharia, governs every aspect of life.

It has a say about every conceivable human act .





Non-Muslims are morally and legally inferior in Islam. Women are morally and legally inferior in Islam.

























The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language and a great book on the topic.





Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Koran 9:111).





A hadith depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad: "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." Muhammad replied, "I do not find such a deed." (Bukhari 4.52.44)





Muhammad himself said:

I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah. (Sahih Muslim 30)









Freedom of speech, human rights, democracy, science and human lives are all at stake in the fight against the Islamic Jihad.



As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQThe Indiana Chamber of Commerce wont endorse either candidate in Indiana's U.S. Senate race.

Its the first time the influential business organization hasnt backed a Senate candidate since its endorsements began.

The Indiana Chamber has endorsed candidates in federal races for about ten years. That covers three prior U.S. Senate races. The chamber's politial action committee endorsed the Republican in each one, including 2016, even though Democratic candidate Evan Bayh previously worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

But this cycle, neither Republican Mike Braun nor incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) will get the chambers backing. University of Indianapolis political scientist Laura Wilson says the chambers decision could be influential.

"By refraining to endorse the Republican candidate by a generally Republican organization in a Republican state, I think Joe Donnelly and his camp have to see this as a small victory," Wilson says.

Chamber President Kevin Brinegar says his organization shares alignments and disagreements with both candidates. Wilson says one of those disagreements likely looms largest.

"Braun has supported Trump and hes really worked on becoming the Trumpiest candidate there is. Hes going to have both the positive and the negative fallout from that.," Wilson says. "And in this case here, obviously the support of the tariffs  which the Chamber of Commerce has criticized I think ultimately thats the reason why they refrained from giving their endorsement."

A chamber spokesperson notes there were no incumbents in the previous Senate races in which the organization gave an endorsement. Wilson says thats a convenient excuse.

"Because this is a race we expect to be close; this is a race where an endorsement could matter," Wilson says. "And in this case, we wont have one from the chamber."

The chamber endorsed Donnelly's Republican opponent Richard Mourdock when Donnelly made his first Senate run in 2012.Hanifnejad was born to a working-class family in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, in 1939. He had a tough childhood, but he didnt let that stop him from pursuing his studies in Tabriz.

He first became interested in politics as a teenager, when Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, a true reformer, came on the scene. Mossadegh was overthrown, but his revolutionary ideas never left Hanifnejad.

While getting his Masters at the University of Agriculture of Karaj, Hanifnejad continued his political activism and became involved with the Mossadeghist National Front and the Freedom Movement of Mehdi Bazargan, while also taking charge of a student association in the university.

Shortly after leaving university, Hanifnejad was arrested by the Shahs secret police (Savak) for his political activism and sentenced to seven months in prison. There he met Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani, a progressive, anti-fundamentalist cleric, who inspired Hanifnejad to formulate his own ideas, which Hanifnejad wrote down and sent to friends outside for safekeeping.

Once released, Hanifnejad was drafted into the army. He learnt military skills and how the Shahs dictatorship worked from inside the armed forces.

When his military service had finished, Hanifnejad approached his friend Saeid Mohsen to help figure out how to fight back against the Shah, who had banned all opposition groups. This was the start of the MEK.

Soon, Hanifnejad and Mohsen recruited Ali-Asghar Badizadegan and in September 1965, the three founded the MEK and began to study various philosophies and ideologies to advance the fight for freedom. They believed in fighting for the rights of the oppressed and a modern interpretation of Islam, which was incredibly popular among the Iranian people.

Gradually, the group grew bigger and more threating to the rule of the Shah, which is why the Shah cracked down on them so brutally.

In 1971, the Savak arrested dozens of the leading MEK members, including Hanifnejad, but Hanifnejad wanted to keep the MEK alive to fight for freedom another day.

He wrote in a letter to the MEKs supporters, whilst many of his compatriots were undergoing torture, If we draw the right lessons from this defeat, they will certainly lead us to victory.

Sadly, the Shah still ordered the executions of all MEK leaders. Hanifnejad was offered the chance to avoid the death penalty by publicly repenting his decision to oppose the regime, but he refused, stating that the leaders must be ready to sacrifice anything to achieve freedom.

He said: Our deaths will serve to motivate and fuel the future struggles of our people.

On May 25, 1972, Hanifnejad, Mohsen and Badizadegan were executed, but their sacrifice saved the MEK and helped inspire others to continue the struggle.

Now, nearly fifty years on, the MEK is going strong and will soon bring freedom to Iran.- Matteo Guidicelli posted a photo after watching Miss Granny

- The film starred his girlfriend, Sarah Geronimo

- Matteo showed his support to Sarah in her latest achievement

PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed

Matteo Guidicelli shared his proud moment for his long-time girlfriend, Popstar Royalty, Sarah Geronimo.

In his Instagram post, he showed how much he supported Sarah in her latest blockbuster film Miss Granny.

He said, Okay, I have to honestly say that I enjoyed this film from the beginning to end. Im trying my best not to be biased, hhhmmmm maybe a little.

But seriously speaking, the film was fantastic!! Sarah was not just great, not just amazing, not just awesome but she was GREAT, AMAZING, AWESOME AND BRILLIANT!! All combined! She throws so much good vibes out of the screen and into the audience! he proudly shared.

Matteo also commended the entire team beyond the films success. He even encouraged everyone to catch the movie.

Congratulations to the team that worked on the film. Guys.. if you havent watched yet, go and see it! Its a film with so much good vibes and a nice balance of drama!!

Miss Granny starring Sarah Geronimo, Nova Villa, James Reid and Xian Lim is a Filipino adaptation of the Korean film with the same title. The comedy-drama film is about a 70-year old woman who magically transformed back to her 20-year old body after having her picture taken.

POPULAR: Read more about Sarah Geronimo here!

Try Not To Get Scared Challenge: Can YOU handle it? Do you like watching scary movies or is it something you would rather avoid at all costs? Today, these brave strangers from The Philippines are watching Attic Panic. Some of these individuals are braver than others. Watch this adult reaction and find out.  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph- Hayden Kho and Vicki Belo took their daughter Scarlet Snow for a vacation in Vivey, Switzerland

- Photos and clips of their awesome vacation went viral on social media

- Scarlet seemed to be ecstatic throughout the vacation

PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed

Scarlet Snow Belo is indeed blessed to have celebrity doctors Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho as her parents.

KAMI learned that the celebrity kid was taken by her loving parents to Switzerland for a vacation.

Photos and clips of their awesome vacation abroad went viral on social media.

Welcome to #vivey , Switzerland . As you can see our tour guide @scarletsnowbelo is so excited to show you around, Vicki wrote.

Here are some of the joyful reactions of netizens after seeing the familys vacation photos and videos:

You are one of the most adorable, charming little ones, my dearest

hello baby lab scarlet.. youre so adorable!

One of my dream places to visit, enjoy Scarlet!

KAMI previously reported that Hayden and his wife Dr. Vicki Belo gave Bibles to actress Jodi Sta. Maria as a gift.

Hayden and Vicki finally got married last year in Paris, France. They had an on-and-off relationship before tying the knot.

Their daughter Scarlet was born on March 3, 2015, after being conceived via In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

Vicki has other kids  Quark and Crystalle Henares  from her previous relationship to Atom Henares.

POPULAR: Read more news about Vicki Belo!

Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data!

In this social experiment, you can see how different people react when a man throws a garbage bag right next to them. How will they handle the littering problem? Will, they pick it up or leave it? In this video, you can see all the effects of littering and how it's being handled by the locals.  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph- Kapuso celebrity Pauleen Luna shared how proud she is for the new achievement of her Baby Tali

- Pauleen uploaded a video on social media showing her daughter doing the mano po gesture

- She said it was a struggle at first to teach Tali but she is happy that she learned it already

PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed

Celebrity mom Pauleen Luna expressed in social media how proud she is for her cute Baby Talis newest achievement.

KAMI learned through a video posted by Pauleen that Baby Tali already learned how to do the Filipino traditional gesture called Mano po!

The Eat Bulaga host said she really wants to teach her daughter to be polite by always doing the mano and saying po and opo as she grows up.

Proud mama moment! I would like Tali to grow up knowing how to mano and say po and opo. And i am just so proud that she already knows how to mano at 9months old, the Kapuso actress wrote.

Pauleen also shared the struggles she and her husband Vic Sotto underwent to teach Tali of the said gesture.

She disclosed that Tali often put her mothers hand on her mouth instead of just touching the forehead.

When we started to teach her, she would often put my habd straight to her mouth but now she gets it! the former Enteng Ng Ina Mo star revealed.

It can be seen in the video uploaded on Instagram how Baby Tali obediently followed her mom to do the Filipino gesture.

Even the cute baby seemed proud of herself for being able to do the mano as she struck a cute smile just after Pauleen complimented her.

Here is the video:

In a previous article by KAMI, a video of Tali bonding with baby neighbor was also uploaded on social media and attracted several reactions from netizens.

Pauleen is a Filipina actress and a television personality who appears as one of the hosts in the longest-running noontime show, Eat Bulaga. In 2016, she married her co-host Vic and later granted their first born, Tali.

POPULAR: Read more news about Pauleen Luna!

Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data!

Imagine that youre walking down streets of the Philippines, thinking of your work, friends, and family. Suddenly a man walking in front of you drops his wallet. He continues walking, without realizing that he has just lost all his money. What would you do in this situation? Social Experiment: How Honest Are People Around You?  on HumanMeter!

Source: Kami.com.ph- Pinay actress Kim Rodriquez admitted that she has a suitor from New Zealand

- Kim said they are still on the getting-to-know stage with the non-showbiz guy

- She described her suitor as someone who has the same values of a Filipino man

PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed

Kapuso actress Kim Rodriguez excitedly revealed to public the current status of her heart.

KAMI learned that the Inday Will Always Love You star has a foreigner suitor whom she met when she was on a vacation in New Zealand.

Although Kim refused to publicize the name of the non-showbiz guy, she disclosed that they are still on the process of getting acquainted with each other.

"Non-showbiz siya. Foreigner siya and nasa getting-to-know-each-other stage pa lang kami," the actress shared in an interview with PEP.ph.

"Taga-New Zealand, pero half Kiwi-half Italian siya. Yung dad niya taga Italy, and then pumunta sila ng New Zealand at doon na sila nanirahan, she added.

Kim gladly described her suitor as a tall and handsome gentleman who, for her, also encapsulates the values of a Filipino guy.

"Matangkad, maputi, guwapo, sobrang bait, at gentleman. Hindi katulad ng ibang mga foreigners na ang cold-cold, siya yung ugali niya, parang Pinoy din," the celebrity expressed.

According to the Kapuso star, she was also able to introduce her suitor to her mother who then agreed with their status.

"Yup, kilala na siya ng mommy ko. Okay naman sa kanya, mabait daw at may respeto, Kim explained.

Si Mommy kasi, kung saan ako masaya, sinusuportahan niya ako. Basta sabi niya lang, pumili ako ng lalaki na hindi lang ako ang mamahalin, kung hindi pati pamilya ko," she added.

Kim, however, admitted the she still has no plans of giving her sweetest yes to the foreigner guy.

The actress said she wants to focus on her career first and hinted that she will give her yes at the right time.

"Wala pa kasi akong planong mag-boyfriend. Kasi gusto ko munang mag-focus sa career sa ngayon, sa family and sa business," she shared.

Born on August 14, 1994, Kim is a Filipino actress and model who is best known for her role as the woman with a twin snake in the television drama-fantasy series, Kakambal ni Eliana.

Aside from her active teleserye acting career, she was also able to star in several movies such as This Time I'll be Sweeter and Mga Mumunting Lihim where she was hailed as the New Movie Actress of the Year by PMPC Star Awards for Movies in 2013.

Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data!

Imagine that youre walking down streets of the Philippines, thinking of your work, friends, and family. Suddenly a man walking in front of you drops his wallet. He continues walking, without realizing that he has just lost all his money. What would you do in this situation? Social Experiment: How Honest Are People Around You?  on HumanMeter!

Source: Kami.com.phBIMSTEC will expand economic cooperation and connectivity: PM

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday apprised the Parliament about the 4th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit going to be held in Kathmandu on August 30 and 31.Among the wounded, there are those in grave condition and amputees.

A medevac flight has landed in Kyiv, bringing 20 Ukrainian troops seriously wounded in eastern Ukraine's zone of hostilities.

All servicemen wounded in action were admitted to Kyiv's main military hospital.

A Ukrainian volunteer Natalia Yusupova wrote on Facebook that any help would be welcome to contribute to their treatment.

Read alsoVolker-Surkov talks "on the verge of collapse"  Ukraine's envoy to UN

"Another plane with WIAs has landed in Kyiv. It's 20 people, there are those in grave condition, amputees... The war is ongoing, and every day our soldiers sacrifice their lives..." the woman wrote.

As UNIAN reported, in the Luhansk direction within the zone of the Joint Forces Operation, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another four injured in landmine explosions.New opinion studies have found a majority of teachers believe technology is helping them do a better job in the classroom.

But the research also shows that many educators are concerned digital devices can cause physical and mental harm to students.

One study asked higher education teachers to give their opinions on the use of technology in the classroom. The study involved higher education teachers at public and private colleges and universities across the United States.

The 2018 Teaching with Technology Survey was published by the website Campus Technology. Of those questioned, 44 percent said technology made their job easier, while 29 percent said it made their job much easier.

While overall feelings about technology were good among college educators, an increasing number said technology could also be harmful. A total of 19 percent of those questioned said they felt technology had made their job harder or much harder.

The study also looked at how technology helped teaching effectiveness. A large majority of educators, 87 percent, said technology had positively affected their ability to teach.

Eleven percent said they felt technology had no effect on the quality of their teaching. Just two percent said technology had a negative effect on teaching.

Results of the survey also found teachers had good feelings about technologys effects on learning. Eighty-three percent said they felt technology had positively affected their students learning. Just nine percent said technology did not affect student learning, while eight percent said they believed it had a negative effect.

In releasing the study results, Campus Technology reported that some teachers had expressed mixed feelings about the use of technology. These opinions came in the form of open-ended questions answered directly by educators.

The educators were not identified. One noted that the learning process can suffer if students depend too much on their devices. People can easily get addicted to their devices, and using technology can change the way the brain develops - not always in a good way, the teacher wrote.

Another educator wrote: Technology is accidentally increasing students' weakness in reading and figuring things out (or critical thinking). They confuse clicking with learning.

Another expressed that while technology had improved learning in some areas, it had also created a false sense of security in others. The teacher said more research should be done on how the use of technology compares to traditional teaching methods.

For example, several recent studies have shown that taking notes with pen and paper improves student learning over taking notes on a laptop, the educator wrote. For some students, the laptop is necessary. For the majority, it's a detriment to their learning.

Research organization Gallup published a study earlier this year on the use of digital devices by students in grades K-12.

In that study, 42 percent of teachers said the effects of devices on students education was mostly helpful. About 30 percent of educators said they were neither helpful nor harmful to students. However, 28 percent said they thought the use of such devices was mostly harmful.

Earlier research has shown that a large majority of students at all age levels own a smartphone. An estimated 53 percent of elementary school students have their own digital devices. About 65 percent of middle school students are thought to own them, along with at least 82 percent of high school students.

The Gallup study also asked teachers to give their opinions on the possible harmful effects of digital device usage.

About 55 percent of K-12 teachers said the effects of digital devices on students physical health are mostly harmful. Forty-two percent said they felt the devices are neither helpful nor harmful.

And about 69 percent of teachers said they feel digital devices are mostly harmful to students mental health.

Parents were mostly more supportive than teachers of digital devices and their effects on school-age children. The Gallup study found that 87 percent of parents believe such devices are mostly helpful, while 13 percent said they are mostly hurtful.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

digital  adj. relating to computer technology, especially the internet

positive  adj. having good and happy thoughts about something

negative  adj. not desirable or hopeful

addicted  adj. physically and mentally dependent on something

figure out v.

click  v. to press on part of a computer to make it do something

laptop  n. small computer designed to be easily carried

detriment  n. causing damage to something

K-12  adj. relating to primary and secondary education. The U.S., Canada and other countries use the term to describe publicly supported school grades before the start of collegeRussia is making plans to hold its biggest war games in nearly 40 years.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the military exercises on Tuesday. He said they will take place next month and also involve the armies of China and Mongolia.

The Reuters news agency says the exercises, called Vostok-2018, will take place in Russias central and eastern military districts. It will involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, and two of Russias naval fleets, Shoigu said in a statement.

The war games are coming at a time of increased tensions between Russia and the West. Russian officials are concerned about what they say is an unjustified build-up of the NATO military alliance along their countrys western borders.

NATO officials say the alliance strengthened its forces in Europe to stop possible Russian military action after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. They add that the Russian government supported a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

The war games will take place from September 11 to 15. They are likely to displease Japan, which is already worried about a Russian military build-up in East Asia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to attend a meeting in the Russian city of Vladivostok over the same period. A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday that Japan is closely watching military cooperation between Russia and China.

The Russian defense minister said the war games would be the biggest since 1981. That was 10 years before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A more forceful Russia

When asked if the cost of holding such a massive exercise was justified, a Russian government spokesman said such war games were important.

The countrys ability to defend itself in the current international situation, which is often aggressive and unfriendly towards our country, means (the exercise) is justified, the official said.

When asked if Chinese involvement meant China and Russia were moving towards an alliance, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it showed that the two countries were cooperating in all areas.

China and Russia have held military exercises together before, but never exercises this large.

NATO spokesman Dylan White said that Russia had told the alliance about the planned exercises in May. He said NATO planned to watch it closely.

Russia has invited military attaches from NATO countries to observe the war games. White said that offer was under consideration.

All nations have the right to exercise their armed forces, he wrote in an email. He added that it is important that exercises be transparent and predictable.

Russia is increasing its defense budget and its military presence, White said, adding that these large exercises show that Russia appears to be preparing for large conflicts.

Shoigu had earlier announced the start of immediate conflict readiness checks in the central and eastern military areas before the planned exercises.

Im Susan Shand.

The Reuters news agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted the report for VOA Learning English. The editor was George Grow.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page .

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

fleet  n. a group of military ships that are controlled by one leader

district  n. an area or a part of something

attache  n. a person who works at an embassy as an expert on a particular subject

transparent adj. able to be seen clearly

checks  n. to stop and see if everything or everyone is prepared to actOver the years, Tajikistan has taken numerous steps to control the lives of its citizens.

The government has rules restricting how long men can grow their beards and the length of womens clothing. It also limits how much food Tajiks are legally permitted to prepare.

Now, the government is trying to control how its citizens are memorialized after they die.

Tajikistan is restricting the size of markers in the countrys burial grounds. News of these restrictions come from an official with the governments Committee on Religious Affairs and Regulation of National Traditions. He spoke with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

The official said that the rule is meant to limit public signs of the wealth of the dead person and his or her family members.

The state-controlled Jumhuriyat newspaper first reported on the memorial stone rules in February of 2017. But few people paid attention at that time. But in late August 2018, RFE/RL published a story about the rules. Now they appear to be the talk of the mostly Muslim country.

The Jumhuriyat report said that cemetery stones could be no more than 1.5 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 50 centimeters tall. Abdukarim Mustafozoda, an official with the governments religious affairs committee, made the announcement.

The official who spoke with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said the measurements were established by a government declaration. He added that local officials had been told to explain the rule to the public.

There is "no penaltyyet for violating the policy," the official added.

Last year, the government announced measures barring people from crying loudly at funerals, a traditional way of mourning in Tajikistan.

Officials have also set restrictions on the amount of money families can spend on funerals and other family events. One family in southern Tajikistan last year had food for a wedding party seized by officials who said a "wasteful" amount had been prepared.

Concerned about what they consider religious extremism, officials have tightened rules over Islamic organizations and the open expression of religious beliefs. The government already has rules for the length of mens facial hair, baby names and how women tie their head coverings.

The cemetery stone rule, however, is more in agreement with the traditional simple markers found in many Islamic cemeteries.

In announcing the rule last year, Mustafozoda wrote that Tajik cemeteries have become a place for people to show that they are rich.

"(It) is not only wrong, it's also against Islam, he wrote, adding that it was wasteful and unnecessary. He said families sometimes compete to put up the biggest possible stone.

Im Susan Shand.

RFE/RLs Carl Schreck and Mullorajab Yusufzoda reported this story. Susan Shand adapted their report for VOA Learning English. RFE/RL and VOA are both part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), formerly called the Broadcasting Board of Governors. George Grow was the editor. _____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

beard  n. the hair that grows from mans chin

cemetery  n. the place where the dead are buried

penalty  n. the result of breaking the rulesThe owner of a Texas company that makes 3D printed guns said Tuesday that he is selling the printing plans through his website.

A federal court order bars him from posting the plans online.

The owner, Cody Wilson, told reporters he started selling the plans Tuesday morning. He said he had already received 400 orders. He also said he will sell the plans to anyone in the United States for as little as one cent.

Anyone who wants to get these files is going to get them, Wilson said. They can just name their price.

Wilson said some of his customers will be mailed a computer device that contains the printing plans. Others will receive the plans by email or some other secure download method.

Some people have paid for the plans with cryptocurrency, he said.

Wilson first used a website to publish designs for a printable handgun in 2013. But the U.S. State Department soon ordered him to stop, saying the designs violated laws related to weapons exports.

This summer, the two parties reached a settlement that would permit Wilson's company, Defense Distributed, to post the designs. Shortly after, 19 American states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. government, seeking to cancel that settlement.

The states argued that online access to plastic handguns would create a security risk, especially if criminals or terrorists gain access to the gun-making plans. Plastic guns can go through metal detectors without being found.

In July, a U.S. District Judge in Seattle, Robert Lasnik, temporarily banned Defense Distributed from posting the plans online. That ban was to end Tuesday.

On Monday, however, Lasnik extended the ban. He said the "undetectable nature of these small firearms makes them especially dangerous.

Wilson said he believes the ruling still permits him to sell the printing plans.

Im following yesterdays orders that direct me to sell the files, Wilson said.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson directed the federal lawsuit.

He said, I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson...accountable to that law. If they dont, President Trump will be responsible for anyone who is hurt or killed as a result of these weapons.

Wilson said he believes he could have begun selling the printing plans earlier. He said he chose not to because he wanted to be able to post them online for wider availability.

For many years I chose not to sell these files, Wilson said. I dont expect to make money on it.

Im Ashley Thompson.

The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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Words in This Story

3D (three-dimensional) - n. having or seeming to have length, width, and depth

printing - n. the process of producing books, magazines, etc. by using machinery

cryptocurrency - n. a money that only exists electronically

access - n. a way of being able to use or get something

detector - n. a device that can tell if a substance or object is present

accountable - adj. required to be responsible for something

Lionfish are known for their beauty and unusual look, a common choice for people showing off the colorful creatures in fish tanks.

But lionfish are also poisonous, with extremely long and separated spines to carry and shoot poison.

The native environment for lionfish includes the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. However, sea experts say lionfish were at some time released into the Atlantic Ocean, likely by people who had kept them in tanks.

Lionfish are currently considered a great threat to coral reefs and related sea life in coastal waters of the southeastern United States and Caribbean.

Scientists say the fish is a top predator that competes for food and space with native fish in the area. Lionfish kill off and eat many other kinds of fish that are important in helping coral reefs grow and stay healthy.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says lionfish reproduce very quickly and are continuing to expand. NOAA scientists predict further reef damage as lionfish keep attacking fish populations already threatened by the effects of climate change, pollution and overfishing.

Now there is a new solution for fighting back. University researchers are developing an underwater robot to hunt down, kill and collect lionfish.

A student-led team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts developed the robot. The team recently demonstrated the device and is continuing to test and make changes to it.

The team says it used machine learning, advanced computer vision libraries and brain like networks to develop the robots vision. It is also equipped to operate underwater without human control.

The robot is designed to recognize the lionfish, chase it and shoot the animal with a spear. The spear then separates from the robot and floats the fish to the surface for collection.

Craig Putnam is a computer science professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a director of the schools Robotics Engineering Program. He says the robot was built to simplify the process of hunting down and collecting this aggressive fish.

The goal is to be able to toss the robot over the side of a boat and have it go down to the reef, plot out a course, and begin its search, he said.

Putnam notes the robot will be required to follow a complex path to avoid the reef, other sea creatures  and people - to reach and catch its target. But his team is hopeful the fishlike vehicle can be a part of the environmental solution to limit further damage.

Putnam said his team trained the robot system by showing it thousands of images of lionfish in different colors, from many directions and under different lighting conditions. The robot can correctly identify lionfish about 95 percent of the time, he added.

The head of the universitys Robotics Resource Center, Kenneth Stafford, said he is glad the development team was not afraid to take on such a serious environmental problem. This is a real-world problem and the students attacked it, he said.

The team said one of the hardest parts of the project was designing a container for the robots electronics system. It had to protect it from the harmful effects of saltwater.

In the coming months, the team will be working to perfect the robots satellite guidance system.

The researchers hope that in addition to helping reduce reef damage, the system can also provide economic help. They say that since lionfish are a popular food item, fisherman could use the robots to safely catch the fish and sell it to local restaurants.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

spine  n. line of bones going down the center of the back that provides support for the body and protects the spinal cord

predator  n. animal that hunts and kills other animals for food

coral reef  n. long line of coral that lies in warm, shallow water (coral: a hard material formed on the bottom of the sea by the skeletons of small creatures)

spear  n. pole with a sharp point at one end that is used as a weapon

toss  v. throw

plot  v. map out plans for directionExperts say China could face problems if the United States stops supplying some technologies needed for Chinese companies.

Such a move could hurt the competitiveness of Chinese industries.

Scott Kennedy is the Deputy Director of the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic & International Studies based in Washington. He said China may be forced to change its industrial policies to deal with a developing situation.

It will put a lot of pressure on China to increase domestic consumption and domestic investments to replace the loss of opportunities with the United States and that could put pressure on (Chinese President) Xi Jinping, he said.

The U.S. has placed heavy duties on a number of Chinese products. Experts say that the taxes on Chinese exports have affected Chinas investment in fixed assets such as big roads or railway projects and factories. Chinese investment in such projects grew six percent in the first half of the year. However, that is down from earlier periods.

U.S. may block the flow of some technologies

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has said it wants to stop the unfair movement of U.S. technology to China. It points to the large trade deficit the U.S. has with China, which reached about $375 billion in 2017.

Observers suggest that U.S. efforts to limit technology going to China are in response to the Made in China 2025 development plan. That plan sets high goals for China to be competitive in fields such as electric cars, robots and other important technologies.

Earlier U.S. administrations have shown concern over so-called dual-use technologies. These are technologies that have both civilian and military uses.

The Trump administration has shown it is willing to limit other technologies as well.

Kennedy said the U.S. may be trying to limit the Chinese development plan and also to move supply chains out of China.

Chinas concerns

China is concerned about its supply of semi-conductor technology from U.S.-based companies Intel and Qualcomm. Chinas huge electronics industry depends on U.S. semiconductors.

Lourdes Casanova is director of the Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell Universitys S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management in New York. She notes that, China still buys a lot of semi-conductors from [the] U.S.

However, she added, China is investing a lot of money to make its own semi-conductors and be less dependent on Intel.

Chinas traditional strength in manufacturing has been its low cost of labor. However, new technologies are replacing some labor-intensive jobs. Technologies that are doing this include artificial intelligence, robotics, three dimensional printing and highly connected devices known as the internet of things.

China has made technology a main part of its long-term development plans.

However, some commentators in China say technology could continue to be a point of disagreement with the West. They even suggest that the U.S. and Europe may seek to cut off China from these areas.

Im Mario Ritter.

Saibal Dasgupta reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

domestic adj. made in your own country

consumption n. the act of buying things

duties n. taxes on goods being brought into a country

artificial intelligence n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.An Angolan delegation, led by the Secretary of State for Geology and Mines, Janio Correia Victor will be present from 29 August at the Africa Down Under conference, which will take place in Perth, Australia and will use the occasion to announce Angolas new diamond policy internationally.

Accompanying Correia Victor, among other diamond sector officials, is the director for Strategic Planning and Mining Operations of Angolan national state diamond company Endiama.

Angola will also provide information on projects open to foreign investment in the diamond sector and offer up information about the new Angola Mining Code. The Angolan head of state, Joao Lourenco, announced last July the new Diamond Marketing Policy, which ended a scheme that had preferential customers buying Angolan precious stones.

Diamond companies present in Angola will now be able to freely sell up to 60 percent of their total production.

The new Diamond Marketing Policy provides for the restructuring of the former system of preferential customers  which had the most advantageous conditions in the acquisition of Angolan rough diamonds  for one more suited to the sales policy.

The new legislation also stipulates the sale by producers to customers with long-term contracts authorized by the Government and the cutters in Angola as well as the auction model for special stones.

During the trip to Australia Endiama will meet with representatives of Australian company Lucapa Diamond Mining, which already operates in Angola in the Lulo Project in the northeastern province of Lunda Norte.

A statement from Endiama said that the meeting will address the possibility of establishing new partnerships in the sector. MDT/MacauhubThe Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association has suspended a common law course it was running at the prestigious Peking University in the Chinese capital, after two lawyers from the course and the Bar Associations chairman were advised by the institution not to travel to the mainland.

Citing a letter from the Bar Association, Hong Kong public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported that Chairman Philip Dykes and two barristers were not given any reasons for the rejection.

As a result of the communication breakdown between the Bar Association and Peking University, the former institution has decided to indefinitely suspend the common law course, which had been taught on a volunteer basis for years.

Dykes said that Peking University had objected to the attendance of two barristers who planned to travel to Beijing to deliver lectures at the institution.

The Bar Association chairman had planned to come to Beijing himself to attend a closing ceremony for the course and decided to use the opportunity to confront Peking University on the matter.

However, after requesting a letter of invitation from the university in early May, he told RTHK that a phone call from the university gave me the message that I must not come  again without an explanation.

Weve had over six or seven years [ and] weve had many people go up there doing courses on various topics, he said. [This] has been a very popular course.

But this year, we were told that the people whove been teaching the course previously for several years are no longer acceptable.

Professor Jiang Shigong of Peking University, who coordinates the course on the mainland, contests Dykess account. Jiang says that there was no closing ceremony this year and that although Dykes was welcome to visit the institution, there was no need for him to come at this time. The university professor also said that the decision was unrelated to Dykess political stance.Hong Kongs Security Bureau is set to present preparatory work in conjunction with its law-

enforcement departments for two new immigration checkpoints created for a cross-border high-speed railway and a bridge linking Macau and the mainland city of Zhuhai.

Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu is in Beijing with 120 law-enforcement officials for a meeting with their mainland Chinese counterparts, the South China Morning Post reported.

The delegation met Zhang Xiaoming, director of the State Councils Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, on Sunday and the vice-premier Han Zheng at the Great Hall of the People yesterday.

Meanwhile, according to him, officials have already conducted tests and drills inside the West Kowloon station for the rail line, which is set to commence operations on September 23.

Lee said that plans for daily operations and emergency management had been mapped out, with the mainland officers to be stationed at the terminal.

We tested each departments system and operations with drills of different scales. We also tested their collective operations in drills engaging multiple disciplined services, he said. The results were satisfying.

Lee also made comments regarding the rule change at its airport, which now allows the screening of passenger bags without their owners present.

Previously, a debate was held on the possibility of the government facing a legal challenge over the decision to alter the baggage rule.

According to him, the security practice was in line with international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

He added that he is confident in Hong Kongs aviation security. Our existing aviation security procedures are similar to those exercised at international airports in various countries, and the implementation of

our security program has been smooth, he said.Infrastructure growth in the SAR plays a pivotal role in the citys gaming industry even if its revenue from the VIP segment continues to be volatile, a leading corporate finance consultant in the field of gaming and hospitality has said.

David Bonnet, managing partner of Delta State Holdings, has told American television channel CNBC that he remains optimistic about the growth opportunities for the regions gaming industry.

Infrastructure growth in China and Macau is really going to be a gamechanger [in] the revenue growth in Macau, particularly with the bridge opening, said the analyst.

Not to mention also the ramp-up of the expanded Taipa Ferry Terminal, so all these things are just good types of infrastructure and [show a] good economic outlook for Macau, he added.

Although Chinas president Xi Jinping initiated the anti-corruption initiatives in 2014, which scared off many high-rollers from gambling in Macau, Bonnet believes that the campaign was designed to eliminate inappropriate types of gaming from government officials.

That by and large has kind of been [weeded] out and now you see a much [more] healthy, robust market with a mass gaming [market] representing much more of a significant portion of its overall revenue component, said Bonnet.

Although the VIP market is slightly more volatile, the analyst said that it will continue to be a part of the gaming industrys revenue segment.

It has its ups and downs, but generally speaking, its been around for a while now; its robust, he said.Japan needs to bolster its missile defenses and its alliance with the United States, its government stressed in an annual defense review that judged North Korea to still be a serious threat that has not taken concrete steps to denuclearize.

The defense paper, approved yesterday by the Cabinet, said Japan must add to its missile defense capabilities to be fully prepared while watching if North Korea keeps its promise.

President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a vague joint statement at their summit in June that included agreements to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Last week, Trump directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to postpone a planned trip to the North, citing insufficient progress.

North Korea tested intercontinental ballistic missiles last year, including launching some over Japan, and it deploys several hundred shorter-range Rodong missiles capable of hitting Japan. The defense paper also says Pyongyang likely has made miniaturized nuclear warheads it can place atop ballistic missiles, an advancement of its nuclear capability that North Korea has claimed to have achieved.

North Korea has increased the range, accuracy and versatility of its missiles and diversified its launch sites and methods over the past few years. In addition to the three nuclear tests the North has conducted since 2016, it also has carried out more than 40 missile tests in that time, according to the paper.

Its military actions have become an unprecedentedly serious and imminent threat to Japans national security, the paper said. There is no change in our basic recognition about the threat of North Koreas nuclear weapons and missiles.

It was significant that Kim promised to pursue denuclearization of the peninsula but it is necessary to watch what North Korea does to scrap its nuclear weapons and missiles, the report said.

While the United States is primarily concerned about the ICBMs that can reach its mainland, Japan is within range of North Koreas smaller missiles. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed to raise Japans military participation and its missile defenses. Joint exercises with the U.S. and other defense partners including Britain and Australia have significantly increased, and Japan is buying costly U.S. equipment as Trump tries to sell more weapons and reduce the U.S. trade deficit.

Japan is currently updating its national defense guidelines and the medium-term defense program to reflect North Koreas threat, and to have necessary and sufficient defense capabilities qualitatively and quantitatively, the paper said.

It has also stepped up surveillance and patrolling in regional seas to crack down on offshore ship-to-ship oil transfers to North Korean vessels in violation to U.N. sanctions.

Yesterdays report comes days before Japans Defense Ministry is set to approve its fiscal 2019 budget plan that would include an initial acquisition cost for a land-to-air missile defense system, Aegis Ashore. Opposition to that purchase has risen since Pyongyang suspended missile tests this year as it made diplomatic overtures to its ally China as well as the U.S. and South Korea.

The defense paper also raised strong concerns about Chinas military budget increases, its modernization and buildup of forces and weaponry, and its continuing assertive moves in the regions airspace and seas.

Japan and China have long disagreed over their history and over a cluster of East China Sea islands they both claim, but their relations have seemed to improve as China tries to be a leader in Asia, a better neighbor and a contrast to Trumps U.S.-first policy. The defense paper welcomed Chinas cooperation in starting a mechanism for sea and air defense communications, an initiative meant to avoid unanticipated events in disputed areas. Mari Yamaguchi , Tokyo, APThe Macau logistics industry is skeptical about the benefits the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) will bring to their sector.

Earlier, the Customs Service announced that the local government would build big-scale logistics facilities on the artificial island of the HKZMB linking to Macau. The project is still yet to go to public tender for its design and construction.

Kou Kun Pang, the chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, told TDM that the new facility should include a frozen foods warehouse for food exports and imports.

Trucks arent allowed to enter directly into Macau via the Hong KongZhuhaiMacau Bridge. So the products have to be driven further before reaching their final destination. Nobody wants their products to be stuck in the center for too long and they want them to be transferred once they arrive to Macau. How do we ensure that? he asked. Kou also argued that it is of crucial importance to set up a onestop service that speeds up customs clearance, food safety inspections and cross border delivery.

Victor Lei, managing director of International Logistics and Forwarding Association of Macau, said he does not have any expectations about the bridges logistics arrangement, nor does he know anything about it.

The handling of products and passengers is mixed on the bridge. How do we separate this? Arent we going to get sidestepped? We dont get any updates because they never release any information after holding the so called closed-door meetings.

In the past, the government said that the cross- border industrial zone would be an unusual port, and also claimed that the Hengqin port would be available 24 hours daily for the logistics industry.

In Leis opinion, both the cross-border industrial zone and the Hengqin Port have disappointed the logistics industry.

Regarding the HKZMB, it has been joked by the logistics industry to either be a Hong Kong-Zhuhai bridge or a Hong Kong-Macau bridge, since there is not a specific Zhuhai-Macau logistics channel.

Lei also believes that the bridge will not help to integrate Macaus logistics industry into the Greater Bay Areas development.The Mozambican Aviation Institute granted an operational certificate to Maputo International Airport on Monday that guarantees it upholds the international standards required for it to receive flights from any country or region.

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Carlos Mesquita said at the ceremony to award the certificate, it is important to boost the aviation sector, making it more competitive, taking into account Mozambiques tourism potential and diversity.

The certificate is a document that provides a guarantee to all countries in the world that the company is within the safety standards required to receive flights coming from any part of the globe.

A team from the Civil Aviation Institute of Mozambique has been working at Maputo International Airport for three years, during which it audited accounts and renovated runways and parking bays for domestic and international flights. The Civil Aviation Institute of Mozambique now plans to certify the airports of Beira and Nampula. Until last year Mozambique was included in the European aviation blacklist. MDT/MacauhubRyanair Holdings Plc signed its first-ever union contract, granting Italian pilots perks such as severance pay in a deal the airline hopes to repeat across its network to contain a protracted labor dispute.

The deal commits Ryanair to making contributions to national health care and social-security funds as well as paternity rights, the Italian pilots union ANPAC said in a statement. A wide majority backed the agreement after eight months of negotiations, it said.

Winning over Italian pilots should bolster Ryanairs hopes ahead of similar negotiations with unions elsewhere in Europe, and limits the extent of any future industrial action that has already led to more than a thousand cancellations this summer. A similar so-called Collective Labor Agreement will be put to flight-deck crew in Ireland for approval after a breakthrough in negotiations last week.

We welcome this first CLA with our Italian pilots and hope that it will be shortly followed by a similar agreement covering our Irish pilots, Ryanair Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said in a separate statement. We have invited our U.K., German and Spanish unions to meet with us in the coming days. Bloomberg[August 28, 2018] AMAX Ireland Achieves NVIDIA Preferred Partner Status AMAX Ireland Certified to Provide GPU-Accelerated Solutions for Artificial Intelligence and High Performance Computing SHANNON, Ireland, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AMAX, a global provider of NVIDIA GPU solutions, announced today that its Ireland organization has achieved Preferred Partner status in NVIDIA's solution provider partner program, part of the NVIDIA Partner Network (NPN). Located in Shannon, Ireland, AMAX is dedicated to serving the European market with cutting-edge high-density GPU servers, GPU clusters and GPU workstations for high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI)/deep learning applications. As an NVIDIA Preferred Partner, AMAX Ireland has verified its technical proficiency in designing and supporting NVIDIA technology and is able to support its European customers with the latest and greatest technology releases, technical support and competitive pricing to provide world-class solutions and services. "AMAXis responding to the increasing demand for experienced GPU solutions providers, particularly those technically proficient in guiding companies through an AI development strategy," said Denis O'Shea, head of commercial affairs, AMAX Ireland. "Becoming an NPN Preferred Partner builds on AMAX's established global reputation as a leader in AI and HPC solutions, ensuring our customer base in Ireland and throughout Europe has access to the latest enterprise technologies." "AI is at the heart of business transformation, driving growth and increased demand for deep learning expertise throughout Europe," says Richard Jackson, head of EMEA partner organization, NVIDIA. "AMAX's proficiency in supporting AI initiatives through technical expertise and high-performance solutions featuring NVIDIA Tesla GPUs enables customers to accelerate their AI development to take advantage of this exciting market opportunity." AMAX Ireland serves as the EMEA extension of AMAX Engineering Corp., headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, Fremont, California. As a longstanding NVIDIA NPN Elite Partner, AMAX is a full-cycle provider for GPU compute at any scale, providing solutions for R&D, innovation development, deep learning training and inference, and rack scale data center deployments running mission-critical workloads. All solutions are expertly designed by HPC engineers and account for performance, cost and power efficiency, as well as power and thermal considerations to ensure that the solutions satisfy performance and scalability requirements once deployed to customer sites. For more information, visit AMAX's GPU solutions or contact Elaine Gonzalez, global strategy and integrated marketing communications manager, elaine_gonzalez@amax.com. About AMAX AMAX is a global leader in award-winning AI/Deep Learning, Cloud and Data Center high-performance computing solutions. AMAX solutions are designed to represent the intersection between high performance and best efficiency for today's highly efficient data center. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, AMAX Ireland is dedicated to direct support for customers throughout Europe, providing Silicon Valley's most cutting-edge computing technologies while being Made-in-the-EU for the highest quality, faster delivery and hands-on support. SOURCE AMAX

[ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ][August 29, 2018] Kdan Mobile to Demonstrate Workplace Mobility Solutions and Unveil New Product Features at MWC Americas 2018 PITTSBURGH, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kdan Mobile Software Ltd (Kdan Mobile), a global Software as a Service provider headquartered in Taiwan, today announced its participation in Mobile World Congress (MWC) Americas, an international gathering of the most innovative minds in the mobile industry. This three-day event will take place from Sept. 12-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif. During the show the company will give functionality demonstrations, reveal expected new team collaboration and AI reading features, and run special promotions. "We've been working on a number of new features that improve the way we collaborate, work and interact with technology in the mobile environment and we're excited to share some at MWCA," said Wei-Chung Wang, vice-president of global marketing and strategy at Kdan Mobile. "We aim to change the way the world sees business mobility and share how we can help build a mobile workplace for a better future." Kdan Mobile will participate in the MWCA Business Transformation Tour. The company has prepared a special presentation and exclusive swag bags for tour participants. In addition to revealing new features and giving live demonstrations of their flagship software solutions, Creativity 365 and Document 365, Kdan Mbile will also demonstrate how their software integrates with Adonit's and Maktar's (two of their alliance partners) hardware to exponentialize user capabilities. The company will offer event-exclusive free trial codes and on the spot purchase promotions including free gifts from their hardware alliance partners. Interested parties can sign up for a meeting with Kdan Mobile or stop by the company's booth W.524 to learn more and check out the new features mentioned above. For more information, schedule a meeting with us: https://www.kdanmobile.com/en/mwca About MWCA

Over two-thirds of the world's population is connected by mobile. MWCA brings together this industry's top leaders and influencers to create opportunities that will inspire ideas that lead to a better tomorrow. More than 1,000 exhibitors will showcase the industries' newest technologies and most innovative products to an expected 25,000+ attendees from across the globe. About Kdan Mobile Software Ltd

Since 2009, Kdan Mobile has been a dedicated provider of mobile software applications and online services that allow users to better leverage their productivity and creativity. Kdan's apps have received more than 120 million downloads worldwide; their solutions empower the world to create, distribute and conjoin projects via a variety of devices across platforms. Kdan Mobile is headquartered in Taiwan with operations in mainland China and the United States. Media Contact:

Clare Lo

Global Marketing & PR Specialist

Kdan Mobile Software Ltd.

+886-6-3131660

pr@kdanmobile.com

http://www.kdanmobile.com/ View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kdan-mobile-to-demonstrate-workplace-mobility-solutions-and-unveil-new-product-features-at-mwc-americas-2018-300703221.html SOURCE Kdan Mobile Software Ltd

[ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ]Scanning electron microscope image of Vibrio cholerae. Credit: Wikipedia

Research by University of Maryland microbiologist Rita Colwell is enabling a new British-led international aid effort to predict and stop potential epidemics of the disease cholera before they happen.

This international effort, which has already begun in Yemen, draws on decades of Colwell's work to understand the water-borne bacterium Vibrio cholerae that causes the disease, and uses a computer model designed to forecast cholera outbreaks developed by a team of U.S. scientists led by Colwell, a Distinguished University Professor in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, Antar Jutla, a hydrologist and civil engineer at West Virginia University, and UMD's Anwar Huq, a former graduate student of Colwell's who is a research professor in the university's Maryland Pathogen Research Institute.

Colwellwho began studying the bacterium in the late 1960s and first conceived the idea of forecasting and proactively fighting cholera outbreaks in 1995said seeing her vision realized in this new endeavor "is the greatest satisfaction any scientist, mathematician, or engineer could possibly have essentially a dream fulfilled."

Using data from NASA satellites and other sources, the team's computer model provides risk maps for cholera in Yemen and other regions in the world based on factors that include air and water temperatures; precipitation amounts; severity of natural disasters; availability of clean water; sanitation and hygiene infrastructure; population density; and severity of natural disasters.

"By being able to predict when and where cholera is of highest risk, it makes it possible to deliver supplies and arrange for safe drinking water effectively and accurately," said Colwell, a former director of the U.S. National Science Foundation whose highly acclaimed career bridges the disciplines of microbiology, genetics, ecology, infectious disease, public health, data analysis and satellite technology.

This spring, based on the model's predicted locations and timing for cholera outbreaks in war-torn Yemen, the British government together with UNICEF began providing aid to lessen both the spread and severity of the illness, which causes severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration, and even death, if untreated. Aid workers have distributed supplies for water sterilization and personal hygiene to reduce people's exposure to the bacteria, and provided rehydration salts, intravenous fluid packs and other supplies to reduce the severity illness in those that became infected.

"The conflict in Yemen is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with millions of people at risk of deadly but preventable diseases such as cholera," said Department for International Development Chief Scientist, Professor Charlotte Watts. "By joining up international expertise with those working on the ground, we have, for the very first time, used these sophisticated predictions to help save lives and prevent needless suffering for thousands of Yemenis."

Credit: University of Maryland

"This [collaborative effort] means public health intervention accurately, precisely delivered when and where needed," said Colwell. "It is truly satisfying to be able to see one's research, including that done here at the University over the past forty plus years, incorporated into an effective public health success on a global scale."

"I certainly hope other governments, NGOs, and the United Nations will incorporate our model into their ongoing work," she said. "Cholera offers a superb model for other waterborne and vector transmitted diseases."

A Vision Realized

The ability to predict and better respond to potential cholera epidemics is the direct result of Colwell's five decades of award-winning work to understand Vibrio cholerae and how it multiples and spreads to cause disease.

Her first key discovery was that the natural habitat for this bacterium was water, particularly among and within the microscopic animals and plants that constitute plankton. This meant that cholera outbreaks must first arise from consumption of contaminated drinking water drawn from sources such as rivers and ponds. Later she identified environmental conditions that determine whether these disease-causing bacteria lie dormant in their aquatic environments or flourish and proliferate. She also developed a simple, inexpensive and effective method of using readily available used sari cloth to filter pond and river to greatly reduce the incidence of cholera in villages in Bangladesh.

In 1995, while looking at colorful NASA satellite imagery showing a coastal bloom of plankton that are home to Vibrio cholerae, Colwell realized that satellite data could be used to forecast potential cholera outbreaks. More recently, Colwell has worked with colleagues Jutla, Huq and others to advance the science and computer science needed to develop this predictive capability. She also has led research that has increased our understanding of how changing environmental factors, such as the world's warming climate, are affecting the health risks posed by Vibrio cholerae and other vibrio bacteria.

"We still have a lot of work yet to do to increase accuracy and geographic applicability [of our predictive model]," said. "We also need to continue to accumulate ground truth data to strengthen the model. This means continuing our valuable molecular biology and genomic research on cholera done here at the University of Maryland. And we will be expanding our work in Africa where cholera continues to be devastating."

Explore further NASA investment in cholera forecasts helps save lives in YemenCredit: CC0 Public Domain

Hospitals are energy hogs.

With their 24/7 lighting, heating and water needs, they use up to five times more energy than a fancy hotel.

Executives at some systems view their facilities like hotel managers, adding amenities, upscale new lobbies and larger parking garages in an effort to attract patients and increase revenue. But some hospitals are revamping with a different goal in mind: becoming more energy-efficient, which can also boost the bottom line.

"We're saving $1 (million) to $3 million a year in hard cash," said Jeff Thompson, the former CEO of Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wis., the first hospital system in the U.S. to produce more energy than it consumed back in 2014. As an added benefit, he said, "we're polluting a lot less."

The health care sectorone of the nation's largest industriesis responsible for nearly 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissionshundreds of millions of tons worth of carbon each year. Hospitals make up more than one-third of those emissions, according to a paper by researchers at Northeastern University and Yale.

Increasingly, though, health systems are paying attention:

-Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin employs wind, wood chips, landfill-produced methane gasand even cow manureto generate power, reporting more than a 95 percent drop in its emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and mercury from 2008 to 2016.

-Boston Medical Center analyzed its hospital for duplicative and underused space, then downsized while increasing patient capacity. Among other changes, it now has a gas-fired 2-megawatt cogeneration plant that traps and reuses heat, saving money and emissions, while supplying 41 percent of the hospital's needs and acting as a backup for essential services if the municipal power grid goes out.

-Theda Clark Medical Center in Wisconsin is saving nearly $800,000 a year30 percent of its energy costsafter making changes that included retrofitting lights, insulating pipes, taking the lights out of vending machines and turning off air exchangers in parts of its building after hours.

-Kaiser Permanente aims to be "carbon-neutral" by 2020, mainly by incorporating solar energy at up to 100 of its hospitals and other facilities. One already in useat its Richmond (Calif.) Medical Centeris credited with reducing electric bills by about $140,000 a year. (Kaiser Health News is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)

While the environmental benefits are important, "what I've seen over the years is cost reductions are the prime motivator," said Patrick Kallerman, research manager at the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, which released a report this spring outlining ways the hospital industry can help states such as California reach environmental goals by becoming more efficient.

Some of its recommendations are simple: replacing old lighting and windows. Others are more complex: powering down heating and cooling in areas not being used and updating ventilation standards first set back in Florence Nightingale's day. Such tight standards "might not be necessary," Kallerman said. Loosening them could help save money and energy.

When Bob Biggio was hired in 2011 to oversee Boston Medical Center's facilities, hospital leaders were about to launch a broad redesign. Yet the hospital was also facing serious financial struggles. He put the move on hold while analyzing how the hospital was using its existing space, looking for unused or duplicative areas.

"My first impression with data I had gathered was our campus was about 400,000 square feet bigger than it needed to be, Biggio said. "A square foot you never have to build is most efficient of all."

The new design is smaller but more efficient, handling 20 percent higher patient volume and eliminating the need for ambulance transportation between far-flung areas of the campus. It also cut power consumption by 42 percent from a 2011 baseline.

While the hospital sunk a lot of money into the renovation, the center was able to sell off some of its land to help offset the costs, leading to about a five-year return on investment, Biggio said.

"We are a safety-net hospital with a large Medicaid population," he said. "So this is the last place people expect to see the type of investments and progress we've made."

But how to sell that in the C-suite?

The environmental argument wasn't how Thompson convinced executives at Gundersen.

"At no point did I mention climate change or polar bears," Thompson said.

Instead, he focused on the organization's mission to improve healthand the potential cost savings.

"There are multiple examplesat Gundersen and other placeswhere, if we're thoughtful, we can improve the local economy, lower the cost of health care and decrease the pollution that is making people sick," he said.

But hospitals' energy efficiency efforts vary, with only about 10 percent attempting changes as dramatic as those done at Gundersen, estimated Alex Thorpe, a hospital energy expert at Optum Advisory Services, a consulting firm owned by UnitedHealth Group.

"About 50 percent are in the middle," he added, perhaps because these investments are weighed against other capital needs.

"If you have a well-known doctor that wants a new cutting-edge piece of equipment, then it can be hard to make the business case (for investing in alternative energy)," said Thorpe.

Of the more than 5,000 hospitals in the country, about 1,100 are members of Practice Greenhealth, a nonprofit that promotes environmental stewardship. Fewer than 300 hospitals qualify as Energy Star facilities, an Environmental Protection Agency program that recognizes buildings that rank in the top quartile for energy conservation among their peers.

Greenhealth estimates its members average about a million dollars a year in savings, but it all depends what steps they take.

There are modest savings from such things as reducing the heating and air conditioning in operating rooms during hours they are not in use, with median annual cost savings of $45,398, a report from the group notes. Other energy reduction efforts net another median $53,599 in annual savings, while swapping older lighting for new LED bulbs in operating rooms saves another $3,329.

Individually, those savings are not even rounding errors in most hospitals' total expenses, which are measured in the millions of dollars.

Still, within facility expenses, energy use accounts for 51 percent of spending, so even modest cuts are "significant," said Kara Brooks, sustainability program manager for the American Society for Healthcare Engineering.

Ultimately, that may affect what hospitals charge insurers and patients.

"If hospitals can lower peak demand through energy efficiency efforts, that will directly impact their pricing," Thorpe said.

Explore further How hospitals can go green

2018 Kaiser Health News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.3-D model of Ketamine. Credit: Wikipedia

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that ketamine works as an antidepressant at least in part by activating the brain's opioid system.

The finding overturns previously held beliefs that the drug's antidepressant effects stemmed solely from its impact on the glutamate system. These beliefs led to the widespread use of ketamine to treat depression and spurred the development of glutamate-blocking drugs for use as antidepressants.

The new finding also highlights the interaction between depression, pain and opioid addiction and presents an opportunity for clinicians to reframe treatment approaches for three of the most important public health crises today.

The research is believed to be the first to address how ketamine works in the human brain to provide relief from depression. A paper describing the work will be published Aug. 29 in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

"Before we did the study, I wasn't sure that ketamine really worked to treat depression. Now I know the drug works, but it doesn't work like everyone thought it was working," said Alan Schatzberg, MD, the Kenneth T. Norris Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, who shares senior authorship of the paper with Carolyn Rodriguez, MD, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

Ketamine's origins

Ketamine was developed in the 1960s and has been used for decades as an anesthetic during surgery. It can cause dissociative side effects, including hallucinations, and has been used as a recreational drug. If used regularly, it can lead to dependence.

Although the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug's use for depression, some doctors have prescribed it "off-label" in recent years as a rapid but short-acting antidepressant. Traditional antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, take four to six weeks to have an effect but don't work in two-thirds of patients who try them. Stand-alone ketamine clinics have popped up all over the country to administer expensive intravenous infusions of ketamine to patients, even though some scientists caution that not enough is known about the drug to warrant its widespread use for depression.

Ketamine infusions are also used to treat chronic pain, which is a common condition in depressed patients. Exactly how ketamine blunts pain is not fully understood, but it is known to work at least in part on the opioid system. The Stanford researchers wanted to see if the antidepressive effects of ketamine were also generated by ketamine's activation of the opioid system. They sought to answer this question through a small clinical trial in which people with depression were given an opioid-receptor blocker prior to taking ketamine.

The study enrolled adults with treatment-resistant depression, meaning their condition had not improved after multiple treatment efforts. Twelve participants received infusions of ketamine twiceonce preceded by naltrexone, an opioid-receptor blocker, and once with placebo. Neither the study participants nor the researchers were told whether active drug or placebo was administered during each test. The researchers found that ketamine reduced depressive symptoms by about 90 percent for three days in more than half of the participants when administered with a placebo, but had virtually no effect on depressive symptoms when it was preceded by naltrexone.

"This was purely a mechanistic study, not a treatment trial," said Nolan Williams, MD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science. "And the results were so clear that we ended the study early to avoid exposing additional patients to the ineffective combination treatment." Williams shares lead authorship of the paper with Boris Heifets, MD, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine.

Because the field of anesthesia has long regarded ketamine specifically as a nonopioid drug, Heifets was skeptical when Williams approached him about joining the research effort. "Everything that I was taught, and everything that I've always taught my studentsall of the evidence supports the fact that ketamine is not an opioid," he said. "I was really surprised at the results."

Understanding how it works

Although some small studies have shown that ketamine had rapid, although transient, antidepressant effects, Schatzberg said the researchers wanted to understand how ketamine works. He said he came to suspect that ketamine's effects might be linked to the brain's opioid system when Rodriguez published a report on ketamine's ability to reduce symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, which was similar to previous Stanford research using the opioid morphine.

The prevailing hypothesis for ketamine's antidepressant effect was that the drug blocked a receptor for glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain that is implicated in memory and learning. "But ketamine's mechanism is complicated, as it acts on many different receptor types beyond glutamate receptors, and it acts in three distinct phasesrapid effects, sustained effects and return to baseline," Rodriguez said.

Schatzberg noted that no other glutamate-receptor blocker has an antidepressant effect like ketamine and that attempts to develop similar drugs have largely failed.

The researchers said the findings from the new study may explain why ketamine works so quickly as an antidepressant: It activates the brain's opioid receptors during its first phase of activity. The glutamate system may be responsible for the sustaining effects after ketamine is metabolized, they said.

The authors say that revealing the role of the opioid system in the antidepressant effects of ketamine is critical in the effort to develop new antidepressants. For instance, glutamate receptor blockers may not have rapid antidepressant effects unless they also involve the opioid system, Williams said.

"Psychiatry used opioids, barbiturates and high doses of stimulants to treat depression 50 or 60 years ago," Schatzberg said. "We have to properly examine the risks associated with using drugs of abuseeven in low dosesto treat depression. It's not limited to ketamine; other antidepressant drugs that target the opioid system are in development now, too."

While a standard opioid like morphine initially has an antidepressant effect, it promotes depression after repeated use, Williams said. People who are depressed take as much as 2.4 times as many opioids immediately after painful surgeries than those who aren't depressed, he said. "There is truly a link between depression, pain and opioid use," Heifets said. "You can't go after one without addressing the others."

More information: American Journal of Psychiatry (2018). DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18020138 Journal information: American Journal of Psychiatry (2018). DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18020138Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Credit: UC San Diego Health

Writing in advance of the September 15 issue of Neural Computation, Beatrice Golomb, MD, Ph.D., professor of medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, says publicly reported symptoms and experiences of a "mystery illness" afflicting American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and China strongly match known effects of pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic (RF/MW) radiation.

Her conclusions, she said, may aid in the treatment of the diplomats (and affected family members) and assist U.S. government agencies seeking to determine the precise cause. More broadly, Golomb said her research draws attention to a larger population of people who are affected by similar health problems.

"I looked at what's known about pulsed RF/MW in relation to diplomats' experiences," said Golomb. "Everything fits. The specifics of the varied sounds that the diplomats reported hearing during the apparent inciting episodes, such as chirping, ringing and buzzing, cohere in detail with known properties of so-called 'microwave hearing,' also known as the Frey effect.

"And the symptoms that emerged fit, including the dominance of sleep problems, headaches and cognitive issues, as well as the distinctive prominence of auditory symptoms. Even objective findings reported on brain imaging fit with what has been reported for persons affected by RF/MW radiation."

Beginning in 2016, personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba (as well as Canadian diplomats and family members) described hearing strange sounds, followed by development of an array of symptoms. The source of the health problems has not been determined. Though some officials and media have described the events as "sonic attacks," some experts on sound have rejected this explanation. In May of this year, the State Department reported that U.S. government employees in Guangzhou, China had also experienced similar sounds and health problems.

Affected diplomats and family members from both locations were medically evacuated to the U.S. for treatment, but despite multiple government investigations, an official explanation of events and subsequent illnesses has not been announced. At least two early published studies examining available data were inconclusive.

In her paper, scheduled to be published September 15 in Neural Computation, Golomb compared rates of described symptoms among diplomats with a published 2012 study of symptoms reported by people affected by electromagnetic radiation in Japan. By and large, she said the cited symptomsheadache, cognitive problems, sleep issues, irritability, nervousness or anxiety, dizziness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears)occurred at strikingly similar rates.

Some diplomats reported hearing loss. That symptom was not assessed in both studies so rates could not be compared, but Golomb said it is widely reported in both conditions. She also noted that previous brain imaging research in persons affected by RF/ EMR "showed evidence of traumatic brain injury, paralleling reports in diplomats."

David O. Carpenter, MD, is director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, part of the State University of New York. He was not involved in Golomb's study. He said evidence cited by Golomb illustrates "microwave hearing," which results "from heating induced in tissue, which causes 'waves' in the ear and results in clicks and other sounds." Reported symptoms, he said, characterize the syndrome of electrohypersensitivity (EHS), in which unusual exposure to radiofrequency radiation can trigger symptoms in vulnerable persons that may be permanent and disabling.

"We have seen this before when the Soviets irradiated the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in the days of the Cold War," he said.

Golomb, whose undergraduate degree was in physics, conducts research investigating the relationship of oxidative stress and mitochondrial functionmechanisms shown to be involved with RF/EMR injuryto health, aging, behavior and illness. Her work is wide-ranging, with published studies on Gulf War illness, statins, antibiotic toxicity, ALS, autism and the health effects of chocolate and trans fats, with a secondary interest in research methods, including placebos.

Golomb said an analysis of 100 studies examining whether low-level RF produced oxidative injury found that 93 studies concluded that it did. Oxidative injury or stress arises when there is an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and the body's detoxifying antioxidant defenses. Oxidative stress has been linked to a range of diseases and conditions, from Alzheimer's disease, autism and depression to cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as toxic effects linked to certain drugs and chemicals. More to the point, Golomb said, oxidative injury has been linked to the symptoms and conditions reported in diplomats.

The health consequences of RF/MW exposure is a matter of on-going debate. Some government agencies, such as the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute, publicly assert that low- to mid-frequency, non-ionizing radiation like those from microwaves and RF is generally harmless. They cite studies that have found no conclusive link between exposure and harm.

But others, including researchers like Golomb, dispute that conclusion, noting that many of the no-harm studies were funded by vested industries or had other conflicts of interest. She said independent studies over decades have reported biological effects and harms to health from nonionizing radiation, specifically RF/MW radiation, including via oxidative stress and downstream mechanisms, such as inflammation, autoimmune activation and mitochondrial injury.

Golomb compared the situation to persons with peanut allergies: Most people do not experience any adverse effect from peanut exposure, but for a vulnerable subgroup, exposure produces negative, even life-threatening, consequences.

In her analysis, Golomb concludes that "of hypotheses tendered to date, (RF/MW exposure) alone fits the facts, including the peculiar ones" regarding events in Cuba and China. She said her findings advocate for more robust attention to pulsed RF/MW and associated adverse health effects.

"The focus must be on research by parties free from ties to vested interests. Such research is needed not only to explain and address the symptoms in diplomats, but also for the benefit of the small fractionbut large numberof persons outside the diplomatic corps, who are beset by similar problems."

Explore further Coenzyme Q10 helps veterans battle Gulf War illness symptoms

More information: Neural Computation, www.golombresearchgroup.org/pressThe illustration shows the episodic time from the experience of a 4-hour-long ski trip up and down a steep mountain, including events that alter the skier's perception of time. The idea is that experienced time is event-dependent and may be perceived as faster or slower than clock time. The newly discovered neural record of experienced time is in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) in green. Next to the LEC is the MEC, the brain's seat for space (not depicted). Next to the MEC is the hippocampus, the structure in which information from the time and space networks come together to form episodic memories. Credit: Infographic: Kolbjrn Skarpnes & Rita Elmkvist Nilsen / NTNU Communication Division & Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience

Researchers at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway have discovered a network of brain cells that expresses our sense of time within experiences and memories.

"This network provides timestamps for events and keeps track of the order of events within an experience," says Professor Edvard Moser, Nobel laureate and director of the Kavli Institute, which is based at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). This area of the brain where time is experienced is located right next to the area that codes for space.

Telling time

Clocks are devices created by humans to measure time. By social contract, we agree to coordinate our own activities according to clock time. Nevertheless, your brain does not perceive the duration in time with the standardized units of minutes and hours on your wristwatch. The signature of time in our experiences and memories belongs to a different kind of temporality altogether.

Over the course of evolution, living organisms including humans have developed multiple biological clocks to help us keep track of time. What separates the brain's various timekeepers is not only the scale of time that is measured, but also the phenomena the neural clocks are tuned to. Some timekeepers are set by external processes, like the circadian clock that is tuned to the rise and fall of daylight. This clock helps organisms adapt to the rhythms of a day.

Other timekeepers are set by phenomena of more intrinsic origins, like the hippocampal time cells that form a domino-like chain signal that tracks time spans up to 10 seconds precisely. Today we know a great deal about the brain's mechanisms for measuring small timescales like seconds. Little is known, however, about the timescale the brain uses to record our experiences and memories, which can last anywhere from seconds to minutes to hours.

A Neural Clock for Experienced Time

A neural clock that keeps track of time during experiences is precisely what Albert Tsao and his colleagues at NTNU's Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience believe they have discovered. By recording from a population of brain cells the researchers identified a strong time-coding signal deep inside the brain.

"Our study reveals how the brain makes sense of time as an event is experienced," says Tsao. "The network does not explicitly encode time. What we measure is rather a subjective time derived from the ongoing flow of experience."

The neural clock operates by organizing the flow of our experiences into an orderly sequence of events. This activity gives rise to the brain's clock for subjective time. Experience, and the succession of events within experience, are thus the substance of which subjective time is generated and measured by the brain.

Time Space and Memory in the Brain

"Today, we have a fairly good understanding of the way our brains process space whereas our knowledge of time is less coherent," Professor Moser says. "Space in the brain is relatively easy to investigate. It consists of specialized cell types that are dedicated to specific functions. Together they constitute the nuts and bolts of the system."

In 2005, May-Britt and Edvard Moser discovered grid cells which map our environment at different scales by dividing space into hexagonal units. In 2014, The Mosers shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with their colleague and mentor John O"Keefe at University College London for their discoveries of cells that constitute the brain's positioning system.

Marco the rat chasing chocolate bits during a test. Credit: Erlend Lanke Solbu/Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK

In 2007, inspired by the Mosers' discovery of spatially coding grid cells, then-Kavli Institute Ph.D. candidate Albert Tsao set out to crack the code of what was happening in the enigmatic lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). This area of the brain is right next to the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC), where his supervisors, the Mosers, had discovered grid cells. "I was hoping to find a similar key operating cell that would reveal the functional identity of this neural network," Tsao says. The task proved to be a time-consuming project.

"There didn't seem to be a pattern to the activity of these cells. The signal changed all the time, says Professor Moser. It was only in the last couple of years that the researchers began to suspect that the signal was indeed changing with time. Suddenly the recoded data started to make sense.

"Time is a non-equilibrial process. It is always unique and changing," Professor Moser says. "If this network was indeed coding for time, the signal would have to change with time in order to record experiences as unique memories."

Technological advancements

The Mosers needed only to decode the signal of one single grid cell to discover how space is encoded in the in the medial entorhinal cortex. Decoding time in the lateral entorhinal cortex proved to be a more complex task. It was only when looking at activity from hundreds of cells that Tsao and his colleagues were able to see that the signal encoded time.

"The activity in these neural networks is so distributed that the mechanism itself probably lies in the structure of connectivity within the networks. The fact that it can be shaped into various unique patterns implies a high level of plasticity," Professor Moser says. "I believe distributed networks and the combination of structures of activity may deserve more attention in the future. With this work, we have found an area with activity so strongly relating to the time of an event or experience, it may open up a whole new research field."

The Shape of Time

The structure of time has long been a disputed topic by philosophers and physicists alike. What can the newly discovered brain's mechanism for episodic time tell us about how we perceive time? Is our perception of time linear resembling a flowing river, or cyclical like a wheel or a helix? Data from the Kavli study suggest both are correct, and that the signal in the time-coding network can take on many forms depending on the experience.

In 2016, Ph.D. candidate Jrgen Sugar joined the Kavli project to perform a new set of experiments that would test the hypothesis that the LEC network coded for episodic time. In one experiment, a rat was introduced to a wide range of experiences and options for action. It was free to run around, investigate and chase bits of chocolate while visiting a series of open space environments.

"The uniqueness of the time signal during this experiment suggests that the rat had a very good record of time and temporal sequence of events throughout the two hours the experiment lasted," Sugar says. "We were able to use the signal from the time-coding network to track exactly when in the experiment various events had occurred."

In the second experiment, the task was more structured with a narrower range of experiences and options for action. The rat was trained to chase after bits of chocolate while turning left or right in a figure-eight maze.

"With this activity, we saw the time-coding signal change character from unique sequences in time to a repetitive and partly overlapping pattern," Tsao says. "On the other hand, the time signal became more precise and predictable during the repetitive task. The data suggest that the rat had a refined understanding of temporality during each lap, but a poor understanding of time from lap to lap and from the start to end throughout the experiment."

Professor Moser says the study shows that by changing the activities you engage in, the content of your experience, you can actually change the course of the time-signal in LEC and thus the way you perceive time.

Explore further New research puts distinct memories of similar events in their place

More information: Integrating time from experience in the lateral entorhinal cortex, Nature, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0459-6 , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0459-6 Journal information: Nature Integrating time from experience in the lateral entorhinal cortex,(HealthDay)Many U.S. Army soldiers who attempt suicide have no prior diagnosis of a mental health issue, new research shows, and such histories may not be a good predictor of a soldier's suicide risk.

"The study is one of few to be able to examine risk of suicide attempt among those without a past mental health diagnosis," said study lead author Dr. Robert Ursano. He directs the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

Ursano and his colleagues tracked the medical histories of thousands of enlisted soldiers (not including Guard or Reserve members) who served from 2004 through 2009. Attempted suicide risk factors were similar for soldiers with and without a prior diagnosis of a mental health disorder, the researchers found.

What did seem to raise the odds for suicide attempts?

According to the new data, female soldiers were more at risk than males; younger soldiers were at higher odds than older ones; less educated soldiers face higher risks than more educated service members, and odds for a suicide attempt were especially high during a soldier's first year of service.

Other risk factors included being demoted or late for promotion, or having been in a combat arms or combat medic military occupational specialty.

The risk of suicide attempt was also higher among soldiers with a history of family violence, having been the victim of a crime, or having committed a crime.

"Important times for identifying risk may be present after recent physical injury, family violence or being a victim or perpetrator of a crime," Ursano said in a university news release.

Health issues also seemed key. The study found that soldiers who attempted suicide were more likely to have had at least one outpatient clinic visit in the two months before their attempted suicide, and those with eight or more visits were three to five times more likely to attempt suicide.

Interestingly, combat injury was associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide only among those without a history of a mental health disorder, Ursano's group reported.

Psychiatrists weren't overly surprised by the finding that a soldier's history of mental illness wasn't a big predictor of suicide risk.

"The ability to predict suicidal acts or behavior has been found historically to be quite limited worldwide, and there is evidence that military services members are especially vulnerable due to their exposure to increased, variable stressors," noted Dr. Shawna Newman, of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Dr. Brian Keefe is a psychiatrist and medical director at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y. Reviewing the study, he said that "suicide is a complicated, multifactorial problem. The significant percentage of soldiers with no psychiatric diagnosis who attempt suicide shouldn't surprise any mental health clinician who routinely works with suicidal patients."

He also stressed that lack of a prior diagnosis does not necessarily mean that mental health issues weren't there.

"Estimates in civilian populations suggest that somewhere between 40-50 percent of people with psychiatric disorders don't receive any treatment at all," Keefe said.

And because members of the military are trained to "wear both physical and psychological armor" as they defend the United States, they may be even more reluctant to seek out mental health services than civilians are, he reasoned.

Finally, Keefe said, "there is a growing body of literature demonstrating that most complete suicides are impulsive in naturethat the time between decision to kill oneself and action may be minutes, not hours or days."

So, efforts to "suicide-proof" the living environment might be key to preventing suicidal thoughts from becoming suicidal acts, Keefe said.

"From nets on bridges, to home safes for unloaded weapons, to breakaway closet and shower rods in college dorms, all members of societynot just doctorscan take steps to reduce the rising suicide rate," he said.

The study was published Aug. 29 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Explore further Risk of suicide attempts in army units with history of suicide attempts

More information: Shawna Newman, M.D.,psychiatrist,Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Brian M. Keefe, M.D., medical director, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, N.Y.; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, news release, Aug. 29, 2018 Shawna Newman, M.D.,psychiatrist,Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Brian M. Keefe, M.D., medical director, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, N.Y.; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, news release, Aug. 29, 2018 The U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration has more on suicide prevention. Journal information: JAMA Psychiatry

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.A new technology based on analysis of CT coronary angiograms can flag patients at risk of deadly heart attacks years before they occur. Credit: Shutterstock

Researchers at the University of Oxford, working with colleagues in Erlangen, Germany and at the Cleveland Clinic, USA, have developed a new technology based on analysis of computed tomography (CT) coronary angiograms that can flag patients at risk of deadly heart attacks years before they occur.

Heart attacks are usually caused by inflamed plaques in the coronary artery causing an abrupt blockage of blood getting to the heart. The challenge for doctors is knowing which plaques are most likely to cause blockages, and therefore which patients should be treated with more aggressive therapies.

The team at the University of Oxford has shown that the most dangerous plaques release chemical messengers which modify the surrounding fat. They have developed a technology that detects the inflamed plaques that are prone to cause heart attacks by analysing CT images of the fat surrounding the arteries.

Their new biomarker, called the Fat Attenuation Index (FAI), has been tested for the first time in a large study published today in The Lancet journal, and was presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Munich  the world's largest cardiology meeting.

The study, supported by the British Heart Foundation and the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, involved 3,900 patients from Europe (Erlangen, Germany) and the United States (Cleveland Clinic), who were followed up for ten years after they had a CT coronary angiogram. The FAI technology was found to predict fatal heart attacks many years before they happen, with a significantly superior predictive accuracy compared with other methods. People with abnormal FAI had up to nine times higher risk of having a fatal heart attack in the next five years. Importantly, these patients would be the ideal candidates for aggressive medical therapy to prevent this from happening.

Every year, over 100,000 people die from a heart attack or related stroke in the UK alone, and heart disease and stroke remain the two biggest overall causes of death worldwide. Yet there is no method that allows for early detection of a potentially fatal build-up of plaque that could trigger a heart attack. With this new technology, clinicians would be able to identify those at risk of having a fatal heart attack in the next few years and take preventative steps before it strikes.

Professor Charalambos Antoniades, who led the study at the University of Oxford's Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, said: "This new technology may prove transformative for primary and secondary prevention. For the first time we have a set of biomarkers, derived from a routine test that is already used in everyday clinical practice, that measures what we call the "residual cardiovascular risk," currently missed by all risk scores and non-invasive tests.

"Knowing who is at increased risk for a heart attack could allow us to intervene early enough to prevent it. I expect these biomarkers to become an essential part of standard CT coronary angiography reporting in the coming years."

Professor Stephan Achenbach, from the University of Erlangen, said: "This study highlights an entirely new way in which patients at risk for myocardial infarction or heart attack could possibly be identified very early on. We very much need such novel approaches since a large part of all heart attacks occur without any prior notice. This study and its results may add to our armamentarium to prevent heart attacks, which makes the results so exciting from a scientific and clinical point of view."

Professor Milind Desai, from Cleveland Clinic, said: "This is an exciting new technology which has the potential for providing a simple, non-invasive answer to detect patients at risk for future fatal heart attacks. More importantly, it highlights the incredible value of cross-continent collaboration to validate the findings in different populations."

Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the research, said: "Most heart scans are good at spotting blockages caused by large plaques, but not the smaller, high-risk plaques that are likely to rupture and cause a heart attack. This new technique could be a game changer  allowing doctors to spot those "ticking time bomb" patients who are most at risk of a heart attack, and getting them on to intensive treatment. This would undoubtedly save lives.

"By using this non-invasive scan, we could prevent a lurking heart attack that might occur down the road. But it also potentially gives us a real-time window into tracking the effect of drugs on inflamed arteries, helping us to identify new life-saving therapies."

The University of Oxford has formed a spinout company which has an exclusive licence to develop the FAI as a Software-as-a-Service offering, and which will be the vehicle that brings it to the healthcare sector to positively influence patient care. More details will follow shortly.

Explore further Novel imaging biomarker to help predict coronary inflammation

More information: Amir A Mahabadi et al. Imaging of coronary inflammation for cardiovascular risk prediction, The Lancet (2018). Journal information: The Lancet Amir A Mahabadi et al. Imaging of coronary inflammation for cardiovascular risk prediction,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31716-1UBC nursing professor Elizabeth Saewyc. Credit: University of British Columbia

When it comes to teen dating violence, boys are more likely to report being the victim of violencebeing hit, slapped, or pushedthan girls. That's the surprising finding of new research from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

Overall, fewer teens are experiencing physical abuse from their dating partners, with five per cent of teens reporting dating violence in 2013, down from six per cent in 2003.

However, the researchers found 5.8 per cent of boys and 4.2 per cent of girls said they had experienced dating violence in the past year.

First author Catherine Shaffer, a Ph.D. student from SFU who was involved in the study, says more research is needed to understand why boys are reporting more dating violence.

"It could be that it's still socially acceptable for girls to hit or slap boys in dating relationships," she said. "This has been found in studies of adolescents in other countries as well."

She added that the overall decline in dating violence, while small, is encouraging.

"Young people who experience dating violence are more likely to act out and take unnecessary risks, and they're also more likely to experience depression or think about or attempt suicide," Shaffer said. "That's why it's good to see that decline in dating violence over a 10-year span. It suggests that healthy relationship programs are making an impact among youth."

The study is the first in Canada to look at dating violence trends among adolescents over time, and the first in North America to compare trends for boys and girls. Researchers analyzed data from three B.C. Adolescent Health Surveys involving 35,900 youth in grade 7 to 12 who were in dating relationships.

Elizabeth Saewyc, senior study author and UBC nursing professor, said the findings highlight the need for more support programs for both boys and girls in dating relationships.

"A lot of our interventions assume that the girl is always the victim, but these findings tell us that it isn't always so," said Saewyc. "And relationship violence, be it physical, sexual or other forms, and regardless who the perpetrator is, is never OK. Health-care providers, parents and caregivers, schools and others can protect teens from dating violence by helping them define what healthy relationships looks like, even before their first date."

Explore further Teens experience both sides of dating violence

More information: Catherine S. Shaffer et al, Ten-Year Trends in Physical Dating Violence Victimization Among Adolescent Boys and Girls in British Columbia, Canada, Journal of Interpersonal Violence (2018). Journal information: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Catherine S. Shaffer et al, Ten-Year Trends in Physical Dating Violence Victimization Among Adolescent Boys and Girls in British Columbia, Canada,(2018). DOI: 10.1177/0886260518788367Channel Seven said those found were Indonesian, while The Australian newspaper said they were believed to be Vietnamese, adding that up to 40 people were believed to have been onboard the vessel.

Leu was reacting to a fishing vessel which was spotted near the mouth of the Daintree River yesterday, believed to be carrying a number of illegal asylum seekers.

On Aug. 26, locals saw people abandoning a boat and running into a rainforest near Cape Kimberley, an area known for its crocodile-infested waters.

Mr Ciobo, the incoming defence industry minister, said the incident showed there would always be people trying to sneak into Australia.

"Those people - if we can find them - they should be taken into custody. and they should be sent to Nauru", he told Sky News on Monday. They are blocked from resettling in Australia. We may not be able to do that under conventions, we'll have to have a look at it.

The Department of Home Affairs said the first priority was to confirm all those on the boat were safe.

There are warnings about crocodiles in the area near the Daintree River ferry crossing in far north Queensland.

"There were people on it that just bailed out of the boat", he said".

She's written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, urging him to restore the government's focus on border security.

Border force officers are scouring the crocodile-infested mangroves with the help of Queensland police.

Queensland conservatives Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter separately argued the boatload of asylum seekers cruised into the country while the government was busy tearing itself apart.

Locals said passengers from the rickety vessel disappeared into the dense forest near the Daintree River, north of popular tourist city Cairns, in the tropical far north of Queensland state on Sunday.

Under Canberra's tough immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are either turned back or sent to remote Pacific camps where conditions have been widely criticised.

"It's relatively easy to do; but most don't get far once landed due to the hostility and are soon detained or give themselves up quickly".Republican leaders rejected a rush to name a building after Sen. One possibility is a portrait in the Senate's reception room.

"Indeed, a Democratic senator just spoke to me on the floor and was very kind and said, 'You know we're all looking to you now, '" she said late on Monday. John McCain on the first of two days of services in the state he had represented since the 1980s.

The journalist, ABC News Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl tried on three separate occasions to get Trump to issue a statement about the late Arizona Senator John McCain leading to an awkward standoff. John McCain, giving his respects while signing an order to fly the American flag at half-staff. "Later, we will discuss ways to permanently memorialize his legacy and service to our country", he said.

In a bitterly fractured Washington, McCain feistily stood up against extremism and worked across party lines to build consensus in a Senate split 51-49 for Republicans. "McCain should be honored", the Missouri Republican said."I don't think we want to necessarily rush to decide which of those is the best idea".

Senate Rules and Administration Chairman Roy Blunt would normally be responsible for moving a resolution to rename a Capitol facility for McCain. "McCain and we're going to work to see that can get done in a bipartisan way", he said. Corker asked, before answering his own question.

Mr. Schumer said Tuesday he circulated a letter to colleagues promoting the idea along with Sen. "There may be some curmudgeon that wouldn't want to do that".

"Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Sen".

Alabama GOP Sen. Richard Shelby said he hadn't made up his mind.

Sen. Johnny Isakson: "But anybody who in any way tarnishes the reputation of John McCain deserves a whipping". The idea is something "we have to think about", he added.

"The man whose name he would replace, Sen".

Russell served in the Senate from 1933 until his death and was known as a "senator's senator" because of his mastery of Senate rules. An ardent defender of the defense budget, Russell also was author of the School Lunch Act, which provides free and low-priced meals in public schools. "His dedication to his country and the military were unsurpassed, and maybe most of all, he was a truth teller - never afraid to speak truth to power in an era where that has become all too rare", Schumer said. The Albemarle Primary Outpatient Clinic is a facility under the Hampton VA Medical Center, a federal entity subject to President Donald Trump's proclamation Monday that the flag "be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds. until sunset, on the day of interment".Hungary's prime minister and Italy's deputy prime minister on Tuesday criticised Macron and said they would work together before 2019 elections for the European Union's Parliament to oppose what they saw as a pro-migration group of countries led by the French president. "We are ready to provide any possible assistance to protect borders", Orban said at a joint press conference with the Italian Prime Minister, as quoted by the RaiNews2 broadcaster.

"There are now two camps in Europe and one is headed by Macron", Orban told a press conference after talks with Salvini in Milan on Tuesday.

Salvini's meeting with Orban came shortly after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's more low-key summit with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis, which also focused on migration.

In Hungary, Mr Orban has introduced legislation cracking down on foreign-backed organisations aiding migrants and refugees passing through the country. And this is where Salvini's mission starts: "[Italy] must show that migrants can also be stopped at sea", Orban said according to Deutsche Welle.

This Monday, Salvini praised Albania for its willingness to take in 20 of the 190 migrants who docked in Catania, southern Italy, last week, and said that Albania was the only country in Europe other than Ireland to express a willingness to take in some of the people.

French President Emmanuel Macron said leaders of Hungary and Italy were right to see him as their main opponent, upping the ante in the bitter European debate over immigration policies.

"And here we are, the ones who want to stop illegal migration". Almost 140 migrants are still aboard the ship, docked in Sicily.

Macron has sharply criticised countries who refuse to cooperate on migration saying those who benefit from the European Union but "claim national self-interest when it comes to the issue of migrants" should have sanctions imposed on them.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Salvini said the talks they had been "a long positive and constructive discussion, not only on migrants".

Migration is a hot-button issue in Italy.

"As far as I'm concerned countries that refuse allocation of migrants should not be entitled to European funding", Di Maio said in an interview in daily La Stampa.Spring, TX - A Texas couple has been arrested after leaving their child home alone for five days while they went to a concert more than 1,000 miles away.

The Houston Chronicle reports John Guerrero Jr., 48, and Virginia Yearnd, 39, were arrested Monday after they arrived back home in Spring, Texas. The pair left on Wednesday, Aug. 22, to see English industrial metal band Godflesh perform in Detroit, Michigan, that same night, according to court documents.

According to KTRK, they left their 11-year-old daughter home alone. Her aunt called sheriff's deputies on Thursday, Aug. 23, after speaking to the girl on the phone and learning she had been alone since Wednesday morning.

When police arrived to the house, they found the child cooking food on the stove. She said she tried to call her parents but only got their voicemail.

The Chronicle reports deputies eventually got ahold of Yearnd, who claimed they were in Louisiana. She later admitted she and Guerrero went to see Godflesh in Detroit, some 1,300 miles away, according to deputies.

It's unclear if the couple drove or flew to Michigan, or why it took them so long to return.

KTRK reports their daughter told authorities that it wasn't the first time she had been left home alone for an extended period of time, and she hadn't expected them to return until late Friday, Aug. 24.

According to the Chronicle, Texas Penal Code states that a parent, guardian or anyone else caring for a child under age 15 can be charged with child endangerment if he or she "intentionally abandons the child in any place under circumstances that expose the child to an unreasonable risk of harm."

Guerrero and Yearnd were booked with no bond Monday at the Harris County Jail on second-degree felony child endangerment charges. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The girl was released into the custody of a neighbor, according to KTRK.DuPage County, IL - Two teens in Illinois are being held without bond after they allegedly strangled, stabbed and set a man on fire before running him over  ruthless brutality beyond imagination, according to prosecutors.

Francisco Alvarado, 18, of West Chicago, and Tia Brewer, 16, of Wheaton, were denied bond by a judge in the killing of Luis Guerrero, 18, whose smoldering body was found early Tuesday by West Chicago Fire Department officials who were conducting a training exercise, DuPage County States Attorney Robert Berlin announced Thursday.

Prosecutors allege Alvarado and Brewer set up a meeting with Guerrero near the West Chicago Public Library. Once there, Alvarado approached Guerrero from behind and strangled him with a belt. At the same time, Alvarado and Brewer allegedly stabbed Guerrero multiple times in the neck.

The pair then put Guererros body in their Jeep Cherokee before driving to a location on Joliet Street in West Chicago and removing it. Prosecutors said Alvarado and Brewer then contacted a third teen, Jesus Jurado Correa, of West Chicago, and told him to meet them there with gasoline.

Correa compiled with the request, giving the gasoline to Alvarado and Brewer at the scene before leaving. Prosecutors allege Alvarado and Brewer then doused Guerrero with gasoline before setting him on fire.

While he was ablaze, Guerrero got up and began running away, prompting Alvarado and Brewer to run him over with their Jeep. The couple then took Guerreros body to a fire pit on Joliet Street, where his body was again set on fire. A picnic table was also placed over the body, authorities said.

The vicious brutality allegedly displayed by the defendants in this case is beyond imagination, Berlin said in a news release. I cant begin to fathom the pain that Mr. Guerrero must have endured as his life was brutally taken from him.

Alvarado and Brewer both face charges of first-degree murder, armed robbery and concealment of a homicidal death. Correa, whose bond was set at $100,000, is facing one count of concealment of a homicidal death. All three suspects are expected to return to court on Sept. 13.

Guerrero was Brewers former boyfriend, according to the Chicago Tribune. She previously told Alvarado that Guerrero had raped her, but authorities have not found any evidence that Brewer reported the alleged attack, Berlin said.

If convicted on all charges, Alvarado and Brewer could face up to life in prison.NOTICE:

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The company also stated it will bring more local content to South Africans.

Since launching in the country in January 2016, the content library on the Netflix SA service has grown by over 500%, with shows that speak to South African audiences such as Girlboss, Mindhunter, and Troy: Fall of a City, said Netflix.

More locally-developed content will be added to its library, which will include exclusive series, movies, documentaries, stand-up comedy shows, and kids content.

International content

The news of more local content was a cause of concern for many Netflix users, however, who asked the question: Does this mean we will receive less international content?

With a push to supply more South African content on the platform, there was the worry that this would come at the expense of international content and Netflix originals.

Netflix has told MyBroadband that users do not have have to worry, though, as this will not be the case.

We continuously work on bringing joy and providing a more localised service for our members in South Africa, said Netflix.

However, the international and Netflix original content will not be affected.

International Netflix originals such as Narcos and Stranger Things are big hits on Netflix across the world  with local audiences no exception.

In November 2017, Netflix stated that the most popular shows in South Africa were Stranger Things, Narcos, Mindhunters, Star Trek: Discovery, Designated Survivor, Shooter, and Marvel series.Remember when the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ was launched?

We wont fault you if you dont  it was in March 2018, five months ago.

Unfortunately for local retailers, it took five months for them to get approval to sell the device in South Africa, courtesy of ICASA.

Christopher Zinn, the cofounder of PiShop, told MyBroadband that while sales of Raspberry Pi boards are going well in South Africa, certification from ICASA is a different story.

The industrial sectors interest in the Raspberry Pi is growing steadily as the boards are more than capable of roughing it in the hard environments of industry, said Zinn.

The education sector is slowly realising the huge benefit the Raspberry Pi can play in educating children, and adults, he added.

Getting approval

Before the latest Raspberry board, the Pi 3 Model B+, could be sold in South Africa, however, ICASA needed to provide its stamp of approval for use in the country.

The new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ introduced a new Wi-Fi chip that allows both the previously-supported 2.4GHz and new 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN technology standards, said Zinn.

As this is a different chip from the existing unit on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, the board had to receive its ICASA certification before being legally released into the South Africa market.

Zinn said ICASA does this with the publics interest in mind, to ensure that new gadgets do not interfere with existing technology available in the country.

ICASAs certification guarantees that the Raspberry Pi will work alongside your existing equipment without any negative effect, he said.

Unfortunately, this process is a long one.

Zinn said that while ICASA quotes 4-6 weeks for approval, the Pi 3 Model B+ process lasted from March 2018 until 8 August.

Zinn said the same issue was experienced when the Raspberry Pi Zero W launched in February 2017, and was only approved locally in June 2017.

During this period, without approval, unofficial resellers were illegally selling the boards in South Africa, he said.

While we truly believe that its awesome for the maker market to get their hands on new tech in South Africa so we can keep up with global trends, this behaviour ultimately hurts the market, as these boards prices were completely unreasonable. It hurts us too, as a small business weve worked hard to achieve our Approved Reseller status.

Zinn said from international trends, it appears ICASAs approval process is much longer than in other countries  which were able to offer the Pi 3 Model B+ soon after it launched.

ICASA was asked for comment on the matter, but it did not reply to questions.

Now read: Internet Solutions to implement more open peering policyIt was a few days after school started and throughout the high school campus, the bell rang for lunch. Its been a long while since this editors life was ruled by school bells, but time waits for no man and I was late.

Senior Mia Pelosi came breezing into the high school office and breathlessly said, Here you are. With that we were off to the schools Performing Art Center.

Three people were on stage, including Sofia Osborne. SHHS Drama teacher Patti Coyle was casting parts for the upcoming Shakespeare in Love, which opens Thursday, Nov. 1, and plays through Nov. 4.

It was Pelosi and Osborne who were needed. Were doing a student-run play called 12 Angry Jurors. I saw it at a theater programs two years ago in New York and I fell in love with the story and the acting and I came back and said hey, I really want to direct this show, lets try to make it happen, Pelosi said. Then we got together, we cast it in May and we started rehearsals a little bit before school started.

Osborne jumped in, We did two four-hour intensives and then weve been rehearsing after school.

It was Pelosis turn: Were fortunate that this show does not require a lot of rehearsal time. It is minimal blocking, minimal set. It is all about the acting.

Now Osborne: It was cast in May, so we asked the cast to memorize their lines before they showed up for rehearsal. Mostly, they did that.

Pelosi, a St. Helena High School senior, and Osborne, a junior, have been acting together in St. Helena Drama productions for some eight years, since they were in grade school. Their production of 12 Angry Jurors, by Reginald Rose was presented on Aug. 23-24 and the two spoke about it on Friday, in the middle of the run.

Its been a wonderful experience trying out this new side of theater, Pelosi said, because were both used to being on stage. She admitted that being a director was a challenging job. There are a lot of components you have to keep in mind, she added. I remember we had a problem with the lights, so we were all running around  it was mainly me  I was running around being all stressed out.

Osborne called the Thursday night show wonderful adding, We were all pretty nervous. Its our first time directing, so we didnt know how it would be received, but the audience really enjoyed it. Im so proud of our show.

The two veteran actors gave credit to the cast, which included 12 jurors and one guard, Dawson Landis.

What was the hardest part of working with 13 people? Again, the two of them answered the question, almost as one. First, Pelosi: It was difficult for us to be giving the directions, because were students, were peers. Now Osborne: Its like another level of authority. Pelosi: It was a learning curve but it ended up being really great. I loved the cast dynamic.

The two co-directors listed the cast members, whose names are familiar, since most have been a part of St. Helena Drama for years. Sam Smiley was foreman and the other 11 were Joe Brawdy, Reid Ivanoff, Frank Lenney, Josie Goldfarb, Anne Haynie Gullung, Caleb Jeske, Ileene Christianson-Torres, Ellie Aslanian, Carrie Steil, Ivy Shaw and Cynthia Medrano.

Although Pelosi said she enjoyed directing, she added, Id rather be on stage. Osborne, though, said she enjoyed both equally. Last night, I was beaming. It was amazing.

Reading the program, theres a name, Rusty Frank, listed as stage manager, which is interesting, since he graduated from both St. Helena High and St. Helena Drama in June. The program notes he is attending Southern Oregon University this fall, hoping to further his education in all realms of theater, be it performance, technical or managerial.

One last question for the co-directors: Sofia, how are you going to do without Mia, who is graduating next June? Its going to be really sad. We started our first show together for St. Helena Drama. She was in the fourth grade, I was in third grade. We did the Sound of Music together. I havent been in a show without her.

Pelosi also answered the question. Its going to be really weird not to be around all my drama family when I leave. Youre used to seeing these people every day and building connections. Were a really tight-knit family.

After Novembers Shakespeare in Love and Mamma Mia presented in March, Pelosi said her goal is to study theater in a musical theater program at an East Coast university, probably New York University. I can see myself living there, she said.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.There are seven sheep to every person in New Zealand. That may sound like a lot of wool  and it is!

First, let me give you some background before the story of the lost, woolly sheep. Years ago I served as youth pastor at the Bishopdale Seventh-day Adventist Church in Christchurch, New Zealand. When my grandparents came down under to visit me, one of the things I had planned was a trip to Akaroa, a little French colony out on a peninsula. That is near where this story comes from.

In Akaroa we took a boat tour of the bay and out into the mouth of the Pacific to hopefully catch a glimpse of Hectors dolphins. Hectors dolphins are the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world. They can only be found off the coast of New Zealand. We were in luck because we did see Hectors, as well as plenty of interesting seabirds.

Along much of the bay are fairly steep cliffs. The boat captain, in his kiwi accent, informed us to look up in this one ravine and try to see a sheep. Sure enough, we spotted a sheep with long, overgrown locks of hair. Major dreadlocks! You could probably make numerous sweaters! Can you picture him with long, scraggly wool?

The captain went on to tell this story  As just a lamb, he strayed from the flock and fell over the edge of the cliff, but didnt tumble all the way to the sea. There was no way out of this steep, treacherous ravine. The shepherd, his owner, knew he was stuck there but figured that one sheep was not worth the hassle of scaling the cliffside.

This poor, little sheep was abandoned by his shepherd. He grew up in this rugged ravine all alone. Sure there were enough plants to eat. Sure there was enough water to drink. The cold, hard fact remained  this sheep lived in absolute solitude.

Im so thankful that we, all humanity and the flock, are not abandoned. Jesus is in search mode for you and me. He came to seek and save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10) Even the most lost person is one prayer away from being saved  the repentance prayer.

Luke 15 has three parables that show the limitless love of God. Each involves something valuable that is lost and then found  a sheep, a coin and a son. All the parables have similarities:

First, what is lost really matters; second, what is lost warrants an all-out search; and third, retrieval brings rejoicing! There is a cosmic celebration in heaven when one person gives their heart to Jesus.

Life has two roads  the Lost Highway and the Found Freeway, as I like to refer to them. The Found Freeway is actually a path, but its free! Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

In the 21st century, we may be technological giants, but were ethical midgets. Many people understand the Internet, science, Hollywood and pop culture, but not the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:1-7:29) Neither of these things are bad, however, we need to know Jesus. We cant get lost in the cares of this relatively short life. We cant focus on self and the pursuit of more. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end leads to death, warns Solomon in Proverbs 14:12.

Rather than the blind leading the blind, we need the healer of the blind leading us all. I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. (Isaiah 42:16) Arent you glad were not abandoned? Jesus is always there for us.

Jesus told this parable, Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 righteous persons. (Luke 15:1-7)

We should be very thankful for Jesus who proclaimed, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

Because of Jesus, we dont have to be stuck in a rut or ravine.

Editors note: Kerry Scott Baldwin is an Elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He can be reached at (707) 963-1461.The Neighborhood

Napa author Erina Bridget Ring will sign copies of her newest work, The Neighborhood at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8 at Napa Bookmine.

The Neighborhood, is about life in a small town where people are both ordinary and unusual and events in the neighborhood are chaotic and funny and sad, Ring said.

At first, Gretchen OMalley thinks her new neighborhood is pleasant and quiet; but as she gets to know her neighbors every day, a new dilemma arises, pulling her into chaos, comedy, cruelty, and even tragedy.

The Neighborhood is Rings fifth published work and is available at BookMine and Copperfields in Napa, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.

For more information, visit Rings website, www.erinabridgetring.com.

A Train to Nowhere

Marilyn Campbel has published A Train to Nowhere, a sequel to her first historical novel, Trains to Concordia.

Campbell credits her fathers stories of riding the rails during the 1930s Depression as the influence for placing her protagonists in a railroad boxcar heading West.

A Train to Nowhere, takes place in 1900. The main characters, Charley and Christina, are no longer dependent orphans, but young adults seeking a new life. They experience setbacks at every turn and their struggles for independence are challenged by the fragile nature of living during a period of rugged individualism and westward expansion on the edge of 20th century America.

California history is prominently featured in the novel, including the story of how important Chinese labor was in the construction of railroads, delta levees, and of the rock walls and wine caves throughout the Napa Valley.

The books launch will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. at Napa Bookmine with readings and refreshments.

A meet-and-greet book signing is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 22 from noon to 2 p.m. at Copperfields Books.

A future signing is scheduled for Jan. 26 at the OxBow Public Market branch of Napa Bookmine.

Published by Camitzke Press, A Train to Nowhere is also available on Amazon.com in both print and Kindle formats. For more information, contact the author at marilynsuecampbell@comcast.net.You know youve secured a place in history when the moniker Notorious is linked with your name, a plastic action figure has been created in your honor and youre celebrated as a multigenerational, pop culture icon.

Those tributes are just a smattering of accolades, awards, national commendations and precedent-setting firsts earned by the 85-years-young, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG as she is lovingly referred to.

On Sunday, Aug. 26, the Napa Center for Thought & Culture screened the 2018 documentary RBG, directed by filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West, to a sold-out house at CIA at Copia. It was serendipitous that on the same day in 1920, the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote was adopted.

Following the film, a panel of five distinguished women judges and attorneys discussed the film and Ginsburgs singular impact: a trailblazing pioneer for womens justice and equal rights; achievements that broke the legal fields glass ceiling; bravery and morality in tackling gender discrimination; plus an uncompromising commitment to scholarship and family.

Moderated by Mary Luros, a partner at Hudson & Luros, panel members included: the Hon. Judge Cynthia Smith, Napa County Superior Court; the Hon. Judge Beverly Greenberg, California Superior Court and Alameda County bench (now retired); the Hon. Commissioner Monique Langhorne, Napa County Superior Court; Allison Haley, Napa County District Attorney; and Valerie Clemen, Court Counsel, Napa County Superior Court.

A week prior to the showing, I asked two panel members to share their thoughts on Ginsburgs life and boundary-pushing accomplishments and her singular influence on their lives, personally and professionally.

How different it was for women not that long ago, said Clemen. Justice Ginsburg graduated from Columbia Law School at the top of her class and could barely find a job because law firms would not hire women. A woman in the same situation today would have a multitude of options that simply did not exist 60 years ago.

She dealt with so much adversity and still persevered all the way to the pinnacle of the profession. I believe my experience as a working mother was made easier as a result of her work fighting for womens rights before she became a judge. When I had my own experience with pay discrimination, I thought of Justice Ginsburgs battles with her employers over pay discrimination and was inspired to stand up for myself and tackle the situation. Her courage gave me courage.

After watching the film, Haley wrote Ginsburg lives a life worthy of her. She went to schools worthy of her intellect. She married a man worthy of her integrity. She took on cases worthy of her immense talent. She maintains a work ethic worthy of her commitment.

Her work product is exquisite. Her example encourages me to be disciplined, detail oriented and focused on the bigger picture. Personally, she lives a life without apology. She doesnt apologize for her intellect nor her outside interests or commitment to family. She doesnt apologize for late nights or work obligations. She doesnt apologize for her fierce commitment to her husband and children.

Who you are matters. The best lawyers, in my opinion, are those who are deeply moral. They recognize that their commitment to the lawto justicetranscends their work day and enters into every decision they make. The way they conduct their personal lives, the way they raise their children, the decisions they make with money, how they act when they make a mistake. Being a lawyer is a commitment to the way you live your life  not just what you do when you are in your office.

After the screening, the last question to panel members came from 9-year-old Alana Collins, a fourth grade student at Pueblo Vista Elementary School: How do you find the courage to do your jobs?

Greenberg responded to loud applause: Because were badass!

Catch a free viewing of RBG on CNN, Monday, Sept. 3 (check local listings for times).

Evy Warshawski is a board member of Napa Center for Thought & Culture and co-director of E & M Presents.Theres nothing to like about the salt marsh mosquito.

They have a painful bit that can leave a welt. They like warm weather and daylight hours  exactly the same conditions that attract Napa humans to the out of doors.

This summer is a bad one for salt marsh mosquito bites. So many students in the Napa Valley Unified School District have been bitten since schools reopened two weeks ago that the district had to send out a letter this week explaining to parents whats going on.

Its unusual for a kid to come home with mosquito bites after going to school. Thats made parents think, Humm, whats happening? said Elizabeth Emmett, NVUSD spokesperson.

Wes Maffei, manager of the Napa County Mosquito Abatement District, confirms that this is an exceptionally bad year for this summer biters.

Most years, the district is able to knock down their numbers with a larvicide applied to brackish and salty wetlands where they breed, Maffei said Tuesday.

Salt marsh mosquitoes are most commonly found south of Imola Avenue along the Napa Rivers many marshes and wetlands, he said. They proliferate when high tides leave behind breeding pools of water.

There have been a lot of high tides this year, Maffei said. Also, because of habitat restoration efforts, there are more wetlands than in decades past.

All these things add to the mix of what could potentially happen and sometimes does, Maffei said.

Napa County Mosquito Abatement District has five workers whose full-time jobs are to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, he said. If even a quarter-acre patch in a 100-acre wetland area untreated with larvicide, the numbers of salt marsh mosquitoes can balloon, he said.

If there were no effort to try and manage this mosquito in the wetlands, there would be clouds of these things, said Maffei, noting that the journals of the early California pioneers are filled with references to noxious numbers of summer mosquitoes in the Bay Area.

Fortunately, the salt marsh mosquito does not carry diseases, Maffei said.

In its letter to parents, the NVUSD emphasized that point, noting this mosquito does NOT carry West Nile virus or any other disease. But the bite can be painful and leave a welt.

The schools most affected by this warm weather, salt-water-loving mosquito are Snow Elementary, Harvest Middle School, River School, Napa Valley Language Academy and potentially Shearer School, the district said Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday afternoon, the district added West Park, Northwood and Browns Valley schools to the distribution list.

Maffei said American Canyon has not been hit hard by the salt marsh mosquito, which can travel up to 10 miles, but generally has no reason to do so. North Napa is generally considered beyond this mosquitos range.

Neither mowing the grass nor reducing irrigation will reduce the number of mosquitoes, so NVUSD will not take those steps, the district said. State law will not allow us to use insecticides on the school campus. So our best option is to wait until the adult mosquito activity is over.

The district advised that long pants and long sleeves can help protect a child. School officials will monitor conditions on campuses and could decide to keep children off grassy areas or fields, the letter to parents said.

Many people use insect repellents to protect against mosquitoes, but Maffei said he cannot recommend them because of liability issues.

Indeed, Maffei said hes allergic to repellents, which give him a rash.

He predicted the salt marsh mosquito population will drop soon, particularly with cooler temperatures.

Napa also has year-around mosquitoes that breed in fresh water and do their biting in evenings and at night. Fortunately, none of them bite like the salt marsh mosquito, Maffei said.

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.This is the golden age of political horoscopes -- sophisticated projection systems designed to forecast the 2018 elections.

Whether primarily based on the generic ballot (voters currently prefer the Democrats by an 8-point margin) or detailed rundowns of individual races (roughly three dozen GOP-held seats are seriously imperiled), these forecasts all assume that no major external events will upend the political mood before Election Day.

But even before Russian meddling, the outside world -- including the economy and unexpected scandals -- was rarely respectful of the sanctity of the American electoral system.

For example, during the week before the 1956 elections, Israel (aided by Britain and France) invaded Egypt and seized the Suez Canal. And Soviet tanks rolled into Hungary to crush the popular uprising calling for the creation of a multi-party democracy.

These two grave international crises -- still unfolding as the voters went to polls -- contributed to Dwight Eisenhower's landslide re-election victory and a status-quo verdict in the congressional balloting.

The most frightening moments of the Cold War occurred in late October 1962 as John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev went eyeball-to-eyeball over Soviet missiles in Cuba. With nuclear averted on Oct. 28, JFK's popularity jumped to 74 percent in a Gallup poll.

The national sense of relief was immediately reflected in the midterm elections: Democrats lost only four House seats and actually gained two Senate seats as a new generation of liberal Democrats (George McGovern, Birch Bayh and Gaylord Nelson) defined the party in the 1960s and early 1970s.

On the domestic front, the 2006 Mark Foley sex scandal (the Florida congressman resigned in late September after sending explicit emails to a Capitol page) helped bring Nancy Pelosi to power as the Democrats took back the House for the first time in 12 years.

American politics are still partly shaped by the lingering anger from the catastrophic 2008 financial meltdown, which was triggered by the mid-September collapse of Lehman Brothers. The resulting economic panic all but guaranteed the election of Barack Obama and led to Democratic pickups of 21 House and 8 Senate seats.

Now back to 2018.

Right now, the consensus of soothsayers suggests that the Democrats will take back the House. Nate Silver, for example, at his FiveThirtyEight website gives the Democrats a 73 percent chance of regaining the speaker's gavel, and his model suggest a pickup of 34 House seats.

But when you factor in the possibility of the unexpected, I would argue that the Democrats' chances to win the House are actually higher. On the Senate side, the daunting map for Democrats still makes it a stretch, regardless of external events.

Obviously, if I could predict the future, including black-swan events, I would be in a more lucrative racket than journalism. But when you think of the Trump presidency and the various types of potential October surprises, it is hard to concoct a scenario that would aid the Republicans.

Consider some possibilities.

On Wednesday, Wall Street set a new record for the longest bull market in history, more than nine years after the S&P 500 hit its low in the Great Recession. Maybe the stock market and the economy will continue to defy gravity like Mary Poppins traveling around London powered by an umbrella. But more likely, there is a correction somewhere on the horizon.

Remember that the economy is all that stands between Trump and approval ratings reminiscent of Richard Nixon during Watergate. A surprise contraction before the election would weaken GOP arguments that they should be rewarded for passing the deficit-ballooning tax bill.

In similar fashion, Trump's cockamamie strategy of launching a major trade war with China could prompt a major backlash. At some point, hard-pressed voters might recoil against plant closings and higher prices at Walmart.

With Trump fixer Michael Cohen cutting a plea deal with federal prosecutors on Tuesday, it is possible that explosive new revelations before the election could shake the faith of even some loyal Republicans that the president's conduct is above reproach.

True, it is unlikely that we will hear much directly from Robert Mueller before the election. Without claiming insider knowledge from a prosecution team that doesn't leak, it seems obvious that Mueller has learned from James Comey's mistakes not to do or say anything publicly in the run-up to an election.

But with Moscow trying to hack everything from anti-Trump conservative think tanks to (maybe) the lesson plans for liberal preschools, even Fox News talking heads eventually have to concede that canoodling with Russia is not a winning issue for Republicans.

Maybe the White House is right in believing that Trump's temper-tantrum tweets and outrageous claims at rallies fire up the GOP base. But there is an inherent danger in his continuing to juggle firecrackers on the eve of an election.

Normally, a foreign crisis with, say, Iran or Trump's new buddies in North Korea would be expected to buttress the party in power. But, remember, Trump has not been tested by anything more dangerous that nasty statements from Kim Jong Un. Nothing about Trump's tenure in the White House offers any comfort that the president would provide a steady hand in a crisis.

Predicting the unpredictable is a mug's game, so the chances are that I have been too timid in guessing at the imponderables that might affect the elections. But if the status quo looks dismal for House Republicans, the unanticipated future is likely to be even worse.

And now I will rush off to double-check my predictions with the Oracle at Delphi. Or if she is busy with her other media appearances, I will settle for a shake of my Magic 8-Ball.

Walter Shapiro, a Roll Call columnist since 2015, has covered the last 10 presidential campaigns. He is also a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU and a lecturer in political science at Yale.We are mourning Sen. John McCain this week  most of us, at least  and well we should. But what exactly are we mourning? Why do we feel a sense of loss?

Its not that McCains politics were universally popular; far from it. Democrats enjoyed his bouts of rebelliousness, but he was never really on their side; he was always a conservative and a hawk. Many Republicans distrusted him; by the end of his life, his partys pro-Trump base considered him an apostate.

Nor is it the record of bipartisan legislation he leaves; that record is, in fact, rather thin. His most important achievement, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, has been eviscerated by the Supreme Court. Most of his other projects, like immigration reform, ended in failure.

An easy answer is that McCain is an object of reverence for his personal courage, which was considerable when he exerted it, and for his old-fashioned civility in political battle. His concession speech to Barack Obama at the end of the nasty 2008 presidential campaign  Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and his country. ... (He) will be my president  was a model of grace amid disappointment.

But plenty of politicians, even in the age of President Trump, still manage to behave civilly toward their opponents. McCain was more complicated and more interesting.

What distinguished the Arizonan most was his adherence, worn on his sleeve, to a rigorous code of honor inherited from his father and grandfather, both decorated Navy admirals  combined with his recurring habit of falling short of his own standards and reproaching himself for his failings in public.

Nearly all politicians cut corners on their way to the top. Few of them apologize when they do. (The current president of the United States, who loathed McCain, never apologizes for anything.) None, at least none in recent memory, ever apologized as fully and relentlessly as McCain.

All honest politicians hate the squalid little tradeoffs that politics demands  the favors, the compromises, the truckling to campaign donors. But most of them express their distress in private. McCain felt compelled to express his in public.

In his 2000 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, for instance, McCain faced a difficult choice in South Carolina. Demands were rising to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol, and McCains first instinct was to agree: Its a symbol of racism and slavery, he said. But after aides told him his position, however admirable, would lose him the states primary, he backed off, saying he understood both sides.

Months later, after losing, McCain returned to the state to confess his error. I chose to compromise my principles, he said. I broke my promise to always tell the truth.

In a later memoir, he was even tougher on himself: I had not just been dishonest. I had been a coward, and I had severed my own interest from my countrys. That was what made the lie unforgivable.

That was McCains most oddly attractive characteristic: He hated hypocrisy  especially if he was the one practicing it.

It was attractive because it conveyed a larger lesson. In his life and in his words, McCain preached that every American should try to meet the highest standards of honor and valor  but he recognized that no one will always succeed, including himself. The test of character, he argued, was whether you owned up to your errors and used them to spur yourself to do better.

No wonder he found himself in bitter opposition to Trump, an ersatz conservative opportunist whose standards of honor and valor have proven undetectable.

McCain became the de facto leader of the GOP opposition to Trump in the Senate, more willing to speak bluntly on a larger range of the presidents offenses against decency and good government than any of his colleagues.

He warned the president against cozying up to Russias Vladimir Putin (a thug), criticized Trumps order banning U.S. entry to people from seven mostly Muslim countries (harmful), and denounced his proposal to tax imports from Mexico (insane).

A year ago, McCain cast one of the decisive dissenting votes against his partys attempt to repeal Obamas healthcare law  not because he wanted to keep the law (he didnt), but because he considered the bill Trump was pushing hopelessly inadequate. The president never forgave him.

And only a few weeks ago, after Trump praised Putin at a summit in Helsinki, Finland, McCain unloaded again.

No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant, he said.

That was McCain at his best.

After his cancer diagnosis, McCain wrote in his recent memoir that because his career was nearing its end, Im freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.

Have three sadder sentences ever been written about American politics?

Alas, that fully liberated version of McCain was free only for the final 20 months of his career. We are the poorer for that  and that is what we mourn.

Doyle McManus is a contributing writer to the Los Angeles Times opinion page.Kudos to Ron Rogers' recent editorial Fox News is neither fair nor balanced (Aug. 22).

Fox news does not provide fact-based journalism like the major TV networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN do, along with the New York Times, Washington Post and major city newspapers. Mr. Rogers correctly stated the real intent of Fox News when Roger Ailes created it was solely to elect and retain Republicans in office regardless of the lies or inaccurate alternative facts their media personalities such as Sean Hannity spout.

Legitimate news organizations investigate, verify facts and retract and correct, and Fox does not. A free press based on investigating the facts is the hallmark of a free democracy, yet it appears Donald Trump does not understand this that the press is not the enemy of the people.

There was an excellent article recently by E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post titled The march to autocracy can be step by step. Those who do not understand and remember history are doomed to repeat it.

Trumps actions by demanding loyalty over adherence to the law is frightening as well as his firing of public servants who dare to disagree with him. Fascism has always started with actions such as this.

I am sickened by the events of last week with Michael Cohen pleading guilty then Paul Manafort being found guilty and Trump still lying and denying everything even though Cohen had him on tape with the payoff instructions.

Why are Republican men and women especially, giving Donald Trump a pass on infidelity with a porn star and Playboy bunny when his wife just gave birth? Would you like your husband to do the same, and would you give him a hall pass?

Republicans were quick to call for impeachment of Bill Clinton and indictment of John Edwards for similar infidelity transgressions, now their silence on Trump is deafening.

No president should be above the law, allowed to pardon him/herself, and any co-conspirator who helped elect him or her. He is supposed to be the top enforcer of this countrys laws.

His campaign slogan was Drain the Swamp, yet his cronies Manafort, Cohen, Flynn, Papadopoulos, Van der Zwaan and 13 Russians have been proven corrupt and he needs to drain his own swamp first.

I am outraged he is trying to push Bret Kavanaugh into the Supreme Court to advance his agenda to protect himself and revoke important decisions such as Roe v. Wade.

I implore young people to get involved and vote in every midterm and regular election. Your future is at stake. A non-vote is a vote for Republicans to continue this un-American behavior.

All Republicans and Democrats need to remember what really made this country great and that is our constitution, our three separate but equal branches of government and the Fourth Estate, a free, fact-based press, not an solely right wing agenda based press such as Fox News.

Debra PhairasWe hold these truths to be self-evident: that your local community college is good for (1) local families, who save thousands of dollars while receiving an excellent education for a degree, transfer or certification; (2) graduates who are seeking job success skills; and (3) the local economy of Napa, as employers find and hire employees with training and degrees in local industry sectors.

Thats what we have heard over and over again the last few months from survey takers and community groups. They said they like what the college is doing, and they encouraged us to keep it up. Along with those good marks, we must also consider the attention-grabbing times in which we live. The news cycle is now measured in hours not days, economic uncertainty can shake voters confidence, especially here in our region, for those who have been though the emotional ups and downs of wildfires, preserving oak trees, curtailing helicopters, seeking affordable housing and sorting out national, state and local politics and politicians.

For those reasons, it made sense for the college to wait until the local dust settles before asking our community to pass a bond to finance much-needed structural improvements at Napa Valley College to ensure a strong educational learning environment. Perhaps by 2020, it will make more sense to seek community support in the form of a bond issue, or maybe not.

In the meantime, the need for campus improvements is real. Classrooms, labs and college infrastructure are aging and will need serious modernization, repair or replacement in the next five years. To provide job training and university preparation for thousands who attend the college annually, NVC leaders must continue to build and maintain the college that the community deserves. Thats why Im encouraging the college board of trustees  in concert with the public at large  to invest in public-private partnerships, partnering with the county and its, philanthropic giving, and focus on our students.

Weve already seen how partnering with Napa Valley vintners has made the NVC Vineyard and Winery Technology (VWT) program the largest wine school in the nation, educating nearly 500 students annually. Nearly all of our valleys wineries have benefited by hiring our VWT students and graduates.

Likewise, our machine tool technology graduates are going to work for Shell Oil, while our welders are hired by local companies that help improve Travis Air Force Base. Many of our graduated chefs are front and center at restaurants around the region and the globe. Benefiting the whole of our community, we provide trained nurses, police officers, psychiatric technicians, respiratory therapists, emergency medical technicians, child care teachers, and computer technicians. Often not a part of the community conversation is the colleges economic contribution of more than $300 million to the local economy each year. Your colleges track record is also spurring the owners of Napa Valley Wine Train, LLC to look at NVC as training ground for hospitality, culinary, and technology students looking to work and train in the restaurant commissary; and for welders and machine tool technicians to work and train in their maintenance shops. The value of putting local students to work in local businesses and industries cant be overstated, because it keeps our community strong, united and employed.

Further, if NVC and the city of Napa find more ways to combine resources and work together, we can build ballparks and recreational facilities that keep families and our countys kids healthy, and the college can become a major player in building civic pride.

Over the past three years, the number of degrees conferred at Napa Valley College increased 23 percent, while certificates increased by 74 percent and transfers to University of California and California State Universities increased by 25 percent. Thats an impressive record. It comes from the dedication of parents, families and students who want nothing more than to have fulfilling successful lives. Whether the college goes out for a bond in 2020 or not, the community can rest assured that their college students are getting an excellent education as well as a good deal before getting to the career or university of their choice. Our budget is balanced, our faculty are passionate and our students are well served. Your college students have benefitted, as the rest of our community has become strong, unified, employed, healthy and educated. In a world where special interests seem to raise their heads on a daily basis  from politicians to national foundations  the focus on students, and their success is oft left behind. This focus on students is why we are here and what you deserve. The mandate of securing initiatives that lead to putting our students first, ensuring the quality of their education, and creating a top-notch learning environments for now and the future is at the heart of what we do.

It is what Napa County deserves.

Ron Kraft is president of Napa Valley College. He lives in Napa.Algeria is facing an outbreak of Cholera with 59 confirmed cases so far in five provinces, 11 were registered in the capital city, the health ministry said.

Observers estimate that the scale of the cholera outbreak is much higher than what authorities claim as the polluted water continue to be considered the main cause for the disease in the country.

The ministry said that 66 people suspected to have cholera were treated and left the hospital.

It said that the province of Blida, 50 kilometers south of Algiers, remains the most affected area with 30 confirmed cases.

Overall, some 150 people have been hospitalized across the country since August 7 because of the disease.

Trade unions have called for delaying the start of the new school year because of the outbreak of the disease, which caused so far two deaths. The government rejects these calls insisting that the situation is completely under control.

President of the National Council of the Order of Doctors lamented the state of health in the country, saying that he regretted that the Pasteur Institute  the body in charge of preventive healthcare and infectious diseases in Algeria  was neither capable of controlling the epidemic nor identifying its origin.

Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through contaminated food or water. It occurs most frequently in places with poor sanitation and sewage facilities, and can be fatal within hours if left untreated.Home | Showtime | Celebrities | I Think Im Going To Drop An Album This Year  Tiwa Savage

African number 1 bad girl Tiwa Savage gives a tip off that she will be releasing a new album before 2018 runs out.

Just coming off the heels of her successful headline show in London at the Indigo O2 Arena last weekend, the Ma Lo crooner will be giving us more music in form of a new album, her third. So far she came through with her debut album Once Upon A Time in 2013, R.E.D  2015 and her Sugarcane EP last year.

The tip came from her in a road drive chat with That Grape Juice while in London ahead of her show. In her words she said:

I think its time for another album because I have a lot of material that I dont just want to go to waste

This album, Im trying not to put too many featured artists on it, because I did with my last two albums.

I want to keep the focus on just me, and be more daring and bold music wise, and you can see with my latest songs that Ive been more aggressive.

She spoke about other subjects like Afrobeat penetration into the global stage, being signed to Roc Nation, performing at the upcoming Global Citizen Festival in South Africa etc.

Watch Tiwa Savage speak on That Grape Juice below:

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: CelebritiesHome | News | General | What we want from you when you visit Nigeria - PDP sends message to Theresa May

- The PDP has called on Theresa May to demand a free and fair election from President Buhari

- The British prime minister is scheduled to visit Nigeria

- The party urged May to visit different parts of the country

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged British Prime Minister, Mrs Theresa May, to demand free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria in 2019, during her scheduled visit to the country.

The party made the call in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday in Abuja.

It said that the advice was important as there were apprehensions across Nigeria on the elections following actions, utterances and body language of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

It also urged May to intervene on interferences and violent attacks on the National Assembly as well as the threats to forcefully remove elected presiding officers of the Senate.

The party called on the British leader to use her stay in the country to visit some parts to ascertain the true situation of issues.

It said that the Federal Government had penchant for disobedience of court orders, unlawful political arrests and detention, restriction of free speech and media freedom.

Other areas of drawbacks on the part of government, according to it, are lack of accountability as detailed in report by various international bodies, including Transparency International (TI), Amnesty International (AI) and US Department of States.

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NAIJ.com had reported that British Prime Minister, Theresa May, is scheduled to visit Nigeria this week. The British high commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright disclosed this via his Twitter handle, @paulTarkwight, saying he is delighted to welcome the PM.

Delighted to welcome British Prime Minister to Nigeria this week. A huge opportunity for both our countries to work in partnership on trade, security and tackling the scourge of #modernslavery and human trafficking," he tweeted.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | I prophesied about intercepted Nigerian-bound Russian ship with explosives  Apostle

- A prophecy by Apostle Johnson Suleiman has reportedly come to pass

- The prophecy concerns the recently intercepted Nigerian-bound Russian ship with explosives

- The general overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries was said to have predicted its outcome

A report by Vanguard has revealed how the General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, prophesied about the recently intercepted Nigerian-bound Russian ship with explosives.

The revelation, according to the report, was contained in a rebroadcast of the video clips of Sunday service on the churches television channel Celebration TV where the fiery preacher made the prophetic declaration.

He said he had urged faithful and Nigerians as a whole to fast and pray for the country to avert danger against the nation.

READ ALSO: Court warns against illegal removal of Saraki

He declared the Tuesday, August 21 and Wednesday, August 22 fasting and prayers days for Nigeria, saying the aim was to avert possible threat to the nation.

On Thursday, August 23, a Nigerian-bound Russian ship with dangerous explosives was intercepted in South Africa.

Recall that NAIJ.com had reported that the South African police said they intercepted a Russian-registered cargo ship allegedly carrying illegal weapons and explosives en route to Lagos, Nigeria.

The vessel, named Lada, had reportedly left Madagascar before stopping at Ngqura port outside the eastern city of Port Elizabeth, where it was detained after a security check on Sunday.

We are aware that she has dangerous cargo- explosives and weapons-on board, Olwethu Mdabula, spokeswoman for the Transnet state transport company told AFP.

In a video released on Tuesday, August 28, the Omega Ministries replayed a clip of the earlier prophesy showing Apostle Suleiman asking the church to pray and fast to avert a possible danger to the nation.

According to the Apostle in the video, When I give instructions, it may not be sensible but it is spiritual. Tuesday, Wednesday, everybody fast. Pray for yourself and the whole Nigeria.

Actually, it will start on Tuesday, enter Wednesday. Full manifestation, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You will see it. Tuesday, Wednesday, we fast to arrest Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You will read it on paper.

Apostle Suleiman, in the prophesy, urged Nigerians to turn to pages of spiritual sensitivity and be security conscious in order that we may be delivered from inexcusable ignorance.

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Two months ago, Apostle Suleiman said he finds it hard to keep mute and pretend, or even look away on national issues.

I reiterate my position today, that I shall not stop talking about it, calling on the government to rise to its responsibility of protecting lives and property of the Nigerian people. Neither will I stop condemning the state of insecurity in Nigeria and the unabated spate of killings of innocent citizens of our land, he said in a statement.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Photos: Uduaghan meets Buhari, Tinubu, other APC stalwarts

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met with Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with former Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan making a surprise appearance.

Uduaghan was a two-term governor of the oil rich state, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party between 2007 and 2015. In recent times, there have been unconfirmed reports of his switch to the APC.

The meeting was being attended by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and members of the National Executive Committee of the APC led by its chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiohmole.

Others attending the meeting were APC governors of Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Adamawa, Ondo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Osun, Yobe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Imo, and Lagos.

Also at the meeting were former governor of Ekiti state, Engineer Segun Oni, Majority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, former Ebonyi governor, Mr Martin Elechi; former Borno State Governor, Ali Sheriff; former Lagos State Governor, Buba Marwa, General Lawrence Onoja, Jim Nwobodo and Sen. Kabiru Gaya.

Others are former APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun; former Enugu State Governor, Sylva Chime, former Edo Governor, Oserheimen Osunbor.

Also in attendance were the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, former Ekiti State governor, Niyi Adebayo, former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, former Bayelsa governor, Mr Sylva Timipre, former petroleum minister, Don Etiebet, and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Some members of the National Assembly from both Senate and the House of Representatives are also in attendance

Former Ekiti State Governor, Chief Segun Oni; Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan and Former Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor during the APC Caucus meeting where Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Udughan was presented to the leaders of the party at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 28/08/2018

(l-r) Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawal; APC National Leader, Senator Ahmed Tinubu and Former Osun State Governor, Chief Bisi Akande during the APC Caucus meeting where Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Udughan was presented to the leaders of the party at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 28/08/2018

President Muhammadu Buhari; APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomho;e and the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawal during the APC Caucus meeting where Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Udughan was presented to the leaders of the party at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

(l-r) Delta State APC Leader, Olorogun Ortegar Emeror; Former APC Chairman, Chief John Oyegun; Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan and Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong during the APC Caucus meeting where Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Udughan was presented to the leaders of the party at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 28/08/2018

Governor Yahya Belo of Kogi State (l); Governor Rotimi Akeredlu of Ondo State (r) and other APC Govenors singing the national anthem during the APC Caucus meeting where Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Udughan was presented to the leaders of the party at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 28/08/2018

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | PDP advises Buhari to sign amended Electoral Act

Abuja  The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the electoral act, as amended.

Ike Abonyi, the Media Adviser to Secondus, in a statement he issued in Abuja on Tuesday said PDP national chairman gave the advice when he received two presidential aspirants of the party in Abuja.

President Buhari

The aspirants are: former Sokoto State Governor Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa and the incumbent governor of Gombe state,Dr Ibrahim Dankwambo who were at the Legacy House, the national campaign office of the party, to pick the partys nomination and expression of interest forms.

Said there should not be any delay in signing the new Electoral Act when it was obvious that it would deepen the electoral system and ensure faster growth of Nigerias democracy.

Secondus assured ALL the aspirants of the party at all levels that there was going to be free, fair and transparent primaries where decision of delegates would prevail.

Let me assure all aspirants of our party that the era of impunity or imposition is over in the party as a rebranded PDP, under my watch, would ensure transparency and fairness to all.

Secondus appealed to the aspirants to work in harmony in the interest of the party and ensure its victory in 2019 general elections, reminding them that only one candidate will get the slot at the end of the day.

We must not forget to put the will of God in all we do, bearing in mind that nobody gets power unless as designed and approved by God.

We are proud of all our aspirants, all of them are eminently qualified to rule this country.

Bafarawa, in his remark, assured that he would abide by the will of the party at the end of the primaries and called on hands to be on deck to ensure the victory of the party in 2019.

On his part, Gov. Dankwambo also assured that he would subordinate his ambition to the party, if the delegates decide to choose another person.

He, however, said that he had what it takes in terms of profession and experience to lead Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PDP commenced the sale of its nomination and expression of interest forms for 2019 general elections, on Tuesday.(NAN)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Police laud Ugwuanyi on crime drop in Enugu

By Chinedu Adonu

CHAIRMAN of the newly inaugurated Police Service Commission, PSC, Mr. Musiliu Smith has applauded Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for the support and assistance his administration has been giving the Nigerian Police Force in the state to effectively discharge its duties.

Ugwuanyi

Mr. Smith stated that the governors supportive role to the police has resulted to a considerable drop in crime rate in this state, adding that it has also gone a long way in lifting the moral of the officers and men of the force, ensuring positive results.

The former Inspector General of Police, who spoke through the Commissioner representing the South-South geopolitical zone in the Commission, Hon. Austin Braimoh, during a courtesy visit to the Government House, Enugu, told Gov. Ugwuanyi that the Police Service Commission has been informed of your generous efforts and assistance.

The chairman applauded the governor for accepting to set up operational offices for our zonal operations, disclosing that it would ensure effective control of the community policing in the state.

He maintained that it was because of the governorfs huge investment in security that Enugu has become one of the most secure and peaceful states in the country.

In his remarks, the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Hon. Oliver Osi described the practice of Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting as mans inhumanity to man that requires urgent attention and continuous advocacies, especially at the rural level in the State.

Osi who condemned the age long practice in the State in strong terms called on traditional rulers, parents and rural dwellers to resist and desist from the practice as there were no emotional or physiological benefits in such practice to the women in our society.

This practice is obnoxious and barbaric. It is mans inhumanity to man. This is the custom that we inherited but I am sure if our forefathers come out from the grave, they will be surprised that FGM is still a practice.

In a paper presentation titled: Overview of Reproductive Health, Women Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Dr. Agboeze Joseph described reproductive health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely in the absence of disease or disorder of the reproductive process.

Joseph who listed the traditional harmful practices to include FGM/C, early marriage, widowhood rites and widows right infringement and female disinheritance stressed the need for the ugly trend to be reversed for the betterment of the south East zone of the country.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | FT report on Buhari confirms my claim  Ogbonnia, APC presidential aspirant

All Progressives Congress, APC presidential aspirant, Dr. SKC Ogbonnia has said the Financial Times report on comments attributed to President Donald Trump on President Muhammadu Buhari validated his claim that the international community was against a second term for Buhari.

SKC Ogbonnia

In a statement issued yesterday in response to the report, Ogbonnia said:

About ten days ago, I revealed to our great party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), and fellow Nigerians that the world is against President Muhammadu Buharis second term bid. I asserted that the opposition is coming from influential leaders within our major allies, including Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, China, Canada, etc. I added that the emerging consensus among these nations is that President Buharis second term ambition lacks in cogency. They point to Buharis failing health, lack of clear vision, lack of intellectual capacity, an apparent pattern of torpor, nepotism, wanton killings, disregard for the rule of law, and a growing sense of disunity and uncertainty in the land, among many failings.

However, both the Presidency and the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, vigorously countered my account. According to Onyeama, The international community is very supportive of President Buhari. As you can see President Buhari has transformed our relationship with foreign countries and also the perception of Nigeria by foreign leaders.

But the hard truth is trickling in. The trending report by Financial Times where US President Donald Trump blatantly referred to Buhari as lifeless is a partial testimony. In short, my sources within the White House confided that Trump believes that Africa has the potential to be fully independent, but the countries over there need to get their act together. They need good leaders who can get things done. Nigeria, for example, has huge, huge resources and can do much better than what is going on over there. This view is popular among the Western nations. I also gathered that some of the world leaders plan to visit or talk to Buhari soon.

Perhaps, leadership is contingent upon the environment. What is good for America may not be good for Nigeria and vice versa. But if any relationship with the outside world is a factor in solving Nigerian problems, President Buhari has no business touching the APC nomination form. Further, the Financial Times does not speak for the world, quite alright, but its report is a part of the pressure from the international community that will continue to mount as the months leading to the 2019 go by. Such global campaign is expected to be more robust than what President Goodluck Jonathan faced in 2015.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | US bishop reconsiders $2.3m retirement home

Bishop Patrick McGrath

A Catholic bishop who came under intense criticism after his plans to retire in a $2.3 million home in Californias Silicon Valley became public, now says he will finish his days in a rectory.

Bishop Patrick McGrath confessed in a statement issued on Monday that he erred in judgement when the San Jose diocese purchased the five-bedroom home for his retirement.

I failed to consider adequately the housing crisis in this valley and the struggles of so many families and communities in light of that crisis, he said. I have heard from many on this topic and I have decided that I will not move into this house.

McGrath said the diocese planned to sell the nearly 3,300-square-foot (306-square-meter) home as soon as possible and any profits from the sale would go to a charity fund.

I assume full responsibility for this decision and I believe that the sale of the house is the appropriate action, he said.

When I retire, I now intend to live in a rectory at one of our parishes.

The purchase of the home with money earmarked for this purpose as well as the sale of a condominium where McGraths predecessor lived flies in the face of the churchs stated mission to help the poor, critics said.

It also is at odds with Pope Francis desire for a less ostentatious church.

Following his election in 2013, Pope Francis decided to shun the official grand papal apartments to live in a modest residence.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2019 Election: Kwankwaso Denied Access To Use Eagle Square For Presidential Declaration

Senator Kwankwaso may no longer be able to make use of the Eagle Square Abuja for the official declaration to run for the presidential election as the federal government has denied him access to the place.

Former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has been reportedly denied access to the Eagle Square in Abuja, the proposed venue of the official declaration of his presidential bid.



According to PREMIUM Times, Kwankwaso who recently defected from All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was also denied access to the Old Parade Ground, another major public arena at the federal capital, Abuja.

The influential politician had announced Wednesday as the day for the political event in a statement from his presidential campaign committee on Sunday.

In a letter signed by Usman Raji, the facility manager of the Abuja International Conference Centre & Eagles Square, the government said the decision to deny him the Eagle Square was to avoid disruption of work flow at the Federal Secretariat, a major hub of civil servants.

The letter dated August 27, was referenced in a statement by the Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation, and sent to PREMIUM Times, reads;

We are sorry to inform you that the event can no longer hold on the said date because it is a political event and the 29th of August, 2018 happens to be a work day, as it would disrupt the usual work flow of the Federal Secretariat.

We apologise for the oversight on our part to note the date in relation to the nature of the event. We regret every inconvenience caused by this, Raji said in the letter.

The Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation in its statement said it sees the development as a handiwork of the government in power who will not see anything good in growing our fledgling democracy as no level playing field has been created to allow for viable opposition in the country.

Even at that, earlier Tuesday morning the Abuja International Conference and Eagle Square, managed by the Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd refused us access to inspect the premises demanding us to present a police permit, when actual approval for the use of the Eagle Square has been sought and paid for more than one week to the said declaration.

The above development will in no way dampen our morale to go ahead with the declaration or chicken-out as it will only embolden us to legally pursue our fundamental right to freedom of movement and association.

It is not yet clear if Kwankwaso will proceed with the declaration as scheduled despite the permit refusal, as the senators spokesperson, Binta Sipikin, could not be reached at the time of this report as her phone was switched off.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Hours ahead of her visit, Theresa May describes Nigeria as home to largest population of worlds poorest people

- The British prime minister has described Nigeria as the poorest of all nations in the world

- Theresa May said 87 million Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day

- She also said that Africas ocean economy three times the size of its landmass is under threat from plastic waste and other pollution

Barely 24 hours ahead of her scheduled visit to Nigeria, the British prime minister, Theresa May, has decried Nigeria as home to the largest population of the world's poorest people.

May on Tuesday, August 28, said that 87 million Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day.

In a statement made in Cape Town, South Africa, the UK government said its prime minister said Africans are the poorest people in the world.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Former Plateau governor declares interest to run for 2019 presidency

May said: For example, much of Nigeria is thriving, with many individuals enjoying the fruits of a resurgent economy. Yet 87 million Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day - making it home to more very poor people than any other nation in the world."

Also speaking on inequality and the impact of terrorism on African countries, the British prime minister said: Most of the worlds poorest people are Africans. And increasing wealth has brought rising inequality, both between and within nations.

READ ALSO: Just in: Poison scare leads to emergency shutdown of Abakaliki rice mill

Extremist groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabab are killing thousands. Africas ocean economy three times the size of its landmass is under threat from plastic waste and other pollution, May added.

meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had urged British prime minister to demand free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria in 2019, during her scheduled visit to the country.

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The PDP said that the advice was important as there were apprehensions across Nigeria on the elections following actions, utterances and body language of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralThe U.S. command for Africa AFRICOM Tuesday said it conducted an airstrike that killed an Islamic State group (ISIS) militant in the town of Bani Walid, 153 km south of capital Tripoli.

The command said it carried out the airstrike in coordination with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), headquartered in Tripoli.

AFRICOM did not name the alleged militant but residents in the town said the slain ISIS-Libya terrorist was Walid Bu Hariba, from the coastal city of Sirte, the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi.

Photos of a white pickup apparently hit by projectiles have emerged following the airstrike.

AFRICOM assisted the GNA-aligned forces to retake Sirte from the terror group in 2016.

Although it has been broken, ISIS has been seeking to regroup in the Libyan vast desert and in towns such as Bani Walid, located some 150 km (93 miles) south of the capital Tripoli.

Following the fall of the terror group in Sirte, AFRICOM has continued carrying out occasional airstrikes. In June, two precision airstrikes killed four ISIS fighters as well as one al Qaeda militant.

ISIS entered Libya in 2014 amidst the chaos that followed Gaddafis demise in 2011, in a NATO-backed revolution.Home | News | General | Uncertainties as Buhari, APC NEC finally settle for direct primaries at Aso Rock meeting

- The National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC reportedly adopts the direct primaries ahead of 2019

- The party took the decision at a meeting held in Aso Rock late Tuesday, August 28, 2018

- However, a final decision is expected to be taken on it at the NEC meeting expected to hold on Thursday, August 30

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) agreed at a meeting on late Tuesday, August 28, to finally adopt direct primaries to conduct elections that will produce its candidates.

The decision, which is ahead of the 2019 general elections, was taken at a meeting which reportedly had the president, Muhammadu Buhari, his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, its national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and several top members in attendance.

READ ALSO: 2019: Europe-based pollster declares Buhari, some governors winners

Daily Trust quoted a source at the meeting as saying none of those present, including governors, opposed the decision.

According to the source, All members of the NWC agree to adopt direct primaries. That is what is taken to the national caucus. You know that some governors like that of Ogun and Ondo do agree to it. So, it may have to be subjected to voting.

You know that it is not all members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) are members of caucus.

However, the caucus will decide what will happen at NEC meeting tomorrow (Thursday, August 30). But there is no divided opinion among the NWC members.

The national spokesperson of the party, Yekini Nabena, did not take his calls when he was contacted for enquiry about the outcome of the meeting.

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The report, however, claimed that there are silent grumblings from some members.

Those opposed to the idea are reportedly wondering how the party aims to coordinate millions of its members during the exercise.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 28, met with caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Aso Rock, Abuja, with former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, making a surprise appearance.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Just in: Ebonyi government seals Abakaliki rice mill over alleged poison

- The Abakaliki Rice Mill in Ebonyi state has been shutdown

- The mill was closed following reports of poisoned and adulterated rice, the state government said

- The state government also said that the closure was with immediate effect

The Ebonyi state government on Tuesday, August 28, sealed the Abakaliki Rice Mill Limited over the alleged infiltration of poisoned and adulterated rice in the mill.

Kenneth Ugbala, the governors senior Special assistant on internal security, who announced the state governments decision at a news briefing, said that the closure was with immediate effect.

Ugbala noted that the state Executive Council (EXCO) had received the news of the poisoned and adulterated rice with shock and deliberated extensively on it to save lives of citizens.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Former Plateau governor declares interest to run for 2019 presidency

The EXCO subsequently directed the concerned Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of health, agriculture, commerce and industry and internal security to seal the rice mill for full investigations to be carried out.

The ministry of environment, which firstly received the report, informed us that the products are not fit for human consumption.

The primary aim of every government is to protect the lives of its citizens as we want to prevent unsuspecting citizens from purchasing such products, he said.

Commenting further on the situation, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, states commissioner for information and orientation, noted that the government did not know the source from which the products infiltrated the market and the type of poison involved.

We do not know whether they are rat or other type of poisons but the commissioner for environment quickly dispatched a team to the mill on receiving the news of the infiltration.

The team confiscated some samples of the product and they had labels of not fit for human consumption boldly written on them.

READ ALSO: Suspected cultists kill former chief security officer of Ibadan Polytechnic

We will not go into the semantics of such labels but any responsible government should take precautionary measures immediately such development is discovered.

This government being a responsible one took the normal, precautionary step to safeguard its peoples lives, he said.

The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SSA on Internal Security and other authorities involved in the sealing left the EXCO chambers immediately to enforce the directive.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the federal government says it will shut down the land border between Nigeria and a neigbouring country to avoid smuggling of foreign rice into the country.

Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture and rural development, said shutting the borders had become necessary to encourage local production and sustain the economy of the country. Nigeria shares borders with Niger, Chad, Benin and Cameroon.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Coalition of Political Parties reveals why Eagle Square was locked before Kwankwaso's presidential declaration

- The coalition of Coalition of Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned the shut down of the Eagle Square for Rabiu Kwankwaso's presidential declaration

- CUPP said President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and the ruling party is scared of Rabiu

The coalition warned against plunging Nigeria into chaos and lawlessness

Barely 24 hours after a former governor of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, was barred from using the Eagle Square for the official declaration of his 2019 presidential ambition, the Coalition of Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned the federal government for the action.

The coalition alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is scared of Kwankwaso's popularity.

Vanguard reports that the spokesperson for the CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, August 28, said urged the President Buhari-led administration not to plunge the nation into chaos and lawlessness.

Ugochinyere also accused the presidency of growing culture of intolerance of the opposition in the past three years.

He said: This is not the first time they are doing this. They stopped him ( Kwankwaso) from being received in Kano. They want to stop him because the President is scared of the popularity of the aspirant."

"This is part of a plot to institute a full-blown dictatorship in Nigeria if the Nigerian people make the mistake of allowing him (Buhari) to be there in 2019.

Kwankwaso is declaring on the platform of the PDP, which is one of the coalition partners in the CUPP.

We want to inform Nigerians that this act of growing culture of impunity and intimidation has gotten to a very dangerous level with the decision of the Police to seal the venue of a venue of somebody who wants to be president," Ugochinyere said.

The Eagle Square was built for such events and people who want to use it pay for it, he said.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Kwankwaso was denied access to Abujas Eagle Square for the declaration of his presidential bid.

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Facility manager of the Abuja International Conference Centre and the Eagles Square, Usman Raji said the decision to deny him the Eagle Square was to avoid disruption of work flow at the federal secretariat.

The manager in a letter in which the former governor was denied access to the venue was referenced in a statement made available to them by the Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Days after saying he was under pressure to dump PDP, ex-governor Uduaghan shows up at APC caucus meeting with Buhari

- President Muhammadu Buhari meets with the APC caucus at Aso Rock ahead of the 2019 general elections

- One of the newest faces at the meeting was Emmanuel Uduaghan, a former PDP governor of Delta state who is vying for the Senate

- The discussions at the meeting reportedly centred on the type of primaries that the party should adopt

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 28, met with caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Aso Rock, Abuja, with former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, making a surprise appearance.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Uduaghan, a two-term governor of the oil rich state, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2007 and 2015, had been speculated to be planning to switch to the APC.

The report said the meeting was attended by the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, and members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC led by its chairman, Adams Oshiohmole.

READ ALSO: Buharis group replies Trump, declares president fit to rule beyond 2019

Others who attended the meeting are APC governors of Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Adamawa, Ondo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Osun, Yobe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Imo, and Lagos.

Also at the meeting were former governor of Ekiti state, Engineer Segun Oni, majority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, former Ebonyi governor, Martin Elechi; former Borno state governor, Ali Sheriff; former Lagos governor, Buba Marwa, General Lawrence Onoja, Jim Nwobodo and Sen Kabiru Gaya.

Others are former APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun; former Enugu state governor, Sylva Chime, former Edo governor, Oserheimen Osunbor.

Also in attendance were the former Senate president, Ken Nnamani, former Ekiti state governor, Niyi Adebayo, former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, former Bayelsa governor, Sylva Timipre, former petroleum minister, Don Etiebet, and the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Some members of the National Assembly from both the Senate and the House of Representatives were also in attendance

It was learnt that the meeting held behind closed doors partly centred on discussing socio-political issues including the forthcoming APC party primaries.

The meeting of the APC caucus also deliberated on whether to adopt direct primaries being advocated by Oshiohmole or an indirect primaries, through delegate system.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in January, 2018, released the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections.

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The timetable covered the presidential, National and state Assembly, governorship and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council elections.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that Emmanuel Uduaghan reported to have officially declared for the All Progressives Congress (APC) as he was unveiled at the meeting.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Ibadan Polytechnic's former chief security officer shot dead by suspected cultists

- Suspected cultists have killed a former chief security officer of the Ibadan Polytechnic

- Ahmed Olalekan was shot on the neck by the suspected cultists

- The suspected assailants inflicted some machete cuts on the deceased before they fled

A former chief security officer of the Polytechnic, Ibadan, Ahmed Olalekan, has been shot dead by suspected cultists who traced him to his residence in Apete, Ibadan.

Olalekan, a graduate of the institution was shot on the neck on Monday, August 27, by the suspected members of the dreaded Aiye Confraternity of Nigeria.

An eyewitness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Tuesday, August 28, that the suspected assailants inflicted some machete cuts on the deceased before they fled.

The death of the chief security office who had been behind the clampdown on cultism in the institution, enraged his colleagues who blocked vehicular traffic along the Sango-Eleyele road, Ibadan.

READ ALSO: 3 months after imprisonment Senator Jang declares interest in 2019 presidential race

NAN gathered that some members of the Apete Youths Forum also protested against the killing of Olalekan, their member, in the premises of the institution on Tuesday.

When NAN visited the institution only few students were on campus while virtually all the lecture halls were empty.

The school security operatives were on patrol with some posted at strategic locations to prevent breakdown of law and order.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Oyo State, ASP Adekunel Ajisebutu, said some policemen had been deployed to the campus to maintain law and order.

Ajisebutu said some arrests were made and exhibits such as axes and cutlasses recovered.

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The PPRO said the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, had directed that discrete investigation into the incident be carried out and the suspects arrested be charged to court.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the police in Lagos arrested two suspected cultists.

The cultist simply identified as Kanmi,( also known as Father) and Alami Samuel were nabbed on Thursday, March 29, while trying to attack a rival gang member at Illasamaja area of Lagos.

The spokesperson for the Lagos Police command said the first suspect was arrested based on credible intelligence report as he had been on a wanted list for long over many violent crimes, including cultism.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Breaking: Former Plateau governor declares interest to run for 2019 presidency

- A former governor of Plateau state has declared his interest to run for presidency in 2019

- Jonah Jang said the north central is yet to produce a president

- He also to take a closer look at calls for restructuring of the country to ensure justice for all segments of the population

Senator Jonah Jang, former Plateau governor, on Tuesday, August 28, in Jos joined the race for the PDP presidential ticket ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Jang, while submitting his letter of interest at the state secretariat, opined that the ticket should be zoned to the north central geo-political zone in the interest of equity and fairness.

He argued that the zone had been the belt that tied Nigerians together over time, declaring that he was the face of that middle belt in the presidential contest.

Jang regretted that the zone had yet to produce an elected president, saying that his election would end that injustice.

READ ALSO: Saraki's impeachment: Court gives important warning to justice minister, IGP, DSS

He said that Nigeria was becoming increasingly divided along various lines, and blamed the nations enormous security challenges on inherent injustices.

My innate desire is to rescue Nigeria from the brim of collapse; I want to restore our greatness by building a nation we shall all be proud of, he said.

Jang promised to make peace and security his major focus if elected, adding that he would build the economy and end the current situation where Nigeria had been turned into a dump site.

He also promised to take a closer look at calls for restructuring of the country to ensure justice for all segments of the population.

READ ALSO: Demand free and fair election from President Buhari - PDP to Theresa May

Jang promised to tackle impunity and criminality, and vowed to apprehend gunmen that had made life so cheap.

The former governor, who represents Plateau North in the senate, promised to strengthen anti-graft agencies to fight corruption within the confines of the rule of law.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jangs opponents for the ticket include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senate President Bukola Saraki, and the former governors of Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Jigawa States  Ahmed Makarfi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Attahiru Bafarawa and Sule Lamido.

Others include the incumbent governors of Sokoto and Gombe States, Aminu Tambuwal and Dankwambo.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that a former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, has thrown his weight behind the a presidential aspirant for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kabiru Turaki.

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Babangida said Turaki's presidential agenda is capable of redeeming Nigeria. Speaking while playing host to the PDP presidential aspirant at his residence in Minna, Niger state, Babangida said, Nigerias Unity must not be compromised.

The former head of state said Nigeria has been so divided that he thinks if given the chance, Turaki drive the country into witnessing tremendous development strides.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Lagos PDP says it will not miss former chairman

By Emmanuel Aziken

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has welcomed as good riddance to bad rubbish, the exit of its former chairman, Mr. Moshood Salvador saying that his new friends in the All Progressives Congress, APC will soon discover him to be a merchant of falsehood.

PDP logo

Party spokesman, Gani Taofik in a statement yesterday faulted what he described as the inordinate ambitions of Salvador who was a former member of the Alliance for Democracy, AD before he joined the PDP.

Salvador had alleged that he could not be in the same party with the Lagos State patron of the party, Chief Bode George who he said was involved in the alleged conspiracy that saw him locked up over a murder case. Salvador is economical with the truth as Chief Bode George is rather his benefactor who once made him a senatorial candidate and now state chairman.

The problem with Salvador is that he is not a team player and too ambitious, interested in all opportunities. We will not be demoralised by his defection. He has never been a winner for the party. We are likely to feel concerned if some names touted go with him (went) but for Salvador, he is just a loudspeaker politician.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Jang joins race for presidency

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

JosThe immediate past governor of Plateau State and Senator representing Plateau North senatorial zone in the National Assembly, Senator Jonah Jang, has declared his intention to contest for the seat of President on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Jonah Jang

Jang said his ambition to contest is to restore the country to the founding dream, hope, aspirations and perceptions of greatness which the country was known with.

Speaking, yesterday, at the PDP Secretariat in Jos, when he presented a letter of intent to the party, the Senator who earlier told his constituency to shop for a viable replacement for him at the Senate in 2019, stressed he was out to give the country a purposeful leadership.

According to Jang, I have followed developments in this nation from its pre-colonial political life and the struggle of the founders of our democracy, to independence, and the giant strides made as well as challenges that followed.

The dreams of the founders of Nigeria were gigantic, the hopes were huge, but achievable. So I have come with a mantra of Restore Nigeria.

He added that since PDP has zoned the presidency to the North, the Middle Belt, which is at the centre of the North, was yet to produce an elected President under the consti-tution and the time is ripe for the North to reciprocate the gesture of the region, which has always supported the North.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Toyin Saraki condoles Sen McCains widow

Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate President and Founder, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, has paid tribute to the late Senator John McCain III, saluting his lifelong commitment to a safer world.

Toyin Saraki

In a condolence statement to Mrs Cindy McCain, widow of the late United States Senator and presidential candidate, Mrs Ojora Saraki said: The tributes that have been paid to Senator McCain have come from around the globe and from across the political spectrum.

Although your husbands bravery and statesmanship are legendary, each time I read a fresh account it gives me cause to pause and reflect further on his life and his legacy.

Senator McCains article, Memo to Congress: Dont Cut Foreign Aid, jointly written with Senator Tim Kaine, a Democratic Senator from Virginia, demonstrated his commitment to a safe world in which every man, woman and child could be free, happy and healthy.

In doing so, Senator McCain drew upon his deep understanding of the link between health, development and security. As we seek to respect and build on his legacy, I hope that this will be one of the cornerstones of that understanding.

I would like to also pay tribute to your own leadership; not only in support of your husband, but as a philanthropist, advocate and change maker.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. May we all learn and act in the light of your husbands life.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | This is not the time to vote on ethnic, religious or regional lines - Okogie

- Cardinal Okogie has warned Nigerians against attempt by some people to destabilise Nigeria in 2019

- Okogie said what is being witnessed looks like a re-enactment of Shakespeares Julius Caesar

- He advised Nigerians not to vote on ethnic, religious or regional line

Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, the retired Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, has warned Nigerians to beware of some individuals plotting to destabilise the nation and plung it into tribal and religious war ahead of 2019 elections.

Okogie, in a letter entitled 'Beware the Ides of March' urged Nigerians not to vote on ethnic, religious or regional lines.

The letter read: No true lover of Nigeria would want to drag this country into bloodshed.

READ ALSO: 2019: Oshiomhole reportedly shuts APC doors against non-performing governors

It will be their Ides of March when the grandstanding and insolence of presidential and gubernatorial media spokespersons will be utterly unhelpful. Approaching another year of elections, this admonition has become frightfully pertinent. For what is being witnessed looks like a re-enactment of Shakespeares Julius Caesar. In this re-enactment, Julius Caesar would represent Nigeria; the Roman politicians who plotted his assassination would represent the average Nigerian politician, with Brutus, the politician pretending to be Caesars friend, representing politicians who, in their diabolically deadly intrigues, pretend to love Nigeria, but are actually plotting her descent into bloody disintegration.

Nigeria, like Caesar, must beware of the Ides of March. We have been witnessing politically inspired violence by Boko Haram. We have also seen how Nigerians in the states of the middle belt are killed by armed herdsmen. While the issues of Boko Haram and murderous herdsmen are yet to be given the attention they deserve, making refugees of some Nigerians on their homeland, we continue to read disturbing news of importation of arms to Nigeria. Previous importations have come and gone without any conviction or sanction. We ask, as we have been doing: Who are those importing arms into Nigeria? Are they ghosts? What is government doing about them? Why is it that some Nigerians kill other Nigerians with impunity?

"Why is it that those who masterminded the highly treasonable act of armed invasion of the National Assembly are yet to be identified, apprehended and arraigned before the courts? The build-up to the 2019 elections gives the impression that some people are out to destroy Nigeria. We must hold every political office holder and contender to an uncompromisingly rigorous standard.

"This is not the time to vote on ethnic, religious or regional lines. This is the time to vote on past records of public service. Let us not cast our votes for those who have ruined, are ruining and will ruin this country. Nigerians must beware of the Ides of March. We are still watching.

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NAIJ.com earlier reported that Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie accused President Muhammadu Buhari of shielding killer herdsmen and treating them with kids gloves.

Cardinal Okogie made the claims in an open letter written to the president titled: Dear Mr. President, Call a Spade a Spade,.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralAfter restoring diplomatic ties last April, Morocco and Cuba are strengthening their diplomatic relations with a visit by Cubas ambassador Elio Eduardo Rodriguez Perdomo, who submitted his accreditation letter as an itinerary ambassador of his country to Morocco.

The Cuban Ambassador was received by Moroccos Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

He also met Parliament Speaker Habib Malki.

Following the meeting at the Parliament, the Cuban Ambassador told the press that what unites Morocco and Cuba is much stronger than points of divergence.

He expressed willingness to strengthen ties with Morocco at the economic and cultural levels and extended an invitation to the African Kingdom to take part in Cubas trade fair.

The Cuban diplomat also extended thanks to Morocco for its support at the UN for resolutions calling for an end of the economic embargo on Cuba.

In June 2017, King Mohammed VI had appointed Boughaleb El Attar as Moroccos first ambassador to Cuba in decades. The diplomat will took his position shortly as he was handed his credentials by the Sovereign lately.

The resumption of Moroccan-Cuban relations, which opens a new era for the two countries, comes after the private visit King Mohammed VI paid to Cuba last year. It was the Moroccan monarchs first visit to the country since his enthronement in 1999 and the first ever made by a Moroccan king.

Since the 1960s, relations between the two countries soured as a result of Cubas backing to Algeria during the Morocco-Algeria military conflict of 1963. And in the 1970s, Havana declared its support to the enemies of Moroccos territorial integrity, the Algeria-backed Polisario separatists.

Since then, Cuba has been providing the Polisario militias with military, vocational and educational training and was regarded as one of the separatists strategic bastions.

The decision of Rabat and Havana to resume diplomatic relations dealt a hard blow to the Algerian-backed secessionist group thanks to the royal proactive diplomacy, which scored another positive point against Moroccos enemies in one of their high-profile strongholds.Home | News | General | Ahead of APC NEC meeting, Oshiomhole reportedly takes strong decision on automatic tickets to non-performing governors

- A report indicates that Adams Oshiomhole's NEC of the APC may have decided against any automatic tickets for non-performing governors

- The report claims that some of the state governors include those of Kaduna, Kogi and Bauchi

- The report indicates that the direct primaries may not be used in states having serious security issues

Ahead of the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), reports indicate that the partys leadership, headed by Adams Oshiomhole, may have shut its doors on automatic tickets against non-performing governors on its platform.

NAIJ.com reports that at a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party held on Tuesday, August 28, the members reportedly adopted the direct primaries as against the delegate system.

Daily Independent reports that some of the governors that may fall into the category are those of Kogi, Bauchi and Kaduna states adding that they are considered to have performed below expectations.

READ ALSO: 2019: Europe-based pollster declares Buhari, some governors winners

It quoted top party members at its national secretariat of releasing the hint that Oshiomhole rebuffed pressures to drop his insistence on performance as the yardstick for the endorsement of the party ahead of 2019.

One of the sources said this was the reason Oshiomhole is pushing for the adoption of direct primaries to pick candidates ahead of the 2019 elections.

Yes it is true, the national chairman is not backing some governors because of their poor performance.

He has said repeatedly that the party cannot guarantee automatic ticket for some aspirants, especially governors whose performance fall far short of expectations.

That is the reason he is pushing for direct primaries, because if direct primaries are used, some of the governors will not have a chance, and they know this.

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That is why they are kicking against it. But one thing is certain, direct primaries will be used in the south west. They have adopted that.

The only zone that direct primaries may not be used may be some states of north east because of the fragile security situation there, but as for other zones, it may be used. But lets wait and see what happens later today," the source said.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 28, met with caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Aso Rock, Abuja, with former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, making a surprise appearance.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Uduaghan, a two-term governor of the oil rich state, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2007 and 2015, had been speculated to be planning to switch to the APC.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | How we persuaded Jonathan to concede defeat in 2015 - General Abdusalami

- Former military head of state, General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd), has revealed how ex-president Goodluck Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat in 2015

- He said that the beginning of Africas political problems was the attitude of its leaders who want to remain in power at all cost

- Abdusalami said those leaders have the tendencies to manipulate very vital democratic organs

Former military head of state, General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd), has narrated how former President Goodluck Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari after the result of the 2015 presidential election was released.

Nigerian Tribune reports that Abubakar, who spoke at the 2018 annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), noted that the beginning of Africas political problems was the attitude of its leaders who do all they can to amend the constitution in order to sit-tight in government.

NAIJ.com gathered that he said those leaders have the tendencies to manipulate very vital democratic organs, particularly the legislature and even sometimes, the judiciary to suppress any dissenting voice.

READ ALSO: We will be neutral in Nigeria's 2019 general elections - US

The former military head of state, who delivered a keynote address on Political transitions in Africa: Lessons to learn gave credit to former President Jonathan for not only conceding defeat but for congratulating President Buhari who was a candidate of the opposition party.

He said: All analysis of political trends in the run-up to Nigerias 2015 national election pointed to above scenario playing out. Very early on, I teamed up with some well-meaning non- partisan stakeholders and elder statesmen to engage the key contestants and party leaders with a view to forestalling such a scenario.

Under the auspices of a peace initiative, we brokered the acceptance by leading contestants of some form of a Memorandum of Understanding with them to agree to accept the outcome of the elections, preach cordiality in relations and conduct peaceful campaigns.

It is gratifying to note that, courtesy of our humble effort and the goodwill extended to it by the contestants and the Nigerian public, the 2015 national elections were conducted peacefully.

To his eternal credit, the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost the polls had the magnanimity to concede defeat and congratulate the candidate of the opposition party. In the end, peace and political stability prevailed in the land, he said.

Abubakar further narrated that when he was appointed to lead the country in 1998; it was observed that there was political apathy and that the political class was already fatigued, with some voices wanting a return of the country to parliamentary system.

Also, speaking at the conference, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, stressed that while strong leaders and institutions are important for political transition, emphasis should not be placed on the strength of the leader at the detriment of the leaders competence and disposition.

To my mind, we need strong institutions, we need strong leadership; but, it is not just the strength of the leader that we require. What we require most is the competence and the capacity of that leader to take decisions and to be assertive in ensuring that those decisions are actually implemented.

So we have to be very careful in thinking that strong leaders can really help. Just as a weak leader can wreck an institution, a strong leader who has just that power and courage, if he lacks capacity, ability and competence to lead, he could also wreck strong institutions. So, it is very important that we recognize this important aspect of the leadership that we require, he said.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that the south-south league of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Goodluck Jonathan, former president of Nigeria, is not interested in the 2019 election.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2019: Dankwambo, Lamido get PDP nomination forms for N12m each; Governor Ikpeazu picks his with N600,000

- The Gombe state governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo and the former governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido under the PDP have picked their interest and nomination forms for N12 million each

- In the south-east geopolitical zone, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state, obtained the form for N600,000 on Tuesday, August 28

-The Senate president, Bukola Saraki and the Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal are yet to pick theirs

The national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja was on Tuesday, August 28, taken over by the sale of nomination forms to aspirants seeking to contest the 2019 general polls under its wings.

Whereas many aspirants made payments for the forms in bank drafts, others paid through Point of Sales (POS) machines, The Sun reports'

READ ALSO: Uncontrolled population growth must urgently be curbed to abolish extreme poverty - Minister

Listed among those who collected expression of interest and nomination forms were the Gombe state governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, who is seeking to contest the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the party

Also, the former governor of Jigawa state, Sule Lamido, picked the PDP presidential nomination form. Both aspirants paid N2 million each for expression of interest forms and N10 million for the nomination forms.

Meanwhile, the Abia Concerned Citizens (ACC) paid N600,000 to obtain the governorship expression of interest and nomination forms for Okezie Ikpeazu, the Abia state governor.

Ambassador Bestman Eruba, the leader of the group, said the ACC was impressed with the performance of Ikeazu since he assumed office in 2015.

Eruba further said that residents want him to continue as governor for another four years, in order to consolidate on his achievements.

Eruba said: We are at the headquarters of the PDP to purchase the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms for Governor Ikpeazu, who, in our estimation, has done excellently well. Governor Dankwambo also purchased the nomination form at the Legacy House Abuja, where he met with the opposition partys National Working Committee (NWC) members.

So far, it has not been confirmed if the former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, have obtained the PDP presidential nomination form.

Apart from thees governors, others who have indicated interest in the PDP presidential ticket are former governor of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, former education minister, Ibrahim Shekarau, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna state governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

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Others are founder of Baze University, Abuja, Senator Datti Baba Ahmed, former minister of special duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki and former governor of Plateau state, Jonah Jang.

However, the Senate president, Bukola Saraki and the Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who are speculated to be eyeing the PDP presidential ticket, are yet to officially state their interests.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com reported that the former Kano state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso had declared his intention to run for presidency in 2019 on the platform of the PDP. Kwankwaso said this in Abuja on Wednesday, August 29.

The former governor had proposed to use the venue to declare his presidential bid. Facility manager of the Abuja International Conference Centre & Eagles Square, Usman Raji said the decision to deny him the Eagle Square was to avoid disruption of workflow at the federal secretariat.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Opinion: Who are the sponsors of herdsmens killings in Nigeria?

Editor's note: Niyi Akinnaso in this piece asks what the federal government planning in its intervention in the ongoing conflicts between herdsmen and farmers?, while urging that something soon needs be be done to stop the herdsmens killings.

Why does the ownership of the estimated 19.5 million cows in Nigeria remain shrouded in secrecy? Surely, the herdsmen we see carrying AK-47 rifles and following the cows through the roadways, villages, and farmlands are not the owners of the cows they tend. Rather, they are hired by the cattle owners to ensure that the cattle are fed and defended against rustling and other dangers.

We also know that the herdsmen are organised into an association known as the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria. Speaking at the General Assembly of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace on January 18, 2018, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III, revealed that MACBAN was established over 32 years ago to cater for the welfare of its members and advance the growth of Fulani business.

By Fulani business here is meant cattle rearing. MACBAN has a branch in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country, which often promptly intervenes on matters concerning the herdsmen within its zone.

READ ALSO: Former head of state Abdusalami narrates how Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat in 2015

True, the leadership of MACBAN owns some of the cattle; but the vast majority of the cattle are owned by people outside the association. This leads to several questions: Who are the cattle owners in Nigeria? What is their relationship to MACBAN? How many heads of cattle does each of them own? How much tax do they pay on each head of cattle? Let us examine these questions more closely.

Beyond the leadership of MACBAN, the first suspects are the patrons of the association. The list consists of the upper echelons of Fulani oligarchs. Heres the list as recounted recently by one of them, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II: The first grand patron was Sultan Abubakar III; and he was replaced by successive sultans  Dasuki, Maccido and Saad Abubakar now.

Other patrons were Emir of Kano, Lamido Adamawa, and emirs of Zazzau and Katsina. So, my predecessor was a patron and on my ascension to the throne, I became a patron (The PUNCH, January 14, 2018).

It is well-known that the Fulani elite own millions of heads of cattle. It will be recalled, for example, that President Muhammadu Buhari revealed in his asset declaration in 2015 that he owned  farms, an orchard, and a ranch  270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees (Vanguard, September 3, 2015).

However, the ownership of cattle goes well beyond the Fulani. Many Northern politicians of various ethnicities, especially governors, senators, and members of the House of Representatives as well as their predecessors in office, also own cattle. So do businessmen and thousands of livestock farmers. It is also true of military and ex-military officers from the North.

Interestingly, cattle ownership in Nigeria is not limited to Northerners. There is no state in the federation in which cattle owners do not reside with their cattle. And not all of such owners are Northerners. In every state, there are indigenes who own cattle. For example, Senator David Mark, an Idoma from Benue State, is said to be a major cattle owner.

What seems to be common to all cattle owners in the country is the hiring of Fulani herdsmen to tend their cattle, often through the local MACBAN branch. This is in recognition of pastoralism as their traditional occupation.

The implication is that there are Fulani herdsmen resident in virtually every state in the federation. This is why, for example, many Benue residents claimed that they knew some of the herdsmen who plundered their villages and killed the residents.

So far, the peoples anger has been directed at these herdsmen, who are being blamed for plundering farmlands and entire villages. It is high time the owners of the cattle were brought into the equation. There are several reasons to do so, and urgently too.

First, it is believed that the explanation for the sudden upsurge in the marauding exploits of the herdsmen and their killing binge goes beyond them and feeding cows. There is probably a hidden agenda, which, it is believed, may implicate the cattle owners themselves.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo hinted at this in his comment at the graveside of the 73 Benue victims last week: Whatever is behind this  we must get to the root of it; and until we get to the root of this, we will be burying victims  we must know why this is happening.

Second, it is necessary to know the source of the AK-47 rifles carried by the herdsmen in full public glare. Where do the arms come from and who is arming them? The government has advanced two major theories about the source of the arms. One theory blames the arms on Gaddafi-trained warriors who returned to Nigeria after the Libyan strong mans defeat.

Another theory blames the arms on politicians who are behind the herdsmen-farmers clashes. Their goal, the theory goes, is to foment trouble and cause instability in order to make the government look back ahead of the 2019 elections.

But then, why do security officers under the control of the Federal Government appear complicit in the herdsmens crime? If the perpetrators of the Offa bank robberies were arrested and interrogated to the point of naming the alleged sponsors of their ammunition, why not do the same with killer herdsmen?

Why are they not made to name their sponsors? If the Federal Government has sufficient intelligence about the sponsors, why not go after them? Could the governments cold feet have to do with the finding that many cattle owners from the North are also politicians?

Why is the federal government always ready to appease the herdsmen instead of blaming them for their crime, while delaying, if not denying, the necessary attention to the victims? Why is the focus more on building ranches than on rebuilding plundered villages and compensating the victims?

Third, it is necessary to know the cattle owners so that the Federal Inland Revenue Service could collect the appropriate tax from them. Millions of people must be raking in profit from the sale of cows, beef, milk, cowherd, and so on. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, and the FIRS should be keenly interested in them.

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Fourth, it is high time reliable statistics were generated that would provide necessary data for planners and researchers interested in livestock farming in Nigeria. Such data should be able to tell us who owns what breed of cattle and where? If such data are not available now, where does the figure of 19.5 million heads of cattle come from?

On what basis is the government planning its intervention in the ongoing conflicts between herdsmen and farmers? Appropriate data are needed and necessary taxes should be collected, if livestock farming were to make a dent on Nigerias Gross Domestic Product.

Finally, it must be emphasised that the government cannot keep advancing theories behind herdsmens killings without stopping the rampage. Yet, a concrete plan for achieving that goal is not discernible. The government must do something and soon.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAIJ.com.

Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.coms step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Meet Ghanaian lady who shares a striking resemblance with teen star Regina Daniels (photos)

NAIJ.com has sighted some beautiful photos of Rosemond Brown, popularly known as Akuapim Poloo and a Nigerian actress, Regina Daniels who have been touted as 'twin sisters' due to their striking resemblance.

The photos were posted by the controversial attention-seeking Rosemond Brown who collaged the photos to show off her 'twin' sister to the rest of the world.

Rosemond Alade Brown, posted three grided photos of herself and Regina Daniels and revealed her admiration and shock over their resemblance.

She captioned the photos, "Monday it's like I found my twin sister. Today on my page it's all about us. HELLO @regina.daniels hope you are doing good see you soon in Nigeria"

READ ALSO: Serena Williams wont celebrate daughters first birthday due to Jehovahs Witness beliefs

Rosemond Brown with Regina Daniels

Some fans and followers who saw the photos expressed their excitement and their disbelief in the shocking resemblance.

READ ALSO: Daddy Showkey beats man for disrespecting him and late Ras Kimonos cousin

Another fan, boatengglendagrace, who looked past the striking resemblance commented on the beauty of the two ladies as she captured her comment, "U guyz luk beautiful" .

iamqwinadepa, could not agree more with the actress as she commented, "She really looks like you. Wow".

devotiongh1, confirmed the 'twins' part after seeing the photos and remarked, "Wow are you guys twins."

trendydeliveryservices, wrote, "The resemblance though" , confirming Rosemond Brown's assertion.

Yaa_hygrade, who appears to be a die-hard fan of Akuapim Poloo wrote, "You look alike momm buh still Akuapem Polo baako."

Rosemond Brown with Regina Daniels

However, some fans like __didi.___, who did not see the resemblance Rosemond Brown was seemingly happy about wrote, "Honestly... you don't look alike".

officialnanatachie, also believed their resemblance was as a result of excess make-up and remarked, "You don't look alike o, wash the makeup and lemme see the differences well".

Following the alleged snub from Nigerians during the visit of some Ghanaian artistes in Nigeria, a fan, sweetadoma "Nice one but madam don't trust Nigerian people too much."

Rosemond Alade Brown has managed to make a name for herself on social media with her controversial videos.

She has commented on issues involving a lot of celebrities including Shatta Wale, Shatta Michy, Moesha Boduong, Wisa Greid, Medikal, Kwesi Nyantakyi and John Dumelo.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2023 Igbo Presidency is not negotiable, Ohanaeze youths threaten

By Peter Okutu

ABAKALIKI-THE leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide Wednesday stated that any manoeuvring aimed at denying Ndigbo the Presidency come 2023 will spell doom for the nation.

igbo

This was part of the resolutions reached by the group during its meeting in Abakaliki where it deliberated on several issues affecting Ndigbo economically and politically in the country.

In a statement issued at the end of the meeting by the Secretary General, Okwu Nnabuike and Deputy National Public Relations Officer, Ado Osaka of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, the group stressed that 2023 Igbo Presidency was not negotiable adding that handing over power to Ndigbo was for justice, equity and fairness to reign in Nigerias political arena.

The statement read in part: The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide met today in Abakiliki, Ebonyi state being 28th August 2018 and deliberated extensively on issues affecting Ndigbo Economically and politically and resolved as follows.

OYC insists that 2023 Igbo Presidency is not negotiable, and its our date with destiny and any manoeuvring may spell doom to the unity of the Country, as the recent unjust appointments since 2015 by the Presidency resulted to the rise of Biafra agitation, and those seeking Igbos votes in 2019 across Nigeria where Igbo reside must consider handing power to Igbos for justice, equity and fairness in 2023, those clamouring for restructuring should think twice, and no Northern President will restructure a system that favours the north more than the Southerners, its only a Southern President will restructure Nigeria.

Ohanaeze Youths frown at the report that some cabal in APC had perfected plans to return power to South West instead of South East immediately after President Buhari quits Power. We still insist that the Presidency should refute such negative plot or it will make Ndigbo to consider other political options before them in 2019. We are aware that irrespective of INEC officials denying Igbos their constitutional rights in some parts of Nigeria to collect their PVCs in 2015 outside Igbo land, our voting strength in South west is equal to that of the indigenes, even in the North. We have more than 12million registered Igbos in Northern Nigeria and 5million Igbos in south West.

OYC insists that APC had not fulfil their political promises to the people of South East, which includes the campaign promise of President Buhari to revamp Enugu Coal mine which had been politically closed for 45years now, irrespective of the Projects the Presidency insists they

attracted to South East, but if APC continue to give priority to other zones more than South East, it may spell doom for them, APC need Ndigbo More than Ndigbo needs them.

OYC congratulate the Governor and people of Abia state on their 27 anniversary since the creation of Abia in 1991 and insists that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu have what it takes to transform Abia state, we observed that since 1999, Abia state have been unfortunate in governance, but since 2015, even with distraction from opposition, Governor Ikpeazu had performed more than any Governor that had governed Abia since 1999, but salute the Abia indigenes courage to stand behind Governor Ikpeazu and support his government.

We support the single tenure of 6 years for President and Governors proposed by Senator Ike Ekweremadu, we believe it help to unite Nigeria than divide us.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | John McCain : A deserving tribute to the American war hero

Since last weekend, the international media have been awash with varying tributes in honour of the late Senator, John McCain who passed on at the age of 81 years. While we express our deep heart condolence to the American people and the family of John McCain, who served his country and its people with all his strength, heart and mind, we however wonder why the honour being given to the late Senator after his demise, was not shown him while he was alive?

US Senator John McCain

One of John McCains final wishes, as he struggled against a devastating brain cancer, could not have been more clear: He made it known that he did not want Donald Trump to attend his funeral. US senator John McCain, a celebrated war hero known for reaching across the aisle in an increasingly divided America, died Saturday after losing a battle to brain cancer, his office said. He was 81. / AFP PHOTO /

Aside the reports that US President Donald Trump, only recently announced that the White House flag will be returned to half-staff, after critics attacked his response to the death of Republican Senator John McCain, the rest of the world and American media have been pouring in their tributes, respects and condolences to honour the memory of the late American War hero. It makes one to wonder why Americans did not recognize John McCain this much when he was alive. Why wait until the man is no more before telling the whole world how a great war hero he was, and how he practically sacrificed his entire life in the service of his country?

John McCain was an American statesman politician and war hero who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama. McCains capture and imprisonment as a prisoner of War, occurred on October 26, 1967, when he was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam as his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile. And that was the beginning of his awful ordeal as a prisoner of war. He fractured both arms and a leg when he ejected from the aircraft and nearly drowned in a lake, spent six weeks in the hospital where he received marginal care, was subjected to a program of severe torture as he was bound and beaten every two hours; and this punishment occurred at the same time that he was suffering from dysentery. Even when he was offered an early release, because his father, John S. McCain Jr. was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam Theater and the North Vietnamese wanted to appear merciful and to use the release for propaganda; John McCain however refused repatriation unless every man taken in before him was also released as well. However, further injuries brought McCain to the point of suicide, but his preparations were interrupted by guards. Eventually, McCain made an anti-U.S. propaganda confession. He had always felt that his statement was dishonorable, but as he later wrote, I had learned what we all learned over there: every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine.

McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years until his release on March 14, 1973. His wartime injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head. After the war, McCain returned to the site with his wife Cindy and family on a few occasions to try to come to terms with what happened to him there during his capture. This is the same man whom many knew less about until his recent death, and every news medias tongue has been wagging. Truth be told, the foreign media did not do enough to bring all of this to light, especially the CNN, when John McCain was campaigning for the highest seat in the US as President. If the honour being given to McCain presently was given this great man while he was alive, he might not have been denied to rule US by its citizens. The energy CNN is putting now in mourning McCain would have been more meaningful and appreciated. If people (especially Americans), knew him then like they know him now that he is no more, we are certain that the US 2008 Presidential election might have gone differently. In fact, McCain ought to have been elected by Americans as their President. But he was denied twice by Americans.

Such a man who suffered such horrendous torture for the service of his people, ought to be honoured while he was alive and not after his death  this present honour given to him is coming rather late. There is need for us to honour genuine leaders when they are alive, just like was done to Nelson Mandela of South Africa  whom was honoured and respected both in the later part of his life and after his death  by his people and the world. This culture of honouring leaders after their death, and not given them same recognition when they are alive and still serving, is absolutely bad. McCain was not recognized, honored and respected by US citizens until after his death. These tributes to McCain by the US citizens and the global media would have been more appropriate while he was still alive  because he served his country to the best of his capability.

The best honour one can give to a man is when he is still alive. The US citizens would have honoured McCain with his desire to be elected President of his country for at least to serve a tenure in office. That would have been the best tribute and honour to such a great hero who served not only his political party alone but also his country as a whole.

Zik Gbemre, JP.

National Coordinator Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Buhari will win 2019 general election  Lawmaker

Nasarawa (Nasarawa State)  A member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Mr Murtala Sodangi, has endorsed the adoption of direct primaries by the national leadership and stakeholders of All Progressives Congress (APC) to elect the partys flag bearers for 2019 general elections.

President Muhammadu Buhari; APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomho;e and the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawal during the APC Caucus meeting where Former Delta State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Udughan was presented to the leaders of the party at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

Sodangi (APC-Nasarawa Central constituency) expressed his support on Tuesday in Nasarawa while fielding questions from newsmen in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state.

The ruling party has announced plans to use direct primaries in electing its candidates for the 2019 polls.

The party tested the direct primary formula during the Osun State governorship primary for its flag bearer.

Reacting to the development, Sodangi said that the direct primaries adopted by the party would give APC members the opportunity to vote candidates of their choice.

He added the formula would also give every aspirant the chance to test his/her popularity and acceptability ahead of the general election.

 I am in support of direct primaries. Of course, if Mr President wants direct primaries, I also want direct primaries, he said.

Sodangi called on Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption fight in the interest of national development.

He described Buhari as incorruptible leader and a corruption fighter, hence the need for all and sundry to support the president to succeed.

The lawmaker noted that corruption had affected the lives and the socio-economic development of the country negatively.

According to him, Buhari is a man of integrity, incorruptible leader, a corruption fighter and by Gods grace he (the president) will win the 2019 general election because of his unbeatable qualities.

On defection, the lawmaker said APC in the state was intact.

We thank God for that and we are united because of the good policies and programmes of Gov. Tanko Al-Makura towards impacting positively on the lives of the people in the state.

I believe he is carrying everybody along, Gov. Al-Makura use to engage critical stakeholders when taking decisions about development and the party, that is why APC in Nasarawa state is intact and we are intact, he said.

Sodangi said that the defectors were doing so based on their selfish and personal interests.

He expressed optimism that APC would continue to wax stronger considering the laudable achievements of President Buhari and Gov. Al-Makura in improving the lives of Nigerians.

The lawmaker restated his commitment to continue to initiate good policies and programmes that would have direct bearing on the lives of his constituents and the state at large. (NAN)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2019: Keep off presidential contest, Owie charges southerners

Former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Roland Owie, has dismissed the 2019 presidential aspiration of Southern politicians, saying it was against the order of natural justice.

Roland Owie

Owie, who is the chairman of the National Contact Committee of Action Democratic Party, ADP, in a statement, said that the principle of rotation between the North and South was based on natural justice which he said should not be violated at this time.

He said: It is unfortunate that very many of our Southern politicians are very naive and shallow. Some years ago, Nigerians agreed, at least as a convention, that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between North and South.

It started in 1999. The South took the first shot through President Olusegun Obasanjo 1999-2007. The North took over with President Umaru Yar`Adua but unfortunately Yar`Adua died and President Goodluck Jonathan took over.

If we calculate from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2019, the South would have produced the President of Nigeria for a total of 14 years and 240 days, while the North would have had the presidency for five years and 339 days.

So from May 29, 2019, the North still has eight years of presidency. Where there is no justice, there can never be peace. For justice and peace to reign, presidency should be zoned to the North and Vice-President to South East, and when North completes her tenure in 2027 then Presidency goes to the South East.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Gathering of billionaires as Dangote, Otedola, Elumelu, others meet British PM Theresa May in Lagos

- British Prime Minister Theresa May has arrived in Lagos state for a meeting with the Nigerian business community

- Among those present at the meeting are billionaires: Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and Tony Elumelu

- The prime minister had been received at the airport by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and other state officials

British Prime Minister Theresa May has arrived at FMDQ Security Exchange building, Victoria Island, Lagos, for a meeting with the Nigerian business community.

The prime minister, accompanied by members of her trade delegation, arrived the venue at 6.30pm on Wednesday, August 29, NAN reports.

READ ALSO: Police recover $4,000 from 19-year-old boy in Gombe

NAIJ.com gathers that Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and Tony Elumelu, among others, had earlier assembled at the venue.

The meeting, expected to last for 40 minutes, would provide an opportunity for forging more bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

May had earlier on Wednesday afternoon arrived the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Ikeja, in Lagos, after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

She is billed to spend time with victims of modern slavery during her brief stay in the nations commercial hub.

The prime ministers visit to Lagos comes barely eight weeks after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited the African Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state, accompanied by his deputy, among other state officials, received the prime minister at the airport.

After the reception, May drove out of the airport to attend to her engagements in the state.

After Mays meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria and Britain signed agreements on defence and security partnerships, among others.

Mays visit to Nigeria is part of her tour of three African countries.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the United Kingdom said it had repatriated to Nigeria, the sum of 70 million pounds, recovered from a Nigerian convict who was found guilty of fraud by an Italian court.

The British high commissioner, Paul Arkwright, ahead of Prime Minister Theresa Mays visit to the country, said more funds would be repatriated from the UK to Nigeria.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralKing Mohammed VI sent a message of condolences and compassion to the members of the family of the late U.S. Senator John McCain.

On this sad occasion, I send you, his friends, relatives, fellow Republicans and the American people my heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathy, said the Sovereign in the message.

Senator John McCain, the son and grandson of U.S. admirals, prisoner of war for over 5 years during the Vietnam war, died this week at the age of 81.

Senator McCain will be remembered for his human qualities, his patriotism and his commitment to just causes around the world, King Mohammed VI said adding that Morocco has lost a great friend with whom we had close bonds based on mutual esteem and a common pursuit of human ideals.

McCain was a Moroccan ally and campaigned for the release of Moroccan war prisoners held by the Polisario separatists in their rear base in Algeria.

Thanks to his personal involvement in the tragedy of the Moroccan 404 POWs, believed to be the longest held POWs in the world at the time, they were released on August 18, 2005, in an act of transatlantic diplomacy led by Senator Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.Home | News | General | What we have been focusing on since 2019 - President Buhari to Theresa May

- Theresa May paid a visit to Nigeria and was received by President Buhari

- The president assured that the country will conduct a free and fair election in 2019

- He also thanked the UK for its continued support

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration is committed to conducting a free and fair election in 2019.

In a statement signed by Femi Adeshina who is the special adviser to the president on media and publicity on Wednesday, August 29, he said the president also said he was happy with the recent performance of his party, the All Progressives Congress.

President Buhari said he has focused on infrastructural development despite low earnings.

May in her reaction said she was happy to continue discussion on trade and fight against corruption.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Kwankwaso declares for presidency in Abuja after reported denial to use Eagles Square

She said the UK was not interested in holding what belongs to Nigeria but said judicial process will be followed.

Read the statement below:

President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday in Abuja assured the UK Prime Minister Theresa May of his commitment to conducting free, fair and credible elections in 2019.

In a bilateral meeting with the visiting Prime Minister, President Buhari welcomed UK's support at strengthening democratic institutions in the country.

I assure you that Im all out for free, fair and credible elections. Im very pleased that my party is doing very well. The High Commissioner will brief you more. The recent successes in polls in Katsina, Bauchi, and Kogi have boosted our morale greatly.

Nigeria has accepted multiparty democracy and that is putting politicians on their toes, forcing them to work harder, he said.

On the anti-corruption campaign, the President applauded the British support to the country, noting that the success of the fight was very important to ordinary people in the country.

"We had great opportunities and resources between 1999 and 2014, due to high oil prices. But when we came in 2015, oil prices plunged to as low as 37 dollars per barrel.

What we have been doing since 2015 is to focus on infrastructure development, despite low earnings. Work is ongoing in roads, rail, power, and many others."

On Brexit, President Buhari noted that it provides an opportunity to strengthen the historic ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time. I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries.

The President also thanked the UK government for the support on security and the fight against insurgency in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, as well as the improved trade relations between both countries.

I am very grateful to the British government under you leadership for the help in security, particularly your training team that is in our institution in Kaduna, he said.

Earlier, in remarks before the bilateral meeting, the Nigerian leader underscored the need for UK support on reviving of Lake Chad, which is a means of livelihood for millions of people.

The President told the visiting Prime Minister that Europe and China were already conducting an in-depth study on recharging the Lake through inter-basin transfer from the Central African Republic.

In her remarks, Prime Minister May, who welcomed the assurance by the Nigerian government on credible elections in 2019, said she was pleased to be in Abuja to continue the excellent discussions she started with President Buhari in London in April, this year, particularly on security, trade, asset recovery and the fight against corruption.

Security and defence cooperation are very important steps to address Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa, May said.

On asset recovery, the Prime Minister told President Buhari: we do not want to hold anything that belongs to Nigeria people, but we follow the judicial process, which can be slow.

The Prime Minister appealed to President Buhari to use his position as ECOWAS Chair to keep the issue of human trafficking on the front burner in the sub-region.

President Buhari and Prime Minister May witnessed the signing of two agreements: Security and Defence Partnership and Economic Development Forum Agreement.

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Meanwhile, the United Kingdom says it has repatriated to Nigeria, 70 million pounds recovered from a Nigerian convict who was found guilty of fraud by an Italian court.

British High commissioner Paul Arkwright, ahead of Prime minister, Theresa Mays visit to the country, said more funds would be repatriated from the UK to Nigeria.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | What attracted me to APC - Senator Akpabio open up

- Senator Godswill Akpabio said he was impressed with APC's fight against corruption

- The lawmaker also commended President Buhari's leadership style

- He said he has kept his integrity intact

Senator Godswill Akpabio has said that he was attracted to the All Progressives Congress (APC) due to the partys method of fighting corruption and poverty.

Premium Times reports that Akpabio who defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party praised President Muhammadu Buhari after the party caucus meeting on Tuesday, August 27.

READ ALSO: Former head of state Abdusalami narrates how Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat in 2015

He said: The first thing you need to know about the APC, from the point of view of leadership, I am quite impressed. The president has kept his integrity intact. He has been able to improve the image of Nigeria and restore a lot of respect to Nigeria from the international community. I can assure you that he alone can attract millions of people, he is that infectious. Of course his stance on corruption and that Nigerians have food on their table is something is applauded all over the world. I have also advocated that he also fights the twin brother of corruption, that is poverty.

I am joining the APC as a government to stabilise the government and to assist the government to create employment opportunities for Nigerians so that we can fight the twin brother to corruption, which is poverty. Poverty creates corruption and corruption deepens poverty, so we need to fight the two together. And that is one of the things I find attractive with the APC and believe me with my people in Akwa Ibom State, with my presence in the APC my people in South South have now seen the light and they say APC is the party to vote for come 2019.

The meeting went very well and a lot of topical issues were discussed bothering on the interests of the Nation. The resolutions are fantastic and I believe that resolutions will not only move the party forward but will help to alleviate the situation in the country today and Nigerians will be happy for it.

Meanwhile, Godswill Akpabio, the former governor of Akwa Ibom state and erstwhile minority leader at the senate, was called to explain the alleged fraud behind the four-star hotel built by his administration in the state.

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The allegation was levelled against him by the incumbent governor, Udom Emmanuel. This came barely a few weeks after Akpabio defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Senate.

In a report by PremiumTimes, governor Udom Emmanuel was quoted saying the hotel project, besides lacking transparency and quality expected of a best practice, is a fraud left incomplete by his predecessor.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2019: APC senator distributes 2,000 bags of grains for less privileged in Zamfara

- Senator Kabiru Marafa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is preparing for his gubernatorial ambition in 2019

- The senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District has extended a helping hand to the less privileged in the state

- Marafa is a key contender for the governorship seat of Zamfara state under the platform of the APC

The senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District, Kabiru Marafa, has extended a helping hand to the less privileged in the state.

Marafa, an APC senator, is a key contender for the governorship seat of Zamfara state under the platform of the ruling party in the forthcoming 2019 polls.

Marafa, through his campaign organisation, recently, 51 cars to his loyalists and gave out 2,000 bags of grains to the less privileged in the state.

READ ALSO: Former head of state Abdusalami narrates how Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat in 2015

Marafa has since declared his intention to vie for the governorship race in 2019 with a pledge to tackle insecurity, boost farming and address the increasing poverty in the state.

The beneficiaries of the cars to include the state chairman of the APC, his vice, three zonal vice chairmen, state secretary, youth leader, organising secretary, publicity secretary, women leader, all local government chairmen and other selected party loyalists in Zamfara state.

He said the 2,000 bags of grains were distributed to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), less privileged persons and youth organizations across the state.

For ease of transportation, a cash donation of N1,000 was attached to each of the 2,000 bags of grains to the beneficiaries to convey the item to their respective destinations.

Marafa has been a fiery critic of the Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, in recent times, blaming the governor for the festering banditry in the state.

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Marafa, in a statement sent to NAIJ.com, said his numerous calls on the governor at different fora including on the floor of the Senate fell on deaf ears, adding that rather than the governor to make use of his advise, he tagged him as his enemy.

Zamfara state is our only state we must therefore put all hands on deck to make it work. Like the Federal Government, I have faulted the governor's halfhearted approach to the problem of banditry that had grounded almost all activities in the state, he said.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Surprise as police recover $4,000 from 19-year-old boy in Gombe

- The sum of $4,000 has been recovered from a 19-year-old boy, by police officers in Gombe state

- The security operatives were alerted by individuals who noticed the unusual spending pattern of the suspect

- The suspect has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Kano command

The police in Gombe state have recovered the sum of $4,000 (about N1.3million) from a 19-year-old boy, following his arrest in Pindiga town of Akko local government area of the state.

The arrest of the suspect, Idris Abubakar, was confirmed in a press statement issued in Gombe on Wednesday, August 29, by the commands spokesperson, DSP Mary Malum, NAN reports.

READ ALSO: National Assembly siege was a collective decision - Source claims

NAIJ.com gathers that according to the statement, other things recovered from the teenager are N21, 000 cash, three bundles of wrappers and two pairs of canvas shoes.

Others were a pair of rubber palm shoes, one MP3 player, one Infinix Note mobile phone and 17 pieces of chocolate.

The command said that certain individuals who noticed the unusual spending pattern of the suspect alerted the Pindiga Divisional Police Headquarters on the 19th of August.

During interrogations, the suspect was said to have confessed to stealing the foreign currency notes from his unnamed Lebanese boss in Kano, who employed him as a domestic staff.

The command stated that the suspect had been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Kano command, scene of the crime, for further prosecution.

Also, one Babangida Mohammed, 38, was allegedly arrested for siphoning fuel from a fuel reservoir within the vicinity of an electricity transformer at Pindiga Township.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the police command in Niger state arrested a gang of four thieves who deal in stealing tricycles along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.

Two of the suspects, Abbas Kabir, 19, and Imrana Abdullahi, 21, were apprehended by security personnel attached to the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS).

See the faces of newly arrested criminals in Lagos state - on NAIJ.com TV:

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Daura acted in national interest, in collaboration with other security agencies - Source gives more details about NASS siege

- An associate of former DSS boss, Lawal Daura, claims that the siege on the National Assembly was a collective responsibility carried out with involvement of other security chiefs

- The anonymous source further disclosed that Daura had left his personal belongings in his office as he rushed off to honour then Acting President Yemi Osinbajos invitation

- According to the source, the allegation that Daura is a mole, is utter balderdash

A close associate of Lawal Daura, the sacked director general of the Department of State Service (DSS), has reportedly disclosed that the siege on the National Assembly was conducted through a collective process which included the involvement of principal officers of sister agencies.

According to Vanguard, quoting PRNigeria, the source who chose to remain anonymous, however, did not disclose whose authority the former DSS boss relied on, to lay the siege.

READ ALSO: 2019 elections: Uduaghans defection wont be a bane to my ambition - Okowa

NAIJ.com gathers that the source insisted that the action was carried out in the nations interest.

He added: While the former DSS boss has not officially handed over up till now, his house both in Asokoro and Gwarinpa were thoroughly searched in the night and nothing incriminating were found, and all items found including necklace, praying mat, CDs, ATM card, women bags, documents and receipts have been duly returned to him accordingly.

The source further disclosed that Daura had left his personal belongings in his office, including phones, as he rushed off to honour then Acting President Yemi Osinbajos invitation; and that the ex DSS boss did not know his offense after he was sacked.

According to the source: Daura has been completely demoralised by the wide spread insinuations of working for the opposition when he took daring moves to protect the Presidency and the ruling party against the antics of the powerful opposition elements. The allegation of being a mole is utter balderdash.

Spymasters all over the world can be sacrificed; but not to the extent of rubbishing their integrity and reputation on the altar of political considerations, especially a spymaster created by the same system, considering the delicate and sensitive nature of intelligent services.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the sacked director general of the DSS, Lawal Daura, said an intelligence report that unauthorised persons were planning to smuggle dangerous weapons and incriminating items into the National Assembly, prompted him to deploy operatives to the complex.

Dauras statement was contained in the interim investigation report submitted by the inspector general of police, Idris Ibrahim, to Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

Why Yemi Osinbajo terminated the appointment of Lawal Daura - on NAIJ.com TV:

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | We must continuously train to defend Nigeria  Buratai

Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, with AK47 rifle, aims at a target during shooting competition at a range in Shittu Alao Barracks in Keffi, Nasarawa State, on Wednesday.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has stressed the need for continuous training of troops to be able to defeat the enemy, defend the nation, as well as for self-defence.

Buratai made the remark on Wednesday at Keffi, Nasarawa State, shortly after he inaugurated a 2.2km road leading to the shooting range at the Shittu Aloa barracks in the town.

We have a very big responsibility not only to train to defeat the enemy, but we must also train to protect ourselves, he said.

Speaking on the importance of range classification, the army chief said that any officer or soldier who could not classify effectively and master his or her weapon is not fit to be a soldier.

According to him, being able to properly handle the weapon is what makes the difference between a soldier and any other person.

Buratai, therefore, led nine senior personnel, including officers and soldiers, and the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Shehu Yumusa III, on a shooting competition at the range.

He said the facility provided for effective training where troops could apply all the marksman principles in order to be effective in the field when deployed.

Buratai said soldiers were expected to aim and get target even with one shot, adding that, that was the hallmark of professionalism which he continued to harp on.

I will like all personnel serving in the Army Headquarters, Defence Headquarters and other services within Abuja and environs to make maximum use of the range and continuously train their officers and men to be proficient in weapon handling, he said.

He challenged troops of the Guards Brigade in the barracks, where the range is situated, to make use of the facility as the area where it was located, provided suitable ground for training.

`I expect the Guards Brigade to use this area effectively to ensure that their troops understand basic battle procedure.

They must understand the use of the ground. Effective field training will help to understand ground and protect ourselves, whenever deployed in various operations conducted across the country, the army chief said. (NAN)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | How Buhari And APC Lied To Nigerians With False Promises On Restructuring, Others  PDP Blows Hot

The Peoples Democratic Party has blown hot, addressing how President Muhammadu Buhari lied to Nigerians.National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan

According to Vanguard, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, party lied to Nigerians with false promise of restructuring. PDP also said that the president and his party deceived Nigerians during the 2015 election.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP said the statement credited to the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo dismissing the promise the APC party made concerning restructuring the country is a further proof that the party lied to Nigerians just to win the 2015 election.

According to the statement, the comment by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo dismissing the promise by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the nation, if voted into power, has further confirmed that the ruling party out rightly lied to Nigerians, just to win the 2015 general elections.

The PDP notes that the APC made the issue of restructuring a cardinal agenda in its manifesto, alongside other bogus promises which it had failed to fulfill, adding that the ruling partys dodgy approach to the issue of restructuring has earned it the odious reputation as the most deceptive political organization in the history of our nation.



The PDP recalls that the APC, in line with its duplicitous script, went ahead to set up a deceptive committee on restructuring, which made several recommendations that they never contemplated implementing, but only to create an impression that their dysfunctional party and incompetent government are committed to their promises.

Now that the 2019 general elections are around the corner, the APC has become apprehensive that Nigerians will hold it to task on its promises, including that of restructuring, hence the resort to rhetoric and desperate recants, for which the loquaciousness of persons like Prof. Osinbajo has been enlisted.

In all, the PDP counsels the APC and the Buhari Presidency to learn that there is no way they can hide from their shadows as they must be ready to face Nigerians on all scores, in all their lies, deception and false promises, with which they fraudulently took over power in 2015.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | What I Find Attractive In APC  Godswill Akpabio Opens Up

Senator Godwill Akpabio who recently left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to join the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), has spoken out on what he found attractive in APC.

While speaking after an APC caucus meeting late on Tuesday night, former Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio said that the APC governments style of fighting corruption and poverty is what attracted him to the party, and described the two as twins.



According to PREMIUM Times, the influential politician who praised President Muhammadu Buharis leadership style in tackling corruption and poverty, said:

The first thing you need to know about the APC, from the point of view of leadership, I am quite impressed. The president has kept his integrity intact. He has been able to improve the image of Nigeria and restore a lot of respect to Nigeria from the international community.

I can assure you that he alone can attract millions of people, he is that infectious. Of course his stance on corruption and that Nigerians have food on their table is something is applauded all over the world. I have also advocated that he also fights the twin brother of corruption, that is poverty.

I am joining the APC as a government to stabilise the government and to assist the government to create employment opportunities for Nigerians so that we can fight the twin brother to corruption, which is poverty. Poverty creates corruption and corruption deepens poverty, so we need to fight the two together.

And that is one of the things I find attractive with the APC and believe me with my people in Akwa Ibom State, with my presence in the APC my people in South South have now seen the light and they say APC is the party to vote for come 2019.

On what was discussed during the APC caucus meeting, Akpabio said the meeting deliberated on topical issues in the interest of the country.

The meeting went very well and a lot of topical issues were discussed bothering on the interests of the Nation. The resolutions are fantastic and I believe that resolutions will not only move the party forward but will help to alleviate the situation in the country today and Nigerians will be happy for it.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 19-Year-Old Teenager Caught With $4,000 In Gombe

Police officers have been left in a state of shock after recovering $4,000 (about N1.3million) from him.

The police in Gombe state have recovered the sum of $4,000 (about N1.3million) from a 19-year-old boy, following his arrest in Pindiga town of Akko Local Government Area of the state.



The arrest of the suspect, Idris Abubakar, was confirmed in a press statement issued in Gombe on Wednesday by the commands spokesperson, Mary Malum.

According to the statement, other things recovered from the teenager are N21,000 cash, three bundles of wrappers and two pairs of canvas shoes.

Others were a pair of rubber palm shoes, one MP3 player, one Infinix Note mobile phone and 17 pieces of chocolate.

The command said certain individuals who noticed the unusual spending pattern of the suspect alerted the Pindiga Divisional Police Headquarters on August 19.

During interrogations, the suspect was said to have confessed to stealing the foreign currency notes from his unnamed Lebanese boss in Kano, who employed him as a domestic staff.

The command stated that the suspect had been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department, CID, of Kano Police Command, place of the crime, for further prosecution.

Also, one Babangida Mohammed, 38, was allegedly arrested for siphoning oil from a reservoir of an electricity transformer at Pindiga.

NAN

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Buharis speech as Nigeria, Britain sign agreements on security, economic development

Nigeria and Britain on Wednesday in Abuja signed two agreements on Defence and Security partnership , as well as Economic Development Forum.Speaking briefly before signing the agreements , President Muhammadu Buhari stated that Nigeria and the United Kingdom would continue to enhance cooperation in tackling corruption and reducing poverty .

The Nigerian leader lauded the British government for its assistances to Nigeria in the fight against terrorism , and pledged Nigeria  s readiness to strengthen the relationship between the two countries .



 I welcome you most sincerely to Nigeria and I am very grateful to the British Government under your leadership for the help you are giving us in the area of security .

 The training team that goes to our institutions in Kaduna and observe the operations in the North  East mainly , we thank you very much for that .

 I also thank you very much for the improvement in trade relationship between us since you assumed office .

 We are nervously watching developments about Brexit , because we know that relationship has been on since 1938 and people are here looking at the opportunities in education , businesses , and so on .

 Let me assure you that we will take the necessary steps to improve on the trade relationship between our two countries ,  he said

President Buhari expressed Nigeria  s satisfaction with the removal of barriers by British Government for veterans of the World Wars , and numerous assistance to tackle human trafficking as well as climate change .

He also narrated the effects of the drying up of Lake Chad and the need to resuscitate it , to boost farming and fishing activities within the Chad basin .

In her remarks , British Prime Minister , Theresa May , said following the exit of the UK from the European Union , there would be need to seek more economic ties with Nigeria .

She pledged that the United Kingdom would assist Nigeria in the fight against terrorists as well as human trafficking.

She said :  I  m delighted to be able to continue the very good discussions we had when you were in London in April.

 As you said , we already have very good cooperation between the UK and Nigeria , which include education , defence , security and trade relations.

 We are ready to cooperate together on global and regional issues ; to strengthen that cooperation and partnership.

 I have with me a business delegation , as we look to enhance our ties in future and explore more trading opportunities .

 We will also be looking to work together to step up efforts against security threats from Boko Haram , human trafficking and the likes .

 And , of course , also cooperate to fight corruption and lifting people out of poverty . 

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Theresa May has , since , departed Abuja for Kenya via Lagos as she continues her tour of African countries .

( NAN )

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralKing Mohammed VI started Tuesday a few day working and friendship visit to the United Arab Emirates, a sisterly country bound to Morocco by a large number of diplomatic and economic cooperation agreements, reports the news outlet le360.

The Monarch will discuss with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates various bilateral, regional and international issues, as well as means of boosting political and economic relations between the two countries.

The Kings latest visit to the UAE dates back to November 2017, when the Monarch had attended the opening ceremony of the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum and conferred with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed Ben Zayed al-Nahyan.

Cooperation between Morocco and the United Arab Emirates encompasses several areas. The UAE is actually the first country of the Gulf Cooperation Council to have a strong position in the Moroccan economic fabric.

Trade between the two countries, which are linked by a free trade agreement that came into force in 2003, amounts annually to around 2.22 billion Dirhams, according to figures of the Moroccan Exchange Office.

A boost was given to bilateral ties in June 2013 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Morocco and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, under which Morocco was extended a grant of $1.25 billion, to finance a series of development projects.

The Tangier-Casablanca high-speed train (TGV), the Tanger-Med port complex and the Mediterranean ring road are among the major projects financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund, recalls the news website, adding that Emirati investors are now among the leading Arab operators in the Kingdom in sectors as diverse as real estate, tourism, agriculture, finance and energy.

In this connection, the UAE supports the national renewable energy development plan, which has benefited from financial facilities estimated at $300 million.

Emirati economic support to Morocco is also reflected in the contribution of Aabar Investments PJS to the financing of the investment fund Wessal Capital, considered as the largest sovereign fund in Africa and which finances the realization of major structural and development projects in Casablanca and Rabat.Home | World | Africa | Ramaphosa tells Donald Trump to keep your America'

SOUTH Africa's land issue exploded into an international dispute after President Cyril Ramaphosa told US counterpart Donald Trump to "keep your America" in a rant akin to former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's outbursts in 2002.

Trump last week, in a tweet, said the US was watching events in Zimbabwe's southern neighbour.

"I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers'," Trump said.

The response from Ramaphosa was swift and savage.

"This issue of the land; this issue that Donald Trump fears so much," said the South African leader.

"I don't know what Donald Trump with South African land because he has never been here. He must keep his America and we will keep our South Africa, that's what he must do.

"South Africa is our land. South Africa belongs to all the people who live here. It does not belong to Donald Trump. He can keep his America."

At the height of Zimbabwe's chaotic land expropriation exercise at the turn of the century, Mugabe told then British Premier Tony Blair off, arguing the program was non-negotiable.

"We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood  So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe," Mugabe told a stunned Blair at the 2002 Earth Summit, ironically in South Africa.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Mnangagwa to embrace MDC councils

ZANU-PF says it is ready to work with the MDC Alliance that won the majority number of urban local authorities in the just-ended harmonised elections.

Since the formation of the MDC in 1999, the labour backed party has been in control of most of the country's urban councils but service delivery has been deteriorating amid allegations of political interference by the central government through successive Local Government ministers including Ignatius Chombo, Saviour Kasukuwere and recently July Moyo.

However, speaking in an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo, pictured, said the ruling party was ready to put the past behind it and be progressive.

"We cannot continue to talk about what happened in the past because it is past, we need to move forward and the president is on record saying that we need to unite for the sake of progress so I do not see why the MDC councils will not work well with us for the sake of development," Khaya Moyo said.

The ruling party information tsar, who also doubles as government spokesperson, said in any case a new Cabinet was in the offing hence it was prudent to wait for the incoming Local Government minister to spell out his or her plans.

"What you are referring to was between the past ministers and councils but as of now we cannot speak on their behalf because they have not been appointed and have not said anything yet.

"Let us wait for them to say what they want but again we are saying development comes first for us in Zanu-PF so we will do everything to ensure that the relationship works," Khaya Moyo said.

While President Emmerson Mnangagwa won both the presidential and parliamentary elections with an overwhelming majority, the same cannot be said of the local authorities.

With the ruling party having indicated its willingness to establish provincial councils in line with the country's 2013 Constitution which provides for devolution of power, the MDC Alliance hopes to maintain its visibility through its control of provincial governments.

Successive MDC mayors, especially in Harare and other major cities, have previously complained about the behaviour of central government which they claim hampers service delivery.

Outgoing Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni once described his relationship with Kasukuwere as difficult compared to his predecessor Chombo, citing excessive interference for political expediency.

Manyenyeni alleged in a previous interview with the Daily News that vested political interests from the ruling party made it impossible for him to implement the business strategy he believed would turn around service delivery in the capital city.

Waterborne diseases, potholes, waste management and the supply of potable water are among the perennial challenges the city is faced with.

"I have bigger problems with government than I have with my party. As far as my party is concerned, firstly there are times when they fail to realise the basic political truth that the council is captured by Zanu-PF, people, processes and politics," Manyenyeni said.

"The partisan capture of many of council's projects, people and processes is not unique to Harare  it's a national tragedy.

"Minister Chombo was very experienced and could handle things in that context and a superior diplomat.

"My current minister would be a better minister for Harare's turn around, but he is badly captured by partisan priorities. He is more ruthless in dealing with the opposition party under him," Manyenyeni said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaHome | World | Africa | Chamisa's MDC fighting for survival

Nelson Chamisa's MDC party has an uphill task between now and the next polls in 2023 to navigate strong legal and political headwinds blowing in its direction, in what appears to be a systematic attempt by its rivals to sink the party.

Before the ink has even dried on a Constitutional Court (Con-Court) ruling that collapsed the party's hopes of forming an alternative government, Chamisa's party now finds itself fighting for survival.

The Daily News can report that the MDC is groaning under the weight of costly legal suits and an on-going crackdown targeting its strategists and top officials.

For instance, as a consequent of losing its Con-Court challenge, Zanu-PF's legal team intends to present a staggering $3 million bill for costs incurred in fighting Chamisa's application, which unsuccessfully sought to reverse President Emmerson Mnangagwa's wafer-thin win at the July 30 polls.

Chamisa's erstwhile colleagues in the MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe are also banging war drums, signalling their intention to take him to court to assert their rights as the legitimate MDC.

Khupe's party has drawn first blood by demanding a share of the $1,8 million disbursed to Chamisa's party under the Political Parties Finance Act.

To add salt to injury, 17 former MDC workers who were chucked out of the party in 2014 following the ugly fallout between Tendai Biti  the party's former secretary-general  and the late Morgan Tsvangirai, are gunning for the party's assets to recover their dues.

A former director of the MDC, Toendepi Shonhe, has already moved to attach property at the party's Harvest House headquarters, renamed Morgan Tsvangirai House, over a

$264 000 debt.

Shonhe is among the 17 ex-MDC employees who won their case in the Labour Court and want the judgment to be enforced.

Chamisa claimed yesterday that there was a "devious" plot by Zanu-PF and its proxies to collapse the MDC.

"We are aware they want to close the MDC within the next six months using dirty tactics. Yes, we have heard of lawsuits and costs on the Con-Court case, but nothing official has come," said Chamisa, speaking thorough his spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda.

"We, however, know that there is a broader strategy to squeeze the MDC and kill it. Unfortunately, there are underestimating president ... Chamisa  that is what they did during the elections and lost".

Zanu-PF's secretary for legal affairs Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said they have no intention to annihilate the MDC, which is barely surviving due to an economic crunch that has decimated its potential sources of funding.

Mangwana said the Judiciary, as an independent arm of the State, will pronounce itself when the time comes.

Said Mangwana: "The intention is not to destroy the MDC: Chamisa is a lawyer (and) he should know the normal process of a legal challenge. We will submit our costs to the court and the courts will make its determination; he should not panic".

Khupe's deputy, Obert Gutu, said the $1,8 million disbursed to Chamisa belonged to them since they were the legitimate party.

"We are consulting with our lawyers; we want everything because we are the legitimate MDC," said Gutu, declining claims by Chamisa's party that there were trying to punish their former comrades for the fallout that followed Tsvangirai's death in February this year.

Analysts canvassed by the Daily News yesterday said judging from Zanu-PF's history of vindictiveness, the crackdown on the MDC's officials and the string of lawsuits could be hell-bent on punishing Chamisa for refusing to accept Mnangagwa's rule.

Maxwell Saungweme, a political analyst, said the legal suits could be political tactics to pummel Chamisa into capitulation, and acquiesce to Mnangagwa's overtures for working together.

"The timing of these awards and attachment of the party's properties is curious. You can't rule out the invisible hand of the regime in this. We know from our history that Zanu-PF can do anything, including manipulating judiciary processes to whip their adversary into submission or weaken its resolve," said Saungweme.

"The suits from ex-MDC staff and that from Khupe are also enough to cause sleepless nights for Chamisa and his ability to move his outfit forward. These are political diversionary strategies dressed in a veneer of legality meant to derail efforts of a 40-year-old who garnered over two million votes and whose bid to State House was stolen through the use of captured institutions," he added.

Namibian based scholar Admire Mare said it was within Zanu-PF's DNA to use any means possible to destroy its rivals just as was the attempt to destroy Zapu in the 1980s.

"It is very likely that a number of legal and extra-legal measures will be used to cripple and infiltrate the MDC Alliance. Court legal fees are just one of the many options at the hands of the regime. As for the impact on legal bills on the MDC Alliance, it may affect them in the short to medium-term but in the long run well-wishers and crowd-funding strategies will come to their rescue," he said.

Mare said the Khupe-led MDC-T might not be in bed with Zanu-PF but they were strategically positioning themselves for the spoils and stratagems.

"Remember our politics is based on the notion of winner takes all so whoever wins controls who gets what, when and how. That is why we are seeing opportunistic elements within the ruling party and opposition reaching out to the winners so that they can have access to the levers of the State and its accompanying resources," said Mare.

But professor of World Politics at the London School of African and Oriental Studies Stephen Chan disagreed, saying the problems for Chamisa were just about to begin and have nothing to do with Zanu-PF.

Chan said Zanu-PF does not need to play any active role in the problems of the MDC because the rush to secure leadership in the days leading up to and after the death of Tsvangirai meant that disposition of funds and property, the rights of employees and a host of administrative matters were never resolved.

"Former partners in the MDC became very bitter with one another. There will also be other challenges of a political nature to do with leadership in the MDC Alliance," said Chan.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaThe number of new print magazines started in the U.S. fell by more than half in 2020 to 60, compared tIn support of the Chinese governments tightening clampdowns on local crypto-industry, a mobile payment giant has decided to bar virtual currency transactions on its platform.

WeChat Pay on Friday issued a statement stating that they would prohibit users from sending or receiving funds related to cryptocurrencies on its social media platform. The Tencent-backed firm cleared that their firm does not tolerate any activity that endorses or financially support the virtual currency-related fundraisers. Furthermore, Tencent has established a risk control model that monitors and reports virtual currency transactions to concerned authorities.

WeChat Pay recently tipped the Chinese regulators about some public accounts that were involved in the promotion and moderation of ongoing Initial Coin Offering projects, Tencent spokeswoman told state media. In response, the China National Fintech Risk Rectification Office had permanently banned these accounts.

Tencent appeals to its users that they understand the investment risks commonly associated with ICO and virtual currency trading platforms, the company wrote in its press issue. We expect to firmly establish a risk prevention awareness, and actively cooperate with the government to maintain financial order and social stability.

Before WePay, another mobile payment giant AliPay had announced that it would strengthen its supervision on its Over-the-Counter service, fearing it would be used to conduct virtual currency deals, mainly in Bitcoin. The company, like WeChat, is taking steps to block accounts that are found to be breaking the Chinese Bitcoin law.

We will resolutely refuse services to merchants involved in virtual currency transactions. Based on the circumstances, we would either impose restrictions on account collection functions or even permanently limit collections, AliPay had told the Chinese media.

Great Wall against Cryptocurrencies

Story continues

China in 2017 had imposed a nationwide ban on the commercial use of virtual currency while highlighting their tough stance against foreign exchanges and ICO projects. However, despite the prohibition, Chinese investors continued to flock towards cryptocurrency sector as a mean to bypass capital control, to simplify money outflows. It somewhat has rattled regulatory bodies that are now resorting to a systematic crackdown, instead.

As a part of their enforcement, the government internet has banned internet access to leading cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance, Huobi, and BitFinex, and online crypto media outlets. Moreover, just last week, regulators in Chinas Chaoyang District disallowed hotels, shopping malls, and office buildings to host events that promote crypto assets. Binance, which was scheduled to host an event in Beijing on Friday, canceled it at the very last moment.

Since last September, Chinese authorities have shut down a total of 88 cryptocurrency exchanges and 85 ICO projects. The yuan-bitcoin trading pair, which once peaked up to 90 percent of all the Bitcoin trades, has now dropped to less than 5 percent.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Chinas Crackdown Leads to WeChat, AliPay Blocking Crypto Transactions appeared first on CCN.

telegram russia ban

Russias telecommunications watchdog said that it will consider reversing the ban on messaging service Telegram if the company submits to a court order requiring it to share its encryption keys with federal law enforcement.

Russia-based news outlet RT reports that Roscomnadzor (RKN), which began blocking local access to Telegram after the company refused to comply with that court order, said that it will rescind the ban once Telegram makes its encryption keys available to the Federal Security Service (FSB), which alleges that it needs the ability to decrypt messages to fight terrorism.

That ban, as CCN reported, came on the heels of Telegrams $1.7 billion initial coin offering (ICO), which was conducted over two private funding rounds. The company appealed the ban to the Russian Supreme Court, who sided with the FSB and upheld the order in a ruling delivered earlier this month.

Nevertheless, Telegram has not given any indication that it will update its stance in response to the Supreme Court ruling or RKNs offer.

[Telegram] never denied that the authorities have a right and even an obligation to fight terrorism. On the contrary, we suggested the only civilized way to do it  a court order in exchange for a disclosure. A disclosure not of the content of the messages even, but only of an IP address or a telephone number. The balance must be found between national security and privacy, Pavel Chikov, Telegrams lawyer, said in an interview to the Durov code program according to RTs report.

Responding to the ban, Telegram founder Pavel Durov created a Digital Resistance initiative through which he has provided bitcoin grants to individuals and organizations who provide proxy and VPN services that allow users to bypass the government ban.

Iran also levied a ban on Telegram following the token sale, with at least one high-ranking official warning that the companys new cryptocurrency could be used to undermine the national currency of Iran and funnel money out of the country.

Featured Image from Shutterstock



The post Russia May Unban Telegramif it Shares Encryption Keys with the FSB appeared first on CCN.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum with supporter Bernie Sanders, part of a coalition of funders and activists who lifted him to a surprise win in Florida. Photo: Chris OMeara/AP/REX/Shutterstock/Chris OMeara/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Two of the big Democratic narratives for the 2018 primaries collided in Florida today, with former congresswoman Gwen Graham battling Tallahassee mayor and Bernie Sandersendorsed progressive Andrew Gillum for a very important gubernatorial nomination. In this contest, at least, it was not the Year of the Democratic Woman but rather the insurgent-progressive uprising that won the battle of the memes.

The heavily favored Graham, a party centrist and daughter of former governor and senator Bob Graham, lost to Gillum, who is bidding to become the first African-American governor of his state. The underdog piled up big margins in most of Floridas urban areas, and will now face Congressman Ron DeSantis, the Trump-endorsed GOP nominee, in what will be a general election of stark ideological contrasts.

Early in the campaign, it looked like Graham and former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine were the top contenders for the gubernatorial nomination. Indeed, as late as mid-August, a SurveyUSA poll showed Graham and Levine tied for the lead, with self-funding Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene running third and Gillum far back. But aside from representing a merger of millennial and minority supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton (whom Gillum endorsed), the 39-year-old mayor also obtained massive financial support from progressive billionaires George Soros (who contributed $1.25 million to Gillums political committee) and Tom Steyer (who chipped in $800,000). He also benefited from a well-financed Get Out the Vote operation.

That was enough to put Gillum on top, even in a state where older and more centrist voters usually dominate primaries and Graham benefited from high name ID and endorsements from most leading Florida Democrats and celebrities (plus EMILYs List, and other national figures like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand).

Gillums general election opponent DeSantis easily defeated early GOP front-runner Adam Putnam, largely by campaigning on a dual message: Im for Trump, and Trump is for me. Its unclear how the GOP intends to run against this unexpected and unorthodox adversary between now and November, but you have to figure it could get ugly. One possible beneficiary of a strong voter mobilization for Gillum, especially among African-Americans, could be Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, whos seeking a fourth term, and not exactly exciting his party as he battles Governor Rick Scott and his checkbook. The stakes will be high, as Democrats try to bust up a GOP trifecta governing Florida before the next round of redistricting, and both parties gear up for another epic Sunshine State presidential contest in 2020.The General Court Martial has granted bail to the former inspector general of police, Edward Kale Kayihura.

Kayihura who has been in detention since June 13 was granted bail today, Tuesday following an application by his lawyers led by Peter Kabatsi, who fronted his old age and poor health as the main reasons for the application.



A panel of 7 army officers chaired by Lt Gen Andrew Gutti granted the former police chief bail on grounds that the prosecution had not submitted any written objection.

Gutti, however, said that despite the nature of offences that Kayihura was charged with, it was his constitutional right and he had never been convicted of any offence in any court.

Gen Kale Kayihura in the dock

Kayihura faces charges of abuse of office, when he allegedly failed to protect war materials, failed to supervise police officers and abetted kidnap of Rwandan refugees.



"This court has taken note that the offences against Kayihura are of a serious nature and attract a serious penalty of death upon conviction but however, has also considered at the argument of the applicants," said Gutti.



However, Kayihura's movement is restricted to the districts of Kampala and Wakiso unless with permission of the court. He is restricted from traveling out of the country without permission from the court or army leadership.



He was released on a recognizance of Shs 10 million non-cash while the sureties are bonded at Shs 5 million, not cash. He will be reporting to court once every month and coming to court as and when the court deems fit.

Kayihura presented three sureties whom he said were substantial and could present him to court as and when the court deems fit.

The sureties included; Maj Gen Samuel Kavuma, the deputy commander Land Forces, Maj Gen James Mugira, the managing director of the National Enterprise Corporation and Rosemary Tumusiime, member of parliament for Entebbe municipality.In 2012, Feza Banyiyezako, 37, separated with Muhammad Sengo, 52, leaving him with their two girls then aged seven and three and a half years.

The older girl today accuses her father of defilement. The girl is traumatised after she was also found to be HIV positive, writes Yudaya Nangonzi.

When Banyiyezakos in-laws summoned her for a family meeting on August 12, she had no idea why. She recalls that the meeting, held at her mother-in-laws home in Bweyogerere, started on a low key since most of the participants looked moody. Minutes later, her daughter was asked to narrate how she was defiled by her father in 2012.

When mummy left us, there was a time daddy gave me two tablets to swallow and we slept with my sister. The following morning, I found myself naked in daddys bed. I was feeling a lot of pain in my private parts and daddy was wrapped in a towel seated next to me, Banyiyezako quotes her daughter.

I dont know what happened at night but daddy told me not to tell anyone about it or he will beat me.

Banyiyezako, the mother, weeps during the interview

Sengo declined to speak during the meeting, prompting some of his relatives to have him arrested and detained at Kireka police station before being transferred to Kira division police. While in custody, Banyiyezako says her mother-in-law was a frequent visitor insisting that her son is innocent.

According to a July 31 minute signed by the Resident State Attorney (RSA) which The Observer has seen, there is no sufficient evidence pinning her father.

The victim does not know what happened to her at night because she was asleep. Whatever she explained in her statement is circumstantial evidence against the accused which needs to be corroborated, reads the RSAs minute.

The minute added that the medical evidence which would have corroborated the victims claim is confusing. Whereas the victims PF 3A shows that she is HIV positive, the suspects PF 24A shows he is HIV negative. Both tests were carried out first at Kira health centre III on July 8 and then Ebenezer laboratories on July 24.

The question is that if the suspect defiled the victim and infected her with HIV, then how come he is HIV negative. This is a big gap in the evidence Given the time lag between when the incident happened [2012] and reporting of the case [2018], I dont see an inquiry which can explain that, the RSA said.

I find the evidence insufficient to sustain charges of aggravated defilement against the suspect. Close [the file] and put away.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Luke Owoyesigire said there is a medical report which indicates that the hymen of the victim was found to be virginal.

So, we had to act on the RSAs advice to release the man under CRB 240/2018. When you dont have conclusive evidence, you just dont detain someone for a long time. This man is the father and he will not run anywhere in case we need him, Owoyesigire said.

He added: We are still wondering where the girl got the HIV. As of now, everything shows its not the father who defiled her.

Sengo asserts that he is being framed.

I am very disappointed that my child says that I defiled her. Put yourself in my shoes! Can you defile your own child? Can you sleep naked in bed with your child? I am moving in a lot of shame all over the village. I decided to even switch off my phone and now Im staying with my mother [in Bweyogerere], Sengo said.

The Observer understands that in 2012, Sengo reported to Kireka police that his daughter had been defiled but he never followed it up. Owoyesigire also confirmed there is an ongoing High court case.

Basically, I dont comment on issues of court. All I know is that there is an ongoing defilement case that this man reported in 2012, he said.

A police officer privy to this case told The Observer that they need to retrieve the 2012 case file number CRB 198/2012 to help clear the air. The officer said they got information that Sengo has been getting ARVs for the child behind her mothers back.

Even when the father took the children to their mother in Burundi in 2012, he did not disclose that the child was positive. He instead told his mother that the girl had cured from HIV only to find out the girl is still positive this year, the officer said.

It seems the father is hiding some important information. Why did he get ARVs without informing the mother and later lied to their grandmother? We also tried to look for the 2012 file but no one knows its whereabouts.

Banyiyezako said that four months after their separation; Sengo brought the children to Burundi but did not disclose that one of them was HIV positive.

He told me some men raped my child but he is looking for them. He also gave me vitamin C and Septrin drugs to give the child daily that they would heal a big wound that she had in her right palm then, she said.

According to Owoyesigire, the girl indicated in her statement that she was forced by her father to accuse two men of defilement in 2012.

When we asked the girl why she is coming out now [six years later] to report, she said her father was again asking for sex from her but we are still investigating those claims, he said. To date, neither Sengo nor Police have updates on the 2012 case but are convinced that the suspects are on remand in Luzira Prison.

When I was under custody in Kira, I was informed that the accused persons were sent to Luzira, he said.

Police records show that Sengo testified that the two men were thugs who broke into their house and defiled his daughter. In the records, the second names of the suspects were not indicated although Sengo identifies them as his neighbours.

Prisons, DPP speak

Uganda prisons spokesman, Frank Baine, told The Observer that neither of the suspects [Nsubuga and Ntanzi] has ever been in their custody. Baine contacted all prisons citing their names, case number, place of arrest, year, month and date but in vain.

Being that this was a Kampala case and capital in nature, they should have been in either Murchison Bay, Upper Prison or even at worst Kampala Remand. There is no record of them in our prisons, especially in 2012, Baine said.

It is very possible that these people never went beyond police. There is also a possibility that this case was reported and not followed up thus allowing suspects to migrate to other areas for fear of being rearrested after securing police bonds.

Even if you come and spend just 30 minutes, we have your record with us, he said.

Irene Nakimbugwe, the deputy publicist at the Directorate of Public Prosecution, also distanced herself from police claims that they were still holding the 2012 case file.

The fact that they never appeared in court and are not in prison means the file was never sanctioned. As DPP, we dont have a place where we keep people who have been taken to court and keep them aside for all those years, Nakimbugwe said.

When we commit someone, we keep the files with us pending trial in the High court. If prisons and DPP have no documentation on the accused, the onus falls back to police.

She explained that for capital offences, theres no way someone can be taken to court and released on bail because the magistrate has no jurisdiction. So, if the suspects ever appeared in High court, they would have a record of them in prison.

Rehabilitation

Last week, The Observer visited the rehabilitation centre where the children stay after they were thrown out of their grandmothers home by their uncle.

This was their mothers first visit since the centre received them on July 19. It was a mixture of happiness and sadness as the three hugged with tears rolling down their cheeks.

August 20, is the birthday of the affected child but her mother could not surprise her with anything on our visit. She said: Mummy, we love you. We have been missing you. Did you come with my birthday cake?

Her question drew more tears from the mother. At the centre (names withheld), they have found that the girl has been stigmatised by family members.

The girl told me that her grandmother and other relatives have been discriminative since they discovered that she is HIV positive. They couldnt share with her utensils for fear that they will catch the virus, says her attendant.

Currently, they are encouraging her to forgive so that her past does not justify the future.

We are preaching a lot of love to her. Surprisingly, she also takes her Antiretrovirals very well. Sometimes, she even reminds us about her next visit to the hospital, the attendant said.

She, however, added that the girl remains hurt that her father, mother and young sister are negative yet she was found positive. According to the attendant, the child disclosed that when they went for medical examination at Ebenezer laboratories, Sengo told her that: I have money, they are going to release me and I will look for you.

But when this statement was put to the authorities, they said the girl is lying.

A week later, the father was released. So, the question is; who is lying? Who is being truthful? A lot of things are not adding up and this girls case has many questions with no answers, says the attendant.

The girl insists that her father has been taking medication since their mother left them in 2012. Could it be that the virus is dormant? If this girl is positive and she woke up in the dads bed naked; If it wasnt him [the dad], he knows who defiled and infected this girl with HIV as releasing him does not solve the puzzle.

While this girl had registered to sit PLE this year, she is still traumatised by the fact that at her school, classmates got information from other siblings that she was defiled and is on ARVs. After six months to one year, the policy of the organisation stipulates that they have to let go of these two sisters.

Government rules are clear that this is a transitional home. If government or someone can help us empower the mother, we shall go ahead and pay for their school fees but when they are staying outside the centre, the attendant said.

This implies that their unemployed mother without a permanent address has to find a home.

In Burundi, I am an orphan who stopped in primary six under the guardianship of my uncle due to lack of fees. I have nowhere to take the children and cannot take them back to the grandmother whose children threw us out of their home, Banyiyezako says.

nangonzi@observer.ugOne person was confirmed dead and 100 arrested in protests against the detention of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi and other opposition members.

We should maintain calm and peace in the coming days. Ugandans need to desist from these acts of rioting and protesting all over the country because this is affecting some innocent people.

They end up making losses in their businesses. For example on Monday, August 20, people had to close their shops and flee the gunshots and tear gas.

And it seems these unemployed youths who are always idle in town are the major facilitators of all this chaos because theres no way a businessperson can decide to engage in all that nonsense when they have work to do.

So, I think its better for these youths to get what to do that is developmental rather than involving themselves in these acts that will lead them in trouble.

Catherine Namuddu,

Kampala

Time to reflect on violence on protestors

No one deserves to be treated with animosity especially during the quelling of demonstrations and arrests. I condemn in the strongest terms any acts of violence no matter the prevailing circumstances.

No one should ever condone and perpetrate acts of violence. All acts of violence either by protesters in discontentment or security organs striving to restore calm should be condemned by all stakeholders in the strongest terms. Children of violence today will be the breeders of violence tomorrow.

In all protests in the recent times, I am disturbed by the repeated ugly news of deaths from live gun shots.

Are there elaborate protocols for querying internal uprisings and if so are they known to all officers? When should an officer fire live ammunitions and how?

The continuous brutal means of quelling riots and demonstrations cast a lot of doubt on the professionalism of the gallant officers deployed. Could something be lacking in the training modules? Could there be a need for regular retooling to close the seemingly prevailing skills and knowledge gap?

The fact that these are repeated over and over again means that they are deliberate and therefore security organs are not taking any lessons from previous operations.

This also means that after operations, there could be little efforts to review or there is just no room for an after-action review in the security organs.

If there is room for after action reviews, then there is no will to adopt the learning. This could be the opportune time to pause and reflect about their interventions and response. Questions like are we doing the right thing? Are we doing it the right way?

I look forward to violent free arrests in our motherland. For God and my country

Francis Bukenya Mugote,

Kampala

Besigye should be clear on alleged 50-year plan

While speaking on CBS radio on Wednesday evening on the Kiriza oba gana programme, Kizza Besigye explained many pertinent issues that have kept the National Resistance Movement in power and what ought to be done to get rid of this NRM monster.

He also notified the nation that he is not the problem standing in the oppositions road to power as some people allege. He also reiterated that he has not stopped anybody from standing against Museveni.

While he is right on most of these issues, he missed the opportunity to disassociate himself from the alleged 50-year plan in power by people from western Uganda. When pressed by the moderator to explain that allegation, to my surprise he cunningly dodged the question.

I advise Besigye that if another opportunity avails itself next time, he should endeavor to explain and disassociate himself from that conspiracy if he is not part of it in order to quell the rumour of an ongoing plot by westerners to rule the country for many more years.

Kennedy Kabonge

kennedykabongek@yahoo.co.uk



letters@observer.ugIn the aftermath of the violence before and after the Arua by-election and arrest of 33 people including MPs; Kasiano Wadri, Gerald Karuhanga, Paul Mwiru and Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, one by one state officials have tried hard to convince Ugandans that journalists, through their reporting on these events, are the enemy of the country.

But we believe people arent swayed. Using a joint press conference on August 25, security chiefs claimed the journalists reporting on the sad events that happened in the public domain and not the actions of the security forces, had tarnished the countrys international image.

Gen David Muhoozi, the chief of defense forces, said footage of protests and the subsequent crackdown by security forces beamed to the world, only served to sully Ugandas global image.

Police Chief John Martins Okoth Ochola urged journalists not to promote fear and misinformation. Ofwono Opondo, the director of the Uganda Media Centre, claimed journalists were peddling calculated propaganda to tarnish Ugandas image.

He said journalists should distinguish between facts and calculated propaganda. And the CDF also made a shocking suggestion.

He claimed that even the kiboko wielding security men pictured flogging people on the streets must belong to a private enterprise hell bent on soiling the countrys image. He suggested that some of the men in uniform seen beating perceived protesters were choreographed to perform the heinous acts right before the cameras.

This post-election finger pointing seems to suggest an unsettling truth; that our leaders seem to be detached from reality or are being economical with the facts.

But its also true that the weight of the state operatives reprehensible transgressions has outpaced the governments public relations machine. Journalists the world over are not there to threaten leaders but to strengthen them.

But many leaders are always threatened by the truth told by journalists. Journalists didnt sanction the recent street beatings, they reported on them.

They didnt throw the stone that reportedly shattered the presidents car screen in Arua, they reported on the events and the fracas that unfolded.

Do we get it wrong sometimes? Yes, and when we do, we try our best to set the record right. Almost 350 news outlets last week put out a mass response to US President Donald Trumps fake news attacks.

And one editorial put it more appropriately. It said public officials are sometimes unnerved by what journalists do.

Some people in power dont like being questioned. They would prefer to silence the questioners. But most of them  on some level  appreciate that the press plays an important role in the tricky balancing act that makes democracy work. When the State tries to silence the media by claiming journalists are the enemy, that balance is threatened. Our democracy is threatened.

Please government; dont silence journalists, just clean up your house.This July marked the start of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).

But if you are a historian you would argue that it was also the 150th commemoration of a dream of a Uganda connected by a modern network of roads. Or it could be 100 years of infrastructure in contemporary Uganda. Or 30 years of what you could call the infrastructure renaissance, which began in earnest in 1988.

But let us start with Alexander Mackay, known to most as a mid-19th century Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Tanzania and Uganda.

The explorer David Livingstone, a fellow Scot, was Mackays hero. History says that on December 12, 1875, Mackay picked up a copy of the Edinburgh Daily Review and in it was a letter that excited him.

It was by another explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, friend of Livingstone. Stanley had written the letter at the request of Bugandas King Muteesa I. In part it read:

King Muteesa I of Uganda has been asking me about the white mans God Oh that some practical missionary would come here! Muteesa I would welcome such. It is the practical Christian who can cure their diseases, build dwellings and turn his hand to anythingthis is the man who is wanted

Mackay, a practical man (Ugandans nicknamed him Mzungu wa Kazi) who was passionate about mechanics, and for long had desired to follow in the footsteps of Livingstone and Stanley, thought that he was the man for the job.

Within four months, Mackay, along with seven other young missionary volunteers, was on a ship bound for Zanzibar and Uganda.

The records say that Mackay undertook to build a wagon road from the coast to Mpwapwa (now a market town in the Dodoma region of Tanzania), 402km inland. He faced a lot of difficulties but succeeded in the end, although the road didnt reach Uganda.

But he wrote in a letter to his father as the road was nearing completion. This will certainly yet be a highway for the King Himself; and all that pass this way will come to know His Name. Its debated whether by the King Himself he meant God or Muteesa I.

But the idea of a connection to the East African hinterland by something more than a footpath had been born. Some have argued that in Mackays letter, or better still Muteesa I, was the seed that eventually gave birth to the most defining infrastructure project in 20th century Uganda  the Kenya-Uganda Railway.

The railway was important in defining modern Uganda. But also was the establishment of UNRA, though for more modest reasons.

Until 2008, for over 100 years the building of roads and bridges in Uganda (and most other African countries that now also have their road authorities) was a central political activity, and part of the legitimacy of the colonial and post-independence governments was based on their direct control of building roads and delivering on the promise.

It was the responsibility of Public Works Departments, and later ministries of Works. The setting up of UNRA as an executive infrastructure management agency was, therefore, first and foremost a political act. We were given power that previously was wielded by politicians, exercising it on behalf of their electorate, a big change in the delegation of authority and in our democracy.

Therefore, we take the 10th anniversary to appreciate that heavy responsibility, humble ourselves before and account to the people on whose behalf we do what we do.

To appreciate that, we need to return to when the Kenya-Uganda Railway began in Mombasa in 1896. While people like Mackay were missionaries, and saw wagon roads to Uganda as part of the Lords work, the first primary reason for the railway was to give the British a foothold at the source of the Nile, to control the headwaters of the river, in order to exert influence over Egypt and the Suez Canal  and control the key eastern trade route.

Later, to transport raw materials for British industries to the coast. One result of the railway is that economic development in Uganda (and Kenya) became concentrated along the railway corridor (generally the areas about 120km from the railway).

Its our roads that took development from the railway corridor to the rest of the country, and incorporated periphery areas into the national project.

One would argue that roads are among the leading factors that made Uganda a country. This continues today. At a broader regional level, roads are one of the things that make Uganda East African, and define our strategic significance to the hinterland economies of central Africa and further north to the Sudans.

We just launched the construction of the Kapchorwa-Suam road. This road is approximately 73km long and snakes through north of Mt. Elgon National Park through the districts of Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo, and ends in Suam at the border with Kenya.

It will foster transport linkages with Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and DRC. Its therefore, at a strategic level, another cog in the East African integration project.

Recently President Yoweri Museveni noted that Uganda, which, to all intents and purposes, is East Africas bread basket, produces just over 5 million bags of maize a year, but we consume just over one million and export the other four million to East Africa.

Without infrastructure, most of these 4 million bags wouldnt get out  and anything up to 75 million East Africans would have less to eat.

This anniversary is an opportunity to build a new social contract with Uganda and East Africa. And to take a bow to all Ugandans who have invested so much in the infrastructure to make a life for themselves and our neighbours.

The author is the executive director of the Uganda National Roads Authority.

Twitter: @UNRA_EDRepresentative Martha McSally speaks during her primary night gathering on August 28, 2018 in Tempe, Arizona. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Arizona Democrats are likely facing a tougher road in their effort to flip a Senate seat after Representative Martha McSally, the GOP Establishment favorite, won the Republican Senate primary on Tuesday. But there is a silver lining for Democrats: The race also put an end to Joe Arpaios effort to return to elected office  for now, at least.

As in many GOP races across the country, candidates in the Republican primary competed to prove their loyalty to President Trump. While McSally, a two-term congresswoman and former combat fighter pilot, had the strongest resume, she failed in this regard. She moved to the right  backing away from a bill to protect Dreamers, embracing the border wall, and labeling outlets fake news  but still hasnt said if she voted for Trump in 2016.

Luckily for her, the two more Trumpian opponents split the anti-Establishment vote. Ward, a former state senator, built up her national profile by relentlessly attacking John McCain, even claiming that the late senator announced he was ending his cancer treatment to derail coverage of her bus tour. Arpaio, the former Maricopa County sheriff, was only able to run because Trump pardoned him after he was convicted of violating a federal court order to stop racially profiling Latinos.

With 59 percent of precincts reporting, McSally had 52 percent of the vote, Ward had 28 percent, and Arpaio had 19 percent.

Now McSally will face Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, a fellow U.S. representative who easily won her primary, in the race to fill the seat being vacated by Senator Jeff Flake. Sinema leads McSally in the RealClearPolitics average of polls by five points, but the race is considered a toss-up. Their showdown will be one of the key races in the midterms as Democrats attempt to win an Arizona senate seat for the first time since 1988.

With the difficult primary finally behind her, McSally turned her attention to Sinema at her election-night party, lobbing Trump-style attacks.

Hollywood Sinema, I like to say that  Sinema with a C, she said. Shes undergone an extreme makeover, fabricating a centrist image to fulfill her ambition. Shes a fake production, running on a phony script in order to fool the voters.In an interview with Aljazeera in April 2017, the Ugandan leader, Yoweri Museveni is asked about how his legacy will go down in the chronicles of history.

With over 30 years in office  the most part coming via general elections  Al jazeeras Mohammed Vall asks against a context that the 72-year-old was considering changing - through parliament  the constitution to get around a clause which would bar him from contesting in the next presidential election: How can you guarantee that you will not be remembered as a dictator instead of a democratic president?

Upon hearing the question, Mr Musevenis face lights up and grins. It is a political question, which could be easily shot down by a simple technical answer: A dictator who is elected five times! That must be a wonderful dictator. That must be a special one. Elected five times with all this big majority. That must be a wonderful dictator! he answered.

Musevenis pithy response sent echoes across the democratic world. It contained a beautiful paradox: dictators are assumed not to be elected. They are assumed to govern outside the constitution and without the mandate of the people.

Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe or Rwandas Paul Kagame cannot be called dictators simply on the account of staying in power too long! Like Germanys Chancellor Merkel, they were elected many times.

Advocates of democracy never anticipated a situation where universal adult suffrage would be conditioned to the whims of the incumbent.

Musevenis response complicates conventional understanding of democracy in Africa where numbers are everything. In this response, Museveni offered us what would be called a technocratization of governance. That is, the legitimacy or illegitimacy of a regime is measured through technical variables.

These yardsticks are not interested in details, but rather the existence of the principle. Thus, regimes are democratic if they organize [and win] regular elections. The ways in which these elections are organised and won does not matter. What matters is that an election was held and a winner emerged.

The Parliament works. The ways in which parliament is often manipulated during several landmark legislations does not matter. What is of value is that legislators met and had a debate before a legislation was passed.

Courts function. The ways in which courts are manipulated from behind the curtains is irrelevant. What matters is that courts exist and often perform their independence for the cameras.

Behind this technocracy and expertise is the brute force of political interests. The autocrat actually influences decisions taken by the experts. It is some sort of a depoliticization of power. Governance becomes an item measured by experts following particular yardsticks.

Anything outside these yardsticks is discarded to the waste basket. The finer details and internal contradictions are for historians and anthropologists  but have no space in the ways in which governance is understood.

You cannot see the long arm of power. It is fetishized. Any claims of morality are discarded denigrated as unmeasurable subjective consideration.

Thus, when challenged over incidences of misrule and human rights abuse, regime spokespersons and loquacious ministers such as Ofwono Opondo, Chris Baryomunsi, Frank Tumwebaze easily respond by challenging you to go to court.

The challenger is confident that in their court, none wins against them. Challenged over undemocratic tendencies, the same persons respond by pointing to regular elections and the functionality of parliament.

If the finer details of unfairness are mentioned such as bribery, intimidation or violence upon dissenting legislators, they still challenge you to go to court.

Thus, regime opponents are subjected to long and arduous court processes, which actually have potential to end in tough [politically inspired] sentences. Even when the regime subjects itself to the law, the verdict is often predetermined.

Being in the opposition of such regimes requires an understanding of the dynamics of power hidden behind technocracy. Responding in the same language of technocracy becomes counterproductive. It thus requires stepping outside of the technocracy.

What brought down a constitutionally sanctioned apartheid regime was not within constitutionally sanctioned means.

The African National Congress (ANC) had to find other means. This involved, among other things, turning to violent rebellion, but also heightening civic activism. In the era where violence has lost its appeal, opposition movements are left with one option  steadier activism.

The author is a PhD fellow at Makerere Institute of Social Research.Dear General David Muhoozi,

Greetings, sir!

I hope this finds you well. I was prompted to write to you after watching a press conference, last week, by the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Uganda Police Force (UPF), which you chaired.

The political and security events of the last two weeks are deeply appalling, to say the least. I hope that like many compatriots you, too, feel outraged.

For full disclosure, let me note that I had the chance to speak with you at length sometime last year.

I and two colleagues have been researching the transformation of civil-military relations in Africa, and when we sought the opportunity to interview you, and other senior officers of the UPDF, you generously agreed. We were very grateful.

I found you to be a calm and collected person. In the interaction we had, you were very thoughtful and measured. As researchers, we learnt a lot listening to you.

In my view you are possessed of the professional persona and deep intellect expected of the head of the military in a progressive society and in running affairs of a modern state.

I am writing this letter to appeal to your moral conscience. I am writing not as the researcher and academic you met last year, but as a Ugandan deeply concerned for the present, let alone the future of this dear country.

The UPDF is a very critical pillar of our state. In fact it is the basis for the totality of the armed forces we have today. The armed forces are a creature of politics, so they are expected to serve politics and the public. Yet in serving politics and the public they must serve every legitimate actor in the political market place.

This means that the armed forces even though part of the political sphere have to be decidedly nonpartisan. I am sure that you, Afande CDF, fully appreciate this principle.

Unfortunately, for far too long now, the UPDF (and the UPF) has fallen short of the professionalism expected of a modern military institution especially with respect to contestations for power. Its partisan slant has greatly imperiled the integrity of the institution as a whole.

Let me address the central problem we face as a country. Our countrys politics have been deteriorating in recent years. There is mounting resentment against the rule of the current government. The legitimacy of the current president is in serious question. More generally, there is decay and dysfunction in the public sector. We are increasingly a fragile society.

After more than 30 years in State House, your commander in chief (C-i-C) believes he has to do everything to cling to power. This has put the UPDF in a very difficult situation. Your C-i-C founded what eventually became the UPDF. This is a fact of history.

But General Museveni founded the NRA (now UPDF) for a public not personal purpose. If it was a personal project then I believe many would not have joined him willfully to the extent of paying with their lives.

The primary goal for which hundreds and later thousands, in fact tens of thousands, joined together to forge a military force that we now call the UPDF was to bring about social order and political stability. It was never to entrench one-man rule.

Today, as the overall commander of the defence forces you find yourself having to choose between defending the common good for society, which entails granting protection to every Ugandan, and serving the narrow agenda of the person in State House.

This is a sad commentary on our politics because it was General Museveni who so eloquently stated in 1986 that the problem of Africa was leaders who dont want to leave power. How prophetic he was!

Afande CDF, let me end this letter by reiterating what I consider a critical factor in all this: the UPDF needs the good will of all Ugandans. As citizens, we count on the armed forces for personal protection and for securing the country so we can all leave in peace and harmony.

The armed forces in turn can only do their work when they enjoy the support and positive attitude of the people. The political class must respect the men and women in uniform, but this is only possible when the latter demonstrates professionalism and steers clear of partisanship.

Since the end of armed conflict in Uganda in the mid-2000s, the UPDF had cultivated a generally positive image as an evolving professional force that protects every Ugandan and defends the interests of the country. This image is now in deep peril.

The onus is on you, General Muhoozi, to find the best way of impressing upon your C-i-C that the broader interests of the country far outstrip his personal political ambitions, and that the UPDF in particular cannot carry that very name while at the same time being weaponised for partisan ends.

If the armed forces cannot serve everyone equitably and professionally, then different groups are incentivised to find their own defence forces. This is the route to warlordism that has characterised many African countries.

moses.khisa@gmail.com

The author is an assistant professor of political science at North Carolina State University.I had such huge crushes on Mark and Stephen when I was younger.

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same! stephen has a very english look to him that i thought was so cute back in the day. he's still good looking now

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their name is familiar but i never got into them

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This is where I'm at. I can't recall hearing any of their music.

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BBless





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Out of My Heart Into My Head?

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I got to see Rainer Maria last year, and they were probably my #1 in this category so I think I'm good. Maybe Rilo Kiley?

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oh wow i haven't listened to rainer maria in so long

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it was fun to relive my emo teen years!! my forever fave





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5th grade me used to play Ghost of You and Me 838305323 times a day

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Lol this was my favorite

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I saw them open for NSYNC years ago and I remember them doing a cover of Summer of '69.

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this damn bop!!11

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I had a crush on one of them but they all look the same to me now.

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UNTIL YOU'RE BACK HERE BAYBAAAAAY

MISS YOU

WANT YOU

NEED YA SO



also bring back Evan & Jaron plz. "Crazy For This Girl" was so damn catchy.



Edited at 2018-08-29 12:06 am (UTC)

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those exact lines just started looping in my head the second i saw this post

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lol same

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I would totally see Evan and Jaron in concert. Loved their music.

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back here is legit the catchiest song i love it so much lol. every time it plays at a grocery store i sing a long.



Edited at 2018-08-29 04:59 am (UTC)

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Does Evan or Jaron, I forget which, still work for Kevin Spacey???

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isnt one of them kevin spaceys.... assistant?

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damn i automatic sang back here..



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Memories <3

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and 15 years went by :-)

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>>>>>> Back Here

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Lol I used to love them back when Disney Channel played their music video all the time. And their episode of Even Stevens was funny af.

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I am Mrs. Ruby BBMak

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Lmfaooo Ruby

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i was listening to back her just the other day. I remember when they were on Even Stevens.

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omfg i remember crying because my mom wouldn't buy me tickets to their show here

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LinkOil and gas is among the more accident-prone industries. Compared with, say, banking, the likelihood of someone getting hurt on the job in oil is immeasurably higher. But just as information technology has changed the landscape in banking, it is changing the landscape in oil and gas, too, and it is making it a lot safer.

Theres a growing body of evidence that digitalization is driving a radical transformation in how oil and gas are discovered and extracted  and traded, as well  and safety seems to be an integral part of this transformation. Heres what technology has been doing to reduce the physical risks associated with work in the oil field while at the same time boosting productivity and reducing costs.

Data analytics

There are tons of data being generated on a daily basis at any oil or gas field. Flow rates, equipment maintenance, anything out of the ordinary  these are but a handful of examples. Until recently, this data was practically wasted. But now, thanks to digital tech, it is being gathered, processed and analyzed.

The result: the risk of equipment malfunctioning, which can often lead to injury, can be minimized by what tech firms working with the oil and gas industry call predictive maintenance. This basically means fixing the problem before it occurs thanks to the data gathered by connected equipment.

Predictive maintenance was made possible by sensors in the equipment connected to computers that keep track of things such as temperature, humidity and, in offshore oil and gas, wave heights and other relevant indicators that can affect the performance of various pieces of equipment. Based on this information, whoever is in charge of maintenance can detect equipment breakdown before it occurs as one IT industry executive put it. This, in turn, helps avoid accidents related to these equipment breakdowns.

Drones

Drones have been nothing short of a blessing for the oil and gas industry. Just think about it: many fields are in remote locations, some of them in challenging environments, and there are also thousands of miles of pipelines. Site inspections could take days, perhaps even weeks, in pre-digital times. Now, all it takes is a drone. Related: US Energy Secretary: The Shale Boom Is Far From Over

Drones can provide a 360-degree view of an oil field or a pipeline. Equipped with special sensors, they can detect a leak with a precision level that would take a human crew much longer. They can also detect methane leaks using their sensors, which is a surveillance and monitoring area that is garnering growing attention from the media and regulators.

Finally, in the event of a spill or fire, drones can act as first responders, providing images of the location where the event is occurring and helping the human responders organize their response. Ultimately, this reduces the safety risks associated with such emergency events.

Automation

If battery storage is the Holy Grail of renewable energy, automation seems to be the Holy Grail of oil and gas. Everything that can be automated is being automated in the oil field, from oilfield and pipeline monitoring to drilling.

To monitor fields and pipelines, companies use drones on shore and autonomous underwater vehicles for offshore pipelines. In oil and gas well drilling, E&Ps are using sensors in the drilling equipment to boost the accuracy of drilling. This higher accuracy also cuts drilling times and improves safety as it makes drilling much more predictable.

It is still early days for automation in oil and gas. Despite the above applications, most of the automated processes in the industry have to do with supply chain tracking, workforce deployment, and equipment-related processes. Yet earlier this year, Baker Hughes announced an automated fracking system that has brought us closer to the automated oil field. The system, dubbed Prodigi, says where the best locations are to frack a well, which boosts production rates.

Wearables

It was only a matter of time before the oil and gas industry welcomed the benefits of wearable tech with open arms. Smart helmets, smart glasses, and sensor-rich clothing are among the examples of how this tech is helping to make the oil and gas industry a safer place. Related: Iraqs 550,000 Bpd Oil Deal Is In Jeopardy

There are wearables capable of detecting gas leaks, for example, and signaling the detection to warn the worker. There are wearables that monitor the wearers heart rate, hydration levels and pretty literally how they are feeling, even whether they are tired or not.

Italys Eni is making strides in the area of wearable health sensors, in partnership with the MIT. Shell, for its part, has developed a smart helmet or rather a wearable computer system that facilitates the communication between workers in the field and those in the office. Marathon Petroleum has deployed a wearable gas detection system for its refineries.

AI to rule them all

Artificial intelligence is the unifying element across all these digital technology applications. As in other industries, AI is what companies are looking forward to as the solution to numerous challenges, from data analysis to safety. AI takes automation to a whole new level. With it, the automated process can, theoretically at least, keep improving without human input.

This is why AI is the motif that runs through all digital technology deployed at the oil field or in the office onshore. While algorithm-based systems are oftenwronglycalled AI, they are a step on the way to true AI, the systems that can learn and improve on their own, further enhancing all the benefits that current technology is already giving oil and gas, making the industry a lot safer for those who will still be working in it in decades to come despite the rise of the robots.

By Charles Kennedy

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:Libyas oil could be under threat again, as fresh militant clashes may be coming to its oil region, just after the June-July standoff that crippled production and exports ended.

Ibrahim Jadhranwho led the attack on Libyas Oil Crescent in June resulting in crippling the countrys oil production and exports during the summeris now teaming up with tribes and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and with Chadian rebels to plan a new military operation, aiming to strike the oil region again, media report.

Jadhran has met with Omar Tantoush, a former leader of the forces of eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA), to form a brigade of Gaddafi loyalists, the Libya Observer reports, quoting another news outlet, The New Arab. Tantoush defected from Haftars forces months ago.

The new militia is said to be plotting to strike three key targets: the oil crescent, airbases that Haftar forces could use, and a military base, according to The New Arab.

In June, Jadhran-led forces attacked oil ports in the Oil Crescent, damaging the Ras Lanuf oil terminal, Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) said at the time.

After a week of fighting, Haftars LNA recaptured the four ports in the Oil Crescent in the east, and handed their control to the unrecognized oil company in the east. Related: Oil Holds Gains Despite Downward Pressure

Libyas oil production came to a halt at the beginning of July, after the Tripoli-based NOC declared force majeure on crude oil loadings at the Hariga and Zuetina oil terminals, adding to the force majeure at the Ras Lanuf and Es Sider terminals.

Two weeks later, Haftar agreed to hand back control of the ports to the internationally recognized NOC, and Libya reopened its eastern oil ports.

The port closure had blocked 850,000 bpd of Libyas oil (nearly all Libyan production) from being exported from the four ports for more than two weeks. This major disruption resulted in Libyan crude oil production slumping from 962,000 bpd in May to an average 721,000 bpd in June and further down to 664,000 bpd in July, according to OPECs secondary sources.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:In a little over two months, painful U.S. sanctions on Irans oil sector will take effect, but the Iranian economy is already showing signs of strain.

Irans currency, the rial, has fallen by more than half since the start of the year. There is now a thriving black market for U.S. dollars as the rial continues to plunge.

The turmoil has the government engaging in a bit of a circling firing squad. In July, the head of the central bank was sacked. In early August, the labor minister was ousted and just this past weekend the economy minister was removed.

The reshuffling and purging of top officials suggests that hardliners in Tehran are gaining ground against the government of President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate by comparison. Rouhanis failure to respond to the economic crisis with gut and grit has further isolated him, Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told the Wall Street Journal. Even his erstwhile allies in the parliament are deserting what they believe is a sinking ship.

But even though the economic indicators look poor, Rouhanis real failure in the eyes of the hardliners has been political. That is, his government made the mistake of trusting the United States when it agreed to the 2015 nuclear deal. The Trump administrations withdrawal from the pact earlier this year was proof in Tehran that opening up and negotiating with the U.S. on the nuclear program was a miscalculation. Rouhani has been in trouble since then, and the economic pain related to the re-implementation of U.S. sanctions is merely compounding the problem. Related: Will Saudi Arabia's Geopolitical Strategy Backfire?

In July, Iran saw its oil production fall by 56,000 bpd compared to a month earlier, and output is down 150,000 bpd compared to May. Early data from Reuters suggests that oil exports could fall to just 2.06 million barrels per day (mb/d) in August, down from 2.16 mb/d in July.





But the noose of sanctions is tightening, and the worst is yet to come. Estimates vary, but many analysts peg the losses due to sanctions at around 1 mb/d. Sharply lower oil exports will cut deeper into government revenues and weaken the currency even more (unless oil prices rise significantly to offset those losses). BMI Research expects Irans economy to contract by 4 percent in 2019.

Protests have spread across the country, and although they have been springing up in sporadic fashion, the anxiety has only increased over time.

The U.S. government insists that regime change is not official American policy, although no reasonable person with knowledge of the relationship would think that Iran could agree to the harsh demands laid out by the Trump administration. That raises questions about Washingtons ultimate objective.

For now, Washington seems content to watch Irans oil production and exports continue to fall, hoping that the political and economic cracks widen. U.S. sanctions will likely have a more severe impact this time around than they did in the years prior to the 2015 nuclear accord. Related: Can The U.S. Bring Iranian Oil Exports To Zero?

The impact on oil prices is hard to precisely pin down, but it is the most bullish factor facing the market for the foreseeable future. Global supplies are set to rise, but the prospect of Iran outages will prevent prices from falling too much. The rising tide of oil supply should keep Brent crude oil prices in a $65 to $80/bbl range for now, until Iran sanctions start to bite in 1H19, Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note. From there, prices could head higher.

As oil sanctions against Iran take effect, perhaps in combination with production problems elsewhere, maintaining global supply might be very challenging and would come at the expense of maintaining an adequate spare capacity cushion, the International Energy Agency said in its August Oil Market Report.

The big question is how much China and India will reduce their purchases of Iranian oil. In July, purchases by India and China actually increased, although that could be temporary. New Delhi appears more amenable than Beijing, reportedly offering the U.S. government to slash imports of Iranian crude in half if Washington granted a waiver for the rest. China, on the other hand, has sent signals that it will try to strengthen its relationship with Iran.

While the Iranian sanctions issue certainly isnt new news, suggestions out of the White House that waivers will be restricted appeared to augment last weeks price gains, Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note a few days ago.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:German carmakers are increasingly going EV. Volkswagen alone has plans for as many as 80 EV models across its brands by 2025. Also by that year, annual production of EVs should hit 3 million vehicles. But there is a small problem with these plans: they might not be competitive enough. Okay, its not a small problem; it is potentially a very big one, and it concerns all German carmakers with EV plans. The root of the problem is in the batteries.

German carmakers have been buying batteries from China and South Korea so actively that German battery makers have scrapped plans for local battery factories, deepening an already heavy dependence on imported products. Bosch, for instance, last year said it planned to splash US$23 billion (20 billion euro) on building battery production capacity of 200 GWh by 2030. Just two months after this announcement in February this year, the car supplier major said it no longer would pursue these plans.

For Bosch, its important to have a technical understanding of cells. We dont have to make them ourselves, Electrek quoted Bosch executive Rolf Bulander as saying at the time. Yet a lot of other people in the industry and the countrys Chancellor apparently beg to differ.

In the spring, Angela Merkel said that developing local production capacity for EV batteries was a good idea as it would add value to German carmakers products. But more importantly, experts believe that local production will be a safeguard against potential attempts at arm-twisting from foreign suppliersalways a possibility with extreme dependence on importsand it will also allow the local carmakers to be in control of research and development that could make their cars more competitive. Related: Europes Natural Gas Prices Surge To Record For Summer Season

Batteries are one of the costliest components of EVs, which is why their impact on the final price tag is so crucial. Cells can be a major technology differentiator and cells are the by far most costly part of the battery pack, a materials science professor from the University of Muenster told The Verge. Martin Winter added that local production of battery cells would greatly affect German carmakers chances of success in the booming EV market.

Unfortunately, Winter notes that the development of this production capacity will be costly and painful. It is, however, necessary in order for local carmakers to make sure they can take full benefit of future breakthroughs in battery technology that can change the face of the EV market. This is a solid reason for taking the pains and the costs of developing local battery factories: there is so much innovation in batteries right now, that breakthroughs are only a matter of time.

Asian battery suppliers seem to be acutely aware of this, so they are now setting up battery factories on site, The Verge notes in an analysis of the topic. One of Germanys biggest lithium-ion battery suppliers, Chinese CATL, plans to build a battery factory in Thuringia. BMW has already inked a deal to buy US$4.7 billion worth of batteries from the companys new facility even though it has its own battery production plans.

Continental is also eyeing battery production in Germany as is Tesla. While its true that proprietary battery research would be a best-case scenario, perhaps in the present circumstances, Germanys automakers could make the best of what they have: at least some local production capacity, even if not all of it German. Its better than nothing, after all.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:When Lundin Petroleum struck oil near a dry well 130 km from the Norwegian coast in the North Sea in 2010 few people, if anyone at all, expected the oil price crash that hit the industry in 2014 causing tectonic shifts and the resulting quakes. At the time, Johan Sverdrup was nothing short of a miracle solution to a growing problem Norway had: a persistent decline in oil production.

Today, it is one of the five biggest fields in Norway, and at peak production will account for 40 percent of the countrys total oil production, which is now set for growth thanks to that same field, Bloomberg reports in a recent story, citing state oil company Equinor (formerly Statoil). It also quoted Oil Minister Terje Soviknes as saying, We would have had a mega-crisis. Thank god that we had Sverdrup. It rescued us through the oil downturn.

How did that happen? Thank the price crash, which wiped out 50,000 oil jobs in Norways energy industry, raising unemployment to the highest in 20 years and forced the government to tap its sovereign wealth fund to fill the budget gap opened by the price collapse. At first, it may sound ridiculous that the same event that hit Norways economy harder than the 2008 crisis, according to Bloomberg, at the same time guaranteed it a future, but it is a fact.

The key was cost-cutting, which made Johan Sverdrup a commercially viable project despite the lower-price environment. Thanks to this viability, drillers and platform builders had work: Soviknes says the job losses would have been twice as many if Sverdrup had not been there to provide work for the sector. Also, it would have taken the economy longer to rebound were it not for this project.

The initial budget for the first and second phase of the field was calculated at between US$20.41 billion (170 billion crowns) and US$26.41 billion (220 billion crowns). To date, this has been reduced to just US$15.7 billion (133 billion crowns). The first phase of development is close to completion now and production should begin in 2019. Related: The Single Biggest Breakthrough In Oil Tech This Year

Sure enough, the savings Equinor, Lundin and their partners in Johan SverdrupAker BP, Total, and Petoromade during the last seven years were not only a result of conscious effort. Like elsewhere, oilfield service providers were forced by the crisis to cut their rates, which helped cut costs at Johan Sverdrup substantially. Efficiency enhancements also helped and now the field can break even at less than US$20 per barrelsomething rare even in the U.S. shale patch.

During the first phase of operation, Johan Sverdrup will pump 440,000 bpd of crude, according to Equinors plans. During the second phase this will rise to 660,000 bpd. The field contains an estimated 2.1-3.1 billion barrels of recoverable crude and natural gas. Its easy to see why the government considers it so important for securing the long-term future of its oil industry. The field is seen to be in operation for then next five decades.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:As the first round of U.S. sanctions on Iran kicked in earlier this month and the second round of sanctionsincluding on Iranian oil exportsis set to snap back in early November, the Islamic Republic is stepping up rhetoric about controlling the most vital oil flow chokepoint in the world, the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, General Alireza Tangsiri, the head of the navy of Irans Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by Iranian media as saying that Iran had full control of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

There is no need for foreigners such as the United States and the countries whose home is not here, Tangsiri was quoted as saying by Irans PressTV.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said later on Monday in a statement posted on Twitter: The Islamic Republic of Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait is an international waterway. The United States will continue to work with our partners to ensure freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce in international waterways.

The Strait of Hormuz is the worlds most important chokepoint, with an oil flow of 18.5 million bpd in 2016, the EIA estimates. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and is the key route through which Persian Gulf exportersSaudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and Bahrainship their oil. Only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pipelines that can ship crude oil outside of the Persian Gulf and have additional pipeline capacity to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which is a route of more than 30 percent of daily global seaborne-traded crude oil and petroleum products and more than 30 percent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows.

Some 80 percent of the crude oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz goes to Asian markets, EIA has estimated using data from Lloyds List Intelligence tanker tracking service. China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Singapore are the largest destinations for oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Related: Oil Holds Gains Despite Downward Pressure

Before the previous Western sanctions were imposed earlier this decade, Iran also threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, and although analysts think that it would struggle to do so due to the U.S. naval presence in the area, a further flare-up in the Tehran-U.S. relations could be a risk to the oil flows in this vital global chokepoint.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Central Command said that there was increased Iranian military activity in the Strait of Hormuz.

A few days earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told Pentagon reporters, commenting on Irans threats to close the Strait of Hormuz at the end of July:

Clearly, this [closure] would be an attack on international shipping and could have an international response to reopen the shipping lanes  because the worlds economy depends on those energy supplies flowing out of there.

According to the August 6 report Irans Threats, the Strait of Hormuz, and Oil Markets: In Brief by the Congressional Research Service, Threats of U.S. sanctions that could reduce Irans oil export earnings is a key impetus to Irans threats to close the Strait of Hormuz.

However, due to its own dependence on trade via Hormuz, Iran may be unlikely to attempt to close the waterway, but rather to shape the international debate on Iran policy, Michael Ratner, Specialist in Energy Policy, writes in the report.

Referring to Irans options regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the report points out that an outright closure is a low probability event and even if Iran manages to pull it off, it is unlikely to be prolonged because it would trigger military response from the U.S. and other countries to keep freedom of navigation in the area. Harassment of tankers or infrastructure damage, if Iran were to use that, could send oil prices higher, but also runs the risk of triggering a military response and alienating Irans remaining oil customers, according to the report.

Iran, however, could continue to make threats about the Strait of Hormuz without taking action, and conduct naval exercises to stoke up tension.

The statements and maneuvers could still raise energy market tensions and contribute to higher oil prices, though only to the degree that oil market participants take such threats seriously, the report notes.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:In a development that must be hard to stomach for the political elite in Tehran, many Iranians are turning to U.S. dollars to offset the impact of sanctions and a faltering economy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

A steep plunge in the value of the rial, Irans currency, has led to a spike in demand for dollars in recent months from Iranians seeking safer assets, the report added. On Tuesday, one U.S. dollar bought 107,000 rials, compared with 43,000 rials in January.

When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took power in 2013 a dollar bought 36,000 rials, according to CNBC reports. Unfortunately, for the average citizen in Iran currency devaluation has been a continuous problem since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution when one dollar bought 70 rials.

Recently, Iranians have been flooding local banks to acquire dollars so much that exchanges have been forced to shut their doors to prevent long and chaotic lines. The problem for the Iranian government is mounting as average citizens fed up with both a weak economy and a plunging currency have taken to the streets in several cities across the country in protest.

How bad are things?

The situation is getting so bad that President Rouhani was summoned by the Iranian parliament on Tuesday for the first time ever to explain the countrys worsening economic crisis. The embattled leader is under pressure to reshuffle his government amid economic turmoil that sees little signs of relief.

Rouhanis answers failed to convince parliament members and his case has been referred to the judiciary, according to local news agencies. Related: The Single Biggest Breakthrough In Oil Tech This Year

Just a few days earlier on Sunday, so-called scuffling broke out in the Iranian parliament after the countrys economic and finance minister, Masoud Karbasia, was fired. Supporters and opponents of Karbasia clashed as they debated his possible impeachment, the European Pressphoto Agency reported. He was removed from office after a narrow parliamentary vote of 137 to 121.

They could get even worse

All of this fallout and unrest started to develop in May when President Trump announced he would reimpose sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear development program put in place in 2015, a key part of President Obamas foreign policy legacy.

The first wave of sanctions kicked in earlier this month with another wave set to directly hit the countrys energy sector on November 4. So far, initial sanctions have taken a toll on Irans trade in gold and other precious metals, its purchases of U.S. dollars and its automotive industry.

Not surprisingly media outlets in many parts of the middle east, with obvious differing political agendas, have added fuel to the fire for the Iranian government, predicating a worst-case scenario.

Riyadh-based Arab News said on Wednesday that Iran faces economic disaster as its currency plunges to new lows. Things could get worse, the report said, citing economic analysts, while adding that ordinary Iranians should brace for more misery. It said that the year-long slide of the currency has accelerated in recent days as Iranians turn to the black market to buy hard currency.

A shift to a convertible currency is a natural reaction when people lose faith in the local currency and want to shift quickly to something they will know will hold value as is the case now, Oxford Economics senior economist Maya Senussi told Arab News.

On the ground, sentiment is deteriorating as hopes that US sanctions can be circumvented are fading and that is reinforcing the flight to dollars in the beat the clock fashion. Related: The Bullish Case For Gas In Europe

Two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had urged Rouhani to deal with corruption, while the commander of the countrys powerful Revolutionary Guards told him to focus on Irans slumping currency. None of them, however, had any advice on how to ease the growing sense of despair and outrage in the streets.

November approaches

As the second phase of U.S. Sanctions against Iran approach, oil markets seem to have already factored in the reality that as much as 1 million b/d of Iranian barrels will be removed from global oil markets.

Saudi Arabia and Russia for their part have already indicated they could make up the difference by increasing more output, in effect capturing lost Iranian oil market share, a double whammy for the Islamic Republic that fought hard to regain market share, especially in Asia, after the end of earlier sanctions in 2015.

Whats next for the Rouhani-led government, however, is harder to predict. With the rial still plunging, citizens marching in the streets and the Revolutionary Guard voicing its angst, the country could be in for enough economic fallout that it might be forced back to the negotiating table with Washington over its nuclear development plans, a scenario mapped back in 2016 during the presidential campaign as Trump first considered scrapping the 2015 nuclear accord and re-imposing sanctions.

By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:Looks like the end of the line for Blankenship 18. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Todays hearing at the West Virginia Supreme Court probably wasnt the most traumatic court appearance in Don Blankenships life. That would probably be the federal district court appearance on April 6, 2016, when he was sentenced to a year in prison after being convicted of a conspiracy to violate mine safety standards in connection with the Upper Big Branch explosion that killed 29 miners.

But still, it had to be a bummer for the excoal mogul, as reported by The Hill:

Ex-coal CEO Don Blankenships bid to appear on the November ballot in West Virginias Senate race as a third-party candidate was denied Wednesday by the states Supreme Court.

The West Virginia Secretary of State is ordered to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that Donald L. Blankenship does not appear on the 2018 General Election Ballot for the Office of United States Senator for the State of West Virginia, the court wrote in its order.

Blankenship had been offered the ballot line of the far-right Constitution Party, but was barred from taking it by Secretary of State Mac Warner, citing the states sore loser law to keep Blankenship from doing exactly what he wanted to do: get revenge on a national and state Republican Party that he felt had ganged up on him prior to the May 9 primary, in which he finished a poor third. Ambiguities in the legislative history of the sore loser law gave Blankenship some hope of a victory in court, but West Virginias highest court dashed it. Unless his lawyers can come up with some federal constitutional right that has allegedly been violated in his case (cant imagine what that would be) that would open up a new legal avenue to the ballot, Blankenship 18 is done.

This was great news for the GOP Senate nominee Patrick Morrisey, who celebrated with a statement worthy of his supporter Donald Trump:

No more distractions to hide lying liberal Joe Manchins record of supporting pro-abortion policies, gun control, and Hillary Clintons campaign against coal miners.

I guess whew! wasnt enough. But Morrisey doesnt have much time to waste. The last two public polls showed the lying liberal beating him by seven and ten points. Manchin also has about a 7-to-1 lead over the Republican in campaign cash, though outside GOP and conservative groups will narrow that gap significantly. And at least now Morrisey doesnt have to worry about Blankenship draining critical conservative votes from people who think the very uninhibited ex-con is the only genuine Trump-like figure on the ballot.In the first physical settlement of the Chinese yuan-denominated oil futures contract, five companies will deliver a total of 600,000 barrels of Middle Eastern crude grades to buyers of the September futures contract that began trading in Shanghai in March, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing five people with knowledge of the plans.

Chinas crude oil futures launched in March, with crude set for delivery in September, the first month which the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) designated for deliveries in order to allow the contract to develop and accumulate volumes for physical delivery.

The deliverability, the volume, and smooth process will be key to China fulfilling its ambition to have the yuan-priced oil futures contract become a major crude benchmark on a global scale like the Brent and WTI benchmarks, analysts say.

The first such test will be next month, during which Chinese companies, including state-held majors, will deliver oil against the Chinese oil futures contract to storage facilities that are among the eight sites that the Shanghai exchange has approved for cargo delivery in the futures contract, according to Reuters sources.

Unipec, the trading unit of Asias biggest refiner Sinopec, plans to deliver some 200,000 barrels of Iraqi grade Basra Light to Sinopec-held storage tanks at an island off the eastern province of Zhejiang. Each of CNPC Fuel Oil, Zhenhua Oil, and unidentified private firm will deliver 100,000 barrels of Basra Light into CNPC Fuel Oil-operated storage farm in the southern port of Zhanjiang, while CNPCs trading arm Chinaoil will deliver 100,000 barrels of Oman crude to storage tanks in the northeastern city of Dalian, the sources told Reuters.

It is not immediately known who will be taking the oil that the companies will deliver against the yuan-denominated oil futures contract.

Analysts have flagged storage costs in China as one of the problems that traders could face in the delivery mechanism of the Chinese oil futures contract. Storage costs in China are much higher than elsewhere. The reason for the higher cost is limited storage capacity availability and the requirement that the cargo be stored at a specific storage facility rather than at any available.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:In what could be a U-turn in Mexican energy policies over the past five years, the incoming administration is thinking of indefinitely halting competitive tenders for oil and gas in Mexico, Reuters reports, citing a draft energy policy document that it has seen.

Outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto opened up the energy sector to foreign investment in 2013, ending 70 years of state monopoly, and Mexico has held several successful auctions attracting oil majors to its oil and gas exploration industry.

However, incoming president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office in December, has been critical of the energy reform and has vowed to review the contracts that foreign firms have already signed with Mexico.

According to the 33-page-long draft of its new energy policy guidelines that Reuters has seen, apart from suspending auctions indefinitely, Mexicos new government is also considering giving state-held oil firm Pemex the power to pick its own partners for joint ventures without holding tenders, boosting ties and cooperation with OPEC, and leaving the International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents the interests of oil-consuming countries.

The draft policy proposes an indefinite suspension of international exploration and production auctions, according to the document. Yet, it is not clear which proposals and to what extent the new energy policy guidelines would be adopted and implemented as formal policies of the new government.

While Lopez Obrador has been critical of the energy reform and promised to review existing contracts for possible irregularities, senior-level advisors and minister picks in his team remain divided on how Mexico should handle its energy policies from now on.

For example, incoming chief-of-staff Alfonso Romo told Bloomberg in an interview shortly after Lopez Obrador was elected president last month that there wouldnt be major changes, and If anything happens, it would be done without hurting private investment.

But Lopez Obradors pick for energy minister Rocio Nahle is critical of the outgoing governments energy reform and policy.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting two people with knowledge of the matter, that Lopez Obrador would suspend new oil blocks auctions for at least two years.

Last month, the Mexican energy regulator postponed two oil auctions set for September and October to February 2019, for after Lopez Obrador takes office this December.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:More than 300 sea turtles from an endangered species were found dead on a beach in southern Mexico, trapped in a banned type of fishing net, environmental authorities said. In Mexico's second mass turtle death in as many weeks, the Pacific Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) were found floating just off the beach of Puerto Escondido in the state of Oaxaca, their shells forming a bleak mini-island. "They had drowned at sea about eight days earlier, trapped in banned 120-meter fishing nets and six-inch nylon fishing line," said Mexico's prosecution unit for environmental crimes. On August 17, authorities said they had found 122 sea turtles dead on a beach in the neighboring state of Chiapas, mostly from the same species. In that case, some of the turtles had wounds to the head or shell. Mexico banned the capture of sea turtles in 1990, but there is still a lucrative black market for their eggs.Eric Brown is a professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, and a researcher with the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. Credit: McMaster University

A small, black box developed in a McMaster University lab could change the way scientists search for new antibiotics.

The Printed Fluorescence Imaging Boxor PFIbox, for shortis capable of collecting massive amounts of data that will help researchers in the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research in their quest to discover new antibiotics.

The box allows scientists to analyze more than 6,000 samples of bacteria at a time.

The tool uses LED lights to excite fluorescent proteins found in bacteria. It then wirelessly sends data to researchers studying how cells respond to antibiotics over time.

The PFIbox's nine structural parts can be 3-D printed in about a day, snap together in minutes, and cost about $200.

"3-D printing is allowing us to create tools and instrumentation that simply don't exist yet," says infectious disease researcher Eric Brown, who led the work on the project, along with Shawn French and Brittney Coutts. "Here, we have designed and built an absolutely cutting-edge lab instrument for about $200. It's simply game-changing for our work to discover new antibiotics."

The researchers have made the PFIbox's code open source and available to anyone who wants to use them.

"We fully expectin fact, we hopepeople take the code for this tool and improve upon it," says French. "We want people to have full access to what we think is a very important new development in the battle against superbugs."

The research was published Aug. 29 in the journal Cell Systems.

Explore further One-two punch may floor worst infectionsThe bright orange wrapping is coming off the new Amazon Go store in downtown Seattle, the first expansion of the cashier-less convenience store that outside Amazon's corporate campus

People who have visited the pilot store, which opened in January on the ground floor of an Amazon building, will find largely the same experience at the new downtown store.

Customers, who need to have the Amazon Go smartphone app installed, swipe a code on their device on the way in. At that point, Amazon's system of cameras and sensors tracks them through the aisles, charging a credit card for items they take after they leave.

That system, which relies on hundreds of cameras mounted in the ceiling, as well as human employees who check in when prompted by the system, is essentially unchanged in the new facility, Amazon says.

The items on the shelves will be a bit different.

Amazon packed a little bit of everything into the 1,800 square feet of its first store, from convenience-store staples like chips and drinks to limited grocery fare and beer and wine.

The new downtown store, smaller at 1,450 square feet, loses the liquor aisle as well as grocery staples like milk and bread. It also doesn't have space for an in-store kitchen, and will have its fresh food supplied by an Amazon kitchen facility in Seattle.

Gianna Puerini, the Amazon vice president who oversees Go, said she expects a higher portion of office workers among the clientele compared to the first store, which, while at the heart of Amazon's office cluster, is adjacent to increasingly residential neighborhoods.

"The population here is a little different," Puerini said during a tour of the new space last week, as workers stocked shelves days before the opening with nonperishable goods like candy, gum, drinks and take-away oatmeal packs.

Go, along with Amazon's Fresh grocery-delivery service and Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, is among the Seattle company's efforts to break into the grocery market, a massive slice of consumer shopping that, until recently, was little changed by online commerce.

Amazon wants to offer a menu of options to get foodstuffs from the company, Puerini said. Customers "will choose the ways that work for them."

As in the original store, there's a rack of Amazon Go-branded mugs, water bottles and other swagitems that wouldn't exist except for the suggestion by a buyer during Amazon's planning process that customers might be interested in taking home a souvenir.

The company earlier this year confirmed plans for Go stores in Chicago and San Francisco, indicating to analysts who track the company that Amazon planned to continue to build out stores using the technology itself, rather than license it to other retailers.

Puerini didn't share the opening dates for the two announced stores, "or future Seattle" outlets, she added.

Explore further Amazon to debut cashier-less store in downtown Seattle

2018 The Seattle Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Enriched settlement corrals of the earliest Pastoral Neolithic herders in southern Kenya support nutritious grassy patches in wooded savannas that attract cattle and wildlife. Credit: Fiona Marshall

Often viewed as wild, naturally pristine and endangered by human encroachment, some of the African savannah's most fertile and biologically diverse wildlife hotspots owe their vitality to heaps of dung deposited there over thousands of years by the livestock of wandering herders, suggests new research in the journal Nature.

"Many of the iconic wild African landscapes, like the Mara Serengeti, have been shaped by the activities of prehistoric herders over the last 3,000 years," said anthropologist Fiona Marshall, the James W. and Jean L. Davis Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a senior author of the study.

"Our research shows that the positive impacts of increased soil fertility in herder settlement corrals can last for thousands of years," Marshall said. "The longevity of these nutrient hotspots demonstrates the surprising long-term legacy of ancient herders whose cattle, goats and sheep helped enrich and diversify the vast savannah landscapes of Africa over three millennia."

The study, which focused on wildlife hotspots in Kenya, documents how the cultural practices and movement patterns of ancient herders and their livestock continue to influence an array of seemingly wild and natural phenomena.

"Ecologists have suggested that wildlife movements, including the Serengeti's famous wildebeest migrations, may be influenced by the location of nutrient-rich soil patches that green rapidly during the rains," Marshall said. "Our research suggests that some of these patches may be the result of prehistoric pastoral settlement in African savannahs.

Based on satellite imaging and detailed analyses of soil nutrients, isotopes and spatial characteristics at ancient Neolithic herder sites in East Africa, the study offers a surprisingly simple explanation for how oval-shaped wildlife hotspots measuring about 100 meters in diameter evolved in a region where grasslands are naturally low in soil nutrientsmanure happens.

Open grassy areas with a flush of fresh green grass mark the site of ancient livestock corrals at Oloika 1 and Oloika 2, Neolithic herding encampments in southwest Kenya. Credit: Google Earth Pro, Digital Globe

For millions of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles and the carnivores who hunt them, migration patterns revolve around an age-old quest for the lush grasses that spring up on fertile soils after seasonal rains.

While other research has shown that fire, termite mounds and volcanic sediments may contribute to the varying fertility of savannah soils, this study confirms that ancient livestock dung has long been an important catalyst in an ongoing cycle of soil enrichmentone that continues to attract diverse wildlife to the sites of abandoned livestock corrals.

For 2,000-3,000 years, savannah grasslands of southwestern Kenya were occupied by groups of nomadic herders who moved their camps often in search of greener pastures. Livestock that grazed the open savannah by day were herded into small, oval-shaped corrals within settlements at night for protection from predators and rustlers.

As manure piled up in these temporary corrals, scarce nutrients from surrounding grasslands also began to accumulate, creating fertility hotspots that attracted herds of both wild and domesticated grazers for years to come.

Thus, over the millennia, the cultural practices of mobile herders had the unintended consequence of creating spatially stable fertile environmental niches for an array of wildlife, the study contends.

While the herding activities of mobile communities of modern and historic Maasai and Turkana have been shown to enrich savannah soils, little has been known about the lasting impact of Africa's earliest food producers, herders who moved south from the Sahara 2,000-5,000 years ago.

Some of Africa's most biologically diverse wildlife hotspots can trace their origins to a cycle of soil enrichment that begins with dung deposited in the livestock corrals of ancient herdsmen. Credit: Stephen Goldstein/Washington University

This study examined five Neolithic pastoral sites in southern Kenya, ranging in age from 1,550-3,700 years, and found that the sites still contain nutrient-rich sediments resulting from livestock dung deposited as far back as 3,000 years.

As compared to the surrounding savannah, ancient pastoral sites were found to have significantly higher levels of phosphorous, magnesium, calcium and other nutrients essential for plant growth and animal health and reproduction.

Observed from the ground and via satellite, these ancient pastoral sites appear as treeless, open grassy patches within larger expanses of wooded savannah grasslands. Excavations show that the abandoned settlement footprints are loosely defined by a visually distinct, fine-grained layer of grey sediment, now located about a half-meter below the surface and up to a foot thick in places.

Over the millennia, the increasing fertility of these ancient settlement sites have increased the spatial and biological diversity of savannahs.

Ecological research by scholars such as Robin Reid at Colorado State, Truman Young at the University of Californa-Davis and colleagues has shown that in fertile corral soils, grasses tend to out-compete woody vegetation, creating open glades of nutritious grasses where grazing animals are also less vulnerable to predators.

Wild herbivores that forage there, such as gazelle, wildebeest, zebra and warthog, exert a positive influence on plant productivity and nutrient turnover. Hotspot fertility generates rapid plant regrowth after rains and provides essential nutrients for pregnant and lactating herbivores.

Cattle corrals, such as this one in a modern Maasai homestead in Kenya, have been used for thousands of years to provide overnight protection to cattle and other livestock. Credit: Fiona Marshall, team member J.K. Ole Tumpuya.

High fertility soils also means more soil invertebratesworms, dung beetles and other insects, which, in turn, attract more of the birds, reptile and elephant shrews that feed on them. As shown in a 2013 study, a species of gecko that thrives in these nutrient hotspots is virtually non-existent in the open savannah between them.

By establishing the role that the early herders played in enriching Africa's savannah soils, this study by Marshall and colleagues in Nature offers yet more evidence for the entwined nature of human activities and other ecological influences on the landscapes in which we live.

In the United States, recent studies have shown that early Native Americans used fire to manipulate the migration patterns of buffalo herds, changing the climate and ecological balance of the Great Plains in the process. Researchers suspect that ancient pastoralists also may also have influenced grassland ecology in pastoral regions of Central Asia and South America.

Back in the Serengeti, research has shown that the modern wildebeest migrations also contribute to the redistribution of scarce savannah nutrients as they drown or fall prey to crocodiles while crossing the Mara River. Their dead bodies add large quantities of phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon to the river ecosystem each year.

In showing that ancient herding sites may still be influencing modern wildebeest migrations, research by Marshall and her colleagues also is relevant to ongoing debates over the impact of livestock grazing on biological diversity and wildlife survival in grasslands, both in the Serengeti and around the globe.

"Ecologists have shown that when present-day herders are mobile and live at relatively low densities, they have few long-term negative impacts on the environment and some significant positive ones," Marshall said. "Our findings provide a new perspective on how human herding activities have influenced, and sometimes enriched, the ecology of African grasslands. From a policy perspective, it suggests that there are ecological costs to increasing sedentization of herders."

Explore further Early hominid first walked on two legs in the woods

More information: Ancient herders enriched and restructured African grasslands, Nature (2018). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0456-9 Journal information: Nature Ancient herders enriched and restructured African grasslands,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0456-9In 1992, former Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the sitcom character Murphy Brown's decision to have a child out of wedlock. His comments soon expanded to include "the cultural elite in Hollywood," who were accused of undermining traditional family values.

Quayle's comments ignited discussions that dominated the day's news cycle and continue today about how celebrities might be contributing to the demise of the nuclear family, yet 40 years of data from one reputable celebrity news source suggests that celebrities in fact have fewer out-of-wedlock childbirths compared to the rest of the U.S. population.

But that's just part of the answer.

"Responding to the question of whether celebrities have more children out of wedlock depends on exactly who you're comparing them to," says Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Sociology and author of a new study that considers how media depictions of celebrity childbearing might contribute to destigmatizing having children outside of marriage.

Grol-Prokopczyk's study, published this month in the journal Demographic Research, analyses media presentations of celebrities' childbearing both qualitatively and quantitatively to understand how celebrity news might influence larger society.

Between 1940 and 2009, the number of U.S. births to unmarried women increased from about 4 percent to nearly 41 percent.

Most research trying to account for this increase has focused on economic and cultural factors, but Grol-Prokopczyk wondered how celebrities might be affecting that 10-fold rise.

"No one has actually tested whether celebrities in fact engage in more out-of-wedlock childbearing than the general public," she says. "This is an important question to address because the power of celebrity culture to shape all kinds of decisions, including childbearing-related decisions, is often under-acknowledged."

Grol-Prokopczyk's interest in the possibility that celebrities might shape how we think about the nature of the family and the right environment in which to have children led her to test this idea.

With People magazine as her yardstick for reports of celebrity pregnancy, Grol-Prokopczyk analyzed each cover that showed a celebrity pregnancy or baby and coded that coverbeginning with the debut issue in 1974 through the end of 2014noting the parent's relationship status at the time of the pregnancy announcement and the time of the child's birth.

For Grol-Prokopczyk, People magazine served as a reliable source of data for exploring this issue.

First and most generally, celebrity news travels quickly and pervasively.

One national survey found that 74 percent of U.S. adults knew about Angelina Jolie's decision to have a preventative double mastectomy just weeks after her op-ed appeared in the New York Times in May of 2013.

Second, People magazine is one the most widely read magazines in the United States, and has for at least most of the last 10 years been the country's most popular weekly, reaching as many as 40 million readers with each issue.

People's website is also a heavily trafficked companion to its print edition with over 70 million unique monthly visitors.

And third, People has maintained over the course of its publication history a reputation for providing trustworthy coverage by avoiding fictional stories or reporting gossip as news.

Although Grol-Prokopczyk's findings suggest that celebrities have fewer babies out of wedlock than the full population, she says comparing those two groups might not be entirely fair.

"If you compare celebrities to just white Americanswhich could make sense given that until recently People magazine has disproportionally depicted white celebrity parents on its coversyou find that celebrities have the same rates of non-marital fertility," she says.

The findings, however, curiously return to Quayle's comments from the early '90s when comparing white celebrities with non-celebrities who have at least some college education.

In this case, celebrities have had higher rates of non-marital childbearing.

"If you think about Dan Quayle's social milieu, he was probably most worried about the nuclear family being threatened among the white middle class. Quayle's remarks about Murphy Brown included his observation that the character 'epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid, professional woman,'" says Grol-Prokopczyk.

And the findings indicate that celebrities were having more babies out of wedlock when compared to white women with college education.

Grol-Prokopczyk also found that most celebrities featured on People magazine's covers who got pregnant while unmarried did not marry before the child's birth. Since the mid-2000s, many have declared themselves, "engaged."

Instead of "shotgun weddings," Grol-Prokopczyk sees this as modeling what she calls "shotgun engagements," which if imitated in the general population could have contributed to a substantial rise of non-marital fertility in the U.S.

"Especially since the 2000s, when news about celebrity pregnancies became much more common, it seems very possible that celebrity culture has helped to destigmatize non-marital fertility, especially among white, middle-class women."

More information: Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, Celebrity culture and demographic change: The case of celebrity nonmarital fertility, 19742014, Demographic Research (2018). Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, Celebrity culture and demographic change: The case of celebrity nonmarital fertility, 19742014,(2018). DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2018.39.8In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018 photo, a 422 lb. Atlantic bluefin tuna is hoisted from a boat at the South Portland, Maine. A decade ago, participants in the Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament went consecutive years in which they didn't catch a single fish in the Gulf of Maine. This year, fishermen set a record with 30, including the 801-pound winner. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

On a drizzling summer afternoon in South Portland, marine biologist Walt Golet is helping attach a quarter-ton Atlantic bluefin tuna to a heavy crane so it can be weighed as part of New England's premier tournament for the giant fish. And this year's derby is different than many in the pastthere are far more tuna.

A decade ago, participants in the Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament went consecutive years in which they didn't catch a single fish in the Gulf of Maine. This year, fishermen set a record with 30, including the 801-pound (363.33-kilogram) winner.

Their record haul is happening amid a turning point for these giant tuna, an iconic species that scientists say appears to be slowly recovering in the Atlantic Ocean. The reemergence of bluefin, which can weigh more than half a ton, has led to debate among fishermen, conservationists and scientists over just how much the big fish have recovered. It remains at a fraction of its population 60 years ago.

"There's probably no fish that's ever been more politicized than Atlantic bluefin tuna," said Golet, a University of Maine professor. "People get a passion for this fish. And people are making a living off of this fish."

The fish have long been at the center of a battle among commercial fishermen who can make a huge amount of money on a single fish, environmentalists who see them as marvels of marine migration, and consumers who pay a hefty price for them in restaurants.

In this Friday, July 27, 2018 photo, a fishing boat equipped with a tuna tower motors out of Casco Bay in South Portland, Maine. The extra elevation of the tower helps fishermen to spot tuna moving near the water's surface. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The tuna's status as a premium sushi and sashimi fish makes it particularly valuable in Japan, as a large bluefin can easily yield hundreds of meals. A single bluefin sold for more than $1.75 million at an auction in Japan in 2013. Fishermen in this month's Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament, which wrapped up on Aug. 4, said many of the bluefin caught that day would eventually head to Japan.

The fish, capable of crossing the Atlantic in 60 days, have been harvested by man for centuries, and annual worldwide sales total hundreds of millions of dollars. The bluefin is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, due in large part to years of overfishing.

But international regulators say the species has recently recovered enough that it can withstand more fishing, and U.S. ocean managers implemented an increase of about 17 percent for this summer, to the delight of fishing groups. The decision prompted environmental groups to renew their calls for holding the current line on quotas.

Bluefin tuna are harvested on both sides of the Atlantic, using primarily harpoon and rod-and-reel in the west and seining nets and longline fishing in the east.

In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 photo, Andrew Lebel of Falmouth, Maine, battles an Atlantic bluefin tuna about 20 miles off the coast of southern Maine. The 320 lb. fish fought for about 45 minutes before it was hauled aboard the boat. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

For commercial fishermen like Pete Speeches, who fishes out of Portland, the quota increase reflects a tuna resurgence seen on the water for some time.

"They're definitely more abundant," he said, getting ready to unload a 672.5-pound (305.04-kilogram) tuna from his boat at the Sturdivant Island tournament.

Environmental groups say they fear boosting the quota now and potentially in future years could undo years of conservation work. Shana Miller, The Ocean Foundation's program manager for global tuna conservation, said a quota increase of hundreds of thousands of pounds was excessive.

More fishing is a bad idea because of a possible return to overfishing, and because of concerns that increasingly warming oceans could retard the fish's reproduction, Miller said.

In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 photo, Capt. Pete Speeches prepares to throw a harpoon into an Atlantic bluefin tuna after a long battle on rod and reel off the coast of southern Maine. Bluefin tuna are harvested on both sides of the Atlantic, using primarily harpoon and rod-and-reel in the west and seining nets and longline fishing in the east. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

"They pushed it to a level that they know is going to lead to stock decline," Miller said. "Which really makes no sense."

There also remains uncertainty among scientists about the status of the fish's population, said Grantly Galland, a marine biologist and the global tuna conservation officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Any decrease in the population now is bad for fishermen in the long term," he said.

The quota increase amounts to more than 750,000 pounds (34,0198 kilograms) when allocations for the U.S. and other countries that target Western Atlantic tuna, such as Canada and Japan, are counted.

In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018 photo, an Atlantic bluefin tuna is hauled aboard a dealer's truck by marine biologist Walt Golet at the Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament in South Portland, Maine. An iconic species of tuna appears to be slowly recovering in the Atlantic Ocean, prompting fishermen to seek bigger commercial catch quotas and environmentalists to call for a more conservative approach. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In the Eastern Atlantic, quotas are going up even more. An international body agreed to increase the quota there by about a fifth for this year, to more than 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms). Millions more will be added in the following two years.

The management of Atlantic bluefin is more complex than for many other fish species because they cross numerous international borders as they migrate to feed and spawn.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, with about 50 member nations, including the U.S., released a report last year that described the species as recovering but still facing challenges.

Although the commission has decided to boost the quota for U.S. fishermen this year, the species will still be tightly monitored going forward, said Brad McHale, a fishery management specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018 photo, a slice of tuna meat is examined for fat content by a dealer in South Portland, Maine. The tuna's status as a premium sushi and sashimi fish makes it particularly valuable in Japan, as a large bluefin can easily yield hundreds of meals. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

"We can't extract more than can naturally replenish," McHale said. "That's a constant struggle."

Steve Weiner, a 50-year harpooner out of Ogunquit, Maine, said he remains concerned about bluefin health on both sides of the Atlantic.

"I'm glad we're getting an increase in quota on this side, because we deserve it," Weiner said. "But we can't manage this fish properly unless the whole Atlantic is properly managed."

In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 photo, Andrew Lebel battles an Atlantic bluefin tuna while Capt. Pete Speeches maneuvers his boat into position about 20 miles off the coast of southern Maine. The 320 lb. fish fought for about 45 minutes before it was hauled aboard the boat. An iconic species of tuna appears to be slowly recovering in the Atlantic Ocean, prompting fishermen to seek bigger commercial catch quotas and environmentalists to call for a more conservative approach. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Explore further Expanded bluefin tuna quotas could reverse recovery: scientists

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.ORNL cybersecurity researchers Jared Smith (left) and Elliot Greenlee (right) participate in a demonstration day event to showcase how Akatosh, a new security analysis tool, quickly sorts through data to identify potential threats. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

As technology continues to evolve, cybersecurity threats do as well. To better safeguard digital information, a team of researchers at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed Akatosh, a security analysis tool that works in conjunction with standard software to detect significant irregularities in computer networks.

"Akatosh is a system that provides deeper context to existing IT infrastructure designed to solve security problems," said Jared Smith, a cybersecurity researcher in ORNL's Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate (CCSD) who developed the new technology. "It gives you a historical look of what's changing on a computer over time."

This new resource coordinates with intrusion detection systems (IDSs), which monitor computer networks for private companies, government facilities, and academic institutions and set off alerts in response to abnormal activity. IDSs tend to trigger false alerts, forcing cybersecurity analysts and IT professionals to manually search the network for changes.

"Any organization with a lot of people using computers will get thousands of alerts a day, and someone has to sift through them," Smith said. "The typical tools available provide a bunch of data that analysts have to look at to decide whether or not the system has actually been breached."

Akatosh saves precious time and resources previously consumed by this tedious process by periodically taking snapshots of host systems on the network during everyday operations and establishing a baseline, then taking another snapshot each time an IDS alert occurs. By comparing these snapshots, Akatosh can immediately show changes that transpired leading up to and during a cyber event. Automating the process of sorting through IDS alerts reduces the time and cost required to identify the source of a security incident and neutralize the threat.

"At a technical level, we can see whether passwords are being extracted, whether files are being copied, and we know how these things are potentially threatening because they weren't happening before we got an alert," Smith said. "That's where we're able to provide context."

The system summarizes relevant changes and sends a report to the network administrator to quickly determine whether the changes indicate the presence of a legitimate security threat. The ability to accurately determine the validity of IDS alerts in real time means analysts can begin mitigating the negative effects of malware attacks, phishing emails, and other cybersecurity problems as soon as they appear.

"Akatosh solves such a widespread efficiency problem by dealing with incidents on a network much faster, which allows us to allocate our time better. It provides a more targeted way to weed out unimportant data and reveal areas of concern," said Smith, who has been working on Akatosh since he first arrived at ORNL as an intern in 2015.

After becoming a staff member in the Cyber and Information Security Research Group (CISR) of CCSD's Computational Sciences and Engineering Division in 2017, he has served as principal investigator for the project in collaboration with a team of software engineers and interns. Their work on Akatosh supports CISR's mission to defend against cyber attacks and uphold the security of information and infrastructure nationwide.

To demonstrate Akatosh's dynamic capabilities, the team recently traveled to San Francisco for RSA, the largest security conference in the country. They also attended US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) summits in New York and Washington, DC.

"It's been a lot of fun to travel and demo Akatosh for people," Smith said. "We actually use real malware and show how, once it spreads across the machine, we can see how it changes and pinpoint the problem."Growing from a tangle of roots that twist their way out of the mud, mangrove trees naturally protect shorelines, shelter coastal ecosystem habitats and provide important water filtration. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

With threats of sea level rise, storm surge and other natural disasters, researchers from Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science are turning to nature to protect humans from nature. They are developing innovative ways to guard coastlines and prevent scouring and erosion from waves and storms using bioinspired materials that mimic mangrove trees found along shores, rivers and estuaries in the tropics and subtropics. Growing from a tangle of roots that twist their way out of the mud, mangrove trees naturally protect shorelines, shelter coastal ecosystem habitats and provide important water filtration. In many cases, these roots trap sediments flowing down rivers and off the land, helping to stabilize the coastline.

Certain mangrove root systems even have the ability to dissipate tidal energy through unique hydrological flows and divert the energy of water in different directions reducing risk of coastal damage. Yet, to date, few studies have examined the fluid dynamics such as flow structure and drag force on mangrove roots.

For a study, published in the American Physical Society's journal, Physical Review Fluids, researchers singled out the red mangrove tree (Rhizophora mangle) from more than 80 different species of mangroves, because of its robust network of roots that can withstand extreme environmental conditions. The red mangrove provided the researchers with an ideal model for bioinspired shoreline applications.

"Because of their strong structures, mangroves have survived for more than 8,000 years," said Amirkhosro Kazemi, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in FAU's Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering , who was awarded a Link Foundation fellowship and is working with Oscar Curet, Ph.D., co-author and an assistant professor in the department. "What is truly amazing about mangroves is that they can adjust to changes in rising sea levels by forming upward structures through a natural process of accumulating layers of mud carried by tides and other sources. It's their root system in particular that contributes to this resiliency and is what inspired us to research their complex hydrodynamics."

Researchers studied the mangrove roots under different flow conditions to quantify how the flow structure would interact with the mangrove. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

To better understand the mangrove tree's resilience and the fluid dynamics of its roots, Kazemi, Curet, and Keith Van de Riet, Ph.D., co-author and an assistant professor at the University of Kansas, modeled the complex mangrove roots as a network of circular cylinders called a patch. They performed a series of experiments varying key parameters such as length scale and porosity or flexibility. They used a water tunnel and flow visualization to determine how the diameter of the root, its flexibility and how porous the mangroves are affect the water. They studied the mangrove roots under different flow conditions to quantify how the flow structure would interact with the mangrove.

They looked at the effect of porosity and spacing measures between the roots, tested force and velocity in a water tunnel, and concurrently performed 2-D flow visualization.

The researchers performed direct drag force measurements and high-resolution particle image velocimetry to characterize the complex unsteady wake structure posterior to the arrays of the patch, which represents a simplified mangrove root model.

Results from the study show that for rigid roots, the drag force varied linearly with patch diameter and spacing between the roots. For flexible roots, the researchers discovered that a decrease in stiffness increased both the patch drag and the wake deficit behind the patch in a similar fashion as increasing the blockage of the patch. They have introduced a new length-scale (effective diameter) based on the wake signature to characterize the drag coefficient exerted on the patch for different porosities. The effective diameter incorporates the patch porosity, arrangement and individual root diameter in the patch. The results have proven that the effective diameter of the patch decreases as the porosity increases, giving rise to the Strouhal numberused in dimensional analysis that is a dimensionless number describing oscillating flow mechanisms.

Researchers used a water tunnel and flow visualization to determine how the diameter of the mangrove root, its flexibility and how porous the mangroves are affect the water. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

"With nearly 2.4 billion people worldwide living within 60 miles of an oceanic coast, this research is extremely important for vulnerable coastlines not just in Florida but across the globe," said Stella Batalama, Ph.D., dean of FAU's College of Engineering and Computer Science. "Improving our understanding of the hydrodynamics of mangrove roots will help to facilitate the incorporation of bioinspired mangrove-like structures that can be used for erosion control, coastal protection, and habitat reconstruction."

Although many low-lying areas have storm surge protection such as seawalls, these structures are expensive to build, cause their own set of environmental concerns, and obstruct the natural landscape. Information from this study has the potential to help scientists and engineers develop methods to design resilient bioinspired coastline structures. Natural shorelines are flexible, inexpensive, and adjustable, and the prototype the researchers have developed is scalable, smaller and simpler to use as well as more cost effective. Their systematic modeling provides the framework to engineer mangrove-like structures for coastal protection.

"Our findings could potentially be used to build artificial mangrove banks for coastal areas. For example, our experimental work could even be applied in a uniform tidal flow where water flows constantly as the result of sea level rise," said Kazemi. "We are currently working on a new model that will allow us to understand the flow in a more complex design."

Explore further Mangrove expansion and climatic warming may help ecosystems keep pace with sea level rise

More information: Amirkhosro Kazemi et al, Drag coefficient and flow structure downstream of mangrove root-type models through PIV and direct force measurements, Physical Review Fluids (2018). Amirkhosro Kazemi et al, Drag coefficient and flow structure downstream of mangrove root-type models through PIV and direct force measurements,(2018). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.3.073801Hunters torment could lead to a comeback by Issa. Photo: Sandy Huffaker; Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images

The heavily indicted Republican congressman Duncan Hunter could well lose his seat to Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in November. But the San Diegoarea 50th Congressional District is strongly Republican, and a post-indictment poll showed Hunter still comfortably in the lead. One scenario being kicked around in California is that Hunter will survive the election, but then be forced to resign either as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors or because he cant cast House votes from the slammer. If that happens, a very familiar name could reenter the political scene, as noted by veteran political reporter Dan Walters:

Names of possible GOP successors are already circulating, including conservative activist and former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who had weighed running against Hunter, and Congressman Darrell Issa, who had decided not to seek re-election this year in the adjacent, less conservative 49th CD rather than face possible defeat.

Darrell Issa?!?! Didnt the star of innumerable Obama-era investigations, from Fast and Furious to the alleged IRS persecution of conservatives to Benghazi!, hang it all up earlier this year? Yes, he did, but mostly because he didnt want to face an uphill reelection campaign. And within days, Issa was reportedly taking an avaricious look at Hunters adjacent 50th District with its more securely Republican profile, as the Hill reported back in January:

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who said Wednesday he is not seeking reelection in Californias 49th District, has been discussing with colleagues the possibility of running in a neighboring San Diego district if embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) resigns, multiple sources told The Hill.

Some of these discussions happened as recently as Wednesday, the day Issa announced he would not be running for reelection in his coastal Southern California district after 17 years in the House.

[I]n his statement, Issa never specifically said he was retiring from Congress.

Hunter did not, as it happens, decide to get out of Issas way. But he might not have much choice about it before long if he cannot find a better defense than it was my wifes fault or this is a Democratic conspiracy to deal with the charges of massive malfeasance he is facing.

And even if Hunter loses in November, Issa might contemplate a comeback in 2020 in the 50th. Although it seems like hes been around forever, hes only 64, a relative tyke by current standards, and as a very wealthy man its not like he needs to go earn an honest living.

A truly just dessert for Issa would be for him to return next year to a Democratic-controlled House that is consumed with multiple investigations of a certain Republican administration. It would be mad fun to listen to him complain about overzealous inquisitors.The Great Red Spot is the dark patch in the middle of this infrared image. It is dark due to the thick clouds that block thermal radiation. The yellow strip denotes the portion of the Great Red Spot used in astrophysicist Gordon L. Bjoraker's analysis. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Gordon Bjoraker

For centuries, scientists have worked to understand the makeup of Jupiter. It's no wonder: this mysterious planet is the biggest one in our solar system by far, and chemically, the closest relative to the Sun. Understanding Jupiter is a key to learning more about how our solar system formed, and even about how other solar systems develop.

But one critical question has bedeviled astronomers for generations: Is there water deep in Jupiter's atmosphere, and if so, how much?

Gordon L. Bjoraker, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, reported in a recent paper in the Astronomical Journal that he and his team have brought the Jovian research community closer to the answer.

By looking from ground-based telescopes at wavelengths sensitive to thermal radiation leaking from the depths of Jupiter's persistent storm, the Great Red Spot, they detected the chemical signatures of water above the planet's deepest clouds. The pressure of the water, the researchers concluded, combined with their measurements of another oxygen-bearing gas, carbon monoxide, imply that Jupiter has 2 to 9 times more oxygen than the sun. This finding supports theoretical and computer-simulation models that have predicted abundant water (H 2 O) on Jupiter made of oxygen (O) tied up with molecular hydrogen (H 2 ).

The revelation was stirring given that the team's experiment could have easily failed. The Great Red Spot is full of dense clouds, which makes it hard for electromagnetic energy to escape and teach astronomers anything about the chemistry within.

"It turns out they're not so thick that they block our ability to see deeply," said Bjoraker. "That's been a pleasant surprise."

New spectroscopic technology and sheer curiosity gave the team a boost in peering deep inside Jupiter, which has an atmosphere thousands of miles deep, Bjoraker said: "We thought, well, let's just see what's out there."

The data Bjoraker and his team collected will supplement the information NASA's Juno spacecraft is gathering as it circles the planet from north to south once every 53 days.

Among other things, Juno is looking for water with its own infrared spectrometer and with a microwave radiometer that can probe deeper than anyone has seento 100 bars, or 100 times the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface. (Altitude on Jupiter is measured in bars, which represent atmospheric pressure, since the planet does not have a surface, like Earth, from which to measure elevation.)

If Juno returns similar water findings, thereby backing Bjoraker's ground-based technique, it could open a new window into solving the water problem, said Goddard's Amy Simon, a planetary atmospheres expert.

"If it works, then maybe we can apply it elsewhere, like Saturn, Uranus or Neptune, where we don't have a Juno," she said.

Juno is the latest spacecraft tasked with finding water, likely in gas form, on this giant gaseous planet.

This animation takes the viewer on a simulated flight into, and then out of, Jupiters upper atmosphere at the location of the Great Red Spot. It was created by combining an image from the JunoCam imager on NASA's Juno spacecraft with a computer-generated animation. The perspective begins about 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops of the planet's southern hemisphere. The bar at far left indicates altitude during the quick descent; a second gauge next to that depicts the dramatic increase in temperature that occurs as the perspective dives deeper down. The clouds turn crimson as the perspective passes through the Great Red Spot. Finally, the view ascends out of the spot. Credit: NASA/JPL

Water is a significant and abundant molecule in our solar system. It spawned life on Earth and now lubricates many of its most essential processes, including weather. It's a critical factor in Jupiter's turbulent weather, too, and in determining whether the planet has a core made of rock and ice.

Jupiter is thought to be the first planet to have formed by siphoning the elements left over from the formation of the Sun as our star coalesced from an amorphous nebula into the fiery ball of gases we see today. A widely accepted theory until several decades ago was that Jupiter was identical in composition to the Sun; a ball of hydrogen with a hint of heliumall gas, no core.

But evidence is mounting that Jupiter has a core, possibly 10 times Earth's mass. Spacecraft that previously visited the planet found chemical evidence that it formed a core of rock and water ice before it mixed with gases from the solar nebula to make its atmosphere. The way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Juno also supports this theory. There's even lightning and thunder on the planet, phenomena fueled by moisture.

"The moons that orbit Jupiter are mostly water ice, so the whole neighborhood has plenty of water," said Bjoraker. "Why wouldn't the planetwhich is this huge gravity well, where everything falls into itbe water rich, too?"

The water question has stumped planetary scientists; virtually every time evidence of H2O materializes, something happens to put them off the scent. A favorite example among Jupiter experts is NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which dropped a probe into the atmosphere in 1995 that wound up in an unusually dry region. "It's like sending a probe to Earth, landing in the Mojave Desert, and concluding the Earth is dry," pointed out Bjoraker.

In their search for water, Bjoraker and his team used radiation data collected from the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii in 2017. They relied on the most sensitive infrared telescope on Earth at the W.M. Keck Observatory, and also on a new instrument that can detect a wider range of gases at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.

The idea was to analyze the light energy emitted through Jupiter's clouds in order to identify the altitudes of its cloud layers. This would help the scientists determine temperature and other conditions that influence the types of gases that can survive in those regions.

Planetary atmosphere experts expect that there are three cloud layers on Jupiter: a lower layer made of water ice and liquid water, a middle one made of ammonia and sulfur, and an upper layer made of ammonia.

To confirm this through ground-based observations, Bjoraker's team looked at wavelengths in the infrared range of light where most gases don't absorb heat, allowing chemical signatures to leak out. Specifically, they analyzed the absorption patterns of a form of methane gas. Because Jupiter is too warm for methane to freeze, its abundance should not change from one place to another on the planet.

"If you see that the strength of methane lines vary from inside to outside of the Great Red Spot, it's not because there's more methane here than there," said Bjoraker, "it's because there are thicker, deep clouds that are blocking the radiation in the Great Red Spot."

Bjoraker's team found evidence for the three cloud layers in the Great Red Spot, supporting earlier models. The deepest cloud layer is at 5 bars, the team concluded, right where the temperature reaches the freezing point for water, said Bjoraker, "so I say that we very likely found a water cloud." The location of the water cloud, plus the amount of carbon monoxide that the researchers identified on Jupiter, confirms that Jupiter is rich in oxygen and, thus, water.

Bjoraker's technique now needs to be tested on other parts of Jupiter to get a full picture of global water abundance, and his data squared with Juno's findings.

"Jupiter's water abundance will tell us a lot about how the giant planet formed, but only if we can figure out how much water there is in the entire planet," said Steven M. Levin, a Juno project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

More information: G. L. Bjoraker et al, The Gas Composition and Deep Cloud Structure of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, The Astronomical Journal (2018). Journal information: Astronomical Journal G. L. Bjoraker et al, The Gas Composition and Deep Cloud Structure of Jupiter's Great Red Spot,(2018). DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aad186Leonora Bittleston traveled to Borneo to collect pitcher plant liquid for her studies, like those from the Veitchs pitcher-plant here. Credit: Leonora Bittleston

After a six-hour ride over increasingly treacherous roads, it took a full day's hike up almost 3,000 feet for Leonora Bittleston to reach Nepenthes Camp in the Maliau Basin, an elevated conservation area in Malaysian Borneo with a rich, isolated rainforest ecosystem.

After waiting three years for collecting permits, Bittleston, then a graduate student at Harvard University, entered the basin in search of one thing: pitcher plants. These carnivorous plants have evolved traps to lure, drown and digest animal prey to supplement nutrient-poor soils.

Bittleston needed samples of the liquid inside the pitchers to compare to pitcher plants from much closer to home in Massachusetts and along the Gulf Coast. Though unrelated, both plant families had converged on similar adaptations for trapping prey, and Bittleston wanted to know if the communities of microbes and small animals housed in each liquid-filled pitcher were as similar as the traps themselves.

In new research published Aug. 28 in the journal eLife, Bittleston, University of WisconsinMadison botany and bacteriology professor Anne Pringle, and others, reveal that the communities created inside pitcher plants converge just as the shape and function of the plants themselves do. Despite being separated by continents and oceans, pitchers tend to house living communities more similar to one another than they are to their surrounding environments.

Asian pitchers transplanted to Massachusetts bogs can even mimic the natives so well that the pitcher plant mosquitoa specialized insect that evolved to complete its life cycle exclusively in North American pitcherslays eggs in the impostors.

The researchers say this work provides a much richer picture of how convergence can extend well beyond relatively simple functional roles, like plant carnivory, to include a network of interactions among different species that evolve under related conditions. Bittleston and Pringle collaborated with Naomi Pierce at Harvard, as well as researchers at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, University of Malaya and Jiangsu University.

Pitcher plants are classic examples of convergent evolution, where unrelated organisms nonetheless home in on similar adaptations to their environment. Along with Venus fly traps and other carnivorous plants, pitcher plants also capture the imagination by turning the tables on animals as they devour them.

But despite that gruesome image, pitcher plants serve as more than just death trapsthey are also ecosystems unto their own. Each liquid-filled pitcher houses diverse microbial life and even living complex organisms and insects that escape digestion. It's those communities that attracted the attention of Pringle and Bittleston.

"We spent hours talking about what a convergent ecosystem would look like," says Pringle, who began the research while she was at Harvard. "We discussed the idea that similar interactions between species could evolve over and over again."

Pitcher plants were a natural model to test these ideas. The traps are essentially sterile before they open. Yet during the lifespan of an individual pitcher, they seemed to curate predictable communities of microbes and small invertebrates. This suggested to Pringle and Bittleston that the pitchers created consistent conditions that repeatedly selected for similar communities. Since the Southeast Asian and North American pitchers were so outwardly similar, the researchers wondered if their miniature ecosystems would be as well.

It was a taxing research project that required collecting samples in dense, often inaccessible bogs. Bittleston traveled to state protected areas around the Gulf Coast and to bogs in the Harvard Forest to gather samples from the North American species. And in addition to the trek to the Maliau Basin, she collected fluid from pitchers in Singapore's protected parks, a comparatively easy, but memorable, venture.

"There were times I was on this very clean Singaporean subway in my field clothes, super sweaty, with these big bags full of tubes with pitcher plant samples," says Bittleston, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "So it was a funny scene."

With more than 330 samples from 14 species in hand, the researchers used advanced gene sequencing technology to get a snapshot of the various species making a home inside the pitchers, as well as the species found in nearby soil and water samples. When analyzed for the number and type of species and similarities in community structure, some clear patterns emerged.

While environmental samples contained a large number of different species, the liquid in both groups of pitcher plants had a greatly reduced diversity, indicating a more specialized environment. And the species that pitchers housed tended to come from the same families. Both Southeast Asian and North American pitchers greatly enriched for bacterial organisms like the Actinomycetales or Enterobacteriaceae as well as insects in the fly order and microscopic, filter-feeding animals called rotifers.

The researchers also set up a field experiment, transporting potted Southeast Asian pitchers to bogs in the Harvard Forest and looking at how the pitcher communities developed.

"And in fact, the Southeast Asian species assembled communities that looked like the North American communities," says Pringle. "That's cool."

One clear example of this similarity was the presence of pitcher plant mosquito larvae, normally found exclusively in North American pitchers, in the non-native Asian pitcher plants. Only the most acidic Asian pitchers were inhospitable to this specialized insect.

Alongside the pitcher plants, Bittleston set out test tubes that mimicked the cylindrical shape of the pitchers. Like the pitchers, these test tubes collected rain water and began to develop miniature ecosystems. But the biological communities in the test tubes assembled were off a bit from the natural pitchers, and the tubes never fooled the mosquitoes, which steered away from them.

"It's not enough to be a passive receptacle that captures rain water and some drowned insects," says Bittleston. "There really is something that's different about being this convergently evolved organism that creates a particular environment that curates a particular community."

The work lends support to ideas Bittleston and Pringle developed in previous work: that the interactions between different species can converge during evolution just as the forms and functions of individual species can.

"These pitchers are independently evolved, two very different families of plants, but they interact with the microbial communities that they're assembling within them in some similar manner," says Pringle. "And we're finding that those interactions are predictable in some way."

Explore further Resident bats use pitcher plant as toilet

More information: Leonora S Bittleston et al. Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants, eLife (2018). Journal information: eLife Leonora S Bittleston et al. Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants,(2018). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.36741Digitally resurrected: the parasitic wasp Xenomorphia resurrecta deposits an egg in a fly pupa. Credit: (Figure: Thomas van de Kamp, KIT; Nature Communications)

Parasitic wasps existed as early as several million years ago. Within a project coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), researchers of various disciplines have, for the first time, definitively discovered fossil parasites inside their hosts. The scientists studied fly pupae from old collections using ultrafast X-ray imaging. They found 55 cases of parasitation and described four extinct wasp species that were unknown until now. Their findings are reported in Nature Communications.

The results of the project provide major information on the evolution of parasitism. Parasitism is widely spread and impacts ecosystems essentially. Today, about 50 percent of all animal species are deemed parasites. The relation between the diversity of species and parasitism is particularly obvious in the insect order Hymenoptera, to which wasps belong. Within the KIT-coordinated project, researchers identified four previously unknown extinct wasp species that were endoparasites from the Paleogene that spanned the period from about 66 million years ago to about 23 million years ago. Endoparasites are those that develop inside the bodies of their hosts.

Each of the four parasitic wasp species had its own strategy for adaptation to the host. The most frequently observed species of the four was named Xenomorphia resurrecta by the scientists. The genus Xenomorphia is named for the creature from the film Alien, which is known as a xenomorph and also develops endoparasitically. The species name resurrecta refers to the digital resurrection of the species, says project coordinator Dr. Thomas van de Kamp from KIT's Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation (LAS). This project proves that it is worthwhile to revisit old collections using the latest technology.

The scientists studied more than 1,500 mineralized fly pupae from collections of the Natural History Museum of Basel and the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet of Stockholm. In the late 19th century, they were collected in phosphorite mines in the region of Quercy, France. In 1944, Swiss entomologist Eduard Handschin described the fossils in detail and emphasized the value of the externally inconspicuous pieces of merely 3 mm in length. Still, they have fallen into oblivion for more than 70 years. At that time, Handschin had suspected the contours of a parasitic wasp in a thin section of a probably 34- to 40-million-year-old fly pupa, but could not prove it. This was the point of departure of the current project, the results of which are published in Nature Communications under the heading "Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils."

Synchrotron X-ray micro tomography enables view into the interior of several-million-year-old fly pupae. Credit: (Figure: Georg Oleschinski, University of Bonn (Photograph) & Thomas van de Kamp, KIT (Rendering); Nature Communications)

Ultrafast X-ray imaging, largely developed and refined by KIT, enabled new access to the fossils. The researchers studied the samples with synchrotron X-ray microtomography. In optically dense samples, inner structures can only be observed non-invasively and in three dimensions with X-rays. Synchrotron radiation sources, a type of particle accelerators, produce electromagnetic radiation with a much broader spectrum and at much higher intensity than conventional sources. The measurements for the project were made at the UFO high-speed tomography station of the KIT synchrotron. "Sample throughput is high. Imaging and evaluation of the data take place in a partly automated manner, which makes such measurements feasible," says van de Kamp. Two years ago, the team already imaged fossil beetles found in Quercy and made their inner anatomy visible. At the UFO station, however, not only fossils are scanned. The setup is equally suited for other projects, in which a large number of pieces have to be imaged. Hence, UFO is of interest to a variety of disciplines, among others to materials science.

Following imaging of the mineralized fly pupae, the parasitic wasps from the Paleogene were reconstructed digitally. Thus, the project did not only require comprehensive know-how relating to synchrotron X-ray microtomography, but also detailed biological and paleontological knowledge. Project coordinator Dr. Thomas van de Kamp of KIT's LAS is a biologist and has specialized in insect morphology and digital imaging of biological samples. Also, he linked physics to biology. Other main authors are paleontologist Dr. Achim H. Schwermann of the LWL-Museum of Natural History in Munster, expert for fossilization processes, and biologist Dr. Lars Krogmann from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, specialist for parasitic wasps, who systematically classified the discovered parasites and wrote the formal species descriptions. Overall, 18 scientistsbiologists, paleontologists, physicists, computer scientists, and mathematiciansfrom several universities and museums participated in the interdisciplinary project, of these, eight researchers of KIT. Apart from the institutions mentioned, KIT's Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) and Institute for Data Processing and Electronics (IPE) as well as institutions of the universities of Heidelberg and Bonn were involved.

Explore further Fossils turn out to be a rich source of information

More information: Thomas van de Kamp et al, Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Thomas van de Kamp et al, Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05654-yMetamaterials to manipulate light: a) the naturally occurring camouflage of a cephalopod that can change skin color and texture in response to an external stimulus and match the external environment, b) an example of a previous Laplacian metadevice connected and controlled by a complex field programmable gate array (FPGA), c) schematic demonstration of a simpler light-programmable illusion metadevice proposed in the study, d) a schematic example showing an illusion created by manipulating the coordinates of light. Credit: Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-30612-5

To enable negative refraction and related optical illusions, metamaterials are artificially engineered with unique properties that result from their internal physical structures, rather than their chemical composition. The concept is credited to an experiment conducted by the Soviet scientist Victor Veselago in 1968 to show that negatively refracting materials (as opposed to the typically observed positive refractive index) to create a negative index 'superlens' could be achieved when both electric permittivity () and magnetic permeability () of a material were negative. Thirty-three years after the conceptual proposal, the pioneering work of physicist John Pendry enabled the development of metamaterials as Veselago imagineda composite material with negative refractive index providing greatly improved resolution.

The new material science paradigm was called "metamaterials," from the Greek word metamorphosis to denote a change of condition. Metamaterial researchers seek to construct new materials from artificial objects with properties beyond the conventional. Decades later, the work continues to attract new interest due to advancements in the field of metamaterials, which include metadevices that are logical extensions of the concept of exploiting functionalities inherent to the metamaterial framework. The field has strikingly progressed in recent years from transformation optics to manipulating electromagnetic properties and inducing transparency to create invisibility cloaks, generating tremendous attention, while moving toward tunable, switchable, nonlinear and sensing functionalities.

In practice, the photonic devices have broad implications with potential to meet increasing demands for faster information transfer by removing the bottleneck of fibre-based optical telecommunication networks, and even enabling military camouflage. The tasks can be accomplished with strong, fast nonlinearities for switching light with light, and improved control of the electromagnetic properties of metamaterials with external stimuli such as electric signals. Now writing in Scientific Reports, Cheng-Wei Qiu and co-workers have developed an experimental method to incorporate multiple functions into one passive Laplacian direct current (DC) metadevice using light illumination without physical contact.

To demonstrate the proof of concept, the team of scientists fabricated a network in which the measurement data agreed exceptionally well with the theoretical predictions and simulation results. The experiment was enabled by an analogy between electrically conducting materials and resistor networks. The researchers sought to design, fabricate and test a metadevice using the circuit theory. The ability to manipulate steady currents by controlling anisotropic conductivities has many potential applications; the focus in the study was to devise light programmable cloaking, full illusion and partial illusion to enable camouflage. The proposed scheme may open new avenues toward non-contact multiphysical control of functions for all kinds of Laplacian fields, including DC magnetic fields and thermal fields.

As a simple demonstration of the proposed theoretical concept, the scientists experimentally realized a metadevice using a resistor network composed of eight resistors, tunable through light illumination, for remote-control without contact. During the experimental verification Han et al., used commercial metal film resistors in parallel to light-dependent resistors to achieve the optically-controlled performance. As a reference they also fabricated a DC cloak, without built-in photoresistors. The experimental setup used a DC power supply with 5 V magnitude as the source and the voltage was measured using a 4.5-digit Multimeter. When the voltage distribution was simulated for the reference DC cloak, the potential distributions outside the cloak restored exactly to those in the homogenous space, to render the central component of the device invisible to the outside observer. Similarly, the measured result for the fabricated reference DC cloak demonstrated excellent cloaking performance in good agreement with its simulation.

Proof-of-concept: a) a photograph of the fabricated light-programmable metadevice combining electrically conducting materials with a resistor network (light-sensitive resistors are seen inset), a reference DC cloak is seen below - fabricated without photoresistors b) schematic illustration of the experimental setup, green lines indicate light-dependent resistors (RL) in parallel to the commercial resistors (R) in the light programmable metadevice, c) the simulated voltage distribution for the reference DC cloak, d) the measured voltage corresponding to (c). Equipotential lines are represented with white color in the panel. Credit: Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-30612-5

Similar results were observed for the performance of the proposed light controlled metadevice, showing excellent agreement between the experiment and the simulation. By design, the metadevice was expected to act as an illusion device in bright field light (transform an actual perception into an arbitrarily pre-controlled perception) and become invisible in dark field (experimentally achieved using an opaque material to cover the device). The metadevice was able to switch between cloaking and illusion, within a response time of 0.2 seconds, based on light illumination.

In addition, the authors were able to demonstrate partial illusion when part of the metadevice was exposed to bright field, in which the numerical simulations and measurement data were again in excellent agreement, to demonstrate the controllable and flexible property of the proposed scheme. In the study, the simulations were based on the finite element method (FEM). All resistors were commercial metal film resistors with an accuracy of 1 percent with light sensitive resistors in parallel to realize the proposed light controlled metadevice by the circuit theory. The idea can be extended to other fields governed by Laplace's equation including magnetic and thermal fields.

Explore further Metamaterial device allows chameleon-like behavior in the infrared

 2018 Phys.orgThere are more of these coming as the latest airline venture of Formula One race driving legend Niki Lauda and Ryanair expands its fleet

Ryanair's Laudamotion will double its Airbus fleet to 18 aircraft in the summer next year, the Austrian budget airline announced Wednesday.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair took control of Laudamotion from Formula One race driving legend Niki Lauda in March, paying around 50 million euros ($58 million) for a majority 75-percent holding.

The expansion of the fleet with nine additional A320s comes after the completion of the purchase in order to support the Vienna-based carrier's "continued growth", Laudamotion said in a statement.

The airline will hire more staff and also increase pay for pilots with a basic starting salary of 90,000 euros per year for a captain, 12,000 euros higher than competitor Eurowings, it said.

Other improvements in conditions include a "stable winter roster" of five days on duty, three days off.

In recent months aviation giant Ryanair has been hit by pilot and other staff strikes over pay and conditions, plunging passengers into transport chaos at the peak of the busy summer season.

Earlier this week, Italian pilots approved an agreement over working conditions with Ryanair in the first such deal the carrier has fully concluded.

Lauda won back the airline, originally named Niki, from now-defunct Air Berlin this January, re-naming it Laudamotion before selling the majority stake to Ryanair.

The airline began operations this summer, principally offering routes to Mediterranean holiday destinations such as Greece and the Balearic Islands.

The Oesterreich daily reported earlier this month the triple F1 world championwho is in a Vienna hospital after an August 2 lung transplantis considering selling his remaining stake in the business and reducing his workload.

But in the press release, Ryanair chief commercial officer, David O'Brien, said the team looked forward to welcoming him back "as soon as possible", wishing him a "very speedy recovery".

Explore further Italian pilots approve deal with Ryanair

 2018 AFPResearchers from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Manoa), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and other groups are discovering how forest conservation in Fiji can minimize the impact of human activities on coral reefs and their fish populations. Credit: Stacy Jupiter/WCS

Researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Manoa), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and other groups are discovering how forest conservation in Fiji can minimize the impact of human activities on coral reefs and their fish populations. Specifically, authors of a newly published study in the journal Scientific Reports have used innovative modeling tools to identify specific locations on the land where conservation actions would yield the highest benefits for downstream reefs in terms of mitigating harm to coral communities and associated reef fish populations. The study is titled "Scenario Planning with Linked Land-Sea Models Inform Where Forest Conservation Actions Will Promote Coral Reef Resilience."

The researchers focused on Fiji's Kubulau District, where indigenous landowners are already taking action to manage their resources through a ridge-to-reef management plan.

Human activities on land often have cascading effects for marine ecosystems, and human-related impacts on Fiji are threatening more than 25 percent of the total global reef area. Expansion of commercial agriculture, logging, mining, and coastal development can harm coral reefs and their associated fisheries through increases in sediment and nutrient runoff. Consequent reef degradation directly affects food security, human wellbeing, and cultural practices in tropical island communities around the world.

To determine where management and conservation efforts would be most impactful, the researchers built a fine-scale, linked land and sea model that integrates existing land-use with coral reef condition and fish biomass. The team then simulated various future land-use and climate change scenarios to pinpoint areas in key watersheds where conservation would provide the most benefit to downstream coral reef systems. In every simulated scenario, coral reef impacts were minimized when native forest was protected or restored.

"The results of this study can be used by the village chiefs and the resource management committee in Kubulau to provide a geographic focus to their management actions," said Dr. Sangeeta Mangubhai, director of the WCS Fiji Country Program.

The methods also have applications far beyond Kubulau, particularly as many indigenous island communities are mobilizing to revitalize customary ridge to reef management systems and governments are becoming more interested in applying an integrated land-sea planning approach.

Dr. Jade Delevaux of the University of Hawai'i and lead author of the study said, "This novel tool relies on two freely available software packages and can be used in open access geographic information systems (GIS). As more and more remote sensing and bathymetry data become freely available to serve as data inputs, the model can serve even very data-poor regions around the world to allow for better management of linked land and sea areas."

The model thus provides a platform for evidence-based decision making for ridge to reef management and lends confidence that directed terrestrial conservation actions can bolster reef resilience by minimizing damage from land-based runoff.

Dr. Stacy Jupiter, WCS Melanesia regional program director, added: "The results provide hope because they demonstrate that resilience of coral reefs to global change can be promoted through local actions, thereby empowering local people to become better stewards over their resources."

Explore further Research reveals effective method to control algae growth on Hawaiian coral reefs

More information: J. M. S. Delevaux et al, Scenario planning with linked land-sea models inform where forest conservation actions will promote coral reef resilience, Scientific Reports (2018). Journal information: Scientific Reports J. M. S. Delevaux et al, Scenario planning with linked land-sea models inform where forest conservation actions will promote coral reef resilience,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-29951-0Geological amber sample from Cuchia, analysed as part of the study. Credit: M. Murillo-Barroso and Alvaro Fernandez Flores

Amber and other unusual materials such as jade, obsidian and rock crystal have attracted interest as raw materials for the manufacture of decorative items since Late Prehistory and, indeed, amber retains a high value in present-day jewellery.

'Baltic' amber from Scandinavia is often cited as a key material circulating in prehistoric Europe, but in a new study published today in PLOS ONE researchers have found that amber from Sicily was travelling around the Western Mediterranean as early as the 4th Millennium BCat least 2,000 years before the arrival of any Baltic amber in Iberia.

According to lead author Dr. Mercedes Murillo-Barroso of the Universidad de Granada, "The new evidence presented in this study has allowed the most comprehensive review to date on the provision and exchange of amber in the Prehistory of Iberia. Thanks to this new work, we now have evidence of the arrival of Sicilian amber in Iberia from at least the 4th Millennium BC."

"Interestingly, the first amber objects recovered in Sicily and identified as being made from the local amber there (known as simetite) also date from the 4th Millennium BC, however, there is no other evidence indicating direct contact between Sicily and Iberia at this time."

"Instead, what we do know about are the links between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. It is plausible that Sicilian amber reached Iberia through exchanges with North Africa. This amber appears at southern Iberian sites and its distribution is similar to that of ivory objects, suggesting that both materials reached the Iberian Peninsula following the same or similar channels."

Senior author Professor Marcos Martinon-Torres, of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge adds, "It is only from the Late Bronze Age that we see Baltic amber at a large number of Iberian sites and it is likely that it arrived via the Mediterranean, rather than through direct trade with Scandinavia."

Geological amber samples. Credit: Murillo-Barroso et al., 2018

"What's peculiar is that this amber appears as associated with iron, silver and ceramics pointing to Mediterranean connections. This suggests that amber from the North may have moved South across Central Europe before being shipped to the West by Mediterranean sailors, challenging previous suggestions of direct trade between Scandinavia and Iberia."

Murillo-Barroso concludes, "In this study, we've been able to overcome traditional challenges in attempts at assigning corroded amber to a geological source. These new analytical techniques can be used a reference to identify Sicilian amber, even from highly deteriorated archaeological samples."

Some of the amber objects analyzed. Credit: Murillo-Barroso et al., 2018

"There are still unresolved issues to be investigated in the futurenamely exploring the presence of amber in North African contexts from the same time period and further researching the networks involved in the introduction and spread of Baltic amber in Iberia and the extent to which metals or other Iberian commodities were provided in return."

'Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review' is published in PLOS ONE.

Explore further New species from the past: Baltic amber deposits reveal a new species of flat bug from the genus Aradus

More information: Murillo-Barroso M, Penalver E, Bueno P, Barroso R, de Balbin R, Martinon-Torres M (2018) Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0202235. Journal information: PLoS ONE Murillo-Barroso M, Penalver E, Bueno P, Barroso R, de Balbin R, Martinon-Torres M (2018) Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0202235. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202235Posing with a panoramic view of Machu Picchu in Peru are (l-r) PhD student Paloma Gonzalez, Associate Professor Takehiko Nagakura, and two MIT graduate students. Credit: MISTI

For many people, the Inca city of Machu Picchu in the Andes of Peru is one of the most recognizable icons of archaeological and adventure tourism in the world. However, for the Peruvian people and for the international scientific community, Machu Picchu is much more than a tourist destination. In addition to being a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, the historic sanctuary has great cultural and economic importance for Peru and the region of Cusco.

The first references to attempts to document the city of Machu Picchu date back to the late 19th century, when Peruvian and European explorers toured the rugged mountains around the meandering Urubamba River. Some of the explorers did not hesitate to register their visit in the rock. On a wall of the Temple of the Three Windows, Agustin Lizarraga recorded, "July 14, 1902".

But it was Yale University Professor Hiram Bingham who extensively documented the site during his expedition in 1911, and made known to the international community the existence of the lost ruins of the Incas. Over the last 100 years, dozens of archaeological expeditions have contributed to increasing the architectural value and interest in the site, as well as the scientific knowledge of the extraordinary technologies developed by the Incas.

In order to digitally document and develop the foundations for future research, a laboratory team from the MIT Department of Architecture, led by Professor Takehiko Nagakura and PhD student Paloma Gonzales, has been working on the MISTI Global Seed Fund Machu Picchu Design Heritage project since 2016.

The team, the Architecture Representation and Computation Group, has led the first extensive expedition to digitally document Machu Picchu, using the latest generation of instruments and techniques to explore the site's architectural and urban importance and develop a 3-D site map using virtual reality and augmented reality. The Architecture Representation and Computation Group has an important record of working with digital capturing technologies on World Heritage Sites in Italy, China, Singapore, and Japan.

"We believe that documentation through computational techniques for the digitalization of architectural monuments is key to the preservation of the cultural heritage of humanity," Nagakura says. "But it is just a simple idea for old practice. From Renaissance time, architects have been going to building sites, and drawing them up to study them. We are just replacing tape measures and Mylar sheets with scanning tools and VR headsets."

For the project in Peru, the team visited the archaeological complex on two occasions for several weeks in mid-2017 and early 2018. At the site, more than 9,000 images were collected through panoramic cameras, photogrammetric scanning tools, and drones. Gonzales says the working hours were "intense."

"We had to reach the archaeological monument before the arrival of the tourists and stay after the closure of the monument," she says. "The great commitment and joint work of the MIT team and the San Antonio Abad del Cusco University, supported by the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco, made the work fruitful and rewarding."

A 3-D model, like this sample, will allow people to explore Machu Picchu through virtual and augmented reality. Credit: MISTI

Based on the photogrammetric data they sampled, the team developed 3-D models and are working on creating virtual reality experiences that would allow people to immerse themselves in Machu Picchu from anywhere on the planet. The same 3-D models are also being deployed to make a new interactive map of Machu Picchu that superimposes the photographic 3-D view of the site through augmented reality.

Last December, the team launched the MIT Design Heritage Platform, where visitors can see and explore part of the work they have done. In addition, they plan to make this platform a tool to collect images from those who can contribute to the data bank through crowdsourcing.

The project has also managed to document the architectural characteristics and construction materials of the city with high-resolution photographic techniques. The images constitute a unique database with rich information on aspects such as landscape and vegetation at the time the photographs were taken. The team will make all of the information collected available to the authorities of the archaeological monument.

At the same time, they expect that other disciplines can use the databases and photogrammetric models they are developing. The documentation has already been used in conservation efforts, including in the reconstruction of Winay Wayna, an archeological site located on the Inca Trail leading to Machu Picchu that was destroyed by a recent flood storm.

Fernando Astete, anthropologist and head of the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu, says: "We are very excited with the MIT team work. We welcome all efforts to research and preserve Machu Picchu. We have to protect our heritage for the next generations."

Architect Cesar Medina, responsible for the digitization of the national park, believes that the collaboration with MIT has been enriching.

"We have been working in 3-D documentation since 2013, but the collaboration with the MIT team lead by Professor Nagakura, with the support of our local university, has allowed us to exhaustively document Machu Picchu, making use of the latest technologies and innovative techniques," Medina says. "Moreover, we have had the opportunity to visit and know the work of his lab; we see with great interest to continue working in the future with MIT."

The Architecture Representation and Computation Group is already in conversation with institutions of higher education and heritage conservation of Peru to continue advancing the project of digital inheritance. In addition to continuing in Machu Picchu, they may extend the documentation areas to other archaeological sites of Peru. The project has also opened the doors to possible interdisciplinary collaborations with materials science researchers, urban planners, hydrologist, engineers, archaeologists, and historians.

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.Image from a global simulation of Earth's mantle convection enabled by the NSF-funded Stampede supercomputer. The Frontera system will allow researchers to incorporate more observations into simulations, leading to new insights into the main drivers of plate motion. Credit: Johann Rudi, ICES, The University of Texas at Austin

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today that it has awarded $60 million to the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for the acquisition and deployment of a new supercomputer that will be the fastest at any U.S. university and among the most powerful in the world.

The new system, known as Frontera (Spanish for "frontier"), will begin operations in 2019. It will allow the nation's academic researchers to make important discoveries in all fields of science, from astrophysics to zoology, and further establishes The University of Texas at Austin's leadership in advanced computing.

"Supercomputerslike telescopes for astronomy or particle accelerators for physicsare essential research instruments that are needed to answer questions that can't be explored in the lab or in the field," said Dan Stanzione, TACC executive director. "Our previous systems have enabled major discoveries, from the confirmation of gravitational wave detections by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory to the development of artificial-intelligence-enabled tumor detection systems. Frontera will help science and engineering advance even further."

"For over three decades, NSF has been a leader in providing the computing resources our nation's researchers need to accelerate innovation," said NSF Director France Cordova. "Keeping the U.S. at the forefront of advanced computing capabilities and providing researchers across the country access to those resources are key elements in maintaining our status as a global leader in research and education. This award is an investment in the entire U.S. research ecosystem that will enable leap-ahead discoveries."

Frontera is the latest in a string of successful awards and deployments by TACC with support from NSF. Since 2006, TACC has built and operated three supercomputers that debuted in the Top 10 most powerful systems in the world: Ranger (2008), Stampede1 (2012) and Stampede2 (2017). Three other systems debuted in the Top 25.

If completed today, Frontera would be the fifth most powerful system in the world, the third fastest in the U.S. and the largest at any university. For comparison, Frontera will be about twice as powerful as Stampede2 (currently the fastest university supercomputer) and 70 times as fast as Ranger, which operated until 2013. To match what Frontera will compute in just one second, a person would have to perform one calculation every second for about a billion years.

"Today's NSF award solidifies the University of Texas' reputation as the nation's leader in academic supercomputing," said Gregory L. Fenves, president of UT Austin. "UT is proud to serve the research community with the world-class capabilities of TACC, and we are excited to contribute to the many discoveries Frontera will enable."

Anticipated early projects on Frontera include analyses of particle collisions from the Large Hadron Collider, global climate modeling, improved hurricane forecasting and multi-messenger astronomy.

The primary computing system will be provided by Dell EMC and powered by Intel processors. Data Direct Networks will contribute the primary storage system, and Mellanox will provide the high-performance interconnect for the machine. NVIDIA, GRC (Green Revolution Cooling) and the cloud providers Amazon, Google, and Microsoft will also have roles in the project.

"The new Frontera systems represents the next phase in the long-term relationship between TACC and Dell EMC, focused on applying the latest technical innovation to truly enable human potential," said Thierry Pellegrino, vice president of Dell EMC High Performance Computing. "The substantial power and scale of this new system will help researchers from Austin and across the U.S. harness the power of technology to spawn new discoveries and advancements in science and technology for years to come."

"Accelerating scientific discovery lies at the foundation of the TACC's mission, and enabling technologies to advance these discoveries and innovations is a key focus for Intel," said Patricia Damkroger, Vice President in Intel's Data Center Group and General Manager, Extreme Computing Group. "We are proud that the close partnership we have built with TACC will continue with TACC's selection of next-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors as the compute engine for their flagship Frontera system."

Faculty at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES) at UT Austin will lead the world-class science applications and technology team, with partners from the California Institute of Technology, Cornell University, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, the University of Utah and the University of California, Davis.

Industrial-scale simulations of novel engineering boiler designs (above) are needed to make them cleaner and more cost effective. Systems such as Frontera will make it possible for the models of such designs to be closer to the engineering systems that are built and to make it possible to use computation to evaluate new designs much more quickly before they are built. Credit: The University of Utah; the University of California, Berkeley; and Brigham Young University

Experienced technologists and operations partners from the sites above as well as The Ohio State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Texas A&M University will ensure the system runs effectively in all areas, including security, user engagement and workforce development.

"With its massive computing power, memory, bandwidth, and storage, Frontera will usher in a new era of computational science and engineering in which data and models are integrated seamlessly to yield new understanding that could not have been achieved with either alone," said Omar Ghattas, director of the Center for Computational Geosciences in ICES and co-principal investigator on the award.

Frontera's name alludes to "Science the Endless Frontier," the title of a 1945 report to President Harry Truman by Vannevar Bush that led to the creation of the National Science Foundation.

"NSF was born out of World War II and the idea that science, and scientists, had enabled our nation to win the war, and continued innovation would be required to 'win the peace'," said Stanzione. "Many of the frontiers of research today can be advanced only by computing, and Frontera will be an important tool to solve grand challenges that will improve our nation's health, well-being, competitiveness and security."

Frontera will enter production in the summer of 2019 and will operate for five years. In addition to serving as a resource for the nation's scientists and engineers, the award will support efforts to test and demonstrate the feasibility of an even larger future leadership-class system, 10 times as fast as Frontera, to potentially be deployed as Phase 2 of the project.

Explore further Stampede2 storms out of the corral in support of US scientistsCredit: Notneb82, Wikimedia Commons

A multi-disciplinary research team is developing new models for growing trees on farms to help meet the needs of landholders, investors and the timber industry.

Project leader Professor Rod Keenan said the need for wood is increasing to meet future timber demands of Australian housing.

"The increasing use of wood in construction for design and environmental benefits will increase this demand as will the substantial push for renewable and sustainable products to replace plastics," Prof Keenan said.

"We are examining whether timber industry investment in trees on farms can provide their wood needs and also provide shade, shelter, carbon, water and biodiversity benefits.

A survey mailed to selected owners and managers of land in south-west Victoria and Gippsland asks about current agricultural activities, views on planting trees for harvest in the future and the importance of different factors when considering integrating trees with other land uses.

"We are working with industry, landholders and the finance community to develop innovative ways to provide benefits to farming and the environment, and meet demand for timber and wood products," Professor Keenan said.

"As well as generating more benefits from farm trees for farmers and the environment, the project is driven by growing global and local demand for wood.

"Importantly, new investment in trees can also contribute additional income for landowners and support new or expanded regional industries."

The study has found there is nearly a million hectares of suitable farmland in southern and eastern Victoria where timber trees could complement existing agricultural land uses.

"Planting 20 per cent of this area would help address our looming national wood shortage. Rural land prices are high, and it is generally not financially feasible, or socially acceptable, for the timber industry to buy whole properties for plantations," Professor Keenan said.

To help develop new business models, the project team is keen to hear from land owners and managers about integrating trees on farms. Participation in the survey is voluntary and it should take about 15 minutes to complete.

Project researcher Nerida Anderson said completing the survey does not commit people to planting trees.

"The project team would just like to hear your views on integrating trees on farms," Dr. Anderson said. "We encourage landholders who receive the survey to either complete it on-line or post the completed survey back in the replied paid envelope provided."

Explore further Carbon farming schemes should consider multiple cobenefitsFormer police officer Roy Oliver was convicted of murdering Jordan Edwards. Photo: Rose Baca/Getty Images

The 37-year-old white police officer who killed Jordan Edwards, a black 15-year-old, in a Dallas suburb last April was convicted of murder Tuesday. Roy Oliver, a veteran of the Balch Springs Police Department, shot Edwards on the night of April 29 after he and his partner responded to a call about underage drinking at a house party.

The officers were in the home when they heard gunshots outside. Oliver ran to his patrol car to get his rifle while his partner, Tyler Gross, attempted to stop a Chevrolet Impala that was driving away from the party. Within a minute, Oliver had fired his gun into the car, killing Edwards, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Oh, praise God! someone shouted outside the courtroom Tuesday after the verdict was read. I just want to say Im happy, very happy, Odell Edwards, Jordans father, told reporters. Its been a long time, hard year. Just really happy.

Jordan Edwardss parents hug prosecutors after Roy Oliver is found guilty. Photo: Rose Baca/Getty Images

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Oliver claimed that he thought the car carrying Edwards, his brothers, and a couple friends, was trying to hit Gross, his partner. Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber initially backed him up, claiming that the car was moving toward the police. But body camera footage told a different story and by early May, Haber recanted and fired Oliver.

Footage from Olivers own body camera shows him joking around with kids in the house, before storming outside, sprinting in the darkness and firing on the car, which was moving away from the officers when he pulled the trigger. Gross, who did not fire on the car, testified that he did not feel as if he was going to be hit.

Oliver is the rare police officer to be convicted for an on-duty shooting. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the last time an officer was convicted for killing someone in an on-duty shooting was in 1973. After Tuesdays verdict, the Edwards family attorney, Daryl Washington, invoked the names of other black men and boys killed in recent high-profile police shootings.

We dont want another parent to have to go through what this family has had to deal with, he said. This case is not just about Jordan. Its about Tamir Rice, its about Walter Scott, its about Alton Sterling, its about every African-American  who have been killed and who have not gotten justice.International students at American colleges and universities do not always find a welcoming environment. Research has shown that, as a group, internationals face prejudice from segments of the domestic student population, and a new study by a University at Buffalo psychologist suggests that stereotypes alone do not lead to that prejudice.

"Prejudice against international students is multifaceted," says Wendy Quinton, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor in UB's psychology department and author of the paper published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

"But there are factors leading to prejudice that universities can influence."

Her study showed that, aside from stereotypes, other factors, including support for President Donald Trump, predicted prejudice against international students from the domestic student population.

"Some of President Trump's policies, such as promoting 'America First,' the travel ban and his talk of building a wall are in line with unwelcoming attitudes toward immigrantsbut this is the first evidence I've seen linking support for Trump with attitudes toward international students," says Quinton, an expert in prejudice, stigma and social identity who surveyed 389 college students, all of whom self-identified as being born and raised in the United States.

"This finding tells us that if you statistically account for stereotypes, those domestic students who were higher in Trump support still had significantly higher prejudice. Liking Trump goes beyond stereotypes in predicting prejudice against international students."

Stereotypes are ideas or beliefs about members of a certain group. A stereotype can be positive or negative. Prejudice is a negative attitude toward members of a particular group. Stereotypes can lead to prejudice and Quinton says there are stereotypes that predict prejudice against international students.

"I found other factors, not just stereotypesand administrators may be able to influence those factors and make a difference," she says.

In addition to Trump support, university identity emerged as another independent predictor of prejudice.

University identity is reflected in a sense of belonging to the school. Do I feel like I'm a member of the campus community? Does the university value me? Do I belong here? Students who didn't strongly identify with the university showed higher levels of prejudice against international students.

"Among the predictors of prejudice against international students that administrators can influence, university identity came out as an important independent predictor," says Quinton. "If you increase university identity and make everyone feel like they belong to one group then the division between domestic and international students should become smaller."

Standardized test scores marginally predicted prejudice. Those domestic students with lower SAT scores had higher levels of prejudice. Domestic students who had fewer positive stereotypes and more negative stereotypes also tended to be prejudiced against internationals.

But socialization is also critical, and it can positively impact those who would otherwise be highly prejudiced against international students, according to Quinton.

She says the process of getting acquainted predicted levels of prejudice.

"Particular kinds of socialization matter the most: Do we study together? Do we share activities together? Do we have the kinds of close contact that can build friendships? That mattered," says Quinton. "For those with lower SAT scores, for those low in positive stereotypes, for those high in Trump support, the more they socialized with international students the lower their prejudice."

"University identity and socialization are both positive factors that universities can foster and that everyone can benefit from."

The results from Quinton's research come on the heels of the first national decrease in international enrollment at American universities after years of increases. Statistics from the U.S. State Department show a 17 percent decline in 2017 in student visas.

That drop had a significant economic impact on the country.

Between 2015 and 2016, international students contributed nearly $33 billion to the U.S. economy and supported over 400,000 jobs, according to NAFSA: Association for International Educators.

Quinton sees the globalization experience as enriching for domestic and international students alike.

"International students are part of the fiber and fabric of American universities. They bring different experiences, cultures, backgrounds, languages and ideas. Domestic students gain a great deal from the presence of internationals on campus and develop a deeper understanding of the world because of that diversity.

"Universities should make the effort to address these variables because the potential benefits are so great, for all involved," she says.

Explore further Research shows Native American mascots and logos hurt all ethnic groups

More information: Wendy J. Quinton, Unwelcome on campus? Predictors of prejudice against international students., Journal of Diversity in Higher Education (2018). Wendy J. Quinton, Unwelcome on campus? Predictors of prejudice against international students.,(2018). DOI: 10.1037/dhe0000091United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein is due to step down from his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the end of the week

The UN human rights chief urged Facebook Wednesday to more proactively address hate speech but warned against excessive regulation, after US President Donald Trump accused tech giants' platforms of bias against him.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's appeal follows a decision by Facebook this week to ban Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass named in a UN probe linking them to a possible "genocide" against Rohingya Muslims.

The social media network is the prime source of news and information for many in the country, but has also been a platform for the army and Buddhist hardliners to spread hate speech against the Rohingya and other minorities.

The site aired support for the military's bloody "clearance operations" last year that forced some 700,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh.

"We felt early on very uncomfortable with what we were seeing in Myanmar, (but) in the early meetings that we had with Facebook, I didn't think they were taking it seriously," said Zeid, who is due to step down from his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the end of the week.

"Hopefully they've now awoken," he told reporters in Geneva, warning that there could easily be other cases "where Facebook is the dominant medium in a country where you see a deterioration of human rights conditions and then their role would be brought into question."

He cautioned that the company should be "careful", since it risked being subpoenaed in possible future trials "of those accused of the worst crimes."

'Accessory'

"We've seen from the jurisprudence of the past that if you've enabled, you've abetted, you've been an accessory," Zeid said, stressing that while he was not accusing Facebook of that, "they have to be sure that they know where they are and what side of the law they are on."

The Jordanian national, who is set to be succeeded by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, urged Facebook to not wait until a full-blown crisis erupts to act against hate speech.

"They should be thinking proactively about what steps they will take to mitigate that," he said.

Zeid meanwhile warned of going too far in the opposite direction, cautioning that "there is also another danger (of being) overregulated."

He pointed to recent comments by the US president, who has accused big tech firms like Facebook, Google and Twitter of bias against him, slamming what he called "rigged" internet search results.

Trump offered no details on what if any actions he might take, but a top White House aide suggested the administration may look at some type of regulation in response to the president's complaints.

Zeid insisted that instead of more government regulations, the platforms' actions must "be regulated by (international) human rights law."

'Dangerous'

The comments did not mark the first time the UN rights chief has criticised Trump.

He has repeatedly warned that the US president's relentless attacks on the media are "dangerous".

On Wednesday, Zeid said Trump's recent statements "have been very worrisome to me," reiterating his warning that the president's words could trigger violence against journalists.

"All of us would be horrified, but perhaps not shocked if we heard of a journalist that was attacked and severely beaten for example at one of the rallies," he said, stressing that if that happens "the president would bear some responsibility."

"As the campaigning seasons heat up, whether it be for the midterm elections or the presidential elections to come, the conduct of the president should be under very careful scrutiny by the international community and by this office," Zeid said.

Explore further Facebook move on Myanmar raises thorny political questions

 2018 AFPIn 1990, 10 percent of congressional candidates, but this year, the figure has risen sharply, to 23 percent. Credit: OpenSecrets.org

s record number of women seek seats in Congress, CU Boulder and Notre Dame researchers probe the motivations behind the trend

In the wake of the historic 2016 presidential election, there's been a record number of female candidates seeking office nationwide. In the House alone, there are 476 women candidatesin 2018, a sharp increase from the number two years ago, OpenSecrets.org reports.

While one might assume that Trump's victory inspired more women to run because they disagreed with his views, there may be another, less-obvious answer: Hillary Clinton.

Though Clinton lost the election, her journey to become the first female presidential candidate ever nominated by a major party may have had a ripple effect, which could have lasting effects in this year's election. That's one theory that can be extrapolated from new University of Colorado Boulder research that was published in March in the American Journal of Political Science.

"People tend to discount the effect that Hillary Clinton probably had on the number of women running for office," said Christina Ladam, a CU Boulder political science graduate student and the study's lead author. "There's strong support for the idea that she may have served as a symbolic role model for women to think that they can do it, too."

Past research has found that women fare just as well as men when they decide to run for office, but since fewer women enter political races in general, they remain underrepresented in politics. Working alongside University of Notre Dame associate professor Jeff Hardenand University of North Carolina Charlotte associate professor Jason Windett, Ladam set out to discover what motivates some women to run for office, and whether prominent female politicians could inspire other women.

To answer this question, the three researchers analyzed statistics from an extensive database that tracked winning and losing political candidates from all 50 states between 1978 and 2012. More specifically, they looked at what effect having a female governor or U.S. senator in a state had on the number of women who later ran for that state's legislature.

"How do we get more women to run for office? We find support for the idea that electing women to prominent offices inspires other women," Ladam said.

In fact, the researchers found that, on average, the presence of a female governor or U.S. senator in a state translated to an additional seven women running for state legislature in the next election cycle. The researchers also found evidence of a so-called "legacy effect," meaning that having a female governor or U.S. senator continued to have an impact on the number of women who ran for that state's legislature in subsequent years.

Even when female candidates ultimately lost the race for state governor or U.S. senator, the data showed a boost in the overall number of women running for state legislature. This finding in particular stood out to Ladam in the context of the 2016 election.

"The media narrative about the number of women who are running for office this year has focused a lot on the effect of Trump," Ladam said. "But our research would suggest that Hillary Clinton really had a role to play there. She's the closest a woman has ever come to winning the presidential election, and our research would suggest that she was really able to serve as a role model for other women to see themselves as part of the political process."

Recruitment or role models?

These initial results made the researchers want to understand exactly why more women were inclined to run for state legislative seats. They ran a series of tests to determine whether more practical factors were at play, such as increased recruiting efforts, or whether the high-profile female politicians in that state simply served as role models.

One way they tried to answer this question was by looking at the impact of a female governor or U.S. senator on neighboring states, since it would be unlikely for recruitment efforts to cross state lines.

They also looked at partisan differences, since a female governor or U.S. senator is unlikely to promote recruitment efforts for the opposing party.

Because they also saw an increase in the number of female candidates in neighboring states and saw no major differences by party, the researchers say their study finds the most support for female candidates serving as role models to other women, though they can't rule out the possibility of recruitment efforts entirely.

Political gender diversity

The real-world implications of the study are straightforward: one way to improve gender diversity in politics is to simply get more women to run for high-profile offices.

"It matters not just if you are interested in campaigns but more generally about the representation of women," said Harden, who served as an assistant professor of political science at CU Boulder from 2013 to 2016 before taking up his post at Notre Dame. "Not all of these women who decided to run win, of course, but a portion of them do, and that can be consequential. It's not like having a female governor or U.S. senator is going to get a state's legislature up to 50/50 in terms of gender representation, but there is still a small boost."

Ladam, Harden and Windett plan to continue this line of research by conducting case studies of individual female politicians.

As for what will happen in November's midterm elections, Windett says he expects the outcomes to vary, with each state's culture and history likely playing a major role in who gets elected.

"We'll wait and see, but right now it's looking promising for women being elected, regardless of partisanship," Windett said.

More information: Christina Ladam et al. Prominent Role Models: High-Profile Female Politicians and the Emergence of Women as Candidates for Public Office, American Journal of Political Science (2018). Journal information: American Journal of Political Science Christina Ladam et al. Prominent Role Models: High-Profile Female Politicians and the Emergence of Women as Candidates for Public Office,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12351Marias aftermath. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

How many people died in the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Maria? In the 11 months since the storm devastated Puerto Rico, that basic question has never been answered satisfactorily. But a rigorous new study  the result of which may be the closest thing to a consensus we get  found that the answer is 2,975 people, a number that dwarfs the previous official death toll, and makes Maria the second-deadliest hurricane in American history. By comparison, Hurricane Katrina killed 1,833.

Details from the report, which was published by George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, were first obtained by CBS News.

The study analyzed typical death patterns from the Puerto Rico Department of Health during the previous seven years in Puerto Rico, and contrasted them with the numbers from the period of September 2017 to February 2018, during which time much of the island remained in darkness after the hurricane delivered a knockout blow to its infrastructure. The lack of electricity meant that many residents urgent medical needs could not be met.

Researchers found that in the course of this period, poor people and the elderly died at far higher rates than in the years prior. The risk of death, they wrote, was 45% higher and persistent until the end of the study period for populations living in low socioeconomic development municipalities. Men 65 and older were also found to be at heightened risk.

A previous study, conducted by Harvard and based on door-to-door surveys, estimated that Maria could have killed more than 4,500 people, but the new report is seen as more thorough and credible.

Puerto Rico commissioned it as island residents demanded a more exhaustive accounting of the storms toll. For months, the islands official death toll has remained at 64  a statistic that stood at odds with the reality on the ground. That number only accounted for people who drowned, were hit by debris, or were killed in other ways directly attributable to the storms immediate landfall.

The deceptively low initial toll provided fodder for President Trump, who visited the island two weeks after the storm and dismissed Marias death count (then officially at 16) compared to a real catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina.

Trump, whose administrations haphazard response to the storm exacerbated Puerto Ricos misery, has remained notably silent on the subject since last fall.

After Tuesdays report was released, Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello quickly issued an executive order raising the official death toll from 64 to 2,975. Though Puerto Rico has a long, long way to go in its recovery from Maria, the fact that it has finally reckoned with its human toll counts as progress.The temperature may be up, but the unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh region keeps dropping, closing the gap separating it from national rate, which it has long hovered above.

Year-over-year, the unemployment rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area fell .9 percentage points, from 4.9 percent in July 2017 to 4.0 in July 2018.

In the region, Allegheny and Butler Counties have the lowest unemployment rate at 3.7 percent. Unemployment is the highest in Fayette County, where the rate is 5.4 percent.

Workforce contracts

While the unemployment rate has crept steadily lower, the number of people in the regions labor force continues to decline. The southwestern Pennsylvania labor force lost 7,300 workers from July 2017 to July 2019 at the same time 11,700 fewer residents were unemployed.

The Pittsburgh unemployment rate still remains slightly above the national rate of 3.9 percent, although the gap is slim. Last year, the unemployment in the Pittsburgh MSA was .6 percent higher than the national rate. In July, the region closed to within .1 percentage points of the national rate.

The data suggest the region recorded its second-lowest unemployment rate this year in July, which was only slightly higher than the near-historic 3.9 percent reported in May.Kwame Anthony Appiah. Photo: Jason Carter Rinaldi/Getty Images for Berggruen Insti

On paper, were supposed to realize that identity categories arent that big a deal, that all those boundaries that supposedly divide us are in fact rather porous: Race is more or less a constructed fiction, male and female brains overlap a great deal, the very concept of the nation-state, and therefore nationalism itself, is a historical accident. And yet identity retains great purchase on every part of the political spectrum. On the right, the story line is obvious: In the wake of the one-two punch of the financial meltdown and the migrant crisis, much of Europe is being rocked by a tidal wave of nationalism  old ethnic politics that were supposed to be dissolved away in the European Union instead are swelling. The election of Donald Trump, meanwhile, has emboldened the segment of Americans most fixated on the idea that the nation is fundamentally white and Christian and must remain that way. On the left, things are a bit more complicated: While its progressives who have done the most work to knock down old identity categories, at the moment the left is also hosting a raucous internecine discussion over the purpose and limitations of identity politics  a term defined in a thousand ways by a thousand participants. These debates have touched just about every political and policy issue there is.

Into this fraught, tumultuous fray steps Kwame Anthony Appiah, a New York University professor of philosophy and law (and the author of The Ethicist column in the New York Times), with a new book entitled The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity, published August 28 by Liveright. Given that Appiah is the child of a white mother born on a farm in the British countryside and a black father born in Ghana, where the two met, its little wonder that he has been thinking and writing about the complexities of identity for a long time  hes also the author of 2005s more academic The Ethics of Identity (not to mention a host of other books). In The Lies That Bind he simply asks the reader to consider, with a bit more rigor, various sorts of identity categories that we often take for granted. He argues that they often have fuzzier boundaries and less clear meanings than they might appear to at first blush. Ive set myself the task in this book of discussing some of the ideas that have shaped the modern rise of identity and trying to see some of the mistakes we regularly make about identities more clearly, he writes in the introduction.

Intelligencer recently spoke to Appiah about the double-edged nature of nationalism, why overly broad identity categories can be useful, and how Americas Christian history influences our approach to Islamic terrorism.

Your book deals a lot with the idea that identity can be a double-edged sword, and I find nationalism to be such an interesting example of that. I remember after the travel-ban news came out I went to JFK for the protests there, and there were thousands of people there who were genuinely invested in the fight against people being excluded from the country on the basis of race or religion. What struck me, despite stereotypes about the left hating nationalism, was that it could actually be seen as a nationalistic gathering in a certain way.

Yes, absolutely. I mean it wouldnt have made sense for them to be there unless they cared, I would say, about American rightness. They were there in shock because they thought that in the name of their country something terrible was being done and they wanted to actually play a role in stopping it happening.

Right, there is a certain, unifying power to the idea that as Americans we will not stand for this. Which is probably why both liberal and conservative politicians seek to tap those sentiments.

Yes. I mean, you couldve been there, and probably there were people there who were not American citizens. There may have been a few who were just there under the rubric of respect for rights, or hostility to Islamophobia, or a bunch of other things. But, as you say, sometimes you want people just to be brought together by the sense of Hey, we are the people who care about rights.

For me, another double-edged identity concept is people of color, which is generally used for good or benign purposes but which strikes me as sometimes problematic. Taken literally, person of color encompasses what, 3 or 4 billion people? Some part of me does worry that these claims often are essentializing because they gloss over so much difference among massive groups of people who are often held together by flimsy, artificial racial categories. Am I being sort of overly sensitive? Should I just let it go because its being used for good purposes? How do you view that kind of language?

Its often the case that what brings people together is the hostility of some other group against them. European Jewry was extremely diverse but it was brought together by the rise of organized anti-Semitism, or the re-rise of organized anti-Semitism in the late 19th and into the 20th century. So Moses Mendelssohn and some peasant in a shtetl  these are very different kinds of people but the most important thing for both of them in the context of their lives (if they were, say, in Berlin) would be that they would both be potential objects of anti-Semitism. So I think that one of the things that does actually bring people together is even if they are otherwise extremely diverse is a form of hostility that identifies them than if they were organized against everybody in the group.

Now what we dont want to do is forget when we start talking about people of color, that there are vast differences in experience. Differences having to do both with, as it were, what kind of color you are, what kind of nonwhite person you are, and also with other things  gender, class, and so on. The result is that theres a risk every time you take one of these labels that you essentialize and you treat everybody as if they were the same in ways in which theyre not. Its something to be vigilant against, but I dont think that needs to lead us to be against using such labels providing we use them carefully. I think its good to have in the culture the general thought that we should worry about this kind of essentialization so that when we do appeal to these sorts of concepts we remember that there are going to be things that divide people of any identity group.

I guess the flip side of that is the way whiteness is often discussed in progressive spaces. I find this to be a tricky thing to talk about. But Im a white liberal Jew living in Brooklyn and I genuinely think I have more in common with the average person in Brooklyn, as big and diverse as it is, than I do with either the average white person in Appalachia, or the average white Republican in a Texas suburb. I find its hard to find the language to express that. It seems to me that theres something going on with the language that seems to imply the problem is white skin itself  like white skin gives rise to problematic politics and behavior, rather than the problem being reactionary politics, or racism, or whatever.

Right. Yeah, and I think thats perfectly reasonable. We should remember that its not inevitable that the label white should mean very much to its bearers. Some people are thinking, Im a white person, so Im going to do this, and a lot of people dont. Now, it would be reasonable to point out that if youre not otherwise marked, then one reason why many liberal-minded white people dont think about being white is that they dont have to worry about the color of their skin because it isnt, in the context of interactions with officials and so on, likely to be burdensome to them. But I think that its perfectly proper to insist that essentialism about whiteness is as absurd as essentialism about blackness or any of these other identities.

You know, on the one hand, however you feel about your whiteness will sometimes make a difference to what happens to you  and on the other hand, it may not matter very much, to you. You may not think of your whiteness as having to do with anything except regretting the role of racism and so on. So thats to make the point that identities have both a subjective and an objective dimension in some sense. They matter to how the world treats you, but they also matter to how you feel about the world, and the very same label can have very different subjective meanings for the people who bear it, and it can also lead to very different objective results in different circumstances. And all of thats worth remembering.

So in other words, the other side of me saying I dont feel like I have a deep essential commonality with the Appalachian or Houstonian is that whether or not I feel that way we will all benefit from being white  were, in certain contexts, less likely to get pulled over or followed around a convenience store, and stuff like that. That exists independent of my own feelings of what my identity is.

Right. There are a few things to say about it. One is, its important to care about it because its a very important fact about how our society works, and something we might like to do something about as citizens. But the second thing is: you didnt do that. You didnt make that true. Youre probably not doing anything to keep it being true, so it would be wrong to hold you responsible for it. Theres a difference between thinking someone is privileged by some identity and thinking that theyre to be blamed for that privilege. Thats not true, in general. Theres also the kind of privilege where people are desperately trying, actually, not to take advantage of it, though it isnt up to them whether they gain advantage from it, because as I say identities have this subjective dimension in the sense that other people will treat you in virtue of their identities in a way they decide to, and you dont control that.

Right, and it seems like there is a little bit of moral confusion in the air that mixes up those two concepts: being the beneficiary of privilege and actively causing privilege or trying to actively maintain it.

Yes, and I think its strategically unfortunate because instead of getting those people on your side you get their backs up if you talk to them in that way. So I think its important to get this right and to see that  Look, its probably also important to remind people that in the context of these racial identities in our society that there are lots and lots of other kinds of unearned privilege, some of which are held by some black people. So theres lots and lots of, as it were, unearned class privilege in the United States and upper-middle-class black people get that too. So its not as if some people are permanently privileged by all their identities and other people are disprivileged by all of them.

There are contexts in which being black is a terrific thing in the United States. Because I am of African descent I have been treated extremely well in many contexts by African-Americans with whom I dont have much history in common, just because we are both black. I mean, suppose I had been white, and otherwise had all the same properties that I have  I would have been, for them, an upper middle-class Englishman, and probably upper-middle-class Englishmen dont seem like natural allies or friends for many African-Americans. For me, in many contexts in this country, being black has been a privilege as well as, no doubt, potentially the source of abuse or discrimination.

I really like your chapter on religion. People to seem to think that the rank-and-file ISIS members are all deeply devout, religious fundamentalists when in fact theyre often recruited just by the promise of a social identity and a place of belonging, and more terrestrial concerns like that.

Many of the European recruits of ISIS, of course, dont know Arabic and cant, therefore, read the Koran in the way in which youre supposed to if youre a devout person.

Even most Americans who go to some sort of church or synagogue probably intuitively understand that a lot of the time theyre just mouthing along  theyre there for the community, or comfort, or simply out of habit. But why do you think we have so much trouble extending that logic to others, either in the context of ISIS or religious conflict more generally? Why are we driven to want to think that that guy over there really does have crazy beliefs in his head rather than hes just a member of a different tribe with slightly different rituals?

Were just very bad at treating other peoples identities with the same care with which were happy to treat our own.

One of the ways in which you identify as a conservative Evangelical Christian in this country is by insisting that you believe in the literal truth of the Christian Bible. I think of that as just a performance  something that you say in order to indicate where you are on the community questions and on the moral questions. Because I simply cannot believe that anybody who has read the Bible  and these people mostly have  can actually believe, literally, everything in it. For one thing, its inconsistent, and you cant literally believe both sides of the contradiction when its drawn to your attention. And there are just obvious problems with the stories in the Bible, starting with the fact that there are two accounts of creation in Genesis, which seem to be different from each other.

So Im not being disrespectful  in fact, Im being respectful! Im saying, I cant take you seriously when you say that because I too have read the Bible and I think that a sensible person, like you, cant believe literally everything thats in it.

So I worry, but everybody who is a citizen of this country is a fellow-citizen of mine and I care about thinking of all of them.

Anything else you want to talk about or you want people to know about the book?

The arguments in the book are meant to be offered up for consideration and conversation. Im not claiming to have got everything right about any of these things, Im just trying to, as it were, move the conversation along by pointing to some things I think Ive noticed. Im hoping to generate lively debate about these things thats less sort of aggressive, hostile, nasty than some of the debate about identity thats currently going on.

Do you think things on the left are getting more and more essentialist or is that an overstatement?

Um  Im thinking about this because I dont know that I have a lot of evidence about whether things are changing. Yet there is a lot of essentialism everywhere, on the right as well, and Im in favor of reducing the extent to which thats true. Since I myself am a progressive liberal person, Im particularly worried about it when my people do it because I think it undermines the main thrust of the progressive liberal tradition, which is to aim to liberate people of all identities so that we can have meaningful lives.

So I worry, but everybody who is a citizen of this country is a fellow citizen of mine and I care about thinking of all of them, even the ones that I disagree with about policy, and so I would hope that everybody on the left and right would be willing to entertain for the moment the possibility that they may not have got this right, and that our lives would all go better if we were less inclined to essentialism.21 minutes ago

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Hydrogen fuel cell technology provider Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) stock is getting a second wind as it rises after losing more than (-60%) from its 2021 highs of $75.49. The hydrogen fuel cell pioneers energy technology is being validated through partnerships with many large companies including BAE Systems, Renault Group, Baker Hughes, SK Group and most recently Airbus.

Read ArticleWhats the point of having a catchphrase if you cant use it? Photo: Pool/Getty Images

By recusing himself from the Russia probe, Attorney General Jeff Sessions infuriated his boss, yet paradoxically ensured his longevity in an administration known for its high turnover rate. For months its seemed that President Trump was resigned to sniping at Sessions, as he did on the second day of Paul Manaforts trial:

..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018

But apparently this wasnt just one of Trumps periodic reminders that he really dislikes his attorney general. On Tuesday the Washington Post reported that in recent weeks the president privately revived the idea of firing him in conversations with his aides and personal lawyers this month, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Plus Jerry Falwell Jr. is said to be urging Trump to finally rid himself of Sessions, saying the attorney general has lost the support of evangelicals.

So why does Sessions still have a job in the Trump administration? Apparently the presidents attorneys managed to convince him, once again, that firing Sessions right now would create a political storm he may not be able to weather. The Post reports:

In subsequent talks with his lawyers and advisers, Trump said what he really wanted to do was fire Sessions, the people said.

His attorneys, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, advised him that Mueller could interpret such an action as an effort to obstruct justice and thwart the investigation  already a major focus of the inquiry, the people said.

Giuliani confirmed that the topic of Sessionss possible removal has come up in recent days, though he suggested the threat has passed. If there is any action taken, the president agrees with us that it shouldnt be taken until after the investigation is concluded, he said.

It seems White House aides have accepted the idea that Sessionss firing is a matter of when, not if. Senate Republicans publicly suggested that he wont last long after the midterm elections:

We wish the best for him, but as any administration would show, Cabinet members seldom last the entire administration, and this is clearly not an exception, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said in an interview Tuesday.

Nothing lasts forever, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) told The Washington Post, describing the Trump-Sessions dynamic as a toxic relationship.

Added Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a longtime defender of the attorney general: My sense is the fix is in.

Senator Lindsey Graham even suggested that it would be best for everyone, including the American people, if Trump and Sessions part ways.

The president has lost confidence in Jeff Sessions. And Im telling you what everybody in the country knows, this is a dysfunctional relationship, we need a better one, Graham told NBC News. We need an attorney general that can work with the president, that can lead the Department of Justice. This relationship is beyond repair, I think.

Graham added, cryptically, that the conflict between the two men is worse (and possibly more scandalous?) than we know:

When asked whether the only problem Trump had with Sessions was his decision to recuse himself from any federal probe into Russian election meddling, Graham replied, Its much deeper than that.

Its a pretty deep breach, he said.

When asked later by NBC News what he meant by deep breach, Graham declined to elaborate.

So can we expect Sessionss dismissal some time after November 6? Perhaps not! The Wall Street Journal notes that while Republicans want to avoid another Saturday Night Massacre ahead of the midterms, theyre also worried that if Democrats take the House, theyll try to impeach the president for obstruction of justice.

Plus, any move against Sessions could trigger a series of embarrassing departures:

White House chief of staff John Kelly has made clear he doesnt want to see Mr. Sessions fired, a person close to the White House said. Should Mr. Trump remove the attorney general, it could touch off a wave of resignations in the West Wing, this person said.

And while GOP senators havent shown much willingness to stand up to Trump, last Thursday several top Republicans suggested they arent interested in helping him shut down the Mueller probe.

I find it really difficult to envision any circumstance where I would vote to confirm a successor to Jeff Sessions if he is fired because hes executing his job rather than choosing to act as a partisan hack, Senator Ben Sasse said on the Senate floor.

We dont have time, nor is there a likely candidate, who could get confirmed, in my view, under these current circumstances, Senator John Cornyn, the number two Senate Republican, told reporters.

The Journal reports that earlier on Thursday, Sasse and Cornyn  along with Senators Thom Tillis, Jerry Moran, and John Kennedy  had breakfast with Sessions, and urged him to resist the pressure to quit.

Sessions is reportedly getting tired of Trumps attacks, but he agreed that he should stay on rather than creating a political firestorm. Plus, he still enjoys being the attorney general, particularly when he leaves the tough parts to his deputy. Per the Journal:



The attorney general especially relishes his trips away from the political cauldron of Washington to visit the local law-enforcement groups that have long supported him, people close to him say. As a result of his recusal, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has often been left to deal with some of the most hot-button issues facing the department.

Maybe someday Trump will be able to find a time when causing a constitutional crisis works with everyones schedule.Teachers gave lawmakers a warning. Now, theyre handing out expulsions. Photo: Scott Heins/Bloomberg via Getty Images

For nearly a decade, Republican officials have been treating ordinary Oklahomans like the colonial subjects of an extractive empire. On Governor Mary Fallins watch, fracking companies have turned the Sooner State into the earthquake capital of the world; (literally) dictated policy to her attorney general; and strong-armed legislators into giving them a $470 million tax break  in a year when Oklahoma faced a $1.3 billion budget shortfall.

To protect Harold Hamms god-given right to pay infinitesimal tax rates on his gas profits (while externalizing the environmental costs of fracking onto Oklahoma taxpayers), tea party Republicans raided the states rainy-day funds, and strip-mined its public-school system.

Between 2008 and 2015, Oklahomas slashed its per-student education spending by 23.6 percent, more than any other state in the country. Some rural school districts were forced to adopt four-day weeks; others struggled to find competent teachers, as the GOPs refusal to pay competitive salaries chased talented educators across the border into Texas. Students who were lucky enough to have both five-day weeks and qualified instructors still had to tolerate decaying textbooks. Polls showed overwhelming public support for raising taxes on the wealthy and oil companies to increase investment in education. GOP lawmakers showed no interest in those polls.

One of the reasons its not over yet...This is a textbook from my daughters class. Its a history book and the current President in it is George W. Bush. We can do better Oklahoma. #OklahomaTeacherWalkout#oklaed #oklaleg @gophouseok @oksenategop @housedemsok @oksenatedems pic.twitter.com/F5FE3JcFQh  Jamie (@jamiebh73) March 30, 2018

And, for a while there, it really looked like they didnt have to.

Mary Fallin rode a wave of fracking dollars to reelection in 2014, while her GOP allies retained large majorities in both chambers of the legislature. With no organized opposition to counter the deep pockets of extractive industry, Republican officials could reasonably conclude that working-class Sooners had no material interests that their party was bound to respect.

But then, Oklahoma teachers decided to give their state a civics lesson. Inspired by their counterparts in West Virginia, Oklahoma teachers went on strike to demand long-overdue raises for themselves, more education funding for their students, and much higher taxes on the wealthy and energy companies  to ensure that those first two demands would be honored indefinitely.

They won one out of three. Despite the fact the teachers had no legal right to strike  and that the Oklahoma state legislature requires a three-fourths majority to pass tax increases of any kind  the teachers galvanized enough public support to force Fallin to give an inch. As energy billionaire (and GOP mega-donor) Harold Hamm glowered from the gallery, Oklahoma state lawmakers passed a tiny increase in the tax on fracking production (one small enough to leave Oklahoma with the lowest such tax rate in the nation), so as to fund $6,100 raises for the states teachers.

The strikers were pleased, but unappeased. They promised to make lawmakers pay for refusing to finance broader investments in education with larger tax hikes. We got here by electing the wrong people to office, Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, told the New York Times in April. We have the opportunity to make our voices heard at the ballot box. Hamm and his fellow gas giants (almost certainly) made an equal and opposite vow  that those few Republicans who held the line against tax hikes of any kind would not regret their bravery.

Last night, Oklahomas GOP primary season came to an end  and the teachers beat the billionaires in a rout. Nineteen Republicans voted against raising taxes to increase teacher pay last spring; only four will be on the ballot this November. As Tulsa World reports:

Republican voters handed out more pink slips to House members Tuesday.

Six of 10 GOP incumbents involved in runoffs were turned out and a seventh narrowly survived, as perhaps the most extraordinary primary season in state history drew to a riotous conclusion. Between the first round on June 26 and Tuesdays final results, a dozen incumbents  all Republicans, and all but one of them House members  lost primary or runoff races.

Such turnover is unprecedented for any recent decade, let alone year, and seemed to mark a dramatic shift in the Oklahoma Republican Party.

Each of those defeated Tuesday had, in some manner, earned the wrath of public education supporters during last springs occupation of the state Capitol.

Last spring, state representative Jeff Coody told students in his districts that their teachers demands were akin to extortion. On Tuesday night, GOP voters returned Coody to the private sector. His colleague, Bobby Cleveland  who scolded teachers for whining at the Capitol instead of teaching in their classrooms  will now be taking a hiatus from politics. Last November, State Representative Tess Teague mocked the ignorance of protesters who were demanding tax hikes on fracking companies  in a Snapchat video that made heavy use of animal filters.

Sooner voters just gave Teague a lot more time to spend with her social media accounts.

Representative George Faught of Muskogee had won five terms in the statehouse on the strength of his unwavering support for minimizing Harold Hamms tax bills. He lost his bid for a sixth to a political neophyte who credited the teachers strike for inspiring his campaign. I walked with the teachers every day during the walkout  I worked to find out what issues they faced, the new GOP nominee for House District 14 told the Muskogee Phoenix Tuesday night. I think if you want to fix issues, you have to talk to the people on the front lines.

Oklahomas historic primary season was no aberration. Last year, Democrats in the Sooner State won a series of special election upsets by speaking to popular outrage over disinvestment in education. In Kentucky this past May, a public school teacher defeated the states Republican House Majority Leader Jonathan Snell in a GOP primary. Snell had been considered a rising star in his party, and a protege of Mitch McConnell. But he decided to spearhead a push to slash teachers pensions. So Kentucky teachers expelled him from office.

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker is facing the toughest challenge of his tenure  from the Democratic superintendent of the states schools. As the Koch brothers favorite governor falls behind in the polls, Walker has rebranded himself as the pro-education candidate. Meanwhile, back in Oklahoma, Mary Fallins 19 percent approval rating is giving Democrats a serious chance of reclaiming the Sooner States governors mansion this fall.

One could attribute these developments to the demonstrable failure of the red state model. The GOP promised voters in states like Kansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma that small government would bring them extraordinary economic growth, and effortlessly balanced budgets; instead they delivered four-day school weeks, crumbling roads, and slightly larger McMansions in the gated-off parts of town. Over the past four decades, conservatives succeeded at whittling away voters expectations of what the government owes them as citizens. But the post-Reagan Republicans couldnt quite convince voters that their children werent entitled to a quality K12 education  and have proven equally incapable of reconciling that entitlement with their movements theological commitment to ever-lower taxes. Eventually, something was going to give.

But it was never certain that red-state voters most rudimentary expectations of the public sector wouldnt be that something  and it still isnt. Karma is not an operative force in American politics; on most occasions, the democratic will isnt either. The tea partys governing failures dont guarantee its imminent collapse  but they do create an opportunity for the conservative movements enemies to launch a few wrecking balls in its direction.

And last night in Oklahoma, teachers left the GOPs House caucus covered in debris.The White House isnt big enough for two Dons. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Don McGahn, the White House counsel and one of the most enduring figures in a volatile West Wing, will make his exit from the Trump administration this fall, the president tweeted Wednesday morning. The announcement came as a surprise to McGahn, whose exit will come after Brett Kavanaughs likely confirmation to the Supreme Court, Trump tweeted.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

According to a report from Axios, McGahn would like to be succeeded by Emmet Flood, the attorney who represented President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial and joined Trumps legal team to represent the president and the administration against the Russia witch hunt, as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders put it in May.

McGahn is credited with curating the list of potential Supreme Court picks released by Trump during his campaign, a move made to reassure conservatives worried about who Trump would appoint to replace Antonin Scalia. Lately, McGahns been credited with leading an aggressive campaign to reshape not only the Supreme Court but the entire federal judiciary. That may explain why Trumps tweet about McGahns coming exit elicited this shocked response from Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley.

@realDonaldTrump I hope its not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U cant let that happen  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) August 29, 2018

News of McGahns impending departure comes days after Vanity Fair reported that he has clashed with Trump over a potential pardon for Paul Manafort. According to the report, Trump is considering replacing McGahn with someone who will draft a pardon for the recently convicted Manafort.

Trumps apparent souring on McGahn also comes less than two weeks after the New York Times revealed that the lawyer cooperated extensively with Robert Muellers probe into Russian election interference. The Times reported that McGahn has spent 30 hours speaking with Muellers team and offered insight that only he could.

Mr. McGahn described the presidents fury toward the Russia investigation and the ways in which he urged Mr. McGahn to respond to it. He provided the investigators examining whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice a clear view of the presidents most intimate moments with his lawyer.

While the Times presented McGahns cooperation as a unusual, Trump tweeted that it was all a part of the unprecedented level of transparency his administration has had with regards to the Russia investigation.

I allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn, and all other requested members of the White House Staff, to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel. In addition we readily gave over one million pages of documents. Most transparent in history. No Collusion, No Obstruction. Witch Hunt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018

McGahn has edged toward the White House exits before. In January, he reportedly threatened to quit after Trump ordered Muellers firing. Then in March, Politico ran an article that said he was still eager to exit the White House. Problem was, Trump couldnt find anyone to replace him.A Yemeni child stands next to the remains of a bus destroyed in a Saudi-led airstrike on August 10, 2018. Photo: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

At least twice in the past month, airstrikes by the U.S.-backed coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen have resulted in the deaths of innocent children. While the humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been ongoing for several years, these high-profile tragedies are finally calling Americans attention to the fact that we might be abetting war crimes there.

On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned Saudi Arabia, which is leading the coalition along with the United Arab Emirates, that U.S. support for their military intervention against the Iran-backed Houthis was not unconditional and could be reduced if they do not do everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life.

Mattiss threat comes as the Trump administration faces growing pressure from military leaders, Congress, human rights groups, and the international community to either compel our allies to clean up their act or cut them loose.

Earlier this month, an investigative report found that the coalition was cutting deals with Al-Qaeda militants to help them fight the Houthis. On Monday, Lieutenant General Jeffrey L. Harrigian, the top American air commander in the Middle East, publicly criticized the coalition for not being transparent about a strike that hit a school bus earlier this month and killed some 40 children. A Human Rights Watch report last week concluded that the internal investigations being carried out by the coalitions Joint Incidents Assessment Team failed to provide credible, impartial, and transparent investigations into alleged coalition laws-of-war violations.

On top of all that, a U.N. report published on Tuesday found that the Saudis and Emiratis were doing nothing to prevent or minimize civilian casualties in their air campaign, for which the U.S. has been providing air refueling and some intelligence support. Furthermore, the report found evidence that the coalition had engaged in various other atrocities, including rape, torture, and the use of child soldiers.

The U.N. report accuses the Houthi rebels of committing potential war crimes as well, but coalition airstrikes were found to be causing the majority of civilian casualties  in many instances with planes and/or bombs purchased from the U.S.

The report has given fresh ammunition to congressional critics of our involvement in the Yemen conflict, like Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who tweeted out the report with the comment, There it is. WAR CRIMES. Funded and facilitated by the United States. Despite Mattiss assertions that the Pentagon was taking a tougher line with the Saudis, he also reaffirmed their right to self-defense and did not raise the prospect of cutting off support entirely, much less curtailing sales of American arms to Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.

Whatever effort Mattis is making to scold the Saudis into behaving themselves is unlikely to bear much fruit, considering the lack of moral standing the U.S. has on this particular issue. As a former senior U.S. intelligence official put it in comments to Al-Monitor: There is great frustration on the Saudi side that a country that fought a war in Iraq for 20 years and turned Raqqa and Mosul to rubble is telling the Saudis what to do in a country thats on their border three years in  They know theyre one lucky shot from having a missile from Yemen hitting their own preschool in Jazan.

Saudi state media outlets, meanwhile, are praising the coalitions peace efforts in Yemen and touting the dispatch of some aid trucks to the embattled Red Sea port of Hodeidah, where much of the latest fighting and associated civilian misery has taken place. Saudi officials have accused the U.N. of bias, even though the report concluded that the Houthis were also at fault. All in all, our ally is not sounding terribly contrite.

Even if Mattis decides to scale back support for the coalition, its not clear that his boss will sign off on such a move. President Donald Trump has been highly solicitous of Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., which he sees as important allies against Iran. In his expansive signing statement on the National Defense Authorization Act earlier this month, Trump swept aside a provision requiring his government to stop assisting in the campaign unless Mattis can authorize that the coalition is making good-faith efforts to avoid civilian casualties and improve the humanitarian situation. He also struck out a section requiring the appointment of an officer to develop standards for tracking and reducing civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations.

Lawmakers opposed to our involvement in Yemen, like Murphy and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, want to know whether the U.S. is directly complicit in the airstrikes that are hitting illegal civilian targets. Unfortunately for them, Lieutenant General Harrigian explained in a recent interview with Defense News, tracking where our weapons end up being used is complicated, and sometimes our involvement in a specific coalition action is hard to measure. Either way, lawmakers are unlikely to get their questions answered.

Nonetheless, it is beyond dispute that the U.S. supplies Saudi Arabia and the UAE with billions of dollars worth of arms, that both countries are serial violators of human rights, and that they are engaged in a war that is hardly a clear-cut, proportional act of self-defense. Those facts alone should call into question the legality of our support for their military activities under the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act. Indeed, the Obama administration banned the sale of precision-guided weapons to Saudi Arabia in response to its documented human rights abuses  a ban the Trump administration was quick to overturn last year.

Theres a bigger-picture reason, however, why Mattiss efforts are too little, too late: With or without our direct assistance, the Saudis and Emiratis have already purchased enough American-made firepower to keep bombing Yemeni schoolchildren for years to come. In that respect, our complicity is already set in and impossible to wash out. Furthermore, theres little reason to believe the U.S. government or American companies will stop taking their money anytime soon.

In March, the State Department approved a $670 million sale to Saudi Arabia of some 6,700 Raytheon anti-tank missiles. (In a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the time, Mattis flattered Saudi Arabia as part of the solution in Yemen). Thats just a drop in the bucket of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of arms sales the U.S. intends to make to Saudi Arabia under an agreement signed during Trumps visit to Riyadh last year.

Whether or not those deals ultimately come through (and many of them will not), the Trump administration has been crystal clear about its preference to sell more weaponry to these countries, not less. It is difficult to imagine an economic populist like Trump, with his special affinity for Saudi Arabias authoritarian leadership, passing up the opportunity to enrich the U.S. by selling bombs to his buddies to drop on Iranian proxies in some shithole country.

Taking a broader view of the problem, U.S. arms flow to Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich troublemakers in the Gulf under Republican and Democratic presidents alike, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Thats because weapons manufacturers and defense contractors employ hundreds of thousands of Americans, so these sales are easily pitched to working-class voters as home runs for U.S. industry and by extension, their livelihoods.

Once the rockets ship out, who cares where they come down? Thats not our department.Trump. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

This morning, the president got mad about something he saw on TV again. Last night, Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs highlighted a report from PJ Media that says that 96 percent of news results returned when you Google the president are from National Left-Wing media.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD, he wrote. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?

Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good, he continued. He promised to address the very serious situation.

There is a slight kernel of truth in the presidents rage-posting, the idea that Google is controlling what we can & cannot see. More than four out of five web searches run through Google, and getting highly ranked within Google can make or break businesses.

But the rest of what Trump is parroting from the PJ Media report is ridiculous. Here is the very scientific test that PJ Media correspondent Paula Bolyard conducted, in her own words:

To test the premise, I performed a Google search for Trump using the search engines News tab and analyzed the results using Sharyl Attkissons media bias chart.

That media-bias chart, to put things in perspective, features conspiracy theorists and lunatic fringe outlets like Infowars and Gateway Pundit, who are less likely to be listed in Google News. It also says the New York Times is more left-leaning than BuzzFeed and literally features Google as one of its media outlets (also on the left). Perhaps the problem with Bolyards experiment is using Attkissons flawed chart as a baseline.

Other things to note: Bolyard used Googles News tool, which is separate from its search engine and not subject to the same personalization system, and its unclear by what criterion she classified each result as pro- or anti-Trump. Its not a stretch to say that merely stating the Trump administrations actions is enough to make it look bad.

In the Oval Office later, Trump expanded on this mornings comments.

President Trump: "I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook they're really treading on very very troubled territory. And they have to be careful. It's not fair to large portions of the population" pic.twitter.com/yK8Vg1iBJB  CSPAN (@cspan) August 28, 2018

I think Google is really taking advantage of a lot of people, and I think thats a very serious thing, and its a very serious charge. I think what Google and what others are doing  if you look at whats going on at Twitter, if you look at whats going on in Facebook  they better be careful, because you  Cant do that to people. You cant do it. We have tremendous  We have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in, and you just cant do that. So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, theyre really treading on very, very troubled territory, and they have to be careful. Its not fair to large portions of the population.

Like most of Trumps grievances, its difficult to know what vague action he is threatening, but the conservative anger against tech platforms is growing, even as those platforms proclaim to love free speech and try their best to appease the politicians in power. Government intervention in how these platforms operate would also be tough to square with the GOPs stated love of free speech and private enterprise. Which is all to say that when the president claims that thousands and thousands are being oppressed, hes really only talking about one person.Put it on, let it dry, and let er rip. Photo: ullstein bild Dtl./ullstein bild via Getty Images

You may not have heard of the Korean beauty product known as the worlds most painful mask. I certainly hadnt until I bought it (even though I worked as the grooming director of a national mens magazine). The Milky Piggy Hell-Pore Clean Up Mask is a favorite of the YouTube beauty community, though, with video titles like MOST PAINFUL MASK EVER?! and HELL NO! The Hell Pore Mask FAIL, featuring people using the face mask amid tears, screams, and general terror. Of course, with no pain no gain ringing in my ears, I got to work using the mask immediately.

The Clean Up mask is a peel-off, meaning that unlike other face masks that you leave on and then wash off, you slather this one on and allow it to dry for 15 minutes before ripping it off like a Band-Aid. Out of the tube, the goop smells a bit like industrial adhesive (called acrylate polymer, which I confirmed with the aid of Google Translate, since the writing on the tube is all in Korean). Maybe its because Im used to the sensation of these masks, but I have to say, its really not that painful. Even after I ripped the mask off in one full sheet, I kept waiting for torment that never came.

What I did experience, though, was an incredibly thorough mask. I dont know what the acrylate polymer is (the plastic seems to be a fairly common beauty ingredient, so maybe something else is at work), but my face has never felt so clean. Whenever I use it, every single blackhead on my face is gone  my pores become microscopic, like Ive taken a Dyson to them. Inspecting the dried mask is like an aerial view of a forest of grime: The entire underside of the mask gets speckled with black dirt and dried sebum. Its disgusting and satisfying all at the same time.

The Clean Up mask is now the strongest thing in my medicine cabinet; I save it for just once a week (the most my sensitive skin can handle) and the occasions when I know Im going to be photographed. Ten bucks  and a little pain  is a small price to pay for the best skin of my life.

More Strat-approved face masks

Naruko Amazing Mask Set (5 pieces) $15 Another set of masks Rio loves: I dont know what is in this mask, but if I put it on before bed, I wake up in the morning looking super radiant, like Ive never had a pore in my life. If that doesnt sell it to you, I dont know what will. Raw Jaw is a mystery ingredient Ive only ever seen in Taiwanese products  again, dont know exactly what it is, but I believe in its powers. $15 at Amazon Buy $15 at Amazon Buy

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Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.McCain died of brain cancer on Saturday at age 81 in his home state of Arizona. Jeff Flake, his fellow Arizona Republican, called McCain "the conscience of the Senate".

A Navy aviator, McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam before serving 35 years in Congress and running twice for president in 2000 and 2008.

The flag atop the White House flew at half-staff over the weekend in recognition of McCain's death but was raised Monday and then lowered again amid criticism.

Former President Barack Obama ordered the flags to be lowered for an extended period of time to honor the death of Sen.

Speaking to reporters after writing in a book of condolences, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink said McCain was "a great leader and real hero" who helped normalize relations between the former enemies.

The patent contempt the two men displayed for each other showed no sign of fading, even as McCain continued to weaken.

"The damage inflicted by President Trump's naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is hard to calculate", he said. If those plans hold, McCain will be sending a clear final message to Trump, after making clear when he was alive that he saw the President's demeanor, populist style and global outlook as antithetical to America's founding values and global role.

Goodman: Dan will be 'sad because his wife's dead' on 'The Conners'

John Goodman said Roseanne Barr's Roseanne character will be killed off in The Conners spinoff this fall. Representatives for ABC did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment.

Trump said Vice-President Pence would address a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Friday.

In 1994, the US Senate approved a resolution sponsored by McCain and Senator John Kerry, calling to end the economic sanction against Vietnam, paving the way for the normalisation of relations between the two countries one year later.

Throughout the weekend, Arizona politicos across all levels of government offered remembrances of McCain.

"If the president put out a flowery statement about John McCain's life, the media would criticize it and say it's not consistent with the other things he's said in the past, and it would become a story about the president", Short said during an appearance on CNN. He also tweeted insults about the senator on several occasions.

FILE - John McCain is administered to in a Hanoi, Vietnam hospital as a prisoner of war in the fall of 1967.

McCain hit back after a tape of Trump making vile comments about women - the "grab 'em by the p***y" scandal - emerged.

Ward replied: "I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that is negative to me". And, McCain once told The Atlantic, things were tense from the moment that Trump won the White House, saying, "I called him the week after the election to congratulate him".Bitmain, Canaan Inc., and Ebang International Holdings, three of the most well-known and largest producers of crypto-mining gear on the planet, are looking to go public, and the timing couldnt be worse. With bitcoins less-than-stellar performance this year and uncertainty beginning to weigh on the Chinese tech sector as a whole, there is no doubt the trio will be facing an uphill battle.

While Canaan and Ebang have already shaved off hundreds of millions in their targeted valuations since their initial filings, Bitmain, which is expected to reveal its plans next month, has found itself caught in a flurry of controversial news.

Bitmains lofty goals, and the ambitions that go with it, are quickly fading. Its had a tough month, and it only seems to be getting worse by the day.

Imaginary investors, bitcoin cash and misleading financials

Bitmains onslaught of less-than-flattering press began with a report of the companys supposedly successful pre-IPO funding round. The report suggested that Bitmain secured $1 billion in investments from DST Global, Tencent and SoftBank - a claim that was quickly called into question and later debunked when all three companies denied involvement.

To make matters more complicated, Bitmains financials revealed the mining giant may have misled potential investors in the pre-IPO funding round by not providing a clear picture of the companys profitability.

Why is Bitmain raising capital so fast & only showing Q1 results to pre-IPO investors? We're well into Q3 now. The reason is Q2 was a disaster. Bitmain is sitting on a massive $1.24 billion USD in inventory & S9 prices dropped by ~85%! Q2 losses range in the $600-700 millions. pic.twitter.com/fVYcDRTvBp  Samson Mow (@Excellion) August 13, 2018

Additionally, the investment deck highlighted a worrying stake in bitcoin cash. With over 1 million BCH in holdings purchased at $900 per coin, the company has effectively lost half a billion dollars in the past three months. More troubling, however, is that because its holdings in the cryptocurrency are so high, a swift exit would not be possible without sustaining even greater losses due to the illiquidity of the asset. According to the Bitmain pre-IPO investor deck, they sold most of their #Bitcoin for #Bcash. At $900/BCH, they've bled half a billion in the last 3 months. If Bitcoin Core devs didn't disclose the Bcash vulnerability, it could've wiped a billion dollars off their balance sheets. pic.twitter.com/9BMywdvvby  Samson Mow (@Excellion) August 11, 2018 Though Bitmains BCH holdings should come as no surprise considering CEO Jihan Wus stance on the subject, it certainly presents a problem for would-be investors who do not agree that BCH is the real bitcoin.

The unfolding drama is not without recourse, either.

Singapore-based Temasek, which holds over $308 billion in assets, is rumored to be considering an exit from its pre-IPO funding commitment citing the companys misleading financials.

Breaking: China sources report Bitmain has some $560 mln in commitments for this pre-IPO round. Key investor is @Temasek threatening to withdraw due to Jihan misrepresenting info. Jihan is on calls trying to salvage deal. Chances of the deal breaking up is extremely high now!  BTCKING555 (@btcking555) August 22, 2018

While the withdrawal isnt set in stone just yet, sources suggest that the collapse of the deal is very likely.

A withdrawal from Temasek, one of Bitmains largest investors, could lead others to follow.

Bitmain is losing its tech edge

The misleading financial may have been just the beginning, however.

A report from market research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. brought into question Bitmains technical edge which allowed it to corner the mining market in recent years. Related: Cannabis Stock Valuations Are Spiraling Out Of Control

The competitiveness of Bitmains chips is in question, the report stated, adding, The Beijing-based company, co-founded by 32-year-old billionaire Jihan Wu, may need to write down the value of its inventory as makers of rival mining gear catch up.

Chinese financial publication, Caijing, weighed in, as well, with a scathing review of the Bitmain IPO drama.

In addition to the smoke and mirrors move on investors in the pre-IPO funding round, Caijing suggested the only reason for Bitmains notable success in recent years was due to Yan Zuo Xings chip designs. And since Yang left the company to begin his own competing mining company, ShenMa, Bitmain has struggled to remain relevant.

Samson Mow added to the critique, Three Bitmain teams abandoned the company in recent weeks: one group from operations and manufacturing, & two groups from their chip design division. One of those groups is actively trying to raise capital to compete with Bitmain. They approached a friend of mine. #BitmainIPO

Another review of Bitmains technical prowess written by Allen Guo of 2048 capital and translated by Samson Mow, CSO of Blockstream, tackles the companys lack of new developments in its cornerstone Antminer product line, non-competitive power consumption, failed chips and the mysterious disappearance of a rival company.

According to a note in the piece, Bitmain was not particularly happy about the article, requesting that it be removed on more than one occasion.

Related: What Does Capitalism Look Like In North Korea?

The reports carry additional weight following the companys release of a Monero mining rig back in March. According to reports, the company sold the $12,000 rig with the full understanding that it would be obsolete before the product shipped to customers.

Conclusion

Bitmain is an iconic company within the crypto-space, and certainly as controversial as any other in the limelight. It has seen tremendous success over the past couple of years, but the skeletons are finally starting to emerge from the closet.

With the blitz of problematic news coming to light, the most worrying dilemma may be the impact on the crypto-space as a whole.

Bitmain owns the three largest mining pools, accounting for over 40 percent of the Bitcoin networks total hash rate. And with Jihan Wus affinity towards Bitcoin Cash and tendency for less-than-diplomatic negotiating tactics, going public with the company opens the doors to a whole slew of potential problems.

By Michael Kern via Crypto Insider

More Top Reads From Safehaven.comThe idea of offering a service to break up with girlfriends and boyfriends without all the emotional hassle is already a fairly booming business, but what you might not know is that its rather successfully extending into another area: resignations.

Quitting jobs can be a soul-crushing hassle. Were here to provide a sense of relief by taking on that burden, said Toshiyuki Niino, co-founder of Senshi S LLC, a startup that quits a job for its clients.

The company operates Exit, a service that mediates an employees plans to resign for a fixed fee of $450 for full-time employees and $360 for part-time workers. Theres also a great deal for frequent quitters: Returning clients get a $90 discount.

In the one year since Senshi (Warrior) launched, it has mediated the resignations of some 1,000 clients. Its not a huge number, but the company says requests are now surging, perhaps in part because American job-hopping is becoming more prevalent in this favorable economy.

Senshi says its not just a messenger; rather, its a link between unsatisfied workers and employer. And there are no legal services involved. This is how it works, quite simply: Exit contacts the employer and notifies them of the clients intention to resign and relays any other requests the client may have, including using up any paid leave or vacation time before heading out the door. In other wordsthey bring up all the issues everyones too uncomfortable to address.

Most of their clients, according to Exit, hired them because they were worried that when their intentions were made known, their employers might persuade them to stay on. Related: Cannabis Stock Valuations Are Spiraling Out Of Control

Unlike in the U.S. and Western Europe, Japan's work culture for decades revolved around the idea that people should spend their entire careers working for the same company. In comparison, the U.S. doesnt have the same sense of workplace loyalty: The average person changes jobs ten to 15 times during his or her career.

Japan also has a work a culture where overtime is expected of an employee. In fact, there is even a single word for the situation in which someone dies of overwork. Its called karoshi.

In its first white paper on karoshi from 2016, the Japanese government said one in five employees were at risk of death from overwork.

In another report examining karoshi cases, researchers found that more than 20 percent of people in a survey of 10,000 Japanese workers said they worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month. In the US, 16.4 percent of people work an average of 49 hours or longer each week. Half of all Japanese respondents said they don't take paid vacations.

However, things are changing in Japan as well. Amid a tight job market and an improving economy, more workers are becoming emboldened to switch jobs, attracted by higher salaries and increasingly fewer hours.

According to the Japanese Labor Ministry, the number of people changing jobs rose for the seventh straight year in 2016 to 3.06 million.

According to data from earlier this year, there were 158 jobs for every 100 applicants, near a 44-year high, and unemployment is at a low 2.5 percent.

Related: What Does Capitalism Look Like In North Korea?

The average worker in Japan had been at one company for about 12 years, compared with an average 8.6 years in the United Kingdom.

While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticswhile reporting is differentthe median figure for average employee tenure was 4 years in 2016, down from 4.6 years in January 2014.

As for Senshi S LLC, the startup is also looking beyond just helping workers quit. Its about exitand entry. It hopes to help them find new jobs, too and close the circle. Eventually, the startup plans to use data collected from clients to launch a staffing service. So what they take away from an employer, they might be able to give back in the end.

So far, so good. There is reportedly some interest in Exit from a venture capital firm, so we might be looking at Exit, Inc. in the near future if all goes well.

By Michael Scott for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.comThank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.Singapore lists six stocks with a market capitalisation above S$1 billion that maintain a significant Agriculture business. Swings of the six stocks in recent years have coincided with swings of international agriculture commodity prices.

Institutions have been net buyers of four of the six stocks over the first seven months of 2018. Overall the six stocks were together subject to net buy inflows totalling S$81 million, led by inflows into Wilmar International, Japfa and Olam International.

In the 2018 YTD, the six stocks averaged 4% gains compared to the global agriculture benchmarks generating marginal declines. Four of the six reported net profit growth in 2QFY18 & Japfas stock performance is the strongest of the six in the 2018 YTD.

Bilateral trade between ASEAN and China over recent years not only provides a gauge on the impact of Chinas economic structural transition coupled with deleveraging, it has shown that consumer demand in ASEAN has remained robust.

Growth of the Agricultural Sector

The ASEAN population is projected to be near 670 million by 2020 with 70% of the population below the age of 40. The ASEAN region is also a major producer and exporter of palm oil, crude rubber, rice, sugar, seafood and fruits. This is highlighted by ASEAN CSR (click here for more) that add Agriculture is a way of life in ASEAN, with eight out of 10 countries in ASEAN dependent on agriculture and its production.

As noted by ANZ in March, Agri-land area makes up 30% of total land area in the ASEAN region. Furthermore the ANZ research (click here) shows that around 60% of ASEANs agriculture consumption increase is expected to be driven by income growth, whereas population growth will account for 40%.

Billionaire Stocks with an Agriculture & ASEAN Focus

Singapore lists six stocks with a market capitalisation above S$1 billion that maintain a significant Agriculture business. The six stocks Wilmar International, Olam International, Golden Agri-Resources, First Resources, Japfa and Bumitama Agri have a combined market capitalisation of S$35.8 billion. Many of these stocks have exposures across Asia in addition to ASEAN.

Story continues

In the last FY, Wilmar International reported 20% of its revenue to South East Asia, Golden Agri-Resources reported 15% of its revenue to Indonesia, First Resources reported 24% of its revenue to Indonesia (and remainder to Singapore), Japfa reported 82% of its revenue to Indonesia and 11% of its revenue to Vietnam , while Bumitama Agri reported all its revenue to Indonesia. Olam International reported a third of its FY17 revenue to Asia, Middle East and Australia.

Comparative Performances

Together the swings of the six largest capitalised stocks have coincided with swings of Agriculture commodity prices as represented by the Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index (click here for more).

Comparative Total Returns (in SGD terms)

28aug

As illustrated above, in the 2018 year thus far the six stocks with a significant agriculture business have averaged 4% gains compared the Bloomberg Agriculture spot Index which generated a marginal decline.

The individual performances of the six stocks are tabled below. To see more details on each stock in SGX StockFacts click on the stock name.

Institutions have also been net buyers of four of the six stocks over the first seven months of 2018. Overall the six stocks were subject to net buy inflows totalling S$81 million, led by inflows into Wilmar International, Japfa and Olam International.

Recent Financial Highlights

The financial year of all six stocks coincides with calendar years. Hence all six stocks have reported for the 2QFY18 (ending 30 June). Four of the six stocks reported profit growth in its 2QFY18:

Wilmar International reported an almost tenfold YoY increase in core net profit to US$351.8 million for its 2QFY18. The improvement was driven by stronger performance from the Oilseeds & Grains and Tropical Oils segments, as well as enhanced contributions from the Groups associates (click here for more).

Olam International noted its recent financial performance was satisfactory across the business, and must be seen against the particularly strong performance in the same period last year. Olams Executive Director and COO Mr A Shekhar noted its 2QFY18 results were impacted by the continued down cycle in Coffee, unprecedented weather conditions in peanut farming in Argentina and lower contribution from Edible Oils (click here for more).

Golden Agri-Resources reported softer year-on-year results across the segments mostly due to declining CPO prices (click here for more). For its product segments, the company noted that 2QFY18 fruit production saw strong QoQ growth of 16%.

First Resources reported its softer financial performance in its 1HFY18 was supported by a strong 2QFY18 which was boosted by higher production volumes, which meant net profit for 2QFY18 increased 55.2% YoY (click here for more).

Japfa reported a YoY turnaround in its Core PATMI without Forex of US$38.7 million on Turnover of US$901.0 million for 2Q 2018 (click here for more). The company noted strong contributions from PT Japfa Tbk arising from higher sales volume and margins across all poultry businesses.

Bumitama Agri reported its 2QFY18 and 1HFY18 saw the Group record an increase in net profit after tax of 34.3% to IDR 453 billion and 10.2% to IDR 726 billion, respectively. The improved net profit was mainly attributable to higher sales volume from the recovery in palm production during the period. Click here for more.

Valuations

Over the past five years the six stocks with a significant agriculture business averaged five year Return on Equity (ROE) of 9.7%, in addition to an average Price-to-Book (P/B) ratio of 1.34x. Currently the average P/B ratio for the six stocks is aligned with the five year average at 1.34x. Five of the six stocks currently average a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio of 13.9x.Speaking after the meeting, Mr Salvini said the two countries were "close to a historic breakthrough on a continental level" regarding migration, as he praised Hungary as a model case study for Italy when it came to economic and migration policy. "In short, the message being sent is that Europe is open and that we have to care for everyone who comes illegally and will disperse them amongst us", Babis said.

Hungary has proved that the flow of migrants could be stopped both "legally and physically", while Italy is demonstrating that the maritime migrant entry points could also be closed.

Salvini urged Macron to stop turning back migrants who try to enter France at the Ventimiglia border crossing with Italy.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a farewell ceremony at the Royal Theatre on August 29, 2018 in Copenhagen. However, Salvini demanded that they immediately be taken in by other European Union countries.

Last week, Italian prosectors announced that Mr Salvini was under investigation for refusing to allow coast guard ship the Diciotti to dock with 150 rescued migrants, Mr Salvini said he was not phased by the investigation. According to a study carried out by research body Instituto Cattaneo, 70 per cent of Italians believe that the percentage of non-EU immigrants among Italy's population of 60.5 million is almost four times that recorded by Eurostat - seven percent as of the start of 2017. It is disappointing to see how meetings and summits are held but in the end there is always very little respect shown towards Italy and Greece, " the Albanian PM said.

Bob Costas looking to exit NBC after disappearing from sports coverage

As it stands now, NBC is paying Costas seven figures per year in a "Tom Brokaw-like" emeritus role to pitch in when needed. Costas joined NBC in 1979 and has worked as the lead announcer at the Super Bowl, World Series and Olympics.

Salvini has repeatedly accusing the European Union of having abandoned Italy, where more than 700,000 migrants have arrived from Libya since 2013.

Salvini, who is also co-deputy prime minister and leader of the nationalist League party, has taken pot shots at "globalists" like billionaire Hungarian philanthropist George Soros - one of Orban's targets - and Macron.

But Five Star includes within its broad political ranks a left-wing faction uncomfortable with the party's alliance with Salvini.

A further 27 unaccompanied minors and 13 people needing urgent hospital treatment had earlier been allowed ashore in Italy, whose government had threatened to cut funds to the European Union unless other states took in the migrants.A Peking University official claimed Beijing pressured it to ban two Hong Kong human rights lawyers from teaching a law course there, one of the barristers concerned said on Tuesday.

Cheung Yiu-leung and Hector Pun had been teaching a module on judicial review and a citizens fundamental personal rights at the university since 2011.

During an interview with online radio station D100, Cheung said the universitys course coordinator, law professor Jiang Shigong, told the citys Bar Association the decision to replace the lawyers came from above.

From what Jiang told the person in charge from the Bar, he seems to feel wronged, Cheung said. [He said:] We couldnt let the two [lawyers] come to Beijing, as we faced great pressure from [Beijings] liaison office and [State Councils] Hong Kong and Macau office.

Two senior legal sources from the association confirmed that Jiang gave the same explanation to the professional body.

Philip Dykes, the associations chairman, would not speculate on whether the two offices in Beijing responsible for Hong Kong affairs were behind the row.

My impression is that the decision is not entirely to Peking Universitys liking, Dykes said.

Jiang and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office have yet to reply to questions from the Post about the matter.

Meanwhile, the liaison office said any questions should be posted to them, and they could not comment before they had received them.

The module was part of a memorandum of understanding in 2017 between the association and the university, which called for an adjustment in the relationship.

News of the universitys decision to bar the pair first emerged on Monday, when Dykes revealed it had told the association not to send Cheung and Pun to teach the course this year.

Dykes was also refused permission to attend a closing ceremony for the course in Beijing in June.

In response, this month the association announced it had decided to suspend the course indefinitely. A separate course on arbitration at the university however was not affected.

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Two sources confirmed that Peking University only asked for the pair to be replaced, although the association has always decided who to send, and what to teach.

Several other association members have been cleared to continue teaching other modules including trade dispute resolution, general legal systems, and interpretation of law.

The association did offer to send Dykes and another leading human rights law scholar, Johannes Chan Man-mun, instead, but that was rejected by the university.

In contrast, Jiang told Chinese news media that the course instructor, and contents, changed every year, and it had been decided not to have a closing ceremony.

Cheung and Pun have worked on human rights issues in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

Pun has represented social activists, including ousted lawmakers Long Hair Leung Kwok-hung and Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang. Cheung is a past vice-chairman of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group.

Cheung, who has volunteered to teach the course since its inception since 2011, said mainland authorities had always been well aware of his human rights work. The change, he said, could be related to Dykes, a liberal, being elected Bar Association chairman in January.

The past chairman was noticeably more Beijing-friendly, while Dykes was not, plus his human rights advocacy background, may explain why they were not so friendly [to the Bar], Cheung said.



Before the incident, he said, the university had never intervened or reminded barristers what they should teach.

For all these years we taught freely, and we appreciated the need to respect [the mainland], so we only taught about Hong Kongs common law concept, Cheung said. Never did we bring up one-party leadership, or whether the judiciary was independent on the mainland.

Even if part of the course was about the concept of public law, including judicial review against the government, it was entirely up to barristers from the association to teach and mark the papers.

For instance, Pun, who taught judicial review and shared some of his cases with students, deliberately avoided bringing up the case of pro-independence activist Baggio Leung, who was ousted from Legco over improper oath-taking in 2017.

Things started to change in late 2017.

According to a memorandum of understanding from June 2017 between the association and the university obtained by the Post, the third lecture taught by Pun and Cheung needed to be adjusted to avoid being duplicated to rest of the course.

Senior counsel Paul Lam Ting-kwok, the then association chairman, said the adjustment referred to the content, but could not remember which part. He declined to comment further.

Under the agreement, Peking University would be responsible for 40 per cent of marking and had an equal say in granting students Bar Association scholarships.

In exchange, the university would gradually offer teaching positions to barristers depending on their performance.

Dykes said he was not aware of the memorandum, and would not comment.

This article Beijing put pressure on Peking University to stop Hong Kong human rights lawyers teaching course on mainland, barrister says first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.China aims for sustainable debt with Africa as Belt and Road Initiative comes under fire from West

Beijing will adopt a more sustainable model for debt with African countries, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday in an apparent bid to address growing criticism of the countrys global infrastructure drive.

Ahead of next weeks China-Africa summit in the Chinese capital, vice-minister of commerce Qian Keming also said Beijing would work to ensure that its projects on the continent met real needs.

As the next step, we will discuss with African countries about how to promote a sustainable model for debt, Qian said.

China has come under increasing scrutiny over its New Silk Road infrastructure drive known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Concerns have mounted over high-cost, low-performing infrastructure projects, raising the fear of debt-trap diplomacy in which unpaid loans are forgiven for strategic gains.

Qian said China was not the biggest creditor in Africa but Beijing would nonetheless make stronger efforts to ensure projects were effective.

In general, according to the statistics we have, most of [African countries] debt is not caused by China, he said.

We need to focus on selecting projects that are effective and can create more jobs, revenue and exports, Qian said, adding that Chinese projects were also expected to create more than 900,000 jobs across the continent.

China has been the biggest trading partner with Africa for the last nine years, with a trading volume of US$170 billion in 2017.

But in places like Kenya, China is also the biggest lender, accounting for 72 per cent of the African countrys bilateral debt by the end of March and dwarfing the amount owed to France, Kenyas next largest lending partner, according to the Nairobi-based Business Daily newspaper.

Overall, China accounts for over 21 per cent of Kenyas external debt.

Qian said China would focus less on providing aid and more on projects that would strengthen each borrowing countrys ability to develop independently in the long run.

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Those efforts would include developing key infrastructure projects, training local workers, and sharing Chinas experience of operating industrial parks and attracting investment.

The official also attacked the Wests approach in Africa, saying that unlike China, Western countries did little to build infrastructure to boost industry.

Qians comments add to Beijings growing efforts to defend its flagship initiative amid international criticism. They came a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping said the belt and road was an economic initiative and not an attempt to create a China club.

Chinese analysts said the international criticism reflected growing mistrust of the programme in the West, and a more urgent need for China to review its approach.

There are indeed some Chinese companies that have become too focused on chasing profits, said Li Weijian, director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. With all the talk about neocolonialism, China needs to prevent itself from repeating the same mistakes made by the West in the past.

Pang Zhongying, an international relations expert at Ocean University of China, said next weeks summit would be a test of how China responded to external criticism.

It is inevitable that as China becomes more active on the world stage and seeks a bigger role in representing developing countries, there will be more scrutiny, Pang said.

China will not change its overall goal and direction  but it will adjust its approach according to the changing circumstances.

This article China aims for sustainable debt with Africa as Belt and Road Initiative comes under fire from West first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.China is helping Afghanistan to set up a mountain brigade in the countrys north to boost counterterrorism efforts, the Afghan embassy in Beijing said on Wednesday.

But there will be no Chinese military personnel of any kind on Afghan soil at any time, the embassy said in a fax to the South China Morning Post.

The embassy said the Afghan government appreciated Chinas assistance and that the countries militaries were working in close coordination, without giving further details.

Sources close to the Chinese military earlier told the Post that China had funded and started building a training camp for Afghan troops in Afghanistans isolated Wakhan Corridor  a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land extending about 350km from the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan to Chinas Muslim region of Xinjiang.

One of the sources said that once the camp was completed, the Peoples Liberation Army was likely to send troops there, but the embassy denied the claim, saying no Chinese military personnel would be stationed in Afghanistan.

In Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying also dismissed the claims.

The war-torn Central Asian country has become increasingly important for Chinas own security, as well as President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative, a huge trade and infrastructure plan.

China set up its first overseas military base last year in Djibouti, a facility Beijing describes as a military logistics outpost for resupplying Chinese vessels on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in the Indian Ocean.

The sources close to the military, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also told the Post the Afghanistan outpost would have a different role than the Djibouti base because it was located close to Xinjiang, which Beijing sees as the main source of the three forces  separatism, terrorism and extremism  behind a series of violent attacks in the region in recent years.

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Watch: Heavy police presence in Kashgar, Xinjiang

Construction of the base has started, and China will send at least one battalion of troops, along with weapons and equipment, to be stationed there and provide training to their Afghan counterparts, one of the sources said.

He said that it was unclear when the PLA planned to open the camp and that it was considered a costly but worthwhile project.

Russian news agency Ferghana News reported in January that Beijing would finance a new military base in Badakhshan after defence ministers from the two countries agreed last year to work together to fight terrorism, citing General Davlat Vaziri from Afghanistans defence ministry.

At the time, Chinas defence ministry denied it had a plan to build a military base in Afghanistan, but said Beijing had provided aid and support to its neighbour as part of security cooperation efforts, including counterterrorism operations.

Beijing-based military expert Li Jie said that China had ramped up its anti-terrorism measures but that it also needed to work with other countries in Central Asia and the Middle East.

If theyre going to eliminate the so-called three forces, they need to go to their power bases and take them down, Li said.

But since the PLA is not familiar with the terrain, and with life in Afghanistan, bilateral cooperation is the best way to get win-win results.

China has extended more than US$70 million in military aid to Afghanistan in the last three years, researcher Ahmad Bilal Khalil, from the Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies in Kabul, said in February. He added that Beijing feared that instability in the neighbouring country could threaten its growing economic interests across the region.

Song Zhongping, a military analyst in Hong Kong, said the camp would benefit both the Chinese military and its Afghan counterparts.

A key function of the training base will be to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation and military exchanges between Beijing and Kabul, which is also part of their efforts to stop separatists from infiltrating Xinjiang, said Song, a military commentator for Phoenix Television.

Afghanistan is very weak on counterterrorism, and the authorities there are worried about a Taliban resurgence, but they cant do anything about it without help from the US, China and other countries.

Song added that China and Afghanistan had agreed to work together to fight terrorism because of concerns about the East Turkestan Islamic Movement joining forces with the Taliban.

Beijing has blamed the ETIM  a separatist group founded by militant Uygurs  for violent attacks in Xinjiang.

Li Wei, a counterterrorism specialist at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that in addition to providing military support, Beijing had also increased economic cooperation with Afghanistan, which is rich in natural resources, with more than 1,400 mineral deposits.

Defence and [economic] development have always been the basis for mutual benefit, Li Wei said. Thats because if both sides just focus on security cooperation, it wont be a sustainable relationship.

Afghanistan has been an observer member of the China-led regional security bloc the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) since 2012.

This article China is helping Afghanistan set up mountain brigade to fight terrorism first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:Didi Chuxings founder Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu apologised for the death of a 20-year-old female passenger at the hands of a Didi driver, saying that vanity and breathless expansion had caused the Beijing-based start-up to lose sight of its original mission to build a better world of mobility.

The past few days have been days of immense pain, Cheng and Liu said in a statement released on Monday. As founder and president of this company, we are deeply grieved and remorseful. Words are useless in the face of loss of a life. But we still wish to say sorry to the victim, her family, and everyone. We are sorry; we failed your expectations.

Victim texts Ive met a pervert before suspected killing by Didi driver

Police in Yueqing city, in Chinas eastern Zhejiang province, said on Saturday they found the body of a 20-year-old female surnamed Zhao, and arrested a Didi driver who confessed to her rape and murder.

The victim had sent a message to her friend a day earlier asking for help before she went missing. In May, another woman, aged 21, was raped and killed in Zhengzhou, in central China, allegedly by an unregistered Didi driver whose body was later found in a river.

The companys ride-hitching service, which was introduced three years ago, became a popular option for people who were unable to get a train ticket or afford more expensive air fares during Chinas Lunar New Year. About half of the trips were between 30 and 100 kilometres, or one to four hours drive, according to Didi in February.

Didi is said to be exploring an IPO and is locked in a battle for users with Meituan-Dianping in ride-hailing. They are among Chinese internet companies that are building online platforms for services as they seek to make their apps more sticky for users. Didi has also made international expansion a key plank of its strategy, acquiring control of Brazils 99 to create a rival to Uber in Latin America.

The tragedy reminded us we have walked this path without enough respect nor humility, according to the statement. Our ignorance and pride led to irreversible pain and loss. We can only ask ourselves what happened.

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Didi Chuxing to acquire cash-strapped bike-sharing firm Bluegogo

Cheng and Liu go on to say: We see clearly this is because our vanity overtook our original beliefs. We raced non-stop riding on the force of breathless expansion and capital through these few years; but this has no meaning in such a tragic loss of life.

The company has started to question whether it is doing the right thing or whether it even has the right values, they said.

There is an enormous amount of self-doubt, guilt and soul-searching.

For a start, Didi will stop using scale and growth as its measurement of success. Safety will be prioritised as the single most important performance indicator, they said. The company will upgrade safety features, including the SOS button and itinerary-sharing functions, while user complaints that involve personal safety issues will involve Chinas 110 police hotline to ensure information reaches the police at the earliest time.

The business model of Hitch, the service linked to the two murders, will be thoroughly re-evaluated and suspended indefinitely until there is a safety protection mechanism that is accepted by users, the company said.

Overhaul needed at Didi after murder

Didi will also begin deeper collaboration with law enforcement agencies to establish safety protection mechanisms and respond more effectively to evidence requests. The company will start testing a new self-service inquiry system for police, it said.

In the wake of the second killing, downloads for an app that purports to link the user to police departments via livestreaming shot up the download charts.

The National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on Monday that various government agencies will coordinate the regulation of ride-hailing operators, while expanding use of the countrys nascent social credit system across the transport sector.

Meanwhile, police have detained two men accused by Chinese social media users of making offensive remarks about the 20-year-old passenger who was killed last week, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday. Under Chinas internet rules, users who spread rumours or make defamatory comments can be arrested or even sent to jail.

Didis shareholders include Tencent Holdings, Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of the South China Morning Post.

This article Didis founder says vanity and breathless expansion contributed to tragedy of passenger rape-murder first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.It will help startups scale up faster through a 16-week accelerator programme

Southeast Asia ride-hailing company Grab has launched its innovation arm, Grab Ventures, in Indonesia, which will invest IDR3 trillion (US$250 million) in Indonesian startups  to be rolled out within three years.

This initiative is an addition to its IDR10 trillion (US$700 million) Grab 4 Indonesia 2020 Master Plan, which aims to support the countrys goal to be Southeast Asias largest digital economy by 2020

The launch of Grab Ventures in Indonesia follows its regional launch in June in Singapore. It will partner or invest in startups who want to solve mobility, food, logistics, fintech and other O2O challenges.

The goal is to form strategic partnerships with these startups and possibly integrate them with Grabs platform, advancing the companys ambitions to become an everyday app (for example, by integrating delivery services provided by partnering startups).

Part of Grab Ventures Indonesias plan includes a 16-week accelerator programme called Grab Ventures Velocity, which will help startups in their scaling stage  both nationally and across Southeast Asia.

Grab Ventures Velocity is a joint venture with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo), Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF). Its partners include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and MDI Ventures, Telkom Indonesias corporate venture capital initiative.

Also Read: Grab teams up with Singapore Power to roll out 200 electric vehicles

AWS will provide benefits to selected startups through the AWS Activate Portfolio Plus package and also technical mentoring on platform security, scaling and best practices to the startups.

MDI Ventures, which has operations in Singapore and Silicon Valley, will provide local expertise and access to their mentors networks.

Grab 4 Indonesia 2020 Master Plan

In a press release today, Grab also announced milestones in its master plan.

It has expanded to 137 cities today, covering Sabang to Merauke. Grab also claims to have a 65 per cent market share.

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The companys food delivery service GrabFood expanded to over 20 new cities this year and is now in 30 cities. Its Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in Indonesia almost quadrupled in the first half of 2018.

Its parcel delivery service GrabExpresss GMV in Indonesia also almost tripled in the first half of 2018.



Image Credit: Grab

The post Grab Ventures to invest US$250M in Indonesian startups appeared first on e27.Hong Kong public hospitals to consider new test for hepatitis E virus in organ donors after five transplant patients infected

Public hospitals in Hong Kong will consider introducing a new test for a virus in organ donors after five patients in transplants were infected with liver disease.

The patients, aged six to 66, were found to be infected with hepatitis E after they received new organs from a deceased donor, Queen Mary Hospital announced on Monday. This was the first time in the world as many as five organ recipients had contracted the disease in a single case.

The infections were revealed after two men, aged 59 and 66, suffered from abnormal liver functions in early July and August and were both diagnosed with the disease.

Both men had undergone transplants in February. Investigators contacted three other patients who had received organs from the same donor.

One of the five patients had died, but Professor Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kongs microbiology department said he believed the death was unlikely to be caused by hepatitis E.

The patient received a bilateral lung transplant on February 28 but later suffered from post-operative pneumonia and pleural effusion, a build-up of fluid in the chest area. He was treated at Grantham Hospital. He later died on August 18, with traces of the zoster encephalitis virus  a different disease  and related antigens found in his blood and skin.

Referring to the hepatitis E infection in all five patients, Yuen said on Tuesday: The university team believes that the infection channel is the donated organs.

The virus can be transmitted to humans from animals such as pigs and deer.



Yuen said this was not the only case of hepatitis E infection from an organ donation. He cited a case of two patients infected with the virus after receiving kidneys from a donor. But this was the first time as many as five patients had been infected, he added.

In terms of treatment, he said Ribavirin, an antiviral medication, is considered to be effective for hepatitis E. It is expected to have a success rate of about 80 per cent.

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According to Yuen, from last Friday to Monday, all four patients were put on Ribavirin treatment.

But it still depends on the genome of each patient to see if the treatment is really useful, Yuen said.

He also said there was currently no requirement to test organ donors for the virus because it was rare and a blood test might not be comprehensive enough.

Dr Luk Che-chung, the chief executive of the Hong Kong West hospital cluster, said an expert group would discuss a solution, including whether it was necessary to introduce a test. The group would also explore whether infected organs would still be suitable for transplants and what treatment should follow.

According to Yuen, Britain is the only country that conducts tests for the virus. There is no such requirement in the United States or Australia.

The Netherlands used to do the test, but it stopped because there were too few cases, Yuen said. In Hong Kong, its probably one in thousands.

He also stressed that, as suitable organs for transplants were hard to come by, it was worth discussing if organs infected with hepatitis E could still be used in transplants, provided patients get early treatment.

It will be left to the experts to debate and measure the advantages and disadvantages, Yuen said.

In 2012, Hong Kong saw the highest number of such infections, with 120 cases. According to Yuen, the amount of cases annually since then numbered in the dozens.

The Hospital Authority and the Centre for Health Protection are aware of the case, and are in contact with the affected patients to provide help and treatment.

Yuen said there was also a vaccine against the hepatitis E virus that could offer up to 90 per cent protection. But he said he doubted if the method worked in the case of organ transplants because anti-rejection drugs administered to recipients would weaken their immune systems and counter the effectiveness of the vaccines.

This article Hong Kong public hospitals to consider new test for hepatitis E virus in organ donors after five transplant patients infected first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.Turkish and Russian military officials are discussing a possible operation in northwestern Syria's Idlib province, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

Meanwhile Russia has cited its own intelligence saying that Syrian armed groups in Idlib are preparing for a staged chemical provocation, which Moscow says the West will use to justify a strike against Syrian government forces.

Russian Federation has positioned a considerable naval armada in the Mediterranean near Syria after accusing the U.S. of plotting a false-flag chemical-weapons attack there.

The Syrian government is gearing up for an expected offensive in Idlib province, which is home to almost 3 million people and has a large al-Qaida presence in addition to Syrian rebel groups.

Landis said, "I don't know what to make of the US and Russian war of words over the potential use of chemical weapons in Idlib".

Izvestia, a major Russian newspaper, reported that the naval force includes 10 surface ships and two submarines, with more vessels on the way.

Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russian Federation and Turkey, which supports the rebels, but they are now in intense negotiations to ensure Idlib does not become a breaking point in their alliance. The report offered no further details.

Defending Champ Nadal Advances On Emotional Opening Night

Playing his his first 5-set match in over a year, Andy Murray overcame a set down to deny James Duckworth 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. It's time to rest three, four months, the time that I will need, and playing next year the tournaments that I would like play'.

A statement from Russia's Defense Ministry on Sunday said two frigates were heading to the Mediterranean Sea.

"Even by the egregious standards of Russian propaganda, this is an extraordinary allegation", Pierce said.

"The Islamic Republic has high capabilities in the area of defence and can help Syria in expanding their military equipment", he said, according to ISNA.

Pierce later told reporters "it's very clear to us and our partners that this is an effort to distract from an imminent attack on Idlib".

The Kremlin has provided no evidence to substantiate its claims, which include the assertion that United Kingdom private military company Olive Group, under the direction of the United Kingdom government, is directly supporting these activities in Syria.

Thank you for signing up.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his government should be ready to "set aside" the 2015 nuclear deal if it is no longer in the country's national interests. "The JCPOA (nuclear deal) is not the objective, it is only a means," he said in a meeting with the cabinet, according to his website. "Naturally, if we reach the conclusion that it is no longer maintaining our national interests, we will put it aside." Khamenei said talks should continue with Europe, which is trying to salvage the 2015 agreement despite the withdrawal of the United States. But he said the Iranian government "must not pin hope on the Europeans for issues such as the JCPOA or the economy". "We must examine their promises with scepticism," he added. Khamenei reiterated that Iran would not engage in any negotiations with the administration of US President Donald Trump, despite his offer of unconditional talks. "(The Americans) want to say they can bring anyone, even the Islamic republic, to the negotiating table. "But as I have previously said in detail, no negotiations with them will take place," Khamenei said.Rome will on Thursday ask the European Union to rotate the ports where migrants rescued at sea disembark, Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta said, with France and Spain expected to top the list. Trenta will put the plan to her European counterparts during an informal meeting in Vienna. "Tomorrow ... I will carry in the name of the Italian government a proposal to modify the rules of the Sophia mission concerning the port of disembarkation," she wrote on Facebook. The proposal calls for a revision of the EU's military operation codenamed Sophia -- currently commanded by Italy -- and under which all migrants rescued disembark at an Italian port. "We consider this principle unacceptable and want it to be reviewed," Trenta added. "Tomorrow the ball will be in the EU camp: by accepting our proposal it will have the opportunity to show it is a real community of values and intentions; by refusing it will deny its own fundamental principles." Sophia was launched in June 2015 following a series of deadly shipwrecks involving migrants and has since picked up thousands of migrants floundering in the Mediterranean. "The proposal aims for a rotation of landing ports ... our goal is to ensure that Italy is not the only one taking charge of the problem, but also other member states," a defence ministry source told AFP. According to La Stampa newspaper, Italy's idea is to rotate landings between Mediterranean ports, with a particular emphasis on France and Spain, and with Greece and Malta also sharing the load. Italy has been turning away ships with migrants rescued at sea in a campaign to make EU countries take their share. Last week, it threatened to stop billions of euros of EU funding over the issue, accusing Europe of turning its back as Italy grapples with seemingly endless migrant arrivals. In the latest incident, nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on the Diciotti coast guard ship at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark on Sunday after Ireland and non-EU member Albania agreed to take some of them in. However tensions spilled over Wednesday outside a church centre housing some 100 Eritreans from the Diciotti at Rocca di Papa near Rome. Dozens of far right protestors and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators yelled insults and had to be kept apart by riot police. The migrants were to be moved on to other areas within days. "They are exhausted but in good health and happy to have arrived," Caritas charity official Manuela De Marco told AFP.By Lisa Di Giuseppe

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy and Hungary, two fierce critics of European immigration policy, vowed on Tuesday to work together to pursue a new hardline approach to migrants searching for a new life inside the European Union.

Italian Deputy Prime Matteo Salvini, who has ordered ports closed to most migrant arrivals by sea, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose government built a border wall, cemented their political ties in talks in Milan.

"We agreed that the most important issue is migration," Orban said, adding that they had agreed to jointly pursue their anti-immigration agenda as the European Union enters campaign mode for EU parliamentary elections in May next year.

He said Hungary had shown immigration could be halted across land borders and that Salvini's new Italian government had shown that it could also be stopped in the Mediterranean Sea.

"Europe's security hinges on his success," Orban said.

Italy and Hungary are both members of the European Union, which has drawn big numbers of asylum-seekers and poor migrants since 2015, most fleeing the Middle East and Africa.

Hungary was in the path of those fleeing the Syrian war, while those leaving Africa continue to head for Italy. Rome says it will not reopen its ports until its big EU neighbours agree to share the burden of taking in migrants rescued at sea.

Salvini and Orban said they agreed to work together ahead of European elections, though they belong to different factions. Salvini's right-wing League is allied to France's National Front while Orban is part of the centre-right European People's Party.

Both criticised French President Emmanuel Macron. Salvini accused him of not doing enough to help Italy on migration and Orban said the French president wanted to "blow up" the EPP.

"Macron is the leader of pro-migration parties in Europe today," said Orban, whose visit prompted a protest in Milan by several thousand opponents of hardline immigration policies.

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"And here we are, the ones who want to stop illegal migration. There is a big debate about this in the EPP as well. We would like our stance to be the general stance in the EPP."

Salvini urged Macron to stop turning back migrants who try to enter France at the Ventimiglia border crossing with Italy.

However, Salvini said Italy was close to an agreement with Germany on migrant border controls.

(Additional reporting by Krisztina Than in Budapest and Steve Scherer in Rome; Editing by Mark Bendeich, Richard Balmforth)(Reuters) - Panasonic Corp is to move its European headquarters from London to Amsterdam in October to avoid potential tax issues linked to Brexit, the Nikkei Asian Review https://s.nikkei.com/2wt6kal said on Thursday. Moving the regional headquarters to continental Europe will also help Panasonic avoid any barriers to the flow of people and goods, Laurent Abadie, chief executive officer of Panasonic Europe, told Nikkei. Of the employees based out of London office, 10 to 20 engaged in auditing and financial operations will be moved to the Netherlands, with only investor relations staff staying, the Nikkei report said. Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019. (Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)In a dimly-lit classroom in a Lebanese mountain town, students of all ages pore over Cyrillic workbooks and repeat carefully after their blonde instructor. "Privet. Kak dela?" -- "Hello, how are you?" Moscow may have won influence in war-torn Syria through its blistering military intervention, but it is adopting a softer approach in neighbouring Lebanon, where France and the US have held stronger sway. Whether through cultural outreach, planned business deals or traditional diplomacy, Russia appears to be trying to put down deep roots in the tiny Mediterranean country. In her classroom at the Russian-Lebanese Cultural Center, nestled in the town of Aley, instructor Galina Pavlova says she hopes her native tongue will find more fans among Lebanese, who in addition to Arabic often speak French and English. "We don't want France and the United States to be the only ones present in Lebanon -- Russia is a very important country too," she tells AFP. The Aley centre is one of three new such hubs to have opened in Lebanon this summer alone, established with the backing of Moscow's embassy in Beirut. "This expansion falls within the framework of a strategy aiming to strengthen Moscow's presence in the Middle East," says Imad Rizk, who heads the Isticharia Centre for Strategic and Communication Studies. Ties between Moscow and Beirut intensified in the 1950s with the rise of Lebanon's left, before fading after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Lebanon, still strongly associated to the West, is one certainly symbolic piece of (Russia's) broader desire to remodel the world governance," says Julien Nocetti, a specialist in Russia's role in the Middle East. The aim, he says, is to hasten "the coming of a post-West world order." - 'Put down roots' - As new cultural centres open, Moscow is also boosting to 60 the number of university scholarships it gives to Lebanese students this year and deepening its economic ties to Beirut. It nearly doubled the value of its exports to the tiny country from $423 million in 2012 to $770 million last year, according to Lebanese customs data. The two countries are in talks over potentially opening a "green corridor" for Lebanese agricultural exports to Russia. And Novatek, one of Russia's largest natural gas producers, is part of a consortium expected to begin exploring for gas off Lebanon's coast next year. Lebanon's top diplomat Gebran Bassil travelled to Moscow recently, encouraging more Russian companies to take part in a new upcoming tender for further exploration. Beirut is relying on external help to revive its struggling economy, and in April a donor conference raised $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for the state to improve basic public services. "We hope to make the Russians participate in the vast project to modernise Lebanese infrastructure," says Jacques Sarraf, who heads the Lebanese-Russian Business Council. In addition, Sarraf says, "Russian businesses intend to put down roots in Lebanon's north ahead of Syria's reconstruction." But the process is complicated, with both Syrian and Russian firms facing European and American sanctions that have left Lebanese banks "reluctant to deal with their Russian counterparts," he adds. Lebanon's banking sector is already being carefully monitored by the US Treasury, which is seeking to weaken the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement by targeting "suspicious" banking. - Influence through repatriation? - Lebanon's growth has slowed to a crawl in recent years as political divisions have paralysed the government and services have been strained by the arrival of 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Moscow is looking to lend a helping hand there too, launching an initiative in July to repatriate refugees from around the region. The proposal has been welcomed by the political class in Lebanon, which hosts some 900,000 refugees who could return to Syria, according to President Michel Aoun, who is close to both Damascus and Hezbollah. Moscow has also proposed a billion-dollar defence contract to arm Lebanese troops, but Beirut pulled out at the "last minute," says Sarraf. Such a deal could have jeopardised the sizeable US support Beirut receives from the US, including the $1.7 billion it has received in military aid since 2006. Aram Nerguizian, co-director of the Carnegie Middle East Center's department on civil-military relations, says Lebanon's ties to the US were at stake. "If Lebanon accepts or even insinuates an intent to accept a Russian credit line for the purchase of Russian defence articles, it will have significant -- and potentially irreversible -- geopolitical consequences on Lebanon's existing bilateral and multilateral commitments and partnerships, especially ties to the US," he tells AFP.Arizona has never elected a woman to the Senate. Which side will cast more ballots in the state's battleground region along Interstate 4, particularly in the Tampa-St.

After Ms McSally's victory, however, Mr Trump tweeted: "Martha, a great US Military fighter jet pilot and highly respected member of Congress, WINS BIG". DeSantis has the endorsement of President Trump. Martha McSallyMartha Elizabeth McSallyGillum wins stunner and other takeaways from Arizona, Florida Kirkpatrick makes comeback by winning Arizona Democratic House primary McSally prevails in nasty Arizona GOP Senate primary MORE's (R-Ariz.) victory in the state's GOP Senate primary.

Immigration, Trump's signature issue, has always been the top concern among Republican voters in the Southwestern state bordering Mexico, according to pollsters; both Arpaio and Ward are immigration hawks with ties to the president.

The problem for Putnam may be that in 2016, he was among the many Republican establishment figures who expressed reservations about Trump publicly. Her challenge now is to unify the GOP base behind her, especially those aligned with Trump and who did not support McCain's frequent criticism of him, while also reaching out to voters in the political center.

The victor of the GOP primary is likely to face Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who faces only token primary opposition. On the Democratic side David Garcia was the projected victor, thrilling liberals who hope he can mobilize the state's Hispanic population in November.

Replacing McCain in the Senate is political balancing act

The party of Donald Trump began nearly 10 years ago to the day, when John McCain tapped Sarah Palin to join his ticket. John McCain's illness and death in office would send all three Republican candidates for Arizona's other U.S.

Both parties have their sights on flipping two Arizona House seats in November as well.

McSally will make a much more hard candidate to attack for Democrats in November. While Trump hasn't endorsed a candidate in the Senate race, he's spoken favorably about McSally and she's appeared alongside the president at the White House. DeSantis has leaned heavily on his allegiance to Trump, even running an ad where he's "building a wall" and reading The Art of the Deal to his kids.

Dr Tipirneni, 50, who was born in Mumbai but came to the United States at the age of three, shot to prominence when, in a special election in April to replace a Republican who resigned after a scandal, she contested as a complete unknown but came very close to defeating her Republican rival Ms Debbie Lesko, whom she will face again in November.

On the Democratic side, the national party would prefer the more centrist former Rep. Gwen Graham, the daughter of former governor and Sen.

"As a GOP primary candidate, Congresswoman McSally morphed herself into a Trump Republican who refuses to stand up to her party's leaders", the state Democratic Party said in a campaign memo released on Tuesday. Democrats describe Edmondson's time in office as 'someone who fights for the little guy.' Former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt will face off in the Republican runoff Tuesday. Still, this is a tough seat for the GOP to hold on to. The DCCC is backing nonprofit consultant Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, an Ecuadoran immigrant, in that primary. Cornett, meanwhile, has gone after Stitt's company and its lending practices during the mortgage crisis. In one of the Democrats' best pickup opportunities this fall, former Clinton Cabinet secretary Donna Shalala secured the party nod in the Miami-area 27th District.Michigan Mom Claims Police Refused to Help After She Accidentally Locked Baby in Car

A desperate Michigan mom's pleas for help initially went unanswered after she accidentally locked her infant daughter inside her minivan.

I grabbed a piece of asphalt and hit the window over and over again, maybe 100 times, but it would not budge," Lacy Guyton said of the incident. "My biggest fear in that moment was our baby dying right in front of our very eyes."

She was with her grandmother, Mary Riley, who called 911.

But to their utter astonishment, the 911 operator in Waterford said she could not help the 2-month-old baby.

My granddaughter just put her baby in the car and the car door locked and we can't get in it," a panicked Riley told the dispatcher.

We don't unlock vehicles, the operator replied.

The grandmother could not believe what she was hearing as her great-granddaughter sat in the hot car.

Guyton then called 911 herself, and wound up getting the same operator her grandmother spoke to.

I can send you a wrecker service and they will charge you. The fire department doesn't come out for that, the operator told the mom.

I was getting more and more concerned that the baby was not going to make it, Riley said. Watching my granddaughter and great-granddaughter suffer at the same time was just too much for me.

The mom took matters into her own hands and smashed the back window with a window-breaker, crawled in and grabbed her child.

The police department later issued a statement admitting they had made a mistake.

We should have responded in this case as we should respond in any similar case when there is a concern for the health, safety or welfare of any person, especially a young child, the statement read. "We acknowledge our mistake and are doing everything we can to make sure we do not repeat it."

The infant was hot and sweaty when she was rescued, but did not suffer any lingering medical issues.

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Ohio Couple Rescues Baby From Hot Car After Parents Possibly Overdosed

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Atlanta Cop Rescues Baby Accidentally Locked in Her Grandmother's Hot Car

Florida Woman Saves Baby She Found Sitting in Hot Car

Related Articles:Amsterdam-Schiphol airport is launching legal proceedings in a bid to halt a 24-hour strike called for next Tuesday which could affect 200,000 passengers, the PNV union said. Security staff at the Netherlands' biggest airport -- and one of Europe's busiest -- announced the work stoppage last week demanding improved pay and working conditions. "Schiphol notified us of legal action seeking a temporary ruling against Tuesday's strike," FNV union spokeswoman Mariette van Dijk told AFP on Tuesday. The union said it did not know the date or place of the hearing. The airport is facing demands for a three-percent pay hike, more flexible hours and increased security. "Schiphol believes the strike is not justified. We do not agree," van Dijk added. The airport's web site is warning passenger of disruption of security checks on September 4. "We will initially appeal to the security companies and trade unions in order to reach an agreement before 4 September," the site says. "In the meantime, we are preparing a legal procedure in case the unlikely event occurs that both related parties will not find an agreement."A meteor streaked through the skies above a heavily populated area of Australia last night, prompting countless residents to gaze skyward and sparking a scientific hunt for any chunks the speeding space rock may have left behind. Appearing in the night sky above Perth, Australias largest city as well as its capital, the fireballs appearance was captured by many amateur observers who just happened to have a camera pointed in the right place at the right time.

Now, with the rocks tumble towards Earth still fresh in everyones memory, scientists are in a race against time to find the charred remnants of the rock before theyre either buried by soil and dust or scooped up by a private citizen who might want to keep it for themselves.

Don't Miss: This device is the key to cooking meat perfectly every time, and I dont know how I lived without it

If you happened to be outside with a clear line-of-sight when the meteor began speeding through the atmosphere theres little chance you could have missed it. It was incredibly bright, as this dashcam video posted by the Perth Observatory shows:

Instagram Photo

Eyewitnesses reported thinking that it was lightning on the horizon before realizing it was something entirely different. According to a local ABC affiliate, several people called emergency service numbers out of fear that they had just witnessed a UFO crash or landing.

Well, it wasnt an alien, but it definitely wasnt from our planet. The rocks descent has been calculated by researchers using a number of different observations of the fireball, and once the approximate coordinates are distributed there will surely be several meteorite hunting expeditions. Any remnants of the meteor will be dark gray or black in color, and likely smooth on the outside due to the intense heat it endured as it sped towards the ground.

If scientists can get their hands on it theyll be able to offer an educated guess as to where the rock originated, be it the outer Solar System or somewhere closer, like the area between Jupiter and Mars.

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See the original version of this article on BGR.comAt least 7.8 million mainland Chinese residents will find it easier to get a visa to visit Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan from next month, with authorities announcing on Tuesday visitors will soon be able to apply for the document from their city of residence, rather than their registered household address  usually their birthplace.

This and three other new measures related to easier travel to the three cities would take effect on Saturday, the Public Security Ministrys State Immigration Administration announced.

When the [four] new policies are in place, mainland visitors can travel to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan whenever they please, said Qu Yunhai, deputy head of the administration.

According to our estimates, every year about 7.8 million mainland residents will enjoy the benefits of applying for group tour visas to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in cities other than their original place of household registration. It will save them 9 billion yuan a year on return transport fees.

Under the household registration system, or hukou, which has been in place for more than 60 years on the mainland, residents mobility and access to public services is highly limited once they move to another city.

Documents ranging from identity cards, passports and travel permits to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan must be handled by the public security authority from their registered location.

The other three measures are to allow mainlanders to apply for and renew passports for foreign trips and travel permits to the three places from their city of residence; speeding up processing of travel documents so they are available in seven days instead of eight to 13 days; and expediting immigration procedures at checkpoints for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, set to open on September 23 and the bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai.

The measures were announced as part of 22 initiatives to streamline applications for various travel permits, the bulk of which will come into force by the end of next March.

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Throughout last year, the mainland immigration authority issued a total of 133 million passports and recorded more than 46 million visits to Hong Kong and Macau by mainlanders, official data showed.

The authority also announced it would develop an online platform to verify various travel and residence permits issued to non-mainlanders, so providers of public services in finance, transport, education and medical care can have better access to various facilities.

Peter Shiu Ka-fai, the Liberal Party lawmaker representing the retail sales sector, welcomed the measures to allow more mainlanders to visit the city. It will help Hong Kongs economy, particularly the retail sales, catering and hotel sectors, Shiu said.

However Gary Fan Kwok-wai, a Neo Democrat lawmaker, said the decision ignored the highly limited capacity of a city as small as Hong Kong and the impact on local peoples daily life.

Even only 5 per cent of the 7.8 million who stand to benefit from the change can make Hong Kong sink, Fan said.

He asked why the Hong Kong government had not been consulted in advance, likening it to a similar lack of consultation on a recent policy change that allowed mainland visitors with group tour visas to enter the city even if not sponsored by a travel agency.

Yiu Si-wing, the tourism sector legislator, said the new policies might bring more visitors who would stay overnight in Hong Kong. Its still within our capacity if the increase in mainlanders coming here is not more than 10 per cent, Yiu said.

Shiu suggested that the Hong Kong government step up cleaning at popular tourist spots and appoint tourism ambassadors to help reduce disturbances for local residents.

Hong Kong should also create more attractions so that visitors wont flood the few spots, Shiu said.

This article Streamlined visit visa system opens door to more mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.By Abdul Qadir Sediqi

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan officials said on Monday a Tajik or Russian aircraft had bombed a northeastern Afghan border district during a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards, but officials in both Tajikistan and Russia denied that they had done so.

Cross-border clashes are rare on Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan, compared, for example, with fighting along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan.

The air attack followed a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards in Durqad district of Takhar province, two Afghan officials said.

Khalil Asir, a spokesman for Takhar provincial police, said eight Taliban were killed and six wounded in the air strike after a clash in which two Tajik border guards were killed.

"It was not clear if it was a Russian or Tajik aircraft," he said.

Jawed Hejri, spokesman for Takhar provincial governor, also said it was not clear where the aircraft came from but he said the six people killed in the clash with Tajik border forces were drug smugglers.

An Afghan defence ministry spokesman declined to make any immediate comment.

A spokesman for Tajik border guards in Dushanbe said Tajikistan had not carried out any bombing and did not confirm the death of two border guards.

However, the official, who declined to be identified, said three Tajik forestry workers had been attacked by intruders from Afghanistan. Two were killed while the third escaped.

The official declined to give any more details.

Russia said its military aircraft had not conducted any operations near Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan, the RIA news agency cited the defence ministry as saying.

Much of the porous Afghan-Tajik border is in mountains and difficult for Tajik authorities to police.

Afghan government officials say Russian forces, including aircraft, help Tajikistan with security against the Taliban and other militant groups. At the same time, drugs from Afghanistan are smuggled to the outside world through Tajikistan.

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Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said there had been a clash, and an air attack, but it was between drug smugglers and Tajik border guards and the aircraft bombed a forested area used by smugglers.

"Taliban fighters have no permission to clash with neighbour countries," he said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Martin ODonnell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said U.S. forces did not conduct any strikes in the area.

A retired Afghan air force general, Atiqullah Amarkhel, said those responsible for the air attack should be identified.

"Afghanistan has no control over its air space due to a lack of facilities. U.S. forces should follow up the case," he said.

(Additional reporting by Sardar Razmal in Kunduz, Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow, Nazarali Pirnazarov in Dushanbe; Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel)The report on Southeast Asian startups by Slush Singapore and Monks Hill Ventures also revealed that exits will be driven by existing unicorns

Tech industry players in Southeast Asia expressed their optimism about the industrys prospect for growth over the next 12 to 24 months, in a new report by Slush Singapore and Monks Hill Ventures about Southeast Asian startups.

Based on survey of over 100 players in six countries, the report revealed the moments that had defined the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem in 2017, which includes Grabs US$2 billion funding round from Didi Chuxing and Softbank. In the same month, Tokopedia also raised US$1.1 billion.

The report also highlighted acquisitions as the dominant method of exits in the region, which has hiked upwards for the third year in a row. Only nine Southeast Asian startup were publicly listed in 2017 while 155 were acquired; this trend is also expected to continue in 2018.

Already home to eight unicorn startups, which are divided evenly between Singapore and Indonesia, these unicorn companies are also believed to be the driving force for any upcoming exits in the region.

The region is also growing more integrated. As Southeast Asia moves closer to becoming a common market, governments are encouraging their enterprises to collaborate. Just as intra-trade is increasing in the region, cross-border deals are on the rise, the report said.

Also Read: 3 startups shaping AI in Southeast Asia

The challenges

When it comes to talents, 90 per cent of respondents believed that skills gap is a major issue for the Southeast Asian tech industry.

The report explained that while there is a great deal of talent in the region, the workforce needs more and stronger skills.

 We need to better cultivate more abstract skills such as product-building, design, and market-execution skills which are best learned outside the classroom. Experienced entrepreneurs and investors must continue to facilitate or provide mentorship in these areas and demonstrate patience as their peers make mistakes and learn through experience, said OnOnPay Founder and CEO SyPhong Bui, who was interviewed for the report.

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Gender diversity is also one of the issues faced by Southeast Asian startups; the report even dubbed progress in the sector as limited.

The results of our survey show there is support for gender diversity, yet there is relatively little discussion of the issue within the tech ecosystem. This is surprising given current events like the #MeToo movement overseas, which have given the issue a good airing around the world, it said.

But hope remains as data revealed that the majority of startup founding team, VC, and community builder has at least one woman in leadership position within their organisation.

southeast_asian_startups_b

Also Read: How Chongqing and Singapore are linking China to Southeast Asia

How about the role of government?

Governments can contribute to the growth of tech industry through various means, from providing grants, giving tax incentives, to building policies that are in favour of industry players.

The report noted that Southeast Asian startup communities generally have a diverse views on how government regulation impact their businesses.

southeast_asian_startups_report_a

The future of Southeast Asia

When it comes to discussion on the future of Southeast Asian tech startups, the report noted on the rapid rise of the regions crypto scene.

However, it remains cautious in predicting whether governments in the region will further support the growth of the industry, or perhaps even hinder it. Particularly since countries such as Vietnam has announced a crackdown on crypto following a fraudulent ICO, which scammed customers out of US$660 million.

Other trend that is more certain to come is the birth of new unicorn startups; this trend is in line with continuously growing investment into Southeast Asian startups.

Chinese tech giants and investors will also continue to play a role in this. This year alone, Alibaba has doubled their stake in e-commerce giant Lazada while Tencent participated in ride-hailing giant Go-Jeks massive Series E funding round.



Image Credit: Drew Graham on Unsplash

The post Talent remains Southeast Asian startups greatest challenge: Report appeared first on e27.Clinton's emails and server have always been a rallying point both for the president and other Republican politicians, who have called for a renewed investigation into the matter.

China denied an accusation by US President Donald Trump that it hacked the emails of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election.

A government staff official who has been briefed on the ICIG's findings said the Chinese state-owned firm linked to the hacking operates in Washington's northern Virginia suburbs.

Despite that conclusion and Clinton's election loss, the White House and Republicans in Congress continued to call for investigating Clinton's use of a private email server from her time as secretary of state. What are the odds that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DOJ are right on top of this? Trump wrote in a tweet posted shortly after midnight. Actually, a very big story.

More recently and with the added bonus of hindsight, comparisons between the Clinton investigations and Trump investigations are startling. 'The Chinese are notorious for embedding little surprises like this'.

"I would be in a lot of trouble if I gave you the name."

There are indications there are other "cutouts" that were involved, ' the official said.

Hungarian Prime Minister suggests EU Security depends on Italy's migrant policy

But Five Star includes within its broad political ranks a left-wing faction uncomfortable with the party's alliance with Salvini. Salvini urged Macron to stop turning back migrants who try to enter France at the Ventimiglia border crossing with Italy.

Hillary Clinton's Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China.

TheDCNF sought comment from Hillary Clinton's team, which dismissed the claim.

According to NBC News, the FBI issued a short statement on the claim: "The FBI has not found any evidence the (Clinton) servers were compromised".

He drew media ridicule for holding up a chart past year at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that connected Justice Department officials, a Uranium company, former attorney general Eric Holder, Benghazi, political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, Clinton's secret server, Bill Clinton, the IRS targeting scandal, and other topics.

Back in July, the Mueller team claimed in the indictment that alleged Russian hackers tried to hack into Clinton's private server "for the first time" on July 27, 2016, after "invited" by Trump who jokingly said he hopes Russia will be able to "find the 30,000 emails that are missing" from Clinton's private server.Time is on Beijings side: China, not Trump, will triumph in trade war, former top Chinese officials say

China will eventually win the trade war against the United States, two senior Chinese government researchers said on Tuesday, reflecting popular thinking in Beijing that China does not need to bow to pressure from US President Donald Trump.

While the US position in the trade war may look stronger than Chinas now  the US can put tariffs on up to US$500 billion more in Chinese imports while Chinas total imports from the US are a mere US$150 billion  China will be victorious in the end, according to two researchers at the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese government.

Wei Jianguo, a former Chinese vice-minister of commerce and now a researcher at the think tank, said Chinas annual sales to Africa could exceed US$500 billion within five years, making that continent a bigger market for Chinese exporters than the US, though the Chinese products sold to Africa may not be the same as those sold to America.

The US cant match Chinas power because Chinas economy was resilient and controlled a complete industrial production system, Wei told a public forum in Beijing. We have to make long-term preparations, but the US cant hold on for long, he said.

Watch: Chinese meat importers avoid US amid trade war

In particular, the trade war would not reduce Chinas role in the worlds manufacturing value chain, Wei said, citing Chinese government figures showing continued growth in foreign direct investment into China.

Weis comments came a day after Trump said it was not the right time to talk to China about a resolution of the trade war. They want to talk, Trump said, in reference to Chinese officials. Its just not the right time to talk right now, to be honest with China.

Last week a Chinese delegation, led by vice-minister of commerce Wang Shouwen, visited Washington for low-level talks hosted by the US Treasurys undersecretary of international affairs, David Malpass, but the talks generated no concrete results.

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Trade tensions escalated again on Thursday when the US enacted punitive tariffs of 25 per cent on US$16 billion of Chinese imports, prompting immediate retaliation from China. The US initiated the trade war on July 6 by imposing tariffs on US$34 billion of goods, with China matching those sanctions dollar for dollar.

This week also saw the US hold an unprecedented six-day public hearing on plans to impose tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods, expected to go into effect in September. The tariff on these goods was initially proposed to be 10 per cent, but the rate was raised to 25 per cent at Trumps direction.

Chen Wenling, a former director of the State Council Research Office and now the think tanks chief economist, said at the same forum on Tuesday that the bullying from Trump would not derail Chinas economic rise.

In view of a long historical cycle, time is on Chinas side; in terms of ideas, China holds the moral high ground; and according to the development potential of the two countries, China will be the successful side, Chen said.

She said that while the US was demanding China change its trade practices and its state-led growth model, the real stakes were much higher.

[The trade war initiated by the US was intended] to contain Chinas continuous development, to stop Chinas socialist modernisation, to curtail China from rising to become a socialist modern power ... and to thwart Chinas plan of becoming a powerful country by the middle of this century, Chen said.

Once we realised that all you intend is to contain China  its clear well never bow to you.

The US trade war strategy might backfire by giving China greater incentive to develop its own technologies, Chen said, describing the US threat to ban US semiconductor sales to tech giant ZTE as putting a sword at Chinas throat.

This has taught us that the fate of the Chinese people must be in our own hands  We must gain control over core creativity, core technologies and core components, she said.

While Wei and Chen expressed great faith in Chinas ability to weather the trade war, the two researchers offered few specifics on what China could do if Washington does impose duties on US$200 billion of Chinese products.

Wei, the former commerce minister, said Chinas real concerns were now well beyond tariffs.

First, China must prevent the US from bypassing the [World Trade Organisation] framework ... second, China must prevent a trade alliance between the US and the [European Union] and third, China must prevent the spread of the trade war into the finance, exchange rate and energy realms, he said.

This article Time is on Beijings side: China, not Trump, will triumph in trade war, former top Chinese officials say first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:Two influential advocates make the case for an official Taiwan digital currency

A proposal in Taiwan for an official digital currency faces opposition from people who believe crypto should stay decentralised

Litecoin founder Charlie Lee says Taiwan should establish an official digital coin directly tied to its currency. A lawmaker says it would save overseas investors money and hassle on making currency conversions.

But their ideas are not the only ones. A proposal in Taiwan for an official coin faces opposition from people who believe crypto should stay decentralised.

Linking cryptocurrency to official units such as the new Taiwan dollar can make them more easily convertible, ideal for trade rather than just speculation, Lee told Business Next. Sweden, Israel and Russia, and others, have backed national digital currencies.

Tethers USDT, a cryptocurrency coin linked one-to-one to the US dollar, he notes, can do this function.

Skeptics of a government-backed coin believe it would violate the decentralization principle of digital currencies.

Also Read: Consentium, a chat app with a digital currency transfer feature, raises US$10M

Legislators support

Taiwan opposition party legislator Jason Hsu also advocates issuing a Taiwan Dollar Digital Coin primarily for financing cross-border trade.

Taiwans manufacturing industry spends a lot on US dollar-to-Taiwan dollar conversions, which the digital coin could do, Hsu says in the same Business Next article. The digital coin could do this transaction, he said, and blockchain could potentially replace the letter of credit.

Taiwanese investors with overseas income should try for a way to avoid exchange rate volatility, he said.

A role for blockchain

But the establishment of an official currency requires agreement on technical matters such as building a blockchain or distributing the coin on an existing blockchain.

The public blockchain should offer enough security if provided with enough people to mine the currency, said Lee, whose started the worlds sixth biggest crypto unit. He says its not cost-effective to pay for mining a Taiwan currency due to the risks.

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A government-supported blockchain in Taiwan could expand the sector as a whole and let crypto traders capitalise upon advantages over neighboring China, Lee said.

Lee worked before as an engineer for the San Francisco-based digital currency trading platform Coinbase. He remembers how Coinbase had trouble opening a local currency bank account in Taiwan and rejections by local banks.

Also Read: Digital currency startup Luno raises US$9M Series B, further expands in Europe

Unclear regulations coupled with the conservative attitude by local banks made it difficult for Coinbase to establish operations, Lee said.

The lawmaker says a developed blockchain sector can bring tourists to industry summits.

He cites the Swiss city of Zug as an example. More than 200 blockchain organisations are registered in the area, bringing industry events that translate to tourism revenue.

Taiwan has potential, Jason Hsu said, as at least three blockchain companies contact him every week with an interest in expanding in Taiwan. He agreed that unclear regulations have prevented them from coming to Taiwan, leading some of those companies to other markets.



The article Two Influential Advocates Make The Case for an Official Taiwan Digital Currency first appeared on Business Next.

The post Two influential advocates make the case for an official Taiwan digital currency appeared first on e27.Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres smiles before a United Nations Security Council meeting about Myanmar at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By Rodrigo Campos

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Findings of a U.S. State Department investigation into Myanmar's Rohingya crisis are "consistent" with those of a report by U.N. investigators released this week that called for Myanmar's commander-in-chief and other generals be tried for genocide, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Addressing the U.N. Security Council, Nikki Haley said "the world can no longer avoid the difficult truth of what happened." She did not use the term "genocide" and the State Department has said it had not yet concluded whether it shared the determination of "genocidal intent" that Monday's U.N. report attached to the attacks on Rohingya Muslims.

However, Haley said that of the more than 1,000 randomly selected Rohingya Muslims surveyed in the State Department's own report, "fully one fifth" witnessed more than 100 victims being killed or injured. She said 82 percent had seen a killing, more than half had witnessed sexual violence and 45 percent had witnessed a rape.

"The report identifies one group as the perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of these crimes: the Burmese military and security forces," Haley said, referring to the U.S. report.

She said the Security Council must hold those responsible for the violence to account and added, "The whole world is watching what we do next and if we will act."

Haley's comments provided the first details of the State Department report compiled from 1,024 interviews at refugee camps in Bangladesh and completed in late April.

It remained unclear when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo planned to issue the full U.S. report, which could have legal implications of committing Washington to stronger punitive measures against Myanmar, particularly if Washington concluded there was genocide.

The findings were originally due to be announced ahead of Mondays U.N. report but have been held up by internal deliberations.

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U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said "genocidal intent" was "a very specific legal designation."

"It is not one that is easily made," she told a regular news briefing on Tuesday.

Critics have accused Washington of an overly cautious response to the Rohingya crisis, but a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that the U.N. findings could increase pressure for tougher U.S. action.

The release of Monday's U.N. report marked the first explicit U.N. call for Myanmar officials to face genocide charges over their campaign against the Rohingya. It said the military carried out mass killings and gang rapes with "genocidal intent" and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted.

LIMITED SANCTIONS

Washington, which had previously imposed sanctions on only one regional general over the crisis, targeted four more military and police commanders and two army units this month, but Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was again spared.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. meeting that the U.N. report deserved serious consideration and that accountability was essential for genuine reconciliation between ethnic groups in Myanmar.

Also without using the word genocide, Guterres said the report by the independent U.N. experts found 'patterns of gross human rights violations and abuses' committed by the security forces, which it said 'undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law.'"

He said international cooperation would be "critical" to ensuring accountability.

Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Hau Do Suan, repeated his government's contention that the Myanmar military had carried out a "logical response" to Muslim militant attacks. He said action would be taken against anyone responsible for human rights violations if there was sufficient evidence.

Guterres said the U.N. Security Council needed to continue to press for the release of journalists arrested for reporting on the Rohingya crisis, a reference to two Reuters reporters on trial in Myanmar.

Haley said the United States expected to see the two, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, acquitted of all charges.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who Washington has championed as a voice of democratic change, could not be blamed for atrocities as she did not have the powers necessary to stop military actions.

Haley made no mention of Suu Kyi, who the U.N. investigators said had failed to use her "moral authority" to protect civilians.

China, which has been vying with Washington for influence in Myanmar, said on Tuesday that "unilateral criticism or exerting pressure" was not helpful in resolving the Rohingya issue.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled the crackdown in Myanmar and most are living in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Guterres said an international humanitarian appeal for the refugees remained significantly underfunded at 33 percent and more must be done to alleviate the threats to life from the current and impending monsoons.

He said it was clear conditions did not yet exist for the safe return of the Rohingya and called on Security Council members to join him in urging Myanmar to cooperate to ensure access to U.N. agencies and partners.

"There can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return to their areas of origin in safety and dignity, in line with international standards and human rights," Guterres said.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Lesley Wroughton, Lisa Lambert and Richard Cowan in Washington and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by David Brunnstrom Editing by Tim Ahmann, Toni Reinhold)University of Hong Kong president pledges support for students at inauguration one day after dead body found on campus

One day after a professor was arrested over a dead body found in his office, the University of Hong Kong welcomed new students to campus with its newly-minted president promising to help them and staff cope with the tragedy.

Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for first-year students at HKUs campus in Sai Ying Pun on Wednesday, its president and vice chancellor Zhang Xiang said many students would have heard of the death.

Without naming the professor, Zhang said: Im sure you are as saddened and shocked as I am.

Zhang, who took office last month, said the details were uncertain but the university would offer support to all students and staff.

Our thoughts are with those who are affected and the university will be providing the necessary assistance to them at this very difficult time, Zhang said to the more than 1,300 staff and students attending the ceremony at Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centres grand hall.

On Tuesday, it emerged that associate professor Cheung Kie-chung from the department of mechanical engineering had been arrested over the suspected murder of his wife.

Her decomposing body was found in a suitcase placed in a wooden box in his office at Haking Wong Building on the main campus.

Investigators suspected his wife was killed in their home at Wei Lun Hall  one of the universitys residential halls  about a four-minute car ride from Cheungs office.

Wei Lun Hall is one of the three halls on Sassoon Road. It is a mixed dormitory in a quiet neighbourhood and houses mostly undergraduate students. The hall is particularly popular with medical or nursing students as it is opposite the medical school and its teaching hospital, Queen Mary Hospital.

Cheung was the warden of the hall, where he lived with his family, including his son and daughter.

One member of staff said Cheung rarely spoke of his wife or family. He just brought his wife along once for a staff union dinner, said the source. Other than that I barely remember her.

Story continues

The Post learned his daughter, in her mid-20s, had graduated from a British university about two years ago and once worked at HKU.

During the ceremony, Professor Lung Ying-tai, Hung Leung Hau Ling Distinguished Fellow in Humanities in HKU and guest of honour at the ceremony, also alluded to the event.

She also called on students, both male and female, to be feminists.

She said men should realise womens rights were part of human rights and something fundamental.

If you are a woman, be a feminist, out of self-protection and self-interest, she added. You are protected when you are respected.

Lung said respect had to be earned and women could do this by asserting themselves. Being a feminist did not make a woman lose her femininity but instead, made her stronger, she said.

Lung admitted she had considered omitting a section of her pre-written speech after the tragedy, but instead pressed on, believing it carried a more pertinent message than ever.

Student union president Davin Wong said the school was providing counselling for Wei Lun Hall residents.

He urged HKUs more than 4,000 first-year students to never settle for rules and norms.

We should be the ones who mould society instead of the other way around, he said.

Our citys future is at stake, yet I believe it is still in our hands.

He also paid tribute to students or alumni including Alex Chow Yong-kang, former union vice-president who was jailed for a few months for his involvement in the pro-democracy Occupy protests; Edward Leung Tin-kei, a pro-independence activist currently behind bars over his involvement in the Mong Kok riot; and Billy Fung Jing-en, former student union president sentenced to community service for his role in a siege of a university council meeting.

They have accomplished astonishing achievements in their young age, and of course, I am looking forward to more heroes rising in your generation, our generations, Wong said.

He added that as Cheung was the university student unions honorary treasurer, responsible for its finances, the unions councillors would hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss next steps.

He said he was not close to Cheung but found him a kind and helpful person.

Despite the tragedy, the atmosphere in the hall where the ceremony was held was lighthearted with freshmen responding enthusiastically to speakers on stage.

At Wei Lun Hall, a first-year student who had arrived from India two days earlier to stay at the dormitory said he was not affected by the incident.

I dont think [the case] is a reflection of the universitys professors and it wont affect what I think of campus safety, he said.

In an email to students and staff on Wednesday afternoon, Dr Steven Cannon, executive vice-president for administration and finance listed contact details for counselling services and said the seventh floor of Haking Wong Building would be closed on Wednesday. The office of the department of mechanical engineering would operate on the fifth floor of the same building in the meantime.

The departments head, Professor Alfonso Ngan Hing-wan, said he was arranging for other staff members to teach courses assigned to Cheung when the new school year begins next week.

This article University of Hong Kong president pledges support for students at inauguration one day after dead body found on campus first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.A member of the University of Hong Kongs governing council was arrested on Tuesday over the murder of his wife, whose body was found in a suitcase in his office.

Police did not name the academic, but sources identified him as associate professor Cheung Kie-chung from HKUs department of mechanical engineering.

He was arrested after the decomposing body of his 53-year-old wife was discovered in his office in the Haking Wong Building at HKUs Pokfulam Road campus on Tuesday afternoon, according to a police source.

In a late evening briefing, Superintendent Law Kwok-hoi of the Hong Kong Island crime squad said the identity of the victim still needed to be confirmed by an autopsy.

The victim was found in her underwear, with an electric wire tied around her neck, suggesting she could have been strangled.

While Law said the time and cause of her death had yet to be determined, sources said an initial examination showed the woman had been dead for days and there were no other obvious wounds on her body.

Cheung had reported his wife missing on August 20. Police were told she had left their home at Wei Lun Hall  one of the residential halls on campus  on Sassoon Road, about a four-minute car ride from his office, after a dispute in the early hours of August 17.

Cheung is the warden of the hall, where he lives with his family, including his son and daughter.

Police grew suspicious after CCTV footage showed him moving a wooden box out of the building, and there was no footage of her leaving the premises.

After days of investigation, officers raided the professors office on Tuesday afternoon and found the wooden box, which contained the suitcase with the body. Cheung, who was in the office during the raid, was then arrested.

There was blood seeping out of the suitcase, and it stank, Law said.

There is nothing to worry about among the students. I apologise for the anxiety that this has caused

Story continues

Cheung Kie-chung, in email to HKU hall residents

Investigators suspect Cheungs wife was killed at their home.

Initial investigations revealed the couple had argued over mainly trivial matters.

On August 16, Cheungs wife argued with their daughter over toilet hygiene, after which the daughter left home. The next day, the wife blamed Cheung for not supporting her during the earlier argument, after which Cheung said she had gone missing.

Law said officers had been in contact with the couples two children and confirmed the family disputes. Cheung was being held for questioning on Tuesday night and had not been charged.

His daughter had posted fliers around Pok Fu Lam listing her mother as missing, Law said. The fliers identified her as Tina Chan and described her as being of medium build with mid-length hair.

In an email sent to hall residents on Monday, Cheung said: You may have noticed the presence of police officers in [the hall] and the surrounding areas in the past few days.

They are here to investigate a missing person case involving my family. There is nothing to worry about among the students. I apologise for the anxiety that this has caused.

Cheung is also the vice-chairman of the universitys Academic Staff Association.

Former HKU scholar Roger Wong Hoi-fung, who met Cheung last Friday, said: He was 100 per cent normal. He was sharp as usual, like he could pinpoint a misspelled word from a document.

Wong recalled he had briefly met Cheungs wife some years ago, describing the couple as completely normal.

They were no different from any middle-aged couple, Wong said, describing his shock at hearing about the arrest. He spoke of Cheung as a well-respected, principled man who would fight for justice.

Felix Ng Kwok-yan, a fellow association member, said: I have never heard about any family dispute. I dont believe he would do anything like this.

Ng said the association would arrange for lawyers to try to get in touch with the engineering professor.

Cheung was known as an outspoken advocate of academic freedom. His re-election in 2016 to the universitys governing council was widely welcomed, and he was due to leave the post in December.

When the council rejected promoting former law school dean Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun to the position of pro-vice-chancellor in September 2015, a move critics linked to Chans liberal stance, Cheung was one of the members to criticise the decision.

He was also understood to have defended Billy Fung Jing-en, a former student union president who leaked details of a confidential council meeting in which members decided to reject Chans promotion.

This article University of Hong Kong professor arrested over murder of wife after body found in suitcase in his office first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:A National Day Parade at the floating platform. (File photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)

Two recent news reports have raised the issue of Singaporean men living overseas who defaulted on their national service (NS) obligations.

In the case of Kevin Kwan, author of the novel Crazy Rich Asians which later inspired the movie, he is now a wanted man in Singapore for having not responded to his NS call-up and for remaining overseas without an exit permit.

According to the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), the 44-year-old Kwan, whose family moved to the US when he was a child, had failed to register for national service in 1990 despite repeated notices sent to his overseas address. Kwan is now an American citizen.

The ministry added in its statement that Kwans 1994 application and subsequent appeal to renounce his Singapore citizenship without serving NS were rejected.

As for 24-year-old Ekawit Tangtrakarn, he had been registered as a citizen at the age of one by his Singaporean mother even though his family had left for Thailand before he was born.

While he gave up his Singapore citizenship in 2015, the Thai national had still breached the Enlistment Act by remaining overseas without an exit permit. Having returned to Singapore to face the music, he pleaded guilty on Tuesday (28 August) to one charge of the offence.

In the light of these reports, Yahoo News Singapore asks: Should the government be more flexible in such instances? Share with us your views.

Related stories:

Thai citizen born in Bangkok pleads guilty to defaulting on NS in Singapore

Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan wanted in Singapore for defaulting on national serviceRIYADH (Reuters) - The coalition of Arab states fighting against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Wednesday denounced as inaccurate and biased a report by U.N. human rights experts that said some of its air strikes may amount to war crimes.

The experts' report, released a day earlier, said that the bombardment has caused heavy civilian casualties, raising concerns about the coalition's targeting process, while severe restrictions on Red Sea ports and Sanaa airport had deprived Yemenis of vital supplies.

The panel said Houthi fighters may also be guilty of war crimes, accusing them of restricting access for humanitarian aid and conscripting child soldiers.

The Houthis, who control the capital and most of the west of the country, regularly fire missiles on southern Saudi Arabia and occasionally aim for higher-value targets, such as the capital Riyadh or facilities of state oil company Aramco.

"The report had several methodological fallacies and misconstrued the facts of the conflict... ignoring the true reasons for the conflict which are the coup of the Iran-backed Houthi militias against the legitimate government in Yemen," said a statement published by the Saudi state news agency SPA.

Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed alliance of Sunni Muslim Arab states trying to restore the internationally recognised government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in 2015.

The report was the first United Nations investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen although international human rights groups have regularly documented abuses. It was released ahead of U.N. peace talks between Hadi's government and the Houthis scheduled for Sept. 6 in Geneva.

The coalition said it would provide a "comprehensive and detailed legal response" at a later time. It rejected the report's assertion that it had not cooperated or provided information to the panel.

Story continues

The experts said they did not examine the United States and Britain, who supply weapons and intelligence to the alliance, or Iranian support for the Houthis, but other U.N. bodies were doing so. They urged all states to restrict arms sales to help end the war.

The United Nations considers Yemen to be facing the most urgent humanitarian crisis in the world, with millions of people potentially facing starvation if the war disrupts supply lines needed to bring in aid.

The war has so far garnered relatively little public attention in Western countries, but there are signs that is starting to change, particularly because of the role Western governments play supplying arms to the coalition countries.

A New York Times editorial on Wednesday condemned what it called "American complicity" in civilian casualties -- including dozens of children killed earlier this month in an air strike on a bus -- and urged Congress to cut military aid to Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia and its allies seem to have little compunction about slaughtering children as long as more bombs can be bought, so it's up to the enablers to call a halt," it said.

In Washington on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition was not unconditional, but suggested the United States would continue to support the alliance as it worked to reduce the impact on civilians.

Amnesty International called on Washington, London and others to "do everything in their power to prevent further violations (including) immediately stopping the flow of arms to the country and end the Coalition's arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian assistance and essential imports."

The Houthi-controlled al-Masirah TV said earlier on Wednesday that the group had fired a ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia's Najran region near the border between the two countries, causing no apparent casualties. Saudi air defences intercepted a missile fired towards the southern city of Najran on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli, Katie Paul and Stephen Kalin; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Peter Graff)US-based global coffee giant, Starbucks has sued Sardarbuksh, an Indian coffee chain for allegedly copying its name and logo. Starbucks found the coffee chain that has five outlets in Delhi has a name quite similar-sounding to theirs as well as a logo that is too close to its famous two-tailed mermaid.

Seattle-based Starbucks filed a suit in Delhi High Court in July, leading to an order to change Sardarbuksh's name to Sardarji-Buksh. They have been asked by the court to change the logo as well in its interim order.

"We always prefer to resolve trademark disputes informally and amicably whenever possible, and to prevent confusion among customers," a Starbucks spokesperson said, as mentioned in a report in The Economic Times.

The local chain will carry the new branding on its upcoming 30 outlets, while the existing 5 will await the final verdict. As mentioned in the daily, the company had changed its logo once it received a notice from Starbucks.

One of the partners, Rohit Khamboj, told the daily that neither he nor the other co-founder Sandeep Singh Kalra had ever been to a Starbucks. Khamboj explained that their name is an amalgamation of Sardar and Buksh and that the logo was designed by the internal team.

Kalra and Khamboj are prepared to fight for their original branding and have a group of senior lawyers take up their case. Starbucks, on the other hand, is being represented by law firm SS Rana.

Not only Sardarbuksh, there is a similar-sounding cafe in Pakistan by the name of Sattarbucks. Local entrepreneurs finding inspiration in international brands is quite a common phenomenon. In 2015 Ludhiana-based Mr Singh Burger King had to change the name to Mr Singh Food King after Burger King took them to court.

Starbucks came to India in partnership with Tata Group in 2012. It currently has 125 outlets in the country. Globally, the company runs 28,000 outlets in 70 countries. Last year Starbucks opened their biggest outlet and the second Starbucks Reserve Roastery outside of Seattle in Shanghai.

(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)The Indian rupee today dived to a new all-time low of 70.52 against the US dollar. The fall in the value of rupee comes on the back of strong US consumer confidence data which rose to its highest level since October 2000. After Thailand's baht, the Indian rupee is the worst performing currency in Asia.

Credit rating agency Moody's today said that higher-than-budgeted oil prices will add to short-term fiscal pressures pointing to a higher risk that the government's deficit objective will not be met.

"Oil prices at current levels will raise expenditures and add to existing pressures on the fiscal position stemming from the lowering of goods and services tax (GST) rates on a range of consumer goods and a tax cut for small businesses as well as the relatively high minimum support prices (MSPs) set for this year," Moody's said.

Mustafa Nadeem, CEO at Epic Research said, "It was widely expected for the rupee to depreciate further as soon as it broke out the zone of 69.5-69.2. It has been consolidating in the July series and the break out that was witnessed was on the back of a higher volume and an indication of a new trend that may shape up in short term. Price action suggests it is similar to a flag which is a bullish continuation pattern and moves post breakout from this pattern are usually faster.

Rupee depreciation is mainly because of the recent rising tensions between China and the US. The trade war which was primarily shaping up to be for two countries has its implications for Asian emerging economies and the worst hit will be taken by them only. Rising crude prices and further sanctions on Iran is also a point of concern being the biggest exporter to India for crude oil. Depreciation may continue to come for INR as we expect upside to be towards $72, a further upside of 2% from current market price."

According to latest data released by the trade ministry, India's trade deficit hit a 5-year high of $18.02 billion in July, up 8.5 per cent month-on-month. This is mainly because of surging oil imports, which grew by over 57 per cent year-on-year to $12.35 billion. While total imports jumped 28.81 per cent to $43.79 billion, exports only went up by 14.32 per cent to $25.77 billion (year-on-year).

The widening trade deficit against the backdrop of growing global uncertainty is expected to keep exerting pressure on the rupee in the near term.

The far-from-optimistic outlook on oil prices makes matters worse. Unless our exports pick up substantially, this may worsen the deficit even further. That will make the rupee slide further.This week, the federal governments student loan watchdog quit his job in disgust. Seth Frotman, who has served as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus student loan ombudsman since 2016, resigned Monday in a furious letter, which accused the Trump administration of selling out borrowers to corporate interests. Frotmans note covered a long list of grievances, and pointed to several examples of political appointees hamstringing the agency, but theres one issue hanging over it all: Federal officials have seemingly decided to stop policing the student loan servicing industry, an industry that has played a central yet underappreciated role in Americas education debt crisis.

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The Bureaus new political leadership has repeatedly undercut and undermined career CFPB staff working to secure relief for consumers, Frontman wrote in his letter. These actions will affect millions of student loan borrowers, including those harmed by the company that dominates this market. According to the Wall Street Journalwhich cites people familiar with the matterthat line was a very thinly veiled allusion to the CFPBs ongoing lawsuit against Navient, long one of the nations largest servicers.* There has been speculation that the agency is about to back off that suit as part of a wider easing of oversight on the servicing industry, which has been the frequent focus of the ombudsmans work.

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The CFPBs student loan ombudsman is supposed to act as its in-house advocate for Americans who are struggling with their college debt. His office takes complaints from individuals who are having trouble paying back their loans, tries to resolve them, and publishes detailed reports about the problems borrowers are encountering. Most of the complaints the ombudsman receives are directed at loan servicersthe middlemen that the government relies on to manage borrowers accounts, guide them on their payment options, and collect the checks each month. Some servicers have a better reputation than others, but as a whole, the industry is notoriously prone to mistakes like botching paperwork and failing to properly process payments. The screw-ups can be a headache to fix and often cost customers moneyor in a worst-case scenario, might lead them to unnecessarily default on their debts. The ombudsmans office has cataloged these problems carefully over the years, and were it not for that work, the public would have little firm idea about the extent, and have far less recourse .

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The CFPB hasnt just acted as a repository for gripes about the servicing industry, though: Its also taken action against it. In January 2017, as most of Washington was girding itself for the Trump era, the agency made a show of force and sued Navient, the industry-dominating corporation, accusing it of systematically and illegally failing borrowers at every stage of repayment. The company allegedly kept its operating costs down by cutting corners on customer service, steering borrowers into bad repayment options that were simpler and cheaper to administer. It failed to do basic things like inform borrowers of key deadlines for renewing their repayment plans. It also made grossly negligent errors like telling credit agencies that some disabled customers had defaulted on their loans, when in fact their debts had been discharged. Joining with the CFPB, several state attorneys general have also filed suit against the company.

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Navients alleged behavior isnt just a sideshow in Americas struggle with education debt. Its very much at the core of it. Even if students borrow too much for school, they are supposed to have options like income-based repayment plans that at least keep the debt manageable month-to-month. But more than 15 percent of borrowers are still defaulting within four years. That shows servicers are failing miserably at helping borrowersand the Navient suit tells us that at least some of the problem is probably profiteering.

The Trump team, however, has shown less concern for the plight of student borrowers than for the companies that want to make a buck off them. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is in the process of deep-sixing rules painstakingly pieced together by the Obama administration that were supposed to help clamp down on the worst for-profit colleges. Shes also run interference on behalf of servicers, including in the Navient case. Last year, she ended an information-sharing agreement with CFPB, cutting it off from data necessary to oversee the industry. In March, her department preposterously informed state regulators that they were barred from enforcing state consumer protection laws against servicers because it would undermine uniform administration of the federal student loan program. Last month the CFPBs lawyers told a federal judge the Department of Education is preventing it from obtaining documents it needs in the Navient suit. Meanwhile, DeVos department has taken steps that may make it easier for Navient to win a major servicing contract up for grabs.

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Inside the CFPB, things are no better. The agency is currently being run by the White Houses budget director, Mick Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman who previously argued that the agency shouldnt exist. Since taking over, Mulvaney has been a good friend to the financial services industry generally, shuttering a number of the CFPBs lawsuits and investigations. In March, he closed its Office of Students and Younger Consumers, and folded Frotmans ombudsman team into the CFPBs financial education office. This move raised questions about whether the agency will pursue any major new enforcement actions against predatory lenders or servicers, or if the student debt team will be relegated to dealing with financial literacy issues.

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Another question still to be determined is whether Mulvaneywho has been evasive when asked about the CFPBs enforcement actionswill simply quash the Navient lawsuit altogether. Its looking pretty likely he will. Conservatives, such as the Wall Street Journal editorial board, have urged him to drop the case. Navients chief executive has done the same. And earlier this year, ProPublica reported that Mulvaneys crew had told CFPB lawyers to prep for a potential settlement with Navient, which staffers were worried might not amount to more than a slap on the wrist. That prompted a letter from Democratic senators, who demanded information on the CFPBs recent interactions with Navient.

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Even if Mulvaney forces the CFPB to bail on the lawsuit, states could continue pursuing their own cases. But the CFPBs exit would deprive the effort of resources and manpower. More broadly, the Trump administration has clearly decided to go easier on servicers, just as it has decided to go easier on predatory payday lenders or for-profit colleges. That likely means more borrowers will be abused under its watch. Frotmans resignation is a warning of whats to come.Parents have questions! And other parents have answers. Readers in our Slate Parenting Facebook group offer practical advice every day. Today: suggestions for a kid who loves making art. For more great parenting conversations, join the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

Looking for different gift ideas for a soon-to-be 6-year-old who loves art more than anything else. We definitely do not need any more colored pencils, crayons, markers, pastels, or (washable) paint. And we have more Play-Doh and Play-Doh accessories than I could ever imagine. What other art-related gifts might a 6-year-old girl like? Are there any that may also be educational? I am severely art-challenged (I can barely draw stick figures) so Im at a loss. Melissa

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Elizabeth: Id look into art classes rather than more supplies. In my area, classes are offered by many town recreation departments, through school (as an after-school program once per week), the community colleges non-credit program, and at stand-alone art or pottery studios.

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Caitlin: An art museum membership?

Michelle: I was going to say the same. My 6-year-old did a camp at our local art museum, and it combined education with making art and it was AMAZING.

Dan (Slate editor): Sounds like you need things for them to use their colored pencils, crayons, markers, pastels, and paint on! We have gotten so many little kids a gigantic roll of paper. Its cheap and basic and kids love to roll out on the floor and make big old posters or banners with it. (According to the Amazon listing, its also great for smoking meat.)

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$18, Amazon

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Joe: My almost 6-year-old loves the big (cheap) bag of wooden peg dolls we got for her to paint, color, and glue stuff on. Plus, then she has more characters for creative play.

$14.33, Amazon

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Sage: Blank nesting dolls are also super fun!

$14.49, Amazon

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Holly (Slate designer): My art-loving son picks this doodle tablet up every time were at the bookstore and reminds me Christmas is coming.

$29.95, Amazon

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Elizabeth (Slate Picks writer): We also really enjoy Eatsleepdoodle products. They make tablecloths and place mats and pillowcases that you can color, wash, and color again.

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$19.95, Eatsleepdoodle

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Krysten: My daughter is similar. We have Pipsticks, a monthly sticker subscription, which she adores. Getting personalized mail is just as fun for my 6-year-old as the contents.

$9.95 per month, Pipsticks

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Janna: Taschen makes some beautiful, inexpensive art books that could be perfect for art-loving children. A favorite of mine is Albertus Sebas Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, which now comes in a kid-friendly size.

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$20, Amazon

Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.Rabbit Holes is a recurring series in which writers pay homage to the diversity and ingenuity of the ways we procrastinate now. To pitch your personal rabbit hole, email humaninterest@slate.com.

I love Disney. As I write this, I am listening to the Walt Disney World Official Album. A map of Disneyland hangs in my office space, park images scroll across my desktop, and I sport a tattooed portrait of Walt Disney on my upper arm. I love the films, the characters and, most of all, taking trips to the theme parksDisneyland Resort (DLR) and Walt Disney World (WDW)which I have done over a dozen times as both a child and an adult. Unfortunately, my last visit was 4 years ago.

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My full-time job is writing for a university advancement department. I thank donors, recognize alumni accomplishments, and tell stories about the impact they make on our students. Some days the words do not come easily, or Im not in the mood to write, so I indulge in my favorite form of procrastination: planning trips to Disney Parks that I cannot currently afford. But these arent wild fantasy trips involving luxury hotel rooms and rubbing elbows with Mickey while dining on steak and lobster; there are constraints! I keep my fantasies realistic and stick to a budget on the off chance that someday my family and I will have the extra money to return.

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Trip planning sessions include researching the cost of park tickets, flight, hotel, food, and ground transportation. I price each item individually against the cost of packages on the official Disney website to determine the best deal, and I keep the results on index cards stuffed in the back of a Brave journal with a cover that reminds me, Our fate lives within us. You only have to be brave enough to find it.

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Trip planning sessions include researching the cost of park tickets, flight, hotel, food, and ground transportation.

I choose travel dates by figuring out when the parks have historically low attendance. Nothing is worse than huge crowds. DLR has this information on their When to Visit page. On the WDW website, each resort has a starting price point. Lower prices indicate smaller crowds. My favorite time to visit is the beginning of December when the weather is cooler and everything is decorated for the holidays. Surprisingly, this is a low-attendance time of yearjust after Thanksgiving break and before everyone is out of school for winter break.

Park tickets are an expensive necessity. Wed want to spend three days at DLR and five days in WDW. Deals on tickets are hard to come by, but Mousesavers has a list of legitimate sellers who offer discounts. Travel sites aRes Travel and Undercover Tourist have a DLR three-day ticket with Park Hopper option for $302 (versus $330) and a five-day ticket with Park Hopper option at WDW for $464.23 (versus $500.55).

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For flights, I check prices on Southwest Airlines (no bag fees!) daily. You should only purchase when the cost from Denver to John Wayne Airport is $500 or less, and around $600 to Orlando.

At DLR, our accommodation needs are simplethe motel must be located less than a half-mile from the park entrance, include Wi-Fi and a continental breakfast, and have clean rooms for around $100/night. Disneyland Express serves the area and gets you to and from the airport for $35/adult.

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At WDW, its best to stay on-property at a Value Resort Hotelrooms are $99/night and upto immerse yourself in the Disney experience. You get to make Fast Pass + reservations ahead of time, access Extra Magic Hours, and have free bus transportation around WDW, as well as to and from the airport. There are seasonal promotions that add a FREE Disney Dining Plan to packages, covering the cost of food.

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Speaking of Disney food  its pricey. I like reading the Disney Food Blog for reviews of food and the DLR Dining and WDW Dining sections of AllEars.Net for menus with prices. Want to know the cost of a hot dog and fries at Caseys Corner in the Magic Kingdom? Or a famed Monte Cristo sandwich at the Blue Bayou? Being prepared ensures you dont blow your daily food budget in one sitting by spending $29 on a sandwich.

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I set aside $100 a day for food. Dining options in the parks include quick-service, table/buffet, and snacks. We stick to quick-service meals with no sodas, and I always plan for snacks like the fan-favorite Dole Whip, ice cream bars, and French fries with pulled pork and cheese.

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At DLR, $30 a day per person covers the motels continental breakfast, lunch at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, dinner at Flos V8 Cafe, and a Dole Whip. At WDW, it will pay for breakfast at the End Zone Food Court, lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, dinner at Columbia Harbour House, and Kaki-Gori shaved ice.

So, how much do we have to save to visit the Happiest Place on Earth? By my calculations, total cost for two adultsnot including souvenirsshould run you:

Disneyland Resort | 5 Days/4 Nights

 Priced individually: $2174

 DLR package: $1214.56 + Food + Flight = $2414.56

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Walt Disney World Resort | 7 Days/6 Nights

 Priced individually: $2928.46

 WDW Package with free dining plan: $1925.52 + Flight = $2625.52

 Without free dining = $3325.52

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Disney Parks make me happy. I experience a longing ache in my chest when commercials invite me to escape into a world of magic and fantasy. My favorite memories are of taking my son and husband to Disneyland for the first time. There is no better feeling than walking beneath the sign that states Here You Leave Today and Enter the World of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy with the people I love.

It has been too long since our last Disney vacation, and I dont know when we will go next. Planning these trips keeps me connected to the magic I miss so much. And until I step onto Main Street once again, Ill hang my hat on a quote from Walt: All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.On Tuesday, a swarm of 20,000 or so honeybees descended on Times Square, terrorizing tourists and costumed performers alike before settling on top of a hot dog vendors umbrella. Reuters began streaming the incident as the bees swarmed the large blue-and-yellow umbrella. In total, the livestream lasted 40 minutes. I watched every minute, rapt. It wasnt just a livestream of bees; it may as well have been an avant-garde art film about the state of New Yorkand even the worldin 2018.

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The livestream raises more questions than it answers, to be sure. Some viewers might be satisfied with scientific answers as to why the bees appeared, which according to experts is likely because a colony became overcrowded and a queen decided to find a new colony, by chance ending up in Times Square. More sophisticated viewers will surely be interested in the subjective interpretations and possibilities the film offers, however. Its an extraordinary document that is part documentary, part tone poem for a metropolis in flux.

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Unlike Andy Warhols Empire or a standard-issue panda cam, this livestream was directed. The stream opens with poignant intercutting. The camera operator shifts focus across the crowds of Times Square taking pictures, laughing, waving to the cameraand then sharply cuts back to the bees. This actionjuxtaposing a humming mass of mindless drones with a swarm of honeybees on an umbrellafeels like an especially bold commentary, if a little on the nose.

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As the video continues, more dramas unfold. A ladder arrives, and a mustachioed member of the NYPD is ceremonially dressed in a beeproof outfit to lead first contact. Again, cutting back and forth between members of an organization that has helped destabilize communities they are sworn to protect and a swarm of stinging, potentially deadly insects could be seen as too much, too clear a metaphor, but for this livestream, subtlety is a secondary concern due to the urgency of the subject matter. And then, the vacuuming begins.

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The scene of the mustachioed bee wrangler humanely vacuuming up the bees from the umbrella is undoubtedly the centerpiece of the livestream, and wouldnt feel out of place in one of Matthew Barneys films. But instead of working with Vaseline, as Barney did in Drawing Restraint 9 or feces, as in River of Fundamentthis time its bees. The insects form an almost fluid material upon the umbrella, suggesting a substance that must be removed by the authorities, lest it poison the rest of us, and the vacuum shots are deeply satisfying. The scene is long and meditative, as the umbrella is constantly shifted in order to get more and more bees into the snout of the vacuum. This cleansing is left to the viewer to interpret. Are we being cleansed of an unnatural substance, lest it poison us all? Or by cleansing this unwanted element, are we corroding the soul of Americas cultural center? Or are they just bees?

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Over and over again, the viewer is asked to question the significance of the umbrellawhy are the bees attracted to it in the first place? Did someone spill Mountain Dew on it? Do they think it looks like a giant flower? I think there might be clues in the colors of the umbrellablue and yellow, which are also the colors of the University of Rochesters mascot character, Rocky the Yellowjacket. Is this a nostalgic ode to the industrial upstate, or a condemnation of it?

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As the bee vacuumer descends from the umbrella, we too return to earth. His work left unfinished, dozens of bees remain swarming the tip, the camera fixed in extreme close-up. The final shot pulls back to reveal the entirety of the hot dog stand umbrellawith the slogan WERE ON A ROLL !!! searing into the viewers mind. This phrase is stacked with meaning, suggesting that the hot dog is presented to the customer on a roll also known as a bun, but it can also be taken to mean that these bees cannot be stopped and that their plague is perhaps our future if we do not heed their warning, as impossible to comprehend as it is. The vacuumed bees have since been displaced to a farm on Long Islanda pastoral, bucolic ending to a chilling urban nightmare. Another small silver lining to this apian dystopia: The film is now available for anyone to stream.With people across the country contributing for the relief efforts in flood-ravaged Kerala, HDFC Bank too has stepped up and decided to contribute. The bank said today that it is adopting 30 villages and contributing Rs 10 crore for the relief work underway in Kerala. Additionally, the bank also announced a waiver of late payment penalty on monthly loan instalments and credit cards for customers in Kerala.

"We stand with the people of Kerala in this hour of distress," the bank's managing director Aditya Puri said.

As part of its village adoption plan, HDFC will set up medical camps and rebuild health centres, aid in school renovations and reconstructions. It will also impart skills training to restore livelihoods of the flood affected citizens, an official statement said.

The bank said that it will consult the state government to finalise the measures in their endeavour and mentioned that this is also a long-term plan where its local non-profit partners will deliver on-ground help.

Along with adopting villages, the bank has also contributed Rs 10 crore to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. Its employees have contributed a day's salary, while the rest has come from the bank. "While we continue to pray for their speedy return to normalcy, we hope through our efforts we are able to make a small but meaningful impact on people's lives as they come out of their suffering," said Puri.

The lender said most of its branches and 291 of the 331 ATMs have been restored. The bank has also enabled contributions to the CM's disaster relief fund.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan said today that the loss and damage due to the floods in the state would far surpass the initial estimate of Rs 20,000 crore. Rescue operations are over and rehabilitation and rebuilding is underway. The floods claimed 332 lives since August 8 and displaced a large number of people.

CM Vijayan also mentioned that with the rehabilitation process running in full swing around 1.97 lakh people are left in relief camps. There were more than 14.50 lakh people in relief camps on August 21. "This shows that nearly 12.53 lakh people have returned home after rehabilitation began," he said.

(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)Executive Time is Slates pop-up blog about bosses.

Many recent changes in the nature of work are cause for concern, like the technological destruction of true off hours and the rise of permalancing corresponding with the fall of jobs with benefits and pensions. But one of the more encouraging shifts taking place is toward more flexible workplaces, where bodies in a physical office arent the definition of staying present. According to one estimate, the number of people telecommuting in the U.S. has increased by a staggering 115 percent over the past decade, and as of July, 4.3 million employees work from home at least half the time. At Slate, theres a whole Slack channel mostly devoted to letting others in the office know where youre working from that day, with wfh the most common refrain.

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The increasing prevalence of remote work has given rise to coworking spaces like WeWork, the Wing, and the Assemblage, where those who arent tethered to a desk in an office are tethered instead to comfy millennial-pink couches. At the same time, its disrupted one of the oldest relationships known to man: the boss-employee bond.

Katherine Kelly told me that when it comes to managing remotely, theres definitely a learning curve. Kelly is the managing director of brand and editorial strategy of Interfolio, a higher-education technology company. Shes based in California while most of her team works out of Interfolios D.C. office. When youre remote, managing cant just be done over the watercooler, she said. It forces you to do it over email, do it over Slack, and I think that ends up working in our favor. Other people can rely on, Oh yeah, I saw you, and we talked about it. Clearly delineated tasks and workflows, daily digital meetings with the entire team, and regular check-ins utilizing every available form of communication are all necessary for Kelly to manage from afar.

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While constant communication might be a drag for anyone who considers themselves a cool boss, all of the managers and workers I spoke to considered it a requisite of working remotely. With any boss and any job, you want to know how youre doing, and one of the ways that you realize how youre doing is picking up on their body language and their body cues, said English professor Nathan R. Elliott. You can get paranoid when youre living a thousand miles away. In the years after his son was born in Canada, Elliott taught remotely for Georgia Perimeter College and said he never actually met his department chairwoman face to face. Even with nearly constant visual cues, its easy to misinterpret what your bosses actions might mean, which is why there are dozens of pieces out there promising to give beleaguered employees the key to finding out whether their manager likes or hates them. Without those half-smiles or jocular shoulder pats to overanalyze, employees can really work themselves into a tizzy wondering whether that terse email is a direct sign theyre about to get the boot or just the result of a disappointing Sweetgreen salad.

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That kind of anxiety is only heightened when a real problem arises, as it did when Elliott flunked a student for plagiarizing a paper and the student complained to his department chairwoman. Even though Elliott felt his relationship with his boss was on solid ground, the distance between them ended up dragging out a situation that couldve, he thought, been taken care of in two seconds if he were on campus. And thats not a boss issue, thats a remote job issue in general, Elliott added. Even when everyones on high alert and responding very quickly to time differences and schedule differences, everythings in this perpetual lag, which puts you in this state of emotional distress. While his department chairwoman ended up siding with him, Elliott felt that she wouldve come to that decision quicker if they had interacted face to face beforehand. I dont think she wouldve given the guy any credence if I had just been on campus right there.

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Still, Elliott believes that the benefits of working remotely far outweigh the cons, and hes not alone. A flexible work schedule, the freedom to putter around the house, and the ability to work from anywhere are all advantages that remote employees are loath to give up. For workers based in an office, having a remote boss presents an opportunity for independence. I dont perform well when I have someone constantly hovering, said one writer who works in scientific publishing. When I dont have someone above me constantly hovering, it frees me up to be more available to the newer people on the team.

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The challenge of nourishing a remote mentor relationship, one that might not only determine career trajectory but job satisfaction, also came up repeatedly in my interviews. Its harder to track how people are advancing in their careers and whether or not theyre feeling fulfillment from the job [when theyre remote], said Arwa Gunja, executive producer of the WNYCs daily podcast The Takeaway. I actually do think that is a harder challenge: to understand what it is that they want in order to grow into and to develop in the field. While both Gunja and Kelly cited their annual review periods as an important opportunity to check in with their remote employees face to face (along with regular attempts to get everyone in a room together a few times a year), they both also made clear that those moments of face time wouldnt be as fruitful without consistent communication. In other words, physical presence is only as valuable as the rapport thats been built before it.

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As technology allows more and more employees to never set foot in an office, managers and employees shouldnt shudder at the thought of navigating the remote relationship. As Kelly notes, just getting away from the social panopticon of open offices and having the simple perception of freedom makes work more enjoyable, despite working the same eight to nine hours as her colleagues. Whatever difficulty is there is overcome by how much I like not commuting, she laughed. The old standby adage about the supremacy of face time isnt necessarily truethere are plenty of bosses who manage to be terrible despite sitting less than 100 feet from your desk. If a little extra effort and conscientiousness are all thats required to boost the ranks of the abysmally low 15 percent of workers who feel engaged at work, then maybe wfh should become the new synergy.On Tuesday night, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won Floridas Democratic gubernatorial primary in an upset, startling the political establishment and earning immediate comparisons to upstart congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In retrospect, though, Gillums unexpected defeat of his closest rival, Gwen Graham, probably shouldnt have been shocking. Graham, a moderate one-term congresswoman with deep ties to Florida politics, ran a professional but insipid campaign that failed to ignite a groundswell of support. Other competitors in the race included Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, a self-described radical centrist and millionaire who blitzed the airwaves with bland ads, and Jeff Greene, a Palm Beach billionaire indulging in a vanity run. Levine and Greene siphoned votes from Graham, allowing Gillum, who positioned himself as a different, more progressive kind of Democrat, to claim victory. Gillum beat Graham by about 45,000 votes; had Levine or Greene dropped out, Graham may have won handily.

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And yet Gillums underdog triumph really was staggering because he was able to do what no statewide Democratic candidate in Florida ever has: bring together a winning coalition of progressivesyoung voters, racial minorities, LGBTQ peoplewithout paying lip service to centrist orthodoxy. For decades, the Florida Democratic Party has run moderates who can ostensibly win over a chunk of rural whites. This strategy has failed more often than it has succeeded, and Gillum is the first statewide candidate to reject it outright. It is not at all certain that he will win in a general election. But his canny ability to unite and inspire unflinchingly progressive voters in Florida bodes well for his chances of turning out Democrats in November.

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Its difficult to understand Gillums political rise without taking into account his political education in Tallahassee, my hometown. In 2003, at age 23, Gillum became the youngest candidate to be elected to the Tallahassee City Commission, where he served until becoming mayor in 2014. Floridas capital is a speck of blue in a sea of red, a liberal enclave populated by college students, state employees, and minorities that is surrounded by white, rural, Republican communities. Gillum bridged factions on the commission, kindling a pro-development reputation while boosting progressive policies. After the killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, in 2012, Gillum endorsed sweeping reforms to the states criminal justice system. He urged the legislature to repeal the stand your ground law, compel law enforcement to take training on racial profiling, and repeal Floridas zero tolerance public school policy, which compels punishment (including expulsion and arrest) for minor infractions.

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That didnt happenFloridas legislature is overwhelmingly Republicanbut Gillum quickly became a star on the council. When Tallahassees three-term mayor declined to seek re-election in 2014, Gillum was the obvious front-runner. He easily won the race, mostly by touting his work to revitalize large parts of the city without favoring business leaders over community members. Gillum entered the mayors office as a consensus builder, and he mostly governed that way, continuing his quest to improve public services, help underprivileged youth get jobs and education, and draw commerce to the city.

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But there were clear signs that Gillum had higher ambitions, or at least an itch to fight at the front lines of progressive battles of the day. In addition to backing criminal justice reforms, Gillum found himself at the forefront of a nasty skirmish over gun controland appeared to relish the role. The conflict involved a 2011 law that imposes fines on officials who promulgate local firearm ordinances. In 2014, gun lobby groups demanded that Gillum and the commission repeal an ordinance that bans firearm use in public parks. The ordinance wasnt even enforceablelegislators nullified local gun laws in 1987but lobbyists demanded that Tallahassee formally repeal its law. When Gillum refused, these lobbyists filed suit, seeking to punish the mayor personally. They lost after a court found that keeping a law on the books did not qualify as promulgating it. Gillum boasted that he had beat the NRA and drew favorable coverage to his fight against the gun lobby.

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This clash with the NRA became central to Gillums gubernatorial campaign mythology, and for good reason: It seemed to prove that the candidate was no opportunistic newcomer to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Gillums strong, early stance on gun control proved particularly helpful in the primary: In light of the Parkland shooting and the Pulse massacre, Florida has exemplified the dangers of loose gun laws pushed by the GOP. The states stand your ground law has proved similarly controversial, particularly after the deaths of Martin and Markeis McGlockton.

Graham, Gillum, Greene, and Levine all sought to portray themselves as fierce supporters of gun safety reform, which emerged as a key issue in the race. But Gillum had the best track record by far. As a congresswoman, Graham endorsed bipartisan legislation to restrict gun sales to those on the terror watch list, but declined to support a ban on assault weapons. (Neither of these measures even made it to the floor of the House.) Some of Grahams high-profile votes in Congress also came back to haunt her during the campaign: She voted to limit Syrian refugee resettlement in the U.S., to authorize the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, to loosen the Dodd-Frank Acts regulations on Wall Street, and to bar the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to U.S. facilities.

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Gillums underdog triumph really was staggering because he was able to do what no statewide Democratic candidate in Florida ever has.

During her campaign for governor, Graham sought to depict these votes as sensible compromises responsive to her constituents in a closely divided district. She identified as a progressivebut Gillum had no trouble seizing the mantle of todays left. He endorsed legalizing recreational marijuana, Medicare for all, hiking corporate taxes to fund public education, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as private prisons. (Gillum also supported Medicaid expansion, which would extend health insurance to 700,000 Floridians, but so did every other Democratic candidate.) Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed himeven though Gillum supported Hillary Clinton in 2016and billionaire donors Tom Steyer and George Soros cut him big checks.

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For most of the race, however, Gillums campaign was broke. He spent little money on TV as his opponents blanketed the airwaves with ads. He couldnt afford direct mail or, at times, flyers. Instead, he used social media to encourage direct donations and spent his money on extensive statewide organizing. Gillum is tall and handsome, and his oratory is at once lofty and forthright. He speaks candidly about race, frequently reminding voters that more than 21 percent of Floridas black voting-age population cant vote due to its grossly discriminatory felon disenfranchisement law. (Gillums own brother is disenfranchised by the ban, which voters will have an opportunity to repeal in November.) And his story is undeniably inspirational: His mother drove a school bus; his father was a construction worker; he was the fifth of seven children and the first to graduate high school, setting an example that motivated his two younger siblings to finish school as well.

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Moreover, by a stroke of luck, Gillum ran for governor the same year that Sean Shaw decided to compete in the Democratic primary for attorney general. Shaw, a state representative whose father was the first black chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, is widely respected in the states legal circles. For an attorney generals race, his candidacy generated an unusual amount of excitement. Shaw fostered that enthusiasm by running on a bold platform of racial justice, marijuana legalization, environmental protection, and gun control. (He also vowed to sue the legislature for failing to fund public education.) And at just 40 years oldone year older than Gillumhe qualifies as young for the political scene.

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Shaws views overlap extensively with Gillums, and a number of staffers on Shaws campaign helped Gillum in their spare time. While the two never formally endorsed each other, both ran as firebrand progressives, giving Democrats alienated by the state partys centrism a reason to show up to the polls. Both Shaw and Gillum also attracted extensive support among Floridas black community. Both won on Tuesday.

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But there was no single reason for Gillums success in the primary. His ballyhooed surge late in the race was ultimately the result of a vigorous get-out-the-vote effort. In the end, his base simply came through for him: Lefty college students, racial minorities, teachers, union members, LGBTQ Floridians, and everybody else who was tired of moderate Democrats running and losing decided to bet on a true progressive candidate for a change. If he can maintain that support through November, he has a real shot at winningso long as an FBI probe into possible corruption in Tallahassee politics doesnt tarnish his chances. (So far, Gillum has not been implicated, and no charges have been filed.)

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The stakes could not be higher. In the general election, Gillum will face Rep. Ron DeSantis, a Trump clone who committed a possibly racist gaffe shortly after Gillums victory. DeSantis spent his primary campaign touting Trumps endorsement and bashing immigrants; as governor, he could plunge the state into four years of Trumpian dysfunction and anti-immigrant fervor. Gillum, who would be Floridas first black governor, can beat him, but hell need to win over moderate Graham voters without estranging his base. Hes clearly ready for the challenge. Soon we will learn if Florida is ready for him.Score another one for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. In a stunning upset, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won Floridas gubernatorial primary Tuesday, beating both a moderate front-runner with deep ties to the state and a self-funding, self-proclaimed radical centrist.

With the vast majority of ballots counted, Gillum led a crowded field with 34 percent of the vote, roughly 3 points ahead of former congresswoman Gwen Graham, a centrist and the only woman in the race, and 14 points ahead of former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, a millionaire who sold himself as a pragmatic problem solver.

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While Graham and Levine ran toward the middlea Florida tradition for Democrats dreaming of living in the governors mansionGillum proudly veered left. Among his positions: hiking corporate taxes to better fund public education, repealing his states stand your ground self-defense law, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, implementing Medicare for all, and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That earned him the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who showed up in the state this month for a pair of rallies, as well as the backing of liberal megadonors Tom Steyer and George Soros.

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Like Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland, if elected, Gillum would become his states first black governor.* And like Abrams and Jealous, Gillum used an unapologetically progressive agenda to appeal to disaffected liberals, especially voters of color. But unlike Abrams, who was the heavy favorite in her primary, and Jealous, who was a mild underdog in his, Gillum pretty much came out of nowhere to win his nomination.

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Heading into Tuesday, Gillum was sitting in a distant fourth place in RealClearPolitics rolling average of polls with less than half the support of the front-runner, Graham, whose father, Bob, served as Florida governor and a U.S. senator for more than a quarter-century combined. Graham had the support of much of the in-state party establishment, along with the likes of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Levine, meanwhile, dipped into his personal fortune and emerged as an early contender before another self-funding candidate, billionaire Jeff Greene, jumped in late and scrambled the standings.

Gillum seems poised to now become a household name on the left. Hes a young-for-politics 39 and journalists were taking note of his charisma and attractiveness back when he seemed likely to lose. When it comes to progressive branding, meanwhile, he splits the difference between a proud democratic socialist like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a dont-you-effing-dare-call-me-a-socialist like Jealous. As Gillum put it while trying to wiggle away from the question at a town hall earlier this month: I realize that these labels are easy to throw on folks, but when youre strugglingwhen you want to make sure that you can work one job instead of multiple jobs as a way to make ends meetthese labels mean nothing.

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Gillum will now face off against U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who won the GOP nomination Tuesday. DeSantis is about as Trump-tastic as one can get. He spent much of his primary on Fox News, where he made a name for himselfand caught the presidents eyeby attacking the FBI and Robert Mueller. The president returned the favor by endorsing DeSantis against the wishes of the GOP establishment, which instead preferred state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, someone who was still pro-Trump but far less likely to air a campaign ad in which he teaches his kids to build the wall with toy blocks.

The general election, then, will make for a clear contrast, much as it will in neighboring Georgia, where Abrams is up against Trump-endorsed Brian Kemp. Abrams, though, did her best to avoid engaging with Trump until she had to, while Gillum has been swinging since last year. This president is wrong for Florida on almost every issue, and as governor, I will fight against each and every one of his wrong-headed, racist, and sexist policies, Gillum declared in December. The Donald Trump presidency shouldnt even make it through 2018. Donald Trump should be impeached now.The GOPs great lucking-out in Arizona is now official. Rep. Martha McSally, the clear choice of the national party and the only Republican running for retiring Sen. Jeff Flakes seat with a shot at defeating Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, has won the nomination. She defeated ultra-conservative former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who melted down in the closing stretch of her second straight Senate primary, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an octogenarian torture clown. As of publication, McSally was still hovering around 50 percent of the vote compared to 50 percent combined for her challengers.

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The primary, like so many Republican primaries, was a contest to express the most love for Donald Trump. That was an easier task for Ward and Arpaio than McSally. Ward has long taken a hard line on illegal immigration in contrast to the states more dovish senators, Flake and John McCain. Arpaio, meanwhile, received the very first pardon of Trumps administration after he was found guilty of ignoring a court order to stop constantly racially profiling suspected undocumented immigrants.

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McSally, who represents a swing district, is not a natural Trumper. Prior to jumping into the statewide senatorial primary, she had been relatively moderate on immigration reform. She only flipped to being a hard-liner when her prospects for Senate shifted. She didnt talk about Trump at all during her 2016 re-election campaign; now she speaks at length about how shes invited over to the White House all the time to help her dear friend Donald Trump enact his agenda.

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Despite all the love being thrown his way, the president himself stayed out of the race. In a parallel world where Roy Moore picked up 22,000 extra votes and defeated Doug Jones in the 2017 Alabama special election, maybe Trump would have endorsed one of the two long-shot challengers. He didntbut he didnt endorse McSally either, to the annoyance of the national party.

His silence, it seems, was enough to keep either Ward or Arpaio from consolidating the conservative opposition to McSally. Their splitting of that vote was the story here, and Arpaio couldnt have paid the president back better than by entering the race and ensuring a viable Republican Senate candidate in one of the most competitive races in the country.

McSally versus the centrist Sinema is just about a must-win for Democrats in November if they want to pick up control of the chamberor limit their losses in a cycle with a punishing map. Sinema had the fortune of minimal primary competition, while McSally will have to revert quickly to a more moderate posture after this Trump pander-fest. Most of Arizonas voting is done through mail ballots, and those will be sent out in about six weeks. Its a tough task for the Arizona GOP. But at least they have a chance now.Floridas Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis said that voters shouldnt monkey this up by voting for Andrew Gillum, his Democratic opponent, who is black.

Uh Ron DeSantis just said FL shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Andrew Gillum pic.twitter.com/nDPp3Hx7zc  Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) August 29, 2018

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The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases, and bankrupting the state, De Santis said during an interview on Fox News. That is not going to work, that is not going to be good for Florida.

The comments came in the midst of DeSantis praising Gillums political skills: He is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views, and hes a charismatic candidate. I watch those Democrat debates  he performed better than the other people there.

Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, told the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper, Its disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles.

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Hot Mail Sign up to get the Hot Seats newsletterour weekly rankings, PLUS a guide to the midtermsin your inbox each Friday. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

A DeSantis spokesman said the monkey this up comments were innocuous and told NBC News reporter Ali Vitali that it had nothing to do with race or anything like that and that DeSantis uses the phrase frequently to describe something messed up. The spokesman later issued a fuller statement saying it was absurd to characterize the remark as racist.

New statement from DeSantis comms director @StephenLawsonFL: Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses. To characterize it as anything else is absurd. #flgov pic.twitter.com/4OcWPiJB7x  Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 29, 2018

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Update, Aug. 29, 1:22 p.m.: Fox News, having apparently sensed DeSantis comments were problematic, contacted Slate to point out that the host interviewing DeSantis, Sandra Smith, addressed the remark on a subsequent segment:

A little while ago, we had Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee for governor in Florida on for an interview to discuss the Florida election. During the interview, he made what some are calling an inappropriate comment about his democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, Smith said. Smith then said, We do not condone this language and wanted to make our viewers aware that he has since clarified his statement.

She then added that Gillum will appear on Shepard Smiths broadcast at 3 p.m.The controversy surrounding a letter written by Carlo Maria Vigano, formerly the Catholic Churchs chief diplomat in the United States, shows few signsdivine or otherwiseof abating. Vigano claimed Pope Francis and others in the Vatican helped cover up sexual abuse by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was once the archbishop of Washington. The pope has refused to dignify Viganos claims with anything more than a cursory responseI will not say a single word on thisbut the letter has sparked a huge debate between different factions within the Vatican.

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Vigano, an opponent of Pope Francis who thinks homosexuality is at the root of the sex abuse crisis, is being supported by a number of conservative Catholics in America and abroad, many of them uneasy with Francis papacy. Meanwhile, Francis supporters think Viganos claims are more about undermining Francis than the issue of sexual abuse, the response to which has been one of the most contestedand, to many, disappointingaspects of Francis tenure.

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To talk about what this all means, I recently spoke by phone with John L. Allen Jr., the editor of Crux, an independent Catholic news site, and one of the leading experts on the church. During the course of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed the reasons to both trust and distrust Vigano, where Francis has gone wrong in his response to the crisis, and the churchs biggest blind spot when it comes to confronting sexual abuse.

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Isaac Chotiner: Two-part question: Now that weve had a few days of reporting and follow-up, how much credence do you give the allegations that were made? And maybe more importantly, is the larger idea that Pope Francis has responded insufficiently to the abuse crisis correct regardless of what you think of the specific allegations?

Ultimately, who should have seen this train wreck coming and done something about it?  John L. Allen Jr.

John L. Allen Jr.: Well, I approach this as a reporter. What I would note is that much of the reaction to these allegations, both those who have said they find them credible and those who have said they really dont, appear to be driven a lot more by politics than any hard evidence. The more a particular Catholic likes Pope Francis, the more inclined they are to dismiss all this, and the more they dont like him, the more inclined they are to take it seriously. I think it is premature right now to draw hard conclusions one way or the other.

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What we know is that a very serious allegation has been made from someone who, at face value, would have to be taken seriously. He was the popes ambassador in the United States. He certainly would have had the access to Francis and be in a position to know the things he claims he told him. I think you have to take it seriously. On the other hand, I think you also have to take it with a grain of salt because it is just patently obvious theres a huge political agenda involved in all of this. Also, Vigano, if you look at the statement he issued, this factual claim about what he told Francis comes wrapped in a lot of other bits of character assassination at other senior figures in the church that is based largely on innuendo and supposition and just political opposition. I think there are good grounds to be skeptical, but at the end of the day I also think that the charge has to be taken seriously. There ought to be some kind of review.

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Some of Francis defenders are saying that Vigano had already displayed a record of dishonesty by making unfounded allegations back in 2011 and that that should change our view of his credibility. Do you agree?

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Yes and no. It is true that Vigano back in 2011 made a lot of allegations. Letters that he wrote to Pope Benedict and to Benedicts No. 2 were at the heart of the first Vatican leaks affair, alleging all kinds of financial corruption and skullduggery in the Vatican. [If] you read those letters and you try to unpack them, the pattern that emerges is that some of the claims Vigano makes appear to be credible, appear to be backed by reasonable evidence. A lot of the rest of it appears to be driven more by personal considerations impossible to verify, and with a clear political edge. In that sense, this is deja vu. What we have is a serious charge that does need to be investigated but also calls for a degree of skepticism about that charge because of everything else that comes wrapped with it.

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What have you made of the way that Francis and people close to him have responded to this? I saw a video clip of an ally of Francis essentially saying we have more important things to focus on, like immigration and global warming. And the popes response was a nonresponse. I understand being annoyed if the accusations are untrue, but given the way that the entire church has responded to this crisis, and the seriousness of the accusations, it also feels pretty insufficient.

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Yeah, certainly my read talking to people in and around the Vatican, because Im in Rome right now, is that there are a lot of people who would agree with that assessment. Its hard to ignore the fact that you have now several American bishops, I think the last count is maybe seven, who have come forward to say that they find Vigano to be a credible guy and that this charge needs to be thoroughly investigated. You know and I know that media organizations all over the world are gearing up to try to get to the bottom of this. It is hard to see how this just disappears on its own until theres a more kind of thorough answer from the Vatican about what the pope knew and when he knew it.

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How do you think Pope Francis on the whole has dealt with the sex abuse crisis?

I think the kind of consensus view is that Pope Francis has been a mixed bag to date. That is, he has clearly reaffirmed the churchs commitment to zero tolerance. He has met with survivors and victims. He created a new commission in the Vatican to advise him on this issue. Hes promoted reform efforts in different parts of the world. Recently, with McCarrick, he has sort of demonstrated that accountability for abuse is going to go all the way to the top because for the first time in a century a cardinal left the college of cardinals in disgrace over this. Those are all things that I think reformers would say are positive. On the other hand, there are significant pieces of unfinished business.

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I think the most glaring would be the issue of accountability, not for the abuse itself but for the cover-up. The Catholic Church now has a strong system of accountability when a cleric is accused of sexually abusing a minor. That guy is removed from ministry. Theres an investigation. Hes reported to the cops. If its found to be credible, he usually is kicked out of the priesthood. There is no equivalent system for bishops or other leaders in the church who are accused of covering up that abuse. Nobody really knows where you report that. Theres no clear system for how it would be looked into and the facts established. Theres no clear sense of what the appropriate punishment for that would be. This has been going for, depending on where you start the clock, lets call it two decades. It just strikes people as difficult to explain  particularly under a reforming pope.

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Ross Douthat, the conservative Catholic columnist at the New York Times, wrote, If Francis was misled, somehow, into thinking that these allegations [against McCarrick] were not serious, he should be *furious* at the cardinals who were in a position to tell him not to let McCarrick globetrot and posture as his adviser. He should be demanding the kind of investigation *at the Vatican* that has been demanded in America. He should be asking for the resignations of active members of his cabinet who should have known about McCarrick. Is he doing any of that? Will anyone who knew about McCarrick in the Vatican own up or lose their jobs? Douthats questions dont seem unfair to me.

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Yeah, in the quote you just read, the questions that Ross is asking are questions a lot of people have. I think people want to know: When was the Vatican made aware of the concerns about McCarrick? If it is trueand there are indications that it probably isthat some sort of restrictions were imposed upon McCarrick under Pope Benedict, why wasnt that made public and why did McCarrick appear to ignore them and how was he allowed to get away with that? Ultimately, who should have seen this train wreck coming and done something about it? I agree the question doesnt just apply to Francis. It applies to anyone who was in leadership at the time.

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Pope Francis is a very politically astute person, and I dont mean that in a cynical way. I think hes someone whos captured the hearts and imaginations

No, its definitely true. Youre definitely right.

It just seems like on this issue hes a bit tone-deaf. How do you understand that?

I think part of it is simply the fact that hes Latin American. Prior to Chile, which was really just in the last couple of years, the sexual abuse scandals as we know them [were] in the United States or the U.K., Australia, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, etc. The sexual abuse scandals had really never blown up [in Latin America]. Thats not to say there wasnt sex abuse obviously. I think its natural that when he came into the papacy he didnt bring the same sensitivity that bishops who had lived through that in their own backyards would.

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I also think Pope Francis came into the papacy with very clear priorities, things where he wanted to move the ball, defending the poor of the world, defending immigrants, trying to act as a peacemaker. I dont think probably in his heart of hearts, as awful as he thinks it is, he would say that the clerical sex abuse scandal is the defining issue of our time.

I think sometimes at a policy level he can be a little tone-deaf. When hes actually with survivors and victims, or when he is in a place that has been scarred by this, and if you listen to the way he talks about it, he does have a real sensitivity to the suffering here.

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I was surprised at the end of his weekend in Ireland. Even the normally very hostile Irish press [and] even some of the victims groups actually were softer on him than I wouldve thought because coming into that trip the mantra was deeds not words. We dont want more apologies. We dont want more reassurances. We dont want more statements of regret. We want to know what youre going to do. Well, Francis came and went, and he didnt deliver a single new deed. He didnt indicate some new action plan. The fact that on Sunday he introduced an impromptu rite of penance that he said was motivated by his meeting with survivors the night before and it contained all this really heartfelt and kind of strong language, a lot of people were willing to say, We still want to believe in this guy. As a pastor, I dont think hes tone-deaf at all. I think the tone-deafness just sometimes comes through more in the policy dimension of things, you know.

It seems like a lot of this debate within the church comes down to different understandings of homosexuality and how homosexuality does or does not relate to the sex abuse crisis. How much of the heatedness of this argument is fundamentally about the fact that within the church, ideas about homosexuality are still so contentious, and will it ever be resolved while thats the case?

I think the question of whether the sex abuse crisis can be resolved without resolving the debate over homosexuality, I sure to God hope the answer to that is yes, but I agree with your instincts here. I would actually make it broader than that. I think a lot of the heatedness of the back-and-forth that were seeing right now has relatively little to do with the sexual abuse of minors, and it has a great deal to do with broader divisions in the church in all manner of things. To boil all this down: There is one camp of the church that thinks Pope Francis is a godsend because hes moving in a more progressive direction. There is another camp of the church that thinks Pope Francis is dangerous because hes moving in a more progressive direction. Its not just the homosexuality issue. Its about the sacraments and worship and social priorities, should abortion be the towering social issue of the church or not, etc., etc. In other words, there is a kind of culture war in Catholicism that existed well before Francis got here but has certainly been exacerbated by his papacy. I think right now its being fought out on the ground of the McCarrick case. A lot of the passion doesnt really have to do with that case.If there was any doubt as to the true value of a Donald Trump endorsement in a Republican primaryand there was, by meGOP voters in Florida put it largely to rest on Tuesday.

Trump-endorsed Ron DeSantis, a three-term congressman, sailed to victory in the states Republican gubernatorial primary, easily defeating Adam Putnam, a former congressman turned state agriculture commissioner and the one-time favorite in the race. The Associated Press called the race with about half of the vote in and DeSantis up nearly 20 percentage points on Putnam, who left a House leadership post in 2008 with his sights set squarely on the governors mansion in Tallahassee.

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There remains good reason to doubt whether Trump deserved the title of kingmaker in several previous high-profile GOP primaries in which he endorsedhis win-loss record is a bit misleading on that frontbut in Florida, Trump has the right to gloat. DeSantis branded himself a pitbull Trump defender and appeared on Fox News more than 100 times during the campaign, much of which he spent attacking the FBI and Robert Mueller on the presidents behalf. For DeSantis to tie himself any closer to Trump, he would have had to give him his first-born child. As it is, DeSantis aired a campaign ad in which he taught his young daughter how to build the wall out of her toy blocks and read The Art of the Deal to his newborn son.

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Trump rewarded DeSantis loyalty early and often, and the president openly boasted about his impact on the race. After catching DeSantis on Fox News in December, Trump offered his praise via Twitter, declaring he would make a GREAT Governor of Florida. Mike Pence and other Republicans reportedly tried to convince him to leave it at that, believing Putnam was the better bet to win this November. But Trump wasnt having it. He offered his full Endorsement in June, and followed that up with a rally in Tampa. During that time, DeSantis went from long shot to favorite to now the nominee.

Such a fantastic win for Ron DeSantis and the people of the Great State of Florida. Ron will be a fantastic Governor. On to November!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

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DeSantis nomination is good news for Trump, who watched last week as one of his endorsees lost a GOP primary for the first time this year, but one Republican whos surely not celebrating the landslide is Gov. Rick Scott, who is now running for Senate.

DeSantis will now face off against Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Bernie Sanders-endorsed progressive who won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday. Gillum will be all too happy to wield Trump as a weapon. DeSantis is more likely to lean into those punches than away from them, and as a result will drag every other Florida Republican into each and every Trump-related controversy between now and Election Day, whether they like it or not.

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Scott would clearly not. The term-limited governor is running to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson in a race that is key to Democrats hopes of retaking the upper chamber. Scott was an early backer of Trump in 2016 but has since tried to distance himself as much possible from the man he helped send to the White House. He avoided mentioning the president entirely at his official Senate campaign kick-off in April, and likewise sat out Trumps MAGA rally in Tampa in July. That absence was difficult to explain this summer, but future absences will become even more awkward if and when Trump returns to the state to stump for DeSantis.

AdvertisementPresident Trump used typically inflammatory language to warn evangelical leaders at a White House event Monday night of what GOP losses at the ballot box in November could mean for his administration and party, telling attendees that Democrats will overturn everything that weve done and theyll do it quickly and violently. Trump met with the 100 or so evangelical supporters during an open press event Monday, touching on the hot button conservative issues religious liberty and abortion, but the tone shifted when the cameras were off during a closed-door event that the New York Times got an audio recording of.

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As a scare tactic, Trump mentioned antifathe sometimes violent anti-fascist activistsby name intentionally conflating them with the entirety of the Democratic Party. They will end everything immediately, Trump said. When you look at antifa, he added, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people. The president also instructed the religious leaders to use their pulpits to push members of the churches to vote Republican in November, which would be a violation of the Johnson Amendment prohibiting tax-exempt organizations, namely churches and charities, from campaigning, directly or indirectly, on behalf of a candidate.

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Trump boasted to the gathered leaders that he got rid of the restriction on electioneering, something he had pledged to do during the campaign, which helped him win over the evangelical community. They really have silenced you, he said Monday. But now youre not silenced anymore. Trump has not, in fact, abolished the Johnson Amendment; that would require congressional approval. In May 2017, Trump did sign an executive order directing the IRS to back off in its pursuit of churches engaging in political campaigns. You have people that preach to almost 200 million people150 to, close, depending on which Sunday we are talking about, and beyond Sunday, 100, 150 million people, Trump said. I just ask you to go out and make sure all of your people vote.

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Hot Mail Sign up to get the Hot Seats newsletterour weekly rankings, PLUS a guide to the midtermsin your inbox each Friday. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Trumps most messianic tendencies shone through when he worried aloud about motivating Republicans to vote for his shambolic party without yours truly lifting the ticket. I think were doing very well, and I think were popular, but theres a real question as to whether people are going to vote if Im not on the ballot, he said. And Im not on the ballot. At one point, in a pitch perfect Trump moment, the president, miraculously, appeared primed to engage in a modest moment of near-introspection and humility when recounting that Dallas evangelical pastor Robert Jeffresswho has said Jews are going to hellsaid Trump may not be the perfect human being, but hes the greatest leader for Christianity. Hopefully, Ive proven that to be a fact, Trump said, before snatching self-congratulation from the jaws of self-deprecation to Christian applause in the room. In terms of the second part, not the first part.In May, a day after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won re-election in a vote widely denounced as fraudulent, President Trump approved new economic sanctions against the country, issuing a statement calling on Maduros government to restore democracy, hold free and fair elections, release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, and end the repression and economic deprivation of the Venezuelan people.

Trumps much-discussed fondness for authoritarians and strongmen generally doesnt apply to Latin American leftists and especially not to the stridently anti-American Maduro. Trump has even publicly suggested using a military option to deal with the Venezuelan government and reportedly asked his top foreign policy advisers repeatedly about the possibility of invading the country.

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Thats a preposterous idea, but Maduros government, which has presided over growing political repression as well as a stunning economic collapse that has created a malnutrition crisis in the country with the worlds largest oil reserves, is certainly a worthy target of criticism. But theres one thing Trump wont do for the people of Venezuela: let them into the United States.

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More than 7 percent of Venezuelas population has fled the country since 2014, a population of more than 2.3 million people. Already one of the worlds largest refugee crises, the outflow of Venezuelans is putting a political and economic strain on neighboring countries, which have taken in the majority of the migrants. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of Venezuelans are seeking asylum in the U.S. as well. The AP reports that there were nearly 28,000 Venezuelan asylum petitions to the U.S. in 2017, a 50 percent increase from a year earlier, and five times as many as in 2015. But a majority of those claims that have come before judges are believed to have been denied on the basis that, in the words of one immigration lawyer, the general violence, the chaos, the economy arent enough for asylum-seekers to make the case that they face an imminent threat if they return home. Meanwhile, the U.S. deported more Venezuelans in the first half of this year than all of last year. A spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services defended the deportations, saying that migrants know they can exploit a broken system to enter the U.S., avoid removal, and remain in the country.

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If you think this characterization of asylum-seekers seems at odds with the administrations harsh criticism of the Maduro regimes repression, youre not alone. Marcos Guada, a businessman who had been active in opposition politics and fled to the U.S. in 2010 but was deported in July, told the AP he had sought asylum because of its criticism of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez: The American government is two-faced.  They say one thing and do another.

Of course, Venezuelans are far from alone in this predicament. Trump may regularly decry Latin Americas MS-13 gang, Syrias Bashar al-Assad, and ISIS as butchers and murderers, but that doesnt mean his administration will welcome their victims.

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The most galling case of this paradox may be Iran. As the Washington Posts Jason Rezaian recently pointed out,

If you look at the numbers, Trumps travel ban could be described more accurately as an Iran ban. Of the total of those likely to be affected, Iranians make up the majority. Last year, there were 17,000 students from the list of banned countries studying in American colleges and universities. More than 12,000 them were Iranian.

This policy has become all the more counterproductive since the Trump administration has adopted the language of democracy promotion and (very nearly) regime change in regard to Iran and attempted to position itself as an ally of anti-government protesters in the country.

As with Venezuela, the very people most likely to share the U.S. governments antipathy to the regime are the ones its immigration policies are shutting out.The White Houses chief attorney, Don McGahn, will leave sometime this fall, President Trump tweeted Wednesday.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

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McGahn had been the chief lawyer for the Trump campaign and helped oversee the successful confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and a raft of appointees to lower courts. But, like so many other Trump administration officials, his tenure ended up being increasingly defined by the Russia investigation.

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McGahn both worked on the investigation in his role as White House counsel and was interviewed by Robert Muellers investigators several times as a witness to Trumps possibly legally problematic behavior in responding to the investigation, especially the firing of James Comey. The New York Times reported that McGahn and his own attorney had been especially cooperative with Muellers team because he had feared that Trump was going to pin any obstruction of the investigation on him.

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At least one of Trumps allies seems caught by surprise about the announcementand either didnt believe or didnt get briefed on the presidents tweet.

@realDonaldTrump I hope its not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U cant let that happen  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) August 29, 2018

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While Trump has not announced McGahns successor, Axios reported Monday morning that it would most likely be Emmet Flood, a White House lawyer who is working on the Russia investigation.

Update, Aug. 29, 1:28 p.m.: Another senior Republican was seemingly stunned by the newsand remained almost incredulous. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement, If the reporting is true about Don McGahns time at the White House coming to an end later this year, it will be sad news for our country, implying there was a possibility the presidents statement about the employment of his own staffer might not be accurate.

Grassley and McConnell werent the only ones caught off guard by Trumps tweet: McGahn himself did not know the tweet was coming, the Washington Post reported, and he had not discussed his plans directly with Trump.Advocates of science are in a bad place right now. Some days, in this Second Year of Trump, scientisma blanket defense of science as a virtuous and almost holy exercise of objectivity and rationalityfeels like the only natural response to the rising darkness. But, tempting as it might be, cheerleading for capital-S Science cant be the answer. Scienceas historians of science and practitioners of science and technology studies readily argueis not an objective refuge; its shaped by politics just like any other human endeavor. How can we acknowledge that fact while still arguing for sciences authority and value?

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From 1969 through 1989, the group Science for the People tried to do just that. Its members took science has a politics as a philosophical starting point and then used that understanding to push for radical change. Early on, the group protested weapons labs. Members worked with the Black Panther Party, helping with their free health clinics, and with the Young Lords Organization, assisting them in offering free lead-poisoning testing services. They sent equipment to Vietnamese scientists and helped Midwestern farmworkers identify signs of pesticide poisoning. They publicly combatted advocates of socio-biology. The group also ran a Science for the People magazine during this time, and its back issues are a treasure trove of conversation between left-wing scientists about the relationship of their work to capitalism, racism, sexism, and imperialism.

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Theres the sad reality that the very basic 20 th -century concept that science is helpful in public life because it helps us make evidence-based decisions is increasingly threatened under Trump.

And now, at this desperate time, Science for the People is back, as an activist organization and a magazinethis time, published online, with a possible print revival in its future. The new magazines first issue is on geoengineering, and the organization has working groups focusing on topics like militarism, labor, and nuclear disarmament. A delegation went to Puerto Rico recently to work on agriculture and energy; the group has been helping tech workers who want to convince their companies to cancel contracts with ICE. Members I spoke with reported that the group is largely comprised of a younger generation of scientists and engineers, working in academia and the private sector, complemented by smaller numbers of science-curious progressives and the old guard who had worked with the group in its first incarnation. The question is whether and how the groups philosophy, which embraces the possibilities of science while critiquing the way its directed and funded, could animate a new generation of socially committed scientist-activists.

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Reading about the work the first Science for the People once did, from our vantage in 2018, can be heartbreaking. In the short documentary produced by the group to announce its relaunch, Fern MacDougal, a graduate student in conservation ecology, described the experience of talking to SftPs original members before the new generation decided to go ahead and begin again: My immediate reaction was one of intense loss. MacDougal didnt elaborate, but for me, all the abundant hopefulness of the original Science for the Peoples work is whats so sad. In some areasclimate, reproductive justiceour situation has become even more perilous now than it was then. Biological determinism has a stubborn way of cropping up again and again in public discoursea phenomenon that Katherine Yih, a biologist and epidemiologist who was in the Science for the People chapter in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the late 1970s and is working with the group again in 2018, calls old wine in new bottles.

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Then theres the sad reality that the very basic 20th-century concept that science is helpful in public life because it helps us make evidence-based decisions is increasingly threatened under Trump. It feels as though were fighting like heck to defend what would have been ridiculous to think we had to defend, back in those old days, Yih said. It was just so obvious that science has that capability to improve the quality of life for people, even if it was often being used for militaristic purposes and so forth. But the notion that we had to defend science against our government was justit wouldnt have been imaginable, I think.

The late-60s origin story of the group also illustrates how comparatively challenged new left-wing groups are today at organizingeven with the structural advantage of the internet. Science for the People grew out of the left at a historic height, and position of influence, Christopher Dols, a civil engineer and the organizations elected publisher, said. The original group, he pointed out, had the advantage of a natural wellspring: the radical caucuses in several scientific professional associations, born from a general public climate of activism and building on decades of intergenerational debate between scientists over the ethics of participation in weapons research.

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The updated magazine represents a departure in science communicationa way of writing about science and social problems that doesnt just assume that more knowledge about what science is doing is all we need.

In 2018, on the other hand, the group doesnt have the same kind of natural constituency. If scientists were publicly mulling international politics during the Cold War, their present-day counterparts are writing letters to the New York Times making painfully basic arguments for their political relevance. Dols added that young scientists today may feel that there are more obstacles inherent in taking the risks of political activism. Academic precarity is very real for early-career researchers, as are the threats of government surveillance or the potential loss of funding from corporate sources.

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But even with all of these challenges ahead of it, the group feels like something totally fresh and vital. For nonscientists who are STEM-friendly and progressive-curious, the updated magazine represents a departure in science communicationa way of writing about science and social problems that doesnt just assume that more knowledge about what science is doing is all we need. Sigrid Schmalzer, Daniel Chard, and Alyssa Botelho, editors of a collection of documents from the original movement (key pieces from the magazine, pamphlets by members, the FBIs report on the group), describe the distinction between the first SftPs approach to public communication and the way other scientific advocacy groups saw it: While SftP members promoted science education, they did not see public ignorance as the primary constraint on sciences capacity to fully benefit humanity. In other words, ignorance was not an individuals fault, a gap to be filled up by knowledge. Rather, Schmalzer and her co-editors continued, they critiqued the power structures  that benefited from public ignorance and impeded the production, circulation, and application of socially beneficial scientific knowledge.

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And for the scientist-activists in the group, the idea that science has a politics has become a focus of study. Although I will admit to some despair at the prospect of trying to rally people to support science without leaning on the rah-rah rhetoric of scientism, Christopher Dols thinks the philosophical question of sciences relationship to politics is actually the best organizing opportunity when approaching potential members who are scientists. Many people are actually infinitely liberated by the idea that, yeah, OK, I can be political, Dols said. The conflation of scientific neutrality into political neutrality of the scientist as a citizen is actually a trick by mainstream liberal ideology that were helping people break with. And those who break join us, and often join us quite enthusiastically, and they are our target core audience and our base. In 2018, nobodys work is politically neutral; the more scientists who see that, the better.The proposal to rename a Senate office building currently named after a racist to instead honor John McCain has proved surprisingly controversial in the couple of days its been on the table. But on some parts of the internet, its already an established fact: Some Google users have found that searching Russell Senate Office Building, for now at least, yields a map marked with the McCain Senate Office Building, despite a lack of official name change.

Google has already renamed Russell as the McCain Senate Office Building: pic.twitter.com/KKmR3vcrKn  Eric Wilson (@ericwilson) August 29, 2018

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Earlier this week, Sen. Charles Schumer put forward the idea to change the buildings name to honor McCain, the longtime Arizona senator who died on Saturday. It is currently named after Richard Russell, a senator who served Georgia from 1933 to 1971. He was an iconic figure in his day [who] was also an arch-segregationist and the key legislative leader of the white supremacist movement, as Vox put it. Schumer, a Democrat, intended his suggestion as an olive branch to Republicans that would both honor one of their own and make the name more historically palatable. So far Republicans havent responded as favorably as he hoped.

Though its unclear where it originated, the Google Maps name change is a show of support for Schumers plan. The likely culprit is anonymous internet vigilantes, the same people who edit Wikipedia pages and plant Google bombs. Google hasnt yet commented on what happened here, but in the past the company has told the New York Times that it creates maps from third-party data, public sources, satellites and, often most important, users. User changes are supposed to be reviewed by Google employees, but users with a history of accuracy have reported that they can cause changes to be made practically instantaneously after submitting them.

Its likely that Google will correct its map quickly, but the anonymous person or people who took it upon themselves to rename the building have already made their opinions heard: They want the Russell Building renamed, and theyre willing to use the tactics of petty internet warfare to agitate for it.On Tuesday morning, President Trump took to Twitter to accuse Google of suppressing conservative media outlets in its search results.

The basis for his allegations appears to have been an article from the conservative news site PJ Media, which alleged that a Google search for news on Trump was ranking left-leaning outletslike CNN and the Washington Posthigher than right-leaning sites. By Tuesday afternoon, Trump had also warned Twitter and Facebook that they better be careful and are treading on troubled territory when it comes to their treatment of conservative views. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, also told reporters that the administration is taking a look at possible regulations for Google to address its alleged bias. Google has denied that there is any political agenda in its search services.

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In order to get a better sense for whether Trumps accusations are founded, and if there is in fact any bias in Googles search algorithms, Slate talked with Tim Hwang, who directs the Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative and was the former global public policy lead for machine learning at Google.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Slate: Is there any merit to the complaints in President Trumps tweets?

Tim Hwang: Well, I think its really interesting. I was immediately struck by what has been a longstanding technology industry talking point. When these issues have come up in the past around Is Googles algorithm biased? or Is Facebooks algorithm biased? the tech companies have constantly said, Well, we dont want to be an arbiter of truth or We try as neutral of a platform as possible. I was struck by the idea that whereas those arguments seem to work as late as only just a few years ago, theyre increasingly ringing hollow, not just on the side of the conservatives, but also on the liberal side of things as well. And so what I think were seeing here is really this view becoming mainstream that these platforms are in fact not neutral, and that they are not providing some objective truth. And of course the big challenge here is: What would a better system look like?

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The presidents views are a little bit overblown, because the question is whether there is a conspiracy to promote certain liberal beliefs or whether the act of selecting content embeds with it certain types of biases. That is actually a really important distinction. The presidents tweet is picking up on a good point, but I dont take as conspiratorial a view as he does on the questions of whether its biased or not biased. I dont think the question is whether or not its biased. All these systems embed some kind of bias. The question is: Do we have transparency to how some of these decisions are being made?

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What kind of biases do you see in Googles algorithms?

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Things like Google page rank are based very much on the degree of links between different web pages on the internet. Relevancy is based on whether or not someone has chosen to link to someone else. Does that mean theres a bias towards things that are, say, more sensational? I think thats totally a possibility. Thats one clear example of bias.

Another one: After responding to a lot of complaints about the quality of information coming through these platforms, a lot of these platformsFacebook and Google includedhave said that they want improve the quality of information. One way theyve done that is to say, OK, well here is a set of websites that we think are more credible than others. I think the choice of that is inherently a subjective act: choosing which ones will be part of this set and which ones will be part of that set. In many cases, this is done in good faith. Theyre asking, How are we going to respond to public concern about this issue? But no matter how you slice it, it imposes some point of view or some lens on the world of what is and is not credible.

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Is there a good reason for the level of secrecy Google maintains around its search algorithms? Do you buy the argument that the secrecy is needed to prevent people from gaming the system?

That is the classic argument. In my opinion, I dont think so. There are many ways of improving transparency that dont necessarily require you to give up the exact code that would allow you to game the system. Now its a real concern. I dont think theyre just fronting. But it doesnt necessarily mean that its an impossibility to give the public more of an understanding of a way these systems work. I tend to be skeptical about those arguments.

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But Google could reveal more than it has already?

For sure. Even the list of what they consider credible outlets is a really interesting and important thing for them to talk about and give more transparency. There are obvious reasons why they dont: They feel like people would take it as conclusive evidence that theyre biased in some way. But I think we have to move away from a world in which these platforms feel like they can ever return to a place where the public views them as completely neutral, and instead opt for a greater demonstration of their process and workflow, recognizing that they cant be fully objective and neutral in some perfect way.

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Is there a reason why you might see conservative sites ranked lower in the Google search results?

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This is what I mean by the conspiratorial view. Theres one point of view, which is: OK, why do we see those search results? Well, one of those reasons might just be because theres a cabal of liberal illuminati at Google headquarters plotting to get this content to be lower on the algorithm. Thats one interpretation.

Another interpretation, which I think is a lot more believable, is that ranks are based on things like page views. Its possible that a lot of the news outlets that are really getting a huge amount of distribution and traction online, based on peoples sharing behavior, based on peoples looking behavior, tend to be a set of larger media outlets. So there could be a difference in size that actually produces what appears to be a political bias in the results. Now, this is what Im talking about with transparency: We dont really know. Im giving you two explanations for why this might be the case, and in the absence of greater transparency, what we get are more conspiratorial explanations for whats going on.

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This allegation of bias has become pretty common against Facebook and Twitter nowadays. Has Google in the past dealt with allegations of bias in how it ranks results, or is this new for the company?

It has, actually. The question of whether or not the Google algorithm is giving good results or fair results or socially-desirable results has been a long-standing question with the company. For example, the Google antitrust proceeding in Europe on search, at least, really focuses on this issue. A lot of people have sliced it in different ways. Some people say that the problem with Google is that it only gives you things it thinks you want to see, and so it generates filter bubbles. What were seeing now is a new kind of critique, which is that its promoting a certain political worldview. I think that is relatively more recent.

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How do we address the issue of platform bias? Trump and others have been suggesting government regulation may be in order. Do you think thats sensible?

I tend to be wary about where all this goes. There are a lot of reasons to disagree with Trump, and this may be another reason to disagree. Do we feel that the administration would do a responsible job articulating what should and should not be available on these platforms? The worry about saying that platforms shouldnt be the arbiter of truth is to simultaneously say that government authorities should be the arbiter of truth. Thats not a situation we should be pushing towards. Were left in this very interesting situation. If we dont think the platforms are doing a good job, and we dont want the government to act, then what do we do about this?

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One of the things Ive been thinking a lot about is taking a different approach to some of these questions. In a lot of cases, the question has been this binary: Do we leave world completely open, or do we then completely close it up?

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In the 1930s, we actually had this debate when we talked about financial markets. Should we have a completely free market, or should we have state control? The thesis back in the day, right before the Great Depression, was: Dont mess with the market because youll inevitably cause it to blow up, or youll make the Depression even worse. The middle ground that we came to in financial markets is what we call Keynesianism. There, the notion is that the market works, but sometimes it can get itself into these self-reinforcing cycles that are really negative. At that point, we actually do want the state to intervene.

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That maybe is one way of thinking about what regulation should look like in the tech space. Basically, can we define what a crisis looks like in the marketplace of ideas? And then, under what circumstances would we want the government to intervene? Its a lot more of a crisis-based approach, which is to say, Under what circumstances do we want this intervention to occur rather than saying, The platforms cant do it well, so were just going to have the government decide. I really worry about these solutions that lock us into these permanent regulations of speech.On Tuesday morning, some Arizona voters were met with locked doors when they showed up to polling sites ready to cast their ballots in the states primary elections. In dozens of locations across the states most populous county, the equipment that would allow them to do so was malfunctioning or had not yet been set up.

Maricopa Countys snafu shows that foreign interference with voting tech isnt the only threat to election integrity. Bureaucratic misstepsand allegedly unreliable government contractorscan also get in the way of voting.

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According to Maricopa County recorder Adrian Fontes, as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, setup had not been completed in 62 of the countys more than 500 voting locations. By 11:30 a.m., all sites were reportedly functional. But for some voters, that was too late.

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This is not a hiccup. This is a serious concern where lots of voters all over Maricopa County are not able to get voting, Fontes told reporters in a press conference broadcast via Facebook Live Tuesday morning.

According to reporting from the Arizona Republic, some polling locations where equipment was set up and tested were forced to turn voters away after running into technical glitches.

County officials first became aware of the potential for a serious issue on Monday afternoon, when around 2 p.m. they began getting calls from hired troubleshooters and inspectors who said that contractors werent arriving to set up equipment as scheduled. By about 6 p.m., Fontes said at the press conference, they realized it was probably going to be a real problem. He said they tried to train other employees quickly to perform the technical work that contractors were hired for. Fontes framed his offices response as a success, noting that on Monday afternoon, they thought up to 250 locations wouldnt be able to open on timehalf of the countys sitesinstead of the 62 that were unavailable Tuesday morning.

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The root of Tuesdays problems was voter check-in equipment, which is used to confirm a voters identity and print their individual ballot. According to the Arizona Republic, on Tuesday the county rolled out a new system that allows voters to scan their IDs to check them against the registration database. The equipment relies on an internet connection to reference the database and then print a custom ballot for the voter. On Tuesday, voters told Arizonas 12 News that polling places were unable to print ballots and that machine ballot readers were nonfunctional. Some voters met with these problems were given provisional ballots.

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The contractor responsible for technical support and the setup of voter check-in equipment was Tempe-based Insight Enterprises. Fontes said Insight was contracted to provide 103 technicians to set up equipment Monday, but only 73 showed up. But the company denies the allegation: A spokesperson for Insight told the Arizona Republic that the company was only contracted to provide 83 employees for equipment setup on Monday and 40 technicians for Election Day troubleshooting. According to the spokesperson, the company actually provided more employees than it was contracted for85 on Monday and 60 on Tuesday. (Slate asked the recorders office about how many technicians were contracted for Tuesday, but we havent heard back yet. We will update the post if we do.)

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The spokesperson also told the Republic that problems with voter validation machines were attributable to a lack of site readiness and on-site connectivity issues that Insight was not responsible for.

Liz Howard, counsel for the Brennan Centers Democracy Program and former deputy commissioner for the Virginia Department of Elections, told Slate that problems in Maricopa County on Tuesday illustrated how important it is for officials to have robust contingency plans for when things go wrong on Election Day. For jurisdictions that use electronic poll books to check voters in, she emphasized the need for paper backups. And many of the preparations officials should make to protect against cyberattacks, she said, will also help in the event of equipment malfunctions.

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Arizonans are no strangers to long lines at the ballot box. In the 2016 presidential primary election, a severe reduction in the number of polling locations in the county caused some voters to wait for up to five hours to cast their ballotand an analysis by the Brennan Center found that long wait times disproportionately affected Latino voters. Frustration over those delays led to the ousting of thencounty recorder Helen Purcell, who lost to Fontes after 28 years in office.

While Tuesday morning was fraught with problems, many voters had already cast their ballots in the weeks prior to Election Day through Arizonas Permanent Early Voter List, which sends voters a ballot they return by mail. Fontes tweeted that the great majority of Maricopa County voters had cast early ballots. Research from the University of WisconsinMadison in 2010 demonstrated that early voters tend to be more highly educated and wealthier than those who cast their ballot on election day.

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Fontes and Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan asked the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to petition the Arizona Superior Court for an extension of polling site hours, but that request was rejected. The Recorders Office received $3.9 million for new technology last fiscal year (FY18) and appropriated almost $20 million for elections this fiscal year so there is no shortage of resources to run a successful election, board chairman Steve Chucri said in a statement explaining the decision.

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In a Facebook video on Tuesday night, Fontes admitted that his office could have done better. But he said, Once our system is plugged in and working, we can check a lot of voters in.

Update, Oct. 3, 2018: In September, the Arizona Recorders Office issued a report that found Insight was required to provide 93 technicians with 10 technicians on standby for setup on Monday, and 40 for support on Tuesday. The requirement for standby techniciansand whether those technicians were in addition to or included within the 93appears to have been interpreted differently by Insight and the County Recorder. Insight told the Arizona Republic it interpreted the contract to mean 83 technicians with 10 on standby. When Fontes spoke on Election Day, it seems plausible that he arrived at 103 technicians by adding the 10 standby techs to the 93 laid out in the contract. Regardless, emails obtained by the Arizona Republic seem to indicate the expectation of around 90 techs. Above all, it seems like this problem could have been avoided with a clearer contract and communication.

Problems, however, seem to have gone beyond the confusion over the number of technicians. In a report released to the Arizona Republic, Insight blamed Election Day problems on the county, citing hardware and software problems with county equipment, an inability to physically access some polling sites, insufficient network connectivity, and ballot and envelope printers that lacked toner. Similarly, a county audit of the way the Recorders Office handled the primary election identified problems including a lack of contingency planning and insufficient staffing, recruitment, and training.

Hot Mail Sign up to get the Hot Seats newsletterour weekly rankings, PLUS a guide to the midtermsin your inbox each Friday. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.On Tuesday, President Trump shared his opinion of Google:

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

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....results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

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CNN rapidly produced articles debunking the claim, including an editorial by Chris Cillizza in which he argues that this is a conspiracy theory and that Googles search results have very little to do with ideology. Like other responses to President Trumps tweet, Cillizzas quotes Google, which in a statement reiterated its usual position: The search engine seeks to present material that is most useful to the user.

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Much like Walter in The Big Lebowski, the president is not wrong in this case. Google is biased. It is designed to be.

A search engines main function is biasthat is, promoting some sources of information, while relegating others to obscurity. This, of course, is a process news organizations engage in every day: choosing sources according to a rubric that the reader does not fully know or understand. The fact that I do not know how a journalist has chosen her sources does not, in itself, make her story ideologically inflected, and it does not mean that it is either invalid or useless. I trust her professional training, and the checks of the organization she works for, to provide me with a useful picture of the news. And I can balance the potential bias of a story or a tweet against other information I find online. Likewise, I am not a climate scientist, but I trust the individual scientists and the structures they work within to provide me with useful answers, and can balance their conclusions with other peer-reviewed literature. At the core of these processes are two things: usefulness and trust.

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What makes an information source useful is very much dependent on context. Tuesday morning, my wall clock stopped working, and I Googled fix wall clock. Google helpfully provided videos and websites that will guide me step-by-step in repairing the clock. And it is likely that the same search results would be useful to anyone who used those search terms. When it comes to more complex issues, and complicated motivations for searching, things get difficult.

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We wouldnt expect, for example, a search engine to effectively guess which upcoming movie we most want to read about. Someone who is excited by Keanu Reeves engaging in a horse-top shootout in John Wick 3 probably doesnt care that the lead actor is being swapped in Greta Gerwigs upcoming version of Little Women. (I eagerly await President Trumps critique of the Tomatometer.) If we cannot accurately predict movie preferences, how do we expect the same search results to be useful to different people seeking information about immigration or monetary policy?

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There is no natural or neutral selection of news sources that will make all users happy.

The response to this is likely that one is related to preferences, and the other is related to facts. The oft-heard critique of news bias is that journalistic outlets should simply report the facts. But there is nothing simple about choosing which facts to include, arranging them in a narrative, and then selecting which should be presented first. This is an art that has been perfected over decades by many editors. How could the Google algorithm have already perfected it?

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In fact, we know that it hasnt. Were the Google ranking algorithm perfected, it would not continue to change over time, and as best we can tell, it changes fairly frequently in large and small ways. It is altered not just because it has, on its own, somehow detected that its search results are not the most useful, but sometimes thanks to external criticism. A decade ago, when a white supremacistproduced site became one of the top hits for people looking for information about Martin Luther King Jr., it was seen as a flaw in the algorithm; thanks to changes in the way it weighted factors of credibility, the site was displaced from the top ranks (though it continued to appear in deeper results for some time). The site it presented was not entirely factual, but more importantly, it presented a position that was acceptable to only a small minority of Google users. Thanks to a change in the ranking algorithman algorithm written by humansthat site no longer shows up among the highest-ranked results.

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The question then becomes how much we should trust an algorithm that has already been adjusted under public pressure. There is an ideological bent to the search algorithm, and it is the suggestion that Google is somehow a neutral, natural, mathematical process by which we may reach the best results for our searches. There is no natural or neutral selection of news sources that will make all users happy. Being suspicious of claims that a particular order of importance is somehow naturalespecially an importance that is derived from Delphic black box like the Google ranking algorithmis not a conspiracy theory, it is sensible skepticism.

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There is a public interest in a democracy providing its citizens access to information. It is the reason we have the Library of Congress and the reason the government still subsidizes the mailing of printed matter. Even if Trumps claim isnt exactly wrong the tweets are still jarring, particularly because of the final words: This is a very serious situation-will be addressed! The constitutional protection of free speech in the United States has meant that the idea of regulating sources of information has traditionally been a no-go zone. If the president does not like the information found on Google, on Facebook, or on Wikipedia, he (though he barely uses computers) and his like-minded constituents are free to vote with their mouse clicks and choose alternative sites where alternative facts are given higher billing.

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The problem, of course, is that Google is by far the most popular search engine in the United States, and the infrastructure required to create good search represents a substantial challenge for rivalsit is, in some ways, a natural monopoly. Other countries have seen a U.S.-based global search engine as a challenge to their countries cultures and governments, and have funded attempts at alternatives. The Chinese have been particularly effective in this regard, as Baidu garners a rapidly growing user base both within the country and abroad. But no one comes close to Google, which provides results for, by one estimate, more than 90 percent of global searches.

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We do not have a similarly monopolistic news outlet. Those who do not like the coverage of the Washington Post, or the mainstream media writ large, have alternatives that the president has actively endorsed, from Fox News to Infowars. Indeed, access to alternatives is easier now than it has ever been. But the choices of search engine are much more restricted.

Monoculture when it comes to filtering content is dangerous, not least because it makes the potential for intentional and unintentional abuse high.

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As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis suggested nearly a century ago, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. President Trump has a powerful tool for driving the search engine market: He could push for public research funding. The dominance of Google makes its search algorithms assailable mainly by efforts funded by other governments, and well-heeled rivals like Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon. Were the National Science Foundation to commit substantial new funding toward public research on improving search algorithms, no doubt the president would find among the thousand blooming flowers an alternative that would better match his view of what is important.It all makes sense once you realize they want to kill us, by Mike Whitney - The Unz Review : 'It is now apparent that these products in ...Slovakia did not even consider extending a helping hand to Italians

There would be no better way to commemorate the historical legacy of the 1968 occupation and the solidarity that refugees from Czechoslovakia received in other countries then.

While Slovaks commemorated the anniversary of the 1968 occupation, another refugee drama was unfolding in Italy.

Diciotti, a boat of the Italian coast guard, saved 190 people in the waters of the Mediterranean on August 15, but it had nowhere to drop anchor. Only after 13 people needed urgent hospitalisation, did Italy allow the boat to come to the port in Catania, Sicily, but the people were not allowed to disembark.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the people would only be allowed to set foot in Italy if the EU states agree to distribute them evenly among themselves. Otherwise, he warned, they might even turn the boat back to Libya. In the end Albania, Ireland, and the Italian Catholic Church took care of the people and on Sunday, August 26, they were finally allowed to leave the boat.

Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors launched a criminal prosecution over the illegal detention of these people, which might even affect Minister Salvini himself.

We should not forget that in this case, just like in previous cases, it was all about people. These rescued people were present on an Italian boat, under Italian power, which forced them to stay on the boat against their will and apparently without any decision.

Add the fact that Italy used this forced retention on the ship, which thus turned into a prison for them, as blackmail to force other EU member states to agree with their re-distribution.

29. Aug 2018 at 15:58 | Zuzana StevulovaSlovak driver who killed four in an accident in Hungary released on parole

Eva Varholikova, daughter of Meciar-time privatiser and steel industry tycoon Alexander Rezes, was released after serving two-thirds of her 9-year sentence.

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Slovak national Eva Varholilokova, who is the daughter of late steel industry tycoon Alexander Rezes, was released on August 28 from a Budapest jail on probation after spending six years behind bars.

She was sentenced to nine years in jail over a traffic accident she caused  probably under the influence of alcohol  on a Hungarian highway in 2012, which claimed four lives, the TASR newswire wrote.

Varholikova asked a Budapest court for an early release on probation after serving two-thirds of her sentence. The court accommodated her request on July 17, taking into account that the convict displayed excellent behaviour, observed strict rules and had no conflict with other prisoners. She allegedly also maintained her fitness, good health and appropriate appearance, the Korzar Kosice daily wrote.

What happened on the Hungarian road?

On August 21, 2012 at around 4:00, Varholilokova caused a road accident on the 44 kilometre Hungarian M3 highway towards Budapest. Speeding, she crashed her BMW X5 into the back of a Fiat Punto, which immediately caught on fire. Three people died on the spot, the fourth, a woman aged 54, who managed to escape from the burning car, died several days later in hospital.

Read also:

Read also: Slovak behind fatal accident in Hungary stands trial Read more

The Hungarian police found 1.5 per mille alcohol in her blood but the woman from Kosice claimed she drank after the accident to calm her nerves.

She was detained and tried for causing a fatal road accident under the influence of alcohol but not for threatening public traffic, as was originally suggested.

In December, Varholikova paid around five million forints (17,140) to the family of the victims, as a contribution for the funeral. Those bereft announced that they would demand 40 million forints (137,122) as damage compensation.

Trial and verdict

In 2013, police concluded the investigation and the Slovak woman was charged, tried at the beginning of August 2013, and sentenced under huge media interest.

She refused to testify and claimed her innocence in both cases. On November 22, 2013 the court found her guilty, thanks to the testimony of a truck driver who witnessed the accident, and sentenced her to six years in prison with a five-year ban on driving.

The Fiat Punto pushed out of the road by Varholikova and burnt down. (Source: Korzar)

In September 2014, the Appellate Court for Budapest and vicinity cancelled the original verdict and announced a new one, sentencing her to nine years in prison with an 8-year ban on driving. Varohlikova was allowed, however, to ask for conditional release after serving two-thirds of the sentence, which she did. As she belonged among impeccable prisoners, both Hungarian and Slovak media, which closely followed her case, expected her to be freed. In the six years, she learned perfect Hungarian (she spoke the language before to some extent), had no disciplinary sentence, and even worked for some time as a seamstress, Korzar Kosice wrote.

29. Aug 2018 at 6:20 | Compiled by Spectator staffDefence Ministry to protect insignia of Armed Forces

Paramilitary groups like the Slovak Levies and Russian Night Wolves will not be allowed to wear the military insignia.

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The Defence Ministry will take steps to protect the identification symbols of the Slovak Armed Forces, Defence Minister Peter Gajdos announced on August 28 in response to the misuse of the military insignia by paramilitary organisations like the Slovak Levies.

What made the ministry act so resolutely?

Gajdos followed the complaint that he lodged with the General Prosecutors Office back in July over the activities of an organisation called the Slovak Levies.

Its really unacceptable that members of this paramilitary organisation with an unclear purpose or any other members of similar organisations wear the uniforms of our armed forces, denotations of rank, insignia, symbols etc. that are characteristic of the armed forces of this state, Gajdos said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Read also:

Read also: Biker gang complex in Dolna Krupa raises questions Read more

The ministry is drafting new legislation, according to which new uniforms and military accoutrements will need to be tagged with the label: Made for the Slovak Armed Forces. Moreover, it will be illegal for anyone to use such gear unless they are soldiers on active duty and soldiers in reserve or retirement. The latter category must be cleared with the permission of their commander.

Slovakia owns a patent for camouflage pattern military uniforms, unauthorised use of which could be classified as a misdeed or even a crime in the future, the ministrys general secretary Jan Holko noted, according to TASR.

Changes to come soon

The minister also added, as cited by the Sme daily, that the new legislation will be adopted this year.

He explained, however, that hobby fishers and hunters who like to wear old, discarded camouflage uniforms will not be affected by this law.

Ministry has ordered, too, a check of the technology currently presented in museums, and requires the equipment from the complex near Dolna Krupa allegedly shared by the Slovak levies and the Russian biker gang Night Wolves  to be returned by the end of August 2018, Sme wrote.

29. Aug 2018 at 6:31 | Compiled by Spectator staffYoung Roma beats the odds and is heading for a masters degree

Jan Lakatos is one of the first graduates of the program for Roma willing to study economics.

It is 8:00 and 22-year-old Jan Lakatos is sitting on a bench in blue trousers, shirt and tie. He takes his blazer off as it is unbearably warm in the non-air-conditioned corridor of the University of Economics. He is typing something on a mobile phone and then looks at his notes.

If someone had told him eleven years ago that he would be defending his bachelor thesis at Bratislava University, he would probably not have believed it. But courage and some happy circumstances helped him to reach the final semester.

As a child, he attended a segregated Roma class at the elementary school in the town of Hurbanovo, south-western Slovakia, where he lives. While white children were studying in normal classes, Roma students from grades 5 to 9 were squeezed into one room.

Read also:

Read also: How does it feel to belong to a minority in Slovakia? Read more

When he was about to go to the sixth grade, the school dissolved the Roma class, and then he started studying with the children of majority. He experienced discrimination right on the first day.

"I will never forget the first sentence of my new classmate, who cried out in disgust: now the Roma will attend classes with us," Lakatos told The Slovak Spectator.

Learning to read

"Do not study so much, it makes me nervous," says Lakatos's classmate while waiting for the bachelor's defence. They had to come at 8:00 in the morning, although they had to wait for another group of classmates trying to pass exams before the commission.

Later another group of students joined Lakatos and his nervous classmate. They were all bored, and instead of preparing for their defence they started to discuss common issues. The discussion soon turned to new smart phones and applications.

29. Aug 2018 at 12:15 | Roman CuprikSlovak night wolf Hambalek got a hefty fine

Police did not find any wrongdoing in the bikers activities but the Economy Ministry imposed a huge fine on him.

Founder of the Slovak branch of the Russian motorcycling gang Night Wolves, Jozef Hambalek, got a huge fine, which he plans to pay in instalments, the aktuality.sk website reported on August 29.

The complex in the village of Dolna Krupa near Trnava where the branch of the controversial Russian biker gang resides has recently been under the scrutiny of the Economy Ministry. Head of Night Wolves in Slovakia, Jozef Hambalek  a crony of ex-interior-minister Robert Kalinak, discarded heavy military equipment, including a tank, there. After a months audit, the ministry imposed a fine of 33,000 to be paid by Hambalek.

What is the fine for?

He failed to fulfil his legal obligation to inform in writing the categories, types and numbers of decommissioned and disabled products of the defence industry that he owns, including their depositing site, the Economy Ministrys press department wrote, as cited by aktuality.sk. He should have done so within 25 days since the quarter of a calendar year lapsed, in each case. Hambalek agreed with the fine and asked for payment in instalments, the ministry informed. This should be approved for him, according to information available to aktuality sk.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/kx179M1C-KY

The checks and audits on Hambalek started this July after he collected several items of decommissioned heavy military equipment in the Dolna Krupa complex. Some pieces were achieved from the Military History Institute, which falls under the Defence Ministry. Minister Peter Gajdos sacked the institutes head, Miloslav Caplovic, as a result. The ministry also asked for the tanks and armoured vehicle borrowed from the institute to be returned.

The Slovenski Branci / Slovak levies paramilitary group trained on the equipment in Dolna Krupa, too.

Hambalek did nothing wrong

Police who checked on Hambalkek, too, found he did not commit anything wrong. The biker also has good ties to former long-time interior minister Robert Kalinak, who he used to go on motorbike rides with.

The new Police President Milan Lucansky defended him too, arguing he re-makes decommissioned military vehicles into fire-fighting cars, and then offers them to rescuers, aktuality.sk wrote.

29. Aug 2018 at 22:55 | Compiled by Spectator staffWinning races is something Catch The Dream has the mastered the art of over the course of his racing career, and on Tuesday evening at Woodbine Mohawk Park the veteran square gaiter nabbed the 40th win of his career.

Catch The Dream used his patented come-from-behind style to secure the win in a $26,000 condition trot for driver Phil Hudon and trainer Bruce MacDonald.

Hudon got away fifth with the 10-year-old son of Cash Hall-Anything But Love while Big Rich and So Not Cool took turns on the lead through panels of :27.4, :56.2 and 1:24.4. Catch The Dream edged off the rail in the backstretch to come first-over, and after chipping away and unleashed a :28.1 closing quarter to win by a head over even-money favourite International Moni in 1:53.2. Free Willy Hanover was a hard-driving third.

Daniel MacIssac of Charlottetown, PE owns the veteran who is quickly closing in on $750,000 in career earnings.

To view results for Tuesday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Tuesday Results  Woodbine Mohawk Park.The Canadian Cowgirls drill team will be performing this Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park, as part of the Canadian Pacing Derby and Maple Leaf Trot card festivities.

Founded in 2003, the Canadian Cowgirls have become renowned for their musical performances, dazzling audiences with their precision riding, stunning costumes and daring manoeuvres. Their elite precision drill team, hailing from Chatham-Kent, consists of 28 women and 28 horses.

The Canadian Cowgirls team of horses consist of a variety of breeds, including Quarter-Horse, Appaloosa, Arabian and Paint.

Fans at Woodbine Mohawk Park this Saturday can see the Canadian Cowgirls perform following the evenings third-race.

Post time Saturday is 7:10 p.m.

To learn more about the Canadian Cowgirls, visit www.CanadianCowgirls.com.

For more information about Saturdays event, visit www.WoodbineMohawkPark.com.

(Woodbine Mohawk Park)Post Time with Mike and Mike presented by BetAmerica, is excited to announce its line-up for Thursday morning (August 30) at 10:30 a.m.

The duo will be joined by Mark Hall, photo editor for the USTA and Hoof Beats; Brian Sears, who scored his 10,000th career win Sunday; Mark McKelvie, from Woodbine Mohawk Park; and Darin Gagne, from Running Aces Casino and Racetrack.

Hall will join the program to discuss being voted into the Communicators Hall of Fame. Hall, whose photography work is well known throughout the industry, will discuss his career in harness racing and how he got involved in the sport.

Sears will join to discuss his milestone and what may be next in his illustrious career.

McKelvie will join to highlight Mohawks big racing program coming up this Saturday that will feature world champion Lazarus. McKelvie will discuss the happenings at the track that night and what fans can look for during live racing.

The Running Aces segment with Gagne will return this week to discuss the happenings at the Minnesota track. Gagne will highlight some of the big events coming up and recap last weeks events.

Post Time with Mike and Mike presented by BetAmerica can be heard live every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. via posttimewithmikeandmike.com or on the archive at betamerica.com/BARN.

(With files from Post Time with Mike and Mike)Federal cabinet to implement 100-day plan of PTI 29 August, 2018



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Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry

Woke Bingo The federal cabinet during its third meeting on Tuesday discussed the 100-day plan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and constituted multiple task forces to ensure its timely implementation, especially the initiatives related to creation of 10 million jobs, construction of five million new houses, FATAs merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, review of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and amendments in accountability as well as civil laws.



Briefing media after the meeting, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the cabinet has constituted a task force headed by Law Minister Farogh Naseem to amend the national accountability laws. The task force will present its recommendations to the cabinet for approval.



A task force has also been formed for amendments in the civil laws as there was great need to improve the system, the minister said. Amendments in relevant laws will also be made to ensure that women get their due share in inheritance and social campaigns will be launched to create awareness among the people in this regard, he added.



Fawad said anti-terrorism laws will also be reviewed and proposals in this regard will be submitted within 90 days, while NACTA would be made more functional.



The minister said the cabinet has formed a committee on CPEC, headed by Minister for Planning Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar with Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed its member. The committee would present a complete review of the CPEC projects to the prime minister. Over $28 billion CPEC projects including $22 billion energy schemes are currently in progress while about $46 billion projects are in the pipeline.



For creation of a new province in southern Punjab, a committee comprising Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Minister for Planning Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar was constituted which would approach other political parties for reaching consensus on a workable plan as two-thirds majority in the parliament was needed for the purpose.



The minister said the cabinet has decided to remove National Bank of Pakistan Chairman Saeed Ahmed Khan for his involvement in money laundering in connivance with former finance minister Ishaq Dar.



He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor and chief minister, and Prime Ministers Adviser on Establishment Akbar Shahzad will take steps to remove hurdles in the merger of FATA in KP and speed up the process.



He said the prime minister will be given review of the work of task forces on the100-day plan after every 15 days. He said reforms in governance and civil service were need of the hour and a report in that connection would be prepared within 90 days.



Replying to a question about how more jobs will be created, Fawad said the government will not employ people in its own departments. This is not how you create jobs  our task is to create opportunities where eligible people can apply and get jobs  that is what the task force is working on, he said.



He said the government had no plan to terminate the services of contractual employees in the government institutions. However, he said, the induction of favourites in the public sector organizations in the past ruined the economy as well as the institutions.



The minister said the issue of high prices of commodities could not be resolved merely by raiding traders and shopkeepers, but through revival of the national economy. The minister said a committee headed by Akbar Shahzad was working on unlawful assets abroad and it would present its report within 15 days.



To a question, he said honest government officials should not worry as only those involved in corruption would have to face the music.



He said the opposition parties had offered to cooperate with the government on the condition that court cases against their leaders should be withdrawn. However, any compromise on the issue of accountability is out of question, he said.



About the use of a helicopter by the prime minister, he said, Imran Khan used helicopter once a week to avoid inconvenience to the general public and the use of security vehicles.



He clarified that transfer of Pakpattan district police officer was a provincial matter and the prime minister had nothing to do with it.



Advisor to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said the PTI government would launch a countrywide tree plantation campaign under its 10 billion tree plantation drive on September 2 by planting 1.5 million saplings the same day. He urged all the Pakistanis to actively participate in the campaign by collecting saplings free of charge from 190 pick-up points to be established in the big cities.Chinas JD.com has released several leaked images of the upcoming Honor 8X Max with has a significantly larger display of 7.12-inch and a waterdrop notch at the top of the display. Not only that, the device also features up to 9V/2A charging, more than 90% screen-to-body ratio with claims that it will have the size equivalent to the size of a 6.3-inch smartphone.

As for now, there is only one storage variant listed on the e-commerce website, but do expect more variations to be revealed during the launch of the Honor 8X Max. There will be up to 3 color options available for the device including Blue, Black, and Red. Other than that, there is no other info regarding the Honor 8X Max tech specs, Malaysian release date and local price of it. For more updates like these, stay tuned to TechNave.com.FIA proposed constitution of six-member JIT

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) proposed before the Supreme Court on Tuesday constitution of a six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe alleged fake accounts and fictitious transactions worth Rs35 billion.



The JIT, if formed on the directive of the apex court, will include senior representatives from the FIA, State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, National Accountability Bureau, Military Intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence, besides a professional chartered accountant.





The Supreme Court was expected to announce the JIT on Tuesday after hearing from all the sides involved in the matter, but due to the absence of senior counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, it decided to take up the matter on Sept 5 on a regular basis.Pakistan asked OIC for urgent meeting

Pakistan has asked the OIC secretary general to convene an urgent meeting of the permanent representatives of the organisation to adopt a unified stance on the blasphemous content.



While winding up discussion on the blasphemous material, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi informed Senate Tuesday that he has made the request through a letter to the OIC secretary general. He said that he has also written six letters to the OIC foreign ministers on this sensitive issue, apprising them of the sentiments of the Pakistani nation on the matter. He said that he will also take up the matter with the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers during his visit to the United States next month. He said the issue of blasphemous content has also been raised with United Nations secretary general and the UN Human Rights Commission. We also plan to raise the matter with the European Union, he added. The foreign minister said that he is expecting a telephonic call from the Dutch foreign minister.



I will clearly express the sentiments of the Pakistani nation on the blasphemous cartoons competition being conducted by a Dutch politician. This is the matter of humanity and we should not allow the humanity to get divided, he said, adding that the act of a Dutch politician has hurt the sentiments of not only Pakistani nation but the entire Muslim Ummah.



Earlier, the House held a discussion regarding the continuous display of abusive and blasphemous material against Holy Prophet [PBUH] on the internet. Leader of the House Shibli Faraz suggested that a committee be constituted to devise a strategy to effectively raise the issue at the international forums.















The Ella to Kandy train is one of the absolute highlights of a trip to the incredible country of Sri Lanka. One of the most diverse and beautiful countries weve had the pleasure of visiting, from crystal clear blue waters and white sandy beaches, to dense jungles and weaving tea plantation lined mountains, it has it all. Taking the train from Ella to Kandy is a meandering 8 hour journey through some of the most stunning landscape in the world, all whilst rubbing shoulders with local people, hanging out of the train door and taking in one of the best travel experiences in the world and one of the cheapest too! Heres our guide to taking the Ella to Kandy train, one of the best train rides in the world!

Ella to Kandy train: One of best train rides in the world and the most beautiful

After spending almost a week in the stunning mountain town of Ella, hiking through the incredible tea plantations of the central highlands of Sri Lanka we set off on the next leg of the journey around the country. Sri Lanka has an incredible railway system that began as a way to transport the tea produced in these regions during the colonial period. It hasnt received many upgrades since it was first established but this really is where the charm lies.

The slow rolling trains chug at a leisurely pace through the incredible landscapes of the country, the journey then becomes much less about getting from A to B and more about the experience. Pulling out of the little station nestled in the hills of Ella, its hand painted sign and hanging pot plants the 8 hour journey begins.

The incredible train through the tea plantations of Sri Lanka on the local slow train

An 8 hour train journey might sound like quite a slog, but bear with us! Unlike many of the long bus, train and boat rides weve endured whilst travelling across Asia (27 hours on a Chinese sleeper train, 24 hour on a Vietnamese bus as the worst examples!) the Kandy to Ella train is just a magical experience. There is a real old world charm to the slow old trains and crumbling colonial stations you pass along the way, traversing the lush green tea fields where workers can be seen in their vibrant saris as the train rolls by.

The 8 hours fly by as the ever changing landscape enchants and mesmerises you. If the landscape outside of the train walls wasnt enough, the experience inside is just as special. These trains might now be popular with tourists and travellers, but at their core they are local methods of transport for the people of Sri Lanka to affordably get around the country. The trains are busy, loud and packed full of all different kinds of people and stories.

The Sri Lankan people are wonderfully friendly and love to talk to their fellow passengers, this makes the Ella to Kandy train a perfect way to get to know more about the beautiful culture of Sri Lanka through the experiences of the locals. Combine that with the incredible local food on offer by the vendors wandering up and down the train and it becomes one of the most intense and incredible travel experiences of our round the world journey.

Hanging out of the doors and taking in the incredible views in the Kandy to Ella train!

One of the coolest experiences when taking the Ella to Kandy train is the lack of health and safety on the Sri Lankan railway system. The doors and windows remain open the whole time and locals hang off the sides and out of the doors to quickly jump on and off at tiny stops or literally in the middle of nowhere. But for those wanting to take in the incredible vibrant landscape the old style train mean you will be hanging out of the door with your camera the entire time.

I think I must have only sat down for a couple of hours on the entire journey and spent the other 6 hours bouncing around the carriage from one side to the other and the endlessly changing landscape kept revealing itself! There is also something quite liberating about hanging out of the door of a moving train after living in the UK and Australia where health and safety is often a little overboard and is another reason we love Asia!

How long does the train take?

The Ella to Kandy train takes at least 8 hours from start to finish and is even often delayed by an hour or so. Expect it to be a full days journey, but hey, its one of the best train rides in the world so instead think of the Kandy to Ella train as a day of adventure, incredible landscapes and amazing experiences!

How much is the train, how to book your trip and the different classes

The Ella to Kandy train is one of the most affordable journeys in the world but there are several different options you can pick from, whether you pre book and head for the first class section or rock up in the morning and stick with the locals in third class, its still incredibly cheap considering how far you are going and the wonderful experience.

Prices:

Ella to Kandy train / Kandy to Ella train:

* 3rd class 400 LKR (2.00 / $2.50)

* 2nd class 650 LKR (3.15 / $4.00)

* 1st class 1250 LKR (6.00 /$7.75) (Depending on the company you could pay up to 3000 LKR)

Differences between class:

* First Class:

These are reserved tickets and should be bought in advance, over the holiday periods these tickets can sell out months in advance. The compartments are air conditioned and dont have open windows and doors like the other areas of the train. These areas are also mostly full of tourists rather than locals and in our opinion take away most of the real joy of taking this incredible train journey and also makes it harder to take pictures too!

* Second Class:

These are bought on the day of travel and your seats are not reserved. You should get there early to get a seat but often after an hour or so you will have space to sit down. This section has comfortable seats and is a mixture of locals and tourists.

* Second Class reserved:

As the name suggests these are booked in advance and are the same seats as normal second class but the seats are numbered. These can sell out a few weeks in advance in peak times but most people book them a day or two before. Prices are around 50% higher for reserving the tickets.

* Third Class:

We travelled third class on many train journeys in Sri Lanka and it was a great experience. The seats are still comfortable but the carriages are much more crowded. You might be sharing the train with animals, crates of food and vegetables and many locals jumping on and off!

booking your tickets

For reserved tickets you can book at the station from 30 days before travel, most people try to book around 2 days before to be sure of getting reserved seats on the train they want. You can also buy tickets online too and from some of the local travel agencies. However its best to book at the stations for the most up to day info on train times and availability.

You can also turn up on the day and buy tickets for second and third class travel, this is what we did and we have no problems. However during peak holiday season it might not be the best idea. You should ask at the station the availability of tickets and train times for your estimated dates. One of the nice things about turning up and travelling on the day is the flexibility it gives you which is one of the things we love about backpacking. If you are on a tight schedule you should try to reserve your tickets or be prepared to stand.

You can book tickets from Colombo to Kandy here OR Colombo to Ella here.

Powered by 12Go Asia system

Tips to make the most out of the best train rides in the world:

* Check the train times as early as you can and book if you know when you want to travel

* Try to get an early train, the ones around 9am offer the best light for the whole journey.

* Get to the station early and well before your train to be sure to get a ticket and a seat

* Keep your ticket with you until you arrive at your destination

* The trains have a shop selling food and drinks in one of the carriages and local vendors hop on and off throughout the journey with some amazing snacks such as Dhal balls (Masoor Dhal Masala Vadai) and spicy peanuts. However I could bring some snacks and water just incase as its a long journey.

* Charge your camera and get ready to jump around the carriage from side to side, hang out of the doors and windows! Bring a spare battery and memory card as well as a battery pack for your phone too! A selfie stick and Go Pro are also great too.

* Be open and ready to have a chat to the friendly locals!

Other great train rides in Sri Lanka and ways to get to Kandy and Ella:

Other amazing and underrated train journeys in Sri Lanka are Colombo to Galle which traverses the incredible coastline and Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, another amazing but smaller town in the tea growing region.

Booking your accommodation in Ella and Kandy

Book your transport across Sri Lanka and Asia here:

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Have you taken the Ella to Kandy train or any of the other best train rides in the world?

Hey, youve got your Travel Insurance sorted havent you?

Travelling and especially backpacking is a wild adventure, but make sure you are covered just incase something goes wrong, which if youre living it up to the fullest its always a possibility!

Check travel insurance prices with World Nomads here!

Related posts:

The perfect two week Sri Lanka itinerary to explore the best of this beautiful country

Hiking in through the dramatic tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

How to get from El Nido to Coron: A Guide for the Coron to El Nido ferry, Philippines

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See more from our backpacking adventures:

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This post contains affiliate links. This doesnt cost you a thing but we get some commission to help us carry on travelling if you book or buy!Pakistan to improve relations with USA but not at expense of national interests: Shah Mehmood Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Tuesday said Pakistan wanted to improve relations with the United States but not at the expense of its national interests.



Speaking at the floor of the Senate, the minister said weightage will be given to the opinion of the people as well as the elected representatives while taking forward relations with Washington. He said national security and the foreign policy were interlinked and we should demonstrate unison on them. Political differences should be kept aside on national security and foreign policy matters. Given the challenges facing the country, only unity can strengthen our voice, he maintained.



Responding to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbanis request for reply on telephonic conservation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Qureshi reiterated, US State Department readout regarding the phone call was contrary to facts. The conversation between PM Imran and Pompeo was cordial and constructive in nature. The press release issued by Pakistan on the conversation is based on facts, he upheld, and also shared that Pompeo is expected to visit Pakistan on September 5.



Speaking in the Upper House, Finance Minister Asad Umer cleared the air regarding seeking a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government does not intend to approach IMF for now, he announced, adding the statement of US administration pertaining to bailout package was unnecessary. Even if Pakistan goes to the IMF, this wont be the first time that Pakistan has opted for the program. We have gone to the program 12 times previously, he said.



Asad Umer acknowledged that countrys economic situation was on life support. We will put the situation in front of public and consult the parliament before making any decision, he maintained.



About the National Finance Commission Award, Asad Umar said it was a constitutional obligation and on the very first day in office, he had directed the finance secretary to initiate the process for new NFC Award. He said it was his utmost endeavour to announce new NFC Award at the earliest.



Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari stated that the new government would strongly and firmly take up the water issue with India. She told the Senate during question hour that India has not withdrawn from the Indus Waters Treaty and is liable to the provisions of the treaty. She regretted that the previous governments resorted to the policy of appeasement and did not take up the issue effectively with India. She pointed out that India has constructed dams in violation of the treaty.



Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan told the House that Pakistan was continuously trying to engage Afghan government into dialogue for a possible water treaty. He said that the Afghan side was so far non-responsive to the initiative. He said the construction of new hydropower projects in Afghanistan will certainly have some impact on the water inflows in the country. He said Afghanistan Cell has been established at the office of the Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters, which collects data through different sources and monitors inflows in common rivers with Afghanistan.



Baber Awan said the water storage capacity of Tarbela Dam was on decline due to silting in the reservoir. He said the best possible arrangement would be to upstream storage to catch the sediment before entering the Tarbela dam.New technologies could reduce money transfer costs by US$ 2.29 billion a year. The Philippines is Southeast Asias top nation for foreign migrants and the amount of money they send home is steadily increasing. Filipinos contribute to the workforces of about 100 countries, with 10 million migrants.

Manila (AsiaNews/SEGlobe)  The Internet, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology could put keep money in the pockets of overseas Filipino workers by reducing the cost of sending funds to family members.

As Southeast Asias top exporter of migrant workers, the amount of money Filipinos send home is rising.

In the 1970s, Filipino workers arrived in great numbers in the Middle East to work in the oil industry. By mid-decade, they went to more destinations and increasingly included women.

The government, which realised the need to regulate migration, began monitoring the expanding recruitment of its citizens.

About ten million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) can be found today in about 100 countries, this according to the International Labour Organisation. At least another million emigrate each year.

A World Bank report indicates that, by October 2017, the country was expected to be among the top five countries in terms of overseas remittances, roughly US$ 32.8 billion, a figure expected to increase. Only China and India topped this.

As of June, the World Bank recorded the average global cost of sending remittances to be 6.99 per cent of the amount  a significant improvement from 9.67 per cent in 2009.

But judging from these recent cost estimates, Filipino migrant workers could save another US$ 2.29 billion per year with blockchain technology, tokens or cryptocurrencies.

Using such means money can be electronically transferred to another person in minutes using a code and a block that contains an unalterable record of its value, allowing the transfer to be verified without a third party. This cuts down time and the need for an institution such as a bank. The block can then be converted back into regular currency.

Given the large number of Filipinos working abroad and the costs of remittance, money transfers have long been a good business in the Philippines. New financial technologies have helped bring down the cost of remittance.

The World Bank estimates that this form of transfer is the most cost-effective, at an average global cost of 3.2 per cent, a figure that could be pushed down even further when more cutting-edge tech developments come along.Are BIG name franchises killing the dreams of bespoke, privately owned, small business ventures?

With the announcement of a number of big name franchises heading to Luxembourg in the near future, Five Guys burger joints and Domino's Pizza being the two most recent, what does this mean for the 'little guys'?



Franchises aren't exactly a new arrival in Luxembourg but the clamor below the line (BTL) on our Facebook pages indicates a clear support for the more traditional seller, the independent restaurateur and a friendlier, more 'human' experience.



Why is it that franchises are considered less trustworthy than the niche resto in your local 'Boro?



Should franchises really be seen as the evil that infiltrates the lands?



There is a lot to be said about gentrification, and certainly Luxembourg is incredibly gentrified, but outside of Shoreditch, there are more creatives per square km in Luxembourg than many an enclave.

So, youd be right to think that there are scores of bar owners, chefs, artists, designers, clothes-makers here in the Grand Duchy. Luxembourg offers terrific financial support to start ups in an effort to have the youth regenerate the country, rather than let them leave for the headier, giddier heights of more vibrant cities.

 Pixabay

For many years, Luxembourgs main high streets were refreshingly franchise free. Then came Auchan (yes, not on a high street), which killed off Monopol and gradually more and more franchises entered the public conscious and so too the public spaces. The Golden Arches were spread wider and a higher turnover of businesses began. Boulevard Royal and Avenue de la Gare are unrecognizable from a decade past.

The then growing (predominantly British) expat community were mumbling about needing a Boots, a WHSmith, a Woolworths (didnt end well in the UK) as they missed their home comforts. The English Shop, then latterly Little Britain had the registers ringing a mighty fine tune for a while. That is until the saturation of expats was such that the bigger Co.s, such as Cactus, began to stock world-wide tastes and so the ringing bells became death knells.

Chapter One, was a delightfully quaint bookstore that was a touchstone of many a fledgling expat, that too went the way of the Dodo as savvy bookstores added their own International sections  and we cant even talk about the elephant in the room, but the elephants name does not rhyme with Shops Are Gone.

Music stores such as New Sound (nee Black Records) and Hotwax downed tools and shut up shop in the face of a changing market, rather than, say...franchise power plays.

 Idsscriptureteachings.org

Customer loyalty is key to longevity and faced with snazzy, pre-prepared advertising campaigns and purpose-built shop fittings you can see why, maybe, just a tiny bit, folk would like to stand on the side of Goliath.

But again, why are franchises the bad guy? Is this down to optics? Starbucks gets a rough ride (taxes notwithstanding) but Nespresso is ok, apparently. As is Coffee Fellows.

Burger King took over Quick and there was no more than a mayonnaise crusted shrug. But Five Guys? NO! Unacceptable! The same folk that whine about the cost of gourmet burgers in Lux eateries also pour scorn on franchises.

Customers queued for ages outside Dunkin Donuts when they first opened here in Luxembourg and then arguments broke out about whether Krispy Kreme donuts are betterno one really offered a word for how that may effect a small business, like Cathys Cupcakery.

So again, what is this negative attitude toward franchises and why does it tend to stick only when people see fit?

Are franchises and startups really that dissimilar?

Lets take a look:

For a start, franchises are often owned by a franchisee starting out in the competitive environment of commerce, be that digital or physical. As would a private business owner.



Just as a startup must find its feet, funds need to be secured, projections delivered, contracts signed, sealed, delivered, the same can be said for a franchise.

The only thing that really separates a 'true' start up and a franchise is that of an established name standing behind the venture. It is this safety net that attracts many to franchising rather than ownership. Some see it as a stepping stone or learning curve toward their own slice of pie in the near to far future.

Would a potential franchisee be considered a sellout if opting to go with a brand rather than going it alone? What about the risks for the individual, their investment, the time, their energy?

Is the name then, the issue? Are the vociferous complaints related to the brands themselves, rather than the idea? Is the problem with the ubiquity of certain logos, products, ranges?

See here the brief for a Franchise (from guichet.lu):

A franchise is a form of independent undertaking based on an agreement or license between a franchisor and a franchisee.

It usually consists in the lawful use of a trademark, brand name or business model by a third party (the franchisee). The franchisee has to pay a financial counterpart to the owner of the trademark or business model (the franchisor).

As a general rule, the franchisee pays a fee between 2 % and 10 % of his turnover in return for assistance from the franchisor which can take several forms:

know-how ;

distribution network ;

structural support.

The franchisee is hence not left on his own as he is granted the right to benefit from the franchisor's experience and proven operational model.

He will also benefit from the brand's reputation and the franchisee's fame.

 Pixabay

Minimum of Standards / Maximum of Fuss

Franchises too must adhere to, often incredibly strict, sets of corporate standards. Which, in some ways, guarantees a level of consistency in both quality control and experience. Can you expect the same guarantee of quality from your local greasy spoon?

That said, these 'standards' vary wildly from venture to venture. What constitutes 'decent' to one owner may be 'exceptional' to another. Which is why, say, a Big Mac (other burgers are available) in France might not taste as good as one in Germany.



Many of the major European city centers carry the same labels and brands, shop fronts are largely interchangeable. So much so that a high street 'there' could quite easily be a high street 'here'.



Often, when discussing, bespoke items, rather than off the rack, the arguments are that artisan goods come at artisan prices.

But that is not to say that smaller businesses only deal in bespoke goods.



So how does this dichotomy solve itself?

On the one hand the public (or rather subsets of) bemoan a lack of BIG city outlets, on the other they complain about the lack of idiosyncratic curios - or they attack the pricing scales of bespoke goods and suggest they can find cheaper alternatives online.



Luxembourg has positioned itself as being a modern, exciting country and myriad marketing bumf (sic) suggests that its city/cities (here's looking at you Esch 2022) represent(s) all that is good within such a melting pot of cultures, creeds and ethnicity but in many ways it is clearly behind in knowing exactly which direction it needs to follow to achieve this goal: public opinion, public pressure or public spending...



Forgetting the little man and continuing to back the 'sure thing' will only exacerbate the speed with which Luxembourg loses its identity, not just on the shop front vagaries but with those things that make Luxembourg so unique.



When everyone wants the same thing, nothing is original.



There's only so much cash you can throw at slightly different versions of old rope.

And the last thing Luxembourg needs is a Wetherspoons.

Stephen Lowe is a freelance journalist, an opinionated swine, a freelance DJ on Eldoradio and latterly a short film director/producer.Mountain Shadows in Wayanad is just the place for a dreamy vacationFrom Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...Government and the clergy today [Wednesday] could not take a decisive resolution on how to proceed with the controversial National Cathedral project although the issue was raised at the breakfast meeting at the Jubilee House.



According to the clergy, the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral project were yet to meet and come to a consensus on the matter, hence they could not make conclusions at the breakfast meeting.The meeting between the government and the clergy on the project became necessary following the loud public outcry over plans to evict some judges from their homes to make way for the construction of the 5,000-seater capacity cathedral.



While some have questioned the relevance of the construction of the Cathedral and the governments involvement in the project, others are questioning the decision to use a prime area like Ridge in Accra, which is already developed.



But according to the Vice Chairman of the Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches, Victor Osei, the Board of Trustees will hold a meeting next week to agree on the way forward.



He said it is inappropriate for the board to make public statements on the matter especially at a time when public tension on the subject is high.

Sometimes it is better to let the fire come down before you come out and make certain statements. In the midst of flames, people say a lot of things. If you go to Nigeria, there is a National Cathedral, there is a National Muslim Cathedral. In a lot of countries, these things are there, so I dont think [in] Ghana [it] is anything strange if people decide to come together to aid government set up a national cathedral, he said.



While discounting claims that the board has remained silent on the matter, he said it is seriously considering the arguments and will soon take a decision on it.



The board of trustees is not silent on this issue. You should allow people to say all that they want to say, they should vent out their spleen and then at the end of the day you come out when things are calm and say this is what is going to be done. But in the midst of the discussion, it is absolutely sometimes inappropriate to come out with things I believe that the board will come together, he said.



The board is expected to meet on Tuesday 4th September, 2018, and will meet with President Akufo-Addo subsequently to take a final decision.



Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has highlighted the relevance of such engagements with the clergy which he said will help him inform them about the intentions of the government while listening to their respective concerns.



I also felt that on a periodic basis, it will be good for me to meet with you [clergy] so that we can also deal with matters that are of concern to you and matters that are of concern to me as the head of government. Im hoping that what we are doing here today is going to be a regular feature of my government, so something like a couple of times in a year we have an opportunity to meet and I will hear your considerations and you will hear the things that are on the heart and minds of government because it is important that from the different angles from which we approach the public interest, we work together, Akufo-Addo said.



It doesnt mean we agree on everything, but it means we have an attitude of cooperation, Akufo-Addo added.



VIDEO-

Source: UTV/citinewsroom.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoAbout Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profileAhead of the EJ Whitten Legends Game this Friday, tonight the AFL Footy Show will feature some of AFLs living legend players.

Were rolling out the great characters from the teams still in the hunt  reliving the glory days and reigniting the rivalries that matter on the eve of the finals.

Collingwood great Peter Daicos and West Coast dual premiership player Guy McKenna are in to discuss how their former sides will fare in the West, whilst David Neitz who captained Melbourne last time they were in the finals in 2006 is on the desk with Geelong favourite, Barry Stoneham.

To round out the legend catch-ups, AFL Hall of Fame member Terry Wallace comes in to talk about the historic game between two of his old teams, Hawthorn and Richmond, who will meet for the first time ever in the finals in September.

Following the announcement that his time as a Bomber is up, veteran Brendan Goddard will be on the panel to discuss his prospects of playing on in 2019.

The panel cross live to the AFL Players MVP Awards where Billy Brownless joins Carltons young gun, Patrick Cripps.

In the theme of Legends Night former Essendon captain Simon Madden will be entertaining the panel and the audience with his live band.

Sam heads to the MCG alongside former Carlton ruckman John Big Nick Nicholls, arguably the greatest ever Blues player, to relive one of the most infamous grand final moments of all time, alongside former Melbourne star, Laurie Fowler.

Eddie and the gang will also announce an exciting new act to join the list of performers for the Grand Final Footy Show spectacular.

Plus, Damian Barrett will be in to break the biggest stories in AFL.

8.30pm tonight on Nine (Melb / Syd / Ade).Rules restricting gambling ads during Live sport will come into effect for all Live streaming platforms, including for Free to Air on SVOD services, from September 28.

Restrictions for broadcasters have been in effect since 30 March but are extended for all Live streaming between 5.00 am and 8.30 pm. At all other times, gambling advertising is also restricted.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority announced its plans for the Broadcasting Services (Online Content Service Provider Rules) 2018 in April, following community consultation.

This is the first time that online services streaming live sport have been required to comply with gambling advertising restrictions, said ACMA Chair, Nerida OLoughlin.

This brings online services in line with television and radio broadcasting services. It creates a safe zone for children and families to watch live sport across a variety of platforms.

In addition to impacting 9Now, 7Plus and tenplay, they will also impact services such as Netflix, Stan & Amazon should they deliver Live coverage of sporting events.

ACMA will monitor operation of the new rules for 12 months.After a small town murder, Det Annie Redford is thrust into her first homicide case. 8:50pm Thursday on ABC.

Gogglebox

Americas Got Talent

The Bachelor

Police Custody

The Front BarMargaret Pomeranz & Graeme Blundell return with a second season of Screen on Foxtel Arts next week, critiquing cinema releases and TV.

The first two episodes include interviews with Jane Fonda, Sam Neill and Eddie Izzard.

In the return episode of Screen, Margaret interviews British stand-up comedian, actor, writer and political campaigner Eddie Izzard who discusses his experiences with the film industry and his involvement in the new Australian romantic comedy The Flip Side that pitches a young Australian couple against the visitors from hell.

Graeme interviews Sam Neill who traverses the Pacific to uncover the journeys of Captain Cook, currently on Foxtels History channel; The Pacific: In The Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill takes an epic and thoroughly modern look at 250 years of Pacific history.

Graeme takes a look of what is on offer on our television screens with Ryan Murphys extravaganza Pose premiering on showcase (September 11), a series which makes television history, featuring the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles, as well as the largest recurring cast of LGBTQ actors ever for a scripted series.

In the second episode of Screen on September 12, Margaret sits down with Hollywood legend and Oscar winner Jane Fonda as she discusses her recent film Book Club and her upcoming HBO documentary, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, an intimate look at Fonda, who has lived a life marked by controversy, tragedy and transformation. Directed and produced by award-winning documentarian Susan Lacy, the documentary features interviews with Robert Redford, Lily Tomlin, producer Paula Weinstein, former spouses Tom Hayden and Ted Turner and her son, Ballers star Troy Garity and premieres on Sunday, September 30 on showcase.

Screen is also available on podcast in the iTunes store or your favourite podcast app.

Wednesday September 5 at 7.30pm on Foxtel Arts.ITV has announced UK presenter Holly Willoughby will be joining Declan Donnelly in Australia to co-host this years Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

That means a late campaign for Julia Morris to replace Ant McPartlin has come to nought. Last week she appeared on Good Morning Britain after a video of her hosting skills went viral.

Willoughby is host of daytime programme, This Morning.

Declan Donnelly said, I am hugely grateful to Holly for agreeing to accompany me to Australia this year. She was at the top of my list and Im thrilled she said yes. It will be a different kind of series but we will try our best to ensure it is no less fun and eventful for our loyal viewers. I am also pleased to hear Holly is scared of everything. I am almost stupidly excited at the thought of watching her during the eating trials!

Morris is set to return to the Aussie series next year, will front Blind Date for TEN and is rumoured for other TEN projects.

She also denied reports she lost work following her Logies appearance.Chilling video footage was sent to Texas police after a woman rang a doorbell in Montgomery, just outside Houston, Texas recently. What made it scary was the fact that the woman was clad only in a white t-shirt, with no pants, no shoes and what looks like broken wrist restraints on her right wrist.

The woman had gone by the time the homeowner opened their front door, but police are concerned that the woman may be in danger. Meanwhile, eerily similar CCTV footage has also been released, captured recently in Toronto in Canada and Fresno, California.

Mystery woman rings doorbells in the dark of night

Most of us naughtier kids may remember playing knock-knock when we were young, where we knocked on neighbours doors, running away before the doors were opened. However, this latest case appears to be far more sinister than just kids playing the fool.

Who is this mystery woman? Is she in trouble? A Texas neighborhood is praying for answers after this strange doorbell video goes viral. Retweet this footage. They're trying to figure out her identity. Read more on the bizarre story here -> https://t.co/VS1o2JFUtg. #abc13 #hounews pic.twitter.com/68uh86l8AE  Steve Campion (@SteveABC13) August 27, 2018

As reported by the Evening Standard, CCTV footage taken by a doorbell security camera in the Sunshine Ranch community of Montgomery, Texas, captured a woman ringing a doorbell at 3:20 a.m.

on Friday. As she approaches the door, she can be seen to be scantily dressed, wearing just a t-shirt and with what looks suspiciously like broken restraints on her wrist. After ringing the doorbell, she looks around nervously before leaving the scene.

Mystery woman rings a doorbell in Montgomery, Texas at 3:20 AM.

Image via Inside Edition/YouTube. pic.twitter.com/4tbbSj2ey2  Anne Sewell (@anners2008) August 29, 2018

Texas police are sharing the video in an attempt to identify the mystery woman, in case her life is at risk.

They consider this to be a suspicious incident. Police checked the missing person reports for the area without any success. Meanwhile, the unnamed homeowner said the same women rang other doorbells in the area, always disappearing before anyone reached their front door.

Similar incidents with women ringing doorbells

In the short video included below from Inside Edition, the latest incident in Montgomery, Texas can be watched, but this is not a lone incident.

Other similar footage, using the same type of doorbell security cameras, has recently been released.

One woman panics as she shakes the door of a home in Fresno, California past midnight recently, before hammering o a window and shouting Let me in. The owner of the home was a retired police officer and pulled out a gun, while also calling 911. She shouted at the woman that she would shoot, as she has a gun. That woman was cited for a vandalism misdemeanor.

Mystery woman hammers on a door in Fresco, CA late at night.

Image via Inside Edition/YouTube. pic.twitter.com/2ZyKEPvwzm  Anne Sewell (@anners2008) August 29, 2018

Six days ago, another woman approached a door in Toronto, Canada, ringing the doorbell.

In the background, a car can be seen pulling up and someone getting out of the vehicle. No one came to the door and the video footage showed a man dragging the woman away by her hair, saying he was going to kill her. Police later found the woman, safe and sound.

Mystery woman rings a doorbell in Toronto, Canada late at night before being dragged away by a man..

Image via Inside Edition/YouTube. pic.twitter.com/mQiDkHMCOm  Anne Sewell (@anners2008) August 29, 2018

What should you do if this happens to you?

Inside Edition interviewed a security consultant who said if this happens, go to the door with your mobile phone in your hand. If possible, look outside a window to get an idea of what is going on.

If the person really looks as though they are in distress, dial the emergency service. Stay safely inside and do not immediately open the door.

First of all, make sure you get an assessment of the woman and her body language. Look around for other people that might be pursuing her, or planning to break into your home. The security consultant said you will know whether you should open the door to that person.Guangzhou Cryptocurrency Bitcoin China

The Guangzhou Development District, a special economic zone in southern China with a close proximity to Hong Kong, has reportedly banned all promotional events related to cryptocurrency as the countrys crypto crackdown continues.

One of Chinas earliest special economic zones installed to encourage and foster businesses with less-restrictive laws, the Guangzhou Development District issued a notice on Friday to forbid cryptocurrency events in the district, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

The ban is a move toward maintaining the security and stability of the financial system, an excerpt from the notice reasoned.

The notice follows a similar ban mandated by authorities in Beijings Chaoyang district on August 17. The order warned office buildings, hotels and shopping malls in the central district of Chinas capital against hosting any events promoting cryptocurrencies.

On Friday, a joint public notice from a number of prominent Chinese watchdogs and authorities including the central blasted initial coin offerings (ICOs), a radical form of fundraising powered by cryptocurrencies that have been outlawed in China and other illegal crypto crowdfunding. Operators using terms like financial innovation or blockchain to solicit investments are actually conducting fraud, pyramid schemes the regulators warned.

Todays reported ban and the public warning form an ever-intensifying crackdown by Chinese authorities into the domestic cryptocurrency sector. Cryptocurrency trading activity in China has already been dented, severely, following scrutiny into exchanges from early 2017 that eventually led to the shuttering of exchanges within the country.

Chinas censorship policies have also put the brakes on crypto-related transactions through private messaging and peer-to-peer financial platforms. Last week, Tencents WeChat Pay and Alibabas AliPay  two of Chinas most popular payment apps with over a billion users between them  blocked users from sending or receiving funds related to cryptocurrencies.

Story continues

Chinas so-called great firewall is also taking measures to block the countrys citizens from accessing the websites of over 120 cryptocurrency exchanges overseas. This week, Chinas biggest search portal Baidu moved to restrict or place a complete ban on all crypto related discussions within Baidu Teiba, a popular Reddit-like online forum.

Guangzhou city image from Shutterstock.



The post China Crackdown: After Beijing, Guangzhou Hub Bans Cryptocurrency Events appeared first on CCN.

A worker shelters from the rain under a Union Flag umbrella as he passes the London Stock Exchange in London, Britain, October 1, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

By Julien Ponthus and Helen Reid

LONDON (Reuters) - A trade agreement struck between the United States and Mexico boosted investors' risk appetite on Tuesday, helping British stocks rise further than European shares as the market reopened after a public holiday.

The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> climbed 0.5 percent, boosted by heavyweight mining stocks and stocks exposed to emerging markets, which also benefited from relief over global trade.

Gains in financials, consumer staples and miners contributed the most to the British blue chip index.

Miners BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Glencore <GLEN.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, and Anglo American <AAL.L> were the top boosts to the index, rising 1.3 percent to 3.3 percent.

Evraz <EVRE.L> jumped 5.4 percent to the top of the FTSE 100, while Kaz Minerals <KAZ.L> topped the FTSE 250 with an 8.4 percent gain.

The bullish mood was not even dented by the pound falling to a one-year low against the euro after British Prime Minister Theresa May said that failing to secure a deal with the European Union before Britain leaves the bloc next year "wouldn't be the end of the world".

British stocks were also helped by their exposure to emerging markets which got a boost from anxiety over global trade lifting momentarily.

South Africa exposed stocks Investec <INVP.L>, Old Mutual <OMU.L>, and Anglo American <AAL.L> all rose amid a rally in emerging market assets after the NAFTA trade deal.

Shares in DP Eurasia <DPEU.L>, a Domino's Pizza Inc <DPZ.N> franchisee operating mainly in Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and reporting in Turkish lira, jumped 11 percent, having lost as much as half of their value over the previous 30 days.

Outside of trade driven moves, shares in United Arab Emirates-based healthcare provider NMC Health <NMC.L> rose 3.6 percent after the firm denied media reports of acquisition plans in India.

Story continues

Overall the second-quarter earnings season has not been stellar for UK stocks. Earnings growth was largely down to commodity-related sectors, while the average earnings surprise was negative, Goldman Sachs analysts found.

Earnings for domestic stocks have been revised down, while those of international stocks - which generally benefit from a weaker sterling - have seen upward revisions, they added.

"Progress from here for these stocks will depend on whether global growth stabilises or continues to decelerate," wrote Goldman Sachs.

(Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Helen Reid,; Editing by Andrew Bolton)By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former University of Southern California (USC) gynecologist, accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of students, has agreed to a suspension of his medical licence, officials said on Wednesday.

Dr. George Tyndall reached an agreement this week with the Medical Board of California temporarily prohibiting him from practicing medicine until it makes a final decision on the status of his licence, board spokeswoman Susan Wolbarst said.

Attorneys for Tyndall did not respond to requests for comment. USC has not responded to a request for comment on the suspension of Tyndall's licence.

Tyndall resigned from USC last year after an internal inquiry found that some of his examination practices went beyond accepted medical standards and that he had harassed patients. He has not been charged with any crime.

The university had suspended Tyndall in 2016 after a complaint from a health worker accusing him of making sexually inappropriate comments to patients.

USC president C.L. Max Nikias stepped down in August after an outcry from faculty and students, who said the school was slow to act over complaints against Tyndall.

The university has acknowledged failing to properly act on at least eight complaints of inappropriate conduct made against Tyndall between 2000 and 2014.

Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who represents dozens of women who have filed lawsuits in civil court accusing Tyndall of sexual misconduct, said the medical board received several declarations from USC students.

"The suspension or ultimate revocation of a professional licence is, for any professional, like the death penalty for their profession," Allred told a news conference on Wednesday with two of the students who submitted declarations.

A hotline and special website USC set up in May have received scores of reports from concerned patients, the university said.

USC has a high percentage of international students.

The Chinese government in May voiced "deep concern" over reports many of Tyndall's alleged victims were from China.

(Additional reporting by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Steve Orlofsky)BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - Congo Republic has confirmed a case of yellow fever near the border with an Angolan enclave, the health ministry said on Tuesday, and has warned of "an emerging event of epidemic proportions".

In all, 186 suspected cases have been detected this year, many of which were in the western commercial hub of Pointe Noire, the head of the government's epidemics unit Lambert Kitembo told Reuters.

He said eight blood samples were sent to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for testing last month, one of which came back positive. It was then officially confirmed last week at a laboratory in Senegal.

The sometimes deadly mosquito-borne virus causes fever, body aches and nausea and can quickly spread in areas with large unvaccinated populations.

A major outbreak in 2016 in Angola and the DRC killed more than 400 people, and was believed to have infected thousands more before it was brought under control through an extensive vaccination campaign.

The confirmed victim in the case of yellow fever in Congo Republic had traveled in Tchiamba Nzassi district, which lies along the border with the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, two weeks prior to the onset of his symptoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a weekly report.

No deaths have been reported but the situation is being taken seriously by health officials, Kitembo said. He did not say whether authorities had plans to test other blood samples.

"Congo, in general, and the departments of Pointe Noire and Koulou in particular ... are experiencing since the start of 2018 an emerging event of epidemic proportions," the health ministry said in a statement dated last week.

The WHO said that the confirmed case was detected early last month at a health center in Pointe Noire, where the patient with fever and jaundice was admitted for treatment.

(Reporting by Christian Elion and Roch Bouka; Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Aaron Ross and Andrew Bolton)

See Also:Demonstrators took to the streets of Pretoria, South Africa, on August 29, to demand justice following the death of a student during violent protests the previous week.

Katlego Monageng died after violence broke out over student council election results at the Tshwane University of Technology. Police were accused of using live ammunition to disperse protesters and being responsible for the death of the student, a claim they denied, local reports said.

This footage, shared by SABC TV News journalist Sipho Stuurman, shows protesters on Pretorius St as they marched to the office of the Police Minister in Pretoria on Wednesday. Credit: Sipho Stuurman/SABC News via StoryfulBy Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks has called Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite and said comments about Zionists he made five years ago were the most offensive by a senior UK politician in half a century.

Labour has been battling accusations of anti-Semitism for months, and Corbyn has previously apologised for what he has described as "pockets" of anti-Semitism in his party.

Sacks, who was Britain's chief rabbi from 1991 to 2013, accused Corbyn of having "given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map".

He said Corbyn had depicted a group of British citizens as "essentially alien" when it was revealed last week he said in 2013 that British Zionists "don't understand English irony" despite "having lived in this country for a very long time".

"When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism," Sacks told the New Statesman political magazine.

"Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour party and Her Majestys opposition. That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr Corbyn and those who support him."

Labour said in a statement there is no place for anti-Semitism in their party and that they are committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.

Some opinion polls put Labour ahead or level with Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservatives, meaning he is a potential British leader, although the next election is not due until 2022.

Sacks compared Corbyn's comments to the infamous "Rivers of blood" speech by Enoch Powell in 1968 in which the then-Conservative shadow cabinet member warned of the dangers of immigration. His speech is widely regarded as one of the most divisive made by a modern British politician.

Story continues

Labour dismissed the comparison with Powell as "absurd and offensive".

Since unexpectedly becoming Labour leader in 2015 after decades spent on the left-wing fringes of the party, Corbyn has repeatedly faced accusations of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic comments in the party and among groups he supports.

Corbyn has responded to protests by meeting Jewish community leaders, reassuring Jewish people they are welcome in the party.

In his 2013 speech to a meeting convened by the Palestinian Return Centre, Corbyn spoke about the importance of history and of how necessary it was for people to understand the origins of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

He said Zionists had "two problems" - firstly, that they do not study history and, secondly, they do not understand English irony.

After the emergence of footage, Labour asserted that Corbyn had been referring to a "group of pro-Israel activists" and had not been singling out Jewish people as a whole.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Mark Heinrich)ROME (AP)  Hungary and Italy are vowing to work together for an "historic change" in the way Europe deals with migration, security and other issues.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Tuesday with Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini in Milan, as several hundred people protested their hard-line policies.

Salvini said they were working to create a future alliance "that excludes socialists and the left, that brings back to the center the values and identity" that their respective political parties represent.

He said: "We are near a historic change on a continental level."

Orban said Salvini was his "hero" and that "the security of Europe depends on his success."

Salvini has spearheaded Italy's policy of forcing Europe to take in newly rescued migrants. Orban has made keeping migrants out of Hungary a priority.Tomoyuki Sugimoto, who is believed to be a videographer from the prefecture of Shiga in central Japan, is seen at Beijing airport after arriving from North Korea's Pyongyang, in Beijing, China, in this photo taken by Kyodo August 28, 2018. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

Thomson Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese tourist who was detained in North Korea arrived home on Tuesday, a day after North Korea expelled him for allegedly breaking the law during a visit there, media reports said.

Tomoyuki Sugimoto, who is believed to be a videographer from Shiga prefecture in central Japan, arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport on a flight from China, Kyodo and Jiji news agencies said.

Japanese media reports said Sugimoto had apparently been caught filming a military facility in Nampo city. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced his expulsion at the weekend.

It was unclear when Sugitomo was detained, though Japanese media said in early August that the government was trying to gather information on a man being held in North Korea.

Japan has demanded that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs and has also sought the return of citizens kidnapped by the isolated state during the 1970s and 1980s.

It has said it will not provide economic aid to Pyongyang until that issue is resolved and normal diplomatic ties established.

In its annual defense white paper, published earlier on Tuesday, Japan said North Korea still posed a dire threat to its security despite a half to ballistic missile tests and a pledge by leader Kim Jong Un to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

See Also:Can Macron rally Denmark to EU's cause?

In a bid to rally support for a united Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron left Paris Tuesday for a three-day tour of Denmark and Finland, accompanied by France's First lady Brigitte ...

After Emmanuel Macron's plea yesterday for a stronger Europe, the French president left for a three-day tour of Denmark and Finland on Tuesday

First state visit after decades

This marks France's first state visit to Denmark after 36 years, and to Finland after 19 years. President Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron were received on Tuesday by Queen Margrethe II at the Amalienborg Palace.

Macron and Danish PM Rasmussen are to attend a citizens' conference with 300 entrepreneurs and union leaders.

Denmark - key ally for Macron's reforms

President Macron's recent reforms in France and projected reforms of the EU require Denmark as a key ally.

Marcon has recently been reforming the French labour and welfare laws.

The Elysee Palace said that the Danish social model had been an "inspiration" for these reforms.

Denmark's economic model is considered unique, with dynamic entrepreneurship on one side, and one of the most generous social systems of the world on the other. This is a benchmark that the French may be aspiring to.

Macron also has a key proposal for reforming the EU's economy. France has proposed to create a centralised budget for the Eurozone and also to have a common banking system.

Macron also proposes to take a tougher stance on EU states that do not follow EU's financial rules.

Denmark and Finland, along with six other EU countries, have voted against this proposal.

Denmark also diverges with the EU on the current migrant crisis. Denmark wants migrant detention centres at Europe's borders, something which border states like Italy and Greece are against.DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal late Wednesday on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration.

Merkel is meeting with the presidents of Senegal, Ghana and then Nigeria as she presses for further investment in a region that is a source of many of the migrants who make their perilous way toward Europe.

Migrant arrivals in Europe across the Mediterranean from Africa and Turkey are at their lowest level in five years, but the issue remains sensitive. Merkel, who refused to close Germany's borders at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, has toughened her stance recently to salvage her government from a rift over the issue.

Some in Europe hope that investing more in West Africa will help keep people in a region plagued with unemployment, dodgy infrastructure, rising extremism and now the effects of climate change from leaving.

"We must not be accomplices of the people smugglers. We must fight illegality but also create legality and conditions for work here on the ground," Merkel said after meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall, according to her spokesman Steffen Seibert. Germany announced it would electrify 300 Senegalese villages.

Senegal's president agreed and pointed out the youth who are drowning while trying to cross the Mediterranean. "It is not in the dignity of Africa," he said. He reminded citizens they cannot seek asylum because they are not persecuted at home or at war. "We're a democracy," he said.

Senegal and Ghana are two of Africa's fastest-growing economies and among its most stable countries. Both have signed on to the Compact with Africa initiative to promote private investment that Germany launched last year during its presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations.

Merkel is traveling with nearly a dozen CEOs of German companies.

Nigeria is West Africa's regional power, Africa's most populous country and one of the continent's top oil producers. It is plagued, however, by widespread corruption and security threats that include Boko Haram and Islamic State-linked extremists in the north, violent clashes between herders and farmers in the central region and oil militants in the south.

Story continues

Merkel on Tuesday spoke with the new leader of another of Africa's top economies, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and invited him to visit, his chief of staff Fitsum Arega said on Twitter. Germany is just one of the countries responding with curiosity to the recent reconciliation between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea, with Germany's development minister visiting the long-reclusive country last week.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_AfricaWARSAW, Poland (AP)  Poland's government has announced a program of voluntary retirement funds that is intended to encourage its aging society to make savings and protect low-earners from post-retirement poverty.

Under the program, employees, employers and the government will regularly contribute small amounts into employees' individual accounts.

The program is the latest element in a social benefits policy that has earned the right-wing government and the ruling Law and Justice party significant support among low-earners.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday the program is intended to increase Poles' financial security. It will add to what they will receive from the state-run retirement system, which is threatened by a growing number of retirees and the shrinking number of professionally active people.

Approval is still needed by the parliament and the president.

See Also:Staff and shoppers have been evacuated from a Primark store in Belfast after a large fire broke out on the roof of the building.

The blaze began at about 11am - and Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) has sent 14 appliances and as many as 100 firefighters to the scene in the Castle Street district of the city.

Ambulance crews are also in attendance but there are no reports of any injuries, and the public has been advised to avoid the area while the incident is ongoing.

A Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) spokesman said: "Fourteen fire appliances, a high volume pump, three aerial appliances and two command support units are in attendance.

"Fire has extensively damaged the Primark building in Belfast city centre which started on the fifth floor of the five-storey building before spreading to all floors.

"Firefighting is ongoing and will continue into the evening. Residents and businesses in the area are advised to keep windows and doors closed due to heavy smoke in the vicinity.

"While the incident is ongoing, NIFRS wishes to reassure the public that contingency measures are in place to ensure normal service delivery is maintained across Belfast."

Primark chief executive Paul Marchant said the retailer was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the fire.

"The safety and wellbeing of our customers, colleagues and construction team is of course the most important consideration and we are truly relieved that all were evacuated safely," he added.

"We would like to thank the emergency services for their swift response and ongoing actions.

"Our store is housed in an iconic building and much loved by the people of Belfast. We would like to reassure our customers, colleagues and the wider community in Belfast that we are committed to working with the authorities and our building contractors to establish the cause of the fire."

According to local councillor Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston, the store had only recently been refurbished.

Story continues

She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) tweeted: "The Primark building in Belfast City Centre has caught fire. Emergency services are responding.

"Devastating news particularly following the recent refurbishments and extension."

Just last week, Belfast Live reported that the store was seeking to hire 100 people to staff a major expansion, which was set to add 30,000 sq ft of retail space at a cost of 30m.

Smoke can be seen billowing from the building from across the city, with residents and local business owners advised to keep their windows and doors shut and police putting multiple traffic diversions in place.

Motorists are asked not to use Bridge Street, High Street, Castle Street, Queens Street, Royal Avenue and North Street to allow fire crews to deal with the blaze.

Primark is among the famous old Bank Buildings of Belfast, which were designed by Sir Robert Taylor.

They were erected by Waddell Cunningham in 1785, with the original bank opening two years later under the unusual name of The Bank of the Four Johns - because all four of its founders were called John.

When the bank collapsed, it was eventually converted into a shop in 1805 and new bank buildings were designed at the turn of the century.

House of Fraser and then Boots owned the buildings before they were damaged by bomb explosions in 1975, and Primark took over in 1979.

The store was refurbished and the exterior restored to its pre-bombing glory not long after.The UK and EU have reportedly agreed to delay the Brexit deal deadline (Rex)

As the October deadline approaches for the UK to secure a Brexit deal with the EU, it seems as though the two sides are looking at pushing it back.

According to Bloomberg, the terms of a divorce deal are to be finalised by the middle of November  a shift from the original mid-October deadline.

Negotiations between Britain and the EU have stalled over the issue of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, making a no-deal scenario more likely if the deadline is pushed back even further.

Michel Barnier (left) last week refused to commit to an October deadline (Rex)

Support for Tories as the best party to deliver Brexit has dropped (Rex)

However, the Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said the Government was working to the October deadline.

He added: Both sides have agreed to increase the pace of negotiations. Thats what were doing.

The EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, refused to commit to October as the deadline following a meeting with Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab last week.

READ MORE ON YAHOO NEWS UK:

Police officers attacked in McDonalds by hostile crowd as they pin down suspect

North Korea warns the US that talks over denuclearisation could fall apart

Scotlands coastal litter problem unveiled in new photos

Is this the UKs priciest pint? London pub starts selling beer for 22.50

Watch: Scallop wars break out in English Channel as French fishermen attack British boats

News of a potential deadline delay come as a new poll shows Brits becoming increasingly frustrated with how the Tories are dealing with Brexit.

According to a YouGov poll, the percentage of Brits think that the Conservative Party is the best party on Britains exit from the EU has dropped to 19%  the joint lowest on record.

In the same period in 2017, 28% of responders said the Tories were the best party on Brexit.

Theresa May has struck Britains first post-Brexit trade pact with Africa (Rex)

In recent weeks the % of Brits who think that the Conservative Party is the best party on Britains exit from the EU has fallen to 19% The lowest on record pic.twitter.com/Vt10eAnYOq  Matthew Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) August 28, 2018

The same poll also found that support for Ukip on Brexit has shot up in recent weeks.

Story continues

This week, the Prime Minister outlined Britains first post-Brexit trade pact as she also committed the UK to providing an extra 4 billion of investment in African economies.

Mrs May said the Government intends to carry over the EUs economic partnership agreement with Mozambique and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which consists of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.Andalas Energy has acquired an interest in the Bunga Mas production sharing contract, located in South Sumatra, Indonesia.

The AIM-listed oil and gas company made an initial acquisition of a 25% interest in Bunga Mas on Wednesday via a corporate acquisition. The company also held the right to increase its interest to 49% and then 100%.

To satisfy the purchase, Andalas will issue 9.6m shares on completion of the acquisition of the initial participating interest - followed by an additional 9.6m shares on regulatory approval of its increase to 49%.

Bunga Mas, located within the Bunga Mawar field, has been assessed by the project's current operator to contain contingent resources of 220,000 barrels of oil.

Simon Gorringe, Andalas' chief executive said: "We are very pleased to have reached [an] agreement with the vendor for the acquisition of interests in the Bunga Mas PSC. It is an all share deal structured to align the interests of the vendor and our shareholders and ensure that consideration does not pass and additional costs are not incurred until the deal completes."

As of 0840 BST, Andalas shares had shot up 12.5% to 0.90p.Data-focussed media agency Jaywing announced a number of key client wins and service expansions on Wednesday, including a contract with customer relationship management brand SugarCRM .

The AIM-traded firm said that deal would see it manage SugarCRMs digital marketing and creative duties in key markets around the world, following a multi-agency competitive pitch.

It said the contract win had seen a significant expansion in Jaywing's role with the US-based business, adding digital marketing, public relations, brand and creative services.

That had included the use of Jaywing Intelligence product Whisper to inform SugarCRM's marketing strategy across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, North America and Latin America.

The account would be managed by Jaywing from both the UK and Australia.

Jaywing said it had also been appointed by consumer delivery company Hermes as its lead integrated marketing agency in a two-year contract to manage the brand's entire account.

The work would encompass a remit that covered Jaywing's broad scope of specialisms, including data and creative strategy, search marketing, integrated media, social media strategy and consumer public relations.

Jaywing's One Jaywing approach would reportedly bring an integrated and collaborative team of specialists, including its expertise in data science, under a single point of contact for the brand.

The company also announced that its long-standing client, banking brand First Direct, recently appointed Jaywing as a retained public relations agency in a move that would see further expansion of its agency services.

Jaywing's Australian office recently expanded its services internationally to a number of other clients, including Credit Card Compare with its acquisition of Singapore-based Finty, Australian coffee brand Campos Coffee, and Peptide Clinics.

Other domestic clients that had either recently expanded services or already benefited from One Jaywing included Irwin Mitchell, Centerparcs and Anytime Fitness.

It's fantastic to see so many of our clients benefiting from the years of effort that have gone into creating a truly collaborative culture that ensures we're able to deliver an agile approach to client relationships across the range of our specialist disciplines, said Jaywing chief executive officer Rob Shaw.

Our model ensures that clients get the very best in brand and marketing strategy and execution, technology and data science, exactly, and only, when they need it.

It's far from easy to bring those previously disparate disciplines together as it takes rare and special skills, as well as an environment that fosters the desire to do so.Xtract Resources updated the market on the hard rock collaboration agreement with Omnia Mining , as announced on 19 February, on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said the agreement was for the exploitation of the hard rock gold deposits at Xtract's Manica mining concession in Mozambique other than the Fair Bride project, which remained under the sole control and management of Xtract.

It said 12 potential mining sites had been identified within 15 km radius of the Omnia plant, with eight of the potential mining sites already within the existing license areas of the joint venture parties.

Construction by Omnia of its 40kt per month free gold processing plant was now complete, with commissioning planned in November, the board said.

A newly-discovered quartz vein/alteration system, named Andre Zone, had been channel sampled in trenches, and gold grades varying from 1.1m at 0.89g/t to 0.5m at 20.8g/t.

The Andre Zone would be further explored by opening an underground adit, the company reported.

It also said it was working with an outside engineering consultant to optimise the plant upgrade to treat transitional and sulphide ores.

The general Manica area has abundant gold mineralisation occurrences with varying mineralisation hosts and types, said Xtract Resources chairman Colin Bird.

The objective of the Omnia Agreement is to allow us to process these ore types with no alternative sophisticated processing equipment available in the area.

Bird said the company was currently carrying out financial and technical exercises to assist it to decide whether to work the various veins sequentially, or to install a total capability plant suitable for all ore types.

Should we elect the latter route, then Fair Bride may well be processed through the Omnia plant subject to final agreement with Omnia.Berenberg initiated coverage of Intu Properties and Capital & Regional at 'buy' as it highlighted three key reasons why it sees value in the UK shopping centre market.

The bank said that despite innovation to date, online retailing cannot fully replicate the physical retail experience.

"Not every retail offer is suited to e-commerce while the costs associated with satisfying consumer expectations are increasing exponentially. As a result, physical stores with the right product mix in the right locations are likely to remain the primary point of sale," it said.

As far as Intu is concerned, Berenberg said it is well insulated from the current retail headwinds, with high, consistent occupancy levels. In addition, while its loan-to-value is high, the company's balance sheet is resilient and a clear path to earnings growth remains.

The bank also argued that Intu's high-quality portfolio is under-appreciated.

On Capital & Regional, Berenberg said there is significant value in residential developments.

"We see potential for material land value revaluations on planning milestones and land disposals, generating proceeds significantly above book value, benefitting NAV and lowering LTV," it said.

In addition, Berenberg pointed out that the company is set to benefit from its 85% exposure to London and the South East.

The bank has a 60p price target on Capital & Regional and 230p price target on Intu.

JP Morgan argued in favour of patience on the part of investors in Standard Life Aberdeen, saying that recent management initiatives had succeeded in unlocking the value in the different parts of the business, leaving the asset management arm undervalued.

The resulting 19.99% stake in Phoenix was valued at 1.0bn, its investment in HDFC Life at 3.1bn and that in HDFC AM at 1.3bn.

Together with a 1.75bn share buyback, combined the above were worth the equivalent of about 75.0% of Standard Life's then current market value, leaving the Aberdeen Standard Investments asset management arm trading at an implied price-to-earnings multiple of just 5.0.

"While we accept that ASI has struggled to turn around net flows in core strategies, gross inflows have been more diversified and management is actively managing costs to cushion the earnings impact, which should help support dividends and, hence, reward investors who wait for a flow recovery," they said.

Furthermore, they said the firm remained "well-positioned" to benefit from structural growth in the UK pensions market, having held on to its retail platform business and via its strategic partnership and 20% stake in Phoenix.

Nevertheless, while they reiterated their 'overweight' stance on the company's shares, following the lifting of a period of restriction, they did lower their target price from 500.0p to 425.0p.

Analysts at Citi sounded a 'bullish' note on three of the UK's listed utilities, telling clients the trio's improved fundamentals were starting to show through, despite the heightened political uncertainty in the UK.

Another key element of the improved backdrop was the re-rating in the value of their shares following what it termed as the "exhuberant pricing" over the last several years.

"Finally! We have value. After several years of exuberant pricing of UK utilities, the table has turned in the face of political, regulatory and macro risks," analyst Jenny Ping said in a research note sent to clients.

"While we expect a turbulent ride in the months ahead given the uncertainties of Brexit and questions over the stability of the current UK government, we cannot ignore the fact that we are starting to see fundamental value."

Indeed, in the case of United Utilities, the broker said recent share price weakness had more than fully discounted "operational fears".

To such a degree that there was now limited downside risk even under a nationalisation scenario.

For Centrica meanwhile, Citi said imminent clarity on the price cap methodology should improve visibility, while the rally in commodity prices should underpin the 12.0p per share dividend payout.

Lastly, and on National Grid, Ping said an improving business in the US should act as a hedge should Britain experience further political turbulence.

The analyst stuck to a 'buy' recommendation on shares of United Utilities (target price: 811.0p), Centrica (target price: 160.0p) and National Grid (target price: 961.0p).Analysts at Citi sounded a 'bullish' note on three of the UK's listed utilities, telling clients the trio's improved fundamentals were starting to show through, despite the heightened political uncertainty in the UK.

Another key element of the improved backdrop was the re-rating in the value of their shares following what it termed as the "exhuberant pricing" over the last several years.

"Finally! We have value. After several years of exuberant pricing of UK utilities, the table has turned in the face of political, regulatory and macro risks," analyst Jenny Ping said in a research note sent to clients.

"While we expect a turbulent ride in the months ahead given the uncertainties of Brexit and questions over the stability of the current UK government, we cannot ignore the fact that we are starting to see fundamental value."

Indeed, in the case of United Utilities the broker said recent share price weakness had more than fully discounted "operational fears".

To such a degree that there was now limited downside risk even under a nationalisation scenario.

For Centrica meanwhile, Citi said imminent clarity on the price cap methodology should improve visibility, while the rally in commodity prices should underpin the 12.0p per share dividend payout.

Lastly, and on National Grid, Ping said an improving business in the US should act as a hedge should Britain experience further political turbulence.

The analyst stuck to a 'buy' recommendation on shares of United Utilities (target price: 811.0p), Centrica (target price: 160.0p) and National Grid (target price: 961.0p).Energy and agriculture futures racked-up big gains, with the former boosted by a set of 'bullish' figures on weekly US oil inventories and a threat by Iran that it might leave the nuclear deal that it signed up to in 2015.

According to the US Department of Energy, during the week ending on 24 August crude stockpiles in the States shrank by 2.6m barrels to reach 405.8m (consensus: -0.7m), as exports bounced back and domestic output dipped, possibly due to logistical constraints, according to Capital Economics.

In the background meanwhile, Iranian Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told his Cabinet that "The JCPOA (nuclear deal) is not the objective, it is only a means," he said in a meeting with the cabinet," AFP reported citing Khomeini's website.

However, for now at least the Iranian leader said talks with Europe should continue, although he was skeptical "of their promises".

Khomeinin's remarks came amid data from Reuters Eikon showing that his country's exports of crude oil and condensate were set to fall below 70.0m barrels in August for the first time since April 2017, as sanctions begin to bite.

On the back of the above, Iraqi state oil producer SOMO predicted a shortage and said OPEC will discuss offsetting actions, Reuters reported.

As of 1951 BST, the Bloomberg commodity index was up by 0.47% to 83.75, alongside a 0.12% dip for the US dollar spot index to 9.6080.

West Texas Intermediate for prompt month delivery meanwhile was lower by 1.46% to $69.53 a barrel on the NYMEX.

Over on the CBoT, the December wheat contract was also very strong, adding 3.54% to change hands at $5.4175 a bushel.

The main LME base metals contracts on the other hand were 'mixed', with that for three-month copper slipping from $6,130 per metric tonne at the opening bell to $6,086 by the close of trading.

"LME metals came under pressure as USD/CNY strengthened under additional trade tensions and strong economic data from the US, to 6.82 at the time of writing," explained traders at Sucden Financial.

"A Trump focus on NAFTA has cut hopes of any quick resolution to the trade dispute. EM currencies continue to suffer following a downgrade of 20 of Turkeys financial institutions by ratings agency Moodys, with lira and rouble spot down 2.57% and 0.34% at the time of writing."

Sucden also pointed out how LME nickel was fast approaching its 200-day moving average.

December gold on COMEX was weaker as well, slipping 0.21% to $1,211.80/oz..French fishermen's have been accused of endangering the lives of British sailors with smoke bombs, rocks and other projectiles in a row over scallops.

Around 40 French boats are claimed to have chased five British vessels off the Normandy coast, prompting UK fishermen to call on the Royal Navy for protection.

Jim Portus, chief executive of the South Western Fish Producers Organisation, said: "They are endangering life at sea by being unprofessional.

"The French might look like heroes to the French coastal communities but it's really awful to put other mariners in danger."

The row started because UK boats were fishing in the Baie de Seine waters for scallops when French fishermen are only allowed to harvest scallops between 1 October and 15 May.

French fishermen have accused the British of depleting stocks and want them to have the same ban.

Tensions have been present between British and French fishermen for around 15 years over the matter.

"We are aware of reports of aggression directed towards UK fishing vessels in an area of the English Channel not under UK control. These vessels were operating in an area they are legally entitled to fish," a government spokesperson said.

The safety of the UK fleet is our highest priority, and we will continue to monitor the presence and activities of vessels in the area. We are in contact with industry and the French administration to encourage meaningful dialogue and prevent further incidents from occurring, the spokesperson added.Markets are changed come midday with traders, above all, waiting on headlines out of the ongoing trade talks between Canada and the US, even as they keep a wary eye on politics around the Continent and particularly on Italy and Turkey.

Linked to Italian politics, French president Emmanuel Macron responded on Wednesday to a jibe the day before from Hungary's Victor Orban and one of Italy's deputy prime ministers, Matteo Salvini, who said they were creating a front against him.

In response, Macron said he would not retreat when faced with nationalists and "those preaching hatred".

On a related note, some market commentary was highlighting weakness in Sweden's currency, the krona, which was trading near its lowest in nine years with under 11 days left until an historic election that might see the nationalist and anti-immigration Swedish Democrats become the most voted party.

Against that backdrop, as of 1203 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was edging higher by 0.04% or 0.17 points to 385.78, alongside a 0.07% or 8.66 point advance for the German Dax to 12,539.27 and a 0.02% or 4.53 point gain for the FTSE Mibtel to 20,624.09.

In parallel, euro/dollar was off by 0.32% at 1.16608. The single currency was also losing ground versus Sterling, despite reports of difficult negotiations between Brussels and Westminster.

Weighing on the euro, according to a report in daily La Stampa, officials in Italy may be hanging their hopes on help from the European Central Bank in the form of government bond purchases. Investors were also waiting on the result of a key review of the country's sovereign credit rating, scheduled for the following Friday.

Yet the yield on the 10-year benchmark Italian government note was down by three basis points to 3.16%.

Turkey's lira was also under pressure against the Greenback, with the latter climbing by another 2.96% to 6.4611 even after the Turkish central bank tightened liquidity by ending unrestricted overnight funding for the country's lenders.

Earlier, an index of economic confidence in Turkey for August had plumbed its lowest level since 2009 with a separate report revealing that the trade deficit widened in July versus the prior month.

Readings on German consumer confidence for September and consumption by French households in July were more or less as expected by economists, but economists were cautious.

Consultancy Gfk's German confidence gauge slipped by 0.1 points for September, printing at 10.5 (consensus: 10.6).

Meanwhile, INSEE reported that consumption in France was up by just 0.1% month-on-month in July (consensus: 0.3%), although the miss was offset by upwards revisions to the prior month's reading.

Even so, Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics told clients: "Private consumption in France slowed significantly in the first half of the year, and these data dont fill us with optimism of a rebound in Q3, though the August and September numbers could well change that picture."

Inditex was among the worst performers on Wednesday, on the heels of a one notch downgrade out of Morgan Stanley on the retailers' shares to 'underweight'.

"Inditex is still a world class retailer, but its investment proposition has been weakening for some years. And we don't think that is properly reflected (yet) either in consensus estimates or the multiple the market is applying to them," the broker's analysts said.London house prices will fall this year and next and will drop sharply if the UK leaves the EU with no deal, a poll predicts.

A quarterly survey of housing market experts predicted London property prices would decline 1.6% in 2018 and 0.1% in 2019.

Reuters' poll of about 30 property specialists found the median expectation of a significant price correction in London in 2019 was 29%. The highest estimate was 75%. Responses to the prospect of a chaotic Brexit included "short-term fall", "damaging" and "disaster".

Uncertainty over Brexit is already weighing on London house prices. Valuations have soared as foreign buyers have invested funds in London's property market but concern about a no-deal Brexit has hit confidence.

"Central London is tanking because the traditional international buyers are staying away - and the quantum of buyers is falling. A disorderly Brexit will exacerbate this trend," Tony Williams at property consultancy Building Value told Reuters.

Asked to rate London house prices from one to 10 where 10 is extremely expensive, respondents' median score was nine compared with seven for the wider UK. The average asking price for a London home was 609,000 in August, more than double the national average price of 302,000. National prices are expected to increase 2% in 2018 and 2019, Reuters said.

"In the short term the additional uncertainty will disproportionately affect London, causing the value of some properties, particularly high value properties, to fall further," Ray Boulger at mortgage broker John Charcol said.The UK and the European Union are set to announce that the deadline for reaching a Brexit deal has been pushed back from October to November as it is now unlikely that an agreement can be reached before, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

According to people close to the matter, negotiators will fail to reach an agreement before the end of October and the postponement may mean there is a greater chance now of a 'no-deal' Brexit.

If both sides do not reach an agreement by November, then the deadline could be pushed back further, to December or January, raising the risk that either side might give up on talks altogether.

The two parts still have some important issues they cannot agree on, including how to guarantee there will never be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that a no-deal Brexit "would not be the end of the world".

Westminster is already preparing for a no-deal scenario and last week the government issued the first batch of documents outlining its advice for British businesses if there is no deal with the EU.

One of the recommendations was that health-care providers stockpile six weeks of drugs in case of import delays, although one anti-Brexit group, Best of Britain, warned on Wednesday that such a measure will cost 2bn.Diploma s chief executive Richard Ingram has left the technical equipment supplier after less than four months in the job.

Chairman John Nicholas will run the FTSE 250 company until a replacement for Ingram is found. The company gave no specific reason for Ingram's abrupt departure.

In a trading statement Diploma said it was trading solidly and on track to meet profit expectations for the year to the end of September.

Ingram joined Diploma in April and became CEO on 8 May. Before joining Diploma he was president of the detection business at Smiths Group. Diploma said Ingram had stepped down with immediate effect and that a search for his replacement was under way.

Nicholas said: "The board believes that a change in CEO is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. The board is fully committed to the group's successful long term strategy and, as reported in today's trading update, the company continues to perform well.

"Working together with Diploma's experienced senior management team I feel confident the group's successful, consistent strategy and culture will continue to deliver profitable growth."

Ingram quit a week after Diploma announced the purchase of FS Cables, a UK supplier of specialist cables, for 18m in cash.

Diploma said it expected reported annual group revenue to increase by about 7%. After adjusting for currency movements and acquisitions revenue will also be up by about 7%.

Life sciences reported revenue will increase by about 6%. Underlying life sciences revenue will rise 4%, reflecting growth from a new supplier in the healthcare business "and despite some capital project delays".

The group reported healthy trading at its seals and controls divisions and said its operating margin would be similar to the first half of last year, in line with expectations.Corrugated packaging company Smurfit Kappa said the Venezuelan government has taken control of its business in Venezuela for 90 days and detained two of its employees.

The Venezuelan government said last week that it had temporarily occupied Smurfit's subsidiary there, claiming that it has abused its dominant position in the market place. The government's price control agency, Sundde, said Smurfit's Carabobo site has impacted national producers with its prices and ordered immediate adjustments for all its products.

However, Smurfit was quick to refute the claims, saying they were "without merit".

In a statement on Wednesday, the company insisted that in the almost 80 years it has been in Venezuela, it has operated to "the highest business and ethical standards", adding that nine out of ten company unions last week confirmed their support and desire to continue working with Smurfit as a result of its "good labour practices and compliance with local law and regulations".

"As a result of this action by the government of Venezuela it is impossible for SKCV to manage its affairs in a way that complies with our normal business standards. Consequently, as of 28 August 2018, SKCV is not responsible for the use of its installations, machinery and equipment, its employees safety, that of its surrounding communities, any environmental impact, or the quality of the paper and packaging manufactured in the operations.

"SKGs clear desire has been, and is, to continue operating a viable, sustainable and environmentally responsible business in Venezuela giving secure employment. In the event that the announced action continues, Smurfit Kappa Group is fully committed to protecting the interests of its stakeholders."

Smurfit said it is making "all possible efforts" to the secure the release of the two employees that have been detained.

At 1550 BST, the shares were down 1.8% to 3,232p.Some might consider it a somewhat unconventional approach to increasing our level of gratitude  mental subtraction of positive events. You may even think youre unfamiliar with the concept, but if youre one of the millions of people who enjoy watching Its a Wonderful Life each Christmas, you might be more familiar with it than you realize.

In Capras 1946 classic, George Bailey, the main character played by Jimmy Stewart, is overcome with depression. He honestly believes that he and his family would be better off if he were dead. To this end, he jumps off a bridge into the freezing cold water of the river below. Much to his dismay and disappointment, George is saved by Clarence, an angel who needs to earn his wings. In an effort to help George realize what a wonderful life hes had, and to help him recognize the positive difference he has made in the lives of those around him, Clarence takes George back to earlier times in his life. In doing so, George sees how Bedford Falls would be a very different town had he never lived. Thanks to Clarences guidance, George returned to celebrate Christmas with his family and friends filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all the blessings of his life.

We, too, can occasionally find ourselves wallowing in the fog of depression. And like George Bailey, we, too, can benefit from looking back at different times in our life and imagining how our life might be different had we not made the choices or been given opportunities which, ultimately, shaped the life we enjoy today.

What if I had been born into a family other than the one in which I was raised and nurtured? What if I was born and raised in Mwanza, Tanzania instead of San Francisco, California? What if I had not been accepted to St. Ignatius High School in 1968? What if I had not accepted the invitation to spend six weeks working in Jamaica in the summer of 1971, where I met a man who, three years later, invited me to teach at a high school in the Bahamas  the first of what turned out to be a 40-year teaching career? What if I had never been given the opportunity to attend Santa Clara University or the University of San Francisco? What if I had accepted the job as a San Francisco firefighter when I passed the test in 1979 instead of continuing a career in teaching? What if, when offered a job at St. Lawrence Parish in Santa Clara in 1984, I had rejected the invitation and, therefore, never met my wife, Kathy? Thats a lot of What ifs.

There are many paths to gratitude. Mental subtraction of positive events is just one of many ways to reflect on how our lives have been blessed. I invite you to take a three minute break and watch this GUIDED MEDITATION in which this creative strategy is used to help us increase our level of gratitude. Im confident you will find the experience both enjoyable and gratifying.





You might also be interested in checking out my web page:

https://kmcsjc.wixsite.com/gratitude



Bunzl was the standout gainer a day after releasing solid first-half results and announcing its first acquisition in Norway.

Micro Focus was also on the rise after after announcing the start of a share buy-back programme with an initial tranche of up to $200m, while building materials group CRH rose as it began the second phase of its 1bn share buyback.

United Utilities was boosted as Citi said that after several years of exuberant prices, the table has turned in the face of political, regulatory and macro risks, and highlighted the stock as one of its top picks.

"While we expect a turbulent ride in the months ahead given the uncertainties of Brexit and questions over the stability of the current UK government, we cannot ignore the fact that we are starting to see fundamental value," the bank said.

GVC Holdings was also in the black as Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of the stock at 'overweight'. It said cross-selling, mobile catch-up and greater geographic diversification will keep growth above peers.

On the downside, Tesco was lower even as Shore Capital recommended buying the stock. "All in all we continue to see good work by Tesco across its network, which we believe augurs well for medium-term growth in earnings and free cash, the latter of which is expected to fund strong dividend growth and maybe the emergence of one-off or special distributions in time," said analysts Clive Black and Darren Shirley.

Elsewhere, Ocado fell on news that a Bahamas trust backed by its chief executive Tim Steiner has sold nearly 51m of shares in the grocer.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,383.00p 2.49%

Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,306.50p 1.91%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 732.00p 1.89%

CRH (CRH) 2,646.00p 1.50%

Experian (EXPN) 1,949.50p 1.27%

Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,308.00p 0.96%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 935.00p 0.92%

SEGRO (SGRO) 664.20p 0.91%

GVC Holdings (GVC) 1,111.00p 0.91%

Carnival (CCL) 4,683.00p 0.88%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Tesco (TSCO) 250.50p -2.98%

Royal Mail (RMG) 465.30p -2.98%

Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 320.26p -2.83%

Fresnillo (FRES) 940.30p -1.83%

Anglo American (AAL) 1,599.20p -1.67%

Vodafone Group (VOD) 172.80p -1.37%

Barclays (BARC) 181.20p -1.36%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,056.50p -1.35%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 643.90p -1.32%

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 538.20p -1.28%After the historic meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June, the world was relieved because fears of a nuclear war had receded. The two leaders had apparently arrived at an understanding about denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the US President was on cloud nine. However, the lack of progress on the subject has become a matter of concern for the Trump administration.

The Guardian UK reports that the US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, has indicated that the US could be resuming its military exercises with South Korea.

These had been put on hold by Donald Trump during the summit meeting with Kim Jong-un. It was a gesture of goodwill to ease tension in the region.

'We took the step to suspend several of the largest military exercise as a good faith measure. We have no plans to suspend any more.' https://t.co/d8egSXgg6R  Western Journal (@WestJournalism) August 28, 2018

North Korea appears to be dragging its feet

The military exercises between the US and South Korea were suspended at the instance of Donald Trump. It was to facilitate talks with Kim Jong-un and draw up a roadmap for the future on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The decision that was taken by the US President came as a surprise for officials of both South Korea and the United States.

However, in spite of the peace efforts initiated by Washington, the response of Pyongyang leaves much to be desired. Trump has already canceled a proposed trip by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to Pyongyang.

North Korea has never taken kindly to military exercises in the Korean peninsula and has usually responded in the past with threats of force.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

If these are resumed, it could disturb the sense of peace in the region and war clouds will reappear. That will not help the cause.

Korean Peninsula is again tense

According to CNN, President Donald Trump hailed the summit with Kim Jong-un as a huge success but, subsequent developments paint a picture of frustration. It was expected that North Korea would work towards fulfillment of its side of the bargain related to denuclearization, and progress on this front is raising doubts about the future of the peace process.

The diplomatic initiative that began with the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore appears to have lost steam and unless a proper strategy is adopted, fears of a direct conflict could resurface in the Korean Peninsula. Reports indicate that the hermit kingdom has not abandoned its programs related to missiles and has also not given any account of its inventory of nuclear weapons. It is difficult to forecast how events will shape up because both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are unpredictable. They must ensure that the situation does not go out of control.The Old Man and the Gun portrays the 82-year-old Robert Redford in the role of Forrest Tucker, an elderly bank robber and the actor has indicated that this may not be his last film. The movie will be released on September 28 and retirement is not on his agenda right now.

The Daily Mail UK reports that over the years, Robert Redford has been seen in different roles and the characters he portrayed on the screen has left his audiences wanting for more. He puts his heart and soul into the character and invariably comes out on top. His latest movie should not disappoint the audience.

New Trailer: Redford In "Old Man & The Gun" has been published on Movietoday - https://t.co/TxSXj6NHRM pic.twitter.com/D7yKKqjTS0  NMoviez (@NMoviez) August 28, 2018

About Redfords forthcoming film

Robert Redford had set up the nonprofit organization Sundance Institute in 1981. It is dedicated to independent filmmaking and organizes the Sundance Film Festival. In one of these festivals, he met the 37-year-old director David Lowery. The occasion was the premiere of one of Lowery's Movies.

It seems the director was keen to make a film on Forrest Tucker who was a lifelong stickup man and kept escaping from prison. Redford liked the concept and Lowery went ahead to write the script of the real-life story which became The Old Man and the Gun.



Others in the cast are Danny Glover and Tom Waits. The love interest is Sissy Spacek while Casey Affleck is the police detective who is out to nab Forrest Tucker the bank robber. Incidentally, Robert Redford loves to portray roles where he is on the other side of the law. In his own words  the idea of the outlaw has always been very appealing to me.

It promises to be different

According to The Star-Advertiser, Robert Redford has been in the industry for more than six decades.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

The Old Man and the Gun is set for release by Fox Searchlight and could be his last one as an actor. He has been in movies from his early 20s and wants to be with his wife and family, but he does have ideas to turn director.

One of his movies was All the Presidents Men. It was about the White House investigation to Watergate.

However, today he doesnt want to think about politics because he feels one gets depressed with the thought. He hopes this movie will be a different kettle of fish.

The audience of today has got used to watching fast-paced movies based on fantasy and sci-fi and out of the world characters where animation rules supreme. They want movies based on ground realities of today where one can come across ordinary people. The movie of an elderly bank robber on the run is expected to meet their requirements and provide variety.Dell has launched a major assault in the highly lucrative consumer electronics market. The US hardware giant has just introduced its first consumer-focused Chromebook as well as latest hardware line-up.

According to VentureBeat, the Texas-based company announced its first built-for-consumer Inspiron-branded consumer Chromebook. Dells new Chromebook features a premium look and feel. More importantly, it shows how the new Dell Chromebook will going to compete in the highly crowded consumer laptop market.

Dell launches two new Chromebook

The new Dells Inspiron-branded Chromebook comes in two models.

These are the 14-inch Dell Inspiron 7480 with 2-and-1 laptop-tablet hybrid functionality and the 11.6-inch Inspiron Chromebook. The Dell Inspiron 7480 features an Intel 8th Gen Core i3 processor along with a whopping 4GB of main memory and up to 128 GB of external memory. This new Chromebook has a backlit keyboard, an electromagnetic resonance stylus and can run on 10 hours of battery life. As for the price and availability, the 14-inch Inspiron-branded Chromebook will be made available on October 23 and will cost around $600.

The Dell Inspiron 3181 is a much smaller Chromebook model with 2-in-1 tablet functionality. This 11.6-inch model comes with an Intel Celeron processor along with Intel integrated graphics.

It also features a 4 GB of system memory as well as 166 GB of flash memory. Unlike its bigger cousin, the 14-inch Inspiron 7480, Dell Inspiron 3181 will be made available on at $280.

Dell announces its latest line-up

In a bid to strengthen its market position, Dell announced its latest line-up of laptops and monitors. The company made the big introduction at the recent IFA tech trade show in Berlin, Germany.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Dells latest line-up includes the 2-in-1 laptop-tablet Inspiron 7000 models, with support for Amazon Alexa voice command features. The second one is the new Dell XPS 13 laptop with a powerful dual-core Intel Core i3 processor.

Dell also announced the Vostro brand for small businesses. These new laptop models feature an 8th Gen Intel Core processors and a single sign-on fingerprint reader.

Dell has added some options for better security, special security features such as storage for BitLocker and encryption keys.

In addition to laptops and Chromebooks, the company also announced a new 27-inch Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin. This new monitor, which claims by the company as the world's brightest 27-inch display in its class, has up to 600 nits of peak brightness and an edge-to-edge viewing. But its major attraction here is the monitor's thin profile, which measures only 5.5 millimeters at the edges. This new Dell monitor is scheduled to go on sale next month at $550.En espanol | An auto mechanic who was injured on the job is suing his former employer for age discrimination because being older than 62 makes him ineligible for a disability pension.

AARP Foundation Litigation and the Andalman & Flynn law firm filed the federal lawsuit this month against Marylands Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) on behalf of Ernie Brandenburg, who is 66 and lives in Adamstown, Md.

Under the rules of the MCPS retirement plan, workers over age 62 who are hurt on the job can receive only the basic retirement benefit rather than a disability pension, which pays a higher monthly benefit. Brandenburg could lose almost $35,000 every year just because of how old he was when he was injured.

This is just plain unfair, says Brandenburg. My eligibility for a pension shouldnt be different just because Im over a certain age.

Brandenburg worked for MCPS for 11 years, supervising the mechanics who repair school buses as well as doing some of that maintenance himself. Brandenburg was injured in November 2015 while working on a school bus that was not properly secured on a lift. He needed medical treatment and ultimately shoulder reconstruction surgery. The injury left him unable to continue to do his job.

He applied to the school district for disability retirement in February 2017. But even though the Disability Retirement Review Board approved Brandenburgs application, he ended up getting only the regular retirement benefit.

AARP has long battled ageism in the workplace, says Laurie McCann, senior attorney at AARP Foundation Litigation. This case presents a textbook case of age discrimination in employment. Mr. Brandenburg is receiving lower pension benefits based only on his age. That is just unacceptable.

The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects people over age 40 from age bias in the workplace, and in 1990 Congress enacted the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act to prohibit age bias in employee benefits.Accountability board hears abuse-of-power claims against Gov. Noem

The Government Accountability Board wants more information about the allegations before charting a path forward.The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico on Tuesday sent letters to 10 municipalities around the state asking them to repeal ordinances that restrict begging in their communities.

The ACLU and other organizations across the nation sent letters demanding the repeal of 240 such ordinances around the country in a concerted effort, said Leon Howard, the legal director for the ACLU in the state.

The or

The ordinances the ACLU is targeting in New Mexico vary in scope. In Santa Fe, people are prohibited from begging from people who are eating at a sidewalk cafe. In Espanola, multiple people cant beg together, and in Artesia, people need to get a permit approved by a city or police official before panhandling, said Maria Martinez Sanchez, a staff attorney with the ACLU.

The ACLU argues, in part, that the ordinances violate the First Amendment because they restrict freedom of speech.

Mayors from those three cities didnt return calls for comment on Tuesday.

Those ordinances that we are targeting, they vary, but they have a common goal of making it impossible or nearly impossible for people to request assistance from their community, Martinez Sanchez said.

People who violate the ordinances in question can face hundreds of dollars in fines or, in some cases, up to 90 days in jail.

The mayors of Rio Rancho, Elephant Butte, Silver City, Artesia, Las Cruces, Espanola, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Mesilla and Los Lunas received letters Tuesday.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller wasnt on the list to get a notice from the ACLU.

But the ACLU has a pending lawsuit against Albuquerque over a city ordinance approved late last year that restricts panhandling on certain medians and other areas because of traffic safety concerns. The city has agreed not to enforce the ordinance while the case is being litigated, though the city has agreed to pay a nonprofit $7,500 because officers were enforcing the ordinance despite the court order.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

A group of immigrant advocates is asking the state Supreme Court to make it more difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to detain people who are in the country illegally in and around New Mexico courthouses.

The ACLU and others circulated a petition among the states attorneys, retired judges, law firms and other organizations, seeking new rules that would raise the bar for arrest and would offer some protections to immigrants.

The groups contend in the petition that there have been at least 25 cases since February 2017 in which ICE agents in plain clothes targeted or arrested people in and around state courthouses. The petition also says five people were targeted by ICE agents inside the Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque since late July 2018.

It did not cite specific examples.

In some instances, the agents got assistance from court staff and security who were there to make court appearances, according to the petition.

The groups plan to announce the results of the petition drive at a news conference today. Representatives of the ACLU, the Law Office of the Public Defender, the New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center are expected to attend.

The petition asks the Supreme Court to adopt a rule that would require an ICE agent to have a judicial warrant signed by a judge when arresting someone in or near a New Mexico courthouse, as opposed to an administrative warrant, which is not signed by a judge.

The petition also asks for a rule that would allow a court to issue writs of protection for individuals who fear they may be subject to civil detention at or near a courthouse.

Barry Massey, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the Courts, said the Supreme Court has not issued a formal order regarding federal immigration enforcement in New Mexico courthouses.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Texas did not return a phone message asking what the agencys policies are when it comes to arresting people who are making court appearances.

ICEs website says the agencys policies governing courthouse arrests are similar to those of other law enforcement agencies.

It also says that it will not target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately. ICE will target only specific individuals who have criminal convictions, previous deportations or are known gang members or public safety threats, according to the website.

Courthouse arrests are often necessitated by the unwillingness of jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE in the transfer of custody of aliens from their prisons and jails, the website says.

The petition contends that many of the 25 detainees were facing traffic citations or DWIs.CHAPEL HILL, N.C.  University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt said Tuesday the university will consider all options for the future placement of the toppled Silent Sam Confederate monument.

Her statement came after the UNC Board of Governors directed Folt and the campus Board of Trustees to develop a lawful and lasting plan to preserve the 105-year-old statue of a Confederate soldier, according to a resolution passed Tuesday by the system governing board.

The plan is to be presented to the system board by Nov. 15. The resolution says it should address the monuments disposition and preservation.

After a nearly five-hour meeting with the trustees Tuesday, Folt said: We will look at all options, including one that features a location on campus to display the monument in a place of prominence, honor, visibility, availability and access, where we can ensure public safety, ensure the monuments preservation and place in the history of UNC and the nation.

Its too soon to discuss the various options for where Silent Sam will permanently stand, she said, including the possibility that the statue could be returned to its now-empty pedestal at McCorkle Place.

But she added that the university would follow appropriate processes to secure any needed approvals from the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors, the North Carolina Historical Commission and the General Assembly.

The trustee board also passed a resolution saying it would abide by certain principles in its decisions ahead  respect and enforcement of the law and UNC policies; campus safety; civil discourse; and the education and curation of monuments and history with integrity.

The Board supports our Chancellors stated highest priority for the safety of our students and the university community, the trustee resolution said. This is a challenge during volatile times when tensions are high, and we urge our students and University communitys support as we keep safety at the forefront.

The resolutions came as both governing boards met in special session Tuesday to discuss legal and safety issues surrounding the Aug. 20 toppling of the monument by protesters.

The Nov. 15 deadline falls within the 90-day period cited in a 2015 state historic preservation law, which requires the restoration of an object of remembrance to a place of prominence after temporary removal for reasons under the law. However, legal scholars differ on the interpretation of that law because it does not address the situation of a monument that has been forcibly and illegally torn down.

After last weeks toppling, the university took the statue to an undisclosed location for safekeeping.

Before the Board of Trustees closed session, Folt talked about a week of intense emotion, the pain, the frustration and anger thats being felt.

The board cited three reasons for closing the meeting under the states open meetings law: to hear a legal update; to hear reports about investigations into alleged criminal conduct; and to discuss potential action plans to protect public safety.

Folt said safety is on my mind every minute of the day. Public safety is a paramount consideration, she said, adding, Our students and our faculty deserve no less.

The process ahead, she said, gives us a chance to identify a plan that can be a legal solution which allows us to have a safe and productive campus.

The chancellor also acknowledged that what happens next with the Confederate monument will have greater implications for the university.

It has also brought the eyes of the nation on us, Folt said. That, of course, is adding urgency to our own determination to find a lawful and lasting path that will protect the public, protect the monument and allow us to return to what we are doing right now  our core mission of education, research and creating the next generation of leaders.

Folt has been under growing pressure by students and faculty to keep the Confederate statue from being reinstalled on its pedestal at a main entrance of campus.

A flurry of statements and letters to Folt have asked her to move the statue. The Department of English and Comparative Literature posted a statement to its website that called upon university administrators to house the fallen statue elsewhere, as should have been done long ago, and to renew their commitment to creating a just and inclusive campus.

One year ago, we unequivocally supported calls to remove the statue to a place where it could be properly contextualized. In our assessment, its history and its formerly prominent location on campus are at odds with the fundamental principles and ideals of UNC that stand for the inclusion and dignity of all, the departments statement said. We cannot and do not support the ideas that it celebrates in the context of a public university today. Furthermore, we support our students rights to freedom of expression and freedom to protest.

Folt reiterated that the university will take appropriate actions to deal with any criminal action by protesters. Eleven people have been charged in protests on Aug. 20, when the statue came down, and on Saturday, when protest groups clashed over Silent Sam.

We know that the monument has been divisive for a long time, Folt said, but what happened on Monday was wrong. It was absolutely not the solution that we wanted.

She also invoked the words of the late Sen. John McCain, who said: We dont hide from history. We make history.

Chairman Harry Smith has said he wanted the campus decision-making process to play out, and the resolution reflects that.

Another Board of Governors member, Wilmington lawyer Thom Goolsby, has been adamant that the statue should be put back up pronto.

To delay the reinstallation of the monument does nothing but put off the inevitable and encourages more violence by outside criminal elements, Goolsby wrote in an email Monday to his fellow board members.

Goolsby voted no on the Board of Governors resolution Tuesday.

I appreciate the Board of Governors commitment to obey the Monument Protection Act, but I cannot support the motion as written, Goolsby said. I believe the time frame is far too long, especially in light of the violence, the ongoing threats and continuing danger on our college campuses.

He also criticized the actions of police on Aug. 20, saying they were highly derelict in their duty, by standing back and allowing these outside criminal elements to riot and destroy state property. He called for a thorough outside disciplinary investigation of the UNC Police Department.

The Board of Governors will hire an outside firm, Smith said, to conduct an after-action assessment of and review of UNC Chapel Hill preparations for and response to the protests of Aug. 20 in order to help better protect the safety of the university and community for future events.

Board members Philip Byers and Bob Rucho will oversee the process, Smith said.

Besides the Aug. 20 protest, a demonstration on Saturday by pro- and anti-Confederate monument groups resulted in arrests but no serious injuries. All told, 11 people face criminal charges from the two protests.

A Silent Sam twilight service is planned for Thursday night by a neo-Confederate group known as ACTBAC, or Alamance County Taking Back Alamance Country.SACRAMENTO, Calif.  California would set some of the nations strongest clean energy goals under legislation that cleared a key vote in the Assembly on Tuesday, bringing the state a step closer to ending its reliance on fossil fuels by phasing out their use to generate electricity.

The bill, which would require California to obtain 100 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2045, has been debated by lawmakers for nearly two years as it faced cost and feasibility concerns. This week, high-profile state and national politicians gave the cause a push by arguing the plan would strengthen Californias leadership on the environment.

Lawmakers supporting the bill said it was important that the state continue its pioneering efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A new state report released this week warned that California will face higher temperatures, more wildfires and sea-level rise in the coming decades due to climate change.

The damage will continue to be done as long as we refuse to act, Democratic Assemblyman Ash Kalra of San Jose said. There are no more tomorrows left.

In addition to the 2045 target, Senate Bill 100 would also require electric utilities and other service providers to generate 60 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2030, up from the current 50 percent goal set for that date.

The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote. If it is signed by the governor, California would become the second state in the U.S. to rely solely on renewable energy by 2045. Hawaii was the first to implement such a plan.

This is a huge victory for the state of California, said Democratic state Sen. Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, the bills author. Its a victory for clean air. Its a victory to tackle climate change and the devastation that its leaving in its wake.

The measures opponents, chiefly Republican legislators, argued that phasing out fossil fuels by 2045 was not achievable, and could sharply increase energy prices while state regulators tried to design policies to reach the target.

Why would this body come out now and further increase costs on struggling California families? GOP Assemblyman Steven Choi of Irvine said.

Last year, lawmakers shelved SB 100 after they were unable to reach agreement on the plan alongside other climate-related legislation, including a proposal from Gov. Jerry Brown to integrate Californias electricity grid with other states in the region.

This year, SB 100 has again been part of the larger debate about energy policy. Also included in the discussion are the electric grid bill, which remains in a legislative committee awaiting further action, and comprehensive legislation to address wildfires that have raged across California.

Brown has not taken a public position on SB 100. The governor used the power of his office to push other climate change bills, including extending the states cap-and-trade program last year. But on the clean energy bill, representatives for Brown have said the governor doesnt usually weigh in on pending legislation.

The clean energy proposal didnt originate with the governor, so his ability to shape the debate might be more limited because hes in his final year in office, said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, adding that Browns former top deputy, Nancy McFadden, died earlier this year.

If he wasnt a lame-duck governor and if he hadnt lost his finest lieutenant to cancer, I think there would be a lot more activity coming from the governors office, Phillips said.

Although Brown hasnt made his opinion clear, others have.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter to lawmakers Monday backing the bill, and argued that Trump administration policies rolling back federal efforts to combat climate change made it all the more urgent.

California must take a stand and tell the world we are, as always, undeterred by those who wish to stop our progress and move backwards, Schwarzenegger wrote. We continue to move forward, and passing SB 100 is one of the boldest moves we can make to help save our climate and way of life.

Former Vice President Al Gore also cited White House policies in his endorsement of the bill, saying that California must respond by leading on climate change.

I hope California will once again rise to the occasion and put the Golden State on a path to 100 percent clean energy by the middle of the century, Gore wrote in a letter to lawmakers Friday. This action will be seen around the world as a major step forward on our path toward a sustainable future.

Tuesdays decision came on an afternoon that saw de Leon working to persuade a handful of on-the-fence Democrats to vote yes. Thirteen Democrats initially held off voting on SB 100, and the first tally left the bill four votes short of passage.

Ultimately, the bill cleared its final hurdle after de Leon arrived on the Assembly floor and had a lengthy conversation with Democratic Assemblyman Ken Cooley of Rancho Cordova, one of the holdouts who voted yes.

Some Democrats cast their votes against the policy. Assemblyman Adam Gray of Merced spoke against the proposal, saying that supporters were motivated to impress national progressives rather than poor residents in rural communities who would face higher electric bills as a result of the legislation.

This is yet another in a laundry list of bills that are discriminatory to the people I represent, Gray said.

The politics over the bill go beyond energy policy. De Leon, former president pro tem of the state Senate, is running for U.S. Senate against fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who is seeking a fifth full term.

A number of legislators, including Democratic Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon of Paramount, have endorsed Feinstein over de Leon. On the Assembly floor, debate over the bill veered into the personal.

You dont have to like the author. I dont care, said Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher of San Diego, who presented the bill on de Leons behalf.

Gonzalez Fletcher then paused for laughter throughout the chamber.

I think hes a great guy, she continued. But this is about whether or not we want to set goals that we can reach and be proud of ourselves to reduce the effects of climate change here in California.



2018 Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

-

PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): CALIF-CLEAN-ENERGYWASHINGTON  All you can do is learn from other peoples mistakes.

I, like so many others, adored Aretha Franklin. The Queen of Souls songs dominate several of my iTunes playlists. When someone makes me mad, I play her version of Respect.

But I lost a little respect for her financial acumen when a recent court filing in Michigan by her four sons revealed that Franklin, who died Aug. 16 at 76, didnt have a will.

I wasnt surprised.

Just how many more stories are we going to report about famous people who didnt take the time to have a will prepared?

Mouths dropped when it was discovered that the legendary musician Prince, who died in 2016, didnt have a will, either. His lack of planning has led to multiple claims against his multimillion-dollar estate.

I was surprised to learn Prince didnt have a will, given that he was famously fixated about maintaining control over his music.

The fact that people who made money didnt take some of their earnings and do some estate planning leads me to the conclusion that its not about the money. These stars  even if they died broke  at some point had enough cash to hire an attorney and get even the most basic will written. So why didnt they?

Franklin and Prince and so many others like them had to know  because of their celebrated status  their name, music or likeness would be worth something after they die. There are plenty of examples of estates  Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson  escalating in value after the artist passed away.

What are we to conclude about the lack of estate planning among the rich and famous?

I believe they just didnt care enough their deaths would leave behind legal messes. Even when you have a will, some heirs will play out long, unresolved personal issues by suing one another. Trust me. Been there, done that, got some court battle scars to prove it. I wont reveal more, because I dont want to be sued!

But at least a will gives the courts a sense of what a decedent wanted. With no will, you die intestate, and this means the state dictates how your assets will be distributed. Is that what you want?

Gallup conducted a poll two weeks after Prince died. The results were troubling  an overwhelming majority of Americans dont have a will.

Only 44 percent of survey respondents said they had a will that dictated how they wanted their assets handled after their death.  In 2005, it was 51 percent, according to Gallup.

Princes main legacy will undoubtedly be his music, but his unexpected death might leave him with another: an example of what can happen when someone dies without a will, wrote Jeffrey Jones, a senior editor for Gallup in releasing the will results.

The older you are  and the more income you have  influences whether you have a will. People 65 or older were more likely to have a will  68 percent compared with 14 percent for those younger than 30, Gallup found. This makes sense.

Yet, for younger adults who are married or have children, it doesnt make sense. Especially if you have kids, there is much more at stake in terms of who will care for them and with what money.

Fifty-five percent of people with an annual income of $75,000 or more said they had a will. This percentage should be so much higher, because the more you make, the more your estate might be worth, and this increases the likelihood people will fight over your stuff  even a relatively modest amount. When heirs end up in protracted legal proceedings, it erodes the value of an estate.

The estate attorneys Ive interviewed dont want to be in the middle of what can become epic court battles. The money they earn representing folks may be good, but they say watching family members go at one another is dreadful.

 I need you to understand why (wrting a will) is one financial move you should make a priority. If you dont buy into the why, you wont do it. So, let me ask you one question: Do you love your children/family? Because if you care about their well-being, and you want to minimize the drama after you die, you need a will. Tomorrow isnt promised.WASHINGTON  The major disgrace of Americas Catholic bishops was to foster a culture in which priests sexually assaulted children and were then sent on to new duties as their ungodly behavior was covered up.

There is also a second failure. Thanks to the bishops, who are supposed to strengthen the faith, Catholics are now regularly asked: How can you be a Catholic? And, even more pointedly, How can you stay?

This summer, these questions became much harder to answer.

This is about the institution, not about whether to be a Christian. Christianity heroically preaches a devotion to the poor and the marginalized, and the abusive priests often preyed on the most vulnerable and least advantaged children. As a dear friend who no longer thinks of herself as part of the church noted, these reprehensible acts turned Christianity on its head.

Its fair to ask why churchgoing Catholics, myself included, were so shaken by the scathing report from a Pennsylvania grand jury and the revelation of the abuses by former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. After all, since the 1980s and 1990s, we have known a great deal about the churchs malfeasance, and yet we held on.

The sickening catalogue of pure evil in Pennsylvania is certainly part of the answer. And McCarricks admirers were at first shocked and then horrified over his betrayal.

Defenders of the church note that the bishops 2002 reforms dealing with abusive priests, though imperfect, made a difference. It appears that all but two of the cases described in the Pennsylvania report predate the policy changes, although we may learn of more as victims feel newly empowered to report past transgressions.

But the sheer weight of the evidence brought home a reality that loyal Catholics who retain an appreciation of the good work the church has done must confront: The great missing piece in the churchs response was the failure of the hierarchy to atone  truly, deeply, credibly  for putting institutional self-protection over the interests of the young and the powerless who were harmed.

The leadership has resolutely avoided a searching inquiry into how the churchs culture and structure contributed to a catastrophic failure of accountability. A philosopher friend who has warm feelings for the church offered an insight that Catholics cannot avoid: Hierarchy without transparency is tyranny.

Patricia McGuire, the president of Trinity College in Washington, grasped the essential truth in a July essay written after the McCarrick revelations but before the grand jury accounting. The utter lack of a truly empathetic acknowledgment of the victims, she wrote, and those who truly love the victims, those who also suffer because of the abuse  their mothers and fathers and all in the universe afflicted by these grave sins  this is the most fundamental problem the Church has yet to address in a satisfactory way.

She pointed to the churchs sad history of sometimes rendering unequivocally harsh judgment against those who violate even minor rules while looking the other way when its own ordained leaders violate the most sacred and profound rules about human conduct and respect for human dignity.

On so many questions, from climate change to poverty, Pope Francis has been the fresh voice the church needed. But he was shamefully slow in facing the gravity of the abuse crisis. His statements acknowledging the churchs culpability, last week and over the weekend on a visit to Ireland, were at best a first step.

Now, his papacy is under threat. Conservative commentators and prelates long hostile to Francis are focusing their attacks on the pope and progressive bishops while ignoring the failures of their conservative episcopal allies and Franciss predecessors. The campaign reached a crescendo with the release of a letter from ultra-traditionalist Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano charging that Francis long knew of the allegations against McCarrick.

Exploiting what is a blight on the entire church to make a play for power is a further affront to the innocents who have suffered. But the descent into factional politics only underscores the high costs of the churchs long-term default.

I could detail the reasons for my personal gratitude to the church, list the devoted people I know  especially nuns and lay women  who carry out missions of mercy, and argue that its core teachings about our obligations to each other remain urgent in our wounded world.

But like many at this moment, I am struggling, wondering if the church can meet its own obligations  to those it injured wantonly above all, and to the faithful who are still in search of a compelling answer when they are asked: How can you stay?We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. We are the custodians of those ideals at home, and their champion abroad. We have done great good in the world.  We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we dont.

 Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

He wasnt perfect by any means, but Sen. John McCain was a patriot who placed country before politics. Washington, D.C., is a darker place with his passing.

McCain  who survived a Vietnam prisoner of war camp for five years and went on to serve as a U.S. senator for more than three decades  died Saturday at his ranch in Arizona following a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 81.

Former President George W. Bush called McCain a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order.

While on his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam in 1967, McCain was shot down and taken prisoner. He endured years of solitary confinement, beatings and other torture. When his captors offered him early release as a propaganda ploy, he refused, insisting those captured first should be released first. He eventually returned home on crutches and never regained full mobility in his arms and right leg. But he didnt allow those disabilities to hold him back. Besides representing Arizona in the House and then the Senate starting in 1982, he twice ran for president, in 2000 and again in 2008.

While on the campaign trail in October 2008, McCain famously corrected a woman who referred to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama as an Arab, saying she couldnt trust him. McCain took the high road: No, maam, he said. No, maam. Hes a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and thats what this campaign is all about.

McCain wasnt a saint by any means, and had his share of scandal and failings; he wasnt always on the right side of history. But he was a man of integrity willing to reach across the aisle. He fought hard for veterans and was our countrys moral compass on certain issues, including the use of torture, which he vehemently opposed. Our nation needs more patriots like John McCain.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.SANTA FE  The State Investment Council voted Tuesday to approve two new settlements with outside firms in connection with long-running pay-to-play litigation, bumping the total amount recouped by the state to more than $41 million.

The SIC will receive a total of $850,000 under the two settlements  $800,000 in one and $50,000 in the other  and in exchange has agreed to drop any current and future legal claims against the two outside firms.

Both settlements hinge on payments made more than a decade ago to Marc Correra, a politically connected placement agent. One of the firms, HM Capital, was a Dallas-based investment manager that got a $30 million investment deal with the state, and the other, Cabrera Capital Markets, is a broker that worked with Correra.

SIC Deputy Chief Counsel Bruce Brown told members of the 11-member investment council the settlements are part of the states recovery strategy.

We think its a good deal relative to whats at stake and what we could get, Brown told SIC members during a Tuesday meeting at the state Capitol.

Both settlements were approved in open session  under a revised 2015 transparency settlement  with little dissent.

The $800,000 settlement with HM Capital, which paid Correra a $600,000 finders fee after getting the $30 million investment deal with the state in 2007, was approved 10-0.

Meanwhile, the $50,000 settlement with Cabrera Capital Markets was ratified 9-1, with state Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn casting the no vote.

The SIC filed a lawsuit against more than a dozen individuals in 2011, claiming the state lost hundreds of millions of dollars through pay-to-play and politically motivated investments made during the administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson.

That lawsuit came after a former investment officer for the states pension fund for teachers filed a whistleblower lawsuit under seal in 2008 that made similar claims.

The SICs suit alleges financial firms paid Correra, the son of former Richardson insider Anthony Correra, and other placement agents millions of dollars in marketing fees to help them get state investment business.

In all, Marc Correra shared in more than $22 million in fees from firms seeking investment dollars from the SIC and the states pension fund for teachers, the Educational Retirement Board. Correra pleaded no contest to income tax evasion in 2014, but the SICs claims against him are still pending.

In all, the State Investment Council has now entered more than a dozen settlements with financial firms and investment consultants as part of its legal effort. The largest of those agreements, a $24 million settlement between the SIC and Chicago-based Vanderbilt Capital, was approved last year by a state district judge after being challenged.SANTA FE  Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce is facing criticism for using the phrase the minorities during a forum before a coalition of business groups last week.

Ralph Arellanes, chairman of the Hispano Round Table of New Mexico, said its inappropriate for Pearce to lump a bunch of different communities into one group  the minorities.

It just shows hes out of touch, Arellanes said.

He took issue with other parts of Pearces remarks, too  including a passage in which he spoke about young people graduating with no skills and his goal of getting each one of the minorities in the state to study more science and related subjects in college.

The criticism centers on Pearces appearance at a candidate forum in Albuquerque, when the congressman sometimes put the word the in front of minorities when speaking about economic opportunity and education to a group of business leaders.

New Mexico lags behind in our pay for a lot of the minorities, Pearce said.

The state, he added later, must stop channeling our young people into a life of despair, because right now they graduate from high school with almost no capability to get jobs. They come to you to get hired. You dont hire them. They end up on the streets, maybe in gangs and drugs, and we wonder why we have the circumstances we have. Just train first.

Ive set goals that for each one of the minorities in the state, were going to increase their application to STEM subjects in college.

The chairpersons of Hispanics for Pearce said they were proud to stand with him against false attacks.

This ridiculous attempt to smear Congressman Pearce is extremely disappointing and demonstrates the high level of panic among the far left as Congressman Pearce continues to gain support from Democrats and independents across the state, Jose Orozco and Marisol Cardenas said. Calling somebody a racist because they support increasing wages and employment in minority communities is beyond the pale, and the selective editing of comments demonstrates a complete willingness to destroy the truth in the pursuit of power.

New Mexicos population was 49 percent Hispanic or Latino in 2017, according to census estimates, the highest percentage in the country.

FUNDRAISER: Republican congressional candidate Janice Arnold-Jones is holding a fundraiser with Dinesh DSouza  the conservative commentator who pleaded guilty in 2014 to campaign finance fraud and later apologized for mocking Parkland, Fla., students after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in that city.

DSouza was pardoned by President Trump this year.

Hes scheduled to appear at a private fundraiser Sept. 7 with Arnold-Jones, the GOP candidate in the 1st Congressional District.

In an interview, Arnold-Jones said DSouza is a provocateur with interesting things to say.

He has a fascinating perspective, she said.

Dan McKay: dmckay@abqjournal.comRIO COMMUNITIES  A party on the banks of the Rio Grande ended in the death of an Albuquerque teenager and injury of a Belen man Sunday night.

Valencia County deputies responded to a call about a shooting at the river, west of the Allsups Convenience Store at 2348 N.M. 47, at about 9 p.m., Sunday. The river is accessible north of the store.

When deputies arrived, they found Vanessa Ordonez, 16, of Albuquerque, dead, and 33-year-old Casey Peralta of Belen with a gunshot wound to the face.

Ordonez was shot in the head and had been struck by a vehicle.

Valencia County Sheriffs Chief Deputy Jeff Noah said Peralta drove himself from the river east to the store, where he was located by deputies.

We dont know if the same person shot them both, and we dont know who struck the girl with their vehicle, Noah said.

The Office of the Medical Investigator is working to determine Ordonezs exact cause of death, the chief deputy said.

Valencia County Sheriffs Office Lt. James Harris said Peralta was transported to an Albuquerque hospital with what appeared to be non life-threatening injuries.

We presently have no information on suspects, Harris said. There was a party going on (at the river) when several fights broke out, shots were fired by one individual, but we dont know if there were others. Alcohol was involved.

New Mexico State Police assisted in processing the scene, the lieutenant said.

This initiated by the river and spilled over to the store, he said. The majority of the people weve spoken to in this investigation have been from Albuquerque.

Noah said more than 20 people from the party have been interviewed and the VCSO is asking anyone who was at the party to call the sheriffs office at 866-2400.

We want to know who else was down there, he said. Anyone who was there can call and ask to speak to a detective.WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump is accusing Google and other U.S. tech companies of rigging search results about him so that almost all stories & news is BAD  and though he is offering no evidence, a top adviser says the White House is taking a look at whether Google should face federal regulation.

Google is pushing back sharply, saying Trumps claim simply wasnt true: We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.

The presidents tweets Tuesday echoed his familiar attacks on the news media  and a conservative talking point that California-based tech companies run by CEOs with liberal leanings dont give equal weight to opposing political viewpoints. They also revealed anew his deep-seated frustration over not getting the credit he believes he deserves.

The president, who has said he runs on little sleep, jumped onto Twitter before dawn Tuesday to rehash his recent complaints about alleged suppression of conservative voices and positive news about him.

He followed that up with vague threats in Oval Office comments.

I think Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people, and I think thats a very serious thing. Thats a very serious charge, Trump said, adding that Google, Twitter, Facebook and others better be careful, because you cant do that to people.

Trump claimed that we have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in.  So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, theyre really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.

Larry Kudlow, the presidents top economic adviser, told reporters later that the White House is taking a look at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation. Trump often points proudly to his cutting of government regulations as a spur for economic gains.

In his tweets, Trump said  without offering evidence  that Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?

He added, again with no evidence, that 96% of results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.

A search query Tuesday morning, several hours after the president tweeted, showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others. A similar search later in the day for Trump had Fox News, the presidents favored cable network, among the top results.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, said its aim is to make sure its search engine users quickly get the most relevant answers.

Search is not used to set a political agenda and we dont bias our results toward any political ideology, the company said in a statement. Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.

Experts suggested that Trumps comments showed a misunderstanding of how search engines work.

Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a users query, even before he or she finishes typing. The answers that appear first are the ones Googles formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant. Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well its designed and more.

Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. While some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias.

Media analyst Ken Doctor said it doesnt make sense for mass-market businesses like Google to lean either way politically. He characterized the complaints as a sign of our times, adding that, years ago, if the head of General Electric was supporting a Republican candidate, people who disagreed wouldnt then go out and boycott GE products.

The temperature has risen on this, Doctor said.

Steven Andres, who teaches about management information systems at San Diego State University, said people often assume that if you give a computer the same inputs, no matter where you are, that you get the same outputs.

But it doesnt work that way, he said. Youre seeing different things every moment of the day and the algorithms are always trying to change the results.

Trump didnt say what he based his tweets on. But conservative activist Paula Boylard had said in a weekend blog post that she found blatant prioritization of left-leaning and anti-Trump media outlets in search results.

Boylard based her judgments on the political leanings of media outlets on a list by Sharyl Attkisson, host of Sinclair Televisions Full Measure and author of The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, Think, and How You Vote. Sinclair is a significant outlet for conservative views.

Trump began complaining about the issue earlier this month as social media companies moved to ban right-wing Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms. The president also argues regularly  and falsely  that the news media avoid writing positive stories about him and his administration.

Jones is being sued for saying the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged. Jones has since said he believes the shooting did occur and has argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because he was acting as a journalist.

Trump has praised Jones amazing reputation.

The issue is also of concern on Capitol Hill, where the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., recently announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is scheduled to testify before the panel on Sept. 5 about the platforms algorithms and content monitoring.

___

Ortutay reported from New York.

___

Follow Darlene Superville and Barbara Ortutay on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap and http://www.twitter.com/barbaraortutayLindsey Stirling and Amy Lee simply shined.

The two performers each put on a stellar set on Tuesday night at Isleta Amphitheater.

Backed by an orchestra  which featured all New Mexico players  it was a visual and aural experience.

In an earlier interview, Stirling told me that everything in her show had a purpose.

And it rang true.

Stirling worked on the tour for months and created a story arc that resonated with the crowd.

From dancing alongside her four dancers to costume changes, she did it all  without missing a step. She even moonwalked across the stage, while playing her violin. Thats talent.

Starting off with songs like Moon Trance and Shadows, she had the crowd from the get go.

During the song, Shatter Me, Stirling was joined by Lee.

The two stood separately in these blue orbs, while a dancer performed between them.

It was visually stunning and created a nice high early on in the show.

Stirling soared through songs like Take Flight and Crystallize.

Then she took a moment to talk with the crowd about her first time performing in New Mexico.

Being an Arizona native, Stirling said she felt like she was home. Of course, the crowd loved the personal attention.

She also delved into her struggles in college with anorexia and body image and the steps shes taken to bring more positivity into her life.

Stirling has definitely grown into her own as a performer. She started her journey by making YouTube videos. A decade later, the violinist proves that she belongs in music.

She also took a heartfelt  and funny moment  to show a video of her from 2002 as she made a video with her friends to Evanescences breakthrough song, Bring Me To Life.

Im a huge fan, she told the audience.

After an intermission it was Lees and Evanescences time to shine.

Starting with an overture and Never Go Back, the band quickly slipped into Lacrymosa.

The set was different from what most fans are used to.

And having the backing from a full orchestra perfectly fit Lee. The Grammy winner was made for this setting.

At times, she showed her piano skills, which were clearly on point.

Shed then get up to take center stage, grab the mic, and command the near capacity audience.

By the seventh song, the opening notes for Bring Me To Life were played and the crowds energy shifted.

Lees voice is like no other  strong and compelling.

A few songs later, she slowed down the show, told the audience that the next track is one that brings her joy in todays tumultuous times.

She covered The Beatles Across the Universe flawlessly.

After the song, the band went into the single, Hi Lo, and Stirling was brought back on stage.

Of course, it wouldnt be a complete set without the crossover hit, My Immortal, which remains one of the most beautiful and raw songs from the last two decades.

Stirling and Lee have formed a friendship on this tour and its fantastic to see two powerful women command the stage.

For those that were in attendance, it was something different. I think that was the idea behind the co-headlining tour.

And being different is always perfection.NEW YORK  President Donald Trump has been accused of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, passing on inaccuracies and being loose with the truth. But does he lie?

Its a loaded word, and some Trump critics believe major news organizations are too timid to use it. The Washington Post, which has documented more than 4,000 false or misleading claims by the president, declared for the first time last week that a Trump misstatement was a lie.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohens plea deal provided indisputable evidence that Trump and his allies have been deliberately dishonest about hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. The Post put Kesslers assessment on its front page, and it was the newspapers most-read story online.

Not only was it the first time the Post fact checker said Trump had lied, it was the first time he used the word for any politician since Kessler began his fact-checking operation in 2011.

Many news organizations resist using the word because of the question of intent. Editors feel its important to establish whether someone is spreading false information knowingly, intending to deceive, and its hard to get inside a persons head.

While Kesslers team has found 88 instances where Trump falsely claimed responsibility for the largest tax cut in U.S. history, the president may sincerely believe it, Kessler said.

At The Associated Press, we feel its better to say what the facts are, say what the person said and let the audience make the decision whether or not its an intentional lie, said John Daniszewski, the news cooperatives standards editor.

Several readers told Kessler, in effect, that its about time. One critic, Paul Blest of the website Splinter, wrote, Can you imagine any other politician being held to this comically low standard? The Posts milestone represents an abject failure, he wrote.

Its sort of a cover-up for those in power when you dont call it a lie, said Jeff Cohen, a just-retired journalism professor and a producer of the documentary All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone, about the late journalist. He said journalists need to cut through the fog, and the word lie is an effective tool.

Yet one prominent editor wonders whether the whole discussion misses the point.

I hate the fact that the debate and discussion over the word lie has obscured a larger truth, if you will, Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, told CNN earlier this month. Does it matter if The New York Times or The Washington Post uses the word lie three times, seven times, 10 times, 20 times? Or does it matter more that the fact-checker has found 4,229 misleading statements?

Trumps birther movement questioning former President Barack Obamas citizenship led both the Times and AP to use the word lie. In January 2017, the Times headlined a story Trump repeats lie about popular vote in meeting with lawmakers, to refer to his claim that immigrants illegally voting prevented him from receiving more of the popular vote than Hillary Clinton. While lie was in the headline, it wasnt in the body of the story.

CNNs New Day anchor John Berman said on the air that Trump had lied about his policy of separating families at the U.S. border. Stories surrounding the pre-election meeting between the presidents son and Russians about information damaging to the Clinton campaign were a writhing hydra of dishonesty. You chop off one lie, and two emerge in its place, Berman said.

Cohen said the Posts decision to use the word last week could influence others in the media to do so more often. The night the story appeared, CNNs Chris Cuomo pressed Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to admit the administration lied and thats why people didnt trust Trump. Not surprisingly, Conway demurred.

Kessler urged caution.

It just seems like a moment, he said. Its not something we plan to do on a regular basis. You cant speak too soon, but Id be surprised if it was more than a once-in-a-presidency case.

Using lie casually or imprecisely could strike readers more as opinion than fact, said the APs Daniszewski.

Thats a major consideration when Trump rails against the fake news media. He has called fact-checkers dishonest scum and crooked as hell and this month referred to the Posts Pinocchio scale measuring the egregiousness of misstatements. If Im right, or if Im 97.3 percent right, they will say, Hes got a Pinocchio or Hes lying,' Trump said. They are bad people.

The result is fact-checkers are as concerned about an erosion of public trust in fact-checking as the media in general are about their coverage. The independent Politifact has tried to build trust among Trump voters by fact-checking politicians in West Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma, said Aaron Sharockman, the organizations executive editor.

Politifact avoids the use of lie, though it does proclaim a lie of the year. Trump won in 2015 and 2017. Its rating for the worse misstatements  pants on fire  certainly implies the word. Trump has been awarded a total of 85 pants on fire designations.

It doesnt benefit Politifact to call someone a liar, Sharockman said, because its not our aim to play gotcha.'

___

The story has been amended to correct the number of instances Kesslers team found Trump had lied about his tax cut, and to clarify that after Michaels Cohen plea was the first time the Posts fact checker said Trump had lied.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

TAOS  District Court judges in Taos on Wednesday dismissed all the initial child abuse counts against five defendants arrested at a remote Taos County compound earlier this month, and three got out of jail late in the afternoon.

Lucas Morton, Subhanah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj were freed about 4:40 p.m. after more than three weeks behind bars. Judge Emilio Chavez had dismissed their charges at a hearing Wednesday morning, saying he had no choice because of court rules.

In a second hearing later, District Judge Jeff McElroy dismissed the same set of child abuse charges against the other two defendants, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Jany Leveille, for the same reason.

But they both still face more serious charges of child abuse resulting in death after Wahhajs son died months ago at the compound. Leveille, a native of Haiti, was previously turned over to immigration authorities who say she has lived in the U.S. illegally for 20 years.

From the bench, McElroy also blasted the office of District Attorney Donald Gallegos of Taos for how the charges have been handled, citing a complete failure to follow proper procedures in prosecuting the case, which has attracted national attention because of alleged terrorism plans by the compound residents.

McElroy blamed prosecutors for putting judges in the position of having to release the defendants and for threats that another judge received over a previous ruling in the case.

The child abuse charges can still be refiled by prosecutors.

Defense attorneys pointed out in court filings that the District Attorneys Office failed to schedule preliminary hearings within 10 days of the arrests that resulted from an Aug. 3 raid on the ramshackle compound near the community of Amalia.

Preliminary hearings, in which a judge determines whether there is probable cause for a case to proceed to trial, are required by the 10-day deadline when the defendants remain incarcerated instead of being free on bond pending trial.

Im obliged under my oath to uphold the law of the state, and there is no reason why the District Attorneys Office didnt file a request for a preliminary hearing, Judge McElroy said from the bench.  Its disturbing to me that the District Attorneys Office would put the court in this position.  It was not the decision of this court. It was the decision of the district attorney.

Prosecutor John Lovelace said the DAs Office expected the defendants to get out of jail, in which case the state would have had 60 days to hold preliminary hearings.

Every day, we expected them to be released from custody because they were on an unsecured bond, Lovelace said.

In a ruling from about two weeks ago, another judge denied a state motion to hold the five defendants without bail and instead ordered that they could be released on $20,000 signature bonds  meaning no cash is required up front  and house arrest. But the defendants were unable to find housing in Taos County, so they never got out of jail.

Child abuse charges

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille are facing additional charges, for child abuse resulting in death and conspiracy to commit child abuse, in connection with the body of a boy found at the compound, that of Sirah Ibn Wahhajs 3-year-old son. The father was accused of kidnapping the boy in Georgia.

Authorities say the two adults  Leveille is the boys stepmother  failed to provide medication to the boy, who had a severe medical condition that was well-known to the family.

Officers say children taken from compound have said the father regularly performed a prayer service over his son during what were apparently seizures, until the youngster died during one such episode months ago.

At his hearing, Judge McElroy raised the issue of whether these more serious charges involving the death of young Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj should also be dropped, because they were filed by the Sheriffs Office late last week, well after law enforcements Aug. 3 compound raid, instead of by the office of District Attorney Donald Gallegos or another prosecuting agency, such as the state Attorney Generals Office.

The judge asked attorneys from both sides to file briefs on that issue.

Four of the five defendants, excluding Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, have also been cited for criminal trespassing, because their compound had been built on someone elses property. On the trespassing charges, a magistrate judge set conditions of release that say Morton and Subhanah Wahhaj must remain in Taos County.

But Hujrah Wahhaj, who went before a different magistrate judge and with her child abuse charges now dismissed, apparently no longer faces any travel restrictions. But her child taken from the compound remains in state custody.

Planned attacks alleged

Prosecutors, based on interviews with children from the compound, say the five Muslim adults were training some of them to make armed attacks on educational, governmental and law enforcement institutions after the boy whose body was found in a tunnel at the compound was resurrected as Jesus and would identify which corrupt institutions to attack.

Judge Chavez, at his morning hearing, acknowledged the backlash that fellow District Judge Sarah Backus received for her decision to allow all the defendants to be released from jail on signature bonds about two weeks ago. But Chavez said he understood that he had to follow the law on timely preliminary hearings.

Im well aware of the outcry and backlash against Judge Backus, and that makes my decision difficult, Chavez said.

Backus was harshly criticized on social media by posters from around the country who said she was too lenient on terror suspects, and threats of violence against her led to closing the Taos courtroom one afternoon.

The ramshackle compound where the five adults were arrested and 11 children ages 1-15 were taken into state custody has been razed. It was on someone elses property, authorities say.

The children were said to be malnourished when found at the compound. Each of the five adults was charged with 11 counts of child abuse, one count for each child.

At his hearing, McElroy expressed disappointment with the district attorneys office because of the danger the District Court has faced. He said the court received thousands of messages that included the threats against Judge Backus for her ruling.

Backus ruled that prosecutors, despite the childrens accounts of planned attacks and the boys body discovered at the compound, had failed to meet the standard of clear and convincing evidence that the defendants would be a danger if released.

McElroy said he was very disappointed that the court is being caught between very public, very shocking information and a complete failure to follow proper procedures in prosecuting the case.

Lovelace said the fact that the defendants couldnt find housing to satisfy Backus ruling on conditions of release was out of the states control. Since the defendants were expected to get out of jail on a non-monetary bond, Lovelace said, prosecutors assumed that they had 60 days  the maximum for a defendant whos out of custody  to hold a preliminary hearing.

DA Gallegos couldnt be reached for comment Wednesday.

Judge Chavez, at the morning hearing, said there was no way he could retroactively grant an extension of the 10-day period for a preliminary hearing. He said the New Mexico court rule governing the issue is relatively clear.

Thats about as unambiguous as a rule that we get in our criminal procedure, the judge said.

Marie Legrand Miller, Hujrah Wahhajs attorney, told the judge that her client misses her daughter terribly and would like to begin the reunification process. The daughter is 8.

Aleks Kostich, Mortons attorney, said the preliminary hearing problem was foreseeable and that the state knew the defendants remained in custody. The fact that they were still in jail is a clear deprivation of liberty, he says. The case should be dismissed, period.

Journal reporter Megan Bennett contributed to this story.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Nearly 250 New Mexico attorneys and several retired justices and judges signed a petition asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to put in place new rules that would make it harder for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to detain people believed to be in the country illegally at state courthouses.

On Wednesday, a group of advocates for immigrants gathered outside the Metropolitan Courthouse with petitions that included hundreds of signatures. Petitioners are asking for a court order prohibiting ICE agents from enforcing administrative warrants in and around courts. Instead, they would have to obtain judicial warrants that are signed by a judge.

ICE agents often make arrests under the authority of an administrative warrant that is written by an agent, and not a judge, said Maria Martinez Sanchez, a staff attorney for the ACLU.

The petition also asks for a rule that would allow a court to issue writs of protection for individuals who fear they may be subject to civil detention at or near a courthouse.

Retired state Supreme Court justices Richard Bosson and Edward Chavez and retired state court judges Susan Conway, Eugenio Mathis and Peggy Nelson signed the petition, along with about 40 law firms, several legal associations and other community and faith-based organizations.

Joseph Sanchez, a public defender, said ICEs current practices in New Mexico and other states has had a chilling effect on the immigrant community. Many people are afraid to either cooperate as a witness or victim in a case, or show up to court to handle minor manners like parking or speeding tickets, he said.

We know of people who are not showing up for court because they are afraid of being ripped from the childrens arms, said Martinez Sanchez. The ACLU was one of several organizations that circulated the petition, which contains several anecdotes about anonymous immigrants who were said to have been arrested in or near courthouses.

ICEs website said that it follows procedures similar to those used by other law enforcement agencies when it comes to making arrests in courthouses.

A spokeswoman for ICE provided the Journal with a January memo outlining policies its agents should follow within courthouses.

It says that federal, state and local law enforcement throughout the country engage in law enforcement activity inside courthouses and said that doing so can reduce the threat to public safety because people are typically screened by security when entering courthouses.

The memo said ICE agents should try to avoid confronting suspected illegal immigrants in places like family court and small claims court, and that they should not target people like family members who may be with a suspected illegal immigrant during a court appearance.

A spokesman for the Administrative Office of the Courts said that the Supreme Court hasnt issued a formal order regarding federal enforcement inside state courthouses.

The petition included an index that listed 25 incidents in which immigrants were arrested in or near courthouses since 2017.

In many of the instances cited, the defendants were arrested on suspicion of being in the country illegally after they had reported to court for preliminary matters and hadnt been adjudicated.

Most of the cases cited on the index do not mention specific charges that required the immigrants to make court appearances, but among the ones that do, one involved drug trafficking, five involved DWIs and two were for traffic violations only.The Magi, the Mufti, the Bramins, and Brachmans, Mandarines, Rabbies, Philosophers, Divines, Schoolmen, Hermits, Legislators, Politicians, Lawyers, have made these the subjects of their Enquiries and Reasonings.

There is nothing too absurd, nothing too enthusiastical or superstitious, nothing too wild or whimsical, nothing too prophane or impious, to be found among such Thinkers, upon such Subjects. Any Thing which subtelty could investigate or imagination conceive, would serve for an Hypothesis, to support a System, excepting only what alone can support the System of TruthNature, and Experience.

The Science of Government, like all other Sciences, is best pursued by Observation And ExperimentRemark the Phenomina of Nature, and from these deduce the Principles and Ends of Government.

Men are the Objects of this Science, as much as Air, Fire, Earth and Water, are the Objects of Phylosophy, Points, Lines, Surfaces and Solids of Geometry, or the Sun, Moon and Stars of Astronomy. Human Nature therefore and human Life must be carefully observed and studied. Here we should spread before Us a Map of Manview him in different Soils and Climates, in different Nations and Countries, under different Religions and Customs, in Barbarity and Civility, in a State of Ignorance and enlightened with Knowledge, in Slavery and in freedom, in Infancy and Age.

He will be found, a rational, sensible and social Animal, in all. The Instinct of Nature impells him to Society, and Society causes the Necessity of Government.

Government is nothing more than the combined Force of Society, or the united Power of the Multitude, for the Peace, Order, Safety, Good and Happiness of the People, who compose the Society. There is no King or Queen Bee distinguished from all others, by Size or Figure, or beauty and Variety of Colours, in the human Hive. No Man has yet produced any Revelation from Heaven in his favour, any divine Communication to govern his fellow Men. Nature throws us all into the World equall and alike.

Nor has any Form of Government the Honour of a divine original or Appointment. The Author of Nature has left it wholly in the Choice of the People, to make what mutual Covenants, to erect what Kind of Governments, and to exalt what Persons they please to power and dignities, for their own Ease, Convenience and Happiness.

Government being according to my Definition the collected Strength of all for the general Good of all, Legislators have devised a Great Variety of forms in which this Strength may be arranged.

There are only Three simple Forms of Government.

When the whole Power of the Society is lodged in the Hands of the whole Society, the Government is called a Democracy, or the Rule of the Many.

When the Sovereignty, or Supreme Power is placed in the Hands of a few great, rich, wise Men, the Government is an Aristocracy, or the Rule of the few.

When the absolute Power of the Community is entrusted to the Discretion of a single Person, the Government is called a Monarchy, or the Rule of one, in this Case the whole Legislative and Executive Power is in the Breast of one Man.

There are however two other Kinds of Monarchies. One is when the supreme Power is not in a single Person but in the Laws, the Administration being committed solely to the Prince.

Another Kind is a limited Monarchy, where the Nobles or the Commons or both have a Check upon all the Acts of Legislation of the Prince.

There is an indefinite Variety of other Forms of Government, occasioned by different Combinations of the Powers of Society, and different Intermixtures of these Forms of Government, one with another.

The best Governments of the World have been mixed.

The Republics of Greece, Rome, Carthage, were all mixed Governments. The English, Dutch and Swiss, enjoy the Advantages of mixed Governments at this Day.

Sometimes Kings have courted the People in Opposition to the Nobles. At other Times the Nobles have united with the People in Opposition to Kings. But Kings and Nobles have much oftener combined together, to crush, to humble and to Fleece the People.

But this is an unalterable Truth, that the People can never be enslaved but by their own Tameness, Pusillanimity, Sloth or Corruption.

They may be deceived, and their Symplicity, Ignorance, and Docility render them frequently liable to deception. And of this, the aspiring, designing, ambitious few are very sensible. He is the Statesman qualifyed by Nature to scatter Ruin and Destruction in his Path who by deceiving a Nation can render Despotism desirable in their Eyes and make himself popular in Undoing.

The Preservation of Liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral Character of the People. As long as Knowledge and Virtue are diffused generally among the Body of a Nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved. This can be brought to pass only by debasing their Understandings, or by corrupting their Hearts.

What is the Tendency of the late Innovations? The Severity, the Cruelty of the late Revenue Laws, and the Terrors of the formidable Engine, contrived to execute them, the Court of Admiralty? Is not the natural and necessary Tendency of these Innovations, to introduce dark Intrigues, Insincerity, Simulation, Bribery and Perjury, among Custom house officers, Merchants, Masters, Mariners and their Servants?

What is the Tendency, what has been the Effect of introducing a standing Army into our Metropolis? Have we not seen horrid Rancour, furious Violence, infernal Cruelty, shocking Impiety and Profanation, and shameless, abandoned Debauchery, running down the Streets like a Stream?

Liberty, under every conceivable Form of Government is always in Danger. It is so even under a simple, or perfect Democracy, more so {p. 59} under a mixed Government, like the Republic of Rome, and still more so under a limited Monarchy.

Ambition is one of the more ungovernable Passions of the human Heart. The Love of Power, is insatiable and uncontroulable.

Even in the simple Democracies of ancient Greece, Jealous as they were of Power, even their Ostracism could not always preserve them from the grasping Desires and Designs, from the overbearing Popularity, of their great Men.

Even Rome, in her wisest and most virtuous Period, from the Expulsion of her Kings to the Overthrow of the Commonwealth, was always in Danger from the Power of some and the Turbulence, Faction and Popularity of others.

There is Danger from all Men. The only Maxim of a free Government, ought to be to trust no Man living, with Power to endanger the public Liberty.

In England, the common Rout to Power has been by making clamorous Professions of Patriotism, in early Life, to secure a great Popularity, and to ride upon that Popularity, into the highest Offices of State, and after they have arrived there, they have been generally found, as little zealous to preserve the Constitution, as their Predecessors whom they have hunted down.

The Earl of Strafford, in early Life, was a mighty Patriot and Anti-courtier.

Sir Robert Walpole. Commited to the Tower the Father of Corruption.

Harley also, a great and bold Advocate for the Constitution and Liberties of his Country.

But I need not go to Greece or to Rome, or to Britain for Examples. There are Persons now living in this Province, who for a long Course of their younger Years, professed and were believed to be the Guardian Angells of our civil and Religious Liberties, whose latter Conduct, since they have climbed up by Popularity to Power, has exhibited as great a Contrast to their former Professions and Principles, as ever was seen in a Strafford, an Harley, or a Walpole.

Be upon your Guard then, my Countrymen.

We see, by the Sketches I have given you, that all the great Kingdoms of Europe have once been free. But that they have lost their Liberties, by the Ignorance, the Weakness, the Inconstancy, and Disunion of the People. Let Us guard against these dangers, let us be firm and stable, as wise as Serpents and as harmless as Doves, but as daring and intrepid as Heroes. Let Us cherish the Means of Know edgeour schools and Colledgeslet Us cherish our Militia, and encourage military Discipline and skill.

The English Nation have been more fortunate than France, Spain, or any otherfor the Barons, the Grandees, the Nobles, instead of uniting with [the] Crown, to suppress the People, united with the People, and struggled vs. the Crown, untill they obtained the great Charter, which was but a Restoration and Confirmation of the Laws and Constitution of our Saxon King Edward the Confessor.

Liberty depends upon an exact Ballance, a nice Counterpoise of all the Powers of the state. When the Popular Power becomes grasping, and eager after Augmentation, or for Amplification, beyond its proper Weight, or Line, it becomes as dangerous as any other. Sweeden is an Example.

The Independency of the Governor, his Salary granted by the Crown, out of a Revenue extorted from this People.

The Refusal of the Governor to consent to any Act for granting a Salary to the Agent, unless chosen by the 3 Branches of the General Court.

The Instruction to the Governor, not to consent to any Tax Bill unless certain Crown Officers are exempted.

The Multiplication of Offices and Officers among Us.

The Revenue, arising from Duties upon Tea, Sugar, Molasses and other Articles, &c.

It is the popular Power, the democraticall Branch of our Constitution that is invaded.

If K[ing], Lords and Commons, can make Laws to bind Us in all Cases whatsoever, The People here will have no Influence, no Check, no Power, no Controul, no Negative. And the Government we are under, instead of being a mixture of Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy, will be a Mixture only of Monarchy and Aristocracy. For the Lords and Commons may be considered equally with Regard to Us as Nobles, as the few, as Aristocratical Grandees, independent of Us the People, uninfluenced by Us, having no fear of Us, nor Love for Us.

Wise and free Nations have made it their Rule, never to vote their Donations of Money to their Kings to enable them to carry on the Affairs of Government, untill they had Opportunities to examine the State of the Nation, and to remonstrate against Grievances and demand and obtain the Redress of them. This was the Maxim in France, Spain, Sweeden, Denmark, Poland, while those Nations were free. What Opportunities then shall we in this Province have to demand and obtain the Redress of Grievances, if our Governors and Judges and other Officers and Magistrates are to be supported by the Ministry, without the Gifts of the People.Consider the Case of Barbadoes and Virginia. Their Governors have been made independent by the imprudent shortsighted Acts of their own Assemblies. What is the Consequence.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said Wednesday that she will bring back straight-party voting for the November general election, a decision that touched off fiery political debate and prompted the state Republican Party to promise a court challenge.

Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, informed county clerks about the move Wednesday  just over two months before the Nov. 6 election  and told the Journal it is intended to give more options to voters.

She also said she is prepared to defend the decision in court in the case of a lawsuit, and she said her office decided to implement straight-party voting without a rule change, which would have required public hearings.

As secretary of state, I am committed to making it easier  not harder  for New Mexicans to vote, Toulouse Oliver said. From moms juggling work and kids to elderly veterans who find it hard to stand for long, straight-party voting provides an option for voters that allows their voices to be heard while cutting in half the time it takes them to cast their ballot.

But state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi blasted the move as politically driven, claiming it could bolster Toulouse Olivers own re-election bid.

Straight-ticket voting is an attempt to rig the system in favor of Democrats and turn New Mexico into a one-party state, said Cangiolosi, who added that the state GOP would file a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent the implementation of straight-ticket voting.

But state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi blasted the move as politically driven, claiming it could bolster Toulouse Olivers own re-election bid.

New Mexico Libertarian Party Chairman Chris Luchini said his party was considering filing a lawsuit, describing the reinstatement of straight-ticket voting as naked partisanship.

Many other states have abolished straight-party voting in recent years. As of May 2017, just nine states still provided the option to voters, and Texas is scheduled to do away with it in 2020, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

New Mexico previously used the straight-party voting option for decades, but then-Secretary of State Dianna Duran, a Republican, eliminated it in 2012, saying the state election code did not specifically allow the practice. Several bills were subsequently proposed in the Legislature to authorize it, but none was signed into law.

Toulouse Oliver, who was elected in 2016 and is running for a new four-year term this year, had previously vowed to bring back the straight-ticket voting option and said she researched the issue thoroughly before taking action.

The Secretary of States Office says state law gives Toulouse Oliver the authority to make the change, because a provision in law allows the secretary of state to decide the format of the paper ballots used in the election. Under state law, the deadline to modify this years ballot is next Tuesday.

Voters who elect to use the straight-party option  by filling in a bubble next to the partys name on the top of a ballot  can still vote for a candidate from a different political party in any given race and have that vote counted accordingly, Toulouse Oliver said.

Were going to make sure there are instructional materials in every voting booth in the state to explain how it works, the secretary of state said in an interview Wednesday.

Critics of straight-party voting say the practice gives an unfair advantage to major-party candidates  especially Democrats  over those who are independent or affiliated with minor parties.

Several high-profile candidates criticized the decision to bring back straight-ticket voting, with Republican gubernatorial nominee Steve Pearce calling it an attack on democracy, and Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Gary Johnson describing it as a worn-out staple of major-party incumbents.

As New Mexico governor in 2001, Johnson signed legislation repealing a law that provided for straight-party voting, though it was still offered to voters through the 2010 general election.

Meanwhile, at least one Democrat, state Sen. Jacob Candelaria of Albuquerque, also expressed disagreement Wednesday with the secretary of states decision, tweeting that straight-ticket voting would provide a partisan advantage in low-information elections.

The state Democratic Partys chairwoman, Marg Elliston, backed up Toulouse Oliver, though, saying the change would allow more New Mexicans  including those with disabilities and the elderly  to cast ballots.

And Toulouse Oliver herself disputed the claim that straight-party voting benefits Democrats, pointing out that two Republicans  Duran and outgoing Gov. Susana Martinez  were elected to statewide office in 2010, the most recent year the option was available to voters.

There is literally no data showing thats the case whatsoever, the secretary of state told the Journal.

Overall, more than 1.2 million New Mexicans were registered to vote as of July 31, and Democrats hold a decisive edge in numbers.

There were 570,542 Democrats  or about 46 percent of the states registered voters  compared with 378,695 Republicans  slightly more than 30 percent of voters  and 8,796 Libertarians, who also have major-party status for this years election cycle.

Voters who declined to state their political affiliation or are affiliated with minor political parties made up the remaining 23 percent of New Mexico voters  about 284,000 people fit into that category.SOCORRO  Mayor Ravi Bhasker believes the City of Socorro can sell electricity to residents cheaper than the Socorro Electric Cooperative.

The Socorro City Council has moved a step in that direction with approval of a Request for Proposals from companies interested in providing electricity for the entire area served by the SEC.

We have been approached by two large companies that said that they are willing to finance our project to acquire the whole grid of Socorro Electric Co-op, not Socorro, not Lemitar, but the whole grid that goes out west, south, north, Bhasker said. They are willing to look at that as an investment and allow the City Council to be the board.

Bhasker said members of the Co-op would have to vote to sell it.

He said the city exploring operating its own electric utility follows a regional trend, mentioning municipalities in Colorado that were taking similar actions to improve their electric rates.

Councilor Michael Olguin Jr. said the city needed to have as many options on the table as possible but that the council and community need more information.

I want to be comfortable that were making the right decision, because whatever decision that we start making now is going to affect us for a long period of time, Olguin said.   Im all for it if this is going to save the community money. Im all for it if it is going to entice community development.

Bhasker said it was getting harder for local businesses to run and do other innovations because of the rates charged by the SEC.Hakuhodo Indias newest television commercial for NEXA, Maruti Suzukis modern retail channel of new-age automotive showrooms across India rings in its 3rd anniversary by celebrating creativity and inspiration!

Since its launch, NEXA has evolved into a brand that is admired, desired and loved by many. Its unique communication, continuous innovations, and customer centric outlook have resulted in the creation of unparalleled experiences for consumers through every step of their journey.

Today, as NEXA is taking a leap forward, it reiterates the brand promise that is integral to its existence. It is about the commitment from one of the biggest automobile brands in India -- about a promise, a belief, an ideology, a philosophy. Its to create new and to inspire.

NEXA #CreateInspire

NEXAs now embarking on a new journey to create new products, new aspirations, new experiences and the new culture that inspires and its TVC celebrates the relentless spirit of creators who never stop. It speaks to the explorers, innovators, influencers, experimenters, who keep moving. NEXA drives home its new philosophy with an impactful visual and audio language thats true to its core of being premium and exclusive.

The New Ciaz is just the beginning, and the first set of wheels to kick-start the drive to Create. Inspire. In its latest communication, it clearly sets out the analogy between the creator and the car. It shows actor Ranveer Singh as a fashion designer, create an inspiring piece, just like The New Ciaz. The camera oscillates between showcasing Ranveers creative process and romancing with the striking new grille, redesigned headlamps, LED taillights and the new K15 petrol engine with smart Hybrid. The audio that runs in tandem with this creative play of visuals, talks about how the world is watching in awe as the creator is walking through, creating his own space and lounging at his own pace and in effect, clearly establishing the belief that The New Ciaz too has been created to inspire.

NEXA is a brand that has changed the face of Indian automobile industry and now its all set to create new that inspires. The team at Hakuhodo has surely delivered a campaign that brings alive our new philosophy and introduces it to the world in an impactful way, says Tarun Garg, Executive Director, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

According to Sabuj Sengupta, National Creative Director, Hakuhodo India, Not many brands can claim and fulfill this big commitment of #CreateInspire. The challenge was to convey this promise in the most inspirational way possible. Also, this is just the beginning. NEXAs new philosophy will lend itself into aspiring creations that will truly inspire. So keep watching.

With the launch of The New Ciaz, NEXA once again takes the lead in transforming the expression of communication for Indian automobiles. All brands under NEXA will be following the new philosophy  to create new, to inspire. Track NEXA to know how this journey of inspiration unfolds.

CREDITS:

AGENCY: Hakuhodo India

COO: Jayanto Banerjee

National Creative Director: Sabuj Sen Gupta

Sr VP Client Servicing: Sharad Mathur

Creative Team:

Tripti Kakkar

Saurabh Das Gupta

Eranbemo

Himanshu, Piyush, Akshay, Aastha

Client Servicing Team:

Mayur Chandra,

Amiya Nayak

Mehak, Rahul, Rajat Sharma, Saurabh Tomar, K Mitra

Planning Team:

Vivek DuttaAt the fourth edition of Googles flagship event Google for India advertising track, Google shared insights about the changing Internet landscape in India, and how that is shaping the consumer behaviour and creating new opportunities for marketers. Kicking off the session, Rajan Anandan, VP South East Asia and India, Google, said, Voice, Video and Vernacular are three big themes that captures the behaviours of Indias growing Internet users. Keeping up with the pace of change in Indias user behaviour, were doubling down on our efforts to innovate our ads products for India.

Speaking about how Google is evolving its ads offerings for India, Kim Spalding, Lead - Product Management for the SMB and Emerging Market Advertising, Google said, The rapid growth in India and the diversity in user behaviour and changing patterns are impacting and informing the way we develop our products. We know that advertising in local languages is critical to reach out to users in Indias growing digital ecosystem. Our research shows, that 88% of users are more likely to respond to a digital advertisement in their local language as compared to English. Towards this we introduced Smart Display campaign in Hindi and have also expanded our ad products to support Tamil, Bengali, and Telugu across Search, Display and YouTube. We will soon be adding support for Marathi and continue to invest in bringing support for more Indian languages. 

In addition to this, we are also introducing an India first Form Ads on Search, that allows advertisers to generate leads seamlessly from their mobile search ads. Users tap a call to action in the ad extension such as Get a quote or Sign up, and then reach a customizable, Google-hosted form, prefilled with information shared by the users, with the option to edit to submit their inquiry, she added.

In another India first launch, Google also introduced a campaign planning tool inside Google Ads that allows advertisers to plan reach-based video campaigns at national level with sub geo targeting across 36 sub regions and 6 top Metros.

At the event, YouTube also unveiled its first ever Creative Excellence Award winners - Ads that are shaping creative excellence on YouTube in India. The top five ads from Jan 2018 till June 2018 were rated by an esteemed panel of 11 representatives from creative agencies, ad film direction and media planning - compiled by Kantar IMRB.

The winning ads were picked by the Jury for demonstrating the creativity and the impact they achieved for the brands on YouTube. These video ads were evaluated against the following parameters - Attention, Brand-Ad fit, Memorability, Uniqueness, Relevance, Comprehension and

Overall Likeability. The winners include: Apple for face unlock feature, Vodafone for pug is back with its pack, P&G for shiksha campaign, Vivo V9 for bokeh mode and Pepsi for the adventures of Hunny and Choocha.

The winning ads were shortlisted from the top 20 ads on YouTube in India, that are determined by an internal algorithm. The process entails organic, paid views along with other audience metrics.

Below are the top ads (in no any specific order):

iPhone Face Unlock - Apple

The Pug is back with its pack! - Vodafone

P&G Shiksha- P&G

Bokeh Mode - Vivo V9

The Adventures of Hunny and Choocha - PepsiPanasonic India, a leader in innovation and technology, kicked off its marketing campaign for its recently launched OLED TV. The new OLED TVC themed - Beyond Technology. Experience highlights the Hollywood tuned revolutionary HDR 10+ technology which makes TV viewing experience a delight. The 360-degree campaign bespeaks of Panasonics advanced proprietary technology in different aspects - Obedience as it enables you to search content with voice interaction, Compatibility as it allows two-way Bluetooth connection, Simplicity as you can easily swipe and share content from your phone to the TV and vice versa, Truth as it depicts true presentation of colors, and Power as its super bright panel delivers ultra-bright picture. The integrated campaign has been conceptualized by Makani Creatives Pvt. Ltd. and will be run across Television, Digital, Airport outdoors, in stores and print mediums.

In the TVC, the OLED has been personified as a human that understands the need of its consumer. Each frame of the 42 sec television commercial illustrates the technology aspects of Panasonic such as the Hexa Chroma Drive Pro, Absolute Black Filter, Ultra Fine Tuning, Swipe and Share technology and Dynamic Blade Speaker. The TVC is being aired pan-India across television and digital platforms of mix genre and majorly focusing on HD, English News & movies channels and Infotainment among others.





Commenting on the campaign, Mr. Sarthak Seth, Chief Marketing Officer, Panasonic India, said, We at Panasonic have always focused on developing products with advanced technology that makes TV viewing experience more life like. Through the newly launched TV campaign for OLED range involving Ranbir Kapoor, we aim at strengthening our brand promise and further reaching out to our consumers who aspire for a cinematic experience. Distinguishing features ranging from Hollywood certified picture viewing, revolutionary HDR 10+ technology, Hexa Chroma Drive Pro  Panasonics original colour processing technology and similar technologies, make this experience beyond technology.

According to Mr. Sameer Makani - MD, Makani Creatives Pvt. Ltd, Panasonic is one of the most trusted consumer electronic brands in the world, especially in the television category. It is already established that Panasonic TVs have the best picture quality and with this campaign we wanted to go further than that. The Panasonic OLED has the best viewing experience and is packed with features that are made keeping in the mind the end user. The campaign brings out these features from the point of view of Ranbir Kapoor and in a true sense accentuates the user experience.

Embodying the elegance and pursuit of perfection inherent in Japanese design philosophy, the new premium range of OLED TV have a sleek and striking design that makes it a luxurious complement to the interiors of homes. It goes a step further by offering technology that translates into features and benefits that are unbeatable. It aims at giving users the best possible picture quality and colour accuracy, showing movies in the way the filmmakers intended. The new OLED line up comes in 55 inch FZ950 series and 65-inch FZ1000 series with starting price of INR 2,99,000.

Campaign Summary

Agency Name: Makani Creatives Pvt. Ltd. National Director: Anant Medepalli Account Management: Pavan Punjabi Strategy Head: Joel Miranda Director: Anthony Leonardi Producer: Raman Chauhan Production House: Snowball Studios Music credits: Rupert Fernandes TVC Details Working title of film: Panasonic OLED - Beyond Technology. Experience Duration: 5 sec (teaser), 10 sec, 20 sec and 45 sec

Click here for more in Advertising.After a stupendous 1st season of the #GulfFanAcademy in India, Gulf Oil India and Manchester United are gearing up for Season 2, which is now going global, aiming to connect with Manchester United fans across 60 countries!

The #GulfFanAcademy is a digital platform co-created by Gulf Oil India and Manchester United FC to celebrate what being a crazy Red Devils fan is all about. The Academy is a space for their fans to engage and connect with their favourite Man Utd players. The second season is bigger, better and bolder than ever. The second season has 4 challenges and a collection of engaging content featuring the most popular Man Utd players including Pogba, David de Gea and Sanchez. Some of these challenges will also go on-ground to get up-close and personal with the ManUtd Fans. These challenges are designed to be easy and fun, enabling ManUtd fans across the globe to seek for a chance to win all-expenses paid trip to Old Trafford as they watch a home match live in the Theatre of Dreams. To build more excitement around season 2, the Academy has come up with a special launch video for the Manchester United fans across the globe.

Talking about the #GulfFanAcademy s 2nd edition going global, Ravi Chawla, Managing Director, Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited said, We received a massive response from Indian Manchester United fans last year and it spurred us to go global this time. In the first edition, we managed to reach out to 70 million people through our integrated campaign. I am certain that this year the Academy will be able to engage with far more fans from across 60 countries. This Season, we have packaged it on a grander scale with 11 of the biggest Man Utd fans from India getting a chance to travel to Old Trafford to see a live match of ManUtd 

Season 1 of the #GulfFanAcademy, a pan India activity, curated a collection of challenges and digital content across last year EPL season to become a roaring success. This kept the Fan Academy trending on social media, with the launch trending at no.1 on Twitter for 3 days & YouTube for an entire week. Apart from this, the entire #GulfFanAcademy recorded 800k unique engagements and a reach of 70 Million! Finally, there were totally 9 super fans who made the trip to Old Trafford to watch ManUtd live with Swansea.

Hosted by both ManUtd and Gulf Oil Social media handles, stay tuned to #GulfFanAcademy Season 2 this EPL Season since It is the Fan Thing to Do.Sony SAB has announced the winners of its unique activation, Finding Funny, aimed at spreading happiness and discovering hidden talent. Exclusively for media agencies, the initiative gave an opportunity to media professionals to display their talent for making people laugh. Contestants across media agencies in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore had sent their videos via WhatsApp with their introduction and a presentation of their talent. The shortlisted agency representatives were invited to the regional finals in Mumbai (August 3), Delhi (August 10) and Bangalore (August 14) and the top finalists from each city competed in the final round.

Hosted and judged by the popular entertainers of AIB, the elimination rounds saw contestants doing various genres of stand-up comedy. The contest saw a different side of media agency professionals, with finalists from Publicis Groupe, Group M, OMD, Interactive Avenues, WM Global and Kantar Analytics Practice competing in the grand finale that was held in Mumbai on Friday, August 24 attended by key clients and senior industry people.

Chetan Muley from OMD Mumbai was crowned the funniest in the grand finale, with Rahil Hafeez from Interactive Avenues and Rohith Sundaram from WM Global, marking their titles as first and second runners-up. The top three were awarded E-retail vouchers with the winner bagging vouchers worth Rs. 50,000/-

Comments:

Vaishali Sharma: Head Marketing, SAB, PAL and Hindi Movies

The response for this initiative has been absolutely heartening across all cities. Finding Funny, was an on-ground extension of Sony SABs brand promise of happiness. We truly believe in constantly innovating and striving to offer the best in entertainment through unique and pioneering means. Finding Funny is our attempt at engaging with our media partners thus going beyond the conventional route and expanding its scope of partnerships.British Airways is celebrating its busiest ever summer at London City Airport (LCY) with news that more aircraft, more routes and more frequencies will be added to the airline's LCY network this winter.





Above: A row of Embraer aircraft at London City Airport.



Four additional Embraer E190 aircraft will join the BA CityFlyer fleet during 2019, bringing the total fleet number to 26 aircraft. These aircraft will add nearly 20% more seats from London City Airport in 2019 and enable the launch of new destinations.



From 11 November, a new year-round service will be launched to Rome from the Docklands airport and a fifth daily service will be added to the Zurich route on week days. Rome is the first of a number of new routes and extra flights to be announced for next year.



Tom Stoddart, managing director BA CityFlyer, said: It is an exciting time for us at London City Airport. The four new aircraft shows our commitment to giving our customers an even bigger range of destinations and flight times.



This growth will see the number of job opportunities in East London increase with direct employment opportunities for pilots, cabin crew and engineers, as well as indirect roles for our various suppliers in and around the airport.



Luke Hayhoe, general manager commercial and customer, said: It is very positive to continue the year-on year-expansion at London City Airport. We added 13% more capacity in 2018 and will add nearly 20% in 2019. The new route to Rome will increase the number of British Airways destinations from London City Airport to 33.



British Airways 4.5 billion investment for customers over the next five years, also includes the installation of high quality WiFi and power in every seat, fitting 128 long-haul aircraft with new interiors and taking delivery of 72 new aircraft.



Richard Hill, Chief Commercial Officer at London City Airport, said: BA CityFlyer is London City Airports largest airline partner and this investment in four additional E-Jets demonstrates absolute commitment to its base at Londons most central airport, and continued growth as we enter 2019.



An enlarged fleet will mean more choice for tourists and business travellers alike, giving customers more flights to the destinations they love, under the British Airways brand. Introducing a Rome service and adding frequency to Zurich, already one of our busiest routes, keeps London connected to major European cities, and is a real endorsement of the London City proposition by our home-based carrier. We look forward to further new route announcements in the near future.



Guwahati, August 29 : A married woman was gang raped in a moving car and then thrown her on the National Highway in Assams Nagaon district on Tuesday night.





The shocking incident took place near Amoni area under Jakhalabandha police station in the central Assams district.





The woman hailing from Lanka area in central Assams Hojai district and was working in a local dhaba, was moving from Lanka towards Golaghat with her boyfriend on a bike.





According to the reports, the man had picked up the woman from the dhaba and they were intercepted by four men travelling on an Alto car near Nagaon and forced her into the vehicle.





The woman was raped by the men in the moving car and later the victim was dumped on the National Highway 37 near Amoni area.





The incident has come to light after a driver of an oil tanker had rescued the victim and reported the incident at Jakhalabandha police station.





The victim was immediately rushed to Nagaon civil hospital and she is undergoing treatment.





Meanwhile, Nagaon police has registered a case in connection with the incident and launched operation to nab the culprits.





Superintendent of Police (SP) of Nagaon district, Shankar Barata Raimedhi said that, police has taken up the case very seriously and police teams led by senior officers are engaged to nab the culprits.





 A woman alleged that, she was gang raped. We have taken the preliminary steps as medical treatment has been provided to the victim. A police under Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) and senior officers are attending to the case, the Nagaon district SP said.



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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.The Aiken County Council is considering a change in the hold time for strays at the Aiken County Animal Shelter before they are put on the adoption floor or transferred to another facility or rescue group.

During its Aug. 21 meeting, the panel unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance that would address an issue that isnt clearly defined legally in South Carolina.

Under state law, the hold period for an unidentified animal, one whose owner is not known, is five days, said County Attorney Jim Holly.

But the law doesnt specify whether the period should be based on business days or calendar days.

Currently, the hold period at the animal shelter is five business days. County Council wants to make it five calendar days.

There have been opinions (about the law), Holly said. Ive researched it in depth, and my interpretation, after spending dozens of hours looking at it, is that Council can go with calendar days if they choose.

County Administrator Clay Killian believes a hold period based on calendar days instead of business days would be better for both the animals and the county.

In general, he said, it would reduce the length of stays in the shelter for animals, making the situation less stressful for them. It also would cut costs for the county.

We are not trying to be able to euthanize them (the animals) faster, Killian said. Weve gotten to the point where we dont do that much anymore except for disease or when animals are violent.

When the hold period is calculated using business days, weekends and holidays arent counted, so sometimes there are long delays in getting an animal onto the adoption floor, Killian said.

As an example, he described what would happen to a stray picked up on Friday, Dec. 21 of this year. Because of weekends and county holidays on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Day, the last day of the hold period wouldnt be until Jan. 2, 2019.

If we had used calendar days, it (the animal) would have been moved to the adoption floor Dec. 27, Killian said.

The day a stray arrives at the animal shelter isnt included in the hold period, Killian added.

Jennifer Miller, president of Friends of the Animal Shelter, or FOTAS, said her organization supports a change in the hold period from business days to calendar days.

She described calendar days as a common sense interpretation of the law.

It reduces stress (for the animals), it reduces potential disease risk, it reduces aggression and it reduces overcrowding, Miller said. It saves county resources, and it saves taxpayers money. This ordinance will be a positive game changer for our Aiken County Animal Shelter and our community. We are excited beyond belief and doing cartwheels.

In Millers opinion, the switch from business to calendar days wouldnt result in fewer owners being reunited with their lost pets.

Its really important to understand that 93 percent of the animals received in the shelter are never claimed, she said. Of the 7 percent that are claimed, most of their owners come in after a day or two. Its heartbreaking to see these animals, 93 percent of which arent claimed, having to stay in the shelters intake cages for so long.

Council must approve three readings of an ordinance before it receives final passage.



Guwahati: Journalists Forum Assam (JFA) condemns the murder of a Bangladeshi female journalist and urged the Sheikh Hasina government in Dhaka to book the culprits under the law. The media rights forum pointed out that as the country has been approaching for the next general elections by end of this year, one may apprehend more such attacks on media persons in the coming days.





It may be noted that a group of unidentified assailants on Tuesday (28 August 2018) night hacked Suborna Nodi to death at her Pabna residence. The thirty crossed journalist used to report for Ananda television news and Dainik Jagrato Bangla paper. She left behind a minor girl along with other relatives.





Bangladesh earlier reported the killing of Shahzahan Bachchu, who edited Amader Bikrampur newspaper, on 11 June at Munshiganj locality. Bachchu was suspectedly targeted by Islamist forces for his free-thinking media comments.





India reported the murder of four journalists (namely Syed Shujaat Bukhari, Sandeep Sharma, Navin Nischal and Vijay Singh) in the last eight months. The largest democracy in the globe is placed at 138 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) 2018 global press freedom index, followed by Pakistan (139), Thailand (140), Cambodia (142), Malaysia (145), Bangladesh (146) etc.



A contingent of Aiken residents gathered along a Colleton Avenue parkway on Wednesday morning to decry the latest round of tree trimming in the area.

The trimming  pruning limbs away from power lines, as companies and crews are allowed and instructed to do  was described by group members as "slaughter," a "butcher" job and, at several points, "rape."

The group, comprising six or seven people, was seemingly led by Joanna Samson, the president of the Aiken Land Conservancy.

"I'm miserable about it," Samson said, standing beside a pile of branches. "I was out here crying."

Tree trimming techniques Tree trimming guidelines, as provided by South Carolina Electric & Gas.

Samson and the others did not take issue with the fact that trees need to be cut back. Samson acknowledged trimming's public safety applications, and she did not blame the crews doing the work. It was the way the cutting was done, and how much was removed, that proved to be the flashpoint.

Bettina Ruckelshaus, who lives across the street from Wednesday's tree work, said the trimming needs to be more calculated and more precise.

Susan DeBruhl was one of the people out on Colleton Avenue. She described the trimming as a shearing.

"It was very poorly executed," DeBruhl said.

Samson, like Ruckelshaus, said selective cutting would be the preferred approach. In a follow-up email sent to the Aiken Standard, Samson said a shorter trimming cycle would also help.

"As you can see, I'm so deeply, profoundly upset," Samson wrote.

Tree trimming is typically done on a five-year cycle, Scott Neely, the city of Aiken's South Carolina Electric & Gas liaison, has said. The actual cutting is handled by subcontractors.

SCE&G follows American National Standard for Tree Care Operations guidelines, according to the company's website.

Trees can be cut a minimum 20 feet back from above a power line and 15 feet back from the sides of a power line, according to SCE&G information.

"ANSI A300 trimming may appear drastic at first, but results in healthier trees long-term since fewer cuts are used," the website reads.

Calls made to SCE&G were not immediately returned.

Aiken City Council approves full utility project along South Boundary Avenue South Carolina Electric & Gas electrical lines between Charleston Street S.E. and Chesterfield Street will be put underground in the near future.

The public outcry on Wednesday, which included several members of the Colleton Avenue assembly tying themselves to a tree and posing for photos, is not the first of its kind. An earlier round of cutting along Banks Mill Road left the group disgruntled.

City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh said the public's concern is on the city's radar, and discussions with SCE&G have ensued.

The city's tree consultant and management firm, Bartlett Tree Experts, has been made aware of the complaints, too, Bedenbaugh said, and will be accompanying tree trimmers in the near future.

The city's trees are collectively appraised at more than $130 million, according to a recent inventory conducted by Bartlett Tree Experts. Aiken has also been repeatedly named a Tree City USA.

On Wednesday, Mayor Rick Osbon responded to the trimming outrage.

In a lengthy statement, Osbon described the city's trees as priceless, the Wednesday pruning as liberal and his general reaction to it all as "utter dismay."

Osbon said he had received several calls on Wednesday about the Colleton Avenue cutting.U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan is worried about the U.S. Department of Energy's decision making in relation to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility.

Duncan, a South Carolina Republican who at one point represented the Aiken area, said he "just recently" spoke with U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry about MOX for that reason.

"I want MOX to happen, and the press is here," Duncan said Tuesday at the Aiken Republican Club's monthly luncheon. "I'm on record for that."

MOX injunction costs taxpayers $1.2M a day, DOE legal team says "There is no question that the taxpayer suffers irreparable harm while the injunction is in place," the legal brief reads.

In May, Perry moved to kill MOX in favor of dilute-and-dispose, a more-or-less competing plutonium disposition method.

MOX, currently being constructed at the Savannah River Site, is designed to turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial reactor fuel.

MOX's completion timeline and necessary funding have been questioned for years now. The facility was initially expected to come online in 2016 at a total cost of $4.8 billion.

The DOE claims MOX won't be operable until around 2048, a point reiterated in an appeals court brief filed by the department and its legal team Aug. 24. In March, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Lisa Gordon-Hagerty told an appropriations committee MOX is "nowhere close" to 50 percent complete.

The NNSA, a semiautonomous DOE agency, is in charge of the MOX project.

In 2016, MOX contractors estimated completion around 2029, according to a DOE project management and oversight study.

In February, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told the Aiken Rotary Club one of MOX's biggest woes is it's outward appearance.

"The big issue is: Is it 70 percent built or 30 percent?" Graham said at the time. "Welcome to the federal government. We're arguing where the damn thing is."

Duncan, on Tuesday, said a lot of energy  he described it as a "full-court press" at one point  is spent sorting through the "smoke and mirrors" MOX opponents have deployed.

"I like to deal with the actual facts," Duncan said.

The congressman said the South Carolina delegation is actively working to find the correct information: the "actual" completion percentage and "the years" required to finish MOX, as he put it.

Duncan's comments on Tuesday are similar to comments made last week by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. Wilson, too, is a MOX proponent.

During a tour stop at Shealy's Bar-B-Que in Batesburg-Leesville, Wilson said he is "concerned" with the DOE's choices.

On the same day Perry submitted his MOX waiver, the NNSA and the U.S. Department of Defense together recommended repurposing MOX infrastructure for plutonium pit production.

Plutonium pits are nuclear weapon cores.Thousands of Iranian students studying abroad are feeling the pain of new foreign exchange policies announced by the Central Bank of Iran in response to the rial's devaluation.

In January, one US dollar fetched 44,500 rials on the open market. Today, it takes more than 100,000 rials to equal one dollar. The government had long allowed students enrolled at universities abroad to obtain hard currency at a lower official exchange rate, after being approved through a process that involved multiple grueling steps. Among other conditions, male students also had to provide proof of having fulfilled their mandatory military service, and every student was required to sign a letter of commitment promising to work in Iran for up to six years anywhere the government placed them after completing their education.

At the end of the application process, students would be granted access to two $6,000 installments per year to help cover living expenses. An additional maximum of $15,000 was also made available to cover tuition fees, with the money transferred directly to universities. This option was, in effect, of no use for many students, given the banking issues due to US sanctions even before the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May.

Amid an intensification of the rial's devaluation, leading to an increased divergence between the official and open market rates, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on April 9 announced that Iran would unify the exchange rates, setting the price of a dollar at 42,000 rials. He added that the unified rate would apply for all Iranians, whatever their need for hard currency. This did not, however, materialize, but in effect brought the foreign currency market to a halt while giving rise to a black market with rates spiraled out of control.

These circumstances prompted many students to continue adhering to the arduous steps of accessing hard currency at the official rate to continue their education. This option, however, recently evaporated.

On July 25, President Hassan Rouhani appointed Abdolnaser Hemmati governor of the Central Bank of Iran, replacing Valiollah Seif, who had held the post since 2013. Along with this change, the administration also unveiled new policies on exchange rates. On Aug. 5, Hemmati announced that importers of a list of prioritized goods and services would continue to have access to hard currency at the official rate. Iranian students studying abroad were not to be found on the list. The next day, without prior warning or announcements, Iranian banks officially stopped offering students hard currency at the official rate.

Alireza, a freshman at a university in France, told Al-Monitor, I went to Saman Bank on Aug. 6, and although I had gone through all the steps and deposited the rial equivalent [of $6,000] two weeks earlier, the bank told me they could not give me dollars for now and they had received an order from the Central Bank to stop all such payments.

Students who were in the process of applying for hard currency at the official rate faced the same situation. The discontent among Iranians studying or aspiring to study abroad led to the launch of an online campaign, followed by a petition, asking authorities to allow students to obtain hard currency at the lower official rate. Despondent students also created a group on Telegram, the popular social media app, creating a platform for discussing how to restore students' access to the rate. Close to 3,000 people had joined by Aug. 21 and among the various suggestions about how to create momentum for change was highlighting the issue in comments under the social media posts of local celebrities, politicians and athletes.

On Aug. 11, the Central Bank issued a circular on the provision of foreign currency for certain services. Part of the circular dealt with students. It stated, Those students who are already enrolled in a program for the current academic year may receive foreign currency at the announced [official] rate until Sept. 22 at the latest.

It thus appears that new students will not be afforded the same privilege. This announcement sparked even more discontent among students, with many taking to the streets Aug. 11, rallying outside the Central Bank building in Tehrans Mirdamad district.

Elnaz, an engineering student who has been admitted to a German university, was among those protesting. With this decision, the government is ruining our lives, she told Al-Monitor. We had planned everything based on this, and now they say they will no longer give us subsidized dollars.

She further stated, We plan to pursue our rights in complete calm. We will gather in front of the Central Bank again until someone gives us an answer.

Not everyone agrees with channeling scarce foreign exchange reserves to students given the stringent US sanctions. Saeed Laylaz, a prominent economist and political analyst, told Al-Monitor, Im against giving subsidized currency to students. In the current situation, where we are facing international pressures and our foreign currency revenues are nearing a minimum, there is no logic in giving students [access to] this exchange rate. Many of [them] leave and have no intention of ever returning to the country.

There are data to support Laylaz's assessment. Figures show that the stay rate of Iranian doctorate recipients in the United States is far above the average of students from other countries. Indeed, one study from 2011 found that 92% of Iranian students who had completed doctorates in the United States remained there five years after graduating. The equivalent figure for neighboring Turkey was 56%.

So far, the students do not appear inclined to end their protests. Those who had planned on 42,000 rials to the dollar must begin their studies paying more than twice that, running the risk of losing the opportunity to study abroad. Given this dilemma and the Rouhani administration's lack of attention to the matter, one can only wait and see if the students can convince the government to alter its course.Israels military-strategic advantages over its adversaries are many, but no one doubts that Israels air force is the true game-changer. For dozens of years already, Israels top decision-makers and army chiefs refer to the air force as the insurance policy of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The Israel Defense Forces invests the better part of its funds, its energies and its qualitative human resources in the air force, and has become the first foreign army to have tested the United States' F-35 stealth fighter jets under real combat conditions.

The missions and sorties the Israeli air force had accomplished in two weeks of fighting in the Second Lebanon War can now be carried out in a 24-hour timeframe. The air force is viewed as Israels awe-inspiring strategic arm and its most effective instrument of deterrence.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is now working to add a new dimension. At this stage, Israel has no intentions of adversely affecting the quality and dominance of its air force, but Liberman has already set his sights on a strategy that he wants to promote in his current term of office: The establishment of a missile corps in the IDF, a smart missile-rocket military arm that will be precise and deadly over various ranges, from southern Lebanon to the depths of Syria. It would be Israels counterbalance to Hezbollahs seemingly infinite rocket arsenal and Syrian President Bashar al-Assads renewed missile capabilities.

The IDFs reception to the defense ministers initiative was frosty. The army already has precise long-range rockets. Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot does not like this revolution brewing in his own backyard and threatening his multi-year Gideon plan. Gideon involves an array of actions to strengthen the army and its activities, its provisions and supplies for the coming years. Meanwhile, Liberman and Eizenkot decided on an enormous acquisitions deal in which the IDF will purchase from Israels IMI Systems (formerly Israel Military Industries) a new fleet of rockets and missiles that will greatly strengthen Israels array. According to the plan, a special, separate military arm devoted only to missiles will be established later on. It will be more varied, sophisticated, precise and deadly than all the corresponding missile branches in Lebanon and Syria.

Behind the scenes of this mini-revolution in the IDFs firepower tenets is an attempt to adjust the army to the modern era, in which antiaircraft batteries are increasingly sophisticated and threatening Israels absolute aerial superiority. In the coming years, Hezbollah will have many hundreds if not more very precise missiles, deviating at most several meters from their target.

Even if we assume that most of these missiles will be intercepted by the anti-missile system Magic Wand (also called Davids Sling), the working assumption is that some of the missiles will hit their targets on D-Day. Hezbollahs main target in the next war will be Israels air force bases, as it realizes that the more they can damage this corps, the longer the life expectancy of Hezbollah's people in Beiruts Dahiya suburb and elsewhere in Lebanon.

The luxury of having an air force that operates freely and almost without being threatened is ending soon, a senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. They wont be able to neutralize the air force but they can make it difficult for us, maybe circumscribe the air forces circle of activities one way or another, he admitted.

There is no reason we wont be able to strike every single target with intensity and precision, even without jets, Liberman told Al-Monitor in a recent conversation. We absolutely must have an alternative to the air force. We cant afford to put all our eggs into one basket, no matter how sophisticated that basket may be.

Another military source proficient on the subject told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Not every target in Lebanon or Syria requires a pilot that took us three years to train, in a jet that cost $200 million. Its not always necessary. A missile or rocket costs much less and doesnt need to pass meticulous tests and pilot training. If the rocket misses the target, nothing happens. There is no pilot to be taken prisoner, no pressure to release terrorists for missing pilots.

According to the plans, IMI Systems will produce most of the rockets and missiles and then adapt some of them to be launched from the decks of the Israeli navy and even from air force planes. The goal, a senior army source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, is to diversify and lower our risk factors. Our airports are vulnerable, as are our runways, which can be damaged relatively easily. True, we have the ability to fix things and get back on track quickly, sometimes within minutes, when runways are hit. And at this point, theres not a chance that one of our enemies could neutralize the air force. But the time has come for us to implement surgical, lethal and precise capabilities without sending planes into the air.

The assessment is that a missile corps of the type that Liberman dreams about would cost somewhere between six and eight billion shekels ($160-200 million) over a decade. Israels defense industries develop leading technologies in the precision, self-correction, maneuvering and firepower of missiles and rockets. They are already selling missiles to other countries around the world. Now Israel will make use of this impressive technology.

In the words of another Israeli military source who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, It is important that [Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan] Nasrallah know that these missiles do not come at the expense of Israel's ability to carry out a bona fide, sharp and aggressive maneuver within Lebanon. It is only in addition. These words were uttered on the background of Nasrallahs recent speech in which he argued that the IDF is finding it difficult to recruit soldiers to the field units and maintain motivation for combat service.

Nasrallah tries to demonstrate his expertise regarding Israeli society and thats impressive, said a high-placed IDF officer on condition of anonymity, but he is well aware of the balance of power. He understands that what was in the past will not always be. The next time, Lebanon will be held accountable for all of Nasrallahs deeds. The country will pay a very high price should it allow itself to be dragged by Hezbollah into any kind of adventure.Knesset members from Israel's Joint List are asking the United Nations to condemn Israel over its new and controversial nationality law. Hadashot TV news reported Aug. 27 that the Arab Knesset members, Yousef Jabareen and Aida Touma-Suleiman, are working in conjunction with the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour to get the General Assembly to condemn Israel this September. They want the international body to declare that the nationality law passed in July is reminiscent of apartheid-era legislation in South Africa.

In an interview the next day, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin called the move treason and said he hopes and expects the judicial system "to finally put them on trial for the most severe offense in the law book.

As a trained jurist, Levin certainly knows that these Knesset members will not be indicted for their actions. He is fully aware that they already enjoy parliamentary immunity. As such, his statement raises a question: By exactly what legal standards has he determined that what they did constitutes treason?

Levin wasnt the only minister to react to the news with extreme vitriol. Minister of Housing and Construction Yoav Galant said that their actions crossed a red line and stated, There is no room in the Knesset for those who act against Israel's interests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded through his confidants, who said, The cat is out of the bag.

Israels Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, is busy reacting and responding to the issue, going so far as to send a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, saying that these Arab Knesset members are causing enormous damage to Israel in their efforts to undermine the legitimacy of the state. When presented with this incriminating information, Edelstein reacted just as sharply. Knesset members, who receive a salary from the state and are granted a comprehensive parliamentary toolbox, he said, have the gall to collaborate with our enemies and tarnish our reputation around the world. Anyone who cooperates with the Palestinian Authority against Israel must ask himself whether his place is in the Palestinian Parliament or the Israeli Parliament.

Later, the chairman of the Knessets House Committee, Miki Zohar, announced that he would convene his committee for a special recess session to discuss ways to punish the offending Knesset members.

After two straight days of the issue figuring prominently on the national agenda, it appears that Danon has reason to be pleased. The political and media ruckus that he instigated succeeded tremendously. He featured in the headlines as a defender of Israels interests who exposed a subversive effort by Arab Knesset members. As far as his voters on the right are concerned, he has proved himself by taking an active role in countering a horrible act intended to sully Israels reputation in the international community.

Danon not only succeeded in getting the Knesset speaker and his colleagues on the right to react aggressively. He was also able to elicit a response from the leaders of the center-left, who also criticized the Knesset members.

The most abrasive of these responses came from Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid, who described the appeal as subversive and disgraceful. Head of the Zionist Camp Avi Gabbay tweeted that Joint List Knesset members continue to denigrate our country everywhere.

Even Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition and one of the most stalwart opponents of the nationality law, expressed her reservations about the efforts to raise the issue with the United Nations.

The center-left's aggressive line, so much like that of the right, is causing damage to the struggle against the nationality law that it has been leading. As a reminder, lines such as, We are ashamed of what you are doing to the country, and Netanyahu continues to incite and divide the country, were integral to Livnis attacks on Netanyahu after the law was passed.

The Arab Knesset members were elected to represent Israeli Arabs, who constitute some 20% of Israels population. They are the ones who stand to suffer most from the discriminatory nationality law, with its clauses that assault the principle of equality. The appeal by the lawmakers to the UN is part of a legitimate struggle that they are waging against a law that they deem harmful. It is the direct progression of a series of events that included ripping the proposed law to shreds in the Knesset plenum after it was approved and the Aug. 11 mass demonstration in Tel Aviv.

The UN petitioners simply carried the protests of Israels Arab population to the diplomatic level. They acted within the law, in an effort to present Israels nationality law in a negative light to the rest of the world. This is not treason but an effort to expose the problems of a law that even the leaders of the center-left consider to be disastrous to Israels democratic character. They never hid what they were doing. They gave interviews, they wrote Facebook posts, they delivered speeches and they even demonstrated. The whole world heard them. The whole world saw them.

But Danon took the issue to extremes, intentionally, while successfully carrying the Israeli political debate to the United Nations. Politicians on the right know just as well as the Arab Knesset members that the UN has no way to intervene. Even a formal UN condemnation wont change anything. On the contrary, it will actually serve the narrative of the right that the international body is not objective when it comes to Israel and that the Joint List is nothing more than a bunch of traitors.

The Knesset members wanted to embarrass Israel and prove to their constituents that they are fighting on their behalf. Danon and the right may have been serving their own personal interests with their responses, but they were also serving their peers. Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh was right in pointing out, All in all, this is public diplomacy at its best. The nationality law delivered a mortal blow to the principles of equal rights for all citizens and to the idea of a democratic space.

In terms of results, nothing has happened yet. Nevertheless, the right has taken advantage of a nascent move by Arab Knesset members to serve their own interests. Their attacks and charges of treason are not only disproportional to what their Arab peers are planning, but they are spinning out of control. The volatile atmosphere caused by the nationality law has already resulted in acts of violence by Jews against Israeli Arabs. Under these conditions, it is more than ever incumbent on the countrys elected representatives to show responsibility before they go accusing their peers of treason.Dr. Feras Haddad is a physician in the Jordanian military. He and his family were chosen to participate in a three-day pilgrimage tour with other Jordanian Christian military officials to Christian holy places in Palestine and Israel. So far, this newly implemented idea seems to be a one-time initiative by the Jordanian army.

It is a great move and it was an amazing experience to see the Christian sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, Haddad told Al-Monitor.

Haddad, who visited Palestine before as part of military missions to Gaza and Ramallah, said the experience of visiting the religious sites was very special. I have been to the Vatican, Brussels, Iraqs Najav, but these visits dwarf in comparison with seeing the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of Annunciation in Nazareth and the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the doctor said.

The trip to Palestine coincided with the annual Muslim hajj, in which hundreds of Jordanian military personnel are chosen annually to partake in the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. The importance of this move, Haddad said of the Christian sites tour, was that it provides for equal opportunity to all members of the Jordanian army.

According to a report by the Amman-based Catholic website Aboun.org, the pilgrimage of the Christian Jordanian officers took place Aug. 13 and included 24 Jordanian military officers and their families. Maj. Areej Hadaddin, a female officer, told the website that the trip, paid for by the Jordanian army, reflects in full the path of the countrys leadership. This is the kind of activity that helps create the community spirit within the army for people from different backgrounds.

Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, head of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, was quoted in the Jordanian daily ad-Dustour on Aug. 14 as praising this unique activity of the Jordanian army by saying, This is an act written in golden letters. It is a historic new heroism that shows the love between Jordanians, whether Muslim or Christian and whether military or civilians. It also reflects their sincere interest and priority to Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause.

Ghazi Musharbash, a former Jordanian parliamentarian for the Christian seat in the Jordanian capital, Amman, said he expects this kind of pilgrimage to be repeated annually. Musharbash told Al-Monitor that such trips strengthen ties with Palestine and help bond Jordanians and Palestinians.

But Musharbash said that efforts to bring Christians and Muslims together must start on the east bank of the Jordan river. What we need is to work much harder on the issue of intercommunal living at home in Jordan as well.

Musharbash warned about attempts to politicize the visit  which required visas from the Israeli Embassy  that have called the tour "normalization." He said, Visiting a prisoner is not equal to sympathizing with or legitimizing the jailer.

Brig. Gen. Imad Mayyah, the head of the Jordanian Evangelical Synod, told Al-Monitor that such visits are extremely important for translating calls for pluralism and equality. Such activities are a source of pride to all of us and I hope we can extend these kinds of activities in other fields and with other institutions as well.

A variety of governmental and public organizations in Jordan annually provide financial support to their staff who go on the hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Hundreds representing the armed forces, the civil defense system and an accompanying medical staff set out Aug. 10 for the Saudi holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the annual Islamic hajj. In greeting the departing 45th consecutive Islamic pilgrimage visit, the assistant to the armys chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ben Yassin, was quoted as saying that the support by the army to this annual pilgrimage is a sign that the Hashemite leadership doesnt waste any opportunity to do what is needed to preserve the Arab and Islamic character of the armed forces.

For his part, Mayyah, a former parliamentarian for the Christian seat of the city of Madaba, told Al-Monitor that he hopes the idea of supporting the pilgrimage to Christian sites is not restricted to just Christian members of the military. I would like to see members of all faiths in the Jordanian army also visiting Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, he said.

Hanna Kildani, who is now the Catholic church's vicar for Israel in Nazareth for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said in a 2015 lecture that Jordans Christians number 239,003, which amount to nearly 4% of the total Jordanian population of 6 million (excluding refugees and foreign laborers).

While the Christian community in Jordan is relatively small, its influence in business, education and politics is much bigger than its numbers.

The move of the Jordanian army to support the visit by Christian military officers to Palestines Christian sites is symbolic at best but is a reflection of the countrys leadership aim to set the tone in favor of a sense of pluralism and equality between the kingdoms citizens and at the same time boost relations with Palestine and Palestinians.After slashing economic and humanitarian aid to Palestine, the Donald Trump administration is now reportedly considering narrowing the definition of who qualifies as a Palestinian refugee. The US hard line is sparking worries of a backlash even among some of Israels staunchest supporters.

Foreign Policy reported today that Trump has decided to end $350 million in annual funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA. The report comes after the State Department anonymously announced Friday that the United States will redirect more than $200 million in economic aid away from the West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza following a monthslong review of Palestinian aid.

Now even pro-Israel champions in the United States and the Israeli defense establishment are raising concerns.

UNRWA needs to be reformed, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who serves on the Senate foreign aid panel, told Al-Monitor. Cutting off aid is also not the solution. Theres something in between that.

Other lawmakers raised concerns that the cuts could worsen the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip as Israel seeks to reach an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Hamas.

We have to be a little careful, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told Al-Monitor. Im not in any way criticizing what [the Trump administration is] doing, but we have to be a little bit careful in not emboldening Israel too much as it relates to Gaza.

The Israeli military killed more than 160 Palestinians protesting at the Gaza border fence and injured thousands more over the past several months, sparking global condemnation. Israel says it showed restraint in preventing would-be assailants from forcing their way into the country.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who sits on both the Foreign Relations Committee and foreign aid spending panel, told Al-Monitor that the aid cuts will lead to more desperation on the part of those people who live in Gaza and have the potential to produce further violence.

Dylan Williams, the senior vice president of government affairs for J Street, a lobbying group supportive of a two-state solution, said the cuts would have a devastating impact on innocent women, children and families as they include cuts to programs providing food assistance, clinical breast treatment and youth engagement intended to stem radicalization.

Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner raised similar concerns, arguing that the US aid cuts and potential new UNRWA policy will only empower the radicals in a Sunday op-ed in the Israeli daily Haaretz. And while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports abolishing UNRWA, Israeli defense officials have reportedly warned that cutting its budget could strengthen the hand of Hamas.

The Trump aid cuts appear to be aimed at forcing the Palestinians back to the table after they walked away following the Trump administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Palestinians insist the gambit will fail.

Weaponizing humanitarian and developmental aid as political blackmail does not work, Husam Zomlot, the PLOs envoy to Washington, said in a statement Friday.

Despite requesting $215 million in economic assistance for Palestine in its 2019 budget request, the State Department has only spent $61 million in security assistance in the West Bank and Gaza this year and contributed another $60 million to UNRWA, a nearly $300 million shortfall over last year. While UNRWA has partially offset the US cut with $238 million in contributions from other countries, it is still struggling to fill a $200 million budget gap to keep its schools open past September.

UNRWA is currently tasked with providing food, shelter and education for some 5 million refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. However, a May report from the Congressional Research Service notes that the Trump administration has placed a geographical limitation on its UNRWA contribution for the first time, barring it from use in Syria and Lebanon.

The Trump administration is also expected to soon announce a new policy narrowing the scope of Palestinians it considers to be refugees so that only 500,000 Palestinians qualify, according to Israels Channel 2. In remarks at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies today, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said the Trump administration seeks to change the discourse over the right of return for Palestinian refugees and prompt reforms at UNRWA.

The agency has long drawn the ire of Capitol Hill and has been a frequent legislative target of pro-Israel lawmakers, who argue that it has been co-opted by Hamas and gives Palestinians special treatment by designating descendants of people displaced seven decades ago as refugees. But UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl calls this a misrepresentation, noting that the UN applies the same methodology to protracted refugee crises in places like Afghanistan, Angola, Burma, Burundi and Sudan.

J Streets Williams added that the administration is undermining the will of Congress by unilaterally cutting aid without justifying its decision. And even staffers who worked on legislation requiring a reduction in economic aid until the Palestinian Authority ends its stipend program for assailants who have attacked Israelis raised concerns.

The clear intent of Congress was to protect the humanitarian aid, a congressional aide told Al-Monitor.Kathmandu, Nepal: The 16th ministerial-level BIMSTEC meeting has finalized the text of draft Summit Declaration on Wednesday.





The meeting held in Kathmandu also recommended the text of draft to the leaders of the BIMSTEC member states for approval.





The two day long BIMSTEC summit is being commenced from Thursday in Kathmandu. High level delegates have begun to arrive in Kathmandu for the Summit.





During the meeting, the ministers of the member states have also expressed their readiness to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection.





While delivering the opening remarks, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali underlined the need of deepening areas of cooperation rationalizing the priority areas like connectivity, trade, tourism, energy, and agriculture.



Joining the international efforts to rebuild the destroyed library of Iraqs University of Mosul, the Palestinian Authority sent thousands of books to the university in August and promised more to come within a month.

The university library, which is open to the public, was set on fire by the Islamic State in June 2014. The three-story library contained thousands of books and manuscripts, some of which dated back to the Ottoman Empire, and scientific research papers prepared by students over 51 years, ever since the University, the second largest in Iraq, was founded in 1967. Some 8,000 books and 100,000 documents, including rare maps, were destroyed.

With the liberation of Mosul by the Iraqi government forces in 2017, Iraqi activists and intellectuals began to donate books to the University of Mosul and the city's central library. The Iraqi Parliaments Culture and Information Committee launched an international campaign, in which books are still being donated today. Tens of thousands of books have been sent from all over the world, including Australia, members of the Europe Union and the United States.

Palestines goodwill gesture comes at a time when the country, which faces a fiscal deficit of nearly $1 billion this year, relies heavily on international aid.

"We handed over 5,000 books to the Iraqi Embassy in Amman to be delivered to the University of Mosul in a message of love and brotherhood from the Palestinian people to the Iraqi people, Fatah Central Committee member Dalal Salama told Al-Monitor. Salama had presided over a delegation to Amman to present the first batch of books.

"Our message through this cultural support to Mosul is that we are against terrorism everywhere. We look forward to ending the Israeli occupation in our Palestinian territories just like the Iraqis were able to end the occupation of Mosul and other Iraqi provinces.

The Palestinian donations are organized by the Palestinian-Iraqi Friendship Association, a Ramallah-based nongovernmental organization founded in 2017. The group aims to develop relations between civil society institutions in both countries, especially in the scientific, cultural, health and media fields.

Rola Ashteh, the vice president of the Palestinian-Iraqi Friendship Association, told Al-Monitor, This campaign carries a message to the Iraqi people and to the world that the Palestinian people are ready to support others when they can, even though the country struggles with its own occupation and has a continued need for international support to improve the quality of its citizens lives.

Ashteh noted that several state institutions, such as the Ministry of Education, also participated in the book collection. The ministry collected a large part of these books from the libraries of Palestinian universities in the West Bank. A part of these books also came from Palestinian citizens individual donations, she said.

She explained that the donated books varied from literature, science and mathematics to religion. Some of them are Palestinian fiction and poetry. We sent books by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, as well as various Arabic novels and their translations into foreign languages.

Ashteh further noted that the majority of the population of Mosul shares the same religion as Palestinians, Sunni Islam. This facilitated the collection of books," she said. "Religious books in Palestine are compatible with religious belief in Mosul.

Saad Khalil, head of the Palestinian campaign to support the University of Mosul, told Al-Monitor that it was created in response to an appeal by the university. He explained that a second phase will collect books from citizens and cultural institutions in the West Bank and Gaza during September. We aspire to collect a quarter million Palestinian books as cultural support for the Iraqi people, he said.

Talal Okal, a writer and political analyst in the Beirut-based independent think tank Palestinian Studies Organization, called the drive to support the University of Mosul with books "a moral and ethical obligation of the Palestinians toward. the Iraqi people.

Okal said that Palestinians received free education in Iraqi universities under Saddam Hussein. He told Al-Monitor, Palestinians still remember the Iraqi support. Saddam Hussein's regime provided financial aid to the families of victims and those wounded by the Israeli aggression during the second Palestinian intifada, he said. According to local reports, every Palestinian whose house Israel demolished was given $25,000 and each family that lost a member in the violence was given $10,000. Every injured Palestinian who suffered a disability got $1,000, and every wounded minor received $500.

Okal said that Iraqi financial support declined after 2003 because the Iraqi people needed the money themselves to face the post-Saddam crises. But, he added, At the political level, Iraq always upheld the right of the Palestinians to an independent state and stressed the need to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories."

In 2015, Iraq provided its last financial aid to the PA of $28.7 million. The donation was criticized at the time within the Iraqi Parliament, with some members demanding that the money be spent domestically instead.RAWAD, Iraq  An insurgent-prone rural area less than 30 miles from Baghdad continues to suffer attacks and is virtually a no-go area even for some leaders of its dominant tribe.

The area, Tarmiya, has been hit by repeated attacks and attempted ones in recent months. On May 1, over 20 members of the Albu Faraj tribe were killed in a night attack that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for through its media outlet.

The Mashhadani tribe is the largest in the area and the greatest concentration of the largely Sunni tribe in the country is also there. Several high-ranking members of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) were from the tribe.

One, Khalid al-Mashhadani, was the highest-ranking Iraqi in al-Qaeda in the country at the time of his arrest in 2007. He has since been executed.

Sheikh Mansour al-Mashhadani, a "spiritual leader" of the group who played a key role in recruiting for al-Qaeda, was reportedly killed in an airstrike in 2006. He had previously been arrested by the US military in July 2004 for ties to the Salafi armed groups Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna but was later released.

The top-ranked leader of the tribe worldwide, Emir Salem Shams Hamad al-Thayr, sat down for an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor at his Baghdad home. Most of the tribe is in Iraq and but a sizable number are also across the border in Syria.

It is considered to be a tribe with direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

Discussing who might succeed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi if Baghdadi were to die, terrorism expert Hisham al-Hashimi told CNN in 2015 that Sheikh Younis al-Mashhadani would be a likely candidate due to his claim to descend from Muhammads family.

However, Hashimi told Al-Monitor that nothing has been known for certain about the sheiks whereabouts since 2012 and that "he may have been killed or he may be outside of Iraq."

Salem, a former engineer who has only held the emir position the past three months following his brothers death, told Al-Monitor that "at least 80% of the people in Tarmiya are from the Mashhada."

"Even the other tribes in the area come to us whenever they have a problem" and have done so for several generations dating back to Ottoman times, he said.

The emir denied knowing who any of the top-level IS or al-Qaeda figures were, saying that "this is a political question" and that he did not want to discuss it.

However, he said anyone involved in terrorist organizations is banned from the tribe, although their family members are not, "in accordance with the Quran" and Iraqi national law.

Clutches of date palms rise behind blast walls flanking the road in northwestern Baghdad toward Tarmiya through the Hurriya district, followed by a confusion of checkpoints and heavy traffic to and from the capital. Nearby is al-Kadhimiya, where a popular Shiite shrine is located. Tarmiya is near the village of Rawad.

Two suicide bombers were reportedly killed in Tarmiya by security forces in April; the bombers apparently were planning to attack the shrine, which is visited by millions of Iraqis and foreign Shiites every year.

Hashimi told Al-Monitor that both Khalid al-Mashhadani and Sheikh Younis were originally from Hurriya area. He said that both men had "long been involved with the Salafi movement" and that Tarmiya is "the center of Salafi recruiting in the Baghdad area."

The Mashhadani emir now lives near Hurriya but can only go back to Tarmiya undercover, he said, with very few people ever knowing about his plans due to persistent risk.

Salem said the continued danger of insurgent attacks stems from Tarmiya being a large area with a lot of agriculture and open spaces and that no one knows who is conducting the attacks.

The emir presents himself as a progressive man, noting that his four married sons all wed members of other tribes that they had chosen for themselves, that his daughters and daughters-in-law had professional careers and that neither he nor any of sons had more than one wife.

He said he was encouraging the people in his tribe to stop the still-common practice of polygamy  legal in Iraq  by stressing that in this way they can provide a better future for their children. He said, "Men can never be equal in their treatment to more than one woman, which is a requirement in the Quran." He said, however, that men and women "still live very separate lives in Tarmiya, with many not going to university" and that the situation continues to be different there.

When attempting to visit Tarmiya, Al-Monitor was stopped at a checkpoint nearby and told that express permission was required from the Baghdad Operations Command. But the next day, the Baghdad Operations Command said authorization was required from the Joint Operations Command; this had not been granted by the publication deadline for this article.

Members of the Mashhada tribe said they would not be willing to risk their lives by bringing a foreigner in and members of other tribes refused as well, even if official permission were granted.

Along the road from Baghdad to Tarmiya is the Taji prison, where IS conducted a major attack on in 2013 alongside one on the Abu Ghraib prison. Hundreds of inmates reportedly escaped.

A sheikh of the Albu Faraj tribe, which was targeted in the May 1 attack, told Al-Monitor in an interview in a village near Tarmiya that the area had a local armed militia but that its fighters were not receiving salaries and that this was a major problem.

Tarmiyas location between the two main highways going north from Baghdad  one to Mosul and the other to Kirkuk and then Erbil  makes it attractive terrain for insurgents seeking to regroup in rural areas near the capital.

A continuing lack of security continues to be of concern, especially if even tribal leaders are wary of being in the area. For now, access is highly restricted but attacks continue to occur.The Donald Trump administration is releasing another $195 million in military assistance to Egypt after unblocking an identical amount last month, Al-Monitor has learned.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress last week about the administrations decision to override congressional aid restrictions on national security grounds. The notification is required by annual spending legislation that freezes 15% of the annual $1.3 billion military aid budget for Egypt absent progress on human rights and other issues, unless the administration justifies waiving the restriction.

Pompeos waiver, which impacts fiscal year 2017 money, comes in spite of mounting concerns on Capitol Hill over Cairos errant bombing of a US citizen, its military relationship with North Korea and perennial human rights concerns. Pompeo released another $195 million in military aid held over from fiscal year 2016 last month.

An aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Al-Monitor that the Egyptians clearly havent met the human rights conditions in the law and called Pompeos waiver regrettable.

After winning re-election by locking up the opposition, President [Abdel Fattah] al-Sisi has intensified his crackdown on civil society, said the aide. Sen. Leahy believes the administration should have used the leverage Congress provided in a manner that reaffirmed the US commitment to fundamental rights.

Al-Monitor first reported in May that Leahy has placed a separate $105 million hold on Egyptian military aid over Sisis human rights record and the grievous injuries sustained by US citizen April Corley when Egyptian forces mistakenly bombed a group of tourists in the western desert. That hold remains in place.

While the Leahy aide acknowledged some progress regarding Egypts restrictions on nongovernmental organizations and its military cooperation with North Korea, the aide also noted that it is not fully to the point where [Leahy] and others in Congress felt it was time to lift the fiscal year 2016 hold either.

When Pompeo released the first $195 million slice last month, a State Department official told Al-Monitor that Egypt had made progress downgrading its relationship with North Korea but referred Al-Monitor to the Egyptian government for specifics. The Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

Sisi generated bipartisan outrage in Congress last year when he ratified a law intended to crack down on NGO and civil society activity in Egypt, a move lawmakers called draconian. And although Egypt annulled prison sentences for 16 NGO workers in April, they must still stand retrial.

Amy Hawthorne, deputy director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), said Pompeos waiver was regrettable but nothing new. POMED supports leveraging US military aid to extract human rights concessions from the Sisi government.

Secretaries of State [Hillary] Clinton, [John] Kerry and [Rex] Tillerson made the same shortsighted move, Hawthorne told Al-Monitor. Whats different now is that Pompeo, thus far, has not uttered even a single public word of criticism of the truly alarming human rights situation inside Egypt, which rivals Irans cruelty.

Congress has included human rights and democracy restrictions on Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Egypt since shortly after the 2011 Arab Spring protests that toppled then-President Hosni Mubarak. Cairo receives $1.3 billion in FMF every year, making it the largest recipient of US military aid after Israel. Under the FMF program, the federal government pays US defense contractors to make weapons for Egypt.

Egypts presidential election earlier this year prompted further concern in Congress after the Sisi government arrested and harassed potential competitors. Sisi won with 97% of the vote after only facing token opposition from Moussa Mostafa Moussa, the self-professed pro-Sisi leader of the El Ghad Party.

Days before the election, a group of Egyptian Americans descended on Capitol Hill to push for conditions on Egyptian military aid and a Senate resolution. The resolution, authored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-.N.J., expressed concern regarding the intimidation and detention of credible opposition candidates, as well as the restrictive environment for nongovernmental organizations and media. The Senate has yet to act on the resolution even though the elections wrapped up in March.

While Senate appropriators have attempted to cut Egyptian military aid by $300 million in recent years, their efforts have been stymied by their House counterparts, who frequently praise Cairo for its counterterrorism policies and cooperation with Israel. Still, lawmakers agreed to increase Egypts annual FMF withholding from $195 million to $300 million in a fiscal year 2018 spending bill that Trump signed into law in March.WASHINGTON  In a departure from past US administrations, the Donald Trump administration, in a series of recent steps, increasingly appears to be aligning the United States with Israeli positions and against Palestinian positions in key issues in the conflict, from the status of Jerusalem to the question of the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Past American administrations had said those issues were to be resolved by the two parties in the course of negotiations for a two-state solution.

Three months after moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the Trump administration announced last week that it is cutting $200 million in US assistance for humanitarian and development programs in the West Bank and Gaza. It has also reportedly decided that it is cutting further US contributions this year to the UN agency charged with providing humanitarian aid, schools and social services to some 5 million Palestinian refugees, after earlier cutting the agency's budget.

"Leadership is about making hard choices," Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, said in a written statement to journalists today. "The people of Gaza, and Israelis in the area around Gaza, have suffered for far too long. It is time for the Palestinian Authority to lead the Palestinian people  all Palestinians  to a better future."

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley suggested Tuesday that Palestinian ingratitude and criticism of the United States were among the factors in the decision to cut US contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

When you look at UNRWA  there's an endless number of refugees that continue to get assistance, but more importantly, the Palestinians continue to bash America, Haley said at a conference hosted by a pro-Israel think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on Tuesday. They have their hand out wanting UNRWA money.

So instead of the $130 million, we give them $65 million, Haley continued. They didn't say thank you. UNRWA had them protest in the streets that we didn't give more.

Our job is not to take the beatings that you give us, saying we're not kind to Palestinians and then turn around [and] pay for them, Haley said.

The State Department said the decision, announced Aug. 24, to cut $200 million in US assistance for economic support and humanitarian programs in the West Bank and Gaza came after a Trump administration policy review that determined the support does not provide value to the US taxpayer.

The president directed an overall review of US assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and also in Gaza to ensure that US taxpayer dollars were being spent in accordance with US national interests, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told journalists at the State Department press briefing Tuesday.

The decision was then made  that that money at this time is not in the best interests of the US national interest and also at this time does not provide value to the US taxpayer, Nauert said.

While it may not say so openly, the Trump administration is systematically taking key issues in the conflict off the table with the ultimate goal of negating the Palestinian narrative, says former State Department official and peace activist Lara Friedman.

They took Jerusalem off table, now they are taking refugees off the table, Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told Al-Monitor, referring to the Trump administration.

The ultimate goal at a simple level is to say there are no Palestinian refugees, Friedman continued. Erasing the green line as a matter of policy. It is about systematically rolling the clock back, not just pre-Oslo, but pre-Madrid [the 1991 peace conference convened by the George H.W. Bush administration]. Madrid gave legitimacy to a Palestinian cause.

If one looks at the totality of its recent steps, it suggests that the Trump administration is fundamentally realigning the United States to adopt Israeli positions in the conflict as its own, said Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer.

I think we all knew at the outset of the Trump administration that this was going to be an administration that was very much in line with right-wing Israeli fantasies, Munayyer, with the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told Al-Monitor in an interview. But it was not exactly clear how it would manifest itself in policy.

And then we started seeing these changes one step at a time, Munayyer continued. As you look at the entire pattern, what it amounts to is a systematic realignment of US policy to be Israeli policy at the negotiating table on issue after issue.

The Trump administration is changing the goal of these negotiations from what previously had been agreed on by previous US administrations, that the outcome is to create an independent Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state, he said.

As far as the Palestinians are concerned, they said after the Jerusalem embassy move, We cant work with this administration, Munayyer said. And every step further the Trump administration has taken, is just vindicating the Palestinian position in the eyes of the world. Nobody is going to blame the Palestinians for not taking Trump seriously.

The United States has traditionally tried to act as a firefighter, discouraging steps that could inflame tensions on the ground, but now it seems to be playing arsonist, said Ilan Goldenberg, a former Pentagon and State Department official who worked on the Middle East peace process.

Our role traditionally has been firefighter, Goldenberg, who now heads Middle East programs at the Center for New American Security, told Al-Monitor. Now we are acting like the arsonist.  Here we are encouraging them to do stupid things.

What they [the Trump administration] seems to be doing is coming down really hard, with all negative incentives, for the Palestinians, and all positive incentives for the Israelis, with no balance whatsoever, Goldenberg said.

While previous US administrations have shared the Trump administrations inclination that there is no right of return for Palestinian refugees, they have always said it is an issue to be determined in negotiations, said former adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team Ghaith al-Omari.

It is the methodology that is problematic, Omari, now a fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Al-Monitor. The US position has always been  that this has to be resolved by negotiations.

This administration seems to be taking stuff off the table, Omari said. It took Jerusalem off the table. It took this [refugees] off the table. Every US administration has always said that is our liking or inclination, but the sides have to figure it out themselves.

But secondly, I think at least if you look at the statements from the administration, they believe these steps create pressure on the Palestinians to come back to the table, Omari said. I think this is completely misguided.  The more you try to impose a solution, the more Palestinians will entrench in their positions.

The US funding cuts to development programs in the West Bank and Gaza and to UNRWA will also cause suffering and likely make the Palestinian people angry not at the PA and Hamas, but at America and Israel, Omari said.

Goldenberg agreed, likening the US decision to cut off funding to UNRWA with no plan for what to do afterwards to the recent controversial decision, later reversed, by the Trump administration to separate migrant children from their parents at the southern border.

If you look at the situation on the [US southern] border, the poor kids detached from their parents, Goldenberg said. Its a lot like the UNRWA situation. [The Trump administration] will take away all their money, schools, social services, [but] has no plan for what to do instead.

Trumps UN envoy Haley said it was the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority and Arab governments, and not that of the United States, to fix the problems in Gaza.

Our concern is, the Palestinian Authority is not doing anything to fix the problems with Hamas in Gaza, Haley said. They have to take responsibility for what is happening in Gaza, and until they take responsibility, and until the Arab community takes responsibility for what's happening in Gaza, we can't begin to try and fix this problem.

A State Department official, asked by Al-Monitor about the impression that the Trump administration is increasingly aligning itself against the Palestinians, said the Trump administration is still hoping to unveil its peace plan.

We are hard at work on a peace plan that will benefit both the Israeli and Palestinian people, the State Department official, speaking not for attribution, said. It will be presented when the plan is complete and the time is right.Syrias Idlib region is rapidly turning into what could be the final and bloodiest flashpoint in the Syrian conflict. Millions of predominantly Sunni civilians, and tens of thousands of Syrian opposition forces and jihadis, have sought refuge in the region, which has taken on the appearance of being a de facto Turkish protectorate, although not a very secure and stable one.

Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad appears determined to recapture the region and is reportedly continuing with military preparations to launch his attack.

Turkey has 12 military outposts in Idlib governorate under an agreement with Russia and Iran arrived at last year on setting up de-escalation zones in the region. Turkish forces are holding positions between Syrian opposition forces and the Syrian army.

Preparations for battle by the warring sides, nevertheless, continue, forcing Ankara into a bout of intense diplomacy with Moscow over the past two weeks in order to prevent an operation by the Russian-backed Syrian army.

Ankara and Moscow seem determined to avoid harming their growing ties over this issue, but an agreement over Idlib has eluded them so far. This was evident during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs visit to Ankara Aug. 14.

During the press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Lavrov said the accord on de-escalation zones in Idlib did not cover jihadi groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, which remain legitimate targets.

Russia uses this designation to denote the main groups it is targeting in Idlib, even though Jabhat al-Nusra has splintered, with the strongest faction currently operating under the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

There are tens of thousands of radical terrorists in Idlib assailing the Syrian army and launching drone strikes against Russian fighter jets in the nearby Khmeimim air base, Lavrov said. The Syrian regime has a right to respond to these actions  and [Russia] has the right to help the Syrian army in fighting terrorism.

Cavusoglu, in turn, conceded that jihadis had entered Idlib, but was nevertheless terse in his response to Lavrov.

Bombing the whole of Idlib, bombing hospitals, schools and civilians because there are terrorists there, would be a massacre and create a serious crisis. In other words it would be a disaster, he said.

Both ministers, nevertheless, reiterated their countries determination to continue working closely to solve the problem. This cooperation has bought time for Ankara by preventing an operation against Idlib so far. Preparations by the Syrian army and statements out of Moscow, however, indicate that time may be running out.

Turkeys sense of urgency over Idlib was evident in the sudden visit made by Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan to Moscow on Aug. 17, a few days after Lavrov visited Ankara.

Cavusoglu for his part was in Moscow on Aug. 24, where he was joined by Akar and Fidan, who had arrived in the Russian capital earlier for a second round of talks with their Russian counterparts on Idlib.

During his press conference in Moscow, Cavusoglu referred for the first time to Russia as Turkeys strategic partner, which many took as a subtle message to Moscow that Ankara expected to be treated in Idlib in a manner befitting such a partnership.

Putin, who received Cavusoglu in Moscow, also underlined the importance of the deepening ties with Turkey.

Despite these diplomatic niceties it remains unclear what, if any, arrangements are being hammered out for Idlib. All the indications are that Moscow expects Turkey to take on groups such as HTS if it wants to prevent an operation in the region.

Citing unnamed Russian Foreign Ministry sources, daily Hurriyet reported that Moscow will provide Ankara with coordinates on the location of HTS and al-Qaeda-linked groups in Idlib.

Russia believes that after providing these coordinates, the Turkish military and Turkish-supported moderate opposition forces have to neutralize the radical groups, Hurriyet wrote.

Ankara has given no indication, though, that it is prepared to move in that direction, clearly wanting to avoid getting embroiled in a war with jihadi groups.

According to Hurriyet columnist Sedat Ergin, the basic difficulty is that HTS has become one of the most influential actors across the whole of Idlib.

It will not be possible to put the Idlib problem on track for a settlement without overcoming the HTS problem, Ergin argued in his article. He stressed that HTS and similar groups have vowed to continue fighting the regime and Russia.

According to press reports, Turkey plans to incorporate opposition fighters not listed by the UN as terrorist groups under a single umbrella organization, which would then negotiate with the regime though Russian and Iranian intercession.

The problem with this, however, is that Moscow and the regime have a very broad definition of terrorist groups, and they are likely to continue having disagreements with Ankara over who is and who isnt a terrorist.

At any rate, there is no guarantee that the groups supported by Turkey will bow to Ankaras demands, given that they are ultimately fighting for their lives in Syria.

In the meantime, Turkeys demand that a large swath of Idlib be declared a safe haven for refugees, which would also be used to accommodate some of the estimated 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, is unlikely to be met under present conditions.

This also leaves Turkey with the prospect of facing a new flood of refugees  at least 250,000 according to UN sources  if an operation is launched against Idlib.

Mehmet Acet, from the pro-government Yeni Safak, believes that the decision to launch such an operation will ultimately rest with Russia, not the Assad regime.

Regardless of what Assads ambitions are, in the final analysis it is the decision arrived at by Moscow  that will be important, Acet wrote.

Many agree with his opinion, which is why eyes are now focused on the Sept. 7 summit in Tehran between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Turkey, however, will be the weak link in Tehran, since both Russia and Iran are keen to see Idlib cleared of all jihadi elements, and the region returned to the regime.

Ret. Brig. Gen. Naim Baburoglu believes Turkey will have little choice but to submit to pressure from Russia and Iran.

Russia wants to open a corridor in the south of Idlib for civilians to be evacuated before it launches an operation against the region, which is most likely to come before winter, Baburoglu told Al-Monitor.

Turkeys role after the operation starts will be to ensure that HTS and similar groups do not infiltrate Turkish-held territories in northern Syria, he added.

According to Baburoglu, Turkey will also be expected to disarm elements of the opposition that it supports so that they dont pose a threat to Russian or regime forces in the future.

Baburoglu foresees difficulties in this regard, because such a move could force the mercenaries in Turkish-supported groups to quickly switch allegiance and move toward more radical groups.

Baburoglu added that Ankara had to think strategically, rather than tactically, when considering its options in Idlib.

The US is consolidating its hold over areas east of the Euphrates River, where the YPG presence poses the main threat to Turkey. If Turkey is to launch an operation in those parts, despite US opposition, it will need the support of Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime, Baburoglu said.

This is why Ankara should not waste any more time and establish ties with Damascus, he asserted.

Nevertheless, the developing situation in Idlib indicates that this will be the real flashpoint in Syria in the coming weeks and months  one that Ankara has to remain focused on.

Looking at the big picture, Turkey may have painted itself into a corner in Idlib by not paying enough attention to the growing jihadi presence there and by concentrating solely on trying to curb Syrian Kurdish aspirations.

How Ankara extricates itself from this situation will also prove whether Russia is indeed Turkeys strategic partner.An FBI agent investigating a massive Turkish-Iranian sanctions-busting scheme confirmed that the Turkish government had pressured Washington for the release of key defendants in the illicit trade and that legal proceedings against co-conspirators were far from over. The remarks, the first of their kind by an American official at a public event, spell further trouble for Turkeys creaky finances and fraught ties with the United States.

FBI special agent Jennifer McReynolds told a Washington audience on Aug. 28, High-level foreign officials like Turkeys ministers of justice and foreign affairs and Turkeys President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan exerted diplomatic pressure. They lobbied the Department of Justice, the State Department and even the White House to release [Reza] Zarrab and [Mehmet Hakan Atilla] without a trial.

McReynolds then confirmed Ankaras darkest fear: The implications of this investigation are far from over. Many other co-conspirators are indicted who have not yet been brought to justice.

Just who might they be, and how far up in the echelons of Turkish power? McReynolds declined to comment on this, but in brief remarks to Al-Monitor said that further prosecution of officials involved in the scheme could follow. She did not elaborate.

Zarrab is the Iranian-Turkish gold trader who helped mastermind the scheme. He was arrested in March 2016 in Miami as he got off a flight from Istanbul and later became a witness for the prosecution. Atilla, a senior executive of Turkish state lender Halkbank, was arrested in New York a year later and sentenced to 32 months for his role in unblocking some $20 billion that were sitting in Halkbank as a result of US sanctions. McReynolds said Atilla and Halkbank not only knew of Zarrabs scheme, but helped to design it.

Zarrab has boasted of his services to Turkey, famously claiming in a TV interview that he had helped plug Turkey's yawning current account deficit to the tune of 15% through his "exports."

Former Economy Minister Zafer Cagalayan and former Halkbank boss Suleyman Aslan were also charged with complicity in the money laundering operation.

Zarrab and later Atilla have been at the center of Turkeys thinly veiled hostage diplomacy that allegedly envisages repatriating the pair, and more critically getting further investigations and indictments shelved. US citizens in Turkish custody would be sent back in exchange. North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson is among the most prominent, with President Donald Trump weighing very publicly in his favor and threatening large sanctions against Turkey if he is not immediately released.

Washington has already frozen the assets of Turkeys justice and interior ministers over Brunson's continued detention. Will other ministers be targeted in retaliation for Brunson or in connection with Halkbank malfeasance, or both?

These are all key questions. Yet the Turkish media largely gave McReynolds' speech a pass. Even opposition outlets largely ignored its substance and focused on the organizers of the event, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), instead.

McReynolds and a team of FBI agents and Justice department officials at the Southern District Court of New York, which prosecuted Atilla, were given the FDDs Alberto Nisman Award for Courage at the think tanks annual security summit. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations and Brian Hook, the State Departments newly anointed representative for Iran, also took the podium.

Turkeys pro-government A Haber news channel called the award given by the pro-Israeli and anti-Turkish FDD scandalous. The outlet also argued that McReynolds praise for Huseyin Korkmaz, the Turkish police chief who led the quashed 2013 corruption probe into Zarrab and members of Erdogans inner circle proved once again the influence of FETO. The initials stand for the so-called Fethullah Terror Organization, named after Pennsylvania-based Sunni preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of masterminding the abortive July 2016 putsch against the Turkish leader.

Turkish Economy Minister Berat Albayrak insisted today that if the US Treasury were to fine Halkbank over the Iran sanctions scam, as is widely anticipated, it would be a political decision and a result of manipulations by different groups.

Albayrak, who is married to Erdogans eldest daughter Esra, said Halkbank had not violated any sanctions and had cooperated fully with the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control. He went on, To even articulate Halkbanks name in this connection is illegal. We do not expect a fine in connection with Halkbank, he said.

Turkeys ambassador to Washington, Serdar Kilic, waded into the debate via Twitter. He did not name McReynolds or Gulen but there was no mistaking who he was referring to in a trio of blistering tweets: Her biased statement at the event is an explicit testimony to the policised [sic] nature of that case and real motivations behind it. She knows better than anyone else who fabricated those so called evidences/wiretaps and what their ill intentions were.

The envoy was echoing claims that the Zarrab trial was based on fabricated evidence provided by Gulens disciples in the police and the judiciary who have since been purged and jailed by the thousands or fled abroad, some to the United States. Gulen loyalists were widely believed to have doctored much of the evidence used against hundreds of Turkish generals and their subordinates, who stood trial for plotting to overthrow Erdogan in the now defunct Ergenekon and Balyoz cases. They took place between 2008 and 2010, when Gulen and Erdogan were still informally allied against the Turkish military.

A veteran of the policy community who was present at the FDD event averred that he had wondered about the propriety of and precedent for an FBI agents publicly asserting things that to my knowledge went beyond the indictment and waxing outspoken about a case that is, after all, still under appeal. The fact that the speech was given at FDD, however, is completely beside the point, he told Al-Monitor on condition that he not be identified.

The FDD is no stranger to controversy, with its unabashed support for Israel and unremitting hostility to the Iran nuclear deal.

McReynolds acknowledged that the Justice Department had combed through all the leaked documents in the Turkish National Police report outlining evidence of high-level bribes to facilitate illicit Iranian finance with Halkbanks involvement that went all the way to the then prime ministers office. She said it matched perfectly with the FBIs own findings.

Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at FDD who served as an expert witness at the Zarrab trial, said McReynolds speech indicated that the court is still looking at information gleaned from this investigation. He told Al-Monitor, This should not come as a surprise, given the staggering amount of documents and data they were able to collect  some of which I have seen. I should further note that Reza Zarrab is still in their custody and has not yet been sentenced, which means he is still providing information as a witness. This is rather bad news for the regimes in Tehran and Ankara, if you ask me.

Hook and Haleys tough messaging at the FDD forum about punishing companies and others that continue to do business with Iran once a second round of sanctions targeting the countrys vital oil and energy sectors kicks in in November will have been certainly noted in Ankara.

Sinan Ciddi, the executive director of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University, told Al-Monitor, The event was a clear signal that further punitive measures against Turkey are on the way in the event that Erdogans government does not comply with the new wave of Iran sanctions. Ciddi added, The whole tone of the summit suggested FDDs enthusiasm to encourage the Trump administration to continue pressuring and if necessary punish Ankara for continued intransigence in a wide variety of policy areas.

Correction: Aug. 29, 2018. An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a question posed to McReynolds as her own words.Taque (pronounced tah-kyoo), which will open in the REVeal Kitchen in the first week of September, combines two favorites - barbecue and Mexican food. The restaurant is operated by Chef Jerome Jones (pictured).

A new restaurant is preparing to move into REV Birmingham's accelerator space at The Pizitz Food Hall downtown.

Taque (pronounced tah-kyoo), which will open in the REVeal Kitchen in the first week of September, combines two favorites  barbecue and Mexican food. The restaurant is operated by Chef Jerome Jones who formerly worked with Chef Andrea Foster at The Preservery Bham.

The restaurant's flavorful menu will include tacos, rice bowls, nachos and more filled with either barbecued beef, chicken, pork, fish and tofu.

"Once you know how, cooking good, quality food can be quick and easy  but opening a restaurant is a bit more complicated," Jones said. "I'm excited about the opportunity to get Taque started in REVeal Kitchen at The Pizitz, and I'm grateful to my 'cook team' as well as sponsors and partners who have made my entrepreneurial dream a reality."

Taque will replace The Preservery Bham at the REVeal Kitchen. The Preservery Bham will continue to serve "elevated soul food" at The Pizitz through Friday, Aug. 31.

Foster will then move her restaurant to a yet-to-be-announced location, according to REV Birmingham, an economic development agency. In the meantime, Foster will continue to cater events.

Follow The Preservery Bham on Facebook and Instagram or click here for updates on the restaurant's permanent location.

"Women- and minority-owned businesses add to the vibrancy of Birmingham and enrich the city's identity," said Darlene Wilson, REV Birmingham's board chair. "REV strives to make Birmingham a place where everyone can realize their dreams, and our market-testing opportunities like REVeal Kitchen are designed to make growing a business to brick-and-mortar feel more accessible."

Before Taque, Jones helped Foster manage The Preservery.

According to REV Birmingham, Jones and Foster shared an entrepreneurial spirit and experiences that helped Jones plan for his dream.

For more information, on Taque click here.

REV's REVeal Kitchen at The Pizitz Food Hall is a partnership with Bayer Properties. Sponsors include Buffalo Rock, Red Diamond, Regions, Wood Fruitticher, Appleseed Workshop, Maynard Cooper and Gale, the Fred and Ellen Elsas Fund and the Alice M. Bowsher Fund.The Zimlich quintuplets started out their lives in the spotlight. Hallie, Sophia, Shipley, Isabella and Amelia Rose arrived on Aug. 3, 1999, about three months before their due date - the first quintuplets ever born at the University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile.

The smiling, bald-headed babies were featured in the local news a lot during their first year, but since then, the Zimlich family has kept "a pretty low profile," says Mark, a lawyer. His wife, Jeannette, who worked as a classroom teacher before she had children, homeschooled all seven of their kids - the 19-year-old quintuplets, plus Temple, 23, and Julius, 16.

Last week, the quintuplets started college at the University of South Alabama on a full scholarship offered to their grandfather by President Emeritus Gordon Moulton when they were born. After all, they were delivered at a USA hospital, both parents are USA graduates and Jeannette's father, Dr. Eugene Aromi, was a longtime professor in the university's education department.

Jeannette practically grew up on the campus, where she would sit in her dad's secretary's lap and type on the typewriter. She remembers seeing Mischka, the live jaguar who was USA's first mascot.

Because she has guarded her family's privacy over the years, it was a point of pride for her when she met the university's current president, Tony Waldrop, and he told her he'd looked in vain for a photo of the quintuplets. "We have worked so hard to just be us and not be out and about," she says.

By the way, no one in the Zimlich family likes the word "quintuplets," which implies that the five of them are one entity. Since birth, the four girls and one boy have had their own distinct personalities, as well as their own look, style and interests.

"When they went to preschool," Jeannette says, "they came home and said, 'Mama, what is a quintuplet?' I'd never said it to them, because that's not who they are."

Over the years, the word "quintuplet" became less and less common because the children didn't look alike. But then, when Mark and Jeannette would be out with their seven children, they'd inevitably be asked, "What is this? Is this some school group? A field trip?"

"This is a family," Jeannette would reply.

So many blessings

The family recently gathered for this interview in the spacious den of their comfortable home just north of Mobile in Saraland, where they moved about 10 years ago. On either side of the brick fireplace, windows overlook their tree-lined back yard and pool area. The park-like yard was one of the home's main selling points, Jeannette says.

Throughout the conversation, the Zimlichs' seven children sit politely, occasionally offering an anecdote, like the time Julius, the baby in the family at 16, ran over a big snake on his bike. "Julius was kind of like the mascot," Mark says. "The kids just loved the new baby."

Jeannette admits that she worried a little bit at first about how he would fit into the family dynamic. "And it was so obvious because he was so cute, and anytime there was any tension it just seemed like he would do something adorable and everyone would laugh," she says of her youngest child, now a high school sophomore. "He was a nice little blessing."

Jeannette is the ultra-organized planner and spokesperson for the family. Her children describe her as "selfless." "She always makes sure we are prepared and then some," says Hallie.

Mark is quieter and more laid-back, always quietly observing and gently supporting his children. "He taught me to be a gentleman," says Shipley. "He has always been a good example of that."

Temple, the oldest daughter, recently moved home after attending college in Nashville. She has transferred to USA and will live at home while taking one year of classes to finish her bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies, then will stay on for a master's in education so she can teach.

Their house offers enough space for everyone to spread out. Temple has her own room. The two boys, Shipley and Julius, share a room. "The girls" - Isabella, Sophia, Hallie and Amelia Rose - also share one extra-large room. And there's an upstairs loft area, where everyone has his or her own space.

Just a few steps up from the kitchen, the house has a dedicated classroom where Jeannette has homeschooled the children since Temple was in sixth grade, the quintuplets were in first grade and Julius was in preschool.

When all the kids were in school, "Our time seemed to be so stretched, and we weren't having the time that we wanted to spend with family," Jeannette says. Homeschooling turned out to be the perfect solution. "I think God was trying to tell me in a thousand different ways and I just wasn't getting it."

After Jeannette's father died of lung cancer, her mother had a stroke, so the family moved in with her to help take care of her. One day, it occurred to Jeannette, like a bolt of lightning, she says, that maybe she could homeschool. Mark and her mom, also a former teacher, thought it was a great idea.

"I was choosing an educational method, but it really became more of a lifestyle change," she says. "And it's been such a blessing for us."

Homeschooling also gave the family the flexibility to do things they wouldn't otherwise have been able to do. Once, when Mark went on a business trip to Boston, Jeannette and all the kids went along, with new luggage and binders that read, "My American History Trip." They drove from Mobile, making stops in Washington, D.C., Boston and New York City.

But their own back yard also served as a natural classroom where the children could spot all kinds of birds, insects and other wildlife. In fact, they once had to do a scavenger hunt as a science lesson. It was supposed to be done over the course of a year, but they spotted everything (except a praying mantis) in just one day.

Year-round homeschooling, with a lighter load in the summertime, was supplemented with activities such as guitar lessons for Amelia Rose, who hopes to have a career in the music business one day, and Civil Air Patrol for Shipley, a recently licensed pilot who wants to join the U.S. Navy after studying exercise science at USA. The children also did volunteer work in the community.

Hanging on

People often ask Jeannette if life is easier now that her children are older. "It isn't getting easier, it's just getting different," she says. "The challenges change."

When the quintuplets were babies, both Mark and Jeannette became accomplished multi-taskers. Mark could often be found in the front yard late at night with two spotlights, quietly raking pine straw because he didn't have time to do it during the day.

And Jeannette would often shop at Wal-Mart in the middle of the night, when everyone else in the family was asleep and no one needed her. Otherwise, she'd be at the grocery store with all seven children in tow. Just getting them dressed and out of the house could be an ordeal, she says; then she would find her grocery cart surrounded by well-meaning people asking her questions.

"You try to be nice," she says. "And I usually am."

Now that they're college students, the quintuplets are opting to live at home. It's an easy drive from their house to the USA campus, they say.

"Really, it's to try to hang on to them a little longer," their dad says, only half-joking.

"When they want to be in the mix of stuff on campus, which they're going to want to be, they can go," says Jeannette, "but when they want quiet time and study time," they know they'll find it at home - along with home-cooked meals. "It's nice that we get to see them every day and see how they're doing," she says.

USA was "just so perfect," says Isabella, which made decision to go there an easy one for all five of them. "The campus itself was just so beautiful. Everyone was so nice and friendly, it was just like, why not?"

The college had all the majors the quintuplets were interested in: elementary education for Isabella; early childhood for Sophia; visual arts with an emphasis in photography for Hallie; exercise science for Shipley; and music business for Amelia Rose.

"No one wants to be a lawyer," says Mark, feigning sadness.

Three of the five daughters plan to be teachers like their mother and grandmother. Isabella "loves school," says Jeannette, who would often see the lights still on in the classroom at 5:30 in the evening, when Mark was coming home for dinner, and she would have to shoo Isabella out of there.

"There are worse problems," she says.

Now that they've started college, all five of the Zimlich quintuplets are excited about making new friends, participating in activities, getting to know their professors and immersing themselves in the college experience, they say.

Being part of a large family has been a gift they all treasure. From an early age, they learned how to share. "Whether it's your time, clothes or even your birthday, at our house you learn to share it," says Isabella.

They also know how to get along with others, and they're rarely lonely. "We're not all the same, and it's fun to have that variety," says Amelia Rose. "Plus it's nice to always have someone to talk to."Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said the city has a surplus of $10 million that can be spent on street paving, sidewalk and pothole repairs and neighborhood revitalization.

This news comes two months after the Birmingham City Council passed the fiscal year 2019 operating budget that had little funds for street paving and other needed repairs.

Woodfin told city councilors on Wednesday that the city saw a 5 percent growth in revenue over the previous fiscal year. He said the majority of the surplus came from reduced departmental spending.

"I think it is great news," Council President Valerie Abbott said. "I am excited."

About $7.5 million of the surplus can be spent, according to the city. The city's fund balance policy requires 20 percent of the city's overall budget to be maintained in a fund and spending was down in city budgets.

The 2019 fiscal year budget was already $8 million larger than last year's budget, due to increased revenue from use and occupational taxes. According to the mayor's office, 133 vacant jobs were cut from the budget, saving the city $4.7 million.

Woodfin said more than $4 million of the surplus will go towards street resurfacing and sidewalk repairs. More than half will be spent on streets.

City staff haven't said how many streets can be paved for those funds.

The other money for street paving in 2019 budget is coming from the Alabama Department of Transportation.



The city received $2.2 million in funds from ALDOT for citywide street paving. Another $2 million has been committed from ALDOT for street paving in the Fountain Heights neighborhood due to the interstate construction in the area. And, $4 million is being spent on truck routes in Districts 6 and 7.

The neighborhood revitalization fund will receive $1.1 million, Woodfin said, adding those funds haven't been earmarked yet.

Woodfin said some surplus funds will go towards "beefing up" codes enforcement.

The city's deferred maintenance program will receive $500,000 to maintain equipment to become more responsive to resident and neighborhood needs, he said. Another $350,000 will go towards computer hardware and software for city departments and data infrastructure upgrades.

Woodfin said $600,000 will go towards the Birmingham Land Bank Authority so the agency can move faster to clear tax delinquent properties. He said the authority will clear a minimum 120 properties in the 2019 fiscal year.

Funds will also go to the Birmingham Jefferson County Port Authority, City Attorney's Office and additional support for training and technological equipment needs identified for the Birmingham Police Department.A former west Alabama principal has pleaded guilty to two charges involving the misuse of school funds for personal gain.

Dyana Thomas, 49, entered the guilty pleas to charges of third-degree criminal mischief and harassing communications, said Hale County District Attorney Michael Jackson.

Thomas was the principal at Greensboro High School when the investigation started in 2014 by Greensboro police and the Alabama Ethics Commission. It was the third investigation in six years into questionable use of school funds at separate schools.

He is also a former principal at Wilcox Central High School, Greene County High School, Choctaw County High School and once served as a board member of the Sumter County School System.

In 2007, Thomas was sentenced to five years of probation on federal charges of mail fraud. Then principal of Greene County High School, Thomas admitted that he set up professional development seminars for faculty members at Choctaw County High in summer 2005, while he was the principal there. He submitted forms to the school system to pay people who were not connected to the seminars in any way. The school system sent checks to two of them.

In a third case, Thomas admitted, he retrieved a check for a bogus instructor and hand-delivered it to him. The plea agreement states that the man, who actually was a Mobile barber, cashed the check and gave some of the money to Thomas.

In 2012, Thomas was fined $1,000 by the Alabama Ethics Commission regarding misuse of funds at Wilcox Central High School.

In the Hale County case, records show that he issued checks to individuals for working at school functions, but then received some of the money himself. For example, he gave one man a $220 check for working Homecoming Week activities at Greensboro High but then asked the man to give him back $100. Police reports show multiple incidents of such activity.

Jackson said Hale County Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway gave Thomas a 90-day suspended jail and a 30-day suspended jail sentence to run concurrent with each other. He has been placed on a one-year probation.

"This guy's fingers,'' Jackson said, "are more slippery than an eel."A 52-year-old Warrior man has pleaded guilty to stalking and attempted assault charges after he was shot in 2016 in the driveway of his ex-girlfriend's home.

Floyd Daniel Alexander, originally charged with attempted murder, entered guilty pleas to a reduced charge of attempted assault and stalking. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two to serve.

The shooting happened in October 2016 near Corner. Jefferson County sheriff's deputies were dispatched about 9:30 p.m. that Saturday night to a home in the 2600 block of Blake Way on a report of a shooting. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found Alexander lying in the driveway with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, Chief Deputy Randy Christian said at the time.

Investigators learned Alexander had pulled into the driveway of his ex-girlfriend's home as she sat outside with her new boyfriend. He got out of his car with a gun and demanded to know who the other man was.

Christian said Alexander then fired a shot, but the bullet didn't strike anyone. The new boyfriend fired back and struck Alexander in the stomach.

Deputies learned there had been a history of threats made by Alexander to harm his ex-girlfriend.

Alexander reported to the Jefferson County Jail Tuesday to await transfer to an Alabama prison.

"We are grateful that all parties were able to come to an agreement on the lesser charge of an attempted assault,'' said Tommy Spina, Alexander's attorney. "Dan will spend two years reflecting on his actions that day and the consequences he is now having to pay for them. He looks forward to living a law-abiding life upon his release."The 2017 conviction of a Tuscaloosa man in the choking death of a man 20 years his senior has been upheld.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Wednesday announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the murder conviction of Henry Patrick McGhee, Jr. McGhee, 27, was convicted in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court for the murder of 44-year-old Kevin Lynn Patrick. He was also convicted of first-degree theft.

The killing happened on April 19, 2015 during a fight. Evidence at trial showed McGhee choked Patrick until he no longer moved. Witnesses testified that McGhee got up and walked away, then returned and kicked Patrick in the temple with tremendous force, Marshall said.

McGhee took money out of Patrick's pockets and said that he hoped that Patrick died. Patrick's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hays Webb's office prosecuted the case. McGhee was sentenced as a habitual offender to life in prison for the murder conviction, and to 20 years for the theft conviction.

Prior to the murder, McGhee had recently been released from prison where he had served two years of a 10-year sentence for the attempted murder of a Tuscaloosa police officer.

McGhee appealed his convictions for Patrick's murder and the theft. The Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division represented the state during McGhee's appeal, urging the Court of Criminal Appeals to reject McGhee's arguments and to affirm the convictions. On August 24, 2018, the conviction was affirmed.An "armed and dangerous" suspect sought in connection with a south Alabama shooting was arrested in Birmingham Wednesday afternoon.

The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force took 31-year-old Kerry Calvin Bracy on Springville Road. U.S. Marshals Chief Deputy Cliff LaBarge said lawmen found Bracy at an apartment complex in the 700 block of Springville Road. He tried to run out the back door of the apartment but was taken into custody.

Bracy was sought by the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office after he and a second, unnamed suspect reportedly tried got into an argument while trying to buy marijuana from a 20-year-old man earlier this week. The victim was shot by one of the two men, authorities said, and airlifted to a Pensacola hospital.

Following the shooting, the two suspects fled in a gray, 2016 Chrysler 200. Bracy had outstanding warrants for first-degree assault and first-degree robbery.A Center Point teen is behind bars after lawmen say he is the suspect in three carjackings in the month of August alone.

Keshun Lamar Graves, 18, was arrested Aug. 24, said Jefferson County sheriff's Chief Deputy Randy Christian. Graves is accused of robbing three people of their vehicles at gunpoint in separate incidents between Aug. 11 and Aug. 24. One of the crimes happened in unincorporated Jefferson County, and two more in Birmingham's city limits.

On Tuesday, Aug. 21, deputies responded about 2 a.m. to the 1600 block of Center Point Road to investigate a reported of a carjacking. The adult female victim told authorities she had given a ride to two men she did not know from a gas station to a nearby apartment complex.

When they arrived at the apartment complex one of the men pulled a gun on her and ordered her out of the car. The suspects then drove away in her car.

Christian said a description of the suspects was given to patrol deputies who work the area, and, on August 24, deputies located one suspect - Graves - during a traffic stop at Polly Reed Road and Center Point Parkway. He matched the description provided to authorities.

Graves was positively identified as the person who had committed the carjacking. He was arrested and taken to the Jefferson County Jail where he was held on $60,000 bond in that case.

Christian said Graves was also identified as a suspect in two similar carjacking robberies that occurred in Birmingham. On Aug. 11, according to court records, Graves robbed a man of a four-door Chevrolet at gunpoint. Additional details on that case weren't immediately available.

Then, on Aug. 22, authorities said a man gave Graves a ride and the suspect then robbed him of his Honda Odyssey van at gunpoint. That incident started in the 1000 block of Christopher Drive.

Sheriff's deputies were in the area at the time of the carjacking and chased the suspect. The suspect, police say, wrecked in the area of Carson Road near Seventh Street N.W. and ran into a wooded area.

Christian said sheriff's and Birmingham police detectives worked together to obtain the warrants on Graves, which were issued Aug. 25. Graves, he said, is also a suspect in another robbery case in Center Point. Charges are expected in that case.

Also, sheriff's detectives are working to identify the second suspect in their case. Graves remains in the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $180,000.

"It seems he intended on this being just a way of life for him,'' Christian said. "He is very very fortunate we caught him before he killed someone or got himself killed."A Tuscaloosa man was found dead Wednesday morning after an apparent crash Tuesday night.

Alabama State Troopers identified the victim as Travis Lee Wallace. He was 34.

The crash is believed to have happened about 5 p.m. on Hargrove Road, two miles east of Tuscaloosa, said Senior Trooper Reginal King. Wallace was driving a 2013 Chevrolet Impala when he left the roadway and struck several trees.

Authorities said Wallace was not using a seat belt and was ejected from the car. He and the car were discovered Wednesday morning.

King said although the circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation, speed is believed to be a factor. Nothing further was released pending the ongoing investigation by troopers.The right to life of the unborn, opposition to Common Core education standards and standing for the national anthem are included in a platform adopted by the Alabama Republican Party.

Chairwoman Terry Lathan said in a press release it's the first time the state party has adopted a platform. The state executive committee approved the list of principles at its summer meeting in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

"Our platform shares our beliefs of a foundation based on limited government, freedom of speech, sanctity of life and respect of our laws - among many other statements and values," Lathan said. "With the platform of the Republican National Committee as our base, we are anxious to share our new ALGOP Platform with all Alabamians."

Photo voter ID, charter schools, and individual rights to bear firearms are also listed among the 17 points in the platform.

Alabama Republican Party Platform by Mike Cason on ScribdAlabama's state superintendent of schools Eric Mackey today addressed the controversy sparked by a recently rediscovered guidance document from the Alabama State Department of Education suggesting physical education teachers avoid games such as tag, dodgeball and Duck, Duck Goose.

"It is completely up to you which games you play. There is no directive about which games you can and cannot play," Mackey said in Montgomery during a meeting with superintendents statewide. "Go back, tell your principals to take care of their own P.E. problems, please."

The document removed yesterday was posted two years ago but was shared by Auburn University Montgomery's Physical Education program on Tuesday.

It was a list of games ALSDE recommends not be played but was not an outright ban on the activities.

Mackey said he had the document removed when the controversy was called to his attention late Tuesday. "I wanted to take it down until I could read it and review it," he told AL.com Wednesday.

After reviewing it, Mackey said, "I can assure you that particular list is not going back up as long as I'm state superintendent." Officials are still reviewing the document to see if anything further needs to be done.

The same list of games - with the addition of others such as Red Light, Green Light and Four Corners - is on Page 200 of the Alabama Physical Education Instruction Guide. The guide was created in 2009 and last updated in 2015 and is the only instruction guide for P.E. teachers on the ALSDE website.

Mackey noted today this "was a document developed some years ago... It was last updated about six superintendents ago. It got re-released this week."

Mackey said he has not been able to find any evidence that it was approved by any previous state superintendent or the state board of education.

Though the list likely was started to help P.E. teachers make decisions about which games were appropriate, Mackey said, "In my reading of the document, it went too far."

Mackey said he trusts teachers, as professionals, to make the determination which games are appropriate during P.E.

The document quickly grabbed national attention. Mackey said he was to meet with Newsweek about it today.

AL.com's Leada Gore contributed to this report.

This post was updated at 5 p.m. with additional comments from Alabama state superintendent Eric Mackey.The recent opening of Sumter County's first fully-integrated public school, University Charter School in Livingston, got a lot of attention by news agencies across the country.

Though the general reaction was somewhere between 'it's about time' and 'what a great story of hope,' the question of how a public charter school with a commitment to racial diversity came to be in a historically segregated community deserved more digging.

Erica Frankenberg, a Mobile native who now directs the Center for Education and Civil Rights at Penn State University, focuses her research on school desegregation and how school choice can impact integration efforts. She said she suspects the accountability movement, using test results as a measure of a school's success, has hurt the public schools like those in Sumter County.

"In terms of white families," Frankenberg said, "it gives them reason to explain in technical, rational ways their choice that furthers segregation."

This makes it hard to know the exact motives of the white families that have avoided public schools like those in Sumter County since federal courts demanded Alabama's schools to integrate in the late 60s. That's when whites fled to newly-created segregated academies leaving public schools there with nearly 100 percent black student enrollment.

"White families have more resources typically," Frankenberg said, "financially and in terms of social networks and access to power."

A school with a "failing" label, like many of the public schools in Sumter County in recent years, may be easier to justify not enrolling your child in, she said.

The problem with that, Frankenberg said, is "you never really get at the root cause to be able to try to change those patterns."

Birth of a charter school

So a half-century after federal judges imposed integration in Alabama, and with the predominantly black public schools failing on test scores and the private white academy on a financial ledge, the University of West Alabama stepped in with an idea born of necessity.

UWA President Ken Tucker, one of the key supporters of UCS, said education choices for families with young children considering living in Sumter County, whose western border is on the Mississippi-Alabama state line, were limited to what amounted to a dual school system.

"We had essentially an all-black public school that was perpetually on the failing schools list," Tucker said. "We had an extremely small all-white private school that was perpetually in financial difficulty."

Recruiting faculty to the university grew increasingly difficult, he said. A survey they conducted found that two-thirds of existing faculty at UWA lived outside of Livingston, where UWA is located, and outside of Sumter County because they had small children, he said.

"They didn't like the [school] options so they went to Demopolis or Tuscaloosa or Meridian or elsewhere."

UWA has a diverse student body, enrolling 2,100 undergraduate students in the fall of 2017. Of those students, 44 percent were black and 42 percent were white, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Tucker knows the history of the area and the struggles that area schools have faced. Born and raised in Linden, in neighboring Marengo County, he has spent the past 20-plus years as a resident of Demopolis. He has seen the numbers of residents dwindle and knows the lifeblood of a community is a strong educational foundation, which largely eluded Sumter County's residents.

Tucker said the idea of doing something different came during a lunch with newly-seated board members in 2016. One of the new board members asked him what was the most important thing the board could do to make the biggest difference in the community.

"Without hesitation, I responded improve K through 12 education," Tucker said.

Board members agreed, allowing Tucker to appoint an exploratory committee in September of 2016 to determine which paths to improvement were viable, he said.

Two paths emerged, he said. The first was to expand the university's early childhood program beyond the early grades as a private school. Or second, pursue opening a startup public charter school that would offer a high-quality education, he said.

Alabama's charter school law had been passed in 2015, but only one charter school had opened. Charter schools are public schools funded with taxpayer dollars that are allowed flexibility from regulations, encouraging innovation, in exchange for more accountability spelled out in the contract, or charter, with the governing authorizer.

Opening a magnet school under the governance of the current elected Sumter County school board was considered but not presented as the committee did not see it as a viable option, he said.

"It quickly became apparent that a charter school was by far the best and most feasible route to go," Tucker said. Because charter schools are public schools, he said, that was the best path to sustain a new school.

University officials wanted to innovate, he said, using the flexibility afforded a charter to offer students a unique education they had not had access to before.

Tucker said they chose a curriculum model known as "STREAM," adding Reading and Arts to the well-known Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education model, alongside of character and place-based education opportunities so students have a sense of the place where they live.

UCS emphasizes STEM and STREAM education where students must solve complex tasks and problems while using skills and... Posted by University Charter School on Monday, August 27, 2018

"We are trying to fix what should have been fixed 50 years ago," he said. While racial diversity is certainly a piece of that, he said, "the larger part of that is we're trying to fix a widely perceived inadequate education option."

With the charter school, they're allowed, Tucker said, "to think outside the box and mold and create something that's new, different and will really make a positive impact."

It is precisely that something new and different that UCS officials hoped would attract families to the charter school.

UCS Head of School J.J. Wedgworth was charged with recruiting families for the school and said it was "equally difficult" recruiting black families and white families, and while the school did not reach initial capacity expectations, students can continue to enroll until Oct. 1.

Thank you to Livingston Mayor Tom Tartt for joining our middle school students and teachers on their walking field trip... Posted by University Charter School on Friday, August 17, 2018

Diversity essential to success

Of the school's 300-plus students, 55 percent are black and 45 percent are white. While not fully representative of the county's demographic split -- 76 percent black and 24 percent white -- it is by far the most racially diverse school in the county's history.

Frankenberg said she isn't surprised to learn that recruiting families was difficult. She has studied why families make the choices they do. "We found that black and Latino families were less likely to choose charter schools that had a higher white percentage and the opposite was true of white families. They want to go to charter schools that have a higher white percentage."

Frankenberg said there is value in racially diverse schools that often isn't reflected in the typical measures of school accountability like test scores.

She'd like to see the conversation about what is valued in public schools reframed, she said, "so that it's easier to support white families and families of color putting their kids into schools that maybe don't have a high percentage of kids passing on the [standardized] test but are doing other things" that are valuable to the community.

Frankenberg said she's curious to know how the choice to attend the new charter school is affecting families in the Sumter County community. The sustainability of the diverse population at the charter school, she said, will depend on how that choice is being treated by those not in the school.

There are a lot of motivations for why families choose a school, she said. What's important for those trying to purposefully diversify the school, she said, is to find a way to appeal to families of both races.

"I think we need these champions," Frankenberg said, "and it sounds like there's a good one there."

Tucker is proud of the fact that in a short six-month period, they completed their charter school application and were under consideration by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission, which unanimously approved the application in June of 2017.

During the committee's four community meetings, which Tucker led alongside other university officials, he faced questions about their motives for opening a charter school.

Some Sumter Academy supporters questioned whether the motive was to put the academy out of business. On the other side, some in Sumter County worried the charter school would simply become a school for white students, essentially replacing the segregation academy so white families would no longer have to pay tuition.

"People will attribute motives to what you're doing that are just not true, just not accurate, and sometimes it's pretty derogatory," he said.

"Our motives were pure," Tucker said. "All we were trying to do is provide a high-quality choice, another option, for parents to be able to choose from."

"We knew there would be pockets of resistance," Tucker said. "We knew there would be those from the public school that might feel threatened and would push back, as well as there would be those in the private school that would feel threatened and push back."

Tucker said the charter school was never meant to hurt either group, and UWA will continue to partner with not only Sumter County's public schools but other public schools in the region. The university wants to be a leader in rural education, he said.

"We have always and will continue to work with public schools," Tucker said. "Because that's part of our mission, and particularly part of our mission associated with our college of education."

UWA has been a strong partner of the county's schools, Tucker said, providing evidence of the more than $1 million in in-kind services to Sumter County schools since 2011. That includes providing student teachers and interns as well as setting up model classrooms and providing training for the county's teachers.

Tucker said he recognizes that UCS would likely not have been able to be successful to this point without UWA's backing. The university continues to support the charter school in areas like maintenance, safety, and security, he said.

Tucker is proud of the efforts of the "all-star team" that researched the options, went into the community, and did the hard work of pulling the school together initially and during the planning year.

He is also proud of the four factors making UCS the "only one of its kind in the nation":

A university-sponsored charter school,

A rural charter school,

In an extremely impoverished area, and

When fully implemented will be a pre-K through 12

"When you put those together," Tucker said, "there's not another one of those that we could find, or that anybody could tell us that exists, that will be like us."

He hopes UCS will become a model for other rural areas. "We're not unique in the sense that there are a lot of rural areas with low-performing schools with a lack of resources that could use a model to try to emulate," he said.

When asked what this means to him personally, as a Black Belt native, Tucker pauses, saying he hasn't pondered that question just yet.

And then Tucker answers.

"We want to do the right thing for the right reasons and really make a positive impact, and I mean this sincerely. That's what this is all about: changing direction along a path that will give people the opportunity for a better future." Tucker paused, clearing the lump in his throat as his emotion welled to the surface.

The new school year is barely underway and what happens next, both with UCS and with the county's public non-charter schools, will forge the path for the county's future.

Newly-seated Sumter County Superintendent Anthony Gardner told school board members during the Aug. 21 meeting that enrollment was 1,280 with 1,217 students present that day.

While state funding won't be reduced due to the loss of those students until next year, if those numbers hold, that means the system has 220 fewer students than last year resulting in a corresponding loss of state dollars.

Ten years ago, the county schools enrolled 2,300 students.

The dynamics of change are underway in Sumter County. It is clear the opening of the charter school is disrupting the status quo that has plagued improvement in the area.

A grassroots citizens group, Concerned Citizens for the Improvement of the Sumter County School System, is putting pressure on the elected school board, offering to help in any and all ways possible, to improve education in the county's non-charter schools. The group held their second public meeting on Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse in Livingston.

Next, AL.com takes a look at what is happening in Sumter County's public non-charter schools.A vacant Huntsville City Council seat appears headed for a runoff Tuesday night after the leading candidate came very close to winning outright, according to unofficial returns.

Northeast Huntsville civil leader Frances Akridge outpolled both former Huntsville school superintendent Mary Jane Caylor and current schools employee Keith Ward in the District 2 race. But Akridge took only 49.87 percent of the vote, according to returns posted Tuesday night.

Akridge won 2,417 votes compared to Caylor's 1,571 and Ward's 859. Caylor and Ward's votes together total 2,430, which is 13 votes more than Akridge won. She now seems destined for a runoff with Caylor.

The votes posted Tuesday night included absentee ballots, but not provisional ballots. Provisional ballots are disputed votes that aren't counted until verified. An example might be a voter who insists he is in the right precinct, but isn't on the precinct roll. He is allowed to vote, but the vote is held back until verified. Turnout was only 13 percent of registered voters, officials said.

In the day's other races, incumbent City Council President Jennie Robinson and Councilman Bill Kling easily defeated two challengers each.

Robinson won 2,853 votes to defeat Trent Iley with 683 votes and Rosemary Schexnayder with 364.

Kling won 1,392 votes to defeat Jacob Kristopher Anders with 336 votes and Jackie Reed with 296.

In the one school board race on the ballot, incumbent District 4 member Walker McGinnis beat challenger Ryan Renaud with 1,154 votes to Renaud's 825.The Alabama Republican Party on Saturday rejected former Public Service Commission candidate Jim Bonner's appeal of the party's decision not to count his votes in this year's GOP primary.

The party's candidate committee had voted on May 31 not to certify votes for Bonner because of comments or Facebook posts attributed to him that some considered racist, anti-Semitic or offensive.

Republican state Chairwoman Terry Lathan said the party's decertification of Bonner's vote was a rare step but justified, calling his comments "egregious."

Bonner says his comments were taken out of context or taken from posts he's made over the years to put him in the worst light.

Despite the party's position, Bonner received 49.7 percent of the vote in the June 5 primary, losing narrowly to incumbent Jeremy Oden.

On Saturday, the Republican Party State Executive Committee upheld the candidate committee's decision not to count Bonner's votes. Eighty-four percent of the committee members voted for the motion, which came during the party's summer meeting in Tuscaloosa.

Bonner said he could not attend the meeting because of the death of a close friend. He said he notified the party in writing that he would consider the matter closed if the party reversed itself and counted his votes and that he would fully support the party's candidates in November.

But with the party's rejection of his appeal, Bonner said he is running a write-in campaign in Alabama Senate District 6. Incumbent Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Sheffield and state Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, are candidates in that race.Human Rights Watch, August 27, 2018

Dear Prime Minister Khan,

As your government takes charge, we write to you about the human rights situation in Pakistan and urge that you take some key steps to help address current and longstanding problems. Human Rights Watch is an independent nongovernmental organization dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. We monitor and report on human rights violations in over 90 countries around the world, including Pakistan.

In July, Pakistanis went to the polls, effecting the second successive transition of power through a constitutional process from one elected government to another. In your speech, after your partyas successful campaign, you pledged to uphold the rights of women and minority groups. This is very welcome. You and your party have an important opportunity to create a rights-respecting government that abides by the rule of law and restores the publicas faith in democratic institutions.

However, as you know, many challenges remain before this goal can be reached. We urge you to take concrete steps to protect fundamental civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights in the areas specified below. A proactive human rights agenda is essential for Pakistanas development.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to a constructive relationship with your government and would be pleased to discuss these and other matters of mutual concern with you at any time over the course of your term in office.

Yours sincerely,

Brad Adams

Asia Director

Freedom of Expression and Attacks on Civil Society

A climate of fear impedes media coverage of abuses both by government security forces and militant groups. Journalists increasingly practice self-censorship after numerous attacks by militant groups, including the Taliban in retaliation to criticism, particularly around their extremist diktats. Media outlets remain under pressure from the authorities to avoid reporting on several issues including criticism of government institutions and the judiciary. Your party has been a strong proponent of free expression, including on social media, to criticize state policy and press for change. An independent media is key to robust dialogue that reflects public concerns. Human Rights Watch hopes that your government will foster a culture of political tolerance for media criticism.

The government should also act to end harassment, intimidation, use of coercion, violence, and other abuses against civil society activists by state security forces and militant groups. The Pakistani government announced the aPolicy for Regulation of INGOs in Pakistana on October 1, 2015, which requires all international human rights and humanitarian groups to register and obtain prior permission from the Ministry of Interior to carry out any activities in the country, and to restrict their operations to specific issues and geographical areas. The ministry is broadly empowered to cancel registrations on grounds of ainvolvement in any activity inconsistent with Pakistanas national interests, or contrary to Government policya a terms that have vague meanings and can be used for political reasons.

Human Rights Watch has received several credible reports of intimidation, harassment, and surveillance of various NGOs by government authorities. The previous government used the aRegulation of INGOs in Pakistana policy to impede the registration and functioning of international humanitarian and human rights groups. Your government should revise the policy for INGOs so that it does not contravene the rights to freedom of expression and association and cannot be misused for political reasons to restrict the peaceful activities of nongovernmental organizations.

In August 2016, the Pakistan government also enacted the Prevention of Cybercrimes Act, which allows the government to censor online content and to criminalize internet user activity under extremely broad and vague criteria. The law also sanctions government authorities to access data of internet users without judicial review or oversight. Human Rights Watch urges your government to review and amend the Prevention of Cybercrimes Act to ensure that it does not criminalize peaceful use of the internet, safeguards privacy rights, and enables free expression.

Freedom of Religion and Belief

At least 17 people remain on death row in Pakistan after being convicted under the draconian blasphemy law, and hundreds await trial. Most of those facing blasphemy are members of religious minorities a including Aasia Bibi, the first woman to face a potential death sentence for blasphemy a and are usually victims of personal disputes.

In the past two years, Pakistan has witnessed an increase in blasphemy-related violence while the government continued to encourage discriminatory prosecutions and other forms of discrimination against vulnerable groups by failing to repeal discriminatory laws and using religious rhetoric, inciting hatred against minorities. Human Rights Watch urges the Pakistani government to amend the blasphemy law, as a first step towards its repeal.

Members of the Ahmaddiya religious community continue to be a major target for blasphemy prosecutions and are subjected to specific anti-Ahmadi laws across Pakistan. They face increasing social discrimination as militant groups and extremists use provisions of the law to prevent Ahmadis from aposing as Muslims.a Human Rights Watch calls on the Pakistani government to repeal the ban on Ahmaddiya religious practice and hold to account all who engage in or incite violence against Ahmadis.

Violence Against Women and Girls

Violence against women and girls a including rape, so-called ahonora killings, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage a remains a serious problem. Pakistani activists estimate that there are about 1,000 ahonora killings every year.

Women from religious minority communities are particularly vulnerable to abuse. A report by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan found that at least 1,000 girls belonging to Christian and Hindu communities are forced to marry Muslim men every year. The government has failed to act to stop such forced marriages.

Child marriage remains a serious concern, with 21 percent of girls in Pakistan marrying before the age of 18, and three percent married before age 15, according to the United Nations childrenas agency UNICEF.

Human Rights Watch urges you to take steps to implement legislation against domestic violence, create and implement a comprehensive national action plan to end child marriages, and take measures to improve investigation and prosecution of ahonora killings and acid attacks, including reforming laws that facilitate impunity.

Access to Education

Over 5 million primary-school-age children are out of school, most of them girls. Human Rights Watch research found that girls are excluded from or drop out of school for various reasons including lack of schools, costs associated with studying, child labor, child marriage, and gender discrimination. Human Rights Watch urges the government to increase investment in education and develop measures to get all out-of-school children into education, with a focus on ending the gender disparity.

Attacks on schools and the use of children in suicide bombings by the Taliban and affiliated armed extremist groups continues. In 2017, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights invited Pakistan to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, which proposes steps to protect schools from attacks and military use during armed conflict. Human Rights Watch similarly urges Pakistan to join this declaration.

Restore Moratorium on the Death Penalty

At least 44 people were executed in 2017, of whom 37 were sentenced to death after convictions by military courts. Pakistan has one of the highest numbers of convicts on death row in the world. Many, if not most, of the over 8,000 prisoners on death row have been convicted through a judicial process that does not meet international fair trial standards.

Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an inherently irreversible, inhumane punishment. A majority of countries in the world have abolished the practice. On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution by a wide margin calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. If your government is to be seen as an upholder of human rights standards, it should restore the moratorium with immediate effect.

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Suicide bombings, armed attacks, and killings by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and their affiliates continue, targeting politicians, journalists, and religious minorities, as well as state security personnel. Human Rights Watch calls on your government to promptly investigate, fairly prosecute, and appropriately punish the perpetrators of these violent attacks.

Pakistan faces a serious security threat and has deployed measures to contain attacks by armed militants. However, there are serious allegations of human rights violations including torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings during counterterrorism operations. Suspects are frequently detained without charge or tried without proper judicial process. Counterterrorism laws also continue to be misused as an instrument of political coercion.

In March, parliament reinstated secret military courts empowered to try civilians after the term for military courts ended in January 2017. Pakistan human rights groups said that many defendants facing military courts are denied the right to a fair trial. Authorities do not allow independent monitoring of military court trials.

Human Rights Watch urges your government to take all necessary measures to end extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detentions, and to prosecute those responsible. Independent monitors must be provided access to all detainees and detained terrorism suspects should be provided access to lawyers and to communicate with family members.This is an opinion column.

Mike Hubbard is going to prison, probably.

Since a Lee County jury found the Alabama House speaker guilty on 12 felony ethics charges two years ago, a lot of people have been waiting.

Waiting to see whether justice works the same way for the powerful as it does for the powerless.

Waiting to see whether, like children on the playground, Alabama's elected leaders would change the rules mid-game if somebody they liked was about to lose.

Waiting to see whether the "toughest in the nation" ethics laws, which Hubbard himself helped pass before he broke them, had a hidden escape hatch built in.

Two years later, Hubbard is not in prison. Not yet.

But the probably is a little more pronounced this week than last.

On Monday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Hubbard's conviction on 11 of the 12 charges.

In a 160-page opinion, the court found state prosecutors proved their case and that defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct were too thin to take seriously.

But while the court didn't open an escape hatch for Hubbard, it showed lawmakers where to install one in the next legislative session.

At issue is the definition of "principal."

Under the law now, a principal is a person or company who employs a lobbyist. Principals are prohibited from giving a thing of value -- be it money or a job -- to a public official. It's also illegal for public officials to even ask a principal for a thing of value.

The trouble comes when the principal is a company. What is a company, after all, but a legal entity -- a piece of paper? And how does a piece of paper give a public official a thing of value?

Some body -- a living, breathing person -- has to do that.

The prosecution, the grand jury, the trial jury and judge all agreed that "principal" includes people who work for a company and are in a position to give orders to the company's lobbyist.

That definition of principal sent Alabama's elites running for the hills after Hubbard's conviction, and their lawyers have been working through the state's different channels -- particularly at the Alabama Ethics Commission -- to undermine that interpretation ever since.

Their definition would exclude anyone but the company itself -- the piece of paper.

In its ruling this week, the Court of Criminal Appeals found the facts of the Hubbard case compelling enough to accept that the people from whom Hubbard solicited favors were principals.

But then there was this.

"We could easily envision fact situations, however, where it is not clear whether a person engaging in a transaction with a public official is a principal, and whether a person holding a position in a business outside its immediate leadership hierarchy is a principal," the court wrote.

The court encouraged the Legislature to amend the law to redefine principal.

In doing so, the court effectively limited the application of its opinion to Hubbard alone.

And the only line the court drew was the chalk outline on the wall where the escape hatch could go.

But if lawmakers do install an escape hatch in the ethics law, it will be too late for Hubbard slip through it.

Probably.

Hubbard has one more stop in the appeals process -- the Alabama Supreme Court.

Until then, Alabama will have to wait some more.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

Want access to the best analysis and in-depth reporting about Alabama each week? Sign up for the weekly Reckon Report newsletter and follow Reckon on Facebook and Twitter.A Shoals-area runaway has been missing for three days, and authorities say he may be traveling to Tennessee.

Dustin Blake Chambers, 17, is described as 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. He has blue eyes and black hair.

Chambers last was seen wearing khaki shorts and a white shirt when he left his home in Florence on Sunday, police said.

Chambers may be traveling in a maroon 2001 Chevy Trailblazer with Alabama tag 41GG219.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Florence Police Department at 256-760-6610.State and local education leaders told members of the Federal Commission on School Safety there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to keeping students and schools safe during the Commission's fourth and final listening session in Montgomery on Tuesday.

During the public comment period, Alabama education officials from across the state addressed the Commission and asked for flexibility in using federal funding to improve mental health services for students.

The Commission was created in March by President Donald Trump in the wake of the tragic shooting deaths of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14.

Gov. Kay Ivey opened the first of two roundtable discussions by telling commission members about her Smart on Safety, or SOS, initiative designed to enhance security at schools, identify threats to school safety and coordinate responses from state and local agencies.

"You can surround any school campus with a wall strong enough to hold Fort Knox," Ivey said, "but the real danger may not have even been addressed yet. The real danger likely comes from that person inside the school that's a student who is having difficulty with mental or societal issues and is terribly frustrated and not adjusting."

Alabama Department of Mental Health Commissioner Lynn Beshear said they hope to expand a partnership with the Alabama Department of Education that has brought mental health services into 47 school districts by pairing those districts with 12 mental health authorities across the state.

Beshear said though they're only providing "a fraction of what the need is," providing mental health services to students during the school day on the school campus keeps students from missing school and parents from missing work.

School counselor Laura Hodges said reducing the caseload of counselors would help improve student access to mental health. Statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics for the 2014-2015 school year showed school counselors nationwide had an average caseload of 482 to 1, while in Alabama that ratio was 453 to 1, she said. The recommended caseload is 250 to 1, she said.

Alabaster City Schools' Student Services Coordinator Dorann Tanner, who was named 2018 National School Social Worker by the School Social Worker Association of America, said officials need flexibility with Title IV funding which would allow schools to provide mental health services to students while at school. "Sometimes our school-based mental health is the only mental health services students get," Tanner said.

Hoover City Schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy asked for "long-term, sustained federal support" for for school resource officers, pointing to a recent increase in SROs in Alabama schools, from 24 percent to 30.1 percent of schools having an SRO. "We see the importance of school resource officers, but that comes with a price tag," she said.

Murphy asked for federal support in three other areas: mental health services for students, threat assessment procedures, and surveillance systems that can be monitored not only by local but also state officials.

The activities of the commission have included formal meetings in Washington, D.C. to hear directly from experts, field visits to schools and districts to see best practices first-hand and holding listening sessions to hear what schools are doing to improve safety.

Commission members, including DeVos, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen did not attend the session but sent representatives to attend in their place.

Panel members included state and local officials from Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Deputy Education Secretary Mick Zais chaired the day's discussions in Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' absence and said the Commission will issue a report of best practices and resources to improve school safety before the end of the year, but, Zais said, "The Commission will not be issuing directives or unfunded mandates."

Listening sessions were held previously in Washington, D.C., Kentucky, and Wyoming. Zais said any additional suggestions can to be sent to safety@ed.gov.

The Commission's listening session was live-streamed and is available below and at this link.

Here's live-tweeting from the listening session. Click the link to view the thread.Yazidis asylum requests are increasingly rejected in Germany as refugees in other countries also face deportation.

The names of the refugees and nun in this article have been changed to protect their identities.

Update: Since this article was written, Haider, Samira and Amer have left the church after it was decided they would not be deported to Romania. There are currently seven refugees in the church; five have since completed their stays.

In a German convent, the church is now being used as a last-resort shelter for a group of Iraqi Yazidis whose asylum applications have been rejected.

It was clear in 2015 that we needed to respond in one way or another, says Sister Stephanie, explaining why her convent opened its doors to refugees one year after the massacre of Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq.

The UN estimated that in August 2014, around 3,000 were Yazidis were killed and 6,000 were taken captive.

Well protect them because its clear that these people are refugees who have been through everything. We would take hundreds if we had hundreds of beds, she says, adding that the convent is overwhelmed with requests for shelter.

The practice of seeking sanctuary in a church is a centuries-old tradition across Europe and was written into medieval canon and common law in England between the 12th and 16th centuries.

In Greek and Roman societies, temples could also harbour those in fear for their lives.

The German church asylum movement started in 1983, when a church in Berlin tried to shelter a Turkish man, Cemal Kemal Altun, who eventually committed suicide during his deportation proceedings.

A church offering asylum usually provides basic necessities such as accommodation and food.

While many countries, UN and international organisations have recognised the genocide, EU countries are refusing the asylum applications of so many Yazidis. Ahmed Khudida Burjus from Yazda, an organisation which supports victims of the Yazidi massacre

In 2015, an agreement rooted in tradition was signed between the church and the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. Under the deal, the state must tolerate church asylum while notices of deportation are reconsidered.

Churches, in turn, have to notify the authorities about each case they take on.

Church asylum is a grey area, says Sister Stephanie, its not recognised but its also not punishable so people who seek it and those who offer it are not punished. They have a lot of support here rather than at a house for refugees [where] the authorities can come in the middle of the night when no one is looking.

We have nothing in Kurdistan

Several Yazidis in the convent have had their application for asylum in Germany denied because of the EU Dublin regulation, which requires asylum seekers to remain in the first safe EU country that they are fingerprinted in.

Others face extradition to EU countries where they say they have been persecuted.

The refugees Al Jazeera interviewed at the church also wished to remain anonymous, because of their asylum situation.

{articleGUID}

All hope to remain in Germany.

Among them is a family of three  Haider, 22, Samira, 21 and their 19-year-old cousin Amer.

They say they have been told to return to Kurdistan where it is expected they can make a living. They have some family there, all of whom are currently unemployed and living in an unfinished building outside an IDP camp.

We have nothing in Kurdistan, says Haider, Kurdistan is not our home, our other brother and parents are here and our life in Iraq was destroyed.

They were trapped on Mount Sinjar for nine days when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) descended upon the Yazidi community in 2014. The siblings, alongside thousands of other Yazidis, took shelter on the mountain.

They eventually walked the Balkan route to Germany and were fingerprinted in Romania. They say that they were beaten in Bulgaria.

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect walk towards the Syrian border on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain on August 11, 2014 [Rodi Said/Reuters]

Their 53-year-old uncle is also in the convent and has had friends and family members who were murdered by ISIL. The uncle claimed church asylum after police attempted to deport him back to France.

Saido, 28, another refugee, is now being told he must return to Bulgaria, but he is still hoping to find a way to bring his wife and four children, who are still living in a camp on Mount Sinjar, to Germany.

There is not enough food and the tents are falling apart there, he says, we lost everything in 2014 and we have not received protection in Iraq. Germany is a place where I have family support and where I hope I can bring my wife and children so that we can live together as a family in safety.

How can Yazidis return?

Official statistics show that although the acceptance rate for Yazidis claiming asylum in Germany is now around 83 percent, this is a significant decrease from the 97.4 percent of Yazidi asylum requests granted in 2015.

It was a genocide, says Sister Stephanie, speaking of the events of 2014. [Sinjar] is destroyed and there is no protection for Yazidis.

They currently have 12 Yazidis staying with them.

Church asylum is a last resort, she says, adding that demand has increased since the beginning of last year.

Elsewhere in Europe, 11 Yazidis in the UK are currently facing deportation back to Iraq.

While many countries, UN and international organisations have recognised the genocide, EU countries are refusing the asylum applications of so many Yazidis, says Ahmed Khudida Burjus from Yazda, an organisation which supports victims of the Yazidi massacre.

Yazidi lands are not stable. Yazidi areas have not been de-mined yet over 80 percent of them are living in a miserable situation in camps. Over 3,000 Yazidi are still missing, justice has not been served and those criminals who committed genocide and war crimes against Yazidis are walking freely in and around Sinjar. So how can Yazidis return?

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney is among those seeking the prosecution of ISIL in a court of law with Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman who escaped ISIL captivity. As of yet, no member of ISIL has stood trial.

For now, this small German convent will pursue its humanitarian work.

In 2017, German churches managed to stop 1,478 planned deportations. In the first three months of this year, churches stopped or delayed more than 500 cases.

If there is anyone who needs asylum its them, says Sister Stephanie. We will offer church asylum as long as we need to.Residents say they cant afford to flee Hodeidah and are instead trying to live normal lives amid the chaos of war.

Hodeidah, Yemen  Minutes. Thats all Muhammed Yassin had to save his family.

When two low-flying aircraft roared over his neighbourhood in the western city of Hodeidah last month, the 35-year-old knew time was ticking.

Like many Yemenis that day he rushed home, picked up his family, and hastily began packing essentials in order to leave.

More than 120,000 Yemenis had already fled the war-ravaged city since the start of June, most of them heading to the relative safety of the capital, Sanaa, about 170km away.

As laser-guided bombs were being prepared for release, Yassin and his family-of-four boarded a rickety old bus in which they spent the next few hours, peering out of the windows monitoring the skies.

It wasnt long before the deafening sounds of warplanes fell silent, and the thick trails of white smoke from the multi-million dollar jets became small specks in the horizon.

As we headed to Sanaa, I was looking forward to putting my family in the safe trust of the United Nations, he told Al Jazeera.

But when they reached the capital, they were greeted by the sight of charred buildings, crumpled cars, and sewage in the streets  a city reeling from more than three years of air attacks by a Saudi-UAE military alliance.

I tell my children that things will be ok, but it's hard to convince them when I struggle to even convince myself. Samar Abdullah, a 38-year-old mother of four

Go hungry or go home

Hundreds of Yemenis, most of them women and children, had been forced to take refuge in schools, he said.

The institutions had long-abandoned teaching and instead became makeshift shelters for the displaced, according to Yassin.

Children were found sleeping on the dusty floors of the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq school where his family, and dozens of others, had been housed.





According to several Yemenis who had also made the journey, costs had skyrocketed. The price of escorting a family to Sanaa had surged to 60,000 riyals ($240).

Once the internally displaced made it to the capital, rent and food cost a staggering 200,000 riyals ($800) a month.

With fruits, vegetables, and cooking gas in short supply, Yassin said the cost of living was just too high.

After all his savings dried up, he said he was presented with two options; either stay in the capital and go hungry, or return to Hodeidah and provide for his family.

I had no option but to return home, he told Al Jazeera.

I am worried about facing death [in Hodeidah], but I am also worried about staying in a city without any source of income.

Rebel warfare

Once home to around 600,000 people, Hodeidah was a lifeline for millions of Yemenis before the war, and handled about 90 percent of the country imports.

Since it was captured by the Houthis during their 2014 lightening offensive, the Red Sea port city has seen its fortunes shift from Yemens agro-industrial capital, to a fierce battleground between the countrys warring factions.

According to aid groups, about 400,000 people still reside in the city, where Houthi fighters have started erecting barricades, digging trenches, and fortifying positions in preparation for guerrilla warfare.

We have immediate concerns about the safety of people in the path of fighting, said Suze van Meegen, a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Hodeidah.

We are concerned for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. We are concerned that the city could be closed off for a long period with nothing able to get in or out, and in that case, the biggest concern of all is the possible severing of supply lines into the rest of Yemen.

That will push millions of people over the cliff of hunger into a full-blown famine.

Cant afford to leave

With the Saudi-UAE alliance intensifying their bombing campaign on Houthis-held areas, several residents told Al Jazeera they had grown tired of trying to flee, only to find their next refuge becoming a target as well.

In June, the last month where statistics of air raids were available, the Saudi-UAE alliance carried out at least 258 air raids, nearly a third of which hit non-military sites.

The Yemen Data Project said at least 96 of those were carried out on Hodeidah.





I can no longer afford to leave, said Samar Abdullah, a 38-year-old mother of four.

I tell my children that things will be ok, but its hard to convince them when I struggle to even convince myself.

While some males such as Yassin had left with their wives and children, many said they returned home either to look after their property, find work to fight alongside the Houthis.

I needed an income to support my family, said Mahdi Ahmed, a 44-year-old supermarket worker who recently returned to the city.

Too poor to leave again, he says he expects the next few weeks to be very difficult unless the air attacks stop.

I want to leave, but Im prepared to live under bombardment, he said.

As long as the Houthis control Hodeidah city, they have an advantage that can bolster their position in any future political process. Khalil Dewan, a MENA analyst at IHS Markit

Graveyard

The military offensive to take back Hodeidah is the most intense battle so far in a war that has killed more than 10,000 people.

Dubbed Operation Golden Victory, it is carried out by a disparate collective of 20,000 men.

The forces include the National Resistance, a group of fighters loyal to Yemens former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Tihama Resistance, a group of fighters loyal to Yemens exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and the Giant Brigades, an elite unit backed by the UAE.

Despite each force pushing a different agenda, the National Resistance, led by the former presidents nephew Tariq Mohammed Saleh, has appeared to be the most effective of the fighting units.

Saleh, who analysts say is motivated by the killing of his uncle by the Houthis in December, has led his forces to within 2km of the rebel-held airport.

The offensive marks the first time since the start of the conflict that the alliance has tried to capture such a heavily defended city.

Analysts say the alliance is readying an attack on Hodeidah airport and a major highway linked to Sanaa.

The Houthis have no plans to retreat, said Khalil Dewan, a MENA analyst at IHS Markit.

Their military wing [looks] set to fight the Saudi-UAE alliance to the end.

As long as the Houthis control Hodeidah city, they have an advantage that can bolster their position in any future political process.

Nowhere safe left to hide

Should the alliance advance beyond the airport into the poor neighbourhoods of al-Rabsa and Ghalil, Houthi snipers and landmines will lie in wait, he added.

The alliance absolutely wants to avoid street battles, said Adam Baron, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

But its hard to see the Houthis  absent a diplomatic breakthrough  simply packing up their bags and moving on.

Warning the human cost of retaking the city could be catastrophic, aid agencies have been trying to broker a deal saying the assault puts thousands of civilians at grave risk and could turn the city into a graveyard.

As the Saudis continue to bomb the city and drop leaflets calling for an insurrection, Yassin said the future looked bleak for the thousands of trapped civilians.

Theres nowhere safe left to hide.

Follow Al Jazeeras Faisal Edroos on Twitter: @FaisalEdroosThe US shouldnt count on Russia to force Iran out of Syria any time soon.

Speculation about tensions in Russian-Iranian relations after the collapse of the nuclear deal earlier this year has been circulating for a few months now. Tehran appears to be fearing a betrayal, as Moscow is trying to negotiate with the United States on a variety of issues, including recently imposed economic sanctions.

In an August 22 press conference during a visit to Israel, US National Security Adviser John Bolton appeared to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin approves of the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria.

President Putin had said it to me three weeks before. What he was saying was that Iranian interests in Syria were not coterminous with Russian interests in Syria and he would be content to see Iranian forces all sent back to Iran we were talking about the complete return of both regular and irregular Iranian forces, Bolton said.

The following day, Bolton met his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russias Security Council, and it turned out that after all there wasnt such solid mutual understanding on the issue.

Following the five-hour meeting, Bolton told journalists that the issue, which had been previously discussed in Helsinki by Putin and US President Donald Trump, was brought up again but no major progress had been made. According to him, Patrushev offered the geographic restriction of Iranian forces in exchange for the suspension of oil sanctions on Iran; the offer was rejected outright by the Americans.

The two officials failed to sign a joint statement after the Russian delegation refused to include an admission that Russia had meddled in US elections  something Bolton had insisted on. In these and past discussions, Washington acted as if it had leverage over Moscow because it believes the Russians are stuck [in Syria] at the moment. The Russian leadership, on the other hand, refuses to be pressured and insists on negotiating on an equal footing with the US.

Apart from that, there are a number of other reasons why Moscow continues to reject the offers the US has made on Syria.

Russia is not ready to abandon Iran

As Russian senator Alexei Pushkov noted after the talks in Geneva, the US administration is trying to get from Russia such a shift in positions that would mean a full turn on Syria. And Washington, as it asks Russia to abandon its situational ally, Iran, refuses to clarify what it would give Moscow in return.

US assurances that concessions Russia makes on its position on Iran would lead to the easing of sanctions sound unconvincing to Moscow. The Kremlin is well aware that the lifting of sanctions is the prerogative of the US Congress and not the president. This means the signing of an agreement with Trump on Syria would not guarantee any progress on sanctions.

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Moreover, the Russian leadership is not ready to burn all bridges with Iran. In addition to the Syrian crisis, Moscow and Tehran collaborate on a wide variety of issues  from energy to security in the Caspian region and the situation in Afghanistan. And it is not only Iran who wants these collaborations to continue but also Russia.

Finally, Russia still does not trust the US  and for good reason.

The Russian leadership has repeatedly used Iran as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the US.

In June 1995, US Vice President Al Gore signed a secret agreement with then Russian Prime Minister Viktor S Chernomyrdin, calling for an end to all Russian sales of conventional weapons to Iran by the end of 1999. This agreement cost Russia $4bn.

In 2009, the administrations of Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama agreed on a reset in Russian-US relations, which required Russia to scale down its partnership with Iran. A year later, Russia stopped supplying Iran with S-300 missiles systems in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution 1929. The resolution had banned countries from supplying heavy weapons to the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme.

However, in both cases, despite Russia holding up its side of the bargain, there was never a real reset or warming in relations between Moscow and Washington. Russia did not gain anything from using Iran as a bargaining chip. On the contrary, it suffered economic losses from interrupted contracts and risked losing the trust of its Iranian allies.

Russias influence over Tehran is not unlimited

There are also some reasons preventing Russia from accepting US demands on Syria that are not entirely in Moscows control. The Russian leadership is likely not lying when it calls an Iranian withdrawal from Syria unrealistic. Russia remains a key actor in the Syrian conflict, but its influence over its allies is not unlimited.

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After pro-Iran forces pulled out of Syrias border region with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights earlier this month, Washington and Tel Aviv started to believe that Russia could facilitate Irans complete withdrawal from Syria. Russia, however, cannot meet such a high expectation for three reasons.

First, the withdrawal of pro-Iran forces from Syrias southern border is not so much the result of Moscows pressure on Tehran, as it is a consequence of the Iranian leaderships belief that it is in their own interest to do so.

The Kremlin managed to convince the Iranian establishment that the voluntary withdrawal of their militias from the border zone would not only minimise the risk of clashes with Israel, but also allow the Syrian government to retain influence over southern Syria. But it would be difficult for Russia to argue that the complete withdrawal of regular and irregular Iranian troops from Syria would help Tehran or the Assad regime.

Second, the complete removal of pro-Iran forces from Syria is not attainable under current circumstances. The nature of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) project in Syria is not one of dominating and taking over the system, but rather integrating so as to become an indivisible part of it. Throughout the seven-year civil war in Syria, the Iranians have so strongly integrated into the structure of the countrys armed forces that their elimination would entail the dismantling of the whole system.

Third, on August 27, Iran and Syria signed a military cooperation deal, making the likelihood of Irans complete withdrawal from Syria even more impossible.

In light of all this, Washington can hardly count on Russia to force Iran out of Syria any time soon.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Federal defendant unable to get jury to hear "Trump defense" relating to "flipping" | Main | "More Cops, Fewer Prisoners?" 

Though bail is not technically a sentencing issue, the nationwide debate over bail practices has lots of echoes into sentencing and is certainly an important element of wider criminal justice reform movements. Consequently, it seems worth noting this news via the Los Angeles Times under the headline "California Gov. Jerry Brown signs overhaul of bail system, saying now 'rich and poor alike are treated fairly'." Here are some of the details:

California Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a landmark bill to overhaul the states money-bail system, replacing it with one that grants judges greater power to decide who should remain incarcerated ahead of trial.

The two-year effort fulfills a pledge made by Brown last year when he stalled negotiations over the ambitious legislation, saying he would continue to work with lawmakers and the states top Supreme Court justice on the right approach to change the system. The new law puts California at the forefront of a national push to stop courts from imposing a heavy financial burden on defendants before they have faced a jury. Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly, he said in a statement.

Senate Bill 10 would virtually eliminate the payment of money as a condition of release. Under last-minute changes, judges would have greater power to decide which people are a danger to the community and should be held without any possibility of release in a practice known as preventive detention.

Top state officials, judges, probation officers and other proponents of the efforts lauded the new law. Co-authors Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) and Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Alameda) called it a transformative day for criminal justice, and a shift away from a pretrial system based on wealth to one focused on public safety.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who helped craft the legislation through the formation of a judicial task force that spent a year studying the issue, described a three-branch solution to address a money-bail system that was outdated, unsafe and unfair....

But the historic passage of the bill has been bittersweet for lawmakers, as opponents  including some of the bills most ardent former supporters  argued the final version of the legislation would allow judges to incarcerate more people based on subjective criteria, and did not include enough oversight over risk-assessment tools found to be biased against communities of color.

No one should be in jail because they are too poor to afford bail, but neither should they be torn apart from their family because of unjust preventative detention, said a statement from American Civil Liberties Union directors Abdi Soltani in Northern California, Hector Villagra in Southern California and Norma Chavez Peterson, representing San Diego and Imperial counties....

Under SB 10, counties would have to establish their own pretrial services agencies, which would use risk-assessment tools, or analysis, to evaluate people arrested to determine whether, and under what conditions, they should be released. Only people charged with certain low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors  a list of charges that can be further narrowed by county  would be eligible for automatic release within 12 hours of being booked into jail.

All others arrested would have to undergo the risk analysis, a system that would sort defendants based on criminal history and other criteria into low-, medium- or high-risk categories. Courts would be required to release low-level defendants without assigning bail, pending a hearing. Pretrial services offices would decide whether to hold or release medium-risk offenders. Judges would have control over all prisoners in the system.

The new law, which will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2019, is expected to decimate the bail industry. Whether it will lead to higher incarceration rates is unknown because courts dont track the data that would make such an analysis possible, lawmakers have said. But the law will require courts to collect and report incarceration rates and undergo in 2023 an independent review of the legislations impact on the criminal justice system.

Still, in the days before its passage, some criminal-justice-reform groups that once supported the bill worked to kill it, landing on the same side as a bail industry that has worked to sink the bill from the beginning. This week, a delegation of criminal-justice-reform advocates from across the state sent a veto letter to Brown.

The bill sets up a system that allows judges nearly unlimited discretion to order people accused of crimes, but not convicted and presumptively innocent, to be held in jail with no recourse until their case is resolved, the letter stated.Ayatollah Khamenei tells Irans president and cabinet they cannot count on European support for landmark agreement.

Irans supreme leader warned the country might abandon its nuclear deal with world powers, casting doubt on the ability of European states to save the accord following the US withdrawal.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet on Wednesday they should give up hope on [Europe] over economic issues or the nuclear deal, according to his website.

The nuclear deal is a means, not the goal, and if we come to this conclusion that it does not serve our national interests, we can abandon it, he was quoted as saying.

Iran would never negotiate with indecent and confrontational US officials on a new agreement, Khamenei said.

Following US President Donald Trumps exit from the important international accord to curb Irans nuclear ambitions, European powers have scrambled to ensure Tehran continues to receive economic benefits needed to keep it in compliance.

Khamenei set out a series of conditions in May for European powers if they wanted to keep Iran in the deal. They included steps by European banks to safeguard trade with Tehran and guarantee Iranian oil sales.

Political tumult

Khameneis remarks came as Iran tries to cope with the return of US sanctions, which triggered mounting economic problems that in turn are causing political tumult.

Rouhani has been battered by the return of US sanctions that saw a rapid departure of foreign firms and ended his hopes of attracting large-scale investment.

Conservative opponents of Rouhani, who have long opposed his outreach to the West, are smelling blood.

Rouhani was criticised over his handling of the economy and parliament attacked his key ministers. On Tuesday, he was grilled in parliament over economy for the first time in five years as president.

Legislators also sacked the minister of economy and finance as well as the labour minister.

Irans official unemployment rate is 12 percent, with youth unemployment as high as 25 percent in a country where 60 percent of the 80 million population is under 30. The riyal has lost more than two-thirds of its value in a year.

The worst may yet lie ahead as senior US officials say they aim to reduce Irans oil exports to zero after the new round of sanctions in November.

Iran has said if it cannot sell its oil because of US pressure, then no other regional country will be allowed to do so either, threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz  the strategic artery linking Gulf crude producers to the world.

A senior Iranian military official warned on Wednesday if foreign forces in the Gulf do not follow international laws, they would face the Revolutionary Guards firm response.Armed groups excluded from Tripoli and access to the spoils of Libyas informal economy have violently risen up.

A bout of fighting in Libyas capital has laid bare the fragility of an armed cartel that had brought a veneer of stability to the city and encouraged the gradual return of foreign diplomats and plans for elections in December.

Major battles have become rarer in Tripoli since last year as a handful of armed factions aligned with the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) consolidated their control.

But the ascent of four or five super militias has created resentment among groups excluded from the capital and from access to the spoils of Libyas informal economy.





That has heightened the risk of conflict and made the challenge of disbanding militias or integrating them into regular security forces more complex, diplomats and analysts say.

Bringing armed groups to heel is seen as crucial to resolving a conflict that has divided Libya since a NATO-backed uprising forced Muammar Gaddafi from power seven years ago, slashing oil production and giving space to migrant smugglers and fighters.

Very dangerous situation

Street battles on Monday and Tuesday pitted the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 65km southeast of Tripoli, against the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigades (TRB) and the Nawasi, two of the capitals largest factions.

The Kaniyat and other groups from outside Tripoli have noticed the success of rivals inside the city with growing unease. Reports about the wealth, power and extravagant lifestyles of some Tripoli rebel commanders have fuelled resentment.

The profits from state capture now go to a narrower set of armed groups than ever before, said Wolfram Lacher, a researcher at the German think-tank SWP.

Thats a very dangerous situation because it excludes powerful forces from access to levers of the state and administration, and this is now causing those forces to build alliances against the big militias in Tripoli.

As they launched their incursion into Tripoli, Kaniyat denounced their rivals as the Daesh [ISIL] of public money, promising to cleanse them from the country.





Kaniyat made gains as tanks, armoured vehicles, and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns were deployed in densely populated residential areas of southern Tripoli, with explosions and heavy artillery fire echoing across the city.

At least five people were killed and nearly 30 wounded on the first day, officials said.

Trapped migrants

Because of the fighting, several hundred migrants are now trapped in government-run detention centres in the capital after guards fled clashes between the rival groups in the past few days.

One aid worker, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters news agency about 400 people have been abandoned without food in the Ain Zara detention centre run by the UN-backed government.

Tripolis big armed groups claim official status through the GNA  which is opposed by a rival government and military faction based in the east of the sprawling North African country  but act with autonomy.

They guard strategic buildings, control Tripolis airport, and have infiltrated ministries and many of the banks, giving them access to coveted dollars at the official exchange rate, about five times cheaper than the parallel rate.

They place their people throughout the state administration, particularly in positions that offer control of economic resources, said Lacher.

Since last summer an ex-prime minister, the mayor of Tripoli, and the head of the state religious authority have been among a series of senior figures to be abducted then released by rebel fighters.

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A key member of the GNAs leadership, Fathi al-Majbari, withdrew from his position after an armed group attacked his residence in June.

Earlier this month the National Oil Corporation denounced threats by militias against the newly appointed head of its fuel distribution unit over efforts to tackle smuggling and the sovereign wealth fund said that it had been forced by threats and abductions to move premises.

Race against time

Prominent Libyans based abroad have said they seek the protection of armed factions, not the government, when they travel to Tripoli. Diplomatic staff evacuated amid fighting in 2014 and now tentatively returning ultimately depend on armed groups for access and protection.

Critics of a French-led plan to hold national elections on December 10 worry a free vote will be impossible, and militias will challenge with force any result they dont like.

I think its a race against time and I feel like the [Libyan] states disappearing, said one senior diplomat. Its hard now to tell wheres the state and wheres the militia.US last week cancelled a meeting with North Korea, citing insufficient progress on denuclearisation.

The US military has no plans to suspend major military exercises with South Korea, James Mattis, the US defence secretary, said on Tuesday.

Following a June meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Koreas Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, the US scrapped its largest military exercises with South Korea as a goodwill gesture according to Mattis, but he told reporters on Tuesday the US would continue other training operations with South Korea.

We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises, he said, adding that no decisions had yet been made on major exercises for next year.

The June summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim was the first meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader since the nations went to war in the 1950s.

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Kim broadly agreed to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, but made no indication that North Korea is willing to give up its weapons unilaterally, which is the Trump administrations demand.

However, since then, diplomats have failed to advance the process.

Last week, Trump cancelled a meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials, citing insufficient progress on denuclearisation.

I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2018

Trump has blamed the lack of progress partially on China, suggesting Beijing was stalling efforts to disarm Pyongyang.

China responded to those claims, calling the US presidents actions irresponsible.

Stalemate

Trumps June decision to unilaterally suspend drills with South Korea was broadly criticised as a premature concession to Kim, who Trump wants to give up his countrys nuclear weapons.

However, North Korea wants steps towards a peace treaty between the two countries.

The Korean war in the late 1950s ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty which left North Korea technically still at war with US-led UN forces in South Korea.

US officials fear North Korea might decide to cut a separate deal with South Korea, thus driving a wedge between the US-South Korea alliance.

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A South Korea presidential spokesperson acknowledged that talks between Washington and Pyongyang were at a stalemate.

With North Korea and the US remaining stalemated, there is an even bigger need for an inter-Korea summit, Kim Eui-kyeom, the spokesperson for the presidential Blue House, said at a press briefing.

According to a UN report from earlier this month, North Korea has not stopped working on its nuclear programme despite Kims vague commitment to denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula  a far cry from long-standing US demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament.

As a result of its nuclear programme, North Korea has been under sanctions since 2006, when the country carried out its first nuclear test.

In November 2017, the country said it had successfully developed a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the United States mainland.

Following that announcement, more sanctions were imposed by the UN in December.Ambassador Nikki Haley says right of return absolutely needs to be looked at during pro-Israeli think-tank speech.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has suggested the right of return for Palestinian refugees could be removed from any eventual peace settlement with Israel.

Speaking at an event on Tuesday with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington DC-based neoconservative think-tank with pro-Israeli sympathies, Haley was asked whether she agreed with taking the right of return off the table.

I think we have to look at this in terms of whats happening [with refugees] in Syria, whats happening in Venezuela, she said.

So I absolutely think we have to look at the right of return.

Palestinians view the right of return, along with the end of the Israeli occupation, as one of the basic tenants in achieving a peace deal with Israel.

Haley also accused the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) of exaggerating the number of Palestinian refugees it currently provides aid to and services for.

We will be a donor if it [UNRWA] reforms what it does  if they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them, Haley said.

Starvation and distress

There are more than five million Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and surrounding countries of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

The majority are descendants of the 700,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their villages, towns and cities by Zionist paramilitaries in 1947-1948.

In response to the refugee crisis, UNRWA was created the following year under UN Resolution 302, which stated its mandate to prevent conditions of starvation and distress  and to further conditions of peace and stability.

Since its inception, UNRWA has worked with governments on interim measures in anticipation of a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee question.

Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman for UNRWA in Gaza, said the issue of refugees is political by nature.

Because of this, it falls upon the international community to come up with a political solution, he told Al Jazeera, adding this has nothing to do with a particular vision.

We serve the Palestinian refugees until the Palestinian issue is resolved, he said. We execute what the resolution mandates. Once resolved, there is no need for UNRWA to exist.

UNRWA cuts and refugee review

In January, the United States cut $300m out of $350m in funding for UNRWA, which forced the UN body to slash jobs and scale back its operations, much to the consternation of Palestinian employees and those who rely on its services.

Half a million Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip went back to the 692 schools operated by the UNRWA on Wednesday, but the agency said it only has enough money keep the them open until September.

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett said Israeli media has reported the US is intending to go further by restricting the definition of Palestine refugees to only those who were forcibly displaced in 1948.

Theyre restricting the number from more than five million to 500,000, and indeed permanently cutting off all US funding to the UN agency, Fawcett said, reporting from occupied West Jerusalem.

It is something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long argued for, both the restriction of the definition of Palestine refugees and also the disbandment of UNRWA entirely, he said, noting the agency provides food aid to more than one million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Security implications

The Donald Trump administration has made no secret of its hostile view of UNRWA. In emails leaked to Foreign Policy magazine earlier this month, Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, described the agency in January as corrupt, inefficient, and doesnt help peace.

During his visit to Jordan last June, Kushner reportedly pushed for the refugee status of the two million Palestinians registered in the country to be dissolved.

According to Fawcett, some Israeli military and security officials are worried about the repercussions of the moves.

They have been telling the Israeli media that they are concerned about preventing UNRWA from operating because of the security implications that could have, he said.

So there is by no means a total acceptance of this plan in the Israeli establishment.Activists arrest over alleged caste incitement also draws condemnation from rights groups and opposition parties.

Indias Supreme Court has asked the Indian government to explain the arrests of five prominent activists in connection with caste violence that took place earlier this year.

The high-profile arrests triggered outrage and protests across India on Wednesday.

Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If you dont allow the safety valve, the pressure cooker will burst, Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who is among the three judges hearing the case at the Supreme Court, observed.

The arrested human rights activists received a reprieve from the top court, which directed that they be held under house arrest instead of police custody.

On Tuesday, searches were carried out at the homes of poet Varavara Rao in the southern city of Hyderabad; activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Maharashtra, trade union campaigner and law professor Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad; and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi. Subsequently these five were arrested.

Police said the activists had spurred Dalits in the face of a pride event at Bhima Koregaon in January that spilled over into weeks of violence and protests across Maharashtra state.

Dalits, at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, have suffered thousands of years of exclusion and extreme poverty.

On Wednesday, protests were held across India by 37 civil rights groups and enraged Indians protested on social media even as activists warned of a further crackdown on those defending human rights in the country.

The police are also probing the alleged connection of those arrested to Maoist rebels who have been involved in an armed struggle for decades against Indian security forces.

Maoist rebels, also known as Naxals, claim to fight across states in central and eastern India, for the rights of tribals, poor farmers and landless labourers.

On Twitter, Indians shared their outrage and trended #MeTooUrbanNaxal.

If @Sudhabharadwaj is a naxal, I am a naxal too. Arrest me. #MetooUrbanNaxal  nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) August 29, 2018

If quelling and intimidating the voices of dissent is your idea of democracy , then saying on your face, Mr Prime Minister @narendramodi ,  Me Too Urban Naxal #MeTooUrbanNaxal @free_thinker  Anurag Tripathi (@anurag999) August 29, 2018

When human rights violators are awarded plum positions and human right activists are killed/humiliated/jailed. #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Brenna Ribeiro (@BrennaRibeiro03) August 29, 2018

Dissent is patriotic #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Rajesh Sanyal (@sanyalrajesh) August 29, 2018

The police had also arrested five Dalit activists in June this year in connection with the same case.

The government has been trying to silence those who are defending the defenceless, said Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who challenged the arrests at the top court on Wednesday.

This is an outright attempt to intimidate human rights activists, dissenters and silence those who are opposed to the fascist policies of this government, Bhushan told Al Jazeera.

What those arrested have in common, they are our finest rights activists speaking out against the government. They are standing up for the rights of the poor and the marginalised in this country, he added.

The Supreme Court will resume hearing the case on September 6.

Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivaji Bodkhe confirmed the arrests but refused to answer questions from Al Jazeera.

Indias National Human Rights Commission has sent a notice to the government of Maharashtra asking them to explain the arrests while Amnesty International has called it a crackdown on human rights activists.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata party has defended the crackdown.

Those arrested are violent people who are conspiring against Indian society. Maoism is a banned ideology, so what do you expect? BJP leader and Member of Parliament, Rakesh Sinha told Al Jazeera.

India is neither Saudi Arabia nor China. The doors of the judiciary are open to them if they think they are innocent. Let there be a free and fair trial, he added.

But the arrests have brought back into the spotlight the debate about what some called the shrinking space for dissent in India under the government of Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi.

Gauri Lankesh, journalist and a strident critic of the current ruling party and its ideology, was killed last year, while a left-wing student leader Umar Khalid survived an assassination attempt this month.

Critics also pointed to the several arrests of Dalit activists including leaders like Chandrashekhar Azad who has been imprisoned under Indias draconian National Security Act since last year as examples of the right-wing governments clampdown on tolerance and freedom of expression.While the nationalities of the alleged spies have not been revealed, an Iranian minister states they are dual nationals.

The Iranian government has arrested tens of people after accusing them of being spies working for foreign governments.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Wednesday that several suspects held dual nationalities, but refused to specify which countries they belonged to.

I have repeatedly asked people to inform us if they know any dual national. The intelligence ministrys anti-espionage unit has successfully identified and arrested tens of spies in different governmental bodies, Alavi was quoted by ISNA, a semi-official news agency, on Tuesday.

Alavi did not specify the exact number of people arrest, nor did he say when they were apprehended.

Iran does not recognise dual nationality, but does not routinely announce arrests or charges of dual nationals.

After Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneis comments about infiltration of Western agents in Iranian decision-making bodies, the number of arrests of dual citizens has increased.

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According to the Reuters news agency, at least 30 dual nationals have been arrested in recent years by Irans elite Revolutionary Guards, mostly on espionage charges.

Last week, an Iranian-British dual citizen was released for three days after being accused in February of plotting to overthrow Irans government.

Israel and ISIL

ISNA also quoted the Iranian minister saying you have recently heard that we brought under our control a member of a cabinet of a powerful country, without specifying which country.

This accusation potentially referred to former Israeli Energy Minister Gonen Segev, who was charged in June by Israels internal security service for spying for Iran.

Segev, minister in 1995 and 1996, was arrested by Israeli authorities in 2004 for attempting to smuggle ecstasy pills into the country.

After his release in 2007, Segev moved to Nigeria, where he made contact with the Iranian embassy in 2012 according to Israeli investigators.

Alavi also talked about the arrest last month of at least one member of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and the disbandment of a terrorist cell in the north of the country.

In June 2017, ISIL gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Irans parliament in central Tehran and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in the south of the city, leading to the death of 18 people.

Wednesday announcement comes at a time when tensions between Iran and the US are at an all-time high, with US President Donald Trump withdrawing from an international nuclear deal with Tehran, and re-imposing sanctions in a bid to further restrict the Iranian nuclear programme.

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Under the breakthrough 2015 deal in Vienna, the Iranian government agreed to cut down its uranium stockpile and scale back its enrichment programme far below the level required to build a nuclear weapon.

Iran also agreed in perpetuity to notify United Nations inspectors if and when it builds a new nuclear facility.

In exchange, UN-approved sanctions were lifted in January 2016, and Tehran was allowed to resume trading oil and gas on the international market. A total of $100bn in frozen Iranian assets was also released.

Trump pulled out of the pact on May 8, fulfilling a 2016 campaign promise to withdraw from a deal which he once described as the worst ever.

The reimposition of US sanctions against Iran is a direct result of Trumps decision, with US officials quoted as saying that Washington would exert maximum economic pressure on Iran and force it back to the negotiating table.Iran sanctions hearing: Lawyers say time is running out

Iranian government lawyers are at the International Court of Justice for the third day of hearings to challenge US sanctions.At least eight killed, 12 wounded in attack on security checkpoint in Qaim district of Iraqs Anbar province.

At least eight people have been killed and 12 wounded in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint near the Iraq-Syria border.

The Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that a car rigged with explosives drove into the checkpoint in al-Qaim district, which was jointly manned by the Iraqi army and Shia militias.

The towns mayor, Ahmed al-Mehlawy, said five militiamen and three civilians were killed in the attack.

However, a security source told the dpa news agency that the death toll was higher, saying 21 people were killed, 15 of those militiamen.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group do operate in the area.

Al-Qaim, a border town of around 150,000 people, has previously served as a crossing point for fighters, weapons and money that supply the armed group.

ISIL once controlled significant portions of Iraq and Syria, ruling over roughly 110,000sq km in those two countries.

But since December, after Prime Minister Hyder al-Abadi declared victory over the armed group, the groups territory is said to about 10,000sq km, mostly in eastern Syria.

According to a recent United Nations report, there are between 20,000 and 30,000 ISIL members in Iraq and Syria, despite the groups defeat and a halt in the flow of foreigners joining its ranks.Recent deal between Damascus and Tehran on military cooperation will not deter Israel, Netanyahu vows.

Israel renewed its threat to attack Iranian military targets in Syria after Damascus and Tehran reached a new accord on security cooperation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a speech on Wednesday his country would take strong and determined action against Irans attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria.

No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us, said Netanyahu at a ceremony naming Israels nuclear facilities after late President Shimon Peres.

Irans military attache to Damascus said Tuesday his countrys military advisers would remain in Syria under the defence agreement signed the previous day.

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Support for Syrias territorial integrity and the independence of Syrian sovereignty were also emphasised in the agreement, Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad said.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial and military backing to President Bashar al-Assad as he fought back against a seven-year uprising.

No place for the weak

Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the conflict but acknowledged carrying out dozens of air attacks in Syria to stop what it says are deliveries of advanced weaponry to its Lebanese enemy Hezbollah.

It has also pledged to prevent its arch foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, and a series of attacks that have killed Iranians in Syria have been blamed on Israel.

We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria, Netanyahu said.

We will not relent in pursuit of this goal just as we did not relent in bringing about the cancellation of the bad nuclear agreement with Iran.

In May, Israel hit dozens of military sites in Syria after accusing Iran of launching rocket and missile attacks towards its forces in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel launched air attacks on three Syrian military facilities in July following the incursion of what it said was a Syrian drone into its airspace in Quneitra province.





Israels prime minister said there was a simple truth in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world where theres no place for the weak.

The weak collapse, get butchered, are erased from history. And the strong, for better or worse, are the ones who survive.

The strong are the ones who are respected, the strong are the ones with whom alliances are struck, and eventually the strong are the ones with whom you make peace.With major assault on rebels last bastion of Idlib impending, analysts suggest time is up for former al-Qaeda branch.

As Syrian forces mobilise for a final assault to retake the last rebel-held province of Idlib, an international tug of war between Turkey, Iran, Russia and the United States is taking shape that will decide the fate of two million residents.

Retaking Idlib will enable the Syrian government to finally regain control over most of the country for the first since the outbreak of the bloody civil war in 2011.

While Syrian forces backed by Russian air and naval firepower prepare for an attack on opposition fighters  including the once al-Qaeda-affiliated Hayet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group  Moscow and Ankara are trying to negotiate a solution to spare the province from a devastating assault and avoid an influx of millions of Syrian refugees into Turkey.

Analysts, however, say the Idlib offensive is inevitable because negotiations between the various parties in Syria have consistently failed to end the civil war so far.

I doubt if Turkey or others would be able to avoid an attack on Idlib or its takeover by the regime, said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University.





Unless the US does something drastic, such as establishing a no-fly zone over the province, Syrian forces supported by Russias airpower will undoubtedly retake it, Landis told Al Jazeera.

Rebels fate?

Turkey maintains several military bases in the province. Recent Arabic press reports said Turkey has demanded that HTS  formerly known as al-Nusra Front  and other armed groups dissolve and leave Idlib.

Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, leader of Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, has reportedly declared he will not heed Turkish demands and ordered his fighters to follow God, not Turkey and prepare for battle.

But a prominent Jordanian Salafist with knowledge of the armed groups fighting in Syria cast doubt on al-Joulanis latest call for his cadres to fight to the death.

HTS leader was being dishonest because he truly wanted to go along with Turkey but wanted a bigger price for his compliance with its demands, he told Al Jazeera, declining to be identified because he is banned from speaking to the media by Jordanian government.

When he did not get what he wanted from Turkey, he made his statement calling for war, he said.

Based on his information and familiarity with HTS religious leadership, the Jordanian said HTS will dissolve and disperse while declaring the move was in the best interest of religion and the people of Idlib.

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End of the line

Landis agreed that time was up for the armed group as Hayet Tahrir al-Shams options have become exhausted, especially with Turkey.

The Turkish government will not allow HTS members to resettle in Turkey for fear of being accused of harbouring terrorists, thereby complicating ties with Western intelligence agencies.

HTS has reached the end of the line, said Landis, also the author of the Syria Comment blog.

The only option the groups fighters might have is relocation to northern Syria near Aleppo, where other rebels still have control. But even that option is complicated and could ignite fighting among the opposition factions.

Iranian spoils?

The other player on the chessboard is Iran, which has provided steady political, financial, and military backing to Syrias President Bashar al-Assadsince the war began seven and a half years ago.





An estimated 1,000 Iranians  including senior members of the elite Revolutionary Guards  have been killed in Syria since 2012.

On Sunday, Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami met al-Assad and his Syrian counterpart Ali Abdullah Ayyoub.

Not only the people of the region but the people of the world are indebted to the battles that have taken place against terrorists in Syria, Hatami told Assad in a meeting, according to Irans Tasnim news agency.

He added Syria is passing through the critical stage and expressed hope at Irans involvement in the countrys reconstruction.

Irans military attache to Damascus, Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad, said military advisers will remain in Syria under a defence agreement signed on Monday.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports "Incapacitating Motherhood" | Main | "Right at Home: Modeling Sub-Federal Resistance as Criminal Justice Reform" 

August 28, 2018

Deputy AG Rosenstein suggests more federal prosecutions are key to battling opioid crisis ... but that really hasn't been working

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has this notable New York Times opinion piece under the headlined "Fight Drug Abuse, Dont Subsidize It." Here are is how it starts and ends:

Almost 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, a shocking 54 percent increase since 2012. Dangerous opioids such as heroin and fentanyl contributed to two-thirds of the deaths. This killer knows no geographic, socioeconomic or age limits. It strikes city dwellers and Midwestern farmers, Hollywood celebrities and homeless veterans, grandparents and teenagers. Remarkably, law enforcement efforts actually declined while deaths were on the rise. Federal drug prosecutions fell by 23 percent from 2011 to 2016, and the median drug sentence doled out to drug traffickers decreased by 20 percent from 2009 to 2016. The Trump administration is working to reverse those trends. Prosecutions of drug traffickers are on the rise, and the surge in overdose deaths is slowing. Unfortunately, some cities and counties are considering sponsoring centers where drug users can abuse dangerous illegal drugs with government help. Advocates euphemistically call them safe injection sites, but they are very dangerous and would only make the opioid crisis worse. These centers would be modeled on those operating in Canada and some European countries. They invite visitors to use heroin, fentanyl and other deadly drugs without fear of arrest. The policy is B.Y.O.D.  bring your own drugs  but staff members help people abuse drugs by providing needles and stand ready to resuscitate addicts who overdose.... That is not the way to end the opioid crisis. Americans struggling with addiction need treatment and reduced access to deadly drugs. They do not need a taxpayer-sponsored haven to shoot up. To end the drug crisis, we should educate everyone about the dangers of opioid drugs, help drug users get treatment and aggressively prosecute criminals who supply the deadly poison. Under the leadership of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice is delivering results. Many federal, state and local agencies are working with us to combat opioid addiction. Cities and counties should join us and fight drug abuse, not subsidize it.

I am disinclined to take up here the debate over safe injection sites, which could merit a volume. I will be content here to point to this recent report from Europe indicating "evaluation studies have found an overall positive impact on the communities where these facilities are located," as well as this new meta-research indicating that "Medically Supervised Injection Centres ... had a significant favourable result in relation to drug-related crime and a significant unfavourable result in relation to problematic heroin use or injection." At Vox, German Lopez covers these research matters in this recent article headlined "Safe injection sites were thought to reduce drug overdoses. The research isnt so clear."

I am inclined to take issue with how DAG Rosenstein seems to make a case for more federal prosecutions to address overdose deaths and the opioid crisis. Though he laments that "federal drug prosecutions fell by 23 percent from 2011 to 2016, and the median drug sentence doled out to drug traffickers decreased by 20 percent from 2009 to 2016," DAG Rosenstein leaves out the fact that declines in marijuana and crack prosecutions and the impact of fairer crack guidelines account for these realities (see USSC quick facts data on marijuana and crack). Meanwhile, as this USSC report explains, in "fiscal year 2016, there were 2,763 heroin trafficking offenders [sentenced in federal court, meaning the] number of heroin offenders has increased by 29.4% since fiscal year 2012." In other words, though overall federal drug prosecutions have gone down through 2016, federal prosecution of heroin has been going up significantly this period when overdose deaths from dangerous opioids were also surging.

In addition, there is a basis to question the statement that prosecutions of drug traffickers are now on the rise, as this data from TRAC suggests that FY 2017 and 2018 has seen record low numbers of federal drug trafficking prosecutions. And to assert that the "surge in overdose deaths is slowing" is not all that reassuring given the new preliminary report of 72,000 overdose deaths in 2017 compared to 64,000 in 2016 (though I suppose it is correct to say the "surge" is slowing given that this 8,000-person increase in deaths is less than the 11,000 increase from 2015 to 2016). Especially at a time of crisis, I sincerely want to believe that, as DAG Rosenstein asserts, the "Department of Justice is delivering results." But the data I can find does not seem to support this claim.

August 28, 2018 at 04:52 PM | Permalink

Comments

Well, I suppose even a "good guy" like Rosenstein can spout some lies, damn lies, and statistics if it means more prosecutors for his beloved DOJ. It's why none of them are really to be trusted as concerns the size and power of the DOJ.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Aug 28, 2018 7:46:16 PM

Or maybe I should replace the "DOJ" above with drug/prison/industrial complex.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Aug 28, 2018 7:47:28 PM

Post a commentTeenage girl says she was repeatedly gang-raped and brutalised throughout her two-month ordeal.

Moroccan authorities have arrested 12 suspects and are hunting three others after a 17-year-old girl told police she was gang-raped, tortured, and held against her will for two months.

Anger erupted in Morocco after news reports last week that the teenager was abducted, brutalised, and forcibly tattooed. The case sparked a new public outcry over womens rights and sexual abuse in the North African kingdom.

Ibrahim Hashane, a member of a group of volunteer lawyers who are pressing her case, said on Wednesday an examining judge ordered investigations into allegations of kidnapping, rape and abuse.

Hashane told The Associated Press among the 15 people suspected in the case, 12 are in custody and three are on the run. He added that the judge scheduled a first hearing next week.

Police confirmed there had been arrests but wouldnt say how many or give details. A court official on Tuesday said the suspects were aged between 18 and 27.

The main suspect, 20, was being held on suspicion of rape, torture, kidnapping, making death threats, and forming a gang, the official said.

Still in shock

In an online video interview with Moroccos Chouf TV last week, the girl alleged her kidnappers would assault me one by one, burned her, and didnt feed her or let her shower. She appeared to have scars from cigarette burns on her hands.

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The girl said she was held captive in the town of Olad Ayad, in the central Moroccan province of Beni Mellal.

They held me for about two months and raped and tortured me. I will never forgive them. They have destroyed me, she said.

The girl is still in shock even if she tries to be strong, said Loubna El Joud of womens rights group NSAT, which is providing her with medical and psychological support. Her hands shake when she speaks.

She alleged two men kidnapped her at knife-point when she was visiting her aunt during the May-June holy month of Ramadan, before selling her to other men in exchange for money or drugs. She said her captors gave her drugs that knocked her out for days at a time.

More than 29,000 people signed a petition demanding the government provide the girl with urgent medical and psychological care after the video of her testimony went viral.

Depraved lifestyle

Rape victims in Morocco are often subject to double trauma as the conservative society blames them for their ordeal.

Relatives of the suspects were quoted in the Moroccan press accusing the teenager of lying, saying she lived a depraved lifestyle.

Abdelwahed Saadi, a social worker and neighbour of the girls family, said her father reported her missing but authorities did not launch an investigation.

They are simple people. The father is sick and couldnt do much to help free his daughter. Where we live is a crime and drug hotspot  She is first and foremost a victim of a dysfunctional environment. So are the attackers.

The teenager said she attempted to flee from her abusers several times but in vain. Eventually, she said her father managed to speak by phone to one of the alleged kidnappers and convinced him to free her by saying he wouldnt file a police complaint. Once freed, however, the girl notified authorities herself.

Taken seriously

Houcine Harshi, president of the Moroccan Association for the Defence of Human Rights, cautioned that all aspects of the case had to be taken into account.

But Saadi said no circumstances could excuse the girls rape. This girl is a minor. She says she has been abused and raped. Her words must be taken seriously, he said.

Violence against Moroccan women remains widespread and a largely taboo subject in the country.

In February, parliament passed a long-sought law on combating violence against women, recognising some forms of abuse for the first time, and criminalising some forms of domestic violence.

But critics say it didnt go nearly far enough.

The government denies any allegations of purported genocide of Muslim-majority Rohingya by Myanmar armed forces.

Myanmars government has rejected a United Nations report on mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya, which calls for Myanmar officials to face genocide charges over their campaign against the Muslim minority.

On Wednesday, a senior spokesperson for the government denied the UNs findings, calling the allegations false, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

We didnt allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, thats why we dont agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council, Zaw Htay said in the newspaper.

Htay said Myanmar has zero tolerance for human rights violations, adding that his country has an accountability and responsibility framework regarding human rights issues.

We shall take any action against violation of human rights, Htay said.

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He also said the country has set up its own Independent Commission of Inquiry in response to the false allegations by the UN agencies and other international agencies.

On Monday, UN investigators said they had found Myanmars armed forces had taken actions that undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law, forcing more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee starting in late August 2017.

Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Marzuki Darusman, the missions chairman, said his researchers amassed evidence based on 875 interviews with witnesses and victims, satellite imagery, and verified photos and videos.

Marzuki said victim accounts were amongst the most shocking human rights violations he had come across and would leave a mark on all of us for the rest of our lives.

Its assessment suggests crimes against the Rohingya could meet the strict legal definition used for genocide in places such as Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudans Darfur region.

The team cited a conservative estimate from aid group Reporters Without Borders that some 10,000 people had been killed in the violence, but outside investigators have had no access to the affected regions, making a precise accounting elusive, if not impossible.

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The UN report said military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, must face investigation and prosecution for genocidal intent in Myanmars northern Rakhine state, as well as crimes against humanity and other war crimes in the states of Kachin and Shan.

The report singled out Myanmars military, known as the Tatmadaw, but added that other Myanmar security agencies were also involved in abuses.

Myanmar UN Ambassador Hau Do Suan questioned the reports, saying that Myanmar did not accept the mandate of the mission because we have our concern about the missions impartiality.

Following the release of those findings, several countries in the UN Security Council  including the US, Britain, France and Sweden  called for Myanmars military leaders to be held accountable.

China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, said they prefer engaging in dialogue with Myanmar in an attempt to resolve the issue.

It is currently unclear if the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction over the crisis since Myanmar is not a signatory to the court.

However, the crisis spilled over into Bangladesh, which is part of the ICC, possibly allowing for legal action to be taken.

Facebook pages

The government spokesperson also heavily criticised Facebook for its removal of the pages Myanmars army chief and other high-ranking military officials.

We have many questions regarding the removal of these Facebook accounts and pages, such as: why did they ban, further details on the reasons of banning and how can we retrieve these accounts and pages, Htay said.

Facebook undertook action last week, months after the UN said hate speech against the Rohingya was spread on Facebook, playing a major role in the humanitarian crisis.

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said in March that social media had played a determining role in Myanmar.

It has  substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict, if you will, within the public. Hate speech is certainly, of course, a part of that. As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media, he said.

At the time, Facebook said there was no space for hate speech on its platform.Descendants of those slaughtered by Germany a century ago accuse Berlin of failing to properly atone for the atrocity.

Skulls and other remains of massacred tribespeople used in colonial-era experiments to push claims of European racial superiority were handed over by Germany to Namibia at a church ceremony in Berlin on Wednesday.

In what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century, soldiers of German Kaiser Wilhelm slaughtered some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama tribespeople in a 1904-1908 campaign in retaliation for a revolt against land seizures by German colonists.

Herero chief Vekuii Rukoro said the handover ceremony on Wednesday should have taken place not in a Berlin church, but a German government building.

He also accused Germany of taking too long to formally apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

By trying not to acknowledge the past, the German government will continue to make serious mistakes as regards present and future policies, Rukoro told the church audience, which included government officials from both countries.

We are after all the direct descendants of these remains and we should not be ignored.

A Namibian delegation formally received the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during the church ceremony.

Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry, asked for forgiveness from the bottom of my heart as she handed over the remains to Namibias culture minister.

Several Herero women in traditional, cow-horn shaped headdress wiped away tears during the at times emotional proceedings.

May the remains of our ancestors finally go home to Namibia in peace. May they return to the dust from which they came. May justice be done and faith in humanity be restored, said Johannes Isaack, Nama chief.

Outside the venue, some two dozen protesters held up signs that read: Repatriation without an official apology? and Reparations Now!.

The Herero and Nama tribes have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court over reparations [Reuters]

The German government announced in 2016 that it planned to issue an official apology for the atrocities committed by German imperial troops.

But it remains locked in talks with the Namibian government on a joint declaration on the massacres.

It has also refused to pay direct reparations, arguing instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibias independence from South Africa in 1990 was for the benefit of all Namibians.

Class-action lawsuit

Angered by Berlins stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama tribes have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations.

They also want a seat at the table in the discussions between the German and Namibian governments.

They are still negotiating on an appropriate text  for an apology. Thats a big joke, Rukoro said during the service, wearing a red, military-style dress uniform.

He accused both countries of trying to sideline him and others in the handover proceedings, saying he had been told in advance not to embarrass the two governments.

Germany killed about 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people [Christian Mang/Reuters]

Rukoro also blasted the decision to hold the ceremony at the French Church in Berlin.

We dont believe that it is bigger and more dignified than all the government buildings of the federal government in Berlin, he said.

Rukoro and Isaack are both plaintiffs in the US lawsuit.

The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the suit, which Germany wants thrown out on the grounds of state immunity from prosecution.

Extermination order

Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Herero revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905.

Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed an extermination order that would lead to the deaths of about 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people.

Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, driven into the desert or rounded up in prison camps, died from thirst, hunger and exposure.

Germany has previously repatriated human remains to Namibia in 2011 and 2014 [Reuters]

Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited scientific experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass.

Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Germany has previously repatriated human remains to Namibia in 2011 and 2014.

The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were often stolen  brought to Germany without respect for human dignity, according to the German foreign ministry.US president points finger at China for Hillary Clinton hack; Beijing says its a staunch defender of cybersecurity.

China denied an accusation by US President Donald Trump that it hacked the emails of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election.

Without offering any evidence or further information, Trump tweeted earlier on Wednesday that China had hacked Clintons emails and demanded the FBI and Department of Justice to investigate.

This isnt the first time that weve heard this kind of accusation, Chinas foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing.

China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity. We firmly oppose and crack down on any form of internet attacks and the stealing of secrets. China advocates that the international community jointly respond to cybersecurity threats through dialogue and cooperation, on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of involvement in the hacking of Democratic emails during the 2016 election campaign.

The Justice Department has indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking into Clintons presidential campaign and the Democratic Party.

A Justice Department inspector general report on its investigation of Clintons email situation released in June made no mention of her email being hacked by Chinese agents.Is China Ending the Pax Americana?

It's still the same old story, a fight for power and glory. Although the trade war between the U.S. and China dominates the news headlines, more attention must be given to the crucial issue that China is a formidable imperial colonial power, exhibiting the latest form of foreign domination over populations and polities that are weaker or less developed. The significant issue for Washington, D.C. is that China is aspiring to be leader of the world. It is alarming that recent statements by Chinese personalities focus on the old concept of tianxia, or "all under heaven," ending chaos in the world. We are informed by the former Chinese foreign minister that China is "a big country and other countries are small countries, and that's a fact." One facet of this is that China has more than 800 million internet-users, more than the U.S. and India combined. Equally significant is that China is posing itself not only as a superpower, but as an alternative to Western democracy, liberalism, and capitalism.

The immediate problem is the unwillingness of the Chinese to enter into a deal in the trade war with the United States, perhaps the biggest in economic history. The reality is a U.S. trade deficit, $376 billion in 2017, an increase of $28 billion from 2016. This results from the U.S. importing $506 billion's worth of goods from China and exporting goods valued at $130 billion. Understandably, the U.S. is concerned about unfair trade practices, particularly the theft by China of intellectual property, and a variety of restraints on U.S. goods. Despite of continuing friction, it is unlikely that the bitter trade war will lead to any kind of military confrontation or use of force. Nevertheless, U.S. policymakers are conscious of the challenge of Chinese developments, economic, political, cultural, and geostrategic, which are altering the balance of power in international relations between the two countries. Chinese international influence is likely to increase now that the 64-year-old Xi Jinping was in March 2018 unanimously  really, 99.8% of the vote  re-elected president of the People's Republic of China. Xi has been general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, since November 2012 and president since March 2013. Previous presidential limits of two terms were removed. Xi is therefore a powerful figure. He has consolidated power, exercising virtual absolute control, as head of state, CCP chief, and chair of the military commission that controls the armed forces. There is the ideological challenge. China is still nominally Marxist, and the power of the Leninist-type C.P. remains. Underlining this is China's gift of a large bronze statue of Karl Marx to his native city of Trier on the 200th anniversary of his birth in May 1918. Xi, like his predecessor Deng Xiaoping, has combined the Leninist concept of the dominant role of the CCP with a more open market economy and reforms. Most of China's economic growth in recent years has come from the private sector. However, Xi's ambitious policy formula is "socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era," which entails a large role for the CCP, which leads the government, the military, society, and the schools. He regards the Chinese autocracy, which combines restrictions on political freedom with economic growth and technological development, as more viable than Western liberal systems. Ideologically, China has used "Panda Diplomacy," soft power, activity that includes a presence in art forums, musical and dance festivals, and cultural exchanges, and more than 500 Confucius Institutes on university campuses throughout the world. China is a competitor in political and cultural influence as well as in world trade and global security and reform of global governance. The question can be raised: is the center of gravity of the world economy shifting from Atlantic to Pacific? Soft power and geostrategic influence go together, as is illustrated in a number of ways. One is the 16+1, formed in 2012, a grouping of 11 E.U. and five Balkan central and Eastern European countries led by China, involved in investment, transport, science, and finance. It is a gateway to Western Europe and useful for political purposes such as policy concerning the South China Sea, countering the Dalai Lama, and preventing Taiwanese independence, and preventing criticism of human rights violations and environmental standards. Another body is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which came into force in 2003, the Eurasian political, economic, and security body led by China and including Russia and four Central Asian republics. It is the largest regional organization in terms of geographical coverage and population. China's recent activity in military and strategic matters is troubling. It already has ports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In 2015, it established its first overseas military base at Djibouti, off the Horn of Africa, ten miles from a U.S. base. The Chinese base is useful for commercial purposes, to protect its commerce and Chinese nationals abroad, but also as a strategic asset, since it controls access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean as well as Europe, Africa, and the Far East, and access to Middle East oil. Interestingly, China defines Djibouti not as a military base, but as a support or logistical facility. For some time, China has been developing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the ambitious policy to expand trade, with operations in direct rail lines and railroads, ports, pipelines, highways, all built and funded by China to connect with countries. There are two problems with all this. One is that there is more recognition that China has negotiated lopsided deals. An example of this is the case of Sri Lanka, which cannot pay back the $8 billion it owes China. It therefore agreed to lease its port in Hambantota for 99 years. The second issue is that cyber-espionage is linked to the BRI involving companies and countries such as Belarus, the Maldives, Cambodia, and European nations. China has been exerting control over much of the South China Sea, building artificial islands and installing military equipment there, using fishing boats protected by coast guard ships. This has been happening despite the ruling of The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 that the Chinese claim to a large part of the Sea is invalid. The U.S. must respond by insisting on freedom of navigation. Once, the U.K. and France were Africa's main trading partners. Now it is China. In 2014, China-Africa trade amounted to $200 billion. Moreover, between 2000 and 2011, China spent more than $73 billion investing in natural resources, mines, oil wells, and other projects in Africa. Many African counties have been recipients of Chinese finance, the largest amounts going to Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia. In Nigeria, a $5-billion infrastructure project was built in return for oil rights. The tallest building in Ethiopia, with a 2,500-seat capacity, was built and maintained by China and in 2011 was the venue where the African Union summit was held. Chinese donations or assistance takes many forms: hospitals in Luanda, Angola; the major road from Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to Chirundu in the southeast; stadiums in Sierra Leone and Benin; sugar mill and sugarcane farms in Mali; a construction company in West Nigeria; a water supply project in Mauritania; and a considerable number of schools, anti-malaria centers, agricultural technology demonstration centers, and shoe factories. Criticism of Chinese activity has come from the unlikely country of Malaysia, which is indebted for projects that are not viable or necessary and is $250 billion in debt. Mahathir Mohamad, the 93-year-old former prime minister (1981-2003), reappointed on May 1, 2018, spoke strongly on August 20, stating that a new version of colonialism is happening because poor countries are unable to compete with rich countries. Benefits mostly go to China, which wants raw materials for its economic growth. Mohamad wants to renegotiate free trade, but also fair trade. Unquestionably, China wants to achieve great power status, to play a global role in the world order now that it is the second largest economy in the world and has supplied billions throughout the world to construct rail, highway, port, and power plant facilities. Does it have a genuine message of peace and multiculturalism? Or is it a case of do or die?The Trump administration has restored the United States to the position of honest broker  emphasis on "honest"  and taken a hatchet to a series of fantasies underlying the notion of an Israeli-Palestinian "peace process." Twenty-five years after the Oslo Accords ushered in radical, despotic, kleptocratic Palestinian self-government, the Accords are dead. And that's good.

The U.S. is not neutral between Israel, America's democratic friend and ally, and the Palestinians, who are neither.

Everybody has a "narrative," a national story. Not everyone's narrative is factual. The U.S. will insist that there are facts, and that history  both ancient and modern  is real and knowable. The American government's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel is simply the acceptance of the truth of history. The city was the capital of the Jewish people and never, ever the seat of government for any other. In this assertion, the president was joined by many members of the U.S. House and Senate, irrespective of party  although some had more trouble saying so than others.

The U.S. will not pay for fraud, mismanagement, or support of terrorism by the Palestinians or the United Nations. Repeat the comment about congressional support.

Neither will we fund two Palestinian governments simply because it is easier than figuring out what to do with Hamas and Fatah, who are fighting a civil war and agree on little besides the need for Israel's ultimate demise. Repeat the comment about congressional support.

In the new game, the Palestinians have something to lose  the sine qua non of successful negotiations.

The Washington rumor mill believes that President Trump's next move will be to change the definition of Palestinians as "refugees" in the American lexicon. Palestinians will cease to be the only population in the world in which refugee status is handed down generationally through one's father, which ensures permanent geometric growth in the refugee population. Palestinians will become like every other group. If you lose your home and can't go back  think Rohingya or Montagnard  you are a refugee. Settled in a country that will have you, you are no longer a refugee, nor will any of your future generations be. Think Vietnamese.

In tandem, then, comes the proposition that the descendants of refugees have no "right" to go and settle in places their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents claim to have lived. This, again, will make the Palestinians just like every other refugee population. Time moves forward only. Israel is here, Israel will remain, and Israel can determine who lives within its borders.

On the other hand, and there is always another hand, much of the discussion is driven by money. Although money is fungible, it isn't always easily so, and contrary to the professional refugee-managers, the goal is not to punish Palestinians whose only crime is the misfortune of living under Hamas or the P.A.

The American Taylor Force Act  passed and signed  will have the United States withhold money from the P.A. in the amount of the stipends the P.A. pays to terrorists and their families. The Palestinian Authority paid out approximately $350 million in 2017. The knowledge that their families will be taken care of financially has, in fact, led to a number Palestinians choosing what we, in the U.S., call "suicide by cop." Palestinians who feel hopeless and for one or another reason figure that they can best provide for their families by killing Jews are encouraged by their own government. That's an easy one. If P.A. strongman Mahmoud Abbas doesn't spend the money on terror stipends, he can replace the American shortage and spend the money on other things.

The Trump administration has also announced that it will stop the flow of U.S. taxpayer funds to the U.N. Human Rights Council  a bastion of anti-Israel sentiment. "We'll calculate 22 percent of the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner's budget, and our remittances to the UN for this budget year will be less 22 percent of those costs  and we'll say specifically that's what we're doing," NSC adviser John Bolton said. "We expect that impact to occur on the Human Rights Council." Again, not much of a problem. One might hope the UNHRC will produce 22 percent less hot air, but that is not certain.

Then comes a more difficult issue. The administration has cut $300 million from UNRWA, leading to the expected wails about starving babies. UNRWA has, for almost seven decades, been the prison guard of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as running shanty towns for Palestinians in Jordan, where many hold both citizenship and refugee status. It has also hired Hamas and Hezb'allah operatives and shielded their weapons in UNRWA schools.

Babies won't starve unless the Palestinians want them to for a photo op. (Don't be huffy  it was Gaza leader Yaya Sinwar who praised "the sacrifice of" Palestinian children "as an offering for Jerusalem and the right of return.") On the other hand, it behooves the United States to work closely with Israel  the Israelis being most acutely sensitive to the connection between money and terror  to manage the change in available funds for the short term. Otherwise, it is possible that Hamas and the P.A. can gin up even more unhappy souls to engage in terrorism.

If "peace" is a bridge too far, a long-term stabilization process is not out of reach based on President Trump's new foundations for American policy. At a minimum, the United States can be sure that the policies that it pursues are consonant with American interests and American allies. President Trump has done that.Ted Cruz Is in the Crosshairs of the Liberals

It is ironic that one of the very, very few Republican politicians in Congress who is not a total imbecile  even his opponents concede he has a razor-sharp mind  may actually lose his seat to a rabid liberal, thereby turning the red state of Texas blue. Ted Cruz is very much like Donald Trump in that he is an outsider and deeply disliked by the Establishment Republicans and is receiving scant support from them, since they evidently prefer to see a liberal take his place rather than see him re-elected (just as they preferred to see Hillary win over Trump). The transgender-looking RINO from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, famously bragged, "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you."

Graham despises Donald Trump as much. However, Graham has lately pretended to support Trump as the latter's popularity grows and his policies have resulted in prosperity, though it is obvious that it pains him to do so. Perhaps the hatred of both liberals and the Republican Establishment began when the Hispanic senator gave his famous filibuster against Obamacare, especially when he called them out for voting for Obamacare  something the Republicans who voted for it wish you would forget (which you probably have; some conservatives have the attention span of a mosquito). Remember, it was Ted Cruz who said, "It is amazing that the wisdom of the chattering class to the Republicans is always, always, always 'surrender your principles and agree with the Democrats.'" The media hate him as much as the swamp does. During his 2016 run for the presidency, Newsweek depicted his followers as Nazis (now, where have we heard that before?), which the Washington Post claimed was not proof of media bias. Sure. The Washington Post had previously printed a scathing article stating that Cruz's filibuster was just a publicity stunt. Of course. When CNN's Chris Cuomo gave out the fake news that Ted Cruz was afraid to come in to CNN and talk to him, Cruz responded, "I'm quite certain in the history of the universe, nobody has ever been afraid of Chris Cuomo." Boom! Cruz is the one who went to President Trump to ask him to pardon Dinesh D'Souza. To me, the one thing that clearly differentiates Cruz from the corrupt Republican hacks is that he will bring up or confront topics that the corrupt Establishment won't so the Establishment won't get criticized by the media. For example, when Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress, Cruz was the only one to bring up the issue of Facebook censorship and grill Zuckerberg. Other (Establishment) Republicans on the committee (e.g., Sen. John Cornyn from Texas) avoided the issue altogether. Perhaps they were afraid of being "unfriended" by Zuckerberg. Or the New York Times. In fact, isn't it curious that so many Establishment Republicans are in favor of illegal immigration (future Democratic voters)? And isn't it also curious that with all the censorship being carried out by Twitter, Facebook, Google, Patreon, and YouTube, and with the fanatical brainwashing in universities and high schools and elementary schools, and the constant attacks by the anarchist Antifa, not one of the corrupt Establishment Republicans has said one word on those topics? What are they in Washington for? Or in the state capitals? In fact, what are they good for? So mark my words: if Ted Cruz loses to his liberal opponent, Beto O'Rourke, who is receiving a lot of support from out-of-state Democrats (including the Hollywood glitterati Chelsea Handler, Rosie O'Donnell, Sophia Bush, and Sarah Jessica Parker), the Republican establishment will be celebrating even more than the Democrats. Behind closed doors.Needless to say, it's not every day that one sees a conservative urging the House to vote on impeaching President Trump. So, for liberals yearning for a conservative to do just that, rejoice! Because this is your day.

As for why this conservative urges granting Democrats their fondest wish  and during the runup to the midterm elections  follow the writer's admittedly Fawlty logic.

The above spelling and capitalization are correct: Fawlty, as in the seventies British sitcom Fawlty Towers, starring Monty Python alum John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, the "tense, rude and put-upon owner" of Fawlty Towers, "a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera."

One especially memorable and funny episode, series-watchers surely will agree, is The Germans, referring to a party of German tourists who come to stay at the hotel and Basil's repeated admonition to his staff: "Don't mention the war!"

If Basil Fawlty were running for U.S. representative as a Democrat, he would be telling fellow Democrats: "Don't mention the impeachment!"

Not to put too fine a point on it, Democrats are not the ones known as the Stupid Party and so are well aware that a campaign centered on impeaching Trump is electoral cyanide. As Democratic representative Eric Swalwell so eloquently put it, "[r]ight now, we're not in the majority, and so running on that, I think, misses the issues that people care about at home."

Translation: "Don't mention the impeachment!"

One of the few pleasures for conservatives in this dismal election year is witnessing the rhetorical writhing of Democratic candidates and party pooh-bahs as they struggle to avoid uttering the dreaded "I-word" and risk turning off average (read: sane) voters, but without angering various (read: all) CNN and MSNBC talking heads and their unhinged, foaming-mouth, verging-on-certifiable liberal viewers demanding Donald Trump's head on a shining, environmentally friendly, recycled silver platter.

Unfortunately for our Democratic friends, for every Democrat whispering, "Don't mention the impeachment!" there is at least one Democrat screaming, "Impeach!" at anyone within earshot, or the Moon if no one is available.

Given House Democrats' and Democratic candidates' desperation not to mention the impeachment, it seems to behoove Republicans to force them to mention it. The best way to do that, the writer believes, is for Speaker Ryan to announce his intention  in the name of comity and bipartisanship, of course!  to allow House Democrats to make their case to the American people and, to that purpose, schedule a debate and vote on impeaching President Trump.

It is true that, thanks to Democratic representative Al Green, the House has already held an impeachment vote  sort of (emphases added):

U.S. Rep. Al Green's effort to push the U.S. House to vote to impeach President Donald Trump quickly died Wednesday[.] ... Hours after he stood in front of a nearly empty House chamber to introduce articles of impeachment, Green sat alone in the middle of the chamber as the House voted 364-58 on a "motion to table" the resolution, effectively killing it. ... Under House rules, after Green introduced his resolution ... the chamber had to vote on the measure in the next two days unless a vote to table the resolution was successful.

Close, but no cigar. A vote to table a "resolution to vote" on impeachment is not a vote on impeachment. Rather than beating around the bush with votes to table or other parliamentary gimmicks, Speaker Ryan should allow Green and other impeachment-advocating representatives ample time to explain to the public why they believe that Trump should be removed from office.

Or why Trump should not be removed.

Or Democrats can simply say nothing, which silence, alone, as the old saying goes, will speak volumes.

All of the above needs to happen before the November 6 election.

Simply making Democrats discuss an issue they want to avoid is ample reason to schedule a full-fledged debate and vote on impeachment. There are others.

First, however fervently conservatives may hope to beat the historical odds, historical precedent points to Democrats retaking the House in November, whereupon their first order of business, no doubt about it, take it to the bank, will be to impeach President Trump. Given that prospect, would conservatives rather the debate be held sooner, while Republicans control the House, or later, when Democrats take control?

The second reason arises from the joint statement Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer released following Al Green's impeachment speech (emphasis added):

Right now, Congressional committees continue to be deeply engaged in investigations into the President's actions both before and after his inauguration. The special counsel's investigation is moving forward as well, and those inquiries should be allowed to continue. Now is not the time to consider articles of impeachment.

Only the most naive of Republicans (RIP, John McCain) can doubt that the nanosecond all of the aforementioned investigations are completed, a Democrat-controlled House will vote to impeach President Trump, regardless of the investigations' actual findings, for the simple reason that whatever the committees and special counsel report, Donald Trump will always be guilty of the real crimes for which Democrats want to hold him accountable: (1) defeating Hillary Clinton and depriving Democrats of the victory  and White House  to which they believe themselves entitled and (2) existing.

If Democrats take the House, they will impeach Trump, period. In the meantime, "Don't mention the impeachment!"

So, Speaker Ryan, schedule a debate and vote, now, to be held at the best (for Republicans) time between today and November 6.

Let every Democratic representative tell the American people, plainly and publicly, why President Trump should  or should not  be removed from office.

And let the every Republican advertising firm use the most vitriolic and unhinged of the Democratic "should" statements in its campaign ads, to leave no doubt in voters' minds that "if you give Democrats the House, they will impeach President Trump." Lord knows, the ad people will have plenty of unhinged statements from which to choose.

Let the "should not" statements demoralize the rabid, extreme Trump-hating Democratic base, who will settle for nothing less than Trump's impeachment and removal from office, and who will see no reason to bother going to the polls on Election Day if they think a Democratic House and Senate won't give it to them.

One final point: If the Democrats do win back the House and the House has already had a full debate and (failed) impeachment vote, scheduling a second vote, regardless of what Mueller reports, will be difficult  and transparently political.

So do it, Speaker Ryan. Be bold. Schedule the vote. Don't let the Dems get away with "Don't mention the impeachment!"

Gene Schwimmer is a New York- and New Jersey-licensed real estate broker and author of The Christian State.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.The former mayor of San Francisco said so in this podcast , explaining that there is no reason not to "wait around" to extend Medi-Cal coverage to anyone who asks, regardless of immigration status.

San Francisco is the only universal health care system for all undocumented residents [sic] in America, very proud of that. We proved it could be done without bankrupting the city. I'd like to see that we can extend that to the rest of the state.

Free health care for illegal immigrants! Just like what Hugo Chavez promised in Venezuela!

The results speak for themselves.

It sends a message out for everyone from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego that a health care free ride awaits all comers in California, so long as you can keep your income down and work for low, illegal alien-style wages. Do that, and any health care you may need, whatever your pre-existing conditions, is free, in your choice of California's world-class facilities. No taxes paid in necessary. The rest of us will pay for it via higher taxes, as well as foot our own vast Obamacare bills on top. For the old, sick, disabled and others in dire need, they'd be fools not to take it.

It's hard to say how that will go over among voters, given that so many are so resolutely blue in orientation (Newsom won 64% of the California vote in July's primary, compared to GOP winner John Cox's 36%), and at last count, Newsom was well ahead in the polls (although those polls are a couple months old). One thing we do know is that Democratic candidates in at least southern California, up until now, have been keeping illegal immigration off the table as an issue in their campaign ads, knowing just how bad it could be for winning even Democratic votes. I noticed that on the day before California's June 6 primary:

The airwaves in Southern California are flooded with Democratic candidate ads, with most openly touting extremely loony far-left positions  promises of free health care for all, free college for all, beefed up public funding for Planned Parenthood, full gun control, pretty much the full Bernie Sanders plate of pie-in-the-sky goodies. Democrats, whether in the House, Senate, governor, or assembly races, are all openly offering all the free stuff on the far left's wish list, not holding back at all. Fiscal discipline isn't in fashion with this bunch. ... There's one topic among these offerings that isn't being touched  not even in one campaign ad: Illegal immigration.

I'm guessing that Newsom must think he has voters to burn and will win the governorship anyway, even if a large chunk of voters peel off toward Republican John Cox over this offer.

But it's significant that he's billing himself as a fiscal conservative, who's somehow able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and finance the Medi-Cal full ride on health care for the state's illegal immigrants, who amount to one in four of that population. He claims he did that in San Francisco as a proud accomplishment. The facts don't stand up to that  he left the city deeply in debt, and SFWeekly wrote that on his watch, San Francisco was one of the worst-run cities in America. Meanwhile, San Francisco's residents now have a per-person $16,400 debt burden, fifth worst in the country, undoubtedly due to all of Newsom's unfunded mandates. This watchdog report, here, notes that the city is still hiding a lot of its spending costs. Conclusion: Newsom's probably trying to spin himself a fiscal conservative because he wants to keep some Democratic votes.

What this lunatic vote-losing, bank-breaking proposal is really about is likely something else, something well beyond the Latino vote (he already has the Latino vote).

It may be a bid to draw attention away from the bigger monster on the left's agenda, which is installing single-payer health insurance for all Californians, a leftist plan that will recrudesce as another statehouse bill this coming year, following its failure earlier.

One medical association says Newsom's squarely on board for it, yet he hasn't declared for it as brazenly as he did his support for free health care for illegals.

The Sacramento Bee has some reporting on that here:

Opposing sides have heard what they've wanted to hear from Newsom in the gubernatorial race. The nurses see an ally in their fight, while Newsom's comments lately indicate deep skepticism about the ability to implement single-payer, industry representatives said. "We have spoken to Mr. Newsom and if he's elected, we will continue to talk to Mr. Newsom," said Janus Norman, chief lobbyist for the California Medical Association. "We expressed our concern and he expressed his commitment to getting to a place where everyone is covered[.] ... He did it in San Francisco and he is dead-set on doing it as governor."

That plan is an authentic monster whose starting cost will be $400 billion (and if Obamacare is any indication, it won't be a mere $400 billion) a year and will raise taxes sky-high. Doctors and health care officials, or people billed as that, are starting to get roused against it, arguing that choice for consumers will end and health care will go downhill as taxes soar. For these providers, and probably many are, it's pretty obvious that if health care moves to a state model, incentives toward excellence and competition among providers will end, and doctors will lose all control over the kind of health care decisions they can make, becoming worker ants under the command of state bureaucrats and central planners. They are protesting that with arguments like this:

Special interests in Sacramento are continuing to push a proposal to force all Californians into a costly new, state-run government health care system. The proposal would require millions of Californians to give up their Medicare and employer-sponsored coverage, with no guarantee they could keep their doctor, specialists or pharmaceutical benefits. California leads the nation in expanding health care coverage and now has the lowest rate of uninsured in its history at 6.8%. Single payer puts at risk the progress we've made increasing access to health care through the Affordable Care Act and other recent reforms. SINGLE PAYER = HIGHER COSTS, MASSIVE TAX INCREASES

Now, if you read closely the Sacramento Bee report on "Californians Against The Costly Disruption Of Our Health Care," the group opposing single-payer cited above, you will learn that even though it includes doctors, it's actually a big business outfit that includes the California Chamber of Commerce, rather than a grassroots conservative group. That detail is significant because you can see that the group suggests that giving free health care to illegals as its recommended alternative to the single-payer plan it wants to avoid, a sort of sop to preventing the big monster of single-payer from being enacted at all.

Coalition members said they'll be focusing their early efforts on the Legislature and the next governor, but did not rule out spending on advertising and other public messaging. Key discussions will be focused on alternative potential proposals to contain escalating costs and expand coverage to everyone regardless of immigration status or ability to pay.

Avoiding single-payer will serve big insurance's interests, sure but if it comes because free health care for illegal immigrants plan is enacted, it might not be such a great deal for taxpayers. After all, it's a given that Californians will foot the bill for Venezuela's health care exodus as first ports of refuge such as Peru and Ecuador shut their doors. Throw in all of Central America's population, much of Mexico's, and the populations expected to roll in from Africa and India, and the California bill is going to get big soon.

What it shows is that Newsom is a wimpy coward, right there along with his image, unable to stand up to the far-left forces with a hammerlock on the California statehouse. If this gets out, that Newsom is such a weakling in the face of the hard (and often hated) Sacramento left that he's willing to throw the sop of free health care for illegals as a means of heading off the single-payer leftist juggernaut in the statehouse, it's not going to be good for him.

We return to the reality on the ground in the precincts: that voters don't want more free stuff for illegal immigrants, more magnets drawing them, or more people in general...and that might just be a good day for Republican John Cox.

Cox has got to run with it, because the signs are there on the ground that even very blue voters have had it with more free goodies for all the world's illegal immigrants - and even Newsom seems to know this. Never mind single-payer, a pie-in-the-sky idea if there ever was one. The illegals will be coming, and only Cox will be have the strength and will to stop them.

Image credit: Freedom to Marry via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. "Right at Home: Modeling Sub-Federal Resistance as Criminal Justice Reform" | Main | California becomes first state to completely do away with money bail 

This New York Daily News piece reports on a notable echo from one of President Trump's many notable comments on the law. The piece is headlined "Attorney for crack dealer tries the President Trump defense: Don't trust snitches," and here are the details:

President Trumps disgust with snitches is catching on in court. An attorney for a crack dealer began to argue in closing statements last week that a cooperating witness cant be trusted  but a judge stopped him before he could cite a presidential tweet.

You know whats funny? Yesterday Manafort was convicted, Nkrumah said, alluding to the trial of Trumps campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Manafort trial featured testimony from a cooperating witness. Nkrumah was immediately stopped due to an objection from the government.

Out of earshot of the jury, Nkrumah explained that he planned to cite Trumps remark that Its called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal.... I believe that the presidents opinion of cooperators is just as pertinent as anyone elses opinion about cooperators, Nkrumah explained.

Judge Gregory Woods disagreed and prevented Nkrumah from pursuing the argument further to the jury. I did not permit the defendant to comment on that presidential tweet, Woods said, apparently referring to a tweet of Trumps remarks. He said the Manafort trial had nothing to do with the drug case, and that Trumps remarks would needlessly inject a politically charged, polemic issue.

I should note the tweet is that it almost ought to be illegal, but as we all know, and as I am going to instruct the jury, it is not illegal. And so I was also concerned about the confusion that may be wrought upon these jurors by presenting that as the view of the speaker, Woods said.

The jury convicted Russell of a charge of conspiracy to deal crack, but acquitted him of the more serious charge of carrying a firearm in connection with dealing the drugs.Democrat love-in for John McCain another symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome

This will probably get me in trouble, but the overblown tributes to John McCain are getting tiresome. Some of the praise is being used as cover to hit President Trump, who has accomplished far more in a year and a half in public office than McCain did in thirty-six. It is amusing how Democrats and their corrupt media allies (who despised McCain when he dared get in the way of their beloved Obama's ascension), are now elevating him to divine status. Look: McCain was a military hero, but not a political one. I honor his military service.

He also had serious character issues. After cheating for years on his first wife (she was in a car accident that left her disfigured), McCain decided to divorce her and marry his 24-year-old mistress, who just happened to be a wealthy beer heiress who could help him launch his political career. Soon thereafter, he was involved in the Keating 5 financial scandal, where he improperly intervened on behalf of a wealthy donor who was the target of a regulatory investigation. McCain's 2008 campaign was a disaster. He refused to hit Obama where he was most vulnerable: his association with terrorists like Bill Ayers, fraudsters like Tony Rezko (from whom Obama purchased his home in a shady deal), and racists like Jeremiah Wright. He also paused his campaign during the financial crises and had a deer-in-the-headlights look about him whenever he was asked about economic policy. Further, as much as I like many things about Sarah Palin, she was not ready for prime time  he failed to properly vet her. I also have a big issue with him killing the repeal of the Unaffordable Care Act (likely out of spite to President Trump) and not stepping down from the Senate when he could no longer perform his duties. I admire John McCain's service to his country, in Vietnam and later in politics, but hero-worshiping him for purposes of hitting President Trump is just wrong. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.McCain, whose vote sent the last Obamacare repeal effort down to defeat, died last week. Ducey needs to appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of McCain's term, and Republican senators are eying another attempt at repeal of the ACA.

Republican senators are urging Arizona governor Doug Ducey to appoint a someone to replace Senator John McCain who will be a strong ally in another effort to repeal Obamacare.

The Hill:

"If we re-engage in that discussion in some point in the future, it would be nice to have members who enable us to pass it," Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.) said when asked about the possibility of ObamaCare repeal legislation coming up for a future vote. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he hopes the next senator from Arizona will be a "strong ally" who "recognizes that ObamaCare is not a proper solution." "It hasn't worked, it's created a lot of harm and damage to real people," he added. A senior Senate GOP aide said the chamber would "absolutely" vote again to repeal ObamaCare but cautioned it would depend on "if we keep the House." "McCain was personally conservative but ideologically inconsistent," the aide said. "I think Ducey is going to pick someone more like himself. He's a more reliable conservative."

A repeal vote won't happen before the election and is doubtful in the lame duck session in December. Lawmakers are looking at 2019 as a target date for repeal legislation to come to the floor.

The attempt to repeal Obamacare is totally dependent on whether Republicans are able to maintain control of the House and Senate next year. The GOP looks in pretty good shape in the Senate, but House control is a toss-up at this point. Assuming that Republicans are able to hang on in the House, a successful repeal vote would be a big step for Trump's 2020 re-election bid. With Democrats touting the even more radical "Medicare for All" plan, the president could position himself closer to the center on health care  assuming Republicans craft some kind of health insurance reform plan that lowers the cost of premiums.

The party made Obamacare repeal a major issue in the 2016 election and didn't deliver. McCain wasn't entirely to blame, but his failure to vote with the majority nailed the lid shut on repeal. Now Republicans may get another bite at the Obamacare apple  something the GOP base would love to taste.Florida Democrats gave the nod for governor to a certifiable Bernie Sanders-backed candidate. Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum, who wants to legalize marijuana, abolish ICE, and push Medicare for All, won a surprise victory against the less radical former rep. Gwen Graham.

In the Florida and Arizona primaries last night, Donald Trump flexed his political muscles a bit, as his preferred candidates in Florida swept to victory and a strong Republican won the Arizona GOP Senate primary. Rep. Ron DeSantis, whom Trump enthusiastically endorsed, won the GOP governor's primary, easily outdistancing Adam Putnam by 20 points.

Fox News:

DeSantis and Gillum will face each other in November's general election. If he triumphs, Gillum would [sic] be the state's first black governor. During a celebration event in Orlando, DeSantis thanked the president for "viewing me as somebody who could be a great leader for Florida." "Our victory is a good victory, anyways," DeSantis said, complimenting Putnam on a hard-fought race. "But man, to beat someone of his caliber is a big, big deal." The president repeatedly had implored voters to support DeSantis over Putnam. Trump offered his congratulations on Twitter.

Such a fantastic win for Ron DeSantis and the people of the Great State of Florida. Ron will be a fantastic Governor. On to November!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

Gillum, who would be the first black governor in Florida history if he won, depended on the enthusiasm he generated among activists nationwide. But he received only 34% of the vote, pointing to the rift between radical leftists and more moderate Democrats in Florida.

You can expect to see a lot of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Florida this fall as they stump hard for the socialist Gillum. Florida will be a key state in 2020, and whichever party controls the statehouse will have a decided advantage in November. No doubt, the president will swing through the state more than once this fall.

In the Senate primary, it was no contest as Governor Rick Scott easily won the GOP nomination. He will face incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson, who many believe is vulnerable because of his age and the fact that he is out of step with Florida voters.

Arizona was a slightly different story. Two candidates who tried to tie themselves to the president went down to defeat in the GOP primary, but a strong Republican candidate who didn't try to run away from the president won handily.

Former female fighter pilot Rep. Martha McSally coasted to victory over Kelli Ward and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, both of whom vied for Trump's endorsement. Republicans were already going to have trouble holding on to this seat, being vacated by Senator Jeff Flake, and Trump wisely stayed on the sidelines, giving McSally a clear path to the win. McSally is no NeverTrump and will no doubt be glad to have Trump campaign for her.

In the fall, McSally will face a strong Democrat in Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who buried the progressive candidate with 82% of the primary vote. With Democrats united behind Sinema and Arizona considered a battleground state, the race is likely to be close and hard fought.

The takeaway from primary night is that Republicans did well in nominating candidates who can win in November while in at least one race, Democrats let their hearts win out by nominating a leftist loon. Both sides got the results they wanted. Both sides will try to make Trump a central issue. It remains to be seen how far the president's coattails will extend in November.The New York Times, which serves as a pilot fish for the rest of the media, has been working hard to minimize the damage he might do. On August 17, as Ohr's name was being introduced to inhabitants of the MSM bubble thanks to a threat by President Trump to remove his security clearance, the Times outright lied about his position in the Department of Justice, calling him a "midlevel" official in the DOJ. This lie was picked up and repeated in many other articles and was used on cable news reports extensively, thereby falsely branding him as a minor player caught up and persecuted by Trump and anyone else paying attention.

You can almost smell the fear in the Get Trump camp that Bruce Ohr might be the thread that could be pulled to unravel the conspiracy of high-ranking officials to spy on the Trump campaign and then, after the election, put into action the " insurance policy " Peter Strzok mentioned to his mistress (and co-worker) Lisa Page in an August 2016 text message, to remove a duly elected president from office.

Ohr was, prior to his demotion, the top-ranked career official (i.e., not a political appointee) in the Justice Department. While the Times has not (so far as I have been able to discover) issued an official correction for this lie, the day before yesterday, it called him a "senior career Justice Department official" and yesterday, in its report on the hearing (didn't the Times cover this itself?), ran an Associated Press report that called him "a high-ranking official in the deputy attorney general's office" but identified his significance in the lede as "[a] longtime government lawyer who has become a central figure in President Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the Russia investigation." Other media went along with this Ohr-as-victim party line; CNN, for instance, called him the "Justice Department official in Trump's crosshairs."

One side benefit of Ohr's appearance is that we now finally have more than one picture of Ohr. Up until yesterday, the sole picture of the former number-four official in the Obama Justice Department was from the ceremony accompanying an award he had received years ago. Here is a new head shot taken from Fox News video of his arrival:

There are two closely related dangers for the bureaucratic, political, and media coalition that seeks to eject Trump from the body politic and teach the lesson to any future potential disruptor of the Establishment that such a mission is both dangerous and futile.

The first danger is exposure of the Obama administration's spying on the candidate running against its designated successor, Hillary Clinton. As many have noted, this is the same motive as the Watergate burglary, only of a magnitude a thousand times greater. The ability of the NSA to monitor every form of electronic communication (except ham radio  as employed by Bruce Ohr's wife, Nellie) means that virtually all significant information in the Trump campaign was available, so long as the officials in question were in communication with one of the people named in the FISA warrants obtained by the cabal operatives.

The second danger is that it is becoming increasingly clear that the Mueller special counsel probe is the direct outgrowth of the cabal's efforts to gin up unfounded allegations of Trump campaign collusion with Russia. Bruce Ohr's role in this effort may be critical because he violated Department of Justice procedures and kept his supervisors ignorant of his serving as a cut-out, then continuing to utilize Democrat-commissioned, Russian-sourced unsubstantiated information in the Steele Dossier in obtaining four warrants from the FISA Court. Ohr probably will face professional ruin and possibly prison time, especially if he gets caught in a perjury trap. He might even cut a deal to testify, if a prosecution is ever undertaken, by John Huber or anyone else.

The hearing at which Ohr testified was "closed door," meaning no reporters and no cameras. No Democrat members of the two committees that held the hearing attended, though staffers of Democrats were allowed to ask questions. An amusing sidelight is that even though this was the first public appearance of Ohr, there didn't seem to be a mob of reporters shouting questions at him as he entered and left. Fox News's Catherine Herridge had no company as she gamely attempted to get Ohr to respond to her questions on his way in.

Two Republicans at the hearing have spoken out.

Darrell Issa was fairly forthcoming, speaking with Mollie Line of Fox News (full interview embedded below). He indicated that Ohr had disclosed to FBI officials his wife's work for Fusion GPS and named names, but this didn't get back to the DOJ and his bosses, apparently, and never made it into the FISA warrants. This is ammunition to squeeze those officials (Peter Strzok? Sally Yates? others?) about their roles in defrauding the FISA Court.

Issa noted that "Bruce has a poor memory" that enabled him to avoid outright refusals to answer questions.

Issa also said (transcript by author):

As an attorney he did something he never should have done: he became part of the continuity of evidence; he became a fact witness ... became part of an investigation that was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton, and pursued by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who obviously had real hatred for the president.

Issa also said that Ohr admitted this (back-channel communication) had never happened in his 30-year career.

Gregg Jarrett of Fox News, author of the best-selling book The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump, explains the role of Ohr:The price of political schizophrenia

You can't but be struck by the dramatic difference in the way the news is reported by the mainstream media on TV, in print, and online by the more respectable media. It's like reading about the state of the world in 1916, at the height of WWI, and at the same time at the height of the Roaring Twenties, about 1926  but with both represented as the world right now. To read the MSM, you get the feeling that the president is on the very edge of being impeached and thrown out of office in disgrace. All of America but a handful of toothless white Nazis despises the man. The rest of the country is ready to stand up and, with one voice, scream guilty to whatever the New York Times pronounces him guilty of.

In the more respectable media, you find Trump and America happy. The economy has never been better; Hispanics and blacks are looking at Trump with new respect. This president really does know what he's doing. Gradually, America is returning to the country of hope and good cheer that attracts people worldwide as the president makes America great again. I think we all know we're headed for an armed clash  not because Trump-supporters want it, but because the left refuses to accept anything short of unconditional surrender in its war on America. The Love America side is willing to go halfway to keep the peace, but the Hate America side won't have it. The tension of the political schizophrenia is almost palpable. The Love America side can't compromise anymore and remain true to itself. Partly through negligence, partly through laziness, partly for other reasons good and bad, we have allowed our country to be jerked so far from our Judeo-Christian roots that the Founders wouldn't recognize the system they bequeathed us. Their Constitution is in tatters, their high principles mocked. Mostly what has kept us from totalitarianism are our inherited liberal traditions. Certainly, America has not functioned according to the Constitution the last forty years, arguably the last hundred years. Another thing that has also kept the totalitarians at bay: concern that things might run out of control. They want to advance their agenda as far as possible out of sight, so that we (most of us, anyway) won't know for sure what's going on until there's no chance of stopping their takeover. Our uncertainty, our unwillingness to move against them without absolute proof, works to their advantage. We are inhibited by our own morality and dedication to constitutional principle. Hence the screaming and screeching on the left. Russian totalitarians did this in 1917, Italians in 1922, and Germans in 1933, so history shows what lies ahead. It's the price of political schizophrenia in this day and age. Richard Jack Rail, a frequent contributor to American Thinker, is the author of A Diary of the Trump Era: Year 1, with Year 2 in the making. Available at caktusjakk@gmail.com.Disneys CEO Bob Iger has announced that the companys new streaming service, slated to launch next year, will be the companys biggest priority for 2019. Armed with a portfolio of well-known franchises such as Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney plans to end its current distribution agreement deal with Netflix in favor of launching its own competing service. While the exact name and pricing of the new streaming service have yet to be unveiled, Disney has stated that its new service will begin operation during Q4 of 2019. Furthermore, Disney also plans to become the majority stakeholder in the online streaming service Hulu.

Having recently acquired BAMTech, a company specializing in providing streaming solutions, Disney is preparing to enter a market dominated by Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. With 130 and 100 million subscribers respectively, these two services make up the bulk of the video subscription industry. Compared with the other two, Disneys own service has an advantage in already having established brands and franchises. Despite this, there are doubts of Disney being able to match the amount of content Netflix and Amazon provide. CEO Iger, however, has stated that Disneys current goal is not to compete in quantity but quality. He also added that Disneys streaming service would be cheaper than Netflixs, and if successful, could eventually expand to compete in the amount of content. Potential movies expected to debut on Disneys new platform include Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, Dumbo, Captain Marvel, and Star Wars: Episode IX.

Complementing the launch of its own streaming service, Disney also plans to take a majority stake in Hulu. By buying Foxs 30-percent stake in the company, Disney will become the majority stakeholder with 60-percent stake in the company. Disney plans to use this buyout as an opportunity to both expand its own streaming service and appeal to older audiences by pairing it with its soon to be launched streaming service. In addition to already popular services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Disney can also expect strong competition from AT&T, which has been heavily investing in its HBO Now service. While HBO Nows 5 million subscribers pales in comparison to Hulus 20 million subscriber base, AT&Ts traditional HBO and Cinemax networks still have over 49 million total subscribers, leaving plenty of room for growth.Huawei pleaded with the Federal Trade Commission for a hearing over its de facto ban from participating in the stateside wireless market, according to a copy of its filing submitted with the Federal Communications Commission and published on Monday. The 65-page appeal was originally submitted on August 20 and once again reiterates Huaweis defense against widespread accusations that it poses a national security threat to the United States. Huawei and certain other foreign entities have faced, and continue to face, regulatory intervention that has inhibited their ability to compete on the merits, the company claims, likely referring to ZTE.

The filing recaps a large part of Huaweis long history of issues with American institutions, from the institutional pressure exerted on Sprint in 2010 meant to prevent the wireless carrier from considering Huawei as a supplier to the newly enacted U.S. defense bill that contains an anti-Huawei provision preventing federal agencies from relying on the companys equipment. The Shenzhen-based company once again argued that preventing it from participating in the U.S. market, both as a telecom equipment supplier and an electronics manufacturer, hurts American consumers by reducing the number of options they have. The FTC has yet to respond to the hearing request and isnt obligated to do so. The chances that any government organization side with Huawei on the matter are slim, especially given the current tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade.

Earlier this month, Huawei was also banned from participating in Australias 5G project and South Korea is understood to be preparing for a similar move. Legislators and regulators around the world are concerned Beijing would have little issues with forcing Huawei to help it spy on nations using its infrastructure or even cripple their communications. In response to those issues, Huawei repeatedly claimed its an employee-owned company that isnt any more likely to be compelled to do anything by its government than Western firms are. China also criticized anti-Huawei measures in the West as unfair, with some critics previously calling for Beijing to invite the likes of Ericsson, Nokia, and other foreign firms into its wireless industry if fair competition is the only thing its concerned about.Oculus has announced a new series of extensions to the companys outreach program, intended to help people both learn to use and learn while using VR, following the success of the California-specific initiative it launched last year. That includes new pilot programs in one other U.S. city, Seattle, and in both Japan and Taiwan. The latter of those pilots will most closely resemble its previous efforts, with the company opting to donate an unspecified number of its Rift and Go-branded headsets to the countrys Internet and E-Commerce Association (TiEA). Those will be parceled out to various libraries and museums throughout the region and demos will start at those locations at some point this year. The VR company lists a total of ten locations planned, as of this writing, and indicates that each region will determine how the VR can best be used. Oculus says some of the more art-centric locations plan to show off how VR can be used creatively with apps such as Quill or Oculus Medium.

Meanwhile, Japans pilot is the newest of the initiatives, applies summarily to high school students in the country, and is still in the very early phases of planning. The current goal is to focus on discovering how VR can be utilized in providing an education at a distance and more general education uses. The first part of that will explore how students that are in remote regions of the country might be able to learn in a more traditional setting through the use of virtual classrooms. However, that also includes an exploration into how to best use the technology as an interactive medium through which to share both homework and course materials.

Last but not least, the Facebook-owned company started its Seattle initiative alongside the start of the U.S. 2018 to 2019 school year. The pilot will take place as a collaborative effort between teachers and students from Ballard High School and Franklin High School, with participants working together to create educational content for VR. At the same time, Oculus has partnered with the Technology Access Foundation in the city as well in a bid to discover better ways to instruct teachers in the use of classroom VR. In fact, each initiative shares that same overarching theme. While VR certainly seems to have a place in formal education and in other training programs, Oculus is undertaking its pilots to effectively both promote its own VR and hopefully push the industry forward. Simultaneously, the company is introducing the technology as a learning tool for those who may not have used it in the past or who might not otherwise get the opportunity.Samsung on Wednesday detailed the water carbon cooling system found inside the Galaxy Note 9, with the company confirming previous speculation about the setup in question being based on the same technology that first debuted inside the Galaxy S7 line in early 2016. Much like every high-end handset Samsung released ever since, the Galaxy Note 9 is equipped with a water-secreting thermal spreader. The module has been designed to absorb battery- and chip-generated heat, turn it into steam, and transfer the result away from the critical components of the host device. After the smartphone has been cooled, the steam condenses back into water, is reabsorbed by the spreader, and the process can start anew.

The water carbon cooling system of the Galaxy Note 9 utilizes largely identical mechanics but is significantly larger, as already revealed by a number of teardowns, though Samsung now also shared its own high-resolution imagery of the Android phablets internals which can be seen below. Samsung also inserted a copper layer between the two thermal interface materials (TIMs) making up the cooling pipe so as to improve its ability to transfer heat. The volume of the new pipe is also more than 2.7 times larger compared to the solution found inside the Galaxy S9, which should both benefit the handsets ability to remain cool over long periods of heavy processing and improve the speed of the initial cooling process. The carbon-fiber TIM implemented into the system is up to nine times more conducive than silicon, still the most widely used material in the mobile industry.

The Galaxy Note 9 was officially released on Friday, with Samsung expecting the handset to outsell its direct predecessor. In the United States, the Android flagship starts at $999, whereas its best configuration with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space retails at $1,249 unlocked. The Galaxy Note 9 is Samsungs final high-end mobile release of the year thats paving the way for the Galaxy S10 series expected to be introduced in early 2019.Phuc made the remarks while receiving Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is in Hanoi for the 16th Meeting of the Vietnam-India Joint Committee on Economic, Commercial, Scientific, and Technological Cooperation.Vietnam treasures the friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with India and hopes to deepen bilateral ties in all areas, the PM said, adding that he highly values the results of the previous meeting between Swaraj and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.He asked Swaraj to help maintain the political trust between the two countries and foster Vietnam-India cooperation in multiple fields, particularly defence and security  a pillar of bilateral relations, economics, and trade. He hoped the two sides would go on to discuss ways to reduce trade barriers and that more large corporations from India will be investing in Vietnam in power, renewable energy, and oil and gas exploitation.He also urged the two sides to closely coordinate and back each other at regional and international forums and, at the same time, expressed his support for Indias Act East policy.Vietnam hopes India will support ASEANs centrality in regional architecture and speak out for the maintenance of security, safety, freedom of navigation, aviation and trade, including the settlement of disputes via peaceful means on the basis of international law, the Vietnamese leader said.Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, for her part, said she is impressed with Vietnams socio-economic development in recent years and pleased to see the two nations Comprehensive Strategic Partnership growing, bringing real benefit to their peoples.India wants to further intensify its multifaceted partnership with Vietnam with a special focus on economics, trade, investment, science-technology, security-defence, and people-to-people exchange, thereby contributing to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and across the globe.

VietnamplusGoogle has revealed a new search-based tool and a new Google My Business label intended to assist veterans with finding a career and help users discover businesses that are run by veterans. Beginning with the first of those two, the new search tool utilizes the companys Talent Cloud Solution and is effectively a way for veterans to narrow down job opportunities based on work they did while serving in the armed forces. Current partners in the program include a wide range of businesses from FedEx Careers to Encompass Health Careers and is very straightforward. A search for the term jobs for veterans on any of the companys search platforms now brings up a web app where servicemembers can look for skill-specific work. The initial search will show all job listing currently available through the tool in the users local area. From there, entering a military job code will return results that the candidate might be well-suited for. A user can also add a specific region to the end of their initial search term to find jobs more close to home if the first search isnt accurate enough.

On the Google My Business side of the new features, business owners who are veterans will now be able to add a Veteran-Led attribute to their company page using the Info tab on the Google My Business Dashboard. From there, clicking attributes will bring up a search box and a list of attributes. A quick search for Veteran should bring up the newly added descriptive term and a click on that will let the business owner interact with the attribute. Clicking the plus symbol, followed by the Apply button will add that to the business description. Google takes up to three days to review an attribute before adding it on the user-facing side of a Google search. So it shouldnt be concerning if the attribute isnt added right away. Once thats in place, users who search for a business on Google will be able to see that a location is owned and operated by a veteran.

Both of the features are being added as part of the search giants overarching Grow with Google initiative, with the intention of enabling veterans to access more opportunities. The efforts were led by seven-year Air Force veteran and Google Cloud Program Manager Matthew Hudson and worked on by other veterans at the company. However, Google isnt stopping with the new initiatives at all. In a bid to help even more military personnel, spouses, and veterans develop IT skills, the search giants charitable branch  Google.org  is also giving the USO a $2.5 million grant. That will be used to train and offer career guidance in IT support b via the incorporation of the Google IT Support Professional Certificate into the Organizations current programs.ZTE has a rough few years behind it but the drama that engulfed the company for the better part of this year is unlike anything that has ever been witnessed in the United States, at least as far as foreign consumer electronics companies are concerned. Sure, ZTE does much more than just make smartphones but in the context of the stateside market, its largely irrelevant outside of handsets, a product category in which it was only behind Apple, Samsung, and LG in terms of 2017 sales, according to several industry trackers.

Following a couple of months of absolute uncertainty that saw ZTE unable to purchase and license crucial American technologies such as a modern version of Googles Android and Qualcomms Snapdragon chips, the company managed to strike a lifeline deal with the Commerce Department that saw its seven-year denial order replaced with the next worst thing. If you think thats an exaggeration, ZTEs now-former Chairman Yin Yimin himself referred to the new deal over broken trade embargoes and subsequently broken settlements meant to settle the thereof a disastrous price to pay. People were fired, product lines halted until today, suppliers ditched, contracts dropped, and many clients left running. ZTE is reportedly set to incur approximately $3.1 billion in near-term losses directly attributable to the ordeal, though the long-term ramifications of the episode are likely to cost it much more than that as its likely set to lose on a lot of future business that probably would have stuck around had it not placed itself in the crosshairs of the American government.

While the situation surrounding the initial denial order and the circumstances that led to it isnt entirely black-and-white and ZTE did make some valid arguments about the punishment being too harsh, the damage has already been done. What remains is a major damage control job that ZTE will have to undergo with a new board and management after throwing out most of its old directors and executives, also at Washingtons request. While the new settlement saved it from certain bankruptcy, the chances of its U.S. business recovering dont seem great. Since the ordeal with the Commerce Department began, all four major carriers stopped selling most ZTE devices from their portfolios for various reasons and the amount of competition in the entry-level segment  the only product category in which the firm is relevant in the U.S.  is sufficiently high that ZTE-made products can arguably be easily replaced in the immediate future. After all, the companys stateside business largely depended on handsets priced at under $150, which is a gap that can be filled by the likes of Motorola, LG, BLU, HMD Global (Nokia), or virtually any other smartphone maker without a history of breaking international trade sanctions imposed on hostile foreign powers.

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Then theres the issue of debt; ZTEs plan for continuing operations in the aftermath of the ordeal is to loan over $10 billion, more than two-thirds of its annual revenue prior to the disastrous episode that crippled the entirety of its business. Given how ZTE, like every other international business on the planet, already has an existing debt to manage, taking on such a massive loan is likely to overleverage its operations. Yes, its majority-owned by a state company and China likely wouldnt let one of its largest telecom giants go under but none of that is good news for its chances of remaining relevant in the United States, or remaining in the country at all.

Besides a tarnished reputation, lost sales, mounting debt, aggressive management reshuffling, and a variety of other issues such as unfriendly trade monitors that it has to pay for out of its own pocket, ZTE USA is mostly fine, provided the Commerce Departments denial order doesnt get reinstated. The Republican Congress already threatened to do so this summer but backed down following appeals from President Trump, though if the GOP loses either house during the upcoming mid-terms taking place in November, ZTE may have a new problem on its hands. Unlike the currently ruling party whose President opted to save ZTE as a personal favor to Chinas leadership, as revealed by his own trade adviser, the DNC appears to be more unified on the matter and has repeatedly called for the firm to also be investigated over any potential national security threat it may pose, criticizing the lifeline deal as not addressing that issue. A small number of Republican politicians such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio agree with that notion, so the idea of a bipartisan anti-ZTE push isnt out of the realm of possibility in the near future.

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At the end of the day, a non-bankrupt ZTE still isnt a healthy ZTE and given the companys ambitions in the telecommunications segment and the advent of 5G, it just might decide to cut its stateside losses and pursue a more focused rebuilding strategy before possibly looking toward the American market once again. After all, the chances of it ever becoming a significant telecom player in the U.S. were next to none even before its clash with the Commerce Department and with its mobile business now also taking a massive hit, a ZTExit might just end up happening in the near future. In the end, ZTE doesnt need to actually sell phones in the U.S. in order to continue buying Qualcomms chips and procuring other American technologies crucial for its business.BREAKING: Rescue of five moon bears happening right now in Vietnam 27 August 2018

An Animals Asia rescue team arrived in the small town of My Tho in Vietnams southern province of Tien Giang this morning to rescue five moon bears from a bear bile farm.

The bears were likely captured from the wild and have been held for at least 13 years in tiny cages so that their bile could be extracted for use as a traditional medicine.

FOLLOW THE RESCUE TIMELINE

At present the condition of the bears is unknown but previous rescues have revealed a litany of painful and debilitating diseases and disabilities  many of which can be terminal.

The rescue team contains experienced veterinarians and vet nurses who will be prepared for the worst.

Animals Asia Vietnam Director Tuan Bendixsen said:

As with many rescues, we have no information about the bears at present  not even their genders. But we know they have never received any health care in the last 13 years of extreme captivity and abuse.

Repeated bile extraction takes a huge toll on the bears health and our team will be ready for anything. Our primary goal will be to get them out of cages which were never designed to be opened, keep them alive and get them back to our sanctuary where high-quality care can begin.

Once freed from cages, the bears will be transported 1,700km by truck to Animals Asias Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in Vinh Phuc province where they expect to arrive on Friday 31 August.

Bear bile farming reached a peak in Vietnam in 2005 when over 4,000 bears were kept around the country on private farms.

However, years of campaigning culminated in the signing of a landmark agreement between Animals Asia and the Vietnam government in July, 2017 to close every bear bile farm and send all the bears to sanctuary by 2022.

Vietnams Traditional Medicine Association has also vowed to stop prescribing bear bile by 2020.

The latest figures from the Vietnamese government show the number of bears in private hands has fallen to approximately 800.

The five moon bears in Tien Giang province are being voluntarily handed over by their owner.

Animals Asia Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE said:

More and more farmers are beginning to realise that bear bile farming is finished in Vietnam. Demand for bile is plummeting as people learn of the cruelty behind every vial, while the government has made it clear the end of the industry is just a matter of time.

For these five bears, the end of suffering cannot come soon enough. Now we have to get them home to our sanctuary where their new lives can begin.

To date Animals Asia has rescued 611 bears, mainly from bile farms, in Vietnam and China.

Over 170 bears currently live at the Animals Asias Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre, the largest and oldest sanctuary for bears in the country.

You can follow the rescue as it happens on Animals Asias Facebook, Twitter and the dedicated rescue timeline.Before leaving, the State leader had a meeting with a delegation from the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC), including its Chairman Ahmed Al Wakil, Secretary General and CEO Alaa Ezz, and President of Elsewedy Electric Ahmed El Sewedy.



President Tran Dai Quang affirmed that Vietnam always highly values the traditional cooperation and friendship with Egypt, expressing his hope that his visit will help lift up the bilateral ties to a new height.

He spoke highly of the all-round partnership between the two countries over the past year, but he held that economic and trade affiliation has yet to match the potential of both sides.

The two countries should work harder to raise two-way trade to 1 billion USD by 2020, he said, stressing the role of businesses in enhancing economic-trade ties.

He affirmed that Vietnam is ready to create optimal conditions for Egyptian firms to connect with their Vietnamese peers and conduct market surveys, trade, investment and tourism promotion in Vietnam, while encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to seek opportunities in Egypt.

FEDCOC Chairman Ahmed Al Wakil said that the business community is interested in outcomes of President Tran Dai Quangs visit. He held that in order to reach the target of $1 billion in two-way trade by 2020, it is necessary to enhance cooperation as well as the sharing of information and experience in agriculture, aquaculture, rice export, and information technology.

Located in the position connecting Asia, Europe and Africa, Egypt and the local business community are willing to act as a bridge for Vietnamese goods to access markets in the three continents, he stated.

President Tran Dai Quang lauded the efforts of the FEDCOC leader in connecting the business communities of Egypt and Vietnam. He said he hopes the federation will soon implement outcomes reached by leaders of the two countries during his visit, while promoting cooperation between FEDCOC and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as localities and enterprises of both sides, contributing to developing economy, trade and tourism in both Vietnam and Egypt.

VietnamnewsHistorianTheres no denying it: Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has turned out to be skilful and shrewd. Call it footwork, opportunism, a smokescreen, sleight of hand or whatever. Regardless of their position on Catalan independence, what democrat could possibly deny Sanchez the support he needs to move General Francos remains from his mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen? Yes, it is urgent to remove the despots body from the megalomaniac construction that he had built to his own greater glory and give it a Christian burial as the Catholic church has advised, ignoring the fact that while Francos regime might have been ultra-Catholic, it was radically anti-Christian in an ordinary cemetery. However, if that is the extent of the whole operation, it will be a joke and a mockery of all the victims of the Franco regime, as well as their descendants.

Parallel to removing the body of the dictator, it is imperative to bring back the 2007 Law of Historic Memory which the PP administration never found the courage to repeal but was indecent enough to shelve by denying it any funds for seven years straight and amend its original weaknesses, revoking every sentence handed down by Francos courts martial and the regimes other special courts. I do not mean only the rulings against Lluis Companys, Julian Besteiro or Salvador Puig Antich, but all of them. This is precisely what the Federal Republic of Germany did with a bill on the overturning of the unjust national-socialist sentences passed on 25 August 1998.

At the same time, Sanchezs government and, specifically, Defence Minister Margarita Robles should give a major talking-to to every member of the Spanish armed forces, retired or otherwise, so that they never ever write another public statement like the Statement of Respect and Amends for General Francisco Franco Bahamonde, a soldier of Spain published in early August. No public servant in Germany or Italy, even if retired, would dare to endorse a document that publicly justified Hitler or Mussolini; if anything, to avoid any legal trouble. Should service personnel who glorify fascism be allowed to get away with it, in this allegedly exemplary Spain that arose from the political Transition following Francos death?

As part of the political debate that we have had in recent weeks apropos of the removal of Francos remains, some have also discussed the future use of the Valley of the Fallen and two proposals have been put forward. Culture Minister Jose Guirao indicated that he personally favoured turning the grounds into a memorial museum, not unlike Auschwitz. A Ciudadanos spokesperson mentioned that it might become a burial ground for national heroes, like Arlington in the US.

Well, in my modest opinion the Valley of the Fallen can be no Auschwitz or Arlington. To begin with, we ought to be more careful about comparing anything to Auschwitz. What happened in the Nazi camps in occupied Poland is of such a singular, specific nature that it cannot be compared lightheartedly to the massacre of a few hundred human beings or any other crime committed by a totalitarian regime. Indeed, tens of thousands of prisoners were used as hard labour in the construction work of the Valley of the Fallen and some even died there, but there were no gas chambers, no crematorium, no gallows nor the intent to exterminate the prisoners as a whole.

Furthermore, the site could not be turned into an Arlington for the simple reason that in the last two centuries the only military victories that Spains armies have claimed were almost exclusively against other Spanish combatants in over half a dozen civil wars. Besides having a hard time picturing bones being rushed across Spain towards the Valley in this day and age, who would qualify for national hero status? Carlist General Zumalacarregui or his liberal rival, General Espartero, the scourge of Barcelona city? Weyler, the mastermind of the concentration camps in rebel Cuba? Miguel Primo de Rivera, the dictator? Those who staged the 1936 coup or their opponents? Coming to an agreement on that is illusory.

Besides, since it is practically impossible to identify the bodies of the 38,000 people who are buried on site, the only feasible option is to turn the Valley of the Fallen into a Civil War National memorial ossuary, very like the Douaumont ossuary in Verdun, where 130,000 unidentified German and French soldiers were put to rest; or the Sacrario del Montello, in Italys Treviso region, where the remains of the dead in the Vittorio Veneto battle were collected. Of course, that would require turning the grounds of the Valley into a museum, outlining how the site was built, disposing of the Francoist symbols that are all over the place and, eventually, moving the Benedictine community that it has housed since Franco ordered them there in 1958.

So now that hes got the wheels spinning, Pedro Sanchez had better get cracking. But is he willing to get down to work?Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on August 29, 2018

2018/08/29

The 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Beijing on September 2. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan will co-host the meeting with the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and the Minister of Trade and Industry of South Africa, the co-chair of the FOCAC. Ministers or representatives responsible for foreign and economic cooperation affairs from other 53 African member states will be attending the meeting. The meeting is set primarily to prepare for the the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit to be held on September 3 to 4.

The meeting will assess the implementation of the outcomes of the 2015 Johannesburg Summit and review and approve the drafts of the agenda and outcome documents to be submitted to the Beijing Summit.

The 7th Ministerial Meeting of the FOCAC is an important institutional meeting of the forum and a key preparatory meeting for the Beijing Summit, an occasion to make the final preparations for the summit. We are convinced that with the concerted efforts of China and Africa, this ministerial meeting will smoothly accomplish its tasks and missions, making positive contributions to the success of the summit.

Q: The Security Council recently held a meeting on the situation in Myanmar. The UN-backed fact-finding mission said top Myanmar military generals must be prosecuted on the charge of "ethnic cleansing"for the Rohingya issue. What is China's take on this issue? What role is China going to play?

A: I took similar questions yesterday. The Rakhine issue has a complex historical, ethnic and religious background, which calls for proper settlement by Myanmar and Bangladesh through bilateral negotiations.

Both Myanmar and Bangladesh are China's friendly neighbors, and China has been working on the two countries to help them resolve the Rakhine issue through talks. In June, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held an informal meeting with the visiting Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Myanmar's Union Minister for the State Counsellor's Office U Kyaw Tint Swe, and they reached four-point principled common understandings. They agreed to continue to follow the three-phased solution of "cessation of violence, repatriation and development", improve the situation in the Rakhine state at an early date and seek proper settlement through bilateral negotiations between Myanmar and Bangladesh on this basis. The most pressing task at this point is the repatriation of the people taking shelter in Bangladesh, and concrete measures and substantial steps must be taken as soon as possible to repatriate the first batch of people. China is ready to provide further assistance to improve the living and sheltering conditions of those displaced in accordance with the will of Myanmar and Bangladesh, leverage our respective strengths to bolster the development cooperation in the border areas of Myanmar and Bangladesh to earnestly improve the livelihood locally. China is now working more closely with the two countries to follow through on the above-mentioned principled common understandings. China also sent Sun Guoxiang, Special Envoy of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to visit Myanmar and Bangladesh several times to conduct in-depth communication on the Rakhine issue, help the two sides build mutual trust and resolve the Rakhine issue through bilateral channels.

Under the current circumstances, the international community should cherish the hard-won progress all the more, remain patient and continue to play a constructive role in promoting the dialogue between Myanmar and Bangladesh and advance the solution of practical issues.

Q: The ROK military said a Chinese military aircraft entered the ROK's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) this morning, and the ROK side scrambled fighter jets in response. What's your comment?

A: I'm not aware of the relevant situation and will refer you to the Defense Ministry. But you must be aware that the ADIZ is not equivalent to territorial air space.

Q: US officials said that China has hacked Hilary Clinton's emails. Can you tell us if this is true or is this the US domestic political games?

A: It is not the first time that we were accused of such things. I would like to know your opinion on this.

Cyber security is a global issue concerning the interests of all countries and must be protected by the international community. Anyone who truly cares about this issue will not forget the PRISM program, the "Equation Group", and the WannaCry ransomware ravaging computer systems around the world which was set off by some country busy designing aggressive cyber tools.

China is a staunch champion of cyber security and firmly opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyber attacks and espionage activities. China believes that the international community should jointly address threats to cyber security through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Q: The US Department of State released a statement on August 27, announcing the US sanctions against Russia over the poisoning of a former spy in the United Kingdom went into effect the same day. Following that, Russia said it rejects a new round of confrontational, illegal and unjust sanctions by the US, and will take equivalent measures in response. What's your comment?

A: China always opposes the wanton use of unilateral sanction or threatening to do so in international relations. Such act will not help resolve problems at all.

Both Russia and the US are influential major countries in the world and permanent members of the UN Security Council, who assume important responsibilities for world peace and security. We hope Russia and the US will properly resolve relevant differences through talks on the basis of equality and mutual respect and in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law.

Q: Reports say that the US suspended Mike Pompeo's visit due to a letter it received from the DPRK, in which the DPRK said the US is still not ready to meet its expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty. The DPRK felt that the denuclearization process could not move forward and the talks were again at stake and may fall apart. What's your comment?

A: To realize the denuclearization and lasting peace of the Korean Peninsula serves the common interests of all relevant parties and accords with the shared aspirations of the international community. In order to address the crux of the Korean Peninsula issue, China maintains that the denuclearization and the establishment of the peace mechanism of the Peninsula should be advanced in a coordinated manner. Under the current circumstances, relevant parties, the DPRK and the US in particular, should stick to the right direction of political settlement, maintain the momentum for dialogue, work together to show more goodwill and sincerity to each other, and do more to help enhance mutual trust, so as to make joint efforts to move forward the process of the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Q: Reports said that China has started building a military base in Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan. Can you confirm that? Why is China building a military training base in Afghanistan? Can you confirm how many troops China will send to Afghanistan when this is completed?

A: We have checked on this report and it is not true.

Q: Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said in an interview on August 28 that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is a powerful idea which could really be an engine for global growth. The Philippine government is promoting the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, thus ready to strengthen its cooperation with China on infrastructure within the framework of the Belt and Road. What's your comment?

A: We applaud Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez's positive remarks.

Not long ago, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez headed the economic team of the Philippine cabinet to visit China, having a good meeting with State Councilor Wang Yi and talks with officials of relevant departments and reaching many consensuses on advancing the practical cooperation across the board between the two sides.

The Philippines is China's friendly close neighbor and an important partner for the building of the Belt and Road. China values its relations with the Philippines and is ready to continue to work with the Philippine side to enhance strategic synergy, bring more benefits to the two peoples and promote our common development.

Q: US Defense Secretary said that the US military has no intention of suspending more US-ROK joint military drills. What is your comment? Do you think this may run counter to the suspension-for-suspension proposal China has been advocating?

A: Do you think that it meets the interests and aspirations of the ROK side if the US and the ROK does not suspend joint military drills?

Not long ago, thanks to the concerted efforts of all relevant parties, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been improving, demonstrating a good momentum. This outcome is hard-won. The political settlement of the Peninsula issue is facing an important opportunity. The relevant parties should stay on the right track of seeking a political settlement, positively engage with each other for more talks, accommodate each other's legitimate concerns, show more sincerity, good faith and flexibility, and accumulate mutual trust. They also need to act on the important consensuses reached during the DPRK-US and DPRK-ROK summits, and work together to promote denuclearization and the political settlement. This would be the best way to serve the common interests of the relevant parties.The 3rd Azerbaijan International Defence Exhibition, ADEX 2018 will be held at Baku Expo Centre in the capital of Azerbaijan from the 25th to the 27th of September. This large-scale event enjoys the status of a major regional exposition of weapons and military equipment; ADEX 2018 is a grand display of modern weaponry and equipment, where the force and power of Azerbaijans military and industrial complex is showcased.



AZCAN armored vehicles showcased at ADEX 2016 defense exhibition

(Credit: ADEX)

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev is a constant visitor to the ADEX exhibitions which are held on the initiative of the Ministry of Defence Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan and supported by the Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan. The exhibition will be organised by Caspian Event Organisers, CEO.

This years exhibition will bring together more than 209 companies from 32 countries worldwide and will occupy three pavilions and an outdoor area of Baku Expo Centre. The national groups from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Israel, the Republic of Belarus, Serbia, Ukraine, Pakistan, France and other countries will participate at the ADEX 2018 exhibition.

This year a number of countries have increased the scale of their national expositions; for example, Turkeys pavilion is 30 percent larger than it was back in 2016. The leading companies of the defence sector from Italy, Bulgaria, China, the Netherlands, Lithuania and other countries are among participants of ADEX 2018.

The third hall of Baku Expo Centre will host the pavilion of the Ministry of the Defence Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan, where the most recent armaments and military equipment of local production will be on display. Here, the industry professionals will be able to get acquainted with the new products of Azerbaijans defence complex and witness both the current and growing capabilities of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. Moreover, this years newcomers from Azerbaijan are the science and technology company Vitta, High Tech Park (ANAS), Service Centre for Armament and Military Equipment of Air Defence.

The media also shows great interest in the exhibition. Information support for the exhibition is provided by over 60 leading international and local specialized media - magazines, websites, and news agencies. The general information partner of the exhibition is IHS Jane's Defence Weekly (UK), and the official online diary of the exhibition is Army Recognition (Belgium), while the official Media partner is the Azeri Defence magazine (Azerbaijan).

There are an increased number of entities and organisations that demonstrate military and dual-use products at ADEX; the number of exhibits also shows an increase. Thus, ADEX 2018 will represent the following sectors: Air Defence (AD) and Missile Defence (MD) Systems; Military Shipbuilding; Development and Upgrade of Weapons Systems; Military Research; UAV Systems; Robotic Systems; Small Arms, Ammunition and Accoutrements; Demilitarization Systems; Missile and Artillery Rounds; MLRS; Electro-optical and Laser Technology; Armoured Vehicles; Submarines; Cyber-security of Naval Forces; EW & C4ISR Systems; Machinery and Equipment of Railway Troops; Technology and Equipment for Manufacture, Maintenance and Disposal of Weapons, and many more. Alongside the other sectors, this years exhibition will widely feature the military aviation industry sector where famous corporations such as MIG, TUSAS, Leonardo, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Motor Sich, Russian Helicopters and Aeronautics Group will participate.

As is tradition, the business programme of ADEX 2018 will be rich in thematic events with informative and eye-catching content; these events include presentations in the field of innovative research, developments and technology in the field of national defence and security and will create ample opportunities for bilateral meetings with heads of line ministries, foreign military delegations, manufacturing companies and customers.

Thus, the ADEX 2018 exhibition will serve as an ideal platform for demonstrating the latest weapons and concluding new agreements in the area of international military and technical cooperation. The exhibition will be held at Baku Expo Centre.According to a statement published on August 27, 2018, by the Czech Ministry of Defense website, Czech Republic has awarded a contract to supply 62 TITUS 6x6 armored combat vehicles, jointly developed and designed by the French Company Nexter Systems now part of KNDS and the Czech Company TATRA.



TITUS 6x6 armoured vehicle at the TATRA Czech factory test range. (Picture source Army Recognition)

The TITUS armored vehicles should have been delivered by the company TATRA, but the Company has not received a security clearance, including a license from the French Company Nexter Systems. The Czech Ministry of Defense has take the decision to make the delivery via another Czech Defense Company called Eldis Pardubice.

Since many years, Czech Army has showed interest to purchase new wheeled armored personnel carrier vehicles offering high level protection that can be quickly deployed for modern combat operations.

The TITUS was unveiled by the French Company NEXTER Systems at DSEI , the International Defense & Security event in London, United Kingdom, in September 2013. The Nexter TITUS can be equipped with any kind of Remote Control Weapon Station from 7.62mm to 20mm, and 40mm Grenade Launchers as well, depending on the level of threats and type of missions.

The layout of the Nexter TITUS is very similar to MRAP category vehicle with the engine at the front, the crew compartment in the middle and the troop's area at the rear. The front part of the vehicle and the windows provide a protection against small arms firing and shell splinters, Level 1, STANAG 4569 and Level 2 for the crew and soldiers compartment able to withstand a 50 kg IED blast. The TITUS can be fitted with add-on armor to increase the protection to Level 3 for the engine bonnet and armored glasses, and Level 4 for the crew and soldiers compartment, with IED protection of 150 kg blast, increased by the original Nexter SAFEPRO design.

The TITUS is based on a Tatra 66 chassis which is powered by a Cummins 500 Hp engine coupled to an automatic gearbox with 6 forward and 1 reverse speeds. The TITUS can run at a maximum road speed of 110 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 700 km.The enterprises of Ukroboronprom developed a number of advanced systems for a significant increase in the effectiveness of Ukrainian artillery. The latest developments, which can improve the accuracy and efficiency of fire at times, were presented during the solemn events on the occasion of the Independence Day of Ukraine (24 august).



Ukrainian 1L220UK radar system (Picture source: Ukroboronprom)

For the first time, a complex of detection radar was demonstrated: the Ukrainian 1L220UK, from the Zaporizhzhya NPC Iskra. This radar allows to get precise coordinates for strike and correct the artillery fire. The main feature of the 1L220UK is its powerful radar station with digital antenna array, which allows for tens of kilometers to "see" not only shells and rockets, but also mortar shells. This allows, thanks to the digital complex of information processing, to calculate the flight paths of shells and to determine the location of enemy artillery.

Also, for the first time an automated sound-and-sound complex of artillery intelligence "Situation-2" was demonstrated. The production of this complex is currently carried out at the State Enterprise "Lviv State Plant" Lorta ". The automated complex is equipped with high-sensitivity acoustic sensors, which allows you to determine the position of enemy artillery and the location of missiles at distances of several tens of kilometers. Given that the "Position-2" is in passive mode, an opponent cannot fix its work. In addition, the "Position-2" provides data for adjusting the shooting of its own artillery.



Ukrainian artillery command post vehicle Obolon-A (Picture source Ukroboronprom)

At the same time, for the processing of all information about the battlefield coming from stations of 1L220UK and "Regulations-2", intelligence data from unmanned aerial vehicles and other sources, Lviv Lorta developed the Obolon-A system. Obolon-A is a complex of automated artillery battery and division management.

This complex plays the role of a "guiding center" for gunners. It is capable of receiving and processing data about dozens of targets and automatically planning fire by distributing targets for destruction. Thanks to the processing speed of a huge array of data coming to the Obolon-A digital systems, the use of special algorithms and secure communications can significantly improve the efficiency of the fire.

Thus, the enterprises of SC Ukroboronprom developed a whole line of products that allow Ukrainian artillery players to get a complete picture of the battlefield, to detect enemy positions in a matter of seconds, and to make precise coordinated strikes.Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi is leaving Fiji for his next destination with many wonderful memories of the welcome he received there.

Tuilaepa who is in Fiji for an official visit has had a fruitful couple of days. Welcomed by Fijis Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, hes had bilateral meetings as well as the opportunity to make a courtesy call to the President of Fiji, Major General Jioji Konusi Konrote.

On Sunday, the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (R.F.M.F.) Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto welcomed Prime Minister Tuilaepa during a Guard of Honor at Nausori Airport.

Fijis Prime Minister Bainimarama later greeted Tuilaepa before accompanying him to a traditional welcoming ceremony performed by the members of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

At a reception to host Tuilaepa and his delegation, which includes the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupai and the Head of Foreign Affairs, Peseta Noumea Simi, Mr. Bainimarama highlighted the importance of the relationship between Samoa and Fiji.

When Fiji and Samoa assume global leadership, when we welcome global gatherings or when we speak in global forums, we speak for Fijians, we speak for Samoans, we speak for Tongans, Tuvaluans, and Solomon Islanders, and we speak for every woman, man and child in the Pacific, said Mr. Bainimarama.

He also thanked the Samoan government for its support and contribution towards fighting the impacts of climate change.

As Commonwealth members, as champions on climate change and oceans preservation, as committed partners in regional security and development, our successes are collective, and our future is shared."

For those reasons, and so many others, I know our nations shall always remain totally and completely committed to each others success.

Tuilaepa commended P.M. Bainimarama and the Fijian government for the ceremonies of welcome accorded to him and his delegation.

Tuilaepa also opened the Research Week at the University of the South Pacifics (U.S.P.), Laucala Campus in Suva where he spoke about the blue continent.

No doubt that all of you are aware that our blue continent is one of the most highly researched and studied corners of our planet, Tuilaepa said.

There is a lot of research that goes unnoticed, unsolicited or does not give or provide advice to our countries.

He said we as Pacific islanders needed to be aware of what was going on around us. The Research Week is from August 27-31.COP26 may be a cop-out in the making COP26 is just about a month away. Delayed for a year by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference has built up even more expectations and momentum during the intervening monthsA U.S. Forest Service employee last summer takes down a sign forbidding campfires in developed sites that have a fire ring or pit. Similar restrictions in place since June are to be lifted Friday.Cooper Grace Ward will be training clients to boost their cyber resilience in a training workshop to be conducted next month.

The workshop, named Increasing Cyber Resilience  Legal, IT and Communications Insights, includes a how-to guide for dealing with data breaches. The guide will also contain information about preparing a cyber resilience framework, training staff on data protocols, preparing business continuity plans, and regularly conducting data backups.

Cybersecurity is something that needs to be addressed in the workplace as a priority due to recent cyber attacks taking place in Australia, said Sam Adams, a Cooper Grace Ward partner and author of the guide.The first equity crowdfunding campaign by a Queensland-based business has been launched with the help of HopgoodGanim Lawyers.

The firm has been helping Food Connect Shed on the campaign, which aims to raise between $2m and $4m to build what would be Australias first community-owned food hub. The campaign is on the PledgeMe platform, which is the first equity crowdfunding intermediary to be based in the state.

Partner Michelle Eastwell, who said that the campaign is a first in many respects, is advising Food Connect Shed. This includes setting up the new public unlisted company Food Connect Shed Ltd to purchase the warehouse that has been rented by Food Connect Foundation and Food Connect Pty Ltd for the last decade.Lawyers, real estate agents, and homebuyers are being targeted by an email scam which aims to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The scam, revealed by the Crime Management Team at Westpac in New Zealand, is more daring than many others due to the large amount of money targeted and the way scammers try to build a relationship with the victim.

Typically, a law firm will be contacted with the scammer purporting to be buying a home and considering the firm for their conveyancing.I am an Australian who went to Kupang in Indonesia in 2017 to help build an orphanage for Indonesian kids. I returned in 2018 because they are lovely.



I would like to assist two of the older children (who are 20 years old now and in university) to come to Australia for 1 month to visit us and speak English.



I believe that they would apply for a Visitor visa (subclass 600).



Before they can apply for a visa they must get an Indonesian passport. This is expensive for students in Indonesia to buy.

Also, on the Australian Home Affairs website it suggests that we might then pay between $145 and $1045 for each visa. I would like to know before hand the chances of success. As we cannot afford to pay $2000 as well as airfares and board whilst here.



Does anyone have any experience of this situation?BMW says that it took the G14 to Nevada for hot-weather testing, though this might be half the truth. The inline-six turbo diesel and twin-turbo V8 have been both tested in hot and cold climate conditions, making this set of  official spy photographs  nothing more than a marketing effort.Regardless of the reason, the 8 Series Convertible has to be driven thousands of kilometers before the head engineers can give their OK for series production. One of the more unusual tests included in the development process comes in the form of electromagnetic interference on the cars electronic systems, made possible by the electromagnetic waves from the hydropower turbines at the Hoover Dam.If youve owned an older convertible with a soft top, youre also aware that the roof needs to be everything-proof before BMW can add the second member of the 8 Series family to the lineup. Dust-proofness in Death Valley is one of the many ways the Bavarian automaker ensures that everything is alright.The G14 will arrive in the first half of 2019 at dealers all around the world, after which the 8 Series Gran Coupe will complete the picture. The four-door sedan with coupe styling bears the G16 codename, and just like the fixed-head and soft-top, it will be available in M850i xDrive and M8 flavors.Compared to the N63 in the M850i xDrive , the S63 in the M8 is certain to develop 600 PS (591 horsepower) and 750 Nm (553 pound-feet of torque) from the get-go. If the Competition Package on the F90 M5 is anything to go by, then look forward to 625 PS (617 horsepower) on a future version of the range-topping drivetrain option.An active powered exoskeleton was on display, developed by the company for the Russian army, with the goal of turning the soldier who wears it into some kind of superhero. Well, more or less.The complete version of the suit will be ready by 2025 and has already been tested, Chief Designer for the Life Support System of the Soldier Combat Outfit at the TsNiiTochMash defense contractor Oleg Faustov tells Russian news agency TASS And the results are very impressive: the soldier wearing the suit was able to shoot a machine gun with just one hand, with almost computer-like accuracy. The suit will also allow its wearer to carry heavier loads with considerably less effort (up to 50 kg at a time), while offering him bullet- and shrapnel-proof protection. It will make the soldier faster and stronger, allow him him carry more armament and guns, and accomplish war objectives more efficiently.The suit has integrated electric motors and a storage battery, but the issue of the storage battery is still being worked on. By the time the suit will be integrated into the Ratnik-3 Soldier of the Future combat gear, said issue will have been resolved. The current, second generation of Ratnik uses a passive exoskeleton without integrated motors.We have already held trials for the prototype of the active exoskeleton. It really enhances a servicemans physical abilities, Faustov explains. For example, the tester was able to shoot from a machine-gun only with one hand and accurately hit targets.Earlier reports said that the exoskeleton was made of titanium, TASS notes. They havent been confirmed by the maker.A video of the suit is available at the bottom of the page. It has certain Robocop / Stormtrooper vibes.Bridging the gap between the hatchback and station wagon, the ProCeed also borrows some of the know-how used by Hyundai for the i30 Fastback. And just like the Ceed GT close-but-still-hot hatchback, the prettiest body style will be available with a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder sending approximately 200 horsepower to the front wheels.Kia says the ProCeed will benefit from an unparalleled combination of design and versatility, and as it happens, the South Korean automaker developed and engineered this fellow exclusively for Europe." Because the Ceed and Forte are joined at the hip, were hoping the ProCeed will make it to the United States of America at some point in the future, although under a different name.To be revealed on September 13th, the 2019 Kia ProCeed will then uhm, proceed to make its world debut at the Paris Motor Show on October 2nd. In other words, first deliveries are scheduled for the first quarter of 2019. Like any other member of the Ceed family, the Zilina manufacturing plant in Slovakia is where Kia will build the ProCeed.As you can tell from the teaser photo published by Kia, the PROCEED badge is located on the tailgate, right under the manufacturers insignia. The full-width light bar connects the taillamps, which feature a similar design to the hatchback and station wagon. And from the looks of it, the taillamps make use of full-LED technology.The broader bumper complements the roof-integrated spoiler and shark-fin antenna, giving this family hauler a sportier character than what you would expect from such a car. The ProCeed GT will be the sportiest of the lot, featuring upgraded brakes and suspension at every corner.Let's face it: electric vehicles are mostly relegated to a primary duty as personal transport within a city, or just to the suburbs. It's understandable; their range is limited by the availability of charging stations.

That doesn't seem to be the case for this Nissan Leaf electric vehicle driven by Marek Kaminski: he just took it from Poland and through most of Russia, into Mongolia and China, and continued on to South Korea and into Japan (presumably via a ferry or other craft).

The drive is indeed daunting, and the Leaf itself clocked some 16,000 kilometers on the odometer, and over some extreme and tricky conditions. The drive itself took 60 days.

Kaminski, apparently, is no stranger to expeditions of the sort. He is known amongst the explorer community as the only person to have trekked to both the North Pole and the South Pole in the same year.

"For me, this journey is not just about reaching my destination; it is also about making a simple, brilliant change to be more sustainable," commented Marek. "Whether in the wilds of Russia, on remote Mongolian dirt tracks or in the bustling streets of Tokyo, the Leaf has been a reliable partner throughout."

The drive, however, is not over for this example of the world's best selling electric vehicle: Marek Kaminski and Nissan plan to drive the same Leaf EV back to Poland, all with zero tailpipe emissions. As to what route they will take, we're quite sure Nissan will let us know... after 60 or so days.A year since Axios first examined the data, there are now 55 companies with self-driving car testing permits in California and 54 new accidents, based on filings of incident reports in the state. But one thing has remained constant: Humans continue to be the cause of most accidents.

By the numbers: All those beige cars in the chart above indicate incidents where autonomous vehicles were not considered "at fault"  that is, people were. Even when AVs are at fault, that's most often been in cases where humans were at the wheel ("conventional mode").

The bottom line: Unless self-driving cars magically replace all conventional cars in the country overnight, robots will have to drive alongside humans. Whats more, theyll have to drive alongside pedestrians, cyclists and other humans with whom they share the road. And at the moment, self-driving car tech doesn't seem to be advanced enough to handle all these humans.

This is in part why some companies are deploying their first vehicles on specific routes or defined regions, where the cars will interact with a limited set of surprises. For example, Drive.ai is starting in an office park in Frisco, Texas, while Voyage got its start giving rides to residents in retirement communities, and May Mobility is developing shuttles for company and school campuses.

Recently, artificial intelligence expert Andrew Ng also suggested (stirring up some controversy) that its pedestrians who need to improve their behavior and train to maneuver safely around self-driving cars.

Yes, but: Its still hard to compare self-driving car accident rates to those of human drivers, despite the widespread hope that self-driving cars will be much safer than humans, as University of Central Florida professor Peter Hancock pointed out in a blog post.

One new thing: In three incidents, humans intentionally attacked a self-driving car, such as by hitting it, or climbing on top of it.

Flashback: Axioss first look at the data in August 2017Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Tuesday to discuss a migration plan the two immigration hardliners can present to the European Union, reports The Guardian.

Why it matters: The meeting followed an intense weekend standoff in which Salvini, who also serves as Italy's interior minister, refused to let more than 150 migrants disembark a rescue ship unless the EU agreed to distribute them across other countries. He's now facing potential charges for abuse of office, kidnapping, and illegal arrest. Salvini's meeting with the virulently anti-immigrant Orban  whom he has called his political role model  indicates that Italy and its populist government have no intention of yielding to the EU's migration demands.

The backdrop: The coalition government of Salvini's far-right League party and the Five-Star Movement, led by Luigi Di Maio, has cracked down on the number of migrants Italy will accept. Tensions came to a head on Monday, when Di Maio threatened to veto the EU's seven-year budget plan for not complying with Italy's demands during the weekend crisis.

In Europe the music will change ... Theres no dogma over the approval of the multi-year budget for the next seven years, which they would like to rush to approve before the European elections. We wont let them do it, and if the immigration situation does not change between now and the near future, the veto will be certain."

 Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio

Italy's Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi later added that while contributing to the EU's budget is a legal obligation, the burden of accepting migrants "cannot be based purely on the geography of the continent, per the FT.

In 2017, Italy received 16,577 migrants, the third-most in Europe next to Greece (22,899) and Spain (17,950), according to the International Organization on Migration. Figures have dropped significantly since the new government decided to close all seaports to rescue boats in the Mediterranean.

What's next: Per The Guardian, some Italian media have speculated that Salvini's meeting with Hungary's Orban could be a prelude to a populist alliance ahead of the 2019 European parliamentary elections.

Go deeper: Europe's growing anti-immigration backlash.A small group of Facebook employees, frustrated with what they see as a liberal "monoculture," have joined a Facebook group promoting "political diversity," per the New York Times' Kate Conger and Sheera Frenkel.

Why it matters: Facebook and other tech companies are under pressure from conservative lawmakers and President Trump, who say their products reflects Silicon Valley's liberal outlook  despite there being little evidence of intentional bias.

Facebook engineer Brian Amerige created the internal group, called "FB'ers for Political Diversity.

""While the problem isnt unique to us, we are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of peoples stories, ideas, and commentary," Amerige wrote in a message to colleagues that was published by the Times. "Congress doesnt think we can do this. The President doesnt think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism."

The group has reportedly caused concern with some other employees.

Last year, Google faced controversy after an engineer circulated a memo suggesting that gender inequities in pay and promotion might have natural causes. The company fired the employee, James Damore.

Reality check: Facebook has thousands of employees. The Times reported that Amerige's group has "more than 100" members from within the company's ranks.

What they're saying: "It is important to us at Facebook to foster diversity of political thought inside our company," said a Facebook spokesperson in a statement. "On Day One of Facebooks new hire orientation in Menlo Park, everyone hears from our chief diversity officer about the importance of diversity and how to have respectful conversations with people who have different viewpoints."The late Sen. John McCain laid in state in Arizona's State Capitol Rotunda in Phoenix Wednesday on what would have been his 82nd birthday. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Sen. Jeff Flake, and former Sen. Jon Kyl all spoke during the service.

Picturing an Arizona without McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon. Its just not natural.

 Gov. Doug Ducey

Cindy McCain walks behind McCain's casket. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

McCain's casket in the rotunda in Arizona. Photo: Jae C. Hong, Pool/Getty Images

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers line up before McCain's casket. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

We are grateful for his life and for his sacrificeWe are especially grateful that John made Arizona his home.

 Sen. Jeff Flake

What's next: McCain will have a memorial service in Phoenix on Thursday where Joe Biden will deliver remarks. McCain's body then will head to Washington, D.C. where he will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Friday before a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday featuring eulogies from former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland on Sunday.Parkland student activists voted for the first time in the 2018 midterm elections.

Why it matters: The turnout rate among young voters in the nation's largest swing state could be a glimpse of what's to come across the country in November.

The backdrop: A recent analysis by TargetSmart found that ongoing voter outreach efforts have already increased voter registration among people 29 and younger across battleground states following the February 14 shooting.

In Florida, voters between the ages of 18-29 made up 26.23% of all new voter registrations before the Feb. 14 high school massacre. Almost three months after the shooting, they made up 34.22% of all new voter registrations in the state.

The Parkland activists have rallied for tighter gun control laws and had their first tangible opportunity to make a difference on primary night.

Be smart: Young people typically don't vote in significant numbers, especially in midterm elections. But if they do, they have the potential to shape the outcome of the Tuesday nights primaries and the midterm elections  they're the largest voting bloc this year.

What they're saying:

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

Go deeper: First look: Harvard poll sees wave of young voters this fall; Youth voter registration spiked in battleground states after Parkland shootingDefense Secretary James Mattis suggested Tuesday at a wide-ranging press conference that the U.S. could resume military exercises with South Korea going forward, after President Trump announced a suspension of large scale exercises following his summit with Kim Jong-un.

Why it matters: Trump called the exercises "provocative" in June and said they would be halted "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should," but there are now signs the administration is getting frustrated by the lack of progress. Last Friday, Trump directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel his upcoming trip to North Korea, saying the country was not "making sufficient progress with respect to denuclearization."

The details: Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said Mattis was referring to the fact that the U.S. had only agreed to suspend three major exercises which were due to conclude by September. Beyond that, there is no commitment to further suspensions.

"We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit. We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises. We will work very closely, as I said, with the Secretary of State and what he needs done, we will certainly do to reinforce his effort. But at this time there is no discussion about further suspensions."

 Secretary Mattis

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that no decision has been made on large-scale exercises. Our original headline was based on a Pentagon press release that a spokesman said is being corrected.With the a deadline to impose further Russia sanctions looming, the Trump administration has reached out to the Kremlin in hopes of avoiding another tit-for-tat escalation with Moscow, the Washington Post's John Hudson reports.

What to watch: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certified earlier this month that Russia had illegally used chemical weapons in the poisoning of Russian ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England. That triggered automatic sanctions under a 1991 law, and gave the administration three months to pick from a menu of further penalties, some of which could hit Russia hard. Pompeo has requested a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov before that deadline, and Lavrov has accepted, per Hudson.

Why it matters: President Trump wants to improve relations with Russia, but has been compelled to respond forcefully to Russian acts of aggression. He wants to break the cycle of escalation. As Hudson writes, "the wide discretion the Trump administration has in choosing the severity of the sanctions gives Pompeo room to negotiate, but he will eventually have to answer to Congress."

The Trump administration currently has a two-sided Russia policy: imposing even more punitive sanctions on Moscow at the direction of Congress and then reaching out for dialogue at the direction of President Trump. The Russians look at this and think everything is unpredictable. And they think that since Helsinki, they cant rely on things improving because the sanctions keep coming."

 Angela Stent, Russia expert and former Bush administration official, to the Post.

Go deeper: Trump's dueling Russia policies.Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan has effectively confirmed recent reports that Armenia would like to acquire advanced Russian fighter jets as part of a planned modernization of its armed forces.

In June, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian photographed himself in the cockpit of a Sukhoi Su-30SM warplane parked at the Erebuni airbase in Yerevan. Russian media reported afterwards that that Yerevan is now negotiating with Moscow on the purchase of such multirole aircraft. The Armenian Defense Ministry did not deny those reports.

A statement by the ministry cited Tonoyan as saying on Tuesday that the Armenian military is planning to acquire multirole aircraft as well.

Until now, the Armenian armed forces have had a clearly pronounced character of ground forces, relying only on air-defense systems and ground-based missiles in fighting for aerial superiority, Tonoyan told military officials, according to the statement. But times have changed.

The Armenian army, he said, now needs fighter-bomber aircraft because no missile system can be a substitute for this capacity in terms of flexibility and resilience. The ministry reported no further details.

Tonoyan met a top executive of Rosoboronexport, Russias state-run arms exporter, when he last visited Moscow on August 18.

The Armenian Air Force currently consists of 15 or so older and far less sophisticated Su-25 jets. These low-flying Soviet-era aircraft are designed for air-to-ground missions.

Su-30SM can perform a broader range of military tasks with more potent precision-guided weapons. It is a more advanced version of a heavy fighter jet developed by the Sukhoi company in the late 1980s. The Russian military commissioned the first batch of such warplanes in 2012.

The Russian daily Kommersant claimed later in June that a Russian-Armenian deal signed in 2012 called for the delivery of at least 12 Su-30SMs to Armenia but that the Armenian side did not receive them due to financial difficulties. The paper said Moscow now hopes to reach an agreement with new Armenian government on implementing that multimillion-dollar deal as soon as possible.

Some Russian military analysts estimate the market price of a Su-30SM at around $50 million. Armenias entire defense budget is equivalent to only about $500 million.

Thanks to its military alliance with Russia, the South Caucasus state has long received Russian-made weapons and ammunition at discounted prices or even for free. In the last few years it has obtained $300 million in low-interest Russian loans for the purpose of financing such arms acquisitions.Robert Kocharian says that he is returning to active politics in order to defend his honor and dignity, Zhamanak writes in a commentary on the former Armenian presidents interview with a Russian TV channel aired on Tuesday. The paper says Kocharian essentially blamed Serzh Sarkisian for the recent revolution in Armenia, saying that his successor should not have tried to cling to power.

Hayots Ashkhar says Kocharians political comeback has been one of the most important political developments of this summer. This is only the beginning, the paper says in reference of the former presidents recent moves and statements.

Zhoghovurd notes the readiness of Sarkisians Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to cooperate with Kocharian. The paper finds it natural, saying that Kocharians and Sarkisians interests again converge now. They are now united by the criminal investigation into the March 1 [2008 violence,] it says. Driven by their self-defense instincts, they now have to join forces and fight together. The paper says that the HHK and its spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov in particular criticized Kocharian in the not so distant past. During Serzh Sarkisians presidency Kocharian voiced criticism of the authorities from time to time and Sharmazanov was the first to counter it, often using crude language.

Even under the former authorities there were people who warned that enslaving the judicial system is a dangerous path that lays the foundation of a vicious tradition of courts serving some people today and others tomorrow, editorializes Hraparak. The paper says Kocharian and Sarkisian are now paying the consequences of their tight grip on the judiciary. [Kocharian] hopes now that the judicial system is not that devastated and crushed and will dare to go against the will of the new authorities and rule in his favor, it says.

(Tigran Avetisian)By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 89 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said August 29.

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.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

The visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Azerbaijan, her meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, meeting with businessmen, the voiced opinions and statements will contribute to the relations between Azerbaijan and Germany, further reinforcement and consolidation of mutual relations, Vice-Rector of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Azerbaijan Mehdi Abdullayev told Trend Aug. 27.

Abdullayev noted that there have been good relations between Azerbaijan and Germany for many years. In particular, Germany demonstrates a fair position on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

"It is no coincidence that Germany is one of the few Western countries and the first Western country which gives a political and legal evaluation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict at the level of the German Parliament, condemns the Armenian aggression. For many years, opinions and proposals have been voiced to involve both fraternal Turkey and Germany in the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, and these proposals are still on the agenda," said Abdullayev.

He noted that it is no coincidence that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference that they also want Germany to participate in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Angela Merkel said: "We will continue our activities in the Minsk Group in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. This time I visited both countries and thus formed a clear idea of the urgency of resolving the issue and how it should be resolved. We will intensify our efforts, all parties must participate in order to find a solution, and we will make our contribution to it". Until today, many statements on the Karabakh conflict, many promises have been declared, but no result has been achieved. But these words of Angela Merkel increase our hopes for the process of a fair settlement of the Karabakh conflict by peaceful means, through negotiations," he added.

The political scientist also said that Azerbaijan is an open and transparent country, interested in building bilateral and multilateral relations with all countries, and has always demonstrated its intentions and has taken important steps in this direction.

Abdullayev said Azerbaijan acts as a supporter of building equal relations with all countries.

He said Azerbaijan is interested in sincere, open cooperation with all countries and expects the corresponding attitude from the opposite side, he said.

In conclusion, Abdullayev noted that the visit of Angela Merkel, in his opinion, serves and will serve the interests of both countries and peoples.

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.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

In accordance with the combat training plan for 2018, approved by the Minister of Defense, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, the Air Force conducted training flights, the ministry said in a message Aug. 28.

During the training flights, planes and helicopters fulfilled the tasks of destroying the targets.

Aviation crews also played tactical episodes to workout tasks to support land forces from the air, destroy command posts, armored vehicles and troops of the imaginary enemy, as well as conduct aerial reconnaissance.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBP and its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Shah Deniz, and South Caucasus Pipeline projects  SOCAR, TPAO, PETRONAS, Chevron, LUKOIL, NICO, Equinor, INPEX, ExxonMobil, SGC, ITOCHU, ONGC, TOTAL, Eni  today celebrated the success of 85 participants in their Build your Future project who have passed university admission exams this year.

The project is part of BPs and its co-venturers commitment to helping create opportunities for the sustainable development of the neighbouring communities through enhancing their skills and capabilities. It aims to support young people from vulnerable families in their preparation for university admission. The participants include 11th-graders as well as high school graduates with disabilities or special needs.

Higher education opportunities for more than 100 children from vulnerable families;

Contribution to the development of talented youth;

Support for communities in building their sustainable future;

To date the project has had two phases  2017 and 2018, and has covered a large number of communities residing in the Garadagh, Kurdamir, Ujar, Agdash and Yevlakh districts. It started in 2017 with Garadagh communities and the next year it was expanded to cover the four additional districts along BP-operated pipelines as well as to add new elements which would enable young people with disabilities to join the programme.

Some 110 young people out of 121 participants in the two phases  91% in total, have become students meeting the requirements of the higher school entrance exams. Built on the success of phases 1 and 2 it has been decided to continue the project into phase 3 in 2019.

The programme has two components - academic knowledge to support exam preparations through tutorial classes and social integration through various activities and external engagement.

Addressing the celebration event, hosted by BP on behalf of its co-venturers, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, BPs Vice President, Communications and External Affairs, Strategy and Region, said: This is a big day for the successful participants in our project and it is a real pleasure to share their excitement as they embark on a long journey of learning, knowledge and development. We are proud to have supported them to take this first successful step towards their goals to become university students. The results of this years project are really satisfying with 2 participants achieving 650 and above scores and 17 participants above 500. We are especially pleased that among the successful participants there are 2 young people with disabilities. We do hope they will be as successful in their university studies as they have been throughout our project.

The total value of the two phases of the project is 463,752 manats (phase 1  61,608 manats and phase 2 - 402, 144 manats) with the duration of 15 months each.

The project is implemented by the CSR Consulting and Management company Legacy.

Over the past 25 years BP ant its co-venturers have supported a large number of major social investment projects. These have included educational programmes, building skills and capabilities in local communities, improving access to social infrastructure in communities, supporting local enterprises through provision of access to finance and training, support for cultural legacy and sport, as well as technical assistance to public institutions.

In the first half of 2018, BP and the co-venturers in BP-operated joint ventures spent more than $2.3 million in Azerbaijan alone on social investment projects.

Further information: Tamam Bayatly at BPs Press Office in Baku. Telephone: (+994 12) 599 45 57By Trend

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order providing funds for the renovation of Lankaran-Lerik highway.

Under the presidential order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 5 million manats for the renovation of the road.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Iran and China explored investment opportunities in the Islamic Republics LNG (liquefied natural gas) industry, a report said.

According to the report carried by Shana news agency on August 28, Irans Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Aryana Petro Tavan (APT) Co. and China Fortune Holdings participated in a conference on cryogenic air separation and mini-LNG in Tehran on Tuesday.

During the conference, the Chinese firm discussed business opportunities in Irans small-scale liquefied natural gas projects.

Production capacities of small-scale LNG plants vary from 2,000 to 500,000 tons a year. By comparison, a typical large-scale plant has a production capacity between 2.5 and 7.5 million tons of LNG per year.

With limited production capacity, mini-LNG plants are suitable for the supply of small amounts of liquefied gas to far-flung regions using tanker trucks.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Irans Tabriz Refinery is negotiating with Chinese and Russian companies to attract investment for a project to improve the quality of its products.

Talks are underway with the companies for a project, worth $1.5 billion, to produce products compatible with the Euro-5 emission standard, Gholamreza Bagheri, managing director of the refinery, said.

The investment will also increase the refinerys output, Bagheri said, IRNA news agency reported.

He further said that the refinery has invested over 500 million euros so far for various eco-friendly plans, including sulfur granulation Project and high-quality gasoline production as well as asphalt production unit.

Some 5 million euros also is invested for a project to curb associated petroleum gas (APG) from flaring, he added.

APG is a form of natural gas found with deposits of petroleum. It is often released as a waste product from the petroleum extraction industry. When it is burnt off as gas flares, it is referred to as flare gas.

Earlier in 2017, Irans Oil Design and Construction Company (ODCC) and South Korean SKEC signed a preliminary agreement related to the upgrade of Tabriz refinery, worth 1.6 billion euros.

At that time it was announced that the companies would establish a consortium, with the intention of purchasing new equipment, redesigning and upgrading the refinery, with the goal aimed at the decrease in final production loses from the current 20 to the expected 2 percent as well as improving the quality of other products like gasoline and diesel.

The refinery was also negotiating with Japans JX Nippon Oil & Energy Company on reducing the complex's mazut output from the current level of 28 percent to 10 percent.

Capacity of the Tabriz refinery is at 110,000 barrels per day. It produces 4.1 million liters of fuel oil per day (ml/d), 3.5 ml/d of gasoline ((half of that is compatible with Euro-4 standard)), 1 ml/d of kerosene, 6 ml/d of diesel, 0.3 ml/d of LPG and other products.

Analysts believe that due largely to the high production of mazut in refineries, most refiners will go bankrupt unless they receive financial backing from the government.

Moreover, many refineries need huge investments to upgrade their aging infrastructure and employ state-of-the-art technology to convert mazut into byproducts with higher value added.

Reportedly Iran ranks 9th in the world in terms of gasoline production and 13th in gas oil output, meanwhile it is the world's third major mazut producer, which indicates low performance of the country's refineries.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Iranian Minister of Education Seyyed Mahdi Bathaei would go to the parliament to answer the questions of a number of lawmakers complaining about his ministry's poor performance.

On Aug. 29, at least 20 lawmakers submitted a petition to the parliament presidium to impeach the minister, Irans media outlets reported.

Under the Constitution, lawmakers can impeach ministers when they deem it necessary. An impeachment motion can be submitted when it has at least ten signatures.

According to the law, the minister would have 10 days to appear before the lawmakers to answer their questions.

The MPs have submitted questions on 16 topics including failure to implement the Fundamental Reform Document of Education, failure to implement a rating system for teachers, inaccuracy in textbooks, neglecting the problems of teachers, mismanagement, forging of history in textbooks, failure to adhere to the presented program, mismanagement in schools, neglecting the mother languages and creating ground for differences in the country rather than national consensus.

Earlier in July Bathaei made controversial statements about teaching in mother languages in schools which sparked serious protests by some MPs as well as senior officials including representatives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tabriz, Ardabil and Jolfa cities.

Bathaei called teaching in schools in languages other than Persian dangerous.

"In some areas, we have seen teaching in local languages, which is a very dangerous matter. Children learn their local language at home. So they have to learn the formal language  Persian  at school, Bathaei said in a visit to Fars province July 14.

"Schools are the only place that can promote the Persian language as a red line of the unity of Iran," he added.

In recent months, various Azerbaijani MPs have requested for implementation of the Article 15 of the Islamic republic Constitution and education in mother language.

Iranian politicians have brought the issue to agenda time-by-time in recent years, in particular in election campaigns.

Last April, during a provincial visit to East Azerbaijan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for promoting Azerbaijani language.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Sara Israfilbayova

The enterprises of the automobile industry in Uzbekistan in 2017 earned 130.3 billion soums ($16.5 million) of net profit.

Uzavtosanoat reported that 6.5 billion soums ($822,000) are directed to the formation of a reserve fund and a fund for sponsorship and charity, 117.3 billion soums ($14.83 million) the company directs to increase the statutory fund.

In Uzbekistan, with a population of more than 32 million people, there is a huge potential for further development of industrial production and growth of the automobile market.

To meet the needs of the population, it is necessary to increase production volumes to 220,000-230,000 cars per year.

In 2016 the net profit of the enterprises of the Uzbek car industry amounted to 30.7 billion soums ($3.88 million). Half of the earned profit - over 15.3 billion soums ($1.9 million) was directed to payment of dividends on the state share.

Car industry occupies one of the leading places in the economy of Uzbekistan. A significant number of the countrys population is employed in this sector of industry.

The vast majority of automotive enterprises in Uzbekistan are joint ventures with foreign partners. This shows that the country is successfully working to create a favorable investment climate.

The main production companies are GM Uzbekistan, SamAvto, JV MAN Auto-Uzbekistan and GM Powertrain Uzbekistan.

The automotive industry has undergone significant reform last year. Simplification of the procedure for buying cars is intended to increase the demand for them, and the expansion of export opportunities will make this Uzbek brand even more popular abroad.

Since 1998 Uzbekistan has been a member of the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA).

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Sara Israfilbayova

Uzbekistan was the leader among suppliers of melons to Ukraine in 2017 and provided 60 percent of all supplies.

Last year Uzbekistan exported to Ukraine four times more melons than in 2016 and the volume of supplies amounted to 453 tons.

According to market participants, another record of deliveries of this commodity from Uzbekistan to Ukraine is expected in 2018, as Ukrainian consumers traditionally highly appreciate Uzbek melons for their taste qualities.

The diplomatic relations between the states were established on August 28, 1992.

Uzbekistan delivers to Ukraine cotton fiber, textile products, oil products, and non-ferrous metals. Ukraine exports to Uzbekistan machinery and equipment, pharmaceutical products, products, and timber.

The most important areas of cooperation between the countries are considered production of agricultural products and its processing, production of soft drinks, cooperation in the oil and gas sector, energy, IT and telecommunications, electrical engineering, tourism, transport and logistics, food industry, textile, leather and footwear, mechanical engineering, aviation, chemical industry, construction, medical industry.

Currently, 72 joint Uzbekistan  Ukraine enterprises are successfully operating in Uzbekistan, including 5 enterprises with 100 percent Ukrainian capital.

The trade turnover between the two countries increased by 36 percent and totaled $300 million in 2017, with Ukrainian export increasing by 19 percent and Uzbek export increasing by 70 percent.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

China will hand over chairmanship in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to Tajikistan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said, the Tajik Avesta news agency reported citing the Kazinform news agency.

CICA is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.

CICA includes 27 member states, which cover about 90 percent of the territory and population of Asia. Seven countries and four international organizations, including the UN, have observer status. All decisions within the CICA are made through consensus.

The CICA Secretariat was established June 17, 2006 and is located in Astana city. The new office was also officially opened by Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov on October 29, 2016 in Astana.

The opening of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly is scheduled for September 18, 2018.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzPeter Avsenew, convicted of killing a Wilton Manors couple days before Christmas 2010 and stealing their car to escape to north Florida, who told a jury in January that he had no regrets and a judge in March that he had killed before and would again, has been sentenced to die.

He is the first defendant in Broward to receive a death sentence since a new law was passed in 2017 requiring juries to be unanimous in finding an execution is warranted.

Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes considered pleas for mercy from a court-appointed attorney who found Avsenew suffered trauma in his childhood  the murder of his sister and his alleged sexual abuse at the hands of his stepfather.

Holmes could have overturned the jurys January death recommendation, but Avsenews crime could be punished only by death, she decided.

It seemed to be the result Avsenew wanted  after his conviction last fall for the murders of Stephen Adams and Kevin Powell, a Wilton Manors couple who took him in after he posted a sexually suggestive classified ad on Craigslist.

Adams and Powell had been together for nearly 30 years.

But Avsenews comments about them, in his letter to Holmes, were without mercy.

It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence, Avsenew, 33, wrote. Homosexuals are a disease to mankind and must be put down.Joseph Luiz can be reached at 395-7368 or by email at jluiz@bakersfield.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @JLuiz_TBC.His relationship with his wife had been falling apart for months the day Rigoberto Sanchez arrived home to find his wife had filled two bags wHave you been keeping up on our local news coverage? Test your news knowledge by taking the TBC Quiz appearing on Fridays in The Bakersfield CCalifornia will become the first state to let people leave jail before trial without having to post bail, under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday that largely leaves pretrial release decisions up to local judges  a change praised by legislative and judicial leaders but condemned by some criminal defense advocates.

SB10 abolishes the long-standing system of requiring newly arrested defendants to put up bail, in an amount based on the seriousness of the charges, to be freed while awaiting trial. Bail-bond companies and other advocates say the current bail system promotes public safety and encourages defendants to show up in court, but opponents note that poor people are kept in jail because they cant afford to pay their way out.

More than 48,000 county jail inmates in California  two-thirds of the jail population  have not yet been convicted of a crime, and most of them are being held because they are unable to post bail, according to a recent state study.

With the new law, scheduled to take effect in October 2019, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly, Brown said Tuesday after signing the bill.

Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, a co-author of the bill, said the bail system has allowed the wealthy to purchase their freedom regardless of their risk, while the poor who pose no danger languish in jail. The new measure was also praised by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye after the states Judicial Council, which she chairs, took an unusually public position in successfully pushing for revisions to an earlier version of SB10. The current system was outdated, unsafe and unfair, she said in a statement, and it took a three-branch solution  the governor, legislators and judicial leaders  to eliminate it.

But some longtime opponents of cash bail said the new law would simply replace one system of pretrial detention with another, based on decisions by individual judges who will consider a set of prescribed risk assessments and then decide, with little possibility of appeal, whether a defendant is safe enough to release or must remain behind bars.

SB10 cannot guarantee a substantial reduction in the number of Californians detained while awaiting trial, nor does it sufficiently address racial bias in pretrial decision-making, said leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union in California, who had supported a version of the bill that gave judges less control over pretrial release.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said SB10 handed the keys to the judges, and he fears that the new law will result in more people being locked up. He also contended Cantil-Sakauye has a conflict of interest because the state Supreme Court is considering a constitutional challenge to the current cash-bail system.

Most law enforcement groups also opposed SB10, along with the bail-bond industry, which would be effectively eliminated with the abolition of cash bail.

Bond companies charge defendants a nonrefundable 10 percent fee to post bail. As of 2014, according to a study released by the Judicial Council, bail agents in California were collecting more than $308 million a year in fees.

Once bail is abolished, whos going to bring people back to court when they dont show up? asked Harmeet Dhillon, lawyer for the California Bail Agents Association, which is arguing in support of the current law in an Oakland federal court. She said bond companies would welcome some reforms to the current bail law without eliminating it.

One other state, New Jersey, eliminated cash bail for nearly all crimes in January 2017, and has reported a substantial decline in its jail population with no significant increase in major crimes. Unless SB10 is successfully challenged in court, California, as of October 2019, will become the first state to go further and prohibit requiring defendants to post bail for any crime.

People held on capital charges would still not qualify for pretrial release. Nor would defendants with recent serious or violent felony convictions, those charged with domestic violence, or those who had been granted bail in the past and repeatedly failed to appear in court.

Others could be freed while awaiting trial, with monitoring, but their prospects for release would depend on the charges, their record, and the judges assessment of the risk they would pose.

Those accused of nonviolent misdemeanors, like small-scale shoplifting, would be freed from jail within 12 hours after being booked, with some exceptions. For others, the judge would decide whether they posed a low, moderate or high risk of fleeing or committing another crime. County courts would establish mathematical risk assessments to help determine who should be released.

One critic of the bill, Santa Clara University law Professor W. David Ball, said an earlier version of the legislation would have used those assessments only to qualify defendants for pretrial release, and would have entitled others to a hearing. He said the final version, backed by judicial leaders, would allow the assessments to be used to grant or deny release, and would leave the final decision with the judge.

Hopefully, this is not the end of the road, said Ball, who worked with the ACLU on the first draft of the bill.

Supporters of SB10 said the law is an essential first step toward repairing a system that is expensive, ineffective at preventing crime, and unfair to thousands of pretrial detainees.

Our path to a more just criminal justice system is not complete, said Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, lead author of the bill. But today it made a transformational shift away from valuing private wealth and toward protecting public safety.

San Francisco Chronicle

staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this article.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @BobEgelkoShevrin Jones is a three-time Florida state House representative and preachers son  and now openly gay.

Jones, 34, is now the same age his older brother was when he died last year of a pulmonary embolism. He told the Miami Herald that contributed to his realization that he wanted to start living my truth just a little bit more.



He told his brother, who died one year ago on Sunday Sept. 2, he was thankful to not be judged.



Theres not a second that goes by that I dont think about him. Its the love of people and those things that has helped us through all of this.



Jones, who takes blood thinners for a similar condition his brother experienced, maintains that his family supports him even if they do not support the lifestyle.



My family has been very loving and just want the best for their child and I dont want anyone to confuse that with my parents support of the lifestyle, Jones said. My parents are very conservative Christians, and they have their beliefs and I respect their beliefs, but they love their son.



Jones father delivers sermons at Koinonia Worship Center in Hollywood, where he added that he has not faced bullying or harassment as a result of coming out. But hes no stranger to judgement and mixed signals either.



Church is a hospital. Everyone goes there to be helped. Its unfortunate that the church where everyone goes to be uplifted, that you have those same people who are not loving, Jones said. Its sad, but theres so much love out there that their miserable lives that they live does not sway or discourage me. Im more encouraged than anything. Those church members who lack in love and say they follow Christ, they should go study his life a little bit more.



Jones lives in Hollywood with his partner, who has quietly been introduced to friends and colleagues. When Jones took office in 2013 he was married to a woman. They divorced in 2015.



He chose to come out by allowing Equality Florida, the largest LGBT rights organization in the state, to include him on its list of openly gay endorsed candidates.

Jones won a seat to the state House in June in his fourth consecutive election without opposition. His district, 101, includes parts of Pembroke Pines, West Park and Hallandale Beach.

I was fighting for the LGBTQ community before this became public. I will continue to do that and still stand firm. My policies are not going to change, my politics is not going to change. Jones said. Im still the same Shev Jones that people knew prior to me being public.



Jones is the first openly gay black man to serve in the Florida House of Representatives. In 2012 two openly gay men were elected to the House, David Richardson and Joe Saunders. A third gay man, Carlos Guillermo-Smith, was elected in 2016.

Daniel Sohn, town commissioner in Haverhill, applauded Jones decision to come out. Sohn, elected earlier this year in the Palm Beach County town, also identifies as LGBT.

Shev has overcome so many personal challenges the last few years, Sohn said. He is more than just an elected colleague, I consider him like a brother. Brothers know things that others dont. Heres what I know: living a life committed to service makes you think hard about your life and how you want to live it. Shev has chosen to rise above negative situations and live his own truth.

John McDonald contributed to this report.A Senate office building was temporarily renamed for the late senator John McCain on Google Maps.

When Web users typed the words "Russell Senate Office Building" into Google search, a map display brought up a location designated as the "McCain Senate Office Building."

Days after McCain's death on Saturday at age 81, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed renaming the congressional building after the Arizona senator to honor his legacy as a Vietnam War POW and his more than three decades of service in Congress. But some Senate Republicans are resisting the idea of stripping the name of Sen. Richard Russell Jr., for whom the building is currently named. Russell was a Democratic senator for 38 years and led Southern opposition to civil rights as a segregationist. His record inspired previous efforts to rename the Russell building, but those initiatives failed.

Late Wednesday morning, Google Maps showed that the location listing had reverted to its proper name.

It's not clear how or why the entry for the Russell building was renamed on the Google listing. The search giant told The Washington Post on Wednesday: "We empower people to contribute their local knowledge to the map, but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies or premature changes suggested by users. When this happens, we work to address as quickly as possible. We have implemented a fix for this issue that is rolling out now."

Web users can suggest edits to locations displayed on Google Maps, according to the Google Maps Help Web page: "You can tell us about incorrect business details, wrong road names, or other data errors on the map." These suggested edits are then reviewed by Google or Google Maps users before they show up on the map, the website said. But as Google indicated, users can intentionally suggest false corrections.

The map issue came a day after President Donald Trump accused Google of rigging search results for "Trump News" in a way that minimized the visibility of conservative media outlets and emphasized more critical news stories.

In responding, Google said that its goal is to make sure that users searching for information get the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds. "Search is not used to set a political agenda, and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," the company said.

Earlier this week Trump ignited another political firestorm when he chose to offer condolences to McCain's family on Twitter but did not issue a formal White House statement. He ordered flags on federal office buildings to fly at half-staff. But less than 48 hours after McCain's family announced the senator's death from brain cancer, the flag atop the White House was raised to full-staff. Detractors, including veterans groups and Democrats and Republicans, saw the flag-raising as a sign of disrespect toward McCain.

Later on Monday, the White House flag was lowered again, to remain so until McCain's interment. Trump issued a statement praising the senator - but only after facing rounds of intense criticism.

Trump and McCain had a tense relationship before the senator's death. As McCain suffered through brain cancer, the president publicly snubbed him, declining to refer to McCain during a recent ceremony when he signed a major defense bill that was named for the senator. Trump has also denigrated McCain's military service, saying during his presidential campaign that McCain - who spent years as a POW after his plane was shot down in 1967 during the Vietnam War - was "not a war hero."

McCain had publicly criticized Trump throughout his presidency, especially on foreign policy, denouncing Trump's comments during a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July.

While former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush are scheduled to deliver eulogies this weekend at McCain's funeral, Trump was not invited.Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has dismissed at least five requests for help from transgender students who are being denied bathroom rights.

President Trump said two years ago that trans people should be able to use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. However, his administration wiped away the 2016 Obama-era directive that trans students be able to use the bathroom of their choice under Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination, said Politico.

LGBT education activist group GLSEN found that 70 percent of trans students avoid using the bathroom at school because they feel unsafe or uncomfortable. This can lead to physical problems like urinary tract infections, or emotional distress from not being able to use the right bathroom.

The Education Department wouldnt answer questions about the dropped cases, but said that its committed to defending the civil rights of all students and ensuring all students have an equal opportunity to learn in an environment free from harassment and discrimination.The Houston Police Department Vice Division released the mugshots of 69 suspects arrested and charged for allegedly engaging in human trafficking either as pimps or johns.

Charged with the suppression of "prostitution, illegal gambling, human trafficking, sexually oriented business enforcement, and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) code violations, the Vice Division worked through the summer to help diminish the sex trade business in Houston.Columbus-based Ohio Surgery Center is hosting a Teddy Bear Tonsillectomy Day Sept. 9.

Here's what you should know:

1. During the free event, children ages 4 to 8 will learn about ASCs and the medical field.

2. The children will pretend to be physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, scrub technicians and other medical staff members.

3. The kids will walk their teddy bears through pediatric surgery procedures at various interactive stations. The teddy bears will visit the throat doctor and the pharmacy, as well as undergo a tonsillectomy.

4. The event is intended to help alleviate kids' concerns about surgery and introduce them to the possibility of a career in medicine.

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Tuesday night delivered many losses for LGBT candidates running for local offices from Palm Beach through Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. But a few pulled through, including one for Congress and another against a scandal-ridden state lawmaker.

Heres a recap.

U.S. House District 18: Married lesbian Lauren Baer, who is part of the family that owns Baers Furniture, beat Navy veteran Pam Keith in a Treasure Coast Democratic Congressional Primary, and will face Republican incumbent Brian Mast, who won the seat in 2016 and beat two opponents in his primary contest Tuesday night. With 75 percent of precincts reporting, Maer amassed 60 percent of the vote. The Congressional district, Floridas 18th, is a swing district spanning Fort Pierce to northern Palm Beach County. Before Mast, the seat was held by Democrat Patrick Murphy.

U.S. House District 27: Floridas first openly gay state House lawmaker lost in the Democratic primary for this Miami-Dade Congressional seat. State Rep. David Richardson came in second to former Bill Clinton Secretary of Health and Humans Services Donna Shalala. She won 32 percent of the vote to Richardsons 27 percent with 95 percent of precincts reporting. Three other opponents amassed smaller shares of the vote. Lesbian political group LPAC endorsed Shalala over openly gay Richardson, SFGN reported in July. Floridas 27th Congressional district, which is currently held by retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, covers Miami Beach, southern Miami, and Kendall. Voters here chose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Former TV reporter Maria Salazar won this districts Republican contest with 41 percent of the vote against eight opponents.

Florida Senate District 38: With 97 percent of the vote counted in this Democratic primary contest, former prosecutor Jason Pizzo beat scandal-plagued incumbent Daphne Campbell, who lost the endorsement of a local LGBT group and also has called the police on reporters doing their jobs. Pizzo got 54 percent of the vote. He gained the endorsement of South Florida pro-LGBT group SAVE for opposing legislation that allows employers to discriminate against LGBT people. SAVE President Tony Lima called Campbell awful on LGBT issues. This State Senate district covers Miami Beach and North Miami. Campbell has twice called the cops on reporters this year, only for officers to find the journalists did nothing wrong. She called police when Rise Miami reporter Richard Robinson filmed her in public, and again on Aug. 9 after Miami Herald reporter Sarah Blaskey asked her questions in public.

Florida House District 92: Retired policewoman Paulette Armstead, a lesbian, lost to Hawkins-Williams in a four-way Democratic primary in 2016, and lost again Tuesday night. With 96 percent of votes tallied, Hawkins-Williams has 58 percent of the vote to Armsteads 42 percent. This district covers Deerfield Beach to just northwest of Wilton Manors. SFGN reported last week Hawkins-Williams failed to return calls asking about her alleged anti-LGBT views. Broward County human rights activist Michael Rajner has accused the state lawmaker being anti-LGBT after she was endorsed by the Christian Family Coalition, which he called a hate group.

Florida House District 109: With 98 percent of precincts reporting, openly gay African-American candidate Cedric McMinn trails former state Rep. James Bush, also black, 47 to 53 percent. This district covers northern Miami and Opa-Locka and is 46 percent black, according to state records. If McMinn pulls through in this Democratic primary contest, he would be the first openly gay black candidate voters send to Tallahassee.

Broward County School Board At Large, Seat 8: Nineteen-year-old school board candidate Elijah Manley, who is openly queer, lost in a three-way race where his two opponents, Ryan Petty and Donna Korn, have been accused of making anti-LGBT statements. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Korn had 50.3 percent of the vote to Pettys 31 percent and Manleys 18 percent. If Korn maintains a majority, she wont have to face Petty in a runoff Nov. 6. Petty, who is Mormon, has tweeted statements like Im just glad Im not a gay, black Mormon and You sure do attract a special class of Twitter libtard, which was directed at another Twitter user, the Sun Sentinel reported. Korn, who is endorsed by the Dolphin Democrats and Equality Florida, was accused of comparing a child having gender identity issues with rape. In a letter published by SFGN, Korn said that she never intended to do that, calling it a reply to the moderators biased question.

Key West Mayor: With all precincts reporting, former Key West City Commissioner Teri Johnston, who is openly gay has 49 percent of the vote in the mayoral race. Since she did not get the majority of votes, she will face off on Nov. 6 against Commissioner Margaret Romero, who got 21 percent of the vote.

Broward County Court Judge, Group 25: Openly gay judge Robert W. Lee beat opponent Stephen Leslie Lustig with 69 percent of the vote with 70 percent of precincts reporting.John D. Halamka, MD, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and dean of technology for Harvard Medical School, both based in Boston, discussed his thoughts on healthcare interoperability during a recent interview with athenaInsight.

"Healthcare doesn't have interoperability to the extent other industries do," Dr. Halamka said. "We're really the last industry."

To explain why healthcare lags other industries when it comes to interoperability, Dr. Halamka shared four thoughts:

1. Regulation varies by state. "In Massachusetts, we have a set of laws, and those laws are generally friendly to interoperability," he said. "But in New Hampshire, it's illegal for a government entity to hold your data because that's too much government in your face. What's required in one state is illegal in another state."

2. There's no nationwide patient-matching system. "How do I even know who you are? Maybe your name is misspelled, or maybe there are other people in the country that have your name," Dr. Halamka explained. "So, if I'm sending data from place to place, how do I even make sure I commingle the right data? We don't have a nationwide patient-matching strategy."

3. Providers don't have a nationwide directory for one another. "How does a doctor in Florida get the electronic address of doctors in Massachusetts? We don't have any kind of national directory of electronic inputs," he said.

4. Hospitals don't have an economic incentive. "There's the biggest hurdle: economic incentive," Dr. Halamka said. "If there is a business case to share the data, an enabling policy, and easy-to-use technology, then data usually flows. If you said, 'Doctors won't be paid until their data goes to the patient or to the next provider of care,' in two weeks we'd have interoperability to a much greater extent than we have now. We just don't have quite that incentive."

To read Dr. Halamka's interview with athenaInsight, click here.Epic CEO and Founder Judy Faulkner equated surviving in nature to staying afloat in the today's health technology industry in her 2018 executive address at the company's annual Users Group Meeting Aug. 28, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

As usual, Ms. Faulkner dressed to match this year's theme  "The Great Outdoors"  and wore a brown Girl Scout uniform, a ranger hat and duck boots.

Six highlights from Ms. Faulkner's speech.

1. Ms. Faulkner said that as one of 100 scouts chosen for a program in Oregon's Cascade Mountains in her youth, she learned about resourcefulness and teamwork.

"Being resourceful and working together make the world a better place," she told an audience filling the company's 11,400-seat auditorium, according to The Cap Times.

2. Ms. Faulkner often makes big predictions in her speech about what's to come in health technology. This year, she emphasized her vision of a single shared network of health data across a global network of healthcare systems.

"You've eliminated the silos from within your organization," said Ms. Faulkner. "Now it's time to eliminate the silos from outside."

3. This year, Epic boasted 3.5 million patient record shares a day, up from 2 million a year ago.

4. A new Epic's program, Cosmos, is one way the company is looking to solve interoperability and promote collaboration in healthcare, according to the Journal. Cosmos is collecting nonidentifying information about patients to help guide healthcare decisions.

"[Cosmos] probably will be the world's largest database of patient information," Ms. Faulkner said. "This is going to be evidence-based medicine at its best."

5. Another way the company is approaching interoperability is through its One Virtual System Worldwide initiative, which launched earlier this year, The Cap Times reports. The project is exploring ways of having every patient on one shared network.

6. The Verona, Wis.-based EHR vendor is also planning to hire "lots of new staff for software development." An Epic spokeswoman later told the Journal Epic hopes to add about 400 software developers by the end of 2019.

"Healthcare will always be needed. Augmenting our brains, which is what IT does, is always going to be here  assuming no World War III knocks us back to the Stone Age. And the area in between is the hottest area around," Ms. Faulkner said.Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica closed its autism center at Adrian, Mich.-based ProMedica Bixby Hospital after a criminal investigation into allegations of child abuse by staff, according to The Blade.

The 13-hospital system released a video message on Aug. 27 from ProMedica Chief Experience Officer Kent Bishop, MD, and Brian Kaminski, MD, vice president of patient safety and quality at ProMedica. In the video published by The Blade, the leaders describe how system officials learned of the mistreatment and next steps to address the situation.

The Blade reports ProMedica and Adrian police jointly announced a criminal investigation into the hospital's autism center earlier this month after video footage surfaced of a behavioral technician engaging in "overly assertive behavior modification techniques with a child during a one-on-one session."

Dr. Bishop said in the video the techniques "are not approved by ProMedica."

Additional footage obtained by the health system showed three staff members mistreating at least four children. Drs. Bishop and Kaminski said all three staff members were terminated, and that the health system offered to show the video footage to the children's parents.

"Since becoming aware of the incidents, we have been working to understand what, if any, breakdown in our processes allowed these incidents to occur," Dr. Bishop said in the video. "Although we are still in the process of conducting our own investigation while fully cooperating with authorities, we feel it is important for us to acknowledge that we failed these children and their families who trust us with their autism care. For that we are sincerely sorry."

The officials said the autism center will remain closed until further notice, and apologized to any staff members who may be affected by the change. Dr. Kaminski said in the video ProMedica hopes to bring autism care back to the city, but that officials must "first and foremost ... ensure that we are able to do so in a safe and compassionate manner."

In an Aug. 28 written statement to Becker's Hospital Review, ProMedica said: "Through our proactive monitoring process, ProMedica became aware of incidents at The Autism Center in Adrian, Michigan. In accordance with our procedures, we immediately notified the appropriate parties to inform them about the matter. Since we are in the process of conducting a full investigation, we are unable to discuss specifics. However, we would like the community to know that we are committed to swiftly addressing any concern that is at odds with our high quality care standards."

To access the full report, click here.The American Medical Association and more than 150 medical groups sent a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma regarding the administration's proposed updates to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

The healthcare groups, representing physicians and other health professionals, said they support CMS' efforts to simplify documentation requirements, including the proposal to stop requiring physicians to re-document information that has already been entered in the patient's record by practice staff or by the patient.

The groups said they oppose the proposal to collapse payment rates for eight office visit services for new and established patients down to two each.

"We oppose the implementation of this proposal because it could hurt physicians and other healthcare professionals in specialties that treat the sickest patients, as well as those who provide comprehensive primary care, ultimately jeopardizing patients' access to care," states the letter.

The groups said they want to work with CMS to help develop appropriate coding, payment and documentation requirements for different levels of evaluation and management services.

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Tennessee health system files for bankruptcy, says it owes CHS $28MNew York and Minnesota will receive nearly $500 million from the federal government this year related to lost funding for its healthcare programs, according to The Washington Post.

Five things to know:

1. New York and Minnesota sued the Trump administration over lost funding for their basic health programs. Under the ACA, states may create basic health programs to provide coverage for low-income residents who are not eligible for Medicaid. The states' basic health programs combined cover about 822,000 people.

2. The federal government has financed basic health programs. The government has paid 95 percent of the funds that would have gone toward subsidies to offset premium increases for plans on the ACA exchanges and toward cost-sharing reduction payments that helped insurers subsidize the coverage cost for low-income Americans, according to the report.

3. However, the Trump administration said in October that it would stop funding cost-sharing reduction payments. This reduced federal funding for New York and Minnesota's basic health programs, and the states sued in January, according to the Post.

4. In May, the case settled after the government agreed to work with Minnesota and New York on a new funding formula for their programs, as well as make an interim payment of $151 million to New York and $17.2 million to Minnesota, the report states. According to the report, revised payment amounts have now been finalized by CMS. The agency's administrative order, posted last week, announces the federal government will pay $422,206,235 "in additional payment to New York for the first, second and third quarters of 2018" and $46,276,090 to Minnesota for the same period.

5. An HHS spokesperson told the Post: "Last week's administrative order was issued following an opportunity for the two states to review and comment on a draft of the revised payment methodology. CMS believes that the administrative order  and the forthcoming payments to the states  should fully address the concerns raised by the states in the litigation."

Read the Post's full report here.

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For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Aug. 20-24The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus ended fiscal year 2018 with strong finances, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

In the fiscal year ended June 30, the nonprofit medical center recorded revenue of $3.7 billion, up 8.9 percent from 2017, the Dispatch reported, citing the financial summary presented to the medical center board Aug. 28.

Wexner also saw cash and capital-funding assets increase. The medical center had about $1.4 billion in cash and capital-funding assets in 2018, compared to $643 million about four years ago, Mark Larmore, CFO for health sciences at Wexner, told the board.

Wexner ended 2018 with an operating margin of about 8.9 percent, which is similar to 2017.

The financial results follow the departure of at least nine high-ranking Wexner employees, from department chairs to administrative leaders, since January 2017.

According to the report, Ohio State is searching for a chancellor for its medical center and health sciences system, and Wexner plans to hire 500 faculty members over the next five years. Additionally, K. Craig Kent, MD, dean of the college of medicine, informed the board of more than 90 new faculty clinicians in the college of medicine.

The Dispatch reported Ohio State also plans to build a hospital tower.

"The next five years will be more dramatic in terms of gaining and maintaining traction," board Chairman Leslie H. Wexner said."It's been a spectacular five years, and truly the best is yet to come."

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For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Aug. 20-24In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Scott McFarland, president of HealthBI, a software company that markets a care coordination and care management platform for population health management.

Mr. McFarland will speak on a panel during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on " The Most Important Issues Facing the Payor and Provider Relationship," at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.

Question: How does your organization gain physician buy-in when it is implementing a new technology or solution?

Scott McFarland: That's exactly what our health plan customers, who deploy our CareEmpower solution for use by their provider networks, ask us. And really, the answer is pretty simple  we're giving physicians what they've said for years is holding them back from practicing true value-based care, and that's timely information about their patients. So knowing they are going to finally have access to say, an admission, discharge or transfer alert of a patient in the hospital, or a list of patients who are due for a screening, or a flag about a patient that was triggered by a social determinants of health assessment captures their interest very quickly. Of course, providers have heard it all before, and they are rightfully wary about committing to something that might fail to deliver. So, what seals the deal is when they see how we go beyond technology and really take this journey with them to value-based care. We help them turn those timely insights into actionable care plans. We help them document that they're meeting performance targets. Most physicians understand that healthcare is moving toward a risk or value-based model, and they see that we're offering them an entire provider enablement strategy to get there.

Q: What is the most exciting thing happening in health IT right now?

SF: To me, it's pretty exciting that the technology, people and processes are coming together now to help physicians practice what we've been talking about for years: the move from a fee-for-service model to a value-based care model. And I think it's really exciting that this momentum is being driven by smaller healthcare companies that live, sleep and breathe value-based care versus some of the big companies that are trying to break into healthcare solely because they see there is money to be made there. I don't think their heart is in it like we smaller, more nimble companies that are truly hungry to upend an overly expensive and outdated healthcare model.

Q: What's one conviction in healthcare that needs to be challenged?

SF: That we can't scale targeted, personalized, proactive healthcare for complex populations, especially in Medicaid. We absolutely can, and we're doing it here at HealthBI.The Maine Supreme Court denied Republican Gov. Paul LePage's request to delay Medicaid expansion, according to The Hill.

In early June a Superior Court judge ruled against Mr. LePage's lawsuit to delay implementation, and the administration appealed, sending the case to the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court's ruling did make a decision on the merits of Mr. LePage's lawsuit but instead sent his appeal back down to the Superior Court to resolve outstanding questions.

Mr. LePage has vetoed Medicaid expansion in Maine six times due to a lack of state funding, though he also vetoed a bill that would have provided $60 million in program funding for the first year.Several influential physician groups and healthcare organizations are rallying together to oppose any future efforts by state legislators to craft a universal healthcare system for California, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Here are six things to know:

1. The coalition, named Californians Against the Costly Disruption of Our Healthcare, aims to kill any single-payer healthcare bill introduced into the state legislature during the next session, a political strategist for the group told The Sacramento Bee. Senate Bill 562, which was proposed last year and outlined a plan for single-payer healthcare in the state, was shelved.

2. Instead of single-payer healthcare, the coalition seeks to press for alternatives, such as expanding state insurance subsidies, allowing undocumented adults to sign up for Medi-Cal and creating a state-based individual mandate allowing everyone to have coverage.

3. The California Nurses Association, which was influential in crafting Senate Bill 562, according to The Sacramento Bee, acknowledged to the publication the bill is likely dead, as the end of the two-year session will occur Aug. 31. However, an executive with the organization said they aim to introduce a similar bill into the legislature next year.

"We are working on a bill. The California Nurses Association is in no way backing off pursuing legislation to achieve 'Medicare for all' next year. [California State Assembly] Speaker [Anthony] Rendon's act of shelving the bill last spring only strengthened our resolve," the executive told The Sacramento Bee.

4. The coalition, which consists of organizations like the California Association of Health Plans and the California Chamber of Commerce, said it is gearing up to fight any attempts to pass such legislation next year, with the focus of their message on how expensive single-payer healthcare would be for California residents and its effect on patients. Leaders said they will target their efforts on the state legislature and the next governor, but will not rule out spending on advertising and other public messaging, the report states.

5. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the frontrunner in the California governor's race, has voiced support for a single-payer system, but has also expressed concerns over how the state would create such a system, which may cost an estimated $400 billion per year and may require significant tax increases. Such a move would also require voters to approve amendments to the state constitution and require California to secure several federal waivers from the Trump administration, according to the report.

6. A spokesperson for Mr. Newsom told The Sacramento Bee, "As he did as mayor, Gavin Newsom will bring stakeholders of differing perspectives together to achieve a health system that is bold, affordable and works for everyone."

To access the full report, click here.Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and CEO of Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health, said the health system is on track to expand into several areas  including Chicago and Minnesota  and aims to announce certain merger plans by the end of 2018, according to SiouxFalls.Business.

Mr. Krabbenhoft told the publication he met with leaders of a Chicago-based health system last week. While he has not revealed any details about the proposed deal, Mr. Krabbenhoft told SiouxFalls.Business the $1 billion system comprises "very good friends and allies," and that Sanford's board is on track to vote to move the merger forward before the end of the year.

He also noted conversations with various organizations in Minnesota are ongoing. Mr. Krabbenhoft is expected to meet with the CEO of Bloomington, Minn.-based HealthPartners next week.

The recent decision to expedite the merger between Sanford and the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society has also brought Sanford in touch with organizations in other markets, including Phoenix, Orlando and Rapid City, S.D. Mr. Krabbenhoft said he met with the CEO of Rapid City Regional Hospital several weeks ago and hosted a group of Rapid City community leaders Aug. 28 to provide them with more information on Sanford's research, affiliated insurance arm and children's hospital.

Mr. Krabbenhoft disputed the growing chorus of rumors claiming he plans to step down from his position. He said contrary to such speculations, he has committed to retiring from Sanford Health in 2023, but has discussed staying longer.

"My board has had discussions about wanting me to stay beyond that because I'm healthy and having fun, but at this point Im staying with my plan," he told SiouxFalls.Business.

Sanford Health Board of Trustees Chairman Mark Paulson, MD, also issued a statement to the publication in support of Mr. Krabbenhoft.

"As he has demonstrated over the past 22 years at Sanford, Kelby is a visionary leader positioning Sanford as a world-class healthcare system. He has the full support and confidence of the board. I look forward to the future with him at the helm," Dr. Paulson said.

To access the full report, click here.Braxton County Memorial Hospital in Gassaway, W.Va., has signed a letter of intent to joint Morgantown-based West Virginia University Health System.

West Virginia University Health System President and CEO Albert L. Wright Jr., PharmD, expressed excitement about acquiring the 25-bed critical access hospital.

"Braxton County is uniquely positioned right in the center of West Virginia, and it's important for the people who live in the heart of our state to have access to the high-quality healthcare they need," he said in a press release. "We are proud to welcome Braxton County Memorial Hospital to our system, and we look forward to being a part of that community."

The health system said a certificate of need application will be filed with the West Virginia Health Care Authority. If the state approves the transaction and the deal closes, Braxton County Memorial Hospital will be West Virginia University Health System's ninth hospital.

More articles on healthcare industry transactions:

HCA, Ochsner pull the plug on partnership talks with Louisiana hospital

SSM Health to sell 3 hospitals

Shuttered Texas hospital strikes lease dealThe Michigan Nurses Association filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Traverse City, Mich.-based Munson Medical Center.

The complaint, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleges the medical center used stalling tactics during negotiations by failing to provide nurses with timely economic proposals.

"As nurses, we made a proposal on wages to the hospital more than two months ago. Managers have yet to offer a response or counterproposal," Cindy Rydahl, a registered nurse at Munson and bargaining team member, said in a prepared statement. "Right now, our hospital is ranked seventh in the state according to U.S. News and World Report. But it is going to take a fair economic proposal to attract and retain nurses to continue to provide the highest quality of care to northern Michigan."

The medical center disputed the nurses' allegations.

In a statement to Becker's, medical center spokesperson Rachel Roe said both sides agreed to complete negotiations on noneconomic issues before discussing wages, benefits and other economics.

"The union did not request the first bargaining session until four months after the election. MMC received a partial economic proposal from the union 10 months after the election. And, a complete economic proposal was not presented to us until August 2018  a full year after the election," the statement reads. "Now that we have a complete proposal, we are analyzing it so that we can make a fully informed decision."

"We have just learned of these allegations and are confident that we have acted within the law and these charges will be dropped after further investigation," said Ms. Roe.

Both sides continue to negotiate.

More articles on human capital and risk:

Vermont nurses lead negotiator quits talks, says union leaders forced her out

Nurses pressure Vermont medical center amid budget process

Pennsylvania hospital workers picket, say Tower Health wants to slash their benefitsA California physician and family medical practice owner was sentenced to more than five years in prison for healthcare fraud and submitting false claims to health insurers, according to the Department of Justice.

The Aug. 28 sentencing comes after a federal grand jury charged Vilasini Ganesh, MD, and her husband Gregory Belcher, MD, with healthcare fraud July 13, 2017.



Evidence presented during an eight-week trial demonstrated Dr. Ganesh submitted false medical claims related to her Saratoga, Calif.-based Campbell Medical Group. The evidence suggested Dr. Ganesh submitted claims for days when a patient did not see a provider, as well as claims for patients who received care from a physician no longer affiliated with Campbell Medical Group. Dr. Ganesh also sent claims to insurers making it appear some patients were seen 12 to 15 times a month, prosecutors alleged.



The jury convicted Dr. Ganesh and Dr. Belcher of one count of healthcare fraud, and convicted Dr. Ganesh of five counts of healthcare fraud and five counts of making false statements.Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System filed a lawsuit against Tennessee's managed Medicaid program, claiming TennCare underpays safety-net hospitals for emergency care to "enrich insurance companies."

In 2007, the Tennessee General Assembly directed TennCare to require that managed care health insurers pay noncontract hospitals the average in-network rate for Medicaid beneficiaries' emergency care. However, the lawsuit, filed Aug. 24 in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tenn., alleges the insurers ignored the directive and instead paid the lowest in-network rate.



Erlanger accused TennCare of "purposefully siphoning money from hospitals who treat Tennesee's neediest citizens, in order to favor the insurance companies that TennCare employees routinely work for after leaving state government." One of the managed care insurers' CEOs, J.D. Hickey of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, served as a TennCare director from 2004-06.



Erlanger's latest lawsuit follows another complaint the health system filed against one of the managed care insurers in 2009 to recover rates. In 2015, the Tennessee Supreme Court said Erlanger would have to take that case through the administrative challenge system. Erlanger's Aug. 24 lawsuit claims in the administrative challenge system, TennCare determined it lacked jurisdiction to move to invalidate the rates.



As a result, Erlanger claims the continuing "rates have created a windfall for profit-driven [managed care organizations] on the backs of out-of-network hospitals like Erlanger that have no choice but to provide emergency care to Tennessee's neediest citizens."



TennCare told Becker's Hospital Review by email it does not comment on active litigation.



More articles on legal & regulatory issues:

Fake nurse in Maryland submitted thousands of false Medicaid claims, authorities say

U of Iowa ordered to pay $21.5M to children's hospital contractor

Blue Cross: North Carolina hospital engaged in a '$76M health insurance swindle'A Maryland woman allegedly pretended to be a licensed nurse for more than four years to defraud Medicaid, according to The Baltimore Sun.

According to the indictment, Musu Kandeh assumed the identity of another person to pose as a nurse with Takoma Park, Md.-based Automatic Nursing Care Services. While pretending to be a nurse, Ms. Kandeh allegedly provided care to Medicaid recipients and submitted thousands of fraudulent claims to Medicaid.

Ms. Kandeh is charged with felony theft, identity theft and Medicaid fraud, as well as a misdemeanor offense of practicing without a license, according to the report.

Ms. Kandeh was employed at Automatic Nursing Care Services between October 2012 and December 2016, and prosecutors say she was not licensed by the Maryland Board of Nursing to practice registered nursing during that time.

Ms. Kandeh's attorney filed a motion to dismiss three charges in the case, arguing the state missed a one-year statute of limitations for charging Ms. Kandeh with Medicaid fraud, identity theft and practicing without a license.

In response, Assistant Attorney General Sidney Butcher argued Ms. Kandeh's attorney is incorrectly applying misdemeanor standards to the charges of Medicaid fraud and identity theft, which are both felonies. In addition, Mr. Butcher contends there is an extended statute of limitation of three years after the incident to charge an individual with practicing without a license, according to the report.

The case is set to go to trial in September.

More articles on legal and regulatory issues:

Blue Cross: North Carolina hospital engaged in a '$76M health insurance swindle'

Ex-Butler Health System COO allegedly misappropriated funds

Physician reaches plea deal in $60M fraud scheme that allegedly involved accelerating patient deathsEnding a yearslong battle, a judge ordered Iowa City-based University of Iowa to pay the contractor of its new Stead Family Children's Hospital and Hancher Auditorium $21.5 million, plus hundreds and thousands of additional dollars in interest, according to The Gazette.

The university's dispute was with Modern Piping Inc. over the construction of its 14-story children's hospital, which was plagued with design changes, budget overruns, miscommunication and missed deadlines. Those factors pushed the project's budget from $270.8 million to more than $360 million and delayed its opening by months

In March, an arbitration panel awarded Modern Piping $21.5 million, $4.6 million of which was owed for the Hanchor Auditorium, but the university appealed the decision because it lumped together awards for two separate projects. The university claimed the arbitration panel didn't have jurisdiction over the children's hospital project. The university asked the court for extensions to negotiate with Modern Piping over the amount owed. Those negotiations failed.

University of Iowa officials said the children's hospital was funded entirely with gifts, patient revenue and bonds, which the Iowa Board of Regents, the governing body overseeing the university, had to keep increasing to cover the project's increasing costs. The university, however, is on the hook for the litigation payouts.

The university has made payments toward the $21.5 million award since the arbitration panel issued it, but it still owes $16.9 million of the initial award. With interest, the amount totals $17.4 million, and interest will accumulate at a rate of $2,321.83 per day.

The ruling comes as a blow to the university as it has struggled with legislative cuts that forced it to increase tuition, freeze faculty pay and halt new construction projects.

District Judge Ian Thornhill said his ruling marks the final say in this prolonged legal battle.A 19-year-old patient at Lakewood, Wash.-based Western State Hospital allegedly stomped on a staff member's head about eight times and threatened to kill her Aug. 26, according to The News Tribune.

The patient allegedly attacked the employee from behind and continued to hit and stomp her head once she was on the ground. Before attacking the staff member, the patient wanted to change the TV channel another patient was watching and the staff member told him no.

A witness shoved the patient off the staff member, but ran away to protect himself after the 260-pound patient came after him. Another witness told police they asked the patient what happened, and he said, "She was harassing me, and I just lost it," according to The News Tribune.

Law enforcement officers said the staff member's facial and head injuries were "significant," but not life-threatening.

Police charged the patient with first- and third-degree assault Aug. 28 in Pierce County Superior Court. He will be held in Pierce County Jail until a Sept. 4 competency hearing .

The patient was civilly committed to the state-run psychiatric hospital after allegedly assaulting a law enforcement officer in 2017. The patient was deemed incompetent to stand trial February 28 and criminal charges were dismissed.

Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to Western State Hospital for comment and will update the article as more information becomes available.

More articles on legan and regulatory issues:Brand name drugmakers may see another big win as a result of apreliminary trade dealbetween the U.S. and Mexico. As part of the pact, which seeks to update the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, drugmakers will get 10 years of patent exclusivity for biologics and access to more products eligible for protection  a move generic drugmakers strictly oppose, according to website Regulatory Focus.

U.S. law now grants brand name drugmakers 12 years of patent exclusivity, and there are no data protections included in the North America Free Trade Agreement.

In Mexico, drugmakers have just five years of patent exclusivity. Extending this exclusive patent period for Mexico and adding more products suitable for patent exclusivity has drawn criticism from generic drugmakers.

"U.S., Mexico and Canada should reject these provisions, which would benefit brand name drug companies to the detriment of public health and the affordability of medical care," the Association for Accessible Medicines, Canadian generic Pharmaceutical Association and Mexican Association of Generic Medicines stated in a news release to Regulatory Focus.

The issue of drug companies' exclusive patent period has become a central debate in the U.S. as generic drugmakers struggle against brand name manufacturers and their patents to bring biosimilars or generic competition to the marketplace.

Brand name drugmakers, who encouraged the administration to keep data protection at 12 years, sounded lukewarm about the preliminary deal.

PhRMA, the association representing big-name pharmaceutical companies, released the following statement: " We look forward to analyzing the final text of the agreement, once completed, to ensure it includes policies that protect against global free-riding, promote research and development and reward the innovation being pioneered by Americas biopharmaceutical companies for patients across the globe."

The trade deal also includes a clause that would expand "the scope of products eligible for protection," the news release from the U.S. Trade Representative Officestates.

Even if the patent exclusivity period is shorter in the U.S., having an expanded class of products eligible for patent exclusivity is another win for big pharma.

Read the full report here.One week after rapper Drake visited Sofia Sanchez at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, the 11-year-old patient got a second surprise: a new heart, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Sofia was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and underwent open-heart surgery about three weeks ago. After eight weeks of waiting, Sofia on Aug. 26 learned she was going to receive a new heart. Her heart transplant surgery occurred the following day, according to hospital spokesperson Julianne Bardele.

"The surgery went extremely well and with all heart transplants, the next 24 to 48 hours are critical, but the heart seemed happy in its new home," Carl Backer, MD, division head of cardiovascular-thoracic surgery at Lurie Children's, who operated on Sofia, said in an emailed statement to Becker's. Dr. Backer is also surgical director of the hospital's heart transplant program.

"I'm proud of the work our nationally ranked heart transplant team does every day, with our milestone 300th heart transplant a few weeks ago and now 308th with Sofia," Dr. Backer added. "It's been an exciting week for us in the heart center, and of course Sofia and her family."

Sofia will stay at Lurie Children's for another few weeks to recover from her transplant before relocating to the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago for a six- to eight-week stay.

More articles on clinical leadership and infection control:

Hershey Medical Center warns patients, visitors of potential measles exposure

Hawaii hospital replaces plumbing fixtures after legionella investigation

CDC hosts infectious disease experts to discuss HAIs, EbolaThe air quality in Washington state's Tri-Cities area reached hazardous levels Aug. 26 due to ongoing wildfires, sending many people to the hospital with breathing issues, according to KEPR.

"[It] was probably the worst day that we've seen [for air quality]," Robin Priddy, director of the Benton Clean Air Agency, told KEPR.

Jim Hall, a spokesperson for Richland, Wash.-based Kadlec Regional Medical Center, said they've seen an uptick in patients with smoke-related breathing issues over the last week at its emergency rooms and urgent care sites,

"They had seen  just on the particular day that I checked  that there were eight people that had come in," Mr. Hall told KEPR. "Most of them were folks with [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] that had their conditions exacerbated by the smoke."

Both Kennewick, Wash.-based Trios Health and Pasco, Wash.-based Lourdes Health also reported an increase in patients seeking emergency care due to breathing problems. At Lourdes Health, two patients had to be admitted over the weekend.

To avoid breathing issues, the Benton Clean Air Agency recommends people stay indoors in areas with air conditioning or clean filtered air when possible, close their windows and wear a breathing mask when going outside.

More articles on clinical leadership and infection control:Orlando (Fla.) Health unveiled its fetal spina bifida surgery program, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Here are three things to know:

1. Orlando Health's Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies features the first fetal surgery program in Florida.

2. Board-certified pediatric neurosurgeon Samer Elbabaa, MD, performed the first three fetal spina bifida surgeries at Winnie Palmer Hospital.

3. Prior to joining Orlando Health in 2017, Dr. Elbabaa performed upwards of 60 fetal spina bifida surgeries.Nawabi Hyderabad House Biryani Place USA, is expanding their horizon and bring the Nawabi feast to Canada.



Attention Foodies in Ontario, Canada, Hyderabad House modestly welcomes you to visit our restaurant and experience the finest authentic Indian cuisines during their Grand opening.



The newer Franchise location in Brampton, Canada will be open all day 7 Days of the week offering Lunch Specials, such as Lunch Box (To-Go) Lunch Buffet (Monday to Friday) and Weekday & Weekend Specials. Just a sniff of the lingering smell of these delicacies is promised to leave you awe-struck.



The diversified menu infuses new commendable recipes and authentic flavors that embraces Hyderabad Houses famed Dum Biryanis, Curry Leaf chicken, Monagadi Kodi vepudu, Cashew Chicken, Ulavacharu Kodi Vepudu, Palnadu mamsam vepudu, Avakai Chicken Biryani, Gongura Chicken Biryani, Vijaywada Chicken Biryani, Ulavcharu Biryani and Rajugari Kodi Pulav, are few of the many which are easily accessible for Indian diaspora in the vicinity.



Elated with the expansion, Franchisees (Raja Kalidindi, Ram Alluri and Naren Rayala) said that it gives them immense pleasure to bring the legacy of the famous biryanis, pulavs, signature appetizer and other exclusive Indian delicacies of Nawabi Hyderabad House from USA to Canada.|



Come as you like and eat homestyle at the Hyderabad House as they strive to serve you with the best North & South Indian cuisines. A feast never to be missed, unique cuisines, desserts and signature appetizers in both Veg & Non-Veg all with a heavenly feel and a dining experience to relive for years, all of these awaits for you at the Hyderabad Biryani House located at Brampton, Ontario- Canada.



Siva Yarlagadda and Vamsi Kallepalli, Originators of Nawabi Hyderabad House said their responsibility has now gone up with every remarkable success and expansion. We are geared up to feast the Hyderabadi Cuisine experience to larger crowds and newer geographical locations going forward and working on attaining more true/authentic recipes.



The Brampton, Ontario location was inaugurated on 24th August 2018 and having a Grand Opening on 31st August 2018.



You could reach out to Hyderabad House at 



Email: hydhousecanada@gmail.com

Ph: +1 905 457 9999

WWW.HHBRAMPTON.COM



Location

8015 Financial Dr, Unit B8, Brampton, ON, L6Y 6A1.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

FACEBOOK: Brampton - Nawabi Hyderabad House Biryani Place



INSTAGRAM: bramptonhydhouse



OPENING SOON LOCATIONS IN USA:



- DUBLIN, OH - SEPT 6TH

- PORTLAND, OR - SEPT 21ST

- PHEONIX, AZ - OCT 2018



For more information about licensing details:



Contact:

Jay Prakash Reddy (JP): 309-660-2787

Siva Yarlagadda: 201-562-5753

Vamsi Kallepalli: 551-208-4336



Or email: info@hyderabadhouse.net

WWW.HYDERABADHOUSE.NET

Press release by: Indian Clicks, LLCWetherspoon's boss Tim Martin has called on our bickering politicians to get back to work and be inspired by the example of power-sharing set by Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley.

Mr Martin spent part of his childhood in Northern Ireland, and his company operates four pubs here.

He said the pair's ability to work together had been an inspiration to the world and that the present generation of politicians should emulate their example. As we come close to 600 days without devolved government, he said political progress had transformed the economy.

"I would say that the last 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement have had a very positive effect on the Northern Irish economy, with higher employment, investment and living standards," Mr Martin said.

"Tourism, for example, has grown enormously and that helps all businesses. The fact that Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness sank their differences and worked together was also an inspiration to many troubled areas around the world. In spite of the difficulties it would certainly be great if the Stormont government could be restored.

"For example, I feel the licensing laws are outdated and could be upgraded to be more in line with Dublin and London, but there are many similar examples.

"All in all, I think Northern Ireland politicians have done extraordinarily well in the last few decades. Yes, there have been problems, but let's get back to business as normal."

Niall Harkin, chairman of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society, said the lack of leadership had a "very negative effect" on the economy.

"Our members have no doubt that it is adversely affecting business confidence, investment decisions and government spending decisions. Over 90% of our members believe that the democratic deficit is having a negative effect on the provision of public services," he said.

"A local political voice on Brexit is also very sorely missed. This was clearly demonstrated last week when the UK government advised Northern Ireland businesses to contact the Irish government to discuss how to prepare to trade in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit."

Mr Harkin called for clarity on future EU trade as well as a "realistic plan" on managing the border with the Republic.The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post publisher Johnston Press has seen trading woes compounded after changes to Googles online search algorithm and Facebooks news feed hit online ad sales (The Scotsman)

The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post publisher Johnston Press has seen trading woes compounded after Google and Facebook platform changes knocked online ad sales.

Johnston Press  which is under pressure as it looks to secure a debt refinancing deal  reported a 10% fall in total revenues to 93 million for the first half of 2018, despite a boost from the i newspaper.

The group said underlying advertising revenues fell by 15% while classified ad sales plunged 28.5% year-on-year.

The continued challenges posed by Google and Facebook, seen most recently through algorithm and news feed changes, has contributed to total digital revenue decline.David King, chief executive of Johnston Press

Digital advertising revenues  which have previously helped offset a decline in traditional ad sales  also fell, down 7.4%, as the changes to Googles online search algorithm and Facebooks news feed took their toll.

But Johnstons results showed it swung out of the red with interim pre-tax profits of 6.2 million against losses of 10.2 million a year earlier, although the turnaround was largely thanks to a one-off 8.8 million accounting gain.

It saw operating profits rise 50.1% to 7.4 million, while underlying earnings fell 3.7% to 19 million.

The firm hailed another strong performance from the i newspaper, which notched up a 61% surge in underlying earnings to 6 million over the half year, helping lessen the hit to wider group revenues.

It added its strategic review was ongoing and said it will update as soon as possible.

David King, the newly-appointed chief executive of Johnston, said the groups problems were two-fold  namely, historical debts and pension funding issues, as well as extremely difficult industry conditions causing sharp declines in ad revenues and newspaper sales.

He said: The continued challenges posed by Google and Facebook, seen most recently through algorithm and news feed changes, has contributed to total digital revenue decline, while balance sheet constraints have restricted the groups ability to invest, and counter these effects.

As part of the strategic review, the group continues to explore its options for the refinancing or restructuring of the groups debt but, as yet, no decisions have been made nor agreements reached, he added.

But Mr King  who took over from long-serving boss Ashley Highfield earlier this summer  said the results for the i demonstrates that it is possible to grow a newspaper brand, despite the prevailing headwinds.

The i newspaper, which was bought by Johnston in 2016, grew it circulation revenues by 17% and ad sales by 20%, while its digital audience for the news.com site more than trebled to 4.2 million in June from 1.3 million in December.

Johnston Press shares fell as much as 21% after the results.

The stock has been see-sawing in recent weeks amid speculation over Johnstons future.

It is looking at ways to refinance 220 million of debt that becomes repayable in June next year.

Golden Tree owns the majority of the debts owed by Johnston Press.A US hedge fund has snapped up a 500m (455m) stake in Ryanair, betting that the airline is undervalued.

Chicago-based Harris Associates revealed in filing with the stock exchange yesterday that it now owns 3.07% of the airline.

The US activist firm touts itself as a value investor and has previously held stakes in companies such as Bank of Ireland.

Harris Associates said it breached the 3% ownership mark where it has to inform the stock market of its Ryanair holding on August 22. It now owns 35.2m shares in the airline.

It could already be sitting on a paper profit, with shares in having climbed more than 2% at one stage yesterday. That valued the shares held by Harris Associates at just over 500m. The shares rose after Ryanair said it had sealed a collective labour agreement with its pilots in Italy.If fate had been kinder to Janine Howard, she would be planning her dream wedding for December 2019 without worrying unduly about the inevitable costs. But the disfigured 33-year-old north Belfast woman, unfortunately, has faced obstacles all along the way.

In the hope of forging a career path, she studied business at Belfast Metropolitan College as a teenager, but the stares and whispers in the corridors and classrooms made it difficult for her to settle into her course.

She left without qualifying and applied for a job at McDonald's in Glengormley.

"They told me I'd scare the customers," she recalls flatly. "After that, I lost my confidence and I've never been able to get work. Looking after my two daughters became my full-time job, and money has always been tight."

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From north Belfast, Janine (33) was left with a severe facial disfigurement after contracting a rare flesh-eating infection, while undergoing treatment for acute lymphatic leukaemia, just before her third birthday. She hit the headlines in February, describing how she wears headphones every time she leaves her home to drown out vile insults hurled at her.

It was a heart-wrenching story of a lifetime of bullying, from the name-calling that still continues to this day ("stupid face, spastic face, squashed-up face") to the physical abuse that marred her childhood - vandals smeared animal faeces over her toys, burned her dolls' pram and damaged the family car when she was younger.

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At 17, she was punched in the face by one of her tormentors and her family had to move home, due to terrifying threats.

But the publicity in February resulted in a huge wave of sympathy for Janine. She received dozens of messages from strangers wishing her well, some offering to send her on a weekend break, and one kind soul presenting her with a box of Maltesers in a shopping centre, assuring her that not everyone is a bully.

The plain-spoken and witty Janine was slightly embarrassed and overwhelmed by the public's response to her story, blushing when she was approached.

She still had the problem of raising a budget for her wedding to her long-term partner Matthew, but her faith in humanity had been somewhat restored.

Then, out of the blue came a call from MaryRose McGrath, one of Northern Ireland's leading bridal and occasion-wear designers. Well-known for her flawless replica of Kate Middleton's bridal gown - stitched within 24 hours of the Westminster Abbey ceremony - MaryRose had read Janine's story in a newspaper, while sitting by her mother Norah's hospital bed. Sadly, Norah (73) died from pancreatic and liver cancer, just six weeks after her diagnosis earlier this year.

"I was going through a tough time personally, and when I read about the appalling bullying Janine has gone through, it really struck a chord with me," says MaryRose, who's also from north Belfast. "I was horrified that she was getting all this abuse, on top of everything else she has had to deal with.

"It made me really cross, so I decided just to pick up the phone and tell her I was a wedding dress designer, and that not all strangers are bad. I offered to make her dream dress - for me, it's a real privilege to be able to do this for her.

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"She is an amazing, inspirational person and I'm proud to say she is a friend of mine now."

Janine has been to MaryRose's design studio in Belfast's Conway Mill to be measured up and to discuss ideas for her dress. (The forthright Janine proceeds to tell me exactly what she'd like, until MaryRose reminds her it must remain top secret until the big day.)

"Janine has a fabulous, model figure - she's so easy to dress," says MaryRose. "She's going to be my favourite bride of 2019, but I don't think she realises just how fabulous she's going to be.

"She is a real lady, with a heart of gold. When we met, her bravery struck me immediately; how she could hold her head up high despite all that terrible bullying. It's a pleasure to be designing something very special for her and to give something back.

"She doesn't have a lot of money and I'm hoping some other fairy godmothers are going to appear and help create her dream wedding day. She has been through enough."

The well-regarded wedding outfitter, Naomi Bridal of Ballynahinch, has come on board to provide bridesmaid dresses for Janine's 11 and 12-year-old daughters from a previous relationship.

And Dr Donal McKeown, of Laserase on Belfast's Antrim Road, has agreed to a course of facial treatments for the bride-to-be.

Not everyone MaryRose has approached for help with Janine's dream wedding has been so generous, however.

"She would love a wedding reception in a lovely hotel in the centre of Belfast," she says. "Unfortunately, when I approached her first choice of venue, they declined - they offered spa treatments instead.

"Naomi Bridal of Ballynahinch have very kindly offered to provide the bridesmaids' dresses and we're hoping a gents' outfitters will look after the groom and the best man. All we need then is flowers and cars, so Janine hasn't to worry about anything on her big day.

"I want to shame the bullies and give her the most beautiful, perfect day."

Currently, a local production company is in talks with the BBC about a documentary, following Janine in the run-up to her wedding next December. The crew will film her as she plans the occasion and goes for dress fittings with MaryRose, and treatments at the Laserase skin clinic.

She has her first appointment today with Dr McKeown, who introduced laser beauty procedures, including tattoo and hair removal, to Northern Ireland 25 years ago.

Says Janine: "The skin grafts from my thigh have left me with some hair on my neck, which the bullies picked on, too. I was supposed to get laser treatments in London, but it never happened.

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"I said 'no' to any more reconstruction because of the pain I'd to go through the last time in London.

"My mum had to come from Cliftonville and get me. They'd tried to re-set my bone structure and I was left with this massive shooting nerve pain, so I had to get the surgery reversed.

"I'm just waiting on some new teeth surgery now. I only have one and a half teeth - they rotted away. I'm getting prosthetic dentures."

As well as laser hair removal and resurfacing, Dr McKeown hopes to help replace some of the lost tissue in Janine's face with the medical grade 'volumiser' Sculptra, which was first developed to help the gaunt appearance of AIDS and cancer patients.

Janine lost her entire right cheek to necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease commonly caused by group A Streptococcus, the same type of bacteria that causes strep throat.

She believes she was infected by a little boy on her ward who had the same flesh-eating bug on his back.

"I was just unlucky," she reflects, and adds: "My immune system was very low at the time. I had treatment in America and twice a year in London until I was 15. I recovered okay from the leukaemia, but I could still relapse at any time.

"That's why the wedding is so important to me. Just a small wedding for family and friends, especially the ones who have stood by me through everything."

Janine met her fiance Matthew nine years ago.

"His ones are friends of the family, so I knew him for ages," she concludes.

"Then, I was standing on the Antrim Road one day, not long after splitting up from my daughters' biological father, and he just happened to be passing.

"We got engaged not long after that.

"He's Mr Right, definitely, although they all can be Mr Wrong at times!"More than 5,000 health service workers across Northern Ireland are facing a pay shortfall this month after an increase in pension contributions was deducted as a lump sum, a union has claimed.

It emerged yesterday that a number of Belfast Trust staff had received several hundred pounds less than they expected.

One trust employee, mental health nurse and mum-of-one Clare Simpson (29), said she had received a letter to advise that money would be taken from her pay packet next week.

"They haven't told me how much they are going to take," she said.

"It's not the first time my pay has been messed up. Every month you are wondering what you will get paid. It has made me very angry - you work hard and expect to be paid correctly."

The health workers' union UNISON yesterday revealed that employees across the country have been affected by the payroll issues. It is understood the amounts deducted from wages are higher pension contributions caused by the 1% increase in public sector pay.

UNISON's Regional Organiser Joe McCusker said he had been in contact with the Business Services Organisation (BSO), which is responsible for paying health service employees, yesterday.

He said he had been told that 1,600 Belfast Trust staff who are paid monthly, and 259 who are paid weekly have been affected, along with 972 Western Trust staff, 986 South Eastern Trust staff, 986 Southern Trust staff and 721 Northern Trust staff who are paid monthly.

Some staff in these trusts who are paid fortnightly or weekly are also affected.

"The BSO are saying that it is part of their annual pension band review, which means that these staff underpaid their pension contributions between April and July," Mr McCusker explained.

"They say they are willing for staff to have a three-month repayment period which could be extended.

"They hadn't been taking the contributions out since the public sector pay increase, so they took it out in a lump sum - we don't know how many months' worth."

UNISON says it attended two meetings with health service authorities in April and June, at which the bodies pledged to ensure there was no detriment to staff.

It added that healthcare authorities had been asked that staff be given the option to catch up on pension contributions over a 12-month period, and in some cases 24 months.

In a statement, the BSO said: "We are required to recalculate employee pension contributions to reflect permanent changes in pay.

"The highest jump in contributions is 3.2% of pensionable pay, for those whose annual pay has moved over 47,845.99. "Deductions have been applied to cover pension underpayments for the period April to August 2018.

"Some members of staff have received refunds for overpayments. We would provide reimbursement to any affected staff who require support as authorised by each staff member's respective employer.

"We accept that consultation and notification on these deductions fell well short of what was required and we apologise for any inconvenience caused," the BSO added.Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are attending an incident in Belfast city centre.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are attending an incident in Belfast city centre.

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Compsite showing the fire from 11:06 am to 4:35 pm Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

A baby seagull has been rescued after nearly being killed by fumes from the Primark fire raging in Belfast city centre on Tuesday afternoon.

The aptly named 'Smokey' had been adopted by a group of staff at the nearby Ann Summers store after being abandoned by his family.

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A representative from Debbie Doolittle's Wild Life (DDWL) was on their way to pick Smokey up when the fire took hold at the nearby Primark.

Smokey, a juvenile lesser black backed gull (a breed a seagull) had been living on the balcony of the store where the Ann Summers staff were looking after him and helping him recuperate from a broken wing.

When the fire started Smokey was exposed to the smoke from the fire and was at risk of choking to death until the DDWL representative got to him just in time.

"The fire wasn't as developed at that stage and the area wasn't fully cordoned off so we raced up to the roof. I covered my face and ran out to get him and in as quick as possible," the DDWL representative said.

"The balcony faced the fire so he was getting the full brunt of the black smoke.

"Ten to fifteen minutes breathing that in and he would probably have perished so I was glad to have saved him."

"And just in time as there was a loud bang and the fire service asked us all to evacuate the store."

Luckily Smokey is now recovering at DDWL Headquarters.

"The things you have to do! Just glad he's safe, if a little smelly!"

"Luckily he should be fine with some rest and tender loving care."Two Belfast buskers have decided to donate their entire day's earnings to a firefighters charity after their unfortunate song choice led to online criticism.

Local busker Chloe Magee and Maryjane McInvor from Scotland were busking in Belfast city centre on Tuesday when a fire broke out at the historic Primark store.

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A video of the pair singing the Bruce Springsteen hit 'Dancing in the Dark' went viral online due to the pair singing the line "can't start a fire without a spark" while the smoke from the Primark fire billowed behind them.

The fire has gutted the building, with firefighting operations entering a second day.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Kevin Scott Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire.. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire.. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire.. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire.. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire.. Photo by Gregory Weeks. Aerial view over Bank Buildings following Tuesdays fire.. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Aerial views showing the aftermath of the fire in the Bank Buildings - Primark Belfast - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

The pair were criticised online for their insensitivity but have said that they did not realise the extent of the fire, and had been told that everyone had been safely evacuated.

Following the fire they have donated the 76.38 they raised busking on Tuesday, rounded up to 80, and asked others to do the same to show their support for the fire service and their work in tackling the fire.

"Our intentions were not to offend anyone. At the time, the fire had only just started and didnt seem serious.," Maryjane explained on her Facebook page.

"For us, the song was just another song in the limited set list Chloe and I share. We fully understand how people could find the lyrics in the video inappropriate.

"We apologise to anyone who was offended, but there was no malicious intent."

The pair decided to turn the negative into a positive and attempt to raise some money for a good cause.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Compsite showing the fire from 11:06 am to 4:35 pm Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are attending an incident in Belfast city centre. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are attending an incident in Belfast city centre. Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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Whatsapp Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

"We praise the work of the firefighters on the scene who worked tirelessly to try and bring the blaze under control," Maryjane said.

"Its a tragic loss for the city of Belfast, and we offer our condolences.

"Belfast has a very strong community, and we have the utmost confidence that we will find ways to support those effected by the fire."

The Firefighters Charity supports current and ex-firefighters in a range of ways from injury rehabilitation to advice and support.

Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.Former Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has spoken of his personal sadness at having to step down from the position for health reasons in the midst of political instability.

He was speaking during a whistlestop visit to Londonderry yesterday where he met politicians to discuss a City Deal for the north west.

A City Deal is an agreement between the UK Government and a city which gives local areas specific powers and freedoms to help the region support economic growth, create jobs or invest in local projects.

It was Mr Brokenshire's first official visit to Northern Ireland since he stood down after a lung cancer diagnosis last January.

He is recovering well following surgery.

Now Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Governments, he said: "I feel very keenly the absence of devolved government, the absence of an Executive, and when I look back to the start of the year it is a personal sadness that I had to stand down because of my health, but I know the people of Northern Ireland want and need devolved government.

"I know the Secretary of State has been working with MLAs and discussing how we take this forward, but of course I know the anger and frustration that is there.

"It is why we do want to see a devolved government back in position.

"Actually, it does come down to what the Westminster Government can do and what the Irish Government can do, but ultimately it is about what politics is about here and how it absolutely remains this Government's policy to see locally elected politicians held accountable to the people. What the Secretary of State has done is take steps where it has been needed to provide that political direction and stability and certainty."

Among those who met with Mr Brokenshire was SDLP leader Colum Eastwood.

He described yesterday as "another positive step towards a City Deal".

Mr Eastwood said: "The united voice and vision behind the tireless advocacy for the deal is extremely encouraging and the SDLP will continue to work with all parties from across the political and civic spectrum to ensure that the deal is secured.

"Historically, the north west has been a victim of underinvestment and economic inactivity.

"The delivery of a City Deal will be transformational for Derry and therefore it is important that we keep up the momentum to securing this deal."

Mr Brokenshire said he was "very firmly" in support of a City Deal for Derry.

He added: "I absolutely recognise the way in which investment here in the north west could transform the city.

"I do want to see a City Deal coming to fruition because of the difference it can make to the lives of so many people and why this has been important for me to hear about progress, to hear about other issues we can support and getting that momentum and turning it into a reality."

Foyle Sinn Fein MP Elisha McCallion said the delivery of a City Deal must have the necessary economic benefits that meet the needs of the region.Calls have been made for a permanent rail connection between Londonderry and Dublin following the successful one-off service for the Pope's visit to Ireland.

Translink ran the six-carriage, 400-seater train that left Derry on August 26 for Connolly Station - only the third time in recent years the service has been available.

The Into the West railway lobby group has said there is no reason why Translink and Irish Rail could not make this service a permanent fixture.

However, Translink has argued there would be "limited demand" - which campaigners strongly refute.

Into the West member Jim McBride said: "We had to fight to save the rail line between Derry and Belfast after Translink said there was no demand - and last year there was a 40% increase in traffic since the introduction of the hourly service.

"Translink told us if an upgraded service was introduced there would be 25% increase in traffic in 25 years when the reality is there has been a 200% increase in traffic in five years.

"So I do not accept that there would be limited demand for a service between Derry and Dublin, because Into the West has proved time and time again, if the service is there, it will be used.

"This direct service last weekend meant that people leaving Derry arrived in Dublin in well under four hours, but currently anyone travelling from Derry hoping to go to Dublin has a wait of at least more than two hours for a connection."

Mr McBride said simple adjustments to the timetable would allow passengers arriving in Belfast from Derry to get a connection to Dublin.

"The first train leaving Derry in the morning arrives in Belfast at 8.15am, which is too late to catch the 8am Enterprise," he said. "So it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out a timetable adjustment, which would be easy for Translink to do, would accommodate passengers in Derry wishing to travel to Dublin.

"Ideally and what we have been campaigning for over the past 15 years, is a direct line where passengers would not need to get a connecting train in Belfast.

"It doesn't need additional infrastructure, unlike the A5. Translink have the trains, all you have to do is extend the hourly service so that when it gets to Belfast it continues on to Dublin.

"The line from Belfast to Dublin is double tracked throughout, so it is very easy to operate a more intensive service if they had the will - but Translink don't have the political will to upgrade the service."

A spokeswoman for Translink said: "We run hourly train services from Derry-Londonderry to Belfast, from where our customers can board the Enterprise to Dublin.

"Any change to the cross-border timetable would require significant alterations to the Irish Rail, Northern Corridor timetable, which is currently heavily congested.

"Based on current passenger figures, we believe there would be limited demand for a direct route from the North West to Dublin.

"Where there is significant demand for particular event trains, we are happy to give this due consideration."Controversial Belfast City Councillor Jolene Bunting is to face a hearing to determine whether she should be suspended from her role.

The Local Government Commissioner for Standards confirmed that a hearing would be held on Tuesday September 4.

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The hearing will determine whether Councillor Bunting should be suspended or partially suspended while investigations into 14 complaints about her conduct are completed.

Councillor Bunting is currently under investigation for breaches of the Northern Ireland Local Government Code of Conduct for Councillors.

She is being investigated for her behaviour towards other people, bringing the council into disrepute, her responsibility under equality legalisation, her use of councillor position and use of council resources.

Councillor Bunting was originally elected as TUV councillor for the Court ward but currently serves as an independent councillor.

She has attracted controversy due to her links to the far-right group Britain First, appearing with leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen at rallies in Belfast.

Golding and Fransen are currently being prosecuted over speeches delivered in Belfast.

Fransen caused a stir in January when she gave a speech from the Lord Mayor's Chair at Belfast City Hall, while on a tour of the facility with Councillor Bunting.

Following a falling out she is no longer associated with the extremist far-right group.

Councillor Bunting also faced criticism after a Tweet in May mentioning the Famine in Ireland featuring a cartoon frog meme popular amongst right-wing groups and trollls.Alliance leader Naomi Long has invited the Stormont parties to a meeting in a bid to kick-start talks next week aimed at restoring power-sharing.

The East Belfast MLA, who said she sent out letters to fellow party leaders last week, made the offer amid what she described as "growing frustration" at the ongoing political impasse.

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While there has been speculation over a new round of negotiations for the autumn, no date has been announced.

Mrs Long's invite comes as the DUP and Sinn Fein again blamed each other for the stalemate as Northern Ireland passed Belgium's milestone as the country that has gone the longest in peacetime without a government.

Expand Close Public take part in the We Deserve Better rally in Enniskillen / Facebook

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The DUP marked the occasion yesterday by unfurling a banner outside Stormont calling on Sinn Fein to end its "boycott" of the devolved administration.

"There is only one problem party and let's call it out - that's Sinn Fein," said DUP leader Arlene Foster, adding that she shared the public's frustrations.

"And they need to end their boycott here in Northern Ireland."

Mrs Foster also repeated her call for government to be restored while a parallel process to resolve outstanding issues is run.

Expand Close Public take part in the We Deserve Better rally in Portadown Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E / Facebook

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In response, Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy ruled out the twin track approach but stressed his party's commitment to power-sharing. He claimed the DUP had not been in contact with Sinn Fein for weeks, and engagement prior to that over the summer had been minimal.

It has consistently maintained that the DUP's blocking of "rights-based" issues - such as protections for Irish language speakers, the introduction of same-sex marriage and the release of additional funds for historic inquests on killings carried out by the security forces - were the major stumbling blocks to resolution.

"Those rights issues will continue to have to be addressed, they are still here, they are still part of the reason why this institution collapsed, they are going to have to be addressed," said the Newry and Armagh MLA.

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Mrs Long said the DUP's pointing of the finger of blame at Sinn Fein would not deter her from going ahead with the meeting, which is planned for next Monday.

"Despite the DUP's attempts to play down my invitation, and to look to put blame elsewhere, that party must accept the role it has played and continues to play in holding Northern Ireland to a standstill," she said.

"I hope to see Arlene Foster next Monday, allowing the DUP to prove through actions that they are dedicated to securing Northern Ireland's future and not just cheap political stunts."

Green leader Steven Agnew's attendance was confirmed last night by his party, although the UUP's Robin Swann cast doubts over the prospect of the meeting taking place.

"The UUP has been engaging with other parties for the last 18 months," he said.

"We are happy to meet other parties but we need all parties round the table and it is my understanding that Sinn Fein have already said they are not available next Monday or Tuesday."

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The SDLP was also asked if its leader Colum Eastwood had accepted the invite, but a response was not received.

Mrs Long made it clear that all of the parties were culpable.

"Ultimately, finding agreement lies primarily with local parties," she said.

"While there are still key issues which divide the parties, I hope the desire to better serve those who elected us represents a point of agreement on which we can start to build."The daughter of the late prominent loyalist Jackie Coulter is to contest criminal charges, which allege she sent an abusive message and misused a communications network.

Tracey Coulter (39) of Killyneill Court, Dungannon, is accused of sending a message or other matter that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character, specifically that a named male was a pathetic no good c*** and a disgusting human being.

The person referenced in the alleged message is understood to be a member of a marching band prosecuted for playing a loyalist song outside a Catholic church six years ago.

Dungannon Magistrates Court was told Coulter is alleged to have sent the message on 25 January.

A defence barrister advised Coulter is pleading not guilty to both charges.

District Judge John Meehan adjourned the case until next month when a date for a contested hearing will be allocated.

The accuseds father was a UDA chief when he was murdered by the UVF in 2000 during a loyalist feud.An Alliance councillor who went missing has thanked people from across the political divide who united in a search to find him.

David Armitage said he was overwhelmed by the positive response on social media to his mental ill health, which had "developed into a very serious situation".

The east Belfast councillor was found by a couple who had seen appeals online for his whereabouts.

In a Facebook post yesterday, he said: "I am still very ill, but in a lot better shape than I was last week.

"It has been said that I have managed to unite loyalists, republicans, unionists, nationalists, liberals, Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, LGBT, straight, members of the Orange Order, as well as people from north, south, east and west Belfast.

"Maybe when we put people before political ideology we will get results.

"Maybe we have started to create a more united community."

Alliance leader Naomi Long and her husband Michael, who is the leader of the Alliance group at Belfast City Hall, had appealed on social media for help to find Mr Armitage when he went missing on August 19.

Mrs Long tweeted: "We need to locate him urgently.

"The constituency office is open from 3.30pm, if you can help us search. If you see him, contact me."

Mr Armitage was located later that day.

Politicians and supporters of all Northern Ireland's political parties offered Alliance their help.

Mr Armitage, who represents the Titanic area, said: "A big thank you to all who went out and looked for me, or reposted alerts and sent messages of support.

"I still can't process the fact that so many people would spend time looking for me, or worrying about me and 'liking' me!"

He continued: "Thank you to the Alliance Party for coordinating the search, providing care, and for Michael and Naomi for meeting me and taking me to hospital."

He thanked the couple who found him and had contacted the Longs and "talked and stayed with me", as well as the PSNI and medical staff. "A massive thank you to East Belfast Survivors of Suicide who have been providing valuable support over a number of weeks," he added.

Mr Armitage last night received dozens of messages from people on social media praising his courage on speaking out on mental health issues and wishing him well.

The councillor had posted a worrying message on Facebook on August 19 which led his friends and political colleagues to be concerned about his well-being. Calls for information on his whereabouts were shared online by Sinn Fein, Ulster Unionist, Green and SDLP politicians, and by DUP leader Arlene Foster.

Mrs Long expressed her gratitude for the cross-party assistance and praised social media as "a life-saver".A Co Antrim student has been paid compensation after being refused funding for the final year of a catering course.

Lisburn man, Adam Smyth, who has a learning disability, received 2,000 in a settlement made by the Department for the Economy and South Eastern Regional College (SERC), without admission of liability.

Assisted by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Adam (22) issued proceedings in the County Court, alleging breaches of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

He argued that the Department and SERC had failed to make a reasonable adjustment to ensure he could receive funding for the completion of his course.

The two parties also faced breaches of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (NI) Order 2005.

SERC provides the catering skills programme, which is part of a Department for the Economy 'Training for Success' scheme.

Adam completed Level One of the course in 2015, but as a result of his disability, he took an extra year - three rather than two - to do so. To complete Level Two, he also needed two years, which would have meant exceeding by one year the departmental guidelines for funding.

When Adam's circumstances were explained to the Department by the college, they were told: "Unfortunately, an exception cannot be made; there are no extensions given."

Adam eventually completed the course successfully, but lost out on various benefits.

Adam, who won a gold medal for badminton at the Special Olympics Ireland National Games in June, works for Eurospar NI.

He said when the funding was refused for Level Two, Adam said he was very upset, "It seemed very unfair to me."

Thanks to financial support from his family, Adam was able to finish the course. "I need a job and my independence. I hope any other student will be encouraged to know they can challenge something they think is unfair," Adam said.

Dr Michael Wardlow, chief commissioner of the Equality Commission, said: "Under the Disability Discrimination Act, any provider of services has a duty to make adjustments where their practices, policies or procedures make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to access services.

"Adam had the time for his first course extended by one year, and his request for a similar extension to the second course was entirely reasonable.

"The refusal by the Department to make an adjustment to the funding arrangements left Adam with less funding and support."

The Equality Commission said the Department and SERC have since affirmed their commitment to equality of access to goods, facilities and services and affirmed they will ensure their policies, practices and procedures conform to all relevant equality legislation.

They have also undertaken to liaise with the Equality Commission to review the Skills to Succeed/Training for Success programmes.The family of a Northern Ireland man who died in Canada have thanked a charity for its "truly amazing" help in bringing his remains home.

Paul Ireland died suddenly in Ontario on August 15, but it took 12 days for his body to be flown back home to Belfast.

His grieving family, including parents Stephen and Janice, brother Andrew and sister Louise, have thanked the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust for its help in returning his remains on Monday.

Newry man Colin Bell established the charity in 2013 in memory of son Kevin, who died when he was hit by a car in New York.

Over the past five years the charity has assisted the families of nearly 500 individuals who died overseas, often suddenly or in tragic circumstances.

In a Facebook post Louise Ireland said yesterday that the trust had shown her grieving family "a kindness, an understanding and help that can never be underestimated".

She added: "After 12 very long days Paul is home. I would not be able to write that sentence if it wasn't for the help of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

"They have allowed us the space and time to come to terms with Paul's passing, and have taken complete control of bringing him back to us."

Paul moved to Ontario in 2009 on a one-year internship at Redwood Park Church in Thunder Bay but decided to stay on to work with a youth ministry team. Eight years later, after missions to Uganda and Peru, and a spell with the Church Group in Toronto, his work life took him back to Thunder Bay, this time as a police officer.

In her tribute, Louise described her brother as "compassionate" and someone whose "first thought was always of others".

She said: "He spent his life helping people in any way he could. You can see this very clearly in Paul's career path: nurse, counsellor, pastor, police officer. He volunteered in many different youth organisations and overseas ministry teams but he was a listening ear for anyone who needed to talk, at any time of the day or night.

"I am in no doubt that there are many lives that Paul not only had a huge impact on, but there are many lives he also saved."

The family have set up a My Donate page in Paul's memory and to raise money for the trust. Louise said the charity had given the family "much more than the practical side of bringing Paul home".

She added: "They have given us time together as a family to come to terms with losing Paul, time which otherwise would have been spent on separate computers and phones searching for information and trying to reach authorities in a different time zone, filling out relentless forms and being at a loss on how to get him home.

"They have given us time with the many people who have come to offer support to our family in any way they can, time to share stories of Paul's life and remind us of just how many lives he had an impact on.

"We will never be able to thank them properly or repay their kindness, but in Paul's honour, and with your support, we are determined to pay that kindness forward to others who will unfortunately find themselves in the same position as our family."

Paul's funeral service takes place tomorrow at Eglinton Presbyterian Church, Ballysillan Road, Belfast, at 10.45am, followed by committal in Roselawn Crematorium at 1pm.General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

General views of Primark Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre following a blaze that has gutted the store - August 29th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

A 45-metre exclusion zone remains in place around the site of the burnt-out Primark building in Belfast.

Efforts by firefighters to put out the last embers of the blaze continued on Wednesday morning.

A fire service spokesperson told the Belfast Telegraph structural engineers are currently at the scene, and it is too early to confirm whether the structure of the historic Bank Buildings will be maintained.

More than 100 firefighters were at the scene throughout the day on Tuesday, batting the flames that engulfed the five-storey building.

LIVE: Fire at Primark building in Belfast Read more: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/reports-of-explosions-at-belfast-primark-as-entire-building-ablaze-widespread-disruption-in-city-centre-37259658.html Posted by Belfast Telegraph on Tuesday, August 28, 2018

On Wednesday morning a Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said over 30 firefighters, five fire engines, a command support unit, and an aerial appliance remained at the scene of the incident on Castle Street.

The spokesperson said: There has been structural collapse within the building this morning and a 45-metre exclusion zone remains in place.

NIFRS continues to work closely with partner agencies to bring the incident to a conclusion and protect the safety of the public and our firefighters.

The blaze which devastated the historic five-storey Bank Buildings started on Tuesday morning, with staff evacuated at around 11am.

The cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.The use of Belfast bus lanes by taxis had been delayed due to the political stalemate at Stormont.

Most taxi drivers were set to be able to use bus lanes, including the new glider lanes, from next week as part of a twelve month trial scheme.

Read More

However the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) have said that the scheme had been delayed due to the lack of an Infrastructure Minister.

The scheme would have allowed Class A and private hire taxis to use the new lanes.

Wheelchair accessible and taxibus taxis will still be able to use the new bus lanes alongside bicycles, motorcycles and the emergency services.

The u-turn comes after a Court of Appeal ruling in July said that Stormont's civil servants did not have the power to make key decisions without the approval of a minister.

The ruling said that senior civil servant Peter May had acted above his power when he gave the go-ahead for a controversial waste incinerator in Mallusk, Co Antrim.

The ruling has effectively frozen the decision making powers of civil servants at Stormont as Northern Ireland approaches 600 days without a government.

"The recent Buick judicial review judgement clarified the position regarding the decisions civil servants can and cannot take in the absence of ministers," a DfI spokesperson told the BBC.

"It is that judgement which has led the department to defer the decision on the introduction of this experimental scheme.

"The outcome of the recent consultation and the rationale for an experimental scheme will be put to an incoming minister for infrastructure."

Strangford MLA Kellie Armstrong said that the decision was inevitable.

If the private taxi industry are frustrated they should look to DUP and Sinn Fein as to the reason why we have no decision-making process. While this impasse continues, difficult decisions will be shelved," the Alliance Party MLA said.

Yet while the reasons behind this decision are frustrating, it will pave the way for a better comparison in the long run. By the time any pilot scheme gets up and running, the new glider vehicles will have had single use of the bus lanes for some months  making it easier to assess the success or weaknesses of any later pilot scheme.

Northern Ireland is behind the times when it comes to public transport and despite recent issues in the Titanic Quarter, the glider offers an opportunity to modernise and keep up with other towns and cities across Europe. I hope everyone who has the opportunity will make the best use of the new facilities over the coming months.Sinn Fein have called for the Irish government to boycott the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest because it is taking place in Israel.

South Down MLA Sinead Ennis MLA said the boycott would be an opportunity to shine the spotlight on "the slaughter" of the Palestinians.

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However DUP MP Sammy Wilson said that Sinn Fein would be better suited to turning their attentions to their triple boycott of the Executive, the Assembly and Westminster.

The East Antrim MP said it was "making your mind up time" for Sinn Fein - a reference to the United Kingdom's 1981 Eurovision winner by Buck's Fizz - and warned that if they did not end their boycott soon "decisions will be taken elsewhere".

Not content with their boycott and abdication of their responsibilities in the Assembly and Westminster, theyre now turning to the Eurovision Song Contest! Better to focus on Health, Education, Job creation etc. Not narrow republican agendas! https://t.co/QvF035xLRU  Gary Middleton MLA (@Gary_Middleton) August 29, 2018

Israel will play host to the 2019 contest after winning the 2018 event in Lisbon.

Mrs Ennis said that the event should not be taking place in Israel due to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

In recent years, increasing numbers of major sporting, cultural and music figures have joined calls from the internal Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, not to perform in Israel," she said.

As someone who has a great love of the competition, I am disappointed. The arts, music and indeed sport have a key role to play in sending a strong message internationally in rejection of the brutality carried out against Palestinians by Israeli state forces.

The Irish government have an opportunity shine the light on the murder of Palestinians by boycotting the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.A teenager who knocked another woman out before biting into the arms of police officers during a "deranged" attack in Belfast city centre has been jailed for eight months.

Courtney McCann kicked and punched the victim as she lay unconscious during the random assault at Callender Street in May 2017.

Belfast Magistrates' Court heard the 19-year-old heroin addict also bit and spat bloodied saliva in the face of policemen at the scene.

One officer had to undergo two courses of antibiotic treatment for his injuries.

In a separate incident McCann, of The Mount in Belfast, also lashed out at PSNI representatives amid a mass brawl in the north of the city earlier this month.

She pleaded guilty to a total of six assaults on police, two counts of disorderly behaviour, three assaults occasioning actual bodily harm, and resisting arrest.

A prosecution lawyer said McCann ran up to the woman on Callender Street, knocking her out with kicks and punches.

Further blows were inflicted on the ground before the victim was treated by ambulance staff and taken to hospital.

Amid attempts to detain McCann she bit and broke skin on the arms of two officers, as well as dragging her nails on the hand of a third.

"She spat in the face of an officer, with blood in the saliva," the prosecutor said.

McCann was also dealt with for a violent outburst on the New Lodge Road on August 10 this year.

As disturbances broke out in the area, she was seen interfering with attempts to give first aid to a man.

Despite being asked to calm down, she shouted abuse at police, kicked one officer in the leg and another in the groin.

Further attempts were made to bite and spit on PSNI constables during that incident.

Defence barrister Michael Boyd said: "It's difficult to reconcile this deranged behaviour, which is the only way to describe the outline of the facts, with the placid girl at the back of the court."

He described his client's behaviour as a "damning indictment" of the extent of her drug problems.

"She can remember virtually nothing of the incidents, which shows the extent to which she was under the influence of substances," Mr Boyd added.

"She has had terrible problems, particularly with heroin, which has wiped out the last few years of her life."

Imprisoning McCann for eight months, District Judge Fiona Bagnall cited her history of violence and the seriousness of the offences before the court.

Mrs Bagnall stressed: "There was a random attack on a member of the public who was put down on the ground and kicked - that can only have one outcome."Tesco spokesman Darren Mallon said they were delighted to host the first Rapid Bins in Mid Ulster (stock picture)

Three drugs disposal bins have been installed in the Tesco stores in Cookstown, Dungannon and Magherafelt as part of an initiative to remove illegal and prescription drugs from our streets.

RAPID (Remove All Prescription and Illegal Drugs) is a community safety initiative between Mid Ulster Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP), PSNI, PHA, the Drug and Alcohol Co-ordination Teams, Start 360 and Tesco.

The initiative is designed to promote the removal of all prescription medication, illegal drugs and new psychoactive substances from the community.

The service is completely anonymous and anyone can use the bins to safely dispose of unused or out of date medicines and illegal drugs.

The disposal bin will be emptied regularly and the drugs destroyed. No personal details are collected.

PSNI Sergeant JP McCartan said: "The introduction of these drugs disposal bins provides an effective way for drugs and harmful substances to be removed from our community.

"Anyone, whether they be parents, grandparents, siblings or family members, can dispose of items which they believe have the potential to cause harm.

"By working together, we are giving a clear indication that we do not want drugs on our streets. This initiative provides a real opportunity to reduce the availability of drugs and criminal activity often associated with drug use."

Mid Ulster PCSP chair Denise Mullen said: "We are delighted with the installation of these bins in our three Mid Ulster Tesco stores and are very grateful to Tesco for agreeing to host them.

"I urge the community to make use of these bins. You are legally protected from any investigation or prosecutions. All we want is to have prescribed and illegal drugs disposed of safely."

Lucinda McGinnis, from support service Start 360, said: "We are all aware of the dangers of illegal drugs and the effects these have in communities, but prescribed drugs can be equally as dangerous in the wrong hands or if taken with other substances.

"By allowing the public to dispose of prescription and illegal drugs in these accessible bins, we hope to substantially reduce the amount of drugs available on our streets."

Tesco spokesman Darren Mallon said they were delighted to host the first Rapid Bins in Mid Ulster and "are proud to work in partnership with our local community and statutory organisations to help take drugs, whether they are illegal or unwanted prescription drugs, off our streets".Two men have been arrested.

Two men have been arrested after threatening a man with a knife outside a business premises in Belfast on Wednesday evening.

They were arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and common assault after it was reported that two men armed with knives threatened a man in the Antrim Road area.

The pair aged 35 years and 26 remain in police custody following the incident.Dee Stitt is due to appear in court today charged with possessing a stun gun

UDA leader Dee Stitt is due to appear in Newtownards Magistrates Court on Friday charged with possessing a stun gun.

The Taser-style weapon was allegedly found during searches of the 47-year-old loyalist's Lord Wardens Court home in Bangor by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force.

Officers from the elite PSNI unit raided the ex-prisoner's house on March 29 as part of an investigation into drug dealing and criminality.

In a statement released at the time, a police spokesman said: "Officers from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force carried out three searches under the Misuse of Drugs Act in residential properties in Lord Wardens Court and a commercial property on the Rathgael Road area of Bangor.

"This operation was directed against North Down UDA.

"A small amount of class B drugs, a computer hard drive, mobile phones and a taser stun gun have been recovered."

A furious Stitt later took to social media to deny any wrongdoing.

He claimed that the PSNI had "hit" his home but "got nothing only my families (sic) mobiles and kids' iPads".

He said no drugs or guns were found and his "trial by media" continued. "I stand to defend my name and family. I can do no other," he added.

The prosecution has again called into question Stitt's position as chief executive of the Charter NI charity, which has responsibility for managing a 1.7m government Social Investment Fund (SIF) spend in east Belfast.

It is understood that the charge of possessing a prohibited weapon carries a maximum Crown Court sentence of four years in prison.

Stitt was previously suspended by Charter NI in 2016 after being recorded by The Guardian newspaper launching into a foul-mouthed rant about the government, for which he later apologised.

At the time the SDLP called for him to be sacked, and the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson said: "I would not have him as my chief executive in light of these comments."

Stitt is also facing internal moves to oust him from his position in the UDA, as is the terror gang's east Belfast 'brigadier' and Stitt's close ally Jimmy Birch.

The coup is being led by ex-UDA life sentence prisoner Davy McMaster, who has the support of four of the East Belfast UDA's six 'battalions'.

They see Stitt as being vulnerable because of the huge pressure he has been put under by the police probe into the activities of his North Down UDA gang, recently described as criminals by Chief Constable George Hamilton.Former SDLP councillor Brian Duffin was convicted and sentenced at Antrim Courthouse earlier this month / Credit: Photopress

Northern Ireland's local government watchdog is investigating a complaint against a former SDLP councillor who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl.

Earlier this month 73-year-old Brian Duffin was given a four-month sentence for assaulting the teenager in her own home in June 2016.

Following an application from his defence counsel Duffin was freed on 500 bail pending an appeal of the sentence and conviction.

The Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards said it had received a complaint that "a councillor from Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has breached the Councillor's Code of Conduct".

It said the complaint is under review.

Duffin was originally co-opted onto the previous Antrim council, before being elected to the newly-formed Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in 2014.

He left the SDLP in February of this year ahead of the judgement in his case, and currently sits as an independent.

Duffin attended his first meeting of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council since his conviction on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has said Duffin is not disqualified from being a councillor and it would review the matter following the outcome of his appeal.Minister Simon Harris rejected allegations the Government is out of touch over the housing crisis, as another derelict property was occupied by activists in Dublin.

The property at 34 North Frederick Street had been occupied by protesters for almost two weeks, when an injunction was passed on Tuesday against the occupiers, and came into effect on Wednesday at 1:30pm.

A rally to defend the occupation was held on Wednesday afternoon with over 50 people attending.

Everyone bunched up in front of North Frederick Street building now. Deadline is now. No sign of anything resembling a locksmith or security pic.twitter.com/W0pAScS86F  Cianan Brennan (@ciananbrennan) August 29, 2018

Inside the building, activists wore masks of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphys faces, while a banner read: 10,000 welcomes from 10,000 homeless.

The banner referenced the fact that Julys homelessness figures, to be published by the Government this week, may top 10,000 for the first time since records began.

Although Gardai did attend the property, the occupants had not been moved by Wednesday afternoon.

Organisers say they want: To continue to highlight the causes of this crisis, one of which is land hoarding and speculation by private owners.

This is the second occupation of its kind this month, as activists took over a property in Dublins Summerhill Parade in early August.

Huge crowd building here already but we need more! 34 north Frederick street, pop down if you can #takebackthecity pic.twitter.com/ZrNd8dtoev  Naoise Falafel (@naoisefalafel) August 29, 2018

On Wednesday, Minister for Health Mr Harris denied the allegations that the Government was out of touch with those directly effected by the crisis.

Its not true, we need to be judged on actions we are taking, Minister Murphy is working extraordinarily hard to roll out a major programme of social housing building.

Its interesting that it has been somewhat airbrushed that one of the deepest scars from the recession is the housing crisis.

We had a situation where previous governments ran the Irish government on economy on the back of property revenue.

We had a situation where we had an over supply or houses, ghost estates and bad planning, and then a complete drought when it came to housing production.

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Im very clear both as a constituency TD and as a member of government, we need to get back into real substantial programme of building social housing.

I know people right across country, and family members who grew up in their council home, had an opportunity to buy their house and embed themselves in their community.

Thats what we need to get back to.

In recent years because of lack of supply, weve seen the private rental market sector being used, and its appropriate that its used in the short term, but we need a major programme of house building.

Local authorities have been set very ambitious targets for building social housing and we need them to come on stream as quick as possible.

There is no doubt that there is a very major housing crisis, Minister Murphy has said that on a number of occasions and the Government is doing anything and everything it can do to increase supply.

That is the key to solving this situation, and learning from past mistakes.Jastine Valdez was abducted and murdered by Mark Hennessy (Garda Press Office/PA)

The parents of a student murdered in Ireland have said the pain of losing their daughter has not been eased by knowing her killer is dead.

Jastine Valdez was abducted and strangled in an apparently random attack in Co Wicklow earlier this year.

The 24-year-old had been walking to the home she shared with her parents in Enniskerry on May 19 when she was kidnapped and murdered by Mark Hennessy.

It didn't ease the pain at all, it didn't matter. Jastine was gone

He was shot dead following an interaction with gardai at Cherrywood Business Park in south Dublin a little over 24 hours after Ms Valdez went missing.

Ms Valdezs body was discovered in thick undergrowth in the Pucks Castle area of Co Dublin.

The accountancy student, originally from the Philippines, lived in Enniskerry in Wicklow while Mr Hennessy, 40, lived with his partner and two children in nearby Bray.

Teresito and Danilo Valdez said knowing Jastines killer was no longer alive did not give them any solace.

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It didnt help, it didnt ease the pain, said Teresito Valdez.

We didnt like that he was killed. It didnt change anything when we found out that he was killed.

It didnt ease the pain at all, it didnt matter. Jastine was gone.

The couple moved to Ireland from the Philippines in 2001 to help provide for their daughter. Ms Valdez, who was seven at the time, was raised by her grandmother until the Valdezs could afford for their daughter to join them in 2015.

We wanted to know more about why he did such a terrible thing

Mr and Mrs Valdez told RTEs Today With Miriam programme that they were sad that Mr Hennessy had been killed.

They said his death had left them with many unanswered questions.

We were quite disappointed that he was killed quite quickly, Mr Valdez said.

There are a lot of questions in our mind. We wanted to know more about why he did such a terrible thing.

The couple thanked the Irish people for all the help they received since Jastines death.

A Go Fund Me page was set up after Jastines death to help cover the cost of repatriating her body back to her native Philippines.

Jastines parents brought her home for a traditional wake and funeral, which lasted a month.

The fund raised a total of 140,000 euro, far surpassing the original target of 10,000 euro.

Jastines parents have now returned to Ireland and are looking for work and a new home.

Mrs Valdez said she is searching for work but her husband said he was not yet able to return to work because he is too distraught.

The couple are living in someone elses home but they hope to find their own home soon.

Irelands police watchdog, the Garda Siochana Ombudsmans Commission, is investigating the incident that led to Hennessy being shot dead.A 5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the main suspect in a mother and daughters killing  as police said they did their absolute best to prevent the attack.

West Midlands Police and Crimestoppers are offering the reward for information leading to the detention of 21-year-old shop worker Janbaz Tarin.

He is currently wanted by the countrys second largest police force in connection with a deadly knife attack which claimed the lives of his ex-partner Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49.

The pair were found fatally wounded at Ms Saleems home in Northdown Road, Solihull, just after 12.30am on Bank Holiday Monday.

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A knife, which officers believe to be the murder weapon, has been recovered and a van thought to have been used by Mr Tarin is undergoing forensic analysis.

It comes as further details were released by police regarding Ms Oudehs previous contact with police on the night of the attack, and before, as a domestic abuse complainant.

The force revealed on Wednesday that its officers were at the scene within six minutes, when it became clear in Ms Oudehs final 999 call that the women were being attacked at home.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, head of force CID, said: Unfortunately we cant always be everywhere and on the night in question we did our absolute best, but we werent able to get there in time to prevent a double murder.

All previous contact between the victim and police has now been self-referred by the force to investigators at the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

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Ms Oudeh had a two-year-old child  though Mr Tarin is not the father  and her mother had six children, with both victims originally from Syria.

Mr Payne said Ms Oudeh had made a series of phone calls to police on Sunday and into the following evening.

He added: The first call that was made we responded to.

We went to the location where we believed she was, but unfortunately shed moved on from there.

We then had a series of conversations with her, lastly the final conversation.

We responded immediately to that but tragically we werent able to get there in time.

Charting the emerging chain of events leading to the deadly attack, Mr Payne said there was a sequence of calls between Ms Oudeh and police in the preceding hours.

Officers responded to the first call but by the time they arrived Ms Oudeh had moved to another location.

He added: That is why the IOPC are going to have a look at (it), theres no complexity to this, we went to where we thought she was, she then called us again and then we had a further conversation, but she then moved on again.

We then had a further conversation (with her).

What we dont know, and what were looking at, is the exact number of phone calls.

Its a bit of a confusing picture but what we are able to say is as soon as we realised that Mr Tarin was in the same place as she was, we responded immediately.

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Police believe Ms Oudeh kept moving to try to get to a place of safety.

Mr Payne added that as it was a bank holiday, there were lots of calls coming in, but that it was the right thing to do to respond to the first call, made by Ms Oudeh on Sunday.

The force had in the past logged and responded to calls from Ms Oudeh and visited the couple, with Mr Payne saying her relationship with Mr Tarin had a footprint in domestic abuse.

We did the appropriate thing in the circumstances, he said.

Im as satisfied as I can be we did the right thing.

He added: We were working with her to keep her as safe as we could.

Unfortunately, we cant always be everywhere and on the night in question we did our absolute best, but we werent able to get there in time to prevent a double murder.

Mr Payne said: The IOPC  thats their job, whether to look at whether we did the right thing.

Our job is to investigate the murder.

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Officers believe Mr Tarin, an Afghan national who had been in the country legally since Christmas Day 2012, is laying low in the West Midlands.

Offering the reward, they had a warning for anyone shielding the suspect, and again directly appealed for Mr Tarin to hand himself in for questioning.

Mr Payne said: We are now working with Crimestoppers to offer the 5,000 reward to anybody who might be able to help us locate Mr Tarin.

I want to appeal to Mr Tarin directly  if youre watching this we will find you, we will arrest you.

Make it easy on yourself and come and talk to us.

To anyone who might be harbouring or assisting Mr Tarin, again, we will find you. Dont get yourself in trouble, ring us.

The public has been advised not to approach Mr Tarin and to call 999.Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has said he is confident that a deal is within our sights while appearing before peers to discuss progress of the Governments negotiations to leave the EU.

Mr Raab answered questions for almost two hours from members of the Lords EU Committee in Parliament over the UKs exit from the European Union.

The Cabinet minister said he had quickly established a good professional and personal rapport with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier. But he later hinted the timing of the Brexit talks this autumn may change.

Mr Barnier told reporters in Berlin after a meeting with German foreign minister Heiko Maas: We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country.

Addressing peers, Mr Raab said he would be in Brussels tomorrow ahead of meetings on Friday, adding: Im confident that a deal is within our sights. Were bringing ambition, pragmatism, energy and if, and I expect it will be, and if it is matched, we get a deal.

He added: I think it is important as we enter the final phase of the negotiations in the lead up to the October council and the possibility that it may creep beyond that, we want to see some renewed energy.

Were bringing the ambition and the substance of our white paper on the future relationship and also I think some pragmatism to try and go the extra mile to get the deal that I think is in both sides interests. We need that to be matched obviously, its a negotiation.

We dont beg and I certainly dont begBrexit Secretary Dominic Raab

Mr Raab struck a bullish tone during his exchanges with peers, who aired their concerns and sought greater detail on issues including the Northern Ireland border issue, the proposed new facilitated customs arrangement, the current state of talks, plus preparations for a no-deal scenario.

Labour peer Lord Liddle said: Were begging for this, because without it we know we will suffer grave industrial consequences.

Mr Raab responded: Thats hyperbole. We dont beg and I certainly dont beg.

The Brexit Secretary also hinted that on the financial settlement, a no-deal scenario could affect arrangements over payments to the EU.

After a mobile phone sounded in the committee room, Mr Raab joked: Its probably someone from Brussels trying to check in on the money.

He added: The financial settlement, as its calibrated in the withdrawal agreement, reflects a whole range of considerations not just the strict legal obligations and if we left with no deal then not only would there be a question around quite what the shape of those financial obligations were as a matter of strict law, but secondly on the timing.

Remember that the timing of payments is actually  we overlook it on our side  rather important on the EU side because of the way money is distributed, but I dont think it could be safely assumed on anyones side that the financial settlement as has been agreed by the withdrawal agreement would then just be paid in precisely the same shape or speed or rate if there was no deal.

As I said that would be a peculiar position for the UK to take because we view the package as a whole.

We're not going to see a customs border drawn down the Irish SeaBrexit Secretary Dominic Raab

On a possible no deal scenario, Mr Raab said: It wouldnt be a walk in the park but it wouldnt be the end of the world My focus as I hope you will see is that overridingly on intensifying the negotiations because we want a strong deal, because we want a good outcome.So really with the no deal scenario as difficult as it is to anticipate what precisely could be the trigger for it theres a range of possibilities and well be ready for all of them.

Mr Raab would not be drawn on the percentage risk of a no deal, but he added: Im stubbornly optimistic.

Speaking about the Northern Ireland border, Mr Raab said: What I can say is were both committed to a solution and there is a lot of interesting, innovative technical work to make sure we resolve it.

He added: Were not going to see a customs border drawn down the Irish Sea.

Were not going to do anything which would imperil the Belfast Agreement. We want to make sure, in a positive sense, that the solution works for the communities on both sides.

Mr Raab expressed confidence in the City post-Brexit, adding: I think ultimately if we ended up with some of the worst case scenario outcomes that some people have suggested, so that the EU would take this as an opportunity and, by the way I dont believe this, to try and either hive-off large areas of the work thats done in London or punish the City, I think the only winners would be the other global centres in the top 10 like Tokyo and New York.

Responding to Mr Barniers comments, a Government spokesman said: Both the UK and the EU are committed to reaching the best deal possible for both sides.

We have put forward our proposals for this deal in our white paper and we stand ready to work at pace with the EU over the coming weeks.Handout photo dated 04/08/18 issued by Lewis Pugh Foundation of endurance swimmer and United NationOs Patron of the Oceans, Lewis Pugh collecting plastic pollution near Bill of Portland during The Long Swim campaign. Mr Pugh is due to complete his swim of the length of the English Channel next week at Lands End.

Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh is set to complete his 330-mile swim along the length of the English Channel as he urged the Government to better protect UK waters.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove will welcome the British swimmer to Dover, Kent, on Wednesday after a gruelling seven week-long swim.

Mr Pughs The Long Swim will come to an end at Shakespeare Beach after he set off from Lands End in Cornwall in swimming trunks, cap and goggles on July 12.

With the end in sight, Mr Pugh on Tuesday encouraged his supporters to join him at the finish line as he tweeted: Swam last night. Swimming today. Dover tomorrow!! Please join me at Shakespeare Beach at 1:30pm for the end. #TheLongSwim.

His campaign, which he anticipated would be his toughest swim yet, aims to highlight plastic waste entering the seas.

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Mr Pugh, who has been swimming the worlds oceans for three decades, has been covering 10km to 20km (six to 12 miles) per day.

The environmental campaigner and UN Patron of the Oceans also took part in beach cleans along his journey, organised by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Swam last night. Swimming today. Dover tomorrow!! Please join me at Shakespeare Beach at 1:30pm for the end. #TheLongSwim pic.twitter.com/NxVtgAR4LS  Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) August 28, 2018

Before setting off, he warned of a shocking figure which said just seven square kilometres of 750,000 of UK coastal waters were fully protected.

He earlier told the Press Association: My message is going to be very, very simple: our oceans are in crisis.

Unless we take real, serious action now, its very difficult for me to see how they can recover.

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Its not something you can keep putting off and putting off and putting off. Weve done that for too long.

His swim has been observed and verified by the Channel Swimming Association.Anne Rendall has taken more than 11,000 flights in her 30 years as a mobile banker (Orkney Photographic/PA)

A woman known as the Flying Banker has been honoured after 30 years of serving remote customers  a job which has seen her notch up 11,000 flights.

Every week Anne Rendall island-hops across Orkney to open local Royal Bank of Scotland branches for customers there.

Ms Rendall, who has been presented with an award by airline Loganair, says the views on her daily commute never get old, even after three decades.

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Every Monday the bank worker heads from her base on the capital Kirkwall to Longhope on the island of Hoy by ferry.

On Tuesday she flies from Kirkwall Airport to Stronsay, Westray on Wednesday and Sanday on Thursday, before finishing off the week in Stromness.

She also visits Papa Westray and North Ronaldsay once a month.

The 59-year-old said: Every day is different and the views on my daily commute never get old. I regularly meet tourists on board who are quite surprised that I get to experience the journey every week.

During a ceremony at Kirkwall Airport, Loganair pilot Colin McAllister presented Ms Rendall with an award commemorating her many flights on board the eight-seater Britten Norman Islanders which link Orkneys islands.

Shes definitely one of our most loyal customers and feels like part of the teamColin McAllister, Loganair pilot

The 1.7-mile hop between Westray and Papa Westray is the worlds shortest scheduled airline service, officially taking two minutes but often lasting less than a minute.

Mr McAllister said: Its been a pleasure to fly Anne to work each week and Id like to congratulate her on 30 years as Orkneys Flying Banker  shes definitely one of our most loyal customers and feels like part of the team.

While the Inter-Isles service is famed for the worlds shortest scheduled airline service and is visited by thousands of tourists each year, it is also an essential part of life for the people of Orkney, which is demonstrated through Annes 30 years on the service.

Ms Rendall, who serves between 40 and 50 customers each day, is only RBSs second flying banker.

The service was launched in 1969 by Mary Muir, who did the job for almost 20 years before handing over the reins in 1988.Supporters of Somer and Areeb Umeed with the teenage brothers and the petition hoping to save them from deportation to Pakistan (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Dozens of school friends joined two teenager brothers to hand in an 85,000-signature petition to the Home Office to prevent their deportation to Pakistan.

Somer Umeed Bakhsh, 15, and his brother Areeb, 13, have lived in Glasgow with their parents Maqsood and Parveen since their family fled Pakistan in 2012 when their father was subjected to death threats due to his Christian faith.

The UK Government has repeatedly rejected the familys plea for asylum, largely because officials do not believe they would be at risk in Pakistan where blasphemy carries the death penalty.

Almost 85,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Home Office not to deport the family, who are being supported by the Church of Scotland.

Somer, who wants to be an astrophysicist, recently got six As and a B in his National 5 exams at Springburn Academy in Glasgow.

Dozens of pupils from the school joined the boys at the Home Office depot in Glasgow on Wednesday to show their support for the petition.

Some carried homemade banners reading We stand with Somer and Areeb and Hear our voices we are future of Scotland.

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Somer said: Its very nice to see so many people actually supporting us and it shows how much they care.

Areeb said: I think this will change things because you cant ignore 85,000 people.

All these people are Scottish and they clearly want us to stay here so you cant ignore them.

MP Paul Sweeney and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Rev Susan Brown handed over the petition with Possilpark Parish Church members also in attendance to show their support to the family.

The boys father said they would not be safe if forced to return to Pakistan.

Mr Bakhsh, 50, said: For Christians in my country you face discrimination and uncertainty. We were threatened by different extremist groups and I didnt want my children to stay there where that threat is always hanging above so I applied for asylum.

We lived in 14 cities in two years before coming here. The Home Office say there are safe places in Pakistan but I have lived it and I know we would not be safe. They are reading about it in books or whatever but I have the primary information and we cannot live there.

Family and friends have been targeted wherever they have been.

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Whatsapp MP Paul Sweeney handed over the petition with Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Susan Brown (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Rev Brown said: They have had the odds stacked against them for more than six years but despite all that they have played a full part in the life of the local church and community.

People are here because they are such a lovely family and despite not having very much at all because they are in the asylum process, they have given so much to their community and thats reflected in the number of folks who have turned up today.

Mr Sweeney called on the Home Office to review the asylum process.

It would seem really cruel to dispatch them to a country where not only would they face persecution for their religious beliefs but its also an entirely foreign country to them now, the boys have been here for their formative years, the Labour MP said.

Fundamentally there needs to be an element of compassion put back into the Home Office processes.

The asylum process is taking way too long and its also putting the onus on individuals to prove that they have been persecuted when often the capacity to provide evidence is very difficult because they have just fled the country with the clothes of their back.

I think the Home Office needs to take a more cooperative and compassionate view of the circumstances that people have fled to this country in and give people better support to make their cases.

Bob Doris, MSP for Maryhill and Springburn, who has also taken up the familys case with the Home Office, said: The backing given to Somer, Areeb and their parents has been both emphatic and heart-warming.

The family would face both great distress and be in danger if returned to Pakistan and it would also be a loss to Scotland.

With this petition in defence of Somer and Areeb the UK has the opportunity to do the right thing and start to gain some credibility on asylum policy.

A Home Office spokesman said: The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and every case is assessed on its individual merits.Shanghai (Gasgoo)- EV startup Faraday Future (FF) announced that its first pre-production FF91 has rolled off the production line in Hanford, California, around a month after FF91s first body in white was revealed.

This is a crucial step for Faraday Future (FF) towards its long-expected vehicle volume production. FF revealed that it will host a ceremony in Hanford plant next month, which is expected to be the celebration for the beginning of FF 91s mass production. Besides, the automaker will officially deliver cars to customers in 2019.

In January 2017, FF unveiled the FF 91 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, catching the eye of visitors by virtue of its superior parameters. The company announced one year later that it had received reservations via website exceeding 64,000 FF 91 cars. After that, FF and its major shareholder Jia Yueting were trapped in the storied capital plight, with the plant construction and delivery plan being delayed until Evergrande Group injected capital in FF.

Evergrande Health Industry Group Limited (Evergrande Health) announced on June 25 that the company has acquired 100% stake in the Hongkong-based Season Smart Limited (hereinafter referred to as Season Smart) with an investment of HK$6.746 billion. At the same time, the subsidiary of Evergrande Group has indirectly obtained 45% stake in Smart King Ltd, a joint venture (JV) between Season Smart and the EV startup Faraday Future, which signified that the real estate giant has formally become one of FF's investors.

On August 14, Evergrande Health claimed that FF has set up its operating headquarters in China on the same day.

According to the announcement, FF plans to build five R&D and production bases in China over the next decade. Besides, the NEV maker aims to achieve a planned annual capacity of 5 million vehicles after 10 years and will roll out diverse models, such as the FF91 and the FF81, covering premium to entry-level segments for the global auto market, to build an internet-based intelligent mobility ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Evergrande Health said the first FF91 body-in-white has arrived FF's assembly facility in Hanford, California, where the complete vehicle assembly has officially started. Besides, the company is simultaneously conducting various tests, including the engineering test, to ensure the completion of its first batch of FF91 volume vehicles by first quarter next year.Labour is facing a fresh storm over allegations of anti-Semitism at the top of the party after former chief rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks compared Jeremy Corbyns comments on Zionists with Enoch Powells inflammatory rivers of blood speech.

Lord Sacks scathing remarks, in which he branded Mr Corbyn an anti-Semite who supported racists, terrorists, and dealers of hate drew an angry response from Labour.

Condemnation of the Leader of the Opposition by the crossbench peer, who served as chief rabbi between 19912013, comes just a week before Labours ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) again considers its code of conduct on anti-Semitism.

Labour hit back at the comments by branding them absurd and offensive.

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Lord Sacks remarks came after footage from 2013 emerged of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian.

Mr Corbyn said: They clearly have two problems.

One is they dont want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all of their lives, they dont understand English irony either.

Lord Sacks told the New Statesman: The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powells 1968 rivers of blood speech.

It was divisive, hateful and like Powells speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.

We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions.

He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.

Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majestys OppositionLord Sacks

When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.

When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.

This is low, dishonest and dangerous.

He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.

Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majestys Opposition.

That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr Corbyn and those who support him.

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A Labour Party spokesperson said: This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.

Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense, not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.

Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.

The Labour leader has previously said that his remarks had been defending the ambassador from what I thought were deliberate misrepresentations by people for whom English was a first language, when it isnt for the ambassador.A man has been arrested after a fire at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Sheriff Brae, Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)

A man has been arrested after the doors to a Sikh temple were set alight in a suspected arson attack.

The fire at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Sheriff Brae, Edinburgh, caused significant smoke damage.

Police and fire crews were called to the temple at around 5am on Tuesday.

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A Police Scotland statement said: Police in Edinburgh have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of their investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August.

Inquiries into this incident are continuing.

Members of the Sikh community condemned the suspected attack, and Scotlands Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he was saddened by the incident.

The Gurdwara, situated in a former church, is the only Sikh centre in the Scottish capital, serving a community of more than 500 people.A man has been arrested after the doors to a Sikh temple were set alight in a deliberate attack.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Edinburgh suffered smoke damage in Tuesdays incident.

We have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of our investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August. Inquiries into this incident are continuing. pic.twitter.com/kUE82w0J47  EdinburghPolice (@EdinburghPolice) August 29, 2018

Police and fire crews were called to the temple in Sheriff Brae at around 5am. No-one was injured.

A Police Scotland statement said: Police in Edinburgh have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of their investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August.

Inquiries into this incident are continuing.

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Members of the Sikh community condemned the suspected attack, and Scotlands Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he was saddened by the incident.

The gurdwara, situated in a former church, is the only Sikh centre in the Scottish capital, serving a community of more than 500 people.NHS figures have shown an increase in patients waiting six weeks or more for crucial diagnostic tests (Lynne Cameron/PA)

The number of patients waiting more than the target time of six weeks for key diagnostic tests has increased by almost 300% in the last two years, new figures have revealed.

As of June 30 this year, official NHS statistics showed 87,482 patients needed to have one of eight key diagnostic tests and investigations  with 18,644 of them having been waiting six weeks or more.

That compares to the 4,750 patients who had to wait longer than the Scottish Governments target in June 2016  an increase of 292.5%.

Cancer Research UK branded the increasing number of people waiting for tests as deeply concerning, with Labour blaming the NHS staffing crisis for the rise.

Performance has gone from a high of 92.2% of patients waiting within the six weeks standard at 30 June 2016, to 78.7% at 30 June 2018NHS Scotland Information Services Division

The figures were released at the same time as data showed the number of people waiting more than 12 weeks for inpatient or day hospital treatment reachers 18,338 in the three months to the end of June  the highest total ever since the Scottish Governments Treatment Time Guarantee was introduced in October 2012.

NHS statistics also revealed the 18-week Referral To Treatment time standard has not been met since June 2014.

Longer waits for an endoscopy  where a tiny camera on a long, thin, flexiblee tube is passed into the body  were blamed for the poor performance on waiting times for diagnostic tests, with only 56.6% of people waiting for one of these having the test within six weeks in June 2018, compared to 64.3% at the same time last year.

Gregor McNie, Cancer Research UKs head of external affairs, said: These statistics suggest that the NHS in Scotland does not have enough staff to be as effective as possible in diagnosing cancer.

This situation is deeply concerning, particularly as demand for tests is only going to grow due to an aging population and efforts to diagnose more people at an early stage.

Its vital patients receive the right tests and results in good time. Its crucial there are enough imaging, endoscopy and pathology staff working to deliver tests.

He added an endoscopy action plan, brought in by the Scottish Government, was a good start but stressed that much more needs to be done to tackle all shortages, both in the near future and the long term.

Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar also demanded action, saying: Performance for key clinical tests simply have to improve  early detection saves lives.

These standards are in place to ensure that people with potentially serious conditions get the benefit of early detection and have the best possible chance of a full recovery.

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He added: Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has inherited a health service facing a staffing crisis  solving that is vital to reducing the pressure on services and delivering the care that patients need.

Meanwhile over the period April to June 2018 just under three quarters (74.6%) of those waiting for hospital treatment, as either an inpatient or day patient, waited less than the 12 week Treatment Time Guarantee for this  down from 81.2% in the same quarter last year.

In NHS Forth Valley only 56.1% people were treated within this time, according to the latest figures.

Other statistics showed that in June 2018 only five of the 15 NHS boards who submitted valid data met the 18 weeks Referral To Treatment standard  which sets out how long patients should have to wait after being referred for treatment by their GP.

The target sets out for 90% of patients to be treated within this time, but this was last achieved in June 2014.

In June 2018, 82.8% of patients across Scotland were reported as being seen within 18 weeks, up from 80.9% in April and 82.6% in May.

Despite this the Scottish Government said patient satisfaction was at a record high, with the latest survey of hospital inpatients showing 86% described their care as positive, while 91% positively rated the staff who had looked after them.

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Ms Freeman said: NHS investment and staffing are at historically high levels, and the record high inpatient satisfaction rates published today are a testament to the hard work of our frontline NHS staff.

Meeting the challenge of improving performance and reducing waits requires the twin approach of investment and reform. Thats why we recently allocated an additional 6 million to reduce waiting times for endoscopies, with a focus on the most urgent patients, including those with suspected cancer.

That is seeing immediate steps to cut the number of people across Scotland waiting for diagnostic testing, with health boards working towards reducing the number of patients waiting over six weeks by 5,000 by the end December 2018.

This investment followed a package of measures  including 50 million extra funding  to reduce long waits for treatment. We will continue to work with boards to ensure that this additional funding delivers the improvement needed.

Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs insisted however the increasing waiting times were truly worrying.

The Tory MSP said: These represent agonising waits, and potentially worsening symptoms, for all patients in need of diagnosis and treatment.

The SNP has been in sole charge of the health service for 11 years after which time waiting times are at their longest ever at all stages of the patient journey.

These constantly increasing waiting times are simply the tragic results of the SNPs failures to recruit staff and support primary care.

As ever it is patients and staff who will bear the brunt of these terrible figures, the SNP should hang their heads in shame.Prime Minister Theresa May has waded into the row over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party by calling on Jeremy Corbyn to directly respond to stinging criticism from a former chief rabbi.

The intervention comes after Lord Jonathan Sacks branded the Labour leader an anti-Semite and compared Mr Corbyns comments on Zionists to Enoch Powells inflammatory rivers of blood speech.

During a tour of Africa, Mrs May said: Anti-Semitism is racism. We should all condemn racism in all its forms.

Lord Sacks was a long-standing chief rabbi, he raised significant concerns but its not just him  members of the Labour Party have raised concerns as well.

I think the leader of the Labour Party needs to respond to those concerns.

Lord Sackss scathing remarks, in which he claimed Mr Corbyn had given support to racists, terrorists, and dealers of hate, drew an angry response from Labour.

Condemnation of the Leader of the Opposition by the crossbench peer, who served as chief rabbi between 19912013, comes just a week before Labours ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) again considers its code of conduct on anti-Semitism.

Labour hit back at the comments by branding them absurd and offensive.

Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majestys OppositionLord Sacks

Lord Sackss remarks came after footage from 2013 emerged of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian.

Mr Corbyn said: They clearly have two problems.

One is they dont want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all of their lives, they dont understand English irony either.

Lord Sacks told the New Statesman: The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powells 1968 rivers of blood speech.

It was divisive, hateful and like Powells speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.

We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions.

He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.

This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensiveLabour Party spokesman

When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.

When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.

This is low, dishonest and dangerous.

He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.

Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majestys Opposition.

That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr Corbyn and those who support him.

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A Labour Party spokesman said: This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.

Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense, not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.

Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.

The Labour leader has previously said that his remarks had been defending the ambassador from what I thought were deliberate misrepresentations by people for whom English was a first language, when it isnt for the ambassador.Alex Salmond has written to Scotland's top civil servant, calling for an inquiry into how sexual harassment allegations against him were made public.

He contacted Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans on Monday urging her to investigate.

The former First Minister of Scotland said someone within the Scottish Government has "flagrantly and repeatedly" breached the confidential complaints process by leaking details to the Daily Record newspaper.

The Government previously said its investigation into two complaints against Mr Salmond has been "entirely confidential throughout".

He strongly denies the allegations and has launched legal action against the Government over the probe.

A statement released on his behalf said: "It is manifestly absurd for the Permanent Secretary to claim that her procedure is 'confidential' when it is splashed over the front pages, emanating from briefings to a single newspaper.

"Someone within the Scottish Government has flagrantly, and repeatedly, breached that requirement and the Permanent Secretary is now required to try and find out who it was."

The allegations about Mr Salmond's conduct towards two staff members in 2013, while he was in office, first emerged on Thursday when the former MP released a statement prompted by an inquiry from the Daily Record.The main road entrance for St Georges Hospital in Tooting (John Stillwell/PA)

A heart surgeon barred from working at an NHS hospital after a bullying allegation is preparing to return to work after winning a High Court fight.

Professor Marjan Jahangiri took legal action after being excluded by bosses at St Georges Hospital in Tooting, London, pending a disciplinary investigation.

She wanted to be allowed to return and complained of a breach of contract.

Mr Justice Nicklin on Tuesday said he was not satisfied that exclusion had been necessary and said it was strongly arguable that the decision to exclude was irrational.

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He said the bar should be lifted.

The judge, who described Prof Jahangiri as a leading heart surgeon and said she had pioneered a form of surgery, had analysed evidence at a High Court hearing in London.

I am delighted with todays judgment and very much look forward to returning to my patients, said Prof Jahangiri after the ruling.

My priority, as it has always been, is combining excelled patient care with research and training.

She added: I am devoted to the NHS.

He (the judge) has said that the exclusion process was not appropriate, but has allowed the trust to continue its investigation into very serious issues raisedJacqueline Totterdell

Jacqueline Totterdell, chief executive at St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: We are disappointed by the judgment issued today, but understand and respect it.

We welcome that this ruling is not about guilt or exoneration and the judge made no finding on the facts being investigated.

He has said that the exclusion process was not appropriate, but has allowed the trust to continue its investigation into very serious issues raised.

Mr Justice Nicklin explained how an internal investigation had begun after a hospital boss received an email from an employee in March.

The employee had alleged that Prof Jahangiri had shouted at a nurse, prioritised a private patient over an NHS patient.

Bosses said the employee had given evidence in relation to alleged bullying.

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That allegation had been made in the wake of wider concerns.

Research had indicated a rise in the mortality rate amongst patients being treated at the hospitals cardiac surgery unit.

Bosses were also concerned about the working relationship between the six heart surgeons in the unit, and about an allegedly dysfunctional environment.

They had asked a human resources consultant to stage a review and thought that the employee who made the bullying allegation about Prof Jahangiri might give evidence during the review process.

They had excluded Prof Jahangiri in early August after she was accused of indirectly approaching the employee.

Bosses had been concerned that there had been an attempt to influence a potential witness involved in the review.

Prof Jahangiri denied the allegation.

Mr Justice Nicklin said Prof Jahangiri had demonstrated that she had strong grounds upon which to contend that exclusion had been a breach of contract.

But he said he had focused on the exclusion issue and said those findings were provisional and interim.

He said issues would have to be finally adjudicated upon at a trial.

The judge also said Prof Jahangiri felt unfairly targeted and argued that hospital bosses actions explicable only on the basis of a campaign against her.

But he said it was impossible for him to make such findings at this stage of the litigation.

He said such findings could only be made after a proper consideration of evidence at a trial.

A spokeswoman for Prof Jahangiri said late on Tuesday that the next hearing in the case was expected to be a final trial.Theresa May flies to Nigeria on the latest leg of her whistle-stop Africa tour with trade, security and people trafficking on the agenda.

The Prime Minister will hold talks with president Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja, with the threat of Boko Haram in west Africa expected to be raised during the trip.

She will then head to Lagos to meet survivors of modern slavery.

UK and French support to help Nigeria and Niger develop their borders to prevent trafficking, and counselling plus training to help 1,700 migrants and victims of modern slavery are among the pledges to be made.

Mrs May arrives in Nigeria after making her pitch for the UK to help develop Africa, particularly in the post-Brexit world, alongside her plan for how overseas aid should work in Britains interests.

She also announced Britains first post-Brexit trade pact, with the Government intending to carry over the EUs economic partnership agreement with Mozambique and the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), which consists of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.

With Africa representing a small percentage of the UKs trade, more will have to emerge beyond an agreement with the southern African nations to satisfy Brexit critics who believe it will be difficult to replicate the advantages of EU membership.

A lighter moment in her first stop in South Africa saw Mrs May dance with schoolchildren before jokingly playing down her chances of appearing on Strictly Come Dancing.

Speaking ahead of her trip to Nigeria, Mrs May described modern slavery as one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time and labelled the UK a world leader in trying to end the crime.

Expand Close Prime Minister Theresa May meets students and staff at I.D. Mkize Secondary School (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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She said: Today we are stepping up our partnership with Nigerian authorities to find traffickers and bring them to justice.

And because this is an international problem which needs international response, we are also launching a new project with France to strengthen border cooperation to prevent trafficking along key migration routes towards Libya and Europe.

But as well as targeting the smugglers and traffickers that cruelly exploit people for financial gain, its vital that we support the victims who have suffered enormous trauma and are at high risk of being re-trafficked, and that is an important part of the support we are announcing today.

Mrs Mays three-day trade mission ends in Kenya on Thursday.

She has been joined by junior ministers and business leaders.Britain has agreed a cash and training package designed to boost efforts to target Islamist extremists in West Africa.

Theresa May signed an agreement in Nigeria while meeting president Muhammadu Buhari which commits the UK to expanding its training and equipment to the Nigerian military as it fights Boko Haram.

Downing Street hopes the assistance will also better protect the UK from terror threats while also saving the lives of soldiers and civilians living in Nigeria.

As friends, partners and equals  we will secure a more prosperous future for all our people. - PM @Theresa_May talking about the future relationship between the UK and Africa. #UKAfrica pic.twitter.com/rKxWDYbxsA  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) August 29, 2018

The terror group has killed more than 20,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Mrs May faced questions about the decision to increase support despite Amnesty International raising allegations about Nigerian soldiers raping women rescued from Boko Haram.

The PM told reporters she raised the issue of human rights with president Buhari, adding she welcomed his decision to establish an inquiry to examine the allegations.

The deal includes training to counter improvised explosive devices, 13 million to educate 100,000 children living in areas of conflict, developing the Nigerian governments procedures to respond to terror attacks, and aiding Nigeria in the propaganda war.

Nigerian army units will also be trained as a whole rather than individually by the UK before their deployment.

Attempts to help Nigeria recover stolen assets held in the UK and to reduce corruption will also be made via a new civil asset recovery taskforce, Downing Street added.

Mrs May arrived in Nigeria on day two of her whistle-stop Africa tour with trade and efforts to combat people trafficking also on the agenda.

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Rain started to fall as Mrs May left the RAF Voyager and after a military reception, she resisted the temptation to dance for a second day when greeted by dancers and drummers at the airport in Abuja.

She travelled to the presidential villa for talks with president Buhari, amid a chaotic media scrum on the red carpet.

Mrs May later travelled to Lagos to announce business projects, develop financial links amid post-Brexit uncertainty for the City of London, and meet survivors of modern slavery.

On the security and defence agreement, the PM said: We are determined to work side-by-side with Nigeria to help them fight terrorism, reduce conflict, and lay the foundations for the future stability

and prosperity that will benefit us all.

Mrs May arrived in Nigeria after making her pitch for the UK to help develop Africa, particularly in the post-Brexit world, and seize a greater share in the market amid fierce global competition from

China, France and the United States.

Her three-day trade mission ends in Kenya on Thursday.

Mrs May has been joined by junior ministers and business leaders.Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered some concessions to a package of pension reforms that have hit his approval ratings.

President Putin said the new retirement age for women will be raised to 60 from the current 55, instead of the 63 previously proposed.

However, he did not offer to change the proposed figure for men, which is rising from 60 to 65.

The changes are supposed to be raised by one year every year over the course of the next five years.

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The governments plan to raise the retirement age for both men and women announced in June has caused widespread discontent. In Russia, the average life expectancy for women is 78 and 67 for men.

Many Russian families, especially in rural areas and small towns, have relied on pensions as an extra income at a time younger people often struggle to find a stable job.

The proposals weighed on President Putins approval ratings, which have dropped below 70%  the lowest level since the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Russias pensioners who have seen their incomes rising steadily under President Putin have been one of the presidents staunchest supporters.

President Putin said the reform was necessary and cannot be put off any longer. Without increasing the retirement age, he said Russias pension system would crack and eventually collapse.

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Im asking you to be understanding of this, he said.

Russias economy has been hit over the past few years by Western sanctions following the annexation of Crimea and lower oil prices.

In addition to lowering the proposed retirement age for women, President Putin voiced other suggestions aimed at softening the blow  including an idea to keep old-age benefits such as tax breaks for senior citizens even before they reach the retirement age.The great John McCain, US senator and arguably the most outstanding president America never had, died at the weekend - a few days short of what would have been his 82nd birthday today.

The international response to the news of his death, from prime ministers, presidents and leaders right across the globe, has been unprecedented, especially for a man who was ultimately frustrated in his own political ambitions.

McCain twice ran for president. He was defeated in the battle for the Republican nomination by George W Bush in 2000 and in the presidential campaign of 2008 by Barack Obama.

But it says everything about him that both men who beat him retained the very highest respect for him.

McCain was, and will remain, a colossus of modern American history. A statesman who rose above pettiness and politics to put principle before party allegiance and self-interest.

He was a man who chose to do the right thing, even when that brought the opprobrium of his own party colleagues.

Along with 'hero' the word that's been most used this week to describe McCain is 'maverick'.

There are few mavericks like him anymore. Maybe there never were.

The story of McCain's heroism in the Vietnam conflict is widely known - the horror of his capture and long years of imprisonment; his refusal to accept release until all his men had been freed.

In his politics he was similarly upstanding. In the Senate he voted with his conscience. He was not afraid to speak out, even when it risked alienating a chunk of the electorate.

A prime example of that was in 2005, when he famously laid into the IRA at a St Patrick's Day dinner while that one-time darling of Irish America, Gerry Adams, sat stoney-faced, staring into his napkin.

Also there were the sisters and partner of Robert McCartney, who'd been savagely butchered by the IRA after a fracas in a Belfast bar. The man who'd ordered Mr McCartney's gruesome daylight murder and those who'd carried it out were Provos.

In an excoriating address, McCain denounced the IRA as cowards - "an organised crime syndicate that steals and murders to serve its members' personal interests".

It was a fierce and courageous condemnation of a terror group whose political representatives had many Irish American allies - and had hitherto been accustomed to being feted and fawned over during the annual St Patrick's Day White House gig.

More recently McCain had not been behind the door either in voicing disdain for current White House incumbent Donald Trump. That Trump failed to rise above his pique to pay fitting tribute this week comes as no surprise. Whatever you expect from Donald Trump, it isn't graciousness and civility.

John McCain on the other hand, was a man who frequently rose above bipartisan rancour. Which only makes Trump's boorishness even more pointed - and poignant.

To understand the late senator, commentators maintain, you have to look to his heritage. McCain was intensely proud of his Ulster Scots (or Scots-Irish) roots and relatives. Among his forebears was a man called Young who'd come from Coleraine.

The Ulster Scots gave America many of its presidents, its warriors and its leaders - and much of that maverick spirit.

And there's evidence there's still a bit of maverick in the local DNA. That we're not entirely beyond hope in terms of rising above our own tribal divisions.

I was so impressed by a couple of recent gestures. By SDLP councillor Mairia Cahill's visit to a Royal Black Institution parade, and by UUP MLA Robbie Butler's decision to go to Dublin to see the Pope. Both stepped out beyond the usual bounds of tribal solidarity and comfort. And both have rightly won respect.

Senator McCain spent a lifetime of stepping well beyond the safe zone - in every sense.

He epitomised decency and honour in a world where those concepts have been tarnished by the rush to attain and retain power.

One dodgy president may be too petty to hail him. But the entire world salutes John McCain.Pope Francis waves as he boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino international airport, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. The pontiff is traveling to Ireland for a two-day visit on the occasion of the 2018 World Meeting of Families. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Bishop Eamon Martin waits for the arrival of Pope Francis at Dublin International Airport, for the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis is greeted by members of the clergy, representatives of Government and the local County Council, as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis is greeted by Archbishop Eamon Martin as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina , at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina , at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Protestors wearing baby shoes, to signify the children who died in mother and baby homes in Ireland, protest in Dublin ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins, at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina , at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis receives a bouquet of flowers from five-year-old Annalise, daughter of Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney, as he arrives at Dublin International Airport, at the start of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins, at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. Photo credit: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for tree planting ceremony during a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins, at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

The Hassoun family, (left to right not given) Saif Eddin Hassoun, Sanaa Edris, Mohmoud Al A'Araj, Hasba Hassoun, Lana Al A'Araj (six), Aala Al A'Araj, (four) and Tala Al A'Araj (one), wait to meet Pope Francis following a tree planting ceremony at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Pope Francis signs the arrivals book as he meets with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Dublin Castle as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Pope Francis presents Taoiseach Leo Varadkar with a gift as they meet at Dublin Castle during his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Pope Francis delivers his speech in St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaks with President Michael D Higgins in his study during a visit to Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis (centre right) leaves St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, Dublin, with Taoiseach Leo Varadakar (centre left) after his speech, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Pope Francis (centre right) arriving at St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, Dublin, with Taoiseach Leo Varadakar (centre left) after his speech, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Pope Francis (left) shakes hands with Taoiseach Leo Varadakar after his speech in St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaks with President Michael D Higgins in his study during a visit to Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis (left) shakes hands with Taoiseach Leo Varadakar after his speech in St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Crowds wait for Pope Francis at College Green, Dublin, prior to him travelling through Dublin in the Popemobile during his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Priests await the arrival of Pope Francis to St Mary's Pro Cathedral in Dublin, where he will meet with recently-married couples, and couples preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Pope Francis kisses a young girl at the end of his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. Pope Francis is on a two-day visit to Ireland. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis at St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, Dublin, prior to his speech, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Supporters wait to see Pope Francis outside Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, the resting place of Matt Talbot, on the first day of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Pairs of baby shoes hang from the railings on Sean McDermott Street in Dublin in memory of the children who died at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway, during the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a visit to St Mary's Pro Cathedral in Dublin to meet with recently-married couples, and couples preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Stephen O'Brien selling bottles of holy water from the St Mary's Pro Cathedral on Talbot Street, Dublin, during the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives for a visit to St Mary's Pro Cathedral in Dublin to meet with recently-married couples, and couples preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on Christchurch, Dublin as he travels in the Popemobile during his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis during a visit to St Mary's Pro Cathedral in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis during a visit to St Mary's Pro Cathedral in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaks during his visit to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. Pope Francis is on a two-day visit to Ireland. (Tiziana Fabi/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis shakes hands with Br Kevin Crowley as he arrives for a visit to the Capuchin Day Centre on Bowe Street in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis greets Aidan Walsh, during a visit to the Capuchin Day Centre on Bowe Street in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pauline Gallagher (right) with her daughters Amelia and Alana after seeing Pope Francis on College Green, Dublin, as he travels in the Popemobile during his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on O'Connell Street, Dublin as he travels in the Popemobile during his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on Christchurch, Dublin as he travels in the Popemobile during his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

People hold up lights at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, as Pope Francis joins an audience of 82,500 where he will hear five testimonies by families from Ireland, Canada, Iraq, and Africa, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Crowds and performers at Croke Park in Dublin, in preparation for the arrival of Pope Francis who will join an audience of 82,500 and hear five testimonies by families from Ireland, Canada, Iraq, and Africa, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives at the Croke Park stadium for the Festival of Families, in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. Pope Francis is on a two-day visit to Ireland. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Pope Francis joins an audience of 82,500 at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives at the Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. Pope Francis is on a two-day visit to Ireland. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Crowds and performers at Croke Park in Dublin, in preparation for the arrival of Pope Francis who will join an audience of 82,500 and hear five testimonies by families from Ireland, Canada, Iraq, and Africa, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Performers at Croke Park in Dublin, prior to the arrival of Pope Francis who will join an audience of 82,500 and hear five testimonies by families from Ireland, Canada, Iraq, and Africa, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaks to the audience at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis prays at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis prays at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis waves to the audience as he leaves Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, after attending the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaking at Croke Park in Dublin, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaking at Croke Park in Dublin, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Cardinal Kevin Farrell (left) and Pope Francis enjoying the performances at Croke Park in Dublin, during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday August 25, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

Pope Francis joins an audience of 82,500 at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin during the Festival of Families event, as part of his visit to Ireland. Photo credit: Brian Lawless/PA Wire.

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Micheal D. Higgins awaiting Pope Francis arrival at the Phoenix Park, Dublin for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis at the Phoenix Park, Dublin for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis at the Phoenix Park, Dublin for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

People hold up names of children as they gather to protest at the site of the former Tuam home for unmarried mothers in County Galway, where a mass grave of around 800 babies has recently been uncovered, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

People hold up names of children as they gather to protest at the site of the former Tuam home for unmarried mothers in County Galway, where a mass grave of around 800 babies has recently been uncovered, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The Stand4Truth protest at the Garden of Remembrance to coincide with the Papal Mass at Phoenix Park, before walking to the site of a nearby former Magdalene laundry, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

People hold up names of children as they gather to protest at the site of the former Tuam home for unmarried mothers in County Galway, where a mass grave of around 800 babies has recently been uncovered, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis speaks at the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Bed sheets with names of deceased children tied to the fence of the former Tuam home for unmarried mothers in County Galway, where a mass grave of around 800 babies has recently been uncovered, during the visit to Ireland by the Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Sex abuse victim William Gorry (left) showing emotions as he joins clerical sex abuse protesters at the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street in Dublin, prior to marching to the Garden of Remembrance to hold a protest to coincide with the Papal Mass at Phoenix Park, before walking to the site of a nearby former Magdalene laundry, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrive to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

An aerial view of the crowd / Pope Francis at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrive to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Childrens toys are place at Scoil Mhuire primary school in Tuam, Co Galway in protest to Pope Francis visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes was set up following claims of mass burials of hundreds of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

A message to Pope France is tied to the fence of the former Tuam home for unmarried mothers in County Galway, where a mass grave of around 800 babies has recently been uncovered, during the visit to Ireland by the pontiff. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Clerical sex abuse protesters assemble at the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street in Dublin, prior to marching to the Garden of Remembrance to hold a protest to coincide with the Papal Mass at Phoenix Park, before walking to the site of a nearby former Magdalene laundry, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Clerical sex abuse protesters assemble at the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street in Dublin, prior to marching to the Garden of Remembrance to hold a protest to coincide with the Papal Mass at Phoenix Park, before walking to the site of a nearby former Magdalene laundry, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Clerical sex abuse protesters assemble at the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street in Dublin, prior to marching to the Garden of Remembrance to hold a protest to coincide with the Papal Mass at Phoenix Park, before walking to the site of a nearby former Magdalene laundry, during the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Members of the Garda Siochana - the police service of the Republic of Ireland - in the rain await Pope Francis to board his plane to depart from the airport in Knock in County Mayo, after a visit to Knock Holy Shrine, in County Mayo, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Orlagh McGlade, from Armagh, in Dublin's Phoenix park ahead of the arrival of Pope Francis for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope Colour. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

People gather in Dublin's Phoenix park ahead of the arrival of Pope Francis for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope Colour. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pope Francis at Knock Shrine, County Mayo, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis with pilgrims at Knock Shrine, County Mayo, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis during a visit to Knock Holy Shrine, in County Mayo to view the Apparition Chapel and to give the Angelus address, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Audrey Elliott with the signed Co Mayo jersey by Pope Francis at Ireland West Airport, Knock in County Mayo, which she hopes will lift the Mayo 'curse' so the team can win an All-Ireland title. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. The Co Mayo curse dates back to the last All-Ireland winning Mayo team of 1951 who were said to be cursed on their victory drive home from Dublin with the winning cup. See PA story IRISH Pope Airport. Photo credit should read: Cate McCurry/PA Wire

Pope Francis during a visit to Knock Holy Shrine, in County Mayo to view the Apparition Chapel and to give the Angelus address, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

A gust of win blows Pope Francis' cape as he speaks at the Knock Shrine, in Knock, Ireland, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Pope Francis is on a two-day visit to Ireland. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Pope Francis during a visit to Knock Holy Shrine, in County Mayo to view the Apparition Chapel and to give the Angelus address, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Pope Francis is greeted by a delegation of clergy and representatives from Ireland West Airport as he arrives at the airport in Knock in County Mayo, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Pope Francis arrives to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Pilgrims wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at Knock Holy Shrine, in County Mayo where he will view the Apparition Chapel and to give the Angelus address, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Pope Francis is greeted by a delegation of clergy and representatives from Ireland West Airport as he arrives at the airport in Knock in County Mayo, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Micheal D. Higgins awaiting Pope Francis arrival at the Phoenix Park, Dublin for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Pope Francis at the Phoenix Park, Dublin for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Pope Francis at the Phoenix Park, Dublin for the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families, as part of his visit to Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 26, 2018. See PA story IRISH Pope. Photo credit should read: WMOF18/Maxwell Photography/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

You could not have attended the various events that made up the Pope's visit to Ireland without experiencing a deep sense of personal and collective joy generated by the charismatic presence of His Holiness Pope Francis. It is his charisma that is the key to understanding this outstanding pastor and his spiritual leadership of the Catholic Church.

To experience that at first-hand is the only way of appreciating his intimate teaching role. His presence is uplifting, reassuring and transcends the frenetic muddle of our ordinary mixed-up lives. You come away re-energised and reaffirmed in Christian belief and the simple message of the Gospel, which is to love all, especially those who are marginalised and need our help, whether it be material or spiritual.

Above all, it is the spiritual and the divine which he reawakens in our minds and hearts. That was the collective experience of thousands of Catholics who attended the Mass in Phoenix Park, or the Festival of Families concert in Croke Park in Dublin, and the Marian shrine at Knock in Co Mayo.

Most moving was the visit to the Capuchin centre for the homeless in Dublin, headed by Brother Kevin. There you could see plainly the humility of Francis as he chatted with the users of the day centre and the people who quietly volunteer to provide food and support for those who have been broken down by the burden of our often demanding and unrelenting contemporary way of life.

The Pope spoke about restoring tenderness to our ordinary everyday vocabulary and creating a "revolution of love".

Throughout his visit he talked about family and its enormous value in supporting children growing up in a fractious and challenging world. The simple things like a gentle kiss or touch by spouses, he good humouredly said, does much to demonstrate to children the love between parents within the family. He said that when parents quarrelled they should make up before going to bed, otherwise the next day will bring about a cold war.

Simple but effective advice to a world of broken or torn personal relationships. A world that sees marriage as irrelevant and a society that seeks instant gratification, often lacking commitment to anyone or anything.

While thousands of Catholics experienced the joy of the Pope's visit in a genuinely happy and inspiring way, the Irish media went out of their way to be begrudging and belittling about it. Despite the enormous crowds lining the streets of Dublin or attending the various events, the media, especially RTE, quibbled about the numbers, comparing this visit to Pope John Paul II's in 1979.

Nobody knows the exact figures, but what is certain is that no other outside visitor could have produced the numbers of people that spontaneously lined the streets of Dublin.

The strength of numbers was enough to surprise the media and to make the political elite in Dublin feel uncomfortable.

RTE seemed to relish in featuring critics of the Catholic Church, whose only aim was to knock the Pope and the Church itself. In my opinion, it affected to be concerned about the way the Church had dealt with victims of clerical sex abuse, but it seemed to me that its agenda was to undermine and belittle the crystal clear personal plea to God for forgiveness by the Pope during the Phoenix Park Mass for those grave sins committed by clerics against children. That plea was pointedly made by the Pope during the penitential rite of the Mass and was applauded by the many thousands of participants at that service. There was absolutely no attempt by Francis to evade responsibility for the grave offences carried out by priests and others in the Church.

But there was no serious attempt by the media at a balanced assessment of the actual visit for the thousands of Catholics that saw, or even met, Pope Francis.

Their positive reaction was ignored by the media, but by voting with their feet and walking harmoniously and happily for many miles to and back from various venues, they publicly demonstrated a deep and continuing commitment to the Christian message of faith, hope and love.

As this visit by the Pope was to the World Meeting of Families, there were participants from all over the globe there, which greatly added to and hugely energised the various meetings, workshops and other events. It also in particular highlighted the universality of the Church in the world today.

But it was the very evident presence at all events of significant numbers of the "New Irish", such as Filipinos and Poles, that was particularly encouraging for ordinary, Irish-born Catholics, as it represents a strengthening of Catholic belief and faith.

Despite the curmudgeonly attitude of the media, the real story of Pope Francis' visit is that something good has happened to the Catholic Church in Ireland - but whether it is good enough remains to be seen.Healthcare globally has been a key business segment for us led by the US. Emerging Geographies like India have started contributing and WinMagic sees this segment as a key growth vector

Established since 1997, WinMagic Inc. provides the worlds most secure, manageable and easy-touse data security solutions. WinMagic's SecureDoc Environment is an award-winning enterprise disk encryption solution and key management product that is trusted by thousands of enterprises and government organizations worldwide.It is ideal for healthcare information security

Mr. Rahul Kumar- Country Manager, India & APAC, WinMagic Corp in a conversation with BioSpectrum about Importance of data protection in Healthcare sector of India.

1) How will GDPR specifically affect healthcare?

Technologymore than infrastructuremakes healthcare affordable, accessible and available to a large, disparate population. Private organizations are filling the last mile gap in healthcare service delivery, and they require ready access to data for building solutions. They have experience and expertise, and they are ready to enter developed markets where healthcare schemes are borne by the government. These organizations thrive on direct link to welfare schemes, insurance, data, etc., for their operations, predictive analytics and other routine processing.GDPR has changed the way these businesses operate because they no longer have ownership over the data.

2) How can healthcare organizations comply with GDPR?

GDPR prohibits unnecessary collection of personal data. Moreover, certain personal dataknown as genetic data, data concerning health, and biometric datacant be processed unless it falls into certain categories. In any case, exceptions do exist and allow for data collectionfor instance, when data is provided with the owners consent, when data benefits the owner, when data is used for public good, etc.

3) What are the penalties for non-compliance?

The cost of noncompliance is very high. In case of a compliance failure or a data breach, fines are calculated based on a number of factors. It varies between the standard four percent of global income and 20 million Euros, whichever is higher.

4) What options are there to protect privacy/anonymity?

Privacy is not an end in itself; in fact, encryption is a given when it comes to GDPR. There are also obligations relating to accountability, protection, and transparency among other things, which all come together to ensure the individuals right to data and security. This also includes the requirement for organizations to identify the person responsible for data protection, policies and procedure.

5) What will be the impact of EUGDPR on the global market and how equipped are the Indian healthcare companies today?

Prior to GDPR, personal data was viewed as the property of the businesses that collected and stored the information. It is now the individuals property. This is a radical shift, and it influences how businesses behave. On the issue of Indian healthcare companies looking to do business in Europe, I think the cost of noncompliance is a major deterrent. Secondly, there is still some grey areas relating to understanding various data processing requirements and the legal basis for carrying them out. The dust needs to settle firstand thats going to take some more time.

6) What is the right way to handle a data breach?

A breach is not the issue here; noncompliance to GDPR is. Breaches have become a part of the modern business landscape! Therefore, effective governance and adherence to standards is very important in todays world of business. In GDPR framework, a series of steps should be initiated within 72 hours of identifying a breach. In any case, this poses a serious financial and reputational risk if noncompliance to norms is found lacking. One way to ensure that a breach would not likely result in a risk to EU resident data owners is to encrypt all collected personal data. Organizations need to consider their ability to support large amounts of encrypted traffic in transit and at rest.

7) Why is it necessary to create a Data Breach Preparedness Plan for healthcare organizations?

Healthcare organizations have a unique set of higher standards to adhere to. For instance, these organizations cannot process certain personal data categories until they meet the parameters set by GDPR. These data are categorised as genetic data, data concerning health and biometric data. It is therefore important that healthcare providers and their supply chain must identify and test incident response management plans to protect their core business functions. This will ensure cyber resilience and business continuity in the event of a data breach.

8) How does WinMagic play an important role in Indian pharma sector to protect data breaching?

Information security management is critical in the pharmaceutical industry. It includes providing protection to not just patient information, but also monitoring the supply chain security, providing patent protection, and mitigating insider threats. WinMagicssolutions provide the necessary security layers that are proactive, intuitive, and built to last.

9) What are your business expansion plans in the Indian and global healthcare sector?

Healthcare globally has been a key business segment for us led by the US. Emerging Geographies like India have started contributing and WinMagic sees this segment as a key growth vector. Global compliances like HIPAA and now Disha which is aimed at being Indian healthcare security regulations poses to bring in significant growth driver for adoption for encryption as a technology.India is regarded as one of the lead destinations for outsourcing due to factors such as large english speaking population, low cost base, and large talent pool of graduates and post-graduates in various technical and non-technical fields and maturity of the industry with more than 500 firms engaged in providing BPO services.

The global health care BPO market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 10.7% from US$113.2 billion in 2013 to US$188.9 billion by 2018, noted a recent ASSOCHAM-EY joint study.

The pharmaceutical outsourcing segment has the largest share and accounted for close to 80% (US$ 90.6 billion) of the health care BPO market in 2013, according to the study titled, Medical Process Outsourcing in India, jointly conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Ernst & Young (EY).

The outsourcing in the health care industry is on the rise especially in a country such as the US where the cost of the health care is high, the availability of man power is low and health care reforms are introduced by Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to provide affordable medical insurance to low-to-middle income Americans.

US health care accounted for the largest share (73.8%) of the worldwide health care BPO market at US$83.5 billion in 2013. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.2% to reach US$ 141.7 billion in 2018, pointed out the joint study.

The US health care payer, provider, and pharmaceutical outsourcing markets are valued at US$11.1 billion, US$6.8 billion, and US$65.6 billion, respectively, in 2013.

The most preferred destination for payer and provider outsourcing in India is due to the various advantages such as high number of health care professionals available at affordable cost, a large patient pool and reduced time and costs for recruitment. Furthermore, the Philippines-based health care BPO players are also looking to compete with Indian players.

With capabilities of Indian BPO vendors growing day by day, they now offer specialized services across different verticals, thereby enabling growth in targeted BPO services. The global sourcing (includes IT and business process sourcing) market is estimated to be in the range of US$148154 billion in 2014.

Indias market share in global sourcing is estimated to be ~55% (US$81.484.2 billion) in 2014. However, there are other emerging BPO destinations in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. Out of all the delivery centers opened in 2014, an estimated 27% (41 delivery centers) were in India, closely followed by Eastern Europe, Rest of Asia and Latin America, noted the study.

Outsourcing in health care has been late to the party globally. However, outsourcing in this industry is picking up well and India too stands to gain from the same. Primary and secondary sources estimate the overall size of health care outsourcing in India to be in the range of US$3.34.2 billion. Of this, around US$700900 million would be the payer outsourcing market, US$100200 million would be the provider market and US$2.53.1 billion will be the overall size of the pharmaceutical outsourcing market, noted the study.

Indias mature pharmaceutical and medical education system is a key driver of growth, since more than 1,500 institutions in the country offer various medical and pharmaceutical courses. The quality of education, medical infrastructure and facilities are also regarded as good, said ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr. D S Rawat.

India is regarded as one of the lead destinations for outsourcing due to factors such as large english speaking population, low cost base, and large talent pool of graduates and post-graduates in various technical and non-technical fields and maturity of the industry with more than 500 firms engaged in providing BPO services.

The overall market is estimated to be worth US$700900 million in India with top BPO and IT vendors having presence in this segment. Claims processing and management continue to be the largest chunk of services provided but slowly other niche services such as case management, utilization management, disease management etc., are moving to India as vendors start developing capabilities in these areas.

The health care provider outsourcing market in India is a relatively small segment with an estimated size of US$100200 million. This is primarily due to the fact that the provider market itself is fragmented and very few players have the scale to derive considerable benefits from outsourcing.Wadia IVF center cuts treatment cost by 25% - 50% , considering affordability

IVF Centre, Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital, becomes first in the country to get accreditation from QAI (Quality and Accreditation Institute). The accreditation was given by Dr. B.K.Rana Founding CEO, QAI.

On January 15th, 2016, the IVF Centre, Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital opened its doors for the public. Inaugurated by Maharashtra Health Minister Deepak Sawant, the center aims at providing the IVF facilities to every strata of the society. It is first of its kind among the public trust hospitals in Maharashtra.

The centre cites 15000 patients in OPD and 10000 IPD patients annually. With 15-20 new cases every day and a success rate of 60%, this is a boon for those couples who are unable to bear children. The first baby conceived at the Nowrosjee Wadia IVF center was delivered on 18th April, 2017. Just recently started, the center will also provide cancer patients an opportunity to experience parenthood.

Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospital, Being honoured with QAI accreditation is matter of pride for the hospital as well and for our country. The treatment costs of various Assisted Reproduction Techniques are very high and many times out of reach of a common man and the Wadia IVF center will cut it by 25% - 50%, considering affordability. Around 27million couples in India suffer from infertility and to see a smile on their face watching their baby is a sense of achievement for us.Nadda cautioned that strict action will be taken against those running the fake websites on Ayushman Bharat

29 states and UTs have signed the MoU and have started working on the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna.

The pilots have started in 16 States / UTs. Other states/UTs will also start pilots before fully launching the scheme on 25th September.

J P Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare was addressing the media in a press conference on Ayushman Bharat - PradhanMantri Jan ArogyaYojna (AB-PMJAY), in New Delhi on August 27.

He said that the scheme architecture and formulation has undergone a truly federal process, with stakeholder inputs taken from all States and UTs through the national conclaves, sectoral working groups, intensive field exercises and piloting of key modules.

Nadda cautioned that strict action will be taken against those running the fake websites on Ayushman Bharat. He categorically clarified that no enrolment is required for beneficiaries and there is no payment for obtaining services at empaneled hospitals. Criminal cases will be charged against fraudulent websites and agents trying to collect money from beneficiaries, he added.

Nadda stated that Arogya Mitras training is being conducted in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Ministry of Skill Development to strengthen implementation and operational preparedness. Training has already been initiated in 15 states/UTs,Nadda said.

Reiterating the commitment of his government, the Union Health Minister said the objectives of the AB-PMJAY is to reduce out of pocket hospitalisation expenses, fulfil unmet needs and improve access of identified families to quality inpatient care and day care surgeries.

The services will include more than 1300 procedures covering pre and post hospitalization, diagnostics, medicines etc., and the beneficiaries will be able to move across borders and access services across the country through the provider network seamlessly, Nadda stated.

Addressing the conference, Nadda said that the Government has given total flexibility to the States to choose their own modes of implementation among Insurance, Trust or Mixed Mode and Government is ready to provide the required support also.

He further said that NHA Information Security and Data Privacy are being institutionalized to provide adequate guidance and set of controls on the secure handling of Beneficiaries Personal Data and Sensitive Personal Data in compliance with all laws and regulations applicable.

J P Nadda also unveiled the PMJAY logo to the media while Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare launched the Anti-fraud Guidelines. Ashwini Kumar Choubey launched the Data Privacy and Information Security Policy.

Later, J P Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship presided over aMoU signing ceremony between National Health Agency (NHA) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for skilling 1 lakh ArogyaMitras.The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has teamed up with Chilean LGBT activist group Fundacion Iguales to create a survey gauging how LGBT-friendly Chilean workplaces are.

The survey looks at nondiscrimination policies, diverse employee resource groups, and pro-LGBT public activities. The survey is the second of its kind introduced to South America, with Mexico being evaluated last year.

As we have seen in the U.S. and Mexico, more corporations identify LGBT inclusion as a fundamental value that provides a competitive business edge and greater economic impact, HRC Foundations Workplace Equality Program Director Deena Fidas said.

Many companies agree with this sentiment, including the $38 billion business consultant company Deloitte.

In the same way that companies have tried to strengthen their work environment and the levels of employee satisfaction, implementing LGBT-inclusive benchmarks reflects a reality that is relevant for new generations of professionals, Chiles Regional Managing Partner Ricardo Briggs said.

The HRCs efforts reach more than 14.5 million employees, its website reported.PR Newswire

WOODBRIDGE, N.J., Aug. 28, 2018

WOODBRIDGE, N.J., Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucosky Brookman LLP (www.lucbro.com), a leading corporate finance and securities law firm, proudly announce that it has added noted real estate attorney Jeffrey Goldstein to lead the Firm's Real Estate Practice Group. Mr. Goldstein represents investors, lenders, high net worth individuals, closely held corporations, publicly traded corporations, REITS, private equity funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds, title companies, mortgage processors, mortgage servicers, and established financial institutions in all aspects of real estate transactions.

Mr. Goldstein joins Lucosky Brookman after many years of private practice and following several years of practice at Schulte, Roth and Zabel LLP where he represented some of the largest real estate entities including Fortune 500 companies in some of the most complicated commercial real estate transactions in New York City.

Lucosky Brookman's Real Estate Practice Group applies its expertise to the complete spectrum of real estate transactions, including residential and commercial financings, acquisitions, sales and exchanges, development, construction, joint ventures, loan syndications and participations, management, leasing and defaults. Working as a team with talented lawyers across a broad range of other disciplines, Lucosky Brookman's real estate attorneys are uniquely qualified to assist clients in the structuring and execution of a wide variety of real estate transactions.

The Firm's attorneys provide legal and consulting services to a variety of clients ranging from individuals to national businesses. Lucosky Brookman represents, Buyers and Sellers in residential and commercial transactions, lenders and borrowers in mortgage transactions, and landlord and tenants in commercial leasing transactions.

Managing Partner, Joe Lucosky, commented, "We welcome Jeff to the Firm. As we continue to expand the Firm and its practice areas, Jeff will be an invaluable resource to our clients. The Real Estate Practice Group works closely with attorneys in the Firm's corporate, securities, banking, and other practice areas to bring the full resources of the Firm to bear in addressing the needs of our clients and providing each of our clients with superior legal services in all legal matters."

ABOUT LUCOSKY BROOKMAN LLPLucosky Brookman is a corporate finance and securities law firm with offices in New York and New Jersey, representing both domestic and international clients in sophisticated corporate and securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions, secured and unsecured lending transactions, PIPEs and general corporate matters. The Firm provides a broad range of legal services within each of its Corporate, Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Finance, Business Planning & Start-Up, Real Estate, and Litigation & Arbitration practice areas.

CONTACTLucosky Brookman LLP101 Wood Avenue South, 5th FloorWoodbridge, New Jersey 08830Phone: 732 395-4400 Facsimile: 732 395-4401 Email: [email protected] Web: www.lucbro.com

ATTORNEY ADVERTISINGThis press release may be considered advertising under the rules of some states. Prior results cannot and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lucosky-brookman-announces-the-addition-of-noted-attorney-jeffrey-goldstein-to-lead-real-estate-practice-group-300703766.html

SOURCE Lucosky Brookman LLPPR Newswire

SINGAPORE, Aug. 29, 2018

SINGAPORE, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Private Board Meeting on Blockchain Deep Learning" was held in Wanxiang Blockchain Laboratory, and Feng Xiao, Qian Chen and Feng Wang attended the conference. Security Chain Global Eco Development Officer Mingo Chin, who is among the first wave of hackers and an expert on the building of a new blockchain security attack and defense system in China, was invited to give a keynote speech on "Blockchain security and hacker countermeasures". He pointed out that the current Blockchain security is determined by its weakest link. Even if the blockchain is safe, there may be loopholes in smart contracts, exchanges, wallets, and mining pools, which will not form a security loop. The existing security companies can only provide the most basic intelligent contract auditing and vulnerability scanning, which is far from the underlying protection needed. Security Chain is building a secure public chain + global node community through blockchain thinking, and implementing a decentralized security ecosystem in a step-by-step manner.

The following is the selected content of this meeting:

Host: If the current Blockchain industry is in its initial phase, and blockchain security has been very hot recently. What do you think about it?

Mingo: I think the current blockchain situation is very similar to the beginning of the internet, and it is also the starting state of an industry. The number of participants is extremely small, the early products are chaotic, and the participants have a high degree of belief.

The current blockchain security is still at a fairly early stage, such as the 360EOS event, which is a watershed. Everyone notices that in addition to the theft of digital assets on the exchange, there are other security issues that will affect currency price fluctuations. It can be said that the era of cultivating people with digital assets is coming, and people's attention to security will be unprecedented.

However, the blockchain is a fairly new area, and traditional security solutions are not rapidly updated for the industry. After this incident, many security organizations have emerged to promote the development of the blockchain security ecosystem. More and more projects have raised the level of attention and investment in safety.

Host: So a large number of blockchain security projects have emerged and become the target of many well-known investment institutions. I heard that many well-known exchanges and public chains are also investing in this field. And Security Chain has deployed security labs around the world. So what are the latest trends that you'd like to share with us?

Mingo: Yes, there is an evident increase in the the investment in blockchain security projects in the first half of 2017. But the majority business is still centralized security related. The business mainly focuses on the smart contracts and vulnerability platforms.

Our team has always been doing basic system security research, mainly focusing on trusted computing. Our community overseas has been leading the development of world security technology. Formal verification and trusted computing are two world-wide security thinking systems in the blockchain. These two systems have been developed at home and abroad for many years, one for code (source) and the other for bottom layer (architecture). Our project is more like the latter.

Our Security Chain began to focus on the needs of this field in the last year and has transferred many previous research results to blockchain applications in the first half of this year. The solution to the underlying security of the system is going to be released as the blockchain trusted framewok security solution.

At the same time, under the continuous influence of all parties, more excellent security engineers and white hats can be attracted to research on blockchain security technology.

We have three systems: security components, secure block systems and security public chains.

A decentralized secure network and secure public chain consisting of security nodes will create a new technology and business model and was born in the world's first balanced and independent security network. At the same time, we pioneered the chain-chain model in technology, integrating the security node into the ecological chain of the public chain, and decentralized security defense system. We opened up the resources of all people to participate in security capacity building, and a global block of security personnel could participate in the construction of a blockchain operating system. This system includes, but is not limited to, security components and nodes for vulnerability scanning, asset management, honeypots, traffic cleaning, etc., simply opening the door to a closed security world. The blockchain technology gives us a starting point for rebuilding this secure network. We will upgrading the existing blockchain security by using the basic blockchain technology including the innovative consensus, multiple cryptography, node identity authentication, etc. and Security Chain's original trusted hardening solution, node remote security authentication, the world's leading dynamic defense vulnerability mechanism, security identity authentication system, etc. We promote safety and change the production relationship of the safety industry with the operation mode of pure blockchain.

Host: I heard that you were a geek. You have organized a global hacker community before, and blockchain security should be handy for your team. With the current public concerns about wallets and exchange loopholes, what's your solution?

Mingo: For the hardware wallet, I believe everyone knows that this is the case for both exchanges and major depositors. At the hardware level, we use the PaX/Grsecurity feature to strengthen the kernel security. When the kernel is running, we optimize the kernel through the form of kernel tuning, which greatly increases the difficulty of obtaining the highest administrative authority from the user space to enhance the permissions, making it more difficult for the attacker to obtain higher permissions and tuned the kernel through the vulnerability. We use non-CSM UEFI to establish firmware, bootloader and kernel signature verification chain, and properly use the trust chain established by password engineering to provide auxiliary support for system deep reinforcement and escort firmware security. We prevent bootloader (GRUB) tampering and kernel image, kernel module tampering, through integrity protection and signature verification protection, which can effectively prevent the system from being tampered with in the startup process.

For the underlying (architecture), such as the recent exposure of the cold wallet vulnerability, our community developed a better solution. While everyone is silently looking for vulnerabilities, we provide free solutions with open source. For example, on the public chain and nodes, the most simplified remote authentication process under the network architecture of the multi-chain network can be completed. At the same time, we conduct configuration customization and streghten of the application layer services, such as: selection of system password hash type, selection of Grub password hash type, selection of SSH-related Cipher Suite, selection of Apache/Nginx SSL/TLS related Cipher Suite, etc. We coordinate with constructing an entire trust chain which is comprehensive, reliable, efficient and convenient, from firmware, the bootloader to the kernel's signature verification, to the business application layer. We prevent attacks by cryptographic algorithms that destroy the confidentiality and integrity of data.

About Security Chain

The Security Chain is a project based on blockchain security and ecological construction. It conducts research on the basis of underlying technology of blockchain security and the world's exclusive core chip-level security hardening solution. The team members of this project have extensive experience.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/security-chains-mingo-chin-speaks-at-wanxiang-lab-private-board-on-reinforcement-of-bottom-layer-security-of-blockchain-300703875.html

SOURCE Security Chain

Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute.

Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno.

Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi.A woman in Hong Kong known as Mk is suing the government for its ban on civil partnerships, which is a legally recognized bond similar to marriage between two people of the same sex.

She claims that the ban goes against the Bill of Rights and the citys Basic Law. The case does not mention same-sex marriage, but will still have an impact on the LGBT community and overall legislation, a city lawmaker believes.

It is a direct challenge to the whole system. The government has no way to escape from studying all levels of policies [on treating same-sex partners] in the process, Raymond Chan Chi-cheun, Hong Kongs only openly gay legislator, said.

But lawyer Michael Vidler, who has litigated most LGBT cases in Hong Kong, thinks that the government and society may need more time to gradually accept the community before law-related success is possible.

If this challenge fails it would set a bad precedent that will take many, many years to overcome, he said.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.



A military man was handed a six-month conditional discharge on Monday after he refused to co-operate with a conservation officer evicting him from a campsite after a loud night of partying.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/8/2018 (1162 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A military man was handed a six-month conditional discharge on Monday after he refused to co-operate with a conservation officer evicting him from a campsite after a loud night of partying.

"It goes to show the seriousness of which we take these types of things," Crown attorney Brett Rach told the Brandon provincial court. "Conservation officers are peace officers and theyre due the exact same amount of respect that RCMP officers are."

Matthew Leonard Murray, a 26-year-old military member stationed at CFB Shilo, pleaded guilty to resisting a peace officer.

On June 9, RCMP were called to Kiche Manitou Campground in Spruce Woods Provincial Park for assistance in evicting a group of campers after one individual refused to co-operate with conservative officers and resisted arrest, Rach said.

A group of campers were playing loud music and speaking loudly during quiet hours, Rach said, and refused to co-operate with park patrol who gave them several warnings throughout the night.

On their final warning, park patrol said they spoke with Murray, who was a permit holder of one of the campsites.

They advised him he could face a fine for not complying with the conditions of the permit. However, they were willing to give him a written warning if they co-operated and kept it down, Rach said.

However, Murray refused to give the park patrol his identification, Rach said, so they were therefore unable to do the written warning.

Park patrol decided to deal with the group in the morning when a conservation officer was present, Rach said, and they returned the next day to evict the campers.

The majority of the group was co-operative, but Murray still refused to provide his identification, Rach said.

The conservation officer verbally placed Murray under arrest and took him by the arm in an attempt to handcuff him, Rach said. Murray started tensing up and pulled away, refusing to let the conservation officer complete the arrest.

Concerned about his own safety, the conservation officer called RCMP, at which point Murray complied with officers, Rach said.

"Its fine to have a good time, but that cant go far beyond and if hes being told to do something, its required that he comply, particularly when police get involved," Rach said.

Defence lawyer Rhea Majewski said Murray was the permit holder for the adjacent campsite to where the noise was coming from and therefore didnt believe he had any responsibility in that matter.

Murray also didnt understand or recall being advised they were trying to write a ticket, Majewski said, and so he didnt give them his identification because he didnt know why they were asking for it.

He asked numerous times to speak with RCMP officers to get more of an understanding of what was going on, Majewski added, and was compliant once RCMP arrived.

"Its unfortunate that just a little bit more co-operation on your part probably would have resulted in this matter going away and you not being here today," Judge John Combs said.

Due to Murrays clean record, Combs agreed to give him the opportunity to earn a clean record with a six-month conditional discharge, in addition to 15 hours of community service.

 edebooy@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @erindebooyThe government should keep the special Vat rate for hotels in the budget, according to a leading economist.

It has been reported the 9% rate may be increased as the tourism sector continues to perform well.By Gordon Deegan

A 26-year-old Co Limerick man, Daithi De Nogla has joined the exclusive list of 20-something Irish YouTuber millionaires.

New accounts show that accumulated profits at De Noglas YouTube firm last year soared by 661,967 to 1.5m where the company recorded weekly profits of 12,730 in 2017.

During a bumper year for the low profile De Nogla, his companys cash pile increased more than fivefold going from 247,158 to 1.329m.

Mr De Nogla's set up his YouTube channel, Daithi De Nogla back in 2012 and today it has 6.28 million subscribers and in an interview today he said that he expects it to achieve more than one billion views before the end of the year.

The number of views currently sits at 962.3m views and Mr Nogla said that by December he hopes to ramp up monthly views to around 30m.

Subscribers look on at Daithis goofy YouTube persona playing video games and having the craic and banter.

The channel generates its revenues through ad revenue and views and Mr De Nogla said that the single highest monthly payment he has received from his YouTube work was a payment of over 100,000 last year.

He said that his monthly payment from his work this coming December could be as high.

Mr De Nogla is a cousin of All-Ireland winning Limerick hurler, Sean Finn and said that he was very proud to cheer on his cousin and the Limerick hurlers to the All-Ireland win from his couch at his Limerick home earlier this month.

He said: The Finns bleed hurling. It was really cool to him Limerick win the All-Ireland.

The Institute of Technology at Tralee (ITT) drop-out said that he expects his YouTube business to generate revenues of around 1m this year which he said would be similar to last year.

The YouTuber - who studied Early Childhood Care and Education at ITT - leads a modest lifestyle and he said that he does his shopping at the local German discount store, Lidl. They do nice juices, he said.

Mr De Nogla handed himself a handsome pay-rise last year going from 33,800 to 78,810 though he pointed out that he gave away some of his salary to those in need.

Mr De Nogla said that much of his income last year came from sponsorship from gaming firms.

In spite of giving him a very lucrative living, Mr De Nogla said:

The Internet can be a cruel place and people can be tough on you. I steer well clear of that.

Mr De Nogla said that he spends as much as five months a year in Los Angelus doing deals.

The YouTuber rents an apartment in LA to act as a hub for his business there and he doesnt employ a manager or an agent and completes all the deals himself.

The video above contains some strong language which some readers may find offensive.

Asked how long he will remain in the business, Mr De Nogla said: My longevity depends how much I evolve and I think I can continue doing this into my early 30s."

Mr De Nogla said that he is enjoying life and his YouTube career right now, but I wouldnt be phased if the YouTube work ended and I could go back to college and get a degree.

Recalling his time in college here, Mr De Nogla said:Almost 83,000 people are now on the waiting list for driving tests around the country.

Some learner drivers are waiting up to six months for a test in some areas.

Independent Senator Victor Boyhan said the delays have reached crisis point and called on the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross to intervene.

"Many young people and families are now preparing for the new third-level term and getting back to work routines," she said.

"Young drivers need to be facilitated get their full licence to support their mobility. With high rents many young people are now commuting long distances to college or work  and they need to be able to drive independently.

Senator Boyhan said the issue lies in a shortage of driving testers and Minister Ross needs to sanction immediate recruitment of more staff.

Information supplied to Senator Boyhan by the Road Safety Authority showed that of the 83,000 on the overall waiting list, more than 45,000 are awaiting a test appointment.

The latest figures also show that there are 98 testers nationwide. Ten have retired so far this year with two more to retire by year end.

Only four new testers have been recruited since June.

I am calling on Minister Ross to urgently sanction recruitment of more driving testers across the country," Senator Boyhan said.

Young people and new drivers need to be able to attain their full licence more speedily.

The longest waiting time for car driver testing was in Skibbereen at 26 weeks, with 25 weeks in Castlebar, Cavan, Gorey, Killarney and Kilrush.

Average waiting times in Test Centres varied from nine weeks up to 16 in Killarney and Monaghan respectively.

The RSA says that its target is to achieve an average waiting time of ten weeks.

There are major differences in pass rates in different parts of the country.

The vast majority of applicants are passing the test in some centres, while the majority were failing in others.

During one week in August in Gorey 42 people failed the test while just 20 passed, giving an almost 70% failure rate," Senator Boyhan said.

"Meanwhile in Donegal almost 80% of applicants passed. Also, in three of the major testing centres in Dublin in Churchtown, Finglas and Raheny more people failed than passed.

The Minister and RSA need to look to improve the high failure rate and how come this varies so much from one test centre to another. The high failure rate contributes significantly to the backlog.

Senator Boyhans comments also come after Minister Ross recently stated that he planned a major crackdown on people repeatedly renewing learner permits and not taking the test for a full licence.

If the Minister is serious about tackling this issue and also enabling people on a first learners permit to progress readily to a full licence  he needs to immediately sanction more testers and resources," Senator Boyhan said.Jorda FrantzisAhead of the official release of a skit called The Real Housewives Of The Civil Rights Movement, Bernice King-- the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. -- has accepted the apology of Cardi B. who was involved in the allegedly offensive project.

In the skit, which was obtained by TMZ, Cardi B is seen portraying Coretta Scott King. When a woman portraying Malcolm X's wife, Betty Shabazz, tells Cardi B that her husband, MLK, is a "ho," Cardi defends him, saying, "That's all right -- he marches home to me."

Although it was intended to be humorous, the skit -- is part of Wild 'N Out star Rip Michaels' new show Off the Rip -- clearly did not sit well with the family of MLK. According to the gossip site, Bernice King said the skit was "repulsive" and represented her parents in a "false light."

The release of the skit also came on a most inopportune day. August 28th, 2018 marks the 55th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech.

Although Bernice and her brother Martin Luther King III were extremely upset with the timing and content of the skit, Bernice later went on Twitter to let fans knows that Cardi B reached out to her and apologized for spoofing her mother.

"Thank you, @iamcardib, for reaching out to me and apologizing for the skit that aired on @TMZ. I look forward to talking with you soon," she wrote.

Cardi B. has yet to publicly comment on the skit.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. (Brilliance China) said in its semi-annual report that the interim profits attributable to shareholders soared 54.3% year on year to RMB 3.566 billion in the first half of 2018.

As one of Brilliance Auto Group's publicly-listed subsidiaries, Brilliance China mainly presides over the complete vehicle businesses, including BMW Brilliance (a JV with BMW Group), Renault Brilliance Jinbei (a JV with Groupe Renault) as well as Brilliance-BEA Auto Finance, a professional automotive finance company owned by Brilliance Auto Group.

According to the midterm report, the company's unaudited JV profits reached RMB 3.677 billion for the first half of the year, surging 37.9% compared with the same period one year ago. The company attributed the profit growth to the profit increase made by BMW Brilliance, which is 50% indirectly owned by Brilliance China.

The report showed that BMW Brilliance's cumulative sales climbed 13.4% over a year ago to around 209,700 units for the first six months. The sales of major models, the locally-produced BMW 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series and X1 all saw year-on-year growth to different degrees. Moreover, the all-new China-made BMW X3 saw its sales reach 2,261 units in June after it went on sale in the same month.

However, the Sino-French JV Renault Brilliance Jinbei fails to attain a positive sales growth. By the end of June, the JV delivered a total of 22,739 light buses and MPVs, a year-on-year slump of 32.4%.

On July 9, BMW Group and Brilliance Auto signed a long-term framework agreement to further expand their JV BMW Brilliance. According to the agreement, the JV will increase the capacity of its two local production facilities Tiexi and Dadong in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, to a total of 520,000 BMW branded vehicles in 2019. Furthermore, BMW's first all-electric core model of the BMW brand, the iX3 will be produced by BMW Brilliance and is planned for export to markets outside of China.Officials are meeting in Belfast this afternoon to discuss what can be done to support staff hit by a major blaze at Primark in the city centre.

Emergency services remain at the scene near Castle Street, which is still closed off.Airbnb property rentals should be banned in Cork city until adequate housing is available for everyone, former Lord Mayor Des Cahill has said.

The Fine Gael city councillor said the rise in short-term Airbnb rentals for holidaymakers has resulted in fewer homes being made available for families caught up in the housing crisis.

Until the severe shortages of properties in the market are addressed, short-term rentals under the Airbnb system should be banned in areas designated as rent pressure zones, Mr Cahill said.

155 full properties were available on Airbnb for short-term rentals yesterday in Cork city, with just 48 properties for people seeking a long-term home.

For room-only rentals, there are 300+ rentals to choose from on Airbnb while on Daft.ie there were just 96 rooms available across Cork city and suburbs.

Mr Cahill said: It is clear the Government have identified pressure zones and week on week more houses are falling out of the private rental market into Airbnb which is just compounding the problem.

The city councillor said he thought Airbnb was first invented for renting out rooms in your house but it has grown into a different industry.

While it has its place, I think in the current situation, when rent is outrageous, in the pressure zones, it should not be allowed.

We have these apartments and houses being used in a relatively modern fashion at a time when there is a chronic rental shortage and I dont think they should be allowed.

Mr Cahill said he was open to reviewing the policy at a later date once more accommodation becomes available in the city.

When in time there is adequate housing built it can be looked at again, but at the moment I wouldnt be in favour of them at all.

Former Lord Mayor Des Cahill

Mr Cahill has also written to Minister Eoghan Murphy with regards to the issue and highlighted the strict guidelines put in place for Airbnb by cities such as San Francisco, Barcelona and Berlin.

Mr Cahill said: I would urge you to continue on the success of the pressure zones by implementing legislation preventing short-term rentals in secondary homes unless properties have previous planning permission for such short-term lets.

In conclusion, Mr Cahill said landlords should be encouraged to provide long-term accommodation instead of short-term lets.

I feel that it is imperative to tackle short-term rentals in rent pressure zones by encouraging landlords to provide their accommodation for long-term residency, rather than hospitality rentals, in line with the planning permission granted for residential units.

Evening EchoTwo gardai have been injured after their unmarked patrol car was rammed in Donegal.

Gardai are appealing for witnesses to help them track down those behind the incident yesterday morning.Barnardos has called on the Government to acknowledge its policies are not working as more and more families become homeless right across the country.

There were 3,867 children living in emergency accommodation in July  the highest number recorded.

June Tinsley, Head of Advocacy, Barnardos said that recent record numbers of children in emergency accommodation reflect the patently untrue comments made recently by the Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy.

She said:

The Government must build more social housing immediately and stem the flow of families into homelessness by enforcing stronger rent controls and providing greater protection for tenants."

With thousands of children across the country returning to school refreshed after the summer break, the same cannot be said for children living in emergency accommodation.

Children living in emergency accommodation return to school after a summer of anxiety and uncertainty. Many have experienced frequent moves as hotel rooms have been booked by tourists.

"The impact of homelessness on a child cannot be overestimated and the long-term effects on this generation of children may not be fully apparent for decades to come."

Ms Tinsley said that this is not just a Dublin issue with one in four homeless children being from outside Dublin.

"The Government must wake up and accept their policies are not working. Too much time has been wasted papering over the cracks when what children need is decisive action with long term solutions," she said.

Meanwhile, TD Jan O'Sullivan said that the face that 3,867 children are now homeless is unacceptable.

Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy.

Deputy OSullivan said that the Government and Local Authorities "have been moving at a snails pace" when it comes to homelessness figures and making the over 100,000 vacant properties across the country that of liveable condition.

This week thousands of children will be going back to school and writing stories of how they spent their summer holidays, for 3,867 children this will be a very bleak exercise as they will have spent their summer break in emergency accommodation.

Many parents hope that they can bring their children to a hotel for a summer break either at home or abroad, not as a place to live."

These families and the children affected are in truly precarious situations, filled with anxiety about the future that no child should have to endure. The State is responsible for addressing this and the Minister must respond with emergency measures."

- Digital DeskBy David Raleigh

Two young women - who up until last year had no hiking experience - are hoping to climb more than 5,000 meters up one of the worlds most dangerous mountains, to raise funds for cancer research.

Kerri Quinn and Samantha Sparrow, will set off from Dublin Airport on September 5th, hoping to reach their destination, at base camp Mount Everest, a few days later.

The brave pair, from Co Clare, have appealed for donations for their cancer fundraising drive, and have set up a GoFundMe page entitled Kerri & Sams Trek to EBC for ICS.

The funds are to go to the Irish Cancer Society.

Kerri will be making the emotional journey, in memory of her late father Martin, who passed away aged 67, from a rare form of cancer four years ago.

Itll be definitely emotional, but, I'm hoping hell be with me in spirit, and hell get me to go where I need to go, and well be grand, said 25-year old Kerri, from Shannon.

She hopes to spend Martins anniversary in a monastery on her way up Everest on September 7.

Her fathers illness had lay undetected for years and wasnt discovered until it was too late for treatment, Kerri said.

My dad had duodenal cancer which is cancer of the small intestine. He had a tumour growing for years undetected, she explained.

He had a loss of appetite, bloatedness and things like that. He went to the doctor on a Friday, and he died three weeks later.

He would have been going to the doctors for a few months with an upset stomach.

No one could pinpoint what it was.

The pain of losing her beloved dad so suddenly still hits in waves unexpectedly.

I wanted to do something positive out of a bad situation. So I decided to fundraise for the Irish Cancer Society, she added.

Kerri Quinn with her late Dad Martin Quinn, who died aged 67, from a rare form of cancer, four years ago. Photo sourced from Facebook.

Kerri and Samantha have had to adhere to a gruelling training regime, including attending a special altitude gym in Limerick where they have had to try to acclimatise to using less oxygen at high altitudes.

Before they even start their climb, Kerri and Samantha have to contend with landing safely on the 500-meter-long runway, at Lukla Airport, which sits perched on the edge of a cliff.

A number of deadly crashes have occurred there, including one in 2008 where 18 people were killed when their plane crash-landed.

Its one of the worlds most dangerous flights - it kind of has a runway off a cliff, said Kerri.

Were very nervous about that plane ride.

The runway is going down on a hill, basically to allow the plane to get up enough speed, and you land going uphill so you can stop.

You can watch some videos on YouTube and it's strange. I haven't been looking at those videos but Samantha has... but I don't want to know.

Samantha, 26, from Sixmilebridge, agreed they were both nervous about the trip, however she added, nothing would stop them from their plan now.

Weve put our heart and soul into this, Samantha said.

There are so many things we cant uncontrollable; The altitude and the weather we cant control.

Id be lying if I said I wasn't worried. There were times I couldnt sleep, she added.

Two young Clare women Kerri Quin(25), Shannon and Samantha Sparrow(26), Sixmilebridge in training for their forthcoming climb of Mount Everest to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. Photograph Liam Burke/Press 22.

Theres obviously a concern but the excitement is there as well. I'm more hoping the nerves dont get the better of me.

Itll be grand, she joked.

The ladies will be doing a final fundraising bucket collection at Shannon Town Centre, tomorrow, Thursday, August 30, before heading off on their exciting journey.The ASTI is calling on the government to urgently address the issue of overcrowding in classrooms.

The teachers' union says learning opportunities are being restricted because there is not enough space being made available to students.

It comes as the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills holds the first of a two day sitting today, to discuss the challenges facing Ireland's school system.

Assistant general secretary of the ASTI, Moira Layden, says students are the ones losing out.

"One of the big this now, we all talk about active learning, putting students in groups around a table, getting them to correct each other's homework, getting them to talk each other through a problem if one doesn't understand it and the other does," she said.

"You can't do that when you have a classroom that's full."

Parental costs and principal pressures will also be examined today ahead of the new school term.

Parents, principals, teachers unions, management bodies and department officials will outline their concerns to the Education Committee's special two-day sitting.

"We are going to be talking about things like the issue of school places, the school accommodation crisis, PE pitches, for example, a wide range of issues," said Fianna Fail's Education spokesperson Thomas Byrne.

"School costs for parents but also the cost of running schools for principals as well, and capitation.

I think this will be very relevant coming up to the Budget in terms of actually getting resources out to schools as well.

Digital DeskParties who field more female candidates in next year's local elections could get more funding.

The government will not support gender quotas in the May 2019 elections.Nurses say strike action could be on the cards unless the government makes them 'a serious pay offer' within weeks.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has announced a special delegate conference for September 26 to discuss the pay issue.The parents of Jastine Valdez have spoken publicly of their daughter's tragic death for the first time.

Danilo and Teresita have thanked the Irish people for their kindness and generosity during their deeply tragic time, saying "we can never repay their kindness".

"We are not angry at Ireland for what happened," they told Miriam O'Callaghan on RTE Radio 1.

"Whatever was going on in his mind was only in his mind and it's not for us to blame Ireland, Ireland has been good to us."

Raymond Garrett, Vanda Brady, Miriam O'Callaghan, Teresita and Danilo Valdez.

Tess told Miriam that the day that Jastine was abducted and murdered by Mark Hennessy, she rang her daughter when she hadn't arrived home by 5.30pm that evening.

Tess said she was worried about her and when she came home from work that day she sat down and prayed that her daughter would be back soon.

"When she didn't come home around 7.30pm I knew," Tess said.

There was this gut feeling inside me, I knew that something was wrong, something terribly wrong had happened.

Tess said she kept collapsing with worry as the evening progressed.

On the Sunday evening the gardai came to their home to say that they had found Jastine's body.

The following morning the Gardai told the Valdez family that Mark Hennessy had murdered their daughter.

"We didn't like that he was killed. It didn't change anything. When we found out that he was killed it didn't ease the pain at all," they said.

"It didn't matter, Jastine was gone and we were also sad that he passed away.

"We felt bad that he was killed straight away, quite quickly. We wanted to find out what was running in his head, we wanted to know more about why.

"We were quite disappointed that he was killed.

There are a lot of questions in our minds, we wanted to know more about why he had to do such a terrible thing.

Mark Hennessy

The couple has returned to Ireland from the Philippines and said much of the 145,000 raised for the family on GoFundMe was spent on Jastine's wake.

"It'd be great to get more support from the community again," Vanda Brady, the couple's translator, said, noting that they are starting a new life in Ireland with no jobs and no home.

"It's hard enough that we lost Jastine."

Jastine's parents found comfort in a letter three weeks after her death that she had written to them but which was never sent.

Listen in full here:By Tom Tuite

A psychic-turned-financier has been served with a book of evidence and sent forward for trial accused of fraud and money-laundering offences.

Astrologer and tarot reader, Simon Gold, 53, with an address at Cartontroy, Athlone, Co Westmeath appeared again at Cloverhill District Court having been refused bail earlier.

Simon Gold. Picture via Twitter.

Mr Gold was charged with money laundering by allegedly possessing 800,000 in proceeds of criminal conduct at a bank in Dublin on October 19, 2012.

A book of evidence was served on him by gardai.

Judge Alan Mitchell acceded to the Director of Public Prosecution's request to make a direction sending him forward for trial on indictment to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where Mr Gold will face his next hearing on October 19, 2018.

After the return for trial order was finalised, bail was denied.

Mr Simon Gold, represented by Niall Storan BL and solicitor Brian Keenan, was granted legal aid to include representation of senior counsel at his trial.

In addition to the money laundering charge he was also charged with deception, that between February 18 and March 9, 2011, he induced a named man to transfer 28,000 to an account of a named financial consultancy firm.

He has three other counts of deception with charges that on other dates in 2011 he induced three other people to transfer 30,000, 10,000 and another sum of 10,000 in sterling to the account of the same financial consultancy firm.

The businessman was also charged with having false instruments: one blank bank draft and six other bank drafts with various sums, totalling 55m, payable to three individuals and a named financial advice business.

He is charged that he had these drafts in his custody in Delvin, Co Westmeath on October 22, 2012.

He also had another charge of having another false instrument on a date in 2014 at a location in Co Leitrim: four sheets allegedly containing 360 removable holograms purporting to be AIB holograms.

The 53-year-old has not yet entered a plea to the charges.An architect who specialises in the conservation of old buildings has described the challenge in restoring the Primark shop which was destroyed in a major fire, saying the expertise exists.

Much of the interior of the historic Bank Buildings in Belfast has collapsed following the fire on Tuesday.

While the fire service says there is "still a risk" of collapse, architect Bronagh Lynch, said she hopes it could be salvaged.

Ms Lynch, who is a conservation architect and member of Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA), said other buildings which have suffered huge damage have been restored.

The Bank Buildings is one of Belfast architect William Henry Lynn's masterpieces.

The incident at Primark Belfast is ongoing. There continue to be small pockets of fire within the building. A 45 meter exclusion zone remains in place. Operations are expected to be scaled back to 3 Fire Appliances later this evening. https://t.co/PduKNDfFTB pic.twitter.com/8Iskc880J4  Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (@NIFRSOFFICIAL) August 29, 2018

The five-storey building is listed and is recognised by the Historic Environment Division in Northern Ireland.

"It's a very significant building to Belfast, and its status is recognised by the fact it's listed by the historic environment," she said.

"It's a very important building to the city.

"There was a much older building on the site and then there was Bank Buildings which is where it got its name, then during the Troubles its was bombed and then completely restored again so its had a checkered history but it was a very splendid building in the city."

She said that while the scene of the building after the fire looks "tragic and scary", she would not rule out attempts to restore it.

"All of the floors have collapsed and the roof has collapsed, but I would certainly hope it could be salvaged. There's a lot of lessons that can be learned from other historic fires like Windsor Castle," she added.

"It's a big challenge but the expertise exists across the UK with the right type of consultants.

Sad to hear about today's fire at Primark (Penney's) housed in the The Bank Buildings, Royal Avenue, Belfast. Here is the beautiful building in the earlier part of the 20th century. (Archiseek) pic.twitter.com/PcqdyvDBhm  Old Ireland Pictures (@OldIrelandPics) August 28, 2018

"Buildings like these are very important, they tell the story of the city and how it has develops."

She explained that to restore a building with this type of damage would require specialist engineers to asses the stability.

"There's then a process to help with the restoration and also getting a laser scan of the building which helps to determine if walls are leaning or bulging and that helps us put the building back together again."

- Press AssociationA group of alleged fraudsters made a frantic across-town attempt to get $300,000 out of the country as the tax office closed in on their $100 million-plus crime ring, a court has heard.

Country locksmith Tim Batchelor told public examinations at the Federal Court that he was ferried from the suburban offices of his accountant Philip Whiteman in the second half of 2017 in a Toyota Camry with a group of Mr Whitemans business associates to a Citigroup bank branch in the CBD to urgently sign bank documents to withdraw a large sum of money.

Tim Batchelor with his lawyer leaving the Federal Court on Tuesday after giving evidence at the public examinations for companies linked to businessman Philip Whiteman. Credit:AAP

Mr Batchelor told the court that at first he did not know what the money was for or why he was asked to sign the documents.

However, he said later he learned at the branch that the bank account, which he said he had never set up, was in his name and holding more than $300,000.An infrastructure boom on Australias east coast will keep the concrete industry busy for a long time, according to one of the countrys largest suppliers, after the Victorian government unveiled plans for a new 90-kilometre underground suburban rail loop.

Look at the announcement that came out of Victoria yesterday  a $50 billion job that will last 20 years, Mike Kane, chief executive of building materials giant Boral, said on Wednesday. These projects are coming in day after day.

Australia's Boral increased its exposure to the US market last year Credit:Jack Atley

Mr Kane said the scope of the Andrews governments proposed orbital rail line through Melbournes middle suburbs was extraordinarily ambitious, requiring vast amounts of concrete and aggregate. He said that major building materials suppliers such as Boral would have to find additional sources just to keep pace with demand.

Its a mind-boggling scope of the project, if you think about the amount of excavation, he said.Telstra has been criticised by a consumer group after more than 20 Indigenous Australians were left with a total of $90,000 in debt when sales staff at one of its branded retail outlets in Western Australia sold them plans they could not afford.

This year, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network was contacted by a financial planner, who was helping 21 people, many on government benefits, that had been sold policies they could not afford by a Telstra-branded retail store in Broome. In some cases, they could not even receive mobile service where they lived.

A consumer advocacy group says remote Indigenous Australians were left thousands of dollars in debt after a store sold them plans they could ill-afford. Credit:James Davies

ACCAN director of policy Una Lawrence said the issue was "systemic", with almost 70 cases on the books of vulnerable, remote Australians being sold plans they can't afford by different telecommunications companies. More recently, this includes customers in the APY Lands in northern South Australia, in areas that have only recently obtained mobile coverage.

"It's unconscionable. [Telcos] seem to have a one-size-fits-all approach for selling ... that is inappropriate for vulnerable consumers," Ms Lawrence told Fairfax Media.Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey

SBS, 8.05pm

When people think of Greece, it's usually the much-visited islands of the Aegean or the faded majesty of Athens that comes to mind. Very few travel to the northern regions of Macedonia, which makes the fourth and final episode of Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey something of an eye-opener.

Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey.

Her journey starts at the home of the gods, Mount Olympus, and ends at the stunning Meteora, where 28 Orthodox monasteries are carved into the sides and tops of precipitous sandstone mountains. In between is a visit to Nymfaio's refuge for mountain bears, an ornate Byzantine church and Greece's second city, Thessaloniki.Theres no way youd want to go to work when youve got the telltale signs of gastro: nausea, abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea. But what about when youre feeling a bit better? When is it safe to be around colleagues, or send your kids to school or daycare?

The answer lies in your toilet habits.

The health department recommends staying home from work or school for a minimum of 24 hours after you last vomited or had diarrhoea. But the question of how long someone is contagious after recovering from gastro is a very different question.

To better understand how long you can be contagious with gastro, we need to look at the various causes. Viruses are the most common causes of gastro. Rotavirus is the leading cause in infants and young children, whereas norovirus is the leading cause of gastro in adults.

There are around 1.8 million cases of norovirus infection in Australia each year. This accounts for almost 40 per cent of the total cases of gastro.Canberra is the toughest capital in the country for people trying to buy under $400,000, with just 2.4 per cent of houses priced under the threshold.

The number has slumped from 9.6 per cent five years ago and means that a lower proportion of Canberra's houses are priced at less than $400,000 compared to Sydney or Melbourne.

In Sydney, 2.5 per cent of houses sold for less than $400,000 in June 2018. In Melbourne that figure was 2.7 per cent. Other cities have a dramatically higher proportion of cheap homes - about a quarter of homes in Brisbane, Darwin and Perth sell for less than $400,000, 37 per cent in Adelaide and 44 per cent in Hobart.

Canberra Nurse Amouri Strydom, who has been actively working towards buying her first home for the past two years. She's finding it difficult to save for her deposit. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

The figures were revealed on Thursday in a new report by Core Logic for community housing peak body Power Housing.A Brisbane driver who hit and killed a cyclist has walked free from court after being acquitted of a criminal charge.

Caleb Alan Wills admitted fatally running down Richard Anthony Burden in the city's inner-west in February 2017, but denied he was driving dangerously.

Cyclist Richard Burden was fatally struck by a car in February 2017. Credit:Facebook

A Brisbane District Court jury deliberated for three hours on Wednesday before handing down the not guilty verdict to a dangerous driving causing death charge.

Wills argued Mr Burden's death was accidental.Desperate drought-affected farmers in Queensland and New South Wales are being forced to relinquish their beloved working dogs, rescue groups say.

One-year-old Dingle, was thin and malnourished when she was found abandoned in drought-ravaged NSW.

Dingle the dog was dumped in drought-stricken NSW and rehomed in Goondiwindi. Credit:Australian Working Dogs Rescue

Australian Working Dog Rescue took in the kelpie, nursed her back to health and rehomed her on a farm near Goondiwindi, on the NSW-Queensland border.

AWDR chief executive Carey Edwards says Dingle is just one of many working dogs left homeless by the drought in NSW and Queensland.The discovery of significant levels of pesticide residue on Queensland grapes has led to a hefty fine for a farm manager.

The Emerald Magistrates Court imposed a fine of $10,000 on the farm manager after he pleaded guilty to breaching agricultural chemical regulations.

A Biosecurity Queensland officer conducted routine sampling of table grapes during harvest operations in November 2016 at the farm and testing revealed a significant level of residue from the pesticide dimethoate.

Queensland's Agricultural Industry Development Minister Mark Furner said the fine underlined the significant responsibility attached to the responsible use of agricultural chemical products.

It was unclear if the offending was deliberate or accidental, Mr Furner said.Stunned early morning beachgoers in Melbourne's south-east have stumbled across a large male leopard seal slumbering on Brighton beach.

The solitary marine mammal, which is on a tour of the Victorian coast after it was spotted at Ocean Grove earlier this week, was discovered on Wednesday morning by members of the public who alerted police.

The sun baking Sea Lion from Antarctica, resting on a Brighton boat ramp. Credit:Zoos Victoria

Police said the animal was not in any distress but reminded locals that it's an offence for people to go within 30 metres of a seal on land or to let their dog go within 50 metres of it.

Leopard seals, normally found in Antarctica, are rarely spotted in Australia, but experts say sightings of the dangerous predator are becoming more common, particularly in Tasmania.An elderly Victorian man who was found dead in a forest after wandering off in his pyjamas in below-zero weather has been remembered as a humble and generous man.

The body of Thomas Alex Thompson was found in bushland about 500 metres away from his home in Bright, four hours north-east of Melbourne on Wednesday morning, ending a massive search.

The body of Thomas Alex Thompson was found in bushland approximately 500 metres away from his home in Bright, four hours north-east of Melbourne.

Mr Thompson, 86, who had dementia, regularly went on walks in bush near his property and was last seen on Iarias Lane about 9.15am on Tuesday.

His disappearance came as Melbourne shivered through its coldest August morning in 21 years.A man charged with the alleged rape of a young mother five years ago has appeared in court for the first time. Credit:Louie Douvis

A man accused of a brutally bashing and raping a young mother in North Melbourne more than five years ago has fronted court for the first time.

Zynal Javid Khan appeared at an-out-of sessions hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday night.

He has been charged with one count of rape, multiple counts of causing serious injury and assault and another charge of stealing the victim's handbag.

The 34-year-old man was arrested in Reservoir just after 1pm on Wednesday.One consequence of having Scott Morrison as Prime Minister will be that the place of religion in Australian politics will continue to be fraught. The conservative faith communities reckon they are under siege and being chased out of the public square. Many were on the losing side of last years same sex marriage decision. Yet now one of their own again holds the highest political office.

Morrisons religious faith is a well known and central part of his identity. Biblical quotations pepper his language. He and his wife are strong members of his local Pentecostal community and in his major public speeches, including his first parliamentary speech in 2008, he has emphasised his biblical faith in a very personal way, including his reflection on his wife falling pregnant after many years of waiting.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with his wife Jenny and daughters Abigail and Lily pose for photos after being sworn-in at Government House in Canberra on Friday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In policy terms religion forms the basis of his social conservatism, including his opposition to same sex marriage. But he distinguished himself from some other religious social conservatives by pledging some respect for the popular decision on same sex marriage legislation when it came before parliament. He was one of 10 MPs to abstain.

Nevertheless, he has strongly argued for increased protections for religious freedom following the marriage equality campaign, on the grounds that those of faith, especially Christians, needed protection. Last December, when he alleged that some Greens were mocking Christmas, he pledged to call out discrimination and to stand up for people of faith if their religious festivals were denigrated.An explosive row over bullying and intimidation has rocked the Morrison government as a key MP vows to quit Parliament at the next election in a fresh sign the Liberal Party remains deeply split over last week's leadership turmoil.

The development is another blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison as Labor prepares to exploit the imminent resignation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to challenge the governments authority on the floor of Parliament.

Victorian Liberal MP Julia Banks sparked a furore over the treatment of women in politics on Wednesday after announcing her intention to leave Parliament, declaring she had experienced bullying and intimidation by Liberal and Labor MPs.

Changing seats: As Peter Dutton approaches, Julia Banks moves to sit closer to Malcolm Turnbull during a division last Thursday, the day before Mr Turnbull lost the prime ministership. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Fairfax Media has spoken to several MPs who are also angry at the brutal politics displayed last week, when supporters of leadership contender Peter Dutton put pressure on their colleagues to bring down Mr Turnbull.

Ms Banks said last week was the "last straw" after the intimidation she had witnessed on both sides of politics since her entry to Parliament in 2016.Business leaders have put Prime Minister Scott Morrison on notice, calling for swift action on industrial relations to curtail union power just as an ACTU campaign seeking a radical expansion of workers' bargaining rights gathers steam.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox has detailed a list of demands for new Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O'Dwyer, calling for stalled legislation to be fast-tracked through Parliament and for the minister to intervene in an impending High Court appeal over casual worker entitlements.

A first priority for Minister ODwyer should be securing the passage of the three key workplace relations bills that are before Parliament," Mr Willox told Fairfax Media ahead of an expected meeting with Ms O'Dwyer.

New Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O'Dwyer. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

He also called for Ms O'Dwyer to add her support to a decision by Australia's largest locally-owned labour hire firm to appeal a recent court ruling that granted annual leave entitlements to a casual truck driver working at a Rio Tinto mine.Retired public service commissioner John Lloyd told the officer investigating complaints about his conduct she would unlawfully use her power in finding against him.

Mr Lloyd in a letter to merit protection commissioner Linda Waugh attacked the inquiry into allegations raised about an email he sent a right-wing think tank, saying it had been "infected with a denial of procedural fairness".

He claimed he was not told former Commonwealth ombudsman John McMillan, who investigated the allegations against the then-public service commissioner, would probe his decision to send the Institute of Public Affairs a document created by his agency.

Public service commissioner John Lloyd, who said he was denied procedural fairness in an inquiry into his conduct. Credit:AAP

Ms Waugh denied the inquiry had been unfair and said Mr Lloyd had never been told it would be limited in the way he claimed, a report tabled in federal parliament found.Latest News Cash rate holds again, but many expect schedule to come forward Early upset on Melbourne Cup day as cash rate holds but target goes

Teachers completes Pulse merger Customer-owned bank merger completed, with new pitch for broker business

A major bank has announced the resignation of its chief operating officer.

Antony Cahill, who has worked at NAB for the last eight years, will leave his role in mid-September. He will return to the UK with his family to take up a senior executive position with VISA based in London.

NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn thanked Cahill for his service, which included four years as a member of the executive leadership team.

He said, It has been a pleasure to work with Antony over the four years he has been on our executive leadership team.

He has made a significant contribution to the bank, and his leadership in product management, customer journeys and with NAB Labs and NAB Ventures are worthy of special mention.

While I am disappointed to lose Antony from NAB and as a colleague, I totally understand his reasons for accepting this opportunity in the UK.

I wish Antony and his family well, and thank him for his service at NAB over the past eight years.

Cahill said he was proud to have been part of the NAB team.

He added, NAB is a stronger, more customer-focussed bank as a result of the work that has been done in recent years. That work continues and, under Andrews leadership, NAB is on the right path to rebuild trust and respect among customers and the community.

Cahills last day with NAB will be Friday 14 September 2018.

NABs executive general manager deposits & transaction services, Rachel Slade, has been appointed acting group executive customer products & services.

Slades appointment is effective immediately, to enable a smooth transition, subject to any applicable regulatory approvals and registration requirements.

Thorburn said, I am delighted to ask Rachel to take on this role while I consider next steps.Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

We lost the battle  again  but still won the war.

King Georges Redcoats sent a rag-tag army of American revolutionary soldiers scrambling out of Green-Wood Cemetery on Sunday during an action-packed restaging of the Battle of Brooklyn. But unlike their Continental Army counterparts defeated by the British 242 years ago, members of Gen. George Washingtons troop took the loss rather well, according to the general himself.

We had a wonderful time, said Michael Grillo, who portrayed Washington at the annual event this year.

The reenactment at the private burial ground featured more than 30 costumed soldiers who squared off in formation near Battle Hill, before blasting each other with replica muskets that evoked the sounds of the historic conflict without any of its bullets.

Centuries ago, Washington led his army in fighting one of the Revolutionary Wars bloodiest battles at the site, during which hundreds of continental fighters perished before soldiers with the Maryland 400  a band of troops whose bodies may be buried nearby, according to some historians  bravely fended off the Brits long enough for the general to retreat to the outer borough of Manhattan.

But many present-day spectators found the men in the front line far less compelling than those 18th-century women who fought for independence just off the battlefield, according to another actor who played Washingtons faithful wife Martha at the festivities, who said many attendees approached her with questions following the main event.

There were questions about womens roles, clothing, and their social class in the colonies, said Maria Grillo. A lot of people were very curious.

And the husband-and-wife duo and their fellow reenactors werent the only ones to dress in period garb for the occasion  a few pint-sized revolutionaries showed up in uniform, too, hoping to lend their hands to the cause, according to an evil Redcoat.

One of the kids was walking around with a wooden musket, and our entire line pretended he shot us all, said 18-year-old Christopher Wines, who traveled from New Jersey to take on Washingtons army.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixs on@cn gloca l.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

88th Precinct

Fort GreeneClinton Hill

Subway snakes

A trio of crooks swiped a teens phone on a train platform on Flatbush Avenue on Aug. 24, police said.

The 16-year-old victim told cops he was standing on the platform inside the station near Fulton Street when the three punks came up to him and asked to buy candy. But when the teen told them he only had 75 cents, one of the villains snatched his phone and they all hopped on a Manhattan-bound 4 train, according to police. The victim tried to stop them and get on the train, too, but they pushed him off, according ot authorities.

Hot wheels

A baddie rode off with a guys motorcycle parked overnight on Cumberland Street sometime overnight on Aug. 22, police said.

The victim left his 1990 Honda near Lafayette Avenue at about 6 pm on Aug. 22, and when he returned to get it the next day at about 5 am, it was gone, according to authorities.

Trunk thief

Some malefactor stole a guys name-brand clothes and accessories from his car parked on Flatbush Avenue on Aug. 17, police said.

The victims uncle told police the car was parked near Fulton Street at 4:30 am, and when he returned at 5:40 pm that day, noticed his Gucci leather slippers, sunglasses, and jewelry were taken from the cars trunk, officials said.

Grab and go

A nogoodnik swiped a womans purse from a Lafayette Avenue diner on Aug. 24, police said.

The woman told cops she had placed her bag down on a table inside the restaurant near S. Elliot Place at about 4:45 pm and left, and when she returned about 20 minutes later, it was gone, with her credit cards, cash, and phone inside, according to authorities.

Street attack

Police arrested a guy for pushing another man to the ground on Hanson Place on Aug. 26.

The victim told cops he had gotten into an argument with the suspect near S. Elliot Place at about 8 pm when he knocked him to the ground, causing him to hit his head on the pavement. Parademics rushed the victim to Methodist Hospital in life-threatening condition, police reported.

 Julianne CubaAmerican Martyrs Catholic Church officials arrived at the place of worship for Sunday morning Mass earlier this month and discovered an exterior wall and a sidewalk on the building's north side had been defaced with the hateful messages written in spray paint, police say.today said it will start 28 new flights, including daily services from to Jodhpur and Vadodara, in the next month.

In a release today, the airline said it would commence flight operations between Chandigarh and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Jodhpur as well as and Jaipur.

Announcing that it would introduce 28 new flights in the coming month, said the services would enable it to meet the rising demand for domestic and international air travel in emerging cities.

The flights include nine "industry first" routes such as



those connecting with Jodhpur and

Among other routes, the airline would launch non-stop flights between Bengaluru and Lucknow, Indore-Kolkata, Kolkata-Chandigarh and Coimbatore- Hyderabad.

The new services such as Indore- and Indore-Jodhpur would promote travel and stimulate business activities, especially for small and medium enterprises located in and around Vadodara and Jodhpur, the release said.

Senior Vice-President (Worldwide Sales & Distribution) Raj Sivakumar said new flights, additional frequencies, greater capacity across more sectors are meant to offer guests additional choice and connectivity.

"This will also benefit SMEs as well as corporate travellers who will be able to enjoy day-return flights," he added.

Currently, the airline has a fleet of 121 planes.Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

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Digital EditorFour years back, when Tata Motors started etching out company's new design philosophy (Impact 2. O) that would shape its future cars, Pratap Bose, Head of Design at the firm, hired people with a diktat to spend less time in office and rather walk the streets of Delhi, Mumbai, Tokyo and London to peek into peoples lifestyle  food habits, clothing, choice of beverage, etc to determine finer aspects in car design such as the size of cup holders, cubby holes in future Tata cars. These trend researchers who hail from design schools and ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital EditorVarde Partners Inc. and Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. are creating a joint venture to invest as much as $1 billion in distressed assets in India, according to people familiar with the transaction, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The US investment firm and Indian financial services provider, helmed by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, are expected to deploy this sum over three years, one of the people said.

The venture, which will scout for deals of up to $100 million, may be announced as early as this week, the person said. Varde, which manages $14 ...leaders are going to pressurise the Government so that people get their compensation as soon as possible and citizens face minimum discomfort, said party on Tuesday evening while addressing people at a relief camp in North Paravur.

"The Government owes you compensation and Government has to help you build your houses. We are in opposition and it is our job to make them do their duties. Every single leader is going to pressurize the Government so that your compensation is paid as soon as possible and you face minimum discomfort," he said.

Gandhi also reminded people, as the party is not in power both in and Kerala, they can't do 'big things'. However, he added that the Congress party is raising money to help people rebuild their houses.

Talking of problem being faced by people in camps, the Congress said, "The immediate problem in all the camps is that people are saying their houses are damaged, there is a lot of mud and dirt in their houses and people have lost their papers. So I have told all the Congress workers and leaders to help them build their houses, to assist them to clean it and to help with all the papers that have been lost so that people can get the paperwork done."

The Gandhi scion also applauded people for facing this tragedy with unity and strength.

"Every single Keralite should be proud that how the state has reacted to this tragedy. Everyone stood together as one. All religion, all communities, all cast stood together and faced this tragedy. And you are a huge example to the whole country", he said.

Congress is on a two-day visit of flood-hit He reached the flood-ravaged state on Tuesday morning and will take stock of the situation in the Wayanad district on Wednesday.In order to crack down on the artificial nicotine products, the government on Tuesday issued an advisory against the sale of vapes, e-cigarettes, e-nicotine flavoured hookah, heat-not-burn devices, e-sheesha and other similar devices in the country.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare advisory issued to all the states and Union Territories, manufacturing, distributing, trading, importing and advertising of any artificially produced nicotine products -- Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) -- will be brought to an end soon.

The step comes after the slammed the for not taking regulatory measures on the manufacture, import, sale and trading of in the country.

The Ministry stated that in 2014, a roundtable discussion on ENDS was held where health experts and officers of the health and drug departments concluded that such devices are hazardous.

It further said that such electronic devices that enable nicotine delivery or its use, are a great health risk to the public at large, especially to children, adolescents, pregnant women and women of reproductive age.

The advisory also explained that in addition to creating dependence, nicotine can have adverse effects on the development of the foetus during pregnancy. It may lead to cardiovascular diseases and can also function as a "tumour promoter".

"It is also evident that ENDS are not approved as NRTs (nicotine replacement therapy)under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules...," the Ministry said.

According to the Ministry, Punjab, Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, and have already prohibited the manufacture, distribution, import and sale of artificial nicotine products.IBM has announced Persistent Systems, Invest India, Wipro Limited, Capgemini and NASSCOM have joined the multi-year Call for Code Global Initiative to create a better future. Call for Code, announced in May 2018, is the largest and most ambitious effort to bring startup, academic and enterprise developers together to solve one of the most pressing societal issues of our time: preventing, responding to and recovering from natural disasters. Through Call for Code, IBM and David Clark Cause are joining forces to benefit their Charitable Partners: United Nations Human Rights and The American Red Cross.

IBM will provide access to cloud, data, AI and blockchain technologies, along with training and code to the developers. Since inception, over 35 organizations and 20+ IBM clients have answered the call to help improve the world. In India, IBM garnered the support of technology industry leaders like Persistent Systems, Wipro Limited and Capgemini to host hackathons within their organizations to inspire their workforce to grow into problem solvers. NASSCOM and Invest India extended support in reaching out to startups and encouraging young entrepreneurs to be a part of the social change in India.

There have been over 300 events in 50 cities around the world in addition to Call for Code days across 13 IBM Development Labs in eight different countries to engage developers. India has held 40 similar events across all major cities in the Country including Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa, Mumbai, Nagpur, Gurgaon and Chennai.

Seema Kumar, Country Leader, Developer Ecosystem & Startups at IBM, said, 2017 has been the costliest year ever for natural disasters in the Indian sub-continent. At the same time, India has the second largest developer community with 3.5 million developers  a community with great potential to create innovative solutions. IBM intends to harness this potential by giving developers access to tools, technologies, free code, and training with experts that will strengthen our efforts towards mitigating disasters. We thank our partners who have played a crucial role in this years Call for Code by validating our shared vision of helping humanity tackle natural disasters.

The winning team will receive the first ever Call for Code Global Prize, a financial award of 200,000 USD. They will have access to longer-term support through IBMs partnership with the Linux Foundation, as well as the opportunity to present their solution to to venture capitalist firm New Enterprises Associates (NEA) for evaluation and feedback. The winning solution also will quickly transition from the development lab to the real world through the deployment of their technology via IBMs Corporate Service Corps.

Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Systems, said, We are proud to partner with IBM in this global movement to leverage next generation technology in addressing natural disasters. We believe in utilizing technology for the betterment of human life and it has been rewarding to participate in this cause as it allows you to learn and look at broader problems that are beyond today and tomorrow. We look forward to exciting solutions and open source platforms through this hackathon that will benefit the society at large.

Sangeeta Gupta, Sr. VP & Chief Strategy Officer, Nasscom, said, Nasscom is delighted to be part of the Call for Code initiative and we see this as a true representation of coming together of IT community. Digital technologies are playing an important role more than ever and we expect the initiative to generate solutions that will benefit the society. Were planning on hosting a 2-day hackathon in Trivandrum, where Nasscom and senior technical experts from IBM will help design and build solutions that will help tackle similar situations in future.

Suyash Mishra, Assitant VP, Invest India, said, An initiative such as Call for Code is the need of the hour. The Indian government has always been supportive of such initiatives and expect several stakeholders such as coders, startups to come together and contribute towards this cause. We will extend our support to the solutions that will come out of this initiative so that they can benefit the society on a large scale.

Ramachandran Padmanabhan, Global Head, Cloud Applications, Wipro Limited, said, We are proud to be a part of the Call for Code initiative which allows Wiproites to blend deep technology expertise and a passion for global citizenship to act as catalysts in bringing about positive change.

Kumar Anurag Pratap, CSR Leader, Capgemini Technology Sevices India Limited, said, Capgemini is proud to support the Call for Code initiative, as it allows us to advance our efforts to have a positive impact on the world and on the specific communities in which we live, by leveraging the strength of Capgeminiwhich lies in the technical and creative expertise of our diverse workforce.

Additional details, a full schedule of in-person and virtual events, and training and enablement for Call for Code are available at http://www.developer.ibm.com/callforcode.

Technuter.com News ServiceThe Reserve Bank of India has said that it plans to issue sovereign gold bonds regularly, as the investors interest has been low. The RBI also indicated that as part of strategy to diversification of forex reserves, it may add more gold in the foreign currency reserves in 2018-19.

The RBI had started adding gold to its foreign currency reserves in smaller amount. The central bank said in its annual report, in the agenda for 2018-19, RBI also indicated that ore gold will be added to reserves. It said, Diversification of Indias Foreign Currency Assets continued during the ...The on Tuesday asked the ruling Trinamool (TMC) to spell out if it would support the after the next elections.

A clear-cut announcement on part of the TMC was needed as the party has been differentiating between leaders of the BJP, state Adhir Chowdhury said, while addressing the foundation day programme of the Chhatra Parishad, the student's wing of Congress in

"We have to defeat the at the Centre and the TMC at the state in the next election. The TMC is talking against the but is not saying clearly whether it will support the BJP in the post-poll scenario," Chowdhury said.

He said, "For the TMC, L K Advani is good but (Narendra) Modi is bad. Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj are good but is bad. We don't believe in such differentiation."



The Congress thinks that the BJP as a whole represents one single ideology which is against the basic ethos of the country and its diversity, Chowdhury said.

"(TMC supremo) Banerjee should clarify whether her party would support Sushma Swaraj or Rajnath Singh if they are made prime ministerial candidate of the BJP instead of Narendra Modi," he said.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, who was present at the programme, said the party's focus is to strengthen the organisation in the state and assured state leaders that the high command stands by its workers who are being attacked by the ruling TMC in Bengal.

During the programme, infighting in Congress unit came out in the open after leaders of party's students' wing exchanged blows with each other in front of senior leaders.

A quarrel broke out between two groups over who would take seat on the dais. Following this, supporters of both groups hurled abuses and clashed with each other, witnesses said.Reserve Bank of India said on Wednesday that will witness a further deterioration in their non-performing assets (NPAs) or due to the "economic situation prevailing" in the current fiscal.

As per RBI's Annual Report 2017-18, gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) plus restructured standard advances in the banking system remained elevated at 12.1 per cent of gross advances at end-March 2018.

The combined impact of the increase in provisioning against NPAs and mark-to-market (MTM) treasury losses on account of the hardening of yields eroded the profitability of banks, resulting in net losses, it said.

In a pre-emptive response, it said, the RBI allowed to spread their MTM losses over four quarters starting from third quarter.

"Going forward, the stress tests carried out by the Reserve Bank suggest that under the baseline assumption of the current economic situation prevailing, the GNPA ratio of scheduled commercial (SCBs) may increase further in 2018-19," it said.

The aggregate gross NPAs of SCBs increased primarily as a result of this transparent recognition of stressed assets as NPAs, from Rs 3,23,464 trillion , as on March 31, 2015, to Rs 10,35,528 trillion, as on March 31, 2018.



With deterioration in asset quality and the progressive implementation of Basel III warranting higher buffers, troubled public sector banks (PSBs) received capital infusions via the issuance of recapitalisation bonds and budgetary support.

"The Reserve Bank's revised prompt corrective action (PCA) framework became effective in April 2017. Eleven placed under this framework so far have been restricted in their operations and subjected to remedial action plan so as to prevent further capital erosion," it said.



In order to curb NPAs, RBI also put in place revised and harmonised guidelines for resolution of stressed assets during the year, replacing earlier schemes like Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A scheme), Strategic Debt Restructuring scheme (SDR), Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) scheme and Joint Lenders' Forum (JLF).

"Final guidelines relating to the net stable funding ratio (NSFR) were also issued in May 2018 to prepare the ground for banks to build durable buffers against potential liquidity disruptions," it said.



ALSO READ: Par panel questions RBI on failure to take preemptive action against NPAs

A Parliamentary committee recently questioned RBI for failing to take preemptive action in checking in the banking system prior to the undertaken in December 2015.

According to sources familiar with the report of the Standing Committee on Finance, RBI needs to find out as to why the early signals of stressed accounts were not captured before the AQR.

The report was adopted by the Committee headed by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily today and is likely to be placed in the Parliament in the Winter Session.



ALSO READ: Finmin asks PSU bank CEOs to check frauds in NPAs or face penal action

The panel, which includes former prime minister Manmohan Singh as a member, wanted to know the reasons of ever-greening of stressed accounts through restructuring schemes of the RBI.

The issue of rising NPAs is a legacy issue and role of RBI has not been up to the mark, sources said.

NPAs in public sector banks (PSBs) increased by about Rs 6.2 trillion between March 2015 and March 2018.

This led to substantial provisioning of Rs 5.1 trillion, sources said quoting the report.Tollywood actor and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Nandamuri Harikrishna succumbed to his injuries after he met with an accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Wednesday morning.

Harikrishna was the fourth son of late former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP founder NT Rama Rao and brother-in-law of incumbent state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Harikrishna had received multiple injuries. He died while undergoing treatment.

According to the police, the accident took place at the Anaparthy highway, 100 km away from Hyderabad, when the former's parliamentarian's car turned turtle after the person on the driving seat lost control over the vehicle.

In 2014, Harikrishna's son Janakiram also died in an accident near Nalgonda.

Harikrishna is survived by his wife, daughter Sushasini and two sons Kalyan Ram and Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, both are Tollywood actors.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed grief over the demise of the politician.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following the arrest of five activists on Tuesday in Maharashtra, the Pune Police said that it is investigating the linkage of these individuals with the banned organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Yesterday, the Pune Police, in a raid, arrested Varavara Rao (President, Revolutionary Democratic Front), Sudha Bharadwaj (Vice-President, Indian Association of People's Lawyers), Gautam Navlakha (Leader, People's Union for Democratic Rights), Vernon Gonsalves (former Secretary, Maharashtra State Committee of CPI/Maoist) and Arun Ferreira (former Member, Maharashtra State Committee of CPI/Maoist).

According to Pune Police, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were also arrested earlier by the Maharashtra Police in 2007 and spent several years in prison. Similarly, Varavara Rao was arrested several times by the Andhra and Telangana Police in the past.

Following the Bhima-Koregaon violence on December 31, 2017, a case was registered on January 8, 2018, in Pune at the Vishrambaug Police Station, Pune City.

During the course of investigation five people -- Surendra Gadling (General Secretary, Indian Association of People's Lawyers), Rona Wilson (Public Relation Secretary, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners), Sudhir Dhawale (Republican Panthers), Shoma Sen (Executive Member, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights) and Mahesh Raut (State Convener, Maharashtra, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan) -- were arrested on June 6 this year.

Subsequently, five arrests were made yesterday, the police said.

It may be noted the UPA Government, in December 2012, had identified 128 organizations with linkages to the CPI (Maoist) and written to all the states asking them to take action against people involved with these organizations.

As many as seven of them arrested namely Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Mahesh Raut belonged to the organizations appearing in this list.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 32-year-old Bangladeshi journalist, Suborna, was on Tuesday hacked to death by unknown assailants at her home in Pabna city.

"Some unidentified men rang the doorbell. They fled after hacking her indiscriminately when she opened the door," Bdnews24.com quoted Pabna's Additional Superintendent of Police, Ibne Mizan as saying.

Suborna, who was the mother of a nine-year-old girl and had recently split with her husband, was a correspondent for the private channel, Ananda TV, and the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper. She succumbed to her injuries while she was being taken to a hospital by locals.

The police are investigating the case and have started a search for the killers. Additional Superintendent of Police, Gautam Kumar Biswas confirmed that the motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained.

Around 10 to 12 assailants, riding motorcycles, arrived at Suborna's house, Pabna Reporters Unity General Secretary Kazi Babla quoted witnesses as saying.

Journalists in Pabna have strongly condemned the incident, calling for the killers to be exacted stringent punishment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)October 24, 2021, Sunday

Anyone would be allowed to add, change, or remove a link, so long as they are a moderator of a room and regardless of the number ...The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Pune police to keep the five accused activists under house arrest till September 5, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, held that all the accused persons will be put under house arrest, till September 5. The matter would be taken up for hearing on September 6.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the advocate appearing for one of the petitioners in the case, told the apex court that the FIR has no mention of five people in the case and that all the accused persons cooperated during the investigation.

Tushar Mehta, a senior lawyer appearing for the Maharashtra government, opposed the petitions of the accused activists seeking relief in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Countering this, Singhvi said that "we talk of liberty at seminars and look at the real picture, and sought relief in the case for the accused persons."

Rajeev Dhawan, a senior lawyer appearing for one of the other petitioners, submitted that the arrest is illegal and arbitrary.

"The arrest was done randomly, and it is illegal," Dhavan said.

The apex court issued notices to the Maharashtra Government and other parties and sought a detailed reply from them by September 5.

The apex court, during the course of the hearing, observed dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the pressure cooker may burst, the court said.

Dhawan also submitted that "if these social activists are arrested randomly, then anybody can be arrested, I may also be arrested."

On Tuesday, the Pune police conducted raids in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane, with informed sources telling ANI that Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were the activists arrested for allegedly triggering violence which broke out in January during the bicentennial celebration of the battle of Bhima Koregaon.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January this year. A youth died and several others, including 10 security personnel, were injured in the violence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The arrests of five activists from various cities across India in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence by the Pune Police was done "under government's pressure," said advocate Susan Abraham, who is wife of Varnan Gonsalves - one of the activists.

Talking about the arrests, Abraham on Tuesday told ANI, "This is being done under government's pressure. If you think Bhima Koregaon was an assassination plot, then file an FIR. You've made this case, will it stand before the court?"

The raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane. As per sources privy to the latest developments in the case, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police. The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Sudha Bhardwaj's advocate Sanjeev Choudhary said, "Out transit bail application was dismissed. We had informed Chief Judicial Magistrate that the High Court in Chandigarh intervened and passed interim order that Pune Police won't take her under custody and she will be under house arrest for three days."

"The matter will once again be taken up before the High Court in Chandigarh after three days. Still, the Pune Police arrested her. It's a complete violation of the order of the High Court," he added.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively and Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Activists and academics staged a protest on Wednesday at Hyderabad's Ambedkar statue demanding the release of activist Varavara Rao, who was arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Following the protest, the Hyderabad police detained all the activists and professors and shifted them to Goshamahal Police Ground.

Speaking to ANI, Civil Liberties Committee state president Prof Laxman said, "This is an illegal arrest. We were staging a short protest that we were planning. They have not allowed us to protest for at least five minutes. After Varavara Rao's arrest yesterday, in sympathy and solidarity to him, we staged this protest. I'm very disappointed with it."

On Tuesday, raids were carried out by the Pune Police in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane, with informed sources telling ANI that Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varnan Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were the five activists arrested in connection with the incident.

Another activist, Sandhya, said the arrest was an "undemocratic attitude."

Shocked over her father's arrest, Varavara Rao's daughter Sujatha said "At around 6 am today, the police barged into our house, seized our phones and started their search which continued for two long hours. They confiscated all papers, hard discs and mobile phones. They also raided my two other sisters' place. When we asked them if they have a warrant in this matter, they said a warrant is not needed if Rao is already involved in the case."

The police yesterday booked all five activists under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

In January this year, violence erupted in Koregaon Bhima village during the gathering to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the incident.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ahead of his visit to Nepal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the fourth edition of BIMSTEC summit, slated to be held in Kathmandu, would chart the course for a prosperous and peaceful Bay of Bengal region.

In a departure statement, Prime Minister Modi said, "I will be in Kathmandu for a two-day visit on 30-31 August, to participate in the fourth BIMSTEC summit. My participation in the summit symbolises India's highest priority to our neighbourhood and our strong commitment to continue deepening our relationship with the extended neighbourhood in South-East Asia."

He added that he would hold interactions with all the leaders attending the summit to further enrich regional cooperation. The interactions will also take place to enhance trade relations with the member countries and advance collective efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal region, the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Modi continued, "The summit theme, 'Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region' will enable us to shape a collective response to our common aspirations and challenges. I am confident that the fourth BISMTEC Summit will further consolidate the progress made thus far under BIMSTEC, and will chart the course for building a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal Region."

The BIMSTEC is a regional grouping of seven countries -- Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal. The Prime Minister underlined that he would get the opportunity to interact with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Prime Minister Modi further said that he is looking forward to meeting his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli to review the progress in the bilateral ties since he last visited the Himalayan nation in May.

He further stated, "Prime Minister Oli and I will have the honour and privilege to inaugurate the Nepal Bharat Maitri Dharmashala at the Pashupatinath temple complex."

Earlier in the day, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri had said that Nepal perfectly fits in the 'neighbourhood first policy', as propagated by the Indian government in an effort to actively focus on improving and strengthening the ties with immediate neighbours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the umbrella scheme which comprised of ocean services, technology, observations, resources modeling and science under the O-SMART nomenclature.

The scheme is charted for implementation during the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 at an overall cost of Rs.1623 crores, and would encompass a total of 16 sub-projects addressing ocean development activities like services, technology, resources, observations, and science.

The services under this O-SMART will provide economic benefits to a number of user communities in the coastal areas, namely fisheries as this will help in reducing the search time for fishermen resulting savings in the fuel cost. Currently, five lakh fishermen communities are 1receiving this information daily through the mobile, which includes allocation of fish potential and local weather conditions in the coastal waters. Apart from this offshore industry, coastal states, defence, Shipping, ports are also set to reap the benefits from it.

Moreover, the implementation of O-SMART will help in addressing issues relating to Sustainable Development Goal-14, which aims to conserve use of oceans, marine resources. This will also provide necessary scientific and technological background required for implementation of various aspects of Blue Economy.

The technologies being developed under this scheme will help in harnessing vast ocean resources of both living and non-living resources from the seas around India.

The state of art early warning systems established under the O-SMART Scheme will help in efficiently dealing with ocean disasters like Tsunami, storm surges. This scheme will also facilitate installation of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant (OTEC) in Kavaratti and six Desalination Plants in Lakshadweep.

India's ocean-related activities are now extended from the Arctic to the Antarctic region covering large ocean spaces which have been monitored through a wide spectrum of in situ and satellite-based observations. India had also signed the Antarctic Treaty System and joined the Commission of Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) for harnessing the resources.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the US Defence Department, Randall G. Schriver in conversation with Ashley J. Tellis at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace here said that waiver for India from Russian sanctions for future purchases cannot be guaranteed.

Schriver said, "We understand historical India-Russia relationship. We want to have a conversation with India not on legacy, but on future. On CAATSA, Mattis did plea for an exception for India, but I can't guarantee a waiver will be used for future purchases."

"Russia is not a country you want to have a strategic partnership," he added. He further asserted that CAATSA was the result of Russian behavior, not Indian.

Regarding India's S-400 purchase from Russia, Schriver called the deal troubling and said that the use of the waiver cannot be guaranteed as that call would be taken at the highest levels of our government.

He also addressed the Iran sanctions, given Indo-Iran relationship. He said that the US will sit down with "Indian partners" and leave the discussion for the future.

Schriver said that the upcoming inaugural 2+2 dialogue, which is slated to be held next month, would advance the bilateral ties between India and the US.

He added that the dialogue would also help to facilitate the strategic partnership between the two nations to the next level.

The 2+2 meeting would cover a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues of shared interest, with a view to strengthen security ties between the two nations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)New Delhi [India], Aug 29 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the Congress party is trying to manufacture a controversy by bringing up the Rafale issue to hide the Bofors scam that took place during their governance.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, on being asked whether the Congress trying to whitewash the Bofors deal by making a similar kind of allegation, the Union Minister said: "They are trying to manufacture a controversy when none exists.They are guilty of compromising security. That's a question they have to answer. They are guilty of falsehood on every count. That's a question they have to answer. Whether 2016 price, both of the bare aircraft and loaded aircraft is cheaper than the 2007 price when taken in totality? They are guilty of saying there's a private party in this contract. An offset arrangement which Rafale or somebody else may have with 10 different parties has nothing to do with the Government of India. They're guilty on that score, and in the process, putting the entire acquisition process which is vital for security under a shadow."

Jaitley added that Bofors was a case where bank accounts were detected into which the Swedish companies deposited money in Switzerland.

"There was Mr Quattrocchi's bank accounts, there were people being paid. If you had the slightest ethical integrity, Bofors was a case where we detected the bank accounts into which the Swedish companies paid the money in Switzerland. We were able to identify the beneficial owners of those bank accounts, and one of the owners was somebody then close to the ruling party or the ruling family, Mr Quattrocchi. Now where are all these facts? It is a government to government agreement. Government of India and the Government of France. Therefore, there is no private party in this contract," he added.

The Congress has been constantly attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA Government on the Rafale deal. In 2008, India had signed a deal with France-based Dassault Aviation to purchase 36 Rafale jets, which is slated to be one of the world's biggest military procurement in recent history and could cost the Indian government USD 15 billion.

The Rs. 64-crore Bofors scam, relating to alleged payment of kickbacks in the procurement of Howitzer Artillery Guns, dates back to 1980s and 1990s, when the Congress was in power under Rajiv Gandhi's leadership.

The then Central Government had allegedly signed a 1.4-billion dollar defence deal with Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors for the sale of 410 field Fowitzer Guns and a supply contract almost twice that amount.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hours after the exchange of words between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the Rafale deal, Anil Ambani, whose company Reliance Aerospace Limited won the contract from the French firm, on Wednesday, brushed aside Congress' allegations as 'baseless, ill-informed, and unfortunate'.

While addressing the media on the Rafale row, Ambani further said that the "truth alone will come out" on the same issue.

"I have personally written to Rahul Gandhi and stated that the Congress has been misinformed, misdirected, and misled on the Rafale deal by malicious vested interests and corporate rivals," Ambani told reporters.

It all started on Wednesday, when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in an exclusive interview to ANI, said that the "Congress stalled the Rafale deal and compromised on India's security."

On a question that Congress is levelling charges on the government for favouring Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence due to his closeness to the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jaitley made it clear that governments only deal with governments and the offset has nothing to do with the contract.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi hit back at Jaitley by proposing a Joint-Parliamentary Committee to be constituted to look into the deal and called it "the great Rafale robbery". He also urged Jaitley to revert in the next 24 hours.

He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him "the supreme leader trying to protect his friend." Rahul had earlier alleged that the cost of the fighter jet has escalated under the current government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)New Delhi [India], Aug 29 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday slammed the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for stalling the Rafale deal and consequently putting India's security at risk.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Jaitley said that the need to upgrade the existing fleet of fighter jets arose in 2001, two years post the Kargil war with Pakistan. He further said that the UPA government, which came into power in 2004, had shortlisted bids and selected the France-based Dassault Aviation-manufactured Rafale jets in 2007.

"For some reason, that indecisive government then turned around and said it needs to be re-examined and facts have to be reconsidered and then put it in the cold storage. India's security was compromised," Jaitley said.

"Why did you indefinitely delay it? Why did you abandon it? Did you not seriously compromise India's security when you did this?" Jaitley added.

Jaitley further stated that the number of squadrons India had were being depleted because of the aircraft being old, and the 12-15 year delay caused due to the Congress compounded India's problems.

Thus the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Democratic Alliance government decided to purchase 36 fully equipped aircraft to give the Indian Air Force (IAF) its long-awaited aerial superiority, he said adding that the government bought the jets on a better term than the one agreed to by the Congress in 2007.

Upon being questioned if the national security is vulnerable at this stage, Jaitley said, "I won't use the word vulnerable. It is not vulnerable in the absence (of the jets); we have done extremely well in our wars even before that. I think it will be further enhanced. So the object is that with the combat ability being enhanced, the situation for our forces will be much better."

The Congress party has long been targeting the BJP government, alleging them of paying much more per jet than the deal they had agreed to. On August 18, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had constituted a six-member task force to look into the alleged scam.

The Congress is also set to make the Rafale deal one of their primary agendas for the 2019 general election campaign. They are holding district-wise protests and conducting at least 100 press conferences to reach out to the general public and make them aware of the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hollywood star Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has been roped in to play the Hawaiian King Kamehameha in 'The King'.

Also known as Kamehameha the Great, he is known as the founder and first ruler of the kingdom of Hawaii, uniting the warring islands, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

The Robert Zemeckis directorial is a historical epic based on the true-life story of Kamehameha, whose statue given to the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington D.C. by the state of Hawaii as one of two statues it is entitled to give.

Johnson had been eyeing the movie for quite some time and decided to move forward while filming in Hawaii of his hit comedy 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle', reported Variety.

The Rock will also produce the flick through his Seven Bucks Productions Company, along with Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Zemeckis is also producing with Beau Flynn through FlynnPictureCo while Wendy Jacobson will executive produce.

The studio plans to shoot the film in 2020.

Johnson was last seen in thriller 'Skyscraper' and is filming adventure-drama 'Jungle Crusie' which is slated to hit theatres in October, next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Even as the government is making efforts to double rural income in the country by 2022, there is a need for further liberalization to attract investment and know-how in the Indian agricultural system to fast-track the process of income in the rural areas.

The need for greater technological know-how can be gauged from the fact that despite agriculture accounting for highest employment as a sector in the country, the produce is still not at par with the requirement. India had to import 1.48 million tons of wheat in FY17-18 despite being the second largest producer of wheat in the world.

If the best of global technological input is available to the Indian farmers, there will be a significant reduction in input costs and increase in per unit cost savings for the farmer. This will result in farmers' income increasing at a higher rate as compared to the farm output.

"It is rightly estimated that one-third increase in farmers' income can be attained if there is price realization, efficient post-harvest management, competitive value chains and adoption of allied activities. Hence the government's efforts in these areas are noteworthy. Putting a step forward towards this goal, the government has started eNAM, an online market where farmers can register and directly trade their farm produce at the best price. Furthermore, the construction of new roads and highways recently paced to 27km per day, improving the connectivity to remote farms, providing them the option to supply the farm produce faster," said Rajiv Ranjan Singh, CEO, Karvy Stock Broking Ltd.

"The government is now promoting schemes like Fasal Bima Yojana and Soil Health Cards, which provide crop insurance to farmers and also help in increasing the yield. A recent government report highlights that over 13 crore soil health cards have been dispatched so far. This is a step in the right direction but the process of issuance of Soil Health Cards has to be rigorous and has to be done at a war footing," added Ranjan Singh.

India is a huge country with stark realities and peculiar statistics. According to the 2011 Agricultural Census of India, over 61 percent of working rural population depends on agriculture. The same census also highlights that the GDP contribution of agriculture in India has dropped to 14 percent in 2011 from 51 percent in 1951. This indicates how agriculture employs a large population and produces less value. Thus it is important to work on various fronts to improve a lot of our rural folks. Education and training have rightly been identified by the government as a means to improve the condition of the people in rural areas. Thus it is promoting initiatives like Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana and Skill India aimed at skill enhancement of the rural youth which can play a pivotal role in supporting small-scale industries.

Other schemes like Jeevan Jyothi Bima Yojana, Suraksha Bima Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana and Mudra Yojna are providing credit facilitation and financial security as well as inclusion in the hinterlands of the country. The increase in rural income and the confidence of consumers in the villages can also be seen in the off-take of some of the FMCG products in recent times. For instance, Bajaj Corp updated that rural off-take for their flagship product, Almond Drop hair oil, has been 30 percent higher than urban in both volume and value terms for the June quarter of the current fiscal. For Marico, the rural growth stood around 28 percent whereas urban growth was registered 16 percent for the June quarter. For Godrej, urban markets grew at 13 percent year-on-year and rural grew 17 percent year-on-year. A recent CRISIL report suggests that the FMCG sector can grow by 300-400 basis points to obtain 11-12 percent rise in revenue in FY18-19, as a result of the revived rural demand.

He added that even though there are these traits of revival and strength, there still exists a wide gap between the per capita income levels of rural and urban India.

"The rural per capita in the country for FY15-16 stood at a mere Rs 40,679 while the urban per capita income was Rs. 98,968 in the same financial year," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar on Wednesday accused Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of being obstinate in not relinquishing the chief ministerial chair.

Chodankar accused Parrikar, as well ruling coalition allies, of holding the people of Goa to ransom.

"Manohar Parrikar's obstinate insistence on sticking to his chair is jeopardising not only his own health but it is also impacting upon the administration and health of the state," he said in a statement.

The GPCC president further said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ruling allies, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) have "no right to hold the state and its people to ransom through emotional blackmail by cashing on people's sentiment of goodwill towards a sick man."

"Parrikar and BJP should stop thinking that he is irreplaceable and come out of his self induced hallucination that all his colleagues are incompetent and useless to adorn the Chair of Chief Minister. But the BJP seems to be reluctant to hand over charge to any other person as it well known for being dependent on one person to hold fort for them and with Parrikar not being there, there is dearth of people with leadership quality." he added.

The GPCC president also appealed to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to dismiss the BJP-led coalition government in the state.

He warned of a state-wide protest if their demands are not met.

Chodankar reiterated that the BJP should focus on the health of Parrikar by relieving him from the post of the Chief Minister so that his recovery could be faster and at the same time the state does not suffer.

He further said that the administration in Goa is in ICU in view of the absence of Chief Minister and two of his senior colleagues on serious medical grounds for several months.

"This has been happening since February that CM is unwell and most of this period he is recuperating. However with the frequency of his absenteeism it is high time he hands over the charge to some other person as the people of Goa should not bear the brunt of his health as the administration is totally on its knees. The state is in self-imposed emergency situation with no one there to man the affairs of the state." Chodankar said.

"We once again appeal to the Governor (Mridula Sinha) to intervene to have full-time Chief Minister, if not she should withdraw her pleasure in the Council of Ministers and dismiss this government forthwith and restore the mandate of the people by inviting Congress party to form Government. Today there is an emergency like situation in Goa. We have already submitted a memorandum to that effect and will approach Governor once again. We give ultimatum to the Governor and the Government that we along with people of Goa will call state-wide agitation to protest against this state of affairs in Goa," he added.

Parrikar will fly to the United States later today for further medical treatment as he has developed "minor complications. Parrikar, who is suffering from a pancreatic ailment, flew to the US earlier this year for treatment. He returned to the country in June, after two-and-half months.

Earlier this month, he went there again for a follow-up. The Chief Minister is currently admitted in Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said that India is heading towards a clear rule of dictatorship under the Narendra Modi-led Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Lalu Prasad's remarks come after arrests of five activists in Maharashtra's Bhima Koregaon for allegedly making provocative speeches at an event in January, which the police claimed, triggered violence.

"The arrests of the intellectuals, activists indicate that the country is heading towards an emergency and a rule of dictatorship and I condemn it. Even the women writers and intellectuals were arrested and, I fear, there are more arrest left to be made," Lalu said.

"The Government will stage more excuses and arrest leaders, intellectuals, writers they don't like, by somehow framing an allegation against them," he added.

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra police conducted raids in several cities in the state and arrested five activists - Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and P Varavara Rao - in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence earlier this year.

Various opposition leaders including Congress' Sashi Tharoor, Salman Khurshid, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury censured the government over the arrests.

Lalu Prasad, who is also convicted in the fodder scam case, also reached Ranchi earlier today. The Jharkhand High Court instructed the veteran politician to surrender before the CBI court in Ranchi by August 30. He was also granted a temporary bail for six weeks on May 11 for his treatment. However, the extension of provisional bail was nullified by the Jharkhand High Court a few days back.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Teg successfully recovered a Norwegian ship, Motor Vessel (MV) Vela's anchor and cable in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday after concerted efforts for over three days.

Whilst patrolling in the Gulf of Aden, INS Teg, a warship of the Western Naval Command, received a call from a Combined Task Force aircraft on August 25, to provide assistance to MV Vela, after the latter's port anchor and 330 metres cable, weighing approximately 42 tons, slipped and was hanging into the sea.

The speed of MV Vela was severely disabled and was restricted to 5-6 knots, making it vulnerable to piracy attacks, a navigational hazard for itself as well as other ships in dense shipping corridor.

On receiving the message, INS Teg dispatched a special team to assess the situation and provide assistance for the recovery of the anchor and cable at the earliest. The team was led by the ship's Engineering Officer and comprised other specialist officers including Seamanship Instructor, Anchor Chain Cable Specialist and Machinery Specialist.

On the success of the operation, the Indian Navy received a mail from the owners of the Norwegian ship expressing their gratitude. "Your concern and commitment for the safety of life at sea are well noted and your efforts in reaching out to fellow mariners in an emergency at sea, keeping aside committed voyage is conforming to the best maritime traditions; worth emulating by other mariners. I hereby convey my sincere appreciation for your concern at sea and in the GoA (Gulf of Aden) area, and efforts to provide assistance. I am very sure that under your able command and with such energetic crew, MV Vela salutes to the Indian Navy," read the mail.

The Indian Navy also received a mail from the Combined Task Force 151 thanking them for their efforts and pro-activeness.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Border Security Force (BSF) arrested three Bangladeshi youth along the international border and later handed them over to the Jammu and Kashmir police.

The three Bangladeshi nationals were arrested on Monday after the BSF team noticed a suspicious movement along the international border.

"On Tuesday, they were handed over to the police. We are trying to investigate how they managed to reach here. A detailed investigation will be done regarding this," RS Pura Superintendent of police RC Kotwal told ANI.

On Sunday, four newly recruited terrorists, along with warlike stores, were arrested from the upper reaches of Handwara's Kalaroos region, while they were attempting to exfiltrate across the Line of Control.

The terrorists, who were recruited by Al Badr for a planned exfiltration, were trapped after the army and local police laid an ambush.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Mumbai Sessions Court on Wednesday denied to grant remand of Sharad Kalaskar, accused in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court asked the central investigation agency to apply for his remand once Kalaskar's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) remand is over. Kalaskar, who was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in explosives recovery case from Nalasopara, will be in ATS remand till September 3.

The CBI on August 28 sought custody of three accused arrested by Karnataka's Special Investigation Team (SIT) as part of investigation in the Dabholkar murder case.

Earlier, the CBI had claimed that murders of Bengaluru-based journalist-cum-activist Gauri Lankesh and Dabholkar were linked after the investigation agency recovered the pistol used for killing Lankesh while investigating the Dabholkar murder case.

The pistol was recovered from Shubham Surale, the brother-in-law of Sachin Andure, an accused in the Dabholkar murder case, who was arrested from Aurangabad by the CBI on August 18.

Dabholkar, who was the founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was shot dead on August 20, 2013, by bike-borne assailants while he was returning to his home from a morning walk, while Gauri Lankesh was killed outside her Bengaluru residence on September 5 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)New Delhi [India], Aug 29 (ANI): Clearing the air on the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the present NDA government has negotiated hard to keep prices down by at least 20 per cent for each aircraft as per 2016 deal, compared to that of the UPA in 2007.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Jaitley underlined the fact that each of these aircraft were coming fully loaded and the deal is between government to government without involving anyone in between.

"Can you compare a basic aircraft's pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare a simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft?... If in 2012 they had come to an agreement, the first would have been delivered in 2017. From 2007 to 2017 the escalations would have gone up, along with a foreign exchange variation. So there is India specific add-ons and the foreign exchange variants. Is the Congress party aware that if you take the 2007 L1 offer and the escalation clause without the add-ons, the price negotiated in 2015-16 is cheaper?" Jaitley said.

"Let us first come to the pricing. My question therefore is, if you are fully aware -- Mr Anthony fully read the file and abandoned the contract -- he would tell his party that the L1 offer of 2007 had a basic 2007 price plus escalation plus currency variation. In 2015 or 16, this would have been 9 per cent costlier than what the basic aircraft price of 2016 negotiated was. Loaded to unloaded, you compare the price again. The 2016 price is 20 per cent cheaper than the 2007 offer. So we got it cheaper," Jaitley asserted.

"What was negotiated from 2015 to 2016 and finally executed in 2016, with the escalations and the currency variations, the basic aircraft price turns out to be 9 per cent cheaper. Is the Congress party aware of this?" he added

Slamming Congress president Rahul Gandhi's charge of a more expensive final Rafale jet being purchased by the present governent, Jaitley said that every fact by the Congress is factually false.

"Every fact that they have said on pricing is factually false... Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer. And the simple case is they have made it as if it is a kindergarten or primary school debate," Jaitley said.

The Finance Minister asserted that no rules were bypassed and the Cabinet Committee on Security approval was taken during the deal and the negotiations took about 14 months to complete.

He attacked the Congress for compromising the nation's security through policy paralysis and not going ahead with a deal after the tendering process was complete.

"India's security was compromised. Was it policy paralysis or decision paralysis that you allow India's security to be compromised by indefinitely not taking a decision or was there any collateral consideration which compelled you to just abandon it and put India's security at risk? After all, once you have gone through a tendering process," he said

He challenged the Congress party to produce evidence that the deal was not good for the country and attacked Rahul Gandhi for twisting the facts of the deal.

"Any responsible politician will know that government to government transactions are always clean. Governments don't pay kickbacks. It's a transaction between Government of India and Government of France, publically made and publically declared terms that we will give you an offer better than 2007 and then enter into. But they had already gone home. If you can go to the extent of misquoting (French) President Macron, and saying that he warned me there is no secrecy clause, the French Government denied it, the Government of India showed the secrecy clause in Parliament and then you turn around and say "hoga par main nahin manta" (it must be there but I don't believe it). If that is the cussed approach, that you say look my party has a legacy of corruption in defence deals, let me make a faint effort to say everybody is corrupt. If that is the political strategy, then please don't advise us to show official files," Jaitley said.

The Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi has launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the controversial Rafale deal, alleging a "scam" in the deal with France. Gandhi has also accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of doing a "flip-flop" on the secrecy clause. The Congress has also accused the government of procuring the fighter jets at a higher cost and benefitting private parties in the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Members of Next Tech Lab, a cross-disciplinary research laboratory based in SRM Institute of Science and has garnered multiple accolades at hackathons around India in the past two months.

Hackathons usually last anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours and participants range from college students to experienced working professionals. Teams formulate an idea on the spot and work on the idea within the stipulated time.

After two rounds of screening process and a preliminary online hackathon, Team Satoshi - consisting of members Souradeep Das, Tejasv Sharma and Rounak Datta made it among the shortlisted 15 teams out of 7000+ participants for the ?nal round and won the Prize for the First Runner-Up and a cash award of 1 Lakh INR at the Techgig Code Gladiators Blockchain Hackathon hosted by Reliance Jio at Reliance Corporate Park, Mumbai in June 2018.

Motivated by the previous accomplishment, the team took part in the NIPP Blockchain Challenge, hosted by 10,000 Start-Ups, an initiative of NASSCOM which aims to establish a cross-collaborative platform that enables startups to grow to the next level. Established startups and budding Entrepreneurs from all over the country signed up, to compete with their products in this Innovation Challenge.

Another student team from SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Kattankulathur bagged the 1st prize at Angelhack hackathon which was conducted as a part of Angelhack Global Hackathon series 2018 at the Microsoft campus in Hyderabad. Ankur Agarwal and Krishna Maneesha Dendukuri were a part of this winning team which received the amazing opportunity of attending the Global HACKcelerator Program 2018 where they will be connected with thought-leaders and experienced entrepreneurs to help them become more versatile while re?ning their ideas to build their hackathon-winning prototype into a startup.

The multidisciplinary culture at the lab inculcates collaboration of di?erent areas of science and - This promotes creation of cutting-edge prototypes by staying ahead of the curve. Team NoName, consisting of Suresh Kumar, Chirag Parmar and Swaroop Belur bagged the winning prize of Rs. 1 lakh at WearHack 2018 organized by Titan Company Pvt. Ltd. out of over 2500 registered teams.

Team Unergia, consisting of Next Tech Lab members Farhan Ahmed and Projjal Gupta, among others, emerged ?rst in the International Blockchain Congress Hackathon. The hackathon saw 1800 participants applying for the online round and 60 teams participating in the main event on the 3rd and 4th of August. It was a grilling a?air that took place over a period of 36 hours at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, paneled by the luminaries of the startup world including NASSCOM Director Srikanth Srinivasan and Rakesh Bhatia from 50K Ventures to name a few. Team Unergia concentrated on implementing blockchain into the solar industry. The appreciation for their idea has motivated them to turn this into a full ?edged startup.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special Investigation Agency court on Wednesday issued a Non-bailable warrant against 2008 Malegaon blasts accused Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey after he was regularly absent in several hearings at the court.

At present, he is out on bail but has not been attending the court hearings. The next hearing in the will take place on September 5.

Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey is an accused in Malegaon 2008 blasts case.

According to NIA's case, he was part of the conspiracy and had attended meetings with some of the co-accused in Bhopal and Faridabad in April 2008. He was given bail by Special NIA court in September 2017.

He is also accused of possessing SIM cards from which various calls were made to accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur during the conspiracy in the Malegaon 2008 blasts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the drive in 2016, former Finance Minister P. on Tuesday said that the move was not even a single economist across the world.

While addressing a Students' Union of India (NSUI) event here, said, "Show me one economist anywhere in the world who stood up and said was a good thing. Not one. On the day PM announced demonetisation, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian was in Kerala. He was not in Delhi. He was not event consult. He didn't know that is taking place. If CEA doesn't know, what kind of an economy is this?"

On November 8, 2016, the BJP-led Centre had invalidated Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 banknotes, claiming it was a crackdown on the shadow economy and use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activities and terrorism. The move was criticised by several Opposition parties.

Earlier this month, a recent study by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) noted that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been adversely hit by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll-out and demonetisation, which had a significant impact on the overall credit of the sector.

Besidies demonetisation, also raised questions over the

"Ayushman Bharat is an insurance based model. Government says it will pay the premium... Is that the right model for India? I don't think so. The right model for India is the one practiced in Europe - vast expansion of public facilities, more public hospitals, more super specialities, more tertiary hospitals, more dist level hospitals, more primary health centers, more doctors and nurses, more beds and free public health care. That's the way you can treat our 130 crore people. You can't go by an insurance model," Chidambaram said.

He added, "Insurance model has been a complete failure anywhere in the world. Even in America, Obama Care - an insurance model, has been seriously questioned. America's per capital is 150,000 dollars and our per capital is barely 1,800 dollars. But, who will tell the government that this is a wrong model?"

Meanwhile, Chidambaram asserted that the under former Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh, the was "more competent".

"I've seen how President Barack Obama used to sit with Manmohan Singh and listen to him. Not that Obama will accept everything Dr Manmohan Singh says but he wanted to listen to him to know how to run a huge economy," Chidambaram said.A 26-year-old old woman, suffering from Schizophrenia, was rescued from six years of captivity on Wednesday and admitted to a hospital in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district.

The woman, named Basanti Ho, was rescued by Karanjia Sub-Collector Ashok Purohit and later referred to district headquarter hospital - PRM Medical College, Baripada.

"The patient Basanti Ho has been referred to us from the sub-divisional hospital in Karanjia. She has been suffering from Schizophrenia for the last six years. Now I have admitted the patient to the medicine ward," Dr Deepak Ranjan Pal told ANI.

According to her father, Mangulu Ho, Basanti "starts tearing her clothes, runs away from home, and breaks things when she is left free."

"We don't like tying her with chains, but at least she is safe this way and we have been able to provide her food on time," Mangulu said.

As Basanti is his only daughter, Mangulu claimed that he tried hard to get medical help from the government, but all his efforts went in vain. Besides Basanti, Mangulu also has three sons.

"Really it is a very pathetic condition for her life as well as her father. She was living her life in a prison, after the information from a local journalist, we immediately rescued her. We are trying for better treatment for Basanti," said Ashok Purohit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Wednesday said that Pakistan's military provided the sufficient aid to the Taliban militants and plotted the deadly attack in Ghazni earlier this month, which claimed over 100 lives.

"Pakistan and Pakistan's military were involved in the plan to attack Ghazni. Pakistan provided all sufficient aid to them and it's very clear," TOLOnews quoted MoI spokesperson Najib Danish as saying.

Meanwhile, Afghan Defense Ministry deputy spokesman, Mohammad Radmanish said, "There has been an intelligence weakness in Ghazni."

Earlier, Pakistan's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa rubbished claims from Kabul that Islamabad supported the Taliban in carrying out the Ghazni attack.

In a statement, Bajwa had said, "COAS reiterates that there is no support to any terrorist activity inside Afghanistan from Pakistan side. The alleged return of injured/dead terrorists from Ghazni is incorrect."

Bajwa's denial came after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani questioned the Pakistani Army Chief that as to why the Taliban militants who are accused of carrying out the attack in Ghazni were receiving treatment in Pakistan hospitals.

"General Bajwa, you signed a document with us and told me repeatedly in our conversations over the phone that when the elections (in Pakistan) are over you will pay attention to it. I need answers now..From where they came and why are they receiving treatment in your hospitals," the Voice of America had quoted Ghani as saying.

On August 13, Afghanistan had confirmed that more than 100 people were killed and over 150 others were injured after the Taliban launched an attack in Ghazni. The Afghan President had visited the war-affected city to take stock of the situation and ordered an investigation into the attacks.

Security officials had said that the Taliban had planned the attack six months ago and deployed other fighters in Ghazni from neighbouring provinces in what was seen to add more teeth to the militant group.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ahead of the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers to put a check on the spread of fake news on social media platforms.

The Prime Minister further urged his party workers to use the social media platform and make people aware about governmental schemes.

"The BJP workers could use social media to spread the government's vision and schemes. The workers should also keep a check on the spreading of fake information on social media platforms," he said while addressing the party workers via NaMo app.

"People forward messages without checking the facts and without even realising that how it could harm the society and the people," he added.

The Prime Minister further appealed his party workers to reach out to every person eligible to vote and help them register themselves with the Election Commission.

Speaking about the healthcare sector, the Prime Minister said that the health care related services must be affordable, "Our focus is on preventive healthcare. This helps the poor and middle-class people the most. Along with this, healthcare must also be affordable."

The interaction between the Prime Minister and party workers comes a day after Prime Minister Modi met with 15 Chief Ministers and seven Deputies of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states and minced no words in reminding the state heads to meet targets of central welfare schemes, including Swachh Bharat scheme, in a time-bound manner.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat attacked the Centre over raids conducted in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that the former can only raise his voice, but will not practice democracy.

"Let him (Karat) shout, it doesn't matter to us. These people can only raise their voice but won't practice democracy themselves. We got information and the government had to act on it. The matter will go before the court, whoever feels it is wrong can have their lawyers and fight their case. This is how democracy functions but Naxals don't understand how it works," Swamy told ANI.

On Tuesday, raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village. Post the raids, five people were detained for their alleged connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Soon after the arrest, Karat termed the raids as a "brazen attack on democratic rights." He further added, "We are demanding that all the cases against these people be withdrawn and they be released forthwith."

Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varnan Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police. The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B, 117, 120 B, 13, 16, 18, 20, 38, 39, 40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively, while Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a batch of petitions seeking a direction that politicians charged with cognisable offences shall be debarred from contesting polls, at the stage when the charges are framed by the Court provided the offence is punishable by imprisonment of five years or more.

A five-judge constitution bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, reserved its order after hearing from the Central government and all the petitioners.

During the course of the hearing, the Centre opposed the petitions and submitted to the apex court that 'before a person is not being convicted, how can you stop him or her from contesting election? '

In reply, the petitioners argued before the apex court that if there would not be a ban on those persons charged with cognisable offences, then the decriminalisation of politics would increase. The petitioners stressed that there should be a ban and a direction should be passed by the apex court to the political parties whose members are charged with these offences.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had supported the petitioners and said the ban should be imposed on those politicians who are charged with cognisable offences.

While hearing a batch of petitions seeking decriminalisation of politics, the five-judge constitution bench observed that the Parliament makes laws, while we only declare laws.

Appearing for the Union of India (UOI), Attorney General, (AG), K K Venugopal, had opposed to the PILs.

He had submitted to the apex court that no one can be disqualified before his or her conviction in any case and it is the Parliament to amend or make any laws into it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday held bilateral talks with the Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prak Sokhonn.

The EAM is also scheduled to meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of Senate Say Chhum as part of her two-day visit to the South-East Asian nation.

On Tuesday, Swaraj co-chaired the 16th meeting of the Joint Commission along with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. Several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were also signed between the two countries.

Swaraj also met several foreign dignitaries from Bangladesh, Japan and Sri Lanka in order to strengthen strategic partnership and bilateral relations with the respective nations.

On Monday, the EAM inaugurated the third Indian Ocean conference, asserting that the Indian Ocean is a central component of a free and fair Indo-Pacific region.

She underscored that a nurturing climate of peace and stability need to be ensured in the region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four policemen lost their lives in a terrorist attack on Wednesday in South Kashmir's Shopian district.

According to the police, a police party came under indiscriminate firing by a group of terrorists in the afternoon hours in Shopian's Arhama.

Four policemen sustained severe gunshot wounds and were evacuated to a nearby hospital for immediate medical attention. However, all the four succumbed to their injuries.

The slain policemen were identified as Constable Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Constable Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Constable Mohammad Iqbal Mir and Special Police Officer (SPO) Adil Manzoor Bhat.

The attack on the police party came hours after two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were gunned down by security forces in South Kashmir's Anantnag district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A doctoral research student at the University of Texas has built the world's smallest medical robot that cannot be seen with the human eye.

Creation of Soutik Betal, the robot measures 120 nanometer and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for its negligible size, Fast Company reports.

The robot is basically a series of nanocomposite particles of multifunctional oxide materials that can be remotely controlled by an electromagnetic field.

Because the tiny robot is capable of interacting with biological cells, future applications could include direct medication to cells in conditions such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Federal Insurance Office, USA.

The MoU provides a framework for cooperation and coordination, including for the exchange of information and research assistance with respect to each Authority's overview and other lawful responsibilities. Under the agreement, both the countries intend to share their experiences on various regulatory functions and to provide mutual assistance including training activities. India and USA have also agreed to continue to facilitate cooperation on international standard-setting activities, financial stability and the development and implementation of consumer protection through sound prudential regulation of the insurance sector.

IRDAI is a body set up under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance and re-insurance business in India.

Similarly, in USA, Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is vested with the authority to monitor all aspects of the insurance sector and to represent the USA on prudential aspects of international insurance.

India and USA have strong business relations with each other and both the countries have been in regular discussions at various political and official levels. Various institutional mechanisms have also been put in place over time to strengthen bi-lateral cooperation on wide ranging multi-sectoral issues between the two countries.

USA is one of the major contributors of foreign direct investment in India and many insurance companies have set up joint venture with USA based insurance companies. With increase in foreign investment cap to 49%, there is further scope for foreign investments in Indian insurance sector particularly from USA based companies. Hence the bilateral MoU between IRDAI and FIO, USA holds lot of potential for the two countries.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Egyptian Army on Wednesday said that 20 militants have been killed over the past few days in anti-terror raids in Sinai province and the Western Desert region.

In Sinai, the forces have killed 13 militants, destroyed 18 hideouts and captured 18 wanted suspects, according to Egyptian military spokesman Tamer al-Refai.

The forces have also defused 41 explosive devices and destroyed 49 vehicles used by militants and smugglers, Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying.

The raids are part of the "Sinai 2018" comprehensive anti-terror operation, which has killed more than 400 militants since its launch in February, with more than 30 soldiers losing their lives during the confrontations.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A splendid story. Excerpt: read on here for more photos and information.

Watani, by Mariam Farouq Nevine Gadallah

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4), was the joyful motto of the forum Back to Roots, the World Youth Week (WYW) of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The forum runs from 25 August to 2 September 2018 at the Logos Centre in the monastery of Anba Bishoi in Wadi al-Natrun in Egypts Western Desert. The WYW comes under the sponsorship of Pope Tawadros II.

Some 200 second- and third-generation young men and women of the Coptic Diaspora from more than 50 countries across the world were invited to spend one week at the desert monastery in Egypt. The participants, aged 22 to 28, are active members of their churches. Side by side with spiritual activity, they are treated to a cultural and tourist programme that includes visits to Egypts renowned landmarks and monasteries.

The opening ceremony at Logos Centre started with a word from Fr Raphael Tharwat, Coordinator-General of the WYW. This is a unique event, Fr Rapahael said. For the first time in the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church, young Egyptians from all over the world have converged on Egypt for a forum. We currently have 33 Coptic dioceses outside Egypt, in more than 50 countries over the world.

Fr Raphael explained that the forum is being held in 2018, seeing that that year is one that features a number of major anniversaries. For one, it marks fifty years on the establishment of Coptic churches abroad in response to the need of migrant Copts. It also marks the golden jubilee of the Manifestation of the Holy Virgin Mary at her church in Zaitoun, Cairo; and 50 years on the opening of St Marks Cathedral in Abbassiya, Cairo, at the hands of Pope Kyrillos VI. There the relics of St Mark the Evangelist, who had preached Christianity in Egypt in the first AD century and whose relics had been carried to Venice in 828, were placed upon bringing them home from the Vatican.

The year is also the centenary of the establishment of Sunday School in the Coptic orthodox Church at the hands of St Archdeacon Habib Girgis; Sunday School remains a mainstay of education in Church.

The forum is held with three main purposes, Fr Raphael noted. First, it strengthens relation between young Copts in the Diaspora and their roots in Egypt and the Coptic Church. Second, he said addressing the participants, it brings to you the joy of our spirituality, Church, and Egyptian roots. And third, our goal is to listen to you and all you have to say; because you are the future.

During the week, participants from America, Canada, Australia, England, Europe, Asia and Africa experience first hand the profound spiritual life of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt; even as they meet and exchange views, forming a worldwide network of Coptic youth. Members of each diocese will plant at Logos a tree to immortalise their visit.

The opening ceremony included a televised speech by Nabila Makram, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs, who said that the World Youth Week is an important step towards connecting second and third generations of Egyptians outside Egypt with their roots through lectures, seminars, visits, and meetings with prominent Egyptian and Coptic figures in various fields.

When it was time for Pope Tawadros II to speak, he expressed how happy he was with holding such a gathering of young men and women from all over the world. This was a dream I have been attempting to realise since I became patriarch in 2012  Now, thanks to continuous prayer and diligent efforts, it has come true.

I would like to welcome our beloved young sons and daughters from US, Europe, the Gulf, Jerusalem, Australia, Africa, Sudan and from Egypt, the Pope said. Because the place can accommodate just a limited number, we were able to send out only 200 invitations to our dioceses inside and outside Egypt, implying that he wished it could have been more.Three persons were killed and at least 15 injured in West Bengal as violent political clashes over the formation of the state Panchayat boards continued, police said on Wednesday.

Armed clashes took place between groups allegedly belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga block late on Tuesday night.

"The clash erupted over the Gram Panchayat board formation in a number of villages in the block," an officer from Amdanga police station said.

According to local residents, two of the deceased were Trinamool Congress activists while the third person belonged to the CPI-M.

Police have arrested 12 people including CPI-M district committee member Ahmed Khan, for inciting unrest in the area that was found littered with crude bombs, splinters, cartridges on Wednesday morning.

South Bengal's IGP Niraj Kumar Singh said arms were seized from the village and investigations were going on to find out whether the arms were imported or manufactured locally.

Political parties blamed each other for the clash and claimed their members were stopped from forming the boards.

"We were keeping a close watch on Amdanga as the CPI-M was importing arms and ammunition from Bangladesh. Police earlier conducted raids and they hid these arms before the search operations. The attack on our party activists was a conspiracy to restrain us from forming the panchayat board," Trinamool leader and Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said.

CPI-M leader and MP Mohammad Salim alleged that "it was the consequence of Trinamool's attempts to make panchayats without opposition. They want to form boards at any cost."

Ten people have allegedly been killed since August 25 in political clashes over the Panchayat boards formation in different Bengal districts.

The situation in several districts has been tense over the last few days over the Panchayat boards formation after the Supreme Court permitted the notification of the results of 20,159 un-contested seats in the state Panchayat polls.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Japanese police said on Wednesday that it is investigating the death of five patients in central Japan due to heatstroke after the air conditioning system in the hospital broke down amid a recent heatwave.

The patients, who were all octogenarians and died between Sunday and Wednesday, had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for chronic heart and lung diseases, said the police spokesperson of Gifu prefecture, where the private clinic is located, Efe reported.

Local authorities have carried out an inspection of the hospital and launched a probe into the incident to determine if hospital negligence caused the deaths, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Hospital officials said the air conditioning system in two of the three floors of the building had broken down on August 20 and they had begun to move the most serious patients to air conditioned areas.

The victims were admitted in three or four-bedded rooms, equipped with only a fan while temperatures soared above 35 degrees Celsius last week, when record high temperatures were recorded in central Japan.

The hospital, which specializes in caring for elderly patients, initially denied that the deaths could be due to heat stroke.

There were 50 patients at the 119-bed hospital at the time of the deaths.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission Exercise focused on anti-terror operations culminated on Wednesday after days of joint training amongst multinational forces of eight SCO nations.

In the joint multinational exercise which began on August 24, the SCO nations conducted training focused on combating terrorism.

After intense military training, the joint exercise concluded with multinational forces exhibiting their combat power and dominance over the extremist groups in simulated realistic situation.

The closing ceremony was conducted at the drill ground of 255th Inter Services Firing Ranges, Chebarkul, Russia.

"In this fifth edition of SCO Peace Mission Exercise where India participated for the first time, the focus was on conduct of counter terrorist operations in a multinational joint service environment. The senior officials expressed great satisfaction with high standards achieved in the exercise," an official release said.

"The exercise provided an opportunity to armies of all nations for greater cultural understanding, sharing experiences and strengthening mutual trust and cooperation. Overall, SCO Peace Mission Exercise will contribute immensely in developing mutual understanding and respect amongst SCO member nations in future," it added.

The SCO consists of India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its regular members.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that his government will double the reservation for the patients of the capital in the Delhi State Cancer Institute in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal announced that "80 per cent facilities will be reserved for Delhi patients instead of the previous 40 per cent reservation".

Kejriwal made the announcement after visiting the hospital to inaugurate a new private ward in Delhi State Cancer Institute along with Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam and Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

He further said: "6.5 acres more space will be allotted" to the hospital.

Kejriwal also ensured that the proposals for additional equipment, which have been pending with the Delhi government, will be cleared in 10 days.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the issue of transfers and postings in the city administration should be kept with it.

A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan was told by senior Congress leaders and advocates Kapil Sibal and P. Chidambaram, appearing for the Delhi government, that barring three issues of public order, police and land, the Delhi government had the power to legislate and govern on other issues.

Other than public order, police and land, the Centre had no role over Delhi, Sibal contended.

"Lt Governor is the executive head of Delhi. Executive power in respect to Delhi is confined to three service only," he added.

Sibal argued that Delhi had a legislative Assembly and executive power of the Centre "cannot infringe" the power of legislative.

He further said that Lt Governor cannot use his discretion in each and every matter.

Chidambaram contended that legislative power lies with the Delhi government and the Lt Governor cannot control transfer and posting of bureaucrats.

"We are not concerned with IAS and IPS officers. But officer belong to DANICS and DANIPS, when posted in Delhi, they are under the rule of Delhi. The officers are transferred here (Delhi), but once they work here they are under Delhi's control," Chidambaram argued.

The Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) and Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Police) Services (DANIPS) provide officers to administer the civil and police administration respectively of the Union Territories (UT) segments. DANICS and DANIPS officers are liable to be transferred from one UT to another.

Earlier, the Delhi government had told the top court that the government was paralysed because it could not transfer or post bureaucrats.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government had been at loggerheads with Lt Governor Anil Baijal accusing him of preventing the functioning of his government at the behest of the Centre.

The court was hearing appeals filed by the Delhi government on the scope of its powers in view of the recent verdict by a Constitution bench.

The three-judge Constitution Bench of chief justice Misra and justice A.M. Khanwilkar and justice D.Y. Chandrachud on July 4 ruled that the Lt Governor was bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

After the Supreme Court ruling, the Arvind Kejriwal government had sent Baijal files recommending transfer and posting of officials. But the Lt Governor stonewalled it, saying the issue involving "Services" was yet to be decided.

Baijal said the Union Home Ministry had advised him to keep exercising powers over "Services" because the May 21, 2015 notification remained valid until a regular bench of the apex court decided on it.

--IANS

gt/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Wednesday said it had formulated a comprehensive startegy to use "nationalism" plank to attract young and first-time voters towards the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections.

As part of its strategy, the ABVP will hold awareness programmes in universities and colleges across the country on the issues of urban Maoist sympathisers, negative and national security, ABVP Joint Organising Secretary Srinivas told reporters here.

"Urban Maoism is a threat to the nation. NOTA is also a part of negative We want to end this negativity and produce natural leaders," he said while justifying the Tuesday raids and arrest of five rights activists.

"They are a threat to national security," he alleged, adding that such activists are spread everywhere including on university and college campuses.

He said the the organisation will use social media platforms to awaken the young minds.

Srinivas said that National Register for Citizenship (NRC) will also be taken up during the interactions with the students.

"We are working to increase girls' participation in Around 10,000 girls will participate in such programme in Delhi in October," he said.

Srinivas said that the ABVP will not hesitate to protest against the Modi government if it takes any decision against the interest of the students.

"We are holding countrywide rallies on Thursday to demand timely disbursal of scholarship funds in central universities and also for three-fold hike in pre- and post-matric scholarships for students," he said.

--IANS

bns/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking suo moto cognizance, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served a notice on the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests of five civil rights activists in a nationwide swoop by the Pune police on Tuesday.

"The Commission has observed that it appears the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police, which may amount to violation of their human rights," the NHRC said in the notice to state DGP Datta Padsalgikar and the Chief Secretary.

The NHRC has asked them to file their replies within four weeks.

It pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.

Following the arrests (in June), the NHRC had issued a similar notice to the state government on June 29, but the latter has not submitted its report yet.

Tuesday's arrests of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and poet-activist Varavara Rao from different parts of India, triggered a massive outcry.

As in June, the arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima, Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.

Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti L.C., Fr. Stan Swami, and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.

Officials described Tuesday's operations as a 'follow-up' to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The next day, on January 1 (2018), caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Adani Group's Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) has acquired Reliance Infrastructure's integrated business of generation, transmission and retail electricity distribution in Mumbai and Maharashtra, and will be known as 'Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd.' (AEML), an official said here on Wednesday.

The business, acquired from RInfra by ATL after a process of nearly nine months, includes power generation units in Dahanu, power transmission networks in Mumbai and Maharashtra, and retail power distribution setup in Mumbai suburbs.

RInfra and ATL had signed the Definitive Binding Agreement for 100 per cent stake sale of the integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution for Mumbai in December 2017.

The total consideration value for the deal between the two companies was around Rs 18,800 crore.

The RInfra had said it would utilise the proceeds of this transformative transaction entirely to reduce its debt, making it the largest ever debt-reducing exercise by any corporate in the country.

The new business of the Adani Group shall be housed in the AEML, a newly-formed entity and a subsidiary of ATL, serving over three million customers spread across 400 sq. km of Mumbai suburbs, marking its entry into the large scale power distribution sector.

The business operations at AEML shall now function seamlessly with the absorption of around 5,000 existing employees across these three business areas.

"We aspire into electricity distribution in key cities and districts in India in pursuit of the government's vision to enable 'Power for all by 2020'. We are committed to leverage the experience to emerge as a leading utility in electricity, thereby state-of-the-art, reliable, and competitive supply experience to all customers," said Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani.

EML's Managing Director and CEO Anil Sardana, who is also ATL Chairman, said with the 'power of service', ATL will strive to revitalise the customer experience combined with innovative service platforms to improve overall service.

"Our endeavour would be to make this as a benchmark distribution system, both on network management and customer services. The immense knowledge of Mumbai team would also help us in multiplying our presence at other geographies," said Sardana.

ATL owns and operates 35 Bulk Power Grid sub-stations with approximately 19,300 MVA of transformation capacity across the country, making it the the largest private sector Transmission & Electricity Distribution Company in the country.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Most school across Kerala reopened on Wednesday after a 10-day Onam break which coincided with the worst floods in a century that ravaged the state, turning many schools into refugee centres.

Hundreds of school students, many of whom were languishing in relief camps until the other day, returned to their classes for an emotional reunion with fellow students and teachers --and in some cases to damaged school buildings.

Since August 9, Kerala witnessed unprecedented floods that left 1.4 million in over 3,000 relief camps, most of which were schools.

Education Minister C. Raveendranath, a former college professor, told the media on Wednesday that the floods had affected 650 schools. Barring 211, all others had reopened.

"Today there will be no classes. Instead it will be more of an emotional counselling as a good number of these young minds have suffered on account of the rains and floods," the Minister said.

"When I visited many relief camps in the past week, several students came up to me asking if they will be able to return to schools."

Many schools in Kuttanadu area in Alappuzha district remained closed as a massive cleaning operation was on.

However in Idukki, one of the worst affected places, all the 458 schools reopened.

"One school functioned from a nearby church hall. It was only last evening that many of the schools was cleaned up," said an education department official.

Likewise, Malappuram and Kozhikode also saw schools opening.

"In Kozhikode, there were relief camps in 160 schools and all of them are functioning," said an official.

In every district, authorities have started holding counselling sessions for volunteers who will in turn give emotional support to the students.

At Chalakkudy in Thrissur, even after the entire school was cleaned up by volunteers, the students engaged in another round of cleaning on Wednesday.

"I have lost everything and this uniform I am wearing was given to me on Tuesday by authorities. All my books and certificates were washed away," complained a Class 9 student.

At a primary school in Chengannur, the headmistress said the school was still under water. "All the students have lost their text books."

In Wayanad and Kannur too, schools began functioning again but attendances was thin in some.

"The road leading to the school has been damaged. So most students had to travel an extra four kilometres to reach the school," said the anguished parent of a student in Wayanad.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served a notice on the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests of five civil rights activists in a nationwide swoop by the Pune police on Tuesday.

It said the arrests were made in violation of the laid-down procedure and so "amounted to human rights violation". It asked for a factual report in the matter within four weeks.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC said "it appears, the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to the violation of their human rights."

The notice was issued to the Chief Secretary and Maharashtra Director General of Police Datta Padsalgikar.

To prove its point, the Commission referred to the reports in which the Delhi High Court stayed the transit remand for civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, observing that police have not been able to satisfactorily explain the offence he had been arrested for.

Citing another instance, the commission reiterated reports on lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj's case for a transit remand was pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Faridabad.

"The activist has told the court that she had nothing to do with the incident for which she has been arrested. According to her, the FIR did not even name her and she is being harassed and arrested only because of her ideology," the NHRC said in a statement.

"In the case of activist Gautam Navlakha, reportedly, the court has questioned how Pune police managed to get a transit remand from a Delhi court without any witness. The court has also directed translation of the police documents into English which are in vernacular language," it added.

It also pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.

Following those arrests, the NHRC had issued a similar notice to the state government on June 29, but the latter did not submit any report.

Tuesday's arrest of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and poet-activist Varavara Rao from different parts of India triggered a massive outcry.

As in June, these arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima in the Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.

Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti L.C., Fr. Stan Swami, and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.

Officials described Tuesday's operations as a 'follow-up' to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The next day, on January 1, caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Calling the arrest of five rights activists as "unfortunate", NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that he knew some of them "personally" and they cannot be associated with Naxalism or Maoism.

"I know some of them personally. And they are activists or leftists. But I never heard they are associated with Naxalism," Pawar told reporters here, adding he would meet their family members.

The Nationalist Congress Party leader said that the arrested people may have "a sort of left or Maoist thinking" but it did not make them Naxalites.

"It is very unfortunate that the government and police arrested them in the name of their association with Naxalism ... they are not the people who take the extreme step of assassinating 'X' or 'Y'," he said.

Police on Tuesday arrested Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha on charges of being Maoist sympathisers.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Arunachal Pradesh is the number one performing state among the northeastern states in terms of implementation of many important Central government's flagship schemes, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Wednesday.

Addressing a state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Legislature Party meet, Khandu said the state government achieved the distinction in implementation of schemes like Saubhagya, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural and Urban), wellness centre, soil health card and Ayushman Bharat.

He said that the issue of Greenfield airport for the state capital and Smart Village movement have been receiving positive support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

"The state's performance is not only judged based on state government's report but also through Centre's own independent reports," he said highlighting the outcome of the recently held conference of the Chief Ministers of all BJP-ruled state in New Delhi, which was chaired by Prime Minister Modi.

"Arunachal's performance is far ahead of many states in mainland India... Arunachal today has good reputation and respect in the eyes of Centre," the Chief Minister said as he stressed the importance of such interactive meetings, which helps in providing motivation and guiding principles to perform better.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian boxer Amit Panghal overpowered Kim Jang Ryong of North Korea by unanimous decision to enter the semi-finals of the men's Light Flyweight (49 kilogram) category at the 18th Asian Games here on Wednesday.

Indian Army boxer thus ensured a medal as the losers in the last four stage are awarded bronze medals.

Amit was far superior for his opponent and dominated all the three rounds. The bout saw a fast opening round with both boxers coming up with repeated barrage of punches.

Amit repeatedly used a low guard in an attempt to draw the Korean in and create gaps in his defence. At the same time, the Indian's quickness and superior technique allowed him to maintain a strong defence.

Amit continued to beat his opponents defence and land punches at regular intervals in the second round.

The third round followed a similar pattern as Amit emerged a deserving 5-0 winner.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian boxers Amit Panghal and Vikas Krishan notched up contrasting victories to enter the semi-finals of their respective weight categories at the 18th Asian Games here on Wednesday.

Both of them thus ensured a spot on the podium for themselves as the losers in the last four stage are awarded bronze medals.

In the quarter-finals, Amit overpowered Kim Jang Ryong of North Korea by a unanimous 5-0 decision in the men's light flyweight (49 kilogram) category.

Vikas faced a much tougher challenge against Tuoheta Erbieke Tanglatihan of China in the men's middleweight (75kg) division. The Indian was stretched to the limit by his agile and technically strong opponent before eking out a narrow 3-2 win.

In the semi-finals, Amit will take on Paalam Carlo of the Philippines while Vikas will face Kazakhstan's Amankul Abilkhan.

But there was bad news for Indian fans in the women's section as Sarjubala Devi lost 0-5 to Chang Yuan of China in the 51kg quarter-finals.

Amit was far superior for his opponent and dominated all the three rounds. The bout saw a fast opening round with both boxers coming up with repeated barrage of punches.

Amit repeatedly used a low guard in an attempt to draw the Korean in and create gaps in his defence. At the same time, the Indian's quickness and superior technique allowed him to maintain a strong defence.

The Indian Army boxer continued to beat his opponent's defence and land punches at regular intervals in the second round.

The third round followed a similar pattern as Amit emerged a deserving 5-0 winner.

Vikas' middleweight quarter-final bout saw a slow start with both boxers reluctant to be too adventurous, preferring to sit back and size up their opponent instead.

Vikas managed to take the initial momentum when he landed a couple of scoring punches. The Chinese boxer tried to be more aggressive as the round neared its closing stages, but Vikas' strong defence stood him in good stead.

Vikas however, suffered a cut above his left eye in the final minute of the opening round which seemed to affect his performance for the rest of the fight.

With Vikas struggling with the cut, Tuoheta dominated the second round. Needing a big comeback going into the third and final round, the Indian adopted a much aggressive approach. Both boxers ramped up the intensity and the fight saw an exciting finish.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian boxers Amit Panghal and Vikas Krishan notched up contrasting victories to enter the semi-finals of their respective weight categories at the 18th Asian Games here on Wednesday.

Both of them thus ensured a spot on the podium for themselves as the losers in the last four stage are awarded bronze medals.

In the quarter-finals, Amit overpowered Kim Jang Ryong of North Korea by a unanimous 5-0 decision in the men's light flyweight (49 kilogram) category.

Vikas faced a much tougher challenge against Tuoheta Erbieke Tanglatihan of China in the men's middleweight (75kg) division. The Indian was stretched to the limit by his agile and technically strong opponent before eking out a narrow 3-2 win.

In the semi-finals, Amit will take on Paalam Carlo of the Philippines while Vikas will face Kazakhstan's Amankul Abilkhan.

Later in the day, Dheeraj Rangi lost by a unanimous 0-5 verdict to Mongolia's Chinzorig Baatarsukh in the light welterweight (64kg) quarter-finals.

There was bad news for Indian fans in the women's section as well since Sarjubala Devi lost 0-5 to Chang Yuan of China in the 51kg quarter-finals.

Amit was far superior to his opponent and dominated all the three rounds. The bout saw a fast opening round with both boxers coming up with a repeated barrage of punches.

Amit repeatedly used a low guard in an attempt to draw the Korean in and create gaps in his defence. At the same time, the Indian's quickness and superior technique allowed him to maintain a strong defence.

The Indian Army boxer continued to beat his opponent's defence and land punches at regular intervals in the second round.

The third round followed a similar pattern as Amit emerged a deserving 5-0 winner.

Vikas' middleweight quarter-final bout saw a slow start with both boxers reluctant to be too adventurous, preferring to sit back and size up their opponent instead.

Vikas managed to take the initial momentum when he landed a couple of scoring punches. The Chinese boxer tried to be more aggressive as the round neared its closing stages, but Vikas' strong defence stood him in good stead.

Vikas however, suffered a cut above his left eye in the final minute of the opening round which seemed to affect his performance for the rest of the fight.

With Vikas struggling with the cut, Tuoheta dominated the second round. Needing a big comeback going into the third and final round, the Indian adopted a much more aggressive approach. Both boxers ramped up the intensity and the fight saw an exciting finish.

In the light welterweight quarters, Rangi was no match for his Mongolian opponent. He was outclassed in the first two rounds as Baatarsukh tightened his grip on the bout.

The Indian tried to increase the tempo in the final round and managed to land a few scoring punches. But the Mongolian used his superior technique to counter Rangi's onslaught and hold on for the win.

--IANS

ajb/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Japan secured gold medals in both individual mens skateboarding events at the 2018 Asian Games here on Wednesday.

In the street discipline, 17-year-old Ike Keyaki took the win with a score of 31.1, ahead of Indonesia's 16-year-old Sanggoe Darma Tanjung in second, who scored 30.5 to claim the silver medal, reports Efe news.

Another teenager, South Korea's Eun Juwon, rounded out the podium spots in third place, claiming the bronze medal with a score of 25.4

In the park category, another Japanese teenager, 19-year-old Kensuke Sasaoka, claimed the gold medal, earning a score of 75 points from the judges.

Indonesians Jason Dennis Lijnzaat and Pevi Permana Putra took the silver and bronze medals respectively to delight the home crowd.

Keyaki's and Sasaoka's medals bring their country's total to 48 gold out of a total of 154, although Japan still trail China, who boast a total of 213, including a whopping 100 gold.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day ahead of the start of 4th BIMSTEC Summit, India's Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh on Wednesday said that the sub-regional group of seven nations was a priority for India as it fulfilled the country's "Neighbourhood First" and "Act East" foreign policy goals.

Speaking at the 16th ministerial meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) chaired by Nepal's Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, the Minister said that with the completion of 21 years, BIMSTEC was at a critical juncture.

He reiterated India's sincere and abiding commitment to work with all BIMSTEC member- states for a safe, strong and prosperous Bay of Bengal region.

Earlier, a Foreign Secretary-level meeting discussed a wide range of issues like regional connectivity, customs cooperation, counterterrorism, regional security, agriculture cooperation, poverty alleviation and traditional medicine.

It also discussed establishment of a permanent Secretariat of BIMSTEC in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

During the meeting, the Foreign Secretaries of member-states agreed on setting up of a dedicated development fund for executing projects and conducting research in the region.

They decided to set up a technical team to finalise the modalities of the BIMSTEC Development Fund and decide its size and objectives, said Nepal's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Bharat Raj Poudyal.

They also agreed on the drafting of a dedicated charter for the body by studying templates of charters of other regional bodies.

Nepal is the current Chair of the body of seven countries surrounding the Bay of Bengal which was formed in June 1997 and will be hosting the summit on August 30 and 31.

They also recommended trimming the numbers of areas of cooperation undertaken by the regional body and identifying focused agendas of cooperation.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Notwithstanding the push for simultaneous polls, the BJP appears to be in no hurry to go for parliamentary elections along with a round of Assembly elections due this year end.

The party is said to be preparing for Lok Sabha elections to be held on schedule in the summer of next year, reliable sources in BJP told IANS.

The party's current strategy on the Lok Sabha polls assumes significance in the context of speculation that the Lok Sabha polls could be advanced to be held along with the elections to the assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and Mizoram this year end.

They said that at their meeting held here on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah asked Chief Ministers of states ruled by the BJP to be ready by February-end on the government and organisational fronts for the Lok Sabha polls next summer.

They also said that Chief Ministers had been told to achieve the new targets regarding implementation of major welfare schemes of the central and the state governments by February 2019.

Amit Shah has directed the Chief Ministers to hold a conferences of beneficiaries across their state from mandal to district level.

At such conferences, the beneficiaries of Centre's and state government schemes would be invited and the focus would be to make them BJP voters. Shah has also given a 22-point agenda for implementation at the booth level.

The meeting was attended by 14 BJP Chief Ministers and seven Deputy Chief Ministers including those of Bihar, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.

The meeting resolved to make Modi the Prime Minister again in 2019 by getting a bigger majority than achieved in the 2014 elections.

Several union ministers including Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj attended the meeting.

A senior BJP leader present at the meeting said the Chief Ministers were asked to come for the Tuesday meeting with a road map for the Lok Sabha elections.

The Chief Ministers presented a report card about targets achieved against goals set and their plans to set new targets to be achieved by February 2019 in implementing Centre's six major welfare schemes including Ujjawala, Aawas Yojana, Swachha Bharat Abhiyan and Ayushmaan Bharat.

The Prime Minister and the BJP President have asked the BJP Chief Ministers to get ready for the at a time when there is an ongoing discussion on holding simultaneous polls to Parliament and state Assemblies.

Simultaneous elections from panchayat to Parliament was the main theme during the last meeting of the BJP Chief Ministers' Council meeting held in Delhi in February 2018. The issue did not come up on Tuesday.

According to sources, the Chief Ministers have also been asked to be in touch with smaller regional parties in their states so that the possibility of alliances could be explored for the elections.

In 2014, the Election Commission announced the poll dates on March 5. Balloting took place in nine phases between April 7 and May 12. The vote count took place on May 16.Taking a dig at film stars who do "charity" and "social work" with a troupe of media representatives to record the moment, Tamil-Telugu actor Vishal Krishna, who turned a year older on Wednesday, says the day acquires a special hue only when the fans are included in the celebration.

The actor is riding high on the success of his last release "Irumbhu Thirai" in Tamil and "Abhimanyudu" in Telugu.

Coincidentally, Vishal's birthday coincided with the 100-day celebration of the film. For his birthday, Vishal's most ardent fan, a blind girl from Canada named Akshaya, flew in to participate.

"It was the best way I could think of to celebrate my birthday. Akshaya is my biggest fan. She cannot see. But she recognises me on-screen through my voice. She knows each and every dialogue of mine. Some of these, I've forgotten. But she has all my lines on her fingertips.

"I wanted Akshaya to give me the trophy for the 100-day run of my film on my birthday. I couldn't think of a better gift. Blowing kisses and taking selfies is not my idea of a birthday well spent," Vishal said.

For Vishal, his celebrity status is a tool for social improvement.

"I see no point in being popular if you don't use your voice to bring political change. There are lots of positive changes happening in Tamil Nadu politics. I am a part of that change. I don't believe in standing in a corner and clapping. I will always be a player, not a spectator."

Vishal's next release "Sandakozhi 2", which comes out in October, has a strong social message on social equality.

"And my film after that to be released in January 2018 is about capital punishment for child rapists. Like I said, an actor is useful to society only when he uses his voice to create awareness," he said.

--IANS

skj/rb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Brazilian President Michel Temer has announced deployment of armed forces in the border state of Roraima to restore order disrupted by an immigration crisis.

The announcement came on Tuesday after thousands of Venezuelan immigrants entered Brazil through Roraima in 2017.

The significant rise in their population caused tensions in the state where xenophobic groups had attacked hundreds of immigrants earlier in August, Xinhua news agency reported.

Citizens and authorities have complained that the federal government has ignored the situation in Roraima without providing necessary aid while the government said it has been working to move the immigrants to other states in order to reduce the burden on Roraima.

According to the Brazilian government, between 2015 and June 2017, about 56,700 Venezuelan immigrants sought refuge or permanent residence in Brazil, but the number of Venezuelans who entered the country in this period is believed to be much higher.

--IANS

mag/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Buddhist monk was detained on Wednesday after minor children in Bodh Gaya in Bihar alleged he had sexually abused them, officials said.

The monk, Bhante Sanghpriya, was detained for interrogation after 15 minor children, from Prasanna Joyti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre in Mastipur near Buddhist holy shrine in Bodh Gaya, complained about him, district police official Anil Kumar said.

The residential Buddhist school-cum-meditation centre is run by the accused Buddhist monk, who had reportedly forced some minor children for unnatural sex, it was mentioned in the police complaint by the children.

All the victims, aged between 6 to 12, belong to Assam.

--IANS

ik/pgh/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Bulgaria for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism -- the second such agreement after 14 years.

The two countries on May 26, 1994, had also signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism.

The main objective of the new MoU is to expand bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, exchange information and data related to it, encourage cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators and establish exchange programmes for cooperation in human resource development, said a Cabinet statement.

"Exchange of experiences in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management is also an essential part of the MoU," said the statement. "The MoU will foster bilateral cooperation through film tourism for promoting the two countries as attractive tourism destinations and promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism."

The MoU will lead to exchange of visits of tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of two way tourism between the two countries.

As Bulgaria is a potential tourism market for India, the statement said, signing of the MoU will be instrumental in increasing the arrival of tourists from this "important source market".

A government data said that India received approximately 5,288 tourists from Bulgaria in 2017.

Wednesday's Union Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

--IANS

rak/anp/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China on Wednesday denied a media report that it is helping Afghanistan build a military base and eventually plans to deploy its military in the strife-torn country.

According to the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, Beijing has begun building a training camp for Afghan troops in a narrow corridor that connects the two countries.

The daily quoted a source as saying the Beijing was fully funding the base to help Kabul improve counterterrorism efforts.

Once the camp was completed, the People's Liberation Army was likely to send hundreds of military personnel - at least one battalion worth - to Afghanistan's isolated Wakhan Corridor, the Post quoted another source as saying.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the report was "not true".

Asked which part of the report Beijing was denying, Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "You know this report which talked about China planning to set up military training bases and send in troops. If setting up military bases is not true, then what comes next is also not true."

The corridor is a barren and inhospitable stretch of land that connects Afghanistan's province of Badakhshan to China's restive Xinjiang.

China has launched a massive crackdown against Ugyhur Muslims in Xingjiang who it suspects have separatist tendencies.

Afghanistan has become increasingly important for China's own security as well as President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" trade and infrastructure plan.

--IANS

gsh/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday termed the Congress allegations on the Rafale deal as "complete falsehood" and said the basic aircraft price at which the fighter jets had been bought was 9 per cent cheaper than that negotiated by the UPA government.

In a blogpost, Jaitley accused the Congress of seriously compromising national security by delaying the Rafale deal by over a decade and alleged that it was raising issues to "further delay defence procurement so that India's defence preparedness further suffers".

He said the Congress had launched a "false campaign" that the Modi government had paid a higher price for the fighter jets, an industrialist had been favoured and the interests of the public sector were compromised.

"Each one of the above issues is based on complete falsehood. It is expected from national political parties and its responsible leaders to keep themselves informed of the basic facts before they enter a public discourse on defence transactions," Jaitley said.

"Every fact that Gandhi and the Congress has spoken on pricing and procedure are completely false," he said.

"The UPA was a government which suffered from a decision-making paralysis. Do you agree that the delay of over one decade was only on account of the incompetence and indecisiveness of the UPA Government?

"Did this delay seriously compromise national security? Is not the medium multi-role combat aircraft required by our forces to identify and strike at targets particularly when two of our neighbours have already enhanced their strength in this area?

"Was this delay and eventual abatement of the purchase by the UPA based on collateral considerations as had been witnessed in earlier transactions such as the purchase of the 155 mm Bofors gun?" Jaitley questioned.

The Minister said the Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi were unaware of the Rafale deal facts.

"How is it that Gandhi quoted a price of Rs 700 crore per aircraft in Delhi and Karnataka in April and May? In Parliament, he reduced it to Rs 520 crore per aircraft, in Raipur he increased it to Rs 540 crore, in Jaipur he used Rs 520 crore and Rs 540 crore in the same speech," he said.

"Truth has only one version, falsehood has many. Are these allegations being made without any familiarity with the facts of the Rafale purchase?" he asked.

--IANS

aks/ps/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said the country is heading towards dictatorship and that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is paving the way for the imposition of Emergency.

"Modi is afraid that he would be murdered. It hardly sounds good as he is the Prime Minister. Some rights activists have been arrested for suspected threat to Modi. It is an attack on the people's rights," Lalu Prasad told the media at the airport here with reference to the arrest of five rights activists by Pune police on Tuesday.

The RJD leader alleged that there was "total collapse of law and order" in Bihar. "There is no law and order. It is total anarchy. Hardly a day passes without reports of murder, rape, loot, extortion and kidnapping in the state."

He was on way to Ranchi to surrender in a CBI Special Court on August 30 after his plea for the three-month extension of provisional bail was rejected last week by the Jharkhand High Court. He was directed to surrender by August 30.

The former Chief Minister was given provisional bail on health grounds in May, after remaining in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi for nearly five months. He is serving jail terms since December 23, 2017, after his conviction in a fodder scam case.

He was convicted in two other such cases in January and March 2018 and awarded 14 years in jail. In 2013, he was convicted in the first fodder scam case and sentenced to five-year jail.

As for his conviction in fodder scam cases, he said that he had full faith in judiciary. "I will get justice one day," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Even as the Pragati Maidan venue seemed to be flooded due to the rains, the organisers of 24th Delhi Book Fair said the downpour had little impact on the daily footfall of "8,000-10,000".

Naveen Gupta, Executive Council member of Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), one of the organisers, told IANS on Wednesday that the visitors were unfazed by the rains.

"Even the drawing competition organised for school children saw at least 400 students participating energetically, right in the morning when it was pouring heavily," he said.

"We are, in fact, hoping to cross our last year's footfall of 80-90 thousand, and touch the one lakh mark."

He said there are at least 8-10 thousand people visiting the book fair each day, with the number rising on the weekends.

An on-duty security guard said he noted little change in the number of visitors, due to its shuttle service and free entry.

"The free shuttle service ensures convenience, so people always have that option. It's especially better for an older crowd too," he said.

However, he agreed that the wet carpeting, rain-filled puddles and potholes are off-putting.

The fair's fifth day had a literary event for children organised by the national academy of letters, the Sahitya Akademi, which has many new titles on its shelves this year.

"Our literature, poetry and translations are selling more in Hindi, as compared to English and other languages," said a Sahitya Akademi spokesperson, adding rains did not discourage those buying or browsing.

The fair, coinciding with the 20th Stationery Fair, has leading stationers like Kores, Navneet and Uniball exhibiting and selling their products.

A Kores sales promotion executive said there was not a major dip in the people coming in.

Sharing her experience of the book fair, college student Richa said weekdays are usually less crowded than weekends, but it's easier for college and school students to visit after study hours.

She said she had paid multiple visits to the fair just to browse through each section properly.

"Rains are not a major concern. In fact, rains and books are more tempting together," she said.

The nine-day book fair has been organised by the India Trade Promotion Organization and Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) and will continue till September 2.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A teenage son of a Delhi Police Sub-inspector was arrested on charge of repeatedly raping and blackmailing a minor girl who is a daughter of another SI, police said on Wednesday.

Police said the crime came to light on Tuesday when the accused, 17, reached the girl's residence in west Delhi's Dwarka and threatened her but was caught by her father. The accused had allegedly called her to his house on Monday but the girl had refused.

"The girl's father posted in a different police station heard their conversation and informed police. The girl, a student of Class 12, came in contact with the accused some six months ago," a senior police officer said.

The accused took her to an unidentified place for a date in February, made her consume a soft drink laced with sedative, raped her, and videotaped the crime," the officer said.

"A native of Haryana, the accused was blackmailing her ever since and forcing her to submit to his carnal desires against her wish," he added.

"The youngster confessed to his crime during questioning. His mobile phone containing eight objectionable video clips of the girl was seized. The Juvenile Justice Board sent him to a children's observation home," the officer added.

--IANS

sp/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Notwithstanding the fact that only over Rs.10,000 crore of demonetised money did not come back to the RBI, government on Wednesday claimed that it has achieved the targets it had set in its decision, including checking black money, counterfeit currency and terror funding while encouraging digital transactions.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the demonetisation process was now complete.

His comments came after the RBI in its annual report said that 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.3 lakh crore taken out of circulation in November 2016 has returned to the central bank. In the immediate aftermath of the demonetisation measure effected in November, 2016 the government had claimed that a sum of Rs. three lakh crore to Rs. four lakh crore would not come back to the banks, implying that it would correspond to the unaccounted money in the system.

Without elaborating further, Garg said that the government has achieved the targets it had set for the demonetisation drive, including checking black money, conterfeit currency and terror funding and encouraging digital transactions.

He referred to the annual report of the RBI last year which said at that time that most of the notes were counted but the process was not complete.

"Around Rs 16,000 crore of demonetised notes were not received. The rest were. Now they have completed the whole process. All the notes which have been received have been counted. They have been disposed of and the final account that has come up is about Rs. 10 thousand odd crore of the notes have not come back.

"There are some small notes which are stuck in the whole process, which can come back. Some amount with the law enforcement agency. It is a small number. The process of demonetisation is now complete," he said.

Garg said there were benefits in the process with major advantage being induction of newer notes with more security features, "virtually weeding out all the fake currency".

"We have not in the last one year and 10 months had a single high quality fake note in the system. This is the result of the new currency. The physical currency was growing at a certain rate. It is a natural process as the GDP grows, payment system grows, currency grows. After demonetization if it had grown at that rate, the currency, which is in the system today, is 87-88 per cent of that ... so the Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh crore less currency is in the system today than it would have been had the old system been in place," he said in an apparent reference to the Rs. three lakh to Rs. four lakh that was claimed would be extinct.

The RBI's annual report 2017-18 said that on completion of the process of verification of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it is found that the total value of the demonetised currency returned to the banks now stands at Rs 15.3 lakh crore, which amounts to 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth of such notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.

Asked about reports of fake notes presented to the banks post-demonetisation, Garg said last year in a RBI report it was said, that all the notes were verified and the amount of fake notes was "minuscule and ignorable".

In reply to whether an MoU has been signed with Nepal and Bangladesh on the fate of the demonetised currencies lying in those countries, he said "there are some notes in Nepal in the central bank and in Bangladesh it is even lower. No MOUs has been signed and we most probably won't accept any notes from them."

The official said there was no cash crunch in the country now. It was a temporary problem in the month of February-March.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has attached properties worth Rs 26.65 crore of senior journalist Upenra Rai in connection with its ongoing probe into a money laundering case.

An ED official told IANS that the attached assets includes a building in south Delhi's Greater Kailash 1 area and a flat on Hailey Road in the heart of Delhi.

The ED also attached a flat and a penthouse of Rai in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddha Nagar and a flat each in Gomatinagar and Gokhale Marg in Lucknow.

The agency also attached investment worth Rs 5.62 crore in bank fixed deposits and mutual funds and three luxury cars.

The ED earlier filed a charge sheet in the case alleging that Rai laundered over Rs 29.58 crore by adopting different modus operandi and was involved in "extortion of the huge amount from different companies and corporate houses".

The agency alleged that Rai took "undue advantage of his connections with several government officials" to gain access to confidential information about the penal proceedings contemplated against various defaulters.

According to the ED, Rai entered into agreement for consultancy services and issued false invoices to give genuine and legal shape to those transactions.

He allegedly received huge amounts of money from shell companies. The individuals and shell companies existed only on paper.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in July arrested a Bureau of Civil Aviation Security official, Rahul Rathore, and the Chairman and Managing Director of aviation firm Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd, Alok Sharma, after it found out about their involvement in the commission of crime committed by Rai, currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Rai was arrested by the CBI on May 3 for dubious transactions of over Rs 100 crore in his bank accounts during 2017-18 and for using false information to obtain access to sensitive areas through Aerodrome Entry Pass (AEP) for all airports in the country. The ED arrested him on May 8.

--IANS

aks/in/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ahead of his departure for Nepal to attend in the Fourth Bimstec Summit on Kathmandu on August 30-31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that his participation in the event symbolises the priority India accords to deepening ties with India's extended neighbourhood in Southeast Asia.

"My participation in the Summit symbolises India's highest priority to our neighbourhood and our strong commitment to continue deepening our relationship with the extended neighbourhood in Southeast Asia," Modi said in a pre-departure statement here.

"During the Summit, I will have interactions with all the leaders of Bimstec ( Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) to further enrich our regional cooperation, enhance our trade ties and advance our collective efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal region," he said.

"The Summit theme, 'Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region' will enable us to shape a collective response to our common aspirations and challenges."

Bimstec came into existence on June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.

It comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The bloc brings together 1.5 billion people, or 21 per cent of the world's population, and has a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion.

The main objective of Bimstec is technical and economic cooperation among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries along the rim of the Bay of Bengal.

With the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) virtually rendered ineffective as a bloc, largely due to non-cooperation on the part of Pakistan on issues like connectivity and counter-terrorism, India has been giving more importance to Bimstec in recent times.

India is the lead country for cooperation in four priority areas: counter-terrorism and transnational crime, transport and communication, tourism and environment, and disaster management.

In his statement, Modi expressed confidence that the Kathmandu Summit will further consolidate the progress made thus far under Bimstec , and will chart the course for building a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal Region.

"On the margins of the Bimstec Summit, I will have the opportunity to interact with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand," he said.

"I also look forward to meeting Prime Minister of Nepal K.P. Sharma Oli and reviewing the progress we have made in our bilateral ties since my last visit to Nepal in May 2018."

Modi said that he and Oli will also inaugurate the Nepal Bharat Maitri Dharmashala at the Pashupatinath temple complex.

At a media briefing here last week, Preeti Saran, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry said that significant progress has been made in cooperation within the regional bloc since the Bimstec Outreach Summit held on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit in Goa in 2016 in the areas of security, counter-terrorism, transport and connectivity, tourism, environment and disaster management, and people-to-people contacts.

"Bimstec is growing economically and strategically," she said.

"The strength of the group is in responding collectively in the face of adversity."

Saran said that Bimstec is important for India in terms of New Delhi's Act East Policy and Neighbourhood First Policy, with northeastern India acting as a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia.

A Bimstec free trade agreement (FTA) is under negotiation as also a customs cooperation agreement and a motor vehicles agreement.

--IANS

ab/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) on Wednesday demanded the immediate release of five right activists arrested by Pune police a day earlier on charge of being Maoist supporters.

In a statement here, MKSS founding members Shankar Singh, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey said: "we strongly condemn the attempt to mislead people through deliberate use of term 'urban Naxals' both by BJP politicians and those in the media."

The activists claimed that the arrests are a "blatant attempt" to prevent the intelligentsia from raising voice against injustice, oppression and exploitation.

"It is a prelude to making sure that the space for dissent and democratic expression is closed, and even the threats to the Constitution go unchallenged" they added.

--IANS

sm/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A man and his son were killed in a dynamite blast set off by unidentified assailants in a Varanasi village in Uttar Pradesh early on Wednesday, police said.

The heads of the victims, who were sleeping in the courtyard of their house, were blown to pieces, a police officer told IANS. The deceased were identified as Lalaji Yadav, 48, and Ajay Yadav, 22.

The unidentified assailants blasted a dynamite stick right beside the victims' heads in the Milopur village home. The pieces of their skulls were scattered around a 30-metre radius, the police officer said.

The explosion was initially mistaken for a tyre burst by the neighbours.

The officer said the wires and the dynamite stick recovered from the crime scene resembled the type of explosives used in mines to blow up rocks.

Traffic was blocked on the Pahadiya-Balua road as villagers protested.

--IANS

md/in/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Second seed Roger Federer started his US Open appearance with an overwhelming 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka to enter the second round.

Federer, 37, winner of five consecutive US Open, will have as next opponent Frenchman Benoit Paire, who defeated Austrian Dennis Novak 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (5), reports Efe news agency.

The duel between Federer and Paire will be their seventh as professionals, with a 6-0 advantage for the former world number one.

--IANS

ajb/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police investigation into the January 26 communal rioting that left one person dead in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj district is riddled with "gaping holes" and is biased in favour of a particular group, says an independent probe released here on Wednesday.

"The Truth of Kasganj: Sham Police Probe..." alleges that the police investigation into the violence had been "grossly compromised in a blatant attempt to protect" members of a Hindutva group.

The report said the police have effected "the fraud" by registering two First Information Reports (FIR) as "a single FIR would have made it difficult to pin the blame for the homicide of Chandan Gupta "on the Muslims alone" because "Hindus, too, fired guns".

It also details the sequence of events that took place on January 26 this year before and after the communal violence broke out in Kasganj, 220 km east of here.

The violence left Chandan Gupta dead and property worth several crore of rupees destroyed in firing, arson and vandalism.

According to police, the violence began after a group of Muslims obstructed a group of Hindus taking out a motorcycle procession - Tiranga Yatra - to mark the Republic Day.

The procession was organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is allied to the ruling BJP in the state, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The police named 28 men, including the one who allegedly fired the fatal shot. Most were arrested over two weeks after the incident.

But the report claiming that the police probe had been shoddy said the first FIR by Ripudaman Singh, SHO Kasganj Kotwali Police Station, "riddled with falsehoods, its account varying widely from the sequence of events as borne by the statements of policemen, witnesses and the accused".

The most understated part of the three-month investigation is that Kasganj Muslims had gathered to celebrate the Republic Day with a flag-hoisting 400 metres from Bilram Gate crossing at the Abdul Hameed Chowk. The crossing is named after the soldier who died fighting in Kashmir in 1948.

The report said witnesses reported that the conflict began when the Hindus gate-crashed that programme which the Muslims have held annually for years with their motorcycles and began forcibly removing the chairs placed in the alley to pass through, chanting "Vande Matram" and "Jai Shri Ram".

"The CCTV footage of the incident has been available to the police. And yet, they have refused to include this footage as evidence in either of the two charge-sheets in the case," the report reads.

It also said there were gaping holes in the sequence of events listed in the first and the second FIRs.

"The second FIR said news of Chandan's death reached the police station at 12.17 a.m. on January 27. But a General Diary entry at 1.15 p.m. on January 26 showed a ward boy had already brought to the police station a hospital memo reporting his death.

"As information of Chandan's death had been received in the day, the first FIR should have covered it. No explanation was given why the second FIR was needed," it added.

The report was launched by a number of number of social activists including Sandeep Pandey, Teesta Setalvad, Mohammad Shoaib and Retired Uttar Pradesh IPS officer S.R. Darapuri.

Shoaib, a Lucknow-based senior lawyer who has helped several young men to get acquitted from terror cases, said that he will file a PIL based on the report and demand a fresh investigation.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh, who was not physically present in the launch but sent a video, said: "Police supporting Hindutva is dangerous."

The social activists raised the issue during their speeches that in the past four years, the country was facing a new kind of issue. "Holding a flag is now a passport to do anything in this country," Pandey said.

Darapuri, on the other hand, said the police were following the orders issued from Lucknow.

The report by freelance journalist Ajit Sahi has been endorsed by Alliance for Justice and Accountability, New York; Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai; Indian American Muslim Council, Washington; Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, New Delhi; Rihaee Manch, Lucknow; South Asia Solidarity Group, London, and United Against Hate, New Delhi.

Speaking to IANS, Sahi said: "I have not introduced any fact myself. I have just examined the investigation done by the police."

--IANS

sar-nks/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Radhika Apte, who is being trolled for frequently featuring in the Indian projects of Netflix, doesn't think her association with the streaming platform has been long and that the three series getting released around the same time was just a coincidence.

Radhika had three releases -- "Lust Stories", "Sacred Games" and "Ghoul" -- this year on Netflix.

Twitterati started targeting the "Phobia" actress when the trailer of "Ghoul", Netflix India's first horror mini-series, got unveiled in July. One user wrote: "Radhika Apte is to Netflix what Alia Bhatt is to Dharma."

Asked about her long association with Netflix, Radhika told IANS here: "It has not really been that long. 'Sacred Games' was the only series that I knew was a Netflix original series. 'Lust Stories' and 'Ghoul'... when I shot them were not associated with Netflix. So this is just a great coincidence.

"Not just a coincidence, it's a great opportunity that Netflix came on board and they decided to make it into a mini-series. I am so glad that it is a mini-series and not a film because there are certain things that (director) Patrick Graham really wanted to have in the project which... it was getting difficult because it was a timebound thing because of it being a film and I am so pleased that we could add that and make it into series."

She feels that for a project like "Ghoul", it's better to have the streaming platform on board as it has a wide reach.

"I think it will be appreciated in other places as well as in India. I think it will have a longer life. I am really happy. These three projects coming at a time was just a coincidence," said Radhika.

Netflix India has also backed her by releasing a spoof video "Omnipresent" online, and captioned it: "Whatever the role, Radhika apt hai."

In the video, she says: "Vik ('Ghoul' producer Vikramaditya Motwane) calls me one day and says that Radhika what if you play every character in this film. That got my attention. Because that is a challenge I cannot turn down."

The "Radflix" original film "Omnipresent" sees her playing multiple roles. She has also written, directed and given music to the movie.

Netflix India posted another tweet. It read: "'Pad Man' is now streaming and we're not just saying this because Radhika Apte is in it, but yes Radhika Apte is in it."

--IANS

nn/rb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The sudden demise of Nandamuri Harikrishna, son of TDP founder NTR and actor-politician, in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district early on Wednesday, has left the film industry in shock and disbelief. Actors, filmmakers and technicians have wished strength to the family of the "dynamic and affectionate" personality.

Harikrishna was 61. He would have turned a year older on September 2.

Here's how celebrities from the film world reacted to his demise:

Manoj Kumar Manchu: RIP Harikrishna uncle... Deeply saddened and shocked. I'm so sorry to the whole family and followers. God is harsh... Speechless. Request the media to stop telecasting Harikrishna garu's post accident visuals. It's disheartening for his family and followers to witness their loved one in such an unexpected way. He belongs to all of us! Please show some respect.

Mohan Babu: I lost my brother Nandamuri Harikrishna today. There is nothing I can say more. A great loss.

Nagarjuna Akkineni: All I feel is a void, I will miss you Anna!

Sudheer Babu: What terrible news to wake up with. How harsh the death has been on Harikrishna garu. My heart mourns. May his soul rest in peace and strength to Tarak, Kalyan and the entire family for the huge loss.

Nani: Shocked to know about the sudden demise of Harikrishna gaaru. Never got to meet him in person but it feels like I always knew him. My deepest condolences and strength to the family. This is really sad. Rest in peace Sir.

Mahesh Babu: Deeply saddened by the news of Harikrishna garu's untimely demise. May his soul rest in peace. Strength and love to my brother Jr NTR and his entire family in this time of grief.

Pooja Hegde: Really sad to hear about the sudden passing away of Harikrishna garu. Sending out loads of love and light to the entire family in these though times. RIP

Vijay Deverakonda: Extremely saddened by the sudden demise of Harikrishna garu. My deepest condolences to Nandamuri family.

Genelia Deshmukh: RIP Harikrishna garu... Strength and prayers to Tarak, Kalyan and the entire family.

Sreenu Vaitla: Very heartbreaking to hear the news about Nandamuri Harikrishna garu passing away in a tragic road accident. Always known him as a very bold, dynamic and honest person, and at the same time affectionate at heart. My deepest condolences to his entire family. Rest in peace Sir.

Sai Dharam Tej: My deepest condolences to the family. May your soul rest in peace Harikrishna garu

Gautami: Shocked at the tragic passing of Shri Nandamuri Harikrishna garu. My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. May God give them strength to face this loss. I offer my prayers for his soul to rest in peace.

Raashi Khanna: Such a tragedy! Saddened to hear about the sudden demise of Shri Nandamuri Harikrishna garu... My deepest condolences to the family. May his soul rest in peace.

Koratala Siva: Shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Nandamuri Harikrishna garu's demise. Had some fond memories with him. May his soul rest in peace. Deepest condolences and all the strength to my dearest brother Jr NTR and Kalyan in this hour of grief

Kajal Aggarwal: Really sorry to hear the news. Strength to Tarak, Kalyan Ram and the family to withstand this tragic moment. Rest in peace Harikrishna garu.

Allu Sirish: Extremely saddened to hear about the sudden demise of Shri Nandamuri Harikrishna. My condolences to Balakrishna garu, Tarak, Kalyan Ram and the whole Nandamuri family. Rest in peace, Sir.

Rakul Preet: Shocked to hear about Sri Harikrishna garu's demise in a tragic road accident. He shall always be fondly remembered! Strength to the family.

R Sarath Kumar: Shocked to hear about the tragic accident and death of Shri Nandamuri Harikrishna. My deepest condolences to his family and fans. May his soul rest in peace.

Devi Sri Prasad: Just can't believe the news of Shri Harikrishna garu. Heartbreaking. Such a dear person to my father and me, and the sweetest and most humble soul. May God bless his soul and give strength to the family of my dear brother Jr NTR and Kalyan.

Lakshmi Manchu: Just not fair. This is shocking. My deepest condolences to the family. May his beautiful soul RIP. We loved him dearly.

Adivi Sesh: Oh my God. Just read about Shri Harikrishna garu. RIP sir. A true gentleman. Truly tragic.

--IANS

rb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Bhushan Steel's erstwhile promoter Neeraj Singal, arrested by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

A bench of Justic S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel granted interim bail to Singal on furnishing a personal bond of Rs five lakh and two surety bonds of Rs 2 lakh each.

The court directed him not to meet any of the witnesses whose statements may have been recorded by the SFIO. Also, he should not in any manner, directly or indirectly, seek to tamper with the course of investigation or the evidence gathered.

Singal, a former Managing Director of Bhushan Steel Limited, was arrested on August 8. The SFIO alleged that he was involved in a series of corporate frauds punishable under the Companies Act, 2013.

A probe allegedly found that the erstwhile promoters of the company used a multitude of complex and fraudulent manoeuvres to divert thousands of crores raised from public sector banks using several associate companies.

After insolvency resolution, the ownership and control of BSL was transferred to the Tata Group.

--IANS

akk/anp/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India will be hosting the 6th edition of Bengaluru Space Expo in this tech capital from September 6 to 8, a top official said on Wednesday.

"The space expo on September 6-8 brings the industry and space agencies from various countries on one platform allowing to explore business opportunities," said S. Rakesh, the Managing Director of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

At a time when the global space industry is growing with increasing number of private players, it is important for the industry to understand the scope of business in the sector, Rakesh told reporters here.

The biennial space expo, which was started in 2008, is held jointly by the ISRO, Antrix and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The three-day conference over space technologies with the theme "Creating dynamism in Indian space ecosystem" is expected to have about 100 exhibitors, 50 speakers and 600 delegates from various countries including France, Russia and the Middle East region, among others.

"Representatives and heads of space agencies from France, Russia and Taiwan will also take part in the event," CII vice president Vikram Kirloskar added.

The expo allows the industry to explore the technologies behind satellite production, design and development of launch vehicles.

With Indian space agency aiming for two launches a month ahead, there is a need for the industry to play a larger role in understanding the business, stressed Rakesh.

The platform will feature panel discussions by the industry and space experts on Indian space ecosystem, launch vehicles -- opportunities for industry, space transportation and space infrastructure.

The expo will also have a dedicated zone for India's proposed maiden manned space mission -- Gaganyaan, ISRO chairman K. Sivan said.

Of the $330 billion worth global space market, India's share is only about one per cent, which it aims to increase by stepping up its number of launches, Rakesh added.

--IANS

bha/pgh/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Navy helped a Norwegian ship manned by an all Indian crew, to retrieve its cable chain and port anchor that had slipped into the Arabian Sea in the piracy infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, an official said here on Wednesday.

Some three days ago, on getting a distress call from the Combined Task Force aircraft for assistance, the INS Teg, a warship of Western Naval Command was despatched to the spot to help retrieve M.V. Vela's 330 metres long cable chain and port anchor weighing a staggering 42 tonnes that had slipped into the sea.

Following the slip, the ship was severely disabled -- with her speed restricted to five-six knots, making her vulnerable to attacks by pirates in that region. Besides it also posed a serious navigational hazard to itself and other vessels in the dense commercial shipping corridor.

As soon as the distress call was received, the INS Teg mobilised its specialists team which quickly assessed the situation and launched a massive operation to recover the hanging anchor and chain cable of the M.V. Vela, owned by Seven Sea SA, Norway and Fleet Management Ltd. Hong Kong.

Led by the vessel's Engineering Officer, Seamanship Instructor, Anchor Chain Cable Specialist and Machinery Specialist among others, the team took more than three days to safely recover the entire cable and the hanging port anchor.

After this, M.V. Vela resumed its onward voyage, subsequently through the constricted waters of Red Sea and Suez Canal, and also managed to avert huge financial losses.

The Norwegian owners of the vessel gratefully acknowledged Indian Navy's help and contribution in the operations, terming it as "conforming to the best maritime traditions, worth emulating by other mariners".

--IANS

qn/in/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The duration of India's proposed maiden manned space mission in 2021-2022 and the number of astronauts who will be on board are yet to be decided, an ISRO official said on Wednesday.

"No decision has been taken yet on the number of days our first manned mission Gaganyaan will orbit the earth and how many astronauts will fly," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Sivan told reporters here.

The clarification came a day after the media reported that Gaganyaan will orbit the earth for seven days and two male and a female astronauts will form the crew, following Sivan's briefing on the manned mission in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Pointing out that the agency will be able to send up to three Indians in space for up to a week, Sivan said that the numbers and duration of space journey will be decided later.

The space agency is aiming to launch the mission to take Indian astronauts 350-400km above earth by December 2021, after the two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021.

"Critical technologies for the manned mission are already developed. We are in the process of developing a project team for the human space programme," Sivan added.

The Indian Air Force will take the responsibility of selecting the Indian astronauts.

For their further training, ISRO will seek the expertise of space agencies of either Russia, US or Germany, Sivan said.

"Seeking the expertise of other countries avoids learning through trial and error," he added.

The human space mission is expected to generate 15,000 jobs through the involvement of industry and academia, Sivan had earlier said.

--IANS

bha/tsb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

SubmitThe Indonesian government will soon commence reconstruction and rehabilitation in tourist destination Lombok Island rattled by strong quakes in recent weeks, leaving at least 560 people dead, an official said here on Wednesday.

The Indonesian President, Joko Widodo in Yogyakarta province said that he would revisit Lombok Island at the weekend to closely watch the rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure facilities in the island, Xinhua news agency reported.

The most up-to-date data issued by the national disaster management agency on Wednesday showed at least a total of 83,392 houses and as many as 3,540 other infrastructure facilities were severely damaged by the jolts.

"We want all (the rebuilding works) to be completed as soon as possible, I set a target of six months for the works," President Widodo said in a statement issued by the presidential office.

The distribution of aids to the quake-affected folks, Widodo said, must be speeded up in order to create knock-on effects on the economy in the areas reeling from the quake risks.

To cope with possible quake, the construction of the houses and buildings to be built should be able to resist the powerful quakes, using proven technology, said Widodo.

Hundreds of experts would be sent to Lombok Island to guide the residents on how to set up new houses or building complying with the criteria, he cited.

Spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho revealed that the multiple powerful quakes, with scale hovering from 6.4 to 7.0 magnitude, striking from July 29 to mid of August have severely injured a total of 1,469 residents and forced as many as 3,96,032 others to flee home and take shelter in makeshift encampment.

"The scale of damages could extend as the assessment of the downside risks persists," the spokesmen told Xinhua in a text message.

A total of 400 technical experts will be sent to the quake-hit areas to assist in the reconstruction and rehabilitation, he added.

Again, the spokesman cited that tents, tarpaulins, food, medical staff, and baby food are among the dire needs of the evacuees in the quake-hit areas.

Indonesia had undergone a five-year reconstruction and rehabilitation in Aceh province after a powerful quake triggering a mega-tsunami levelled the province in the northern tip of Sumatra Island along with nations situated alongside the Indian Ocean in December 2004, leaving over 1,70,000 people dead in the province.

--IANS

mag/anp/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran on Tuesday inaugurated its largest wind farm as part of its efforts to increase production of electricity from renewable sources.

The 18-turbine wind farm, located in Tarom county in northern Iran, has a nominal capacity of generating 61 megawatt hours of power annually, Xinhua reported.

The wind farm, built with latest technologies at a cost of around $101 million, was financed by the National Development Fund of Iran, the country's sovereign-wealth fund.

Iran has a comprehensive plan to harness renewable energy and streamline the country's energy mix which mainly relies on fossil fuel power stations.

--IANS

qd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday warned that Iran will quit the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal if the interests of his country are not secured.

Iran and six world powers, namely China, Germany, France, Russia, the UK, and the US had struck a landmark agreement over Iran's nuclear programme in 2015, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Xinhua news agency reported.

However, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the deal on May 8 and reimposed sanctions, including an oil embargo, on Iran.

"If we come to the conclusion that JCPOA cannot serve the national interests, we will leave it," Khamenei said during a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his administration.

Through his official website, the Iranian leader also expressed dismay over the EU, saying the Islamic republic "pins no hope on Europeans over JCPOA and economic issues".

Iran has incessantly urged Europe to take "practical and tangible measures" to protect Iranian interests since the US pullout.

--IANS

mag/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israel, which is expecting about 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018, is hopeful of attracting at least 3 lakh Indian visitors annually in the next three-four years by improving the air-connectivity between the two countries, an Israeli official said here on Wednesday.

"Around 60,000 Indian tourists visited Israel in 2017 and we are expecting around 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018. I think within 3-4 years, we should reach at least the 3 lakh figure," Ministry of Tourism Director (India and Philippines), Hassan Madah said here on the sidelines of a roadshow.

In 2017, the country attracted 3 million international tourists, mostly from the US, Russia and western European countries.

"Tourism is on the rise in Israel and inbound arrivals from India have appreciably increased in the last few years. With a half-yearly record growth of 82 per cent as compared to the same period in 2015, more than 44,000 Indian tourists have already visited the country from January to July, 2018," Madah said.

In March 2018, Air India launched its direct flight operations from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, the fastest non-stop flight connecting India with Israel, he said, adding that the airline is increasing flights in the route.

In addition to this, Israeli airline El Al currently has three weekly non-stop flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv.

Israeli carrier Arkia has also expressed interest to begin operations connecting the two countries, he said.

Madah said the opening of the Kolkata Israel Visa Application Centre for West Bengal and northeastern states would help increase interest among travellers from these regions of India.

The country is fast becoming the Middle-East's newest business tourism destination, gaining popularity with the Indian corporate segment, he added.

--IANS

bdc/mag/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) outfit took joint responsibility along with the Hizbul Mujahideen for the attack in Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday which killed four policemen.

A caller identifying himself as a spokesman for JeM called a news agency GNS in Srinagar claiming responsibility for the attack.

The spokesman said four policemen were killed in the attack and three weapons of the slain policemen were taken away by the assailants.

He said the attack was carried out jointly by JeM and the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Four policemen attached to a Deputy Superintendent of Police were killed when they were travelling in a vehicle in Arhama area, two kilometers from Shopian town. They were taking the vehicle for repairs.

The slain policemen were identified as constables Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Javaid Ahmad Bhat and Muhammad Iqbal Mir and special police officer Adil Ahmad Bhat.

--IANS

sq/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Coinciding with the International Day against Nuclear Tests, Kazakhstan will host on Wednesday a conference focused on the role of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in the construction of world peace.

Government representatives and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) members are to participate in the event, which has the theme "Remembering the Past, Looking forward to the Future", Efe reported.

CTBTO executive secretary Lassina Zerbo, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov and the President of the Kazakh Senate, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, are to open the conference.

In addition, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will preside over the opening ceremony of the Wall of Peace, a modern architectural element inspired by the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site 25 years ago.

On the eve of the conference, a commemorative stamp dedicated to the ATOM Project was issued on Tuesday to promote the international campaign to bring awareness to the human and environmental devastation caused by nuclear tests and lead to their prohibition.

During an event in the Kazakh capital, the honorary ambassador of the organization, Karipbek Kuyukov, who was born without arms because of radiation from Soviet nuclear tests, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko and Kazpost managing director Baurzhan Ainabekov presented the 0.71 euros stamp.

Under Nazarbayev's leadership, Kazakhstan renounced all Soviet-era nuclear weapons, destroyed the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was approved by the UN General Assembly in 1996 and aims to ban all nuclear weapons testing.

To date, the agreement has been signed by 183 states and ratified by 166, but it will not enter into force until the United States, China, Egypt, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan and North Korea join.

On December 6, 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution highlighting the need to sign and ratify the CTBT, which was supported by 172 countries and rejected by only two -- the US and North Korea.

--IANS

qd

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five members of a family were killed and one person was injured after the wall of their house collapsed due to landslide triggered by incessant rainfall at Setogurans in Bagachaur Municipality of Nepal's Salyan District, police said on Wednesday.

A 40-year-old man, his wife, 35, his two daughters, 6 and 7 respectively, and a four-year-old son, were sleeping when the incident happened, Birendra Bahadur Shahi, police chief of Salyan, told Xinhua.

One person was rescued, he said.

Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has issued a warning across the country to remain on high alert amid heavy rainfall.

The flood forecasting division has also sounded a flood warning.

--IANS

anp/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Incidents of lynching have hurt India's image, Tourism Minister K.J. Alphons, who is in China to draw in more tourists, has admitted.

The minister, however, said that the ban on beef has not affected tourism in the country and sought to debunk a survey showing India as the most unsafe country for women in the world.

"Well, it (lynching) shouldn't happen. Simple. And, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has called them criminals. And, he told the states you have to take action because law and order is a state subject," Alphons said on Tuesday interacting with Indian journalsits.

Asked if incidents of lynching have affected tourism in India, the Minister said: "Well, not on a big time basis...not really. But anything happening like that is bad for the reputation of the country. We won't say it's good for the reputation of the country."

Has the ban on beef kept foreign tourists away from India, Alphons said that was not the case. "Not really... you see there are states like Kerala, Goa and the Northeast... these are all beef eating states."

"These are all big tourism destinations... So people would go wherever they are comfortable

"I think we need to respect the sentiment of the people anywhere... that's so fundamental."

India has witnessed incidents of lynching over cow slaughter and beef eating in the country. The majority of Hindus in the country consider the animal as sacred.

Alphons is visiting China to attract Chinese tourists who currently generate some 21 per cent of tourism receipts in destinations in the world. He opened a road show in Beijing on Tuesday and will visit Shanghai and Wuhan.

Despite swelling number of outbound Chinese tourists, Indian receives only a very small fraction of them.

"Last year, 144 million Chinese were abroad, but only 300,000 came to India," the minister said.

He said India plans to get at least 14 million Chinese tourists in the next three years.

Asked about women's safety, an issue which is among the prime concerns among Chinese to visit India, Alphons said it was "a perception battle".

He tore apart a recent survey by Thomson Reuters which said India is the most unsafe country for women.

"Thomson Reuters put out a story saying it's (India) unsafe. We asked them how? They say they interviewed 540 people or something out which 43 from India."

"You can't ask the 43 so-called knowledgeable people of India whether India is safe or not because most of these so-called feminists would be anti-government ... it is the of it," he said.

--IANS

gsh/in/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (MPUVNL) tender for 35 MW of solar rooftop power has attracted 31 bidders, and fetched a lowest tariff quote of Rs 1.58 per unit attracted by an auction in the country so far, a MPUVNL statement said on Wednesday.

State-run Power Grid Corp, which participated in the tender received the cheapest rate of Rs 1.58 per unit, the statement said.

"Madhya Pradesh's RESCO tender attracted 31 international and domestic bidders, who oversubscribed its 35+ MWp rooftop tender capacity by more than 630 per cent," it said.

According to it, among all government buildings, the lowest rate is for municipal bodies, which would get power at Rs 1.69 per unit.

Tariff of Rs 1.74 per unit has been discovered for medical colleges, which amounts to around one-fourth of what they are paying currently, it said.

"Police establishments all over the state would enjoy power at Rs 2.33 per unit. All government engineering colleges, ITIs and polytechnics would get power at Rs 2.35 per unit. The lowest rate amongst private institutions has been Rs 2.28 per unit," MPUVNL said.

"RESCO model facilitates the beneficiary consumer to enjoy solar power with zero upfront investment and at rates much below the prevailing discom (distribution company) rates

"The beneficiary consumer pays for the electricity as it is generated by the selected contractor, who undertakes design, supply and installation, along with comprehensive operation maintenance for 25 years. The selection of the contractor is made on the basis of the lowest tariff offered in transparent electronic bidding," it added.

The RESCO project in Madhya Pradesh is being implemented as a part of the Centre's Rooftop Solar Programme with support from the World Bank and the International Solar Alliance.

--IANS

bc/pgh/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A notorious con who duped various nationalised banks of around Rs 50 crore along with his accomplices through loans raised on forged property documents and was a Proclaimed Offender has been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

Police said that Amit Verma of Uttar Pradesh was wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation as well as Delhi Police in over 10 cases of cheating of nationalised banks.

"Verma was arrested on Tuesday night from his flat at Shakarpur when he went there to meet his family. He had been declared a Proclaimed Offender by a court. A non-bailable warrant was also issued against him. He was accused of raising around Rs 50 crore on a single property from various banks in Delhi and Noida," Deputy Commissioner of Police G. Ramgopal Naik told IANS.

Verma was hiding in National Capital Region-Delhi to evade arrest for two years.

"Verma told police that he and his accomplices Nitin Arora, Sandeep Khera, Ishita Arora and Vinod Arora prepared forged documents of flats and plots already mortgaged with banks and obtained huge loans against the same."

"When officials of a Noida-based Bank of Maharashtra visited the property in question, they found other banks too had pasted notices regarding the loans and the mortgage of property. The bank management complained to the CBI and Delhi Police in 2016," he added.

Police said Nitin Arora and his wife Ishita are already lodged in jail for the past two years.

--IANS

sp/tsb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A member of an outlawed Manipuri outfit has been arrested here, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

"Working on specific inputs, Oinam Ibochouba Singh, 45, of the Kangleipak Communist Party-People's War Group (KCP-PWG), was taken into custody on Tuesday evening from south Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

"A resident of Bishnupur district of Manipur, Oinam Ibochouba Singh was described as a commander of the KCP-PWG. He was planning to revive his banned outfit base in many places in India. On August 11, he issued a life threat message to Manipur Chief Minister and his cabinet ministers," Yadav said.

"He later made that message viral on various channels of social media via audio and video formats as well as a hand written message on a letter head so that it could reach the Chief Minister," the DCP said.

"He threatened the Chief Minister to resolve the disputed issue of Manipur University's Vice Chancellor (VC) appointment and also resolve the Naga's agreement issue of pillar post in the Indo-Myanmar border area.

"There were strikes by locals in Manipur over both the issues. He threatened that if the Chief Minister fails to sort out the issues, he would attack him and his cabinet ministers. A case was registered against him in Manipur in this regard," he said.

"He was earlier arrested by Manipur Police in 2010. After his release from jail, he set up his terror base in Nepal for five years. He took the helm of the KCP-PWG after its head Ranjeet Singh was arrested by Delhi Police in January 2017," the officer added.

"We have recovered a few mobile phones and SIMs activated in Nepal and other states. The SIM cards have lists of his accomplices, video and audio messages that were earlier used by the outfit for threatening and extorting money from various Manipur based businessmen, contractors, government officers, politicians and others," he said.

"We have also found some suspected names of his accomplices active in Delhi that the central intelligence agencies are verifying with Manipur Police. He used to visit Delhi at regular intervals to meet his contacts. His further interrogation is on to establish his hidden criminal plans," he added.

--IANS

sp/pgh/bg

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted in a private hospital in Mumbai, is expected to fly to the US later on Wednesday, an official said.

Parrikar had returned to Goa on August 22 from the US but was admitted in a Mumbai hospital within hours of his return.

"He was scheduled to return to Goa on Wednesday. But his family members wanted him to return to the US for further treatment," a senior BJP leader said requesting anonymity.

Parrikar's aide and former BJP MLA Sidharth Kuncolienkar told reporters that he was being shifted to the US because he was suffering from indigestion and he would be returning to Goa shortly.

Parrikar, who was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in February this year and was treated in a New York medical facility from March to June.

On August 10, Parrikar had again left for the US for the follow-up of his treatment.

--IANS

maya/anp/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday slammed the Modi government for the arrest of Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and human rights activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves and said this was yet another attempt of the BJP government to "terrorize the civil society".

"This is government-sponsored terror and height of misuse of government agencies," the Bahujan Samaj Party leader said in a statement.

She said the government was trying to intimidate poets, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates, professors and intellectuals.

The arrests, on charges that they were Maoist supporters, was a ploy to hoodwink the people and divert their attention from the failures of the BJP governments, the Dalit leader said.

She also alleged that instead of following the legal procedure against people who were named in the FIR regarding the Bheema-Koregaon violence, the NDA government was victimizing Dalit leaders whose lives were open books.

"The government is trying to arm twist, terrorize people running NGOs, social workers and it is indeed the height of misuse of government machinery," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister alleged.

--IANS

md/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A body representing HIV/AIDS patients in Meghalaya on Wednesday demanded a public apology from Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) leader Hispreaching Son Shylla for his "discriminatory" remarks against them.

"We demand a public apology from Shylla for his stigmatising and discriminatory remarks against us. If he refuses to do so, we will approach our counsel and also take out a rally," Meghalaya State Network of Positive People (MSNPP) leader Barry Kharmalki told journalists here.

Shylla, a leader of ruling National People's Party (NPP), had allegedly said that the proposed Khasi Social Custom of Lineage (Amendment) Bill, 2018 will help "prevent indigenous people from becoming vulnerable to dreaded HIV/AIDS".

Shylla claimed that truck drivers and migrant labourers from outside Meghalaya were the "main carriers" of HIV/AIDS, adding that the bill be one of the ways to prevent indigenous women from getting infected.

The NPP leader also alleged that district council did not recognise transgenders.

"HIV does not discriminate, so why is he discriminating? You cannot attribute an epidemic to only one section (migrant workers/truck drivers from outside the state)," the MSNPP leader said.

"... people from all walks of life have contributed to this situation. He is hurting public sentiments. He is inciting fear and hatred. Do we assume that all truck drivers from outside have HIV?" Kharmalki asked.

He quoted statistics from Anti-Retroviral Therapy Centre of government-run Shillong Civil hospital to butress his point.

"We are not sure how the bill will help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS... he should be more sensitive. We are ready to send him books and research papers to read so that he has a better understanding," Kharmalki added.

--IANS

rrk/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Wednesday accused the central government of spreading hatred against the Dalits and backward classes and arresting those who supported them.

In a statement released by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Gautam dubbed as "unannounced emergency" Tuesday's arrest of five rights activists who he said defend the Dalits in courts.

"Bhima-Koregaon has been a symbol of Dalit salvation for many years and celebrated in peace and harmony every year. But it is really unfortunate that in the last four years, the Modi government has spread hatred against the community due to which this year's annual celebrations were disrupted by violence," Gautam said.

Members of the Dalit community had been sitting on hunger strike since August 8 to protest against government policies and demanding implementation of a "special component plan" for a 22 per cent share in budget but the government had failed to act, the AAP leader claimed.

"The actions of the Modi government clearly shows its anti-Dalit thinking and how it is trying to break their morale," he said.

--IANS

sd/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reviewed the progress in resolution of grievances related to income tax and said that various initiatives taken for the benefit of people should be communicated to all taxpayers suitably.

Modi, who chaired his 28th interaction through PRAGTI -- the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation -- also reviewed the progress made towards the rollout of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, under Ayushman Bharat programme.

An official release said that Modi was briefed by Finance Ministry officials on the progress made in resolution of grievances related to income tax.

The Prime Minister reiterated that all systems should be made technology-driven and human interface should be reduced to the minimum.

He noted the progress made in bringing corrupt officials to book.

"The Prime Minister said that the various initiatives and measures taken by the Income Tax Department to facilitate the people should be communicated to all taxpayers suitably," the release said.

It said that 27 PRAGATI meetings have so far seen a cumulative review of projects with a total investment of over Rs 11.5 lakh crore. Resolution of public grievances has also been reviewed across a range of sectors.

At Wednesday's meeting, Modi also reviewed the progress of nine important infrastructure projects in the railways, road and petroleum sectors. These projects are spread over a number of states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

He also reviewed the progress made in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.

--IANS

ps/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Union Cabinet on Wednesday said that an MoU signed between Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) last month will strengthen scientific and technical cooperation in railways.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on July 10, will provide a platform for the Indian Railways to interact and help share the latest developments and knowledge in the railway sector with its Korean counterpart, a Cabinet statement said here.

"The MoU will facilitate exchange of technical experts as well as reports and documents, training and seminars focusing on specific technology areas and other interactions for knowledge-sharing."

The agreement will provide a framework of cooperation for focused approach in planning and execution of joint research, cooperation in setting up latest railway research and development facilities in India, planning and execution of technical seminars or fora, and short-term training programme for RDSO personnel by KRRI.

The Ministry of Railways has signed MoUs for technical cooperation in the rail sector with various countries, said the statement, adding that identified areas of cooperation include high-speed corridors, train speed increase on existing routes, development of world-class stations, heavy-haul operations and modernisation of rail infrastructure.

--IANS

rak/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Myanmar's Yangon-Mandalay highway was temporarily closed on Wednesday due to the collapse of a dam spillway triggered by flooding, an official statement said.

The spillway of Swar Chaung dam overflowed and collapsed around seven in the morning, affecting the nearby areas including the country's busiest highway and some towns in the Bago region, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Swar Chaung bridge has also been closed as it was damaged by the flooding, Ministry of Construction said in a statement.

People in the affected areas are being evacuated to safer places and efforts are being made to resume the transport link in the area.

The Yangon-Mandalay Expressway connects the country's largest city Yangon and second largest city Mandalay. The highway, which does not meet international design, construction and safety standards, has seen a spate of accidents since its opening in 2010.

--IANS

mag/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Myanmar on Wednesday rejected a UN report that said there was evidence of genocide in the military operation carried out by the Myanmar government against the Muslim Rohingya minority.

"We didn't allow the FFM (Fact Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," Myanmar's newspaper Global New Light quoted government spokesperson Zaw Htay as saying.

On Monday, UN experts reported that there is evidence of intentional genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated on a large scale.

The mission condemned the government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to stop the violence and recommended the establishment of an international court to investigate and prosecute the alleged perpetrators belonging to the armed forces.

Htay said that the government has already formed an independent commission to "respond to false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingyas as one of the nation's ethnic groups but considers them to be illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, subjecting them to various kinds of discrimination.

Both the army and the Myanmar government have rejected all accusations of human rights violations.

Humanitarian NGO, Doctors Without Borders, estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingyas, including 730 children under the age of five, died as a result of the violence unleashed by the military offensive.

Soldiers have been accused of committing murders, mass rapes and burning the homes of the Rohingyas in Myanmar's Rakhine state, the home of this ethnic minority community.

--IANS

mag/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has detected its next flyby target, which is an icy world a billion kilometres past Pluto, from more than 160 million kilometres away and over four months ahead of its New Year's 2019 close encounter.

The New Horizons probe, which flew past Pluto in 2015, is set to encounter the Kuiper Belt object, referred to as 2014 MU69 -- nicknamed Ultima Thule -- on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, 2019.

Discovered in 2014, the object MU69 is more than 6.5 billion km from Earth.

On August 16, News Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), took a set of 48 images, from 172 million kms, 64 billion kms from the Sun and against a dense background of stars.

"The image field is extremely rich with background stars, which makes it difficult to detect faint objects," Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, US, said in a statement.

"It really is like finding a needle in a haystack. In these first images, Ultima appears only as a bump on the side of a background star that's roughly 17 times brighter, but Ultima will be getting brighter and easier to see as the spacecraft gets closer."

This marked the team's first attempt to find Ultima with the spacecraft's own cameras and that the object is very close to where scientists predicted.

The observations of Ultima over the next four months will help the New Horizons team refine the spacecraft's course towards the closest approach to Ultima, at 12:33 a.m. EST on January 1, 2019.

The Ultima flyby will be the first-ever close-up exploration of a small Kuiper Belt object and the farthest exploration of any planetary body in history, shattering the record New Horizons itself set at Pluto in July 2015 by about 16 billion kms, NASA said.

"We now have Ultima in our sights from much farther out than once thought possible. We are on Ultima's doorstep, and an amazing exploration awaits!" said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

--IANS

rt/mag/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pushing the country towards Emergency, RJD leader Lalu Prasad on Wednesday alleged that the government had a plan to jail all non-BJP leaders before the next Lok Sabha election.

Arriving here by a private flight to surrender before a court, the former Bihar Chief Minister came down heavily on the Modi government.

"Narendra Modi is pushing the country towards Emergency. The opposition leaders are being targeted and implicated in false cases and sent to jail. There is a game plan to jail the non- BJP leaders before (the Lok Sabha) election," he told reporters.

Lalu Yadav was granted six weeks provisional bail for treatment in May which was later extended by the court. He was in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in December 2017 in the fodder scam.

The Jharkhand High Court on September 24 directed him to surrender by August 30.

Asked about opposition unity, Lalu Prasad there was no row over the issue of Prime Ministerial candidate. "We will select our Prime Minister at the right time."

Earlier, speaking in Patna, he accused the Modi of paving the way for the imposition of Emergency.

"Modi is afraid that he will be murdered. It hardly sounds good as he is the Prime Minister. Some rights activists have been arrested for suspected threat to Modi. It is an attack on people's rights," Lalu Prasad told the media.

The RJD leader alleged that there was "total collapse of law and order" in Bihar.

"There is no law and order. It is total anarchy. Hardly a day passes without reports of murder, rape, loot, extortion and kidnapping in the state."

--IANS

ns-ik/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)TDP founder NTR's son and actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district early on Wednesday, doctors said. He was 61.

Harikrishna, a former Rajya Sabha member and a former Andhra Pradesh minister, sustained critical head injuries when the car in which he was travelling along with two others overturned near Anneparthi.

The vehicle, being driven by Harikrishna, hit the divider while overtaking a vehicle and collided with another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

He was shifted to Kamineni Hospital at Narketpally, where he succumbed. Two others accompanying him were injured.

Harikrishna, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, was on his way to Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a marriage.

He was a member of the TDP politburo and brother-in-law of TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

He is survived by two wives Lakshmi and Shalini, two sons Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram, both actors, and daughter Suhasini.

His eldest son Janki Ram was also killed in road accident in 2014 in the same district. In 2009, Junior NTR had escaped with injuries in a road accident, also in Nalgonda district.

Born on September 2, 1956 at Nimmakur in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Harikrishna, fourth son of NTR, began his film career as a child artist in 1960s.

He debut in 1967 was in "Shri Krishnavataram" featuring his father NTR, who was the most popular actor of his times.

"Talla Pellamma" (1970), "Tatamma Kala" (1974), "Ram Raheem" (1974), "Daana Veera Shura Karna" (1977), "Sri Ramulayya" (1998) and "Seetharama Raju" (1999) were some of his other films.

Harikrishna was the 'sarathi' (charioteer) of NTR's famous Chaitanya Ratham (chariot of awakening) in 1980s.

He had backed Naidu when the latter staged a revolt against NTR in 1995. Following the death of NTR in 1996, he was elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly from Hindupur, a constituency represented by his legendary father.

He served as Minister for Transport in Naidu's cabinet and was also the president of youth wing of the TDP.

In 1999, he quit TDP accusing Naidu of deviation from the ideals of NTR and formed a new party called Anna TDP, which failed to make a mark.

In 2006, he rejoined TDP and was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2008. Harkrishna, resigned from Rajya Sabha in 2013 in protest over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Though he continued as TDP politburo member, Harikrishna had openly expressed his displeasure over Naidu promoting his son Nara Lokesh as his successor.

He was reportedly keen to see his son Junior NTR, a popular actor, taking reins of the party founded by NTR in 1982.

--IANS

ms/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)TDP founder NTR's son and actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district early on Wednesday. He was 61.

Harikrishna, a former Rajya Sabha member and a former Andhra Pradesh Minister, sustained critical head injuries when the car which he was driving overturned near Anneparthi.

The vehicle was flung in the air after hitting a divider and crashed into another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

Harikrishna, who was not wearing the seat belt, was thrown out of the vehicle and sustained head injuries. He was shifted to Kamineni Hospital at Narketpally, where he succumbed.

Two others accompanying him escaped with minor injuries. They said Harikrishna lost control of the vehicle when it hit a stone.

Two of the five persons in the other car also sustained minor injuries. The person driving the other car said he noticed the vehicle flying in the air and immediately veered it towards the left, thus avoiding the full impact of the collision.

Harikrishna, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, was on his way to Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a marriage.

He was a member of the TDP politburo and brother-in-law of TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

He is survived by two wives Lakshmi and Shalini, two sons Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram, both actors, and daughter Suhasini.

His eldest son Janki Ram was also killed in a road accident in 2014 in the same district. In 2009, Junior NTR had escaped with injuries in a road accident, also in Nalgonda district.

Harikrishna's death shocked the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh and the Telugu film industry. Chandrababu Naidu, other members of the NTR family, film personalities and TDP leaders rushed to Narketpally.

After the autopsy, Harikrishna's body was shifted to Hyderabad by road. Naidu, Harikrishna's brother actor Balakrishna and sons accompanied the body.

The last rites will be performed at his farm house at Moinabad on Hyderabad's outskirts. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the last rites will be performed with official honours.

Born on September 2, 1956 at Nimmakur in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Harikrishna, the fourth son of NTR, began his film career as a child artist in the 1960s.

He debuted in 1967 in "Shri Krishnavataram" featuring his father NTR, who was the most popular actor of his times.

"Talla Pellamma" (1970), "Tatamma Kala" (1974), "Ram Raheem" (1974), "Daana Veera Shura Karna" (1977), "Sri Ramulayya" (1998) and "Seetharama Raju" (1999) were some of his other films.

Harikrishna was the 'sarathi' (charioteer) of NTR's famous Chaitanya Ratham (chariot of awakening) in 1980s. He drove the Ratham, a customised Chevrolet van, for thousands of kilometres.

He had backed Naidu when the latter staged a revolt against NTR in 1995. Following the death of NTR in 1996, he was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly from Hindupur, a constituency represented by his legendary father.

He served as Minister for Transport in Naidu's cabinet and was also the President of TDP's youth wing.

In 1999, he quit TDP accusing Naidu of deviating from the ideals of NTR and formed a new party called Anna TDP, which failed to make a mark.

In 2006, he rejoined the TDP and was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2008. Harkrishna resigned from the Rajya Sabha in 2013 in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

--IANS

ms/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One-way traffic will continue on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Saturday, an official said here.

"Both heavy and light vehicles, including trucks carrying essential supplies for the Kashmir Valley are being allowed to move from Jammu to Srinagar today," the traffic department official said.

The strategic highway has not been fully restored for two-way traffic due of frequent landslides in the Ramban-Ramsoo sector.

A distance of less than 300 km which normally takes around six to seven hours, now takes almost 15 hours to complete.

--IANS

sq/ksk

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Pentagon repeated on Tuesday that the presence of US troops in Afghanistan will not last much longer, but stressed the importance of their deployment in the region to avoid further attacks on the US like those on September 11, 2001.

"We are there in order to ensure that America's security - and just think back to 9/11 and this building - that America's security is not threatened out of that location again," Efe quoted Defense Secretary James Mattis as saying in an unusual press conference at the Pentagon.

The head of the Defense Department was joined in his appearance before the media by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, who also noted that the presence of US troops in Afghanistan is not an enduring commitment.

"I certainly don't expect that the current forces that we have in Afghanistan represents an enduring large military commitment," Dunford said, adding that he did expect Washington's long-term commitment to the Asian nation to continue in the form of "a permanent diplomatic mission".

Mattis, in any case, maintained that when the US government reviewed its strategy for the region in August of last year, he was aware that to achieve that objective would take time.

At the beginning of this year, US President Donald Trump announced his intention to remove US troops from Afghanistan soon.

The defense secretary, who noted the importance of the fact that in recent months there have two cease-fires between the Taliban and the local government, expressed his optimism about reaching a political solution to the conflict.

Mattis, however, linked the definitive departure of US troops from countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq to their compliance with two conditions: first, the Islamic state must be destroyed, and secondly, the training of local troops.

In the case of Syria he added a third step - that the negotiating process in Geneva start showing positive results.

--IANS

qd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A strain of Escherichia coli (E.coli) found in retail chicken and turkey products may cause a wide range of urinary tract infections in people, a new study has found.

While it was known that E. coli could be passed from person-to-person in the community and in hospitals, the study, provided evidence that the bacterium lurking in fresh poultry products can be passed to people, leading to bladder infections and other serious conditions.

Researchers from the George Washington University, in the US, found that E.coli ST131 -- the most common type infecting the people -- was present in nearly 80 per cent of the 2,452 meat samples and in 72 per cent of the positive urine and blood cultures from patients in the study.

"In the past, we could say that E.coli from people and poultry were related to one another, but with this study, we can more confidently say that the E.coli went from poultry to people and not vice versa," said Lance B. Price, Professor from the varsity.

They also discovered that almost all of the E.coli ST131 on the poultry products belonged to a particular strain called ST131-H22 and carried genes that helps E.coli thrive in birds.

This same poultry-adapted strain was also found to be causing UTIs in people.

More than 80 per cent of UTIs are caused by E.coli, however, only a few strains are responsible for most of the serious infections.

For the study, published in the journal mBio, the team conducted a one-year longitudinal study where they analysed retail chicken, turkey and pork from Arizona.

According to Price, the findings underscore the importance of cooking poultry thoroughly and handling it carefully in the kitchen.

Many people think of urinary tract infections (UTIs) as a common and minor annoyance, but invasive UTIs that involve the kidneys or blood can be life-threatening.

--IANS

asj/rt/anp/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over 99 per cent of the Rs 15.3 lakh crore taken out of circulation through demonetisation in November 2016 has returned to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank announced on Wednesday.

The RBI's annual report 2017-18 said that on completion of the process of verification of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it is found that the total value of the demonetised currency returned to the banks now stands at Rs 15.3 lakh crore, which amounts to 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth of such notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.

"The total value of SBNs (specified banknotes) returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion," the report said.

"The total value of SBNs in circulation as on November 8, 2016, post verification and reconciliation, was Rs 15,417.93 billion."

The RBI also said the value of banknotes in circulation stands at 18 lakh crore till the end of the last fiscal.

"The value of banknotes in circulation increased by 37.7 per cent over the year to Rs 18,037 billion at March-end 2018," it said.

Besides, notes issued by the RBI in the one-year period between June 2017 and June 2018 increased by nearly 27 per cent.

"The notes issued increased by 26.93 per cent from Rs 15,063.31 billion as on June 30, 2017 to Rs 19,119.60 billion as on June 30, 2018," the report said.

"The increase is on account of the continued efforts of the Reserve Bank to supply adequate quantity of banknotes to meet the transactional needs of the public," it added.

--IANS

bc/in/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Patna High Court on Wednesday again pulled up the CBI for giving an unsatisfactory explanation for the transfer of a CBI officer probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

The court has also directed the probe agency to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) for the case.

A division bench of Chief Justice M.R. Shah, while hearing the case, has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director to monitor the case.

The court also asked the agency to speed up the probe in the case.

"The court has pulled up the CBI again over its unsatisfactory reply on the transfer of CBI Superintendent of Police J.P. Mishra probing the case," a government lawyer said.

The court also directed the Bihar government to submit details of all shelter homes run by the NGOs in the next hearing of the case on September 17.

Last week, the court had expressed unhappiness over the CBI's failure to submit a progress report in the court in connection with the mass rapes at the Muzaffarpur shelter home and explain the sudden transfer of the CBI official probing the case.

Mishra, who was transferred to Patna barely two months ago, was sent out on August 21 as the Superintendent in the office of the Deputy Inspector General (Patna Range).

The Patna High Court is monitoring the CBI probe into the case.

Among those arrested and jailed for the multiple rapes is journalist Brajesh Thakur. Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma had to resign after it became known that her husband was in close touch with Thakur.

The Muzaffarpur horror came to light when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police in the Philippines island of Mindanao were on high alert on Wednesday after a bomb blast in a market in Isulan area killed two people and injured 36 others.

Isulan, capital of Sultan Kudarat province, was celebrating the "Hamungaya Festival" when a bomb exploded on Tuesday night at a market, Efe news reported.

"Effective this morning police units in Mindanao are on full alert status. This is the response until the completion of the martial law," the state-owned Philippine News Agency quoted General Oscar Albayalde as saying.

Albayalde said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which is affiliated with the Islamic State, has claimed to be behind the attack while further investigations are on.

Isulan Police Chief Celestino Daniel said that the attack had targeted government forces as the bomb exploded when an army convoy was passing through the area.

Three explosive devices were found in the area.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Puerto Rican officials now say 2,975 people died following Hurricane Maria -- a devastating storm that struck the US island territory in September 2017. The White House concurred.

The revised death toll is nearly 50 times the previous estimate of 64. The latest findings were made in a report by experts from George Washington University, which Governor Ricardo Rossello commissioned.

The long-awaited independent investigation findings have been "accepted", the BBC reported.

"I'm giving an order to update the official number of deaths to 2,975," Rossello said at a press conference on Tuesday. "Although this is an estimate, it has a scientific basis."

In a statement, the White House said the federal government supported the governor's efforts to "ensure a full accountability and transparency of fatalities" in the 2017 hurricane.

When asked why his government was unable to recognise a higher death toll at the time, Rossello replied: "I am not perfect. I make mistakes. Now, hindsight tends to be 20-20."

He echoed one finding in the report that doctors "lacked awareness" on how to appropriately certify deaths attributed to natural disasters.

"The responsibility for adjudicating the cause of deaths rested with the doctors," Rossello told El Nuevo Dia, the island's most circulated paper. "But unfortunately there was no formal process to prepare them for this kind of devastation.

"At that moment, (64) that was the number (of deceased) that we had and today we have the evidence which indicates the number was definitely higher."

The government's initial number was arrived at by counting those crushed by collapsing structures, drowned and hit by flying debris. Although some experts estimated it to be as many as 4,600 deaths in the wake of the disaster.

Puerto Rico has struggled to repair its infrastructure and power grid since the storm, and is asking US Congress for $139bn in recovery funds.

President Donald Trump was criticised for praising the federal response to the hurricane-ravaged island in the weeks following the storm.

Critics accused him of showing more concern for residents in Texas and Florida after they were hit by hurricanes.

The authorities have faced nearly a year of criticism for underreporting the true toll of Maria -- the most powerful storm to hit the region in nearly 90 years, the BBC said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested by Pune Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riots of January, on Wednesday said that the entire case was a political ploy against political dissent by this "vindictive and cowardly government".

In a statement, he said the government was bent upon shielding the real culprits of the Bhima-Koregaon violence in Maharashtra and thus divert attention from its own "scams and failures which stretch from Kashmir to Kerala.

"A political trial must be fought politically and I welcome this opportunity. I have to do nothing. It is for the Maharashtra Police, working at the best of their political masters, to prove their case against me and my comrades who too have been arrested.

"We, in PUDR (People's Union for Democratic Rights), have collectively and fearlessly fought for more than 40 years for the cause of democratic rights and I, as part of PUDR, have covered many such trials. Now I myself will be a witness to a political trial with a ringside view," Navlakha said.

Navlakha and four other alleged Maoist sympathisers, including revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, were arrested in raids across various cities by the Pune Police in connection with a public meeting held in Pune on December 31 last year, a day before the violence in Koregaon Bhima, 60 km from Pune.

Meanwhile, there was drama on Tuesday night when Sudha Bharadwaj, another arrested activitst, was brought to the house of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Sector 15 A in Faridabad in Haryana, bordering Delhi.

"The roads in the area are very dark and dimly lit and her counsel was asked to make a presentation in the driveway of the CJM's house," an associate of Bharadwaj said.

Senior lawyer Vrinda Grover urged the CJM to allow her to make a proper presentation as it was impossible for her to show any documents in the driveway.

The CJM then invited the counsels inside his residence where she said some applications needed to be presented.

The Magistrate said that he was informed that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had passed some orders in the case of Bhardwaj and the hearing went on till late in the night.

Bharadwaj was detained in a vehicle outside the Magistrate's residence even as the hearing was on.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after five civil rights activists were arrested in a nationwide swoop, the Pune Police claimed on Wednesday that it had unearthed a "Maoist conspiracy hatched to overthrow the elected government".

The alleged plot came to light after the police analysed the electronic devices, documents and other "highly incriminating evidences" seized from the arrested persons showing their links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), said Pune Deputy Commissioner of Police Shirish Sardeshpande.

The CPI (Maoist) was also engaged in raising funds to incite civil unrest against the administration as part of the larger conspiracy to topple the government, Sardesphande added.

He said that the outlawed organization had funded the Elgar Parishad held in Pune on December 31, 2017 on the eve of the January 1, 2018 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima.

This is the first official reaction from the Pune Police justifying Tuesday's arrests of lawyer-activist Sudhar Bharadwaj and civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and P. Varavara Rao from different parts of India, triggering a massive outcry.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two actors of a Sudanese love story won't be attending the movie's world premiere in Venice Critics' Week on Friday, as they are stuck in Uganda awaiting word on their applications for refugee status.

Mohamed Chakado and Kamal Ramadan, who portray young conscripts on the run from the army in Hajooj Kuka's feature debut "aKasha" ("The Roundup"), arrived in Uganda earlier this year after fleeing their native Sudan.

They applied for refugee status in June, but their applications remain in limbo, and the two are unable to leave Uganda, according to variety.com.

Producer Steven Markovitz has petitioned the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on behalf of the actors but has yet to receive a response.

"We don't know how long it's going to take...so we don't have any timeline yet," he said.

Both actors are from the Nuba Mountains, the volatile Sudanese region where "aKasha" was filmed.

The film is a quirky love triangle between rebel soldier Adnan, his long-suffering lover Lina and his AK-47. Adnan meets reluctant rebel Absi while fleeing the army's annual roundup of truant soldiers.

Markovitz said it is "very disappointing" that the actors will not attend the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival sidebar, nor the North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"In this time of closing borders, it's crucial that artistes' work helps to open up understanding of each other," the film's makers said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Wednesday said that it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore sale of its Mumbai integrated distribution business to Adani Transmission (ATL), which will help RInfra reduce its debt by nearly two-thirds to Rs 7,500 crore.

At a media briefing here following a board meeting to approve the transfer of the Mumbai power business, RInfra Chairman Anil Ambani announced the closure of the deal which had been signed in December last year.

"For Reliance Infrastructure, this is truly a transformative transaction. The company's gross debt will be reduced from about Rs 22,000 crore to only Rs 7,500 crore, representing a steep debt reduction of 65 per cent in a single transaction," he said.

In the past eight months, the sale has received regulatory approvals from the Competition Commission of India, shareholders of the company and the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission.

RInfra and ATL had signed the Definitive Binding Agreement for 100 per cent stake sale of the integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution for Mumbai in December 2017.

Reliance Energy, operating the Mumbai power business, supplies to nearly three million residential, industrial and commercial consumers in the city suburbs covering an area of 400 sq km. It caters to a peak demand of over 1,800 MW, with annual revenues of Rs 7,500 crore with stable cash flows, the company had said.

Speaking of the company's engineering and construction business, Ambani said that some of the showpiece projects in Rinfra's order book include the Rs 7,000-crore Versova-Bandra Sealink, Mumbai Metro Line 4, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu and the integrated LNG Terminal and power project in Bangladesh.

--IANS

bc/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Expanding its global footprint, Singapore-headquartered supply chain robotics company GreyOrange has announced the establishment of its US headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

To further expand its technology development capability and propel innovation in robotics logistics, the company is also opening a research and development (R&D) centre in Boston, Massachusetts, GreyOrange said in a statement on Wednesday.

Founded in 2011, GreyOrange currently has offices in Singapore, India, Japan, Germany, and the US.

The company designs, manufactures and deploys advanced robotics systems for automation in warehouses, distribution and fulfilment centers.

GreyOrange recently hired Chris Barber to lead as Regional CEO, North America.

"With our expansion into the US and Chris Barber as our Regional CEO, we will transform warehouse processes and efficiency and enhance employee engagement and retention, bringing it on par with tech jobs," said Samay Kohli, CEO and Co-Founder at GreyOrange.

--IANS

gb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Describing the Rohingya refugee situation as one of the worst humanitarian and human rights crises of the past year, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for international action to ensure Myanmar is held to account for the crimes of its security forces.

Speaking at a Security Council session convened on Tuesday for the one-year anniversary of the start of the exodus of 720,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh, Guterres also condemned the attacks by extremists against the security forces.

However, he added that nothing can ever justify the disproportionate use of force against civilians and the horrendous violation of human rights violations by the security forces.

Urging united action by the divided Security Council, Guterres cited a report issued on Monday by a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) fact-finding team and said the human rights abuses amounted to "the gravest crimes under international law".

He thanked the Bangladesh government for its generosity in hosting the refugees and said more needs to be done by the world community as only 33 per cent of the $951 million UN appeal for assistance has been met and the the monsoon season looms.

The current crisis began in August 2017 with attacks on Myanmar security posts by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which is led by Karachi-born Ata Ullah.

The Myanmar armed forces and vigilantes retaliated brutally against the Rohingyas starting an exodus that began on August 25.

Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, the British Minister of State for the UN, who presided over the Security Council session, said that it should be prepared to use all the tools it has to ensure justice for the Rohingyas.

The strongly-worded report by the UNHRC team headed by former Indonesian attorney-general Marzuki Darusman said that allegations of genocide against Myanmar officials should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to a special tribunal.

The Netherlands and Sweden backed the suggestion and asked the Security Council to refer the matter to the ICC.

But Russia and China countered saying that the situation required a non-confrontational approach and only a bilateral diplomatic solution involving Myanmar and Bangladesh would work.

Myanmar's Permanent Representative Hau Do Suan said that his country did not accept the findings of the UNHRC team as it was biased.

However, he added that Myanmar does not condone human rights abuses and would take action against anyone guilty if there was evidence of their conduct.

He alleged that the ARSA had set up terrorist bases in some areas along the border with Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Permanent Representative Masud Bin Momen said that in the light of the UNHRC team's report, it was imperative that the Security Council should act decisively.

He said that the Rohingyas could not return to their homes in Rakhine state unless they were assured of their safety.

For this, the Myanmar government should take several steps like curbing hate speech, allowing free access to UN agencies for relief operations and dismantling internal camps for Rohingyas and giving them freedom of movement.

Australian-born actor Cate Blanchett, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, spoke at the Security Council session about her encounters with Rohingya refugees who told her harrowing tales of their experiences in Myanmar.

She said that as a mother she was moved by the plight of the children she met as she saw her children reflected in them.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Making a sharp attack on the Modi government on demonetisation, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday said the country paid a "huge price" for cancelling what turned out "a small sum" of Rs 13,000 crore.

He said for the Rs 13,000 crore, which did not come back to the banks, the country lost Rs 2.25 lakh crore worth of GDP, crores of jobs and over a hundred lives.

His remarks came soon after the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report on Wednesday that around 99.3 per cent of the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, which were banned overnight in November 2016, were returned to RBI.

"Every rupee of the Rs 15.42 lakh crore (barring a small sum of Rs 13,000 crore) has come back to the RBI. Remember who had said that Rs 3 lakh crore will not come back and that will be a gain for the government," the Congress leader said in a series of tweets.

He added that the bulk of Rs 13,000 crore which was not returned may also not be black money but the currency in Nepal and Bhutan and some which may have been lost or destroyed.

"So, government and RBI actually demonetised only Rs 13,000 crore and the country paid a huge price. Over 100 lives were lost. 15 crore daily wage earners lost their livelihood for several weeks. Thousands of SME (small and medium enterprises) units were shut down. Lakhs of jobs were destroyed," Chidambaram said.

"Indian economy lost 1.5 per cent of GDP in terms of growth. That alone was a loss of Rs 2.25 lakh crore a year," he added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A large number of activists, writers and representatives of Left-affiliated organisations on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for "intimidating and crushing" the voices of dissent.

Converging at Maharastra Sadan here to protest under the banner of "Citizens Protest" against the police raids and "illegal arrests" of human rights activists, the activists demanded that all five be released immediately.

Historian Shamsul Islam said: "This BJP government first branded the dissenting people as anti-national, next terrorists...and now they have coined a nonsense term called 'urban Naxal', only to intimidate and crush the voices of dissent."

The Pune police on Tuesday said it had arrested five human rights activists and alleged that Maoist sympathisers, including Telugu poet Varavara Rao, were directly linked to the Bhima Koregaon riots in Maharashtra on January 1.

Hero Honda Theka Mazdoor Sangathan vice-president Rakhi Sehgal said that despite court order, the Pune police tried to take away trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj on Tuesday from Uttar Pradesh.

"More than 15 police personnel came to arrest a woman... The investigating officer in the court was just reading the sections, instead of proving the allegations on her," Sehgal added.

Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan general secretary Poonam Kaushik said that Milind Eknote and Sambhaji Bhide, who allegedly provoked violence in Bhima Koregaon, wre roaming scot-free.

"Sunil Bharadwaj and four other activists are arrested because they opposed earlier arrests of activists Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut, who were defending the arrests of innocent Dalits," said Kaushik.

National Campaign for People's Right to Information co-convenor Anjali Bharadwaj said "this attempt is to send a clear signal to spread fear that if you raise inconvenient questions to the government, you will be targeted".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The will hear later on Wednesday a plea by well-known historian Romila Thapar and activist Maja Daruwala on the arrest of five left-wing activists and a lawyer on Tuesday for their alleged naxal links.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said it would hear the matter at 3.45 p.m. after counsel appearing for Thapar, Daruwala and three other activists mentioned the matter for an urgent hearing.

Maharashtra Police had arrested five left-wing activists -- Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira -- on Monday.

Police had also raided the houses of tribal rights activist Stan Swamy and Anand Teltumbde, a management professional and civil rights activist, and others.The Himachal government will showcase the history of Shimla over the years as the once tiny village metamorphosed to become the summer capital of the British Raj in India, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the Assembly on Wednesday.

The government will showcase Shimla's history spanning many decades through a laser light-and-sound show for the benefit of tourists, said Thakur, who also holds the tourism portfolio.

Known as the 'Queen of Hills', Shimla was the summer capital of the British rulers between 1864 and 1939.

"A similar show at the Cellular Jail (at Port Blair) in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which I once witnessed, makes huge impact on the audience and is a tourist attraction. On similar lines, we will showcase Shimla's history and culture through the light-and-sound show," Thakur said while replying to a debate on the state's tourism policy.

"Shimla's history goes beyond The Mall. We propose to introduce the show so that people who visit Shimla also know its history."

Mahatma Gandhi visited Shimla several times in the days leading to the country's independence in 1947. On some occasions, freedom fighters like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Lala Lajpat Rai accompanied him.

Thakur said that poor connectivity was a stumbling block in the promotion of tourism in Himachal.

The Chief Minister said that tourists visiting the hill state complained about poor roads and road connectivity. "I am sure new highways and four-laned roads in Himachal will help solve this problem from tourism point of view," he said.

He said that since problems were faced in the expansion of state's three airports at Shimla, Kangra and Kullu, the Himachal government had taken up with the Centre the issue of developing a bigger airport at a suitable place.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Anand Teltumbde, one of the nine alleged "urban naxals" raided by Maharashtra Police, on Wednesday urged the judiciary to take note of what he called "monumental harassment" by police of intellectuals critical of the government.

In a statement here, Teltumbde said that police raided his Goa home on Tuesday as if he was a "dreaded terrorist or a criminal", adding that the incident was meant to instil fear among those critical of the NDA government.

"The police could have enquired with me on whatever they wanted to, either by sending a police official or calling me to the police station. But the intention is to create an atmosphere of terror and project that I had already committed some dreaded crime," he said.

Teltumbde and his wife were not in town when the police raided their house inside Goa Institute of Management, where he works as a senior Professor. He said that the police forced its way into his house without even waiting for the institute's Director to arrive after procuring duplicate keys from security guards.

He said he feared that the police could have "planted some object in the house with an alibi of search".

"My wife reached Goa and took the help of a lawyer-friend and filed a police complaint in this connection," Teltumbde said.

"I, like many other targeted people, was not even (present) in the conference (at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1). With what stretch of imagination could I have been suspected of connection with these things?" he questioned.

He said that the entire episode is based on a letter the police produced, the authenticity of which is "far from established as many people have already expressed serious doubt about its veracity".

"And on this basis, the police are summarily targeting all intellectuals in the country. They are misusing the draconian law like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to terrorise people into silence by targeting select intellectuals and activists. I urge the judiciary to take note of the monumental harassment and torture of innocents like me... without any iota of wrongdoing on our part," Teltumbde said.

The activist said that though he had been critical of the policies of the governments, particularly of the present dispensation, but had voiced criticism "in not a superficial way but with scholastic discipline".

"In the course of time, I got associated with many organisations, none of which advocates violence or do unlawful things. As for insinuation of my connection with Bhima-Koregaon or Elgar Parishad, I happened to write a critique of the Bhima-Koregaon (riot) episode published in 'The Wire' web portal, incurring the wrath of many Dalits all over the country," he said.

In the raids conducted on Tuesday at the homes of nine activists in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Goa and Hyderabad, the Maharashtra Police arrested activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao and Arun Ferreira on charges of aiding the Naxals and hatching a conspiracy to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that the five arrested activists be kept under house arrest till September 6, and issued notice to the Maharashtra government.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)South Korea's Unification Ministry on Wednesday said that talks with North Korea are underway to open a joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong.

Unification Ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a press briefing that talks are currently underway between the two Koreas about the opening of the inter-Korean liaison office though no specific progress has been made yet, Xinhua news agency reported.

The launch of the joint liaison office was agreed upon by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit on April 27 in Panmunjom.

The spokesman said inter-Korean talks are underway through various channels to determine the date of the third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A school teacher in Manipur was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping a girl student, officials said.

Abujam Tombisana, a teacher of Little Master School at Samurou in Imphal West district, was arrested on the charge of raping the student, a resident of a girls' hostel, on Tuesday night. Police have registered a case.

Local residents said when the victim raised an alarm, the accused fled and surrendered at the police station. Irate residents demolished the boarding house on Tuesday night.

In a public meeting held on Wednesday, people demanded the death penalty for the teacher accused of rape. Village elders said an agitation will be launched, demanding justice for the girl.

Police said that the situation is tense but under control.

On Wednesday, students of the school held a demonstration demanding action against the accused. They were later pacified with the promise of stern action.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Pune court on Wednesday put under house arrest three of the five rights activists arrested a day earlier, hours after the Supreme Court orders in this regard.

They are poet-activist P. Varavara Rao, civil rights activist-lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

The Supreme Court had directed that all five arrested activists be placed under house arrest till the next hearing of the matter on September 6.

Rao was arrested from Hyderabad while the two others were held from Thane and Mumbai respectively on Tuesday by Pune police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riot on January 1.

"You shall be sent home and kept under house arrest," Shivajinagar Additional Sessions Judge K.D. Vadane ordered when the three were presented by police for remand this evening.

Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar had sought the police custody for all three.

Pune Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivajirao Pawar later said that pursuant to court orders, arrangements will be made for the three accused to be sent to their respective homes.

"We had pleaded to put them under house arrest at a government facility. However, since there are specific directives of the Supreme Court, they will be sent to their places of residence," he added.

The police claimed, among other things, that the five arrested activists -- the three along with lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha -- were Maoist supporters.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Mumbai, Aug 29 (IANS/Mongaday) On August 10, when Sanjay Rathod walked to his lush cotton field in Lasina village in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, he noticed some closed yellow flowers. Opening them, he found to his horror the tiny larvae of the pink bollworm. He shared a photo with other farmers on Whatsapp groups and immediately got a response on what pesticides he should use. Accordingly, he sprayed an insecticide Larvin and some neem spray. They didnt have any effect. He is now terrified of a repeat of last year when he lost half the cotton on his six acres of land, to the pink bollworm menace.

From the main road, his field in a 15-20 minute walk and you can sink knee deep into the soft soil. Walking around, he obsessively checks each flower and finds a number of the pests. "They are early this year," he says, downcast. He has installed pheromone traps, in which he finds nothing, and a light trap as well.

The next day, the district agricultural officers paid a visit to his farm and found that the pest attack was not serious and below the economic threshold level (ETL). "It's a healthy field," proclaimed Pramod Yadgiriwar, associate director, research, zonal agricultural research station, Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. However, Rathod is not very convinced. He is still anxious that he will lose his crop as the scientists didn't check the whole field.

Over a week later, he found few pink bollworms but noticed sap-sucking pests and is now seeking advice from Yadgiriwar on how to deal with them. One of the issues with Bt cotton has been a resurgence of secondary pests, the mealy bug among them.

Light traps and pheromone traps dot the cotton landscape in Yavatmal district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. This is the epicentre of farmer suicides in the country and in addition to the farm distress, since the last few years, farmers are challenged by pests like the pink bollworm (larvae of the moth Pectinophora gossypiella) on cotton which is assuming menacing proportions. This year too, farmers have noticed with alarm, an early onset of the pest.

The pink bollworm has not caused much trouble in India unlike the green or American bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) which used to devastate cotton. Bt cotton, a genetically modified pest resistant variety, was launched to tackle the green bollworm in 2002. However, last year (2017), pink bollworm damage was widespread in Maharashtra and many farmers are still waiting for the compensation announced by the government. This pest has added to the complex theatre of distress in Yavatmal.

Pesticide poisoning

Cotton has been grown in Yavatmal for over 100 years and the cotton acreage keeps fluctuating, but it is the mainstay of the local economy. Since 2002, farmers adopted Bt cotton in a big way and now they also plant herbicide tolerant Bt cotton which is as yet illegal in the country and has not been approved for planting. In 2017, the sudden increase in pests, mainly the pink bollworm from July onwards prompted intensive chemical spraying which resulted in 22 deaths in Yavatmal district and over 60 overall in the state.

In the government hospital at Yavatmal alone there were 507 admissions and 13 deaths, according to official figures. There were extensive crop losses due to the pink bollworm and this year, the cotton area has reduced to between 3.6 million and 3.8 mha compared to 4.2 mha in 2017-18 in Maharashtra, according to the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR).

The effects of spraying a dangerous mix of chemicals are being felt already and there have been 72 admissions in the Yavatmal government hospital till August 28 this year, with five new admissions on that day. There are 22 persons in the ward, with six critically ill and one on a ventilator. So far 50 have been discharged.

The doctors said the patients do not use safety kits and tend to use organophosphates and weed killers, which have an impact on their body. Prompted by last year's influx, the hospital dean, Dr. Man Shrigiriwar has set up a special unit for inhalation and contact poisoning patients and closely monitors their progress.

Battling the pink bollworm

After last year's debacle, for the first time, the Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, has set up a zone-wise monitoring committee for the pink bollworm in Vidarbha this year, said Yadgiriwar, who heads the committee for central Vidarbha. The committees have been active in all 11 districts of the region since July and will continue their work till February of next year. There were few instances of the pink bollworm crossing the economic threshold level (ETL), he said. Only two villages in Pusad and Umerkhed talukas of Yavatmal district had reported that and now, towards August end, the pest was under control in those places. He advised using light traps for 2-3 hours early morning and after dusk.

The danger with light traps which are supposed to attract the small grey moths of Pectinophora gossypiella, whose larvae is the pink bollworm, is that they are left on all day and night. The traps attract all kinds of insects and moths, killing the beneficial ones as well. CICR has advocated that light traps must be kept only next to gins, to attract moths, and not on fields. However, this advice seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The making of an "insecticide resistant monster"

Studies by CICR in 2015 had already established that the pink bollworm had developed resistance to the pesticide Bollgard 2. Lack of alternatives to Bt cotton which seems to have a diminishing impact on pests along with a lack of proper advice on dealing with pests, has left farmers to bear the brunt of crop loss and debt.

V.N. Waghmare, director (acting), CICR, said since last year, the pink bollworm has developed resistance but this is not uniformly distributed, it is low in some places and higher in irrigated areas. Extending the cotton crop beyond December or mid-January has also contributed to increasing the pest attack. The CICR is advocating spraying neem based pesticides, avoiding chemicals in the beginning and spraying synthetic pyrethroids only after 120 days.

Waghmare said the pink bollworm is a minor pest usually occurring in October and it has a life cycle of 30 to 35 days. Usually it has 1 or 2 life cycles but since the cotton lasts till April in most places, its life cycle continues, he pointed out.

Uncontrolled spraying of synthetic pyrethroids made the American or green bollworm an "insecticide resistant monster", as former CICR director K.R. Kranthi described it. Not having learnt any lessons, we seem to be headed in a similar direction for the pink bollworm. Meanwhile the farmers suffer.

(In arrangement with Mongabay.com, a source for environmental news reporting and analysis. The views expressed in the article are those of Mongabay.com. Feedback: gopi@mongabay.com)

--IANS/Mongabay

meena/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Mumbai-based incubator thinQbate has partnered with data-driven venture capital firm Hatcher+ to gain additional capital and AI-based platforms to assist in assessing candidates and tracking performance.

Accordingly, thinQbate and Hatcher+ will invest in 20 start-ups over the next three years.

Besides additional capital for its portfolio companies, the Mumbai-based incubator is expected to gain access to Hatcher+'s extensive network, enabling it to have a "soft landing" across different geographies.

"Hatcher+ is a notable player in the global market and we are thrilled to be their first partners in India. Working with Hatcher+ will exponentially increase the infrastructure and network we can bring to our portfolio companies, as well as significantly add to the size of our capital contribution," thinQbate Founding Partner Pranav Marwah was quoted as saying in a statement.

"thinQbate's investment ethos has always been about bringing strategic value to our portfolio companies, rather than only capital, and our partnership with Hatcher+ will help us further this goal."

According to Sauvik Banerjjee (CTO, TATACLiQ and VP Digital Initiatives at Tata Industries), who acts as an advisor to the thinQbate founding team: "The cornerstone of thinQbate's model is to encourage sustainable growth, and the organisation has made tremendous progress since its inception just two short years ago."

"I am excited by the opportunities a partnership with Hatcher will bring for the young and dynamic team at thinQbate."

Wissam Otkay, partner at Hatcher+ commented: "They (thinQbate) are, in our view, one of the leading early stage investment and incubation programs in India."

The Mumbai-based incubator was founded in 2016, and is based on a community centric, entrepreneur-first approach to angel investment and incubation.

It aims to help annual cohorts of fresh ideas and minds thrive through capital investment, as well as offer value-added benefits.

Currently, thinQbate is moving into its second cohort, where it is looking to invest up to $50,000 in six to eight portfolio companies.

--IANS

rv/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thousands of people were evacuated on Wednesday due to floods after Myanmar's Swar Chaung dam was breached, officials said.

Residents of Yedashe town were seen wading through chest-high waters, while others clung to trees as emergency workers used ropes and inflatable rafts to rescue them, Efe news reported.

About four hundred houses from nearby villages have been affected by the floods, and a bridge near the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway has sustained partial damage.

Dozens of fire trucks and hundreds of fire department personnel were sent to the affected areas to provide emergency assistance, the Myanmar Fire Service said.

Authorities have closed the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway temporarily.

No casualties have been reported yet.

--IANS

mag/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that Mexico will pay for the border wall he wants to build to halt illegal migration, once again putting on the table the issue that has most soured relations between the two countries one day after a friendly telephone call with his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto.

"Yeah. The wall will be paid for very easily, by Mexico. It will ultimately be paid for by Mexico," Efe quoted Trump as saying in response to his plans for the border wall at the White House after meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The President offered no further explanation of his remark.

That declaration resurrects an issue that Trump and Pena Nieto sidestepped during their Monday telephone call, which took place before television cameras and which focused on hailing the preliminary agreement to revamp the two countries' trade relationship, creating a pact that could replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, in place since 1994 but which Trump has repeatedly called a job-killing "disaster" for the US.

Immediately after Trump made his comment about the wall, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray responded to the US leader's words on Twitter in both Spanish and English.

"We just reached a trade understanding with the US, and the outlook for the relationship between our two countries is very positive. We will NEVER pay for a wall, however. That has been absolutely clear from the very beginning," tweeted Videgaray, who has been integrally involved in the trade negotiations.

The differences over paying for the wall have been the major irritant in relations between the US and Mexico since Trump took office, and Pena Nieto has cancelled two scheduled visits to Washington because of the ongoing friction.

In a phone conversation last February, Pena Nieto asked Trump to state publicly that Mexico would not pay for the wall, something that the US leader categorically refused to do.

The US and Mexico announced on Monday a preliminary trade agreement, saying that "They used to call it NAFTA, we are going to call it the US-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we will get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA."

The pact, which must be ratified by both the US and Mexican congresses and signed before it can go into effect, would have a minimum duration of 16 years and would affect several sectors, including the automotive sector.

Under the new deal, automobiles manufactured in both the US and Mexico would have to have at least 75 percent of their parts made in the US and 40 percent of that production would have to be by workers earning more than $16/hour.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump issued another veiled threat to Google and social media giants Facebook and Twitter over fake news, stating that these companies are "treading on very, very troubled territory".

These tech platforms should "better be careful, because you can't do that to people", the US President said during an Oval Office press meeting, according to a report in The Verge on Tuesday.

"I think Google is really taking advantage of a lot of people," Trump was quoted as saying.

Earlier, in a series of Tuesday morning tweets, Trump said that Google search algorithms are designed to silence conservative voices.

"Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media," Trump had said.

"In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me and others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent," the President added.

"Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96 per cent of results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous," Trump said, concluding that "Google and others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!"

Trump provided no further details on the matter, but he appeared to base his remarks on an unscientific study by PJMedia, a conservative opinion blog, that came to the conclusion that most of the search results in searches performed on Google for Trump-related issues come from what the blog deems to be left-wing publications.

Google on Tuesday denied the claims that its search engines are "biased towards any political ideology".

"When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds. Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," Efe quoted Google as saying in a statement.

The firm said that "every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

--IANS

gb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP's North Goa MP and Union Minister Shripad Naik on Wednesday did not rule out a return to state politics, saying that as disciplined soldiers the partymen took up any responsibility entrusted by the party.

"We are disciplined soldiers of the party. Whatever work the party gives us, we do it. The party will take a decision. After that things will move ahead," the Union Minister of State for AYUSH told the media here.

In the wake of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's prolonged illness, he said, he along with South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar, state BJP President and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar and state BJP General Secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavade will visit Delhi to meet party chief Amit Shah to resolve the leadership crisis and find an "alternate arrangement" in the absence of an ailing Parrikar.

"We will apprise them (party high command) about the situation in Goa," Naik said.

About the possibility of Parrikar stepping down, Naik said: "That is his prerogative. He has not said it yet. I do not know about it." He said that the BJP's priority was to see Parrikar healthy again.

Parrikar, earlier admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, is scheduled to leave late Wednesday evening for the US for the third time in six months for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

Naik maintained that Parrikar had suffered a "minor complication" during his treatment at the Mumbai hospital. "As per our information, he has been referred back to the US because of some minor complication. We have been told that he will be back in eight days," he said.

Asked about the alternate arrangement in the absence of Parrikar and three of his Cabinet Ministers, the BJP leader said: "Yes, there should be some arrangement. It should be done as soon as possible. The party will decide at the earliest."

The Minister said that he was aware of the negative public perception about the BJP-led government in Goa on this count.

--IANS

maya/tsb/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid employee shortages, supply chain and inventory issues and a slower mail delivery system, experts are advising Americans to do their Christmas shopping as early as possible this year. Retailers large and small are offering holiday deals early this month. National surveys indicate 36% of shoppers plan to spend more this year than in 2020. Do you plan to take advantage of early sales?

You voted:Criticising the Central government's demonetisation move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wondered whether the note ban was imposed to allow some black money holders to quietly convert it into white.

Incidentally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that over 99 per cent of the Rs 15.3 lakh crore taken out of circulation through demonetisation in November 2016 has returned to the apex bank.

"My first question now is "where has the black money gone?....My second question -- was this scheme hatched to allow some black money holders to quietly convert their black money into white?" she asked in her social media post.

The RBI's annual report 2017-18 said that on completion of the process of verification of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it is found that the total value of the demonetised currency returned to the banks now stands at Rs 15.3 lakh crore, which amounts to 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth of such notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.

Banerjee also said she sensed by intuition that this is a big anti-people measure after "the draconian demonetisation" was announced.

She also reiterated that it would severely affect the common people of the country, especially farmers, the unorganised sector, small entrepreneurs and the hard working middle class.

She added: "Today, the RBI in its annual report for 2017-18 has vindicated our apprehension. What a tragedy and what a shame!!!"

--IANS

bdc/pgh/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Wednesday kept up its attack on the Rafale deal, alleging that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was trying to cover up a "scandal with scandal" and asked why the government was "scared" for a JPC probe.

Party President Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jailtey in a tweet while Congress Spokesperson Manish Tewari posed queries on the deal at the party's regular briefing here.

The opposition party's attack came hours after Jaitley, in a blogpost, termed the Congress charges on the Rafale deal "complete falsehood."

Hitting back, Gandhi said that the government should then accept a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe.

"Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the Great Rafale Robbery! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to sort it out?" Problem is, your supreme leader is protecting his friend. So this may be inconvenient. Do check and revert in 24 hours. We're waiting!" Gandhi said.

Jaitley too had asked Gandhi and his party to "respond immediately" to the questions raised by him.

Tewari said that a joint statement by India and France completely demolished the "very feeble defence" sought to be put by the Minister.

"In Modi government, collective responsibility is that no Minister has the responsibility of his own Ministry. This is the most peculiar form of government functioning we have seen. The timing of the Finance Minister's defence of Rafale when the RBI is releasing data on demonetisation. It will not be a remiss to say that the Minister is trying to cover one scandal with another scandal," Tewari said.

He said the party has been consistently demanding a JPC probe into the Rafale deal.

"If the government has nothing to hide, if the Finance Minister or the Prime Minister feel that everything is above board, why are they scared of facing a JPC? A JPC should be constituted and all questions which the Finance Minister raised, which primarily were a smokescreen to obfuscate the issue, will be absolutely blown out of water," Tewari said.

The Congress leader also demanded that the government state the final price at which the negotiations on the fighter jet deal with France were left in 2012 under the then UPA dispensation.

"Why is the government -- if it has all facts, if it is transparent -- shying away from placing the figures before the country?" he asked.

--IANS

ps-sid/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra governments belated denial of any proposal to penalise traders for not buying agri-commodities at the minimum support prices (MSPs) may manage to stem the mayhem in farm markets caused by rumours to this effect, but it has turned the trading community wary of the governments intentions.

Several key agricultural mandis in the state have either remained shut or transacted little business in the past few days to the detriment of the farmers. As conceded by a senior state official, providing MSPs to the farmers is the commitment of the government and not of the ...The Maharashtra Police's move to arrest five well-known activists was punctured on Wednesday with the Supreme Court observing that " is the safety valve of democracy" and directing that those in its custody be kept under house arrest.

The five activists -- Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha -- who were arrested after the pan India crackdown yesterday will not be sent to jail but be under house arrest under police watch until September 6, the court ruled.

" is the safety valve of and if you don't allow these safety valves it will burst," a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said.

Dealing a blow to the Maharashtra police, the apex court questioned it for arresting the activists nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas in Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune following the Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered in a Pune police station.

The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra government and the state police on the plea by five leading intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, against the arrests in connection with the case.



"The Supreme Court order has passed an order that covers all who were arrested," said lawyer Vrinda Grover after the ruling.

She added that they would be taken back to their homes.

While trade unionist and lawyer Bharadwaj is confined to her home in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Navlakha to his Delhi residence, Telugu poet Rao and activists Gonsalves and Ferreira were taken to Pune late last night.

They were arrested for their suspected links to Maoists following near simultaneous searches at Rao's home in Hyderabad, Gonzalves' and Ferreira's residences in Mumbai as well as in Faridabad and Delhi, officials said.

They were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed, along with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for their "alleged naxal activities", an official said, without elaborating.

As activists and others breathed a little easier following the apex court ruling, the Delhi High Court, which was hearing Navlakha's plea, observed that even if all other arrests were found to be valid, it would not lend validity to his arrest.

The Commission also stepped into the controversy, saying "it appears" standard operating procedure was not properly followed and this may amount to a violation of the of those arrested.

It issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief and asked for a 'factual report' within four weeks.

As the courts gave their ruling in Delhi, police in Pune said it had "evidence" suggesting a plan to target the "highest political functionaries".

Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists. The Elgar Parishad, he told reporters, was funded by the Maoists.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said all procedures were followed before conducting the raids against the activists.

"It is due to their links with naxal movements that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action," he said.

The others whose premises were reportedly searched were Father Stan Swamy, Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde.

"The entire case is a political ploy against political by this vindictive and cowardly government...," Navlakha said in a statement issued by civil rights group People's Union for Democratic Rights of which he is a part.

Navlakha's transit remand was secured from the Saket district court to take him to Pune. The order, however, was stayed by the high court.

It was a night of dramatic developments for those following Bharadwaj's case.

The chief judicial magistrate of Faridabad had granted Bharadwaj's transit remand to the Maharashtra police. However, it had to reverse its order in the early hours of Wednesday in keeping with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had stayed her transit remand for three days.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit history -- it witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on January 1, 1818 by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Yesterday's events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in June.As many as 128 organisations suspected to be having links with Maoists were identified by the UPA government in 2012 and some of those arrested by the Maharashtra Police in recent crackdown were part of these front groups of the red ultras, officials said today.

As the government received flak for the arrest of a few rights activists for suspected Naxal links, officials came out with a list, prepared by the then UPA dispensation in 2012, of organisations "having connections with the Maoists".

"The UPA government had, in December 2012, identified 128 organisations with linkages to the CPI (Maoists) and written to all state governments asking them to take action against people involved with these organisations. Seven of those Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Mahesh Raut arrested so far belong to the organisations appearing in this list," a government official said requesting anonymity.

While Rao, Bhardwaj, Ferreira and Gonsalves were arrested yesterday, Gadling, Wilson and Raut were arrested on June 6.

Ferreira and Gonsalves, two of the five arrested yesterday, were held in 2007 too and they had spent several years in prison. Similarly, Rao has been arrested several times by the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Police in the past.

The official said what is under investigation in the current case are the linkages of these individuals with the CPI (Maoist), a banned organisation operating with the devious objective of overthrowing democratic order, and the support provided by them to the CPI (Maoist).

"Such individuals cannot escape responsibility for aiding and abetting the violent acts committed by CPI (Maoist)'s underground cadres," the official said.

"The CPI (Maoist), towards achievement of its ultimate objective of seizure of political power through protracted peoples war, attaches immense importance to the urban movement which works towards creation of a United Front in support of their movement," another official said.

The urban movement is the main source for providing leadership and resources to the CPI(Maoist). The responsibility for provision of supplies, technologies, expertise, information and other logistic support is also shouldered by the overground activists in urban centres, the official said.

Since 2001, altogether 6,956 civilians and 2,517 security personnel have been killed by the CPI (Maoist), according to a government figure.

Naxal violence has also caused massive damage to infrastructure and virtually stalled development activities in some parts of the country.

The Maharashtra Police has named the organisations to which the arrested people belong: Surendra Gadling (General Secretary, Indian Association of People's Lawyers), Rona Wilson (Public Relation Secretary, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners), Sudhir Dhawale (Republican Panthers), Shoma Sen (Executive Member, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights) and Mahesh Raut (State Convener, Maharashtra, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan). All were arrested on June 6.

Those who were arrested yesterday are: Varavara Rao (President, Revolutionary Democratic Front), Sudha Bharadwaj (Vice-President, Indian Association of People's Lawyers), Gautam Navlakha (Leader, People's Union for Democratic Rights), Vernon Gonsalves (ex-Secretary, Maharashtra State Committee of CPI/Maoist) and Arun Ferreira (ex-Member, Maharashtra State Committee of CPI-Maoist).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Authorities have sealed 151 illegal health clinics in Kashmir during a drive against such establishments, an official spokesman said today.

Around 66 illegal clinics were sealed in Baramulla district followed by 37 in Budgam district, 13 in Kulgam district, nine each in Shopian and Anantnag districts, six in Ganderbal, five in Pulwama and three in Srinagar district, he said.

"On the directions of Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan, the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir has sealed 151 illegal and unauthorised clinics across the valley," the spokesman said.

Khan chaired a meeting to review the progress of the sealing drive today.

Consequent upon the daily reports received by the divisional commissioner's office regarding unauthorised clinical establishments in different areas across Kashmir division, Khan directed all the chief medical officers (CMOs) to constitute teams comprising of members from the Health Services and Revenue Department to conduct inspection of all clinical establishments.

He also directed them to take necessary action against such establishments which were operating in violation of rules, norms, laws and without licences or run by persons not competent to run such establishments in all districts.

The officials were directed to send a daily report to the divisional commissioner's office for further course of necessary action.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Muslim man serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center wants a judge to determine that federal prison officials violated his religious rights by failing to provide meals strictly conforming to his beliefs and access to an imam of the same denomination.

The two-day civil case wrapped yesterday in a Denver federal courtroom. Judge R Brooke Jackson did not immediately rule and is expected to issue a decision in writing.

Ahmad Ajaj was being held at a super-max prison in Colorado when the lawsuit began in 2015. Ajaj, represented by University of Denver law students, watched the trial via video because of security concerns.

Ajaj was sentenced in 1999 to more than 114 years in prison for his role in the blast in an underground parking garage on February 26, 1993, that killed six people, one of them pregnant.

It injured more than 1,000 and forced an estimated 50,000 to flee the trade center's twin towers in a scene of smoke, fear and confusion that would be mirrored and magnified on September 11, 2001.

Ajaj was moved to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, early this year.

The lawsuit accused federal prison officials, particularly staff at the Administrative Maximum, or ADX, facility in Florence, of failing to provide food meeting Ajaj's belief that all animals used for food must be fed, raised and slaughtered according to Islamic law. The lawsuit said Ajaj considered vegetarian and Kosher meals inadequate.

The lawsuit also said Ajaj went months without being visited by an imam, a term for an Islamic religious leader, contracted to counsel prisoners at the Colorado facility. Since moving to the Indiana facility, he began participating in a faith-based program that includes regular classes with an imam.

But the imam who works with Muslim inmates in the program belongs to another denomination of the faith. Ajaj's attorneys argued that even listening to someone speak about views contrary to his own violate the inmate's religious rights.

The lawsuit claims that both issues violate Ajaj's rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The law, approved by Congress in 1993, was intended to limit the federal government's ability to infringe on someone's sincere religious beliefs.

Attorneys for the government argued that neither issue substantially limited Ajaj's ability to practice his faith and did not violate the law.

According to Ajaj's attorneys, the Indiana prison began providing meals he considers acceptable last week.

Jeffrey Cheeks, a business administrator at the Terre Haute facility, testified yesterday that he tried but could not find a vendor able to meet all of Ajaj's conditions.

Cheeks said he ordered three months' worth of meals for Ajaj from an existing government supplier at the direction of the prison's warden last week. Yesterday, Ajaj's attorneys asked Jackson to order prison officials to continue providing those meals.

Jackson gave no firm sense of his leanings. But he was clearly frustrated by the quick fix that came days before the trial opened.

"Something that they couldn't do, or wouldn't do, for three years was done in 48 hours," Jackson said to an attorney for the government.

"Now, what confidence does that give the court that they won't change it in the future?" Jackson seemed less swayed by Ajaj's attorneys' request for a court order letting him participate in the Indiana prison's faith-based program without attending the current imam's classes.

Jackson suggested that would give Ajaj preferential treatment over other inmates, who must attend classes with leaders of their own faith to stay in the program.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three persons were killed and 10 others injured in group clashes over formation of a panchayat board in North 24 Parganas district, the police said today.

The two groups hurled bombs and fired bullets at each other at Amdanga block last night, they said.

The situation was now stated to be under control, police said.

The president of the district Trinamool Congress Jyoti Priya Mallick claimed that two of the deceased belonged to the Trinamool Congress and one was a CPI(M) supporter.

He further claimed that 15 Trinamool Congress workers were injured in the clash.

CPI(M) leaders could not be contacted for their version.

The violence followed similar clashes in North Dinajpur, Malda and Purulia districts since Monday in which four persons were killed and several injured. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed for peace following the incidents.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thirty-four children, mostly tribals, were allegedly trafficked from Bihar and Jharkhand to Ludhiana in Punjab and some were converted to Christianity, a police official said today.

They were lodged in a missionary-run child shelter home in Ludhiana, Superintendent of Police (SP), West Singhbhum, G Kranthi Kumar, said.

Kumar said the police swung into action after Jyotsana Tirkey, a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Chaibasa, lodged a complaint on August 26.

Her complaint was based on a media report that claimed that 34 children from Chaibasa in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district and Bihar were illegally kept in a missionary-run child shelter home in Ludhiana, he said.

Following the complaint, a police team was sent to Ludhiana and it along with the Punjab Police arrested a man He was produced at a court there before he is brought to Chaibasa on transit remand, the officer said.

"Police has contacted 12 children of the 20 reportedly sent back to West Singhbhum before the police team reached there (Ludhiana) following disclosure of the alleged human trafficking incident," Kumar said.

Police are trying to trace the remaining children.

The 34 children from Bihar and Jharkhand were also admitted to an illegal school in Ludhiana, and later shifted to another city-based school which was registered under the JJ Act and legal, the SP said.

Two each are from Khunti and Ranchi are still pursuing their studies in the legal school , he said, adding that the matter is being investigated.

Kumar said the school, which was running illgeally, did not inform the local CWC members about the children brought from Jharkhand and Bihar.

On the alleged conversion, he said it was a matter of investigation, but prima facie, the report stated that some children were converted.

"We'll be in a position to comment only when the man arrested in this connection is brought here," he said.

The SP said as per record, around 300 children from Jharkhand were taken to Ludhiana, Punjab, since 2006.

The Chaibasa CWC member, Tirkey, also alleged that attempts were being made to convert them to Christanity and engaged them as child labour.

On the basis of the complaint, Kumar has constituted a police team, headed by Anti-Human Trafficking Unit Officer-in-charge Banarasi Ram, and sent them to Ludhiana to bring back the remaining children.

Tirkey alleged that the child shelter home authorities had sent back 30 children, including the 20 form West Singhbhum, without informing the members of CWC in Chaibasa and Ludhiana.

Four children were shifted to other child homes, she said in the complaint



One Junul Longo, a resident of Serenga village under Gudri police station of West Singhbhum district, had allegedly lured the children on the false promise of education and employment.

The SP aid most of the children were from Gudri, Sonua, Goilkera, Chaibasa and other remote areas of West Singhbhum district.

"We are yet to contact some children living in remote areas after their return from Ludhiana," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five persons of a family, including three minor children, were killed today when a house collapsed due to heavy rains in western Nepal, the police said.

The incident happened this morning in the Baghchaur area of the Himalayan nation's Salyan Municipality district, which has been witnessing rains for weeks, they said.

Rescue workers have pulled out the bodies of a 39-year-old man, his 35-year-old wife, and his three children, aged four, five and six year, from the debris, they said.

The local authority has decided to give a compensation of one lakh Nepalese rupees to the surviving girl, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Six members of a family, including three minors, were killed today when the rubble from a landslide fell over their house in Kot village of Budha Kedar area in Tehri district, an official said.

One girl, identified as Babli, has been rescued alive while a woman is still trapped under the rubble, according to Tehri District Magistrate Sonika.

SDRF and police personnel are conducting rescue operations in search of the woman who is still trapped under the debris, she said.

The incident occurred at around 4 am when a heap of rubble from the landslide in the hills caused by heavy rains hit the house of the family which was still asleep, the district magistrate said.

The deceased have been identified as Atul, Ashish, Swati, Mor Singh, Sanju Devi and Lachmi Devi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As many as 99.3 per cent of the old 500 and 1,000 notes, that was banned overnight in November 2016, have been returned, the said in its annual report.

Of the Rs 15.41 trillion worth 500 and 1,000 notes in circulation before November 8, 2016, notes worth Rs 15.31 trillion have been returned.

The "humungous task of processing and verification of specified (SBNs) was successfully achieved," it said.

The SBNs received were verified, counted and processed in the sophisticated high-speed verification and processing system (CVPS) for accuracy and genuineness and then shredded, it added.

SBNs refer to the demonetised old 500 and 1,000

RBI said the processing of SBNs has since been completed. "The total SBNs returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion".

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An alleged criminal absconding arrest for over four years was nabbed in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police officer said today.

A police party raided Meartha village in Kathua district and arrested absconder Sudershan Kumar alias Banka, he said.

The accused was declared absconder in Police Station Kathua in a section 428 (causing michief by killing an animal) and 379 of RPC (theft) in 2014, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A number of prominent academicians today alleged that overriding of guidelines for selection of 'Institutions of Eminence' by the Prime Minister's Office was an "unethical" and "shameful" step, saying it appeared like "crony capitalism" to benefit certain private players.

Citing replies to its RTI queries, 'The Indian Express' newspaper has reported there was a strong difference of opinion within the government over autonomy, finances, student-teacher ratio, flexibility of course structure, accountability and regulatory powers for such institutions.

While the HRD Ministry and Finance Ministry wanted stringent norms on accountability, penalties, financial commitment, land availability and expertise, the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) wanted lenient norms and intervened accordingly, as per the report.

The RTI responses reportedly also showed that the Finance Ministry had told the HRD Ministry that the eminence tag to non-existent institute defied logic, hurts ecosystem.

"It is a move towards complete privatisation and end of academic action. To tag Jio as Institute of Eminence is crony capitalism. It is completely unethical and they are geared towards profit," JNU professor Nivedita Menon said.

"They (government) are selling every single bit of the country including which is very shameful," she added.

In July, the HRD Ministry announced granting of 'Institution of Eminence' tag to six institutions including Reliance Foundation's Jio Institute which is yet to be established. The decision to grant the status to Jio drew sharp criticism from various quarters.

Facing criticism over selection of Jio Institute as an "Institution of Eminence", the HRD Ministry had earlier said the tag was conditional and it was given only a letter of intent for now.

Rajib Ray, President of Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) said, "This is not surprising for us as in the country everything is being run by the PMO. There is centralisation of power and the institutions that are supposed to be running the system of the country have surrendered their autonomy. They only exist on paper".

Rajya Sabha MP and DU Professor Manoj Jha said, "Overruling the concerns raised by HRD, PMO acted otherwise and that tells all of us regarding the new paradigm shift in policy making."



"It only vindicates what all of us ahd been flagging that this is one government which shall always prefer pampering crony capitalists and their yet-to-be born instituions at the cost of eminent public institutions of repute," Jha added.

Several other academicians and experts, as also opposition leaders, had earlier criticised the government move and are now speaking against the reported 'overriding' of the guidelines by the PMO.

Besides Jio Institute, the IoE status has been granted to IISc (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru), IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, BITS-Pilani and Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after arresting five Left-wing activists for alleged Maoist links, the Pune Police said today it had "evidence" which suggested that there was a plan to target the "highest political functionaries".

Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists.

Pune police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into a conclave -- Elgar Parishad -- held in Koregaon-Bhima near here on December 31 last year, which had allegedly triggered violence the next day.

The police official, while addressing a press conference here today, said the Elgar Parishad had been funded by the Maoists.

Bodkhe said the arrested activists have shown a strong intolerance to the political system.

Some of the evidence collected suggests that there was a plan to target the "highest political functionaries", he added without elaborating.

He said the police had seized laptops and pen drives from the arrested people.

The Pune police brought Rao, Gonsalves and Ferreira here last night and produced them in a court here today.

Some prominent people today approached the Supreme Court, challenging the arrests.

The Supreme Court ordered that all the five people would have to be kept under house arrest till September 6.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Adani group and Reliance group today completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal under which Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure has sold its energy business in the city, including generation, distribution and transmission to Adani Transmission.

While the deal, the largest in the power sector, marks the entry of the Gautam Adani group, which thus far has only been into power generation and transmission, into the distribution space, for RInfra the sale is a big boost to pare its debt which stood at over Rs 22,000 crore.

The deal was announced by the companies in December last year.

RInfra's integrated power business includes the generation units based at Dahanu, transmission network across Mumbai and Maharashtra and the retail distribution network in Mumbai suburbs.

With this deal, Adani Transmission will have 35 grid substations with around 19,300 MVA of transformation capacity across the country, by the end of 2018 with a cumulative transmission network of around 12,540 circuit km, of which around 9,201 circuit km is operational.

The deal includes absorption of about 5,000 employees across three business areas of RInfra, said Anil Sardana, managing director and chief executive of Adani Transmission, and chairman of Adani Electricity Mumbai.

Adani Transmission, which is the largest private sector transmission and power distribution entity, said post-deal the company will be known as Adani Electricity Mumbai, which which will be a subsidiary of Adani Transmission. It will serve over three million customers spread across 400 sq km in Mumbai.

On the acquisition and expansion of the business, Adani group chairman Gautam Adani said, "This marks our significant launch into large-scale city electricity distribution business and we are privileged to serve over three million consumers in Mumbai.

"We aspire to enter into electricity distribution business in other key cities and districts. We are committed to leverage our experience to emerge as a leading utility in electricity distribution, thereby providing state-of-the-art, reliable and competitive supply experience to all our customers," Adani said in a statement.

Addressing the media to announce the completion of the deal, Ambani said, "With this deal, RInfra has managed to reduce its debt by 65 per cent from Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 7,500 crore. We intent to become debt-free by next year."



Ambani further claimed that with a deal size of Rs 18,800 crore, this is the largest transaction in both infrastructure an power sectors. He also claimed that this deal marks the largest debt reduction in the infrastructure sector.

Ambani further said with this deal, the debt-equity ratio of RInfra will fall and just be in nominal 0.3:1, one of the lowest in the industry. It will bring down the annual interest cost by 70 per cent to Rs 800 crore from from Rs 2,600 crore, he said.

"We are talking about Rs 18,000-20,000 crore of available avenues to deal with Rs 7,000 crore of debt and that brings us into thinking being very confident that we will be a debt-free company next year," Ambani claimed and explained.

He said he will also use a part of the proceeds from the Rs 6,000-crore arbitration award from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Goa Power and the National Highway Authority of India.

"Apart from this, RInfra has over Rs 5,000 crore cash inflows from the past regulatory assets related to the Mumbai distribution business which we have sold today. These regulatory assets will flow back to the company and not to Adani Transmission.

"We gave a further cushion of arbitrations yet to be decided worth another Rs 8,000 crore. This gives a clear visibility for becoming debt free," he added.

Whether the company is planning more asset monetisation, Ambani said, "We don't need to pursue any other asset monetisation now. Asset monetisation is not planned but equity infusion through QIP and rights both are in place."



SBI Capital Markets, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Luthra & Luthra Law Offices were the advisors to the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved USD 620 million loan to boost irrigation projects in Madhya Pradesh and supply clean water in West Bengal.

ADB inked USD 375 million loan agreement with the Madhya Pradesh government that will be used to contribute to double farming income by expanding irrigation networks and system efficiency, the multi-lateral funding agency said in a release.

Separately, the board of directors of ADB approved a financing package of USD 245 million to provide safe, sustainable, and inclusive drinking water service in West Bengal.

This is expected to benefit about 1.65 million people in three districts of West Bengal affected by arsenic, fluoride and salinity.

The Madhya Pradesh Irrigation Efficiency Improvement Project will develop 1,25,000 hectares (ha) of new, highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks, and improve water use efficiency in more than 400 villages, benefiting over 8 lakh people in the state, ADB said.

Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Ministry of Finance, and Sabyasachi Mitra, Deputy Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission, have signed the loan agreement.

A separate project agreement was signed by A K Upmanyu, Project Director, on behalf of the Madya Pradesh government.

"The ADB funds will be used to develop a large-scale pressurised and automated irrigation system for boosting irrigation efficiency," said Mitra.

The project will help Madhya Pradesh sustain its extraordinary growth in the agriculture sector through support to the state government's irrigation expansion and modernisation plan by maximising irrigation efficiency and water productivity, Khare said.

On West Bengal loan, ADB said more than 90 per cent of the rural population relies on groundwater, making it home to about 72 per cent of India's population at risk from arsenic and 5 per cent of the population at risk from fluoride contamination.

The project will provide continuous potable water through metered connections to about 3,90,000 individual households in Bankura, North 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur.

"High arsenic and fluoride levels in drinking water are a threat to public health in India, where West Bengal is by far the worst affected state," said ADB Principal Urban Development Specialist Neeta Pokhrel.

Through efficient use of surface water and a shift to piped water schemes, the ADB project will reduce the burden of disease from arsenic and fluoride, while preserving groundwater and enhancing climate resilience, she said.

The total project cost is USD 349 million, for which ADB will provide a loan of USD 240 million and grant of USD 3 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.

The West Bengal government will provide USD 106 million funding. ADB will also administer a USD 2 million grant from the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund.

The project is due for completion in June 2024.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.The Assam government today extended application of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in the state for six more months with immediate effect.

The Act gives special rights and immunity to security forces in carrying out various operations in "disturbed" areas.

"As per powers conferred under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, the Governor of Assam has declared the entire State of Assam as 'Disturbed Area' upto 6 (six) months beyond 28th August 2018, unless withdrawn earlier," an official release said.

Many civil society groups and activists have been demanding withdrawal of the Act from Assam claiming violation of human rights by the armed forces.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)National carrier Air India will start flight services to New York from here, besides resuming services to Frankfurt, which it discontinued in 2010, from winters this year.

At present, the government-run airline flies to New York, Washington, San Francisco from New Delhi; Chicago from Hyderabad through New Delhi and to Newark from Mumbai.

Among European cities, Air India flies directly to destinations such as Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Birmingham and Milan.

"Air India is set to spread its wings further in the US and European skies from the coming winters. As part of this, it will launch flight services for the first time to New York from Mumbai and restart operations to Frankfurt in Germany," a source said.

These two new flights are expected to be launched from October, the source added.

When contacted, an Air India spokesperson confirmed the proposed roll out of the two new international flights from winters.

"The two new flights are a part of our winter schedule. We have all regulatory approvals in place for the Frankfurt flight and the same for JFK services are being processed," the spokesperson said.

The winter schedule of airlines in the country starts from the last Sunday of October and remains in force till the last week of March, after which, the summer schedule comes into effect.

Air India is the only domestic carrier which flies to destinations in the US directly.

According to the source, the Mumbai-Frankfurt flight will be four-times-a-week service and be operated by the airline's flagship jetliner Boeing 787-800, while the Mumbai- New York will be three-times per week service with Boeing 777-300ER.

Following the launch of the two services, Air India will be offering a total of 36 weekly flights to the US cities from New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, the source added.

Currently, it operates nine flights per week to San Francisco, seven times a week to Chicago, Newark and JFK and three weekly services to Washington.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)AirAsia India today announced the induction of 19th aircraft in its fleet and said it will add two new routes in its flight network from October.

With the induction of the latest Airbus A320, the Tata Sons-AirAsia group joint venture airline is now just one plane short of the mandatory 20 aircraft for starting international operations by a domestic carrier.

The 19th aircraft will be based at AirAsia's Kolkata hub and will be deployed for operating daily flights on Hyderabad-Kolkata and Hyderabad-Indore routes, which are being launched from October 1, the airline said in a statement.

The bookings for new routes are open from today.

"The airline is focused on expanding its presence in tierII/III cities, providing affordable airfares and improved services for flyers," the budget carrier said.

The new aircraft will also help the airline enhance the frequency of flights between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, it said, adding in addition, guests can travel from Indore to Kolkata through Hyderabad as well.

The Bengaluru-based airline currently flies to 21 destinations, from its three hubs - Bengaluru, New Delhi and Kolkata - covering Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Indore, Surat, Amritsar and Chennai.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An organisation of panchs and sarpanchs in Jammu and Kashmir today urged Governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure security cover to its members ahead of the local bodies' polls in the state.

The All Jammu Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) said 12 panchayat representatives were killed by militants from 2011 to 2016 in the state due to the police's "failure" to provide security to them.

"It was the security failure of the security wing of J&K Police that led to the killing of panchayat members by terrorists," AJKPC state president Anil Sharma told reporters here.

He said despite threats by militants the AJKPC members have been working hard for restoration of democratic institutions at grassroots level.

"The administration is planning to hold panchayat elections in October-December. Despite hostile and challenging atmosphere, the AJKPC members have always encouraged people for larger participation in these elections," Sharma said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Allahabad High Court today briefly took a lawyer in its custody after he was found appearing before it, allegedly misusing the court-allocated roll number of another advocate with the same name.

A bench of Justice Vipin Sinha ordered the police to arrest advocate Jitendra Kumar Singh and take him to the court's registrar general for a preliminary probe into the matter after he admitted wrongly citing the wrong roll number to appear before the court.

The bench also asked the registrar general to conduct an enquiry into the incident and submit his report to the bench in a sealed cover within 15 days.

Justice Sinha, meanwhile, barred the erring lawyer from donning the advocates' uniform and appear before any of its benches, pending enquiry into the matter, and slated the matter for further hearing on September 14.

The court's registrar general released the advocate after conducting a preliminary enquiry and asked him to appear before the bench on the next date.

The matter came to light when Singh appeared before the bench to argue a pending case of his client Ram Gopal. But, as he stood up to argue the case, another lawyer objected to his appearance, saying he was wrongly using his roll number.

As the Justice Sinha asked the erring advocate to explain his alleged misdeed, he first told the bench that he appeared to have wrongly cited the roll number of the advocate with the same name.

But later he told the bench that he had applied for the court's roll number but had failed to secure one, due to which he was compelled to misuse the court's unique identification number allocated to another lawyer with the same name.

The Allahabad High Court has the system of allocating unique roll or registration numbers to advocate, entitling them to appear before it, explained Delhi-based advocate Gyanant Singh, adding no outsider, without the court-allocated number can [practice there.

The Allahabad High Court's system of allocating lawyers a unique roll number is akin to the Supreme Court's advocate-on-record (AoR) system, he said, adding that no petition can be filed in the apex court unless an AoR clears it and affixes his signature on it. An AoR also has to be present as a senior counsel argues the case, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India is fighting a perception battle on safety for foreign tourists due to "unfair and biased" media reports that the country was the most unsafe for women, Tourism Minister K J Alphons said here.

Alphons, who is currently visiting Beijing, Wuhan and Shanghai along with about 20 leading Indian travel agents to woo Chinese tourists to visit India, said that incidents like lynchings are bad for India's reputation.

The incidents of lynching are not affecting tourism "big time", he told reporters after holding a roadshow here last night.

"Well, not on a big time basis not really. But anything happening like that is bad for the reputation of the country. We will not say it's good for the reputation of the country," he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called them criminals and asked the states to take action.

His ministry is now focussing to attract 10 per cent of the 144 million Chinese tourists who visited abroad last year, the largest from any country.

Despite special measures like e-visas only 2.40 lakh Chinese tourists visited India last year against 14 lakh Indian visiting China.

"In 2016, India received about 251,000 Chinese travellers but in 2017 the number dropped to a mere 240,000. Given this backdrop, India has set an ambitious target of increasing this minuscule figure to an eye-popping 14 million by 2023," he said.

"We are opening an office in Beijing very soon, we should aim for at least 10 per cent of the 144 million Chinese tourists. This can be achieved in five years if we make concerted efforts," said Alphons.

Alphons said India is fighting a perception battle about safety issues specially for women tourists. He also blamed a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey which projected India as "most dangerous" country for women.

He said the story is based on interviews with 548 people out of which 43 were from India.

"Most of the 43 feminists may be anti-government. It has got politics to it," he said.

"There is a massive unfairness in the whole reporting process. There is a huge bias in reporting. It is not fair. I don't want to play with numbers. Even one such case is not acceptableWhy they did story like that," he said and outlined steps like creating helpline in 12 languages, including Mandarin as well creating of tourism police by 14 states in India.

He said he is in China to "break the so called story... it is not true". The number of cases (relating to safety) are so few, he said.

He also said ban on beef eating has not affected tourist arrivals much.

"Not really. You see Kerala, Goa and North East which are beef eating states. These are all big tourism destinations. People will go where they are comfortable. We need respect the sentiments of people anywhere. That is so fundamental," he said.

Alphons said he is here to find out why more Chinese are not visiting India despite various measures.

India has all these basic things like good hotels with food and water facilities. India has very large number of Chinese restaurants though some of them are spicy, he said.

From now on China will have India Tourism Office which will be headed by an IAS or IFS officer. It will also have strategy advisor besides a PR agency to campaign, he said.

The previous tourism office has been closed years ago, he said.

Tourism from China to India is not picking up also because of lack of campaigns, he said and highlighted the improvement of relations, specially between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He refuted the perception that campaigns like the Buddhist circuit for Chinese travellers failed to work.

"Buddhist circuit never worked because we never had the infrastructure built for that. If we have infrastructure they will come," he said. The new infrastructure included six lane highways which will be ready in two years.

For the Chinese, there are 38 Mandarin speaking guides in India, he said.

Their numbers have grown to 200 though they have not been certified by Archaeological Survey of India, (ASI) which he said is not necessary.

He said over all the tourism sector in India is doing extremely well.

Tourism revenues fetched USD 27 billion as the sector registered a 14 per cent increase. Tourism is contributing to seven per cent of the GDP and created 14.62 million jobs in the last four years, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh today said he had not left the Samajwadi Party but was thrown out of it.

Speaking to reporters here after meeting Governor Ram Naik, he said, "I had comprehensive talks with the governor. As a father figure, I told him everything and also gave him a memorandum, urging him to take it seriously."



Singh had accused SP leader Azam Khan yesterday of threatening his minor daughters with an acid attack and said he would meet the governor to seek security for them.

"Azam Khan calls me an opportunist. I do not know how I became an opportunist?" asked Singh, claiming he was given the Rajya Sabha ticket by the Samajwadi Party even despite staying out of it after his expulsion for the first time and never seeking any ticket.

He quoted SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav as once having remarked that "Amar resides in (his) heart and not in the party."



Singh added that he was expelled for the second time by the SP president and Mulayam Singh's son Akhilesh Yadav.

"I had not left SP, I have not come out (from the SP), I was thrown out," he said.

Taking a dig at Azam Khan, Singh said he had not secured any post for his wife, brother or any other family member like Azam Khan, who "himself became a minister, his wife became a Rajya Sabha MP, his son an MLA and he (Azam), the chancellor of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University."



Singh said he would leave for Rampur, Azam Khan's pocket borough tomorrow "to present myself for sacrifice in front of Khan."



"Azam Khan is a bahubali (a person exercising tremendous clout) I am ready to sacrifice myself, if he is ready to sacrifice me. Tomorrow, I am not going to Rampur for any violence," said Singh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Anganwadi workers in rural areas of Indore district could now monitor the health and nutritional status of women and children online with the help of tablet computers.

In a bid to deal with the problem of malnutrition, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), in association with the Women and Child Development department, distributed the devices to around 110 workers at a function here today.

"Under the pilot project of Nutrition Surveillance System, developed by the NIN, these workers would update the data about the health and nutrition of women and children (below five years) through tablets," said A Lakshmaiya, Head of Hyderabad-based NIN's Public Health Nutrition Division, after distributing the tablets.

After studying this real-time information, the departments concerned of the state government would suggest necessary steps to improve nutritional status of women and children.

Referring to the NIN study in the context of Madhya Pradesh, he said iron deficiency is most common among children.

"Levels of calcium and vitamins are also found to be lower than ideal standards among children. Moreover, there is a need to increase the sanitation level and to ensure supply of clean drinking water in the rural areas of state," he said.

Lakshmaiya said one district each in Kerala, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana has been selected along with Madhya Pradesh for the pilot project---Nutrition Monitoring System.

Women and Child Development department Assistant Director Vishnupratap Singh Rathore said the tablets have also been distributed to four supervisors and one project officer along with 110 Anganwadi workers in rural areas of Indore district.

Anganwadi workers will be given special training in using the tablets.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N



Chandrababu Naidu today condoled the demise of former MP and Telugu Desam politburo member Nandamuri Harikrishna in a road accident in Nalgonda district.

Leader of opposition in the Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and a host of other leaders also mourned the former minister's death.

Harikrishna was the son of TDP founder N T Rama Rao and brother-in-law of Chandrababu Naidu.

He served as Transport Minister under Chandrababu in united AP in 1996 but later fell out with him and floated Anna TDP in 1998.

A few years later, he reconciled and returned to the TDP.

He served as Rajya Sabha member from 2008 and resigned from the House in late 2013 protesting the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

"Beginning as a child artist, Harikrishna donned many roles in Telugu movies and endeared himself to people. As a political leader too, he rendered commendable services. His tragic death is a deep loss to the TDP and the state," the Chief Minister said in a statement.

"Shocked at the sudden demise of Nandamuri Harikrishna. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family members," Jagan said in a tweet.

AP deputy chief ministers N China Rajappa, K E Krishna Murthy, minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, state TDP president K K Venkat Rao, party MPs, legislators and other leaders also expressed grief over the politburo member's death.

Harikrishna (62) was going to attend a wedding this morning when his car rammed into the divider on the Nalgonda Highway and flipped on the other side, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today accused the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra of "crushing" human rights and imposing "undeclared emergency", a day after five Left-wing activists were arrested for their alleged links to Maoists.

Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge also accused the governments of "terrorising and threatening" intellectuals.

He questioned the "delay" on part of the government agencies in probing killings of rationalists and intellectuals like Narendra Dabholkar (2013), Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi (2015) and Gauri Lankesh (2017) in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

"Human rights are being crushed. Even if one speaks about human rights, he or she is arrested based on mere suspicion. Such people are terrorised, threatened. I say this is an undeclared emergency. People talk about emergency, but this is an undeclared emergency," Kharge said.

He was speaking to reporters here after meeting Congress workers of Maharashtra and Mumbai units ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Pune police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into a conclave -- Elgar Parishad -- held in Koregaon-Bhima near here on December 31 last year, which had allegedly triggered violence the next day.

Without naming the ruling BJP, Kharge said it talks about the freedom of speech which did not exist under its watch.

Referring to the deaths of the four rationalists, he alleged that those who took law into their hands were protected instead of being punished.

Kharge said the Congress would launch the first phase of its Jan Sangharsh Yatra on August 31 from Kolhapur in western Maharashtra to highlight the "plight" of the people under the BJP rule, the "governance failure" and the "scam" like the Rafale deal.

The yatra would culminate on September 8.

The second phase would begin on October 2, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today alleged "emergency-line" conditions are prevailing in the country under the present regime and the arrest of five activists on suspicion of Maoist links shows that any voice of dissent is not safe.

"What happened yesterday is the prime example of assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press," he told reporters here.

The Pune police yesterday raided residences of several prominent activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links.

The raids were carried out as part of the probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after the 'Elgar Parishad' event on December 31 last year.

Sinha, who had served as minister in the previous NDA regime but has turned into a bitter critic of the Narendra Modi government, alleged that there was a 'conspiracy' to silence criticism and suppress voices of dissent.

He said the arrests showed that people who voice dissent were not safe and there were many ways to suppress dissenting voices.

"The arrest of the five activists clearly shows the emergency like conditions prevailing in India under the present regime at the centre," he said.

In the past too, many 'unfortunate decisions' had been passed by the courts as well, the latest being preventing the media from publishing anything on dissenting stories, he said.

"There are many ways in which one can be shut up. I mentioned to you the defamation case. It can be filed against me, not by the government, but by a private party involved in this case and then I will be running to the courts defending myself," he said.

Searches were carried out at homes of activist and poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, human rights lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh, among others.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 153(A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth,residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government today defended the arrest of five Left-wing activists in multi-state raids yesterday saying the action was based on "proof" about their "links with the Naxal movement".

Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said all procedures were followed before conducting the raids against the activists.

Pune Police yesterday raided homes of some prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the Elgar Parishad event held in Pune on December 31 last year, which had allegedly triggered violence between Dalits and upper caste groups at Koregaon Bhima village in the district.

"It is due to their links with naxal movements that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action. We have followed the procedures before conducting raids against these naxal activists," Kesarkar said.

"Actions are not taken to please anyone. Unless we had proofs, we would not have conducted the raids," he added.

The minister said Naxals were fighting a war against India.

"It is not wrong to be Left wing, but it is wrong to be a Left wing extremist," he said.

Kesarkar said Professor Saibaba (Delhi University professor arrested in 2014 for alleged links with Maoists) is a classic example of the intellectuals misusing their brains against the country. The Naxal movement is banned in the country and nobody should sympathise with it, he added.

On the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) letter to the Maharashtra government seeking information about the operation, he said, "It is the government's duty to respond to the NHRC letter. It is a routine procedure. It does not necessarily mean we are doing anything wrong."



When asked about the link of Elgar Parishad conclave with the violence at Koregaon Bhima village a day after the event, Kesarkar said, "A judicial commission has been set up to look into the matter. Let it come up with its report. If any links are established, we will take appropriate action against the organisers of Parishad."



"We have also arrested Milind Ekbote (a right-wing leader and prime accused in the Koregaon-Bhima violence) for his alleged links to violence at Koregaon Bhima. We should not be criticised that we are targeting Left wing people alone," he said.

"Earlier, tribals were the target of Left-wing extremists. Now, tribals are prospering through the state government's policies, hence the naxalites are targeting the unemployed urban youth," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly today passed a bill for the creation of three new districts - Pakke-Kesang, Lepa Rada and Shi Yomi - in the state.

Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein had introduced the Arunachal Pradesh Re-Organisation of Districts (Amendment) Bill 2018 Bill in the House yesterday. The Assembly passed the by bill by voice vote.

Arunachal Pradesh as of now has 22 districts.

The Pakke-Kessang district will be carved out of East Kameng district with five administrative units namely Pakke-Kessangn, Seijosa, Pijiriang, Passa Valley and Dissingn Passo with district headquarters at Lemmi.

The Lepa Rada district would be created by bifurcating the Lower Siang district with headquarters at Basar.

The district would have four administrative units



Tirbin, Basar, Daring and Sago.

The Shi-Yomi district would be created by bifurcating the West Siang district with its headquarters at Tato.

The district would have four administrative units namely Mechuka, Tato, Pidi and Manigong.

Participating in the discussion Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that the government is for all round development of the people and creation of three new districts is in that direction.

Stating that creating infrastructure for the new districts is a daunting task, the chief minister called upon the members to focus on revenue generation.

Khandu said, creation of the new districts was necessary keeping in view the growing demands of the people and to bring administration to their door-steps for all-round development.

Earlier, Mein while highlighting the growth of the state since NEFA days, said that creation of new districts from initial five districts continued as per requirement of the people and to sow the seeds of development equally in all parts of the state.

"The government is committed to maintain the developmental tempo and efforts are being made to develop the border areas and that is why the demand for a Frontier Highway in the state is growing and steps are in to link Arunachal with ASEAN countries," the deputy chief minister said.

The Assembly also passed the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (Act no 2 of 1899) (In Its Application to the State of Arunachal Pradesh) (Amendment) Bill 2018 by voice vote before Deputy Speaker Tumke Bagra adjourned the House for the day.

The bill tabled by Mein in the House yesterday, is aimed to enable the entrepreneurs to have a better credit position at their disposal by enabling them to secure loans through mortgage without compromising on their financial stability by reducing stamp duty for mortgage from three per cent to one per cent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In their best ever show at the Asian Games, India were today assured of two more medals in squash after the men's and women's teams advanced to the semifinals, here.

India dished out a dominating performance as both the men's and women's teams won their respective matches by an identical 3-0 margin.

India's top player Saurav Ghosal, who had been rested in the earlier matches, started the proceedings for the men's team today as he beat Thailand's Poonsiri Phuwis 11-8, 11-4, 12-10.

Ramit Tandon then outclassed Phatraprasit Arnold 11-2, 11-3, 11-6 and Mahesh Mangaonkar routed Jivasuwan Natthakit 11-0, 11-6 11-2 in lop-sided contests to complete a 3-0 drubbing.

Earlier, the women's team comprising Joshana Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal Karthik, Sunayana Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna continued its unbeaten run, defeating China 3-0 in penultimate pool match.

Having won all their matches so far, the final set of league matches tomorrow will decide whether India can top its group in the men's and women's sections.

Ghosal, Pallikal and Chinappa had won bronze medals in their respective singles event last week and with two more medals assured in the team event, this is turning out to be India's best ever show in squash.

India had won four medals in the last edition at Incheon, Korea. It included a maiden silver in women's team and a gold in men's team event.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A strain of Escherichia coli bacteria -- that lurks in retail chicken and turkey products -- can be passed on to people, causing urinary tract infections and other serious conditions, a study has found.

Many people think of urinary tract infections (UTIs) as a common and minor annoyance, but invasive UTIs that involve the kidneys or blood can be life-threatening.

More than 80 per cent of UTIs are caused by E coli, but only a few strains are responsible for most of the serious infections. One type of E coli, called E coli ST131, is particularly adept at travelling from the bladder to the blood and kills thousands of people each year.

It is unknown how most people pick up E coli ST131 infections. Previous studies suggested that retail meat was not a source, but new research suggests that these earlier studies may have been too narrowly focused.

Scientists including those from the George Washington University in the US, showed that there are multiple strains of E coli ST131 and that one strain in particular may be passed to people via contaminated poultry meat.

They conducted a one-year longitudinal study where they analysed retail chicken, turkey and pork purchased from major grocery chains in the US.

During the same year, the team also collected and analysed urine and blood isolates from hospitalised patients in the area.

The team found E coli in nearly 80 per cent of the 2,452 meat samples and in 72 per cent of the positive urine and blood cultures from patients.

E coli ST131 was the most common type infecting people and was also present on the meat samples. Next, the team had to find out just how closely related these bacteria were to one another, or, importantly whether people had acquired them from poultry.

To find out, researchers studied the genomes of the E coli cells. They discovered that that almost all of the E coli ST131 on the poultry products belonged to a particular strain called ST131-H22 and carried genes that helps E coli thrive in birds.

This same poultry-adapted strain was also found to be causing UTIs in people.

"In the past, we could say that E coli from people and poultry were related to one another, but with this study, we can more confidently say that the E. coli went from poultry to people and not vice versa," said Price.

Currently, poultry products are not routinely tested for the kind of E coli strains that can cause UTIs. These findings underscore the importance of cooking poultry thoroughly and handling it carefully in the kitchen, Price said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An unidentified person allegedly tried to insert the name of Shirdi Saibaba as a voter in the local assembly constituency in Ahmednagar district through the online system of the Election Commission, an official said today.

The authorities detected the matter during scrutiny of online forms and approached the police.

The incident occurred on December 4 last year, said Rahta police station inspector Arun Pardeshi.

"An unidentified person on December 4 accessed the online registration system of the EC and tried to register Saibaba's name as a voter from Shirdi assembly segment. The person mentioned Saibaba's age as 24 and his father's name as Ram. The person mentioned the famous temple in Shirdi as the address of Saibaba," he said.

The matter came to light during scrutiny, following which Sachin Mhaske, the Nayab Tehsildar (Election Branch), Rahta, lodged a complaint with the police yesterday, he said.

A case was registered against an unidentified person under various sections of the IT Act and further investigation is underway, he said.

"Somebody made an attempt to enroll Saibaba's name as a voter by filling form no. 6 (for voter registration). The incident came to light during scrutiny of forms," Mhaske said.

The case was initially transferred to the Cyber crime branch in Ahmednagar district, but the matter was again shifted back to the Rahta Police, which delayed the investigation into the incident, Pardeshi said.

Saibaba, also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was a spiritual master who is regarded by his devotees as a saint, a fakir, a satguru and an incarnation (avatar) of Lord Shiva and Dattatreya.

Thousands of devotees daily visit the famous shrine in Shirdi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Brazil President Michel Temer has signed a decree to send the army to "guarantee law and order" on the border with crisis-hit Venezuela after recent violent clashes.

Earlier this month, more than a thousand homeless Venezuelan immigrants who had flooded over the border into Brazil's northwestern Roraima state were driven back by an angry mob that rampaged through their makeshift tent following rumours a local shopkeeper had been brutally beaten by migrants.

Temer said his measure was aimed at providing "security for Brazilian citizens but also Venezuelan immigrants fleeing their country."



He also branded Venezuela's crisis as "tragic," saying it "threatens the harmony of practically the entire continent."



Temer called on "the international community to adopt diplomatic measures" to halt the Venezuelan exodus, as economic and political crises under President Nicolas Maduro's regime drive hundreds of thousands to leave in hope of finding a better life elsewhere.

The United Nations says some 2.3 million Venezuelans are living outside their homeland, with 1.6 million of those having left since 2015.

Oil-rich but over-reliant, Venezuela is in a fourth year of recession brought on by a crash in oil prices in 2014. Some 96 percent of the country's revenue is generated through crude.

Temer didn't reveal how many soldiers would be deployed to Roraima, but Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna said "troops are already in place" on the border.

Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen warned that Brazil "needs to discipline" the influx of migrants.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britain and Nigeria signed a security and defence agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May today as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organisation.

The British prime minister is on a three-country Africa visit with a large business delegation as Britain seeks to boost economic ties ahead of a bumpy exit from the European Union in March.

May also visited South Africa, another of the continent's top economies, and her next stop is Kenya.

After meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, May said the countries will work together on "shared security threats like Boko Haram and human trafficking."



The defense aid includes more training and equipment for Nigeria's military, which has been criticized by human rights groups over alleged abuses that it denies.

Last week, Buhari attracted headlines when he told troops in northwestern Zamfara state that "as your commander-in-chief, I want you to be as ruthless as humanly possible" against bandits in the region. "Nigerians deserve some peace."



As elections approach next year Buhari is under pressure to deliver on promises to improve the country's security, in particular to defeat Boko Haram's years-long insurgency in the northeast.

The extremists, known both for mass abductions and for using young women as suicide bombers, continues to carry out attacks on military bases and in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the insurgency's birthplace.

Buhari and his government more than once have declared that Boko Haram had been crushed.

As Europe worries about migration and human trafficking from West Africa, May also announced a new project with France to help Nigeria, the regional powerhouse, and neighbouring Niger improve border cooperation along one of the main migration routes north.

Britain also is opening new embassies in Niger and Chad and expanding its embassy in Mali, calling it support to countries "on the front line of instability" as West Africa's vast, arid Sahel is threatened by a number of extremist groups with shifting allegiances.

Britain and Nigeria also signed an agreement on economic cooperation, and May welcomed the commitment from two major Nigeria companies, Dangote Cement and Seplat Petroleum to make listings on the London Stock Exchange.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britain said today it would open new embassies in Chad and Niger to boost its diplomatic presence in Africa's troubled Sahel region.

The announcement came as Prime Minister Theresa May wrapped up a trip to South Africa and headed to Nigeria and Kenya on her first trip to the continent as premier.

"In one of Africa's most fragile regions, we are increasing our support for African countries' efforts to tackle the underlying drivers of instability and conflict," the Foreign Office in London said in a statement.

"The expansion will see the UK step up diplomatic, defence and development engagement in the region, creating new partnerships and opportunities and reducing potential threats to UK and European security."



The Boko Haram jihadist group's Islamist insurgency has devastated the region since 2009, leaving at least 20,000 people dead, displacing more than two million others and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

Britain has offices in Chad and Niger but no embassies.

Chad is covered by the British High Commission in Yaounde in Cameroon, while Niger is covered by the embassy in Bamako in Mali.

London will also increase its presence in Bamako.

"We must not allow instability across the Sahel, exacerbated by regional conflicts, to continue to hold back development and to spill over into the rest of Africa or into Europe," said Africa Minister Harriett Baldwin.

"Strengthening Britain's presence in Chad, Niger, and Mali will allow us to work more closely with our partners in the region to create new opportunities and tackle together the challenges posed by instability, poverty, and irregular migration." Chad and Niger are currently working alongside Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania in a joint military operation aimed at tackling jihadists in the region, known as the G5 Sahel force which has won backing from Europe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britons who were sent overseas as poor or orphaned children under state-approved programs in the decades after World War II are suing the British government over the abuse and neglect they suffered, their lawyer said today.

In March a child-abuse inquiry ordered the government to compensate 2,000 survivors of programs that sent children to countries including Australia, Canada and Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe.

The survivors are the last wave of some 150,000 children sent to Britain's then-colonies starting in the 17th century.

The programs were intended to ease pressure on British social services, provide the children with a fresh start and supply the empire with a sturdy supply of white workers.

But many children ended up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused, or were sent to work as farm labourers.

The British government took over primary responsibility for the policy after World War II and did not end it until 1970.

Lawyer Alan Collins, who represents more than 100 survivors, said the government had not yet taken any action to offer redress. He has filed papers at London's High Court, seeking to force the government to provide compensation.

Collins said the surviving child migrants, scattered around the globe, were elderly and their numbers "are sadly reducing".

He said setting up a compensation scheme is "not rocket science." "If the government had the will, it would have done so by now," Collins said. "I'm hoping that common decency and humanity will kick into play and the UK government will do right by these people."



Then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised in 2010 for the "shameful" and "misguided" child migrant programme.

The Department of Health said it accepted the child migrant policy had been wrong, and was "committed to providing a timely response to the inquiry's recommendations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Border Security Force (BSF) troops foiled an exfiltration bid and arrested three Bangladeshi nationals, including two teenagers, along International Border (IB) in Jammu district, police said today.

BSF troops guarding IB in R S Pura sector observed some movement of the people yesterday and later arrested 3 persons, who turned out to be Bangaldeshi nationals, police officials said here.

They were trying to exfiltrate to Pakistan side. BSF handed them over to the police, which registered a case and grilled the foreigners, the officials said.

One mobile phone, 2 sim cards and over Rs 600 in Bangladeshi currency were recovered from their possession. They have been identified as Abdul Kareem (20), Mohmmad Ali (18) and Mohmmad Jahangir (18).

As per reports they had taken a train to reach the Jammu and from there they headed to border to cross over to Pakistan under the guidance of a guide.

The trio have been sent to Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) to carry out the thorough investigation about the purpose, police added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Buddhist monk was today taken into custody at the international pilgrim town Bodh Gaya near here for alleged sexual abuse of 15 children from Assam who were studying at a school-cum-meditation centre run by him, police said.

Superintendent of Police (City), Gaya, Anil Kumar said the monk was being interrogated by Town Deputy SP Rajkumar Shah.

The monk ran an institution called "Prasanna Jyoti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre" at Mastipur village in Bodh Gaya where the 15 children - all hailing from Karbi Anglong district in Assam - were studying.

The police had received information that the boys were being sexually exploited by the monk.

"The children are being questioned by the SHO of Mahila Thana. They will be produced before a magistrate tomorrow and their statements recorded under the relevant CrPC section. They will also be taken for medical tests based on the results of which a case may be lodged against the monk.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Union Cabinet was today apprised of an agreement between India, the UK and Northern Ireland for cooperation in the field of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries.

As per the MoU signed on April 17, 2018, a joint working group consisting of representatives of each country will be created, an official statement said.

The group will chalk out joint programmes and facilitate cooperation and consultation.

The MoU would promote consultation and cooperation in matters of mutual interest, collaboration in livestock health and husbandry, breeding dairying and fisheries management.

Besides, the agreement would put in place a mechanism to enrich feed and fodder nutrition and its bulk transportation in deficit areas to realise higher productivity and production in livestock.

It will also help in developing high tech fodder tree species nurseries with fodder crops.

Among others, the MoU will encourage collaboration for joint research for cross-learning with regard to innovative agriculture extension approaches including the use of information and communication technology (ICT).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Cabinet on Wednesday approved an increase of 80 per cent in spending on (IPPB) to Rs 14.35 billion, three days ahead of the nation-wide launch of the payments bank.

The additional outlay of Rs 635 crore is primarily on account of costs related to technology (Rs 4 billion) and human resources (Rs 2.35 billion), an official statement said after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister

services are slated for a nationwide launch by the Prime Minister on September 1.

On Day 1 of the launch, will have 650 branches and 3,250 access points across the country and will offer a range of products such as savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, bill and utility payments and enterprise and merchant payments.

These products will be offered through multiple channels such as counter services, micro ATMs, mobile banking app, SMS and IVR.

All 1.55 lakh post offices in the country will be linked to system by December 31, 2018, the statement said.

The Cabinet has also approved payment of incentive/ commission to the last-mile agents (postal staff and gramin dak sewaks) directly in their accounts for providing IPPB services.

A part of commission, to be paid by IPPB to Department of Posts, will be used for upgrading the infrastructure.The Cabinet on Wednesday approved additional 2 per cent hike in (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), a move that will benefit about 11 million employees and pensioners, an official release said.

The impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 61.12 bn per annum and Rs 40.74 bn in the financial year 2018-19 (8 months from July 2018 to February 2019).

The hike will be effected from July 1, 2018, the release said.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister here.

"The ..has approved to release an additional instalment of (DA) to employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners wef July 01, 2018 representing an increase of 2 per cent over the existing rate of 7 per cent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise," it said.

The hike will benefit about 4.8 million employees and 6.2 million pensioners.

As per the release, the increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today approved the signing of an MoU between India and Bulgaria for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism.

The main objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, exchanging information and data related to tourism and encouraging cooperation between tourism stakeholders, including hotels and tour operators.

The countries will also cooperate in establishing an exchange programme for human resource development, and tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of tourism.

The programme also aims to promote exchange of experiences in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management, a statement from the government said.

It will also foster bilateral cooperation through film tourism for promoting the two countries as attractive tourism destinations, it said.

India and Bulgaria had previously signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism on May 25, 1994.

Bulgaria is a potential tourism market for India. India received approximately 5,288 tourists from Bulgaria in 2017, according to the statement.

The signing of the MoU with Bulgaria will be instrumental in increasing arrival from this important source market, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Traders' body CAIT today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rename Rajpath in Delhi as "Atal Bihari Vajpayee Path" in remembrance of the former PM.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal in a letter to PM Modi also proposed that a tall statute of Vajpayee should be erected at Vijay Chowk near Parliament.

The former prime minister passed away here on August 16 after a prolonged illness.

Khandelwal suggested that the Golden Quadrilateral Highway Network should also be named as 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee Highway'.

"The Golden Quadrilateral Highway Network was the brainchild of Vajpayee to connect the entire country. If this project is named after him, it will be a true tribute to a person who saw the dream of connecting India with Highways," CAIT said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canadian trade officials are "optimistic" they can make progress this week as they began a crucial phase of talks with the United States today to try to bridge their differences and agree on a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

After Mexico paved the way by agreeing to a NAFTA 2.0 with the United States, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said officials yesterday had worked late into the night on outstanding issues.

She told reporters she already had spoken with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer by telephone early today before arriving for the second day of in-person meetings.

While she acknowledged the issues were "complicated" she said the concessions made by Mexico in talks over the last few weeks would ease the final negotiations.

"Mexico has made some significant concessions, which will be really good for Canadian workers," she said on the steps of the US Trade Representative's office.

"On that basis, we are optimistic about having some very good productive conversations this week."



She did not directly respond to a question about whether the sides would meet a Friday deadline to commit to the new NAFTA -- the day Lighthizer said he will officially notify the US Congress of the intention to enter into a new trade agreement in 90 days.

After months of intense talks, the United States and Mexico announced an agreement on Monday to overhaul the 25-year-old free trade pact.

President Donald Trump said he could leave Canada out and press ahead with a two-party deal, but Mexican and Canadian officials have insisted it must remain a trilateral agreement.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners.

And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made it clear he would only sign a new trade pact he considered good for his country.

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite NAFTA. But in the last five weeks, Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland said she has been in close touch with her US and Mexican counterparts throughout the summer and had already achieved "a high-level agreement with the US" on the pending issues.

Freeland told reporters yesterday that Canada would stand firm "while looking for areas where we can find a compromise." She met late yesterday night with her Mexican counterparts, who had remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough with the United States.

The outlines of the new NAFTA include a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

Still, Trump said he would take a tough line with Canada on dairy trade -- long a source of tension between the neighbouring countries.

Trudeau has nevertheless vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

"My position on defending supply management has not changed. We will defend supply management," Trudeau said.

The system has been in place since the 1970s and has survived several attempts to undo it.

Trudeau faces political pressure with elections due in a year, which could make him wary of being seen as capitulating to Trump, especially on dairy.

Canada also objects to the US call to eliminate bi-national panels to resolve trade disputes among NAFTA partners under Chapter 19, which appears to have been dropped in the deal with Mexico.

Canada has used the provision to challenge US anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

But Washington backed away from a strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate the trade pact after five years.

Instead, the agreement with Mexico extends NAFTA for 16 years but with a review every six years.

The White House is pushing to finalise things quickly so that Outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto can sign the treaty before handing the reins over to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on December 1.

Pena Nieto said the deal with the United States means the sides are now "in the final stretch of a trilateral deal".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Seven persons have died after a cargo ship sank in the Beijiang River in the south China's Guangdong province, according to a media report today.

The ship sank on Monday, and all seven bodies were recovered yesterday, the state-run Xinhua agnecy quoted local authorities as saying.

The maritime rescue centre of the Qingyuan city initiated an emergency response and dispatched search vessels to the accident site, the authorities said, adding a team would be sent to salvage the ship wreck.

Further investigations will follow, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CBI has arrested three persons from West Bengal and Odisha for allegedly creating a fake website of the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and posting fraudulent job opportunities to lure youths, officials said today.

Narayan Patra and Govind Sinha were arrested from Kolkata in West Bengal while Kishore Chandra Pradhan was from Cuttack in Odisha, they said.

The arrests were made after the agency recovered crucial documents during searches at six places, the officials said.

The case was registered by the agency in March on a complaint by RVNL, a government of India undertaking, which stated that some unscrupulous elements opened a website which was a replica of its original web site www.rvnl.org.

The complainant said the original website is used to disseminate information regarding the working of the company, its achievements and organisation, and other related information.

"Whenever recruitment is done, advertisements are uploaded on the official website for information of public. However, no recruitment is being done as on date," the company said in its complaint on February 8.

General Manager RVNL P P Pandey said in his complaint to the CBI that it was brought to the companys notice that a web site www.rvnl.in was opened by some persons, which is the exact copy of the authentic site, and on which fraud recruitment notices were being uploaded.

The fake web site had also published information regarding interview dates with an intention to dupe people who may be applying for jobs using this website, he alleged.

A visit to the fake web site shows a disclaimer in the form of a scroll on top, saying the site of RVNL --www.rvnl.org -- and it does not take any responsibility of any material posted on the fake site.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The coming Assembly elections in four states will witness a disabled-friendly set-up at polling stations and use of a mobile application to report electoral malpractises, Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat today said.

Speaking to reporters at the end of his two-day visit here for reviewing poll preparations, he said 'accessibility observers' would help differently-abled voters during elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

"For the first time, accessibility observers are going to assist physically disabled persons exercise the franchise," Rawat said.

The Election Commission has laid a special emphasis on making the poll process accessible for all sections, especially the persons with disabilities, those who are aged or infirm, he said.

"All polling premises will have sturdy ramps (which wheelchair-bound voters can use). A database of disabled voters is being created and such electors would be enrolled and their list shall be provided to booth-level officers so that they can be given special assistance," Rawat said.

Citizen Vigilance App, introduced in Bengaluru on a pilot basis, will be operationalised for coming polls to ensure free and fair election, said the CEC, accompanied by Election Commissioners Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa.

Anybody can report a violation of model code of conduct or a corrupt electoral practise by a candidate by uploading a video clip of the act through the mobile app, he said.

Complaints received through the app will be attended promptly, the CEC added.

"A political party has complained to us that polling booths in the areas in North Madhya Pradesh, where weaker sections of society live, have been shifted to places where men with money and muscle hold sway," he informed.

"We have directed the concerned officers to look into it seriously," Rawat added.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being manufactured in India and not being imported from China and Japan, contrary to some rumours, the CEC said.

"Our EVMs come from Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited," he said, adding that entire manufacturing process is video-graphed, and no outsider can intrude into these facilities run by Public Sector Units.The Centre has sanctioned Rs 730 crore in grant and a long-term loan of Rs 1484.39 crore for building the canal network for the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat, deputy Chief Minister Saurabh Patel said today.

Though the construction of one of the biggest dams in the country on the Narmada river had already been completed, the work on its canal network for distribution of water is still pending.

"The Centre has sanctioned a grant of Rs 730 crore for building the canal network for the Sardar Sarovar dam for year 2018-19 under an irrigation scheme," Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar.

He said the Centre had also sanctioned a long-term loan of Rs 1484.39 crore at the rate of six per cent from the Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF), which has been created to finance 99 priority irrigation schemes in the country.

"This will help in early completion of building the canal network for the dam," Patel said.

Besides irrigation, the water will be used for drinking purpose, he said.

The water level of the dam has reached 120 metres so far this monsoon, 18 metres short of its entire height.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)With flood-ravaged Kerala now focusing on rebuilding, the Centre today said it would favourably consider the state's demand to enhance the borrowing limit.

As part of efforts for resource mobilisation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held discussions with World Bank officials and said their help was necessary to rebuild the state.

Roads and bridges have been destroyed and small traders and businessman were facing grave crisis and so the present bank schemes alone were not enough, Vijayan said and sought aid from the World Bank.

The centre said more assistance would be provided after a fresh memorandum is submitted on the loss and damage caused due to the deluge.

According to a preliminary estimate, the loss and damage due to the rain fury was Rs.20,000 crore, but Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said it would be much more.

The deluge in the state, the worst in a century, had claimed over 320 lives since August 8 besides causing widespread destruction.

At the State Level Bankers meet, Union minister of state for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan said the Centre would consider all demands, including increasing the borrowing limit of the state, to raise funds for rehabilitation of flood vicitms and rebuilding the state.

The state had asked the Centre to enhance the borrowing limit from 3 per cent State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) to 4.5 per cent and had sought permission to impose a cess of 10 per cent on state GST.

Later, talking to reporters, Radhakrishnan said the state had informed the Centre that a fresh memorandum was under preparation.

A central team would again visit Kerala to assess the damage caused and a decision on the assistance would be made after its report.

The centre would extend necessary funds for the state after the assessment by the team, Radhakrishnan said.

Radhakrishnan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was constantly monitoring the state's flood situation and had asked Cabinet colleagues to extend all support to Kerala to tide over the situation.

Banks in Kerala have decided to reschedule repayment of loans of the rain-hit people, Radhakrishnan said.

Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said the meeting was very cordial and the union minister had taken a positive stand on the issues raised by the state.

The centre had already allotted Rs 600 crore for flood-relief activities after Modi's visit to the affected areas.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who concluded his two-day visit to the flood affected areas, attacked the Centre for not extending adequate financial assistance to Kerala.

Gandhi also said he was in favour of accepting foreign aid from countries like the UAE for rebuilding the flood-ravaged state.

A release from the chief minister's office said the world bank team would conduct the Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis within ten days,



Public sector insurance companies said they have received more than 11,000 claims worth an estimated Rs 1,200 crore in the aftermath of the deluge.

With more people returning home, the number of those lodged in relief camps have down to 98,000, officials said. There were more than 14.50 lakh people housed in camps on August 21.

In a significant indication of life returning to normal after the torrential rains, schools and colleges reopened today.

The Cochin International Airport, which remained shut for two weeks, started its operations.

The cleaning drive initiated by the government with the help of volunteers continued in parts of Kuttanad in Alappuzha where some places were still under water.

As a precautionary steps, the government issued alert on the possibility of outbreak of leptospirosis in Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malapuram and Kannur districts.

The state honoured fishermen who participated in rescue operations with the chief minister saying the state owes a big salute to the fisherfolk.

With more donations towards the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) pouring in, CBSE schools in Kerala have been directed to handhold one flood-hit family for a year.

There are 1350 CBSE schools in the state with ten lakh students.

The Amirthanandamayi Math donated Rs 10 crore, while a group of Keralities in the US have raised Rs.9.8 crore through Facebook and donated it to the CMDRF.

According to the Disaster Management's state control room, 474 people have died in rain-related incidents since May 29 when the southwest monsoon set in over Kerala.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Chetak helicopter of the Indian Air Force made an emergency landing at a village near Siddipet in Telangana today after it developed a technical snag, defence sources said.

It was flown back after the problem was fixed, they said.

The IAF helicopter took off the Hakimpet Air Force Station for a routine training flight, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two engines of a freight train derailed tonight in Chhattigarh's Dantewada district, after Naxalites removed fish plates from the tracks on the Vishakhapatam-Kirandul route, the police said.

Nobody was injured in the incident which occurred at around 9 PM near Nerli bridge, two kms away from Bhansi railway station, in the insurgency-hit district when the empty goods train was going towards Kirandul, a senior police official said.

"The loco pilot and the guard of the train were reported to be safe," said Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallav.

The movement of trains on the route will be restored very soon, he said.

Goods trains on this route between Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh via Bastar are often targeted by ultras.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China today dismissed reports that it is setting up a military base in Afghanistan in a narrow corridor connecting the two countries near Xinjiang to prevent infiltration of Uygur militants into the volatile province.

According to a report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post,



China has started building a training camp for Afghan troops in Wakhan corridor a project Beijing is fully funding.

Once the camp is completed, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is likely to send hundreds of military personnel at least one battalion strong to Afghanistan's isolated Wakhan, the Post report said.

When asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, "After checking with relevant departments, it has been found that this report is not true."



Asked whether China is funding Afghanistan to setup the base, Hua said "if setting up military base is not true what comes next is also not true".

The Chinese military had denied a similar report in January this year.

The Wakhan corridor is a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land extending about 350km from the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan to China's Muslim region of Xinjiang, where Chinese authorities have carried out sweeping crackdowns on the Uygur ethnic minority group in recent months.

Uygurs are agitating against large scale settlements of majority Han from other parts of China.

China is battling militants of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a separatist outfit who reportedly used the corridor as well as the routes through the adjacent Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to infiltrate in Xinjiang.

China has been periodically putting pressure on Pakistan to crackdown on ETIM training bases in its tribal areas.

Reports in the official media here in the past said China and Afghanistan border troops jointly patrolled the PoK part of the border to prevent infiltration.

China which looks to spread its influence far and wide has already set up a base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Beijing says it is a logistics base aimed at providing resting facilities to its naval troops taking part in the anti-piracy operations.

China is also developing a strategic port at Gwadar in Pakistan which will provide it access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Also China has acquired the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka for 90 years. The Sri Lankan government insists that it is purely for civilian purposes and no military activities will be permitted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after five prominent Left-wing activists were arrested in police raids in several states, civil rights defenders today claimed that the country was under "undeclared emergency".

A rally was organised from College Street to Esplanade area in Kolkata, where people from various backgrounds participated to condemn the arrest and demanded the immediate release of the activists.

They also condemned the pan-India crackdown on Left-wing activists.

Civil rights activist Sujato Bhadra said the democracy in India was going through one of its "darkest phases".

"Indira Gandhi had at least declared the emergency officially. But the (Narendra) Modi government has imposed undeclared emergency," Bhadra said.

The National Human Rights Commission said it appears that the standard operating procedure was not followed during the arrest of Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha.

The Maharashtra police said the arrests were made as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) on December 31 last year.

Carrying placards demanding the withdrawal of the "draconian UAPA Law", activists and students shouted slogans against the Modi government.

The protesters chanted slogans describing the arrests of five activists as undemocratic and a violation of fundamental rights.

Veteran poet Sankha Ghosh, a recipient of Padma Bhushan, condemned the arrest of the Left-wing activists and said whatever was expected from a "fascist regime" was now proving true.

"Whatever was apprehended during the rule of a fascist regime, that is now proving to be true. This (arrest) is the latest instance of such trend. We have to be prepared for many such incidents in future," the Jnanpith awardee said in a statement here.

West Bengal Left Front chairman Biman Bose demanded immediate release of the activists and accused the Modi government of trying to silence every voice of dissent in the country.

"From the killings of Gauri Lankesh, Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabolkar to the arrest of these activists. It seems that an undeclared emergency is going on in the country," Bose said.

The Left Front has called a rally in Kolkata tomorrow to protest the arrest of the activists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after five prominent Left-wing activists were arrested in police raids in several states, civil rights defenders claimed today that the country was under "undeclared emergency".

A rally was organised from College Street to Esplanade area in Kolkata, where people from various backgrounds participated to condemn the arrest and demand the immediate release of the activists.

Civil rights activist Sujato Bhadra said the democracy in India was going through one of its "darkest phases".

"Indira Gandhi had at least declared the emergency officially. But the (Narendra) Modi government has imposed undeclared emergency," Bhadra said.

The National Human Rights Commission said it appears that the standard operating procedure was not followed during the arrest of Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha.

This, it added, amounts violation of their human rights.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A local court here today directed that trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj will remain at her residence under Surajkund Police guard till Thursday.

Last night, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the transit remand of Bhardwaj, who was arrested from Faridabad after the Maharashtra Police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states for their suspected Maoist links.

In the early hours today, Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashok Sharma recalled his previous order for the transit remand and directed that as per the HC order Bhardwaj will remain at her residence till August 30 under Surajkund Police guard.

The high court had said, "It is directed that in case the detenue is produced before the Ilaqa Magistrate/Duty Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridabad, the orders granting transit remand will be passed after going through the contents of the FIR and recording a finding that the provision of Sections 41 and 50 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been compiled with,"



"Till then, the detenue, Sudha Bhardwaj, shall be kept at the place, that is her home at Badarpur in Haryana, from where she was arrested under the supervision of Police Station Surajkund," it said.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year, which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira from Mumbai, Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Adani Enterprises Limited, the flagship firm of the Adani Group, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash Letters Rogatory (LRs) issued by the DRI in 2016 in a case pertaining to alleged overvaluation of coal imports.

Letter Rogatory is a letter to judicial agencies in other countries, seeking information or assistance.

In March 2016, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) initiated probe against some Adani Group firms for alleged overvaluation of coal imports from Indonesia between 2011 and 2015.

DRI issued LRs to Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong authorities seeking their help to access documents lying with overseas branches of three state-owned banks relating to the transactions under probe.

Adani Enterprises Limited yesterday filed a petition in the high court challenging the DRI's action of issuing LRs and sought that the LRs be quashed.

The petition is likely to come up before a division bench of the court on September 6.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Bharathiar University College near here was today indefinitely closed due to continued protests by students demanding action against those responsible for the death of a student who allegedly committed suicide.

College officials said the college was being closed indefinitely as the situation in the campus was not conducive for taking classes with the students continuing their protest.

The student, Dineshkumar allegedly committed suicide on August 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A court here has sentenced the director of a real estate firm to six months of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for allegedly failing to deposit over Rs 50 lakh TDS in time to the Income Tax Department.

A senior official of the department said the director of the firm, engaged in building construction services, has been convicted recently by the court as his firm "committed default in timely deposit of tax deducted at source (TDS) of Rs 50,61, 876".

"The company and its director have been asked to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh each and the director has been sentenced to RI of six months," he said.

The official did not disclose the identity of the executive or his firm.

The man and the company have been charged under IT Act's sections 276B (failure to deduct and pay tax) along with section 278B (offences by companies).

The court, the official said, observed that the offence under section 276B is "complete" when TDS is not deposited on time and a company cannot be allowed to take unfair advantage and use the tax amount so deducted for any other purposes.

In a similar case of TDS default, an executive of an advertising company based here has been sent to jail for non-compliance of the law, he said.

The tax department has, in the recent past, stepped up enforcement and prosecution action against TDS default cases as this category of revenue contributes to over 43 per cent of the total direct taxes collection in the country.

"In Delhi, the TDS wing of the department has launched more than 150 prosecution proceedings against defaulters during the April-July period.

"We have, in this region, the highest number of compounding applications in India from the TDS defaulters who have opted to compound their offence by paying additional penalty in order to avoid impending prosecution proceedings," Principal Chief Commissioner S S Rathore said.

As per rules, the TDS has to be paid to the credit of the central government (IT Department) within seven days from the end of the month in which the deduction is made.

The section 278B of the IT law allows for an imprisonment of the defaulter or the nominated TDS deducting officer for a maximum of 7 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Conditions are still not suitable for the safe, voluntary and sustainable return of over 700,000 Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said as he called for accountability for the "horrendous persecution" of the minority community in the country.

The Secretary General was briefing the Security Council on the situation in Myanmar, where 12 months ago a military operation in northern Rakhine state sparked an exodus of desperate Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh that quickly became one of the world's worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

Guterres' remarks also follow the release of an independent UN investigation into alleged human rights abuses carried out against the mainly Muslim Rohingya and which called for the country's military leaders to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide and war crimes.

"Following my direct engagement with the Myanmar authorities and several initiatives on the ground by the UN system, I expressed my concerns regarding the dramatic humanitarian and human rights situations," he said.

"And I emphasized the risks to regional peace and security of further degeneration. As you know, I have also been working to advance a policy of engagement and unified action to encourage positive actions by the Government, help defuse tensions between communities and build confidence and trust. I do not yet see the needed commitment for that investment to take place," he said.

"It is clear that conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice, Guterres added.

Cate Blanchett, the Academy Award winning actor and Goodwill Ambassador for the Office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and Tegegnework Gettu, Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) also addressed the briefing, which was chaired by Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN for the United Kingdom, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council.

Over 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to ramshackle refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar area, Bangladesh after being forced from their homes by a military operation which UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein compared, at the time, to ethnic cleansing.

Guterres, recounting his experience of visiting the camps this past July, said that he had heard stories of horrendous persecution and suffering.

The trigger for the military crackdown one year ago was a series of attacks on Myanmar security forces by insurgents that were immediately condemned by the Secretary-General. Guterres said that the disproportionate use of force against civilian populations and the gross human rights violations that followed, could never be justified.

Since then, despite his direct engagement with the Myanmar authorities, and the launch of several UN system initiatives on the ground, the Secretary General has expressed concern regarding the dramatic humanitarian and human rights situations, as well as the risks to regional peace and security of further degeneration.

This engagement includes the advancement of a policy of engagement and unified action to defuse tensions and build trust, and the appointment of Christine Schraner as Special Envoy on Myanmar, which has led to a process of broad consultations with the Government, military, civil society and women's groups.

Guterres said that, despite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Myanmar authorities and UN agencies in June, the country's leaders have not made the investment in reconstruction, reconciliation and respect for human rights necessary for all communities to live improved and resilient lives in Rakhine state.

UNDP's Gettu said the agency shares international concerns about the situation in Rakhine and the plight of the Rohingya, and he emphasised the need to address Rakhine's significant development challenges and to lift restrictions on free movement and access to services.

The UNDP, UNHCR and other UN agencies have been implementing the MOU, and working in Rakhine to put a wide-ranging development and humanitarian assistance initiative in place with support from major donors. He underlined that addressing the needs of the refugees in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, is also of primary importance.

Guterres asked the Security Council to urge Myanmar's leaders to ensure immediate, unimpeded and effective access for the Organisation's agencies and partners, and release journalists arrested for reporting on the human tragedy.

He added that there can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return home, and benefit from freedom of movement, an end to discrimination and the re-establishment of the rule of law.

His call for action was amplified by Blanchett, who said that "the focus of all our efforts must be to provide much-needed support inside Bangladesh while working to ensure conditions in Myanmar are conducive to return."



Guterres concluded with a call for accountability as an essential prerequisite for regional security and stability, and for the Security Council to give serious consideration to the report released on Monday by the UN-appointed Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar.

He added that effective, international cooperation will be "critical to ensuring that accountability mechanisms are credible, transparent, impartial, independent and comply with Myanmar's obligations under international law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he lied to the country over the demonetisation issue, after the RBI said almost all the 500 and 1,000 currency notes scrapped in November 2016 returned to the banking system.

The party said the return of almost all the junked notes meant that the government had failed to unearth any black money, check terror financing and eradicate fake currency as promised by Modi while announcing noteban.

Hitting out at the Centre, the opposition party said India had to pay a "huge price" for demonetising a bulk of currency, announced suddenly by Modi on November 8, 2016.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram claimed that more than 100 lives were lost and lakhs of jobs were destroyed due to closure of businesses after demonetisation.

The Indian economy lost 1.5 per cent of GDP growth that accounted for a loss of Rs 2.25 lakh crore a year, he said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the prime minister in his 2017 Independence Day speech had claimed that over Rs 3 lakh crore unaccounted money will come back to the system.

"Modiji, will you apologise for that lie now? (The) RBI report again proves that demonetisation was a 'Modi-made disaster' of epic proportions. 99.30 pc of demonetised money returns," he said.

The RBI, after an awfully long period of counting of returned bank notes, said today that as much as 99.3 per cent of the junked notes have returned to the banking system.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said Modi should have resigned on moral grounds for this "monumental failure".

He should at least apologise to the country for carrying out this "surgical strike" on the country's economy, Tewari said.

The Congress leader said, "We would like to ask the prime minister about who is responsible for all this. The prime minister should take moral responsibility for this."



"Had it been any other country, the prime minister would have resigned. Prime Minister Modi should also have resigned from his post on moral grounds, but expecting that from him would be too much.

"The prime minister should at least apologise to the country for the manner in which he conducted surgical strikes on the country's economy," Tewari told reporters at an AICC briefing.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said every rupee of the Rs 15.42 lakh crore - barring a small sum of Ra 13,000 crore - has come back to the RBI.

"Remember who had said that Rs 3 lakh crore will not come back and that will be a gain for the government?" he said, taking a dig at Modi.

"I suspect that the bulk of the Rs 13,000 crore is in Nepal and Bhutan and some that was lost or destroyed.

"So, government and RBI actually demonetised only Rs 13,000 crore and the country paid a huge price. Over 100 lives were lost. 15 crore daily wage earners lost their livelihood for several weeks," he said.

Thousands of SME units were shut down, lakhs of jobs were destroyed and the Indian economy lost 1.5 per cent of GDP in terms of growth, Chidambaram said in another tweet.

"That alone was a loss of Rs 2.25 lakh crore a year," he said.

Terming announcement of demonetisation a 'Tughlaqi Farman', Tewari asked what it had really achieved and alleged that it wiped out the MSME, cottage industry, tiny job sectors. Crores of daily wage earners lost their jobs and the country lost 1.5 pc of GDP growth that translates into Rs 2.25 lakh crore per year, he claimed.

Tewari alleged that over 100 people died standing in queues as a consequence of what he described as a "Mughal Monarch's" attitude towards its people.

"We would like to ask the prime minister who is going to answer, who is accountable for this monumental folly which cost pain to... 125 crore Indians, destroyed the Indian economy, demolished India's global image and brought absolutely no gain to the country," he said.

Tewari claimed as a consequence of the demonetisation exercise, the dividend paid by the RBI to the government of India was halved from Rs 65,876 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 30,659 crore in 2016-17.

He said the exercise yielded only Rs 10,000 crore, but the country lost much more in way of other things including loss of GDP growth, shutting down of businesses and losing many precious lives.

The Congress leader feared that at the end of this exercise, the government may have more than 100 pc of the currency that was demonetised, as the RBI is yet to take into account currency notes in Nepal and Bhutan besides the money blocked in court cases.

"This entire elaborate theory which was built that demonetisation is going to result in a cash-less economy, has been blown out of the water by the RBI figure," he said.

Banks received Rs 15.31 lakh crore or 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were in circulation on November 8, 2016 -- the day when the note ban was announced, according to the RBI.

This means that just Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency notes did not return to the banking system.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The war of words between the Congress and the government over Rafale deal intensified today as the opposition party rejected Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies and renewed its demand for a JPC probe into the matter.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to say that Jaitley's defence has brought the focus back on the Rafale deal, which he dubbed as a "robbery", and sought a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe.

"Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the 'GREAT RAFALE ROBBERY'. How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your 'Supreme Leader' is protecting 'his friend', so this may be inconvenient. Do check and revert in 24 hours. We're waiting," Gandhi said on Twitter.

At the AICC briefing, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari raised the party's demand for a JPC probe saying "if the government and prime minister have nothing to hide on this, why are they scared of a JPC probe:.

He also wondered if the finance minister was trying to "cover up one scandal with another scandal", and said all questions raised by Jaitley were primarily "a smoke screen to obfuscate the issue".

"We have been constantly and consistently demanding that a Joint Parliamentary Committee should be constituted to probe in the Rafale matter. If the Government has nothing to hide, if the Finance Minister or the Prime Minister feels that everything is above board, why are they scared of facing a Joint Parliamentary probe?



"Congress party has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Probe (JPC) in the Rafale Scam. We shall continue to make the Modi Government answerable on this," said party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said vendors have to disclose how the offset contracts would be discharged under the defence procurement policy. "For him (Jaitley) to say that offset is not part of the contract is wrong," he said and demanded a probe alleging that Anil Ambani's Reliance Group had prior information that PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would not get the offset contract.

The Congress' reaction came after Jaitley accused the opposition party and its leader Rahul Gandhi of "peddling untruth" on the deal and seriously compromising national security.

In a Facebook blog, Jaitley today refuted Congress' allegation that the government had benefited Anil Ambani's Reliance group, saying "Government of India has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies". He said any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) under the offset policy of the UPA can select any number of Indian partners, both from the private sector and the public for offset supplies.

"This has nothing to do with the Government of India and, therefore, any private industry having benefitted from the Government of India is a complete lie," he said.

Anil Ambani's Reliance group, which has slapped "Cease and Desist" notices on many Congress leaders asking them not to make false and defamatory statements on the deal, had also earlier asserted that Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets, choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and the Defence Ministry has no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.

The company has also rejected allegations that Reliance Defence was incorporated days before announcement of the Rafale deal.

But the Congress today dismissed Jaitley's assertions. Sharma said that under the defence procurement policy it is very clear that the vendor has to notify how the offset liability will be discharged.

"You left out HAL, violated the Official Secrets Act, did not seek the mandate of CCS and conducted no price determination for reducing the aircraft purchase from 126 to 36 aircraft. So there should be a probe into this. They may deny whatever, but the truth will come out," Sharma told reporters.

He also said that the defence procurement policy makes it clear that the offset contract has to go to a defence PSU with experience in the sector.

"Only the prime minister knew that the offset contracts would not be given to HAL and he violated the oath of secrecy taken on the position he holds," he said, adding "the Official Secrets Act says such things are not to be disclosed. How did Anil Ambani know that HAL will not get the contract and he set up his company 10 days before?"



He said under the UPA, offset was 50 per cent of the contract and HAL did not get the contract or transfer of technology. "The finance minister has not talked about it.""When the prime minister went abroad, did he take the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding cancellation of the earlier contract," he asked.

Tewari said this is a "very funny" Government where finance minister speaks on defence affairs and defence minister holds fort for finance affairs.

"They have completely redefined what collective responsibility means? In Narendra Modi's Government, collective responsibility is that no minister has responsibility of his own ministry," he said, taking a swipe at the government.

Countering Jaitley's charge that national security was compromised by the Congress, Sharma said, "Does national security say that there should be corruption and a wrong decision.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The war of words between the Congress and the government over intensified on Wednesday as the opposition party rejected Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said vendors have to disclose how the offset contracts would be discharged under the "For him (Jaitley) to say that offset is not part of the contract is wrong," he said and demanded a probe alleging that Anil Ambani's had prior information that PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would not get the offset contract.

The Congress' reaction came after Jaitley accused the opposition party and its leader Rahul Gandhi of "peddling untruth" on the deal and seriously compromising national security.



ALSO READ: Our Rafale deal 20% cheaper than what UPA govt negotiated: Arun Jaitley

In a Facebook blog, Jaitley today refuted Congress' allegation that the government had benefited Anil Ambani's Reliance group, saying "Government of India has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies". He said any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) under the offset policy of the UPA can select any number of Indian partners, both from the private sector and the public for offset supplies.



"This has nothing to do with the Government of India and, therefore, any private industry having benefitted from the Government of India is a complete lie," he said.

Anil Ambani's Reliance group, which has slapped "Cease and Desist" notices on many Congress leaders asking them not to make false and defamatory statements on the deal, had also earlier asserted that Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets, choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and the Defence Ministry has no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.



The company has also rejected allegations that Reliance Defence was incorporated days before the announcement of the Rafale deal, saying three companies were incorporated in December 2014 and Reliance Group's entry into defence sector was announced at Aero India in February 2015.

But the Congress on Wednesday rejected Jaitley's assertions. Sharma said that under the it is very clear that the vendor has to notify how the offset liability will be discharged.



"You left out HAL, violated the Official Secrets Act, did not seek the mandate of CCS and conducted no price determination for reducing the aircraft purchase from 126 to 36 aircraft. So there should be a probe into this. They may deny whatever, but the truth will come out," the Congress leader told reporters.

He also said that the makes it clear that the offset contract has to go to a defence PSU with experience in the sector.

"Only the prime minister knew that the offset contracts would not be given to and he violated the oath of secrecy taken on the position he holds," he said, adding "the Official Secrets Act says such things are not to be disclosed. How did Anil Ambani know that will not get the contract and he set up his company 10 days before?"





He said under the UPA, offset was 50 per cent of the contract and did not get the contract or transfer of technology. "The finance minister has not talked about it."



"When the prime minister went abroad, did he take the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding cancellation of the earlier contract," he asked.

Countering Jaitley's charge that national security was compromised by the Congress, Sharma said, "Does national security say that there should be corruption and a wrong decision."



On Jaitley's allegation that the UPA delayed the procurement procedure for over one decade "on account of the incompetence and indecisiveness of the UPA Government", Sharma said negotiations were being held in a transparent manner through a global tender and it takes times as trials are held.

But the price is three times more under the new deal than the earlier price, he claimed and asked, "What is the government hiding here?"



He said as per the defence procurement policy, it is written in the contract what percentage is offset contracts and Dassault will have to disclose as to how it intends to discharge the offset liability.

"Probably the finance minister does not know of this," Sharma said.

Sharma said on October 27, 2017, French minister for armed forces had come to India and met Indian defence minister in the morning in Delhi and then went on in a chartered plane to Mehan in Nagpur in the afternoon, to attend the foundation laying function of where Union minister Nitin Gadkari was alo present.

"Questions are raised as it involves contracts worth Rs 300 billion and to say the government has no information, is wrong. How did a private company knew before the decision that the offset contracts would be taken away from public-sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)," he asked.

The Congress has continued its relentless assault on the government over the to corner it in the run up to next general elections especially as Modi government has often cited a corruption-free administration as one its achievements after several alleged scams came to light during the Congress-led UPA rule.A police constable was arrested here with 20 gram heroin, a police said today.

He was identified as Special Grade Constable of 7th battalion of JK Armed Police Nisar Ahmed, a resident of south Kashmir's Pulwama, they said.

The arrest was made yesterday by a police team during a routine security check.

He tried to escape but the team chased and caught hold of him, they said, adding 20 grams of heroin was recovered from his possession.

A case has been registered at Gandhi Nagar Police Station and further investigation is on, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 32-year-old police naik allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself today in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, a police official said.

Anis Patel, in-charge of the riot control police, allegedly shot himself in the head with his service pistol in the Pusad police station complex in Yavatmal, located around 600 km from here, he said.

A police staffer spotted Patel lying in a pool of blood near a police hall in the complex and informed the authorities, the official said.

Patel was rushed to a state-run hospital where he was declared dead before admission, he said.

The reason behind his extreme step was yet to be ascertained, he said, adding that a probe was on into the incident.

Patel was posted at the police headquarters in Yavatmal and used to be on reserve duty with the riot control police for 15 days in a month, the official said.

The body will be handed over to his family after the postmortem, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A minor daughter of a Delhi Police personnel was allegedly raped by a juvenile, police said today.

She told police that her cousin introduced her to the accused, whose father is also a Delhi Police personnel, six months ago and they became friends, he said.

Police said the victim lives in a society in Dwarka North while the accused lived with his family in Haryana's Bahadurgarh, the officer said.

One day, the accused called the girl to his house, following which he gave her some intoxicants and made her obscene videos.

He allegedly raped her after threatening to upload her videos on the Internet, police official said.

On Monday, the accused asked the victim to meet her but she refused.

After which, he threatened the girl and barged into her house yesterday where he was caught by her family members, police official added.

Based on a complaint filed by her, a case was registered under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.

The accused was later apprehended, they said.

The accused was sent to a juvenile correction home, a police officer said.

Police also recovered videos from his phone, the officer added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The corruption trial of Kenya's deputy chief justice, the country's second-highest judge, was suspended today amid a barrage of legal petitions at various courts.

Philomena Mwilu, one of seven members of the Supreme Court, was arrested yesterday after Kenya's director of public prosecutions, Noordin Haji, accused her of abusing her office for personal gain.

Mwilu was among the judges who annulled President Uhuru Kenyatta's initial election win in August 2017, leading to the controversial holding of a fresh vote.

She was due to be formally charged at a Nairobi magistrates' court today but High Court judge Chacha Mwita suspended the case until October 9 to hear a constitutional challenge brought by her lawyers.

Mwilu's lead lawyer James Orengo, a prominent opposition figure and elected senator who played a key role in overturning last year's election result, said the move against her was "an attack on the judiciary".

"These charges have been brought not to secure justice but to secure the removal of the deputy chief justice from office," he said before launching his legal challenge.

"There is no factual foundation for instituting these proceedings," he said, insisting on her innocence.

After his initial victory was annulled, Kenyatta publicly warned that he would "fix the judiciary" and some judges subsequently faced threats and intimidation.

In October 2017, Mwilu's bodyguard was shot dead the day before the Supreme Court was to hear a petition to postpone the re-run.

As a result, Mwilu did not attend the hearing and the lack of a quorum meant the election went ahead unchallenged.

"This is an intensified war on the Supreme Court," Orengo said today.

Mwilu was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2016 and shot into the limelight for her role in annulling Kenyatta's first poll win.

She was accused yesterday of accepting money as a gift in dubious circumstances, failing to pay taxes and using false pretences to carry out a transaction involving an asset belonging to the Imperial Bank, which collapsed in 2015.

Mwilu appeared in court later that day and was released on bail of five million shillings (USD 50,000/42,000 euros).

But Haji denied accusations the arrest was politically-motivated.

He said Mwilu was targeted as part of an ongoing crackdown against corruption, which has seen several high-ranking officials hauled into court, a rarity in graft-wracked Kenya whose citizens rarely see justice done.

"We are an independent institution and we are not being directed by anyone," he said.

"This decision has not been taken lightly. The dignity and independence of the judiciary is dear to us.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)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.A court today ordered the arrest of Sri Lanka's top military officer in connection with the abduction and murder of 11 people during the island's civil war.

Colombo Fort magistrate Lanka Jayaratne directed police to detain Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of the Defence Staff, for allegedly helping the main person accused in the killings escape prosecution.

Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, a navy intelligence officer, was accused of leading a hit squad that kidnapped 11 young men between 2008 and 2009 during the final stages of the war.

They are believed to have been murdered while being illegally held by the navy. Their bodies were never found.

Hettiarachchi was arrested earlier this month in Colombo after a months-long manhunt that saw an alert issued worldwide.

"There is evidence against Admiral Wijegunaratne's role in allowing the accused to evade arrest," Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department told the magistrate.

D K P Dissanayake, at the time a spokesman for the navy, is also suspected of involvement. He was arrested last year and is currently on bail.

Police have told the court that Hettiarachchi was also wanted in connection with the 2006 murder of Tamil lawmaker Nadarajah Raviraj.

There have been persistent allegations that senior military personnel and regime figures loyal to then-president Mahinda Rajapakse were responsible for a number of high-profile murders.

Several military intelligence officers are facing prosecution in connection with the assassination of a prominent newspaper editor and for orchestrating attacks on other journalists and dissidents during Rajapakse's rule that ended in January 2015.

Rajapakse himself was questioned two weeks ago in relation to the abduction and torture of a newspaper journalist in 2008.

The former strongman, and several members of his family, are also being investigated for large-scale financial fraud and murder during his decade as president.

Troops crushed Tamil separatists known as the Tamil Tigers in 2009, ending the decades-long civil war.

But the final days of the government offensive, spearheaded by Rajapakse, were marked by allegations of major rights violations.

A former UN official has claimed that up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the war.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A city court today issued summons to BJP president Amit Shah directing him to appear on September 28 in connection with a defamation case filed by Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Youth Congress chief and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Abhishek Banerjee filed the criminal defamation case before the Metropolitan Magistrate, 8th of Bankshall court here alleging that the BJP president has made defamatory statements against him at a public rally on August 11 in Kolkata.

Banerjee, also a Trinamool Congress MP, appeared in court along with two witnesses - Swarup Biswas and Soumya Bakshi, and submitted their written statements.

The metropolitan magistrate issued summons to Shah for appearing in court on September 28.

"Your attendance is necessary to answer to a charge of U/S 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860," the order said.

Section 500 of the IPC deals with allegations of defamation.

On August 13, the chief minister's nephew sent a legal notice to Shah, demanding an apology from him for allegedly making defamatory statements against him.

The notice to Shah said, "In the course of your speech you had made various allegations against my client by making a flimsy and thinly veiled reference and/or insinuation to the 'bhatija' (nephew) of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal.

"Since, it is well known that my client is the nephew of Smt. Mamata Banerjee and is actively involved in politics, the contents of your speech left little to the imagination of my client's well-wishers that you were referring to my client."



Abhishek Banerjee's lawyer Sanjay Basu claimed the "false statements" against his client has caused grave loss and prejudice to his reputation.

Basu said his client "denies the allegation that he is involved in any purported diversion of public and/or government funds to the tune of Rs 3,59,000 crore or any other sum purportedly allotted from the Centre to the State of West Bengal".

He also demanded that Shah desist from making or circulating defamatory statements causing publication of the same in any media against his client.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar today claimed that arrests of Left-wing activists for alleged Maoist links were aimed at diverting the attention from the "probe" against Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing Hindu outifit.

He also alleged that police have made contradictory claims about the violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in January.

"The BJP-led government wants to shift the focus away from ongoing investigation into the Sanatan Sanstha, so such raids are being carried out," Ambedkar told PTI.

"The Pune rural police, which is probing the Bhima Koregaon violence, have registered FIR against Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, both known for aggressive right-wing stand. Both allegedly instigated the violence," he said.

"But officials of Vishrambagwada police station (in Pune city) are hinting at 'urban Maoist' connection with Elgar Parishad in Pune, in which many Left-wing ideology followers had taken part," he said.

"And now the probe agencies are hinting at Elgar Parishad (conclave) instigating the violence (at Bhima Koregaon)," said Ambedkar, the leader of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar.

Earlier, speaking to a channel, he termed the arrest of five Left-wing activists after raids across the country as an attempt to "silence" the masses.

He said those raising voices against the government were NGOs and non-political organisations, but had their roots in the masses.

"With these raids, the government is trying to silence the masses, but I doubt whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will be silent. They will be more active in opposing the government because they do not have any stake," he said.

"They do not contest elections. Their only interest is to see that democracy and human rights are safeguarded in this country. That is their motive. They will be more aggressive now than earlier," the former member of parliament (MP) said.

He also said earlier this month, the Maharashtra Police arrested some persons, including a member of a right-wing Hindu outfit, for alleged conspiracy to carry out blasts only because of the action taken by the Karnataka Police in the Gauri Lankesh murder case.

The Karnataka Police arrested one Mahesh Kale from Pune in that case, which forced the state police to act, he alleged.

Vaibhav Raut, who is among those arrested by the Maharashtra police in the blast conspiracy case on August 10, had purportedly claimed to be a member of the Sanatan Sanstha, but the organisation has denied that he was a member.

Police have not stated yet whether the Sanstha is under the scanner of investigators in any under-probe case.

The Pune Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha.

The raids were part of a probe into the Koregaon-Bhima violence after the Elgar Parishad event of December 31.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Mumbai court today rejected CBI's plea seeking the custody of Sharad Kalaskar, one of the accused arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in connection with the seizure of explosives and arms earlier this month.

The central agency yesterday sought Kalaskar's custody to question him in connection with the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Padalkar rejected CBI's plea, saying the court cannot send Kalaskar in its custody as he is in another agency's remand.

The court also held that the CBI failed to provide any legal provision for seeking Kalaskar's custody.

In its application, the CBI said it needs to bring Kalaskar face to face with Sachin Andure, the alleged main shooter in Dabholkar murder case, to determine his role in the killing.

Kalaskar is one of five right-wing activists arrested by the ATS in the explosives seizure case. They were allegedly hatching a conspiracy to trigger blasts in the state.

On August 10, the ATS had arrested Raut (40), who ran the "Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti", a little-known cow protection outfit, at Nallasopara in adjoining Palghar district. After Raut's arrest, the ATS had arrested three more activists - Sharad Kalaskar (25), Sudhanva Gondhalekar (39) and Shrikant Pangarkar - following raids in Palghar, Pune and Jalna districts.

Last Saturday, the ATS arrested Avinash Pawar from Ghatkopar in Mumbai in connection with the explosives case.

The ATS seized a cache of arms and ammunition from different parts of the state between August 9 and 11. It claimed to have recovered 20 crude bombs, two gelatin sticks, four electronic and 22 non-electronic detonators, 150 gm explosive powder and some other materials.

Acting on a tip-off from the ATS following the arrest of Kalaskar and other accused, the CBI arrested Sachin Andure, a resident of Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, on August 18.

One of the arrested accused gave the input about Andure's involvement in Dabholkar's killing, which the ATS shared with the CBI.

He is believed to be one of the shooters who fired at Dabholkar at Omkareshwar Bridge in Pune on August 20, 2013.

In June 2016, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Hindu Janajagruti Samiti member Virendra Tawdeunder sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of the IPC, among other charges.

Tawde was allegedly the mastermind of the killing, the CBI had said.

The Bombay High Court in May 2014 handed over the Dabholkar murder case to the CBI.

Dabholkar's and communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare's killing in a similar manner in February 2015 had sent shockwaves through the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi government today told the Supreme Court that officers of the DANICS and DANIPS cadres posted in the national capital are controlled by it and has powers to order their transfer and postings.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said DANICS and DANIPS officers are not controlled by the Centre through the lieutenant governor (LG) as long as they are posted in the national capital.

A bench of justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan was told by senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for the Delhi government, that the LG cannot control or order the transfer and posting of such officers.

"DANICS and DANIPS are common cadre and the cadre rules says that they will be controlled by the Delhi government as long as they are posted in the national capital. The LG does not control the services. He cannot control or order their transfer or postings," Chidambaram said.

He said DANICS and DANIPS cadre officers are also posted in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but as they are working in the national capital, they will be under the Delhi government's control.

"If DANICS and DANIPS officials are posted out of Delhi, then they go out beyond my control. That's the cadre rule which says the officials will be controlled by the government of the state in which they are posted," the senior lawyer said.

On the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, also appearing for the Delhi government, said, "Our Constitution is that executive powers of the Union will not interfere with the legislative powers of the assembly."



"It cannot interfere except for matters related to three subjects of land, police and public order," he said.

The bench, asked Sibal that in case of absence of any legislation, who will prevail and will it not be the central government.

He replied that the executive powers of the Union shall be in consonance with the legislative assembly and that the five judge Constitution Bench verdict on July 4, has already said this on the powers of the LG.

The court said the sum and substance of the arguments is that except for the three subjects of land, police and public order, where there is a legislation, the Union of India has no role.

Sibal said the LG in its discretion has power to disagree, but in that case, the matter has to be referred to the President.

"The LG is bound by aid and advice of the government and he is the executive head of the government. Therefore, every law is passed in his name," he said.

Referring to the Constitution bench verdict, Sibal said it has been held that the LG has no independent decision making power.

"The LG can use his discretionary powers only in three subjects of land, police and public order and where the legislative power of Delhi does not exist," he said.

The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.

On July 18, the AAP government had told the apex court that its functioning is "completely paralysed" and it cannot order transfer or posting of officers despite the recent Constitution bench verdict on the national capital's administration.

"Functioning of the government is completely paralysed. We cannot post officers, we cannot transfer officers despite the recent constitution bench verdict which has explained every aspect. These issues needs to be adjudicated at the earliest," Chidambaram, appearing for the Delhi government, had said.

A five-judge Constitution Bench had on July 4 laid down broad parameters for the governance of the national capital, which has witnessed a power struggle between the Centre and the Delhi government since the AAP came to power in 2014.

The bench had clarified that issues regarding various notifications issued by the Delhi government in exercise of its administrative and legislative powers would be dealt with separately by an appropriate smaller bench.

The five-judge bench had said in a landmark verdict unanimously held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but clipped the powers of the LG, saying he has no "independent decision making power" and has to act on the aid and advice of the elected government.

There were two LGs -- incumbent Anil Baijal and his predecessor Najeeb Jung -- with whom Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was at loggerheads. Kejriwal had accused both of them of preventing the functioning of his government at the behest of the Centre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As the controversy surrounding deal escalates, here is an explainer and a timeline relating to India's purchase of 36 combat jets from for an estimated Rs 580 billion:



What is



is a French twin-engine multi-role fighter jet designed and built by Dassault The Rafale jets are considered one of the most potent combat jets globally.

What was the UPA deal?



began the process to buy a fleet of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat (MMRCA) in 2007 after the Defence Ministry, headed then by leader A K Antony, cleared the proposal from the

The contenders for the mega deal were Lockheed Martin's F-16s, Eurofighter Typhoon, Russia's MiG-35, Sweden's Gripen, Boeing's F/A-18s and Dassault Aviation's Rafale.

After a long-drawn process, bids were opened in December 2012 and Dassault emerged as L-1 (lowest bidder). In the original proposal, 18 planes were to be manufactured in and 108 in in collaboration with the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

There were lengthy negotiations between the then UPA government and Dassault on prices and transfer of technology. The final negotiations continued till early 2014 but the deal could not go through.

Details of the negotiatied price per Rafale were not officially announced, but it was suggested by the then UPA government that the size of the deal would be USD 10.2 billion. The claimed per rate including avionics and weapons was zeroed in at Rs 5.26 billion (As per Euro exchange rates prevailing then).

What was the deal finalised by Modi government?



During his visit to France, Prime Minister on April 10 announced will purchase 36 Rafale jets in a government-to-government agreement. After the announcement, questions were raised by the Opposition on how the PM finalised the deal without approval of the

A joint statement issued on April 10, 2015, after talks between Modi and then French Franois Hollande, said they agreed to conclude an Inter-Governmental Agreement for supply of 36 Rafale jets on terms that would be better than conveyed by Dassault as part of a separate process underway.

The statement said the " and associated systems and weapons would be delivered on the same configuration as had been tested and approved by Indian Air Force, in clear reference to negotiations and testing process for the Rafale jets under the UPA government.

The Final deal?



India and signed an Euro 7.87-billion (Rs 590 billion approximately) deal on September 23, 2016 for 36 Rafale jets. The delivery of the aircraft will start from September 2019.

The deal was finalised on the basis of the procurement procedure followed under the UPA government.

The allegations?



The has been accusing massive irregularities in the deal, alleging that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 16.70 billion as against Rs 5.26 billion finalised by the UPA government. The party has also demanded answers from the government on why state-run major HAL was not involved in the deal.

The Congress has also sought to know price details of the aircraft and how the rate per aircraft has gone up from Rs 5.26 billion to Rs 16.7 billion. The government has refused to share the details, citing a secrecy clause of a 2008 pact between India and France.

Congress' A K Antony, who was in 2008 when India and France inked an inter-governmental agreement on defence procurement, said the government's claim that the secrecy clause was forcing it to not reveal price details of the deal was "totally wrong".

The party claimed that had purchased 12 Rafale fighter jets in November 2017 for USD 108.33 million per aircraft (Rs 694.80 crore).

The Congress has also alleged the government was benefitting the Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) through the deal as the company has set up a joint venture with to execute the offset obligation for the Rs 590 billion deal.

The has party alleged Reliance Defence was formed just 12 days before the announcement of the by the prime minister on April 10, 2015. The RDL has rejected all the charges.

Under India's offset policy, foreign defence entities are mandated to spend at least 30 per cent of the total contract value in India through procurement of components or setting up of research and development facilities.

On October 3, 2016, RDL and announced a joint venture (JV) in the sector and a year later, foundation stone of a manufacturing facility was laid in Mihan,

The government's response?



Around two years back, Minister of State for Defence, while replying to a question in Parliament, had said the cost of each Rafale aircraft is approximately Rs 6.70 billion but did not give details of prices of associated equipment, weapons and services.

Later, the government refused to talk about the prices. It has been maintaining that the cost of 36 Rafale jets cannot be "directly compared" with the original proposal to buy 126 combat aircraft as "deliverables" were significantly different.

Finance Minister wrote a post on Wednesday, accusing Congress and its leader of "peddling untruth" and carrying out a "false campaign" on the deal. He said the deal signed by the NDA government was on better terms than the one agreed to in 2007 under the UPA regime.The Bombay High Court today said the Centre's delay in allotting space for the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) was causing loss to the Maharashtra government while borrowers from banks were benefiting.

The DRT, which deals with debt recovery cases involving banks, financial institutions and their customers, is non-functional since three months.

The tribunal had been operating out of the Scindia House building in the Ballard Estate area in South Mumbai, but the premises were shutdown on June 2 following a fire.

The bar association of the tribunal approached the high court last month, seeking a direction to the Union government to allot appropriate space for the DRT's office.

Earlier, the Union government had informed the court that it identified office spaces at the MTNL building in South Mumbai and in the Mumbai Port Trust Area for the DRT.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the Union government, told the court today that one floor of the MTNL building would be made available for the tribunal after two weeks.

A division bench of Justices A S Oka and M S Sonak said when the petition was heard on August 13, the Centre had said it would make available three floors in the MTNL building within a period of 15 days.

"Now the government is saying only one floor would be available and that too after two weeks. Is the government so helpless that it cannot allot space for the DRT?" Justice Oka said.

"Three months have passed since the DRT is non-functional. This delay is causing loss to the government and borrowers from banks are having a great time," he said.

The court posted the petition for further hearing on August 31 and asked the government to submit an undertaking, stating by when the DRT would start functioning again.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi consumer commission has asked a private hospital here to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the family of a man who died there during treatment due to deficient service.

The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has asked the Jaipur Golden Hospital to pay Rs 24 lakh as compensation and Rs 1 lakh as litigation cost to the family of Nitin Dabla.

"This may serve the purpose of bringing about a qualitative change in the attitude of the hospital for providing service to the human beings as human beings.

"Human touch is necessary; that is their code of conduct; that is their duty and that is what is required to be implemented," the panel's bench comprising judicial member O P Gupta and member Anil Srivastava said.

The state commission said, "The complaint is disposed of with direction to the hospital to pay in all Rs 25 lakh to the complainant (family of Dabla), deficiency of service on the part of the hospital having been established beyond any shadow of doubt."



Dabla (37) of northwest Delhi had a boil on his right thigh that got swollen and he visited the hospital on February 9, 2011, for treatment, according to the complaint.

He was admitted and placed under treatment and due to the seriousness of his condition, doctors decided to conduct a surgery on him on the same day at 7 pm.

Blood transfusion was done on February 15, 2011, as part of the treatment and the blood, apparently being thick, was unable to pass through the pipe, it said.

The family also alleged that the doctor treating him did not bother to examine his deteriorating condition though reportedly he was very much available in the hospital and well aware of his serious condition.

The infection was caused through blood transfusion resulting in itching and red spots on the body and he became unconscious, the family said in the complaint.

"The worst was that the oxygen mask lying there could not be put into operation since the cylinder attached was empty, something unheard of and unprecedented in any hospital," according to the complaint said.

The doctor came after 15 minutes, but it was too late to "retrieve him to normalcy" and he was declared dead, it said.

However, the hospital claimed that complainants (family of Dabla) are at fault as they had suppressed that he was a diabetic.

The state commission said the argument does not stand as it is otherwise incumbent on the part of the hospital to make necessary investigations before commencing the treatment and asked it to pay the compensation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court today said it will examine the legality of Maharashtra police's action to arrest rights activist Gautam Navlakha and the transit remand order to take him to a Pune court.

The court also observed that even if all other arrests in the matter were found to be valid, it would not lend validity to the arrest of Navlakha.

The Maharashtra Police wanted to arrest Navlakha and take him to Pune in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- 'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) -- held on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

During the arguments, the court asked the state police why were all the documents not translated from Marathi and handed over to the court and Navlakha or his lawyers.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel also wondered how the magisterial court could have applied its mind to issue a transit remand order without the translated documents.

"Why the document carrying the grounds of arrest was not translated from Marathi and not given to Navlakha," it asked the Maharashtra police and sought to know by when it could provide all the documents to the court and Navlakha.

Observing that the issue related to the question of a person's liberty, the court said that even it was not provided the complete set of translated copies of all the documents.

The bench further asked whether it was mandatory that every official or legal document in Maharashtra has to be in Marathi.

The Maharashtra police told the bench that it will provide all documents, completely translated, to Navlakha's lawyers.

Earlier in the day, the court was informed by Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, representing Maharashtra police, that the translated copy of the documents were not ready.

The court had yesterday directed that Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till it heard the matter since the specific allegations against him were unclear as the documents were in Marathi.

Navlakha was arrested yesterday following searches in several cities and the arrest of five activists, including him. A transit remand was also secured from Saket district court in South Delhi to take him to Pune. This order was later stayed by the high court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India's ranking is expected to improve further in the World Bank's ease of doing business report this year on the back of reforms carried out by the government, a top government official said today.

The World Bank's 'ease of doing business' report is slated to be released in October.

"We are optimistic that again we will be making a significant jump in the ease of doing business ranking," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Ramesh Abhishek said here.

India leapfrogged 30 places to rank 100th in the last World Bank's 'ease of doing business' ranking report.

Speaking at the Taiwan-India Industrial Collaboration Summit, the secretary said that several areas, including starting a business and paying taxes, have seen an improvement.

He also asked the Taiwanese businesses to invest in India as the country holds huge potential.

"This is a good time for investments in India," he said, adding Indian economy is likely to touch USD 5 trillion mark by 2025 and USD 10 trillion by 2030.

"We are removing all the bottlenecks and obstacles in areas like logistics and infrastructure," he said.

The secretary also said that the department would be setting up a Taiwan Plus cell to hand hold investors in India.

He said India has attracted USD 230 billion FDI in the last four years and Invest India is facilitating foreign investments worth USD 90 billion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five human rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case would be kept under house arrest at their homes till September 6, the Supreme Court ordered today, observing that dissent was the "safety valve" of democracy.

While granting relief to activists Varavara Rao, Arun Farreira, Vernon Gonzalves, Sudha Bhardwaj and Gautam Navalakha, the top court did not consider for now the vehement opposition of Maharastra government challenging the locus of the petitioners, historian Romila Thapar and four others, seeking relief on their behalf, and calling them "strangers".

The Maharashtra police had arrested them in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- 'Elgaar Parishad' -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village. The state had challenged the petitioners' locus, dubbing them as "strangers".

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the state police's move to arrest these activists nine months after the incident and said that all of them were reputed citizens and "stifling the dissent" was not good.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said in a packed courtroom.

Taking a strong note of the submissions of the state government, it said, "This (arrest) is a wider issue. Their (petitioners') problem is quelling dissent."



"Nine months after Bhima-Koregaon, you go and arrest these people," the bench asked, while taking serious note of Maharashtra's plea that they were arrested in pursuance of an FIR.

Issuing notice to the Maharashtra government and its police, the bench considered the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, that the arrested activists be kept in house arrest.

He said two of the five arrested persons -- Sudha Bhardwaj and Gautam Navalakha -- were currently under house arrest following the orders passed by two high courts while the three others were on transit remand.

Singhvi said as an interim measure, all the five be kept under "house arrest in their own homes".

The plea was accepted by the bench which, however, said that all the contentions of the parties would be kept open.

Singhvi said the nationwide raids and the arrests made by Maharashtra Police after nine months of registration of the FIR have had a "chilling effect" on the personal life and liberty of citizens having dissenting voice.

"Can they do massive sweeping raids and arrest these respectable citizens," he asked, adding "there is a panic situation".

He said none of these five arrested persons were named as accused in the FIR lodged in the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

"We, the petitioners, are concerned with what has happened," he said, adding that the arrests were made as if these persons "are a great threat to this great government".

Singhvi also said if citizens were arrested like this, then this would be "the end of democracy."



Besides Singhvi, a battery of lawyers including senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Indira Jaising and Dushyant Dave and lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Vrinda Grover vehemently opposed the Maharashtra Police's action in the matter.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Maharashtra government's counsel Nishant Katneshwarkar opposed the plea and termed the petitioners as "strangers" to the litigation on the ground that the arrested accused have already taken legal recourse at various courts in the country.

Without disputing the social standing of the petitioners like Romila Thapar, the law officer said "some strangers are before this court and no accused is before this court. They (petitioners) are seeking relief against arrest on their (accused) behalf".

"It is a strange argument that you stay the arrest of somebody else," Mehta said, adding "kindly hear us on the maintainability of this petition. Strangers cannot seek anticipatory bail for somebody else".

Mehta also told the bench that some of these accused were earlier in jail, a contention which was opposed by the petitioners.

The court, during the half-an-hour hearing which ended at 5 PM, said it would like to know the allegations and materials against the accused persons.

The bench asked the state government to respond to the petition and gave liberty to the petitioners to file rejoinders, if any, and posted the matter for hearing on September 6.

During the hearing, Dhavan termed the arrests as "random" and said he has been funding an organisation being run by one of the arrested persons and all of them were of impeccable integrity.

While Dave said if arrests were made like this, "then nobody will be safe", Jaising said one of her former junior lawyers was also arrested and she would file a separate application on it. Grover sought that the transit remand of these accused must be stayed by the apex court.

The plea, by Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpandey and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala, has sought an independent probe into the arrests and their immediate release.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, while activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)DMK today condemned the arrest of five Left-wing activists as a reflection of an 'authoritarian' mindset by the BJP-led NDA government, saying dissent was essential to democracy.

In a series of tweets, party President M K Stalin also vowed to dislodge the BJP-led NDA and AIADMK governments at the Centre and Tamil Nadu respectively.

"The brazen attempt by the Union Govt to imprison its critics reflects an authoritarian mindset that disregards civil rights," he said, a day after accusing the BJP-led government of attempting to 'saffronise' the country.

Also, he said, "the space for dissent is essential to every democracy. I urge the Govt to drop all such unconstitutional actions immediately. #DefendDissent."



The Maharashtra Police has arrested five Left-wing activists yesterday as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

The arrests have drawn widespread condemnation by several political leaders.

Stalin, who took over as DMK president yesterday, said "the goal," of his party was to dislodge the BJP government at the Centre which he claimed was weakening the country in every sphere of activity be it socio-political or others.

Accusing the AIADMK government of losing "self-respect," and "pledging the state's rights," he said defeating both the governments at the hustings was his party's goal.

"Let us win polls and make it an offering to Kalaignar," he said.

DMK had been consistently targeting the AIADMK of being "subervient" to the Centre after the death of its supremo Jayalalithaa and compromising on the rights of Tamil Nadu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Borussia Dortmund has agreed to sign Spanish forward Paco Alcacer on loan from Barcelona with an option to buy.

The Bundesliga side says the 24-year-old Alcacer completed a medical on Tuesday and will wear the No. 9 for the club.

Should Dortmund take up the option to keep the player, he will be tied to the club for a further four years after the one-year loan spell.

Kicker magazine reported Dortmund was paying 2 million euros ($2.3 million) for the loan spell, while a permanent transfer fee would be 23 million euros ($27 million) if the club decides to keep him.

Dortmund had been looking for a striker following the departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal in January, and the end of Michy Batshuayi's loan spell as his replacement.

Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc says: "We're firmly convinced this type of player will be a good fit for our style of play."



Alcacer, who joined Barcelona from Valencia in 2016, scored 43 goals and set up two more in 151 Spanish league appearances including a season at Getafe. He has six goals in 13 appearances for Spain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An alleged dug peddler was arrested today with 180 intoxicant capsules in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, police said.

During patrolling in Kathua, 180 Provonspas plus capsules were seized from Roshan alias Gama today, a police officer said.

Police arrested the 32-year old accused drug peddler and seized his scooty and accordingly registered a case, he said.

"We request people of the area to come forward and make this drive against drug menace a people's movement," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BSF today arrested a drug peddler with 36,600 psychotropic Yaba tablets worth Rs 3.66 crore in the international market from Cachar district, customs and BSF officials said.

In another incident, a drug smuggler attacked a BSF man with a sharp weapon and injured him Karimganj district.

Following a tip off, customs and BSF personnel raided a house at Lakhipur in Cachar district in the wee hours and seized the Yaba tablets, the officials said adding that one person was arrested in this connection.

Yaba, the Thai word for "crazy medicine", is a tablet form of methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant.

The officials said the seized tablets were suspected to have been manufactured in Myanmar and smuggled to Bangladesh and India through drug peddlers of Karimganj and Cachar districts of Assam.

In another incident, an assistant sub-inspector rank official of the BSF was attacked by a drug smuggler when he tried to capture him on International Border Road in Karimganj district today, the officials said.

When the ASI challenged him, the smuggler suspected to have been carrying Yaba drugs attacked him with a machete.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has said that the oxygen levels in water bodies increase when ducks swim in it which was corroborated by some experts.

Deb had said at a programme at the water palace of Neermahal in Tripura's Sepahijala district that when ducks swim in water bodies they recycle water and their swimming increases the oxygen level in it.

His statement made on Monday went viral in the social media.

He also said that he wants to distribute 50000 ducklings among the villagers who live near Rudrasagar lake, where the water palace is situated, to provide an alternative source of income for the,.

According to Deb, at least Rs 6 crore could be generated per year by properly rearing the ducklings.

BJP spokesman in Tripura, Ashok Sinha came out in support of the chief minister's claim that oxygen level in water bodies increases when ducks swim in it.

"What Biplab Kumar Deb has said is 100 per cent correct. People who are laughing are the ones who should be laughed at. They are ignorant. Ducks do raise oxygen levels," Sinha, who is a physician claimed in a Facebook post yesterday.

He also quoted an observation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN in support of his claim.

"Ducks aerate the water while swimming, thus, they are called biological aerators," he said.

When contacted, he further clarified that if one wants to nurture water properly, he should rear ducks to enrich the ecosystem around the water body.

The joint director of animal resource development department Manoranjan Sarkar too backed Debs statement saying "When duck sucks water, one has to understand that it increases oxygen level like an aerator does a in water body."



He further said that the excrete of ducks is idle food for fish and fishlings.

When contacted, Mihir Kumar Das, a scientist attached to Tripura State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) too supported the chief minister's view.

"The sucking system of a duck is very unique ... It functions like an aquarium. When the duck sucks water there is water bubble, due to which oxygen level in the waterbody is bound to be increased. Therefore, when ducks swim in a water body it increases the oxygen level in it", he said.

According to him, raring ducks has another benefit too. "We often see a lake or pond is covered with algal bloom which adversely affects the water's eco-system. If ducks swim in such a water body the layer of algal bloom is borken which improves its eco system," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Enforcement Directorate today said it has attached assets worth Rs 26.65 crore of journalist Upendra Rai in connection with a money laundering and alleged extortion case against him.

"The attached assets include high-end cars, flats and investments in mutual funds and bank deposits," the central probe agency said.

A provisional order for attachment has been issued against Rai and others under the PMLA, a senior officials said adding the total value of the properties is Rs 26.65 crore.

Rai was arrested on June 8 by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the Tihar Jail here, moments after he secured bail in a Central Bureau of Investigation case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

Before that, he was arrested by the CBI on May 3 for allegedly indulging in dubious financial transactions, getting an airport access pass made by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) by furnishing false information, alleged extortion and manipulation of an Income Tax Department case against a Mumbai-bound businessman.

The ED had registered a money laundering case against him based on the CBI FIR.

In its FIR, the CBI has alleged that going by the value of transactions of over Rs 1 lakh each during 2017, Rai's accounts received Rs 79 crore while Rs 78.51 crore was debited from it during the period.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The English and Foreign Languages University Teachers Association has condemned the police raid on their colleague Prof K Satyanarayana's house.

Satyanarayana is the son-in-law of Varavara Rao, who was arrested yesterday by a police team from Pune for his alleged links with Maoists.

A group of policemen from Pune yesterday entered the EFL University campus "without the permission of any statutory officer" and carried out a "raid" on the campus home of Satyanarayana, a press release issued by the teachers body alleged today.

As many teachers, students and staff watched in horror and dismay, they proceeded to systematically intimidate, harass and threaten Satyanarayana and his family members, it alleged.

The teachers body claimed that policemen ransacked his personal and professional belongings and seized his papers, books, computer and research material.

During the raid, the police team made vulgar and insulting remarks about universities and teachers and derogatory comments about students dress and appearance, it alleged.

"They demanded to know why Prof Satyanarayana read books by Marx and Ambedkar and why he did not display pictures of gods and goddesses instead," it said.

"This is a clear-cut project of threatening and suppressing citizens who work for Dalit, Adivasi, and other marginalized groups," it said.

"We demand an inquiry into the blatant fabrication of charges, the lies and misinformation use by the police team to facilitate the raid," the release said.

The association demanded that Satyanarayana's personal belongings and research materials that were "illegally seized" be immediately returned to him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Egypt's army said today it has killed 20 jihadists in the latest round of military operations in the Western Desert and Sinai Peninsula.

The military launched a sweeping operation in February focused on Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out militants, including from the Islamic State group, who have been waging a bloody insurgency.

Operations over the past few days had "resulted in the elimination of seven extremely dangerous" jihadists close to Egypt's western border with Libya, the army said in a statement.

It said 13 militants were also killed in shootouts with government forces during army raids in central and northern Sinai.

Security forces in Sinai had arrested 18 wanted suspected militants and destroyed 18 hideouts.

Jihadists launched an insurgency in Egypt after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, forced out by the military in the face of mass protests against his rule.

Attacks have largely been concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula but militants have also struck elsewhere across the country.

The military says around 300 suspected jihadists and at least 35 soldiers have been killed in the "Sinai 2018" operation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An encounter broke out between militants and security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir today, police said.

An official said security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Muniward village in the Khanabal area of the district early this morning following specific information about the presence of militants there.

An encounter erupted when the militants opened fire on the forces who retaliated, the official said, adding the exchange of fire is underway.

Further details are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)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.Retirement fund body EPFO has allowed enrolment of new members without Aadhaar in Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland, on account of low penetration of the 12 digit unique identity number in these states.

In an office order the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has allowed generation or creation of unique (PF) account number without Aadhaar in Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland till November 23, 2018.

"Aadhaar is required for generation of UAN in respect of every employee who join an establishment registered with EPFO. However, the penetration of Aadhaar is very low in Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland...a provision has been made available in the unified portal for generation of UAN without Aadhaar in any of the three states," an EPFO said in the order.

The body has over six crore subscribers across the country and manages a corpus of over Rs 10 lakh crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)said on Tuesday that the existing power purchase pact between Bhushan Steel, the debt-laden company which it acquired, and Bhushan Energy is in under discussion.

The statement comes amid reports that has started the process of cancelling PPAs between and Bhushan Energy in a bid to cut costs.

" has a contract (power purchase agreement) with another company BEL (Bhushan Energy Ltd). There are some discussions going on at this stage so nothing has happened as yet. There is discussion regarding the contract," --Steel business and Total Quality Management (TQM)-- Anand Sen said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of International Conference on Minerals and mental sector organised by ITEI.

Sen further said, "Yes, the company feels that it could be little bit more economical so they are examining the contract and discussing with the owners of BEL to have more beneficial contract on both parties."



BEL is a subsidiary of Ltd.

When asked it the company has begun the process of cancelling PPA, Sen said that "I don't know whether power purchase agreement is being cancelled or not but we have a power agreement with a company that contract is under discussion."



Bamnipal Steel Ltd (BNPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, had earlier successfully completed the acquisition of controlling stake of 72.65 per cent in Bhushan Steel Ltd.

Tata Steel Ltd had won the bid to acquire debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd through the insolvency process.

The bankrupt firm was among the 12 stressed assets the RBI had referred for NCLT proceedings last year.The FBI has said it has no evidence Hillary Clinton's private email server was compromised even though President Donald Trump tweeted a report that alleged the Chinese had hacked it.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday evening about a report in the conservative Daily Caller that said a Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington area had hacked the server Clinton had used as secretary of state and obtained nearly all of her emails.

Trump's tweet stated in part: "What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!"



FBI and Justice Department officials have said publicly that there was no evidence Clinton's server was hacked by a foreign power. Former FBI Director James Comey said at a July 2016 conference that the FBI did not find direct evidence that the sever had been successfully hacked though he also acknowledged that, "given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved," it would have been unlikely for the bureau to find such direct evidence.

A June report from the Justice Department's inspector general on the FBI's handling of the Clinton investigation said FBI specialists did not find evidence that the server had been hacked, with one forensics agent saying he felt "fairly confident that there wasn't an intrusion."



After the Daily Caller story and Trump tweet, an FBI official yesterday said, "FBI has not found any evidence the servers were compromised." The White House did not immediately comment on the FBI's statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five-time champion Roger Federer eased into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday, beating Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2 6-2 6-4.

The Swiss great, seeded second at Flushing Meadows behind defending champion and world number one Rafael Nadal, improved his perfect record in US Open first-round matches with his 18th win in 18 attempts.

As the opening attraction of the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Federer escaped the worst of hot, humid conditions that punished players earlier in the day.

Nor did he meet much resistance from Nishioka, who was ranked 58th in the world last March before tearing a left knee ligament and sliding out of the top 150.

After rolling through the first two sets with the loss of just four games, Federer cruised to a 4-0 lead in the third. Up 5-1, he was unable to close out the match against Nishioka's serve, and then was broken on his first attempt to serve it out himself.

Federer, who claimed is 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, would put the match away two games later, finally sealing the win with a service winner.

"I'm very happy to be back in New York healthy," said Federer, who claimed five straight US Open titles from 2004-2008 but missed the 2016 edition and only made it to the quarter-finals last year.

He next faces France's Benoit Paire, a 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) winner over Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five government officials including two women were arrested in Mamit district for their alleged involvement in the burglary in their office on August 23 night, a senior police officer said today.

Superintendent of Police H L Thangzuala told PTI over phone that five officials of the Election office of Mamit district were arrested for their alleged involvement in the burglary of their office on August 23 night when all the forms duly filled in by Bru people in six Tripura relief camps were found missing.

The SP said the police was interrogating the five officials at the Mamit police station.

The burglary apparently took place on August 23 night and the district administration submitted FIR on the next night, he said.

Investigation was launched and Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Mamit was constituted in view of the sensitivity of the case, the said.

Election officials who conducted revision of voters' lists in the relief camps in North Tripura district returned on August 19 and began working on the genuineness of the claims by Brus lodged in the relief camps.

The unfinished electoral roll papers were left in the district election office on the night of August 23 and were found missing the next day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following is the timeline of events relating to the arrest of five rights activists by the Maharashtra Police for suspected Maoist links in which the Supreme Court today directed that they be kept under house arrest till September 6.

10:30 AM: Historian Romila Thapar and four other human right activists move SC against arrest of five rights activists by Maharashtra Police.

10:40 AM: SC agrees to hear at 3.45 pm plea by Thapar and others against arrest of activists.

10:45 AM: Delhi HC fixes for 2:15 pm hearing on plea of rights activist Gautam Navlakha, claiming his arrest by Maharashtra Police to be illegal.

Maharashtra Police tells Delhi HC that translated copies of documents not yet ready and will be given to Navlakha's counsel by 12 pm.

2:20 PM: Navlakha's counsel tells HC they have received certain documents, translated from Marathi to English, from Maharashtra Police at 12.30 pm.

A junior counsel appearing for Navlakha said advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, who has to argue the matter, was busy in another court and urged that the case be taken up after some time.

3:30 PM: Hearing on plea of Navlakha resumes at Delhi HC.

3:55 PM: Navlakha's lawyers say they were not given complete bunch of documents.

HC says even it was not given complete set of translated copies of all documents.

3:59 PM: When can you give the documents, HC asks Maharashtra Police; says it is the question of a person's liberty.

4:00 PM: Why documents carrying grounds of arrest not translated from Marathi and not given to Navlakha, HC asks Maharashtra Police.

4:10 PM: Without translated documents, how could the magisterial court have applied its mind to issue transit remand order, asks HC.

4:13 PM: HC says it will examine legality of Maharashtra police action and transit remand order.

4:37 PM: Even if all other arrests in the matter are valid, it would not lend validity to this arrest (of Navlakha), says HC.

5:00 PM: SC orders that five rights activists, arrested in Bhima-Koregaon case, be kept under house arrest till September 6.

5:04 PM: The high court said it would pass a direction after going through the order of the Supreme Court.

5:06 PM: SC says dissent is the "safety valve of democracy" and adds if you do not allow these safety valves, it will burst.

5:07 PM: SC issues notice to Maharashtra government and its police on a plea against arrests of five human rights activists.

Matter to come up for hearing on September 6.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala Police today filed a charge sheet in the murder of a Latvian woman tourist at Kovalam, naming two local drug peddlers as the accused.

The 77-page charge sheet was filed before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court at nearby Neyyattinkara by Assistant Commissioner (Fort) J K Dinil, who led the investigation.

The woman had gone missing under mysterious circumstances from Kovalam on March 14. Her highly decomposed and headless body was recovered from a mangrove forest at nearby Thiruvallam on April 21.

According to the charge sheet, the two accused persons -- Umesh and Udayan- had lured the Latvian woman, who got stranded in the mangrove forest, by offering her drugs and promising to take her around.

The woman fell into a stupor and was later raped, the charge sheet said.

After regaining consciousness, she reacted strongly following which she was strangled to death and her body was disposed deliberately to destroy evidence, it said.

"Umesh and Udayan have been charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act," Dinil told PTI.

The two men were arrested on May 3.

The charge sheet contains the statements of 104 witnesses and 102 supportive documents.

The disappearance and subsequent murder of the tourist, who had come to Kerala for Ayurveda treatment along with her sister, had triggered widespread controversy in the state with allegations that the police had not conducted a proper probe into the woman's death.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Forensic evidence gathered from an old car and analysis of call detail records helped police solve a two-month-old case of killing of a woman and led to arrest of an advocate, police said today.

On the morning of July 1, the body of a woman, in her 30s, was found with cut and strangulation marks in northeast Delhi's New Usmanpur, a senior police officer said.

Initially, the woman could not be identified as no belongings were found that could give police clues.

After scrutinising missing people's reports filed in this district and neighbouring districts, a complaint about a missing woman lodged in Karawal Nagar in northeast Delhi matched with the victim, he said.

Subsequently, the family members of the deceased were called who identified the woman, the police officer said.

The police then scanned the call detail records of the woman and found that she was in constant touch with an advocate.

The woman had spoken to the advocate several times, which led police to suspect his involvement in the matter, he added.

Multiple teams of the Delhi Police along with a team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) carried out a raid at the advocate's residence yesterday, but even after a thorough search, they did not find anything.

However, police came to know that the advocate owns another house and the police teams then raided it.

"The forensic team, comprising Manish Gupta and Prakash Chandra, saw an old car parked inside the house. They suspected that the car was used and washed recently," a source said.

Forensic experts usually can trace blood spots long after a vehicle had been washed, the source.

"The floor mats of the car and the backseat of the car had blood spots that were seen through certain instruments. The forensic team took the samples for testing. They will carry out a DNA test of the samples," the source added.

"Other evidences were also found which have been seized by the FSL," the senior police officer said.

On the basis of blood stains in the car and some other evidences which helped them zero in on the advocate as the accused, the officer said.

The accused, identified as 42-year-old Giri Chand, an advocate, was arrested today from his residence, said the officer.

During investigation, it was found that the accused and the victim were having an extra-marital affair and were known to each other for over two years.

The accused wanted to end the relationship but the woman threatened to implicate him in false cases, following which the accused strangulated her and dumped her body, he added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur confirmed the arrest of a man in connection with the case but refused to divulge further details.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta police today raided the houses of a forest official here following complaints that he had amassed assets disproportionate to his legitimate sources of income.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Basant Shrivastava said that police teams raided various houses belonging to the official who is posted at Rampura in Neemuch district as a Forest Ranger.

They recovered the documents pertaining to immovable properties including a 20-acre tract of land on Neemuch Bypass road, two warehouses and a house on a 2300-square feet plot in addition to documents of vehicles, he said.

Lokayukta official were assessing the value of jewellery found in his houses and examining his bank accounts and property papers, the DSP added.

The official has not been arrested yet, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP leaders from Goa will call on party chief Amit Shah in Delhi tomorrow to discuss the leadership issue in the coastal state in view of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's ongoing medical treatment.

Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik told reporters here that Parrikar could consider stepping down in view of his health.

Seeking to allay concerns over Parrikar's health, he said the chief minister had developed "minor complications" and would stay in the United States for eight days.

Earlier in the day, Goa Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant said Parrikar, 62, will be flying to the US this evening for medical treatment due to some complications in his health.

The chief minister had undergone treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June. He went to the US again for a follow-up earlier this month.

Parrikar was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health check-up on August 23, a day after he returned from the US. He was scheduled to return to Goa today.

The BJP team meeting Shah would be led by Naik and Goa party unit president Vinay Tendulkar.

"We (the core team of the BJP) will meet Shah to discuss an alternative leadership arrangement in view of Parrikar's health," Naik told reporters in Panaji.

Responding to a query of reporters on whether Parrikar should step down as CM now, Naik said Parrikar should give priority to his health and consider resigning.

"Yes...Parrikar should give priority to stay fit and healthy. It is the decision of Parrikar whether to continue to be in the CM's chair or not. That will be his decision and let him take it," the minister said while responding to the query on the future role of the chief minister.

When asked about the alternative leadership arrangement in the absence of Parrikar, Naik, the North Goa MP, said, "We have no knowledge about any alternative arrangement but something will be done".

When asked about the health conditions of senior ministers Francis D'Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar, who are currently undergoing treatment in the US and Mumbai, respectively, Naik again underlined the need to have an alternative arrangement in place.

"The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon take a call on the arrangements to be made in such cases," he said.

The Union minister added alliance partners of the BJP would be taken into confidence once the party finalised its decision on the (leadership) issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Trend





Iranian Minister of Education Seyyed Mahdi Bathaei would go to the parliament to answer the questions of a number of lawmakers complaining about his ministry's poor performance.

On Aug. 29, at least 20 lawmakers submitted a petition to the parliament presidium to impeach the minister, Irans media outlets reported.

Under the Constitution, lawmakers can impeach ministers when they deem it necessary. An impeachment motion can be submitted when it has at least ten signatures.

According to the law, the minister would have 10 days to appear before the lawmakers to answer their questions.

The MPs have submitted questions on 16 topics including failure to implement the Fundamental Reform Document of Education, failure to implement a rating system for teachers, inaccuracy in textbooks, neglecting the problems of teachers, mismanagement, forging of history in textbooks, failure to adhere to the presented program, mismanagement in schools, neglecting the mother languages and creating ground for differences in the country rather than national consensus.

Earlier in July Bathaei made controversial statements about teaching in mother languages in schools which sparked serious protests by some MPs as well as senior officials including representatives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tabriz, Ardabil and Jolfa cities.

Bathaei called teaching in schools in languages other than Persian dangerous.

"In some areas, we have seen teaching in local languages, which is a very dangerous matter. Children learn their local language at home. So they have to learn the formal language  Persian  at school, Bathaei said in a visit to Fars province July 14.

"Schools are the only place that can promote the Persian language as a red line of the unity of Iran," he added.

In recent months, various Azerbaijani MPs have requested for implementation of the Article 15 of the Islamic republic Constitution and education in mother language.

Iranian politicians have brought the issue to agenda time-by-time in recent years, in particular in election campaigns.

Last April, during a provincial visit to East Azerbaijan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for promoting Azerbaijani language.The government today approved a trade cooperation framework between India and Rwanda to facilitate better economic relations between the two countries.

The framework was signed on July 23 this year during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the east African nation.

"The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for the trade cooperation framework between India and Rwanda," an official statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Asserting that the government is committed to resolving the problem of home buyers, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today that all real estate projects will eventually come under the purview of real estate law RERA once the regulator is established in all states to protect consumers interest.

Hard-earned money of over lakhs of home buyers in Delhi-NCR are stuck because of defaults by developers including Jaypee group, Amrapali, Unitech and The 3C Company in deliveries of their projects on time.

Speaking at the CII-CBRE real estate conference, Puri said a high-powered committee, headed by Union Housing Secretary, has submitted its report to the Uttar Pradesh government. The state government had constituted this panel to examine the issues and propose some viable solutions to the problem faced by the home buyers.

The Housing and Urban Affairs Minister however did not disclose the recommendations contained in the reports.

He also said that state-owned construction firm NBCC will soon submit its report to the Supreme Court regarding the feasibility of completing the incomplete projects of Amrapali where thousands of homebuyers are stuck.

"This is a responsive government. We do not shy away from the problems...we are totally committed to resolve the problems of home buyers and the sector," Puri said, adding that the apex court as well as the government was seized of the matter.

He highlighted that the NDA government has passed the RERA legislation to regulate the real estate sector and protect consumers interest.

"RERA will ensure that in future buyers will not sign one sided contracts. RERA authority can deal with that. There has been some attempts at tweaking RERA so far as ongoing projects are concerned. But I think that's coming to the naught because as RERA mechanism are being established in States, all projects will get covered by the RERA. So I think, its going in that direction," Puri said.

Speaking on the sidelines, he said there are complaints currently that many states have not set up authority and West Bengal has come up with its own law.

"In my view, once RERA is established and takes off, there will be a demand that all real estate projects should come under the purview of this law," Puri said, adding that there would come a stage when this would happen.

At present, all under-construction projects, which do not have completion or occupancy certificates, have to be registered under RERA and comply with all the provisions of the law.

The minister did not comment on recent judgement by a Gurgaon bench of Haryana-RERA that real estate projects come under the ambit of Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA) whether they are registered under RERA or not.

Earlier Puri spoke in detail about the RERA and said that the Act upholds the spirit of federalism by allowing the States to set up the Regulatory Authority and the Appellate Tribunal and the role of the Centre is limited to Union Territories without legislature.

"The Act attempts to balance the interests of the consumers and the developers by imposing clear responsibilities on both. The Act seeks to establish symmetry of information between the promoter and the purchaser; transparency of contractual conditions; set minimum standards of accountability; and a fast-track dispute resolution mechanism," he added.

The Act is aimed at consumer protection, by creating an online system for information sharing so that there is mutual trust between the developer and the buyers, and projects are implemented in time.

Elaborating on the main features of the RERA, he said the law introduces the concept of using only 'carpet area for sale', which has till now been ambiguously sold as super area, super built up area etc,.

The RERA makes it mandatory upon the promoters to deposit 70% of the funds, received from the allottees in a separate bank account, to cover the construction cost and land cost of the project. This requirement shall prevent fund diversion and ensure timely completion of projects.

The law seeks to establish a regulatory oversight mechanism, through Real Estate Authorities and Appellate Tribunal in states and Union Territories, to enforce accountability norms for the promoters, buyers and the real estate agents. It also provides for a speedy and specialised adjudication mechanism to settle disputes between the promoter, buyer and real estate agents.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Global financial conglomerate Macquarie group's infrastructure funding arm today made an upfront payment of Rs 9,681.50 crore to the government to operate nine stretches of NHAI under a new toll collection policy.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has floated India's first toll operate transfer (TOT) model to monetise NHs by awarding toll collection operations to a private party on a long term basis.

NHAI has identified 75 NH stretches across the country for awarding contracts to a third party under the TOT model.

It will manage and collect toll from nine stretches of NHAI -- 5 in Andhra Pradesh and 4 in Gujarat -- for a period of 30 years against the upfront payment of about Rs 9,682 crore to the government.

Macquarie was among the four bidders to win the first bundle of the TOT contract of NHAI.

Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari received the cheque from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (India) Pvt Ltd's Senior MD Suresh Goyal at a roadshow organised by NHAI here.

"India needs foreign investment for its infrastructure sector and our department has successfully brought about this TOT model. The handing over of first bundle under TOT will encourage more such awards in coming days and we will invest the money received to boost infrastructure in the country," he said.

The TOT model is a good means to invite foreign investment in infrastructure sector to build roads in the country, he added.

"We can now think about implementing this TOT model in Ganga river also. Likewise it can be implemented in other infrastructure sectors as well," the minister said.

Private sector Yes Bank had partnered with Macquarie under a pre-bid agreement to be a funding partner.

"As a lead banker, we will form a consortium of banks/financial institutions to fund around Rs 5,500 crore to Macquarie in this TOT model," Yes Bank Group President & National Head for Corporate Finance Infrastructure Banking Vinod Bahety said.

Macquarie's Goyal said, "We would not just look at TOT in roads but in other sectors also, it will be quite interesting for long term investors like us."



The Sydney headquartered diversified financial conglomerate is an investor in India since 2009.

It has invested close to USD 2.5 billion in India in various sectors including renewable energy, telecom towers, airports and power plants.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today said the government should put in public domain the reasons for the arrest of human rights activists or else such an action can only be characterised as "witch-hunt" and "vendetta".

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said there has been a ground swell of anger, especially among the Dalits, against the Narendra Modi government since the last four years.

"It is incumbent upon the government to put in public space as to what are the reasons as to why these arrests (of human rights activists) have taken place. Otherwise, these multi-city arrests can only be characterised as witch-hunt and as vendetta," he told reporters.

The Maharashtra Police had yesterday arrested Left-wing activists Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha, and conducted raids in the houses of several others as part of a probe into the 'Elgar Parishad' event held in Pune on December 31 last year.

The event had allegedly triggered violence between Dalits and upper caste groups at Koregaon Bhima village in the district.

Tewari said although the judiciary was hearing the matter, the arrested persons have been active in the public space for a long time.

"We may not agree with their views, we may have fundamental disagreement with their views, but we do not have a disagreement with their right to hold their view," he said.

"This government believes that those who have a view different from theirs do not have the right to hold a view. That is why you have seen the most bizarre narrative play itself out in the last four years," he alleged.

"If you question the BJP, you are anti-national, if you question the government, you are seditious, if you question the establishment, you are a traitor," he said.

Tewari added that Article 21 of Constitution of India holds that no person can be deprived of his life or liberty, except in accordance with the law and it applied to everybody across the board.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar termed the arrests of Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links as an attempt to "silence" the masses.

He said those raising voices against the government were NGOs and non-political organisations, but had their roots in the masses.

"With these raids, the government is trying to silence the masses, but I doubt whether the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will be silent. They will be more active in opposing the government because they do not have any stake," he said.

"They do not contest elections. Their only interest is to see that democracy and human rights are safeguarded in this country. That is their motive. They will be more aggressive now than earlier," the former Member of Parliament (MP) said.

Ambedkar claimed that when there were raids on



right-wing outfit 'Sanatan Sanstha', he had said that similar action would be taken against others and that attempts would be made to show a link with 'Elgar Parishad'.

The Elgar Parishad conclave was organised in Pune a day before the Koregaon-Bhima violence on January 1.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the Koragaon-Bhima violence masterminds had not been arrested and investigation was still on to ascertain who were the brains behind it.

"Arresting people by linking them to Maoists is creating an environment in the country. If attempts are made to politicise this situation, it is wrong," she said.

The Pune police had yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the Koregaon-Bhima violence after the Elgar Parishad event on December 31 last.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ruling out invoking of exceptional powers to issue directions to RBI, a top finance ministry official said today that the central bank should take a pragmatic view on resolving stressed assets in the power sector.

The Allahabad High Court has turned down a petition by independent power produces challenging the February 12 circular of the Reserve Bank of India which specified that if a resolution was not found by August 27 these accounts should be sent to bankruptcy courts.

The court, however, asked the Centre to talk to the central bank to get some relief for the petitioners using the provisions of the RBI Act within 15 days.

"The government is unlikely to issue directions to RBI under Section 7 of RBI Act. The section can be invoked only in exceptional circumstances and the power asset issue is too small to enforce Section 7 of RBI Act," the official said.

The section empowers the central government to give directions to RBI, after consultation with the Governor of the Bank, as it may consider necessary in the public interest.

Instead, the official stressed, RBI should take a "pragmatic view" on the issue of stressed power assets on which insolvency proceedings could get initiated.

The official said that as per the estimates of the finance ministry, "only 10 companies" will get impacted since the court has refused to grant relief to the stressed power companies and hence they would be covered by RBI's 180 day circular.

"Of this, five can be revived and five will be restructured through Insolvency and Banking Code (IBC)," the official said.

In a bid to hasten the resolution of bad loans, RBI on February 12 abolished half a dozen loan restructuring schemes and instead provided for a strict 180-day timeline for banks to agree on a resolution plan in case of a default or else refer the account for bankruptcy.

Independent power producers had challenged the RBI order which mandated the lenders to initiate process under IBC if resolution plan is not approved by August 27.

Banks have an exposure of about Rs 1.74 lakh crore to the stressed power projects.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rajnish Rai, who had arrested D G Vanzara and two other IPS officers in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case in 2007, has sought voluntary retirement from service, sources said today.

Rai, 52, who is currently on the Central deputation with the CRPF and posted at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, has forwarded his application seeking early retirement to both the Centre and the Gujarat governments, they said.

A senior official of Gujarat Home department said they are yet to receive Rai's application.

Rai, who is on the Central deputation since 2014, is a 1992-batch IPS officer from Gujarat with Inspector General (IG) rank.

He is currently heading the Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) School of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Chittoor in the southern state.

Prior to his current posting with CIAT, Rai had served as the IG, CRPF, in the North East sector.

Rai had claimed to have submitted a report about a "fake encounter" in Assam in 2017.

He had several run-ins with the earlier BJP governments in Gujarat headed by the then chief minister Narendra Modi.

When he was with the state CID in 2007, Rai had arrested senior IPS officers D G Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh MN in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Hyderabad on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra.

Sheikh was killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. His wife was also believed to have been done to death.

Prajapati, an aide of the gangster who was believed to be the witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006.

Vanzara was the Deputy IG of Border Range when the alleged encounter took place.

The Sohrabuddin killing case was transferred to Mumbai in September 2012 on the request of the CBI for a fair trial.

In 2013, the Supreme Court had clubbed the alleged fake encounter case of Prajapati with that of Sheikh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Gurdwara in the British city of Leith has been severely damaged in a suspected arson attack with the police treating the "suspicious" act as a hate crime, according to a media report.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sahib in Leith city, Scotland was set on fire in what was believed to be a "deliberate" act at around 5am yesterday, BBC reported.

No-one was injured in the incident but the building was severely damaged. Police in Edinburgh are investigating the suspected arson attack as a hate crime.

It is believed that whoever was responsible deliberately targeted the temple and police said they were treating the incident at the temple in Leith as "suspicious", the report said.

A post on the temple's official Facebook page said: "We regret to inform you that Guru Nanak Gurdwara suffered an arson attack this morning at 5am."



"Someone tried to burn down the front door. There's a lot of internal smoke damage, and access to Gurdwara Sahib has been denied by police until smoke clears and it is safe to enter," the post read.

Detective Inspector Clark Martin, of Police Scotland, said: "Fortunately, the fire was extinguished relatively quickly and no on was injured, but nevertheless we are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness.

A committee member at the temple said, "the Gurdwara Sahib enjoys a good relationship with the local community here and I'm quite surprised at this attack.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish government's justice secretary, said he was "saddened at the that a Sikh temple in Edinburgh was petrol-bombed".

However, a spokesperson for Police Scotland insisted the exact cause of the blaze was still under investigation and refused to confirm that it was the result of a petrol bombing, the report said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Gurdwara in the British city of Leith has been severely damaged in a suspected arson attack following which the police today arrested a 49-year-old man for the "deliberate" act probed as a hate crime.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sahib in Leith city, Scotland was set on fire at around 5am yesterday.

More than 20 firefighters rushed to battle the blaze after the Guru Nanak Gurdwara's door was set alight. Reports indicate that a petrol bomb may have been hurled at the building in Sheriff Brae area of the city.

"Fortunately, the fire was extinguished relatively quickly and no one was injured, but nevertheless we are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness, said Police Scotland's Detective Inspector Clark Martin, from Gayfield CID.

Police in Edinburgh are investigating the suspected arson attack as a hate crime, BBC reported.

A 49-year-old man has been arrested following a police probe into a suspicious fire in a Sikh temple in Leith, the police said.

The Gurdwara's front door sustained fire damage, while part of the interior was damaged by the smoke. Inquiries into the full circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing as the fire is being treated as deliberate, they said.

Inspector Andy Johnson of Leith Police Station said: "At this time we do not know if this has been a random and reckless act, or a targeted attack on the temple.

"In addition to maintaining a continued dialogue with staff within the temple, and the wider Sikh community, we will have a high-visibility presence in the area while this investigation is conducted to engage with the public and offer reassurance.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish government's justice secretary, said he was "saddened at the that a Sikh temple in Edinburgh was petrol-bombed".

But so far Police Scotland have stressed that the exact cause of the blaze was still under investigation and are yet to confirm if it was the result of a petrol bombing.

A post on the Gurdwara's official Facebook page said: "Someone tried to burn down the front door. There's a lot of internal smoke damage, and access to Gurdwara Sahib has been denied by police until smoke clears and it is safe to enter."



The Gurdwara, situated in a former church, is Edinburgh's main Sikh hub, serving a community of more than 500 people.

The Church of Scotland extended its sympathies to the Sikh community in the Scottish capital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Private information of 130 million clients of a prominent hotel group in China may have been compromised as an anonymous network offered to sell them for over USD 50,000, prompting the company to launch a probe.

The alleged leaked data involves more than 10 hotels, including Novotel, Mercure and Orange Hotel.

A post by Darknet, an anonymous network within the deep web, appeared yesterday selling the private information of 130 million people, who are the alleged clients of the Huazhu Group's hotels, Global Times reported.

The information sells for eight Bitcoins, equivalent to USD 54,400, it quoted another daily The Beijing as reporting.

"We cannot prove that the information for sale is authentic," Huazhu said in a statement.

The company said police are investigating the alleged information leak and has hired professionals to determine if the "relevant private information" came from the company.

The 142-gigabyte data is separated into three parts, involving 263 million records and 130 million people, The Beijing reported.

Intelligence experts at Zpower, a company committed to fight cybercrime, said that the data could have been hacked 20 days ago when Huazhu programmers uploaded the information to GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on developing software coding.

Zpower experts claimed they have confirmed the data's authenticity.

Xin Haiguang, a senior IT commentator, told the Global Times that authorities should take more steps to protect information security.

Xin said that lack of legislation and law enforcement has spawned the growth of private information sales industry and prevented people from effectively safeguarding their legal rights.

"As the public becomes increasing concerned about information security, the country's legislators should soon come up with enhanced legal protection," Xin added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Improperly timed traffic lights.

Drivers who pull out in front of you.

Drivers who accelerate in the left-turn lane.

Drivers who are discourteous about allowing others to merge.

Drivers who dont use their blinkers.

Drivers on their cellphones instead of driving.

Vote

View ResultsEmirates NBD (ENBD), a leading bank in the region, has launched DirectRemit services to the UK, enabling customers to transfer money instantly back home, free of any charges and at competitive exchange rates.



Emirates NBDs remittance service is the fastest in the UAE and enables GBP transfers to Lloyds Bank accounts in less than 60 seconds and transfers to other UK based banks within an hour, via Emirates NBD Online Banking, a bank statement said.



Suvo Sarkar, senior executive vice president& group head  Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Emirates NBD said: DirectRemit is amongst our most popular services as it provides customers with an on-the-go yet safe channel to transfer money. We are glad to extend this instant and free money transfer service to the UK, an important remittance corridor for a wide cross-section of our customers in the UAE, providing added convenience to their daily banking.



The UAE is home to a substantial British expatriate population who with the new service will not only be able to transfer funds to their family back home conveniently, on an ongoing basis or on special occasions, but also be able to make timely payments for mortgages, insurance plans or for investments. The service will also be helpful to other UAE residents who may have frequent need to remit funds to the UK in connection with children studying there or during holiday travel.



Since the introduction of the DirectRemit service to India in 2014, Emirates NBD has expanded the service to cover Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt and now, the UK, with more corridors expected to be introduced in the near future.



UAE Central Bank figures report that the UK was among the top six beneficiaries of remittances from the UAE, receiving about Dh7 billion ($1.9 billion) in 2017.  TradeArabia News ServiceGujarat Congress sought the state government's intervention to end Patidar leader Hardik Patel's indefinite fast, which entered the fifth day today, by accepting one of his demands of farm loan waiver.

Apart from quota for Patidars in government jobs and education, Hardik, who heads the Patidar Anamant Andolan Samiti (PAAS), has been demanding a loan waiver for farmers in the state. He started his hunger strike on August 25.

State Congress kisan cell president Harshad Ribadiya today dashed off a letter to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and urged him to accept Hardik's demand of loan waiver for farmers.

In the letter, the Congress MLA also warned the government that if no action is taken within 24 hours, farmers across the state would hit the streets.

"If Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra can waive farm loans then why not Gujarat? By not accepting Hardik's demand, this government is projecting itself as anti-farmer. I urge you to accept Hardik's demand, which is totally valid," the Congress leader said in the letter.

Meanwhile, former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt met Hardik at his residence, the venue of his indefinite fast.

After the meeting, Bhatt alleged that the state government and police were trying to prevent people from meeting the Patidar leader.

"The motive behind deploying huge police force outside Hardik's residence is to prevent people from meeting Hardik. He is fighting for farmers and youths of his community. It is unfortunate that people are prevented by police from meeting him" said Bhatt.

In a statement, Hardik appealed to the common men to fight against the "dictatorship" of the BJP.

"It seems that the Constitution has been amended to give BJP and police powers to decide who can come to your house. Of the around 60,000 people, who came to meet me during the last five days, only 1,124 people were allowed inside," Hardik said.

He sat on the fast from his residence after authorities in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar refused to allot a place for his hunger strike.

Till now, leaders from various parties, including of Congress, TMC, NCP and RJD has met him to extend their support.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister Harsh Vardhan today met EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski and expressed his keenness to work with all stakeholders to make the Paris climate change agreement a real success.

Kozlowski briefed Vardhan about the forthcoming visit of European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella along with 80 business leaders to New Delhi.

"Had a fruitful meeting with a delegation led by @EU_Amb_India Tomasz Kozlowski. Kozlowski proposed certain action plans to achieve results on #ParisAgreement on #ClimateChange. India & EU had made a Joint Statement on #CleanEnergy & #ClimateChange last year. @PMOIndia, @moefcc," the minister tweeted.

"Reiterated to EU delegation, India's pledge to the #ParisSummit, where PM @narendramodi played a decisive role on global action on #ClimateChange & #MissionInnovation. Expressed keenness to work with all stakeholders to make the agreement a real success. @moefcc, @EU_Amb_India," he said in a second tweet.

The Paris agreement is a landmark pact to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future reached in the capital of France on December 12, 2015.

Its central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The agreement's aim is to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"#EU is implementing a partnership project in all non-EU G20 countries, for networking, capacity building & knowledge mgmt. @EU_Amb_India Tomasz Kozlowski also briefed on the forthcoming visit of Commissioner @KarmenuVella with 80 business leaders to New Delhi. @PMOIndia, @moefcc," Vardhan tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hartek Power today said it has bagged a contract worth Rs 11.24 crore from the public health department of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for executing a 66/11 KV substation in the city.

To be commissioned at a cost of Rs 11.24 crore, this project will involve designing, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of the new switchyard, which will enable the Municipal Corporation to meet the city's peak water demand. ************ Baroda Dairy to milk fat procurement price by Rs 40/kg *



Vadodara: Baroda Dairy will slashthe procurement price paid to farmers from Rs 640 to Rs 600 per kg of fat from September 1, here.

Ganpatsinh Solanki, vice president of the Baroda Dairy (Baroda district milk producers union) however, assured that this would not not affect their earnings compared to the farmers of milk unions from other districts in Gujarat.

For buffalo milk containing 6 per cent fat and 9 per cent SNF (Solid not-fat) ,this translates into 25 per cent reduction.

Solanki termed the measures "unavoidable", and his union is currently procuring around 6.5 lakh litres per day, of which consumption in Vadodara city is 4.50 litres per day while around 100,000 litre per day is going to GCMMF (Gujarat cooperatie Milk marketing Federation ). There are about two lakhs farmers from whom Baroda Dairy procures milk every day. ************* Dabur ropes in Jaqueline Fernandez to promote Dabur Honey.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court today directed that Bhushan Steel's erstwhile promoter Neeraj Singal, arrested by the SFIO for allegedly siphoning off Rs 20 billion, be released on interim bail as the agency has not been able to justify the need for his continued incarceration.

A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel said since Singal's challenge to the constitutional validity of the provisions for grant of bail and powers of arrest of SFIO were prima facie not frivolous, he should be able to seek interim relief.

"Therefore, the present petition cannot be viewed as a mere plea for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus and an attempt to bypass the regular route of obtaining regular bail," the court said and added that he be released on interim bail subject to furnishing a personal bond of Rs five lakh and two sureties of Rs two lakh each.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) orally urged the court to stay operation of its order for a week, but the bench declined it.

The matter took a dramatic turn when later in the day, advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, appearing for Singal, mentioned before the high court that the trial court was not accepting the bail order as the address in the sureties was of Singal's mother who had filed the habeas corpus petition on his behalf.

Dubey also told the bench that the Additional Sessions Judge heading the special court under the Companies Act said the sureties cannot be accepted till the addressees are verified, despite submission of valid proofs like Aadhaar.

Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya told the high court that its order has been challenged by SFIO in the Supreme Court which will continue to hear the matter tomorrow.

Taking note of the submissions, the bench said that since the apex court has not stayed its order passed in the morning granting interim relief to Singal, the special court "should not waste time".

"Any kind of delay in implementing the order of this court will not be countenanced," the high court said and directed its Registrar General to "immediately communicate" to the special court to implement the bail order "without any delay".

Subsequently, Special Judge (Companies Act) Vivek Kumar Gulia accepted the bail bonds and issued the release warrant after receiving telephonic communication from the high court for immediate implementation of its order.

In its judgement granting relief to Singal, arrested on August 8, the court imposed several conditions, including that he will not travel abroad without prior permission of the trial court and that he will not meet any of the witnesses. Singal has been directed not to tamper with course of investigation or evidence in the case and cooperate with the probe.

The bench, however, made it clear he shall not be compelled by the SFIO to sign his statement recorded by the agency.

The court also said the interim relief will continue till an investigation report is filed, at which stage if required he can seek regular bail.

In its 35-page judgement, the bench cited several issues for grant of interim relief like grounds of arrest being only explained and not served in writing on Singal and the SFIO being selective about whom it arrests in the matter when there were others who were also being investigated.

The court also said that the SFIO has not shown that the petitioner violated any of the bail conditions in a separate CBI case against him nor that he interfered in the probe into Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL) and Bhushan Steel and Power Ltd (BSPL) or tampered evidence or influenced witnesses.

"Given the repeated assertions that the officer of SFIO is satisfied that the petitioner (Singal) has been guilty of an offence, what more investigation needs to be undertaken qua the petitioner is unclear.

"In other words, justification for the continued incarceration of petitioner even beyond 20 days, at this stage, for the purpose of investigation, has not been made out," the bench said.

Singal, in his plea moved through advocates Ranjana Roy Gawai, Arshdeep Singh and Hemant Shah, had claimed that since power of arrest was not there with SFIO when it began its investigation in May 2016 into affairs of BSL and BSPL, it could not have arrested him.

Agreeing with the contention, the bench said arrest of the petitioner could have been only by a police officer and that too on registration of an FIR.

The court did not agree with the SFIO's contention that change in its powers was merely procedural, by saying "it cannot be a matter of mere procedure".

"It has a substantive element which raises an arguable question whether such provisions can be retrospectively applied to events that took place prior to those provisions becoming operational," it said.

The bench said that since the SFIO intends to examine him, his apprehension is "well founded" that his statement might be used against him as per section 217(7) of the Companies Act and therefore, his continued judicial custody would put him in a "vulnerable" position.

"This is another reason in his favour for the grant of interim bail," it said.

The bench also observed that while Singal was arrested pursuant to the investigation by SFIO into BSL and BSPL and their group companies, "till date there has been no move to prosecute any of the companies".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court today questioned the legality of the Maharashtra Police's decision to arrest rights activist Gautam Navlakha and the transit remand order to take him to a Pune court in connection with a case relating to the Bhima-Koregaon violence of last year.

However, after the Supreme Court directed that Navlakha and four other activists would be kept under house arrest till September 6, the high court said it would pass any direction only after going through the top court's order tomorrow.

"Every minute of a person put into custody is a matter of concern," a high court bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel observed, while questioning the Maharashtra Police for not providing all documents, translated from Marathi, to Navlakha, who was arrested for alleged unlawful activities.

The high court said it "will examine the legality" of the state police's action to arrest Navlakha and the transit remand order passed by a magisterial court here.

But the proceedings took a turn when the bench was in the middle of dictating the order and was informed by the Maharashtra Police counsel that the Supreme Court has stayed the transit remand orders of all the five arrested activists, including Navlakha, and directed that all of them would be kept under house arrest till September 6.

The high court posted the matter for tomorrow afternoon, saying it will pass a direction only after going through the Supreme Court order.

Navlakha's counsel maintained that they have not approached the apex court and the order would not be applicable on him.

The Maharashtra Police wanted to arrest Navlakha and take him to Pune in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- 'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) -- held on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

During over one-and-a half-hour long hearing, the high court was informed by advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, that despite the court order, they have not been provided with complete translated documents by the Maharashtra Police.

The bench questioned the legality of the transit order, saying it was apparent that the magistrate could not have applied its mind.

If the state police could not complete translation of Marathi documents since yesterday, how could the trial court pass the transit remand order within a few minutes, it said, adding "the practical issue is, if the court could not understand what is there in the documents, how could the remand order be passed."



"Without translated documents, how could the magisterial court have applied its mind to issue transit remand order," it asked.

When Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, representing the Maharashtra Police, sought some time to translate the required Marathi documents, the court asked "when will you be able to give complete translation of the documents? Because the question is of personal liberty of a person".

During the proceedings, the bench said "even if all other arrests in the matter are valid, it would not lend validity to this arrest" of Navlakha.

The high court had yesterday adjourned the matter for today with a direction to the Maharashtra Police to get the Marathi documents translated. In the morning, the court was informed by Maharashtra Police's counsel that the translation work was yet to be completed and they would provide the copies to Navlakha's counsel by noon.

In the post-lunch session, the activist's counsel said they have received translated copy of the FIR but not other documents and hence did not know the grounds of arrest, as it was written in Marathi.

"If grounds of arrest are written in Marathi, certainly the person, who does not know the language, will not know what it is," the court said and asked why only three pages were given to them and not the entire bunch of documents.

To this, Lekhi said they were not averse to giving documents to Navlakha and it was duly communicated to the activist why he was arrested.

Ramakrishnan claimed that on the face of it, there was no basis to arrest the activist and his liberty was taken away.

While the court said that in a "technical sense", the activist was not yet an accused, Lekhi maintained that any person against whom formal accusation is made becomes an accused that moment.

The bench said when the provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are invoked on a person, it becomes difficult for him to get bail and the magistrate should be more cautious while sending him to custody.

The bench also asked whether it was mandatory that every official or legal document in Maharashtra has to be in Marathi. "When you go to another state for arresting someone, you undertake the risk of going to another state where people do not under your language. The court has to be satisfied that the case is made out."



While questioning the police as to why witnesses were brought from Maharashtra to authenticate the arrest, the bench said if a person is brought by the police, how can he or she be an independent witness.

Navlakha was arrested yesterday following searches in several cities and the arrest of five activists, including him. A transit remand was also secured from Saket district court in South Delhi to take him to Pune. This order was later stayed by the high court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala High Court today sought a clarification from the state government on its proposal to set up a separate fund for carrying out flood-relief operations.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar, sought the clarification on a Public Interest Litigation filed by A A Shibi from Idukki, seeking to declare the recent floods as a 'national calamity'.

The government informed the court that the money collected in the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) would not be diverted for any other purposes.

Everything is properly accounted for, the government said.

Meanwhile, in a statement before the HC, it said that as far as the post-disaster phase was concerned, the state government and the Kerala Disaster Management Authority were undertaking various rehabilitation and reconstruction activities based on the damage assessment.

Preliminary estimates put the total loss caused by the floods at about Rs 20,000 crores (up to August 17), it said, adding the long-term effects of the disaster would be difficult to assess at this stage.

This is indicative of the enormity of the challenges facing the state in rehabilitation and reconstruction, the government said.

It said the government's strategy, in tune with the current global approach, would be to take the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction phase as an opportunity to "Build Back Better" (BBB) -- integrating disaster-risk reduction into development measures, making communities resilient to disasters.

The approach would be comprehensive so as to convert adversity into opportunity, it said.

Additional systems for providing psycho-social support and trauma counselling need to be developed for implementation during the reconstruction and recovery phase, it said.

The rehabilitation package will include total reconstruction of the damaged physical infrastructure, as well as the economic and social rehabilitation of the people in the affected areas, it said.

The rehabilitation package will involve efforts and financial commitments far beyond the state's resources.

The government would therefore explore all possibilities of Central aid as well as international assistance within the framework of the National Disaster Management Plan, 2016, it said.

The government informed the court that for the purpose of rehabilitation, reconstruction and dealing with environmental issues, a comprehensive plan would be prepared in consultation with experts and stakeholders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala High Court today sought the state government's view on the possibility of setting up a separate fund for carrying out flood-relief operations in Kerala.

During the hearing, the state government informed the court it would explore all possibilities of central aid as well as international assistance within the framework of the National Disaster Management Plan, 2016 to face the challenge of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar, was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by A A Shibi from Idukki, seeking that the recent floods be declared a 'national disaster'.

The court sought the government's view on the possibility of setting up of a separate fund as it wanted to ensure that relief funds are exclusively used for flood relief.

The government informed the court that the money collected in the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) would not be diverted for any other purpose.

Everything is properly accounted for, the government said.

As far as the post-disaster phase was concerned,the Kerala government and Kerala Disaster Management Authority were undertaking rehabilitation and reconstruction activities based on the damage assessment, the government said in a statement.

Preliminary estimates put the total loss caused by the floods at about Rs 20,000 crore (up to August 17), it said, adding the long-term effects of the disaster would be difficult to assess at this stage.

This is indicative of the enormity of the challenges facing the state in rehabilitation and reconstruction, the government said.

It said the government's strategy, in tune with the current global approach, would be to take the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction phase as an opportunity to "Build Back Better" (BBB) -- integrating disaster-risk reduction into development measures, making communities resilient to disasters.

The approach would be comprehensive so as to convert adversity into opportunity, it said.

Additional systems for providing psycho-social support and trauma counselling need to be developed for implementation during the reconstruction and recovery phase, it said.

The rehabilitation package will include total reconstruction of the damaged physical infrastructure, as well as the economic and social rehabilitation of the people in the affected areas, it said.

It will involve efforts and financial commitments far beyond the state's resources.

The government would therefore explore all possibilities of central aid as well as international assistance within the framework of the National Disaster Management Plan, 2016, it said.

The government informed the court that for the purpose of rehabilitation, reconstruction and dealing with environmental issues, a comprehensive plan would be prepared in consultation with experts and stakeholders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Non-basmati rice exports likely to get affected in the near to medium-term due to hike in minimum support price (MSP) by 13 per cent for 2018-19 for the common variety of paddy, according to a report.

Non-Basmati rice MSP was hiked by 13 per cent for 2018-19, for the common variety of paddy against the range bound 3.5-5.4 per cent in the past, Icra said in a report.

Also, the hike in import duty by Bangladesh, a major consumer of non-Basmati rice from 2 per cent to 28 per cent, from June 2018, may result in a decline in exports in the overall non-Basmati rice segment, Icra said in a report.

Besides, Thailand is expected to increase its market share by increasing its supplies in the global market.

These factors can further impact the operating margins of non-Basmati players, which are already thin because of the limited value-additive nature of the business.

"The recent developments in the non-Basmati rice segment in the domestic as well as the global markets are not encouraging for the Indian rice millers, since the MSP hike has been significant this year, against a range bound hike in the past," Icra Ratings vice president Manish Ballabh said.

He said, the increase in the MSP could result in an increase in the acreage for sowing, thus ensuring higher availability of rice for exports, on the other hand the sharp increase would increase the prices, thereby making Indian rice costlier in the global markets, which could impact non-Basmati rice exports.

"Moreover, with the imposition of the higher import duty of 28 per cent, exports to Bangladesh are likely to decline. Given that the country was the key market for India's non-Basmati rice and accounted for 21 per cent of the total non-Basmati rice exports in value terms in 2017-18, this move will further affect the credit profile of the Indian non-Basmati rice millers," he added.

India is one of the largest exporters of non-Basmati rice and in 2017-18, the country exported 8.63 million tonne of non-Basmati rice, which was more than double the quantity of Basmati rice exports of 4.05 million tonne.

On the positive side, the MSP price hike and the import duty imposed by Bangladesh may be somewhat offset by China's interest in India's non-Basmati rice, which has registered a few Indian Rice milling units, following the inclusion of non-Basmati rice in the 2006 Protocol on export of rice from India, Icra said.

Compliance with phytosanitary norms can make China a major export destination for Indian non-Basmati rice millers, it added.

"An improvement in the situation is expected only if there is a substantial demand from China or reduction of import duty by Bangladesh. Moreover, Thailand being a key competitor, the rupee- baht movement would be a determinant of the export competitiveness of the Indian players," Ballabh added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Himachal Pradesh government would use social media to accelerate tourism in the hilly state, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the state assembly today.

He said the state remained weak in the current era of information technology.

"Now our government has taken an initiative in this direction. The Tourism Department will soon complete the process of appointing a social media consultant. Subsequently Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will be used to accelerate tourism in the state," Thakur said.

"We have to consider new proposals with open mind and will have to allow participation from the private sectors to boost tourism in the state," he said.

New areas including Chanshal in the Shimla district, Bir Billing in Kangra and Janjehli in Mandi would be developed as tourist-points in the state as traditional tourist places including Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala and Kasauli have become saturated due to huge rush, he added.

A loan of Rs 1,892 crore has been sanctioned from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for developing new areas as tourist places in the state, he added.

The chief minister informed the House that Himachal would soon get a full-fledged airport.

"A central team has already visited two-three areas," he said.

Thakur said heli-taxis would soon be made operational for various tourist destinations on the pattern of Shimla-Chandigarh heli-taxi.

He informed the House that existing ropeway projects would soon be completed and new projects would be started.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A University of Hong Kong professor has been arrested on suspicion of killing his wife after police found a body stuffed into a suitcase in his office, the latest grisly murder to transfix the crowded city.

Officers discovered the body of a woman, wearing only her underwear and with electric wire around her neck, hidden in a suitcase inside a large wooden box in 53-year-old Cheung Kie-chung's office.

The associate professor from the Department of Mechanical Engineering had reported his wife missing on Monday 20 August, claiming she had not returned home following an argument.

Police said they became suspicious of Cheung after CCTV footage failed to show his wife leaving their home, while Cheung was also seen moving a large wooden box out of the premises.

Yesterday afternoon police searched Cheung's office, a five minute drive from the dormitory on the leafy campus where he lives with his wife and children.

"There was blood seeping out from the suitcase and it stank," superintendent Law Kwok-hoi told reporters yesterday night.

He said the victim might have been strangled, but the identity and the cause of death still needed to be confirmed by a post-mortem examination.

He added that Cheung told investigators he had a dispute with his wife on the night she disappeared over the toilet hygiene of their elder daughter.

Cheung is also the warden of the dormitory where his family lives and a member of the university's governing council.

The latest murder comes as another Hong Kong academic is currently on trial for using a yoga ball filled with carbon monoxide to kill his wife and daughter.

The southern Chinese city, famed for its cramped housing but low crime rate, is occasionally rocked by high-profile murders that dominate media coverage and often involve gruesome attempts to hide or dispose of bodies.

In 2016, British banker Rurik Jutting was jailed for life for the murder of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong, stuffing one of their bodies in a suitcase and placing it on his balcony.

The year before, a local man was jailed for chopping up his parents and storing their body parts in a freezer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has called on health professionals and facilities to renew their DHA licences to avoid any penalties.

The authority also announced its future plans to tie up with the Department of Economic Development to unify the licensing process to ensure a smooth and swift procedure that will achieve customer happiness and satisfaction.

Dr Marwan Al Mulla, CEO of the DHAs Health Regulation Sector, stressed the importance of abiding by the authoritys laws and regulations of renewal to ensure that the medical services in Dubai provide quality health services hence ensuring the safety and the wellbeing of Dubais community.

Healthcare professionals must maintain the validity of their DHA licence and make sure that its renewed prior to the expiry date by three months. Those who practice with an expired licence [clinical or administrative duties] will be penalised, said Dr Al Mulla.

In order to renew health professionals licence, doctors, pharmacists, supporting medical professionals and dentists must first apply and pay online through the online licensing initiative Sheryan. They need to provide a malpractice insurance and primary source verification report as well as a medical fitness test if the applicant is 65 years and above.

Once the required documents are reviewed and approved by the health regulation department, the license will be issued, the DHA statement said.

Dr Al Mulla revealed that health professionals must also finish their continual medical education (CME) requirements as a prerequisite to obtaining their licence.

Doctors are required to complete 40 hours of CME per year while nurses and pharmacist must complete 20 hours and medical supporting professionals must complete 10 hours, he said.

Health facilities can apply in the same way through Sheryan but must provide a trade licence and DHA undertaking letter to be reviewed before approval.

Dr Al Mulla concluded by stating that the DHA has held various meetings with the aim of unifying the process with the DED to further streamline the licensing and renewal procedures for medical facilities making the procedures faster and easier ultimately encouraging health investment.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe Himachal Pradesh High Court today asked the state government to explain its stand on a plea by the students of a school alleging breach of their Fundamental Right of due to non-availability of the teachers and other staffers there.

Taking up the students' plea as a public interest litigation, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma asked the principal secretary (Education) to apprise it of the state of affairs in the government schools across the state.

It asked the officer to file an affidavit detailing the number of schools in various districts, the number of sanctioned and vacant posts for the teachers and other staffers there and if the government has made any requisition to the state's Staff Selection Commission for filling up those vacancies.

The court also asked the government to indicate the time limit by which it would fill those vacancies, and slated the matter for further hearing on September 12.

The bench issued the order on a plea by the students of the Government Senior Secondary School at Doghari in Mandi, alleging non-availability of proper staff and teachers in the school.

The students had alleged that most of the posts of the teachers and other staffers in their school were lying vacant since long due to which they were being deprived of their Fundamental Right of

They students said they had no mathematics teacher in the school for the last 11 years and no science teachers for the last three years.

They said due to scarcity of the maths and science graduates in a radius of 20 kms around the school, even their principal has failed to engage a maths or science teacher through the school management committee.

The students said in their plea that many of them have to cross several hilly streams and rivers in boats to come to the school, exposing themselves to grave dangers, but the authorities have paid scant regards to their plight.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)IBM today said it has partnered with a host of organisations, including Invest India, Wipro, and IT body Nasscom for its 'Call for Code' initiative that aims to build global solutions for disaster management.

Announced in May this year, 'Call for Code' is a global initiative where IBM is the founding member along with American Red Cross and United Nations Human Rights Organisation.

"2017 has been the costliest year ever for natural disasters in the Indian sub-continent. At the same time, India has the second largest developer community with 3.5 million developers - a community with great potential to create innovative solutions," Seema Kumar, Country Leader, Developer Ecosystem and Startups at IBM, said.

IBM intends to harness this potential by giving the developers access to tools, technologies, free code, and training with experts that will strengthen the efforts towards mitigating disasters, she added.

Kumar said the partners have played a crucial role in this year's Call for Code initiative by validating the IBM's shared vision of helping humanity tackle natural disasters.

Floods have wreaked havoc across the states this year, with Kerala being the latest. Hundreds have lost their lives, while thousands have been rendered homeless. More than 7.8 lakh people are estimated to be in relief camps.

The winning team of the 'Call for Code' programme will receive a cash prize of USD 200,000, long-term open source project support from the Linux Foundation, an opportunity to pitch the solution to a venture capitalist as well as an opportunity to deploy the solution with an IBM corporate services team.

During a keynote address at the VivaTech Conference in Paris, IBM Chairman, President and CEO Ginni Rometty had called on the technology industry to help build a better future, committing IBM technology and USD 30 million over 5 years in the annual 'Call for Code' global initiative.

There have been over 300 events in 50 cities across the world in addition to 'Call for Code' days across 13 IBM Development Labs. About 40 similar events have been held in India across locations like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Goa, Mumbai, Nagpur, Gurgaon and Chennai.

The company is providing access to cloud, data, artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies, along with training and code to the developers.

Since inception, over 35 organisations and over 20 IBM clients have partnered for the initiative.

In India, IBM has worked with the likes of Persistent Systems, Wipro and Capgemini to host hackathons within their organisations to get the workforce to develop solutions. Nasscom and Invest India have also extended support in reaching out to startups and encouraging entrepreneurs to be a part of the programme.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India today emphasised its "sincere and abiding" commitment to work with the BIMSTEC member states to make the region safer, stronger and prosperous, ahead of a summit of the regional bloc here tomorrow.

This was stated by Minister of State for External Affairs Gen V K Singh in his address at the 16th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting here in the Nepalese capital.

Singh, who led the Indian delegation during the meeting, said New Delhi accords utmost priority to BIMSTEC as it fulfils India's foreign policy priority of "Neighbourhood First" and "Act East".

With completion of 21 years, BIMSTEC is at a critical juncture and in that regard, Singh reiterated India's sincere and abiding commitment to work with all BIMSTEC member states for a safe, strong and prosperous Bay of Bengal region.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional grouping comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

"BIMSTEC bringing the region together! In his address at the 16th Ministerial meeting, MoS @Gen_VKSingh emphasised on India's sincere and abiding commitment to work with BIMSTEC Member States to make the region safer, stronger and prosperous," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

The two-day BIMSTEC summit will begin tomorrow in Kathmandu. ?



Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among the leaders who will attend the fourth BIMSTEC Summit whose theme is 'Towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region'.

Today's BIMSTEC ministerial meeting was inaugurated by Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali who also chaired the meet.

Gyawali said peace and stability is crucial for development of the region and it is not free from the menace of terrorism and other transnational organised crimes.

He underlined the need for working together to defeat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and combat other transnational crimes.

He said the recent global economic outlook is bright with emerging Asia having strong growth prospects, and BIMSTEC nations individually remain at the forefront of the economic dynamism, adding that collective regional economic framework certainly enables BIMSTEC to perform better on the economic front.

The meeting is expected to see the presentation of reports by the Secretary General of BIMSTEC and reports of the Special and Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM).

The meeting will also discuss preparations for the summit, and finalise the BIMSTEC Convention/MoU ready to be signed as well as the draft of the Kathmandu Declaration of the summit.

Apart from Singh, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Union Minister of International Cooperation of Myanmar Kyaw Tin, Sri Lankan State Minister of Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayake, Thailand Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, and Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Sonam Tshong are leading the delegations from their respective countries in the meeting.

Yesterday, foreign secretaries of BIMSTEC member states reviewed the progress achieved so far in the areas of cooperation and provided guidance to the future works of the regional grouping.

During the 19th Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) of BIMSTEC, the foreign secretaries discussed as to how cooperation between the member states could be made more effective and business-like.

The grouping accounts for 22 per cent of the global population, and has a combined gross domestic product of USD 2.8 trillion.

The first BIMSTEC summit was held in Thailand in 1997, second in 2008 in India and third in 2014 in Myanmar. Nepal has assumed the chairmanship of BIMSTEC since 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RJD president Lalu Prasad today alleged Narendra Modi government is taking the country towards "a totalitarian regime" and false security alarms were being raised to prepare the ground for imposing Emergency.

Prasad also likened the situation in Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to that of ancient Rome when emperor Nero was playing the flute while his kingdom was burning.

"A number of persons have been arrested for alleged Maoist links. Reports have also surfaced alleging that there are threats to the life of the prime minister. All this seems to be a ploy for clamping the Emergency in the country," Prasad told reporters at the airport here.

Maharashtra police yesterday raided homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from political leaders and human rights defenders.

"The country is inching towards a totalitarian regime," said Prasad, while leaving for Ranchi to surrender before a court tomorrow upon expiry of his provisional bail.

The septuagenarian leader, who was till last week convalescing at a Mumbai hospital, looked weary but managed to walk today. In the recent past, he was seen mostly on a wheelchair.

Asked about the law and order situation in Bihar, Prasad said, "There is no law nor any order left in the state. The prevailing situation reminds one of the era when Nero played the flute while his kingdom was on fire."



After being sent to jail in December last year following conviction in one of the fodder scam cases, Prasad spent a considerable time at the RIMS hospital in Ranchi and at the AIIMS at New Delhi, for treatment of various ailments.

He was released on a provisional bail in May this year by the Jharkhand High Court for medical treatment though he was restrained from taking part in any public functions, political activities or issuing statements to the media during the period.

"I have full faith in the judiciary. Though I have not fully recovered, I am surrendering in deference to the court's order. I have full faith that ultimately the judiciary will do justice to me. My entire family has been framed," Prasad said in an apparent reference to the money laundering cases against his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav.

Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav also left today for Delhi, where they are scheduled to appear before the Patiala House Court on August 31 following a charge sheet lodged by the Enforcement Directorate in the hotels for land scam.

Journalists also asked the RJD supremo whether a piece of black cloth tied on the main gate of his wife's bungalow was to ward off evil eye, but he declined to comment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India and on Wednesday commenced crucial talks on various aspects of the Indus Waters Treaty in Lahore, the first bilateral engagement since Prime Minister took office.

The first round of the two-day meeting is being held at the Engineering Services

The water commissioners of and India are required to meet twice a year and arrange technical visits to projects' sites and critical river head works, but Pakistan had been facing a lot of problems in timely meetings and visits.

The Indian side is being represented by a delegation of the Indian Water Commission led by Commissioner P K Saxena whereas Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Meher Ali Shah and his delegation are representing Pakistan, it said.

Both the countries are expected to present their reports during the talks. After the meeting, a joint notification would be issued.

On Tuesday, Shah and additional commissioner Sheraz Jamil received the nine-member Indian delegation led by Saxena on its arrival here via Wagah border.

The talks will be the first official engagement between India and Pakistan since Khan became prime minister on August 18.

The last meeting of the Pakistan-India Permanent Indus Commission was held in New Delhi in March during which both the sides had shared details of the water flow and the quantum of water being used under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.

India and Pakistan signed the treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory.

The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers. However, there have been disagreements and differences between India and Pakistan over the treaty.

Shah on Tuesday said Pakistan has raised objections on 1000MW Pakal Dul and 48MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on River Chenab and a detailed discussion will be held during the talks.

"We had also raised concerns over construction of dams on Pakistani rivers and India did not bother about it and continued doing the same," Shah said, adding India will reply to Pakistan's queries on controversial water projects.

Former Pakistan Indus Water Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah said that the successive Pakistani governments had given much importance to its water disputes with India.

"India does not bother Pakistan in this regard. It begins work on building hydro power projects on the Pakistani rivers and the Pakistani government raises objections afterwards. Unless the Pakistani government seriously takes up these matters with India it will not get relief," he said and added that Pakistan also needs to plead its case in the World Bank.

According to an official of the Pakistan Water Commission, Pakistan has been raising reservations over the designs of the two projects - 1000MW Pakal Dul and 48MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on River Chenab - and would like India to either modify the designs to make them compliant to 1960 Indus Waters Treaty or put the projects on hold until Delhi satisfies Islamabad.

"The two sides will in talks also finalise the schedule of future meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission and visits of the teams of the Indus commissioners," the official said.

Pakistan has also challenged the discharge series of River Lower Kalnai at Dunadi for winter months and estimated permissible pondage of 0.38 cubic megametres compared to Indian design pondage of 2.74 cubic megametres. The Lower Kalnai project is on a left bank tributary of Chenab and can have gross storage of about 1,508 acre feet of water.is revamping its strategy in China, including opening of a full-fledged regional tourist office here headed by a top bureaucrat, as it pitches for attracting a good chunk of the country's 144 million tourists.

will now have an Office which will be headed by an IAS or IFS officer. It will also have a strategy advisor besides a agency to launch campaigns, Minister of State for K J Alphons said here.

The regional director will be assisted by a strategy advisor and a PR group to woo Chinese tourists. A similar office will also be established in New York, he said.

for long had an office of the tourism ministry known as the Incredible India Tourism Office in

But it remained headless for over a year till 2016 and later apparently, it was shutdown, even after Prime Minister extended facility to Chinese tourists during his visit here 2015.

Alphons is currently touring to explore possibilities to attract more Chinese tourists to India.

Despite big campaigns and facilities, only 2.40 lakh Chinese tourists visited India last year against 14 lakh Indians who visited Countries all over the world are making a big pitch for attracting Chinese tourists as their numbers have crossed 144 million last year, the highest in the world.

It is just enough for India to get 10 per cent of Chinese tourists in five years which could be about 14 lakh, Alphons said.

Alphons said he is in China to find out why more Chinese are not visiting India despite various measures.

Yesterday, he attended a big road show held by his ministry and the here. He will attend similar events at Wuhan and

India has all basic things like good hotels with and water facilities. India has a very large number of Chinese restaurants though some of them are spicy, Alphons said.

Tourism from China to India is not picking up also because of lack of campaigns, he said.

He denied that campaigns like the Buddhist circuit for Chinese travellers failed to work.

"Buddhist circuit never worked because we never had the infrastructure built in that. If we have infrastructure they will come," he said. The new infrastructure included six-lane highways which will be ready in two years.

For Chinese tourists, there are 38 Mandarin-speaking guides, he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India will be the partner country at the Ambiente 2019 fair, to be held in Frankfurt (Germany) from February 8-12 next year, which will be inaugurated by Textile Minister Smriti Irani.

"Around 8,000 exhibitors from across the globe and 450 from India will participate in the fair, to be inaugurated by Smriti Irani," said Raj Manek, Managing Director at Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd.

Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta said 10 specialised handicraft artisans from the country will demonstrate their skills at the fair, adding that India is the second nation in Asia, after Japan, to become the partner country at Ambiente Fair.

According to Manek, Indian exporters will get an opportunity to reach out to untapped global markets through participation in the fair.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India today signed an MoU with Cambodia to help the South East Asian nation on restoration and preservation of an ancient Lord Shiva temple, a world heritage site.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held wide-ranging talks with her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn.

The temple in remote Preah Vihear, which is also known as the 'Temple of Preah Vihear', dates back to the first half of the 11th century AD.

Situated on the edge of a plateau that dominates the plain of Cambodia, it is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

According to the UNESCO, the temple is composed of a series of sanctuaries linked by a system of pavements and staircases over an 800 metre long axis.

Its complex history can be traced to the 9th century, when the hermitage was founded.

This site is particularly well preserved, mainly due to its remote location and is exceptional for the quality of its architecture, which is adapted to the natural environment and the religious function of the temple, as well as for the exceptional quality of its carved stone ornamentation.

The temple is described as an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture, in terms of plan, decoration and relationship to the spectacular landscape environment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Women and Child Development Ministry has summoned the in-charge of a Madhya Pradesh adoption agency next week, after reports emerged that a girl adopted from there was later abandoned in Spain, an official said today.

A Spanish couple had abandoned the 13-year-old girl after they were allegedly deceived by the Bhopal-based institution, which reportedly told them that she was seven-years old at the time of adoption earlier this year. The girl is currently living at a government home in Zargoza in Spain.

The Udaan institution has been accused of defaulting under various provisions and not responding to show-cause notices. An inquiry has been initiated and its in-charge, Apoorva Sharma, asked to appear before the ministry on September 6, the official said.

WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi has also asked the Indian envoy in Spain, D B Venkatesh Varma, to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to bring her back to India. "While we are in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the Child Care Institution in Bhopal, I am worried about the state of the girl," she had said yesterday.

The Union minister said the girl, on her return, would be placed under care and protection in a local agency. In her letter to Varma yesterday, Gandhi said, "I also understand that the Centre Adoption Resource Agency is in touch with you. It has been ascertained that the girl wants to return to India.

"I request you to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to send her back to India where we will place her under care and protection of a suitable local agency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indonesian security forces have detained a Polish man in the troubled Papua region on suspicion of links to separatists.

A police report seen today by The Associated Press describes 39-year-old Jakub Fabian Skrzypski as a journalist who was in contact with Papuan separatists.

A military report also seen by AP said he was detained Monday in Papua province following the arrests of five Papuans who had a quantity of ammunition.

Indonesia restricts foreign journalists from entering its two easternmost provinces, Papua and West Papua, where a pro-independence insurgency has simmered for decades.

The Polish Embassy's head of mission Igor Kaczmarczyk said he's aware of the arrest but referred questions to Poland's Foreign Ministry.

The police report said Skrzypski, who usually lives in Switzerland, had visited a separatist headquarters.

It said he had a travel permit for Papua and a tourist visa but had violated immigration law by misusing them.

Amnesty International said in July that Indonesia's police and military are responsible for at least 95 unlawful killings in Papua since 2010.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Focused on becoming a leading developer of service robots in the next decade, LG Electronics will unveil its first human-centric wearable robot, the LG CLOi SuitBot, at the IFA 2018, a major consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany.



The event will take place from August 31 to September 5, at the Messe Berlin.



But unlike previously announced robots from LG such as Guide Robot, Cleaning Robot and Serving Robot, the LG CLOi SuitBot doesnt navigate airport lounges and hotel hallways by itself. What it does is support and enhance a users legs to allow for more mobility and lower limb strength, said a statement from the company.



Last year LG invested in a startup that develops robots to overcome the limitations of the human body in everyday life. LG CLOi SuitBot was designed in collaboration with the startup, SG Robotics, who have been studying how wearable robots can improve the quality of life, it said.



A comfortable fit and naturally rotating joints allow the CLOi SuitBot to move in a more relaxed and natural way to enhance the lower body while walking, standing or working. Its sandal-type shoes and automatic adjustment feature allow the wearer to get in and out of the suit more easily, differentiating LG CLOi SuitBot from many other exoskeletons, it added.



And LG CLOi SuitBot can connect to other LG service robots (first announced at CES 2018) to become part of a smart working network to deliver information and tools required at work sites such as manufacturing, logistics and distribution.



LG CLOi service robots are being developed as part of LGs larger AI initiative for the commercial sector. AI technology allows LG CLOi SuitBot to learn and evolve through the recognition and analysis of biometric and environment data, measuring and analysing movements to suggest optimal movements and stances for maximum power efficiency.



Song Dae-hyun, president of LGs Home Appliance and Air Solution Company, said: LG CLOi SuitBot is evidence of our full commitment to expanding our portfolio of service robots that deliver tangible convenience and innovation in our lives.



Its just one example of a wide range of revolutionary AI products designed to interact with users to dramatically elevate user convenience and create new opportunities to advance our robotics initiative into a next-gen growth engine, he added.  TradeArabia News ServiceSeveral industrial areas in Jammu and Kashmir are facing unscheduled power cuts over the past fortnight resulting in huge financial losses to business units, an industry body said today.

The Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) urged state governor Satya Pal Malik's to intervene for ensuring uninterrupted power supply to industrial areas like Bari Brahmana, Birpur and Gangyal in Jammu region.

The acute power crisis is being faced by the industrial units over the past 15 days, bringing industrial activities to standstill and resulted in huge financial losses to unit holders, BBIA said in a statement after a meeting here.

Despite repeated requests and reminders to the department, no action has been taken, the association said adding the frequent and unscheduled power cuts have disturbed the production process.

It said Bari Brahmana industrial complex is contributing about Rs 160 crore annually for the power supply to the industrial units. The association appealed to the Governor to intervene into the matter and issue immediate orders for the restoration of uninterrupted power supply to the industrial sector.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A surveyor of a Mumbai-based insurance firm was today arrested here for allegedly demanding bribe from a flood-hit businessman for settling his insurance claim, police said.

53-year-old Gaddam Uma Maheswara Rao from Andhra Pradesh was arrested on the basis of a complaint by Shihab, whose tyre shop in Kodungalloor in Thrissur district was completely damaged in the floods.

Shihab, who had insured his shop for Rs 60 lakh, said he suffered a loss of Rs 38 lakh in the floods.

Rao allegedly promised him to help pass Rs 25 lakh insurance amount if 40 per cent of it was paid to him and demanded Rs 2 lakh as initial payment.

Rao allegedly threatened that if the Rs 2 lakh was not given to him, he would inform the insurance firm that Shihab was making false claims about the losses, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Pakistan government today told a special court hearing the high-profile treason case against Pervez Musharraf that Interpol has rejected its request to arrest the former military dictator as it does not want to interfere in the cases of political nature.

The government's reply came as the tribunal resumed hearing in the treason case against the Dubai-based former president for suspending the Constitution in 2007 by imposing emergency.

Musharraf, 75, has repeatedly refused to return to Pakistan citing security reasons.

The Interior Ministry in its reply on efforts to bring Musharraf back to the country informed the court that a letter was written to Interpol to issue Red Warrant. But it returned the letter by refusing to interfere in cases of political nature.

On August 20, the special court in Islamabad had summoned the interior secretary over non-arrest of Musharraf in the case despite issuance of non-bailable warrants against him.

"The government had approached Interpol to bring back Musharraf, however, they rejected the request," the interior secretary said.

"Interpol officials had said that the high treason case does fall under their legal ambit," he added.

Further, Justice Yawar Ali questioned if Musharraf's statement in the case can be recorded via Skype.

"Can the investigation move forward without the statement in the case?" he asked.

Adjourning the case till September 10, the court ordered that during the next hearing arguments be given over whether Musharraf's statement can be recorded via Skype or the investigations can move forward without it.

Musharraf's lawyer Akhar Shah said that the former ruler could not appear in person due to security reasons. He also said that Musharraf's health was not good and was not allowed by the doctors in Dubai to travel.

Shah said that Musharraf will appear before the court if the president-level security was provided to him.

The case was launched in 2013 and Musharraf was subsequently indicted but he left for Dubai on March 2016 for medical treatment with a commitment to come back.

Musharraf, the former army chief, has rejected all charges.

Musharraf took power in 1999 by toppling democratic government and ruled until 2008 when he was forced to step down.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Interpol has rejected Pakistan's request to arrest General Pervez Musharraf as it does not want to interfere in cases of political nature, the government today informed a special court hearing the high treason case against the former military dictator who is now in Dubai.

The government's reply came as the tribunal resumed hearing in the treason case against the former president for suspending the Constitution in 2007 by imposing emergency.

Gen. (retd) Musharraf, 75, was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.

Interior Secretary Yousuf Naseem Khokhar in his reply on efforts to bring Musharraf back to the country informed the court that a letter was written to Interpol to issue a Red Warrant. But it returned the letter by refusing to interfere in cases of political nature.

Khokhar appeared before a two-judge bench headed by Lahore High Court Chief Justice Justice Yawar Ali and comprising Sindh High Court's Justice Nazar Akbar which heard the high treason case against Gen. Musharraf.

"The government had approached Interpol to bring back Musharraf, Gen. however, they rejected the request," the interior secretary said.

"Interpol officials had said that the high treason case does fall under their legal ambit," he was quoted as saying by Geo

To this, the court asked the interior secretary to submit Interpol's reply to the court.

On August 20, the special court in Islamabad had summoned the interior secretary over non-arrest of Gen. Musharraf in the case despite issuance of non-bailable warrants against him.

Adjourning the case till September 10, the court today ordered that during the next hearing arguments be given over whether Musharraf's statement can be recorded via Skype or the investigations can move forward without it.

Gen. Musharraf left Pakistan for Dubai for medical treatment on March 18, 2016 with a commitment to come back. He managed to go abroad after his name was removed from the Exit Control List on the orders of the Supreme Court.

A few months later, however, the special court declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his no-show.

He has repeatedly refused to return to Pakistan citing security reasons.

Gen. Musharraf, the former army chief, has rejected all charges.

His lawyer Akhar Shah said that the former president could not appear in person due to security reasons. He also said that Gen. Musharraf's health was not good and was not allowed by the doctors in Dubai to travel.

Shah said that Gen. Musharraf will appear before the court if the president-level security was provided to him.

The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had filed the treason case against Gen. Musharraf over the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

The case was launched in 2013 and Gen. Musharraf was subsequently indicted but he left for Dubai on March 2016 for medical treatment.

Gen. Musharraf took power in 1999 by toppling the government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ruled until 2008 when he was forced to step down.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Public sector undertaking Indian Oil Corporation will invest over Rs 286 crore to enhance its LPG bottling capacity, including setting up of two greenfield plants, in North East by 2020.

The company is establishing two new facilities at Agartala in Tripura and Barapani in Meghalaya at a total investment of Rs 217.46 crore.

"With increase is demand, we are ramping up our LPG bottling capacity across north-east. While we are adding more output to the existing plants, new units are being set up to cover more areas," Indian Oil Corporation Chief General Manager (IndianOil-AOD) Uttiya Bhattacharyya told PTI here.

The company currently has 10 bottling plants across north east and these are functioning at over 100 per cent utilisation rate, he added.

Expansion is going on at six units, including two greenfield locations. "In this entire exercise, we will invest more than Rs 286 crore by August 2020," Bhattacharyya said.

The IOC is pumping in Rs 143.46 crore to set up the plant at Agartala that will have an installed bottling capacity of 60,000 metric tonne per annum (MTPA).

Bhattacharyya said the facility is under construction and is scheduled to be completed by June 2019.

"The Barapani unit is at an initial stage now. This will have a capacity of 30,000 MTPA and will cost us Rs 74 crore. We are at present waiting for the environmental clearance and the units is scheduled to be ready by August 2020," he added.

Apart from the above two units, the company is adding capacities to its existing bottling facilities at Silchar, Bongaigaon and North Guwahati.

Bhattacharyya informed that the expanded Silchar unit has been commissioned just recently in this month after increasing the capacity to 1,20,000 MTPA from 60,000 MTPA at a cost of Rs 23.45 crore.

"In North Guwahati, we are spending Rs 45.13 crore for raising the output to 1,80,000 MTPA from 1,20,000 MTPA. We will also have two mounted storage vessels of 600 MT each. Both these works will be ready by September 2018," he added.

Bhattacharyya further informed that the expansion work at the Bongaigaon unit has been completed and the capacity is now doubled to 60,000 MTPA.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif today was holding previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said.

Zarif went into the talks at the headquarters of Erdogan's ruling party, as expectations grow of an offensive in the Idlib province of northwest Syria bordering Turkey by Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey has been keeping a wary eye on the possibility of the offensive, as it seeks to bring peace to Syria along with Iran and Assad's other main ally Russia.

Ankara has throughout the seven year civil war in Syria supported rebels seeking to oust Assad but has put differences aside to form a three way alliance with Tehran and Moscow.

Erdogan and his counterparts Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Russia's Vladimir Putin are due to meet for a third summit on Syria in Iran on September 7, Turkish reports have said.

But analysts say that Idlib, which is largely controlled by rebel groups, could test the alliance with Turkey, as Ankara warns a military solution could lead to catastrophe and a new influx of refugees across its borders.

Turkey has 12 observation posts staffed by its military inside Idlib aimed at monitoring a de-escalation zone and media reports have said it has sent concrete blocks over the border to reinforce them in case of an offensive.

But analysts also say that Turkey is keen to preserve the three-way alliance and may be prepared to support a more limited offensive against the most extreme factions in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib.

Lavrov also said there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey and said it was necessary to "disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran's intelligence minister said "dozens of spies" had been arrested as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals and alluded to an agent Iran had placed in the Israeli government, Iranian media reported today.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi did not provide details of the "dozens of spies", or over what period they had been arrested in the interview televised yesterday.

He said Iran had planted the agent "in the cabinet of a country that has a very strong intelligence service".

The conservative Tasnim agency said this was a reference to Gonen Segev, a former Israeli energy and infrastructure minister who was charged with spying by a Jerusalem court last month.

"Financially and through other means, our enemies try to get information on our country," Alavi said the interview.

"They act by spying and infiltration. Fortunately the anti-espionage section is one of the strongest sections of this ministry." The minister said there was also a concerted effort to root out dual nationals working in official positions.

"If you know anyone, tell us about them," he said.

Alavi spoke of the threat from the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State group (IS), which sees Shiite-majority Iran as one of its main enemies in the region.

He said 230 "terrorist cells" had been intercepted over the past year. "We foiled plots on places such as universities and the metro but we published little information about this," Alavi said.

IS carried out a multi-pronged attack on Iran's parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini in June 2017 that killed 17 people. Alavi also talked about a crackdown by the authorities on corruption and those manipulating Iran's chaotic currency rates, which have been a major focus of discontent in recent months.

"If we want to have a dynamic economy, we must fight economic corruption. In the intelligence ministry, we have opened 130 files and more than 180 suspects have been arrested," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that his government should be ready to "set aside" the 2015 nuclear deal if it is no longer in the country's national interests.

"The JCPOA (nuclear deal) is not the objective, it is only a means," he said in a meeting with the cabinet, according to his website.

"Naturally, if we reach the conclusion that it is no longer maintaining our national interests, we will put it aside.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Iraqi judge today cleared a German-Turkish woman of having ties to the Islamic State group, a judicial source said, more than a year after she was detained.

Hadya Abdel Qader had been held without charge since her arrest by Iraqi security forces in Mosul, in a part of the northern city held by IS.

The jihadist group was ousted from Mosul in July last year after a months-long battle, during which suspected members of the jihadist group were rounded up.

But a judge at Baghdad's central criminal court found no evidence to link Qader to IS, a judicial source said today.

The 40-year-old will remain in prison while prosecutors are given a month to decide whether to confirm or overturn the judge's ruling.

The office of Germany's anti-terrorism prosecutor did not confirm the details of the case, telling AFP only that her name "was not unknown" to authorities.

Iraq has sentenced more than 300 people to death for belonging to IS, including around 100 foreigners. At least the same number have received life terms, Iraqi judicial sources have said.

In April, an Iraqi court commuted the death sentence of a German woman of Moroccan origin, reducing her sentence for IS membership to a 20-year life term.

A 17-year-old German girl was sentenced in February to six years in prison for IS membership and illegally crossing the border.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israel today renewed its threat to attack Iranian military targets in Syria, after the two Muslim allies signed an accord on security cooperation.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us," he said at a ceremony naming Israel's nuclear facilities after late president Shimon Peres.

Iran's military attache to Damascus said yesterday that his country's military advisers would remain in Syria under the defence agreement signed the previous day.

"Support for Syria's territorial integrity and the independence of Syrian sovereignty were also emphasised in the agreement," Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad said.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial and military backing to Assad as he has fought back against a seven-year uprising.

Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the conflict but acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes in Syria to stop what it says are deliveries of advanced weaponry to its Lebanese enemy Hezbollah.

It has also pledged to prevent its arch foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, and a series of strikes that have killed Iranians in Syria have been attributed to Israel.

"We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria," Netanyahu said at the ceremony in southern Israel.

"We will not relent in pursuit of this goal just as we did not relent in bringing about the cancellation of the bad nuclear agreement with Iran", the Israeli premier said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RAPP, an agency specializing in data fuelled creativity, has plans to launch a new set of insight tools within its Middle East/Africa team to focus on small data in the Middle East, starting initially with the UAE.



With a key focus on women, the news came hours before Emirati Womens Day 2018 and highlights the growing need for brands and marketers to recognize the potential of small data and true human insight in a world where the concept of big data is leading across industries.



Mimi Nicklin, managing director, said: For too long stereotypes have ruled the roost when it comes to marketing campaigns to Arab women. The best of the campaigns we have seen to date show a cultural understanding of dress codes and appearance but beyond that there is a huge gap in truly talking to women on their own terms.



Halal is no longer a food category convention, it is relevant in beauty, fashion, accessories, travel, lifestyle, health  the list goes on.



Within our team, weve got a long way to go yet but the systems and talent we are developing internally are our commitment to being a truly relevant agency in the UAE today. We dont want to be an agency that sits in parallel to local culture, but a business that is built in a way that embeds the foundations of our global positioning fearlessly individual, into every facet of local business and the brands we service.



Reflecting and embracing the individuals here in the region means truly understanding local culture and society and how that impacts loyalty and sales in business today. This will stretch from who we hire, to how we use data to drive effective marketing campaigns, and the way we develop our creative work, added Nicklin.



Arab consumer spend in the Halal sector is, according to research by the Thomson Reuters foundation, estimated to be worth $3.7 trillion by 2019. Platforms such as Modanisa, a website offering fashion and shopping for those women who embrace a modest dressing style, now attracts over 6 million visitors a month and has customers in 75 countries. In a recent article RAPP Middle East spoke to the need for valuing the empathy of data, beyond the functions of its size, and never has this been truer than within a segment of global society that holds hundreds of years of tradition, familial ties and regional insights that demand to be understood and reflected in the marketing world today.



As a female leader myself, this is something I feel incredibly passionate about. Surely if there was ever a time to listen to the Emirati woman, via a set of specially designed small data tools for this market, it is now? Nicklin completed.  TradeArabia News ServiceIsrael's Supreme Court has sentenced one of the country's most prominent businessmen to three years in prison for securities fraud.

The court ruled today that former IDB Holding Corp controlling shareholder Nochi Dankner will begin serving his prison term on October 2 for his role in carrying out millions of dollars' worth of fraudulent transactions in an attempt to influence the share price of the troubled company.

IDB took on millions of dollars in debt following a series of bad business deals.

The courts wrested control of IDB from Dankner as a result.

Dankner, a favourite of Israel's business community, was often credited with helping rescue Israel's economy at the height of a Palestinian uprising.

Under his leadership, IDB became Israel's largest holding company and Dankner became a celebrity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)ISRO and its commercial wing Antrix today said they are willing to outsource manufacturing of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) so that the space agency could focus on the proposed human space programme.

The Indian Space Research Organisation held discussions a week ago with a consortium ofindustries regarding PSLV industrialisation with the objectiveof easing ISRO to focus on human space programme and researchand development activities.

"Definitely, in my opinion, in the ISRO activity, industry is going to play a major role. If only the industry is taking the load, ISRO can work out on human space programme and research and development activities," ISRO chairman K Sivan said.

He said the industry should help in manufacturing PSLV as well as SSLV, adding ISRO had already worked out a model.

With this model in a year, the PSLV was supposed to be produced by the industry. "That is our ambition and target," Sivan said.

He was addressing a press conference here to announce the Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX), a three-day event starting from September 6 at the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).

BSX-2018 will have 100 exhibitors, 56 speakers and 600 official delegates participating.

There will be aseparate pavilion for human space programme or Gaganyaan, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his independence day address this year.

Modi had said an Indian astronaut would be sent to space by 2022. India will be the fourth country after the USA, Russia and China to send humans to space.

Sivan said informal discussions had been initiated with the Indian Air Force on selection of the crew. Once selected, it would take two-three years to train them.

He also said ISRO would need to take the help of a foreign country for advanced training of the crew.

"We have not decided which country we will choose for training. Russia, Germany and USA have the facilities," Sivan added.

On the PSLV outsourcing, the ISRO chief said industry partners Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Larsen and Tubro Godrej were among those who took part in the discussions.

"It is possible to produce PSLV from this consortium. Already we have started working on that," Sivan said.

Sivan said the industry would have a huge role to play in Gaganyaan and in buildingfacilities for mission control centre and launch pad.

Antrix Managing Director Rakesh Sasibhushan said the small satellite service was a USD 18 billion market and they were looking at 50-60 launch vehicles per year.

"We are looking for a 50-60 vehicles per year, which is definitely going to make it commercially viable to produce... So the general capacity we are building, we are looking at a revenue of around Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore per year," he said.

Atrix was discussing with various industry players in this connection, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Independent MLA Abdul Rashid Sheikh today appealed to people of Jammu and Ladakh provinces to support the two-day strike call in support of Article 35-A of the Constitution.

He asked mainstream parties like the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to persuade the Central government to stop blackmailing people of the state in the name of the constitutional provision.

"No doubt Article 35-A needs to be defended tooth and nail in the Supreme Court but one should not forget that primarily it is a political issue as the Supreme Court is being used as a route to demoralise Kashmiris and make them defensive," Sheikh told reporters here.

He claimed that it was the Central government, which "through its proxies" had been dragging Article 35-A and other related provisions to the Supreme Court in order to implement its agenda.

"As such the wishes and designs of the Union government mean a lot for the Supreme Court. It is obvious that 'Sang Parivar' is dragging Article 35-A and Article 370 to the Supreme Court for political reasons as such the move can be better resisted through political means," he said.

Sheikh said building mass pressure on New Delhi is a must and at the same time mainstream parties can play a vital role by asking the Centre to stop doing "all sorts of nonsense, including its designs to abrogate Article 35-A and other related provisions".

He alleged that as the Centre has often used mainstream parties as a tool to mislead the world by projecting them as real representatives of Kashmiris, "it is high time for the mainstream parties to prove their sincerity to the masses".

"Isn't it strange that while every Kashmiri is worried about the fate of Article 35-A, New Delhi is more interested in conducting Panchayat and Municipal polls?" he asked.

He appealed to people of Jammu and Ladakh provinces to rise to the occasion and understand the significance of Article 35-A.

"They must support all those voices seeking preservation of Article 35-A and other related provisions," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jain Irrigation Systems (JISL) today said it has received a contract worth Rs 127 crore (USD 18.7 million) from the Rwandan government for developing irrigation and watershed facilities.

The contract has been awarded by the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) for irrigation and watershed development in Mahama sector under the export targeted modern irrigated agriculture projects in the country, JISL said in a regulatory filing.

The project, which will be executed near Rusumo (Rwanda Tanzania border), is financed by the EXIM Bank of India under the government's Line Of Credit (LOC) programme, it added.

This is an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and JISL aims to complete the project in next 18 months.

The total area under irrigation will be 1,220 hectare. There is also a component of watershed development and capacity building for over 1,752 hectare, it added.

Rwanda is investing in modern agriculture project and is at the forefront of using latest technology to improve productivity. They have taken impressive strides in value added agriculture, the company said.

Jain Irrigation makes micro-irrigation systems, PVC and HDPE pipes, plastic sheets and agro-processed products, among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress president Rahul Gandhi today battled over the Rafale deal with the former accusing the opposition party of "peddling untruth", and the latter responding by calling it "the Great Robbery".

It all started with Jaitley, in a Facebook blog, posting a set of 15 questions for Gandhi in response to Congress posers on the multi-billion dollar deal.

He said the 36 Rafale fighter jets which the BJP-led NDA government is purchasing are 20 per cent cheaper than the ones the previous UPA government had received offers for.

Charging Congress with carrying out a "false campaign", he sought Gandhi's response on questions varying from delays in finalising the fighter jet order to procedural knowledge and foreign supplier being allowed freedom to choose private partner to meet offset requirement.

He also sought to bring up the Bofors ghost, asking if delays in decision on buying fighter jets during the Congress regime were based on collateral considerations like the ones witnessed in the purchase of Bofors guns.

He asked Gandhi to respond, failing which he would come up with "further specific facts" that they were "merely peddling falsehood".

Gandhi responded by calling the deal "the Great Rafale Robbery" and alluded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to protect his business friend.

"Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. We're waiting!," he tweeted.

Jaitley replied to this by stating that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Bofors deal had called kickbacks "winding up" charges and the whole world rejected the findings.

"Mr. Gandhi, you have not attempted to answer my questions on the Rafale purchase in the interest of national security'. When no answers are given, obviously no answers could have been given by those who resort only to falsehood," he tweeted. "Mr. Gandhi, truth holds together, falsehood falls apart that is the fate of your Rafale falsehood."



In another tweet he said: "Let me remind you of a JPC the Congress Government appointed in 1987 on the Bofors deal. It was headed by Mr. Shankaranand. It gave a report that the kickbacks were winding up' charges. The whole world rejected the findings of that JPC. Why a JPC to satisfy your falsehood?"



Earlier in the day, Jaitley said in the Facebook blog that the deal NDA government had entered into with France on April 10, 2015 for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets was on better terms than the one agreed to in 2007 under the UPA regime.

French manufacturer Dassault had offered to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft in 2007.

Refusing to disclose details of the deal such as the price of the aircraft, due to constraints placed by "secrecy clause" in the contract, he said the Congress allegations that NDA government agreed to pay a higher price and is favouring a private industrialist are "complete falsehood".

He then went on to pose 15 questions that included one about the decision-making paralysis under the UPA regime which led to the delay of over one decade in ordering the aircraft, which compromised national security.

"Can Rahul Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Indian government has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these aircraft in India," he said.

Congress has repeatedly alleged a "scam" in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets claiming the cost per aircraft in 2012 was agreed at Rs 526.10 crore while the one signed by the Modi government costs Euro 7.5 billion (Rs 1,670.70 crore per aircraft).

Its leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa had on Sunday called the deal as the "biggest scam in country's defence sector post independence."



Stating that the Rafale controversy was based on "complete falsehood", Jaitley said it was expected from national political parties and their responsible leaders to keep themselves informed of the basic facts before they enter a public discourse on defence transactions.

"Congress party's false campaign launched on Rafale aircraft deal based on peddled untruth has been casting a cloud on the Inter-Governmental agreement & seriously compromising national security," he said.

Jaitley said Congress and Gandhi were guilty on three counts - delaying the deal by over a decade compromising national security, speaking of falsehood on pricing and procedure, and further delaying the defence procurement by raising these issues.

"Rahul Gandhi deny that when the add-ons such as India-specific adaptations, weaponry, etc. are installed on the basic aircraft, the UPA price, which was mentioned in the 2007 L1 offer, would be at least 20% costlier than the more favourable price negotiated by the NDA?," he added.

Jaitley asked if Gandhi was aware that there was a price escalation clause in the bid received during UPA regime, and if the Congress was aware that basic aircraft price is 9 per cent cheaper under the NDA than it was under the UPA.

Other questions pertained to Gandhi's knowledge of defence procurement procedure and on offset policy that allows a supplier to select any number of Indian partners.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Punjab and Haryana High Court has restrained the Haryana government from withdrawing the cases registered in connection with the Jat agitation in 2016.

The Haryana government had earlier submitted a list of 407 cases for which it had given permission for withdrawal.

The court of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Pali here today further directed all the judicial magistrates in Haryana not to pass any order on any application for withdrawal or any cancellation report pertaining to the cases till the next date of hearing.

"All concerned magistrates are restrained from passing any order on any such applications for withdrawal or in respect of cancellation report," the court has directed.

"We hereby direct that until further orders the state of Haryana shall not proceed with its applications for withdrawal of the cases," it said.

The cases pertain to arson and violence during the Jat stir in February 2016.

"Out of over 2,000 cases, the government had moved process of withdrawing 407 cases. Many of these cases have been treated as serious by the Parkash Singh Committee," said Anupam Gupta, the senior advocate and amicus curiae in the Murthal rape case and Jat agitation cases.

He said the next hearing in the case has been fixed for October 4.

The Prakash Singh Committee, set up by the state government, had probed the role of police and civil administration officials during the Jat reservation stir.

Earlier in May, the Haryana government had told the high court that it will not proceed till the next date of hearing.

Gupta had objected to the state government's move of withdrawing cases, including those pertaining to arson and violence, in connection with the Jat agitation in 2016.

The government had earlier submitted a list of 407 cases for which it had given its permission for withdrawal.

In an earlier hearing, the court had asked the state government to submit a list of cases sought to be withdrawn.

At least 30 people died and several others were injured during incidents of violence and arson which erupted during the Jat agitation.

A total 2,100 cases pertaining to arson and violence were registered in connection with the Jat agitation in 2016. Places like Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonipat were the epicenter of the stir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jammu and Kashmir government today approached the Supreme Court seeking adjournment of the August 31 hearing on petitions challenging the validity of Article 35-A of the Constitution in view of upcoming local body elections in the state.

In a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court and circulated, M Shoeb Alam, the standing counsel for the state in the apex court, sought adjournment of hearing on five petitions scheduled for Friday, by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

The state "will be seeking adjournment in the matters on August 31 on account of the ongoing preparation for the upcoming panchayat and urban local body and municipal elections in the state of Jammu and Kashmir," the letter said.

"The letter may kindly be circulated to the hon'ble judges so as to avoid inconvenience to them..." it said.

The apex court is hearing a bunch of petitions in the matter, including the one filed by NGO 'We the Citizens' seeking quashing of article 35-A, which confers special status to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

The matter is listed for hearing on Friday before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.

Article 35-A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and denies property rights to women who marry those from outside the state.

The provision, which leads to such women from the state forfeiting their right over property, also applies to their heirs.

Political parties including the National Conference and the CPI (M), have moved the Supreme Court in support of Article 35-A, that also empowers the state assembly to define "permanent residents" for bestowing special rights and privileges to them.

The dates for the local body elections in the state have not been declared yet, but are they likely to be held in September-end.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Luxury carmaker (JLR) India has recorded 83 per cent growth in the overall domestic market and over 50 per cent in Rajasthan during 2017-18, a top company official said on Wednesday.

The state already has a base of 700 customers.

We grew 83 per cent in the domestic market and over 50 per cent in Rajasthan during 2017-18, Rohit Suri, president and MD of India, said while launching a new retail facility here.

A new ultra-modern retail facility launch is in line with an objective to meet the rising popularity of the cars in tier-2 cities, he added.Cindy McCain pressed her face against the flag-draped casket of her husband, US Sen. John McCain, today and several of his children sobbed during the first of two services for the statesman and former prisoner of war before he is taken for the last time from the state he has represented since the 1980s.

The private service at the Arizona Capitol marked the first appearance of McCain's family members since the senator died Saturday of brain cancer.

During the service, Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain as a senator and internationally known figure as well as a major figure in the history of Arizona.

While Barry Goldwater was an Arizona native, McCain was "Arizona's favorite adopted son," the governor said on would have been the 82nd birthday of McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal zone while his father served in the military.

"Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon," Ducey said.

Former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said he has been with McCain all around the world and he had better instincts on when to assert US power than anyone else he knew.

Kyl said he would miss McCain, whose greatest contribution was national security.

Sen. Jeff Flake offered the benediction at the service.

Later in the afternoon, the Capitol will be open to the public to pay their respects.

Arizona National Guard members carried the casket into the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where McCain will lie in state. Black curtains hung in the rotunda. US and Arizona flags encircled the room.

By the time the service ended and the rotunda was cleared, at least 100 people had already gathered outside to wait for the public viewing.

They took shelters from the hot sun under tents erected by security teams while volunteers filled coolers with ice and water bottles.

Chasity Pullin, whose husband and father are both veterans, was among those in line. She said she liked how McCain didn't act like he was above others, and praised all he did for veterans.

"It feels like you're losing part of your family, as much as he did," she said Kassandra Morales, 44, stood with her sons, 8 and 2 years old. The single mom and Democrat brought a bouquet of flowers and said she had always looked up to McCain.

"Yesterday I asked my son who his hero was. He gave me a rapper's name," Morales said. "I brought my children here to show them what a real hero was."



Veteran Judith Hatch handed out flags to those assembled, saying Arizona lost a champion for the military.

"We definitely have lost a strong advocate, so we'll need someone who is going to step up to the plate," Hatch said.

The viewing later in the day will go on as long as people are waiting in line, said Rick Davis, McCain's former presidential campaign manager.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture in the state for their entire lives. He took office in the state in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Goldwater.

Tomorrow morning will feature a procession through Phoenix on the way to a memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church, with the public invited to line the route along Interstate 17.

The memorial service will include tributes, readings and musical performances, including a tribute from former Vice President Joe Biden.

Musical choices include a recessional to "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. From there, McCain will depart Arizona from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Another viewing will be at the US Capitol on Friday, with a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dayalu Ammal, wife of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, who was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals here, was discharged today, sources said.

She was discharged at about 4 pm after doctors examined her, they said.

The sources, however, declined to comment on her health condition.

Dayalu Ammal, in her 80s, was rushed to the hospital late last night from her Gopalapuram residence after she complained of uneasiness.

She is the mother of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin.

Earlier, Stalin and other family members visited her at the hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BMW Group is teaming up with Lufthansa Cargo to present the BMW Vision iNEXT World Flight covering four destinations on three continents - Munich, New York, San Francisco and Beijing - in five days, as part of an event unparalleled in its execution.

More than 300 international media representatives will board on the most advanced and efficient cargo aircraft in its class  a Boeing 777F from the Lufthansa Cargo fleet  to experience for the first time the vision of future mobility embodied by the BMW Vision iNEXT, the latest Vision Vehicle from the BMW Group.

Lufthansa Cargo and the BMW Group team have worked together closely to turn this extraordinary vehicle and technology presentation from idea into reality. The assembled guests will be introduced to the pioneering vehicle and given a preview of the BMW Groups future as part of an exclusive closed room concept specially conceived and designed for the occasion.

Preparations for the presentation event will involve laying more than 7.5 km of wiring, while 78,000 LEDs in 165 video LED modules and ten 13,000 ANSI lumen projectors will light up a show inside the Boeing aircraft that appeals to all the senses. More than 120 specialists in exhibition stand construction, as well as experts from Lufthansa Cargo and the BMW Group have played their part in making the project happen.

Around 30 tonnes of material will be used to construct a suitable platform on which to showcase the BMW Vision iNEXT. The challenge for the various engineers and specialists has involved not only staging a presentation the likes of which none of those present will have witnessed before, but also ensuring their creation would literally take off.

Timings will be tight, given the need to turn the entire set-up inside the 777F from presentation mode to flight mode and back quickly and securely. The first guests are expected to arrive eight hours after the plane lands. And just four hours after the final presentation has been wrapped up at one venue, the Boeing will take off again for the next destination on its itinerary. This technical and logistical tour de force will underpin a vehicle and technology presentation that is genuinely unprecedented.

Visionary products deserve visionary presentations. We are delighted to have made this extraordinary world premiere possible in cooperation with BMW, said Peter Gerber, CEO and chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo AG.

iNEXT is our mobility proposition for the future, so its only logical that the BMW Vision iNEXT should be presented to a global audience in a fresh new style, said Klaus Frohlich, member of the board of management of BMW AG, responsible for development. The World Flight is a fitting way to get the ball rolling.

The aircrafts exterior makeover takes its cues from the interior design created for the vehicle presentation. And this will be the livery adorning Lufthansa Cargos Boeing 777F when it takes off from Munich Airport on September 9 on its round-the-world flight. After calling in at New York, San Francisco and Beijing, the aircraft is due to touch down again in its home base Frankfurt on September 14. - TradeArabia News ServiceHDFC Bank today said it is adopting 30 villages and donating Rs 10 crore for relief efforts in flood-hit Kerala.

The private sector lender also announced a waiver in late payment fees on monthly loan instalments and credit cards for August to its customers in Kerala.

"We stand with the people of Kerala in this hour of distress," the bank's managing director Aditya Puri said.

As part of the village adoption, the bank will set up medical camps and rebuild health centres, support schools' renovations and reconstruction, and impart skills training to restore livelihoods, an official statement said.

The bank said it will consult the state government to finalise the measures and stressed that this is a long-term plan where its local non-profit partners will deliver the on-ground help.

Apart from adopting villages, the bank has contributed Rs 10 crore to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. Its employees have contributed a day's salary, while the rest has come from the bank.

"While we continue to pray for their speedy return to normalcy, we hope through our efforts we are able to make a small but meaningful impact on people's lives as they come out of their suffering," said Puri.

The lender said most of its branches and 291 of the 331 automated teller machines (ATMs) have been restored.

The bank has also enabled contributions to the CM's disaster relief fund.

A total of 474 people have died in the rains and floods since May 29 when the southwest monsoon set in over Kerala.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala government today decided to appoint a senior IAS official as special officer to coordinate infrastructure development works at Pampa in Sabarimala, which suffered massive destruction in the recent deluge.

Pampa is the base station from where pilgrims trek to the famous Lord Ayyappa temple atop Sabarimala.

Following the torrential rains, the Pampa river near the foothills of Sabarimala had breached its banks at several places, submerging many shops, damaging buildings, flooding pathways and uprooting electric posts.

A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also decided to rope in an expert agency to carry out a study on infrastructure development to be taken up in the region and to start construction work on a war-footing.

"A senior IAS officer will be appointed as special officer to coordinate the infrastructure development works," an official release said here.

The objective was to reinstate basic infrastructure facilities before the beginning of the three-month-long annual pilgrimage season beginning this November, it said.

The government had already decided to entrust with the army construction of three bailey bridges at Pampa before the pilgrimage season, it said.

During the rain mayhem, the river overan its banks and left a trail of destruction at the foothills. The toilet complex and parking facilities were washed away. A pump house and hospital building were also damaged.

Chief secretary Tom Jose, Travancore devaswom board president A Padmakumar and DGP Loknath Behera were among those who took part in the meeting, the release added.

Padmakumar later said no more concrete structures would be allowed in the Pampa area.

The total loss and damage caused by the floods in Pampa was estimated to be Rs 100 crore, he said.

The Lord Ayyappa shrine attracts lakhs of devotees from the country and abroad during the annual Mandalam-Makaravillaku pilgrimage season in November-January.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): Taking time off his hectic schedule, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today gave a 'big salute' to the state's fishermen, who rescued thousands of people trapped in the floods which claimed 470 lives since May 29 when the South West Monsoon set in over the state.

Vijayan honoured the fishermen, wrapped a 'ponnada' (shawl) around them and handed over certificates of appreciation at a function here.

He said the fishers did not think of their safety, their families or any monetary gains from the government as they joined rescue operations and thanked all of them.

"We need to protect this unity and go forward. Our state is very dear to us. I am giving Kerala's big salute to the fishermen", Vijayan said.

He said there is a need to ensure proper rehabilitation of the affected like building houses for those who had lost their homes. Also, schools, panchayat offices, police stations and many government offices were damaged in the floods, he said.

"We need to raise our state at a much higher level", he said, adding the need of the hour was to rebuild the state and take Kerala to greater heights.

These coastal warriors had come in their boats from several parts of the state and had rescued around 65,000 marooned flood victims.

Fisheries minister Mercykutty Amma and water resources minister T M Thomas Issac were also present.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi had also yesterday lauded the role played by the fishermen who had saved many lives in the recent floods that had ravaged the state.

The Chief Minister also lauded the efforts by the defence forces, NDRF, policemen, fire force personnel and hundreds of volunteers who were part of the rescue operations in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RJD president and fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad is scheduled to surrender before a CBI court here tomorrow, upon expiry of his provisional bail.

Prasad, who reached here from Patna today, was directed by the Jharkhand High Court to surrender before the CBI court by August 30.

After being sent to jail in December last year following conviction in fodder scam cases, Prasad spent a considerable time at the RIMS hospital in Ranchi and at the AIIMS at New Delhi, for treatment of various ailments. He was also treated at a Mumbai hospital for three weeks and was discharged on August 25.

He was released on six weeks' provisional bail on May 11 by the Jharkhand High Court for medical treatment and was restrained from taking part in any public function, political activity or issuing statements to the media during the period.

The high court had extended the period of Prasad's bail and on August 24 refused to extend it further.

The former Bihar chief minister was ordered to surrender before August 30.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The board will meet on September 4 to decide on the modalities for increasing stake in debt-ridden to 51 per cent, a move that will provide behemoth entry into the banking space.

The board will discuss timeline for the open offer, board level appointments and future strategy for revitalising IDBI Bank, sources said.

is slated to pick up additional 7 per cent stake in soon. With this, total holding in the would rise to 14.9 per cent.

At present, holds 7.98 per cent stake in the

The bank received a letter dated August 28, 2018 from LIC giving in-principle approval for subscription of equity shares on preferential basis subject to their total exposure not exceeding 14.9 per cent of post-issue capital of at any point of time, the bank had said in a regulatory filing yesterday.

The board will consider the proposal on August 31, it added.

The first round of stake sale will help the debt-ridden lender to meet an immediate capital requirement, sources said.

In August, the had approved LIC's proposed acquisition of up to 51 per cent stake in debt-ridden IDBI Bank.

The board at its meeting, to be held on August 31, will consider the proposal for seeking shareholders' approval through postal ballot for preferential issue of capital to LIC, aggregating up to 14.90 per cent of the bank's post-issue paid-up capital, it added.

The bank, in which the government holds 85.96 per cent stake, had posted a net loss of Rs 24.09 billion in the quarter ending June 2018. It had a gross non-performing asset (NPA) of about Rs 578 billion.

The board of Regulatory and Development Authority of (Irdai), at its meeting held in in June, had permitted LIC to increase its stake from 10.82 per cent to 51 per cent in IDBI Bank.

As per current regulations, an company cannot own more than 15 per cent in any listed financial firm.

LIC has been looking to enter the banking space by acquiring a majority stake in IDBI Bank as the deal is expected to provide business synergies despite the lender's stressed balance sheet.

With the culmination of the deal, LIC will get about 2,000 branches by which it can sell its products, while the bank would get massive funds of LIC.

The bank would also get accounts of about 220 million policy holders and subsequent flow of fund.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US prodigy Noah Lyles heads the field at the first of the two Diamond League finals, in Zurich tomorrow, when he comes head-to-head with Turkey's world and European champion Ramil Guliyev.

Lyles remains the undisputed favourite going into the men's 200m final, having already clocked up four wins on the Diamond League circuit this season.

But Guliyev, along with Aaron Brown and Jereem Richards, will no doubt be breathing hard down the neck of the American, the defending Diamond Trophy champion.

"I acknowledge that Ramil Guliyev is running fast," said the 21-year-old Lyles, who ran a personal best of 19.65sec in Monaco in July.

"I knew I had to get to the Diamond League Final. Now I'm here, winning is more important than running fast."



The 200m is just one of 16 Diamond League disciplines to be decided at the sell-out Letzigrund Stadion, with the remaining 16 disciplines to be decided in Brussels on Friday.

The women's blue riband event sees Britain's newly-crowned European champion Dina Asher-Smith, who struck triple gold in Berlin after also winning the 200m and taking the 4x100m relay with her British team, take on a strong field over 100m.

Asher-Smith will line up alongside Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers, Nigerian Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor, and proven Ivorians Marie-Josee Ta Lou and Murielle Ahoure.

"There's no place to hide in the Diamond League!" admitted Asher-Smith.

"Sometimes it's not just about winning and losing, it's about the journey," the Briton said, before adding: "I hope to end my season on a high."



South African Caster Semenya will look to wrap up the trophy in the women's 800m.

"My main aim tomorrow is win the trophy," said the 27-year-old, the double Olympic champion (2012, 2016) and three-time world champion (2009, 2011, 2017) who is now unbeaten over the 800m since her elimination in the semi-finals of the 2015 worlds in Beijing.

But Semenya has also come under the spotlight this season off the track as she turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in her challenge of IAAF rules on testosterone levels in female athletes to be introduced in November.

Under the new regulations, "hyper-androgynous", athletes like Semenya would have to chemically lower their testosterone levels to be able to compete, something the 800m runner says is discriminatory and in violation of the IAAF's constitution and the Olympic Charter.

"I respect my opponents and I expect the same thing from them," Semenya said in Zurich.

"My ultimate goal is always to entertain people."



In the field, Greece's double defending title holder Ekaterina Stefanidi will bid to continue the form that saw her clinch European gold, up against American Sandi Morris.

Morris beat Stefanidi in Birmingham, albeit in extraordinarily windy conditions, and the American's season's best is also superior to the Greek vaulter's.

Stefanidi, with the world, Olympic and European titles to her name, is a proven performer, however, making for what should be a thrilling contest. Also competing in Switzerland will be Norwegian teenager Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Aged just 17, he took gold in both the men's 1500m and 5000m at the Berlin Euros. Following an injury to another racer, Ingebrigtsen received a call-up for a season swansong, racing over 1500m against Kenya's world champion Elijah Manangoi, last year's Diamond champion Timothy Cheruiyot and his older brother Filip Ingebrigtsen.

Diamond Trophy disciplines



Women: 100m, 800m, 5000m, 400m hurdles, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, javelin Men: 200m, 400m, 1500m, 400m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, long jump, shot put, javelin.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra cabinet today cleared a proposal for financing farmers for purchasing farm equipment with an initial corpus of Rs 50 crore.

The scheme, to be funded by the state government, is aimed at expediting the government's ambitious plan to double the income of farmers by 2022, stated an official release.

"To assist the Union government's plans to double the farmers' income by 2022, the state cabinet today cleared the funding proposal for small and marginal farmers who can now purchase farm equipment and cultivate the land," it said.

"The farmers from SC/ST community and women farmers would get 35% funding of the total cost for (purchasing) tractor while for other equipment, a subsidy of 50% will be given," it said.

The proposal has also championed setting up of Farm Equipment Bank, which a group of farmers can collectively use. The government will subsidise 40% of the cost for such bank.

There are 80% farmers who are small and marginal and they would benefit out of it.

The Cabinet also cleared a proposal to change the name of Mumbai-based Bombay Veterinary College to Mumbai Veterinary College.

Another proposal worth Rs 16.02 crore for creation of four percolation tanks.

Three of the tanks will be located in Jamner tehsil, the assembly constituency of Water Resources Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a close confidante of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The fourth percolation tank will come up in Soegaon tehsil in Aurangabad district, as per the release.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The majority of CPI(M) West Bengal unit today advocated in the favour of an adjustment with the Congress and other secular and democratic forces in the state for the next Lok Sabha polls.

A one-day long meeting of the Left party was held today to discuss the strategy for 42 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was also present in the meeting.

"Most of the state committee members were in favour of a seat adjustment with Congress in order to stop the march of BJP and TMC in Bengal," said a senior CPI(M) state committee member.

However, the district units of Kolkata, Burdwan, and Jalpaiguri were against any sort of adjustment with the grand old party.

"We can't deny the credentials and acceptability of the Congress as a secular force and when the question is of fighting against a communal force like the BJP, the Congress cannot be treated as untouchable," a senior CPI(M) state committee member.

According to party sources, all the district units have been asked to prepare a list of seats where "an adjustment with Congress will be a game-changer". The report will be then placed in the central committee and politburo meeting for further discussion.

According to a senior CPI(M) state committee leader, the meeting also discussed various modalities, including the party's ability to win seats on its own.

"Let us accept the fact that the situation in Bengal is not very conducive for us. We have to see which seats can be won if there is an adjustment with the Congress. We will send the report to the central committee," he told on condition of anonymity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Trinamool Youth Congress chief Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, filed a defamation suit against Amit Shah today, alleging that the BJP president has made slanderous statements against him at a public rally on August 11 in Kolkata.

Abhishek Banerjee, also a Trinamool Congress MP, appeared before the eighth bench of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Kolkata and filed written submission, claiming Shah has made defamatory statements against him.

The eighth metropolitan magistrate directed him to issue notice to Shah.

The court said the criminal defamation suit moved by Abhishek Banerjee will be taken up for hearing on September 28.

On August 13, the chief minister's nephew sent a legal notice to Shah, demanding an apology from him for allegedly making defamatory statements against him.

The notice to Shah said, "In the course of your speech you had made various allegations against my client by making a flimsy and thinly veiled reference and/or insinuation to the 'bhatija' (nephew) of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal.

"Since, it is well known that my client is the nephew of Smt. Mamata Banerjee and is actively involved in politics, the contents of your speech left little to the imagination of my client's well-wishers that you were referring to my client."



Abhishek Banerjee's lawyer Sanjay Basu claimed the "false statements" against his client has caused grave loss and prejudice to his client's reputation.

Basu said his client "denies the allegation that he is involved in any purported diversion of public and/or government funds to the tune of Rs 3,59,000 crore or any other sum purportedly allotted from the Centre to the State of West Bengal."



He has sought that Shah desist from making or circulating defamatory statements causing publication of the same in any media against his client.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BSP supremo Mayawati today dubbed the arrest five activists as a "government-sponsored terror" tactic to divert the attention of the people from its "failures".

In a statement, she said the government was trying to intimidate people involved in fighting for the rights of the Dalits, poor and the downtrodden in and outside the courts.

The activists were arrested yesterday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

"Through such government-sponsored terror, BJP dispensations want to divert people's attention from their failures," she alleged.

She alleged that no legal procedure were followed in making the arrests. "The display of unity by Dalits at Bhima-Koregaon did not go well with the BJP," she said in the statement.

She said the claim that there was a conspiracy to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminds of the alleged "fake encounters" in Gujarat years ago.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister claimed that instead of following the legal procedure against people who were named in the FIR in the Bheema-Koregaon violence case, the government chose to "victimise" Dalit leaders whose lives were an "open book".

Mayawati also termed the policies of the BJP governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra state as "anti-people".

The Pune Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out yesterday as part of a probe into the violence between Dalit and the upper caste groups at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad on December 31 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jet Airways, India's premier full-service international airline and Bangkok Airways have announced the expansion of their existing codeshare agreement to provide more choice and convenient travel options.



Guests travelling between key destinations across Thailand, Vietnam, and India will benefit from this alignment between the two airlines.



Moreover, this expanded partnership will offer guests enhanced connectivity and seamless access when travelling throughout the combined networks of both the airlines.



Under the expanded codeshare agreement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Bangkok Airways' flights beyond Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Krabi, Phuket, Sukhothai and Trat in Thailand and Da Nang, Phu Quoc in Vietnam.



The codeshare flights have been opened for sale.



Subsequently, Bangkok Airways will place its marketing code on Jet Airways' flights beyond Mumbai to key destinations like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Goa and Chennai; as well as beyond Delhi to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai.



Currently, Jet Airways places its code on Bangkok Airways' flights between Mumbai and Bangkok while Bangkok Airways places its codes on Jet Airways' flights between Bangkok-Mumbai and Bangkok-Delhi.



On the occasion of the codeshare expansion, Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time director, Jet Airways, said: "This is a continuation of our endeavour to offer our guests more choice and connectivity across key markets around the globe. Jet Airways and Bangkok Airways have been codeshare partners since 2013, and with this enhancement, we will for the first time, be able to offer our guests seamless connectivity on codeshare flights to seven key touristic favourites across Thailand, as well as growing markets in Vietnam. This codeshare agreement will further lead to a boost in tourism and trade between India and these Asian nations."



Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways, said: "Jet Airways is a leading international airline with a major presence in India and across the world. We are pleased to expand cooperation with Jet Airways to strengthen our respective route networks and offer business and leisure travellers with unprecedented and convenient access to new gateways. Moreover, Jet Airways' codeshare passengers travelling on Bangkok Airways will enjoy the boutique airline's unparalleled services such as lounge access and in-flight meal." - TradeArabia News ServiceThe late Sen. John McCain's wife, Cindy, has walked up to the flag-draped casket holding her husband's body at the Arizona Capitol and patted it, then leaned over and kissed it.

The rest of his children then filed past the casket and touched it today, including his sons in uniform and daughter Meghan McCain who was weeping.

Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife bowed and McCain's former colleagues, Sen. Jeff Flake and former Sen. Jon Kyl, both touched the casket.

Flake gave a prayer at the ceremony that preceded a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Arizona's governor says Sen. John McCain was one of the only politicians who could get people to set aside politics.

Gov. Doug Ducey said at a private ceremony Wednesday at the state Capitol that imagining Arizona without McCain is like imagining the state without the Grand Canyon, two things it's known for.

The governor called McCain one of Arizona's favourite adopted sons.

Ducey said Arizona residents knew they could follow McCain, who served in Vietnam as a Navy pilot and was captured as a prisoner of war, because he was trusted and tested, qualities that are in short supply.

The ceremony with McCain's wife, Cindy, children and other politicians came ahead of a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, wept as her family stood in front of the Arizona senator's flag-draped casket at the Arizona Capitol.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture in the state for their entire lives. He took office in Arizona in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Sen. Barry Goldwater.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The meeting of Goa BJP leaders with party chief Amit Shah in Delhi tomorrow to discuss the leadership issue in the coastal state in view of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's ongoing medical treatment, has been cancelled, a senior functionary said here tonight.

Goa BJP General Secretary Sadanand Tanawade told PTI that the meeting stood cancelled, but did not elaborate.

However, sources in the BJP state unit said the meeting was called off apparently after Shah refused to grant the appointment to the state core committee.

Parrikar (62), who was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health check-up on August 23, was supposed to fly to the United States this evening for medical treatment.

Earlier in the day, Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik told reporters here that the core team of the BJP would meet Shah to discuss an alternative leadership arrangement in view of Parrikar's health.

Meanwhile, seeking to rest speculations about change of guard in Goa, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) tonight said Parrikar would not hand over the charge to anyone else and continue to clear important files from the US.

"Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar would continue clearing important files from the US, as he used to do in the past. He will not hand over his charge to anyone during his short stay abroad," a senior CMO official said.

He emphasised there was "no order" to the CM to hand over the latter's responsibility to anyone.

"The CM is fit and fine and is active. He will be abroad for 8-10 days only," the official said.

Parrikar had undergone treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June. He went to the US again for a follow-up earlier this month.

He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital for a review health check-up last Thursday, a day after he returned from the US. He was scheduled to return to Goa today.

Earlier in the day, Goa Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant said Parrikar would fly to the US for medical treatment due to some complications in his health.

Naik had said Parrikar had developed "minor complications" and would stay in the United States for eight days.

"We (the core team of the BJP) will meet Shah to discuss an alternative leadership arrangement in view of Parrikar's health," he had told reporters.

Responding to a query of reporters on whether Parrikar should now step down as chief minister, the Union minister had said, "Ya.Ya.Ya...He should be fit and health is our priority. It is the decision of Parrikar whether to continue in the chair or not. That is his decision and let him take it".

When asked about the alternative leadership arrangement in the absence of Parrikar, Naik, the North Goa MP, had said, "We have no knowledge about any alternative arrangement, but something will be done".

Responding to a query on the health condition of senior ministers Francis D'Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar, who are currently undergoing treatment in the US and Mumbai, respectively, Naik underlined the need to have an alternative arrangement in place.

"The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon take a call on the arrangements to be made in such cases," he said.

The Union minister had earlier said that the alliance partners of the BJP would be taken into confidence once the party finalised its decision on the (leadership) issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The famous silk gown worn by Meghan Markle that had a selection of flora, including an Indian lotus, in its veil when she married Prince Harry in May is to go on public display at Windsor Castle.

The famous Givenchy dress, designed by British designer Clare Waight Keller for the French fashion house, will be on display complete with the Duchess of Sussex's five-meter-long veil.

The veil had been famously assembled from silk tulle to feature flora from all the Commonwealth nations, including India's lotus, as a nod to Markle's new role alongside Harry as youth ambassadors of the 53-member organisation.

According to Kensington Palace, the 36-year-old former actress "wanted all 53 countries of the Commonwealth with her on her journey through the ceremony" and so designer Clare Waight Keller created a veil embroidered with the flowers and petals of each one. Each three-dimensional flower is unique and was embroidered on to the long train by hand.

"The workers spent hundreds of hours meticulously sewing and washing their hands every 30 minutes to keep the tulle and threads pristine," Kensington Palace had said in a statement.

The veil was held in place by a diamond and platinum bandeau tiara, which was lent to the bride by Queen Elizabeth II, and will also be on display for the first time. The bandeau was made in 1932 for The Queen's grandmother, Queen Mary, who received the centre brooch of 10 brilliant diamonds as a wedding present in 1893.

A copy of her husband, the Duke of Sussex's, Blues and Royals frockcoat uniform will also be included as part of the new exhibition titled 'A Royal Wedding: The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex', which is due to open in October.

Prince Harry will need his actual wedding uniform for another occasion during the exhibition period, resulting in a replica going on display instead. The Blues and Royals uniform was specially commissioned for the wedding and made by tailors at Dege & Skinner on London's famous Savile Row.

The royal couple were married at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19 at a ceremony attended by thousands of guests, including members of the public and representatives of charities supported by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Markle worked with Clare Waight Keller, the artistic director of French fashion house Givenchy, on her dress because of her "timeless, elegant aesthetic and impeccable tailoring". Her dress was made from a double-bonded silk cady and featured a boat neckline bodice. It took a team of embroiderers hundreds of hours to create the intricate design of her veil, washing their hands every 30 minutes to keep the tulle and threads pristine.

While millions could see the dress on television, the new exhibition is intended to give people the chance to admire it up close.

After a run at Windsor Castle from October 26 this year to January 6 next year, the special exhibition will move to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh from June 14 to October 6, 2019.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested a 45-year-old member of Manipur based banned terrorist outfit, Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP-PWG), for allegedly threatening the Manipur chief minister, police said today.

The accused, Oinam Ibochouba Singh alias Khoirangba, is a top commander and self-styled acting chairman of the banned outfit and was arrested from south Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur area yesterday, they said.

He was in the process of setting up a base in Delhi to allegedly carry out anti-national activities. He had allegedly threatened Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and some other ministers.

A team of Special Cell was working on an input received from Manipur Police that the accused was in Delhi.

During the development of this input, it was learnt that the accused was based in Nepal. It was also learnt that he and his associates were in the process of setting up a base in Delhi to carry out anti-national activities in anonymity, police said.

Police deployed sources especially in areas inhabited by people from the northeast. Yesterday, it was learnt he would come to meet one of his associates at Kotla Mubarakpur and a trap was laid.

He was spotted near Arya Samaj Mandir, Kotla Mubarapur and was arrested, police said.

During interrogation, it wad found that he was arrested by Assam Police in 2010 under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and remained in jail for around a month, said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell).

Around five years ago, he escaped to Nepal and set up his base at Syangja bazaar area to evade police dragnet. He extorted money from government authorities, local businessmen and private schools by sending them threat letters through over-ground workers (OGWs) in Manipur, said the officer.

The OGWs based in Manipur used to collect extortion money from the victims and distribute the money between offices of banned outfit, he added. Some amount of money was also received by the accused.

He was on the run and had come to Delhi to identify an alternative base in and around Delhi for better coordination of his anti-national activities and to raise funds and to procure arms and ammunition for the purpose of conducting terrorist activities for KCP/PWG, said the officer.

During the second week of August, he came to know about agitations for removal of AP Pandey, vice-chancellor of Manipur University by Manipur University Students Union, Manipur Teacher's Association and other groups for alleged corruption.

He also got to know about the Border Pillar issue of India-Myanmar and Naga framework agreement and held Manipur Chief Minister Singh responsible for it and circulated a threat audio message on social media, said the officer.

Through this message, he threatened that if these issues were not resolved within one month, the chief minister and other ministers will be targeted and killed. He also claimed to issue termination orders of present officials of Manipur University, including Vice Chancellor Pandey, to his cadre of Red Army KCP/PWG, he added.

A case was registered by Manipur Police in connection with the matter.

KCP (People War Group) was formed in January, 2016 by a combined extremist group of KCP-Poirei faction, KCP-Tamnganba faction and KCP-Paikhomba faction under the chairman of Laishram Ranjit Meetei.

In January 2017, Special Cell arrested the self-styled convener of KCP/PWG Ranjeet Singh Porai alias Rocky and, in August 2017 busted a module of KCP/PWG with the arrest of top leadership including commander-in-chief of KCP-Tamnganba faction Laishram Ranjit Meitei.

Following their arrest, Khoirangba assumed the leadership of the organisation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested a 45-year-old member ofManipur based banned terrorist outfit, Kangleipak Communist Party (KCPPWG) for allegedly threatening the Manipur Chief Minister, the police said today.

The accused, Oinam Ibochouba Singh aliasKhoirangba is a top commander and self-styled acting Chairman of the banned outfit and was arrested from south Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur area yesterday, they said.

He was in the process of setting up a base in Delhi to allegedly carry out anti-national activities.

He had allegedly threatened Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and some other ministers.

A case has been registered in Manipur in this regard.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Guatemalan asylum seeker has filed a claim against US authorities for the "wrongful death" of her daughter, who died six weeks after their detention by US immigration police, her attorneys said.

Yazmin Juarez, 20, and her 19-month-old daughter Mariee were apprehended when they crossed the Rio Grande River in March 2018 from Mexico and held at a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

"Those responsible for providing safe, sanitary conditions and proper medical care failed this little girl, and it caused her to die a painful death," attorney R Stanton Jones of the law firm Arnold and Porter said in a statement yesterday.

"Mariee Juarez entered Dilley a healthy baby girl and 20 days later was discharged a gravely ill child with a life-threatening respiratory infection," he said.

After her release, the girl was transferred to two different hospitals and died on May 10, 2018.

Arnold and Porter sent a notice of claim -- a step prior to a lawsuit -- on behalf of Juarez to Eloy, Arizona, an intermediary between the federal government and the private firm that operates the detention facility in Dilley.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four policemen were killed in an attack by terrorists in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir today just hours after security forces gunned down two militants, including a top Hizbul Mujahideen commander, in an encounter in Anantnag district.

"Terrorists in the afternoon fired indiscriminately upon a police party at Arhama in district Shopian. Four policemen sustained gunshot wounds and were evacuated to a nearby hospital for medical attention," a police spokesman said.

All the four injured succumbed to injuries, he added.

"The martyred policemen were identified as Constable Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Constable Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Constable Mohammad Iqbal Mir and SPO Adil Manzoor Bhat," he said adding case was registered and investigations initiated in the matter.

The deceased were part of the security detail of an officer and had gone to get a police vehicle repaired when the attack took place, an official said.

The incident came hours after security forces killed two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen including a top commander, Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Kachroo, in a gunbattle at Muniward in Anantnag district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)On a day of mixed fortunes, terrorists shot four policemen dead in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir barely hours after two dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including the Valley's oldest surviving terrorist, were gunned down by security forces in neighbouring Anantnag.

"Terrorists fired indiscriminately upon a police party at Arhama in district Shopian," a police spokesman said. The four ill-fated policemen were caught unaware as they were repairing their vehicle, he added.

Pools of blood were seen at several spots at the site where militants carried out the attack.

"The martyred policemen were identified as Constable Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Constable Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Constable Mohammad Iqbal Mir and SPO Adil Manzoor Bhat," the police spokesman said. Special Police Officer Bhat had turned 18 this March itself.

The terrorists mercilessly pumped bullets into the four policemen, leaving two dead on the spot. The other two were declared 'brought dead' by hospital authorities, an official said.

Director General of Police S P Vaid and IGP Pani visited Shopian and paid tributes to the policemen who fell to the bullets of the terrorists.

The attack on policemen had followed an early morning encounter in which two militants, including Altaf Ahmad Dar, also known as 'Altaf Kachroo' alias Moin of the Hizbul Mujahideen, were killed in the Anantnag area.

Significantly, Dar was considered to be the 'chief architect' of attacks on policemen in the Valley.

The attack comes barely days after the new Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, took charge.

In an interview to PTI, Malik had lauded the work done by the Jammu and Kashmir Police but also acknowledged that policemen were themselves being targeted.

"I will be addressing the difficulties faced by the police on a war footing. I met the home minister and requested for providing accommodation to them. He has agreed and we will work out the plan soon," Malik had said.

The governor said the state police has played a wonderful role in countering militancy. "They have been the prime targets of terrorists. They have been able to break the backbone of militancy and we owe it to them."



The day began with an encounter breaking out in Khanabal area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district when police and para-military forces cordoned off a house in Muniward village.

There was specific intelligence about the presence of Altaf Ahmad Dar, an official said.

"During the searches, terrorists fired on the police party, which retaliated leading to an encounter in which two terrorists were eliminated. They were identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Ataf Kachroo alias Moin of Hawoora Mishipora and Omar Rashid Wani of Khudwani Kulgam," a police spokesman said.

It was a specific operation carried out swiftly by the security forces, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said. "In the action both terrorists, who were involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen, were eliminated," Pani added.

Dar, who hailed from Kulgam in south Kashmir, was operating as one of the most important terrorist commanders of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and had a long criminal record since 2007, a police spokesman said.

Considered as one of the oldest surviving terrorists in the area, Dar was involved in series of terror crimes including attacks on the security forces, killings of civilians and policemen in south Kashmir.

The police spokesman said Dar along with associate Yasin Itoo played a major role in instigating people during the 2016 unrest following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani.

The other militant killed in the encounter was Omar Rashid Wani, who was active since last year, the spokesman said. Wani was involved in many case of atrocities against civilians and attacks on security establishments, he added.

Wani was involved in the killing of policemen at Anantnag and recently carried an attack on CRPF in Srinagar and managed to escape from the Batmaloo encounter site recently.

The spokesman said though the two were part of the Hizbul Mujahideen, they kept close coordination with other outfits for unleashing terror.

Both bodies were laid to rest in which people participated in large numbers.

Significantly, Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jhat, who made a dramatic escape from a hospital earlier this year, was also seen at the funeral of Dar, sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Mizoram government today decided to recall all the government officials sent to conduct the repatriation of Brus from six relief camps in neighbouring Tripura, a senior Home department official said.

Additional secretary in the Home department, Lalbiakzama told PTI that the decision was taken in the wake of majority of the inmates of the relief camps refusing to return to Mizoram and only three families had returned.

The officials were sent to conduct the repatriation of Brus from the six relief camps which commenced from August 25 and was scheduled to be completed by September 25, he said.

Of the 32,876 Brus belonging to 5,407 families who were identified by Mizoram officials during November 2016 as bonafide residents of Mizoram and could be repatriated, 2,753 people belonging to 423 families, majority of them from Kasakau relief camp, expressed willingness to be repatriated when officials visited them and conducted a survey recently.

Bru leaders in the relief camps had earlier expressed pessimism about the success of the proposed final repatriation as many people were not willing to return to Mizoram and continued to make fresh demands.

The Centre, however, was optimistic that the Bru families would return to Mizoram during this repatriation process after inking the agreement on July three between Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Mizoram and Tripura and MBDPF chief A Sawibunga in Delhi.

In accordance with the agreement inked on July three in Delhi, all the Bru refugees were to be repatriated before September 30.

The agreement stipulated that Rs four lakh for each repatriated Bru family would be deposited in the bank account of the head of the family which would mature after three years and payment of Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance.

Each repatriated Bru family would be given Rs 5,000 through Direct Benefit Transfer every month and a free ration for two years.

After inking of the agreement, a senior official of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the relief camps would be closed by first week of October and assistance doled out to the inmates to be discontinued forthwith.

Thousands of Brus had been lodged in the Tripura relief camps since late 1997 in the wake of a communal tension triggered by the brutal murder of Lalzawmliana, a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997 by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) militants.

The first attempt to repatriate them from November 16, 2009 not only failed but triggered another wave of exodus after Bru militants gunned down a youth at Bungthuam village three days before the commencement of the repatriation process.

Though some Bru families had already returned to Mizoram during a number of repatriation processes and on their own will, many of them continued to refuse to leave Tripura till date despite many attempts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)State-owned MOIL is looking to develop high-grade manganese for batteries which could be used in electric vehicles (EVs), Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said today.

The research by MOIL, the country's top manganese ore producer, comes at a time when the government is aggressively pushing for electric vehicles to curb air pollution.

Singh was speaking at an international conference on minerals and metal sector organised by ITEI.

"Our focus should be on indigenisation and developing technologies and solutions specific to needs of India," he said.

The power ministry had earlier said the government was considering providing subsidy for setting up e-vehicle charging infrastructure, under a policy.

However, Power Secretary A K Bhalla was of the view that it is a chicken and egg situation because charging stations would not be set up without enough e-vehicles and e-vehicle sales would not pick up unless there is enough facility to charge these vehicles.

With an aim to promote EVs, the government had launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme in 2015.

As per the scheme, incentives would be offered on electric and hybrid vehicles of up to Rs 29,000 for bikes and Rs 1.38 lakh for cars.

Last week, Essel Infraprojects said it was planning to invest Rs 1,750 crore in phased manner to set up electric vehicle charging and battery swapping infrastructure.

Singh also pointed out that in the metal sector, India was strengthening its position with every passing year.

About the steel sector, he said, it is a brilliant example of transformation and turnaround with the joint efforts of the government and the industry.

"Indian steel industry...has come a long way since its downturn... we are at the verge of becoming second largest (steel producer) in 2018," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkeys fashion industry has made its mark on the global stage by moving from behind the scenes as a manufacturing hub to the front of the stage as a leading world design centre.

This fact has, over the decades, made Turkey into a destination for shoppers from around the region. And as the capital of the country, Istanbul has blossomed into a colourful and dynamic fashion mecca.



With so much to offer in terms of shopping variety, from high end global and Turkish brands to more practical less expensive choices, Istanbul shopping streets have become icons for shopping pilgrims. Some people may put shopping and Istanbul together and think of the citys Grand Bazaar with its narrow, maze-like streets and haggling shop owners. However, if the bazaar is not really your thing, then head for the boutiques and shops on the high streets of Istanbul to get your shopping fix.



Visitors can Start the day early at Istiklal Caddesi, one of Istanbuls main shopping streets, to avoid the daily crowds. The street runs from Taksim Square all the way to Tunel, where one will be able to find every brand imaginable, from local to international names. The streets many side alleys are interesting to investigate, especially for those looking to indulge in some serious food, like the open-air market known as Beyoglu Balk Pazar.



Visitors can then move onto one of Istanbuls coolest shopping streets, Serdar- Ekrem, a cobble-stoned street near the historic Galata Tower. Known for its small boutiques, both for fashion and rare antiques and souvenirs, Serdar- Ekrem attracts a particular type of customer looking for something special to shop. The Turkish designer Arzu Kaprol has his major showroom on the street along with beautiful antiques at Kashif Sofa.



For high fashion and exclusive global and Turkish brands, Abdi Ipekci Caddesi houses everything from Armani and Louis Vuitton to Prada. Turkish fashion brands also have a big following on the street with Vakko and Beymen shops that form a part of Turkeys premier luxury brands. Located in the Nisantas neighbourhood, which is known for its luxury shopping experience, Ipekci Caddesi is for shoppers with an expensive taste.



For more wallet-conscious shoppers, a street called Tesvikiye Caddesi very close to Abdi Ipekci Caddesi, where more moderately priced brands have their stores. Global boutiques such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Scotch & Soda, as well as Turkish brands such as Koton and Roman.



Travel to Istanbuls Asian side, which is known to be quieter and less congested than its European side, find your way to Bagdat Caddesi street, which is the areas main shopping street. Lined with shopping malls and elegant luxury boutiques the 14-kilometre stretch is a great place to spend a day.



If a mall shopping experience is what one is looking for, then Nispetiye Caddesi is the place to go. The street is very popular in Istanbul and known for shopping due to the 180,000 squared meter Akmerkez Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in the city. Located in the Besiktas district of Istanbul, in a neighbourhood called Etiler, Akmerkez Mall is four floors with over 250 stores.



Finally, those looking for more authentic, locally produced goods can head to Nuruosmaniye Caddesi, which is famous in Istanbul and globally for its fine carpets, jewellery and antiques. Nuruosmaniye Caddesi is mostly a pedestrian street and leads up to the Grand Bazaar. The street is home to Armaggan, a huge seven-storey store offering an impressive array of furniture, traditional crafts, locally sourced and produced art, textiles, and jewellery. - TradeArabia News ServiceThere are more than 21 lakh registered unemployed persons in Uttar Pradesh, Labour and Employment minister Swami Prasad Maurya told the state legislative council today.

Replying to a question raised by Congress legislator Deepak Singh during Question Hour, Maurya said, "As on June 30, there were 21,39,811 registered unemployed persons in UP. Through job fairs, the state government is providing employment opportunities to such persons."



"The number of jobs in the government sector are limited, while in the private sector the numbers are very high. The state government organised Investors' Summit in February this year, and in a span of four months projects worth Rs 60,000 crore have started. If the conditions are favourable, then we will give jobs to 33 lakh persons," he added.

Posing a supplementary question, Singh demanded to know why the minister did not give the count of unemployed persons in the state which stood at nearly five crore.

"Apart from this, the BJP in its election manifesto had promised jobs to lakhs of people within 90 days (of coming to power). But, this was not fulfilled," Singh said.

Responding to Singh's barb, Leader of the House Dinesh Sharma said the UP government is recruiting 68,000 teachers in the basic education department, 12,000 teachers in the secondary education department and soon there will be recruitment in the police force.

However, Singh was not satisfied with the reply, and walked out off the house.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia has blocked a US request that UN sanctions be slapped on two Russian shipping companies and six of their ships over oil shipments to North Korea, diplomatic sources said today.

The Russian move was supported by China, North Korea's main trading partner. Members of the UN Security Council had until today to raise objections to the US request.

The Russian decision was not a surprise. Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations had vowed last week to oppose sanctions on the targeted entities, contending that the US evidence was unconvincing.

The United States announced its own sanctions on August 21 against Russian shippers Primorye Maritime Logistics and Gudzon Shipping as well as six of their ships, saying they had violated an international ban on oil shipments to North Korea.

Russia and China had previously blocked a US attempt in early August to have a Russian bank added to the UN sanctions list as well as an official and two North Korean entities.

In July, the two countries refused to order a halt to oil exports to North Korea, despite a US report asserting that Pyongyang had exceeded its import quota for 2018 set under UN sanctions.

Moscow and Beijing have asked the Security Council to consider easing the sanctions to reward North Korea for opening a dialogue with the United States and halting its ballistic missile tests. The dialogue is currently at an impasse.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Patna High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today to expedite its probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal case and submit a status report before it on September 17.

The court also ordered that the investigation be monitored and supervised by a CBI special director rank officer who shall be free to constitute a fresh investigating team.

The officer would ensure that a speedy probe is conducted and the guilty are booked and prosecuted at the earliest, a division bench comprising Chief Justice M R Shah and Justice Ravi Ranjan said.

It also directed that a status report be submitted on the next date of hearing on September 17.

The orders followed the recent transfer of an CBI SP, J P Mishra, who was part of investigation team. A CBI officer posted in Lucknow has been given the additional charge of the SP, Special Crime Branch, Patna.

The CBI had submitted a status report in a sealed cover before the court on August 27.

Taking note of the Bihar government's submission that inmates of the shelter home had been "shifted to safe places", the court appointed advocate Prakritita Sharma as amicus curiae and asked her to visit those places, interact with the inmates and submit a report on their rehabilitation.

The court also asked the state government to file a detailed counter affidavit stating how many state-funded shelter homes were being run by NGOs, details of the financial aid given to these and whether their accounts were audited and social audit was conducted.

The sexual assault on 34 girls over a period of time in the government-funded Muzaffarpur shelter home came to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

An FIR was subsequently registered by the Bihar social welfare department and 10 persons, including prime accused Brajesh Thakur whose NGO ran the shelter home, were arrested.

However, following a huge outcry, the Nitish Kumar government handed over the probe to the CBI a month ago which was followed by the resignation of social welfare minister Manju Verma a few days later.

The court had on August 6 directed the SP, CBI, to submit a report with regard to the progress of the investigation.

In an earlier hearing on the matter, the state government had requested the high court to monitor the CBI probe and consider appointing a special judge for speedy trial.

Both the requests were accepted by the court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Monsoon rains caused a central Myanmar dam to overflow today, inundating about 100 villages and blocking the country's biggest highway, a government official said.

No casualties have been reported but thousands were displaced and took shelter in temporary camps.

Swar Chaung dam's spillway structure, which regulates the release of water from the levee, broke due to heavy seasonal rainfall in Bago region, authorities said.

The water gushed into the rural flatland region as people fled their homes on foot, clutching bags of belongings, according to footage of the aftermath.

The weight of the floodwater also fractured part of a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway, which serves as an important artery between Myanmar's two biggest cities.

"We don't have exact data about the number of victims but the water has hit villages where more than 50,000 people live," Ministry of Social Welfare director Phyu Lae Lae Tun told AFP.

She added that a total of 12,000 households in some 100 villages are affected by the floods.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, under mounting international pressure to face international justice following a damning UN report this week on the Rohingya crisis, was quick to arrive at the scene.

"We have to work together," he told local media. "The spillway cannot be controlled currently and the water will not stop." AFP journalists saw convoys of military trucks carrying boats headed to the scene.

Camps for the displaced were being set up while other people were taking refuge in monasteries, Phyu lae Lae Tun said.

"But we don't have the details of how many people are displaced or how many people are still living in their respective villages," she added.

The torrent comes just weeks after heavy monsoon rains pummelled Myanmar, causing widespread flash floods that forced some 150,000 people to flee their homes.

Southeast Asia is often battered by weather during the annual monsoon season, which runs from around June to November.

Regional neighbour Laos was hit badly last month when heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a massive dam, an unprecedented disaster that left at least 35 dead and scores missing.

The Communist country is now facing intense scrutiny on its hydropower strategy as it plans to become the "battery of Asia" by damming rivers and selling its electricity to its neighbours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Myanmar rejected today the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis.

Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

Monday's report by a UN fact-finding mission said there was evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale".

In a session of the UN Security Council late Tuesday several countries -- including the United States -- called for Myanmar's military leaders to face international justice.

But Myanmar on Wednesday rejected the remit of the UN mission and its findings.

"We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," government spokesman Zaw Htay said according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for pulling down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass, saying that it could hamper the government's efforts with "national reconciliation".

The social media giant has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform -- which is wildly popular in Myanmar -- become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Aluminium major NALCO today said its net profit has doubled to Rs 1,342 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 669 crore recorded in the previous year owing to its new business plan which has put the company on a new growth path.

"The company achieved highest net profit in last 10 years of Rs 1,342 crore in 2017-18 against Rs 669 crore earned in previous year," CMD of NALCO, Tapan Kumar Chand said on the sidelines of the 37th Annual General Meeting of the Navaratna company here.

Highlighting the performance of the company during the last fiscal, Chand said NALCO also achieved the highest-ever turnover of Rs 9,376 crore since inception, registering a growth of 26 per cent over the previous year.

Similarly, export earning of Rs 4,076 crore was also highest-ever since inception registering a growth of 12 per cent over last year.

NALCO was the third highest Net Foreign Exchange Earning central public sector enterprise in the country.

NALCO has also declared a record dividend payout of Rs 1,102 crore, an increase from 56 per cent in 2016-17 to 114 per cent in 2017-18.

The dividend payout, approved in the 37th Annual General Meeting today, works out to Rs 5.70 per equity share of Rs 5 each, a company statement said.

This is the highest dividend payout since the inception of the company in 1981. The total payout, including Dividend Distribution Tax, works out to Rs 1,326.06 crore, as against Rs 651.40 crore in the last fiscal.

Attributing the success to teamwork, strong cost focus and strategic planning, Chand said "the new Business Plan of NALCO has set the company on a growth path. The results are starting to show."



Referring to the performance in other spheres, a top company official said North-Central block of Panchpatmali Mines achieved 100 per cent capacity utilisation with transportation of 68.25 lakh MT bauxite for the second year in a row.

The company became the lowest cost producer of alumina in the world consecutively for the two years - 2016 and 2017 - as per report of Wood Mackenzie, a leading research and consultancy group, he said.

Panchpatmali Bauxite mines, rated as the second lowest cost producer in the World in 2017 as per report of Wood Mackenzie, is aiming to become the lowest cost producer in FY 2018-19.

The aluminium major achieved highest-ever Alumina Hydrate production of 21.06 lakh MT (100 per cent of normative capacity) during the year.

Noting that aluminium smelter production consistently increased over the last five years, he said the company achieved highest cast metal production of 4.26 lakh MT (in last 5 years), registering a growth of 9.8 per cent over last year.

The Captive Power Plant (CPP) achieved 'Net Power Generation' of 6,547 MU, registering a growth of 7.9 per cent over previous year.

Aluminium metal sales touched 4,26,316 MT during 2017-18, which is significantly higher than the sales figures of 3,85,518 MT achieved during 2016-17.

The Navaratna PSU registered total Alumina sale of 13,37,416 MT, including export of 12,76,775 MT. This betters the corresponding figures of 12,94,900 MT and 12,43,103 MT respectively achieved during 2016-17, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi over his push for a JPC, Joint Parliamentary Committee, probe into the Rafale deal, BJP president Amit Shah described JPC as 'Jhoothi Party Congress" and said the Congress chief's "lies to fool the nation are self-evident".

In his reply on Twitter tagging Gandhi's tweet in which the Congress leader had attacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over his defence of the Rafale deal negotiated by the Modi government, Shah said Gandhi had quoted different prices of the aircraft at different places.

"Your lies to fool the nation are self-evident when Rafale price you quote vary in Delhi, Karnataka, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur & Parliament. But the nation's IQ is higher than yours!" Shah tweeted.

To Gandhi's demand of a JPC probe and sarcastic suggestion to Jaitley to revert in 24 hours, Shah retorted, "Why wait 24 hours when you already have your JPC-Jhoothi Party Congress."



Earlier, Gandhi had tweeted following Jaitley's interview in which he had put up a strong defence of the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, saying "Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY!



"How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. We're waiting!"Shah also tagged the link of a story about Gandhi quoting different prices of the aircraft.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NATO says the Russian navy is building up its presence in the Mediterranean Sea amid growing tensions over the war in Syria.

Russia has provided crucial military support for Syrian government forces, which are expected to mount an offensive in the northern Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.

"We will not speculate on the intention of the Russian fleet, but it is important that all actors in the region exercise restraint and refrain from worsening an already disastrous humanitarian situation in Syria," NATO's chief spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, said today.

She says several of the Russian ships are equipped with cruise missiles.

Russian defense officials could not be reached for comment.

At least eight ships, including a missile cruiser and two missile-carrying submarines, have joined the Russian flotilla over the past three weeks.

Russian media reports indicate there are around 15 Russian navy vessels in the Mediterranean overall.

Moscow has repeatedly alleged that Syrian rebels are preparing a chemical weapons attack in Idlib as a provocation to bring a Western attack on Syrian forces.

The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets said the naval buildup was connected to that prospect.

"The United States and its allies have forced Russia to send a powerful sailing group to the Mediterranean," it wrote yesterday.

Western countries and independent analysts say Syrian government forces have carried out a number of chemical attacks over the course of the seven-year civil war.

The US has vowed to respond if Syrian forces use chemical weapons in Idlib. Western countries carried out strikes on Syrian government forces after an alleged chemical attack earlier this year.

Both Syria and Russia deny that government forces have ever used chemical arms.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested for suspected links with Maoists, today alleged that the case against him was a "political ploy" of the government to target dissent.

Navlakha was arrested by Maharashtra Police yesterday along with four other Left-wing activists for alleged unlawful activities.

The Delhi High Court has ordered that he be confined at his residence here.

"The entire case is a political ploy against political dissent by this vindictive and cowardly government, which is bent upon shielding the real culprits of Bhima Koregaon and thus divert attention from its own scams and failures which stretch from Kashmir to Kerala," Navlakha said in a statement issued by the civil rights group People's Union for Democratic Rights of which he is a part.

"A political trial must be fought politically and I welcome this opportunity. I have to do nothing. It is for the Maharashtra police, working at the behest of their political masters, to prove their case against me, and my comrades who too have been arrested," he said.

He said PUDR has collectively and fearlessly fought for more than 40 years for the cause of democratic rights and he has covered many such trials as part of the organisation.

"Now I myself will be a witness to a political trial with a ringside view," he said and also tagged a revolutionary song, "Tu zinda hai toh zindagi ki jeet par yakeen kar...", often sung by Leftists.

Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activists Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj and Navlakha were arrested yesterday after multi-city searches.

The near simultaneous raids against the five as well as four others were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad event, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered at the Vishrambaug police station in Pune after the event.

Rao, Bhardwaj, Ferreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, an official said.

There were also arrested under some other sections of the IPC, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged Naxal activities", the official said without elaborating.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian Naval ship 'Teg' assisted a Norwegian vessel with an all-Indian crew after its port anchor along with the entire 330 metres cable inadvertently slipped, thus restricting her speed and making it vulnerable in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, the Navy said today.

On August 25, while patrolling in the Gulf of Aden, INS Teg, a warship of the Western Naval Command, received a call from a Combined Task Force aircraft for providing assistance to MV Vela, a Norwegian owned ship.

"The vessel was in distress as her Port Anchor along with the entire 330 metres cable weighing approximately 42 tonnes had inadvertently slipped and was hanging into the sea. This had severely disabled the ship with her speed being restricted to 5-6 knots, thus making her vulnerable to piracy attacks, apart from being a navigational hazard for herself as well as for other ships in the dense shipping corridor," the Navy said in a statement.

INS Teg quickly dispatched a specialist team to carry out an assessment of the situation and provided assistance for recovery of the anchor and cable.

The team was led by the ship's engineering officer and other specialist officers, seamanship instructor, anchor chain cable specialist and machinery specialist.

"Concerted efforts over three days finally resulted in the successful recovery of the anchor along with the entire 330 metres of cable. This not only ensured onward safe voyage of MV Vela, which had to subsequently transit through the constricted waters of Red Sea and Suez Canal, but also averted a huge financial loss," the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec) is primed to host a very busy events season with more than 50 exhibitions and conferences across key sectors scheduled before the end of this year.



Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, Group CEO of Adnec, said: Adnec seeks to strengthen Abu Dhabis position as the capital of business tourism sector in the region, by attracting major international events to the emirate. We have completed all preparations needed to host more than 50 major and international events before the end of 2018, which is a confirmation of our success in this field.



He added: Adnecs workforce, led by a group of highly skilled professional national talents, have worked on developing a wide range of programs aimed at attracting exhibitors and international associations. The coming season will witness exhibitions and conferences hosted and organized for the first time, in accordance with the key sectors identified by the Abu Dhabi plan and the Emirates vision 2030.



Al Dhaheri noted Adnecs keenness to continue developing infrastructure for all its local and international venues, making all efforts needed to enhance customer satisfaction and exceed the expectations of events organisers and local and international visitors, while conforming to the highest international standards in this competitive sector.



He also commended the efforts of the government and private sectors partners, especially the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, as well as exhibition organisers and representatives of local and international professional associations, which are keen to implement these events in a manner suitable to the reputation and prestige of Abu Dhabi.



The next season of events will have several major exhibitions and conferences on its agenda, as well as a wide range of other corporate and social events and business meetings.



The upcoming event season will take off with the hosting of the CPhl 2018 Middle East and Africa Exhibition, to be held from September 3 to 5 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The three-day event, a leading platform for the pharmaceutical industry, will bring together leading local, regional and global professionals to network, do business, exchange global best practices and offer global pharmaceutical companies a chance to tap into the opportunities of the countrys pharma industry. UBM, the organiser of the event, expects at least 3,500 industry professionals to attend this major gathering.



The Abu Dhabi International Boat Show (Adibs), to be held from October 17 to 20, is already making waves internationally, being the largest ever gathering of leisure marine and luxury yachting professionals and enthusiasts in Abu Dhabi. The inaugural edition of the event, which is expected to attract over 180 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors featuring over 75 berthed boats, is supported by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and Abu Dhabi Ports, and will highlight the opportunities in the leisure marine market of Abu Dhabi.



Another much-awaited event is the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (Adihex), to be held from September 25 to 29 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The 16th edition of the event will offer visitors a unique opportunity to explore the world of hunting, falconry, equestrian delights, camping, safari, fishing, art and craft and outdoor and marine sport. Adihex is organised by the Emirates Falconers Club and supported by The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD), International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC), The Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) and The Cultural Programs and Heritage Festivals Committee.



The Middle East Games Con, from October 25 to 27, which has doubled in size from the successful 2017 edition, promises an exciting, immersive gaming experience which brings the whole of the GCC gaming community together. Visitors can expect to take part in tournaments, network with other gaming enthusiasts, understand the latest trends in the fast-growing gaming industry and meet with vloggers and gamers.



Sial Middle East and Abu Dhabi Date Palm Exhibition (ADDPE), will be held from December 10 to 12, bringing together the UAEs rich cultural heritage and the worlds fastest growing platform for food, beverage and hospitality companies in the Mena region. Last year, Sial Middle East attracted more than 26,000 participants and 1,072 exhibitors representing 30 different countries.



Oil and Gas professionals in the region will get the unique opportunity to forge partnerships and identify major trends in the industry, when the Abu Dhabi International Exhibition and Conference (Adipec) gets underway from November 12-15, which will provide the ideal platform to initiate productive dialogues, do business and identify solutions to make the industry future-ready.



The five-day IEEE Globecom Conference, to be held from December 9-13, will consist of original paper presentations, workshops, discussions, industry-focused sessions and social events designed to offer an in-depth understanding of the global advancements in the field of communication. It will allow industry professionals the chance to understand the latest trends, exchange best practices and network with global leaders from the industry.



The emirates housing sector will occupy the spotlight in the National Housing Exhibition, to be held from September 18 to 20. A key event that supports the development agenda of the Abu Dhabi Government, the exhibition will attract architects, interior decorators, building contract companies, housing loan providers and other related firms under one roof.



Jewellery and watch lovers will witness a bigger, better edition of the International Jewellery and Watch Show Abu Dhabi. The 26th edition of the show to be held from October 25 to 29, as it showcases an exclusive, collection of the finest pieces and offers visitors a golden chance to meet the faces behind the brands.



These events and conferences will be hosted at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, one of the most technologically advanced and customisable event venues in the region, spanning 133,000-sq-m in accordance with the highest international standards. The Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and the Al Ain Convention Centre attracted a total of 2 million visitors across 442 local, regional and international events in 2017. - TradeArabia News ServiceThe Navy would undertake reconstruction work in two flood-hit areas in Ernakulam district, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said here today.

Admiral Lanba was addressing a gathering at flood ravaged Muttinakam village near here after reviewing relief and rehabilitation work, a Defence release said.

He also highlighted the pivotal role of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) here in shaping the career of naval personnel.

All including himself were connected with Kerala by an umbilical cord as they were all trained under the SNC prior to becoming full-fledged naval personnel, he said.

The Navy Chief said he was closely monitoring the situation over the past several days and that the Navy had deployed its personnel and assets during the devastating floods.

The focus was now on relief activities, he said.

Lanba further said the Indian Navy has selected two villages based on inputs received from the local administration and visits by naval officials wherein rehabilitation initiatives were proposed to be undertaken to restore the area, the release said.

The shortlisted villages are Muttinakam in Varapuzha Panchayat and Cheriya Kadamakudi in Kadamakudi Panchayat in Ernakulam district, it said.

The activities in Muttinakam include reconstruction of a completely damaged house on the river bank and complete renovation of the Sub primary health centre (PHC) and Anganwadi along with furniture, equipment, play equipment and other essential equipment.

The activities in Cheriya Kadamakudi include reconstruction of three houses, renewal of roof of five other houses, construction of an Anganwadi and fitment of a 10 tonnes per day Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant to meet the drinking water requirements of the people in the region.

The RO plant has already been completed and operational for the public since yesterday, the release said.

Rehabilitation kits (800 for Muttinakam and 500 for Cheriya kadmakkudi) containing essential commodities such as clothing, cleaning gear and utensils etc., were distributed on the occasion.

Additionally, some other requirements including the construction of a bridge connecting Pizhala island to Cheriya Kadamakudi hamlet would also be considered and the feasibility explored, the release said.

The Navy Chief has directed SNC to coordinate the rehabilitation activities on behalf of the Navy.

He would be meeting the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tomorrow to discuss any further support required from the Navy to overcome the situation.

Admiral Lanba would also be handing over a cheque of Rs 8.9 crore to CM Disaster Relief Fund as a voluntary contribution from the salaries of naval personnel. Admiral Lanba also interacted with MLAs V D Satheesan and S Sharma, the release said.

Relief materials worth about Rs 25 Lakh were handed over to the Local Self government officials by Reena Lanba, president of Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA).

The Navy had rescued nearly 17,000 people during its nearly fortnight-long 'Operation Madad,' for assisting the state administration and undertaking disaster relief operations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today admitted a petition moved by ousted Chairman Cyrus P against a Mumbai-bench of the company law tribunal order upholding his removal.

Admitting the petition, NCLAT issued notices and said the petition would be heard together with petitions filed by his family's investment firms challenging the removal as well as conversion of into a private company from a public limited firm.

had yesterday filed the petition in his personal capacity, requesting the appellate tribunal to set aside the impugned July 9 order of the

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Fresh fighting erupted in the Libyan capital today after the collapse of a truce, a witness and military source said, after the UN called for calm.

A military officer with forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord said there had been intermittent fighting in Tripoli's southern suburbs.

"A combined force from the ministry of defence and (ministry of) interior of the GNA led an offensive against positions of the 7th Brigade," he said.

The militia had been trying to advance along the road to Tripoli's international airport which has largely been closed since fighting in 2014.

The 7th Brigade supposedly operates under the GNA's defence ministry. But on Monday Interior Minister Abdessalam Ashour said security forces were fighting the militia, which hails from the town of Tarhuna southeast of Tripoli.

Those clashes left at least five people dead and 33 wounded, according to a health ministry toll, before a truce was reached in the evening.

Fighting resumed today in the Salaheddin neighbourhood of southern Tripoli, a resident said.

He reported machine guns and anti-aircraft guns being fired, which could be heard over the phone.

Overnight the UN Support Mission in Libya warned of attempts to "tamper with the security (of) Tripoli and its residents".

"There is no justification for the bloodshed. UNSMIL calls on all to spare lives, stop military mobilisation and allow for mediation," the mission wrote on Twitter.

The UN's plea followed reports that forces from the city of Misrata, 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Tripoli, intended to head to the capital.

Powerful armed groups from Misrata spearheaded the "Fajr Libya" coalition of militias which seized Tripoli in 2014.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted in 2011.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Green Tribunal has directed the Bihar government to constitute a team to check illegal sand mining being carried out during the Monsoon season in Son and Ganga rivers at Koilwar and Patna.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the Secretary, Mines and Mineral, Bihar to constitute a team comprising an officer of the Mines and Mineral Department, the District Magistrate and the SSP Patna to look into the issue and take action in accordance with law within a month.

"According to the applicant, mining during the monsoon is in violation of Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016, further as laid down in Deepak Kumar vs State of Haryana, no mining is permissible without proper planning and management and Environmental Impact Assessment.

"In view of the above, the issue raised in the application needs to be looked into by authorities concerned," the bench said.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Bihar resident Amarshakti against illegal sand mining during the monsoon season in rivers Son and Ganga at Koilwar and Patna in Bihar.

The plea also referred to a article stating that sand mafia was engaged in illegal mining and also annexed photographs in support of its allegations.

The tribunal directed the applicant to send a complete set of papers to the Secretary, Mines and Minerals, Bihar immediately.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The NHRC today issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief, saying standard operating procedure was not "properly followed" in the arrests of five activists and this amounted to a violation of their human rights.

The Maharashtra chief secretary and the director general of police have been asked to submit a 'factual report' in the matter within four weeks.

A senior official of the National Human Rights Commission said the notices were sent after the rights panel took cognisance of the reports of arrests in multiple cities yesterday.

On the basis of the media reports, the Commission has observed that it appears that the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to violation of their human rights, an official said.

Pune Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalit and the upper caste groups at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad on December 31 last year.

A police official said the five arrested are suspected to have Maoist links and had allegedly funded the Elgar Parishad conclave.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein today informed the Assembly that the state government has not received any specific decision of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for development of Advance Landing Ground (ALG) at Anini in Dibang Valley district.

Responding to a question raised in the House during Question Hour by Nationalist Peoples Party (NPP) member Rajesh Tacho, Mein informed that the state government had initiated a proposal to develop an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at Anini through the Defence Ministry.

The deputy commissioner of Dibang Valley was requested by the department in June 2015 to confirm availability of suitable land with clear surroundings and without any obstructions on both ends of longitudinal directions for clear approach and takeoff.

He said the DC informed that land of size 1.47 km X 70 meters with clear surroundings is available at Aleney and accordingly the matter was taken up with the Indian Air Force (IAF) authorities for conducting pre-feasibility study of the site in May 2016 so that the site proposal could be moved to the Defence ministry.

"The Indian Air Force is yet to conduct the study," he said and added that the Defence ministry has taken up lots of projects in the state as per priority during the past few years and developed ALGs at Ziro, Pasighat, Tuting, Walong and Mechuka while, works on Vijaynagar ALG will start soon," Mein said.

Responding to a supplementary, the deputy chief minister informed that, "airport is constructed and developed under Civil Aviation ministry and construction of new airport has very stringent criteria ....

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The state assembly elections would be held after the end of its tenure next year, said Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar today, putting to rest the speculations on synchronising it with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"The Vidhan Sabha elections in the state will be held on time," Khattar said, adding there was no move to hold the assembly polls with the 2019 general elections.

The Haryana assembly polls are due in October next year.

The chief minister exuded confidence that the BJP would again form governments both in the state and the Centre after the next election.

"I am confident the BJP will form governments both at the Centre as well as in Haryana for the second consecutive term," he added.

Khattar said during the tenure of the present BJP government in the state, various initiatives were taken "not only to ensure the development of the state but also to bring about a positive change in the mindset of the people".

"We have done a lot in this direction but still more needs to be done. We will not stop and will undertake more work in our second tenure," he added.

Replying to a question, Khattar said his party would decide as to who would be the BJP's face during the next assembly elections.

He said his objective behind contesting election was not to become the chief minister but to serve the people of the state.

Khattar was interacting with reporters on the sidelines of 'Shaurya Samman-Haryana' organised to honour Haryana police personnel for their exemplary works in ensuring the safety and security of the citizens.

Khattar said for the last four years, he spent considerable time to review the progress of various schemes in the state and stayed around with the people "rather than camping in Delhi to settle political scores as my predecessors used to do."



He said the efforts were being made to secure the Supreme Court order for early execution of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal so that Haryana could get its legitimate share of the river water.

"The Supreme Court has already given its decision in Haryana's favour but Punjab is creating unnecessary hurdles in giving water to Haryana," he said.

"Efforts are being made to ensure that matter is resolved amicably," he added.

On the issue of Chandigarh, the common capital of both Haryana and Punjab, he said the issue dated back to 1966 when Haryana was carved out of Punjab.

The issue of Chandigarh should have been decided at the same time, he said, adding "Haryana has staked its claim over Chandigarh and we are not going to retreat."



The chief minister said he has recommended setting up of a tri-city development board on the lines of NCR Planning Board so that the residents of Panchkula, Mohali and Chandigarh do not lack various amenities.

"I would take up this issue with the Union Home Ministe and other Central ministers to make necessary arrangements for Tri-city," he added.

Khattar also said the state government has laid special emphasis on further improving the policing system in the State.

"As the police is considered the face of the government, we have implemented a transparent recruitment process... Similarly, the participation of women in policing has increased from 6 per cent to 8 per cent and it would be further increased to 20 per cent," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh today called on Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik here and apprised him about the overall security situation in the valley, officials said.

Singh assured the governor of the Army's full support in maintaining peace and harmony in the state, an Army official said.

Singh, who has undertaken extensive tour to review operational preparedness of troops along the Line of Control (LoC) and hinterland, shared his views with the governor, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.

The governor and the army commander also reviewed the situation along the International Border and the Line of Actual Control.

Malik stressed that all security forces must act with complete co-ordination and synergy to achieve effective security on the ground, the spokesperson said.

Earlier in the day, the army commander accompanied by Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen A K Bhatt visited units deployed in Hinterland in north Kashmir and also along the LoC.

He was briefed on the prevailing security scenario and he complimented the troops for their relentless efforts in maintaining an impregnable counter infiltration and counter terrorism grid.

Expressing his satisfaction at the operational preparedness of the units, the army commander conveyed his appreciation to all the soldiers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The NCP dubbed demonetisation as a "farce" today which was meant to "fool" the people on a day the RBI said that 99.3 per cent of the scrapped currencies have returned to the banking system.

According to the apex bank, of Rs 15.41 lakh crore--in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000--that were in circulation on November 8, 2016, when the note ban was announced, Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned to the banking system.

This meant that only Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency failed to return to the system.

Demonetisation of higher value currencies was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The RBI report has proved that demonetisation decision was a farce, meant to fool people. If 99.3 per cent of the demonetised notes have returned to the banking system, have the objectives claimed by the government behind the decision been fulfilled?" Munde questionned while speaking to reporters here.

The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council said the note ban adversely affected the economy, the job scenario as well as the industry, especially the small scale industry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nationalist Peoples Party MLA, Tapang Taloh today asked the state government about the criteria of appointment of Public Distribution System nominees for supplying PDS items.

Raising the issue during a half an hour discussion in the House, Taloh alleged that a government employee had been appointed as PDS nominee and in another case a nominee is the wife of a sitting minister.

He demanded that the minister resign from the post on moral ground. Taloh, however, did not revealed the name of the minister.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to root out corruption through good governance but what is happening in Arunachal Pradesh is really unfortunate," Taloh said and demanded for a fair inquiry into the matter.

He also suggested for constituting a committee to unearth the ground reality.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Kamlung Mossang informed the House that the department did not have any information regarding any government employee acting as PDS carriage contractor.

Giving a chronology of events, the minister disclosed that during 2004, a PIL was filed in the Gauhati High Court by the chairman of Arunachal Citizens Right (ACR) and vice chairman of NEFA Indigenous Human Rights Organisation (NIHRO) against the private carriage contractors appointed by the state government.

"The period of misappropriation of PDS fund pertains to 2002-2004. As per the direction of the High Court, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the state police investigated the case and submitted the list of accused persons directly to the trial court at North Lakhimpur in Assam where trial is going on," Mossang said.

He added that a few government employees were charge-sheeted and the department would initiate appropriate action against them after the court pronounced its final verdict.

Mossang said that after 2007-08, no district carriage contractors have been appointed for supplying PDS item and as per the criteria only registered cooperative societies could be recommended by the respective deputy commissioners of the districts to be appointed as carriage contractors.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net

Prominent activists and public intellectuals houses were raided and the activists and intellectuals who were critical of the government were arrested on false charges on August 28, 2018.

The raids that started from 6 am were done simultaneously at different parts of the country at the houses of Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi, Anala Kumaranth in Hyderabad, Anand Tetlumbde in Goa and Prof Satyanarayana in Hyderabad and arrests of Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Kranthi Tekula and others is seen as an attempt by the government to strike terror among those who are fighting for justice for the marginalised and silence all voices of dissent.

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The Government has invented a false enemy in order to polarise the 2019 polls and gain votes in their favour. The activists condemning this move by the government have drawn the attention of the public towards the fact that after arresting activist Sudha Bhardwaj, the Delhi Police actually awaited the arrival of a TV channel to sensationalise the matter and also demonise the activists.

The Committee for the release of political prisoners in their press release stated that this is also a ploy to extend the custody of the 5 activists who were arrested under false charges in the Bhima Koregaon violence on Dalits. The committee also stated that the law upholders have been malicious and behaved with brutality with utter disregard to law.

Human Rights defenders of various organisations, documentary makers, journalists, students unions, academicians , lawyers, members of legislative assembly, writers, civil rights organisations like Civil liberties monitoring committee, Integrated India, Committee for the release of political prisoners have all strongly condemned these arrests made by the Government terming it as a direct attack on democracy and totally unjust. They compared it to be an emergency like situation.

The press release by the activists also stated that this seems like a conspiracy to divert attention from the gravity of the Sanatan Sanstha conspiracy to carry out serial bomb attacks on Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi! The same Sanatan Sanstha was also involved in the murder of Gauri Lankesh, as per the ongoing investigations by Karnataka police. Todays arrests have been carried out in order to give cover to the murderers of Gauri Lankesh. By arresting people who stood for justice and rights, the BJP is only exposing its insecurities and its intolerance to any dissent or criticism of its policies.

There is a strong demanded for the immediate release of all the arrested individuals and to drop all false charges against them by the human rights defenders groups all over India.Actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna, son of Telugu cinema giant and thrice chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N T Ramarao, died in a car crash in Telengana's Nalgonda district today, police and hospital officials said. He was 62.

Two others who were in the car with Harikrishna sustained injuries, Nalgonda police said.

The former Rajya Sabha member and brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was on way to Nellore district for a wedding when his car rammed the road divider on Nalgonda highway.

The impact was so great that the vehicle got flung over the median barrier to the opposite side of the highway where it smashed against another car.

The TDP politburo member, the fourth son of N T Ramarao, sustained serious head injury and internal bleeding and he was immediately taken to a private hospital at Narkatpally.

"He sustained severe head injuries. We tried our best to save him but we could not," Shashidhar Kamineni, managing director of Kamineni Hospitals said.

His last rites will be performed with official honours, government sources said citing Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Harikrishnas body was brought to his residence in Hyderabad where leaders and ministers from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh paid their homage.

A senior police official said quoting Harikrishna's co-passengers that the TDP leader was at the wheel when the accident occurred. He apparently lost control while drinking water from a bottle, the officer said speaking on condition of anonymity.

Harikrishna, who made his acting debut in 1964 as a child artiste in 'Sri Krishnavataram', had acted in a number of Telugu movies including 'Seetayya' and 'Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo', bagging the Nandi Award for best character actor for his role in the latter.

His sons Kalyanram and Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as Junior NTR, are Telugu filmstars. His another son Janakiram had died in a road accident in 2014.

Harikrishna, who was a minister in the N Chandrababu Naidu government in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 1996, had a bitter falling-out with his brother-in-law and floated his own party Anna TDP in 1998. The two later made peace and Harikrishna returned to the TDP.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2008 but resigned in 2013 to protest the state's bifurcation and creation of Telangana.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu condoled Harikrishna's death, saying he was saddened by the tragedy.

"As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly. My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief," he said in a tweet.

Chandrababu Naidu said Harikrishna's death was a "deep loss" to the TDP and Andhra Pradesh.

Chandrababu Naidu, former union minister and Harikrishnas sister Purandheswari and brother and Hindupur MLA Balakrishna visited the hospital.

"Beginning as a child artist, Harikrishna donned many roles in Telugu movies and endeared himself to people. As a political leader too, he rendered commendable services. His tragic death is a deep loss to the TDP and the state," the Andhra Pradesh chief minister said in a statement.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao also mourned the untimely demise of Harikrishna, an official release said. Rao recalled his political and cinematic achievements.

Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy expressed shock at the sudden death of Harikrishna.

"Shocked at the sudden demise of Nandamuri Harikrishna. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family members," Reddy said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna, son of Telugu cinema giant and thrice chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N T Ramarao, died in a car crash in Telengana's Nalgonda district today, police and hospital officials said. He was 62.

The former Rajya Sabha member and brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was on way to Nellore district for a wedding when his car rammed the road divider on Nalgonda highway.

The impact was so great that the vehicle got flung over the median barrier to the opposite side of the highway. The TDP politburo member apparently died from serious head injury and internal bleeding.

"Harikrishna suffered severe head injury. Also we suspect internal bleeding. However, the exact cause of death is yet to be ascertained," Ameer Khan, the Duty Medical Officer of Kamineni Hospitals at Narkatpally told PTI.

Harikrishna, who made his acting debut in 1964 as a child artiste in 'Sri Krishnavataram', had acted in a number of Telugu movies including 'Seetayya' and 'Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo', bagging the Nandi Award for best character actor for his role in the latter.

His sons Kalyanram and Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as Junior NTR, are Telugu filmstars. His another son Janakiram had died in a road accident in 2014.

Harikrishna, who was a minister in the N Chandrababu Naidu government in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 1996, had a bitter falling-out with his brother-in-law and floated his own party Anna TDP in 1998. The two later made peace and Harikrishna returned to the TDP.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2008 but resigned in 2013 to protest the state's bifurcation and creation of Telangana.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu condoled Harikrishna's death, saying he was saddened by the tragedy.

"As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly. My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief," he said in a tweet.

Chandrababu Naidu said Harikrishna's death was a "deep loss" to the TDP and Andhra Pradesh.

"Beginning as a child artist, Harikrishna donned many roles in Telugu movies and endeared himself to people. As a political leader too, he rendered commendable services. His tragic death is a deep loss to the TDP and the state," the chief minister said in a statement.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao also mourned the untimely demise of Harikrishna, an official release said. Rao recalled his political and cinematic achievements.

Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy expressed shock at the sudden death of Harikrishna.

"Shocked at the sudden demise of Nandamuri Harikrishna. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family members," Reddy said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Rajya Sabha MP Nandamuri Harikrishna, the son of N T Rama Rao and brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district today, the police said.

The 62-year-old was going to Kavali in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a wedding when his car rammed into the divider on the Nalgonda Highway and flipped on the other side, a police official said.

"Harikrishna suffered severe head injury. Also we suspect internal bleeding. However, exact cause of the death is yet to be ascertained," Duty Medical Officer of Kamineni Hospitals at Narkatpally, Ameer Khan told PTI.

However, the official said they are yet to get a clear picture as to what exactly happened.

Harikrishna was an actor and had acted in several Telugu movies. His sons, Kalyanram and Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as Junior NTR are also famous Telugu stars.

Actor and politician N T Rama Rao served as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for three terms.

Harikrishna had served as minister in Chandrababu Nadiu's cabinet in late 1990s.

In 2014, Harikrishna's another son Janakiram had died in a road accident in undivided Nalgonda district.

Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu said he was saddened by the tragic death of Harikrishna.

"As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly.My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief," he said in a tweet.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed his condolences on the untimely demise of Harikrishna, an official release said.

The chief minister recalled the services of late Harikrishna in political and cinema fields.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police today initiated a preliminary investigation into a complaint by a nun, who has accused a Roman Catholic Bishop of raping her, alleging that she had received death threats on phone from unknown persons.

In her complaint filed at Kuravilangad police station, the nun has alleged that she had received death threats on phone from the unknown persons two months ago, police said.

A preliminary probe has been launched on the basis of her complaint, police said.

Further steps would be taken after examining the call records, they said.

Earlier, the nun had lodged a complaint with Kottayam district police, accusing Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal of raping and having unnatural sex with her multiple times between 2014 and 2016.

A special team probing the case has said as per the initial investigation of the police, Mulakkal abused his position and repeatedly raped the nun.

Responding to a petition seeking speedy investigation, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kottayam, K Subhash had informed the Kerala High Court on August 13 that the probe was proceeding effectively and impartially.

The police, in a statement prepared based on initial investigation and available evidence, had said it was revealed that the Bishop committed unnatural offence and committed rape repeatedly on the nun against her will.

The bishop confined the nun to a guest room in St Francis Mission Home in Kuravilangad in Kottayam district of Kerala, the statement had alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The arrest of prominent Left-wing activists was condemned by several opposition leaders and people from different walks of life today, with some of them terming it as a "manifestation of autocracy".

The Maharashtra Police had yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, in a tweet today, said he has no sympathy whatsoever for Maoism, but freedom of thought, belief and expression were fundamental rights in any democracy.

"To arrest activists who have neither committed nor facilitated violence is to betray our democracy. This is not the India that Gandhiji fought to free," he said.

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said he condemns the arrests of human rights activists, a lawyer and a poet.

"I will strongly disagree with those who hold extreme left or extreme right views, but I will defend his right to hold that view. That is the essence of freedom," he said.

"Anyone holding extreme views is punishable only if he indulges in violence or incites violence or aids and abets violence in support of his ideology," he added.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav also strongly condemned the arrests.

"Anyone who defends human rights, raises concerns about atrocities against poor and condemn authoritarian regime is arrested in RSS's New India. Remember, Fascism will not last longer," he said in a tweet.

Dalit leader and Independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani slammed the arrests and said that the move was "nothing less than emergency".

"Had Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Sadar Patel been with us today, they would have surely appeared as lawyers for all these human rights activists who are arrested by Pune police dubbing them as maoists. This is nothing less than emergency, indeed," he tweeted.

Near simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the official.

Congress' communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala hit out at the government over the arrests, saying, "'I am the State' is the loud cry that has been heard by the activists who were swooped, raided and arrested."



"Cracking down on NGO's by the 'State' due to ideological differences is the manifestation of Autocracy! Deeply disturbing for Democracy. Reprehensible & Deplorable!" he said.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi termed the arrests as "systematic harassment" of civil rights activists.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha, in a tweet, said, "They are silencing & persecuting all opposition before 2019. First they came for AAP and we were silent, they came for dissenting intellectuals we were silent, now they've come for social activists and lawyers, how long can we remain silent, who is next?"



Actress and activist Swara Bhaskar condemned the arrests and raids, saying Indian jails were "only for writers, human rights activists and academics... And doctors who saved the lives of children."Leftist economist Prabhat Patnaik said the incident was a "sign of nervousness" of the government as it was loosing support of farmers, workers and among people at large.

People's Union for Civil Liberties, a human rights body, said they were "nothing but a targeted crackdown and attack by the police and state on civil liberties and democratic rights activists across the country".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking a dig at the Opposition's unity bid, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today described it as a Chipko movement.

Speaking in the state assembly, Adityanath indirectly referred to efforts by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party to work out an electoral understanding ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls.

"A sort of Chipko movement is presently underway in the state, he said, invoking the environment conservation movement in which volunteers hugged trees.

But he also referred to the differences between the parties, saying the SP will not accept Rahul Gandhi as prime minister.

The Opposition had earlier walked out of the House accusing the government of faking cases against Dalits.

Adityanath was taking part in the discussion on the supplementary budget of Rs 34,833 crore, later passed by the House. It had earlier approved the main annual budget of Rs 4.26 lakh crore.

The chief minister accused the opposition parties of stalling the proceedings of the House and claimed there was uneasiness among them.

He said the people had given these parties the right to sit on the opposition benches, but they feared they will lose that as well.

He countered the opposition charge that crime had risen under his watch.

"There has not been a single riot in the past 16 months, investments are coming in. It's the best in 15 years," he said.

Adityanath said those who couldn't see an improvement in the law and order situation in the state suffered from a "vision disorder".

He accused the previous SP government of attempting to withdraw the cases of those facing terror charges.

Adityanath countered the SP charge that his BJP government had 'hijacked' the Purvanchal Expressway project, saying the previous government had not acquired even 25 per cent of the needed land.

Attacking the SP and the BSP, the chief minister said Dalits and others had failed to get the benefits of the various schemes under their governments.

He said his government was working for the all-round development of the state while the previous one worked for the betterment of a handful of its own people.

Adityanath said it was because of the coordinated effort of various departments that the number of encephalitis deaths in Gorakhpur had come down remarkably.

While 86 children had died in August last year, this time around only six have died," he said.

He said the conditions in Congress strongholds of Amethi and Rae Bareli too had improved under the BJP government.

Adityanath announced that a medical university and several schemes will be named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died on August 16.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The entire opposition staged a walkout in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly today, accusing the state government of framing Dalits in fake cases.

BSP legislature party leader Lalji Verma alleged that party members, including former MLA Yogesh Verma, were booked under false charges during a protest in April against the dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Lalji Verma raised the issue through an adjournment motion.

There were angry exchanges when Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath urged the Chair to allow a BJP MLA to speak on the issue. Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary objected, saying only those had given notice should be allowed to speak.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said Yogesh Verma had led the protesters who indulged in violence during the Bharat Bandh in April.

"Yogesh Verma is a habitual criminal, he alleged. Cases have been lodged against him in the past also when BJP was not in power."



But the BSP members said he was not even present when the violence took place in Meerut, but was being targeted as his wife had won the mayoral polls defeating a BJP nominee.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress later staged a walkout, making noisy exit from the House.

Opposition members also held a protest outside the Assembly hall, raising slogans against the government.

There were several incidents of violence in Meerut during the Bharat Bandh. One person was killed and a police post was torched.

One person had also died in Muzaffarnagar during the protests.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 28-year old post-graduate medical student of a private college near here was today found dead in his rented house, police said.

Parivendan, a third year student, was found lying unconscious in his bed in the house and police, alerted by neighbours, rushed him to the medical college hospital, where doctors said he had already died.

The cause of the death was under investigation, police said.

The medico belonged to Tiruchengode in Namakkal district of neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) today approached the Gujarat High Court, seeking a direction to police to allow people to meet its leader Hardik Patel who has launched an indefinite fast.

The Patidar leader sat on the fast at his residence near here to press for quota for his community and other demands. His protest entered the fifth day today.

The petition alleged that police were not allowing people to visit him at his residence in Greenwood Society.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow.

The petition likened the city police to "Gestapo" (the secret police in Nazi Germany), and challenged legality of the action of Joint Commissioner of Police Vishwakarma and other officers in not allowing people to meet Patel.

Police have no right to restrain anyone from entering Hardik's own residence, it said.

Former member of parliament Dinesh Trivedi and 28 Congress MLAs who paid Patel a visit were "restrained and misbehaved with", the petition alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's Supreme Court today rejected the affidavits submitted by former presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Pervez Musharraf regarding their assets and ordered them to submit within three weeks the details of properties and bank accounts owned by them in the past 10 years.

A three-member bench hearing a petition regarding the 2007 National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), passed by Musharraf in 2007, also directed the two leaders to disclose the details of assets of their spouses and children both in Pakistan as well as abroad, Dawn reported.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar ordered Zardari, Musharraf and former attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum to submit complete details of their assets and bank accounts held inside and outside the country in the past 10 years within three weeks, the paper said.

Zardari, 63, served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 while Musharraf, 75, took power in 1999 by toppling the government of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ruled until 2008 when he was forced to step down.

The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

The case was launched in 2013 and Musharraf was subsequently indicted but he left for Dubai on March 2016 for medical treatment.

During today's hearing, Zardari's counsel Farooq Naek said the PPP co-chairman had spent nine years in jail but "nothing could be proven" against him. He said Zardari should get some sort of compensation for the nine-year prison sentence.

Chief Justice Nisar responded that Zardari could only achieve the reward in the form of clearance by the apex court and that the prison sentence did not translate into an exemption from disclosing his assets, the paper said.

The court asked Naek whether Zardari ever held bank accounts in his name, or in the names of his wife - slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto - or children, in Switzerland. Naek replied that he would respond to the question after consulting Zardari, according to the paper.

Rejecting the affidavit submitted by the former president, Chief Justice Nisar then ordered Zardari to submit details of all his local and foreign assets since 2007, including whether he owns or is the beneficial owner of any trust, or is the direct or indirect owner or shareholder of any bank account, the paper said.

In his affidavit submitted yesterday, Zardari had affirmed that he owns neither moveable or immovable property nor any bank account outside Pakistan.

Musharraf's lawyer Akhtar Shah informed the court that the only property the former ruler owned abroad is an apartment in Downtown Dubai worth 5.4 million dirhams, the paper said.

A statement of assets and liabilities submitted by Musharraf to the court stated that he owns three vehicles, including a 2015 model Mercedes.

He has three foreign bank accounts holding 92,100 dirhams, 21,550 pounds and 268,653 dirhams.

Justice Nisar wondered whether Musharraf could purchase the Dubai flat from "even the salary of his entire life". He said Musharraf should appear before the court in person and explain his assets, the paper reported.

Shah maintained that Musharraf's foreign assets are from his days after stepping down as the president.

Chief Justice Nisar then asked the lawyer whether one could make so much money from giving lectures, which Musharraf is seen occasionally delivering.

"Why don't I start giving lectures after retirement as well?" he wondered, tongue-in-cheek.

The top judge then asked who owned the farmhouse in the Islamabad suburb of Chak Shahzad, to which the counsel responded that it was owned by Musharraf.

The bench then ordered the counsel to submit details of assets held by Musharraf and his wife in Pakistan within three weeks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net

A peaceful protest against the arrests of revolutionary writer Vara Vara Rao of Hyderabad and other activists across the nation was interrupted by the state police of Hyderabad when about 250 policemen and policewomen rushed to the venue Tank Bund, Ambedkar Statue and started pushing people in the police vans. There were human rights activists and other citizens who had gathered to demand the release of the activists arrested in Hyderabad, Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and other places.

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The police shoved them in the vans and took them to different police stations in the city. And as more and more people are gathering the police are continuing with their task of rounding them up and pushing in the police vans.

At the police station also the activists were heard shouting slogans condemning the injustice and demanding the release of the activists arrested yesterday.

Kaneez Fatima, a prominent human rights activist spoke to TwoCircles.net from Begum Bazar Police station. We were gathering at the Ambedkar Statue and as soon as we reached, the police did not allow us to stand even for 5 minutes. They pushed us all into the vans. In fact, there were already around 10 police vans waiting, she toldTwoCircles.net.

Another activist Sajaya Kakarla said, The police came upon us heavily even before we reached the statue and began pushing us. We protested their rude behavior and told them they had no right to touch us. And many of us here are senior citizens and will get in the van. But the women constables took no heed and pushed some of our colleagues roughly. Rama Melkote, a retired professor from Osmania University and a senior writer and feminist who is 79 years of age has recently had a knee surgery and the policewomen rudely shoved her in the van almost making her fall. Now Rama is in Nampally PS along with others.Thousands of Islamists in Pakistan launched a march toward the capital today to protest a far-right Dutch lawmaker's plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest later this year.

Pakistan's newly elected government has denounced the contest, calling it an attempt to defame Islam. Physical depictions of God or the prophet, even positive ones, are forbidden in Islam and considered deeply offensive.

The protest was organised by Islamist groups that made surprising gains in Pakistan's July elections. An estimated 10,000 protesters took part in the march, chanting "we will die to protect the honour of the prophet." The protesters refused demands from authorities to confine their rally to the eastern city of Lahore, where it began. They are expected to reach Islamabad tomorrow.

The cartoon contest is being organized by Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch lawmaker with a history of incendiary remarks about Islam. The Dutch government has distanced itself from the event while saying it is committed to free speech.

Pakistan's new prime minister, Imran Khan, has largely sided with the protesters, vowing to take the matter to the United Nations. His government has summoned the Dutch ambassador to lodge a formal protest, but has so far dismissed calls to expel the envoy. Tehreek-i-Labaik, a hard-line Islamist group that helped organise the protests, supported Khan's bid to be prime minister.

Tehreek-i-Labaik disrupted life in Islamabad with a three-week rally last year against an omitted reference to the prophet in a constitutional bill. Organisers say this time they will disperse after a daylong protest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Members of a Pakistani Islamist group that made surprising gains in last month's national elections are preparing to march toward Islamabad to rally against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition in November.

Muslims across Pakistan have denounced the contest, calling it an attempt to defame Islam because physical depictions of God or the Prophet Muhammad, even positive ones, are forbidden in the religion.

Today's rally will be the first test of how Pakistan's new prime minister, Imran Khan, interacts with the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan party, which supported Khan in the July 25 vote.

Khan has sought international support against the cartoon competition and his government has lodged a protest with the Dutch ambassador but resisted demands to expel him.

Tehreek-i-Labaik in 2017 disrupted life in Islamabad by rallying against an omitted reference to the Prophet in a constitutional bill.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A video purportedly showing a village panchayat member thrashing a primary school student at a village in Kutch district of Gujarat has gone viral on social media, prompting the authorities to initiate an inquiry into the incident.

The man, a member of Raydhanpar village panchayat in Bhuj taluka, also happens to be a member of the panchayat's school management committee. He was caught in a CCTV camera beating up a class VII student yesterday.

After the video went viral, the Kutch district authorities initiated an inquiry and said action will be taken against the man, identified as Mada Baradiya, by the district development officer (DDO).

In the video, Baradiya is seen dragging a student and slapping and kicking him several times.

The video shows another student trying to intervene, although it fails to prevent him from beating up the boy with a stick. After a while, he drags the boy inside a classroom and beats him up there, before leaving the room. Meanwhile, teachers are seen standing as mute spectators.

"We received the video this morning, and we have initiated an inquiry. Since the man is a member of the gram panchayat, we will send the report to the district development officer for further action against him," district primary officer Sanjay Parmar said.

"The incident took place during the recess yesterday, and the man is identified as the school management committee member and a gram panchayat member. We have launched an inquiry and the report will be sent to the DDO today," he said.

Baradiya apparently lost his cool after the boy used some abusive word, Parmar said.

He said parents of the boy came to complain about the incident and sought strong action against Baradiya.

They also demanded that the man should be barred from entering the school premises henceforth, he said.

"We have promised that strong action will be taken against him. The DDO will also appeal to the department in this regard," Parmar said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today said that an expert committee, set up by the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to deal with the issues relating to solid waste management in Delhi would have to meet every working day for the first two week after which the court would review the situation.

A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur did not agree with the proposal put forth by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand, appearing for the office of the LG, that the committee should meet twice a week.

The apex court said the names of its members should be submitted to it so that they could not be transferred mid-way.

"Let them (committee) meet everyday for the first two weeks. It would be five days a week. We will take it immediately after two weeks. After two weeks, we will review," the bench, also comprising justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, said.

The ASG told the bench that the committee had held a meeting yesterday and there was a proposal that the panel should meet twice a day.

She said that subsequently, if the need arises, the panel would held meeting more frequently.

The ASG said that senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, has given two more names today to be included in the committee.

"That is too much. We cannot make it a bulky exercise. Persons having commercial interest cannot be allowed (in the committee)," she told the bench.

The bench also told the amicus that he cannot change the list containing names of persons to be included as members in the committee like this.

When the amicus said he has suggested two more names, the bench observed, "No, it cannot be done. If everyday you will give a list, it cannot function".

The amicus said that he wants that the committee should have a national perspective and one of the two names suggested by him was of an officer of the Chhattisgarh government.

The bench, however, said that it cannot agree on this as the officer would have to travel from Chhattisgarh to Delhi.

Gonsalves said that people like chairperson of New Delhi Municipal Corporation, Commissioners of the three municipal corporations in Delhi have been made members of the committee by the LG but none of them would be in a position to come and attend the meetings of the panel.

To this, the bench told the ASG, "Some of these persons are important and they might not be able to come (for the meeting)".

Justice Lokur observed that in the year 2000, the court had formed a committee where all "big guns" of IT industry were named as members but the panel could not meet even once.

When the ASG said that in the yesterday's meeting all members of the committee were present and sometimes one or two member might not be able to attend the meeting, the bench said, "That will not be fair to the committee".

The bench also told the ASG that they could "come down by one step" and have those officers in the committee who could attend the deliberations on daily basis.

The ASG said that she would get back to the court on this tomorrow.

The court had earlier observed that the issue of solid waste management in Delhi was "serious" and the committee would have to meet on a day-to-day basis to take stock of the situation.

The top court had on August 17 asked the LG to constitute a committee to go in- depth into all aspects of solid waste management in Delhi including cleaning up the landfill sites at Gazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla and frame a workable and implementable policy.

The issue of waste management had cropped up when the court was dealing with a tragic incident of 2015 in which it had taken cognisance of the death of a seven-year-old boy due to dengue.

The victim had been allegedly denied treatment by five private hospitals here and his distraught parents had subsequently committed suicide.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A panel of senior government officers, which deliberated on the possibility of enacting a new law to check incidents of lynching, has submitted its report to a Group of Ministers headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, officials said today.

The committee of secretaries, headed by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, held consultations with a cross-section of society and other stakeholders before submitting its report to the GoM.

The GoM will now submit its recommendations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a final decision, a home ministry official said.

Though the final outcome of the deliberations of the committee of secretaries is not known immediately, but it is believed they have suggest for tightening the law by inserting clauses in the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure through parliamentary approval.

The panel report will now be discussed by the GoM whose members are External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot.

The home minister is head of the GoM.

The move came after nearly 40 people were lynched in nine states in the past one year.

Last month, the Home Ministry issued advisories to states and Union territories following Supreme Court's directives to check incidents of lynching.

The Centre asked them to appoint an officer in each district at the level of Superintendent of Police, set up a special task force to gather intelligence, and closely monitor social media contents to prevent mob attacks on suspicion of being child-lifters or cattle smugglers.

In its communique to states and UTs, the ministry had said incidents of violence and lynching by mobs in some parts of the country fuelled by various kinds of rumours and unverified such as child lifting, theft, cattle smuggling etc, are a matter of serious concerns.

Such instances of persons taking the law in their hands run against the basic tenets of the rule of law, it said.

"All state governments, UT administrations and their law enforcement agencies are requested to implement the directions of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar today accused former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal of "saving" his son Sukhbir Badal and "sacrificing" himself in the sacrilege of religious texts case and the following police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan.

Jakhar said he was making these claims on the basis of the findings in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report, according to which the former CM was "aware" of the proposed police action in the dispersing of protesters at Kotkapura in Faridkot.

"Sukhbir is being shielded by senior Badal. Parkash knows that he and his son are directly involved in the atrocious and unpardonable act", Jakhar said, while speaking to reporters here.

Just before his retirement, former DGP Sumedh Saini, in his reply to the commission, had admitted to talking to the then CM in connection with the law and order situation in Kotkapura.

"As per Saini's statement, it seems the father (Parkash Badal) is trying to save his son. Sukhbir's role, who also held the charge of home department, should be probed. His name was mentioned at three places in the report but not as home minister. Where was he (Sukhbir) when the firing took place," Jakhar asked.

Jakhar asserted that whoever was involved in the criminal acts will be examined by the special investigation team.

The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) demanded a thorough investigation into the dereliction of duty charges on Sukhbir when discharging duties as state home minister. Sukhbir was the state home minister as well as deputy CM in the last government.

Putting pressure on the Akali Dal, Jakhar, who is also Gurdaspur MP, asked Sukhbir to come clean on the police firing issue.

Jakhar, flanked by two cabinet ministers Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, said the Congress has prepared a charge sheet against Sukhbir.

The state Congress chief demanded Sukhbir come clean on the events leading to the eventual firing at unarmed persons at Behbal Kalan.

Sukhbir should come explain whether he as the home minister ordered the DGP to fire at the peaceful protestors and if not then how did the then DGP Sumedh Singh Saini dare to defy Sukbir's orders, asked Jakhar.

It was Sukhbir who had then appealed to the protestors to perform 'paths' at the site of sacrilege, Jakhar recalled.

People of Punjab need these answers from Sukhbir, who has "failed" the state as home minister as well as the head of the Panthic Party.

MLAs Harminder Gill, Parminder Singh Pinki, Kushaldeep Dhillon were present during Jakhar's interaction with media persons today.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh yesterday announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police to conduct a time-bound probe into the Bargari and other sacrilege cases as well as the firing incidents in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Opposition Congress today demanded that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should hand over the charge to someone as the state's administration is in doldrums.

Parrikar (62), who was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health check-up on August 23, is supposed to fly to the United States for medical treatment tonight.

"The state is in self-imposed emergency situation with no one to man the affairs of the state. High time the charge of CM is handed over to someone or let this alliance quit the government as they have failed to run the government for last six months," Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar said.

The chief minister's office should disclose the facts about Parrikar's health and should put out a detailed "health bulletin", he demanded.

With uncertainty about Parrikar's health and his absence from the state, there has been "complete constitutional failure as well as administration failure" in the state, Chodankar claimed.

Many portfolios are still not filled, and as Parrikar is unwell since February and has remained out of Goa frequently (for treatment), he should hand over the charge to some other minister, the Congress leader demanded.

The BJP is not willing to hand over the charge to somebody else due to "dearth of people with leadership quality" and the fear that there would be a rebellion in the party, he claimed.

Majority of portfolios are handled by the chief minister, he pointed out.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted at a private hospital in Mumbai, would be flown to the US tonight for further medical treatment, his office said today.

Parrikar, 62, underwent treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June. He went there again for a follow-up earlier this month.

He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health checkup on August 23, a day after he returned from the US, and was scheduled to return to Goa today.

However, a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office said Parrikar will leave for USA from Mumbai in a flight tonight.

The official refused to divulge any further details about the chief minister's health.

He said, "The official charge of the post of chief minister will remain with him (Parrikar). There is no need to hand over the charge to anyone."



Parrikar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 7 and sought his intervention to address the current crisis in the state's mining sector.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today his participation in the BIMSTEC summit in Kathmandu signals India's highest priority to its neighbourhood and a strong commitment to continue deepening ties with the "extended neighbourhood" in South-East Asia.

Modi will be in the Nepal capital on a two-day visit on August 30-31, to participate in the 4th BIMSTEC summit.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation is an international organisation of seven nations of South Asia and South East Asia. Its members are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal.

In a statement before leaving for Nepal, Modi said he will interact with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand on the margins of the summit.

"I also look forward to meeting Prime Minister of Nepal K P Sharma Oli and reviewing the progress we have made in our bilateral ties since my last visit to Nepal in May 2018," he said.

Modi said he and Oli will inaugurate the Nepal Bharat Maitri Dharmashala at the Pashupatinath temple complex.

"My participation in the summit symbolises India's highest priority to our neighbourhood and our strong commitment to continue deepening our relationship with the extended neighbourhood in South-East Asia," he said.

He said he will interact with all the leaders of BIMSTEC "to further enrich our regional cooperation, enhance our trade ties and advance our collective efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal region".

The Summit theme, the PM said, 'Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region' will enable the member-countries to shape a collective response to their common aspirations and challenges.

"I am confident that the 4th BISMTEC summit will further consolidate the progress made thus far under BIMSTEC, and will chart the course for building a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal Region," Modi said in his statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) today said a patent violation complaint has been filed against the home grown utility vehicles major by Fiat Chrysler Automobile US, LLC, at US-based International Trade Commission (ITC).

The complaint alleges that certain design features of the details of Mahindra ROXOR infringe the intellectual property rights of Fiat's Jeep design as it was modelled after the original Willys Jeep, M&M said in a regulatory filing.

The company believes that the complaint is without merit, it added.

In response of the complaint, M&M and its subsidiary Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) have filed a public interest statement with the ITC.

"The company and MANA have commenced a proceeding in the Federal District Court at Michigan to enforce the Grill Design Agreement that the company had executed with Fiat in 2009 and to seek an injunction against Fiat from proceeding with the ITC complaint that has been filed by it," M&M said.

Fiat is seeking an order for permanently restraining the company from exporting, and compensation and penalty; MANA from importing, any parts or components which are infringing upon Fiat's intellectual property rights in to the US, it added.

"There is no monetary claim such as compensation and damages sought by them," M&M said.

However, if they succeed in getting a permanent injunction from the company exporting infringing parts or components to the US and MANA importing the same in to the US, the M&M will not be able to sell such parts or components to the US, it added.

Further, the move would impact sales of such parts or components by the company to MANA, M&M said.

Shares of M&M were trading at Rs 989.45 on the BSE, up 1.12 per cent from previous close.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Depiction of killer at about 25 and now/supplied Phenotyping likeness and actual photo

OPP have extended their determined search for the killer of Thera Dieleman, 80, to a modern DNA technique known as phenotyping. It permits the determination of gender, physical characteristics and hair colour as well as racial extraction of the suspect who owns the DNA. OPP are calling the images released Tuesday approximations of the suspect both at the time of the offense and by guesstimate, three decades after the murder of Dieleman in her rural home near Woodstock. There seem to be many clues. The county road outside the womans home was under repair. Dieleman was known to come out and check on work, talking to workers as she did. A large flatbed truck with a red cab was seen in the driveway of the home about the time of the murder. It was described as red with white lettering on the doors, duel rear wheels and black headboard protector in the cab. For reasons unknown, it has never been traced. But OPP Detective Superintendent Ken Leppert said Tuesday human material collected at the time  when the term DNA was barely known  has now been used by a Virginia firm to create this profile with pictures.

Thera Dieleman Dieleman home Similar to the truck seen in drivewayThe Patna High Court today ordered the Bihar School Examination Board to give "one mark" for an unchecked answer in Hindi paper of a girl, who had secured the second rank in the state in matriculation examination last year.

A bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh also slapped a cost of Rs five lakh on the Board, "which, instead of fairly accepting the claim of petitioner had chosen to invite a verdict from the court".

The bench passed the order on the plea of Bhavya Kumari, a resident of Begusarai district and alumni of a girls' residential school at Simultala in Jamui. She had secured 460 marks out of 500 in the examination, the results of which had been declared in June 2017.

The girl had moved the court after perusing her answer scripts secured through a transparency plea under the Right to Information Act.

The girl had claimed under-evaluation of her Hindi, Sanskrit and Social Sciences papers, seeking a direction to the Board for their re-evaluation, but the court made it clear that it would not interfere with the correctness of the experts' decision in evaluating the paper.

The court, however, took exception to the fact that the Board, despite conceding that one of the questions worth one mark in her Hindi paper had not been evaluated, it "put the blame on the child for not applying for scrutiny of her answer sheets."



"The Board... as a statutory body, has acted in most irresponsible manner while contesting the case of the petitioner," said the bench, while allowing the girl's plea and imposing the "exemplary cost" on the Board.

The court ordered the payment of Rs 5 lakh to the principal of the girl's alma mater "within three months", stipulating its use for purchasing books and computers for improvement of the school library.

As a parting note, the court also ordered the BSEB for placing on its website "the answer-sheets of all the top ten scorers in the Board examinations for classes 10 and 12 in future "to minimize the scope for recurrence of such controversies".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A top Pentagon official has cautioned India that there are no guarantees for a special waiver from US sanctions if it buys new weapons platforms from Russia.

Washington is alarmed at the prospect of India, an increasingly important US military ally and the world's top defence importer, buying new systems from Russia, including its S-400 long-range, surface-to-air missile system.

Under current US rules against Russia, third countries could face sanctions if they transact with Russian defence or intelligence sectors.

But after lobbying from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Congress granted the US president and the secretary of state the option of granting waivers, such as when an ally nation transitions from legacy Russian gear to Western arms.

Randall Schriver, the Pentagon's assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said the waiver authority had created the impression Washington would insulate India "from any fallout from this legislation no matter what they do." "I would say that's a bit misleading," Schriver told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace in Washington yesterday.

"We would still have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems (from Russia). I can't sit here and tell you that they would be exempt, that we would use that waiver." Schriver was speaking ahead of a historic summit in New Delhi next week, a first ever "2+2" between India and the United States that will see Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meet with their Indian counterparts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A play that showcased the agony of displaced Kashmiri pandits moved the audience at jampacked Abhinav theatre here.

Poshgoandh (flower bouquet) was presented by director Mahraj K last night in the city.

It portrayed the ground realities of disintegration of families due to migration, that left audience teary-eyed.

"The play represents our lives, a journey from Kashmir to Jammu and agony, that we are going through now as old age people get no care," SantoshKumari, one in the audience, said.

Amid cheers and applause, the audience was spellbound by the performances of the actors.

All the actors performed brilliantly and left a mark on the audience. The actors include Makhan Lal Saraf, CaptainMahraj, Bansi Mattoo, Kusum Tikoo, Rani Bhan, KanwalPeshin, Rohita Razdan, Meenal Peer, Ajay waguzari. Theprogramme was anchored by Bindia Raina Tikoo.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked Finance Ministry officials to ensure that all systems are made technology-driven, which should leave little scope for human intervention, to stem corruption.

The prime minister reviewed the progress in resolution of grievances related to income tax at the monthly meeting of Pragati the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for pro-active governance and timely implementation.

Finance Ministry officials briefed him on the progress made in this regard, an official statement said.

"The prime minister reiterated that all systems should be made technology-driven, and human interface should be reduced to the minimum. Noting the progress made in bringing corrupt officials to book, the prime minister said that the various initiatives and measures taken by the Income Tax Department to facilitate the people, should be communicated to all taxpayers suitably," the statement said.

Today, in the twenty-eighth meeting, Modi reviewed the progress of nine important infrastructure projects in the railway, road, and petroleum sectors.

These projects are spread over several states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The prime minister also reviewed the progress made towards the rollout of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, under Ayushman Bharat. He also reviewed the progress of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.

The 27 Pragati meetings so far have seen a cumulative review of projects with a total investment of more than Rs 11.5 lakh crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Prime Minister's Office received over 12,500 RTI applications during 2016-17, highest since 2012, according to an official data.

There has also been an increase in number of appeals filed by citizens, aggrieved over initial response to their applications from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), it said.

A total of 12,787 applications were filed with the PMO in 2016-17 as against 11,138 in 2015-16 and 12,674 during 2014-15. As many as 7,077 such queries were raised in 2013-14 and 5,828 during 2012-13, the PMO said in response to the RTI query filed by this PTI correspondent.

The PMO was asked to provide details of RTI applications and appeals received by it and also those rejected by it between 2013 and 2018.

A total of 1,306 RTI applications were rejected during 2016-17 as against 2,234 and 2,795 in 2015-16 and 2014-15 respectively. As many as 1,450 such queries were rejected in 2013-14 and 1,130 in 2012-13, according to the data.

"It is stated that the rejection of applications is done as per provisions prescribed in the Right to Information Act," the PMO said.

The RTI Act allows Indian citizens to seek governance-related information from government departments in a time-bound manner. The Act has provisions to raise appeal in case the applicant is not satisfied with the response provided by the government department concerned.

As many as 1,592 appeals were received by the PMO during 2016-17, 1,478 in 2015-16, 1,306 during 2014-15, 701 in 2013-14 and 632 in 2012-13. Of these, 1,098 appeals were rejected in 2016-17, 1,155 in 2015-16, 1,035 during 2014-15, 506 and 493 in 2013-14 and 2012-13 respectively, the PMO said.

"It is stated that appeals filed with this office under the RTI Act are decided on merit of each individual case," it said.

The PMO, however, refused to share total number of RTI applications and appeals pending disposal, saying the "compilation of information will disproportionately divert the public resources".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Superintendent of Police (SP) of Pilibhit district Balendu Bhushan Singh, who was summoned by the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council over 'breach of privilege' after he allegedly failed to take a call from a legislator today tendered his apology.

Presiding Officer Yagyadutt Sharma told the House that a meeting was held at the chairman's room at 10 am in the presence of Chairman Ramesh Yadav, Leader of the House and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, Leader of Opposition Ahmed Hasan (SP) where some other members were also present.

SP, Pilibhit, tendered an oral and written apology to the members present, who in turn authorised the chairman to take a decision in this regard, the presiding officer said. Chairman Yadav accepted the apology tendered by the SP, he added.

The state government was also told that all district magistrates and district police chiefs be informed about the view of the House, and that in future they should show respect towards the members of the House and such instances should not be repeated, he said.

Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council had summoned the police official for allegedly failing to take a call from a legislator.

Chairman Yadav had summoned SP Balendu Bhushan Singh after Samajwadi Party MLC Shatrudra Prakash raised the matter in the House. Prakash said he had called Singh last Tuesday (August 21), but was informed that he had gone somewhere with District Magistrate Akhilesh Mishra.

The MLC said he then called Mishra and asked him to give the phone to the SP. But the police officer did not speak to him, he claimed.

"This amounts to breach of privilege of a member of the Legislative Council and the entire House," Prakash had said yesterday, adding that the SP should be summoned and questioned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Muslims were "selectively targeted" in the wake of the January 26 communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj and the police probe into the violence was "grossly compromised", a report prepared by civil rights activists has alleged.

The report -- Truth of Kasganj -- released today also alleged that there were "inconsistencies" in the police's version of the violence, as documented in the two FIRs, and there were attempts to protect certain people. The activists also demanded a "high-level inquiry" into the clashes.

Former IPS officer S R Darapuri, civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad, Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey, lawyer Shoaib Mohammad and academician Apoorvanand released the report, which is based on a study of the police reports, first-person accounts of affected people, and on-ground visit.

Communal clashes had broken out in the western Uttar Pradesh town after stones were pelted on a 'Tiranga Yatra' taken out to celebrate the Republic Day.

The police had said some people were riding motorcycles carrying the tricolour and were chanting Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai. When they reached a minority community-dominated locality, some "anti-social elements" pelted stones and opened fire. In this firing, a man called Chandan was killed and two others were injured.

The activists concurred with the findings of the report that "Muslims were selectively targeted in the wake of the communal clashes".

They also alleged that there was "discriminatory delivery of justice" to favour and protect certain people, based on a "majoritarian agenda".

The report has been endorsed by a number of civil society groups from India and abroad -- Alliance for Justice and Accountability, New York; Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai; Indian American Muslim Council, Washington DC; Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties, New Delhi; Rihaee Manch, Lucknow; South Asia Solidarity Group, London, and United Against Hate, New Delhi, said Ajit Sahi, who worked on the report.

The police investigation into the violence has been "grossly compromised in a blatant attempt to protect the Hindus and frame the Muslims", the 21-page report alleged, adding, the administration and police "failed" in preventing the violence.

"As enunciated in the report, we demand from the Uttar Pradesh government to terminate the current 'tainted prosecution' of the two charge-sheets, and constitute a high-level official inquiry into the administrative and police failure in preventing the violence and its escalation once the police reached the spot," Setalvad said.

The activists also pledged to move the Allahabad High Court through a PIL, seeking a fresh police investigation directly reporting to and monitored by the court.

They also sought action against the alleged right-wing people from the motorcycle rally and investigation into their "role" in the violence.

Some of the activists also wore a black armband.

Sahi, a journalist, said he visited Kasganj for about two weeks to investigate it. "I later shared my findings with other activists who have worked in Kasganj after violence. They then gave their feedback and inputs, to make the report more robust," he said.

Darapuri, a retired IG, alleged "many inconsistencies" and "distortions" in the police probe.

"There are contradictions in the police reports, and I can tell it because I have served for 30 years in this profession. In fact, some parts appear even foolish, and that so because they were added deliberately in the report, to selectively target and implicate the Muslims to the maximum," he alleged.

The report has also picked several other "holes in the police probe", including, "wrong timing of starting of the scuffle, place where the clashes began, incorrect distance of the crime scene from the police station and the delay in filing of an FIR, 12 hours after the violence".

Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was also scheduled to attend the event, could not, due to professional engagement, the organisers said.

Former JNU leader Umar Khalid, was also one of the panelists, left the venue before the programme could begin.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Muslims were "selectively targeted" in the wake of the January 26 communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh's Kashganj and the police probe into the violence was "grossly compromised", a report prepared by civil rights activists has alleged.

The report -- Truth of Kashganj -- also alleged that there were "inconsistencies" in the police version of the violence and there were attempts to protect certain people. The activists also demanded a "high-level inquiry" into the clashes.

Former IPS officer S R Darapuri, civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad, Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey, lawyer Shoaib Mohammad and academician Apoorvanand released the report, which is based on studying of the police reports and first person accounts of affected people.

Communal clashes had broken out in that western Uttar Pradesh town after stones were pelted on a 'Tiranga Yatra' taken out to celebrate the Republic Day.

The police had said some people were riding motorcycles carrying the tricolour and were chanting Vante Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai. When they reached a minority community-dominated locality, some "anti-social elements" pelted stones and opened fire. In this firing, Chandan was killed and two others were injured.

The activists also alleged that there was "discriminatory delivery of justice" to favour and protect certain people, based on majoritarian agenda.

The report has been endorsed by a number of civil society groups from India and abroad -- Alliance for Justice and Accountability, New York; Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai; Indian American Muslim Council, Washington DC; Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties, New Delhi; Rihaee Manch, Lucknow; South Asia Solidarity Group, London and United Against Hate, New Delhi, said Ajit Sahi, who worked on the report.

The police investigation into the violence has been "grossly compromised in a blatant attempt to protect the Hindus and frame the Muslims", the 21-page report alleged, adding the administrative and police "failed" in preventing the violence.

"As enunciated in the report, we demand from the Uttar Pradesh government to terminate the current 'tainted prosecution' of the two charge-sheets, and constitute a high-level official inquiry into the administrative and police failure in preventing the January 26 violence and its escalation once the police reached the spot," Setalvad said.

The activists also pledged to move the Allahabad High Court through a PIL, seeking a fresh police investigation directly reporting to and monitored by the court.

The activists also sought action against the alleged right-wing people from the motorcycle rally and investigation into their "role" in the violence.

The activists, present during the launch of the report, alleged "many inconsistencies" and "distortions" in the police probe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police did not produce a warrant before searching their house and took away computer hard disks besides mobile phones, Hemalatha, wife of Telugu poet Varavara Rao who was arrested for alleged links with Maoists, alleged today.

She said about 20 police personnel, including two women officials, arrived yesterday.

"They did not produce any warrant. They seized computer hard disks and mobile phones. They also disconnected the intercom system that connects with other flats.

"He (Varavara Rao) was arrested several times earlier also and no case has been established against him... He wants to spread his ideology through the pen (writings), not the gun," Hemalatha told PTI.

She said they initially refused to allow the police to enter their flat at Gandhi Nagar, but they let them in after a local police official informed that they did not need a search or arrest warrant under the sections Rao was booked.

The Telegu poet was arrested by a police team from Pune.

The team also conducted searches at the residences of Rao's two daughters.

Hemalatha alleged that police even seized and took away her grandson's computer hard disk.

Rights activist and senior member of Telangana Civil Liberties Committee G Haragopal flayed Rao's arrest.

Rao was imprisoned on various charges earlier also. His health is a cause of concern now as he has become old, the activist said.

The Maharashtra Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Rao is a founder member of 'Virasam' (revolutionary writerss association).

Over 20 activists of CPI (ML) New Democracy members were taken into custody here when they staged a protest condemning the poet's arrest.

Police said they were later released.

The outfit demanded Rao's immediate release.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Politicians cutting across party lines paid tributes today to Congress veteran Gurudas Kamat at a condolence meeting held here.

The former Union minister, 63, died on August 22 after suffering a heart attack in Delhi.

The Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist was known for his forthrightness throughout his career spanning over four decades,



"In the form of Kamat, we have lost a leader who was loyal to the ideology of the party and one who would stand with grassroot workers. It is a void which can never be filled," Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge said at the meeting.

Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan described Kamat, a resident of suburban Chembur, as a close friend and recalled how he would raise issues concerning Mumbai.

Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, state BJP ministers Vinod Tawde and Prakash Mehta, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Samajwadi Party's Abu Azmi, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar and others also paid tributes to Kamat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.There should not be quota in promotions for higher services as the presumption of backwardness of SC and ST employees vanishes once they join government services, the Supreme Court was today told by the counsel opposing such reservation.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who represents those opposed to quota in promotions, told a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Misra that earlier there was presumption of backwardness with regard to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

"Reservation in promotion is quite different from reservation at entry level where candidates from SC/ST community get the job," Dwivedi said.

He referred to Article 16 of the Constitution and said that the presumption of backwardness was there when the candidates of SC/ST community apply for the jobs and this presumption vanishes with regard to grant of quota in promotions.

Referring to the developments that have taken place post independence, he said that the position of SC/ST communities was not same as it was in 1950.

"The question is whether initial presumption of backwardness is available to communities for all levels even after they become IAS, district judges and secretaries," he told the bench which also comprised Justices Kurian Joseph, R F Nariman, S K Kaul and Indu Malhotra.

Dwivedi said the quota in promotions for SC/ST may be continued for class-IV and class-III services and it should not be allowed to continue for higher services.

The advancing of arguments will continue tomorrow.

Earlier, the top court had questioned the logic behind granting quota in promotions in government jobs to the kith and kin of affluent persons among the SC and ST communities who have been holding high official positions.

It had posed the query as to why the 'creamy layer' principle, used to exclude affluent other backward classes (OBCs) people from enjoying the fruits of reservation, cannot be made applicable to deny quota benefits in promotion to those affluent among the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rubber Board wants to shift its focus from increasing rubber cultivation to producing quality rubber sheets to ensure maximum value addition to the states raw rubber, according to official.

Natural rubber production in Tripura has increased from 46,815 MT in 2014-15 to 65,330 MT in 2017-18 although the area under rubber cultivation has not been expanded in the same pace during the period.

Around 4,000 hectares have been brought under rubber cultivation during the past four years.

"Now, we want to switch the focus from expansion of rubber plantation to quality production of rubber sheets. If it is ensured, then rubber growers will be benefited, said DK Das, Deputy Commissioner of Rubber Board, Regional Office, Agartala. '



In some areas, Rubber Board has been able to meet its targets like quality improvement and value addition to scrap rubber or latex by imparting training to rubber growers and tappers.

Earlier, only 20 per cent scarp rubber was sent outside the state and now it has gone up substantially due to value addition. he pointed out.

Das said the state has been producing quality rubber sheets like RSS-5/4 and efforts are on to produce graded rubber sheets in order to get better price.

We have set a target of producing 60 per cent rubber sheets of the total production by next 2-3 years. This will have a good impact on the rubber growers, he said.

Das further said that instead of opting for big sized rubber based industries, small scale industrial units could be a game changer in Tripuras economy.

Setting up tyre manufacturing industry may not be economically viable here because it requires only 20 per cent raw rubber while the remaining ingredients, mostly chemicals, will have to be brought from outside the state, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A court here directed Pune police to send the arrested human rights activists to their homes, after Supreme Court ordered that they be kept under house arrest till September 6.

The Supreme Court earlier today ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence case, be kept under house arrest till September 6, observing that dissent was the "safety valve" of democracy.

District and sessions judge K D Vadane of Pune district court ordered Pune police to send Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira back to their residences, where they will be kept under 'house arrest', an official said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shivaji Pawar, the investigation officer, said arrangements will be made to send all the accused to their respective cities.

"We had contended before the court here to allow them to be put under arrest at a guest house in Pune. However, due to specific directions of the apex court, the judge ordered that they be sent back to their respective cities for house arrest," he said.

The three activists may be sent back to their cities by tomorrow, police said.

Pune police had arrested them and two others - Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha - in connection with an FIR lodged following the 'Elgaar Parishad' conclave held in Pune on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The arrest of Left leaning poet and writer Varavara Rao and searches in his two daughters residences were "illegal", claimed a family member.

N Venugopal alleged that the Pune Police did not produce arrest and search warrants against his maternal uncle Rao.

The activist was arrested from his residence here yesterday by a Pune police team for his alleged links with Maoists.

The team conducted searches at the residences of Rao's two daughters and a journalist before arresting him.

"At the end of the whole operation, they (Pune police) gave a 'panchnama' but that's most untenable and illegal document," Venugopal said today.

He claimed that the seven page Panchnama report was written in Marathi.

"First thing in law is if any seizure is done in any house, it should be given in a language understood by the people whose house is searched. So, this seven-page document is illegal. Even digits were in Marathi. So, no body knows what's there," Venugopal said.

The police also brought their own staff witnesses from Pune, he alleged.

In any Panchnama report, local respectable citizens have to be witnesses. "So, this also an illegal attempt."



On each page of the Panchnama report, these two witnesses and police officer signed but Varavara Rao's and his wife Hemalatha's signatures were taken only on the seventh page, he alleged.

"That means in the first six pages they (police) can concoct, they can cook up, they can write whatever, we don't know it's in Marathi, we don't know if they wrote 'we got bombs, we got pistols and whatever.' Whole operation was illegal", Venugopal told PTI.

Varavara Rao's wife is the elder sister of Venugopal, who is also son of the activist's sister.

"Original case is Bhima-Koregaon. They (Pune police) are now claiming that as part of the investigation, they have found some letter; in that letter they found something else and on (Narendra) Modi's assassination attempt. This is a byproduct of the original case", he said.

The raids and arrests were carried out as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village following an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune last year.

In June, five people were arrested for having close Maoist links after they allegedly made "provocative" speeches at the event, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Rao's name had cropped up in a letter seized by police during searches at the premises of one of the five people arrested in June in connection with the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017 to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle in 1818.

Maharashtra Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year, which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian President Vladmir Putin today proposed a series of measures to soften controversial pension reforms, in an apparent attempt to stem a fall in his approval ratings.

In a rare televised address, Putin suggested raising the state pension age by five years to 60 years for women, instead of the proposed eight years, among other proposals.

At the same time he said tough measures were needed, citing "serious demographic problems.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre should clarify the "doubts and suspicions" over the India's deal with French aviation company Dassault for the supply of 36 fighter aircraft, Punjab minister and Congress leader Manpreet Singh Badal said today.

"The people of the country want answers from the government and the BJP on the issues related to the Rafale deal. Compared to the deal negotiated by the UPA, the present deal causes a loss of Rs 41,000 crore of the people's money," the Punjab finance minister alleged while speaking to reporters here.

Badal claimed the circumstances in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi finalised the deal during his France visit raised questions.

"Just two days before the PM's visit to France, (then) Foreign secretary said that the aircraft deal will not be discussed or finalised. But Modiji goes to France and without consulting anyone placed the order for 36 aircraft," he said.

The Congress leader claimed that two months before the deal was finalised by the prime minister, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said the negotiations between Dassault Aviation and the HAL were going on satisfactorily.

Badal also raised question over the offset contract and life cycle maintenance contract related to the Rafale deal which, he claimed "was taken away from a public sector undertaking and given to Reliance Defence Limited".

The Anil Ambani-led group has already rubbished the allegations that Congress leaders have been levelling against it.

Our reservations are that the procedure for defence purchases was not followed, the Punjab minister said.

"The government defended claiming there was an urgent need for the aircraft. However, according to the schedule of delivery, the first aircraft will be delivered in 2019 and (the entire delivery of planes) completed by 2022. So, there was no emergency," Badal claimed adding the deal negotiated by UPA included immediate delivery of 18 aircraft.

Badal said while the defence minister, replying to a question in Parliament, said the price per aircraft cannot be disclosed as it pertained to national security but Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence reflected the price in their annual balance sheet reports.

He asked why the government did not seek a fresh bid from Dassault after Eurofighter "offered to slash its price" for the Typhoon aircraft.

The Congress has been on the offensive on the Rafale issue but the government and the BJP have dismissed by the charges levelled by the opposition party.

Anil Ambani's Reliance group has also trashed the allegations levelled against it.

The group, which has slapped "Cease and Desist" notices on many Congress leaders asking them not to make 'false and defamatory' statements on the deal, had also asserted that Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale jets, choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and that the Defence Ministry has no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.

The company has also rejected allegations that Reliance Defence was incorporated days before announcement of the Rafale deal, saying three companies were incorporated in December 2014 and Reliance Group's entry into defence sector was announced at Aero India in February 2015.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi today accused the Centre of not providing adequate assistance to flood-hit Kerala, saying he was "sad" about the BJP-led NDA government's approach on the issue.

Gandhi also said he was in favour of accepting foreign aid from countries like the UAE for rebuilding the flood-ravaged southern state.

"Central government support is the right of the flood-affected people of Kerala.. but I am sad that the Centre hasn't given as much aid to the state," Gandhi told reporters here.

When asked about the central government's stand of refusing aid offer from foreign nations, he said, "If somebody is giving unconditional money to reduce the pain of the people of Kerala, I myself will take it".

He said it was his take on the matter.

Gandhi, who was on a two-day visit to flood affected regions of Kerala, said he was not here for "politicising the situation."



He said he had spoken to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday on the flood situation in the state.

Gandhi said the sense he had got from the relief camps he visited in various districts in the state yesterday was that the assistance promised by the state government should be delivered speedily.

"I think it is very important that the government gives the sense to the people that it is going to build houses, give a sense of potential timeline for doing that, I think there is need for counselling.

"I also think that the compensation that has been promised, Rs 10,000 should be given speedily. There is a feeling in the camps that that has not been done yet," he said.

Noting that Kerala has suffered a "tremendous tragedy," the Congress president said his role was to be with the people of the state.

Gandhi cancelled his visit to rain-hit Wayanad in view of bad weather and wound up his two-day tour after inspecting some flood affected areas in high-range Idukki district, which suffered extensive damage due to landslides and floods.

The Congress chief visited a relief camp Painav village and took view of the low lying Cheruthoni bridge which was damaged when authorities opened the shutters of Cheruthoni Dam, part of Idukki Reservoir, after a gap of 26 years.

The approach road to the bridge was also damaged in the worst deluge in 100 years.

Gandhi later left for Delhi by a private carrier flight from the international airport at Nedumbassery near here.

He had assured the flood-affected people yesterday that his party would bring pressure on the central and state governments to provide compensation which they 'owe' to the affected people.

Visiting the flood-ravaged areas of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts, he had also urged party workers to actively participate in relief and rehabilitation operations and help the people to make their ravaged houses liveable.

Arriving in Kerala yesterday morning, Gandhi spoke to people at relief camps, days after the deadliest deluge left a trail of destruction and claimed 474 lives in rain-related incidents since May 29 when the monsoon set in over the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi today



accused the Centre of not providing adequate assistance to flood-hit Kerala, saying he was "sad" about the BJP-led NDA government's approach on the issue.

Gandhi also said that the was in favour of accepting foreign aid from countries like the UAE for rebuilding the flood-ravaged southern state.

"Central government support is the right of the flood-affected people of Kerala.. but I am sad that the Centre hasn't given as much aid to the state," Gandhi told reporters here.

When asked about the central government's stand of refuting aid offer from foreign nations, he said, "If somebody is giving unconditional money to reduce the pain of the people of Kerala, I myself will take it".

He said it was his take on the matter.

Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to flood affected regions of Kerala, said he was not here for "politicising the situation."



He said he had spoken to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday on the flood situation in the state.

Gandhi said the sense he had got from the relief camps he visited in various districts in the state yesterday was that the assistance promised by the state government should be delivered speedily.

"I think it is very important that the government gives the sense to the people that it is going to build houses, give a sense of potential timeline for doing that, I think there is need for counselling.

"I also think that the compensation that has been promised, Rs 10,000 should be given speedily. There is a feeling in the camps that that has not been done yet," he said.

Noting that Kerala has suffered a "tremendous tragedy," the Congress president said his role was to be with the people of the state.

Gandhi cancelled his visit to rain-hit Wayanad in view of bad weather and left for Idukki district to visit the flood affected areas there.

He had assured the flood-affected people yesterday that his party would bring pressure on the central and state governments to provide compensation which they 'owe' to the affected people.

Visiting the flood-ravaged areas of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts yesterday, he had also urged party workers to actively participate in relief and rehabilitation operations and help the people to make their ravaged houses liveable.

Arriving in Kerala yesterday morning, Gandhi spoke to people at relief camps, days after the deadliest deluge in the last 100 years left a trail of destruction and claimed 474 lives in rain-related incidents since May 29 when the monsoon set in over the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After his "new India" barb targeting the RSS, Congress President Rahul Gandhi today accused the BJP of respecting only one ideology "based on Nagpur", a veiled reference to the saffron fountainhead, and said the opposition



was united in fighting the "undemocratic" actions.

Hitting out at the government over the arrest of prominent Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links, Gandhi had yesterday tweeted that in the "new India", there was place for only one NGO -- the RSS.

In a brief interaction with media during his visit to flood-hit areas, the Congress chief today dubbed as 'undemocratic' 'certain' actions taken at the national level, apparently referring to the arrests of the activists.

"I think there are certain action that has been taken at national level which are undemocratic and we are fighting that battle. The opposition is united in fighting that battle," he said.

Gandhi said there were two different visions of India -- one was centralised and the other decentralised.

"One respects only one ideology based on Nagpur and the other respects all the different states, all the different ideas, all the different cultures and all the different people of this country. That fight is on and I assure you that we are fighting that battle," Gandhi said.

The Maharashtra Police had yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them.

This was as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

"There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India," Gandhi had said in his tweet yesterday with the hashtag Bhima Koregaon.

He was reacting to the arrests of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.

The arrests have drawn condemnation from several opposition leaders and people from different walks of life, with some of them terming it as a "manifestation of autocracy".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress president Rahul Gandhi will meet the party's core group tomorrow morning to chalk out strategy to further step up the offensive on the Modi government over the Rafale issue, sources said.

After the meeting, some of the party leaders may join a Youth Congress protest march from the AICC headquarters here to the prime minister's residence, they said.

Sources said the newly-formed core group committee will meet tomorrow morning at Gandhi's residence to discuss further strategy over the Rafale issue.

This will be the first meeting of the group, which has top Congress leaders as members.

The Congress has launched a frontal attack on the government over the Rafale issue and is demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Punjab government's campaign against adulterated food items continued today, with a food-safety team raiding two shops in Ludhiana and seizing spurious soya paneer.

Being sold at Rs 200 per kg, the soya paneer did not have any date of manufacturing and expiry. Besides, the batch number and address of the manufacturer were also missing on the packets, an official said. The team seized 70 kg of cheese, 40 packets of soya paneer and 20 kg of soya 'chaap'.

The Ludhiana food safety team also intercepted a vehicle coming from Sangrur town, having 1,050 litres of milk. Milk vendors have admitted having added hydrogen peroxide to it, the official said.

In another raid in Bathinda, 315 kg of paneer and 150 kg of skimmed milk powder was seized by the food safety team. Some samples have been sent for analysis, he said.

In Patiala, 1,200 litres of milk, along with glucose powder, empty tins of refined oil, were found from a shop. In Fazilka, huge quantities of ghee was seized from a shop, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A passenger bitten by a rat while travelling in a train was today awarded a compensation of Rs 25,000 by a consumer forum which also directed the railways to pay additional Rs 2,000 towards medical expenses.

District Consumer Forum president R V Dheenadayalan and member S Rajalakshmi awarded the compensation to passenger Venkatachalam for the mental agony suffered by him.

They directed the railways to pay an additional Rs 2,000 for medical expenses incurred by him and Rs 5,000 toward cost of the litigation.

The railways should pay the amount within three months, failing which the compensation would carry nine per cent interest, the forum said in its order.

Venkatachalam submitted that he was travelling to Chennai by the train on August 8, 2014 when he was bitten by rat.

He said the travelling ticket examiner was indifferent when he showed him the injury and bleeding caused by rat-bite and could not get even arrange for first aid.

The TTE suggested that treatment could be given only at the next station. Finally, the passenger got down at Egmore station in Chennai lodged a complaint and then took treatment at a private hospital.

Later, he was admitted to the government hospital for further treatment.

He sought compensation for the mental agony suffered by him due to rat-bite in the train.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One person died in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan as rains continued to lash parts of the state in last 24 hours, officials said today.

The deceased was identified as Har Dayal (48). He had gone to feed cattle when lightning struck him, the police said.

The body was handed over to his family members after post-mortem, Station House Officer at Ucchain Police Station Vishambhar Kumar said.

According to the Met Department, Pilani recorded 107 mm rainfall today, followed by 86 mm in Bharatpur, 18.4 mm in Jaipur, 9.7 mm in Ajmer, 8.6 mm in Churu, 2.8 mm in Bhilwara and 0.7 mm in Dabok.

In last 24 hours, Sirohi and Abu Road received 8 cm rainfall, followed by 7 cm each in Jagpura of Banswara and Nithua of Dungarpur. Various other places recorded 1 to 6 cm rainfall.

The weatherman has predicted heavy rainfall in Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa, Dholpur, Kota, Karauli, Swai Madhopur and Tonk district in next 24 hours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today met the country's topbusiness leaders in Mumbai and invited them to invest in the state, sayinghuge opportunities in various sectors awaited them.

The Chief Minister met the business leaders in the country's commercial capital as part of a roadshow to generate interest among them to participate in an investors' summit to be held in Dehradun on October 7-8. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the summit.

Rawat informed the entrepreneurs about the investment opportunities available in Uttarakhand from the point of view of natural and human resources and an investment-friendly atmosphere created by the state government, an official release here said.

The Chief Minister highlightedefforts being made by his government to promote tourism and also to promote the state which is endowed with great scenic beauty as a film shooting destination.

Nofee is being charged forfilm shooting in Uttarakhand which has led to many films being shot in the state inthe past one and a half years, he said.

Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj spoke of vast opportunities available for investment in the tourism sector in the state.

A new tourism circuit scheme is being formulated in which 'Navgrah Circuit' and 'Bodh circuit' are included. A plan is afoot to start the 5,000-year-old 'Char Dham Yatra' on foot, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Reserve Bank has been invited to attend the meeting of the empowered committee for resolution of stressed power assets to be held on August 31, Union minister R K Singh said today.

The government last month set up the committee chaired by Cabinet Secretary with representatives from ministries of railways, finance, power, and coal, and lenders having major exposure to the power sector.

On RBI's role in resolution process, the Union power minister said, "RBI has been called to attend this meeting on August 31."



Stressed power assets worth around Rs 1.74 lakh crore are feared to undergo bankruptcy proceedings after the Allahabad High Court on Monday refused to give any interim-relief to private power companies from the RBI's February 12 circular on new NPA framework.

The high court also suggested that the power ministry should invite a senior representative of the RBI as a member of the empowered committee. It has asked the panel to submit report in two months from the date of formation.

The Reserve Bank in its February 12 circular had said if a resolution was not found by August 27, NPA accounts should be sent to bankruptcy courts.

The minister, however, pointed that he does not see stress to spread in the power sector.

"The committee will deliberate on it (NPA resolution). I don't see stress cascading or anything like that. Good thing is that demand is increasing. So there is more space to generate extra (electricity)."



The RBI's new framework provides that lenders have to provide for resolution plan within 180 days in case of large account of Rs 2,000 crore and above even at the default of a day.

In the absence of resolution plan the project would go to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

When asked if the government would invoke Section 7 of the RBI Act, as suggested the high court, the minister said that the finance ministry can answer that question.

About resolution of stressed assets without going to the NCLT, the minister said, "By and large this is something for the lenders to decide and they have to decide according to the Acts and Regulations laid down by the RBI.

"So they will decide. There are some mechanisms which have been moved. One is Samadhan and other is Parivartan. So we will see how it works out."



A senior official present on the occasion said, "For resolution of the stressed assets without initiating bankruptcy proceeding, the lenders should come on board."



Under the Samadhan initiative of State Bank of India, Tata Power' joint venture Resurgent Power Ventures is acquiring Prayagraj Power Generation Company (PPGCL) from its lenders. The Samadhan is mechanism led by SBI in the projects where it is lead banker. The 3X660 MW coal-based power project in Uttar Pradesh is the first stressed power asset account resolved by the lenders under Samadhan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A new Netflix reality series following the lavish lives of nine wealthy, light-skinned socialites in Mexico City has provoked a backlash from critics who say it's tone-deaf in a country where most have darker skin and about half the population lives in poverty.

"Trash," ''filth," ''pathetic," ''classist," were some of the more polite adjectives Twitter users employed to describe their reaction to the show, "Made in Mexico."



Critics are also questioning the timing of the streaming service's first Mexican reality show, announced a little over a month after the country overwhelmingly elected as president the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who rails against what he calls an entrenched and corrupt elite and promises to make the poor his top priority.

"In the last elections we showed that we live in a democratic country. Nonetheless, we still suffer terrible atavisms related to classism and, what's worse, racism," said Guadalupe Loaeza, who has written several books about the Mexican elite.

"More than money, the colour of one's skin is definitive ... for whether one is accepted or not among the 'rich boys and girls.'"



"Made in Mexico" producers did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But Hanna Jaff, a 30-year-old, San Diego-born Mexican philanthropist, speaker and human rights activist, told The Associated Press that she and the other cast members are representative of Mexico as family people with different backgrounds and professions and "our own problems within our circumstances."



She said the show will offer a positive, intellectual, entrepreneurial vision of the country, in contrast to what's often seen in media such as Netflix, which hosts a number of violent narco-dramas such as "El Chapo," about notorious Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera.

"I wanted the world to see a different Mexico, from a different point of view," Jaff said. "I think there will always be negative and positive people, no? ... And in truth, the program is not a stereotype."



At least in early advertising, however, Netflix has been touting it somewhat differently: "Get to know the opulent lifestyles and infamous dynasties of Mexico City's socialites and the expats vying for a spot in their exclusive social order," reads the teaser for the show in the app.

Some have also objected to its English-language title, an affectation common in magazines and advertising aimed at well-to-do Mexicans.

Besides Jaff, at least two other cast members are reportedly American.

The white and the wealthy have long dominated Mexican media, from telenovelas to newscasts to high-society supplements of national newspapers that chronicle fancy weddings, galas and mansions, with hardly a dark-skinned face to be found.

Loaeza referenced what are known in the country as "mirreyes" a motherly expression meaning roughly "my little kings" the flashy young scions of wealth and privilege known for sharing photos of luxurious cars, clothes, vacations and bling on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The phenomenon has taken off in recent years, amplified by the explosion of social media and accompanied by a number of corruption scandals during the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

"These 'new rich' are totally aspirational, even though they are criticized," Loaeza said. "Many people aspire to dress like them, to spend holidays in Acapulco and drive a BMW."



So despite the criticism in a country of stark social and economic contrasts where telecoms magnate Carlos Slim is one of the richest people in the world, while millions in places like Chiapas and Oaxaca live in ramshackle homes "Made in Mexico" could well become a hit when it is released September 28.

"I think that precisely because most of the population is so far from that, it makes people really curious about what it feels like to be in that person's place," said Jorge Romero, a 25-year-old Netflix user.

Christopher Alcantara, a 32-year-old business administrator, said he's curious to see "Made in Mexico" and added that such shows are entertaining and introduce new slang and fashion trends.

"Morbidity sells, and without a doubt it would be very interesting to watch a pilot episode," Alcantara said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani today expressed keenness to invest in telecom, organic farming and hospitality sectors in Uttarakhand, an official release said.

Discussing the possibilities of investment in Uttarakhand with Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat at a roadshow in Mumbai, Ambani said he was keento provide internet connectivity instate schools and health centres besides expressing his willingness to offer support in creatingstorage facility for organic products.

The operations of the Reliance Foundation will be expanded in the state, an official release quoting Ambani here said.

There is great potential for organic vegetables and herbal products in Uttarakhand and we are willing to offer support in developing a back end chain for this, he said.

On the request of the Chief Minister he spoke of extending support in the development of Badrinath on the lines of Kedarnath.

Ambani also expressed his desire to invest in the field of tourism and hospitality, the release said.

Rawat is holding roadshows in different cities to invite business leaders to a large-scale investors' summit to be held in Dehradun on October 7-8.

He has already held roadshows in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Mumbai to meet business leaders in those cities in the run up to the event which is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Cabinet today approved the revised air services agreement between India and Morocco, whereby carriers from the two countries can operate unlimited number of flights from select cities.

Airlines from both countries can enter into code share agreements.

Code sharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.

The revised bilateral air services agreement between India and Morocco would replace the pact signed between the two countries in December 2004.

Currently, there are no direct flights between the two countries.

The revised air services agreement "signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and Morocco and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges," an official release said.

According to the release, the existing pact does not does not have the updated clauses on safety, security, designation of airlines, commercial activities and tariffs, among others



"Besides, the provisions of cooperative marketing arrangements which enable both sides to establish the code share on each other flights and also on the flights of third country carriers are also not available in the present air services agreement," it added.

Indian designated carriers can operate any number of services to/ from Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakesh, Agadir, Tangier and Fez in Morocco.

Similarly, the designated carriers of Morocco can operate any number of services to/from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

"The designated airline of each party can enter into cooperative marketing arrangements with the designated carriers of same party, other party and that of a third party," the release said.

Further, the pact allows designated airlines of either countries to establish offices in the territory of other country for the promotion and sale of air services.

The agreement also has provisions relating to "revocation or suspension of operating authorisation, principles governing operations of agreed services, commercial opportunities, safety and security related clause etc. that have been incorporated in line of Indian Model ASA," the release said.

The revised pact -- cleared by the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- would also provide enabling environment for enhanced and seamless connectivity, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rich tributes were paid to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by senior BJP leaders today at a condolence meeting here which was skipped by the opposition Left Front and Congress.

State Information Minister Indranil Sen was present at the meeting.

Representatives of the JD(U), RJD and Lok Samata Party attended the meet.

The ruling TMC, besides the Congress and CPI(M), had yesterday said that they would not attend the condolence meeting as they had already attended the one organised by the BJP central unit in New Delhi after Vajpayee's death.

Recollecting his association with Vajpayee, Satyabrata Mukherjee who had served as a minister in his cabinet in 2000, said he never imposed his views on others and used to listen to everyone.

"When we were in the midst of a cabinet meeting Atalji came to hear that he was giving priority to RSS. Deeply hurt and angry he had said that he was going to the president to submit his resignation", he said.

"Later, we learnt that his intention was not to submit any resignation, but to dismiss that notion," Mukherjee said.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi said Vajpayee was man of rare wit and also a great believer of ethics in

When Vajpayee was facing defeat in the no-trust vote in 1999, he had desisted from resorting to horse trading and accepted his fate with grace, Tripathi said.

Two historic events took place during Vajpayee's regime - the Pokhran nuclear test and the Kargil war which showed that India could not be cowed down, he added.

BJP leaders Shiv Prakash and Kailash Vijayvargia paid their tributes to the leader, while BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rupa Ganguly sang Rabindrasangeet at the condolence meeting.

Meghalaya governor Tathagata Chatterjee and BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said that Vajpayee had a deep sense of wit and the ability to absorb unpleasant outcomes with a tinge of humour.

BJP leader Mukul Roy, who was earlier in the TMC, said that the party (TMC) would not have been formed had Vajpayee and L K Advani not been there.

Sinha criticised the CPI-M for not attending the condolence meeting and said former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu had great regard for Vajpayee.

He said statue of Vajpayee should be installed here and leaders of all political parties should attend its inauguration.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh and several foreign consul generals along with few spiritual leaders were present at the programme.

Meanwhile a report from Suri said there was a clash between ruling TMC and BJP workers at Jaydev ghat on Ajay river in which Vajpayee's ashes were immersed.

BJP leaders alleged that three of its workers were attacked and seriously injured by TMC-backed miscreants while they were making preparations for the programme. One of them was wounded in his head and all the injured were taken to Illambazar block hospital.

TMC leaders denied the allegation.

BJP workers paid tribute to Vajpayee at Bolpur, Rampurhat, Suri and other places where large police force were deployed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) today said it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission, which will help it pare debt by two-thirds to Rs 7,500 crore.

Company chairman Anil Ambani announced the culmination of the deal involving the sale of the integrated power business which was struk in December last year.

Ambani said the deal will help cut the company's overall debt to Rs 7,500 crore from the earlier Rs 22,000 crore and also added that it is planning to be a zero debt company by next year.

The company had called a board meet today to approve the transfer of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission, after receiving the regulatory approvals.

In the past eight months, the deal has received go-aheads from fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), shareholders of the company and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the sale.

Last week, Reliance Infrastructure had defaulted on payment of redemption of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) amounting to Rs 133.38 crore.

The company had, however, said it expects to make these payments in the next few days from the proceeds from of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission.

"All lenders have provided their no objection certificates (NOCs), and the company expects to close the transaction within the next few days," it had said.

The two companies had signed the pact for 100 per cent stake sale of R-Infra's integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai in December 2017.

The company had claimed that the Reliance Infrastructure Mumbai Power business (known as Reliance Energy) is India's largest private sector integrated power utility distributing power to nearly three million residential, industrial and commercial consumers in the suburbs of Mumbai, covering an area of 400 sq km.

It caters to a peak demand of over 1,800 MW, with annual revenues of Rs 7,500 crore with stable cash flows. The company had earlier said that going forward, it will focus on upcoming opportunities in asset light EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and defence businesses.

The RInfra scrip gained 3.75 per cent to close at Rs 438.80 a piece on the BSE today, against a 0.45 per cent correction in the benchmark.

Ambani today also said that work on the Rs 6,994-crore Bandra Versova sealink will start from October 1. RInfra has tied up with Italy's Astaldi to build the 10-km sealink in the western suburbs of the financial capital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Historian Romila Thapar and four activists today moved the Supreme Court against the arrest of five rights activists by the Maharashtra Police for suspected Maoist links.

The petition against the arrest of the activists was mentioned before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which agreed to give an urgent hearing today itself at 3:45 PM.

In the petition, which was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the historian and other right activists have sought release of all activists who have been arrested during raids in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case.

They have also sought an independent probe into the arrests.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): Relief materials worth Rs 2.60 crore were despatched to flood-hit Kerala from here today on behalf of the Tamil Nadu school education department.

The material, collected from 20 districts and meant for distribution in Thrissur district, was sent by lorries from Chitode, 15 kilometers from here.

The materials would be handed over to the Thrissur district collector, school education minister K A Sengottiyan said.

The minister, who flagged off the consignment, said an additional Rs 1.40 crore worth materials would be sent to Thiruvananthapuram on September 7 in 20 containers.

Unprecedented floods in Kerala earlier this month had claimed over 470 lives, caused widespread destruction and displaced lakhs of people across the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia today called on the West not to stand in the way of an "anti-terror operation" in Syria's Idlib, as speculation grows Damascus is planning a Russian-backed offensive on the rebel-held province.

"I hope our Western partners will not give in to (rebel) provocations and will not obstruct an anti-terror operation" in Idlib, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Moscow.

Lavrov also said there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey, who support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war but are currently in intense negotiations to ensure Idlib does not become a breaking point in their alliance.

"It is necessary to disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists and at the same time prepare an operation against them while minimising risks for the civilian population," Lavrov said.

"This abscess needs to be liquidated."



Lavrov went on to accuse the West of "actively heating up" the idea of a "so-called planned chemical attack by the (Syrian) government".

Over the last week, Moscow has accused Syrian rebels of planning to stage a chemical attack in the northwestern province that would "provoke" Western strikes on its ally Damascus.

It also accused British secret services of being "actively involved" in the plot.

Moscow's accusations came after US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said Washington will respond "very strongly" if Syrian regime forces used chemical weapons to retake Idlib.

This week Russian media reported Moscow is reinforcing its military presence in the Mediterranean near Syria.

In April, the US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma that left scores of people dead.

Russian stuck by its ally Syria and angrily insisted the Douma attack was staged by the White Helmets volunteer rescue service.

Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, launched a military intervention in 2015 to support the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a move that changed the course of the war.

Damascus still holds the southeastern tip of Idlib, a strategically important province adjacent to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast that is home to Assad's clan.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia and Sudan have hosted talks in Khartoum among some of the Central African Republic's rival militias, CAR officials said today, while documents showed the groups had signed a preliminary agreement.

The meeting in the Sudanese capital yesterday unfolded in parallel to an official mediation effort in the troubled CAR led by the African Union (AU).

Russia and Sudan "took the step of holding a meeting in Khartoum with the heads of armed groups," Communications Minister Ange-Maxime Kazagui said in a statement read on national radio.

The CAR exploded into violence following the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize, a Christian, by majority-Muslim militias in a coalition called the Seleka.

France, the former colonial power, intervened to oust the Seleka and the UN deployed a peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, in 2014.

But President Faustin-Archange Touadera, elected in 2016, controls only a fraction of the country.

Most of the territory is overrun by armed groups, many of which claim to protect Christian or Muslim communities, and which often fight bloodily over resources.

Violence has led to thousands of deaths, while according to the UN, nearly 700,000 people have been internally displaced, 570,000 are refugees abroad and 2.5 million are in need of humanitarian aid.

Three Seleka groups and a nominally Christian militia leader signed a "declaration of understanding" in Khartoum on Tuesday, according to the document, which was obtained by AFP.

The three Seleka groups are the Popular Front for the Rebirth of the Central African Republic (FPRC), led by Noureddine Adam; the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), led by Ali Darassa; and the Central African Patriotic Movement (MPC), led by Mahamat Al-Khatim.

Maxime Mokom, who heads one of the biggest nominally Christian armed groups, also signed the document.

The initiative in Khartoum marks the latest sign of Russia's deepening involvement in the CAR, a country that is poor and fragile but strategically located and rich in gold, copper, iron ore and uranium.

Since the start of the year, Russia has supplied weapons to the CAR army after gaining UN authorisation to do so and provides close protection for Touadera, whose security advisor is Russian.

It has also sent five military officers and 170 civilians as "instructors" for CAR's armed forces, even though its troops are already being trained by the European Union.

On the diplomatic front, Russia has twice attempted to mediate among the militias in the past two months, but without success.

The CAR communique on Wednesday said the government "takes note of the declaration" signed in Khartoum but "supports the AU's initative for peace and reconciliation."



The AU, supported by the UN and the CAR's main partners, has been striving to set up negotiations between the militias and the government since July 2017 but progress has been scant.

An AU panel is scheduled to meet with the militias in the coming days in Bouar, western CAR, to "harmonise" 97 claims that the armed groups have set down ahead of any official agreement.

Seven peace agreements have been signed in the CAR over the past half-dozen years but none has had a lasting effect.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A SAD leader and president of the Budhlada municipal council allegedly committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance, police said today.

Harvinder Singh (40) was depressed because of the allegations of embezzlement of funds against him, his family claimed.

Police said a case was registered yesterday against 20 persons, including 15 members of the municipal council in Mansa district, on the charge of abetment to suicide.

The family members of deceased alleged that some council members had held protest against Singh twice, accusing him of embezzling funds.

Gurtej Singh, the deceased's brother-in-law, said Harvinder left home to meet his friend at 2 pm and then consumed poison at a friend's shop.

He was facing a no-confidence motion in the council which was to be taken up on August 29.

Gurtej claimed that Harvinder was working honestly and efficiently.

"Some persons in the council were harassing him unnecessarily. He was fearing social stigma of being called as corrupt and then ended his life," Gurtej said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government has found that the five arrested in the explosives seizure case had links with Sanatan Sanstha sympathizers and would send details to the Centre to ban the radical Hindutva outfit, a police official said today.

The state government had sent a proposal to ban the Sanatan Sanstha to the Centre in 2015. It decided to send the details so that it can be added to the proposal, the official said.

The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) probing the recent seizure of explosives, has so far arrested five persons - Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Shrikant Pangarkar and Avinash Pawar.

"During the investigation, it was found that all the arrested persons had links with right wing Hindutva organisations and also with the sympathisers of the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS)," he said.

The social media accounts and online activities of the arrested also suggest these links, he added.

"The proposal to ban Sanatan Sanstha was sent to the Union government by the state in 2015. We will now send the details of the current (explosives seizure) case to be added in the proposal, after which the criminal record of the group will be updated," a police official said.

The investigating agency is focusing on establishing the links of the arrested accused with the Sanatan Sanstha and "we are gathering evidence in this regard", he said.

The ATS has booked the five persons under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), beides other terror charges



"It is mandatory to inform the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about any case of UAPA within 24 hours of the action.

"The ATS, accordingly, has sent a status report on the recent terror case made out by it under the UAPA against the arrested," the official said.

He said though the Sanatan Sanstha claims that the arrested are not their members, its offshoot organises rallies and marches in support of the accused.

The Sanstha has claimed that the people arrested in connection with the case from various parts of Maharashtra and those allegedly involved in the killing of rationalists are not its members.

Sanstha spokesperson Chetan Rajhans had earlier told reporters that a few people with "progressive mindset", along with political parties such as the Congress and the Left block, were putting the Sanstha in the dock without providing any evidence of wrongdoing.

On August 10, the ATS had arrested Raut (40), who ran the "Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti", a little-known pro-cow protection outfit, at Nallasopara in Palghar district.

The ATS, after Raut's arrest, had nabbed Kalaskar (25) and Gondhalekar (39), following raids in Palghar and Pune districts. Pangarkar, a former Shiv Sena corporator from Jalna, was arrested on August 19, while last Saturday the ATS arrested Avinash Pawar from Ghatkopar in Mumbai.

The ATS has recovered a huge cache of explosives, arms and ammunition, including 7.65 mm pistols and material to prepare Improvised Electric Devices (IED), incriminating documents, notes, chits, laptops,mobiles, hard disks in the raid at various places, including Nallasopara, Pune, Aurangabad, Solapur and other parts of Maharashtra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Saudi-led coalition battling in Yemen today dismissed as inaccurate a report by UN investigators that highlighted possible war crimes in the conflict-torn country including deadly air strikes by the alliance.

"We affirm the inaccuracies in the report and its non-neutrality," the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.

"The report did not mention Iran's role in the continuation of the war... and its continued support for the Huthi" militias.

The coalition added that it would later provide a "comprehensive and detailed legal response" to the report.

In their first report released yesterday, a team of UN-mandated investigators said all parties in Yemen's bloody conflict have committed a "substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law".

Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes", the report said, pointing to widespread arbitrary detention, rape and torture.

The report said coalition air strikes had caused "most of the documented civilian casualties", pointing to a large number of strikes on residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings and medical facilities.

It said there were "serious concerns about the targeting process applied by the coalition," pointing out that in many cases there were no apparent military targets in the vicinity of the attacks.

Yemen's devastating conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Huthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

The UN human rights office said yesterday that some 6,660 civilians were among the dead, while more than 10,500 had been injured.

The UN has already described the situation in Yemen as world's worst humanitarian crisis.

UN-backed talks between Yemen's government and the Iran-aligned Huthi militias are to open in Geneva on September 6 -- a first step toward resuming peace negotiations that broke down two years ago.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The SBI has approached the Madras High Court in the Rs 820 crore debt recovery proceedings against Kanishk Gold Private Limited seeking quashing of proceedings by the Enforcement Directorate attaching the firm's property.

Justice R Mahadevan, before whom the petition came up today issued notice to ED counsel and posted the matter for further hearing on September 3.

According to the assistant general manager of SBI's Stressed Assets Management branch, Kanishk Gold Private Limited is liable to pay an amount of Rs 8,19,56,38,017 as on March 15 to a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India.

An application has already been filed by the SBI along with other banks before the Debt Recovery Tribunal-II to recover the outstanding loan amount, the counsel submitted.

The DRT-II has already passed an interim order directing the promoter-directors of the company not to leave the country pending disposal of the above application.

The company had deposited the original title deeds pertaining to the properties to create equitable mortgage in favour of the SBI and its consortium banks.

Since loan accounts had become non-performing assets, the SBI and its consortium banks had jointly issued a demand notice under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002 (also known as SARFAESI Act) to the company's directors.

Following this, it took symbolic possession of nine properties.

The SBI and its consortium banks also lodged a complaint before the CBI, it was submitted.

Bhupesh Kumar Jain, one of the firm's directors, was arrested by the Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence for alleged evasion of duty.

Meanwhile the Director of Enforcement Directorate had passed an order freezing the properties during search and seizure under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED had also passed a provisional attachment order attaching all secured properties under the PMLA.

It further ordered that the secured properties shall not be transferred, disposed, removed or otherwise dealt with unless or until specifically permitted to do so by them.

The SBI submitted that by effecting the provisional attachment order, the ED had scuttled the frantic efforts of the Banks from realising public money.

In its plea, the SBI sought a direction for quashing the proceedings under the PMLA act "as it is violative of rule of law, more particularly the provisions of Recovery of debts and Insolvency Act as well as SARFAESI Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Pune police's bid for immediate custody of the five noted rights activists arrested yesterday for suspected Maoist links was today halted by the Supreme Court which ordered they be kept under house arrest till September 6.

The interim relief for the five people that spared them the prospect of being sent to jail or police custody for now came on a day of multiple court battles after the pan India crackdown on Left-wing activists even as the apex court observed that "dissent is the safety valve of democracy".

Pune police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into a conclave -- Elgar Parishad -- held in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune on December 31 last year, which had allegedly triggered violence the next day.

Shortly after the apex court order by a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, a Pune court directed the city police to send the arrested human rights activists back to their homes.

Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves were taken to Pune late last night while Bharadwaj is confined to her home in Faridabad and Navlakha to his Delhi residence,



The National Human Rights Commission also waded into the controversy over the arrests, saying "it appears" standard operating procedure was not properly followed and this may amount to a violation of the human rights of those arrested.

It issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief and asked for a 'factual report' within four weeks.

A rally was organised by civil rights defenders from College Street to Esplanade area in Kolkata, where people from diverse backgrounds participated to condemn the arrest and demanded the immediate release of the activists.

All eyes were on the Supreme Court today after it gave urgent hearing to a plea a by historian Romila Thapar and four other human right activists against the arrests that sparked more outrage from human rights defenders and opposition leaders.

"It(apex court order) is good The arrests are a clear case of political witch hunt," said Hasina Khan, a lawyer-activist.

The Pune Police on its part claimed it had "evidence" which suggested there was a plan to target the "highest political functionaries".

At a conference in Pune, Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe also claimed to have evidence to suggest the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists.

While granting relief to the activists by ordering that they will be under house arrest at their homes till the next day of hearing on September 6, the top court did not consider for now the vehement opposition of the Maharashtra government challenging the locus of them seeking relief on their behalf, and calling them "strangers".

The apex court questioned the state police's move to arrest these activists nine months after the incident and said that all of them were reputed citizens and "stifling the dissent" was not good.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said in a packed courtroom.

Taking a strong note of the submissions of the state government, it said, "This (arrest) is a wider issue. Their (petitioners') problem is quelling dissent."



"Nine months after Bhima-Koregaon, you go and arrest these people," the bench asked, while taking serious note of Maharashtra's plea that they were arrested in pursuance of an FIR.

Issuing notice to the Maharashtra government and its police, the bench considered the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, that the arrested activists be kept in house arrest.

He said two of the five arrested persons -- Sudha Bhardwaj and Gautam Navalakha -- were currently under house arrest following the orders passed by two high courts while the three others were on transit remand.

Singhvi said as an interim measure, all the five be kept under "house arrest in their own homes".

The plea was accepted by the bench which, however, said that all the contentions of the parties would be kept open.

Singhvi said the nationwide raids and the arrests made by Maharashtra Police after nine months of registration of the FIR have had a "chilling effect" on the personal life and liberty of citizens having dissenting voice.

"Can they do massive sweeping raids and arrest these respectable citizens," he asked, adding "there is a panic situation".

He said none of these five arrested persons were named as accused in the FIR lodged in the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest till September 6, saying dissent was the "safety valve" of democracy.

The five activists will now not be sent to jail till September 6 but will remain in house arrest under police watch.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the Maharashtra police for arresting these persons after around nine months of the Bhima-Koregaon incident.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

The top court also issued notice to the Maharashtra state government and the state police on the plea filed by five intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, against the arrest of the rights activists yesterday in connection with the case.

The counsel, appearing for Maharashtra, raised the issue of maintainability of the plea, saying a "stranger" cannot seek relief for the activists who have already approached the high courts.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, while activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

The Maharashtra Police had arrested them in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- 'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) -- held on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 6.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today agreed to hear at 3.45 PM a plea by historian Romila Thapar and four other human right activists against the arrest of Left-wing activists by Maharashtra Police for suspected links with Maoists.

The petition by Thapar and others was mentioned for urgent hearing before a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

Besides Thapar, the other four petitioners are Prabhat Patnaik, Devaki Jain, Satish Deshpandey and Maja Daruwala.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners told the bench that extraordinary circumstances have cropped up due to the Maharashtra Police action of arresting several human rights activists.

CJI Misra initially told Singhvi to mention the matter at 1.05 PM today as the Constitution bench has assembled to hear a separate matter.

Later the CJI said that an appropriate bench will assemble at 3.45 PM to hear the case.

The petitioners have sought independent investigation into the arrest of human rights activists and their immediate release.

They have also urged the apex court to thoroughly scrutinise and investigate the alleged false charges slapped against the human right activists.

The activists alleged the arrest was an attempt to muzzle the voice of dissent.

"Issue appropriate direction, directing an independent investigation into arrest of these human rights activists in June and August 2018 in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence," the petition said.

Human right activists have also sought an explanation from the Maharashtra government over the issue of arrests.

"Issue appropriate direction calling for an explanation from the state of Maharashtra for this sweeping round of arrests," the petition said.

"The use of draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against these activists who have no history of indulging or instigating any violence is clearly malafide and an attempt to brow beat and intimidate the dissenting voices," the petition said.

Maharashtra Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year, which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

The Delhi High Court will hear at 2.15 PM today a plea of Navlakha against his arrest.

Similarly, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had yesterday ordered that Sudha Bhardwaj should be kept at her own home until Maharashtra Police obtains transit remand for her.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Gujarat government has sought explanation from a school in Gandhinagar following allegations that one of its teachers forcibly removed rakhis tied on the wrists of students.

Some parents had complained to the department that a teacher at Mount Carmel High School cut off, with scissors, the rakhis tied on the wrists of students in Class V a day after Rakshabandhan festival.

Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama today said a notice has been issued to the school.

"The incident was unwarranted. We will not tolerate any act which hurts religious sentiments. My department has issued a notice to the school and sought explanation about who did it and who ordered it. We will take further decision after getting the reply," Chudasama told reporters.

Activists of BJP's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested outside the school today over the alleged incident.

ABVP leader Rishikesh Mandalia claimed that when the protesters confronted the school management, they denied that such an incident happened.

The school authorities were not available for comments.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Educational institutions in Kerala re-opened today, a fortnight after the devastating deluge ravaged the state, claiming 474 lives since the onset of South West Monsoon.

The onam vacation was advanced due to heavy rains and floods and over 10 lakh people who were displaced by the deluge after their houses were either destroyed or damaged due to flood waters, were accommodated in schools and colleges which functioned as relief camps.

Schools and colleges were also cleaned up and sanitised as flood waters had entered them, destroying books and furniture.

As schools reopened today, teachers welcomed children by singing songs.

Many of their homes had been affected by floods and hence a small cultural programme would be organised and sweets distributed to calm their minds, a teacher of a government school in Alappuzha district said.

According to Education minister, Prof C Raveedranath, at least 650 odd schools were affected by floods in Kerala.

In some areas, few schools are yet to be opened as they continue to function as relief camps.

But it is expected that by September 3 all schools will become functional, he said.

There are still about 1.97 lakh people in relief camps in the affected areas.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said children who had lost their books and uniforms in the flood will be provided new ones.

In a tweet, Vijayan wished them a great school year ahead and said these children, who survived a calamity, "represent our hope".

In Malappuram, 50 tiny tots of a local school visited Malappuram collector Amit Meena and handed over their piggy banks for flood relief.

In Kasaragod, about 450-odd private bus operators have decided to give their day's collection tomorrow for flood relief.

The massive cleaning up operation which kick started yesterday at Kuttanad in Alapuzha district, would continue today as well.

Yesterday, 28,757 houses, 288 public institutions like hospitals and offices, 52 schools and 122 public spaces like markets were cleaned by over 60,000 volunteers, Finance minister Thomas Isaac said.

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation led by Union Minister of State(Finance), Pon Radhakrishnan will review relief measures and rehabilitation efforts being undertaken by banks and insurance companies in the state in view of large scale devastation caused by recent floods in the state.

The delegation would comprise senior officers from the Central government, including Additional Secretary, Debashish Panda and Economic Adviser, N Srinivasa Rao from the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.

Chairmen and Managing Directors of various public sector banks (PSBs) and insurance companies including Agriculture Insurance Co. of India Ltd, and NABARD would also be present in the meeting with senior officers from the state government and other agencies concerned.

Various relief measures pertaining to re-opening of submerged and flood affected bank branches and ATMs, exchange of soiled and defective currency and extension of loan repayment period etc. have already been initiated by all banks.

Insurance companies have also started processing various flood related claims to ensure expeditious settlement and special camp offices have been set up and additional surveyors deployed besides waiving document requirements for speedier claims payment to ensure quick relief to affected people.

In view of the disruption caused due to severe floods in the state, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has further extended the "Due Date" for furnishing Income Tax Returns from August 31 to September 15 for all Income Tax assessees in Kerala.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) House today cleared a proposal to name its upcoming headquarters after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, an official said.

"The proposal was moved by South Delhi Mayor Narendra Chawla and cleared in the House," the official said.

The building is to be constructed in the Indraprastha Estate area.

"It was also decided in the House that all councillors and officials shall give up one day salary to contribute to the Kerala flood relief fund," the official said.

The SDMC headquarters is currently in the Civic Centre building named after Jan Sangh ideologue Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in central Delhi



Former prime minister and BJP patriarch Vajpayee, one of India's most charismatic leaders, died here following prolonged illness on August 16 at AIIMS hospital. He was 93.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Security forces today busted three separate militant modules and apprehended nine people in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Acting on specific inputs, police, along with security forces, busted the terror modules operating in the Awantipora area and made nine arrests in this regard, a police spokesman said.

"The joint team arrested five members of one of the modules. They were identified as Rizwan Ahmad Pandit, the kingpin of the module, Shahid Manzoor, Zahid Ahmad, Mohammad Hussain and Manzoor Ahmad Dar," he said.

The spokesman said investigation so far revealed that Pandit was the main motivator to lure the youth into militancy. He had played a key role in joining of Ufaid Farooq Lone to a terrorist outfit, he added.

"They (accused) were also involved in carrying UBGL attacks on the national highway. Moreover, they also provide vital information about movement of security forces to terrorists," the spokesman said.

He said in the second operation, the joint team arrested two members of the module.

"They were identified as Shahwaiz Ahmad Wani and Towseef Ahmad Bhat. Both of them were involved in arranging and providing arms and ammunition to terrorists in South Kashmir," the spokesman said.

Two members of another module were arrested by the joint team of security forces. They were identified as Gowhar Ahmad Dar and Showkat Ahmad, he said.

"On their questioning, they disclosed the locations of hideouts at Tahab in Pulwama, Khallan and Khiram in Anantnag, which were accordingly busted and destroyed," the spokesman said.

He said a huge cache of arms and ammunition, along with incriminating material, was recovered.

"All the arrested persons have been booked under relevant sections of laws and investigation has been initiated," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The service rifle of a constable has gone missing in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, a senior police officer said today.

An inquiry was ordered and a special investigation team was formed to recover the missing rifle, said Senior Superintendent of Police (Poonch) Rajiv Pandey.

"The service rifle of a constable was reported missing and an inquiry has been ordered into the incident," he told PTI.

"A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is being constituted to look into the incident and recover the weapon," Pandey said.

Sources said the AK-47 rifle along with two loaded magazines belonged to a personal security officer (PSO) of a senior police officer and was reported missing from police lines in the town.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A court here today admitted a defamation suit filed by Bihar Urban Development



minister and senior BJP leader Suresh Sharma against RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for dragging his name into the shelter home sex scandal.

The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has been attacking Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over continuance of Sharma in the state cabinet.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Hari Prasad admitted the suit, lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 500 (defamation) and 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and fixed September 20 as the next date of hearing.

The petition was filed on August 24 by Sharma, who represents Muzaffarpur, where the shelter home scandal took place.

The minister has accused Tejashwi, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, with having tried to tarnish his reputation by alleging that he had close links with Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the scandal.

Recently, Sharma had also sent a legal notice to Tejashwi, also the RJD heir apparent, for demanding his resignation over the issue.

The RJD has been alleging that despite having obtained the resignation of state Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma - who belonged to Janata Dal (United), the chief minister was unable to press for the resignation of Sharma as he belonged to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power at the Centre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sidelined Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav today announced formation of a Samajwadi Secular Morcha and said he would try to unite smaller parties under it.

However, Shivpal, who is still a SP legislator, refused to answer whether the Morcha will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"I have formed Samajwadi Secular Morcha. I was neglected in the Samajwadi Party and waited for two years. I was neither informed nor invited in party programmes and no resposbility was given to me," Shivpal, uncle of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav, told reporters at his residence here.

"There are many neglected workers in the SP. They will be assigned responsibilities and asked to strengthen our Morcha. I will also try to unite smaller parties under the Morcha," he said



Asked whether SP founder and his brother Mulayam Singh Yadav will be part of the Morcha, Shivpal said, "We will give him due honour and ask others also to do the same.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sidelined leader today launched a new outfit, the Samajwadi Secular Morcha, saying he will seek support of neglected party workers for it.

Shivpal Yadav, who remains an SP legislator, refused to clarify whether the 'morcha' will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

SP president was dismissive of his estranged uncle's move, and the called the development the disintegration of a family-run party.

"I was neglected in the and waited for two years. I was neither informed nor invited to party programmes and no responsibility was given to me," told reporters at his home here.

"I waited this long because I wanted the SP to stay united. We are now going to the villages and the districts and working towards strengthening our morcha," he added.

"There are many neglected workers in the SP. They will be assigned responsibilities and asked to strengthen our morcha. I will also try to unite the backwards and the smaller parties under the morcha," he said



Asked whether his brother and SP founder will be part of the new platform, he said, "We will give him the due honour and ask others also to do the same."



The MLA from Jaswantnagar dismissed rumours of his joining forces with the or any other political party.

Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar, who is a minister in the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh, had met at his home on Tuesday night.

But both the leaders maintained that the meeting was personal and not political.

The announcement of the morcha came a day after expelled SP leader claimed he had set up a meeting between Shivpal Yadav and top leaders, but the MLA has skipped it.

When asked about the formation of the morcha by his upset uncle, shot back, "I am upset myself, where should I go?"



Asked specifically if he saw a conspiracy, the SP chief said, "I will not say the BJP is behind this, but it raises suspicion if one sees the developments yesterday and today."



The apparent reference was to Amar Singh's remarks.

Shivpal Yadav had been maintaining a low profile after the feud in the Samajwadi family broke into the open before the 2017 Assembly elections.

He was removed from the post of SP state unit's president after assumed charge as president.

The senior leader has not been invited to the SP's executive or any other meeting since then.

But there had been attempts by sections in the family to bring about a political settlement. He had held a couple of meetings with Mulayam Singh Yadav's cousin and Akhilesh loyalist

Commenting on today's development, state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said parties run by a single family "eventually disintegrate in this manner".

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Professional services firm Genpact has tied up with education technology company Simplilearn to help employees up-skill in digital technologies.

As part of Genpact's strategic global learning initiative called Education@Work, all existing employees can utilise the Genpact Training & Development portal and choose to up-skill from over 150 courses.

The courses are across digital areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Data & Analytics, Digital Marketing, and Cyber Security, among others.

"With the advent of disruptive technologies, AI and automation are bringing swift changes in the workforce dynamics and the Indian IT industry. This is driving an inherent need for companies and individuals to commit to upskilling and retraining programs," Neelu Chawla Vice President, Corporate Learning & Development Genpact said.

The courses have been co-created by industry domain leaders and are available through a blend of online self-learning, live instructor led training and masters programs.

"We are excited about working together to build a digitally competent workforce and nurture careers in in-demand fields," said Simplilearn Founder & CEO, Krishna Kumar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Six people have been arrested by the Thane railway police in Maharashtra for allegedly robbing passengers of the Kushinagar Express earlier this month, an official said today.

The accused got into the Gorakhpur-bound train when it reached the Kalyan station here on August 19.

They allegedly robbed some passengers of their cash and mobile phones at knife-point and jumped out of the train near Kasara, Kalyan railway police's senior inspector Dinakar Pingle said.

Based on the passengers' complaints, an offence under IPC section 395 (dacoity) was registered by the police.

During the probe, the police arrested the accused from Igatpuri in the neighbouring Nashik district last week.

The police recovered Rs 13,450 cash, three mobile phones and four sickles from them, Pingle said.

The CCTV footage at the Kasara railway station helped the police in nabbing the accused, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A long-serving South Korean police dog killed in the line of duty -- by a snake -- will be honoured with a rare ceremony next month in a country where a million of his fellow canines are estimated to be eaten every year.

Larry, a seven-year-old German shepherd, was searching for a missing person on a mountain in North Chungcheong province when the reptile bit him on his left hind leg in July.

He is the first police dog to die "in the line of duty" anywhere in the country, the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency said in a statement.

Highly trained in tracking evidence through scent, Larry helped officers with 39 felony cases and took part in searches for more than 170 missing people since first being deployed in 2012.

He provided a key clue to an unsolved murder last year after detecting the body of a woman buried 70 centimetres underground near a hiking trail.

An officer told AFP that the carcass was cremated and a funeral service held after Larry's death last month.

"Roam freely in heaven," read a caption on a photograph of Larry in front of flowers, pictures showed.

Police have commissioned a bronze plaque "in honour of Larry" listing his achievements, which will be hung in the regional police headquarters at a ceremony in September, the officer added.

It is a marked contrast to the fate of many dogs in South Korea, where their boiled meat has long been a part of the cuisine and remains a delicacy for some, with about one million dogs believed to be eaten annually.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle in the town of Al-Qaim in western Iraq today, killing at least 11 people, five of them security personnel, police said.

The town, on the Syrian border some 340 kilometres (215 miles) from Baghdad, was one of the last in Iraq to be recaptured from the Islamic State group in November last year.

The 9 am (0600 GMT) bombing also wounded 16 people -- 11 civilians and five security personnel, police Captain Mahmud Jassem told AFP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Naxals killed one of their former colleagues who had surrendered before police three days ago in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Dantewada district, an official said.

Podia alias Gandhi Wadde (55), who had surrendered on August 26, was stabbed to death by the Naxals at his village Cholnar, 400 km from Raipur, last night, said district Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Gorakhnath Baghel.

After his surrender, Wadde had been advised by police to stay with his son who works with National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) in Kirandul, he said.

But Wadde decided to visit his village thinking that his old associates would not harm him, the ASP said.

However, the Naxals killed him brutally in front of villagers, the officer said.

A search operation was launched in the region to trace the assailants, he added.

Wadde was allegedly involvedin blowing up of a police vehicle in Cholnar area on May 20 this year in which seven police personnel were killed, the ASP said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhon and discussed bilateral, multilateral and key international issues.

Swaraj, who is in Cambodia on the concluding leg of her four-day two-nation tour, was received by Sokhon.

The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important international issues at delegation-level talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted that Swaraj was warmly received by Sokhon.

"The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important International issues today at delegation level talks at MOFA," he said in the tweet.

She will call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of the Senate Say Chhum.

Swaraj reached here yesterday from Vietnam where she held wide-ranging talks with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh and discussed steps to boost bilateral trade, investment, maritime and defence cooperation.

India's ties are on an upswing with Vietnam and Cambodia -- the two major countries in the powerful Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping.

India and Cambodia have enjoyed friendly relations for a long time. Both the countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1952. In 2000, Cambodia vowed its full support for India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Swaraj's visit to the two key ASEAN nations is seen as India's attempt to balance China's rising influence in the Southeast Asian region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Telugu film industry today mourned the demise of actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna who died in a car crash in Telangana's Nalgonda district.

Top actor Mahesh Babu said he was deeply saddened on hearing the

Mahesh Babu said he was deeply saddened by the of Harikrishna's untimely demise.

"May his soul rest in peace," he tweeted.

Harikrishna's sons Jr NTR and Kalyanram immediately rushed to Kamineni Hospitals, where he was admitted, as soon as they received the

Senior actor Jagapathi Babu and ace director Trivikram Srinivas paid homage to the departed soul at the hospital.

"RIP HariKrishna uncle...deeply saddened and shocked..God is Harsh..speechless," actor Manoj Manchu tweeted.

Actors Allu Arjun, Ram Charan and Nagarjuna, among others, tweeted their condolences.

Veteran actor Mohan Babu said "I lost my brother Nandamuri HariKrishna today. There is nothing more I can say...a great loss."



Actor and Jena Sena founder Pawan Kalyan also condoled the death.

Harikrishna's body is kept at his residence to enable the public to pay their respects.

Several actors, directors and technicians of the Telugu film industry paid homage.

Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh E S L Narasimhan paid homage and consoled the bereaved family. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao placed a wreath on the body.

State minister for IT and Industries K T Ramarao said the last rites would be performed tomorrow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special court here today sent Deputy Superintendent of Amphalla Jail Feroz Ahmed Lone, who was arrested by the NIA in an alleged terror conspiracy case, to nine days police remand.

He was produced before NIA Special Judge Haq Nawaz by the agency today.

The judge said the application moved was "genuine" and remanded the accused to police custody for nine days.

"I heard and perused the file as an application for the remand. The prayer made by the NIA seems to be genuine and as such, the present application is allowed," he said.

Feroz Lone was arrested by the National Investigating Agency here yesterday for allegedly conniving with the main accused, Ishaq Palla, to send Kashmiri youths Suhail Ahmad Bhat and Danish Ghulam Lone to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for arms training to wage war against India.

A meeting in this regard took place on October 25, 2017, at the Central jail, Srinagar, where Feroz Lone, a resident of Budgam, was then posted as Deputy Jail Superintendent, the NIA said.

"Palla, a resident of Shopian, was lodged in the Srinagar jail in a different case and he was instrumental in hatching the conspiracy from there. He was actively assisted by Feroz Lone," alleged the agency.

"The case pertains to an attempt by Bhat and Danish Lone, who were arrested earlier, to travel to PoK for arms training to wage war against the state. They were motivated by Palla," the NIA said.

Bhat and Danish Lone were arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police in Kupwara district near the Line of Control while trying to cross over to PoK on October 30, 2017. They were reportedly going to join the militant outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen.

The NIA said the duo was in constant touch with each other through the blackberry messenger during the entire month of October before being apprehended.

Palla, arrested along with Feroz Lone, was yesterday remanded to 10 days' NIA custody by the special court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One of the 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs today tendered an unconditional apology to the Advocate-General for his statements criticising the judiciary in connection with the disqualification case.

An affidavit was filed on behalf of Thanga amilselvan, a supporter of sidelined AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, through his counsel K R Tamilmani before Advocate General Vijay Narayan.

The issue pertains to contempt complaints filed by Advocate Srimathi and others against Tamilselvan for his comments against the then Chief Justice and his criticisms against the judiciary following the split verdict given by the court in the disqualification case.

Taking cognisance of the complaints, the advocate-general issued show cause notice against Tamilselvam as to why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.

On July 10, Tamilselvan appeared before the AG and sought six weeks time to file his reply.

In his counter, Tamilselvan submitted that late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa had never criticised the judiciary even when the court convicted her in the disproportionate assets case.

"Being an ardent follower of the leader, I now have realised that criticising the judiciary is wrong. I tender my unconditional apology for my actions and statements," he said.

However, as the complainants sought time to decide whether to proceed with the complaint or not, the AG adjourned the hearing to September 27.

Before the court takes note of a contempt plea, the AG has to give his consent that it is a fit case for contempt proceedings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior leader today said "there is no question" of or anybody from the party attending an event.

"Let the letter (of invitation) come first. This (invitation) is all in view of elections," Kharge said, when asked about the RSS' reported plan to invite the president to a lecture series next month.

Kharge was talking to reporters here after meeting party workers from Maharashtra and Mumbai units ahead of the 2019 polls.

The is engaged in an ideological battle with the and the party even gave up the chief minister's post in Karnataka to keep the BJP and the saffron outfit away from power, he said.

"In Karnataka, a small regional party (Janata Dal-Secular) has 37 MLAs and we have 80. But we gave up the chief minister's post to that party to strengthen secular forces. So there is no question of (Gandhi or any other Congress leader) going to the headquarters," Kharge added.

He termed the ideology as a "poison" for the country and for Dalits and other oppressed classes.

"If Rahul sahab asks me about going there (to the RSS event), I will tell him that there is no question of going there. That there is no intention of joining such people," Kharge said.

RSS sources had claimed two days ago that it could invite Gandhi to a three-day lecture series by Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi next month.

The idea was to invite people from different ideologies and the list may even include CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, sources had claimed.A day after arresting five Left-wing activists for alleged Maoist links, the Pune Police said today it had "evidence" which suggested that there was a plan to target the "higher political functionaries".

Police also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists.

Pune police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into a conclave -- Elgar Parishad -- held in Koregaon-Bhima near here on December 31 last year, which had allegedly triggered violence the next day.

"The arrested activists were part of a conspiracy to target higher political functionaries," Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe said, without elaborating.

The arrested accused had communicated about the plan within themselves, he added.

Some of the evidence collected suggests that they had planned to target the "higher political functionaries", Deputy Commissioner of Police Shirish Sardeshpande added.

The police officials, while addressing a press conference here today, said the Elgar Parishad had been funded by the Maoists.

"They also have a strong intolerance to the present political system and decided to target organisations, functionaries and they even were thinking of targeting highest political functionaries," Sardeshpande said.

Police have retrieved communication and strong evidence that the arrested persons were planners and abettors, he said.

Some evidence suggests that they (those arrested) appear to be mixed up with other unlawful organisations, the police officer said.

"The evidence conclusively points to the deliberate involvement and major role played by Varvara Rao, Arun Farreiera, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bhardwaj and Gautam Navlakha in the larger conspiracy hatched by the banned organisation CPI (Maoist)," Sardeshpande said.

The "evidence" also involves other details like provision of funds, responsibilities given to these urban naxals in radicalising the youth and students, provision of arms and other details, and training from senior comrades of Central Committee of CPI Maoist, he added.

"Also, they were actively and deliberately involved in unlawful activities, which led to the violence and killings of a large number of security personnel and even some civilians," he said.

Altogether, nine places were searched, including Mumbai, Thane, Ranchi, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Faridabad yesterday, he said.

Hard disk, laptop, memory cards, mobile phones and other "incriminating" documents were recovered from these places, he added.

Some prominent people today approached the Supreme Court, challenging the arrests.

The Supreme Court ordered that all the five people would have to be kept under house arrest till September 6.

The Pune police had brought Rao, Gonsalves and Ferreira here last night and produced them in a court here today.

In view of the Supreme Court order, the Pune court directed police to send the three to their homes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who was picked up by the Maharashtra Police for her suspected links with Maoists, today said those speaking against human rights violation and fighting for the rights of Dalits and tribals are being targeted by the "present regime".

Bharadwaj, along with several other Left-wing activists, was arrested yesterday in multi-city raids.

She has been confined at her residence in Faridabad, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only her lawyer.

"I think whatever is the opposition to the present regime, whether it is on Dalit rights, tribal rights, or human rights, everybody who is in the opposition is being rounded up in this manner.

"My mobile, laptop and pen drive has been seized. I apprehend they are going to play around with this data. My Gmail and Twitter passwords have also been taken," she told reporters here.

The arrest has triggered a nation-wide outrage with activists saying the raids were a brazen attack on democratic rights and reminiscent of the infamous Emergency.

Her daughter, Anu Bharadwa, said, "There were ten people. Among them only one was a lady constable from the Haryana police. Others were from the Maharashtra police. When Mom asked for search warrant, they said they did not have it.

"They did have some other document. That is why, mom allowed them to come inside. I do not have any idea about allegations but mom said they have come in connection with arrests in Pune," she said.

The Maharashtra Police yesterday carried out searches at multiple places in several states, including Delhi, on the residences of people suspected to have Maoist links.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune on December 31 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after the pan India crackdown on Left-wing activists, the action shifted to the courts today with the Supreme Court giving urgent hearing to a plea against the arrests in the afternoon and three of the five who were nabbed to be produced before a Pune court.

Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were taken to Pune late last night and are likely to be produced in a court later in the day, a senior police official in Pune said.

The other two arrested for their suspected links with Maoists were trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha in Delhi.

Navlakha and Bharadwaj are confined to their homes, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only their lawyers.

Eminent historian Romila Thapar and four others have moved the apex court against the arrests by the Maharashtra Police.

The petition was mentioned before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which agreed to give an urgent hearing today itself at 3.45 pm.

The petition, which was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, seeks the release of all five and an independent probe into the arrests.

In a parallel development, the Delhi High Court will hear Navlakha's plea at 2.15 pm after the Maharashtra Police submitted that translated documents of the case were not ready.

Navlakha's transit remand was secured from the Saket district court to take him to Pune. The order, however, was stayed by the high court.

It was a night of dramatic developments for those following Bharadwaj's case.

The chief judicial magistrate of Faridabad had granted Bharadwaj's transit remand to the Maharashtra police. However, it had to reverse its order in the early hours of Wednesday in keeping with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had stayed her transit remand for three days.

The near simultaneous multi-city raids against the five as well as four others were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad event, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered at the Vishrambaug police station in Pune after the event.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit history -- it witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on January 1, 1818 by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Rao, Bhardwaj, Ferreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, an official said.

There were also arrested under some other sections of the IPC, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged Naxal activities", the official said without elaborating.

According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided yesterday were Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

Yesterday's events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in June.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Telugu poet Varavara Rao,



and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, arrested in connection with a probe into suspected Maoist links to an event held in Pune, were brought before a local court today.

The three Left-wing activists were arrested yesterday by the Maharashtra Police and brought here late last night.

They were brought in the court of district and sessions judge K D Vadhane.

The court was jam-packed with heavy police bandobast outside.

Near simultaneous searches were carried out yesterday at the residences of Rao in Hyderabad, Gonzalves and Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi, a senior police official had said.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the official.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed against those arrested, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged Naxal activities," said the police official, without elaborating.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune on December 31 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three persons lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh in rain-related incidents in the past 24 hours, an official statement released here said.

One person each died in Bijnore, Aligarh and Sonbhadra districts, it said.

The statement issued by the office of the UP Relief Commissioner said, "Three persons lost their lives in various rain-related incidents in the past 24 hours. One person died each in Bijnore, Aligarh and Sonbhadra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three stone crushers were today sealed here for operating illegally in Tawi river bed, an official spokesman said.

He said a team of the Geology and Mining Department sealed the crushers in the presence of a magistrate.

The stone crushers were extracting minor minerals during odd hours in the river bed, which is completely banned by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the spokesman said.

He said to curb illegal mining, the authorities have installed CCTV cameras at various locations along the river.

Earlier, eight unauthorised stone crushers were sealed for operating illegally in Tawi river bed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit today urged people to lead a simple life, which could help eliminate corruption.

The country was marching on the path of development and for that to continue successfully, corruption should be eradicated, he said after unveiling the statue of freedom fighter G S Lakshmana Iyer at Gobichettipalayam in the district.

The governor said people should worship God every day as it would held reduce violence and crimes including corruption.

Advising people in the country to lead a simple life, he said by doing so, corruption can be eliminated.

He praised Lakshmana Iyer for taking steps to abolish manual scavenging during his tenure as Chairman of Gobichettipalayam Municipality.

"We should educate ourselves and protect our culture," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former VHP leader Pravin Togadia today announced a march from Lucknow to Ayodhya on October 21 to gather support for the Ram Mandir movement.

He visited Faizabad and Ayodhya today and met those connected with the movement.

Addressing a press conference in Faizabad, Togadia said, "Respecting the sacrifices of Hindus for the cause of Ram Janambhoomi, we will move towards Ayodhya from Lucknow on October 21 to build pressure on the Union government to bring resolution in Parliament for the construction of Ram Mandir. Lakhs of Kar Sewaks will join us."



Togadia, who visited Ayodhya in June, had earlier demanded the BJP government to legislate a law within four months for constructing a temple at the disputed site.

He was joined by about 200 activists of his newly-formed 'Antar-rashtriya Hindu Parishad'.

Togadia, who enjoyed a 'Z' category security cover till a couple of months ago, was seen without any security today.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)On a day of mixed fortunes, the Jammu and Kashmir Police gunned down two dreaded militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen, including one of the Valley's oldest surviving terrorists, in Anantnag district today but also lost four men in neighbouring Shopian.

The day began with an encounter breaking out in Khanabal area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district when police and para-military forces cordoned off a house in Muniward village.

There was specific intelligence about the presence of Altaf Ahmad Dar, also known as 'Altaf Kachroo' alias Moin, considered to be the 'chief architect' of attacks on policemen in the Kashmir Valley.

"During the searches, terrorists fired on the police party, which retaliated leading to an encounter in which two terrorists were eliminated. They were identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Ataf Kachroo alias Moin of Hawoora Mishipora and Omar Rashid Wani of Khudwani Kulgam," a police spokesman said.

It was a specific operation carried out swiftly by the security forces, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said. "In the action both terrorists, who were involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen, were eliminated," Pani added.

However, even before the dust of the gun-battle in Anantnag settled, came in from Arhama in the neighbouring district of Shopian that terrorists had mercilessly pumped bullets into four policemen, leaving two dead on the spot. The other two were declared 'brought dead' by hospital authorities.

"The martyred policemen were identified as Constable Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Constable Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Constable Mohammad Iqbal Mir and SPO Adil Manzoor Bhat," the police spokesman said.

Special Police Officer Bhat had turned 18 only this March.

Director General of Police S P Vaid and IGP Pani visited Shopian and paid tributes to the policemen who fell to the bullets of the terrorists.

"Terrorists in the afternoon fired indiscriminately upon a police party at Arhama in district Shopian," the spokesman said. The four ill-fated policemen were caught unaware as they were repairing their vehicle, he added.

Pools of blood was seen at several spots where militants carried out the attack.

Sharing details of the morning operation, the spokesman said, Dar, who hailed from Kulgam in south Kashmir, was operating as one of the most important terrorist commanders of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and had a long criminal record since 2007.

Considered as one of the oldest surviving terrorists in the area, Dar was involved in series of terror crimes including attacks on the security forces, killings of civilians and policemen in south Kashmir.

The police spokesman said Dar along with associate Yasin Itoo played a major role in instigating people during the 2016 unrest following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani.

The other militant killed in the encounter was Omar Rashid Wani, who was active since last year, the spokesman said. Wani was involved in many case of atrocities against civilians and attacks on security establishments, he added.

Wani was involved in the killing of policemen at Anantnag and recently carried an attack on CRPF in Srinagar and managed to escape from the Batmaloo encounter site recently.

The spokesman said though the two were part of the Hizbul Mujahideen, they kept close coordination with other outfits for unleashing terror.

Both bodies were laid to rest in which people participated in large numbers.

Significantly, Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jhat, who made a dramatic escape from a hospital earlier this year, was also seen at the funeral of Dar, sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Donald Trump said today that White House counsel Don McGahn would soon be leaving his post, a crucial shift as the probe into Russia's election interference probe closes in on the US president's inner circle.

McGahn, who has advised Trump on dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, also has been interviewed at length as a cooperating witness by Mueller's team.

He will be leaving his White House post "in the fall," Trump said via Twitter.

The 50-year-old lawyer is one of the few people left in the White House who had a senior role in Trump's election campaign, where McGahn was general counsel.

His replacement, according to media reports, could be his current deputy White House counsel Emmet Flood, a Washington veteran who represented president Bill Clinton when he faced impeachment in the late 1990s.

Trump also maintains a team of private lawyers led by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to deal with his personal legal troubles.

McGahn's departure will come "shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump said.

"I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!" he added.

As the president's official legal advisor, McGahn has served Trump well, advising on relations with Congress and the Justice Department as well as dealing with Mueller.

He has also been at the center of one of the Trump administration's biggest political successes: placing dozens of pro-Republican, conservative judges on the Supreme Court and other federal courts around the country.

McGahn was instrumental in Trump's nomination of both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh -- judges with strong conservative records -- to the Supreme Court.

But his personal relations with Trump have been formal and at times testy, as he has tried to protect the president from a slew of accusations and investigations into his personal behavior, his business, and his campaign's alleged collusion with Russians in the 2016 election.

According to media reports, McGahn has struggled to prevent the president from acting on his impulses to interfere dangerously in the Russia investigation.

He also has had to mediate the deep tensions between Trump and the Justice Department over the probe.

According to the New York Times, McGahn threatened to quit in June 2017 rather than carry out Trump's directive to fire Mueller, just weeks after he was named.

McGahn has also pushed back when Trump has sought to oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also out of frustration over the Mueller probe.

Those and other episodes, including the firing of FBI director James Comey, have made McGahn a potentially important witness as Mueller examines whether Trump illegally tried to obstruct the investigation -- an offense that could lead to impeachment.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that McGahn had "cooperated extensively" with Mueller's team, taking part in at least three interviews totalling 30 hours.

Trump, who has repeatedly called the probe a "rigged witch hunt," said he had authorized his team to "fully cooperate" with investigators.

But the Times said McGahn's cooperation arose in part from a feeling that he needed to protect himself, and speculation quickly mounted about whether McGahn's testimony could harm the president.

Trump suffered a one-two punch in court this month, when his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Trade ministers of 16-member RCEP bloc, including India and China, will deliberate upon issues hindering the negotiations of the proposed mega trade deal in Singapore on August 30-31, an official said.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega trade pact aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

The meeting is important as the 16-member bloc now needs specific political guidance to move the negotiations further.

"Officials held discussions today on the pact and the ministers would meet tomorrow and day after," the official added.

The bloc comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The meeting also assumes significance as the negotiations are not moving at a fast pace even as the talks for the deal started in November 2012.

The 23rd round of the negotiation was recently concluded without much progress in Bangkok.

Sectors including textiles, steel and food processing have raised serious objections over removal or significant reduction of customs duties on these items under the pact. They want these segments to be out of the purview of RCEP.

They have apprehensions that removal of duties would lead to flooding of Chinese goods in the Indian market. But without any free trade agreement, India has a trade deficit of USD 63.12 billion in 2017-18 with China as compared to USD 51.11 billion in the previous year.

Pressure is mounting on India for early conclusion of the negotiation despite the fact that no member is showing flexibility in its stand.

RCEP members want India to eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on the maximum number of goods it traded globally. India's huge domestic market provides an immense opportunity of exports for RCEP countries.

But the lower level of ambitions in services and investments, a key area of interest for India, does not augur well for the agreement that seeks to be comprehensive in nature.

Of the RCEP nations, India has a trade deficit with as many as 10 countries, including China, South Korea and Australia, among others.

India wants to have a balanced RECP trade agreement as it would cover 40 per cent of the global GDP and over 42 per cent of the world's population. India already has a free trade pact with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan and South Korea. It is also negotiating a similar agreement with Australia and New Zealand but has no such plans for China.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The trade war with China is making life difficult for many farmers across Washington.

The state's 1,900 wheat growers, who export the vast majority of their crop, are particularly hurt. But so are cherry growers who just harvested their highly perishable crop.

Washington stands to lose USD 480 million in agricultural exports to China because of retaliatory tariffs, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

Mike Carstensen, a wheat grower whose farm is near Grand Coulee Dam, said that last year China was the No. 4 customer for his wheat.

"To date they have bought zero," Carstensen said of this year's crop.

Gary Bailey, a wheat farmer near the Washington-Idaho state border, said he hasn't sold any wheat to China since March.

"I hope it doesn't last too long," Bailey said of the trade war. "We've developed relationships with these countries and as we go along, they will be replacing our wheat with someone else's. We want to keep those relationships strong and healthy."



President Trump has raised duties on billions of dollars' worth of Chinese imports, and China retaliated with similar penalties.

Chinese leaders have tried to cushion the blow to their own economy by targeting US goods its importers can get from other countries.

Mike Miller, a wheat farmer outside of Ritzville, about 60 miles (100 kilometres) west of Spokane, thinks the trade war has had minimal impacts on global wheat prices so far.

"Other conditions in the world wheat market have caused a bump upward in prices that are not related to our own international trade policies," Miller said.

Poor wheat crops in Australia and Europe have prices "on a little upward swing," he said.

More than 90 per cent of the USD 600 million wheat crop in Washington is exported to other countries each year.

Miller said farmers are eternal optimists who understand the federal government is seeking better trade conditions with China.

"I just wish agriculture wasn't being singled out in this retaliatory climate," Miller said.

"Our biggest concern is that we've spent 50 or 60 years developing markets, and if we lose them then you don't turn the switch and come back on," Miller said.

"The uncertainty of how long it takes to earn back market share concerns me the most."



Meanwhile, the 2,500 cherry growers in the state say they will lose some USD 86 million this season because of retaliatory tariffs by China.

That figure was calculated by the Northwest Horticultural Council, which covers trade issues.

China was the largest importer of Northwest cherries last year. But the country placed a 50 per cent tariff on cherries after President Trump placed tariffs on some Chinese products.

Cherries are highly perishable and must be eaten shortly after they are harvested. The 2018 season has already ended for Washington growers.

Washington's two US senators and two US House members who represent cherry country recently sent a letter to the US Department of Agriculture asking for financial relief to cherry growers.

The letter was signed by Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, and Reps. Dan Newhouse and Dave Reichert, both Republicans.

If their request is granted, cherry growers can get a piece of the USD 12 billion that USDA has made available to farmers hurt by the tariff war.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today said there is a chance of reaching agreement on a continental trade deal with the US and Mexico by the end of the week.

Just a day after Canadian trade officials rejoined talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement in Washington, Trudeau said, "There is a possibility of getting to a good deal for Canada by Friday," the day the US has set to have at least the broad accord completed.

But any agreement "will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada," Trudeau said at a student rally in Kapuskasing in northern Ontario.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Donald Trump is accusing Google and other US tech companies of rigging search results about him "so that almost all stories & is BAD" and though he is offering no evidence, a top adviser says the White House is "taking a look" at whether Google should face federal regulation.

Google is pushing back sharply, saying Trump's claim simply wasn't true: "We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment." The president's tweets Tuesday echoed his familiar attacks on the media and a conservative talking point that California-based tech companies run by CEOs with liberal leanings don't give equal weight to opposing political viewpoints.

They also revealed anew his deep-seated frustration over not getting the credit he believes he deserves.

The president, who has said he runs on little sleep, jumped onto Twitter before dawn Tuesday to rehash his recent complaints about alleged suppression of conservative voices and positive about him.

He followed that up with vague threats in Oval Office comments.

"I think Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people, and I think that's a very serious thing. That's a very serious charge," Trump said, adding that Google, Twitter, Facebook and others "better be careful, because you can't do that to people."



Trump claimed that "we have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in. ... So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, they're really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful."



Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic adviser, told reporters later that the White House is "taking a look" at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation. Trump often points proudly to his cutting of government regulations as a spur for economic gains.

In his tweets, Trump said without offering evidence that "Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent.

Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?" He added, again with no evidence, that "96% of results on "Trump News" are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous."



A search query Tuesday morning, several hours after the president tweeted, showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others. A similar search later in the day for "Trump" had Fox News, the president's favored cable network, among the top results.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, said its aim is to make sure its search engine users quickly get the most relevant answers.

"Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," the company said in a statement.

"Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment." Experts suggested that Trump's comments showed a misunderstanding of how search engines work.

Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a user's query, even before he or she finishes typing. The answers that appear first are the ones Google's formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant.

Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well it's designed and more.

Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. While some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias.

Media analyst Ken Doctor said it doesn't make sense for mass-market businesses like Google to lean either way politically. He characterized the complaints as a "sign of our times," adding that, years ago, if the head of General Electric was supporting a Republican candidate, people who disagreed wouldn't then go out and boycott GE products.

"The temperature has risen on this," Doctor said.

Steven Andres, who teaches about management information systems at San Diego State University, said people often assume that if you give a computer the same inputs, no matter where you are, that you "get the same outputs."



But it doesn't work that way, he said. "You're seeing different things every moment of the day and the algorithms are always trying to change the results."



Trump didn't say what he based his tweets on. But conservative activist Paula Boylard had said in a weekend blog post that she found "blatant prioritization of left-leaning and anti-Trump media outlets" in search results.

Boylard based her judgments on the political leanings of media outlets on a list by Sharyl Attkisson, host of Sinclair Television's "Full Measure" and author of "The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, Think, and How You Vote." Sinclair is a significant outlet for conservative views.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump joined in expressions of optimism about trade talks with Canada, saying today that negotiations were going well.

"With Canada, I think we are doing really well," he said at the White House, as US and Canadian and US trade officials continued talks nearby to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Just two days ago, Trump announced an agreement with Mexico on a NAFTA rewrite and said it could proceed without Canada.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Donald Trump said Wednesday that White House counsel Don McGahn would soon be leaving his post, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller -- who is leading the Russia election interference probe -- closes in on the US president's inner circle.

"White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump announced on Twitter.

"I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!" he added, without offering any reason why McGahn was leaving.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that McGahn had "cooperated extensively" with Mueller's team, taking part in at least three interviews with investigators totalling 30 hours.

Trump said he had authorised his team to cooperate with investigators, but speculation rose about what McGahn might have specifically said about whether the Republican leader sought to obstruct justice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir today, police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Muniward village in Khanabal area of the district early this morning following specific information about the presence of militants there.

An encounter ensued when the militants opened fire on the forces, an official said.

Police said two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in the operation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A top Hizbul Mujahideen militant was among two ultras killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir today, police said.

Altaf Kachru, one of the oldest Hizbul Mujahideen militants operating in the Kashmir Valley was killed in the operation. He was involved in many cases including killing of policemen. The second militant was yet to be identified



"It was a specific operation and in a swift action both the terrorists involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen were eliminated," Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range, S P Pani said.

Giving details of the encounter, police said security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Muniward village in Khanabal area of the district early this morning following specific information about the presence of militants there.

An encounter ensued when the militants opened fire on the forces, an official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde, whose house was raided along with those of several other Left-wing activists over suspected Maoist links, today said the government was "misusing" the draconian UAPA law to terrorise people into "silence" by targeting select intellectuals and activists.

The Maharashtra Police had yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an 'Elgar Parishad' conclave on



December 31 last year.

Urging the judiciary to take note of the "monumental harassment and torture" of innocent people like him were undergoing, Teltumbde in a statement, described the circumstances in which the raid was conducted at his residence in Goa.

Teltumbde, senior professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics at the Goa Institute of Management, said he came to know of the raids after his house on the campus had already been searched.

"They enquired about me and picked up one security person from the main gate for showing the house. At the second gate, they repeated the same, taking away all cell phones and disconnecting the phone line, and came over to our house. They threatened the security guard to get the keys. He brought the duplicate keys and the process of opening the house took place.

"The entire process is conducted as though I was a dreaded terrorist or criminal," he said in the statement.

The activist said in his role as a public intellectual, he has been critical of the policies of the government which he said were "voiced in not a superficial way but with scholastic discipline".

"I, like many other people who have been targeted by people, was not even in the conference. With what stretch of imagination could I have even been suspected to have connection with these things? The entire episode is based on a letter police produced, the authenticity of which is far from established.

"Many people have already expressed serious doubt about its veracity. And on this basis, the police are targeting summarily all intellectuals in the country. They are misusing the draconian law like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to terrorise people into silence by targeting select intellectuals and activists," Teltumbde said.

The pan India crackdown on Left-wing activists has sparked a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A United Nations report released today on four months of unrest in Nicaragua describes a comprehensive effort of repression by the government that extends from the streets to the courts.

The report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the government of President Daniel Ortega to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for many of the killings and arbitrary detentions.

More than 300 people have been killed in violence since mid-April in this Central American nation.

Neighbouring Costa Rica has been flooded with thousands of requests for asylum by people fleeing Nicaragua.

The report describes illegal arrests, torture and closed trials. Doctors, professors and judges who have spoken out or protested have been dismissed from their jobs to discourage people from participating in or supporting the protests.

"The level of persecution is such that many of those who have participated in the protests, defended the rights of the protesters, or simply expressed dissenting opinion, have been forced to hide, have left Nicaragua or are trying to do so," according to the UN report.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief, told reporters in Geneva that "repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away".

He urged the international community to take "concrete action to prevent the current crisis in Nicaragua from descending into deeper social and political turmoil".

Ortega's government dismissed the report as baseless and relying on anti-government media accounts. It denied accusations of excessive use of force against protesters.

"The report is biased and slanted with subjective assertions," the government said in a statement, which also noted that it included no mention of the attempted coup d'etat alleged by Ortega.

It said the UN had not been invited to evaluate the human rights situation, but rather to accompany the verification commission established as part of the national dialogue.

It accused the UN of overstepping its authority and violating Nicaragua's sovereignty.

In mid-April, retirees and students marched to protest cuts to Nicaragua's social security benefits decreed by Ortega. They were met with violence from young government supporters and riot police.

The president eventually retracted the changes, but protests quickly evolved into calls for him to step down.

University students across the country led the protest effort and took over a number of campuses. But in July the government unleashed heavily armed civilian forces that worked with police to clear the barricades that had been erected on strategic highways and throughout some neighbourhoods.

There was a short-lived dialogue between the government and opponents, but Ortega accused the Roman Catholic bishops mediating the talks of being part of a coup conspiracy and talks have not resumed.

Ortega has blamed international agents and internal enemies of conspiring to overthrow his government. He has said he will not step down before his term ends in 2021.

Protests continue, but they are smaller as student leaders have been arrested or forced into hiding or exile.

"There are currently no conditions for the free and safe exercise of the rights to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association," the UN report said.

The UN team reached its conclusions despite government obstacles thrown in its path. It said team members could not access relevant government agencies or observe court hearings for those accused of crimes ranging from organized crime to terrorism for participating in the protests.

When the team attempted to travel outside the capital, the foreign ministry forbade it for security reasons.

Arbitrary arrests are conducted without arrest or search warrants, the team found. Detainees are typically held incommunicado for days before their families find out where they have been taken.

This month The Associated Press reported on student protesters who were arrested, beaten and tortured by police and armed civilians. One pregnant student was beaten, despite making her condition known to her captors, and eventually lost her pregnancy.

When some families made habeas corpus filings with the courts in an effort to locate their missing relatives, the petitions were initially assigned to dead judges, the UN report said.

UN investigators believe it was an effort to delay the proceedings.

On Monday night, a judge convicted two young men in the April 21 killing of journalist Angel Gahona in Bluefields. His widow, Migueliuth Sandoval, said yesterday that the two men are innocent.

"This decision is humiliating, it doesn't give us justice. Because we know that these guys didn't kill my husband, that those who really did it are riot police, because there are videos indicating it, that my husband was surrounded by police," Sandoval said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UN human rights chief says threatened US funding cuts wouldn't be "fatal" for his office, but says he hopes other countries won't follow suit.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein insisted "the office will continue to survive" even if the US carries out the promise made by US National Security Adviser John Bolton in an interview with The Associated Press last week.

Zeid told reporters today that "clearly what one doesn't want to see is a whole series of withdrawals and withdrawal of funding."



Bolton's pledge that the US will cut funding to the rights office, and the UN's top human rights body was the latest Trump administration salvo against UN institutions.

The US is the UN's largest single donor, providing about 22 per cent of its budget.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UN human rights chief urged Facebook today to more proactively address hate speech but warned against excessive regulation, after US President Donald Trump accused tech giants' platforms of bias against him.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's appeal follows a decision by Facebook this week to ban Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass named in a UN probe linking them to a possible "genocide" against Rohingya Muslims.

The social media network is the prime source of and information for many in the country, but has also been a platform for the army and Buddhist hardliners to spread hate speech against the Rohingya and other minorities.

The site aired support for the military's bloody "clearance operations" last year that forced some 700,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh.

"We felt early on very uncomfortable with what we were seeing in Myanmar, (but) in the early meetings that we had with Facebook, I didn't think they were taking it seriously," said Zeid, who is due to step down from his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the end of the week.

"Hopefully they've now awoken," he told reporters in Geneva, warning that there could easily be other cases "where Facebook is the dominant medium in a country where you see a deterioration of human rights conditions and then their role would be brought into question."



He cautioned that the company should be "careful", since it risked being subpoenaed in possible future trials "of those accused of the worst crimes."



"We've seen from the jurisprudence of the past that if you've enabled, you've abetted, you've been an accessory," Zeid said, stressing that while he was not accusing Facebook of that, "they have to be sure that they know where they are and what side of the law they are on."The Jordanian national, who is set to be succeeded by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, urged Facebook to not wait until a full-blown crisis erupts to act against hate speech.

"They should be thinking proactively about what steps they will take to mitigate that," he said.

Zeid meanwhile warned of going too far in the opposite direction, cautioning that "there is also another danger (of being) overregulated." He pointed to recent comments by the US president, who has accused big tech firms like Facebook, Google and Twitter of bias against him, slamming what he called "rigged" internet search results.

Trump offered no details on what if any actions he might take, but a top White House aide suggested the administration may look at some type of regulation in response to the president's complaints.

Zeid insisted that instead of more government regulations, the platforms' actions must "be regulated by (international) human rights law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster today called on Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and appreciated the state government for taking various effective measures to keep a check on air pollution caused due to vehicular traffic and stubble burning.

Juster said the US and Haryana could work together on this issue of great importance which would go a long way in making the entire state pollution free. "This would be a great achievement," he said in an official statement issued here.

He also commended the state government for declaring Haryana as kerosene free and Open Defecation Free (ODF) state.

Apprising Juster about the initiatives planned by the state government, Khattar said, "We are soon going to launch a fleet of 200 buses of clean fuel in Gurugram under the city bus service scheme."



The chief minister said the state government is planning to develop an aero space manufacturing hub at Hisar for which Pratt & Whitney, an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations, could provide its technology and expertise.

Khattar said during his visit to the US in 2015, Pratt & Whitney had shown interest in developing research and development (R&D) facilities in the state.

The ambassador said exchange of technology and expertise would further help strengthening the bilateral relations between the US and India and particularly Haryana.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canada and the United States are making progress and could have a deal by Friday on a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today.

As the crucial phase of talks continued in Washington to try to bridge their differences, Trudeau's note of optimism raised the chances NAFTA would continue as a three-nation pact, despite President Donald Trump's threat on Monday to leave Canada on the sidelines.

Trudeau said, "There is a possibility of getting to a good deal for Canada by Friday," the day the United States has set to have at least the broad accord completed.

But any agreement "will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada," Trudeau said at a student rally in northern Ontario.

"I have said from the very beginning no NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal," he added.

After Mexico paved the way by agreeing to a NAFTA 2.0 with the United States on Monday, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday "a lot has been accomplished" in her two meetings with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The United States and Canada are now engaged in "an extremely intense period in the negotiations," she told reporters, and trade officials had worked late into the night outstanding issues.

Freeland declined to get into specifics on what issues remained, saying she and Lighthizer agreed not to discuss the details in public.

Lighthizer said he will officially notify the US Congress on Friday of the intention to enter into a new trade pact in 90 days. The White House then would have until September 30 to present Congress with the final NAFTA agreement.

The sticking points between Ottawa and Washington likely will center on Canada's managed dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners.

Ottawa could offer US dairy farmers a small increased share of the market as it did with the EU in a free trade pact last year.

Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite the 25-year-old free trade pact. But in the last five weeks, Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa.

While critics said Canada had been frozen out, Freeland has repeatedly stressed to reporters that she remained in close touch with her US and Mexican counterparts throughout the summer and had already achieved "a high-level agreement with the US" on some the pending issues on autos and labour rights.

She also met late yesterday night with her Mexican counterparts, who had remained in Washington after announcing the breakthrough with the United States.

She praised Mexico's willingness to make difficult concessions on auto trade and labour issues, which helped pave the way for a three-party agreement.

"Our workers have been concerned for a long time...about the way in which trade agreements can harm blue-collar workers in high-wage countries," she said.

"There are some important things that we believe that we have accomplished together with the United States and with some significant compromises that Mexico was prepared to make to support Canadian workers."



That "set the stage for very intensive conversations and negotiations that we're going to have."



Wall Street cheered Freeland's comments on, with all three major stock indices rising sharply shortly after 1400 GMT.

The outlines of the new NAFTA include a higher percentage of locally-produced components in autos, a percentage of vehicles that must come from high wage factories, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the 16-year deal every six years.

Still, Trump said he would take a tough line with Canada on dairy trade -- long a source of tension between the neighbouring countries.

Trudeau has nevertheless vowed not to give in to Washington's demands to alter the system under which Ottawa sets dairy production quotas and prices, with steep tariffs on imports.

The system has been in place since the 1970s and has survived several attempts to undo it.

Trudeau faces political pressure with elections due in a year, which could make him wary of being seen as capitulating to Trump, especially on dairy.

But Ottawa could offer US dairy farmers a small increase in market share as it did with the EU in a free trade pact last year.

Canada also objects to the US call to eliminate bi-national panels to resolve trade disputes among NAFTA partners under Chapter 19, which appears to have been dropped in the deal with Mexico.

Canada has used the provision to challenge US anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

But Washington backed away from a strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate the trade pact after five years.

Instead, the agreement with Mexico extends NAFTA for 16 years but with a review every six years.

The White House is pushing to finalize things quickly so that outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto can sign the treaty before handing the reins over to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on December 1.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Washington and Ottawa will enter into detailed talks today to salvage the North American trade pact, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

Freeland added that talks would be eased because Mexico had made "tough decisions" in reaching a preliminary trade agreement with the United States on Monday.

Mexico's effort "clears the way for us to have some significant, substantive, and, I think, productive conversations with the US this week," Freeland said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US has launched an international trade complaint against Russia's decision to hike tariffs on some American goods last month, according to a document circulated to World Trade Organisation members today.

Russia announced on July 6 that it had raised duties on some imports from the US from 25 to 40 per cent, in retaliation for a similar move by Washington.

In today's filing, the US administration charged that the tariff hike was "inconsistent" with several international trade rules, and highlighted that Moscow does not impose similar tariffs on other WTO members.

Washington said it was therefore seeking WTO "consultations", which constitute the first step in a full-blown legal challenge before the global trade body.

The move comes after Russia in June filed its own challenge at the WTO, accusing Washington of multiple violations of international trade rules in connection with its decision to slap 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium.

It is among a number of powerful WTO members -- including the European Union, China, India, Mexico, Turkey and Canada -- who are fighting back against President Donald Trump's controversial trade policies.

Under WTO rules, if 60 days pass without consultations resolving the dispute, Switzerland can ask the body to set up dispute panel, triggering a long and likely costly legal battle.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The controversy over an alleged high-level cover-up of Church sex abuse in America has revealed a deep rift among US bishops that reflects both the damage done by the pedophilia scandals rocking the Vatican -- and the country's current political divisiveness.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was the Vatican envoy in Washington between 2011 and 2016, sparked a firestorm when he claimed last week that Pope Francis ignored his warnings in 2013 about alleged abuse by then prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

In July, the pontiff accepted the resignation of McCarrick, now 88. He has been accused of "gravely immoral" behaviour with seminarians and priests.

Vigano's claims have raised speculation of a campaign against the pontiff by Church conservatives in the United States, which is home to the fourth largest Catholic population in the world, according to US government data.

"It is a time of turmoil for all of us," says Paul Elie, a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University, a Catholic university in the nation's capital.

In one camp, cardinals including progressive Joseph Tobin of Newark, Chicago's Blase Cupich and Robert McElroy of San Diego have rushed to the pontiff's defense, denouncing Vigano as a conservative "ideological warrior."



But other Church figures, such as bishops Joseph Strickland of Texas and Oklahoma's David Konderla are joining Cardinal Raymond Burke, a conservative American figurehead in the Vatican, in backing Vigano's claims.

For Elie, these dissenting voices are a direct result of Francis's tolerance of differing views.

"Because Francis is not inclined to an authoritarian style, he has allowed a much greater degree of dissent to be expressed openly than his predecessors," Elie told AFP.

"People are now speaking for themselves much more than they were used to."



Some experts say the public airing of Vatican intrigue usually kept behind closed doors reflects a polarized America, and the highly divisive politics that has followed the election of President Donald Trump.

"These are extreme positions -- these are not authentic Catholic positions that I think most of us want to hold on to," said Frank Clooney of the Harvard Divinity School, referring to calls for the pope's resignation.

"It's a characteristic of our time, in the 21st century, given American politics and European politics, that now everything is now in the open and bitter," Clooney added.

"It's part of the era of Trump that we are in -- nobody is holding back and saying this is not appropriate."



With America's Catholic population decreasing -- from 23.9 per cent in 2007 to 20.8 per cent in 2014, according to the latest Pew Research Centre survey -- Church leadership is growing increasingly conservative, said Dennis Doyle of the University of Dayton.

"People on the left say the leadership of the Catholic Church (in the US) has become the 'Republican Party at prayer,'" added Doyle, a theologian who is himself a practicing Catholic.

Some high-ranking clergy have notably focused on religious liberties, the fight against abortion and insurance reimbursement for contraception -- cherished hot-button issues of American conservatives.

"Their most unifying theme is their attack against homosexuality," said Doyle.

"You have seen this massive cultural shift in the US about the status of LGBT people and many people in the Church have tried to say this is a new reality, and Pope Francis is one who is trying to move the Church towards grappling with a new perspective, new facts," he added.

"But there is a group of people who see this as this great heresy... We really are experiencing the polarization in a way that mirrors what's happening in the larger culture."



Traditionalist Church leaders are making their views known now because with his recent cardinal appointments, Francis is close to reaching a majority who favor his progressive approach, which could lead to his eventual successor espousing similar views, Doyle noted.

But Elie says the starkly differing views also stem from Church upheaval over recent revelations of a massive pedophilia scandal in Pennsylvania involving more than 300 priests who are said to have abused more than 1,000 children.

"We are all concerned -- the most left wing, the most right wing and everybody in the middle -- we are all trying to figure out what's next," said Elie.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Ambassador Nikki Haley says the Trump administration expects to see two Reuters journalists accused by Myanmar's government of illegally possessing official documents acquitted of all charges next week.

A Myanmar judge postponed the verdict in the case of Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone on Monday, saying it will be announced on September 3.

The two reporters have pleaded not guilty to violating Myanmar's colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

They contend they were framed by police while reporting on Myanmar's brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

Haley told the Security Council yesterday that "a free and responsible press is critical for any democracy".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed, without mentioning names, that "we must also continue to press for the release of journalists who have been reporting on this human tragedy".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A soldier based in Hawaii has pleaded guilty to trying to help the Islamic State group admitting he provided secret military information, a drone meant to track US troops and other support to undercover agents he believed were members of the terrorist organization.

Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang, handcuffed and wearing beige prison jumpsuit, spoke in a clear and confident voice when he told a US magistrate judge in Honolulu yesterday that he's guilty of all four counts charged in an indictment filed last year.

"Your honor I provided unclassified, classified documents to the Islamic State," Kang said, adding that he also provided the drone.

He agreed when Assistant US Attorney Ken Sorenson described other support he provided to undercover agents Kang believed were part of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

Kang provided voluminous, digital documents that included sensitive information including a US military weapons file and various military manuals, Sorenson said.

Trained as an air traffic controller, Kang also provided documents including call signs, mission procedures and radio frequencies, "all of which would have been helpful to ISIS," Sorenson said.

At one of the meetings with agents Kang believed were part of the Islamic State, he swore allegiance to the group in Arabic and English and kissed an Islamic State flag, Sorenson said.

Kang was obsessed with videos depicting terrorism beheadings, suicide bombings and other violence, and he watched them in his bedroom for hours daily, a confidential informant told agents. The agents put a tracking device on the soldier's car during an investigation that led to the indictment.

Kang told the informant that if he became an Islamic State member, he would be a suicide bomber and attack Schofield Barracks, a sprawling Army base outside Honolulu, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

The US government first asked a judge to allow a tracking device to be placed on Kang's car in October 2016 and applied for several extensions after orders granting it expired.

Kang watched the videos for four to five hours each day during the week and more on the weekends, the informant told agents in 2016. The informant "remembered feeling sick to his stomach, while Kang laughed and insulted the victims," the affidavit said.

During the first week of September 2016, Kang told the informant "that if he were to do something like shoot up a large gathering, it would be out of his hatred for white people, the wicked and non-Muslims," the affidavit said.

Kang began researching Islam in 2014, couldn't wait to move to the Middle East to "join the cause" and was "only in the military for a paycheck," the informant said, according to the affidavit.

Agents said in their applications for a tracking device that they needed to monitor him continuously because they feared he would carry out an attack.

Officials with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade told the FBI they were concerned about their ability to monitor Kang, noting that he was to return from leave on May 25, 2017 the same day as a change-of-command ceremony, the affidavit said.

Brigade personnel feared the large gathering "represented a target of opportunity for Kang should he want to harm members of the unit." Kang has been held without bail since his July 2017 arrest.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10. Prosecutors and Kang agree to a 25-year sentence for charges that could have put him in prison for life if he was convicted at a trial.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttarakhand is targeting Rs 20,000 crore investment from 'Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018', in sectors including food processing, horticulture and floriculture, tourism and hospitality among others.

"We are promoting 'Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018' in five key cities in the country to attract investment into the state. We are providing incentives to investors and have a single window clearance, which clears proposals within 15 days and targeting an investment of Rs 20,000 crore during this summit," Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat told reporters here.

Uttarakhand is holding the roadshows in five cities including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi to attract investment in the state, in associate with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)



The two-day 'Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018' will be held in Dehradun from October 7.

The 12 focus sectors of the state include, food processing, horticulture and floriculture, herbal and aromatic, tourism and hospitality, wellness and AYUSH, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, natural fibres, information and technology, renewable energy, biotechnology and film shooting, he added.

"Tourism is a major driver of economic growth and livelihood promotion in our state, with services sector contributing over 34 per cent to the total gross state domestic product (GSDP) in the year 2015-16. We are very serious about developing this, and recently gave it industry status to help investors avail incentives under Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and mega industrial policy," Rawat added.

The Uttarakhand government delegation will also meet with film fraternity to apprise them of the several incentives including 50 per cent discount on rest houses, tax concessions for films with more than 50 per cent or more outdoor shooting among others.

"In order to encourage filmmakers to shoot their movies in the state, we provide incentives through our dedicated policy on film shooting. Recently, we exempted all films shot in the state from shooting charges. We have also constituted 'Uttarakhand Film Development Council (UFDC)', comprising 25 members from the film fraternity with an aim to develop local cinema," Uttarakhand secretary, tourism and information and public relations, Dilip Jawalkar added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu today hailed former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a "crown jewel of Indian politics" and said his stellar contributions to the country have left an indelible impact on millions of people.

"He (Vajpayee) was a leader with a fine blend of toughness and tenderness. He was a unique person, a rare blend of diverse talents, a complete man," he said, speaking at a meeting organised here in memory of Vajpayee by Pragna Bharati, an intellectual forum.

The former Prime Minister, one of India's most charismatic leaders, died in New Delhi on August 16 following prolonged illness.

Vajpayee's parliamentary contributions, administrative acumen and oratory skills have left an indelible impact on millions of Indians, Naidu said.

The former prime minister practised of principles and infused values into "which is the need of the hour", he said.

His government fell by one vote but Vajpayee refused to bargain to buy MPs, Naidu said.

The transformational changes Vajpayee envisaged were truly remarkable, he said.

"As someone wrote, Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee stewarded projects that defied the constraints of their times, and have become markers of Indian modernity," he said.

"India is modern because of the great contribution made by these great Prime Ministers. Pandit Nehru as well as Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"You may differ with Nehruji on certain issues. But at the same time, you cannot ignore the contributions he made as far as the projects of the country are concerned," Naidu said.

He also hailed the contributions of Vajpayee in conducting the Pokhran nuclear test and in the realm of foreign policy.

Recalling his association with Vajpayee, Naidu said the veteran leader had come to his native Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for him when he contested as MLA decades ago.

Vajpayee had proposed his name for BJP president's post for the second time though he had earlier announced (as BJP president) the party's decision that then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi need not quit over the issue of violence when Vajpayee favoured the Chief Minister to follow 'Raj dharma'.

"It is not a small matter for me to say as party president, without following the advice of popular Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji, the party's decision that Narendra Modi would continue.

"Without keeping all this in mind, Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji proposed my name for a second term," he said.

He also said he can never forget the love shown towards him by the veteran leader.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal today assured the Odisha government that he will take up with Chhattisgarh authorities the alleged sudden discharge of water without informing the downstream state, which has led to a flood-like situation in some areas.

"Yes, the Odisha government has drawn my attention towards the sudden release of flood water allegedly by Chhattisgarh. I will talk to the Chhattisgarh government in this regard," the Minister of State for Water Resources told reporters here in reply to a question.

He said he would soon take up the matter as he underlined the "duty" of the Centre to play the role of a catalyst to resolve disputes between states.

The issue was also raised at a high-level meeting here when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took stock of the flood situation in the state.

Patnaik was told the Hirakud Dam authorities had no option but to open more sluice gates as huge volume of water came from Chhattisgarh. Twenty-five sluice gates have been opened at the Hirakud Dam through which 4,09,097 cusec of water is being released every second leading to a flood-like situation in Mahanadi basin districts.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal today "blamed" the BJP government in Chhattisgarh for the situation.

"Chhattisgarh is releasing flood water into lower catchments of Mahanadi river without communicating with Odisha authorities," BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra alleged.

Alleging that the Chhattisgarh have been obstructing water by raising projects on the upstream during non-monsoon seasons, Mishra said, they are now releasing excess water in rainy season.

"This is the reason Odisha has been suffering," Mishra said.

The BJD leader alleged that the Chhattisgarh government has no specific flood management plan.

The Odisha BJP spokesman Golak Mohapatra, however, said that the state government has developed a tendency to blame others for their own fault.

Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik blamed both the state government and the Chhattisgarh government for the flood situation in Mahanadi basin districts. "Chhattisgarh should not release excess water without holding talks with states in the downstream," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh has been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, media reports said today.

Subarna Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, bdnews24.com reported.

She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 kms from here.

Suborna, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house at around 10:45 PM yesterday, it said.

When she answered the door, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, police said.

Some locals rushed her to hospital where she was declared brought dead.

Police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, Additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said.

Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Writing letters of gratitude may improve well-being for not only the writer but the recipient as well, according to scientists, including one of Indian origin.

Researchers, including Amit Kumar from the University of Texas at Austin in the US, asked participants to write a letter of gratitude to someone who has done something nice for them and then anticipate the recipient's reaction.

They found that letter writers overestimated how awkward recipients would feel about the gesture and underestimated how surprised and positive recipients would feel.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found that the gesture improved well-being for not only letter writers but recipients as well.

"What we saw is that it only takes a couple of minutes to compose letters like these, thoughtful ones and sincere ones," said Kumar.

"It comes at little cost, but the benefits are larger than people expect," he said.

Researchers said anxiety about what to say or fear of their gesture being misinterpreted causes many people to shy away from expressing genuine gratitude.

"It is more fundamental to how the human mind works and a well-established symmetry about how we evaluate ourselves and other people," said Kumar.

"When we are thinking about ourselves, we tend to think about how competent we are, and whether we are going to be articulate in how we are expressing gratitude," he said.

Kumar said what is significant about the research and its results is that thank-you notes and letters of gratitude should be written and sent more often.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Jessica Jaganathan and Wilda AsmariniSINGAPORE/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is pushing to nationalise more of its oil and gas assets as it tries to reduce imports and boost government revenue amid emerging market turbulence that has staggered Southeast Asia's biggest economy.Since 2015, whenever product-sharing contracts with international companies expire, the government has increased state-owned Pertamina's stakes the related oil and gas fields.The goal is to accelerate a four-year-old plan that aims to send domestic crude oil to Indonesian refineries for local use. But experts say that ...LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have a deal "within our sights", on the terms on which Britain will leave the bloc, Brexit minister Dominic Raab told lawmakers on Wednesday.Asked by members of Britain's upper house of parliament whether a deal would be reached at an EU summit in October, Raab said that remained his goal, but that there was "a measure of leeway" over the exact timetable.Last week, Raab said he was confident of reaching a deal when he was setting out government advice to businesses on how to prepare for any failure to do so before Britain leaves on March 29. ...WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday progress made by the United States and Mexico to resolve their trade differences set the stage for productive talks toward a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement."We are optimistic about having some very good, productive conversations this week," Freeland told reporters as she entered the U.S. Trade Representative's Office for further talks. (Reporting by Makini Brice and David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a ...By Julie Gordon and Sharay AnguloWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada said an agreement to salvage the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is possible by a Friday deadline, but it will be hard work to resolve specific issues as talks with the United States entered a second day.After more than a year of talks, Mexico and the United States announced a bilateral deal on Monday, clearing the way for Canada to rejoin talks to update 24-year-old NAFTA which accounts for over $1 trillion in annual trade between the three nations.U.S. President Donald Trump set a Friday deadline for the ...By Julie Gordon and Sharay AnguloWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada has three days to tackle contentious issues when it resumes talks with the United States on Wednesday to salvage the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement amid signs Ottawa was open to taking a more conciliatory approach.After more than a year of talks, Mexico and the United States announced a bilateral deal on Monday, clearing the way for Canada to rejoin talks to update 24-year-old NAFTA which accounts for over $1 trillion in annual trade between the three nations.But despite obstacles, Canada and the United States .../work/study,paycheck1800130031005000--

3100dollar-to-dollar matchRoth IRA2018earner12000Standard Deduction, 3100



(ZT from: https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/investing-college-students/ )

A GFC reader recognized the importance of college students investing money, and asked the following question:

Hi Jeff. What is the best investment advice I can give my 2 college kids? They are still in school (grad students) but work making just under a couple hundred bucks a week. Both are pursuing doctorates so loans are going to be quite large. What is the best investment plan they can start now? Also, regarding Roth IRA, can you have more than 1 and is $1000 the max initial investment? Thanks.

I love questions like this, because they take us in directions that we never expect to go  and thats usually exactly where we need to go. The more I got to thinking about this question, the more important I came to realize the topic is.

Its not always possible for college students to begin investing because of finances, the question of how to make money in college can be hard. But for those who do, its actually a brilliant strategy on a number of fronts.

Why Should a College Student Invest  Why Not Wait Until After Graduation?

Though we normally think of investing as an activity that can and usually should wait until after graduation, I was able to think of several compelling reasons for starting in college:

The student will graduate from college, already having investment experience.

The student will graduate from college, and already have at least a small investment nest egg  the future time value of that investment can be enormous.

The student will cross an important adult threshold  investing  earlier in life than most.

Real world lessons will be learned in the process of investing that could never be learned by reading books, visiting websites, or even watching how to videos.

Just getting started is often the single biggest hurdle for a new investor, and if you begin while still in school youll have already cleared it.

If you can save and invest while still in school, and on a very limited income, think what you can do after graduating when youll have a full-time income?

The student who gains experience investing in college  even at a very low level  will have a big advantage over those who havent.

And if investing continues after college, the student will ultimately have an even bigger advantage over their peers, who might wait several years after graduation to begin.

How to Invest For College Students

The single biggest step for how to invest for college students is carving out at least a small space for savings in a very limited budget. That means investing is actually a two-step process  saving money, and then investing it.

Since the readers two kids are making just under a couple hundred bucks a week it will admittedly be a tight squeeze.

But if each could set aside at least $20 a week for savings and investing, that would be over $1,000 for a full year.

And thats better than a lot of people who are already working full-time jobs.

Just as important, saving even a small amount is better than nothing at all. Since the kids are still in school, their educations are and should be their main priorities. Being able to save and invest is a bonus, and one that will pay big dividends after they graduate.

As to what to invest in? Stocks! As a young person very early in life, you should invest in growth. Capital preservation will become more important later in life, but as a college student, you dont have much capital to preserve. The emphasis needs to be getting to the point where thats necessary, and thats best accomplished with stocks.

That doesnt mean individual stocks necessarily, but you could also invest in low-cost, index-based exchange traded funds (ETFs) which hold stocks.

Managed Investments vs. Self-directed Investing

Next to committing to saving money for investments, the next biggest decision is deciding whether you want to go with a managed investment account, or self-directed investing.

Managed investing is just what the name implies, turning your money over to a manager who handles all of the details of investment management for you. This includes everything from creating a portfolio allocation, to choosing the specific investments, and rebalancing the portfolio as necessary. The only thing you need to do with a managed investment account is fund it  everything else is handled for you.

Self-directed investing. This is do-it-yourself investing (DIY), where you not only fund your account, but you also handle all of the investing details. You create your own portfolio allocation, research and choose specific investments, and then decide when to buy and sell them.

In between, you also rebalance your account as necessary to preserve the desired allocations between investment classes, like stocks in fixed income investments. You can do self-directed investing through popular discount investment brokers (see list below).

For college students, I think managed investing is the best choice. Since you are primarily focused on your education, its just a matter of turning your money over to a manager who will handle it all for you.

There are different ways you can take advantage of managed investing. The simplest is to just invest in mutual funds. You can do this by investing with a specific fund family, such as the Fidelity Funds or Vanguard, or you can open up an investment brokerage account, and purchase mutual funds through that account.

The other alternative is to invest through fully managed platforms, commonly known as robo-advisors. These are automated online investment management services, which are particularly designed for small investors. You turn your money over to the platform, and they determine an investment portfolio for you, based on a computer algorithm. As you put money into your account, its automatically invested according to the target allocation. The platform also handles all of the rebalancing as necessary.

Between the two managed options  mutual funds and robo-advisors  robo-advisors will be the better choice for college students. Mutual fund families typically require large minimum initial investments, of at least $1,000, but more often several thousand. Several robo-advisor accounts can be opened with no money at all (see list below).

Where to Invest With Small Amounts of Money

If youre interested in self-directed investing, there are several popular investment brokerage firms that will allow you to open an account with no money whatsoever. However, you wont be able to begin investing until you accumulate at least a few hundred dollars.

Here is a list of some of the most popular discount investment brokerages:

If you would prefer to use a robo-advisor to handle all of the investment management for you, here is a list of platforms that also have a zero minimum initial deposit requirement:

Betterment is a particularly popular robo-advisor choice. In fact, its the largest independent robo-advisor, and one that continually innovates its product offering. You can open up your account with no money at all, and then make periodic contributions. As money flows into the account, it will be automatically invested. Its virtually a worry-free investment platform. Perfect for college students who have schoolwork to worry about!

The Best Advice on Investing to Give to a College Student

Simply put: Invest, and NEVER stop! Thats the advice Im giving to this reader to pass on to his kids in college.

As much as anything else, investing is a habit. We all know there are good habits and bad habits, and investing is one of the goodest of the good. The earlier the investing habit is developed, the better. That means the college years are actually an excellent time to begin creating the habit.

In fact, from a financial standpoint, investing may be the best habit to develop, next to staying out of debt. But even then, only maybe!

And debt brings up another important point. The reader indicates both of his kids, being in graduate school, are accumulating loans (that) are going to be quite large. When it comes to student loans, were talking about unsecured debt. That means while student loans may be the size of a mortgage, theres no property securing the debt that could be sold to make it go away.

Investments may be the next best alternative. Sure, by the time the readers kids get out of school, they wont have nearly as much money in their investments as they will have in student loan debt. But as the years go by, and their student loan debts gradually declining due to amortization, their investments will increase in value. At some point in the future, their investment portfolios may rise to a level where the money can be used to pay off the student loans.

That creates a situation in which very large student loan debts  that might take 20 years to pay off  could be paid off in 10 years or less.

Roth IRA, can you have more than 1 and is $1000 the max initial investment?

This is the readers last question, and I want to address it because its an opportunity to point out the unique advantages of a Roth IRA specifically for college students.

To answer the readers question directly, yes, you can have more than one Roth IRA. And $1,000 is not the maximum initial investment. A college student  or anyone else  can invest as much as $5,500 per year in a Roth IRA (or $6,500 if youre 50 or older).

But let me get back to the advantages of a Roth IRA for a college student. I actually think a Roth IRA is one of the best investments for college students, and for young people in general.

Heres why:

Since the contribution isnt tax-deductible, it can be withdrawn from the account at any time, without either an income tax liability or an early withdrawal penalty. Should the student need access to the money early, he or she can always get it.

The money in a Roth IRA accumulates on a tax-deferred basis. This enables a faster accumulation of investment earnings in the account.

A Roth IRA is a retirement account, so by starting while youre still in school, you have a big advantage when you get out and start working, and begin making contributions to an employer plan. The Roth IRA will be a big head start on what will be the biggest savings mission in your life.

The reader didnt specifically ask for this information, but I think the Roth IRA is such a good investment for college students, that its worth starting one if youre thinking about investing in general.Yesterday, Washington said that they would start withdrawing their troops from Syria only after militants of the ISIS terrorist group (banned in Russia) is defeated. Among the Pentagon's tasks, its head James Matthis called destruction of ISIS, genuine progress in Geneva, and "training of local security forces." "If local partners prove capable, then we might be reducing our troops," Mattis explained.

Head of the department of theory of regional studies of the Moscow State Linguistic University, Vadim Makarenko, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the military phase of the Syrian conflict is coming to an end: "A decisive role was played by Russia, which supported the Bashar Assad government and managed to achieve a turning point in the hostilities. The forces that confronted Bashar Assad have been defeated. But the problem is that an absolute victory in the civil war cannot be achieved. Therefore, a very complex process of peaceful settlement is ahead."

Vadim Makarenko recalled "The Right of Nations to Self-Determination" by Vladimir Lenin: "Then there was a dispute on whether there should be autonomies or union republics. Lenin's decision in favour of union republics helped to get out of the civil war, but in 70 years it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Syria is in such a difficult situation now. The parties must agree, because there are millions of people behind each grouping.

Russia is engaged in the peace process, ensuring the withdrawal of militants, demonstrating tremendous flexibility and ability to find common ground between the opposing camps. From this perspective, the Astana process, the Sochi meetings, Geneva are extremely important. No peaceful settlement is possible without it."

Vadim Makarenko argues that a long-term solution to the Syrian problem requires a more complex architecture, not a single-pole Syria, dominated by the Bashar Assad government, which is supported by Iranian and Russian forces. "A decentralized federal democratic Syria can only be born as a forced decision, when neither side can be strong enough to impose its power on others. From this perspective, objectively, we are interested in the United States' participation in solving this problem, we are interested in the participation of Iran, Turkey, Arab countries, all other countries," the expert believes.

According to him, the current situation in Syria was the result of the stable development under Bashar Assad: "The population grew enormously, people lived very well. But that's how it was in medieval China. Everything is going well, then once - drought, crop failure, refugees and so on, and it goes from the rails. We are returning to this circle. But Bashar Assad represents a minority in Syria. He will always have to rely on bayonets and some kind of external force. But neither Iran, nor Russia, nor other countries are able to support Bashar Assad forever. We are allies with Iran and Turkey in Syria by happenstance. Iran and Turkey extremely restrict us in any other decisions, which is bad. On the other hand, it's good, because a more complex structure arises, when the countries balance each other and give the prospect for solving the problem."

Meanwhile, the president of the Russian Society for Solidarity and Cooperation with the Kurds, Yury Nabiyev, believes that the Kurds have a very weak position with regard to further talks with the Syrian authorities. "Until recently, all the countries involved in this Syrian situation, both international and regional, had one goal - the fight against ISIS. Now, as this struggle is coming to an end, contradictions between the countries involved in the Syrian situation have increasingly come into sharper focus. We are witnessing a new political process - a solution to the question of the Syrian future and all the people inhabiting it."By Julie Zhu and Robin RespautHONG KONG/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Biotech startups can expect more measured valuations should they list in Hong Kong, investors and bankers said, after shares of the first such firm to take advantage of rules allowing listings from pre-profit biotechs dropped 44 percent in the first month.Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd , operator of the city's bourse, revised rules this year for dual-class share structures, secondary listings and early-stage biotech firms to attract so-called new-economy companies from mainland China.At least 10 more mostly Chinese ...(This story has been refiled to add Lighthizer's first name, title in paragraph 14)By Julie Gordon and Sharay AnguloWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada said an agreement to salvage the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is possible by a Friday deadline, but it will be hard work to resolve specific issues as talks with the United States entered a second day.After more than a year of talks, Mexico and the United States announced a bilateral deal on Monday, clearing the way for Canada to rejoin talks to update 24-year-old NAFTA which accounts for over $1 trillion in annual trade ...FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank has no plans to give up its global presence, its chief executive said on Wednesday, despite sizeable job cuts to try and revive profitability.Since taking the helm in April, Christian Sewing has announced plans to cut the lender's global equities business, as well as U.S. bond trading and its business that serves hedge funds.Speaking at a banking conference in Frankfurt, Sewing said this should not be seen as a sign of retrenchment. "Our global ambitions will not be up for debate under my leadership," he said, adding a raft of political crises around the ...By Tamara Mathias(Reuters) - Emergent BioSolutions Inc said on Tuesday it would buy privately held Adapt Pharma, beefing up its portfolio with Narcan, the only FDA approved needle-free emergency opioid overdose treatment.Addiction to opioids - mainly prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl - has emerged as a serious public health crisis in the United States, especially in rural areas. According to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, the epidemic claimed over 70,000 lives last year. President Donald Trump in March recommended death penalty for drug dealers after ...By Tina Bellon(Reuters) - Environmental groups argued in federal appeals court on Wednesday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to analyse the risks Bayer AG Monsanto's dicamba-based weed killer posed to nearby crops before approving it in 2016.The groups, which filed a lawsuit in February, want the court to force the EPA to vacate its approval of XtendiMax, arguing it not only harms nearby crops and plants but wildlife as well. It is not clear whether the court has the authority to revoke an EPA approval.The United States has faced a weed-killer crisis caused by the new ...By Chen Aizhu and Florence TanBEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Five companies will deliver crude next month to buyers through the Shanghai International Energy Exchange's (INE) oil futures, the first physical settlement of the contract that China hopes will compete with global benchmarks.The companies, including state-owned Unipec and Zhenhua Oil, will deliver a combined 600,00 barrels of Middle Eastern crude to buyers of the INE's September crude futures contract, said five sources with knowledge of the matter.The INE launched the contract in March with September as the first month of delivery ...By David Shepardson and Ana Isabel MartinezWASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A proposed U.S.-Mexico trade deal would allow President Donald Trump to impose punitive tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports of Mexican-made cars, sport utility vehicles and auto parts above certain volumes, auto executives and sources said on Tuesday.The United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pressuring Canada to agree to new auto trade and dispute settlement rules to remain part of the three-nation pact.But a previously unreported side agreement ...By Marianna Parraga(Reuters) - The closing of a dock at Venezuela's main oil export port could delay as much as 5 million barrels in crude deliveries to Russian company Rosneft , further complicating oil-for-loan agreements between state-run PDVSA and Rosneft, a source said on Wednesday and internal PDVSA documents showed.A tanker collision at the weekend forced Venezuela's PDVSA to halt operations at Jose port's South dock, curtailing planned shipments mainly for Rosneft, and for U.S. firms Valero Energy and Chevron Corp until damages can be repaired.PDVSA and Rosneft did not reply to ...By Kane WuHONG KONG (Reuters) - Fast-food chain operator Yum China Holdings Inc has rejected a $17.6 billion buyout offer from a consortium led by Chinese investment firm Hillhouse Capital Group, quashing what would have been one of Asia's biggest deals this year, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.The Hillhouse-led consortium, which would also include regional investment house Baring Private Equity Asia, expressed an interest to offer $46 per share, or nearly 24 percent above Tuesday's closing price, for the biggest fast-food chain in China, the person said.Hillhouse has been ...MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian gas giant Gazprom reported a surge in second-quarter net profit, beating analysts' expectations, as it benefited from rising energy prices.It said second-quarter net profit jumped to 259 billion roubles ($3.8 billion), from 48 billion roubles in the year-earlier period and above a forecast of 228 billion roubles in a Reuters survey of analysts.Gazprom's shares were up 1.1 percent after the results, outperforming the broader Moscow stock market, which was 0.8 percent higher.Gazprom shipped more than 101 billion cubic metres of natural gas to the EU and Turkey in the ...Explicit and hidden contradictions do not prevent the US and Russia from holding consultations on the acute issues for both countries. For example, on the issue of the presence of Iranian forces in Syria. According to the statement of US presidential adviser John Bolton, he held a private meeting with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva. "All Iranian forces must leave Syria and return home to Iran. I think the same opinion is shared by Russian President Vladimir Putin ... One way to achieve this goal is to continue maximum pressure on the Iranian authorities," John Bolton said.

Let us leave the assumptions of the adviser to the US president about the position of Vladimir Putin down on him. Perhaps, Moscow does not really like the presence of Iranian forces in Syria, but there are definitely forces, the presence and actions of which in the region Moscow does not like even more.

Also, the proposal of the American side to continue and increase the pressure on Tehran looks absurd. A reasonable question arises - why should Moscow do this when it is itself under the US-European sanctions, while Iran in this historical period certainly is not considered as an enemy? And why did Washington suddenly decide that Moscow would be pleased with this proposal and harness itself to the American two-man bob to exert pressure on the Iranian leadership?

Interpreting the American move, one can try to find the meaning in several directions.

The first. Despite the introduction of new sanctions against the Russian Federation, the tightening of anti-Russian rhetoric, etc., Washington is still not inclined to drive the Russian economy into the corner and, while avoiding embarrassment, proposes to enter the co-operation phase by searching for a common enemy and punishing him. Moreover, the anti-Russian sanctions do not yet yield results expected by Washington.

The second. The EU is unequivocally dissatisfied with the actions of its overseas partner. The leaders of the Old World - France and Germany - are also far from delighted with Moscows policy. But they came to the conclusion that in the sanctions war against Russia, they lose no less, and unlike the US, they cannot afford this. The US demand to join the new anti-Iran sanctions is irritating Europeans past the limits of their endurance since they believe that Tehran fulfills all the conditions of the nuclear deal.

The first 18 million euros allocated by the European Commission to Iran within the framework of the 50-million tranche for the implementation of economic and social development projects, of which 8 million are for the private sector, are not so much a real help to the huge Islamic Republic of Iran, but a demonstration of the EU's firm intentions. The accompanying statement reads that the EU will support Iran while the country is committed to the full and effective compliance with the nuclear deal agreements, part of which is the lifting of sanctions.

The third. The position on Iran has aggravated the already difficult relations between the United States and the United Nations. Washington once again threatened the worldwide institution to cut the funding if the UN's position will differ from the US position on this or that issue. What is involved here is Iran once again, as the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures on rights and freedoms Idriss Jazairy called the sanctions against Iran illegal, as they undermine the economy of the Iranian state, negatively affect the lives of civilians and do not lead to the expected actions on the part of the Iranian authorities.

The fourth. The US actions, or Donald Trumps actions directed against Russia, Iran, etc. impact the interests of the interstate alliances - the WTO, the UN, the EU and even NATO. Thus, the United States puts itself in a certain self-isolation position. For a powerful country, however, this is more about the image loss than some practical one. But this is not for long. The reputational costs have never strengthened someones positions. Therefore, Washington is searching for the situational allies. For example, the EU against Russia or Turkey, Russia against China or Iran, the Arab countries against Iran, etc.

The fifth. Donald Trump needs success. The success, which would reduce the wave of internal criticism. The US economy under Tramp has begun to come out of lethargy and demonstrates decent figures, even such a dead man as Detroit has started stirring and giving signs of life. But Trump is beaten both by Democrats and his own supporters - Republicans. The internal criticism of his foreign policy is even tougher. Whatever the American president has done, it turns out that everything is wrong. Especially the talks with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki - they are regarded in America as defeatist or even infamous for Washington. Therefore, Trump needs actions that can lead him to noticeable success and bring down the intensity of internal rejection. And he seems to be willing to pay generously. Even if it means scrapping something that is too familiar to the international community without signs of an attractive alternative to what he is ready to put in the dustbin of history.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday she remained optimistic about progress on negotiations with the United States over a revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but said there was a "huge amount of work to do.""We have had a good meeting yesterday. We've had another good meeting today," Freeland told reporters after emerging from a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "I continue to be encouraged by (the) conversations we're having and the progress that we're making."Still, she added: "When it comes to specific ...By Hyunjoo Jin and Norihiko ShirouzuSEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co plans to ship China-made cars to Southeast Asia, its China joint venture and two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as a plunge in Chinese sales has left much of its massive local manufacturing capacity idled.Hyundai once ranked third by China sales alongside affiliate Kia Motors Corp. But just as it opened its fifth factory in the country last year, a diplomatic dispute saw Chinese consumers turn against South Korean goods, damaging Hyundai's sales and brand image.Diplomatic ties have since normalised ...NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will not completely halt Iranian oil imports and will finalise its strategy on crude purchases from Tehran after a meeting with top U.S. officials next week, a senior government official said.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will hold high-level talks with India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sept. 6, in what is known as a 2+2 dialogue."Definitely we are not going to zero" (purchases), said the official, who has direct knowledge of India's oil purchase policy and did not wish to be ...MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's buffalo meat exports between April and July rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier to 384,096 tonnes on robust demand from Indonesia and Malaysia, a government body said on Wednesday.The country's rice exports during the period edged up 1 percent from a year ago to 4.15 million tonnes on upbeat demand from Senegal, Benin and Iran, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority said.India is the world's biggest exporter of buffalo meat and rice.The country's exports of pulses more than doubled during the period to 124,465 tonnes, while dairy ...Paytm Mall, the e-commerce venture backed by China's Alibaba Group , is looking to deepen ties with regional retailers as well as partner with top online grocer BigBasket to compete with Walmart-controlled Flipkart and Amazon's local unit, a company executive said. Patym Mall, owned by Paytm E-Commerce, is currently the third biggest player in India's rapidly-growing online retail space. The company already has a revenue-sharing partnership with Future Retail, which owns hypermarket stores like Big Bazaar and fashion shops. It is now set to forge a partnership with ...By Aditya KalraNEW DELHI (Reuters) - A government panel has recommended that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) pay compensation of at least $28,500 to each Indian patient who suffered from artificial hip implants the U.S. healthcare firm recalled eight years ago.The ASR hip implants were recalled in 2010, after data suggested they failed at a higher-than-expected rate. In 2013, the firm agreed to pay nearly $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits from those in the United States who said they were injured by the implants. (http://reut.rs/I20AZB)In India, J&J paid $2 million to patients for repeat ...(Reuters) - Brown-Forman Corp on Wednesday said tariffs would take a 6 cent bite out of its full-year profits and the Jack Daniel's maker does not expect raising prices to immediately offset the dent.Chief Financial Officer Jane Morreau said the alcoholic beverage maker was not going to raise prices right away to stay competitive but plans to do so later in the year. The European Union, China, Mexico and Canada have slapped import duty ranging from 10 percent to 25 percent on U.S whiskey and Bourbon, in retaliation to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum in June. The move to keep prices steady ...MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Wednesday that he is optimistic that the country will reach a trilateral deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Canada. "I am optimistic that a trilateral deal can be reached... we have from now until Friday for a deal in principle to be announced," he said in an interview on local radio. (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Christine Murray)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By David Shepardson and Ana Isabel MartinezWASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The agreements struck between the United States and Mexico on trade would allow President Donald Trump to impose punitive "national security" tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports of Mexican-made cars, sport utility vehicles and auto parts above certain volumes, auto executives and other sources said.The United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pressuring Canada to accept new auto trade and dispute settlement rules to remain part of the three-way pact.A ...By Henning GloysteinSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Wednesday, pulled down by a reported rise in U.S. crude inventories, although falling exports from Iran ahead of U.S. sanctions prevented the market from sinking further. International Brent crude oil futures were at $75.90 per barrel at 0611 GMT, down 5 cents from their last close.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 4 cents at $68.49 a barrel. In the United States, crude inventories rose slightly, by 38,000 barrels, to 405.7 million barrels in the week to Aug. 24, industry group the American Petroleum ...Moscow's Crocus Expo will host the traditional Moscow International Automobile Salon. Exhibition will be held from August 31 to September 9. An event for the press and event for the business will be prior to the opening. Vestnik Kavkaza spoke with Veronika Allahverdiyeva, official representative of the Azeri automobile company AzerMash, which will participate in this events, about automobile industry of Azerbaijan.

First of all, she informed that two Azerbaijani produced cars will be shown during this event. "Both models were manufactured at the Khazar factory, a joint Iranian-Azerbaijani enterprise, which is the only car manufacturing factory in our country," she said.

"It was opened at the end of March of this year. Over the past months, we have produced over 300 cars, all of them were manufactured and sold in our country. Full capacity of this factory is around 10 thousand cars per year. Khazar is a private enterprise with state support, 25% of its shares are owned by Iranian IranKhodro XO, and 75% of shares belong to Azerbaijani company AzerMash," representative of the company said.

"So far our factory manufactures cars, while Iranian company works on design and delivery of spare parts. In the future, we place to replace Iranian parts with domestic production," she added.

The Khazar factory plans to export its cars starting from next year. "We plan to establish contacts with the CIS countries and near abroad to begin to deliver our cars in 2019. We're also in talks with Russia, our first strategic partner, and we hope that export of Azerbaijani cars to Russian market will be stable," she noted.By Henning GloysteinSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, pulled down by a reported rise in U.S. crude inventories and hopes that a plunge in Venezuela's output could be halted.International Brent crude oil futures were at $75.69 per barrel at 0654 GMT, down 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $68.41 a barrel. In the United States, crude inventories rose by 38,000 barrels to 405.7 million barrels in the week to Aug. 24, industry group the American Petroleum Institute said on ...By Henning GloysteinSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets were stable on Wednesday, buoyed by falling supplies from Iran ahead of U.S. sanctions but held in check by rising production outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.International Brent crude oil futures were at $76 per barrel at 0257 GMT, up 5 cents from their last close.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 6 cents at $68.59 a barrel.Traders said crude prices have been supported by the prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which will start to target its oil industry from November.Bowing to ...By Henning GloysteinSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets were stable on Wednesday, buoyed by falling supplies from Iran ahead of U.S. sanctions but held in check by rising production outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.International Brent crude oil futures were at $75.98 per barrel at 0102 GMT, up 3 cents from their last close.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 3 cents at $68.56 a barrel.Traders said crude prices have been supported by the prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which will start to target its oil industry from November.Bowing to ...By Ayenat MersieNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose about 1 percent on Wednesday, supported by a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles and on news of falling Iranian crude shipments as U.S. sanctions deter buyers.Brent crude oil was up 57 cents at $76.52 a barrel by 11:38 a.m. EDT (1538 GMT). U.S. crude was 77 cents higher at $69.30 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, exceeding the 686,000-barrel draw forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.U.S. crude futures bounced briefly to $69.55, their highest in three ...By Ayenat MersieNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, with Brent at its highest in seven weeks and U.S. crude touching a three-week peak, supported by a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks and reduced Iranian crude shipments as U.S. sanctions deter buyers.Brent crude jumped $1.19, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $77.14, after touching $77.41, its highest since July 11.U.S. oil settled 98 cents, or 1.4 percent higher at $69.51 a barrel, after touching $69.75, its highest since Aug. 7. U.S. crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week, the Energy ...By Christopher JohnsonLONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Wednesday, pulled down by a rise in U.S. inventories and hopes that new investment could halt a plunge in Venezuela's output.Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 20 cents at $75.75 a barrel by 0750 GMT. U.S. light crude was 10 cents lower at $68.43 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories rose by 38,000 barrels to 405.7 million barrels in the week to Aug. 24, the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday."The API reported surprisingly flat numbers to a market expecting a reasonable draw in crude and a build in products," said Sukrit ...By Christopher JohnsonLONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Wednesday, supported by news of a fall in Iranian crude supplies as U.S. sanctions deter buyers, but gains were limited by evidence of a rise in U.S. inventories.Benchmark Brent crude oil was up 20 cents or 0.3 percent at $76.15 a barrel by 1100 GMT. U.S. light crude was 30 cents higher at $68.83 a barrel. Iran's crude oil and condensate exports in August are set to drop below 70 million barrels for the first time since April 2017, well ahead of the Nov. 4 start date for a second round of U.S. economic sanctions, preliminary ...PARIS (Reuters) - Production of PSA Group's Peugeot 308 compact car may suffer intermittent stoppages in coming weeks because of a shortage of gearboxes, the French carmaker said on Wednesday.The production line assembling the 308 in Sochaux, eastern France, was disrupted for a second day before resuming work in the afternoon, company spokeswoman Karine Douet said.A production bottleneck affecting the model's new six-speed manual gearbox will gradually disappear as manufacturing of the gearbox ramps up at another PSA site in Valenciennes, northern France, Douet said."Given that this ramp-up ...By Dominique VidalonPARIS (Reuters) - French spirits maker Pernod Ricard on Wednesday said sales and profit growth accelerated in full year 2017/18, driven by strong demand in China and India, as well as robust sales in the United States, its top market.The maker of Martell cognac and Mumm champagne handed investors a 17 percent dividend hike.For the year ahead, Pernod - the world's second-biggest spirits group behind Britain's Diageo - forecast further profit growth in spite of an uncertain geopolitical and monetary climate. It gave no further details.Pernod Ricard predicted a "very strong" ...By Shu Zhang and Engen ThamBEIJING (Reuters) - Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank), the country's third-largest lender, said its asset quality is expected to stabilize but mounting trade tensions are a threat to the global economy, after posting higher half-yearly profits.AgBank was the first of the so called Big Four state lenders to report interim results on Tuesday. Its earnings and that of China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) and Bank of China Ltd (BoC) were underpinned by steady or improved margins and bad loan ratios.Their stronger earnings come at a time when China is pumping funds into ...Starting from October 6, 2018, Azerbaijan's low-cost airline Buta Airways will open direct flights to Turkey's Izmir, the airline company said.

Flights will be carried out once a week  on Saturdays.

The minimum fare for Baku-Izmir flight (Adnan Menderes airport) like for other destinations of the Airline, will cost 29 euros (one way).

Air tickets can be purchased on the official website of the Airline, as well as at sales offices.By Shu Zhang and Engen ThamBEIJING (Reuters) - Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank), the country's third-largest lender, expects its asset quality to stabilize in the second half, but said it had increased provisions as trade tensions threaten the global economy.The comments come after the United Stated and China last week activated another round of duelling tariffs on $16 billion worth of each country's goods. The two have threatened duties on most of the rest of their bilateral trade.Economists reckon that every $100 billion of imports hit by tariffs would cut global trade by around 0.5 ...WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that American and Canadian officials negotiating a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were probably set to meet a Friday deadline for an accord."They (Canada) want to be part of the deal, and we gave until Friday and I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens," Trump told reporters before a meeting on opioids at the White House. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Julie Gordon and Sharay AnguloWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the United States and Canada expressed optimism on Wednesday that NAFTA negotiations could meet a Friday deadline for a deal, although Canada warned that hard work on a number of tricky issues was still needed.Canada rejoined the talks to modernise the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement after Mexico and the United States announced a bilateral trade deal on Monday."They (Canada) want to be part of the deal, and we gave until Friday and I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens, but in any event, ...GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States launched a complaint against Russia at the World Trade Organization on Wednesday, challenging a "special protective measure" imposed on U.S. imports in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium.The United States said Russia was breaking WTO rules because its additional duties applied only to U.S. imports, and not to goods from any other country, and because the rates of duty were higher than the maximum allowed under its WTO membership terms.Russia has 60 days to settle the dispute, after which the United States could ask the ...The indices hit an all-time high yesterday for the second straight session, with the broader Nifty50 index reaching a new milestone of 11,760 in intra-day deals, led by gains mainly in the metal stocks.

Investors will also look forward to June-quarter GDP data to be announced on August 31. For the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the GDP growth print stood at 7.7 per cent.

Globally, Asian share markets were left in limbo on Wednesday as optimism over the US-Mexico trade deal was quickly replaced by caution ahead of a looming deadline on tariffs with China.

MSCIs broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up just 0.02 per cent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3 per cent, while EMini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 added 0.11 per cent.

Buyback of equity shares has gathered pace with over a dozen firms approving proposals in the past three months. Including three Nifty 50 companies  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and HCL Technologies 

the boards of total 13 firms have approved share buyback proposal worth of Rs 309 billion since June 2018. MphasiS, DCM Shriram, Just Dial, ICRA, Navneet Education and Mcleod Russel, too, approved buyback proposal.

Lenders to about 30 stressed power assets will refer them to bankruptcy courts, after the Allahabad High Court denied any relief to the sector. These comprise 18 coal-run and a dozen gas-based and hydropower projects. Some petitions were in the process of being filed on Tuesday.

Barring five projects, whose resolution has been worked out outside the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, all the other stressed power plants are expected to face insolvency proceedings. According to power ministry officials, the number of stressed assets in the sector is 66 and very few are under any resolution plan.

Amid stock specific action, IDBI Bank will be in focus after IDBI Bank on Tuesday said LIC will buy 14.9 per cent equity stake in the bank, a move that would eventually lead to the acquisition of the majority stake in the state-owned lender.



In August, the Union Cabinet had approved LIC's proposed acquisition of up to 51 per cent stake in debt-ridden IDBI Bank.Paytm, India's largest digital financial services provider, has got yet another marquee investor on board: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The buzz is that the Oracle of Omaha's company bought a 3-4% stake in Paytm parent One97 Communications for about Rs 2,500 crore. And the move is significant not only because it is the legendary investor's first direct investment in India, but also signals his confidence in the country's start-up ecosystem.

What's more, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of One97, reportedly managed to clinch the deal without any glitzy powerpoint presentations - all it took was one meeting and three phone calls.

According to The Economic Times, an early February call from Mark Schwartz, Goldman Sachs Asia chairman and an independent director on Paytm's board, set the ball rolling. Schwartz told Sharma - sitting in Paytm's technology development office in Toronto at the time - that he had just met Todd Combs, who was keen to know more about Paytm. Combs is one of Buffet's key deputies and among the top investment managers at Berkshire Hathaway.

Without wasting much time, a meeting was fixed with Combs in Omaha for February 14. The daily reported that Sharma brought along Schwartz and SAIF Partners' Ravi Adusumalli, who is also on Paytm's board. In fact, Sharma claims the latter is "as much a cofounder" as himself since SAIF was an early investor in Paytm, coming in over a decade ago.

Over the two-hour-long meeting that followed, the quartet talked about everything from what's happening in India to life philosophies to technology. Although they talked at length on payment networks across the world, how mobile was winning in China and India, and how mobile-led payment networks will become bigger than traditional networks, no laptop was opened during the conversation.

"We also told him [Combs] that we are an old company, and how we transitioned from a telecom operator-led company to a consumer-focused company," 40-year-old Sharma told the daily. "We also told him about how the [core] team has remained the same [since inception]... Our company has always believed that it is people whom you trust, and who are hard-working, who pull off things, not the domain experts."

At Combs' request, Sharma sent across all the annual reports of One97 Communications, which had launched Paytm in 2010. A few weeks later, in March, Combs called back with specific questions about the landscape, rivals, risks, challenges, and even profitability. The answers must have been compelling - after all, the company aims to double its gross transaction value to $100 billion on an annualised basis and its merchant base to 16 million over the next 12 months. So after a third phone call, Berkshire was ready to hash out the investment size and valuation were finalized, though Sharma did not divulge the details. Combs will be joining the eight-member Paytm board, replacing Amit Singhal, the former head of Google Search.

Citing venture capital investors the report added that Combs entry underlines that this is not a token investment for Berkshire - it will want a bigger piece as Paytm does better. Moreover, this development makes a major shift in Paytm's image. "This changes the nature of the company. Regulatory concerns will go away because as a financial institution there is no better shareholder than Warren Buffett," said an investor, adding that the narrative of Paytm being a Chinese company will now go away as these are American board members.

This deal has also raised eyebrows since Buffett had long refused to invest in the tech space saying that it was too difficult to predict which tech businesses will prosper in the long run. It was only in 2011 that he invested in IBM; VeriSign and Apple came later in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Significantly, he has thus far stayed away from private technology companies, including unicorns.

In fact, Berkshire's Paytm investment is a different kind of a bet. "This is not a bet on cash flows but on growth. Money transfer is a critical network business and as India grows, Paytm will grow faster than the market," Anand Lunia, managing partner at venture capital firm India Quotient, told the daily. Berkshire is familiar with this model as it is a shareholder in payment companies like American Express, Mastercard, and Visa besides banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. "This investment validates the fact that India is a great market and discounting and losses as a strategy are ok in the early life of a company," added Lunia.

While Paytm now has the backing of several behemoths - China's Alibaba Group Holdings and Japan's Softbank Vision Fund previously came on board - it has a tough battle ahead if it wants to hang on to its leadership position. Apart from deep-pocketed rivals like Flipkart-owned Phonepe, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay, newer players like WhatsApp Payments and Reliance Jio and WhatsApp Pay are also eyeing India's $200 billion digital payment market.

Given that the market is expected to mushroom to $1 trillion over the next five years, completion will only intensify here on.

(With PTI inputs; edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal)Action continues unabated in steel industry. The Indian private steelmakers JSW Steel and Tata Steel, which are in rampant acquisitions to increase the capacities, look to submit bids for Usha Martin's 1 MT steel unit. JSW will replace pharma major Lupin in the Nifty 50 index from next month as its market value inches closer to Rs 1 lakh crore. The Chinese steel import to India fell in the first four months of this year when domestic demand picks up. The steel companies look to increase the steel prices by 5-8 per cent from next month.

Who will become the steel bellwether? Reports say that both JSW and Tata look to submit bids for Usha Martin's 1 MT steel unit. Tata recently acquired Bhushan Steel, which helped it increase its production capacity to 18.6 million tonne (MT). On the other side, JSW bought Monnet Ispat and emerged as the lead bidder for 3.5 MT Bhushan Power & Steel. With the addition of 1.5MT Monnet, the capacity of JSW increased to 19.5 MT. In addition, both are planning for Greenfield capacity expansions.

The resurgent steel manufacturers in the country are set to increase the steel prices by Rs 1500 a tonne from September. It will eventually help them realise better margins. The major reason for steel price increase is the depreciation of the Indian rupee, which made the import of the raw material coking coal expensive. The coal price has increased 14 per cent year-on-year, while rates of domestically sourced iron ore shot up by 11 per cent. The merchant miners in Odisha have started charging a premium of Rs 900 for a tonne of iron ore. The steel price is expected to move up by Rs 1,500 per tonne for both downstream products and hot-rolled coils. The increase is expected to be even steeper for long products.

In the first quarter, the domestic steelmakers posted better-than-expected earnings. The operating profits increased because of strong prices- hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices were up 14 per cent compared to previous year. Tata Steel reported a 61 per cent higher standalone Ebitda per tonne of over Rs 17,000 in the first quarter, while that of JSW doubled to nearly Rs 12,600.

Another good news for the Indian steelmakers is that China has cut its steel exports to India. In the first four months of this financial year, the country imported 3.03 million tonne (MT) of steel, up by 8.2 per cent, and half of it from Korea and Japan at zero or near-zero customs duty under Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. China has exported 0.51MT to India, 22 per cent lower compared to last year same period. India has again turned into a net importer as exports of Indian companies at 2.47MT (in four months) are 19 per cent lower than imports. It indicates that the demand is growing faster in the country and it gives larger business opportunities for the Indian companies.

Japanese major Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, which bid for Essar Steel along with ArcelorMittal, said recently that it sees India as the "most promising market". Nippon's executive vice president Katsuhiro Miyamoto told Reuters, "India will be the fastest-growing steel market in the world going forward."

The market valuation of JSW Steel touched over Rs 96,000 crore and industry experts expect that it will cross Rs 1 lakh crore shortly if the market continues the present rally. The shares of JSW have risen more than 47 per cent so far this year and its strong performance helped it enter the benchmark Nifty50 index. The scrip will replace pharma stock Lupin from September 28, 2018. On Wednesday, JSW share price jumped nearly 11 per cent intraday to Rs 405.40 before closing at Rs 397.80. Tata Steel has a market valuation of over Rs 68,000 crore and its share rose by 0.5 per cent to Rs 593.35 on Wednesday. However, the analysts expect that Tata will also improve its valuation after completing the merger of its European division with Thyssenkrupp. It will create the continent's second largest steelmaker after ArcelorMittal.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said that the Rafale deal negotiated by the government is 9 per cent cheaper than what the Congress had negotiated. In 2015, the government had entered into a deal with France for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. However, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has time and again accused the government of buying the planes at a higher price than what the UPA-II had negotiated.

In an exclusive interview to news agency ANI, Jaitley today said that Congress had recently made false allegations against the Modi government. "Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer," he said.

"What was negotiated from 2015 to 2016 and finally executed in 2016, with the escalations and the currency variations, the basic aircraft price turns out to be 9 per cent cheaper. Is the Congress party aware of this?" the Finance Minister further asked.

Jaitley also said that the Congress had negotiated for unloaded and non-weaponised aircrafts that were of no use. He said: "Are they (Congress) aware of this fact or have their ministers who dealt with it and know the file, told them that if it was a fully weaponised loaded aircraft? Loaded to unloaded, you compare the price again. The 2016 price is 20 per cent cheaper than the 2007 offer. So we got it cheaper."

Jaitley hinted that the Congress was deliberately comparing prices of a basic aircraft with the fully-loaded ones. "Can you compare a basic aircraft's pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare a simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft?" he further asked.

Justifying the deal between the Indian and French governments, Jaitley said that any responsible politician will know that government to government transactions are always clean. "Governments don't pay kickbacks. It's a transaction between the Government of India and the Government of France, publically made and publically declared terms that we will give you an offer better than 2007 and then enter into," the Finance Minister said.

Jaitley also refuted the allegations that the government had tweaked the contract to favour Anil Ambani's defence firm Reliance Defence. He said: "This is a government to government arrangement. Offset has nothing to do with this contract. There are 100s of offsets in India. The Government will purchase 36 fully-loaded aircraft coming all the way from France, manufactured in France, no private party involved. The Government of India's role ends."

He further said that under a policy devised by the UPA, every defence supplier (original equipment manufacturer or OEM) has to undertake some offsets. "About 30 per cent of the total contract value, the supplier has to in future start making purchases from India. Who will he make purchases from? He selects his own partners. Those purchases have nothing to do with Rafale or these aircraft. He could be buying guns, pistols, binoculars or some spare parts. For this purpose, not only Rafale but every defence manufacturer has to enter into offset contracts," Jaitley explained.

In November 2017, Rahul Gandhi had asked PM Modi to explain his "Reliance on someone with nil experience in aerospace for the Rafale deal?" Through a series of sarcastic tweets, Rahul had accused that "Self 'Reliance' is obviously a critical aspect of Make in India".The Delhi High Court has asked Life Insurance Corporation of India not to go ahead with its acquisition of IDBI Bank till August 30. The court has also asked LIC to present the minutes of its board meeting where the deal was approved. The order came in light of the writ petition filed by All-India IDBI Bank Officers' Association, asking the court to prohibit the government from reducing its stake in the bank below 51 per cent.

The bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru directed the insurance major to file an affidavit elaborating why investment regulations were relaxed in the LIC-IDBI deal, along with the IRDAI's approval for the same. While the Cabinet has approved a proposal for LIC to acquire a 51 per cent stake in IDBI, the Insurance Act mandates that an insurer cannot hold more than 15 per cent stake in another company.

The Delhi High Court also observed that LIC has to keep the interest of its shareholders in mind and it cannot make decisions on any other consideration. In response to the court order, LIC has verbally assured that it will not proceed with the acquisition of IDBI Bank till the next hearing, which is on August 30.

In its petition, the All-India IDBI Bank Officers' Association had claimed that the acquisition will lead to IDBI Bank losing its status as a public sector bank and a government company, affecting employment conditions of the bank officials. The petition stated that the deal is in violation of Parliamentary assurance that the government shall hold at least 51 per cent of the issued capital of IDBI Bank. The sale will take government's stake in IDBI Bank below 51 per cent from the current 85.96 per cent.

The petition moved by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Pranav Sachdeva further claimed that the acquisition is not a financially prudent decision on LIC's part and will threaten its ability to pay its own policy holders. "The said investment will be made from the funds of 38 crore policy holders of the LIC who have invested their hard earned money to secure their own futures. The said investment made by the LIC will adversely hamper its own abilities to pay its insurance holders," the petition has said.

Meanwhile, despite the legal hurdles, LIC agreed to purchase seven per cent equity in IDBI Bank through a preferential share issue. In a regulatory filing, IDBI Bank said that it has received in principal approval from the insurer for subscription of the equity shares on preferential basis subject to their total exposure not exceeding 14.90 per cent of post issue capital of the bank at any point of time. The IDBI Bank board will hold a meeting on August 31 to secure its shareholders' approval for the same.

Edited by Vivek PunjNew data published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) suggests that ongoing buoyancy in the labour market is acting as a magnet for workers from abroad, with net migration reaching its highest level in a decade.



In the year to April 2018, net migration amounted to 34,000, up from 19,800 in 2017. This trend was made up of both a fall in emigration and an increase in immigration over the past year. This contributed to the fastest growth in the population since 2008.



The figures indicate that there is an inward brain drain, with 54% of the 2018 immigrants holding a third level degree. The largest source of migrants over the past twelve months is the Rest of the World category (34% of total).

This is different from the 2000s inward migration boom when the Accession states in Eastern Europe were the source. While Irish media is highlighting the fact that more Irish people returned to Ireland than left in the past twelve months for the first time in nine years, it was only a very modest increase. The report suggests there is scope for a much larger swathe to return home over the coming years given the exodus over the crisis years.



Commenting on the figures, Goodbody Stockbrokers today noted, "It is worth repeating though that the biggest potential constraint to ongoing employment gains and inward migration is the level of new housing. These latest data lend support to our view that annual housing demand amounts to c.35K. This years output is likely to be half this level."

Source: www.businessworld.ieThe Turkish government will resume the Reform Action Group meetings on Aug. 29, after a three-year break, in a sign Ankara is stepping up efforts to revive ties with the EU, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Stressing that problems in relations between the EU and Turkey are mainly on political issues, rather than technical, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara prioritizes reform in Turkeys EU path and the Reform Action Group will gather in Ankara with the attendance of Turkeys interior and justice ministers.

Turkey aims to meet certain criteria in the EU path, the foreign minister said. After the lifting of the state of emergency, our priority is reforms.

The ministers will evaluate a road map for reform and action plans, Cavusoglu said Aug. 28, speaking at a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevicius in Lithuanias capital Vilnius.

Turkeys expectation from the EU is very clear. We dont want any gestures that are not deserved. We just want the ones Turkey deserves and the ones promised, he said.The Chinese government has once again signaled that it might end decades-old birth limits that have led to a rapid aging of its population.

A draft civil code currently being discussed by the Standing Committee of Chinas National Peoples Congress (NPC) has removed any mention of family planning from marriage and adoption laws, suggesting that the central government is considering lifting restrictions on childbirth.

Chinas existing marriage law contains multiple mentions of family planning, including the stipulation that both husband and wife have the obligation to implement family planning. Meanwhile, its adoption law also mentions family planning, saying that adoptions must not violate family planning laws and regulations. References to family planning have been removed from the draft civil code, which is expected to be completed by 2020.

The official explanation for the deletions was to adapt to new changes in Chinas demographic situation.

Despite having a civil-law legal system, China has never had a unified civil code. The NPC passed the general principles of the planned civil code last year, and is currently reviewing six draft sections, which span areas of non-criminal law, including contracts and marriage.

The omission of references to family planning is the strongest of multiple recent signals that Chinas authorities are planning to scrap birth restrictions altogether.

The Chinese government forbade couples from having more than one child for years, with some exceptions, starting in 1979. Then, in 2016, the one-child policy was replaced with a new policy that changed the limit to two children. But the two-child policy has not been effective in boosting the countrys low birth rate, and fears are growing that it may be too late for China to avoid many negative effects of its aging population.

In March, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang left birth restrictions out of his annual work report to the National Peoples Congress for the third year in a row, while top legislators and advisers issued calls for the government to lift the restrictions.

In May, Bloomberg News reported that Chinas State Council had commissioned a study on the consequences of ending birth limits, citing unnamed sources. Then in August, China unveiled a new postal stamp design for the next lunar year featuring a pig family with three piglets, prompting social media users (link in Chinese) to speculate that the government will implement a three-child policy next year.

But while the new civil code may remove restrictions on births, other aspects of Chinese law, including the countrys constitution, still contain family planning regulations, legal expert Li Mingshun said.

It goes without saying that couples are obliged to follow constitutional and other laws when it comes to family planning, without the need for the civil code to also emphasize these laws, said Li, who is vice president of the China Law Societys marriage and family law research institute.

Still, the gradual loosening of restrictions on birth will become an irresistible trend, said Liang Zhongtang, a researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. The removal of restrictions on birth in the civil code would eventually be followed by similar changes in the constitution, he told Caixin.

Contact reporter Teng Jing Xuan (jingxuanteng@caixin.com)Didi pledged to indefinitely suspend its carpool service and re-evaluate its business model. Photo: VCG

Chinas ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is coming under pressure from authorities across the country after a gruesome passenger rape-murder case set off a public outcry over the safety of ride-hailing services.

Didi executives have been summoned by local authorities in several cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, to put pressure on the company to take immediate action. People close to Didis government relations department told Caixin that authorities in more cities are expected to summon Didi executives on the safety issue.

The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission on Tuesday challenged the legitimacy of Didis popular carpool service, Hitch. The regulator told media that Didi never registered its Hitch service in Shanghai, making its operation illegal.

The Shanghai government is drafting new rules to punish or suspend operations of ride-hailing companies with records of repeated violations.

Local authorities in several cities accused Didi of problems such as major management loopholes and security risks in its operations.

A 20-year-old female passenger was raped and murdered on Friday by a Didi Hitch driver in Chinas eastern Zhejiang province. Didi acknowledged that the company previously received a complaint from another passenger about suspicious behavior of the driver but didnt immediately investigate.

It was the second passenger murder case in three months after a female flight attendant was killed in May by another Didi Hitch driver.

The Ministry of Transport said in a statement that Didi has unshirkable responsibility for the passengers death.

Didi is required to enter data on all vehicles and drivers into a government-supervised platform for ride-hailing operations. But the company has so far submitted just 3% the data on drivers operating on its platform, according to the transport ministry.

Data from the Ministry of Transport showed that Didi has uploaded data on 1.1 million vehicles and 960,000 drivers. But Didi said there have been more than 30 million drivers on its platform, excluding the carpool service.

Wang Fumin, deputy head of transportation in Guangdong province, accused Didi of being uncooperative with government regulation. He said Didi has always declined to share its vehicle and driver data with the government supervision platform.

In Shenzhen, nearly 5,000 Didi drivers and 2,000 vehicles have not acquired operating licenses, according the citys transportation authorities.

Late Tuesday, Didi Chuxing founder Cheng Wei and President Jean Liu issued an apology to the victim and the public, saying that vanity and non-stop riding on the force of breathless expansion and capital contributed to the tragedy.

Any words are useless in the face of loss of a life. But we still wish to say we are sorry to the victim, her family, and everyone, Cheng and Liu said in a statement, We are sorry. We failed your expectations.

The business model of Hitch will be thoroughly re-evaluated and suspended indefinitely until a safety protection mechanism is accepted by the users, the executives said in the statement.

Didi will stop using scale and growth as its measurement of performance and instead will use safety as the single most important metric, they said.Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu commented on the request by the U.S. Congress delegation urging Ankara to give up.the purchase of S-400 missiles

Asked whether news that appeared in the local media about a request by a visiting U.S. Congress delegation urging Ankara to give up the purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia to be able to receive the F-35 fighter jets was true, Cavusoglu said no.

The minister said Turkey was in immediate need of an air defense system, and that its ally the U.S. was not willing to provide it.

"We have to protect our air space. This is a must for us. They should understand it," Daily Sabah cited him as saying. "Can the U.S. give us a guarantee to sell Patriots?" Cavusoglu asked.

The Turkish minister added that Turkey wanted to solve issues with the U.S. as two equal partners, warning that "one-sided impositions" were not of help.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said yesterday at a press conference at Pentagon that Turkey's decision to bring in Russian anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems concerns the U.S.news, latest-news

Good morning, Canberra. We've shivered through another cold one, with a minimum of minus 4 degrees this morning. The good news is, the mercury's tipped to reach 16 degrees today, with a mostly sunny morning helping to melt the frost. Better buckle up if you're a homeowner (or intending to become one), there are some spicy stories this morning. If you've been finding it hard to break into the Canberra property market, there's a very good reason. Canberra is the toughest capital city in the country for people trying to buy in the under $400,000 price range, with just 2.4 per cent of houses below the threshold. This is pushing many buyers to look to apartments in the territory, with just over a third of Canberra's units selling under the $400,000 mark. Han Nguyen takes a look at these trends and what they mean for you. The ACT Property Council has slammed a "dangerous" Greens' proposal to base Canberra's rates system on the market value of properties, saying it could bring the city's renewal to a "grinding halt". This follows the Greens' release of a discussion paper calling for average unimproved value to be dumped as the basis of general rates in favour of a 'fairer' capital improved value system. This would mean residents' rates bills would be more in line with their wealth, Greens crossbencher Caroline Le Couteur said. But Property Council of Australia ACT executive director Adina Cirson expressed grave reservations about the Greens' proposal in its current form. Katie Burgess has the story. Retired public service commissioner John Lloyd told the officer investigating complaints about his conduct she would unlawfully use her power in finding against him. Mr Lloyd in a letter to merit protection commissioner Linda Waugh attacked the inquiry into allegations raised about an email he sent a right-wing think tank, saying it had been "infected with a denial of procedural fairness". "I submit that the outcome is that the inquiry has miscarried and its results are invalid," Mr Lloyd said. Doug Dingwall brings us the latest, here. Canberra voters would be less likely to vote for Liberal Senator Zed Seselja after his prominent role in the failed push by Peter Dutton to become leader of the party last week, a new poll shows. In a poll of 808 voters in the new inner-city electorate of Canberra taken on Monday, 64.6 per cent of voters said the new Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance's resignation from his former position in order to support Peter Dutton made them less likely to vote Liberal in the Senate. The ReachTEL poll was commissioned by the Greens, who have signalled intentions to both target Senator Seselja in the upper house, and attempt to turn the race in the seat of Canberra into a Labor-Greens contest. Sally Whyte reports. Canberra's Blackburn Chambers announced on Thursday an ACT-first parental leave policy it is hoped will encourage more women to join the bar. The policy allows women barristers who take leave to have a baby, or primary carers to a newborn, to pay a heavily discounted rate to the chambers to keep their room while on leave for up to 12 months. Kristy Katavic, one of about 10 women barristers practicing in Canberra, said the policy had been "huge" for her both as a mother and a careerwoman, "... because the alternative is quite radical, and that is pack up and resign as a member." Alexandra Back has more here. Giving a nod to Wagga Wagga fans could cost the Canberra Raiders $150,000, as the club's fans overwhelmingly supported a push to take some home games to regional areas in the coming years. That's the figure listed in the Canberra Raiders Performance Fee Agreement - Canberra Stadium, a 10-year deal between the Green Machine and the ACT government that expires at the end of 2019. The government could choose to waive the fee for playing a home game away from Canberra Stadium, but is yet to give clearance for the Raiders to be released from the venue for a game in 2019 and 2020. David Polkinghorne has the details.

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A "game-changing" conservation project at the University of Canberra could save endangered species on the brink of extinction. Focusing on amphibians and reptiles, researchers at the university are working with Danish tropical zoo Randers Regnskov and two universities in the Scandanavian country. Their goal is to grow cells in flasks under controlled conditions and use them to develop cell lines, which they will then freeze and preserve in a practice known as biobanking. Lead researcher Professor Tariq Ezaz is taking it a step further, using the cell lines with in vivo cloning technology. Professor Ezaz said the project represented the future of animal conservation, with the potential to grow stem cells into any type of cell, and program cells to produce sperm. He said this could help support struggling species on the brink of extinction, with a rare amphibian, the green and golden bell frog, one of the species researchers hoped to develop cell lines from. "The number of those in the wild is very few, but researchers have breeding colonies across different research labs," Dr Ezaz said. "This is one of the iconic species that we are going to have cell lines from." The project is focusing on amphibian and reptile cell lines because of the sheer number of conservation issues affecting them. Dr Ezaz said habitat destruction and pathogens like chytrid fungus had had devastating impacts on frogs worldwide, which often made finding viable specimens difficult. He said it had been particularly challenging to establish cell lines from amphibians, because while they initially grew from small tissue pieces, they died when moved from flask to flask. "We dont yet know why, and thats a challenge we want to overcome," Dr Ezaz said. University of Canberra PhD student Julie Strand, who manages the conservation biobank at Randers Regnskov, described the project as "insurance of sorts" for endangered species. The more threatened a species, the more important to preserve its genetic diversity," she said. Biobanking should be seen as a way to manage small populations by storing genetic diversity while it is still high. "If needed, you will be able to reintroduce the stored genes. Dr Ezaz said while the project would have wide-reaching conservation impacts, he did not want to limit its potential. "We want to open it up to researchers across the globe, if they want to use this for any other purposes," Dr Ezaz said, noting that cell lines could replace live animals in various types of testing.

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Queanbeyan cabinet maker Taylor Perrin gets a lot of satisfaction from her job. "I think because of the fact, there's a lot more fine detail involved and also the idea you can build something and see it finished and know that it's going to be in someone's house forever. That's a great feeling,'' she said. Taylor, 25, last week won the tradesperson scholarship at the NSW National Women in Construction Awards at Darling Harbour in Sydney. By her side was her dad John, a mechanic and spray painter, and her "main inspiration'' for pursuing a trade and instilling a strong work ethic early, along with her mum, Linda. "My dad and mum bought me my first business when I was 10  an ice machine and wood splitter,'' Taylor said. "I would, with the help of my parents, bag up ice in summer and wood in winter to save money and learn about business. They have always run businesses and been high management in businesses in Canberra and Queanbeyan and have always been great examples to me.'' Taylor, a former student of Merici College, started her apprenticeship with Capital Veneering in Queanbeyan, in 2013, learning on the job how to make kitchens, vanities, wardrobes as well tackling other large commercial and residential jobs. Her boss and mentor Ben Madden nominated her for the scholarship, which is open to trades women across NSW. "Obviously in our industry, there are not a lot of women in our trade. I think it takes courage for a young female to get involved,'' Mr Madden said. "Taylor has a great work ethic and a very positive, can-do attitude. She can take direction and just is very positive in everything she does.'' About 10 per cent of the 80-strong Capital Veneering staff are women including two apprentices. Mr Madden said he hoped more women would consider the trade as a career. "We would have more women in the workforce every day of the week if they were available and willing to do it,'' he said. Taylor is now fully qualified and moving into project management, determined to do her bit to give girls the confidence to try cabinet making. "To any girl considering it, I would say, 'Go ahead and take the plunge','' she said. She will use the $2000 scholarship for further study, motivated by those closest to her. "When I first began at Capital Veneering, [Ben] mentored me each step of the way and has given me ample studying and training outside of work as well as onsite and in the workshop to get me where I am today,'' she said. "Without my parents' guidance, inspiration and structure from a young age and Ben, James and the team at Capital Veneerings constant support and guidance I would not be where I am today.''

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/506fcb27-38fa-45ff-889f-d0d836623621/r0_306_1242_1008_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgcomment, editorial

While nobody doubts Tony Abbott's sincerity when it comes to indigenous affairs - he has been visiting remote communities every year since 2008 - that doesn't automatically make him the special envoy our first peoples need or want. And, given we already have an indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, who is allegedly on top of his brief an obvious question is "why do we need a special envoy at all?" The short answer to that question is that given neither Scullion, nor any of his predessors, including Abbott, have ever even begun to make a dent in the national disgrace that is entrenched indigenous disadvantage, any minister obviously needs all the help they can get. But how are we going to make the situation better by appointing yet another well-meaning, hyper-educated and politically-astute middle-aged white male to tell the indigenous community what is in their best interests? As a group, that demographic's track record in this space has been far from good. The Abbott/Turnbull Government asked the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community what they wanted ahead of the 2017 National Constitutional Convention. The result was "The Uluru Statement from the Heart" last May. This was a carefully considered call for a representative body, capable of speaking on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution. "Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people," their statement said. "Our children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. Our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future." The delegates hoped a legislated voice in the parliament, coupled with a genuine commitment towards the negotiation of a treaty that would recognise indigenous rights, might lay the groundwork for a road forward. That was not to be. Turnbull took one look at what was proposed and scrapped it, saying if such a proposition was ever put to a referendum it would almost certainly fail. Abbott sided with the former Prime Minister for once. He facebooked that recognition should "come in a way that brings us all together and this proposal, for a further level of indigenous representation, was unlikely to achieve that". This is one of the reasons so many indigenous community leaders are supremely underwhelmed by his belated acceptance of the role of "special envoy" on Wednesday. Patrick Dodson spoke for thousands when he tweeted: "The suggestion that Tony Abbott could act as some kind of messenger or representative for First Nations people is condescending and a serious worry for First Nations people". Given no details have been made available on what Mr Abbott would do, how he would interact with Mr Scullion or even whether or not he will be entitled to extra pay, this looks like an ad hoc appointment which is much more about tying down a loose cannon than improving the lot of Australia's most disadvantaged group. If this is the case then it can only be described as more of the same cynacle politics we saw on clear display during the Liberal leadership spill. When we ask Indigenous Australians what they want, we owe it to them to listen when they answer.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/0b3d478b-eec0-4427-917f-af3d4d505c86/r0_46_900_554_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgAccording to the Electoral Code, the election campaign on the presidential election has started in Georgia.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili set the date of the presidential election - October 28.

Any citizen of Georgia who has the right to vote and who has attained the age of 35 years, has lived in Georgia for at least five years and has been living in Georgia for the last three years before the election is eligible to be elected president.

Parties registered with the CEC and initiative groups of five voters have the right to nominate one candidate for President of Georgia. In order to nominate a candidate for President of Georgia, a party, voters' initiative group shall submit an application to the CEC chairperson no later than the 50th day before the polling day. To date, 31 person submitted an application to the CEC. The registration is closed 30 days prior to the election. The candidate may withdraw from candidacy not later than 10 days before the polling day.

The Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia ruling party will not nominate its candidate for the upcoming race, the partys Executive Secretary and Speaker of the Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze said. Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, in turn, said that the party will decide on its support after all candidates are announced.

Former chairman of the Georgian Parliament, leader of Movement for Building David Usupashvili, leader of Georgian Labour Party Shalva Natelashvili, one of the leaders of the Girchi party Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Georgian March movement, Sandro Bregadze, the United National Movement member, ex-Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, former Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, one of the leaders of the Movement for Liberty - European Georgia party David Bakradze, leader of the Free Georgia party Kakha Kukava, as well as an independent MP, former Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili have already announced their participation in the election.

Political scientist Gela Vasadze, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that there is a unique pre-election situation in Georgia. "It is unique because the Georgian Dream ruling party has not nominated its candidate. It is predicted that the Georgian Dream will support the candidacy of Salome Zurabishvili. And the question is how this support will help the ex-Foreign Minister to win. The ruling party has almost unlimited financial, political and administrative resources, but due to the fact that Zurabishvili is linked to the Georgian Dream, the chances of her closest competitors, in particular Grigol Vashadze, will grow," he said.

"In general, all candidates have a chance, but very little, at least now, except for those who will be supported by the ruling party. Another thing is that the ruling party may decide not to provide any support at all - although I do not believe that the authorities can let the process of elections go by itself. They can unofficially support even David Bakradze from the European Georgia, and then he will win," Gela Vasadze added.

The political scientist drew attention to the fact that the main result of Giorgi Margvelashvili's presidential term was the understanding of the president's total uselessness, which goes against the policy of the government and parliament. "The paradox is that Margvelashvili, being the Georgian Dream's candidate, has been in opposition for at least three years. The Georgian president is kind of a superminister of foreign affairs representing the country at the international level, which seems to mean nothing, but, on the other hand, it is very important. The future president of Georgia will shape the attitude of other countries to our republic in many respects, therefore the Georgian Dream will not give the position to some random people," he stressed.

The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, in turn, drew attention to the fact that there is no bright leader in this election. "Grigol Vashadze is Saakashvili's protege, David Bakradze represents the party that broke away from Saakashvili, his rating is low, while David Usupashvili's rating is not visible at all. The Georgian Dream promised to support Salome Zourabichvili, but has not yet done it," he said.

The Georgian Dream is not ready to release the presidential election out of control. "Ivanishvili ordered not to support anyone at all, so that the opposition would take the presidential institute, but his team members are against it. They want to have their own president. Apparently, there will be a so-called independent candidate, supported by the Georgian Dream. The problem, of course, is that today there is no charismatic figure in the country, which a priori enjoys the support of a large part of the population," the head of the Institute of Management Strategy pointed out.

The political scientist agreed that for five years Margvelashvili discredited the presidential institute in the country. "Margvelashvili is completely unsuitable for public service, everything he has done and said was a caricature of the president. The society says that most of the energy he spent on releasing criminals and drug addicts from his wife's environment," Mamradze concluded.news, latest-news

The ACT Property Council has lashed a Greens' proposal to shift the basis of Canberra's rates system to the market value of properties as "dangerous", saying it could bring renewal across the city to a "grinding halt". The Greens this week released a discussion paper calling for average unimproved value to be dumped as the basis of general rates, saying a system based on capital improved value would be fairer. Such a system would mean that rates are higher for people with an expensive home and lower for people with a less expensive home, instead of the charge being tied to the value of just your land. This would mean residents' rates bills would be more in line with their wealth, Greens crossbencher Caroline Le Couteur said. However the Barr government rejected a similar proposal last year, after determining the transaction and ongoing implementation costs were too significant for a jurisdiction of the ACT's size. A spokeswoman for Chief Minister Andrew Barr declined to release those costings, saying the proposal brought forward by the Greens was different to what the government had considered. But Property Council of Australia ACT executive director Adina Cirson expressed grave reservations about the Greens' proposal in its current form. We welcome the fact that the ACT Greens are looking seriously at the issue of tax reform and how to address affordability in Canberra and strongly agree that it is time we took a good hard look at how the tax reform agenda is progressing," Ms Cirson said. "Clearly we are in agreement with the Greens that the reform model and its progression is in urgent need of review - to see what the impacts have been for both residential or commercial property owners. However the Greens proposal in its current form is dangerous. Land tax is meant to be based on land value, not the market value of the whole property. It would deter people from doing any improvements to their property, and impact on building quality as people shift to using cheaper products to keep rateable costs down. This will impact all owners and the broader community." Ms Cirson said the shift to a market value rates system would be in effect a "double tax". "Home owners already pay tax on the materials and labour used for construction or renovations," Ms Cirson said. At a time where renewal is happening  and needed right across the city  applying a further disincentive to refurbish or improve properties in our city, by taxing based on property value and not just land value would bring things to a grinding halt to this renewal. Rates are increasing yearly in Canberra as the ACT government cuts stamp duty and other "inefficient" taxes, in line with the 20-year taxation reform that began in 2012. Back then, the average rates bill for houses was $1406. This year, it's $2474. However in the same period stamp duty on a $500,000 house has fallen from $20,500 to around $12,000. Stamp duty on commercial property transactions of less than $1.5 million was fully abolished this year, and from next year first home buyers with a household income of less than $160,000 will also receive a waiver. But last month, former territory Treasury policy director Dr Khalid Ahmed and economist Adrian Makeham-Kirchner said Mr Barr had broken his pledge that stamp duty tax reform would be "revenue-neutral". They found growth in the territory's own-source revenue base has outpaced economic growth since the reform began with a nearly $400 million boom, and neither wages nor the territory's concessions system has kept pace. The government rejected that analysis, saying the growth in own-source revenue was due to economic factors, rather than policy decisions. But earlier in the year, analysis from the Housing Institute of Australia showed stamp duty revenue rose $80.4 million from $225.7 million to $306.1 million in the first five years of the reform, with cuts to conveyence duty failing to exceed bracket creep. Again the govenrment pointed out the increase in stamp duty revenue wwas due to the strong property market, not policy decisions. While Dr Ahmed concluded the brunt of tax increases had been borne by households, especially the 88,000 lowest income households, Ms Cirson said commercial property owners were now paying double the rates they did at the start of the reform. "They are paying nine times more than residential owners and in effect paying the equivalent of stamp duty every single year - just over 5 per cent for properties over $600,000," Ms Cirson said. "The brunt of the reforms are being deeply felt by local businesses and building owners but without the increase in rents by the same proportions, or the equivalent reductions in stamp duty. Ms Cirson said while the Property Council supported the abolition of stamp duty on the basis it was 50 per cent worse for the economy than company tax, their backing hinged on the reform being revenue neutral. "We need to make sure [the tax reform] is meeting the objectives set out by the Quinlan review and that is not disproportionally impacting on affordability or deterring investment in the rental or office market," Ms Cirson said. All eyes are on Canberra as treasurers around the country are all looking to see if tax reform is the panacea that governments believe it to be, and with the ACT the only one who has attempted this reform."

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/c37fab78-07f1-45b7-9a2c-badc69827a48/r0_1320_2832_2920_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg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.RITES Ltd, Indian Railways has immediate openings for the post of Engineer in electrical department. The company is looking to hire dynamic and hard working professionals with a specific criteria. The selection process includes shortlisting, written test and interview. Candidates will also be screened for medical fitness.

Reservation and concession for the reserved categories will be provided as per the government norms. The appointment will be on a contract basis for a period of two years and subject to be extended upon satisfactory performance.

Indian Railways Recruitment 2018 For Managers At RITES Ltd

Indian Railways Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Engineer Organisation RITES Ltd Educational Qualification BE in electrical engineering from a recognised university Experience Freshers can apply Skills Required Engineering skills Job Location Delhi, Haryana, UP and Punjab Salary Scale INR 37294 per month Industry Railways Application Start Date August 29, 2018 Application End Date September 19, 2018

Maximum Age Limit: 34 years

Also Read: SECR Offers Skill Training For 313 Apprentices At Nagpur

How To Apply For Indian Railways Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for Indian Railways Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the RITES Ltd official website.

Step 2: Hover over CAREER tab and select ONLINE REGISTRATION.

Step 3: The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 4: Click Submit and complete the registration process.

Step 5: Use your credentials to login and complete teh application process.

Step 6: Print a copy of the completed application form and send it to RITES Ltd.

RITES Ltd Recruitment 2018 Application Process And Mailng Address

Superscribe on the envelope, "Application for the post of Engineer" and send it to:

Assistant Manager (P)/Rectt., RITES Ltd., RITES Bhawan, Plot No.1, Sector-29, Gurgaon - 122001, Haryana.

Follow the link - http://rites.com/web/images/stories/uploadVacancy/VAC-59-18-REMCL-Cont.pdf to read the detailed official notification.The golden effigy of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been removed by the fire brigade in the western German city of Wiesbaden.

The 4-meter statue of Erdogan had been erected in Wiesbaden on Monday without the knowledge of city officials, and was not generally welcomed.

The larger-than-life effigy installed in the city's Platz der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Square) depicts Erdogan with a raised right arm.

The statue was quickly covered in expletive-laden graffiti, Deutsche Welle reported.

Local authorities said that as its security could no longer be guaranteed, the statue would be taken down. It was removed by the fire brigade late on Tuesday night and police put out a short video of the process:

It was an art installation, part of the Wiesbaden Biennale for Contemporary Art, but was erected without the knowledge of city officials, a Wiesbaden spokesperson told German news agency dpa. This year's art festival is taking place under the motto "bad news."

"We have received calls from a string of confused citizens  it is not clear to people that it is part of the Biennale," the spokesperson said of the statue.Hundreds of vacancies open at MPSC! Maharashtra Public Service Commission has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for the posts of Sub-Inspector, Tax Assistant and Clerk Typist.

Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government jobs here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 23700 per month. The last date to apply for the government jobs is Sep 11, 2018.

Engineer Maharashtra Electricity Distribution, Join Mahavitaran

MPSC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Sub-Inspector, Tax Assistant and Clerk Typist Organisation Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) Educational Qualification Degree in related field from a government recognised university Experience Freshers can apply Skills Required Technical skills Job Location Maharashtra Salary Scale INR 5200 to INR 23700 per month Industry Civil services Application Start Date August 28, 2018 Application End Date September 11, 2018

Application Fee INR 524 Age Limit 18 to 38 years Selection Mode Written exam

Also Read: Skilled Artisans Required At India Post

How To Apply For MPSC Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for MPSC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the MPSC official website.

Step 2: Click on the button that reads, New User Registration.

Step 3: The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 4: Enter the captcha code.

Step 5: Click Create User and complete the registration process.

Step 6: Use your credentials to login again and complete the application process.

Fee payment can be made online through SBI challan.

Follow the link - https://mahampsc.mahaonline.gov.in/MPSC/AdvtList/40-2018.pdf to read the detailed official notification.Tamilnadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for the post of Sub-Inspector of Police. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 116600. The last date to apply for the government job is Sep 28, 2018.

TNPSC Recruitment 2018 For Statistical Inspector

TNUSRB Police Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Sub-Inspector of Police Organisation Tamilnadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) Educational Qualification Graduate degree in science from a recognised university Experience Freshers can apply Skills Required Physical fitness and knowledge of Tamil Job Location Tamil Nadu Salary Scale INR 36900 to INR 116600 Industry Police Application Start Date August 29, 2018 Application End Date September 28, 2018

Age Limit 20 to 28 years Selection Process Written exam, physical standards test and interview Exam Syllabus Logical Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Psychology Test, Communication Skills and Information Handling ability Exam Fee INR 500

Also Read: Police Jobs 2018 At Puducherry For 431 Constables

How To Apply For TNUSRB Police Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for TNUSRB Police Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the TNUSRB official website.

Step 2: Under RECRUITMENT FOR THE POST OF SUB - INSPECTOR OF POLICE(FINGERPRINT) - 2018, click on the button that reads, Application Form.

Step 3: A login screen will appear. Click on the link that reads, Create New User.

StStep 4: On the new page, enter your mobile number and receive an OTP.

Step 5: Enter the OTP to access the application form.

Step 6: Enter your details in the fields provided and submit them.

Step 7: Follow the subsequent pages and complete the application process.

Follow the link - http://www.tnusrbonline.org/SI_Fingerprint_Notification.pdf to read the detailed official notification.Renault has globally unveiled the Arkana coupe-crossover at the 2018 Moscow Motor Show. The vehicle has derived its name from the Latin word arcum meaning secret. The coupe-crossover is believed to be based on Renaults BO platform and will sit above the Captur at the time of its launch in India.

The newly revealed Renault Arkana has a robust appeal which is expressed through its wide wheel arches, 19-inch wheels and high ground clearance to offer all-terrain drivability. The company claims that the Arkana is a sturdy vehicle which is ready to face harsh driving and tough weather conditions. Moreover, to enhance its sporty quotient, it gets a high waistline and sloping coupe roofline which is emphasized by side chrome detailing and a panoramic glass roof.

Russia will be the first market to get the Renault Arkana in 2019 and will gradually be introduced in other global markets. Although the vehicle will globally retain its unique design elements, the underpinnings will be adapted to the local markets and better suited to meet local customers expectations.

Speaking on the occasion, Laurens Van den Acker - SVP, Corporate Design of Groupe Renault, said, The ARKANA show car is a distinctive coupe-crossover, striking balance between the elegance of a sedan and the powerful stance of an SUV. We have dialled in specific Renault cues, with a strong design, strength and sensuality with a French touch.

Although the mechanical details have not been officially revealed, the company has stated that it will offer a brand new engine for the Russian market. Moreover, Renault will also offer a four-wheel drive transmission option. In India, we expect the vehicle to compete against the likes of Jeep Compass .

RenaultPhoto: The Canadian Press Iraqi soldiers patrol along the border between Syria and Iraq in Anbar province, Iraq.

Seven people were killed Wednesday in a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in a former stronghold of the jihadists in western Iraq, a security official said.

The attacker drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Syrian border, Maj. Gen Qasem al-Dulaimi said.

He said four security forces personnel and three civilians were killed in the blast.

Al-Dulaimi blamed IS for the attack and the group, through its Aamaq news agency, later claimed responsibility in posts it circulated on social media.

Al-Qaim is a former Islamic State group stronghold in Anbar province in western Iraq.

A spate of kidnappings and guerrilla style attacks in desert areas in western and central Iraq this summer have stirred security concerns in the country as it seeks to rebuild from its three-year-long war with the militant group.

Iraqi officials declared victory over the jihadists late last year after recapturing Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, in a grinding battle supported by the U.S.-led international coalition against IS.

But heavy-handed tactics by the military and the Shiite-dominated PMF, and faltering efforts at reconciliation between the country's Sunni and Shiite Muslims, has fueled resentment in Sunni Muslim areas that were most affected by the war, and where IS cells are believed to operate.

Millions of Iraqis have not been able to return to their homes, including hundreds of thousands still living in displaced persons camps.

Iraq's military and the PMF have been using the predominantly Sunni Anbar province as a base of operations against IS in the country's western desert and for air operations against the group in neighbouring Syria.Photo: The Canadian Press Cardi B arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in New York.

Cardi B has apologized to the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. for portraying the civil rights leader's wife, Coretta Scott King, in a comedy skit.

News outlets report the Bronx rapper was featured in "The Real Housewives of Civil Rights," a two-minute parody that surfaced Tuesday on TMZ. Tuesday was the 55th anniversary of the March on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

The sketch from comedian Rip Michaels' new series "Off the Rip" portrays pettiness between Coretta Scott King and Malcolm X's wife, Betty Shabazz, and ends with a joke about Dr. King sleeping with "The Iggy Azalea of the Civil Rights Movement."

But Bernice King later thanked Cardi B on Twitter for reaching out and apologizing, and said she looked forward to talking with her.Photo: CTV

Two injured Inuit hunters huddled for three days with the body of their friend who was killed by a polar bear, while at least four other bears circled their camp.

More details are emerging about Nunavut's second polar bear death this summer, this one near the community of Naujaat.

The death has sparked widespread outrage among Inuit, many of whom feel their lives are being endangered by restrictions on polar bear hunting imposed on them by southerners.

Naujaat administrator Rob Hedley says the hunters were terrified and didn't sleep as they waited for search parties to locate them.

They were eventually spotted by a search helicopter from the Coast Guard icebreaker Louis St. Laurent in the early hours of Tuesday.

The two injured hunters suffered minor injuries and were treated and released.Photo: The Canadian Press An iceberg floats past Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago on July 24, 2017.

Newly released research has found that the amount of heat stored in a vast section of the Arctic Ocean has doubled over the last 30 years.

In a paper published today, Yale University researchers say they found deep layers of the Canada Basin are holding much more heat than they used to.

Author Mary-Louise Timmermans says vanishing sea ice in lower latitudes is allowing the sun to warm water there.

The water then moves further north into the Canada Basin west of the High Arctic Islands.

Timmermans says the stored heat could be thinning out one of the last areas of thick, multi-year ice.

Degrading that ice has unknown consequences for everything from the local ecosystem to weather developments in the south.NS pix It is an instant payment tool, developed by the Central Bank. It's along with TED, DOC, and cards...The proposals of President Vladimir Putin on changes to the pension system balance the original draft law on the reform that was prepared by the government, head of the Audit Chamber Alexei Kudrin wrote on Twitter, TASS reported.

"The president summarized the arguments of the supporters and opponents of the pension reform, introduced amendments that balance the original draft. It is a well-balanced, carefully thought-out solution necessary for the implementation of national tasks," Kudrin said.Cote dIvoire cement capacity set to rise to 9.4Mta by 2019

ICR Newsroom By 29 August 2018

Cement capacity is set to increase to 9.4Mta in Cote dIvoire by 2019 following significant investment by the industry, according to the countrys Secretary of State for the Promotion of SMES, Anoble Felix.



The new capacity is driven by an accelerated demand in major public infrastructure projects, the social housing programme and many private projects. Consumption is expected to rise by 11 per cent YoY.



"To cope, the national cement production has increased from 2.52Mt in 2015 to 3Mt in 2016. In 2017, production is in the order of 3.Mt. I am pleased to see that the development prospects of the cement industry are reassuring in our country. Indeed, more than XOF73bn have been invested by cement producers over the period 2015-2017 to increase their production capacity, which allowed Cote d'Ivoire to have an installed capacity 7.2Mta in 2015. This capacity should even reach 9.4Mta by the beginning of 2019", Mr Felix said.

Published underIran's intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi said that "dozens of spies" had been arrested as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals.

"Financially and through other means, our enemies try to get information on our country," Alavi said in an interview on state television.

"They act by spying and infiltration. Fortunately the anti-espionage section is one of the strongest sections of this ministry," APF cited him as saying.

The minister did not provide details on the "dozens of spies", or over what period they were arrested. He said there was also a concerted effort to root out dual nationals working in official positions.

Alavi stressed that 230 "terrorist cells" had been intercepted over the past year. "We foiled plots on places such as universities and the metro but we published little information about this," he added.

Alavi also covered the crackdown on corruption and those manipulating Iran's chaotic currency rates, which have been a major focus of discontent in recent months.

"If we want to have a dynamic economy, we must fight economic corruption. In the intelligence ministry, we have opened 130 files and more than 180 suspects have been arrested," Iran's intelligence minister said.



Since La Bella Lingua was published almost a decade ago, people have often asked me what drew me to Italy. Over the years, I've realized that what intrigued and enthralled me most wasn't its language, food or artas marvelous as each isbut la passione italiana.

I've dedicated the last three years to the pursuit of its secrets and sources. This summer my editors at the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, and I put the finishing touches on the manuscript for La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World. The official publication date is April 16, 2019, but the book is now available for pre-orders at Amazon in the United States, Italy and England, Barnes & Noble and many independent book stores.

Here is the official online profile for my new book:

"From the New York Times bestselling author knighted by the President of Italy for her writing, a jubilant exploration of how Italy transformed the Western world's most vibrant passionsfrom literature to art, music to movies.

No country has matched Italy's impact on culture. Just think of painting without Leonardo, opera without Verdi, fashion without Armani, food without the signature tastes of pasta, gelato, and pizza. The first universities, first banks, first public libraries? All Italian.

Dianne Hales attributes these landmark achievements to la passione italiana, a primal force that stems from an insatiable hunger to discover and create; to love and live with every fiber of one's being. This fierce drive, millennia in the making, blazes to life in the Sistine Chapel, surges through a Puccini aria, deepens a vintage Brunello and rumbles in a gleaming Ferrari engine.

Our ideal tour guide, Hales sweeps readers along on her adventurous quest for the secrets of la passione. She swims in the playgrounds of mythic gods, shadows artisanal makers of chocolate and cheese, joins in Sicily's Holy Week traditions, celebrates a neighborhood Carnevale in Venice, and explores pagan temples, vineyards, silk mills, movie sets, crafts studios, and fashion salons. She introduces us, through sumptuous prose, to unforgettable Italians, historical and contemporary, all brimming with the greatest of Italian passionsfor life itself.

A lyrical portrait of a spirit as well as a nation, La Passione appeals to the Italian in all our souls, inspiring us to be as daring as Italy's gladiators, as eloquent as its poets, as alluring as its beauties and as irresistible as its lovers."

Like any parent, I care deeply about all of my literary "children," but I am especially excited to share the wonderful stories of the Italian passions that shaped all our lives.

I write about a particular passionfor Venice, the most seductive of Italian citiesin a newly published collection of first-person accounts: First Spritz Is Free: Confessions of Venice Addicts, edited by a sister appassionata, Kathleen Gonzalez. I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing Venice through the eyes of artists, artisans, writers, gondoliers, musicians, teachers, tour guides, photographers, poets, historians, and more. You can order the book here to share in their adventures.

Another of my books, Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered, popped up recently on NBC Nightly Newspart of the backdrop for an interview with the delightful sisters Natalia and Irina Strozzi, the last living descendants of Leonardo's iconic model. Click here to see for yourself if they've inherited her alluring smile.Relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia are actively developing, and coordination on regional affairs has reached a high level, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today, starting off negotiations with Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir.

"Thank you for accepting our invitation," the Russian top diplomat stressed. Lavrov added that they consider it necessary to continue their dialogue and see how they are advancing in the implementation of the agreements that were reached when King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was visiting Russia in October 2017.

"Our bilateral relations are rapidly developing in all areas. Our coordination and sharing views on international and regional affairs are also at a very good level," TASS cited Lavrov as saying.

"Im confident that todays conversation will be useful in terms of supporting the high development rates of our cooperation in all areas," the Russian foreign minister stressed.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday described militants in Syrias last big rebel-held enclave of Idlib as a festering abscess that needed to be liquidated, Reuters reported.

Speaking after talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir in Moscow, Lavrov said militants were using civilians as a human shield.

Lavrov told reporters that there was a political understanding between Turkey and Russia on the need to distinguish between the Syrian opposition and people he described as terrorists in Idlib Province.

Lavrov said that Moscow was in close contact with Turkey on the situation in Idlib.

This is the last hotbed of terrorists who are trying to speculate on the regions status as a de-escalation zone, who are trying to hold the civilian population hostage as human shields and bend to their will those armed groups ready to engage in dialogue with the government, Lavrov said.

So from all points of view, this festering abscess needs to be liquidated, he said.

Lavrov also said Russia remained in contact with the United States on the situation in Idlib and that communication was happening between their two militaries.A truck has crashed into a bus carrying Russian tourists in the southern province of Antalya, injuring more than a dozen people.

The bus carrying 25 Russian tourists, who were going to the airport after completing their holidays in Turkey, shifted lanes to exit the highway for a short break at a way station near the Asag Kocayatak district early August 29 when the semi-trailer truck hit it.

According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the bus lost control after the crash and hit another vehicle which was also turning right to exit the highway before falling into a ditch, Hurriyet Daily reported.

Thirteen people, including 11 tourists, were injured in the accident, according to initial reports. Police launched an investigation into the crash.Turkeys state broadcaster TRT has stopped showing cowboy films, which the channel has aired on Sundays since the 1980s.

Instead of Westerns, TRT said it plans to broadcast Turkish movies.

The decision was taken in response to the current crisis between the United States and Turkey, which has seen the United States demand the release of citizens held in Turkey, the imposition of sanctions on two Turkish ministers and added tariffs on metal imports from Turkey. Turkey has responded with largely reciprocal measures.A Turkish fighter pilot has carried out the first flight of the F-35 jet as part of ongoing training in the U.S., the Turkish General Staff said.

Early July, the Pentagon said Turkish pilots and maintenance personnel were being trained on the F-35 fighter jet in the state of Arizona.

Late June, Turkey took delivery of its first F-35 fighter jet at a ceremony in Forth Worth, Texas.

Turkey plans to get 100 F-35 fighter jets in upcoming years, Hurriyet Daily recalls.Nigerian Girl Who Refused to Renounce Jesus for Her Freedom Begs for Help in Newly Released Audio Christian Post Contributor | 29 August, 2018 by Stoyan Zaimov

The family of Leah Sharibu, the 15-year-old Christian girl kidnapped by Boko Haram, confirmed that a new audio message of her begging for help is real.

The 35-second recording was first shared by Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida of TheCable and released on Monday. Sharibu, who was kidnapped in February during a Boko Haram raid on a girls school in Dapchi, Yobe state, pleads:

"I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation. I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother, and relatives.

"Kindly help me out of my predicament. I am begging you to treat me with compassion, I am calling on the government, particularly the president, to pity me and get me out of this serious situation. Thank you."

The teen made news around the world when she was not released along with 110 others because she refused to renounce her faith in Jesus Christ.

International Christian Concern, one of the many groups that has been advocating for Sharibu's release, said that her family confirmed that it is her voice on the recording.

But President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to reach out to them.

"The government has not contacted [us] ever since she has been abducted and even today they have not contacted [us]," the parents said.

They added that they "appreciate [everyone] who is working to ensure her release. [We] continue to plead for more pressure to be put on the government until she is released."

Nathan Sharibu, her father, told BBC Pidgin that he is glad to know that his daughter is still alive.

"I'm really encouraged that I heard the words of my favorite daughter," he said.

He revealed that both "Christians and some Muslims ... are praying for my daughter."

"We are very, very sad in the family. I hope they will put more pressure concerning her release," he added.

The terror group that is holding Sharibu is also infamous for kidnapping 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in 2014, which launched the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

While many have been released, at least 100 are believed to still be under Boko Haram's captivity, with fears they may have been married off to Islamist fighters.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Chief Femi Adesina, meanwhile, said that it cannot be known when Sharibu will be released.

"For how much longer, I think that question can only be answered by God. I believe that God is interested in that young girl and will ensure that she is preserved," Adesina said on a Channels Television program, Sunrise.

"I think when that clip that we have is verified, at least one will be sure that it's her and when that is determined, we should all be glad that she is alive," he added.

"When will she return? By the grace of God, the government is working on it and we believe she will be back."

Read more about Leah Sharibu on The Christian Post.This month in Pakistan a Christian father was killed and his family beaten by a mob of Muslims. According to the International Christian Concern, on Aug. 2 Vicky Masih, a practicing Christian, asked his Muslim friend to pay him back some money that he had lent him.

According to The Christian Post, Masih, was then threatened by his friend, Muhammad Ilyas, who said, we would be teaching him a lesson. Ilyas also called Masih a "choora" which is a derogatory term used toward Christians marking them as dirty and untouchable.

An Advocate named Tariq Zia told The Christian Post, "Within no time, the party turned into an exchanging of harsh words, a physical clash, and ended with Vicky's murder.

Reportedly, Masih was shot in the stomach and later died in hospital.

A little over two weeks after this incident there was another clash between Christians and Muslims in the area. A Christian family was beaten after resisting to allow their 19-year-old daughter to be forced into a marriage with a Muslim man.

Alvin John, the father of the assaulted family, told the ICC, "I shifted my family to this rented house about 10 months ago.

John continued, "At first, we were asked to leave by some Muslim neighbors because of our Christian faith. But since Easter, we have been pressurized, threatened, and teased."

He added, My 19-year-old daughter Aresha then became the target. They would follow my daughter in the streets and markets, offering her a bright and secure future if she converted, and often abused her for her Christian faith."

While speaking with the town elders in an attempt to resolve the issue, the family was attacked.

"A mob of Muslims, led by Muhammad Samad Zaheer, attacked me and my family around 11:00 p.m. on August 18," John reported.

He then added, "They damaged the left eye of my son, Vickram John The attackers also broke most of the house stuff, furniture, doors, and windows. We cannot go back to the house as there is unrest in the neighborhood.

Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Sameer AkhtariCatholic Charities of Buffalo chose to end foster care and adoption services rather than end their practice of only placing children in homes with a father and a mother. The state of New York has a rule that forces registered foster care and adoption agencies registered with the state to see no difference between a husband and a wife and same-sex couples.

In explaining the difficult decision, Catholic Charities of Buffalo CEO Dennis Walczyk explained, "We're a Catholic organization, so we have to practice what we do consistent with the teaching of the church.

The agencys leadership began discussing the issue over the summer when a same-sex couple applied to be foster parents through Catholic Charities. Some employees told The Buffalo Newsthat they were not aware that they would not place children in same-sex households until they received the same-sex couples application.

The state of New York has no intentions of bending their rules to accommodate Christian agencys objections to same-sex marriage. New York Office of Children and Family spokeswoman Monica Mahaffey said, Discrimination of any kind is illegal and in this case (Children and Family Services) will vigorously enforce the laws designed to protect the rights of children and same sex couples. Then she added, There is no place for providers that choose not to follow the law.

Many inside and outside of Catholic Charities of Buffalo said they were blindsided by the decision. The eight employees in the foster and adoption agency were told their jobs would be gone by the end of the year and that they could apply for other jobs with Catholic Charities. Erie Countys Department of Social Services said they learned about it from a reporter.

Catholic Charities had 34 foster children in 24 homes and will work with those families to ensure a smooth transition to another agency. They average five adoption placements a year and families who had started the process with them will have to begin the process with another agency.

Catholic Family Center in Rochester, affiliated with the Catholic Charities of Rochester, said they will review their policies after the decision made in Buffalo.

Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Guillaume de GermainThe Catholic world is reeling after a devastating month of sexual abuse revelations. At the beginning of August, a Pennsylvania grand jury reported that hundreds of priests abused at least 1,000 children since the 1940s and that dozens of church officials covered it up.

Then, this past week, a prominent archbishop claimed that Pope Francis knew aboutand covered upthe actions of Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal who has been accused of sexually harassing adult seminarians and abusing a child.

For lay Catholics, the litany of sex abuse stories has been devastating.

The ultimate source of authority and power that the normal Catholic needs week to week is their priest, said John Armstrong, the president of ACT3 Network, an organization which works to foster Christian unity. Its not the Vatican, not the structure of the Vatican, not even the Pope, though hes the Holy Father to Catholics.

Because of this close relationship, the church betraying their trust can feel even more intense.

When the priest is an abuser, it breaks all confidence and trust in the authority of the church, which extends all the way to the Vatican because this priest would not be ordained if had not gone up the chain of command and has ultimately the blessing of the Holy Father who is the pastor of pastors and the shepherd of the whole church, he said.

Armstrong joined associate digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss the nature and extent of the abuse in the Catholic church, the Vaticans historically contentious relationship with the media, the politics affecting the whole situation, and how it affects evangelical churches.

This episode of Quick to Listen was brought to you by the Christian Standard Bible. To learn more about the Christian Standard Bible, visit CSBible.com/CT.

What is Quick to Listen? Read more

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Visit our guests website: ACT3 Network / The Initiative

Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee, Richard Clark, and Cray AllredIn 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Today is John Sidney McCain III's birthday. The war hero, longtime senator, and presidential candidate would have been eighty-two years old.

His body is lying in state in the Arizona state capitol today. A private service will be held at 10 a.m., then the public can pay their respects beginning at 2 p.m. local time.

Tomorrow, a memorial service will be held at North Phoenix Baptist Church, his home congregation. The event will be livestreamed on McCain's website.

Friday, McCain's body will lie in state inside the US Capitol Rotunda. Only thirty other people in US history have been so honored. His Senate colleagues and staff will honor him in an 11:00 a.m. ceremony, then members of the public will pay their respects from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

On Saturday, a televised funeral service will begin at 10 a.m. in the Washington National Cathedral. At McCain's request, former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama will deliver eulogies. On Sunday, McCain's family will hold a private service at the US Naval Academy before laying his body to rest at the academy's cemetery.

What explains John McCain's abiding popularity across our land?

One: He put principles before politics

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called McCain "a great American patriot, a statesman who put his country first and enriched this institution through many years of service." Such praise from a leader of his own political party is unsurprising.

But Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who serves as Senate Minority Leader, also honored McCain: "John's dedication to the country and to the men and women who served it was unwavering. His life is a story of American heroism personified." Other Democrats, from Barack Obama and Joe Biden to his fellow senators and Arizona constituents, have echoed Schumer's praise.

McCain was a staunch conservative (he had a lifetime 81 percent conservative voting score with the conservative Club for Growth), but he worked with Democrats on finance reform and immigration, among other issues. His willingness to put principle above partisan politics resonates with Americans who want our leaders to work for the common good.

Scripture teaches: "Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" (James 4:17). Jesus promised, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6).

Our postmodern culture no longer believes in objective truth, but it still values authenticity. Political commentator Peggy Noonan: "Sincerity and competence is a strong combination. In politics, it is everything." Charles Spurgeon noted: "Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite."

Two: He was honest about his failures

None of us lives by our principles perfectly. McCain's marriage to his first wife, Carol, ended after Vietnam. He later said, "My marriage's collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity more than it was to Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was entirely mine."

He was accused in the 1980s of trying to help a wealthy donor hold off federal regulators. He later wrote of the scandal, "I would very much like to think that I have never been a man whose favor could be bought. Yet that is exactly how millions of Americans viewed me for a time, a time that I will forever consider one of the worst experiences of my life."

In 1983, he voted against making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, a position he renounced when he ran for president in 2008: "We can be slow as well to give greatness its due, a mistake I myself made long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in memory of Dr. King. I was wrong."

There has been only one perfect person in human history. For the rest of us, transparency when we fail is a vital step toward redemption. Scripture calls us to confess our sins to our Father (1 John 1:9) and to each other (James 5:16). And it promises: "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy" (Proverbs 28:13).

Three: He had the courage of his convictions

John McCain's suffering as an American POW in Vietnam was almost beyond belief. Despite horrific injuries and torture, he refused early release in the belief that those who were imprisoned before him should leave before him.

This was not the last time he paid a price for his convictions.

In August 2008, when McCain's presidential campaign was still neck and neck with Barack Obama, a woman at a town hall in Pennsylvania told him she couldn't trust Obama because "he's an Arab."

"No, ma'am," McCain said. "He's a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about. He is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president."

His refusal to demonize his opponent cost him support in an election he eventually lost. But it won him the respect of millions who admired his courage.

Scripture calls us to "be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!" (Psalm 31:24). We are told to "learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause" (Isaiah 1:17). When we stand against oppression and for justice in a fallen world, there is a price to pay. But such courage draws others to the courageous Savior we serve.

Principled, honest, and courageousthree words that explain John McCain's abiding popularity and form his lasting legacy. In our post-Christian culture, these attributes are especially obvious and attractive.

In Character is Destiny, McCain wrote: "It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy." How happy will your life be today?

Originally posted at Denison Forum.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

I'm writing this appeal to all those involved on the front lines of the mainstream media with the hope that some of you will read these words and consider my appeal.

To be clear: 1) I believe there is bias on the right as well as on the left; 2) I believe that the great majority of you take your profession quite seriously and are trying to report accurately; 3) I don't agree with all of the president's rhetoric and I regret some of the charges he has brought against you; and 4) I believe the president himself is often the author of inaccurate information.

That being said, you hurt your own cause when you decry the very concept of "fake news" in your own midst. Do you really believe that you have not been affected by your extreme dislike for President Trump? Are you truly unaware that there are good reasons so many Americans question your credibility?

It's not just an undisciplined president getting unruly crowds upset about "fake news." It's that your anti-Trump animus is often so loud it drowns out the report you are giving, especially in the context of TV news. (If the Trump-hatred doesn't drown out your story, at the least, it negatively colors it.)

It's one thing when, say, Frank Bruni writes a Trump-bashing (or, Bible-bashing) op-ed for the New York Times. We know what to expect.

It's another thing when you report the news on CNN or NBC. We're supposed to be hearing facts, not opinions. And by facts I mean carefully vetted facts. (Remember when "facts" actually meant facts and "news" didn't contain such a mixture of truth and opinion and spin?)

I'm aware, of course, that everyone is racing to break the latest story, and in doing so, you have to trust the reliability of your sources. But what happens when your sources are biased? How much egg do you need on your faces before you say, "I understand why people are upset about fake news. We need to step higher. We need to do better."

Consider the recent events with Lanny Davis, the famously pro-Clinton attorney for Michael Cohen.

According to a 2013 report in the Washington Post, "Since becoming Clinton's media snake charmer in late 1996, Davis has been an irrepressible public gabber. He has been working the news media on behalf of clients for years, while also appearing incessantly on cable news and radio as a reliable liberal talking head, popping off about just about everything."

Is this the kind of source on which you want to rely?

The big news last week was that Michael Cohen had implicated Trump in alleged campaign finance violations. What's more, we were told that Trump knew of the infamous Russia meeting at Trump Tower involving Donald Trump, Jr.

The big news this week is that we can't trust the news. As a headline on the Washington Times website blares: "Lanny Davis admits he was source for CNN's Trump Tower story, lied about it on air."

No wonder so many people don't trust you. How many times do you get to cry wolf?

Last October, Real Clear Politics referenced "a poll showing that upwards of 60% of the U.S. population shares President Trump's suspicion that most cable news is 'fake.' 46% of respondents said they believed President Trump when he said the mainstream media 'fabricates' stories about him, which a further 17% were unsure."

Dear newscasters and news writers and reporters and journalists, there's a reason for statistics like this. And rather than blaming the Alex Jones's of the world, how about examining yourselves?

I've been teaching college-level classes since 1982, and every so often, half the class (or more) will get a test question wrong. That means one of two things: I didn't cover the material clearly or I didn't phrase the question properly. As the old adage goes (exaggerated, but with lots of truth): There are no bad students, only bad teachers.

Perhaps if you judged yourselves by the same standards by which you judge Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and Breitbart, your reporting would improve.

Perhaps if you refused to take things personally and determined to act more dispassionately, the fake news would disappear.

To be candid, while watching some cable news recently, I was shocked by how personal the tone was when President Trump was mentioned. Because I normally read the news daily, watching it this time was an eye-opener. Anti-Trump sentiments were much worse, much more overt and obvious, than they were a year or two ago.

I'm aware, of course, that there's always been some degree of personal bias in the news. And again, I believe the right-wing media is guilty of this as well.

But just because the President of the United States makes things personal doesn't mean you have to. And if you think he's acting childishly, then you be the adult in the room. Is that too much to ask?

As one who writes as many as 5 op-ed pieces a week, plus does 5 days of live radio shows a week, I fully understand how easy it is to get caught up in partisan politics.

It's just that our nation is so terribly divided today that the last thing we need is fake news. Please help put a stop to it.

(To all non-media readers: Please send this to your favorite  or least favorite  mainstream newscaster or writer.)Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Responses to the floods in the southern India state of Kerala that began August 8 and continued for nearly a week reminded many here of the indispensable role the church played in the development of India.

Kerala is prone to massive rainfall every year, so initially the intense rainfall raised no alarms. However, within 48 hours, the rains filled all the major dams in the state, and the government declared emergency. Excess water from the dams caused a deluge, making 2 million people homeless.

More than 400 people died and 1.3 million people found temporary shelter in makeshift relief camps. This unprecedented state of emergency meant that the state required massive support from all quarters.

Christian churches from across India stepped up. They encouraged their congregations to contribute benevolently to the relief efforts.

My church in Chennai and my previous church in New Delhi both took special offerings towards the relief fund. Members were also encouraged to drop off essentials such as clothes, food material, sanitary items, and other emergency needs that the flood-affected areas face.

Christ's people reflect the boundless love of God to the world when they help those who are in need, even when they themselves don't have much in life. Many Indian Christians are from the lower-middle financial class, but that did not stop them from contributing towards the relief.

Christ's love for India and its people is nothing new to the State of Kerala. The Apostle Thomas is believed to have landed in the region of Kerala during the first century A.D., when he made his journey to India. He was speared to death in the region of Madras, where I currently reside, some 375 miles from Kerala.

The state of Kerala continued to attract missionaries and Christian settlers in the following 2000 years, making it one of the most Christianized states in India.

Outside Kerala too, the church played a crucial role in India's development. The British colonization of India gave missionaries access to the country.

Contrary to popular beliefs, the missionaries, rather than being political pawns, were always at odds with the British Empire in India.

They fought for the human rights of the native peoples and made sure imperial officials stopped inhumane treatment of freedom fighters in prisons. They led the fight for the abolition of barbaric practices now banned in the country, like sati, the burning of widows after their husbands's deaths.

Missionaries were also the first to establish schools for women. Women were not allowed in school prior to this. The printing press in India was established solely by the efforts of missionaries.

From the country's first agricultural ministry to the establishment of countless educational institutions, the church played a significant role in the development of the country. Christians were also responsible for breaking the stronghold of class hierarchies and the caste system that oppressed the dark-skinned native people.

Given this strong history of the church in India, it should not be a surprise that churches across the country are rallying support for the relief of flood victims in Kerala.

The floods in Kerala have not just reminded us about the celebrated history of the church in India, but made us realize the greater calling God has for us.

Historically, global Christianity has been the forerunner of charity, including in response to natural disasters. Loving our neighbors means more than just donating a few dollars towards relief. It may involve adopting a real sacrificial lifestyle for the good of others, both inside and outside the church body.

To God's people across the globe, let us be the light and salt in this increasingly hostile world and display Christ's love like how He displayed when we were still sinners.The United States and its international partners will respond swiftly to any verified chemical weapons use in Syria and urges Russia to make the point clear to the Syrian government, Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said.

She said that National Security Adviser John Bolton has spoken to his Russian counterparts, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chairman Joseph Dunford, has as well spoken to his Russian counterparts to make it very clear that the United States government and its partners will respond to any verified chemical weapons use in Idlib or elsewhere in Syria for that matter in a swift and appropriate manner. "So we would encourage Russia to make this point very clear to Damascus that that will not be tolerated," Nauert said.

She added that the U.S. would hold also Russia or the Syrian government accountable for any offensive on Idlib or any kind of escalation in that area, especially if such efforts involve the use of chemical weapons.

On Tuesday, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said that the warning about potential chemical attacks in Syria is based on concrete facts. Citing reports, Nebenzia said that a number of containers with chlorine were delivered to different cities in the Syrian province of Idlib. He also said unmarked weapons were reportedly transferred to unmarked vehicles.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

It'll be a tall climb to bring about racial reconciliationeven in the Church. But one group has its hiking shoes on.

On Thanksgiving night in 1915, William J. Simmons, a former Methodist minister, and approximately 15 other men climbed Stone Mountain outside of Atlanta, set a cross on fire, and proclaimed the birth of the revived Ku Klux Klan.

To reinforce the connection between the revived Klan and Christianity, they placed an altar beside the burning cross, and on the altar they placed a sword and a Bible.

It would be nice to tell you that this attempt to link the Klan to Christianity was an aberration, but that would be a lie. The ties between preachers, churches, and the Klan were deep and widespread. An infamous 1922 photo shows a group of klansmen in full regalia standing at the front of a church under a sign that reads "Jesus Saves."

It's a shameful story, which makes me all the more happy to tell you about a group of Christians who are seeking to write a new storyone more in keeping with the Lord's intentions for his Church.

On August 25, thousands of Christians will climb to the top of Stone Mountain with a very different purpose in mind. Led by Garland Hunt, the senior pastor of the Father's House in Norcross, Georgia, and Billy Humphrey of the International House of Prayer, they will gather "to renounce racism and dead religion, and covenant together to move forward through reconciliation and revival."

The organization behind the event is OneRace, which, according to its website, is "focused on engaging millennials" and on "confronting the historic division between black and white."

Now, there's been no shortage of efforts to engage millennials and to promote racial reconciliation. But there's reason to hope that OneRace may succeed. Long before, and hopefully, long after August 25, tens of thousands of Christians of all races, ethnicities, and denominational affiliations gathered in small groups to pray.

Obviously, we believe that this kind of prayer can help to bring about the revival OneRace and other Christians seek. Any endeavor undertaken in the name of Jesus must have prayer at its heart.

But this emphasis on prayer also aids in the building of relationships across the lines that have previously divided Christians. Their goal is "To inspire 100,000 cross-cultural relationships and 1,000,000 acts of kindness."

As a BreakPoint colleague has noted, for most, if not all, of American history, white and black Christians have traveled on parallel but separate tracks despite their shared faith. Coming together to pray is a way getting people, to stretch the metaphor to the breaking point, to ride on the same train.

The other grounds for hope is that organizers are realistic about the task ahead of them. As John Stonestreet said yesterday on The Point, "True racial reconciliation is hard, and fraught with political, theological, and personal landmines."

As Garland Hunt told CBN, the process will make people feel uncomfortable at times. Navigating a potential minefield usually does. But we have no choice. If the people who bear the name of the one who with His blood, purchased for God . . . "men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation," can't pull off being one race, what hope is there for the rest of the world?

Christians are called to run into the cultural mess and not away from it. We are at our best when we respond to brokenness with truth and grace, starting with our own. That's why OneRace is an effort worth knowing about and supportingor even replicating in your community and state.

Because if we don't do this vital work, who will?

You can find out more about One Race at OneRaceMovement.org. Or of course, come to BreakPoint.org and we'll link you to it.

Originally posted at Breakpoint.

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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have hit an all-time high for a fourth year in a row. And the The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is sounding a familiar refrain. More condoms! More sex ed! More funding!

There's no doubt, the statistics are alarming. Syphilis increased 76-percent between 2013-2017. Gonorrhea increased 67-percent, and is becoming increasingly resistant to drugs. And Chlamydia, something that was almost nonexistent in the early 1980s, has become the most common condition reported to the CDC.

But can the STD epidemic really be blamed on less condom use and insufficient sex ed? When I read the news reports, I immediately thought of Scott Phelps. Scott is the executive director of the Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership and the author of five popular abstinence education programs, which have reached over 1.5 million students in public and private schools. He's also a faithful husband and father of four children.

It seems the consensus among health experts and researchers is that the rise of STDs is due to less frequent condom use and a decrease in funding for STD prevention. Are they right, or do you think they're missing something?

Scott Phelps: They're not missing something. They're missing everything. The CDC deserves much of the blame for the STD epidemic. Every year they call for more money and more condoms  but these are not the answer. There is only one way to reduce STDs, and it's the one thing they refuse to say: Reserve all sexual activity for marriage. I say they deserve much of the blame due to their stubborn refusal to say what is true.

Your organization promotes abstinence education, something that was largely defunded under the Obama administration. Why do you believe this kind of education is so important  and is there hope of more funding for abstinence education under President Trump?

Scott Phelps: We believe that abstinence education is not only important but that it is critical in restoring the institution of marriage in America. A healthy society needs healthy marriages and healthy families. Abstinence is the pathway to that goal. The problem with sex-ed in schools is not merely that they promote condoms, but that they teach about sex without reference to the context of marriage.

I am not aware of any sex-education program in America that will even provide abstinence until marriage as an option. I don't mean they don't present it as a viable option. I mean they don't provide it as an option at all. Abstinence education teaches students that marriage is a goal and worthy goal. Data clearly indicates that saving sex for marriage increases the likelihood for a healthy and successful future marriage.

As for funding, no, we do not hope for more funding. Government funded programs are generally inefficient and ineffective. Programs that cannot survive without government assistance should not be propped up with taxpayer dollars. Furthermore, the CDC does not need more money to simply say what is true: Abstinence until marriage is the safest, healthiest lifestyle. Done.

According to an NBC report, some researchers think the proliferation of dating apps, like Tinder, have contributed the record levels of STDs. Do you think these apps are a factor?

Scott Phelps: Of course. They perpetuate and promote non-marital sexual activity in just the same way that planned parenthood and government funded sex-education programs do. Planned parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in America, and the largest provider of sex-education in American schools. That is your problem right there. Call it Tinder in the classroom. No one should be surprised that STDs continue to soar.

We hear a lot today about "safe sex." Is there such a thing?

Scott Phelps: Of course. It's called marriage.

One thing I didn't see mentioned in any of the articles I read was pornography. Yet pornography use has skyrocketed in the U.S., especially among children. Do you see any correlation between porn and STDs?

Scott Phelps: Definitely. It is unbelievable what our kids are exposed to today. It's gasoline on the fire. I tell young people, "When I was your age, I could not see what you now see on a daily basis. It didn't exist. The pressure you are under is great, and you're going to have to understand the danger in front of you. If you think that you can consume all of the explicit imagery that is out there and that it will not affect you  think again."

Pornography isn't like a drug; it is a drug. And it actually alters the neurological connections in your brain. It is a terrible addiction, and our youth are not being adequately warned and protected from this terrible trap. Abstinence & Marriage Partnership programs help parents and teens understand the scientific and objective dangers of pornography.

You're in middle schools and high schools, teaching students about sex and marriage. What's the general attitude of kids today concerning your message?

Scott Phelps: Kids love it. They are not the ones who reject the abstinence message. The problem is usually all of the smart adults who are certain that kids don't want to hear the message of abstinence and so they never tell them. But when you actually tell students about abstinence, they are eager to embrace it  because they've never heard it before and it is actually refreshing message of freedom from fear.Defenders rally round Pope Francis after Vigano allegations

Supporters of Pope Francis have rushed to his defence after a former top Vatican official launched an unprecedented attack on him, a move they say dangerously escalates a campaign to weaken his papacy by conservatives who condemn him as too liberal.

Francis' supporters say the accusations in Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano's 11-page public statement aim to pave the way for a conservative pope to succeed him who would reverse his openings to divorced and homosexual Catholics.

In the statement published at the weekend, Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to Washington, called on Francis to resign on the grounds the pope knew for years about the sexual misconduct of an American cardinal and did nothing.

Vigano said he told the pope himself five years ago, little more than three months after Francis' election. He included no supporting documents in the statement, and has not been reachable for comment since it was published.

On his flight home from Ireland on Sunday, Francis told reporters he would 'not say one word' about the accusations.

'Read the document carefully and judge it for yourselves,' he said.

Supporters say the statement contains holes and contradictions and point to the fact that Vigano wrote it with a journalist who has been critical of Francis as evidence that it forms part of an ideological anti-Francis strategy, which the journalist denies.

Both sides were digging in for what they have cast as a potentially defining battle over Francis's push for a more inclusive Church.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark said the statement was full of 'factual errors, innuendo and fearful ideology'.

Vigano's supporters in Italy and abroad praised the former diplomat as following his conscience.

'Vigano is a loyal Churchman...if he is making these allegations now, and calling for Francis's resignation, it is for the gravest reasons,' George Weigel, senior fellow in Catholic studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington DC, said in an email.

Conservatives have previously based their attacks on the pope on doctrinal grounds. Now, his supporters say, they have raised the stakes by accusing the pope and other Vatican and Church officials of personally failing to act on a case of sexual misconduct.

Vigano's statement, signed on August 22, was released four days later by conservative media outlets during the pope's trip to Ireland, where sexual abuse was a main theme.

'It really seems like an obvious move by conservatives to de-legitimise Francis,' said David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University in New York. 'This whole thing was carefully coordinated with conservative Catholic media and carefully timed.'

Gibson said he believed conservatives were laying the groundwork for one of them to be elected as the next pope by damaging Francis' legacy before he dies or resigns.

'It's the start of the campaign for the next conclave.'

'No conspiracy'

The statement was co-written and edited by Italian journalist Marco Tosatti, who publishes a daily blog called Stilum Curie that is critical of Francis.

Tosatti said there was 'no conservative conspiracy' behind the statement and that it was released as soon as it had been translated into other languages. 'The fact that is was released while the pope was in Dublin was a mere coincidence,' he said.

Vigano wrote that Francis and his predecessor Benedict, among others, knew for years about sexual misconduct with adult seminarians by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the emeritus archbishop of Washington DC, who quit last month in disgrace.

In June, American Church officials said allegations that McCarrick sexually abused a 16-year-old boy almost 50 years ago were credible and substantiated. That charge, which McCarrick denies, is what led to his resignation. He has not commented on his alleged sexual misconduct with seminarians.

Vigano alleged that Benedict, after being told about the allegations involving McCarrick and the seminarians, ordered McCarrick to retreat to a life of prayer and penitence and refrain from public ministry. Vigano said he could not remember what year the alleged sanction, which was never made public, was imposed. The Vatican usually announces such sanctions.

Vigano said he told Francis everything about McCarrick's case on June 23, 2013.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, McCarrick's successor as Archbishop of Washington DC, said in a statement on Monday Vigano had not produced 'any objective verifiable proof' of his assertion.

McCarrick, who has not been seen in public since his resignation, could not be reached for comment.

Benedict's secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, told Reuters the former pope had no comment on the statement.

Bloggers and journalists have found pictures of McCarrick at Church functions, including at least one in the Vatican, in the years after Vigano says Benedict had ordered the former cardinal out of the public eye.

Small, vocal group

Vigano is part of a small, vocal group of conservative prelates, most of them retired or sidelined by Francis, who have balked at his calls for the Church to be more welcoming to homosexuals and divorced Catholics.

Their de facto leader is American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals wrote a public letter known as 'The Dubia', accusing Francis of sowing confusion on moral issues.

In April this year, Vigano attended a conservative conference, entitled 'the limits of papal authority', where Burke was the main speaker. Tosatti was also there.

Some conference participants openly referred to Francis as the precursor of the coming of the anti-Christ and the end of the world. The conference agreed to a declaration saying 'a grave danger to the faith and the unity of the Church' had emerged under Francis.Grants from Ecclesiastical fund sabbatical breaks for Anglican clergy

Ministry is often joyful, but many pastors reach a point where they need spiritual refreshment or time out if they're going to continue giving their best. Anglican clergy are given the opportunity for sabbatical breaks supported by church insurer Ecclesiastical.

Its Ministry Bursary Awards (MBA) scheme is now in its 30th year and has supported thousands of clergy since it began. In 2018 there were 70 applicants who each received a grant of between 400 and 1,000.

One previous recipient is Rev Canon Dr Andrew Mayes, who spent time in Sri Lanka in 2016 and describes it as an 'awe-inspiring, heartening experience'. A Third Order Franciscan, he went there to support novices and explore the tradition in an area suffering the aftermath of a civil war and natural disasters. With his Franciscan companion, he visited the war-torn north of the island as well as historical sites and tea plantation. They spoke to novices at the Theological College of Lanka and at the diocesan headquarters in Colombo about reconciliation.

'That was very much a theme of our trip,' he reflects. 'In the wake of civil war, the church is one place where the different ethnicities come together in inclusive fellowship. It is a bridge between bitterly divided peoples. We enjoyed a deep sense of belonging, not only in the Franciscan and Anglican families but across the denominations and traditions.'

And, he says: 'While we followed the itinerary of this outer journey, an inner journey was taking place: shifting perceptions, awareness of deep challenges facing the country and a humbling of the heart as we witnessed amazing dedication amongst those we met.

'A great woundedness persists among the people but the church is involved in caring, courageous and compassionate ministries. My own priesthood and ministry has been refreshed by this incredible experience.'

Another awards recipient is the Ven Dr Anne Dawtry, Archdeacon of Halifax, who used her sabbatical to visit every cathedral and greater parish church in England researching what opportunities they provided for casual visitors to pray and find out about the Christian faith. She's now developing an online toolkit to help churches carry out an audit of how they minister to visitors. 'Hopefully, my research will be of benefit, not just to parishes in my own diocese but also to the wider church,' she said. 'Most importantly the sabbatical helped me to renew and refresh myself for ministry going forward.'

Ecclesiastical's church operations director Michael Angell said: 'We have always tried to support sabbatical projects that provide personal development opportunities for members of the clergy as well as those that are of benefit to the wider church and community.'

Over the years the insurer has helped fund projects including ministerial development, pilgrimages and the pursuit of lifelong dreams.

'The fundamental purpose of a sabbatical is to have time for rest, renewal and recreation and return refreshed,' Angell said. 'It's wonderful that our scheme can help support this.'

For those wishing to take a sabbatical during 2019, Ecclesiastical's Ministry Bursary Awards is now open for applications. The closing date is September 30, 2018.

For more information including eligibility criteria and to download an application form, click here.A group of workers and union representatives commemorated the upcoming Labor Day holiday by praising local efforts to boost wages and worker rights and spotlighting areas that could still use improvement.

I hope that the city of Houston will continue to raise standards and only do business with contractors who will be responsible, Rita Sanchez, a housekeeper with Houston First who works in Jones Hall, said during a Tuesday press conference outside City Hall. ... All workers who work for the city of Houston and keep this city clean should have the opportunity to have a better job with a contract and security.

Sanchez recalled long hours cleaning restrooms at the George R. Brown Convention Center as Hurricane Harvey refugees sought shelter from the storm. She said janitors worked hard to keep conditions sanitary and wanted recognition for that work.

Earlier this year, they ratified a new contract with a raise increase. The minimum wage for Houston First housekeepers, floor technicians and other staff will gradually increase to $12 an hour by 2021, up from $9.35. Houston First, which operates and manages city-owned facilities, employs these workers through a contract with Midwest Maintenance.

Holding contractors accountable for treating employees with respect was a major theme from the press conference.

Its not just about raising the wages, said Elsa Caballero, president of Service Employees International Union Texas. Thats the first step, but we also need to make sure that the people who hire Houstonians are responsible contractors that are going to do the right thing by the workers.

Alesia Horton, a security officer at City Hall, recalled spending days at her post during Harvey without a change of clothes, and with only potato chips and snacks for food. They didnt know when theyd be rescued.

And since nobody came to check on us, we felt forgotten about and disrespected, she said.

Over the last year, she said that Mayor Sylvester Turner and members of City Council have listened to security officers and included many of their concerns in its new request for proposal for city contractors that provide janitorial and security services.

Similarly, the city updated its tax-abatement ordinance in May to require that companies provide community benefits and worker protections, including safety training for construction workers, in order to qualify for tax breaks.

A Unite Here union official spoke about efforts to get United Airlines catering workers a minimum wage of $12 an hour. Last week, the National Mediation Board authorized an election for the airlines 2,700 catering workers, including more than 800 in Houston, to decide if they wanted to join Unite Here.

The union vote had been stalled because United Airlines alleged the authorization cards calling for an election to unionize were invalid due to fraud, threats or coercion. United also alleged that employees might not have understood the authorization cards they signed.

The National Mediation Board, however, found the authorization cards were not tainted.

In a statement, United Airlines said its committed to treating all employees fairly, whether or not theyre represented by a union.

We respect our employees rights to decide whether they want to be represented by a union and will follow the voting process, timeline and laws as outlined by The National Mediation Board and Railway Labor Act, the airline said.

Ultimately, Caballero wanted to remind people of what Labor Day is really celebrating.

We are celebrating the work that has been done up to now to make sure that workers are protected, to make sure workers have a livable wage that allows them to live with dignity and respect with their families, she said. We are very clear that work does not stop with that. We have a lot of work to do especially in a place like Texas who has so many people still working at the current minimum wage.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/andrearumbaughU.S. airlines will fly 16.5 million travelers over the extended Labor Day weekend, according to industry trade organization Airlines for America.

The number of people flying between Wednesday and next Tuesday, Sept. 4, will increase 3.5 percent from the 16 million passengers estimated to have flown last year.Walmart will open a new store in Fulshear today.

The Walmart Supercenter, near Westpark and FM 1463, sells groceries and general merchandise, and features a bakery, drive-through pharmacy and gas station. The 191,485-square-foot store -- at 26824 FM 1093 -- will be open 24 hours, seven days a week, and will offer online ordering, pickup and delivery services.

RELATED: Walmart launches grocery delivery service in Houston

The new Walmart will employ up to 300 full- and part-time workers. Store manager Sherry Eberle began her career with the company 22 years ago as a seasonal apparel clerk working the night shift at a Walmart in Liberty.

"The associates have been working so hard to get this store ready for the community," Eberle said in a statement. "It's exciting for everyone in the community and we are ready to open our doors."

RELATED: Walmart tries new retail approaches in Houston

The Bentonville, Ark.-based discount retailer held a grand opening ceremony Wednesday. Walmart plans to host additional community events at the store later this week.

The retailer also announced it will provide $6,500 in grants over the coming months to the Fulshear Chamber of Commerce, Fulshear Police Foundation, Family Hope, Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels, Texana and the Fulshear High School Fine Arts Department.A Clear Creek ISD student is in custody after allegedly making a threat against a League City intermediate school Wednesday, according to school district officials.

The student is a seventh-grader at League City Intermediate School. Around 10:30 a.m., another student reported that they'd heard the seventh-grader make the threat, and the school was placed in a hold procedure as investigators spoke with them, officials said.

The hold was lifted 25 minutes later, after a Galveston County Sheriffs Office liaison determined there was no credible threat to the school, according to the district.

District officials would not describe the threat.

Hold procedures are similar to lockdowns, in that no one is allowed in or out of their classrooms, but theyre different in that classes can continue as usual. Parents were notified by email, text, calls, an emergency alert app and website.

This is the second threat this week in the Houston area.

A student at Morton Ranch High School in Katy was charged Tuesday with making a terroristic threat. The 17-year-old student, Braeden Patrick McDaniel, was released on bond.

No one was harmed by the threat, and the student didnt take any action on the threat, administrators said.

After a gunman opened fire on Santa Fe High School, killing 10 and wounding 13, Clear Creek ISD joined other area districts in finding ways to prevent campus violence.

The districts board of trustees approved the addition of 15 police officers at its campuses and 15 student support counselors this year.

The board also approved policies ensuring that classroom doors can be locked from both sides, limiting the number of uncontrolled access points, installing more panic buttons, adding bullet-resistant film to some windows and developing individual site plans for each campus.

The emergency app and holding procedure were also approved among the new policies.If you want to know what the worlds biggest oil companies are saying to their shareholders about climate change, look to Europe.

BP Plc, the U.K. energy giant that suffered a catastrophic oil spill eight years ago, refers to carbon, emissions and the Paris climate agreement more than any other major, according to an analysis of investor presentations over five years. California-based Chevron Corp. barely addresses those topics at all.

Perhaps thats unsurprising, since Europe has some of the most strict emission laws, while the U.S. is the only country on the planet exiting the Paris accord. Yet the picture isnt clear-cut. Texan behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp. has used the term climate change in public conference calls more than any other major, though one single discussion last March largely accounted for that result.

RENEWABLE: Exxon seeks wind, solar power delivery in Texas

Exxon and Chevron are also investing in clean energy and have pledged support for the Paris agreement, regardless of the participation of their government.

Yet oil companies may face more pressure to tackle the topic of global warming in Europe, where three-quarters of people say its a very serious problem, according to a European Commission survey. In the U.S., less than half the population are sure global warming is happening, a Yale University study shows.

Heightened pressure in Europe may also explain why both BP and Royal Dutch Shell Plc publish separate budgets for low-carbon fuels, spending $500 million to as much as $2 billion respectively, while American companies dont do the same.

MAXED OUT: Has ethanol hit its peak?

Often easy to generalize, but for some reason it seems that North American investors are not attempting to put as much pressure on oil companies as their European counterparts, said Jake Leslie-Melville, a consultant at Boston Consulting Group Inc. European oil companies are now being asked a lot of questions about their plans for the energy transition, while the North American side seems much quieter.

Exxon said in a statement that it has invested $9 billion in energy efficiency and low-emission technologies, without giving a timeframe. The risk of climate change is real and we want to be part of the solution, it said.

Chevron said its working with policy makers on emission-reduction policies, while ConocoPhillips said its focused on action to reduce our climate-related risk and has cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 6.9 million tons since 2009, keeping absolute emissions nearly flat.

DIESEL: Phillips 66 partners on renewable diesel plants

Houston-based Conoco also said that European companies operate under different financial and regulatory regimes so their public communications may vary from ours.

Bloombergs analysis looked at earnings calls and conference-call presentations, enumerating comments made by company executives and other participants, such as analysts.

2018 Bloomberg L.P.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in rebel-held Idlib province in Syria if theres a full-scale military operation.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday that Guterres urgently appeals to the Syrian government and opposition forces to exercise restraint and make the protection of civilians a priority, The Seattle Times reported.

He said Guterres calls on Russia, Iran and Turkey as guarantor states trying to end the violence in Syria to find a peaceful solution in Idlib.Iraq sees a need to increase crude exports and says its ready to ship more as soon as OPEC agrees how members will share a collective supply boost, according to the acting director-general of the state-run Oil Marketing Co.

Exports will be close to 3.595 million barrels a day this month, Alaa Al-Yasiri said Wednesday in an interview in Baghdad. That would be a record, he said, up from 3.54 million barrels a day in July.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies agreed two months ago to increase oil production, with Saudi Arabia and Russia saying about 1 million barrels a day will be added to the market. But they didnt detail how the production increase would be split between OPEC and non-OPEC nations. A committee of OPEC and allies is scheduled to meet in Algeria next month to discuss allocations.

NATGAS: Three regions account for half of U.S. natural gas production

If decisions are made that the market is in need of quantities -- and our conviction as marketer is that the market is in need of quantities -- then Iraq will have the ability to raise, Al-Yasiri said. Saudi Arabia and Russia have recently increased crude supplies but it hasnt affected the market because customers needed the extra barrels, he said.

Shells Exit

Analysts have been uncertain about Iraqs ability to raise production quickly, amid investment constraints and hold-ups that have seen Royal Dutch Shell Plc exit one of the countrys biggest oil projects.

While the International Energy Agency estimates that Iraq sits on about 240,000 barrels a day of unused capacity, much of this is offline because of a political dispute between the central government in Baghdad and Kurds in the north, and restarting it would require some kind of compromise.

An export increase from Iraq could have an impact on relations with its neighbor and fellow OPEC member Iran.

SANCTIONS: Iran oil minister: French oil giant Total pulls out of Iran

The Islamic Republic is seeing customers abandon its crude in the face of renewed U.S. sanctions, and analysts consider Iraqi supplies as a suitable replacement because of its similar characteristics. But Iran has criticized fellow producers seeking to take its market share for undermining unity among OPEC nations.

SOMO doesnt have a goal to take others clients, Al-Yasiri said. Asked if Iraq will try to fill in for sales lost by Iran because of sanctions, he said: Iraq rejects this principle. The principle of hunting opportunities. There should be a unifying decision for all the countries under the umbrella of OPEC.

Also from the interview:

Iraq has temporarily halted a Kirkuk oil swap with Iran because of a problem with Iraqi customs. Iraq had been exporting oil by truck to Irans refinery in Kermanshah and receiving the same amounts from Iran

Iraq is seeking to resume crude exports to Jordan, and has invited the energy minister in for talks. Iraq will discuss resuming the shipment of 10,000 to 15,000 barrels a day via truck. Shipments were halted in early 2014 due to security conditions in Iraq.

The Trade Bank of Iraq is helping SOMO study the possibility of starting a hedging program on oil sales; a final decision would be up to lawmakers

Many bids were received to build a pipeline from Kirkuk to Turkey, and the project is in the stage of awarding

If Baghdad were to combine Kirkuk oil exports with the Kurdish region using the existing Ceyhan pipeline, shipments would be 500,000 to 550,000 barrels a day; Kurdish region oil exports are currently 250,000 to 300,000 barrels a day

2018 Bloomberg L.P.Brent crude is signaling that U.S. sanctions against Irans oil exports are starting to be felt in global markets.

Futures for settlement in November -- when the American measures will go into effect -- are trading higher than contracts for later months. That market structure, known as backwardation, is reflecting fears of a supply crunch. Meanwhile, Brents premium to New York prices has risen as U.S. crude is weighed down by pipeline bottlenecks and speculation that President Donald Trump will pursue efforts to lower fuel costs.

U.S. sanctions towards Iran are already starting to materialize, said Bjarne Schieldrop, Oslo-based chief commodities analyst at SEB AB. This is driving up the physical crude oil market, shifting the Brent crude curve into backwardation.

Most of Irans customers are already facing difficulties in buying the countrys crude even before sanctions are imposed on Nov. 4. Adding to the global supply situation is Venezuelas economic struggle thats sending its oil production lower. Investors are starting to see increasing uncertainty over whether other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will be able to pump more to fill any supply gap.

Brent for November settlement was at $76.48 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at 10:30 a.m. local time, 10 cents higher than the December contract. Thats the widest backwardation between the second and third-month contracts since early July. October Brent, which expires Aug. 31, rose 21 cents to $76.16 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery gained 25 cents to $68.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after declining 34 cents on Tuesday. Total volume traded was about 52 percent below the 100-day average.

The U.S. crude benchmarks discount to Brent was at $7.37 a barrel after closing at $7.42 on Tuesday, the widest in more than two months.

Theres certainly a bottleneck -- not enough pipelines to get all of the oil were producing in West Texas to get it to its two main outlet markets, Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group Inc., said in a Bloomberg radio interview. I would expect that premium to continue to grow, given that you have the geopolitics, the Brent market is absolutely more vulnerable.

Other oil-market news:

U.S. stockpiles expanded by 38,000 barrels last week, while supplies of gasoline and distillate also increased, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. That compares with a decline of 1.49 million barrels forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts before government data due Wednesday.

Just when Venezuela settled legal claims that threatened its ability to export oil in exchange for much-needed cash, a ship crash shut down its main gateway for crude cargoes.

Crude prices in Midland, Texas, fell to the lowest in over four years against benchmark WTI, after a pipeline that carries Permian oil to Oklahoma shut early Tuesday.

--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima.

2018 Bloomberg L.P.Big Brother

Martial-arts master and kung-fu king Donnie Yen is back, but not in his Ip Man guise this time. Hes taking on perhaps his most dangerous foes yet: students. He plays a teacher who needs to get his charges in line while simultaneously fighting the government and a greedy businessman. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston.

Blood Fest

Heres a film tailor-made for the Alamo Drafthouse. A horror-film festival turns into a real horror when moviegoers start getting murdered, and a trio of film fans have to try to stay alive with only their knowledge of horror tropes to guide them. Zachary Levi, Tate Donovan, Seychelle Gabriel and Robbie Kay star.

Unrated. Playing at the Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra, Katy.

Juliet, Naked

Ethan Hawke is having quite the year. He starred in one of the years most acclaimed indies (First Reformed), directed another (Blaze), and now co-stars along with Rose Byrne and Chris ODowd in this romantic comedy about a musician, a fan and the woman theyre both interested in. Its based on a novel by Nick Hornby of About a Boy and Brooklyn fame.

Rated R. Playing Landmark River Oaks, Houston; Regal Edwards MarqE, Houston; Cinemark Memorial City, Houston; Cinemark Market Street 5, The Woodlands.

Kin

The first feature from brothers Josh and Jonathan Baker (who professionally go under the name of TWIN) is a science-fiction adventure about an ex-con and his adopted teenage brother who find a weapon of alien origin. Theyll need it to ward off the bad guys who are after them. The cast is strong  James Franco, Carrie Coon, Zoe Kravitz, Dennis Quaid and Jack Reynor  and its produced by some of the same people behind Arrival and Stranger Things.

Rated PG-13. Playing throughout Houston.

The Little Stranger

Domhnall Gleeson is a doctor called to a strange, old mansion where he finds he needs to worry about more than an ill patient. But this film shouldnt be just your average haunted-house exercise as its directed by Lenny Abrahamson, who made the outstanding Room in 2015, and the screenplay is by Lucinda Coxon, who wrote The Danish Girl. Charlotte Rampling, Will Poulter and Ruth Wilson co-star.

Rated R. Playing throughout Houston.

Searching

Producer-director Timur Bekmambetov has been flying the flag in the media for merging the aesthetics of film with the online world. Hes one of the minds behind the Unfriended horror franchise, films that take place totally within the realm of computer screens. Those movies generally have been critically panned, but hes bringing that concept into the indie art house world with this more lauded film by Aneesh Chaganty in which John Cho, playing a father of a missing teen, breaks into his daughters laptop to search for clues. Debra Messing, playing against type, co-stars as a detective.

Rated PG-13. Playing throughout Houston.

Ya Veremos

This Mexican drama stars Mauricio Ochmann and Fernanda Castillo as separated parents who have to come together to deal with the illness of their son, who may lose his eyesight. He makes a list of things he wants to see, and they try to make his dream come true. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Rated PG-13. Playing throughout Houston.

cary.darling@chron.comSanta Fe Police Chief Jeffrey Powell, who led the department during the mass shooting that killed 10 at Santa Fe High School, retired last week, after city officials expressed concerns with his leadership.

City Manager Joe Dickson told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday that he and Powell mutually agreed to part ways.

"Chief Powell and I have had a discussion about the direction of the police department and I felt he was not providing the leadership I was looking for," Dickson said. "Because of his long and honorable career in law enforcement, he felt this was a good time to retire. Chief Powell has always been professional with me and the Council and I wish him well in the future."

PORTRAIT OF THE SHOOTER EMERGES: With harrowing details

Dickson declined further comment on Powell's job performance, but a January performance review assessment, obtained by the Chronicle through a public records request, showed that Dickson had given the police chief above-average marks in nearly every category. A notable exception was, "Staff Management and Development," where Powell's leadership skills were called into question during Hurricane Harvey. Dickson wrote that Powell "took a back seat" during the storm.

"Not seeing strong leadership skills," Dickson wrote in the assessment. "Relying too heavily on captain."

Santa Fe was one of several localities in Galveston County that did not evacuate during Harvey. Dozens of homes and main thoroughfares flooded as more than 50 inches of rain inundated the small town of 13,000 people.

In another category, "Council/City Manager Relations," Dickson gave Powell a low mark on his receptiveness to constructive criticism and advice, and ability to serve as an effective example and role model for other employees.

"Becomes defensive when criticized," Dickson wrote.

Powell, who was hired by Santa Fe in August 2016 after a 23-year career in the Palestine Police Department, could not be reached for comment. Powell is a Santa Fe native and graduate of Santa Fe High School. He led the police department during the May 18 shooting at the high school, where 10 people were killed and 13 injured.

A former Marine, Powell joined the Palestine Police Department in August 1994 after serving as a Harris County sheriff's deputy for three years. In Palestine, Powell rose from patrol officer to operations chief before being promoted to assistant chief on an interim basis. As assistant chief, he oversaw the patrol division in Palestine.

Powell holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Midwestern State University, in Wichita Falls, and a master's degree in applied criminology from Texas A&M University-Commerce.

He succeeded former Santa Fe Police Chief Kenneth Campbell, who left to become the police chief in Nassau Bay. Powell's hiring was unanimously approved by the Santa Fe City Council, with Dickson saying at the time that Powell "had the credentials we were looking for."

Powell applied for several other police chief jobs before seeing the vacancy again back in his hometown.

"This was an opening I could not pass up," Powell told the Palestine Herald-Press in July 2016, shortly after accepting the job.

Powell also told the Palestine Herald-Press that he had no plans to leave the Santa Fe police chief post anytime soon, a question that the City Council members asked him during the interview process.

Santa Fe Mayor Jason Tabor said he was "caught off guard" by the timing of Powell's retirement, but praised him for his service.

"I'm thankful for the time he's been with the district and I wish him luck on his future endeavors," Tabor said.

Tabor added that he's "excited" to evaluate the interim police chief, Capt. Philip Meadows, who ran the department briefly after Campbell departed in May 2016.

The Santa Fe City Council would likely have an action item on its Sept. 13 agenda to find a permanent replacement for Powell, according to Tabor.

Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.comHarris County is pursuing $8 million to widen and reroute Hamblen Road around the site of Edgewater Park  Kingwood area greenspace that the county intends to redevelop.

Renderings of the proposed road project show the potential new Hamblen Road beginning at the intersection of Loop 494 and Sorters-McClellan Road and running southeast to meet with the existing Hamblen Road at Laurel Springs Lane in Forest Cove.

The rerouted stretch of Hamblen would be widened from two lanes to a four-lane concrete roadway with a flyover above the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. The project would also include provisions for drainage, say county officials.

According to project renderings, Edgewater Park sits on 87 acres of land between Loop 494 and Laurel Springs Lane. The existing stretch of Hamblen Road runs through the middle of the property. The reroute would move Hamblen Road closer to the parks northern and eastern property boundaries.

The planned improvements will provide a mobility benefit and enhance the development footprint within Precinct 4s Edgewater Park, stated an email from Pamela Rocchi, director of Pct. 4 Capital Improvement Projects Division.

County officials estimate the Hamblen Road project construction costs may be $10 million.

They hope to procure 80 percent  $8 million  in federal funding for the Hamblen project through the Houston-Galveston Area Council 2018 Transportation Improvement Program. If approved for inclusion in the 2018 TIP, the county will proceed with establishing a timeline for the Hamblen Project.

The Harris County Engineering Department is currently working with the City of Houston to identify responsibilities and milestones related to the proposed Hamblen Road project that would include the need for Harris County to obtain a Letter of Support from the City of Houston, Rocchi stated. The County plans to design and build this section of Hamblen Road to county standards and agrees to provide permanent maintenance of the planned improvements located within the city limits. Harris County will also seek the appropriate approvals from the Texas Department of Transportation and the Office of City Engineer (floodplain administrator in this area) and follow the City of Houstons administrative processes as required.

County to redevelop Edgewater Park

The Harris County Parks Department is planning to apply for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Boating Access Grant, which supplies 75 percent matching funds up to $500,000 for boat launch facility construction, or renovation. The grant funds could be put toward features planned in Edgewater Park, including a boat launch, fish cleaning station, restrooms and parking lots.

The rest of the projected $2.3 million in Edgewater Park facility development costs would be funded by the county.

The application for the Boating Access Grant is due Oct. 1. According to the TPWD website, the grant must be approved before construction can start on facilities that will be assisted by the grant.

The Parks and Wildlife Commission usually considers which of the recommended projects to approve during their January and August meetings. Harris County Parks director, Dennis Johnston, anticipates receiving a decision on the grant sometime after Feb. 1, 2019.

Well continue with the design on that during the interim process, so that the whole design process will continue to roll along, Johnston said.

According to Johnston, the county is currently in the process of closing the deal on the land acquisition on that property.

Increased connectivity between Kingwood, Humble, The Woodlands

Edgewater Park may also be the future link connecting approximately 300 miles of hike and bike trails spanning from Kingwood to The Woodlands.

Johnston anticipates receiving funds from a TIP grant the county applied for in 2015 to connect the Spring Creek Greenway Trails to an Edgewater Park trailhead via the Bevel Jarrell Bridge.

Edgewater Park is going to become a major trailhead for all of Kingwood-Forest Cove area into the Greenway project, Johnston said. The Greenway project is already finished to Hwy. 59 and within probably the next two weeks well have it finished all the way to I-45 heading west.

Additionally, Johnston said talks are underway between the county and city of Houston Parks board to potentially link the Edgewater trails to the Greenbelt trails in Kingwood.

If you link that to the Spring Creek Greenway and head west, which were working on continuing beyond I-45  Ive already got construction crews on the ground west of I-45  and link to the Woodlands, the Woodlands has (approximately) 200 miles of trails, so that 15 to 20 miles of trails (in Edgewater Park would) link over 300 miles of trails, Johnston said. The upper end to the Woodlands is still a few years off. Weve got a major bridge in design going over Willow Creek, so weve got a pretty unique system thats well underway.

mfeuk@hcnonline.comIn just one week, a growing subdivision near Lake Conroe has seen its share of door-knocking detectives seeking clues on a bell-ringing mystery woman who now has been revealed as a victim of domestic violence.

A resident of the Sunrise Ranch neighborhood about 54 miles north of Houston woke the morning of Aug. 24 to the sound of his doorbell ringing. The culprit was gone when he got out of bed to answer the door.

Who he found when he checked on his security camera was a woman with apparent restraints dangling from her wrists whose well-being sparked a world of concern and global intrigue.

The woman became the talk of a now-viral video circulated by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office on Sunday with internet sleuths pondering her identity and the circumstances leading up to her outing.

MASSIVE QUANTITIES: Texas police arrest 3 men with more than 600 pounds of meth, cops say

Lt. Scott Spencer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, answered several lingering questions about the woman after a gunshot Wednesday morning inside a home in the same neighborhood.

The woman, he said, is 32 and believed to be a victim of domestic violence. She was living at the home in the 18400 block of Sunrise Pines with her 49-year-old boyfriend who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after deputies entered the home.

The deputies were called to the home around 11:40 a.m. for a welfare check after the man is believed to have made suicidal comments. He was not identified, and his girlfriend was not home when police arrived.

"We can confirm she is safe and is with family at this time," Spencer said at a press conference, adding that she is in the Dallas area.

He said investigators were on their way to interview her. He confirmed that a restraint was looped around both wrists when she was shown on video, a version of which has been viewed more than 290,000 times on the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Youtube page.

A suicide note found at the couple's home elaborated on the circumstances leading up to her appearance on the footage, Spencer said.

The couple was relatively new to the subdivision and rarely went outside, according to neighbors. A former resident of the home where the couple lived said he sold the property to a rental management company.

"They weren't very social. I've never seen them and I live next door," said Shana Torres.

The release of a seven-second-long clip showing the woman's apparent search for help inspired some worried residents to track her down. Torres, along with her neighbor Becky Albrecht and friend Tina Steele, spent four hours combing the thick woods behind the subdivision for signs of the woman.

VICE OPERATION: Lone Star College professor among those arrested in prostitution sting

She is believed to have knocked on a number of doors in the neighborhood with about 150 houses packed onto four streets the same night the security video caught her on camera.

"The night she was going door-to-door, my husband and I were in the garage," Albrecht said. "Never heard anything or talked to her."

Another neighbor, Diana Schamp, is certain her family would have helped the woman. Her daughter lives close to where the couple resided.

"My grandson was up. I'm sure he would have let her in if she had made it," Schamp said.

The night of the surveillance footage find, another resident, John Bradley, spotted a white truck cruising the neighborhood. That same vehicle was taken into evidence at the home where the couple lived, Bradley said.

Spencer declined to identify the woman during the press conference, due to her being a victim of domestic violence. He confirmed that she was not the subject of a missing persons report anywhere in the nation.

nicole.hensley@chron.com

@nkhensleyTexas ranked high among all states in the number of incidents and threats of school violence, according to a new report.

The state ranked fourth in number of incidents and seventh in number of threats, according to the Educator's School Safety Network (ESSN), a national non-profit school safety organization. California topped the list for both criteria.Thousands of first-time college students are starting university this week with new sexual assault rules issued by the Trump administration.

The new guidelines, issued last fall, ask school officials for a higher standard of evidence when weighing sexual assault accusations. The new rules replaced Obama-era guidelines that suggested schools quickly take action in cases where evidence of sexual violence was more likely than not.

As students return or enter college for the first time, and as the new rules are battled in federal court, the way colleges handle upcoming cases of sexual violence is paramount especially during the start of the semester.

"More than 50 percent of college sexual assaults occur in either August, September, October, or November," according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

ICYMI: What it cost to go to college the year you were born

In addition, recent studies on the prevalence of sexual assault on campus also show the need to quickly straighten out any federal guidelines that aim to protect victims.

In 2015, a survey by the Association of American Universities reaching 150,000 college students found that 23 percent of undergraduate women reported being victims of non-consensual sexual contact compared to 5 percent of undergraduate men.

The same researchers noted that these incidents don't always get reported to school officials, possibly because students feel uncomfortable coming forward if colleges don't have adequate resources and training to support survivors.

To see how many of these incidents get reported at 20 of Texas' top colleges, Chron.com looked at the latest Department of Education data on sexual assault-related crimes, which includes non-consensual sexual contact and rape.

See which Texas colleges have reported the most incidents of sexual assault above.

Fernando Ramirez covers Texas news and politics. Read him on our breaking news site and on our subscriber site. | Fernando.ramirez@chron.com | @fernramirez93



For decades the rice silos at Rice Dryer Road in Pearland have been a cult landmark as the rest of the area has undergone massive changes. The silos are a glimpse into Pearland's agricultural past before bigger industries moved in.

Now comes word that the silos will be demolished to make way for new development on the site.

UP AND UP: City of Pearland considers tax rate increase

Bobby Orr with Bobby Orr Commercial told Chron.com this week that the silos once used to dry rice that came from farmers fields will be torn down within 30 days.

More businesses are expected to come into the area around the four-acre silo site, bringing more jobs to Pearland.

Built in 1948 according to Brazoria County tax records, the silos were a product of the area's heightened rice production in the 1940s. Their proximity to the nearby railroad was an advantage. The silos, once owned and operated by American Rice Growers, have been deemed unsafe for visitors and a gate keeps trespassers out.

Orr told Chron.com that they are unsafe and provide a hazard to locals, relating a story about an area teen he said needed to be rescued from the top while doing some suburban exploration.

SUBURBAN FACTS: Famous one-time residents and other interesting facts about Houston's biggest suburbs

"I looked at alternative uses but there's no way to use them here,"Orr told Chron.com this week. "There is simply not the population density nearby. They are economically obsolete."

A group of locals launched a Change.org petition page in the hopes of saving the cult landmark structure and having the silos used in the new designs. For years a handful of residents hoped to redevelop the silos into something akin to Waco's Magnolia Market, owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines.

Donald Mayes

He's not as nostalgic or wistful about the silos himself as a niche group in Pearland might be. The silos are in the way of progress for a quickly-growing city, he said.

TIME MARCHES ON: The buildings that Houston has lost over the years due to age and progress

"Pearland's not a sleepy little town south of Houston anymore," Orr said. "They need to be removed to make way for new development."

VP John Deiss with Energy Rental Solutions, a Caterpillar dealership, confirmed to Chron.com this week that his company is under contract to build a new headquarters on a large tract of property just south of where the silos currently reside.

Some other cities have turned similar disused silos into self storage facilities and community event centers but Orr said it would be cost prohibitive to repurpose Pearland's silos.

A listing on the Orr Commercial website shows the property and its various pieces, including the four acres the rice silos sit on.

Craig Hlavaty covers Houston history and pop-culture. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | craig.hlavaty@chron.comThe US authorities have requested the WTO Dispute Settlement Body to arrange consultations with Russia over Russia's imposition of additional duties with respect to certain products originating in the United States, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday, Sputnik reported.

The request for consultations is the first step in filing a lawsuit in the framework of the organization.

According to the text of the request, "Russia does not impose the additional duties measure on like products originating in the territory of any other WTO Member. Russia also appears to be applying rates of duty to US imports greater than the rates of duty set out in Russia's schedule of concessions."Brazoria County is seeing an increase in the number of whooping cough cases in 2018, with 37 reported diagnoses reported through July compared to six the year before.

Of this years cases, 73 percent were for people under 19 years old, said Cathy Sbrusch, director of public health services with the Brazoria County Health Department.

The cases include some residents in the northern part of the county, Sbrusch said, but she could not cite how many.

FIRED: Post about rare measles case in Houston area costs nurse her job

Brazoria County posted an advisory on its website about the increase, saying the county is experiencing higher than normal reports of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, in residents of all ages.

Sbrusch said her office is investigating the cause behind the increase. She advised anyone with symptoms of the illness who hasnt been vaccinated to seek medical attention and stay out of public places where large numbers of people gather.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the bacterium bordetella pertusis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

The infection can be especially dangerous for babies and can be fatal in some cases, according to the CDC.

People really need to get vaccinated, Sbrusch said.

She said her department has partnered with schools and doctors to advise them on proper diagnosis and ways to prevent spreading the disease.

Were informing doctors on the true amount of time people need to be out of work, she said.

Texas Health and Human Services reported that statewide, 1,765 cases of whooping cough occurred in 2017, with 659 cases so far this year.

Symptoms of whooping cough usually develop within five to 10 days after exposure, but sometimes symptoms do not develop for as long as three weeks.

Early symptoms, which can last one to two weeks include runny nose, low-grade fever, mild, occasional cough and a pause in breathing in babies.

Later symptoms are characterized by the frequent cough that leads to the whooping sound and vomiting and exhaustion after coughing fits.

According to Texas Health and Human Services reports from 2016 through 2018, rates of all vaccinations for children and teens have remained high, but there has been a slight decrease in the rate of whooping cough vaccinations for children in kindergarten.

In the 2016-17 school year, there was a 97 percent pertussis vaccination rate for all Texas kindergartners, according to a Health and Human Services report. In the following school year, that rate dipped to 96 percent.

The vaccination rate for seventh-graders across the same years stayed at 96 percent.

According to data from the THHS, Brazoria County has seen a small but consistent rise in the number of students who have filed a conscientious exemption from at least one vaccination. Conscientious exemptions are granted to those students whose parents refuse the vaccine for reasons unrelated to a medical condition that would otherwise prohibit receiving it.

For the 2011-12 school year, the rate of all county students who didnt receive some recommended vaccination after filing for this type of exemption was .38 percent. That percentage rose to .76 percent in 2016 and remained at that level during the 2017-18 school year.

Pearland ISD reported that .98 percent of students did not receive at least one vaccine due conscientious exemption in the 2016-17 school year. In the 2017-18 school year, the rate rose to 1.1 percent.

Alvin ISD had .62 percent of students who did not receive at least one vaccine due conscientious exemption in the 2016-17 school year. In the 2017-18 school year, that rate rose to .75 percent.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women receive the whooping cough vaccine during the third trimester of each pregnancy. The recommended time to get the shot is during the 27th through 36th week of pregnancy, preferably during the earlier part of that period. This replaces the original recommendation that pregnant women get the vaccine only if they had not previously received it.

A single dose of Tdap (the vaccine that contains the pertussis antibodies as well as vaccines effective for diphtheria and tetanus) is recommended by the CDC for adults 19 or older who have not previously received a Tdap vaccine. A booster is recommended every 10 years for those who are around babies.

These first few months of life are when a baby is at greatest risk for catching whooping cough and also of having severe, potentially life-threatening complications from the infection, according to the CDC.

To learn more about the disease and ways to protect yourself, go to www.cdc.gov/pertussis.Google Maps

A Fresno homeowner shot someone who broke into the house Wednesday morning, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office.

Sometime before 6 a.m., the intruder broke into the front door of a home in the 4100 block of Emerald.Since opening their doors just over a year ago, the neuro-sciences team at Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital has made it clear theyre aiming high by earning their primary stroke certification.

This means that the team has been recognized that they can treat stroke patients effectively and in a timely manner, with a good outcome.

Yet, the team isnt stopping there.

Theyre going after the next step  trying to achieve a coveted comprehensive stroke center designation  with the help of two additions: Dr. Nhu Bruce and Dr. Sabih Effendi.

A comprehensive stroke center is all about keeping patient care in-house.

When someone comes in with their stroke symptoms, a stroke team is activated. We give effective treatment right away. Theres also a subset: we can quickly assess and give surgical procedure if necessary, Bruce said.

This continuity of care may not happen at other hospitals, Bruce explained. For example, at a non-comprehensive center, a patient may have to wait for another doctor to travel to the hospital, or the patient may instead be transported to another facility for care.

The doctors said they are starting the comprehensive certification process within the next couple weeks: by declaring to the accrediting body, Det Norske Veritas, that they are ready.

According to Effendi, the center will function like a comprehensive center and be evaluated in the coming year through data on their stroke cases and outcomes.

If you get good grades, then you get the stamp that youre officially comprehensive, Effendi said.

Individually, both doctors said they were excited to have joined the team and are ready to charge ahead.

Originally from San Diego, Bruce was tabbed because she has experience building a stroke program. She helped create a primary stroke center in Huntsville, Texas.

Bruce said her role of medical director is exciting because in the position, she can better look at policies and outcomes in the stroke center and build a strong program.

It feels like weve been preparing for this for a long time. I want to get busy and dive in, but right now were feeling the waters, Bruce said.

Bruce is a specialist in general and vascular neurology, and sees patients dealing with headaches and tremors as well as those affected by a stroke, Parkinsons disease or multiple sclerosis.

Bruce said shes excited for patients to experience what she calls inclusive care at the hospital.

Everyone is here. No one wants to have a stroke, but you want patients to have a good experience and a good outcome, she said.

For Effendi, joining the team is like returning home in a literal sense. While he is a dual-trained cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgeon, he is originally from The Woodlands. Effendi specializes in complex cranial surgeries as well as less invasive techniques for handling aneurysms and interventional stroke procedures.

Effendi said he wants to make sure that, in addition to conducting procedures and having good outcomes, families are educated about their loved ones.

A lot of my time is spent educating the family and explaining the prognosis to them, Effendi said. (Neurological diseases) affect a patients functionality and ability to talk and move, so its important that the family also gets support.

Both doctors said building the program has been a good challenge.

Even though were still slowly building the program, its been a lot of fun setting up protocols and doing practice runs. Everyone is excited and ready to build this, Effendi added. If I say theres a stroke patient, youve got about 100 people ready to go.

Trent Fulin, vice president of operations Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital, said that in order to lead medicine in this region, the hospital needs to have these types of comprehensive services on-site.

It takes a team to truly build this program. This has been our dream here for a long time, and we feel like weve got the right fit with (Bruce and Effendi), Fulin said.

jane.stueckemann@chron.comOne of the newer cultural traditions of The Woodlands has announced its return.

The Inspire Film Festival, now in the planning stages for its third year, will be held Feb. 14-18 in theaters across The Woodlands, Founder and Director Jane Minarovic said.

The themed festival was born from Minarovics interest in films that uplift and lead to deeper conversations on the human condition. To clear through all the outliers, she said, Minarovic settles on a theme around which to choose the films  2019s theme is Game Changers.

Keeping that in the back of my mind, Im trying to find true stories and documentaries that make me laugh and make me cry and make me happy at the end, Minarovic said.

Minarovic conceived the idea of a film festival in The Woodlands when she saw a screening of Landfill Harmonic in 2016. The documentary about a Paraguayan musician trying to start a music school in a slum, inspired Minarovic to donate money to the filmmaker and subjects, but when she went looking for a link or fund, she came up short.

I was just enamored with how he was very selfless, and did this, and it changed so many lives, Minarovic said. I wanted to know, Why cant more people see more films like this?

The Woodlands needed a new cultural event, she said, and after recieving funding seeking door-to-door donations, the first Inspire Film Festival, including Landfill Harmonic, came to be in February 2016 with the sole purpose of raising money for the ongoing issues featured in each of its movies.

People were laughing and no one would leave, then people were hooked, Minarovic said.

As suggested by its name, Minarovic said, the film festival seeks to inspire and awaken awareness in the community for places and people that need help without the heavy, guilt-ridden stories many documentaries have become.

A lot of documentaries will make you feel overwhelmed or bored, Minarovic said. These are all really vibrant and joyous, even through the obstacles.

The festival has been so successful, she said, that it outgrew its original venue and is expanding to both Cinemark theaters, an outdoor screening area and a pop-up theater at the Event Center at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

In a parallel to the problem that initially led Minarovic to found the festival, Woodlands-based graphic design company 30 Degrees North designed an app to guide visitors through the festival and facilitate donations to the documentary and film subjects.

Part of the cost of the festival passes  which range from $50 to $400  go toward bringing the directors and stars of the films to The Woodlands for the five-day event.

Their reception by Township residents has been overwhelming, Minarovic said.

Everyone is so welcoming, she said. Im very proud of this town.

Through all the fundraising and film curating and logistical matters, the Inspire Film Festival stays true to its name, Minarovic said, and seeks to do just that.

I couldnt think of a word that did it better, Minarovic said. Everyone wants to be inspired and thats what these movies do.

mrincon@chron.comThough Montgomery County residents couldnt vote in last Saturdays $2.5 billion flood bond infrastructure project election touted by the Harris County Flood Control District, they might be able to benefit from its passage.

The flood bond includes more than $90 million for proposed projects for the Spring Creek watershed, which encompasses The Woodlands in addition to the northernmost part of Harris County, where most of the projects are located.

Matt Zeve, flood control district operations director, said he believes residents realize that the projects that protect Harris County residents will protect Montgomery County residents as well.

One such project would be right-of-way land acquisition along Spring Creek to preserve channel conveyance or restore natural floodplain areas. The creek serves as the border between Harris and Montgomery counties.

Theres a good chance that some land we might purchase would be in Montgomery County. Theres a possibility we could complete that preservation in both counties, Zeve said.

Another significant project would be the construction of a reservoir along Spring Creek, which would could be built in Montgomery County. The project is dependent on the findings of various studies, however.

If its determined that a flood damage reduction reservoir or detention basin is feasible and viable for the Spring Creek area, then obviously residents of both counties would receive benefits of that type of infrastructure, Zeve said.

Jim Stinson, general manager of The Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, which oversees wastewater and stormwater collection and management for the 10 municipal utility districts in The Woodlands, made note of the reservoir project in particular.

Conceptually, this reservoir  one or a series of stormwater detention reservoirs  upstream from Creekside Park and Grogans Mill in The Woodlands would be a structure to hold back stormwater and provide relief in a major storm event, Stinson said.

The Village of Creekside Park residents, however, have a more direct link to the flood bond. They are the only village in The Woodlands that is also part of Harris County, meaning residents were able to vote in the election.

Stinson added that he thinks Montgomery County residents see the passage of the flood bond as a positive project.

Bruce Rieser, who chairs The Woodlands Townships Drainage Task Force, said he agreed.

Anything they do on the upper end of Spring Creek will benefit all of us along Spring Creek. You cant fix just one side of the creek. Anything we can do to slow down the amount of water coming down from the north and the west, the better off well be here in The Woodlands, Rieser said.

While Rieser said he was hopeful that the project provides some way forward for this area, he made it clear that Harris County shouldnt be the only entity coming to the table with money.

I think that would be an inducement for Montgomery County to sit down and have some serious talks about flooding. The only way some of these issues can be tackled is on a wider scale. It needs to be a comprehensive effort, Rieser said.

jane.stueckemann@chron.comWOOD RIVER  Madison County Health Department is recruiting volunteers to assist during times of emergency or disaster.

Local volunteers are encouraged to Get Involved  the 4th pillar of preparedness  during National Preparedness Month in September. National Preparedness Month reminds everyone that we need to prepare in case of an emergency.

Visit www.Ready.Gov for ideas, resources, checklists on how to Build A Kit, Make A Plan, Be Informed, and Get Involved.

Madison County Health Department is offering residents an opportunity to get involved by becoming a Volunteer with the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). On September 12th, Madison County Health Department is hosting a Volunteer Orientation Training. There is an opportunity for everyone to help! No medical experience necessary. The MRC is seeking people 18 years of age and older with a variety of backgrounds and interests.

Madison County MRC has recently expanded its volunteer opportunities. When residents become a Madison County MRC Volunteer, they will continue to receive orientation, training, and exercises for responding to public health emergencies, but now they will also be able to volunteer their time, skills, and talent to help with other non-emergency related health department opportunities.

We want to have volunteers who are prepared to prevent disease and protect the publics health, Cathy Paone, Madison County Medical Reserve Corps Volunteer Coordinator with the Health Department, said. It is critical to our emergency response. We also want our volunteers to be able to engage in other capacities as volunteers to help impact the health of our residents on a daily basis.

Our volunteers will be prepared to protect and promote the health and welfare of Madison County residents.

Madison County MRC will be holding a Volunteer Orientation Training on Wednesday, September 12th, from 5:30p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Madison County Health Department, 101 E. Edwardsville Road, Wood River, IL. Volunteers will learn about the MRC, Public Health Emergency Response, Strategic National Stockpile, Incident Command System, Points of Dispensing and Family Preparedness. To attend the September 12, 2018 Volunteer Orientation Training, contact Cathy Paone, Madison County Medical Reserve Corps Volunteer Coordinator at (618) 296-6096 or cmpaone@co.madison.il.us. Advanced registration is required to attend the training. Seating is limited. Registration deadline is Wednesday, September 5th.

I have always found people in Madison County to be generous of spirit and giving of selves, Paone said. During this National Preparedness Month, the Madison County Medical Reserve Corps is asking residents to, once again, come forward and help us prepare to promote, protect and assure conditions for optimal health for our citizens.

Madison County MRC is part of the Gateway Volunteer Network (GVN) in the bi-state area (Missouri and Illinois). It is a collaborative effort to bring people volunteering for public health emergencies together into one group to increase communication and build a stronger network of volunteers to increase our ability to respond in emergencies. Visit www.facebook.com/gatewayvolunteernetwork for more information and click on the Learn More Save Lives tab to sign up for information about volunteer opportunities in your community.

To learn more about the Madison County Medical Reserve Corps, visit www.madisonchd.org and click on the MRC tab in the left column.Six weeks ago, Don Shooter was feeling confident.

The former Arizona state legislator, who had been thrown out of office after multiple women came forward to accuse him of making inappropriate comments and unwanted sexual advances, was vying to get his old job back. His colleagues had voted 56-3 to expel him, and one had even called him a "pervy old man" in a widely distributed report, but he had decided to run again and prove them wrong.

In fact, being ousted for sexual harassment made him more likely to win an election, not less, the 66-year-old Republican told Yuma's KYMA News 11.

"When we were trying to make the decision about whether to run again, we did some polling," he said to reporter Vanessa Dillon, reclining on his leather couch as if he was settling in for a nap. "And one of the questions in the poll was, 'If you knew a legislator was thrown out of office for sexual harassment, would you be more likely to vote for him, or less likely?' Which one do you think won?"

He raised his bushy eyebrows and leaned forward toward the young woman in the blue dress.

"More likely," he told her. "More likely."

He threw his hands up in mock defeat.

"I'm just telling you!"

Shooter didn't supply the methodology for his poll, which, in any case, turned out to be wrong. On Tuesday night, he lost his primary, coming in third place out of three candidates vying to be the Republican nominee for the Arizona state senate in a highly conservative district that stretches from Yuma to the outer edges of the Phoenix suburbs.

He did not return messages seeking comment.

Sine Kerr, a female dairy farmer who was appointed to the seat after another scandal-plagued lawmaker resigned to unsuccessfully run for Congress, led with 49 percent of the vote, and 9,530 total votes as of Tuesday night. Shooter received 21 percent of the vote and 4,083 votes in total.

In February, Shooter was removed from the Arizona House of Representatives after an independent investigation conducted by a local law firm determined that he had created a hostile work environment. The firm's 82-page report said there was credible evidence that, among other things, Shooter had compared a conference attendee's backside to "bobcats in a tote sack," joked about sodomizing a political opponent while the man's wife watched, and told the Korean American publisher of the Arizona Republic that he had done everything on his "bucket list" except for "those Asian twins in Mexico."

Leading members of his own party called on him to resign. When he failed to do so, House Speaker J.D. Mesnard introduced a resolution to expel him from the legislature. Before the vote took place, Mesnard came to Shooter's office and took his gun away, "out of an abundance of caution."

When the roll was called, 56 of Shooter's colleagues voted to remove him. Only three members of the Arizona House of Representatives said that he should remain in office. One of them was Shooter.

"I've said stupid things, I've done stupid things," he said when asked to explain his vote. "I stood on the carpet. I took it like a man, I apologized."

Then he - quite literally - dropped the mic and walked out. Security escorted him off the capitol grounds.

"I've been thrown out of worse places than this," he told the Arizona Republic hours later.

It only took a few months before he began attempting a comeback. This time, he announced, he would seek a seat in the Arizona State Senate, where he had spent six years before term limits forced him to run for the state house instead.

"Let's dance," he told reporters in May, as he sat in the lobby at the Arizona Secretary of State's Office waiting for his turn to submit the signatures that would qualify him for a spot on the ballot.

Throughout his campaign - which was immediately denounced by some of the women who had accused him of sexual harassment - Shooter cast himself as a victim of political correctness run amok.

"I never sexually harassed anyone," he told KYMA News 11 in July. "I was guilty of annoying some people."

Complicating Shooter's campaign was the question of whether he actually lived in the district that he wanted to represent, which became an issue after a rival in the Republican primary filed a legal challenge to keep him off the ballot.

The case went to the Arizona Supreme Court, which eventually determined that Shooter's primary residence was in Yuma, despite the fact that the electricity at his apartment had been turned off since February, his mail was forwarded to a Phoenix address, and he had listed his home in Phoenix as his primary residence for property tax purposes.

Questions of residency aside, Shooter retained strong support in Yuma, a city three hours southwest of Phoenix that is surrounded by lettuce fields and has some of the highest summertime temperatures in the entire country. The MCRC Briefs, a widely-read newsletter in Arizona Republican circles, reported earlier this month that Shooter's rival, Brent Backus, had been booed at a candidate roundup buffet when he brought up Shooter's removal from the state legislature.

"You know, you shouldn't be chasing the women around," Shooter's friend Bobby Brooks told a visiting New York Times reporter who caught up with him in a Yuma diner. "But hell - they do it in Washington."

Shooter has continually said that he was singled out and targeted by party leaders because he was investigating corruption in state government. The landing page for his website, which also features a photo of him shaking hands with President Donald Trump, offers visitors two choices: "Know the Truth" and "Donate."

Those who opt to "Know the Truth" are given the opportunity to download three PDF files. One, titled "The Backstory with Hard Evidence," consists of 70 pages of scanned government contracts which he says raise questions about the state's procurement processes. The second is a notice of claim indicating that he intends to sue House Speaker J.D. Mesnard and the governor's chief of staff for removing him from office. The third, titled, "The Truth About Where I Live . . . YUMA" links to the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling on that subject.

A longtime fan of Trump, Shooter echoed the president's rhetoric in his campaign, though he doesn't seem to share Trump's resiliency when it comes to weathering political scandals.

"TELLING THE TRUTH, NOT FAKE NEWS," a billboard outside Yuma announced before the Arizona primary election. "VOTE SHOOTER."

Other variations encouraged voters to "STICK IT TO THE MEDIA" and "MAKE A LIBERALS [sic] HEAD EXPLODE!"

Shooter told KYMA News 11, "The billboard sums up my candidacy after the charges of violating political correctness did not kill me."

It did, however, effectively put an end to his political career for the time being. Speaking to KYMA News 11 in July, Shooter noted that it wasn't easy "to jump back in after six months of, 'You scumbag.'"

"You're my boss," he said, looking unnervingly straight into the camera as if to address an imagined audience of Yuma voters. "You fire me."

On Tuesday night, they did.NEW DELHI - Police in India arrested prominent activists and writers and searched their homes Tuesday, alleging that they had incited a riot. Critics called the actions another blow to the right to dissent in the world's most populous democracy.

The latest raids came months after clashes at Bhima-Koregaon in western India - where high-caste Hindus attacked an annual celebration by people of a lower caste.

Police told local media that those arrested had spoken at or participated in an event that fomented clashes between the two groups.

On Tuesday, police seized electronics, including phones and cameras, from activists and authors, saying in search warrants that they had "promoted enmity" and incited a mob of low-caste rioters in January.

Stan Swamy, an octogenarian Jesuit priest, said police took his phone, computer, camera and audiocassettes and CDs of classical instrumental music. They asked him for the password to his email - which he refused to provide.

Swamy laughed off the charges. He is accused of being involved in a criminal conspiracy in Pune, a city in western India nearly 1,000 miles from his hometown of Ranchi in eastern India, which he said he has not left for two years because of old age.

The Bharatiya Janata Party "government is oppressing any voice that opposes it," he said. "The right to dissent, a constitutional right, is being denied."

Suppression of dissent is increasingly common in India, with recent instances of censorship and intimidation of journalists. In the past year, India slipped two places in the World Press Freedom rankings.

According to news reports, the incident at Bhima-Koregaon started with high-caste men carrying saffron flags attacking a procession of low-caste people, called Dalits, during a celebration on Jan. 1, a day that marks the defeat of high-caste Maratha rulers in a historic battle in 1818, a first step in the Dalits' struggle for freedom from the caste system.

People from the high-caste Maratha community took offense at the celebration because the victors in the battle were the British - colonizers of India. A man was killed in the January clashes between the communities, but reports of other deaths, including that of a young Dalit woman, are disputed.

In the aftermath of the violence, Dalits galvanized. Protesters threw stones and paralyzed road traffic in India's financial capital, Mumbai, and demonstrations spread to other cities in the western state of Maharashtra.

Pune Police Commissioner K. Venkatesham declined to comment about the investigation, saying police will release a full statement Wednesday.

However, the high-caste men charged with committing acts of violence at Bhima-Koregaon have been released on bail, critics claim.

Pro-government television channels labeled those arrested or searched "Maoists" or "Naxals" - associated with India's insurgent communist rebels. These terms have also been used by past governments to crush opposition, though rarely against academics and intellectuals.

Kavita Srivastava, an activist with the People's Union for Civil Liberties, some of whose colleagues were targeted, told the Wire, "This is a complete witch hunt. Completely false and baseless charges against top human rights activists. The Modi government is showing its fascist side. We are really going to fight back."

The arrests and searches are stirring up India's left-wing intellectuals. Arundhati Roy, Booker Prize-winning author of "The God of Small Things" and a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, compared the shakedown to the state of emergency in the 1970s, a three-year period of heavy censorship and rule by decree, in an interview with Scroll. "That the raids are taking place on the homes of lawyers, poets, writers, Dalit rights activists and intellectuals instead of on those who make up lynch mobs and murder people in broad daylight tells us very clearly where India is headed."Today is Thursday, Aug. 30, the 242nd day of 2018. There are 123 days left in the year.

Todays highlight in history:

On Aug. 30, 1963, the Hot Line communications link between Washington and Moscow went into operation.

On this date:

1862: Confederate forces won victories against the Union at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Va., and the Battle of Richmond in Kentucky.

1941: During World War II, German forces approaching Leningrad cut off the remaining rail line out of the city.

1945: U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to set up Allied occupation headquarters.

1967: The Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1983: Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first black American astronaut to travel in space as he blasted off aboard the Challenger.

1984: The space shuttle Discovery was launched on its inaugural flight.

1986: Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, as a spy a week after American officials arrested Gennadiy Zakharov, a Soviet employee of the United Nations, on espionage charges in New York. (Both men were later released.)

1989: A federal jury in New York found hotel queen Leona Helmsley guilty of income tax evasion, but acquitted her of extortion. (Helmsley ended up serving 18 months behind bars, a month at a halfway house and two months under house arrest.)

1991: Azerbaijan declared its independence, joining the stampede of republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union.

1997: Americans received word of the car crash in Paris that claimed the lives of Princess Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul. (Because of the time difference, it was Aug. 31 where the crash occurred.)

2005: A day after Hurricane Katrina hit, floods were covering 80 percent of New Orleans, looting continued to spread and rescuers in helicopters and boats picked up hundreds of stranded people.

2007: In a serious breach of nuclear security, a B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished 70 people.

2008: Hurricane Gustav slammed into Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 storm, damaging 100,000 homes and causing billions of dollars in damage, but no reported fatalities. Pro wrestling pioneer Walter Killer Kowalski died in Everett, Mass., at age 81.

2013: Indonesias highest court upheld a death sentence for Lindsay Sandiford, a British woman convicted of smuggling $2.5 million worth of cocaine into the resort island of Bali. Seamus Heaney, 74, who won the Nobel Prize for literature and gained a global reputation as Irelands greatest poet since William Butler Yates, died in Dublin.

2017: The former Hurricane Harvey completed a U-turn in the Gulf of Mexico and rolled ashore for the second time in six days, hitting southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rains and winds of 45 miles an hour. Floodwaters began to recede in Houston, where thousands of homes were flooded. A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked most of a new state law that would have let police officers ask people during routine stops whether they were in the country legally; the law also threatened sheriffs with jail time for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities. (The crackdown on sanctuary cities took effect the following March after a federal appeals court upheld the law.)The Prince George's County, Maryland police chief apologized in a video this week after an officer made a comment to a group of children Friday about a "black bad guy" in explaining how the K-9 unit at the department operates.

Chief Hank Stawinski said in a YouTube video that he was apologizing on behalf of the officer and the department for the remark, which he called "unfortunate."

The chief's comments were in response to another video posted to YouTube in which an officer is heard explaining what a K-9 dog does "if a black bad guy is running and he drops his cellphone."

In an apology that went online Monday, Stawinski said the officer, who is a dog handler in the department's K-9 unit, misspoke and that he had talked to the officer. Stawinski said the officer is "very troubled by the response that this has elicited in comparison to his record of service" to the community.

Stawinski went on to say, "this community doesn't expect us to be perfect. It does expect us to acknowledge when we made a mistake and that's what I'm doing today."

He continued: "On behalf of that officer and this institution I apologize to this community for that unfortunate remark. I want you to know that remark does not represent who that officer is and it does not represent what this institution stands for."

The police department hasn't identified the officer.

Police spokesperson Jennifer Donelan said Wednesday that the officer was speaking at a community event attended by 75 to 100 people. His session on explaining the K-9 unit was part of several community-building activities that included a blood drive and a chance for residents and kids to talk to police officers and the chief.

Donelan said the event was streamed live on Facebook and no one caught the officer's comment at the time. After the comment was noticed later, the recording was removed.

"It is accurate that he said 'black' but he catches himself and changes it to 'bad guys,'" Donelan said. "It was a mistake. What's heartbreaking about it is the intention of that day was to solidify relationships with the community and it has been overshadowed by this like a black cloud."

She went on to say, "this is not who that officer is and this is not who we are as an agency. He did not mean to do that."

Stawinski, whose daughter was among the children in the audience, also noted that the officer tried to correct himself.

Officials said K-9 officers often use descriptions of people when responding to real-life situations as they look for someone.

"They don't deal in vague terminology," Stawinski said. "When K-9s arrive [on a scene] they're looking for someone and then there's a description."

Stawinski said he would look into whether the officer had gone through trainings at the department, including one on implicit bias with the University of Maryland that all officers take. He said the officer didn't mean to be demeaning.

Still, Stawinski said he believes using the term in that scenario at the event was "not appropriate."

"I'm taking responsibility for it and for my institution," he said.

Stawinski said he plans to continue department wide training that's underway and "ensure that what we [saw] doesn't occur in an engagement with a citizen."

He announced last year that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating the department amid complaints it discriminated in hiring and disciplining black and Hispanic officers.

- - -

Video link: https://youtu.be/8aqI5_HjPxESenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Myanmar's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was powerless to intervene in the violent military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims last year, disputing a landmark report by the United Nations that placed some responsibility on the Nobel Peace laureate for what it called a genocide.

McConnell's comments were the latest in a series of actions and statements in support of Suu Kyi by the Kentucky Republican despite widespread international and U.S. condemnation of her leadership in the wake of terrible atrocities in Myanmar's Rakhine state that sent 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.

Asked about the U.N. report's singling out of Suu Kyi, who was accused of failing to speak out against unfolding events, spreading "false narratives," overseeing the destruction of evidence in Rakhine and blocking independent investigations, McConnell said Myanmar, also known as Burma, is not fully under her control.

"She has very limited ability - if any at all - to direct the activities of the military," McConnell said, citing the Myanmar military's control of a quarter of the parliament.

As a result, "they cannot change a provision that allows Aung San Suu Kyi to actually be the real leader of the country," he added.

McConnell's comments came the same day that the United States put its weight behind the U.N. report, which called for Myanmar's military officials to face criminal charges of genocide.

At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said a State Department investigation into the campaign against the Rohingya is "consistent" with the findings in the U.N. report.

Though she did not use the word "genocide," Haley said one-fifth of more than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims surveyed by the State Department had witnessed more than 100 victims being killed or injured, in what she called a campaign of "ethnic cleansing." She said 82 percent personally saw at least one person being killed, more than half witnessed some form of sexual violence, and 45 percent saw someone raped.

"Most importantly, the report identifies one group as the perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of these crimes: the Burmese military and security forces," she said.

Haley called on the Security Council to hold to account those responsible for the violence, adding, "The whole world is watching what we do next and if we will act."

Earlier, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the U.N. report's findings and recommendations deserve "serious consideration."

The State Department has been urged to declare the military campaign against the Rohingya as genocide, but spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday that determination has not yet been made.

"It is a very specific legal designation," she said. " It is not one that is easily made. To the average person, of course these things are incredibly horrific and it seems we should just slap a label on something. Well, they're complex legal designations that have legal meaning and weight in courts around the world."

McConnell has been especially protective of Suu Kyi since the pair developed close ties during the senator's more than a quarter-century of promoting human rights and democracy in Myanmar. Senate colleagues have complained that McConnell has blocked efforts in Congress to pass legislation to pressure Myanmar to improve its treatment of the Rohingya.

McConnell's stance is at odds with other lawmakers in Washington - who have soured on Suu Kyi - in addition to the State Department and the Treasury Department, which imposed sanctions this month on three Myanmar military commanders and a border guard police commander, along with two military units, for their involvement in the "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya Muslims.

The U.N. report, issued Monday, called for Myanmar's military leaders, including the commander in chief, to be investigated and prosecuted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes over their actions.

"Military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages," the report said.

Myanmar's government has said that it rejects the findings of the report.

Shortly after the report was released, even Facebook took the unusual step of removing 18 Facebook accounts, one Instagram account and 52 Facebook pages associated with Myanmar's military and its leadership. The accounts cumulatively had 12 million followers.

McConnell said Tuesday that "no one doubts that atrocities were committed against the Rohingya" but he added that he was "reluctant to sort of join the pile-on that seeks to blame [Suu Kyi] for things that she couldn't possibly have had any impact on."

"The question is, is it responsible to hold her responsible for something she cannot control," he continued.

---

The Washington Post's Shibani Mahtani contributed to this report.I have not been updating this blog for years, but Im keeping it around because it has many of my posts from a decade ago! For the moment, heres why you c...

7 months agoThe Astros continue their 10-game homestand on a busy Labor Day in the Houston area, and locals likely won't have any trouble running into good food, beer and music after the game.

GAS PRICES: Gasoline prices expected to rise during Labor Day

Several restaurants and bars are hosting labor day events offering everything from brunch to barbecue to bingo. Wet 'n' Wild SplashTown in Spring is joining the festivities with a luau, while a Labor Day parade marches through the streets of Towne Lake in Cypress.

Also on Monday afternoon, the Community Music Center of Houston will host its First Annual Acres Homes Music Festival Lincoln Park, showcasing blues, jazz, African and pop bands.

RELATED: Rain and high temps could last through Labor Day

Later in the night, Journey and Def Leppard take the stage at the Toyota Center to play their arsenal of hits.

Flip through more Labor Day events in the gallery above.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.comA member of a Honduran gang known as Los Tumbadores, slang for "Knock Off Men," has been convicted of rape and robbery in Harris County District court.

Aron Alexi Herrera Munguia, 29, is one of six members of the gang convicted of various violent crimes. The victims all had cash and were too afraid to call police out of risk of arrest or deportation, said Dane Schiller, a spokesman for District Attorney Kim Ogg, in a news release.A millionaire doctor has pleaded guilty to tax fraud for hiding his income for decades while treating expecting mothers, according to court records.

Dr. Edward J. Crouse entered the guilty plea Tuesday and acknowledged in a plea agreement that he has not filed a timely tax return since 1997, said Ryan Patrick, a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

Crouse is believed to have earned more than $4.4 million between 2009 and 2012 while working as an OB-GYN. He has an Oak Forest office.

He owes about $678,103 for failing to keep up with his taxes, Patrick stated in a news release.

A criminal complaint filed in January accused Crouse of having a secret bank account to accept cash deposits of income from defendants medical practice. The account was listed under his wifes first name and a relatives surname that was not Crouse, investigators said.

The doctor advertised himself as Dr. Edward Nuila Crouse on multiple medical profiles, including Yelp, Zocdoc and the Memorial Hermann websites.

A grand jury indicted Crouse with two counts of tax evasion. The complaint states Crouse thwarted a 2006 audit by alleging years of IRS abuse and that he was on a witness list during Senate hearings on the IRS in 1996 and 1997.

He kept some of his medical practice records separate from his bookkeeping and tax return preparation firm from 2006 to 2012, the news release stated.

Crouse is slated to repay the $678,103 he owes. He will be sentenced on Dec. 13 and could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

nicole.hensley@chron.com

@nkhensleyA lightning strike charred the attic of a southwest Houston apartment building Tuesday.

The small fire took place just as possible severe thunderstorms take residence in the Houston-area for the next week.

Houston firefighters were called to the apartments near Richmond Avenue and Briarpark Drive around 3:20 p.m.

WICKED WEATHER: Rain and high temps could last through Labor Day

When firefighters arrived, they found smoke pouring out of the roof of one of the apartment buildings. They were able to quickly put the fire under control and minimize damage, firefighters on scene told Chron.com.

None of the apartment homes were damaged, firefighters said.

Scattered thunderstorms could last through Labor Day in the Houston area, according to the National Weather Service.

Experts also warn of brief and short-lived funnel clouds and waterspouts peppering the skies.

"Although these features are weak, they are still dangerous and one should keep a lengthy distance from them, if possible," NWS stated in a special weather statement issued Tuesday.

The rainy weather won't spare Houstonians and Southeast Texans from relatively high temperatures. The high Tuesday is around 93 degrees in the Bayou City, and heat indices could reach the low 100s by Wednesday, according to NWS.

Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.comA gunman critically wounded a 17-year-old boy in a northwest Harris County park and fired one last shot near a group of young teens as he ran away Tuesday night, according to authorities.

The suspect repeatedly shot the teen near a playground in the Bear Creek Village neighborhood around 7:30 p.m. and bolted with another male, officials said.

One of the suspects was seen with a gun in his waistband, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted.

The wounded teen managed to make his way home to the nearby 15900 block of Oakendell Drive, where his family called 911, sheriffs spokesman Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland said at a press conference. The teen was then rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

MS-13: D.A. to seek death penalty against 2nd alleged gang member in informant slaying

A police helicopter briefly circled overhead the neighborhood looking for the runaway suspect.

The father of a girl at the park when the fleeing shooter fired off the lone bullet said the suspect may have fled in a car. The shooter was last seen wearing a white shirt, long black shorts and white tennis shoes. He is believed to be in his late teens to early 20s, according to police.

The children who were at the park when the suspect opened fire were not hurt, Gilliland said.

A young woman who lives in the neighborhood told Chron.com that her brother was one of the children in the park when the suspect opened fire.

She asked to not be identified for fear of her safety.

"I was taking a nap, and I heard shots," she said. "I woke up and saw my brother and his friend come in. They were so scared."

She said her brother yelled that someone was shooting and to call 911.

She called 911 and told dispatchers about the shooting. As police were rushing to the scene, the young woman said she locked herself and her two younger sisters in a room until it was safe.

"I was scared," she said. "I said 'don't make any noise.' I was scared."

It was not known what prompted the shooting or if the victim knew his assailant. Police said they believe the teen may have been targeted.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.comTwo young men will serve lengthy prison terms for a brazen armed robbery in which they terrorized employees for hours at an illicit massage parlor in north Houston. Investigators connected the suspects to the 2016 heist based on blood and fingerprints they left behind as well as DNA evidence developed from seminal fluid recovered from a spa employee who had sex with one of the gunmen.

A federal judge Tuesday sentenced Joseph Berzat, 21, to nearly 18 years and Javian Chapman, 20, on Tuesday to more than 15 years in prison for aiding and abetting in robbery and the discharge of a firearm amid a crime of violence. U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen also ordered the defendants to cover the cost of an ATM they damaged and pay back cash they stole and medical expenses for one of their victims, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patricks office.

They remained in federal custody following the sentencing.

RAID AT SAME SPA: Woman arrested in raid at north Houston spa

A prosecutor told the judge the men should get a lengthier sentence because she believed the men sexually assaulted the spa workers during the robbery, however the defendants only pleaded guilty to the robbery and weapons charges.

Attorney Ali Fazel, who represents Berzat, described his client as a very young man who has suffered a great deal of trauma in life.

This morning he started his road to recovery by accepting full responsibility for his part in the crime, Fazel said. Although the government sought a much higher sentence against him, he is relieved the court listened to his story and decided to sentence him to the lower range of the applicable federal sentencing guidelines.

Chapmans lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Berzat and Chapman broke through a window at the Hana Top Spa in the 14000 block of Bammel Road on the evening of Aug. 5, 2016 and were on the premises for about three hours, according to court documents

They forced three prostitutes and a madam at gunpoint to move from room to room, and fired the weapon at one point. They demanded money, other property and retrieved money from an ATM they broke into using a drill and other tools they had brought with them.

NO PROSTITUTION ZONE: County officials file civil suit to ban 80 pimps, prostitutes and johns from sex trade at Bissonnet hot spot

During the robbery, the defendants also had sexual contact with a spa employee, although the defense contends the women were not assaulted. Officials collected forensic evidence discovered that seminal fluid collected from the robbery victim and found at the scene positively identified Berzat and Chapman. Investigators also found a palm print from the ATM that matched Berzats hand. Victims were also able to identify both men as the armed robbers.

In the days following the robbery, the spa was raided by county officials and hit with a civil nuisance abatement lawsuit, amid a push to shut down illegal spas along FM 1960.

The spa owner Ying Wen, 45, was arrested and charged with money laundering. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible fine of $10,000.

Gabrielle Banks covers federal court for the Houston Chronicle. Send her tips at gabrielle.banks@chron.com and follow her on Twitter.Multiple University of Houston students recently found their car windows shattered around campus one week after the fire marshal's office handed out a life-saving tool designed to cut seat belts and break car windshields during flooding.

University spokesman Mike Rosen said UH police have no indication that the safety tool was used in the vehicle break-ins, but an online Reddit post has drawn hundreds of comments speculating about the connection.

The burglaries, which were reported Saturday morning, are still under investigation, he said.

RELATED: Student assaulted in carjacking on University of Houston campus

"If [the tool] was used, I suppose it's unfortunate that someone would use a life-saving device to commit a crime," Rosen said.

The break-ins involved 22 cars in a parking lot in the southeast portion of campus and at the Cullen Oaks apartments just south of the campus, he said.

The university fire marshal's office starting handing out the tool on the first day of class on Aug. 20. It is intended to be used during emergencies when someone is trapped in a vehicle. It's especially useful during a flood.

RELATED: Car burglars sought in rash of break-ins across Houston area

The Reddit post showing a message about the burglaries and a picture of the tool collected around 1,400 comments within 24 hours.

One Reddit user pointed out that many things could be used to break a car window. And if the tool was used, others questioned why the suspect would wait until after they were widely distributed.

"These aren't expensive to buy," one of the commenters wrote.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.comHarris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday gave the green light to 16 new flood control projects, three days after voters overwhelmingly approved a $2.5 billion bond aimed at boosting the regions protections against future floods.

The projects include de-silting the Addicks and Barker reservoir watersheds, drainage improvements in the San Jacinto River, Cypress Creek, Luce Bayou and Cedar Bayou watersheds, a stormwater detention basin project along Greens Bayou and conveyance improvements on Willow Creek.

Its a matter of starting with the low-hanging fruit, the ones that are ready to go, and move forward, County Judge Ed Emmett said.

The bond includes more than 230 projects across the countys 23 watersheds. The projects approved include work in Armand, Buffalo, Halls, Luce, Cedar, Horsepen and Greens bayous; Cypress, Willow and Clear creeks, waterways leading into the Addicks and Barker reservoirs and the San Jacinto River.

The engineering firms hired for those 16 projects will help determine their price tags.

Plans in the bond issue include $1.2 billion for channel improvements, $401 million for detention basins, $242 million for floodplain land acquisition, $12.5 million for new floodplain mapping and $1.25 million for an improved early flood warning system. Another $500 million remains unallocated, leaving the county money to pay for projects identified in the future.

This is initiating the negotiating process ... to help us bring these projects to fruition, said Russ Poppe, the Harris County Flood Control executive director.

The court also permitted the flood control district to hire 20 new employees starting Sept. 1. Operations Manager Matt Zeve said Saturday the flood control district plans to hire as many as 70 additional staff, plus consultants, to administer bond projects.

The measure, passed on Saturday with the support of 86 percent of voters, will allow the flood control district to spend around $450 million annually on projects, Poppe said. The existing flood control projects budget is just $60 million.

Weve got to meter the amount of work we produce with the amount of staff we have internally, Poppe said. Its going to take us a bit of time to ramp up and produce commensurate with the publics expectations.

The bond funds also will help Harris County access more than $2 billion in matching federal dollars, pushing the total to be managed by the flood control district toward $5 billion.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle on Tuesday praised the district for what he said was the most transparent bond process he had ever seen. Court members and flood control district staff held two-dozen public meetings over the summer to educate residents about the proposals.

Getting out there, communicating what this bond was about has paid off, Cagle said. The public has overwhelmingly supported it.

Flood control district officials have said they plan to complete some projects by the beginning of the 2019 hurricane season next June, an advantage of holding the bond election Aug. 25 instead of in November.

zach.despart@chron.com

Twitter.com/zachdespartPolice in northcentral Texas said they arrested three men over the weekend with several pounds of meth

The drug bust netted Electra Police 3,750 grams of meth found in a home lab, KFDX reported.PHOENIX (AP)  The Latest on the first of two days of services in Arizona to honor Sen. John McCain (all times local):

12:10 p.m.

Even Democrats are waiting outside in Phoenix's summer heat to honor the late Sen. John McCain at a public viewing.

Kassandra Morales stood in line Wednesday at the Arizona Capitol with her sons, ages 8 and 2. The Democrat brought a bouquet of flowers and said she has always looked up to the Republican senator.

The 44-year-old says she's been following the longtime senator since she was 18 and always voted for him despite her party affiliation.

Morales says she brought her children "to show them what a real hero was."

Volunteers are filling coolers with ice and water bottles for the crowds gathered under canopies to wait for the 2 p.m. viewing to begin on what would have been McCain's 82nd birthday.

He died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

11:45 a.m.

Two groups who traveled to Arizona from San Diego to pay their respects to John McCain had been waiting outside in the heat since early morning.

Mike Foley bought a plane ticket to Phoenix so he could honor McCain after hearing the public could view the senator's casket Wednesday at the state Capitol.

Barry and Linda Vittori separately made the roughly five-hour drive Tuesday night. Linda Vittori says McCain "epitomizes what I think our forefathers we're hoping our country would be."

Ahead of them was 17-year-old Regina Akerson, a Phoenix high school senior who wrote a report on McCain her freshman year and needs to attend a government ceremony for class.

She decided she could wait seven hours in the sun to pay her respects to McCain and fulfill that requirement, calling him "a legend."

___

11:15 a.m.

Electronic signs on freeways in the Phoenix area paid tribute to the late Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The signs said, "Country First Rest In Peace Senator McCain."

It comes as more than 100 people are waiting under canopies in 90-plus degree heat to pay their respects to McCain during a public viewing Wednesday afternoon at the Arizona Capitol.

Earlier, family and politicians attended an emotional private ceremony at the Capitol with the senator's flag-draped casket.

The 81-year-old Republican died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer. Wednesday would have been his 82nd birthday.

___

10:30 a.m.

The late Sen. John McCain's wife, Cindy, has walked up to the flag-draped casket holding her husband's body at the Arizona Capitol and patted it, then laid her cheek on it.

The rest of his children then filed past the casket and touched it Wednesday, including his sons in uniform and daughter Meghan McCain who was weeping.

Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife bowed and McCain's former colleagues, Sen. Jeff Flake and former Sen. Jon Kyl, both touched the casket.

Flake gave a prayer at the ceremony that preceded a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

This item has been clarified to show that Cindy McCain laid her cheek on the casket.

___

10:25 a.m.

Arizona's governor says Sen. John McCain was one of the only politicians who could get people to set aside politics.

Gov. Doug Ducey said at a private ceremony Wednesday at the state Capitol that imagining Arizona without McCain is like imagining the state without the Grand Canyon, two things it's known for.

The governor called McCain one of Arizona's favorite adopted sons.

Ducey said Arizona residents knew they could follow McCain, who served in Vietnam as a Navy pilot and was captured as a prisoner of war, because he was trusted and tested, qualities that are in short supply.

The ceremony with McCain's wife, Cindy, children and other politicians came ahead of a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

___

10:15 a.m.

John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, wept as her family stood in front of the Arizona senator's flag-draped casket at the Arizona Capitol.

His colleague, former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, opened comments at a ceremony Wednesday for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Kyl says he has been with McCain all around the world and that he had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.

He said he would miss McCain and that his greatest contribution was national security.

___

10 a.m.

A motorcade with Sen. John McCain's body has arrived at the Arizona State Capitol for a private ceremony and afternoon and evening public viewing on the day that would have been his 82nd birthday.

State troopers on motorcycles led the black hearse on the eight-mile (13-kilometer) route that took the procession on southbound lanes of a highway closed to other traffic. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey embraced McCain's wife, Cindy, when the motorcade arrived.

Flag-bearing military honor guards were lined up outside the State Capitol waiting to honor the 81-year-old Arizona Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain's body is flown to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony Friday at the U.S. Capitol and a memorial service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a private memorial service and burial Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

___

9:48 a.m.

A black hearse carrying Sen. John McCain's body has left a Phoenix mortuary and is traveling to the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix for a Wednesday morning private ceremony and public viewing in the afternoon and evening.

Flag-bearing military honor guards are lined up outside the State Capitol waiting to honor McCain. The Arizona Republican died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain's body is flown to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony Friday at the U.S. Capitol and a memorial service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a private memorial service and burial Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

___

9:25 a.m.

Black curtains dressed up the rotunda Arizona State Capitol Museum, which on a typical day hosts tourists and history buffs as well state capitol workers bustling from one office to another.

But on this day, Arizona and U.S. flags encircled the room.

A few dozen white folding chairs were reserved for family and dignitaries beside a wreath of white roses. Outside the building, where McCain will be retrieved by a team from the Arizona National Guard, military members in uniform began to congregate on the Capitol plaza to line the route where McCain's casket will be carried.

___

8:05 a.m.

Veterans and constituents are already lining up around the Arizona State Capitol to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain.

He will lie in state Wednesday for a private formal ceremony and a public viewing. McCain died of brain cancer last Saturday at age 81.

The sun was already beating down on a quiet Capitol as security officers began to patrol the grounds and prepare for the procession with the hearse bearing McCain's body from a funeral home to the Capitol.

By 8 a.m., several dozen veterans and active military members had taken spots on the sidewalk to watch it.

Judith Hatch, a veteran from Phoenix, started the day by handing out flags to those who were assembled. She says Arizona lost a champion for the military.

Hatch says: "We definitely have lost a strong advocate, so we'll need someone who is going to step up to the plate."

___

12 a.m.

Family, friends and constituents will gather Wednesday at Arizona's Capitol to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain, the first of two days of services here before he departs the state he has represented since the 1980s.

A private ceremony will be held Wednesday morning at the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where McCain will lie in state.

That ceremony will include remarks from Gov. Doug Ducey and former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, plus a benediction from Sen. Jeff Flake. It will also mark the first appearance of McCain's family members since the longtime Arizona senator died of brain cancer on Saturday at age 81.

Later that afternoon, the Capitol will be open to members of the public who want to pay their respects.

McCain's former presidential campaign manager Rick Davis says the viewing will go on as long as people are waiting in line.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture in the state for their entire lives. He took office in Arizona in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Sen. Barry Goldwater.AUSTIN  Texas icon Matthew McConaughey is warning people to help end human trafficking, sending a sobering message that is quickly going viral.

When you hear the words human trafficking, you probably think that is something that only happens to people in other countries, McConaughey said in a public service announcement from the Texas attorney generals office he posted to his Facebook page Tuesday. Texans, men, women, boys and girls are forced into a horrifying form of modern day slavery every day.

More than 300,000 people are victims of sex or labor trafficking in Texas, according to Attorney General Ken Paxton who appears alongside McConaughey in the commercial. Of those victims, approximately 79,000 of them are children are trafficked for sex, he said.

The ad promotes learning about ways to identify and report trafficking as part of its Be the one campaign. Telltale signs include changes in a childs school attendance, appearance and demeanor, newly acquired luxury items and unexplained injuries. Red flags for adults include isolation from community, family or friends. Find more red flags for human trafficking here.

Twenty-one trafficking cases are currently pending in seven counties in Texas, according to the attorney general's office. Since Paxton took office in 2016, the agency has gone to trial or agreed to plea deals on 19 trafficking cases. The courts have sentenced traffickers to more than 190 collective years in prison during that time, according to the agency.

The attorney generals office prosecutes human traffickers and began circulating a moving educational video in January to teach state employees and the public how to identify people who could be victims. The video features harrowing stories of human trafficking victims, several of them children, who were rescued by neighbors or others who noticed something was amiss.

The public service announcement, posted on the actors Facebook page, was viewed 37,000 times in six hours on Tuesday.

McConaughey volunteered his time to appear in the ad, according to the attorney general's office. The taxpayer-funded ad was distributed to Texas television stations which can run the PSA for free during time slots designated for public service announcements.

The ad was released 55 days before early voting begins for the attorney general's bid for re-election.The drumbeat to raise the CIOs role from functional expert to strategic partner has been a constant since at least 2014. But as Billy Crystal reminded us, Change is such hard work.

Some organizations and CIOs get it right all the time, but if current surveys are to be believed, opportunities for improvement remain. For instance, the 2018 IT Trends Study from the Society for Information Management reports that activities associated with keeping the lights on continues to be the largest single budget category for IT organizations.

You cant always equate the money necessary to keep everything functioning with whats really important, right? Not to worry. There are other metrics to consider.

A report by Gartner states that simple growth is the number one focus for CEOs in 2018. On the other hand, areas that are typically linked to organizational growth rated much lower in the Society for Information Management Trends Study. Innovation, digital transformation, and agility (within the business and IT) were ranked at the bottom of the reports Top 10 most important issues by IT professionals. That is unfortunate because a survey by Forrester Research found that the CIOnot the CEOis the most important organizational leader for driving and supporting business transformation.

Turn interest into action

Contemplating how things could be different is an early step in the change process according to the Transtheoretical Model. Thinking and talking about change are, however, eventually written off as empty rhetoric without action. Here are four ideas to help you move closer to becoming the strategic partner your organization needs regardless if you are well into your journey or just beginning. As always, I have no financial interest in any of the companies referenced.

1. Get the basics right

Nintex Global Ltd, a business process and workflow automation company based in Bellevue, Washington, published an interesting report titled Definitive Guide to America's Most Broken Processes. The study asked 1,000 full-time employees about their organizations most broken processes and who should be blamed for them. The top two culprits identified were technology troubleshooting and access to the tools and documents that enable good performance.

In addition to these two, respondents also mentioned problems with equipment onboarding for new hires; requesting a new computer or other technology device; app troubleshooting; password resets; deprovisioning of employees whove left the company; and printing documents.

Survey respondents are focused in their frustration. Seventy-three percent cited IT staff as responsible for the broken processes. A deeper look at the data shows an even more interesting result: 30 percent hold IT workers accountable while 43 percent blame the CIO or IT director.

Successful partnerships are built on trust, and competence plays a critical role. Failure to deliver on the basic expectations of your role reduce the chances that others will see you as a strategic partner.

2. Expand your vision for your role.

If projections hold true, 85 percent of the interactions with your brand will take place without human contact by 2020. Your business needs IT leaders to be more than experts in digital technology work. That is helpful if you can pull it off, but the pace of change will mean that Python is destined to become the next COBOL in relatively short order.

The strategic partner of the future will be the business leader who thinks about the customer experience from a digital perspective.

Katie Hickey, Marketing Manager at Usabilla, believes that adopting a true customer-centric approach to everything you do is crucial. She sees digital technology as a tool to do more than simply capture information. According to her, Using technology to humanize technology is the ultimate customer experience application.

Meredith Schmidt, EVP & GM of Essentials & SMB at Salesforce, told me that adapting a customer mindset means that IT professionals must make technology as easy to use in their business as it is in the personal lives of the individuals who work for the company.

Jim Johnson, CFO of Adaptive Insights, a Workday company, echoed that sentiment. More important, he knows that the finance professionals on his team share that desire, too.

The new role involves more than saying yes to every request in the name of being customer-focused. Johnson believes that a big part of the role is to be the rational voice in the room.

I want to embrace the tools people need to succeed, says Johnson. I also must understand costs and prioritize trade-offs within a fixed budget. I need my CIO to provide sound business thinking to inform those decisions.

3. Become comfortable with the new world of IT integration

According to Adaptive Insights Johnson, SaaS changed everything. He says, Options are everywhere. On premises ERP systems are no longer the center of the IT universe. If you see yourself as the keeper of the infrastructure, you will be left behind.

The best available tools, Johnson believes, are most likely to be in the cloud. They are specialized, easy to implement, secure, perpetually up to date, and self-service.

Salesforces Schmidt agrees. Technology is so accessible and so good at fulfilling a specific need. It is easy for users to go off the leash to pursue options on their own. The business wants to do things fast. A customized application isnt as important any more. Products are designed based on best practices.

The new role of integrator most likely means fewer long-term projects in the future. IT partners are likely to be on the evaluation and implementation teams rather than leading them. Users will look to you to ensure data portability, security, and flexibility to operate as their own system admin on the apps they use. They want to create their own reports when they need them not rely on IT to put it in the queue to run for them.

4. Prepare for a world that is nimble and relational.

The need to be nimble is a given. The days of the IT department implementing and supporting a single or even just a few tools are numbered  if they even exist today. Johnson, the Adaptive Insights CFO, sees a future where multiple tools are implemented for multiple customers all at the same time.

Technology leaders must have, as he says, a different skill set that isnt based on large database and enterprise applications.

Security and infrastructure arent going away, but it is entirely possible that the application development role changes over time in the traditional IT organization. It is foreseeable that your team will focus more on project scoping, vendor negotiation, and, most important, helping customers anticipate needs than writing customized code. Those are very relational activities that require connecting with humans.

Katie Hickey believes that Usabillas approach of Ask, Analyze, and Act will benefit IT leaders just as much as the more traditional external customer facing areas of the business.

Humans need to feel heard and validated, says Hickey. Strong partnerships in our personal lives dont develop without shared goals, communication, and time. It is unreasonable to expect them to do so at work.

That might occasionally mean stepping aside to allow your partner to take on new challenges or solve problems on their own.

Meredith Schmidt, in a previous role at Salesforce, implemented a new application without any involvement from IT. She is quick to point out that the purpose was to experiment on a single task, and the project was done with full knowledge and cooperation from her IT partners.

Nevertheless, a new application that would have taken about a year to develop internally was up in five days and only required the work of a single analyst.

Over the next year, IT was heavily involved in the product evaluation. Today it is managed and controlled by IT. The application has also expanded from one to forty-six jobs over that time.

Schmidt sums up the need for a nimble partner with a strong relationship this way, I need an IT partner that will create ways for the business to try things.

It is easy to hear the term business partner and picture a cliched relationship between colleagues. No one actively undermines the other, but neither goes out of their way to proactively help either. Your business needs and deserves more than that. It needs someone who will be flawless at the fundamentals while earning a bigger role in a different world. It needs someone who will bring ideas rather than wait to be asked. Regardless of where you are in the journey, there is still work to be done. Thats the way it is with the best partnerships. Everyone continually works to make the results better.Audio Transcript

Brian Anderson: Welcome back to the 10 Blocks Podcast. This is your host Brian Anderson, editor of City Journal. Joining me on the show today is John Tierney. John is a contributing editor at City Journal, and a contributing science columnist at The New York Times, where he was a reporter for many years. You can also follow him on Twitter, @JohnTierneyNYC. Johns here to discuss his latest piece which appears in the Summer 2018 issue of City Journal, Reeducation Campus. Its an alarming essay about the First-Year Experience, a widely adopted program for college freshmen used by schools around the country. John, welcome back to the podcast.

John Tierney: Thanks Brian.

Brian Anderson: First, can you explain to our listeners what exactly the First-Year Experience is, what was the program created to do, and how widespread is it?

John Tierney: The First-Year Experience is a term that covers lots of programs that are designed specifically at freshmen, as they used to be called before that became politically incorrect. And something like 90% of American colleges have some version of the First-Year Experience and its rapidly growing overseas too. These programs, one of the main constituents is often a common read, as its called, in which all the freshmen are given one book to read.

Brian Anderson: Is this something that takes place during the summer before they come to school or does it last from the summer through school? How exactly

John Tierney: Both. It often starts in the summer where you get this book to read and then when you go to campus, you know, during the orientation week, you know, there are programs and seminars and discussions and then, in the more ambitious schools this is something that goes on all year long, a year-long seminar for freshmen through, you know, various events during the freshman year.

Brian Anderson: Now, the book thats selected, the common read, for incoming freshmen, only 6% you note in the story were published before 2000. So, this isnt a series of classic books that the students are reading. Fewer than 2% of them were published before 1990. So, they are all basically contemporary books. Almost all of them are nonfiction and perhaps you can describe what these, you know, what these books are like or what books are being selected.

John Tierney: Right, its kind of the dumbing-down of the curriculum. The people that run these programs are not scholars. They are called co-curricular professionals. And they are basically just, you know, supposedly getting freshmen ready for college. But their definition of it often means, you know, lots of talk about diversity and inclusion. And they dont want to tax the students too much with hard books. So, they tend  and they also love to get a book that is very easy for freshmen to read that ideally is something with an author who can come to campus and give a talk about it and further inspire everyone. And, you know, just above all, they want a book that reflects the right progressive messages.

Brian Anderson: So, this isnt the professors who are choosing the books, its a different group of people. How do the professors feel about this First-Year Experience program?

John Tierney: A lot of professors worry about this because, for one thing, its taking money out of the budget. You know, the staff that runs these programs, this bureaucracy has been increasing and meanwhile, you know, the tenured professoriate is stagnating. And, you know, some schools do have professors on the committee that chooses the book and they can make recommendations. But, typically, the real choice is left up to these, you know, the people that run these programs. And they are not looking for literary quality. They are not looking for, you know, classic works of literature at all. They are looking for something that is easier to read and sends the right message.

Brian Anderson: What are some of the popular books that are being selected?

John Tierney: Well, the most popular theme for years now has been race. You know, the mistreatment of African-Americans in America and the sort of reigning king is Ta-Nehisi Coates and other authors with books, memoirs of growing up black in America. And then there are other social-identity groups that are very popular too, books about women, about Muslims, about immigrants, about Latino immigrants. These are all very popular books. Often either the literary quality or the intellectual quality isnt very high but they are chosen because they reflect the right themes.

Brian Anderson: Its really identity politics, 100%.

John Tierney: Exactly. I mean, when students get  you know, and whats upsetting is that students who go to college, these programs, they get to them first. You know, your first real contact with the college is getting this book and telling you to read it and then you go and you have to sit through a discussion group where they do exercises where you have to discuss white privilege and victimhood and you kind of go through all this. And everyone has to do it. You know, by choosing your courses carefully in college you can avoid some of the progressive sermonizing that, you know, that passes for scholarships in departments. But no one can avoid this First-Year Experience. Everyones got to go through it.

Brian Anderson: Back earlier this year you went to San Antonio, Texas, to attend the official annual conference of the First-Year Experience program. This is an organization, in other words, that puts this together. Could you tell us a bit about your experience at that conference and who were some of the speakers featured?

John Tierney: Yeah, it was a bit kind of like attending a Scientology convention.

Brian Anderson: Really?

John Tierney: You are in this very strange world, you know, where people just, you know, there is a jargon about it was all diversity and inclusion and privilege and, of course, transgender. We had to know the gender pronouns. And almost everyone  you know, it seemed much farther Left than the normal faculty, even. You know, on a typical college faculty youve got some at least nonprogressive teaching in the sciences and business school. But here, just everyone seemed to be progressive. And, you know, what happens at this, its a convention where they talk about ways to expand  its basically how can expand our budgets more, how can we grow our programs and do even more? And part of it, its financed in part by the publishing industry because these common read books, you know, if a big school assigns every freshman to read a book, its like 5,000 copies theyre selling right there. So, the publishers send their authors to basically do Ted Talks to audition because these administrators you know, are dying to have a live author come to campus.

Brian Anderson: Sure, its incredibly lucrative both for publisher and author I would imagine to be on the short list of people who are you know, getting selected for this program.

John Tierney: Exactly, and so the publishers put on lunches and dinners for all the academics who are there  all these co-curricular professionals as they are known. They are not really trained academics. And so, the authors give a 15-minute talk, you know, sort of a peppy talk about their book and why it will help students, you know, learn about their ethnic identity, why it will promote, you know, multicultural values on campus.

Brian Anderson: Towards the end of your essay you note some fascinating results from a survey that was done by one universitys First-Year Experience program. And this was concerning the Coats book Between the World and Me. Tell us a bit about that.

John Tierney: Right. This was a survey at the University of Kansas which had used the Coates book and also another book by Claudia Rankine, Citizen, in another year, which is also a book about micro  its a book of poetry about how African-Americans experience microaggressions. And they had these books, you know, two years in a row and they had this really ambitious program where they had art exhibits pegged. It was used not just in something the students read, but it was introduced in hundreds of class sections and there were all kinds of  there were dozens of speeches about race on campus. And they surveyed the students about the book and the facilitators, there is this whole core of facilitators who went out and led discussions. There were discussions in the dorms about these books. There were discussions limited to students of color, you know, it was all  and so they survey, and the facilitators thought this was a great success when they were asked did the students learn something that will help them in their life, the facilitators overwhelmingly said absolutely. But when they asked the students, the students said, the majority of the students said no. And in fact, they said frankly we are kind of tired of talking about race. And it was interesting because, you know, years earlier they had used a fairly unorthodox choice. They had used Hemingways A Farewell to Arms as their common read for all the freshmen and the facilitators didnt like this at all. They thought it was, you know, they complained about the misogyny and the hypermasculinity of Hemingway and yet, to the shock of the administrators and the facilitators, the students actually thought they learned something useful from a book by a dead white male. It seemed incredible to these people.

Brian Anderson: This program is generated out of what locale? Where is the First-Year Experience Institution located, or is it kind of a virtual organization?

John Tierney: The First-Year Experience movement, it began in 1970 and it was sparked by  no pun intended  by a protest at the University of South Carolina where the students, they ransacked some buildings, they set fire to the administration building and it was part of an anti-war protest. And why you burn down the administration building because youre upset about a war is  but anyway, the university president, you know, he appointed a special committee to find out you know, how can we avoid this kind of protest in the future? And my answer would be, well maybe you should expel people who set fire to your building. But they didnt. That was  nothing so simple as that. Instead, they decided that the solution was to make students love the university. So, the University of South Carolina started this course and it was led by a very liberal social activist named John Gardner. They started a course, basically, that was for all freshmen that was to teach them to love the university. And it was, you know, he then took this message and he started spreading it to other schools and eventually an institute was founded that promotes this whole idea of the First-Year Experience. And it just has expanded wildly now, where this conference that I went to in San Antonio, there were 2,000 academics from twenty countries there.

Brian Anderson: Wow. And I think you mentioned something like 90% of schools have some variation of the program.

John Tierney: Thats right. You know, and its even  its growing overseas. There were people from Australia, from Europe who were there. And the scariest thing of all is that there is now  of course one year isnt enough  there is now the Second-Year Experience.

Brian Anderson: So that started as an initiative?

John Tierney: Yes, there is a whole separate conference for that. And thats only at a couple dozen schools. But I am sure that its going to keep growing.

Brian Anderson: Bad ideas have a tendency to spread, unfortunately, especially on university campuses. So, anyway, John, thank you very much. Dont forget to check out John Tierneys Essay, Reeducation Campus. Its on our website, www.City-Journal.org. You can follow John on Twitter, @JohnTierneyNYC. We would also love to hear your comments about todays episode on Twitter, @CityJournal. And finally, if you like the show and want to hear more, please leave ratings and reviews on iTunes. Thanks for listening. And thanks again, John, for joining us.

John Tierney: Thank you, Brian.Marie Stopes International has seen its liquid reserves drop to 15.2m as it continues to face a funding shortfall after the US President reintroduced a ban on funding for organisations which carry out abortions from receiving USAID.

The charity has previously warned that it faced a significant funding gap after President Donald Trumps reintroduction of the Mexico City Policy banning funding to organisations which offer abortions.

In its accounts for the year to March 2017 Marie Stopes reported that its liquid free reserves stand at 15.2m, down from 18.9m last year.

The reserves policy says that the charitys monthly operating costs are around 25m which is why it has a target range of between 30m and 35m.

MSI will continue to build up the sustainability reserve fund until the free reserves target of 30-35m is met. The decrease in the year is partly due to the use of reserves to bridge the loss of USAID funds but also to more challenging payment terms with some major donors, the accounts said.

Marie Stopes International has a total of 63.7m in unrestricted reserves, but the bulk of this is illiquid assets such as buildings and global working capital.

Secured short-term replacement funding

Marie Stopes International said that USAID funding had accounted for 12.7 per cent of its total grant funding in 2017, which it now expects to lose.

It said it had secured short-term replacement funding in most cases but that it still faces a 20m annual shortfall.

The accounts said: During 2017, the group managed to secure replacement funding to keep most services running in the short term, although Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe were particularly affected. However, the loss of USAID grants means that there is still a significant funding gap of approximately 20m annually that needs to be closed for the partnership to deliver against global family planning commitments.

Set-up US fundraising team

In the introduction to the accounts, Simon Cooke, chief executive of the charity said the change in US policy has had a chilling effect on the whole sector.

The road ahead remains challenging. However, we have taken steps to ensure that MSI continues to thrive, and have built strong processes to ensure financial resilience and sustainability, he added.

Cooke said that the charity has restructured and created a US fundraising team to adapt.

During the year, we restructured to anticipate changes in donor funding behaviour, with a US fundraising unit established to generate new revenue sources, in part to offset US government losses, but also to allow us to further innovate and to bridge gaps in service provision left when donor contracts end. We expect to see significant results from this team in 2018 and beyond.

Increase in services income

Despite the challenges surrounding the changes to the USAID, Marie Stopes International has reported a record income of 296m in 2018 with an increase in service income offsetting a decline in grant income.

Its grant income fell by 4.3m to 170m, while services income increased by 8.2m to 93.9m. Consultancy income was stable at 22.9m and income from donations was 3.7m.

Its total expenditure for the year was just over 300m, most of which has been designated as charitable activities.

The average headcount was 11,512 and the charity spent a total of 320,000 on redundancy and termination costs, 82,000 less than the previous year.

Its highest paid employee earned a base salary of 173,067 and a performance-based bonus of 127,485.



International aid charities have urged the government to continue to use its aid budget to focus on helping the worlds poorest.

Charity leaders were responding to speeches by the prime minister, Theresa May, who is visiting Africa this week and had indicated that after Brexit the UK is keen to grow the amount of trade it does with African countries and said she would use the UKs international aid budget to support this ambition.

The UK remains committed to speding 0.7 per cent of gross national income on aid.

Christian Aids director of policy and public affairs, Christine Allen, said: Aid must not be used to simply oil the wheels of British business, but instead should prioritise the needs of those it is intended to benefit  the poorest and most marginalised.

She said that investment in Africa should focus on supporting clean and green initiatives and local businesses.

Aid has been marred for years by donor countries putting their own priorities ahead of the needs of the countries and people who should benefit from that aid. This distorts the purpose of aid and while there may be some areas of overlapping interests, progress does not always involve win-wins. It would be wrong to put British interests first in ways that harm the poorest. Any attempts to do so will raise questions about how aid policy is being developed and in whose interests, she said.

Allen also cautioned against exporting failed investment modes such as public private parternships to Africa.

The purpose of aid, enshrined in law, is to tackle poverty, she said.

The answer to Africas problems must be rooted in global solidarity and self-determination, not in a renewed form of imperialism.

Claire Godfrey, head of policy and campaigns at Bond, said: Trade and investment play an important role in helping the worlds poorest people out of poverty and during times of crisis. We would, however, be concerned if these efforts were weighted in favour of UK trade or UK private investors at the cost of helping the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised people in the world.

She added that the government should focus on tackling the root causes of poverty, climate change and conflict.

Meanwhile Girish Menon, chief executive of ActionAid UK, said that within that aid spending we must see the lives of the poorest women and girls prioritised.

He added that: At ActionAid, every day we see how poor aid and badly-designed trade deals can hurt people in poor countries  particularly women and girls. Mrs May must recognise that growth, and job creation can only be truly inclusive if governments work together to address the underlying issues of gender inequality and promote the rights of women and girls.



As the Trump administration pursues an unprecedented number of investigations into government leaks, FBI records reveal that the Nixon administration scrutinized the late journalist and renowned media critic Ben H. Bagdikian for his role in obtaining the Pentagon Papers for The Washington Post.

It has long been known that the FBI aggressively investigated the 1971 leaking of the classified study of the Vietnam War to newspapers, in particular examining the activities of Neil Sheehan, the New York Times reporter who first obtained the Pentagon Papers. But records recently released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the bureau used intrusive techniques to gather information about the actions of Bagdikian, then a top editor at the Post and a contributor to the Columbia Journalism Review.

For instance, FBI agents secretly reviewed Bagdikians credit card purchases, as well as phone, airline, and hotel records for information about his travels, communications, and interactions. They obtained employment data, his immigration file, and his fingerprints, the records show. They interviewed associates and acquaintances, including at least one former Post employee, and conducted pretext interviews, in which agents use false identities, with a woman at his former home and with his neighbors. And they closely read CJRs special issue on the Pentagon Papers, titled The First Amendment on Trial (SeptemberOctober 1971), to glean leads for their investigation, and then followed up on them.

ICYMI: Afghanistan journalism continues to suffer after its deadliest attack

The previously undisclosed information adds new details to prior accounts about the Nixon administrations response to the disclosure of the Pentagon Papers and the FBIs intensive investigation of journalists acquisition of the secret study of the US role in Vietnam. The Bagdikian investigation was a harbinger of the way current leak inquiries have come to encompass a broad range of personal and professional information concerning reportersand starkly shows that the reach of such probes has been greatly extended through the ubiquity of digital records.

Bagdikian suspected the FBI might investigate how he got the papers, but he evidently did not know that the bureau actually examined his role. Although he requested all his records under FOIA in 1975, the FBI withheld records on the part he played in the Pentagon Papers case, not releasing them until now.

The Washington Post did not respond to CJRs requests for comment on the FBI documents about Bagdikian and the Pentagon Papers. In an email, however, former Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr., who said he had no knowledge that Bagdikian was being investigated by the FBI, wrote, What you describe in the FBI documents was an unwarranted government intrusion into Bagdikians privacy, even though it [did] not interfere with The Posts publication of stories about the Pentagon Papers and did not cause any legal jeopardy for Bagdikian.

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This shows the length [to] which the government has gone in the past to try to both stifle leaks and in turn stifle legitimate, important journalism, says Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending public interest journalism. The fact that this happened over 45 years ago and were just finding out about it now makes you wonder how many other times the government went to this length to spy on journalists in secret. Are there other cases like this, where reporters are never alerted they were spied on in this comprehensive manner?

Timm notes that modern technology automatically creates a digital record of our communications, travel, and other actionsand as a result reporting is much less anonymous than it was back in Ben Bagdikians day.

Bagdikian suspected the FBI might investigate how he got the papersit had been reported that a federal grand jury in Boston was investigating possible criminal charges against The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe in connection with the publication of the reportbut he evidently did not know that the bureau actually examined his role. He did not mention it in his writings or in the detailed oral history he recorded in 2010 for the UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Office. And although he requested all his records under FOIA in 1975, the FBI withheld records on the part he played in the Pentagon Papers case, not releasing them until now.

Betty Medsger, who was a Post reporter and Bagdikians fiancee at the time, said in an interview that he never indicated actual knowledge of an investigation of his activities. She recalled, however, seeing a large van parked in front of their Washington, DC, home for hours at a time, which she and Bagdikian assumed to be the FBI. I dont know how many nights we noticed it, but we started becoming concerned, she says. And finally one of us went out to the van. They wouldnt talk to us, and they drove away. My memory is that they didnt come back. (The van could have been there for him or for heror for both of them; just a few months before the Pentagon Papers story broke, Medsger had published articles based on stolen FBI documents that described the bureaus unlawful surveillance and harassment operations. Activists had broken into the FBIs office in Media, Pennsylvania, and sent copies of the files to journalists, as Medsger described in her 2014 book, The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoovers Secret FBI.)

Bagdikian was an esteemed media critic, a writer for national magazines, and a founding contributor to CJR, who wrote its Letter from Washington column. He authored several books, including 1983s The Media Monopoly; from 1976 to 1990 he was a professor at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and he was its dean from 1985 to 1988. He died in 2016, at age 96, in Berkeley, California.

The newly released FBI records do not name Bagdikian as a target for prosecution. They do indicate, however, that the government was investigating him and other journalists as part of its prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst at the RAND Corporation who copied the secret study and made it available to the Times, the Post, and other newspapers. At the time, according to published accounts, Bagdikian and other journalists were concerned about the possibility of being prosecuted or subpoenaed to testify in the case against Ellsberg. Had they refused to testify, they could have been cited for contempt and jailed. The newly released records show this may have been more of a possibility than they knew.

ELLSBERG HAD HELPED PREPARE the 47-volume history of the Vietnam War that was commissioned by thensecretary of defense Robert McNamara and became known as the Pentagon Papers. The classified study showed that US officials had systematically misled the public about the war. Ellsberg, a onetime hawk who had become disillusioned with the war, sought unsuccessfully to give the study to several congressmen before he turned to the press.

On June 13, 1971, the Times began publishing stories based on the Defense Department study. Two days later, the Nixon administration, contending that the disclosures would cause irreparable harm to national security, obtained a temporary injunction stopping the Timess publication of them.

The Post joined the fray in a journalistic deed dramatized in the 2017 movie The Post. Bagdikian, then the assistant managing editor for national news at the Post, had instantly thought the Timess source might be Ellsberg, whom he knew from RAND, the Santa Monicabased think tank where Ellsberg had been a strategic analyst and where Bagdikian had written a book on the media, The Information Machines. He promptly placed several calls but didnt reach Ellsberg. Then, the day after the court enjoined the Times, Bagdikian received a cryptic phone message: Call Mr. Boston from a secure phone. As he wrote in his memoir, Double Vision: Reflections on My Heritage, Life, and Profession, he immediately suspected the message was about the Pentagon Papers.

Concerned that some of the Posts phones might be tapped and that there could be an FBI informant on the staff of the newspaper, Bagdikian later recounted, he quickly crossed the street to the Statler Hilton Hotel and its bank of pay phones. He dialed the number given on the note, and a voice said an old friend would call back on another public phone. Soon he was speaking with Ellsberg.

Bagdikian arranged a rendezvous in Boston that night by leaving another coded message: Mr. Medford from Providence will wait for you at the hotel. After checking in under that name, he met with Ellsberg, and the next day, June 17, he flew back to Washington on American Airlines Flight 287, also under the name Medford, according to Double Vision. He carried two boxes filled with thousands of pages of the study, fearing, as he recalled in the 2010 oral history, that if they spilled out at the airport, the FBI would have me in hand immediately.

Bagdikian promptly delivered the pages to the home of Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, where a team of reporters rushed to prepare articles in one room, while in the next editors argued with the newspapers lawyers, who warned against publishing in light of the injunction against the Times. Bagdikian declared that the way to assert the right to publish is to publish, and threatened to quit if they didnt.

Publisher Katharine Graham gave the green light: the Post ran its first story on June 18 and a second one on June 19, before a federal appeals court temporarily blocked further publication. Meanwhile, several other newspapers around the country obtained parts of the study and ran their own stories. The matter swiftly reached the US Supreme Court, which ruled on June 30, in a 63 decision, that the government had failed to prove publication would cause irreparable harm and lifted the temporary restraining orders.

The next day, Attorney General John N. Mitchell vowed to investigate the leaks and prosecute anyone who had broken the law. Then, as now, the White House was occupied by a president hostile toward journalists. Nixon sought to discredit critical journalists, and Vice President Spiro Agnew derided the press corps as nattering nabobs of negativism. Trump, for his part, has often attacked stories critical of his administration as fake news, called reporters dishonest, and characterized the media as the enemy of the people.

In response to my FOIA appeal, the FBI released 40 documents, 33 of them from the portions of the bureaus Pentagon Papers leak investigation that concern Bagdikian. All told, in response to the appeal, the FBI processed 170 pages, withholding 35 pages in full and releasing 135 pages with redactions of information the bureau claims is exempt.

The FBI pursued a criminal investigation of the Pentagon Papers leaks, working with federal grand juries in Boston and Los Angeles. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover assigned the case to W. Raymond Wannall, a supervisor at the bureaus Nationalities Intelligence Section, which handled leak inquiries. I had to get an extra phone on my desk, he recalled in a 2006 oral history for the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. We were so busy.

In 1971, the investigation was code-named MC LEK, a cryptonym for McNamara Leak. That June, the Justice Department obtained an indictment charging Ellsberg with theft and espionage, and that December it obtained a superseding indictment that added a conspiracy charge and named Anthony Russo, a RAND analyst, as a co-conspirator. The investigation also examined Bagdikians role in the Posts acquisition of the papers.

In response to my FOIA appeal, the FBI released 40 documents, 33 of them from the portions of the bureaus Pentagon Papers leak investigation that concern Bagdikian. (The other seven documents concern Bagdikians earlier writings and date back to 1959.) All told, in response to the appeal, the FBI processed 170 pages, withholding 35 pages in full and releasing 135 pages with redactions of information the bureau claims is exempt because it concerns personal privacy, law enforcement, or grand jury proceedings.

The released FBI documents include internal memos, reports to the Justice Department, and urgent, encrypted interoffice communications, called teletypes, in which various FBI offices exchanged information and set out leads for one another to follow. As is typical of FBI investigative files, the records contain some raw intelligence and unverified statements.

The earliest document is a June 29, 1971, teletype from the FBIs Los Angeles field office to FBI headquarters. The report notes that a source at RAND, whose name is redacted, told agents that Bagdikian had worked in the social sciences department there from September 5, 1967, to December 31, 1969; held a top-secret security clearance; and knew someone whose name was also redacted, most likely Ellsberg. A second source cited in the report, whose name is also redacted, told the FBI she had been contacted by a female reporter for CBS who mentioned that shed been trying to reach Bagdikian but did not want to break his cover. In a memo the next day, Wannall concluded, Possibility exists that the Washington Post obtained its copy of classified information from [name redacted] through Bagdikian.

On July 7, the Washington, DC, field office notified FBI headquarters that agents had checked bureau files on Bagdikian and found prior references to him, but none indicated a relationship with a particular personagain probably Ellsbergwhose name was redacted. Two days later, the Los Angeles field office sent FBI headquarters a lengthy report. The table of contents listed sections on the investigation at RAND, on people reportedly present when Ellsberg copied documents in October 1969, and on bank records, among other topics.

Although the FBI withheld most of this report, an eight-page section on Ben Haig Bagdikian states that agents had obtained his RAND personnel file as well as a federal personnel security questionnaire he completed to receive a security clearance while at RAND. The report notes that he had signed a document declaring that he understood safeguards for handling classified information. It included comments from Bagdikians acquaintances at RAND, one of whom described him as a very responsible person.

BY THE TIME THE US SUPREME COURT declined to block the Times and the Post from publishing, more than a dozen other newspapers had obtained parts of the classified study and published stories based on them. One document indicates that the FBI was casting a broad net for evidence about these newspapers, as well. On August 4, FBI headquarters sent the field offices a list of newspapers that had published material from the Pentagon Papers and referencing data required for leak investigations. Although the released record doesnt include the actual data, it indicates that it amounted to evidence of a correlation between material from the Pentagon Papers and information published by the newspapers. Bureau agents asked the Department of Defense to provide this data as soon as possible.

The FBI also looked into the purported photocopying of documents that occurred on the premises of the Post itself. On August 5, the Washington, DC, field office asked the Baltimore field office to reinterview a source to determine the exact identities of the Miami and Boston newspapers reportedly present at theWashington Postduring the Xeroxing of the documents reported by [redacted]. The released records do not provide further details about the copying, or when it occurred, but suggest that representatives of those newspapers were present at the time. The Washington field office sent Baltimore agents a photograph of Bagdikian, apparently to show to the source who had reported the photocopying.

On August 18, the Boston field office asked FBI headquarters for the names of Washington newspaper correspondents possibly pertinent to this investigation. The following day, the Los Angeles field office suggested that the Boston and New York City field offices be alert for information concerning [the] following additional correspondents when checking airline and hotel records. Listed were the late Derick Daniels, an editor with Knight Newspapers; the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson; a journalist with Dispatch News Service whose name is redacted; and Bagdikian.

FBI agents also scoured news accounts, which provided some of their best leads. On October 7, for instance, the New York City field office reported that the Columbia Journalism Review had published a special issue on the Pentagon Papers case for the magazines 10th anniversary, and agents were attempting to secure a copy of this publication for review. They took particular interest in a story by Bagdikian, headlined What did we learn? Copies of the article were soon circulated to other field offices with a cover memo marked Espionage. (Although the FBI released a copy of this memo to Bagdikian in response to his FOIA request, the bureau redacted all references to the leak investigation, obscuring its investigation of him. A less redacted copy of the memo was released to Vice News last year, but the FBI withheld all other documents concerning Bagdikians part in the Pentagon Papers case, according to the Vice report.)

On October 14, FBI Headquarters sent additional excerpts of the CJR special issue to field offices with directions to review the material enclosed for leadsespecially an article by Jules Witcover of the Los Angeles Times that described how newspapers had reported on the study and Bagdikians arrival in a cab at Bradlees Georgetown home with the documents.

Headquarters also noted that the Witcover article reported that just days before the Times had begun to publish the Pentagon Papers, Bagdikian had phoned someone at RAND to ask if the organization had produced a study on the advisability of withdrawal from Vietnam. (The FBI redacted that persons nameHenry Rowen, RANDs directorin the released memo, even though it was in Witcovers article.)

The memo concluded: In view of the information set out above, Bureau feels that Ben Haig Bagdikian had a significant part in the acquisition of McNamara Study by The Washington Post and facts suggest the probability he received the study directly from [name redacted] or through [name redacted].

FBI agents intensified their investigation of Bagdikians activities in obtaining the papers for the Post. Following up on the Witcover story, they questioned a man whose name is redactedthe FBI records and historical accounts suggest it was Rowenabout a phone query Bagdikian had made in his search for the papers, but the man said he had told Bagdikian he knew of no such RAND study.

Then, on October 26, agents checked local municipal records and established sources in an apparent effort to gather information concerning Bagdikian, also to no avail. They conducted pretext interviews with an unidentified female at Bagdikians home and with his immediate neighbors, collecting information that strongly suggests something that was redacted. (Medsger says neither Bagdikian nor their neighbors ever mentioned such contacts, adding that the document likely referred to Bagdikians former wife and house, also located in Washington, DC.)

On November 1, the Washington field office reported that efforts to develop additional information concerning Ben Bagdikian with particular reference to his relationship with [name redacted] and concerning his activities during June, last, are being expedited. Or, as another memo the next day put it more precisely, the FBI was homing in on Bagdikians activities and whereabouts during the five days between the Timess and the Posts first publication of the Pentagon Papers in an effort to discover how he procured the study. Agents checked with a credit bureau to identify his charge accounts, then contacted credit card companies around the country to gather any information available regarding charges made by Bagdikian during the period June thirteen to seventeen, last.

The Houston field office examined his Texaco charge account and found no purchases during that time (but noted he had a credit balance of $27.65). New York City agents initial review of American Express records showed no charges, so they expanded it to cover six months because Bagdikians activities and past relationship with [name redacted] have become of greater investigative interest. Still, the only charge they discovered was a $15 American Express annual renewal fee.

On November 10, the Washington field office reported that it had examined Bagdikians Immigration and Naturalization Service file, remarking that he derived citizenship by naturalization of his father, but adding, nothing pertinent noted. (Bagdikian was born in Marash, Turkey.) Later that month, agents obtained an original copy of Bagdikians fingerprints from RAND.

On November 11, the Washington field office requested permission to contact someone who, the redacted document suggests, was a Post reporter, at someplace away from his work and interview him for any information he may have about Bagdikians activities pertinent to this investigation. The released records dont say whether permission was granted and provide no indication this person was interviewed. However, agents did interview a woman who had worked at RAND and then briefly in the Posts personnel department concerning her knowledge of Bagdikian. She described their limited contacts and said she assumed Bagdikian had helped her get the job, a report says, but she had no pertinent information.

According to another report, FBI agents questioned a source, who may have been a part-time Post employee, about what he said was the alleged photocopying of the Pentagon Papers that occurred at the Post on June 30, 1971, the day the Supreme Court declined to block publication. The January 27, 1972 report indicates that the man gave the FBI the names of four Post employees who he claimed were present with the columnist Jack Anderson, who aided in the duplication, but he said he knew nothing of how Bagdikian had obtained the papers.

The redacted document doesnt further identify the source, or the Post employees, or provide any explanation about the purpose of the purported photocopying. Nor does the document indicate whether this was the same photocopying incident the FBI had examined earlier. Medsger says she does not recall hearing about the alleged photocopying or about a part-time Post employee who was an FBI source. However, she says a strange encounter she had with a man who worked in the Post mailroom, several months before the Pentagon Papers story broke, led her and Bagdikian to believe he was an FBI informant.

When I asked Downie about Bagdikian and Medsgers suspicions that the Posts phones may have been tapped or that there was an informant at the paper, he told me that because he was working on the papers city desk at the time and not involved in the Pentagon Papers story, he had no knowledge of these concerns. Nor, he added, did Ben Bradlee ever mention anything about such apprehensions to him.

After Esquire published an article on the Pentagon Papers case by the journalist Sanford J. Ungar in May 1972, a memo says, FBI agents noted that the story reported that Bagdikian had placed calls to Ellsberg and a second person from the phone booths at the Statler Hilton the previous June 16, and had then flown to Boston to get the papers. The FBI subpoenaed phone records listed under two redacted names, the memo says.

FBI agents tried to trace Bagdikians steps in Boston. In the most recent document releaseda June 5, 1972, reportagents at the field office there said they had reviewed passenger records at Northeast Airlines under his name. They had also canvassed seven motels and hotels in the Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, area, as well as the Hertz and Avis car rental agencies. Their search was fruitless. Bagdikian had flown on American Airlines and used the alias Mr. Medford.

In 1975 Bagdikian filed a FOIA request for all FBI records pertaining to me, according to a copy of his request. The FBI sent him 93 pages (which were later released to other requesters as well) that mainly concerned articles he had written in the 1950s and 1960s. They included a 1961 story about J. Edgar Hoover reporting that the FBI director had leaked a secret study to serve his own bureaucratic purposes. The story prompted a displeased Hoover to scrawl in the margins of the clipping, Utter Bunk. H, and See that Bagdikian is not on our mailing lists and gets no cooperation. H. Bagdikian would later recount the episode in his oral history and describe it to me (a former student of his) as an example of Hoovers vindictiveness in response to critical reporting.

However, the FBI sent Bagdikian only three documents from its Pentagon Papers investigation concerning himand even then redacted all references to the inquiry. The FBI initially withheld those records from me as well, releasing them and other records on him from that investigation only after I made an administrative appeal to the Justice Department. The records are still obviously incomplete; they dont mention, for instance, how the Justice Department ultimately resolved its investigations of Bagdikian and other journalists who obtained the Pentagon Papers, a question that has been raised in several accounts of the case.

As Ungar wrote in his 1972 book about the Pentagon Papers, The Papers & The Papers, the Boston grand jury seemed intent on tracing how each newspaper received the Pentagon Papers and indicting all involved. Government agents focused on Times reporter Sheehan and his wife, New Yorker staff writer Susan Sheehan, subpoenaing their bank records and questioning their neighbors, Ungar wrote. The FBI also tracked some of the Sheehans movements and phone calls in Cambridge, according to Tom Wellss biography of Ellsberg, Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg. But the Sheehans were neither subpoenaed nor indicted.

Nor was Bagdikian subpoenaed or questioned by the FBI, says Medsger. (She says that in 1972 two FBI agents came to their home to question her about the FBI documents stolen from the Media, Pennsylvania, FBI office, but she refused to discuss any unpublished information and they shortly left.) Both Bagdikian and Medsger were determined to protect their respective sources, even if it meant going to jail. Both of us felt that if were subpoenaed before a grand jury, we would refuse to testify, she says.

James C. Goodale, general counsel for the Times during the Pentagon Papers case, wrote in his 2013 book, Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles, that he had prepared Sheehan and the Times for a possible prosecution. The investigation ended without their indictments, he suggested, because it would have been difficult for the Justice Department to prosecute them in Boston while simultaneously prosecuting Ellsberg in Los Angeles, and because its legal theories against them were weak.

Historian David Rudenstine wrote in his 1996 book on the Pentagon Papers case, The Day the Presses Stopped, that Attorney General Mitchell thought the government had little chance of convicting any journalist since it had already failed, in its effort to enjoin publication, to prove that publication of the papers had irreparably harmed national security. While the high court had left open the possibility that the Times and Post could face criminal prosecution for publishing the papers, he noted, Nixon may have simply wanted to avoid a legal battle with the press during his reelection campaign.

And as Wells wrote, although Nixon believed Sheehan had been part of a conspiracy involving Ellsberg, the president told his aide H.R. Bob Haldeman, You prosecute a newspaperman, youre in a difficult position.

How the Trump administration handles future leak investigations remains to be seen. But while the FBIs investigation of Bagdikian outlines the likely contours of any subsequent leak investigation, it is already clear that such inquiries will be enhanced by the digital net that now envelops much of human activity.

The Nixon administration was, meanwhile, overtaken by events. In 1971 the White House set up a secret unitlater known as the Plumbersto investigate Ellsberg, discredit him by leaking derogatory information about him to the press, and thus discourage him and others from leaking more secrets. But in 1972 the Plumbers were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate Hotel. That led to the disclosure at the Los Angeles trial of Ellsberg and Anthony Russo, his RAND colleague, that the Plumbers had burgled the office of Ellsbergs psychiatristwhich, along with other government misconduct, prompted the judge to dismiss the charges against them.

The snowballing Watergate scandal led to Nixons resignation in 1974. The Vietnam War finally endedafter the deaths of some 58,000 Americans and as many as 3 million Vietnamese, mostly civilianswith the fall of Saigon in 1975. These events might also have discouraged press prosecutions.

How the Trump administration handles future leak investigations remains to be seen. But while the FBIs investigation of Bagdikian outlines the likely contours of any subsequent leak investigationan examination of individuals who had access to information, of personal and professional communications and associations, of expenses and travelit is already clear that such inquiries will be enhanced by the digital net that now envelops much of human activity.

The Obama administration pursued nine or 10 leak prosecutions, more than those by all previous presidents combined, according to the Times. Without notice to reporters, government agents seized two months worth of phone records on more than 20 telephone lines of the Associated Press; triangulated data taken from the phone, personal email account, and security access badge of Fox News reporter James Rosen to follow his movements and characterize him as a co-conspirator for his reporting; and obtained credit card, bank, hotel, and flight records of Times reporter James Risen while they were investigating an alleged source for his book State of War, according to an account Risen wrote for The Intercept.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last year that the Justice Department was investigating about three times the number of leak investigations that were open when Obama left office. So far, three Trump prosecutions have surfaced. In the first two, NSA contract employee Reality Winner and FBI agent Terry Albury pleaded guilty. In the third, a case of alleged leaking by Senate Intelligence Committee aide James A. Wolfe, the FBI secretly obtained more than two years worth of email and phone data of reporter Ali Watkins covering the period before she joined the Times in December 2017, when she wrote for BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, and Politico. Wolfe has pleaded not guilty.

Although no reporter has been prosecuted, Trump told thenFBI director James Comey that it might be useful to jail reporters who publish classified information, according to news accounts.

Timm, of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, says that while technology has made it easier for journalists to gather information, it has also made it easier for the government to investigate their reporting activities. They must take steps to protect themselves and their sources even before they start reporting. When the government does this type of surveillance directly on reporters, that also puts all of their other sources at risk, he says, which creates a chilling effect that impedes their ability to provide information to the public, and ultimately it hurts our democracy.

In his Columbia Journalism Review article on the lessons learned from the Pentagon Papers case, Bagdikian presciently warned that although the high court had refused to block publication of the papers, the fundamental issues of government deception, official secrecy, and freedom of the press remained unresolved. The Supreme Court decision probably signalizes not the triumphant end, he wrote, but the start of a struggle.

ICYMI: Former NYT editor warns paper to be careful with Trump coverage

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Seth Rosenfeld is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco and the author of Subversives: The FBIs War on Student Radicals, and Reagans Rise to Power.President Trump kicked off the news cycle on Tuesday at about 5:30 AM, with a series of incensed tweets. What was the leader of the free world upset about now? This time it was Googles supposed rigging of search results, which Trump said was being done to ensure that fake news about him showed up at the top. Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media, he posted. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?

This theme continued in subsequent tweets, in which he alleged that 96 percent of the results for Trump News were from the left-wing media, which was very dangerous. Trump went on to tweet that Google and others were suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed! Later, in an interview, Larry Kudlow, the presidents economic adviser, said that the administration would be taking a look at whether government regulation might be necessary in order to solve the problem that Trump imagined.

The president was mistaken, of course; many of the top Google search results for the term Trump News come from Fox News, a pro-Trump outlet. (Google issued a statement denying any bias in its results.) Several reporters noted that the president seemed to be quoting statistics from a Fox Business report that had aired on Monday, which in turn relied on some dubious statistics published by PJ Media, a conservative blog network. The Fox report included an interview with Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, also known as Diamond & Silk, a pair of pro-Trump video bloggers who believe they are being censored by Facebook. (The Diamond & Silk allegations were aired in April during a Congressional hearing, which produced no actual evidence that their videos were being censored.)

What conservatives seem to be focusing on isnt censorship per se, but the actions of the algorithmic filters used by Facebook, Google, and Twitter, as they select what items to show a user given their search terms or profile (and the need for advertising revenue). The allegation is that these algorithms discriminate against conservative sources, and conservative pundits have parlayed this claim into closed-door meetings with Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, and Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter. Both executives have tried to reassure conservatives that no anti-Trump bias exists (in a recent interview with CNN, Dorsey undercut this argument somewhat by admitting that Twitter staff is largely left-leaning).

Trumps comments raise the prospect that the government could investigate algorithmic filtering and impose content neutrality rules. Is that a realistic threat? Possibly, but Trump might find it tough going if he actually tries to legislate anything. For starters, digital platforms like Google and Facebook are insulated from legal responsibility for their content by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which would have to be altered or repealed. On top of that, they are protected by an even more powerful shield: Namely, the First Amendment, which gives them the right to publish (or not publish) whatever they wish, just as it does for regular internet users.

Heres more about the platforms and their alleged censorship of right-wing voices:

A liberal slant? Trump is far from alone in his views about platform censorship. A Pew survey earlier this year found that an overwhelming majority of Republican or Republican-leaning U.S. adults  about 85 percent of those surveyed  believe social networks like Twitter and Facebook censor political content, and about 64 percent of Republicans believe that Silicon Valley in general favors liberals over conservatives.

The spark : Many believe that theories about Facebook censorship were inflamed by a 2016 Gizmodo story in which anonymous moderators said they routinely removed conservative news links from the sites Trending Topics feature. Facebook later killed the feature, but the damage was done. John Cook, a former editor of Gawker, wrote recently that he had some second thoughts about the original Gizmodo piece.

Bending over : In a meeting in July, a number of media executives complained to Facebook that they were bending over backwards for conservatives, despite the lack of any evidence the social network is suppressing right-wing content. Ben Smith, of BuzzFeed, said that the company appeared to have bought into the idea that the press is left-leaning by nature, and therefore needs to be balanced by right-wing voices.

Closed door : Jack Dorsey has met with a wide range of conservatives in an attempt to show that his service isnt biased, including closed-door meetings with Trump communications adviser Mercedes Schlapp, TV host Greta Van Susteren, and Fox News host Sean Hannity. He has also made regular trips to Washington, where he has sat down with Republican congressmen, including Senator Ted Cruz.

Shadow bans : Last month, Trump added fuel to a popular conservative conspiracy theory when he tweeted about rumors that Twitter uses shadow-banning to limit the reach of right-wing voices. The idea of shadow banning originated in early internet forums, where moderators would limit who could see a users posts, but did so without letting the user know about the limit. Twitter has denied using this practice.

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Facebook says it has banned 20 organizations and individuals in Myanmar  including the head of the countrys armed forces  because they were posting hate speech and misinformation about the Rohingya people, thousands of whom have been driven from their homes and in some cases killed. A UN report has described it as genocide, and calls Facebook a useful instrument for those seeking to sow hate.

A number of former staffers of the LA Weekly are starting what they hope will be a competitor, both in print and online. Last October, LA Weekly was sold to a little-known group of investors, who almost immediately began laying off staff. One of the owners has now sued his former partners, alleging that they have mismanaged the weekly and petitioning the court to dissolve the company.

The Verge, which is part of Vox Media, has published an updated version of Sarah Jeongs book The Internet of Garbage , which was first published in 2015, when Jeong was a writer for The Verge, but has since gone out of print. Jeong is now a technology writer for The New York Times , where her recent appointment caused some controversy after right-wing trolls dredged up some of old tweets.

A UN report on Yemen says a group of international experts who investigated the conflict there have reasonable grounds to believe that, since September 2014, parties to the conflict in Yemen have severely restricted the right to freedom of expression. Human rights defenders and journalists have faced harassment, threats and smear campaigns by the government of Yemen and coalition forces, the report says.

After struggling to survive, and laying off a number of staff, the three hyper-local news sites that are part of a collective called Spirited Media have pivoted to a subscription model, and Spirited Media founder Jim Brady says they are starting to make some headway. He tells the Nieman Lab that Bill Penn, The Incline and Denverite have a total of almost 1,500 paying members, and most have signed up as recurring subscribers.

James Ball writes for CJR about the thorny question of how journalists should report on notorious Twitter trolls such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and president Donald Trump. Musk is both a CEO and a troll, writes Ball. In going directly to the public via social media, and saying ridiculous things, hes able to shape the online conversation, circumvent some internal checks on his power, and know that theres an eager chorus of online fans online to support his position.

Politico media columnist Jack Shafer writes about what he calls the outpouring of radiant tributes from journalists who covered or had contact with former Senator John McCain, who passed away on the weekend. Journalists have long harbored a reputation for being hard-nosed cynics, writes Shafer. But as the mourning for McCain proves, scratch their surface and sentimentality runs out of them sweeter than maple sap in the spring.

ICYMI: Twitch joins the unfortunate social media club where death happens in real time

Correction: An earlier version of this newsletter said John Cook regretted publishing a Gizmodo story about Facebooks trending topics. Cook defends the publication of the story but had some second thoughts about the headline and the way the story was framed.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg.Federal agencies have completed the first high-resolution mapping of a fast-moving underwater tectonic fault that extends from Vancouver Island, Canada, to southeast Alaska.

Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey finished the comprehensive mapping of the 746-mile (1,200-kilometer) Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system, aiming to help coastal communities prepare for earthquakes and tsunamis risks with the data, the Ketchikan Daily News reported last week.

Scientists gathered an in-depth look at the sea floor from April through July along the strike-slip fault line, which is a fault that moves side to side. Using the NOAA research ship Fairweather, scientists were able to gain more insight into the fault system that lacked in-depth data, said Peter Haeussler, a research geologist with the geological survey.

The Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system is the counterpart to the San Andreas fault in California. The two faults create the boundary between the North America and Pacific tectonic plates.

Its the same plate boundary, the same two plates moving past each other  but the big difference is that the San Andreas fault is mostly on land, whereas the Queen Charlotte fault system is entirely offshore and underwater, Haeussler said.

The Queen Charlotte fault system is one of the fastest moving strike-slip faults in the world with its slip rate of more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) per year. The San Andreas fault slips up to 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) per year, according to the geological survey.

Fast-moving faults more often lead to large earthquakes than slow-moving faults, Haeussler said.

Among the uses for the new data, it will be incorporated into updates for the seismic hazard map for the state, Haeussler said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Carrying a concealed weapon, Chagrin Boulevard: At 12:50 a.m. Aug. 27, police checked on an occupied car that was parked in a lot of the closed Sprint business at 22839 Chagrin Blvd.

A man and woman were in the car. The man, 25, of Cleveland, was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon after a loaded handgun was discovered in the vehicle. The man was further cited for possessing a firearm while intoxicated and having an open container of alcohol in the car.

The woman, 24, of Cleveland, was charged with open container and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

Grand theft, Lyndway Road: At 8:15 a.m. Aug. 22, it was reported that someone stole a car -- and a check that was inside the car -- from a resident's driveway.

OVI, Interstate 271: At 3:10 a.m. Aug. 23, an officer stopped a car that was not consistently being driven within marked lanes. It was subsequently discovered that the driver, a Cleveland man, 25, was intoxicated.

The man was cited for marked lane violations and OVI.

Marijuana possession, Shaker Boulevard: At 1:25 a.m. Aug. 24, an officer stopped a car due to a turning violation and speeding.

The driver, a Shaker Heights man, 22, was cited for those offenses and for marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession, and for having an open container of alcohol in his car.

Marijuana possession, Cedar Road: At 3:15 p.m. Aug. 24, police discovered three men in a parked car in the lot of Beachwood Place mall, 26300 Cedar Road, smoking marijuana.

Two of the men were wanted on Euclid police warrants and were arrested and turned over to Euclid police. Cited for marijuana possession were a Euclid man, 22, and two Cleveland men, 22 and 24.

OVI, Chagrin Boulevard: At 12:25 a.m. Aug. 25, police arrested a Cleveland woman, 26, for not driving within marked lanes and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Aggravated vehicular assault, I-271: At 2:45 a.m. Aug. 25, a drunk man caused an accident on I-271 southbound, causing a crash that resulted in an injury.

The driver, a Mayfield Heights man, 41, was also cited for not driving within marked lanes.

Theft, Cedar Road: At 3:10 p.m. Aug. 25, police arrested a Willoughby Hills man, 24, for the theft of merchandise worth $60 from Dillard's at Beachwood Place.

OVI, Chagrin Boulevard: At 11:15 p.m. Aug. 26, police stopped a car for multiple lane violations.

The driver, a Shaker Heights man, 35, was subsequently found to be drunk. He was charged with OVI and for the lane violations, as well as for driving at too slow a speed and making an illegal turn.

Additionally, it was found that the man was wanted on two active police warrants.

OVI, Park East Drive: At 12:35 a.m. Aug. 26, a man backed his car into a parked car while in the lot of Embassy Suites, 3775 Park East Drive.

Police found the man to be drunk. He was charged with OVI.

Theft, Chagrin Boulevard:

At 4:10 p.m. Aug. 27, police arrested a Bedford woman, 35, for stealing $26 worth of goods from Giant Eagle, 24601 Chagrin Blvd.

If you would like to comment on the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- We've reached the end of Cleveland's Best Barbecue contest and the winner is a small joint that hasn't been around for very long, and operates out of a small shed -- Ol'Chefski's BBQ in Aurora. Congratulations to Ol'Chefski's BBQ!

Ol'Chefski's BBQ, located at 1199 E. Garfield Road, beat 19 other finalists to earn the title of Cleveland's Best BBQ, as voted on by cleveland.com readers. The contest began with 40 restaurants competing in the first round.

Ol'Chefski's BBQ won with 28 percent of votes, edging Blazin Bills of Burton and Sides To Go! BBQ of Macedonia.

Cleveland's Best reporters Brenda Cain, Yadi Rodriguez and Kristen Davis, along with celebrity host/comedian Mile Polk, traveled all over Northeast Ohio during this contest to taste the foods. If you are looking for some great barbecue, be sure to check out any of these Top 20 places. Click the restaurant names below to see photos and what we thought of the BBQ from our taste test.

And watch as we surprised the winner on cleveland.com's Facebook page during a visit Tuesday to Ol'Chefski's BBQ.

UPDATE: Ol Chefskis in Aurora is the Best BBQ WINNER!! Who won cleveland.coms Best BBQ contest? Our Best Of team is surprising the winner right now Posted by cleveland.com on Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Congratulations to the restaurants that made it into the Top 20 (listed in alphabetical order) Click on the names to see more about our visit.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the nomination and voting processes and a special thanks to the staffs at each restaurant for their hospitality. We were welcomed and treated like family during the visits to the 20 finalists and enjoyed meeting the owners, chefs, employees and patrons.

We had so much fun during this contest, which has lasted more than a month. We sampled all kinds of BBQ throughout the Greater Cleveland area.

Check back at cleveland.com/best this week and next week as we award superlatives, including the best ribs we tasted, the top brisket, the most delicious sides, and more.CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Unable to concur on a "prescriptive" or "aspirational" approach to open government, the Charter Review Commission has set aside a proposal to add a "Sunshine Law" provision to the city's home-rule constitution.

Also finding its way to the scrap heap was an earlier proposal to assign each of the seven at-large City Council members separate geographic districts to deal directly with residents in their neighborhoods, initially seen as a compromise to any possible ward representation.

Introducing her revised open meetings provision on Aug. 16, CRC member Carla Rautenberg noted that the charter, adopted in 1921, has been referred to as the "DNA" of the city.

"That's why I think it's so important to have the Sunshine Law in the charter," Rautenberg said of draft language proposing that the city "meet and exceed" state requirements for open meetings that date back to the post-Watergate era.

This would have included keeping minutes of all "committee-of-the-whole" meetings, although it was noted that council now records them, even after the "home-rule" charter withstood a Sunshine law challenge and appeal that the Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear.

Arguing that the city already has a "boatload of transparency," CRC Chairman Jack Newman questioned whether Rautenberg's proposal needed to be embedded in the charter.

"What conspiracies have succeeded because of the system we have?" Newman asked.

Rautenberg pointed to longstanding sewer issues that resulted in a consent decree reached last year with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violations of the Clean Water Act.

Although negotiations became confidential in recent years, amounting to a "gag order" imposed on the city, federal officials noted that EPA involvement dated back to 2007, when an Administrative Order was issued.

"The public never knew about it and we are paying for it today and will continue to do so," Rautenberg said.

Patrycia Ajdukiewicz, the only other member to vote in favor of the Rautenberg's "prescriptive" proposal being placed before voters, noted that the commission has heard a great deal from "people who want the city to be more transparent."

While she voted against Rautenberg's proposal, CRC member Jessica Cohen said that although there were issues of reconciling "home rule" with Ohio statutes, earlier public knowledge of the sewer situation could have put more pressure on the city to do something sooner.

CRC member Sarah West abstained, saying she felt it was a more of a statutory issue for council to handle by ordinance.

Fellow CRC member C. Randolph Keller agreed, predicting legal challenges with the prescriptive proposal, adding that the charter cannot be expected to fix the "disconnect with the lion's share of residents" who don't pay that much attention to city government.

Other CRC members did not want to see the elimination of council's four executive sessions, or "retreats" -- allowed to be convened each year for no specific reason other than to discuss city plans for the future or "general issues."



This led to the introduction of a more "aspirational" charter provision -- similar to what's included in Lakewood's city charter -- with the expectation that the city will follow the principles of open government.

"What's the point of 'aspirational?'" Rautenberg asked. "We should be looking for something stronger than an expectation -- it should be a requirement."

She and two other members wound up abstaining, and the aspirational provision remained deadlocked at four votes apiece.

As for the "district proposal" discussed earlier in the summer, CRC facilitator Larry Keller said last week that "it was not voted on -- it just lost support as many seemed to realize it may be difficult to set up and burdensome on members of council."

Several of the 14 remaining commission members expressed interest in the idea, which Larry Keller has brought up in the past, although he noted that Cleveland Heights may have been the first to propose it to voters.



"I drafted a provision for districts, and seeing it in writing had an effect," Keller said in an email. "I think many liked the basic idea, but the implementation was perceived as not easy."

Under the draft, council members would have held monthly meetings with constituents after being assigned a specific district for one-year terms.

On Aug. 16, the commission also discussed the city manager's position, including the possibility of changing the name of the title to "City Executive."

But after months of debating whether to keep the "City Manager-Council" form of government and deciding to do so over a "strong mayor" proposal, CRC members opted to eliminate any confusion for residents.

Since first convening last November, Keller noted that the commission has now covered the first four articles in the charter -- with the exception of the appointment process for council vacancies.

This may be one of the topics covered at Thursday's (Aug. 30) meeting, beginning at 7 p.m. in City Hall, although the commission may hold off until after an upcoming discussion with officials from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

And there may be further discussion of a "possible provision on open government," according to the agenda.



All proposals from the CRC have to be forwarded to City Council for consideration of possible placement on the ballot as potential charter amendments.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would hear a case and review whether the city of Cleveland has to pay a $13.2 million verdict to a wrongfully convicted man.

The case is significant to tens of thousands of Ohio employees who work for local, county and municipal governments, according to a court filing by an attorney for plaintiff David Ayers. It also is important for people who sue local police or other government bodies for wrongdoing, the court filing says.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to take up the case, with Justices Pat DeWine, Sharon Kennedy and Terence O'Donnell dissenting.

The question stems from a lawsuit filed by Ayers, a former Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority security officer who spent 11 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Jurors decided in March 2013 that former Cleveland police detectives Denise Kovach and Michael Cipo were liable for Ayers' wrongful murder conviction. They awarded Ayers $13.2 million.

The city of Cleveland was originally named in Ayers' lawsuit but was dismissed before trial. However, city attorneys represented both officers at the civil trial.

The city has tried to avoid footing the $13.2 million bill. It hired an attorney to help Cipo and Kovach file for bankruptcy.

Cipo died in 2013 but the an attorney filed for bankruptcy on Kovach's behalf. A bankruptcy judge later discharged the judgment, along with Kovach's other debts.

Ayers then sued the city to force it to pay. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Robert McClelland ruled in October 2016 that the city must pay, but the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals reversed him in a 2-1 ruling.

The appeals court said it is the duty of the employee who was sued, not the person who sued, to ask the city to pay a judgment.

The Ohio Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether a plaintiff can ask a government to indemnify an employee, or if that right is solely with the government employee being sued.

Ruth Brown, a Chicago attorney representing Ayers, wrote in an Aug. 9 court filing that letting the appeals court's decision to stand will mean that Ayers "will remain destitute as he faces the challenges that come with life after a decade of wrongful incarceration."

It also would lead to more litigation, as employees seeking indemnification for other judgments would have to hire attorneys and sue the city, or the plaintiffs would file additional lawsuits to obtain their money.

"Taxpayers will foot the bill for unnecessary judicial resources and litigation expenses on one (or both) sides of the case," Brown wrote. She added in an interview that requiring an employee to ask for indemnification is a disservice to the employee, as it can make their work environment worse.

She said governments almost always indemnify employees subjected to litigation.

Spokesman Dan Williams said the city does not comment on pending litigation.

Ayers, now 61, was arrested in 1999 in the beating death of Dorothy Brown, 76, who lived in a housing authority high-rise in Cleveland. He was convicted at trial based primarily on the testimony of a jailhouse informant and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ayers denied confessing to the murder or even talking to the informant. He filed numerous appeals until he finally prevailed in 2011, when DNA tests proved that a single pubic hair found in Dorothy Brown's mouth did not come from him.

Ayers' lawyers argued in the civil trial that anti-gay sentiments caused the two detectives to frame their client, who is gay, despite evidence that Dorothy Brown was also sexually assaulted.

Dorothy Brown's body was found naked from the waist down, and her top pulled up, exposing her chest.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments section.FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- A 64-year-old Cleveland man was arrested for disorderly conduct while intoxicated after dancing around a Fairview Park shopping center, sitting inside a stranger's car and pouring fabric softener over himself, police say.

Fairview Park police were called Saturday at about 7:40 p.m. to Five Below at the Westgate shopping center after a customer found a man in her backseat after returning to her car, police said.

She yelled at him and the man ran away.

Officers scoured the neighborhood, but couldn't find him. Police received another call about 20 minutes later from someone claiming that a man with a similar description who was "dancing" outside of Chipotle.

Police said the man showed obvious signs of intoxication. He told officers that he had drank "a few 24 ouncers" behind Key Bank.

He had also doused himself with fabric softener "because his clothes were dirty."

He also admitted to having been in the woman's car earlier, saying he thought it was his own car, police said. He later admitted that he has not had a car for a long time.

The man was arrested for disorderly conduct while intoxicated and was held until sober.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comment section.CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Indians announced its gameday staff has undergone training to be certified as sensory inclusive through the nonprofit KultureCity.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based group has created sensory-inclusive venues and events including the Super Bowl, as well as more than two dozen arenas, stadiums and other public spaces.

The Indians gameday staff, which include ambassadors and fan-services employees, have been trained to recognize fans with sensory needs and how to handle a sensory overload situation.

Sensory challenges often are experienced by those with autism, dementia, PTSD and similar conditions. Noise and overstimulation can trigger the anxiety.

With the certification, the Indians say Progressive Field is better prepared to assist guests with sensory sensitivities.

Sensory bags equipped with noise-canceling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards and weighted lap pads will be available for anyone who might feel overwhelmed by the environment. Fan Services is behind the Home Plate Club near section 153 in the lower concourse.

Sensory-awareness promotions in minor-league ballparks have been held for several seasons. In the Class AA Eastern League, the Erie SeaWolves have held annual sensory-friendly games in conjunction with the Autism Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania. The Akron RubberDucks have sensory areas for those with special needs at Canal Park.LYNDHURST, Ohio -- Assist person, Thornbury Road: At 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23, a woman called police to ask for assistance. The woman, calling from a west side hospice, said she was awaiting delivery to her home of tickets, wristbands and stickers for the Lost Lands Music Festival taking place in September in Thornville, Ohio.

She learned, however, that the items were delivered to an incorrect address. An acquaintance of the woman went to the home where the package was delivered and asked the resident for the package.

The Thornbury Road man who answered the door said he was aware of what was in the package and, rather than just turn it over to the woman, he asked her what it was worth to her for him to return the package.

Police went to the man's house and persuaded him to turn over the package to the Police Department. The complainant then picked up the package from the police station.

Assist person, Richmond Road: At 4:10 p.m. Aug. 25, a man went to the police station to report that he had bought a pair of shoes for $400 from an employee of CVS/Pharmacy, 1443 Richmond Road, and that he later suspected they were counterfeit footwear.

Police told the man his issue was a civil matter. The man said he was going to go back to the store and speak with the employee about getting back his money. Police told the man to call for assistance should his request result in trouble.

Invalid driver's license, Mayfield Road: At 11:05 p.m. Aug. 24, police stopped a car that was being driven without activated headlights. The driver, a Cleveland woman, 27, was found to be driving without a valid driver's license.

The woman was cited and walked away from the scene. The woman had power of attorney over the car she was driving, which is owned by an acquaintance who was in the hospital.

Traffic complaint, Meadow Wood Boulevard: At 3:10 a.m. Aug. 24, police were informed about a car that was stopped in the road. The car's driver was asleep.

Police found that the driver, a Maple Heights man, 30, who spoke little English, was not intoxicated, just tired.

An officer took the man to the police station and a Mayfield Heights police officer who was on duty and who speaks Russian was called to the Lyndhurst police station to translate.

The man contacted a friend, who then picked him up. No charges were filed.

Theft, Mayfield Road: At 12:15 p.m. Aug. 21, a representative of Aldi grocery store, 5144 Mayfield Road, reported that two men had left the store without paying for a cart full of groceries. The men left the store's lot in a car heading east on Mayfield Road.

The suspects were not apprehended.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.AKRON, Ohio -- One person is dead and another wounded in a shooting Tuesday night at a barbershop in the North Hill neighborhood, police say.

The shooting at John's Barbershop, 226 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave., was reported just before 7 p.m.

When officers arrived, they found a male inside the barbershop dead of a gunshot wound, police say.

Another 33-year-old male was shot in the leg but managed to get out of the shop, police say. He was taken to Western Reserve Hospital in unknown condition.

Police are not releasing the name of the man killed until family members can be notified.

Police did not say if any arrests were made or if they have a motive for the shooting. It remains under investigation.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comment section.CLEVELAND, Ohio - An activist group from Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood presented 170 petitions Tuesday asking Cuyahoga County officials to extend until Sept. 30 the period in which they can informally dispute their property valuations.

The deadline to informally dispute values is set to expire Friday.

County Fiscal Officer Dennis Kennedy told the crowd of around 100 people that the county is looking at the possibility of extending the deadline, but said that doing so would likely delay other parts of the reappraisal process.

A county spokeswoman said prior to the meeting that the county is not considering an extension of the deadline but that officials would read the petitions "cover to cover."

Henry Senyak, activist and author of the petition, handed copies of the signed petitions to County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell and City Councilman Kerry McCormack, whose districts include Ohio City and Tremont.

Tuesday's gathering was organized by former U.S. Rep. Mary Rose Oakar to allow residents mostly from Tremont and two other West Side neighborhoods - Ohio City and Detroit-Shoreway - to air their concerns about higher property values assigned during this year's reappraisal.

Values assigned to homes in portions of Tremont and Ohio City increased on average as much as 71 and 91 percent, respectively, while values for the West Side as a whole increased by an average of 11.2 percent, according to a cleveland.com analysis.

Some residents told Kennedy on Tuesday that they feared they would no longer be able to afford to pay their property taxes because of the higher values assigned to their homes.

The petitions also asked the county to waive the need to obtain an independent appraisal as part of the dispute process, or help residents pay for those appraisals if they are not able to afford them. Independent appraisals are one of several documents that the county recommended residents use to informally dispute higher property values.

The informal-dispute process is the first step that property owners can take in seeking a reduction in their valuations. Formal disputes must be filed next year through the Board of Revision.Todd Gauntner

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio -- A Euclid officer is on paid administrative leave after he pulled out a gun during a fight with two men at a Willoughby bar, police said.

Todd Gauntner, 32, is charged with using a weapon while under intoxication in an incident that happened early Friday morning, Willoughby police said.

Authorities said Gauntner and two other men -- Dustin Wolf, 28, and Bradley Peterson, 39 -- got into an argument that turned into a physical brawl.

Police went about 1 a.m. to Frank and Tony's Place on 2nd Street to investigate a report of a large fight involving several men. A bartender told the investigators that someone pulled out a gun and put it to someone's head, according to a police report. He did not use his department-issued gun in the incident, the report says.

The bartender said the men fought behind the bar and broke bottles and other items, police said. Employees at the bar tried to break up the fight before police arrived.

The bartender can be heard crying on a 911 call saying a man with a white shirt had a gun and that he pointed at someone's head.

Gauntner suffered minor scratches to his face. He was arrested and placed in the Willoughby city jail, police said.

Police initially cited Wolf and Peterson with disorderly conduct and were allowed to leave the bar. Those charges were dropped, but both are now charged in warrants with assault, and investigators have accused them of being the aggressors in the fight.

Gauntner is a four-year veteran of the Euclid Police Department once honored for saving the life of a man shot 16 times, but Gauntner's negative attention dates back to 2016.

Cleveland.com has requested a copy of Gauntner's personnel file.

He pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm in an incident that happened Thanksgiving at Sims Park in Euclid. A Euclid Municipal Court judge ordered him to pay a $235 fine and to attend counseling in that incident. Euclid police suspended him for 90 days as they conducted an internal investigation.

Gauntner has been placed on paid administrative leave following Friday's incident as the department conducts an internal investigation to determine if he broke policy, Euclid Lt. Mitch Houser said.

If it is determined Gauntner violated department rules and regulations the most Euclid police officials can do is suspend him for two weeks without pay, Houser said. Harsher punishment would have to come from Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer, who also serves as the city's public safety director.

Gaunter is scheduled to appear in Willoughby Municipal Court Thursday at 8:15 a.m. for an arraignment.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesday's crime and courts comment section.MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- It has been a tough couple of weeks for longtime Middleburg Heights Mayor Gary Starr.

By a 4-3 vote last week, City Council hired special legal counsel Joe Diemert and Associates to make sure council receives legal documents and law firm invoices that are unobscured by redactions from Starr and his administration.

City Council wants specifics on what legal actions the city is taking and where the money is going.

Former Police Chief John Maddox sued Starr and the city in January. He wants unused sick time pay and also claims defamation and retaliation by Starr. The redacted documents relate to that case and also to investigations purportedly undertaken by Starr about Maddox.

WKYC investigative reporter Tom Meyer aired a story Aug. 21 that directed attention to a $10,000 SACS Consulting invoice that included $2,800 for an "undisclosed investigation." He also mentioned that interim Safety Director John Ligato lives in North Carolina while holding the Middleburg Heights position.

In response to a cleveland.com request, Starr provided a prepared statement Tuesday afternoon.

"The services performed related directly to an investigation regarding jail inspections, and they were protected by attorney-client privilege," Starr said about the redactions.

Special counsel Joe Diemert spoke with cleveland.com on Tuesday and took issue with Starr's explanation.

"Middleburg Heights is the named defendant (in the Maddox lawsuit), and as a result, Middleburg Heights is the mayor, the City Council and all the elected and appointed officials," Diemert said. "So, City Council is equal to the mayor as far as being part of the city. As a client, they have a right to get all un-redacted materials relative to everything."

Ligato indeed lives in North Carolina, but Starr said he stays with a family member in Fairview Park while performing his duties.

Meyer televised a second report Aug. 22 about a 2014 Loomis armored truck theft that occurred while Starr's son, Peter, was the driver on duty. The missing $20,000 was never recovered. Peter was cleared of any wrongdoing.

That issue emerged after Peter's name appeared several times in a deposition contained in the Maddox-Starr lawsuit. Maddox alleged that the mayor sought to eliminate the Police Department polygraph test because Peter wanted to become a Middleburg Heights officer.

Starr maintained Tuesday that he had "nothing to do" with his son's pursuit of the job.

"He followed the same procedures as every other applicant ... but he was not selected," Starr said in his email. "At no time did I advocate that the polygraph requirement for police job applicants be dropped. In fact, I advocated for enhanced polygraph testing and other new methods for screening applicants."

The Maddox-Starr lawsuit was scheduled to go to mediation on Wednesday.Featured stories

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Trumpism, progressivism triumph in Tuesday's primaries as key November races take shape (ABC News)

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Student arrested for throwing classmate's 'Make America Great Again' hat, slapping teacher (USA Today)

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French and British fishing boats clash in scallop war skirmish (The Guardian)

Breaking with Trump, UK's May endorses South African land reform (The Hill)COLUMBUS, Ohio--Twenty-nine people at a state prison near Chillicothe were treated for symptoms of a drug overdose Wednesday, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Police and medical personnel were called to the Ross Correctional Institution shortly after 9 a.m. to treat an inmate who appeared to be overdosing, a Highway Patrol release stated. When they arrived, 28 others - 23 correctional officers, four nurses, and another inmate - were found to have been exposed to the drug, the release stated.

The overdosing inmate, whose name was not released, was administered the anti-overdose drug naloxone and transported to the hospital, according to the Highway Patrol. The Highway Patrol didn't release his health status as of Wednesday afternoon.

The affected prison employees, meanwhile, were transported to the Adena Regional Medical Center for treatment. All of the officers and nurses are stable, and some have been discharged from the hospital, according to the release.

The other inmate was treated at the scene; his health status wasn't released.

The Highway Patrol stated it is still working to identify the drug, though naloxone is specifically used to counter opioid overdoses. Fentanyl, an opioid that can be 50 times more powerful than heroin, can harm or kill people who simply come into contact with it.

In addition, more than 30 inmates in the affected cell block were evacuated to other parts of the prison, the release stated. A high school adjacent to the prison has also been put on lockdown out of caution, according to the Chillicothe Gazette.

A hazardous material unit has been dispatched to clean the affected cell block, according the Highway Patrol.

Ross Correctional Institution is a medium-security prison that houses about 2,000 male inmates and employs about 500 people.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio's top judge is calling a November ballot proposal a "hidden disaster."

Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor says in an op-ed released Tuesday that passage of Issue 1 could result in Ohio having some of the most lenient drug laws in the country, making the state a potential magnet for substance abuse activity.

The constitutional amendment would reduce purchase, possession or use of a host of drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and LSD, from felony to misdemeanor offenses, among other things. Jail time couldn't be imposed until the third offense.

O'Connor, a Republican and former prosecutor, predicts that Issue 1 would severely hamper the effective use of Ohio's drug court programs to reduce drug abuse and addiction.

Supporters argue cost savings could support drug treatment and crime victim compensation.Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- All states today worry about the coming of the machines - the artificial intelligence revolution. Ohio more than most other states has already seen much of the potential for automation changing the face of employment. The answer for the future is investing in "automation insurance" - quality education.

History has previously seen large changes in employment. Much has been made of the Industrial Revolution that displaced large numbers of workers in England. U.S. agriculture, once the dominant employment sector, has seen new technologies lead to mammoth out-movement of people even while maintaining total output. Changes in manufacturing productivity did that same over the last half of the 20th century. And now artificial intelligence, robotics, and the replacement of routine jobs with machines suggest new upheaval on the horizon.

In all of the historical radical changes in employment, two things have been constant. First, there are great short-term costs to individuals caught in the affected sectors. Second, reductions in demand for workers in those sectors have been met by expansions in other industries.

Is the current onslaught of automation different from these past changes? It may be quicker, and it may be deeper in in its incidence. But it is opening up a variety of new and often unanticipated other opportunities, and there is little reason to expect this period of change to differ qualitatively from those in the past.

Ohio and other states in the region may be in the vanguard of change. Growth in GDP per capita in Ohio has been in the bottom five for states since 1970. The bottom 15 growth states include Michigan (dead last), West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Pennsylvania,

Whether these states recover from the robot shock or not will depend on the skills of the population. We know that the people who weather these employment shocks - and who benefit from them - are those who are most adaptable to economic changes. We also know that those who are most adaptable are those with better education. These are the people who have the cognitive skills to deal with new situations and new problems.

Ohio is actually pretty well-positioned. The performance of Ohio students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, or the "Nation's Report Card") indicates that Ohio schools are providing the sound basic skills that can be developed into the talent to adapt. Eighth-graders in Ohio placed 11th in state rankings for math in 2017. Moreover, this represents an improvement over the past half dozen years.

The challenge for Ohio is to build upon these schools. Ohio must expand the completion of high-quality secondary schooling, and it must carry these students into completion of post-secondary schooling.

Historical patterns of growth of state incomes shows that the skills of a state's labor force are key to long-run development. Right now, because of the sluggishness of the Ohio economy over the past decades, some of the best Ohio students leave for employment opportunities in other states. Nonetheless, students educated in Ohio will still be the vast majority of future workers in Ohio. Thus, schools in Ohio remain key to the future of the Ohio economy.

By historical patterns, if Ohio could bring its average students up to the levels seen in Massachusetts or Minnesota, it could expect average GDP per capita (compared to a no-improvement economy) to be some 5.5 percent larger over the remainder of the century. The gains do not come immediately, but they clearly justify taking actions now to improve the Ohio of the future.

The only way both for individuals and for the state of Ohio to prepare for the changing economy of AI is to have a population with the skills to adapt to the upcoming economic challenges.

Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He will be addressing Ohio's mayors and community leaders Sept. 10 at a forum at The Ohio State University, where he will focus on school quality and how it relates to educational attainment and economic vitality. Participation in the Ohio Educational Attainment Summit is by invitation for Ohio mayors, chamber of commerce and business leaders. Others will be wait-listed and admitted as space permits.SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- As the city continues to investigate the rooftop fire at Fernway Elementary School, the Shaker Heights School District has hired an architect with the intent to rebuild.

"The investigation continues and we are getting close to wrapping up in the next couple of weeks," Mayor David Weiss told City Council on Monday (Aug. 27). "The chief and his staff are working diligently and there are lots of pieces and parts coming together on that."

After hearing proposals from four different architects earlier this month, a district panel last week selected Van Auken Akins Architects to "essentially rebuild" Fernway following the July 10 fire that has closed the school for at least a year.

The panel also selected a proposal from Robison Building Analysis to complete a limited post-fire damage assessment and structural analysis of the limestone in the historic building.

In addition to support from Cleveland State University associate professor and Fernway parent Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, public adjusters from the Alex N. Sill Company served as technical advisers, and will notify the insurance company of the district's architectural selection.

"The work of VAAA begins immediately, with more information about the design and construction process to be provided as it develops," a school district press release stated.

School district spokesman Scott Stephens added Tuesday that a general contractor will soon be hired, as well, with a temporary roof to be installed and in place by mid-September.

District officials also thanked the city for working with them on additional parking around the buildings that are part of the "Shared Schools Plan" for 2018-19, involving Boulevard, Onaway and Woodbury elementary schools.

Weiss noted that the city has reorganized some on-street parking, including the "triangle area" by Boulevard, along with other parts of Southington and Woodbury roads, as well as South Park and West Park boulevards.

Stephens added that two parking lots at Shaker High School could be reopening this week, after having been closed for repairs.

Councilman Earl Williams asked about any psychological impact on Fernway students being assigned to different buildings.

Weiss recounted hearing a story on the local affiliate National Public Radio station in which students who had never ridden on a school bus were interviewed.

"They sounded like they were having a grand old time," Weiss said, noting that teachers and staff were riding the buses with them to provide a familiar and friendly face to help with the adjustment.SOLON, Ohio -- Legal teams have squared off in final written arguments filed with the Ohio Supreme Court over the immediate fate of a ballot initiative for the Kerem Lake winery development.



The state's high court will now decide whether the initiative petition seeking rezoning for a mixed-use development will appear on the ballot Nov. 6 or sometime beyond that.

Supporters of the development proposal, who gathered 870 valid signatures to put the measure before voters, accuse the city of "delay tactics" by subjecting their request to a "more protracted procedure for its placement on the ballot than other initiative-proposed zoning ordinances."

In turn, the city maintains that Solon officials "fully and completely complied with each and every clear legal duty required of them" and that supporters have no one to blame but themselves for not making it to the November ballot.

City Law Director Tom Lobe told council two days before the Aug. 8 filing deadline set by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections that it was justified in giving the rezoning request three readings, as opposed to passing it as an emergency measure on first reading.

Lobe said the Ohio Revised Code and the city charter both state that council may waive the three-reading rule, but is not required to do so.

"(Both sides) agree on one thing: 'The Solon City Charter is clear and speaks for itself,'" attorneys Jordan Berns and Majeed G. Makhlouf argue in their Aug. 27 reply to the city's merit brief, filed last week.

For their part, Lobe, Assistant City Law Director Lon Stolarsky and co-counsel Todd Cipollo counter that "one fact is beyond dispute -- at the City Council caucus on May 21, it became apparent that the Kerem Lake process was not moving through the review without complications."

Some of those issues involved outcry from residents of the neighboring Thornbury subdivision, also zoned single-family residential, as is the 102-acre property that was purchased by Yisrael Harris, CEO of BNH Enterprises Corp.

The development company approached the city with a proposal to create the mixed-use district along the 20-acre man-made lake that was created when the previous owner installed a dam in the early 1990s.

While the number of units remains unspecified, BNH spokesman Alan Melamed has said the maximum number sought through this petition initiative would be capped at 500 dwellings -- and probably fewer than that -- targeted at young professionals and empty nesters.

There is also a small amount of commercial zoning being sought, as well as a boutique hotel.

Berns and Makhlouf also say that the city is incorrectly labeling their proposal as "spot zoning," arguing in part that there is too much land involved.

Attorneys for the city also address a late-breaking request on behalf of the BNH petitioners to strike down Solon's "home ward veto" provision as unconstitutional.

"They have raised a new and novel argument that was not part of their original complaint or petition," city attorneys said, calling it an "end run" to circumvent review in Ohio's lower courts, where the home ward veto has been upheld in the past.

The provision requires that rezoning issues must pass not only on a citywide basis, but in the ward where the change is being proposed. In this case, that would be Ward Three, also home to the Thornbury subdivision.

Aside from being brought up in the middle of litigation, city attorneys further argue that it should not be addressed by the state Supreme Court because it was already upheld by the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals in a 1993 case involving Seven Hills.

Also cited is a case in which the Hawthorne Valley Country Club unsuccessfully tried to sue Solon over its "home ward veto" after the fact in 2008.

The petitioners seeking the high court order also accuse City Council of "usurping" the duties of Finance Director Matt Rubino and preventing the issue from being placed on the Nov. 6 ballot.

"(Council is) contending that it has the sole power to place the proposed (Kerem Lake rezoning) ordinance on the ballot according to a schedule that it sets at its whim" and contrary to past practice, the petitioners argue.

City attorneys maintain that if the petitions had been filed sooner, council could have given them the three readings that would have gotten the measure to the county Board of Elections by the Aug. 8 filing deadline.

As for BNH's abandonment of the rezoning route through the City Planning Commission -- which tabled the matter on May 29 -- city attorneys say that any arguments of timing on that track are "speculative."

Attorneys for the BNH petitioners have also accused the city of "delaying submission to the electorate in an apparent attempt to gain an advantage for those who are opposed to it by forcing the measure on an off-year ballot with lower voter turnout."



City attorneys argued that "if courts should not examine the motives of (legislative bodies) that waive the three-reading requirement, they should give similar, if not greater, deference to Solon City Council, who chose to follow that rule."

It remains unclear what the timetable will be for the Supreme Court as it reviews all of the material before rendering a decision.

But Melamed noted earlier that military ballots are set to be mailed out Sept. 22 -- 45 days prior to the Nov. 6 election.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Allegiant Air, the low-cost carrier that launched 11 new destinations from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in 2017, has quietly cut the number of cities it serves from Cleveland by more than half.

A spokesman for Allegiant, however, said the reductions are temporary, while the airline transitions to a new fleet of airplanes.

Still on the route map from Cleveland: service to St. Pete-Clearwater, Orlando Sanford, Jacksonville and Punta Gorda, all in Florida; and Savanah-Hilton Head in Georgia.

Gone for now: service to Fort Lauderdale and Destin, Florida; Austin, New Orleans, Phoenix and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Some of the destinations that remain on the books have infrequent and irregular service. The route to Jacksonville, for example, is on hiatus until February; service to Orlando Sanford will take a break during December and January.

Said Allegiant spokesman Andrew Porrello: "After double checking with our planning team, I can confirm that none of the routes are scheduled to be permanently cut or eliminated. They are instead seasonally suspended and we look forward to bringing them back in the future."

He could not say, however, when they would return.

Allegiant was the target of a stinging report last spring by "60 Minutes," which focused on the carrier's questionable safety record. Of particular concern: the airline's reliance on an aging fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 planes, which are expensive to maintain and have been involved in a number of high-profile, in-flight incidents.

Porrello confirmed that the airline is phasing out those airplanes by the end of 2018. To make that possible, the carrier is buying up and renting new and used Airbus jets to replace them. "This has created temporary constraints as we retire our MD-80s and induct new Airbus," said Porrello.

Cleveland is not the only airport affected by these equipment issues. In June, Allegiant was forced to cancel dozens of flights to and from Florida and Las Vegas because of aircraft shortages.

At the same time, the airline is still adding new service. Allegiant announced last week that it would start flying from Albany, New York, this winter to three Florida destinations.

Allegiant, which launched in Cleveland in February 2017, has faced stiff competition at Hopkins. The airline overlaps several routes - to Orlando, Tampa, New Orleans, Austin and Phoenix, among others -- with Frontier and Spirit airlines, two other low-cost carriers that have grown at Hopkins in recent years.

The airline has an unusual business model, targeting leisure travelers almost exclusively with infrequent service - twice or three times a week - to popular vacation destinations.

According to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics, Allegiant's load factor - that is, the percentage of seats that are filled - was 79.44 percent in 2017 and 83.8 percent for the first five months of 2018.Another employee said the group appeared to be constructive and inclusive of different political viewpoints. Mr. Amerige did not respond to requests for comment.

The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who said its online posts were offensive to minorities. One engineer, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, said several people had lodged complaints with their managers about FB'ers for Political Diversity and were told that it had not broken any company rules.

Since the post went up, more than 100 Facebook employees have joined Mr. Amerige to form an online group called FB'ers for Political Diversity, according to two people who viewed the group's page and who were not authorized to speak publicly. The aim of the initiative, according to Mr. Amerige's memo, is to create a space for ideological diversity within the company.

"We are a political monoculture that's intolerant of different views," Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the post, which was obtained by The New York Times. "We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack  often in mobs  anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology."

The post went up quietly on Facebook 's internal message board last week. Titled "We Have a Problem With Political Diversity," it quickly took off inside the social network.

The activity is a rare sign of organized dissent within Facebook over the company's largely liberal workplace culture. While the new group is just a sliver of Facebook's work force of more than 25,000, the company's workers have in the past appeared less inclined than their peers at other tech companies to challenge leadership, and most have been loyalists to its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.

But over the past two years, Facebook has undergone a series of crises, including the spread of misinformation by Russians on its platform and the mishandling of users' data. Facebook has also been accused of stifling conservative speech by President Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, among others. This month, the social network barred the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a move that critics seized on as further evidence that the company harbors an anti-conservative bias.

Within Facebook, several employees said, people have argued over the decisions to ban certain accounts while allowing others. At staff meetings, they said, some workers have repeatedly asked for more guidance on what content the company disallows, and why. Others have said Facebook, out of fear of being seen as biased, has let too many right-wing groups flourish on the site.

The dispute over employees' political ideology arose a week before Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, is scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing about social media manipulation in elections. A team helping Ms. Sandberg get ready for the hearing next Wednesday has warned her that some Republican lawmakers may raise questions about Facebook and biases, according to two people involved in the preparations.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again brought up the issue of bias by tech companies with tweets attacking Google. In remarks later in the day, he widened his focus to include Twitter and Facebook.

Those companies "better be careful because you can't do that to people," Mr. Trump said. "I think that Google, and Twitter and Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful. It is not fair to large portions of the population."

Facebook has long been viewed as a predominantly liberal company. Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg have donated to Democratic politicians, for example, and have supported issues such as immigration reform.

The social network has sometimes struggled to integrate conservatives into its leadership. Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, the maker of virtual reality goggles that Facebook acquired, was pressured to leave the company last year, months after news spread that he had secretly donated to an organization dedicated to spreading anti-Hillary Clinton internet memes. And Peter Thiel, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has faced calls for his resignation from Facebook's board.

Mr. Zuckerberg publicly defended Mr. Thiel last year, saying that he valued Mr. Thiel and that it was important to maintain diversity on the board. In an appearance before Congress this year, Mr. Zuckerberg responded to a question about anticonservative bias by saying he wanted Facebook to "be a platform for all ideas."

In May, Facebook announced that former Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, would lead an inquiry into allegations of anticonservative bias on the social network. New employees also go through training that describes how to have respectful conversations about politics and diversity.

Other Silicon Valley companies, including Google, have also experienced a wave of employee activism over diversity. If tech companies are willing to adjust their workplaces to make underrepresented groups more welcome, some employees argue, they should extend the same regard to those who do not fit the liberal-leaning Silicon Valley mold.

Mr. Amerige, who started working at Facebook in 2012, said on his personal website that he followed philosophical principles laid out by the philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. He posted the 527-word memo about political diversity at Facebook on Aug. 20.

On issues like diversity and immigration, he wrote, "you can either keep quiet or sacrifice your reputation and career."

Mr. Amerige proposed that Facebook employees debate their political ideas in the new group  one of tens of thousands of internal groups that cover a range of topics  adding that this debate would better equip the company to host a variety of viewpoints on its platform.

"We are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people's stories, ideas and commentary," Mr. Amerige wrote. "Congress doesn't think we can do this. The president doesn't think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism."Vulnerable incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., a lawmaker who has felt the wrath of the extensive Koch network with over $5 million spent against her so far throughout the election cycle, is about to see yet another blitz from the same organization.

Americans for Prosperity announced on Wednesday that they will be launching their new efforts against the Democrats running in Wisconsin, Tennessee and Missouri.

The political network funded by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch is unleashing a multimillion-dollar television and digital ad campaign against three Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in the 2018 congressional midterm elections.

Americans for Prosperity is dedicating $820,000 to its first TV ad in the Wisconsin Senate race, calling for voters to support Baldwin's Republican opponent, Leah Vukmir, a nurse and a member of the state Senate. The ad claims Vukmir has supported middle-class tax cuts while Baldwin voted against the GOP tax bill and backed a $1.3 trillion spending bill.

Another Koch-backed group, the Concerned Veterans for America, is dishing out over $800,000 toward an ad arguing that Baldwin, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, doesn't do enough to support veterans.

"With nearly 400,000 veterans living in Wisconsin, and a VA that has been riddled with scandal, our veterans need a strong voice for them in Congress," Dan Caldwell, CVA executive director, said in a press release. "Baldwin's absence and lack of attention at critical moments shows she is not that voice," he added.

For CVA, this is the second campaign against Baldwin since last month, when they published a nearly $1 million ad titled "Empty Chair" which depicts the Wisconsin senator as someone who skips committee hearings and doesn't make enough efforts for veterans.

Baldwin's campaign cited Vukmir's connection to the American Legislative Exchange Council, an entity funded by the Koch's, as the real reason for the billionaire financiers support.

"The Koch brothers are continuing to attack Tammy Baldwin because they know ALEC national board member Leah Vukmir will do their bidding," Bill Neidhart, spokesman for the campaign, said in a statement.

Meanwhile Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn could get a boost from Americans for Prosperity in her quest to become Tennessee's next senator. The Koch group is preparing to spend $2 million on a TV and digital ad against her opponent, former Gov. Phil Bredesen.

The ad calls on voters to turn against Bredesen due to a record that AFP says reflects a push for higher state taxes as governor and spending $9 million of taxpayers' money on revamping the governor's mansion.

The Koch network announced their support for Blackburn earlier in the year.

The Bredesen campaign responded to the attack by citing the former governors record on balancing the states budget without enacting an income tax or raising sales taxes.

"Governor Bredesen balanced eight budgets without imposing an income tax or increasing the sales tax on Tennessee families," Alyssa Hansen, press secretary for the Bredesen campaign, said. "He also worked diligently with the legislature to raise the tobacco tax to fund education and to close corporate tax loopholes that were siphoning resources away from public safety, health care, education, and other priorities," she added.

Bredsen's team also published a counter response on Wednesday through a digital ad title "The Attacks Have Started."

Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is also getting a taste of the Koch ad campaign. AFP is launching a $2.1 million ad, bashing her vote for President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and her husband's business dealings that led him to reportedly acquire $131 million.

"It's time to change our Senator," the McCaskill attack ad concludes.

The Baldwin and McCaskill races are marked as toss-ups by Larry Sabato's nonpartisan Crystal Ball.

The move by the Koch network to bash Democrats going into the final three months of the midterm elections comes after the network's leadership announced at their donor summit in Colorado Springs in July that they were open to supporting them.

"I know this is uncomfortable," Emily Seidel, the chief executive officer of Americans for Prosperity, told a group of donors at the time. "If you are a Democrat and stand up to [Sen.] Elizabeth Warren to corral enough votes for financial reform that breaks barriers for community banks and families, you're darn right we will work with you."

Charles Koch himself said he hopes to see people in power who will back policies that will "move toward a society, mutual benefit, equal rights, where everybody has the opportunity to realize their full potential." He added: "I don't care what initials are in front or after somebody's name."

Yet that acknowledgment by Koch set off a firestorm between his organization and the Trump White House.

After the summit, President Donald Trump responded on Twitter, calling the Koch network "a total joke," while Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon warned those candidates who accept Koch money will be punished.If you're expecting a major pay increase this year, don't hold your breath. In fact, more than half of Americans polled did not receive a salary boost in 2016 despite a competitive hiring market, according to a 2017 Bankrate survey. Those who did receive an automatic yearly raise didn't fare much better. Last year, U.S. salaries increased by a mere 2.8 percent and this percentage is expected to hold steady in 2018. For reference, the average millennial salary is $35,592. A 2.8 percent raise comes out to just under $1,000  and that's before taxes. In light of this, it's imperative that you take charge of your salary, especially if you haven't seen a pay increase in more than a year. A good place to start is by assessing potential reasons your salary isn't budging, says Kat Cohen, CEO and founder of educational and career consulting firm IvyWise.

1. You didn't ask

Salaries often stall because young professionals are too timid to ask for higher pay, says Cohen, but even top performers may not receive a salary bump without asking for it. Although this conversation can be intimidating, it usually pays off. A 2018 Bank of America report indicates that nearly 80 percent of millennials who asked for a raise in the past two years received one. You also might not have realized how your job has changed and if any additional work you're doing is outside your normal scope of duties. Growing up in a digital age has made young professionals accustomed to being accessible around-the-clock. Many millennials report spending more than 6 hours a day on their email, for instance, more than any other generation. However, employees "need to know how to ask for more competitive compensation if they find themselves taking on more work," says Cohen. Start by assessing your workload, she says, and consider the labor you're putting in that isn't a part of your job description. Perhaps you've taken on the responsibilities of someone more senior, helping your boss train new employees or overseeing a team of interns. Ask your employer about a plan to adjust your compensation and possibly even your official role to match the work you're actually doing.

2. You should ask for a promotion instead

It's possible you're making all you can in your current role or your current department. Consider where else in the company you can contribute best and look for positions that would be a natural move for you. Reach out to people within your company who are hiring for positions in which you're interested. Introduce yourself, ask what's needed and what problems they are looking to get solved. Some experts even suggest you write a proposal for the role. You could even offer to do a project as a trial.

Also network within your company get on the radar of the hiring managers. Introduce yourself to the people whose projects interest you most. That way, you're the first person they call when there's a vacancy that fits your skill set.

3. You aren't negotiating benefits

"When it comes to compensation, it's not always money young professionals are looking for," says Cohen. According to a Glassdoor employment confidence survey, 89 percent of employees age 18-34 would take better benefits and perks over a pay increase. Before planning a benefits negotiation, says Cohen, review your entire compensation package including health insurance, bonuses, equity, flexible hours, and tuition reimbursement options. "It's essential to go into the conversation with a thorough understanding of what you are currently being offered, what you wish to receive, and how it relates to your workload," she says. You can ask for things like work from home flexibility, which saves you transit costs, or more flexible work hours, which can save parents money on childcare. You might also consider which benefits your company offers that you haven't taken advantage of. Perks like 401k matches can add to your bottom line, even when they don't specifically add to your take-home pay.

4. You aren't performing well

The rise of merit-based pay increases mean you can't count on the automatic cost-of-living bump. According to a 2017 study by professional services firm Aon, 40 percent of employers are reducing or eliminating pay increases for poor performers. This means that it's more important than ever to excel in your given role and to be a top performer. "Employees who want to receive a salary increase need to really set themselves apart," says Cohen. If you didn't snag a raise this year, think back. Has your boss had mostly positive things to say about your work? Or did you find yourself in a lot of closed-door meetings about your performance? Ask yourself: Do you solve problems or just point them out? Do you add to stress around your office or help reduce it? According to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, standout employees "understand that the greatest value [they] can offer a boss is to reduce their stress."

5. You're not developing soft skills

Soft skills like leadership, problem-solving and communication are just as important as technical skills  if not more so. And as automation sweeps through the workplace, these skills will only become more in-demand. While it's important to fine tune your "role-specific" technical knowledge, says Cohen, make sure that you're also rounding out your professional profile with complimentary soft skills. Since you're more likely to value and truly listen to feedback from co-workers who you trust, ask close colleagues to share what you do well and how you can improve. Inquire if there are ways you can better communicate or present yourself and be attentive as they offer their recommendations. "Determine a handful of soft skills you excel in and strive to highlight these throughout your career," Cohen says. "Becoming the go-to person when the company needs a new idea or someone is looking for a true leader will help set you apart."

6. You aren't asking for or applying feedback

Constructive criticism is essential for growth, says Cohen, but many early career professionals fail to seek it out  or implement it once given. Rather than waiting for an annual review, she says, ask your supervisor for feedback after completing a major project, when areas of improvement are top of mind. Be sure to jot down all suggestions made and ask for clarification if needed. "A young professional who demonstrates an ability to learn and evolve will stand out as someone with long-term growth potential, which is something all companies are looking for," says Cohen.

7. You're not strategicThere's still a lot of room for competition among China's bike-sharing start-ups, according to a senior executive at Hellobike, a Chinese firm that lets users find and rent bicycles through its smartphone app.

The Shanghai-based company is one of the major start-ups competing in China's growing bike-rental space and is a key rival to industry leaders Mobike and Ofo.

"We are talking about high-frequency and very, very strong demand," Fischer Chen, chief financial officer at Hellobike told CNBC at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Beijing. "With only two players in China, we still see a lot of space for us to provide better services and be more efficient in the industry."

The industry saw its first consolidation last year when Hellobike merged with Youon Ditan, an affiliate of Changzhou Youon Public Bicycle System.

The bike-sharing hype has also caught the attention of investors, who have poured millions of dollars in capital into the major start-ups.

Earlier this year, Ofo raised $866 million in a funding round led by tech giant Alibaba. Its competitor Mobike was acquired by China's largest provider of on-demand online services, Meituan Dianping, for reportedly $2.7 billion. Meanwhile, Hellobike raised $321 million in June from Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial.American farmers would rather have trade deals from President Donald Trump than need government tariff relief, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told CNBC on Wednesday.

"Everybody wants trade, not aid," Perdue said in a "Squawk Box" interview.

"There's not a farmer in America that would rather not have a good crop and a fair price than a government check," he added. "That's what they do. That's what they put their equity on the line every year for."

But since those trade disputes, especially with China, are not settled, the Trump administration is initially making $6 billion available in emergency aid to farmers, starting right after Labor Day.

The Agriculture Department has authorized up to $12 billion in relief to U.S. growers.

Soybean producers, in particular, have been hard hit by Chinese retaliatory tariffs and stand to get up to $3.6 billion in assistance under the Market Facilitation Program.

Trump is pursuing new trade deals and concessions from China and other nations to change what he sees as unfair trading practices.

In June, Perdue told CNBC that Trump instructed him to make a plan for any potential impact from a trade war on farmers.

Perdue said at the time that he was calculating the effects of trade disruptions on a weekly basis and making them known to the administration.

The payments to farmers will be based on "actual production ... not on any kind of average," Perdue said Wednesday. "It's going to be individual, by farmer."

The relief will not be able to make farmers "whole," but to ensure they don't have a disastrous season, he said.

Trump said Monday's trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, paving the way to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, will help farmers and manufacturers.

Perdue predicted Wednesday on CNBC that the U.S.-Mexico trade deal will get Canada to come along on a finalized, new NAFTA-type agreement among the three nations.

 CNBC's Jeff Daniels contributed to this report.Jeff Bezos Getty Images

Many Amazon employees felt uncomfortable following a series of recent defacements on LGBT "Pride" posters hanging in the company's elevators. Amazon's response to the incident infuriated some even more. Approximately 10 employee-designed posters that were designed to encourage inclusivity were defaced in Amazon elevators at its main headquarters over the past two months, according to internal emails seen by CNBC. Examples included crossing out the "T" in "LGBT" or writing "Why?" over the message. Amazon replaced the defaced posters and put up a new message that reiterates the company's policy on vandalism: "Posters are company property. Defacing posters is a violation of Amazon's policy."

The incident has sparked a debate inside the company on whether Amazon's response was adequate, drawing over 100 responses in an internal email thread last week. Some employees voiced their displeasure over the company's failure to address the problem and promote workplace inclusivity, making some employees with LGBT backgrounds feel further marginalized at work. "The proper response to widespread pride poster defacement is not only a policy that prohibits defacement, but also a massive and overwhelming show of support for pride in many forms," one of the emails said. In a statement, Amazon confirmed the incident and reiterated its commitment to equal rights and tolerance. "Amazon allows employees to create their own posters to advertise events across our campus. When we learned a few posters celebrating Pride were defaced, we worked quickly with the employees who created them to have them replaced, and we published new posters to reiterate our policy that posters shouldn't be altered. Since then, no other incidents have been reported."

'Corporate-borg' language

The emails viewed by CNBC give a rare display of employee dissent over company policy at Amazon, whose workforce is generally known to be less vocal over such issues compared to those of other tech giants, like Facebook and Google. It's also the latest diversity issue to surface at Amazon, as it continues to work towards building a more inclusive culture. The biggest complaint comes from the lack of engagement and support for the LGBT community in Amazon's response, the emails show. "It's authoritarian and un-Amazonian," one person said about the poster warning employees not to deface company property. "That poster is the most corporate-borg thing I have seen in my almost 7 years with the company." Another person who identifies as transgender said the incident has had real impact on how LGBT employees view Amazon as a workplace, and that it made that person reconsider a move to the company's Seattle office. "I know people personally who came very close to quitting Amazon as a consequence of those defacements," this person said. Some employees expressed concern over their safety at work, as Amazon's response leaves room for the perpetrators to repeat their attacks in other ways. For people with LGBT backgrounds, safety at work is "not guaranteed," this person said. "This policy won't actually do anything to address the goal of stopping bigoted comments related to the poster," another person said.

Amazon's lackluster response could have broader implications as it fails to "set the tone for what is accepted and not accepted" at the workplace, according to Stephanie Creary, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She said a more inclusive approach would have been a company-wide memo condemning the act and reaffirming the company's commitment to creating a diverse office culture. "When companies fail to call out biased behavior against members of LGBT communities, they can actually further perpetuate the marginalization of these communities," she said. In a statement, Amazon's spokesperson said the company is "proud" of its inclusive culture and pointed out that it received a perfect score on last year's Human Rights Campaign's Equality Index. "Amazon has always been, and always will be, committed to equal rights, tolerance and diversity," the spokesperson said.

'Committed to equality'From cheese and butter to an ice-cold glass of milk, cows are a crucial cog in the global food and drink industry.



In the European Union (EU), cows produced 163 million tons of milk in 2016, according to statistics body Eurostat. This represents 96.9 percent of all milks produced in the EU.



As demand for dairy products increases, farmers are under an increasing amount of pressure to boost yields and ensure their animals are in top physical condition.



One business, IceRobotics, wants to use technology to assist the farming process. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the company develops and provides data collection and analysis to help farmers monitor the behavior of dairy cows.



Data collection and analysis is enabled by a sensor being placed on a cow's rear leg. "It's recording data multiple times a second," Douglas Armstrong, IceRobotics' CEO, told CNBC's Didi Akinyelure.

"The data then is transmitted," he added. "It goes over a trigger in the milking parlor, the data is sent to the cloud, we run our diagnostic algorithms in the cloud and then all the information is sent back to the PC."



The device provides farmers with a wealth of data, including information relating to a cow's fertility. Using visual interfaces such as graphs, a farmer can monitor when a cow is lying down or upright. While this may seem like an innocuous piece of information, it is anything but.



"What we're doing is we're measuring the difference between today's behavior and yesterday's behavior," Douglas said. "Whenever she's looking for a mate, she's not interested in lying down anymore and her behavior totally changes." Increased activity in the graph generates a heat alert so the farmer knows when a cow is ready to "serve."



The data provided by IceRobotics' system can also let farmers know if a cow is unwell. "Cows like to lie down," Douglas said. "They're either lying or eating or they will socialize, but generally speaking they will lie down for about 12 hours every day."



"If they're not, if they're lying down for less than that or they're lying down for a lot longer, then you know that there is something potentially wrong."



Problems could range from illness to being lame, an incredibly important issue for dairy farmers. "A lame cow produces less milk than she optimally could produce if she wasn't lame, so the farmer's, you could say losing money," Vivi Thorup, lead scientist at IceRobotics, said.



"It's also a welfare issue to the cow, because if the cow's lame it's a sign that she's feeling pain, she's got sore feet for some reason," Thorup added.



Farmer Alex Jack has a 300 strong herd of milking cows in Fife, Scotland. Jack has seen the benefits of using new technology on her farm first hand. "The cow alert system that we've put in here has been fantastic because it's like having a person with each individual cow all day long, collecting data from them," she said.



"Every morning I check the computer and I'm able to see cows that are not lying for long enough, and that would indicate that there's potentially a problem with them," she added. "It's also collecting all their heats, so we get more accurate with getting cows into calve earlier, which is obviously better for them and better for us."

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.Speaking in front of a crowd, whether a handful of colleagues or hundreds of strangers, is a daunting prospect for many.

For best-selling author and teacher of lucid dreaming and shadow integration Charlie Morley, the moment he knew he was ready to teach large groups of people came after he gave a talk in 2008.

How it happened felt a bit like he was in a movie, he tells CNBC Make It.

A decade ago, around Halloween, Morley was giving his first public talk alongside his Buddhist teacher, an event he describes as one he'll "never forget."

"I gave my first talk and I had planned for it for months. I had a script and because I was an actor, I was like: 'As long as I learn my script, I'll be OK.' So, it was totally un-improvised, I knew exactly what I was going to say, even down to the pauses  I was way too over-rehearsed," he said, recalling a key turning point in his career, when he started focusing more on teaching and stepping away from his performance-based background.

At the end of this talk, however, Morley's Buddhist teacher, who was considered popular at the time in comparison to Morley, said to this big workshop crowd, and without asking Morley, "'Who thinks Charlie should run a six-week lucid dreaming course, starting next Tuesday?'"

"And then, everyone put their hands up," Morley told CNBC over the phone. "And he turned to me and smiled. And I was like 'Oh my God.' If you had put that in a film, you would say it was too cheesy  but it happened."Beyond bitcoin: How the world is experimenting with the blockchain

Published Wed, Aug 29 2018 1:27 AM EDT Updated Fri, Apr 12 2019 6:34 AM EDTThe British pound surged against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday after an official from the European Union indicated that progress has been made in the Brexit negotiations.

Sterling rose 1.2 percent to $1.3022 per dollar, reaching its highest level since early August.

Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, said Europe is prepared to offer an unprecedented partnership to the UK. "We respect Britain's red lines scrupulously. In return, they must respect what we are," he said. "Single market means single market ... There is no single market a la carte."

"The news earlier in the day had been less positive, with reports suggesting that high level officials are not optimistic of an agreement ahead of the EU summit in the middle of October," Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, said in a note.

"This acknowledgement from Barnier that they are prepared to offer a partnership that has never existed with another third country  a significant shift from the previous position that the UK must choose a pre-existing model in any future relationship  suggests the EU is ready to soften its opposition on certain issues in order to speed up negotiations," he said.

With both senior European and British government officials refusing to budge from their respective negotiating positions in recent days, the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has piled pressure on the British currency in recent days.

The pound's surge pushed British stocks lower as the FTSE 100 dropped 0.7 percent.

U.K. citizens voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, with negotiations between the two groups starting last year.

"Looking further ahead, our strong conviction remains that we think the UK is headed for a soft-Brexit, which will ultimately take GBP/USD above $1.40 over the medium term. We think the institutional and political constraints to a no-deal are sufficiently large to prevent such a scenario," Kamal Sharma, director of G10 FX strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a note.

Reuters contributed to this report."I've worked with the prime minister," he said on " Closing Bell ." "If a good deal's there, he'll do it for the Canadians. But, if it's a bad deal, he will walk away. I know he will."

However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just won't simply sign onto any deal, Heyman told CNBC on Wednesday.

There is a "very high possibility" for a trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada if the parties compromise, according to Bruce Heyman, former U.S. ambassador to Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) walks with US President Donald Trump during the official G7 Summit welcoming ceremony, June 8, 2018 in La Malbaie, Canada.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau said it may be possible to reach an agreement ahead of Friday's deadline set by President Donald Trump.

"We recognize that there is a possibility of getting there by Friday, but it is only a possibility, because it will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada," Trudeau said at a press conference in northern Ontario. "No NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal."

Heyman, who said he has spoken with people in both nations' capitals, said it "looks like we are moving in the right direction."

However, historically there have been certain "no-go zones" for Canada, said Heyman, who served under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017.

For one, Canada wants to keep the ability to have a third party settle any disputes. In the revised deal, the U.S. is trying to dump the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the U.S. from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases.

Dairy is also an issue, Heyman said. Trump has warned that he expected concessions on Canada's dairy protections.

Canada's dairy farmers operate under a protectionist system that manages supplies and prices, and imposes high tariffs to limit imports. U.S. demands have ranged from ending those tariffs to scrapping a pricing system for milk ingredients that hurt U.S. exports of milk proteins.

Heyman said Trudeau has made it clear that supply management is important.

Trump said Wednesday he was optimistic a deal would be struck that included Canada. The president intends to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement with what he's now calling "The United States-Mexico Trade Agreement."

"I think Canada very much wants to make the deal," Trump told reporters at the White House, while adding, "it probably won't be good at all if they don't."

Canadian trade officials will be negotiating late into the evening, Trump said.

However, if talks break down, Trump and other administration officials have hinted the U.S. would be willing to move forward with Mexico. A preliminary deal between the U.S. and Mexico was announced on Monday.A modern glass home sits on the edge of the water in Miami Beach. The ground-level master suite has a soaking tub that looks out to the ocean, and the bedroom's glass doors allow the owner to roll out of the sheets and onto the yacht. It is listed for sale at $25 million. Another Miami home sits on a garbage-strewn street in Little Haiti, about five miles inland. Its owner can walk out the front door and see a dead chicken in the street. It is listed for sale at $559,000, but some experts claim it is a better investment than $25 million mansion. The mansion, while highly desirable and exquisitely appointed, is paradise at a price, because rising tides and increasingly extreme storms may already be lowering its value. On the other hand, the home in Little Haiti, which sits on high ground with little risk of flooding, is appreciating at a fast clip. It has nearly doubled in value in just the past two years, according to Zillow. "What we see here is a theory of climate gentrification that suggests that in Miami, higher elevation land will be worth more," said Harvard University's Jesse Keenan, who co-authored the first peer-reviewed study offering evidence of the existence of a climate change signal in the real estate market. The study tracked the values of more than 100,000 single-family homes across Miami going back 45 years. "What we found is that the higher elevation properties are essentially worth more now, and increasingly will be worth more in the future," Keenan said. "Populations, including speculative real estate investment will densify in these high elevation areas." Keenan claims home values on Miami's coast are already worth 10 percent less now than they would be if climate change didn't exist. Universities, climate research groups and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have made dire predictions about sea-level rise in Miami  the ocean overtaking vast swaths of real estate over the coming decades. So-called "nuisance" flooding, when king tides come in on sunny days, is already common in some neighborhoods. That, argues Keenan, is why wealthier investors are now displacing low-income residents in high-elevation neighborhoods, like Little Haiti.

Climate gentrification is changing Miami home values, for better and worse. Diana Olick | CNBC

Fabiola Fleuranvil is a real estate investor and community activist in the area. She is trying to educate local residents about the rising value of their properties. "All the community sees is just new people, newcomers coming into the community, buying up properties, raising their property values and property taxes, pricing them out," Fleuranvil said while walking down the street with the $599,000 listing. "You're in a pocket where there could be $80,000 to $100,000 properties, and here's one here, an outlier, that's about half a million dollars." The home, which was purchased out of foreclosure by an investor, was fully renovated and will likely sell to another investor. "If you have a smart investor and developer, and he's already seeing what's happening with one smart property, and he acquires the rest of the properties next to it, within a quick year or two, you'll see this community change. And it's happened pretty rapidly," Fleuranvil said. It is already apparent on the busy retail street by the home. An entire row of formerly Haitian-owned businesses are empty and being gutted. On one side of the street, a sleek and trendy high-end coffee company has already moved in, in stark contrast to the ethnic stores. "You have long-time commercial tenants who have been here for 10, 15, 20 years, and new investors and developers no longer want their rent checks. Why? Because now, they're redeveloping it," said Fleuranvil. Part of what is behind Little Haiti's gentrification, however, is just the growing trend toward urbanism. It has nothing to do with water. Millennials in cities across the nation are migrating to urban centers, choosing less expensive and more ethnic neighborhoods to inhabit. Investors, however, while following demand, are increasingly attuned to the threat of water and are developing projects in higher-elevation neighborhoods at a faster pace. Miami native David Martin's Terra Group, a commercial and residential developer, just finished a luxury waterfront condominium tower in Coconut Grove, with sweeping water views, and is building more next door. He is also building a $162 million residential and commercial development on 5 acres adjoining a metro rail station further inland. "I would say water, for a firm like ours, is becoming a decision maker, as it relates to strategies for investment. I definitely do," said Martin. Martin said he "embraces the analysis" in Keenan's study but believes many factors go into the financial decision of buying and selling real estate beyond just water risk and elevation. He added that the study does not bring in flood mitigation enough, specifically how waterfront towers will actually help protect Miami from future flood disasters.

Climate gentrification is changing Miami home values, for better and worse. Diana Olick | CNBCThe pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.29 percent, with most sectors turning positive by the close.

The majority of European markets finished Wednesday slightly higher, as investors continued to monitor corporate earnings and global trade developments.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 underperformed fellow bourses, off 0.71 percent as Brexit turmoil resurfaced. Other indexes finished on a positive note, with France's CAC 40 rising 0.30 percent and Germany's DAX popping 0.27 percent. Most peripheral markets closed flat or in the black.

Europe's media stocks were some of the top performers Wednesday, finishing up 0.41 percent as a sector, amid earnings news. European broadcaster Rtl Group reported stronger-than-anticipated second-quarter revenue growth and confirmed its outlook for the remainder of the year. Shares rose over 2 percent.

In other corporate news, British luxury car firm Aston Martin announced it may launch an initial public offering (IPO) in London. Aston Martin is most famously known as the car brand of choice for James Bond.

Looking at individual stocks, software firm Micro Focus surged after the company announced it would launch a buy-back program. Shares of the London-listed stock climbed almost 3 percent.

Italian luxury sports car-maker Ferrari jumped close to the top of the pan-European benchmark after HSBC upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold." It was the STOXX 600's second best performer, jumping over 4 percent.

Meanwhile, Spanish retailer Inditex slumped to the bottom of the index after Morgan Stanley cut its stock recommendation to "underweight" for the first time ever. The U.S. bank reportedly said it no longer feels comfortable ignoring the growing pressures the company is facing. Shares of Inditex closed down 5.65 percent.His lawyers also said that Manafort has "become an unwilling player in the larger drama between Mr. Mueller and President Trump"  an association made worse by Trump weighing in on the trial.

"A fair trial will be impossible without a change of venue to a more neutral and less media saturated locale," Manafort's lawyers argued in the motion, which was made public Wednesday.

Manafort is asking that the trial on money laundering and other charges, which is due to begin jury selection on Sept. 17, be transferred more than 200 miles away to U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Virginia.

The lawyers cited the extensive and largely negative publicity the trial has generated for Manafort, as well as a botched tweet by the president about the case.

Lawyers for Paul Manafort suggested President Donald Trump is making it harder for his ex-campaign boss to get a fair trial as they asked a judge to move his next case on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller out of a Washington, D.C., federal court.

Trump has repeatedly blasted Mueller's probe into Russian interefence in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by Trump's campaign, as a "witch hunt."

The defense team also noted that nearly 91 percent of the votes cast in the presidential election in D.C. went to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, with Trump garnering just 4.1 percent of the votes.

"It is not a stretch to expect that voters who supported Secretary Clinton would be predisposed against Mr. Manafort or that voters who supported President Trump would be less inclined toward the Special Counsel," Manafort's lawyers wrote. "This split is more balanced in other places such as Roanoke, Virginia, located in the Western District of Virginia."

The request to move the trial comes a week after Manafort was convicted of eight tax and banking fraud charges after his first trial in Alexandria, Virginia. That case was also lodged by Mueller.

Manafort's lawyers had asked in July that that first trial on bank fraud and tax charges also be moved to Roanoke. That request also had cited negative publicity as the main reason to move the trial. But the request was denied.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Manafort's attorneys during a hearing Tuesday that she did not want to prejudge their planned request to move the trial, but also noted that the D.C. federal court has handled high-profile cases in the past.

Jackson also pointed out that a questionnaire for prospective jurors could "enable us to find a fair and impartial jury."

In their motion, the defense lawyers lawyers blamed Trump himself for some of the intense media coverage Manafort has received throughout his legal troubles.

Trump weighed in on the D.C. case after Jackson on June 15 revoked Manafort's $10 million release bond and ordered him to be detained pending his trials. "Wow, what a tough sentence," Trump tweeted at the time.

Tweet

In their request on Wednesday, Manafort's lawyers noted that Trump's language wrongly suggested that Manafort had been sentenced for committing a crime during that hearing.

"This Court revoked Mr. Manafort's release and remanded him into custody," Manafort's lawyers wrote in their motion.

"This event unleashed a spate of intensely negative news coverage suggesting that Mr. Manafort violated the law. Indeed, even the President's response on Twitter; observed that Mr. Manafort received a 'tough sentence,' incorrectly suggesting that Mr. Manafort had been sentenced for committing a crime."

In fact, Manafort's bail had been revoked after U.S. attorneys filed an indictment alleging that he and Russian citizen Konstantin Kilimnik had attempted to tamper with potential witnesses in the case.

The longtime Republican operative is accused in the Washington case of money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and witness tampering.

Both the D.C. case and the one in Virginia relate to consulting work Manafort, 69, did for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, along with his then-associate, Rick Gates.

That work predated the hiring of both men by the presidential campaign of Trump in 2016.

Gates earlier this year pleaded guilty to making false statements and conspiracy against the United States after being charged by Mueller along with Manafort.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is being held without bond in an Alexandria jail.

Mueller is scheduled Wednesday to file paperwork in the Virginia case to inform the judge there whether he intends to retry Manafort on the remaining 11 criminal counts on which jurors were unable to reach a verdict.Rather than inviting heavier scrutiny, President Donald Trump's accusations that Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet's Google are biased may actually protect those companies from regulation, experts say.

"In a strange way, the president's attacks on big tech inoculate them from regulation," NYU Stern School of Business professor Scott Galloway said Wednesday on CNBC's "Squawk Alley." "His attacks lack reason, data or grammar, which weaken the argument."

Trump doubled down on threats against Facebook, Twitter and Google on Tuesday afternoon, saying the social platforms are "treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful." The president's comments followed earlier accusations that Google search results prioritize negative coverage and left-leaning outlets, and a warning that the issue "will be addressed."

Galloway said these firms "don't lean left, they don't lean right, they lean down," meaning the companies algorithms are designed to extract maximum profit, not to champion a political cause.

"Whatever will get more clicks, more engagement, more growth, more earnings, more shareholder value  there is no bias there. Their bias is against labor costs and controversy," said Galloway.

Galloway wasn't alone in his thinking. Roger McNamee, managing director at Elevation Partners, said the technology companies may have a lot of issues, but political bias isn't one.

"I think there are real issues with the way Google runs its search engine, just as I think there are huge issues with Facebook and Twitter. The one the president is talking about is not one of them," McNamee, venture capitalist and investor, said in the same "Squawk Alley" interview as Galloway.

Furthermore, McNamee said he wasn't sure why conservatives would even want to defend divisive figures, like Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist behind the Infowars media outlet.

"One of the things that I find really confusing is that folks in the Republican Party would look at something like Alex Jones as being something they need to defend  someone who is in the business of spreading conspiracy theories," McNamee said.

Infowars did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Earlier this August, multiple tech companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google's YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter and Spotify, clamped down on content by Jones, removing podcasts, pages and other content.

The tech companies said they removed Jones' material for violating policies related to hate speech and harassment. Some right-wing commentators have criticized the moves, saying they amount to censorship.

Trump's comments "rally the left, who likely could have been partners" in regulation efforts, Galloway said. "This could have been a bipartisan effort."

McNamee said rhetoric, like Trump's, only complicates regulation, which is already a very complicated issue.

"If I were the industry, I'd feel good about being attacked this way. Because at the end of the day, the industry's situation is complicated, and by making it more complicated, they do lower the probability of successful regulation," McNamee said.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

That's not to say the industry doesn't need regulation, according to McNamee and Galloway who both said large players in big tech have all done things that should invite closer scrutiny.

"For all intents and purposes the business plan of these companies is now fair game in Washington, D.C. and justifiably so," McNamee said. "Google and Facebook and Twitter have all done stuff that Congress does needs to regulate, because Congress has to protect the public interest and these guys have been on the wrong side of that."The FBI on Wednesday pushed back against a right-wing report that had been promoted by President Donald Trump only hours earlier. The story claimed that a Chinese-owned firm operating in Virginia had hacked a private email server owned by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"The FBI has not found any evidence the (Clinton) servers were compromised," a bureau official told NBC News.

The statement came in response to a report published Tuesday evening by The Daily Caller, a right-leaning news website, which claimed that an unnamed firm, working as a front for the Chinese government, had obtained "nearly all" of Clinton's emails from the server during her tenure as secretary of state.

The information in the report was attributed to two anonymous sources, and was subsequently picked up by TV hosts on the right-leaning Fox News Channel on Tuesday night. This may have been where Trump first learned of the report, which prompted the president to demand that the Justice Department further investigate Clinton.

"Report just out: 'China hacked Hillary Clinton's private Email Server,'" Trump wrote. "Are they sure it wasn't Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!"

Trump Tweet

Trump Tweet

Hours after Trump tweeted The Daily Caller's story, which relied entirely on anonymous sources, the president had soured on the use of such sources.

"The fact is that many anonymous sources don't even exist. They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters," Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning.

Trump tweet

The response from the FBI on Wednesday was merely the latest in a string of events that have pushed the president and his own Justice Department further and further apart in recent months. Trump has repeatedly signaled that he would like to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, most recently in early August, when the president reportedly discussed firing Sessions with his personal criminal attorneys.

The Daily Caller's story appears to have originated not with the Justice Department, but from a claim by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who said during a July House committee hearing that virtually all of Clinton's emails had been obtained by a "foreign entity." The source of his knowledge, Gohmert said, was a report produced by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, a CIA watchdog agency.

The Daily Caller did not confirm the existence of such a report, instead citing an anonymous former intelligence officer who it said had been briefed on what the ICIG report contained.

In pushing back on the Daily Caller's story, however, the FBI on Wednesday pointed to its own report, issued by the Justice Department Inspector General in June. That report said the "FBI investigation and its forensic analysis did not find evidence that Clinton's email server systems were compromised."

Despite a lack of evidence that Clinton's server had been breached, the Justice Department report acknowledged that there was no way of knowing "100%" whether the servers had been accessed by hackers who expertly covered their tracks.

Still, a forensic specialist with the FBI who was quoted in the report said he was "fairly confident that there wasn't an intrusion."Now, thanks to the rise of mobile payments and e-commerce, China's technology companies have hordes of data on consumer behavior that can determine the risk of lending to someone. Some firms are already extending credit using that information. But, amid increased government scrutiny on financial technology companies and banks' desire to reach more retail customers, both sides are increasingly working together.

State-owned or state-affiliated lenders account for the majority of the local banking system. They have historically preferred to lend to state-owned enterprises because those are essentially risk free compared to consumers in a society that lacks comprehensive credit histories.

Lack of investment options, high smartphone and internet penetration, and rapid growth in household wealth have created a unique environment for financial services in China.

It's not that banks in the world's second-largest economy are at risk of being replaced or disrupted. Rather, they are under pressure to work closely with financial technology partners so they can beat competitor banks, according to Nicholas Zhu, vice president and senior analyst at Moody's financial institutions group in Beijing.

In another sign of the growing clout of Chinese technology giants, many local banks are looking to the firms for help rather than build their own in-house services.

Almost all the mid-sized and commercial Chinese banks have signed commercial agreements with technology giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu in the last two to three years, according to David Yin, vice president and analyst at Moody's financial institutions group.

That contrasts with U.S. banks' focus on developing technology from within. J.P. Morgan is set to roll out this week free trading for its more than 47 million mobile or online users. The leading free trading app in the U.S., Robinhood, has more than 5 million users.

"Integrating a customer's entire financial life, from their credit/debit cards to mortgages and (now) investments gives a financial institution the chance to collect an entire data-driven picture of what other services they might want. That allows for more intelligent cross selling and new product development," Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, said in a note about J.P. Morgan's forthcoming product.

Mobile payment apps in China already have much of that data thanks to a mix of promotional deals and convenience that helped mobile pay become the primary means of daily commerce in the country.

Alipay, run by Alibaba-affiliate Ant Financial, has grown to at least 520 million users in less than 15 years. Its penetration has reached more than 51 percent of mobile phone users in China, according to data from app developer services company Aurora Mobile. In comparison, the data showed that apps for three of China's largest banks have penetration of about 7 to 11 percent.

On that customer base, both Ant Financial and Tencent have built an array of financial services. Notably, the Yu'e Bao fund integrated into Alipay became the world's largest money market fund in four years. Assets under management have moderated to around 1.45 trillion yuan ($213 billion) as Yu'e Bao launched other money market funds to address concerns from regulators on the size of a single fund. Meanwhile, more than 4,000 wealth management products are available on a dedicated app called Ant Fortune, according to the company.

Ant Financial can forecast customer redemption behavior based on its data, said Junhua Mao, executive assistant to the company's CEO. He added there was a 70 percent increase in Yu'e Bao users buying other types of financial products after the launch of an artificial intelligence-based investment recommendation feature on Ant Fortune.

Ant Financial expects technology service fees will become a key pillar of its business in the next three to five years, according to a spokesperson. In the last few months, the company has partnered with several Chinese banks, including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Huaxia Bank and China Everbright Bank.

The banks could not be reached for comment, but they did discuss collaborations with technology firms in their latest annual reports. For example, Huaxia noted in its 2017 annual report it "entered all-round partnerships with Tencent Group, JD Finance, PICC Financial Services Company Limited and other companies."

That said, the banks may not be completely immune from technology-driven competition: Tencent and Alibaba have both backed online-based lenders. Meanwhile, some financial firms are, in fact, successfully creating their own tech: Chinese finance and insurance giant Ping An says its technology unit, OneConnect, has partnered with 441 banks and has served nearly 89 percent of urban commercial banks across China.

Navigating government regulation also remains a challenge for both technology and financial institutions. But the smartphone-driven Chinese consumer will remain a key driver of business, both at home and abroad.

Chinese financial technology firms are going to turn into "very, very powerful financial entities as a result of dominating the mobile payment system," said Ben Bystrom, a former Tokyo-based executive for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, and an instructor at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa's Shidler College of Business. From a global perspective, he said, those Chinese firms are "competing better than they ever have."He was caught off guard by the president's announcement, The Washington Post reported , citing a person close to him. Trump's tweet came soon after an Axios report, which cited sources close to McGahn and top White House officials, said McGahn would indeed leave this fall.

McGahn is a GOP stalwart who served as the chief counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee for nearly a decade. He was appointed to the Federal Election Commission by President George W. Bush , and later joined the powerhouse D.C. law firm Jones Day, and then the Trump campaign.

A number of powerful Republican lawmakers are unhappy following President Donald Trump 's announcement on Wednesday that White House counsel Don McGahn will depart his post in the fall .

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was the most prominent GOP figure to lament McGahn's eventual departure.

"Don is the most impressive White House Counsel during my time in Washington, and I've known them all," the Kentucky senator said in a statement Wednesday.

"Don's significance to the judiciary, the White House and the nation cannot be overstated, and I look forward to his continued efforts on behalf of our country," McConnell said.

McGahn is widely credited with spearheading the president's rapid appointment of judges to the federal bench, one of the most consequential actions of his presidency.

In a post on Twitter, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate's Judiciary Committee, pleaded with the president to keep McGahn in his role.

"I hope it's not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U can't let that happen," he wrote to Trump's Twitter handle.

Grassley tweet

Grassley's press secretary, George Hartmann, told CNBC later Wednesday that from "Senator Grassley's perspective, there's not been any White House Counsel who has worked so well and so efficiently with the chairman's office and the Senate Judiciary Committee on judges."

"Senator Grassley has appreciated Mr. McGahn's work over the last two years and has considered him integral to the President's record-breaking success on filling judicial vacancies," Hartmann said.

The Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing Tuesday on Trump's second nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. McGahn pushed Trump to select Kavanaugh as his nominee and has worked to ensure his confirmation.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate's finance committee, said in a statement posted on Twitter that he wished McGahn well.

"Few have played a more critical role than Don McGahn in shaping the federal bench with individuals who understand the proper role of a judge under the Constitution," Hatch said.

AshLee Strong, a spokesperson for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., said the Ryan "is grateful for Don's service to our country including his work in the confirmation processes of two Supreme Court nominees."

"We wish him the best as he finishes his service at the White House and transitions to his next chapter," Strong said.The best quarterly economic growth in four years may be "too good" and lead to an eventual drag on the stock market, Jim Paulsen told CNBC on Wednesday.

But you have to play "connect the dots" to get there.

Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group, said, "If we keep up anywhere close to 4 percent growth in the rest of this year, I just got to believe they're going to push ... [annual] inflation, wages, the 10-year yield all above 3 percent."

Those three factors could lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at a more rapid rate, something that historically creates a headwind for the stock market. The Fed is expected to hike rates once, or maybe twice, before the end of the year. Central bankers already increased the cost of borrowing money in March and June.

"We're going to be struggling a little bit with good growth, but maybe too good," Paulsen said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "I do think the market is still going to have a struggle finding this silver lining, 'Goldilocks' path, because you could get either too hot or too cold in a hurry here this late in an economic cycle at full employment."

Paulsen's comments came after the government on Wednesday said the U.S. economy grew at a revised 4.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter, stronger than estimates and the initial report last month. That's the fastest growth rate since the third quarter of 2014.Jim Hackett, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., center, speaks to members of the media at an event during the 2018 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Jan. 14, 2018.

Moody's said the company's debt rating could be cut even further, to non-investment grade, by the middle of next year if it doesn't make "clear progress" on its turnaround plan.

"Success could be challenged by having to address the serious performance problems in multiple business units simultaneously," Moody's said, adding that it was keeping a negative outlook on its credit rating "primarily based on the difficult changes the automaker will have to make."

The investments are necessary, but it will take several years before that translates to better performance, Moody's said.

The second-largest U.S. auto manufacturer is facing weakening profit margins in North America, a retrenching business in China, and losses in South America and Europe, at least some of which could continue to worsen, Moody's said in a research note.

Moody's downgraded Ford 's credit rating to one notch above junk bond status Wednesday and warned that it could be further cut as the Detroit automaker struggles overseas and invests an estimated $11 billion on a turnaround plan.

Since CEO Jim Hackett took the reins in 2017, investors have at times shown impatience with what they have said is a lack of clarity on how Ford will improve its businesses and bolster its share price. At the same time Ford under Hackett has made some bold moves, such as choosing to all but stop making traditional passenger cars for the U.S. market.

China is a particular concern in the near term, the report said. Ford has to retake lost market share while competing with a growing swarm of both Chinese automakers and other foreign firms.

Ford's plan to improve what Hackett has called its "operational fitness" could entail $11 billion in charges, including $7 billion in cash expenditures over the next three to five years. Moody's said Ford's decision to leave the North American car business is a positive for Ford's credit, since it reflects Ford's willingness to make aggressive and disciplined choices about where it puts capital, the report said. But it will take years to see the benefits of the plan.

"What we are looking for is very identifiable progress that the components of the company's restructuring and fitness plan are taking hold and yielding results," said Bruce Clark, senior vice president of Moody's corporate finance group.

Despite Ford's challenges, it has a lot of strengths. The company is competitive and profitable in North America, and the automaker's fitness plan is tackling areas where it is weakest. Ford has also chosen to rework its business while auto sales are still healthy.

"Since coming through the Great Recession, Ford Motor Company has delivered year after year of solid financial results and operating cash flows," Ford said in a statement. "The company has a strong balance sheet, which provides financial flexibility. We know we can capitalize on our strengths, bolster underperforming products and regions and disposition where we cannot make an appropriate return.""Because the defendant's post-trial motions have not been filed or ruled on, the government does not at this time have sufficient information to make an informed decision on whether it will seek retrial of the remaining counts," Mueller's team said in a court filing.

Manafort was convicted of eight other tax crimes and bank fraud charges in that case in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virgina.

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday asked a federal judge for more time to decide whether to seek a retrial for former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort on 10 criminal charges that jurors were unable to reach a verdict on last week.

"The government, accordingly, respectfully requests that the Court extend the deadline for the government to file notice about the ten remaining counts to one week after the Court has ruled on defendant's post-trial motions," the filing said.

Manafort's lawyers did not object to Mueller's request to extend the deadline.

"The United States has consulted with counsel for the defendant and they do not object the government's motion," Mueller's team wrote.

Jurors reportedly deadlocked by a vote of 11-1 in favor of conviction, on the 10 charges that the 69-year-old Manafort faces in Virginia.

Mueller's request comes less than three weeks before Manafort's next trial, on charges of money laundering, witness tampering and failing to register as a foreign agent, is set to begin in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

That case is also being prosecuted by Mueller's team, and like the Virginia case is connected to work Manafort did for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine. That work predated his tenure as presidential campaign chairman for Donald Trump for several months in 2016.

Patrick Cotter, a former New York federal prosecutor, told CNBC that there is "absolutely no legal reason" to retry Manafort in Virginia.

"He's facing more than sufficient time under the counts he's been convicted of" without even factoring in the upcoming Washington trial, Cotter said.

But, Cotter added, there's a chance prosecutors will still seek a retrial.

"It wouldn't shock me," Cotter said. "Any lawyer likes to keep their options open as long as possible."NATO, the world's most powerful military alliance, is considering naming its new, billion-dollar headquarters in Brussels in honor of the late Sen. John McCain.

The proposal from British Parliament member Tom Tugendhat would be "considered carefully," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement. "The Secretary-General has tremendous respect for Senator John McCain," she added.

"John McCain  soldier and senator, American and Atlanticist. He will be remembered both in Europe and North America for his courage and character, and as a strong supporter of NATO. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones," Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general, tweeted on Saturday.

TWEET

The move to name the NATO headquarters comes on the heels of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington after McCain. However, Schumer's resolution was not immediately embraced by some Republicans. The building is named for Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat who staunchly opposed civil-rights legislation and supported racial segregation. Russell, who was also an advocate for the military and poor children, died in 1971 after nearly 40 years in the Senate.

McCain, who was known at home and abroad as America's warrior politician, died Saturday after a year-long fight with brain cancer. The 81-year-old was a naval aviator, prisoner of war during Vietnam, conservative statesman, presidential candidate and strong supporter of the Western alliance.

Read more: Tributes, condolences pour in following Sen. McCain's death

McCain made frequent visits to NATO member countries throughout his political career and frequently criticized Russia's moves to undermine the alliance. He also voiced disappointment with President Donald Trump's handling of the U.S. relationship with NATO partners.Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, supported by a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles and on news of falling Iranian crude shipments as U.S. sanctions deter buyers.

U.S. light crude ended Wednesday's session up 98 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $69.51 a barrel, having touched a three-week high earlier in the session.

Benchmark Brent crude oil rose $1.18, or 1.6 percent, to $77.13 a barrel by 2:25 p.m. ET, after rising to its highest level since July 11.

U.S. crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, exceeding the 686,000-barrel draw forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.

Gasoline stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 370,000-barrel gain. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 837,000 barrels, versus expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel increase, the EIA data showed.Venture capitalist and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel has made his first six-figure splash in the 2018 midterm election cycle, according to newly posted Federal Election Commission records.

The RNC saw Thiel, a billionaire philanthropist who has been conspicuously silent throughout the runup to the congressional midterm elections, give $101,700 to its cause in July. It is the biggest amount he has donated to a political cause since the 2016 presidential election, according to records.

He had previously made a donation of more than $66,000 in September 2017 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP members of Congress.

In the lead-up to Thiel's latest donation, allies of President Donald Trump were concerned that the PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor would be absent in this year's midterms after he was given a cold shoulder by some members of the administration.

However, Trump-aligned super PACs such as America First Action have been preparing to court Thiel in an effort to bring him into the fray.

The RNC raised $14.2 million throughout the month of July, bringing its total haul for the 2018 election cycle to $227 million.

Representatives for Thiel and the RNC did not return a request for comment.

Thiel's donation is an indication that his loyalty to Trump could be a saving grace for the GOP as it tries to maintain majorities in the House and Senate.

The PayPal co-founder was one of Trump's earliest supporters when he first ran for the White House two years ago.

At the time, he gave $1 million to Make America Number 1, a pro-Trump super PAC chaired by GOP conservative megadonor Rebekah Mercer. He also shelled out $250,000 to Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee, and just over $230,000 to the RNC. He also was a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Thiel again voiced his respect for Trump on Monday during an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He told the crowd that he admires the president because he doesn't follow the typical political playbook.

"I got to meet a lot of people running for president on the U.S. Republican side in 2016 and they all felt like zombies," he said. "They couldn't say anything different other than programmed ideological soundbites."

Trump, on the other hand, is "a very healthy corrective to that," Thiel added.Andrew Gillum holds his son Davis as he addresses his supporters after winning the Democrat primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. Steve Cannon | AP

An upset in Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday sets up what is likely to be a heated fight for the soul of a swing state between an unabashed liberal and a Republican trying to channel President Donald Trump. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a self-described progressive who has the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, triumphed over Democratic establishment choice Gwen Graham. He will face Trump-backed Rep. Ron DeSantis in November. If Gillum, 39, can beat his fellow 39-year-old in DeSantis, he would become Florida's first black governor. Also in the state, voters officially set up the closely watched U.S. Senate contest between incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott. The race is the most expensive in this year's midterms so far. Florida also chose nominees for a handful of competitive House races. In Arizona, Republican Rep. Martha McSally emerged from a bitter GOP Senate primary on Tuesday. She will face Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema in her bid for outgoing GOP Sen. Jeff Flake's seat in November. Tuesday also set the stage for some House battles in Arizona, including one for the seat McSally vacated to run for Senate. Here are Tuesday's notable results:

Race for Florida governor gets off to a tense start

Rep. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, and candidate for Florida Governor, speaks during a rally with President Donald Trump at Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 2018 SAUL LOEB | AFP | Getty Images

With Trump's backing, DeSantis easily beat the more traditional Republican choice in state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. The general election race will pose a clash of ideologies, between the liberal economic policy championed by Gillum and the Trump conservatism espoused by DeSantis. It only took a few hours after his victory for DeSantis to spark backlash. Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday morning, the representative said Florida voters should not "monkey it up" and vote for what he called Gillum's "socialist agenda." DeSantis' campaign denied the comment had any racial intent. But critics quickly seized on the remarks as racist. "It's disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles," Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, said in a tweet that Gillum's campaign shared. Rizzo tweet Fox anchor Sandra Smith later read a statement from DeSantis' campaign saying it is "absurd" to characterize the language as anything other than talking about Gillum's policies. She said the network does not "condone this language." Appearing on Fox News later in the day, Gillum said DeSantis took a page from Trump's "campaign playbook." He called the comment a "bullhorn" rather than a whistle, but added that he's "not going to get down in the gutter with DeSantis and Trump." Gillum has backed positions such as Medicare for all, a $15-per-hour minimum wage, and restrictions on assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines. Trump attacked Gillum on Wednesday morning, describing him as a "failed Socialist Mayor" and "not what Florida wants or needs!" The Tallahassee mayor responded that "what our state and country needs is decency, hope and leadership." Gillum tweet DeSantis has channeled Trump in pushing to reduce corporate taxes and regulation while promising to take a tougher stance on illegal immigration. One factor that could follow Gillum throughout the race is an FBI investigation into corruption in the Tallahassee government. The mayor, who was not personally implicated, has said he has no tolerance for corruption.

Florida congressional races go according to plan

While the gubernatorial primaries set off fireworks, the races for Congress in Florida went largely as expected on Tuesday. Nelson and Scott breezed to their party's nominations, setting up what promises to be a bitter, expensive contest. Flipping Nelson's seat would help Republicans keep or expand their 51 to 49 seat majority in the Senate.

Three Democratic House incumbents  Reps. Al Lawson, Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto  on Tuesday easily held off primary challenges. Tuesday set the stage for Florida's competitive congressional races. Democrats have several opportunities to pick up GOP-held seats in the state as they trip to flip the 23 Republican districts needed to take a House majority. The party has perhaps its best chance in the Miami-area 27th District, where former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala won the Democratic primary. She will face Cuban-American journalist Maria Salazar, who aims to succeed longtime Cuban-American Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in a district Democrat Hillary Clinton won easily in 2016. Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell won her primary for Florida's 26th District and will face GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo. Clinton also won that district, which encompasses the southern most parts of the state.

Trump tries to boost Arizona Senate candidate

Martha McSally, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona, speaks during an election night rally in Tempe, Arizona, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2018. Caitlin O'Hara | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Trump got his preferred candidate in Florida's gubernatorial primary. But in another major GOP contest, the president was conspicuously silent until after voters chose the general election nominees. McSally easily won the Republican primary for Senate in Arizona. She will face off against Democrat Sinema in a contest to succeed Flake. The seat is perhaps Democrats' best Senate pickup opportunity on an otherwise brutal election map. After McSally had beaten conservatives Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio, Trump endorsed her on Wednesday morning. The race for McSally's current 2nd District seat will factor heavily into the fight for House control. Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick will take on GOP businesswoman Lea Marquez Peterson in a bid to flip the seat. In 2016, Clinton won the district, which includes parts of Tuscon and stretches to the Southeastern corner of the state. Arizona's 1st District, a sprawling area in the Northeastern part of the state that Trump won in 2016, is represented by a Democrat. Incumbent Rep. Tom O'Halleran will go against Air Force veteran Wendy Rogers. In another statewide race, incumbent Republican Gov. Doug Ducey will face former education official David Garcia in his re-election bid.

OklahomaGood news: The markets are at new highs. So, we can all retire early, right?

Uh, no.

It's true the value of retirement funds has risen as the market has soared: Fidelity and Vanguard have recently reported that the value of the average retirement fund has risen in the last year.

But the results are still well short of the savings many of us will need for a happy retirement.

Fidelity recently reported that the average 401(k) in its system had assets of $104,000 in the second quarter, a 1 percent increase from the first quarter and a 6 percent increase from one year ago. The average individual retirement account balance was $106,900, almost a 2 percent increase from the first quarter and nearly 7 percent higher than the second quarter of 2017.

There are some encouraging signs.

Automatic enrollment in retirement accounts is helping investors save more. As of the end of the second quarter, 33 percent of Fidelity's 22,600 401(k) plans auto enrolled new employees, more than double the percentage (15 percent) that did so in 2008. Bigger companies have an even higher success rate.

Employees who are automatically enrolled reap several benefits. They tend to save more. Since 2008, the average savings rate among employees who were automatically enrolled in their 401(k) has increased from 4 percent to 6.7 percent, according to Fidelity. These employees also tend to stay in their plans longer.

But, we still are not saving nearly enough.

Vanguard said last year that 94 million Americans were covered by defined contribution accounts, most of it in 401(k)s. Assets are in excess of $7 trillion. When you really examine the details, however, the account size per person is not very large.

At Vanguard, the average 401(k) account value for an investor age 65 and older is $209,984. This sounds like a pretty good number, and it is, but there's a problem. That number is pulled higher by a smaller number of "super savers" and high income earners.

The median balance among the age group, where half have more and half have less, is a measly $64,811. Average that out over 20 years  most Americans should expect to live into their 80s  and that is not a lot to pull out on a yearly basis; perhaps a little more than $3,000.

Some lucky Americans have more than one retirement plan, because they may have had multiple employers. Their picture is brighter than the example above, but it doesn't change the overall picture too much.

Part of the low savings rate can be explained by the fact that enrollments in 401(k) plans have increased in recent years, which means that those new accounts have relatively small balances. But often it's because many participants still don't contribute the full amount they are allowed to contribute, and many lack the proper planning skills to make retirement decisions.

When faced with a complex choice of making a retirement investment, many still decide to opt into the "no decision" mode and don't sign up at all. Only 72 percent of eligible employees are enrolled in their employer's voluntary savings program, according to Vanguard.

Given that most employees provide a matching contribution, that is like passing up on free money.

What can be done?

More automatic enrollment in retirement accounts. Vanguard, in its annual report entitled "How America Saves 2018," noted that plans with automatic enrollment have a 92 percent participation rate, compared with a participation rate of just 57 percent for plans with voluntary enrollment.

"Our challenge is to encourage more individuals to take advantage of these workplace savings plans," said Jean Young, senior research analyst in the Vanguard Center for Investor Research and lead author of "How America Saves." "Plan sponsors can help their employees move the dial even further by defaulting at higher savings rates, and implementing annual increases."

In addition, Americans should strive to contribute a total 12 percent to 15 percent of their salaries, including employer contributions. Employees should always strive to meet the company match instead of leaving free money on the table.

Savings can also be boosted by lower fees. Go for the highest quality fund that meets your objectives and charges the lowest fees. Even a fraction of a percent in higher fees, when compounded over decades, can cost thousands of dollars more.

Finally, if it sounds like I am obsessed with how to get the retirement savings rate up, it's with good reason. The other two "legs" of the retirement "stool," Social Security and pensions, are increasingly under pressure.

As of January 2017, the average retiree receives $1,360 a month from Social Security. That's $16,320 a year. About one-third of adults over 65 also collects a pension, but it's not a large amount of money. The median private pension was only $9,376 a year, according to the Pension Rights Center (state, local and federal pensions were higher).

And those are the lucky ones. Anyone looking to collect more is going to need to rely on their personal savings. That gets me back to the 401(k) and IRAs. That 65-year-old with a median $64,811 in his 401(k) would pull out a little more than $3,000 a year assuming he or she will live at least 20 years more.

So let's do the math:Google is making a mistake by not sending CEO Sundar Pichai to testify in front of a Senate committee about election interference, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told CNBC on Wednesday.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is holding a hearing next week to address the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and how to move forward.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are both expected to attend. However, Google's CEO is not, said Warner, vice chair of the committee. Instead, the company planned to send a lower-level executive.

"We want to talk about solutions. We've asked for the most senior executives.  [Google] ought to be part of this discussion and dialogue," Warner said on "Power Lunch."

"Chances are there's going to be an empty chair there. And I think there will be a lot more questions raised that could have been actually dealt with if they sent a senior decision-maker and not simply their counsel."

Google has been under fire recently from both sides of the aisle. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump doubled down on his threats against Google, accusing the search engine of altering results to prioritize negative coverage and left-leaning outlets.

"Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people and I think that's a very serious thing and it's a very serious charge," Trump told reporters. "They better be careful because they can't do that to people."

A Google spokesperson responded on Tuesday, "When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds."

When it comes to dealing with potential election interference, Google's parent, Alphabet, along with Twitter and Facebook, removed accounts tied to Russian and Iranian propaganda efforts.

Earlier this year, 13 Russians were indicted for alleged attempts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. The latest Iranian activity was exposed by cybersecurity firm FireEye.

Warner said the issue isn't going away anytime soon. And while the U.S. is better prepared to defend against interference, he said potential adversaries are also getting better.

"We're just seeing the first generation," he said.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Warner's remarks.

 CNBC's Ryan Browne and Reuters contributed to this report.The U.S. is better prepared to deal with foreign election meddling this November, but the threats may also get worse, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told CNBC on Wednesday.

With midterms just a couple of months away, there has been concern over a repeat of the foreign interference seen in the 2016 presidential election.

"Absolutely we're better off. But our potential adversaries are also getting better," said Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Earlier this month, the leaders of four U.S. intelligence agencies warned of "pervasive" and "ongoing" threats from foreign actors, including Russia, to interfere in upcoming U.S. elections.

While President Donald Trump has acknowledged Russia interfered in the 2016 election, he insists it did not have an impact on the results.

A January 2017 intelligence community assessment said Russia's efforts to impact the 2016 election showed a "clear preference" for Trump over Hillary Clinton. However, in July Trump claimed Russians will be "pushing very hard" for Democrats to win elections in the November midterms, asserting "They definitely don't want Trump!"

Warner said the problem of attempted election interference will be around for a long time.

"We're just seeing the first generation," he told "Power Lunch."

What may happen next is a cyberattack where hackers get someone's personal information and then provide a live-stream video of a politician, in what's called "deep, fake technology."

"You open it up because it's got your personal data, then you see an image that may not be real," explained Warner, who spent years in the tech industry. Among other things, he co-founded the company that became Nextel.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is holding a hearing next week to address the issue.

"My fear at times is we're buying the world's best 20th century military when much of the conflict in the 21st century may be in cyber and misinformation and disinformation," Warner said.

 CNBC's Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.Items and personal notes are left outside the office of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as people pay their respects to the late Arizona senator on August 26, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The body of John McCain, who endured 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and went on to become a lion of the U.S. Senate and a two-time Republican candidate for president, will lie in state on Wednesday in the Arizona state capitol.

The daylong public viewing of his casket was due to kick off five days of memorial tributes in Phoenix and Washington for McCain, who died on Saturday at his ranch in Cornville, Arizona, from brain cancer. He was 81.

Wednesday's observance was to open with a private ceremony inside the Rotunda of the Arizona statehouse, after which members of the public were invited to pay their respects from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. local time.

McCain is only the third individual so honored in Arizona's state capitol over the past 40 years, organizers of the ceremony said. The two others were state Senator Marilyn Jarrett in 2006 and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, a Tucson resident, in 1980.

A memorial service, to be attended by family, friends, political leaders and other dignitaries, is scheduled for Thursday at the North Phoenix Baptist Church. McCain's body will be flown afterward to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

His body will then lie in state on Friday at the U.S. capitol for another memorial ceremony and public viewing, to be followed on Saturday by a funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.

McCain, who parlayed his status as a Vietnam War hero into a decades-long political career, served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was elected to the Senate in 1986.BY THE NUMBERS

Futures were higher this morning, giving the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq a chance to chalk up a fourth straight positive session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are coming off three straight record closing highs. The Dow posted its highest close since Feb. 1. (CNBC)



* European markets edge higher as Canada re-joins US-Mexico trade talks (CNBC) Earnings reports out this morning include American Eagle (AEO), Brown-Forman (BFB), Chico's (CHS), Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), Express (EXPR), and Movado (MOV). Later, Salesforce.com (CRM), Guess (GES), and PVH (PVH) issue their numbers after today's closing bell. (CNBC) Investors get a second reading on second quarter GDP at 8:30 a.m. ET. Then, the National Association of Realtors releases its July report on pending home sales at 10 a.m. ET. Earlier this morning, the Mortgage Bankers Association said total home loan application volume decreased 1.7 percent last week. Refi apps were down 3 percent. Roku (ROKU) shares were nearly 3 percent lower in premarket trade following a report by The Information that Amazon.com (AMZN) is planning to offer an ad-supported free video app that would compete with the streaming video device-maker's Roku channel.

IN THE NEWS TODAY

STOCKS TO WATCH

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) reported adjusted quarterly profit of 44 cents per share, 7 cents above estimates, while the maker of servers and networking gear also saw revenue exceed forecasts. Separately, the company named former Sprint Chief Financial Officer Tarek Robbiati as its new CFO, effective September 17. Box (BOX) lost 5 cents per share for its latest quarter, 1 cent less than Wall Street had anticipated, while the cloud storage provider's revenue exceeded estimates. However, its current quarter revenue outlook falls short of forecasts, and it also anticipates a bigger than expected loss. Tilray (TLRY) reported a 17 cents per share loss for its second quarter, but the Canada-based cannabis producer did see revenue nearly double compared to a year ago. Tilray's quarterly report was its first since going public last month. H&R Block (HRB) lost 72 cents per share for its fiscal first quarter, smaller than the 77 cent loss that Wall Street had anticipated. The tax preparation firm's revenue also exceeded forecasts. H&R Block makes most of its money during tax preparation season, which occurs during its fiscal fourth quarter. Tailored Brands (TLRD) said it expected second quarter earnings to come in at an adjusted $1.05 to $1.07 per share, slightly better than expected. The parent of the Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank clothing chains also said Chief Executive Doug Ewert would retire on September 30, with the company planning to launch a search for a successor.

WATERCOOLERPresident Donald Trump finally took himself off the sidelines in the key Arizona Senate race on Wednesday morning.

After Rep. Martha McSally easily won Tuesday's bruising Republican Senate primary, the president threw his support behind her in her bid to win outgoing GOP Sen. Jeff Flake's seat. In a tweet Wednesday, Trump called the second-term representative and former fighter pilot an "extraordinary woman" who has "my total and complete Endorsement!"

Trump tweet: Martha McSally is an extraordinary woman. She was a very talented fighter jet pilot and is now a highly respected member of Congress. She is Strong on Crime, the Border and our under siege 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military and our Vets. Has my total and complete Endorsement!

Trump took longer to back his party's leading Senate candidate in Arizona than he did in other pivotal Senate races, such as those in Florida, Missouri or North Dakota. But he quickly backed McSally after her victory, a signal that the president or his allies believe she could use support from Arizona's conservative base if she is going to prevail in one of the Senate battlegrounds most favorable to Democrats this year.

McSally previously associated herself with the House GOP's more centrist wing, supporting compromise on policies such as immigration, before proudly tying herself to Trump during the GOP primary. The representative and her opponents, former state lawmaker Kelli Ward and ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, scrambled to cast themselves as the staunchest ally of the president in order to excite Republican primary voters.

McSally's record and the politics of her opponents may have contributed to Trump's decision to sit out the primary. The representative notably called Trump's "Access Hollywood" comments about groping women without their consent "disgusting" when the remarks surfaced in 2016. Still, Trump has endorsed other candidates who disavowed him following those comments.

In addition, her primary opponents more closely emulated Trump's nationalist, off-the-cuff politics, which complicated his endorsement decision. Ward and Arpaio  whom Trump pardoned for a criminal contempt conviction related to his treatment of undocumented immigrants  appeared to split the state's ultraconservative base as McSally coasted with more than 50 percent of Tuesday's vote.

Ward, who unsuccessfully challenged the late Sen. John McCain in 2016, tweeted a widely criticized joke that "political correctness is like a cancer" on Monday, a day before the election and two days after McCain died of brain cancer. She also apologized for saying the McCain family had timed Friday's announcement of his end of treatment in order to hurt her candidacy. Trump also frequently criticized McCain this year even as he was away from Washington receiving treatment, and the White House faced backlash for defending a staffer who joked about McCain's failing health.

McSally's past efforts to stand with the GOP's more moderate wing make political sense: Her House district is ideologically split and she hopes to win a Senate seat in a state that Trump won by fewer than 4 percentage points. Now, she faces a balancing act of trying to simultaneously appeal to moderate voters in the state and boost turnout among staunch Republican voters loyal to Trump.

It is unclear now which strategy will work best as McSally tries to defeat Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who won her Democratic primary on Tuesday. During Trump's presidency, Arizona's two Republican senators  McCain and Flake  criticized Trump much more often than their Republican colleagues. But Flake is highly unpopular in the state.

The race's outcome has major stakes for Trump and his agenda. The GOP currently has a narrow 51-49 seat majority in the Senate.

Trump has frequently complained that he needs more Republican senators to enact his agenda, after the GOP's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed by one vote in the chamber last year. McCain, who had just returned to Washington after surgery for brain cancer, cast one of the votes to sink his party's legislation.

Democrats face a difficult Senate landscape this year, as the party's senators and independents who caucus with them defend 26 seats. Arizona is one of only nine Republican Senate seats up for grabs, and perhaps the minority party's best chance of gaining ground.

Trump has already campaigned for several Republicans trying to unseat Democratic Senate incumbents in states such as Indiana, West Virginia and North Dakota.President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is optimistic Canada will join the new trade deal the U.S. forged with Mexico that is intended to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"I think Canada very much wants to make the deal," Trump told reporters at the White House, while adding, "It probably won't be good at all if they don't."

Trump also reiterated his Friday deadline for the U.S.' northern ally to join the NAFTA replacement, which he coined "The United States-Mexico Trade Agreement" earlier in the week.

"They want to be part of the deal," Trump said of Canada. "We gave until Friday and I think we are probably on track. We'll see what happens."

His remarks followed a roundtable discussion meeting in which he announced a grant for a program supporting drug-free communities.

Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland later said on Wednesday that the NAFTA trade negotiations with the U.S. were at a "very intense moment" and that her country was looking for compromises that were "win-win" for all sides.

"Our officials are meeting now and will be meeting until very late tonight. Possibly they'll be meeting all night long," Freeland told reporters after a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "This is a very intense moment in the negotiations and we're trying to get a lot of things done very quickly."Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and President Donald Trump are seen following a meeting at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., July 20, 2017.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated that the U.S. will not participate in joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "warm" relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, even as U.S. efforts to denuclearize the reclusive dictatorship have stalled.



"There is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games," Trump said in a string of tweets Wednesday.

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Trump's announcement came a day after Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that there were no plans to cancel future exercises with South Korea.

"As you know, we took this step to suspend several of the larger exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit," Mattis said Tuesday at the Pentagon. It was his first press briefing in five months, a timeline that has included President Donald Trump's high-profile meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises. We will work very closely, as I said, with the secretary of State and what he needs done," he added, noting that forces on the Korean Peninsula have continued with small-scale training exercises.White House counsel Donald McGahn will exit his post in the fall, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

"White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump wrote in a message posted on Twitter. "I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!"

McGahn played a key role coordinating the president's rapid appointment of federal judges, and has been a central figure in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. As Trump mulled who he would nominate to the Supreme Court after the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, McGahn pushed him to select Kavanaugh.

An attorney for McGahn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC on Wednesday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate's Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he hoped news of McGahn's exit was not true. The president, he said, "can't let that happen."

The Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing next week on Kavanaugh's nomination.

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McGahn has cooperated extensively with the special counsel and is a potential witness in Mueller's investigation, which also is looking into whether the president has obstructed justice. While Trump has yet to sit down with investigators working on the inquiry, The New York Times reported in August that McGahn opted to answer Mueller's questions in at least three interviews spanning 30 hours.

In a series of tweets after the publication of the story, Trump railed against the Times' report for making it seem like McGahn had "TURNED on the President, when in fact it is just the opposite."

Trump reportedly ordered McGahn to direct Justice Department officials to fire Mueller in June 2017. McGahn refused and threatened to resign rather than carry out the order, and Trump backed down on the request, according to a Times report in January.

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The president and his attorneys have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and have accused Mueller of leading a "witch hunt."

Earlier Wednesday, political news publication Axios reported that McGahn would depart in the fall and that Trump had not formally decided on who would replace him. McGahn's choice for successor is Emmett Flood, a veteran lawyer who was named to Trump's legal team in May, according to Axios.

Whoever is selected to succeed McGahn could face the legal challenge of dealing with a barrage of subpoenas from Democrats should the party take control of one of the chambers of Congress this fall.

A former senior Trump administration official told CNBC earlier this month that Flood's appointment was "telling" ahead of the November midterms.

"Flood has experience and respect in Washington, and handled very high-profile oversight matters and congressional inquiries," the former official said at the time.

McGahn's exit marks the latest high-level departure from a White House that has had an unusually high turnover rate.President Donald Trump talks via speakerphone to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to announce a deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the White House in Washington, August 27, 2018.

Those heartened by the deal identify two main provisions. One sets rules for auto manufacturing; the other alters rules for settling disputes between investors and governments.

But from the few details that have emerged, there are differences. They're designed to benefit far different people than his tax cut did.

The "in theory" part matters a lot. The Mexico agreement is only preliminary, Canada hasn't signed on, and experts say key differences with NAFTA may not work as advertised.

In theory, President Donald Trump's agreement with Mexico gives you a better trade deal than NAFTA  if you're a pro-labor liberal, that is, and not an executive, investor or consumer.

The dispute settlement changes make it harder for investors to sue for damages over actions by member governments. Union leaders and environmentalists insist those provisions under NAFTA, intended to protect businesses from arbitrary political decisions, have become tools for investors to undercut labor and environmental standards.

The auto provisions would require that, to avoid import tariffs, 40 percent of new cars be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour, and that 75 percent of their value be manufactured in North America. NAFTA required that 62.5 percent of new cars be made in member countries.

The goal of higher U.S.-Mexico content requirements is more domestic auto-manufacturing jobs. The goal of wage requirements is boosting pay for Mexican workers, and thus easing downward wage pressure on U.S. workers who make more than that already.

That would be good news for the "forgotten" blue-collar workers Trump courted in 2016  and for populist Democratic firebrands like Elizabeth Warren whom Republicans love to hate.

"It's easier to compete against workers being paid $16 an hour than $4," said Jared Bernstein, who was considered the most liberal member of President Barack Obama's economic team. "This one looks to go a lot further toward helping workers on both sides of the borders."

Not so for auto buyers. The higher manufacturing costs resulting from higher-paid workers would also mean higher auto prices. If they didn't, Bernstein noted, the pro-labor provisions wouldn't be working.

Of course, that's one of many big "ifs."

As with Trump's phantom nuclear deal with North Korea, the White House hasn't produced details to back up his salesmanship. Mexico, like American businesses and Republican congressional leaders, wants a three-country deal for NAFTA 2.0 rather than just the U.S.-Mexico deal Trump suggests.

Hastily joining talks this week, Canada has signaled it may embrace the new framework. But ratification by Congress won't be easy, especially if Democrats recapture the House in November.

Even if Congress goes along, manufacturers could respond to higher labor costs with increased use of automation. To dodge the cost of reconfiguring supply chains, they could ignore higher North American content requirements and just pay the existing 2.5 percent auto important tariffs. They could shift more manufacturing overseas, where demand for autos is growing.

"NAFTA 2.0 should have been focused on REDUCING costs and further allowing our supply chains to become even more efficient, increasing the global competitiveness of North American producers," tweeted Tony Fratto, who worked in President George W. Bush's Treasury and White House. "But it will now go in the opposite direction. The end result is that in the coming years more and more vehicles will be produced and sold outside the U.S."

Other elements of the new framework, such as updated provisions for the digital economy that was just being born when NAFTA was enacted, are less controversial. They were also sitting on Trump's desk when he became president, negotiated already by the Obama administration as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership he promptly scuttled.

As a result, the new framework has few fans outside of the Oval Office and the populist left. Mainstream economic and trade officials from past White Houses  from Democrat Austan Goolsbee to Republicans Carla Hills and Doug Holtz-Eakin  tell me the Trump administration spent months negotiating something that represents a step backward for the American economy.

"What's new in the agreement is not good," concluded Jim Bacchus, a longtime trade official elected to Congress as a Democrat during the Clinton era. "A move away from free trade and toward managed trade. It's the opposite of what we should be doing."A top banking CEO from Europe warned that his clients are starting to feel the impact from global trade tariffs, with production lines being changed and profit warnings being issued.

"We see clients looking to reorganize their value chains. We are making sure that either they are not caught by higher tariffs or moving their production or basically rerouting value chains through which they make their products," Ralph Hamers, the chief executive officer of Dutch bank ING told Annette Weisbach on the sidelines of the Handelsblatt banking conference in Frankfurt.

Hamers added that some customers have indicated their sales will go down, their costs will increase and therefore their products may not be as competitive.

"It is very clear that a trade war is not good for producer confidence to invest and for consumer confidence to consume. It already has (had) a negative impact on economic growth."

Businesses around the world have been nervous as the current trade spat progresses. Last week, the U.S. and China slapped tariffs on $16 billion worth of goods on each other. Both countries also imposed tit-for-tat levies on $34 billion worth of goods in July.

Market watchers are now eyeing a fresh round of U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods expected later this year.A rally in tech stocks led the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 to record highs, with Amazon, Alphabet and Apple leading the gains. Investor sentiment was also boosted by the resumption of U.S.-Canada trade talks.

The Nasdaq gained 1 percent to close at 8,109.69. The rose 0.6 percent to 2,914.04, closing above 2,900 for the first time. The S&P 500 tech sector rose 1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 60.55 points to 26,124.57 as Apple rose 1.5 percent to an all-time high.

Amazon shares rose 3.4 percent to a record after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock, predicting a $1.2 trillion valuation for the company. Analyst Brian Nowak said Amazon's advertising, subscription and cloud businesses "will drive higher profitability and continued upward estimate revisions." Amazon's stock closed at $1,998.10.

Shares of Google-parent Alphabet gained 1.5 percent after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock, making it the highest on Wall Street. The analysts cited Waymo, the company's self-driving auto unit, as the big upside catalyst for the stock. Alphabet shares closed at $1,264.65.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland rejoined NAFTA talks after the U.S. and Mexico announced they had struck a bilateral trade deal. Freeland told reporters that Mexico's "difficult" concessions to the States earlier this week would help lead the way for productive discussions between the three countries this week.

On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that he was optimistic on striking a deal with Canada, but added that the White House was ready to go forward with Mexico alone, if it isn't executed. The U.S. is hoping an agreement with Canada will be made before the week ends.[The stream is slated to start at 2:30 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

President Donald Trump is expected Wednesday to announce a grant for a program supporting drug-free communities.

The "Drug-Free Communities" program, created in 1997, was designed to prevent youth drug abuse by providing funds to coalitions of local communities.

The White House says the program has shown evidence of a decline in the misuse of prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in the communities that received the grants.

The announcement also follows a report from Buzzfeed News that the Trump administration has quietly gathered a committee of federal agencies to negatively portray state efforts to legalize marijuana.

Trump's attorney general, former Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, has long opposed marijuana use and has cast it as a dangerous and addictive substance.The accelerating success of Alphabet's self-driving car unit, Waymo, spells big upside for stakeholders, according to Morgan Stanley.

The bank raised its price target for the tech titan to $1,515, the highest forecast of any Wall Street brokerage and implying more than 20 percent upside over the next 12 months.

For analyst Brian Nowak, Waymo's leadership in the global race to develop driverless cars had not been fully incorporated into investor expectations.

"We see the launch of Waymo's ride-hailing service by year-end as a potential catalyst for value realization," Nowak said in a note Wednesday. "We believe current Alphabet valuation ascribes little value for Waymo, implying it is still a call option."

He added that while Morgan Stanley currently values Waymo at $45 billion, the brokerage's research indicates the segment could grow to $175 billion in value as it expands its ride-sharing, logistics and licensing businesses.

Nowak's higher targets came just days after a business registration filing revealed that Waymo has established a subsidiary in Shanghai, the latest evidence that the U.S. internet giant is trying to break into the Chinese market.

For the driverless car unit, China offers business and logistics consultancy as well as car-part design and testing services. On the flip side, China has been trying to keep pace with the U.S. in the autonomous vehicle industry and could stand to benefit from having Waymo closer to home.

Alphabet's Google, which left China's search engine market eight years ago, has been actively seeking ways to rejoin the country where regulators block many of its products.

To be sure, Waymo still faces a number of key hurdles, including legislative challenges, expansion into new cities and adoption rates, Nowak said.

Recently, residents in a Phoenix suburb where Waymo has been testing its vehicles gave The Information a unanimous assessment of the cars: "I hate them." The backlash largely stemmed from frustrations with how the cars operate, including sudden stops or delayed turns.

The local complaints highlight the difficulties faced by self-driving cars, which are programmed to drive conservatively in order to master situations that humans ordinarily handle with ease.

Despite these early-stage hiccups, Nowak argued that operations should improve with time.

"As Waymo grows, we see investors putting a higher success likelihood and value on the asset," he said. "Every 10 percent realization of our total potential Waymo value translates to about $25 per share."

Shares of Alphabet's Class C stock rose 0.4 percent in premarket trading following the Morgan Stanley note.

In another note Wednesday, Nowak also raised Amazon stock's price target to a Wall Street high $2,500 per share.U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship speaks to his supporters during the primary election in Charleston, West Virginia, May 8, 2018.

Republicans are looking to expand their majority in the Senate this fall, and they might have just gotten a big boost from a state court.

The West Virginia Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an effort by failed Republican Senate candidate Don Blankenship to run on a third-party ballot line, a decision that could hurt incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's re-election bid this fall.

Blankenship, a former coal baron who served a year in prison after being convicted in 2015 of conspiring to violate mine safety laws, had sought to run as a candidate of the Constitution Party. He lost the Republican primary to Patrick Morrisey earlier this year.

But under West Virginia's "sore-loser" law, a candidate who fails to win one major party's primary cannot then run as another party's candidate for the seat that same election cycle.

If he had been allowed to run on the Constitution Party line, Blankenship was expected to cut into Morrisey's support, helping Manchin.

President Donald Trump, who won West Virginia by about 40 percentage points in 2016, has endorsed Morrisey.

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Morrisey, in his own statement reacting to the high-court order, said, "No more distractions to hide lying liberal Joe Manchin's record of supporting pro-abortion policies, gun control, and Hillary Clinton's campaign against coal miners."

During his failed campaign for the GOP nomination, Blankenship had railed against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican from Kentucky, whom he referred to as "Cocaine Mitch."

The slur was related to the fact that the family of McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, owns a shipping company, and one of its boats was once discovered in Colombia to have cocaine stashed aboard. McConnell, Chao and the company were never accused of knowing about the drugs.

Blankenship had also called Chao's father a "wealthy Chinaperson."

After Blankeship's candidacy bombed in May's primary, McConnell's campaign team snarkily tweeted a picture of him smiling, surrounded by what appeared to be cocaine powder.

The same imagery is used by the Netflix show "Narcos,' which is about the Colombian drug trade.

TweetGun deaths worldwide total about 250,000 yearly and the United States is among just six countries that make up half of those fatalities, a study found.

The results from one of the most comprehensive analyses of firearm deaths reveal "a major public health problem for humanity," according to an editorial published with the study Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Although recent headlines make it seem like gun killings are surging globally, the new figures tell a more nuanced story.

Researchers counted about 209,000 gun deaths in 1990 compared to 251,000 in 2016. The average rate, about 4 per 100,000 people, was mostly unchanged.

Two-thirds of the deaths in 2016 were homicides, although the U.S. is among wealthy countries where suicides by gun outnumber gun killings, the study found.

The numbers reflect more than "how many guns are around in a country," said lead author Dr. Christopher Murray, a professor of health metrics at the University of Washington. Cultural beliefs about guns and suicide vary widely around the world, he noted, adding, "That's where we get this incredible range of firearm deaths."

There were larger increases in many of the 195 countries involved in the study, particularly in Central American and South America, where the rates reached nearly 40 per 100,000 in some places. Researchers said the drug trade and economic instability may have contributed.

Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela are the countries that with the U.S. contributed to half the study deaths. The study raises concerns about the lack of research on causes of gun violence and ways to prevent it, the editorial said.Yoda and Darth Vader hot air balloons prepare to take off with dozens of other balloons at Memorial Park Saturday, September 5, 2015 for the Labor Day Lift Off. The balloons will take off again Sunday and Monday at 7:00 a.m. and the balloon glow takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Michael Ciaglo, The GazetteHi! I'm an education beat reporter for Fall 2018, and I'm a senior studying print and digital news. Please provide me with any feedback, questions or tips you have  my email is kyle.lahucik@mail.missouri.edu and my phone number is 708.359.9917.

Follow this search Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up TodayPunjab, Uttarakhand CMs looking for their slice of Singapore investment pie at upcoming summit

The Chief Ministers of the Indian states of Punjab and Uttarakhand have jumped onto the Singapore investment bandwagon as they are set to visit the city-state next week for a financial summit.

Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat (left) and Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh (centre) seen here with Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, will be leading their respective state-level delegations to Singapore. Photo courtesy: Facebook/@tsrawatbjp

The High Commission of India in Singapore and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) are organising the Invest North Summit on September 4, 2018 in Singapore to highlight investment and business opportunities in Indias Northern states, an official statement issued by the high commission read. The summit will be held from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm at the Heliconia Main Ballroom, Level 3, Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore. Registration will open at 8.30 am.

Delegations from the northern states of Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, led by Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat and Industry Minister of Uttar Pradesh Satish Mahana respectively, have confirmed their attendance.

Invest North will showcase business and investment opportunities in specific projects and sectors. Most of the priority sectors of development in these States are aligned with Singapores strengths, including in areas like infrastructure, logistics, urban solutions, skills development, tourism infrastructure, financial services, digital economy and manufacturing sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, food processing, etc, the High Commission stated.

CII Invest North, a conclave showcasing the potential projects and sectoral opportunities for investment in North Indian states, will also be held concurrently on September 3 and 4. Photo courtesy: CII

The event is set to provide interaction and networking opportunities with the Chief Ministers, Minister and key government officials and industry leaders from the region.

Capt Amarinder Singh will be leading a high-level team of officers from Punjab in his maiden official visit to the Lion City from September 2 to 5, a top government functionary told Chandigarh-based newspaper Daily World yesterday.

The four top officers include Additional Chief Secretary Investment Promotion, Industries, Commerce, Housing and Information Technology Vini Mahajan, CMs Principal Secretary Tejveer Singh, Finance Secretary Anirudh Tiwari and Invest Punjab CEO Rajat Agrawal.

Basically, the high-level delegation is going to participate in the North Invest meet being organised by the CII in Singapore. Other states such as Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are also likely to participate and the CMs of Uttarakhand and Punjab have already confirmed their participation while the CMs from other participating states are likely to appoint their representatives for the event, the functionary disclosed.

Punjab had recently organised a meet of all industry CEOs in Delhi and NCR region in the national capital, which was addressed by the CM himself as well as the top mandarins of the state government, asking them to consider investing in Punjab.

When contacted, Invest Punjab CEO, Rajat Agrawal said that all efforts are being made to woo industries to Punjab. Efforts are being made at the highest level to bring in industry, getting the necessary policies approved and tweaked for seeking investment, he said.

The summit will explore investment proposals in multiple sectors including city development, city planning, innovations and start-ups, logistics, food processing, financial services and financial tie-ups for the new projects like smart cities in the making. It follows on from the 11th India-Singapore Strategic Dialogue, which concluded yesterday. The summits aim was building on progress and identifying drivers for the future course of the strategic partnership between the two nations, according to the High Commissioner of India, Singapore, HE Jawed Ashraf.

Singapore Minister for Commerce and Information S Iswaran (left) with Tarun Das, Chairman, IEG, conversing about deepening India-Singapore economic and trade relations over the next decade at the 11th India-Singapore Strategic Dialogue. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@jawedashraf5

There has been a notable surge in high-level official interactions between Singapore and India in recent years both at the state and national levels, which can be attributed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis championing of the Act East Policy and determination to develop closer ties with ASEAN, culminating in the government inviting the premiers of all 10 member states as Chief Guests for this years Republic Day Parade followed by them attending the ASEAN-India summit in New Delhi. PM Modi was also invited to deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this year during a fruitful three-day visit to the island nation from May 31 to June 2.

Indian PM Narendra Modi delivering the keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue. Photo courtesy: PIB

The exchanges between the two nations have gone far beyond official government visits, expanding into the cultural, economic and social arenas fuelled by the sizeable Indian diaspora settled in Singapore. Following the announcement of the new government policy, the first-ever overseas Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was organised in Singapore in January, with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj delivering the keynote address and Roads and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari also in attendance.

Reciprocally, Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Minister for Commerce and Information S Iswaran are among Singapore government officials who have made official visits to India in the past year for summits, bilateral talks, temple trips and other reasons. The regular flow of high-level delegations has led to fostering sturdier diplomatic and economic ties, with Singapore PM Loong announcing today that a conclusion for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) agreement, which India has been endorsing heavily over the past two years, was in sight.

Indian PM Narendra Modi (wearing orange turban) with Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong (to his left) and other ASEAN premiers during the Republic Day 2018 Parade. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@narendramodi

(From left) Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal present at the PBD event in Singapore. Photo: Connected to India

The historic ties between the two nations were beautifully encapsulated by Dr Balakrishnan in his speech during the PBD, when he said, Even the old names of Singapore, Temasek, or in fact, Singapura itself, have Sanskrit roots. We are another pur, just like Jaipur, or Nagpur  there are many purs.

Capt Amarinder and Mr Rawat are the latest in a long line of Indian chief ministers making the journey to Singapore. As far back as May 2017, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar oversaw the signing of five major Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) covering an intention to invest in projects worth INR 180 billion or over SGD 3.8 billion in his first visit to Singapore during an investment road show held in the Shangri La Hotel, which was attended by leading entrepreneurs, captains of industries across sectors, bankers and consultants.

Link of my speech & interaction at Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS),National University of Singapore(NUS)&CII https://t.co/pOOsCWvFqW  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) September 28, 2017

CM of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis led a delegation comprising senior officials of the state government to the island nation for a visit to promote economic partnership between Singapore and the state which accounts for 15% of Indias GDP; 25% of Indian exports; and 30% of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India in September 2017.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had a hugely successful road show during the PBD this January, where he drummed up interest in investing in the state, highlighting its close proximity to ASEAN member states such as Myanmar and Thailand. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put the Northeast at the heart of India's Act East Policy," Sonowal said while addressing a session on Northeast India as ASEAN's Gateway to India at the gathering of the Indian diaspora.

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandra Babu Naidu at the World Cities Summit in Singapore & at LKY School of Public Policy: outlying the exciting vision of Amravati capital city, with master planning done by Singapore, and APs development. pic.twitter.com/BnB2Ks1I6Q  Jawed Ashraf (@JawedAshraf5) July 10, 2018

Finally, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu has become a regular visitor to the Lion City over the past year in his efforts to encourage Singapore investment into the building of Amaravati, his states new capital city. His most recent visit in July was to participate in the world cities summit and showcase the potential of the new capital.

Overall, Singapore is being held up as a fountainhead for financial investment as well as a provider of technical expertise for various infrastructure projects in India and with the upswing in bilateral cooperation, the delegations for the upcoming visit will clearly be looking to strike while the iron is hot and get a cut of the financial pie for their respective states.May could stop Hammond publishing economic forecasts before key Brexit vote

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Carney to brief MPs on the impact of no deal  The Times

Gilt yields rise on Governors job rumour  FT

as he tells her to butt out of his Budget

heresa May could block Philip Hammond from publishing the economic modelling of a no deal Brexit before Parliament is asked to vote on the Prime Ministers deal with Brussels. The Chancellor said last week that cross-Whitehall analysis looking at Brexit impacts which was published in January would be refined in the run up to the vote as he re-committed to providing MPs with the appropriate analysis before they decide. But Downing Street repeatedly refused to guarantee that MPs will be provided with forecasts of what a disorderly Brexit could mean for the UK before they vote to either accept or reject Mrs Mays agreement. It came as Mrs May said at the start of a trip to Africa that leaving the EU without a deal would not be the end of the world as she appeared to dismiss the Chancellors warnings about a no-deal Brexit.  Daily Telegraph

Philip Hammond has told Theresa May to butt out of his Budget as relations collapse again between Britains most powerful duo. In the Downing Street pairs most recent clash, the Chancellor was left livid by the PMs bid to raise the controversial plastic bag levy from 5p to 10p. Mrs Mays aides said last week she has already agreed to the rise, proposed by Environment Secretary Michael Gove. But Mr Hammond interrupted his holiday yesterday to insist no decision has been made. Allies of the Chancellor also revealed that No10 has been given a blunt message by him to stop publicly dictating what should be in his annual economic blueprint for the nation. Posting a tweet during a week off yesterday, Mr Hammond instead insisted all options to tackle plastic pollution still remain open and under active consideration.  The Sun

Trade Secretary says Chancellors warnings are hard to swallow  Daily Telegraph

Boost for Britain as Aston Martin chooses London for 5 billion flotation  Daily Mail

MEP claims British firms will enjoy post-Brexit windfall  The Sun

Think tank wants tax relief moved from entrepreneurs to NHS  The Guardian

Analysis:

Central banks may dump Sterling and Euros in event of no deal  Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph

Revenge that plunged May and Hammond into open war  Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail

Editorial:

Carney should stay another year, if he can resist interfering in politics  Daily Telegraph

Prime Minister shrugs off threat of Johnson  and vows to fight the next election

Prime Minister indicates she would fight a challenge to her position  The Guardian

Pro-EU Tories fear infiltration by UKIP  The Times

Cameron makes fresh dig at Gove  The Sun

Theresa May shrugged off the threat of a right wing coup from Boris Johnson today  vowing to fight the next election. The Prime Minister insisted she was in her job for the long term despite a rising backlash among Tory grassroots over her soft Brexit plans. Mrs May sidestepped questions over whether she feared being booed at party conference, merely insisting she would deliver important messages to the faithful. She also played down fears over entryism with a wave of hardline Brexiteers said to be joining in expectation of a leadership contest. The combative stance came as Mrs May was grilled by reporters during a trip to Africa today. There has been mounting speculation over a move against her by Mr Johnson, who dramatically quit in protest at the Chequers plan earlier this summer.  Daily Mail

Editorial:

Conservatives who fear infiltration have only themselves to blame if they dont fight back  The Times

>Today: ToryDiary: Mays courage, as she dances on, is admirable

>Yesterday: ToryDiary: The Conservative infiltration debate is all the wrong way round

Barnier threatened to boycott negotiations over Chequers

EU negotiator Michel Barnier threatened to boycott Brexit talks if Theresa May insisted on basing a deal on her Chequers plans, it emerged today. Mr Barnier furiously told officials the controversial proposals could save British businesses billions of pounds a year if they were able to trade in Europe free from many EU regulations. Mrs Mays plans  loathed by Brexiteers and criticised by the EU  imagine Britain voluntarily following EU rules on goods while leaving the single market and customs union to pursue trade deals and innovative services products. The prospect of the EU suspending negotiations will raise further the prospect of talks ending in failure and Britain crashing out without a deal Politico revealed Mr Barniers threat after it was revealed by officials who attended a meeting on the Chequers plan.  Daily Mail

UK puts 92 million into feasibility study for Galileo alternative  FT

Plan to maintain medicine stocks could cost 2 billion  The Guardian

Raab to be grilled by peers over exit preparations  Daily Express

Comment:

Britain must remain the EUs ally to counter Russian aggression  Sir Malcolm Rifkind, The Scotsman

>Yesterday: Priti Patel MP in Comment: We must chuck Chequers, or disillusioned voters will reject mainstream politics

Aid budget will be used to try to reduce immigration to Europe

Prime Minister seals 4 billion post-Brexit trade deal  The Times

May shown Mandelas Robben Island cell  Daily Mail

Theresa May will pledge to use the UK aid budget to slash immigration into Europe as she visits Nigeria tomorrow. The Prime Minister is to unveil a series of commitments to cut illegal and unsafe inflows from West Africa. Nigeria is believed to be the fifth-largest country of origin for victims of modern slavery in Britain  a cause that Mrs May has championed for years. The vile trade sees men, women and children tricked into making perilous journeys to Europe before being abused, treated as forced labour, or pushed into prostitution Among the measures being outlined by Mrs May is new support to help migrants and modern slavery victims rebuild their lives in Nigeria.  Daily Mail

Andrea Jenkyns: Free trade can improve aid and make the world a better place

I recently returned from a Malaria No More UK trip to Kenya, where I saw the tragic costs of untreated Malaria and what Britain is doing to help the fight against this preventable disease. As a mother myself, it was heartbreaking to watch a young baby having to be resuscitated due to Malaria complications. I saw first-hand Global Britain in action, a nation that is outward looking and a force for good across the world. The Department for International Developments budget for Kenya in 2018/19 is 111 million, the top three programmes are 20.7 Million for a Hunger Safety Net, 20 Million for Regional Economic Development and 10 Million for Pamoja, which provides clean water by constructing wells. Whilst I am pleased that good aid work is being done by Britain in Kenya, I know that throughout history, free markets, job creation and growth have been the most influential factors in lifting thousands of people out of poverty.  Daily Telegraph

Mays view of Africa is blinkered and damaging  Ian Birrell, The Times

Government announces new 2 million county lines unit to protect children from gangs

Tory mayoral hopeful calls for knife arches in schools  The Sun

Duncan Smith wants gang members forcibly relocated from crime-hit areas  Daily Telegraph

Ex-Conservative leader calls for rise in stop-and-search  The Sun

A new 2m county lines unit will aim to stop children being exploited by gangs, the Government has announced. The hub set up by the Department for Education will provide funding and resources to local authorities struggling to tackle drug smuggling and child sexual exploitation. Figures released last year by the National Crime Agency showed that over a third of police forces reported evidence of child sexual exploitation in relation to county lines, the phenomenon where children and young people are exploited by criminals and used to traffic drugs in rural areas. The unit will be established in 2019, and will run for three years. It will address child sexual exploitation together with other crimes, such as gang and drug activity, which also exploit vulnerable children and can lead to children going missing from home or from care.  Daily Telegraph

Comment:

Tories are now the party of law and disorder  Allison Pearson, Daily Telegraph

Davidson calls for Parliament to investigate gagging orders

Gagging orders risk becoming a tool for the weak to be beaten by the strong, Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has warned. Ms Davidson issued the warning after The Telegraph revealed that Labour frontbencher Khalid Mahmood used a non-disclosure agreement to silence his Jewish assistant, who took him to an employment tribunal on the grounds of religious discrimination. Ms Davidson said non-disclosure agreements are being used to protect the rich and the powerful as she called for Parliament to look to its own and investigate their use. Elaina Cohens employment tribunal case was resolved in an out-of-court settlement. Her non-disclosure agreement bars both her and Mr Mahmood, her former lover, from discussing the matter publicly.  Daily Telegraph

MPs should not be using taxpayers money to hide bad behaviour  Ruth Davidson MSP, Daily Telegraph

Former chief rabbi attacks Corbyns Rivers of Blood moment

Labour leaders racism rivals Powells, claims Jewish leader  The Times

Corbyn claims Israel controls MPs speeches  Daily Mail

as Labour grows rattled by threat of centrist schism

The former chief rabbi Lord Sacks today lashed Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite who defiles our politics. He said a tape of him attacking English Zionist Jews was the most offensive remark by a British politician since Enoch Powells Rivers of Blood speech in 1968. And he accused the Labour leader of supporting racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map. MailOnline revealed last week Mr Corbyn used a speech at the Palestinian Return Centre in London in 2013 to criticise a group of British Zionists. But Labour hit back at the former chief rabbis remarks, branding them absurd and offensive. Rows over anti-Semitism have rocked Labour all summer after the party refused to adopt in full an internationally accepted definition of hatred against Jews.  Daily Mail

Labour is becoming increasingly alarmed about the potential for a breakaway centrist party in the coming months as moderate MPs chafe under the leftwing leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The idea of an SDP mark 2 has been discussed ever since Mr Corbyn became leader of the UK opposition in 2015. The former backbencher has views considerably to the left of most of the Parliamentary Labour party. Only now, however, do senior figures around Mr Corbyn believe that the threat of a schism could be imminent. Some are already gaming when the split might occur and how much damage it would inflict. Others are taking seriously rumours that a new Europhile centrist party could be launched straight after Brexit  on April 1 next year  in order to campaign for the UK to rejoin the EU.  FT

Williamson demands hostile MPs resign or be replaced  Daily Express

MP hits back at Watson over claim referendum was stolen by Russia  The Sun

GMB union asks members for views on second EU referendum  The Guardian

Comment:

Corbyn has every right to purge Labour, we missed our chance to purge him  Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph

Editorial:

Labours rule book shouldnt let Corbyn off the hook  Daily Telegraph

>Today: Rob Halfon MPs column: I agree with Corbyn about democratising the BBC (or, rather, he agrees with me)

Salmond formally launches legal action against the Scottish Government

Holyrood must focus on the allegations, not point-scoring  Dani Garavelli, The Guardian

as SNP minister called to explain why controversial police merger has been paused

Alex Salmond has formally launched his legal action against the Scottish Government over its handling of sexual misconduct complaints against him. Two women have alleged he sexually harrassed them in late 2013, when he was First Minister. He strongly denies the claims. Mr Salmond is seeking a judicial review of a new complaints procedure that was introduced by the SNP administration in December. It emerged on Tuesday that his petition has been lodged with the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The court will now seek a response from the Scottish government. However, it is likely to be several weeks before there is a hearing before a judge. The move tips the SNP further towards civil war, with members and MPs split between camps supporting Mr Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, his successor.  Daily Telegraph

A committee of MSPs has called on justice secretary Humza Yousaf to explain a decision to put on hold the controversial merger of British Transport Police and Police Scotland. Earlier this week, Mr Yousaf said he would re-examine all options for the devolution of railway policing. The Scotsman revealed earlier this month that controversial plans to merge BTP and Police Scotland are set to be scrapped. A report by Police Scotland, which was published on Monday, said it was not possible to give a go-live date for the merger due to ongoing concerns On Monday, Mr Yousaf said ministers remained committed to full integration but that interim arrangements were needed to speed along the devolution of railway policing.  The Scotsman

Democratic Unionists urge Sinn Fein to end Assembly boycott

Party would have got lots of publicity from attending papal visit  Ben Lowry, News Letter

Twitter suspends hundreds of accounts linked to Iranian disinformation campaign

DUP leader Arlene Foster has led a press conference on the steps of Stormont this morning, saying Northern Ireland deserves better than almost 600 days without government. The former First Minister was speaking only hours before protests are to take place across Northern Ireland to mark the 589 days since the collapse of power sharing at Stormont. The power sharing executive collapsed when the late Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein resigned, citing the Renewable Heating Initiative scandal as a key reason. Mrs Foster was speaking today at Stormont where leading party members held up a banner saying Sinn Fein  end your boycott. We deserve better, all of us, Mrs Foster said.  News Letter

Twitter has removed another batch of accounts from its platform for participating in what it calls coordinated manipulation. The social media giant announced late Monday that it had suspended another 486 accounts believed to be linked to Irans disinformation campaign, bringing the total number of deleted accounts to 770. Last week, Twitter announced it had taken down 486 accounts that were tied to Iran Most of the suspended accounts are believed to be from Iran. Fewer than 100 were located in the US and they tweeted about 867 times, were followed by 1,268 accounts and had joined Twitter less than a year ago.  Daily Mail

News in Brief:

What does May mean by in it for the long term?  Katy Balls, The Spectator

The false assumptions behind Project Fear 2.0  Julian Jessop, CapX

Northern Ireland: stuck forever at the crossroads  Walter Ellis, Reaction

We hold all the best cards so why isnt the Government playing them?  David Stoddart, Brexit Central

How social media makes fascists of us all  Jamie Bartlett, UnHerd

And finally Prisk wants to be a Bond villain

Some people go into politics for world domination. Mark Prisk wants to do that now he has left office. The former housing minister says that his dream job would be to play Blofeld in the next James Bond movie. Im at that age, the 56-year-old Tory MP explains. I dont think I could do Bond. It was reading Ian Flemings novels as a teenager that first got Prisk interested in politics. They led me to wonder what the Cold War was about, he tells the Core Politics website. Having once played Herod in an am-dram production of, Prisk is possibly well qualified to be a screen villain, but he admits to one shortcoming. I need a cat, he says. Thats the mainZac Goldsmith is the Conservative MP for Richmond Park.

In the coming weeks, we will likely see the publication of the Governments long-awaited Agriculture Bill. This legislation, which will set out plans for the future of farming as we leave the European Union, will be the UKs first major domestic agriculture policy for 45 years.

Leaving the constraints of the EUs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)  a system which has failed to invest in a sustainable future for farmers  we have a historic opportunity for a new, home-grown approach to caring for our countryside.

The need for a new system is clear. The CAP, with its inflexibility and box-ticking exercises, has tied taxpayers money to a system that has not incentivised environmental improvement and left farmers reliant on hand-outs, rather than being properly rewarded for the goods and services they provide.

Without action, not only will we see the continued decline of our environment, but the long-term future of farming  and therefore the rural communities that rely upon it  will be under question.

As the Prime Minister rightly highlighted earlier this year, despite progress, the environmental challenges we face remain acute. Since 1970 there has been a significant decline in the numbers of woodland and farmland birds. Pollinating insects have declined by 13 per cent since 1980. Perhaps most alarmingly, our most fertile soils  the very bedrock upon which agriculture is built  could be lost in a single generation.

I am proud that this government has recognised the scale of the challenge, and the shift that we need to see in agriculture policy to restore our precious natural landscapes. The proposals announced by the Secretary of State, outlined in the recent Health and Harmony document, put forward a simple principle: that public money should be used to secure those goods from which the public benefit, but for which there exists no functioning market.

Rather than the EUs ineffective payments per acre system, this would ensure that taxpayers money is used most effectively, properly rewarding farmers for the services they are best-placed to provide, from flood prevention to landscape management and improving soil quality, alongside producing high-quality food. We know those working on the land want to do more now but are limited by a system that rewards size not service. We cant expect farmers to restore our environment on goodwill alone.

This new approach would not only drive action to secure the environment upon which farming relies, but would also set out a new future for our rural communities. If sufficiently resourced and maintained, this approach will provide farmers with a sustainable income stream in the face of market volatility. This funding would also be more likely to stay in the local economy, rather than passed upstream to national suppliers and supermarket conglomerates: currently every 1 spent on environmental stewardship schemes is worth 1.42 for the local economy. This is in addition to the very real benefits for rural communities from a healthier environment, improved access and better water quality.

It is also worth reminding ourselves of the public appetite for sensible change that works for farmers, the environment and our countryside. A recent poll by Populus revealed that an overwhelming nine out of ten people want farmers to be paid to protect nature, whilst the groundswell of public support for environmental action has shown how passionate the British public are about looking after our precious environment, for the benefit of the nation.

A new approach will naturally need support and complementary policies. Using public money to pay for public goods is the only way to justify public expenditure and demonstrate added value for the taxpayer beyond the food they pay for at the till. But if it is to work, farmers must also receive a fair return from the market for the food that they produce. Likewise, if farmers are going to thrive in a new system, advice must be made available, especially for those smaller farmers unlikely to be able to call on resources of their own.

In the coming weeks and months, we have a once-in a generation opportunity to ensure that British farmers get the support they deserve as custodians of our countryside. As the original conservationists, we as Conservatives must seize this opportunity, and bring forward a new, home-grown Agriculture Act that delivers a thriving farming sector, and enables farmers to play their part in restoring the environment for the next generation.Could I just say, as someone who is very bad at dancing, that I admire Theresa Mays courage? The Prime Ministers willingness to be filmed doing things for which she is bound to be mocked, although an inescapable part of public life, commands respect.

Leadership requires the fortitude to cope with being weak. Democratic leaders ought to be weak. It is easy, as a commentator, to succumb to what Archie Brown identified as The Myth of the Strong Leader; to imply that if only the Prime Minister were stronger and more powerful, and as far-sighted and virtuous as the commentator, all would go swimmingly and our problems would soon be at an end.

It is the cry down the ages for the smack of firm government. Perhaps I yielded to a version of this a couple of weeks ago when I called for eloquent government.

Brown, an authority on Soviet Russia, points out how dangerous it is to want to be rescued by a strong leader  a Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin or Mao  and how destructive such leaders are to their own countries. A strong leader debilitates the whole system. Obedience to such a figure leads to crimes and blunders.

Leaders need the courage to carry on while admitting their own mortality, but courage is not the same as power.

There is a moral element to all this. You hold high office in part because you accept that at any moment, if the House of Commons or the British people, or some combination of the two, have had enough of you, they have a perfect right to throw you out. In the midst of political life, you are in death.

All leaders want to be thought strong  to retain as it were the fiction of strength. Saddam Hussein would never admit he had no weapons of mass destruction: his version of the fatal over-reaching to which strong leaders are peculiarly prone.

Winston Churchill displayed in 1940 the fortitude to fight on when everything was going wrong. His courageous admission of weakness  I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat  became in those circumstances a proof of his fitness for office.

Churchill knew success was only possible if the nation pulled together. He brought in Labour ministers who were essential to the war effort, and established an excellent working relationship with Clement Attlee.

At a less heroic level, the same is true of peacetime governments. The Prime Minister is not a despot, or only to the extent that the elected conductor of an orchestra can afford to be a despot.

Government is a collective endeavour. To describe the Prime Minister as first among equals is not just a constitutional theory, but a clue to how things actually work. For the Prime Minister is nothing without the ministers, or players, he or she conducts, and cannot make them do what they are determined not to do.

This is as true of presidential systems as of ours. George Washington had a genius, both as a general and later as President, for identifying gifted subordinates such as Alexander Hamilton, and for using their gifts to put their divided and almost bankrupt nation on a secure footing. The first President did not pretend to know it all himself, or even to have all the words at his disposal which were required to explain what the administration was doing.

Before entering on high office, Washington protested his unfitness for it. And in a manner for which it is hard to find historical parallels, he stepped down both as Commander of the Continental Army and as President when he reckoned his work was done.

Leaders seldom have the sense to do that. They want, generally speaking, to go on and on, which is one reason why free countries need constitutional methods of getting rid of them.

All this may have seemed to wander some way from our present Prime Minister. But in a paradoxical way, her weakness is one of her strengths.

Her task is to conduct, as it were, a divided orchestra. If she barked orders at her colleagues, it is likely she would already have lost more of them than she can afford to lose, and that she herself would have been discarded.

That may still happen in the near future  indeed, one day it is pretty much bound to happen. But there is a kind of wisdom in her infuriatingly slow and inarticulate progress towards a Brexit deal which will delight few of her critics, but which they may by then have had enough time to realise is less bad than the alternative.

Her leadership lacks panache, but it takes guts to keep going like that, while people are laughing at you. She grins and bears the mockery of men who are certainly, in some cases, better dancers and rhetoricians than she is, but who have yet to show they can match her dogged, unglamorous yet courageous willingness to compromise.08/29/2018

Photo (c) FatCamera - Getty Images Floridas burgeoning medical marijuana industry is struggling to fill vacant job openings despite having thousands of people in the state who hoped to work in the industry.

We get hundreds of applications for every job opening we have, a spokesman at an Orlando dispensary recently told the Orlando-Sentinel Newspaper. And maybe only 10 percent of those are qualified and meet the legal requirements.

The problem, in large part, goes back to Floridas medical marijuana legalization program, one that the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has described as one of the more dysfunctional programs in the United States.

Prior possession charges weeding out candidates

An overwhelming 70 percent of Florida residents voted to legalize medical marijuana in 2016, but it was up to state lawmakers and regulators within the health department to smooth out the details before the law could be implemented.

Dispensaries began opening their doors last year, and patients have signed up to join the program at a rapid fire pace. An estimated 147,000 residents now carry medical marijuana cards. Those in the industry predict that dispensaries could create 25,000 jobs by 2022.

But included in the states long list of regulations is the stipulation that dispensary employees undergo background checks. Anyone found with a felony on their record is automatically disqualified.

Misdemeanor charges could also pose a problem under the state laws, industry experts say. Sometimes you can get by with a low-level, misdemeanor possession charge, but not always, another industry spokesman told the Sentinel.

To give more people hoping to join the workforce a chance, the Miami-based firm HempStaff has a somewhat ironic idea. People hoping to work in the medical marijuana industry should avoid bringing up any illegal activity regarding cannabis in an interview, the firm reportedly warns job candidates.On average, procure-to-pay businesses estimate they spend 55 hours per week doing manual processes and checks, 39 hours chasing invoices, and 23 hours responding to supplier inquiries related to these sources of friction. Its the larger companies-those with over 1,000 employees-that feel this friction the most, according to Tungsten Network. This can be avoided with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as distribution software and inventory optimization, which have potential to improve supply chain management (SCM).

The manual, paper-based processes are trivial, but necessary. They equate to 6,500 human hours in the working year according to Tungstens survey of 442 respondents. Some of this time could be saved by implementing AI and automation. However, these tasks represent just one part of the complex supply chain. Could wider challenges, such as logistics and distribution, also benefit from the AI treatment?

Using AI and Big Data to make better decisions

With volumes of data growing at an unprecedented rate, computers are capable of parsing data in a contextual manner and providing useful insights to an operator without them doing any of the legwork. Big Data technologies also are capable of analyzing market trends, integrating with enterprise systems, and triggering automated actions based on the data collected.

Consider this example: An order has been placed at a steel fasteners warehouse. Automated software allows the system automatically to detect if the product is in stock. If so, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) can be deployed to the exact location in the warehouse to acquire the product for distribution. If the product is not in stock, automation can scan the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to place a reorder and inform the customer of the estimated dispatch time.

This example shows AIs ability to streamline information so supply chain and logistics functions deliver a competitive advantage to adopters.

In 2017, one California-based telecom equipment manufacturer saw a significant revenue drop from $870 million to $740 million. In an effort to turn things around, the company deployed AI to make better predictions about delivery dates and to analyze past variability and production lead times. The business has since seen revenue pick up again and attributes this to the AI implementation.

However, its not just large companies that have access to this technology. An increasing number of tech vendors are releasing products so AI technology is accessible at a competitive price. This means AI is fast becoming mainstream, outcompeting traditional supply chain management to enhance everyday business. Companies can begin to reap the rewards of these technologies by following two steps:

Step 1: Build AI readiness

Businesses must have large data sets of deep granularity for AI to be effective. Granularity is used to characterize the scale or level of detail in a set of data, which AI is highly dependent on. The greater the granularity, the deeper the level of detail across the data. Whether AI implementation is in the forthcoming plans or not, its a good idea to ensure data collection and storage are geared for high granularity.

Boosting granularity may mean increasing the frequency of data readings, refining the precision of such recordings, or even placing sensors in new places to measure new variables. For example, if a flow meter currently is measuring the flow rate of a liquid in litres per minute, changing this recording to milliliters per minute may provide more insightful data. Ultimately, even if a business is not AI-ready today, improving granularity and data collection and analysis will lay the foundation for when AI inevitably becomes a more widespread competitive differentiator.

Step 2: Target a specific problem

Have one business goal in mind at the beginning. Focusing efforts and resources on a single problem means a significant pain point can be tackled effectively, with relatively low risk compared to a complete overhaul of processes. By selecting a discrete project, initial successes can be built upon and lessons can be learned. These lessons can then be applied to other areas in the supply chain with time.

Here are four targets for companies to consider:

1. Reduce late payments

Client payments and their associated enquiries are huge causes of friction in the supply chain. Using AI to predict which customers are likely to pay late means alternative plans can be put in place. Perhaps these customers need automated chaser e-mails. Maybe it means buyers wont purchase six months of stock for this customer-just in case they are unable to continue with the deal.

2. Accurately plan equipment supply

Supply chain planning, which involves using intelligent work tools to build concrete plans for things that could go wrong, is a crucial activity. For example, using data from past equipment and current machine performance allows AI to accurately predict when a part will need to be replaced. This is critical, particularly for obsolete legacy equipment, as lead times to find the part from an obsolete parts supplier will vary.

3. Predict demand for services and products

The demand for services or products can be predicted accurately using market trends and previous sales data. This means price points can be adjusted accordingly to maximize profits. It doesnt stop there. Having insight into future demand also has huge effects on other parts of a business, such as inventory management.

4. Forecast inventory needs

With this insight on future demand, AI can also help with forecasting inventory based on previous delivery information. This means decisions can be made to optimize stock levels. For example, if AI lets the user know many other businesses will want the same equipment in 12 months time, this gives the user the opportunity to get ahead by ordering it much sooner than this.

Why does it matter if inventory levels arent optimized? In 2015, the cost to companies of over-stocking was $470 billion, and under-stocking was $630 billion worldwide, according to IHL Group. Freeing up cash and storage space optimally creates savings.

As the complex web of production and distribution are opened up to the benefits of AI, the supply chain will have a bigger economic impact than any other technology application. McKinsey & Company, a management consulting company, estimates firms will derive between $1.3 billion and $2.1 billion a year in economic value by implementing AI into the supply chain.

However, for businesses starting out with this technology, the focus should remain on building data granularity and choosing a specific issue to overcome with this technology.

Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director, EU Automation. Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, Control Engineering, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

MORE INSIGHTS

KEYWORDS: supply chain management, artificial intelligence, AI

Big Data and AI can provide useful contextual data to supply chain management (SCM).

and AI can provide useful contextual data to supply chain management (SCM). Companies can prepare by building their AI readiness and being aware of specific challenges such as supply planning and demand forecasting.

can prepare by building their AI readiness and being aware of specific challenges such as supply planning and demand forecasting. Up to $2 billion in economic value will be provided by implementing AI into the supply chain.

Consider this

What additional benefits can AI and Big Data provide to the supply chain?

ONLINE extra

About the author: Jonathan Wilkins is the marketing director of industrial automation components supplier, EU Automation. A professional brand advocate and commercial marketing strategist, Wilkins focuses on delivering growth via a multi-channel approach that has a significant positive impact on businesses. He has been part of the EU Automation team since its inception nine years ago and has over a decade of experience in marketing.

About EU Automation: EU Automation stocks and sells new, used, refurbished, and obsolete industrial automation spares. Its network of preferred partner warehouses, and wholly owned distribution centers, enables it to offer a unique service within the automation industry, spanning the entire globe. It provides worldwide express delivery on all products, meaning it can supply any part, to any destination, at very short notice.We are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds..100%

Website th3professional.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery and Boostrap. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 21862 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 642800 bytes (627.73 kb uncompressed) and 188670 bytes (184.25 kb compressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-07, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.The drive for personalized consumer products is no longer a passing fad. Personalization stems from deep motivations. The emotional wish to purchase products created especially for me comes across with an understanding of diversity between individuals and the prospects for more effective solutions to meet each individuals special needs. However, efforts to introduce personalized skin carei.e., for unique skin with distinctive characteristicson an industrial scale means products formulated for generalized needs, which could not be as effective.

Furthermore, human skin has historically been characterized by type using a conventional scale to rank it from very dry, dry, normal-to-combination and oily. Yet accurate skin characterization includes additional factors such as pigmentation, pH, roughness, age, flexibility, etc. Indeed, the fact that so many parameters characterize skin could partly explain why the daily application of off-the-shelf cosmetics is sometimes met with disappointment and poor results.

This led to the analysis of biomarkers to create personalized skin care. Such a method was patented years ago and involved skin sampling, quantitatively measuring biomarkers, analyzing biomarker profiles and preparing dermocosmetics in accordance with an individuals specific skin needs.1

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Taking this a step further, two research projects within Europas Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) have aimed to execute the industrial manufacturing of such personalized skin care. The first project2, 3 sought to improve skin syndromes by developing customized topical treatments. The second project4 leveraged the achievements of the first in addition to designing the required manufacturing facilities.

The main result of these two projects is described here as an integrative personalized skin care system (IPS). This multipart process, from skin analysis to product manufacturing, is presented as a case study toward the full-scale production of personalized skin care. The basic components are reported, as are strategies of the system. Furthermore, its proof of concept, which was previously demonstrated, is illustrated here by developing personalized facial care products for a pilot group of 30 subjects.

IPS Process Overview

Personal preferences: The IPS process begins with a questionnaire to collect the customers personal informatione.g., age, gender, known skin sensitivities, and sun and pollution exposure levels (based on work and lifestyle), along with preferences regarding product fragrance, texture and packaging.

Skin characteristics: Next, the customers skin is measured using non-invasive procedures to evaluate the status of the most relevant skin characteristics.

Skin profile: The data obtained from the questionnaire and skin measurements is then processed by an algorithm that generates a personalized skin profile for each customer.

Formula proposal and production: Based on the skin profile, the algorithm proposes a customized skin care formula for the consumers order. In some cases, the algorithm may identify health issues or allergic risk, and decline the initial order or generate an alternative. The formula is then finalized, including calculated pump timings for each ingredient to control the dosing. Following the consumers order and payment approval, final production is executed in a two-step process, described below.

Product labeling: Simultaneously, the proposed formula is transferred to a machine-readable recipe, from which a proper label is output according to the requirements of the European Commission (EC) Regulation EC 1223/2009.5 The generation of this label involves resolving the formula to INCI names.

Product distribution: After production, customers receive products either on-site or by mail. Customer feedback on the product and IPS experience is also collected for continuous system improvements.

Core Components

The described IPS therefore includes four distinct components:

A mini lab for non-invasive skin measurements; The multifactorial computer algorithm including learning functionality to process both personal preferences and skin parameters, and ultimately generate the personalized formula proposal; A two-step mother and mini factory manufacturing system,6 discussed below; and A computerized production system for cross-module communication and data integration.

Two additional components are logistics and regulations.

Mini Lab for Skin Analysis

For the present IPS process, data is first collected in vivo on various physical and biochemical features of the skin, such as hydration, sebum secretion level, color, elasticity, inflammatory sensitivity, oxidation, metabolism, etc., to evaluate an individuals skin health status. This data is collected non-invasively from the body site where the personalized product will be applied; i.e., on the face for facial care, or hands for hand moisturizers. To accomplish this, a portable mini lab was designed with probes that attach to skin and quickly analyze various skin indices: hydration (by corneometer),7 pH, sebum,8 elasticity, roughness and pigmentation.

Skin structure elements also are analyzed in vivo using spectral-auto-fluorescence measurements for: collagen cross-links, elastin cross-links, advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and tryptophan moieties.9 This data is collected quickly in vivo in a battery of measurements, taking 512 min total for all tests combined. Note that tape-strips for biochemical measurements were taken and evaluated as part of the mini lab development process, for comparison with non-invasive physical measurements.

Additional non-invasive skin biomarker tests are included; although their inclusion in the mini lab design is not yet feasible due to logistics. In the future, these will be added to the mini lab design, once their execution is less time-consuming and more cost-effective.

Specific biomarkers of interest include cytokine levels, e.g., interleukins and other chemokines; oxidation-reduction metabolism; and volatile organic compound (VOCs). Previous studies have shown that significant differences in the expression of these biomarkers are correlated with skin and health conditions such as aging,9 psoriasis,10 atopic dermatitis,10 chronic renal failure,11 diabetes mellitus12 and rosacea.13 As such, variations in these markers warrant further analysis.

Multifactorial Learning Algorithm

The next major component of the IPS concept is the computerized algorithm equipped for self-learning to process the collected data. This system performs multifactorial data mining to contribute to the sophistication of the IPS as it optimizes the selection of the personalized cosmetic formula. Since client satisfaction is a major target of the proposed IPS, the multifactorial analysis integrates both subjective and objective information.

The algorithm-driven selection of personalized products, whose efficacy was previously shown in FP7,14 was based on the following (see Figure 1):

An individuals skin profile based on objective skin measurements. As noted, rules for creating the profile are determined using both data mining techniques and mathematical models. The customers subjective preferences for product texture or formi.e., cream, lotion, gel; type of packagingi.e., tube, jar, bottle; fragrance; and packaging artwork design. The customers sun exposure level based on geographic location, place of work and lifestyle. Relevant historical background relating to personal and family health, such as known allergies and sensitivities. Existing databases from outside sources applicable for suggesting personalized treatments, such as:

Personal subjective feedback from the consumer of past product use;

Personal objective feedback on treatment efficacy based on skin measurements or physician exams;

Scientific literature of old and new skin biomarkers;

Scientific literature of new and existing skin preparations and cosmetic ingredients; and

Personal adverse events, if they have occurred.

Self-learning by the algorithm, for further optimization of the customized formulation and product design (see broken red line in Figure 1).

Products developed 'especially for me' come with the prospects for more effective solutions to meet specific needs.

Mother and Mini Factories

Commercial cosmetic products are typically manufactured from A to Z in big chemical reactors. This batch-wise manufacturing concept is optimized for the dynamic production of large volumes of product in a central, mother, factory. Producing a cosmetic product for one individual based on this process would be inflexible, costly and unrealistic. The described IPS system instead leverages the capacity of the mother factory to prepare large-scale base formulas, which are then customized in a mini factory.6 This enables both small scale and flexible manufacturing while obeying cosmetic GMP standards. To achieve these goals, two major principles must be applied:

1. A two-step manufacturing process, including: a) the pre-preparation of a limited number of large-batch cosmetic concentrated bases in a centralized mother factory; and b) the final customized production in a mini factory located near the point of sale. The mini factory, described below, provides sufficient flexibility by the easy extension and exchange of process components, to accommodate individual customer requests.

2. Concentrated bases, which are prepared at the mother factory. The water content of the base formulas is 1020% instead of 5070%, which is more typical of final cosmetic preparations. For the bases, formulators calculate the stability, compatibility and microbial challenge in advance for both maximum and minimum concentrations of diluting water, as well as with maximum concentrations of the optional added actives to bases. The bases also contain the required preservative levels before dilution. In addition, their stability is analyzed in advance with minimum and maximum concentrations, which are calculated by the algorithm.

Once the base formulas reach the mini factory, they are diluted in water, and actives, fragrance and preservatives are added at appropriate levels for the new formula volume. To control microbial contaminationas described in detail belowthe mini factory is designed as a GMP independent processing system with cleaning-in-place procedures and periodic assessments to ensure sanitary conditions.

Mini Factory in Action

The mini factory is essentially an automated mixer including an additives-dosing valve system and washing unit.6 Its role is to first add water to the concentrated base in order to dilute it to the desired level. Then, selected additives are incorporated into the product and simple mixing is used to quickly prepare the final cosmeticeliminating the need for high-temperature homogenization. The mini design incorporates the use of 21 small pumps for additives and six larger pumps for three bases and water, soap and alcoholused for cleaning and disinfection (see Figure 2). The active manufacturing process from concentrated base to final personalized product takes 1020 min, depending on the dose, number of ingredients and desired product viscosity.

Integrated Computerized Production

Last, the IPS utilizes different interfaces to integrate data from the consumer, mini lab, algorithm, production unit, logistics and inventory into a single, uniform platform that speaks the same language in terms of information and communication technology (ICT). This communication is executed via a computerized production system, whereby physical components interact with software in a cloud.

The following key requirements were incorporated into this system: a high degree of automation; flexibility in the manufacturing process; remote management and maintenance; and process traceability and documentation. This architecture was previously described.15

Regulatory Considerations

In the European community, topical skin care is monitored in accordance with Regulation EC 1223/20095and personalized products are no exception. While the processes for manufacturing industrial-scale concentrated bases at the mother factory align with the cosmetic regulation, small batch production at the mini factory has specific requirements. These are listed in different articles of the EC Regulation and include considerations such as: safety (Article 3), responsible person (Articles 4 and 5), good manufacturing practice, i.e., ISO 22716 (Article 8), safety assessment (Article 10), production information file (Article 11), notification (Article 13) and labeling (Article 19). A detailed report describing IPS solutions to these articles was prepared by Zanotti and Robino16 (unpublished data), which has paved the way for IPS mini factories to become fully compliant.

Selected additives are incorporated into the product and simple mixing is used to quickly prepare the final cosmetic.

As an example, Article 13 relates to notification and it outlines the information required regarding a products composition. However, each product manufactured as an IPS is unique. As such, this information is provided as a concentration range, which is allowed under the official EC guidance. Consequently, each IPS product made in a mini factory has a common base and pool of active ingredients whose levels vary, but fall within the pre-defined range. This allows the IPS to benefit from both personalization and controlled, regulatory-approved production. The proposed framework thus enables traceability, reproducibility and quality standardization, all while complying with the EC cosmetics regulation.

Proof of Concept

To test the described IPS system, in terms of module operation, personalized treatment, customer experience, cost and environmental impact, a small group of 30 subjects was recruited as part of the original FP7 project 2.2, 3 Figure 3 illustrates the entire process, comprising: 1) logistic operations and 2) analysis of the demo outcome and user satisfaction.

Part 1: Logistics

As stated, 30 volunteers (ages 6075) were recruited and enrolled with his or her informed consent. The volunteers represented three different states of skin health: healthy, type II diabetes and rosacea (see Table 1). All volunteers completed two questionnaires at the beginning of the process. The first related to health, e.g., skin type, allergies, health condition, etc.; the second was a preference questionnaire regarding texture, scent, etc. (see Volunteer Questionnaire).

Physical measurements of the volunteers facial skin were then taken to measure superficial biochemical levels (see Table 2). As stated previously, due to logistic constrictions, the biochemical results were analyzed but not in situ during the demo. The final customized cosmetic formulasin this case, facial carefor volunteers were then proposed based on the individual skin profiles, as calculated by the algorithm.

Each formula comprises a concentrated base, active ingredients, fragrance and preservative. For the present proof-of-concept study, two different bases were used for facial products: a serum and cream-gel. Both were w/o emulsions containing oil and water phases, emulsifiers, preservatives and calming agents. These were produced in the mother factory per GMP ISO 22716 then transported to the mini factory to be used for the demo.

The proposed formulas were then sent to the mini factory mixing unit for preparation by dosing the selected base to the desired volume, mixing it with water and the specified additives, and generating the label according to the EU regulation. This demo aimed to test the ability of the mini factory to dose and mix the base and ingredients as directed by the computerized production system; i.e., without human intervention. All pumps were successfully controlled by the software, and the final products were prepared by fully automated dosing and mixing according to the generated prescription. The finished products also were handed to the volunteers within a few minutes after completing their skin measurements. Thus, the customized production proof of concept was well-demonstrated.

Technology Readiness

While still in the early stages of development, this four-module IPS system was submitted17, 18 to European authorities who rated it on a scale of 19 regarding readiness for commercialization. Here, 1 refers to the initial research mode and 9 is the final testing stage. The IPS mini lab was rated an 8, i.e., nearly ready, whereas the algorithm and computerized production systems are at a stage of 7mature yet requiring further demonstration of actual system prototypes in an operational environment.

The mother and mini factories are at a 6, meaning they are still in demonstration levels. Thus, while it will take some time before all four modules are up and running for industry use, the approach appears to be feasible.

Part 2: Demo Outcome and User Satisfaction

After proof-of-concept testing came the real test: users. Four weeks after receiving custom products, the volunteers completed questionnaires to provide feedback about the products and their experiences. In addition, volunteers returned for a second session of measurements to assess the effects of the products on their skin. The data from both skin measurements and feedback questionnaires was integrated into the algorithm formula for self-learning to define whether the treatment was effective for each of the 30 volunteers.

Subjective results: Analysis of the subjective feedback (see Table 2) indicated 100% of "customers" were satisfied with the personalized treatment and service. Furthermore, 90% expressed interest in purchasing their demo products.

Objective results: Regarding objective efficacy, skin measurements taken before and after use of the personalized products indicated statistically significant improvements in skins natural moisturizing factor and elasticity, as demonstrated by corneometry and cutometry, respectively. Table 3 summarizes these results.

The capability to successively improve products based on feedback from the self-learning algorithm holds

interesting potential.

Cost Considerations and Other Benefits

It is beyond the scope of this paper to delve into comparative costs between personalized and mass-produced products. However, expert analysis of the results of the proof of concept suggest costs for the IPS product in the mother factory could be lowered by as much as 5767%, compared with those for a similar mass-produced product. This is due, in part, to the lower production volume and weight of concentrated bases, which would save storage space.

The concentrated forms would also cut inventory transportation costs by nearly 35% (data not shown), as well as the need for secondary packaging and the number of beneficiaries along the way as the product moves from manufacturer to consumer. Furthermore, by employing simple mixing processes, the mini factory would reduce energy consumption.

Although the cost for a second mini factory would, no doubt, reduce some savings, estimates place overall savings of the entire IPS approach at ~30%.19 A commercial pilot is planned to make more accurate, reality-based observations and evaluations.

Finally, the capability to successively improve products (and skin conditions) based on updated proposals from the self-learning algorithm has yet to be proven but holds interesting potential. This option is non-existent in todays mass-marketed products.

Discussion and Conclusions

The idea of personalized skin care is not new. Historically, it was common practice for physicians to prepare small galenic formulas on demand in a pharmacy. Similar to IPS products, these formulas were characterized by small volumes and customized as "especially for you" solutions to specific concerns. However, these products did not meet the quality standards of health authorities due to the lack of GMP-approved manufacturing plants and ISO 9001 QA standards for production.

The described IPS system presents a practical means to execute personalized cosmetic preparations in accordance with the EC regulatory framework. Furthermore, the system could serve as a tool for monitoring not only skin conditions, but overall health status, since the expression of some skin biomarkers is indicative of diabetes, or chronic and renal failure.11, 12 Finally, IPS execution can reduce costs and shorten production time to market, which could translate to other personalized consumer goods, such as health food and food additives.

The market potential for personalized skin care and cosmetics is steadily increasing. Todays European cosmetic consumers are drawn to strong innovation, product novelty and format, skin-specific treatments, anti-aging skin care and personalized formulas.20 The presented IPS system could appeal to several of these facets, or draw in new users via market positioning; e.g., custom products that are tailored to be safer, natural, etc. Various parts of the population are expected to be first-adopters of IPS conceptfrom millennials seeking constant novelty through their smart technologies, to older generations needing direct, in-person advice from experts.

In the future, one might envision mini labs and mini factories used in perfumeries in larger shopping complexes, dermatology clinics or flagship stores in busy airport terminals. The IPS could be further modified to enable virtual shopping, where skin tests are performed in mini labs at prime locations and mini factory activities are presented to the customer via internet video. Different business models and services in terms of investment and franchise have yet to be thoroughly analyzed.

Regarding efficacy, it is notable that comparisons between personalized and mass-produced products would be difficult at best, considering personalized products do not stand alonei.e., they are specific to the user, skin conditions and preferencesand are presented in a different frame of service for feedback and further improvement. Thus, objective and subjective comparisons would hold little value. However, it would be interesting to compare an initial personalized product or mass product with a personalized product after iterations.

Based on preliminary analyses, these authors believe the IPS system presented poses viable and versatile opportunities for the cosmetic and other industries in the near future. Further innovative thinking, as well as trial and error, will establish the most effective strategies to fully exploit the commercial potential of the proposed IPS.

Acknowledgements: This study was supported by:

The European Commission FP7 Programme: Theme FoF.NMP.2013-6; Develop and demonstrate a mini factory concept for production of personalized skin care products for elderly population, SuperFlex project, grant agreement no. 609198 (2012-2016); and

The European Commission FP7 Programme: Theme NMP-2007-3.1-2: New added-value user-centred products and product services under SkinTreat project, grant agreement no. 213202 (2008-2012).

The authors also wish to acknowledge all colleagues and researchers of the SuperFlex and SkinTreat projects for their contributions.

Finally, they would also like to thank Ms. Yaara Laor from the AHAVA formulation team, who took part in the development of the tested skin care formulas.

References

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In a prepared statement, Dr Thomas Spindler, head of upgrades & retrofits, PrimeServ Four-Stroke, MAN Energy Solutions, said: We showed  with the conversion of Wessels Reedereis Wes Amelie containership  that operational MAN engines can successfully be converted to LNG operation with a positive effect on exhaust emissions and the environment.

The conversion of the Napoles is due to take place in Spain between November 2018 and January 2019, with the conversion of Sicilia to take place from October to December 2019.

According to MAN, the conversion to LNG operation is part of its wide-ranging engagement for the establishment of LNG as a shipping fuel. Calling for a Maritime Energy Transition MAN stated that it considers the use of natural gas as the fuel of choice in global shipping and the most promising way to support the goal of a climate-neutral shipping.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that the United States, Canada and Mexico could be nearing a deal to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement, reflecting a surge of optimism that a pact may be within reach.

But, speaking at a news conference in Canada, he cautioned that more work must be done and warned that he will walk away from discussions if he thinks the deal doesn't line up with Canadians' best interests.

"We recognize that there is a possibility of getting there by Friday, but it is only a possibility, because it will hinge on whether there is ultimately a good deal for Canada," Trudeau said. "No NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal."

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that negotiations were going "really well."

Trudeau and Trump are now jockeying publicly while frantically negotiating in private, as their top trade officials are engaged in continuous meetings in Washington.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed optimism Wednesday about the talks after a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "I continue to be encouraged by the good conversations we are having and the progress we are making," she said outside Lighthizer's office.

Freeland arrived in Washington on Tuesday and met that evening with Mexican officials, who briefed her on the preliminary deal Trump announced Monday. The pact would establish new rules for manufacturing, labor and the environment.

"A lot has been accomplished," she said, pointing out issues that the United States and Mexico have resolved. But, she added, "we have a huge amount of work to do this week."

Freeland declined to discuss any unresolved issues. She said she and Lighthizer had agreed not to talk to reporters about specific disagreements as they negotiate, saying they preferred "not to negotiate in public."

Canadian officials were largely excluded from discussions in recent weeks because of Trump's ongoing feud with Trudeau, which on public view during the Group of Seven summitthis summer in Canada.

On Monday, Trump announced that he had reached a trade agreement with Mexico and threatened to use that deal as a replacement for NAFTA, essentially threatening to remove Canada from the arrangement. It's unclear whether such a move would be permissible under U.S. law, but Canada quickly rushed to the negotiating table.

A number of U.S. lawmakers came to Canada's defense Tuesday, saying that they would not consider approving any changes unless Canada is involved.

Freeland said Canadian leaders are impressed by the progress the United States has made with Mexico, but she wouldn't commit to fully supporting the broader changes.

Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, who attended Wednesday's meeting, told The Washington Post that discussions were very positive. "Everybody is moving forward, and that's what's important," she said.

Canadian and U.S. negotiators have differences to resolve, including disagreements about dairy policy, the process for resolving trade disputes and intellectual property protection rules.

And Canadian officials have insisted that Trump remove tariffs he recently imposed on steel and aluminum imports before they finalize any deal.

Canadian negotiators are considering making two concessions on dairy protections in exchange for a few other key elements, the Globe and Mail reported Wednesday.

The concessions wouldn't amount to dismantling Canada's protectionist dairy system, but would instead reverse a more specific recent rule that cut off U.S. producers' ability to export certain processed milk components to Canada at competitive prices.

For Canadian negotiators, sacrificing protections around ultrafiltered milk, an ingredient used in cheese, probably would bring less fallout than other potential concessions. The head of Saputo, one of Canada's biggest cheese producers, said in June that he favored abandoning those protections if it meant saving NAFTA.

However, one representative for dairy farmers said Wednesday that no deal would be better than one with a concession for ultrafiltered milk. Graham Lloyd, the manager of Dairy Farmers of Ontario, said that after Canada implemented new trade rules last year regarding those products, dairy companies quickly upgraded their technology.

"Processors have invested hundreds of millions of dollars," he said. "Abolishing [that rule], if that's what's being proposed, would cause irreparable harm to Canadian dairy."

When asked about possible concessions, Trudeau said broadly that he would defend Canada's dairy system. "It has been very obvious that the Americans want us to get rid of supply management, and that is not acceptable to us," he said. "But the negotiations continue."

Canadian business leaders suggested that it would be difficult to eliminate the dedicated NAFTA dispute resolution process. "We can't have the U.S. Commerce Department deciding our trade disputes with the U.S. They're the prosecutor, judge and jury in every case that they advance, and that's just not acceptable," said John Manley, president of the Business Council of Canada, an industry organization.

He said his group, which represents 160 of the country's most powerful businesses, also is unhappy about the renegotiation clause in the U.S.-Mexico deal, even though it's considered a climb-down for Washington.

"We're looking for long-term investment," Manley said in an interview. "We don't want any sunset clause."

Another major issue looming over the talks is Trump's threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all automotive imports from a range of countries, including Canada.

European Union negotiators were able to get Trump to postpone any decisions on the tariffs as part of their negotiations, but Canada could be looking for a more permanent exclusion.

Lighthizer wants to send a letter to Congress by Friday that would formally begin a 90-day process for reworking the trade deal. The precise terms of an agreement would not have to be completed until late September under such an arrangement.

- - -

The Washington Post's Selena Ross and Alan Freeman in Ottawa contributed to this report.Bloomberg photo by Alex Kraus

The nation's third-largest wireless carrier said late Thursday that it had discovered a data breach potentially affecting some of its customers' account information.

No financial data was stolen in the incident, the company said, but some personal details such as customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and account numbers may have been compromised.BRIDGEPORT  This week American Airlines announced weekly, non-stop commercial passenger service from Tweed New Haven Airport to the plane operators second-largest hub, Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

The next 18 months will help determine if Bridgeport-owned, Stratford-based Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport could ever celebrate similar aeronautic big news. The city is drafting a new master plan for Sikorsky  the first since the mid-1990s.

Whether or not we bring back scheduled commercial service, thats something that definitely would be looked at, said Michelle Muoio, who just celebrated her one year anniversary as airport manager. Its a very comprehensive study that looks at the physical, business opportunities and the financial, with public involvement (from) tenants and (the) local community.

The master planning process, funded largely by the Federal Aviation Administration, also marks a change in how Mayor Joe Ganims two-and-a-half year old administration has approached Sikorsky. While campaigning in 2015, Ganim floated the idea of a selling Sikorsky and getting it off of financially challenged Bridgeports books. The airport has a $500,000 operating deficit.

As of now were moving forward with the assumption the city will continue to own and operate the airport, said Dan Roach, a mayoral aide. Roach had been working over the last few years to get the Connecticut Airport Authority, which operates several state-owned airports, including Bradley International in Windsor Locks, to buy Sikorsky.

We did run into some issues with identifying funds that the state would use to compensate us for the airport, Roach said.

He said a deal with the state is not off the table but acknowledged the Ganim administration is more open to keeping Sikorsky: Theres some potential there that we werent fully aware of a couple years ago.

Specifically, Roach said, Ive been approached by two different groups in the aviation business expressing interest in a long-term lease. He and Muoio declined to provide additional details.

But, Muoio emphasized, Nobody is going to build new airports any time soon, so just in general airports are an asset.

While it has been decades since Sikorsky hosted commercial passenger service, and, in fact, the old passenger terminal was torn down, the airport is frequently used for corporate and charter flights.

The short runways are still a hurdle when it comes to luring back commercial passenger airlines. But Muoio and Roach said the master plan will determine whether technological advances open up Sikorsky to new possibilities.

Thats a big piece of the study -- forecast and demand analysis, Muoio said. What type of operators are out there, who is interested and compare that with what you can actually support at the airport.

Air traffic control

The master plan effort also includes an updated study of noise and noise management at Sikorsky. That is important given the topic of increased airplane traffic has not, historically, been popular with some residents of the nearby Lordship section of Stratford.

When youre talking about technology, a big word is quieter, Roach said. If were looking to move forward with more operations out of the airport, its not going to mean its a noisier airport.

The FAA recently provided $450,000 for the master plan and $170,435 for the noise study. Bridgeport is chipping in $53,632, and the airport $51,822 out of its budget.

Roach admitted the next challenge will be funding any recommended improvements to runways or other infrastructure: We are trying to avoid using any city money and are in the process of attempting to acquire government and other funds.

Sikorsky could have a friend in gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont. The Democrat, in response to Tuesdays news about American Airlines and Tweed, Tweeted: Rebuilding and expanding ... transportation infrastructure will be a top priority in my administration. Airports, roads, and rail put the connect in Connecticut, attracting jobs and expanding opportunities for all.

David Faile, president of the Friends of Sikorsky Airport, hopes to be involved in the master plan. He agreed with the premise that aeronautic advancements have compensated for the facilitys shortcomings: The corporate aircraft flying in and out are bigger than weve ever had, quieter than weve ever had and use less runway.

But, Faile said, commercial passenger flights will need a terminal and he is not sure where that would be rebuilt: As soon as you have an airline service you have the Transportation Security Administration and all the security requirements.

Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, who took office in December, has a seat on the Sikorsky Airport Commission mainly dominated by members from Bridgeport. She noted how Stratford receives property taxes from development at the facility and the airports proximity to the vacant army engine plant next door that her town hopes to revitalize.

The airport is an asset to the region and state, in my opinion, Hoydick said. But, she added, when it comes to changes at the airport, We would have to have all the facts and presentations so the community at large can be involved in the discussion.

Muoio said a goal of the master planning process is ensuring how we can be as best a neighbor as we possibly can be.BRIDGEPORT - A reputed city gang member was arrested at a city park with a gun loaded with a large capacity magazine, police said.

Ervin Swerve Ezekiel, 34, of Steuben Street, was charged Tuesday with illegal transfer of a gun, possession of a pistol without a permit, possession of a large-capacity magazine and criminal possession of a firearm.

He was being held in lieu of $300,000 bond.

The State Police Gang Task Force was conducting a surveillance Tuesday afternoon on the citys East Side when police said they saw Ezekiel walking on East Washington Avenue towards Washington Park with a gun hanging out of his pant pocket.

Police said Ezekiel is a member of an East Side gang which has been having an ongoing feud with members of a gang that hangs out around Washington Park stemming from a shooting in July.

Bridgeport Police Sgt. Jason Amato, a supervisor in the task force, approached Ezekiel and ordered him to get on the ground, police said. Police said Ezekiel complied, blurting out, The gun is in my pocket.

Police said they recovered a 9mm handgun loaded with a 15-round magazine.

Ezekiel was previously convicted of assault and drug charges and is awaiting trial for half a dozen drug charges as a result of being picked up in a gang sweep in the city last September.STRATFORD  Dozens of people were homeless Thursday after a fire ripped through their 30-unit condo complex on the Stratford-Bridgeport line the day before.

Stratford Deputy Chief and Fire Marshal Brian Lampart said firefighters had worked for two hours in 96-degree heat to put out the blaze. He said three condo residents were taken to a local hospital, while one firefighter was brought to a hospital for evaluation.

Details on their injuries were not available Thursday. Lampart said an investigation into what caused the fire remained active.

The Connecticut Red Cross said it was helping 16 families  27 adults and two children  find places to stay. Other condo residents were staying with relatives and friends.

This was my first home, said Kim Rodriguez, when she returned to the condo to gather some belongings.

Rodriguez said she lived in the complex for nine years. Her unit was at the end that took the worst damage.

At first I wasnt sure about my pets  I have two cats  but thankfully I was able to retrieve them, she said. There were units that had it a lot worse than mine.

Two other cats remained missing, however.

About half of the Success Hill Condominiums, which were built in 1985 and fully occupied at the time of the fire, appeared on Thursday to have been badly damaged. At least part of the roof was collapsed after the fire, which broke out Wednesday at around 3:50 p.m.

Stratford firefighters and an equal amount of Bridgeport firefighters with several pieces of fire apparatus aggressively battled the blaze, rescued and evacuated many occupants and pets, Lampart said. Shelton and Milford fire departments assisted with station coverage during the event.

Lampart said Bridgeport and Stratford firefighters rescued a dog, five cats and three guinea pigs from the complex. The pets were taken to an emergency vet for treatment.

The two missing cats ran from the complex during the fire, animal control officials said. Any condo residents missing animals were advised to call Stratford Animal Control at 203-385-4068.STRATFORD  Health Director Andrea Boissevain is urging residents to spend at least part of the day out of heat to avoid heat-related conditions, and she says that there are several public buildings that people can be used for this.

The Baldwin Center, 1000 W Broad St., is a comfortable place to stay cool for all ages, not just seniors, and is open most evenings until 7 p.m.

The Birdseye Complex, 468 Birdseye St., offers a cooling respite with chairs in its main reception area and is open Monday through Thursday.

Town Hall is typically open until 4:30 p.m. and later on nights when there are public meetings.

The Stratford Library is open until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday in the summer.

Even healthy individuals can be impacted by the heat," she said. Understanding how exposure to excessive heat affects the body, recognizing the signs and symptoms of serious heat-related illnesses, and taking simple preventive measures can make the difference between life and death.

The warning signs of heat stroke are a body temperature above 105F, red-spotted, hot, and dry skin without sweating, rapid pulse, confusion, convulsions and loss of consciousness, she said.

Heat stroke is the most serious heat-related illness. When body temperature rises quickly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down. It can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not provided.

Heat exhaustion is due to the body losing too much fluid, salt or both. The warning signs of heat exhaustion are dizziness, fatigue, weakness, headache, and vomiting.

In the event of heatstroke, she said that the following steps should be taken:

Call 911.

Get the victim in a shady or air-conditioned location.

Cool the victim using cool water bath or cool wet sponge, and fan.

Do not let the victim drink alcohol.

Monitor body temperature.

Have the victim drink sips of cool (not cold) water, or electrolyte-containing beverages, every 15 minutes for one hour. Avoid caffeinated or alcoholic beverages.

She said that people can protect themselves by drinking two to four glasses of cool, nonalcoholic beverages each hour, and wearing light colored, loose fitted clothing. Discontinue all activity and find a cool place if you feel lightheaded, confused, weak or faint. Save outdoor activities for the evening if possible.

Also, Boissevain urged people to take the following steps during a heat wave:

Avoid hot foods and heavy meals - they add heat to your body.

Never leave infants, children or pets in a parked car, even for a short period.

Dress infants in cool, loose clothing and monitor fluid intake.

Stay indoors in an air-conditioned place during the middle of the day if possible.

Take a cool shower.

Wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing.

Check on elderly neighbors or relatives, or anyone who is physically ill.

jburgeson@ctpost.comTonight, the two Democratic candidates for New York state governor will go head to head in a political debate. One issue theyre split on isnt part of either of their campaign platforms, though its probably something you and your co-workers have bickered about at some point this summer: air conditioning.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a longstanding reputation for requesting that the thermostat be set on the low side whenever he gives a big speech. The staff of Cynthia Nixon, Cuomos challenger, are aware of this preference. Erring on the side of sweating over shivering, a representative from Nixons team has asked that the temperature in the room at Hofstra University, where tonights debate will be broadcast from, be set to 76 degrees.

Nixon campaign strategist Rebecca Katz wrote this request in an email to debate host WCBS-TV, explaining that offices are notoriously sexist when it comes to room temperature, according to The New York Times.

Related: Netflix-Like Recommendations May Be in Store for Workplace Benefits

Katz clarified to the Times that the 76-degree request wasnt meant to be taken hard and fast. Rather, she wanted to make sure that the room wouldnt be unbearably frigid. But her notoriously sexist assertion about workplaces generally is one backed up by scientific researchers.

Physiologically, men thrive in and prefer cooler temperatures than women do, according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change in 2015. It concluded that workplace thermostats skew cooler accordingly, but that the reasoning for this is outdated.

Indoor climate regulations are based on an empirical thermal comfort model that was developed in the 1960s, the studys abstract reads. Standard values for one of its primary variables -- metabolic rate -- are based on an average male, and may overestimate female metabolic rate by up to 35 percent.

In other words, more men than women worked in the 1960s. Mens metabolic rates cause them to feel warmer than women do, in the aggregate. And now, many office temperatures are more suitable for men than for women.

Then theres the element of dress code: In professional settings, its standard for men to wear long pants, even in the summer, while women are often permitted to wear dresses that leave their arms and legs uncovered. So that might be another reason why women get chilly when the A/C is on full blast.

Related: Creating Your Own Ideal Temperature Zone Is a First-World Office Perk in a Far-Fetched Utopia

Companies have a hard time pleasing all of their employees. Sally wants almond milk in stock for her coffee. Ken wants a standing desk. Individual preferences are one thing, but when it comes to aspects that affect everyone -- like room temperature -- compromising can be tricky.

Still, its important for companies to question why conditions are the way they are, versus maintaining them just because thats the way things have always been. The reasoning behind them might stem from some form of bias, gender or otherwise.

Related:

Cynthia Nixon's Thermostat Request Is One Many Working Women Can Relate to

European Tech Startups Are as Homogenous as Silicon Valley's. Here's How to Fix That.

How Women Should Be Championing Female Leadership, Post #MeToo



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedFAIRFIELD  Signs for his candidacy, and that of fellow Republicans, are plastered in front of state Sen. Tony Hwangs real estate office on Sanford Street.

But some of Hwangs signs include the copyrighted artwork of the nonprofit group, Hate Has No Home Here, in violation of the groups rules of usage. Hwang, who represents the 28th District, is seeking re-election to the state Senate.

I will remove the signs and any references, Hwang said Tuesday afternoon. It was not intentional.

Hwang said he wanted to get out the important message of the groups Hate Has No Home Here and Bens Bell, which has a logo reading Be Kind. Hwang apologized for any hardship he created for either group.

As of Wednesday morning, the offending signs had been removed from in front of Hwangs headquarters. Photographs remained on his website.

I will take immediate action, Hwang said, adding he had already spoken with the director of Bens Bells. Bens Bells Be Kind logo appears on some Hwang T-shirts.

Carmen Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Chicago-based Hate Has No Home Here group, said they have been in contact with Hwangs campaign.

In a statement, Rodriguez said, The campaign has already been informed based on a prior notice, they have responded, and we are working on a solution that permits Mr. Hwang to express his support for our project without affiliation or attribution to his campaign. As you may know, .... The Hate Has No Home Here project is not affiliated with any campaign, party, candidate, or ideology and we work hard to ensure our project participants are aware of and respect our guidelines.

Hwangs campaign website has photos showing tee shirts for his volunteers with the Be Kind logo. A 501C-3 group, Bens Bell is not allowed to make political endorsements.

We are encouraged when anyone is inspired by the work we do at Ben's Bells but we can't, and we don't, participate in political campaigns or endorse any political candidates, Executive Director Jeannette Mare said. We spoke with Senator Hwang last week about this issue. He was completely understanding and agreed to discontinue using our logo on his materials.

The Hate Has No Home Here artwork was donated by the artist and can be downloaded for use according to the guidelines, which include that it not be altered in any way and that it is non-partisan and not to be affiliated with any political party, candidate or political organization.

Hwangs signs use part of the groups artwork on his own Hwang for Senate signs. He said it was just a small run of signs  about 20. None of it has gone out, he said. Ive only been using it locally. Some of those signs could be found Tuesday morning in front of his headquarters, while photos of both the signs and the tee shirts could be found on his website and Instagram account.

Steven Sheinberg, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, said the use of the copyrighted material calls into serious question Hwangs judgment and ethics. He said Hwangs use of the material could cause the groups to lose their tax-exempt status.

That is reckless and irresponsible, Sheinberg said. Furthermore, it is difficult to comprehend how Senator Hwang thought using these logos in his campaign material was permitted.

After serving on the Representative Town Meeting, Hwang was elected as a state representative to the 134th District in 2008. He was first elected to the state Senate in 2014.

In December of 2017, Hwangs exploratory campaign for governor was found to be non-compliant with campaign financial disclosure statements and had to issue a payment for undocumented expenses. In 2016, Hwang was fined $400 by the State Elections Enforcement Commission for campaign contribution limit violations.

But James Millington, Sheinbergs counterpart in the GOP, didnt see an issue with Hwangs use of the material.

I think that message is one we all agree with, Millington said. Politics on both sides of the aisle have become very nasty over the past few years.

He said issues need to be addressed and people need to be kinder to each other when they disagree. Tony is setting a positive tone and all our local Republican candidates plan on running positive, issue-focused campaigns, Millington said.

Hwang said that perhaps all the attention will prompt others to visit the organizations websites.

In my positive and affirming exchanges with both organizations, I reiterated my continuous support of their mission and more importantly, practice of their aspirational message, Hwang said. He said he has been an advocate for both groups in past years and will continue to champion their cause into the future.

greilly@ctpost.com; 203-842-2585Sen. John McCain, who passed away on Saturday, is undeniably the most famous prisoner of war held captive and tortured by the North Vietnamese, says Ray Nothstine in this weeks Acton Commentary. McCain was one of 591 Americans returned by North Vietnam over several months during Operation Homecoming in 1973. But in our current politicized era, McCains fame somewhat overshadows the leadership and lessons of many other great Americans tortured by their Marxist captors.

McCain often praised fellow prisoners as being stronger and braver than himself, giving credit to leaders like Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day for saving his life. Sadly, much of the media and our politically obsessed culture are focused more on leveraging McCains death for todays political scoreboard. However, if America wants to right its ills, it must relearn the moral lessons and servant leadership from those tortured in Hoa Lo Prison  the infamous Hanoi Hilton  and other camps.

The full text of the essay can be found here.NEW HAVEN  The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History will undergo a major two-year renovation as the result of a $160 million donation by Edward P. Bass, a billionaire and philanthropist who graduated from Yale University in 1967.

The gut renovation will close the 152-year-old museum for two years. When it reopens, its prize brontosaurus fossil will have been remounted in a more natural pose, according to Peabody Director David Skelly.

Its going to enable us to expand the visitors galleries by 50 percent, Skelly said Tuesday. There will also be major additions to make it easier for the 25,000 to 30,000 schoolchildren who tour the museum each year to visit, Skelly said. When we reopen, well have a dedicated K-12 education cener with space for people to get oriented before they go into the galleries, he said.

The renovation will include new student classrooms, bringing Yales broader teaching mission into the museum, Skelly said.

Yales reputation for leadership in the sciences is grounded historically in the Peabody Museum, founded 152 years ago, Bass said in a press release This renovation and expansion will enhance every aspect of the Peabody, bringing it up to date and preparing it for the future. We will have 50 percent more gallery space, cutting-edge exhibits, and the ability to put the extraordinarily rich collection not only on view for the public, but also in the hands of researchers and students alike.

One feature that will remain, Skelly said is the 110-by-16-foot mural, The Age of Reptiles by Rudolph F. Zallinger, which is mounted on the wall of the Great Hall, where the Peabodys prize dinosaurs are on display.

The largest fossil, the brontosaurus, is going to be completely taken apart and shipped to a firm that completely remounts dinosaurs, Skelly said. There arent too many of those. The remounting will incorporate discoveries about the appearance and lives of dinosaurs made since the museum opened in 1925 with fossils brought back to Yale by paleontologist O.C. Marsh.

When the brontosaurus was mounted in the late 1920s, it was one of the first dinosaur mounts anywhere, and to be fair to those folks they were learning as they were going, Skelly said. The dinosaurs tail will be longer and be held up off the ground, Skelly said.

Bass donation is the largest known gift ever made to a natural history museum in the United States, according to a press release.

Bass, 72, is one of four brothers to have gone to Yale (as did their father) and has made major donations to the Peabody and other areas of the university, particularly involving the sciences.

He has a net worth of $2.1 billion, according to Forbes, which said he and his brothers sold their oil company to ExxonMobil in 2017 for $5.6 billion. Bass has invested in the Biosphere 2 closed environment project in Arizona. His donations founded the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies and he has supported the Class of 1954 Environmental Science Center and the Yale Science Building. This year, Bass donated $10 million to create the 500-seat O.C. Marsh Lecture Hall.

In the release, Yale President Peter Salovey said, I am deeply grateful to Ed Bass for a gift that will transform the Peabody. Imagine an expanded natural history museum where the exhibits reflect the most current science; where faculty members and students can more efficiently use the collections; and where our investigators have spectacular research facilities. This is a magnificent gift.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382.Hot and humid conditions will continue Wednesday as a Bermuda high pressure system remains just southeast of the region.

A heat advisory remains in effect through this evening, as the combination of heat and humidity lead to heat indexes near 100 to104 degrees across the area.

Another sultry night of well above normal temperatures is expected again.

The heat wave will finally come to an end Thursday as a cold front moves through the area, bringing an increase in cloud cover and a chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Temperatures will be cooler, although still above normal in the mid to upper 80s. A marked decrease in humidity will occur by evening following the frontal passage.

Tuesdays high temps

High temperatures Tuesday were 94 degrees in Hartford and Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks; 93 degrees at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford (a new record), White Plains airport, near Greenwich and Tweed-New Haven Airport; 91 at Danbury airport (a new record); and 90 at Waterbury/Oxford Airport.

On Tuesday, the Bridgeport area had its tenth 90-degree day of the summer and its fifth for the month. Danbury has had seven 90-degree days this summer and New Haven, six.

Last summer, we had no 90-degree days in August.

Average temperature this August is averaging about 4 degrees above normal, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.

Humidity to drop, weekend outlook

In its forecast discussion for 6 p.m. Wednesday through 6 p.m. Thursday, the NWS says, Although the hot and humid air mass will continue into Wednesday night, the approaching cold front will lead to an increase in cloud cover into the morning. Model guidance shows a general consensus of an initial cold front/weak trough passage in the morning, with a secondary frontal passage and a marked decrease in humidity occurring in the evening. The increase in cloud cover will likely hinder higher temperature values that may necessitate another day of heat advisories.

At this point, the Labor Day weekend is looking cloudy with temperatures in the mid-70s and low 80s. Theres a slight chance of some showers of T-storms on Sunday. Labor Day will be partly sunny with a high in the low to mid-80s.

The forecast

Today: Sunny, with a high near 94. Heat index values as high as 99. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 73. Southwest wind 5 to 8 mph.

Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 7am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph.

Thursday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. North wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.

Friday: A 20 percent chance of light rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. East wind around 8 mph.A former Rhode Island state senator and business owner will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Providence next week on 31 counts of bank fraud that victimized a credit union and two banks, according to federal court documents.

James E. Doyle II, 46, of Pawtucket, who resigned from his state senate seat earlier this year, is accused of running a $550,000 check kiting scheme that victimized three financial institutions, the $33.3 million Alliance Blackstone Federal Credit Union in Pawtucket, Bristol County Savings Bank in Taunton, Mass., and Santander Bank in Boston.

Doyle is also charged with one count of filing a false tax return and one count of failing to file a tax return.

The former state senator held at least 20 accounts with AFCU, BCSB and Santander. He owns Doyle Respiratory LLC and Doyle Sleep Solution LLC.A homeless Florida man who allegedly ran a $1.3 million multi-state car rental and credit union fraud scheme is scheduled to be arraigned on 12 bank fraud felonies in Duval County Circuit Court on Sept 6.

George Christopher Jackson, 35, allegedly recruited and paid numerous individuals up to $1,200 to open an account at the $7.7 billion VyStar Credit Union in Jacksonville. He then instructed them to obtain the credit unions credit card and use it to rent luxury vehicles such as Maserati, Porsche, Jaguar, Cadillac, Land Rover and Mercedes.

Most of the cars were rented from rental companies at the Orlando and Jacksonville International Airports. The individuals who rented the cars said they handed them over to Jackson at a location near the airports. In other cases, the individuals drove the cars to Atlanta, Ga. for selling or leasing them, Jacksonville Sheriff investigators said in an affidavit.A 49-page report released by the Filene Research Institute predicts what credit unions will look like in 2025: In the year 2025 credit unions will operate on a financial landscape that bears little resemblance to the system of today. Technological disruption, increased regulation, changing consumer behaviors, and asset growth will all contribute to the reshaping of the global financial ecosystem.*

For many financial institutions, the future doesnt look friendly. Perhaps the greatest threat faced by credit unions is the threat of becoming a commodity as technology devalues physical branches and enables all banking to be done digitally. We currently have a client undergoing a credit union website design who told me his concerns about this threat. Read our conversation below.As credit unions implement digital platforms, the amount of organizational and member data collected inevitably grows. But sometimes it takes the discovery of a new tool to ignite analysis and results based on that data.

Thats happening at $767 million Vermont State Employees Credit Union, Montpelier. The tool in question, familiar to many CUs, is Datawatchs Monarch, which Vermont State ECU is deploying in Q3 to turn ACH and check-clearing data into reports that show who their members are paying, reports Kasey Furness, VP/accounting. It could, for example, highlight a member who is using Chase for a credit card and alert CU staff to counter with a card offer from the credit union, she explains.

Vermont State ECU started subscribing to Monarch in 2004 but realized its potential for rewarding data analysis in 2016, notes Katherine Cummings, senior accountant and senior system accounting analyst.

Once we woke up to that potential, we signed up for online training and started going full force. It can take ACH files, core system data and Fed data and show us just whom our members are paying. We can export any type of file to Monarch. Were using it aggressively in accounting and spreading the word to other departments. This will allow us to work with sales and marketing to help them use data analysis to shape informed campaigns.STORY LINK Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) Exchange Rate Dips on Rumoured Italian QE Plans

Business confidence in German firms has improved noticeably. The Ifo Index rose to 103.8 points in August after 101.7 points in July.



The companies were once again more satisfied with their current business situation. Business expectations were revised noticeably upwards.



In addition to a robust domestic economic situation, the truce in the [Eurozone] trade conflict with the US contributed to improved business confidence.



The German economy is performing robustly. Current figures point to economic growth of 0.5% in the third quarter.

Concerns about Italian Debt Plans Cause Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) Exchange Rate Losses

US Dollar to Euro (USD/EUR) Exchange Rate Rises as US GDP Beats Forecasts

The robust growth in the second quarter is unlikely to be sustained given the one-off drivers such as a $1.5 trillion tax cut package, which provided a jolt to consumer spending after a lacklustre first quarter, and a front-loading of soybean exports to China to beat retaliatory trade tariffs.

Euro to US Dollar Exchange Rate Forecast: Will Eurozone Confidence Scores Extend EUR/USD Losses?

Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues:

On Tuesday, the Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate opened at a level of $1.1682 and closed trading slightly higher around $1.1691.This appreciation was thanks to Mondays German economic confidence data, which showed rising levels of optimism across the board.Ifos business climate, current conditions and expectations readings all rose above forecasts, prompting Ifo President Clemens Fuest to remark:The only influences on the US Dollar yesterday were expectations about Wednesdays US GDP reading; USD traders were unsure about whether this would show as-expected levels of economic growth.The Euro (EUR) has made a minor loss against the US Dollar (USD) today, although this is primarily because of USD strength as the Euro has appreciated in other currency pairings.Todays main negative Eurozone news has been that Italy is reportedly seeking quantitative easing (QE) from the European Central Bank (ECB).This isnt an entirely verified plan, but the idea of Italy being subject to economic stimulus measures through QE has still rattled Euro traders.QE involves the ECB buying bonds and debt from countries to stimulate economic growth and it can take years to reverse after the program is completed.Other Eurozone news hasnt been quite so negative  the GfK German consumer confidence reading for September has dipped from 10.6 points to 10.5.This still means that there are a majority of optimistic consumers compared to pessimistic ones, so the news hasnt been especially harmful to Euro demand.Better-than-expected US GDP data has boosted US Dollar (USD) demand today, leading to gains against the Euro (EUR) and most other peers.Recent second estimates for US GDP growth in Q2 2018 have come in above forecasts, showing an estimated quarter-on-quarter rise from 2.2% to 4.2% instead of the expected 4%.This has broadly been seen as good news for future US economic growth, but Reuters analysts have received the news cautiously:The other major US news at present concerns trade deals  the US has seemingly managed to reach an agreement with Mexico over a reformed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal.Canada, the other member of NAFTA, still needs to agree to any proposed changes but for now this suggests that the US wont be tearing up its existing trading agreements anytime soon.The Euro (EUR) is at risk of making additional losses against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday, when a range of Eurozone economic confidence measures will come out over the morning.These are predicted to show a slight decline in levels of economic optimism across the board, which could add up to cause EUR/USD exchange rate losses.On the other side of the currency pairing, the next high-impact US data will be out later on Thursday during the afternoon.US personal spending and personal income stats for July are due out and current expectations are for a slight dip in income growth but 0.4% growth in spending levels.If both readings show unexpected growth then the US Dollar could rise further against the Euro.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: Euro ForecastsEstonias Cyber Revenge

Estonia, the small eastern European nation that says it was the first target of state-sponsored cyber warfare from Russia, may soon be able to strike back.

Mirroring larger NATO members, its military is assembling a cyber-command unit to combat virtual attacks that have been growing by as much as 20 percent a year.

As well as defensive strategies, the team of 300 people will develop offensive capabilities, though these wont be deployed during peacetime.

To prepare for defense, you need to know how to attack, Col. Andres Hairk, head of the cyber-command unit, said in an interview before this weeks official opening.

When the real need arises, through armed conflict or war, then this capability thats been developed to test our systems can be employed against potential adversaries.

While Russias army is more than 150 times bigger, Estonia may have an edge on the cyber battlefield. As well as being a technology hub that helped create Skype, the Baltic country of 1.3 million people hosts NATOs cyber-defense center and organised the first cyber exercises for European Union defense ministers last year.

The nation, once an unwilling member of the Soviet Union, also has first-hand knowledge of the kind of attacks its looking to see off.

In 2007, Estonia suffered cyber-attacks that disabled government, banking and media websites following a row with the Kremlin over the relocation of a World War II memorial in Tallinn.

Nine years later, hackers that researchers later connected to Russian military intelligence were accused of attacking Estonias largest shale-oil producer. Russia denied involvement in both incidents and Hairk refused to name it, or any other countries, as potential threats.

Bloomberg:

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EU Creates A Unified Cyber-Force:

Which Countries Are Ready For Cyberwar?:Health care employees discuss how to receive a COVID vaccine booster

COVID-19 vaccinations including boosters are covered by insurance and are free to all individuals, regardless of their insured status.The recent crackdown on, and arrest of, alleged 'urban Naxals' by the police has led to the expected furor in a certain segment of the elite NGO class of activists and journalists. Most of those arrested are said to be overground members of a banned Maoist group, committed to waging armed struggle against the Indian state. The group seeks to overthrow the Republic of India along with its bourgeois Constitution and establish a communist state on the lines of Maoist China, where 'class enemies' would be liquidated in kangaroo courts.

These underground Naxals, and their overground members and sympathisers, view India as an artificial, illegitimate entity, which is denying the right of self-determination to different nationalities and working at the behest of international capital.

The 1960s China model has served as great inspiration for India's Maoists. (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

It was mainly after Operation Green Hunt, launched by the Congress-led UPA government, that Maoists decided to expand aggressively in urban centres, giving a fillip to the phenomenon of 'urban Naxals'. This group tries to hide in plain sight by posing as human rights activists, harmless university professors, journalists, even corporate employees. Their main role is three-fold; to act as couriers, provide safe houses to the cadres of banned outfits and use their influence and networks to defend arrested members. And to undertake propaganda to mainstream the Maoist agenda in larger society by packaging this in acceptable terminology like 'human rights', 'Dalit assertion' or the democratic right to self-determination. They often talk about their aim being nothing else but justice for the marginalised and azadi from hunger and poverty.

But what they dont speak out about in public is their theoretical framework that freedom from hunger and poverty, or the attainment of justice, is possible only with the Balkanisation of India. Its only when the masses are liberated from the occupation by the bourgeois fascist Indian state that justice can be ensured and a new egalitarian society can be built. This is a messianic cult masquerading as a secular ideology, seeking to reshape the world, by violence if necessary.

After the failure of their earlier attempts to overthrow the Indian state, Naxals changed their tactics and adopted the long road of internal sabotage of major political parties like the Congress, brewing socio-economic discontent and, most importantly, fuelling social faultlines by infiltrating Dalit and anti-caste movements. After hijacking tribal assertion in the countryside, the Naxals have been working for decades to hijack Dalit assertion in the urban centres  they try to steer the trajectory of Dalit protests and assertion from democratic protest for equal rights towards a communist agenda of waging war against the state. They plan to use Dalits as cannon fodder in their revolution, just like they have done with the tribals in the forests.

Tribal fighters against the state are often said to be led by urban Maoists. (Photo Credit: India Today)

In this instance as well, the arrested urban Naxals are almost all upper-caste Brahmins and Christians  but the propaganda abounding is trying to present this as an anti-Dalit crackdown.

When exposed, urban Naxals often try to find a fig leaf, to deflect a state crackdown, mentioning the already oppressed Dalits. This is what they have always done. This is how they sabotaged and destroyed the Dalit Panthers, by converting a militant anti-discrimination movement into an anti-state war, informed by the communist worldview. And when the chips were down, Maoists ran away, leaving the Dalits to bear the brunt of the police crackdown.

Even Kanshiram, the veteran leader, had warned against being swayed by Left ideology. (Photo Credit: BSP)

This is exactly what Kanshiram had warned against; Communists are green snakes in the green grass. Even Ambedkar warned about these Communist tactics in no uncertain terms: Their aim seems to be to bring about discontent among the workers as though there was any absence of it, because they believe that with a discontented body of workers, they will bring about a revolution and establish the rule of the proletariat. Therefore, to bring about discontent, they launched upon a systematic campaign of organising disorganisation.

But it is worrisome that despite such perceptive warnings, many still fall for the seduction of Maoism due to a misguided romanticism of fighting the state and the powers that be.

Even today, otherwise well-meaning citizens are trending a hashtag #MeTooUrbanNaxal  without fully realising what it is that they are actually supporting.

Hey @vivekagnihotri, I volunteer to be on your list. Let's tag @vivekagnihotri with the hashtag #MeTooUrbanNaxal and help him build his list. We should all help this man in his noble endeavour. https://t.co/zY1Azarv8l  Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) August 29, 2018

If the Maoists ever succeed, there will be no freedom and no liberty. There will be no police, only party militia. There will no rule of law and courts, only kangaroo courts to liquidate 'peoples enemies'. People will fear their own shadows, just like in any communist-ruled country ever. The same liberal chatterati, romanticising resistance, will be lined up and shot. Intellectuals and professors will be send to labour camps. Temples and mosques will be demolished. Political dynasties trying to use these arrests to cry 'Emergency' will be dragged away and executed.

Why am I being so blunt?

Because this is what people need to know. They must know what Maoism stands for. They must realise the horrors they might unleash upon India, if they arent careful, just to oppose a government they dont like.

Governments can be voted out in the next election  but the state, when it collapses, cant be voted back  and the Maoists seek to destroy the Indian state itself. For them, there is no practical difference between Congress, BJP, BSP, AAP, etc. They seek to liquidate all of them, along with Parliamentary democracy itself.

One can only hope that at least our political parties will adopt a responsible and mature stance on the issue of 'urban Naxals'.

Also read: Emergency 2.0 - Why the arrests of activists linked to Bhima Koregaon evoke a dark time for democracyThe Arvind Kerjiwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had at one time, been in the news for people quitting their flourishing careers to join it, has of late been hitting the headlines for top leaders quitting the party itself  Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan are the latest in the lot.

And most of those who have left the party have also ensured they 'expose' the party by launching rather acerbic attacks on AAP's dark secrets. Now, while many of these attacks might be motivated by personal ambitions, the party, which promised India 'alternative politics', has been left deeply embarrassed by its many Vibhishanas.

Here's a low-down on five high-profile AAP leaders who quit, leaving the party red-faced by what they revealed.

Ashutosh

The former AAP leader has accused the party of having tried to invoke caste sentiments by using his surname during elections.

In 23 years of my journalism, no one asked my caste, surname. Was known by my name. But as I was introduced to party workers as LOKSABHA candidate in 2014 my surname was promptly mentioned despite my protest. Later I was told -    ,          ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) August 29, 2018

His comments came a day after news broke that the party has asked Aatishi Marlena to drop her surname reportedly because it sounds like a Christian last name.

Aatishi Marlena will be contesting the 2019 election from Delhi.

Ashutosh had said that his reason to the party was 'very very personal'. (Source: India Today)

While Ashutosh will have to answer why in the last four years he did not tell AAP supporters this supposed truth, the fact is that coming from a man who was part of the party's political affairs committee, the statement does serve a blow to AAP's image.

Shazia Ilmi

One of the key members of the party, Ilmi quit the party in 2014, saying, "My decision to leave the party is triggered by the lack of inner-party democracy, especially from a party that constantly talks of swaraj."

She went on to call the party directionless, in need to reinvent itself (already) and said that the party needed to do more than organise protests.

Mayank Gandhi

Gandhi, who was among the founding members of AAP, said that Arvind Kejriwal's national ambitions led to the downfall of the party.

Mayank Gandhi blamed Arvind Kerjiwal for the decline of the party. (Source: Twitter)

"The 2013 Delhi assembly elections were fought on the basis of principles and transparency. However, problems started after the 2015 elections, when AAP won a brute majority with 67 seats. Since Modi got only 31% votes, Kejriwal then thought he can play a major role in garnering the remaining 69% and hence he wanted to spread across the country. He wanted to form a Mahagathbandhan of opposition parties," said Gandhi.

Madhu Bhandari

Retired IFS officer Bhandari said contrary to claims, the party never had any democracy within its ranks. Worse, she claimed the party had no humanity too.

"I have just one issue, and that is humanity. And women are humans. In this party, women are not considered humans."

Captain GR Gopinath

A prominent face of AAP, also a pioneer in the low-cost airline sector, Captain Gopinath soon resigned from all party posts. Gopinath said he was disappointed and disillusioned with the party's hissy fits.

"I am now disappointed and disillusioned with their tactics, continuing tantrums and agitational ways. I wrote about it repeatedly when I felt they erred."

Also read: Why just Atishi Marlena, all netas' surnames should be droppedBy The Associated Press Aug. 27, 2018 | 05:30 PM | FRANKFORT

A special meeting of Kentucky's elections board has been scheduled after its executive director called for an ethics probe and accused the secretary of state of abusing her authority over the state's election system.

The board's executive director, Jared Dearing, submitted a letter Monday that says Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has weakened "checks and balances" in the state's election system. The state Board of Elections set its meeting for Tuesday.

Grimes' office issued a statement saying the complaint is "baseless" and "lacks a basic understanding" of her duties. She chairs the elections board.

Dearing's complaints were made in a nine-page letter that was sent to members of the State Board of Elections and the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.

Dearing also accused Grimes of creating a hostile work environment.past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) 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Plug Power Stock is Resurging

Hydrogen fuel cell technology provider Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) stock is getting a second wind as it rises after losing more than (-60%) from its 2021 highs of $75.49. The hydrogen fuel cell pioneers energy technology is being validated through partnerships with many large companies including BAE Systems, Renault Group, Baker Hughes, SK Group and most recently Airbus.

Read ArticleRenault SA designs, manufactures, sells, and distributes vehicles in France and internationally. The company operates through Automotive, AVTOVAZ, Sales Financing, and Mobility Services segments. It offers passenger and light commercial, and electric vehicles primarily under the Renault, Dacia, Renault Samsung Motors, Alpine, and LADA, as well as under the Nissan, Datsun, and Infiniti brands. The company also sells powertrains and used vehicles, as well as spare parts; and provides various services, including sales financing, rental, maintenance, and service contracts. In addition, it offers finance for the purchase on inventories of new and used vehicles, and replacement parts; designs, produces, and sells converted vehicles; provides Renault EASY CONNECT for Fleet, a connected service for business users; and produces driving aids, such as steering-wheel mounted accelerators and brakes, multifunction remote control units to operate indicators, lights and horns, pedal transfers, etc., as well as manual or electric swivel seats. The company was founded in 1898 and is based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc..North American Construction Group Ltd. provides mining and heavy construction services to the resource development and industrial construction sectors in Canada and the United States The company's Heavy Construction & Mining division offers constructability reviews, budgetary cost estimates, design-build construction, project management, contract mining, pre-stripping/pit pioneering, overburden removal and stockpile, muskeg removal and stockpile, site preparation, air strip construction, site dewatering/perimeter ditching, tailings and process pipelines, haulage and access road construction, tailings dam construction and densification, mechanically stabilized earth walls, dyke construction, and reclamation services. Its Equipment Maintenance Services division provides fuel and lube servicing, portable steaming, equipment inspections, parts and component supply, major overhauls and equipment refurbishment, onsite haul truck brake testing, onsite maintenance support, under carriage rebuild, machining, hose manufacturing, and technical support services, as well as welding, fabrication/repairs, weld certification, and inspection services. As of December 31, 2020, the company had a heavy equipment fleet of 626 units. The company was formerly known as North American Energy Partners Inc. and changed its name to North American Construction Group Ltd. in April 2018. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Acheson, Canada.

Read MoreABC/Randy HolmesMetallica will play a charity concert in their hometown of San Francisco on September 26. The special event, dubbed Dreamfest, will raise money for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.

Dreamfest will be held in conjunction with San Francisco-based tech company Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference. The concert will be open to Dreamforce attendees, sponsor and donors.

If you're a member of Metallica's Fifth Member fan club, you'll have a chance to obtain free tickets to the show, which will not go on sale to the public. Visit Metallica.com for more info.

Metallica will kick off a U.S. tour in support of their latest album, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct, this Sunday, September 2, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.4 hours ago - Former President Barack Obama will be immortalized on the streets of Los Angeles as L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the city council ...Vesuvius plc provides engineering services and solutions principally to steel and foundry industries worldwide. It operates in two segments, Steel and Foundry. The company offers foundry consumables and equipment, including binders, coatings, feeding systems, filtration and gating systems, melt shop refractories, metallurgical and pouring control systems, die dressings and coatings, melt treatment products, crucibles, and ceramics for the iron, steel, and nonferrous foundries. It also provides nonferrous metals, such as primary and secondary aluminum, copper, and other metals and alloys; cement and lime solutions, iron ore pelletizing and calcination products, and grains and powders; and process heaters, FCC units, hydrogen reformers, boilers, coke calciners, and thermal oxidizers, as well as sulphur, ethylene, and ammonia plants. In addition, the company offers solutions for power generation and incineration; glass products comprising artistic, display, float, hollow, and optical glass; glass tempering, and reheat and forming products; and solutions for solar multi-crystal silicon ingots, thin film and cell processing, and feedstock. Further, it provides solutions for blast furnace stack repair; taphole clay, iron and slang runner, sampler and temperature, tilting runner, and torpedo ladle solutions; iron ladle solutions; lining, taphole system, bath agitation and tuyere system, electric arc furnace and BOF maintenance, and metallurgical sensor solutions; and ladle, ladle to tundish, and tundish solutions, as well as tundish to mold solutions for conventional slab, thin and slim slab, beam blank, flow control valve bloom or billet, and calibrated nozzle billet casters. Additionally, the company offers ingot casting solutions; and reheat furnace, steel hot forming, galvanized steel, and electrical and stainless steel solutions. Vesuvius plc was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Anthem: 1-800 Contacts, AIM Specialty Health, AMERIGROUP Community Care of New Mexico Inc., AMERIGROUP Corporation, AMERIGROUP Maryland Inc., AMERIGROUP New Jersey Inc., AMERIGROUP Ohio Inc., AMERIGROUP Tennessee Inc., AMERIGROUP Texas Inc., AMERIGROUP Washington Inc., AMGP Georgia Managed Care Company Inc., ATH Holding Company LLC, America's 1st Choice of South Carolina Inc., America's Health Management Services Inc., American Imaging Management Inc., Americas 1st Choice, Amerigroup, Amerigroup Delaware Inc., Amerigroup District of Columbia Inc., Amerigroup Health Plan of Louisiana Inc., Amerigroup IPA of New York LLC, Amerigroup Insurance Company, Amerigroup Iowa Inc., Amerigroup Kansas Inc., Amerigroup Mississippi Inc., Amerigroup Oklahoma Inc., Amerigroup Partnership Plan LLC, Amerigroup Pennsylvania Inc., Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company, Anthem Financial Inc., Anthem Health Plans Inc., Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky Inc., Anthem Health Plans of Maine Inc., Anthem Health Plans of New Hampshire Inc., Anthem Health Plans of Virginia Inc., Anthem Holding Corp., Anthem Innovation Israel Ltd., Anthem Insurance Companies Inc., Anthem Kentucky Managed Care Plan Inc., Anthem Life & Disability Insurance Company, Anthem Life Insurance Company, Anthem Partnership Holding Company LLC, Anthem Services Company LLC, Anthem Southeast Inc., Anthem UM Services Inc., Anthem Workers' Compensation LLC, Applied Pathways LLC, Arcus Enterprises Inc., Aspire Health Inc., Aspire Healthcare Corp, Associated Group Inc., Beacon Health Options, Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Blue Cross of California, Blue Cross of California Partnership Plan Inc., CareMarket Inc., CareMore Health Plan, CareMore Health Plan of Arizona Inc., CareMore Health Plan of Nevada, CareMore Health Plan of Texas Inc., CareMore Health System, CareMore LLC, Cerulean Companies Inc., Claim Management Services Inc., Community Care Health Plan of Louisiana Inc., Community Care Health Plan of Nevada Inc., Community Insurance Company, Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation, Crossroads Acquisition Corp., DBG Holdings Inc., DeCare Analytics LLC, DeCare Dental Health International LLC, DeCare Dental Insurance Ireland Ltd., DeCare Dental LLC, DeCare Dental Networks LLC, DeCare Operations Ireland Limited, Delivery Network LLC, Designated Agent Company Inc., EHC Benefits Agency Inc., EasyScripts Cutler Bay LLC, EasyScripts Hialeah LLC, EasyScripts LLC, EasyScripts Westchester LLC, Empire HealthChoice Assurance Inc., Empire HealthChoice HMO Inc., Federal Government Solutions LLC, Freedom Health Inc., Global TPA LLC, Golden West Health Plan Inc., Greater Georgia Life Insurance Company, HEP AP Holdings Inc., HMO Colorado Inc., HMO Missouri Inc., Health Core Inc., Health Management Corporation, Health Ventures Partner L.L.C., HealthKeepers Inc., HealthLink HMO Inc., HealthLink Inc., HealthLink Insurance Company, HealthPlus HP LLC, HealthSun Health Plans, HealthSun Health Plans Inc., HealthSun Holdings LLC, HealthSun Management LLC, HealthSun Physicians Network I LLC, HealthSun Physicians Network LLC, Healthy Alliance Life Insurance Company, Highland Acquisition Holdings LLC, Highland Holdco Inc., Highland Intermediate Holdings LLC, Highland Investor Holdings LLC, Imaging Management Holdings LLC, IngenioRx Inc., Legato Health Technologies LLP, Legato Health Technologies Philippines Inc., Legato Holdings I Inc., Legato Holdings II LLC, Living Complete Technologies Inc., Matthew Thornton Health Plan Inc., Memphis Supportive Care Partnership LLC, Meridian Resource Company LLC, Missouri Care Incorporated, NGS Federal LLC, Nash Holding Company LLC, National Government Services Inc., New England Research Institutes Inc., Optimum Healthcare Inc., Park Square Holdings Inc., Park Square I Inc., Park Square II Inc., Pasteur Medical Bird Road LLC, Pasteur Medical Center LLC, Pasteur Medical Cutler Bay LLC, Pasteur Medical Group LLC, Pasteur Medical Hialeah Gardens LLC, Pasteur Medical Holdings LLC, Pasteur Medical Kendall LLC, Pasteur Medical Management LLC, Pasteur Medical Miami Gardens LLC, Pasteur Medical North Miami Beach LLC, Pasteur Medical Partners LLC, Resolution Health Inc, Resolution Health Inc., RightCHOICE Managed Care Inc., Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service Inc., SellCore Inc., Simply Healthcare Holdings, Simply Healthcare Plans Inc., Southeast Services Inc., State Sponsored DM Services Inc., The Anthem Companies Inc., The Anthem Companies of California Inc., TrustSolutions LLC, UNICARE Health Plan of West Virginia Inc., UNICARE Illinois Services Inc., UNICARE National Services Inc., UniCare Life & Health Insurance Company, UniCare Specialty Services Inc., Valus Inc., WPMI LLC, WellCare of Nebraska Inc., WellPoint Acquisition LLC, WellPoint California Services Inc., WellPoint Dental Services Inc., WellPoint Health Solutions Inc., WellPoint Holding Corp., WellPoint Information Technology Services Inc., WellPoint Insurance Services Inc., WellPoint Military Care Corporation, Wellmax Health Medical Centers LLC, Wellmax Health Physicians Network LLC, and Wisconsin Collaborative Insurance Company.The following companies are subsidiares of Sealed Air: A.P.S. (Holdings) Limited, AFP Trading (China) Co. Ltd., AFPTOH LTD, APS Automated Packaging Systems GmbH & Co. KG, APS Verwaltungs-GmbH, Air Ride Pallets Hong Kong Limited, Austin Foam Plastics Inc. (dba AFP Inc.), Automated Packaging Systems, Automated Packaging Systems Asia Holding Company Limited, Automated Packaging Systems Comerciale Importacao do Brasil Ltda., Automated Packaging Systems Europe, Automated Packaging Systems LLC, Automated Packaging Systems Limited, Automated Packaging Systems Southeast Asia Co. Ltd., B+ Equipment, B+ Equipment SAS, Beacon Holdings LLC, Biosphere Industries, BluPack (New Zealand), Blue Dot Packaging Pty Ltd., Cactus (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Cryovac (Malaysia) SDN. BHD, Cryovac Brasil Ltda., Cryovac Holdings II LLC, Cryovac International Holdings Inc., Cryovac LLC*, Cryovac Leasing Corporation, Cryovac Londrina Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal  Embalagens Ltda., Cryovac-Sealed Air de Costa Rica S.R.L., DELTAPLAM Embalagens Industria e Comercio, Diversey, Diversey J Trustee Limited, Diversey Trustee Limited, Entapack Pty. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packaging Co. Ltd, Fagerdala (Shanghai) Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shanghai) Polymer Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Thailand) Limited, Fagerdala (Xiamen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Leamchabung Limited, Fagerdala Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Mexico Supply Chain S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Packaging Inc. (Indiana), Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd, Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Ltd., Getpacking.com GmbH, Invertol S. de R.L. de C.V., JSC Sealed Air Kaustik, KRIS Automated Packaging Systems Holding Company, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal Limited, Nelipak Holdings, Pack-Tiger GmbH, Polyrol Limited, Polyrol Packaging Systems LLC, ProAseptic Technologies S.L., Producembal- Producao de Embalagens LTDA, Reflectix Inc., SLD Air Packaging Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Saddle Brook Insurance Company, Sealed Air (Asia) Holdings BV, Sealed Air (Barbados) S.R.L., Sealed Air (Canada) Co./CIE, Sealed Air (Canada) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Limited, Sealed Air (Israel) Ltd., Sealed Air (Korea) Limited, Sealed Air (Latin America) Holdings II LLC, Sealed Air (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sealed Air (New Zealand), Sealed Air (Philippines) Inc., Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Sealed Air (Ukraine) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Pty.) Limited, Sealed Air Americas Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Sealed Air Argentina S.A., Sealed Air Australia (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Real Estate Pty Ltd, Sealed Air B.V., Sealed Air Belgium N.V., Sealed Air Central America S.A., Sealed Air Chile SpA, Sealed Air Colombia Ltda., Sealed Air Corporation (US), Sealed Air Cyprus Ltd., Sealed Air Denmark A/S, Sealed Air Finance B.V., Sealed Air Finance II LLC, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Funding LLC, Sealed Air General Trading LLC, Sealed Air GmbH (Germany), Sealed Air GmbH (Switzerland), Sealed Air Hellas SA, Sealed Air Holding France SAS, Sealed Air Holdings (New Zealand) Pty. Ltd., Sealed Air Holdings South Africa Proprietary Limited, Sealed Air Holdings UK I Limited, Sealed Air Holdings UK Limited, Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Sealed Air Hungary Ltd., Sealed Air Investment and Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Japan G.K., Sealed Air LLC, Sealed Air Limited (Ireland), Sealed Air Limited (UK), Sealed Air Luxembourg (I) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg (II) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Management Holding Verwaltungs GmbH, Sealed Air Multiflex GmbH, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) I B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands Holdings V B.V., Sealed Air Norge AS, Sealed Air OY, Sealed Air Packaging (India) Private Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Packaging LLC, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging S.L.U., Sealed Air Peru S.A.C., Sealed Air Polska Sp. Zoo, Sealed Air Pty Limited, Sealed Air S.A S., Sealed Air S.r.l., Sealed Air South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Sealed Air Svenska AB, Sealed Air Taiwan Limited, Sealed Air UK Limited Partnership, Sealed Air US Holdings (Thailand) LLC, Sealed Air Uruguay S.A., Sealed Air Verpackungen GmbH, Sealed Air de Mexico Operations S. de RL. de C.V., Sealed Air de Venezuela S.A., Sealed Air s.r.o., Shanklin Corp, Shanklin Corporation, TTS-Ciptec, TXAFP Asia Pacific Ltd., TXAFP GP LLC, and Trigon Industries.The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Wealth Management segments. The company offers financial advice and solutions, and day-to-day banking products, including debit and credit cards, chequing and saving accounts, investments, mortgages, loans, and insurance to individuals; and business banking solutions comprising lending, deposit, cash management, and trade finance solutions to small businesses and commercial customers, including automotive financing solutions to dealers and their customers. It also provides wealth management advice and solutions, including online brokerage, mobile investment, full-service brokerage, trust, private banking, and private investment counsel services; and retail mutual funds, exchange traded funds, liquid alternative funds, and institutional funds. In addition, the company offers international banking services for retail, corporate, and commercial customers; and lending and transaction, investment banking advisory, and capital markets access services to corporate customers. Further, it provides Internet, mobile, and telephone banking services. The company operates a network of 952 branches and approximately 3,540 automated banking machines in Canada; and approximately 1,400 branches, 5,200 ATMs, and 22 contact centers internationally. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.

Read MoreCEMEX SAB de CV engages in the production, distribution, marketing, and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, and aggregates. It operates though the following geographical segments: Mexico; United States; Europe; South, Central America and the Caribbean (SCA&C); Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA); and Others. The Europe segment covers United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and Czech Republic, Poland and Latvia, as well as trading activities in Scandinavia, and Finland. The SCA&C segment includes Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Caribbean TCL, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Jamaica, the Caribbean, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The EMEA segment comprises of Egypt, Israel, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates. The Others segment refers to the cement trade maritime operations, information technology solutions business, and other corporate entities as well as other minor subsidiaries with different lines of business. The company was founded by Lorenzo Zambrano Gutierrez in 1906 and is headquartered in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico.

Read MoreCharles River Laboratories International, Inc. is an early-stage contract research company, which provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and academic institutions. It operates through the following segments: Research Models & Services, Discovery & Safety Assessment and Manufacturing Support. The Research Models & Services segment comprises of the production and sale of research models, and also offers services designed to support its client's use of research models in screening non-clinical drug candidates. The Discovery & Safety Assessment segment offers discovery and safety assessment services, both regulated and non-regulated, in which it include both in vivo and in vitro studies, supporting laboratory services, and strategic preclinical consulting and program management to support product development. The Manufacturing Support segment provides endotoxin and microbial detection, avian vaccine and biologics testing solutions. The company was founded by Henry L. Foster in 1947 and is headquartered in Wilmington, MA.

Read More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.

Read MoreCenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, and Refining and Marketing segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen in northeast Alberta. Its bitumen assets include Foster Creek, Christina Lake, and Narrows Lake, as well as other projects in the early stages of development. The Conventional segment holds assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, and Clearwater operating areas of British Columbia and Alberta, as well as various interests in natural gas processing facilities. The Refining and Marketing segment transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs. This segment owns a 50% ownership in Wood River and Borger refineries located in the United States; and owns and operates a crude-by-rail terminal in Alberta. Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of BlackRock: Acero Cooperatief U.A., Acero Holdings I B.V., Amethyst Merger Sub LLC, AnalytX Hosting LLC, AnalytX LLC, AnalytX Software LLC, Aperio, Aperio, Aquila Heywood, Asia-Pacific Private Credit Opportunities Fund I (GenPar) Ltd., BAA Holdings LLC, BFM Holdco LLC, BLK (Gallatin) Holdings LLC, BLK SMI LLC, BR Acquisition Mexico S.A. de C.V., BR Jersey International Holdings L.P., Beijing eFront Software Company Limited, BlackRock (Barbados) Finco 1 SRL, BlackRock (Channel Islands) Limited, BlackRock (Luxembourg) S.A., BlackRock (Netherlands) B.V., BlackRock (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock (Singapore) Holdco II Pte. Ltd., BlackRock (Singapore) Holdco Pte. Limited, BlackRock (Singapore) Limited, BlackRock AP Investment Holdco LLC, BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited, BlackRock Advisors LLC, BlackRock Advisors Singapore Pte. Limited, BlackRock Alternative Advisors GP Holdings LLC, BlackRock Alternatives Management LLC, BlackRock Argentina Asesorias Ltda., BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG, BlackRock Asset Management International Inc., BlackRock Asset Management Investor Services Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited, BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Schweiz AG, BlackRock Asset Management UK Limited, BlackRock Australia Holdco Pty. Ltd., BlackRock Brasil Gestora de Investimentos Ltda., BlackRock Cal 1 Investor LLC, BlackRock Canada Holdings LP, BlackRock Canada Holdings ULC, BlackRock Capital Holdings Inc., BlackRock Capital Investment Advisors LLC, BlackRock Capital Management Inc., BlackRock Cayco Limited, BlackRock Cayman 1 LP, BlackRock Cayman Capital Holdings Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco 2 Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco 3 Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco Limited, BlackRock Cayman West Bay Finco Limited, BlackRock Cayman West Bay IV Limited, BlackRock Cayman Z Limited, BlackRock Channel Islands Holdco Limited, BlackRock Chile Asesorias Limitada, BlackRock Colombia Holdco LLC, BlackRock Colombia Infraestructura S.A.S., BlackRock Colombia SAS, BlackRock Company Secretarial Services (UK) Limited, BlackRock Corporation US Inc., BlackRock Delaware Holdings Inc., BlackRock Enterprise Management Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Europe Development Management Limited, BlackRock Execution Services, BlackRock Finance Europe Limited, BlackRock Financial Management Inc., BlackRock Finco LLC, BlackRock Finco UK Ltd., BlackRock First Partner Limited, BlackRock France SAS, BlackRock Fund Advisors, BlackRock Fund Management Company S.A., BlackRock Fund Managers Limited, BlackRock Funding International Ltd., BlackRock Funds Services Group LLC, BlackRock Germany GmBH, BlackRock Group Limited, BlackRock HK Holdco Limited, BlackRock Holdco 2 Inc., BlackRock Holdco 3 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 4 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 5 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 6 LLC, BlackRock Hungary Kft, BlackRock Index Services LLC, BlackRock Infrastructure Management I LLC, BlackRock Institutional Services Inc., BlackRock Institutional Trust Company National Association, BlackRock International Holdings Inc., BlackRock International Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Dublin) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Korea) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management Ireland Holdings Limited, BlackRock Investment Management LLC, BlackRock Investments LLC, BlackRock Japan Co. Ltd., BlackRock Japan Holdings GK, BlackRock Jersey Finco 2 Limited, BlackRock Latin America Holdco LLC, BlackRock Latin American Holdings B.V., BlackRock Life Limited, BlackRock Lux Finco S.a r.l., BlackRock Luxembourg Holdco S.a r.l., BlackRock Mexican Holdco B.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura I S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura II S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura III S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager II S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager III S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager S de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Operadora S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, BlackRock Mortgage Ventures LLC, BlackRock Niagara LLC, BlackRock Operations (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., BlackRock Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock PC Holdings LLC, BlackRock Pensions Limited, BlackRock Peru Asesorias S.A., BlackRock Property Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Property France S.a.r.l., BlackRock Property Lux S.a.r.l., BlackRock Property Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., BlackRock Realty Advisors Inc., BlackRock Saudi Arabia, BlackRock Scale Holdings LLC, BlackRock Services India Private Limited, BlackRock Singapore III Pte. Ltd., BlackRock Slovakia s.r.o., BlackRock Strategic Investors GP LLC, BlackRock Strategic Investors LP, BlackRock Trident Holding Company Limited, BlackRock UK (Alpha) Limited, BlackRock UK (Beta) Limited, BlackRock UK (Delta) LP, BlackRock UK (Gamma) Limited, BlackRock UK (Sigma) Limited, BlackRock UK 2 LLP, BlackRock UK 3 LLP, BlackRock UK 4 LLP, BlackRock UK A LLP, BlackRock UK Holdco 2 Limited, BlackRock UK Holdco Limited, Blackhawk Investment Holding LLC, CIE Automotive, Cachematrix Holdings, Cachematrix Holdings LLC, Cachematrix Integrations Private Limited, Cachematrix Software Solutions LLC, Cachematrix UK Limited, FutureAdvisor Inc., Glass Mountain Pipeline, Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Advisors LLC, Global Energy & Power Infrastructure II Advisors LLC, Grosvenor Alternate Partner Limited, Grosvenor Ventures Limited, HLX Financial Holdings LLC, MGPA (Bermuda) Limited, MGPA (Exec) Limited, MGPA Limited, Mercury Carry Company Ltd., Mercury Private Equity MUST 3 (Jersey) Limited, Object Capital Technology Inc., Phoenix Acquisition B.V., Phoenix Acquisitions Holdings LLC, Portfolio Administration & Management Ltd., Prestadora de Servicios Integrales BlackRock Mexico S.A. de C.V., SVOF/MM LLC, St. Albans House Nominees (Jersey) Ltd., State Street Research & Management, Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, Tlali Acero S.A. de C.V. SOFOM ENR, Trident Merger LLC, eFront, eFront, eFront (Jersey) Limited, eFront DMLT Holdings LLC, eFront DMLT Holdings S.R.L, eFront DR S.R.L, eFront Do Brasil Solucoes Informaticas Para Sistemas Financeiros Ltda., eFront FZ-LLC, eFront Financial Solutions Inc., eFront GmbH, eFront Holding II SAS, eFront Holdings SAS, eFront Hong Kong Limited, eFront II SAS, eFront Kabushiki Kaisha, eFront Ltd, eFront SAS, eFront Singapore Pte. Ltd, eFront Software Luxembourg S.a r.l., eFront Solutions Financeieres Inc., eFront d.o.o. Beograd, iShares (DE) I Investmentaktiengesellschaft mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, and iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC.Wall Street analysts have given El Paso Electric a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but El Paso Electric wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The following companies are subsidiares of Occidental Petroleum: 1PointFive Inc., 1PointFive P1 LLC, APC Aviation Inc., APC International Holdings LLC, APC Midstream Holdings LLC, APC Venezuela Srl, ARCO Long Beach, Altura Energy, Amarok Gathering LLC, Anadarko 20-25 Company, Anadarko 20-36 Company, Anadarko 20-47 Company, Anadarko 20-48 Company, Anadarko 20-49 Company, Anadarko Algeria Block 403 c/e Company, Anadarko Algeria Block 406B Company, Anadarko Algeria Company LLC, Anadarko Algeria Oil & Gas Company, Anadarko Brazil Investment I LLC, Anadarko Brazil Investment II LLC, Anadarko Canada E&P Limited, Anadarko China Holdings 2 Company, Anadarko Colombia Company, Anadarko Consolidated Holdings LLC, Anadarko Cote d'Ivoire Block 103 Company, Anadarko Cote d'Ivoire Company, Anadarko DBMOS Operator LLC, Anadarko Development Company, Anadarko Development Holding Limited, Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC, Anadarko Egypt Holdings Company, Anadarko Energy Holding Limited, Anadarko Energy Services Company, Anadarko Exploracao e Producao de Petroleo e Gas Natural Ltda., Anadarko Finance Company, Anadarko Gabon Company, Anadarko Ghana Mahogany-1 Company, Anadarko Global Energy S.a.r.l, Anadarko Global Funding 1 Company, Anadarko Global Funding II Ltd., Anadarko Guyana Company, Anadarko Holding Company, Anadarko International Development S.a.r.l, Anadarko International Energy Company, Anadarko International O&G Company, Anadarko International Trading Corporation, Anadarko Jordan Company, Anadarko Kenya Company, Anadarko LMM S.a.r.l, Anadarko Land Corp., Anadarko Mexico B.V., Anadarko Mexico S.a.r.l, Anadarko Midkiff/Chaney Dell BR Corp., Anadarko Midkiff/Chaney Dell LLC, Anadarko Natural Gas Company LLC, Anadarko New Zealand Company, Anadarko OGC Company, Anadarko Offshore Holding Company LLC, Anadarko Offshore Well Containment Company LLC, Anadarko Oil & Gas 5 LLC, Anadarko Peru B.V., Anadarko Petroleum, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Anadarko Realty LLC, Anadarko Rockies LLC, Anadarko Royalty Holdings Company, Anadarko UK Corporate Limited, Anadarko US Offshore LLC, Anadarko USH1 Corporation, Anadarko Venezuela Company, Anadarko Venezuela LLC, Anadarko Venezuela Srl, Anadarko WCTP Company, Anadarko West Texas BR Corp., Anadarko West Texas LLC, Anadarko Worldwide Holdings C.V., Atlantic Rim Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aventine LLC, Baseball Merger Sub 2 Inc., Bear Branch Exploration LLC, Big Island Trona Company, Bitter Creek Coal Company, Bravo Pipeline Company, Cain Chemical, Cain Chemical Inc., Carbon Finance Labs LLC, Concord Petroleum Corporation, Conn Creek Shale Company, D.S. Ventures LLC, DMM Financial LLC, Deerwood Exploration LLC, Downtown Plaza II, Elk Hills Field, FLAG Development LLC, FP Westport Commodities Limited, FP Westport GmbH, FP Westport LLC, FP Westport Limited, FP Westport Services LLC, FP Westport Trading LLC, Fosters Mill Exploration LLC, Glenn Springs Holdings Inc., Globrep Representaciones S.A., Grand Bassa Tankers Inc., Grupo OxyChem de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Headwater II LLC, Houndstooth Resources LLC, INDSPEC Chemical B.V., INDSPEC Chemical Corporation, INDSPEC Chemical Corporation, INDSPEC Chemical Export Sales LLC, INDSPEC Holding Corporation, Ingleside Cogeneration GP LLC, Ingleside Cogeneration Limited Partnership, Interore Trading Ltd., Joslyn Partnership, KERR-McGEE TT E&P LTD., KM BM-C-Seven Ltd., KM International Insurance Ltd., Kerr-McGee Corporation, Kerr-McGee Natural Gas Company Inc., Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP, Kerr-McGee Shared Services Company LLC, Kerr-McGee Stored Power Corporation, Kerr-McGee U.K. Energy Corporation, Kerr-McGee Worldwide Corporation, Kerr-McGee do Brasil Ltda., Kerr-McGee of Canada Northwest Ltd., Laguna Petroleum Corp., Laguna Petroleum LLC, Liwa Oil & Gas Ltd., MC2 Technologies LLC, Mariana Properties Inc., Marico Exploration Inc., Miller Springs Remediation Management Inc., Moncrief Minerals Partnership L.P., NGL Ventures LLC, Natural Gas Odorizing Inc., New OPL LLC, OEVC Energy LLC, OEVC Midstream Projects LLC, OIH LLC, OLCV CE Holdings ULC, OLCV CE US Holdings Inc., OLCV Net Power LLC, OLCV Services LLC, OOG Partner LLC, OOOI Chem Holdings LLC, OOOI Chem Sub LLC, OOOI Chemical International LLC, OOOI Chile Holder LLC, OOOI Ecuador Management LLC, OOOI Oil and Gas Sub LLC, OOOI South America Management LLC, OPM GP Inc., OPM Holdco LLC, OTCF LLC, OTH LLC, OXY CV Pipeline LLC, OXY Campus LLC, OXY Inc., OXY LPG LLC, OXY Libya E&P Area 103 BR4 B.V., OXY Libya E&P Area 35 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P Concession 103 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P EPSA 102 B.V., OXY Libya E&P EPSA 1981 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P EPSA 1985 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P NC 143 144 145 150 B.V., OXY Libya Exploration SPC, OXY Libya LLC, OXY Little Knife LLC, OXY Mexico Holdings I LLC, OXY Mexico Holdings II LLC, OXY Middle East Holdings Ltd., OXY Oil Partners Inc., OXY PBLP Manager LLC, OXY Support Services LLC, OXY Tulsa Inc., OXY USA Inc., OXY USA WTP LP, OXY VPP Investments LLC, OXY West LLC, OXY of Saudi Arabia Ltd., OXYCHEM (CANADA) INC., OXYMAR, Oakwood Exploration LLC, Occidental (Bermuda) Ltd., Occidental (East Shabwa) LLC, Occidental Advance Sale Finance Inc., Occidental Al Hosn LLC, Occidental Angola Holdings Ltd., Occidental CIS Services Inc., Occidental Canada Holdings Ltd., Occidental Chemical Asia Limited, Occidental Chemical Belgium B.V.B.A., Occidental Chemical Chile Limitada, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Occidental Chemical Export Sales LLC, Occidental Chemical Far East Limited, Occidental Chemical Holding Corporation, Occidental Chemical International LLC, Occidental Chemical Investment (Canada) 1 Inc., Occidental Chemical Receivables LLC, Occidental Chemical de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Occidental Chile Investments LLC, Occidental Chile Minority Holder LLC, Occidental Colombia (Series G) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series J) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series K) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series L) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series M) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series N) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series O) Ltd., Occidental Crude Sales Inc. (Canada), Occidental Crude Sales Inc. (International), Occidental Dolphin Holdings Ltd., Occidental Energy Marketing Inc., Occidental Energy Ventures LLC, Occidental Exploradora del Peru Ltd., Occidental Exploration and Production Company, Occidental Hafar LLC, Occidental International (Libya) Inc., Occidental International Corporation, Occidental International Exploration and Production Company, Occidental International Holdings Ltd., Occidental International Oil and Gas Ltd., Occidental International Services Inc., Occidental Joslyn GP 2 Co., Occidental LNG (Malaysia) Ltd., Occidental Latin America Holdings LLC, Occidental Libya Oil & Gas B.V., Occidental MENA Manager Ltd., Occidental Middle East Development Company, Occidental Midland Basin LLC, Occidental Mukhaizna LLC, Occidental Oil Asia Pte. Ltd., Occidental Oil Shale Inc., Occidental Oil and Gas (Oman) Ltd., Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, Occidental Oil and Gas International Inc., Occidental Oil and Gas International LLC, Occidental Oil and Gas Pakistan LLC, Occidental Oil and Gas of Peru LLC, Occidental Oman (Block 27) Holdings Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 51 Holding Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 51 LLC, Occidental Oman Block 65 Holding Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 65 LLC, Occidental Oman Block 72 Holding Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 72 LLC, Occidental Oman Gas Company LLC, Occidental Oman Gas Holdings Ltd., Occidental Oman North Holdings Ltd., Occidental Oriente Exploration and Production Ltd., Occidental Overseas Holdings B.V., Occidental PVC LLC, Occidental Peninsula II Inc., Occidental Peninsula LLC, Occidental Permian Ltd., Occidental Permian Manager LLC, Occidental Permian Services Inc., Occidental Peruana Inc., Occidental Petrolera del Peru (Block 101) Inc., Occidental Petrolera del Peru (Block 103) Inc., Occidental Petroleum (Pakistan) Inc., Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Occidental Petroleum Corporation Political Action Committee, Occidental Petroleum de Venezuela S.A., Occidental Petroleum of Nigeria, Occidental Petroleum of Oman Ltd., Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd., Occidental Power Marketing L.P., Occidental Power Services Inc., Occidental Qatar Energy Company LLC, Occidental Red Sea Development LLC, Occidental Research Corporation, Occidental Resource Recovery Systems Inc., Occidental Resources Company, Occidental Shah Gas Holdings Ltd., Occidental South America Finance LLC, Occidental Specialty Marketing Inc., Occidental Tower Corporation, Occidental Transportation Holding Corporation, Occidental West Texas Overthrust Inc., Occidental Yemen Ltd., Occidental Yemen Sabatain Inc., Occidental del Ecuador Inc., Occidental of Abu Dhabi (Bab) Ltd., Occidental of Abu Dhabi (Shah) Ltd., Occidental of Abu Dhabi Holdings Ltd., Occidental of Abu Dhabi LLC, Occidental of Abu Dhabi Ltd., Occidental of Bahrain Ltd., Occidental of Bangladesh Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Chipiron) Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Cosecha) Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Medina) Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Putumayo) Ltd., Occidental of Colombia (Teca) Ltd., Occidental of Colombia PUT-36 LLC, Occidental of Dubai Inc., Occidental of Iraq Holdings Ltd., Occidental of Iraq LLC, Occidental of Oman Inc., Occidental of Russia Ltd., Occidental of South Africa (Offshore) Inc., Occidental of Yemen (Block 75) LLC, Oceanic Marine Transport Ltd., Opcal Insurance Inc., Oryx Crude Trading & Transportation Inc., Oxy BridgeTex Limited Partnership, Oxy C & I Bulk Sales LLC, Oxy Canada Sales Inc., Oxy Carbon Solutions LLC, Oxy Carbon Storage LLC, Oxy Climate Ventures Inc., Oxy Cogeneration Holding Company LLC, Oxy Colombia Holdings LLC, Oxy Colombia TopCo Ltd., Oxy Delaware Basin LLC, Oxy Delaware Basin Plant LLC, Oxy Dolphin E&P LLC, Oxy Dolphin Pipeline LLC, Oxy Energy Canada Inc., Oxy Energy Services LLC, Oxy Expatriate Services Inc., Oxy FFT Holdings Inc., Oxy Holding Company (Pipeline) Inc., Oxy International Ventures Ltd., Oxy LPG Terminal LLC, Oxy Levelland Pipeline Company LLC, Oxy Levelland Terminal Company LLC, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC, Oxy Midstream Strategic Development LLC, Oxy Oleoducto SOP LLC, Oxy Overseas Services Ltd., Oxy Permian Gathering LLC, Oxy Permian Plaza LLC, Oxy Petroleum de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Oxy Renewable Energy LLC, Oxy Salt Creek Pipeline LLC, Oxy TL LLC, Oxy Taft Hub LLC, Oxy Technology Ventures Inc., Oxy Transport I Company LLC, Oxy Vinyls Canada Co., Oxy Vinyls Export Sales LLC, Oxy Vinyls LP, Oxy Westwood Corporation, Oxy Y-1 Company, OxyChem Ingleside Ethylene Holdings Inc., OxyChem do Brasil Ltda., OxyChile Investments LLC, Oxychem Shipping Ltd., Permian Basin JV Tax Matters Member LLC, Permian Basin Limited Partnership, Permian VPP Holder LP, Permian VPP Manager LLC, Phibro, Placid Oil LLC, Ramlat Oxy Ltd., Rio de Viento Inc., Rodeo Midland Basin LLC, San Patricio Pipeline LLC, Scanports Shipping LLC, SequestCo LLC, Stetson Exploration LLC, Sun Offshore Gathering Company, Swiflite Aircraft Corporation, Transok Properties LLC, Troy Potter Inc., Turavent Oil GmbH [in liquidation], Tuscaloosa Holdings Inc., UP Petroleo III Ltd., Upland Industries Corporation, Venezuela US SRL, Vintage Gas Inc., Vintage Petroleum, Vintage Petroleum Argentina Ltd., Vintage Petroleum Boliviana Ltd., Vintage Petroleum International Finance B.V., Vintage Petroleum International Holdings LLC, Vintage Petroleum International LLC, Vintage Petroleum International Ventures Inc., Vintage Petroleum Italy Inc., Vintage Petroleum South America Holdings Inc., Vintage Petroleum South America LLC, Vintage Petroleum Turkey Inc., WGR Asset Holding Company LLC, WGR Canada Inc., Wardner Ranch Inc., Western Gas Resources Inc., Western Gas Resources-Westana Inc., Western Midstream Holdings LLC, Woodlands International Insurance Ltd., and YT Ranch LLC.Exchange Income Corporation engages in aerospace and aviation services and equipment, and manufacturing businesses worldwide. It operates through two segments, Aerospace & Aviation, and Manufacturing. The Aerospace & Aviation segment offers scheduled airline and charter services, and emergency medical services to communities located in Manitoba, Ontario, and Nunavut, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. It also provides after-market aircraft, engines, and component parts to regional airline operators; designs, modifies, maintains, and operates custom sensor equipped aircraft; and offers maritime surveillance and support services in Canada, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. In addition, this segment provides pilot flight training services. The Manufacturing segment manufactures window wall systems primarily used in high-rise multi-family residential projects; stainless steel tanks, vessels, and processing equipment; heavy duty pressure washing and steam systems, commercial water recycling systems, and custom tanks for the transportation of oil, gasoline, and water products; precision parts and components primarily used in the aerospace and defense sector; electrical and control systems integrator focused on the agricultural material handling; and precision sheet metal and tubular products. This segment also focuses on the engineering, design, manufacture, and construction of communication infrastructure, as well as provision of technical services. Exchange Income Corporation is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada.

Read MoreBT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreFirst American Financial Corp. operates as an insurance company. It provides title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries. The company operates its business through the following segments: Title Insurance & Services and Specialty Insurance. The Title Insurance & Services segment provides title insurance, escrow, closing services and similar or related financial services domestically and internationally in connection with residential and commercial real estate transactions. It also maintains, manages and provides access to title plant records and images and provides banking, trust and investment advisory services. The Specialty Insurance segment issues property & casualty insurance policies and sells home warranty products. It also provides title plant management services, which include title and other real property records and images, valuation products and services, home warranty products, property and casualty insurance and banking, trust and investment advisory services. First American Financial was founded in January, 2008 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, CA.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Franklin Resources: AdvisorEngine, AdvisorEngine Inc., Alumcreek Holdings LLC, Athena Capital Advisors, Balanced Equity Management, Balanced Equity Management Pty. Limited, Benefit Street Partners, Bissett & Associates Investment Management, Brandywine Global Investment Management Europe Limited, CCPF GP Holdco No.2 Limited, CCPF No.2 (GP) Limited, CCPF No.2 LP, CP Industrial Management LLC, CP Intermediate Holdco Inc., CRM Software LLC, Clarion Gramercy (Deutschland) GmbH, Clarion Gramercy (UK) Limited, Clarion Gramercy Limited, Clarion Partners Europe Ltd., Clarion Partners Holdings LLC, Clarion Partners LLC, Clarion Partners Securities LLC, Clarion REIM South America Holdings LLC, Clarion REIM South America Invsetimentos Imobiliarios Ltda, ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure (North America) Pty Limited, ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure International Pty Limited, Darby - Hana Infrastructure Fund Management Co. Ltd., Edinburgh Partners, FT FinTech Holdings LLC, FT Opportunistic Distressed Fund Ltd., FTC Investor Services Inc., FTCI (Cayman) Ltd., FTPE Advisers LLC, Fiduciary International Holding Inc., Fiduciary Investment Management International Inc., Fiduciary Trust (International) Sarl, Fiduciary Trust Company International, Fiduciary Trust Company International of Pennsylvania, Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada, Fiduciary Trust International LLC, Fiduciary Trust International of California, Fiduciary Trust International of Delaware, Fiduciary Trust International of the South, Franklin Advisers GP LLC, Franklin Advisers Inc., Franklin Advisory Services LLC, Franklin Marketplace Loan GP LLC, Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC, Franklin SystematiQ Advisers LLC, Franklin Templeton Alternative Investments (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Franklin Templeton Asset Management Mexico S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, Franklin Templeton Austria GmbH, Franklin Templeton Capital Holdings Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Chile SpA. V., Franklin Templeton Companies LLC, Franklin Templeton Digital Advisory Services GmbH, Franklin Templeton Fund Management Limited, Franklin Templeton GSC Asset Management Sdn. Bhd., Franklin Templeton Global Investors Limited, Franklin Templeton Holding Limited, Franklin Templeton International Services (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton International Services S.a r.l., Franklin Templeton Investment Management (Shanghai) Limited, Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited, Franklin Templeton Investment Services GmbH, Franklin Templeton Investment Services Mexico S. de R.L., Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management Co. Ltd., Franklin Templeton Investments (Asia) Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments (ME) Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments Australia Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., Franklin Templeton Investments Japan Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments Poland sp. z o.o., Franklin Templeton Investments South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Franklin Templeton Investor Services LLC, Franklin Templeton Investimentos (Brasil) Ltda., Franklin Templeton Luxembourg S.A., Franklin Templeton Magyarorszag Kft., Franklin Templeton Management Luxembourg S.A., Franklin Templeton Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Franklin Templeton Private Equity LLC, Franklin Templeton Services (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Services LLC, Franklin Templeton Servicios de Asesoria Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Franklin Templeton Slovakia s.r.o., Franklin Templeton Social Infrastructure GP S.a r.l., Franklin Templeton Strategic Investments Ltd., Franklin Templeton Switzerland Ltd., Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Turkey Advisory Services A.S., Franklin Templeton Uruguay S.A., Franklin Venture Partners (Talos Cayman GP) LLC, Franklin Venture Partners LLC, Franklin/Templeton Distributors Inc., ITI Capital Markets Limited, K2 Advisors, LM (BVI) Limited, LM Holdings 2 Limited, LM Holdings Limited, LM International Holding LP, Legg Mason & Co (UK) Limited, Legg Mason & Co. LLC, Legg Mason (Chile) Inversiones Holdings Limitada, Legg Mason Asset Management Australia Limited, Legg Mason Asset Management Hong Kong Limited, Legg Mason Asset Management Singapore Pte. Limited, Legg Mason Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Legg Mason Holding (Switzerland) GmbH, Legg Mason Inc., Legg Mason Investment Funds Limited, Legg Mason Investments (Europe) Limited, Legg Mason Investments (Switzerland) GmbH, Legg Mason Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor LLC, Legg Mason Royce Holdings LLC, Onsa Inc., RARE IP Trust, RARE Infrastructure Limited, REDROSE Caesar S.a r.l., Random Forest Capital, Random Forest Capital LLC, Rensburg Sheppards plc, Riva Financial Systems Limited, Royce & Associates GP LLC, Royce & Associates LP, Royce Fund Services LLC, Royce Management Company LLC, TSEMF III (Jersey) Limited, TSEMF IV (Jersey) Limited, Templeton Asset Management (Labuan) Limited, Templeton Asset Management (Poland) TFI S.A., Templeton Asset Management Ltd., Templeton Global Advisors Limited, Templeton Global Holdings Ltd., Templeton International Inc., Templeton Investment Counsel LLC, Templeton Restructured Investments III Ltd., Templeton Restructured Investments IV Ltd., Templeton Restructured Investments L.L.C., Templeton Turkey Fund GP Ltd., Templeton Worldwide Inc., Templeton do Brasil Ltda., Templeton/Franklin Investment Services Inc., WHITEROSE Caesar S.a r.l., Western Asset Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Western Asset Management (Brazil) Holdings Limitada, Western Asset Management (Cayman) Holdings Limited, Western Asset Management Company Distribuidora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios Limitada, Western Asset Management Company LLC, Western Asset Management Company Limited, Western Asset Management Company Pte Ltd., Western Asset Management Company Pty Ltd, and Winfield & Company.The following companies are subsidiares of IDEX: ADS Corp., ADS Environmental Services Pty Limited, ADS Environmental Technologies Inc., ADS LLC, AEGIS Flow Technologies, AEGIS Flow Technologies L.L.C., AWG, AWG Fittings GmbH, Abel Pumps, Advanced Thin Films, Advanced Thin Films Inc., Airtech Group, Akron Brass, Akron Brass Company, Alfa Valvole, Alfa Valvole S.r.l., Band-It Clamps (Asia) Pte. Ltd., Band-It Company Limited, Band-It-IDEX Inc., Banjo Corporation, Banjo Europe S.r.l., BarbIDEX International SRL, CIDRA Precision Services, CVI Laser, CVI Laser LLC, CVI Laser Limited, CVI Melles Griot, Corken Inc., ERC, Eastern Plastics, FAST & Fluid Management S.r.l., FM Delaware Inc., FM Investment Inc., FMD Distribution and Service LLC, FMD Fabrication Services LLC, FTL Seals Technology Limited, Fast & Fluid Management B.V., Fast & Fluid Management Eastern Europe Sp. Z O.O., Fast and Fluid Management Australia Pty. Ltd., Flow Management Devices, Flow Management Devices LLC, Fluid Management Canada Inc., Fluid Management Inc., Fluid Management Operations LLC, Gast Group Ltd, Gast Manufacturing Inc., Godiva Limited, Godiva Products Limited, Hale Products Europe Limited, Hale Products Inc., Hurst Jaws of Life Inc., IDEX Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., IDEX Dinglee Technology (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., IDEX Europe GmbH, IDEX Health & Science KK, IDEX Health & Science LLC, IDEX Holdings GmbH, IDEX Holdings Inc., IDEX India Private Limited, IDEX Italy S.r.l., IDEX Japan GK, IDEX Korea Ltd, IDEX Leasing GmbH, IDEX MPT Inc., IDEX Mexico S.A. de C.V., IDEX Middle East FZE, IDEX Pump Technologies (Ireland) Limited, IDEX SAS, IDEX Service Corp., IDEX Sourcing Corporation, IDEX Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., IDEX Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, IDEX UK Investment Ltd, IDEX UK Ltd., IDEX do Brasil Servicos e Vendas Ltda., IETG, Isolation Technologies, KNIGHT LLC, KVT-Koenig Holding Limited, Knight (Canada) Limited, Knight Inc., Knight UK Ltd, LUKAS Hydraulik GmbH, Liquid Controls, Liquid Controls LLC, Matcon, Matcon (R&D) Limited, Matcon Group Limited, Matcon Limited, Melles Griot B.V., Melles Griot GmbH, Microfluidics, Microfluidics International Corporation, Micropump Inc., Nova Technologies, Nova Technologies Corporation, Novotema, Novotema S.p.A, OBL, OBL Srl, Oil & Gas Process Solutions LLC, PP AWG GmbH, PPE International LLC, PPE LLC, Precision Photonics, Precision Polymer Engineering Limited, Project Gold Acquisition Corp., Pulsafeeder Inc., Quadro Engineering Corp., RV Acquisition Corp., Richter Chemie-Technik, Richter Chemie-Technik GmbH, Richter EP (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., Richter Pumps & Valves Inc., Roplan AB, Roplan GmbH, Roplan Holding AB, Roplan Ltd, Roplan Machinery (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., Roplan Machining AB, Roplan Sales (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., Roplan Sales AB, Roplan Sales Inc., Roplan Trading AB, S.A.M.P.I. S.p.A., SFC KOENIG, SFC KOENIG Flow Control (Suzhou) Co. Limited, SFC Koenig AG, SFC Koenig Beteilgungs GmbH, SFC Koenig GmbH, SFC Koenig LLC, Scivex, Seals Limited, Semrock, Steridose Sales AB, The Fitzpatrick Company, Toptech Systems, Toptech Systems Inc., Toptech Systems NV, Trebor International Inc., Velcora, Velcora Holding AB, Vetter GmbH, Viking Pump Inc., Viking Pump of Canada Inc., Warren Rupp Inc., Wright Flow Technologies Limited, XAM Swiss Holding I GmbH, iPEK, iPEK International GmbH, iPEK Spezial TV GmbH, thinXXS Microtechnology, and thinXXS Microtechnology AG.Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI EAFE ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares MSCI EAFE ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Wall Street analysts have given iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc. engages in the production and sale of cellulose products, which is a natural polymer commonly used in the production of cell phone and computer screens, filters, and pharmaceuticals. It operates through the following segments: High Purity Cellulose, Forest Products, Paperboard, Pulp and Newsprint, and Corporate. The High Purity Cellulose segment manufacture and market high purity cellulose, which is sold as either cellulose specialties or commodity products in U.S., Canda, and France. The Forest Products segment manufacture and market construction-grade lumber in North America through seven sawmills located in Canada. The Paperboard segment comprises paperboard products. The Pulp and Newsprint segment involves in the production of pulp and newsprint in Canada. The Corporate segment consists senior management, accounting, information systems, human resources, treasury, tax, and legal administrative functions that provide support services to the operating business units. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Marsh & McLennan Companies: 8WORKS INC., 8WORKS LTD, A. Constantinidi & CIA. S.C., A.C.N. 000 951 146 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 001 572 961 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 076 935 683 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 102 322 574 Pty Limited, ACE Insurance Agents Limited, ACE Insurance Consultants Limited, ACE Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Limited, AD Corretora de Seguros, AFCO Premium Acceptance Inc., AFCO Premium Credit LLC, Access Equity Enhanced Fund GP LLC, Admiral Holdings Limited, Agnew Higgins Pickering & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd, Aldgate Investments Limited, Aldgate Trustees Ltd, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited, Alpha Consultants Limited, Alta SA, Altius Real Assets (GP) LLC, Amal Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Anda Insurance Agencies Pte Ltd, AssetVal Pty Ltd, Assur Conseils Marsh S.A., Assurance Capital Corporation, Assurance Services Corporation, Australian Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Australian World Underwriters Pty Ltd., BBPS Limited, Barney & Barney Orange County LLC, Beaumonts (Leeds) Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Services Limited, Beneficios Integrales Oportunos SA, Benefitfocus Inc., Blue Marble Micro Limited, Blue Marble Microinsurance Inc., Bluefin, Bluefin Insurance Group Limited, Bluefin Insurance Services Limited, Boulder Claims LLC, Bowring (Bermuda) Investments Ltd., Bowring Marine Limited, Bowring Marsh (Bermuda) Ltd., Bowring Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Bowring Marsh Asia Pte. Ltd., Bowring Marsh Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Bowring Marsh Limited, Broderick Piller Pty Ltd, Broker 2 Broker Limited, BuildPay LLC, Burke Ford Trustees (Leicester) Limited, C.T. Bowring Limited, CMC-Belgibo NV, CPRM Limited, CPSG Partners LLC, Carpenter Marsh Fac Chile Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Carpenter Marsh Fac Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Carpenter Marsh Fac Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.C., Carpenter Marsh Fac Re LLC, Carpenter Turner Cyprus Ltd, Carpenter Turner S.A., Cascade International Holdings C.V., Cascade Regional Holdings Limited, Central Insurance Services Limited, Charter Risk Management Services LLC, Chartwell Healthcare Limited, Chronos Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Claims and Recovery Management (Australia) Pty Limited, Clark Thomson Insurance Brokers Limited, Client Provide Limited, Colombian Insurance Broking Wholesale Limited, Consultores 2020 C.A., Cronin & Co Insurance Services Limited, DVA - Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs GmbH, Dawson Insurance, DeLima Marsh S.A. - Los Corredores de Seguros S.A., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Managing General Agency Corporation, Dovetail Technology Service India Private Limited, Draw Connect Limited, Draw Create Limited, Draw Group London Limited, Eagle & Crown Limited, Echelon Australia Pty Limited, Echelon Claims Consultants Sdn Bhd, Echelon New Zealand Limited, EnBW Versicherungs Vermittlung GmbH, Encompass Insurance Agency Pty Ltd., English Pension Trustees Limited, Epsilon (US) Insurance Company, Epsilon Insurance Company Ltd., Eustis Insurance & Benefits, Evolution Management Ltd, Exchange Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Exmoor Management Company Limited, Faulkner & Flynn LLC, Freedom Trust Services Limited, GC Genesis LLC, GCube Insurance Services Inc, GCube Underwriting Limited, Gama Consultores Associados Ltda., Gem Insurance Company Limited, Global Premium Finance Company, GrECo International Holding AG, Gracechurch Trustees Limited, Gresham Pension Trustees Limited, Group Promoters Pty Limited, Guy Carpenter & Cia (Mexico) S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter & Cia. S.A., Guy Carpenter & Co. Labuan Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company AB, Guy Carpenter & Company Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Guy Carpenter & Company Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company GmbH, Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd./Guy Carpenter & Compagnie Ltee, Guy Carpenter & Company Participacoes Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company Private Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Proprietary Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Pty. Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A. (Uruguay), Guy Carpenter & Company S.A.S., Guy Carpenter & Company S.r.l., Guy Carpenter (Middle East) Limited, Guy Carpenter Bermuda Ltd., Guy Carpenter Broking Inc., Guy Carpenter Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Guy Carpenter Japan Inc., Guy Carpenter Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, HAPIP GP 2009 LLC, HAPIP GP LLC, HSBC Insurance Brokers International (Abu Dhabi) LLC (in liquidation), Hamilton Bond Limited, Hansen International Limited, Hayward Aviation Limited, INSIA Europe SE, INSIA SK s.r.o., INSIA a.s., INSURANCE BROKERS OF NIGERIA LIMITED, IRC Asia Insurance Brokers Limited, InSolutions Limited, Industrial Risks Protection Consultants, Ingeseg S. A., Ingeseg S.A., Insbrokers Ltda., InsurTech Alliance LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC [BAHRAIN BRANCH], Insure Direct - Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC, International Loss Control Services Limited, International Risk Consultants (Asia) Limited, Invercol Limited, Irish Pensions Trust Limited, Isosceles Insurance (Barbados) Limited, Isosceles Insurance Company Limited, Isosceles Insurance Ltd, Isosceles PCC Limited, J&H Marsh & McLennan Limited, J.W. Terrill Benefit Administrators Inc., JI Holdings Limited, JIB Group Holdings Limited, JIB Group Limited, JIB Holdings (Pacific) Limited, JIB Overseas Holdings Limited, JIB UK Holdings Limited, JL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co. KG, JLM Verwaltungs GmbH, JLT (Insurance Brokers) Limited, JLT Actuaries and Consultants Limited, JLT Advisory Limited, JLT Affinity Colombia Solutions SAS, JLT Agencies Limited, JLT Asesorias Ltda, JLT Asia Holdings BV, JLT Asia Shared Services Sdn Bhd, JLT Belgibo, JLT Benefit Consultants Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Bermuda Ltd, JLT Brasil Holdings Participacoes Ltd, JLT Chile Holdings SpA, JLT Colombia Retail Limited, JLT Colombia Wholesale Limited, JLT Consultants & Actuaries Limited, JLT EB Holdings Limited, JLT EB Services Limited, JLT Employee Benefits Holding Company (PTY) LTD, JLT Employee Benefits SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Financial Planning Limited, JLT France Holdings, JLT Group Services Pty Limited, JLT Holdings (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Holdings (NZ) Limited, JLT Independent Insurance Brokers Private Limited, JLT Insurance Agencies Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited ( Shanghai Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Beijing Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Guangzhou Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers SA, JLT Insurance Group Holdings Ltd, JLT Insurance Management Malta Limited, JLT Intellectual Property Limited, JLT Intellectual Property [UK Branch], JLT Interactive Pte. Ltd., JLT Investment Management Limited, JLT LATAM (Southern Cone) Wholesale Limited, JLT Latin American Holdings Limited, JLT Life Assurance Brokers Limited, JLT Management Services Limited, JLT Marine (Pty) Ltd, JLT Mexico Holdings Limited, JLT Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., JLT Netherlands BV, JLT Norway AS, JLT PLA, JLT Pension Trustees Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Holdings Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Limited, JLT Peru Reinsurance Solutions Limited, JLT Peru Retail Limited, JLT Peru Wholesale Limited, JLT QFM Services Limited, JLT RE Brasil Administracao e Corretagem de Resseguros Ltda, JLT Re (French Branch), JLT Re (Northern Europe) AB, JLT Re Argentina Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.U., JLT Re Labuan Limited, JLT Re Limited, JLT Re Pty Ltd, JLT Reinsurance Brokers GmbH, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited [French Branch], JLT Risk Management Limited, JLT Risk Solutions AB, JLT Risk Solutions AB Branch - Germany, JLT SA IB Holdings Company (Pty) Limited, JLT SCK Affinity Administracao e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., JLT SCK Corretora e Administradora de Seguros, JLT Secretaries Limited, JLT Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerlii A.., JLT Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., JLT Specialty France, JLT Specialty Insurance Broker A/S, JLT Specialty Limited, JLT Specialty Limited [DUBAI BRANCH], JLT Specialty Pte. Ltd., JLT Towner Insurance Management (Anguilla) Limited, JLT Trust Services (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Trustees (Southern) Limited, JLT Trustees Limited, JLT UK Investment Holdings Limited, JLT Vantage Risk and Benefit Consulting Private Limited, JLT Wealth Management Limited, JLT do Brasil Corretagem de Seguros Ltda, JLTPCS Holdings Pte. Ltd., JMIB Holdings BV, JSL Securities Inc., Japan Affinity Marketing Inc., Jardine IBR Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson (Proprietary) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Asia Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Australia Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada Inc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited (UK Branch Office), Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance Consultants Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Inc., Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Holdings Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Unlimited Company, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Korea Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited [Macao Branch], Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS (Dubai) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS SA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Sdn Bhd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Valencia y Iragorri Corredores de Seguros SA, Jardine Pension Trustees Ireland Limited, Jardine Risk Consulting Co. Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited [Macao Branch], Jardines PF- Consultoria Em Gestao De Risco Limitada, Jelf, Jelf Commercial Finance Limited, Jelf Financial Planning Limited, Jelf Insurance Brokers Limited, Jelf Limited, Jelf Risk Management Limited, Jelf Wellbeing Limited, John Lampier & Son Ltd, Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Limited, Johnson & Higgins Limited, KESSLER & CO AG, Kepler Associates Limited, Kessler & Co Inc., Kessler Consulting Inc., Kessler Prevoyance Inc., Key Underwriting Pty Limited, Kroll, Lambert Brothers Holdings Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Employee Benefits) Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Hong Kong) Ltd, Laterlife.com Limited (in liquidation), Lavaretus Underwriting AB, Lavaretus Underwriting AB (BRANCH - Denmark), Libra Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Lloyd & Partners Limited, Local Government Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Lomond Macdonald Limited, Lynch Insurance Brokers Limited, M&M Vehicle L.P., M.P. Bolshaw and Company Limited, MAG JLT SpA, MERCER ALTERNATIVES LIMITED, MM Risk Services Pty Ltd (for dissolution), MMA Mid-Atlantic Employee LLC, MMA Securities LLC, MMB Consultores S.A., MMC (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd., MMC 28 State Street Holdings Inc., MMC Borrower LLC, MMC Brazilian Holdings B.V., MMC Capital Inc., MMC Cascade Regional Holdings LLC, MMC FINANCE (EUROPE) LIMITED, MMC FINANCE HOLDINGS LTD, MMC Finance (Australia) Limited, MMC Finance (Singapore) Limited, MMC France Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., MMC GP III Inc., MMC Group Services sp. z o.o., MMC Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, MMC Holdings (New Zealand) ULC, MMC Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC International Finance (Barbados) SRL, MMC International Holdings LLC, MMC International Limited, MMC International Treasury Centre Limited, MMC Middle East Holdings Limited, MMC Poland Holdings B.V., MMC Realty Inc., MMC Regional Asia Holdings B.V., MMC Regional Caribbean Holdings Ltd., MMC Regional Europe Holdings B.V., MMC Regional LATAM Holdings B.V., MMC Securities (Europe) Limited, MMC Securities LLC, MMC Treasury Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC UK Group Limited, MMC UK Pension Fund Trustee Limited, MMOW Limited, MMRC LLC, MOW Holding LLC, MPIP III GP LLC, MPIP IV GP LLC, MPIP V GP LLC, MPIP VI GP LLC, Mangrove Insurance Europe PCC Limited, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC Limited, Manoel Management Services Ltd, Marchant McKechnie Insurance Brokers Limited, Marine Aviation & General (London) Limited, Marsh & McLennan (PNG) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agencies AS, Marsh & McLennan Agencies Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency A/S, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Marsh & McLennan Agency Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency Pty Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Argentina SA Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh & McLennan Colombia S.A., Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Funding Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Asia Pacific Treasury Center Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies BVBA/SPRL, Marsh & McLennan Companies Finance Center (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies France S.A.S., Marsh & McLennan Companies Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., Marsh & McLennan Companies Regional Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Services B.V., Marsh & McLennan Companies UK Limited, Marsh & McLennan Europe S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan GP I Inc., Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Holding GmbH, Marsh & McLennan Holdings (Canada) ULC, Marsh & McLennan Holdings Inc., Marsh & McLennan Incorporated (for dissolution), Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings II, Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Limited, Marsh & McLennan Insurance Services Limited, Marsh & McLennan Ireland Limited, Marsh & McLennan Management Services (Bermuda) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Servicios S.A. De C.V., Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Canada Limited, Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Corporation, Marsh (Bahrain) Company SPC, Marsh (Beijing) Risk Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Marsh (China) Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd., Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh (Insurance Brokers) LLP, Marsh (Insurance Services) Limited, Marsh (Malawi) Limited, Marsh (Middle East) Limited, Marsh (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh (Pty) Ltd, Marsh (Risk Consulting) LLP, Marsh (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Marsh A/S, Marsh AB, Marsh AG, Marsh AS, Marsh Advantage Insurance Holdings Pty Ltd, Marsh Advantage Insurance Pty Ltd., Marsh Africa (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Argentina S.R.L., Marsh Associates (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Austria G.m.b.H., Marsh Aviation Insurance Broking Pty Ltd (for dissolution), Marsh B.V., Marsh Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh Brockman y Schuh Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Marsh Broker Japan Inc., Marsh Broker de Asigurare-Reasigurare S.R.L., Marsh Brokers (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh Brokers Limited, Marsh Canada Limited/Marsh Canada Limitee, Marsh Company Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Compensation Technologies Administration (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Isle of Man Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Malta Limited, Marsh Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Marsh EOOD, Marsh Egypt LLC, Marsh Emirates Consultancy LLC, Marsh Emirates Insurance Brokerage LLC, Marsh Employee Benefits Limited, Marsh Employee Benefits Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Marsh Eurofinance B.V., Marsh Europe S.A., Marsh FJC International Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh For Insurance Services S.A.E., Marsh Franco Acra S.A., Marsh GSC Servicos e Administracao de Seguros Ltda., Marsh GmbH, Marsh Holding AB, Marsh Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Marsh India Insurance Brokers Private Limited, Marsh Insurance & Investments LLC, Marsh Insurance Brokers, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Macao) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers AO, Marsh Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh Insurance Consulting Saudi Arabia (in liquidation), Marsh Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers LLC, Marsh Intermediaries Inc., Marsh International Broking Holdings Limited, Marsh International Holdings II Inc., Marsh International Holdings Inc., Marsh Investment B.V., Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited, Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited (UK Branch), Marsh Ireland Holdings Limited, Marsh Israel (1999) Ltd., Marsh Israel (Holdings) Ltd., Marsh Israel Consultants Ltd., Marsh Israel Insurance Agency Ltd., Marsh Israel International Brokers Ltd. (in liquidation), Marsh JCS Inc., Marsh Japan Inc., Marsh Kft., Marsh Kindlustusmaakler AS, Marsh Korea Inc., Marsh LLC, Marsh LLC Insurance Brokers, Marsh LLC [Ukraine], Marsh Lda., Marsh Limited, Marsh Limited [Fiji], Marsh Limited [New Zealand], Marsh Limited [PNG], Marsh Ltd. [Wisconsin], Marsh Management Services (Bahamas) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Dublin) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Labuan) Limited, Marsh Management Services (MENA) Limited, Marsh Management Services (USVI) Ltd., Marsh Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Management Services Guernsey Limited, Marsh Management Services Inc., Marsh Management Services Isle of Man Limited, Marsh Management Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Marsh Management Services Malta Limited, Marsh Management Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., Marsh Management Services Sweden AB, Marsh Marine & Energy AB, Marsh Marine Nederland B.V., Marsh Medical Consulting GmbH, Marsh Mercer Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Marsh Nest Inc., Marsh Oman LLC, Marsh Oy, Marsh PB Co. Ltd., Marsh Philippines Inc., Marsh Privat A.I.E., Marsh Private Client Life Insurance Services, Marsh Pty. Ltd., Marsh Qatar LLC, Marsh RE S.A.C. Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh Rehder Consultoria S.A. (MRC), Marsh Rehder S.A. Corredores de Seguros, Marsh Resolutions Pty Limited, Marsh Risk Consulting B.V., Marsh Risk Consulting Limitada, Marsh Risk Consulting Ltda., Marsh Risk Consulting S.L., Marsh Risk Consulting Services S.r.L., Marsh Risk and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd, Marsh S.A. Corredores De Seguros, Marsh S.A. Mediadores de Seguros, Marsh S.A.S., Marsh S.p.A., Marsh SA [Argentina], Marsh SA [Belgium], Marsh SA [Luxembourg], Marsh SA [Uruguay], Marsh SIA, Marsh Saldana Inc., Marsh Saudi Arabia Insurance & Reinsurance Brokers, Marsh Secretarial Services Limited, Marsh Semusa S.A., Marsh Services Limited, Marsh Services Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Marsh Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Szolgaltato Kft., Marsh Takaful Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Treasury Services (Dublin) Limited (in liquidation), Marsh Treasury Services Limited, Marsh Tunisia S.a.r.l., Marsh UK Limited, Marsh USA (India) Inc., Marsh USA Borrower LLC, Marsh USA Inc., Marsh Uganda Limited, Marsh Venezuela C.A. Sociedad de Corretaje de Seguros, Marsh Vietnam Insurance Broking Company Ltd, Marsh Zambia Limited, Marsh Zimbabwe Holdings (Private) Limited, Marsh d.o.o. Beograd, Marsh d.o.o. za posredovanje u osiguranju, Marsh for Insurance Services - Jordan, Marsh i-Connect (Pty) Ltd, Marsh s.r.o., Matthiessen Assurans AB, Mercer (Argentina) S.A., Mercer (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer (Austria) GmbH, Mercer (Belgium) SA-NV, Mercer (Canada) Limited/Mercer (Canada) Limitee, Mercer (China) Limited, Mercer (Colombia) Ltda., Mercer (Danmark) A/S, Mercer (Finland) OY, Mercer (France) SAS, Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer (Ireland) Limited, Mercer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Mercer (N.Z.) Limited, Mercer (Nederland) B.V., Mercer (Norge) AS, Mercer (Polska) Sp.z o.o., Mercer (Portugal) Lda, Mercer (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer (Sweden) AB, Mercer (Taiwan) Ltd., Mercer (Thailand) Ltd., Mercer (US) Inc., Mercer Administration Services (Australia) Pty Limited, Mercer Africa Limited, Mercer Agente de Seguros S.A. de C.V., Mercer Asesores de Seguros S.A., Mercer Asesores es Inversion Independientes S.A. de C.V., Mercer Broking Ltd., Mercer Career Unipessoal Lda, Mercer Consultation (Quebec) Ltee., Mercer Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Consulting (Chile) Limitada, Mercer Consulting (France) SAS, Mercer Consulting (India) Private Limited, Mercer Consulting B.V., Mercer Consulting Group Inc., Mercer Consulting Holdings Sdn. Bhd., Mercer Consulting Limited, Mercer Consulting Middle East Limited, Mercer Consulting S.L.U., Mercer Consulting Venezuela C.A., Mercer Corredores de Seguros Limitada, Mercer Corretora de Seguros Ltda, Mercer Danismanlik Anonim Sirketi, Mercer Deutschland GmbH, Mercer Employee Benefits - Medicacao de Seguros Unipessoal Lda., Mercer Employee Benefits Limited, Mercer Financial Advice (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Financial Services Limited, Mercer Financial Services Limited liability company, Mercer Financial Services Middle East Limited, Mercer Global Investments Europe Limited, Mercer Global Investments Management Limited, Mercer HR Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer HR Services LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, Mercer Holdings Inc., Mercer Holdings Inc. [Philippines], Mercer Human Resource Consulting Ltda, Mercer Human Resource Consulting S.A. de C.V., Mercer ICC Limited, Mercer Investment Consulting Limited, Mercer Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mercer Investment Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Investments (Australia) Limited, Mercer Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer Investments (Japan) Ltd, Mercer Investments (New Zealand) Limited, Mercer Investments LLC, Mercer Ireland Holdings Limited, Mercer Italia Srl Socio Unico, Mercer Japan Ltd., Mercer Korea Co. Ltd., Mercer LLC, Mercer Limited, Mercer MC Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer Master Trustees Limited, Mercer Mauritius Ltd., Mercer Oliver Wyman Holding B.V., Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Outsourcing S.L.U., Mercer Pensionsfonds AG, Mercer Pensionsraadgivning A/S, Mercer Philippines Inc., Mercer Private Investment Partners IV General Partner S.a.r.l., Mercer Private Markets AG, Mercer Private Markets Advisers (US) AG, Mercer Services Poland Sp. z.o.o., Mercer Sigorta Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Mercer South Africa (Pty) Limited, Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Limited, Mercer Switzerland Inc., Mercer System Services LLC, Mercer Technology Acquisitions Limited, Mercer Treuhand GmbH, Mercer Trust Company LLC, Mercer Trustees Limited, Mercer WorkforcePro LLC, Mercury Insurance Services Pty Ltd, Moola Systems Limited, Mountlodge Limited, Muir Beddal (Zimbabwe) Limited, NERA Australia Pty. Ltd., NERA Economic Consulting GmbH, NERA Economic Consulting Limited, NERA S.R.L., NERA SAS, NERA UK Limited, NERA do Brasil Ltda. (for dissolution), National Economic Research Associates Inc., NetComp Insurance Corp., Neuburger Noble Lowndes GmbH, Normandy Reinsurance Company Limited, Northern Alliance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), OWL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co.KG, OWL Marine Verwaltungs GmbH, Oliver Wyman (Bermuda) Limited, Oliver Wyman (Hong Kong) Limited, Oliver Wyman AB, Oliver Wyman AG, Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting Inc., Oliver Wyman B.V., Oliver Wyman Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Oliver Wyman Consultoria em Estrategia de Negocios Ltda., Oliver Wyman Energy Consulting Limited, Oliver Wyman FZ-LLC, Oliver Wyman Group KK, Oliver Wyman Inc., Oliver Wyman LLC, Oliver Wyman Limited, Oliver Wyman Limited Liability Company, Oliver Wyman Limited/Oliver Wyman limitee, Oliver Wyman Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pte. Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pty. Ltd., Oliver Wyman S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman S.A.S., Oliver Wyman S.L., Oliver Wyman S.r.l., Oliver Wyman SNC, Oliver Wyman SPRL/BVBA, Oliver Wyman Sdn. Bhd., Oliver Wyman Services Limited, Oliver Wyman Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman sp. z o.o., Omega Indemnity (Bermuda) Limited, Organizacion Brockman y Schuh S.A. de C.V., Osbornes Insurances Oxford Limited (in liquidation), PFT Limited, PI Indemnity Company Designated Activity Company, PT JLT Reinsurance Brokers, PT Jardine Lloyd Thompson, PT Marsh Indonesia, PT Marsh Reinsurance Brokers Indonesia, PT Mercer Indonesia, PT Nexus Asia Pacific, PT Oliver Wyman Indonesia, PT Quantum Computing Services, PT Quantum Investments, PT Quantum Support Services, Pallas Marsh Servicos Ltda., Pavilion Alternatives Group (Singapore) PTE. Ltd, Pavilion Financial Corporation Holdings UK Limited, Pavilion U.S. Investments Holdco LLC, Pension Trustees Limited, Pensionsservice Benefit Network Sverige AB, Perils AG, Personal Pension Trustees Limited, Pet Animal Welfare Scheme Limited, Portsoken Trustees (No. 2) Limited, Portsoken Trustees Limited, Potomac Insurance Managers Inc., Premier Pension Trustees Limited, Premium Services Australia Pty Limited, Professional Claims Handling Limited (in liquidation), Profund Solutions Limited, Promerit AG, Promerit Hungary Kft, Promerit Schweiz AG, Pymetrics Inc., R G Ford Brokers Limited, R R B Beratungsgesellschaft fuer Altersversorgung mbh, R. Mees & Zoonen Holdings B.V., Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters LLC, Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters Limited, Resource Benefit Associates, Rightpath Reinsurance SPC Ltd., Risk Management Australia Pty Limited, Rivers Group Limited, Rockefeller Risk Advisors Inc., Rutherfoord International Inc., SAFCAR-Marsh, SBJ Holdings Limited, SCIB (Bermuda) Limited, SCM Global Real Estate Select GP LLC, SCM Infrastructure General Partner S.a r.l., SCM International Private Equity Select III GP LLC, SCM LT General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE II GP Ltd., SCM PE II Scotland GP Ltd, SCM Strategic Capital Management (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., SICAR Marsh S.a.r.l., SME Insurance Services Limited, Sail Insurance Company Limited, Scalene Re Ltd, Seabury & Smith Borrower LLC, Seabury & Smith LLC, Secure Limited, Sedgwick (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Consulting Group Limited, Sedgwick Dineen Group Limited, Sedgwick Financial Services Limited, Sedgwick Forbes Middle East Limited, Sedgwick Group, Sedgwick Group (Australia) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Group (Bermuda) Limited, Sedgwick Group (Zimbabwe) Limited, Sedgwick Group Limited, Sedgwick Internationaal B.V., Sedgwick Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (UK) Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Group Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Limited, Sedgwick Overseas Investments Limited, Sedgwick Private Limited, Sedgwick Re Asia Pacific (Consultants) Pte Ltd (for dissolution), Sedgwick Trustees Limited, Sedgwick UK Risk Services Limited, Sedgwick Ulster Pension Trustees Limited, Settlement Trustees Limited, Shanghai Mercer Insurance Brokers Company Ltd., Shorewest Insurance Associates LLC, Sirota Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Sirota Consulting UK Limited, Smith Long Term Disability Management Group Inc., Societe d'Assurances et de Participation Guian SA, Software Underwriting Systems Limited (in liquidation), Southern Marine & Aviation Inc., Southern Marine & Aviation Underwriters Inc., Sudzucker Versicherungs-Vermittlungs GmbH, Sumitomo Life Insurance Agency America Inc., Sylvite Financial Services, TBX Solutions Limited, Talent Tech Labs LLC, The Benefit Express Holdings Limited, The Benefit Express Limited, The Carpenter Management Corporation, The Insurance Partnership Holdings Limited, The Insurance Partnership Services Limited, The Positive Ageing Company Limited, The Purple Partnership Limited, The Recovre Group Pty Ltd, Thomsons Online Benefits (HK) Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits Inc., Thomsons Online Benefits Limited, Thomsons Online Benefits Pte Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits S.R.L, Torrent Government Contracting Services LLC, Torrent Insurance Services LLC, Torrent Technologies, Torrent Technologies Inc., Tower Hill Limited, Tower Place Developments (West) Limited, Tower Place Developments Limited, U.T.E. AMG, U.T.E. Marsh - Caja Castilla La Mancha Junta de Comunidades, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus (in liquidation), U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus 2012, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Vila-Seca 2010, UAD BB Marsh Lietuva, Vezina & Associes Inc., Vezina Assurances Inc., Victor Insurance Europe B.V., Victor Insurance Holdings Inc., Victor Insurance Italia S.r.l., Victor Insurance Managers Inc., Victor Insurance Managers Inc./Gestionnaires d'assurance Victor inc., Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., Victor O. Schinnerer & Company Limited, Victoria Hall Company Limited, Wellnz Limited, William M. Mercer (Canada) Limited/William M. Mercer (Canada) Limitee, William M. Mercer AB, William M. Mercer Comercio Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., Wortham Insurance & Risk Management, everBe SAS, and realright GmbH.Montpelier RE Holdings Ltd. is a holding company. The Company provides customized insurance and reinsurance solutions to the global market. Through its affiliates in Bermuda, it provides institutional and retail investors with direct access to the global property reinsurance market. It operates in three segments: Montpelier Bermuda, which consists of the assets and operations of Montpelier Reinsurance Ltd., which is its wholly owned operating subsidiary based in Pembroke, Bermuda and is registered as a Bermuda Class four insurer; Montpelier at Lloyd's, which consists of the assets and operations of Montpelier Syndicate 5151, Montpelier Capital Limited, Montpelier at Lloyd's Limited, Montpelier Underwriting Services Limited and Montpelier Underwriting Inc., and Collateralized Reinsurance, which is marketed under the name Blue Capital. Blue Capital is an asset management platform offering property catastrophe reinsurance-linked investment products to institutional and retail investors.

Read MoreBank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. It also offers investment and wealth advisory services; digital investing services; financial services and solutions; and investment management, and trust and custody services to institutional, retail, and high net worth investors. In addition, the company provides life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, and annuity products; creditor and travel insurance to bank customers; and reinsurance solutions. Further, it offers client's debt and equity capital-raising services, as well as loan origination and syndication, balance sheet management, and treasury management; strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations, as well as valuation and fairness opinions; and trade finance, risk mitigation, and other operating services. Additionally, the company provides research and access to markets for institutional, corporate, and retail clients; trading solutions that include debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities; new product development and origination services, as well as risk management advice and services to hedge against fluctuations; and funding and liquidity management services to its clients. It operates through approximately 1,400 bank branches and 4,800 automated banking machines in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Read MoreFirst BanCorp (Puerto Rico) is a holding company, which engages in the provision of personal, commercial, and corporate banking services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Mortgage Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment consists of the company's lending and other services for large customers represented by specialized and middle-market clients and the public sector. The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment includes consumer lending and deposit-taking activities conducted mainly through FirstBank's branch network in Puerto Rico. The Mortgage Banking segment focuses on the origination, sale, and servicing of a variety of residential mortgage loan products and related hedging activities. The Treasury and Investments segment deals with treasury and investment management functions. The United States Operations segment represents all banking activities conducted by FirstBank on the United States mainland. The Virgin Islands Operations segment includes all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of The Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc..Red Hat, Inc. provides open source software solutions to develop and offer operating system, virtualization, management, middleware, cloud, mobile, and storage technologies to various enterprises worldwide. It offers infrastructure-related solutions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, an operating system platform that runs on hardware for use in hybrid cloud environments; Red Hat Satellite, a system management offering that helps to deploy, scale, and manage in hybrid cloud environments; and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, a software solution that allows customers to utilize and manage a common hardware infrastructure to run multiple operating systems and applications. The company offers application development-related and other technology solutions, such as Red Hat JBoss Middleware, a solution for developing, deploying, and managing applications; integrating applications, data, and devices; and automating business processes in hybrid cloud environments; The company's application development-related and other technology solutions also includes Red Hat cloud offerings, a software solution that enables customers to build and manage various cloud computing environments; Red Hat Mobile, a software development platform that enables customers to develop, integrate, deploy, and manage mobile applications for enterprises; and Red Hat Storage, a software solution that enables customers to manage large, unstructured, or semi-structured data in hybrid cloud environments. It also provides consulting, support, and training services; and realtime operating system, distributed computing, directory services, and user authentication. Red Hat, Inc. has collaboration with Juniper Networks Expand to provide a unified solution for enterprises designed to manage and run applications and services. The company was formerly known as Red Hat Software, Inc. and changed its name to Red Hat, Inc. in June 1999. Red Hat, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Carnival Co. &: 1972 Productions Inc., 6348 Equipment LLC, A.C.N. 098 290 834 Pty. Ltd., A.J. Juneau Dock LLC, AIDA Kundencenter GmbH, Adventure Island Ltd., Air-Sea Holiday GmbH, Alaska Hotel Properties LLC, Barcelona Cruise Terminal SLU, Bay Island Cruise Port S.A., Belize Cruise Terminal Limited, CC U.S. Ventures Inc., CCL Gifts LLC, CSSC Carnival Italy Cruise Investment S.r.L, Carnival (UK) Limited, Carnival Bahamas FC Limited, Carnival Bahamas Holdings Limited, Carnival Corporation & plc Asia Pte. Ltd., Carnival Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Carnival Corporation Korea Ltd., Carnival Corporation Ports Group Japan KK, Carnival Finance LLC, Carnival Grand Bahama Investment Limited, Carnival Investments Limited, Carnival Japan Inc., Carnival License Holdings Limited, Carnival Maritime GmbH, Carnival North America LLC, Carnival Port Holdings Limited, Carnival Ports Inc., Carnival Support Services India Private Limited, Carnival Technical Services (UK) Limited, Carnival Technical Services Finland Limited, Carnival Technical Services GmbH, Carnival Technical Services Inc., Carnival Vanuatu Limited, Costa Crociere PTE Ltd., Costa Crociere S.p.A., Costa Cruceros S.A., Costa Cruise Lines Inc., Costa Cruise Lines UK Limited, Costa Cruises Shipping Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Costa Cruises Travel Agency (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Costa Cruzeiros Agencia Maritima e Turismo Ltda., Costa Group Digital & Strategic Services GmbH, Costa International B.V., Costa Kreuzfahrten GmbH, Cozumel Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Creative Travel Lab Ltd., Cruise Ships Catering & Services International N.V., Cruise Terminal Services S.A. de C.V., Cruiseport Curacao C.V., D.R. Cruise Port Ltd., Ecospray Technologies S.r.L., F.P.M. SAS, F.P.P. SAS, Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services Holdings (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services International Limited, GXI LLC, Gibs Inc., Global Experience Innovators Inc., Global Fine Arts Inc., Global Shipping Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Grand Cruise Shipping Unipessoal LdA, Grand Turk Cruise Center Ltd., HAL Antillen N.V., HAL Beheer B.V., HAL Cruises Limited, HAL Maritime Ltd., HAL Nederland N.V., HAL Properties Limited, HAL Services B.V., HSE Hamburg School of Entertainment GmbH, Holding Division Iberocruceros SLU, Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line N.V., Holland America Line Paymaster of Washington LLC, Holland America Line U.S.A. Inc., Ibero Cruzeiros Ltda., Iberocruceros SLU, Information Assistance Corporation, International Cruise Services S.A. de C.V., International Leisure Travel Inc., International Maritime Recruitment Agency S.A. de C.V., Milestone N.V., Navitrans S.R.L., Ocean Bahamas Innovation Ltd., Ocean Medallion Fulfillment Ltd., Operadora Catalina S.r.L., P&O Princess American Holdings, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, P&O Princess Cruises Pension Trustee Limited, P&O Properties (California) Inc., P&O Travel Limited, Prestige Cruises Management S.A.M., Prestige Cruises N.V., Princess Bermuda Holdings Ltd., Princess Cays Ltd., Princess Cruise Corporation Inc., Princess Cruise Lines Ltd., Princess Cruises and Tours Inc., Princess U.S. Holdings Inc., RCT Maintenance & Related Services S.A., RCT Pilots & Related Services S.A., RCT Security & Related Services S.A., Roatan Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Royal Hyway Tours Inc., Santa Cruz Terminal S.L., SeaVacations Limited, SeaVacations UK Limited, Seabourn Cruise Line Limited, Shanghai Coast Cruise Consulting Co. Lda, Ship Care (Bahamas) Limited, Sitmar Cruises Inc., Spanish Cruise Services N.V., Sunshine Shipping Corporation Ltd., T&T International Inc., Tour Alaska LLC, Transnational Services Corporation, Trident Insurance Company Ltd., Westmark Hotels Inc., Westmark Hotels of Canada Ltd., Westours Motor Coaches LLC, Wind Surf Limited, and World Leading Cruise Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd..Anixter International Inc., through its subsidiary, Anixter Inc., distributes enterprise cabling and security solutions, electrical and electronic wire and cable solutions, and utility power solutions worldwide. The company operates through Network & Security Solutions (NSS), Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES), and Utility Power Solutions (UPS) segments. The NSS segment offers copper and fiber optic cable and connectivity, access control, video surveillance, intrusion and fire/life safety, cabinet, power, cable management, wireless, professional audio/video, voice and networking switches, and other ancillary products for the technology, finance, transportation, education, government, healthcare, and retail industries, as well as telecommunications service providers. The EES Solutions segment provides electrical and electronic wires and cables, shipboard cables, support and supply products, low-voltage and instrumentation cables, industrial communication and control products, security cables, connectors, industrial Ethernet switches, and voice and data cables to the commercial and industrial, and original equipment manufacturer markets. The UPS segment supplies electrical transmission and distribution products, power plant maintenance, repair and operations supplies, and smart-grid products, as well as arranges materials management and procurement outsourcing for the power generation and transmission, and electricity distribution industries. The company serves contractors, installers, system integrators, value-added resellers, architects, engineers, and wholesale distributors in various industries, including manufacturing, resource extraction, telecommunications, Internet service providers, finance, education, healthcare, retail, transportation, utilities, and defense, as well as government customers. The company was formerly known as Itel Corporation. Anixter International Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois.

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View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The following companies are subsidiares of Thermo Fisher Scientific: 236 Perinton Parkway LLC, 27 Forge Parkway LLC, ABR--Affinity BioReagents, ACI Holdings Inc., ARG Services LLC, ASPEX Corporation, Abgene Inc., Abgene Limited, Acoustic Cytometry Systems Inc., AcroMetrix LLC, Acros Organics B.V.B.A., Advanced Biotechnologies Limited, Advanced Scientifics (ASI), Advanced Scientifics Inc., Advanced Scientifics International Inc., Affymetrix Biotech Participacoes Ltda., Affymetrix Biotech Shanghai Ltd, Affymetrix Inc, Affymetrix Japan K.K., Affymetrix Pte Ltd, Affymetrix UK Ltd, Afora S.A.U., Ahura Scientific, Alchematrix Inc., Alchematrix LLC, Alfa Aesar, Alfa Aesar (China) Chemical Co. Ltd., Alfa Aesar (Hong Kong) Limited, Allergon AB, Alphine Mountain Limited, Ambion Inc., Apogent Denmark ApS, Apogent Finance Company, Apogent Holding Company, Apogent Technologies Inc., Apogent Transition Corp., Apogent U.K. Limited, App-Tek International Pty Ltd, Applied Biosystems B.V., Applied Biosystems Finance B.V., Applied Biosystems International Inc., Applied Biosystems LLC, Applied Biosystems Taiwan LLC, Applied Biosystems Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Applied Biosystems de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Applied Scientific Corporation, Avances Cientificos de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Avocado Research Chemicals Limited, B.R.A.H.M.S. Biotech GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. UK Ltd, BAC BV, BAC IP BV, Barnstead Thermolyne LLC, Beijing Phadia Diagnostics Co Ltd, Bender MedSystems GmbH, BioTrove Corporation, BioTrove International Inc., Bioanalysis Labsystems S.A., Biochemical Sciences LLC, Biolab, BmT GmbH Laborprodukte, Bonsai Tecnologies - Sistemas para Biotecnologia e Industria Unipessoal Lda, Brammer Bio, Bumi-Sans Sendirian Berhad, CAC Limited, CB Diagnostics AB, CB Diagnostics Holding AB, CEPH International Corporation, CHK Holdings Inc., CRS Robotics, CTPS LLC, Capitol Scientific Products Inc., Capitol Vial Inc., Cellomics Inc., CellzDirect Inc., Cenduit GmbH, Cenduit LLC, Cezanne S.A.S., Chase Scientific Glass Inc., Chromacol Limited, Clintrak, Clintrak Clinical Labeling Services LLC, Clintrak Pharmaceutical Services LLC, Cohesive Technologies (UK) Limited, Cohesive Technologies Inc., Columbia Diagnostics Inc., Compendia Bioscience Inc., Comtest Limited, Consolidated Technologies Inc., Consultores Fisher Scientific Chile Ltd, Core Informatics, Core Informatics LLC, Core Informatics UK Ltd., D-finitive Technologies Inc., DCG Systems B.V., DCG Systems C.V., DCG Systems G.K., DCG Systems GmbH, DCG Systems Korea Ltd., DCG Systems LLC, DPI Newco LLC, DSM Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Dharmacon, Diagnostix Ltd., Dionex (China) Analytical Ltd, Dionex (Switzerland) AG, Dionex (UK) Limited, Dionex Austria GmbH, Dionex Benelux B.V., Dionex Brasil Instrumentos Cientificos Ltda, Dionex Canada Ltd., Dionex China Limited, Dionex Corporation, Dionex Denmark A/S, Dionex Holding GmbH, Dionex I LLC, Dionex Pty Ltd., Dionex S.A., Dionex S.p.A., Dionex Singapore Pte Ltd., Dionex Softron GmbH, Dionex Sweden AB, Distribution Solutions International Inc., Doe & Ingalls Investors Inc., Doe & Ingalls Limited, Doe & Ingalls Management LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties II LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties LLC, Doe & Ingalls of California Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Florida Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Maryland Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Massachusetts Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of North Carolina Operating LLC, Doublecape Holding Limited, Doublecape Limited, Drakeside Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Duke Scientific Corporation, Dynal Biotech Beijing Limited, EGS Gauging Ltd., EGS Gauging Technical Services Company, EP Scientific Products LLC, Ecochem N.V., EnviroEquip Pty Ltd, Epsom Glass Industries Limited, Equibio Limited, Erie Electroverre S.A., Erie Finance Limited, Erie LP Holding LLC, Erie Scientific Company of Puerto Rico, Erie Scientific Hungary Kft, Erie Scientific LLC, Erie U.K. Limited, Erie UK 1 Limited, Erie UK 2 Limited, Erie UK Holding Company, Erie UK Senior Holding Limited, European Laboratory Holdings Limited, Eutech Instruments Europe B.V., Eutech Instruments Pte Ltd., Eutech Instruments Sdn Bhd, Ever Ready Thermometer Co. Inc., FEI Asia Pacific Co. Ltd., FEI Australia Pty Ltd, FEI CPD B.V., FEI Company, FEI Company Japan Ltd., FEI Company of USA (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd., FEI Czech Republic s.r.o., FEI Deutschland GmbH, FEI EFA Inc., FEI EFA International Pte. Ltd., FEI Electron Optics B.V., FEI Electron Optics International B.V., FEI Europe B.V., FEI France SAS, FEI Global Holdings C.V., FEI Hong Kong Company Limited, FEI Houston Inc., FEI Italia Srl, FEI Korea Ltd., FEI Melbourne Pty Ltd., FEI Microscopy Solutions Ltd, FEI Munich GmbH, FEI Norway Holding AS, FEI SAS, FEI Saudi Arabia LLC, FEI Servicos de Nanotecnologia Ltda., FEI Technologies Inc., FEI Technology de Mexico S.A. de C.V., FEI Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., FEI Trondheim AS, FEI UK Ltd., FHP LLC, FRC Holding Inc. V, FS (Barbados) Capital Holdings Ltd., FS Casa Rocas Holdings LLC, FS Mexicana Holdings LLC, FSI Receivables Company LLC, FSII Sweden Holdings AB, FSII Sweden Holdings I AB, FSIR Holdings (UK) Limited, FSIR Holdings (US) Inc., FSUK Holdings Limited, FSWH Company LLC, FSWH II C.V., FSWH International Holdings LLC, Fermentas China Co. Ltd, Fermentas Inc., Fermentas International, Fermentas Sweden AB, Fermentas UK Limited, Fiberlite Centrifuge LLC, Finesse Scientific Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Finesse Solutions AG, Finesse Solutions Inc., Finnzymes Oy, Fisher Alder S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Asia Manufacturing Ventures Inc., Fisher Bermuda Holdings Limited, Fisher BioImage ApS, Fisher BioPharma Services (India) Private Limited, Fisher BioSciences Japan G.K., Fisher BioServices Inc., Fisher Bioblock Holding II SNC, Fisher CLP Holding Limited Partnership, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 1, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 2, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 3, Fisher Canada Limited Partnership, Fisher Chimica BVBA, Fisher Clinical Logistics LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services (Bristol) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Colombia) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Korea) Co. Ltd, Fisher Clinical Services (Mexico) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Peru) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services Colombia S.A.S., Fisher Clinical Services GmbH, Fisher Clinical Services Inc., Fisher Clinical Services Japan K.K., Fisher Clinical Services Latin America S.R.L., Fisher Clinical Services Limited Liability Company, Fisher Clinical Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Clinical Services Peru S.R.L, Fisher Clinical Services Pte Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services U.K. Limited, Fisher Emergo B.V., Fisher Germany Holdings GmbH, Fisher Hamilton China Inc., Fisher Hamilton Mexico LLC, Fisher Holdings ApS, Fisher Internet Minority Holdings L.L.C., Fisher Laboratory Products Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Fisher Luxembourg Danish Holdings SARL, Fisher Manufacturing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Maybridge Holdings Limited, Fisher Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific (Austria) GmbH, Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Fisher Scientific (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific (SEA) Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific A/S, Fisher Scientific AG, Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Limited, Fisher Scientific Biotech Line ApS, Fisher Scientific Brazil Inc., Fisher Scientific Central America Inc., Fisher Scientific Chile Inc., Fisher Scientific Colombia Inc., Fisher Scientific Company, Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C., Fisher Scientific Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Fisher Scientific Europe Holdings B.V., Fisher Scientific GTF AB, Fisher Scientific Germany Beteiligungs GmbH, Fisher Scientific GmbH, Fisher Scientific Holding Company LLC, Fisher Scientific Holding HK Limited, Fisher Scientific Holding U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific Holdings (S) Pte Ltd, Fisher Scientific International LLC, Fisher Scientific Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Fisher Scientific Ireland Investments Unlimited, Fisher Scientific Ireland Limited, Fisher Scientific Japan Ltd., Fisher Scientific Jersey Island Limited, Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd, Fisher Scientific Latin America Inc., Fisher Scientific Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Fisher Scientific Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific Mexico Inc., Fisher Scientific Middle East and Africa Inc., Fisher Scientific Norway AS, Fisher Scientific Operating Company, Fisher Scientific Oxoid Holdings Ltd., Fisher Scientific Oy, Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific S.A.S., Fisher Scientific S.L., Fisher Scientific SPRL, Fisher Scientific The Hague I B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague II B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague III B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague IV B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague V B.V., Fisher Scientific U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company 2, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company Limited, Fisher Scientific Unipessoal Lda., Fisher Scientific Venezuela Inc., Fisher Scientific Worldwide (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Holdings I C.V., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Inc., Fisher Scientific de Mexico S.A., Fisher Scientific of the Netherlands B.V., Fisher Scientific spol. S.r.o, Fisher Servicios Clinicos (Chile) LLC, Fisher Servicios Clinicos Chile Ltda, Fisher WWD Holding L.L.C., Fisher Worldwide Distribution SPV, Fisher Worldwide Gene Distribution SPV, Flux Instruments, Fuji Partnership, G & M Procter Limited, G V Instruments Limited, GV Instruments Canada Ltd., GV Instruments Inc, Gatan Inc, General Scientific Company Sdn Bhd (M), Genomed molekularbiologische und diagnostische Produkte GmbH, Gerhard Menzel B.V. & Co. KG, Gold Cattle Standard Testing Labs Inc., Golden West Indemnity Company Limited, Goring Kerr Detection Limited, Greenville Service Company Inc., HENO GmbH i.L., Hangar 215 Inc., Helmet Securities Limited, Henogen, HighChem, HyClone International Trade (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Hybaid Limited, I.Q. (BIO) Limited, IDnostics AG, ILS Laboratories Scandinavia AB, Inel Inc., Inel SAS, InnaPhase Inc., InnaPhase Limited, IntegenX, Intrinsic BioProbes Inc., Intrinsic Bioprobes Inc., Invitrogen (Shanghai) Investment Co. 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.The following companies are subsidiares of Tyson Foods: APF Legacy Subs LLC, Advance Food Company LLC, AdvancePierre Foods, AdvancePierre Foods Holdings Inc., AdvancePierre Foods Inc., Aidells Sausage Company Inc., Allied Specialty Foods Inc., American Proteins Inc, Artisan Bread Co. LLC, Australian Food Corporation Pty Limited, Australian Food Corporation Trust, BRF, Barber Foods LLC, Bosco's Pizza Co., Bryan Foods Inc., C.S. Grain LLC, C.V. Holdings Inc., CBFA Management Corp., Central Industries Inc., Chefs Pantry LLC, Clovervale Farms LLC, Cobb (Hubei) Breeding Co. Ltd., Cobb (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Cobb Ana Damizlik Tavukculuk Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cobb Columbia S.A.S., Cobb Europe B.V., Cobb Europe Limited, Cobb Peru (Andina) S.A.C., Cobb-Heritage LLC, Cobb-Vantress Brasil Ltda, Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cobb-Vantress New Zealand Limited, Cobb-Vantress Philippines Inc., Coominya AFC Pty Limited, Coominya AFC Trust, DFG Foods Inc., DFG Foods L.L.C., Don Julio, Egbert LLC, Equity Group - Georgia Division LLC, Equity Group - Kentucky Division LLC, Equity Group Eufaula Division LLC, Equity Meat Corp., Flavor Corp., Flavor Holdings Inc., Foodbrands America Inc., Foodbrands Supply Chain Services Inc., Gallo Salame Inc., Global Employment Services Inc., Grow-Out Credit LLC, Grow-Out Holdings LLC, Haimen Tyson Poultry Development Co. Ltd, Hudson Foods Company, Hudson Midwest Foods Inc., Hybro Genetics Brasil Ltda, IBP Caribbean Inc., IBP Foodservice L.L.C., IBP Inc., International Affiliates & Investment LLC, Jiangsu Tyson Foods Co. Ltd, Keydutch Finance B.V., Keydutch Holdings I LLC, Keydutch Holdings II LLC, Keydutch Investments B.V., Keystone CLJV Holdings Limited, Keystone County House Road LLC, Keystone Foods, Keystone Foods (AP) Limited, Keystone Foods Holdco LLC, Keystone Foods Intermediate LLC, Keystone Foods LLC, Keystone Foods Pty Limited, Keystone Management Inc., Keystone Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, LD Foods LLC, M & M Express LLC, M&M Restaurant Supply (MI/OH) LLC, MFG (USA) Holdings Inc., Mac Food Services (Malaysia) SDN. BHD., Madison Foods Inc., McKey Food Services (Hong Kong) Limited, McKey Food Services (Shandong) Limited, McKey Food Services (Thailand) Limited, McKey Food Services Limited, McKey Luxembourg Holdings APMEA S.a.r.l., McKey Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., McKey Luxembourg S.a.r.l., McKey VI Holdings Limited, Myung Seung Food Company Ltd., National Comp Care Inc., New Canada Holdings Inc., Oaklawn Capital Corporation, Oaklawn IT Solution Private Limited, Original Philly Holdings Inc., PBX inc., Pierre Holdco Inc., River Valley Ingredients LLC, Rizhao Tyson Foods Co. Ltd, Rizhao Tyson Poultry Co. Ltd, Rural Energy Systems Inc., Sara Lee - Kiwi Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Diversified LLC, Sara Lee Foods LLC, Sara Lee Household & Body Care Malawi Ltd., Sara Lee International LLC, Sara Lee International TM Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Mexicana Holdings Investment L.L.C., Sara Lee TM Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Trademark Holdings Australasia LLC, Saramar L.L.C., Shandong Tyson-Da Long Food Company Limited, Smart Chicken, Southern Family Foods L.L.C., Southwest Products LLC, TF 20 B.V., TF 5201 B.V., TFA Leasing LLC, TFA Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, TFI of California Inc., Tecumseh Poultry LLC, Texas Transfer Inc., The Bruss Company, The Hillshire Brands Company, The IBP Foods Co., The Pork Group Inc., TyNet Corporation, Tyson (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Tyson Americas Holding Sarl, Tyson Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Tyson Breeders Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Tyson China Holding 2 Limited, Tyson China Holding 3 Limited, Tyson China Holding Limited, Tyson Deli Inc., Tyson Europe Holding Company, Tyson Farms Inc., Tyson Farms QOZB LLC, Tyson Foods Brasil Investimentos Ltda., Tyson Foods Canada Inc., Tyson Foods Europe (Netherlands) B.V., Tyson Foods Europe GmbH, Tyson Foods France S.A.R.L., Tyson Foods Germany GmbH, Tyson Foods Group Limited, Tyson Foods Holland B.V., Tyson Foods Huadong Development Co. Ltd, Tyson Foods Iberia Alimentos S.L.U., Tyson Foods Italia S.p.A., Tyson Foods Korea, Tyson Foods Netherlands B.V., Tyson Foods Products Limited, Tyson Foods Scotland Europe Limited, Tyson Foods Scotland Sales (Europe) Limited, Tyson Foods UK Limited, Tyson Foods Wrexham Limited, Tyson Foods oosterwolde B.V., Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., Tyson Fresh Meats Sales and Distribution LLC, Tyson Global Holding Sarl, Tyson Hog Markets Inc., Tyson India Holdings Ltd., Tyson International APAC Ltd., Tyson International Company Ltd., Tyson International Holding Company, Tyson International Holding Sarl, Tyson International Service Center Inc., Tyson International Service Center Inc. Asia, Tyson International Service Center Inc. Europe, Tyson Mexican Original Inc., Tyson Mexico Trading Company S. de R.L. de CV., Tyson New Ventures LLC, Tyson Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, Tyson Pet Products Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods Inc., Tyson Processing Services Inc., Tyson Refrigerated Processed Meats Inc., Tyson Sales and Distribution Inc., Tyson Service Center Corp., Tyson Shared Services Inc., Tyson Storm Lake Holdings LLC, Tyson Warehousing Services LLC, Tyson of Wisconsin LLC, Uninex SA, Universal Meats (UK) Limited, WBA Analytical Laboratories Inc., Wilton Foods Inc., Xamol Consultores e Servicos, and Zemco Industries Inc..Unum Group is engaged in providing financial protection benefits. It operates through the following segments: Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, Closed Block and Corporate. The Unum US segment comprises of group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment products, and supplemental and voluntary lines of business. The Unum International segment engages in the operations of UK business, which includes insurance for group long-term disability, group life, and supplemental lines of business that include dental, individual disability, and critical illness products; Poland business primarily includes insurance for individual and group life with accident and health riders. The Colonial Life segment includes insurance for accident, sickness, disability products, life products, and cancer and critical illness products. The Closed Block segment consists of individual disability, group and individual long-term care, and other insurance products no longer actively marketed. The Corporate segment refers to investment income on corporate assets and other corporate income and expenses not allocated to a line of business; and interest

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Acura Pharmaceuticals a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Acura Pharmaceuticals wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The first time readers met Jack Ryan was as a character in the pages of Tom Clancys 1984 spy thriller The Hunt for Red October.

Clancy soon brought the fictional C.I.A. analyst back in books like Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, and a dozen more. Alec Baldwin played Ryan in the 1990 film version of Red October before Harrison Ford took over the drama and suspense franchise.

Well, now Jack Ryan is back again, and he has a new cover identitya supply chain logistician for the U.S. Department of State who stumbles onto a terrorist communication pattern that unveils a looming global threat.

Amazon.com Inc. is launching the original TV series on Friday on its Prime Video network, and judging by the trailer, the supply chain superhero will have no problem dispatching terrorists as he trades in his sport coat and cocktail party chatter for body armor, live grenades, and automatic handguns.





Don't judge an analyst by his cover is the tagline for the series, which features a new actor in the title roleJohn Krasinski, who was previously best known for his work in the comedy TV series The Office. Krasinski starts off the new series reprising that role, as he plays a modest pencil-pusher with a desk job who has trouble impressing his dinner date with tales of shuffling manifests and receipts until his job suddenly catapults him into danger.

Listen in at the 25-second mark of this trailer to hear Krasinski field questions about his job from the actor Abbie Cornish, who plays his dinner date.

So, what exactly does a state department supply chain logistician do? Cornish asks. I work behind a desk; I write reports, Krasinski replies, waving off his career as being boring until a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter suddenly lands on the lawn of a fancy reception to whisk him off to a Pentagon briefing and then to chase terrorists in Yemen.

You know, just another typical day as a supply chain logistician.CSS Industries, Inc., a consumer products company, designs, manufactures, procures, distributes, and sells seasonal, gift, and craft products principally to mass market retailers in the United States and Canada. Its craft and gift consumer products include craft ribbons and bows, trims, buttons, sewing patterns, knitting needles, needle arts, kids' crafts, infant products, journals, gift card holders, all occasion boxed greeting cards, memory books, scrapbooks, stationery, stickers, and other gift and craft items, as well as floral accessories, including pot covers, foil, waxed tissue, shred, aisle runners, corsage bags, and other paper and film products. The company's seasonal consumer products comprise Christmas products, such as packaging ribbon and bows, boxed greeting cards, gift wraps, gift bags, gift boxes, gift tags, gift card holders, tissue papers, and decorations; Valentine products consisting of classroom exchange Valentine cards and other related Valentine products; Easter products, including Easter egg dyes and related Easter seasonal products; and back-to-school products, such as teachers' aids and other learning oriented products. CSS Industries, Inc. offers its products principally under the Paper Magic, Berwick, Offray, C.R. Gibson, McCall's, Butterick, Kwik Sew, Vogue Patterns, Markings, Stepping Stones, Tapestry, Seastone, Dudley's, Eureka, Stickerfitti, Favorite Findings, La Mode, Simplicity, Wrights, Boye, Dimensions, and Perler brand names. The company sells its products to mass market retailers, discount department stores, specialty chains, warehouse clubs, drug and food chains, dollar stores, office supply stores, and retail teachers' stores, as well as to independent card, gift, and floral shops through account sales managers, sales representatives, product specialists, and a network of independent manufacturers' representatives. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

Read More(8/29/2018) - One of the motorcyclists involved in a chain reaction crash on I-75 in Bay County last week has died.

Michigan State Police say 71-year-old Jesus Moran of Sterling Heights died from injuries he sustained in the crash on northbound I-75 near the Salzburg Road overpass.

A 54-year-old Marysville woman who was on a motorcycle that Moran hit remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

Investigators say traffic was stopped on northbound I-75 due to a traffic backup caused by an earlier crash on the ramp to westbound U.S. 10. Moran apparently didn't see two other motorcycles slowing in time and hit them.

The crash on the ramp was caused by a motorcyclist hitting a patch of oil or fuel and losing control.

All lanes of northbound I-75 were closed at M-84 to allow a medical helicopter to land and police to investigate.

Authorities were attempting to airlift a woman from one of the motorcycles to an area hospital. However, the helicopter was unable to take off from the scene for a while due to a drone detected in the air nearby.I thought about this idea of protection and empowerment as I continue to pray about those being impacted by Covid-19. What came to mind first was the song No Weapon by Fred Hammond. Its always been one of my favorite worship songs because it reminds...This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Past Event - Sunday, September 19, 2021 This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Adults: Daily $6.00, Weekend Pass $10.00  Students: Daily $3.00, Weekend Pass $6.00 Child (under 4) free

Come see the Golden Age of Aviation - family fun at the Historic Airfield in Troy all weekend!

WACO Fly-In at the Historic Airfield in Troy

The WACO Fly-In is held each year to commemorate the WACO Aircraft Company which was the largest manufacturer of civil aircraft in the late 20's and early 30's. Enjoy kids activities on Saturday. CareFlight, Ultralites and a car show make Sunday a great day. Weather permitting, WACO will offer bi-plane rides. Many Vintage WACOs will be on display.

WACO Rides

Museum

Displays & Exhibits

Food Trucks

Photo Ops

Kids Activities

This is a great photo opportunity to see (and hear) these beautiful aircraft in the air. All GA aircraft are invited to the celebration. For more details, visit our website below!The new aircraft will also help the airline enhance the frequency of flights between Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

Mumbai: AirAsia India on Wednesday announced the induction of 19th aircraft in its fleet and said it will add two new routes in its flight network from October.

With the induction of the latest Airbus A320, the Tata Sons-AirAsia group joint venture airline is now just one plane short of the mandatory 20 aircraft for starting international operations by a domestic carrier.

The 19th aircraft will be based at AirAsia's Kolkata hub and will be deployed for operating daily flights on Hyderabad-Kolkata and Hyderabad-Indore routes, which are being launched from October 1, the airline said in a statement.

The bookings for new routes are open from on Wednesday.

"The airline is focused on expanding its presence in tierII/III cities, providing affordable airfares and improved services for flyers," the budget carrier said.

The new aircraft will also help the airline enhance the frequency of flights between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, it said, adding in addition, guests can travel from Indore to Kolkata through Hyderabad as well.

The Bengaluru-based airline currently flies to 21 destinations, from its three hubs - Bengaluru, New Delhi and Kolkata - covering Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Indore, Surat, Amritsar and Chennai.Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Wednesday said it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission, which will help it pare debt by two-thirds to Rs 7,500 crore.

Mumbai: Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Wednesday said it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission, which will help it pare debt by two-thirds to Rs 7,500 crore.

Company chairman Anil Ambani announced the culmination of the deal involving the sale of the integrated power business which was struck in December last year. Ambani said the deal will help cut the company's overall debt to Rs 7,500 crore from the earlier Rs 22,000 crore and also added that it is planning to be a zero debt company by next year.

The company had called a board meet on Wednesday to approve the transfer of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission, after receiving the regulatory approvals. In the past eight months, the deal has received go-aheads from fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), shareholders of the company and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the sale.

Last week, Reliance Infrastructure had defaulted on payment of redemption of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) amounting to Rs 133.38 crore. The company had, however, said it expects to make these payments in the next few days from the proceeds from of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission. "All lenders have provided their no objection certificates (NOCs), and the company expects to close the transaction within the next few days," it had said.

The two companies had signed the pact for 100 per cent stake sale of R-Infra's integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai in December 2017.

The company had claimed that the Reliance Infrastructure Mumbai Power business (known as Reliance Energy) is India's largest private sector integrated power utility distributing power to nearly three million residential, industrial and commercial consumers in the suburbs of Mumbai, covering an area of 400 sq km. It caters to a peak demand of over 1,800 MW, with annual revenues of Rs 7,500 crore with stable cash flows.

The company had earlier said that going forward, it will focus on upcoming opportunities in asset light EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and defence businesses.

The RInfra scrip gained 3.75 per cent to close at Rs 438.80 a piece on the BSE today, against a 0.45 per cent correction in the benchmark. Ambani today also said that work on the Rs 6,994-crore Bandra Versova sealink will start from October 1. RInfra has tied up with Italy's Astaldi to build the 10-km sealink in the western suburbs of the financial capital.New Delhi: Former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has said that the recent import tariff hikes by the US and retaliation by China and Europen Union have placed the future of the multilateral trading system at serious risk.

He also said that there is nothing wrong in Indians depositing money in banks abroad as long as they have paid their taxes on it.

On the ongoing global tariff wars, Panagariya praised the Indian government for not imposing retaliatory tariff on US products as it could impose bigger injury on the nation.

"There is no doubt that recent tariffs by the United States and retaliation by China, EU and other countries have placed the future of the multilateral trading system at serious risk.

"For the first time, I feel that we may descend into the kind of protectionism the global economy experienced during the inter-war years. We in India need to stay course, however," he told PTI in an interview.

Currently a professor of economics at Columbia University, Panagariya said India should not indulge in the protectionism. He resigned as Niti Aayog VC last year to return to academics.

"I admire our government for keeping away from any retaliatory tariffs of our own...any retaliation we do will inflict bigger injury on us than did the US steel and aluminum tariffs," he opined.

He argued that India can escape the injury from the US tariffs by selling the country's steel and aluminum to other countries or using it ourselves.

"But we cannot escape the injury from our own retaliatory tariffs," he insisted.

On March 9, US President Donald Trump imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items following which China and EU hit back by imposing retaliatory tariffs against the American products.

India has said the duty imposed by the US has affected steel exports by USD 198.6 million and aluminium shipments by USD 42.4 million.

India has also dragged the US to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on steel and aluminium.

India exports steel and aluminium products worth about USD 1.5 billion to the US every year.

Exports to the US in 2016-17 stood at USD 42.21 billion, while imports were USD 22.3 billion.

Replying to a question on rising deposits of Indians in Swiss banks by about 50 per cent after demonetisation in November 2016, Panagariya said there is nothing wrong with the deposits rising as long as they are legal.

He pointed out that at the peak in 2006, Indians deposited USD 6.46 billion in Swiss accounts.

In 2017, this amount was USD 1.02 billion and even in 2013, the amount was USD 2.03 billion.

"So the rise in 2017 notwithstanding, deposits in Swiss accounts are very much on a declining trend," Panagariya asserted.

"Holding deposits abroad by Indians is not a crime as long as they pay taxes due and deposit funds abroad through legal channels," he added.The country's buffalo meat exports grew 3.88 per cent to USD 1.18 billion during April-July period of the ongoing financial year, according to the data of APEDA.

New Delhi: The country's buffalo meat exports grew 3.88 per cent to USD 1.18 billion during April-July period of the ongoing financial year, according to the data of APEDA.

In volume terms, the exports increased to 3,84,096 tonne during the reported period as compared to 3,73,808 tonne in April-July, 2017-18.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) comes under the commerce ministry.

As per the data, exports of total livestock products, which include buffalo meat, sheep/goat meat and poultry items, grew 6.71 per cent to USD 1.4 billion during the period.

Basmati and non-basmati rice exports during the period rose 9.4 per cent and 3 per cent to USD 1.72 billion and USD 1.1 billion, respectively.

The country is one of the largest exporters of buffalo meat and rice globally.

As per the data, shipments of pulses grew 26 per cent to USD 113 million during April-July period.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged people to not use the social media to spread dirt, saying the issue was not about any ideology but simply does not behove a decent society.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged people to not use the social media to spread dirt, saying the issue was not about any ideology but simply does not behove a decent society.

In a video interaction with Bharatiya Janata Party workers and volunteers from Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency, Modi said everybody should train themselves to never use social media platforms to "spread dirt" but the many good things that are around them.

Replying to a question, he said, "People at times overstep the bounds of decorum. They hear or see something false and forward it. They don't notice that how much damage they are doing to society. Some people use such words that do not behove any decent society. They say or write anything about women."

He then continued, saying that the issue is not about any political party or ideology. It is about 125 crore Indians and everybody should train themselves for never spreading dirt through the social media but share good things around them, the PM said.

Cleanliness project is also about mental cleanliness, he said.

Use of foul language or abuses on social media has often divided opinions among political parties with BJP's rivals accusing its supporters or those aligned to right wing ideology of using invectives against those they don't like.

The BJP has always rejected the charge and its supporters have argued that they are often a target of abuses by their rivals.

In the interaction with party workers, Modi stressed on the need to create an atmosphere of positive news about the country and share information that strengthens the society as he lamented that a quarrel between two families in a 'mohalla' becomes a national news nowadays.

He called for sharing videos highlighting the "changing face of India", saying the country is now witnessing "historic and unprecedented" progress.

Modi said every village in India has now electricity, schools and toilets while the country has become the largest manufacturer of mobile phones.

It has also become the fastest growing economy and fastest growing aviation market with more people flying than travelling in AC trains.

"These developments will fill every Indian with pride," he said.

Speaking about the development work carried out by his government in Varanasi, Modi said change is visible from roads to railways station to its airport and that it is committed to the holy city's progress.

He asked locals to work to ensure that visiting people of Indian origins during the 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' during January 21-23 in 2019 witness the best of Indian culture.

He also urged them to contribute to cleanliness drive during 'Swachhta hi Sewa' (Cleanliness is service) campaign from September 15 to October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi also spoke about measures being taken by his government to make the region a health hub and also referred to 'Ayushman Bharat', a health insurance scheme that aims to provide cover to over 10 crore families.After nearly two years of intense scrutiny and verification, RBI found that 99.3 per cent of banned 500 and 1000 notes were deposited in banks.

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said that almost all the high denomination currency notes invalidated as part of the governments crackdown on black money in November 2016 were deposited back into the banking system.

After nearly two years of intense scrutiny and verification, RBI in its annual report stated that the total specified bank notes (SBN) returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion, which is 99.3 per cent of Rs 15.4 trillion demonetised on November 9, 2016. An amount of Rs 10,720 crore in demonetised currency notes were not returned as of June 30, 2018.

The governments initial assumption was that about 25-30 per cent of the cash in circulation would be unaccounted money and will not return to the formal banking channels.

The SBNs received were verified, counted and processed in the sophisticated high speed CVPS for accuracy and genuineness and shredded and briquetted in the Shredding and Briquet-ting system. The processing of SBNs has since been completed at all centres of the Reserve Bank. The total SBNs returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion, RBI said in its 2017-18 annual report.

The process involved working in two shifts under strenuous conditions, maintaining detailed records and planning effectively without compromising on other functions of currency management, RBI added.

The total expenditure incurred on printing new currency notes during the last two fiscal years stood at Rs 12,877 crore (Rs 4,912 crore in FY18 and Rs 7,965 crore in FY17).

The value of banknotes in circulation increased by 37.7 per cent over the year to Rs 18,037 billion as at end-March 2018. In value terms, the share of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 banknotes, which had to-gether accounted for 72.7 per cent of the total val-ue of banknotes in circulation at end-March 2017, increased to 80.2 per cent as at end-March 2018.

Meanwhile, economic affairs secretary Subha-sh Chandra Garg said demonetisation was able to curb terrorist financing and promote digital payments. Now, the system now has about Rs 3-4 lakh crore less currency than it would have been if the system would have continued in the old manner, he said. We have said in the past also I think demonetisation has achieved its objectives quite substantially.

Reacting to the RBI report, former finance minister P. Chidam-baram said: So, government and RBI actually demonetised only Rs 13,000 crore and the country paid a huge price. Over 100 lives were lost. 15 crore daily wage earners lost their livelihood for several weeks and GDP was hit by Rs 2.25 lakh crore in one year.New Delhi: Under pressure to take steps to prevent the spread of rumours on its platform, messaging app WhatsApp said on Wednesday that it will train community leaders on fake news across states where cases of violence have been reported as well as states that are due for elections.

The training will encourage WhatsApp users to be more open towards other communities, to enable them to differentiate between opinions and facts, and to inculcate a habit of verifying information through simple checks before forwarding it to their friends and family, said the company in a statement.

Separately, WhatsApp has initiated a radio campaign to create awareness about misinformation circulated through its platform. With this radio campaign, WhatsApp urges users to be cognisant of the messages they receive and be mindful before forwarding them.

Last week IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had asked WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels to take steps to prevent spread of fake news through its platform.

The Centre had warned the company that it could face abetment charges if action was not taken.Mumbai: "Lust Stories", "Sacred Games" and now "Ghoul". Is there too much of Radhika Apte on Netflix?

Weighing in on the question that became viral on social media, the actor said she took it as a compliment.

"I was very happy. I think it is a great compliment because it is such a great platform. Who would not like to be a part of the projects from Netflix," Apte told PTI.

"With Netflix, what happens is that they stress on the quality because it is a global platform. They will give you the freedom to choose topics, projects and creative control but they are very particular about the quality," she added.

In response to the memes, the streaming service reunited with Apte and director Vikramaditya Motwane to make a two-minute behind-the-scenes video where they "mock" her "omnipresence".

Check out the spoof video here:





On the work front, Radhika will be next seen in Nikkhil Advani produced 'Baazaar' opposite Saif Ali Khan.Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj, whos busy promoting his film Pataakha, which stars Dangal actress Sanya Malhotra, TV actress Radhika Madan, and comedian Sunil Grover in the lead roles, reveals that he prefers working with character actors over working with superstars.

I have worked with many superstars in the past. But new actors bring a different kind of energy to the sets, he says, adding, When I was discussing this with my dear friend Mani Ratnam, he said, Working with newbies gives us a feeling of independence. It feels like weve been freed from some sort of slavery.

Going on to talk about his casting choices, Vishal says, The kind of commitment that I needed for this film, I knew I could only get from newcomers. I was very clear about the kind of casting that the film needed.

He also reveals that he was a bit hesitant about the chemistry that his two leading ladies would have. There have been catfights on the sets of my previous directorial ventures, I wont say between whom. But I was afraid that Sanya and Radhika would develop some jealousy. Thankfully, there was none of that, he concludes.Aamir Khan was recently spotted at the airport holding a copy of The Condensed Mahabharata of Vyasa by P. Lal  an indication that hes seriously pursuing his idea of wanting to make a film or TV series on the subject. The perfectionist is obviously doing his homework before embarking on what will be a massive project.

We also hear that a Chinese company has expressed interest in co-producing the project. Aamirs recent films Shuai Jiao Baba (meaning Lets Wrestle Dad, the Chinese version of Dangal) and Secret Superstar have done great business in China, and thats what seems to have sparked the companys interest.

The Condensed Mahabharata of Vyasa

Mahabharata is an epic with stories about families that will be entertaining to Chinese audiences as well. A few Indian production houses and film companies have already signed treaties with their Chinese counterparts, and a series of collaborations can be expected in the days to come. And who better than Aamir to spearhead a big-budget Bollywood flick co-produced by a Chinese company? If people in both countries watch it, it will be a multi-billion dollar grosser, a trade expert says.Looks like the posters of Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi are going to come with a big reveal. According to a picture taken on the sets of the film, the clapboard lists Kangana Ranaut as the director.

The shooting of Manikarnika began with Krish Jagarlamudi as the director. But apparently, the lead actress is not too happy with the way certain portions have turned out, and so shes taken over the mantle of direction from him. Re-shooting is currently underway at ND Studios in Karjat.

Confirming the news, Nishant Pitti, one of the producers of the film, says, Yes, Kangana has taken over as the director because Krish is busy shooting the NTR biopic in Hyderabad.

This isnt the first time that Kangana has taken over another persons work. You may remember that she had celebrated writer Apurva Asrani thrown out of Simran, despite his long-standing association with Hansal Mehta, only to take over the task of writing herself.

Looks like this time shes following in the footsteps of Aamir Khan, who decided to assume charge of directing Taare Zameen Par, relegating the actual director, Amole Gupte, to the position of creative director.On a crisp winter morning of November 2001, a dreaded gangster and his eight cronies escaped from Nawada Jail in Bihar in a meticulously planned jailbreak. Soon after, the fugitive gunned down an entire family in a village near Shekhpura, a sleepy mofussil town where IPS officer Amit Lodha was sent to assume the role of superintendent of police. Tasked with nabbing down this notorious history-sheeter, the officer embarked on a statewide cat-and-mouse chase that culminated with his historic capture. In my 21 years in service, it was my most challenging case, professionally and personally, says Lodha, who has now penned his fateful encounter in Bihar Diaries. The personal account also details the rise of Vijay Samrat (the name used to refer to the gangster in the book), his imprisonment and subsequent escape before the SP finally managed to put him behind bars. The compelling story has all the ingredients for a potboiler, so its hardly surprising that it is slated to be adapted into a motion picture helmed by director Neeraj Pandey.

A 1998 batch officer of the Bihar cadre, Lodha made it to the IPS at an age when he was living life on the fast lane. This life, he says, came to a jolting halt when he was posted to Shekhpura. Since I was posted to places such as Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, and Patna early in my career, one tends to believe that the world is against you, he says. But his self-pity wholly dissipated when he visited Mannipur, the site of the massacre. This man was ruling the roost in at least four districts of Bihar and had killed 60-70 people. He had much political clout and his relatives were to contest for the local elections, explains the officer-turned-author recollecting the challenge he faced in building a capable team to hunt down the most-feared outlaws of the state. Shekhpura is an area where the police hardly have any resources. The strength of the entire district would be 150-200 policemen.

Bihar Diaries Pages: 280 Price: Rs 299 Publisher: Penguin Blue Salt.

Even before he embarked on a plan to catch Vijay Samrat, Amit knew that conventional methods wouldnt yield much. The Gabbar Singh of Shekhpura was a stronghold who also had much clout in the adjoining areas. Raiding his hideouts and locating him would, inevitably, be futile as, given his sources, it was likely that he would be tipped off and would easily escape. When I learnt that one of my officers was hand-in-glove with him, I took the fax machine home and began personally drafting and faxing all the communication with the home secretarys office, he says.

This is when the IPS officers pedigree as an IITian came in handy. In my previous stint as district SP, I had gone to Delhi to learn more about call monitoring from the special cell of the Delhi Police. They were abreast with the latest technological developments in the field and had deployed the same to crack many tricky cases, he writes in the book. But in Bihar, no less than the home secretary is authorised to sanction the use of call observation. If he deems fit, the mobile service provider will be directed to provide services, writes Amit who is now the Inspector General of Police. The permission for call observation was granted and he immediately saved Vijay and his aide Horlicks number. After days of listening to calls, his efforts paid off and Vijay Samrat was finally nabbed. The trial was held in a fast track court and the evidence we had put together ensured that we had a watertight case, he writes.

For Amit, the most challenging part while writing the book was toning it down. Especially the way we interrogate criminals. Also, one of the sharpshooters, who I call Horlicks in the book got out on bail just five days before the book was to go for print. Initially, Id decided to go with real names since it is a non- fiction work but then decided against it, he explains. Thats when his sense of humour came in handy. Apart from narrating the sequence of events in an unfiltered manner, he drew on his tongue-in-cheek take on the life of a police officer and the sorry state of affairs in small towns. The image of Indian police officers is so different for the common public. So wherever I go, I am told you dont look like an IG. I take it as a compliment and also feel bad. Ajay Devgn once told me that he was expecting someone who is old and strict. Thats because our films portray the police that way, says the officer who has also been approached for a web series, based on his experiences in Bihar.

When asked why he chose the pseudonym Horlicks for a sharpshooter, Amit says, He was lean and lanky and had told me that during his formative days, was often advised, Isko Horlicks pilao, Isko Horlicks pilao (Make him drink Horlicks), to the extent that he ultimately earned the moniker.Hyderabad: The notification of tuberculosis in Telangana is 100 per 1,00,000 population, which is very high when compared to the notification rate in India of 138 per 1,00,000 population.

The study shows that notification in TS is being actively done on identifying new TB cases, according to a study published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. The notification, according to state government officials, is only 50 per cent in the private sector and 100 per cent in the public sector.

Dr Subakar Kandi, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine in Osmania Medical College, explained, The notification has always been better in the southern states than in the northern states. Hence, the major numbers in the data are generated from the southern states only. But to say that the notification is complete cant be accepted as we are still missing one-third of cases. Notification has improved only in the last two years in the private sector.

The study was carried out as part of the Global TB report which found that the number of TB cases was very high in TS. Does this also mean that there is over diagnosis of the cases? Dr. S Mallikarjun Rao, senior consultant pulmonologist and chest specialist at Apollo Hospitals, explained, There is no over-diagnosis but a better system of reporting. The number of patients coming to the private and public sector hospitals is being notified to the government. For this reason, we have high numbers and this is showing in the records.

TB notification involves paediatric TB cases, multi-drug resistant TB and HIV persons infected with TB, all of which are collated in the data. Yet, the number of missed cases is as high as 4.2 million globally, according to recent estimates in 2018. In India alone, 1 million cases are missed.

The total number of TB cases notified in the world is 10.4 million and of these, 2.79 million are in India only. Missing cases are a big concern as they are a contributory factor for the spread of TB and these numbers are the biggest challenge in the fight against TB in India.Oxley admitted to not having any problems with proceeding with Bob Marley assassination because he was a patriot who believed in the CIA. (Photo: Pixabay)

In a shocking revelation it appears that Reggae legend Bob Marley tragic death has more to it than previously thought.

According to Daily Star, the Jamaican music icons who died aged only 36-years-old, leading music lovers world-wide to grieve, was not cut short following a four-year battle with cancer, but had a more sinister cause.

According to 79-year-old Bill Oxley, who was speaking form his deathbed, he claimed the murder of Marley among 17 other assassinations for the American government between 1974 and 1985, at a time when he said the CIA was a law unto itself.

Oxley, who, according to the Daily Star worked as an operative for the CIA for 29 years, said he was often used as a hitman on targets deemed to be a threat to the US.

In an interview shared online, he admitted to not having any problems with proceeding with the Bob Marley assassination because he was a patriot who believed in the CIA.

According to the interview he said, I didnt question the motivation of the agency - Ive always understood that sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.

Furthermore, according to conspiracy theorists Oxley used fake press credentials to gain access to Marley at his Blue Mountain retreat.

According to him, he introduced himself as a famous photographer from New York Times and proceeded to gift Marley a pair of Converse All Stars, Size 10.

When he tried on the right shoe, he screamed out OUUUCH, Oxley said, before adding, That was it. His life was over right there and then. The nail in the shoe was tainted with cancer viruses and bacteria. If it pierced his skin, which it did, it was goodnight nurse.

Oxley says he kept close contact with Marley during the final years of his life, ensuring the medical advice he received in Paris, London and the United States would hasten his demise rather than cure him.

The last time I saw Bob before he died he had removed the dreadlocks, and his weight was dropping like a stone, he said, adding, He was very withdrawn, unbelievably small. He was shrinking in front of us. The cancer had done its job.

Although widely dismissed as fiction, the account does tally with findings by UK scientists in 2014, who discovered the mysterious acral melanomas  the rare type of skin cancer that caused reggae musicians demise  was in fact not caused by the sun.

Not only that, Bob Marleys son Ziggy has previously implied that his father was killed.Four policemen on board the vehicle were injured. They were rushed to a nearby hospital where all of them succumbed, the officials said. (Photo: Twitter | ANi)

Srinagar: Four policemen were killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmirs southern Shopian town on Wednesday afternoon.

The sneak attack was carried out hours after the security forces had gunned down a top commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Altaf Ahmed Dar alias Altaf Kachroo alias Moin and his accomplice Umar Rashid Wani during a gunfight in neighbouring Anantnag district.

The police and witnesses said that the militants targeted the escort vehicle of Deputy Superintendent of Police (headquarters), Shopian with their AK 47 assault rifles in Shopians Arahom area apparently in reprisal to the killing of the Hizb commander.

The official said that four policemen on board the vehicle were injured in the attack. They were immediately rushed to the district hospital where three of them were declared brought dead. The fourth policeman succumbed to his injuries soon thereafter, the hospital sources said.

The slain policemen have been identified as Constables Ishfaq Ahmed Mir, Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Mohammad Iqbal Mir and SPO Adil Manzoor Bhat. In the evening, a wreath-laying ceremony was held in the Shopian district police lines at which senior police officers including DGP Shesh Paul Vaid paid tributes to the slain policemen.

A report said that the assailants decamped with the service weapons of the policemen and then disappeared in the neighbourhood. The police sources said that the escort party had gone to the area to get a police vehicle repaired at a local motor workshop.

A massive search operation was immediately launched by the security forces in the area to catch the assailants dead or alive, the sources said.

Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility for the attack and said its cadres along with those of the Hizb killed the policemen.

Some police officials said it could be an act of vengeance as it came hours after the security forces had killed two Hizb militants during a gunfight in Muniward village of Khanabal area in neighbouring Anantnag. However, DGP S P Vaid said, It would be too early to say that.

The killing of militant duo sparked off massive protests in parts of south Kashmir during which the security forces burst teargas canisters and fired pellet shotguns to quell stone-pelting mobs, reports said.

Scores of protesters and security forces personnel were injured in these clashes at several places in Anantnag and Kulgam districts. The worst incidents were reported from Qoimoh area of Kulgam where, the hospital sources said, as many as 73 people were injured including five of them receiving pellet injuries.

In view of growing tensions and street protests, the authorities suspended train services between Baramulla in north-western Valley and Banihal town across the Pirpanjal range in Jammu region and withdrew internet facilities in south Kashmir. Also, curfew-like restrictions were being enforced in Anantnag town and some other parts of south Kashmir as reports last came in.

The police officials said that slain Hizb commander Altaf Kachroo carried a cash reward of Rs 15 lakhs on his head. They termed his killing as a major success in the anti militancy operations in the Valley.

The officials said that the encounter started at around 5 am on Wednesday after the security forces including the Army, the counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) laid siege to the area on inputs about the presence of militants.

During the cordon-and-search operation, the militants hiding in a private house opened fire on the search party, triggering the encounter which ended after several hours with the killing of the militant duo, a police spokesperson said.

DGP Vaid announced the killing of the holed up militants in a tweet which read, Anantnag encounter completed, 2 bodies of terrorists along with 2 weapons recovered from the site. A clean operation with precision.

The police said that Altaf Kachro, a resident of Kulgams Hawoora, Mishipora area was currently operating as one of the most important militant commanders of the Hizb. He had a long history of criminal records since 2007. Considered as a long time surviving militant in the area, he was involved in series of militant crimes including attacks on the security forces and killings of civilians and policemen in the area, the police spokesman said.

He added that several cases stood registered against Altaf Kachroo in different police stations across the Valley for his terror activities. Pertinently during the 2016 unrest he along with Yasin Itoo alias Gaznavi played a major role in instigating people, the spokesman said.

The police said that the second slain militant Umar Rashid Wani, a resident of Khudwani area of Kulgam, became active last year. He was involved in many civilian atrocities and attacks on security establishments, it said adding that Wani had escaped the security dragnet after carrying out an attack on the CRPF in Srinagars Batamaloo area in July. One CRPF jawan was killed and two others were injured in this attack.

Earlier Tuesday night, gunmen attacked the residence of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Avatar Singh in Tral area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district. The police said the gunmen believed to be militants fired upon the house of the BJP leader in Monghama village of Tral. Singh was not present at his home at the time of the attack as he is currently putting up in Srinagar under police security.

Separately, an alert was sounded in frontier district of Poonch on Wednesday after a policemans service rifle went missing. The police sources said that an AK-47 rifle with a magazine of a policeman posted as PSO to a DySP rank officer went missing on the intervening night of August 26 and 27 from police lines Poonch.Talking about the arrests, Susan Abraham said, 'This is being done under government's pressure. If you think Bhima Koregaon was an assassination plot, then file an FIR. You've made this case, will it stand before the court?' (Photo: ANI)

Mumbai: The arrests of five activists from various cities across India in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence by the Pune Police was done "under government's pressure," said advocate Susan Abraham, who is wife of Varnan Gonsalves - one of the activists.

Talking about the arrests, Abraham on Tuesday told ANI, "This is being done under government's pressure. If you think Bhima Koregaon was an assassination plot, then file an FIR. You've made this case, will it stand before the court?"

The raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane. As per sources privy to the latest developments in the case, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police.

The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Sudha Bhardwaj's advocate Sanjeev Choudhary said, "Out transit bail application was dismissed. We had informed Chief Judicial Magistrate that the High Court in Chandigarh intervened and passed interim order that Pune Police won't take her under custody and she will be under house arrest for three days."

"The matter will once again be taken up before the High Court in Chandigarh after three days. Still, the Pune Police arrested her. It's a complete violation of the order of the High Court," he added.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively and Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.Pune police during multi-city raids in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence arrested five activists on Tuesday which includes Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves. (Photo: File)

New Delhi/Pune: A day after the pan India crackdown on Left-wing activists, the action shifted to the courts on Wednesday with the Supreme Court giving urgent hearing to a plea against the arrests in the afternoon and three of the five who were nabbed to be produced before a Pune court.

Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were taken to Pune late on Tuesday night and are likely to be produced in a court later in the day, a senior police official in Pune said.

The other two arrested for their suspected links with Maoists were trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha in Delhi. Navlakha and Bharadwaj are confined to their homes, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only their lawyers.

Eminent historian Romila Thapar and four others have moved the apex court against the arrests by the Maharashtra Police.

The petition was mentioned before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which agreed to give an urgent hearing today itself at 3:45 pm.

The petition, which was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, seeks the release of all five and an independent probe into the arrests.

In a parallel development, the Delhi High Court will hear Navlakha's plea at 2:15 pm after the Maharashtra Police submitted that translated documents of the case were not ready. Navlakha's transit remand was secured from the Saket district court to take him to Pune. The order, however, was stayed by the high court. It was a night of dramatic developments for those following Bharadwaj's case.

The chief judicial magistrate of Faridabad had granted Bharadwaj's transit remand to the Maharashtra police. However, it had to reverse its order in the early hours of Wednesday in keeping with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had stayed her transit remand for three days.

The near-simultaneous multi-city raids against the five as well as four others were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year. Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad event, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered at the Vishrambaug police station in Pune after the event.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit history -- it witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on January 1, 1818, by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Rao, Bhardwaj, Ferreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, an official said.

There were also arrested under some other sections of the IPC, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged Naxal activities", the official said without elaborating.

According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided on Tuesday were Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

Tuesday's events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence. Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in June.The CBI has a strong theory that killings of journalist Gauri Lankesh, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Narendra Dabholkar could be linked as modus operandi and ammunition used in the murders is similar. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: One of the weapons probably used in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar five years ago was not destroyed by the alleged killers as they believed it was "lucky" for them, CBI sources said.

The weapon could have also been used in the murder of other left leaning activists like Govind Pansare in February 2015, MM Kalburgi in August 2015, and Gauri Lankesh in September last year, they said, however, adding with caution that any conclusion can only be drawn after a confirmatory ballistic test of the firearm.

The agency recently arrested and questioned Aurangabad-resident Sachin Andure who is alleged to be one of the two shooters involved in the killing of Narendra Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, in Pune while on his morning walk, they said.

A country-made pistol was also recovered from a friend of his relative by the CBI which is believed to be one of the weapons used in the murder, they said.

The CBI will send the weapon for ballistic tests to ascertain the claims of Andure before reaching any conclusions in the case as the investigators believe that his claims cannot be taken on face value, they said.

During the questioning, Andure has claimed that the right wing group believed to be behind the killings had over a dozen of such weapons to execute their nefarious plans.

When asked why this particular pistol which he is claiming to have been used in the killing of Narendra Dabholkar was not destroyed even after five years, he indicated that it was a "lucky" weapon used in different killings.

The agency now wants to question alleged killers involved in the murder of noted writer and journalist Gauri Lankesh, they said, adding that it is also seeking custody of Sharad Kalaskar, arrested by the Maharashtra ATS.

Sharad Kalaskar was arrested during an operation of the ATS to bust a right wing extremist module plan to carry out multiple attacks on the occasion of Independence Day.

After the arrests, the ATS had claimed that it had seized a huge cache of explosive materials and country-made firearms during raids at various places in the state.

It was during the interrogation of Kalaskar that the involvement of Andure in Dabholkar's killing surfaced.

This input was passed on to the CBI which had arrested Andure from Maharashtra.

The CBI has a strong theory that killings of journalist Gauri Lankesh, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Narendra Dabholkar could be linked as modus operandi and ammunition used in the murders is similar, they said.

The CBI is probing the murder of Narendra Dabholkar while that of Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh are being investigated by state agencies of Maharashtra and Karnataka.Sudha Bharadwaj, along with several other Left-wing activists, was arrested on Tuesday in multi-city raids. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who was picked up by the Maharashtra Police for her suspected links with Maoists, on Wednesday said those speaking against human rights violation and fighting for the rights of Dalits and tribals are being targeted by the "present regime".

Bharadwaj, along with several other Left-wing activists, was arrested on Tuesday in multi-city raids.

She has been confined at her residence in Faridabad, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only her lawyer.

"I think whatever is the opposition to the present regime, whether it is on Dalit rights, tribal rights, or human rights, everybody who is in the opposition is being rounded up in this manner. My mobile, laptop and pen drive has been seized. I apprehend they are going to play around with this data. My Gmail and Twitter passwords have also been taken," she told reporters in Delhi.

The arrest has triggered a nation-wide outrage with activists saying the raids were a brazen attack on democratic rights and reminiscent of the infamous Emergency.

Her daughter, Anu Bharadwa, said, "There were ten people. Among them only one was a lady constable from the Haryana police. Others were from the Maharashtra police. When Mom asked for search warrant, they said they did not have it.

"They did have some other document. That is why, mom allowed them to come inside. I do not have any idea about allegations but mom said they have come in connection with arrests in Pune," she said.

The Maharashtra Police on Tuesday carried out searches at multiple places in several states, including Delhi, on the residences of people suspected to have Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune on December 31, 2017.More than 150 House Democrats have urged Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to tell school districts that they are not permitted to use a flexible block grant to buy guns .

Democrats said that a grant under the Every Student Succeeds Act was passed by Congress to help pay for education technology, improve school climate, and increase access to a wide variety of education programs they deem helpful to students.

Arming teachers would not only jeopardize student and staff health and safety, but also run counter to Congressional intent, precedent, and common sense, the Democrats wrote to DeVos on Tuesday in a letter headlined by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the top Democrat on the House education committee.

The Democrats demand was spurred by reports last week that DeVos has considered whether to let districts spend Title IV Part A grants on firearms as well as firearms training. The ESSA language that governs the grants does not ban the money from being spent on guns, and districts are allowed to spend the money on school safety programs. Ultimate decisions about how to use the grants are made by district leaders.

In the past, DeVos as well as President Donald Trump have spoken in favor of allowing school staff to carry guns , although DeVos has said that ultimately the decision is best left to local education leaders. Last weeks news provoked an uproar among Democrats on Capitol Hill as well as many in the education communityarming educators is not very popular, particularly among teachers, although some states do allow trained staff to carry guns under certain circumstances.

A department spokeswoman said last week that the reports were blown out of proportion, and the Trump administration indicated that officials had been considering how to respond to questions from Texas districts about whether they could buy guns with Title IV cash. (Texas is one of the states that allows educators to carry guns on school grounds.)

The lawmakers also noted that federal law has historically prohibited federal money from being spent on firearms in the context of school safety.

Read the letter from the Democrats to DeVos about buying guns with federal education aid below:

Photo: A giant television screen projects an image of the proceedings as Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing in May. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Andrew Ujifusa half of Politics K-12 @AndrewUjifusa.Credence Research Logo

The global green cement market accounted for US$ 18.06 Bn in 2017, expanding at a CAGR of 10.2% from 2018 to 2026

According to the latest report published by Credence Research, Inc. Global Green Cement Market  Growth, Future Prospects and Competitive Analysis, 2018-2026, the global green cement market accounted for US$ 18.06 Bn in 2017, expanding at a CAGR of 10.2% from 2018 to 2026.

Browse the full report Global Green Cement Market  Growth, Future Prospects and Competitive Analysis, 2018-2026 report at https://www.credenceresearch.com/report/green-cement-market

Market Insights

The global green cement accounted for US$ 18.06 Bn in 2017 growing with a CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. Green cement is an eco-friendly substitute that is basically used in place of traditional cement. It aims to lower carbon emissions at construction sites. There is no fixed method or formula to produce green cement. However, manufacturers are focusing on research and development activities to manufacture green cement by adopting innovative technologies. For example, Calera Group, based in California developed a Portland cement substitute. This substitute basically contains calcium carbonate that is obtained from seawater and is mixed with carbon dioxide.

The green cement market is mainly driven by growing need to cut down on emissions and using green fuel. Increase in greenhouse gas emission resulted in the increasing concern of various agencies that includes United Nations(UN) thereby recommending green cement across the globe. Trend shows that there has been increase in number of building and construction activities. This coupled with increasing awareness towards green building concept is propelling the growth of this market during the forecast period. The demand for green cement is also expected to rise owing to the growing demand of alternative fuel derived from various waste materials that includes fly ashes, foundry sand, solid recovered fuels, animal meals, filter cakes, used oil and sewage sludge among others. Green cement is mainly used in the construction activities owing to the fact that it uses less water and provides good thermal insulation. In addition, it also provides fire resistance to the buildings. Green cement also aims to safeguard buildings from sulphate attacks caused due to water or moisture thereby providing protection against corrosion. Hence, growing application in the construction industry is acting as a driving factor in the growth of global green cement market during the forecast period. Various government initiatives that aims at encouraging green architecture and sustainable building is also expected to bolster the market demand for green cement.

The global green cement market has been segmented by product type, end-user industry and geography. In 2017, slag based green cement segment dominated the global green cement market by product type. Manufacturers are focusing on mergers and acquisition and new product development as key strategies to expand their slag based green cement market which in turn drives the market demand of this segment during the forecast period. In April 2018, ArcelorMittal S.A, based in Luxembourg, focusses on increasing its stake in Ecocem France from 30 % to 49% .Ecocem deals with slag cement and this increase in stake will enable ArcelorMittal S.A to expand its slug based green cement market in France. In addition, Butra HeidelbergCement (BHC) launched a green cement under its brand name 52.5 Brunei Cement. This is basically a mixture of gypsum, clinker and slag. This new product launch will facilitate the company to expand its product portfolio of slag based green cement to cater to the growing demand of green cement market globally. In 2017, residential segment held the major share in the global green cement market by end-user industry. Growing density of population followed by increasing demand for residential projects worldwide is expected to bolster the market growth of this segment during the forecast period. By geography, Europe accounted for a significant share in the global green cement market owing to stringent government regulations pertaining to carbon emissions followed by rising penetration of green cement in construction industry in U.K, Spain and France.

Key market players in the global green cement market include BASF SE, CarbonCure, Taiwan Cement Corporation, CEMEX, Votorantim cimentos S.A., China National Building Material (CNBM), Zuari Group, LafargeHolcim, Calera, Heidelberg Cement, Anhui Conch Cement, Siam Cement Public Company (SCG), UltraTech Cement Ltd., Navrattan Blue Crete Industries Pvt. Ltd. and Kiran Global Chems among others.

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Website: https://www.credenceresearch.com/report/green-cement-marketChennai: Madras high court has directed the directorate general of trade remedies, (DGTR), Union ministry of commerce and industry, to release imported solar cells into India from China PR and Malaysia without insisting payment of safeguard duty from a Chennai based firm.

The division bench comprising Justices S. Manikumar and Subromonium Prasad, before which a writ petition from GRT Silverwares of Chennai and Sterling and Wilson Private Limited, Mumbai, came up for hearing, said there shall be a direction to DGTR to assess provisionally the safeguard duty payable by the petitioner in respect of future imports and further directed to release the goods without insisting payment of safeguard duty on executing a bond by the authorised officer of the company. In the event of upholding the notification, the petitioner is liable to pay the safeguard duty provisionally assessed by the authority, the bench said.

The matter relates to the imposing safeguard duty under Section 8B of the Customs Tariff Act (CTA), 1975 by the Union revenue secretary, on the basis of the recommendations made by DGTR on the Solar Cells whether or not assembled in modules or panels into India from China PR and Malaysia.

GRT has been engaged in the business of solar power developing and currently developing projects for supply of solar power in various states in India including Tamil Nadu. The company appointed Sterling and Wilson Private Limited, Mumbai, as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project in Tamil Nadu.

The Union revenue department had issued a notification dated July 30, 2018, levying safeguard duty at 25 per cent of the cost, freight and insurance (CIF) value after GRT had entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with the Tangedco and after placing orders for import of goods with the foreign suppliers through Sterling and Wilson Private Limited, Mumbai. Such consignment of the goods had arrived at Chennai Port and for clearance of the consignment the petitioners will have to pay the above-mentioned duties. GRT in the petition challenged the notification.N Harikrishna, 62, was a former parliamentarian and an actor (Photo: File)

Hyderabad: Former Rajya Sabha MP Nandamuri Harikrishna, son of N T Rama Rao and brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, died in a horrific road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district in the early hours of Wednesday.

The 62-year-old was travelling to Kavali, Nellore to attend a wedding when his car rammed into the divider on the Nalgonda Highway and flipped on the other side, a police official said. It was hit by another car coming towards the city. A profusely bleeding Harikrishna was rushed to the Kamineni Hospital in Narkatpally where he breathed his last.

Harikrishna suffered severe head injuries. We also suspect internal bleeding. However, the exact cause of death is yet to be ascertained, Duty Medical Officer of Ameer Khan told PTI.

Medical officers also said Harikirsha would not have been thrown from the car if he was wearing a seat belt.

#SpotVisuals: Actor and TDP leader Nandamuri Harikrishna dies in a car accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district. pic.twitter.com/4EusxbqXmw  ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2018

Harikrishna had acted in several Telugu movies. His sons, Kalyanram and Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as Junior NTR, are also famous Telugu stars. Actor and politician N T Rama Rao served as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for three terms. Harikrishna served as minister in Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet in late 1990s.

Harikrishna had lost his son Janakiram in a road accident on the same Nalgonda stretch in 2014. His other son Junior NTR survived an accident here in 2009.

Vice president has M Venkaiah Naidu condoled the tragic death of Harikrishna.

"As a popular actor, he has entertained the Telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly. My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief, he said in a tweet.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed his condolences. The chief minister recalled the services of late Harikrishna in politics and cinema.

Overturned car of TDP leader on the Nalgonda Highway.

Hari Krishna was to turn 62 on September 2, but had said he would not celebrate in solidarity with those suffering in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter reportedly written by Hari Krishna addressing his fans and family members, he had asked them not to splurge on his birthday but instead donate that money to relief funds.Chidambaram asserted that the under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Indian economy was 'more competent'. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP for the demonetisation drive in 2016, former finance minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the move was not praised by a single economist across the world.

While addressing a National Students' Union of India (NSUI) event in Delhi, Chidambaram said, "Show me one economist anywhere in the world who stood up and said demonetisation was a good thing. Not one. On the day PM announced demonetisation, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian was in Kerala. He was not in Delhi. He was not event consulted. He didn't know that demonetisation is taking place. If CEA doesn't know, what kind of an economy is this?"

On November 8, 2016, the Modi government had invalidated the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes, claiming it was a crackdown on the shadow economy and use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activities and terrorism. The move was criticised by several Opposition parties.

Earlier this month, a recent study by the Reserve Bank of India or RBI noted that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been adversely hit by the Goods and Services Tax roll-out and demonetisation, which had a significant impact on the overall credit of the sector.

Besides demonetisation, Chidambaram also raised questions over the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

"Ayushman Bharat is an insurance based model. Government says it will pay the premium...Is that the right model for India? I don't think so. The right model for India is the one practiced in Europe - vast expansion of public facilities, more public hospitals, more super specialities, more tertiary hospitals, more district-level hospitals, more primary health centres, more doctors and nurses, more beds and free public health care. That's the way you can treat our 130 crore people. You can't go by an insurance model," Chidambaram claimed.

He added, "Insurance model has been a complete failure anywhere in the world. Even in America, Obama Care - an insurance model, has been seriously questioned. America's per capital is 150,000 dollars and Indias per capital is barely 1,800 dollars. But, who will tell the government that this is a wrong model?"

Meanwhile, Chidambaram asserted that the under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Indian economy was "more competent".

"I've seen how President Barack Obama used to sit with Manmohan Singh and listen to him. Not that Obama will accept everything Dr Manmohan Singh says, but he wanted to listen to him to know how to run a huge economy," Chidambaram said.New Delhi: A war of words erupted between the BJP and Congress on Wednesday over the Rafale fighter jets purchase issue, with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley accusing the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi of peddling untruths and carrying out a false campaign on the Rafale deal. Mr Gandhi has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the issue. The Congress rejected Mr Jaitleys contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies.

Posing 15 questions to Mr Gandhi in his Facebook post, Mr Jaitley said that the deal the NDA government had entered into with France on April 10, 2015, for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets was on better terms than the one entered into in 2007 under the UPA regime. In 2007, French manufacturer Dassault had offered to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft.

Mr Jaitley questioned the Congress whether delay in decision making during its regime was based on collateral considerations like the ones witnessed in the purchase of Bofors guns.

Refusing to disclose details of the deal such as price of the aircraft due to constraints placed by the secrecy clause in the contract, the Union minister said that the Congress allegations that the NDA government had agreed to pay a higher price and was favouring a private industrialist were a complete falsehood

After Mr Jaitleys post on the issue, Mr Gandhi tweeted: Mr Jaitley, thanks for drawing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? The problem is, your supreme leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check and revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!

To this, BJP president Amit Shah tweeted: Why wait 24 hours when you already have your JPC (Jhoothi Party Congress). Your lies to fool the nation are self-evident when the Rafale price you quote varies in Delhi, Karnataka, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur and the Parliament. But the nations IQ is higher than yours!

One of the questions Mr Jaitley posed to Mr Gandhi in his post was: Can Mr Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Indian government has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these aircraft in India.

I am asking these questions as Mr Gandhis misadventure is impairing national interest and I hope he and the Congress party will respond immediately, wrote Mr Jaitley. The Union minister termed it the Congress false campaign against the Rafale aircraft deal .

Jaitley attacks Shourie, Sinha

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday called a couple of his former NDA colleagues 'career nationalists' who would be speaking a different language if they were in the government.

"Our tragedy in the NDA has been, particularly in the BJP, we have had a fair share of career nationalists. They are nationalists and with us as long as it suits their career. And, therefore, when they speak a contrarian language, I don't attach much credibility to them," Jaitley told ANI in an interview.The CBDT had earlier extended the due date for filing of ITR from July 31 to August 31 for all taxpayers across the country.

New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday announced the extension of deadline for filing income tax returns for taxpayers in Kerala from August 31 to September 15.

Considering the disruption caused due to severe floods in Kerala, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) hereby further extends the due date for furnishing income tax Returns from August 31 to September 15 for all income tax assessees in Kerala, the finance ministry said in a statement. The CBDT had earlier extended the due date for filing of ITR from July 31 to August 31 for all taxpayers across the country.

The government will also send a high level delegation led by minister of state for finance, Pon Radhakrishnan to review the rehabilitation measures which are being undertaken by banks and insurance companies in Kerala.

The ministry said that insurance companies have also started processing flood-related claims to ensure expeditious settlement.

They have established special camp offices, deployed additional surveyors and waived document requirements for speedier claims payment so that quick relief is ensured to the affected people. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has urged the Kerala Diaspora to contribute a months salary for the states reconstruction.For now, the mention of Prime Minister Imran Khan seems synonymous with hope. Even those opposed to him seem willing to go with the argument that its worth testing someone new.

Of course, he isnt the first leader to espouse such massive hope. Many statesmen around the world have. But only a few have lived up to the expectations.

So what should the new Prime Minister do to end up on the winning side? Since the elections, newspaper columns have been filled with solid advice for him. Still, I find one missing link: how should he conduct himself to avoid falling prey to the perverse political culture that pervades our system? At the heart of this perversion lies the curse of sycophancy.

Sycophancy is the brain-eating amoeba of Pakistani politics. It affects everyone. Sycophants are simply rational actors who recognise that sucking up to the boss offers greater benefit than objective critique in cultures with weak integrity and an absence of meritocracy.

To be sure, different leaders have different levels of susceptibility to sycophancy. But no one comes into office believing that theyll fall for it. Yet, most end up addicted. Leaders tend to get surrounded by a group of people who act as gatekeepers. The leaders reality begins to be shaped; they gradually lose touch with the view on the street. This problem tends to be acuter in contexts like Pakistans where there is no end to bad news; praise, genuine or not, offers leaders welcome relief from the constant stress and anguish of dealing with the countrys myriad problems.

Talk to people who worked for Benazir, Musharraf, or Nawaz and theyll tell you how each ones inner circle changed from the candid and objective to the sycophants over time; how this was perfectly correlated with these leaders transformation from being patient listeners to imposers of their will and dismissive of anything unflattering.

Khan wont be immune to these pressures. And no matter how different he may be from his predecessors, sycophancy will begin to affect his outlook unless he consciously acts to nip it in the bud now.

First, he will need to deal with his immediate surroundings. Four steps are in order: one, explicitly tell the Cabinet that they are barred from praising Imran Khan, the individual; make an example of the ones who think hes bluffing. Two, appoint one or two individuals to attend Cabinet meetings specifically to play devils advocate in every policy conversation  in military terms, red team it. Three, regularly meet different opinion-makers (policy experts, journalists, business elite) who are critical of you; let them speak their mind and absorb what makes sense  appreciate them and force your team to act upon their constructive suggestions. Four, keep the gatekeepers  formal ones like your principal secretary or military secretary or self-anointed ones pretending to protect you from the riffraff  in check.

Second, Khan should rule Pakistan as a last-term Prime Minister. As the political realities of an in-power party hit home, so will the inherent tradeoffs between populist, vote-solidifying moves and decisions that are in the countrys long-term interests but could hurt a governments support-base. As this begins to become apparent, sycophants will pounce. Theyll convince the boss that visionary decisions with only long-term gains will force them out of power. Often, this argument becomes potent as a leader gets into the second half of his or her term in office. In the PTIs case, Khans populist promises and the sky-high expectations associated with him could make it attractive much earlier. To forestall this, Khan needs to shun any conversation that pleads populism for re-election over merit-based decision-making.

Third, the Prime Minister should devolve important decision-making in ways that make it unattractive for sycophants to target him. Khan should consider his job to be a recruiter-at-large and resist any and every urge to micromanage things. Pakistans problems are too vast and complex for a hands-on leadership approach to work. Instead, the Prime Ministers time should be spent recruiting the best talent for the key public-sector political and technocratic positions around the country and empowering them to deliver results. The sycophants would then find more value in flocking to these decision-makers. This is a far less damaging prospect as long as the Prime Minister can set up a mechanism to evaluate the performance of these individuals on a regular basis and penalise those unable to perform because the sycophants have got the better of them or otherwise.

All this is easier said than done. But evidence is unflinching: you fall for it and you become delusional no matter who you are.

By arrangement with DawnIn London recently, when Congress president Rahul Gandhi answered a question on his partys involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he was categorical in his disavowal, but said since there were cases against some individuals, he hoped they would be punished speedily through the legal system.

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh reiterated Mr Gandhis view. He had quit the Congress in 1984 to protest the anti-Sikh violence. The CM named five Delhi Congressmen who he said were identified for their role in the riots, and urged they be brought to justice quickly. Indias legal system has badly let down victims. The alleged perpetrators roam free.

On that fateful 1984 day, Indira Gandhi had been shot dead. President Zail Singh, a devout Sikh, was abroad. Rajiv Gandhi, the future PM, was campaigning in West Bengal. There was no credible political authority in New Delhi. A thoroughly communalised police, in the backdrop of Bhindrawales ravings, did little as Sikhs were killed in crowded slums by fellow citizens instigated by local Congressmen in some places, but not under a grand plan. The Congress was in government, and so cannot shirk responsibility. This is why then PM Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi long back apologised to the Sikhs. After 1984, the Congress has been in power in Sikh-majority Punjab many times. Rajiv Gandhis statement that the earth trembles when a big tree falls came several weeks after the violence, and wasnt the cause of it. In fact, on returning from West Bengal, the late Rajiv Gandhi moved around in an open vehicle in the affected areas, seeking an immediate end to the violence.The focus must be on getting speedier justice, but politicians do name-calling for other reasons.The Law Commission of India is expected to bring out its much-awaited report on family law reforms before the end of this month before the expiry of its term. It is anyones guess whether it will come out with a draft uniform civil code (UCC) or merely suggest reforms within family laws of various religious communities. Its chairman, Justice B.S. Chauhan, has expressed doubts at various public meetings about the feasibility of enacting a uniform family law for a diverse and pluralistic society such as India. So it is interesting to see what the final recommendations of LCI will be, particularly regarding the Muslim Family Law Reform.

In the meanwhile, there is one issue, which Maneka Gandhi, minister for women and child development, has been grappling with introduction of the provision of pre-nuptial agreement. However, she has met with a stumbling block from bureaucrats from her own department, who have prevailed upon her that to introduce this concept into Hindu law, legislators will have to accept that Hindu marriage is purely a contract and strip it of its sacramental traditions. This will never be accepted by our legislators, they claim, even after 60-odd years of the enactment of the Hindu Marriage Act. Hindu law continues to be viewed as sacramental despite the enactment, with vivah home, saptapadi and kanyadaan (the brahminal rituals) forming its core essential ceremonies.

It is in this context the concept of a nikahnama (marriage contract) under the Muslim law gains credence. The Muslim marriage, since its inception in the seventh century, is conceived as a civil contract between consenting parties. Hence, it also recognises the rights of parties to opt out of this contract. In fact, divorce or dissolution of marriage is the gift of Islamic law to the Western world, which is very seldom recognised as such. Since it is a civil contract, it provides the scope for conditions to be written into the contract. The economic safeguard to the bride in her marital home in the form of mehr (a sum assured as a mark of respect and future security to the bride) is found in all printed forms of nikahnama, which the qazi solemnising the marriage brings along, to be signed by the parties and their witnesses. It is another matter that the Hindu custom of dowry has been adapted by Muslim communities and mehr is reduced to a mere token rather than an economic safeguard. But there are communities,

which stipulate mehr in gold coins or valuables rather than the token amounts.

A question which has repeatedly been raised within Muslim social activists since the 1990s is whether it is possible to popularise the notion of a conditional nikahnama (akin to the pre-nuptial agreement proposed by our minister) to safeguard womens rights. When this debate was vibrant and there was pressure on the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB, or the board) to release a model nikahnama, a tame version devoid of all protective clauses, was released by the board in 2005. It is not surprising that it was rejected by Muslim womens groups who were engaged with the issue.

In response to the AIMPLB, the Shia Board in 2006 and the Womens Board in 2008 released their own nikahnamas. The common features in these model nikahnamas are introducing talaq-e-tawfitz (delegated right of divorce through which the wife can divorce herself), the right of khula, protection from domestic violence and polygamy, and against the un-Islamic practice of dowry. The most important provision was the arbitration clause to settle dispute as per the Quranic provision, to counter the practice of arbitrary oral talaq. Other clauses included custody of children, return of gifts and post-divorce lump-sum settlement.

In addition, several Muslim womens groups drafted their own nikahnamas. The one drafted by Uzma Naheed of Iqra Foundation was submitted to the then president of the board, Qazi Mujahidul Islam Qasmi, who sought responses from ulema of different persuasions. While the majority view was conservative, there was a strong minority view defending the progressive and pro-women conditions in the nikahnama who argued that one should keep in mind the demand of our times. But finally, the board did not endorse this draft and Ms Naheed was left dejected.

Since marriage is viewed as a civil contract, there are instances of scholars, and intellectuals drafting nikahnamas on their own accord, to protect the rights of women within their own family or social groups. Some of these are on stamp paper as private agreements between consenting adults.

In an incisive article published in Economic and Political Weekly in 2012 (October 27), A. Suneetha, a scholar based in Hyderabad, while documenting this process, commented that the debate over drafting a model nikahnama occupies a socio-legal terrain which distinguishes it from the state directed reforms and this debate had the potential to bring transformation within the community. But since this article was published, the campaign to popularise a conditional nikahnama did not move ahead. During the recent controversy over triple talaq, the issue of a model nikahnama as a viable alternative to protect the rights of Muslim women was hardly discussed in the media.

However, this right to stipulate conditions against arbitrary oral talaq was mentioned by lawyers representing the AIMPLB as an antidote to triple talaq. This led Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar to ask a pointed question whether responsible members of the board were willing to file an affidavit to this effect. The lawyers conceded and an affidavit was duly filed that the board would release a model nikahnama to curtail arbitrary oral divorce. Since then, the issue has been dormant and no one has taken the board to task on this.

What is even more surprising is though many organisations had claimed that they had drafted a progressive and pro-women nikahnama the Shia Board, the Womens Board, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, etc, none filed an affidavit to produce their own ideal draft before the bench hearing the triple talaq issue. There was also no mention of how each had popularised their own versions to bring in social transformation alluded to by Suneetha in her essay in 2012. It seemed that the vibrant debate of the first decade of the 21st century had been buried. This silence by various sects and community-based organisations working for the rights of Muslim women provided a fertile ground for the government to introduce a bill to criminalise triple talaq ostensibly to protect Muslim women.

So it appears that both the ministers anxiety to introduce the concept of pre-nup agreement and the Muslim groups efforts to popularise conditional nikahnama, have remained at the level of theoretical discussions, and have not reached down to the ground to help ordinary women.

Most Muslim women are unaware of their right to stipulate conditions in their nikahnama. Even if they are aware, they lack agency at the time of negotiating the marriage. It is also viewed as inauspicious to discuss the mode of talaq at the time of nikah. But since the right is Quranic, keeping women in the dark about their basic rights would amount to violating the Quranic stipulations. It almost amounts to accepting the Hindu notion of marriage as a sacrament. Only by working with qazis at the local level who solemnise marriages and with Muslim girls of marriageable age to make them aware of their rights, can the aspiration of social transformation through a conditional nikahnama be effected. Approval of the board is not mandatory, as editor of Milli Gazette Zafarul Khan commented, since it is not a fiqh (jurisprudential) body.

The writer is a feminist legal scholar and womens rights lawyer based in MumbaiA new research shows that surface measurements alone may not accurately predict the full extent of thermal stress on deeper corals. (Photo: ANI)

While scientists routinely use sea-surface temperature data collected by satellites to predict the temperature-driven stress on reef communities, a new research shows that surface measurements alone may not accurately predict the full extent of thermal stress on deeper corals.

A new study describes a novel approach for predicting warm temperature-induced stress on corals from the sea surface through a deeper expanse ranging from 30-150 meters (100-500 feet) known as the mesophotic zone.

Corals at this depth are thought of by some in the science community as being safer from ocean warming than their shallow-water counterparts. But according to the Scripps Oceanography team, even in the deep, corals are episodically exposed to thermal stress at intervals different than those corals near the surface.

The researchers utilized nearly two decades of data sets, including sea level, sea-surface temperature, and temperature observations that ranged between the surface and deep into the mesophotic zone, to develop a forecast tool for the vertical extent of how corals will be stressed by temperature. This research was conducted at three reef locations around the island nation of Palau, located in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

PhD candidate Travis Schramek, lead author of the study said, "We're now adding the dimension of depth into the problem where before we were only skimming the surface of what temperature stress meant for corals. We see that the heat-induced stress penetrates all the way into the mesophotic zone during larger bleaching events."

In addition to looking at sea-surface temperature data collected by global satellites, the scientists used a network of reef temperature recorders maintained by CRRF divers in key locations across Palau down to depths of 90 meters (295 feet).

For nearly 20 years, a small team has conducted weekly dives at locations across Palau as part of a long-term temperature-monitoring program. The observations showed that deeper zones are showing bleaching coincident with the higher temperatures, right along with shallow reefs.

The researchers said that they hope these results will instigate more temperature stress event surveys to better understand the mesophotic zone in Palau and other tropical regions.

By coupling sea level and sea temperature data sets, Schramek found that the height of the ocean surface is a strong indicator of how water temperatures are changing tens of meters below. He and the team then further used this data to predict the temperatures experienced by coral reefs living near the surface, as well as those living in deeper waters. Schramek developed an algorithm to apply the accepted coral stress algorithms to depths that included the deeper mesophotic, typically thought to be a refuge from thermal stress.

"A surprising outcome of the study is that the oceanic conditions along the dramatic reef walls that are the boundaries of Palau are very representative of the broader Western Pacific," said Eric Terrill, an oceanographer.

He added, "As a result, we had a surprising amount of success in predicting the vertical structure of the temperature fields that the coral communities would be exposed to, even during El Nino conditions."

Schramek said, "Now that we've observed this ecosystem in a unique way, we can start to better assess how corals in the mesophotic zone are stressed. If we can better understand how they're stressed, then we can better understand how to protect them."

The team's new insights on how to predict temperature stress on deep corals may contribute to a better understanding of the entire reef system as a whole, which could inform conservation and policy efforts to protect this valuable and diverse ecosystem.

The findings appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research Letters.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of involvement in the hacking of Democratic emails during the 2016 election campaign.

Beijing: China has denied an accusation by US President Donald Trump that it hacked the emails of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election.

We are firmly opposed to all forms of cyberattacks and espionage, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing on Wednesday. She said China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity.

Trump tweeted shortly after midnight that China had hacked Clintons emails, without offering any proof or information, and suggested that the FBI and Department of Justi-ce should investigate.

Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ, he tweeted.

US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of involvement in the hacking of Democratic emails during the 2016 election campaign.

The Justice Department has indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking into Clintons presidential campaign and the Democratic Party.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russias role in the election and whether there was any collusion between it and Trumps campaign.

Hua also denied on Wednesday that China was building a military base in far-eastern Afghanistan after a report published by the South China Morning Post alleged that Beijing was constructing a counterterrorism focused facility near its border, but inside the war-torn Islamic republic.

The report said Chinas People Liberation Army could send hundreds of military personnel into Afghanistan after the base is completed.DigitalX (ASX:DCC) is positioned as the leading publicly listed ICO corporate advisory firm globally. DigitalX is based out of Perth and New York and provides ICO advisory services, Blockchain consulting services and software development. DigitalX's partners can use DigitalX's Blockchain technology expertise to deliver innovative products to global markets.Shankar Poojary, a resident of Basrur in Kundapur taluk, is said to be serving in a prison in Kuwait.

Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis told DH that an emergency NRI cell meeting was held, wherein superintendent of police, social activist Ravindranath Shanbhag, some NRIs and the family members of Poojary were present.

An attempt is made to contact the External Affairs Ministry and receive information on the case. Currently, only the familys version of the story is known, and there is no documentary evidence to prove the allegation against him. The district administration cannot proceed and take action until and unless complete details on the detention is procured, she added.

Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF) Ravindranath Shanbhag said that the issue seems to be more complicated and requires time to understand the problem. Poojary seems to be framed and is in great trouble. There is also additional information which cannot be disclosed as there are major possibilities of the culprits fleeing away. There is a need for a thorough investigation, he said.

Poojary, who works at a firm in Kuwait, had come down to Kundapur for ten days leave, three months ago. On his way back, he was carrying a parcel for a friend of a friend which was to be delivered to one of their relatives in Kuwait. Once Poojary landed at the Kuwait airport, he was arrested during the immigration process as the parcel contained some tablets to be delivered and those who approached Poojary seeking help in carrying the parcel to Kuwait declined to have contacted Poojary.A 65-year-old man's right eye was gouged out after his 35-year-old son hit him with a car key over a property dispute in JP Nagar, South Bengaluru, on Tuesday morning.

The JP Nagar police arrested Abhishek Chethan who works for an automobile company and is a resident of Shakambarinagar near the Banashankari temple. His father is S S Parameshwar, a retired government official, who has been admitted to a private hospital.

The police said that Parameshwar owns a building in Shakambarinagar and lives on the first floor while Chethan lives on the second floor. His other son who married a woman of his choice and his daughter live separately. Chethan picked a quarrel with his brother over a property issue when he had come to perform the last rites of their mother Vasantha who passed away recently.

The police added that on Tuesday morning, Chethan started arguing with Parameshwar demanding that the entire property be transferred to him. When Parameshwar objected to it, Chethan, in a fit of rage, took his car key and punched in his face, resulting in his right eye being gouged out. After Parameshwar screamed for help, Chethan fled from the house. Neighbours alerted the police, who arrested him. Parameshwar's granddaughter witnessed the entire incident.

The police said that Parameshwar is being treated at a private hospital and is not in a condition to give a statement. They have recorded the statements of his second son and daughter. The police said they will produce the accused before the magistrate and seek his custody for further interrogation.With e-cigarette gaining popularity among youth, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday asked states to ensure that such electronic cigarettes are not manufactured and sold under their jurisdiction.

In an advisory, state governments have been told to ensure that any electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) including e-cigarettes, Heat-Not-Burn devices, Vape, e-Sheesha, e-nicotine flavoured hookah and similar devices that enable nicotine delivery are not sold (including online sale), manufactured, distributed, traded, imported and advertised in their territory.

ENDS are devices that heat a solution to create an aerosol, which frequently contains flavours.

Electronic cigarettes, the most common prototype, are devices that do not burn or use tobacco leaves but instead vaporise a solution, which the user inhales.

The solution contains several toxic chemicals that can lead to serious health complications.

They are also not approved as aid for nicotine replacement therapy under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Nearly 30 countries have banned such electronic cigarettes because of their health consequences.

Seven Indian states including Karnataka have also banned manufacture, distribution, import and sale of these e-cigarettes in the last five years.UPPER CHICHESTER >> About 150 residents packed a special meeting of the Chichester School Board Tuesday night to weigh in on a proposal for the operation of a charter school in the district was expected to be presented.

However, the applicant, Marketa Jolly, never showed up.

Katherine Meehan, special counsel to the school district, asked several times if Jolly was present, but there was no response.

The proposal includes the operation of a charter school in Lower Chichester Township at the site of the former Holy Saviour Elementary School.

On Aug. 19 the Rev. Robert McDermott, pastor of St. John Fisher Church in Boothwyn, announced the sale of the Holy Saviour property.

McDermott said the parish property was placed on the market in July 2015 and settlement took place on Aug. 16. The purchaser is DGC Development Group, a local developer with other property holdings in Lower Chichester.

This has been a difficult but necessary step for our merged parish and we are considerate of the sense of loss of all parishioners, Father McDermott said. The proceeds of the sale are the property of the merged parish of St. John Fisher. The parish debt of Holy Saviour will be deducted from the proceeds. The net proceeds after real estate fees, parish debt, and extraordinary maintenance costs of the property, is $654,000.

The Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Committee have identified a remodeling project of St. John Fisher Church as the most suitable use of the funds from this sale. A remodeling project will enable us to combine marble and stained glass from Holy Saviour with other changes for increased lighting, devotion and beauty. It is hope that just as we have come together as a parish community, a remodeled church will glorify God, further unite us, and build a welcoming place for future generations.

Even though Jolly was not present, residents were given the opportunity to comment.

Every individual who spoke was in opposition to the charter school.

I am firmly opposed to a charter school going into the district, said Michele Lauginiger to loud applause. I dont think its beneficial to any of the children in our district. We, as taxpayers spend a lot of money in taxes to enhance the education the children receive here. This isnt going to benefit anybody but outsiders who are going to reap the benefits.

Resident Diane Simon also said she was opposed.

I have worked with three charter schools and I can tell you that the main purpose of the charter school is to make money, Simon said. They will spend most of their money on administrative costs  Also, when a student from a public school district leaves that district the money goes with him. This (charter school) is to make somebody else rich and it divides the community. Please dont take our tax dollars to make somebody else rich.

Katie Walls, a resident, Chichester High School graduate and teacher in the district, also spoke in opposition to the proposal.

If this charter school is approved it will take students and significant funding from our district, she said  As a taxpayer, I want to see my money go to the education of the children in Chichester, not to a charter school.

Meehan said the board is constrained by charter school law and they are not able to do anything for 45 days.

She added that the school board needs to make a determination within 75 days from the date of the meeting.

The decision will be made at a public hearing, Meehan said. I want you to know that you wont see anything happen for at least 45 days.

Fully Funded to Complete GBS and DynamicOdds Acquisitions

Sydney, Aug 29, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of The BetMakers Holdings Group Limited ( ASX:TBH ) ( OTCMKTS:TPBTF ) is pleased to announce that it has placed, or received firm commitments for, an additional $3.0 million worth of shares from new and existing investors, taking the total amount raised from the recent entitlement offer to $4.5 million. The Board would also like to announce the following key updates:- The Company is now fully funded to make the completion payments for the GBS and DynamicOdds transactions- 100% ownership of DynamicOdds will take place on 31 August 2018 and GBS on 17 September 2018- BetMakers has secured more favourable payment terms with the vendors of GBS- Contract upgrades and extensions have been signed with Ladbrokes Australia and Neds.com.au- Signing of second US greyhound product for distribution.Entitlements IssueBetMakers has placed, or received firm commitments for, an additional $3.0 million worth of new shares from new and existing institutional and sophisticated investors; taking the total raised in the entitlement issue to $4.5 million. Approximately $2.4 million received from existing shareholders for the shortfall placement is expected to be settled on 31 August 2018 with the balance to be settled to both new and existing shareholders after the issue of a cleansing prospectus.Acquisition updatesBetmakers has negotiated more favourable terms with the vendors of Global Betting Solutions Pty Ltd ("GBS") with payment terms outlined below:- $1M payable on - 17 September 2018;- $2.5M payable on 31 January 2019; and- $3.5M Payable on 30 June 2019.Completion of the DynamicOdds transaction is scheduled to occur on this Saturday 1st September after which time the DynamicOdds business will be 100% owned by TBH. Completion of the GBS transaction is scheduled to occur on 17th September after which time the GBS business will be 100% owned by TBH. Through the recent capital raisings the Company is fully financed to fund the completion payments for both transactions.Ladbrokes & NEDS contract upgrades and extensionsAustralian wagering operators Ladbrokes Australia and Neds.com.au have both extended their Racing Data Delivery and Racing Price Manager Premium contracts with GBS. Both companies have also elected to upgrade to the DynamicOdds offering which will give them access to the DynamicOdds grids and risk management platform.US Greyhound data and distribution dealsBetMakers have signed a second US data and distribution deal with US greyhound club, bestbets Jacksonville which hosts over 6,000 races annually. This agreement, along with the recently announced Palm Beach Kennel Club deal, now allows BetMakers to offer an additional 11,000 races to clients annually.Profit guidanceAs outlined in the July 2018 Investor Presentation*, BetMakers are reiterating that the business expects to deliver an operating profit for FY19The business expects to return an operating loss for first half FY19 and transitioning to profit by the end of this period. It expects to have a strong 2nd half delivering a profitable full year result in FY19'The Company would also like to reiterate its profit guidance of $4.0 million to $5.0 million for FY20.*Assumptions based on previously stated assumptions in July 2018 Investor PresentationThe Company has engaged Canaccord Genuity Australia Limited ("Canaccord") to assist with the placement. Subject to completion of the placement, TBH will issue to Canaccord 4,000,000 unquoted options exercisable into fully paid ordinary shares in TBH on a 1:1 basis ("Options") on the following terms- expiry date of 30 November 2020; and- exercise price of 12.5 cents.The Options will be issued under TBH's 15% placement capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1.About Betmakers Technology Group Ltd

Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX:BET) (FRA:T07) is an ASX-listed holding company and a global provider of online wagering products and services to both wholesale and retail markets through its various wholly owned subsidiaries. The Company operates a retail wagering business, offering consumers wagering, fantasy tournament and content products and services.On Aug. 24, President Donald Trump announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not be going to North Korea as planned. The reason given is that the government in Pyongyang has not followed through on promises to dismantle nuclear weapons facilities or curtail development. This is the right move by the White House.

The long history of the surviving communist government in North Korea has combined rigid, ruthless totalitarianism at home with erratic inconsistency and unpredictability. Pyongyang occasionally punctuates the status quo with violence directed at individuals, South Korea and the international community. In February 2017, Kim Jong Nam, estranged half-brother of North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un, was murdered at Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia. Two young women from Indonesia and Vietnam, who put a lethal nerve agent on his face, contend North Korea agents duped them. Their lawyers argue the women thought they were participating in a prank for a reality television program.

Kim Jong Un is the son of Kim Jong Il, and assumed power following his fathers death in 2011. In May 2016, he wore a business suit rather than uniform for a Communist Party Congress. Kim publicly acknowledged economic challenges, no longer avoidable. That reality provides crucial advantages for U.S. policy and U.N. pressures. The Communist Party Congress took place in a context of continuing tensions with South Korea.

In 2013, North Korea announced a state of war with South Korea and threatened nuclear attack. Pyongyang abruptly abrogated the 1953 armistice agreement ending the Korean War, and cut the military hot line communications link with the south. During this same period, Pyongyang temporarily prevented South Korean workers from entering the Kaesong industrial center, located six miles north of the DMZ separating the two nations.

In February, South Korea shut down the center to protest Pyongyang provocations. The center has been an important source of hard currency. Developments in recent years could be a prelude to war, yet there is no concrete evidence that North Korea is mobilizing to invade South Korea. Moreover, Pyongyangs nuclear program remains rudimentary. Missile tests include some successes, but also dramatic failure. Kim has publicly criticized those in the military developing a taste for money amid reports of corruption. As part of a major military shakeup, Kim assumed the rank of marshal of the Peoples Army, adding to a series of celebratory titles. He has been ruthless in executing those suspected of disloyalty, including close family members.

North Korea in sum has acted bizarrely for years. In March 2010, a North Korea torpedo sank the South Korean ship Cheonan. In the same vicinity in November of that year, North Korean artillery bombarded South Koreas Yeonpyeong Island. In late February 2012, North Korea agreed once more to cease its on-again, off-again nuclear program. In joint announcements coordinated with the U.S. Department of State, the regime agreed to halt enrichment of uranium and construction of weapons, and permit international inspection of nuclear facilities. Yet two months later, Pyongyang tested a missile. The launch was an embarrassing flop.

This unpredictable shifting course implies infighting among factions in the regime rather than total control by Kim and his immediate coterie. Regarding Korea, President Dwight Eisenhower understood brutal realities of war. Stalled Korean War armistice talks quickly concluded successfully in 1953 following extraordinary bombing of North Korea. Ike focused on getting the job done. That provides a firm long-term foundation. Our government can avoid war, and should avoid reality TV.SALT LAKE CITY  Theres a new top apple in town.

After spending more 50 years as Americas most-grown apple, the Red Delicious has been dethroned.

How do you like them apples?

The gala apple is now Americas most-grown apple, according to the US Apple Association, which announced the landmark finding at the 2018 Annual Crop Outlook and Marketing Conference on Monday.

The report said that Gala was the most-grown apple, followed by Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji and Honeycrisp.

The Gala will see a jump of 49.5 million units, which measure 42 pounds each, to 52.4 million in 2018.

Red Delicious will see its production drop from 57.9 million last year to 51.7 million this year.

The rise in production of newer varieties of apples aimed at the fresh consumption domestic market has caused demand for Red Delicious to decline, Mark Seetin, USApple director of regulatory and industry affairs, said in a press release. However, Red Delicious is important in the export market, where it makes up roughly half of our apple exports.

The Gala apple originated in New Zealand in the 1930s. In the 80 years since, it has become a popular favorite among Americans.

The report said the Honeycrisp flavor  which knocked the Golden Delicious variety out of the top five this year  is on pace to move ahead of the Granny Smith and Fuji apple varieties and reach third place, according to Bloomberg.

Honeycrisp production last year included 19.3 million units, but jumped to 23.5 million this year.

U.S. Apple Association Chair Mark Boyer said at the conference that 2018 has been one of the most challenging and unusual years in the 123-year history for the group because of President Donald Trumps ongoing tariff discussions, according to MarketWatch.

In fact, apple farmers export about $1 billion worth of apples every year, which is about one-third of the U.S.s crop.

The White House has taken actions to restrict trade with Mexico, India and China our first, second and sixth-largest export markets, Boyer, an apple grower in Pennsylvania, told conference attendees. That has us all unsettled as we kick off the new harvest.

Theres currently a 15 percent tariff on U.S. apples imposed by China.A new Salt Lake County citizenship initiative paints a picture that stands in stark contrast to the nations immigration rhetoric at present. While Congress has yet to lead in finding solutions for more compassionate and prudent legal immigration policies, communities are taking practical steps to helping prospective Americans realize their dreams.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams announced last week the launch of the United for Citizenship initiative, a community-driven action aimed at assisting immigrants in Utah who want to pursue full-fledged citizenship. Its a smart plan that deserves recognition.

Tens of thousands of immigrants across the state have reached the status of legal resident without completing the process of becoming U.S. citizens. Explanations for this are scant, but one reason undoubtably sticks out  its hard.

The process differs among people and circumstances, but the general path to citizenship requires decent English skills, time requirements, personal interviews, a chunk of money and an arduous test that most U.S.-born citizens would have a tough time acing. Add in transportation difficulties, demanding work hours or cultural differences, and the goal easily fades to a distant dream.

With citizenship, however, comes the privilege of voting, access to federal aid and government jobs, a higher earning potential and greater freedom to travel. Through concerted effort, immigrants who achieve citizenship receive a host of benefits to enrich their lives and communities.

As nearly half of Utahs immigrants with legal residency are concentrated in Salt Lake County, its wise to divert efforts to this region.

The economic dividends of aiding immigration and citizenship ought to be enough to encourage communities to make the process easier. Immigrants, for instance, are twice as likely to start businesses than native-born citizens, according to research conducted by the Kauffman Foundation. Thats good for both individuals and markets. But any economic incentive pales in comparison to the social and moral obligations states have to care for their residents.

This initiative is another step toward fulfilling those responsibilities. County leaders are partnering with local businesses, schools, nonprofits and faith-based organizations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns this paper, to expand opportunities for willing participants to acquire the skills necessary for the naturalization process. Those range from offering English classes and flash cards to workforce training and issuing waivers to ease the burden of the $790 application fee.

A better definition of a community-driven solution would be hard to find. By joining forces around shared principles  inclusion, charity and respect  leaders are building a coalition that will shape lives and tee up a generation set to benefit from Utahs social mobility and economic advantages.

As nearly half of Utahs immigrants with legal residency are concentrated in Salt Lake County, its wise to divert efforts to this region. And if the measure proves successful over the next few years, we hope to see similar initiatives employed around the state with more groups joining to offer their resources.

Despite gridlock, tweets and mountains of commentary on the present state of immigration in the country, its a relief to see Americans have not abandoned their desire to make this a land of opportunity for all who are seeking a better life.

Annual Report to Shareholders

Perth, Aug 29, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Carnarvon Petroleum Limited ( ASX:CVN ) ( OTCMKTS:CVONF ) ("Carnarvon") has remained committed to its strategy of pursuing high value exploration opportunities on the North West Shelf ("NWS") of Australia. Despite challenging industry conditions in recent years, Carnarvon continued to build its regional NWS database, technical team and participated in high impact exploration drilling programs. With a recovery in the price of oil and a growing sense of optimism in the industry, Carnarvon has built a significant position within the Australian oil and gas industry to take advantage of an improving market. Carnarvon's current suite of projects has already begun to deliver considerable value to its shareholders, with the potential for additional value to come.CHAIRMAN'S REVIEWCarnarvon and its Joint Venture partner Quadrant Energy ("Quadrant"), commenced drilling the Dorado-1 and Phoenix South-3 wells towards the end of the financial year. In July 2018, Carnarvon was pleased to announce the significant discovery of oil, condensate and gas in the Dorado-1 well. The Dorado discovery is the third largest oil field ever found on the greater NWS and with nearby follow up targets already identified of similar characteristics to that of Dorado, there is the potential to considerably add to the resources which have already been discovered.In addition, the Phoenix South-3 well reached its target depth in August 2018 with the well also encountering hydrocarbons. Over the coming months, technical work will be performed to evaluate the reservoir and determine if the Caley Member in the Phoenix South area is capable of flowing at commercial rates.During the year, Carnarvon completed its technical work on the Labyrinth project which shares a border to the north of the Phoenix and Dorado area. In light of the Dorado and Phoenix South discoveries, I am looking forward to Carnarvon attracting a partner and testing the significant structures within the permit.Carnarvon has also made significant progress in its plans to redevelop the Buffalo oil field. Carnarvon's technical work has provided compelling evidence of the existence of economically recoverable oil remaining in the previously producing field. On this basis, Carnarvon commenced work to acquire approvals and commence the necessary work to drill a Buffalo well and subsequently redevelop the oil field.Following the signing of the Maritime Boundary Treaty ("Treaty") by the Australian and Timor-Leste Governments, the redevelopment of the Buffalo oil field will now occur under Timor-Leste jurisdiction. The Treaty will preserve Carnarvon's legal title and ensure that the redevelopment will occur with equivalent outcomes to those already in place under Australian domestic law. Continuing discussions with the Timor-Leste government have also made it clear to Carnarvon that all parties are aligned in wanting to achieve first oil production as soon as practical. We look forward to working closely with the people of Timor-Leste.I would like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders for their continued support of Carnarvon, in particular, those who participated in the Capital Raising in May 2018.In August 2018 we were pleased to announce that Mr Gavin Ryan had accepted an appointment to join the Board. We warmly welcome Gavin who is a lawyer with extensive legal and commercial skills gained through an international career with organisations such as BHP Petroleum, BP, PTTEP and Shell. As we focus on the important period of growth before us we are confident his experience, particularly in oil field developments will add significantly to our discussions and I look forward to working with him.Building and maintaining a team with the skill and passion to deliver Carnarvon's strategy has always been of primary importance to the Board. The Board acknowledges that Carnarvon achieved a number of key milestones in this regard during the year. As such, the Board granted both a cash bonus and employee shares (with attaching loans) as part of Carnarvon's short and long-term incentive plans.In regards to the latter, I would like to highlight that the Board has updated its long-term incentive plan in terms of the requirements for granting employee shares. The potential share issues provided during each year are tied to reaching strategic objectives and Carnarvon's share price growth in relation to a group of its peers during each year. The Board feels this both motivates staff to achieve strategic goals and also aligns staff rewards with growth in shareholder value. Further details can be found in the Remuneration Report section of the Annual Report.Adrian Cook and the Carnarvon team continue to bring their skills to bear with great energy and enthusiasm and I thank them for the outstanding results that they have delivered after a long period of hard work. Their efforts have guided the Company through immensely challenging times in the industry.In closing, I believe my fellow directors bring an excellent balance of experience and skills to our deliberations and I thank them for their counsel and support during a period of intense activity. We look forward to the year ahead with great enthusiasm about the opportunities to build upon the successes achieved so far.To view the full report, please visit:About Carnarvon Petroleum Limited

Carnarvon Petroleum Limited is an oil and gas exploration company, listed on the Australian stock exchange (ASX:CVN), Frankfurt (FRA:CJB) and US OTC (OTCMKTS:CVONF). Carnarvon has an extensive acreage position in the North West Shelf of Western Australia that is designed to offer investors high alpha leverage to the energy sector. The company's near term focus is on maturing oil, gas and condensate discovered in its Phoenix project, with partner Quadrant Energy, and on bringing into production oil from the Buffalo field.SALT LAKE CITY  Tim Aalders, a third-party candidate for the U.S. Senate, is running commercials on radio stations throughout the state declaring he is the "only conservative Republican on the ballot" and urging voters to reject Mitt Romney.

"No one can trust Mitt Romney. Is he the anti-gun, pro-choice, pro-amnesty liberal from Massachusetts or is he the so-called conservative who wants to impeach President (Donald) Trump," the 60-second spot begins.

Aalders, who ran as a Republican in 2012 against Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and as an Independent American Party candidate in 2014 for the 4th Congressional District seat won by Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, describes himself as a "real Republican."

He said in the ad that he will fight amnesty, presumably for immigrants in the country illegally, lower taxes and join the president "against professional politicians so he can truly drain the swamp."

Romney's campaign had no comment on the Aalders ad.

A Mississippi-based consultant for Aalders campaign, Howie Morgan, said $8,000 is being spent on the commercials with more than half of that amount for airtime in the Salt Lake market.

Asked why Aalders is running as a Constitution Party candidate but calling himself a Republican in the ad, Morgan said Aalders has "always been a strong believer in the Constitution" and wanted to ensure a place on the ballot.

"Tim made his choice to be in the general election to challenge Mitt Romney directly because he didn't believe the process in the Republican Party is one that has proven to be fair to conservatives," Morgan said.

A dozen candidates sought the GOP nomination and delegates to the Republican Party's state convention in April sent Romney and state Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, to a primary election in June.

Although Kennedy beat Romney at the convention, 51 percent to 49 percent, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, won the Republican primary with nearly 72 percent of the vote.

Aalders is the first third-party candidate to advertise in the race to fill the seat now held by Hatch, who is not seeking re-election after more than four decades in the Senate.

The ad calls Aalders a third choice for Utah voters in November but does not mention the Democratic candidate for Senate, Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson.SALT LAKE CITY  Coming after the four-month-long, all-you-can-eat cinematic buffet that is summer, the fall movie season almost cant help but feel like a bit of a letdown.

This year, in particular, the theatrical release calendar seems a little sparse compared to years past  at least when it comes to movies intended for families and broad audiences.

However, what there is coming up is worth getting excited for. This fall's offerings includes three new animated features (the same number of animated films that came out all summer), a new movie set in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, multiple exciting historical films (thats right  exciting and historical in the same sentence!), some spooky Halloween fare and possibly the beginnings of two or three new franchises, if all goes well.

So while the fall is no summer movie season, that might not even matter. Here are some reasons why:

September

The House With a Clock in Its Walls

Blending horror, fantasy and comedy in the tradition of classic '80s Amblin movies (Spielberg's production company), this family-friendly adventure stars Owen Vaccaro as a young boy sent to live with his strange uncle (Jack Black) in a strange, mechanical house in a strange town that may or may not be full of witches and warlocks and all other manner of strange things. Cate Blanchett co-stars.

MPAA rating: PG for thematic elements including sorcery, some action, scary images, rude humor and language

Release date: Sept. 21

Smallfoot

A Yeti named Migo (Channing Tatum) tries to prove that the mythical creature known as smallfoot  aka humans  really does exist in this 3-D animated comedy from the producers of The Lego Movie.

MPAA rating: PG for some action, rude humor and thematic elements

Release date: Sept. 28

Night School

Trailer content advisory: Mild language

Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish star in this comedy about a group of adult high school dropouts trying to finally get their GEDs.

MPAA rating: PG-13 for for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some drug references and violence

Release date: Sept. 28

October

Venom

Despite early trailers that seemed to revel in its protagonists more R-rated proclivities (like eating bad guys spleens), rumor has it Sony is recutting the whole movie to make this solo outing for the fan-favorite Marvel comics character/Spider-Man villain a more family-friendly PG-13. Tom Hardy stars. (Spider-Man, though, is still M.I.A.)

MPAA rating: N/A

Release date: Oct. 5

First Man

Reteaming Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle with his "La La Land" star, Ryan Gosling, First Man attempts to tell the story of the moon landing from the other side of history  capturing the uncertainty and danger of the mission in the years leading up to it, when success was anything but guaranteed.

MPAA rating: PG-13 for some thematic content involving peril, and brief strong language

Release date: Oct. 12

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

This sequel to 2015s Goosebumps sees R.L. Stines spooky creations once again brought to life, just in time for the best holiday of the year.

MPAA rating: N/A (probable PG)

Release date: Oct. 12

The Hate U Give

After witnessing the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by a white police officer  and then watching as his death becomes a national headline  an African-American teen (Amandla Stenberg) tries to stand up for what she knows is right in this movie based on the New York Times best-seller by Angie Thomas.

MPAA rating: PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language

Release date: Oct. 19

Johnny English Strikes Again

Rowan Atkinsons bumbling spy is called into duty one more time (number three, if youre counting) after a cyber-attack compromises the identities of every other British agent.

MPAA rating: PG for some action violence, rude humor, language and brief nudity

Release date: Oct. 26

November

Bohemian Rhapsody

A biopic about iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (played with uncanny resemblance by Rami Malek of Mr. Robot fame) and the bands roller coaster years leading up to their now-legendary 1985 Live Aid performance.

MPAA rating: N/A

Release date: Nov. 2

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

If the trailer is any indication, Disney has pulled out all the stops for this lavish, fantastical adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmanns classic tale about a girl (Mackenzie Foy Renesmee from the "Twilight Saga") transported to a magical kingdom of gingerbread soldiers and fairies. Keira Knightley, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren co-star.

MPAA rating: N/A (probable G or PG)

Release date: Nov. 2

Dr. Seuss The Grinch

Benedict Cumberbatch lends his voice to the role originally made famous by Boris Karloff (and, later, Jim Carrey) in this 3-D animated retelling of the classic Dr. Seuss Christmas story.

MPAA rating: PG for brief rude humor

Release date: Nov. 9

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The next chapter in J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter prequel series follows the continued adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he joins forces with a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law).

MPAA rating: N/A (probable PG-13)

Release date: Nov. 16

Second Act

With just a pinch of deception and a heaping tablespoon of street smarts, a woman (Jennifer Lopez, aka J-Lo, aka Jenny from the Block) gets the chance to finally fulfill her career ambitions after quitting her job at a big box store and getting hired by a private finance firm.

MPAA rating: PG-13 for some crude sexual references, and language

Release date: Nov. 21

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Not just any Ralph. Not Ralph Macchio. Not Ralph Fiennes. Wreck-It Ralph. Yep  the long-awaited sequel to arguably the best video game (centric) movie ever made is on its way, and this time, Ralph (once again voiced by national treasure John C. Reilly) is venturing out into the wide-open world of the worldwide web.

MPAA rating: N/A (probable PG)

Release date: Nov. 21

Robin Hood

The familiar character of British folktales gets a superhero-inspired update in this action-packed retelling of the Robin Hood legend starring Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Golden Circle), Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained) and Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).

MPAA rating: PG-13 for extended sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive references

Release date: Nov. 21

Creed II

Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) faces his toughest match yet as he prepares to face the son of Ivan The Siberian Express Drago, the Soviet boxer who (spoiler for anyone who hasnt seen Rocky IV) killed his father 30 years earlier.

MPAA rating: N/a (probable PG-13)

Release date: Nov. 21

Green Book

Viggo Mortensen ("Lord of the Rings") and Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) co-star as an Italian-American bouncer-turned-chaperone and a classical pianist, respectively, driving through the 1960s Deep South on a tour of black music venues in this comedy-drama from director Peter Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber).

MPAA rating: PG-13 for thematic content, language, including racial epithets, smoking, some violence and suggestive material

Release date: Nov. 21SALT LAKE CITY  A new study from China has linked chronic exposure to air pollution with cognitive performance.

Researchers said the negative impact of air pollution will increase with age. The study found men with less education were affected the most.

The study, done by researchers from Beijing's Peking University and Yale University, measured the math and verbal skills of 20,000 people over a four-year period.

The researchers asked both men and women who were more than 10 years old to take 24 standardized math tests and 34 word-recognition tests. The same test subjects were retested in 2010 and 2014.

The study measured the participants' exposure to sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other particles that measured smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter. The study did not measure carbon monoxide, ozone or larger particles.

The scientists found pollution made peoples verbal test performance worse as they age.

"We provide evidence that the effect of air pollution on verbal tests becomes more pronounced as people age, especially for men and the less educated," according to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

One of the co-authors, Xi Chen of the Yale School of Public Health, told the BBC that pollution increases the risk of degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and dementia.

"Our sample enables us to examine the impact of air pollution as people age. So our results across the life course are quite new," Chen said.

However,according to NPR, the study did not identify how pollution worsens one's cognitive ability.

Chen told NPR that it might be because pollution worsens a person's white matter in the brain, which helps regions of the brain communicate with each other.

James Hendrix, the director of Global Science Initiatives at the Alzheimer's Association, told NPR he was skeptical of that idea.

"I think that's speculation. I think we don't have a direct cause and effect that can be proven," he said.SALT LAKE CITY  On a chilly, overcast late-November day two years ago, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper stopped Kyle Savely, who had been driving I-80 in Summit County in a car with out-of-state license plates.

What happened next has raised questions about whether people in Utah truly are considered innocent until proven guilty.

The trooper entered Savelys information into a database and learned he was under investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. According to court records, the trooper then brought in a drug-sniffing dog that indicated it had found something. A thorough search followed.

But the trooper found nothing illegal in the car  no drugs, contraband or anything else that might be considered stolen or otherwise ill gotten.

He did, however, find $500,000 in a bag  52 neat bundles of cold, hard cash. He took that money, and Savely has yet to get it back.

Chances are you have watched enough crime shows on TV to know that neat piles of cash are associated with guilt. But this is real life, and even with a DEA investigation underway, Savely ought to be treated as innocent unless proven otherwise. There is no law against carrying a lot of cash.

He was pulled over for allegedly following another car too closely, but even that charge didnt stick. Nothing. Nada. No conviction. No charges. No jail time.

And still, no money back.

Why was Savely carrying all that cash? A Deseret News story said his attorney wont say, and Savely isnt doing media interviews.

The UHP turned the money over to the federal government, although the feds never cashed the check.

Last week, the Utah Supreme Court issued a ruling that puts Savely one step closer to recovering the cash. It ruled unanimously that state courts, not the feds, have power over the money. Before all the appeals, a state district court originally had ruled the UHP should return the money, which means its likely Savely will get all those bills back eventually.

If you have lived in Utah long enough, you may have thought you put this issue to rest in the voting booth way back in 2000. Thats when 69 percent of voters passed Initiative B, which provided greater protections for people whose property is seized by police because of its alleged involvement in crime.

No longer could police departments simply keep the money and property they seized. Today, what the state collects is given to the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, which gives it out in grants to various agencies.

The idea was to remove any incentive to abuse the law.

But if a federal law enforcement agency demands the money, it gives 80 percent of it back to the state or local police agency that confiscated it.

Civil libertarians, like Libertas Institute President Connor Boyack, think this is a big incentive that once again gives local police a reason to go on fishing expeditions, pulling over out-of-state cars in search of something illegal.

Law enforcement officials strongly deny this.

Two years ago, state lawmakers passed a bill making it harder to keep property valued at less than $10,000. But that didnt do Savely much good.

Lets get one thing clear: the overwhelming majority of property police seize in connection with crimes deserves to be confiscated. Criminals would love to be able to keep stolen goods, even if they have to do some time. A state report found that in 87 percent of confiscation cases last year, criminal charges were filed, and in 58 percent, a conviction was obtained.

But, of course, that means 13 percent of the cases didnt involve any charges and 42 percent involved people who, under the law at least, are innocent.

Utah collected $2.2 million in cash and another $400,000 or so in property in 2017, and the feds remitted $1.1 million in confiscated funds to state agencies.

Americans have long struggled to gain a sure foothold on the thin line that separates the need to keep the peace from the need to protect individual rights from abuses. Its a struggle that helps define us and the things we value most.

In this case, it wouldnt take much to make the line a little easier to grasp. State lawmakers should require an eventual conviction in order to keep property. They should require any federal money returned to a state agency to be collected and distributed the same as state confiscations.

I dont know why Savely was carrying all that cash. But unless someone can prove it was related to a crime, I also dont know why he shouldnt keep it.SALT LAKE CITY  As Salt Lake police continue to investigate the fatal stabbing of a teen boy on a downtown street, friends are remembering him as someone with a big heart.

"He was just the greatest guy I've ever known. He was the most honest, selfless person. He cared so much about everybody else but himself. It's just a tragedy, really. His life was cut too short by some people who are really not in their right mind," said longtime friend Kiko Rios.

Friends say Marcelino "Marci" Johnson, 16, was walking with two girls Monday about 1 a.m. on 1300 South between Main and State streets when an argument started with another group. That argument continued down the street to Kensington Avenue (1530 South) and State Street.

At Kensington, the argument escalated and Marcelino was stabbed in the torso. The two teen girls he was with ran into nearby Piper Down Pub to seek help. Employees quickly ran outside to assist. But Marcelino died while in surgery at a local hospital.

Tuesday evening, Enrique Deloza, 28, was arrested for investigation of homicide in relation to the stabbing, according to Salt Lake police. Additional details about the arrest weren't immediately available.

Marcelino's friends say he was trying to protect the two girls from the other group.

"He died helping someone, and that's most honest thing someone can ever do in their life," Kiki Rios said.

Police investigators said they were still trying to confirm a possible motive for the attack.

Another friend, Rosie Rios, called Marcelino one of a kind.

"I honestly still don't believe it right now," she said. "I'll remember him just because he was always there. He'll always be my little brother."

Tributes were also posted on social media as word of Marcelino's death spread.

"marci, i cant believe it , you had a huge heart and were such a good kid always fun and uplifting, I wont forget you... r.i.p lil buddy, thank you for the memories and for being you," one man wrote.

A candlelight vigil for Marcelino is scheduled for Friday at Liberty Park.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah consumers remain high on the state's economy and its future prospects.

The Zions Bank Utah Consumer Attitude Index rose 1.4 points to register at 114.9 for the month of August  down slightly year-over-year from the level of 115.0 measured during the same period last year. Comparatively, the national Consumer Confidence Index climbed 5.5 points to register at 133.4 in August  10.5 points higher than in August 2017.

The Utah Present Situation Index  a measure of current economic conditions  jumped 6.3 points to register at 130.3, representing the fourth time that the sub-index has climbed above the 130 mark since Zions Bank began tracking consumer attitudes in 2011, said Chad Berbert, principal with Cicero Group. Utahns are most confident about the employment outlook, with a record low 8.5 percent of Utahns indicating jobs are hard to get, he said.

"Utahns continue to remain optimistic about the current state of the economy," he said. "Perception among Utahns regarding job availability remains positive and actual unemployment is still quite low at 3.1 percent, well below the 4.5 percent that many economists believe is the 'natural rate' of unemployment."

Additionally, Utahns assessment of general business conditions has held steady for the last 12 months, he added.

The Utah Expectations Index  a measure of economic conditions six months from now  slipped 1.9 points to register at 104.7  down 1.7 points year-over-year, the survey showed. Utahns expectations for future income and future business conditions have tempered relative to current conditions as 32 percent of Utahns believe their household income will increase, down 8 points from 40 percent in August 2017, Berbert said.

The transportation sector in Utah has also seen strong growth, with 4.6 percent job growth, above the state average of 3.5 percent for all industries, he noted.

"This growth is expected to continue into the future with the building of the new Salt Lake City International Airport and the development of Salt Lakes inland port," Berbert said. "Overall Utah added 51,100 total jobs in the last 12 months."

One of the goals of economic policy is to keep wage growth and prices commensurate, explained Randy Shumway, chairman and partner of Cicero Group.

"Were seeing continued growth in the job market and some competition for employees, he said. "When we look at what jobs we are creating and attracting to the state, the data is actually pretty good. Wage growth is helping to mitigate the effects of price increases.

The overall index is based on a representative sample of 500 Utah households surveyed monthly by Cicero Group  with a 95 percent confidence level with a variance of plus or minus 4.38 percent. The results are compared to both Utah data and national data from previous months to identify key statewide consumer sentiment trends.SALT LAKE CITY  What does it mean to be Catholic, Jewish or a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? These labels call to mind certain religious texts and symbols, but they don't tell the whole story about the people who use them, according to Becka A. Alper at Pew Research Center.

"There's diversity within any identity. There are Catholics who attend Mass quite often and Catholics who attend less often," she said.

There are also Catholics who have more in common with evangelical Christians than they do with other Catholics, which isn't easy to show in traditional surveys.

And so Pew's researchers designed a nontraditional one, sorting Americans by their religious beliefs and behaviors instead of their self-identified affiliation. The new survey presents seven types of personal faith, enabling new kinds of comparisons.

"We thought, 'What if we try to take a new look? To use a different lens to see what's going on and get a fresh perspective,'" said Alper, who is a research associate.

Pew found that many old, religion-related assumptions hold up. Members of the new groupings often had the same political interests and educational backgrounds, just as most evangelicals are Republicans or most atheists are Democrats. For example, 58 percent of "God-and-country believers" approve of President Donald Trump's performance as president, compared to just 12 percent of "religion resisters."

The analysis also unveiled some unexpected connections, Alper said. It linked people who affiliate with different faith groups but believe or behave the same.

"Some Americans have a lot of views in common with people who, when we compare by religious affiliation, seem very different," she noted.

The types

Survey participants were asked about various aspects of their life and worldview. They described their relationship to the God of the Bible, offered their thoughts on religious institutions and answered whether they believed spiritual energy was contained in mountains, crystals or trees.

Researchers then picked 16 of the survey questions to guide the creation of a new classification system. They "used a technique called cluster analysis," which involves having a computer algorithm sort people based on their answers, Alper said.

The survey was conducted from Dec. 4-18, 2017, among 4,729 members of Pew's nationally representative American Trends Panel. The margin of error for the full sample is 2.3 percentage points.

The cluster analysis produced seven groups, which each contain between 11 and 17 percent of U.S. adults. Knowing if someone is Catholic, Protestant, non-Christian or none of the above would help researchers make an educated guess about where he or she falls in the new system, but all seven groups include all of the above.

Here's an overview of the new belief and behavior types. You can guess where you might fit and then take Pew's quiz to see your results.

 Sunday stalwarts

This group contains highly religious Americans who regularly attend worship services and study their religious texts. Around two-thirds of "Sunday stalwarts" say their faith is the single most important source of meaning in their lives, Pew reported.

It's the only category in the new analysis in which a majority of members (57 percent) are married. Nearly 60 percent identify as Republican.

Members of this group are deeply involved in their faith group and their community, researchers noted. They're "twice as likely as any other group to say they are active in a charitable or volunteer organization."

Nearly half of "Sunday stalwarts" are evangelical Protestants (46 percent), 14 percent are mainline Protestants and 13 percent are Catholic, Pew found. Five percent are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 God-and-country believers

"God-and-country believers" hold many traditional beliefs, but they're less likely than "Sunday stalwarts" to attend worship services or derive a great deal of fulfillment from their faith.

More than 9 in 10 "God-and-country believers" say it's necessary to believe in God to be moral and they're much more likely to be an evangelical Christian (41 percent) than a mainline Protestant (9 percent), Pew reported.

"They are the only group that leans more toward approval than disapproval of Donald Trump's performance as president," researchers noted. Fifty-nine percent of "God-and-country believers" identify as Republican.

 Diversely devout

Like members of the first two groups, people who are "diversely devout" self-identify as both spiritual and religious, and they hold many traditional beliefs, such as that heaven and hell exist.

However, the "diversely devout" are much more likely than other highly religious Americans to embrace "New Age beliefs," recognizing, for example, spiritual power in physical things, Pew reported.

This category is more politically balanced than most, with 49 percent of members identifying as Democrats and 43 percent as Republicans. Fifty-seven percent of the "diversely devout" are non-white and the majority are under 50, according to the survey.

 Relaxed religious

Members of this group generally believe in God as described in the Bible, as well as heaven and hell. But they're less likely to derive personal meaning from religious or spiritual practices than members of the first three groups.

Fifty-eight percent of the "relaxed religious" say religious organizations do more good than harm in society, but only 17 percent attend worship services weekly, Pew reported.

Evangelicals and Catholics each comprise a quarter of the group. Around 1 in 5 members are mainline Protestant or religiously unaffiliated and 4 percent belong to a non-Christian faith, according to the survey.

 Spiritually awake

"Spiritually awake" Americans are quite similar to the "relaxed religious," except for their interest in spiritual practices, like meditating or spending time in nature.

Nearly all members of this group (99 percent) say there's spiritual power in physical things and around 6 in 10 derive a great deal of meaning from being outdoors, Pew reported.

The religious makeup of the group is nearly the same as the makeup of the "relaxed religious." However, a higher share of this group (30 percent) are religiously unaffiliated.

Additionally, 62 percent of the "spiritually awake" are women, compared to 47 percent of the "relaxed religious."

 Religion resisters

"Religion resisters" is the first of the two mostly nonreligious groups. Its members rarely attend church or pray, but nearly all are interested in spiritual energy and nature.

"Fully two-thirds describe themselves as 'spiritual but not religious,' a much larger proportion than in any other group," Pew reported.

Nearly 8 in 10 "religion resisters" identify as Democrat and around two-thirds are younger than 50 years old, according to the survey. Zero percent of "religion resisters" believe the Bible should be taken literally.

 The solidly secular

Members of this group do few of the activities and hold few of the beliefs featured in the survey. "About three-quarters say they are neither religious nor spiritual, more than double the next-largest proportion in any other group," researchers noted.

Seventy-six percent of the "solidly secular" are religiously unaffiliated, including 31 percent who identify as atheist.

"Solidly secular" is the only majority male group. It's also the whitest (79 percent) and most highly educated (45 percent have a college degree) group, Pew reported. One percent of the "solidly secular" believe in the biblical God.

Entangled identities, new connections

Pew's new sorting system exposes some of the weaknesses of the traditional survey methods used to study American religion. For example, it shows that some religious "nones" are far from nonreligious. Eleven percent fall into one of the three highly religious groups.

It also adds weight to the argument that religiosity and spirituality are complementary, not opposed, supporting the work of researchers like Nancy Ammerman at Boston University. She's long argued that we often overlook the role of spiritual practices, like meditation, in traditional religious communities and fail to recognize how many people who don't attend church still believe in God and pray.

"When we start drawing the lines starkly between religion and spirituality, we miss a lot of what's going on inside religious communities. And we mischaracterize a lot of the people who aren't in communities," Ammerman told the Deseret News in 2013.

Pew found that highly religious Americans are more likely than others to derive a great deal of meaning from spiritual practices.

The new survey supports the idea that religious practices and beliefs are tied to other personal characteristics, Alper said. Researchers did not use participants' race, ethnicity, age, education level or political leanings to sort them, and yet group members often had these things in common.

"It shows how deeply bound up religion is with other identities, like race, gender, politics or education level," she said, noting that the strength of these links was one of the report's biggest surprises.

"That was really illuminating for us," she added.

The survey offers new ways to describe and discuss personal faith in the future, which some religious Americans have been craving. Richard Clark, an evangelical Christian who hosts a podcast for pastors, told the Deseret News last year that he sometimes struggles with the assumptions people make when he shares his religious affiliation.

"I'm aware that I have to provide disclaimers every time I talk about my religion or spiritual life," he said.

Alper hopes the survey will inspire researchers to find what people who associate with different religious denominations have in common.

"It alerts us to look for those commonalities," she said.SYRACUSE  A Utah construction company is the newest partner in a U.S. Army program that provides young recruits with career opportunities after their enlistment or training.

Chad Sorensen, the president of Sorensen Companies, Inc., met with Army officials Tuesday at the company's headquarters in Syracuse to finalize an agreement with the Partnership for Youth Success, or PaYS.

PaYS is a nationwide Army recruiting program that guarantees future soldiers and ROTC cadets a job interview and possible employment with partnering companies, organizations or public administrations after they return home from service.

The program has 16 partners in Utah and 749 across the United States. Partners include city and state governments, police departments, large corporations such as Facebook and Amazon, and family-owned businesses like Sorensen. PaYS is part of an effort to "reconnect America with its Army," according to the program's website.

Recruits can sign a statement of intent to work for a partner in the program when they enlist, giving them a chance to "secure their future success" when they return from deployment or, for Army Reserve members, from basic training, according to a press release from the Salt Lake City Recruiting Battalion.

Sorensen, who learned about the program about six months ago from a friend in Army recruiting, said he is excited to offer "gainful employment" to members and veterans of the armed forces.

"Weve just had so much success in construction with Army, Air Force, Marines," he said. "Weve had a lot of them all.

Capt. Villard Phillips, the commander of the Ogden Recruiting Company under the battalion, said Sorensen Companies, Inc. was the first business "in recent memory" to become a partner in the Ogden Recruiting Company's area.

Phillips said he hopes everyone can benefit from the partnership, and the Salt Lake City Recruiting Battalion's public affairs specialist Jo Cappeto agreed.

"Soldiers can get priority when they get out  theyll be able to get a job interview that they might have not otherwise been able to get," Cappeto said, "and Sorensen will hopefully be able to hire these people with skills and training and leadership backgrounds and certifications that theyve earned in the military."

Syracuse Mayor Mike Gailey also attended the signing ceremony.

"We're super glad that you have this relationship with the Army," Gailey said. "What a great thing, to provide training and opportunities to people who defend us."SALT LAKE CITY  While the success of Utah's booming high-tech sector has dominated headlines the past few years, a new report reveals the state's life sciences industry has been creating its own heavy-hitters, making enormous contributions to Utah's economy while flying mostly under the radar.

The University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute released its first in-depth report Monday detailing the wide-ranging economic impacts of Utah's life sciences sector. Companies engaged in developing products and services, mostly related to health care such as medical devices, pharmaceuticals, lab testing and diagnostics employ, directly and indirectly, over 130,000 in the state and pay out some $7.6 billion in wages and compensation each year.

Overall, the industry accounts for almost 8 percent of the state's GDP, or about $13 billion annually.

Utah life sciences industry group BioUtah, along with the Governor's Office of Economic Development, commissioned the report and a spokeswoman said the findings "reflect in data what we've known for a long time  that this industry is a providing a huge boost to the state's economy." BioUtah board chairman, and vice president of operations for Clinical Innovations, Richard Ji said the study also reveals that Utah's life sciences impacts are continuing to expand.

"The study is welcome news," Ji said. "It provides fresh, current data about the industry's economic footprint in the state. The sector is clearly a key driver of good, stable jobs for Utahns and were growing fast."

According to the report, jobs in the life sciences sector, on average, pay over $68,000 per year, a rate that exceeds that state's average of about $46,000 by almost 50 percent. Those jobs are also expanding at a rate  26 percent over the last five years  that is outpacing the state's already excellent overall job growth.

Gardner's director of economic and policy research, Juliette Tennert, said even in a state that leads the country in job expansion rate, life sciences is a peak performer.

"Utah already has the fastest pace of job growth in the nation, and life sciences is growing at a rate even faster than that," Tennert said in a statement. "The industry represents quality economic growth through its innovation, exports and high-paying employment."

The study's lead author and Gardner Senior Research Economist Levi Pace told the Deseret News that while those in the industry are familiar with the successes of the state's life sciences companies, for the general public, it may have gone unnoticed.

"Everyone knows their health care providers, doctors and surgeons and pharmacists, but the research and innovations behind their work is less obvious," Pace said. "Also, unlike the concentration of high-tech companies in the Thanksgiving Point area, these companies are much more distributed. Really, throughout the entire state."

Even a quick look at Utah's four biggest life science companies, ranked by number of employees, reflects the geographic distribution Pace noted. ARUP, national reference laboratory, Salt Lake City; Fresenius, medical care, Ogden; Merit Medical, medical devices, South Jordan; and Edwards Lifesciences, medical devices, Draper.

Pace said the life science industry's stellar growth rate, reflected in both overall economic impacts and number of persons employed, likely tracks back to numerous factors including Utah's years of success in the sector, the high level of research coming out of the state's research schools like Utah State University and the University of Utah and reaching a pivotal point of industry activity.

"Utah's life sciences industry appears to have reached a critical mass, where it's drawing an unprecedented level of interest and outside investment," Pace said. "With our state's long history (in life sciences) it's also now woven into the fabric of our economy and a huge contributor."

Pace noted the industry is also more resilient to economic ebbs and flows than most other sectors. During the Great Recession, life sciences was one of the few areas that not only did not lose jobs, but continued to grow, albeit at a reduced rate, Pace said. And that's a characteristic that will continue to bode well for Utah.

"Life sciences rise with healthcare and, with our aging demographic, it is likely to stay strong," Pace said. "In the event of another economic downturn, we might see that growth soften, but I would expect it to continue."

Adding to the sector's economic resilience is the level of diversity within the category. Pace noted one of the benchmarks of the report was establishing the range of companies that appropriately fall under the life sciences listing, which includes various types of manufacturing, research and testing, medical laboratory services, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and distribution.

One of Utah's life science success stories is Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a company that's developed an innovative approach to drug discovery leveraging high-level data science and artificial intelligence. Recursion co-founder and CEO Chris Gibson said the burgeoning life sciences sector is helping build the state's reputation far beyond its borders.

"The life sciences industry brings high-paying jobs and highly educated people to Utah, helping to build a high-functioning and prosperous state economy," Gibson said. "The industry also improves the visibility and prominence of the state. We want to help build Utah's reputation for its significant contributions to society, including many life-saving, health-improving innovations."

Gardner's report on Utah's life sciences industry is available for review online.SALT LAKE CITY  When federal agents arrived two years ago at the offices of two Utah biodiesel executives suspected of a $500 million tax credit scheme, they found dust and empty desks.

Computers were either wiped of files or recently replaced. Bookcases held only dust tracing where binders and papers had been. Employees were absent due to "an alleged mold issue."

Someone tipped off Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston and chief financial officer Isaiah Kingston that federal agents would serve search warrants at their businesses in February 2016, according to court filings unsealed Tuesday. Investigators aren't sure how the pair found out, but a witness alleged Jacob Kingston said a federal agent gave him warning.

Federal prosecutors pointed to the cleared workspace as evidence the pair will try to obstruct justice if the government does not detain them while their fraud case plays out. The men also tried to bribe and intimidate witnesses and Justice Department officials, according to a motion filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah.

The businessmen also may attempt to jet to Turkey, where prosecutors allege they do business and own a mansion  or hide in homes or offices associated with the polygamous group they belong to. The men are members of the Davis County Cooperative Society, or the Kingston Order, according to prosecutors.

"Multiple witnesses have stated that defendant Jacob and Isaiah Kingston's plan was to flee to Turkey to avoid arrest and prosecution in the United States," the motion states. Jacob Kingston was on his way to the airport in Salt Lake City to fly to Turkey with his family when he was arrested earlier this month, prosecutors wrote.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday that a federal grand jury indicted the executives for allegedly creating phony production documents and other records from 2010 to 2016 in order to obtain tax credits from the federal government. They're also accused of laundering the money they allegedly netted during the time they billed the company as a premier producer of biodiesel and chemicals.

The pair have access to a private plane and personal pilot belonging to California businessman Lev Aslan Dermen, who also is charged in the case and flew to Turkey on the same day search warrants were served on his Los Angeles home and businesses, the motion states.

Scott Williams, Isaiah Kingston's attorney, said the filing unfairly connects his client to allegations that are based on "unfounded, inflammatory innuendo."

"Their motion in relation to detention is wholly without merit," Williams said.

Court documents list no attorneys for Jacob Kingston or Dermen.

Isaiah and Jacob Kingston are scheduled for an initial appearance in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court on Wednesday morning.

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Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX:BET) (FRA:T07) is an ASX-listed holding company and a global provider of online wagering products and services to both wholesale and retail markets through its various wholly owned subsidiaries. The Company operates a retail wagering business, offering consumers wagering, fantasy tournament and content products and services.ROY  A man accused of trying to drag a woman from a walking trail told police he "had a moment of weakness" and "had bad thoughts," according to charges filed Tuesday.

Jorge Nieto, 21, was charged in 2nd District Court with aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, and attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony, according to court documents.

On Saturday, Nieto approached a woman, wrapping one arm around her waist and covering her mouth with his other hand, while she was on a walking trail behind West Park in the area of 4700 South and 2700 West, charges state.

The woman spoke to the Deseret News, describing the fear she experienced during the incident.

"Someone grabbed me from (behind), pulled me tight and put his hand in my mouth. So I was scared, just going, 'what's going to happen?'" she said. "It's so scary. I can't describe in words."

The woman fought the man off and pulled his hand from her mouth, police said.

According to the charges, Nieto tried to drag the woman into some bushes when she started screaming for help. Nieto then fled the area, charges state.

After Nieto ran away, the woman and her husband searched for him in their vehicle, she said. They tracked him down on a street and the woman's husband asked him for directions so they could take a video of him.

"He was trying to cover his face," she said.

Nieto was later taken into custody at an elementary school, police said.

"Jorge stated he saw the victim on the trail and had a moment of weakness and went behind the victim, and put his hand around her mouth. Jorge stated he had bad thoughts, and later said he wanted to touch the victim's breast but didn't," according to the charges.

Police fear Nieto is a flight risk and asked that he be held in jail because he has only been in Utah a short time, did not have an ID, and "did not know his home address."SALT LAKE CITY  A St. George man who police say broke into the home of two elderly people and stripped down naked earlier this month has been released from the hospital and booked into jail.

Christian Ryan Holbert, 24, was booked Tuesday for investigation of burglary of a dwelling, criminal mischief, lewdness, failure to stop at the command of law enforcement and interference with an arresting officer, according to court documents.

On August 21, Holbert kicked in the door of a home near 4000 South and 17800 West in Cedar City, police said.

He then removed his clothes in front of the homeowners, according to the probable cause statement.

After Holbert ignored the homeowners' commands to leave, the homeowners shot him "multiple times," the statement said.

"After being shot, the suspect was trying to get up from the ground and would not listen to the victims. The suspect  was naked and being irrational with the victims while inside the home," a press release from Iron County Sheriff's Office stated.

After Holbert fled the home, deputies found him "still naked" nearby and "being noncompliant," the release said.

"After multiple commands from law enforcement to stop his movements, Christian was eventually Tasered and fell to the ground. When deputies tried to gain control and handcuff Christian, he attempted to grab me on two different occasions and had to be Tasered again," an officer wrote in the probable cause statement.

Holbert was eventually restrained and flown to Dixie Regional Medical Center in serious condition, where he remained until Tuesday.

Police said the homeowners' door needed to be replaced after the incident. The home also needed a "hazmat clean up and sanitation of bodily fluids," according to the probable cause statement.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah is the state with the least amount of student debt, according to a new WalletHub report.

The report found that Utah ranked 50th for both average student debt and proportion of students with debt. The Beehive State also ranked 44th for student debt as a percentage of income and 39th for unemployment rate among those ages 25 to 34.

Utah ranked 45th for percent of student loans past due and percent of student loan borrowers who were over 50 years old.

Finally, the Beehive State ranked 15th in the nation for paid internships and 47th in grant growth.

Source: WalletHubThe top five states with the least amount of student debt are Utah, Hawaii, Wyoming, California and Washington.

South Dakota ranked as the state with the most student debt, followed by West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Ohio.

WalletHub determined its ranking by comparing all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 11 metrics. The data ranged across average student debt to the unemployment rate for millennials, among other metrics.

Utah had the lowest average student debt at $19,975, which is about 1.8 times lower than New Hampshire, which had the highest at $36,367.

A 2016 report from the Project on Student Debt announced Utah had the lowest average student debt in the country at $18,873. Only 41 percent of college students take out student loans, which is also the lowest in the country.A student in California was arrested Tuesday for taking her classmate's Make America Great Again hat, throwing it to the ground, and slapping a teacher on the arm, police officials said.

The El Dorado County Sheriffs Office did not release the name of the student due to the age of all involved, according to local CBS affiliate KOVR, which identified the student as a 17-year-old senior at the school.

The student was suspended from school for a week, according to KOVR.

The student reportedly considered the MAGA hat a racist and hateful symbol," KOVR reported.

The student was arrested after "verbally berating another student, because they were wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat, according to the sheriffs office.

As USA Today reported, a teacher told the student to leave the classroom after throwing the hat to the ground. The student repeated the action of grabbing the hat and throwing it, according to the sheriff's office.

The teacher intervened, holding out his arm to separate the students. But the teacher was slapped on the arm.

The school district released a letter following the incident that said it would work with the sheriffs office in its investigation of what happened.

In July, a Texas man was arrested after he threw a drink in the face of a teenager who wore the MAGA hat, according to CNN.

Earlier this month, an upset voter in Kansas City, Missouri, was asked to remove his own MAGA hat before voting in a special election, according to my report for the Deseret News. An election worker asked the voter to remove the hat. The Missouri Secretary of States Officelater said the voter didnt need to remove his hat because the hat doesnt represent a candidate in that specific election.SALT LAKE CITY  The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still keeping a close eye on groups like al-Qaida and ISIS.

But when it comes to the biggest danger on U.S. soil, "the primary terrorist threat to the homeland here today, without question, is homegrown violent extremists. Thats what keeps us awake at night, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said.

On Wednesday, the head of the FBI delivered a keynote address to a room full of law enforcers from across the state during the 11th annual Utah National Security and Anti-Terrorism Conference at the downtown Salt Lake Sheraton Hotel.

Wray was appointed FBI director a year ago, replacing James Comey. Before that, he served as assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division under the George W. Bush administration.

On Wednesday, Wray talked about how the FBI has transformed as an agency since the attack on the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and what the terrorism threat for the U.S. is going forward.

Wray said he was at the FBI headquarters with then-Director Robert Mueller on 9/11. He said for a long time, each day after that was Sept. 12  everybody "in a haze" asking what they could have done better and how they can keep the public safe from here on out?

He said when he returned to the FBI a year ago, he was inspired by the progress the agency had made, a transformation that started with Mueller.

Today, "national security remains, as it has to, our top priority, he said.

"And I think its fair to say that today we are all stronger, and smarter and better in being able to confront the threats we face. And those threats are many, Wray said.

But while Islamic terrorist groups based in the Middle East still pose a threat, it's those known as "homegrown violent extremists" that FBI agents are most worried about. These are people who are based in United States and may have never been outside the country, but have become radicalized and inspired by some of the foreign terrorist groups, he said. Some feed into the social media propaganda groups like ISIS generate, he said.

The FBI currently has about 5,000 open investigations into terrorist activity, with an estimated 1,000 of those being homegrown violent extremists, Wray said. They are located in all 50 states.

The challenge for agents is identifying them. Most are male, Wray said, and born in the United States. But their education level, occupations and ethnicity are across the board. As are their ages.

"Were definitely seeing a worrisome trend of people being radicalized at younger and younger ages, he said.

As an example, Wray pointed to the southern Utah teenager accused of leaving an explosive device in a backpack at Pine View High School. Martin Farnsworth, 16, is also accused of painting "ISIS is comi--" on a wall at Hurricane High School and replacing the American flag on a pole in front of the school with a homemade ISIS flag. No one was injured in the Pine View incident, but prosecutors say the intent of the device in the backpack was to injure.

The problem with extremists like this is, unlike groups like al-Qaida, most homegrown radicals are not working with two dozen other people and planning an attack for two years, he said.

"These guys, homegrown violent extremists, theyre planning attacks that take hours or days instead of months and months, Wray said.

And rather than hijacking planes, they use smaller weapons like knives, guns, crude homemade explosives and even cars. Wray said investigators have far less time to "connect the dots" and prevent an attack.

Likewise, he said the FBI is keeping an eye on domestic terrorist groups that promote violent extremist ideologies, such as militias, anarchists, environmentalist groups, or racial hatred groups.

To combat these groups, Wray said the FBI must use intelligence, innovation and partnerships. Those partnerships, he said, are not just with local law enforcement agencies but also utilize mental health professionals and even the public. In most cases, a family member, friend or co-worker has noticed a radicalization transformation happen in a person before they become a violent extremist.

"We need those people to speak up, he said.

Terrorists are always revising their tactics, Wray said. And likewise, he said, the FBI needs to continually evolve to find the best ways to combat them.

"Weve got to have the right tools, the right technology, the right people, the right skills to meet our mission tomorrow, next year and into the next decade. And if we dont, the consequences could be dire, he said.

The annual conference brings together more than 650 federal, state and local law enforcement officers, agents and prosecutors.SALT LAKE CITY  Salt Lake Citys airport recently ranked as one of the best airports in the nation, especially for business travelers.

TravelBank just unveiled its rankings for the best and word airports for business travelers. Salt Lake City International Airport ranked No. 4 on the list, finishing one spot ahead of San Diego International Airport within the top five.

Las Vegas McCarran International topped the country, followed by Charlotte Douglas in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Phoenix's Sky Harbor airports.

Los Angeles International ranked as the worst airport for business travelers. San Francisco, New York's John F. Kennedy, Liberty in Newark, New Jersey, and New York's LaGuardia ranked among the bottom five airports for business travelers.

Salt Lake City's airport received its high ranking for its quality and service and for its upcoming makeover, which will no doubt keep SLC top of mind of business travelers for years to come, according to the report.

The report ranked each of the airports based on five factors, including on-time arrival performance, airport transit, airport parking prices, quality of service and nearby hotel prices.

TravelBank is a service that aims to help business travelers with travel management.

Business travel should be a stress-free experience. When a flight doesnt arrive on time or an airport lounge doesnt include the basic amenities or strong Wi-Fi connectivity, it can negatively affect the entire trip, said Duke Chung, founder and CEO of TravelBank, in a release. The TravelBank Rank study is one of the ways were aiming to improve the business travel experience  by providing airports with insight on what business travelers really want and how they can improve the experience on their end, as well as keeping our users aware of what to expect when traveling.

In August 2017, RewardExpert ranked Salt Lake Citys airport as the second-best in the country for on-time performance, according to the Deseret News. The study found that 90.7 percent of flights arrive or department on schedule.

In that report Salt Lake City's airport was ranked behind Daniel K. Inouye Airport in Honolulu.

Salt Lake City has the second-best record for timely holiday flights. Those who live in the West can trust SLC to be an efficient hub to travel across the country, the report said.SALT LAKE CITY Two biodiesel executives with ties to a northern Utah polygamous group will remain jailed ahead of trial on charges they carried out a $500 million tax credit scheme.

A defense attorney for one of the businessmen said prosecutors' claims his client would flee to Turkey, hide using the polygamous group's vast resources or try to harm witnesses if he is released are false and based on weak evidence.

"It's outrageous," the attorney, Scott Williams, said at a hearing in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court Wednesday.

Federal Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells was not persuaded. She declined to release his client Isaiah Kingston, chief financial officer of Washakie Renewable Energy, who is due back in court Friday for a similar hearing.

Williams said the state has left out key details about his client's cooperation in a jury investigation. It drummed up allegations based on questionable evidence that unfairly links him to his brother's alleged criminal behavior, he said, at times relying on third-hand hearsay.

Isaiah Kingston's brother, Washakie CEO Jacob Kingston, also is charged in the fraud case, but his attorney did not ask for his release ahead of a Sept. 5 detention hearing. He was on his way to the airport in Salt Lake City to fly to Turkey with his family when he was arrested, prosecutors wrote in a court filing unsealed Tuesday.

The pair have pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering. They sat quietly in blue jail uniforms as they watched the hearing.

Federal prosecutors say both men are a flight risk, with equal stake in their company and access to $134 million in investments in Turkey.

They argued Wednesday that the two own a private airline and destroyed business records after someone tipped them off that federal officers would raid their offices in February 2016. Investigators don't know how the pair found out, according to court documents, but a witness alleged a federal agent issued the warning.

Williams countered that his client does not have access to a private jet and has only taken a ride on one once, and that he no longer has access to Washakie money. Prosecutors in the two years since the raid have not charged the men with obstructing justice, he said.

They said the two might try to hide by using businesses and homes available to them through the Davis County Cooperative Society, or the Kingston Order, which practices polygamy. After the hearing, Williams rejected the claim, saying the pair's ties to the community are not relevant to the case.

Justice Department trial attorney Leslie Goematt said a government witness in the case has gone into hiding after receiving death threats.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Friday accuses the executives of creating fake records from 2010 to 2016 in order to obtain the federal tax credits, then laundering the money. The company at the time billed itself as a premier producer of biodiesel and chemicals.

Though the men netted roughly $500 million in fraudulent credits, the state alleges they intended to take in more than $1 billion. In addition to trying to distance his client from his brother, Williams said Isaiah Kingston faces severe health problems.

He has lost significant weight since he was jailed Friday and has cancer, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's, the inflammatory bowel disease, Williams said. What's more, his wife is pregnant is due to give birth at "any time."

Isaiah Kingston's body trembled visibly in the courtroom as his attorney listed his health problems and explained that he takes holistic medicine.Mammootty Joins The Team Of 'Madhuraraja' On The Sets

Megastar Mammootty has joined the cast on the film sets of the much-awaited upcoming film 'Madhuraraja'. The film is a sequel to the mass entertainer 'Pokkiriraja' in which the megastar plays the lead role of Raja. There are no changes in the directional team as Hitmaker Vysakh will return to direct this sequel.





Mammootty is expected to join the sets by August 20 but due to the worsening condition of the state which was affected by heavy rains and floods, the actor didnt make it. Mammootty joined several other Malayalam celebrities to promote relief activities in flood-affected areas. The shooting of the film is now progressing at Cherayi beach in Ernakulam.





'Pokkiriraja' had Prithviraj playing a pivotal role along with Mammootty. However, as per the reports, Prithvi won't be a part of the sequel. Well, Kollywood actor Jay will play a lead role in the upcoming film. Other than him, Anusree, Mahima Nambiyar, Shamna Kasim will play female leads in the movie. R K Suresh, Nedumudi Venu, Salim Kumar, Aju Varghese, Dharmajan, Biju Kuttan, Siddique, M R Gopakumar, Bala, Kailash, Nobi, Balachandran Chullikkad will play important roles in the movie along with a glittering cast from the Tamil film industry. The movie will be released in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu simultaneously.





For latest movie reviews, ratings and trailers, download the Desimartini App.





Source: www.filmibeat.comVidhu Vinod Chopras Daughter Zuni Chopra Is All Set To Release Her 2nd Book!

After winning hearts with her first book 'The House That Spoke' teen writer Zuni Chopra is all set to release her second book 'The Island of the Day Before'.

Her second book 'The Island of the Day' is a collection of stories, flash fiction, and poetry.

Zuni Chopra creates a world of fantasy, distinct from other young writers or greats like Neil Gaiman, whose work she admires in this book under Harper Collins' rights.

Currently Zuni is in Bhutan with her mother Anupama Chopra and sharing few pictures from there proud mother Anupama wrote, " That moment when you discover your books are selling in Bhutan! Thank you @mountainechoes for the opportunity."

Later sharing a picture from the conference she wrote, "Nice to see girls soar - @zuni_chopra & @pemapotterhead - the youngest speakers @mountainechoes. Here speaking about discipline, imagination & why they tell stories. #proudmom #TheIslandOfTheDayBefore @HarperCollinsIN"

The small parts of the novel have -

1. A little matchstick girl seeks a companion an otter lies in wait for fish in the sea and wonders about humans and their way of life,

2. A merchant and a gnome set out on an extraordinary adventure to deal with an impending war. An island wakes up to a hovering storm and an untold danger.

With The Island of the Day Before, teenage writing sensation Zuni Chopra experiments with subjects and form. This is a work of exceptional imagination from a young, prodigious talent  a rising star in the literary firmament. The book will be available by 25 August 2018.

Zuni Chopra is a fresh, young voice who writes powerful prose. Her first novel The House That Spoke was published in January 2017. She has contributed articles to Vogue India and Hindustan Times.

The young girl has a passion for writing, especially fantasy and poetry, and her favorite authors include Neil Gaiman and Lewis Carroll. Her main source of encouragement and inspiration remains her six dogs.CETel has signed a cooperation agreement with the national satellite operator in Turkmenistan, Turkmen Hemrasy CJSC.

The agreement is aimed at boosting fixed satellite services in the region. In addition to covering the territory of Turkmenistan, Turkmen Hemrasy satellite TurkmenAlem 52.0E also provides services in Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, North Africa and most part of Europe. It carries 38 Ku-Band transponders and is specifically designed for satellite communications and TV broadcasting. The east and west beam provide major opportunities for companies operating in this region.

The deal will align the competences of the two companies, enabling the management of end-to-end connections, including backhaul, regulatory requirements and local field support. Customers will benefit from having a strong satellite operator in the region, paired with a WTA full-certified Teleport located in the heart of Germany.

The region of Turkmenistan is of particular interest as it carries vast amounts of mineral resources. Also, Turkmenistan with the desert of Karakum, which covers 80% of the country, necessitates rural communications based on satellite, explained Guido Neumann, Managing Director of CETel.

Batyr Orazdurdyyev, Acting Director of Turkmen Hemrasy added This cooperation will further strengthen our powerful coverage in the region by offering CETels customer base an attractive payload for their projects, especially in the mineral resource sector.

Signs Three-Year A$15.9M Supply Deal with Labcon

Melbourne, Aug 29, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Bluechiip Limited ( ASX:BCT ) a leader in the development of sample-tracking technology for harsh environments, today announced the signing of a three-year $US11.6 million ($A15.9 million) deal to supply its chips and associated hardware and services to vial manufacturer Labcon North America.Highlights:- New three-year deal added to existing Labcon North America Development and Supply Agreement- $US4.2m ($A5.8m) two-year purchase order for chips, readers, software and engineering services- $US7.4m ($A10.1m) agreed minimum for third year- Extendable to a fourth and fifth year with minimums to be agreedLabcon North America, one of Bluechiip's Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partners, is the world's leading manufacturer of Earth Friendly laboratory consumables, last year moulding over 1.4 billion products for major companies in the Life Sciences sector, including centrifuge tubes, pipette tips, microbiology disposables, organization tools, and a wide range of OEM/specialty items.Last year Labcon commenced production of its Coldpoint(TM) Bluechiip-enabled range for the global vial market, including Cryovials, Boxes, Readers and Software. In December last year Bluechiip announced the receipt of orders to supply Labcon with $1 million of chips, readers, software and services, to address markets in the Life Sciences sector, including cryogenics, drug screening, cell therapy and forensics.Bluechiip has delivered chips each month with over 290,000 chips delivered since December 2017.This new agreement extends and modifies the existing agreement between Bluechiip and Labcon North America to a three-year term.Labcon North America has agreed to order $US4.2 million ($A5.8 million) of chips, readers, software and engineering services over a two-year period. This is expected to be $US1.1 million ($A1.5 million) in year one, and $US3.1 million ($A4.3 million) in year two. An additional minimum $US7.4 million ($A10.1 million) of products and services will be ordered and supplied in the third year with an additional twoyear term to be negotiated as the supply agreement progresses.Under the agreement Bluechiip extends a preferred moratorium to Labcon for its Coldpoint(TM) Bluechiipenabled range. The moratorium means Bluechiip will not engage new OEM partners which compete against Labcon's Bluechiip-enabled products, including its cryogenic vial range. The moratorium does not include existing OEM partnership agreements that Bluechiip has, including with Genea Biomedx and Planet Innovation, and does not restrict Bluechiip from selling integrated products through its own distribution channels.Bluechiip Managing Director Andrew McLellan said the updated agreement and order was a significant one for Bluechiip, which the company would use to launch into adjacent markets. "This is an extremely exciting announcement for us because it represents our largest ever order. Importantly, it extends our strong and historic partnership with Labcon North America, which has been a loyal and important customer of ours for several years. The agreement will help us build scale as the orders increase over the three years."Jim Happ, President of Labcon North America, said: "Bluechiip's unique tracking technology has allowed us to bring differentiated products into the market. Today's announcement represents a large opportunity for us. We are delighted to have gained a first-mover advantage in the Cryogenic Vial market, where the harsh environment severely compromises existing tracking technologies. Our partnership with Bluechiip continues to evolve and progress and we are very excited about a strong future which will see our two teams working closely together."About Labcon North America:Labcon North America is the world's leading producer of low carbon laboratory disposables and was the first to market bioplastics for laboratories. Labcon's focus on sustainable solutions for laboratories dates to 1994 with the first low carbon products. A UL-Certified ISO 9001:2008 company; Labcon North America is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area.Further information is available at: http://www.labcon.com About Bluechiip Limited

Bluechiip Ltd (ASX:BCT) understands that every sample - stem cells, blood, eggs, sperm and other biospecimens - is critical, so our objective is to manage each one with optimal quality in the most efficient way. Bluechiip's advanced management solution is the only one that provides sample temperature with ID in cryogenic environments to. Most importantly, this delivers confidence in every sample.

Bluechiip's unique patented technology is a MEMS-based wireless tracking solution that contains no electronics. It represents a generational change from current tracking methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D), and Radio Frequency Identification. Bluechiip tags are either embedded or manufactured into storage products such as vials or bags. Each product can be easily identified, and critical information such as sample temperature, is detected by readers and stored in the Bluechiip software. In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the Bluechiip(R) Advanced Sample management solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.

Bluechiip's technology has applications in healthcare, including in cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories), pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Other key markets include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.

Bluechiip: Delivering confidence in every sample.India is the fastest growing country for Google Maps, Gayathri Rajan, Vice President of Geo Monetization at Google announced at the Google For India press event held in New Delhi yesterday. At the event, Google introduced new features for its lightweight Maps Go app and also highlighted its ongoing efforts towards the expansion of Plus Codes in India.

Plus codes is an open source solution that works by combining local codes, plus area in a 6-character + City format. It can be generated and used by anyone with Google Maps on a smartphone or PC, and can also be searched on Google for displaying a location instantly.

India witnessed an important use case scenario for Plus Codes recently when the same were used to accurately locate victims in the flood hit areas of Kerala. Google says that it is expanding the Plus Code initiative in an effort to provide geographical coordinates for every location on Google Maps.

In Kolkata, Google has partnered with NGOs to provide Plus Codes to underserved addresses. There are many localities and areas in the city that lack proper physical addresses. To serve these communities, Google has already helped assign Plus Codes to 100,000 residents across 25,000 households in Kolkata.

We partnered with an NGO, who together, with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, are providing Plus Codes to people in these underserved localities, Rajan announced at the Google For India event.

Talking to Digit on the sidelines of the conference, the team handling Plus Codes in India also confirmed that some banks in Kolkata have started accepting Plus Codes as KYC proof of address for those who do not have formal addresses. Google did not name any of these banks, but the company said that while these financial institutions are accepting Plus Codes as KYC, they are also re-verifying addresses through their own processes.

When they are opening accounts on the basis of Plus Codes, they are verifying these addresses. So its a due course that the bank is following. We are just working with them to provide the solution. They are just not relying on the fact that we are saying this is the address. They are verifying with their due processes and then opening accounts, a Google spokesperson said answering Digit's question on the reliability of Plus Codes as formal address proofs.

Not only in banks, Google is also helping postal services deliver mail to underserved addresses in Kolkata through Plus Codes. Google, in partnership with NGOs, is training postmen to find addresses on Google Maps using Plus Codes. The company hopes to assign Plus Code addresses to 1 million households in Kolkata over the next year, but said that these digital addresses will, in no way, replace the formal addressing system.

What you are seeing is very early stages. Think of Google providing this open source coordinating system and partnering with others. Beyond that this is not an address system that is going to supercede the formal address system. Think of this purely as a technology solution, Rajan clarified.

It will be interesting to see how banks are using Plus Codes to identify unmapped addresses of customers and what processes they follow for a secondary verification to check the authenticity of these addresses and match them to customer. There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered as to how this process works in practice. We may hear more on the same once the initiative picks up steam and gets the necessary regulatory recognition.Google held its Fourth annual Google For India event in New Delhi yesterday. The theme of this years Google For India conference was digital inclusion, wherein Google announced support for new vernacular Indian languages for its products, a new programme to get local publishers online, a rebranded payments app in the form of Google Pay, new features for Android Go apps, locally-relevant actions for Google Assistant, expansion of Plus codes across the country, new bilingual Google Feed, ability to have web pages read out and much more. Clearly, Googles agenda for this year is to make its products more popular in India by targeting local languages and communities. Heres everything Google announced at Google For India 2018.

Google Tez is now Google Pay

Lets start off with one of the most important announcements at Google For India 2018. Google Tez, the companys UPI-based payments app has now been rebranded to Google Pay in the interest of bringing the product to more countries other than India. At the event, Googles Head for Payments and the Next Billion Users initiative, Caesar Sengupta, announced that Bhim UPI transactions have grown 14X since launch of Google Tez last year. Indians from 3 lakh villages, towns, and cities using Tez in India, which comes up to 22 million monthly users for the payments platform in India. Sengupta also disclosed that 750 million transactions are carried out using Google Tez everyday, with an annual run-rate of $30 billion in transactions.

Google is now unifying all payments across its platforms under the Google Pay umbrella. While Tez will be rebranded as Google Pay, the UI of the app will remain the same. The app will adopt new features from its global counterpart to make payments seamless.

One of the biggest additions coming to Google Pay is the ability to get pre-approved bank loans. Google is working with Federal Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank to provide pre-approved loans on Google Pay to Indians. Users will be able to see their pre-approved loan amount in the Google Pay app and after completing the necessary formalities online, the bank will deposit money in the users account instantly in a matter of seconds. You can read all about the new Google Pay announcements here.

Google Feed is now bilingual

Google has seen a 100% year-on-year growth for the Google Feed in India since last year. A major update coming to Google Feed is that it now supports Hindi in addition to English. Google will automatically detect the languages you care about and serve you the best material from the web in your language. Behind the operation of the bilingual feed are Googles AI algorithms at work. Google says its AI will determine which languages are most read by users online and automatically adjust the stories in the feed to suit the same. For instance, if the AI finds that a user reads more Hindi stories compared to English ones, the Feed will automatically adjust to display more of Hindi content. In the future, Google could also add an option to choose one of the two Feed languages. The bilingual Google Feed is already rolling out. Support for Bengali, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil is coming in a few weeks time.

Google Go gets new features

The Google Go app was announced in India last year with a tap more and type less interface. The app is meant for Android Go smartphones that run on up to 1GB of RAM. Today, Google announced new updates to the Google Go app. For starters, the bilingual feed support will be added to Google Go in the coming months.

A big feature addition coming to Google Go is the ability to have web pages read out loud. Google acknowledged that scanning through long lines of text can be frustrating for users. Google Go will solve this problem by reading out web pages in the voice of the Assistant. These web pages can be read out loud in English and Hindi, with support for Marathi, Telugu, and Malayalam coming soon. Users can even adjust the reading speed and skip or replay content using the new feature.

English and Hindi definitions in Google Search

Google says 1 out of 35 search queries in India is for the definition of a word. Google is working on a set of new features to help Indians learn and practice English. Definitions in Google Search will now be shown in English and Hindi, along with example sentences in both languages. Users will also be able to hear the word being spoken out loud. Google has already started rolling out these features on Search. Definitions in Marathi and Tamil will also be available in the coming weeks.

Beyond bilingual definitions, Google will also soon roll out a feature to help users pronounce English words properly. A word will be broken down into phonetics and Google will ask users to pronounce it. If Googles AI detects that the pronunciation of the word is incorrect, it will tell the user where they went wrong by breaking up the word phonetically and highlighting the mispronounced parts.

Helping Indians find more content in vernacular languages

In the last 12 months, 50% indians are using mobile search every single day, with rising Search queries for vernacular content, Google said at the Google For India conference. To address this need, Google is working towards filling the web with content from Indian sources in all languages. The company is working with Indian publishers to help them come online through a new project called Navlekha. According to Google, 135,000 newspapers and magazines in india dont have a website. Project Navlekha by Google will allow publishers to instantly create web pages and will provide free hosting of branded domains. Publishers will also get a new tool to copy PDFs to web pages instantly. Publishers will be able to easily copy and paste text as well as images from PDFs to web pages. They will also be able to preview the document and view desktop and tablet modes, before publishing. Google will be providing AdSense support to these Navlekha pages which will be open to publishers across India soon.

Google Assistant gets smarter

Google Assistants usage in india has tripled in the last year, the company announced. This is not only due to the smartphones, but also feature phones such as the JioPhone, which comes with Assistant support. Till date, the Google Assistant in India has received 1 Million requests to sing Happy Birthday. Now, Google wants to make the Assistant more accessible to Indians everywhere. In addition to English and Hindi, the Assistant has also been made available in Marathi and will soon come in 7 other indian languages.

Since most smartphones are set to English as the primary language, very soon users will be able to tell the Assistant to talk in their language of choice, even if the phone is set to English. The Assistant will also automatically detect when users switch languages during a conversation and will automatically change its responses to match the language that the user is speaking in.

Google Home devices in India will also be getting support for Hindi very soon.

Further, Google is looking to extend Assistants reach on more Android Go smartphones and feature phones.

Actions are also finally coming to the Google Assistant in India. At the event Google showcased Assistant Actions that can help determine the realtime location and schedule of trains.

Users can ask the Assistant train-related queries through the Where's My Train action. Hello English is another action that creates lessons in Hindi to help users learn English through the Google Assistant. Theres another action launching on the Google Assistant in collaboration with Airtel. Users will be able to use the Google Assistant to check plan expiry and data balance for their Airtel numbers. Other Actions from the likes of HDFC Bank, LBB and more are also headed to the Assistant in India, with no formal launch date for the same.

Google Maps Go gets turn-by-turn navigation, Plus Codes expand

Google has partnered with NGOs in Kokata to provide Plus Codes to underserved addresses. There are many localities and areas in the city that lack proper physical addresses. To serve these communities, Google has already helped assign Plus Codes to 100,000 residents across 25,000 households in Kolkata. Talking to Digit on the sidelines of the conference, the team handling Plus Codes in India also confirmed that some banks in Kolkata have started accepting Plus Codes as KYC proof of address for those who do not have formal addresses.

Beyond Plus Codes, Google announced new features for its Maps Go app. Along with turn-by-turn navigation support, Google is now rolling out a redesigned home screen with shortcuts for public transportation on Maps Go. Google Maps will also be updated with a couple of new features in the coming weeks. You can read more about it here.

So these were all the major announcements made by Google at its marquee India event. The company also shared some interesting statistics about India during its presentation. For instance, Google noted that 390 million internet users go online everyday in India and that rural internet usage has quadrupled over the past year. India uses 8GB data per month per user and 70% of smartphone shipments in the country have over 2GB RAM, while 80% of smartphone shipments have over 16GB of storage.

Google predicts that the future of internet in India is all about voice, video and vernacular content. Google observed a 270% year-on-year growth in voice searches in India over the past year. Voice is the new Black in India, said Googles India VP, Rajan Anandan. He added that online video accounts for 75% of all internet traffic in india and 95% of video consumers are vernacular users.Google Tez is now Google Pay, to offer instant bank loans

Google has rebranded its payment app Tez as Google Pay as the technology giant entered the area of consumer finance, also offering instant bank loans to its users with minimal paperwork.

The development puts Google in direct conflict with Paytm, which is currently Indias largest digital payments company with 150 million app downloads reported.

At its annual Google for India event, Google said Google Pay has tied up with private banks, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, to facilitate pre-approved loans instantly to Google Pay customers.

Launched first in India, in September last year, as Google Tez, the re-branded Google Pay will now be offered in other countries too.

Using the Google Pay app, customers in INDIA will soon be able to get loans from HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, Googles general manager (payments) Caesar Sengupta said.

In the coming weeks, these customers will be able to use Google Pay to take out a customised loan amount from their banks, with minimal paperwork, and once they accept the banks terms, the money is deposited securely and instantly by their bank, into their bank account, Sengupta said.

Google is planning to unifying all its payment offerings globally.

The world has certainly taken notice of Indias digital payments success and our deep investments here with Tez. Many governments are asking us to work with them to bring similar digital payments innovations to their countries, Google said.

According to Google, it has 22 million monthly active users on Google Pay who have made over 750 million transactions with average annual transaction of Rs2,00,000 crore.

As it expands the scope of Google Pay, the service will soon be available at over 2,000 online merchants and e-commerce websites, including Redbus, BookMyShow, Mi and Goibibo, besides over 15,000 retail stores like Big Bazaar, e-Zone, and FBB.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai had said Tez is central to the companys India strategy and also key to its global payments push. The payments app has localised, supporting several Indian languages, and is chasing young users with games that offer cashbacks.

The service uses the indigenous platform UPI, or Unified Payments Interface, which enables direct money transfer from the sender's bank account to the receiver's with the UPI app acting as a bridge. The service is free of charge and only requires the sender's and receiver's banks to support UPI and the users to have created a UPI ID. UPI is currently the fastest growing payments systems in India.SC says only house arrest for 5 activists in Bhima Koregaon case

Giving an interim relief to the five rights activists arrested by the Maharashtra police on Tuesday for alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, the Supreme Court today ordered not to take custody of the five activists and keep them under house arrest till the next hearing.

The Supreme Court will hear the case again on 6 September.

The order was given by a three-judge bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on the petition filed against the arrest of five activists.

The plea filed by historian Romila Thapar along with human right activists Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Darnall urged the SC to order an independent probe into arrest of the activists. They also wanted the apex court to seek an explanation from Maharashtra for "sweeping round of arrest" in the case.

The Maharashtra police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists across several states and arrested five of them. The raids were part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, on 31 December last year.

Security officials claimed to have recovered Maoist literature indicating plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and home minister Rajnath Singh raids during raides over the past five months.

Those arrested included 80-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha.

Appearing for the petitioners, lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the FIR has no mention of the arrested people and there are no allegations that they were a part of any meeting. "The larger issue is the chilling effect merely because one does not agree with you (govt)," Singhvi said.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, said people with no connection to the case are placing the matter before the SC.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also today issued notices to Maharashtra chief secretary and the Director General of police on the arrests of the activists.

The commission has said media reports suggest the Maharashtra police did not follow standard operating procedure, "which may amount to violation of their human rights".

Taking suo motu cognisance of the arrests, the NHRC said in a statement that media reports suggest the Maharashtra police did not follow standard operating procedure, which may amount to violation of their human rights.

In addition to the arrests, the Maharashtra police raided the houses of nine activists (including the five arrested) and seized electronic devices and other items.

The Delhi high court has stayed the transit remand for civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, saying, police have not been able to satisfactorily explain the offence he had been arrested for.

The court has questioned how Pune police managed to get a transit remand from a Delhi court without any local witness. The court has also directed translation of the police documents into English which are in vernacular language, the NHRC has said.

The commission has also brought up the arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj. The activist has told the court that she had nothing to do with the incident for which she has been arrested. According to her, the FIR did not even name her and she is being harassed and arrested only because of her ideology, the NHRC has said.

Those earlier arrested for the Bhima Koregaon violence included human rights lawyer from Nagpur Surendra Gadling, Dalit rights activist and journalist Sudhir Dhawale, former Prime Minister Rural Development fellow Mahesh Raut, prisoners rights activist Rona Wilson and associate professor from Nagpur University Shoma Sen.LIC to buy 14.9% in IDBI Bank initially as deal hits legal hurdle

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has proposed to purchase 14.9 per cent equity in loss-hit IDBI Bank, ahead of taking majority stake, after the Delhi high court asked the insurance giant not to proceed with the deal till 30 August, following a petition filed by employees of the bank.

The high court has sought details of relaxation of investment norms for the LIC-IDBI Bank deal after the All-India IDBI Bank Officers Association moved court challenging the deal on the ground that it will cause hardship to the banks employees.

The court is reported to have sought details on why investment norms were relaxed for LIC buying into IDBI Bank.

It had on Friday also issued notices to the centre and the insurer seeking their response to the associations petition.

While an insurance company is not allowed to buy more than 15 per cent in another financial institution, the government has given a one-time exemption to LIC to raise its stake in IDBI Bank to 51 per cent.

The IDBI Officers Association filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking a direction to the government disallowing it from reducing its shareholding in IDBI Bank Ltd below 51 per cent.

According to the petition, the acquisition will result in the loss of the status of IDBI Bank as a public sector bank and a government company, which is in violation of parliamentary assurances (that the government shall at all times maintain not less than 51 per cent of the issued capital of the company).

In a stock exchange filing, IDBI Bank, however, said LIC has in-principle approval for subscription of the equity shares on preferential basis subject to their total exposure not exceeding 14.90 per cent of post-issue capital of IDBI Bank at any point of time.

As of end-June, the government held 85.96 per cent stake in IDBI Bank while the public held the balance. Within the public shareholding, LIC was the single largest shareholder, with 7.98 per cent stake.

IDBI Bank said its board will meet on 31 August to consider the proposal to seek shareholders approval through a postal ballot for a preferential issue of capital to LIC.

The insurers board is expected to meet in the first week of September to take further steps to acquire majority stake in the bank.Kochi airport resumes operations after 16-day closure

More than two weeks after the Kochi airport was closed due to incessant flooding, the first flight, Indigo flight 667 from Ahmadabad to Kochi, landed at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), as the Cochin Airport resumed operations today after 16 days of being non-functional.

Several commercial carriers, including Jet Airways and Indigo are expected to restart operations from CIAL today for the first time since 14 August.

Jet Airways flight to Kochi from Mumbai ((9W 0403) was expected to land at Kochi airport at 15:50 hours, as per an airline release on Monday.

The statement also said the airline will continue relief efforts in the state, adding that they have airlifted over 17 tonnes of relief material without charge. The airline has also extended its waiver for passengers holding confirmed tickets and travelling into and out of the airport till tomorrow and guest can change dates up to 15 September from the original travel date, it added.

In a tweet, Indigo also informed that it will resume services from 1400 hours on 29 August from the Cochin Airport. CIAL is reported to have suffered a loss of at least Rs220 crore due to the closure of operations.

In a statement put out on Facebook on Monday, CIAL had said it, is all set to commence full scale operations (both International and Domestic) at 1400 hrs on 29-08-18.

The statement had also informed that the airlines will follow the current schedule for operations and that all the services from the Kochi Naval base, from where rescue operations were being carried out will be cancelled from Wednesday noon onwards.

The airport was shut on 14 August due to flooding as devastation spread across Kerala. It is the seventh busiest airport in the country. From 8 August to 22 August, most of Kerala remained under water before the water for around a fortnight.

It also forced the government to open its Naval facility in Kochi for commercial operations as the shutdown made the city remained cut off. Earlier, the airport authorities had announced that the airport will remain shut till 18 August.

However, later, it was extended to 26 and further to 29 as water didn't recede and the runway continued to be flooded. The terminals, as well as the large solar farm around the airport, were also water-logged.

The DGCA, meanwhile, directed the Kochi-bound flights to be diverted and landed on the two other airports in the state in Thiruvananthapuram or Kozhikode or Coimbatore in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Mangalore in Karnataka.Ballinamore woman Jane Gilheaney Barry's first novel Cailleach~Witch is set for release on Monday, September 17 and will be available to pre-order from Amazon from Monday, September 3.

Cailleach~Witch is a modern gothic, mystery novel, with a strong sense of atmosphere and place. It will appeal to fans of the Brontes, Daphne du Maurier, Alice Hoffman, and Kate Morton. It tells the story of the mysterious Cleary women. A family of Bean Feasa, wise women, witches, who live on the local mountain. Think 'Charmed' meets 'Practical Magic' but set in 60's to 90's Ireland.



Cailleach~Witch is a contemporary novel inspired by the landscape and ancient myths of Ireland, like that of the Cailleach, the spirit of winter. Jane has been working on Cailleach~Witch for five years while rearing a young family and building a successful lifestyle and creativity blog, That Curious Love of Green, with over 25,000 followers worldwide.

'I've always wanted to write a novel for as long as I can remember. I started writing with the blog, six years ago. That helped me create a regular writing habit and within a year I started writing Cailleach~Witch. I always knew I'd write a book about women, sisters, and a house. I'm over the moon to be launching my first book. I've dedicated it to my wonderful parents, John and Nora Gilheaney, said Jane.

Cailleach~Witch will be available exclusively from Amazon, in paperback and as an eBook for kindle from September 3rd.

For more information you can follow Jane at That Curious Love of Green on facebook and/or sign up to her mailing list at www.thatcuriousloveofgreen.com



About the book - a little spooky, a little quirky, a whole lot of atmosphere and mystery...

Dara Cleary and her sisters are returning to their childhood home in the west of Ireland, where the aunts still live. Dara is seeking revenge for an incident that happened ten years earlier and was the reason for their leaving.

But when they arrive they find a far bigger story waiting for them.

They are Bean Feasa, witches, bound to the Cailleach, a paranormal landscape witch. Now is the time of reckoning, and Dara and her sisters must face formidable odds to complete their familys quest for freedom.

A beautifully lyrical and eerie tale, with touches of magic and an abiding sense of atmosphere and place.Jane Gilheaney Barry drives her cast of memorable women at lightning pace through the landscape and climate of Ireland's wild west.

30 June 2018 Annual Financial Report

Perth, Aug 29, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Your Directors present their report of Goldfields Money Limited ( ASX:GMY ) ("Goldfields Money" or the "Company") together with the financial report for the year ended 30 June 2018 and the auditor's report thereon.DIRECTORS' REPORTPRINCIPAL ACTIVITIESThe principal activities of the Company were the provision of a range of retail banking products and services to existing and new customers. Goldfields Money Limited is a banking institution regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority ("APRA"). The Company has two branches in regional Western Australia, and has sought to diversify its credit and funding risk through leveraging third party distribution networks.OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEWThe Company has recorded a statutory loss after income tax for the year ended 30 June 2018 of $406,699, an improvement of 59.2% on the prior year loss of $996,456. Underlying profit after tax, after accounting for the effects of costs of $938,862 incurred in responding to the Firstmac proposal and the Finsure transaction, was a $1,161,846 improvement on the prior year underlying loss of $629,680, which was net of the costs associated with the early termination of the previous core banking system.Building the business for growthFY18 saw significant efforts focused on setting the Company for future growth capabilities with the development and implementation of a new finance system and core banking system (CBS). The Temenos T24 Software as a Service (SaaS) system was successfully launched in April 2018 and will enhance the Company's ability to originate loans and deposits directly and through third party intermediaries into the future. This was a major milestone for a small team and underpins the Company's strategy going forward. Ongoing development of the system and process will continue into FY19 to ensure the full benefits of the T24 system are realised.The launch of the CBS is the result of significant investment that the Company has made in its people, products and processes over the last two years.In conjunction with the new CBS, the Company launched its newly branded website and mobile device app enhancing the accessibility and user experience for our customers.In October 2017, the Company received an unsolicited take-over from an entity associated with its then largest shareholder Firstmac Limited (Firstmac) which subsequently lapsed on 1 December 2017. On 23 November 2017, the Company and Finsure Holdings Pty Ltd (Finsure) announced the signing of a Process Agreement, which outlined the key commercial terms of a proposal under which the Company will merge with Finsure by acquiring 100% of the diluted shares in Finsure via the issue of Goldfields Money shares.On 15 January 2018, the Company announced it had satisfactorily completed the due diligence and agreed terms with Finsure to implement the merger, subject to appropriate approvals being obtained. The necessary regulatory approvals have now been obtained, and shareholders will have the opportunity to vote for the transaction at a meeting of shareholders to be held on 7 September 2018. The transaction, conditional upon the Company raising at least a further $15.3 million of capital, will result in the Company owning a fast growing national mortgage aggregation and wholesale mortgage business, significantly increasing the Company's scale, access to distribution capabilities and growth prospects.To view the full report, please visit:To view the investor presentation, please visit:About Goldfields Money Ltd

Goldfields Money (ASX:GMY) is Australia's new revolutionary digital bank, distributing first class products through a largely branchless distribution network. A bank without the bank. This digital banking platform is built on the recently implemented mobile first, world class core banking system provided by Temenos and our proprietary mortgage distribution software "Loankit".

Goldfields is ASX listed (ASX:GMY) with two key divisions:

Banking (operates under "Goldfields Money" and "Better Choice" brands) - an APRA regulated bank that offers deposit and loan products that are funded either on-balance sheet or off-balance sheet through a range of third party lenders. Our deposits are all guaranteed by the Australian Government Deposit Guarantee for up to $250,000 per customer. We are the new approach to banking in Australia, we're honest, with transparent bank practices and a straightforward approach to you and your money. It's all yours, honestly.

Mortgage Aggregation (operates under "Finsure" and "Loankit" brands) - an ASIC regulated mortgage aggregation and software technology platform with over 1,475 loan writers as of 31 August 2018. Finsure puts brokers first and is a leader in the market in offering a diverse lending panel, flexible commission models, training, lead generation, proprietary SaaS and mortgage broker support services. Finsure was also recently named Aggregator of the Year for 2017 at the Australian Mortgage Awards.

You can read more about us at www.goldfieldsmoney.com.au and www.finsure.com.au.The Holden Acadia isnt just the replacement for the seven-seat Captiva, its a new flagship SUV and bastion of GMs invigorated support for the lion brand.

The same can mostly be said about the smaller mid-size Equinox that like the Acadia has been converted to right-hand drive purely for the Australian market (and that other island over the southern ditch).

Does that heap big expectations onto the duo? Absolutely. Both need to succeed not just for themselves but for Holdens future. Buyers are moving away from the once popular Commodore and into SUVs and, unfortunately for Holden - which was slow to get a good medium family bus in its line-up - some of those customers have already moved to competitor models.

There are shades of similarities to the Equinox in the Acadia that lands into the market this October, and which will be late against established quality players such as the Mazda CX-9, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento and sharp new rivals like the Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace.

But the Acadia, based on the same GMC model built and sold in the States, has unique bold Yankee styling that could deliver an acre of space with all the bells and whistles for competitive coin. And while its origins might be rooted in Tennessee, Holden spent considerable time performing local tuning that can make a model stand out against rivals.

Details are still only being drip fed with pricing yet to be announced, but so far we know the whole range will come standard with automatic highbeam LED headlights, 20-inch wheels, a dual sunroof, electric tailgate, keyless entry and push-button start ignition, eight-inch colour infotainment system with sat nav, Apple Car Play and Android Auto, three-zone automatic climate control, USB ports in all three rows and a rear-vision camera.

Standard safety features are AEB, lane keeping assist with lane departure warning, speed sign recognition, following distance indicator, active trailer assist, forward collision warning, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert and rear parking assist. Its a pretty comprehensive kit that ticks the boxes required to get a modern five-star ANCAP rating - though its yet to be tested.

Closing in on its local launch, Holden gave us the keys to a pre-production Acadia LTZ-V for a few laps around the Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria. The model grade was further equipped with premium appointments such as leather seats, heated and cooled electric front seats and a Bose audio system.Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB), have announced today the appointment of Ms. Jacqui McCusker as the Principal at Faughart Community National School.

Ms. McCusker joins the leadership team of LMETB from St. Olivers National School in Carlingford where she was Deputy Principal for nine years having started there in 2008.

During her time in St. Olivers National School Carlingford, Ms McCusker has taught a variety of class groups including multi grade class groups and Deputy Principal duties.

She also had responsibility for leading ICT, Digital Learning and STEM subjects within the school and was also responsible for whole school curriculum planning and organisational policy development. Ms McCusker also played a key role in the schools School Self Evaluation process and the introduction of coding to students at the school.

LMETB Director Fiona Kindlon says Ms McCusker brings a wealth of experience to the post, and believes the new principal recognises the inextricable link between high quality teaching, learning and assessment methods and student achievement and attainment and is committed to supporting and promoting teacher professional development.

The new Faughart Community National School principal places great value on student involvement in extra-curricular activities and plans to develop a wide range of these activities at her new post, according to LMETB.

Ms McCusker herself says she would like to extend a thanks to members of the Faughart community who have given her a warm welcome over the past two weeks upon her appointment to the role of Principal at this the first Community National School in Co. Louth which is under the patronage of LMETB.

Together with her teaching staff, Mr. Andrew DArcy and Ms. Saoirse Mc Dermott, Principal McCusker looks forward to welcoming pupils to the school when Faughart Community National school opens it doors to the community on Thursday 30th August 2018.

Queries regarding enrolment should be forwarded to faughartcns@lmetb.ie or contact the school by phone on 042 93 71931Peter Cameron who died peacefully at Saint Peters Nursing Home, Castlebellingham on July 15 last was one of the youngest first class maritime engineers and much travelled who spent the latter years of his life in Clogherhead where he made many friends.

He was born in Scotland in Helensborough outside Glasgow, and was an only child. He moved to London at a young age where he trained as a mechanic in Daimler Motors.

National conscription took him off to Austria, following which he went to sea where he qualified as a first class engineer, and was one of the youngest to attain that grade.

After that phase of his life, he travelled to Australia where he spent most of his adult life in the Western part of the country.

He worked at various jobs from a cocktail bar manager to a marketing manager for Saint Johns Ambulance Fund. He also ran his own Safari company, bringing people out to the outback in Western Australia.

Photography played a big part in his life, both in Australia and Ireland. He engaged in all sorts of photography.

After 43 years in Australia, he came to Ireland in 2001 after meeting Toni Doyle from Fair Street in Drogheda in 1984 and marrying her in 1990. She was homesick and they decided to move to Ireland.

They chose to set up home in Clogherhead.

The weather was not to Peters liking but he settled in very well in his new surroundings, and made many friends.

He was well known in Sharkeys lounge bar, which was his favourite local watering hole.

He was also called upon frequently with his skills as a handyman.

He moved into Saint Peters Nursing Home in September 2016, where he enjoyed many of the activities there.

They included the weekly visits to the Dunleer Mens shed and above all the music and sing- alongs provided by Vincent with his accordion and the Castlebellingham Ukulele orchestra.

He leaves behind wife Toni, children, Wendy, Glen, Ian and Jenny, 11 grandchildren, one great grandchild, along with his four stepdaughters, six step grandchildren and one step great grandchild all of whom loved Grandpa Pete.

A funeral service was conducted for Peter in the nursing home, which included the singing of the chorus of his favourite song You are My Sunshine the words with which he greeted his wife Toni every morning when he rang her.

He was taken for private cremation in Lakelands crematorium in Cavan.Anyone planning to travel to one of Denmark's stand out beaches should throw away all thoughts of tropical birds or colorful umbrella drinks.

Featuring sand dunes, tall grass, vast grayish-blue skies and sparkling water, the Scandinavian country's beaches are as open and minimal as the Danish design they inspire.

Continents and regions Denmark Europe Northern Europe Beaches Coastal areas Destinations and attractions Environment and natural resources Landforms and ecosystems Points of interest Denmark travel guide

Because of the Nordic weather, the Danish swimming season is short and most beaches only have lifeguards from late June to mid-August.

However, visitors can enjoy a windy walk along the beaches here at any time of year, or go sailing on the open water, a Danish passion since Viking times.

As Denmark is a small country, visitors can check out several different beaches within a week's vacation -- with the help of the efficient local trains.

Here's a guide to some of the best Danish beaches.

Beaches along the Danish Riviera

Just an hour or two north of Copenhagen lies the northern coast of Sealand, with its fine sand beaches.

This area is known as the Danish Riviera, because its Edwardian era summer homes and hotels attract the wealthiest Danes.

Rrvig Beach, located just steps from the Sandflugtsplantagen forest, is a top draw thanks to its vast, open water.

Visitors can also go windsurfing at the shallow Lyns Beach, which is also an ideal depth for young children, or join the crowds at Hornbk Beach, the most popular swimming location in the area.

The area is a great shopping spot thanks to the boutiques of Hornbk, where chic fashion is on offer beside ceramics by local artists.

There's also the option to take a side trip to Hamlet's Castle at Helsingr (known as Elsinore in the Shakespearean lexicon) and check out the hi-tech new National Maritime Museum next door, which was designed by hip architect Bjarke Ingels.

The Danish Riviera is home to many traditional badehotels, or "bathing hotels" which have been catering to high end beach guests for more than 100 years.

In fact, TV series "Badehotellet," set in the 1920s and available in English under the name "Seaside Hotel," is Denmark's answer to "Downton Abbey."

One real life example is the Beach Hotel Marienlyst, built in 1861 and popular with royal families of the day.

It's right on the water and has a great view of Helsingor Castle, plus a brasserie that serves Nordic cuisine.

Marienlyst Strandhotel, Ndr. Strandvej 2, DK-3000 Elsinore; +45 4921 4000

Copenhagen beaches

Anyone visiting Copenhagen for a day or two should consider stopping by the public swim basin on Copenhagen Harbor by Islands Brygge, where hundreds of local young people meet to party and dive into the clean waves.

Families and those who prefer a quieter seaside experience will enjoy Amager Strandpark, a long coastal beach on the city's southern island comprising a two-kilometer long artificial island forming a lagoon and a large sandy beach.

It has a rough, natural environment in the northern section and a more built-up area with picnic stations to the south.

Locals can usually be spotted jogging here, even in the windy off season, or kitesurfing or skateboarding. There are special low water swimming areas for children.

At the end of Amager Strandpark sits the new ultra-modern National Aquarium in Denmark, the Blue Planet, which looks like a shiny silver whirlpool despite its name and features a hammerhead "shark tunnel."

For those keen to stay nearby, the CPH Studio Hotel offers chic, spartan rooms just a few minutes' walk to the beach.

As for restaurants, Scarpetta on the trendy Island Brygge district serves great Italian food.

CPH Studio Hotel, Krimsvej 29, 2300 Kbenhavn; +45 31 71 66 64

Scarpetta, Islands Brygge 81F, 2300 Kbenhavn S; +45 70 20 71 72

Beaches along the west and southwest coast

International travelers are beginning to discover what Western European visitors have known for years, the beaches along the west coast of the Jutland peninsula are something special.

These wild, windswept beaches are a great escape from the crowds.

Visitors should plan for long, isolated walks along the dunes, heathlands and inlets while breathing in the clean salt air and searching for bits of washed-up amber, the golden fossilized tree resin that makes for spectacular jewelry.

There are dozens of beaches along the coast, including Sndervig, which was voted the best beach in Denmark by the Danes themselves.

It's accessible to all, with a special terrain path for wheelchairs and baby carriages.

The works of art at its annual sand sculpture festival have appeared on many an Instagram account and it also boasts a surf school nearby for those keen to ride the big waves.

Novice swimmers should opt for Blaavand Beach, where shallow water and the lack of a North Sea current creates a safe environment for children.

This isolated inlet is protected from the angry ocean by Horns Reef, located around 15 kilometers off Blavands Huk, the westernmost point of Denmark.

Travelers can also hire a car and drive across the causeway to Rm Island in the southwest coast and ride right onto its 12-kilometer chalk white sand beach. Motor vehicles can drive up to the waves in some sections.

There are also quieter, car free areas on the island, some of which are popular with nudists. Windy Rmo is also a great place to fly kites and go kitesurfing.

As for accommodation options, Hotel Smedegaarden in Lem offers plenty of local charm. The former owner still works in the kitchen, helping to make traditional dishes like marinated herring and asparagus soup with meatballs.

Further north, there's the Nrre Vosborg in Vemb, housed in a painstakingly restored complex that dates back to the Elizabethan era -- Hans Christian Andersen once spent the summer here.

The buildings are still a local gathering place for the arts, and those who visit in September can catch the annual storyteller's festival.

Hotel Smedegaarden, Jernbanegade 2, 6940 Lem; +45 99 75 24 00

Nrre Vosborg, Vembvej 35, 7570 Vemb; +45 97 48 48 97

Beaches at the top of Denmark

Skagen, with its clear, white sunlight, can be found at one of the northernmost points of Denmark.

The village's light is so unique that it's attracted its own school of Impressionists, the Skagen painters.

Outside of a brief summer party season, Skagen is known for its poignant emptiness and silence.

But to truly experience this area, visitors should walk out to Grenen Beach, or take the quirky Sandormen tractor-drawn bus there, available from April to October, cash only.

A long sand finger poking out into the waters where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet, Skagen Peninsula is a place where currents are much too strong for swimming.

Due to different water densities, the two tides create a clear division line, a different beautiful blue on both sides.

A jacket is always required on this fresh, windy beach.

Visitors should also prepare to meet some wildlife, whether it's seals sunbathing on the beaches or great sea birds like golden eagles and osprey attracted by the lagoons that appear and before they're swallowed up by the ocean.

There have also been reported dolphins and whale sightings.

The sandbar that makes up Grenen is constantly changing, so the beach may end up looking entirely different to those who visit more than once.BARCELONA  Its less than one year now to Planet Textiles 2019, which will take place on 22 June in Barcelona at the giant ITMA event, which every four years becomes the meeting point for the global textile industry.

The textile industry Olympics, as its often known, was last held in Barcelona back in 2011 when it attracted over 100,000 visitors from 138 countries and is where the very latest advances in textile technology are revealed.

Many of the 1,600 exhibitors, from some 46 countries, tend to work on a 4-year product development cycle to coincide with ITMA and next year innovations in sustainability and environmental technology will take centre stage at the event.

The main focus of Planet Textiles 2019 will be on environmental innovation and disruptive technologies and will once again be coordinated with the support of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, along with Fashion for Good which will help to produce the popular Pitches for our Planet innovation series.

The conference will be held in the CC5 convention centre inside the Fira Barcelona near to Hall 3 and visitors will also gain access to the ITMA exhibition through a joint ticketing scheme with the ITMA organisers.

For the first time Planet Textiles will also help to coordinate curated tours of ITMA for delegates. Here, visitors will see new innovative new production technology that can significantly improve the environmental footprint of textile supply chains.

The aim is to get the retailers and brands connecting directly with the dyeing machine builders, garment technology suppliers and weaving or knitting machine companies on the event show floor.

At ITMA, all the new technology will be in situ and will be working. So, visitors to Planet Textiles will be able to see first-hand the latest advances in dyeing and finishing, digital printing, fabric manufacture and garment construction as it happens in the work-place.

To facilitate this, innovative ITMA exhibitors will give demonstrations of their new environmental technology to Planet Textile delegates. Both events are opportunities not to be missed for anyone involved in the environmental side of the textile sector.

The upshot is that Planet Textiles will likely sell out much quicker than it did this year in Vancouver, and there is already a waiting list you can join at: http://bit.ly/PT_ITMA2019

Finally, Planet Textiles would also love to hear from any potential presenters out there who will launch new environmental technology or related projects in 2019.

This event would be the perfect platform.

Potential speakers and innovators are also welcome to get in touch via the Planet Textiles website as are members of the press for whom free passes are available.(Photo: REUTERS / Ajay Verma)Christians take part in a protest against the recent killings of Christians in Orissa and Karnataka, in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh November 20, 2008. Protesters demanded security and justice for their community in Orissa and Karnataka, according to a media release.

Thousands of Indian believers remain displaced from villages they had to flee during anti-Christian violence that engulfed the eastern Indian district of Kandhamal 10 years ago.

The impact of the events that killed some 100 people and displaced around 56,000 continues to haunt villagers, said Father Ajay Singh, a Catholic priest and rights activist, ucanews.com reported Aug. 28.

"It was a planned operation," said Father Singh. "Some 5,000 people are away from their villages and are forced to live a miserable life. They can enter their villages only if they become Hindus."

Father Singh spoke at a photo exhibition and seminar organized in New Delhi, in which social activists, church leaders and political leaders recalled the horror of the seven-week riots.

"We feel the pain but no anger as Christ teaches us to forgive," Bishop Mascarenhas said at a Mass organized in state capital Bhubaneswar.

Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, who led the Mass, said the Kandhamal martyrs are a model for Christians across India subjected to political violence.

Ten years on, India's Christians have recalled the grave massacre of their brothers and sisters in faith in eastern India's Odisha state, with a commemorative Mass on Aug. 25 in the state capital in thanksgiving, reconciliation and grace, Vatican News reported.

Bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful came together in large numbers for the high Mass at St. Joseph's School ground in Bhubaneswar on Aug. 25.

HINDU LEADER

They recalled the a decade ago when violence erupted with untold brutality against the Christians of Kandhamal District, with Hindu extremists blaming them for the August 23 murder of their Hindu leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples.

Maoist rebels claimed the assassination, but the anti-Christian violence continued unabated for days and months on end.

The violence was considered India's worst against Christians in 300 years.

It displaced an estimated 56,000 Christians were forced to flee to the forests where many perished because of hunger and snakebites.

Church and social activists reported the destruction of almost 300 churches, convents, schools, hostels and welfare facilities.

Women and young girls were raped said Vatican News.

The riots in 2008 started two days after 81-year-old Saraswati and several of his followers were murdered and Christians were blamed.

Anto Akkara, a journalist who authored two books on the riots, told ucanews.com that the resulting anti-Christian violence was engineered by extremist Hindu groups.

He said these groups organized a contract killing of the Swami to spark the riots to help the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gain political mileage.

Akkara said seven innocent Christians were convicted over the murder of Saraswati.

They are "languishing in jail while the real conspirators are holding high office in the country," he said. "It is the biggest travesty of justice."(Photo: REUTERS / Ajay Verma)Christians take part in a protest against the recent killings of Christians in Orissa and Karnataka, in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh November 20, 2008. Protesters demanded security and justice for their community in Orissa and Karnataka, according to a media release.

Life is becoming a nightmare again for many Christian communities in the Indian state of Orissa, scene of the worst anti-Christian persecution in India's history in 2008, says a national Christian leader.

Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) said that some parts of the state, many Christian families have seen their newly-rebuilt homes destroyed, the Roman Catholic AsiaNews has reported.

Extremists, said to be ultra-nationalist Hindus, have driven many Christians from their villages, forcing them to give up water, property, and other essentials.

George spoke to AsiaNews about new acts of "intimidation and persecution against Christians," noting that the situation has been "made worst by the complicity of local police and administrators."

In August 2008, Christians in Orissa, especially in Kandhamal, 250 kilometres (150 miles) from Bhubaneswar, said they had faced what they describe as orchestrated attacks by Hindu mobs, since the killing of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August.

A Maoist leader was reported to have claimed responsibility for the killing but some Hindu groups said it was a Christian conspiracy, as the 85-year-old slain monk had been campaigning against conversion to Christianity in Kandhamal, where he was based.

More than half the 100 000 Christians in Kandhamal were left homeless as a result of the extremists roaming villages, and trying forcibly to convert Christians to Hinduism, whilst looting and torching Christian houses.

George said on May 3, that the Global Council of Indian Christians wants the government to treat the victims of anti-Christian pogroms in Orissa the same way as it has treated survivors of the riots between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.

GCIC president George said he wants the government to give "the same concessions to those who suffered from [anti-Christian] pogroms."

In particular, he cited "the children and dependents of victims of anti-Christian violence that occurred in the district of Kandhamal (Orissa) in 2008."

"Besides suffering persecution on religious grounds, these people belong to the most marginalised groups in society since most of them are Dalits [who were once classified as 'untouchables' under the caste system] and tribals," Sajan explained.

The Christian leader said that what happened in Kandhamal in August 2008, "is without a doubt the most painful and terrible chapter in the history of India. Innocent Christians were brutally targeted and mercilessly killed. Their homes, places of worship and places of work were destroyed. The wounds of that terrible tragedy cannot be easily erased."It has been five years this week since the teacher-preparation landscape was shaken up with the adoption of standards for accreditation that focused on evidence and outcomes, and teacher-training programs are still feeling the ripple effects.

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, which was created by a 2010 merger between two national accrediting bodies, officially approved its new standards on Aug. 29, 2013. Since then, teacher-prep programs seeking accreditation have worked to meet more rigorous standards, including ones that created minimum criteria for teacher-candidates academic achievements and that forced institutions to demonstrate graduates impact in the classrooms where they ended up working.

In that period of time, its been a very complex and challenging road to implement the standards, and thats in part because the standards are very ambitious, and they take accreditation in a new way, said Mary Brabeck, a member of CAEPs board of directors who was the chairwoman of the board when the standards were approved. CAEP standards are charting a new path, and its a complicated one for everyone.

Indeed, that path has been rife with roadblocks. There has been significant internal-leadership churn. The group has already revised one standard on candidate GPA requirements because of enormous pushback from the field, changing it from an admissions requirement to one programs must meet before candidates graduate. And just last fall, a new national accreditation group emerged to challenge CAEPs market share.

The external pressures on institutions are mounting, too. Enrollment in teacher-preparation programs is steadily declining. Some states have lessened the requirements to obtain a teaching license amid severe teacher shortages.

Federal regulations requiring states to rate their teacher-training programs were approved by President Barack Obamas administration in 2016 and then scrapped by President Donald Trump last year.

Enlarge chart.

Despite the challenges and changes, were going to be holding onto these standards through the storm, said Christopher Koch, the president of CAEP since 2015.

This month, Tennessee became the latest state to sign a partnership agreement with CAEP, bringing the total to 35 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 150 preparation programs have been accredited under the CAEP standards, while 13 have been approved under probation, and 14 have been approved with stipulations.

Programs have two years to address any problems with their accreditation. If stipulations are not addressed in that time period, programs could be put on probation or have their accreditation revoked. If programs under probation do not fix the issue, their accreditation will be revoked. So far, CAEP has revoked accreditation three times and denied it once.

Reality on the Ground

CAEP started requiring all programs seeking accreditation to meet its standards in fall 2016. Ask the people who are tasked with making sure their institutions meet those standards what the new process is like, and youll hear a similar refrain: Its worthwhile, but it can be incredibly frustrating.

It forces you to take a good, critical look at yourself and what youre doing with your program, said Sue Corbin, the chairwoman of the division of professional education at Notre Dame College in Ohio. The teacher-training program has gone through CAEPs process and expects to receive accreditation in the fall.

You can go along and say, Well, I know our students are doing well, but when you look beyond the surface, you can find things that could be going better, she added. It does help you to really reflect, be more introspective, look in some places that you havent looked at in a while.

Still, staff turnover and internal divisions within CAEP have led to some conflicting messages, program leaders say. And many institutions have struggled meeting Standards 4 and 5, which measure program impact and quality assurance. Programs are expected to provide multiple data showing that when their graduates enter the classroom, their own students are learning and showing growth. Under those standards, teacher-preparation providers are also supposed to gauge the satisfaction of both the principals who employ graduates and the graduates themselves.

Much of this information has been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, several institution leaders said. Not all states have systems in place to collect that kind of data, and teacher-preparation programs are left trying to forge their own relationships with districts, which may be unwilling to share some of the personnel data.

It lies outside my immediate control, said Tom Philion, the dean of the college of education at Roosevelt University in Illinois. Last fall, his program was granted probationary accreditation because it didnt meet Standard 4. The program has two years to correct the condition, or its accreditation could be revoked.

Philion said the college had participated for several years in a statewide survey sent to recent graduates from teaching programs, but there was a very low response rate. The college also struggled getting K-12 student data to understand the performance of its graduates, since the state of Illinois has only recently developed a system to collect that data.

Now, Philion isnt sure if the college will seek full accreditation before the probationary period ends. He doesnt think that will be enough time to get enough data for graduate outcomes, and he isnt sure if its worth the cost to try again. (Philion estimates that it would cost about $10,000; the fees vary based on program size.)

Worth the Effort?

The assessment that were getting from CAEP is not really an assessment of the quality of the program, Philion said, adding that while he supports the standards, he has reservations about the intense focus on data.

What we found from our recent [site] visit is we did not receive very useful feedback [from CAEP], he said. There wasnt anything about how we should improve our curriculum, how we should improve our instructional strategies. ... Those are the kinds of questions I have as a dean; the responses to those questions will help us get better as a college of education.

Koch, a former Illinois state education superintendent, said he understands the challenges institutions have had obtaining needed data. But its a worthwhile endeavor, he said.

It starts with building relationships between districts and teacher-preparation programs, Koch said. But it extends to CAEP building partnership agreements with states.

It helps if the state is also messaging that this is the right thing to do, he said, adding that many institutions have put solid plans in place to eventually get the data, even if they dont have it right away.

Meanwhile, a new national accreditor is moving into the field. The Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation formed last year and already has 43 programs seeking accreditation in 10 states and the territory of Guam.

Weve tried to build on the established expectations [of the field], but to also add standards that encourage innovation and [support] local context, said Mark LaCelle-Peterson, the groups founding president. Teacher-preparation programs should be working to meet the needs of their local school districts, he said.

The standards seek to add more flexibility and a sense of ownership for institutions in the accreditation process, LeCelle-Peterson said. Initially, CAEP had offered three separate routes for programs to meet the standards, but under Koch, CAEP narrowed those down to just one pathway.

The 2010 merger that spawned CAEP was itself an attempt to unite a diffuse field.

All the reasons of the merger ... are still there, Koch said. For the profession of teaching, I believe its important to have [a set of standards] in place, and that theyre in one place.

While some program leaders want to pick which accreditor works best for their institution, others say they still support the goals of a single, national accreditation process. But CAEPs growing pains have led to some restlessness.

I would like to see some kind of consensus of what we believe good teacher preparation is, said Corbin of Notre Dame College. I feel like CAEP has been floundering for so long, and thats part of the reason this new group formedpeople were so frustrated that CAEP has been building the plane as theyre flying it.

Whats Ahead

As CAEP settles into the second half of the standards first decade, the groups leaders are optimistic that they are moving past the initial hurdles of implementation and closer to their goal of improving teacher preparation.

We do have a high bar at CAEP; we are making consequential decisions that arent popular, Koch said. But I think it is important to have a standard, and when you have standards, that means not everyone meets them. I know people are afraid of that, ... but we have a fair and balanced process. Our goal here is not to be punitive; its to promote above all continuous improvement within institutions.

Koch said one of his visions for the organization is that its better recognized and utilized in state licensure decisions. For instance, he said, states could ease license-reciprocity requirements for teachers who graduated from a CAEP-accredited school.

Group leaders are also hoping to prove through research, which is currently underway, that candidates who graduate from accredited programs contribute to more learning gains for their students.

CAEP set out to improve K-12 learning through improving teacher preparation, and the question is still outis CAEP achieving that goal? said Brabeck, the board member. I would like to see some progress made in answering that complicated question.SAN DIEGO - A Hollywood actor best known for his role in the 2005 film The 40-Year-old Virgin will soon be out of jail.



Shelley Malil was convicted of trying to kill his girlfriend 10 years ago by stabbing her more than two dozen times.



He was sentenced to 12 years to life in prison, but this past January, after serving just eight years behind bars, a parole board agreed to release Malil.



The victim identified as Kendra Beebes heartbreaking testimony made 10 years ago was in the hopes of keeping him behind bars for good.

Malil will be released in October of 2018, he says he is going to move to Texas to take care of his parents.



Beebe thinks he is lying and will stay in California.If you have time to spare before your next flight, drop your bags in our safe storage at the airport and you can head back into the city hands-free. Left luggage is ideal when you have to check out from your hotel long before your flight, or if youre on a short stopover on your way through Dubai.

Find the left luggage storage at Arrivals in Emirates Terminal 3.

These are the charges to store your bags for up to 12 hours:eticket

If you received an eticket via email, your booking reference is the six character alphanumeric code that appears after the 'BOOKING REFERENCE' field.

eticket (airline printed receipt)

On your flight coupon / ticket, your PNR is the first six alphanumeric characters printed toward the right as shown in the illustration below.

An eticket from a travel agent will also contain another six-character booking reference  you can also use this to check in online at emirates.comSeven megalitres of water lost through leakage every day

Manx Utilities is blaming the Island's geography and lack of high densities of population for water leaks.

A response to a Freedom of Information request revealed almost 7 megalitres of water per day is lost through leakage on the Isle of Man.

The board insists it monitors leaks daily and that levels have halved since 1997.

However, the Island's topography, the spread of the Island's population and the number of leaks on private property make it a challenge for the organisation to control the leaks.

Manx Utilities stresses it would take 10s of millions of pounds to reduce leakage to the policy minimum level of 2.83 megalitres per day.One-hour delay to MGP schedule



Irish rider Thomas Maxwell won the Manx Grand Prix Newcomers race yesterday

Today's Manx Grand Prix action has been delayed due to wet roads and mist on the mountain.

Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson announced a one-hour delay to the schedule, meaning roads will now close at 10.30am.

The four-lap Junior Race gets underway at 11.15am following by the first Lightweight and Ultra-Lightweight races at 1.45pm.

Riders will get the chance to do a qualifying lap for the Senior MGP race this afternoon before roads re-open at around 4.50pm.

Should the schedule be delayed further, roads will still re-open between 5pm and 6pm before shutting again this evening.Council to honour women's rights activist with blue plaque



Sophia Goulden

Douglas Borough Council will honour the life and work of a women's suffrage activist with a blue plaque.

Sophia Goulden, the mother of British suffragette movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst, was born in Lonan and owned a home in Douglas, where she and husband lived after they retired.

The Council will unveil a blue plaque at her former home at 9 Strathallan Crescent on September 14th at 1pm.

The plaque will be unveiled by the Mayor after a short ceremony, which the public is invited to attend.REDDING, Calif - It doesn't matter who you ask in Shasta County or even California most people will tell you looting is not ok.

"It should be worse than a felony the way i see it around here," said Rhonda Sesnead.

After the Carr Fire ripped through the city. many neighbors have been looking out for eachother and calling police when they see an unfamiliar face on their neighbor's properties.

"We get emails to let us know of any looting or any contractors that come in here with no license," said Sesnead.

For Sesnead this specifically hits home.

As the fire leveled many homes in her mother's neighborhood leaving friends she's known for years without a home.

"you can see it around here there are a lot of folks that have been living here for years and have saved up their whole lives."

In fact, when she heard Senator Ted Gaines is working on making harsher penalties for looting she was thrilled.

So Action News Now spoke with Gaines on Tuesday to learn more about this move.

"I want to make sure that that's a felony that if you steal more than $950 in material or possessions that would be considered a felony," said Gaines.

He adds, he is currently in session and hopes to address this issue in a special session as soon as possible.

"the Governor could call a special session at any time even the following week .if that works id like to get it as soon as possible," adds Gaines.DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2018 -- A newly developed rapid imaging protocol quickly and cheaply diagnosed heart ailments in patients in Peru, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

In Peru, cardiovascular disease affects 3.2 million (16 percent of the adult population), leading to a significant loss of well-being, estimated at 281,829 Disability Adjusted Life Years.

Current Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) usage in high income countries focuses on function, scar (fibrous tissue that replaces normal heart muscle tissue destroyed by injury or disease), perfusion, flow, mapping and angiography and delivers valuable clinical insights leading to targeted and precise treatments. However, these varied techniques make it slow (typically 45 minutes), expensive, complex and potentially out of reach for most people in the developing world.

In this study, researchers developed and tested a rapid CMR protocol using contrast dye that measured cardiac structure, function and scarring. The rapid diagnostics worked with existing infrastructure, took 18 minutes and cost $150 per patient resulting in important changes in patient care.

"Our CMR strategy was three to five times cheaper than current CMR exams in Peru," said James C. Moon, M.D., study lead author and professor at Barts Heart Centre, St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. "It also can be delivered two to three times faster and is easier than conventional CMR."

Researchers conducted scans on 98 Peruvian patients (average age 52, 60 percent female). Scanning found 26 percent had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 22 percent had dilated cardiomyopathy, 15 percent had ischemic cardiomyopathy (when cardiovascular disease or heart attack cause the disease), and uncovered 12 other pathologies including tumors, congenital heart disease, iron overload, amyloid plaques (abnormal protein deposits), genetic syndromes, inflamed vessels, clots and valve disease.

Researchers report CMR revealed an unsuspected new diagnosis in 19 percent of patients or led to a change of treatment in 37 percent. In 5 percent, a change in care management was suggested but not delivered due to access barriers (cardiac surgery or device therapy).

Researchers found rapid CMR satisfied all imaging needs in 89 percent of patients. In 7 percent where CMR was the first imaging technique performed, no further non-invasive imaging was needed. CMR did not miss any diagnoses initially found by echocardiography, researchers said.

"Because the rapid CMR protocol was embedded in clinical care with training and education, it resulted in important and frequent patient management changes that appeared beneficial for both patients and the healthcare system," said Katia Menacho, Ph.D., study first author and cardiovascular science research fellow at Barts Heart Centre, St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. "Lack of resources is not a justification for the absence of key diagnostic tests in the developing world."

In an accompanying editorial, Christopher M. Kramer, M.D., University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville notes: "To make this proof-of-principle study a reality in much of the developing world, imagers will need to be trained at sites with appropriate scanner technology. Only in this way will an abbreviated protocol for evaluation of cardiomyopathies be implemented. This is an exciting time for the potential of broadening the impact of CMR throughout the developing world."

###

Other co-authors are Sara Ramirez, M.D.; Pedro Segura, M.D.; Sabrina Nordin, M.B.S.; Amna Abdel-Gadir, M.B.S.; Vileta Illatopa, M.D.; Anish Bhuva, M.B.S.; Giulia Benedetti, M.D.; Redha Boubertakh, Ph.D.; Pedro Abad, M.D.; Bertha Rodriguez, M.D.; Felix Medina, M.D.; Thomas Treibel, Ph.D., M.D.; Mark Westwood, M.D.; Juliano Fernandes, Ph.D.; Malcolm Walker, M.D.; and Harold Litt, Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office; the Peruvian Scientific, Technological Development and Technological Innovation; the Univerisity College London Biomedical Research Centre; and the University College London Special Trustees' Charity funded the study.

Additional Resources:

Available multimedia is on the right column of the release link - ADD LINK HERE

After Aug. 29, view the manuscript and editorial online.

Nov. 2017: Special issue on global disparities in management of cardiovascular disease illustrates need for global outreach and leadership.

Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews

For updates and new science from JAHA, follow @JAHA_AHA

Follow Katia Menacho, Ph.D. on Twitter @Katia06576452

For more information about about the upcoming projects with rapid imaging technique in developing countries: http://www.rapidcmr.com/; e-mail: info@rapidcmr.com

Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations and health insurance providers are available at https://www.heart.org/en/about-us/aha-financial-information.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke - the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.Nonvoluntary stressful movements or sounds are everyday reality for children and adolescents with Tourette Syndrome, but the symptoms can be significantly reduced -- both when help comes individually and in a group

Therapy against tics works, and both group and individual treatment are suitable methods to achieve a good effect. This is the conclusion reached by a group of Danish researchers after comparing the effect of different types of tics training based on a new Danish manual. This means that therapists in future can plan a much better course of treatment for those children who experience a very difficult life with tics. One of the researchers behind the study, Judith Becker Nissen, who is associate professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University and a consultant at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Risskov under the Central Denmark Region, explains:

"The study confirms that children and young people with tics can be effectively treated by training in accordance with the strategies that are described in the manual we have developed. This treatment can take place both in groups and individually. This means that many more children and young people can be offered relevant treatment, which is very welcome news for the affected families," says Judith Becker Nissen about the research that has been published in the scientific journal European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Around fifteen per cent of all children have tics, and up to one per cent of these children have tics that are classified as chronic. When tics continue for more than a year and include both vocal and motoric tics, the disorder is called Tourette's Syndrome. This disorder can be debilitating for a child, says Judith Becker Nissen.

"Some children suffer from tics to such an extent that they must be given pain relief. They can find it difficult to concentrate, for example because they struggle to keep the tics in check so they don't disturb their classmates, or because their blinking tics make it difficult to focus. In addition, a child who makes strange noises or sudden movements can suffer bullying. We therefore need to help these children get treatment, even though we know that tics often decrease as the brain matures. But the early years are so crucial for a child's development, thus everything that may reduce tics intensity and frequency needs to be done," says Judith Becker Nissen.

The results from the research study carried out by Aarhus University and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Central Denmark Region provide important information who are naturally interested in whether their tic suffering children are being offered the most effective treatment. According to Judith Becker Nissen, it is particularly important to know of the good effect of group therapy.

"Some parents are concerned that in group therapy their child will copy the other children's tics and end up with more of them. On the contrary, the children in group therapy are given a selection of exercises that can support them in developing strategies which they and their parents can use if new tics turn up later in their lives," says Judith Becker Nissen.

Together with her colleagues, Judith Becker Nissen has compiled experience and data from the work with children and parents. These experiences are now gathered in the first Danish manual. The manual is available for therapists and the affected families to use. It qualifies previous instructions, among other things, because it is based on Danish data, explains Judith Becker Nissen.

"It has the advantage of both describing individual and group therapy and of combining multiple methods, so the children are given a broad repertoire of methods and strategies. Previously we've relied on American and other guidelines, but cultural differences and experience may play a role for treatment outcome, so it is valuable that Danish children and their parents contribute to the manual," says Judith Becker Nissen.

###The International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) has awarded its highest honour, the John Goldsmith Award, to researcher Mark Nieuwenhuijsen of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Banking Foundation .

The Goldsmith Award recognises "sustained and outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of environmental epidemiology" and is awarded annually to professionals who have "contributed in substantive and innovative fashion to the methods and practice of epidemiology over many years".

Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen PhD currently serves as Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal, where he leads the Air Pollution and Urban Environment research programme. He has published nearly 400 research articles over the course of his 25-year career and his work has been cited more than 25,000 times.

Nieuwenhuijsen is recognised worldwide for his work to promote healthier cities that eschew today's high-pollution, car-centric model of urban living and for his research on the links between transport and health. In recent years, his work has focused on promoting healthy and sustainable approaches to urban and transport planning through the reduction of car use, promotion of public and active transportation and greening of cities.

"I am very honoured to receive this award, not only because it is the highest honour in the world of environmental epidemiology but also because it is a recognition of the importance of the topic of my work," commented Nieuwenhuijsen. "In a city like Barcelona alone, 3.000 people die prematurely every year due to suboptimal urban and transport planning", he added.

The winner of the 2018 Goldsmith Award was announced on 29 August 2018 during ISEE's annual meeting in Ottawa (Canada). Nieuwenhuijsen's selection marks the second time in four years that ISGlobal researchers have received the Goldsmith Award (Jordi Sunyer was the winner in 2014).

Rebecca James Baker Award

ISEE presents four other annual awards in different categories, including the Rebecca James Baker Award, which recognises young researchers who demonstrate "a commitment to environmental epidemiology as a tool for improving public health and quality of life". The winner of this year's Baker Award is Haneen Khreis, a former ISGlobal researcher who now works at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

In addition to being selected for this year's ISEE awards, Nieuwenhuijsen and Khreis are also co-editors of Integrating Human Health into Urban and Transport Planning, a new book published this year by Springer that brought together the world's leading experts on urban and transport planning, environmental exposures, physical activity, health and health impact assessment to discuss challenges and healthy solutions in cities.

###BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Single-step nasal spray naloxone is the easiest to deliver, according to new research led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University at New York.

Expanded access to naloxone, also known as Narcan, has been identified as a key intervention for reducing opioid-related deaths. However, there is more than one way to administer it and it is unknown which method is most successful when administered by community members.

William Eggleston, clinical assistant professor at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University, was interested in knowing how successfully community members could administer naloxone after basic video training.

"I'm studying things like which type of naloxone should we give to members of the community, and what is the best way to distribute that naloxone," Eggleston said.

In collaboration with SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y., Eggleston conducted a study to estimate and compare the rate of successful administration and the time to successful administration by community members for single-step nasal spray, multi-step atomized nasal spray and intramuscular simulated naloxone.

Over a three-day period at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, 138 adults with no prior naloxone training were asked to watch a two-minute video demonstrating how to administer naloxone via one of the three methods - two nasal sprays and one intramuscular - and then to administer the naloxone to a mannequin using their randomly selected method.

After the video training, participants were able to administer the single-step nasal spray naloxone with a higher rate of success than the intramuscular naloxone, and also to administer the single-step nasal spray naloxone more rapidly than either the multi-step atomized spray or the intramuscular naloxone. This information is important for community naloxone programs across the United States.

"With training, nasal sprays in general had a higher degree of success than the shot," Eggleston said. "Even if it seemed to us it was a no-brainer that we should be using nasal sprays, we had no data before, so now we have some to support that."

The study, "A Randomized Usability Assessment of Simulated Naloxone Administration by Community Members," was published in the journal Addiction in August.

###For decades, scientists struggled to explain how scarce resources can sustain the multitude of species that exists on Earth. Early theoretical attempts to understand biodiversity led to a nonsensical situation: theory predicted that the number of species had to be equal to the number of resource types available in the environment, a conclusion that clearly fails the test of reality. The contrast between the theoretical prediction and the experimental observation is so glaring that it has been called paradoxical.

This paradox is often known as the "plankton paradox", because it is very crisply illustrated by the properties of plankton ecosystems. In open sea water, there are fewer than 10 different growth-sustaining resources such as light, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, iron, etc. Yet even there, hundreds of different species of plankton are able to stably coexist without driving each other extinct.

Despite recent progress, this enigma of biodiversity has not yet been solved. Now, scientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, Portugal, developed a new mathematical model which may be the answer. Their findings were published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

According to Andres Laan, the first author of the study, led by principal investigator Gonzalo de Polavieja, classical resource competition models predict that each resource will sustain the one species which is best at consuming it, consequently driving all competing species to extinction. But this one-to-one correspondence is not what we observe in nature. On the contrary, the number of species living on Earth is orders of magnitude larger.

The scientists set out to provide a new solution to the plankton paradox. The novelty of this study is that, to explain the biodiversity paradox, they used game theory models of aggression as their source of inspiration. "We started from a theoretical scenario where we had just two 'species': hawks and doves", Laan explains. "Hawks are blood-thirsty and always ready to fight. Doves are pacific and tend to split resource or run away from fights. According to game theory, in the end, neither purely hawks nor purely doves are dominant, but instead the two 'species' coexist."

They then wondered what would happen if various species played this hawk-dove game over many different kinds of resources simultaneously. For each resource, a species had an independent choice between being a hawk or being a dove. "This rich set of choices generated combinatorial diversity leading to a large number of potential species and just as was the case for the simple hawk-dove game, the species ended up coexisting, rather than driving each other extinct", says Laan.

According to their model, biodiversity actually increases exponentially with the number of resources. "On one resource, two species can coexist, on two resources, four species, on four resources, 16 species, and on 10 resources, we get to more than 1000 species. Exponential growth is very fast, so it provides a nice way to maintain biodiversity", he explains.

Their theory, the authors say, also has a number of experimentally confirmed predictions. The model precisely captures how abundant different species are in real ecosystems. In these ecosystems, there are a few species that are most abundant, yet they account for a disproportionately large fraction of the total biomass in the system. "You can think of this as being similar to wealth inequality in human societies, where the rich hold a disproportionately large share of total wealth", says Laan.

The authors believe that resolving this paradox might provide the key not only to understanding biodiversity, but also understanding extinctions and predicting possible future directions of animal evolution. "These ideas are still largely theoretical, so we need to test how well the competition mechanisms proposed in the paper describe what happens when real species compete, but early results look quite promising," Laan concludes.

###DURHAM, N.C. -- Some scientists have suggested we need to protect half of Earth's surface to preserve most of its species. A new Duke University-led study, however, cautions that it is the quality, not merely the quantity, of what we protect that matters.

"There's a lot of discussion about protecting 'Half Earth' as a minimum to protect biodiversity. The challenge is, which half do we protect?" said Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, who was lead author of the new study.

"The predilection of national governments is to protect areas that are 'wild' -- that is, typically remote, cold, or arid," Pimm said. "Unfortunately, those areas often hold relatively few species. Our analysis shows that protecting even as much as half of the world's large wilderness areas will not protect many more species than at present."

To protect as many at-risk species as possible, especially those with small ranges, governments should expand their conservation focus and prioritize the protection of key habitats outside existing wildernesses, parks and preserves, Pimm and his coauthors from China and Brazil say.

"If we are to protect most species from extinction we have to protect the right places -- special places -- not just more area, per se," said Binbin Li, assistant professor of environmental sciences at Duke Kunshan University in China.

The team's new peer-reviewed study, published August 29 in Science Advances, uses geospatial analysis to map how well the world's current system of protected areas overlaps the ranges of nearly 20,000 species of mammals, birds and amphibians, the species that scientists know best.

"We found that global conservation efforts have enhanced protection for many species - for example, nearly half the species of birds with the smallest geographical ranges now have at least part of their ranges protected to a degree -- but critical gaps still exist," said Clinton Jenkins, of Brazil's Instituto de Pesquisas Ecologicas.

These gaps occur worldwide, including in biodiversity hotspots such as the northern Andes, the coastal forests of Brazil, and southwestern China, and they will continue to persist even if governments protect to up to half of the world's remaining wild areas, the study shows.

"Certainly, there are good reasons to protect large wild areas: they provide environmental services," Pimm said. "An obvious example is the Amazon, where the loss of the forest there might cause massive changes to the climate. But to save as much biodiversity as possible, we have to identify the species that remain poorly protected -- which this paper does -- and then pinpoint where they are, so we can effect practical conservation."

Many of the unprotected habitats are small parcels of land in areas where human impacts are already felt, disqualifying them for protection as wildernesses.

Pimm, Jenkins and Li lead a nonprofit organization called SavingSpecies that partners with local conservation groups in South America, Asia and other regions to protect such lands.

"The 'Half Earth' approach provides an inspiring vision to protect the world's species," Pimm said. "A preoccupation with concentrating on the total area protected is misleading, however. It's quality, not quantity that matters."

###

CITATION: "How to Protect Half of Earth to Ensure It Protects Sufficient Biodiversity," Stuart L. Pimm, Clinton N. Jenkins, Binbin V. Li. August 29, 2018, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2616August 29, 2018. The editors of the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine (JSCM) and the leadership of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (ASCIP) announce the recipient of this year's Ernest Bors, MD Award for Scientific Development. This prestigious award acknowledges the best research article by a young investigator published in 2017. JSCM is the peer-reviewed official journal of ASCIP.

Kelsey A. Potter-Baker, PhD, is the primary author of the top-scoring article: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paired with massed practice training to promote adaptive plasticity and motor recovery in chronic incomplete tetraplegia: a pilot study. (J Spinal Cord Med 2018 Sep;41(5):503-517. Epub Aug 17 2017. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2017.1361562). The article is co-authored by Daniel P. Janini, Yin-Liang Lin, Vishwanath Sankarasubramanian, David A. Cunningham, Nicole M. Varnerin, Patrick Chabra, Kevin L. Kilgore, Mary Ann Richmond, Frederick S. Frost and Ela B. Plow.

Dr. Potter-Baker is a research scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and a research investigator at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. JSCM, the peer-reviewed official journal of ASCIP, has awarded the Bors Award since 1994.

"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Potter-Baker as our newest Bors Award honoree," said Florian P. Thomas, MD, MA, PhD, MS, editor-in-chief of JSCM," and acknowledge her key role in this important study of the first long-term application of non-invasive, transcranial direct current stimulation for upper limb functional recovery after spinal cord injury. We are confident that she will continue to contribute to the advances that are improving quality of life for individuals with SCI."

###

Dr. Potter-Baker will be recognized at ASCIP's 2018 Educational Conference & Expo, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the New Orleans Marriott, from September 2 to 5. Dr. Potter-Baker will present the findings from her award-winning paper, and accept her award at ASCIP's Academy Awards ceremony.

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (W81XWH1110707), Clinical Translational Science Collaborative (RPC# 2016-195) and by a grant from CPN Challenge, a program of Conquer Paralysis Now.

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10790268.2017.1361562

About the Ernest Bors, MD Award for Scientific Development

Since 1994, the Bors Award has memorialized Dr. Ernest Bors (1900-1990), a pioneer in spinal cord injury care and research. Faced with caring for thousands of wounded veterans considered 'hopeless cases', Dr. Bors had to fight for basic resources. Despite these challenges, he made research and publication a priority. The Bors Award honors excellence among young investigators who, following the example set by Dr. Bors, are pursuing careers dedicated to bettering the lives of individuals with spinal cord injury. For more about Dr. Bors, who was revered by his many patients, see: Bodner D. The Bors Award: Legacy of Ernest H.J. "Pappy" Bors, MD. JSCM 2009;32(1):1-2. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647495/)

About the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine

The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine (JSCM) serves the international community of professionals dedicated to improving the lives of people with injuries/disorders of the spinal cord. JSCM is the peer-reviewed official journal of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (ASCIP), a US-based multidisciplinary organization serving scientists, physicians, psychologists, nurses, therapists and social workers in the field of spinal cord injury care and research. JSCM, a member benefit of ASCIP, is published six times a year by Taylor & Francis Publishing. The editor-in-chief is Dr. Florian Thomas of Hackensack University Medical Center, Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Hackensack, NJ, USA. JSCM's 2017 Impact Factor is 1.882.

Contact: Carolann Murphy, PA, Assistant Editor; Cmurphy@KesslerFoundation.orgPHILADELPHIA (August 29, 2018) -- The Monell Center and Jefferson (Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University) announced today the signing of an Agreement of Cooperation, outlining how the two institutions will collaborate over the next year to develop joint scientific programs and clinical opportunities to advance their shared mission of improving human health.

This comes 10 months after the announcement of the signing of a Letter of Intent to discuss a potential merger. The Agreement of Cooperation, which became effective on August 1, 2018 and extends for one year, results from the extensive dialog between Monell and Jefferson, which identified many mutually-advantageous benefits of working as independent entities.

Terms of the Cooperation Agreement focus on promoting joint research activities between the two institutions, establishing educational exchange programs to explore basic and clinical synergies, and developing fund-raising opportunities for research programs of mutual interest.

"This creative partnership agreement is a powerful next step in our relationship with Monell," said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, President of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health. "This allows our scientists to share ideas, compete for funding together, and focus on the real work - re-imagining discovery."

The collaborative partnership between an exceptional clinical health system and professional university and a world-class basic research institute presents exciting translational research opportunities to address pressing health challenges, such as heart disease, obesity, hypertension, infectious disease, and Alzheimer's dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

To achieve that goal, the two institutions will fund up to four Monell-Jefferson collaborative pilot studies exploring promising new ideas and hypotheses. A highly successful joint research symposium held at Jefferson in July identified multiple basic research synergies for scientists to develop. A second symposium will focus on clinical translation.

"Monell and Jefferson share a mission to improve lives and advance health outcomes by translating basic science into clinical practice. Over the past year we identified multiple benefits of working together to advance that mission. In one example, we recently received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for research involving scientists from Monell and Jefferson. This exciting work, which has high potential for increasing pharmaceutical compliance in children by improving the taste of liquid medicines, could not have been carried out by either partner alone," said Monell Center President and Director Robert Margolskee, MD, PhD.

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Currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding, Monell's scientists have established a strong legacy of discoveries about how the human body detects and responds to chemicals in the worlds within and around us. Advances over the past decade dramatically illustrate how the primal senses of taste and smell extend well beyond our mouths and noses to detect and vanquish invading bacteria in our airways and parasites in our intestines. Still other developments focus on the regenerative capacities of taste and smell cells, which hold great promise for addressing the decline of the senses associated with aging.

Over the last four years, Jefferson has experienced tremendous growth. Thomas Jefferson University and Philadelphia University combined to form the new Jefferson, creating a national University delivering 21st-century professional education. The combined University is redefining the higher education value proposition through a unique model focused on interprofessional and transdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning supported by design and systems thinking, innovation, entrepreneurship, empathy, and the modes of thought central to the liberal arts and scientific inquiry. In addition, Jefferson Health has expanded from a Philadelphia-based academic medical center to a 14-hospital regional network spanning two states by partnering with community-based health systems and leveraging telehealth to deliver vital and accessible healthcare that is more convenient to patients.

The Monell Chemical Senses Center is an independent nonprofit basic research institute based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 and now celebrating its 50th anniversary, Monell builds on its legacy of advancing scientific understanding of the mechanisms and functions of taste and smell to benefit human health and well-being. Using an interdisciplinary approach, scientists collaborate in varied programmatic areas to make world-class research breakthroughs that improve lives. Among the areas of focus is the new field of sensory nutrition, where Monell science is driving significant advances to address global nutritional health by combining its expertise in the sensory drivers of food intake with innovative research in nutrient detection, metabolism, appetite, and food choice. Another recent initiative focuses on identifying treatments for anosmia, loss of the sense of smell. For more information about Monell, visit http://www.monell.org.

Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University) is a leader in interdisciplinary, professional education. Jefferson, home of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, is a preeminent university delivering high-impact education in 160 undergraduate and graduate programs to 7,800 students in architecture, business, design, engineering, fashion, health, medicine, social sciences and textiles. The new Jefferson is re-defining the higher education value proposition with an approach that is collaborative and active; increasingly global; integrated with industry; focused on research across disciplines to foster innovation and discovery; and technology-enhanced. Student-athletes compete as the Jefferson Rams in the NCAA Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.New archaeological evidence from the Iberian Peninsula reveals extensive Mediterranean exchange networks of amber resources in Late Prehistory, according to a study published August 29, 2018 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Mercedes Murillo-Barroso from Universidad de Granada, Spain, and colleagues.

Amber is a highly valued and unusual gemstone made of fossilized tree resin. Archaeological studies traced the exchange networks of amber raw material and decorative objects in Europe back to the Late Paleolithic (40,000 to 8,000 years BC), but the precise geographical range of these trade routes was unclear. The new evidence comes from a variety of archaeological and geological localities across the Iberian Peninsula.

Infrared spectroscopy analyses on 22 amber samples from Portugal and Spain, dating between 4,000 to 1,000 years BC, confirmed previous research showing that in Northern Iberia amber was mostly of local origin, while in the rest of the Peninsula amber objects came from Sicily or the Baltic region. By combining this data with available archaeological information, the authors found that Sicilian amber arrived in Iberia earlier than previously thought, at least from 4,000 years BC. After a decline in amber consumption and trade with the beginning of the Bronze Age, around 2,000 years BC, an influx of Baltic amber gradually replaced the Sicilian amber in Iberia since around 1,000 years BC.

These findings suggest the Iberians engaged in extensive Mediterranean exchange networks in Late Prehistory, and support previous hypotheses on the origin of amber resources in Iberia during this period.

Murillo-Barroso notes: "We have overcome traditional challenges in attempts at assigning corroded amber to a geological source. Thanks to this new work, we now have evidence of the arrival of Sicilian amber in Iberia since the 4th Millennium BC at least. This amber appears at southern Iberian sites and its distribution is similar to that of ivory, so perhaps Sicilian amber reached Iberia through North African contacts."

Co-author Marcos Martinon-Torres adds: "From the Late Bronze Age we see Baltic amber at a large number of Iberian sites. What's peculiar is that this amber appears associated to iron, silver and ceramics that point to Mediterranean connections. This suggests that amber from the North may have moved South across the Central Europe before being shipped to the West by Mediterranean sailors, challenging previous suggestions of direct trade between Scandinavia and Iberia."

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202235

Citation: Murillo-Barroso M, Penalver E, Bueno P, Barroso R, de Balbin R, Martinon-Torres M (2018) Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0202235. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202235

Funding: This work was supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission under a Marie Curie Intra- European Fellowship at UCL Institute of Archaeology (London, UK); by the University of Granada under the programme Captacion de Talento UGRFellows; by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the R&D projects: Metal y Ambar: Modelos de Circulacion de Materias Primas en la Prehistoria Reciente de la Peninsula Iberica (HAR2017-82685-R) and the project CRE: Global bioevent of massive resin production at the initial diversification of modern forest ecosystems, funded by the Spanish AEI/FEDER, UE Grant CGL2017-84419.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that ketamine works as an antidepressant at least in part by activating the brain's opioid system.

The finding overturns previously held beliefs that the drug's antidepressant effects stemmed solely from its impact on the glutamate system. These beliefs led to the widespread use of ketamine to treat depression and spurred the development of glutamate-blocking drugs for use as antidepressants.

The new finding also highlights the interaction between depression, pain and opioid addiction and presents an opportunity for clinicians to reframe treatment approaches for three of the most important public health crises today.

The research is believed to be the first to address how ketamine works in the human brain to provide relief from depression. A paper describing the work will be published Aug. 29 in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

"Before we did the study, I wasn't sure that ketamine really worked to treat depression. Now I know the drug works, but it doesn't work like everyone thought it was working," said Alan Schatzberg, MD, the Kenneth T. Norris Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, who shares senior authorship of the paper with Carolyn Rodriguez, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

Ketamine's origins

Ketamine was developed in the 1960s and has been used for decades as an anesthetic during surgery. It can cause dissociative side effects, including hallucinations, and has been used as a recreational drug. If used regularly, it can lead to dependence.

Although the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug's use for depression, some doctors have prescribed it "off-label" in recent years as a rapid but short-acting antidepressant. Traditional antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, take four to six weeks to have an effect but don't work in two-thirds of patients who try them. Stand-alone ketamine clinics have popped up all over the country to administer expensive intravenous infusions of ketamine to patients, even though some scientists caution that not enough is known about the drug to warrant its widespread use for depression.

Ketamine infusions are also used to treat chronic pain, which is a common condition in depressed patients. Exactly how ketamine blunts pain is not fully understood, but it is known to work at least in part on the opioid system. The Stanford researchers wanted to see if the antidepressive effects of ketamine were also generated by ketamine's activation of the opioid system. They sought to answer this question through a small clinical trial in which people with depression were given an opioid-receptor blocker prior to taking ketamine.

The study enrolled adults with treatment-resistant depression, meaning their condition had not improved after multiple treatment efforts. Twelve participants received infusions of ketamine twice -- once preceded by naltrexone, an opioid-receptor blocker, and once with placebo. Neither the study participants nor the researchers were told whether active drug or placebo was administered during each test. The researchers found that ketamine reduced depressive symptoms by about 90 percent for three days in more than half of the participants when administered with a placebo, but had virtually no effect on depressive symptoms when it was preceded by naltrexone.

"This was purely a mechanistic study, not a treatment trial," said Nolan Williams, MD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science. "And the results were so clear that we ended the study early to avoid exposing additional patients to the ineffective combination treatment." Williams shares lead authorship of the paper with Boris Heifets, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine.

Because the field of anesthesia has long regarded ketamine specifically as a nonopioid drug, Heifets was skeptical when Williams approached him about joining the research effort. "Everything that I was taught, and everything that I've always taught my students -- all of the evidence supports the fact that ketamine is not an opioid," he said. "I was really surprised at the results."

Understanding how it works

Although some small studies have shown that ketamine had rapid, although transient, antidepressant effects, Schatzberg said the researchers wanted to understand how ketamine works. He said he came to suspect that ketamine's effects might be linked to the brain's opioid system when Rodriguez published a report on ketamine's ability to reduce symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, which was similar to previous Stanford research using the opioid morphine.

The prevailing hypothesis for ketamine's antidepressant effect was that the drug blocked a receptor for glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain that is implicated in memory and learning. "But ketamine's mechanism is complicated, as it acts on many different receptor types beyond glutamate receptors, and it acts in three distinct phases -- rapid effects, sustained effects and return to baseline," Rodriguez said.

Schatzberg noted that no other glutamate-receptor blocker has an antidepressant effect like ketamine and that attempts to develop similar drugs have largely failed.

The researchers said the findings from the new study may explain why ketamine works so quickly as an antidepressant: It activates the brain's opioid receptors during its first phase of activity. The glutamate system may be responsible for the sustaining effects after ketamine is metabolized, they said.

The authors say that revealing the role of the opioid system in the antidepressant effects of ketamine is critical in the effort to develop new antidepressants. For instance, glutamate receptor blockers may not have rapid antidepressant effects unless they also involve the opioid system, Williams said.

"Psychiatry used opioids, barbiturates and high doses of stimulants to treat depression 50 or 60 years ago," Schatzberg said. "We have to properly examine the risks associated with using drugs of abuse -- even in low doses -- to treat depression. It's not limited to ketamine; other antidepressant drugs that target the opioid system are in development now, too."

While a standard opioid like morphine initially has an antidepressant effect, it promotes depression after repeated use, Williams said. People who are depressed take as much as 2.4 times as many opioids immediately after painful surgeries than those who aren't depressed, he said. "There is truly a link between depression, pain and opioid use," Heifets said. "You can't go after one without addressing the others."

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Other Stanford co-authors of the study are research psychologist Christine Blasey, PhD; instructor Keith Sudheimer, PhD; medical student Jaspreet Pannu; life science researcher Heather Pankow; Jessica Hawkins, clinical research manager; Justin Birnbaum, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry; and David Lyons, PhD, professor of psychiatry. Lyons, Rodriguez and Schatzberg are members of the Stanford Neuroscience Institute. Schatzberg is also a member of Stanford Bio-X.

Rodriguez has consulted for Allergan, BlackThorn Therapeutics and Rugen Therapeutics. Schatzberg has consulted for Alkermes and Avanir, has equity in Corcept and Merck, and received a grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant UL1TR001085 to Spectrum, the Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education), the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Avy L. and Roberta L. Miller Foundation and the Pritzker Family Fund.

Stanford's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences also supported the work.

The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu.

Print media contact: Tracie White at (650) 723-7628 (traciew@stanford.edu)

Broadcast media contact: Margarita Gallardo at (650) 723-7897 (mjgallardo@stanford.edu)Dont arm teachers.

That was the message from more than half a dozen speakers at the Federal School Safety Commissions final listening session Tuesday, in Montgomery, Ala.

The listening session came on the heels of recent reports, including initially in the New York Times , that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is mulling allowing school districts to use flexible federal block grant funding to arm school staff . Education officials in Texas had asked the feds if that would be an appropriate use of the funds.

But nearly half of the educators, experts, and community members who spoke to the panel Tuesday were vehemently against the idea. No one from the public spoke directly in favor of arming educators.

Arming teachers is an incredibly dangerous policy and [the department] should drop any plans to allow schools to use taxpayer money to buy guns, said Adam Vincent, who spoke on behalf of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a grassroots lobbying organization. Vincent recallled a friend who committed suicide using a handgun.

Arming teachers places an unreasonable burden on Americas educators, said Tricia Daniel, who represented the Alabama Association of School Psychologists. She urged the commission to instead provide funding for school counselors and other mental health professionals.

And Karen Humphrey Sullins, a counselor with Helping Hands Professional Counseling, said shes worked with children who have experienced trauma, including gun violence, in their home lives. Some of those children would feel deeply anxious if they knew their teachers were armed, she argued.

If we compromise that safe zone [of school] we could create a whole list of problems, she said.

Others made it clear they dont want the feds issuing any mandates that educators must carry weapons.

State and local school boards should decide whats appropriate, Pam Doyle, the immediate past president of the Alabama School Boards Association said. Educators already have tremendous responsibility. Marksmanship ought not to be one of those responsibilites.

President Donald Trump created the commission to respond to the February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 people dead.

The panel, which is led by DeVos, includes three other cabinet members: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. None of them were on hand for the Alabama listening sessionor any of the previous listening sessionsbut each sent representatives. Mick Zais, the deputy secretary at the Education Department, stood in for DeVos.

This was the publics last opportunity to address the panel directly with their ideas for school safety. It was also the third listening session held in a state that voted for Trump in the 2016 election. Other listening sessions were held in Lexington, Ky and Cheyenne, Wyo . The first listening session , in deep-blue Washington, D.C., featured a lot of pushback on the commissions refusal to consider gun control as part of its work.

At least one participant in the listening sessionMarlyn Tillman, the executive director of Gwinnett SToPP, an advocacy organization based outside Atlanta, admonished the commission for providing little advance notice of its listening sessions, and for failing to seek out diverse perspectives.

She called the commissions attempt to enlist public comment, disingenuous. As is the commissions practice, Zais did not directly respond to her concerns, or those of any other speaker who participated in the listening session.

Not Blanket Approaches

The event in Alabama also included two panels made up of state and local leaders, as well as experts who were invited by the commission to share their ideas.

During one of those panels, local and state officials asked Zais what kind of federal funding is available for states to bolster school safety. He said that after the shooting in Parkland, the president was adamant that more resources need to be available for schools.

For instance, he said, the most recent spending bill increased a flexible block grant that can be used for safety and other purposesthe Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grantsfrom $400 million to $1.1 billion. (Quick fact check: Trumps budget, released shortly before the Parkland massacre, sought to zero out funding for the program .)

Also speaking on one of the panels put together by the Education Department: Jonathan Butcher, a senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation. He urged the commission to scrap discipline guidance put forth by the Obama administration that seeks to crack down on discipline disparities between students of color and their more advantaged peers.

Schools should instead be able to come up with their own discipline practices, Butcher said: We [need to] have school specific targeted responses, not blanket approaches from the federal government.

But during the listening session, Shukura Nanyamka, a senior community associate with the Southern Poverty Law Center, spoke in favor of the guidance.

We urge the commission to view this guidance as a resource for keeping students safe in schools. In fact, the guidance equips schools and district with policy and practice to end disparities in student discipline, she said.

Trump has charged the commission with determining whether to ditch the 2014 civil rights guidance . It was jointly issued by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice and put schools on notice that they may be found in violation of federal civil rights laws if they enforce intentionally discriminatory rules or if their policies lead to disproportionately higher rates of discipline for students in one racial group, even if those policies were written without discriminatory intent.

The guidance was modeled in part on an initiative in Broward County schools, the PROMISE program, that sought to refer students to alternative disciplinary programs for certain non-violent offenses, as opposed to law enforcement.

Critics of the guidance have suggested that if PROMISE had not been in place, the shooter at Stoneman Douglas may have been on the polices radar early in his educational career, potentially preventing the massacre. But a Florida state commission disagreed.



Georgia Rep. Rick Jasperse, a Republican who spoke on one of the panels, urged Zais to make sure the commissions final report, expected later this year, was accessible to educators.

Zais promised him that it wouldnt include any mandates but would offer plenty of links to best practices on school safety.

You can copy and modify somebody elses program, but you dont start with a blank sheet of paper, he said. Thats our goal.

Photo: The Federal Commission on School Safety meets with regional leaders during a roundtable discussion in the Alabama State Capitol building in Montgomery, Ala., on Aug. 28. (Mickey Welsh /The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .PARADISE, Calif. - La Comida restaurant in Paradise is closing its doors after almost 50 years of business.

The owner of the family business, Michael Pavis, said it's just not profitable for him to do business in a small town like Paradise anymore.

"It's a bummer we've been coming here since I was five-years-old, three-years-old and it's just we knew it was closing, so that's why we ended up coming here today," said Paradise resident, Daniel Perkins.

Perkins has been coming to La Comida for years with his mom. He says it's their favorite restaurant.

La Comida is a family-run mexican restaurant that is affordable and prepares fresh foods every day.

Pavis said his father, Michael Sr., started the business back in 1968.

"I've been running it for many many years now," Pavis said. "My kids are here working for me now, everybody that comes here feels like family."

Pavis said he can probably name half of the customers that come into the Chico restaurant.

He said what's really sustained La Comida's image over the years is the "family-community feel."

Pavis, said there were a lot of issues that came into play when deciding to close the restaurant in Paradise.

This included the re-design of the Skyway, doing business in a town with no sewer system and the maintenance cost for a septic tank.

He said the biggest problem was that minimum wage will increase $1 every year to reach $15 an hour.

"It's not supportable in a low-volume kind of business that we have up in Paradise," Pavis said.

Pavis said with the amount of customers at the Chico location, they can absorb the minimum wage increases much better.

"My focus is going to remain on the Chico store," Pavis said. "As far as another location, I don't wanna rale too much about it, but I will never ever open another business in California. The business environment in California now is just ridiculous."

The employees at La Comida in Paradise were emotional when they found out about the closing of the restaurant.

Sage John has worked multiple roles at La Comida including cashier, cook and prepping the food.

She started working there in April, but said everyone has welcomed her into their small family and she is sad to be leaving them so soon.

"There's one guy that comes in every single day," John said. "It's gonna be sad especially if they don't come in-- if they come in every couple weeks and they don't come in by the time we close we won't have a way to let them know that we're closing, we're not gonna be able to see them or say bye."

La Comida's last day in Paradise is Friday and will officially be closed on September 1st, but the Chico location is still open.Observation of the Higgs particle transforming into bottom quarks confirms the 20th-century recipe for everything in the known physical world

DALLAS (SMU) - Scientists conducting physics experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have announced the discovery of the Higgs boson transforming, as it decays, into subatomic particles called bottom quarks, an observation that confirms that the "Standard Model" of the universe - the 20th century recipe for everything in the known physical world - is still valid.

This new discovery is a big step forward in the quest to understand how the Higgs enables fundamental particles to acquire mass. Many scientists suspect that the Higgs could interact with particles outside the Standard Model, such as dark matter - the unseen matter that does not emit or absorb light, but may make up more than 80 percent of the matter in the universe.

After several years of work experiments at both ATLAS and CMS - CERN detectors that use different types of technology to investigate a broad range of physics - have demonstrated that 60 percent of Higgs particles decay in the same way. By finding and mapping the Higgs boson interactions with known particles, scientists can simultaneously probe for new phenomena.

SMU played important roles in the analysis announced by CERN Aug. 28, including:

Development of the underlying analysis software framework (Stephen Sekula, SMU associate professor of physics was co-leader of the small group that included SMU graduate student Peilong Wang and post-doctoral researcher Francesco Lo Sterzo, that does this for the larger analysis for 2017-2018)

Studying background processes that mimic this Higgs boson decay, reducing measurement uncertainty in the final result.

"The Standard Model is the recipe for everything that surrounds us in the world today. Sekula explained. "It has been tested to ridiculous precision. People have been trying for 30-40 years to figure out where or if the Standard Model described matter incorrectly. Like any recipe you inherit from a family member, you trust but verify. This might be grandma's favorite recipe, but do you really need two sticks of butter? This finding shows that the Standard Model is still the best recipe for the Universe as we know it."

Scientists would have been intrigued if the Standard Model had not survived this test, Sekula said, because failure would have produced new knowledge.

"When we went to the moon, we didn't know we'd get Mylar and Tang," Sekula said. "What we've achieved getting to this point is we've pushed the boundaries of technology in both computing and electronics just to make this observation. Technology as we know it will continue to be revolutionized by fundamental curiosity about why the universe is the way it is.

"As for what we will get from all this experimentation, the honest answer is I don't know," Sekula said. "But based on the history of science, it's going to be amazing."

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About CERN

At CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter - the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature. Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory sits astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva.

About SMU

SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU's alumni, faculty and nearly 12,000 students in seven degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.(New York, NY - August 29, 2018) -- Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that a particular type of cell present in bladder cancer may be the reason why so many patients do not respond to the groundbreaking class of drugs known as PD-1 and PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors, which enable the immune system to attack tumors.

In a study published in August in Nature Communications, the Mount Sinai team reported that stromal cells, a subset of connective tissue cells often found in the tumor environment, may be preventing immune cells known as T-cells from seeking out and destroying the invading cancer. The researchers showed that expression of a set of genes that are typically linked to more aggressive cancers was actually more commonly linked to stromal cells rather than bladder cancer cells themselves. They also showed that tumors with increased expression of these genes, known as epithelial mesenchymal transition genes, did not respond well to immune checkpoint inhibitors. The researchers also found that in such tumors, T-cells were more likely to be separated from cancer cells by the stromal cells, suggesting that the stromal cells may be hindering the ability of the immune cells to reach and eradicate the cancer cells.

"Some bladder cancers may not respond to immunotherapy, even though the body has developed an immune response against them, because the T-cells are prevented from reaching the tumor by stromal cells that create an inhospitable 'neighborhood,'" said Matthew Galsky, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior author of the study.

Dr. Galsky and his colleagues are now trying to validate the gene expression identified in their study as a biomarker that could help refine clinical trials and treatment in the future by predicting the level of response or resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. In addition, according to Dr. Galsky, the group is identifying ways to "counteract the negative impact of the stromal cells and make that neighborhood more friendly to immune cells so they can finish their job."

Since they were made available to patients about four years ago, immune checkpoint inhibitors have changed the treatment landscape for many types of cancer, particularly metastatic bladder cancer, which had gone several decades without significant therapeutic advances. While five different PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors have since been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, responses are achieved in only 15 percent to 25 percent of patients. Cancer researchers have turned their attention to attempting to learn why and, more specifically, to discovering ways to increase the proportion of patients with positive results.

The Mount Sinai team used several data sets for their study, including genomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas' bladder cancer dataset from the National Cancer Institute. In addition, in collaboration with researchers from Bristol-Myers Squibb, they demonstrated the potential clinical relevance of their findings in a large clinical trial dataset derived from patients with metastatic bladder cancer treated with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab.

"Our biologists and biostatisticians were able to harness 'big data' to generate valuable insights into responses and resistance to PD-1 therapies," noted study co-author Jun Zhu, PhD, Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Head of Data Sciences at Sema4, a Mount Sinai venture. "We strongly believe those results will inform future studies at Mount Sinai and elsewhere."

Dr. Galsky added, "What our group has done is add another important piece to a larger jigsaw puzzle about why PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors don't work in some patients. Through our work we have supported and extended important observations made by other researchers, and this makes us more confident than ever that we are on the right track to addressing a huge unmet need for patients with bladder cancer."

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About Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 13 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in six other specialties in the 2018-2019 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked nationally in five out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology and 44th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.A Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso initiative that is increasing the number of screenings for colorectal cancer across West Texas has caught the eye of the National Cancer Institute.

The federal agency has added TTUHSC El Paso's ACCION (Against Colorectal Cancer in Our Neighborhoods) program to its database of Research-Tested Intervention Programs, making ACCION instructional and educational materials available to public health practitioners across the world.

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of death from cancer in the U.S. for both men and women. But in many cases the disease can be cured, or even prevented, with early detection through colorectal cancer screenings.

Unfortunately, many at-risk people don't have easy access to colorectal cancer screenings. Poverty, lack of health insurance, lack of transportation, and low levels of health education are some of the barriers that prevent adults from receiving screenings. The beginning recommended age for colorectal cancer screenings is 50.

Launched in 2011 by Navkiran Shokar, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., director for Cancer Prevention and Control at TTUHSC El Paso, ACCION brings colorectal cancer screenings and preventative information to the community, in settings such as churches, health fairs, food pantries, low-income housing complexes, community centers and clinics serving the uninsured. Its aim has been to increase screening rates across West Texas, currently around 50 percent, compared to a national average of about 70 percent. The program has been funded by grants from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

"If you get screened and you get the appropriate follow-up, you really do prevent cancer," Shokar said. "You find it early and the outcome is a lot better."

The program uses promotoras--bilingual community health care workers--to connect with at-risk individuals. ACCION currently works with over 160 community organizations to help make screening more accessible.

"People have big transportation barriers," Dr. Shokar said. "They don't have access to cars, or the person with the transport is working and they only have one car. It's very important that this program go to the community where people live, work and play, and that's what we try to do."

The success of the program has led to additional CPRIT funding. In August 2017, CPRIT awarded Dr. Shokar a three-year, $3.7 million grant to implement ACCION in major hospital and clinic systems throughout El Paso County. The grant will also be used to expand the program into West Texas; ACCION's service area will now cover a 25-county area by partnering with service providers in those areas.

And now, thanks to the National Cancer Institute, the methods and materials behind the ACCION's success can reach across the globe.

###

Learn more about ACCION and download program materials from the NCI's RTIPs website.Brown fat consumes energy, which is the reason why it could be important for preventing obesity and diabetes. Working together with an international team, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) were able to demonstrate that food also increases the thermogenesis of brown fat, and not just cold as previously assumed.

Brown adipose tissue in humans has been the subject of numerous studies, as it has the exact opposite function of white adipose tissue, which stores energy in the form of storage fats called triacylglycerides. Specifically, brown fat burns the energy of the triacylglycerides (thermogenesis).

However, the activity of this physiologically highly favorable adipose tissue changes over time: It decreases with age, just as it does in obese individuals and diabetics. Hence, ways to heat up thermogenesis in brown fat are being sought which can be used to prevent obesity and diabetes.

Brown adipose tissue can be trained

To date, only one option has been acknowledged in this context: Cold-induced thermogenesis. "Studies showed that participants who spent hours in the cold chamber daily not only experienced an increase in the heat output of brown fat in the cold as they got used to the lower temperatures, but also an improvement in the control of blood sugar via insulin," reports Professor Martin Klingenspor, head of the Chair for Molecular Nutritional Medicine at the Else Kroner-Fresenius Center at TU Munich.

Carbohydrate-rich meal as effective as cold stimuli

For the current study by the University of Turku in collaboration with international experts, among them Professor Martin Klingenspor with his team from the Else Kroner-Fresenius Center of TUM, it was investigated how a carbohydrate-rich meal affected the activity of brown adipose tissue. "For the first time, it could be demonstrated that heat generation in brown adipose tissue could be activated by a test meal just as it would be by exposure to cold," said Klingenspor, summarizing the findings.

For the study, the same subjects were investigated twice: once after exposure to a cold stimulus, and a second time after ingestion of a carbohydrate-rich meal. In addition, a control group was included. Important markers for thermogenesis were measured before and after, which not only included the absorption of glucose and fatty acids, but also the oxygen consumption in brown fat. To do so, the researchers employed indirect calorimetry in combination with positron emission tomography and computer tomography (PET/CT).

"Ten percent of daily energy input is lost due to the thermogenic effect of the food," says Prof. Martin Klingenspor. This postprandial thermogenesis after eating comes not only from the obligatory heat generation due to muscle activity in the intestines, secretion, and digestive processes. There is apparently also a facultative component to which brown fat contributes.

The next step of the experiments will now be to find out whether this is energy that is simply "lost" or whether this phenomenon has another function. "We now know that the activation of brown adipose tissue could be linked to a feeling of being full," reports Klingenspor. Further studies will now be conducted to prove this.

###

Publication: U. Din et al.: Postprandial Oxidative Metabolism of Human Brown Fat Indicates Thermogenesis, Cell Metabolism 07/2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2018.05.020

Contact: Professor Martin Klingenspor

Technical University of Munich

Else Kroner-Fresenius Center for Nutritional Medicine

Chair for Molecular Nutritional Medicine

Phone: +49(8161) 71 - 2386

Mail: mk@tum.deSensitive, specific assays are needed to ensure the safety of inter-species transplants for patients needing new organs like kidneys and hearts

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A shortage of organs for transplantation -- including kidneys and hearts -- means that many patients die while still on waiting lists. So, research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and other sites has turned to pig organs as an alternative.

Using gene-editing, researchers have modified such organs to prevent rejection, and research with primates shows the modified pig organs are well-tolerated.

An added step is needed to ensure the safety of these inter-species transplants -- sensitive, quantitative assays for viruses and other infectious microorganisms in donor pigs that potentially could gain access to humans during transplantation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires such testing, prior to implantation, of tissues used for xenotransplantation from animals to humans. It is possible -- though very unlikely -- that an infectious agent in transplanted tissues could become an emerging infectious disease in humans.

In a paper published in Xenotransplantation, Mark Prichard, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have described the development and testing of 30 quantitative assays for pig infectious agents. These assays had sensitivities similar to clinical lab assays for viral loads in human patients. After validation, the UAB team also used the assays on nine sows and 22 piglets delivered from the sows through caesarian section.

"Going forward, ensuring the safety of these organs is of paramount importance," Prichard said. "The use of highly sensitive techniques to detect potential pathogens will help to minimize adverse events in xenotransplantation."

"The assays hold promise as part of the screening program to identify suitable donor animals, validate and release transplantable organs for research purposes, and monitor transplant recipients," said Prichard, a professor in the UAB Department of Pediatrics and director of the Department of Pediatrics Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory.

The UAB researchers developed quantitative polymerase chain reaction, or qPCR, assays for 28 viruses sometimes found in pigs and two groups of mycoplasmas. They established reproducibility, sensitivity, specificity and lower limit of detection for each assay. All but three showed features of good quantitative assays, and the lower limit of detection values ranged between one and 16 copies of the viral or bacterial genetic material.

Also, the pig virus assays did not give false positives for some closely related human viruses.

As a start to understanding the infectious disease load in normal healthy animals and ensuring the safety of pig tissues used in xenotransplantation research, the researchers then screened blood, nasal swab and stool specimens from nine adult sows and 22 of their piglets delivered by caesarian section.

Mycoplasma species and two distinct herpesviruses were the most commonly detected microorganisms. Yet 14 piglets that were delivered from three sows infected with either or both herpesviruses were not infected with the herpesviruses, showing that transmission of these viruses from sow to the caesarian-delivery piglet was inefficient.

Prichard says the assays promise to enhance the safety of pig tissues for xenotransplantation, and they will also aid evaluation of human specimens after xenotransplantation.

The UAB researchers say they subsequently have evaluated more than 300 additional specimens, and that resulted in the detection of most of the targets. "The detection of these targets in pig specimens provides reassurance that the analytical methods are functioning as designed," said Prichard, "and there is no a priori reason some targets might be more difficult to detect than others with the methods described here."

###

Co-authors with Prichard of the paper, "Xenotransplantation panel for the detection of infectious agents in pigs," are Caroll B. Hartline, Ra'Shun L. Conner, Scott H. James and Jennifer Potter, UAB Department of Pediatrics; and Edward Gray, Jose Estrada, Mathew Tector and A. Joseph Tector, UAB Department of Surgery.

Funding came from National Institutes of Health grant AI126322-02 and the UAB Department of Pediatrics.Research from UCSB and EDF shows a more prosperous global future is possible if both climate change and sustainable fisheries management are addressed now

If we proactively implement effective fisheries management and limit global temperature rise, the world's oceans still have the potential to be significantly more plentiful in the future than today, despite climate change. This finding is among several that appear in a first-of-its kind study, "Improved fisheries management could offset many negative effects of climate change," that appears today in the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences' journal Science Advances.

"The expected global effects of climate change on our oceans are broadly negative," said Steve Gaines, the study's lead author and dean of UC Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, "but we still have the fortunate opportunity to turn the tide and create a more bountiful future."

The study finds that with concerted and adaptive responses to climate change, the world's oceans could actually create more abundant fish populations, more food for human consumption and more profit for fishermen despite the negative impacts of climate change. Conversely, the study cautions, inaction on fisheries management and climate change will mean even more dramatic losses of fish and the benefits they provide to people.

A dozen leading scientists from institutions including UCSB's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Hokkaido University and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) conducted the research. It is the first study to examine future fishery outcomes under both climate change projections and alternative human responses. It demonstrates that our oceans can be highly productive for decades to come if action is taken now to put effective and forward-looking management practices in place.

"The results from this study are surprisingly positive -- if we can adopt sustainable fishing policies and keep global warming at no more than 2 degrees Celsius, we can still realize significant benefits to fisheries across the globe," said Merrick Burden, senior economist with the EDF Oceans program and an author of the paper. "But these benefits require action and this study serves as a wake-up call to governments that they must change the way that fishing takes place or risk losing a crucial opportunity to secure our food supply for generations to come."

This study examines potential future outcomes for 915 fish stocks across the world under alternative management and climate scenarios. The authors modeled the impact of climate change on fishery productivity and geographical range distribution, which affects how many fish are available and where they can be caught, under four climate projections. These range from a global temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius (strong climate mitigation) to an increase of 4 degrees Celsius (business-as-usual) by 2100. For each of these climate scenarios, the authors examined future biomass, harvest and profit under alternative management approaches using bioeconomic modeling.

The new research shows that roughly 50 percent of species examined will shift across national boundaries and nearly all species are expected to experience changes in productivity in response to rising ocean temperatures. These changes will present new challenges for fishing nations. The study found that the implementation of management practices that account for changes in productivity and geographic range distribution can lead to global gains in profits, harvest and biomass compared to today. These practices range from flexible management strategies, including responsible harvest policies that account for changing stock productivity, to the creation and improvement of existing governance institutions to deal with shifting stocks, such as multilateral fishery agreements.

"Cooperation among nations will be increasingly important for ensuring future fisheries benefits as stocks shift across management boundaries," said Tracey Mangin, an author of the paper and researcher at UCSB's Sustainable Fisheries Group, explaining that rising ocean temperatures can send fish stocks beyond their traditional geographical ranges as they track their preferred thermal habitats. "These shifts can undermine previously effective and well-designed management approaches, as they can incentivize overfishing and change which nations have access to the fish stocks, which can weaken existing fishing agreements."

While improved management may lead to improved global outcomes, those outcomes will vary regionally. The results indicate that future fishery profits are expected to decline in tropical latitudes even with management that fully adapts to climate challenges. This means that equatorial nations, many of which have developing economies and are highly dependent on seafood as a source of food and income, will be hardest hit. And how much planetary warming occurs will make a significant difference on the abundance, harvest and profit from fisheries.

"Even with the right management changes, there will be winners and losers, and we have to tackle this head-on," Gaines said. "Success will require not only emissions reductions but also multilateral cooperation and real changes in fisheries management. With our growing global population and the increasing needs for healthy sources of protein, these changes will be critical for meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."

The impacts of inaction are also clear. Billions of people rely on fish as their primary source of protein. Most fishing nations are not responding fast enough to create change, and successful transboundary management programs are relatively rare. But action doesn't take long to have an impact on some species. Studies have demonstrated that many fisheries can bounce back from overfishing in as little as 10 years' time under the right policies.

"Climate change is expected to hit hardest in many of the places where fisheries are already poorly managed -- things are likely to get a lot worse if we don't act," said Christopher Costello, an author of the paper and a professor of environmental and resource economics at UCSB. "We can expect inaction to bring increased conflict as fish move into new waters, along with threats to food security in some of the world's most vulnerable places."

"Fishermen will be among the most affected by climate change, and this research confirms what they are already seeing on the water," said Katie McGinty, senior vice president of EDF Oceans. "The window is narrow, but we have the tools and a clear roadmap to build a future with more fish, more food and more prosperity -- if we act now."

The study did not examine other potential threats from climate change such as ocean acidification, or new ways that species might interact. These threats require further study beyond the scope of this paper.

###Neuroscientists at UCLA, Harvard University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have identified a three-pronged treatment that triggers axons - the tiny fibers that link our nerve cells and enable them to communicate - to regrow after complete spinal cord injury in rodents. Not only did the axons grow through scars, they could also transmit signals across the damaged tissue.

If researchers can produce similar results in human studies, the findings could lead to a therapy to restore axon connections in people living with spinal cord injury. Nature publishes the research in its Aug. 29 online edition.

"The idea was to deliver a sequence of three very different treatments and test whether the combination could stimulate disconnected axons to regrow across the scar in the injured spinal cord," said lead author Michael Sofroniew, a professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Previous studies had tested each of the three treatments separately, but never together. The combination proved to be the key."

When people injure their spinal cords, it damages the axons and prevents the brain from sending signals to neurons below the site of injury. This leads to paralysis and the loss of other neurological functions, like bladder control and hand strength. The UCLA approach could provide the first step to solving this problem.

According to Sofroniew, many decades of research have shown that our nerve fibers need three things to grow: first, genetic programming to switch on axon growth; second, a molecular pathway for the fibers to grab and grow along; and third, a trail of protein 'bread crumbs' that entice the axons to grow in a particular direction.

All three of these conditions are active when humans develop in the womb. After birth, these processes shut down, but the genes that control the growth programs are still sleeping in our bodies. Sofroniew's goal was to reawaken these genes and then launch the entire process anew with the three-pronged approach.

First, the researchers reactivated nerve cells in the spinal cords of mice by injecting a treatment packaged in harmless viruses that was first developed in the lab of Zhigang He, a neuroscientist at Harvard.

Two weeks later, the UCLA team anesthetized the animals and disconnected the axons in their lower spinal cords. Only the rodents' hind legs were affected and they could still move and feed.

Two days after injury, the team administered a second treatment into the lesion to create new pathways on which axons prefer to grow. Finally, the researchers released a third set of molecules called chemo-attractants. The axons sniff out these chemical 'bread crumbs,' which provide a target destination - in this case, spinal cord tissue remaining on the other side of the scar from the injury.

When Sofroniew and his colleagues examined the tissue of mice who underwent the three-part treatment, they were jubilant.

"Not only had axons grown robustly through the scar tissue," said Sofroniew, "but many fibers had penetrated into the remaining spinal cord tissue on the other side of the lesion and made new connections with neurons there."

Animals who did not undergo the combined treatment exhibited no axon regrowth across the injury lesion.

To test the finding's reproducibility, the team repeated the experiment multiple times in mice at UCLA and in rats in the lab of Swiss neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine. The results proved equally robust.

The team received another surprise when they tested whether newly regrown axons could conduct electrical activity in live animals.

"When we stimulated the animal's spinal cord with a low electrical current above the injury site, the regrown axons conducted 20 percent of normal electrical activity below the lesion," said Sofroniew. "In contrast, the untreated animals exhibited none."

Despite the finding suggesting that the newly formed connections can conduct signals across the injury, the rodents' ability to move did not improve. This was not unexpected, according to Sofroniew.

"We expect that these regrown axons will behave like axons newly grown during development--they do not immediately support coordinated functions," said Sofroniew. "Much like a newborn must learn to walk, axons that regrow after injury will require training and practice before they can recover function."

The research team will next explore how to retrain newly wired circuits to restore movement.

###

The article's co-first authors were Mark Anderson and Tim O'Shea. Other coauthors were Joshua Burda, Yan Ao, Sabry Barlatey, Alexander Bernstein, Jae Kim, Nicholas James, Alexandrea Rogers, Brian Kato, Alexander Wollenberg, Riki Kawaguchi, Giovanni Coppola, Chen Wang and Timothy Deming.

This research was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Foundation, the International Foundation for Research in Paraplegia; ALARME Foundation, Association Song Taaba, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. the European Research Council, Paralyzed Veterans Foundation of America, Swiss National Science Foundation, Microscopy Core Resource of UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center; Microscopy Core Resource of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering; and Wings for Life.Susan W. Butler, associate director for public affairs at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, will receive the 2018 IEEE Max Swerdlow Award for Sustained Service to the Applied Superconductivity Community.

The award is given to people who have had a lasting influence on the advancement of the technology, through exceptional service to and leadership within the community, creating and promoting major programs in applied superconductivity or through leadership and management roles in major research organizations.

Butler is the first nonscientist, and the first woman, to win the award. Paul Chu, founding director of the Texas Center for Superconductivity, was the recipient in 2014.

The award is bestowed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Council on Superconductivity and is named for the late Max Swerdlow, longtime program manager for superconductivity for the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

"Sue has been our person behind the scenes," said Bruce Strauss, a physicist and program manager at the Department of Energy's Office of High Energy Physics in the Office of Science and the 2012 winner of the Swerdlow award. "She's the person who's organized a wide variety of things, and she's a great arm twister for getting funds for the conferences.

"She's really been the glue that has held things together."

Butler has been at the University of Houston since 1982. She formally joined TcSUH in 1991, working with the center, IEEE, the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors and other organizations to promote the field.

"The challenges in the field of superconductivity are myriad, as are those in many other potentially game-changing fields," she said. "Helping to bring it all together in some meaningful way is the payoff for me."

The work has ranged from mentoring students as they become practicing scientists and engineers to helping to organize international conferences. The Swerdlow award will be presented Oct. 29 at the Applied Superconductivity Conference in Seattle.

TcSUH Director Allan Jacobson said that while it is "remarkable" for the award to go to a nonscientist, Butler's contributions made it a natural fit.

"There are more dimensions of service to the superconducting community than just the science side," he said. "She has done enormous things for outreach, for promoting women in science, for promoting junior faculty."

Butler is being honored for sustained service to the applied superconductivity committee, in particular:

For building coalitions and support at the local, state, national and international level for meetings and conferences to promote applied superconductivity, technically and politically;

For encouragement of high school and university students, teachers and industry partners; and

For championing women and promoting diversity in science, technology and business.

The award includes a plaque, a medal and $5,000.

###About 20 percent of the electricity produced in the United States is generated at nuclear power plants, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This means one out of every five U.S. homes turn on their lights, use refrigerators and make toast - among other things - using energy generated by nuclear power.

Nuclear materials and technology is used in other areas, too, including radioactive isotopes to help diagnose and treat medical conditions and irradiation to help make pest-resistant seed varieties.

Nuclear power reactors don't directly emit greenhouse gases, but they do produce nuclear waste, making it crucial to find ways to safely store and dispose of radioactive waste. An engineer with the University of Houston is leading an $800,000 project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to address the issue.

"Whenever we deal with nuclear energy, we are always concerned about how we deal properly with the waste that is generated," said Jeffrey Rimer, the Abraham E. Dukler Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering. "We want to make sure that the nuclear waste is going to be stored for a sufficient time and not have issues with the release of this material into the environment."

Rimer is principal investigator for a multi-agency project to study the corrosion behavior of glass containers often used to store nuclear waste and find ways to reduce or avoid the degeneration of the containers.

The basic components of glass are also the components of crystalline materials known as zeolites - silica and alumina, which are present there initially in an amorphous state but then eventually form zeolites.

"During the process of glass dissolution and recrystallization to zeolites, cavities are opened within the amorphous glass that can potentially allow the radioactive material to be released," Rimer said.

Exploring the role of zeolites

Zeolites have been used for years as adsorbents and catalysts in a variety of chemical processes, from gasoline production to additives in laundry detergent, among thousands of other applications.

Rimer, an expert on crystallization, conducts groundbreaking research in the field, including drug development and oil and gas industry projects that target scaling in pipes and increasing the efficiency of catalysts.

But he said this isn't a new area of research. "On a basic level we are asking the same types of questions in all of our research: What are the fundamental driving forces of new zeolite formation?" said Rimer.

His previous experience with zeolites is relevant to the DOE project, he said. "That knowledge gives us a foundation to move forward and start thinking about questions: What is causing nucleation from an amorphous precursor? What are the rates of growth under a broad range of conditions? How do we tailor these properties to reduce zeolite formation?"

The team

Other members of the research team are: James Neeway, Radha Motkuri and Jarrod Crum, all from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); and Yanni Bourmpakis from the University of Pittsburgh.

The PNNL researchers are experts on storage and glass dissolution and will be handling the assessment calculations, Rimer said. Bourmpakis has expertise in computations and will conduct density-functional theory calculations on the progression of the aluminosilicate dissolution and zeolite nucleation.

"I think the project will, as a result of our collaborative efforts, make significant headway to improve the efficiency of nuclear waste storage," Rimer said.

###

-- Story by Rashda KhanURBANA, Ill. - Sorghum, a more drought-tolerant cousin to corn, is grown throughout the dry western Corn Belt region of the United States. The crop is traditionally grown for the grain, but newer cultivars have been developed to maximize vegetative biomass, a key trait for lignocellulosic bioenergy production. But before sorghum can meet its full potential as a bioenergy crop, it will need to become more resistant to diseases that can reduce its ability to produce biomass.

With the announcement of a $1.1 million grant for sorghum disease resistance research led by the University of Illinois, the Department of Energy is signaling a new investment in the future of the crop.

Tiffany Jamann, assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at U of I is the principal investigator on the grant. "Host resistance is one of the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective methods of disease control," she says. "Developing disease resistance for bioenergy crops, including sorghum, is crucial, particularly as the range of production expands and microbes evolve from related species to become pathogens of bioenergy crops."

Sorghum is susceptible to infection by the fungus that causes sorghum leaf blight, which is associated with decreased yields, reduced forage quality and quantity, and an increased risk of infection by other diseases, including anthracnose. Interestingly, the same fungus infects corn, a fact Jamann and her research partners ultimately hope to use to increase resistance in sorghum.

"By leveraging the knowledge of resistance in maize, we will accelerate the improvement of resistance to the disease in sorghum, while also developing a system to understand how microbes evolve to become pathogens of bioenergy crops," she says.

Although the fungus can attack multiple hosts, specific strains - or isolates - can only infect corn or sorghum, not both. Jamann will look closely at how that host specificity works, both from the viewpoint of the fungus and of the plant. If she can isolate genes that control resistance to the fungus in each crop, she thinks she could eventually put those genes together in new corn and sorghum varieties, making them resistant to both strains.

"Our idea is if these genes are functional in both maize and sorghum, then they're probably functional against other diseases, as well," Jamann says.

Jamann will work with research partners Santiago Mideros, also from U of I, and Bill Rooney from Texas A&M University over the next three years to identify resistance genes in sorghum using approaches that harness natural genetic variation in the plant. Preliminary research has already turned up candidate genes. Next, they will test the efficacy of those genes in resisting sorghum leaf blight and anthracnose. Finally, they will investigate the fungus itself to identify genes responsible for host specificity on sorghum.

"The proactive strategy of paired identification of fungal effectors and plant resistance genes in a pathosystem with a high likelihood of producing a host jump is a paradigm shift in disease management through host resistance," Mideros says. "This work may ultimately provide an example of how to appropriately increase the acreage of crops into a region while deploying host resistance."

###Regarding Solvency II, while more tailored capital requirements for qualifying infrastructure assets were very much needed and welcomed, the necessary work for assessing whether a specific infrastructure asset qualifies for tailored prudential treatment is often unnecessarily extensive and resource-intensive.

Regarding potential barriers in prudential regulation to long-term investment, Insurance Europe warned that both the measurement of assets/liabilities and capital requirements can damage long-term investment, including in infrastructure. Therefore, any assessment of potential consequences should look at both areas.

A consistent accounting treatment for both assets and liabilities is key to appropriately measuring and supporting insurers long-term business model and investments. Therefore, the industry welcomes the alignment between the effective date of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9  Financial instruments  and IFRS 17  Insurance contracts  for insurers, which is mentioned in the FSB paper.

In addition, the limited supply of suitable infrastructure assets remains a key concern for the European insurance industry and a key barrier to more investment.

A new technique for manipulating small cell structures for use in a range of biotechnical applications including the production of biofuels and vaccines has been developed by a team of scientists led by the University of Kent.

The researchers did this by creating an improved system to allow for the synthesis of nano-reactors within cells that can be used to help convert sugar into fuel. The same technology can be used to coat nano-particles with proteins so that they can be used to generate vaccines.

The researchers redesigned and engineered the tiny bacterial cellular structures - known as organelles - so they can be more easily manipulated and deployed to turn bacteria into 'cell factories'.

The organelles, which are approximately 100 nm in diameter and known as bacterial microcompartments (BMCs), naturally house specific metabolic pathways, essentially a linked series of chemical reactions. Although BMCs have huge potential in the area of biotechnology, a key obstacle to their utilisation is the difficulty of targeting new pathways and processes into the BMC in a controllable fashion.

To address this problem, researchers at Kent's School of Biosciences redesigned a key surface component of the BMC that enables them to not only internalise proteins within the BMC but also display them on the surface of the organelle.

To achieve this the Kent researchers, working with others from University College London, the University of Bristol and Queen Mary University of London, utilised a pair of interacting peptides, developed at Bristol, to target proteins to these intracellular organelles. This technology facilitated the display of proteins on the surface of BMCs.

The use of synthetic biology then allowed the researchers to remodel one of the components of the BMC shell which in turn allowed them to use the same technology to internalise proteins within BMCs.

Kent's Dr Matt Lee, lead scientist on the project, said: 'This breakthrough could open up the possibility of utilising these organelles for a wide variety of applications, including the generation of biofuels, as well as for drug delivery and vaccine development. It demonstrates the power of synthetic biology to help achieve useful applications in biotechnology.'

The research, entitled De novo targeting to the cytoplasmic and luminal side of bacterial microcompartments (Matthew Lee, Ian Brown, Martin Warren, University of Kent; Judith Mantell, Paul Verkade, Derek N. Woolfson, University of Bristol; Richard W. Pickersgill, Queen Mary University of London; Stefanie Frank, University College London) is published in the journal Nature Communications. See: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05922-x.pdf

It was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

###

For interview requests contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office.

Tel: 01227 816768

Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk

News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news

University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent

Notes to Editors

Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

It has been ranked 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018 and in June 2017 was awarded a gold rating, the highest, in the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, it is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016.

Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.

In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities.

Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html).

The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.

Kent has received two Queen's Anniversary prizes for Higher and Further Education.The UK's number one zoo and one of the country's best universities have teamed up to help prevent the extinction of threatened species across the planet.

Chester Zoo and the University of Manchester have joined forces to deliver high-impact scientific research to ensure effective population management of some of the world's most endangered animals.

The collaboration will see more than 1.1 million invested across two major research areas. The first focuses on improving the future outlook for some of Africa's most endangered and emblematic mega herbivore species - such as highly threatened Eastern black rhinos and Grevy's zebra.

More than 60% of mega-herbivores are facing extinction as a result of range collapse, degradation of habitat and persecution. The highest diversity of mega-herbivore is found in African savannahs, making them a crucial ecosystem to study.

Rhino and zebra populations have both become highly fragmented over the past decades and are under pressure from hunting and livestock competition. A joint research initiative will investigate how health varies across wild populations of these species- in order to reveal how they are affected by environmental change and human disturbance.

The second area will support research exploring new ways to effectively manage animal populations outside their natural range to maximise their conservation value and promote animal welfare. This will ensure 'safety net' populations are fit for reintroduction and continue to push the boundaries of world class animal reproduction and welfare in zoo breeding programmes.

The new agreement will look to build on these initial projects to establish similar ones across the world.

The partnership will also train conservationists of the future, by drawing on the University's research capabilities and on the zoo's expertise in wildlife conservation physiology.

To deliver the projects, over the next seven and a half years up to seven doctoral and three postdoctoral researchers, including two international doctoral students, will be placed into new conservation projects.

Some of the initial individual projects to be delivered immediately include:

research to identify why some wild eastern black rhino populations in Kenya fair better than others;

an in-depth report into how environmental change affects Grevy's zebra in Kenya and Cape mountain zebra in South Africa;

a study documenting the impact of resource extraction and land-use change on large mammals in Tanzanian National Parks;

the establishment of a new conservation physiology lab in Kenya.

Other studies focus on populations outside their natural range and will explore new ways to maximise reproductive success and deliver world class animal welfare including research into the management of bird song in the Javan sparrow, social behaviour in the endangered Sulawesi crested macaque and genetics in Eastern black rhinos.

Dr Simon Dowell, Science Director at Chester Zoo, said: "Species across Africa are threatened with extinction. Conservation is critical and urgent. We have worked with the University of Manchester on a number of projects over the years but this important new partnership takes our collaboration to a new level. It enables us to combine our expertise and make a major difference to preventing the extinction of species like rhinos and zebra."

Dr Sue Walker, Head of Applied Science at Chester Zoo, said: "The recent loss of Sudan, the northern white rhino, has highlighted the challenges of species conservation. One way to support this challenge and prevent extinction is to use science to unravel how species, both within and outside their natural range are interacting with their environment. The information gained enables species managers to be more effective with resources and more strategic in species conservation planning. The partnership with the University of Manchester brings together skills sets from both institutions and is a crucial step towards protecting some of the most charismatic species on our planet."

Professor Susanne Shultz, a Royal Society University Research Fellow from The University of Manchester, said: "This partnership represents the best of collaborative applied science. The university is combining its expertise, facilities and technology with the conservation experience and global conservation reach of the zoo to find innovative solutions to the global biodiversity crisis."

###DALLAS - Aug. 29, 2018 - Heart attack patients given a different type of breathing tube by paramedics had better survival rates than those treated by traditional intubation breathing tube methods - findings that could potentially save more than 10,000 lives annually, researchers report.

Only about 10 percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside hospital settings survive, and paramedics currently use both breathing tube techniques. By comparing the two in real-world situations, investigators were able to identify a 3 percent better survival rate for patients who received the laryngeal tube (LT) device on scene than those who received the standard intubation tube. The landmark study was the latest in a decades long series of investigations that have improved paramedic care after cardiac arrest.

"When we first started working with EMS agencies in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2006, the survival rate from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was about 4 percent. Because of the efforts we have made in measuring and improving CPR performance, the rate is now about 10 percent - more than double," said Dr. Ahamed Idris, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern who led the North Texas arm of the study. "A further improvement of 3 percent because of better airway management translates into a survival rate of 13 percent, which is a relative 30 percent improvement in the DFW area."

The Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial (PART) - funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health - was the largest randomized clinical study of its kind. The new findings appear in JAMA.

"This is the first randomized trial to show that a paramedic airway intervention can improve cardiac arrest survival. Based on these results, use of the newer LT devices could result in over 10,000 extra lives saved each year," said first author Dr. Henry E. Wang, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Health Science Center at Houston.

While identical to techniques used by doctors in the hospital, intubation in the prehospital setting is very difficult and fraught with errors, he said. Researchers believe that the benefits of the newer LT airway are due to its easier technique, leading to better blood flow and oxygen delivery. The LT devices allow first responders to continue uninterrupted CPR on cardiac arrest patients, with a potential to get thousands of additional cases into the nearest hospitals for further care.

Firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics from 27 EMS agencies in several cities administered either traditional endotracheal intubation breathing tubes or an LT airway to about 3,000 adult patients with sudden cardiac arrest. The study, conducted by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, tracked emergency care delivery in Dallas-Fort Worth; Birmingham, Alabama; Milwaukee; Pittsburgh; and Portland, Oregon, from December 2015 to November 2016.

"Paramedics use both endotracheal intubation and laryngeal airway devices as standards of care for airway management and ventilation during out-of-hospital CPR. The study was done to determine if one of these standard of care techniques produced better outcomes than the other," said Dr. Idris, Division Chief for Research in Emergency Medicine and Director of the Dallas-Fort Worth Center for Resuscitation Research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, part of the North American Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium.

A total of 18.3 percent in the LT group survived three days in the hospital compared with 15.4 percent of cardiac patients who were initially intubated. A total of 10.8 percent in the LT group survived to reach 10-day hospital survival compared with 8.1 percent in the intubation group.

"PART provides knowledge that will improve survival from cardiac arrest," Dr. Idris added. "The results of this study will be used by EMS medical directors to inform their choice of airway technique that paramedics will use during CPR for cardiac arrest cases. Continuing careful measurement of performance and techniques is essential to improve outcomes from life-threatening illnesses."

Sudden cardiac arrest is most often caused by a heart attack, and delivery of oxygen to the lungs is a critical part of reviving a patient. More than 400,000 individuals are treated for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year, according to the American Heart Association.

###

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution's faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 22 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The faculty of more than 2,700 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 105,000 hospitalized patients, nearly 370,000 emergency room cases, and oversee approximately 2.4 million outpatient visits a year.Often viewed as wild, naturally pristine and endangered by human encroachment, some of the African savannah's most fertile and biologically diverse wildlife hotspots owe their vitality to heaps of dung deposited there over thousands of years by the livestock of wandering herders, suggests new research in the journal Nature.

"Many of the iconic wild African landscapes, like the Mara Serengeti, have been shaped by the activities of prehistoric herders over the last 3,000 years," said anthropologist Fiona Marshall, the James W. and Jean L. Davis Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a senior author of the study.

"Our research shows that the positive impacts of increased soil fertility in herder settlement corrals can last for thousands of years," Marshall said. "The longevity of these nutrient hotspots demonstrates the surprising long-term legacy of ancient herders whose cattle, goats and sheep helped enrich and diversify the vast savannah landscapes of Africa over three millennia."

The study, which focused on wildlife hotspots in Kenya, documents how the cultural practices and movement patterns of ancient herders and their livestock continue to influence an array of seemingly wild and natural phenomena.

"Ecologists have suggested that wildlife movements, including the Serengeti's famous wildebeest migrations, may be influenced by the location of nutrient-rich soil patches that green rapidly during the rains," Marshall said. "Our research suggests that some of these patches may be the result of prehistoric pastoral settlement in African savannahs.

Based on satellite imaging and detailed analyses of soil nutrients, isotopes and spatial characteristics at ancient Neolithic herder sites in East Africa, the study offers a surprisingly simple explanation for how oval-shaped wildlife hotspots measuring about 100 meters in diameter evolved in a region where grasslands are naturally low in soil nutrients -- manure happens.

For millions of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles and the carnivores who hunt them, migration patterns revolve around an age-old quest for the lush grasses that spring up on fertile soils after seasonal rains.

While other research has shown that fire, termite mounds and volcanic sediments may contribute to the varying fertility of savannah soils, this study confirms that ancient livestock dung has long been an important catalyst in an ongoing cycle of soil enrichment -- one that continues to attract diverse wildlife to the sites of abandoned livestock corrals.

For 2,000-3,000 years, savannah grasslands of southwestern Kenya were occupied by groups of nomadic herders who moved their camps often in search of greener pastures. Livestock that grazed the open savannah by day were herded into small, oval-shaped corrals within settlements at night for protection from predators and rustlers.

As manure piled up in these temporary corrals, scarce nutrients from surrounding grasslands also began to accumulate, creating fertility hotspots that attracted herds of both wild and domesticated grazers for years to come.

Thus, over the millennia, the cultural practices of mobile herders had the unintended consequence of creating spatially stable fertile environmental niches for an array of wildlife, the study contends.

While the herding activities of mobile communities of modern and historic Maasai and Turkana have been shown to enrich savannah soils, little has been known about the lasting impact of Africa's earliest food producers, herders who moved south from the Sahara 2,000-5,000 years ago.

This study examined five Neolithic pastoral sites in southern Kenya, ranging in age from 1,550-3,700 years, and found that the sites still contain nutrient-rich sediments resulting from livestock dung deposited as far back as 3,000 years.

As compared to the surrounding savannah, ancient pastoral sites were found to have significantly higher levels of phosphorous, magnesium, calcium and other nutrients essential for plant growth and animal health and reproduction.

Observed from the ground and via satellite, these ancient pastoral sites appear as treeless, open grassy patches within larger expanses of wooded savannah grasslands. Excavations show that the abandoned settlement footprints are loosely defined by a visually distinct, fine-grained layer of grey sediment, now located about a half-meter below the surface and up to a foot thick in places.

Over the millennia, the increasing fertility of these ancient settlement sites have increased the spatial and biological diversity of savannahs.

Ecological research by scholars such as Robin Reid at Colorado State, Truman Young at the University of Californa-Davis and colleagues has shown that in fertile corral soils, grasses tend to out-compete woody vegetation, creating open glades of nutritious grasses where grazing animals are also less vulnerable to predators.

Wild herbivores that forage there, such as gazelle, wildebeest, zebra and warthog, exert a positive influence on plant productivity and nutrient turnover. Hotspot fertility generates rapid plant regrowth after rains and provides essential nutrients for pregnant and lactating herbivores.

High fertility soils also means more soil invertebrates -- worms, dung beetles and other insects, which, in turn, attract more of the birds, reptile and elephant shrews that feed on them. As shown in a 2013 study, a species of gecko that thrives in these nutrient hotspots is virtually non-existent in the open savannah between them.

By establishing the role that the early herders played in enriching Africa's savannah soils, this study by Marshall and colleagues in Nature offers yet more evidence for the entwined nature of human activities and other ecological influences on the landscapes in which we live.

In the United States, recent studies have shown that early Native Americans used fire to manipulate the migration patterns of buffalo herds, changing the climate and ecological balance of the Great Plains in the process. Researchers suspect that ancient pastoralists also may also have influenced grassland ecology in pastoral regions of Central Asia and South America.

Back in the Serengeti, research has shown that the modern wildebeest migrations also contribute to the redistribution of scarce savannah nutrients as they drown or fall prey to crocodiles while crossing the Mara River. Their dead bodies add large quantities of phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon to the river ecosystem each year.

In showing that ancient herding sites may still be influencing modern wildebeest migrations, research by Marshall and her colleagues also is relevant to ongoing debates over the impact of livestock grazing on biological diversity and wildlife survival in grasslands, both in the Serengeti and around the globe.

"Ecologists have shown that when present-day herders are mobile and live at relatively low densities, they have few long-term negative impacts on the environment and some significant positive ones," Marshall said. "Our findings provide a new perspective on how human herding activities have influenced, and sometimes enriched, the ecology of African grasslands. From a policy perspective, it suggests that there are ecological costs to increasing sedentization of herders."

###

Marshall co-authored the study with an international team of scholars that includes Stanley Ambrose, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois; Ruth Shahack Gross; professor at the University of Haifa; and Purity Kiura, director of Antiquities, Sites and Monuments at the National Museums of Kenya.

Other Washington University-affiliated co-authors include Rachel E. B. Reid, a postdoctoral research associate in anthropology; current graduate student Lorraine Hu; and four former graduate students: Ruth Shahack Gross, Steven Goldstein, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany; Michael Storozum, a geoarchaeology research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; and Andrew Wreschnig, a geologist with AECOM in North Carolina.

Funding and support for the study was received from the International Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (InCEES), the Nano Research Facility and the Liu and the Kidder laboratories at Washington University in St Louis; the Environmental Isotope Paleobiogeochemistry Laboratory at the University of Illinois; and the National Science Foundation (Grant No. ECS-0335765).The AUD/USD exchange rate has come under some fresh selling pressure on Thursday, currently placed at weekly lows around the 0.7275 region.

Aussie private business CapEx surprised on the downside and fell by 2.5% in the June quarter, new building approvals also posted a sharper than expected decline, falling 5.2% m/m versus 2.5% drop expected.

Meanwhile, a modest US Dollar rebound, supported by an upward revision of the US Q2 GDP growth figures on Wednesday, added to the weakness, with sliding copper prices doing little to support the commodity-linked Australian Dollar.

AUD/USD exchange rate down nearly 0.50% on mortgage rate hikes

The AUD/USD FX pair made a bit a dive down on the day on news that Westpac is increasing its variable mortgage rates. Swissquote reports that the selling pressure is the result of negative sentiment for the future. Swissquote continued, saying that future rate hikes by the Royal Bank of Australia could be curtailed and that the next rate hike could be further down the road than originally thought. This news also comes off the back of some technical rebound in the DXY (US Dollar Index).

Above: AUD/USD breaks short-term trendline to trade lower

A look at the technical shows that the AUDUSD FX pair was consolidating near the 0.734 to 0.735 value area. This created a double top in price action. Additionally, the intra-day price action displayed a flagging to pennant formation with some decreased upside momentum displaying in the fast and slow oscillators. Prices continued to tighten and constrict the close price got to the upper trendline. When price broke that trend line it saw the AUDUSD FX pair drop from 0.7346 to 0.730.

The AUDUSD FX pair is still above a key angle in Ganns Square of 144. It appears to have found support at that level. That level is also shared by the 50% Fibonacci level from the most larger swing high of 0.73816 and the most recent swing low of 0.72025. It is also very near the 50% Fibonacci level between the most recent swing high of 0.7362 and the most recent swing low of 0.7238. When there are double confluence zones of important Fibonacci levels, these generally yield very positive support and/or resistance areas (in this case, support). The effect seems to be exacerbated if the levels are a shared Fibonacci level, in this case it is the 50% Fibonacci level.

While the AUDUSD FX pair has suffered a bit of a drop, it remains in a short-term upwards trend. From the low of 0.72025 on August 14th, 2018 to the next important higher low of 0.7238 made on August 22nd, 2018, the AUDUSD FX pair remains above that trend line and within a positive trading condition. If the AUDUSD FX pair does drop below the current support level at 0.7290, there could be a flash drive lower to the bottom of the upwards trend line  that value area is in the 0.725 zone.

Over the short term, there could be some increased volatility in the price of the AUDUSD FX pair as traders and investors await key economic US data being released on August 29th, 2018. The most important of these indicators is the 2nd Quarter GDP estimates. Additionally, the continuing problems regarding the US trade negotiations with China are creating additional uncertainty with the broader Aussie markets. Further downside pressure should be mitigated if there is any negative outlook by the US release on estimated GDP and/or if any further news about US Fed rate hikes were to hint of any curtailing of rising rates  none of those factors, however, seem to be likely in the near future.Privacy Settings

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NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.Useful information and advice for expats looking for jobs in Moscow and other Russian cities, including Russian jobs for English speakers.

Russia has diverse employment opportunities and expats are often the best-paid professionals. Big cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg offer the best opportunities, especially for those speaking both English and Russian.

This guide to finding jobs in Russia includes information on:

Work in Russia

Job market in Russia

Moscow and St. Petersburg are Russias main economic centers offering the best job opportunities. The overall unemployment rate in Russia was measured at 6.3% in July 2020. This is an increase of around 30% since the start of the year, although this is largely down to the effects of COVID-19.

Moscow has the highest employment rate in Russia and its labor force makes up around a quarter of Russias total GDP.

The service sector accounts for over half of all jobs in Russia, with retail, tourism, health, and education among the most important service segments. Mining, manufacturing, and construction are the biggest industrial sectors.

You can find many English-speaking jobs with large multinational companies in the big Russian cities. Some of the biggest international employers in Russia include:

Japan Tobacco International

EuroChem

Philip Morris International

Toyota

Volkswagen

Apple

The biggest Russian employers include:

Gazprom (oil and gas)

Lukoil (oil and gas)

Sberbank of Russia (finance)

Russian Railways (transport)

PAO Rosseti (energy)

Job vacancies in Russia

Depending on your background, finding vacancies for jobs in Russia might not be easy. Options for English-speakers include teaching English (other native language teaching jobs such as French or German are also available), working for a multinational company in sectors such as energy, finance or construction, or translation if you are bilingual. English teachers should look at BKC International and English First.

Sectors in Moscow where there is higher demand include:

IT

Business development

Finance

Human Resources

Medical and pharmaceutical

In St. Petersburg, there is a shortage of:

Sales professionals

Drivers

Engineers

Technical specialists

Job salaries in Russia

The minimum wage in Russia is reviewed every six months, although it doesnt necessarily always increase. It was raised to R12,130 a month in January 2020.

The average monthly Russian salary is just over R52,000 as of June 2020. However, wages are slightly higher in Moscow with many residents earning over R75,000 a month.

Read more in our guide to minimum wages in Russia.

Russian work culture

Russian companies tend to be hierarchical and bureaucratic, with a plethora of rules and regulations in place that can be explained by the countrys communist past. Because of this, business negotiations can take a long time to sort out. However, as the Russian economy has gradually opened up since the early nineties, this has started to change.

Traditional standards and values still persist within many workplaces and social networks can be important when it comes to career progression. Russians are fond of mixing business with pleasure, with long business lunches and even weekend invitations to stay with business partners a common feature.

Labor laws and labor rights in Russia

Employment law in Russia is enshrined in the 2002 Russian Labor Code. Employment contracts should be in writing. The Russian Labor Code states that there are three main types of contract:

Employment Contract with Free Text  most current contract with no exact term of validity, but it does contain the condition of termination; A definite-time employment contract  the validity of the contract is up to five years and is only made when a temporary employee is offered a permanent contract; A seasonal work contract which is valid for only two months.

The common working week in Russia is 40 hours and employees should work a maximum of 50 hours a week. Full-time workers are entitled to a minimum of 28 days annual leave. In addition to this, there are also a number of public holidays in Russia.

Notice periods for termination of a contract in Russia vary according to reasons for termination. They range from no notice at all to two months (in cases such as redundancies or company liquidation). Employees usually have to give at least two weeks notice if they wish to quit.

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How to find jobs in Russia

There are plenty of recruitment agencies and job websites with opportunities in Moscow and St Petersburg. However, they are best suited for those who are highly qualified and aim to hit bigger corporate companies. Most of those agencies require your CV to be in English and sent by email or completed at their website.

Another useful way to find a job in Russia is to contact international companies directly from your country and ask if they are doing business in Russia. Such companies are more likely to hire expats to work in Russia.

Expatica jobs

On the Expatica job page, you can find information on jobs available in Moscow.

Public Employment Services

The Russian Federal Service for Labor and Employment (ROSTRUD) runs an employment service as well as having information on working in Russia.

Russian job websites

Jobs in Russia for foreigners

Russian jobs

Russian recruitment agencies

Recruitment agencies in Russia are a good channel to find Russian jobs. Most accept registration online and also enable you to upload a CV tailored for Russia. Some of the best recruitment agencies in Moscow and St. Petersburg are:

You can also search for agencies using the following directories:

You can also find out more about private recruitment agencies in Russia (in Russian) through the Association of Private Employment Agencies.

Teaching vacancies for English speakers

English teachers are well sought after in Russia and there is no shortage of opportunities for native English speakers  or nationals that speak English to a high level of standard. Other European languages such as Spanish, French, and German are also in demand.

To teach English or other language in Moscow and St. Petersburg target these language companies:

Working as an au pair

There are many wealthy families in Russia that are keen for their children to learn a second language from a young age. Again, English is in high demand as it is the international business language. If youre interested in living and working in Moscow or St. Petersburg as an au pair contact Gouverneur.

Networking opportunities

Russians are particularly friendly people and wherever possible will try to help foreigners find work. As the idiom goes, its not what you know, its who you know. When you arrive in Moscow or St.Petersburg, make sure you actively network and attend as many events and groups as possible.

Social media networks such as Facebook and Linkedin are a good place to start, but look for groups that specifically organize networking events.

Contact a company directly: speculative applications

Its acceptable to make the first move and approach a company directly in Russia. Look at company websites to find vacancies and to make speculative applications.

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Self-employment and freelancing in Russia

You can set up your own business in Russia or work as a self-employed freelancer provided you have the right to work in the country. This may mean applying for a Russian work visa.

Only around 6.8% of workers in Russian are registered as self-employed, according to 2019 Russian Federation statistics. This is below global and European averages. However, it is something worth considering if you have a good business idea and think that you could make it work.

If you set up as a limited company structure in Russia, dont forget that you will have to file separate taxes for the business and pay any Russian corporation tax owed.

Traineeships, internships, and volunteering in Russia

You can find internships and summer placements with many NGOs or global companies via organizations such as AIESEC or IAESTE. Also, search for internships worldwide at Europlacement and GoAbroad.

You can find volunteering opportunities in Russia through organizations such as WorkAway and GoAbroad.

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Applying for Russian jobs

Even though some multinational companies use online application forms, CVs and letters remain a typical way to apply for jobs in Russia. A cover letter is an essential part of the job application and is often considered more important than the CV.

The letter format should be formal and illustrate how suitable you are for the job, what your ambitions are for the future, your qualifications, and work experience.

When you are called for the interview, do your homework and research the company very well to prepare yourself. On the day of the interview dress formally; bring a copy of your resume and all the additional documents like letters of recommendation, awards, or certificates.

During the interview show with enthusiasm that you are interested in the position and have a few insightful questions to ask. If you are successful, you will be contacted by the company within a few days and offered the job. Expect to provide a minimum of two employment references.

You can read more information in our informative guide to CV writing and interview tips in Russia.

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Support while looking for jobs in Russia

You can claim unemployment benefit in Russia if you have been living in Russia for at least 183 days within the last year and are actively looking for work. Benefits are contribution-based and the amount you are eligible for depends on your earnings in your last job and the Russian social security contributions you made.

Requirements to work in Russia

Russian work visas

All foreign nationals wanting to work in Russia must have a work permit. The Russian Federal Migration Service issues work permits, which you need before applying for a work visa. Most foreigners require a Russian work visa, but there are exceptions:

Those with a permanent residence permit;

Those working on a temporary basis for a foreign country, or often traveling outside the country;

Those working in diplomatic missions or international organizations;

Media representatives with accreditation;

Teachers with an invitation to work at an educational institution

Language requirements to work in Russia

It is possible to find work in Russia if you dont speak the language as there are English-speaking and foreign-speaking jobs. However, these tend to be lower-level jobs. Multinational and international jobs will sometimes employ senior staff who dont speak Russian, but you will greatly improve your employment chances if you have a good knowledge of the Russian language.

If you want to brush up on your Russian language skills, here are details on where you can study Russian in Russia.

Qualifications to work in Russia

You can get overseas qualifications recognized in Russia through the Main State Center for Education Evaluation. Find information on the procedure, along with details of which documents you need to submit, on the Russian Ministry of Education and Science website.

The NARIC website has details of Russian educational bodies, the Russian qualifications framework, and more.

Tax and social security numbers in Russia

Once you start working and paying tax in Russia, you will be issued with a unique tax identification number (INN). This is a 12-digit number that Russian tax authorities will use in their correspondence with you.

You will need to apply for a social insurance number in order to legally work, apply for Russian social security benefits or contribute towards a state pension in Russia. You can do this through the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation.

Starting a job in Russia

Beyond making sure that youre registered for social security in Russia, you might want to consider taking out private coverage for a few things once you start working in the country. These include:

Private health insurance in Russia. Although everyone is entitled to state healthcare in Russia, the quality of services is not always good so you might want to take out private coverage to access the best care.

Unemployment and accident insurance in Russia. Again, state benefit levels might not be sufficient, so a private policy is worth considering to make sure you are adequately funded in the event of becoming unemployed.

Supplementary Russian pension. All employees in Russia are given the option of paying into occupational or private pension schemes to supplement the national state pension. You employer should provide you with details.

Useful resourcesFrom: Ad Council For Immediate Release: Dateline: New York , NY Wednesday, August 29, 2018







This article



A new campaign from the Ad Council in partnership with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence called End Family Fire features a conversation between a boy and his dad in which the boy asks if he can play with the gun in their home and the father explains that its not a toy and only there to protect the family. But what about the eight kids who get shot everyday by mistake? asks the boy. The campaign refers to unintentional shootings with loaded, unlocked guns in homes, which lead to thousands of deaths and injuries of children every year.

Overall, the organizations seek to make the phrase family fire as memorable and meaningful as the terms designated driver and secondhand smoke. To make sure the term would carry such weight, family fire was highly researched and tested with parents and gun owners, who all agreed the phrase was memorable and provoked strong reactions.

Getting involved with this campaign was a no-brainer as the Ad Council has a commitment to taking on the most critical social issues our nation faces. In the case of End Family Fire the organization is taking on a silent national crisis that injures or kills eight children every day. Together with

The Brady Center tapped Droga5, which developed the creative idea behind End Family Fire, including an interactive website,

Ever since the NRA began backing candidates who opposed gun regulations in the name of the Second Amendment gun control has been a partisan issue and very contentious. By extension, the idea of telling people what to do with their firearms, even in the name of safety, seems to cause controversy. Wherever we live or whatever our politics may be, we can all agree that its critical to help save children from the dangers of family fire,' Sherman said. Given the gravity, urgency and scope of the issue, we expect this campaign to receive strong support.

Along with the Brady Center, the Ad Council and Droga5 has a broad coalition of partners including the Gun Safety Alliance, Veterans for Gun Reform, Doctors for America, the PTA, faith-based organizations and many other military, medical and hunter groups that will help promote this message on a local level to generate support. A host of media companies have also come onboard with commitments already secured from Fox Networks Group, Bustle Media Group, Refinery29 and the Conde Nast portfolio, support and outreach from Zenith USA. Many marketing leaders, influencers and talent are also planning to support the campaign.

Beyond the media spots, audiences are directed to the End Family Fire site for additional resources, including tips for safe storage like not storing ammunition and a gun in the same location or using a gun lock. The site prompts parents to initiate gun safety conversations with their kids, since its likely they have already located the guns in their homes. The site also highlights home protection alternatives to guns, such as alarm systems and guard dogs. Lastly, families can access the End Family Fire gun safety tool kit.

The opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author and/or subject(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated writers.

As the campaign illustrates, parents may have guns in the home with the intention of protecting their families, not realizing the dangers they may encounter when those weapons are not properly secured and stored away. This is especially true because children are naturally curious, with statistics citing that 73% of kids under nine know where guns are stored in their homes. The Brady Center and the Ad Council feel if the End Family Fire message does its part, and parents safely store their guns, then nearly 3,000 children can be saved each year.Overall, the organizations seek to make the phrase family fire as memorable and meaningful as the terms designated driver and secondhand smoke. To make sure the term would carry such weight, family fire was highly researched and tested with parents and gun owners, who all agreed the phrase was memorable and provoked strong reactions.Getting involved with this campaign was a no-brainer as the Ad Council has a commitment to taking on the most critical social issues our nation faces. In the case of End Family Fire the organization is taking on a silent national crisis that injures or kills eight children every day. Together with Droga5 and the Brady Center, we saw a unique opportunity to leverage the power of the communications industry to introduce the new phrase family fire to raise awareness of this hidden crisis and what parents can do to protect their families, said Lisa Sherman, Ad Council President and CEO.The Brady Center tapped Droga5, which developed the creative idea behind End Family Fire, including an interactive website, EndFamilyFire.org , and films for the campaign that will launch today (August 8  or 8/8) to signify the eight kids killed or injured each day. Despite extensive evidence to the contrary, 63 percent of Americans believe that owning a gun makes a home safer, said Duncan Marshall, Founding Partner, Droga5. The Brady Campaign came to Droga5 with the goal of decreasing this number and ultimately saving lives, an opportunity we couldnt pass up. In partnership with the Ad Council our nonpartisan approach is solely focused on safety, and we hope to help educate everyone about the dangers and risks that come with keeping guns in a home with children.Ever since the NRA began backing candidates who opposed gun regulations in the name of the Second Amendment gun control has been a partisan issue and very contentious. By extension, the idea of telling people what to do with their firearms, even in the name of safety, seems to cause controversy. Wherever we live or whatever our politics may be, we can all agree that its critical to help save children from the dangers of family fire,' Sherman said. Given the gravity, urgency and scope of the issue, we expect this campaign to receive strong support.Along with the Brady Center, the Ad Council and Droga5 has a broad coalition of partners including the Gun Safety Alliance, Veterans for Gun Reform, Doctors for America, the PTA, faith-based organizations and many other military, medical and hunter groups that will help promote this message on a local level to generate support. A host of media companies have also come onboard with commitments already secured from Fox Networks Group, Bustle Media Group, Refinery29 and the Conde Nast portfolio, support and outreach from Zenith USA. Many marketing leaders, influencers and talent are also planning to support the campaign.Beyond the media spots, audiences are directed to the End Family Fire site for additional resources, including tips for safe storage like not storing ammunition and a gun in the same location or using a gun lock. The site prompts parents to initiate gun safety conversations with their kids, since its likely they have already located the guns in their homes. The site also highlights home protection alternatives to guns, such as alarm systems and guard dogs. Lastly, families can access the End Family Fire gun safety tool kit.The opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author and/or subject(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated writers.

This article Ad Council Enlists the Media Industry to End Family Fire was originally published on Media Village The post Ad Council Enlists the Media Industry to End Family Fire appeared first on AdLibbing.org

From: Joyce L. Gioia, CMC, CSP -- The Herman Group Austin , TX Wednesday, August 29, 2018

The Herman Trend Alert August 29, 2018 Onsite Medical Clinics Revisited In the past, we have discussed the value of locating medical clinics onsite at companies. There is a definite ROI---a significant reduction in medical costs. Now, the industry has discovered that locating corporate medical clinics next to exercise facilities increases the value of each. This co-location works because it links prevention, treatment, and employee wellness. Though these savings are greater in the United States, global employers realize benefits from reduced absenteeism and higher productivity, too. Most medium to large employers are self-insured



According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, in the US, more than 80 percent of companies with 500 or more employees have self-insured plans. Having workplace health clinics is a good way for self-insured employers to not only control costs, but also clinical outcomes as well. Adding onsite fitness facilities is the icing on the cake



Ernie Clevenger, co-founder and CEO of CareHere, LLC, which provides patient-centered care and wellness centers says that the fitness facilities serve to delay or avoid these conditions that require treatment at the onsite medical centers. These fitness facilities can offer much more than just trainers and equipment, they may also deliver physical therapy for existing conditions; it seems like it would be a natural combination of approaches to help employees achieve and maintain their own health. Case studies and analyses detail savings



Whatever an employer does to support their workers in staying healthy will have a beneficial effect to decrease its self-insured costs. There are numerous cases and analyses that demonstrate a range of 5 to 14 percent "savings from care management and coordination of primary and secondary care." Which companies have embraced this concept?



Through the service provider Crossover Health, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Intuit, Symantec and others have enjoyed these kinds of savings. Using their approach called Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes (FOTO), Crossover Health's physical medicine service tracks and measures therapy outcomes. Their customers average four fewer visits per physical medicine problem, compared to the community at large. Crossover Health uses FOTO to determine the most effective therapies for each patient, by analyzing data from 21 million clinical outcomes. Talk about impressive results: using this data-driven approach, Crossover Heath's clients have seen a 30 percent reduction in their medical spending, 35 percent decrease in pharmacy costs, and a massive 187 percent fewer opioid prescriptions. What is next for the self-funded community?



This saving from using a global data-driven approach is only the beginning. We expect more solution providers to use Big Data to generate substantial savings. We are also seeing another trend (to be addressed in a subsequent Herman Trend Alert, including covering the new company PTX Therapy) towards using postural and physio therapies to eliminate pain and avoid opioid use. Even in countries with universal healthcare, there will be substantial benefits from embracing this approach. Special thanks to freelance writer Bruce Shutan for his article about this important employee benefits topic in the, The Self-Insurer, August 2018.  Copyright 1998-2018 by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurist. 336-210-3548 or http://www.hermangroup.com. To sign up, visit http://www.HermanTrendAlert.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." The Herman Group is a firm of Strategic Business Futurists concentrating on workforce and workplace issues. We forecast the future and advise clients regarding relevant trends and how those trends may affect their lives. Applying our expertise as Certified Management Consultants, we advise corporate leaders regarding employee retention and organizational development to help them build workforce stability. We help organizations become Employers of Choice. We also work with Employer of Choice, Inc. to formally recognize employers that meet the stringent standards dictated by the labor marketplace. As authors of management books and as active professional speakers, we inform and inspire people to make a positive difference in the world of work. You did really get the ball rolling with our retention presentation, overall we have seen a move in the right direction with our turnover. In practice since 1980, we have served a wide variety of clients throughout the United States and in other countries. Our global affiliates assist us in sharing our expertise and advice with clients internationally. Our team of professional consultants and trainers is supported by an administrative staff that gets things done. We also have consultants certified to deliver our programs in your local area. Delivering to both small and large groups across 100 industries, The Herman Group has provided over 2,500 educational and informative keynote speeches and training seminars worldwide. Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, we travel extensively to meet the needs of our clients. We can always be reached through the support team in our office at (800) 227-3566. Overseas callers may reach us through 336-210-3547. Should you have any questions after touring our website, please call or e-mail us at info@hermangroup.com. Get started now on improving the stability and performance of your workforce and increase your chances for success in the future.

Whats a guy to do when the taps run dry at San Antonios best bar? Well, if youre Benjamin Krick, you build a new one from scratch on the citys East Side.

Krick is the former manager of the acclaimed Juniper Tar, which closed in June. Hes now developing a new concept called Pastiche, which hell debut this fall in a cozy blue cottage at 1506 E. Houston St.

Kricks departure from Juniper Tar comes as Juniper Tars owner, Chris Erck, faces mounting legal and financial troubles at that bar and two other properties, Viva Tacoland and the now-closed Swig Martini Bar, which is about to become Merkaba.

RELATED: Massive Broadway bar Backyard on Broadway finally will debut Sunday

In March, the Internal Revenue Service filed a lien for almost $26,000 in unpaid payroll taxes against Juniper Tar. The bar also owes almost $3,000 to Alamo City Liquor, and consequently, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has suspended Juniper Tars liquor license.

In June, Viva Tacoland co-owners David Adelman and TV star Ricardo Chavira sued Erck. The suit alleges a breach of partnership and seeks at least $200,000 in damages. According to tax records, Viva Tacoland is more than $100,000 behind in state and federal payroll taxes. Swig Martini Bar, which closed amid a dispute with the landlord in 2017, owed more than $70,000 in payroll taxes as of March.

Erck, who still owns the Juniper Tar brand, said in a text message that he is in talks to resolve Juniper Tars ongoing issues and assemble a new team to run the business.

I am proud of what we accomplished as Best Bar in San Antonio, and the international exposure we have received, he said. I love this city and look forward to bringing new concepts for San Antonio and the next iteration of Juniper Tar.

READ ALSO: Food, Bars and Drinks

Juniper Tar opened at 244 W. Houston St. in 2015. Founders Matty Gee and Spurs spokesman Tom James, who owns the building, briefly ran the business before selling it to Erck in late 2015.

Krick was hired the following January to manage Juniper Tar. Krick brought a resume of globetrotting accolades and industry certifications and imbued the bar with approachable, yet deeply researched and creative, cocktails. His efforts led the Express-News the past two years to name Juniper Tar as the best bar in the city in its annual Top 100 Dining & Drinks guide.

Krick said he had limited involvement in the business finances. He said profit-and-loss statements were not made available to him by Erck, hampering his ability to create an operating budget. His own paychecks bounced multiple times, he added.

For his part, Krick is eager to move on from Juniper Tar and embrace his first role as sole proprietor.

The leadership skills Ive acquired through this are priceless, Krick said. I take everything as a stepping stone, always moving forward. Sometimes its into molasses, sometimes its an oil slick. But as long as youre moving forward, its fine for me. Its positive.

The new bars name, Pastiche, reflects Kricks intent to celebrate the legacy of bartending innovators whove inspired his own hospitality philosophy. Guests can expect a decidedly European feel with a focus on wine and tea service in addition to the spirits-forward approach to cocktails he demonstrated at Juniper Tar. Many of the former Juniper Tar crew will join Krick in the new venture.

RELATED: Refuel with cheap drinks, live music at Retox Bar

Pastiche will be briefly rebranded as Miracle on Houston from Nov. 23 through the end of December to participate in the Miracle Christmas Cocktail Pop-Up Bar. The concept has grown from a small New York City-based event to a five-week takeover at some of the top bars across the globe, with each establishment decked out in kitschy, over-the-top jingle bell duds and a menu of holiday-inspired drinks. Pastiche will join a lineup including other high-profile Texas watering holes such as Julep in Houston, Hide in Dallas, Proper in Fort Worth and others.

The more I can put the city into the spotlight, that means more to me than anything, and this is another way to do it. Krick said.

Krick and James both agreed that part of Juniper Tars struggles came from the bar launching before its time. James said near-constant construction around Juniper Tars home on the 200 block of West Houston Street prevented the establishment from thriving.

He declined to further comment on the bars closure, adding only that he respected Erck and expected the two could end Juniper Tars tenure in his building as gentlemen.

The next step will be finding a new tenant for the space, James said.

Paul Stephen is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephenA nurse at Texas Childrens Hospital has been discharged after she posted information on social media about a boy who tested positive for measles, hospital officials said Tuesday afternoon.

The hospital took the action four days after learning Friday of the nurse's posts on Facebook. The boy, who is between 1 and 3 years old, was treated at the hospital's west campus in the Energy Corridor.

"We were made aware that one of our nurses posted protected health information regarding a patient on social media," Texas Children's said in a statement. "We take these matters very seriously as the privacy and well-being of our patients is always a top priority. After an internal investigation, this individual is no longer with the organization.

The nurse has not been involved in patient care since Friday, according to the hospital.

Now Playing: Suspected measles case in Houston Video: Fox 26 Houston

The nurse posted about the child on an anti-vaccination group's Facebook page called Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children-Texas, according to screenshots of posts obtained by The Houston Chronicle.

It's not clear whether the child was vaccinated for the measles virus. The boy had recently traveled overseas, Houston Health Department officials said in a Facebook post Monday night.

The nurse, who listed Texas Children's as her workplace on Facebook, described her experience seeing a child with measles for the first time.

I think its easy for us nonvaxxers to make assumptions but most of us have never and will never see one of these diseases," she said. "By no means have I changed my vax stance, and I never will. But I just wanted to share my experience and how much worse it was than I expected."

Health officials say that the vaccine is the best way to prevent the illness. The last confirmed case of measles in Houston was in 2013. And over the past 10 years, Houston has averaged fewer than one reported case of measles per year, according to the Houston Health Department.

'HOTSPOT': Harris County schools with the highest percentage of vaccine exemptions for personal reasons

This is a highly-contagious, vaccine-preventable infection, Texas Childrens Hospital said in a statement. We know vaccination is the best protection against measles.

The health department is investigating the case, which is still being treated as a "suspected" case of measles, pending verification from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Texas Childrens Hospital has also contacted families of any other children who may have come in contact with the boy, according to the statement.

The boy's condition is unknown. Texas Childrens Hospital officials couldnt confirm where the boy traveled, his specific age or whether he was vaccinated, citing hospital privacy laws.

RELATED: Statewide data shows Texas anti-vaccine movement is growing

Measles is a viral respiratory illness, with symptoms including fever, runny nose, a hacking cough, red eyes with severe sensitivity to light and a distinctive rash, according to Texas Children's.

It's spread through direct contact with discharge through the nose and mouth, as well as through coughing and sneezing.

The first dose of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine is usually given between 12 and 15 months of age, according to Texas Children's. The second dose is administered typically between 4 and 6 years of age. The first dose prevents measles in 93 percent of people, and the second dose prevents measles in 97 percent of people, according to the hospital.Erica Torres was in her car, waiting for the light to change at one of the citys busiest intersections, when another auto veered in front of her.

It was headed right for a cluster of morning commuters at a VIA bus stop on Culebra Road.

I just see a vehicle, like if its losing control, she said Tuesday. He was flying.

The car slammed into the side of bus stop, and immediately four of the waiting passengers, among them a pregnant woman, went flying in the air, she said.

Torres rushed to the woman first because her head was gushing blood.

I checked on a man and his eyes were rolling back, she said. I thought he was dying. I was freaking out.

The car, a 2002 Nissan Maxima, had been speeding west on Culebra about 11 a.m. when it swerved into the eastbound lanes, crossed the Culebra and Zarzamora intersection then plowed into VIAs No. 49533 bus stop, police said.

Related: Third lawsuit filed in deadly San Marcos apartment fire

Now Playing: (Warning: Graphic content) Four people were critically injured Tuesday when a driver lost control of his car and plowed into a West Side bus stop, authorities said. Video: Courtesy Marc DeLeon

All four people at the bus stop were taken to University Hospital, officials said.

Police later said that three people, identified as Marcos Estrada, 33, Reicedo Concepcion, 53, and Vanneta Georgia, 55, were each listed in stable condition Tuesday night.

The pregnant woman, who police said is 28 years old, was in serious condition. She wasnt identified.

The vehicle stopped a few yards down from the bus with its front half on top of a 4-foot-tall concrete retaining wall and its back half on the sidewalk.

Matthew Rodriguez said he was waiting for a bus across the street when he saw the crash and rushed to check on the victims.

The pregnant woman couldn;t speak, he said. She was bleeding from her head.

Marc DeLeon, 33, said he ran to the scene after hearing a loud boom while working at a business down the street.

He saw one woman who appeared to have injured her Achilles tendon. Two men seemed dazed as they lay on the ground clinging to the bus stops benches, he said.

Bystanders assisted the injured people until EMS arrived and told everyone else to move back, DeLeon said.

Rodriguez and Torres said the driver who caused the wreck never checked on the victims and instead appeared worried about the damage to his car.

He was telling the police, I didnt do it, someone cut me off, DeLeon said. Bystanders called him out, saying it was him who came speeding down.

Related: Toddler who died after being held at immigrant detention facility identified

The driver, who hasnt been identified, was taken to University Hospital for minor injuries, police said. He was one of two people in the car at the time of the crash.

A passer-by who wished only to be identified as J. Wallace, 59, said he sees accidents at the intersection often, particularly when people rush to beat the red light.

A female passenger in the car appeared to be traumatized, he said.

That girl was shaking, man, she was shaking real bad, Wallace said. They were lucky they didnt get killed.

Criminal charges had not been filed.

Police spokesman Carlos Ortiz said traffic investigators would need to review the evidence and interview witnesses before determining whether the driver was criminally negligent.

Theres not a lot of answers right now, Ortiz said Tuesday.

Later, evidence of the crash could be seen at the bus stop, where a chunk of the concrete retaining wall closest to the intersection was missing.

Oil still was dripping down another section of the wall, and the bottom splash guard and bumper of the car remained a few feet from the point of impact.

VIA spokeswoman Lorraine Pulido said the bus agency does not keep records of these types of crashes, but San Antonio police investigators are keeping them in the loop about this particular incident.

Of course, were concerned for everyone who was injured in todays unfortunate accident, Pulido said.

cdowns@mysa.comA federal judge on Tuesday granted bond to the operator of a San Antonio dog training business who is charged with defrauding the GI Bill program out of more than $1.2 million.

After hearing nearly a full day of government testimony alleging Bradley Lane Croft, 46, is violent, vindictive and volatile, much of which received objections from his defense, U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer said federal law allowed him to set bail with restrictions aimed at protecting the safety of the public. Farrer was not swayed by the prosecutions claim that Croft is a flight risk.

The judge set a $50,000 unsecured bond, meaning Croft does not put down any money, and ordered Croft to the custody of one of Crofts friends, a San Antonio businessman who also must serve as a surety who would be on the hook for the money should Croft skip bail or violates conditions of release. Farrer also ordered Croft to serve house arrest, wear an ankle monitor, not have contact with witnesses in the case, get screened for drug use and avoid alcohol use, The businessman was instructed to get rid of guns he has in the house where Croft is going to stay.

Croft could be out of jail as early as Wednesday.

RELATED: After K9 school raid in San Antonio, other groups step up to help veterans and their dogs

According to Tuesdays testimony, Croft operated Universal K9, but allegedly put it under the name of a combat-wounded veteran who lives in Virginia. The business on the Northwest Side was raided Aug. 8 by the FBI, IRS and investigators with the Department of Veterans Affairs. They shut the training school down, and the citys Animal Care Services took 26 of 31 dogs on the site into custody amid the federal investigation.

Croft was indicted last week on federal charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

The indictment alleges Croft used the personal information of four dog trainers, without their permission, in applying to the Texas Veterans Commission so his company could recruit veterans to his dog-handlers school. The veterans would pay for the school using their GI Bill benefits.

Sharleigh Drake, a Texas Department of Public Safety criminal investigator who is assigned to an FBI white-collar crime task force, testified that one of the four trainers died two years before Croft submitted his paperwork to the veterans commission.

Drake also testified about shortfalls in the training program, which she said could affect police departments around the country. Croft had been providing certain dogs, some of them shelter rescues, to police departments under a program that had gained Universal K9 accolades, along with regional and national news coverage.

He had no formal certification to train dogs and neither did his trainers, Drake testified.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Surovic and Drake, Crofts alleged fraud and shortcomings in training undermines the credibility and reliability of the dogs for the departments that obtained them. Some police departments bought the dogs using grants provided by the Department of Homeland Security, according to testimony.

RELATED: Pit bull seized in Universal K9 raid looking for a job or a good home

The hearing turned largely into a back and forth surrounding Crofts history, going back to 1990. Government witnesses, court records and police reports showed Croft shooting at the feet of an ex-girlfriend in 1995 and fighting with police who responded. Other reported incidents included him allegedly beating his ex-wife in front of their then-7-year-old daughter in 2007, nearly punching his wifes divorce lawyer after bankruptcy proceedings in 2011, and retaliating against a business owner by sending her credit report to her clients in an attempt to discredit her.

An IRS agent testified that Croft is also under investigation for tax fraud. In statements to a court pretrial services officer, Croft claimed to have an income of $45,000 a month, which doesnt jibe with his tax returns for the past two years, when Croft claimed he only made $2,000 each of those years, the agent testified.

Drake also testified that certain people the feds wanted to call as witnesses refused to testify at Crofts hearing because they are afraid of him. Among those who feared him was a police officer, Drake said.

Those who did testify included his ex-wifes divorce lawyer, Misty Murphy, and homeowners association management company owner Barbara Lowry. Both testified they had to have bailiffs watch over them during bankruptcy proceedings involving Croft and that they fear Croft so much that they ended up getting guns for protection.

Murphy also testified that Croft treated his ex-wife horribly, choked her, pulled her by the hair, and even yanked her by an earring so hard that it damaged her ear and she had to have it surgically repaired. His ex-wife backed out after agreeing to testify, Drake said.

Surovic played a videotaped deposition Croft gave during his bankruptcy, which he allegedly filed to thwart any attempt by Lowry to collect judgments from Croft that the courts had awarded her.

RELATED: Feds: Operator of dog training school used dead person to commit $1.26 million fraud

In the 2011 video, Croft was defiant. He claimed he had gone to school all over and got kicked out of every grade for fighting. When asked about his parents, he said: I dont have a family. He claimed to have been adopted by a doctor and his wife, but then said theyre dead to me. He also admitted to using steroids in the past, downplayed his run-ins with the law, and said they were mostly for beating people up.

Tom McHugh, Crofts lead lawyer, objected to the mentioning of much of that testimony, arguing that it was old and that Croft only has one conviction. McHugh countered that despite what the court heard, the allegations of violence came during contentious proceedings, and that the bankruptcy was not relevant to claims that Croft is a danger.

Crofts sole witness, Rachel McCabe, a single mother who befriended Croft, said Croft was the total opposite of what she heard in court.

The Brad I know is a very gentle man, she said, adding that he was nurturing to his teen daughter and a good role model.

Asked by McHugh if she ever saw this streak of ugliness (in Croft) youve seen in court, McCabe answered: Never, not once.If rattan furniture transports you to your grandparents 1960s-era lake home  or, for the international set, a trip to Singapore or Bangkok  then youre likely loving this natural fibers home decor comeback. Use it indoors or out, in traditional homes or those with a midcentury modern edge.

Whether its in a dining room, bedroom, living room or porch  or in accessories such as trays, coasters or baskets  rattan, along with other natural fibers like cane and seagrass, wont fail you on the style front.

Auburn lounge chair

Fragments of rattan that are hand bent and woven into a mish-mash design make Paleceks Auburn lounge chair a comfortable work of art. $2,922; Design House

MR Rattan Side Chair

Knoll has reintroduced MR Rattan Side Chair, designed by Mies van der Rohe. Think of it as modernisms equivalent of a rocking chair: efficient, ergonomic and comfortable. $1,662; Sunset Settings and Design Within Reach

Cane wallcovering

Thibauts Cyrus Cane wallcovering will make any room feel just a little bit more like summer. Get it in this emerald green, or one of six others (navy, gray, coral, turquoise, gold or beige). $52 per single roll; Design House

Parasol

pendant

Celerie Kemble designed this playful parasol-like pendant for Arteriors. The natural, handwoven rattan is the epitome of coastal cool, and its approved for use in covered outdoor areas. $1,410; James Craig Furnishings

Colette cane coasters

A ring of brass elevates Aerins Colette coaster set made of woven cane. The stack of four rest in a tidy cane holder when theyre not being used by you or your party guests. Set of 4, $285; aerin.com

Colette

Hurricane Lamp

Bring out Aerins Colette Cane hurricane lamp for summer entertaining, or keep it busy year-round in your beach house. The 8-inch-tall glass vase rests in a stylish base of woven cane and brass. $375; aerin.com

Siam credenza

Inspired by the the legendary Bangkok home of American businessman and architect Jim Thompson, the Siam credenza  theres also a cocktail table ($1,795)  is made of natural raffia covered in layers of peacock blue lacquer, all on encased in ebonized mahogany. $2,995; Jonathan Adler stores, jonathanadler.com

Aiden cabinet

The doors of this cabinet by Worlds Away are covered in cane and finished with beautiful brass hardware. You can find it in lacquered gray, white or orange. $1,575; High Fashion Home

Hermosa chair

Palecek hand wraps a black metal frame with natural rattan peel for its Hermosa chair line, which includes an armchair, side chair and counter stool. $440 side chair, $500 armchair, $580 counter stool; Kuhl-Linscomb

Juliska natural bamboo flatware

Natural bamboo brings an international flair to your table in Juliska flatware from its Classic Bamboo Collection. And it feels just right for summer dinners on the patio. $168 per 5-piece place setting; Kuhl-Linscomb

Abbott rattan metal tray

Artist-designer Jay Strongwater brings his love of elegant, bejeweled objects to his rattan-metal tray, with handles encrusted with Swarovski crystals. Use it as a way to create a collection of small objects or to serve cocktails at the end of a long day. $2,200; Neiman Marcus

Ova lantern

House Doctor gets cagey with its 42-inch-tall Ova Lantern, made of rattan, glass and metal. Add a battery-operated candle for extra light, or let it make a statement just as it is. $53-$67;

us.amara.com

Seagrass baskets

Red and natural seagrass are woven into a zigzag design in Murmurs two-basket set for Amara. They have sturdy handles to make them easy to move and theyre roomy enough to hold towels, blankets or all kinds of things you need in summer. $52 (set of two);

us.amara.com

Lasso floor lamp

Jute rope adds an organic edge to the stem of the Lasso floor lamp, designed by Celerie Kemble for Arteriors. Its mounted on a walnut plate and topped with an ivory linen drum shade and a jute finial. $1,095; arteriorshome.com or James Craig Furnishings

Geometric chandelier

Currey and Companys geometric rattan chandelier adds visual interest and high style to your room. Its perfect for your sun room or outdoor pavilion. $2,485; Design House

diane.cowen@chron.comA third lawsuit has been filed against the owner and managers of a San Marcos apartment property where a deadly fire occurred last month.

Zachary Rosenfeld, 22, of Austin, and his roommate, Steven Mroski, 21, of Houston, were both hurt when they jumped from a second-floor window to escape their residence at Iconic Village Apartments as flames raced through their building. Now they are seeking more than $5 million in damages.

The lawsuit, filed in Travis County, targets San Marcos Green Investors LLC, the owner of Iconic Village; Elevate Multifamily LLC, the company managing the apartments; and Deborah Jones, an Austin woman who works as a manager at the property.

RELATED: Parents of critically injured San Marcos fire survivor file lawsuit against Iconic Village Apartments

Jennifer Akre, a Houston attorney representing the defendants, declined comment Tuesday.

Investigators havent yet revealed how the July 20 fire started because they are still waiting for test results, which may not be complete until October.

Five people were found dead after the blaze was extinguished at 222 Ramsay St. All of them  Dru Estes, 20, of San Antonio; Haley Michele Frizzell, 19, of San Angelo; David Angel Ortiz, 21, of Pasadena; Belinda Moats, 21, of Big Wells; and James Phillip Miranda, 23, of Mount Pleasant  had been living or staying in second-floor apartments in Building 500, the same building where Rosenfeld and Mroski lived.

Another victim in that building, Zachary Sutterfield, 20, of San Angelo, suffered severe burns and remains hospitalized in San Antonio. His parents have filed a separate lawsuit against the owner and managers of the apartments.

Yet another lawsuit was filed by Mirandas father and was later joined by five people who escaped the fire.

In that case, the defendants denied any wrongdoing and said the fire was caused by acts or omissions of others beyond their control or legal responsibility.

RELATED: Defendants in San Marcos fire lawsuit deny wrongdoing

Rosenfeld and Mroski were sleeping in their apartment when the fire erupted, but they werent alerted to the emergency due to defective alarms, or the nonexistence or inadequacy of such, according to their lawsuit.

The pair woke to the sounds of screams, people running and glass breaking, the lawsuit said. The heat from the fire had started to crack their apartment windows and flames were rising through a breezeway outside their apartment, according to their complaint.

When the two tried to reach their front door, they ran into a wall of fire and smoke. The men escaped by jumping from an upstairs bedroom window.

One witness among those who helped Rosenfeld and Mroski to safety after they jumped told the San Antonio Express-News both men appeared to have suffered severely broken ankles.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of failing to adequately maintain, inspect or test smoke detectors at the property for years before the fire occurred. It also accuses them of failing to properly maintain and inspect wiring and appliances at the apartments and not installing an adequate fire suppression system.

San Marcos current city code didnt require the apartments  built in 1970  to be retrofitted with sprinklers unless they underwent significant renovations.

There are other laws in play other than city codes, said Anthony Buzbee, the attorney for Rosenfeld and Mroski, in an email to the Express-News. We assert that the owner and management are required under precedent and general civil law to provide a safe place to live for residents, and to warn of known dangers.

Peggy OHare is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: @Peggy_OHareMore than a month after the Environmental Protection Agency placed San Antonio in its non-attainment category because of persistently high levels of smog-producing ozone, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday asked a federal court to overturn the federal designation.

San Antonios status came after a change in 2015 that tightened rules regarding harmful ozone. The designation could be costly for the citys economy by delaying transportation and manufacturing projects, the San Antonio Express-News previously reported.

The ruling could be harmful to the economy and has minimal, if any, public health benefit, according to a press release from Paxton. The states petition was filed for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

RELATED: Excessive ozone levels trigger more oversight, could hurt San Antonios economy

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the states legal pursuit doesnt change how San Antonio is trying to better its air quality.

Our position remains the same regardless, he said. We will continue to work aggressively to improve air quality because it is critical to the health of our community, especially the most vulnerable, and it makes economic sense in the long run.

Colleen Bridger, the citys Metro Health director, said local officials are reviewing the complaint and have been working on the matter.

Well have information from our Air Quality Study to better determine emission sources by the end of September, and will continue our efforts toward reaching attainment by 2020, she said in a statement. Well cooperate as necessary with the state on designation but will keep working to achieve the healthiest air possible for our community.

Being in non-attainment status means that transportation projects would be delayed for additional review, among other things. State officials had previously criticized the EPA for placing San Antonio in non-attainment status  a result of stiffer regulations  and pointed to improving air quality here. Now, the state is looking to the federal courts to hit the reset button.

Ozone is the product of a chemical reaction between sunlight and other air pollutants and is the main component in smog. That can have deadly consequences as it is harmful for lung tissue and aggravates asthma and other diseases, the newspaper has reported.

RELATED: Cenotaph defenders burned by Confederate monument removal

Councilman Greg Brockhouse released a statement applauding the AG and Gov. Greg Abbott for filing the suit against the EPA.

I want to thank the governor and the attorney general for stepping up to the plate and taking a leadership role for San Antonio and Bexar County. The EPAs decision could significantly damage the local San Antonio economy, with minimal, if any, public health benefit, he said, borrowing the language from Paxtons press release. I strongly encourage San Antonio leadership to support the AGs effort to have the designation changed.

Brockhouse added that the additional regulations would be burdensome while San Antonio and Bexar County have a significant track record of improving air quality here.

We must address this designation through any means possible and we should all be thankful that our state leadership is fighting for San Antonio, he said.

In a news release, the Environmental Defense Fund slammed the state for taking legal action and accused state leaders of not doing enough to improve air quality.

Its outrageous that our states response to hearing that pollution is at unhealthy levels in San Antonio is to sue the people who said so, said Colin Leyden, a senior manager with the EDF who oversees state regulatory and legislative affairs in Texas. Bexar County families deserve to be protected from smog and the serious health problems it causes. Its irresponsible and dangerous for Texas to waste taxpayer money on this lawsuit instead of spending that money to clean up our air.

Josh Baugh is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbaugh@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbaughOn November 4, 1980, NBC News had a messy night of triumph.

The network beat its competitors in declaring the winner of that nights presidential election  the Republican nominee, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan. But NBC was so early with its victory projection that it soon became a punching bag for media watchdogs.

The concern was that by declaring Reagans victory at 8:15 eastern time, NBC unwittingly suppressed late-afternoon voter turnout on the West Coast, where polls werent set to close for nearly two hours. If some Pacific Coast Democrats heard the news about Reagans win and decided to stay home, the argument went, that could have swung a few close congressional and legislative races.

In a way, its the same issue that the Democratic Party has faced in recent years with superdelegates  the elected officials and party leaders who automatically get voting power at national conventions. Last Saturday, the Democratic National Committee voted to strip superdelegates of that voting power, except in cases where the convention is deadlocked or a presidential nominee already has been clearly determined.

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In other words, superdelegates can only come in  if at all  after the presidential primary process has played itself out.

Already, the DNCs superdelegate reform effort has scratched at old wounds between 2016 backers of Hillary Clinton  the partys presidential nominee that year  and Bernie Sanders  the democratic socialist from Vermont who gave her a surprisingly competitive challenge.

In 2016, Sanders supporters complained that superdelegates  who made up 714 of the partys 4,765 national delegates (about 15 percent)  enabled the party establishment to tilt the race in favor of Clinton.

Clinton loyalists correctly pointed out that she earned more total primary votes and pledged delegates than Sanders and that superdelegates have never reversed the collective will of Democratic primary and caucus voters.

Thats true, but it misses a central point.

Because superdelegates have a way of announcing their candidate preferences early in the primary process, they inevitably alter the perceptions of voters in states that have not yet held primaries. And that could be affecting vote patterns, just like NBCs early announcement presumably did in 1980.

Consider the fact that in late March 2016, Clinton had 1,266 pledged delegates to 1,038 for Sanders. That was a solid but not overwhelming lead and it meant she was just slightly past the halfway point to the 2,383 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. By that point, however, nearly 500 superdelegates had publicly committed, with 469 going for Clinton and only 29 for Sanders.

Media outlets tended to fold those superdelegate commitments into their tabulations, often accompanied by the message that no matter how well Sanders performed in the ensuing primaries, Clintons superdelegate advantage nixed any chance at the nomination for him.

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Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, attended last weeks DNC gathering in Chicago and helped DNC Chairman Tom Perez whip votes for the new measure. He said the partys vitality depends on attracting young progressive activists, who generally view the superdelegate system as anti-democratic and elitist.

Superdelegates were created by the DNC in 1982, as a way for the party establishment to place a check on primary voters after the unexpected (and unwelcome) ascensions of outsider candidates George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter in 1976. Superdelegates werent necessarily meant to overturn the will of the voters, but just to make sure voters didnt do anything too impetuous.

After 36 years, the superdelegate experiment looks pointless. Superdelegates never actually flip the nomination at the convention. They just weigh down the primary process and create the impression of a skewed contest. Stripping power from superdelegates should be a no-brainer, but the new reform has been clouded by the lingering hard feelings of the Clinton-Sanders race.

There was a feeling by some people that the party was bowing to Bernie Sanders and his group of folks, Hinojosa said of the reforms. But I believe that early on a big part of the rank and file came to the same conclusion: superdelegates dont really serve a purpose anymore.

We have a primary and caucus system that is designed to reflect the will of Democratic voters and they dont need party bosses telling them what to do.

Hinojosa also heard grumblings from some DNC members that the neutering of superdelegates would diminish the influence of longtime party activists.

The way I see it, your influence should not be based on your longevity in the party, he said. It should be based on the ideas you advocate, your ability to accept other peoples ideas. And your ability to reflect where the party  and America  is today.For years, many Bexar County officials and judges have sounded a familiar mantra against expanding the public defenders office: It would cost too much.

A true public defenders office would have to be on par with the district attorneys office, they have said. Its far cheaper to stick with a court-appointed system. One that generally pays private attorneys $140 per misdemeanor case.

Left unsaid is that Bexar County spent more than $13 million on court-appointed indigent defense in fiscal 2017, but with little oversight or accountability. Some private attorneys consistently handle more than 400 or 500 indigent cases in a given year, according to state data  a caseload unfathomable if the goal is to provide a fair defense. High caseloads, experts said, often lead to poorer representation and more plea agreements, regardless of innocence.

Those lawyers should be monitored and overseen, said Norman Lefstein, an indigent defense expert and professor at Indiana Universitys Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

This editorial is the product of more than 15 interviews with local officials, legal experts, defendants, criminal defense lawyers and judges. We also reviewed numerous studies, analyzed state data and filed a number of records requests to better understand Bexar Countys court-appointed system for indigent defense.

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What we found is a system largely defined by inherent conflicts of interest. Judges have the power to appoint attorneys to cases, who then might donate to judicial campaigns. Attorneys at the misdemeanor level have no financial incentive to work hard beyond their own pride and reputations. The flat fee for a misdemeanor is $140 whether an attorney puts in 10 hours or one hour of work on the case.

Not only does such a low flat fee discourage quality attorneys from taking appointments, but it creates perverse economic incentives since attorneys will be compensated the same amount regardless of how much, or how little, work they perform, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers noted in its 2013 report, Gideon at 50.

To reform the system, Bexar County officials must begin monitoring caseloads and outcomes for private court-appointed attorneys as well as its public defenders. There should be parity between these two forms of indigent defense, and there should be equal scrutiny and accountability.

There should also be a centralized place to field complaints about private attorneys. For example, Michael Young, Bexars chief public defender, said he frequently gets calls from irate family members of defendants who are receiving what they perceive as inadequate representation.

But those attorneys dont work for him. They are private.

Bexar also needs to adjust how it pays its private attorneys. This means better reimbursement, but also doing away with the flat fee and moving toward an hourly rate with a billing cap. Among Texas urban counties, Bexar County consistently pays the least per indigent case, according to state data. In fiscal 2017, El Paso, Tarrant and Harris counties all spent more than $600 per indigent case. Dallas County spent $551 per case. Travis County spent $450 per case. Bexar spent $316.

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More money is not a total solution  plenty of issues have arisen in places that have spent more on indigent defense  but failing to properly pay attorneys undercuts representation and is part of the problem.

But these changes around pay and oversight are not enough. The first principle of the American Bar Associations Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System, is rooted in independence: The public defense function, including the selection, funding, and payment of a defense counsel, is independent.

Thats lacking in Bexars court-appointed system.

The whole system, in my view, is a conflict for the judges, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.

John A. Longoria, the administrative judge for Bexars County courts-at-law, characterized it as the appearance of conflict.

I would hope that all of us judges, felony and misdemeanor, try to be cognizant of that, he said.

To achieve independence, Bexar County should consider adopting a managed assigned-counsel model in which an outside entity appoints private attorneys, monitors caseloads and outcomes, and has in-house resources such as investigators and social workers. This has been particularly effective in Lubbock County.

We also strongly support a burgeoning proposal from Don Flanary, president of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, that would establish much more rigorous standards for attorneys to handle misdemeanor cases, the bulk of indigent defense work.

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Flanary said at the misdemeanor level, the court-appointed system is littered with lawyers who lack experience and guidance. All an attorney needs is to be in good standing with the State Bar and have completed six hours of continuing legal education in criminal law.

Flanary would like to see a full week of continuing education  provided by the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. After that, new attorneys would be mentored by experienced ones and then have to pass an exam to continue taking appointments.

Flanarys ideas merit serious consideration. They could be a bridge toward adopting a managed assigned-counsel system here. However the system evolves, change is needed. The combination of low pay and a lack of accountability creates a snowball effect.

When adequate oversight of assigned counsel programs is lacking, the lawyers, in an effort to maximize their incomes, sometimes accept too many cases, because they are poorly compensated on a per-case basis, Lefstein, the Indiana University law professor, wrote in Justice Denied: Americas Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel.

We know what the caseload benchmark should be thanks to a 2015 report from Texas A&M Universitys Public Policy Research Institute. The recommendations for indigent caseloads were no more than 236 Class B misdemeanors or 216 Class A misdemeanors in a given year. Felony recommendations ranged from 174 state jail felonies to 77 first degree felonies.

Looking at state data for fiscal 2017, 23 attorneys in Bexar County were paid for more than 236 total cases. These are combined felonies and misdemeanors. Fifteen attorneys were paid for more than 236 misdemeanors (this is in addition to any felony and juvenile work), and three attorneys handled more than 174 felonies (in addition to any misdemeanor and juvenile cases).

Bear in my mind, these numbers dont include any cases these attorneys took from private clients, and they dont distinguish between the types of misdemeanors or felonies.

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At the top of the list were three attorneys who handled more than 500 cases in fiscal 2017. Were not naming them because we havent heard back from them.

Its hard to know just what kind of representation their clients received because Bexar County could not provide case outcomes per attorney. Mike Lozito, director of judicial services for Bexar County, said the system is antiquated and cant track such specific data.

Still, we asked a number of experts if an attorney could credibly handle such a workload, and they were unanimously skeptical.

You just really cant effectively defend, even in misdemeanor cases, those numbers, said Lefstein, the Indiana University law professor.

There are 2,080 standard hours in the standard work year, Jim Bethke, the longtime former head of the states Indigent Defense Commission, wrote in an email. Taking no vacation, no holidays, no sick days, a court appointed attorney would be disposing of approximately two cases per day, every day the court is open if he or she is working 500 cases a year.

Bethke is now chief of the Lubbock Private Defender Office, an outside entity that manages assigned counsel. The office appoints counsel, monitors caseloads and outcomes, and pays attorneys. In Lubbock County, the cost per indigent case in 2017 was $440, according to state data.

Thats more than Bexar, but significantly less than other urban counties.

A managed assigned-counsel program  commonly known as MAC  gives greater accountability, said Geoffrey Burkhart, head of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission.

What a MAC does that I really like is that it takes the appointment process out of the hands of judges so they dont have the appearance of conflict, he said, adding that it also provides more resources for attorneys.

It also has the potential for some jail cost savings thanks to better representation, a 2017 state review of managed assigned-counsel programs found.

Bethke told us the ideal model for any urban county in Texas is a public defenders office that complements and competes with a MAC, which is what happens in Lubbock.

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This mirrors the ABAs second principle of indigent defense: Where the caseload is sufficiently high, the public defense delivery system consists of both a defender office and the active participation of the private bar.

The idea behind that principle is parity and consistency in representation  whether its coming from private attorneys or public defenders. Thats not happening here.

Consider a recent visit to Bexar Countys jail court. Its a small annex inside the jail where defendants often meet their attorneys for the first time. Most plead guilty or no contest for time served because fighting a charge means sitting in jail.

We watched as Blas Casimiro entered a plea for evading arrest after spending nine days in jail. He had never met his attorney, Michael Granados, until the hearing.

Likewise, April Davila spent 56 days in jail for violating her probation. Her appointed attorney didnt show up, so she was given a new one on the spot and then was sentenced to time served.

But Matthew Salas had a much different defense experience. He had known his public defender, Melanie Lira, for months. She had been appointed to represent him on a DWI charge in October and had set the case for trial over concerns about the police stop. Subsequent marijuana possession charges had landed Salas back in jail.

Lira said Salas chose to go to jail court to resolve all three cases quickly. They had spent so much time together, she was confident he understood his choices.

She advocated zealously for him. Prosecutors wanted Salas to spend 11 more days in jail for the DWI, but Lira argued for time served  and she won. This was partly because she told the visiting judge how well she had come to know Salas. She also had one of the possession charges dismissed.

Such experiences illustrate the arbitrary disparities of indigent defense here. More than anything else, its a system that incentivizes quick plea agreements. Its a system that is hostile to the public defenders office and marginalizes quality defense. Its a system that lacks independence and fairness, and it must be reformed.

*This editorial is part of the Unequal Justice series, which explores the inequities in Bexar County's criminal justice system and how they can be fixed.GREENWICH  While students across the district take their seats in their new classrooms Thursday morning, 13 administrators will also be sitting in new offices, leading new buildings and programs.

Six people in Greenwich Public Schools administration resigned this summer and two left this spring. District officials spent the summer filling the vacancies  and the open positions the internal transfers created.

Administrators said the movement appeared heavier than usual because the departures were concentrated in a relatively short time period, but the level of reorganization was normal for the district and the actual number of replacements was the same as the prior year.

It seems like a lot is going on, but there really isnt, said Interim Superintendent Ralph Mayo, himself in a new position this year, moving up from his post as principal of Eastern Middle School. The good part of all this is the transition isnt going to be as difficult because we have people moving in who are from our district.

Paul Stringer, vice president of the Connecticut Federation of School Teachers, which works with more than 50 districts, said the changes in Greenwich resemble those in other school systems.

Its not that abnormal, Stringer said. Its happening all around. Im surprised at this point that Greenwich has some openings, but to hear about people switching jobs, the restructuring, thats a yearly thing.

The district did not let any administrator go, Mayo said. Those who resigned moved either laterally or accepted a better job, leaving for either personal reasons or for promotions, he said.

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The changes started at the top and filtered throughout the system. When Mayo took over for departing superintendent Jill Gildea, and GHS Assistant Headmaster Richard Piotrzkowski assumed his role as interim headmaster after Chris Winters left, they kicked off domino effects as officials looked to Greenwich educators to fill the ensuing vacancies.

Were not losing organizational knowledge from those transitions because theyre our employees, Mayo said.

School administrators were able to fill vacancies without having to change the budget.

After the assistant GHS headmaster and physical education coordinator posts were filled this week, three positions remain open: administrator of GHS Folsom House, assistant principal of North Mianus School and coordinator of the Special Education program.

I dont like the crunch part of this, but six people resigned over the summer, Mayo said.

Kathleen Brunswick, the former assistant principal of North Mianus, left because she wanted to go back to teaching, Mayo said.

Given the demands placed on administrators, that switch is unsurprising to Stringer.

Its an all-consuming job for your principals and assistant principals, Stringer said.

Both Brunswick and Chantelle Palumbo, the former special education program coordinator, announced their resignations late August.

Late announcements happen when administrators wait for their new superintendents to officially announce appointments, Mayo explained, because, he said, you never know.

As a district youre supposed to let them know where theyre going to be by July 1, Stringer said. That doesnt always happen.

To ease the transition, both Brunswick and Palumbo will remain with the district for the first two weeks of school, until Sept. 14.

Additionally, Dana Tulotta, the new interim assistant headmaster, will continue to work in Folsom House until the district finds an interim replacement.

Mayo said he does not see the resignations as symptomatic of a greater retention issue. The biggest hurdle educators in this district face is traffic, he said.

For example, former Old Greenwich School Assistant Principal Abby Ostruzka lives in Clinton and commuted every day to Greenwich for work. Accepting an assistant principalship in Clinton Public Schools this year reduced her commute by an hour  without traffic.

One reason people leave the district is the difficulty of getting here, Mayo said. Getting home is almost impossible. Thats our biggest issue, theres no way around it.

Greenwich Public School employees drive from as far as Clinton, New Town, New Haven and West Hartford, Mayo said.

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Indiana LLC, TRC El Paso Limited Partnership, TRC West Inc., TRC of New York Inc., TRC-Georgetown Regional Dialysis LLC, Talimena Dialysis LLC, Terre Dialysis LLC, The Woodlands Dialysis Center LP, Tortugas Dialysis LLC, Total Renal Care Inc., Total Renal Care Texas Limited Partnership, Total Renal Care of North Carolina LLC, Total Renal Laboratories Inc., Total Renal Research Inc., Toulouse Dialysis LLC, Transmountain Dialysis L.P., Tross Dialysis LLC, Tugman Dialysis LLC, Tunnel Dialysis LLC, Turlock Dialysis Center LLC, Tustin Dialysis Center LLC, Twain Dialysis LLC, Tyler Dialysis LLC, USC-DaVita Dialysis Center LLC, Unicoi Dialysis LLC, University Dialysis Center LLC, Upper Valley Dialysis L.P., Valley Springs Dialysis LLC, Victory Dialysis LLC, VillageHealth DM LLC, Villanueva Dialysis LLC, Vively Health LLC, Vogel Dialysis LLC, Volo Dialysis LLC, Waddell Dialysis LLC, Wakoni Dialysis LLC, Walker Dialysis LLC, Walton Dialysis LLC, Watkins Dialysis LLC, Weldon Dialysis LLC, West Elk Grove Dialysis LLC, West Sacramento Dialysis LLC, Weston Dialysis Center LLC, Whitney Dialysis LLC, Willowbrook Dialysis Center L.P., Winds Dialysis LLC, Wood Dialysis LLC, Woodford Dialysis LLC, Wyandotte Central Dialysis LLC, Yards Dialysis LLC, Ybor City Dialysis LLC, Yucaipa Dialysis LLC, and Zephyrhills Dialysis Center LLC.Washington  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a neurologic disease of cattle, in a six-year-old mixed-breed beef cow in Florida.

This animal never entered slaughter channels and at no time presented a risk to the food supply, or to human health in the United States.

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed that this cow was positive for atypical H-type BSE. The animal was initially tested at the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (a National Animal Health Laboratory Network laboratory) as part of routine surveillance of cattle that are deemed unsuitable for slaughter.

APHIS and Florida veterinary officials are gathering more information on the case.

Not contagious

BSE is not contagious and exists in two types: classical and atypical. Classical BSE is the form that occurred primarily in the United Kingdom, beginning in the late 1980s, and it has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in people.

The primary source of infection for classical BSE is feed contaminated with the infectious prion agent, such as meat-and-bone meal containing protein derived from rendered infected cattle.

Regulations from the Food and Drug Administration have prohibited the inclusion of mammalian protein in feed for cattle and other ruminants since 1997 and have also prohibited high risk tissue materials in all animal feed since 2009.

Atypical BSE is different, and it generally occurs in older cattle, usually 8 years of age or greater. It seems to arise rarely and spontaneously in all cattle populations.

This is the nations sixth detection of BSE. Of the five previous U.S. cases, the first, in 2003, was a case of classical BSE in a cow imported from Canada; the rest have been atypical (H- or L-type) BSE.

Negligible risk

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognizes the United States as negligible risk for BSE. As noted in the OIE guidelines for determining this status, atypical BSE cases do not impact official BSE risk status recognition as this form of the disease is believed to occur spontaneously in all cattle populations at a very low rate.

Therefore, this finding of an atypical case will not change the negligible risk status of the United States, and should not lead to any trade issues.

The U.S. has a longstanding system of interlocking safeguards against BSE that protects public and animal health in the United States, the most important of which is the removal of specified risk materials  or the parts of an animal that would contain BSE should an animal have the disease  from all animals presented for slaughter.

The second safeguard is a strong feed ban that protects cattle from the disease. Another important component of our system  which led to this detection  is our ongoing BSE surveillance program that allows USDA to detect the disease if it exists at very low levels in the U.S. cattle population.

More information about this disease is available in the BSE factsheet.Place Your Advert

Thousands of Active jobseekers are looking for new agricultural positions in 2020. Call us now to discuss the options for advertising your vacancy in our job section.As scientists report that the unseasonably hot weather that has seen the UK bask in the hottest summer for 40 years could last until 2022, one wheat breeder is urging growers to consult results from this years variety trials before switching varieties.

New research, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests 2019 may be even hotter than 2018 and that over the next few years our climate will be warmer than normal as we begin an anomalously warm phase.

While the impact of this summers heatwave is yet to be fully understood reports so far suggest wheat yields are highly variable with some varieties more affected than others.

Yet, despite its impact, Andrew Newby, KWS UK managing director, is urging growers not to dismiss it as an anomaly.

This years trials results are just as valid as those from any other [year], he says.

The variety assessment process is rigorous for a reason: to assess performance across a range of situations and conditions. The weather is the greatest influence on any variety and growers need varieties able to cope with whatever Mother Nature delivers, he adds.

'Outstanding yields'

Provisional results from this years AHDB variety trials suggest this season is proving to be a tough test. If these results are maintained, says Mr Newby, those planning a variety change should think carefully.

The indications are that several new varieties, often promoted on limited data, are proving to be anything but consistent. In contrast, some of the more established varieties are quietly delivering outstanding yields, he says.

The reasons for this performance owe much to their breeding heritage, says Mr Newby. A factor he believes will become increasingly important should we see our long-term climate move closer to that seen this season.

It should not come as a surprise that in a dry year, those varieties bred in the driest part of the country tend to do the best. Plant breeding is a long-term game, breeding varieties with such resilience cannot be done overnight, he says.

Across seven sites spanning East Anglia, the Midlands, East Yorkshire and the Scottish Borders, the results make for interesting reading.

Bread-makers

Within the Group 1 category, KWS Zyatt remains the highest-yielding variety in the group while candidate variety and potential bread-maker KWS Extase shares top-slot with KWS Siskin in Group 2.

A hallmark of Zyatt and Siskin has been their above-average yield performance each year theyve been in trials and we see this again in 2018. Couple this performance with their end-market appeal and they make a compelling proposition for every farm. KWS Extase is proving highly impressive in all trials and we expect it to be immensely popular with growers in the autumn of 2019, says Mr Newby.

Biscuit wheats

The resurgence of the Group 3 sector looks set to continue with the positive performance of candidate varieties KWS Firefly and LG Rhythm both of which yielded significantly above the average of controls. Meanwhile, the established varieties, KWS Barrel and KWS Basset record admirable yield performances.

The performance of Barrel and Basset this season will surprise many, but they have rewarded growers again with their above-average yields proving they are here for the long-term. In KWS Firefly we have another exciting candidate for next season and one which will continue to support the UKs reputation for quality biscuit wheat, says Mr Newby.

Feed wheats

The feed wheats of the Group 4 category perhaps best reflect some of the variability growers may be experiencing on farm with KWS Crispin and KWS Kerrin both out-performing their three-yean means at 105% of controls to top this years trials.A charity has launched a national directory of support groups with an aim to help farmers experiencing mental health issues.

Mental health charity YANA (You Are Not Alone) provides help for those in farming who may be affected by stress and depression.

Those who work in agriculture are often reluctant to seek support for depression, stress or anxiety.

Jo Hoey, YANA spokesperson explained: We started to do some research into sources of support and advice available to the farming community across the UK and decided to compile and fund a directory of those incredible regional support groups and key national charities which can specifically help those in our rural communities."

The directory will be distributed to relevant businesses, charities and organisations across the UK so that contact details of the network of groups is readily available.

The booklet also provides advice on how to recognise symptoms of stress and depression and how best to help a client, colleague, friend or family.

An initial print run of 1,000 copies of the directory has been arranged following a sizeable donation received by the charity following the tragic death of a Norfolk farmer.

Ms Hoey added: "We wanted to make good use of the income and do something tangible in his memory.

"We hope that this directory will mean that many more people will be aware of the help that is available, how to access it and, importantly, how to be supportive to others," she added.

If you are involved with agriculture or farming in any way, and are feeling low or if you are worried about a member of your family, a colleague or a friend,YANA can help.A farmer who was flown to hospital after having his arm ripped off in a farm accident is urging people to support the UK's air ambulance services.

Jim Chapman of Long Itchington, Warwickshire was taken to hospital by air following a severe accident more than a decade ago.

The farmer was only 23-years-old when the accident happened on a farm at Brinklow Quarry near Rugby.

He was asked to empty water from underground storage tanks using a tractor and vacuum tanker.

When no water was being sucked up he left the tractor engine running, got down from the cab and went to check the machinery.

The fluorescent safety vest he was wearing got caught and in a split second it was wrapped around a rotating shaft.

He was flung from where he had been standing. The shaft ripped his shirt, jumper and his left arm completely off.

Following the accident, Jim has never forgotten how he felt when he knew an air ambulance was coming to the rescue.

It was the best sound I have ever heard in my life. I knew that help was on the way and the situation I found myself in was going to be sorted out. I was immediately put at ease by the kindness of the crew and the care I got was fantastic, he said.

Air Ambulance Week

Jim, now 36-years-old, is using his experience with air ambulances to urge people to support Air Ambulance Week from September 8th to 16th.

The fundraising initiative is crucial to the continued existence of charities like Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA), which receives no government funding. Each lifesaving mission they fly costs 1,700.

It took just 10 minutes to fly Jim to hospital and on arrival he was taken straight into the operating theatre.

Unfortunately, the surgeons couldnt save his arm and Jim had to come to terms with facing the rest of his life with a prosthetic limb.

The accident proved to be life changing in more ways than one for Jim, who went on to become an ambassador for the Farm Safety Foundation, National Chairman of the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs and was awarded the MBE for services to farm safety in 2012.

'Vividly remember'

Nowadays, alongside running his farm, Jim gives safety talks to the farming community around the UK.

I relive my accident and the part the air ambulance played in it about 10 times a year. I still vividly remember the noise of the helicopter when it came in to land and even now when it flies over I am immediately taken back to that day, he says.

Talking about his accident is a powerful way of conveying the importance of farm safety and Jim doesnt shy away from describing the experience in graphic detail.

He is also keen to promote the vital part the air ambulance played in rescuing him and the speed at which the helicopter got him to the lifesaving medical treatment he needed.Farmers have been told to be on the look out for Asian Hornets after a person was stung by the aggressive insect in Jersey which is thought to be the UK's first such case.

A maintenance worker at Sun Bowls Club in Jersey disturbed a nest of Asian Hornets while trimming a hedge and was stung.

As the maintenance worker is allergic to wasp stings he was taken to hospital for treatment.

An investigation of the area found the nest close to where he was working. A pest control officer has attended and will arrange to destroy the nest, which can take 48 hours to be destroyed.

The incident follows news of a French farming dying after he was stung by an Asian hornet.

Patrick Dupont, from the town of Douai in northern France, suffered an anaphylactic shock after the sting.

The farmer was driving home after a walk when he lost consciousness at the wheel and crashed into a lamp post.

A neighbour who witnessed the accident noticed Mr Dupont's leg was swollen and a hornet inside the car.

'Public safety'

The species arrived in France in 2004 and is now common across large areas of Europe.

It was discovered for the first time in the British Isles in Jersey, Alderney and Gloucestershire in 2016.

Jersey's Department of the Environment has now warned farmers to look out for the species, which pose a risk to native honey bees.

Dr Tim du Feu, director of environmental protection at Jersey's Department of the Environment said: "The island's Asian hornet numbers have increased considerably this year, and the concern is for public safety.

Asian Hornets can be confused with their larger native European hornet counterparts; the Asian Hornet abdomen is almost entirely dark while the European Hornets abdomen is largely yellow.

The department said nests can be in roof spaces of houses, sheds, in trees, hedges and on the ground in brambles. Nests can also fall out of trees during high winds.Sustainable energy experts have advised that there are still opportunities for farmers looking to diversify in order to "transform" their income.

As farming faces uncertain times, with the market growing increasingly cautious because of Brexit, sustainable energy projects can provide important revenue streams for farms.

Twin Yard Farm, outside Alfreton in Derbyshire, is looking to expand its business to include a gas generator scheme.

The scheme will produce and supply electricity to the grid at peak times, adding a further income stream to the business.

The farm had a wind turbine installed in 2016 and then a 25 acre solar park in 2017, with the generator marking its third energy project.

The mixed arable and livestock farm is run by Dave Holling and family, who purchased the business 52 years ago.

Building work is underway on the gas generator scheme, which will see a modern new building replace an old hay and straw barn on the farm which was coming to the end of its life.

Mr Holling said diversifying the farm with renewable projects has "transformed" their income, and means the family no longer have to rely solely on farming to bring in revenue.

'Healthy additional income'

Harry Edwards, of property specialists Fisher German, said that there are still sustainable energy opportunities for those looking to diversify.

He said: Many people assume that with the retraction of subsidies sustainable energy opportunities are no longer an option for diversification projects, however this is not the case.

There are projects such as gas gen-set schemes and battery storage facilities, as well as large scale solar PV now able to stand up without subsidies, that can provide healthy additional incomes to farms."

Deals can see farmers not only receiving a base rent but also a percentage of the revenue when there are particularly sunny or windy years, or the price of electricity rises.

Twin Yard Farm has already seen benefits from renewable energy projects, receiving a rent for each project from separate tenants.

Building work is currently underway on the gas generator scheme which will not only produce energy and further income, but see a modern new building constructed on the farm.The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryHello peeps! Every week we keep introducing you to celeb kids, who are stars in the making. And today, our feature is dedicated to Govinda's handsome son, Yashvardhan Ahuja and do you know the young lad has already started prepping up for his Bollywood debut?

And we thought it would be the best time to bring to you all his hot pictures.So, let's not waste time anymore and get ready to see the new hottie of B-town.

Check Out All The 16 Pictures Here:

Apparently, many people think that Yashvardhan looks like the young Ranbir Kapoor as both are extremely fair and have a sharp chiseled jawline. Well, whether Yashvardhan really looks like Ranbir or not, we are leaving this upto you!

Yashvardhan is 20 years old and has recently returned to Mumbai after finishing a year-long film-making course in London's Met Film School. While talking to Mumbai Mirror, he shared his future Bollywood plans and what he is doing nowadays.

Pictures! Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Gets Teary-eyed At Sarabjit's Prayer Meet!

"I have been with Sajid uncle for a month now. He gave me the best advice - To go with the flow and acquire knowledge on all aspects of filmmaking, including editing and writing before getting into acting. I will also assist him on Kick 2," says the aspiring actor.

Talking about his passsion for acting, he revealed, "Everything I know about the craft came from dad. He has taught me how to improvise on screen. I remember him telling me how Kader Khan sir and he came up with impromptu dialogues on the sets of Harmesh (Malhotra) uncle's Dulhe Raja, which is one of my favourite films. These days our dinner table conversations only revolve around movies."

Don't forget to hit the comment box and do share with us what you think of him!Jst cant believe d news of Sri HariKrishna Garu..Heart Breaking..

Such a Dear person 2 my Father and Me

And d Sweetest & Most Humble Soul..May God bless his soul & give strength 2 d family of my Dear brother @tarak9999 @NANDAMURIKALYAN garu..

May his soul R.I.P  DEVI SRI PRASAD (@ThisIsDSP) August 29, 2018

Devi Sri Prasad Is Devastated

Reacting to the sad news, Devi Sri Prasad said that Harikrishna was a simple person and always treated him kindly. He also requested the Nandamuri family to stay strong.

I lost my brother Nandamuri HariKrishna today. There is nothing I can say more. A great loss.  Mohan Babu M (@themohanbabu) August 29, 2018

'I Have Lost A Brother'

Mohan Babu said that Harikrishna was like his brother and added that his death was a great loss for everyone.

    ,  ..thats what he said a few weeks ago and now he is gone.all I feel is a void,I will miss you Anna!!!! pic.twitter.com/T9epx3ZEEk  Nagarjuna Akkineni (@iamnagarjuna) August 29, 2018

Nagarjuna Can't Believe He Is Gone

Akkineni Nagarjuna shared a photo in which he can be seen with Harikrishna and added that he just cannot believe that he is no more. Nags and Harikrishna shared a lovely rapport and even acted together in Seetharama Raju.

What terrible news to wake up with. How harsh the death has been on #HariKrishna garu. My heart mourns. May his soul rest in peace & strength to Tarak, Kalyan & the entire family for the huge loss.  Sudheer Babu (@isudheerbabu) August 29, 2018

Sudheer Babu Offers Condolences

Actor Sudheer Babu too seemed to be devastated by the unfortunate development. He offered his condolences to the family and added that his heart mourns for their loss.

Really sorry to hear the news.

Strength to Tarak, Kalyan Ram and the family to withstand this tragic moment. Rest in peace Harikrishna garu.  Kajal Aggarwal (@MsKajalAggarwal) August 29, 2018

Kajal Is Shocked By Harikrishna's Death

Actress Kajal Aggarwal too offered her condolences to the family and asked Jr NTR to say strong during what is the most difficult phase of his life. The Mersal star has worked with him in films such as Temper and Baadshah and shares a lovely bond with the actor.

Shocked to know about the sudden demise of Harikrishna gaaru ..never got to meet him in person but it feels like I always knew him. My deepest condolences and strength to the family. This is really sad.

Rest in peace Sir  Nani (@NameisNani) August 29, 2018

Nani Reacts To Harikrishna's Death

Actor Nani said that even though he never got to meet him in person, he had tremendous respect for him. He added that his death was heartbreaking.

Deeply saddened by the news of Harikrishna garu's untimely demise. May his soul rest in peace. Strength and love to my brother @tarak9999 and his entire family in this time of grief.  Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) August 29, 2018

'Deeply Saddened'

Tollywood heartthrob Mahesh Babu said that he was 'deeply saddened' by Harikrishna's death and offered his condolences to the Nandamuri family.TALLINN, Estonia, August 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Deneum, a company aiming to revolutionize global energy industry with the nuclear fusion Power Station, announced that it has successfully proved the feasibility hypothesis via its laboratory unit during the private demonstration. Deneum also concluded $ 1M during the private round first stage.



Offering global market the Philosopher's stone of energy generation based on interaction between Titanium and Deuterium, Deneum has successfully concluded the first private demonstration of the Power Station laboratory unit. The demonstration held in Deneum R&D laboratory in Tallinn implied the Power Station launch and main operating mode showcase. All the indicators including temperature fluctuation, pressure, vacuum density and others were measured and visually represented online via the public proprietary software provided by independent vendor.



"The main indicator of an appropriate interaction of the active body components within the Deneum Power Station is successful maintenance of a certain installation mode, in which amount of energy needed for launch, once consumed creates a thin level of resonance that implicates a self-sustaining reaction between titanium hydride and deuterium. This reaction is exothermic with a large amount of excess heat, which is then to some extent converted into electricity and partly used "as is" in the form of thermal energy.

We were able to achieve and maintain this effect during the demonstration. This makes it 63 successful feasibility tests in a row with this one carefully measured and documented, - comments Dmitry Samoylovskikh, Deneum CEO & founder. - We're witnessing the largest particle physics breakthrough of the century, and Deneum team is very glad to make it happen".



The reaction produced by the active body components is self-sustaining, which means Power Station keeps on working without any further intervention once launched. Deuterium and Titanium worth $20 installed into the Power Station can maintain a housing area of 100 sq. meters for up to 1 year with no need for recharge or additional service. This is an unprecedented level of energy efficiency beyond what any of the existing sources may offer, including traditional nuclear energy. The energy of Deneum Power Station is yet eco-friendly, renewable and radically cheap.



Deneum team has successfully concluded the first stage of the ICO private round having raised $ 1M. The funding will be re-invested into further R&D and Power Station G3 prototype development as well as deployment of Deneum own production line manufacturing the Power Station active body main components.

Deneum team is planning to conclude the second stage of the private sale round by the end of September aiming at $ 2M hard cap. The total funding to be raised during all stages of the ICO is estimated at $ 90M.Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 28, 2018) - Divestco Inc. (TSXV: DVT) ("Divestco" or the "Company"), an exploration services company dedicated to providing a comprehensive and integrated portfolio of data, software and services to the oil and gas industry worldwide, today announced its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018.

Financial Highlights

Overall Performance and Operational Results





To view an enhanced version of this table, please visit: [http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4033/38339_a1535491373638_27.jpg]

(1) Includes salaries & benefits, general & administrative expenses and share-based payments but excludes depreciation and amortization and other losses (income).

(2)See the "Non GAAP Measures" section of the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis filed on the Company's website and on SEDAR.

(3)Decrease from Q2 2018 from Q2 2017 is due to a new seismic survey completed in Q1 2017. No new surveys were completed in Q2 2018. The Company's policy is to amortize 40% of the cost of a new seismic survey in the period of data delivery.

Q2 2018 vs. Q2 2017

Divestco generated revenue of $2.2 million in Q2 2018 compared to $3.9 million in Q2 2017, a decrease of $1.6 million (43%) and revenue in the Seismic Data segment ($0.1 million) decreased by $2.7 million (95%) mainly due to low exploration activity levels. Revenue in the Services segment ($0.8 million) increased by $0.5 million as the Company was awarded several contracts in Q3 2017. Revenue in the Software & Data segment ($1.3 million) increased by $0.5 million (73%).

Operating expenses slightly increased by $0.1 million (1%) to $2.7 million in Q2 2018 from $2.6 million in Q2 2017.

Finance costs increased by $0.2 million (45%) to $0.6 million in Q2 2018 from $0.4 million in Q2 2017 due to unchanged debt levels.

Depreciation and amortization was $1.3 million in Q2 2018 compared to $1.6 million in Q2 2017, a decrease of $0.3 million (21%) as no seismic surveys were completed.

Financial Position (1)

As at June 30, 2018, Divestco had an adjusted working capital deficiency of $6.5 million (December 31, 2017: $3.7 million deficiency). The increase in the adjusted working capital deficit from the end of 2017 was due to the reclassification of Divestco's $3 million term loan from long-term debt to current liabilities. In April 2018, this term loan was repaid and replaced with a long-term non-resolving bond facility that matures in the fall of 2020, which decreased the adjusted working capital deficiency. In July 2018, Divestco received funds for a $1.4 million term loan and are in the process of finalizing the terms and conditions.

(1)See the "Non GAAP Measures" section of the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis filed on the Company's website and on SEDAR.

Operations Update and Outlook

Despite healthy world oil prices, Divestco remains impacted by delays of significant amounts of capital expenditure spending from the industry. The Company has been awarded several new international projects, and revenues have increased in the Services segment as a result of this. Divestco joint ventures: a cogeneration energy project and a project to leverage its substantial infrastructure into cryptocurrency mining, are well into the commercialization ramp up stage. We have begun full engineering design and regulatory permitting on the cogeneration project. We will be required to fund approximately $250,000, which represents 1/3rd of the expected capital cost. With respect to the Company's 50% interest in the cryptocurrency mining joint venture, the joint venture partner will be funding 100% of the required capital spending. Returns on this joint venture will be split 80/20 until the joint venture partner has received its capital investment returned at which time the returns will be split 50/50. The cogeneration power project is now projected to come onstream by the first quarter of 2019 (due to regulatory delays). The cryptocurrency mining joint venture continues to scale up and Divestco and its partners are now constructing a mobile mining system to be deployed in the field in advance of the power generation. We have also commenced a blockchain scoping project in the seismic industry and look forward to presenting this to our clients for full industry review and adoption. We continue to see interest in our existing products and services; however, many of our clients have delayed spending on exploration given the current environment, which is causing a significant impact on our seismic database sales. If the Western Canadian industry can secure the political stability it needs to grow, this backlog (which continues to grow) is expected to quickly convert into paying projects and substantially grow our existing business lines. We remain optimistic that the governments will start to reduce the burdens on our industry and allow for additional growth.

Mr. Stephen Popadynetz, CEO and President commented: "Divestco continues to be challenged by the continued unfavourable environment facing our oil and gas industry clients. Despite robust oil pricing and increased cash flows, our industry has not increased spending on new growth projects and specifically on seismic data. We have been made aware of several significant seismic licensing contracts, but many of our clients are now delaying their capex projects into the later part of this year or early next year. While our seismic data licensing funnel is at an all time high, we believe it could take another two to four quarters for these companies to start committing to growth projects which will positively to impact our cash flows. We are aware of several proposed major asset and corporate transactions and have even been involved in discussions with the entities, but the timing on them remains unknown.

We believe there is still reason to remain optimistic and as our software division is showing signs of new growth and our internationally focused strategy in the processing division is paying dividends. Both segments are experiencing increased revenues appreciably year over year. As well, we have successfully seen that the generation of cryptocurrencies is economic, and we remain committed to growing this opportunity. Currently, Divestco is in discussions with several entities for utilizing excess power and integrating it with our mining operations. We are also anticipating the deployment of our first mobile mining system into the field in September. If our field test is successful, we will fabricate and move several of these mobile mining systems throughout Alberta to take advantage of excess power available behind the energy grid."

About the Company

Divestco is a geoscience services company that provides a comprehensive and integrated portfolio of data, software, and services to the oil and gas industry. Through continued commitment to align and bundle products and services to generate value for customers, Divestco is creating an unparalleled set of integrated solutions and unique benefits for the marketplace. Divestco's breadth of data, software and services offers customers the ability to access and analyze the information required to make business decisions and to optimize their success in the upstream oil and gas industry. Divestco is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "DVT".

Additional information on the Company is available on its website at Divestco.com and on SEDAR at sedar.com.

For more information please contact:

Divestco Inc.

(www.divestco.com)

Mr. Stephen Popadynetz

CEO and President

Tel 587-952-8152

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This press release contains forward-looking information and statements related to the Company's capital expenditures, projected growth, view and outlook with respect to future oil and gas prices and market conditions, and demand for its products and services. Statements that contain words such as "could', "should", "can", "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "will", "may" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning applicable by Canadian securities legislation. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct because, should one or more of the risks materialize, or should the assumptions underlying forward-looking statements or forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this press release as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. All of the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information of the Company contained in this press release are expressly qualified, in their entirety, by this cautionary statement. Except where required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or forward-looking information if conditions or opinions should change.

In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the following: Company's ability to keep debt and liquidity at acceptable levels, improve/maintain its working capital position and maintain profitability in the current economy; availability of external and internal funding for future operations; relative future competitive position of the Company; nature and timing of growth; oil and natural gas production levels; planned capital expenditure programs; plans and timing in respect of pursuing new revenue streams within existing operations and new lines of business, including without limitation of cryptocurrency mining, cogeneration and block chain, and any anticipated revenues; the Company's belief that paying projects will result from political stability and the Company's views on the evolution of the regulatory regime; supply and demand for oil and natural gas; future demand for products/services; commodity prices; impact of Canadian federal and provincial governmental regulation on the Company; expected levels of operating costs, finance costs and other costs and expenses; expectations regarding the Company's ability to raise capital.

These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions including: future prices for crude oil and natural gas; future interest rates and future availability of debt and equity financing will be at levels and costs that allow the Company to manage, operate and finance its business and develop its software products and various oil and gas datasets including its seismic data library, and meet its future obligations; the regulatory framework in respect of royalties, taxes and environmental matters applicable to the Company and its customers will not become so onerous on both the Company and its customers as to preclude the Company and its customers from viably managing, operating and financing its business and the development of its software and data; and that the Company will continue to be able to identify, attract and employ qualified staff and obtain the outside expertise as well as specialized and other equipment it requires to manage, operate and finance its business and develop its properties.

These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control, including: general economic, market and business conditions; increased debt levels or changes to its debt service requirements; unfavourable or no access to debt or access to debt or equity capital markets; volatility in market prices for crude oil and natural gas; ability of Divestco's clients to explore for, develop and produce oil and gas; ability of the Company's clients to pay in a timely manner; availability of financing and capital; fluctuations in interest rates; demand for the Company's product and services; competitive actions by other companies; lack of a suitable purchaser for Divestco's non-strategic assets; availability of skilled labour; failure to obtain regulatory approvals in a timely manner; adverse conditions in the debt and equity markets; and government actions including changes in environment and other regulation.Computer science remains a topic of increasing interest in K-12, with states introducing new standards on computer scienc e and the College Board touting the popularity of its new Advanced Placement course on computer science principles even as districts struggle with the realities of the computer science for all call to action.

But what does it take to begin a school with a computer science focus? Education Week chatted with Mashea Ashton, the founder and CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy, a newly opened charter school in the District of Columbia, who shared what shes learned from others who have begun schools with a computer science curriculum.

Located in the Hillcrest neighborhood of the citys Ward 7, the school is approved for grades 6-8 school and Ashton plans in due course to expand that to high school. It has 21 founding staff members, including teachers and school support staff, partnerships with community groups including the East Washington Heights Baptist Church, and a one-to-one program that makes sure each student has a computer to work on every day.

Ashton, a former special education teacher in Williamsburg, Va., as well as in D.C., has held leadership positions at New Leaders, a principal-training group; KIPP, a national network of charter schools; and the Newark Charter Schools Fund in New Jersey.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

You have worked in this sector for a while, in Newark, for example. You have seen charters succeed and probably fail. What in your mind are the qualities that lead a new school to succeed?

The first is having a really strong collaborative partnership with our communitythat includes our students, the local surrounding community in terms of schools, friends, stakeholders. The second is, and this does sound a little cliche: Its the people. The members of the founding team, the planning team, the founding staffthose are incredibly essential in terms of being able to execute against the vision. The third thing is that I think we have a vision that students, families, community members, funders are really excited about: preparing students who live east of the Anacostia river for the 21st century. Absent a super-exciting, innovative vision, it would have been really hard to get off the ground

What is your vision for the school?

Its very simple. Our mission is to develop the next generation of innovators, to prepare our students not just to consume the digital economy but to be part of creating it. Well be using a rigorous, college-prep curriculum that includes computer science. We believe the 1 million high-paying, high-demand jobs that will go unfilled in the computing industry is an incredible opportunity for students who live east of the Anacostia River, in Wards 7 and 8, who face an education and an opportunity gap, and we want to focus on closing both.

Tell me a little bit about how computer science will be integrated.

The focus on computer science is really about two things: making sure our students have exposure to the technical skills of computer science, or coding; by the end of their first year, they will be making websites and will be beginning to develop apps. In high school well get more into the discrete skills to pass the AP Computer Science Principles exam by the time they finish the 10th grade. There may be students who will be able to progress to Computer Science A, maybe by 11th or 12th grade.

But were also focused on problem-solving, teamworking, collaboration. We want our students to have a love of learning and a love of reading and thinking and communicating thoughtfully.

The third thing, in terms of our focus on computer science, is making sure our students have real world experiences. Well have three expeditions a year with experts who will come to schools and take our students out, to see how what theyre learning connects to real world opportunities.

What kinds of experts?

We would love to have someone who works at Google, or Microsoft, or Facebooksomeplace kids really know a lotto have the programmers come to have lunch with these students and hear their personal and professional experience and how they leverage and use their computer science skills to do things theyre passionate and excited about. Those are the kinds of experiences we want to be sure our students have.

Will the focus on computer science be a class? What about other core subjects?

Our students are required to take computer science as part of the core curriculum. Just like they take math, theyll take a 55-minute computer science class daily.

We have selected curriculum that really aligns to the Common Core State Standards, which is very much focused on problem-solving and deep analytical reading. The truth is that in order to really read code, you have to really have patience and understand the rules of the language, and that just requires a real ability to focus, read critically, and make connections.

What kinds of models did you research? Did you look at any other computer science magnets or charters?

I spent a whole year trying to find an answer to your question and the only one I knew is RePublic Charter School in Nashville, Tenn. They have codified a full curriculum and training module for teachers, so we are partnering with them on our computer science training and approach.

There is a high school in New York, the Academy for Software Engineering, that I was in touch with that helped me inform my thinking, too. They said two things things that stuck out. By having the name software engineering, it was a definite deterrent to girlstheir first class was really skewed in terms of boys. The original name of our school was going to be Code to College, and I changed it. Now we have a 60/40 girls-to-boys ratio.

Also, they tried to identify computer science experts to teach high school students, and what they shared was that it was essentially a disaster because they just didnt have relationship or classroom-management skills. Thats what really pushed me to the RePublic Charter School model. They use a non-expert-dependent approach to computer science. The idea is that, if you have a great teacher who can manage class and have relationships with students, we can give you the curriculum and the training to allow the students to learn along with the teachers.

It is mostly project-based, so kids can go at their own pace. Teachers need to understand the end concepts of the lesson but the curriculum goes step by step, so it allows a teacher to give that opportunity for students as early as middle school.

What do you think your biggest challenge will be?

I think this is not specifically about Digital Pioneers, but we are in Ward 7 [an area of Washington with high rates of poverty], and D.C. is a city that has 50 percent of students in charters and 50 percent in traditional public schools, and there is some fair and not-fair pushback on how charters fit into the larger strategies. We are committed to ending that us-versus-them dynamic. We want to partner with anyone who wants to partner with us. We want to learn.

Photo: Ashton greets students at Digital Pioneers Academy. Photo courtesy of CityBridge Foundation.Novartis International AG / European Commission approves Novartis combination therapy Tafinlar + Mekinist for adjuvant treatment of BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma . Processed and transmitted by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Approval based on COMBI-AD study demonstrating greater than 50% reduction in risk of disease recurrence or death in stage III melanoma patients



More than 50% of stage III melanoma patients are likely to recur to stage IV during their lifetime



EC approval marks third indication in Europe for leading BRAF/MEK inhibitor combination Tafinlar + Mekinist

Basel, August 29, 2018- Novartis announced today that the European Commission (EC) has approved Tafinlar (dabrafenib) in combination with Mekinist (trametinib) for the adjuvant treatment of stage III patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma after complete surgical resection. This approval is the third for Tafinlar in combination with Mekinist in Europe across a variety of tumor types identified with a high level of BRAF mutation. It also demonstrates Novartis leadership in BRAF+ targeted therapy, and to date, more than 60,000 patients worldwide have been treated with the combination therapy across four indications.

"Novartis' deep therapeutic knowledge and our ability to apply novel approaches to the development of new medicines has resulted again in a new treatment advance for melanoma patients," said Liz Barrett, CEO, Novartis Oncology. "The European approval of the Tafinlar and Mekinist combination illustrates Novartis' continued efforts to reimagine cancer by providing a highly effective, targeted therapy for earlier-stage melanoma patients."

The approval is based on results from the Phase III COMBI-AD global study, which enrolled more than 870 patients with stage III, BRAF V600E/K-mutant melanoma without prior anticancer therapy, and who were randomized within 12 weeks of complete surgical resection. Patients received the Tafinlar (150 mg BID) + Mekinist (2 mg QD) combination (n = 438) or matching placebos (n = 432). In the primary analysis, and after a median follow-up of 2.8 years, the primary endpoint was met, with the combination therapy significantly reducing the risk of disease recurrence or death by 53% vs. placebo. Based on updated data, with an additional 10 months of follow-up compared to the primary analysis (minimum follow-up of 40 months), treatment with the combination therapy reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 51% vs. placebo. Additionally, the relapse free survival (RFS) benefit among the combination arm was observed across all patient subgroups, including stage III A, B and C. The combination treatment group also saw an improvement in a key secondary endpoint of overall survival[1].

The BRAF gene belongs to a class of genes known as oncogenes and provides instructions for making a protein that helps transmit chemical signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. This protein is part of a signaling pathway known as the RAS/MAPK pathway, which controls several important cell functions. Specifically, the RAS/MAPK pathway regulates the growth and division (proliferation) of cells, the process by which cells mature to carry out specific functions (differentiation), cell movement (migration) and the self-destruction of cells (apoptosis). Chemical signaling through this pathway is essential for normal development before birth. When mutated, oncogenes have the potential to cause normal cells to become cancerous. During cancer treatment, targeted therapies may inhibit the mutation from occurring, thus slowing the growth of the cancer tumor.

Adverse events (AEs) were consistent with other Tafinlar + Mekinist studies and no new safety signals were reported. Of patients treated with the combination, 97% experienced an AE, with 41% having grade 3/4 AEs and 26% having AEs leading to treatment discontinuation (vs. 88%, 14%, and 3%, respectively, with placebo) [1].

The Committee for Medical Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion recommending the approval of Tafinlar + Mekinist in July, and the combination was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the adjuvant treatment of melanoma in April 2018.

About COMBI-AD

The COMBI-AD study evaluated Tafinlar + Mekinist among patients with stage III, BRAF V600E/K-mutant melanoma without prior anticancer therapy, randomized within 12 weeks of complete surgical resection. Patients received the Tafinlar (150 mg BID) + Mekinist (2 mg QD) combination (n = 438) or matching placebos (n = 432). In the initial primary analysis, and after a median follow-up of 2.8 years, the primary endpoint was met in that the combination therapy significantly reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 53% vs. placebo (HR: 0.47 [95% CI: 0.39-0.58]; median not yet reached vs. 16.6 months, respectively; p<0.001). Based on updated data with minimum follow-up of 10 months (a minimum follow up of 40 months), the RFS benefit was maintained with an estimated reduction in the risk of disease recurrence or death by 51% vs placebo (HR: 0.49 [95% CI: (0.40-0.59)]. The relapse-free survival benefit among the combination arm was observed across all patient subgroups, including stage III A, B and C. The estimated one-year, two-year, and three-year RFS were consistently higher than placebo (one year: 88% vs. 56%; two year: 67% vs. 44%; three year: 59% vs. 40%).

The combination treatment group also saw an improvement in a key secondary endpoint of OS (HR: 0.57 [95% CI: 0.42-0.79] p=0.0006, which did not cross the predefined interim analysis boundary of p=0.000019 to claim statistical significance). Other secondary endpoints where the combination demonstrated a clinically meaningful benefit include distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) (HR: 0.51 [95% CI: 0.40-0.65]), and freedom from relapse (FFR) (HR: 0.47 [95% CI: 0.39-0.57]).[1]

About Melanoma

There are about 200,000 new diagnoses of melanoma (stages 0-IV) worldwide each year, approximately half of which have BRAF mutations. Biomarker tests can determine whether a tumor has a BRAF mutation[3],[4].

Melanoma is staged by how far it has metastasized. In stage III melanoma, tumors have spread to the regional lymph nodes, presenting a higher risk of recurrence or metastases[3]. Patients who receive surgical treatment for Stage III melanoma may have a high risk of recurrence because melanoma cells can remain in the body after surgery; almost half (44%) of patients receiving placebo per the COMBI-AD study had a recurrence of disease within the first year[1],[5]. Adjuvant therapy is additional treatment given after surgical resection, and may be recommended for patients with high-risk melanoma to help reduce the risk of melanoma returning[5].

About Tafinlar + Mekinist Combination

Combination use of Tafinlar + Mekinist in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma who have a BRAF V600 mutation is approved in the US, EU, Japan, Australia, Canada and other countries.

The combination of Tafinlar + Mekinist is also approved for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a BRAF V600E mutation in the US and advanced NSCLC with a BRAF V600 mutation in the EU.

Tafinlar and Mekinist target different kinases within the serine/threonine kinase family - BRAF and MEK1/2, respectively - in the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, which is implicated in NSCLC and melanoma, among other cancers. When Tafinlar is used with Mekinist, the combination has been shown to slow tumor growth more than either drug alone. The combination of Tafinlar + Mekinist is currently being investigated in an ongoing clinical trial program across a range of tumor types conducted in study centers worldwide.

The safety and efficacy profile of the Tafinlar + Mekinist combination has not yet been established outside of the approved indications.

Tafinlar and Mekinist are also indicated in more than 60 countries worldwide, including the US and EU, as single agents to treat patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with a BRAF V600 mutation.

Tafinlar + Mekinist Combination Important Safety Information

Tafinlar and Mekinist, in combination, may cause serious side effects such as the risk of new cancers, including both skin cancer and nonskin cancer. Patients should be advised to contact their health care provider immediately for a new wart, skin sore, or bump that bleeds or does not heal, or a change in the size or color of a mole.

When Tafinlar is used in combination with Mekinist, it can cause serious bleeding problems, especially in the brain or stomach, that can lead to death. Patients should be advised to call their health care provider and get medical help right away if they have any signs of bleeding, including headaches, dizziness, or feel weak, cough up blood or blood clots, vomit blood or their vomit looks like "coffee grounds," or red or black stools that look like tar.

Mekinist, alone or in combination with Tafinlar, can cause inflammation of the intestines or tears in the stomach or intestines that can lead to death. Patients should report to their health care provider immediately if they have any of the following symptoms: bleeding, diarrhea (loose stools) or more bowel movements than usual, stomach-area (abdomen) pain or tenderness, fever, or nausea.

Tafinlar, in combination with Mekinist, can cause blood clots in the arms or legs, which can travel to the lungs and can lead to death. Patients should be advised to get medical help right away if they have the following symptoms: chest pain, sudden shortness of breath or trouble breathing, pain in their legs with or without swelling, swelling in their arms or legs, or a cool or pale arm or leg.

The combination of Tafinlar and Mekinist can cause heart problems, including heart failure. A patient's heart function should be checked before and during treatment. Patients should be advised to call their health care provider right away if they have any of the following signs and symptoms of a heart problem: feeling like their heart is pounding or racing, shortness of breath, swelling of their ankles and feet, or feeling lightheaded.

Tafinlar, in combination with Mekinist, can cause severe eye problems that can lead to blindness. Patients should be advised to call their health care provider right away if they get: blurred vision, loss of vision, or other vision changes, seeing color dots, halo (seeing blurred outline around objects), eye pain, swelling, or redness.

Tafinlar, in combination with Mekinist, can cause lung or breathing problems. Patients should be advised to tell their health care provider if they have new or worsening symptoms of lung or breathing problems, including shortness of breath or cough.

Fever is common during treatment with Tafinlar in combination with Mekinist, but may also be serious. In some cases, chills or shaking chills, too much fluid loss (dehydration), low blood pressure, dizziness, or kidney problems may happen with the fever. Patients should be advised to call their health care provider right away if they get a fever.

Rash and other skin reactions are common side effects of Tafinlar in combination with Mekinist. In some cases these rashes and other skin reactions can be severe or serious, and may need to be treated in a hospital. Patients should be advised to call their health care provider if they get any of the following symptoms: skin rash that bothers them or does not go away, acne, redness, swelling, peeling, or tenderness of hands or feet, or skin redness.

Some people may develop high blood sugar or worsening diabetes during treatment with Tafinlar in combination with Mekinist. For patients who are diabetic, their health care provider should check their blood sugar levels closely during treatment. Their diabetes medicine may need to be changed. Patients should be advised to tell their health care provider if they have increased thirst, urinate more often than normal, or produce an increased amount of urine.

Tafinlar, in combination with Mekinist, may cause healthy red blood cells to break down too early in people with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. This may lead to a type of anemia called hemolytic anemia, where the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells. Patients should be advised to tell their health care provider if they have yellow skin (jaundice), weakness or dizziness, or shortness of breath.

Tafinlar, in combination with Mekinist, can cause new or worsening high blood pressure (hypertension). A patient's blood pressure should be checked during treatment. Patients should be advised to tell their health care provider if they develop high blood pressure, their blood pressure worsens, or if they have severe headache, lightheadedness, blurry vision, or dizziness.

The most common side effects of Tafinlar, in combination with Mekinist, include fever, rash, nausea, fatigue, headache, chills, diarrhea, vomiting, high blood pressure (hypertension), joint aches, muscle aches, swelling of the face, arms, or legs, and cough.

Please see full Prescribing Information for Tafinlar and Mekinist.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political and economic conditions; safety, quality or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2017, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.1 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 125,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com (http://www.novartis.com).

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References

[1] Long GV, Hauschild A, Santinami M, et al. Adjuvant Dabrafenib Plus Trametinib for Stage III BRAF V600E/K-Mutant Melanoma. New England Journal of Medicine. 2017.

[2] GLOBOCAN 2012: estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Available at: http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/fact_sheets_population.aspx (http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/fact_sheets_population.aspx). Accessed August 10, 2018.

[3] Melanoma Skin Cancer. American Cancer Society. Available at: http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003120-pdf.pdf (http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003120-pdf.pdf). Accessed August 10, 2018.

[4] Heinzerling L, Kuhnapfel S, Meckbach D. Rare BRAF mutations in melanoma patients: implications for molecular testing in clinical practice. British Journal of Cancer. 2013.

[5] Melanoma Research Alliance. Adjuvant Therapy. Available at http://www.curemelanoma.org/about-melanoma/melanoma-treatment/adjuvant-therapy/ (http://www.curemelanoma.org/about-melanoma/melanoma-treatment/adjuvant-therapy/). Accessed August 10, 2018.

# # #

Novartis Media Relations

Central media line: +41 61 324 2200

E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com (mailto:media.relations@novartis.com)

Eric Althoff

Novartis Global Media Relations

+41 61 324 7999 (direct)

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eric.althoff@novartis.com (mailto:eric.althoff@novartis.com) Kristen Klasey

Novartis Oncology Communications

+1 862 778 4163 (direct)

+1 862 754 1732 (mobile)

kristen.klasey@novartis.com (mailto:kristen.klasey@novartis.com)

Novartis Investor Relations

Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944

E-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com (mailto:investor.relations@novartis.com)

Central North America Samir Shah +41 61 324 7944 Richard Pulik +1 212 830 2448 Pierre-Michel Bringer +41 61 324 1065 Cory Twining +1 212 830 2417 Thomas Hungerbuehler +41 61 324 8425 Isabella Zinck +41 61 324 7188





Media release (PDF) (http://hugin.info/134323/R/2213097/863081.pdf)

BEIJING, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) has earned accreditation from AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), one of the world's leading business school accreditation organizations. PHBS is proud to be among an elite 5% of over 16,000 business schools and colleges in the world to hold the esteemed accreditation.

https://www.aacsb.edu/about

"AACSB Accreditation recognizes institutions that have demonstrated a focus on excellence in all areas, including teaching, research, curricula development, and student learning," said Stephanie M. Bryant, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. "We congratulate the Peking University HSBC Business School and dean Wen Hai on earning accreditation, and applaud the entire PHBS team - including the administration, faculty, directors, staff, and students - for their roles in earning this respected honor."

AACSB Accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education and represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide. As requirements for AACSB Accreditation are stringent and schools must pass rigorous quality standards, obtaining AACSB Accreditation confirms PHBS's commitment to quality and continuous improvement through an arduous and comprehensive peer review process.

The peer review team of AACSB paid a visit to PHBS on April 9 to 10, 2018, to evaluate on site whether PHBS' programs bear the hallmark of excellence for business education. PHBS Dean Wen Hai introduced the school's reforms and breakthroughs in recent years and emphasized the importance of international certification; and shared the strategic insights on PHBS' future management and development. Representatives of faculty, staff, students, alumni and strategic partners from industry also participated in the peer review interviews.

"It is a privilege for our school to be accredited by this internationally authoritative accreditation community," said PHBS dean Wen Hai. "This achievement recognizes the efforts of all stakeholders, including our faculty, staff, students, alumni, corporate partners, and university administrators. We will continue to build up a top international business school."

Founded in 2004, PHBS aims to advance PKU's involvement in economics, finance, and management research. Promoting its international purview, classes in the school's full-time master's degree and full-time MBA programs are conducted in English. Over the past few years, PHBS has established two high-level think tanks, namely Research Institute of Maritime Silk Road, and the Sargent Institute of Quantitative Economics and Finance. This year, the school has initiated an overseas campus in Oxfordshire, England.

"Peking University's commitment to earning accreditation is a true reflection of their dedication - not only to their students, alumni network, and greater business community, but to the higher education industry as a whole," said Bryant. "Today's students are tomorrow's business leaders, and the addition of the Peking University HSBC Business School to the network of AACSB-accredited business schools will have a lasting positive impact for their institution, both locally and globally."

By the end of July 2018, there are only 22 AACSB-certified business schools in mainland China. AACSB-accredited schools are recognized worldwide by top employers and other universities, thus the designation is beneficial for PHBS students and its future students when preparing for a career in business or applying for further education. By providing exceptional faculty, impactful research, dedicated students, and the highest standards, PHBS strives to provide them the knowledge and skills employers and top universities require.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/736651/Peking_University_HSBC_AACSB.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/736652/PHBS_staff.jpgSATO Corporation, Press release, 29th August 2018 at 12:10 pm

What does home feel like is a one-of-a-kind installation made up of the works of well-known artists that will bring contemporary art to the public in Helsinki's Jatkasaari quarter in early September. The installation approaches the feel of home through the senses. It was curated and designed by designer Tero Kuitunen and artist Rauha Makila and will be open to the public at no charge in the space for residents at Rionkatu 11 from 1 to 9 September, between 4 pm and 9 pm, as part of the 'City life in Jatkasaari' event. The unique and inspiring installation was realised in collaboration with the Helsinki Contemporary art gallery and the rental-home company SATO.

The space for residents in SATO's block of flats on Rionkatu 11 will be converted into a homely art installation, and its doors will remain open to the public for more than a week. The installation represents the home and how it feels as sensory experiences, and it offers a conceptual approach to how Finns perceive homeliness. Visitors can take in the installation at their own pace, popping in for a quick look or staying for longer contemplation. The installation features the works of Anssi Kasitonni, Maria Stereo, Muriel Kuoppala, Raimo Saarinen, Roland Persson, and Sakari Kannosto, not to mention the creative duo responsible for the installation - Tero Kuitunen and Rauha Makila.

"The premise for planning the space and curating the artwork is to achieve a homely and soft yet unexpected sensory experience. The individual pieces of art and objects, already interesting on their own, together form a unique installation," says Kuitunen. He has a broad background in design and creative design, and his biggest inspiration comes from materials and colours, which create a delectable starting point for planning an installation. Kuitunen has taken part in international exhibitions, for instance, in Beirut, Sweden, Japan and Italy.

Artist Rauha Makila is known for her colourful and vibrant paintings. Her recent paintings reflect life from close-up, with themes taken from private moments in day-to-day life. Makila's paintings have been shown in Finland and internationally, at the Munch Gallery in New York, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, and the EMMA - the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, to name a few. Her works can be found in several major public collections, including those of Kiasma, the Saastamoinen Foundation and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation. Her latest solo exhibition was at Helsinki Contemporary in March 2018.

"Art inspires many emotions. Some of the pieces are even humorous, like Anssi Kasitonni's Alf statue, which welcomes visitors. We want people to come away from Rionkatu feeling positive and happy," says Kuitunen.

Like home, contemporary art is for everyone

Helsinki Contemporary is realising the exhibition jointly with rental-home company SATO as part of the 'City Life in Jatkasaari' event concept. The joint project is an important means for Helsinki Contemporary to bring contemporary art closer to people, even in unexpected places.

"It is interesting that we can take contemporary art experiences outside of the traditional exhibition spaces and bring them to where people are on a daily basis. Just like home, contemporary art is for everyone," stresses Mari Mannisto, Helsinki Contemporary's Operative Director.

The collaboration is also a new venture for SATO, and the company is approaching the matter from the perspectives of urban development and future living. The aim of the exhibition is to invite everyone to think about and grasp where that feeling of home comes from and what it can mean to live in the city - through a new and unexpected platform.

"We wanted to be part of this project because the feeling of home is at the heart of everyday life," says SATO's Director of Marketing and Communications, Miia Eloranta. "This installation reflects the very thing each of our resident does with their apartment - builds, with their own choices and habits, the perfect home for themselves. A home that makes them feel good."

The art installation will be open to the public at no charge from 1 to 9 September, from 4 pm until 9 pm, in the space for residents at Rionkatu 11. The art project is part of Housing Fair Finland's 'City Life in Jatkasaari' event, which offers visitors a glimpse into modern urban living. The event is also an opportunity to learn about rental living, as one of SATO's residents opens their door to visitors.

The press event takes place at the residents' space of Rionkatu 11 on Monday 3rd September from 9 to 11 am. You can meet and interview the Operative Director from Helsinki Contemporary, Mari Mannisto; the curator of the installation, Tero Kuitunen; as well as SATO's Director of Marketing and Communications, Miia Eloranta.

Further information and interview requests:

Mari Mannisto, Operative Director, Helsinki Contemporary, 0400 539 900, mari.mannisto@helsinkicontemporary.com

Tero Kuitunen, 040 776 0216, hi@terokuitunen.com

Rauha Makila, 045 392 9727, rmakila@gmail.com

Miia Eloranta, Director, Marketing and Communications, SATO, 050 441 4221, miia.eloranta@sato.fi

***

Tero Kuitunen has a broad background working in design and creative design, and his biggest inspiration comes from materials and colours. The designer is a graduate of the Aalto University of Art and Design. He is one of the founders of the award-winning brand Andbros, which specialises in Finnish home decor. Kuitunen has taken part in international exhibitions, for instance, in Beirut, Sweden, Japan and Italy, and is a recipient of the Finnish Cultural Foundation's one-year working grant. Kuitunen curated the Keskeneraiset Utopiat exhibition in the Aalto-designed home of the former Mill Manager of the Sunila Mill in Kotka in 2017.

Rauha Makila graduated from Helsinki's Academy of Fine Arts in 2007. She is known for her colourful and vibrant paintings, and her most recent works reflect life from close-up, with themes taken from private moments in day-to-day life. Makila has often taken a stand on the reality offered by the media in her paintings, which serve as an oasis in the wretchedness of the news stream. Makila's paintings have been presented in Finland and internationally, at the Munch Gallery in New York, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, and the EMMA - the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Galleri Thomassen in Gothenburg, and Landskrona Museum in Sweden, among others. Her works can be found in several major public collections, including those of Kiasma, the Saastamoinen Foundation and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation. Makila lives and works in Helsinki.

***

SATO is one of Finland's leading rental housing providers. SATO aims to offer a comprehensive choice of rental housing and an excellent customer experience. At year-end 2017 SATO owned around 25,800 apartments in Finland's largest growth centres and in St. Petersburg.



We promote sustainable development and initiative through our operations and work in open interaction with our stakeholders to generate added value. We operate profitably and with a long-term view. We increase the value of our housing stock through investments, divestments and repairs.

The SATO Group's net sales in 2017 were EUR 280 million, operating profit EUR 231 million and profit before taxes EUR 185 million. The value of SATO's investment assets is roughly EUR 3.8 billion.

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: SATO Oyj via Globenewswire

Pre-Stabilisation notice

August 29 2018

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

mBank SA500,000,000 Fixed Rate Senior, unsecured due 05 September 2022

Launched pursuant to the Issuer's MTN Programme

Pre-Stabilisation Notice

Commerzbank AG (contact: Daniela Olt-Farrelly; telephone: +49 69 13623492) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014).

The security to be stabilised: Issuer: mBank SA Guarantor (if any): n/a Aggregate nominal amount: EUR500,000,000 Description: EUR500mil Fixed Rate Senior unsecured Notes due 05 September 2022 Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: Fixed coupon, expected ratings: BBB+ (S+P), BBB (Fitch) Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator:

Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG

HSBC Bank plc

J.P. Morgan Securities Limited

Morgan Stanley International

UBS Limited Stabilisation period expected to start on: 29 August 2018 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Luxembourg regulated market

In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

END- China's oldest TCM brand partners with America's iconic Roosevelt family to open the House of Roosevelt GuangYuYuan National Traditional Chinese Medicine Medical Center in Shanghai, China.

- Oldest TCM brand in China, with a history of nearly 500 years

- Guo Jiaxue, Head of GuangYuYuan: "With nearly 500 years of history, we are about more than just Traditional Chinese Medicine. We represent the preservation of culture and in the spirit of "One Belt, One Road," sharing TCM culture with the world."

SHANGHAI, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In its latest international partnership, the oldest of the "Big 4" TCM brands celebrated the opening of the GuangYuYuan TCM Medical Center at the House of Roosevelt in Shanghai. The opening ceremony was the latest in a series of cultural exchanges initiated by GuangYuYuan in an effort to share Traditional Chinese Medicine with the world.

Guo Jiaxue, Chairman of Topsun Group and Head of GuangYuYuan Chinese Herbal Medicine Co., Ltd. explained the significance of this collaboration: "With nearly 500 years of history, we are about more than just Traditional Chinese Medicine. We represent the preservation of our national heritage and in the spirit of 'One Belt, One Road,' sharing TCM culture with the world. The Roosevelt family also makes considerable conservation efforts and continues to make investments around the globe."

Tweed Roosevelt warmly congratulated GuangYuYuan on the opening of the GuangYuYuan National TCM Medical Center. The intimate event was attended by approximately 100 guests from home and abroad including: the President of the Shanghai Medical Association Xu Jianguang, Deputy director of Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission Zhang Huaiqiong, Executive Vice President of Shanghai TCM Association Hu Hongyi, Deputy District Chief Official, Li Yuan, Consul General of Egypt Khaled Youssef, Consul General of Greece Vassilis Xiros.

About GuangYuYuan

GuangYuYuan was founded in 1541. In 2003 it was acquired by a leading Chinese pharmaceutical conglomerate, Xi'an Topsun Group, and is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under the name GuangYuYuan Chinese Herbal Medicine Co. Ltd., stock number 600771. In 2006, GuangYuYuan was honored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, receiving its "Time-Honored Brand" appellation. Two of GuangYuYuan's oldest products, GuilingJi and Dingkun Dan, have been declared to be part of China's intangible cultural heritage and their formulas have been named national secrets.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/736661/The_Roosevelt_Residence_in_Shanghai.jpgMOSCOW, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Board of Directors of PJSC Aeroflot has re-elected Vitaly Saveliev as CEO for a term of five years. The appointment was approved on 28 August 2018 at a meeting of the Board of Directors chaired by Mikhail Poluboyarinov, pursuant to a Directive from the Russian government.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/561410/Aeroflot_Logo.jpg )



Vitaly Saveliev has led Aeroflot since his appointment on 10 April 2009. At that time, the Company was considered a regional carrier by global standards with passenger traffic of 8.6 million (11.1 million including subsidiaries). Aeroflot together with its subsidiaries ranked 68th internationally.

In 2010 President Vladimir Putin tasked Vitaly Saveliev with creating Russia's first full-fledged airline group. The state transferred a number of regional carriers to Aeroflot's management, and from these assets the construction of Aeroflot Group began. Following the transformation the Group included Russia's second biggest airline Rossiya Airlines (created from St. Petersburg-based regional airline Rossiya, as well as Donavia and Orenburg Airlines) and Far Eastern airline Aurora (created out of SAT Airlines and Vladivostok Avia).

The creation of Russia's first-ever genuine low-cost carrier, Pobeda, as part of Aeroflot Group represented a genuine breakthrough. Thanks to Vitaly Saveliev, important amendments to Russia's Aviation Code were passed, including the introduction of non-refundable tickets, the ability for airlines to charge for baggage and hire pilots from abroad, and the introduction of blacklists for disruptive passengers. It was these changes that harmonised Russia's Aviation Code and made it possible for low-cost flights to take off in Russia.

Pobeda launched its first flight on 1 December 2014. Since then it has had an enormous impact on making air transport accessible to ordinary Russians, with more than a million people flying for the first time in the low-cost carrier's first two years of operations. Since its first flight, Pobeda has already carried more than 15 million passengers.

In 2011, Vitaly Saveliev presented Aeroflot Group's Strategy-2025 to President Putin. The key goal of the strategy was to establish Aeroflot as one of the world's leading airlines, ranking in the top flight of global aviation. By 2025, Aeroflot Group was called on to become one of Europe's top five and the world's 20 largest aviation groups.

These goals were achieved significantly ahead of time, with Aeroflot becoming one of the world's top 20 airlines and one of Europe's five largest as early as 2017 (among legacy carriers). In 2018, Aeroflot confirmed its place among the 20 leading airlines worldwide, according to two authoritative global aviation publications, Flight Airline Business and Air Transport World. Over the years Aeroflot airline's passenger traffic has significantly increased, from 8.6 million passengers in 2009 to 32.8 million in 2017. In total, Aeroflot and its subsidiaries carried a record 50.1 million passengers in 2017.

This year, Aeroflot was named the world's strongest airline brand for the second time by Brand Finance, the leading independent brand valuation consultancy. Aeroflot's brand value is growing steadily and today amounts to USD 1.429 billion.

Aeroflot is a recognised premium carrier, holding 4-Star Airline status from Skytrax and a 5-Star Global Airline rating from US aviation association APEX. The Company regularly wins prestigious international awards: it was named Best Airline in Eastern Europe for the seventh time at 2018 Skytrax World Airline Awards, and has twice been recognised as China's Favourite International Airline at the Flyer Awards. Russia's flag carrier was also named the world's leading airline brand at World Travel Awards 2017, known as the Oscars of the tourism industry.

Under Vitaly Saveliev Aeroflot has become the largest operator of modern Russian aircraft. The company operates 50 of the latest Sukhoi Superjet 100. In the coming years the Company is expected to take delivery of 50 MC-21. Aeroflot is considering further expansion of its fleet of Russian aircraft.

Aeroflot intends to strengthen its status as a leading global airline. Vitaly Saveliev and the Company's management team have prepared an updated Aeroflot Group Strategy-2023, which will be presented in the near future to President Vladimir Putin.Arian Silver Corporation - Updated Notice of AGM and Proposed Change of Name

ARIAN

SILVER

Trading Symbols

AIM: AGQ

FWB: I3A

29 August 2018

Updated Notice of AGM and proposed Change of Name

Arian Silver Corporation (the "Company") announces that an updated Notice of Annual General Meeting ("AGM") has been posted to shareholders.

The updated Notice of AGM contains new Special Resolutions seeking approval from shareholders to change the Company's name to Alien Metals Ltd, which is intended to reflect the shift in the Company's future direction towards the exploration of new mining projects.

In addition, amended and restated Articles of Association are proposed for adoption, which if approved, will incorporate the new company name, updates to statutory references, and provide authority for the holding of meetings by electronic means.

The updated Notice of AGM is also available on the Company's website: www.ariansilver.com/assets/docs/2018-revised-notice-of-agm.pdf.

The Company's AGM will be held on 20 September 2018 at 11:30am (UK time) at Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BD, United Kingdom.

For further information please contact:29 August 2018

Clear Leisure Plc

("the Company")

Bondholder Meeting Update

On 6 August 2018, the Company announced that it had written to holders of its EUR 9.9 million Bond (the "Bond"), due on 15 December 2022, convening a meeting today at 10am at the Company's registered office at 22 Great James Street, London, WC1N 3ES, to seek bondholder approval to amend the conversion price of the Bonds as detailed in the RNS released on 6 August 2018.

The bondholders' meeting requires a quorum of 66.66% of the Bond's principal value. Insufficient bondholders were present at today's meeting to form a quorum. The Meeting was therefore adjourned until 10am on 12 September 2018 at the Company's registered office.

The quorum requirement at the adjourned meeting is reduced to such bondholders representing 25 per cent of the principal value of the Bond. The Company notes that the majority of bondholders who were present at today's adjourned meeting indicated that they wished to vote in favour of the proposed resolutions.

Bondholders who wish to vote and whose Bonds are held in the name of a broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee institution (including as CDIs) must contact such nominee promptly and instruct or make arrangements with such nominee to vote in accordance with the customary procedures of the Clearing Systems on behalf of the bondholders. Proxies are due no later than 10am on 11 September 2018.

-ends-

For further information please contact:

Clear Leisure Plc

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman

+39 335 296573

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Jeff Keating / John Mackay

+44 (0)20 3470 0470

Leander (Financial PR)

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson

+44 (0) 7795 168 157

About Clear Leisure Plc

Clear Leisure plc (AIM: CLP) is an AIM listed investment company with a portfolio of companies primarily encompassing the leisure and real estate sectors mainly in Italy. The focus of management is to pursue the monetisation of all of the Company's existing assets, through selected realisations, court-led recoveries of misappropriated assets and substantial debt-recovery processes. The Company has recently launched a joint venture initiative in the cryptocurrency mining sector. For further information, please visit, www.clearleisure.co.ukSTAVANGER, Norway and PORTSMOUTH, England, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Equinor joins Magma in UK government backed qualification programme

Magma Global, manufacturer of carbon-fibre composite pipe, today announces a joint initiative with Equinor, previously Statoil, to qualify an all-Magma solution for jumpers, initially envisaged for use in Norway. This secures the 10.5m project being supported by Innovate UK and will be a step towards fulfilling Magma's vision of owning the fluid transfer infrastructure from seabed to surface.

Charles Tavner, COO at Magma Global, said: "There is no doubt in our minds that the future subsea infrastructure will be dominated by carbon-fibre composites. We have seen acceptance of this from large contractors, each developing their own solution using m-pipe, which is a natural adoption path. This initiative will fast forward the delivery of an all-Magma solution, thanks to funding support from Innovate UK and Equinor's vision and understanding of how they can best use available technologies."

Derek Allen, Innovation Lead at Innovate UK, said: "We are delighted to have supported this innovative project that will ultimately lead to improved efficiency and cost reduction in the UK energy sector."

About Magma Global:

Magma Global manufacturers m-pipe, a high quality, high strength carbon fibre and Victrex PEEK thermoplastic composite pipe that is one tenth the weight in water of equivalent steel or non-bonded flexible pipe and is highly resistant to degradation. m-pipe is manufactured using high quality carbon fibre and Victrex PEEK in a fully automated robotic 3D laser print process, and the Magma In Country Manufacturing Module (ICMM) can meet local content requirements. Magma m-pipe subsea applications include risers, jumpers, infield flowlines and intervention lines and it is ideally suited to sour service and deep-water environments. Customers include Saudi Aramco, Equinor, Eni and Tullow, which recently demonstrated a 65% reduction in installation cost of a deep-water flowline by using m-pipe.STOCKHOLM, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Securitas welcomes representatives from the financial market and media to our Investor Update on Thursday, September 20, 2018, in Stockholm, starting at 08.30 a.m. CET to app. 11.00 a.m. CET.

Securitas' President and CEO Magnus Ahlqvist will together with CFO Bart Adam and CIO Martin Althen update investors, analysts and media on Securitas' operations and strategy. The investor update marks the first opportunity for newly appointed President and CEO Magnus Ahlqvist to present his views for the company to a broader group of stakeholders. Topics will include the strategic focus and customer offering of Securitas, current financial targets and historical performance, as well as the transformation of Securitas into a leader within intelligent security. The update will conclude with a Q&A session.

Time and place: The update will take place in Stockholm at Hotel Courtyard by Marriott Kungsholmen, at Ralambshovsleden 20, and will begin at 08.30 a.m. CET to app. 11.00 a.m. CET. Registration and coffee from 08.00.

Registration: If you wish to attend, please e-mail your registration to micaela.sjokvist@securitas.com at September 12 the latest.

Web cast: The speakers' presentations will be web casted live at the following link: https://securitas.videosync.fi/investor-update2018. If you wish to follow the presentations via the web cast, you can register via the link already now. A recorded version of the webcast will be available on the same web page after the event.

This press release is also available at: www.securitas.com

Information:

Micaela Sjokvist,

Head of IR and Acting SVP Corporate Communications and Public Affairs

Securitas AB

mobile +46-76-116-7443

email micaela.sjokvist@securitas.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/securitas/r/invitation-to-securitas-investor-update-on-september-20,c2603417

The following files are available for download:PORTLAND, Oregon, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "Surfactants Market by Type and Application: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018-2025, the global surfactants market was valued at $43,655 million in 2017, and is projected to reach $64,408 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 5.4% from 2018 to 2025. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to be the highest revenue contributor throughout the forecast period.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg )



Surfactants, also known as surface-active agents, are organic chemicals with a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic end that when added to a liquid, change its properties at the surface or interface. They can be classified either based on the nature of their charge on individual polar functional groups or based on their molecular weights.

Request Sample Report at:https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/302

By type, the global surfactants market is classified into cationic surfactant, anionic surfactant, nonionic surfactant, amphoteric surfactant, and others. Anionic surfactants are majorly derived from carboxylation, sulfation, and condensation of fatty acids and phosphoric acid derivatives. Cationic surfactants are obtained by the reaction of tertiary amines with classical alkylating agents, whereas alkylation processes of betaines and true amphoteric surfactants produce amphoteric surfactants. In 2017, anionic surfactant and nonionic surfactant segments occupied up to two-thirds share of the surfactants market, in terms of volume.

By application, the surfactants market is segmented into household detergent, personal care, industrial & institutional cleaner, food processing, oilfield chemicals, agricultural chemical, textile, plastic, paint & coating, adhesive, and others. The household detergent and personal care segments, together held more than two-thirds share in the surfactants market in 2017. High demand for personal care products, owing to increase in personal incomes, change in lifestyles along with rise in demand for household detergents drive the market growth.

North America and Europe collectively accounted for half of the market, in 2017, however, Asia-Pacific alone captured more than one-third share of the surfactants market. The prices of surfactants are comparatively high in Europe due to regulations of Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH); however, the cost in the U.S. is anticipated to remain moderate, due to low mineral oil prices for both anionic and cationic surfactants.

For Purchase Enquiry:https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/302

Key Findings of the Surfactants Market:

Asia-Pacific is expected to remain dominant from 2018 to 2025 in terms of revenue, followed by North America .

is expected to remain dominant from 2018 to 2025 in terms of revenue, followed by . The nonionic surfactants market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period.

Surfactants for personal care applications is the fastest growing application in terms of revenue in the global surfactants market, with a CAGR of 6.0% from 2018 to 2025.

China is the fastest developing region in the Asia-Pacific surfactants market, growing at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2018 to 2025.

Asia-Pacific and North America collectively contributed more than two-thirds to the market revenue in 2017. In the same year, Asia-Pacific dominated the market, in terms of revenue, owing to increased demand for surfactants in personal care and household detergent applications.

The report provides an extensive competitive analysis and profiles of the key market players, such as BASF SE, The Dow Chemical Company, Stepan Company, Evonik Industries AG, Kao Corporation, The Proctor & Gamble Company, Clariant, Lion Specialty Chemicals Co, Ltd., Solvay S.A., and Huntsman Corporation. The other players in the value chain (not included in the report) include Galaxy Surfactants, Aarti Industries Ltd., Wacker Chemie AG, and Jiangsu Maysta Chemicals Co. Ltd.

Access KNOWLEDGE TREE (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at:https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/knowledgetree

Knowledge tree is a cloud-based intelligence platform that offers more than 2,000 selective, off-the-shelf reports on niche markets to enable our clients gain deep insights on the latest trends, dynamic technologies, and emerging application areas.

Similar Reports:

North America Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Gloves Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025

Vietnam Reinforcement Materials Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2024

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.comCOEUR D'ALENE, ID / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2018 / Timberline Resources Corporation (OTCQB: TLRS; TSX-V: TBR) ("Timberline" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that exploration drilling has begun at its Elder Creek porphyry copper-gold project in the Battle Mountain Mining District of Nevada. The Company will also conduct a district-scale gravity survey on its Eureka project and will target high-grade gold mineralization at depth in the Lookout Mountain area.

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Donald McDowell as Vice President of Corporate Development.

Steven Osterberg, Timberline's President and CEO commented, "We are excited to initiate drilling on the recently acquired Elder Creek project to test the extent of oxidized copper mineralization intersected in five historic drill holes. Results of this initial drill program will help design more extensive drill testing this fall." He continued, "At Eureka, the gravity survey, which is an important tool in exploration and discovery of large Carlin-type systems, will provide important data to focus off-set drilling of high-grade gold intercepts consistent with large mineral systems on the Battle Mountain Eureka trend."

Elder Creek Drill Program

At Elder Creek, the work program includes approximately 2,500 feet (762 meters) of reverse circulation drilling to test the grade and continuity of copper/gold mineralization within a large, porphyry copper system defined by geologic mapping, surface sampling, zoned alteration, geochemistry, and an aeromagnetic survey (Figures 1 and 2). Our initial drill hole expands on mineralization intersected in five vertical holes drilled when copper prices were less than $1.00/lb. These historic drill holes intersected continuous copper mineralization grading 0.2% to 0.3% from surface to their maximum depths of 200 to 300 feet. Timberline's initial drilling will test the depth extend of the copper mineralization to allow design of a more extensive follow-up program.

The Elder Creek copper/gold system lies approximately 11 miles (18 km) north of Newmont's Phoenix mining complex. Exploration data compiled from over 40-plus years of exploration on the property includes a "donut-like" aeromagnetic signature with a magnetic high of hornfels that surrounds the porphyry core with a pronounced magnetic low.

Timberline has the right to acquire a 65% interest in the 16 square mile (41 km2) property by spending US$5.1 million over 6 years through an earn-in joint venture agreement with McEwen Mining Inc. (see new release dated May 24, 2018 at http://timberlineresources.co/press-releases).

Rock geochemical sampling results, along with geologic and geophysical characteristics evident at Elder Creek (see press release dated June 18, 2018 at http://timberlineresources.co/press-releases) are common to major porphyry copper deposits. The core of the Elder Creek porphyry target covers approximately 1.7 square miles (4.5 km2), and has at least three intrusive phases which form two granodiorite porphyry centers that are similar in age (35-37 million years) to the intrusive rocks at Newmont's Phoenix gold-copper mine. The core is characterized by intense porphyry-style quartz veining, and elevated copper and molybdenum values in rocks and soils. It is flanked by proximal potassic (hydrothermal biotite) alteration and distal biotite-pyrite-pyrrhotite hornfels. Large target areas of gold-copper veining occur within the hornfels to the east and south of the porphyry core.

Figure 1. Geology, Alteration, and Copper Geochemistry of the Elder Creek Porphyry Copper-Gold Prospect

Figure 2. Elder Creek Airborne Total Field Magnetics with Alteration Zoning

Eureka Gravity Survey

The Company will also conduct a district-wide gravity survey at the 23-square mile (60 km2) Eureka property (Figure 3) to help design a program to test the continuity of three deep, high-grade gold intercepts in a geological setting consistent with the large Carlin-type gold systems of the Battle Mountain - Eureka mineral belt. The survey will include detailed coverage encompassing the historic Lookout Mountain and Oswego Target areas, which contain documented high-grade gold occurrences (see press releases dated June 12, 2018 and July 10, 2018 at http://timberlineresources.co/press-releases). The survey will provide the very first application of gravity to this district, and help to delineate the subsurface stratigraphic and structural architecture of specific target areas such as Lookout Mountain.

Figure 3. Eureka Property District Total Field Magnetics, Target Areas, and Proposed Gravity Survey

Management Appointments

The Company is also pleased to announce that Mr. Donald McDowell has joined its senior management team.

Mr. Donald McDowell will serve as Vice President of Corporate Development in addition to his current role as a Timberline Director. He has over 30 years of geological exploration, property evaluation, and development experience focused primarily on the mineral exploration industry in Nevada. Since 2008, he has served as the President of Americas Gold Exploration Inc., a private company dedicated to Nevada mineral exploration. In late 2017, he was instrumental in the acquisition of the Carlin Vanadium Property by Cornerstone Metals. Previously, he spent 17 years with major mining corporations including Nippon Mining of Japan, Santa Fe Pacific Gold and Kennecott Exploration, where he was involved in exploration, resource/reserve evaluations, and mine development. Mr. McDowell is a registered professional land surveyor in the State of California.

Mr. Osterberg added, "We are very pleased to add Don to Timberline's management team in this important leadership position. His wealth of exploration and property expertise will benefit the Company as we advance our projects in the current environment of tight capital markets.

About Timberline Resources

Timberline Resources Corporation is focused on advancing district-scale gold exploration and development projects in Nevada, including its 23 square-mile Eureka property, comprised of the Lookout Mountain, Windfall, and Oswego projects which lie along three separate structural stratigraphic trends defined by distinct geochemical gold anomalies; and as the operator of two joint venture projects - the Paiute project joint venture with a subsidiary of Barrick Gold, and the Elder Creek project joint venture with McEwen Mining. All of these properties lie on the prolific Battle Mountain-Eureka gold trend. Timberline also owns the Seven Troughs property in Northern Nevada, known to be one of the state's highest grade, former producers. Timberline has increased its owned and controlled mineral rights in Nevada to over 43 square miles (27,500 acres). Detailed maps and NI 43-101 estimated resource information for the Eureka property may be viewed at http://timberlineresources.co/.

Timberline is listed on the OTCQB where it trades under the symbol "TLRS" and on the TSX Venture Exchange where it trades under the symbol "TBR.'

Forward-looking Statements

Statements contained herein that are not based upon current or historical fact are forward-looking in nature and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Company's expectations about its future operating results, performance and opportunities that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the advancement of projects, and exploration potential. When used herein, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "upcoming," "plan," "target," "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to Timberline Resources Corporation, its subsidiaries, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. There are no assurances that the Company will complete the earn-ins on Elder Creek and Paiute projects as contemplated or at all. Factors that could cause or contribute to risks involving forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, changes in the Company's business and other factors, including risk factors discussed in the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2018. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For Further Information Please Contact:

Steven A. Osterberg

President and CEO

Tel: 208-664-4859

E-mail: info@timberline-resources.com

Website: www.timberline-resources.com

SOURCE: Timberline Resources CorporationVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - Norwick Capital Corp. (TSX: NWK.P) ("Norwick") and Converge Technology Partners Inc. ("Converge") are pleased to announce that Norwick, Converge and Norwick Acquisition Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norwick, have entered into an acquisition agreement (the "Acquisition Agreement"), dated August 28, 2018, pursuant to which Norwick will acquire all of the issued and outstanding Class A common shares of Converge (each, a "Converge Share") and Converge will amalgamate with Norwick Acquisition Corp. (the "Amalgamation"). The Amalgamation will be structured as a three-cornered amalgamation and, as a result, the amalgamated corporation ("Amalco") will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norwick at the time of the completion of the Amalgamation.

Prior to the completion of the Amalgamation and subject to applicable regulatory approval, Norwick will complete a consolidation (the "Consolidation") of its outstanding common shares and, upon completion of the Amalgamation, Norwick will complete a name change (the "Name Change") to "Converge Technology Solutions Corp." (the "Resulting Issuer"). Norwick is a capital pool company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). The Amalgamation will complete the previously announced qualifying transaction of Norwick in accordance with the rules and policies of the TSXV (the "Qualifying Transaction").

Norwick has made an initial filing submission to the TSXV regarding the Qualifying Transaction. A filing statement of Norwick containing further details with respect to the Qualifying Transaction (the "Filing Statement") will be prepared and filed by Norwick on SEDAR at www.sedar.com upon acceptance by the TSXV.

About Converge

Converge was incorporated pursuant to the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) on November 29, 2016. The head office and registered office address of Converge is located in Toronto, Ontario.

Converge's primary mission is to identify and acquire North American IT Solutions Providers ("ITSPs") that are regionally focused, but undercapitalized and lack scale. Ideal ITSP targets have strong relationships with leading IT vendors and distributors (IBM, Cisco, Dell EMC, Pure Storage, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, HP, etc.) and a sub-scale managed services business that provides a base of recurring revenue. Together with its subsidiaries, Converge is able to bring together the combined company's Managed Services capabilities into a single provider with a meaningful national footprint. Converge is also able to capitalize on the rapidly growing cloud computing spending through its cloud solutions businesses.

Led by a seasoned management team that has extensive acquisition and management experience in both the private and public markets, Converge's goal is to become one of the largest independent ITSPs platforms in North America. Converge's competitive business model, blue chip client base, and broad service offering positions it well to capitalize on numerous growth opportunities and further enhance its profitability.

To date, Converge has acquired five businesses in North America (four ITSPs and one software developer). This has allowed Converge to immediately consolidate sales capabilities, expand geographic presence from coast to coast, and facilitate network integration and data centre capabilities. Converge acquired its first company, Corus Group, LLC, in October 2017, followed by Northern Micro Inc. in November 2017, which helped to diversify Converge's client mix and expand into the government and education sector. In January 2018, Converge acquired Becker-Carroll, providing Converge with capabilities to build enterprise blockchain solutions for customers. Most recently, Converge acquired Key Information Systems, Inc. and BlueChipTek, Inc. which increased data centre capabilities and expanded Converge's footprint.

A complete description of Converge's business will be contained in the Filing Statement.

Summary Financial Information for Converge

The following tables set forth selected audited consolidated financial information for Converge as at December 31, 2017 and for the year ended December 31, 2017, as well as selected unaudited condensed interim financial information for Converge as at March 31, 2018, and for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018.



Three-Months Ended March 31, 2018 Year Ended December 31, 2017 Statements of operations and comprehensive loss (in 000's of Canadian dollars)



Revenue 119,785 52,788 Cost of sales 101,261 42,136 Gross profit 18,524 10,652 Selling, general and administrative expenses 13,329 10,859 Depreciation and amortization 990 783 Operating income (loss) 4,205 (990) Finance expense, net 1,248 1,144 Change in fair value of contingent consideration 3,013 1,472 Transaction costs - acquisitions - 315 Other expenses/(income) (78) 109 Loss before income taxes 22 (4,030) Income tax expense/(recovery) 1,490 (111) Net loss (1,468) (3,919) Total other comprehensive loss (47) 24 Comprehensive loss (1,515) (3,943) Net loss per share - basic and diluted (0.03) (0.21) Weighted average number of shares outstanding - basic and diluted (in 000's) 56,259 18,895

(in 000's of Canadian dollars) Three months ended March 31, 2018 Year ended December 31, 2017 Net comprehensive loss as reported (1,515) (3,943) Add:



Finance expense 1,248 1,144 Income tax expense [recovery] 1,490 (111) Depreciation and amortization 990 783 EBITDA1 2,213 (2,127) Add:



Change in fair value of contingent consideration 3,013 1,472 Exchange loss on translation of foreign operations 47 315 Transaction cost - acquisition 23 24 Adjusted EBITDA1 5,296 (316)

Note:

1. EBITDA is comprised of net income (loss) before finance expense, income tax expense (recovery), depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is comprised of EBITDA before change in fair value of contingent consideration, exchange translation gain or loss on foreign operations and acquisition transaction cost.

*Please refer to "Non-IFRS Measures" below



As at March 31, 2018 As at December 31, 2017 Statements of financial position (in 000's of Canadian dollars)



Assets



Total current assets 121,881 67,086 Property and equipment, net 3,386 3,187 Intangible assets, net 23,693 24,027 Goodwill 15,304 14,550

164,264 108,850 Liabilities



Total current liabilities 152,052 100,654 Other financial liabilities 6,770 5,127 Debentures 3,084 3,007 Deferred tax liability 3,660 3,751 Finance lease payable 396 525

165,962 113,064 Shareholders' equity (deficiency)



Common shares 3,425 1 Warrants 607 - Foreign exchange translation reserve (71) (24) Deficit (5,659) (4,191)

(1,698) (4,214)

164,264 108,850

About the Qualifying Transaction and Concurrent Financing

Immediately prior to the Amalgamation, and subject to regulatory approval, Norwick will consolidate its share capital on the basis of one post-consolidation common share of Norwick for every 3.2 common shares of Norwick existing immediately before the consolidation (the "Consolidation").

Shareholders of Converge will be asked to approve the Amalgamation at a special meeting of Converge shareholders to be held on or about September 21, 2018. The foregoing approval is required prior to the completion of the Qualifying Transaction.

Financings

In connection with the Qualifying Transaction, Converge completed a best efforts private placement of subscription receipts ("Converge Subscription Receipts") at a price of $0.80 (the "Issue Price") per Converge Subscription Receipt (the "Concurrent Financing") for aggregate gross proceeds of $5,535,004.80. An aggregate of 2,667,000 Converge Subscription Receipts were sold pursuant to the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing lead by Paradigm Capital Inc. on behalf of a syndicate of agents that included Haywood Securities Inc., Hampton Securities Limited and Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. (collectively the "Agents"). An additional 4,251,756 Converge Subscription Receipts were sold on a non-brokered basis.

As consideration for the services of the Agents in connection with the Concurrent Financing, Converge agreed to pay the Agents an aggregate cash fee equal to 7% of the gross proceeds of the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing (the "Commission"), and issued compensation options (the "Converge Compensation Options") entitling the Agents to subscribe for that number of common shares of the Resulting Issuer (the "Resulting Issuer Shares"), as is equal to 7% of the total number of Converge Subscription Receipts sold pursuant to the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing. Each Converge Compensation Option is exercisable for one Converge Share (if exercised before the Amalgamation) or one Resulting Issuer Share (if exercised following the Amalgamation) for a period of two years following the date of listing at an exercise price equal to the Issue Price.

The net proceeds from the Concurrent Financing (which is an amount equal to the gross proceeds less the Commission and expenses of the Agents pursuant to the Concurrent Financing) will be used primarily for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The gross proceeds of the Concurrent Financing, less the expenses of the Agents pursuant to the Concurrent Financing, together with all interest and other income earned thereon (the "Escrowed Funds") are being held in escrow by the Computershare Trust Company of Canada (the "Escrow Agent") pending satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions (the "Escrow Release Conditions"). Provided that the Escrow Release Conditions are satisfied on or prior to November 28, 2018 (the "Escrow Release Deadline"), the Escrowed Funds will be released from escrow by the Escrow Agent to: (a) the Agents, an amount equal to 100% of the Commission; and (b) Converge, an amount equal to the Escrowed Funds less the foregoing deductions.

If the Escrow Release Conditions have not been satisfied on or prior to the Escrow Release Deadline, the Escrowed Funds shall be used by Converge to repurchase the Converge Subscription Receipts for cancellation at a repayment price per Converge Subscription Receipt equal to the Issue Price. To the extent that the Escrowed Funds are not sufficient to purchase all of the Converge Subscription Receipts at the Issue Price, Converge will contribute such amounts as are necessary to cover any shortfall.

In addition, Converge provided an incentive to holders of warrants of Converge to exercise their warrants at a price of $0.50 per warrant, provided such warrants were exercised in July 2018. As a result, 3,331,000 warrants were exercised and Converge received gross proceeds of $1,665,500.

Acquisition Agreement

Under the terms of the Acquisition Agreement, among other things, on the effective date of the Amalgamation:

each outstanding Converge Share will be exchanged for one Resulting Issuer Share; each outstanding common share of Norwick Subco shall be exchanged for one fully paid and non-assessable share of Amalco; all issued and outstanding options of Norwick shall automatically expire on the date which is 12 months following the effective date of the Amalgamation; all issued and outstanding Converge Share purchase warrants and Converge Compensation Options shall remain outstanding and exercisable into Resulting Issuer Shares in accordance with their terms; and all issued and outstanding Norwick common share purchase warrants and Norwick options shall remain outstanding and exercisable into Resulting Issuer Shares in accordance with their terms.

Pursuant to the Acquisition Agreement, as a result of the Amalgamation (and assuming no exercise of any convertible securities of Converge or Norwick), approximately 74,355,034 Resulting Issuer Shares will be issued in exchange for the Converge Shares (including the Converge Shares issued to holders of the Converge Subscription Receipts). Amalco will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Resulting Issuer and known as "Converge Technology Partners Inc." and the Resulting Issuer will carry on Converge's business. The closing of the Qualifying Transaction is conditional upon, among other things, receipt of conditional approval for the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares on the TSXV or the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Proposed Management and Board of Directors and Insiders of the Resulting Issuer

The board of directors of the Resulting Issuer will be comprised of four directors. Subject to approval of the TSXV, it is planned that the directors and executive officers of the Resulting Issuer will include the following:

Shaun Maine - Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Maine is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Converge. Prior to Converge, Mr. Maine was the Chief Operating Officer of Pivot Technology Solutions ("Pivot"), a U$1.5 billion revenue value-added reseller listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and was part of the founding group that acquired and integrated five value-added resellers. In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Maine ran ProSys Information Systems, Pivot's largest operating subsidiary, which grew to nearly $800 million in revenue. Mr. Maine was an early Java pioneer and has extensive experience in the software industry. Mr. Maine has an Electrical Engineering degree and a Computer Science degree from Queen's University.

Gordon McMillan - Proposed Director (Proposed Chairman of the Board of Directors)

Mr. McMillan has been an entrepreneur in the Canadian financial services industry since 1994. He was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Triax Capital Corporation and Skylon Capital Corporation, both of which were sold to large industry consolidators. Mr. McMillan has served on the boards of numerous companies and publicly listed investment funds. Mr. McMillan was also a co-founder of Pivot and served on the Pivot board of directors from February 2013 until June 2016. Currently, Mr. McMillan serves as a director of Flow Capital Corp. and Quisitive Technology Solutions Inc., both of which are listed on the TSXV. Mr. McMillan holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and is a non-practicing member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Brian Philips - Proposed Director

Brian Phillips had a 30 year career in the Canadian financial services industry, the last 19 of which, until his retirement in 2011, as a partner at Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management ("PHN"), which was acquired by RBC in 2008. Prior to PHN he was a Vice President with various security dealers, including Pemberton Securities, until acquired by RBC Dominion Securities in 1989. Mr. Phillips holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business.

Mary Anne Palangio - Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Palangio, CPA, CA, CFA was the Chief Financial Officer of LOGiQ Asset Management Inc. until June 2018. Ms. Palangio served as the Chief Financial Officer at the Ontario Pension Plan Administration Corporation in 2016, where she was responsible for strategic financial planning and analysis, financial reporting, internal controls management, and related corporate service functions. In 2015 she served as Senior Vice-President of Global Head of Operations and Data Management for the Investment Division and prior to that Senior-Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Group Functions at Manulife Financial. Ms. Palangio holds Certified Public Accountant designation, Chartered Accountant designation since 1989 and Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1998. She is also a Chartered Professional Accountant. She received a BA in Commerce and Economics from the University of Toronto.

Don Cuthbertson - Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Cuthbertson is the Chief Operating Officer and EVP Blockchain at Converge. Prior to Converge, Don was Chief Data Officer at Pivot and led the diligence team on acquisitions and implementation of the 100 day plan. Formerly, Mr. Cuthbertson was Chief Executive Officer at IntelligentWorks, a custom software development company that was based in Ottawa. Mr. Cuthbertson has a degree in Chemical Engineering from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Cory Reid - Chief Information Officer

Mr. Reid is the Chief Information Officer at Converge. He has global responsibilities for delivering oversight and overall post acquisition integration of the acquired businesses. This integration includes communication, synergies, technology, sales operations and back office. The integration outcomes are critical to deliver overall stability, communication and growth to Converge.

Prior to joining Converge, Mr. Reid served for seven years as Chief Information Officer of Pivot and was the chairman of Pivot Europe. Mr. Reid has more than 25 years of experience in both the software and infrastructure sides of the technology sector as well as sales and warehouse operations. He has served in many large and small company leadership positions at Oracle, AT&T, and various startups. He has been engaged with many top European telephony firms, banking firms and hardware manufacturers over the course of his career. Mr. Reid holds a BSc Computer Science from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, now part of Dalhousie University.

Mr. Reid has spent a significant amount of time over the past decade delivering compliance for businesses, particularly focused around data and information security.

It is anticipated that, in addition to the directors listed above, an additional director will be appointed to the board of directors of the Resulting Issuer.

Arm's Length Qualifying Transaction

The Qualifying Transaction is an arm's length transaction as none of the directors, officers or insiders of Norwick own any interest in Converge.

Sponsorship and Trading

Norwick has applied to the TSXV for an exemption from or waiver of the sponsorship requirements in connection with the Qualifying Transaction. There is no assurance that such exemption or waiver will be granted. If such exemption or waiver is not granted, it will be necessary to engage a sponsor for the Qualifying Transaction. Trading of the common shares of Norwick will be halted at least until the reception, to the satisfaction of the TSXV and according to its applicable policies, of the documents necessary to resume trading. A further news release will be issued when the trading of the common shares of Norwick is to resume.

The closing of the Qualifying Transaction is expected to occur as soon as practicable after the receipt of all required shareholder and regulatory approvals and is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, acceptance and regulatory approval by the TSX Venture Exchange and shareholders of Converge approving, among other things, the Amalgamation. There can be no assurance that the Qualifying Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Norwick will provide further details in respect of the Qualifying Transaction in due course by way of press release. All information contained in this press release with respect to Converge and Norwick was supplied by the parties respectively, for inclusion herein, without independent review by the other party, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Filing Statement prepared in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Qualifying Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative. The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

For further information:

Richard A. Graham

President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Financial Officer

Norwick Capital Corp.

(604) 689-1428

Shaun Maine

Chief Executive Officer

Converge Technology Partners Inc.

(416) 360-1495

Non-IFRS Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as defined above, are measures that are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS measures by providing further understanding of Converge's results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, they should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of Converge's financial information reported under IFRS. Converge uses non-IFRS measures to provide investors with supplemental measures of its operating performance and thus highlight trends in its core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures. Converge also believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers. Converge's management also uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, prepare annual operating budgets and assess Converge's ability to meet its future debt service, capital expenditure and working capital requirements. Management uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of Converge's performance.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation regarding Norwick, Converge, and their respective businesses. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this press release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected" "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts". "estimates", "believes" or intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could, "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this press release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the completion of the Qualifying Transaction; the business of Converge; the Consolidation; shareholder, director and regulatory approvals; and future press releases and disclosure. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and the delay or failure to receive shareholder, director or regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, Norwick and Converge assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance and if applicable pursuant to TSXV Exchange requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, unless an exemption from such registration is available.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATESPALM BEACH, Florida, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The cannabidiol (CBD)-Hemp market is estimated to grow by 700% by 2020, according to Forbes. In a recent report issued by New Frontier Data, the U.S. CBD industry grew by nearly 40% in 2017, reaching $367 Million in sales across hemp-derived and marijuana-derived markets. Astonishingly, this is first year in which sales of hemp-derived CBD products outpaced marijuana-derived products. The report also clarifies that surging demand is projected to lift both of the markets higher. Currently the current year is being view as a break-out year for CBD products, as total market expansion is expected to cross the USD 500 Million mark in sales. The CBD industry will grow to $1.2 Billion by 2020, and nearly $2 Billion by 2022. Active companies in the Cannabis markets this week include Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTC: NUGS), Sugarmade Inc. (OTC: SGMD), Smart Cannabis Corp. (OTC: SCNA), Hemp, Inc. (OTC: HEMP), The Supreme Cannabis Company Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE) (OTC: SPRWF).



Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTCPK: NUGS) BREAKING NEWS: Cannabis Strategic Ventures announces a major common share restructuring. A total of 75.6 million shares cancelled, including 20 million from Chief Executive Officer, Simon Yu. The share cancellations are designed to increase shareholder value for all shareholders and will allow Company managers, consultants, minority shareholders, and other key Cannabis Strategic Ventures stakeholders to increase corporate flexibility relative to future brand-oriented strategic acquisitions and partnerships.



"The share cancellations increase value for all shareholders and signals to minority shareholders on the management team's interest in building long-term value for all," commented Mr. Simon Yu, CEO, Cannabis Strategic Ventures. Yu is cancelling 20 million shares of his personal holdings. Additionally, Cannabis Strategic Ventures consultants and associates are canceling an additional 55.6 million shares. In total, approximately 25% of the total shares are being cancelled via this action.



The Company recently announced major partnerships with, Fitamins and Asher House Pet CBD, both premium brands in the multi-million dollar CBD products market. Through the acquisitions, the Company gained access to Fitamins' network of more than 600 wholesalers that distribute products to the Asian-American market; while The Asher House Pet CBD is gaining national attention for their cross-country road show promoting Pet Adoption and Pet CBD.



Kyu Kim

Jimmy Chan

Illinois

Bruce Rauner

Illinois'

Illinois

Wisconsin

Kentucky

Indiana

Missouri

Tennessee

Illinois'

$100 million

Oct. 17, 2018

Nova Scotia

Ontario

British Columbia

Alberta

Manitoba

twenty five hundred dollars

Mr. Yu continued, "The future of Cannabis Strategic Ventures is all about acquiring and partnering with the best brands in the fast-growing cannabis marketplace. The streamlined share structure will continue to make our Company an attractive partner as we work toward signing other similar brands and distribution partnerships."(OTCPK: SCNA) has begun installation of greenhouse equipment at a property permitted to grow cannabis in Yolo County. The contract with CompassLeaf LLC is being fulfilled by SCNA subsidiary, Next Generation Farming, and the deposit has been received. The project involves installation and retrofitting of eight, 30'x96' (23,040 sq.ft.) pre-existing greenhouse frames and fully equipping them with an entire suite of equipment necessary for a successful cannabis cultivation site. "We were dissatisfied with the bare greenhouse structures installed by another company and their slow construction progress so we reached out to Next Generation Farming. They immediately responded with solutions to help us get our facilities up and running. Within three weeks, we've experienced a dramatic transformation in the structures, complemented by professionalism and a high level of expertise throughout the process. We are thrilled that we can finally accelerate and improve this project with Next Generation's help," stated, Co-Founder and CFO of CompassLeaf LLC.(OTCPK: SGMD), one of the largest publicly traded hydroponics supply companies, yesterday announced the filing of a disclosure statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission concerning possible acquisitions by the Company. Sugarmade has begun formal acquisition negotiations with two companies that provide online and retail hydroponic and other agricultural cultivation supplies. Mr., CEO of Sugarmade, commented, "The hydroponic supply sector is still highly fragmented with many of the larger players not likely to reach public company liquidity events for the original entrepreneurial teams. We have entered into talks with at least two of these companies for acquisition, which we believe will be highly accretive for common Sugarmade shareholders and additive to our already robust top line growth rate. We wanted to publicly disclose these discussions to ensure that all shareholders have equal access to our direction, thus our recent public filing."(OTCPK: HEMP), a global leader in the industrial hemp industry with the largest multipurpose industrial hemp processing facility in the western hemisphere, announced yesterday the company applaudsGovernorfor signingIndustrial Hemp Act on Saturday, legalizing hemp ineffective immediately. "Legalizing the farming of industrial hemp just makes good sense," Rauner said in a statement. "Roughly 38 states - including our neighbors in, and- have allowed or are considering allowing cultivation of this crop for commercial, research or pilot programs. Our farmers should have this option as well."Industrial Hemp Act goes into effect immediately, and according to the governor's office, allows for its use in paper, fabric, biodegradable plastics, construction materials, and health food. The Illinois Department of Agriculture will issue licenses to farmers who want to grow hemp and regulators will establish rules for THC-level testing of industrial hemp crops. The bill passed the state House of Representatives by a 106-3 vote, and the Senate passed it unanimously. Advocates of legalization say Rauner will create hundreds of jobs and up toin annual state revenue.(TSX-V: FIRE) (OTCPK: SPRWF) wholly owned subsidiary, 7ACRES, has entered into supply agreements with the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. (NSLC) and the PEI Cannabis Management Corp. (PEICMC) to supply recreational cannabis to their respective retail stores beginningand PEI become Supreme Cannabis's fifth and sixth provincial recreational partners alongsideand. Supreme Cannabis joins a select group of leading cannabis companies that have secured supply agreements with five or more provinces to date, including: Canopy Growth, Aphria, Aurora, Tilray and Organigram.DISCLAIMER: MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. MNU and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. MNU's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed MNU has been compensatedfor news coverage of the current press releases issued by Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc by a non-affiliated third party. MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MNU undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Media Contact:

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LONDON, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Atradius Credito y Caucion S.A. de Seguros y Reaseguros, Europe's leading Credit Insurance Company has been awarded the 'Best Credit Insurance Brand' in Europe in the Global Brands Magazine Awards.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/709695/Global_Brands_Magazine_Logo.jpg )



The annual Global Brands Magazine awards celebrate the best-in-class brands, and Atradius Credito y Caucion S.A. de Seguros y Reaseguros was honoured for its accomplishments and branding in the Credit insurance domain. The award aims to identify, create awareness about the significance of exceptional service delivery and reward their performance with the ultimate global recognition.

The judging criteria behind the Global Brands Awards are competitive. Over 7000 companies are evaluated on a host of parameters, including performance, innovation, marketing activities, customer experience and branding activities. The data is assessed and analysed by a robust research team in partnership with an external judging panel from around the region.

Commenting on winning the award, Andreas Tesch, Chief Marketing Officer, Atradius Credito y Caucion S.A. de Seguros y Reaseguros said, "For Atradius, being a quality brand is all about delivering top quality service everywhere we do business. Atradius staff across the world have a desire to do their best for our customers. Whether through our digital tools or through personal interactions we build relationships and make a connection with customers to provide them with the service they need."

Jay Reddy, Head of Branding at Global Brands Magazine, said: "The panel was very impressed that, Atradius has taken huge strides in the Credit insurance field. Their invaluable contribution in geopolitical and economic research have added a great deal of value to their clients. This is a testament of their strong presence in the European market."

About Atradius Credito y Caucion S.A. de Seguros y Reaseguros

Atradius is a leading global credit insurance, collections and surety bonds company. With a presence in more than 50 countries across the world, the company can deliver on the ground service in most countries its customers are doing business. Through this operating network Atradius takes a 'close to customer' approach to deliver personal service to its customers around the world.

About Global Brands Awards:

Global Brands Awards was established with the aim of honouring excellence in performance and rewarding companies across different sectors. The awards honour companies who have performed extraordinarily well in the field of finance, education, hospitality, lifestyle, automobiles and technology. The awards are given to acknowledge key players who strive for distinction and reward their performance with the ultimate global recognition.

The last year's awards ceremony was held on the 6th April at the JW Marriott Marquis hotel in Dubai. Check out the latest video of the ceremony by visiting https://www.globalbrandsmagazine.com/global-brands-magazine-awards/

Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/globalbrandsmagazine or hashtag us on Twitter @globalbrandsmag globalbrandsmagLONDON, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Volume and Value Forecasts by Process (Hot Rolled, Cold Rolled, Direct Rolled, Tubes, Others), by Steel Type (Carbon Steel, Alloy Steel, Stainless Steel, Others), by End-User Industry (Automotive, Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Oil & Gas, Construction, Others) Plus Financial Analysis of Leading Companies and Leading National Market and Volume (Consumption and Production) Analysis

Visiongain's new 224-page report reveals that the world market for steel will reach $991 billion, while the production levels will record 1,714.3 million tonnes and global consumption 1,592.5 million tonnes in 2018.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523989/Visiongain_Logo.jpg )



The steel market has been declining over the past few years as a result of the large oversupply of steel that pressured prices downwards. The global recession that hit the commodities sector hard also contributed to the shrinking growth.

To discover more about the reasons for the market development, please purchase our extensive report.

Market scope: Our report analyses the global steel market for 6 key submarkets by application, 5 submarkets by process, 4 submarkets by steel type and 17 national markets plus the rest of the world. The analyses and forecasts are presented in both volume and value terms.

Steel MarketReport 2018-2028: Volume and Value Forecasts by Process (Hot Rolled, Cold Rolled, Direct Rolled, Tubes, Others), by Steel Type (Carbon Steel, Alloy Steel, Stainless Steel, Others), by End-User Industry (Automotive, Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Oil & Gas, Construction, Others) Plus Financial Analysis of Leading Companies and Leading National Market and Volume (Consumption and Production) Analysis report responds to your need for definitive market data:

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 Which steel type will thrive? See market value, consumption and production volume for the key steel types from 2018-2028

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 Which process of production will thrive? See market value and consumption volume for the key production process types from 2018-2028

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 What are the national steel market prospects from 2018-2028?

 See the production, consumption and value forecasts for 16 leading national markets plus the rest of the world market.

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 What are the factors influencing steel market dynamics?

 Research and development (R&D) strategy

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 Explore the political, economic, social and technological factors (PEST) affecting the industry and product advances.

 Who are the leading 10 steel companies?

 Understand the competitive landscape with profiles of 10 leading steel companies examining their positioning, projected revenues, capabilities, product portfolios, R&D activity, services, focus, strategies, M&A activity and market share.

 Ansteel Group

 ArcelorMittal

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 HBIS Group

 JFE Steel Corporation

 Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation

 POSCO

 Shagang Group

 Shougang Group

 Tata Steel Group

Buy our report today Steel Market Report 2018-2028: Volume and Value Forecasts by Process (Hot Rolled, Cold Rolled, Direct Rolled, Tubes, Others), by Steel Type (Carbon Steel, Alloy Steel, Stainless Steel, Others), by End-User Industry (Automotive, Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Oil & Gas, Construction, Others) Plus Financial Analysis of Leading Companies and Leading National Market and Volume (Consumption and Production) Analysis. Avoid missing out - order our report now.

To request a report overview of this report, please contact Sara Peerun at sara.peerun@visiongain.com or refer to our website: https://www.visiongain.com/report/steel-market-report-2018-2028/

Aisin Seiki

ALBA Group

Alderon

Ansteel Group

ArcelorMittal

Auto Alliance Thailand (Ford and Mazda)

Bao Viet (BVSC)

Bethlehem Steel

BMW Manufacturing

Bosch

Charoen Pokphand Group (CP)

China Baowu Group

China Green Fund and China Merchants Finance Holdings Co., Ltd.

Continental

Denso

Dow Chemical

Faurecia

Ford Motor Company

General Motors

Hanbo Steel

Hanwa Co., Ltd. (Hanwa)

HBIS Group

Hebei Iron & Steel Group

Hino Motors

Honda Automobile

Hyundai Steel

Isuzu Motors

JFE Shoji Trade Corporation (JFE Shoji)

JFE Steel Corporation

Johnson Controls

Kangwon Industries

Kia Special Steel

Lear

LTV Steel

Magna International

Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. (MISI)

Meranti Steel Pte. Ltd. (Meranti)

Mercedes-Benz Thailand

Mitsubishi Motors

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC)

Nissan Motors

Ovako Group

POSCO

SAIC Motor Corp

Sami Special Steel

Shagang Group

Shandong State-owned Assets Investment Holding Co., Ltd.

Shougang Group

Suzuki Motor

Tata Motors

Tata Steel Group

Teijin Ltd.

ThyssenKrupp

Toyota Motors

Triton

Volvo Car Thailand

Yazaki

ZF Friedrichshafen

To see a report overview, please e-mail Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongain.comVernalis Research, a Ligand Company, announced today that it has earned multiple success milestones under its drug discovery collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (Daiichi Sankyo) that began in December of 2017.

The research utilizes Vernalis' fragment and structure-based drug discovery platform for two undisclosed oncology targets. Additionally, a final success payment has been earned for one target and the research collaboration continues for the second target. The financial terms of the collaboration are not disclosed.

Mike Wood, Ph.D. Research Director of Vernalis Research, commented, "We are delighted with the success we have achieved in our close collaboration with the scientists at Daiichi Sankyo. This is another excellent endorsement of our world-leading fragment and structure-based drug discovery platform and we look forward to the potential for continued success in our collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo."

About Vernalis Research, a Ligand Company

Vernalis Research has significant expertise in fragment and structure-based drug discovery. This expertise is used in collaborations that include projects to generate lead and candidate molecules against molecular targets across all therapeutic areas as well as establishing drug discovery and initial validation of novel targets. In addition, the Company has eight programmes in its new chemical entity development pipeline. The Company's technologies, capabilities and products have been used over the past five years in collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies, including Genentech, Lundbeck, Servier, Asahi Kasei Pharma and other Japanese companies as well as collaborations with academic and target discovery companies from around the world. Vernalis Research is an indirect and wholly-owned subsidiary of Ligand Holdings UK, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND)

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing or acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies discover and develop medicines. Our business model creates value for stockholders by providing a diversified portfolio of biotech and pharmaceutical product revenue streams that are supported by an efficient and low corporate cost structure. Our goal is to offer investors an opportunity to participate in the promise of the biotech industry in a profitable, diversified and lower-risk business than a typical biotech company. Our business model is based on doing what we do best: drug discovery, early-stage drug development, product reformulation and partnering. We partner with other pharmaceutical companies to leverage what they do best (late-stage development, regulatory affairs and commercialization) to ultimately generate our revenue.

Ligand's Captisol platform technology is a patent-protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. OmniAb is a patent-protected transgenic animal platform used in the discovery of fully human mono- and bispecific therapeutic antibodies. Ligand has established multiple alliances, licenses and other business relationships with the world's leading pharmaceutical companies including Novartis, Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Celgene, Gilead, Janssen, Baxter International and Eli Lilly. For more information, please visit www.ligand.com.

Follow Ligand on Twitter @Ligand_LGND.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements by Ligand that involve risks and uncertainties and reflect Ligand's judgment as of the date of this release. Words such as "plans," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," and "will," and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding: the potential for continued success in the collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo. Actual events or results may differ from Ligand's expectations due to risks and uncertainties inherent in Ligand's business, including, without limitation: Ligand may not receive expected revenue from achieved and/or earned milestones and even if received any such milestone payments may not be significant or material to Ligand. The failure to meet expectations with respect to any of the foregoing matters may reduce Ligand's stock price. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors affecting Ligand can be found in prior press releases available at www.ligand.com as well as in Ligand's public periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission available at www.sec.gov. Ligand disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release, including the possibility of additional license fees and milestone revenues we may receive. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Other Disclaimers and Trademarks

Ligand owns or has rights to trademarks and copyrights that it uses in connection with the operation of its business including its corporate name, logos and websites. Other trademarks and copyrights appearing in this press release are the property of their respective owners. The trademarks Ligand owns include Ligand, Captisol and OmniAb. Solely for convenience, some of the trademarks and copyrights referred to in this press release are listed without the  and symbols, but Ligand will assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to its trademarks and copyrights.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181113005309/en/

Contacts:

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

Todd Pettingill

Email: investors@ligand.com

Phone: (858) 550-7893

Twitter: @Ligand_LGND

or

LHA Investor Relations

Bruce Voss

Email: bvoss@lhai.com

Phone: (310) 691-7100Financing Round Led by Danone Manifesto Ventures and VisVires New Protein Capital

Mitte, the first of its kind smart home water system, today announced that it has secured USD 10.6 million in financing. The financing round was led by Danone Manifesto Ventures, the New York-based venture arm of Danone, VisVires New Protein Capital, and Karcher New Venture.

Moritz Waldstein, founder and CEO of Mitte states, "Mitte is on a mission to improve lives with healthy water produced in an environmentally friendly system. We aim to offer consumers clean and healthy water. For Mitte, healthy water means two things; free of contaminants and full of minerals that are known to be essential for humans. We are thrilled to be supported by forward-looking partners like Danone Manifesto Ventures and VisVires New Protein Capital that understand our mission. We believe this partnership will position us to execute on our expansion plan as we benefit from our partners' significant food and beverage expertise. We are confident that Mitte's positive impact will affect every aspect of the way people consume water, the environment and make an impact on the hydration industry as a whole."

Plain tap water quality is a growing concern around the world. Mitte, a Berlin-based startup, was founded in June of 2016 with the goal of providing solutions to plain tap water quality and promoting sustainability by offering an alternative to bottled water through its smart home water system that purifies and enhances water through a process inspired by the natural water cycle. Mitte works by purifying water with a proprietary distillation-based method, and enhancing the water with essential minerals.

Mitte's mineral cartridges are designed to replicate the mineralization process of natural and pure water flows, while allowing consumers the option to choose a tailored hydration experience. Mitte allows users to personalize their daily drinking water with different mineral cartridges containing varying levels of natural minerals.

"Mitte is a compelling business that is differentiated from other at-home water purification products with its ability to create personalized purified waters enriched with minerals, as well as with its smart technology and IoT connectivity," said Laurent Marcel, Managing Director of Danone Manifesto Ventures.

"We believe that Mitte has significant potential and represents a strong strategic fit for Danone Manifesto Ventures, advancing our goal of promoting health through hydration. We look forward to supporting Mitte's ambition to provide consumers with the opportunity to choose their preferred mineralization levels and taste profile," commented Jean-Francois Hurel, Head of Investment of Danone Manifesto Ventures.

"Mitte has developed a unique product with the potential for significant growth and positive societal impact," said Matthieu Vermersch, Founder and Partner of VisVires New Protein Capital. "Mitte not only offers a transformational solution with the provision of high-quality healthy water but also a highly sustainable alternative to the burgeoning issue of plastic pollution, a phenomenon faced globally but notably in Asia where concerns over safe drinking water have been traditionally addressed via the purchase and consumption of bottled water."

The financing round will support Mitte's expansion plan including in the U.S., where it ran a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2017 that was overfunded by 360%. Mitte remains committed to its partnership with its communities and to building smarter and sustainable solutions to healthy drinking water.

About Mitte (www.mitte.co

Mitte is on a mission to improve lives with healthy water. With early backing by Atlantic Food Labs, Mitte is revolutionizing the way we drink water at home with the first of its kind smart water system that enhances water through a process inspired by the natural water cycle. The system brings not just safe, but healthy water to everyone, the way nature intended it to be.

Mitte's sustainable design supports its commitment to improving lives. Mitte knows a better you also means a better world, that's why we are dedicated to improving environmental impact by reducing plastic bottle waste.

About Danone Manifesto Ventures (www.danoneventures.com

Danone Manifesto Ventures is the venture arm of Danone, bringing the Danone Manifesto to life by partnering with a tribe of disruptive entrepreneurs and innovative food and beverages companies that share its vision of a healthy and sustainable future. Through this unit, Danone makes investments and provides financial and operational support to its portfolio companies through access to its experienced teams around the world, while preserving the autonomy required to grow their entrepreneurial project. Since its inception mid-2016, Danone Manifesto Ventures has made several investments including Michel et Augustin in France, as well as Farmer's Fridge and Harmless Harvest in the United States, among others.

About VisVires New Protein (http://visviresnewprotein.com

Based in Singapore, VisVires New Protein (VVNP) is the first Venture Fund in Asia that focuses exclusively on finding disruptive solutions for our global food and feed systems. VVNP employs a disciplined investment approach built on identifying existing global problems within the value-chain through active engagements with a strong network of academia and industry experts. Unrestricted by geographical boundaries, VVNP strives to uncover game-changing solutions and technologies that can be applied globally, especially to Asia. Since its inception, VVNP has made several investments including, among others, Ynsect from France and Nuritas from Ireland.

About Karcher New Venture (www.kaercher.com/newventure

Karcher New Venture is the Corporate Venture Capital Unit of Alfred Karcher SE Co. KG, the world's leading provider of cleaning technology for commercial and private customers with a focus on digital technology. The mission of Karcher New Venture is to connect ideas, people, business and capital with the intention to create the cleaning solutions for the future. In 2017, the Karcher group achieved, with its operations in 67 countries, the highest turnover of its history (EUR 2.5 billion).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005399/en/

Contacts:

Media

Mitte

Natalie Blacker, +1 213-457-3522 (M)

+49 (0) 30 80493271 (O)

natalie@mitte.coKirkland Lake, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - RJK Explorations Ltd. (TSXV: RJX.A) ("RJK" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed its acquisition of the Moosehead Gold District Project (the "MGD Project" or "Property") located in Newfoundland, Canada. The MGD Project is located within a northeast-trending belt of Silurian volcanic, volcaniclastic and sediment rocks. The project has considerable coverage of the large regional fault structure located in the area. The MGD Project consists of 208 claim units representing exclusive exploration rights to approximately 12,896 acres (5,200 ha). Please see the Company's press release dated August 7, 2018 for more information respecting the Property.

The Property is owned by a private company ("Privco"), the shareholders of which are all at arm's length to RJK. RJK acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Privco through the issuance of an aggregate of 9,660,000 Class A Common shares of the Company to the Privco shareholders and the payment of $100,000 to the Privco shareholders. The Company also granted a 2% gross royalty on the Property. The acquisition was completed by way of a three-cornered amalgamation. No finder's fees were payable with respect to the acquisition.

The Company also announces that it has granted an aggregate of 1,000,000 stock options under the Company's Stock Option Plan to Directors, Employees and Consultants of the Company, with each option having an exercise price of $0.20 for a period of five years from the date of grant, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

Contact Information

Glenn Kasner, President

Telephone: (705) 567-5351

Mobile: (705) 568-7567

info@rjkexplorations.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements, which may include, but are not limited to, statements concerning future mineral exploration and property option payments. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions "will", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "propose" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this news release. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in this news release include, but are not limited to, the financial resources of the Corporation being inadequate to carry out its stated plans. RJK assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - FluroTech Ltd. (TSXV: TEST), ("FluroTech" or the "Company"), applauds the steps Canada is taking to address issues of impaired driving while under the influence of drugs. The Company believes it's important that law enforcement has adequate tools in place to help accurately and efficiently determine drug concentrations in saliva, such as THC, cocaine and methamphetamines, which can be used as an indicator of impairment.

FluroTech is accelerating the development of its roadside testing device, which utilizes its validated proprietary spectroscopy-based technology. The roadside testing device is expected to meet all the Canadian government requirements and address many of the issues that exist in the current roadside testing devices for drugs on the market.

The development goals of FluroTech's roadside testing device for drugs will include:

Accurate testing in a wide range of ambient temperatures

Effectively suppressing background substrates

Very limited wait time before commencing the testing process

Saliva swabs complete in under two minutes

Entire test complete in under 10 minutes

Ease of training law enforcement and ease of use in the field

"Based upon the other successful tests designed for cannabis, the Company believes its device test results will have a high level of accuracy and reliability," commented Dr. Elmar Prenner, Chief Technology Officer with FluroTech. "Our development team is benefiting from the feedback from government officials and law enforcement who have detailed the issues with the devices they have tested."

The Company anticipates submitting the application responding to current requests for submissions of testing devices for consideration to the Drugs and Driving Committee of Canada in the fall of 2018.

About FluroTech (TSXV: TEST)

FluroTech is a technology and marketing company whose core business is focused on the commercialization of new technologies in the cannabis industry. FluroTech's proprietary spectroscopy-based technology allows for the testing and identification of organic and inorganic compounds contained within biological samples. Using the technology that was developed at the University of Calgary in conjunction with the University of Alberta, FluroTech has developed a two-part solution comprising an instrument called the CompleTest and consumable testing kits.

To learn more, visit www.FluroTech.com and watch our video.

Contact Information

FluroTech Ltd.

Alistair Ross Technology Centre

Suite 111, 3553-31 Street NW

Calgary, AB T2L 2K7

info@flurotech.com

Danny Dalla-Longa

Chief Executive Officer

403.680.0644

danny@flurotech.com

Prit Singh

IR - Thesis Capital Inc.

905.510.7636

psingh@thesiscapital.ca





Figure 1: FluroTech Logo



Cannot view this image? Visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5928/38345_flurotech_logo.jpg

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to information about an issuer's business, capital, or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuer's prospective financial performance or financial position. The forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosure about the future performance of the Company.

The Company made certain material assumptions, including but not limited to prevailing market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties to develop the forward-looking information in this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, adverse market conditions and regulatory and other risks associated with the medical cannabis industry in general. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material risk factors and assumptions is not exhaustive.

The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this news release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATESHamel to provide blueprint for creating organizations that are fully human and free from shackles of bureaucracy

Globoforce, a leading provider of human applications, today announced business thinker and innovation guru Gary Hamel as a keynote speaker for its WorkHuman 2019 conference, March 18-21, in Nashville, Tenn.

The annual WorkHuman conference, pioneered by Globoforce, is dedicated to helping educate, energize, and engage business and HR leaders to build a more human-focused work culture. The event has grown 500 percent in size since the inaugural event in 2015 and has featured some of the world's most influential thought leaders and visionaries, including former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke, international human rights attorney Amal Clooney, journalist and lawyer Ronan Farrow, actors Salma Hayek Pinault, Ashley Judd, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rob Lowe, and Michael J. Fox, and best-selling authors Susan Cain, Arianna Huffington, Shawn Achor, Adam Grant, Simon Sinek, and Brene Brown.

WorkHuman 2019 speakers will share expertise and primary research on HR topics such as continuous performance development, social recognition, positive psychology, leadership, pay equity, workplace harassment, the employee experience, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and building a great culture and workplace.

Hamel's forthcoming book, "Humanocracy," provides a blueprint for creating organizations that are fully human. His talk at WorkHuman will build upon key business and management themes he discussed at WorkHuman 2016 and leave attendees with the tools they need to free their organizations from the shackles of bureaucracy.

"Gary is one of the world's most influential and iconoclastic business thinkers and his pioneering vision to rid organizations of toxic bureaucratic beliefs aligns with what is at the core of WorkHuman," said Derek Irvine, executive vice president of strategy and consulting services, Globoforce. "We welcome Gary back to WorkHuman and look forward to him sharing his expertise on how to build an organization that's fit for the future by building one that's truly fit for human beings."

Hamel has worked with leading companies across the globe and is a dynamic and sought-after management speaker. Hamel has been on the faculty of the London Business School for more than 30 years and is the director of the Management Innovation eXchange. Hamel has written 17 articles for Harvard Business Review and is the most reprinted author in the publication's history. His most recent best-sellers are "The Future of Management" and"What Matters Now." Fortune magazine describes Hamel as "the world's leading expert on business strategy," and the Financial Times calls him a "management innovator without peer." Hamel has been ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the world's most influential business thinker and is a fellow of the Strategic Management Society and of the World Economic Forum.

"It's no secret that our organizations are failing us as human beings," said Hamel. "My new book and presentation at WorkHuman 2019 will help company leaders identify and overcome bureaucratic structures that are hindering employees' enthusiasm and growth. By creating an organization where everyone thinks like an owner, game-changing innovation will quickly become the rule rather than the exception."

About Globoforce

Pioneer of the WorkHuman movement, Globoforce makes work more human for millions of people and organizations worldwide. Today, Globoforce is the leading provider of human applications, including its award-winning Social Recognition solution. Through its WorkHuman Cloud suite of products, companies can strengthen employee performance and the connection between people and teams on a more positive, emotional level - in tune with how work gets done today. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., and Dublin, Ireland.

To learn more:

Visit: http://www.globoforce.com

Read: http://globoforce.com/globoblog

Follow: Twitter @Globoforce LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/globoforce Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/globoforce



View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005126/en/

Contacts:

Globoforce

Shweta Agarwal, 508-229-1541

Senior Manager, Public Relations

Shweta.Agarwal@globoforce.comVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - Sixty North Gold Mining Ltd. (CSE: SXTY) (FSE: 2F4) (OTCQB: SXNTF) (the "Company" or "Sixty North Gold") is pleased to announce that it has received assay results from 282 rock samples collected across its Mon Property, Yellowknife Gold Belt, NWT, Canada. The two established gold trends have been further defined from this work. In addition, 155 biogeochemical samples have been collected and analyzed. Further results are pending.

West Mafic Trend

One hundred and two rock grab and chip samples were collected from the West Mafic Trend (WMT). The highest assay of 52.4 gpt gold (fire assay 30gm gravimetric finish) with the average grade of 2.67 gpt is within the 3,300m long trend across the property. Twenty-two of the samples include continuous chip samples where exposures would permit. The historic WXY Zone within the WMT returned 7.22 gpt gold over 6.0 m in Trench #4 with only minor quartz observed. Trench #5 located 30m on strike from trench #4 returned 2.18 gpt gold over 5.4m. Exposure limits further sampling in this area. All mineralization is structurally controlled, occurring in discrete schistose domains +/- quartz, cross-cutting mafic to intermediate volcanic rocks intruded by gabbro. Readers are cautioned that grab samples are by their nature selective and are not necessarily indicative of the general geology of the property.

Forty-seven samples focused on a 450m-long, well-mineralized portion of the WMT 1,800m south of the WXY Zone. Grab samples of rocks hosting structurally controlled quartz and sulfide-rich schist zones up to 70 m wide (50% schists) contain the high value of 52.4 gpt and an average of 4.64 gpt gold.

In addition, a 1,500m-long splay of the WMT was tested by 39 rock grab and chip sampling contained a high assay of 45.5 gpt gold (fire assay 30gm gravimetric finish) (58.32 gpt gold by ICP) and an average grade of 2.12 gpt gold. The highest values occur proximal to a 57m wide zone of structurally controlled quartz veins cross-cutting intermediate to felsic volcanic rocks tested by a 7m long historic trench.

East Mafic Trend

The East Mafic Trend (EMT) can be traced for 3,700m across the property, includes the past-producing A-Zone and has been tested in another location by another five samples. These average 11.96 gpt gold with a high value of 37.5 gpt (fire assay 30gm gravimetric finish).

All rock grab and chip samples were collected by hand and were located by hand-held GPS, bagged and tagged with certified blanks and standards inserted at 1 in 7 to 1 in 10 intervals, sealed, delivered to Bureau Veritas Laboratories in Yellowknife and processed at their ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015 certified laboratory in Vancouver. Bureau Veritas is independent of the Company. All samples were crushed and pulverized using PRP 70-250, analyzed for 53 elements by ICP-MS using AQ251 and fire assay gold FAA 330 with all over limit golds analyzed using fire assay gold FAA 550. The laboratory also runs duplicate and repeat analyses of every 15th to 25th sample, as well as internal blanks and standards which are reported to the Company.

Biogeochemical Sampling

The first spruce bark (SB) sample program on the Mon Property has confirmed and extended the known trends and identified additional target areas as shown on the attached map.

The EMT can be shown to host the only five biogeochemical samples with anomalous gold values (out of 155 samples), including the most anomalous sample, which is coincident with the high-grade past producing A-Zone. Materially, this defines and extends the favourable trend for over 1,800m towards the high-grade gold values sampled rocks in the EMT. It is significant that there is no bedrock exposure except at the A-Zone and at the south-end of the anomaly. Follow-up work is recommended. There is an extensive (3,700m long) biogeochemical anomaly dominated by copper, zinc, and silver with minor antimony and mercury that broadly coincides with the top of a thick, felsic tuff in contact with metasedimentary rocks. This is consistent with what would be expected within a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) environment. There is a well-defined western biogeochemical anomaly dominated by mercury and antimony with minor copper arsenic and silver. Some gold showings with values up to 4.49 gpt occur in quartz with chalcopyrite and malachite cross-cutting mafic volcanic rocks. Follow-up work is recommended.

Ronald Handford, CEO of Sixty North Gold, reports, "The follow-up rock sampling has identified areas that should be examined in more detail. The WMT sampling demonstrates both size and grade potential in rocks similar to those that host the gold deposits in Yellowknife (past production: 14 million ounces of gold). Additional sample results are pending, but the Company will immediately follow-up these exceptional results with a trenching program to collect representative samples across a number of these prospective zones."

"The biogeochemical program identified portions of the EMT where spruce trees have similar biogeochemical characteristics as those at the past-producing A-Zone. This extends the prospective A-Zone horizon for over 1,800m through areas that have very limited or no bedrock exposure. Follow-up work on this anomaly will be conducted."

"The VMS horizon will be examined in more detail in the future. The Sunrise Lake VMS deposit located 130km east-northeast of Yellowknife, owned by Silver Standard Resources Inc. reported a Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.5 million tonnes of Indicated Mineral Resource grading 2.39% lead, 5.99% zinc, 0.08% copper, 262 gpt silver and 0.67 gpt gold and 2.6 million tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resource grading 1.92% lead, 4.42% zinc, 0.07% copper, 169 gpt silver and 0.51 gpt gold (Roscoe, W.E., and Wallis, C.S., 2003), open for expansion. The VMS horizon is a viable target on the Mon Property."

Readers are cautioned that mineralization hosted on the Sunrise Lake VMS deposit is not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the Mon Property.

Mr. Handford further reports, "Crews have been on the property since June assessing all historic showings and identifying new zones. Additional sample results are being received and will be released upon completion and confirmation by our QP."

Dr. D.R. Webb, Ph.D., P.Geol., P.Eng. is the Qualified Person for this release within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed the technical content of this release and has approved its content.

About the Company

The Company is engaged in acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties. Its principal target is the exploration for gold on the Mon Gold Property, 40km north of Yellowknife, NWT. The Mon Gold Property consists of 11 contiguous mining leases and 3 mineral claims, comprising an aggregate 1,536.92 acres, located in the South MacKenzie Mining District, NWT. For more information, please refer to the Company's Prospectus dated January 19, 2018 available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), under the Company's profile.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Ronald Handford"

Ronald Handford

Chief Executive Officer and Director

For further information, please contact:

Ronald Handford, CEO 604-230-4263

Email: rhandford@sixtynorthgold.com

Website: www.sixtynorthgold.com

Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward looking statements". Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including risks inherent in mineral exploration and development, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any projected future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Further details about the risks applicable to the Company are contained in the Company's Prospectus dated January 19, 2018, available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), under the Company's profile.

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT APPROVED NOR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.





Figure 1: Location of rock samples with gold values on Mon Property



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5873/38314_a1535417503010_91.jpg





Figure 2: Standardized geochemistry of selected elements in spruce bark samples collected across the Mon Property, Yellowknife Gold Belt, NWT, Canada



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5873/38314_a1535417503948_40.jpgMORRISVILLE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2018 / Issuer Direct Corporation (NYSE American: ISDR) (the "Company" or "Issuer Direct"), an industry-leading communications and compliance company, is proud to announce its sponsorship at the Sidoti & Company Fall 2018 Conference at the New York City Grand Hyatt on Thursday, September 27, 2018.

The company's ACCESSWIRE brand will provide complimentary press releases to all presenting companies announcing their participation in the event. In addition, presenting companies will have access to our industry-leading webcasting technology to reach qualified investors.

Issuer Direct's webcast platform is uniquely customized for earnings events, corporate announcements, and investor conferences. With Platform id. , companies can add slides, supplemental investor kits, fact sheets, and presentations to the webcast platform that will assist in reaching qualified investors. Additionally, the platform now delivers actionable analytics after the webcast event.

ACCESSWIRE (an Issuer Direct brand) is a premier global news and communications platform that helps companies communicate with targeted stakeholders and key financial markets globally. ACCESSWIRE is also the leading press release organization for the investor conference circuit, sponsoring more than a dozen annual or event-based conferences.

As a sponsor of the Sidoti & Company Fall 2018 Conference, Issuer Direct will have a booth to present its platform and to demonstrate its capabilities.

For more information about the conference, please contact your Sidoti & Company representative or e-mail conference@sidoti.com.

About Sidoti & Company, LLC

Sidoti & Company, LLC is Wall Street's preeminent provider of equity research generally focused on companies with market capitalizations of under $3 billion. We cover about 225 companies across a range of industries. The companies covered by our traditional research typically have a history of profitability, maintain strong balance sheets, and tend to have limited, if any, coverage by other Wall Street firms. We also offer a company-sponsored research program, with many of the covered companies sharing these same attributes.

Our approach affords institutional investor clients a combination of high-quality research, a small- and micro-cap company focused nationwide sales effort, broad access to corporate management teams, and extensive trading support. We serve nearly 500 institutional clients in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., including many leading managers of portfolios with $200 million to $2 billion of assets. We believe that these asset managers are generally underserved by other larger brokerage firms that typically target larger managers.

About Issuer Direct Corporation

Issuer Direct is an industry-leading communications and compliance company focusing on the needs of corporate issuers. Issuer Direct's principal platform, Platform id., empowers users by thoughtfully integrating the most relevant tools, technologies, and services, thus eliminating the complexity associated with producing and distributing financial and business communications. Headquartered in RTP, NC, Issuer Direct serves more than 2,500 public and private companies in more than 18 countries. For more information, please visit www.issuerdirect.com.

Contact:

Brian R. Balbirnie

Issuer Direct Corporation

919-481-4000

brian.balbirnie@issuerdirect.com

Brett Maas

Hayden IR

(646) 536-7331

brett@haydenir.com

James Carbonara

Hayden IR

(646)-755-7412

james@haydenir.com

SOURCE: Issuer Direct CorporationNew Hands-On Learning Experiences Launched to Deepen Technology Skill Development

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, Aug. 29, 2018unveiled Role IQ , an efficient and clear way to determine a technology professional's expertise level. Role IQ gives CIOs and CTOs the ability to replace manual benchmarking and outdated staffing strategies with science-driven assessments and real-time analytics that help ensure technology professionals are well-positioned to deliver on business objectives.



Role IQ, powered by Pluralsight's machine learning algorithms Iris , builds upon the success of Skill IQ , which has benchmarked more than 1 million technology skills worldwide. While Skill IQ measures an individual's proficiency in a specific software technology (e.g. Angular) in as little as five minutes and 20 questions, Role IQ measures a collection of skills an individual needs to be successful in her role. An Angular web developer, for example, can now quantify her expertise-with Role IQ-by measuring her knowledge of Angular, JavaScript, CSS, Typescript, Git, NPM, ES6, RxJS and HTML5. Based on the results of her skill assessments, she will receive a Role IQ that rates her proficiency level (Beginner, Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3) in this role relative to other Angular web developers and a customized learning path to help fill her skill gaps.

With more than 120 skill assessments available across a variety of technologies, CIOs and CTOs can determine the role proficiency of each person in their organization by designing custom roles or by leveraging the roles created by Pluralsight and its partners.

"Technology has the power to drive progress, and technology skills are desperately needed in every business today to unlock those possibilities," said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. "With the launch of Role IQ, we're expanding the capabilities of our platform and giving CIOs, CTOs and technology professionals what they've wanted for years: a way to accurately measure technology expertise in specific roles, as well as a clear path to continually develop that expertise."

The following Roles IQs were announced today:

Security Analyst

Server Administrator (Microsoft Windows Server)

BI / Data Analyst (Tableau)

Unity Game Developer

Angular Web Developer

React Web Developer

Vue Web Developer

ASP.NET Web Developer

Node Web Developer

Pluralsight also announced three Role IQs created with help from Microsoft specifically tailored for Microsoft Azure including:

Microsoft Azure Administrator

Microsoft Azure Solution Architect

Microsoft Azure Developer

"Microsoft Azure is constantly adding new functionality that requires new skills." said Jeff Sandquist, GM of Cloud and AI Developer Relations at Microsoft. "Through our collaboration with Pluralsight, Azure professionals will now have the ability to quickly and accurately measure their proficiency, stay current in their roles and become the best at what they do."

With plans to make Role IQs available for additional technology positions, Pluralsight will continue to create roles independently and in partnership with Microsoft, Google and other industry leaders.

At LIVE, Pluralsight also launched new hands-on learning experiences to help technology professionals learn and master critical skills. Pluralsight's interactive courses simulate a full development environment and prompts users with in-browser coding challenges to test their knowledge as they learn. Projects , designed to mimic real-world scenarios, allow users to test their skills in a local environment to validate for accuracy before applying those skills at work.

To learn about interactive courses and projects, visit www.pluralsight.com/hands-on-learning .

For more information or to get your Role IQ for free, visit www.pluralsight.com/role-iq .

About Pluralsight

Pluralsight is an enterprise technology learning platform that delivers a unified, end-to-end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation and efficiency. Founded in 2004 and trusted by Fortune 500 companies, Pluralsight provides members with on-demand access to a digital ecosystem of learning tools, including Pluralsight IQ, directed learning paths, expert-authored courses, interactive labs and live mentoring. For more information, visit pluralsight.com .

Media ContactsParis, Amsterdam, August 29, 2018

Press release

HALF-YEAR RESULTS 2018: SOLID PERFORMANCE FOR THE NEW GROUP

Recurring Earnings per Share (recurring EPS) of 6.61 and Adjusted Recurring Earnings per Share of 6.58

Recurring EPS grew by +7.3% to 6.61 from 6.16 in H1-2017

to from 6.16 in H1-2017 Net Rental Income (NRI) like-for-like growth in Shopping Centres in Continental Europe: +4.3%, + 300 bps above indexation

+ Cost of debt remains low at 1.5% , with an average debt maturity of 6.9 years

, with an average debt maturity of years Total proportional portfolio value, including Westfield, of 63.7 Bn , up + 0.6% on a like-for-like basis

, up on a like-for-like basis Net asset values per share: Going Concern NAV: 227.10 , up +3.6% EPRA NNNAV: 204.20 , up +1.8% EPRA NAV: 216.10 , up +2.4%



Development pipeline: 12.5 Bn following the Westfield acquisition

Westfield integration on track

H1-2018 H1-2017 Growth Like-for-like growth Net Rental Income (in  Mn) 861 794 +8.3% +4.7% Shopping Centres 738 670 +10.2% +4.3% France 321 303 +5.8% +5.3% Central Europe 104 84 +24.7% +6.6% Spain 82 80 +2.8% +1.4% Nordics 73 75 -2.5% +6.5% Austria 54 52 +3.7% +3.4% Germany 47 47 +0.4% 0.4% The Netherlands 30 29 +0.3% -1.6% United States 20 United Kingdom 7 Offices 73 70 +4.6% +14.4% Convention & Exhibition 50 55 -9.1% -1.8% Recurring net result (in  Mn) 703 614 +14.5% Recurring EPS (in ) 6.61 6.16 +7.3% Adjusted Recurring EPS (in ) 6.58 6.16 +6.8% June 30, 2018 Dec. 31, 2017 Growth Like-for-like growth Consolidated portfolio valuation (in  Mn) 61,302 43,057 +42.4% +0.6% Proportional portfolio valuation (in  Mn) 63,719 43,497 +46.5% +0.6% Going Concern Net Asset Value

(in  per share) 227.10 219.20 +3.6% EPRA Triple Net Asset Value

(in  per share) 204.20 200.50 +1.8% EPRA Net Asset Value

(in  per share) 216.10 211.00 +2.4%

Figures may not add up due to rounding

"We are proud to present today the first results of the new Group. June 7, 2018, marked the creation of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the premier global developer and operator of Flagship shopping destinations. Now, the hard work is underway to successfully integrate the new Group. In addition to the momentous amount of work done to close the acquisition of Westfield in record time, we delivered excellent recurring earnings per share growth of +7.3% in H1-2018. I would like to warmly thank the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield teams for this extraordinary achievement. Growth was driven by a strong like-for-like retail NRI(1) increase of +4.3%, an outstanding performance by our offices division, the deliveries in 2017, as well as the contribution from our US and UK assets during June. Since June 30, the Group has agreed to sell or executed the disposal of a total of 1.3 Bn of mostly Continental European assets and is working on further disposals. Our credit metrics remain healthy, with a cost of debt of 1.5%, an ICR of 7.1x, and an LTV post disposals of less than 37%. Our focus remains on continuous improvement in our portfolio through disciplined asset management, our rotation strategy, and the build-out of the development pipeline. The skills of the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield team and our best in breed assets are well positioned to deliver value for our shareholders."

Christophe Cuvillier, Group Chief Executive Officer

H1-2018 RECURRING EPS OF 6.61, UP +7.3%

Recurring EPS grew by +7.3% to 6.61 from H1-2017. The Recurring EPS adjusted for the coupons on the Hybrid Securities was 6.58 (+6.8% from H1-2017).

STRONG OPERATING PERFORMANCE IN A CHALLENGING MARKET

Shopping Centres Continental Europe

Tenants sales increased(2) by +2.6% for the Group and by +3.2% for Flagship centres(3), outperforming national sales indices(4) by +131 and +196 bps, respectively. France (+3.3%, outperforming the IFLS index by +337 bps and the CNCC index by +477 bps) and Central Europe (+8.7%, outperforming the weighted average regional sales indices by +515 bps) did especially well.

The like-for-like NRI grew by +4.3%, +300bps above indexation, while that of the Flagship centres increased by +5.7%.The Group signed 641 leases with a Minimum Guaranteed Rent uplift of +10.6%, of which +14.4% for Flagship assets. The rotation rate amounted to 5.9%, in line with Unibail-Rodamco's (UR's) objective of at least 10% in each shopping centre every year, and EPRA vacancy decreased by -10 bps to 2.3%.

Shopping Centres United States and United Kingdom

In the US, the speciality sales productivity per square foot (psf)(5) through June 30, 2018, increased by +4.9% on a trailing 12-month basis. The average letting spreads were +6.9% (+7.6% in Flagship assets) and the average rent for shops under 20k sq. ft was $85 psf, up by +4.2%. As at June 30, 2018, occupancy in the US portfolio stood at 94.3% (95.5% in Flagship assets), a decrease of -140 bps compared to December, 2017, impacted by bankruptcies and certain big box store closures, leading to a negative Comparable NOI(6) growth of -3.0% (-2.6% for Flagship centres). Total NOI increased by +6.1%, primarily as a result of the strong contribution from the deliveries of Westfield Century City and Westfield UTC.

Footfall in the UK was up +3.7% in H1-2018, driven by the opening of the extension of Westfield London. The sales productivity of speciality stores amounted to 969 psf, up +0.2% on a trailing 12-month basis. The average MGR uplift was +17%. Occupancy remained strong at 97.7%. Comparable NOI(6) in the UK for H1-2018 grew by +6.7% compared to H1-2017.

Offices

With 1.3 million m of office space take-up, demand in the Paris region remained at the highest level since 2007, while the available supply declined by -9% from December 31, 2017. The Group let more than 61,800 m in France, including Shift (43,300 m), fully let to Nestle more than one year before its delivery. Like-for-like NRI increased by +14.4% due to very good leasing performance.

Convention & Exhibition

Recurring NOI increased by +1.2% compared to H1-2017 and by +3.9% compared to H1-2016, the last comparable period. The Recurring NOI in 2018 benefitted from the tri-annual Intermat show, partly offset by the closure for refurbishment of the Pullman Montparnasse hotel in Paris.

VALUE CREATION OF 16.74 PER SHARE

The Gross Market Value (GMV) of the Group's assets as at June 30, 2018, amounted to 63.7 Bn on a proportional basis, up +46.5% from December 31, 2017, mainly due to acquisition of Westfield. The Continental European portfolio grew by +2.0% to 44.4 Bn, or +0.6% on a like-for-like basis.

The Continental European Shopping Centre division GMV grew by +1.4% in total and by +0.7% on a like-for-like basis, driven by a positive rent effect, partly offset by a negative yield effect. The GMV of the Continental European Office division came to 4.5 Bn, up +7.0%, including a +2.2% increase on a like-for-like basis, mainly driven by a positive yield effect. The GMV of the Convention & Exhibition division decreased -1.7% on a like-for-like basis.

The average net initial yield of the overall retail portfolio stood at 4.2% (4.3% as at year-end 2017), driven by the inclusion of the US and UK portfolio.

The inclusion of the Westfield portfolio resulted in an increase of 19.4 Bn in the Group's proportional GMV, representing 30% of the total.

Going Concern NAV per share stood at 227.10 as at June 30, 2018, an increase of +7.90 (+3.6%) compared to December 31, 2017. This increase was the sum of (i) the value creation of 16.74 per share, (ii) the impact of the -10.80 dividend paid during H1-2018, and (iii) the +1.96 mark-to-market of the fixed-rate debt and derivatives.

12.5 BN PIPELINE

As at June 30, 2018, the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) Expected Cost(7) of the development pipeline amounted to 12.5 Bn. The Group retains flexibility, with committed projects of only 2.8 Bn. The retail pipeline is split between greenfield/brownfield projects (52%), which are all in Europe, and extensions and renovations (48%) in both continents. Significant progress has been made on the two major Westfield projects in Europe, with the Compulsory Purchase Order obtained for the Croydon development and the building permit granted for Westfield Milan.

In March 2018, the extension of Westfield London opened six months ahead of schedule, taking the centre to over 240,000 m2 of GLA, making it the largest shopping centre in Europe. The extension was 92% let as at June 30, 2018.

INTEGRATION OF WESTFIELD

On June 7, 2018, UR completed the acquisition of Westfield Corporation to create Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. The new Senior Management Team has been appointed, the new corporate identity implemented and the organization and target model defined. In H2-2018, the Group will continue the detailed work on the combined operations, organisation, and capital structure of the Group. As at June 30, 2018, URW had already achieved run-rate cost synergies of almost 74 Mn compared to the 60Mn originally budgeted. The revenue synergies are expected to be realized in the next 3 to 5 years as planned.

ASSET ROTATION DISCIPLINE

Including transactions entered into after June 30, 2018, the Group has disposed or agreed to dispose of 1.2 Bn of Continental European assets at an aggregate NIY of 4.4%, representing a +6.2% premium to the last unaffected appraisal values. With these transactions, the Group is well underway to reach its previously announced target of 3.0 Bn of disposals in Continental Europe in the next several years, with a number of other disposal processes on-going. In addition, URW has disposed of Horton Plaza, one of its US Regional malls, at a price broadly in line with its underwriting.

AVERAGE COST OF DEBT AT 1.5% AND A 6.9 YEAR AVERAGE MATURITY

The financial structure of the Group is healthy with a Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio of 38.0% and an interest coverage ratio of 7.1x (6.7x in 2017 for UR on a stand-alone basis). The LTV, after taking into account the disposals completed since June 30, 2018, or for which binding agreements have been signed, would be 36.7%(8). The average cost of debt of the Group remained low at 1.5%, with an average debt maturity as at June 30, 2018, of 6.9 years, as a result of the inclusion of Westfield's debt.

8.5 BN OF CAPITAL RAISED

To finance the cash component of the Westfield Transaction, the Group issued 2.0 Bn of Hybrid securities with a weighted average coupon of 2.4%, and 3.0 Bn of senior bonds with a weighted average maturity and coupon of 10 years and 1.3%, respectively.

Additional capital has been raised under URW's EMTN programme for a total amount of 540 Mn, as well as a 400 Mn "green" revolving credit facility and a USD 3.0 Bn revolving credit facility.

OUTLOOK

URW's Continental European business is trading in line with UR's assumptions for 2018, and the US and UK operations are trading in line with UR's underwriting of the Westfield transaction. Consequently, there currently is no change to the guidance for 2018 provided on January 31, 2018. Following the Group's annual 5-year business plan process, a medium term outlook will be provided at the time of the release of URW's 2018 Full-Year results.

FINANCIAL SCHEDULE

The next financial events on the Group's calendar will be:

October 25, 2018: 2018 3rd Quarter Results

February 13, 2019: 2018 Full-Year results, 2019 guidance and medium-term outlook (after market close)

March 29, 2019: Interim dividend

May 17, 2019: AGM

July 2019: Final dividend

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Samuel Warwood

Maarten Otte

+33 1 76 77 58 02

Maarten.otte@urw.com (mailto:Maarten.otte@urw.com)

Media Relations

Nathalie Feld

+33 1 76 77 57 94

Nathalie.feld@ext.urw.com (mailto:Nathalie.feld@ext.urw.com)

Like-for-like NRI: Net Rental Income excluding acquisitions, divestments, transfers to and from pipeline (extensions, brownfields or redevelopment of an asset when operations are stopped to enable works), all other changes resulting in any change to square meters and currency exchange rate differences in the periods analysed. Tenant sales data include shopping centres accounted for using the equity method (Rosny 2, CentrO, Paunsdorf and Metropole Zlicin), but not Jumbo and Zlote Tarasy as they are not managed by Unibail-Rodamco. Tenant sales performance in Unibail-Rodamco's shopping centres (except The Netherlands) in operation, including extensions of existing assets, but excluding deliveries of new brownfield projects, newly acquired assets and assets under heavy refurbishment. For H1-2018 reporting period, shopping centres excluded due to delivery or ongoing works were Galerie Gaite, Les Boutiques du Palais, La Part-Dieu, Glories, Wroclavia, CH Ursynow and Gropius Passagen. Primark sales are based on estimates. The UR's Flagship assets are: Les Quatre Temps, Aeroville, Parly 2, Velizy 2, Carre Senart, Rosny 2, Le Forum des Halles, Carrousel du Louvre, CNIT, Confluence, La Part-Dieu, Villeneuve 2, Euralille, Polygone Riviera, La Vaguada, Parquesur, Bonaire, Splau, La Maquinista, Glories, Donau Zentrum, Shopping City Sud, Centrum Cerny Most, Centrum Chodov, Wroclavia, Galeria Mokotow, Zlote Tarasy, Arkadia, Aupark, Jumbo, Fisketorvet, Mall of Scandinavia, Taby Centrum, Stadshart Amstelveen, Leidsenhage, Ruhr Park, Gropius Passagen, CentrO and Pasing Arcaden. Based on latest national indices available (year-on-year evolution) as at June 2018: France: Institut Francais du Libre Service (IFLS)-excluding food; Spain: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica; Central Europe: Cesky statisticky urad (Czech Republic), Polska Rada Centrow Handlowych (Poland) (as at May 2018), Eurostat (Slovakia); Austria: Eurostat; the Nordics: HUI Research (Sweden), Danmarks Statistik (Denmark); Germany: Destatis-Genesis, excluding online only operators and fuel sales (Federal Statistical Office). Including online only sales for France, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia and excluding online only sales for Germany, the Nordics and Poland. Calculated on the basis of sales psf for specialty tenants, being stores with <10K sq. ft (ca. 929m2). For centres in operation and excluding new brownfield deliveries, acquired assets and assets under heavy refurbishment (in line with the UR methodology). Comparable NOI is based on Net Operating Income before management fees, termination/settlement income and straight-line adjustments, and excluding one-offs. For comparability, recent project deliveries or centres undergoing significant development works are excluded. . URW Expected Cost equals 100% Expected Cost multiplied by URW percentage of ownership of the project, plus specific own costs, if any. The Orebro hotel, the Capital 8 office building, four Spanish non-core retail assets (El Faro, Bahia Sur, Los Arcos and Vallsur) and Horton Plaza.

About Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is the premier global developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations. With a portfolio valued at 63.7 Bn as at June 30, 2018, of which 86% in retail, 8% in offices, 5% in convention & exhibition venues and 1% in services. The Group owns and operates 102 shopping centres, of which 56 are flagships in the most dynamic cities in Europe and the United States. Its centres welcome 1.2 billion visits per year. Present on 2 continents and in 13 countries, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield provides a unique platform for retailers and brand events, and offers an exceptional and constantly renewed experience for customers.

With the support of its 3,700 professionals and an unparalleled track-record and know-how, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is ideally positioned to generate superior value and develop world-class projects. The Group has the largest development pipeline in the industry, worth 12.5 Bn.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield distinguishes itself by its Better Places 2030 agenda, that sets its ambition to create better places that respect the highest environmental standards and contribute to better cities.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield stapled shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris (Euronext ticker: URW), with a secondary listing in Australia through Chess Depositary Interests. The Group benefits from an A rating from Standard & Poor's and from an A2 rating from Moody's.

For more information, please visit www.urw.com

(http://www.urw.com/)Visit our Media Library at www.mediacentre.urw.com (http://www.mediacentre.urw.com/)





2018 Half-Year Results URW (http://hugin.info/136618/R/2213164/863141.pdf)



This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: UNIBAIL-RODAMCO SE via Globenewswire

The European Investment Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

The European Investment Trust plc ("the Company")

The Company announces that on 29 August 2018 it purchased the following number of its ordinary shares of 25 pence each on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

Ordinary Shares:

Date of purchase: 29 August 2018 Number of ordinary shares purchased: 40,000 Lowest price per share 926.937p Highest price per share 926.937p

The Company intends to cancel the purchased shares.

Following the above transaction, the Company has 41,436,269 ordinary shares in issue. Each of the Company's shares carries one vote. Accordingly, the total number of voting rights of the Company is 41,436,269.

29 August 2018

LEI: 213800QNN9EHZ4SC1R12

Enquiries:

Kenneth J Greig

Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited

Tel: 0131 270 3800

The Company's registered office address is:

Beaufort House

51 New North Road

Exeter

EX4 4EPRegulatory News:

STENTYS (FR0010949404 STNT), a French group specialized in medical technologies for interventional cardiology commercializing the Xposition S self-apposing coronary stent today announced the launch of commercial activities in Mexico through a partnership with Levbeth Medical, a company specialized in the distribution of medical equipment for endovascular procedures.

Earlier this month, Dr Neisser Morales and Dr Mizraym Rojas placed the first Xposition S Sirolimus Eluting Self-Apposing stent in Mexico at the ISSSTE LOPEZ MATEOS hospital in Mexico City, with support from Dr Omar Santaera, Sanatorium Las Lomas in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and from Levbeth Medical. This procedure initiates the launch of the self-apposing technology on the Mexican coronary stent market, estimated at approximately $47m* annually. This latest step in the global expansion strategy of STENTYS is a significant addition to its commercial presence on the Latin American coronary stent market, which is estimated to be worth over $200 million*.

STENTYS intends to extend the commercialization of the Xposition S stents range to other countries, leveraging the distribution network of the recently acquired MINVASYS company.

Christophe Lottin, Chief Executive Officer of STENTYS, comments: "The marketing of STENTYS Xposition S on the growing market of Mexico further stimulates our commercial activity in this region of the world where MINVASYS is also present. We look forward to developing our partnership with Levbeth Medical and this first case demonstrates both their involvement and know-how."

Source GlobalData

About STENTYS

The STENTYS group develops and markets minimally-invasive cardiovascular solutions for the needs of interventional cardiology. Its extensive range of innovative products, including drug-eluting stents, coronary and drug-eluting balloons as well as cardiovascular accessories, is marketed in over 60 countries. Thanks to its flagship product, Xposition S, the self-apposing stent that adapts to vessels with variable diameters and enables the treatment of complex arterial disorders, and to its portfolio of balloons and accessories, STENTYS covers all coronary indications.

Additional information is available atwww.stentys.com

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company that are based on numerous assumptions regarding the Company's present and future business strategies and the environment in which it will operate in the future which may not be accurate. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks associated with the development and commercialization of the Company's products, market acceptance of the Company's products, its ability to manage growth, the competitive environment in relation to its business area and markets, its ability to enforce and protect its patents and proprietary rights, uncertainties related to the U.S. FDA approval process, slower than expected rates of patient recruitment for clinical trials, the outcome of clinical trials, and other factors, including those described in the Section 4 "Risk Factors" of the Company's 2016 Registration Document (document de reference) filed with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) on November 29, 2017 under number D.17-1084.

STENTYS is listed on Compartment C of Euronext Paris

ISIN: FR0010949404 Ticker: STNT

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005562/en/

Contacts:

STENTYS

Andre Lerebours

CFO

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 53 99 42

investor@stentys.com

or

NewCap

Investor Relations Strategic Communications

Dusan Oresansky Alexia Faure

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 92

stentys@newcap.euThe Amazing Protein Company's Lika Served as the Event's Official Food Provider for Recently Held Los Angeles Conference That Drew 2,000 Animal Rights Activists for 3 Days of Seminars, Networking Events and Exhibitions

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2018 / The Amazing Protein Company's (www.amazingprotein.com) Lika vegan cuisines became a standout hit at the recently held 2018 National Animal Rights Conference which took place this past month at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles.

The Official Food provider for this year's Animal Rights event, The Amazing Protein Company's line of Lika vegan meals was hailed by attendees who were treated to Lika Orange Chicken, Lika General Tso's Chicken, and Lika's Vegan eggrolls with 6 grams of protein per eggroll - among other Lika dishes - during the Awards Banquet, closing celebration and luncheons.

Said Shemirah Brachah, Food & Events Coordinator for FARM Animal Rights Movement, organizers of the Animal Rights Conference: "So many participants were beyond impressed with the lunch and dinner options, saying that it was Lika that made the difference. One attendee said that compared to last year the food was 1000% better - 1000%! The food really was special! The taste, the texture, and the total commitment to quality all contributed to the extra-special treat of getting to enjoy something new and different as well as AMAZING! It is my hope that Amazing Protein Company will be part of our conference fare at future conferences, and I hope Lika becomes a major household name in the vegan food arena!"

"We were extremely thrilled by the overwhelming outpouring of love for Lika at our show," said event organizer Jen Riley. "The Amazing Protein Company's Lika vegan meals were incredibly delicious, memorable and universally embraced by our attendees. Indeed, Lika played a major role in helping make the 2018 Animal Rights Conference a smash success."

Among the attendee comments generated from a post-event survey:

"...Really, really great food..."

"...I found the meals appetizing and easy to eat quickly or slowly depending on what I was doing..."

"...I was extremely pleased..."

"...The conference meals were amazing..."

"...This year's food was a huge improvement from the past -- thank you!..."

Ranking among the animal rights movement's leading national events, the Animal Rights National Conference is established to provide attendees with the latest in animal advocacy, news, and information. For 2018, the annual event featured over 170 presenters from 90 organizations and offered a wide array of educational sessions, networking events, video premieres, as well as more than 100 non-profit exhibits and cruelty free vendors.

The Amazing Protein Company's Lika entrees were showcased exclusively for all the meals throughout the 3-day event and were the featured selection for the Awards Banquet and closing ceremony.

Hailed as a game changer in the burgeoning vegan food category, because of its appeal to vegans and mainstream consumers alike, Lika represents the next generation of meat alternatives for the flourishing vegan market. While other vegan-prepared food products must be pre-seasoned due to their inability to absorb flavoring during the cooking process, the revolutionary Lika Food Preparation Technology empowers customers to enjoy a wide array of delicious vegan alternatives their way.

Lika possesses the identical versatility people have come to expect from meat, including the ability to texture it from jerky to stew, utilizing the same diverse cooking methods chefs use for animal protein. As a result, Lika foods can be prepared as barbecued, fried, roasted, based, smoked or sauteed. LIka products absorb flavor even better than animal protein, including sauces marinades and spices - all without any after taste, preservatives or additives. Instead of the 20-35 ingredients in many plant proteins, Lika is made from only five natural, clean ingredients: wheat, mushroom, barley, yeast, and water.

"We were extremely pleased to have served as Official Food Provider for the 2018 Animal Rights National Conference and particularly delighted by the overwhelming positive acceptance by our Lika dishes," said The Amazing Protein Company's CEO and founder Swami Nathan.

About The Amazing Protein Company:

Headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, The Amazing Protein Company is the manufacturer of the Lika line of vegan cuisines. Representing a breakthrough in the art of vegan food preparation, the Company's Lika cuisines results from a proprietary Food Preparation technology that delivers foods already enjoyed by people the world over while perfectly preserving or improving flavor, texture, and nutrition.

For more information visit www.amazingprotein.com.

About the Animal Rights National Conference:

The Animal Rights National Conference is the U.S. animal rights movement's annual national conference. It is also the world's largest and longest-running animal rights gathering. It has been organized annually since 1981 by Farm Animal Rights Movement (www.farmusa.org) with some breaks between 1987 and 2000, then every year since 2000. This year's event was co-sponsored by over three dozen organizations including A Well-Fed World, Animal Equality, Compassion Over Killing, Mercy For Animals, The Humane League, and many more. For more information, visit www.ARConference.org.

CONTACT:

SSA Public Relations

Steve Syatt

steve@ssapr.com

(818) 222-4000

SOURCE: The Amazing Protein CompanyVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - New Age Farm Inc. (CSE: NF) (OTC: NWGFF) (FSE: 0NF) (www.newagefarminc.com) ("New Age Farm" or the "Company"), at the request of IIROC, would like to clarify the news release issued today with respect to its two marijuana property acquisitions in the state of Oregon.

Cave Junction, Oregon

The Cave Junction property consists of 11 acres divided into two separate legal lots. Cave Junction, Oregon is historically known as one of the best micro climates in the world for successful outdoor cultivation of cannabis. The property, which was previously the Althouse Nursery, was converted into a state of the art outdoor and greenhouse cannabis cultivation facility in 2015. Since then, the property has been operated by Trellis Farms ("Trellis"), an experienced and successful cannabis cultivation company. Currently Trellis is operating on one of the legal plots and holds a OLCC license for the cultivation of 40,000 square feet of recreational cannabis. Trellis has plans to expand the cultivation to inhabit the second legal plot and add an additional 40,000 square feet of canopy.

Portland, Oregon

The Portland property has been an established dispensary that has operated successfully over the last four years in the state of Oregon and is currently operated by an OLCC licensed retailer. The property is located just miles away from the airport in an up-and-coming part of town.

The Company will be acting as landlord of the Cave Junction and Portland properties (the "Properties"), renting the Properties for a total monthly revenue of $20,000 USD.

Following an appraisal done by a SouderHouse LLC to generate the property value, the Company acquired the Properties by way of a three-corner amalgamation, pursuant to which the Company acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of 1175987 B.C. Ltd. and assumed all of its assets, namely the Properties. As consideration for the Properties, the Company issued a total of 73,164,000 common shares to three independent shareholders of 1175987 B.C. Ltd. (representing approximately 22.80% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares) and paid a finder's fee of 3,658,200 common shares to an arm's-length party. No new insiders and no control persons were created in connection with the acquisition of the Properties.

About New Age Farm

New Age Farm is an agricultural services company offering unique turnkey growing infrastructure and services for licensed growers and processors of luxury marijuana crops at its agri-campuses in Washington State. In November 2012, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board ("WSLCB") passed Initiative 502 ("I-502"). I-502 authorized the WSLCB to regulate and tax recreational marijuana products for persons over twenty-one years of age and thereby created a new industry for the growing, processing and selling of Washington State-regulated recreational marijuana products. New Age Farm provides innovative solutions for growers and processors in this burgeoning industry.

About We Are Kured, LLC

KURED is a wholly owned subsidiary of New Age Farm, acquired in December 2017. KURED is building an innovative online CBD and lifestyle company. KURED has partnered with best in class hemp cultivators, edible manufacturers, cutting edge product formulators to develop, market and distribute multiple lines of CBD products including, but not limited to, CBD vaporizer pens, topicals, gel capsules and more. All of We Are Kured's products are 100% THC free and will be available for purchase internationally. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the primary active ingredient in cannabis.

For further information about New Age Farm, please consult the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Company's website at www.newagefarminc.com. For further information about We Are Kured, please visit their website at www.wearekured.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors



Joshua Bartch

Chief Executive Officer

info@newagefarminc.com

For Further Information Contact

Corporate Communications

corpcom@newagefarminc.com

888-871-3936

We Are Kured Contact:

Ben Martch

Founder & CEO

www.wearekured.com

970.310.7224

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to completion of planned improvements at both the Canadian and US sites on schedule and on budget, the availability of financing needed to complete the Company's planned improvements on commercially reasonable terms, planned occupancy by the tenant-growers, commencement of operations, differences in yield on expected harvests, delays in obtaining statutory approval for marijuana production plans, issues that may arise throughout the grow period, outdoor crops affected by weather, the ability to mitigate the risk of loss through appropriate insurance policies, and the risks presented by federal statutes that may contradict local and state legislation respecting legalized marijuana. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. These securities have not and will not be registered under United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person unless so registered, or an exemption from registration is relied upon.Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 1 Global Capital LLC and its former chief executive officer for allegedly defrauding at least 3,400 retail investors, more than one-third of whom invested their retirement funds. The Florida-based cash advance company and former CEO Carl Ruderman allegedly fraudulently raised more than $287 million since 2014 in unregistered securities sold through a network that included barred brokers.

On August 23, the Honorable Judge Beth Bloom of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted the SEC's request for a temporary asset freeze against Ruderman and other Ruderman companies charged by the SEC as relief defendants. The court also granted the SEC's request to appoint a receiver over certain of the relief defendants - Bright Smile Financing LLC, BRR Block Inc., Digi South LLC, Ganador Enterprises LLC, Media Pay LLC, and Pay Now Direct LLC. The court scheduled a hearing for September 7 for Ruderman and the relief defendants to show cause, if any, why the asset freeze order should not continue for the pendency of the litigation or until otherwise ordered by the court.

According to the SEC's complaint unsealed Tuesday, although investors were promised profits from 1 Global's loans to small and mid-sized companies, a large portion of their money went to Ruderman's lavish personal spending and to his consumer-loan companies, Bright Smile Financing and Ganador Enterprises, which had nothing to do with 1 Global's cash advance business. Investors in 1 Global allegedly were given bogus account statements and were falsely told that it had an independent auditor, and that its secured loans, typically for small amounts, had low default rates. According to the complaint, in contrast to what it told investors, 1 Global marketed itself to business borrowers as a low-hassle way to access cash quickly, often made large, unsecured loans, and had significant problems with collections. 1 Global declared bankruptcy in July and Ruderman resigned from the company.

"The misconduct that we've alleged occurred in this case directly impacted retail investors," said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "We filed this action on an emergency basis to protect those investors from further harm."

"We allege that 1 Global's business model was a sham because instead of using investor funds as promised, 1 Global and Ruderman diverted significant funds, including to Ruderman himself for his personal benefit," said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office. "The SEC's investigation effectively stopped 1 Global's offering and prevented further harm to investors and retirement funds."

The SEC's complaint charges 1 Global and Ruderman with violations of the antifraud, securities registration, and broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC seeks disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains and prejudgment interest from the defendants and relief defendants, and financial penalties against the defendants.

The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Gary Miller and Mark Dee in the Miami Regional Office and supervised by Elisha L. Frank and Fernando Torres. The SEC's litigation is being led by Christopher Martin and Robert K. Levenson. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and the Colorado Division of Securities.

The SEC encourages investors to check the backgrounds of people selling investments by using the SEC's investor.gov website to quickly identify whether they are registered professionals and confirm their identity.Icelandic culture takes over NYC for a weekend of food, music, film and more free events.

Taste of Iceland, the Icelandic culture festival put on in cities throughout North America by Iceland Naturally, today announced it will return to New York City from Thursday, September 27 Sunday, September 30. Over the course of the four-day festival, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005687/en/

Taste of Iceland, the Icelandic culture festival put on in cities throughout North America, will return to New York City from Thursday, September 27 Sunday, September 30. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Enjoy authentic Icelandic cuisine at Norman

Learn how to craft quintessential Icelandic cocktails at Meadowsweet

Experience live Icelandic music at the free Reykjavik Calling concert at the Knitting Factory

Attend an Icelandic short-film screening at Film Noir Cinema

Partake in a lecture focused on Iceland's thriving design and architectural scene at A/D/O

Whether you're a foodie, an imbiber, a music maven, an art and design enthusiast or a film buff, Taste of Iceland in New York offers something for everyone.

For the Foodie: Taste of Iceland Pop-up Menu at Norman (Thursday 9/27-Sunday 9/30)

Chef Georg Arnar Halldorsson, one of Iceland's most prestigious culinary experts, brings an Icelandic culinary adventure to NYC along with his own culinary emphasis on New Nordic cuisine through the Taste of Iceland pop-up menu at Norman. Chef Georg invites New Yorkers to prepare plates and palates for an unforgettable experience featuring a four-course prix fixe menu in collaboration with the restaurant's Executive Chef Stephan Ilnyckyj. Norman is also offering 4 signature cocktails created by Teitur Ridderman Schioth, one of Iceland's premier mixologists and winner of the National Brennivin Cocktail Competition in 2016. The exclusive cocktail menu features Iceland's favorite vodka, Reyka Vodka, and Brennivin, the quintessential Icelandic spirit. The Taste of Iceland pop-up menu is available exclusively over the four-day festival. Guests interested in making a reservation can do so online via OpenTable. Norman, 29 Norman Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222

For the Imbiber: Taste of Iceland Cocktail Class at Meadowsweet (Friday 9/28 from 4-6pm)

Savoring the flavors of Iceland goes beyond the plate, with the Taste of Iceland Cocktail Class held in partnership with Meadowsweet. Imbibers are invited to shake, stir, and sip Icelandic cocktails through a demonstration and hands-on tutorial led by Teitur Ridderman Schioth, one of Iceland's premier mixologists and winner of the National Brennivin Cocktail Competition in 2016, and Reyka Vodka Ambassador Trevor Schneider. Held at Meadowsweet from 4-5pm, the cocktail class will be followed by a meet-and-greet from 5-6pm on Friday, September 28th. Interested attendees are encouraged to RSVP on Facebook here, but RSVP does not guarantee entry; free admission is granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees must be 21 and over. Meadowsweet, 149 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY, 11211.

For the Music Maven: Reykjavik Calling at Knitting Factory Brooklyn (Saturday 9/29; doors 7pm, show 8pm)

In partnership with Icelandic Music Export and Iceland Airwaves, the Icelandic-American concert known as Reykjavik Calling in collaboration with WFUV will feature Icelandic artists Vok, winners of Iceland's prestigious Musiktilraunir battle of the bands contest known for their electronic dream-pop, and Berndsen, boasting a retro-futurist analogue-feeling sound influenced by Michael Jackson and Chromeo. Reykjavik Calling will also feature a NYC-based band (to be announced). Interested attendees are encouraged to RSVP on Facebook here, but RSVP does not guarantee entry; free admission is granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Guests must be over 18 to attend. Doors open at 7pm. Knitting Factory, 361 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211

For the Design Enthusiast: Iceland's Thriving Design and Architectural Scene at A/D/O (Saturday 9/29 2pm)

In partnership with A/D/O and in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Iceland's most important annual design festival, DesignMarch, which covers all fields of design including architecture, graphic design, fashion, furniture and product design, Taste of Iceland invites you to immerse yourself in Iceland's thriving design and architectural scene with a design talk hosted by Halla Helgadottir, Managing Director of the Iceland Design Centre. Interested attendees are encouraged to RSVP on Facebook here, but RSVP does not guarantee entry; free admission is granted on a first-come, first-served basis. A/D/O, 29 Norman Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222

For the Film Buff: Shortfish, Iceland's Premier Short Film Festival at Film Noir Cinema(9/27 6pm, 9/28 6pm, 9/29 4pm, 9/30 4pm)

The Icelandic film industry's premier festival is screening its short film program at Film Noir Cinema. The short film division of the Stockfish festival, aptly dubbed Shortfish, focuses on highlighting up-and-coming Icelandic filmmakers. The four Shortfish screenings will each feature six short films and run for approximately 90 minutes. Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested attendees are encouraged to RSVP on Facebook here, but RSVP does not guarantee entry; free admission is granted on a first-come, first-served basis. There are no age restrictions, but the films are not recommended for children. Film Noir Cinema, 122 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Stay up-to-date on Taste of Iceland events happening in New York by following @IcelandNatural and using TasteofIceland on Twitter and Instagram and 'Liking' Iceland Naturally on Facebook. Visit www.icelandnaturally.com to learn more about Taste of Iceland in New York. To follow along with Taste of Iceland news and updates, tune into Taste of Iceland's official radio partner WFUV.

ABOUT TASTE OF ICELAND

The acclaimed, multi-day festival showcases the best of Iceland, offering attendees an experiential glimpse into Iceland's rich culture. The events highlight the Nordic nation's cuisine, cocktails, music, design and film across a number of North American cities. Taste of Iceland in New York is presented by Iceland Naturally in cooperation with Iceland's top companies and organizations.

ABOUT ICELAND NATURALLY

Iceland Naturally is a cooperative marketing organization comprised of top Iceland brands, that promotes the tourism, services, products and culture of Iceland to the North American audience. We represent the true essence of Iceland, its creativity and spectacular natural wonders. Through a series of robust online channels, Iceland Naturally bridges the gap between North America and Iceland in engaging and meaningful ways. Our online presence showcase the best of what Iceland has to offer, and encourages North Americans to experience the country for themselves. The group is comprised of Iceland's top companies and organizations: Blue Lagoon, City of Reykjavik, Government of Iceland, Icelandair, Icelandic Glacial, Icelandic Group, Icelandic Provisions, Keflavik International Airport (KEF), Landsvirkjun, Olgerin Egill Skallagrimsson, Promote Iceland, and Reyka Vodka. Follow Iceland Naturally on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005687/en/

Contacts:

Small Girls PR

Jacqui Wimberly, 413-486-0714

tasteoficeland@smallgirlspr.comVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - AXMIN Inc. (TSXV: AXM) ("AXMIN" or the "Company") announces its financial and operating results for the three months ended June 30, 2018. All amounts included in this news release are in United States dollars

Highlights

During the three months ended June 30, 2018, the Company reported royalty income of $576,643 from Gora Projects, compared with $386,655 for the same time period of 2017.

The net income for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $437,586 compared to $359,338 in the same period of 2016.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

At June 30, 2018 the Company had cash on deposit in the amount of $1,944,449, accounts and other receivables of $577,237, and prepaid expenses of $5,487. Royalty income receivable of $573,643 has been received subsequent to the period ended June 30, 2018.

Net assets inclined to negative $362,169 at June 30, 2018 compared to negative $1,215,536 at December 31, 2017.

OUTLOOK

We continue our efforts and commitment with our developments in the CAR. We look forward to the time when we can reclaim our operations in CAR again.

About AXMIN

AXMIN is a Canadian exploration and development company with a strong focus on the African continent. AXMIN continues to closely monitor the political situation at its Feasibility Stage Passendro Gold Project in the Central African Republic. For more information regarding AXMIN visit our website at www.axmininc.com.

For additional information, please contact AXMIN Inc.:

Lucy Yan

Chairman and CEO

ceo@axmininc.com

AXMIN Inc.

General Enquiries

Jin Kuang

Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary

j.kuang@axmininc.com

604-339-7688

Investor Relations

ir@axmininc.com

www.axmininc.com

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information, other than statements of historical fact included herein, including without limitation, information regarding the future option grant plans and objectives of AXMIN, are forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties.

There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AXMIN's expectations have been disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in AXMIN's documents filed from time-to-time with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities. AXMIN disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether resulting from new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - Gunpowder Capital Corp., (CSE: GPC) (CSE: GPC.PR.A) (OTCQB: GNPWF) (FSE: YS6N) (the "Corporation") released today a summary of its financial results for the Three & Six months ended June 30th, 2018. Key highlights include:

Total Revenue increased to $341,458 CDN in Q2 2018 from $255,184 CDN in Q2 2017, representing an increase of 34%.



Total Revenue for the Six months ended June 30, 2018 increased to $643,794 CDN from $349,375 CDN for the Six months ended June 30, 2017, representing an increase of 84%.



Total Assets increased to $ 8,306,028 CDN in Q2 2018 from $ 8,071,818 CDN in Q1 2018, representing a slight increase of 3%.



Net loss was -$ 133,808 CDN in Q2 2018 vs. a net loss of -$ 221,510 CDN in Q2 2017, representing a decrease of 40%.



Fully Diluted EPS improved to $0.00 for Q2 2018 vs. (-$0.01) for Q2 2017.

The Corporation's Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the Three & Six months ended June 30th, 2018 have been posted on the Corporation's SEDAR profile page which can be viewed by visiting www.sedar.com and on the Corporation's website, which can be viewed by visiting www.gunpowdercapitalcorp.com.

About Gunpowder Capital Corp.

Gunpowder Capital Corp., is a merchant bank and advisory services firm based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Gunpowder invests in both publicly traded and private businesses that have successful management teams and attractive economic models. Gunpowder partners with these businesses to support their growth initiatives with its proven methodology of appropriate financing and structured exits. Gunpowder offers debt financing, including mezzanine and bridge loans, equity financing and advisory services. Gunpowder is also building a portfolio of companies in which it takes a long term position and view. For more information please visit www.gunpowdercapitalcorp.com

For further information please contact:

Mr. Frank Kordy

CEO & Director

Gunpowder Capital Corp.

T: (647) 466-4037

E: frank.kordy@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com

Mr. Paul Haber

CFO

Gunpowder Capital Corp.

T: (416) 363-3833

E: paul.haber@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward- looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe harbor.

- 30 -Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - CHC Student Housing Corp. (TSXV: CHC) ("CHC" or the "Company") announced today results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. The Financial Statements and related Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, are available under CHC's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Highlights during the quarter ended March 31, 2018:

Net Operating Income decreased by 6.9% to $693,944 due to the sale of the Windsor property in August 2017.

Net loss was $350,493, compared to a net loss of $66,086 in Q1 2017. While revenues and NOI improved in the Company's London Property, this was offset by the sale in August 2017 of the Company's Windsor Property as well as higher G&A costs that included approximately $130,000 of failed deal costs.

In September 2017, the Company listed a property for sale. In January an offer was received and a shareholders' vote was held on March 5, 2018, the offer was rejected by the shareholders.

A management reorganization was completed in March 2018 resulting in the establishment a new senior management team.

Summary of Selected Financial and Operational Information

The selected financial information below is based on and derived from the financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2018.

Statement of net loss and comprehensive loss Three Months Ended

March 31

2018 2017 Property revenues $1,188,456 $1,390,036 Property operating expenses (494,512) (644,407) Net Operating Income (NOI) $693,944 $745,629 General & administrative expense (370,513) (282,435) Stock-based compensation - change in FMV 25,000 140,000 Interest expense (698,924) (707,065) Gain on sale of investment properties - 37,785 Net loss and comprehensive loss ($350,493) ($66,086) Net loss per share - basic and diluted ($0.13) ($0.03) Funds From Operations (FFO)(1) ($350,493) ($103,871) FFO per share ($0.13) ($0.04) Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO)(1) ($385,600) ($228,081) AFFO per share ($0.14) ($0.10) Distributions of cash dividends Nil Nil Weight average shares outstanding(2) 2,716,465 2,335,181

(1) FFO and AFFO are non-IFRS performance measures. Please refer to definition of Non-IFRS Performance Measures below as well as the reconciliation from net loss on page 2 below.

(2) After giving effect to a private placement on May 15, 2017.

Revenues decreased by 14.5% or $201,580 primarily because of the sale of the Windsor Property in August 2017. NOI decreased by 6.9% or $51,685 also due to the sale of the Windsor Property. General and administrative expenses increased by 31.2% or $88,078, primarily due to transaction costs related to the failure to obtain shareholders approval for the sale of the London Property on March 5, 2018, offset by lower payroll costs.

AFFO loss increased by 69.1% or $157,519 primarily due to lower revenues and higher expenses as discussed above.

FFO & AFFO Reconciliation

The following table reconciles FFO and AFFO to IFRS net income (loss) and comprehensive income (loss):

Reconciliation from net loss to FFO & AFFO Three Months Ended

March 31 2018 2017 Net loss and comprehensive loss ($350,493) ($66,086) Add:



Gain on sale of investment properties - (37,785) Funds From Operations (FFO) ($350,493) ($103,871) Add/(subtract):



Stock-based compensation - change in FMV(1) (25,000) (140,000) Amortization of financing transaction costs 1,046 15,790 Straight line rent (11,153) - Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO) ($385,600) ($228,081)

(1) Compensation expense for option grants is based on the fair value of the options at the grant date and is recognized over the period from the grant date to the date the award is vested. A liability is recognized for outstanding options based upon the fair value as the Company is a mutual fund corporation and there are retraction rights to the share conditions attached to the common shares. During the period in which options are outstanding, the liability is adjusted for changes in the fair value with such adjustments being recognized as expense/(recovery) in the period in which they occur. The three months ended March 31, 2018 adjustment for stock-based compensation/(recovery) relates to the mark-to-market adjustment of options awarded in December 2014 and January 2015.

FFO for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 amounted to ($350,493) or ($0.13) per share and ($103,871) or ($0.04) per share respectively. AFFO for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 was ($385,600) or ($0.14) and ($228,081) or ($0.10) per share respectively.

The following table reconciles IFRS cash used in operating activities to AFFO:

Reconciliation from cash used in operating activity to AFFO Three Months Ended

March 31 2018 2017 Cash used in operating activities ($125,681) ($19,311) Add/(subtract):



Net changes in non-cash working capital (234,506) (198,081) Depreciation (24,428) (8,854) Interest expense on mortgages payable (697,878) (691,275) Cash interest paid 696,893 689,440 Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO) ($385,600) ($228,081)

Financial Position

The Company had cash on hand of $346,534 as at March 31, 2018, an increase of $13,408. The increase was the result of better cash management and the proceeds of a shareholder's loan.

Total assets at March 31, 2018, were $ 59,590,889 compared $59,468,771 at December 31, 2017, an increase of $122,118. This increase is due to higher prepaid expenses along with higher accounts receivable.

Going Concern

The Company incurred a net loss of $350,493 for the three months ended March 31, 2018 (three months ended March 31, 2017 - net loss of $66,086) and as at March 31, 2018, had a working capital deficit of $3,561,565 (December 31, 2017 - $2,706,197) excluding mortgages payable.

The Company's ability to continue operations in the normal course of business is dependent on several factors, including its ability to secure additional funding. At present, the Company has obtained extensions on the two mortgages of $33,000,000 and $13,750,000 due on the London Property to July 3, 2018. CHC is seeking a longer-term financing solution to be available at termination of these extensions.

In addition, the Company is exploring all available options to secure additional funding, examining and considering all strategic and financial alternatives potentially available with a view to enhancing shareholder value. Such alternatives may include, but are not limited to, the sale of the Company, or all or a portion of its assets, a merger or other business combination, a recapitalization or any combination thereof.

In the event the Company is unable to arrange appropriate financing or strategic alternatives, the carrying value of the Company's assets and liabilities could be subject to material adjustment. Furthermore, these conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that raises significant doubt on the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.

On May 15, 2017, the Company closed on aggregate proceeds of $667,247 under a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement"). The Company used the proceeds of the Private Placement to address its current working capital position including to satisfy certain trade payables and to fund the Company's operations while it pursues alternative financial.

On March 7, 2018, the Company entered into an interest free loan agreement with a shareholder for $150,000 repayable on March 1, 2019.

The Company listed the Kingston Property for sale on March 29, 2018. Net proceeds from the sale will be used to fund ongoing operations and to repay the property mortgage. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to sell the property on terms that will enable it to repay any material amount of its debt, improve its financial position and fund its ongoing operations. This asset is presented on the consolidated interim statements of financial position as "Investment property held for sale" at March 31, 2018.

About CHC Student Housing Corp.

CHC Student Housing (TSXV: CHC) is Canada's only publicly traded company offering high-quality purpose-built multi-residential student housing properties strategically located on campus or in close proximity to universities and colleges providing students a safe and secure living environment, affordable prices and high-quality amenities. CHC is focused on acquiring, developing and managing student housing in primary and well understood secondary markets in Canada. For more information, visit CHC at www.chcstudenthousing.com.

Non-IFRS Performance Measures

The Company's consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). The following measures: net operating income (or "NOI"), funds from operations (or "FFO"), FFO per share, adjusted funds from operations (or "AFFO") and AFFO per share, are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS, and should not be compared to or construed as alternatives to profit/loss, cash flow from operating activities or other measures of financial performance determined in accordance with IFRS. However, these non-IFRS measures are recognized supplemental measures of performance for real estate issuers widely used by the real estate industry, particularly by those publicly traded entities that own and operate income-producing properties, and the Company believes they provide useful supplemental information to both management and readers in measuring the financial performance of the Company. Further details on non-IFRS measures are set out in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended December 31, 2015 and available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is provided for the purposes of assisting the reader in understanding the Company's financial performance, financial position and cash flows as at and for the periods ended on certain dates and to present information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the business strategies of CHC. Although CHC believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. CHC cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by CHC is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: CHC's ability to complete proposed or contemplated transactions; the state of the real estate sector generally; recent market volatility; CHC's ability to secure the necessary financing or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that CHC is unaware of at this time. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond the CHC's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations of estimated or anticipated events or results. These factors include, but are not limited to, the risks discussed in CHC's materials filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time, copies of which may be accessed through CHC's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information, as there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information

The forward-looking information included in this press release relate only to events or information as of the date hereof. Except as specifically required by applicable Canadian law, CHC undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking information, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities nor shall there by any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CHC Student Housing Corp.Simon NyilassyPresident and CEO416 504-9380Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2018) - iCo Therapeutics (TSXV: ICO) (OTCQB: ICOTF) ("iCo" or the "Company"), today reported financial results for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2018. Amounts, unless specified otherwise, are expressed in Canadian dollars and presented under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").

Stated Andrew Rae, President and CEO of iCo Therapeutics Inc., "the quarter represented a period of significant achievement for iCo Therapeutics with respect to its two clinical assets. Our Oral Amphotericin B exhibited superiority to our closest competition at lower doses and iCo-008 demonstrated proof of clinical relevance in a positive Phase 2 trial."

Summary of Second Quarter 2018 Results

The Company made significant progress with the completion of its Phase 1 study, which met its primary endpoint of safety and tolerability of iCo-019 (Oral Amphotericin B) following oral administration of single ascending doses in healthy subjects.



Pharmacokinetic data from the Phase 1 study showed that iCo-019 had enhanced plasma area under the concentration time curve, which is a measure of systemic drug exposure, and longer blood circulation time without the associated gastrointestinal effects or liver and kidney toxicity.



Given positive Phase 1 data, the Company drafted and recently filed a new patent application with attorneys at Cooley. The Company achieved a median Cmax of 28 ng/mL and AUC0-inf of 1030 hr*ng/mL at the lowest dose of Oral Amphotericin B of 100 mg, demonstrating superiority of area under the concentration time curve from time zero to infinity, when compared to published 200 mg, 400 mg and 800 mg oral cochleate formulation data by the closest competitor. The Company expects to report further data at the Company's presentation at the Rodman and Renshaw 20 th Annual Global Investment Conference taking place from September 4 th through September 6 th ,2018.



Annual Global Investment Conference taking place from September 4 through September 6 ,2018. Subsequent to the second quarter, on July 30, 2018, iCo's licensee received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency in support of its' request for orphan designation for iCo-008 in the treatment of Bullous Pemphigoid ("BP"). This was followed on August 20, 2018, by Orphan Drug Designation for the use of iCo-008 in BP from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.



Also subsequent to the second quarter, iCo and its contract research organization locked its clinical database for full statistical analysis of Phase 1 study results, which is currently expected in Q3 2018.

Financial results for Second Quarter 2018

The Company incurred a total comprehensive loss of $620,227 for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 compared to a total comprehensive loss of $333,274 for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, representing an increased loss of $286,953. The increase in the loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 is primarily the result of higher research and development expenses recognized during 2018.

Research and development expenses were $671,359 for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 compared to $150,266 for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, representing an increase of $521,133. The increase related primarily to the completion of the Oral Amphotericin B Phase 1 clinical study.

This Phase 1 study was conducted in Australia, which provides refundable tax credits for qualifying research and development activities conducted there. The refundable tax credit is calculated at 43.5% of the qualifying expenditures, and the Company recognized $252,509 in other income as its estimate of the tax refund related to qualifying expenditures for the quarter ended June 30, 2018.

With the completion of the Phase 1 study, the Company expects research and development expenses to decline until the next clinical study is initiated. The Company will require additional funding before it can begin its next clinical phase.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2018, general and administrative expenses were $200,966 compared to $185,219 for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, representing an increase of $15,747.

Liquidity and Outstanding Share Capital

As at June 30, 2018, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $398,129 compared to $1,127,934 as at December 31, 2017.

As at August 29, 2018, the Company had an unlimited number of authorized common shares with 84,457,713 common shares issued and outstanding.

For complete financial results, please see the Company's condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 which will be available under its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About iCo Therapeutics Inc.

iCo Therapeutics identifies existing development stage assets for use in underserved ocular and infectious diseases. Such assets may exhibit utility in non-ophthalmic conditions outside the Company's core focus areas and if so the Company will seek to capture further value via partnerships, such as its partnership with Immune Pharmaceuticals, which is in several Phase 2 studies involving iCo-008. iCo shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ICO" and on the OTCQB under the symbol "ICOTF".

For more information, visit the Company website at: www.icotherapeutics.com.

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the content of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulatory Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release may be considered forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will," and similar references to future periods. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on iCo's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to iCo and relate to, among other things, anticipated financial performance, business prospects, strategies, regulatory developments, market acceptance and future commitments, including statements relating to reporting further data regarding the Phase 1 study for iCo-019, the timing of receipt of the statistical analysis for the Phase 1 data, the timing, receipt and amount of Australian refundable tax credits, any decrease in research and development expenditures and the completion of additional funding and commencement of additional clinical studies. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based only on information currently available to iCo and speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by iCo in its public securities filings and on its website, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. In evaluating forward-looking statements, readers should consider the risk factors set out herein and in the Company's Annual Information Form dated July 23, 2018, a copy of which is available under ICo's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and as otherwise disclosed in the Company's filings under its profile on SEDAR from time to time. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and iCo disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Andrew Rae, CEO

778-772-7775

rae@icotherapeutics.comAnil Ambani said the Reliance Infra-Adani Transmission deal will help cut the company's overall debt to Rs 7,500 crore from the earlier Rs 22,000 crore

Mumbai: Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Wednesday said it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission, which will help it pare debt by two-thirds to Rs 7,500 crore.

Company chairman Anil Ambani announced the culmination of the deal involving the sale of the integrated power business which was struck in December last year.

Ambani said the deal will help cut the company's overall debt to Rs 7,500 crore from the earlier Rs 22,000 crore and also added that it is planning to be a zero debt company by next year.

The company had called a board meeting on Wednesday to approve the transfer of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission, after receiving the regulatory approvals.

In the past eight months, the deal has received go-ahead from fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), shareholders of the company and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the sale.

Last week, Reliance Infrastructure had defaulted on payment of redemption of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) amounting to Rs 133.38 crore.

The company had, however, said it expects to make these payments in the next few days from the proceeds from of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission.

"All lenders have provided their no objection certificates (NOCs), and the company expects to close the transaction within the next few days," it had said.

The two companies had signed the pact for 100 percent stake sale of R-Infra's integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai in December 2017.

The company had claimed that the Reliance Infrastructure Mumbai Power business (known as Reliance Energy) is India's largest private sector integrated power utility distributing power to nearly three million residential, industrial and commercial consumers in the suburbs of Mumbai, covering an area of 400 sq km.

It caters to a peak demand of over 1,800 MW, with annual revenues of Rs 7,500 crore with stable cash flows. The company had earlier said that going forward, it will focus on upcoming opportunities in asset light EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and defence businesses.

The RInfra scrip gained 3.75 percent to close at Rs 438.80 a piece on the BSE on Wednesday, against a 0.45 percent correction in the benchmark.

Ambani on Wednesday also said that work on the Rs 6,994-crore Bandra Versova sealink will start from 1 October. RInfra has tied up with Italy's Astaldi to build the 10-km sealink in the western suburbs of the financial capital.'The promise of RBI that new currency notes of Rs 200 and Rs 500 (post-demonetisation) are more secure and less prone to counterfeit is not entirely correct,' SBI's house economists said in a report released after the RBI came out with its annual report.

Mumbai: Despite RBI claims that the newly introduced bills are more secure, currency counterfeiters seem to have found a way around it and we should brace for more fake note discoveries, a SBI report said on Wednesday.

"The promise of RBI that new currency notes of Rs 200 and Rs 500 (post-demonetisation) are more secure and less prone to counterfeit is not entirely correct," SBI's house economists said in a report released after the RBI came out with its annual report.

It said there was a "noticeable increase" in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of new Rs 500 (up by 4,178 percent) and Rs 2,000 (by 2,710 percent), as per the data shared in the annual report.

It added that given the trend, "it is expected that the number of counterfeit notes in the denomination of Rs 500 (new) and Rs 2,000 may increase further and RBI/banks/public should pay more attention to that".

The annual report said almost all the 500 and 1,000 currency notes that were made illegal on 8 November, 2016 have returned to the banking system, prompting the opposition to question efficacy of demonetisation in curbing black money.

Banks received Rs 15.31 lakh crore, or 99.3 percent, of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on 8 November, 2016, when the note ban was announced, it said.

This meant just Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency did not return to the banking system as against initial estimates of about Rs 3 lakh crore, as they may have been stashed away illegally to avoid tax.

The SBI report said that demonetisation and the introduction of the new notes has also aided a sharp decline in counterfeit notes by 31.4 percent to 5.23 lakh pieces in fiscal year 2017-18.

It also noted the positive impact on revenues because of the formalisation in the economy started due to the demonetisation and added that at least Rs 30,000 crore will come from the widened tax base.

"If we assume a trend 30 percent growth over FY18 numbers then at least around 2 crore new taxpayers will file their return in current fiscal. Assuming that 75 percent of such have filed with zero income and only 25 percent paying a minimal Rs 5,000 tax per month then Government will earn extra tax revenue of around Rs 300 billion over and above the trend estimates," it said.

It added that this is the minimum revenue the government will garner as most of the newly added taxpayers in the system are from the higher tax brackets.

The SBI economists also welcomed the shift in RBI communication strategies, noting that there is more focus on rigorous research now from the earlier strategy of public speeches.

Speeches by RBI's top management more than halved to 22 in 2017 and stand at only 10 for this year, it said, adding that there have been 12 'Mint Street Memos' (research papers on contemporary topics) since its launch last August.The impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 6,112.20 crore per annum and Rs 4,074.80 crore in the financial year 2018-19

New Delhi: The Cabinet on Wednesday approved additional 2 percent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), a move that will benefit about 1.1 crore central government employees and pensioners, an official release said.

The impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 6,112.20 crore per annum and Rs 4,074.80 crore in the financial year 2018-19 (8 months from July, 2018 to February, 2019).

The hike will be effected from 1 July, 2018, the release said.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

"The Union Cabinet...has approved to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 1 July, 2018 representing an increase of 2 percent over the existing rate of 7 percent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise," it said.

The hike will benefit about 48.41 lakh central government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners.

As per the release, the increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.Jet Airways had reported a whopping Rs 1,323 crore of net losses for June quarter due to higher fuel cost, falling rupee and low fares.

Mumbai: Cash-crunched Jet Airways on Tuesday said it has received an liquidity support of $300 million in the form of advance lease incentives and borrowings from domestic banks.

The airline, which reported a second consecutive quarterly loss of Rs 1,323 crore in three months to June, also reiterated that both the airline and its auditors are on the same page.

The company got a liquidity support of $300 million towards lease incentives and bank borrowings, Jet Airways deputy chief executive and chief financial officer Amit Agarwal said in an analysts call on Tuesday. Agarwal, however, did not give the breakup, but said, "A large proportion of it came from lease incentives."

The airline had on Monday reported a whopping Rs 1,323 crore of net losses for June quarter due to higher fuel cost, falling rupee and low fares. Total income marginally improved to Rs 6,066 crore, from Rs 5,953 crore a year ago. Jet Airways had reported a loss of Rs 1,036 crore inMarch quarter.

The two back-to-back losses forced the airline to draw up a revival plan, which includes capital infusion, a cost reduction programme of more than Rs 2,000 crore over two years, a plan to improve pricing, better inventory management, monetising its JetPrivilege programme and wet leasing some of its small aircraft.

The airline was earlier scheduled to announce the June quarter numbers on 9 August. But after AGM and board meeting, it informed the exchanges that the board did not consider the accounts as the company's audit committee was headless.

Chief executive officer Vinay Dube said that there was no difference of opinion with the auditors and they continued to audit the company's accounts. He also clarified that the June quarter results were postponed to take a call on the cost-reduction programme.

Dube during the call also said that the company's plan to induct 11 fuel-efficient Boeing 737 Max planes in the fleet by March were on track, adding that three such planes have already been delivered to the airline and two more are expected to join the fleet soon.

"Further, the induction of B737 Max will help us achieve the stated 8-10 percent growth plan," he said.

There are three big-ticket items under the comprehensive cost-reduction programme --maintenance cost, where the airline has already renegotiated contracts, sales and distribution cost and fuel optimisation, Agarwal told analysts.

He also said that the airline could sell and lease back some of the 16 planes which are owned by the airline to mop up funds. Of these, 10 are Boeing 777s, three Airbus A330s and rest Boeing 737s, he said, adding, the market value of these planes is pegged at around $ 750-800 million.

"Clearly there is a large equity sitting and Jet Airways can sell and lease back a some of these planes," he added.

Agarwal said the airline's total debt stood at Rs 8,620 crore as on 30 June, adding the firm plans to phase out Rs 2,200 crore debt in this fiscal year.(Reuters) - Emergent BioSolutions Inc said on Tuesday it would buy privately held Adapt Pharma, beefing up its portfolio with the only FDA approved needle-free emergency opioid overdose treatment often carried by police officers and medical teams.

(Reuters) - Emergent BioSolutions Inc said on Tuesday it would buy privately held Adapt Pharma, beefing up its portfolio with the only FDA approved needle-free emergency opioid overdose treatment often carried by police officers and medical teams.

The U.S. opioid addiction crisis claimed over 70,000 lives last year, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, with President Donald Trump in March recommending death penalty for drug dealers.

Trump also introduced an Adapt Pharma executive, Mike Kelly, during the event in New Hampshire and said he wanted to give first responders access to life-saving drugs that can reverse overdoses.

Narcan contains the chemical naloxone hydrochloride and was approved as a nasal spray in 2015. The U.S. Surgeon General released a public health advisory earlier this year urging more Americans to carry naloxone.

Tuesday's deal comprises an upfront cash-and-stock payment of $635 million and up to $100 million in cash linked to sales-based milestones through 2022, Emergent said.

The company will also gain access to Adapt's pipeline of treatments to address opioid overdose, as well as about 50 employees in the United States, Canada and Ireland.

The deal fits in with Emergent's strategy of developing treatments for public health threats and the company is currently developing a vaccine for bat-borne Nipah virus.

Emergent is looking to achieve or exceed its $1 billion in revenue goal in 2020 and as part of the plan recently acquired speciality vaccines company PaxVax.

(Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.By Joshua Franklin and Carl O'Donnell (Reuters) - Sotera Health, a private-equity owned company that operates facilities that sterilise medical products and food, is exploring a potential sale worth as much as $5 billion including debt, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The company's owners, Warburg Pincus and GTCR, are working with investment banks to assist them in the sales process, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Discussions are in the early stages and there is no guarantee a transaction will result, the sources added.

By Joshua Franklin and Carl O'Donnell

(Reuters) - Sotera Health, a private-equity owned company that operates facilities that sterilise medical products and food, is exploring a potential sale worth as much as $5 billion including debt, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The company's owners, Warburg Pincus and GTCR, are working with investment banks to assist them in the sales process, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Discussions are in the early stages and there is no guarantee a transaction will result, the sources added.

If a deal to buy the company is successful, it will be one of the largest private equity deals in the healthcare industry this year.

Warburg Pincus declined to comment. GTCR and Sotera did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sotera, which changed its name from Sterigenics International last year, could appeal to both private equity buyers and strategic buyers given the stability of its business, one of the people said.

The global private equity industry is sitting on more than more than $1 trillion in uninvested capital and is looking for attractive investments in many industries.

Earlier this year, buyout firm KKR & Co agreed to acquire Envision Healthcare Corp , one of the biggest U.S. providers of physicians to hospitals, for $9.9 billion, including debt.

Ohio-based Sotera has earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of around $400 million a year, the people said. As a private company, it does not release earnings publicly.

Sotera was acquired by GTCR in 2011 from private investment firms Silverfleet Capital and PPM America Capital Partners. In 2015, it sold a majority stake to Warburg Pincus.

The private equity firms have grown the business through a series of acquisitions, including a 2014 deal for Nordion, a producer of materials used in the sterilization process. Earlier this year, it acquired Gibraltar Laboratories, a provider of microbiology and analytical chemistry testing.

Sotera also sold its medical isotopes business to BWX Technologies Inc earlier this year, which it said allowed it to focus on faster-growing sterilization technologies.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin and Carl O'Donnell in New York; Editing by Bill Rigby)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Ruling out invoking of exceptional powers to issue directions to RBI, a top finance ministry official said on Wednesday that the central bank should take a pragmatic view on resolving stressed assets in the power sector

New Delhi: Ruling out invoking of exceptional powers to issue directions to RBI, a top finance ministry official said on Wednesday that the central bank should take a pragmatic view on resolving stressed assets in the power sector.

The Allahabad High Court has turned down a petition by independent power producers challenging the 12 February circular of the Reserve Bank of India which specified that if a resolution was not found by 27 August these accounts should be sent to bankruptcy courts.

The court, however, asked the Centre to talk to the central bank to get some relief for the petitioners using the provisions of the RBI Act within 15 days.

"The government is unlikely to issue directions to RBI under Section 7 of RBI Act. The section can be invoked only in exceptional circumstances and the power asset issue is too small to enforce Section 7 of RBI Act," the official said.

The section empowers the central government to give directions to RBI, after consultation with the Governor of the Bank, as it may consider necessary in the public interest.

Instead, the official stressed, RBI should take a "pragmatic view" on the issue of stressed power assets on which insolvency proceedings could get initiated.

The official said that as per the estimates of the finance ministry, "only 10 companies" will get impacted since the court has refused to grant relief to the stressed power companies and hence they would be covered by RBI's 180-day circular.

"Of this, five can be revived and five will be restructured through Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)," the official said.

In a bid to hasten the resolution of bad loans, RBI on February 12 abolished half a dozen loan restructuring schemes and instead provided for a strict 180-day timeline for banks to agree on a resolution plan in case of a default or else refer the account for bankruptcy.

Independent power producers had challenged the RBI order which mandated the lenders to initiate the process under IBC if resolution plan is not approved by 27 August.

Banks have an exposure of about Rs 1.74 lakh crore to the stressed power projects.By Norihiko Shirouzu BEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Itochu Corp is to invest less than 1 billion yen ($9.05 million) in Singulato Motors, a Chinese smart, connected electric vehicle startup  a deal that might lead to further partnerships with Japanese automakers and suppliers, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The two sources said that although Itochu's stake will be small, the deal should create opportunities for Singulato, in which Intel Corp also already has a small stake.

By Norihiko Shirouzu

BEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Itochu Corp <8801.T> is to invest less than 1 billion yen ($9.05 million) in Singulato Motors, a Chinese smart, connected electric vehicle startup  a deal that might lead to further partnerships with Japanese automakers and suppliers, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The two sources said that although Itochu's stake will be small, the deal should create opportunities for Singulato, in which Intel Corp also already has a small stake.

Those opportunities could include cooperation with Japanese companies, including some of Japan's automakers, which are scrambling to meet stringent Chinese production quotas for battery electric cars.

"This deal opens up for Singulato a possible deal for cooperation with one or two Japanese automakers or parts suppliers," said one of the two people.

Both sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak with reporters.

Itochu did not disclose the size of its investment in Singulato. A Beijing-based spokeswoman for Singulato declined to comment.

Itochu said in a statement, made available to Reuters by one of the two sources, that it sees a rare opportunity for companies like Singulato to break into the automotive market thanks to its shift to electrified propulsion technology, which it said should shake up an industry still largely based on the conventional internal combustion engine.

Itochu plans to take advantage of its car marketing and retailing know-how and expertise to help accelerate Singulatos development in China, which is emerging rapidly as a primary market for electrified vehicles.

Singulato plans to start producing and selling its first model, a fully-electric SUV called the iS6, by the end of 2018.

(Writing by Nick Carey; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.The stain of death and devastation wrought by Keralas worst flood in a century will take longer than a season to wash away.

New Delhi/Alapuzzha: More than a week after the floodwater began subsiding, animal carcasses are still floating in Keralas backwaters, and in places a nauseating stench rises like a wall when the wake from a passing boat breaks the surface. These inland lagoons running parallel to the coast are one of the biggest tourist draws in Indias most southwesterly state, but the stain of death and devastation wrought by Keralas worst flood in a century will take longer than a season to wash away.

The quaint towns and villages scattered between the lush forests and paddy fields bordering the backwaters are now communities in despair.

Houses in low-lying areas are still submerged, roads are waterlogged and the sewage from drains have washed into channels that are too slow-moving to effectively flush out the effluent.

Sudarsanan TK, a houseboat owner in the town of Alappuzha, had been looking forward to the peak tourist season, but as his home disappeared under 2.5 metres (eight foot) of water his family now have to live aboard the boat he would otherwise be renting to tourists from Europe, China, Malaysia and India.

Ive nothing left, but this houseboat. I dont know how I can repay my bank loan in this condition. The bank may take back my boat. I will have nothing at all then, Sudarsanan, a 64-year-old father of two, told Reuters.

Some 1,500 houseboats are tied up at Alappuzha, going nowhere, with many of the owners still paying off loans taken to buy the boats.

Sudarsanan owes about $8,600 on the loan taken eight years ago to buy the boat, and he could have earned up to $7,000 by December if the deluge hadnt washed away his hopes.

Hundreds of people perished in the flood and more than one million of Keralas 35 million people were forced to abandon their homes and take shelter in relief camps.

Blessed with natural beauty, fertile land and bountiful seas, Kerala has been dubbed Gods own country by its people, but the Marxists running the state government reckon it will need $3.57 billion to rebuild over the next two years.

Keralas GDP growth may fall by 2 percent, state Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac told Reuters, forecasting growth of 6 percent for the financial year ending next March.

Crops have been lost, the construction industry was dead for a month, and tourism, which contributes 10 percent of the states economy but accounts for about 25 percent of jobs creation, has been badly hit.

Festival washout

For discerning tourists looking for a more laidback Indian experience, Kerala has it all -- long sandy beaches, lazy waterways, charming, historic towns like Kochi and the cool, forested hills of the Western Ghats.

Kerala doesnt draw numbers like the northern tourist circuit, the so-called Golden Triangle running from New Delhi to the Taj Mahal in Agra, and Jaipurs palaces in the desert state of Rajasthan, but it has carved out a sizable niche.

Last year, one million foreigners visited Kerala, along with 15 million domestic tourists, but state government and industry officials reckon the flood will result in losses for the tourism sector of $357 million.

The floods struck just as Kerala was gearing up for Onam, the harvest festival which is one of the highlights of the states cultural calendar.

Festivities, including the spectacular Vallam Kali races involving traditional war canoes, some manned by more than 100 paddlers, were postponed.

Kerala has lost out on one of the best seasons, as the calamity struck during the 10-day run-up to Onam, said Ranjini Nambiar, who heads a travel consultancy.

Thousands of volunteers have joined a clean-up campaign mounted by the state, and Shilendran M, an executive with the CGH Earth luxury hotel chain, expected some kind of order to be restored within the next few weeks.

The state administration is working on a war footing, said Shilendran, whose group has more than a dozen properties in Kerala. We are limping back to normal.

Hardly anywhere in the state escaped the calamity. Ernakulam district, the biggest industrial and tourism contributor to Keralas economy and home to the historic city of Kochi, suffered major damage, and its busy international airport was shut for nearly two weeks.

Munnar, a hill resort overlooking the tea and cardamom plantations high in the Ghats was cut off, as bridges were washed away and landslides blocked roads.

Once every dozen years a bright purplish-blue bell-shaped flower called the Neelakurinji, blossoms on the slopes around Munnar--and this was one of those years.

The state tourism had marketed 2018 as the Kurunji year, but people in Kerala are more likely to remember the mud.The high-level delegation to Kerala will be led by Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan, an official statement said

New Delhi: The central government will hold a meeting with heads of banks and insurance firms on Wednesday to review relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken by them in the flood-hit Kerala.

The high-level delegation to Kerala will be led by Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The delegation will comprise of senior officers from the central government including the Additional Secretary, Debashish Panda and Economic Advisor N Srinivasa Rao from the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.

Chairmen and Managing Directors from public sector banks (PSBs) and insurance companies including Agriculture Insurance and Nabard along with the senior officers from the state government and other concerned agencies would also be present.

The meeting, to be held at Thiruvananthapuram, will review relief measures and rehabilitation efforts in the light of the large scale devastation caused by the recent floods in the state, the statement said.

Banks, it said, have undertaken various relief measures pertaining to re-opening of all submerged/flood affected branches and ATMs, exchange of soiled or mutilated currency and extension of loan repayment period etc.

Besides, all insurance companies have started processing various flood-related claims to ensure expeditious settlement.

They have already established Special Camp Offices, deployed additional Surveyors and waived document requirements etc. for speedier claims payment so that quick relief is ensured to the affected people, it said.

Meanwhile, the government has extended the due date for filing of income tax return for assessees by 15 days to September 15 in Kerala.

Widespread publicity is being given about various relief measures being undertaken, about setting-up of facilitation centres and appointment of Nodal Officers in the vernacular newspapers/electronic media for ensuring that maximum relief benefits are availed by the affected population, it said.The matter will now be heard on 24 September along with the original plea filed by Cyrus Investments challenging Mistry's removal from Tata Sons.

New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday admitted a petition moved by outsted Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus P Mistry seeking to set aside an order of a Mumbai-bench of the company law tribunal upholding his removal.

In the 9 July order, a bench of NCLT Mumbai had dismissed Mistry's plea challenging his removal as Chairman of Tata Sons.

Hearing the matter on Wednesday, the two members of the appellate tribunal, headed by its Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya admitted Mistry's petition, which he filed in his personal capacity.

The NCLAT also issued notices to Tata Sons and other respondents and asked them to reply in ten days.

The matter will now be heard on 24 September along with the original plea filed by Cyrus Investments challenging Mistry's removal from Tata Sons.

In his plea, Mistry also sought expunging of remarks and some words used in the 9 July order.

Mistry had on Tuesday filed the petition in his personal capacity, requesting the appellate tribunal to set aside the impugned 9 July order of the National Company Law Tribunal.

Last week, on 24 August, NCLAT passed an order over the petitions filed by the investments firm of Mistry family and directed Tata Sons not to force the companies to sell their shares in the Tata group firm.

The appellate tribunal had admitted the petitions of Mistry's family-run firms and posted the matter for hearing on 24 September.

It has also said that issues related to conversion of Tata Sons' into a private company from a public limited company would be decided by it at later stage.

Besides change to a private company, the investment firms had in NCLAT challenged the move by the company to restrict shareholders from freely selling their stake and the Article 75 of the articles of association that can be used by the board to force a shareholder to sell out.

"Taking into consideration the facts and that the appeal is pending and if the Appellants (investment firms) are forced to sell their shares which may affect the merits of the appeal, as they will cease to be member (s) of the company (Tata Sons).

"We direct the Respondents (Tata) not take any step in terms of Article 75 for transfer of shares of minority shareholders like Appellants (Mistry) and others during the pendency of the appeal," the appellate tribunal had said.

The Mistry family, which derives almost $17 billion of their fortune from the 18.4 percent stake in Tata Sons, had filed several lawsuits challenging ouster of Cyrus.

The Mistry camp had challenged the July 9 order of the Mumbai bench of the NCLT which dismissed their pleas against his removal as Tata Sons chairman, as also the allegations of rampant misconduct on part of Ratan Tata and the company's Board.

A special bench of the tribunal had held that the board of directors at Tata Sons was "competent" to remove the executive chairperson of the company.

NCLT bench members BSV Prakash Kumar and V Nallasenapathy had also said that Mistry was ousted as chairman because the Tata Sons' Board and its majority shareholders had "lost confidence in him.

Under the Companies Act 2013, an order of NCLT can be challenged before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). Mistry, who was the sixth chairman of Tata Sons, was ousted from the position in October 2016.

He had taken over as the chairman in 2012 after Ratan Tata announced his retirement.

Two months after his removal, Mistry's family-run firms Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Corp approached the NCLT as minority shareholders, against Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, and some other board members.

The investment firms in their plea, supporting Mistry, primarily argued that his removal was not in accordance with the Companies Act and that there was rampant mismanagement of affairs across Tata Sons.By Ayenat Mersie NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, with Brent at its highest in seven weeks and U.S. crude touching a three-week peak, supported by a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks and reduced Iranian crude shipments as U.S

By Ayenat Mersie

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, with Brent at its highest in seven weeks and U.S. crude touching a three-week peak, supported by a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks and reduced Iranian crude shipments as U.S. sanctions deter buyers.

Brent crude jumped $1.19, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $77.14, after touching $77.41, its highest since July 11.

U.S. oil settled 98 cents, or 1.4 percent higher at $69.51 a barrel, after touching $69.75, its highest since Aug. 7.

U.S. crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, exceeding the 686,000-barrel draw forecast by analysts polled by Reuters. [EIA/S]

"Crude oil got additional support today from the declining inventories across the board," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. Declining Iranian exports and reduced exports from Venezuela due to terminal damage also lent support to the price, he said.

U.S. crude's discount to Brent retreated slightly from the more than 10-week high hit Tuesday.

Oil prices were buoyed by indications that Iranian crude exports were falling faster than previously expected, analysts said.

Iran's crude oil and condensate exports in August are set to drop below 70 million barrels for the first time since April 2017, preliminary trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon show.

Many crude buyers have reduced orders from Iran, OPEC's third-biggest producer, ahead of the Nov. 4 start date for U.S. sanctions.

The head of Iraqi state oil producer SOMO said on Wednesday that the sanctions will prompt a crude shortage, and that OPEC will discuss compensating for the supply drop.

(GRAPHIC: Average Iranian crude exports by month - https://reut.rs/2LClnmH)

In Venezuela, where production has halved since 2016, the state-run oil firm PDVSA said on Tuesday it had signed a $430 million investment agreement to increase production by 640,000 bpd, although some analysts doubted whether this investment would go through given ongoing instability.

Meanwhile, the preliminary export plan for fellow OPEC member Angola indicates that its shipments have dropped to the lowest level since December 2006, as a lack of investment in ageing infrastructure limits production.

Despite the risk of disruption from these OPEC producers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said global supply could climb towards the end of the year, in part due to increased non-OPEC output from Canada, the United States and Brazil.

Norway's Equinor said it plans to develop new oil fields in Brazil and raise output from 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to between 300,000 and 500,000 boepd by 2030.

(GRAPHIC: Venezuela crude oil exports - https://tmsnrt.rs/2LvCPtl)

(Reporting by Ayenat Mersie; Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by David Evans and Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Under the Companies Act 2013, an order of NCLT can be challenged before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). Mistry, who was the sixth chairman of Tata Sons, was ousted from the position in October 2016.

New Delhi: Ousted Tata group Chairman Cyrus P Mistry has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the order of the Mumbai Bench of NCLT which upheld his removal as chairman of the company.

Mistry has filed the petition in his personal capacity, requesting the appellate tribunal to set aside the impugned order passed by the National Company Law Tribunal on 9 July. Besides, Mistry has also requested the appellate tribunal to pass any other relief, which it deems fit by it.

Mistry's petition is listed today at the NCLAT for hearing.

Last week, on 24 August, NCLAT passed an order over the petitions filed by the investments firm of Mistry family and directed Tata Sons not to force the companies to sell their shares in the Tata group firm.

The appellate tribunal had admitted the petitions of the Mistry's family-run firms Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and posted the matter for hearing on 24 September. It has also said that issues related to conversion of Tata Sons' into a private company from a public limited company would be decided by it at a later stage.

Besides change to a private company, the investment firms had in NCLAT challenged the move by the company to restrict shareholders from freely selling their stake and the Article 75 of the articles of association that can be used by the board to force a shareholder to sell out.

"Taking into consideration the facts and that the appeal is pending and if the Appellants (investment firms) are forced to sell their shares which may affect the merits of the appeal, as they will cease to be a member(s) of the company (Tata Sons).

"We direct the Respondents (Tata) not take any step in terms of Article 75 for transfer of shares of minority shareholders like Appellants (Mistry) and others during the pendency of the appeal," the appellate tribunal had said.

The Mistry family, which derives almost $17 billion of their fortune from the 18.4 percent stake in Tata Sons, had filed several lawsuits challenging ouster of Cyrus.

The Mistry camp had challenged the 9 July order of the Mumbai bench of the NCLT which dismissed their pleas against his removal as Tata Sons chairman, as also the allegations of rampant misconduct on part of Ratan Tata and the company's Board.

A special bench of the tribunal had held that the board of directors at Tata Sons was "competent" to remove the executive chairperson of the company.

NCLT bench members B S V Prakash Kumar and V Nallasenapathy had also said that Mistry was ousted as chairman because the Tata Sons' Board and its majority shareholders had "lost confidence in him.

Under the Companies Act 2013, an order of NCLT can be challenged before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). Mistry, who was the sixth chairman of Tata Sons, was ousted from the position in October 2016.

He had taken over as the chairman in 2012 after Ratan Tata announced his retirement.

Two months after his removal, Mistry's family-run firms Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Corp approached the NCLT as minority shareholders, against Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, and some other board members.

The investment firms in their plea, supporting Mistry, primarily argued that his removal was not in accordance with the Companies Act and that there was rampant mismanagement of affairs across Tata Sons.EarthFood's produce is priced some 0.5 percent to two percent higher than normally grown (fertiliser-driven) fruits and vegetables.

Farming without chemicals and pesticides seems to be a niche area as the produce from such efforts tends to be expensive. However, Pune-based EarthFood, founded by 33-year-old Nilesh Palresha of the VTP Group, has managed to move successfully on the residue-free' farming trajectory. The firm aims to sell relatively more affordable 'residue-free' produce.

Palresha, a mechanical engineer, first joined the family firm VTP Realty. After a few years, he decided to get into agriculture, where he felt he could work with traditional methods to keep pollution and wastage to a minimum. He took the plunge in 2015 on his 100-acre farm near Pune that follows good agricultural practices (GAP).

GAP is the use of specific methods in agriculture to create food for consumers that is safe and wholesome. The idea of following GAP is to supply 'global standard' vegetables and fruits in the domestic market. In Maharashtra, GAP are employed on around 0.6 percent of all farmland, Palresha told Firstpost. The GAP agriculture market is growing 18.3 percent every year.

Having attracted Rs 6.4 crore in May from 32-year-old Siddharth Khinvasara, Chairman of Pune-based Rairah Corporation, EarthFood got a co-founder. Khinvasara, talking about his investment, said Indias burgeoning start-up ecosystem is home to many youngsters moving towards farming but not everybody aspires to sell reasonably-priced residue-free produce.

Around 80 percent of the money infused by Rairah Corporation will be used to boost production, cultivate new land, for hydroponics, and for the the roll out of new products. The remainder will be used for sales and marketing that would help in enhancing the brand's footprint. EarthFood also plans to sell milk and milk products soon.

EarthFood's produce is priced some 0.5 percent to two percent higher than normally grown (fertiliser-driven) fruits and vegetables. Prices will not get affected by the volatility in market prices, according to the company.

EarthFood, which has a revenue of over Rs 1 crore, started selling fruits and vegetables in Mumbai, post-funding. It plans to enter Bengaluru soon.RBI detects 35% spike in Rs 100 counterfeit notes, an increase of 154.3% in Rs 50. Fake note makers are clearly now in love with small denominations now, writes @Dinesh_Unni.

Finally, three months short of the second anniversary of demonetisation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has completed the counting of banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that returned to the banking system post the note-ban. And the results are not too good considering the pain the economy went through post demonetisation.

Of the total value of Rs 15,417.93 billion SBNs (specified bank notes) demonetised, currency worth Rs 15,310.73 billion has returned to the banking system, according to the 2017-18 annual report of the RBI released on Wednesday. In other words, 99.3 percent of the total banned notes have returned home, or lets say almost all cash has been deposited back in the banks, including the notorious black money villain. That is a political setback for the Narendra Modi government, which was initially expecting Rs 3-4 lakh crore of black money to get extinguished outside the banking system post the demonetisation exercise.

The counting wasnt easy, complains the RBI annual report. This humungous task of processing and verification of SBNs was successfully achieved with the co-ordinated efforts put in by the workforce of the Issue Department of the Reserve Bank. The process involved working in two shifts under strenuous conditions, maintaining detailed records and planning effectively without compromising on other functions of currency management.

Urjit Patel, the successor to Raghuram Rajan at RBI, had drawn a lot of criticism in the last one and half years for not completing the counting fast enough. The above statement appears like an explanation by the central bank why it had to take its own sweet time to complete the task. The government had flagged the demonetisation exercise as a big weapon to attack black money held in cash. Hence, there was a lot of attention both in India and abroad about the final outcome of the RBIs counting exercise.

At least now we know that 99.3 percent of banned cash is back in the system; the logical question is what happened to all that talk of black money hunting touted as one of the biggest aims of the demonetisation exercise by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a nationally televised statement on the evening of 8 November 2016? Clearly, the expectation that tax cheats would not take unaccounted money to bank counters have fallen flat. Possibly, crooks used all the tricks, from distributing money in benami accounts to buying gold in bulk to making advance payments to employees and so on, and somehow managed to make the most of their cash. What now?

Well, the government can argue that not all money in bank accounts is white and can be traced back to sources to assess the legality. But then after nearly two years, how much has the tax department uncovered? The process is on but there has been no concrete, significant progress so far by the Income Tax Department. A few thousand crores have been unearthed under various raids so far. Only last Sunday, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu asked the I-T department to reveal the data on the two lakh who made high-value deposits post-demonetisation. The government is said to have identified close to Rs 3 lakh crore as potential black money in banks.

But, the problem is with finding sufficient proof to nail the culprits and recovering of the black money. If one goes by the past performance of the I-T department, it will take a decade to assess that kind of amount and make some material results. Even then, this amount appears too little compared to what is at stake. According to R Vaidyanathans Black Money and Tax Havens, the amount of money Indians have stashed in tax havens could be around Rs 65 lakh crore. Whereas the amount of domestic black money is estimated to be around Rs 15 lakh crore, a good amount of that is in the form of assets such as real estate and financial investments. With black money largely out of reach even after two years of demonetisation, it may be time to do another round of stock-taking of the demonetisation exercise.

What did we gain out of the exercise? A more formalised economy, of course. Bank deposits can be traced and we know who deposited where. The tax base would have widened and counterfeit note counters would have taken a knock at least in the short-term. But, is that really the case? No, the business is still intact, only the priorities have changed.

According to RBI annual report, there is a decline of 31.4 percent in counterfeit notes seized over the year, with nearly 60 percent reduction in Rs 500 and Rs 10,00 notes. But there was an increase of 35 percent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 100 and a noticeable increase of 154.3 percent in Rs 50.

Consider this against the pain of the demonetisation exercise inflicted on the formal/informal economy? The economy has been clearly hit by the note ban, particularly on the informal sector. Supply chains were broken and cash-intensive sectors had to undertake massive job cuts. The gross domestic product (GDP) would have grown at least a percentage point more if demonetisation never happened. Now, that the RBI has finished counting the notes and the money that didnt return to bank counters is a little over Rs 10,000 crore, can the government offer an explanation to what happened to all that black money?Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in circulation before 8 November, 2016, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned.

Mumbai: As much as 99.3 percent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system, the RBI said on Wednesday, indicating that just a miniscule percentage of currency was left out of the system after the government's unprecedented note ban aimed at curbing black money and corruption.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has taken an awfully long time to count the currency that was returned in the limited period window provided by the government to exchange or deposit the demonetised currency, said in its Annual Report for 2017-18 that the exercise is finally over.

Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on 8 November, 2016, when the note ban was announced, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned.

This meant just Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency did not return to the banking system.

After the note ban, old junked notes, called specified bank notes (SBNs), were allowed to be deposited in banks with unusual deposits coming under income tax scrutiny.

The "humungous task of processing and verification of specified bank notes (SBNs) was successfully achieved," it said.

The SBNs received were verified, counted and processed in the sophisticated high-speed currency verification and processing system (CVPS) for accuracy and genuineness and then shredded, it added.

RBI said the processing of SBNs has since been completed. "The total SBNs returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion."

A collateral damage as a result of rise in printing and other cost was dividend RBI pays to the government.

The government replaced old Rs 500 notes with new ones, but no replacement for Rs 1,000 notes have been made. Instead, a new Rs 2,000 notes were introduced post note ban.

Post-demonetisation, RBI spent Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17 on printing new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and other denomination notes, more than double the Rs 3,421 crore spent in the previous year.

In 2017-18 (July 2017 to June 2018), it spent another Rs 4,912 crore on printing of currency, the annual report said.

The demonetisation was hailed as a step that would curb black money, corruption and check counterfeit currency but RBI said, "Counterfeit notes detected in SBNs decreased by 59.7 and 59.6 percent in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, respectively."

"Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 35 percent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 100, while there was a noticeable increase of 154.3 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 50," RBI said adding that counterfeit notes detected in the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes during 2017-18 were 9,892 and 17,929 as against 199 and 638, respectively, during the previous year.DLF's CEO Rajeev Talwar said the real estate should not be treated as 'milching cow' and added that there is a case for even lowering the GST rate from current 12 percent

New Delhi: States should not levy stamp duty on affordable housing to boost demand for low cost homes, realty major DLF's CEO Rajeev Talwar said on Wednesday.

He said the Centre has already reduced GST on affordable housing to 8 percent and is also providing interest subsidy to home buyers.

"There should be no stamp duty on apartments up to 60 square meters," Talwar said while addressing a real estate conference organised by CII and property consultant CBRE.

He said the real estate should not be treated as 'milching cow' and added that there is a case for even lowering the GST rate from current 12 percent.

Talwar disagreed that the real estate sector has faced triple whammy in form of demonetisation, new realty law RERA and the GST, saying these are great reforms that will bring transparency in the sector.

DLF's CEO said there is huge opportunity in the real estate sector and asked developers to encash it by creating surplus housing stock.

CBRE Chairman India and South East Asia Anshuman Magazine said the RERA will drive demand for housing as the new legislation would boost consumer confidence.

He said the technology would be a big disruptor and game changer going forward in the real estate.

Realty portal Housing.com Chief Business Officer Mani Rangarajan said housing sales and launches have improved, while unsold inventories are getting reduced.

"Globally real estate is going for a change and we need to embrace change," he added.

Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) Chairman Getamber Anand stressed there is lot of action on the ground in affordable housing segment where margins are low but huge scope for volumes.

Anand also said after sales service is important in housing market.

Tata Housing MD & CEO Sanjay Dutt said for the company "living up to brand was important, sustaining it is also important".

He added that the reforms like RERA (Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act) would bring lot of discipline among developed but it will take 10-15 years for sector to become organised.Vedanta has to pay the principal royalty amount of Rs 54.48 crore within 14 days and the interest of Rs 43.03 crore in the next seven days. The total adds up to Rs 97.48 crore.

Panaji: In a move to recover the gains made from alleged illegal mining, the Goa's directorate of mines and geology has issued a Rs 97.48-crore demand notice to Vedanta towards non-payment of royalty for the financial years 2011 to 2013. The company is alleged to have illegally mined iron ore to the tune of 20,76,746 tonne during this period, according to the directorate of mines and geology (DMG).

The notice, issued on Tuesday by the DMG, Prasanna Acharya, directs Vedanta to pay the principal royalty amount of Rs 54.48 crore within 14 days and the interest of Rs 43.03 crore in the next seven days. The total adds up to Rs 97.48 crore.

A query sent to the Vedanta spokesman seeking comments was yet to be responded.

Goa had appointed a team of chartered accountants to go into the details of royalty evasion by various miners after being pointed out by MB Shah committee report, which was submitted to the Supreme Court in 2012, claimed that the state saw illegal mining to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore.

The notice mentions that "mere collection of dues will not absolve the company from any civil or criminal action." The royalty evasion has been pointed out to total nine iron ore leases of Vedanta in the tiny tourist state.

"The audit report prepared by the chartered accountants was summarised by the mining audit committee, which has made several observations, including payment of royalty by you on dry metric tonne basis instead of the wet metric tonne basis in respect of the above-mentioned leases," the notice, copy of which is with PTI, reads. "And as such the differential quantity of 20,76,746 on wet metric tonne on conversion of dry metric tonne to wet metric tonne remains without payment of royalty," it adds.

"Therefore, royalty becomes payable for ore extracted and dispatched by you for the financial years 2011 to 2013. The principal royalty amount to Rs 54,48,03,948 and the interest is Rs 43,00,30,642," the notice mentions.

The DMG had first issued a show cause notice to Vedanta on 4 August 2016 and was subsequently granted a personal hearing in the matter.

"The DMG notice further said the state has rejected your contention justifying payment of royalty on dry metric tonne basis. Therefore, you are liable to pay the principal amount of Rs 54,48,03,948, which is the difference of royalty arrived at by the mining audit committee on the quantity of 20,76,746 metric tonne along with interest at 24 percent which adds up to Rs 43,00,30,642," the notice says.Vistara CEO Leslie Thng on Wednesday said that the airline will receive its 22nd aircraft soon, and plans to add flights on existing routes to further strengthen the network.

Full-service air carrier Vistara will reportedly start international flights in October flying from New Delhi to Colombo in Sri Lanka and Phuket in Thailand.

According to Financial Express report, Vistara, which became eligible to start international operations with the addition of its 21st aircraft in June, wanted to launch flights to Dubai "but the quota under the India-Dubai bilateral is full."

"We are in the process of seeking necessary approvals from various authorities and finalising our international operations plans. More details will be shared at an appropriate time, a Vistara spokesperson was quoted as saying by the newspaper, talking about the airlines international plans.

In an interview with Moneycontrol , Vistara CEO Leslie Thng on Wednesday said that the airline will receive its 22nd aircraft soon, and plans to add flights on existing routes to further strengthen the network.

"At the moment, we are preparing for the launch of our international operations, which we aim to start before the end of this year to destinations within the range of our Airbus A320neo aircraft," Thng was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.

The airline, which currently has a fleet of 21 aircraft from A320 neo family, plans to add another 50 such planes.

Vistara commenced its commercial operations on 9 January 2015. Till date, it has flown over 9 million passengers, and currently serves 22 destinations with over 800 flights a week.

The company - TATA SIA Airlines - known by its brand name Vistara, is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51 percent in the company and SIA holding the remaining 49 percent.

Meanwhile, Wadia group-owned budget carrier GoAir is also all set to fly international from October, with the first flight to operate on the Mumbai-Phuket route, a source privy to the development said on Tuesday.

GoAir, which became eligible to fly overseas more than two years ago when it took delivery of its 20th aircraft, which was also the first Airbus A320 Neo for the airline, will be the fifth domestic carrier to have international operations.A decade ago, 10 jihadi fighters from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), arriving by sea from Pakistan's port city of Karachi, landed on the coast of Mumbai and carried out coordinated terror attacks at multiple locations

India will mark the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks on 26 November. A decade ago, 10 jihadi fighters from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), arriving by sea from Pakistan's port city of Karachi, landed on the coast of Mumbai and carried out coordinated terror attacks at multiple locations, killing 166 people and wounding over 300.

It appears now that Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) may be planning a seaborne attack of its own against India. JeM is led by Masood Azhar, one of the three terrorists freed by India in exchange for the passengers of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 hijacked en route Kandahar in 1999. For both LeT and JeM, India is the main target.

In recent months, JeM's weekly newspaper Haftroza Al-Qalam has been publishing reports and analyses about the importance of jihad on oceans. The first indication that JeM may be thinking of seaborne missions emerged this year when Haftroza Al-Qalam published in its issue dated 6 to 12 April a short report stressing the theological importance of jihad on oceans. The report quoted Prophet Muhammad as saying: "Some people from my ummah (global Islamic community) rode on the oceans as a king sits on a throne".

Subsequently, the JeM chief wrote a column on this subject. In a column in Haftroza Al-Qalam in the 29 June to 5 July edition, Azhar said, "Allah has offered a special blessing for 'oceanic jihad'  jihad on water, jihad on sea, jihad riding on the chest of water. This jihad is 10 times more important than the jihad on land", as per a translation of his columns available from the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington, DC.

Azhar also stressed that Umar ibn Khattab, the second caliph of Islam who ruled from 634 to 644 CE, had issued a binding order to all his governors to ensure that "every Muslim will teach their children swimming, archery and horseback riding". A month before this column, a statement of Azhar was shared on Telegram in which he said, "Today the mujahideen are in Kashmir, Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai too."

The Pakistani State's role in promoting JeM cannot be ruled out. Azhar's Urdu newspaper is published and sold openly in the streets of Pakistan. Also, he continues to operate from Usman-o-Ali Markaz, a mosque-cum-training centre functioning as the JeM's headquarters in the city of Bahawalpur. Every year, JeM organises conferences on the interpretation of what it calls "jihadi verses" of the Quran. These conferences are organised by Al-Rehmat Trust, a charity arm of JeM.

Azhar wrote another column in the Haftroza Al-Qalam issue dated 6 to 12 July, announcing that many individuals have learnt swimming. He said, "For the pleasure of Allah, we have started this campaign and as per our resources, we have made some arrangements too. All praise be to Allah, several individuals have learned (how to swim)." In this column, the jihadi commander also predicted that a lakh individuals would have learnt swimming before the onset of the winter in December 2018.

As the 10 anniversary of 26/11 approaches, this theme of jihad on oceans has appeared frequently in this Urdu-language weekly. In an article in Haftroza Al-Qalam (13 to 19 July edition), jihadi cleric Muhammad Mansoor Ahmed wrote that swimming is useful in natural disasters and added, "Swimming also benefits jihadi training. Because in any war, a need arises to cross a pond, canal, river or sea. This is a natural fact. In today's wars, blockading of seas has fundamental importance from a defence point of view."

Should India take such pieces of writing seriously? Given the fact that Azhar is backed by the Pakistani State, especially the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), India cannot be complacent.

Pakistani Taliban commander Adnan Rasheed, a former employee of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), revealed in a 2013 interview that JeM is a sub-unit of the ISI, stating that a unit called "Idarat-ul-Pakistan" was formed inside the Pakistani military to train jihadis in the army, navy and air force. Rasheed, who trained under JeM while serving in PAF, said he was told by his boss: "There is no difference between us and JeM. We are soldiers in uniform and they are soldiers without uniform."

The other worrying point about the jihadi threat originating from Pakistan is a visible parallel between the 11 September, 2001 attacks in the US and the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. On 9/11, jihadis hijacked planes to launch airborne attacks on New York, Washington and other targets in the US. On 26/11, the jihadis took GPS-guided boats to launch attacks on Mumbai. At present, the JeM and the LeT are the lead jihadi groups backed by the Pakistani State against India, especially in Kashmir. We live in an era in which jihadi groups are well-fed, well-trained and well-backed by various States. If the JeM was not backed by Pakistani state, one could take a milder view of jihad on oceans espoused by its leadership.

The author is a former BBC journalist and senior fellow at the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington, DC. He tweets @tufailelifThe children, mostly tribals, and some were allegedly converted to Christianity in Ludhiana, after being lodged in a missionary-run child shelter home.

Thirty-four children, mostly tribals, were allegedly trafficked from Bihar and Jharkhand to Ludhiana in Punjab and some were converted to Christianity, a police official said on Wednesday.

They were lodged in a missionary-run child shelter home in Ludhiana, Superintendent of Police (SP), West Singhbhum, G Kranthi Kumar, said.

Kumar said the police swung into action after Jyotsana Tirkey, a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Chaibasa, lodged a complaint on 26 August. Her complaint was based on a media report that claimed that 34 children from Chaibasa in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district and Bihar were illegally kept in a missionary-run child shelter home in Ludhiana, he said.

Following the complaint, a police team was sent to Ludhiana and it along with the Punjab Police arrested a man He was produced at a court there before he is brought to Chaibasa on transit remand, the officer said. "Police has contacted 12 children of the 20 reportedly sent back to West Singhbhum before the police team reached there (Ludhiana) following disclosure of the alleged human trafficking incident," Kumar said.

Police are trying to trace the remaining children.

The 34 children from Bihar and Jharkhand were also admitted to an illegal school in Ludhiana, and later shifted to another city-based school which was registered under the JJ Act and legal, the SP said.

Two each are from Khunti and Ranchi are still pursuing their studies in the legal school, he said, adding that the matter is being investigated. Kumar said the school, which was running illegally, did not inform the local CWC members about the children brought from Jharkhand and Bihar.

On the alleged conversion, he said it was a matter of investigation, but prima facie, the report stated that some children were converted. "We'll be in a position to comment only when the man arrested in this connection is brought here," he said.

The SP said as per record, around 300 children from Jharkhand were taken to Ludhiana, Punjab, since 2006.

The Chaibasa CWC member, Tirkey, also alleged that attempts were being made to convert them to Christianity and engaged them as child labour. Tirkey alleged that the child shelter home authorities had sent back 30 children, including the 20 form West Singhbhum, without informing the members of CWC in Chaibasa and Ludhiana. Four children were shifted to other child homes, she said in the complaint.

Junul Longo, a resident of Serenga village under Gudri police station of West Singhbhum district, had allegedly lured the children on the false promise of education and employment.

On the basis of the complaint, Kumar has constituted a police team, headed by Anti-Human Trafficking Unit Officer-in-charge Banarasi Ram, and sent them to Ludhiana to bring back the remaining children.

The SP aid most of the children were from Gudri, Sonua, Goilkera, Chaibasa and other remote areas of West Singhbhum district. "We are yet to contact some children living in remote areas after their return from Ludhiana," he said.At the memorial service held for late Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, former prime minister Manmohan Singh while paying homage said that best way to preserve his memory is to stand firm in the defence of the Constitution.

New Delhi: The best way to preserve the memory of Somnath Chatterjee is to "stand firm in defence" of constitutional democratic values, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday at an event here to pay tribute to the Communist veteran who passed away earlier this month.

Singh hailed Chatterjee as "a great son of India, a great parliamentarian, a great jurist and above all a person who was deeply steeped in preserving and protecting the constitutional democratic values in our times".

"For me, he was a father figure, a scholar, a great son of India, a great parliamentarian, a great jurist, whose memory needs to be preserved, protected. And the best way we can protect this is to stand firm in defence of the constitutional democratic values which are enshrined in our Constitution," the former prime minister told the gathering.

He also remembered the stand Chatterjee took when the UPA-I "got into difficulties" with the Left, which withdrew support and joined hands with the BJP to move a no-confidence motion against the government. "That was a very difficult time, when Somnath ji rose to the occasion to the highest constitutional values and he said 'I will protect the Constitution, I will protect the role of the Speaker. I love the party, but the party is not above these constitutional values'," Singh recalled.

Former vice president Hamid Ansari, speaking at the event, said the values of parliamentary democracy seemed to be under threat and the best tribute to the former Lok Sabha speaker would be to "dedicate ourselves to guarding the values he cherished". Describing Chatterjee as a "great son of Kolkata", Ansari said he was a man dedicated to the Constitution and constitutional values. "Dedicated not only to Parliament and parliamentary democracy in words, but in actual practice. These are values, as previous speakers have mentioned, (that) seem to be under threat. The principles of the Constitution, all summed up in one page, the first page, are subscribed to as a ritual rather than as something to be taken on as agenda of work to be implemented," Ansari spoke.

He further added,"The very idea of India tends to be questioned somewhat lightheartedly. I think the best tribute we can pay to him, is to dedicate ourselves to guarding the values he cherished, guarding the values of parliamentary democracy, in fact, not in words, parliamentary democracy as a guarantee to our freedoms, and the whole structure of constitutional values and constitutional institutions that have been put in place, which he cherished and served to the best of his abilities."

Singh said he has always believed that India needs strong growth to raise resources, which can then be redistributed, but that does not mean that social justice does not matter. "Inequalities in our country if they grow...they can be a disruptive force," he said, emphasising the need for a two-forked strategy of growth and social justice. He said his association with Chatterjee began in 1991, when he became the finance minister, but added that his association with Chatterjee's family started much before that.

Singh also narrated an anecdote about his time as a student at Hindu College in Amritsar when N C Chatterjee, father of Somnath Chatterjee, had came to deliver the convocation address. "He (N C Chatterjee) noticed that at the prize distribution function, I grabbed all the important prizes and he said, 'Young man I see a very bright career for you'.

Singh further added, "In 1991, when I became the finance minister, we had a fierce opposition from the CPI(M) in Parliament and Somnath ji was the leader of the parliamentary party at that time. He vehemently criticised the economic policies and the direction we were taking the country and I had the privilege of listening to him with great respect."

Singh said he had a number of discussions with Chatterjee and got the feeling that although the Communist veteran was under pressure from party hierarchy, he did recognise the compulsions under which he was working to take the country to a "somewhat different direction" than the Left wanted. "He (Chatterjee) conducted himself with great dignity and in any way that he could, he sought to strengthen the constitutional norm and the constitutional values," he narrated.

Congress leader and former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy said Chatterjee had seen the "threat from fascism" long time ago and there was a need to derive inspiration from his values of liberalism.

Tapan Kumar Sen of the CPI(M) and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Amarjit Kaur stated that the best tribute to Chatterjee would be to fight for the liberal democratic values that he espoused.

Several others associated with Chatterjee also paid their tributes to him at the event.

Chatterjee passed away at a private hospital in Kolkata following multiple organ failure on 13 August. He was 89.The arrest of five Left-wing activists for their alleged involvement with the Maoist insurgency movement has created widespread furore in India.

The arrest of five Left-wing activists for their alleged involvement with the Maoist insurgency movement has created widespread furore in India. The case lies on the intersection of national security, human rights and Leftist ideology of armed struggle against the state. This contentious subject partly explains the tsunami of outrage. However, the case also raises disturbing questions about political opportunism and medias blatantly partisan positioning.

The facts of the case, at this stage, are sparse. The arrests were carried out by Pune Police on Tuesday following simultaneous raids across Mumbai, Thane, Ranchi, Delhi, Hyderabad and Faridabad. According to reports, those arrested or put under house arrest now include Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao. Cops had also landed on the doorsteps of Jesuit priest Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa but they were not arrested. The focus has now shifted to Supreme Court.

These rights activists, writers and lawyers have been charged with harbouring links with Communist Party of India (Maoist)  a Maoist rebel outfit banned by India in 2009. The then UPA government had termed it a terrorist organisation and slapped Section 41 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on it.

Incidentally, the raids and arrests of the five accused on Tuesday were carried out under the relevant sections of the stringent UAPA law. The police have also invoked IPC sections 153A, 505(1)(b), 117, 120(b) and 34 against the activists.

The police swoop, arrests, charges and ongoing courtroom developments have shaped public discourse along expected lines. Police say the activists were involved in inciting riots during the Bhima Koregaon violence in January this year and claim that all of them are ideologues associated with the banned terrorist outfit. Rights defenders, Leftist intellectuals and the Opposition call it a crushing of dissenting voices by a brutally authoritarian regime.

Police assert that the arrests are a result of a seven-month-long investigation following the Bhima Koregaon violence in January. They also claim to have unearthed a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At this point, it is worth remembering that well may the police take the accused in custody, the Indian state has to justify its action in courts and subject itself to judicial scrutiny. If their evidence is poor, the case will be thrown out.

The Supreme Court might be busy judging the merits of the case, the arrests have already fallen between the twin stools of ideological adherence and pathological hatred towards Narendra Modi. Assorted intellectuals and a section of media are calling it an open expression of Modi governments fascism and imposition of Emergency 2.0.

Arundhati Roy has termed it more serious and more dangerous than the Emergency. She told The Hindu: events that are unfolding are being fuelled by an intent to do away with democracy and turn this country into a Hindu state. She also detected a panic among the government that fears it is losing the mandate.

Historian Ramachandra Guha has called the events absolutely chilling.

This is absolutely chilling. The Supreme Court must intervene to stop this persecution and harassment of independent voices. Sudha Bharadwaj is as far from violence and illegality as Amit Shah is close to those things. https://t.co/GTD2V0Tlk7  Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 28, 2018

According to lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan: Fascist fangs are now openly bared. It is a clear declaration of emergency. They are going after anyone who has spoken against the government on rights issues. They are against any dissent. The rhetoric hasnt stopped there. Social media is awash with comparisons of the arrests with McCarthyism or Pre World War 2 Germany.

Arrests of Left activists/intellectuals is McCarthyism taken to another level. Playbook: use commando-comic channels to malign those you want to fix with zero evidence, then arrest them on nothing charges but draconian laws. Courts will be tested for their wisdom & spine  Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) August 28, 2018

We are moving towards pre world war 2 #Germany. Something like the #Reichstag fire conspiracy that Adolf Hitler manipulated to crush and assassinate Communists in Germany @bhupendrachaube @gauravcsawant @maryashakil  Saira Shah Halim (@sairashahhalim) August 29, 2018

It is possible that the intellectuals are right. The police are out on a witch hunt against the accused. At this stage, however, it is impossible to come to this conclusion. Some of the activists who have been arrested on Tuesday have been detained or have faced travel restrictions in the past. Navlakha was detained on arrival at the Srinagar airport in 2011 and not allowed to enter the city. The authorities had served him an order under Section 144 of CrPC and restrained from entering Srinagar.

Navlakha has courted controversy in the past due to his writings on Kashmir which is perceived as pro-separatist. Telugu poet and Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao was arrested in 2005 from Andhra Pradesh. He was later acquitted. Prior to that, Rao was jailed for two years in the 1980s on charges of waging a war and conspiring against the state. Vernon Gonsalves was arrested in 2007 by the Mumbai anti-terrorism squad.

He was convicted seven years later by a Nagpur Sessions Court under the UAPA. According to a report in The Indian Express, Gonsalves and Sridhar Srinivasan (both central committee members of CPI(Maoist)) were planning a terror attack in 2007 when the ATS raided their chawl and recovered nine detonators, 20 gelatin sticks, a walkie-talkie set, a computer and Naxal literature. Arun Ferreira, also arrested by Pune police on Tuesday, was detained by the police in 2007 along with a Naxal leader Arun Satya Reddy alias Murali in Nagpur.

Eight cases under UAPA were lodged against him. He was later granted bail. While past incidents cannot be taken to suggest culpability in present, it nevertheless provides some perspective. The over-the-top reactions from Leftist intellectuals reflect a desperation to mount a political challenge against BJP at the cost of undermining national security. A larger point, not related to any specific case, must be made here. Political opposition against the Modi government cannot justify intellectual ballast for Maoist terrorism.

Ideology isnt enough to wage war against the state. It requires funding and other forms of support. The caregivers are no less culpable than those who pick up guns against the state. The issue goes much beyond political bickering between parties, which is why Congresss position in the current controversy reeks of opportunism and hypocrisy. Following the arrest, Rahul Gandhi has posted an intellectually dishonest tweet, considering the fact that many Maoist sympathisers were arrested by the Indian government led by his own party.

There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 28, 2018

The draconian arrests of Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves & other human rights activists further substantiate the anti-democratic actions of the ruling govt. PM Modis New India is nothing but a dictatorship wrapped in expensive advertising. #BhimaKoregaon  Congress (@INCIndia) August 28, 2018

Congress leader Salman Khurshid has claimed that an atmosphere imposing restrictions on dissent is enveloping the country, while commenting on the arrests. Congress, its leaders and its president might be suffering from selective amnesia. They need to be reminded of former prime minister Manmohan Singhs oft-repeated words on the dangers of Maoist terrorism. In 2010, to mark the completion of one year of UPA 2 in office, Singh had said: I have been saying for the last three years that Naxalism remains the biggest internal security challenge facing our country.

What makes the Congress presidents position insidious is the way he has shifted stance on national security. In 2010, doctor and civil rights activist Binayak Sen was found guilty of sedition by court for helping the Maoists. Sen was arrested on 14 May, 2007, from Bilaspur. Top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy was arrested in September 2009 from Delhi. Ghandys arrest was touted to be a big catch, that would deal a serious blow to Maoist movement.

Ferreira, as has been mentioned, was first arrested in 2007 for alleged links with Maoists. Following his acquittal by a Chandrapur sessions court, he was released in 2011 but was rearrested as soon as he stepped out of jail. He was granted bail later, according to a report in The Times of India. Congresss hypocrisy has been called out on social media.

Errr.. just a small inconvenient piece of info: Vernon Gonsalves was arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad on 19 August 2007 with Nine detonators & 20 gelatin sticks planning a terror attack. Duly convicted by court under the Arms & Explosives Act. Under Congress CM & PM. https://t.co/VQOdPSpQc3  Yashwant Deshmukh (@YRDeshmukh) August 29, 2018

It is unlikely that the party understands the problem it is creating for itself by shifting to the ultra-left corner in Indian polity. The threat of Maoism is real, and the violent extremist movement has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. Its threat, as The Economist had written in 2006, is low-key, insidious, and, to the city-dweller, largely invisible. Yet it now affects at least 170 of India's 602 districts: a red corridor, running from the Nepali border in the north to the state of Karnataka in the south. It takes in some of the poorest parts of India, and in particular forests inhabited mainly by tribal peoples. In some places Naxalites have, in effect, replaced the state

Faced with such a challenge to its writ, the nation-state will fight back. The police says that speeches made at the Elgaar Parishad meeting in Pune on 31 December 2017, a day ahead of the bicentennial celebration of Bhima Koregaon battle, were one of the triggers for the violence that was witnessed in and around Pune the next day.

There is a very real fear that Maoist extremism is trying to hijack the Dalit movement in India because it sees an opportunity to develop a common cause against the so-called right-wing government at the Centre.

Tuesdays arrests, according to reports, are also the culmination of the investigation launched by the police since January and build on the detentions of five alleged Maoist operatives made in June this year. Sudhir Dhawale, Roma Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling are now lodged in Yervada central prison in Pune.

Mumbai Mirror quotes an officer of the probe team as saying, After the arrest of the five activists in June, we came across some communication between those arrested earlier and now. We were able to get evidence on them (arrested on Tuesday) hatching a conspiracy. It is too early to reveal the details.

The details could be materials that point to an assassination plot targeting Modi in Rajiv Gandhi-like manner. In its submission before the Pune Sessions court, the police claimed to have seized a letter from the house of one of the five activists arrested in June.

The final point is about the medias partisan positioning. The arrests of Leftist intellectuals have triggered a no-holds barred attack on the government despite the fact that the well-connected activists enjoy wide structural, moral, social, legal and even political backing. Lawyers are ready to represent them even at the stroke of midnight hour. A few hours within the arrest, a battery of top lawyers had moved the Supreme Court on their behalf.

Yet the media narrative pronounces them as hapless dissenters hounded and persecuted by the state for their political beliefs. Terms such as poet, writer, thinker are used to blunt criticism, provoke outrage and mask the intellectual slant towards a violent ideology. This stance contrasts deeply with those accused of perpetrating saffron terror. Within hours of arrest of a member of an organisation like the Sanatan Sanstha, the media acts as the judge, jury and executioner and pronounces the accused guilty. Not just that. The guilt trail reaches all the way to the top and ends at Modis doorstep. This thematic difference in coverage points to an ideological brainwashing of mainstream media.Following the protest at Hyderabad's Ambedkar statue, the police detained all the activists and professors and shifted them to Goshamahal Police Ground

Hyderabad (Telangana): Activists and academics staged a protest on Wednesday at Hyderabad's Ambedkar statue demanding the release of poet and activist Varavara Rao, who was arrested on Tuesday by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Following the protest, the Hyderabad police detained all the activists and professors and shifted them to Goshamahal Police Ground.

Speaking to ANI, Civil Liberties Committee state president professor Laxman said, "This is an illegal arrest. We were staging a short protest that we were planning. They have not allowed us to protest for at least five minutes. After Varavara Rao's arrest yesterday, in sympathy and solidarity to him, we staged this protest. I'm very disappointed with it."

On Tuesday, raids were carried out by the Pune Police in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane, with informed sources telling ANI that Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varnan Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were the five activists arrested in connection with the incident. Another activist, Sandhya, said the arrest was an "undemocratic attitude."

Shocked over her father's arrest, Varavara Rao's daughter Sujatha said "At around 6 am on Tuesday, the police barged into our house, seized our phones and started their search which continued for two long hours. They confiscated all papers, hard discs and mobile phones. They also raided my two other sisters' place. When we asked them if they have a warrant in this matter, they said a warrant is not needed if Rao is already involved in the case."

The police Tuesday booked all five activists under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

In January 2018, violence erupted in Bhima Koregaon village during the gathering to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the incident.The arrests of five activists from various cities across India in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence by the Pune Police was done 'under government's pressure,' said advocate Susan Abraham, who is the wife of Vernon Gonsalves  one of the activists arrested.

Mumbai: The arrests of five activists from various cities across India in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence by the Pune Police was done "under government's pressure," said advocate Susan Abraham, who is the wife of Vernon Gonsalves  one of the activists arrested.

Talking about the arrests, Abraham on Tuesday told ANI, "This is being done under government's pressure. If you think Bhima Koregaon was an assassination plot, then file an FIR. You've made this case, will it stand before the court?"

The raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane. As per sources privy to the latest developments in the case, Varavara Rao, Arun Farreira, Gautam Navlakha, Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police.

The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B, 117, 120 B, 13, 16, 18, 20, 38, 39, 40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Sudha Bhardwaj's advocate Sanjeev Choudhary said, "Out transit bail application was dismissed. We had informed Chief Judicial Magistrate that the High Court in Chandigarh intervened and passed an interim order that Pune Police won't take her under custody and she will be under house arrest for three days."

"The matter will once again be taken up before the Chandigarh high court after three days. Still, the Pune Police arrested her. It's a complete violation of the order of the high court," he added.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively and Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.The repeal of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) figured prominently in the Common Minimum Programme of the first UPA government.

The repeal of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) figured prominently in the Common Minimum Programme of the first UPA government. It was done through an ordinance in September 2004.

Brought during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government in the post 9/11 world, and following the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001, POTA was swiftly enacted to replace the earlier Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), which the PV Narasimha Rao-led government allowed to lapse back in 1995. When it was enacted, Vajpayee had said that POTA was Indias boldest initiative to combat terrorism, disband terror outfits and possibly cut channels of terror funding.

The repeal of POTA was in sync with the enactment of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 2004 that inserted into UAPA 1967 certain features of POTA. The hazy definition of what comprises a terrorist act that was taken from TADA to POTA can also be seen in the new act.

Arjun Sheoran, the lawyer representing human rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj (arrested by Pune Police in the raids linked with the Bhima Koregaon violence), said that the definition of unlawful activities in Section 2 of the Act includes disclaiming or questioning the territorial integrity of India. Up until here, it seems fine. But the third clause on disaffection against India. These words are vague and broad and if the disaffection doesnt lead to violence, then it doesnt amount to an offence, explained Sheoran, adding that the Act prohibits anticipatory bail.

Section 43D modifies the CPRC and doubles the police remand, so instead of 15 days of police remand, judicial custody can be extended to 180 days without a trial, he said, adding that the law is enacted in ordinary course by the police unlike the TADA, which had a time limit on it and lapsed. What is left behind is a differently branded version of the TADA.

POTA's definition covered political dissenters, allowed pre-trial detention and reversed the presumption of innocence of the person accused. The UAPA defines a person engaging in a terrorist act as whoever does any act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic security or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.

It includes means or show of criminal force, death or attempts to cause death of any public functionary, detaining, kidnapping or abduction of any person, and threats to kill or injure such person or any other act in order to compel the Government of India. A 2010 report titled Back to the Future: India's 2008 Counterterrorism Laws, Human Rights Watch stated that Indias counter-terrorism laws authorize warrant-less search, seizure and arrest with wide authority and few safeguards, and compulsion of information from third parties without a court order.

Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj said her mobile, laptop and pen drive were seized. She also said she feared that her data would be toyed around with. She  along with Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves  were taken into custody on Tuesday. The Supreme Court has ordered that the five arrested activists be kept under house arrest till 6 September, when the court will hear the matter next. The court has also issued a notice to the Maharashtra police, seeking a response from the government by then.

The UAPA brought under its ambit economic offences that threatened Indias economic and national security, seeking to encompass economic crimes like currency counterfeiting which threaten the economic stability of the country. The widened scope also included raising of funds both from legitimate or illegitimate sources by a terrorist organisation, terrorist gang or by an individual terrorist. It simultaneously broadened the scope of the definition with respect to perpetrators of crime to include individuals, companies, associations of individuals and companies, societies or trusts.

Some Indian terror groups were using fake Indian currency notes (FICN) to fund their activities. In fact, former defence minister AK Antony had gone on record saying that FICN has been a well-known source of funding for terror groups operating in India. In February 2018, the Lok Sabha was informed that FICN of face value Rs 21.54 crore was seized by security agencies after demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. Factoring in the escalation in potential damage that FICN can cause, this issue was taken into account in the UAPA Amendment Act 2012.

The UAPA is a bogus act brought in by the Congress and misused by the present government. Both poles of Indian politics are the same. A habeas corpus petition is of no use because it is known that the police has detained him, said Anil Chaudhary, who runs Popular Education & Action Centre (PEACE) in New Delhi.

Henry Tiphange, who is the executive director of Peoples Watch, has issued a communication to the NHRC on behalf of the Human Rights Defenders Alert India, a national network for the protection and promotion of human rights defenders in the country. It is stated in the petition that the arrests under UAPA also make up an attempt by the Maharashtra government to curtail the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.

"The UAPA has several draconian provisions and one of them is allowing detention without filing of a chargesheet for up to 180 days. These arrests under UAPA are undertaken also to deter other organisations, movements and individuals who are calling for actions against pro-Hindutva leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, who have a history of allegations against them for causing communal and caste tensions, rioting, etc. It is pertinent to note here that in the complaints and FIRs against Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, UAPA was not invoked by the same police," Tiphange said. He shared with Firstpost that the only hope for the human rights defenders community at this stage is that the Delhi High Court intervened in the case of Gautam Navlakha.

Much like the developments globally forced the Indian government to rethink its responses in counterfeiting financing of terrorism, India also needs to put in place an institutionalised mechanism that can coordinate the workings of its multiple anti-terror agencies. This brings the debate of fighting terror to the lack of establishment of the National Counter Terrorism Centre. After the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, the then home minister P Chidambaram had outlined the need for NCTC. But the cabinet committee on security didnt clear the proposal till 2012. "Such an organisation does not exist today. I am told the United States was able to do it within 36 months of 11 September, 2001. India cannot afford to wait for 36 months. India must decide now to go forward and India must succeed in setting up the NCTC by the end of 2010," Chidambaram had said.

The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), an intelligence-sharing fusion centre functioning under the Intelligence Bureau, was to be subsumed under it. The non-establishment of the NCTC, which was to derive its powers from the UAPA, is a reason for worry. Manoj Shrivastava, who has held intelligence-based appointments in Jammu and Kashmir and in Military Intelligence Directorate at Army Headquarters, has argued in his book Re-Imagining Indian Intelligence that by giving the NCTC independent powers of arrest, Chidambaram gave a clandestine police agency powers of arrest that could be misused for political purposes and that infringed on the rights of the state, thereby inviting opposition from them in this so-called jointmanship to counter terror. The overarching result of this is that the idea of the NCTC stands as a politicised measure to subvert and supress the powers of the state.

The inter-agency coordination remains a grave challenge at the level of the Centre and the state. In May 2018, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs recommended that the MHA should immediately revive the idea of the NCTC as a single, unified counter-terrorism agency and re-issue the notification laying down the power, functions and duties of NCTC.

Brigadier V Mahalingam, a former Force Commander of the National Security Guard and a defence analyst, has published a report titled Countering Terrorism: The Way Forward for the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis. He stressed on the need for a strategic planning body, investigations and execution arm besides the intelligence outfit and that each of them must be placed under appropriate professional heads. "MHA is a busy body dealing with multifarious issues from Telangana to North East to honours and awards and the IB lacks the status and the authority to be able to demand information from the states, other agencies and departments within the country," he said. He also went on to ask whether any IB operation can take place without the local police in operations of navigating, translation of data and supply skills sensitive to local needs.

To increase the quality of sustained investigations, the state police must work in tandem with central agencies so that if and when arrests are made on charges of terrorism, both the law and the machinery that executed it arent accused of political motives.Intellectuals make up not more than five percent of the population of India, and it is they alone who are bothered about freedom of speech, freedom of the press and other civil liberties

The recent raids and arrests of human right activists, lawyers and writers like Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautama Navlakha, Varavar Rao, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in several cities in India is a clear indication that liberal democracy and civil liberties are on their last legs in the country, and soon we will see dissenting voices being permanently muted or dissenters put behind bars, much as it happened during Nazi rule or during the Emergency.

The present situation is only a followup to the atmosphere created for some time after Hindutva hate speeches, communal 'riots' (which were not really riots but one-sided attacks), vigilantism, the lynching of Muslims and putting fear in their minds, saffronisation of institutions, terrorisation of the media, Joseph Goebbels-style propaganda by a section of the servile and blatantly biased media (particularly some TV channels that constantly spout venom against 'anti-nationalists', 'Urban Naxals' etc) and the persecution of liberal intellectuals and activists.

We may draw an analogy with what happened in Germany after Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933.

At the time, Germany was one of the world's citadels of culture and learning, and its academicians were highly reputed everywhere. The Weimar Republic was one of the freest democracies in the world. However, all this changed very quickly. Freedom of speech was suppressed, protesters were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, the Jewish and leftist professors were sacked (many migrated for their safety) and the others quickly fell in line and became pro-Nazi to avoid the same fate.

Intellectuals can easily be silenced by showing them the fear of losing their jobs. The same is happening in India today. There is hardly any protest by professors in Indian universities and colleges against the raids and arrests of persons implicated in the Bhima Koregaon incident. The media's voice is muted and will soon reconcile itself to the situation.

The truth is that the common man in India does not really care about civil liberties or freedom of speech, and he is really concerned about feeding himself and his family. This was proved in the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi. There was hardly any significant protest, and instead there were talks of the 'gains of Emergency', trains running on time etc. There were no mass demonstrations or open opposition, and the press crawled when it was only asked to bend, as LK Advani said.

The Congress defeat in the 1977 polls was not due to the suppression of liberties during Emergency, but because of nasbandi or forced sterilisation. In fact, the party did quite well in the South where nasbandi was not implemented, but was almost wiped out in the North where it was.

Intellectuals make up not more than five percent of the population of India, and it is they alone who are bothered about freedom of speech, freedom of the press and other civil liberties. But intellectuals belong to the middle class, and are accustomed to middle class comforts. Give them a threat of being deprived of these comforts and most of them will quickly cave in. This is precisely what is happening in India, albeit not as abruptly as in Nazi Germany, but in a gradual manner with creeping advances.

Intellectuals and liberals rely on rationalism. But rationalism cannot face squads of fascist goons, like the SA and SS in Nazi Germany, or the gau rakshaks and the might of the saffronised State in India. The coming Lok Sabha elections, in which no holds will be barred, including widespread use of strong-arm goons, will cap the process. The days of free speech, liberalism and free intellectualism are slowly coming to an end in India.

The author is a former judge of the Supreme Court of IndiaIt is noteworthy to acknowledge that those raided as part of the Bhima Koregaon probe are united in their meaningful advocacy of the voice of subaltern groups and only to that end, in their dissidence against the present political dispensation

On a rainy day in Delhi, where, it seems, all revolutions come to die, the Pune police raided the residence of civil liberties activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, and took him into preventive detention. In a similar lethal trans-regional onslaught, the Pune police raided the residences of human rights activists, lawyers, and writers across Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Telangana, subsequently making preventive detentions of and for most of those raided.

As illustrious figures in the totemic political history of human rights and socio-political movements such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Anand Teltumbde and Navlakha join the sharpening numbers of those besieged in un-wonderful, but unsurprising, ways, it is noteworthy to acknowledge that those raided  however disparate in name, professional capacity, and regional belonging  are united in their meaningful advocacy of the voice of subaltern groups and only to that end, in their dissidence against the present political dispensation, and even more wide-rangingly against the developmental state in India and its pestilential desire to leave its many constituents behind, forgotten and ungrievable.

For the purpose of journalistic memory, these raids, also dubbed as the climax of an undeclared political emergency, have been given the wherewithal of the Bhima Koregaon incident from earlier this year when a prominently Dalit gathering of commemoration and affective memory was attacked and violently evacuated by an identifiably 'Maratha' mob.

A figure of significance in this scheme is Bharadwaj, a human rights activist and eminent lawyer whose work with Adivasi groups in Chhattisgarh has been a testament of political alleviation and virtue. Such a distinction is ably demonstrated in this piece where Bharadwaj, with a characteristic poignancy, expresses that we are fighting for a new Chhattisgarh a Chhattisgarh for the toilers of the state. Here is a state rich in resources. It has water, forests and land in abundance, but its people are so poor. The state is witnessing disproportionate growth and there is no equitable distribution of benefits to everyone. If I am fighting for the marginalised communities, I have no choice but to fight against those oppressing them  from corrupt politicians and forest departments to companies not giving proper wages and safety to workers".

It is evident, or to be made evident, that those raided and arrested in the process of the probe are culpable for their dissidence, but it is less obvious what the texture of this dissent is to be. On one level, more sensationalist than reflective, the probe strikes at the heart of dissent against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, an act which everyone made culpable in the probe has committed, albeit by a variety of political persuasions. Central to such a fixture has been the so-called plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah which the police, in its own testimony, has unearthed. Such a plot, invoked imaginatively but without certain evidentiary basis, has been jettisoned to the application of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act) against those detained.

"The definition of unlawful activities'," as this piece drives to erudition on the act, "includes 'disclaiming' or 'questioning' the territorial integrity of India, and causing 'disaffection' against India. These words are staggeringly vague and broad, and come close to establishing a regime of thought-crimes."

It is certainly undisputed that the probe evidences persecution for dissent against the political practice of the government and the insidious politics of Hindutva, but to narrow the range of dissent to the opposition of a regime, blinkers the more fundamental dissent of Bharadwaj, Gonsalves, Rao, Navlakha, Ferreira, and Teltumbde. For in their culpable participation in the struggles of subaltern groups subjugated and left behind by the developmental state  a tendency punctuated by an aggressively neoliberal conception of political economy  these dissidents invoke a pre-history of protest and imagine a more wholesome democratic present.

The grievance, the protest, and the persecution, in pre-dating the present dispensation, may not absolve it of its anti-democratic crimes, but it must, if one were to do dissent justice, learn to broaden the grammar of dissent and the force of its critique.

In positing critique not only at a particular dispensation but at the more essential orientation of politics, development, and nationhood, asking more difficult questions  and finding more meaningful answers  can be made possible. For as Bharadwaj courageously declares, Now I want justice for the poor of the state. Its okay that I will make some difficult enemies in the process. The struggle will go on.

'Urban Naxals' is a term coined by the governmentSudha Bharadwaj, one of the activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon raids, has worked with the Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha and fought for workers' rights for decades.

Raipur: Sudha Bharadwaj, a trade unionist, human rights activist and lawyer who has been working in Chhattisgarh for the past three decades, is one of the seven activists whose homes were raided on Tuesday in connection with a case filed in the aftermath of the Bhima Koregaon violence, which broke out on New Year's Day near Pune.

Apart from Bharadwaj, the other arrested activists include Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao and Vernon Gonsalves. Father Stan Swamy's house in Ranchi was also raided and Atul Teltumbde's Goa residence was on the search list of the Pune Police.

Members of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM), a labour union in Bhilai that Bharadwaj has worked with for decades, protested on Tuesday against Bharadwaj's detention and the raids conducted at her house in Faridabad.

"This is a completely bogus charge on Sudha didi by the BJP government, which is trying to frame all union leaders and those who fight for workers' rights," said Ram Chand Sahu, who has known Bharadwaj as a unionist since childhood. Listing her achievements, he said Bharadwaj has been "instrumental in getting better wages and improving working conditions for labourers in the region".

He warns that if Bharadwaj is not released soon, all workers' unions of Chhattisgarh will come out in protest against the treatment meted out to her.

Raj Kumar Sahu, who has been a contractual labourer at ACC Jamul Cement Works in Bhilai for the last 29 years, said Bharadwaj had helped 573 workers get justice in a case against the cement manufacturer.

"What is happening now is a political conspiracy by the BJP government, which was also behind the killing of Niyogi," he said, referring to CMM founder Shankar Guha Niyogi, who died in 1991. "Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raman Singh are trying to suppress the workers voice, but we will not let them succeed and will organise wide-scale protests."

Dukhu Ram Sahu, a retired labourer who lives at a Labour Camp in Jamul, said the allegations raised by the Modi government against "Sudha didi" are baseless. "She has always fought cases as an advocate for labourers. We will protest against these absurd allegations against her and demand her release," he asserted.

Born in America, worked in Bhilai

Daughter of renowned economists Ranganath Bharadwaj and Krishna Bharadwaj, Sudha Bharadwaj was born in the United States in 1961 and came to India in 1971. Her mother was instrumental in setting up the Department of Economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University , where an annual lecture continues to be held in her memory. The activist studied at IIT-Kanpur but also developed a keen interest in working for the slumdweller community of Delhi during her college days.

At the age of 18, when Bhardwaj gave up her American citizenship, she had said in an interview that she never had any confusion about returning to work in her own country. "After working in poor people's settlements, I felt that if I could do anything for this deprived society, it would be worthwhile. I had to work in my own country and work among my own people," Bharadwaj had said.

Meeting her a decade ago in her rented house in Nehru Nagar, Bilaspur, this writer found the activist living with four chairs and a cot in a 10x10 ft room. A few books and clothes were her only belongings in the absence of any amenities such as a refrigerator, cooler or a television  far from urban standards of living.

Bharadwaj came in touch with CMM founder Niyogi while working in Chhattisgarh's Durg district after completing her studies. The morcha was involved in advocating workers' rights in the iron mills of Dalli Rajhara. The activist discovered that the condition of the poor in Chhattisgarh was much more grave than that of the urban slum-dwellers of Delhi. She then dedicated herself to the development of the region and was soon made secretary of the CMM.

Niyogi was shot dead on 28 September, 1991, which led to Bharadwaj and his other colleagues spearheading the organisation for workers' rights. The organisation then stretched beyond the iron mills of Dalli Rajhara and covered entire state.

Janakram Sahu, a labourer who works at the ACC Cement factory in Durg district's Jamul village, gives Bharadwaj the credit for the increased wages of workers in the cement companies that operate in the region. "The exploitation of laborers by cement companies has stopped due to the battles fought under her (Bharadwaj's) leadership," he said.

However, the rising litigation costs during the labour movement in Chhattisgarh pushed Bharadwaj towards academics yet again. She enrolled for a degree in advocacy at the age of 40, which enabled her to provide legal advice and support to tribals, labourers and farmers in the region.

The activist later set up a trust called Janhit to take up the cases of various underprivileged groups in the society for free. Janhit has contested more than 300 cases so far at all judicial levels, including at the Supreme Court.

Bhima Koregaon an excuse?

Social activist Soni Sori describes Bharadwaj as a motherly figure for the tribals of Bastar.

"She would visit me in jail when I was arrested in 2011 and fought all my cases from a district court to the high court. She tried to provide every possible help to my family and even looked after my kids," Sori said.

Narrating that it was only Bharadwaj who would visit her in the jail, Sori said she never visited without food or clothes and counselled her to keep her fight and belief in the Constitution going. "She was with me when my family, the system and the government were all against me," she said.

Bharadwaj once got to know of a jailed teenage girl who was branded a Naxal, Sori said. "Didi got her details and fought her case in court until she was freed. She also helped her like a kin, and the girl lives a happily married life today."

Kaladas Bahariya, a trade union leader in Durg, Chhattisgarh, who has worked with Bharadwaj closely, said: "We can never ever believe the allegations that have been levelled against her. There is some conspiracy behind this."

Bhardwaj has donated all her assets to the labor organisation and continues to live in a rented house. She has an ancestral home in Delhi, which has been rented out. Funds from this rent go to the CMM every month.

Alok Shukla of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, a group of social organisations in the state, said Bharadwaj amazes people in "a society full of fabrication and drama". "The only thing (in Bharadwaj) that has changed in the last two decades is her age. Her constant struggle for the human rights of the marginalised has turned her a bit older, but it has not weakened her spirit," Shukla added.

A section of the police and governments, however, believe that the 57-year-old has a Maoist connection. Niyogi had also faced allegations of being a Maoist supporter, which he denied till death.

Bharadwaj is the general secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a democracy rights organisation founded by activist Jayaprakash Narayan in 1976. She has also been associated with the State Legal Services Authority and has been approached by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in cases related to fake encounters.

She has also played a crucial role in drawing the attention of the NHRC towards the lackadaisical attitude of bureaucrats towards the investigation into the killing of seven tribals and arson of their houses by Salwa Judum workers in 2007 in Sukma district's Kondasanwali village.

Shishir Dikshit, an advocate with PUCL, has told a Hindi daily in Raipur that the Bhima Koregaon investigation was just being used as an excuse to arrest Bharadwaj, as the government wants to cover up sensitive cases like the Kondasanwali killings.

State council member of the PUCL Priyanka Shukla said: "Because Bharadwaj was actively involved in the Sarkeguda probe commission and advocated cases like the killing of tribals in Kondasanwali and the fake encounter of Meena Khalkho, the bureaucracy and government are not quite comfortable with her presence. Targeting her at this hour is nothing but initiating a propaganda to distract people from the real issues in the run-up to several crucial elections."

PUCL president Dr Lakhan Singh said the government does not shy away from declaring an activist a Maoist if they oppose their nexus with the mafia, fight for tribals' rights or raise their voice against fake encounters. "It is not difficult for the police to declare every opponent of the State a Maoists. Sudha Bharadwaj is a victim of the same plot," he added.

With inputs from Saurabh Sharma and Tameshwar Sinha

The authors are freelance writers and members of 101reporters.comThe court had on Tuesday directed that Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till it hears the matter as specific allegations against him were unclear as the documents were in Marathi.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday said it will hear at 2.15 pm the plea of rights activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested for alleged unlawful activities after the Maharashtra Police submitted that translated documents of the case were not ready.

The court had on Tuesday directed that Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till it hears the matter as specific allegations against him were unclear as the documents were in Marathi.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel was informed by Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, appearing for Maharashtra Police, that the documents to be translated from Marathi to English will be provided to Navlakha's counsel positively by 12 pm.

Advocate Nithya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, said the matter could be heard on Thursday. The court, however, said it will hear the matter at 2.15 pm.

It had said that for the time being, Navlakha will be confined to his residence in Delhi under the guard of Delhi Police officers and he will be allowed to only meet or speak to his lawyers.

Navlakha was arrested on Tuesday following several raids after which his transit remand was secured from Saket district court to take him to Pune. This order, however, was stayed by the high court.

The Maharashtra Police wanted to take Navlakha to Pune in connection with an FIR lodged following an event  'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave)  held in Pune on 31 December last year that triggered violence at Bhima Koregaon village in the state.

Several penal provisions under the IPC, including promoting enmity between classes, as well as provisions of terrorist acts, conspiracy and being part of a terror group under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been invoked against Navlakha.

Left-wing activists, including Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj, were also arrested on Tuesday as the Maharashtra Police carried out searches at multiple places in several states, including Delhi, on the residences of people suspected to have Maoist links.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Bhima Koregaon village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad'.Navlakha was arrested by Maharashtra Police Tuesday along with four other Left-wing activists for alleged unlawful activities. The Delhi High Court has ordered that he will be confined at his Delhi residence

New Delhi: Civil liberties activist, Gautam Navlakha arrested for suspected links with Maoists, Wednesday alleged that the case against him was a "political ploy" of the government to target dissent.

Navlakha was arrested by Maharashtra Police Tuesday along with four other Left-wing activists for alleged unlawful activities. The Delhi High Court has ordered that he will be confined at his residence in Delhi.

"The entire case is a political ploy against political dissent by this vindictive and cowardly government, which is bent upon shielding the real culprits of Bhima Koregaon and thus divert attention from its own scams and failures which stretch from Kashmir to Kerala," Navlakha said in a statement issued by the civil rights group People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) of which he is a part.

"A political trial must be fought politically and I welcome this opportunity. I have to do nothing. It is for the Maharashtra police, working at the behest of their political masters, to prove their case against me, and my comrades who too have been arrested," he said.

He said PUDR has collectively and fearlessly fought for more than 40 years for the cause of democratic rights and he has covered many such trials as part of the organisation.

"Now I myself will be a witness to a political trial with a ringside view," he said and also tagged a revolutionary song, "Tu zinda hai toh zindagi ki jeet par yakeen kar...", often sung by Leftists.

Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activists Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, trade union activist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj and Navlakha were arrested Tuesday after multi-city searches.

The near simultaneous raids against the five as well as four others were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Bhima Koregaon village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on 31 December, 2017.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad event, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered at the Vishrambaug police station in Pune after the event.

"Rao, Bhardwaj, Ferreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony," an official said.

There were also arrested under some other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged Naxal activities", the official said without elaborating.Bhima Koregaon raids latest updates: Lashing out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his tweet calling the arrested as 'human rights activists', BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, 'Today, Congress has reached a new low. The Congress is standing with the Left-Wing Extremists.'

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Security officials said two letters recovered over the past few months, indicating Maoist plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, were also a reason for the raids.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Bhima-Koregaon village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on 31 December last year.

The Maharashtra police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed against those arrested, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged naxal activities," said the police official, without elaborating. The premises of Father Stan Swamy, a tribal leader in Jharkhand, too were searched but he was not detained, the official said.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the official.

According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided are Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

Near-simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi, a senior police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several penal provisions under the IPC, including promoting enmity between classes, as well as provisions of terrorist acts, conspiracy and being part of a terror group under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been invoked against Navlakha.

The Maharashtra police wanted to take Navlakha to Pune in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) -- held there on 31 December last year that triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village in the state.

The bench denying the transit remand to take Navlakha to Pune, said that the activist cannot be taken out of Delhi till the time it hears the matter since the specific allegations against him were unclear.

The Delhi High Court will today hear the matter of activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha's arrest. The matter came before the court when a Habeas Corpus petition was filed on Tuesday after he was arrested by the Maharashtra police following searches at his residence on suspicion of Maoist links.

However, the police proceeded to take Bhardwaj to the airport despite being informed of the high court order by her lawyers. But later the police agreed to bring back Bharadwaj to her residence.

"It is directed that in case the detenue is produced before the Ilaqa Magistrate/Duty Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridabad, the orders granting transit remand will be passed after going through the contents of the FIR and recording a finding that the provision of Sections 41 and 50 of the CrPC have been compiled with," the high court said. "Till then, the detenue, Sudha Bhardwaj, shall be kept at the place, that is her home at Badarpur in Haryana, from where she was arrested under the supervision of Police Station Surajkund," it said.

It is alleged that the Maharashtra Police team was taking activist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, who was arrested yesterday, to the airport despite an order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The high court had ordered the magistrate to peruse the FIR lodged against Bharadwaj and see if relevant CRPC provisions have been followed. However, since the FIR and related documents were in Marathi, the magistrate ordered them to be translated.

Maharashtra Police allegedly tried to take Sudha Bharadwaj out of Faridabad, despite HC order

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the transit remand of activist Sudha Bhardwaj, who was arrested from Faridabad after the Maharashtra Police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states, as the documents produced before it needed translation. The next date of hearing has been fixed for 30 August.

The letter in question was part of a bunch of documents seized by the Pune police during the searches at the premises of five people arrested in June this year for alleged links with Maoists. The searches were carried out in different parts of the country in April. The letter written in Hindi by one comrade named Milind, hails Rao, described as a "senior comrade", and advocate Surendra Gadling for their "guidance" in carrying out Naxal activities in various parts of the country.

A letter purportedly written by a Maoist leader and seized by the police in April this year hails prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao for his alleged "guidance" in various Naxal activities in the country, PTI reported.

"A prejudicial narrative was created in the mainstream media immediately following the arrests of the above mentioned human rights defenders, projecting them as Maoist operatives to justify their arbitrary arrests and the Pune police joint commissioner, Ravindra Kadam, had claimed that the Elgar Parishad event was funded by Maoist organisations. Thereafter, a letter was circulated in the media," the letter reads.

Human Rights Defenders Alert - India have written a letter to the National Human Rights Commission seeking its intervention in the police crackdown against political activists. In its letter, the HRDA blamed the police of projecting human rights activists as 'Maoist operatives.'

Advocate Susan Abraham, who is wife of Varnan Gonsalves, one of the activists.arrested on Tuesday said, "This is being done under government's pressure. If you think Bhima Koregaon was an assassination plot, then file an FIR. You've made this case, will it stand before the court?"

After Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted against the government action on Left-wing and human rights activists, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has hit out at him today. Calling 'Maoists' number one threat to national security, Rijiju criticised Rahul for coming out in support of 'Maoists.'

Three of the five activists arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon violence probe will be presented in a Pune court on Wednesday. Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira will be produced in a Pune court today. Trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj and journalist Gautam Navlakha, who were arrested in Delhi, are not to be moved to Pune as their transit remand was rejected.

Three of five activists arrested to be presented in a Pune court today

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Tuesday urged 'bright young people' to make a list of 'Urban Naxals' after five activists were arrested by Pune Police in connection with their alleged Maoist links.

While the 2016 letter suggested that there were deliberations among the Naxals to kill Modi, Shah and Singh, the 2017 letter referred to a plan to carry out a Rajiv Gandhi assassination-type attack on the Prime Minister during one of his roadshows, they claimed.

As the outrage for arrest of five human rights activists dominated the public discourse, officials have sought to link the Tuesday's crackdown to two letters discussing assassination of senior BJP leaders. The letters, purportedly exchanged by Maoist leaders, indicated plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, leading to police action against prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrest of five of them for suspected links with the red ultras, security officials said.

The Pune police, which arrested five activists and raided various parts of the country on Tuesday in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riots, is following up on the FIR filed by one Tushar Damgude on 8 January. Apart from being smitten by Bhide, Damgudes favourite pass time seems to be attacking the Left-wingers on Facebook, where he writes prolifically in Marathi for his 13,500-plus followers.

Professor Romila Thapar has filed a petition against the arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders in the Supreme Court. The petition, which is being represented by advocate Vrinda Grover on Thapar's behalf, is supported by Indira Jaisingh and other prominent human rights activist. The matter is likely to be mentioned before the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra today.

According to The Leaflet, the chief justice has allowed a petition filed by Romila Thapar and others to be listed in his court for today. CJI Dipak Misra is expected to hear the matter today at 3.45 pm.

"My thirty years of academic life has been destroyed in five minutes. They asked me 'why are you reading Mao', 'why are you reading Marx', and 'why are you keeping the photos of Ambedkar and Phule instead of gods and goddesses... Nothing criminal they found, but they don't understand that I have to read and teach," Professor Satyanarayana said.

The Division bench composed of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel of the Delhi High Court, will now hear the writ petition filed by activist Gautam Navlakha at 2.15 pm on Wednesday. The matter was scheduled to be taken up today morning, however, it was postponed for a later time after Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi submitted that translation of documents isn't ready and the same will be provided to petitioners by 12 noon today, The Leaflet reported .

Rahul Gandhi, who is on a tour to flood-hit Kerala, hit out at BJP and RSS over the police action against five Left-leaning human rights activists. Rahul said that there were two ideologies pitted against one another: While one seeks to accept all versions of India and everybody's point of views, the other wants only one ideology to prevail, the one based out of Nagpur.

BJP ally Shiv Sena has slammed the arrest of five activists in connection with Bhima- Koregaon violence saying it is wrong to arrest activists for political gains. "The mastermind of Bhima- Koregaon violence has yet not been arrested," Manisha Kayande, leader of Shiv Sena told CNN-News18.

A senior Pune police officer said that prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao, and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira are likely to be produced in a court later in the day.

Three of the five Left-wing activists, who were arrested yesterday by Maharashtra Police in connection with its ongoing probe into suspected Maoist links to an event held in Pune, were brought to the city late last night, the police said.

Accoring to a report in India Today, intellectuals and activists took to streets in Hyderabad to protest against the arrest of five human rights activists on Tuesday. The police has, however, detained the protestors.

The police have confirmed that lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj will be produced before the high court on Thursday. However, she will not be allowed to interact with the media. She remains under a house arrest, where she is allowed to meet only her advocates and family members.

"Government must show that it has evidence to back up its actions against alleged Maoist activists. If evidence is not convincing then this kind of action goes directly against supremacy of rule under constitutional democracy which allows right to free speech and dissent. If government is unable to produce conclusive evidence, then I am afraid actions of this nature will sound very ominously reminiscent of what happened during the Emergency," Verma siad.

Janata Dal United has taken a cautious view of the matter relating to the arrest of intellectuals and human rights activists. Although the party did not openly oppose the police action, JD(U) leader Pawan Verma said that now that the government has gone ahead with the arrests, they should be able to back their actions with proof.

'Govt action reminiscent of Emergency if it fails to show evidence,' JDU's subtle warning to ally BJP on activist's arrest

#MeTooUrbanNaxal is one of the top India Trends on Twitter, as support poured in for arrested human rights activists. The hashtag was a comeback of sorts by the Liberals to the right-wing's #UrbanNaxal trend. Popular right-leaning users on the micro-blogging site used the #UrbanNaxal to write out their opinion and support the crackdown on Left-leaning activists. However, Twitter users from the other end of the political spectrum soon started tweeting back with the new hashtag showing solidarity with the arrested activists.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter after Rahul Gandhi slammed his party for action against activists. Rijiju said, "Congress must explain: 1. The arrests of all the Maoists activists & sympathisers during Congress regime. 2. Jailing political opponents and journalists during emergency. 3. Today, the most vocal critics who abuse the Govt freely on daily basis are demanding freedom of speech."

The NHRC, in its notice to the Maharashtra government, said, "The Commission has observed that the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police, which may amount to a violation of their human rights, according to reports. The NHRC has now issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Maharashtra calling for a factual report in the matter within four weeks."

Delhi-based lawyer Rona Wilson worked with the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners. Sudha Bharadwaj, meanwhile, was involved in publicly demanding arrest of Bhide for the Bhima Koregaon violence, and had condemned the arrests of fellow human rights lawyers in June in the case.

Gadlings lawyer Susan Abraham, who was fighting cases for other human rights defenders as well, is the wife of activist Vernon Gonsalves, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Police after it raided the couples' house in Mumbai.

Now, Surendra Gadling was Delhi University Professor GN Saibabas lawyer, who is also often termed a 'Urban Naxal'. Saibaba, a paraplegic, is currently serving a life-term for allegedly conspiring to wage a war against India.

The police investigation in the Bhima Koregaon violence started with a shrill demand for the arrest of Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, who were accused of making divisive and provocative speeches against Dalits who commemorate the victory in Bhima Koregaon violence. However, the investigation took a different direction after Maharashtra government claimed that the violence was a result of a conspiracy and had Maoists link to it. Subsequently, Dalit rights activists, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, and Surendra Gadling were arrested.

Gautam Navlakha has issued a statement ahead of the hearing in Delhi High Court. He said that this is a political ploy by this vindictive and cowardly government to shield the real culprits of the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Mayawati has said that the violence that followed the Bhima-Koregaon celebration was a conspiracy to instill fear among Dalits and supporters of Dalit activists. "Bhima-Koregaon celebration exhibits Dalit pride," she said.

Three of the five Left-wing activists, who were arrested yesterday by Maharashtra Police in connection with its ongoing probe into suspected Maoist links to an event held in Pune, have reached the Pune district court.

The Delhi High Court has deferred the hearing on the transit remand of Gautam Navlakha for a later time today. The hearing was postponed because the petitioner's lawyer was not present. The court said that the hearing should be concluded today itself even if the court has to sit beyond 4.30 pm. The court is expected to meet sometime before 5.00 pm.

The Delhi High Court has resumed hearing of Gautam Navlakha's plea. The plea was postponed twice earlier due in the day, after which the bench had said that the court will hear the case today itself even if it goes beyond the usual working hours.

N Venugopal a family member of Telegu poet Varavara Rao said that the Pune Police did not produce arrest and search warrants against Rao. At the end of the whole operation, they (Pune police) gave a 'panchnama' but that's most untenable and illegal document," Venugopal told News18 .

"Arrest was done randomly, and is illegal and arbitrary," said Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for one of the petitioners.

According to ANI , the apex court has sought the response by 5 September.

CNN-News18 reports that the Supreme Court has granted interim relief to the activists and has ordered house arrest for all five activists.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed, then the pressure cooker may burst," one of the Supreme Court judges had said.

"What happened yesterday (Tuesday) is the prime example of assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press," he told reporters in Bengaluru.

He said the arrests showed that people who voice dissent were not safe and there were many ways to suppress dissenting voices. "The arrest of the five activists clearly shows the Emergency-like conditions prevailing in India under the present regime at the Centre," he said.

Former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha alleged "Emergency-like" conditions are prevailing in the country under the present regime and the arrest of five activists on suspicion of Maoist links shows that any voice of dissent is not safe.

Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir came in defense of the police, and said that it was not "right" to demoralise them. "Courts are there and if they think they're innocent, then they can seek bail," he said.

Activists have said that the documents carrying grounds of arrest like 'panchnama' were in Marathi, but public prosecutor said the accused were explained in English and their regional language. The public prosecutor said that the entire process. beginning from the time the police entered the residences, was videographed.

The Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that "strangers" cannot seek relief for activists who have already approached the high court. The plea in the apex court is by historian Romila Thapar and four other human right activists against the arrest of Left-wing activists by Maharashtra Police for suspected links with Maoists.

"Many people have already expressed serious doubt about its veracity. And on this basis, the police are targeting summarily all intellectuals in the country. They are misusing the draconian law like the UAPA to terrorise people into silence by targeting select intellectuals and activists," Teltumbde said.

"I, like many other people who have been targeted by people, was not even in the (Elgar Parishad) conference. With what stretch of imagination could I have even been suspected to have connection with these things? The entire episode is based on a letter police produced, the authenticity of which is far from established.

Civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde, whose house was raided along with those of several other Left-wing activists over suspected Maoist links, said the government was "misusing" the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to terrorise people into "silence" by targeting select intellectuals and activists.

Lashing out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his tweet calling the arrested as "human rights activists", BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Today, Naxals are being called human rights activists. When legal action is being taken againt them, Rahul Gandhi is raising concerns. Today, Congress has reached a new low. The Congress is standing with the Left-Wing Extremists. Naxals are Naxals when you arrest them, but they are human rights' activists when we arrest them?"

Rahul said there were two different visions of India  one was centralised and the other decentralised. "One respects only one ideology based on Nagpur and the other respects all the different states, all the different ideas, all the different cultures and all the different people of this country. That fight is on and I assure you that we are fighting that battle," he said.

In a brief interaction with media during his visit to flood-hit areas in Kerala, the Congress chief dubbed as 'undemocratic' 'certain' actions taken at the national level, apparently referring to the arrests of the activists.

After his "new India" barb targeting the RSS, Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of respecting only one ideology "based on Nagpur", a veiled reference to the saffron fountainhead, and said the Opposition was united in fighting the "undemocratic" actions.

The Supreme Court ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest till 6 September, when it will hear the matter next.

Supreme Court order in case of Romila Thapar and others vs Union of India and others

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed, then the pressure cooker may burst," one of the Supreme Court judges had said.

"Some of the evidence collected reveal that there is a nexus with other unlawful organisations. They were even thinking of targeting higher political functionaries," he said.

"The evidence also involves other details with respect to the responsibilities given to these urban Naxals," said the official.

The official also said that the arrested activists had links with Naxal outfits.

"We seized laptops, phones, memory cards and several other documents which clearly show links to a conspiracy," said a Pune Police official at a press conference.

"What happened yesterday (Tuesday) is the prime example of assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press," he told reporters in Bengaluru.

He said the arrests showed that people who voice dissent were not safe and there were many ways to suppress dissenting voices. "The arrest of the five activists clearly shows the Emergency-like conditions prevailing in India under the present regime at the Centre," he said.

Former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha alleged "Emergency-like" conditions are prevailing in the country under the present regime and the arrest of five activists on suspicion of Maoist links shows that any voice of dissent is not safe.

It's not right to demoralise police. #BhimaKoregaonViolence was serious blow to our nation&consitution. Plot of igniting caste tensions is out in open now, & police are taking action. Courts are there & if they think they're innocent, then they can seek bail:Hansraj Ahir,MoS Home pic.twitter.com/bbvUnf3BYW

Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir came in defense of the police, and said that it was not "right" to demoralise them. "Courts are there and if they think they're innocent, then they can seek bail," he said.

Activists have said that the documents carrying grounds of arrest like 'panchnama' were in Marathi, but public prosecutor said the accused were explained in English and their regional language. The public prosecutor said that the entire process. beginning from the time the police entered the residences, was videographed.

The Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that "strangers" cannot seek relief for activists who have already approached the high court. The plea in the apex court is by historian Romila Thapar and four other human right activists against the arrest of Left-wing activists by Maharashtra Police for suspected links with Maoists.

"Many people have already expressed serious doubt about its veracity. And on this basis, the police are targeting summarily all intellectuals in the country. They are misusing the draconian law like the UAPA to terrorise people into silence by targeting select intellectuals and activists," Teltumbde said.

"I, like many other people who have been targeted by people, was not even in the (Elgar Parishad) conference. With what stretch of imagination could I have even been suspected to have connection with these things? The entire episode is based on a letter police produced, the authenticity of which is far from established.

Civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde, whose house was raided along with those of several other Left-wing activists over suspected Maoist links, said the government was "misusing" the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to terrorise people into "silence" by targeting select intellectuals and activists.

Lashing out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his tweet calling the arrested as "human rights activists", BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Today, Naxals are being called human rights activists. When legal action is being taken againt them, Rahul Gandhi is raising concerns. Today, Congress has reached a new low. The Congress is standing with the Left-Wing Extremists. Naxals are Naxals when you arrest them, but they are human rights' activists when we arrest them?"

Rahul said there were two different visions of India  one was centralised and the other decentralised. "One respects only one ideology based on Nagpur and the other respects all the different states, all the different ideas, all the different cultures and all the different people of this country. That fight is on and I assure you that we are fighting that battle," he said.

In a brief interaction with media during his visit to flood-hit areas in Kerala, the Congress chief dubbed as 'undemocratic' 'certain' actions taken at the national level, apparently referring to the arrests of the activists.

After his "new India" barb targeting the RSS, Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of respecting only one ideology "based on Nagpur", a veiled reference to the saffron fountainhead, and said the Opposition was united in fighting the "undemocratic" actions.

Supreme Court order in the case of Romila Thapar and others vs Union of India and others. #BhimaKoergaon #BhimaKoregaonViolence @Sudhabhardwaj_ @Sudhabharadwaj pic.twitter.com/RoQYBB7cUd

The Supreme Court ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest till 6 September, when it will hear the matter next.

Supreme Court order in case of Romila Thapar and others vs Union of India and others

Bhima Koregaon raids latest updates: Lashing out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his tweet calling the arrested as "human rights activists", BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Today, Congress has reached a new low. The Congress is standing with the Left-Wing Extremists. Naxals are Naxals when you arrest them, but they are human rights' activists when we arrest them?"

At a press conference, the Pune Police said that the activists arrested for suspected Maoist links had shown a strong intolerance to political system.

The Supreme Court ordered that they be placed under house arrest till 5 September. During the hearing the counsel appearing for Maharashtra, raised the issue of maintainability of the plea, saying a "stranger" cannot seek relief for the activists who have already approached the high courts.

The Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that "strangers" cannot seek relief for activists who have already approached the high court. The plea in the apex court is by historian Romila Thapar and four other human right activists against the arrest of Left-wing activists by Maharashtra Police for suspected links with Maoists.

In the pune court, the public prosecutor has told the court that Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernn Gonsalves were members of the CPI Maoist.

Delhi High Court has questioned the credibility of the witnesses to Gautam Navlakha's arrest.

Three of the five Left-wing activists, who were arrested yesterday by Maharashtra Police in connection with its ongoing probe into suspected Maoist links to an event held in Pune, have reached the Pune district court. Telugu poet Varavara Rao, and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were brought to Pune late on Tuesday night.

The Delhi High Court has deferred the hearing on the transit remand of Gautam Navlakha for 3.30 pm today. The hearing was postponed because the petitioner's lawyer was not present. The court said that they will hear the plea today itself even if they have to sit beyond the usual working hours.

The Delhi High Court has started hearing the plea against arrest of journalist Gautam Navlakha. The Division bench composed of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel of the Delhi High Court is hearing the matter.

Gautam Navlakha has issued a statement ahead of the hearing in Delhi High Court. He said that this is a political ploy by this vindictive and cowardly government to shield the real culprits of the Bhima Koregaon violence.

In its notice to Maharashtra government, the National Human Rights Commission has also mentioned the arrests of Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, and Surendra Gadling in June as well. The NHRC said it received complaints from a Geneva-based NGO and sought a fact-based report in the case within four weeks.

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo-motu notice of the arrest of five rights' actvists from various states. The commission, in its notice to the Maharashtra government, said that it has observed a violation of certain rights in the manner the activists were arrested and that certain standard operating procedures were not followed.

Janata Dal United has taken a cautious view of the matter relating to the arrest of intellectuals and human rights activists. Although the party did not openly oppose the police action, JD(U) leader Pawan Verma said that now that the government has gone ahead with the arrests, they should be able to back their actions with proof.

Massive protests broke out in Hyderabad as civil rights groups, journalists and professors took to streets to protest against the arrest of activists' including Telegu poet Varavara Rao. The police has detained the protestors.

The Division bench composed of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel of the Delhi High Court, will now hear the writ petition filed by activist Gautam Navlakha at 2.15 pm on Wednesday. The matter was scheduled to be taken up today morning, however, it was postponed for a later time after Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi submitted that translation of documents isn't ready and the same will be provided to petitioners by 12 noon today.

Professor Romila Thapar has filed a petition against the arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders in the Supreme Court. The petition, which is being represented by advocate Vrinda Grover on Thapar's behalf, is supported by Indira Jaisingh and other prominent human rights activist. The matter is likely to be mentioned before the Chief Justice of India today.

Advocate Susan Abraham, and wife of Vernon Gonsalves, said that the police crackdown against the activists was politically motivated and the authorities were acting under pressure from the government. "But will your case stand the scrutiny of a court," she asked.

After Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted against the government action on Left-wing and human rights activists, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has hit out at him today. Calling 'Maoists' number one threat to national security, Rijiju criticised Rahul for coming out in support of 'Maoists.'

Human Rights Groups and various activists have decried the arrest of five Left-leaning intellectuals and raids at their homes. Author Arundhati Roy called the Maharashtra Police crackdown 'an attempted coup against the Indian Constitution' while historian Ramachandra Guha called the action "absolutely chilling". Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, "Fascist fangs are now openly bared. It is a clear declaration of emergency. They are going after anyone who has spoken against the government on rights issues. They are against any dissent."

A letter purportedly written by a Maoist leader and seized by the police in April this year hails prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao for his alleged "guidance" in various Naxal activities in the country.

The letter in question was part of a bunch of documents seized by the Pune police during the searches at the premises of five people arrested in June this year for alleged links with Maoists. The searches were carried out in different parts of the country in April. The letter written in Hindi by one comrade named Milind, hails Rao, described as a "senior comrade", and advocate Surendra Gadling for their "guidance" in carrying out Naxal activities in various parts of the country.

Police on Tuesday arrested five human rights activists and alleged Maoist sympathizers, including Left ideologue Varavara Rao, in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima riots in Maharashtra.

The raids took place at 10 places in Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Haryana.

"We have arrested Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Pereira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha," Joint Police Commissioner of Pune Shivajirao Bodkhe told IANS.

Besides, other activists across the country including Kranti, Stan Swami and Anand Teltumbde were raided in the major operation that is part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Bhima-Koregaon riots of 1 January this year.

In a related development, the Delhi High Court directed Maharashtra Police not to take Navlakha out of Delhi till Wednesday and keep him under house arrest till further orders.

The court directive came on a habeas corpus petition filed by Navlakha's counsel seeking to know his whereabouts. The police told the court that they had already got transit remand of the accused from a magistrate.

Scores of supporters of these activists staged noisy protests during the police raids at various locations, including in Mumbai and Thane.

The arrests also evoked condemnation from other activists and former bureaucrats who expressed shock over the raids on the homes of intellectuals and activists critical of the BJP.

They called it an attempt to strike terror among those fighting for justice for the marginalised.

The signatories to the joint statement included Admiral (retd) L Ramdas, former bureaucrat Harsh Mander, former JNU student activist Shehla Rashid Shora, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and rights activists Teesta Setalvad and Swami Agnivesh.

Among the angles being probed after Tuesday's crackdown are the modus operandi of the activists, their sources of finance and modes of funding of their activities, their suspected connections with like-minded groups and related issues, officials indicated.

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) President Prakash Ambedkar called it an attempt by the government to "silence the masses" in the wake of the recent crackdown on the Hindu rightwing group Sanatan Sanstha.

"But now NGOs which are non-political will become more active and aggressive than they were earlier in opposing this (BJP) government in order to safeguard democracy and human rights," warned Ambedkar, the grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.

Officials described Tuesday's operations as a follow-up to similar action taken on April 17 when the Pune Police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31.

The next day, on January 1, caste riots erupted in Bhima-Koregaon which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh of Prakash Ambedkar.

After nearly five months, Pune Police teams fanned out in around half a dozen states and raided the homes and offices of several persons who are suspected to be linked with the Elgar Conference or are considered as Maoist supporters.

The police have seized items like computers, laptops, CDs, pen-drives, 'incriminating documents' and books from them and contended that they functioned like an 'urban think tank' for Maoists.

Previously, during the April action, the Pune police had targeted rights activists like Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale (all arrested) besides raiding Harshali Potdar, Jyoti Jagtap, Ramesh Gaychor and Sagar Gorke.

Those arrested were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.The Maharashtra Police conducted a coordinated crackdown against left-wing activists on Tuesday, bringing the focus back to 'Urban Naxalism', as coined by the government

New Delhi: The Maharashtra Police conducted a coordinated crackdown against left-wing activists on Tuesday, bringing the focus back to 'Urban Naxalism', as coined by the government. After repeated setbacks in the hinterland, it is feared that Maoists are trying to gain a foothold in the urban centres via overground sympathisers and front men. The police sweep has triggered massive outrage with politicians, activists and authors terming it as an attack on democratic rights and some even likened the detention and raids to the declaration of Emergency.

The raids were carried out in connection with the probe into the Bhima Koregaon violence in Maharashtra on 31 December last year. It is as yet unknown whether the Maharashtra Police has clinching evidence against those arrested, however, sources said the investigation had picked up pace following the arrest of five activists in June this year. Highly-placed sources said just days before the Bhima Koregaon violence, the issue of 'Urban Naxals' was discussed within the security establishment. An intelligence report titled Urban Naxalism: Growing Menace and Remedies was also deliberated with senior security officials of the states.

Firstpost has reviewed the Ministry of Home Affairs' note that suggests that the strategy to tackle Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) challenges must include a plan to tackle 'Urban Naxalism'. The note also proposes a separate budget to counter the growing Naxal footprint in cities. "The Ministry of Home Affairs plan must include a section on Urban Naxalism and security-related expenditures should have a component dedicated to building capacity in urban areas on this count," the note says.

The home ministry believe that many front organisations are created by Maoists to facilitate mass-mobilisation in semi-urban and urban areas through ostensibly democratic means and most of these organisations are led by well-educated intellectuals with a firm belief in the Maoist insurgency doctrine. "These ideologues function as masks to cover the violent nature of the CPI (Maoist) ideology. They also form propaganda/disinformation machinery of the party. The front organisations also skilfully use state structures and legal processes to further the Maoist agenda and weaken the enforcement regime. The important functions of these organisations include the recruitment of 'professional revolutionaries', raising funds for the insurgency, creating urban shelters for underground cadres, providing legal assistance to arrested cadres and mass-mobilisation by agitating over issues of relevance/convenience. The front organisations aim to provide short-term democratic subterfuge to cover up the totalitarian and oppressive nature of the Maoist ideology," the note adds.

After the arrest of activists Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson and human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling in June, an intelligence report suggested that the activities of CPI (Maoist) in urban areas is being undertaken through 'mass organisations' or fronts of the outfit that works under the garb of human and civil rights organisations. "The sinister design of the terrorist outfit to subvert the minds of its targeted classes is achieved through propaganda by these organisations and Maoist ideologues in universities and colleges. The design has been highlighted in the 'Urban Perspective Plan' of the CPI (Maoist) which was adopted sometime in 2007 after the organisation had held its ninth Congress in the jungles of Jamui in Bihar. This document gives a call to all the members of CPI (Maoist) working in urban areas to mobilise masses against what it classifies as fascist repression by the ruling class. Interestingly, the organisation underlines that the primary aim of working in urban areas is to organise the targeted masses, build a 'Tactical United Front' with like-minded organisations over common issues and take up activities such as maintaining supply lines of logistics and recruitment of educated youths to support the armed struggle in the jungles," the intelligence report says.

In June, arrests were made from Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur. The intelligence note reveals that front organisations supporting 'Urban Naxalism' are active in a number of cities across the country, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Visakhapatanam, Madurai, Thiruvananthpuram, Nagpur and Pune. It further adds that these organisations work on different fronts such as agrarian, students, legal, labour, cultural and civil liberities.

"The central committee of CPI (Maoist), the highest decision making body, has instructed the front organisations to intensify their activities and mobilise people over issues related to Dalits and minorities.There have been a number of instances where the urban fronts of CPI (Maoist) had managed to leverage issues already agitating particular sections and steered the protesters towards Maoist agenda," the intelligence note continues.Prakash Ambedkar termed the arrests of Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links as an attempt to 'silence' the masses.

Mumbai: Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar termed the arrests of Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links as an attempt to "silence" the masses.

He said those raising voices against the government were NGOs and non-political organisations, but had their roots in the masses. "With these raids, the government is trying to silence the masses, but I doubt whether the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will be silent. They will be more active in opposing the government because they do not have any stake," he said. "They do not contest elections. Their only interest is to see that democracy and human rights are safeguarded in this country. That is their motive. They will be more aggressive now than earlier," the former MP said.

Ambedkar claimed that when there were raids on Right-wing outfit 'Sanatan Sanstha', he had said that similar action would be taken against others and that attempts would be made to show a link with 'Elgar Parishad'.

The Elgar Parishad conclave was organised in Pune a day before the Koregaon-Bhima violence on 1 January.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the Koragaon-Bhima violence masterminds had not been arrested and investigation was still on to ascertain who were the brains behind it. "Arresting people by linking them to Maoists is creating an environment in the country. If attempts are made to politicise this situation, it is wrong," she said.

The Pune police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them  poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.Prakash Ambedkar alleged that police have made contradictory claims about the violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in January

Mumbai: Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar Wednesday claimed that arrests of Left-wing activists for alleged Maoist links were aimed at diverting the attention from the "probe" against Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing Hindu outifit.

He also alleged that police have made contradictory claims about the violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in January.

"The BJP-led government wants to shift the focus away from ongoing investigation into the Sanatan Sanstha, so such raids are being carried out," Ambedkar told PTI.

"The Pune rural police, which is probing the Bhima Koregaon violence, have registered FIR against Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, both known for aggressive right-wing stand. Both allegedly instigated the violence," he said.

"But officials of Vishrambagwada police station (in Pune city) are hinting at 'urban Maoist' connection with Elgar Parishad in Pune, in which many Left-wing ideology followers had taken part," he said.

"And now the probe agencies are hinting at Elgar Parishad (conclave) instigating the violence (at Bhima Koregaon)," said Ambedkar, the leader of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar.

Earlier, speaking to a news channel, he termed the arrest of five Left-wing activists after raids across the country as an attempt to "silence" the masses. He said those raising voices against the government were NGOs and non-political organisations, but had their roots in the masses.

"With these raids, the government is trying to silence the masses, but I doubt whether Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will be silent. They will be more active in opposing the government because they do not have any stake," he said.

"They do not contest elections. Their only interest is to see that democracy and human rights are safeguarded in this country. That is their motive. They will be more aggressive now than earlier," the former member of parliament (MP) said.

He also said earlier in August, the Maharashtra Police arrested some persons, including a member of a right-wing Hindu outfit, for alleged conspiracy to carry out blasts only because of the action taken by the Karnataka Police in the Gauri Lankesh murder case.

"The Karnataka Police arrested one Mahesh Kale from Pune in that case, which forced the state police to act," he alleged.

Vaibhav Raut, who is among those arrested by the Maharashtra police in the blast conspiracy case on 10 August, had purportedly claimed to be a member of the Sanatan Sanstha, but the organisation has denied that he was a member. Police have not stated yet whether the Sanstha is under the scanner of investigators in any under-probe case.

The Pune Police Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, trade union activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha. The raids were part of a probe into the Bhima Koregaon violence after the Elgar Parishad event of 31 December, 2018.On Tuesday, raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Bhima Koregaon village

New Delhi: A day after Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat attacked the Centre over raids conducted in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that the former can only raise his voice, but will not practice democracy.

"Let him (Karat) shout, it doesn't matter to us. These people can only raise their voice but won't practice democracy themselves. We got information and the government had to act on it. The matter will go before the court, whoever feels it is wrong can have their lawyers and fight their case. This is how democracy functions but Naxals don't understand how it works," Swamy told ANI.

On Tuesday, raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Bhima Koregaon village. Post the raids, five people were detained for their alleged connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Soon after the arrest, Karat termed the raids as a "brazen attack on democratic rights." He further added, "We are demanding that all the cases against these people be withdrawn and they be released forthwith."

Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varnan Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police. The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B, 117, 120 B, 13, 16, 18, 20, 38, 39, 40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively, while Gautam Navlakaha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Father Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.Even as Pune Police on Wednesday demanded 14 days' police custody of three activists Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, Judge KD Wadane of Sessions Court of Pune said that they should be taken back to their houses.

Even as Pune Police on Wednesday demanded 14 days' police custody of three activists Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, Judge KD Wadane of Sessions Court of Pune said that they should be taken back to their houses as Supreme Court has ordered their house arrests.

The police has accused Rao of trying to establish contacts in Nepal to get weapons. It has also accused Gonsalves and Ferreira of recruiting youth for banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) to wage war against the government. Public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar also alleged that Elgar Parishad was established in the banned partys effort to spread its influence in Maharashtra and also accused the activists of having connections with separatists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Gonsalves, Ferreira and Rao were brought to Pune after taking transit remand from local courts from respective cities. Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves were produced at the Sessions Court at 3 pm.

On 31 December, 2017, the Elgar Parishad was held in which MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani, activist Sudhir Dhawale, among others gave speeches. Riots took place at Bhima Koregoan, 40 km from Pune, on the next day. On 8 January, 2018, 37-year-old Tushar Damgude lodged an FIR with the Pune Police, alleging that the Elgar Parishad caused riots in Bhima Koregoan. On 6 June, Pune Police arrested five activists Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Dhawale. The police probe against these five activists and electronic devices received from them led the police to arrest the five activists on Tuesday.

Pawar also alleged that the arrested activists were instrumental in opening an anti-fascist front to create a base in urban areas, recruit students, give them training in forests for a war against the state.

The prosecutor also mentioned the letter, which the police claim was recovered from Rona Wilson, that reportedly spoke of the assassination plot against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pawar also said Rao had contacted people in Nepal and Manipur to get weapons and around 4 lakh rounds of ammunition. She said, As per letters, Rao has talked to judicial members and politicians in Telangana for the release of G Saibaba, the professor who is serving a sentence under UAPA in Nagpur Jail. Saibaba is an important functionary in the party.

She also said that the Maoist party had ordered its members to carry out violent activities at places with less security and that Ganpaty, who is general secretary of the banned party, had lauded recent attacks on security personnel by Maoists in placs like Bastar and Gadchiroli. She added that Ganpaty had also praised efforts of Ferreira and Gonsalves to recruit more students for the revolutionary movement.

The prosecutor said that Ferreira was putting a lot of effort in recruiting youth for the Maoist movement by engaging with student unions through art-based exhibitions, cartoons having messages of state's oppression. According to her, he was trying to reach out to students from Pune, Mumbai and Delhi and due to his efforts, Mahesh and Nandu, two students joined the movement. She said that as per letters received by the police, more students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences were going to join the movement.

Pawar said that the activists made false reports and spread them among people to create propaganda against the government.

Rohan Nahar, the lawyer who appeared for Rao and Gonsalves, said that there is not enough proof of why the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was invoked, as the Supreme Court has said that mere membership of a banned party is not enough for invoking UAPA. There should be proof that accused has incited violence against the state.

Ferreira, who appeared for himself, also opposed the police custody, saying police had all electronic devices taken from them for probe and did not need activists' custody.

The defence lawyer also brought up the issue that Pune police, before arresting activists, gave a panchnama and orders of arrests in Marathi and thus, the activists could not understand that. Pawar said that the activists were explained the content in the orders in English and regional languages and the police had video-graphed the process.Satyanarayana was given no prior intimation regarding the raid and him along with his family were imprisoned inside the house for the whole day. The police confiscated the laptops, hard discs, pen drives and all the academic materials from his house and blocked his phone and email.

In the multi-city raids conducted with relation to the Bhima Koregaon violence, the house of Professor K Satyanarayana, who heads the Cultural Studies Department at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad was also searched on Tuesday. Satyanarayana claimed that his house was searched only because he is the son-in-law of Varavara Rao.

The Students Alliance for Justice and Democracy (SAJD) Facebook page on Tuesday posted a video of Satyanarayana, speaking to a crowd of students and teachers outside his house in Hyderabad after the raids were conducted. In the video, Satyanarayana says that his thirty years of life and works have been destroyed in five minutes and he was humiliated.

He stated the police conducted the raid without citing any valid charge against him other than the fact that he is the son-in-law of Rao, a prominent social activist and poet. Rao, whose home was also searched, was arrested on Tuesday and is set to be produced in Pune court today.

"They asked me 'why are you reading Mao', 'why are you reading Marx', 'why are you having the songs of Gaddar' and 'why are you keeping the photos of Ambedkar and Phule instead of gods and goddesses'. They also asked me 'why do you want to become an intellectual, why can't you be happy with the money you are getting?'. I am happy, but I have to read and teach, said Satyanarayana.

The professor was given no prior intimation regarding the raid and him along with his family were imprisoned inside the house for the whole day. The police confiscated the laptops, hard discs, pen drives and all the academic materials from his house and blocked his phone and email. "They have blocked everything now. For the next six months, I cannot do anything," Satyanarayana says in the video.

The police have also searched the house of Raos second daughter Anala and her husband KV Kurmanath, who is a journalist.

The raid was part of the larger raids and arrests of eminent scholars and activists across the country alleging connection with the protests at Bhima Koregaon village.

The initial raids were conducted in the homes of Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi. Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Gonsalves and Farreira were arrested.

Rao, Gonzalves and Farreira will be produced in a Pune court on Wednesday. Bharadwaj and Navlakha, who were arrested in Delhi, are not to be moved to Pune as their transit remand was rejected.

Human rights groups and various activists have decried the arrest of five Left-leaning intellectuals and raids at their homes. Author Arundhati Roy called the Maharashtra Police crackdown 'an attempted coup against the Indian Constitution' while historian Ramachandra Guha called the action "absolutely chilling".

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, "Fascist fangs are now openly bared. It is a clear declaration of emergency. They are going after anyone who has spoken against the government on rights issues. They are against any dissent."

Follow LIVE updates on Bhima Koregaon violence

With inputs from PTIProminent historian Romila Thapar on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the arrests of Left-wing activists in the case of the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Prominent historian Romila Thapar and four activists on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the arrests of Left-wing activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence on 1 January, and for suspected Maoist links. The Leaflet reported that the petition is likely to be mentioned before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on Wednesday.

The five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to give an urgent hearing on Wednesday at 3.45 pm.

In the petition, which was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the historian and other rights activists have sought the release of all activists who have been arrested during raids in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. They have also sought an independent probe into the arrests.

According to reports, the petition will be represented by Vrinda Grover, who is the advocate for activist Sudha Bharadwaj. Senior advocate Indira Jaising is among those who will support Thapar's petition.

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for their suspected 'Maoist' links. The raids were carried out as part of the probe into the violence at the Bhima Koregaon village following an Elgar Parishad event held on 31 December 2017.

Searches were carried out at the homes of Left-wing activist and poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, Father Stan Swamy from Ranchi and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, who lives in Delhi.

The Pune Police is following up on an FIR filed by Tushar Damgude, a follower of Sambhaji Bhide's ideology, on 8 January. Sambhaji Bhide is one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon riots.

We are pursuing the complaint he (Damgude) filed in the Vishrambag police station," confirmed Shivaji Bodakhe, Joint Commissioner of Pune police. "Maoists work in urban areas through frontal organisations, and in rural areas through militant organisations. The activists we have arrested were helping the frontal organisations logistically and financially."Dealing a blow to the Maharashtra Police, the apex court questioned it for arresting the activists nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas in Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune following the Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on 31 December, 2017.

New Delhi/Pune: The Maharashtra Police's move to arrest five well-known activists was punctured on Wednesday with the Supreme Court observing that "dissent is the safety valve of democracy" and directing that those in its custody be kept under house arrest.

The five human rights activists  Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha  who were arrested after the pan-India crackdown on Tuesday will not be sent to jail but be under house arrest until 6 September, the court ruled.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said.

Dealing a blow to the Maharashtra Police, the apex court questioned it for arresting the activists nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas in Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune following the Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on 31 December, 2017.

Provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad, which triggered the violence, according to an FIR registered in a Pune police station.

The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra government and the state police on the plea by five leading intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, against the arrests in connection with the case.

"The Supreme Court order has passed an order that covers all who were arrested," said lawyer Vrinda Grover after the ruling. She added that they would be taken back to their homes.

While trade unionist and lawyer Bharadwaj is confined to her home in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Navlakha to his Delhi residence, Telugu poet Rao and activists Gonsalves and Ferreira were taken to Pune late on Tuesday night.

They were arrested for their suspected links to Maoists following near simultaneous searches at Rao's home in Hyderabad, Gonzalves' and Ferreira's residences in Mumbai as well as in Faridabad and Delhi, officials said.

They were arrested under IPC Section 153(A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed, along with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for their "alleged Naxal activities", an official said, without elaborating.

As activists and others breathed a little easier following the apex court ruling, the Delhi High Court, which was hearing Navlakha's plea, observed that even if all other arrests were found to be valid, it would not lend validity to his arrest.

The National Human Rights Commission also stepped into the controversy, saying "it appears" standard operating procedure was not properly followed and this may amount to a violation of the human rights of those arrested.

It issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief and asked for a 'factual report' within four weeks.

As the courts gave their ruling in Delhi, police in Pune said it had "evidence" suggesting a plan to target the "highest political functionaries".

Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Shivajirao Bodkhe also claimed to have evidence to suggest that the arrested people had links with Kashmiri separatists. The Elgar Parishad, he told reporters, was funded by the Maoists.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar said all procedures were followed before conducting the raids against the activists. "It is due to their links with naxal movements that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action," he said.

The others whose premises were reportedly searched were Father Stan Swamy, Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde.

"The entire case is a political ploy against political dissent by this vindictive and cowardly government...," Navlakha said in a statement issued by civil rights group People's Union for Democratic Rights of which he is a part.

Navlakha's transit remand was secured from the Saket district court to take him to Pune. The order, however, was stayed by the high court.

It was a night of dramatic developments for those following Bharadwaj's case. The chief judicial magistrate of Faridabad had granted Bharadwaj's transit remand to the Maharashtra Police. However, it had to reverse its order in the early hours of Wednesday in keeping with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had stayed her transit remand for three days.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit history  it witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on 1 January, 1818 by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Tuesday's events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in June.Supreme Court also issued notice to the Maharashtra state government and the state police on the plea filed by five intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, against the Bhima Koregaon arrests

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest till 6 September, saying dissent was the "safety valve" of democracy.

The five activists will now not be sent to jail till 6 September but will remain in house arrest under police watch. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the Maharashtra police for arresting these persons after around nine months of the Bhima Koregaon incident.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the bench, which also comprised Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said.

The apex court also issued notice to the Maharashtra state government and the state police on the plea filed by five intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, against the arrest of the rights activists Tuesday in connection with the case.

The counsel, appearing for Maharashtra, raised the issue of maintainability of the plea, saying a "stranger" cannot seek relief for the activists who have already approached the high courts.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, while activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha was arrested from New Delhi.

The Maharashtra Police had arrested them in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event - 'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) held on 31 December 2018 that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on 6 September.Bharadwaj, along with several other Left-wing activists, was arrested on Tuesday in multi-city raids. She has been confined at her residence in Faridabad, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only her lawyer.

New Delhi: Trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who was picked up by the Maharashtra Police for her suspected links with Maoists, on Wednesday said those speaking against human rights violation and fighting for the rights of Dalits and tribals are being targeted by the "present regime".

Bharadwaj, along with several other Left-wing activists, was arrested on Tuesday in multi-city raids. She has been confined at her residence in Faridabad, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only her lawyer. "I think whatever is the opposition to the present regime, whether it is on Dalit rights, tribal rights, or human rights, everybody who is in the opposition is being rounded up in this manner.

"My mobile, laptop and pen drive has been seized. I apprehend they are going to play around with this data. My Gmail and Twitter passwords have also been taken," she told reporters here. The arrest has triggered a nation-wide outrage with activists saying the raids were a brazen attack on democratic rights and reminiscent of the infamous Emergency.

Her daughter, Anu Bharadwaj, said, "There were ten people. Among them only one was a lady constable from the Haryana police. Others were from the Maharashtra police. When Mom asked for a search warrant, they said they did not have it. "They did have some other document. That is why mom allowed them to come inside. I do not have any idea about allegations but mom said they have come in connection with arrests in Pune," she said.

The Maharashtra Police on Tuesday carried out searches at multiple places in several states, including Delhi, on the residences of people suspected to have Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune on December 31 last year.Pune-based business man Tushar Damgude, on the basis of who's FIR the Pune Police on Tuesday arrested five activists and raided houses of several others in various parts of the country in connection with the Bhima Koregaon riots, is a follower of famous right-wing activist Sambhaji Bhide

The Pune-based businessman Tushar Damgude, on the basis of who's FIR the Pune Police on Tuesday arrested five activists and raided houses of several others in various parts of the country in connection with the Bhima Koregaon riots, is a follower of famous right-wing activist Sambhaji Bhide aka 'Bhide Guruji' who is accused of perpetuating the 1 January riots.

Damgude had lodged a complaint on 8 January 2018 with the Vishrambaug police against the alleged inflammatory speeches at the Elgar Parishad at Shaniwarwada on 31 December. His complaint had earlier led the police to arrest the likes of Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Soma Sen and Mahesh Raut on 6 June 2018.

Bhide and Milind Ekbote were booked on 2 January, a day after the violence, under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act and under various sections of the IPC including an attempt to murder as one person was killed in the clashes. Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar had alleged that Bhide and Ekbote's organisations were responsible for the caste clashes. Ambedkar has been at the forefront of the battle to get Bhide and Ekbote arrested for their role in the violence.

However, Bhide, who is the head of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, alleged that the roots of the riots lay in the 'Yalgar Parishad' (conference) organised by various groups on 31 December in Pune and demanded the arrest of Ambedkar instead. He also sought a brain-mapping test of all the concerned persons, including Ambedkar to unravel the truth behind the casteist disturbances.

Following on his lines, Damgude had written a celebratory post when Ekbote was given bail. Milind Ekbote has been going to Bhima Koregaon for 20 years. His is a lions share behind Sambhaji Maharajs memorial proudly standing there," he wrote.

Bhide, who hails from the Sangli district in western Maharashtra, has been maintaining that he was not present at the incident site on the fateful day and was away to attend MLA Jayant Patil's mother's rituals. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had also told the Assembly that there was no proof of the involvement of Bhide in connection with the violence.

However, the 85-year-old Bhide is no stranger to controversy. In 2008, he had led the protests against Ashutosh Gowariker's historical romance film Jodhaa Akbar and was booked for ransacking theatres and halting screenings of the movie. A year later, he sparked unrest in Sangli in Maharashtra over the depiction of an "artist's impression of assassination of Adil Shah's army commander Afzal Khan by Shivaji Maharaj", as reported by Mumbai Mirror. In fact, the report said that many members of his political outfit have been accused in case of beef-related violent clashes across Maharashtra.

Bhide is also known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as according to a Zee News report, during Modis visit to Sangli before the 2014 elections, the later had said that Bhide Guruji did not invite him there but he came on his orders". Reportedly, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also holds him in great reverence.

A staunch Hindutva activist, Bhide is a gold medallist in MSc. in Physics from Savitribai Phule Pune University and worked as a professor at Pune's Fergusson College before joining the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) full-time. But later he decided to chart out his own path and formed an outfit, 'Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan' in the late 1980s which focuses on spreading the teachings of Shivaji Maharaj and his son Sambhaji Maharaj. "Bhide Guruji has a strong organisation within and outside Western Maharashtra. Many Shiv Sainiks swell the ranks of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan," a Shiv Sena leader told DNA.

And despite his age, Bhide has a significant following among the youth in areas like Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara. He has over 31,000 followers on his Facebook page. And therefore, it unsurprising to see the likes of Damgude following him religiously.

We had a candid discussion with Bhide Guruji on various subjects including the Constitution, Manusmriti and Hindutva. I told Guruji that we are devout followers of Shivaji and Sambhaji Maharaj, but if we disagree with some of your views, we would express those disagreements and Guruji had no problem with it," Damgude had written in a Facebook post on dated 10 June.

Meanwhile, the other 'friend of Bhide', 56-year-old Milind Ekbote has been in an out of power in Pune, as a BJP and Shiv Sena corporator. His first stint was with the BJP as a corporator in 1997. But, in 2002, he was denied a ticket and lost the election as an independent candidate.

However, he too created his own organisation, the 'Hindu Ekta Manch' in 2007 and came into prominence by leading protests against the celebration of Valentine's Day. According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, Ekbote has 12 cases of rioting, trespassing and other charges against him, out of which he has been convicted in five so far.

Responding to the Bhima Koregaon violence, Ekbote had issued a statement where he said that he was saddened by the inconvenience caused to the Dalits due to rioting after their visit to Bhima Koregaon, and condemned the act of rioting", calling BR Ambedkar an "icon" for him, according to PTI.

Several thousand Dalits from all over Maharashtra had congregated at the 'Victory Pillar in Bhima Koregaon on 1 January to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the war between British troops comprising mostly of Dalits and the army of Peshwa Bajirao II which was defeated. A large section of Dalits views the historical battle as the defeat of the 'casteism' of upper-caste Peshwas.

Follow LIVE updates on the Bhima Koregaon raids hereThe accused monk Bhante Sanghpriya was detained for interrogation after 15 boys from Prasanna Jyoti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre in Mastipur complained about him.

The Bihar Police on Wednesday detained the director of a Buddhist mutt in Gaya district's Bodh Gaya, after minor students of the institute alleged he had sexually abused them.

The accused, Bhante Sanghpriya, was detained for interrogation after 15 boys from Prasanna Jyoti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre in Mastipur complained about him, district police official Anil Kumar was quoted as saying by IANS.

The accused Buddhist monk allegedly forced the children into having unnatural sex with him, according to the police complaint. All the victims are between 6 and 12 years old and hail from Assam's Karbi Anglong district.

According to reports, the sexual abuse surfaced after one of the child monks escaped from the mutt and reached his home in Assam. After learning about his return, the parents of the other children who lived around his home then reached Bodh Gaya to take their children home.

When the parents sought to know about the matter, the accused monk expelled all 15 victims from the institute, reported News18.

The children are being questioned by the station house officer of Mahila police station. They will be produced before a magistrate on Thursday, and their statements will be recorded under relevant sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

They will also be taken for medical tests, based on the results of which a case may be lodged against the monk.

This incident comes to light at a time when authorities are investigating the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal. The sexual assault of 34 girls over a period of time at the Bihar government-funded shelter home came to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

With inputs from agenciesThe Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report has held him indirectly responsible for the firings at protestors at Kotakpura in Faridkot agitating against the sacrilege incidents, saying he was 'aware' of the proposed police action to disperse the mob.

Chandigarh: The ruling Congress and the AAP MLAs today demanded that former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal be booked on "murder" charges on the basis of a judicial panel's report on the 2015 sacrilege incidents in the state.

The report has held him indirectly responsible for the firings at protestors at Kotakpura in Faridkot agitating against the sacrilege incidents, saying he was "aware" of the proposed police action to disperse the mob.

During a debate in the state assembly on Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on the sacrilege incidents, they also sought slapping of murder charges against erstwhile Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and the then DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, citing the findings of the report. In a nearly eight-hour long debate that ended in the late evening, the MLAs also demanded that the ongoing probe into the sacrilege incidents and the police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan be withdrawn from the CBI and handed over to the state police.

Holding Badals' "responsible for sacrilege incidents", some of the legislators went on to compare them with 'Mughals and General Dyer' for "allowing" the firings at protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan which had resulted in the killings of two persons in 2015. Initiating the debate on the sacrilege report, tabled in the assembly on Monday, and the government's action on it, Congress MLA Harminder Singh Gill sought exemplary punishment for former chief minister Badal, holding him "guilty" of the sacrilege incidents as well.

Gill also accused some Dera followers of being behind the sacrilege incidents and said Badals facilitated granting pardon to Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a blasphemy case arising out of the sacrilege incidents. He also flashed photographs of Badal with Dera head and Asaram Bapu.

The Akali Dal and the BJP MLAs, however, held a "mock session" outside the House, protesting against the "less time" allotted to them to speak during the debate. Intervening into the debate, Punjab cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhwa, who has been accused by Akalis for fabricating evidence in the report, described Parkash Singh Badal and his son as "traitors" of Sikh 'panth.'

The sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib took place under their regime, he asserted, adding that "Badals proved to be the Mughals for Sikh Panth." "The chief minister and the deputy chief minister were directly involved in the sacrilege incidents as per the Commission report," he said, demanding that they be booked for murders. "Strict punishment should also be given to those police officials who opened fire at protesters," he said.

He also demanded custodial interrogation of former Special Secretary to chief minister Gagandeep Brar. Participating in the discussion, AAP MLA and former Leader of Opposition HS Phoolka demanded prosecution of Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the alleged role of his followers in the sacrilege incidents.

Seeking establishment of special courts for trials of sacrilege cases, Phoolka, a noted advocate, also asked chief minister Amarinder Singh to withdraw the probe in sacrilege cases from the CBI and hand it over to the Punjab police. Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu too launched a blistering attack against Akalis, accusing them of dividing people and polarising the society to serve their vested interests.

Sidhu compared Badals with General Dyer, notorious for ordering the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Sidhu also asked Akalis to explain as to why did they granted pardon to Dera head in the blasphemy case. Accusing Akalis of striking a deal with Dera Sacha Sauda chief for allowing the release of his movie in 2015, he asked them to explain as to "what happened to Rs 100 crore they got for it".

"I want to request the CM not to let them go scot free. They should be given deterrent punishment... arrest them and hang them," he said. Seeking withdrawal of the probe into sacrilege cases from the CBI, he said, "The CBI is the puppet of the Centre. Why should the CBI or the Modi government be investigating the sacrilege cases and why not the Amarinder government be doing it?" he asked.Inquiry commissions set up to investigate the 1984 anti-Sikh riots made a distinction between motives of the party and its leaders. While Congress leaders and workers were indeed involved in the riots, involvement of the party was ruled out

Mumbai: Congress president Rahul Gandhis statement that the Congress party was not involved in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 triggered a political debate.

We fact-checked his claim, using two inquiry commission reports, which made a distinction between motives of the party and its leaders.

Congress leaders and workers were indeed involved in the riots, committing these acts for personal political reasons or for considerations entirely their own, an inquiry commission report said. However, involvement of the party was ruled out.

Claim: I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I dont agree. Certainly there was violence, there was tragedy, Rahul Gandhi said during a meeting with the local parliamentarians in United Kingdom on August 24, 2018.

#EXCLUSIVE  News18s direct question puts @RahulGandhi in the spot. Will his denial in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot reduce his stature as a serious politician? Share your thoughts with us using #Rahul1984Lie. Watch #Viewpoint with @bhupendrachaube Tune in Now! pic.twitter.com/2ng3tCFuMi  News18 (@CNNnews18) August 24, 2018

Fact: Congress leaders and workers were found to be involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, their motives attributed to personal political reasons; they did indulge/participate in the riots for considerations entirely their own, said two inquiry commission reports. However, involvement of the party was ruled out, according to Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission, and there was no evidence suggesting that Shri Rajiv Gandhi or any other high ranking Congress (I) leader had suggested or organised attacks on Sikhs, according to the Nanavati Commission report.

Congress leaders, such as Dharam Das Shastri, then member of parliament (MP), Sajjan Kumar, later member of parliament, Jagdish Tytler, later minister of state for Overseas Indian Affairs, Ram Lal, then Congress Councillor, HKL Bhagat, then union minister, and others were found to be involved in the attacks on Sikhs, according to the Nanavati Commission report.

As many as 3,325 people were killed in the 1984 riots nationwide, with 2,733 killed in Delhi alone, the government told the Rajya Sabha on 11 March, 2015, citing the Ahooja committee report, set up under the Rangnath Mishra Commission by the Delhi administration to find the number of deaths in the riots.

The central government set up two inquiry commissions, headed by Justice Ranganath Mishra on 26 April, 1985, and Justice GT Nanavati on 8 May, 2000, to investigate the 1984 riots. The reports were submitted to the Parliament on 23 February, 1987, and 10-11 August, 2005, respectively. Both these reports were submitted when a Congress or Congress-led government was in power at the Centre.

The Mishra Commission ruled out participation by the Congress (I) Party or its leaders but found that some Congressmen on their own did indulge or participate in the riots for considerations entirely their own.

The Mishra report also found delay on the part of Delhi government and police administration in calling the army, although 5,000 army personnel were ready by the midnight of 31 October, 1984.

Misra Commission appointed by Rajiv Govt in his report given in Aug 1986 & tabled in Parliament in Feb 1987 has held that 5000 army jawans were present in Delhi on 1st Nov 1984 morning &if these 5000 army men had been used & deployed in Delhi,it could have saved 2000 lives.

2/3  H S Phoolka (@hsphoolka) August 27, 2018

As the attacks on Sikhs appear to the Commission as organised, an attempt was made to see who were responsible for organising the same. Some of the affidavits filed before the commission generally state that the Congress leaders/workers were behind these riots, the Nanavati Commission report said. The slogans raised during the riots also indicate that some of the persons who constituted the mobs were Congress(I) workers or sympathizers.

On the involvement Rajiv Gandhi in the 184 riots, the commission said it finds no substance in the allegation that he said: Sikhs should be taught a lesson.

However, Rajiv Gandhi did say that whenever a big tree falls, the earth shakes a little.

About this statement of Rajiv Gandhi, George Vergese, the then editor of Indian Express, in his affidavit stated that this statement and other circumstances had created an impression among the section of the people that the public anger was allowed to run its course for a while, the Nanavati commission report said.

The report reiterated, though, that there is absolutely no evidence suggesting that Shri Rajiv Gandhi or any other high ranking Congress (I) leader had suggested or organized attacks on Sikhs.

Whatever acts were done, were done by the local Congress (I) leaders and workers, and they appear to have done so for their personal political reasons, the Nanavati Commission report said. They do not appear to have done so purely for personal reasons. If they were the acts of individuals only then the killing of Sikhs and looting of properties of Sikhs would not have been on such a large scale. Therefore, what those local leaders appear to have done is to take the help of their followers and supporters in inciting or committing those acts.

Today during debate in Punjab VidhanSabha, CM Pb. @amarindera_capt admitted that Cong Min HKL Bhagat, Cong MP Sajjan Kumar & some other Cong leaders were involved in #1984SikhGenocide.

Cong gave them plum positions& allowed them to continue clearly shows Cong involved.  H S Phoolka (@hsphoolka) August 27, 2018

Rahul Gandhis statement that Congress had no role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots is wrong, HS Phoolka, Senior Advocate at Supreme Court of India and Member of Legislative Assembly for Aam Aadmi Party, saidon August 26, 2018. Phoolka was one of the advocates who appeared on behalf of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee and the November 1984 Carnage Justice Committee, associations representing the victims.

Nanavati Commission report stating involvement of Congress Party leaders in the 1984 Sikh riots:

The Commission, therefore, is of the view that there is credible evidence against Dharam Das Shastri who was a Congress (I) leader of the locality, that he had instigated his men Tek Chand Sharma and Rajinder Singh to organise attack on Sikhs. The Commission recommends to the government that it should examine the relevant material and direct investigation or further investigation as may be found necessary with respect to the aforesaid allegations.

D NORTH DISTRICT

On the basis of the evidence relating to the incidents which happened in this district it appeared to the Commission that the ACP RS Malik, SI Ram Singh, ASI Amar Nath, ASI Mange Ram, ASI Raja Ram, Police Inspector Jai Bhagwan Malik, Police Inspector Durga Prasad and SI Sat Parkash had not performed their duty properly. Accordingly, notices u/s 8B of Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 were issued to them. Out of them ASI Raja Ram could not be served with the notice as he had already expired earlier. Others were served and they have filed their replies. It also appeared to the Commission that Jagdish Tytler, Ram Lal, Kaka Bali, Ram Chander Nagoria and Tarvinder Singh Bedi, who were all Congress(I) Leaders or workers, were in some way involved in the attacks on Sikhs or their properties in this area. Notice issued to Shri Tarvinder Singh could not be served as it was reported that he has died. Notice was not issued to Kaka Bali also as he had expired earlier. Jagdish Tytler, Ram Chander Nagoria and Ram Lal have sent their replies.

As stated by Gurbachan Singh (Witness -137) involvement of Jagdish Tytler was also disclosed by by the affected persons to the Citizens Commission during the inquiry which it had made within a short time after the riots. That inquiry was made by eminent persons of unquestionable integrity. Shri Govind Narain (Witness-150) who had assisted the Citizens Committee, whose Chairman was Justice Sikri, has also stated that witnesses had told the Committee about participation by HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler in the anti-Sikh riots. Relying upon all this material, the Commission considers it safe to record a finding that there is credible evidence against Jagdish Tytler to the effect that very probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs. The Commission, therefore, recommends to the government to look into this aspect and take further action as may be found necessary.

Large number of affidavits indicate that local Congress(I) leaders and workers had either incited or helped the mobs in attacking the Sikhs. But for the backing and help of influential and resourceful persons, killing of Sikhs so swiftly and in large numbers could not have happened.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and other political parties criticised Rahul Gandhis statement that the Congress was not involved in the 1984 Sikh riots.

.@RahulGandhi denial won't wash off the blood of innocents from your family's hands. @INCIndia and your family is responsible for the carnage of thousands of Sikhs and its a fact known to the world. This explains why Sikhs have been denied justice for 34 years. https://t.co/WpA4qJifgy  Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) August 25, 2018

It is shocking to hear Rahuls statement when all the main culprits from HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Dharamdas Shastri to Kamal Nath were from Congress, The Hindu quoted Jarnail Singh, vice-chairperson of the Punjabi Academy and former member of the Delhi legislative assembly, as saying on 27 August, 2018.

The Congress and its leaders said their party was not involved but acknowledged that some of their comrades were. They said Rahul Gandhi was 13 or 14 years at the time, too young to be held responsible.

Congress was in office in 1984. A very terrible thing happened in 1984 for which Dr Manmohan Singh aplogised in Parliament. You can't hold Rahul Gandhi responsible for that, he was 13 or 14. He hasn't absolved anyone: P Chidambaram on statement R Gandhi's made on 1984 riots y'day pic.twitter.com/X1HmU0s9eX  ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2018

The incident took place when Indiraji was killed, at that time Rajiv Gandhi was at an airport in Bengal.There was no Congress involvement other than some people.I have named few people, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri ,Arjun Das& 2 more people: Punjab CM on 1984 Anti-Sikh riots pic.twitter.com/ShXNiOoCOl  ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2018The anti-Dalit sentiment is hardwired into the Sangh Parivar make up, with its unreconstructed upper caste biases surfacing every now and then.

Dawn raids by Pune Police personnel across seven cities have resulted in the arrest or detention of five rights activists, who have been accused variously of being urban Maoists and the overground faces of the ultra-Left underground. However, as this copy was being written, the Supreme Court gave some interim relief to the held activists and said that the police cannot keep them in jail but under house arrest till 6 September.

A brief look at the background of the activists targeted by the Pune Police would be instructive. From Hyderabad was Varavara Rao, a Left revolutionary who has been in and out of jail since the 1970s; he was an emissary in talks between the Central government and the Maoists in the early 2000s (that is, under both the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh government). From Delhi was Gautam Navlakha, a former journalist and one of the most recognisable representatives of the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights; from Faridabad, the police picked up Sudha Bharadwaj, a lawyer and tribal rights activist; from Mumbai they picked up Vernon Gonsalves, an academic, lawyer and activist, who was in jail on suspicion of being a Maoist, but was acquitted in all cases he had been embroiled in; and from Thane was arrested Arun Ferreira, also a lawyer and rights activist, who had been in jail for six years as an undertrial on charges of being a Maoist.

Tellingly, the Delhi High Court threw out the Pune Polices plea for transit remand and ordered Navlakha remain under house arrest until the case is disposed of, while the prayer for transit remand in Bharadwajs case was first granted by a Faridabad court despite being stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Faridabad court later stayed the remand till 30 August. The Delhi High Court pointed to infirmities in the procedures adopted by the police.

Several aspects of these simultaneous raids (also carried out in Goa and Ranchi) and arrests suggest that it is part of the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJPs) strategy to consolidate upper caste Hindu and ultra-nationalistic vote banks with difficult elections impending in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan this year, followed by Lok Sabha elections next year along with elections to a host of Legislative Assemblies, including, crucially, elections in Maharashtra, where the party is not on a good wicket at all.

The police say that they have evidence linking all the five with five people arrested earlier this year  Sudhir Dhawale (activist), Surendra Gadling (advocate,) Mahesh Raut (activist), Shoma Sen (professor and activist) and Rona Wilson (activist)  in connection with violence in Bhima Koregaon (Maharashtra), where Dalit groups celebrated a nineteenth-century battle in which a colonial Mahar (Dalit) regiment had defeated a Maratha army. The forensic spotlight had originally fallen on Hindutva activists Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, who had made inflammatory speeches before the event. Ekbote had been arrested and released on bail, while Bhide, a sort of eminence grise in Sangh Parivar circles, counting amongst his admirers Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was never arrested at all, despite the Supreme Court having ordered it.

Curiously, the police then abandoned their case against Ekbote, Bhide and other saffron merchants and focused attention on Dalit activists, who have been promoted to the position of prime agents provocateurs inciting the violence in which one person was killed. While Marathas had accused Dalits of having attacked them, the latter had said that crowds carrying saffron flags had orchestrated attacks on them. Clearly, some charges are more equal than others.

To return to the current situation, some things stand out. One, the Dalits and those who work amongst them remain targets (and not beneficiaries) of the current regime. The Central government was more or less stampeded into introducing and passing the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018, earlier this month to nullify a Supreme Court ruling which many felt had diluted the original act. The Central government had barely reacted to the Supreme Court ruling. Subsequently, the pressure had started building up. Many Dalit MPs and ministers had approached the government seeking action. Among them was Lok Sabha member Udit Raj. Key allies Ramvilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party and Upendra Khushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party also pressured the government to counter this dilution. The latter had threatened to part company with the National Democratic Alliance, and, according to recent reports, is still mindful of entering into an alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The catalyst for all these were the countrywide protests against the Supreme Court order organised by Dalit groups on 2 April. Eleven people were killed, many more injured and public property destroyed in the protests. No one had anticipated this scale of violence. With another Bharat bandh that was scheduled for 9 August, and the pressure continuing to build, the Modi government finally introduced and passed the amendment bill on 3 and 6 August. The bandh was called off much to the relief of the BJP and its governments at the Centre and in various states, some of which had also called for action.

But, clearly, the anti-Dalit sentiment is hardwired into the Sangh Parivar make up, with its unreconstructed upper caste biases surfacing every now and then. The shifting of blame unilaterally to the Dalits in the Bhima Koregaon case is just one more piece of evidence. The desperate attempt to entwine Dalit activism, which is not proscribed, with sympathy for or involvement with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which is banned, seems to be a classic upper caste backlash against growing Dalit assertion. It could well derail the current regimes efforts to win Dalit support and prove electorally counter-productive. Activist and author Arundhati Roy does not necessarily get it right all the time, but she seems to have nailed it when she said the dawn raids on 28 August were a desperate sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate.

Second, as we have already noted, this seems to be an electoral gambit. How far the consolidation of the Hindutva vote bank will compensate for a possible consolidation of Dalit sentiments against the BJP remains to be seen, but given the shift away from the ruling party, which is proceeding apace on the back of, amongst other things, mismanagement of the economy, the opposition has reason to be optimistic, if it manages to stick together.

Third, there are enough grounds to speculate about whether this sudden crackdown on Maoists is to compensate for wholesale arrests of Sanatan Sanstha members in relation to the murders of journalist Gauri Lankesh, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and others. The government has not been able to protect them because the Central Bureau of Investigation, building on the work done by the special investigation team of the Karnataka Police, has unearthed a critical mass of evidence. Hindutva sentiments have been aroused, as demonstrated by the support shown for many of those arrested in these cases. This could well be the BJPs way of sending out the right message.

Much of the foregoing is, as it has to be, in the realm of speculation. It is now up to the judiciary to protect the rights of those arrested now and earlier. The Chhattisgarh government had arrested eminent physician and activist Binayak Sen and kept him in jail for two years until the Supreme Court bailed him out in 2009. The Chhattisgarh government hasnt proceeded with the case since. Justice could still be done and seen to be done, especially if Bhide is arrested in accordance with the Supreme Courts orders.Dayalu Ammal, wife of late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidhi, who died earlier this month, has been admitted to the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, sources said.

Dayalu Ammal, wife of late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidhi, has been admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, sources said.

They said Ammal (82) was hospitalised late on Tuesday night, but declined to comment on her health condition, saying a statement is likely to be issued later in the day.

The second wife of Karunanidhi, who died earlier this month, Ammal is the mother of now DMK chief MK Stalin, MK Alagiri, MK Tamilarasu and MK Selvi.

In 2015, Ammal was involved in a 2G-related money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet against Ammal and 18 others, claiming that the transaction of Rs 200 crore, which was allegedly paid to Kalaignar TV, was not genuine and it was a bribe for grant of telecom licences to DB Group companies.

A doctor in 2015 had told a special CBI court that Ammal could not be involved in the case as she has been suffering from Alzheimers and other age-related diseases for several years. In 2017, all the accused along with Dayalu were acquitted in the money laundering case by a special court of CBI.

The news of her being unwell comes on a day when her son Stalin was elected unopposed as president of the DMK on Tuesday.

With inputs from PTIAfter the Pune Police raid at his Ranchi home, Father Stan Swamy had said he had no connection with the Elgar Parishad event or the Bhima Koregaon violence.

The raids and arrests of human rights activists across the country on Tuesday, included a search at the home of Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi in Jharkhand, though he was not taken into custody.

"The police came to my house with something written in Marathi and didn't even bother to provide a copy of this FIR in which they named me," Swamy said at a press conference, organised after the raids on Tuesday at his house in Bagaicha in Ranchi's Namkum area to express support for those arrested and raided by teams of the Pune Police. "I neither have any connection with Elgar Parishad nor the violence that took place in Bhima Koregaon in January."

Dubbing the police action against eminent scholars and social activists a "naked dance of power", Father Swamy said that while he personally knew Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, who were among the activists whose homes were raided in connection with the Bhima Koregaon investigation, he has no connection with the others who were arrested. "Freedom of dissent is being suppressed by the government, which bodes ill for the future of the country," he warned.

Who is 82-year-old Father Stan Swamy?

Few outside the tribal belts of Jharkhand are likely to have heard of him, even though he has been a controversial figure and a major bane of the Jharkhand government, especially in exposing its claims about its anti-Naxal operations. His most spectacular expose was in 2015, when he released a report claiming that nearly 98 percent of the 3,000 odd tribal youth who the government had branded as Naxals and thrown in Jharkhand's jails  some for over three years without trial  had never been part of the Maoist movement.

Swamy's work to empower tribals for over three decades through his NGO Bagaicha in Ranchi has not endeared him to the powers that be. Working tirelessly to have the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act implement in the state's scheduled areas, his efforts culminated in the Pathalgadi movement in 2017 in the districts of Khunti, Simdega, Seraikela and Gumla in Jharkhand.

The government's response was to try and suppress the movement by booking around 20 leaders, including Father Swamy, under charges of sedition on 30 July. It led to well-known intellectuals and activists like Vasvi Kido and Santosh Kido describing the government action as a witch hunt and an attempt to malign the image of the Church in Jharkand. It is hardly a secret that Chief Minister Raghubar Das and the BJP are keen to check the Church's influence among the tribal community.

The fact is that Father Swamy has not been arrested even once during his many decades of work among the tribals and other displaced communities, not even on the sedition charge made against him in connection with the Pathalgadi campaign.

"Swamy has been implicated because of the title 'Father' in his name," said Vasvi, former journalist, social worker, author of a book in Hindi on the history of displaced persons and a long-time associate of Father Swamy. "He hardly visited any of the villages where the Pathalgadi movement was on."

Father Swamy, who moved to the Chaibasa area of undivided Bihar in the 1970s, made his name during the 1996 campaign led by the Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR) against the Uranium Corporation of India Limited's (UCIL) Jadugoda mines in undivided Bihar's East Singhbhum district.

Senior Ranchi-based journalist, Girija Shankar Ojha, who has been covering the activist's movement since 1996, said: "Father Swamy became a popular name when JOAR  an organisation founded by Ghanshyam Biruli and others  successfully forced UCIL to stop displacing people in Jadugoda's Chatikocha area to construct a new tailing dam. Swamy was based in Chaibasa, and I was sent to interview him in Jadugoda."

A few people in the then Bihar knew about the ill-effects of the radiation to which the tribals were being exposed. It was heartening to see someone being this vocal about issues concerning the tribal community. It was thanks the efforts of the activist and JOAR that UCIL began to use covered transportation for uranium ore and erected fences around the tailing dams.

"Later, Swamy went on to work for the displaced people in Bokaro, Santhal Parganas, and Koderma," Ojha said.

This was the beginning of Father Swamy's continuing battle for the rights of people displaced because of industrialisation, construction of dams and mining activity. "He has been a solid pillar for displaced people for nearly three decades," said Vasvi. "The way the police arrived at his doorstep (on Tuesday) and didn't even bother to provide a copy of the FIR or a search warrant in Hindi was high-handed. Isn't it strange that someone who has been working for the betterment of society for such a long time has become a target of the government's crackdown at such an advanced age?"

After 2010, Swamy turned his attention towards the plight of tribal youth arrested on charges of Naxal-related activities. He wrote a book on the subject titled Jail Mein Band Qaidiyon ka Sach. In his book, he highlighted that the average monthly income of 97 percent of these tribal households was less than Rs 5,000, which meant they simply could not afford to hire lawyers to take up their cases.

"It was after the report was published and his focus on alleged excesses being carried out in the name of curbing rebel activity in Naxal-infested zones that Father Swamy appeared on the radar of the administration and police forces," said Sunil Minz, a long-time associate of the activist. "In 2014, when the government changed both at the Centre and state, the administration tried to suppress the report, but major national dailies carried its essence of the report."

Swamy has been working to get these youth out of jail ever since. He has paid their bail bonds and arranged for lawyers to fight cases like that of Biren Guria, a 43-year-old farmer who was picked up by a Central Reserve Police Force patrol team in 2011 from his village in the Saranda forest range in West Singhbhum district. Guria's only fault was that he had conversed with the patrol team in Hindi, while all the other villagers could speak only their native language, Ho. Guria was flown to the Chaibasa headquarters along with 11 other villagers, who were all charged with being "hardcore Naxalites".

"Swamy took up Guria's case, and presently, he is out on bail," said Vasvi. "The police have charged him with supplying rations to Maoist rebels in the area. It hard to understand how a family that is dependent on forest produce for sustenance would be able to supply rice, lentils and oil to Naxalites."

How Father Swamy's name came to be included in the list for the latest round of police raids and arrests is unclear. But at his press conference, he cautioned that "using raw power to silence the voices of those who raise important issues is something even media persons should be wary of".

Demanding that the government drop all such false cases against social activists, Swamy urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene urgently in the matter and order transparent, effective and impartial investigation into the simultaneous multi-city raids and arrests of social activists. "In fact, the Pune Police has yet to provide me a copy in Hindi of the list of items they took from my house," Father Swamy said.

The author is a Lucknow-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.comA dispassionate view of the role and responsibilities of the CEA shows that the role of an economic advisor is increasingly becoming redundant with the creation of the PMO, PMEAC and now NITI Aayog

Now that the Ministry of Finance has its original occupant (Arun Jaitley) back, the question on everyones lips is who will be his chief economic advisor (CEA), a position lying vacant since 26 July when Arvind Subramanian demitted office.

The government appears in no hurry to fill the post though the 30 June advertisement calling applications for CEA stipulated that the position would be filled by 1 August, if a candidate was selected.

What we know is that the government has received 15-18 applications. Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, told the media earlier this month that a committee would be set up soon to pick the new CEA from among the applicants, which could take about three to four months.

But even before the appointment has been made, the legacy position has got mired in political controversy. The Congress has questioned the alleged lowering of the professional and educational qualifications. Senior party leader Ahmed Patel tweeted last month his reservation over the eligibility criteria, questioning the governments motive.

That Patel, who was political secretary to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has gone public with his misgivings, shows the ever-growing interest among politicians in matters of business and economy.

Ever since Congress president Rahul Gandhi made the famous Suit Boot Ki Sarkar comment, party leaders are getting louder in their criticism of the Modi government's economic policy.

The exit of two top global economists  Raghuram Rajan in September 2016 and now Arvind Subramanian  has offered the proverbial political ammunition to the opposition. Rajans 'I do, what I do' demeanour showed him in an enviable position, putting the government on the defensive.

So, is the government trying to resize the CEA slot?

Politics apart, the advertisement seeking applications is insightful. The economist to be picked for the job must have a masters degree in economics, preferably with a doctorate, and six years of experience in research or giving advice or evaluating economic reforms. The applicant cannot be older than 50 if coming from outside the government and 56 if from within.

Should there be a quarrel over the profile the government seeks for the CEA, a position that has had a string of illustrious occupants?

On top of the list is Manmohan Singh, who held the position from 1972 to 1976. As prime minister, Singh picked noted global imports Kaushik Basu and Raghuram Rajan for the role in 2009 and 2012, respectively. The position remained vacant for a year until another well-known academic in Subramanian took charge under the Modi government.

For the record, Subramanian earned his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad, and MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford. Rajan did his PhD from MITs Sloan School of Management. Kaushik Basu, who Rajan replaced, also has a PhD under his belt.

The CEA has traditionally been awarded a mandatory newspaper headline but a dispassionate view of the role and responsibilities offers some useful insights.

- The nomenclature  CEA  itself offers a powerful perspective: the role is advisory and not that of making policy independently.

- Post liberalisation, the intersection of business and politics underwent a metamorphosis. Mainstream politicians, who shied away from business and economy, started digging deep into it. Economic understanding became a must-have qualification.

- In the changed political mindset, economic advisory role, even when administered by best-known minds, got reduced in stature. The advent of all powerful Prime Ministers Office (PMO) right from Atal Bihari Vajpayee's days ensured there was resident economic talent to advise the prime minister directly. NK Singh, a long-time economic policymaker, made his way to the PMO under Vajpayee.

- Vajpayees regime, in fact, offered a unique economic policy template. It made a virtue of inherent contradictions in economic thinking among its Cabinet ministers. There were four economic policy models in play during his regime: the MM Joshi model (Swadeshi push), Pramod Mahajan (pro-business), Jaswant Singh (middle path) and the Arun Shourie model (pro-liberalisation including privatisation). This left very little space for the CEA to make an independent mark. In an interaction early 1999, Vajpayee saw complete merit in having so many differing views.

- Manmohan Singh, a globally acclaimed economic thinker, brought in an additional layer of input in so far as economic policy management was concerned with the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC). He held on to the group right till the end of his term with Dr C Rangarajan as its chairman.

- Cut to today. Modi keeps a close watch on economic policy, taking credit as well as facing criticism. He has stoutly defended his demonetisation and GST moves, while his ministers and babus have only spoken in the affirmative. Of course, he has his own set of economic advisors.

- Like his predecessor, Modi, too, set up the PMEAC and got in a high-profile economist (Arvind Panagariya) to drive NITI Aayog. Modi continues to rely heavily on the government economic think tank though there is a new man (economist Rajiv Kumar) in charge there. For continuity, the prime minister has persisted with Amitabh Kant, a bureaucrat who retains his charm.

- Now Modi has got Swadeshi economics champion (S Gurumurthy) to sit on the advisory board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Getting back to the CEA, the question that begs answer is whether the role of the economic advisor is that of a forecaster, an evaluator, an endorser or that of critiquing the North Block leadership?

Is there any clarity? No? Who will offer that clarity  the finance minister or the prime minister?

Why should they? The political refrain would be let there be a CEA and some work will surely be assigned. That perhaps explains the flexibility in education profile of the applicant.

Education issue apart, what is obvious is that there is a clear case for setting out transparent Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) for a role that gets a fairly disproportionate share of headlines, often without any direct power to make or change the economic policy.

Would any government dare do away with the position in view of a multitude of opinions available in the system and the obvious redundancy? Unlikely in the near future. More so, not in an election year.

Get set, therefore, for a lightweight to fill the CEA position to assist in building the mid-year review and subsequently, unveiling the interim budget. Not that things would change dramatically with the new government in 2019! A CEA is therefore, good to have but not a must to have. The difference is perceptible!If more students retake the SAT, college enrollment rates would increaseand thats especially true for low-income and minority students.

Thats the conclusion of a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research that examines data on millions of SAT-takers from the College Board. The paper finds that retaking the SAT increases the probability that a student will enroll in a four-year college by 13 percentage pointsthose students would have otherwise either gone to two-year colleges or not enrolled in higher education institutions at all.

For low-income students, retaking the exam increases the likelihood of four-year college enrollment by 30 percentage points. And for underrepresented minority students, retakes are linked to an increase of 20 percentage points in their four-year college enrollment rate. (Meanwhile, non-minority students see an 8 percentage point increase.)

However, just over half of SAT takers retake the SAT at least once. That means that the other half of students may be at a competitive disadvantage when applying to college, the researchers write. Nearly 75 percent of the four-year colleges that use SAT scores in the admissions process consider a students maximum scoreand most of those define the maximum score as the superscore, which is the combination of the highest scores that a student receives on each section of the exam.

So who is currently retaking the SAT? Low-income students are 20.6 percentage points less likely than high-income students to retake the exam, the paper found. While low-income students who qualify for fee waivers are more likely to retake the SAT, they are still less likely to do it than high-income students who have to pay for the retake. (And 53 percent of students who use a fee waiver on their first try do not retake the exam.)

Asian-American students are 12 percentage points more likely to retake the exam than white students, and underrepresented minority students are 9 percentage points less likely to retake than white students. Female students are slightly more likely to take the exam again than male students. And students who take the exam for the first time at an earlier date are more likely to retakepartly because they have more chances to try again, the researchers wrote.

When students retake the SAT, their scores increase on average by 46 pointswhich the researchers attribute to either learning or increased familiarity to the test. Students superscores increase by 88 percent. Students who initially scored lower on the SAT have even higher gains on their retake, and low-income and underrepresented minority students also see their scores increase more than their high-income, white, and Asian-American counterparts.

In an email, Joshua Goodman, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University and one of the authors of the paper, said that taking the SAT a third time also raises scores on average, but not as much as second tries do.

Benefits of Retakes

Eliminating disparities in retake rates between high-income and low-income students would close about 20 percent of the four-year college enrollment gap by income, the paper found. Equalizing retake rates by race would close about 10 percent of the gap in four-year college enrollment rates between white and underrepresented minority students.

The researchers also found that students who retake the SAT are more likely to enroll in four-year colleges, rather than two-year institutions. One explanation might be that students who score higher on a retake have a stronger college application and thus, a higher chance of admission at a four-year college. Retaking might also change the mix of colleges to which students applystudents higher scores might change their expectations for college admissions.

The researchers acknowledge that highly motivated and well-informed students are both more likely to retake SATS and enroll in college. Their methodology controls for those characteristics, by comparing nearly identical students who differ only in their retaking behavior.

The authors conclude their paper with three big policy recommendations. First, students should be encouraged to take the SAT for the first time at an earlier date. Low-income and underrepresented minority students are substantially more likely to first take the SAT in 12th grade instead of 11th grade, when there are fewer opportunities to retake before applying to college.

Also, SAT fees discourage retakes, researchers found. Policymakers should consider lowering those fees or encourage more people to use fee waivers, they wrote. In fact, 43 percent of students who self-report their family income as under $30,000 do not use a fee waiver. Researchers suggest that the fee waiver application process could be made more transparent, and people who used a fee waiver on the first try could get automated reminders that retakes are free.

Finally, the researchers encourage informational campaigns, since they found that many students dont know whether they can retake the SAT or dont understand the benefits of taking the test again. The report says question such as, Is it worth retaking the SAT? and Can you retake the SAT?, are common Google searches.

My broadest takeaway is that SAT retaking is an important part of the college application process, one that more-advantaged students appear to know about and do more frequently than less-advantaged students, Goodman said. Of all things that a student might do to strengthen a college application, this is one of the easier ones that concerted efforts to intervene might actually improve.

Image via GettyThe raids, dubbed as a 'dangerous sign' by many have become a point of debate on social media. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri took the debate a notch up with his tweet.

A political storm and an online war of sorts is underway after the Maharashtra Police raided the homes of prominent activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. The arrests sparked a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after the Elgar Parishad event on 31 December last year. Security officials said that two letters were recovered over the past few months, indicating "Maoist" plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, which were also a reason for the raids.

The raids, dubbed as a "dangerous sign" by many eminent personalities has become a point of debate on social media, many referring to the arrests as "witch-hunt". Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri took the debate a notch up when he tweeted this:

I want some bright young people to make a list of all those who are defending #UrbanNaxals Lets see where it leads. If you want to volunteer with commitment, pl DM me. @squintneon would you like to take the lead?  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 28, 2018

All these names of #UrbanNaxals have been there with Manmohan Singhs Govt also. Many times Sonia Gandhi was also made aware. But that Govt refused to act against its own patrons. This Govt did. That is the real problem. Congratulations @rajnathsingh for courageous work.  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

Popularised by a book by Agnihotri, the term 'Urban Naxal' has become a catch-all to refer to a section of the population perceived to be "anti-establishment". In an essay, Agnihotri describes "Urban Naxals" as those "urban intellectuals, influencers or activists of importance" who are "invisible enemies of India". Some of these people, Agnihotri claimed, "have either been caught or are under the police radar for working for the movement and spreading insurgency against the Indian State". This is similar to the term coined by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in June about the "half-Maoist", a mysterious category of people who were a "serious threat to Indian democracy" as they became the 'overground face of the underground'.

The half Maoist is a serious threat to Indian democracy. Willingly or otherwise, they become over-ground face of the underground. Unfortunately some political parties see the Maoist as their instrument in the anti-NDA cause. Its high time that people recognise this malaise.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 8, 2018

The ambiguous definition of the term has allowed its use in discrediting, quelling and criminalising dissent. The tweets by Agnihotri ignited a vitriolic debate on Twitter.

Poster girl of #UrbanNaxals wont debate with me but always ready to defend the enemies of the state. https://t.co/GIiJ4EylaD  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 28, 2018

The arrest of the activists which has come under severe criticism was hailed by Agnihotri. The filmmaker also slammed the editor of The Wire Sidharth Vardharajan who opposed the use of the term "left bastions" for institutions like JNU in Delhi and Jadavpur University in Kolkata.

I just love this line from a godi media website: "Navlakha has been visiting Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi and Kolkatas Jadavpur University, both left bastions, for years now."  Siddharth (@svaradarajan) August 28, 2018

Hello @svaradarajan the media warrior of #UrbanNaxals since you are interested in visits of people, lets look at your wife @nandinisundars visits to Bastar. Pl read the thread. https://t.co/0cE0sk20VR  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

While journalists demanded that the filmmaker's Twitter account be suspended, as it "risks real-world violence," people from his own fraternity slammed him for his comments. Several claimed that Agnihotri's tweet could very well incite violence. Speaking to Firstpost, Agnihotri said, "I am the one speaking against those who are inciting violence. The government is taking action against such people. For me, those tweets were an academic exercise because I work with a lot of young people so I wanted to see who are the ones defending stone pelters, jihadists, and Naxals."

The filmmaker rubbished claims that those arrested aren't Naxals. "How do you know? What proof do you have? The UPA government had a list with the same people on it, and now they have been arrested. This is about India, and it is my right to stand against Naxalism."

When asked whether he factored in the volatile nature of information floated on social media before collating such a 'list', Agnihotri said, "All these people (on the list) are supporting killers, and I won't stand for it. I cannot say what will happen in the future, I cannot take responsibility for what a third party will do. How can I be responsible for how a third party reacts?"

I want all bright young people to understand what this tweet exactly means. Lists are being made... Lists... Do not ignore the danger this post implies. Also don't DM. Openly tell us. Come on be a little brave https://t.co/X8co81lina  Ashwin Mushran (@ashwinmushran) August 29, 2018

I'm not rattled... I'm furious at who you've become! You are beyond redemption as a person as far as I'm concerned. Ashamed to be even considered as part of the same industry as you. https://t.co/1CWatUwEPr  Ashwin Mushran (@ashwinmushran) August 29, 2018

Hey @ashwinmushran I dont know which industry you are talking about? Bollywood? I resigned from your club of mediocrity long time ago. So enjoy your cozy club of orgy and dont feel bad about me. I am serving my country in my own way. You mind your own mediocre business. https://t.co/eG7201yRwM  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

When author Kiran Manral referred to Agnihotri's tweet as "McCarthyism", the filmmaker said:

Congratulations @KiranManral you have just graduated from Dictatorship, Fascism, intolerance, Naziism to McCathyism. Welcome to the world of McCarthy until you find another ism. https://t.co/4OSzRTtze4  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

And the thread is unending.

Why so rattled Mr. editor? https://t.co/jhT3q59a7N  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

Why is making a list of enemies of the state and their defenders a crime for #UrbanNaxals. Why are you even trying to belong there when you are not competent enough to be even an #UrbanNaxal? https://t.co/Nmu4dhNbdA  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

Ill be obliged for your kind gesture. Please start now. But how can you do that? You are not even #UrbanNaxal. Yo7 are just a pimp of Congress. https://t.co/EAyI5WOsoH  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

You are not worth it. https://t.co/h48AbLGyHy  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

They are so stupid that soon when Ill make a list of terrorists, they would want to be in it. When comedy fails, practice tragedy. https://t.co/fqhUs6dQ1c  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018

What happened to your questions brother? You dont even have the guts to meet me personally, I fail to understand how do you practice dissent? Do you even know what is dissent? Risking my life and raising voice against armed enemies of India is dissent. Do it if you can. https://t.co/7poOiLZcgV  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 29, 2018Indian Navy has selected two villages in Kerala based on inputs received from the local administration and visits by naval officials

Kochi: The navy would undertake reconstruction work in two flood-hit areas in Ernakulam district, navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said in Kochi on Wednesday.

Admiral Lanba was addressing a gathering at flood ravaged Muttinakam village near Kochi after reviewing relief and rehabilitation work, a defence release said. He also highlighted the pivotal role of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) in shaping the career of naval personnel.

All including himself were connected with Kerala by an umbilical cord as they were all trained under the SNC prior to becoming full-fledged naval personnel, he said. The navy chief said he was closely monitoring the situation over the past several days and that the navy had deployed its personnel and assets during the devastating floods. The focus was now on relief activities, he said.

Lanba further said the Indian Navy has selected two villages based on inputs received from the local administration and visits by naval officials wherein rehabilitation initiatives were proposed to be undertaken to restore the area, according to the release. The shortlisted villages are Muttinakam in Varapuzha Panchayat and Cheriya Kadamakudy in Kadamakudi Panchayat in Ernakulam district, it said.

The activities in Muttinakam include reconstruction of a completely damaged house on the river bank and complete renovation of the Primary Health Centre (PHC) and Anganwadi along with furniture, equipment, play equipment and other essentials.

The activities in Cheriya Kadamakudy include reconstruction of three houses, renewal of roof of five other houses, construction of an Anganwadi and fitment of a 10 tonnes per day Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant to meet the drinking water requirements of the people in the region. The RO plant has already been completed and operational for the public since Tuesday, the release said.

Rehabilitation kits (800 for Muttinakam and 500 for Cheriya Kadamakudy) containing essential commodities such as clothing, cleaning gear and utensils etc., were distributed on the occasion. Additionally, some other requirements including the construction of a bridge connecting Pizhala island to Cheriya Kadamakudy hamlet would also be considered and the feasibility explored, the release said.

The navy chief has directed SNC to coordinate the rehabilitation activities on behalf of the navy. He would be meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday to discuss any further support required from the navy to overcome the situation.

Admiral Lanba would also be handing over a cheque of Rs 8.9 crore to CM Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) as a voluntary contribution from the salaries of naval personnel. Admiral Lanba also interacted with MLA VD Satheesan and MLA S Sharma, the release said.

Relief materials worth about Rs 25 lakh were handed over to the Local Self government officials by Reena Lanba, president of Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA). The navy had rescued nearly 17,000 people during its nearly fortnight-long 'Operation Madad,' for assisting the state administration and undertaking disaster relief operations.The separatists also criticised military approach adopted by the Narendra Modi government and the lack of political approach in Jammu and Kashmir.

The separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir have come in support of journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha by terming the raids at his residence and subsequent arrest in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence as an extreme step. They also stated that his role and that of novelist Arundhati Roy, in support of Kashmirs freedom struggle, needs to be hailed.

Navalakha has been highlighting the alleged human rights violations by government forces in Jammu and Kashmir and has previously attended seminars organised by the Syed Ali Shah Geelani's Hurriyat Conference while Roy earlier likened the presence of armed forces in Kashmir as years of administering military occupation. The author also advocated freedom for Kashmir and stated in 2008 that India needs Azadi (freedom) from Kashmir as much as Kashmir needs Azadi (freedom) from India.

Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, said, The voices of those who speak about human rights issues in Kashmir, North East or who talk about excesses by the forces or those who talk against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) are being silenced. People like Gautam Navlakha and Arundhati Roy were very active in Kashmir and they have been targeted. Even Indian citizens who talk against army or AFSPA are termed as anti-national by the right-wing groups. There is a need for Indian academics, intelligentsia and educated class to speak up, if not for Kashmir they need to speak about their own people."

Chairman of one of the factions of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Javed Ahmad Mir, said, "Raids on human rights activist Navlakha betrayed use of excessive force. Both Arundhati and Navlakha have supported our cause. They also supported our hunger strikes in Delhi.

Hurriyat (G) spokesperson, Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar said: In 2008, when Arundhati Roy came to Kashmir, she saw millions of people chanting slogans in favour of azadi (freedom) at the tourist reception centre ground in Srinagar. She had seen for herself that people are demanding freedom. A case registered against her and we have always welcomed the support of people like Arundhati for Kashmirs cause.

He added that Navlakha has always been raising his voice against human rights violations in Kashmir. We had also invited Navlakha to our seminars.

JKLF chief Mir said the BJP government has also been "espousing a stiff and rigid policy on Kashmir by its failure to start dialogue" on the dispute.

Separatists said that the arrest of Navlakha betrays the fascist policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has also adopted a stringent military approach in Kashmir.

Unfortunate part is that the State is very much involved in this and it speaks volumes about the fact that how people with saner voices are being pushed to the wall. Another unfortunate part is that though it is a watershed movement for India majority of people have chosen to remain silent, said Mirwaiz. The influence of the right-wing groups is so strong that people with a balanced voice who speak about the downtrodden and victims are not being heard, he added.

There is no political approach which has been adopted by Modi and only the military approach has been adopted. The AFSPA, cordon and search operations (CASO) is also continuing. There were many positive statements given by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Kashmir which has not been reciprocated with a favourable reaction, Mirwaiz said.Kochi airport which had been shut since more than two weeks due to incessant rains and flooding, re-opened on Wednesday. Indigo flight from Ahmedabad was the first flight to land since its closure.

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), which had been non-functional since 14 August due to incessant rains and flooding, resumed operations on Tuesday, reports said. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted about it and thanked employees of CIAL for their efforts to make the airport operational in a short time.

Cochin International Airport in Kochi (COK), which was closed due to the floods, has commenced its operations. CM Pinarayi Vijayan congratulated the officials and employees of CIAL on making the airport functional in a short time. #KeralaFloods  CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 29, 2018

The airport became functional at 2 pm on Tuesday, reported The Indian Express. Indigo flight 667 from Ahmedabad was the first flight to land at the airport in two weeks. Thirty-three flights are scheduled to arrive and 30 others are scheduled to depart from the airport on Wednesday. Journalists and media persons were present at the airport to note the landing of the first flight from Ahmedabad.

Indigo flight 667 from Ahmadabad to Kochi, the first flight in 2 weeks at the CIAL airport, lands and taxies to the gate @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/r4L7k1iukv  Vishnu Varma (@VishKVarma) August 29, 2018

The Kochi airport is the seventh busiest in the country but had to shut operations since 15 August after the deluge that ravaged the state of Kerala between 8 and 22 August. The government had to permit commercial flights from the Naval facility in the heart of the city from 20 August.

Authorities at the airport had first announced the shutting operations till 18 August, which was then extended to 26 August and further again to 29 August as rising water levels flooded the runway, terminals and the surrounding solar farm.Amit Shah has been summoned by a metropolitan magistrate court in Kolkata in connection defamation case filed against him by Trinamool Youth Congress chief, Abhishek Banerjee.

A metropolitan magistrate court in Kolkata summoned Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Wednesday in connection with a defamation case filed against him by Trinamool Congress, reports said.

Trinamool Youth Congress chief Abhishek Banerjee had filed a defamation suit earlier on Wednesday alleging that the BJP president has made slanderous statements against him at a public rally on 11 August in Kolkata.

Banerjee had appeared before the eighth bench of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Kolkata and filed written submission, claiming Shah has made defamatory statements against him.

On 13 August, a legal notice was sent to Shah in which Banerjee had sought an apology for allegedly making defamatory statements against him and had warned that if the BJP chief did not apologise, he will file a criminal defamation case against him, reported Zee News.

The notice to Shah said, "In the course of your speech you had made various allegations against my client by making a flimsy and thinly veiled reference and/or insinuation to the bhatija' (nephew) of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal. Since, it is well known that my client is the nephew of Smt. Mamata Banerjee and is actively involved in politics, the contents of your speech left little to the imagination of my client's well-wishers that you were referring to my client."

Banerjee's lawyer Sanjay Basu claimed the "false statements" against his client has caused grave loss and prejudice to his client's reputation.

Basu said his client "denies the allegation that he is involved in any purported diversion of public and/or government funds to the tune of Rs 3,59,000 crore or any other sum purportedly allotted from the Centre to the State of West Bengal".

He has sought that Shah desists from making or circulating defamatory statements causing publication of the same in any media against his client.

With inputs from PTIThe results of the Maharashtra SSC Supplementary examination 2018 have released on the official website mahresult.nic.in. Candidates can apply for re-evaluation at respective divisional boards between 30 August and 8 September.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) on Wednesday declared the result of the Maharashtra secondary school certificate (SSC) Supplementary Class 10 examination.

As per an official statement from the education department, candidates can check the results through the official website, mahresult.nic.in.

How to check the results:

 Log on to the official website mahresult.nic.in.

 Click on the link for "Result".

 In the provided fields, enter your roll number and your mother's first name.

 Click on "Submit".

 Your result will be displayed on the screen.

 Download the same and take a printout for future reference.

Candidates who wish to have their examination re-evaluated can apply at respective divisional boards between 30 August and 8 September. Those seeking photocopies of their answer sheets can apply at respective divisional boards between 30 August and 18 September. Candidates will have to pay a fee and submit a copy of their mark sheet for both applications.

The Times of India reported that the Maharashtra state board conducted supplementary examinations between 17 July and 2 August across nine divisions: Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Latur, Konkan, and Amravati. These exams are conducted for students who failed subjects in the examination held in March.

A total of 1,21,059 students appeared for the exam of which 84,860 were boys and 36,199 were girls. Among them, 18,852 boys have passed while 9793 girls have passed, The Indian Express reported.Maneka Gandhi called on Ambassador in Spain DB Venkatesh Varma to send back the 13-year old, who was abandoned by a Spanish couple after they were allegedly deceived about her age

New Delhi: Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday asked the Indian ambassador in Spain to send back the adopted girl who was abandoned by her foster parents in the country.

She was reacting to a recent media report according to which a Spanish couple had abandoned the 13-year-old girl they adopted from an agency in Madhya Pradesh after they were allegedly deceived about her age.

The couple was reportedly told that the girl was seven years old at the time of adoption earlier in 2017.

"It is very unfortunate that the adopted girl has been abandoned in Spain. I have requested our Ambassador in Spain DB Venkatesh Varma to immediately send her back to India where we will ensure her rehabilitation and safe custody," the Minister said.

Gandhi also expressed her concern for the girl who is currently in foster care in some institution in Madrid and added that the Ministry is in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the Child Care Institution in Bhopal.Nandamuri Harikrishna (62), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder NT Rama Rao's son and Tollywood actor died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Wednesday morning.

Nandamuri Harikrishna, 62, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder NT Rama Rao's son and Tollywood actor died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Wednesday morning. Two others were also injured in the accident which occurred when the car in which they were travelling overturned near Anneparthi.

The actor-politician and son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister was driving to Kavali in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a marriage of a fan. He was admitted to Kamineni Hospital on the outskirts of Hyderabad, where he was declared dead at 7.30 am.

Harikrishna was flung out of the driver's seat onto the road and received serious head injuries when the car hit a median. He died while undergoing treatment.

"Harikrishna suffered a severe head injury. Also, we suspect internal bleeding. However, the exact cause of the death is yet to be ascertained," Ameer Khan, duty medical officer of Kamineni Hospitals at Narkatpally, told PTI. However, the official said they are yet to get a clear picture as to what exactly happened.

Harikrishna had served as a minister in Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet in the late 1990s. Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu said he was saddened by the tragic death of Harikrishna. "As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly. My condolences to his family, well-wishers and followers at this time of grief," he said in a tweet.

As a popular actor he has entertained the telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly . My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief.#NandamuriHarikrishna  VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) August 29, 2018

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed his condolences on the untimely demise of Harikrishna, an official release said. The chief minister recalled the services of late Harikrishna in political and cinema fields.

Harikrishna's eldest son Janki Ram was also killed in road accident in 2014 in the same district.

He is survived by his wife, daughter Sushasini and sons Kalyan Ram and Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. Harikrishna was the fourth son of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP founder Rama Rao. He was a member of the TDP politburo and brother-in-law of TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

With inputs from agenciesReferring to the NCPCR social audit report on shelter homes, a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said that out of the 2,874 children homes, only 54 have received positive reviews from the body

New Delhi: Terming a report of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights on the status of children in shelter homes across India as "frightening", the Supreme Court today said it was "helpless" as any direction to the authorities in the matter would be called "judicial activism".

Referring to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights' (NCPCR) social audit report on shelter homes, a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said that out of the 2,874 children homes, only 54 have received positive reviews from the body, set up under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

As per the report, out of 185 shelter homes which were audited, only 19 have records of children residing there.

The bench, which also comprised Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, said if the court said something in the matter, it would be accused of "judicial activism", even though the authorities were "not interested" in doing their work and only "passing the buck" and blaming each other for the situation prevailing in these child shelters.

If the authorities had functioned properly, recent incidents like the one in Muzaffarpur in Bihar where several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused in a shelter home would not have happened, it said.

"It is very clear from this (NCPCR) report that nobody is interested. The court is helpless. If we do something, then it will be said that it is judicial activism," the bench said, adding "judicial activism has to be given up".

Advocate Aparna Bhat, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, said that directions from the top court was not judicial activism, as the welfare of children living in shelter homes was important.

"Have you seen the report of NCPCR? It is frightening," the bench told her.

The court noted that as per NCPCR's report, out of 210 special adoption centres audited, only eight received positive reviews while only 16 per cent of the 172 observation homes had all the records of the children living there.

The joint secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) said that NCPCR's report was "very shocking" and monitoring by the authorities at all levels must be done to prevent such a situation.

She said the secretary of MWCD has written letters to chief secretaries of all states and union territories to conduct inspection of child care institutions and such homes and submit a report by September 15.

She also said that a meeting of all states and union territories has been called on September 18 on the issue.

The officer said that after the secretary's letter, states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have given reports on monitoring of child shelters.

During the hearing, when she said the court should tell the government what needs to be done, the bench reacted by saying, "If we tell you, we will be accused of judicial activism. You are the Government of India. You tell us what is to be done".

The bench also took exception that during the social audit conducted by the NCPCR, the team have not spoken to the children living in these child care institutions.

The amicus also told the court that it appears that the institutions set up under the Juvenile Justice Act have failed to discharge their duties and the system was such that everybody could blame others for the problems.

"Who is to correct these flaws? Is the court supposed to do it," the bench asked.

The amicus said that historically, the courts have addressed the grievances and have made significant contribution.

"Also significant criticism," the bench said.

The MWCD joint secretary said the court should give time till September 18 when the meeting would take place.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 20 and asked the MWCD to place before it the minutes of the meeting.

The amicus told the bench that an oversight committee should be set up at the national and state levels to monitor the functioning of child care institutions.

The bench asked the amicus to prepare the draft terms of reference for the committee in consultation with the joint secretary of the MWCD so that if the need arose, the panel could be constituted. It said that the issue has been kept open and the court would await the outcome of meeting.

The bench made it clear that states have to take this matter seriously and take remedial measures to deal with the issue.

During the hearing, the Centre told the court that there were six establishments functioning as per provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act which were supposed to look into the issues of implementation of the law.

When the Centre said it has to rely on the data provided by the states, the bench observed, "It is very easy to blame somebody else. It is difficult to take responsibility".

The Centre's counsel, however, said the government was not shying away from its responsibilities and would apprise the court about the steps taken by them as well as the shortcomings. "The Supreme Court can pass directions. We have the overall responsibility so far as implementation in concerned," the Centre said.

The amicus said urgent steps were required to be taken to support these children as it was an "emergency" now and there were flaws in the system which needed to be sorted out.Speaking in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, Adityanath indirectly referred to efforts by the Congress, SP and BSP to work out an electoral understanding

Lucknow: Taking a dig at the Opposition's unity bid, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Wednesday described it as a Chipko movement.

Speaking in the state assembly, Adityanath indirectly referred to efforts by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to work out an electoral understanding ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls.

"A sort of Chipko movement is presently underway in the state, he said, invoking the environment conservation movement in which volunteers hugged trees. But he also referred to the differences between the parties, saying the SP will not accept Rahul Gandhi as prime minister.

The Opposition had earlier walked out of the House accusing the government of faking cases against Dalits.

Adityanath was taking part in the discussion on the supplementary budget of Rs 34,833 crore, later passed by the House. It had earlier approved the main annual budget of Rs 4.26 lakh crore.

The chief minister accused the opposition parties of stalling the proceedings of the House and claimed there was uneasiness among them.

He said the people had given these parties the right to sit on the Opposition benches, but they feared they will lose that as well. He countered the Opposition charge that crime had risen under his watch.

"There has not been a single riot in the past 16 months, investments are coming in. It's the best in 15 years," he said. Adityanath said those who couldn't see an improvement in the law and order situation in the state suffered from a "vision disorder".

He accused the previous SP government of attempting to withdraw the cases of those facing terror charges. Adityanath countered the SP charge that his BJP government had `hijacked' the Purvanchal Expressway project, saying the previous government had not acquired even 25 percent of the needed land.

Attacking the SP and the BSP, the chief minister said Dalits and others had failed to get the benefits of the various schemes under their governments. He claimed his government was working for the all-round development of the state while the previous one worked for the betterment of a handful of its own people.

Adityanath said it was because of the coordinated effort of various departments that the number of encephalitis deaths in Gorakhpur had come down remarkably.

While 86 children had died in August last year, this time around only six have died," he said.

He said the conditions in Congress strongholds of Amethi and Rae Bareli too had improved under the BJP government. Adityanath announced that a medical university and several schemes will be named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died on 16 August.Congress, spokesperson Manish Tewari demanded that a joint parliamentary panel probe into the Rafale deal after Arun Jaitley targeted Rahul Gandhi in a Facebook post on the pact with France.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari on Wednesday demanded that a joint parliamentary panel investigate the Rafale fighter jet deal. Tewari also questioned whether the air force had conducted a re-evaluation when in 2012-2015, the negotiations stopped.

We would like to ask the govt, between 2012-2015, when the negotiations stopped and govt decided to go ahead in our base of 36 aircrafts, was a re-evaluation conducted by Air Force?: @ManishTewari#ModiAmbaniRafaleScam  Congress Live (@INCIndiaLive) August 29, 2018

Tewari also attacked the government on the subjects demonetisation, the arrests of social activists on Tuesday and the falling rupee.

He raised the question on the Rafale deal after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released a statement, in which he attacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying he was not aware of the price of the jets to make comparisons with the deals negotiated by the UPA and NDA and misquoted the prices of each jet multiple times. The Bharatiya Janata Party had released a video of Rahul quoting multiple prices of the jets earlier this month.

Earlier on Wednesday, Jaitley had accused the Congress of "peddling untruth" on the Rafale aircraft deal, saying the "false campaign" by the Opposition party and Rahul was seriously compromising national security.

In a Facebook blogpost, the finance minister posed 15 questions to Gandhi and said the deal the NDA government had entered into with France on 10 April, 2015, to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets was on "better" terms than the one the UPA government had negotiated in 2007.

With inputs from PTILaw Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is learnt to have asked CJI Dipak Misra to recommend the name of his successor, setting in motion the process of change of guard in the Supreme Court. Justice Misra retires on October 2.

New Delhi: Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is learnt to have asked Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra to recommend the name of his successor, setting in motion the process of change of guard in the Supreme Court.

Justice Misra retires on 2 October. Sources in the law ministry said the letter was delivered to the CJI recently. Justice Ranjan Gogoi is the senior-most judge of the top court after the CJI.

Speculations over Justice Gogoi's appointment as the next CJI emerged following an unprecedented press conference by four senior-most judges, including Justice Gogoi, in January this year when they had criticised Justice Misra over various issues, especially the manner of allocation of cases to certain benches.

Justices J Chelameswar (since retired), Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph were among those who addressed the press conference, perhaps a first in the history of Indian judiciary.

As per the Memorandum of Procedure which governs the appointment of members of the higher judiciary, "appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be of the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office".

It stipulates that the Law Minister would, at an appropriate time, seek the recommendation of the outgoing Chief Justice of India for the appointment of the next CJI.

Under this process, after receipt of the recommendation of the CJI, the Law Minister puts it before the Prime Minister who advises the President in the matter of appointment.

"Whenever there is any doubt about the fitness of the senior-most Judge to hold the office of the Chief Justice of India, consultation with other Judges...would be made for appointment of the next Chief Justice of India," the document states.

Law Minister Prasad had recently said that the government's intention on the appointment of the next Chief Justice of India should not be questioned. He had also said that when the incumbent names the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as his successor as per convention, the executive will take a call.

He was responding to a question at the Law Ministry's annual press conference on whether the government would follow the laid-down conventions and procedures to appoint Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the next Chief Justice when incumbent Justice Misra demits office.

"The question is imaginary...as far as the appointment of the Chief Justice of India is concerned, the convention is clear...the sitting chief justice names the senior-most judge (of the top court) as his successor. When the name comes to us, we will discuss it," he had said.Most of us can never understand the plight of the lakhs of Dalits and therefore can never convince ourselves with a valid justification of the Atrocities Act

It was the first week of April 2018. The white clouds blemished the radiant blue colour of the sky. But on that day, it wasn't the blue colour of the sky that made news in India, but the blue flags of Dalit protesters that were soaring high in the sky. The oceans of agitated protesters had flooded the streets to protest against the unjust law that had been cast on them like a spell, by the group of the most revered magicians of the country  the Supreme Court of India. The blue colour of their flags represented the sky which stands as a symbol of non-discrimination, as under the sky everyone is believed to be equal. This is in line with the philosophy of the Constitution as enshrined under Article 14, the custodian and protector of which ironically, is the Supreme Court itself.

Every 15 minutes, a crime is committed against a Dalit. Each day, six Dalit women are raped. Over the past decade (2007-2017), there has been an astronomical growth (66 percent) in crimes against Dalits. Moreover, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on which the Supreme Court's judgment of Dr Subhash Kashinath Mahajan versus State of Maharashtra (that resulted in the chaos in April) was based, shows a two-fold increase in the number of rapes of Dalit women in the past decade. Furthermore, the data also states that charge sheets were filed in as many as 78 percent of the cases, which deems flawed the argument that false cases are being filed due to 'personal vendetta'.

But, despite all the adversities faced by the SC/ST community, the Supreme Court held in the judgment that there is an urgent need to dilute the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (henceforth, referred to as the Act) so as to avoid the false implication of an innocent. For its execution, it ordered firstly, that there is no absolute bar against grant of anticipatory bail and it can be asked for by an accused under the Act, and therefore it deemed invalid Section 18 of the Act that provides for an absolute bar to grant of anticipatory bail due to the prevailing socio-economic conditions of the discriminated minority in the country.

Secondly, the apex court ordered that the arrest of a public servant can only be made after the approval of the appointing authority and arrest of a non-public servant can be made only after the approval of the SSP. This was done to keep a check on the abuse of the process of law. This judgment led to the Bharat Bandh, in which thousand of Dalit protesters took to the streets to protest against the snatching away of rights by the apex court.

Recently, on 6 August, the Lok Sabha made an amendment to nullify the Supreme Court ruling. The amendment inserted a new provision  Section 18A, which now stipulates that a preliminary inquiry is not required for an arrest to be under the Act. Further, the grant of anticipatory bail would not be available to the person against whom a complaint is made under the Act. This amendment has again been challenged in the Supreme Court by Advocate Sandeep Lamba to declare the amendment, unconstitutional.

Background to the Act

Before delving into the falsity in the decision of the Supreme Court, what is required is to understand why, in the first place, do the SC and ST communities need protection. What has resulted in the enactment of the legislation despite various provisions of the Constitution already protecting the interests of the minorities? To seek the answer for the same, it is imperative to read the Report of the National Commission of SC, that led to the enactment of the ACT. The Commission stated as below:

"Despite various measures to improve the socio-economic conditions of the SCs and STs, they remain vulnerable They have, in several brutal incidents, been deprived of their life and property Because of the awareness created through spread of education etc., when they assert their rights and resist practices of untouchability against them or demand statutory minimum wages or refuse to do any bonded and forced labour, the vested interests try to cow them down and terrorise them. When the SCs and STs try to preserve their self-respect or honour of their women, they become irritants for the dominant and the mighty

Under the circumstances, the existing laws like the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the normal provisions of the Indian Penal Code have been found to be inadequate to check and deter crimes against them committed by non-SCs and non-STs It is considered necessary that not only the term 'atrocity' should be defined, but also stringent measures should be introduced to provide for higher punishment for committing such atrocities. It is also proposed to enjoin on the states and Union Territories to take specific preventive and punitive measures to protect SCs and STs from being victimised and, where atrocities are committed, to provide adequate relief and assistance to rehabilitate them."

The wordings of the aforementioned connote to the dark social reality that exists: The reality that is hard to imagine for the educated privileged class of the society. The report goes on to show that the laws that were in place to protect the interests of the SC/ST community (Protection of Civil Rights Act and the IPC), were not effective to achieve the said purpose. Therefore, other stringent measures were required that could bring justice to the people suffering from the wrath of the social stigma.

This growing need to protect the interests was also recognised by the apex court that held:

"The offences of atrocities are committed to humiliate and subjugate the SCs and STs with a view to keep them in a state of servitude. Hence, they constitute a separate class of offences and cannot be compared with offences under the Indian Penal Code."

Before the enactment of said Act, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955 was passed which was renamed to the Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976. But as it turned out to be ineffective, the Rajiv Gandhi government enacted the much needed Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. This was in furtherance of the constitutional provisions to abolition of untouchability and establish equality. This was all the more important as the crimes against these communities are demonstrations of hate crimes that go on to show their fundamental nature of prejudice and discrimination. Therefore, the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted, to provide the suppressed ones, a easy passage to justice.

Supreme Court's blind spot while delivering the judgment

To understand this, what must be agreed upon is the fact that not every person in society stands on an equal pedestal. If this is true, then conversely what should be true is that the principles of equality would protect the person who is on a lower pedestal. In the present case, Dalits are the most suppressed class of people. One might go on and argue that this still does not justify the act of holding an innocent person guilty and not providing him anticipatory bail. But, the simple explanation of this argument lies in social realities rather than the law. In reality, a Dalit from a small town, who is not able to stand up for his rights, needs such protection.

The Dalit who cannot get a police complaint in the first place deserves this protection. The Dalit who is paraded naked, who is forced to put obnoxious substances in his mouth, who is made to be a manual scavenger deserves this kind of protection. All of the aforementioned situations are actually some of the crimes for which an offender is penalised under the Act. One can only remain stupefied at the sort of inhumane atrocities to which these communities are subjected. It is very logical to think that if such particular offences have been mentioned in the Act and subsequently made punishable, then this is the reality that exists, that such offences were and are commonly perpetrated.

If we try to oppose this to one of the few victims of a false case under the Act then firstly, it is only logical to say that this case would only arise in a metropolitan city. Further, the person against whom the case will be filed will still be in a position to file a writ petition for the grant of anticipatory bail. If we compare the odds, what would be just is guided by one's own sense of justice.

Interestingly, in an article by Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar, he points out the fallacy in logic in the minds of the general populous that the low conviction rate is actually a reflection of how these cases are registered and pursued. He mentions a report titled Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India's 'Untouchables' by the Human Rights Watch, which pointed out that the community is frequently subject to "discriminatory treatment in the administration of justice". It went on to add, "Prosecutors and judges fail to vigorously and faithfully pursue complaints brought by Dalits, which is evidenced by the high rate of acquittals in such cases".

The report noted how the police generally failed to "register or properly register crimes against Dalits", and that "Dalits' right to equal treatment before organs administering justice is compromised at the outset".

It is quite strange to note that the apex court did not pay heed to the report of the commission made to look into the atrocities, which summarises the need for the social welfare legislation:

"Whenever the SC or ST victim of atrocity presents a report to the Sub-Inspector or Circle-Inspector in charge of Police Station and if he records an FIR and registers a case, the Sub-Inspector or Circle-Inspector should arrest the assailant or assailants who committed the atrocity on the complaint-SC. But the Sub-Inspector or Circle-Inspector who recorded the FIR, and registered a case did not arrest the assailants except in rare cases. On the other hand, it is stated in their representations that those assailants against whom the SC-victims presented complaints lodge counter reports to the Police against SC-victims and the Sub-Inspectors or Circle-Inspectors register counter cases against the SCs (victims) and arrest them. When a counter report is presented by the assailant who is the accused in the report presented by the SC-victim, it was filed obviously with the sole intention to counter blast the complaint filed by the SC-victim. As a result of the counter cases, the real SC victims of the atrocities are being arrested and subjected to criminal litigation as accused in the counter cases."

(Justice Punnaiah Commission, Government of Andhra Pradesh 2001)

We need to understand that for the scores of Dalits who face atrocities on a daily basis, getting an FIR registered is a herculean task. The fact that for an underprivileged person, the very first step in criminal proceedings, which is the registration of an FIR, is in itself a huge challenge as police officers refuse to do so. A walk down memory lane would show us that the Supreme Court itself has had to pass several orders to make registration of FIRs compulsory in such cases.

Moreover, if we look at the restrictions that can be placed on the grant of anticipatory bail, then it will be found that it is a statutory right, meaning thereby, that it is not a right to which you are entitled by birth. The right is a creation of the legislature and can be taken back as easily as it can be granted under any statute. This can be quite literally be seen through state amendments in the criminal procedural law, where in Uttar Pradesh, the state has not provided the right of anticipatory bail for any offence whatsoever. Hence, taking away this right through a special law like the Atrocities Act can hardly pose a judicial problem.

The concept of anticipatory bail was introduced for the first time on the recommendation of the 41st Law Commission in 1973 and therefore, it is a right that is not imperative to a person's existence. Further, the same type of exclusion is present in other statutes as well. The constitutionality of this was challenged with respect to the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA, for short), which like the Atrocities Act is also a special law. The Constitutional Bench of the apex court in the Kartar Singh case , held that the exclusion was valid. The Atrocities judgment has only made a passing reference to the aforementioned judgment and has not really looked into the essence of why anticipatory bail was to be denied in such social welfare legislations.

In a constitutional sense, it is apparent that in such cases where two rights conflict, ie the protection of civil rights and the protection of minorities against atrocities, Articles 14, 19 and 21 (which grant civil liberties) are only to be read with respect to their intersection with Articles 15 and 17 (which strictly prohibit the practices of discrimination and untouchability). The doctrine of proportionality is applied to such cases wherein it is seen by the court that which right should be upheld in the present case scenario. These articles of the Constitution are not discussed in the judgment at any point, with reference to discrimination on the basis of caste. In its place, comparisons are made between the penal provisions of the Atrocities Act and those of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, TADA and offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act  particularly, in terms of anticipatory bail.

In discussing the rationale behind the Atrocities Act, it is shocking to see how the judges of the Supreme Court forgot that this division of society along the lines of caste, is not a shameful past, but our present reality.

Can the Supreme Court adopt such a dogmatic view of a specific class of complainants, when each one of them belongs to the most historically oppressed sections of the society? Can we really be allowed to ignore the fact that these complaints come to court under a legislation which was enacted for providing them with protection against structural violence and discrimination with the complainants being parts of groups that have been rendered vulnerable by those in positions of power while they are deeply entrenched in this prison of their own identity?

In the end, it can only be said that one who comes from a certain privilege can never understand the point of view of the underprivileged. A mentally sound man can never fully understand the voices heard by a schizophrenic person. An educated man can never fully understand the casual sexism that he involuntarily promotes. A rich man can never fully understand the plight of a poor man and similarly, most of us, sitting comfortably on our couches can never understand the plight of the lakhs of Dalits living in far off Indian villages and therefore can never convince ourselves with a valid justification of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Raghav Pandey is an assistant professor of Law at Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai

Neelabh Bist is a fourth year student of Law at Maharashtra National Law University, MumbaiThe Pune police, which arrested five activists and raided various parts of the country in connection with Bhima-Koregaon riots, is following up on FIR filed by Damgude on 8 January. Among those arrested are Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonzales and Arun Ferreira.

The man whose FIR pune police is pursuing is smitten by Bhide and Ekbote.

We had a candid discussion with Bhide Guruji today on various subjects including Constitution, Manusmriti and Hindutva. I told Guruji, We are devout followers of Shivaji and Sambhaji Maharaj, but if we disagree with some of your views, we would express those disagreements. Guruji himself has no problem with it." On 10 June, Tushar Damgude wrote this Facebook post along with a photograph of Sambhaji Bhide, who is believed to have triggered the Bhima-Koregaon riots.

The Pune police, which arrested five activists and raided various parts of the country on Tuesday in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riots, is following up on the FIR filed by Damgude on 8 January. Among those arrested are Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonzales and Arun Ferreira. We are pursuing the complaint he (Damgude) filed in the Vishrambag police station," confirmed Shivaji Bodakhe, Joint Commissioner of Pune police. "Maoists work in urban areas through frontal organisations, and in rural areas through militant organisations. The activists we have arrested were helping the frontal organisations logistically and financially."

Here is the copy of the FIR

Apart from being smitten by Bhide, Damgudes favourite pastime seems to be attacking the Left-wingers on Facebook, where he writes prolifically in Marathi for his 13,500-plus followers.

After the arrests on Tuesday, he wrote, Varavara is so big, he can be called the Prime Minister of Maoist state. Later in the night, Damgude participated in the debates on a couple of Marathi news channels. He posted a link of one debate, and wrote, In the debate, furious BG Kolse Patils terrorist face is being exposed. He referred to the former High Court Judge as Kolsa, meaning coal in Marathi.

Damgude has been at it on Facebook consistently. On 9 May, he wrote, If I call you a Naxal, your chamchas would be furious, Bala. By Bala, I mean Bala Thakur. It was supposedly a dig at Prakash Ambedkar, who is called Balasaheb by his followers.

The Pune police had earlier arrested five more activists in June, which included, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawle, Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen. Said to be close to RSS, Damgude wrote a sarcastic post after those arrests on 6 June. The state of Maharashtra is enveloped with sadness today with the arrest of Sudhir mama. I will miss you mama.

A month before that, on 4 May, referring to Dhawle, Damgude wrote, You only indulge in accusations, glorify a Maoist like Shridhar Srinivasan, use violent language, fabricate history, distribute booklets defaming national leaders and then cry hoarse after you are raided. Stop this hypocrisy.

Citing the supposed plot to kill the prime minister, Damgude wrote, "Eight crore rupees sanctioned to buy M-4 gun and 4 lakh rounds. Because they wanted a Rajiv Gandhi-type incident. Seven days of police custody. The air is chilly. Old bones would face problems."

Two months later, on 4 July, Damgude issued a warning, sharing a Super Exclusive by Republic Channel, where the debate was titled, Urban Naxals Exposed.

The warning read, I will reiterate which forces the patriotic common human being is up against. Some people believe it is okay to say or do anything. But the entire society and country will pay for your knowing-unknowing utterances from a public platform. Sinister plots are being calmly designed to create riots within India. They are being designed to ensure Indians living in harmony end up beheading each other. Your castes, prides, histories and fallacies will be misused and exploited for that. You might have internal political, personal or ideological disagreements. Let them be. But calmly think if someone is exploiting the disagreements to disintegrate the country, to instigate a rebellion against the government systems, or to overthrow the constitution and democracy.

On 27 April, Damgude proclaimed that CPI (Maoists) is the most dangerous terrorist group after Boko Haram, Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah. Several people do not even know they are unknowingly working for the CPI (Maoists), he wrote. It is not only the government forces responsibility to fight with this seditious organisation. To protect our constitution and our country, we must come together and work. It could mean taking up a virtual battle on social media or working on the field. Those who intend to participate can post their contacts in the comments section or message me personally. The post had over 200 comments, most of which were numbers of his followers.

Between issuing heartfelt warnings and mobilising Facebook followers to work against CPI (Maoists), Damgude also tries his hand at being funny. Sharing a poster of the film Infinity Wars, he wrote, Every comrade should come together and fight the Manuwadi Thanos on the streets. Saathi Haath Badhana, Ek Akela Thak Jaaye Toh Milkar Aag Lagana. He signed off the post by referring to himself as Comrade Tushar Damgude. Fascist Thanos Murdabad, Mao Lenin Zindabad.

On 17 August, Damgude wrote what would be his article in 2032. Through sheer hard work, Narendra Modi and his colleague, Lohapurush Amit Shah, took BJP to the grassroots. This is the reason why we see a full majority of the BJP in West Bengal, which was once a communist bastion. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, he referred to him as a young and outspoken leader for a piece in 2032.

On 27 March, he said, Some Hindutvavadis might be anti-Muslim, but those who say Hindutvavadis are anti-Dalits are ch****. Blind with hatred for Hindus, show me one Hindutvavadi organisation that asks for a persons caste before extending membership and win one lakh rupees.

Speaking of Muslims, Damgude posted an Urdu poster with Shivaji, Shahu Maharaj, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Sir Sayyad. He said it was an unpardonable sin to have Sir Sayyad alongside the others. Where are we heading, he asked.

In one of his posts, Damgude refers to Kobad Gandhi as an infamous Maoist, and writes a celebratory post on the bail of Milind Ekbote, another leader who instigated the attacks on Dalits at Bhima Koregaon according to the initial report by Pune rural police. Milind Ekbote has been going to Bhima Koregaon for 20 years, he wrote on April 19. His is a lions share behind Sambhaji Maharajs memorial proudly standing there. This year, he distributed the letters clarifying his stand and he left. Read the letters and decide for yourself if they can incite riots. The version of the Pune rural police was different.

When Damgude is taking a break from his socio-political Facebook posts, he showcases his misogyny. On 28 February, he wrote a fictional conversation between Sunny Leone and Mia Khalifa. It begins, Mia Khalifa: Do you suffer after eating bananas? Sunny Leone: Bananas are important in social sciences. But one must know when to stop to not trouble the hands of youngsters.

The conversation runs up to almost 1000 words. This, to reiterate, is the man whose FIR the Pune police is so diligently pursuing and arresting human rights lawyers and activists.An encounter broke out between militants and Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.

A top Hizbul Mujahideen militant was among two militants killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday after a gunfightbroke out between them and the Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Altaf Kachru, one of the oldest Hizbul Mujahideen militants operating in the Kashmir Valley was killed in the operation. He was involved in many cases including the killing of policemen. The second militant was yet to be identified. "It was a specific operation and in a swift action both the terrorists involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen were eliminated," said SP Pani, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range.

An encounter broke out between militants and security forced in Anantnag on Wednesday morning, police said.

An official said the security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Muniward village in the Khanabal area of the district early on Wednesday morning following specific information about the presence of militants there.

An encounter erupted when the militants opened fire on the forces who retaliated, the official said, adding the exchange of fire is underway.

One or two terrorists are believed to be trapped in the area.

For the same, mobile internet services have been suspended in the entire district. Further details are awaited.

With inputs from agenciesThe Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 is India's anti-terrorism law. The UAPA, along with the National Security Act, 1980, are the two swords of the law that are used to combat terrorism.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 is India's anti-terrorism law. The UAPA, along with the National Security Act, 1980, are the two swords of the law that are used to combat terrorism. Given the recent arrest of activists and intellectuals on charges under the UAPA, it would be wise at this juncture to examine what exactly does the act do and how is it implemented.

Section 2(o) of the Act defines an "Unlawful Activity" and 2(p) defines an Unlawful association. It reads:

"(o) 'unlawful activity', in relation to an individual or association, means any action taken by such individual or association (whether by committing an act or by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise),

(i) which is intended, or supports any claim, to bring about, on any ground whatsoever, the cession of a part of the territory of India or the secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union, or which incites any individual or group of individuals to bring about such cession or secession; or

(ii) which disclaims, questions, disrupts or is intended to disrupt the sovereignty and

territorial integrity of India; or

(iii) which causes or is intended to cause disaffection against India;

"(p) unlawful association means any association,

(i) which has for its object any unlawful activity, or which encourages or aids persons to undertake any unlawful activity, or of which the members undertake such activity; or

(ii) which has for its object any activity which is punishable under section 153A (45 of 1860) or Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code, or which encourages or aids persons to undertake any such activity, or of which the members undertake any such activity:

Provided that nothing contained in sub-clause (ii) shall apply to the State of Jammu and Kashmir;

Section 3 of the Act empowers the Central Government to declare an organisation as an unlawful association. However, this is subject to confirmation by a Tribunal, who will hear the organisation and then after it confirms the declaration, the Organisation becomes unlawful.

Once an organisation is unlawful the Government can:

a) Freeze Funds;

b) Declare areas of limits;

c) Prosecute a person who continues to remain a member of the organisation

d) Prosecute people for dealing with the funds of the organisation

The Act makes it an offence to take part in unlawful activities. Further the Act creates punishments for terrorist activities. Terrorist Act is defined in Section 15 of the Act. It states:

"15. Terrorist act.(1) Whoever does any act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security , economic security, or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country,

(a) by using bombs, dynamite or other explosive substances or inflammable substances or firearms or other lethal weapons or poisonous or noxious gases or other chemicals or by any other substances (whether biological radioactive, nuclear or otherwise) of a hazardous nature or by any other means of whatever nature to cause or likely to cause

(i) death of, or injuries to, any person or persons; or

(ii) loss of, or damage to, or destruction of, property; or

(iii) disruption of any supplies or services essential to the life of the community in India or in any foreign country; or

(iiia) damage to, the monetary stability of India by way of production or smuggling or circulation of high quality counterfeit Indian paper currency, coin or of any other material; or

(iv) damage or destruction of any property in India or in a foreign country used or intended to be used for the defence of India or in connection with any other purposes of the Government of India, any State Government or any of their agencies; or

(b) overawes by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force or attempts to do so or causes death of any public functionary or attempts to cause death of any public functionary; or

(c) detains, kidnaps or abducts any person and threatens to kill or injure such person or does any other act in order to compel the Government of India, any State Government or the Government of a foreign country or an international or inter-governmental organisation or any other person to do or abstain from doing any act; or commits a terrorist act

Explanation  For the purpose of this sub-section 

(a) public functionary means the constitutional authorities or any other functionary notified in the Official Gazette by the Central Government as public functionary;

(b) high quality counterfeit Indian currency means the counterfeit currency as may be declared after examination by an authorised or notified forensic authority that such currency imitates or compromises with the key security features as specified in the Third Schedule.

(2) The terrorist act includes an act which constitutes an offence within the scope of, and as defined in any of the treaties specified in the Second Schedule.

Committing a Terrorist Act is punishable by death or life imprisonment if someone was killed as a result of the Terrorist Act.

The Act further penalises the following in relation to terrorists acts:

a) Raising of Funds

b) Conspiracy

c) Organising Terror camps

d) Recruiting persons

This is where this gets tricky  how does one know that a person is about to commit a act of terrorism given the broad nature of the definition. The Maoist Terror problem is one which has a strong intellectual back bone, albeit one that is flawed and against the interests of the Republic. Under this Act, teaching communism to a person and if that thought resulted in them joining an Armed Attack on the Republic may be under the heading of recruiting a terrorist. Moreover, protecting such a person, who writes about these ideas, may also be an offence under this Act which is why some consider this law to be draconian in nature given the broad power it allows authorities.

Under this Act, it is theoretically possible that a students union which advocates the independence of Kashmir can be declared an unlawful association. Thats the letter of the law.

Though there will be a counter argument that constitutional safeguards would never allow for something like that to happen. But thats not the essential point of this law when it is used as a weapon to silence dissent. Its the process that is the punishment Raids, arrests and other forms of legal action, can stall the lives of many people while the process takes its own course.

India has a serious terror problem from all sides. Maoist Terror, Islamic Terror, Hindu Terror and now cow vigilante groups. A strong anti-terrorism law is needed in India, but its enforcement will always result in some draconian anomalies like the recent arrests of activists.

The Act needs to be amended, in order to ensure a constitutional functionary who is independent from the Executive, be in charge of sanctions for prosecutions and investigations under this Act. Maybe a High Court Judge could be designated for this purpose. Terrorism and unlawful activities are ones that always create political issues. If the Act has to work, its application must at all times look apolitical.

Follow LIVE updates on arrest of activists here.Vivek Agnihotri triggered a Twitter debate on Urban Naxals, forcing defenders of the activists arrested to condemn what they say is a misnomer for dissenters.

The events of Tuesday, 28 August, will be remembered for long in India as a warning for anyone daring to speak out against the establishment  this is the popular opinion that emerged after multi-city raids on activists and intellectuals who have worked on causes to help the repressed and have been vocal critics of the government and its policies.

The searches by the Maharashtra Police were part of the inquiry into the Elgar Parishad event held near Pune on 31 December, which investigators claim triggered the clashes between Dalits and upper caste members in the nearby Bhima Koregaon village on New Year's Day.

On one side, there is outrage over the police action, described as a "brazen attack on democratic rights", "absolutely perilous", an "attempted coup against the Indian Constitution and "potentially more serious and more dangerous than the Emergency", among myriad other criticisms. On the other side of the ideological wall has emerged a virtual war, with filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, once again, triggering a debate on his popularised phrase "Urban Naxals".

Soon after news of the raids emerged, Agnihotri invited "bright young people" to make a list of "those defending Urban Naxals". Unsurprisingly, his tweet launched a war of words between right-wing thinkers like Agnihotri and the "Urban Naxals" he wants listed out and often targets in his social media posts.

I want some bright young people to make a list of all those who are defending #UrbanNaxals Lets see where it leads. If you want to volunteer with commitment, pl DM me. @squintneon would you like to take the lead?  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 28, 2018

In the current state of affairs in India, "Urban Naxals" is being increasingly used to describe the taxon of the population that dares to speak out against the government. Many believe that to dissent is to be an "Urban Naxal" in today's India. In an article published in Swarajya, Agnihotri had defined the term as "urban intellectuals, influencers or activists of importance" who are "invisible enemies of India". He claimed that some of these people "have either been caught or are under the police radar" for "spreading insurgency against the Indian State". The activists and intellectuals raided and detained on Tuesday have been referred to as "Urban Naxals", even by the Pune Police that headed the raids, highlighting even further that the dissent argument holds true. They were detained by the police after the raids for suspected Maoist links.

Activists Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bhardwaj, poet Varavara Rao, Father Stan Swamy and journalist Gautam Navalakha being described as "Urban Naxals" forced their defenders to counter the accusation and explain why the phrase is nothing but a "misnomer" and is used inappropriately.

The term "Urban Naxal" is a "deeply toxic, flawed analytical category that can, in practice, include any citizen who disagrees with the right-wing status quo", tweeted barrister Suchitra Vijayan. She called Agnihotri's definition of the term "empty of content", emphasising Navlakha's warning that the ambiguity over the term is deliberate.

"It mobilises the society to extrajudicially curb dissent and criminalises it," she said in a series of tweets. "But this formulation and many of the right-wing's assault on knowledge has one thing in common  a deep distrust for reason, an anti-intellectual/anti-reason streak that views anyone with a different opinion as an enemy."

Adding that curbing dissent was a common phenomenon in "fascist authoritarian states", Vijayan pointed out the often used terms of "sickular", "libtard" and "presstitute" as an "already easily accepted category of insult that automatically vilifies any dissent".

Agnihotri's definitions are empty of content. It is ambiguous, and as #GautamNavlakha mentioned in an interview, this ambiguity is deliberate. A definitional category that can encompass anyone. It Mobilises the society to extra-judicially curb dissent and criminalizes it.  Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) August 28, 2018

Tracing the history of the word "Naxal", she highlighted that the Naxal movement "did not start as an insurgency against the state", but was a uprising of peasants and workers in 1967" against exploitation by landlords.

Socialist Anupam Guha echoes Vijayan's thoughts. "The revolt of Naxalbari (village in 1967) was a specific movement in a specific historical material condition," he tweeted. "There is no such thing as 'Urban Naxal'. This propaganda puts in danger every dissenter, leftist, socialist, Marxist of thoughtcrime. We resist this now, or the republic is in peril."

"...By using the narrative of 'Urban Naxal', any and all opponents, small and large, of the establishment can be arrested," he said in a Twitter thread. "The beautiful thing about the 'Urban Naxal' narrative is that perfectly legal activism get criminalised."

The revolt of Naxalbari, was a specific movement in a specific historical material condition. There is no such thing as "urban naxal". This propaganda puts in danger every dissenter, leftist, socialist, Marxist of "thoughtcrime". We resist this now. Or the republic is in peril.  Anupam Guha (@Anupam_Guha) August 28, 2018

Although not without opposition from the other side, scores of people share the view that the "Urban Naxal" tag is added to anyone who dares to dissent.

Rights activist Kavita Krishnan tweeted "Urban Naxal", "half Maoist"  a term coined by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley  "love jihad" are "just some of the nonsense phrases used to smear activists, intellectuals and basically anyone defending rights of people under attack from the Modi govt".

Photographer and restaurant consultant Madhu Menon even went to the extent of saying that "Urban Naxal is not a real thing" and was just "a term made up by a Sanghi to sell his book". This was in reference to Agnihotri and his book, Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam. "In his (Agnihotri's) world, anyone who questions the government is evil and an 'Urban Naxal'. Don't give it any legitimacy."

"URBAN NAXALS" IS NOT A REAL THING! It's just a term made up by a Sanghi to sell his book. In his world, anyone who questions the government is evil and an "Urban Naxal". Don't give it any legitimacy. Repeat after me: "Urban Naxals" is a bullshit term.    (@madmanweb) August 29, 2018

Journalist Hridayesh Joshi tweeted: "If Sudha Bhardwaj is a Naxal, we need more such 'Urban Naxals'. We need such hearts for poor and powerless. We need spunk to stand the brute and mendacious machinery called government. We need to speak up now."

Agnihotri inviting the Twitterati to make a list of "Urban Naxals" saw a backlash in the form of #MeTooUrbanNaxal. People across the platform used the hashtag to counter the vitriol being spewed against the activists detained by the Pune Police on Tuesday, saying that if speaking up against injustice made them "Urban Naxals", then so be it.

As one Twitter user said: "If questioning the government means being an #UrbanNaxal, if being against cronyism means being #UrbanNaxal, if being against casteism, if taking a stand against hatred and bigotry makes me #UrbanNaxals, then #MeTooUrbanNaxal."

Despite the bitter criticism of his arbitrary use of the term and provocative statements, Agnihotri stands by his opinion. Referring to his critics, too, as "Urban Naxals", he asked why "making a list of enemies of the state" was being deemed a crime.

"I am the one speaking against those who are inciting violence," he told Firstpost. "The government is taking action against such people. For me, those tweets were an academic exercise because I work with a lot of young people so I wanted to see who are the ones defending stone pelters, jihadists, and Naxals."

He also claimed that many of those raided on Tuesday were part of a list that the government of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was made aware of but did not act against.

The events of Tuesday, if not the past four years, draw attention to the suppression of the anti-establishment lot, and the fact that ambiguity of the term "Urban Naxal" allows authorities to crack down on any dissenter who fits the vague definition leaves hundreds of thousands opposed to government's ideas at peril.Gradient/Descent's co-creator on the implications of the exhibition, the disruptive powers of Artificial Intelligence, the position its art must hold in the world, and what questions such work will ask of human conscience

Editors note: As Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi plays host to Indias first exhibition of artworks created by Artificial Intelligence, Gradient/Descent, it raises a number of questions, both philosophical and practical. One of the co-curators for the show, Karthik Kalyanaraman, spoke to Firstpost about the implications of the exhibition, the disruptive powers of AI, the position its art must hold in the world, and what questions such work will ask of human conscience.

When we talk of AI, we talk only in terms of application (safety, accuracy etc) or disruption (how sex-bots could change relationships etc). What are the various considerations we must make when AI is taken as a driver of aesthetics, art and culture as a whole? Can you cite examples where this is already happening, noticed or otherwise?

When AI is considered in terms of its impact on aesthetics, one of the notions we have to reconsider is the notion of creativity. We think of creativity as an exclusively human phenomenon. But AI art forces us to question that belief.

Devising new chess moves, which for hundreds of years was considered a very human and very creative act, is no longer considered truly creative anymore, well, because of AI! What is the future of human creativity if most traditional areas of labour are taken over by Artificial Intelligence? Well, this is a hugely vital question I think because you can argue that it is precisely her creativity and imagination that enabled the human to out-compete other species, and even ecological limitations, and to be what she is now. So this gets at the heart of our self-definition: what will it be to be human in the AI future and how can we make it worth our while?

As for examples of how AI is already driving culture, it plays a significant role in online social network behaviour. In so far as the news and the information that we see on social media is curated by AI based on its inference of our preferences. Therefore, we have to accept AI as a driver of our online behaviour and culture.

What was the genesis of this exhibition, and the immediate challenges of executing something like this? How does one deal with the complexity of the idea itself?

Raghava (co-curator) and Aparajita Jain (co-owner of Nature Morte gallery) had been talking since around July 2017 of creating a trading platform for digital art and also for algorithmic art, because they felt the lack of such a platform was holding back young artists who were migrating towards those media. Raghava brought me in (we had already been working together, as a passion project for both, on some basic ideas for why we thought the notion of transcendence deserved to be resurrected in art theory) to think about ideas for how to create a pioneering show to pitch to AJ when she was in Bangalore to discuss the platform in January 2018.

We had intense brainstorming sessions about what would be exciting and pioneering. Piece by piece, an entirely new framework to think about art history and the future of art emerged, on that blackboard in Bangalore. Based on the thesis, when AJ came down, we proposed two shows, again on that same blackboard: one a broader show about emerging trends in art and the other a more radical one about art actually made by AI, which we felt was an important genre that the art world should face. AJ, who felt that the other options we gave her had already had pioneering exhibitions done about them, immediately chose the more radical option and said lets do it. She also decided to commission the thesis and got us a research assistant for it. And we were on! The next couple of months were spent interviewing artists and making the thesis a solidly argued piece of innovative art theory to back our larger endeavour.

The immediate challenges to executing it were, 1) we had to understand not just the aesthetic but also the technical side of the work in depth to assess the originality of the artists and the depth of their conceptual innovation, 2) its a field in its infancy so we had and have communication challenges. People either fear AI is going to take over all of art or AI art is not art at all. We believe neither of these positions is nuanced enough. We also have challenges in explaining the process of the artists to people who might know about art in the 20th century but know nothing about how AI works and vice versa. But on the whole, these have been good challenges.

A keyword for me in this exhibition is the word trained. AI, like humans, works with a level of intelligence, I presume, acquired through experience and learning. Considering the context here, how do we make the differentiation that our intelligence isnt artificial? Nao Tokuis piece, for example, speaks about that training. Does art then become the final frontier that AI must conquer?

The first question is a deeply philosophical one. With the AI art based on neural networks, all the artists are doing is showing general purpose neural network. The artist, in general, has no sense of what the final work will be like, the final image is produced by the algorithm alone. Do we call that final work original imagination? Some wouldnt because theyd say this is computation too. Well, I would. Because it depends on how one makes sense of the similar human ability. Because, given we havent found that magic creative neuron, really thats got to be computation only (or at least we dont know what else it is). If we eschew a kind of mysticism that sees human creativity as some sort of transcendental thing, and think a little about that superbly creative task, that we all master, learning our first language, well, how do we do it? By being exposed to lots and lots of examples! A very very large training set.

Similarly, artists produce art based on the other artwork they have seen. If they didnt, they simply would not be relevant. Looking at it from a purely pragmatic perspective, if a machine can make humanly surprising, stylistically new kinds of art, I think it is foolish to say well its not really creative because it doesnt have consciousness. And I think we are at that point where we are indeed starting to see really fascinating examples of what AI art can produce

I dont know if art is indeed the final frontier that AI much conquer. Certainly, I dont think art, given what a complex beast it is, and how human-directed it is, will ever be conquered by AI, but I certainly think it will be profoundly modified. Much like how photography profoundly changed painting.

What has art by AI accomplished so far, and what remains its greatest challenges still?

Not quite sure what the first question is. AI art, aside from its value of creating a kind of art with a deeply different practice involved in its making, hasnt quite broken any formats. It still is partly formal partly conceptual art presenting fairly traditional media like digital video, physical prints and so on.

But AI still has a lot of challenges in art. So far the AI we have seen only excels at a kind of formal visual pattern making. But formal relations within an image is not all. There is also the conceptual dimension. Here another kind of AI, the so-called symbolic AI, that understands semantics and concepts and how logic and language work, will certainly have a role. And once AI starts to produce rich concepts (rich for humans) there will always be the fact that the artwork is an object intended for the human and thus the ethics of the human relation will always have a role.

What are the key similarities you see in the way AI and the human mind draws, imagine or remember? What are the key differences that may still set the two apart?

Lets take memory. Human memory is partial, imperfect and directed by the affective significance of the content. Machines, on the other hand, have perfect memories. As for imagination, surely a child that has only seen apples will not be able to imagine oranges. Similarly, a machine with a specific training set will not be able to imagine things completely outside that image universe. Those were similarities.

The differences have to do with the fact that the machine draws, in a sense, the whole picture at once, it doesnt really have a sense of the part-whole relationship. Because it creates the entire image pixel by pixel and the colour and intensity values for each pixel are correlated with those of every other. The human on the other hand typically (and I say typically because its really not well understood how humans draw) draws whole as an explicit coordination between the parts. The other difference is that the human has a sense of materiality, of paint, of stone etc, in general, of the object that an artwork is. Whereas a computer, given it works primarily only with information, has a sense of the artwork as an image.

The first ever portrait by an algorithm will soon be auctioned. Is there a way to classify this as progress, like human evolution, even though it feels like replicating the self? What future does AI hold in the field of culture and aesthetics?

First off, the portrait by Obvious is not the first portrait by an algorithm (Mario Klingemann was making portraits with AI before the Collective). Nor is it the first AI work to be sold. Private collectors have been buying the work of AI artists for the past year. Also, I dont think I would call it progress. The narrative of progress is a difficult one for the arts, because it is not clear that value in the arts is uni-dimensional and ordered (the two qualities necessary for the progress of any kind).

All that said, what perhaps I would call it, is an occasion of profound redefinition of the human. We have always thought artistic creativity as an exclusive domain for the human; with this moment I think we are acknowledging that we might need to redefine what creativity can be and more profound what the human truly is.

For arts and aesthetics first, lets say this: the traditional arts are not going to die out because of AI art. But, 1) the AI art movement is barely two years old, so it is in its infancy in terms of what it can achieve. We can expect it to become a full-fledged genre (like lens-based art) of its own with great conceptual and aesthetic richness; 2) photography if we remember had an indirect but enormous impact on painting: suddenly the aim to paint realistically from nature and the importance of linear composition seemed not so compelling; photography could do those better, or at least more obviously, than painting!

Painting as a field changed. This was the birth of Impressionism, of abstraction, of everything we know as contemporary art. We can expect something similar with AI. As AI starts getting very good at producing compelling aesthetic images that are also conceptually rich, humans have to start asking what art can humans make? What can we focus on? What will distinguish the mark of the human in the art of the future? Well, one way forward at least is provided by the AI artists: work with the machines. Embrace being a cyborg. We have other theories on how art can respond, which involve focussing on the under-theorised ethical dimension of art, but thats for another time.

Gradient/Descent is on show at Nature Morte Gallery, Delhi till 15 September

All images courtesy of Nature Morte, New DelhiArun Jaitley's first statements after resuming charge of the Finance Ministry were to country Rahul Gandhi's charges on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

In his first statement after resuming charge of the Ministry of Finance after recovering from a kidney transplant, Arun Jaitley chose to deliberate on a subject that Congress president Rahul Gandhi believes can help him win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In a Facebook blog post, titled "15 Questions that Expose Congress Party's Falsehood on Rafale" published early on Wednesday, as well as in an interview to a news agency later in the day, the finance minister gave the impression that he was now in good health, and that weeks of rest had helped him sharpen what was always his trademark  good research and articulation.

It is unclear whether it was Jaitley's own decision to speak extensively on the Rafale fight jet deal on a day the Pune Police's nationwide crackdown on activists and intellectuals was making headlines, or whether it was a decision made after consultations with the leadership of the ruling dispensation. Either way, it appeared to be part of a well-thought-out strategy to take on Rahul and his new-found political associates  including former finance ministers from Atal Bihari Vajapyee's term, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie  over the Rafale aircraft deal with the French government.

Although during the no-confidence motion in Parliament on 20 July, Defence Minister Nirmala Sithraman had responded to Rahul's charges against the Narendra Modi government with regard to this agreement, senior BJP leaders felt that her reply lacked the required political punch even though she gave a strong rebuttal. With his interview to news agency ANI, Jaitley took care of this political aspect, which was crucial to build or counter the public narrative on the Rafale deal.

What was most interesting in Jaitley's offensive against the Congress and its allies was his coinage of the term "career nationalists" for his one-time associates Sinha and Shourie. The two are now among the biggest critics of the Narendra Modi government.

"They haven't looked at the file. You see, those NDA colleagues, if they were in the NDA, would be speaking a different language. Our tragedy in the NDA, partially in the BJP, has been that we have a fair share of career nationalists. They are nationalists and with us as long as it suits their career. Therefore, when they speak a contrarian language, I don't attach much credibility to them," Jaitley told ANI.

The former ministers had recently alleged that the Bofors scam, in which the Congress government under Rajiv Gandhi is accused, paled into insignificance when compared to Rafale. Jaitley said, "Somebody may have been involved as a journalist, but I was involved as a lawyer in the Bofors investigation. So I know more than what the files say."

It would be interesting to see how Sinha and Shourie respond to Jaitley's "career nationalists" charge against them.

His charge against Rahul, too, was no less scathing. On the Congress chief misquoting the price of the fighter jets, Jaitley said it was "as if this was a kindergarten or primary school debate". The Congress is unlikely to take kindly to this statement.

Jaitley's argument  by consequence is the Modi government's argument since he had twice held the defence portfolio in this regime and currently presides over two important ministries  is that since the Congress has a legacy of being involved in corrupt deals, Bofors included, Rahul's strategy was to "make a failed attempt" to portray "everyone" as corrupt while dealing with defence agreements.

What has worked in the government's favour, at least so far, is that the Rafale deal is a government-to-government contract, which does away with the possibility of any third party, private individual, leader or official receiving kickbacks. The finance minister called the Congress's relentless efforts to find the scent of a scam in the Rafale deal something that originates from "lack of education".

"How is it that Rahul Gandhi quoted a price of Rs 700 crore per aircraft in Delhi and Karnataka in April and May this year? In Parliament, he reduced it to Rs 520 crore per aircraft; in Raipur he increased it to Rs 540 crore; in Jaipur he used two figures  Rs 520 crore and Rs 540 crore  in the same speech. In Hyderabad, he invented a new price of Rs 526 crore. Truth has only one version, but falsehood has many. Are these allegations being made without any familiarity with the facts of the Rafale purchase?" Jaitley asked.

He spoke about the negotiations but steered clear of the price at which the Centre procured the Rafale jets, which the NDA government has maintained cannot be divulged as per a secrecy clause in the contract. Jaitley said that the UPA's negotiations with France in 2007 provided for a price escalation till the time the jets were delivered. Besides the price hike, factors such as India-specific adaptations, weaponry and rupee-euro currency variations were also to be taken into account.

Therefore, the Modi government claims that the NDA has negotiated a 9 percent cheaper basic price of the aircraft. Also, the UPA's price  mentioned in the 2007 L1 offer  would have been at least 20 percent higher than the more favourable price negotiated by the NDA after the add-ons, such as India-specific adaptations and weaponry, were installed.

The Centre's counter against the Congress' charges is that the UPA government had spelled out its key defence requirements for 10 years, and after selecting the Rafale and holding negotiations at various levels for five years from 2007 to 2012, it abandoned the deal. Therefore, its policy paralysis was seriously compromised on India's defence needs and national security, Jaitley said.

The finance minister also deflected questions on the controversy over private sector Indian offset suppliers, saying this was in sync with the policy framed by the UPA government, which required any Original Equipment Manufacturer to select any number of Indian partners from both the private and public sector for offset supplies.

To Rahul's allegations that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was deliberately kept away from the deal because the NDA government wanted to favour a private party, Jaitley asserted that there was correspondence between HAL and the concerned departments for long, and the UPA government had developed serious doubts about whether that public sector firm could manufacture Rafale jets in India.

It was also time for the government to set the record straight on another charge Rahul made  that the Rafale deal was signed as per the prime minister's whims and not vetted through official channels. Jaitley said that the Price Negotiation Committee and Contract Negotiation Committee had deliberated over it for 14 months before finalising the deal, after which the Cabinet Committee on Security approved it.

A few in the BJP may now wonder whether the government could have given such a detailed response to Rahul's allegations earlier, and whether it had deliberately waited for Jaitley to recover and lead the government's response.Former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha said that the Bhima Koregaon raids are a prime example of assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday alleged "Emergency-like" conditions are prevailing in the country under the present regime and the arrest of five activists on suspicion of 'Maoist links' shows that any voice of dissent is not safe.

"What happened yesterday is the prime example of assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press," he told reporters in Bangalore.

The Pune police on Tuesday raided residences of several prominent activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of the probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after the 'Elgar Parishad' event on 31 December, 2017.

Sinha, who had served as a minister in the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime but has turned into a bitter critic of the Narendra Modi government, alleged that there was a 'conspiracy' to silence criticism and suppress voices of dissent. He said the arrests showed that people who voice dissent were not safe and there were many ways to suppress dissenting voices.

"The arrest of the five activists clearly shows the emergency like conditions prevailing in India under the present regime at the centre," he said.

In the past too, many 'unfortunate decisions' had been passed by the courts as well, the latest being preventing the media from publishing anything on dissenting stories, he said. "There are many ways in which one can be shut up. I mentioned to you the defamation case. It can be filed against me, not by the government, but by a private party involved in this case and then I will be running to the courts defending myself," he said.

Searches were carried out at homes of activist and poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, human rights lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh, among others.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 153(A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Follow LIVE updates on the Bhima Koregaon raids here.Conrad Sangma, who was elected chief minister in March, 2018, had to get elected to the Assembly to continue in office.

Tura: Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma, who won the Assembly bypolls to South Tura constituency in Meghalaya, has urged all political parties to work together for the development of the state.

Sangma, who is also the president of Natioal People's Party (NPP), won the polls by 8,421 votes on Monday. He secured a total of 13,656 votes, while his closest rival from Congress, Charlotte W Momin, polled 5,235 votes.

Sangma told the press, I would like to thank all the people of South Tura for the support in the election, and to all our MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) partners. They have worked really hard and sacrificed a lot for me. Its a good margin and I think people of South Tura have put a good amount of faith, not only in me but also in the government. We will do our best to ensure that we take our state forward. I want to reassure with this particular victory that our commitment is stronger now.

The voter turnout was a bit low. It was 73 percent, which was a part that I thought would be higher, like 80-85 percent. But keeping in mind the turnouts, the margin is high, he said.

Sangma, who was elected chief minister in March, 2018, had to get elected to the Assembly to continue in office. His sister Agatha Sangma had resigned from South Tura in July to pave way for him to contest the election. Four candidates, including Conrad and Charlitte Momin had contested the by-polls from the South Tura seat, held on 23 August.

With this victory, Congresss hope for a turn-around in its political fortune in the state has taken a beating. Both the Congress and the NPP have the same tally of 20 each in the 60-member assembly. Notably, when the Congress won 21 out of 59 seats in March, they laid stake to form the government in Meghalaya where the Governor invited the single largest party to form the government. However, after Congress president Mukul Sangma left the Ampati seat, its number was reduced to 20. NPP, with its 19 seats won in the Assembly polls, stitched together a coalition with four parties and an independent candidate to form the government.

Pointing out particularly at the Congress, Sangma said that his government will give ample heed to the opposition for any constructive advice that can take the state forward. He said that in a democracy, the voice of every single individual and every single party matters.

Speaking to Firstpost over the phone, Sangma said: At this moment, I would like to appeal to all political parties, including our main opposition, Congress, that now that the election is over, we should all work together, and this is a democracy; therefore thoughts of all people matter. I would like to call upon all the political parties to work together to take the state forward.

Drawing attention to the political stability of the coalition government, Sangma said it depends upon the understanding between the coalition partners and the work they do.

"It is important to respect and trust each other and to stick to commitments. The election went positively and I was quite confident that the coalition would be stable. There has been a good level of understanding among the coalition partners and I am sure that the government will complete its term," Conrad said.

The NPP leader said that besides commissioning development works in the state, his government's priority will be to check the illegal influx of people from the neighbouring countries.

Illegal influx has always been an issue in the North East and so will it be in the future. Therefore, we strongly feel that a mechanism should be in place to check the influx. What kind of mechanisms should be put in place will be discussed in detail and we have been in consultation with political parties and other organisations to find a way forward. Though there are agreements and disagreements over what kind of measures should be taken, everyone agrees that there should an effective policy. It will be debated and all concerned organisations and political parties will be taken on board to arrive at a decision," the chief minister said.

Conrad also said that his government has been focusing on a good delivery mechanism at the grassroots level.

We are focusing on good governance at the grassroots level through transparency and accountability and by ensuring that maximum output is generated from every penny spent, he said.

Sangma also added that being an MLA from South Tura and being the chief minister of the state are two different responsibilities in a way. He said, being an MLA, his primary task will be the development of infrastructure in Tura town.

"I have to ensure that the policies are correct and we carry forward what we have started now, the chief minister said.

Tura town, as I have mentioned during the election time, requires a lot of infrastructure development like drinking water facilities, good roads, garbage disposal system, street lights and several other things. We will focus on making Tura a proper town with all basic amenities available for people, Sangma said.

The NPP is heading the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.

The author is Guwahati-based freelance writer and a member of 101reporters.com.Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted at a private hospital in Mumbai, would fly to the US on Wednesday for further medical treatment

Panaji: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted at a private hospital in Mumbai, would fly to the US on Wednesday for further medical treatment, his office said.

Parrikar, 62, underwent treatment in the US for three months earlier in 2018 for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June. He went there again for a follow-up earlier August. He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health checkup on 23 August, a day after he returned from the US, and was scheduled to return to Goa on Wednesday. However, a senior official in the chief minister's office said that Parrikar will leave for USA from Mumbai in a flight on Wednesday night. The official refused to divulge any further details about the chief minister's health.

He said, "The official charge of the post of chief minister will remain with him (Parrikar). There is no need to hand over the charge to anyone." Parrikar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 7 August and sought his intervention to address the current crisis in the state's mining sector.In the initial days after the flood, which claimed not less than 400 lives and turned several lakhs homeless, Kerala had set an example to the nation with all joining hands forgetting the political leniencies to give a hand to those affected.

In Kerala, two weeks after the biggest floods in a century hit the state, petty politics is slowly taking the centre stage in public discussions over relief and rescue issues. After the initial shock that forced all political parties to cross party lines and work as a single unit, politicians are now hurrying to collect brownie points to claim number one position in the rankings of who did it best. The race has begun and the signs are visible everywhere including the tiny battle boxes of Malayalam television channels which did a commendable job in reporting the tragedy from the ground.

As reporters are gradually running out of fresh stories from the relief camps, television anchors are struggling to find new angles and what better than a hot, ugly debate on one-upmanship and likely misuse of flood relief funds? As I was interacting with some volunteers who have operated in relief camps and watching the TV discussions the sense I get is that, even in relief camps, an intense but subtle war is brewing among the CPM/CPI, the Congress party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the leadership position in relief operations and the emerging strategies to pin down rivals by finding faults in opposite camps.

The Congress party and certain other factions have made the case for a separate account to collect the flood relief fund other than the chief ministers distress relief fund (CMDRF), alleging that during the Okhi disaster, the money collected in CMDRF wasnt properly utilised by the state. This irked the LDF-government prompting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to call a press conference and present the fund disbursal details on Tuesday. Vijayan said a total of Rs 218 crore was collected during the Okhi disaster, of which nearly Rs 117 crore has been spent already while commitments have been made for another Rs 85 crore. The CPM has fielded its senior leaders like Anathalavattom Anandan to make counterattack on those being suspicious about CMDRF.

Arent you acting like poisonous snakes (like the ones seen in houses post the flood, he said) to discourage even the well-wishers who would want to contribute to the CMDRF by levelling baseless allegations? asked Anandan participating in a television debate on Tuesday night in one of the local channels. The Congress representative, PM Suresh Babu, hit back saying whats wrong in questioning possibilities while BJPs B Gopalakrishnan defended RSS-backed Seva Bharati collecting flood relief fund independently while other political parties are contributing to CMDRF saying it is using the money collected thus prudently and every penny is accountable. The blame game and mud battle will intensify going ahead as the nation approaches the 2019 Parliament polls.

Political drama doesnt end just there. As they say, someones sleep can cause others to lose some. Thats exactly what happened when Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam spent a night at a relief camp in Changanassery last Tuesday night and followed it up with a Facebook post announcing to the world that he did so where he was seen lying on a mattress on the floor. The minister said the idea was to express solidarity to the flood victims by spending a night in the camps with them. Logically, there was a social media outrage, where many termed Kannanthanams act as a self-promotion exercise in the time of a tragedy. The local BJP unit was unhappy even more with his remark on what Indias ideal stance should be on the much-debated Rs 700 crore UAE aid for the flood-battered state. Kannanthanam said the state needed the money and if there is any technical hurdle, the Central government should take steps to remove that considering it as one-time exception. This statement came when the Central government, of which he is a part of, wasnt in favour of receiving foreign aid for Kerala. Partys mouthpiece, Janmabhoomi heavily criticised Kannnamthanams statements and warned him not oversmart.

In the initial days after the flood, which claimed not less than 400 lives and turned several lakhs homeless, Kerala had set an example to the nation with all joining hands forgetting the political leniencies to give a hand to the several hundreds who lost most of their lifes savings in the flood waters. The water is yet to recede in many low lying areas such as Kuttanad in Alleppey. With most of the crops washed away and storage houses damaged, the states agricultural sector is in perils; about 34,732 kilometres of road and 218 bridges  big and small  have been destroyed. It will take at least a year-and-a-half and no less than Rs 5,815 crore to restore this infrastructure for public use. According to Vijayan, total economic losses have exceeded Rs 20,000 crore and this is not yet the final estimate. The government is yet to draw up a long-term plan to restore the damaged infrastructure in the state, make sure the homeless get shelter and the crisis-ridden farmers get back to normalcy. Unless politicians rise above political priorities and work in coordination, there is no hope left for Gods own country to recover from the disaster in several years to come.Mallikarjun Kharge termed the RSS ideology as a 'poison' for the country and for Dalits and other oppressed classes

Mumbai: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge Wednesday said "there is no question" of Rahul Gandhi or anybody from the party attending an RSS event.

"Let the letter (of invitation) come first. This (invitation) is all in view of elections," Kharge said, when asked about the RSS' reported plan to invite the Congress president to a lecture series in September.

Kharge was talking to reporters in Mumbai after meeting party workers from Maharashtra and Mumbai units ahead of the 2019 polls.

"The Congress is engaged in an ideological battle with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the party even gave up the chief minister's post in Karnataka to keep the BJP and the saffron outfit away from power," he said.

"In Karnataka, a small regional party (Janata Dal-Secular) has 37 MLAs and we have 80. But we gave up the chief minister's post to that party to strengthen secular forces. So there is no question of (Gandhi or any other Congress leader) going to the RSS headquarters," Kharge added.

He termed the RSS ideology as a "poison" for the country and for Dalits and other oppressed classes. "If Rahul sahab asks me about going there (to the RSS event), I will tell him that there is no question of going there. That there is no intention of joining such people," Kharge said.

RSS sources had claimed two days ago that it could invite Gandhi to a three-day lecture series by Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi on September. "The idea was to invite people from different ideologies and the list may even include CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury," sources had claimed.Indo-Asian News Service

Search engine Google on 28 August denied the claims that its search engines are "biased towards any political ideology", thus responding to US President Donald Trump's accusation that those search algorithms are designed to silence conservative voices.

"When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds. Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," Efe quoted Google as saying in a statement.

The firm said that "every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

In a series of 28 August morning tweets, Trump had said that "Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media."

"In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me and others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent," the President added.

"Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96 percent of results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous," Trump said, concluding that "Google and others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation will be addressed!"

Trump provided no further details on the matter, but he appeared to base his remarks on an unscientific study by PJMedia, a conservative opinion blog, that came to the conclusion that most of the search results in searches performed on Google for Trump-related issues come from what the blog deems to be left-wing publications.

The President has frequently criticized coverage of him and his administration by the big media outlets, but so far he has not fully turned his attention to Internet giants such as Google.

Asked to elaborate after Trump's tweets on the administration's views on potential regulation of the search giant, Lawrence Kudlow, the director of Trump's National Economic Council, said, "We'll let you know, we're taking a look at it."

Republicans have criticized social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter over their treatment of conservatives on their platforms. Last week, the president accused social media platforms of "silencing millions of people".

Earlier in the month, Trump also claimed that tech companies are "totally discriminating against Republican or Conservative voices", pledging that his administration "won't let that happen".tech2 News Staff

On 28 August, Google hosted its annual Google For India event in New Delhi. At the event, the biggest announcement was probably the rebranding of Google Tez to Google Pay. However, among the various other announcements for Google Assistant and other things, the company also introduced a subtle AI-powered feature for its Google Go search app  website reading.

For the uninitiated, Google Go was announced at a similar event last year, and the platform is essentially a data-light search app for emerging markets like India, where users struggle with poor connectivity and a large number of users still use feature phones will low RAM.

The new website reading feature on Google Go is designed to increase its appeal across India, especially among the non-English speaking audience.

Basically, Google Gos website reading feature will allow users to listen to web pages. Google says that the new AI feature is powered by natural language processing and speech synthesis AI and can read in 28 languages smoothly, even on 2G connections.

The feature apparently uses minimal cellular data and relies on artificial intelligence to determine which parts of a page to read and which to leave out, so you only listen to what is important. Hopefully, this means that Google won't be reading out ads to us.

Besides choosing the language, the feature also allows users to adjust the speed at which the text is read.

The feature is great because it's inclusive of everyone. The internet will be less hostile to users who are illiterate or have disabilities.

Google says that it plans to bring the option of listening to webpages to more Google products.Reuters

Social media, including Facebook, must proactively block content inciting hatred and prevent online campaigns which target minorities, such as those undertaken in Myanmar, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was speaking after UN experts accused Myanmar generals of genocidal intent and said Facebook had allowed its platform to be used to incite violence against Rohingya.

Facebook said on Monday it was removing several Myanmar military officials from the social media website and an Instagram account to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation after reviewing the content.

Zeid, whose spokesman said he has met with major tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Facebook and Google, in recent months, was speaking to a news conference before his four-year term ends on 31 Aug.

Zeid said he didnt feel Facebook took the issue seriously at first but that the companys attitude began to change after Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar told a Geneva press conference in March that Facebook was being used in the country to spread hate speech.

But it shouldnt be because the press or the human rights community highlights the problem for them then suddenly to respond. They should be aware of it ahead of time, he said.

So I dont think they should wait until the crisis begins. They should be thinking proactively about what steps they will take to mitigate that, he added.

Facebook said on Monday that while it was too slow to act in the case of Myanmar, it was now making progress, with better technology to identify hate speech and improved reporting tools.

However, Zeid said there was a danger that social media could be over-regulated in a way that breaches human rights law including the right to freedom of expression.

Tech giants should keep the broadest space available and open to the exercise of freedom of expression, relying on international human rights law for regulation, he said.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Googles search engine of promoting negative news articles and hiding fair media coverage of him, vowing to address the situation without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

Trumps attack against the Alphabet Inc unit follows a string of grievances against technology companies, including Twitter Inc and Facebook, which he has accused of silencing conservative voices.Indo-Asian News Service

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has detected its next flyby target, which is an icy world a billion kilometres past Pluto, from more than 160 million kilometres away and over four months ahead of its New Year's 2019 close encounter.

The New Horizons probe, which flew past Pluto in 2015, is set to encounter the Kuiper Belt object, referred to as 2014 MU69  nicknamed Ultima Thule  on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, 2019.

Discovered in 2014, the object MU69 is more than 6.5 billion km from Earth.

On 16 August, News Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), took a set of 48 images, from 172 million km, 64 billion km from the Sun and against a dense background of stars.

"The image field is extremely rich with background stars, which makes it difficult to detect faint objects," Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, US, said in a statement.

"It really is like finding a needle in a haystack. In these first images, Ultima appears only as a bump on the side of a background star that's roughly 17 times brighter, but Ultima will be getting brighter and easier to see as the spacecraft gets closer."

This marked the team's first attempt to find Ultima with the spacecraft's own cameras and that the object is very close to where scientists predicted.

The observations of Ultima over the next four months will help the New Horizons team refine the spacecraft's course towards the closest approach to Ultima, at 12:33 a.m. EST on January 1, 2019.

The Ultima flyby will be the first-ever close-up exploration of a small Kuiper Belt object and the farthest exploration of any planetary body in history, shattering the record New Horizons itself set at Pluto in July 2015 by about 16 billion km, NASA said.

"We now have Ultima in our sights from much farther out than once thought possible. We are on Ultima's doorstep, and an amazing exploration awaits!" said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.The newly minted prime minister of Pakistan has a major decision coming up. That decision is probably going to be decided for him by the military

The newly minted prime minister of Pakistan has a major decision coming up. That decision is probably going to be decided for him by the military, but in his newness, he's likely to balk at complete surrender.

This immediate burning question is to do with Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations. Asia Times recently reported about a meeting between Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman and Pakistan's chief of army staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Mina. Apparently, the Saudis believe that open support from Imran Khan for military action against Yemen would be valuable in shoring up international backing for Saudi military action in Yemen. In short, the Saudis are gently applying the pressure, cheque in one hand and gun in the other. For those who think large amount of aid comes without strings, this is an important lesson.

The whole issue is something of a carry over from the past. Pakistan has always been a bit wary of getting involved with Saudi Arabias muscular policy against Yemen. In 2015, the country's Parliament had vociferously opposed sending troops for such a mission. The rather grandly named Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) formed in December 2015 may have boasted of nearly 40 members, but in most parts of the world, it was seen as more of an anti-Iran platform, than a body that was fighting the good fight against terrorism.

But beggars can't be choosers. Saudi Arabia has slowly but surely elevated itself to the ranks of top aid givers. From 2007 to February 2017, Saudi Arabia disbursed $32.65 billion to 999 projects in 78 countries. Data indicates that Pakistan is among the top beneficiaries, receiving some $562 million for some 99 projects. Earlier this year, the Saudis also provided an additional $1 billion. On offer is another $4 billion from the Islamic Development Bank aimed at stabilising an urgent balance of payment crisis. Pakistani financial circles are also well aware that the bank is likely to impose far less financial conditions than the IMF.

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, the former chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif took over command of the coalition forces in April 2017. The government dodged questions on the controversial appointment, stating that this was a personal choice of the General. It goes without saying that an appointment of this kind immediately after his retirement could hardly have taken place without the express authorisation of the Foreign Office, and more importantly, from the Army High Command. This meant that Pakistan could conveniently continue to condemn violence in Yemen, while at the same time providing all but open assistance to the Saudis.

It's not that Pakistan-Saudi military relations are at all unusual. Some Pakistani troops were known to be stationed in Saudi Arabia more or less permanently (and flying their aircraft) after they had first been inducted in 1979, when the Grand Mosque was seized by fundamentalist elements. Following the formation of the Saudi-led coalition, reports emerged of the Pakistani navy providing some assistance to the Saudis off Yemen, in terms of implementing an arms embargo against Houthi terrorists.

In 2017, a Saudi contingent was part of the Republic Day parade. Most importantly, however, the Saudis are known to have bankrolled Pakistans nuclear program in its early days. To date, the then Saudi defence minister Prince Sultan remains the only foreigner ever to have been allowed into a nuclear facility. Indeed, it was barred even to Benazir Bhutto. However, the abrupt announcement of the movement of a reported brigade strength of troops to Riyadh was made only in February 2018, with a rather abrupt announcement from DG ISPR. This was clearly a decision reached in Rawalpindi, without any debate apparent in Parliament, and at a time of severe political turmoil.

A kind of quasi-back door support did suit earlier Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had good reason to be personally grateful to the Saudis for them providing shelter when he was imprisoned by a vengeful military. It did mean supporting Saudi Arabias sectarian agenda, and a consequent falling out with Iran. But Sharif and his brother never had much of a standing with Shia groups anyway. Shahbaz Sharif in particular all but had an electoral alliance with the extreme right, and the highly sectarian Sipah-e-Sahaba/Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat in particular.

Thats not the case with Imran, who campaigned on an anti-sectarian agenda, even if he was seen to be close to various terrorist elements. Imran can hardly now do a complete turn around, after opposing Pakistani involvement in the Saudi-led coalition. Besides, backing the Saudi war is not just likely to create internal chaos as Shias resist it violently, it will create severe imbalance in an already strained Pakistan-Iran relationship.

Apart from that, it's not going to go down well with the US and its allies. Canadas ambassador was recently expelled from Saudi Arabia, after criticism of Riyadhs human rights record. A visit to Riyadh is slated for next month. He has a few days to consult his foreign minister and other members of the cabinet. There is a way out. Three years ago, he had stated that Pakistan should function as a mediator, rather than participate in the Yemen conflict. That could be an offer to his benefactors.

The problem is that mediation is rather impossible if your army is party to the war. For mediation to succeed, the Pakistani army and air force elements need to withdraw. That won't suit Riyadh at all. What they want is a bold figurehead for the charge. For Imran, its a choice between the devil and the deep in what could be a first step in declaring his independence, and unfortunately, also equally showcasing an acceptance of a risk of survival.If economic conditions continued to worsen in countries like Zambia and Kenya owing to and despite the Chinese debt aid, Beijing is going to have a very hard time selling BRI projects to countries having slightest capacity to stand up on their own.

Last week the prime minister of a small Pacific Island nation Tonga triggered a big diplomatic furore. Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva publicly said that his country may find it difficult to pay back Chinese loans which stand at around $160 million and that he planned to take the issue to Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) so that small Pacific island nations can collectively demand China to waive their loans. Pohivas statement came after murmurs of his informal lobbying efforts on the sidelines of Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers summit on 10 August. However, within a week Pohiva backed down from his plan to take the matter to the PIF saying that after further reflection, I now believe that the Pacific Islands Forum is not the proper forum to discuss this debt issue.

His official statement further read that Each Pacific Island country has its particular national conditions and different needs of the foreign loan, and its up to each government to independently seek solutions through bilateral channels. But Beijing was irked if not furious. While the Chinese foreign ministry reacted in a balanced manner saying that China will continue to provide debt to Pacific Island nations including Tonga to help them achieve sustainable development, party mouthpiece Global Times lashed out on the Western countries, particularly US and Australia, accusing them of inciting Pacific Island nations to push China on loan write-off".

But the things are not all that simple. Concerns are being sounded and debates are raging about Chinese debt trap across the world. Take the example of Kenya. A recent report claiming that China owns 72 percent of Kenyas bilateral debt left Kenyans aghast and raised fears of Beijing taking too much control of the Kenyan economy.

Djibouti, a horn of Africa nation, which has been in news for housing first Chinese overseas military base, is another country in Chinas debt embrace. At the end of 2016, China owned 82 percent of Djiboutis external debt. China wants these loans to be repaid in cash or kind and now there are fears that countrys autocratic ruler Ismail Omar Guelleh may hand over recently nationalised Doraleh Container Terminal to the Chinese just like Sri Lankans had to do with Hambantota port. While Guelleh has denied any such possibility but it is locked in arbitration battles with the present operator of Doraleh Port, a UAE owned company over the ports nationalisation and divulging indirect stake to Chinese investors.

There are similar concerns about Tanzania where China plans to build Bagamoyo mega port with $10 billion investment. If things proceeded according to plan, Bagamoyo is all set to become the largest port in Africa.

Then there are fears of a Chinese takeover of Zambian economy where China has dangerously taken over strategically important physical assets and businesses, which can later be collateralized in the event Zambia fails to pay its debts. Zambia has been warned of debt distress by the International Monetary Fund. According to a Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) report, in 2016, Chinese debt to Zambia increased by a whopping 350 percent compared to the preceding year. In essence, the Hambantota story is going to be repeated at a much larger scale in Africa.

It is ironical that once these were sites of Chinas anti-colonial efforts. For instance, Mao aided Tanzania in building 1,100 km Tazara railway line as part of his support for countries which had just come out of clutches of European colonial powers. But that was a pure aid. Now it is about taking over strategically located national assets by advancing easy but collateralised debt to these cash-starved countries with skeleton economies and corrupt regimes. In this, it is very much like the opium trade conducted by British East India Company in 18th and 19th centuries when it used to export opium grown in India to China converting millions into addicts and using the profits to buy Chinese tea and silk. Now easy but collateralised Chinese loans are the new opium, African assets and natural resources are the like tea and silk.

No wonder China is now being accused by Africans of the very same motivations which European imperialists had, that is, access to raw materials, providing markets for their goods, providing a home for their citizens to settle through emigration, as well as a long term strategy for achieving geopolitical power and influence which China feels it deserves given its population.

However, China prefers to call these loans as aid and moral justifications advanced by Chinese sound like the concept of white mans burden draped in the language of sophisticated internationalism. As a Global Times columnist tells us: "'Teaching one to fish is better than giving him fish' has become a principle of China's foreign aid policy. Instead of simply offering money, equipment and supplies, China has started to launch a large number of educational training and capacity-building projects to help developing countries improve their infrastructure, education and health care. Such foreign aid reflects the responsibility of China as a global power.

However, former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson argued otherwise when he pointed out that China encourages dependence using opaque contracts, predatory loan practices and corrupt deals that mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty, denying them their long term self-sustaining growth..the (Chinese) financing models are structured in a way that the country  when it gets into trouble financially  loses control of its own infrastructure or its own resources through default.

So it was not at all a surprise when Myanmar and Malaysia decided to pull the plug on Chinese investment in big infrastructure projects. This has pushed Beijing into damage control mode as state owned Xinhua declared that the Belt and Road Initiative originates from China, but belongs to the world and President Xi Jinping termed Malaysia big part of Beijings belt and road vision for future.

However, Myanmar and Malaysias moves are already triggering debates in many countries which have been looking forward to Chinese aid, that is, debt. In the Philippines, the opposition is already asking President Duterte to take a cue from neighbouring Malaysia. Opposition senator Leila De Lema has been quoted as saying, We should learn from the mistakes and misfortunes of other countries in their dealings with China. Our national leaders should exert all honest efforts in protecting our country and the Filipino people against imprudent debt accumulation.

If economic conditions continued to worsen in countries like Zambia and Kenya owing to and despite the Chinese debt aid, Beijing is going to have a very hard time selling BRI projects to countries having slightest capacity to stand up on their own, as has happened in Malaysia, and even in Myanmar which has been reeling under western sanctions.President Donald Trump is accusing Google and other US tech companies of rigging search results about him so that almost all stories and news are BAD  and though he is offering no evidence, a top adviser says the White House is taking a look at whether Google should face federal regulation.

President Donald Trump is accusing Google and other US tech companies of rigging search results about him so that almost all stories and news are BAD  and though he is offering no evidence, a top adviser says the White House is taking a look at whether Google should face federal regulation.

Google is pushing back sharply, saying Trumps claim simply wasnt true, We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.

"When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology, a statement issued by the company said, according to ABC News.

The presidents tweets on Tuesday echoed his familiar attacks on the news media  and a conservative talking point that California-based tech companies run by CEOs with liberal leanings dont give equal weight to opposing political viewpoints. They also revealed anew his deep-seated frustration over not getting the credit he believes he deserves.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

The president, who has said he runs on little sleep, jumped onto Twitter before dawn on Tuesday to rehash his recent complaints about alleged suppression of conservative voices and positive news about him. He followed that up with vague threats in Oval Office comments.

I think Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people, and I think thats a very serious thing. Thats a very serious charge, Trump said, adding that Google, Twitter, Facebook and others better be careful, because you cant do that to people.

Trump claimed that we have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in. So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, theyre really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.

Larry Kudlow, the presidents top economic adviser, later said that the White House is taking a look at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation. Trump often points proudly to his cutting of government regulations as a spur for economic gains.

In his tweets, Trump said  without offering evidence  that Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me and others, so that almost all stories and news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative and Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?

He added, again with no evidence, that 96 percent of results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.

A search query on Tuesday morning, several hours after the president tweeted, showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others. A similar search later in the day for Trump had Fox News, the presidents favoured cable network, among the top results.

Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment. Experts suggested that Trumps comments showed a misunderstanding of how search engines work.

Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a users query, even before he or she finishes typing. The answers that appear first are the ones Googles formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant. Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well its designed and more.

Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. While some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias.

Media analyst Ken Doctor said it doesnt make sense for mass-market businesses like Google to lean either way politically. He characterized the complaints as a sign of our times, adding that, years ago, if the head of General Electric was supporting a Republican candidate, people who disagreed wouldnt then go out and boycott GE products. The temperature has risen on this, Doctor said.

Steven Andres, who teaches about management information systems at San Diego State University, said people often assume that if you give a computer the same inputs, no matter where you are, that you get the same outputs.

But it doesnt work that way, he said. Youre seeing different things every moment of the day and the algorithms are always trying to change the results. Trump didnt say what he based his tweets on. But conservative activist Paula Boylard had said in a weekend blog post on PJ Media that she found blatant prioritization of left-leaning and anti-Trump media outlets in search results.

Boylard based her judgments on the political leanings of media outlets on a list by Sharyl Attkisson, host of Sinclair Televisions Full Measure and author of The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, Think, and How You Vote. Sinclair is a significant outlet for conservative views.

Trump began complaining about the issue earlier this month as social media companies moved to ban right-wing Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms. The president also argues regularly  and falsely  that the news media avoid writing positive stories about him and his administration.

Jones is being sued for saying the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged. Jones has since said he believes the shooting did occur and has argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because he was acting as a journalist. Trump has praised Jones amazing reputation.

The issue is also of concern on Capitol Hill, where the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Republican Greg Walden, Representative of Oregon, recently announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is scheduled to testify before the panel on 5 September about the platforms algorithms and content monitoring.

With inputs from APBy John Whitesides (Reuters) - A contentious three-way U.S. Senate battle in Arizona on Tuesday among Republicans fighting to prove the depth of their allegiance to President Donald Trump tops the last big day of state nominating contests before November's elections. Voters there and in Florida were heading to the polls to pick candidates for Nov

By John Whitesides

(Reuters) - A contentious three-way U.S. Senate battle in Arizona on Tuesday among Republicans fighting to prove the depth of their allegiance to President Donald Trump tops the last big day of state nominating contests before November's elections.

Voters there and in Florida were heading to the polls to pick candidates for Nov. 6, when Democrats will try to pick up 23 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and two seats in the Senate to gain majorities and slam the brakes on Trump's legislative agenda.

In Arizona, a Southwestern state that Trump won by 4 percentage points in the 2016 White House race, Republican establishment favorite U.S. Representative Martha McSally has led consistently in opinion polls over former state Senator Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The contest could be critical to the balance of power in the Senate in November because the Arizona seat of retiring Republican Jeff Flake, a Trump critic, is considered one of the two top takeover targets for Democrats, along with Nevada.

McSally is seen as a stronger general election candidate than either Ward or Arpaio, both hard-line conservatives. McSally has already launched advertising aimed at her likely Democratic opponent in November, U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema.

Polls have shown Sinema with narrow leads over McSally and a wider gap between her and the other two candidates.

But the race to embrace the polarizing Trump could make it harder in November for the Republican winner. All three have fought over who is closest to Trump and most enthusiastic about his agenda, highlighting the praise Trump has offered them over the past few years.

McSally boasts she has been invited to the White House for movie screenings, and many of Ward's events feature life-sized cardboard cutouts of Trump. Arpaio, who built a national reputation as an immigration hard-liner, won a pardon from Trump after he was convicted of criminal contempt in a case involving racial profiling.

"The entire campaign has been defined by the effort to show who is the better, more enthusiastic supporter of the president," said Stan Barnes, a veteran Republican strategist in Arizona.

Trump has not endorsed any of the three Republicans.

MCCAIN'S DEATH OVERSHADOWS RACE

The contest has been overshadowed in recent days by the death of John McCain, Arizona's longtime Republican senator, on Saturday. All three Republicans had distanced themselves from McCain, who frequently feuded with Trump, and Ward suggested that his family's announcement on Friday that he was stopping medical treatment was timed to hurt her campaign.

McCain's death narrowed the number of Republican-held seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate to 50, with Democrats controlling 49. Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey will appoint a member of his own party to succeed McCain.

Control of the Senate could also be determined by the November Senate race in Florida, which will pit term-limited Republican Governor Rick Scott against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Polls have shown a close race. Scott faces only token opposition in Tuesday's primary; Nelson is unopposed.

Trump has waded into Florida's hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary, endorsing conservative U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis over Adam Putnam, the state agriculture commissioner and a former U.S. congressman. On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his support for DeSantis in a tweet.

DeSantis, who aired a campaign ad showing him urging his toddler daughter to "build that wall" with toy blocks, now leads in polls.

Trump carried Florida by just over 1 percentage point in 2016.

The Republican winner will face whoever emerges from a crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary field led by moderate former U.S. Representative Gwen Graham, the daughter of Bob Graham, a former Florida governor and U.S. senator.

Graham's top challengers include former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a progressive favorite endorsed by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

As with other states throughout this election cycle, early turnout has been strong. More than 1.9 million Florida voters have already cast absentee ballots or voted early, according to the state's Division of Elections, surpassing early voting in state primaries in 2014 and 2016.

Both Arizona and Florida were holding primaries for several competitive U.S. House races that could prove crucial for the Democrats' chances to take control of the House. Democrats see several Republican-held districts in South Florida as prime opportunities to pick up seats.

In addition, Oklahoma is holding a primary runoff Tuesday to determine the Republican nominee for governor, as no candidate hit the 50 percent threshold needed to advance to the general election in the June primary. Democrats have already nominated Drew Edmondson, former state attorney general.

After Tuesday's primaries, only five states remain to pick candidates before full attention turns to the November election, when all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governors' offices will be at stake.

(Reporting by John Whitesides in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney and Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Myanmar rejected the remit of the UN mission and its findings claiming that the UN Fact-Finding Mission was not allowed to enter into the country and hence it would not accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council.

Yangon: Myanmar rejected on Wednesday the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis.

Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

Monday's report by a UN fact-finding mission said there was evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale".

In a session of the UN Security Council late on Tuesday several countries  including the United States  called for Myanmar's military leaders to face international justice.

But Myanmar on Wednesday rejected the remit of the UN mission and its findings. "We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," government spokesman Zaw Htay said according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for pulling down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass, saying that it could hamper the government's efforts with "national reconciliation".

The social media giant has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform  which is wildly popular in Myanmar  become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russias naval fleets, and all of its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement.

Moscow: Russia will next month hold its biggest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, a massive military exercise that will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies.

The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russias naval fleets, and all of its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement.

The manoeuvres will take place at a time of heightened tension between the West and Russia, which is concerned about what it says is an unjustified build-up of the NATO military alliance on its western flank.

NATO says it has beefed up its forces in eastern Europe to deter potential Russian military action after Moscow annexed Ukraines Crimea in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.

The war games, which will take place from 11-15 September, are likely to worry Japan, which has already complained about a Russian military build-up in the Far East, something Moscow has linked to Tokyos roll-out of the Aegis US missile system.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is due to attend a forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok over the same period, and a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday that Tokyo always paid attention to shifts in Russian-Chinese military cooperation.

Shoigu said the war games would be the biggest since a Soviet military exercise, Zapad-81 (West-81) in 1981.

In some ways, they will repeat aspects of Zapad-81, but in other ways, the scale will be bigger, Shoigu told reporters while visiting the Russian region of Khakassia.

Shoigu said that both Russias Pacific and Northern Fleets would take part, while the Russian Ministry of Defence has said that Chinese and Mongolian military units will also participate.

A more assertive Russia

Asked if the cost of holding such a massive military exercise was justified at a time when Russia is faced with higher social spending demands, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such war games were essential.

The countrys ability to defend itself in the current international situation, which is often aggressive and unfriendly towards our country, means (the exercise) is justified, Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

When asked if Chinas involvement meant Moscow and Beijing were moving towards an alliance, Peskov said it showed that the two were cooperating in all areas. China and Russia have taken part in joint military drills before but not on such a large scale.

NATO spokesman Dylan White said that Russia had briefed the alliance on the planned exercise in May and that NATO would monitor it. Russia had invited military attaches from NATO countries based in Moscow to observe the war games, an offer he said was under consideration.

All nations have the right to exercise their armed forces, but it is essential that this is done in a transparent and predictable manner, White said in an emailed statement.

Vostok demonstrates Russias focus on exercising large-scale conflict. It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time: a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defence budget and its military presence.

Shoigu this month announced the start of snap combat readiness checks in central and eastern military districts ahead of the planned exercise. Imagine 36,000 armoured vehicles - tanks, armoured personnel carriers and armoured infantry vehicles - moving and working simultaneously, and that all this, naturally, is being tested in conditions as close as possible to military ones, Shoigu said on Tuesday.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, just days after calling off a planned trip to North Korea by his top diplomat, said on Wednesday he thought the United States was 'doing well' in its diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, just days after calling off a planned trip to North Korea by his top diplomat, said on Wednesday he thought the United States was "doing well" in its diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang.

"I think we're doing well with North Korea. We'll have to see," Trump told reporters at a White House event as he again pointed the finger at China for making the U.S. effort to get North Korea to denuclearize more difficult.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the United States and six other countries for talks in Geneva next month, a U.N

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the United States and six other countries for talks in Geneva next month, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Tuesday, as the United Nations continues its push for a new Syrian constitution.

He plans to meet senior representatives from the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany, France and Egypt on Sept. 14, two days after he receives officials from Russia, Turkey and Iran for previously announced talks.

"This is going to be an opportunity to discuss the way ahead on the political process," U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said.

A U.S. State Department official said the United States would be represented by James Jeffrey, the newly minted special representative for Syria, and Joel Rayburn, the administration's special envoy for Syria.

De Mistura is tasked with forming a committee of Syrian citizens to draw up the new constitution, after receiving nominations from the Syrian government and the opposition.

The planned meetings follow a similar set of talks with both groups of countries in June, although Egypt was not involved in that round.

The discussions about setting up a constitutional committee have made slow progress and represent a big downgrade in the United Nations' ambitions for Syrian peace talks.

For two years the warring sides repeatedly came to Geneva, in a futile search for agreement on political reforms, a new constitution and new elections.

But this year, with little U.S. political involvement and major gains on the battlefield by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies, the U.N. political process has largely evaporated.

The U.S. State Department official said the United States would remain engaged with the United Nations and other parties, including Russia, to encourage all possible efforts to advance the political process, and it supported de Mistura's efforts to broker a political settlement.

(Reporting by Tom Miles and Lesley Wroughton, editing by Andrei Khalip/Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Defense Secretary James Mattis said at a Pentagon news conference that no decisions had been made about major exercises for next year, but noted that the suspension of drills last summer as a good-faith gesture to North Korea was not open-ended

Washington: The US military has no plans yet to suspend any more major military exercises with South Korea, the defense secretary said on Tuesday, in the middle of a breakdown in diplomacy with North Korea over its nuclear weapons.

Defense Secretary James Mattis said at a Pentagon news conference that no decisions had been made about major exercises for next year, but noted that the suspension of drills last summer as a good-faith gesture to North Korea was not open-ended.

US President Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally suspend the drills caught many American military planners off-guard and was roundly criticized as a premature concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who Trump wants to give up his nuclear weapons.

"We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit," Mattis told reporters, referring to the 12 June meeting between Trump and Kim.

"We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," he said, adding that no decisions had yet been made on major exercises for next year. Mattis also said smaller exercises deemed to be exempt from the suspension were ongoing.

Mattis' comments on the drills come at a delicate time for negotiations between the United States and North Korea after Trump scrapped plans for a meeting between top officials from both countries.

At the June summit, the first meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader, Kim agreed in broad terms to work toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But North Korea has given no indication it is willing to give up its weapons unilaterally as the Trump administration has demanded.

Since then, diplomats have failed to advance the process. North Korean officials even warned in a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week that denuclearisation talks risked falling apart, US officials told Reuters.

In particular, the North wants steps toward a peace treaty. The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving US-led UN forces technically still at war with North Korea. US officials fear North Korea might turn its attention to cutting a separate deal with South Korea and driving a wedge between the US-South Korea alliance.

A South Korea presidential spokesman said he was not in a position to comment on the authenticity of the letter but acknowledged that talks between Washington and Pyongyang were at a stalemate.

"With North Korea and the US remaining stalemated, there is an even bigger need for an inter-Korea summit," Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House, told a briefing.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said this month his planned third summit with North Korea's Kim next month would be another step toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and an end to the Korean War.

Trip cancelled

Trump abruptly canceled his top diplomats planned trip to North Korea on Friday, publicly acknowledging for the first time that his effort to get Pyongyang to denuclearise had stalled since his summit with the North's leader.

Trump partly blamed China for the lack of progress with North Korea and suggested that talks with Pyongyang. On Sunday, North Korea's state media accused the United States of "double-dealing" and "hatching a criminal plot" but did not mention Pompeo's canceled visit.

US intelligence and defense officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about North Korea's willingness to give up its nuclear weapons and they had not expected Pompeo's trip to yield positive results.

Mattis declined to comment on the broader diplomatic efforts, deferring to Pompeo's State Department. "We will work very closely, as I said, with the secretary of state and what he needs to be done we will certainly do to reinforce his effort. But at this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions," Mattis said.

The traditional US calendar for other major drills does not pick up again until next spring, officials say, which could give diplomats and military planners time.

The US-South Korean exercise calendar hits a high point every spring with the Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, which take months to plan. It was unclear if any planning for the drills was already taking place. Max Thunders air combat exercises so unnerved North Korea this year that it issued threatening statements that nearly scuttled the June summit between Trump and Kim.

Foal Eagle is designed to simulate war scenarios and involves ground, air, naval and special operations forces.By Afolabi Sotunde and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May urged Nigeria on Wednesday to tap into the City of London's financial expertise as she sought to build a new trading relationship with Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation. With Britain set to leave the European Union next March, May is on a whistle-stop tour of Africa, her first to the continent as prime minister, hoping to bolster ties with the fast-growing economies of Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

By Afolabi Sotunde and Felix Onuah

ABUJA (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May urged Nigeria on Wednesday to tap into the City of London's financial expertise as she sought to build a new trading relationship with Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation.

With Britain set to leave the European Union next March, May is on a whistle-stop tour of Africa, her first to the continent as prime minister, hoping to bolster ties with the fast-growing economies of Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

"We offer... the important capacity to bring access to capital markets of the City of London, together with professional services expertise," May told reporters at Abuja airport before heading to Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos.

"I look forward to seeing more rich investment in Nigeria creating jobs for Nigerians and the good people of Britain as well," she added.

Earlier, May and Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari signed agreements on economic and defence cooperation.

"We have long-standing relations with Nigeria and long-standing, close commercial ties with Nigeria. There are British companies that have been here in Nigeria for many, many years. We want to enhance those trading links," she said.

"I think there's are real opportunities as we leave the European Union," said May, who back home is struggling to unite her divided Conservative Party over her plans to leave the EU.

In April, Britain hosted a meeting of Commonwealth countries, including South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, seeking to reinvigorate the network of mostly former colonies and drum up new trade amongst its members.

In June, the City of London's Lord Mayor Charles Bowman, who acts as an ambassador for the British capital's financial district, said Britain and Nigeria were exploring ways to list naira-denominated bonds on the London Stock Exchange to help fund infrastructure projects.

On Tuesday May held talks with her South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa. She leaves for Kenya later on Wednesday.

(Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Gareth Jones)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Farmer Boys Launches Inaugural Fundraiser For Childrens Hospital Of Nevada At UMC

Farmer Boys Rewards Guests Who Donate With Free Menu Add-Ons & Commemorative Lapel Pin

August 29, 2018 // Franchising.com // LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Farmer Boys, the popular fast casual concept which has built a reputation on their farm fresh menu, comfortable restaurant atmosphere, and friendly staff, has announced their inaugural fundraiser supporting Childrens Hospital of Nevada at UMC. The in-store fundraiser is taking place through October 8, 2018 at all eight Farmer Boys locations in the greater Las Vegas area.

Guests who donate $1 will receive two free slices of thick, double-smoked bacon or a free hand-smashed avocado add-on on their next visit when they show their donation receipt. Guests who donate $5 will also receive a complimentary avocado or bacon add-on during their next visit, plus a branded commemorative lapel pin. All guests who donate to the fundraiser will have their names displayed on Champions for Children donation slips, for the duration of the fundraising period.

Every dollar collected during the fundraiser will be donated to Children's Hospital of Nevada at UMC which treats an average of 600 children per week. Their mission is to improve the health of every child in the community by prevention and treatment of illness, disease, and injury, and to serve the health care needs and welfare of children and their families through excellence in healthcare through education, research, health promotion, and advocacy.

Its an honor to help raise critically-needed funds for such a deserving organization as Children's Hospital of Nevada at UMC, said Larry Rusinko, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Farmer Boys. Their dedication to making sick and injured children healthy by combining compassionate, family-centered care with modern technology is inspirational. For 18 years, our California restaurants have partnered with Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital and, with the generous help of our guests there, we have raised more than $720,000 for their childrens programs. We strive to develop an equally successful relationship with Childrens Hospital of Nevada and help do our part to change the lives of children in Nevada.

About Farmer Boys

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Riverside, California, Farmer Boys is a fast casual restaurant chain serving award-winning burgers, specialty sandwiches, crisp salads, signature sides, and all day breakfast. Farmer Boys knows farm fresh food will never go out of style. Today, thanks to an ever-expanding franchise operation, the Farmer Boys family continues to grow. The chain continues to seek sites and franchisees in new and existing regions. Farmer Boys currently operates 92 restaurants in California and Nevada. For more information, visit www.farmerboys.com.

SOURCE Farmer Boys

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DisqusFestival after festival are popping off in the northern hemisphere at the moment, and with all that come the related drug warnings. Whether it's dangerous batches or just absolute duds, the word is bound to get out.

The latest serious warning has come from UK police comes after both Creamfields and Manchester Pride.

Scientists from the Manchester Drug Analysis & Knowledge Exchange have issued warnings after substances being sold as MDMA were actually MMMP, a chemical found in inks and in coloured coatings.

There is a large concern from scientists and organisers, as the chemical's affects on humans is largely unknown (but what is known is how toxic it is to both fish and the environment).

The crystalised form of it looks very similar to MDMA, and many festival goers could easily mistake it for MDMA without questioning it.Travel between Ukraine and Georgia for both countries citizens to be allowed only by electronic ID cards - GeorgianJournalClassrooms across Washington state sat empty this week, as teachers in seven districts went on strike when negotiations over salaries and benefits failed to result in contracts by the first day of school.

Seattle public schools arent scheduled to start until Sept. 5, but teachers there also voted to strike if a contract deal is not reached between the local union and the states largest school district. The union is demanding higher salaries, more professional development for paraprofessionals, and health-care benefits for substitute teachers, reports the Seattle Times .

Teachers in the Camas school district, which enrolls about 7,000 students and is just across the border from Oregon, are also planning to strike if they dont end contract negotiations before Sept. 3.

Washington is the latest in a handful of states to see widespread teacher labor actions. This spring, teachers in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and West Virginia walked out of their classrooms over pay and benefits.

Driving these latest strikes is an additional $2 billion in the state budget for teacher salaries, money allocated after a 2012 state supreme court case, McCleary et al., v. State of Washington.

In that case, the court found that Washington was not adequately funding public education. In the years following, the state funneled millions of dollars into schools, and it planned to raise teacher salaries by the 2019-20 school year.

But the court said that the timeline for teacher raises didnt meet the requirements in the McCleary decision . The court ordered the state to find the money to increase teachers base salaries by the fall of 2018. To meet that deadline, the legislature changed the state tax structure to provide an additional $81 million to districts.

Now, the unions want to see that money distributed to teachers.

With new state funding available, this moment is a once in a lifetime opportunity to negotiate for higher compensation, a spokesperson for the Washington Education Association told KGW-TV, a local NBC affiliate in Portland, Ore.

Public-employee strikes are illegal in Washington state, but there are no laws that set penalities for participation.

Among the districts on strike, Battle Ground, Longview, Vancouver, Hockinson, and Ridgefield public schools had all been scheduled to start school today, while Evergreen public schools and the Washougal school district would have started school yesterday.

As teacher labor actions continue into this fall, its clear that discontent about compensation and school funding continues to be an issue in many places. Beyond Washington, the Los Angeles teachers union is currently conducting a strike-authorization vote , which could lead to a strike in the coming weeks.

Educators in Washington last went on strike in 2015, when the Seattle teachers union walked out over salary, length of the school day, testing, and teacher-evaluation policies . Teachers won cost-of-living salary increases, an end to student test scores being used as teacher-evaluation tools, and daily recess for all elementary school students.

Photo: About 2,000 teachers and school employees spill out of Benaroya Hall after voting in a union membership meeting to authorize a strike over wage increases on Aug. 28 in Seattle. Rebekah Welch/The Seattle Times via AP.The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, reflects on last weekends visit to Ireland by Pope Francis.

Now that the visit of Pope Francis has concluded, it is good to pause and reflect. Anyone who gave the visit even a small amount of attention will have her or his own views on its scope and its impact. Almost everyone will have heard once too often the comparison with the visit of Pope John Paul II 39 years ago.

And many of the same people will long ago have worked out for themselves that the Ireland of today is a very different place. They will also know that the capacity for following events from afar by social media is part of what has happened in that timeframe and that numbers, while indicative, have their limitations, particularly if they are overused to prove once too often that an event was in fact a non-event.

The presence in Ireland even for a period of 36 hours of a figure of such international stature and significance is exciting in so many ways. Pope Francis developed early in his pontificate an agenda around ecology and theology in the spirit of St Francis of Assisi (Laudato Si). He also developed a theology around the joy of love (Amoris Laetitia). Both themes played their part in the structuring of The World Meeting of Families which came to Dublin following its taking place in Philadelphia in 2015. It goes next to Rome in 2021 with an Irish blessing.

The internationalism of The World Meeting was clear to anyone who went to the RDS for the Congress itself. The space that is associated with horses and dogs and farm animals of the highest calibre along with musical concerts and lectures and that great Leinster passion  rugby  is entirely versatile. It is also easy as a location to find your way around.

People from all over the world were there in significant numbers and they came with their children. On the Thursday evening, I saw a small boy with an earpiece for translation settle into a lecture by the Cardinal Archbishop of Myanmar on the ravages of ecological vandalism, ignorance and exploitation of the earth. The boys keen interest was infectious.

The shape of each day was one of interactive conversations and lectures on themes of family life and care for the planet. There were also groups from across the Christian world inviting people to engage with them, who they were and what they did in a free and open space in The Exhibition Hall. There was, of course, much interest in the seminars about safeguarding and the responses to abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

There was also a great deal of anger and that too is rightly understandable and understandably right. It is always correct for us to put victims first and this will continue to be the case. Both WMOF and the visit of Pope Francis found that the voice of the victims of sexual abuse was paramount and to the fore. There was no escaping this during or after the visit; nor could there have been from a human and a divine perspective, from either church or state.

I took the opportunity to go to see the film entitled Pope Francis  A Man of His Word in advance. As well as the obvious meaning in the title, the film left me with a sense of Francis as a man of Jesus Christ, The Word, the Son of God, the Second Person of The Trinity.

It is important not to over-inflate someone with celebrity status. Every one of us is flawed and a sinner. Often what you are left with is the question: Is that really all? Was that it? Is it all over? This comes about by the deadening sophistication of contemporary communication. It in effect enables many of us today to know significant figures on our own terms and in our own kitchens and on our own iPhones even if we never meet them face to face or experience their interacting with other people.

It is important to accept that much of the mystique is long gone and that we have done this to ourselves. Even if familarity does not always breed contempt, over-exposure breeds a deepening incapacity to be impressed by anyone other than oneself.

What impressed me in the film was not only how Pope Francis spoke but how he engaged with people in silence and with people who simply were not able to speak whether because of their physical incapacity or their circumstantial trauma. The big screen conveyed this beautifully. He brought this spirit to Dublin.

It is a mark of the openness and graciousness of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin that he invited me to so many of the events that were happening in Dublin and in his diocese. This gave me the special privilege of greeting Pope Francis as he arrived at Dublin Airport and of giving him a small gift.

I had requested from the rector of St Johns Laragh (the Church of Ireland Parish of Glendalough) a pectoral cross made in wood from a yew tree in the churchyard. These trees are of great antiquity. This is what I gave to Pope Francis when I met him on the tarmac. My words to him were few and simple: Your Holiness, I first had the pleasure of meeting you at the 500th Anniversary of The Reformation in Lund and in Malmo in Sweden. This cross is made from wood from the Church of Ireland Parish of Glendalough. You are very welcome to Dublin.

The large-scale events and the intimate events were equally and differently important as was making the heart of Dublin 1 a priority. Many continue dissatisfied at what they see as the absence of apology for wrongs committed by clergy and bishops.

At important moments, unsung heroes and heroines of Irish life and the tragedies that people suffer and continue to suffer here, in secular and religious life alike, were given centre stage. The Croke Park Celebration had something of Marys Song Magnificat about it. It was a dynamically enacted evening hymn of praise to God.

Those who might not have featured, had the attention to detail been absent, were the people who in fact carried the evening. The lowly of St Lukes Gospel were lifted up. Margins created a new centre. The same held at particular moments in The Phoenix Park, not least in the Presentation of The Gifts, during the Eucharist.

Many I suspect are still wondering if The Pope expected to be addressed in the way in which he was addressed by an Taoiseach [the Irish Prime Minister]. He is, however, a head of state as well as a head of church. The issues raised by an Taoiseach not only ask questions of Pope Francis but of all of us who want to live in an Ireland that is not so much defined by the accelerated absence of an historically dominant denomination but defined afresh by shared values of faith and practice on the part of the religious of every tradition and World Faith working in tandem with the principled people of no religious tradition.

It is our civic duty to work for what will continue to elude us if anger at structures continues to consume us at the current rate: the common good.Samsung Galaxy J2 Core Android Go smartphone up for sale in India for Rs. 6,190 News oi-Karan Samsung has quietly launched its first Android Go smartphone last week, and now the phone is up for sale in India. All you need to know before buying Galaxy J2 Core.

South Korean tech giant Samsung launched its first Android Go smartphone, the Galaxy J2 Core last week. The entry-level smartphone comes with the basic hardware and an optimised version of the Android Oreo for the very first time for Indian users.

Samsung Galaxy J2 Core price

The handset is available for sale in India with a starting price of Rs 6,190. The Galaxy J2 Core is available in gold, black and blue color options. You can purchase the smartphone across all retail stores and Samsung's online store.

The smartphone comes with some pre-loaded apps that use less memory and storage providing up to 1.5 times the available storage capacity compared to previous offerings.

Samsung Galaxy J2 Core specifications

The Samsung Galaxy J2 Core comes with a 5-inch qHD TFT display with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 7570 SoC clubbed with Mali-T720 MP1 GPU. The Galaxy J2 Core is backed by 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage, which can be expandable via microSD card.

The smartphone also comes with preloaded apps like Google Go, Gmail Go, Maps Go and more. And also note that the phone will arrive with the Samsung UI at the top.

On the optical front, the smartphone comes equipped with a single camera module on the rear with an 8MP camera sensor along with an LED flash. On the front, it houses a 5MP camera for selfies and video calling. Both cameras have an F 2.2 aperture for improved wide-angle photography, and features such as Beauty Mode are included for users to take better portraits and selfies.

On the connectivity front, the Galaxy J2 Core offers 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS. The dimensions of the phone are 143.4 x 72.1 x 8.9mm and weigh around 154g. The Samsung Galaxy J2 Core is fueled by a 2600mAh battery, and runs on Android 8.1 Oreo (Go edition).

Best Mobiles in IndiaXiaomi Poco F1 collects 200 crores in India: Sold-out in less than 5 minutes News oi-Vivek Xiaomi Poco F1 offers Galaxy Note9 like liquid cooling system

Just like most of the Xiaomi Redmi series phones, the Xiaomi Poco F1 was sold-out within minutes on both Flipkart and Mi.com. And now, the company has officially announced that it has generated more than Rs 200,00,00,000 (two hundred crores) rupees on Flipkart and Mi India website.

This means the company has sold more than 86,956 Poco F1 smartphones in India in just a matter of minutes (considering the average price of Rs 23,000. On the first flash sale, the company only sold 6/64 GB and 6/128 GB storage and RAM models.

This is a massive leap for a new-smartphone company, and the results have been phenomenal. The company will be hosting the next flash sale on the 5th of September on Flipkart and Mi.com. However, one can still buy a Xiaomi Poco F1 smartphone using an F-code on Mi.com.

Xiaomi Poco F1 specifications

Specifications of the Poco F1 is the major highlight of the device, as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC powers the smartphone, which is also seen on the Samsung Galaxy Note9, which costs more than Rs 60,000.

The smartphone has a taller FHD+ IPS Liquid Crystal Display with an aspect ratio of 18.7:9 aspect ratio. However, the device still has a noticeable amount of notch on both top and the bottom portion of the smartphone. The smartphone has a plastic build, which is one of the drawbacks of the smartphone.

The Poco F1 has a dual camera setup on the back of the smartphone with a 12 MP primary sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and a 5 MP depth sensor. On the front, the device has a 20 MP front-facing selfie camera with support for IR face unlock. This technology is similar to the one seen on the Xiaomi Mi 8. The smartphone also has a dual stereo speaker setup, which will help the smartphone to offer stereo sound effect.

The smartphone has a massive 4000 mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 capability via USB type C port and a dedicated 3.5 mm headphone jack. The smartphone also has a liquid cooling system, which should help the smartphone to maintain a lower temperature, which will prevent CPU/GPU throttling.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsPosted on: August 29, 2018 5:35 PM

Archbishop Justin Welby has today become the first Archbishop of Canterbury to address the UN Security Council when he spoke about the work of reconciliation. Archbishop Justin was speaking as an invited Expert Briefer at the start of an open debate on Mediation and Settlement of Disputes. An open debate means that it is open to all UN member countries to participate  not just those who are members of the Security Council.

The invitation to Archbishop Justin was extended by the United Kingdom government, which currently holds the revolving presidency of the Security Council. The chosen debate mirrors a priority of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and a personal priority of Archbishop Justin, who serves as a member of the Secretary Generals High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation.

A full report on the Archbishop of Canterburys speech and the debate which followed is available here.

In the meantime, you can watch Archbishop Justins speech:Dunford: U.S. Forces Busy Implementing Defense Strategy Worldwide

Aug. 28, 2018

By Jim Garamone

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave a snapshot of the width and breadth of the U.S. military's commitment around the globe during a Pentagon press conference today.

In his presentation, Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford also emphasized that troops are in these areas as part of a larger whole-of-government strategic approach to the world.

Dunford discussed the American military's presence in the Indo-Pacific region, where 28,000 American service members remain on watch along the 38th parallel in Korea. "Our priority in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is supporting the State Department-led diplomatic and economic efforts aimed at denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he said.

American troops stationed in Korea demonstrate the nation's commitment to the U.S.-South Korean alliance and deter North Korea from adventurism, the chairman said. The United States is also conducting air and sea operations to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolutions aimed at getting North Korea to change its ways. All these are done with partners and allies, he said.

The United States is conducting operations across the command -- which covers 51 percent of the globe -- are aimed at preserving the rules-based international order that has allowed the region to peacefully grow and prosper, he said.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command oversees programs to train, advise and assist forces in internal security, counter-narcotics and counterterrorism operations, the chairman said.

The chairman shifted focus to U.S. Central Command where American forces are in contact, seeking to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and training Afghan forces to protect and police their own country. Central Command also works to counter Iranian malign influence around the region and deter the leaders of that country from making provocative moves.

There are about 14,000 U.S. personnel deployed to Afghanistan in the counterterrorism operations and in NATO's Resolute Support Mission.

"Our primary mission remains countering terrorist threats to the United States," Dunford said. "Our forces, alongside forces from 40 NATO and partner nations, are also training, advising and assisting more than 300,000 Afghan forces who are responsible for security in Afghanistan."

The coalition committed to the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria consists of the United States and 76 other nations. "In Syria, 2,000 U.S. and additional coalition forces are working to enable the 50,000 Syrian Democratic Forces in clearing the remainder of ISIS from the Euphrates River valley and in stabilizing those areas that have been cleared of ISIS," the general said.

Across the border, American forces work with Iraqi security forces to ensure the success they have had is enduring.

Russian actions in Crimea and the Ukraine have caused consternation across Europe, and U.S. European Command is deeply involved in reassuring allies and deterring Russia. American forces have deployed to the Baltic Republics and Poland where they work with allies on exercises to increase interoperability. "This year we have conducted 13 joint exercises in Europe in addition to a wide range of service specific training and engagement," Dunford said.

In U.S. Africa Command, there are 7,200 U.S. forces supporting thousands upon thousands of African partners in their struggle against terror groups like al-Qaida, Boko Haram and offshoots of ISIS. "Our efforts include developing security forces in Somalia, countering ISIS in Libya and supporting partners in the Sahel and the Lake Chad regions," Dunford said.

The chairman shifted to U.S. Southern Command where American military leaders work with allies to address regional challenges and threats. Transnational criminal gangs, narcotics and people smugglers and the refugee crisis around Venezuela concern all in the hemisphere.

"Finally, here at home, the U.S. Northern Command has 1,600 DoD personnel and 33 aircraft working to suppress wildfires in the Western states, while more than 2,000 Guardsmen are supporting [the Department of] Homeland Security on the southern border," he said. "The Northern Command also provides around the clock ballistic missile defense, while Americans and Canadians from the North American Aerospace Defense Command defend our air space."

And, as worldwide operations and exercises continue, U.S. forces must adapt and innovate, the general said.

"Our efforts include a series of globally integrated exercises and experiments to help shape the force we will need to fight and win tomorrow," he said.

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Mattis: U.S. Military Becoming 'Stronger, More Lethal, More Agile'

Aug. 28, 2018

By Terri Moon Cronk

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department is making significant progress along its three strategic lines of effort outlined in the National Defense Strategy issued in January, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told reporters today.

Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford updated Pentagon reporters this morning.

The secretary praised the strong bipartisan support in Congress that resulted in the $717 billion budget authorization for 2019. "And our military continues to grow stronger, more lethal, more agile, and certainly more deployable than a year ago," he said.

The Fiscal Year '2019 National Defense Authorization Act is named for the late Sen. John S. McCain, and it meets all of DoD's critical needs, Mattis said.

"I cannot thank Congress without expressing my respect for [McCain] for his steadfast courage and his service and my deepest condolences to his family for the loss of a man who represented all of the ideals America stands for," the secretary said.

McCain was a staunch supporter of the U.S. military, he said.

"Our nation has lost a great patriot, and our military lost one of our most ardent supporters," Mattis said.

The chairman also praised the late senator from Arizona.

"[He] was a lifelong and tireless advocate for the men and women of the U.S. military," Dunford said. "While we mourn Senator McCain's passing, we'll be eternally grateful for his distinguished service and his courageous example."

Maintaining Military Readiness

Today, the United States is being challenged across the global stage, Mattis said.

"[We] are witnessing a world that is awash in change, and maintaining readiness in the face of looming threats is a responsibility that we owe the next generation," the secretary said.

The Defense Department is working hard to meet those challenges, he said.

"We're going to put our activities into a strategic framework that we have provided in the National Defense Strategy," Mattis said of the three lines of effort: increasing lethality, strengthening alliances and building new partnerships internationally, and reforming how DoD does business to achieve the best use of taxpayers' money.

"[We] have no room for complacency in any domain, the secretary said. "We recognize cyberspace and outer space as warfighting domains on par with air, land and sea. And these two domains  were made contested domains by the actions of others, so as a result we have elevated [U.S.] Cyber Command to full combatant command status and we have worked with Congress and the White House to define the evolving space problem that we confront."

DoD is also putting into place the National Defense Authorization Act's provision for a unified space command, in line with the president's vision for a Space Force, while revising its vision for defending its assets in space and revising antiquated acquisition processes.

"We are working now with Congress on our way ahead with regard to needed legislation for a separate department," Mattis said.

"We have released our Nuclear Posture Review, outlining the necessary steps we are taking to strengthen America's nuclear deterrents so these weapons are never used, nuclear war being a war that cannot be won and must never be fought," he said.

DoD, also has added new standards to improve deployability of its forces so they are ready to fight and win at any time across any domain, the secretary said.

Alliances, Partnerships

The No. 2 line of effort goal is to "improve consultation, cooperation and burden-sharing with alliances and partnerships so we can best deter  threats and competition,  because we are stronger alongside like-minded nations," Mattis noted.

"Democracy is working, and we will be continuing to work with our friends from Ottawa to the southern tip of South America, for cooperation is critical for realizing the shared vision of democracy, prosperity and security," he said.

The last NATO summit yielded tangible results with 29 partner nations, which are now spending more on defense in the organization, Mattis said "All recommitted to spending 2 percent of [gross domestic product] on defense by 2024," he added.

The secretary said DoD also gained full commitment to what's called the four 30s: 30 air squadrons, 30 naval ships and 30 combat battalions, all available to fight within 30 days. "That is a well-established and quantifiable goal now," he said.

DoD Business Reform

The department's No. 3 line of effort is reforming how it does business.

"We understand we cannot have lasting security for our country without solvency," Mattis emphasized. "We are conducting the first audit in the department's history and I want that audit to find problems. It's the only way we will be able to craft effective solutions."

That ensures that DoD upholds the trust Congress and the American people have placed in the department to spend their tax dollars wisely, he added.

DoD reform efforts have produced nearly $4 billion in savings in fiscal year 2018, which can be applied to more lethality, the secretary said. "We initiated the repeal of several hundred unnecessary regulations across the department, enhancing our efficiency and making it easier for industry to work with us and without compromising performance or accountability," the secretary told reporters.

Mattis pointed out that DoD embraced and finalized the congressionally directed split between its acquisition and sustainment and research and engineering offices to ensure warfighters have the technology and equipment they need both on the battlefields of today and tomorrow.

The secretary said the bottom line is the "significant progress among the three lines of effort, and [that] our strategic framework is proving applicable across our far-flung department's operations, and we will continue to drive results in the months and years ahead."

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It's not magic, it's logistics: Army, Navy test expeditionary fast transport in Black Sea

By Sgt. Kris Bonet August 28, 2018

CONSTANTA, Romania -- There are certain things that some Soldiers and service members may take for granted: equipment provided, a full plate of food, ammunition for their weapons. It might seem like there is a mystical force operating behind the scenes to make these resources magically appear, but it's a result of the organized, detailed planning and execution that is logistics.

Soldiers, sailors and civilians with the U.S. Transportation Command helped to further advance the efficiency of military logistics by testing a high-speed vessel to transport troops and cargo across the Black Sea, Aug. 24, 2018.

"This is a great opportunity to test this vessel and the crewmembers," said Navy Cmdr. Steven Weydert, the USNS Carson City military detachment officer in charge. "Hopefully it opens up more options for the Army and any other service to develop interoperability in this area of responsibility for multiple missions and to support our allies."

Soldiers, Abrams Battle Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles departed the Poti Sea Port in Georgia on Aug. 22 aboard the USNS Carson City and docked at the Port of Constanta, Romania after a two-day voyage. The Carson City is the first high-speed vessel of its kind to travel the Black Sea in support of U.S. Army Europe operations.

Carson City (T-EPF 7) is a Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, a high-speed, shallow draft vessel that can hold up to 600 short tons, sail across 1,200 nautical miles (1,381 miles) at an average speed of 35 knots (40 mph). The vessel's role is to support joint and coalition force operations for the Army and Navy by transporting troops, military vehicles, supplies and equipment.

"Looking forward to future exercises being planned to take place in the Balkans as well as the Black Sea region, the T-EPF is perfect for some of those smaller ports that we want to utilize but can't get the larger ships to dock," said Lt. Col. John Hotek, commander of the 839th Transportation Battalion. "This proved that its a very viable solution, very cost effective, [and] very economical and efficient."

This proof-of-principle operation brought together two of three service component commands that make up USTRANSCOM: the Navy's Military Sealift Command and the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command.

"We're trying to incorporate other services like the Navy's MSC and see how well we can use this asset to deploy and redeploy units to various exercises and real-world missions," said Sgt. 1st Class Miguel Elizarraras, cargo specialist with the 839th Transportation Battalion, 598th Transportation Brigade. "We're testing the capabilities of the vessel to transport a company-size element of infantry or mechanized units in and out of port in a faster way."

As part of the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the mission of the 839th is to provide strategic transportation support to joint military forces throughout the Mediterranean, Caspian and Black Seas as well as the vast majority of the continent of Africa.

Equally important, the Navy's MSC has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all U.S. military services, as well as replenishments and controlling the military transport ships.

"I have a tendency sometimes to say 'we work in the shadows,'" said Hotek. "We are that strategic link between the tactical and operational force, and the Department of Defense's command structure that determines the movements."

The USNS Carson City's success in traversing the Black Sea will affect the planning of future exercises within the European training environment.

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National Guard aviators converge at Northern Strike 18

By Staff Sgt. Warren W. Wright Jr., 104th Public Affairs Detachment August 28, 2018

ALPENA, Mich. -- Soldiers from the Colorado National Guard joined other Guard, Reserve, and active-duty military units from across the U.S. and multiple allied countries at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in northern Michigan, Aug. 4-18 to participate in exercise Northern Strike 18.

The multi-service, multinational event, hosted annually by the Michigan National Guard, unites service members from multiple states, service branches, and coalition countries to demonstrate the National Guard's ability to achieve and sustain proficiency in conducting combined and joint air, sea and ground operations.

The Colorado Army National Guard's 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB), 135th Aviation Regiment participated in the exercise. Their mission began with flying UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters from their home at Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, Colorado, to the CRTC. After traveling for nearly two days, CONG Soldiers began joint operations almost immediately upon arrival.

"This has been amazing," U.S. Army Capt. Sean Miller, commander, Detachment 1, Company B, 2-135 GSAB said. "I've never done an exercise like this before. We're all trying to do the same thing and share ideas and when you're sharing those ideas, you're making each other stronger. We're making ourselves stronger for our state and our country."

The battalion flew multiple missions each day, logging hundreds of flight hours conducting operations, including passenger and equipment movements and sling load operations.

Sling load is the movement of large cargo or equipment hooked to the bottom of the aircraft using specialized nets and ropes. In this case, the movement is to mission-staging areas for use by military units on the ground.

"(Northern Strike 18) gives us the opportunity to come out here and train in an environment we're not used to (operating in)," Chief Warrant Officer 2 Warren Buchanan, a CH-47 Chinook pilot from 2-135 GSAB, said.

Operating in a unique environment gave CONG aviators the ability to hone and master the skills they don't always get to train on back home.

"For us, it's been pretty nice to come out here and do some of the missions we can't do in Colorado," Buchanan said. "You get to challenge yourself a little bit as a pilot, and it's been nice to exercise those capabilities that we don't get to practice back home, including the cross-country flight."

The exercise has more than 5,000 participants from all military branches and many foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This makes Northern Strike 18 one of the largest reserve component-sponsored exercises supported by the U.S. military. The sheer size of the exercise allows those attending to maximize their full-spectrum combat readiness through realistic, cost-effective joint training in an adaptable environment, with an emphasis on joint and coalition force cooperation.

"(Other units are) sharing valuable information and techniques we might not have even thought about," Miller said. "And we're sharing things with them that they never thought about. It helps us grow as a whole. It gives us a chance to find our weaknesses and it gives us time to refine those things that make us better."

Royal Jordanian Air Force officers joined the battalion on many of their flights, which gave the CONG Soldiers the ability to share best practices with their coalition partners and learn how the allied nation integrates air-ground operations.

For the CONG and RJAF, what adds to this unique experience is that it is the first time that they have shared a cockpit. The two organizations have worked toward this relationship through the State Partnership Program, facilitated by the National Guard Bureau. Colorado and Jordan have been partners since 2004.

"They're out here to practice with us, so our crews are sharing and learning what they need in order to be successful in missions down the road," Buchanan said.

As an aviator, Buchanan said that he has found a way to relate to other pilots, even those from another country.

"It's always fun for me," he said. "Once you find out somebody else has something you can relate to, even if you have a language barrier, you can still talk about something, and you can still exchange that passion back and forth."

According to Miller, planning each flight has been a time-consuming, yet important step to completing the unit's missions successfully.

"Just to get a bird off the ground, you're taking up pretty much the whole day prior just planning that mission and coordinating with all of the different elements that are involved in the mission," Miller said. "It could be an hour or two mission, but the time involved in the beginning just to get the bird off the ground is (lengthy)."

Even though thorough planning has been instrumental to successful flights, Miller said he attributes his unit's success to the Soldiers and warrant officers in the air logging the long flight hours and executing the mission.

"They make me look good," Miller said. "They all have stepped up. Everything they do makes me look great, and I couldn't be more proud of them."

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Saudi warplanes bombard Sana'a int'l airport

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Aug 28, IRNA -- Saudi Arabia jet fighters bombarded Sana'a international airport for 10 times on Tuesday, Yemeni TV Channel 'Al-Masirah' reported.

According to witnesses, huge blasts rocked Sana'a.

No report on possible damage to life or properties has been released yet.

Sana'a international airport has been closed due to Saudis' blockade.

The airport was one of the ways for transferring food and drug to Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies attacked Yemen in March 2015 to bring back to power the deposed president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Since then, the invaders have committed horrible war crimes against Yemeni civilians.

9376**1397

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F-35C Lightning II Conducts Operational Test-1 Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS180828-06

Release Date: 8/28/2018 9:02:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacques-Laurent Jean-Gilles, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs

ATLANTIC OCEAN (NNS) -- F-35C Lightning II aircraft from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125 are conducting their Operational Test-1 (OT-1) with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 and Carrier Strike Group 12 aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).

OT-1 evaluates the full spectrum of the F-35C's suitability for operation within a carrier air wing and mission effectiveness to the maximum extent possible.

"The F-35C brings stealth, enhanced electronic capabilities and a different sustainment model," said Rear Adm. Dale Horan, director, Joint Strike Fighter Fleet Integration Office. "Operating this new generation of aircraft out on the aircraft carrier brings a different set of tools, techniques and procedures, and we're learning how to integrate them into the battle group."

The F-35C has the ability to pass on the information it collects not only to other F-35s in the air, but to legacy aircraft, carrier air wings, strike groups and troops on ground, enhancing the warfighting potential of the fleet.

Evaluators have been assessing the suitability of the F-35C aboard carriers by defining how well it performs with other aircraft and incorporates into an air plan, monitoring maintenance and identifying its logistics footprint.

"We hope to see how it integrates onboard the ship," said Horan. "Can we maintain it? Can we get the parts? Can we get it airborne? Can we repair it if it has a problem? Those are the kinds of things [we are looking for]."

In addition to assessing the suitability of the F-35C on a Nimitz-class class aircraft carrier, OT-1 evaluators observed the effectiveness of the F-35C in real-world scenarios.

"The effectiveness piece is what we're doing when we're airborne and executing missions," said Capt. Matt Norris, from the Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team. "We've been integrating with the strike group and accomplishing many missions like defensive counter air and anti-submarine warfare, for instance."

Previously, F-35C and F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots have only conducted carrier qualifications together, so OT-1 marks the first time the F-35Cs have joined a carrier air wing to perform in a cyclic operations environment.

During cyclic operations, aircraft simulate missions, practice aerial maneuvers and take off and land continuously with brief pauses to allow for maintenance, fuel and ordnance changes.

Aboard Abraham Lincoln, the F-35C has been flying cyclic operations with F/A-18 Super Hornets, E-2D Hawkeyes and EA-18G Growlers, conducting missions it would execute in combat if required. The addition of the F-35C brings advanced capabilities that transform the way an air wing conducts operations.

Operational Test-1 helps give the Navy an assessment of how the aircraft would perform on deployment. As adversaries advance and legacy aircraft age, the F-35C is critical to maintaining air dominance.

"This is the first time we really see how the aircraft works on the aircraft carrier; how we do maintenance and sustain it while we're at sea; how it integrates with the ship; how it interoperates with communications, datalinks, the other aircraft; and how we conduct missions and tie in to other aircraft when we conduct missions," said Horan.

And while pilots adapted to the new aircraft, the crew of Abraham Lincoln also adjusted to the F-35s. From Aviation Boatswain's Mates to Air-traffic Controllers, each Sailor learned to manage the aircraft with its unique attributes and capabilities.

"The level of planning that is required to execute an evolution like we did for OT-1 is huge, so everyone aboard Abraham Lincoln should be proud of the level of effort that they put in and how well they executed," said Norris. "We can't fly this aircraft without everything the ship does for us, and the Lincoln has been an impressive ship."

With the successful completion of OT-1, the fifth-generation aircraft is one step closer to becoming deployable in the Navy fleet.

"The aircraft looks like a naval aircraft on the flight deck. From that perspective, the big picture looks pretty good," said Horan.

Data and lessons learned during OT-1 will lay the groundwork for future F-35C deployments aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers following the Navy's F-35C initial operating capability declaration.

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C2F First Visit to Fleet Reinforces Importance of Joint Force in Complex Security Environment

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS180828-04

Release Date: 8/28/2018 8:36:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Megan Anuci, USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) Public Affairs

ATLANTIC OCEAN - (NNS) -- Vice Adm. Andrew "Woody" Lewis, commander of the recently reestablished U.S. 2nd Fleet (C2F), visited the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), Aug. 27.

Lewis, escorted by Lt. Gen. Robert. F. Hedelund, commanding general, II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF), observed tactical, and command and control visit, board, search and seizure operations as well as learned about the seaport capabilities afforded by Kearsarge's well deck operations and expansive medical support capabilities offered by the ship's hospital services.

Kearsarge and II MEF were the first official stops since Lewis assumed command Friday.

The newly reinstated C2F was officially stood up on Aug. 24, as a "dynamic response to a dynamic security environment," said Chief of U.S. Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson. "The recreation of the 2nd Fleet, represents the establishment of a well forged fighting force with a fighting mindset, restoring a largescale ocean maneuver warfare formation dedicated to the Atlantic Ocean."

C2F will exercise operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and North Atlantic. Additionally, it will plan and conduct maritime, joint and combined operations and will train and recommend certification of combat ready naval forces for maritime employment and operations around the globe.

The way ahead for C2F and II MEF is a combined singular effort.

In addition to Sailors up and down the East Coast, and the Military Sea Lift Command, "Second Fleet includes our Marine Corps brothers and sisters," said Lewis. "We will work closely with the Second Marine Expeditionary Force in training and operations."

The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) is currently underway for ARG, Marine Expeditionary Unit exercise (ARGMEUEX).

ARGMEUEX enhances joint integration, lethality and collective capabilities of the Navy-Marine Corps team through joint planning and execution of challenging and realistic training scenarios.

The group is preparing for an upcoming deployment.

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USS Mason Takes Part in Search and Rescue Mission

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS180828-01

Release Date: 8/28/2018 7:51:00 AM

By Ensign John P. Magno, USS Mason (DDG 87) Public Affairs

ATLANTIC OCEAN (NNS) -- The Norfolk-based, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) took part in the transport of passengers from a damaged seaplane that was adrift at sea in the Western Atlantic Ocean Aug. 25.

Mason was conducting operations in the Atlantic with Carrier Strike Group 12, when the U.S. Navy diverted the ship to rendezvous with the container ship M/V Polar Peru to transport the rescued passengers back to the United States.

"It was a great team effort to safely rescue the seaplane crew," said Cmdr. Stephen Aldridge, Mason's commanding officer. "Those who go to sea have a special bond to help fellow mariners in distress. From the team ashore, to the U.S. Coast Guard, to the merchant ship in the area, the 'destroyermen' and naval aviators aboard Mason, it was great to see the collaboration that resulted in locating, rescuing, and returning the stranded passengers ashore."

The seaplane had departed Elizabeth City, North Carolina, early Saturday morning when it was forced to make an emergency landing after striking an object during takeoff, which damaged the aircraft's front node. The plane landed approximately 460 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Watchstanders at the Coast Guard's 5th District received notification of the distressed plane by the International Emergency Response Coordination Center. An HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched from Air Station Elizabeth City to monitor the situation while the Coast Guard used the Automated Mutual Assistance Rescue System to contact the Polar Peru, which was transiting nearby. The Polar Peru recovered the passengers until the Mason could arrive on scene.

Mason launched two rigid-hull inflatable boats and picked up the five passengers, which included the seaplane's flight crew and an oceanography researcher. Once aboard, the passengers were able to contact their families.

"There was an excitement on the deck plates for the opportunity to help fellow Americans in trouble at sea," said Command Master Chief Maurice Purley. "It was a reminder to the crew of Mason why we love being in the U.S. Navy."

"Although not a frequently-executed mission, search and rescue is a mission that Navy destroyers train for," added Aldridge. "In fact, just days ago, Mason conducted integrated rescue training with our small boats and helicopters to practice rescuing survivors from the sea and into the helicopter."

Additional search and rescue mission aircraft aboard Mason include an embarked MH-60R helicopter of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 46, based out of Naval Station Mayport, Florida.

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South Sudan's Machar backs out of peace deal draft

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 05:27PM

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar has refused to sign the latest draft of a peace deal with the government of President Salva Kiir that could end nearly five years of civil war in the youngest country of the world.

Sudan's Foreign Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed, who is mediating talks between the two sides of the conflict in South Sudan, told reporters in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday that the rebel leader, along with other main opposition groups, would not sign the final deal even as Juba inked it.

"The main South Sudanese opposition groups, including the SPLM-IO (Machar faction), refused to sign the final document demanding that their reservations be guaranteed in it," Ahmed said, showing the draft text to diplomats who had gathered for what was expected to be a preliminary signing ceremony in Khartoum.

"This is the final document which had been arrived at after consultations between all South Sudanese parties," Ahmed said. "South Sudan will not have peace unless these groups sign."

"For the first time, the opposition told us that it will not sign," the Sudanese diplomat said.

The warring parties have held weeks of talks in Khartoum in search of a comprehensive peace agreement to end the conflict, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.

Officials said rebel groups had differences over the functioning of a proposed transitional government as well as the number of states the country should be divided into, and a new constitution.

Machar and President Kiir signed a ceasefire and power-sharing agreement earlier this month. But Machar's refusal to sign the latest draft could be a sign of hardships facing the implementation of a full agreement.

Previous peace deals have held for only a matter of months before fighting resumed. Kiir has blamed the collapse of previous peace agreements on foreign influence.

South Sudan's civil war erupted in December 2013, less than two years after the country gained independence from Sudan. The war has uprooted a quarter of South Sudan's population of 12 million.

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US warns Saudi over Yemen civilian casualties: Report

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 06:34AM

After selling Saudi Arabia billion of dollars in weapons and intelligence to attack Yemen, the United States has reportedly warned Riyadh that it will reduce intelligence and military support for the kingdom unless necessary action is taken to limit civilian casualties.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis and General Joseph Votel, who oversees US military operations in the Middle East, are concerned that the US is helping Saudis and their allies, including the United Arab Emirates, with killing civilians, unnamed officials familiar with the Pentagon's view told CNN on Monday.

"At what point is enough enough?" one official said.

The Pentagon and the US State Department issued the warning following a Saudi-led airstrike on a school bus earlier this month, which killed 40 children and prompted widespread condemnations around the world.

Democratic members of the US Congress have since written three separate letters to President Donald Trump, asking him to justify Washington's continued support for Riyadh in the face of its many atrocities.

It was reported in the days following the attack that an American-made 500-pound (227 kilogram) laser-guided bomb was used to hit the bus.

The US has refused to publicly condemn the attack but, according to reports, Mattis has sent a top US general to talk to the Saudis about it.

"Lt. Gen. Garrett delivered a message of concern regarding the recent civilian casualty incident, and on behalf of the US government continued to urge for a thorough and expedited investigation as well as continued emphasis on the reduction of civilian casualties in the Yemeni campaign," Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman told CNN.

It is not yet clear whether Trump, who has been very supportive of the Saudis after inking a hefty $110-billion arms deal with the oil-rich kingdom last year, would allow a reduction of support for the Riyadh regime.

Former US President Barack Obama had banned the sale of American precision-guided military weapons to Saudi Arabia over "human rights concerns" but the ban only lasted until March 2017, when then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson overturned it.

Besides the US, the UK and France have also been providing weapons and intelligence to Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the course of the unprovoked war, which has killed over 14,000 Yemenis, caused a deadly cholera outbreak and put the country on the verge of famine.

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US Expands Romanian Air Base Facilities for Reported Drone Deployments

Sputnik News

22:12 28.08.2018(updated 22:32 28.08.2018)

The US Air Force is pouring $40 million into new construction at an air base in Romania in addition to prior infrastructure projects that may provide housing for combat drones, reports suggest.

On Monday, Defense News reported that USAF has set in motion plans to allocate millions of dollars toward new construction and existing base improvement projects in Campia Turzii, Romania.

While the US military does not maintain a permanent contingency at the base, according to Defense News, the base has provided accommodation to a variety of US personnel in recent years. Most recently, a squadron of F-15C/D Eagles and approximately 300 airmen arrived at the Romanian base this summer, the report noted. A-10 ground attack aircraft, F-16 fighter aircraft and accompanying crews have previously been stationed at the base as well.

On Tuesday, Defense News claimed to have learned that MQ-9 Reaper drones may in the future be kept inside a $950 million hangar facility that has already been constructed at Campia Turzii. Efforts to build the aircraft shelter commenced in May earlier this year. After an up close and personal viewing of the hangar, Defense News reported the facility "will be able to house medium-altitude, long-endurance drones."

The MQ-9 Reaper fits that bill.

MQ-9 aircraft replaced the MQ-1 Predator drones in the US Air Force fleet in 2017 as part of a modernization initiative. Not all the MQ-9 aircraft are armed and ready for shooting Hellfire missiles, though. A group of Reapers stationed in Poland only have the ability to provide eyes on Eastern Europe, according to Defense News.

One thing seems clear about any potential MQ-9 presence at the base in Romania: the remotely piloted aircraft won't be running operations in eastern Ukraine, according to Air Force Times, citing a current Reaper pilot. The pilot said the US does not have "total air supremacy" there, and this is a precondition for flying a Reaper drone anywhere.

In any event, the potential deployment of Reapers is yet to be confirmed. "As a matter of policy, we do not speculate on potential deployments of future aircraft unit movements," a spokesperson for the Pentagon's European Deterrence Initiative said Tuesday.

The US and NATO are expanding their footprints in Europe, to the chagrin of Moscow, which has voiced complaints about NATO's eastward expansion, author Daniel Lazare tells Sputnik News.

"The irony, of course, is that Trump called for a rapprochement with Moscow during his presidential campaign. But the drive has only accelerated," he said.

"US foreign policy seems to have a life of its own beyond the control of elected officials."

Integrating Eastern Europe with the "US military network" is part of a strategy to "stimulate demand for US military goods," Lazare noted, adding that "drumming up profits for American arms manufacturers has never had a higher priority than under Trump."

 Sputnik

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NATO Sees Russia's Vostok 2018 Drills as Preparation For Conflict - Spokesman

Sputnik News

15:11 28.08.2018(updated 15:14 28.08.2018)

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - NATO will closely monitor Russia's Vostok 2018 exercises, expects them to be transparent and predictable, acting NATO Deputy Spokesman Dylan White told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"All nations have the right to exercise their armed forces, but it is essential that this is done in a transparent and predictable manner. NATO and Russia exchanged reciprocal briefings on military exercises at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in May. We routinely monitor Russian exercises. We are doing the same with Vostok 2018," White said.

"Allied military attaches in Moscow have been invited to a voluntary observation of the exercise. This offer is under consideration. Vostok demonstrates Russia's focus on exercising large-scale conflict. It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time: a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defense budget and its military presence," he said.

The exercise "Vostok-2018" will be held in August-September with the participation of the Eastern and Central Military District forces and the Northern Fleet. The main exercises for Russia's military transport aircraft this year will be strategic maneuvers.

NATO has been significantly expanding its presence in Eastern Europe after the outburst of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 using alleged Russian interference in the Ukrainian internal activities as a pretext.

Moscow has many times asserted its protests against the NATO military buildup stating that this move will undermine regional balance and result in a new arms race.

 Sputnik

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Pentagon May Stop Supporting Saudis Over Civilian Death Toll in Yemen - Reports

Sputnik News

11:02 28.08.2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Pentagon has warned Saudi Arabia that it could withdraw its military and intelligence support for its operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen after dozens of civilians were killed in a strike on a school bus earlier this month, media reported on Tuesday, citing officials.

An airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Saada, Yemen's northern province, hit a bus carrying children from a summer camp on August 9, killing 51 people, including 40 minors.

The CNN broadcaster has learned that US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Gen. Joseph Votel, head of US military operations in the Middle East, were concerned that Washington was supporting a Saudi-led campaign of airstrikes that killed multiple civilians.

According to the broadcaster, US military and intelligence support to Riyadh can be reduced unless it tries to limit civilian deaths in its campaign in Yemen.

Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told Sputnik on August 16 that the US Department of Defense was working with Congress on the issue of US military involvement in attacks in Yemen.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels since 2015.

The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.

 Sputnik

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All sides in Yemen conflict could be guilty of war crimes, UN experts find

28 August 2018 - Parties on both sides of the conflict in Yemen have perpetrated  and continue to perpetrate  possible war crimes and other violations with a "total disregard" for the suffering of millions of civilians, United Nations-appointed human rights investigators said on Tuesday.

Created last year by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen analyzed violations and abuses of international human rights law, humanitarian law and criminal law, making more than a dozen visits to the war-torn country and neighbouring States.

"The Group of Eminent Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the Governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are responsible for human rights violations," panel member Charles Garraway told reporters in Geneva.

Turning to the Houthi opposition forces, which he also described as "de facto authorities", Mr. Garraway added that the UN panel also has "reasonable grounds to believe, that the de facto authorities are responsible, in the areas over which they exercise effective control, for human rights violations".

The experts' findings cover the situation in Yemen from September 2014 to June 2018.

The roots of the conflict date back to uprisings in 2011, but fighting escalated in March 2015, when an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened militarily at the request of Yemen's President against "Houthi-Saleh" opposition forces  a reference to the former Yemen President, Ali Abdallah Saleh.

In recent years, the conflict has been marked by repeated airstrikes on public spaces including market places, funerals, civilian boats, detention facilities and hospitals.

Just last week, an airstrike in opposition-held Hudaydah governorate, in western Yemen, killed at least 26 children and four women.

The report notes that coalition airstrikes have caused most direct civilian casualties, giving the UN panel "reasonable grounds" to believe that the attacks overstepped key war crimes thresholds.

"Individuals in the Government of Yemen and the coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, may have conducted attacks in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and/or proportions, which may amount to war crimes," Mr. Garraway said, adding that a confidential list of names would be handed over to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), pending further investigations.

"More information is needed on some incidents documented by the Group of Experts to establish responsibility," the UN panel said in a statement, before calling on the Human Rights Council to renew its mandate when it meets next month.

"There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimize civilian casualties. I call on them to prioritize human dignity in this forgotten conflict," said Kamel Jendoubi, chairperson of the Group.

According to UN human rights office (OHCHR), since March 2015 up to 23 August 2018, 6,660 civilians were killed and 10,563 injured; however, the real figures are likely to be significantly higher.

Despite official meetings with coalition officials in Riyadh and Oman, Mr. Garraway said that insufficient information had been provided about how airstrikes are planned and carried out.

"If there are systemic flaws in the targeting process, causing civilian casualties beyond what one would expect, then that process needs to be examined," he said. "And where there are flaws they need to be addressed and amended. We have seen no sign that there has been any attempt to do that."

According to the UN panel, more than 22 million people remain in need inside Yemen; almost all of them are women and children.

Even before the conflict, Yemen was one of the poorest countries on earth, importing almost all of its food, fuel and medicines. In November 2017, civilians were weakened further by a "total blockade on all the borders of Yemen, preventing all humanitarian aid and commercial trade, including food and fuel, from entering the country", the Group of Experts' report noted, adding that restrictions continued into June.

"The Houthi opposition's role in causing "the majority" of reported civilian casualties in Ta'izz from shelling is highlighted, as well as its role in restricting food and aid access to civilian populations in the city, a strategically important location between Sana'a and the port cities of Aden and Hudaydah".

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Rebel Leader Machar Refuses to Sign South Sudan Peace Deal

By Michael Atit August 28, 2018

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar and other opposition party leaders have refused to sign the latest draft of a Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) to end a five-year civil war.

Machar and President Salva Kiir signed a cease-fire and power-sharing deal last month in Khartoum, but put off making a decision on the contentious issue of the number of states and their boundaries. One delegate at the talks Monday night confirmed the issue has been referred to the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) heads of states to make a final decision.

Rita Lopidia, a member of the South Sudan women's coalition, said after the talks resumed last weekend the parties could not agree on Article 4 of the revitalized 2015 peace deal because each party insisted on its previous position regarding states and their boundaries.

"The opposition, including the government, have not agreed on some of these articles that have been introduced. That is why it has been referred to the IGAD heads of state to look into it. And a letter has been drafted by the special envoy today, " Lopidia told South Sudan in Focus.

Lopidia said the parties did make progress on other disputed issues, including the responsibility of the first vice president, naming of the new five ministries, and the National Constitution Review Commission and issues related to the judiciary reforms.

The parties have held several weeks of talks in the Sudanese capital in an attempt to reach a comprehensive peace agreement to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Lopidia said Monday that despite the drawn-out peace negotiations and the challenges that remained during the latest round of talks, all parties have shown a commitment to achieving lasting peace in the country.

"It has been a very tedious process and a very difficult one. But eventually after a very tough time and tough negotiations, parties have really reached some sort of compromise to get to where it is today. But still a lot of work needs to be done because there still is a need to build trust among the parties," Lopidia said.

'Confusing peace process'

A spokesman for the SPLM In Opposition said the group is eager to end the civil war. But Mabior Garand De Mabior told VOA the government has not been negotiating in good faith.

"It has been a very confusing peace process for many people. I can only tell you what we know as the facts. We are dealing with Chapter 1 and 2 of the revitalized ARCSS and are waiting for IGAD to give us direction on what we are going to do with the rest of the chapters," Mabior told VOA.

The parties signed an agreement in June aimed at ending the fighting, but Machar opposed a proposal to have three different capitals in order to distribute power.

In 2015, the Kiir administration changed the number of original states from 10 to 32.

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who on Monday met in Washington with President Donald Trump, said he and other IGAD leaders are committed "together with our brothers and sisters to ensure that peace and stability returns to South Sudan."

In an exclusive interview with VOA, Kenyatta said, "We will try anything that will achieve that because for most of us in the region, our greatest concern is not about the leadership of the country, but to ensure the people of South Sudan, who have had to endure untold suffering for many years after struggling to achieve their independence," are able to be free.

He said IGAD leaders will continue to pressure the leadership of South Sudan to acknowledge that it is their responsibility to "ensure they come together and find a framework that works to restore peace, stability, and human dignity to the people of South Sudan."

VOA's Esther Githui Ewart and James Butty contributed to this report.

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Deadly swine fever threatens Asia, UN agriculture agency warns, urging regional collaboration

28 August 2018 - The rapid onset of the deadly African Swine Fever (ASF) in China has been detected in areas a thousand kilometres apart  posing an imminent threat to other Asian countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Tuesday.

While the deadly pig virus poses no direct threat to human health, there is no effective vaccine, and outbreaks can be devastating as the most virulent forms are 100 per cent lethal in infected animals.

"The movement of pig products can spread diseases quickly and, as in this case of African Swine Fever, it's likely that the movement of such products, rather than live pigs, has caused the spread of the virus to other parts of China," explained Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinarian.

China is a major pig producing country, accounting for about half the global population of swine, estimated at 500 million. Its value chain encompasses a sweeping range of producers, from small family farms to large-scale commercial operators.

To control the disease, Chinese authorities have culled more than 24,000 pigs in four provinces.

Although African Swine Fever has before been detected outside of Africa  including outbreaks in Europe and the Americas, dating back to the 1960s  its diverse geographical spread in China has raised fears that the disease will move across borders to South-east Asia or the Korean Peninsula, where trade and consumption of pork products is also high.

A long-lasting hardy virus

The robust ASF virus can survive in extreme weather conditions, and even in dried or cured pork products. This particular strain is similar to one that infected pigs in eastern Russia in 2017 but, to date, the China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center has found no conclusive evidence of its source or linkages.

FAO's Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) is monitoring the situation with the Chinese authorities to respond effectively inside the country, as well as with authorities in neighbouring countries, to raise the importance of response preparedness.

"FAO began working with China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs a few years ago and, together, we have set up an ASF contingency plan and developed diagnostic capacity," said Wantanee Kalpravidh, FAO-ECTAD's regional coordinator.

While the priority is to quickly stamp out the virus, restricting animal and pork product movements could undermine those efforts, warned FAO, saying that it could lead to illegal transportation.

"Outbreaks such as this one are important reminders to us all that we must work together in a multi-lateral and inter-governmental effort to prevent and respond to outbreaks of animal diseases because these diseases know no borders," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

"Good communication and coordination with the region's private sector is essential to strengthen cooperation in ASF prevention and control," she concluded.

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US Casts Doubt on Islamic State's Staying Power

By Jeff Seldin August 28, 2018

A top U.S. military official is pushing back against the Pentagon's own estimates which suggest the Islamic State terror group has retained significant capabilities in Iraq and Syria, and is "well-positioned" to rebuild its lost caliphate.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, challenged recent estimates from both the U.S. Defense Department and a United Nations report, indicating IS still has anywhere from 20,000 to 32,000 fighters in the two countries despite the collapse of its self-declared caliphate.

"I saw the recent reports of over 30,000 fighters," Dunford told reporters Tuesday during a rare news conference with Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon. "I don't have high confidence in those particular numbers.

"We're focused on dealing with what remains a threat in [the] Euphrates River Valley. We know there are remaining residual pockets of ISIS inside Iraq," Dunford added, using an acronym for the terror group. "But I certainly would not say ISIS has the same strength that it had at its peak."

Defense and intelligence officials have long been wary of using numbers alone to measure the effectiveness of the campaign to destroy IS, calling any such effort, at best, an imperfect science. And some senior officials have likewise voiced concerns, internally, that the newest estimates may be misleading, possibly counting family members or others with strong connections to IS, though not themselves likely to fight.

Iraq, Syria IS force strength

But the new estimates, contained in a report issued by the lead inspector general for Operation Inherent Resolve, along with a subsequent report from the United Nations, have raised concerns.

The inspector general report, citing Defense Department figures, said IS likely had more than 17,000 fighters in Iraq and another 13,100 to 14,500 in Syria, only 4,000 to 6,000 "remained in the U.S. military's areas of operation."

Together, the numbers come close to the U.S. Defense Department estimates of the size of the IS fighting force at its peak in 2015, when officials said the group had about 33,000 fighters at its disposal.

When questioned about the new estimates, the Pentagon told VOA via an emailed statement that IS "is well-positioned to rebuild and work on enabling its physical caliphate to re-emerge."

Such assessments are a dramatic departure from previous characterizations of the scope of the IS threat, in which collation officials have described a terror organization in "disarray" with fighters "hiding in onesies and twosies amongst the population."

The new estimates have been even more alarming given that, to date, the U.S.-led coalition has carried out about 24,000 airstrikes, killing close to 70,000 IS fighters, according to some U.S. military officials.

Still, Dunford on Tuesday downplayed the significance of any estimates regarding the number of IS fighters.

"Here's what I'm confident of  that over the last two-and-half years, ISIS has lost about 98 percent of the ground that they've held," he said. "They've lost significant access to resources and the flow of foreign fighters has been significantly reduced. Those are all quantifiable."

'Fight is not over'

Dunford said, for now, the U.S. focus is on clearing out the last remaining "significant" pocket of IS fighters, cornered in a small area of Syria's Middle Euphrates River Valley, an operation slated to get under way shortly with the help of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

Once that is done, the challenge will be to stabilize the area so that IS cannot return, which Dunford said, "is going to take some time to do."

"We recognize the fight is not over," Defense Secretary Mattis said, standing alongside Dunford, adding the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria will stay there until ISIS is "taken out."

"If the locals are able to keep the security, obviously during this time we might be reducing our troops commensurate with their ability to deny ISIS a return," he said.

Yet aside from numbers of fighters, there are other indications the terror group is far from destroyed.

Just last week, IS's reclusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, broke his silence for the first time in almost a year, urging his followers to be patient.

"For the mujahedeen, the scale of victory or defeat is not dependent on a city or town being stolen or subject to that who has aerial superiority, intercontinental missiles or smart bombs," Baghdadi said in a recording released on social media.

There have also been more reports of a resurgent IS force in Iraq, with attacks reported in recent weeks in Diyala, Salah ad-Din and Kirkuk.

"It would be a mistake to think that the threat has dissipated and that this is just a mop-up operation at this point," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA.

Gartenstein-Ross has long thought the initial U.S. estimates for IS fighters in 2014 and 2015 were far too low, arguing the terror group likely had close to about 100,000 fighters at its peak.

But he said the newer estimates of up to about 32,000 IS fighters could well be accurate.

"They have lost territory. There's no question. They have fewer resources," he said. "The flipside is we've seen this before. Groups like ISIS, after they reach a point where they can no longer control territory, try to come back as insurgent forces, and that's where numbers matter."

Carla Babb contributed to this report at the Pentagon.

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US has no plans to suspend more military exercises with South Korea: Mattis

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 05:40PM

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said the United States has no plans to suspend more military joint exercises with South Korea, months after the US military indefinitely suspended major maneuvers with the Asian country.

Mattis said on Tuesday the US had postponed some major exercises earlier as a good-faith gesture for negotiations with North Korea while others had continued.

"We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit," Mattis told reporters, referring to the June summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," he said.

The top US diplomat added that no decisions had yet been made on major exercises for next year.

After the historic summit June 12 summit, Trump said that the United States would stop "very provocative" and expensive military exercises with South Korea to facilitate denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang.

The United States and South Korea hold regular military drills to the fury of North Korea, which has long seen the drills as preparations to invade it.

US and South Korean forces regularly rehearse everything from beach landings to an invasion from the North, or even "decapitation" military strikes targeting the North Korean government.

Following maneuvers last year, North Korea condemned the drills and fired ballistic missiles over Japan.

North Korea has long demanded US troops be removed from the Korean peninsula as part of a nuclear deal, but the US has been at pains to stress the issue is not a bargaining chip.

The US has about 28,500 service members stationed in South Korea.

North Korea tells US denuclearization talks may fall apart

Meanwhile, North Korean officials have said that denuclearization talks with the US were "again at stake and may fall apart."

The warning was made in a letter which was handed over to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CNN reported, citing sources.

"The US is still not ready to meet [North Korean] expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty," the report said.

The two Koreas have been separated by a heavily-militarized border since the end of the Korean War seven decades ago. When the three-year war ended in 1953, the two countries agreed to a truce agreement but not a peace treaty. As a result, while the two countries have not been at war, they have technically not been at peace either for the last 68 years.

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North Korean Letter Warning US Peace Talks Were Precarious Axed Pompeo's Trip

Sputnik News

22:13 28.08.2018(updated 22:20 28.08.2018)

The cancellation late last week of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's next visit to North Korea was apparently motivated by a letter sent by top North Korean officials indicating their wariness about the success of future talks.

The Washington Post reported Monday, citing two unnamed senior US administration officials, that Pompeo received the letter from Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Korean Workers Party Central Committee, the ruling party that governs North Korea. The letter is said to have arrived just hours after Pompeo's next trip was announced.

The letter reportedly warned that denuclearization talks between the two countries were "again at stake and may fall apart" and that the process could not move forward, CNN reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

"The US is still not ready to meet [North Korean] expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty," CNN cited the letter as saying. The news agency said the letter also indicated that if a compromise could not be reached, North Korea might resume its missile and nuclear programs, which it has already taken major steps toward dismantling, in accordance with the June 12 agreement in Singapore.

Following US President Donald Trump's cancellation of the trip last Friday, North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun expressed the government's position, accusing the US of "double-dealing" and "hatching a criminal plot" against Pyongyang, Sputnik reported. It also claimed the US and Japan were engaged in military exercises that rehearsed an attack on the North Korean capital. The US and South Korean forces regularly drill for such scenarios.

"Such acts prove that the US is hatching a criminal plot to unleash a war against the DPRK and commit a crime which deserves merciless divine punishment in case the US fails in the scenario of the DPRK's unjust and brigandish denuclearization first," the newspaper said. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea's official name.

While the shooting war between the US and South Korea on one side, and North Korea and China on the other, ended in 1953, no formal peace treaty has ever been signed, hampering efforts at normalization of relations. North Korea has said that a permanent peace treaty is crucial to lowering military tensions on the peninsula, but the US maintains that the North's nuclear weapons program is an obstacle to signing a peace treaty. North Korea, in turn, says its nuclear weapons are purely for self-defense as a security guarantee until a permanent peace treaty is in place.

At the Singapore summit between Trump and Kim on June 12, the two leaders reached four points of agreement: a commitment to establish bilateral relations "in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity"; joint efforts "to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula"; reaffirmation of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration and a commitment to "work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula"; and repatriation of soldiers' remains, Sputnik reported.

The North Korean government maintains a measure-for-measure policy of commensurate actions, and so far, "In almost all of the give-and-take, the 'give' has come from North Korea," Dr. Christine Hong, associate professor of critical race and ethnic studies at the University of California Santa Cruz and a member of the Korea Policy Institute, told Radio Sputnik earlier this week.

The professor told Sputnik Tuesday in a separate comment that North Korea's previous actions, such as the repatriation of the remains of 55 American servicemen late last month, were "a profound act of good faith on the part of North Korea, which suffered the loss of millions due to a criminal US bombing campaign in the early 1950s, and one in keeping with its stated measure-for-measure engagement protocols with the United States."

"North Korea strongly hoped  as did South Korea's Moon Jae-in administration  that the Trump administration would have been willing, in a commensurate good-faith gesture, to take steps to bring the as-yet-unended Korean War to a close," the expert noted, further pointing out that the United States, despite positioning itself as adjacent to the inter-Korean peace process, actually "plays a decisive role in bringing the Korean War to an end."

"The United States, unlike South Korea, was one of three signatories to the armistice agreement [that ended the fighting in the Korean War]  the other two being North Korea and China," she noted.

"What we are witnessing now is a return to US policy as usual. Far from being a spectator to an inter-Korean peace process, the Trump administration, as its skewed portrayal of North Korea's request for a peaceful resolution to the Korean War as 'belligerent' reveals, is playing an obstructionist role, all during a time of historic inter-Korean rapprochement," Hong told Sputnik.

"In this moment, Trump is reverting to his predecessor Barack Obama's 'strategic patience' (aka 'maximum pressure') policy. This is a tragic miscalculation  one that goes against the desires of the Korean people for peace. In this rare window in which the two Koreas have signaled to the world their hopes for peace and reunification, not only has Trump imperiously thrown a wrench into the peace process, but also the bipartisan war party in Congress has stood up and pledged allegiance to the military-industrial complex by refusing Trump the authority to draw down troops from South Korea."

"Seventy-five years ago, in Cairo, the United States, Great Britain and the Chiang government in China arrogantly stated that the peoples of Korea would 'in due course become free and independent,'" Hong said. "Isn't it high time for the United States to make good on this long overdue promise?"

 Sputnik

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Tokyo Says Pyongyang 'Appears to Possess Several Hundred Nodong Missiles'

Sputnik News

06:59 28.08.2018

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Japan still considers North Korean nuclear and missile program "an unprecedentedly serious and imminent" threat to its security despite the alleviation of tensions on the Korean peninsula, the country's Defense Ministry said in an annual white paper on Tuesday.

"Taking into consideration the fact that North Korea appears to possess and deploy several hundred Nodong missiles capable of reaching almost every part of Japan as well as advancements in the development and operational capabilities of nuclear weapons and missiles through repeated nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches to date, there is no change in our basic recognition concerning the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles," the document read.

According to the document, Japan will also strengthen its air defense network by introducing two US-developed Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense systems.

"In order to defend Japan, at all times, it is necessary to drastically improve ballistic missile defense capabilities. Therefore, the National Security Council and the Cabinet approved in December 2017 the introduction of two land-based Aegis System (Aegis Ashore)  introduction of Aegis Ashore will reinforce upper tier interception Aegis-equipped destroyers," the paper read.

Tokyo plans to deploy the missile defense systems to protect the country from potential launch of ballistic missiles by Pyongyang.

In July, US Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats doubted that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear program within a year. The Japanese Defense Ministry has recently come under fire after raising the estimated costs for each Aegis Ashore from $720 million to $1.2 billion.

US-based media reported earlier in July that Pyongyang was continuing to develop its nuclear program and trying to deceive the United States about its denuclearization efforts.

However, South Korean media suggested earlier that Pyongyang began dismantling facilities at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the province of North Pyongan where the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-15 was tested.

In early August, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that the US and North Korea are in the middle of process on achieving the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has significantly improved over the last months, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un having held several rounds of talks with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in and a summit with US President Trump in Singapore.

During the June 12 summit, Kim and Trump reached an agreement that required Pyongyang to denuclearize in exchange for a freeze on the US-South Korean military drills and eventual sanctions relief.

 Sputnik

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France Calls On EU To Not Rely On U.S. Defense, Reach Out To Russia

RFE/RL August 28, 2018

French President Emmanuel Macron is calling on the European Union to boost military cooperation and stop relying on the United States for defense while reaching out to Russia to develop a "strategic partnership."

In an address to French ambassadors on August 27, Macron appeared to leave behind his efforts in the last year to develop joint policies with U.S. President Donald Trump and instead criticized Trump for being an "unreliable" partner and "turning his back" on the "multilaterism" built by Western powers since World War II with such actions as pulling out of the global climate change agreement and Iran's nuclear deal.

The 40-year-old French president said he would put forward new proposals in the coming months for the EU to boost defense cooperation, as well as talks with Russia on their security relationship.

"Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security. It is up to us to guarantee European security, and therefore European sovereignty," Macron told an audience of some 250 diplomats, lawmakers, and international relations experts.

Although the did not call for any break with NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance that has been the foundation of Western European security since World War II, Macron called for Europe to build a "strategic partnership" with Russia, despite differences with the Kremlin over Ukraine, Syria and other issues.

He qualified his call for talks with Russia, however, by saying Moscow must first make progress on putting an end to the conflict between the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Macron said he envisions a "revision of the European architecture of defense and security" as a result of "renewed dialogue on cybersecurity, chemical weapons, conventional weaponry, territorial conflicts, space security, the protection of the polar zones -- in particular with Russia."

New Geopolitical Realities

Macron's remarks follow a similar call for increased EU defense cooperation last week by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who has said Europe should "take an equal share of the responsibility" and "form a counterweight" to Washington in the world as Europe-U.S. relations cool.

"Obviously, it irritates us when President Trump describes Europe as an enemy of the U.S.A in the same breath as Russia and China, or calls NATO into question almost as a throwaway remark," Maas told a gathering of Romanian diplomats in Bucharest on August 27.

"It seems absurd that we in the European Union have to worry about reacting to U.S. tariffs that are justified on 'national security grounds'," Maas said, but he said this "absurdity" may simply reflect new geopolitical realities.

"'America First' was a wake-up call. Our answer to that must be: 'Europe United!,'" Maas said.

France and Germany have both backed the idea of a small joint European response force over the last year, and have announced plans to develop a fighter jet together.

While Macron's call for more European defense cooperation may resonate with Germany it is not clear whether newer members of the bloc in Eastern Europe will go along.

With the exceptions of France and Britain, all other European members of NATO have lived under the nuclear umbrella provided by the United States since World War II.

That NATO alliance with the U.S. has been especially important to newer members like Poland and the Baltic states, which have called for an increased NATO presence in their countries since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Since taking office, Trump has vacillated between criticizing NATO and pledging his commitment to the alliance at the same time he has been putting pressure on European allies to increase their defense spending to at least 2 percent of their economic output..

Many of the eastern bloc members already meet that goal. Trump has singled Germany out for criticism for not meeting the goal, though Berlin has announced plans to increase its military spending to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2025.

A spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the EU has already taken "decisive steps" to build up European security and defense in recent years, including the development of a joint defense fund and a new planning cell for EU military missions around the world.

In November, EU countries officially launched a new era in defense cooperation with a program of joint military investment and project development. Twenty-three of the EU's 28 member nations signed up to the process, known as permanent structured cooperation, or PESCO.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/france-says-eu-should-not-rely -us-military-defense-reach-out-russia/29456958.html

Copyright (c) 2018. 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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'EU Can No Longer Rely on US for Its Security'  Macron

Sputnik News

09:36 28.08.2018

During his 90-minute speech at the annual ambassadors' conference in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron focused on an array of pressing issues related to the future of Europe, Brexit and Syria.

EU-US Relationship

The French President has called for mapping out a new security policy for the EU which he said should no longer depend on the United States in terms of defense-related issues.

"Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security. It is up to us to guarantee European security," Emmanuel Macron underscored.

He lambasted US President Donald Trump's "aggressive isolationism", lamenting the fact that "the partner with whom Europe built the new order of post-war multilateralism appears to be turning its back on this shared history."

Macron called for open and constructive relations between Washington and Brussels, something that he said should be built up by joint efforts of all EU members.

"The question is not about whether I grab Trump by the arm at the next international summit; the question is what are we going to reinvent?" he pointed out.

The Future of Europe

Touching upon the issue, Macron specifically stressed the importance of turning the EU into a more "sovereign" bloc and promised to do more to grapple with growing nationalism in Europe.

He said that it was necessary for France to build "a strategic partnership" with Russia and Turkey given that both countries were important for collective security and needed to be tied to Europe. Macron urged Europe to launch a new dialogue on cybersecurity, chemical weapons and other areas of security, in particular, with Russia.

He said that it was France that should go ahead with EU reforms because the country is "paying the price of several decades of a Europe that has become bland, weakened and hasn't made enough suggestions."

"Do China and the United States think of Europe as a power with similar independence to their own? It is not the case," Macron noted.

No Major Shift on Syria

Pointing out that the ouster of President Bashar Assad should not be seen as a pre-condition to end Syria's civil war, Macron at the same time stressed the significance of a negotiated political transition.

"It is not up to France to appoint the future leaders of Syria. But it is our duty and our interest to ensure that the Syrian people will be in a position to do so," he said.

Additionally, he called on Russia and Turkey to use their regional clout in order to help stop the Syrian conflict.

Brexit

Macron confirmed France's stance which stipulates Brussels clinching a deal with London on the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the EU by the end of this year.

"Brexit is a sovereign choice that we must respect, but it is a choice that cannot happen at the expense of the European Union's integrity," he underlined.

Macron called for "a strong and privileged relationship" between France and the EU" which he warned should not be developed "at the expense of the European Union dissolution."

 Sputnik

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EU looking to sidestep US sanctions with payments system plan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Aug 28, IRNA -- Germany and France said they're working on financing solutions to sidestep US sanctions against countries such as Iran, including a possible role for central banks.

The discussions, which also involve the UK, are a signal that European powers are trying to get serious about demonstrating a greater level of independence from the US as President Donald Trump pursues his "America First" agenda, Bloomberg reported.

"With Germany, we are determined to work on an independent European or Franco-German financing tool which would allow us to avoid being the collateral victims of US extra-territorial sanctions," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday during a meeting with press association AJEF. "I want Europe to be a sovereign continent not a vassal, and that means having totally independent financing instruments that do not today exist."

Trump reimposed the sanctions after pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear accord in May, despite opposition from NATO allies and China and Russia. European companies including Daimler AG and Total SA have halted activity or backtracked on investment plans to avoid US punishment but France and Germany and their European Union partners want business with the Islamic Republic to continue.

The US is targeting Iranian oil exports as it pushes demands for the government in Tehran to stop supporting terrorism and halt its ballistic-missile program. President Hassan Rouhani has said the US needs to ease sanctions before he'd agree to any talks.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also weighed in Monday, saying the EU is working to protect economic ties with Iran and keep payment channels open. Maas reiterated a proposal to make international payments systems like Swift more independent of the US.

Le Maire said using the European Investment Bank, which has exposure to the US, as a "financial channel" would be "very complicated" and that the French and German governments are talking to their respective central banks about their involvement. "If we want to build a truly independent instrument we must open up all the options," he said.

Maas said that while most of the "very difficult questions on the details" of any payments system are unresolved, at least the alternative of a nuclear escalation in the Middle East has so far been avoided. As well as the US sanctions against Iran, action taken against China, Russia and Turkey will also damage European business, he added.

"We have to react and strengthen Europe's autonomy and sovereignty in trade, economic and finance policy," Maas said in a speech in Berlin. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland also spoke at the event and said that her nation shares the goal of preserving a multilateral world order.

Le Maire is due to meet German counterpart Olaf Scholz in Paris on Wednesday.

8072**1396

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Japan, China weigh options to retain Iran oil imports

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 09:07AM

Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry says the country's refiners need to make their own decisions as to whether import oil from Iran.

Japanese officials have said they need Iranian oil and have been seeking exemption from US sanctions as among their highest priorities for the country's energy industry.

Asked on Tuesday whether the government had provided any guidance to local refiners, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko said, "I understand that this would basically, properly be judged by private companies."

Director-general of oil, gas, and mineral resources at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Ryo Minami has said stopping Iranian oil exports would trigger a "substantial rise" in oil prices that would not benefit anyone.

"As Japan considers to continue importing the crude oil, we intend to tell the US this stance, and we aim to secure their understanding," he was quoted as saying last month.

Japan imported an average of 165,481 barrels per day of Iranian oil in fiscal 2017-18 (April-March), down 28% from the previous fiscal year, according to METI data.

Iranian imports accounted for 5.2 percent of Japan's total crude imports of 3.19 million barrels per day in the fiscal year ended March 31.

The US government is about to reimpose sanctions on Iran's oil and gas and shipping sectors on November 4.

China's largest refiner, Sinopec, said on Monday that some of its refineries will be negatively affected if it stops importing Iranian crude.

"Some of our downstream refineries were designed for refining Iranian oil. If we stop imports, the benefits would be affected," Sinopec vice president Huang Wensheng said.

State oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp and Sinopec, however, have taken measures to safeguard supplies, using vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Company for imports in order to bypass sanctions.

Under the new arrangement, Iran would cover all the costs and risks of delivering the crude as well as handling the insurance.

Iran is reportedly also providing ships as well as insurance cover for oil shipments to India so as to continue exports to its second largest client.

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Rouhani appears before parliament to answer economic questions

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 05:41AM

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has appeared before the Parliament to answer a series of questions raised by lawmakers on his administration's economic performance.

During Tuesday's parliamentary session, lawmakers posed questions on the Rouhani administration's handling of the country's economic issues, including a high unemployment rate, slow economic growth and a devaluation of Iran's rial currency as well as goods and currency smuggling.

The lawmakers are also critical of the continuation of banking sanctions against Tehran despite the 2015 nuclear deal -- under which those restrictions should no longer exist.

Responding to the lawmakers' questions, Rouhani defended his administration's performance in two rounds. Based on the results of a vote conducted at the end of the session, the parliamentarians were not convinced with the president's answers on four out of the five questions raised. They only found the president's response to the issue of banking sanctions satisfying.

First assuming power in 2013, President Rouhani's "Prudence and Hope" government has been credited with clinching a historical nuclear accord with world states only two years later.

The agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), relieved the country of nuclear-related sanctions  including those imposed by the US -- and was subsequently endorsed in the form of a UN Security Council resolution.

In May, however, the US left the deal in clear breach of its international obligations, and reinstated sanctions against Iran as part of its fresh campaign of economic pressure.

A first round of the bans came into force earlier this month, while the second batch is due to take effect in early November.

The government has vowed to try to make good on its pledges of commitment to national prosperity and counter the Washington-led campaign of economic pressure.

Iran's parliament, the Majlis, has on several occasions called Rouhani's ministers to account.

Already this month, it has removed Labor Minister Ali Rabi'ei, and Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Masoud Karbasian in back-to-back impeachments.

'We will defeat US plots'

During his comments to lawmakers, Rouhani touched on Washington's attempts to pile up economic pressure, assuring the nation that the US will face defeat in its anti-Iran plots.

"We need to tell the Iranian nation that we will not allow the United States' plots to succeed. The nation should be sure that we will not allow a bunch of anti-Iranians, who have gathered at the White House today, to plot against us," Rouhani said.

"We have no fear of the United States, nor do we fear problems, and will put them behind us appropriately," Rouhani asserted.

Elsewhere, the president defended the nuclear agreement his administration had reached with world states, saying that Tehran had entered the deal to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program to the international community.

"In the JCPOA, we made achievements that will never die," said the president.

Rouhani added that the nuclear deal helped resolve "a great part" of the country's economic issues by lifting the sanctions.

The deal also closed the case of the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran's nuclear program, paving the way for the removal of military bans on the country, he added.

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Iran's Rohani Vows To Defeat 'Anti-Iranian' U.S. Policies

RFE/RL August 28, 2018

President Hassan Rohani has told lawmakers that Iran will overcome newly reimposed U.S. sanctions and will show "the anti-Iranian officials in the White House" that the measures will fail to reach their goal.

Rohani was summoned before Tehran's parliament on August 28 to answer questions about his handling of the economy amid a growing economic crisis, rising prices, and unemployment.

However, the lawmakers were not convinced by his answers and referred the case to the judiciary.

"The economic problems are critical, but more important than that is that many people have lost their faith in the future of the Islamic republic and are in doubt about its power," Rohani said in his speech, which was broadcast live on television.

"We are not afraid of America or the economic problems," he also said. "We will overcome the troubles."

"I want to assure the Iranian nation that we will not allow the U.S. plot against the Islamic republic to succeed," Rohani added.

"We will not let this bunch of anti-Iranians in the White House be able to plot against us."

Members of parliament asked the president about the government's failure in stemming unemployment, slow economic growth, and the free fall of the country's currency, the rial -- as well as the incapacity to put an end to cross-border smuggling operations.

Rohani told lawmakers that the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had been called in to help tackling the smuggling.

Lawmakers also inquired about the lack of financial reforms and asked why, more than two years after the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iranian banks still had only limited access to global financial services.

Members of parliament only found Rohani's answer about the banking satisfactory and referred the rest to the hard-line judiciary.

Iran's parliament has the power to impeach the president, but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Rohani should be allowed to serve his entire term through 2021.

First Parliamentary Grilling

It is the first time Rohani, who is regarded as a moderate, has been summoned by parliament since he was elected in 2013, and is a victory for the hard-liners who have opposed his economic reforms.

Lawmakers were questioning him about his plans to shore up the rial, which has fallen in value by more than half since April, and rising unemployment.

His appearance comes days after Masoud Karbasian was ousted as economy minister, the fourth member of Rohani's economic team to be removed in recent weeks.

His labor minister was voted out by lawmakers earlier this month and the chief and deputy chief of the central bank were given the axe in July.

The lawmakers have been blaming Rohani and his team for what many economists say is the result of a U.S. decision this year to withdraw from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimpose sanctions.

The fall of rial has been partly blamed on those sanctions, some of which were imposed earlier this month and others are due to be reimposed in November.

Most of Rohani's hard-line critics were opposed to the nuclear deal and the rapprochement with the West that it ushered in, and many are now calling on Rohani to step down.

Rohani's hard-line rivals lost to him at the polls in recent years, but some see the current crisis as an opportunity to return to power.

Rohani is believed to still have the backing of moderate conservatives, including powerful parliament speaker Ali Larijani.

Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-rohani-faces- grilling-economic-crisis-parliament-impeachment- possible-not-lilkely/29457029.html

Copyright (c) 2018. 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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Japan's defense report: Anti-missile system needed

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

2018-08-28

Japan's annual defense report stresses the need to introduce a new ballistic missile defense system, citing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

The white paper was reported to the Cabinet on Tuesday.

It notes that it was significant that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un clearly committed to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula in his June 12th summit with US President Donald Trump.

But it says the North remains an unprecedented, serious and immediate threat.

It refers to the country's deployment of ballistic missiles within range of Japan, and its nuclear and missile development that shows increasing operational capacity.

The report says Japan is set to strengthen its capabilities to counter ballistic missile attacks. It says introducing the new ground-based ballistic missile defense system Aegis Ashore will dramatically enhance the nation's defence.

The paper describes China as a security concern to the region and to the world, saying it is unilaterally escalating activities in areas around Japan.

China has been increasing its maritime activities in the South China Sea and other waters.

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Japan says North Korea still a 'serious, imminent threat'

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 06:48AM

Japan says North Korea continues to pose a "serious and imminent threat" to the country despite Pyongyang's suspension of its missile and nuclear tests as well as diplomacy involving the United States and South Korea.

"There is no change in our basic recognition concerning the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles," the Japanese Defense Ministry declared in a defense review on Tuesday.

Japan's 2018 military white paper said Pyongyang continued to pose "an unprecedentedly serious and imminent threat to Japan's security and significantly damage the peace and security of the region and the international community."

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera did acknowledge in the official document, however, that North Korea had engaged in "dialog" with its former arch-foes, the United States and South Korea.

"But we cannot overlook the fact that, even to this day, it possesses and fully deploys several hundred missiles that put nearly all of Japan within range," Onodera added.

In response, Japan is steadily improving its capacity to protect the country from the perceived North Korean threat, reportedly planning to spend nearly $4.2 billion over the next three decades on installing and operating US-supplied radar systems.

Earlier, North Korea released and deported a Japanese prisoner on humanitarian grounds.

Back in April, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the suspension of North Korea's missile and military nuclear tests and said Pyongyang would pursue economic growth and peace.

In one such test, late last year, North Korea had flown a missile over Japanese airspace.

But a diplomatic thaw began between the two Koreas in January. Diplomacy with the US also ensued. While North Korea's ties with South Korea have improved considerably since then, diplomatic engagement with the US has hit a snag.

Japan had all along been skeptical about attempts to engage North Korea. Tokyo was particularly concerned about the prospect of a US withdrawal from the region as part of a potential deal between Washington and Pyongyang.

China

The Japanese white paper also addressed China's emergence as a military power in the region, expressing concerns about Beijing's growing military spending.

It claimed that China was attempting to "change the status quo by coercion," echoing US assertions that Beijing seeks to expand its naval activities around islands in the East China Sea disputed with Tokyo as well as military build-up in territory in the South China Sea disputed by other regional countries.

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UN chief says Myanmar genocide report deserves deep consideration

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 08:46PM

The UN Secretary General has voiced deep concerns after a UN report showed that Myanmar's military engaged in mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with "genocidal intent."

On Tuesday, Antonio Guterres told a UNSC meeting that the report showed "patterns of gross human rights violations and abuses' committed by the security forces, which it said 'undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law.'"

On Monday, a UN report called for prosecution of Myanmar's army chief and five other top military commanders for genocide against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.

"I believe this report's findings and recommendations deserve serious consideration by all relevant United Nations bodies," he added.

The UN chief further stressed the international cooperation would "be critical to ensuring that accountability mechanisms are credible, transparent, impartial, independent and comply with Myanmar's obligations under international law."

He further noted that there are still no clear conditions for Rohingya refugees to return to their homes.

"There can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return to their areas of origin in safety and dignity, in line with international standards and human rights," he said.

In recent months, Myanmar's armed forces joined by Buddhist mobs have been engaged in a campaign of terror against Muslim families living in Rakhine, killing them, torching their houses and forcing hundreds of thousands of them to flee.

Many have settled in camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Thousands remain on a stretch of land known as the no-man's-land between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven into neighboring Bangladesh since last August by the army crackdown.

The United Nations has said it has strong suspicions that "acts of genocide" have taken place against the Rohingya.

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Guterres: Myanmar's Quest for Justice Must Comply with International Law

Sputnik News

23:23 28.08.2018

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - United Nations member states should partner with Myanmar to ensure that its efforts to bring perpetrators of human rights abuses to justice comply with international law, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

"Effective international cooperation will be critical to ensure that the accountability mechanisms are credible, transparent, impartial, independent, and comply with Myanmar's obligations and international law," Guterres told members of the Security Council.

He noted that multiple reports on the situation in Burma show that grave human rights violations are ongoing. These reports should be seriously considered by all international bodies, Guterres said.

He commended Bangladesh's efforts to resolve the refugee crisis, but noted that the ultimate response to the situation in Myanmar must be a global one.

Guterres pointed out that the international appeal for nearly $951 million to address the Rohingya crisis remains significantly underfunded and is now at 33 percent.

Therefore, much more must be done to alleviate the risks posed by the conflict, including human trafficking and sexual exploitation, Guterres stressed.

The mass exodus of the Rohingya people started after Myanmar security launched a crackdown on Rohingya insurgents following an attack on the police posts which killed 12 servicemen. The stateless minority has long been fighting discrimination and persecution, as the Myanmar government claims they are migrants from Bangladesh who occupied the Rakhine territory.

Despite the fact that most of the Rohingyas were born in Myanmar, they have no citizenship and are deprived of the social benefits such as health care and education. Neighboring Bangladesh now shelters over 700,000 Rohingya refugees.

 Sputnik

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Myanmar Generals Should Be Prosecuted for 'Genocide' Against Rohingya - UN

Sputnik News

19:06 28.08.2018

The report comes on the heels of months of investigations by UN personnel, who allege a system-atic campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against Myanmar's largest minority group.

A United Nations report has recommended that top Myanmar military officials "be investigated and prosecuted" for the carrying out of genocide and other grave atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country's far west.

The report marks the first time that the UN has explicitly called for Myanmar's officials to face genocide charges over their campaign in the country's Rakhine State.

The report, based on on-the-ground research by the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, serves as a blistering indictment of the South East Asian country's military, who have long been accused of grave war crimes against the Rohingya.

The publication comes just a year after roughly 700,000 Rohingya men, woman and children fled Myanmar over the border into neighboring Bangladesh amidst violence between the country's army and a faction of armed Rohingya insurgents.

The report graphically documents numerous cases of mass killing, systematic rape and the torturing of children.

"In some cases, hundreds of people died. Houses were locked and set on fire. Few survived," the report reads.

Myanmar's military  called the 'Tatmadaw'  have argued that civilian deaths were unintentional in what was merely an effort to root out Rohingya terrorist groups hiding amongst the villagers.

The UN, however, dismissed such claims, concluding that, "military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping woman, assaulting children, and burning entire villages. The Tatmadaw's tactics are consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats."

The UN points the finger at particular members of the Tatmadaw's echelon and blames five senior officials for orchestrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing. In addition, it names the notorious Commander-in-Cheif of the military, Min Aung Hlaing, as being guilty of spearheading the campaign and calls for his prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar's Western-backed leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, was also singled out in the report over what it described as her "inaction."

Aung San Suu Kyi, "has not used her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet a responsibility to protect the civilian population," the report says.

This is, however, not the first time that the UN has taken aim at Suu Kyi, who was described by former US president Barack Obama in 2012 as "an icon of democracy." Back in December 2017, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, suggested that Myanmar's leader could be "culpable" for the crimes being meted out at that time against the Rohingya, which included forced displacement and mass killings.

"Given the scale of the military operation, clearly these would have to be decisions taken at a high level," said the high commissioner.

Facebook

The UN Panel also called out social media, particularly industry giant Facebook, for allowing what it described as 'hate speech' against the Rohingya to go unchecked online.

According to the UN, Facebook, which has become one of Myanmar's most used websites in recent years, has been exploited by vigilante groups and the country's military to propagate hate speech and anti-Rohingya "propaganda."

Facebook responded immediately to the allegations on Monday by declaring that it has blocked the accounts of 20 Myanmar officials and organizations found by the UN to have "committed or enabled serious human rights abuses."

US Response

The United States, which has long championed Aung San Suu Kyi as a poster girl of democracy promotion, is reportedly conducting its own inquiry into the Myanmar military's campaign. A State Department spokeswoman has been quoted as saying that the UN report clearly demonstrated "widespread human rights abuses" by security forces.

Washington has been accused of foot-dragging over its reluctance to sever the ties with Suu Kyi and condemn her military's operations as genocide or crimes against humanity in line with the UN's conclusions.

Yet, one official widely cited on condition of anonymity has said that the latest UN findings could lay enough pressure on the Trump administration for it to take some kind of firmer action, likely in the form of heavy sanctions against Suu Kyi and her government.

 Sputnik

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US: Myanmar Military Responsible for Atrocities Against Rohingya

By Margaret Besheer August 28, 2018

A year after the mass exodus of minority Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, the U.S. State Department has gathered information from survivors that substantiates accusations that the Myanmar military and security forces perpetrated atrocious human rights violations.

"The firsthand accounts of the survivors reveal that a majority of the Rohingya directly experienced violence, either to their homes, to their families, or to both," U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told a Security Council meeting on the situation. "Most importantly, the report identifies one group as the perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of these crimes the Burmese military and security forces," she said, using the other name for Myanmar.

Haley said the State Department's findings are based on more than 1,000 interviews with randomly selected refugees in camps in Bangladesh. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled there following a brutal military crackdown after Rohingya militants attacked and killed a dozen Myanmar security forces.

Haley listed details from the report that have not yet been publicly released. Among its findings:

* One fifth of all Rohingya surveyed witnessed more than 100 victims being killed or injured;

* 82 percent of refugees saw their home or village destroyed;

* 51 percent said they witnessed sexual violence;

* 65 percent watched a family member or fellow villager be injured.

"Children, babies, women and men suffered unspeakable crimes," Haley said. "The attacks were planned, premeditated and coordinated. The perpetrator was the Burmese military and security forces."

Role of military leaders

Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed targeted sanctions on five Myanmar military commanders and two units of the army for their involvement in the atrocities.

The State Department findings echo those of an independent fact-finding mission established by the U.N. Human Rights Council. That panel released its report Monday.

The panel concluded that the Myanmar military's response to attacks by Rohingya militants was "immediate, brutal and grossly disproportionate." The panel said it was also likely pre-planned. It named six Myanmar military officials, including Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, urging investigation and prosecution for crimes against humanity, including genocide.

The panel urged the Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. However, veto-wielding council members Russia and China are unlikely to let that happen.

Myanmar's U.N. envoy Hau Do Suan told the council that the militants' attacks and the inevitable military response and displacement were "carefully calculated, instigated and created" by the militants to undermine the government's efforts to find a lasting solution to the situation and to advance their own political goals.

He said the government is ready to start receiving returnees but said none have returned.

"It will take time and patience to build trust and confidence among communities," he acknowledged.

Dire camp conditions

In the meantime, the Rohingya refugees live in dire conditions in what is now the world's largest refugee camp. The U.N. said conditions are not yet in place for them to return home in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner.

U.N. Refugee Agency goodwill ambassador actor Cate Blanchett told the council that refugees will move back home only when it is safe to do so.

"The Rohingya cannot return to the very conditions they were forced to flee," she warned. "They cannot settle for half-solutions."

Blanchett visited the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh in March. She said nothing prepared her for the extent and depth of suffering that she saw. She implored the international community to take action to end the crisis.

"We have failed the Rohingya before, please let us not fail them again," she said.

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S. Korean gov't plans to spend more than $42 bil. on national defense in year 2019

Updated: 2018-08-28 18:00:34 KST

The Moon Jae-in administration has decided to allocate about 42 billion U.S. dollars next year on the nation's defense budget.

It is a whopping eight.two percent increase from the previous year.

This marks the highest increase rate on the nation's defense budget since 2008, and almost the double of the average annual increase rate of four.four percent seen from 2010 to 2017.

The government expects to spend over 13 percent more than the previous year on developing and improving defense capabilities, such as the acquisition of state-of-the-art weaponry like aircraft, and naval destroyers.

Included in this category are some four.five billion U.S. dollars the government expects to spend on establishing its so-called "three-axis system,"or the South's key three-part military strategy system to counter any North Korean threats, namely the Kill Chain pre-emptive strike system, the Korean Air and Missile Defense system, and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation strategy.

A defense ministry official told Arirang News that next year's budget for the establishment of the three-axis system has also increased by more than 16.four percent, year-on-year.

The defense ministry explains that the increase on defense budget has been outlined to support the Moon administration's defense reform initiative, which aims to modernize and strengthen the nation's military capabilities, with active investment in the latest technologies.

The budget plan will be submitted to the National Assembly this Friday for parliamentary deliberation.

Park Ji-won, Arirang News.

Reporter : jiwonpark@arirang.co.kr

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Russia attacks U.S. sanctions, mulls responses amid heightening tensions

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:16, August 28, 2018

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Monday blasted the U.S. sanctions over an alleged poison attack on a former Russian spy, saying Moscow will "withstand" and respond to Washington's "brute pressure."

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Russian embassy to the United States said the sanctions that took effect on the same day were "hostile," "illegitimate" and "one-sided."

"Decisions are made with zero attempts to look into things, while ignoring our calls for dialogue, in absence of any real proof of 'Russia's guilt,'" it said, accusing the U.S. mainstream media of spreading "absurd accusations against our country."

"It feels like local politicians have an unhealthy craving for demolishing the fundamental basis of bilateral relations, on which rests the global security," it said, noting that U.S. "political elites seem to ignore the fact that every new 'seizure' of American sanctions 'fever' brings the U.S. close to the point of no return in resolving pressing international issues - joint fight against terrorism and danger of WMD falling into the hands of non-governmental entities."

"It is clear that the worst Cold War scenarios, the ones the world should have forsaken 30 years ago, are now taking shape. Instead, it turns out that no one is safe from brute pressure of Washington," the embassy said, adding that "the U.S. public has to know that sanctions against Russia are futile. They meet the interests of neither Russian, nor American people."

"Not everyone can withstand it. But Russia can," it said, referring to U.S. punishment actions. "We do not accept Washington's hostile sanctions. They will have no effect on our determination to follow our own course in international relations."

Also on the same day, the Kremlin was quoted by media as saying that it needed time to assess the impact of U.S. sanctions before considering retaliatory response, but President Vladimir Putin would act in line with Russia's national interest.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quoted by media outlets as saying that Russia has drawn up a group of response in case Washington imposes sanctions on Russian sovereign debt.

On Monday, the U.S. Federal Register said in a notice that U.S. sanctions came into effect on the same day.

The Department of State has determined that "the Government of the Russian Federation has used chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals," it said.

U.S. foreign assistance, the licensing of defense articles and services, and the licensing of national security-sensitive goods and technology concerning effort to Russia would be banned.

Russia will also be denied of "any credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government, including the Export-Import Bank of the United States."

However, the notice read that the Department of State "has determined and certified to Congress ... that it is essential to the national security interests of the United States to partially waive the application of the sanctions."

This included the issuance of licenses in support of government space cooperation and commercial space launches, the safety of flight of civil fixed-wing passenger aviation, and transactions with Russian nationals, wholly-owned U.S. subsidiaries in Russia, and Russian state-owned or state-funded enterprises, "provided that such licenses shall be issued on a case-by-case basis."

"These measures shall be implemented by the responsible departments and agencies of the United States Government and will remain in place for at least one year and until further notice," said Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state, in the notice.

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, aged 66, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in Britain's southwestern city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain claimed the pair was exposed to a nerve agent and holds Russia responsible, while the Russian government has denied any involvement in it.

The U.S. State Department said on Aug. 8 that the country will impose new sanctions on Russia over the case.

"These sanctions will take effect upon publication of a notice in the Federal Register, expected on or around August 22, 2018," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.

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Russia reinforces naval presence in Mediterranean ahead of Syria's Idlib offensive: Reports

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 02:32PM

Russia is reportedly boosting its military presence in the Mediterranean Sea by dispatching a number of warships off the Syrian coast, the Russian media say, as the Syrian army prepares to launch a full-scale offensive against terrorists in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Citing unnamed sources, the Kommersant, a Russian nationwide general political newspaper, reported on Tuesday that Moscow had purportedly sent two warships and an additional anti-aircraft missile system to the Mediterranean earlier this month.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry's press service announced in a statement that the Admiral Grigorovich and the Admiral Essen, two frigates of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, were heading to the Mediterranean in order to reinforce Russia's military presence in the region amid reports that the United States was preparing to strike the Arab country.

Additionally on Tuesday, pro-Moscow newspaper Izvestia reported that Russia currently had at least 10 warships and two submarines in the Syrian waters, adding that this amounted to Moscow's biggest military presence there since it became involved in anti-terror operations in September 2015 upon a formal request from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the daily, Russia plans to send "several more" warships to the vicinity of the coasts of the Arab country.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has already said the Tahrir al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group "is close to committing a very serious provocation in Idlib using chemical weapons."

At the weekend, Russia repeatedly warned that Syrian-based terrorists were planning the attack in the militant-held province.

The United States has warned it would respond to a chemical weapons attack by Syrian government forces with retaliatory strikes, stressing that the attacks would be stronger than those conducted by American, British and French forces back in April.

On April 14, the United States, Britain and France carried out a string of airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack against the city of Douma, located about 10 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus. The strike came one week after an alleged gas attack on the Damascus suburb town of Douma.

Western governments and their allies have never stopped pointing the finger at Damascus whenever an apparent chemical attack takes place.

Syria surrendered its stockpile of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by the United States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversaw the destruction of the weaponry. It has also consistently denied using chemical weapons over the course of the foreign-backed militancy, which gripped the country in 2011.

Russia's naval presence in the Mediterranean comprises a combination of ships from its Black Sea Fleet and Northern Fleet in the Arctic Ocean. The task force is mainly aimed at countering possible aggressive activities of NATO in the region, bolstering Russia's defensive measures for its Black Sea borders and launching strikes against terrorist targets in Syria.

In December 2017, Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, approved a deal to extend the lease of a Mediterranean base used by the Russian Navy in the Syrian port of Tartus for 49 years and modernize the facility.

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Russia 'to retaliate US sanctions, open to normalization of ties'

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 09:28AM

Russia has once again warned that it will take retaliatory action against the United States' latest anti-Moscow sanctions.

"We will continue to act calmly and pragmatically, reacting to all attacks in accordance with the principle of reciprocity," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with Russian newspaper Pravda published on Tuesday, which also appeared on the official website of Russia's Foreign Ministry.

The top Russian diplomat also expressed interest in resuming normal ties with the US.

"At the same time, we remain open to building normal mutually respectful relations with Washington based on a genuine consideration of each other's interests," he said.

Washington imposed new sanctions on Moscow earlier this month over what it called the attempted assassination in Britain of a former Russian intelligence agent, Sergei Skripal.

Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, fell ill in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. They were hospitalized and diagnosed with exposure to Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent.

The UK blamed Russia but never offered evidence. Moscow has strongly denied the accusation.

The new US sanctions include blocking foreign aid to Russia, halting the sale of items or services related to defense and national security, and prohibiting any government credit support for exports to Russia.

The development comes amid Russia's diplomatic, economic, and strategic measures to stave off the possible impacts of the US sanctions. The measures include establishing closer diplomatic ties with Iran, Turkey, and the European Union (EU), reducing the holding of US treasury securities, and turning eastward in pursuit of a closer Eurasian partnerships.

Earlier, Russia's President Vladimir Putin had described the new US sanction as "a counterproductive and meaningless move."

On Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said that all options were on the table for Moscow in responding to the US sanctions.

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300,000 Troops, 1,000 Aircraft: Russia Schedules Biggest War Games In Almost 40 Years

RFE/RL August 28, 2018

Russia's defense minister said the country will hold its biggest military exercises since almost 40 years.

Sergei Shoigu said on August 28 that the drills, called Vostok-2018, will involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 aircraft, both the Pacific and Northern Fleets, and all Russian airborne units. They will take place in the central and eastern military districts, in southern Siberia, and the Far East.

"This is the biggest drill to take place in Russia since 1981," Shoigu said in a statement.

He was referring to the Zapad exercises that year, which involved Soviet and other Warsaw Pact forces and were the largest war drills ever carried out by the Soviet Union and its allies.

The Vostok-2018 exercises are set to be carried out from September 11-15 with the participation of Chinese and Mongolian military personnel.

The maneuvers come as relations between Moscow and the West have deteriorated to a post-Cold War low. Tensions have been stoked by Russia's seizure of Crimea, its role in wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine, and its alleged election meddling in the United States and Europe.

In recent years, Russia's military has stepped up the frequency and scope of its military exercises, reflecting the Kremlin's multiyear focus on modernizing its armed forces and its tactics.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that such war games were "essential" in the current international situation, which he said is "often aggressive and unfriendly toward our country."

NATO spokesman Dylan White said that Russia had briefed the alliance, which planned to monitor them.

"Vostok demonstrates Russia's focus on exercising large-scale conflict. It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time: a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defense budget and its military presence," White said in a statement.

Russia last held large-scale war games in September 2017, in regions bordering NATO countries in the Baltics.

Moscow and Minsk said the joint maneuvers involved some 12,700 troops in the two countries combined, but Western officials have said the true number may have been around 100,000.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-to -hold-biggest-war-games-in-nearly- four-decades-/29457278.html

Copyright (c) 2018. 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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Syrian Army kills scores of terrorists in Hama

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Aug 28, IRNA -- Units of Syrian Arab Army killed scores of terrorists during the military operations carried out in the northern countryside of Hama.

SANA's reporter said that units of the Syrian Arab Army working in the northern countryside of Hama continued their operations in targeting the movements of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization on several directions in the northern countryside adjacent to the southern countryside of Idleb province.

The reporter added that army units carried out missile raids against terrorist groups belonging to the so-called "Ezza Brigade" while fortifying the agricultural lands in Hisraya town in the northern countryside of Hama.

The army also destroyed one of terrorists' main sites on the outskirts of al-Latamina town, directing artillery's raids and killing scores of terrorists who were inside.

Army units, in cooperating with allied forces, established control over Hatil Dam which is one of Daesh (ISIS) most important sources of water in the depth of the eastern desert.

SANA's reporter said army units, backed by allied forces, continued their military operations against Daesh remnants positioned in Toloul al-Safa in the depth of the desert and retook control over Hatil Dam, about 30 km to the east of Um Marzakh.

During the military operations, Daesh suffered massive losses upon its ranks and equipment and tightened noose on the remaining terrorists in the hard rocky cliffs and cut off their supply sources.

The reporter added that army also enhanced its deployment on the direction of Qabar al-Sheikh Hussein after restoring control over more areas in the area after targeting Daesh with appropriate weapons, destroying a number of dens and sites in parallel with encircling terrorists in the area surrounding Toloul al-Safa and thwarting any attempts of infiltration and escaping.

1396**1396

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Military Attache: Iranian advisors presence in Syria to continue

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Damascus, Aug 28, IRNA -- Iran's military attache in Syria Brigadier General Abolqassem Alinejad says one of articles of a defense agreement signed by the defense ministers of the two countries pertained to continued presence of Iranian military advisors in Syria.

He added that the defense agreement between Iran and Syria was in line with the intention of both countries' leaders to expand bilateral relations.

Development and consolidation of defense ties between Tehran and Damascus will help peace and stability in the region, he said, adding that supporting territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Syria was underlined in the agreement as well.

Demining areas in different regions of Syria based on Iran's eight- year war experiences was another article in the agreement.

Alinejad stressed that in the eight year war in Syria, a number of its defense ministry factories have been damaged which are to be renovated in cooperation with Iran.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami paid a 2-day visit to Syria at the invitation of his Syrian counterpart.

General Hatami also met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In his meeting with Syrian Defense Minister Lieutenant General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, the two sides discussed regional developments, fight against terrorism, ways of strengthening resistance axis and broadening defense and military cooperation between Tehran and Damascus.

The Iranian military delegation arrived in Damascus on Saturday.

1391**1396

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Iran military advisors will continue presence in Syria: Commander

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 04:11PM

A senior Iranian commander says the country's military advisors will maintain their presence in Syria, giving more details about a military cooperation agreement reached between Tehran and Damascus this week.

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami and his Syrian counterpart, General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, signed an agreement on defense and technical cooperation in Damascus on Sunday.

The document "will define the areas of bilateral presence, participation, and cooperation" in defense ties, Hatami said, adding Syria has put the era of war behind it and has entered the era of reconstruction.

"The continuation of presence of Iranian (military) advisors in Syria was one of the points of the defense and technical agreement between Tehran and Damascus," IRNA quoted Iran's military and defense attache to Damascus, Brigadier General Abolqassem Alinejad, as saying on Tuesday.

He added that the agreement was signed in line with the two countries' will to improve cooperation.

He emphasized that the expansion of defense cooperation between Iran and Syria would help promote peace and stability in the Middle East.

The Iranian commander said the accord also stressed the importance of support for Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty, adding that it came into effect on the day of its conclusion.

According the agreement, Iran will help Syria in clearing minefields in different parts of the war-ravaged country given the Islamic Republic's experience gained during the eight-year war imposed by the regime of Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein, he added.

Iran also vowed to help Syria to reconstruct the military factories that were damaged in Syria's seven-year war and rebuild its infrastructure, Alinejad said.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.

All initiatives with the purpose of putting an end to Syria's seven-year-old conflict have failed so far.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, the Iranian defense minister arrived in Damascus on Sunday to discuss a number of important issues, including the latest regional developments, the fight against terrorism, the strengthening of the resistance axis and the study of strategies for expansion of defense and military cooperation.

In a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, Hatami hailed the steadfastness of the Syrian people and government forces in their battle against terrorism, expressing confidence that they will achieve a final victory in this path.

"Not only regional people, but people around the world are indebted to the fight carried out against terrorists in Syria," Hatami said.

Also in the meeting with his Syrian counterpart, the Iranian defense chief warned of extra-regional countries' plots to sow discord in Syria, vowing the Islamic Republic's full support for the war-ravaged country in a bid to preserve its territorial integrity and improve its stability.

"Iran will spare no effort to maintain Syria's territorial integrity, because security in the country will help [improve] regional stability," Hatami said.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said in May that the legitimate governments of Iraq and Syria have called for Iran's military advisory presence in their countries in order to help them fight terrorism.

"The ire of the US and this country's allies, who were the main creators and sponsors of Takfiri terrorism and the final losers of this battlefield, is understandable," the SNSC secretary added.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said last week that the United States and Israel agree that Iran should remove all its forces from Syria.

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UN invites US, allies for Syria talks in Geneva next month

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 02:03PM

United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the United States and six other countries to take part in talks in Geneva next month, a UN spokeswoman says.

De Mistura is expected to meet senior representatives from the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany, France and Egypt on September 14.

The Geneva talks would come two days after a scheduled meeting between the UN envoy and representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran on September 11-12.

"This is going to be an opportunity to discuss the way ahead on the political process," UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said on Tuesday.

De Mistura is tasked with picking members of Syria's Constitutional Committee after receiving nominations from the Syrian government and the opposition.

The UN spokeswoman said on Friday that de Mistura had invited Iran, Russia and Turkey to talks due to be held in Geneva on forming Syria's Constitutional Committee.

"Special Envoy de Mistura has invited Iran, the Russian Federation and Turkey for formal consultations at the United Nations office at Geneva on 11 and 12th September 2018 to work on the Constitutional Committee," Vellucci said at a news conference.

Iran, Russia and Turkey, as guarantor states for a peace process in Syria, expressed their firm determination in late July to counter any plot aimed at partitioning the Arab country.

Turkish state television reported on Monday that the presidents of Iran, Russia, and Turkey will hold their third round of tripartite summit in Iran next week.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will host his Turkish and Russian counterparts Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, respectively, on September 7, state-run TRT Haber television said.

In a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami hailed the steadfastness of the Syrian people and government forces in their battle against terrorism, expressing confidence that they will achieve a final victory in this path.

"Not only regional people, but people around the world are indebted to the fight carried out against terrorists in Syria," Hatami said.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.

All initiatives with the purpose of putting an end to Syria's seven-year-old conflict have failed so far.

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Syrian air defense systems fully prepared ahead of possible US attack: Official

Iran Press TV

Tue Aug 28, 2018 01:10PM

A Syrian military official says the country's air defense forces have been placed on full alert amid reports that foreign-sponsored militants were planning to stage a fake chemical attack in Idlib in order to give the US a pretext for an airstrike against Syrian government forces.

Syria's pro-government and Arabic-language al-Masdar news agency, citing an unnamed official at Mezzeh Military Airport, reported that troops stationed at the facility, which lies southwest of the old center of Damascus, had been ordered to prepare for a possible attack against the capital.

The report added that while the exact reason for this move remains unknown, it is believed to be linked to the potential threat of a US strike on Damascus or its outskirts.

The Syrian government has not commented on the report yet.

Meanwhile, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad has underlined that government forces have never made use of chemical weapons in battles against foreign-backed terrorist groups.

"We have never used and will not use chemical weapons," Haddad said in response to claims by anti-Syria opposition groups, including White Helmets, about chemical attacks carried out by the Syrian government forces against civilians.

"These allegations will get nowhere. They (opposition) have one pretext for everything  the use of chemical weapons. As soon as our army, thanks to the support of friendly countries, advances to liberate our lands, the West and the United States immediately want to intervene in order to attack Syria so as to weaken Syria and prolong the war," Haddad commented.

Western governments and their allies have never stopped pointing the finger at Damascus whenever an apparent chemical attack takes place.

Syria surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by the US and the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversaw the destruction of the weaponry.

It has also consistently denied using chemical weapons over the course of the foreign-backed militancy, which gripped the country in 2011.

Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Monday that the US is seeking to use fake chemical weapons attack to strike Syria.

Konashenkov added that the destroyer USS The Sullivans armed with 56 cruise missiles had arrived in the Persian Gulf several days ago, while a US -1 bomber carrying 24 air-to-surface AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles has been deployed at al-Udeid airbase in Qatar for this purpose.

Additionally, guided-missile destroyer USS Ross armed with 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles entered the Mediterranean on August 25, and the vessel is capable of hitting any target in Syria.

The US has warned it would respond to a chemical weapons attack by Syrian government forces with retaliatory strikes, stressing that the attacks would be stronger than those conducted by American, British and French forces back in April.

Early on April 14, the US, Britain and France carried out a string of airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack against the city of Douma, located about 10 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus.

Washington and its allies blamed Damascus for the Douma attack, an allegation rejected by the Syrian government.

Pentagon said in a statement that at least 58 missiles had struck Shayrat airbase in the western Syrian city of Homs. An unnamed US official said Tomahawk missiles were used in the strikes.

The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force said four Tornado GR4s fighter jets joined in the operation, while France said it had deployed Mirage and Rafale fighter jets.

Russian General Staff spokesman General Sergei Rudskoy, however, said Syrian air defense systems had intercepted at least 71 cruise missiles fired during the US-led aggression.

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Western Powers Call On Russia To Rein In Syria, Prevent 'Humanitarian Crisis'

RFE/RL August 28, 2018

Western powers are calling on Russia to rein in its ally Syria and prevent another potential "humanitarian crisis" from breaking out in the latest arena of the country's seven-year civil war.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump shared concerns about developments in Syria in a phone call on August 27, especially the humanitarian situation in the Idlib region on the border with Turkey, their offices said,

Russia has given President Bashar al-Assad crucial support throughout the war in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and uprooted millions since it began with a government crackdown on protesters in March 2011.

Russia helped turn the tide of the conflict in Assad's favor when it launched a campaign of air strikes on his opponents and stepped up its military presence on the ground in Syria in 2015.

Rebel forces have been routed in many parts of the country. Syrian pro-government forces are preparing to launch what appears to be a major offensive to try to regain control over the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold.

Both Trump and Merkel "called for international action to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Idlib Province," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

"Russia is called upon to act in a moderating manner on the Syrian government and prevent a further escalation," Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said.

Concerns Over Idlib

Before discussing the matter with Trump, Merkel raised concerns about the situation in Idlib during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin just over a week ago, Seibert said.

The United States, France, and Britain last week issued a warning to Syria not to use chemical weapons as government forces ready their assault on Idlib.

French President Emmanuel Macron separately on August 27 called on Russia to rein in Assad, who denies using chemical weapons despite several instances documented by the UN and whom Russia has shielded from UN retribution over the chemical incidents for years.

"The situation is alarming because the regime is threatening to create another humanitarian crisis in Idlib province, and until now has shown no desire to negotiate the slightest political transition," Macron said.

"This means reinforcing pressure on the regime and its allies, and I expect Russia and Turkey to take account of their roles and the commitments they have made," he said.

After regaining control of most of Syria's major urban areas in the last year as well as Syria's southern borders with Jordan and Israel, Assad has set his sights on recapturing Idlib, where thousands of rebels and their families were transported under safe-passage arrangements brokered by Russia when they surrendered in other parts of the country.

Assad's forces started hitting the province with air strikes and shelling this month in what appears to be a prelude to a full-scale government offensive.

Bloomberg News reported last week that U.S. intelligence agencies believe they have evidence that Assad is planning a chemical attack, which if it occurs would fall into a pattern of Assad allegedly using such weapons to both terrorize his rebel opponents and prompt civilians to flee the area under siege.

Bloomberg said the indications of a planned chemical attack prompted White House National Security Adviser John Bolton to warn his Russian counterpart Nikolai Petrushev in a meeting last week that any such assault would draw a strong response from the United States going beyond the targeted air strikes Washington has ordered twice in the past year in retaliation for alleged chemical attacks.

Russia Claims 'Provocation'

As Western leaders have increasingly made public their concerns about a possible chemical attack in Idlib, Russia in recent days has countered with charges that rebels controlling Idlib province are the ones that are preparing to use chemical weapons.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov over the weekend accused the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham of "preparing another provocation" with the delivery of eight tanks of chlorine which he claimed would be used in a chlorine gas attack that the rebels would then blame on the government.

Konashenkov claimed that the planned "provocation" would "serve as another reason for the U.S., the U.K., and France to hit Syrian government targets with air strikes."

Russia on August 27 accused the United States of positioning warships and cruise missiles around the Mediterranean in preparation for a massive attack on Syria -- charges that the Pentagon denied.

Russia and Syria have repeatedly blamed past chemical attacks that have killed dozens of civilians in Syria on rebel groups, in several cases despite evidence that the chemicals were delivered by aerial bombs that the rebels do not have in their arsenals.

A Pentagon spokesman on August 27 called the latest Russian accusations "lies" and "propaganda," and a Syrian war monitor agreed.

"These are mere allegations and lies aimed at preparing the ground for the battle for [retaking] Idlib," Rami Abdel-Rahman, the head of London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the dpa news agency.

He added that "the chlorine shipments about which Russia is talking are sent periodically for water plants to sterilize water in Idlib."

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, Interfax, and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/western-powers-call -on-russia-rein-in-syria-prevent-humanitarian -crisis-idlib-province-assad/29456966.html

Copyright (c) 2018. 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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State Department Says US Will Respond to Chemical Weapons Use in Idlib, Syria

Sputnik News

23:44 28.08.2018

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The United States and its international partners will respond swiftly to any verified chemical weapons use in Syria and urges Russia to make the point clear to the Syrian government, Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

National Security Adviser John "Bolton has spoken to his Russian counterparts, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chairman [Joseph] Dunford, has as well spoken to his Russian counterparts to make it very clear that the United States government and its partners will respond to any verified chemical weapons use in Idlib or elsewhere in Syria for that matter in a swift and appropriate manner," Nauert said. "So we would encourage Russia to make this point very clear to Damascus that that will not be tolerated."

She added that the United States would hold also Russia or the Syrian government accountable for any offensive on Idlib or any kind of escalation in that area, especially if such efforts involve the use of chemical weapons.

Russia's Defense Ministry has warned that the leader of the Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group, which is affiliated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat Nusra terror organization (banned in Russia), is planning a chemical attack against civilians in the Syrian province of Idlib in order to provoke western nations into retaliating against Damascus.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Tuesday that the warning about potential chemical attacks in Syria is based on concrete facts.

Citing reports, Nebenzia said that a number of containers with chlorine were delivered to different cities in the Syrian province of Idlib. He also said unmarked weapons were reportedly transferred to unmarked vehicles.

 Sputnik

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Russian MoD: White Helmets Preparing to Stage Chemical Attack in Idlib

Sputnik News

23:04 28.08.2018(updated 00:05 29.08.2018)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Representatives of the White Helmets group have delivered a large shipment of toxic substances to a warehouse used by Ahrar al-Sham militants in Idlib province, Maj. Gen. Alexei Tsygankov, head of the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation, said on Tuesday.

"According to information received by the Russian Center for reconciliation of warring parties in Syria from independent sources located in the province of Idlib, a large shipment of toxic substances, accompanied by eight representatives of the White Helmets, was delivered from the village of Afs to the settlement of Saraqib, to a warehouse used by the militants from the Ahrar al-Sham group to store weapons and fuel supplies. They were met by two high-ranking commanders from the above-mentioned illegal armed group," Tsygankov said at a daily briefing.

"A part of this shipment in unmarked plastic barrels was later transported to another militant base in the southern part of Idlib province in order to stage a false-flag chemical attack and subsequently accuse the government forces of the use of toxic agents against civilians," Tsygankov stressed.

Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that the White Helmets group in Syria plans to film videos for Middle Eastern and English-language media outlets after staging a false-flag chemical weapons attack aimed at sharply destabilizing the situation in the war-torn country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier on Tuesday that Moscow has called on Germany and the United States to influence the armed opposition in Syria's Idlib province amid possible provocations with the use of chemical weapons in the area.

Ryabkov stressed that the Nusra Front terrorist group, which now refers to itself as the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group, was plotting a very serious provocation in the Idlib area with the use of chemical weapons. According to the deputy minister, the White Helmets group in Syria will film a video of the "chemical attack," and the provocation might be used as a pretext for massive strikes on Syria.

According to the Russian military, chemical weapons provocation, currently being prepared by terrorists in Syria, is aimed at allowing France, the United Kingdom and the United States to carry out a strike on Syrian government's targets.

For this purpose, USS The Sullivans destroyer with 56 cruise missiles on board arrived in the Persian Gulf several days ago, while a US -1 bomber carrying 24 air-to-surface AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles was deployed at Al Udeid air base in Qatar.

The White Helmets is a Syrian humanitarian organization that claims to have saved tens of thousands of lives. Both Moscow and Damascus said that the White Helmets had ties with terrorists and extremists. The group's head, Raed Saleh, said earlier in August that the White Helmets, however, were not linked to any terror organization.

Meanwhile, a senior Russian lawmaker told Sputnik on Tuesday that Moscow was concerned about Washington's military build-up in the Mediterranean near the Syrian coast.

"The United States is strengthening its naval task force in the Mediterranean Sea not far from Syria. This is done to prepare for the strike. So, it should be expect that in the event of a provocation and a decision to deliver strikes against Syria, the missiles will be launched both from the air, and from the sea," Alexei Kondratyev, deputy chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, said.

At the same time, Kondratyev expressed hope that Russia's warnings about the forthcoming provocation with the use of chemical weapons in Syria will "be able to cool the hotheads down and convince the coalition to avoid the strikes."

 Sputnik

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UN Security Council urged to act against 'worst-case scenario' Syria's war-battered Idlib

28 August 2018 - A further escalation of violence in Syria's Idlib governorate could create a humanitarian emergency "at a scale not yet seen through this crisis," a senior United Nations aid official warned the Security Council on Tuesday.

John Ging, Director of Operations with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said recent intense aerial bombardment and shelling in Idlib and three other governorates in north-west Syria have resulted in death, damage and destruction, placing an even greater strain on aid workers and communities hosting displaced people.

"Humanitarian organizations are doing what they can with the resources available to them to sustain the current response and prepare for a possible further deterioration, thanks in large part to cross-border assistance and the generosity of our financial donors," Mr. Ging told the ambassadors.

"But a worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis."

Mr. Ging was speaking during the Council's monthly meeting on the Syrian conflict, now in its seventh year.

He said aid partners are finalizing a humanitarian plan to respond to the potential crisis in the north-west, which borders Turkey, in addition to carrying out their ongoing operations.

These organizations are providing a "critical lifeline" for scores of civilians, 680,000 of whom received food delivered from Turkey in July alone.

Security Council engagement is also critical to preventing an escalation in Idlib and an ensuing humanitarian emergency, he added.

Quoting former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former UN-Arab League envoy on the Syria crisis, who died earlier this month, he appealed for action.

"We call on the members of the Council to do all they can to ensure that we avoid this. In the words of Kofi Annan, 'We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will.'"

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Water Crisis Looms as Syria Military Conflict Winds Down

By Edward Yeranian August 28, 2018

Seven years after civil war erupted in 2011, it appears Syria is beginning to emerge from a dark period of death and destruction. Any recovery may be hampered, however, by what analysts say are signs of a crisis that is looming over water and how it is managed, which could mean the difference between peace or new conflicts  internal and regional  in the future.

Land along the Euphrates River, which runs through modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq  also known historically as the Fertile Crescent  has been hit by water shortages, drought, and poor crop yields.

To increase hydro-electric production and improve irrigation in arid parts of Anatolia, Turkey began building a series of 23 dams starting in the 1980s, reducing the amount of water that could be used for agriculture downstream in Syria and Iraq.

Turkish leaders unilaterally annulled a water-sharing agreement with both Syria and Iraq in 2014.

"They were supposed to allow 500 cubic meters per second of water through to the Euphrates and they reduced that down to 200 meters," Marcus King, a specialist on environmental security at George Washington University in Washington, told VOA.

Decreased flow from Turkey, seven years of fighting, and mismanagement of water resources in many parts of the country, have hit farming hard in Syria. A severe drought from 2006 to 2010 also caused tens of thousands of Syrians to give up agriculture, creating an army of idle young men that may have helped ignite the conflict that began in 2011.

Joshua Landis, who heads the Middle East program at the University of Oklahoma, said the four-year drought "caused immense suffering in Syria," and forced more than a million people to leave their farms in eastern Syria and to migrate to cities or the edge of cities. "It was that population," Landis said, "that in many ways laid the groundwork for civil war."

The drawn-out conflict has damaged or destroyed water networks and infrastructure in Syria's two largest cities, Aleppo and Damascus, as well as in the provinces. Militant groups that controlled water plants and reservoirs upstream periodically used those assets to blackmail their opponents in urban areas.

"There have been various sub-national actors [who] have monopolized water for their own purposes, mismanaged water," said King. He argues the Kurds, who hold sway over large swathes of northern and eastern Syria, control large segments of the Euphrates River, including the Tabqa Dam and Lake Assad.

Observers say the Syrian government did not allocate water resources equally to all regions of the country before the war, giving more to some sectarian groups, such as President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect.

To avoid future conflicts, he says, the government must avoid favoritism when it rebuilds and repairs its water network.

"If the reconstruction isn't done in an equitable way, this will lead to further tensions and cleavages within Syria itself as it begins to recover from conflict," King said.

Syrian analyst Nabil al-Samman agrees. In a recent article in the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, he wrote that water could be the catalyst for future conflicts between regional states, including Syria and Turkey.

Syria and Turkey already fought a long guerilla war, starting in the 1970s, using the Kurdish PKK militia group as a proxy.

Joshua Landis recalls that former Syrian President Hafez al- Assad "gave [Abdallah] Ocelan, the PKK leader, an office in Damascus and helped the Kurds in their insurgency in [Turkey's] eastern Anatolia," he said. "That [was] a war and it was done in part because Turkey began to dam up the Euphrates, and Assad was angry and he did not know how to get them to stop."

Recognizing that empty reservoirs and parched land are a threat to all people, the United Nations voted in 2010 to make access to water a human right, and most nations now resort to international law to mediate water disputes

That option broke down, though, as regional powers entered the fray of Syria's civil war, when the country's many militia groups, often armed and supported by neighboring countries, preferred force over negotiations.

Going forward, Marcus King worries more about internal than external conflict for Syria. "What worries me," he said, "is some of the sub-national factors, some of the internal inequities and cleavages and disagreements that could lead to conflicts over water."

Tempering concerns about the frictions between Turkey and Syria, King and others note the last war fought exclusively over water in the Levant dates back to antiquity, and he doubts a new one is likely.

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Turkey Pursues Warmer Ties With Russia, Europe Amid Dispute With U.S.

RFE/RL August 28, 2018

As relations between the United States and Turkey have soured in recent months, Ankara has stepped up its pursuit of better relations and increased trade with Europe and Russia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the leaders of Britain and Germany on August 27 to discuss strengthened ties even as his government warned the United States that recently imposed U.S. tariffs on Turkish goods threaten to destabilize the Middle East.

At the end of last week, Turkey sent a delegation led by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Moscow to discuss the planned purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems -- a deal opposed by Washington -- as well as efforts to find a peaceful solution to the seven-year war in Syria.

In a sign of the importance of the visit, Cavusoglu was received by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who praised their "deep cooperation" on Syria.

On August 27, Turkish media reported that the presidents of Turkey, Russia, and Iran would all meet next week at a summit in Tehran aimed at forging an agreement on Syria.

Cavusoglu told Putin during their meeting that "your dear friend Mr. Erdogan" also expects him in Istanbul soon for dinner at a fish restaurant. Erdogan and Putin have met at least 11 times since August 2016.

'Striking Level Of Pragmatism'

Turkey's increasingly warm relations with Moscow, which also includes the joint development of a major Russian gas pipeline that is to run through the Black Sea and Turkey to southern Europe, has become critical for Ankara at a time when a crisis in relations with Washington has caused the Turkish lira to lose nearly half its value against the U.S. dollar.

The rapprochement between Russia and Turkey, a NATO member, "demonstrates a striking level of pragmatism" on both sides, but it is particularly helpful to Russia, Anna Arutunyan, a Moscow-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, told AP.

"The prospect of a friendly NATO member is very valuable for Moscow" as it aims to bolster its influence in the Middle East, Arutunyan said. "Turkey is a good avenue to do that. Syria has been a good avenue to do that."

During Erdogan's call with British Prime Minister Theresa May on August 27, the two leaders focused on the economy, trade, and investments, as well as the Syrian crisis. May told Erdogan that Britain wants to see Turkey's economy "flourish," her office said.

The warm response in London contrasted with recent exchanges of threats and economic retaliation between Ankara and Washington that have sent Turkey's currency, markets, and economy tumbling.

In a second call with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported that Erdogan and Steinmeier both showed determination to strengthen diplomatic ties.

They also discussed preparations for Erdogan's state visit to Germany at the end of September and a meeting planned between both countries' finance ministers in Berlin on September 21.

The calls come after personal calls by Erdogan to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and German leader Angela Merkel in recent weeks.

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/turkey-pursues- warmer-ties-russia-europe-amid-dispute-with- us-erdogan-putin/29457015.html

Copyright (c) 2018. 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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Vancouver, BC (FSCwire) - Miranda Gold Corp. ("Miranda") (TSX-V: MAD) is very pleased to announce that it has signed an option agreement (the Agreement) that allows Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) to earn an interest in Mirandas Lyra Project in Colombia.

Project Details

Lyra is in the Department of Antioquia, 120km northwest of Medellin, and a two hour drive from the city. The Lyra project comprises in 14 concession contract applications totaling 54,895 hectares covering more than 25km of the Tonusco Fault that extends south from the Buritica vein system.

Data available from Ingeominas (Instituto Colombiano de Geologia y Mineria) shows 50 of 61 of their samples on Lyra are non-detectable to 0.3 g Au/t, 11 samples are greater than 0.3 g Au/t, and 6 of those 11 samples greater than 1 g Au/t.

Miranda infers that the Tonusco Fault is a feeder to the Buritica vein system and that Lyra may offer an extension to the Buritica district and additional similar vein systems may occur along the Tonusco Fault on Lyra.

To view the graphic in its original size, please click here

Agreement Details

Miranda will operate a prospecting program funded by Newmont on Lyra totaling US$600,000 over 18 months or less - this is an obligation - unless the applications are converted to concession contracts before the end of 18 months. Conversion of all applications to concession contracts will trigger a decision by Newmont as to whether they want to earn into the project - although Newmont may elect to terminate the Agreement at any time.

Upon successful conversion of the Lyra applications to concession contracts, and an election to earn into the project, Newmont shall incur a minimum of US$3,000,000 in qualifying expenditures over the course of the subsequent four years to earn-in and vest into 51% of the Lyra project (the Initial Earn-In).

Upon successful completion of the Initial Earn-In, Newmont and Miranda shall form a joint venture mining company whereby Newmont shall have an initial 51% interest and Miranda shall have a 49% interest. Newmont shall than have the right to earn an additional 19% interest, for an aggregate 70% interest in the joint venture, by funding an additional US$7,000,000 in qualifying expenditures over the course of the subsequent four years (the Second Earn-In).

Comments by Miranda CEO:

Joseph Hebert, Mirandas Chief Executive Officer, comments that, Miranda is pleased to partner with Newmont in conducting prospecting, and once concession contracts are granted, exploration, on the Lyra Project. Newmont is focused on leading in social and environmental responsibility, and brings their proprietary technologies to explore the Lyra project. Miranda believes Lyra covers an extension of the Buritica District, and a substantial trend for Miranda and Newmont to explore. Lyra is one three strategic and aggressive Miranda acquisitions, including Kuntur and Oribella in the Middle Cauca Belt between the world-class Buritica and Nuevo Chaquiro gold and gold-copper deposits.

Qualified Person

Data disclosed in this press release have been reviewed and verified by Mirandas Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Joseph Hebert, C.P.G., B.Sc. Geology, and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Corporate Profile

Miranda is a gold exploration company active in Colombia. Miranda employs a prospect generator and joint venture business model. Miranda focuses on generating projects with world-class discovery potential, and then joint ventures multiple projects to maximize the chance of discovery, while reducing economic risk and shareholder dilution. Miranda has ongoing partnerships with IAMGold Corp., and now with Newmont.

For more information related to Miranda contact Joseph Hebert, Chief Executive Officer at 1-775-340-0450 or joseph.hebert@mirandagold.com - www.mirandagold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Notice to US investors:

U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC.

This press release uses (or may use) the terms measured resources, "indicated resources" and "inferred resources", which are estimated in accordance with the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Classification system. We advise investors that while those terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. In addition, "Inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in certain exceptional cases. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred resource exists, or is economically or legally minable.

To view the original release (with media), please click here

Source: Miranda Gold Corp. (TSX Venture:MAD, OTC Pink:MRDDF, FWB:MRG)

To follow Miranda Gold Corp. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below.

Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. https://www.fscwire.com

Copyright  2018 FSCwireVANCOUVER, August 29, 2018 - Nevada Clean Magnesium, Inc. (TSX-V:NVM; Frankfurt-M1V; OTCQB:MLYFF) (the "Company") announces that it has issued 50,000 shares to Lodestar Management Group, LLC. ("Lodestar") for the completion of their corporate services agreement for the month of July 2018.

Terms of the Lodestar agreement were previously announced May 24th, 2018 and are detailed in the paragraphs below.

Under the terms of the agreement Lodestar will provide advisory, consulting, negotiation and other management services relating to corporate management, administrative and/or operational activities of Nevada Clean Magnesium USA, Inc. ("NCMIUSA"), (a 100% owned US subsidiary of Nevada Clean Magnesium Inc.), managerial oversight, strategic planning, financial and compulsory oversight and compliance including, advisory and consulting services in relation to the selection, retention and supervision of independent contractors, required to implement and execute the intentions and objectives and to forward the pace and progression of the business affairs of NMI.

The term of the contract is for one year retroactively commencing January 1, 2018. The Company has agreed to compensate Lodestar in the amount of $2,500 CDN per month by arrangement of the issuance of shares. The number of shares issued will be based on the share price on the day of issuance that is not lower than the $0.05 per share minimum requirement, and will not exceed $2,500 CDN in value. The shares will be issued on the last working day of each month for a period of twelve (12) months.

The issuance of these shares has received final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Nevada Clean Magnesium, Inc.

Nevada Clean Magnesium is focused on becoming a major U.S. producer and distributor of primary, high grade, low cost magnesium metal extracted from its 100% owned Tami-Mosi property located in North Central Nevada. Based on the Company's NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Report published in September 2011 and amended in July 2014, the Tami-Mosi Project has an inferred resource of 412 million tonnes with an average grade of 12.3% Mg for a contained metal content of 111 billion pounds of magnesium using a 12% cut-off grade contained within a high purity dolomite block. For more information, please visit www.nevadacmi.com.

The technical portion of this press release was prepared under the supervision and review of James Sever, P. Eng., and COO for Nevada Clean Magnesium. Mr. Sever is a non-independent qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 standards.

Forward-Looking Statement

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release include that we can become a major U.S. producer and distributor of primary, high grade, low cost magnesium metal; that we will be able to close on our agreements with BBT; and that we can develop a clean, commercially viable, cost-effective process for the production of magnesium from dolomite, and the opportunity to commercialize and start sales. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, including that the TSXV may not approve the agreement, the Company's dolomite resource may not be mined because of technical, regulatory, financing or other obstacles, the market price for magnesium may make our resources uneconomic, the Process may not be able to be commercially developed, none of our processes may result in cost-effective magnesium production, we may not be able to protect our intellectual property and keep out competition, we may not be able hire and retain skilled employees, no market for our process may develop from other resource owners, and other general risks associated with being a mineral exploration and development company. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To Reach Nevada Clean Magnesium Please Contact:

Edward Lee, CEO at (604) 210-9862

For additional information please visit our website at

http://www.nevadacmi.com or view our profile at http://www.sedar.com.

You may also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Copyright (c) 2018 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo is planning 'more overtaking' at Monza, as he looks to put the disappointment of Spa-Francorchamps behind him.

Ricciardo is having a tough time of things at the moment, with his car being damaged at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, which forced him to pit and be two laps down to everyone else.

The Australian was forced to retire later in the race because of this and now the soon-to-be Renault man faces a grid penalty at Monza, due to a new engine being taken.

"It looks likely that I will be taking some engine penalties," Ricciardo said earlier this week. "It's obviously not ideal.

"But Monza is a power track and one that we haven't been hugely strong at in recent years. It does mean plenty of action and fun for me in the race, though.

"I've done some of my best overtaking moves there and I plan on doing plenty more this week. Last year, I finished fourth from 16th on the grid, so it won't be boring if I have to do the same again this year."

Ricciardo admitted that it is a challenge for Red Bull with their current Renault engine at Monza, which is a predominatly power-dominated track.

"Monza is fast, very fast," he said. "This makes it great fun but at the same time not ideal for us and our car. It is an old school track, one of the few left."Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly has said that according to his engineers, the Honda-powered car could reach 360 kilometres per hour this weekend, under the right circumstances.

In the team's preview of what is technically their home race, as they're based in Faenza, the 22-year-old remembers all the good times he's had at the circuit before he got to Formula One.

"I have good memories of the Monza track as I was on pole for my last two races there, even if it's going to be a whole new challenge this year in a Formula 1 car," he said on the Toro Rosso website.

"It will be something new to experience the top speeds in an F1 car at what is the fastest track of the year: the engineers tell me that with DRS and slipstreaming we should be doing over 360 km/h.

"It's going to be an incredible feeling rushing down the straights and then coming to the very heavy braking areas.

"You really have a sensation of speed and that's one of the things that make this circuit special."

It will be the first time ever for Gasly in a Formula One car on the circuit, and he knows how important it is to have good pace on the straights.

"You spend almost 80% of the lap flat out so it's important not to lose speed through the chicanes, which means doing a good job of riding the kerbs and then having good traction out of the corners."

It will be interesting to see how well the Honda engines will perform compared to the teams around them with their Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes engines. At Spa, another track which is very high-speed, Toro Rosso did surprisingly well, with Gasly coming in at P9, securing two points. Will he be able to do something similar at Monza? We'll find out this weekend!This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. It is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.Communists Turn Parasites In Both States!

The Communist parties  CPI and the CPI (M), which had once dominated the politics across the country, have now virtually turned parasites in the Telugu states.

Before every elections, these Left parties had the habit of running around one or the other party for alliances.

In the previous elections, they had joined hands either with the Congress or the Telugu Desam Party. In 2014 elections, they could not join hands with either of it, because the Congress divided AP and had become a villain in the eyes of the people while the TDP had an alliance with the BJP.

In Telangana, too, there were no takers for them, as they opposed the Telangana formation. Yet, both the parties had won just one seat each and finally, the CPI MLA switched over to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

This time, too, the Left parties had no way to ally with the Congress or the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. They tried to make friendship with the YSR Congress party, but they realised that he might go with the BJP. So, they are running after the Jana Sena Party headed by actor Pawan Kalayn.

In Telangana, the CPI and the CPI-M are in a dilemma as to what stand they would take. The CPI is now contemplating joining hands with the Congress and bargain for a seat or two to retain its identity. But CPI (M), as a matter of policy, does not want to go with the Congress.

So, here also, the CPI (M) wants to go with the Jana Sena. On Monday, CPI (M) Telangana unit secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram wrote a letter to Pawan Kalyan expressing his partys interest in joining hands with Jana Sena in Telangana.

Following his advice, Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Jana Sena held a meeting in Hyderabad to discuss about CPM State General Secretary Veera Bhadrams letter.

PAC stated that it needs more clarity to decide whether the alliance would be restricted to fighting for resolving public issues or it would go on to contest in the upcoming elections to the State Assembly.

Click Here for Latest Direct-to-OTT Releases (List Updates Daily)BRIDGEPORT -A local man, who went on a rape and burglary rampage in Trumbull, Stratford and Bridgeport before killing a Seymour man in a car crash, is facing 25 years in prison.

Geraldo Maldonado, 21, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin Tuesday afternoon to aggravated first-degree sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, home invasion and numerous burglary and attempted burglary charges as well as misconduct with a motor vehicle.

I believe so, Maldonado told the judge when asked if he believed it was in his best interest to plead guilty to the charges.

If convicted of the charges Maldonado could have faced up to 121 years.

Devlin said he will impose a 25-year prison term, followed by probation when Maldonado is sentenced Nov. 2.

Police said Maldonados rampage began early in the morning on Oct. 13, 2015 when Maldonado broke into a Trumbull home.

The female homeowner was asleep in her bed when she felt someone get in beside her. Police said she believed it was her young daughter until she felt the point of a gun sticking into her backside. She turned over to find a masked man.

Police said Maldonado led the woman into her backyard where he ordered her to pull he clothes off and get down on her knees. He then raped her, police said.

Maldonado was later identified as the assailant through DNA, police said.

During the next few months police said Maldonado broke into and tried to break into homes in Stratford and Bridgeport.

On Feb. 2, 2016, schools in the North End of the city were put in lockdown after police said they chased an armed Maldonado following an attempted burglary on Sunnycrest Road.

In April 2016, Maldonado was fleeing police when his car crashed into a sport utility vehicle driven by David Anderson, 22, of Seymour, at the intersection of Barnum Avenue and Pembroke Street, police said.

The impact of the crash flipped Andersons SUV, and Anderson was thrown from the vehicle, police said. He suffered severe injuries to the head and died at Bridgeport Hospital, police said.People eager to spend the waning days of summer frolicking in the waters near a coastal town in France might want to rethink their plans. It isn't safe, according to local officials, who recently banned swimming and diving in the area.

But the danger threatening visitors to the beaches of Landevennec isn't a vicious rip current or a shark - it's a lonely, "love lorn," male bottlenose dolphin nicknamed Zafar.

For months, Zafar has been known in the Bay of Brest for his unabashed playfulness, even allowing people to hold on to his dorsal fin as he takes them for rides, the Telegraph reported. But the dolphin's interest in humans now appears to be driven by the need for company of an intimate nature, French newspaper Ouest-France reported. "He is in heat," one marine mammal expert told the news site.

Zafar has been seen trying to rub up against swimmers and boats or kayaks, Le Telegramme reported. In other instances, the dolphin prevented a female swimmer from returning to shore (she was later rescued by boat) and lifted another woman out of the water with his nose, according to the French news site.

While his name translates to "victory," Zafar's various attempts to satisfy his needs have not only fallen short, but prompted Landevennec's mayor, Roger Lars, to issue a bylaw banning swimming and diving near the village's shoreline whenever Zafar is seen in the area, Ouest-France reported.

Visitors and locals, Lars said, were becoming "frightened" by Zafar's behavior, according to Ouest-France.

"I issued the decree to preserve the safety of people," he said. According to the Telegraph, people are also now "forbidden" to get within 50 meters (164 feet) of the dolphin.

The "aggressive" and "pushy" antics are not unusual for a dolphin in Zafar's situation, Elizabeth Hawkins, lead researcher with Dolphin Research Australia, told The Washington Post. Zafar is what researchers call a "social solitary dolphin," meaning for some reason he's been isolated from other dolphins and is now a "social outcast," Hawkins said.

The dolphin is "wanting needing, yearning social contact from cohorts and that need isn't fulfilled, so it can try different dolphin behaviors toward humans to try and get that social fulfillment," she said, adding that this is when "strange behaviors can come about."

Given how social dolphins are, Hawkins said the animals seek to form and reinforce bonds, often using sexual behavior. For solitary male dolphins isolated from their society, rubbing themselves on objects or people has been observed as attempts to meet that biological need, she said.

"It's been observed that dolphins and different whale species will rub themselves against objects with what appears to be some type of sexual satisfaction coming about," Hawkins said.

According to one chapter of a 2003 book titled "Marine Mammals: Fisheries, Tourism and Management Issues," researchers observing 29 "lone, sociable dolphins" found that at least 13 dolphins had "periods of misdirected sexual behaviors towards humans, buoys, and/or vessels. . ."

The way Zafar's behavior has progressed is also common among these lone dolphins, said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at the University of Hawaii Manoa's Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology.

"The animals slowly become more and more habituated to human activities, which humans then like, but in that process they typically become more and more aggressive, which sounds like exactly what's happening now," Bejder said.

In the marine mammal book, it was noted that at least 18 of the lone dolphins observed directed aggressive behavior toward people.

No one has been injured by Zafar yet, a fact that has motivated locals such as Erwan Le Cornec to challenge the swimming ban, Le Telegramme reported.

Le Cornec, a specialist in environmental law who enjoys swimming with Zafar, told Le Telegramme he plans to take legal action against the "excessive" decree.

"This animal is not dangerous," he said. "There have never been any mishaps noted in the natural environment between a dolphin and a human. You just don't do anything in his presence and don't go swimming with him if you're a bad swimmer."

In an interview with Ouest-France, Le Cornec claimed the mayor wants to paint Zafar as a "ferocious beast, totally unpredictable, likely to drown people."

"It will turn the legitimately positive approach that people have to dolphins into a fear of these intelligent animals, and make this fear into a panic and this panic into a real psychosis," he said.

Lars, the town's mayor, told Le Telegramme the decision to impose the ban was made only after consulting marine mammal experts.

Both Hawkins and Bejder praised the mayor's actions.

"With an adult dolphin doing this kind of behavior, it can be very insistent, very pushy," Hawkins said. "It can actually increase the harm to swimmers themselves and the dolphin male may not mean to inflict harm upon swimmers, but it's several hundred kilos of a fairly rambunctious animal trying to fulfill a need."

Bejder said dolphins ramming into humans can lead to a variety of serious injuries, including broken arms, legs and ribs.

The ban also serves to protect Zafar from an unfortunate fate common to solitary dolphins: untimely death at the hands of humans.

Habituation, or becoming used to human contact, can lessen a dolphin's natural instincts to be aware of potential threats, leaving them vulnerable getting hit by boats or abused by people, Hawkins said.

"There's horrible stories of how people have interacted with these animals," she said, noting examples of people stuffing cigarette butts into a dolphin's blowhole or pouring beer into their throats.

Based on the description of Zafar's behavior, Hawkins said it appears the dolphin is already at a "very high level of habituation" and that authorities stepped in at the right time.

By staying away, people can do their part to help save him, Bejder said.

"The best thing you can do for this animal right now is to not interact with it and hope it can resume natural behavior again," he said.

---

The Washington Post's Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this story.Creating Startup Boston was tricky. Going into it, I was a 25-year-old with zero connections, no money in the bank and a full-time job co-founding martech startup nDash.co. I knew I wanted to create an even "for startups, by startups," but my resources and "free time" were extremely limited. It's a situation many event marketers and startup founders can probably relate to.

Related: How to Get People Through the Door at Your First Event

Now I'm not going to say that I'm the event or startup guru -- I'm far from it and have much more to learn. But, I will say that I learned valuable lessons from planning Startup Boston. And when all was said and done, I was able to create an event that drew over 125 speakers and 2,500 attendees in year one.

Here's what I learned from the experience.

Build a community.

No matter what you do or where you're based, there are groups in your region that share a mission statement similar to your own. These are the guys that want your mission to succeed just as much as you do. You can start finding these relationships within local organizations, colleges and Meetup groups.

At Startup Boston, we were looking to connect Boston's startup community for a week of 50-plus events. We found our community in accelerators, coworking spaces, entrepreneurship departments at colleges and dozens of organizations that also supported the Boston startup community. HubSpot has found success taking a similar community-centric approach with INBOUND, Partner Days and its global HUG events.

If you want to be successful, pinpoint your community and make your endeavor community-driven. This can -- and should -- start happening months before the event or company launch even occurs. Your community is going to be your support network for getting the word out.

Related: How to Create Special Events People Will Love

Find your righthand counterpart.

I've never been great at asking for help. I struggled with the complex of thinking that I know everything (it was a steep learning curve, but rest-assured, I'm much better now). But, in my world of creating Startup Boston, I realized quickly that I could not, by any means, get this event off the ground by myself.

My counterpart was Jay Neely. Truly the best co-organizer any event could have. Why? Not only did he understand the Boston startup scene inside and out, but while I like to move quickly and break things along the way, he liked to think things through and was more methodic in his decision-making. We work incredibly well together.

Look at the great companies out there -- Microsoft (Paul Allen and Bill Gates), Apple (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak) and Intel (Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce). It's pivotal to find someone that's reliable, complements your skill set and believes in what you want to create as much as you do. Not just to share some of the workload, but to hold you accountable and to push back on decisions that, well, may not be as great as you think.

Related: Why Live Events Are Rocket Fuel for Business Growth

Know your MVP.

Minimum viable product (MVP) is a concept I'm sure was invented to curtail tinkering entrepreneurs. The idea is to keep dreaming big, but also know the essentials that you truly need to get off the ground.

I often say that we took the bootstrapped approach to year one of Startup Boston. In our case, that wasn't just referring to the budget (or lack thereof), but also to what we really needed for year one. Our list looked something like this:

Speakers

Venues

A website

Attendees

That's it. Those were the essentials.

It may seem like dreaming small, but take a look at other successes. Amazon started as an online bookstore run out of Jeff Bezos' garage. SXSW started as a showcase of 177 artists and 15 panels in 1987, and now hosts more than 75,000 attendees, 5,000 speakers and 2,000 sessions. Can I say #GOALS?

Know exactly where you see your venture in five years, but understand that you can't accomplish it all in year one. Boil it down to the essentials, especially if you're not sure where the money is coming from.

Related: Dramatically Increase Your Customer Base With Event Marketing

Network your ass off.

Going into year one I knew some people within the Boston startup scene, but it wasn't by any means enough to get the event off the ground. So, how did I go about finding these speakers and reaching out to those community organizations I wanted the support of?

Surprisingly simply -- by putting myself out there. Send LinkedIn requests with a personalized note that includes your ask. Find and engage connections on Twitter. Send a cold email with a direct (and non-spammy) subject line. Go to an event that you know potential connections will attend. Work your way up to an individual person by first finding your "in" with her company. These "loose" connections can be more valuable than you realize.

I could go on, but none of this is groundbreaking. The "secret" is that that these tactics truly do work. It can be a bit awkward to do cold outreach, but even if you have to go through 100 "no's" for one "yes," it's worth it.

Related: Entrepreneurs, Here Are the 5 Ways to Throw the Best First Event Ever

Build quality and they will come.

I remember 15 minutes before the first event of Startup Boston, I was worried that no one was going to show up -- because no one was there. And I gave Neely a panicked call: "Let's say no one shows up?"

But, people did show up. There were about 20 for that first event and the majority of the rest of the week's events were at capacity (overflowing, actually).

As it turns out, it's more important to build something amazing, even if it's for the smallest audience, than it is to build a crappy product for a big audience that will never want to come back again. Focus on creating something incredible -- even without a budget -- and the community you want to attract will come.

Related:

7 Challenges You May Face If You Are In The Experiential Events Space In India

International Franchise Exhibition To Take Place In Abu Dhabi From October 16-17, 2018

How I Built a 2,500-Person Event on a Shoestring Budget



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedA Republican propelled by President Donald Trump and an African-American Democrat powered by a wave of liberal energy won the nominations for governor of Florida on Tuesday, setting up a colossal fall showdown between two potent political forces in the country's biggest swing state.

Trump's preferred candidate, Rep. Ron DeSantis, decisively won the GOP nomination. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a liberal backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, claimed the Democratic nod in an upset. Both are 39, representing a generational shift, and defeated more moderate opponents.

Their victories instantly elevated the themes that have jolted and polarized the country during the Trump era - race, health care, immigration and the environment - to the political foreground of the third-most-populous state in the country and one that promises to be a battleground in the next presidential election.

Gillum, who defeated former congresswoman Gwen Graham, a centrist who led in pre-election polls, became the second African-American gubernatorial nominee in the South this year. Democrat Stacey Abrams won the party's nomination in Georgia in May. She is also facing a Trump-backed Republican, Secretary of State Brian Kemp. A third southern black Democrat, Mike Espy, is running for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi.

Addressing supporters Tuesday night, Gillum presented himself as a direct answer to Trump-style politics.

"We're going to make clear to the rest of the world that the dark days that we've been under coming out of Washington, that the derision and the division that have been coming out of our White House, that right here in the state of Florida we are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way," he said.

DeSantis, who is one of Trump's most resolute defenders in Washington, beat state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who had eyed the governor's office for years.

DeSantis had tied his fate to Trump, who campaigned for him this summer. One of his ads showed him building a wall - of the border sort - out of blocks with one of his children and reading "The Art of the Deal" to another.

He signaled in his victory speech that he would continue to align himself tightly in the general election with Trump and his allies and listed a string of Trump accomplishments, including the nominations of two conservative Supreme Court justices and the cancellation of the Iran nuclear deal.

"I'd say that's pretty good work for a year and a half, so let's keep it going," he said.

The contrasts in theprimariesmirrored the choices that voters have faced across the country this year as they have picked nominees for the November midterms. In the GOP, voters have mostly sided with Trump-backed candidates.

In the Democratic Party, this year's primary results have been less conclusive. At times, liberal upstarts like New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nebraska's Kara Eastman have upset establishment-backed opponents. On other occasions, more moderate Democrats have defeated left-wing challengers.

Gillum has embraced a "Medicare-for-all" health-care system and has said the government should "abolish ICE in its current form." Graham, the daughter of former governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham, had built a moderate record during her sole term in Congress but failed to overcome the coalition of liberals and African Americans built by Gillum.

Sanders, who traveled to Florida this month to campaign for Gillum, congratulated him in a statement. "What has made Andrew's campaign so powerful is that he's not just working hard to win an election, he has laid out a vision for a new course for the state of Florida and our country," Sanders said.

Gillum has faced questions about an FBI investigation that he has said appeared to focus on city government in Tallahassee and a colleague, but not him. "I have zero tolerance for corruption," he said in a Washington Post podcast earlier this year.

Voters also went to the polls Tuesday in Arizona and Oklahoma. In Arizona, where the death of Sen. John McCain has sent many people into a state of mourning, Trump's influence was felt in the closely watched Republican primary for Senate. While Trump did not pick a favorite, the three leading candidates aligned themselves closely with the president. Rep. Martha McSally, the winner, hardened her immigration stance as the race unfolded.

Ideological divisions roiled the Democratic primary for governor in Arizona, with former state education official David Garcia emerging victorious after campaigning on a platform of universal health care and replacing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Tuesday also kicked off a marquee Senate race in Florida, as Sen. Bill Nelson, D, released his first television ad in anticipation of a bruising fight against Gov. Rick Scott, who easily won the Republican nomination. Nelson, who was unopposed on the Democratic side, pitched himself as a middle-of-the-road problem-solver.

"If you know who you're fighting for and you're willing to put the politics aside, you can get a lot done," he says in the commercial. Some general election polls have shown Scott, a formidable fundraiser, leading Nelson.

The Gillum nomination could affect the concurrent Senate race, however, as the party's enthusiastic base of liberal activists and donors pour money and manpower into the state.

With the unofficial post-Labor Day start of the general election just around the corner, both parties face a moment of reckoning with their nominees in the swing states and districts that could decide control of Congress and the occupants of the nation's governor's mansions.

Florida and Arizona factor heavily into those battles. Trump won both by single-digit margins in 2016. But demographic trends and rising anger with his presidency have given Democrats hopes of turning the states blue.

Republicans have controlled the Florida governor's mansion for nearly two decades. But Democrats sense an opening this year, partly in anticipation of DeSantis as the Republican nominee.

"VOTE FOR RON!" Trump tweeted on Monday. He called DeSantis a candidate who is "Strong on Crime, Borders and wants Low Taxes."

"It made all the difference," said longtime Florida Republican consultant Mac Stipanovich, speaking of Trump's endorsement. "It is a commentary on Trump's influence with the Republican primary electorate that he could basically call the shot."

Also in Florida, several House members faced primary challenges, including Rep. Darren Soto, D, who defeated former congressman Alan Grayson, one of the party's most outspoken and controversial liberals; Rep. Al Lawson, D, who defeated former Jacksonville mayor Alvin Brown; and Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D, who defeated Chardo Richardson, the president of the region's American Civil Liberties Union chapter.

Looking to November, Democrats are hopeful about winning three South Florida districts where Latino and suburban voters, once reliably Republican, fled the party in 2016. Their top target is the Miami-based 27th District, where GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is retiring and where voters rejected Trump by 20 points.

Donna Shalala, who served as health and human services secretary under President Bill Clinton and later as president of the University of Miami, barreled into the primary and raised more than $1 million in just a few weeks. Shalala won the Democratic nomination and will face Maria Salazar, the Republican nominee.

In Arizona, Senate Republican leaders had hoped McSally, a former Air Force pilot and one of their top recruits, would advance from a bruising primary that has forced her to tack to the right and embrace Trump, whom she once criticized.

"I think she has the best chance of holding the seat. I worry that if she isn't the nominee that we could well lose the seat," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas.

McSally defeated hard-right osteopath Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The winner will faceRep. Kyrsten Sinema, D, who has been running on a centrist platform. Polls show Sinema is in a strong position to compete for the seat in November. Some Republicans have grown nervous that McSally's steps to the right, particularly in immigration, could come back to haunt her.

McSally said she welcomes a chance to campaign with Trump in the general election. Republicans are defending a 51-49 Senate majority, and the Arizona race is seen as a critical piece of the battle for control of the chamber.

In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Garcia talked about creating statewide universal health care and "replacing ICE with an immigration system that reflects our American values."He will face Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

The nastiest Democratic race was in McSally's 2nd Congressional District, where former congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick competed with Matt Heinz, a doctor and former state legislator who lost to McSally in 2016. He refused to clear a path for Kirkpatrick and compared her desire to return to Congress to a "meth addiction."

Republicans settled a crowded primary of their own, with Hispanic Chamber of Commerce leader Lea Marquez-Peterson leading in polls and fundraising.

In Oklahoma, businessman Kevin Stitt won Republican gubernatorial runoff and will face former state attorney general Drew Edmondson, D, in November.

A Republican runoff was also being decided in the conservative 1st Congressional District, which has been vacant since Jim Bridenstine left to lead NASA. Either former Tulsa County district attorney Tim Harris or businessman Kevin Hern would be the favorite in November.

Democrats were focused on the more moderate 5th Congressional District, where Kendra Horn has intrigued the national party and looked to get past retired law professor Tom Guild, who ran to her left.Bobcats are our states top-shelf predators. Stalking at dawn and dusk, they are largely solitary, largely silent, and hard to spot.

Robert Miller: Tufts of fur that fly from limb to limb at night

And, like true Nutmeggers, theyre becoming suburbanized. Short-tailed, stocky and speckled-coated, they may tread on big cat feet through the woods and brush lots and swamps. But they like our backyards as well.

That is one of the preliminary findings of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protections ongoing study of the states one true wild cat.

Having attached GPS collars to 50 bobcats, they began tracking them. Rather than staying away from people, the DEEP has found the bobcats circle back to us.

We found most are returning to higher housing density, said DEEP wildlife biologist Jason Hawley, who is working on the study.

There is an obvious reason for this. Humans have created a landscape in the state thats amenable to all kinds of wildlife.

White-tailed deer like to browse along the edges of yards and chow down on the shrubbery. If black bears can knock over a garbage can for a meal, thats easy pickings for them. Eastern cottontails bunny-hop across our lawns. Wild turkeys wander through.

We fill backyard bird feeders that, in turn, fatten squirrels and chipmunks and mice. We have trees and stone walls for these scurriers to live in.

Everybody has a bird feeder in their yard, Hawley said.

Knowing this, bobcats have learned to dine at the all-you-can eat squirrel-and-rabbit buffet weve set for them.

Theyre prey stations, said wildlife biologist Laura Simon of our backyard eateries.

It makes sense, said Eileen Fielding, executive director of the Sharon Audubon Center, which offers bobcats the open space they also need. They will go where the calories are.

Its also part of a remarkable turnaround for bobcats in Connecticut.

When farmers deforested the state in the 19th century, there wasnt much woodland habitat left to protect the bobcats. They were also hunted and trapped and treated as varmints. In 1972, fearing their extirpation, the state declared them a protected fur-bearing mammal.

For the rest of the 20th century, bobcats lived mostly in the states northwest corner.

But Hawley said about 10-15 years ago, people started seeing bobcats throughout Connecticut and finding them dead as roadkill. Theyre now found in all of its eight counties.

Cathy Hagadorn, director of the Connecticut Audubon Societys Deer Pond Farm sanctuary in Sherman, said they are common enough there that one of its trails is named the Bobcat Trail.

We had a day this winter when we went out and looked for animal tracks, she said. It was a perfect day, with just a light covering of snow. On a log near the Bobcat Trail, there were perfect bobcat tracks.

But theyre not easily studied. They live alone  males and females only come together to mate and mothers will travel with their cubs until theyre grown and the next mating season arrives.

They can growl and caterwaul when the occasion demands it, but theyre mostly silent. They have large territories 10 to 20 square miles. They stalk their prey  waiting and watching and pouncing  rather than running things down. Theyre cats, not pack-loving, social canines.

Hawley said the DEEP has also found bobcats are the most successful hunters of white-tailed deer fawns. If you want fewer white-tailed deer in the state  and fewer blood meals those deer provide Lyme disease-spreading black-legged ticks in the fall  you should like bobcats.

Simon, who is a specialist in backyard biology, said that mother deer leave their fawns to sit alone in fields for hours. They are eminently pounce-able.

Theyre very easy prey, Simon said.

Hawley said the GPS collars were programmed to fall off the bobcats. But 15 had stopped sending signals. The DEEP is asking people who find those collars to please send them to the DEEP.

They still have data, he said.

The DEEP is also encouraging people who see bobcats to report them, either at deep.ctwildlife@ct.gov. or by using the iNaturalist app on your smart phone.

And while bobcats can take down a family house cat, Simon said they wont bother people.

Theyre looking for easy prey, she said.

Hagadorn of Deer Pond Farm said having bobcats in our midst also shows how humans are part of the states ecology.

When we put out bird feeders, were not just feeding the birds, she said. We also feeding squirrels and chipmunks. And they become food for red-tailed hawks and coyote and bobcat.

Contact Robert Miller at earthmattersrgm@gmail.comSun and Mail at odds over Newcastle vicar who allegedly groped man on flight

To Newcastle Crown Court, where vicar Peter McConnell is accused of groping a fellow traveller aboard a flight from the US to London. Innocence is assumed, of course. Mr McConnell denies any wrongdoing. The trial continues. This is not about Mr McDonnell, rather reporting on the matter. Might it call be a case of mistaken identity?

The Daily Mail identifies Mr McConnell thus:

But the Sun spots a different man apparently of the same name:

A look at the Newcastle Chronicle reveals that the Suns photo is the correct one.

Anorak

Posted: 29th, August 2018 | In: News, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | PermalinkThese are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.The Nokia 6.1 Plus is a long-anticipated device by the global Android community and after a week-long pre-order phase in India, the device is finally hitting the shelves tomorrow.

According to Flipkart's landing page, the Nokia 6.1 Plus will launch tomorrow, August 30 at 12 PM local time. The first Nokia-branded notched smartphone will sell for INR 15,999 ($226) on Flipkart and Nokia's official website with the former offers more color options.

Opening Flipkart's pre-order page reveals three color variants - Black, Blue and White coming with only one available memory configuration - 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Whereas Nokia's website sells it only in Black with the same price tag.

There are also some cashback and EMI options available so check out the source link below for more information.

Source 1 | Source 2Xiaomi's Pocophone F1 (known in India as the Poco F1) is quite the intriguing device, with its top of the line specs and incredibly low price. The handset's first flash sale in the subcontinent went live today at 12 PM, and apparently it was Flipkart's biggest and fastest flagship sale ever.

That's because sales totalling more than INR 200 crore (2 billion) were logged in less than five minutes. The company hasn't announced exactly how many units got bought, but we can infer that from the phone's pricing.

#POCOF1: thank you all for a fantastic response to the first sale!



We're happy to announce that we generated 200+ cr in less than 5 minutes today, making this the BIGGEST & FASTEST flagship sale ever on @Flipkart!



Thank you, Masters Of Speed. Next sale is on 5th September! pic.twitter.com/cydGtGjlb6  POCO India (@IndiaPOCO) August 29, 2018

The lowest estimate, provided every single order was for the most expensive model, is 68,965 devices sold. On the other hand, if every buyer went for the base model, it would mean that 100,000 units were sold in those few minutes. Obviously the real number will be somewhere in between these.

The next flash sale in India takes place on September 5. The Pocophone F1 made its international debut on Monday, and it's expected to land in Europe and Hong Kong later this week. To learn more about it, don't miss our detailed review.(ANSA) - Trieste, August 29 - A Macedonian family of Albanian origin resident in Friuli was gunned down in their sleep in Macedonia when they went back for a wedding, sources said Wednesday.

The father, mother and teen daughter were killed at Debar, a small town on the border with Albania, sources said.

The family had for a long time been resident at Sacile near Pordenone.

The massacre happened on August 27, the Messaggero Veneto newspaper said.

The family has at least one other daughter, who is older and stayed in Italy, the paper said.





Haiti - FLASH : 3 former ministers reappointed in the next ministerial cabinet ?





According to several sources in the corridors of the National Palace, the next ministerial cabinet is almost ready and the policy statement of Prime Minister Jean-Henry Ceant has already been handed to the Head of State. This General Policy would respond to both President Moise's roadmap and the expectations of the different sectors consulted.



In addition, circulates in the Palace a persistent rumor that suggests that 3 members of the outgoing Ministerial Cabinet could be reappointed in the new Cabinet. It would be the resigning ministers : Fritz Caillot (Public Works), Pierre Josue Agenor Cadet (Education) and Pierre Simon Georges (Environment).



According to our sources, the Prime Minister could go to Parliament with his cabinet on Thursday or Friday for his General Policy statement.



However, North-West Senator Onondieu Louis, Chairman of the Special Committee for the Analysis of Documents, recalled that his Commission has still not received the documents from the ministers who will form the next ministerial cabinet, which could change the timing of the presentation of the General Policy Statement of the appointed Prime Minister.



TB/ HaitiLibre





















Haiti - Politic : $27M to replace new equipment !





After an investment of several million US dollars less than 3 years ago for the purchase of new and modern equipment to increase the production of National Identification Cards (CIN) in Haiti, we learn in a note of the Ministry of Justice that these equipment according to a diagnosis made in 2017, no longer meet the requirements, are victims of major problems and are virtually unusable by the Office National Identification (ONI). The Ministry notes that it is "important today to modernize the national identification system and make it functional to enable the state to identify and authenticate its citizens while ensuring better control on its territory."



Yet in March 2015, Jean-Baptiste F. Saint-Cyr, the Director General of ONI had explained "that the CIN are no longer produced abroad but in Haiti and that the purchase of new equipment has allowed increase production from 8,000 to 10,000 cards a day. Announcing soon a new system that will reach 24,000 cards per day and mobile units to facilitate registration services throughout the country https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13298-haiti-elections-a-decree-extends-the-validity-of-cin-expiring.html



To remedy the current situation, a new contract of 27.7 million was signed with the German firm Dermalog to set up new equipment. Note that the project of the Government of modernization of the national identification system has not yet been approved by the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSC/CA), yet the German firm has already received 8.2 million.



New investment that the Ministry of Justice justifies explaining in its note "[...] identification technologies evolve very quickly. Due to the growing need to secure identity documents, technological solutions have a very limited life span. The associated equipment and materials are rapidly becoming obsolete."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13298-haiti-elections-a-decree-extends-the-validity-of-cin-expiring.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7204-haiti-technology-state-of-the-art-civil-identity-registry-system.html



TB/ HaitiLibre

















Traffic was voted the worst thing about this time of year

An increase in rush-hour traffic is the biggest headache for adults at this time of year, as kids return to school.

A survey found the majority of people listed rising congestion ahead of the cost of books, uniforms or childcare as concerns.

Gripe

When asked what was the worst thing about this time of year, with children back at school after the summer holidays, the national poll of more than 1,000 people found that 56pc responded it was the increased traffic due to parents driving their children to school.

The grumpiest age groups were 55-64 (69pc) and over-65s (67pc), with males (62pc) being far more irritated than females (49pc).

People in Dublin were most annoyed by the issue, with 61pc saying it was a serious gripe.

Just 5pc of those questioned said that helping with homework in the evenings was a cause for stress followed by 4pc who listed childcare and 2pc parent/teacher meetings.

The survey was carried out by Lottoland.

Its Irish country manager Graham Ross said: "We've all probably moaned about school traffic over the years but it's notable how strong the average man and woman feels about this particular downside from schools returning."A Mexican student who caused 1,705 worth of damage to a taxi in a drunken disturbance in Dublin had got "carried away" in the last days of his visit to Ireland.

Jose Francisco Lopez Flores (24) physically "backed into" the taxi as he became aggressive during a dispute with nightclub bouncers, then struggled with gardai as he was arrested.

Judge Bernadette Owens applied the Probation Act, leaving him without a criminal record after he paid 350 in compensation.

Flores admitted causing damage as well as public drunkenness, threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour, obstructing gardai and refusing to give his name and address.

Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at Harcourt Street at 2.50am on last Wednesday.

Flores had been refused entry to a club when he became aggressive and got involved in a dispute with door staff.

He then "backed into" a parked taxi, causing 1,705 worth of damage.

Character

When told he was being arrested, he struggled and had to be restrained.

The accused's lawyer said what happened was out of character.

He came to Ireland a few months ago to learn English, was studying successfully and was a "model tenant" for his landlady.

There had been a "significant jump" in the value of the damage from what his lawyer had been led to believe.

She said 1,705 seemed like a "very significant" sum for damage caused by a person banging into a car and would be high even for a minor two-vehicle road accident.

The accused had brought 350 to court.

He was taking business and international studies in Mexico and had "his whole life ahead of him", she said.

"He is not a person who drinks usually and he got carried away in the last days of his visit to Ireland," his lawyer said.

Flores had already spent two nights in custody between his arrest and his court appearance.

Judge Owens accepted the amount of 350 in compensation, to be given to the driver.A third Dragons' Den investor is on the verge of entering the race for Aras an Uachtarain, the Herald can reveal.

Businessman Sean Gallagher will today make a dramatic entrance into the presidential contest - but he could face competition from reality TV colleague Peter Casey.

The founder of recruitment firm Claddagh Resources has created a website with the tag-line "Building Bridges for Ireland" and confirmed last night that he is "considering" a bid.

"There's a lot to consider. It's the most interesting election we've ever had, with some strong candidates. Never before has an incumbent been challenged and beaten," he said.

It is understood Mr Casey contacted a number of TDs in recent days to gauge potential support.

Rematch

Dragons' Den entrepreneur Gavin Duffy is already in a strong position to secure the necessary four nominations from local authorities to get on the ticket.

Mr Gallagher will also confirm today he wants to wrestle the keys to Aras an Uachtarain from President Michael D Higgins.

An intriguing rematch between the two men, who came first and second in 2011, is set to play out ahead of polling day on Friday, October 26.

Sources said Mr Gallagher will spend today canvassing councillors in the hope of getting a local authority nomination rather than holding a formal press conference.

Instead he is expected to have a 'soft launch' by issuing a statement mid-morning in which he will outline his reasons for running again.

Mr Gallagher was widely predicted to win the 2011 election but his campaign ran aground after a bogus tweet was read out on live television during the final debate.

RTE has since apologised for not verifying the claim on a fake Martin McGuinness account that a man who had given a 5,000 cheque to Mr Gallagher would appear at a press conference the next day. Late last year RTE paid Mr Gallagher "substantial damages".

The Cavan man has conducted polling in recent weeks to establish whether the infamous RTE Frontline debate actually cost him the presidency.

Secret data compiled by a private polling company shows one in five voters believe the debacle over 'Tweetgate' helped Mr Higgins secure a late win.

Another one in five agreed: "President Higgins did not win the election, Sean Gallagher lost it."

As president, Mr Higgins is automatically entitled to get his name on the ballot paper - but up to 12 others want to challenge him.

Sinn Fein is still a fortnight away from announcing its candidate.

Prior to making a decision, Mr Gallagher has invested heavily in research over recent months in an effort to establish whether he can unseat Mr Higgins.

Survey results seen by this newspaper show the ex-Labour Party minister as ranking just one out of 10 for supporting enterprise and employment during his term.

On highlighting homelessness and environmental issues, Mr Higgins got just an average score of two from more than 1,000 people last week. He is also perceived to have not done a lot to promote rural Ireland.

However, he ranked extremely highly on representing Ireland abroad and when it came to participation in State commemorations.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael has issued a fresh warning to its local representatives not to back any candidate except Mr Higgins.

In a move that could spark a grassroots revolt, party chiefs ordered them to back Mr Higgins "unconditionally".Detectives are investigating if a handgun was sent by post to associates of jailed mobster James 'Nellie' Walsh as part of a west Dublin feud

Detectives are investigating if a handgun was sent by post to associates of jailed mobster James 'Nellie' Walsh as part of a west Dublin feud.

Armed gardai arrested two men and seized the Glock 17 firearm after carrying out a controlled delivery in the Clondalkin area.

Detectives attached to the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) are currently questioning two men in relation to the bust.

A senior source told the Herald that gardai are investigating whether the firearm belongs to associates of hitman Walsh, who is currently serving a 10-year jail term.

The 32-year-old is involved in a bitter feud with very close associates of the Kinahan cartel, which has so far claimed four lives.

Last September two "blood brothers", Darragh Nugent (36) and John Gibson (27), were shot dead a week apart as part of the feud.

They were aligned to Walsh, but Gibson was not considered a major player and may have been targeted because of his relationship with a female relative of Walsh.

Yesterday, armed detectives swooped on two men after the controlled postal delivery to a property in the Wood Avens area of Clondalkin.

One man in his 40s, from the Lucan area, and another male in his 30s, from the Clondalkin area, are currently being held.

A source told the Herald: "The older chap is a complete junkie while the man in his 30s is a close associate of Darragh Nugent.

"A mutual female friend is the link between this man and Nugent."

This woman has no involvement in this ongoing feud.

A source added gthat they are not active participants in the feud.

The men are being quizzed at Lucan and Clondalkin Garda Stations.

Released

The pair can be held for a period of up to seven days before being charged or released pending a file being sent to the DPP.

The latest major incident linked to the Clondalkin feud happened in July, when shots were fired at a close associate of Walsh.

The attack happened on July 6 in the Lucan area, during which several shots were fired at two men in broad daylight.

The feud between Walsh and associates of the Kinahan cartel ignited over a week in August 2013.

Despite intensive investigations and a number of arrests, no charges have yet been brought in any of the four murders linked to the feud.(ANSA) - Berlin, August 29 - Italy will incur a penalty if it doesn't pay its EU budget quota in a row over migrants, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Die Welt Wednesday.

"All EU States have assumed the obligation of paying their contributions within the established time," he said.

"All the rest would be a violation of the treaties which would entail penalties".

He said "Italy has won our support in tackling the migrant crisis and its consequences, I can only warn Rome about mixing the migrant issue with the EU budget".

Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio was undeterred by Oettinger's statement, reiterating Wednesday that Italy will veto the EU budget unless it gets more help in dealing with migrants.

Oettinger, Di Maio said, "continues to make statements every day ever since we told him we're not going to give them the money." "We never heard from them when we asked them for a hand on migration.

"The only thing this EU understands is when you start to cut their money.

"Our position on the budget veto remains the same. If over the coming days they start to rediscover the spirit of solidarity with which the EU was founded, then we'll talk about it".

Italy's new hardline stance on migrants has been criticised by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said he is the adversary of European populists and nationalists.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who agreed on migrants with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Milan Tuesday, said Wednesday "the main adversary of Macron, looking at the polls, is the French people".

He said "instead of giving lectures to other governments he should throw open his own borders, starting from the one at Ventimiglia (with Italy).

"And he should stop destabilising Libya for economic interests".

Macron said on a visit to Denmark Wednesday that he was an adversary of Salvini and Orban, who criticised him when they met in Milan Tuesday - where Orban called Salvini "my hero" for trying to stop sea-borne migrants.

The French president said the pair "are right" to see him as their "main adversary" in Europe on the migrant issue.

"I will not give in to the nationalists and those who preach hatred," Macron said.

"If they wanted to see me as their main adversary they are right".

Some 100 migrants who landed from the coast guard ship Diciotti after a 10-day standoff with the EU arrived Wednesday at a Catholic-run reception centre in Rocca di Papa south of Rome.

The migrants were met by a crowd split between those welcoming them and those saying they were not welcome there - despite the fact that they will soon be sent around Italy.

The Democratic Party (PD) former mayor of the Lazio town, Pasquale Boccia, said ahead of their arrival: "it can't be done, there is rancour on the part of the residents, which is turning into hatred, we're already hosting enough of them".

The head of the cooperative that runs the migrant centre in Rocca di Papa, Domenico Alagia, said "they will remain a few days in the centre and then will be welcomed by the diocese which said they were prepared to take them around Italy".

Another 39 have remained in the hotspot in Messina, waiting to be transferred to Albania and Ireland, the only two nations who have said they will take some of the Diciotti migrants.

The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has said the 100 will be shortly transferred to the many dioceses who have given their availability: Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Agrigento, Cassano all'Jonio, Rossano Calabro, among others.

The stand-off came after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini kept the migrants aboard saying they would not land until the EU agreed to take them.

Salvini is under investigation by an Agrigento prosecutor for alleged kidnapping, illegal arrest and abuse of office.

Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency.

Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti after the standoff, Rama said "Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem".

"We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea". Migrants "should be drowned in the open sea", a doctor at Spoleto hospital said on her Facebook page recently, sources said Tuesday.

The doctor works in the ER ward at the Umbrian hospital.

Il Messaggero newspaper said she called migrants "n**gers with Nike shoes and full bellies" and said they had scabies because of the "violence they perpetrated".

The local health authority told ANSA it had started disciplinary proceedings against her.

The doctor made her remarks in a Facebook group with some 38,000 doctors on it.

Her profile had been deleted Tuesday morning.

Also on Wednesday, a European Commission spokesperson said migrants must consent when resettlement involves a transfer from an EU member like Italy to a third country like Albania.

Commenting on Rome's deal with Tirana to take 20 migrants from the Diciotti ship, the spokesperson said: "When it is a question of bilateral accords between a member State and a third country", the spokesperson said, "you have to ask them (the migrants) for details...there are several elements to take into consideration in assessing their legality".

"In particular there is the consent of the people" to making asylum claims in countries other than those they arrived in, the spokesperson said.

Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta will on Thursday propose to her EU colleagues a rotation of landing ports for the Sophia anti-human-trafficking mission so that not all migrants land in Italy, sources said Wednesday.

"Italy should not still be the only country to take on the problem, but also other member States," she will put to them. The Libyan coast guard says it has intercepted some 400 migrants heading for Europe in the last week, including dozens of women and children, off its coast.

Coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim explained that the migrants received humanitarian aid and medical care and were taken to refugee camps in the cities of Zawiya e Tajoura.

Italy has a deal with Libyan coast guards to pull back migrants heading for Italy. Two Ukrainian people traffickers have been arrested for bringing 44 Afghan migrants including 12 children to Italy on board a sailboat from Turkey, police said Wednesday.

The boat landed near Noto in Sicily on Monday, they said.

(ANSA) - Berlin, August 29 - Italy will incur a penalty if it doesn't pay its EU budget quota in a row over migrants, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Die Welt Wednesday.

"All EU States have assumed the obligation of paying their contributions within the established time," he said.

"All the rest would be a violation of the treaties which would entail penalties".

He said "Italy has won our support in tackling the migrant crisis and its consequences, I can only warn Rome about mixing the migrant issue with the EU budget".

Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio was undeterred by Oettinger's statement, reiterating Wednesday that Italy will veto the EU budget unless it gets more help in dealing with migrants.

Oettinger, Di Maio said, "continues to make statements every day ever since we told him we're not going to give them the money." "We never heard from them when we asked them for a hand on migration.

"The only thing this EU understands is when you start to cut their money.

"Our position on the budget veto remains the same. If over the coming days they start to rediscover the spirit of solidarity with which the EU was founded, then we'll talk about it".

Di Maio went on to call Oettinger a hypocrite for insisting Italy pay its budget quota after the EU was silent on the 177 migrants Rome kept aboard the Diciotti coast guard ship saying they could not land until the EU agreed to take them.

"Oettinger's considerations are still more hypocritical because they weren't heard on all the Diciotti question and now they pipe up only because they realise that we won't give them another euro," he said.

In the end, the Italian Catholic Church agreed to take 100 of the Diciotti migrants while Albania and Ireland said they would take 20 each, after 27 children were allowed off and 10 were hospitalised.

Italy's new hardline stance on migrants has been criticised by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said he is the adversary of European populists and nationalists.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who agreed on migrants with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Milan Tuesday, said Wednesday "the main adversary of Macron, looking at the polls, is the French people".

He said "instead of giving lectures to other governments he should throw open his own borders, starting from the one at Ventimiglia (with Italy).

"And he should stop destabilising Libya for economic interests".

Macron said on a visit to Denmark Wednesday that he was an adversary of Salvini and Orban, who criticised him when they met in Milan Tuesday - where Orban called Salvini "my hero" for trying to stop sea-borne migrants.

The French president said the pair "are right" to see him as their "main adversary" in Europe on the migrant issue.

"I will not give in to the nationalists and those who preach hatred," Macron said.

"If they wanted to see me as their main adversary they are right".

Some 100 migrants who landed from the coast guard ship Diciotti after a 10-day standoff with the EU arrived Wednesday at a Catholic-run reception centre in Rocca di Papa south of Rome.

The migrants were met by a crowd split between those welcoming them and those saying they were not welcome there - despite the fact that they will soon be sent around Italy.

The Democratic Party (PD) former mayor of the Lazio town, Pasquale Boccia, said ahead of their arrival: "it can't be done, there is rancour on the part of the residents, which is turning into hatred, we're already hosting enough of them".

The head of the cooperative that runs the migrant centre in Rocca di Papa, Domenico Alagia, said "they will remain a few days in the centre and then will be welcomed by the diocese which said they were prepared to take them around Italy".

Another 39 have remained in the hotspot in Messina, waiting to be transferred to Albania and Ireland, the only two nations who have said they will take some of the Diciotti migrants.

The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has said the 100 will be shortly transferred to the many dioceses who have given their availability: Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Agrigento, Cassano all'Jonio, Rossano Calabro, among others.

The stand-off came after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini kept the migrants aboard saying they would not land until the EU agreed to take them.

Salvini is under investigation by an Agrigento prosecutor for alleged kidnapping, illegal arrest and abuse of office.

Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency.

Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti after the standoff, Rama said "Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem".

"We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea". Migrants "should be drowned in the open sea", a doctor at Spoleto hospital said on her Facebook page recently, sources said Tuesday.

The doctor works in the ER ward at the Umbrian hospital.

Il Messaggero newspaper said she called migrants "n**gers with Nike shoes and full bellies" and said they had scabies because of the "violence they perpetrated".

The local health authority told ANSA it had started disciplinary proceedings against her.

The doctor made her remarks in a Facebook group with some 38,000 doctors on it.

Her profile had been deleted Tuesday morning.

Also on Wednesday, a European Commission spokesperson said migrants must consent when resettlement involves a transfer from an EU member like Italy to a third country like Albania.

Commenting on Rome's deal with Tirana to take 20 migrants from the Diciotti ship, the spokesperson said: "When it is a question of bilateral accords between a member State and a third country", the spokesperson said, "you have to ask them (the migrants) for details...there are several elements to take into consideration in assessing their legality".

"In particular there is the consent of the people" to making asylum claims in countries other than those they arrived in, the spokesperson said.

Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta will on Thursday propose to her EU colleagues a rotation of landing ports for the Sophia anti-human-trafficking mission so that not all migrants land in Italy, sources said Wednesday.

"Italy should not still be the only country to take on the problem, but also other member States," she will put to them.

The Austrian duty president of the European Defence Council, Defence Minister Mario Kunasek, will tomorrow present his colleagues with a proposal to deploy EU soldiers in support of Frontex, ANSA has learned from diplomatic sources.

They would this be under a civilian lead, the sources said.

The soldiers would be used for logistics, transport, reconnaissance and in particular cases in border control operations to stem migrant flows, the sources said. The Libyan coast guard says it has intercepted some 400 migrants heading for Europe in the last week, including dozens of women and children, off its coast.

Coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim explained that the migrants received humanitarian aid and medical care and were taken to refugee camps in the cities of Zawiya e Tajoura.

Italy has a deal with Libyan coast guards to pull back migrants heading for Italy. Two Ukrainian people traffickers have been arrested for bringing 44 Afghan migrants including 12 children to Italy on board a sailboat from Turkey, police said Wednesday.

The boat landed near Noto in Sicily on Monday, they said.

(ANSA) - Berlin, August 29 - Italy will incur a penalty if it doesn't pay its EU budget quota in a row over migrants, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Die Welt Wednesday.

"All EU States have assumed the obligation of paying their contributions within the established time," he said.

"All the rest would be a violation of the treaties which would entail penalties".

He said "Italy has won our support in tackling the migrant crisis and its consequences, I can only warn Rome about mixing the migrant issue with the EU budget".

Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio was undeterred by Oettinger's statement, reiterating Wednesday that Italy will veto the EU budget unless it gets more help in dealing with migrants.

Oettinger, Di Maio said, "continues to make statements every day ever since we told him we're not going to give them the money." "We never heard from them when we asked them for a hand on migration.

"The only thing this EU understands is when you start to cut their money.

"Our position on the budget veto remains the same. If over the coming days they start to rediscover the spirit of solidarity with which the EU was founded, then we'll talk about it".

Di Maio went on to call Oettinger a hypocrite for insisting Italy pay its budget quota after the EU was silent on the 177 migrants Rome kept aboard the Diciotti coast guard ship saying they could not land until the EU agreed to take them.

"Oettinger's considerations are still more hypocritical because they weren't heard on all the Diciotti question and now they pipe up only because they realise that we won't give them another euro," he said.

In the end, the Italian Catholic Church agreed to take 100 of the Diciotti migrants while Albania and Ireland said they would take 20 each, after 27 children were allowed off and 10 were hospitalised.

Italy's new hardline stance on migrants has been criticised by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said he is the adversary of European populists and nationalists.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who agreed on migrants with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Milan Tuesday, said Wednesday "the main adversary of Macron, looking at the polls, is the French people".

He said "instead of giving lectures to other governments he should throw open his own borders, starting from the one at Ventimiglia (with Italy).

"And he should stop destabilising Libya for economic interests".

Macron said on a visit to Denmark Wednesday that he was an adversary of Salvini and Orban, who criticised him when they met in Milan Tuesday - where Orban called Salvini "my hero" for trying to stop sea-borne migrants.

The French president said the pair "are right" to see him as their "main adversary" in Europe on the migrant issue.

"I will not give in to the nationalists and those who preach hatred," Macron said.

"If they wanted to see me as their main adversary they are right".

Some 100 migrants who landed from the coast guard ship Diciotti after a 10-day standoff with the EU arrived Wednesday at a Catholic-run reception centre in Rocca di Papa south of Rome.

The migrants were met by a crowd split between those welcoming them and those saying they were not welcome there - despite the fact that they will soon be sent around Italy.

Many of the Eritrean migrants rescued by the Diciotti have said they suffered torture and were sold several times during their journeys to Italy, sources at the centre said Wednesday.

They reportedly suffered years of violence, while some were held underground in a warehouse, and sold two or three times, and 16 children who died after four or five months were born during the detention, they reportedly said.

The picture of abuse has emerged from accounts told to interviewers from the Mondo Migliore (Better World) migrant centres at Rocca di Papa.

The Democratic Party (PD) former mayor of the Lazio town, Pasquale Boccia, said ahead of their arrival: "it can't be done, there is rancour on the part of the residents, which is turning into hatred, we're already hosting enough of them".

The head of the cooperative that runs the migrant centre in Rocca di Papa, Domenico Alagia, said "they will remain a few days in the centre and then will be welcomed by the diocese which said they were prepared to take them around Italy".

Another 39 have remained in the hotspot in Messina, waiting to be transferred to Albania and Ireland, the only two nations who have said they will take some of the Diciotti migrants.

The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has said the 100 will be shortly transferred to the many dioceses who have given their availability: Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Agrigento, Cassano all'Jonio, Rossano Calabro, among others.

The stand-off came after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini kept the migrants aboard saying they would not land until the EU agreed to take them.

Salvini is under investigation by an Agrigento prosecutor for alleged kidnapping, illegal arrest and abuse of office.

Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency.

Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti after the standoff, Rama said "Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem".

"We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea". Migrants "should be drowned in the open sea", a doctor at Spoleto hospital said on her Facebook page recently, sources said Tuesday.

The doctor works in the ER ward at the Umbrian hospital.

Il Messaggero newspaper said she called migrants "n**gers with Nike shoes and full bellies" and said they had scabies because of the "violence they perpetrated".

The local health authority told ANSA it had started disciplinary proceedings against her.

The doctor made her remarks in a Facebook group with some 38,000 doctors on it.

Her profile had been deleted Tuesday morning.

Also on Wednesday, a European Commission spokesperson said migrants must consent when resettlement involves a transfer from an EU member like Italy to a third country like Albania.

Commenting on Rome's deal with Tirana to take 20 migrants from the Diciotti ship, the spokesperson said: "When it is a question of bilateral accords between a member State and a third country", the spokesperson said, "you have to ask them (the migrants) for details...there are several elements to take into consideration in assessing their legality".

"In particular there is the consent of the people" to making asylum claims in countries other than those they arrived in, the spokesperson said.

Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta will on Thursday propose to her EU colleagues a rotation of landing ports for the Sophia anti-human-trafficking mission so that not all migrants land in Italy, sources said Wednesday.

"Italy should not still be the only country to take on the problem, but also other member States," she will put to them.

The Austrian duty president of the European Defence Council, Defence Minister Mario Kunasek, will tomorrow present his colleagues with a proposal to deploy EU soldiers in support of Frontex, ANSA has learned from diplomatic sources.

They would this be under a civilian lead, the sources said.

The soldiers would be used for logistics, transport, reconnaissance and in particular cases in border control operations to stem migrant flows, the sources said. The Libyan coast guard says it has intercepted some 400 migrants heading for Europe in the last week, including dozens of women and children, off its coast.

Coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim explained that the migrants received humanitarian aid and medical care and were taken to refugee camps in the cities of Zawiya e Tajoura.

Italy has a deal with Libyan coast guards to pull back migrants heading for Italy. Two Ukrainian people traffickers have been arrested for bringing 44 Afghan migrants including 12 children to Italy on board a sailboat from Turkey, police said Wednesday.

The boat landed near Noto in Sicily on Monday, they said.

COVID-19 kills 28 in region; new case trends mixed in area counties

Washington County, Md., had five COVID deaths last week. Adjacent West Virginia and Pennsylvania counties all had at least one death, too.(ANSA) - Berlin, August 29 - Italy will incur a penalty if it doesn't pay its EU budget quota in a row over migrants, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Die Welt Wednesday.

"All EU States have assumed the obligation of paying their contributions within the established time," he said.

"All the rest would be a violation of the treaties which would entail penalties".

He said "Italy has won our support in tackling the migrant crisis and its consequences, I can only warn Rome about mixing the migrant issue with the EU budget".

Italy's new hardline stance on migrants has been criticised by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said he is the adversary of European populists and nationalists.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who agreed on migrants with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Milan Tuesday, said Wednesday "the main adversary of Macron, looking at the polls, is the French people".

He said "instead of giving lectures to other governments he should throw open his own borders, starting from the one at Ventimiglia (with Italy).

"And he should stop destabilising Libya for economic interests".

Macron said on a visit to Denmark Wednesday that he was an adversary of Salvini and Orban, who criticised him when they met in Milan Tuesday - where Orban called Salvini "my hero" for trying to stop sea-borne migrants.

The French president said the pair "are right" to see him as their "main adversary" in Europe on the migrant issue.

"I will not give in to the nationalists and those who preach hatred," Macron said.

"If they wanted to see me as their main adversary they are right".

Some 100 migrants who landed from the coast guard ship Diciotti after a 10-day standoff with the EU arrived Wednesday at a Catholic-run reception centre in Rocca di Papa south of Rome.

The migrants were met by a crowd split between those welcoming them and those saying they were not welcome there - despite the fact that they will soon be sent around Italy.

The Democratic Party (PD) former mayor of the Lazio town, Pasquale Boccia, said ahead of their arrival: "it can't be done, there is rancour on the part of the residents, which is turning into hatred, we're already hosting enough of them".

The head of the cooperative that runs the migrant centre in Rocca di Papa, Domenico Alagia, said "they will remain a few days in the centre and then will be welcomed by the diocese which said they were prepared to take them around Italy".

Another 39 have remained in the hotspot in Messina, waiting to be transferred to Albania and Ireland, the only two nations who have said they will take some of the Diciotti migrants.

The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has said the 100 will be shortly transferred to the many dioceses who have given their availability: Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Agrigento, Cassano all'Jonio, Rossano Calabro, among others.

The stand-off came after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini kept the migrants aboard saying they would not land until the EU agreed to take them.

Salvini is under investigation by an Agrigento prosecutor for alleged kidnapping, illegal arrest and abuse of office.

Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency.

Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti after the standoff, Rama said "Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem".

"We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea". Migrants "should be drowned in the open sea", a doctor at Spoleto hospital said on her Facebook page recently, sources said Tuesday.

The doctor works in the ER ward at the Umbrian hospital.

Il Messaggero newspaper said she called migrants "n**gers with Nike shoes and full bellies" and said they had scabies because of the "violence they perpetrated".

The local health authority told ANSA it had started disciplinary proceedings against her.

The doctor made her remarks in a Facebook group with some 38,000 doctors on it.

Her profile had been deleted Tuesday morning.

Also on Wednesday, a European Commission spokesperson said migrants must consent when resettlement involves a transfer from an EU member like Italy to a third country like Albania.

Commenting on Rome's deal with Tirana to take 20 migrants from the Diciotti ship, the spokesperson said: "When it is a question of bilateral accords between a member State and a third country", the spokesperson said, "you have to ask them (the migrants) for details...there are several elements to take into consideration in assessing their legality".

"In particular there is the consent of the people" to making asylum claims in countries other than those they arrived in, the spokesperson said.

Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta will on Thursday propose to her EU colleagues a rotation of landing ports for the Sophia anti-human-trafficking mission so that not all migrants land in Italy, sources said Wednesday.

"Italy should not still be the only country to take on the problem, but also other member States," she will put to them. The Libyan coast guard says it has intercepted some 400 migrants heading for Europe in the last week, including dozens of women and children, off its coast.

Coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim explained that the migrants received humanitarian aid and medical care and were taken to refugee camps in the cities of Zawiya e Tajoura.

Italy has a deal with Libyan coast guards to pull back migrants heading for Italy. Two Ukrainian people traffickers have been arrested for bringing 44 Afghan migrants including 12 children to Italy on board a sailboat from Turkey, police said Wednesday.

The boat landed near Noto in Sicily on Monday, they said.

(ANSA) - Rome, August 29 - Some 100 migrants who landed from the coast guard ship Diciotti after a 10-day standoff with the EU arrived Wednesday at a Catholic-run reception centre in Rocca di Papa south of Rome.

The migrants were met by a crowd split between those welcoming them and those saying they were not welcome there - despite the fact that they will soon be sent around Italy.

The Democratic Party (PD) former mayor of the Lazio town, Pasquale Boccia, said ahead of their arrival: "it can't be done, there is rancour on the part of the residents, which is turning into hatred, we're already hosting enough of them".

The head of the cooperative that runs the migrant centre in Rocca di Papa, Domenico Alagia, said "they will remain a few days in the centre and then will be welcomed by the diocese which said they were prepared to take them around Italy".

Another 39 have remained in the hotspot in Messina, waiting to be transferred to Albania and Ireland, the only two nations who have said they will take some of the Diciotti migrants.

The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has said the 100 will be shortly transferred to the many dioceses who have given their availability: Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Agrigento, Cassano all'Jonio, Rossano Calabro, among others.

The stand-off came after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini kept the migrants aboard saying they would not land until the EU agreed to take them.

Salvini is under investigation by an Agrigento prosecutor for alleged kidnapping, illegal arrest and abuse of office.

Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency.

Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti after the standoff, Rama said "Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem".

"We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea". Migrants "should be drowned in the open sea", a doctor at Spoleto hospital said on her Facebook page recently, sources said Tuesday.

The doctor works in the ER ward at the Umbrian hospital.

Il Messaggero newspaper said she called migrants "n**gers with Nike shoes and full bellies" and said they had scabies because of the "violence they perpetrated".

The local health authority told ANSA it had started disciplinary proceedings against her.

The doctor made her remarks in a Facebook group with some 38,000 doctors on it.

Her profile had been deleted Tuesday morning.

(ANSA) - Berlin, August 29 - Italy will incur a penalty if it doesn't pay its EU budget quota in a row over migrants, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Die Welt Wednesday.

"All EU States have assumed the obligation of paying their contributions within the established time," he said.

"All the rest would be a violation of the treaties which would entail penalties".

He said "Italy has won our support in tackling the migrant crisis and its consequences, I can only warn Rome about mixing the migrant issue with the EU budget".

Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio was undeterred by Oettinger's statement, reiterating Wednesday that Italy will veto the EU budget unless it gets more help in dealing with migrants.

Oettinger, Di Maio said, "continues to make statements every day ever since we told him we're not going to give them the money." "We never heard from them when we asked them for a hand on migration.

"The only thing this EU understands is when you start to cut their money.

"Our position on the budget veto remains the same. If over the coming days they start to rediscover the spirit of solidarity with which the EU was founded, then we'll talk about it".

Di Maio went on to call Oettinger a hypocrite for insisting Italy pay its budget quota after the EU was silent on the 177 migrants Rome kept aboard the Diciotti coast guard ship saying they could not land until the EU agreed to take them.

"Oettinger's considerations are still more hypocritical because they weren't heard on all the Diciotti question and now they pipe up only because they realise that we won't give them another euro," he said.

In the end, the Italian Catholic Church agreed to take 100 of the Diciotti migrants while Albania and Ireland said they would take 20 each, after 27 children were allowed off and 10 were hospitalised.

Italy's new hardline stance on migrants has been criticised by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said he is the adversary of European populists and nationalists.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who agreed on migrants with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Milan Tuesday, said Wednesday "the main adversary of Macron, looking at the polls, is the French people".

He said "instead of giving lectures to other governments he should throw open his own borders, starting from the one at Ventimiglia (with Italy).

"And he should stop destabilising Libya for economic interests".

Macron said on a visit to Denmark Wednesday that he was an adversary of Salvini and Orban, who criticised him when they met in Milan Tuesday - where Orban called Salvini "my hero" for trying to stop sea-borne migrants.

The French president said the pair "are right" to see him as their "main adversary" in Europe on the migrant issue.

"I will not give in to the nationalists and those who preach hatred," Macron said.

"If they wanted to see me as their main adversary they are right".

Some 100 migrants who landed from the coast guard ship Diciotti after a 10-day standoff with the EU arrived Wednesday at a Catholic-run reception centre in Rocca di Papa south of Rome.

The migrants were met by a crowd split between those welcoming them and those saying they were not welcome there - despite the fact that they will soon be sent around Italy.

The Democratic Party (PD) former mayor of the Lazio town, Pasquale Boccia, said ahead of their arrival: "it can't be done, there is rancour on the part of the residents, which is turning into hatred, we're already hosting enough of them".

The head of the cooperative that runs the migrant centre in Rocca di Papa, Domenico Alagia, said "they will remain a few days in the centre and then will be welcomed by the diocese which said they were prepared to take them around Italy".

Another 39 have remained in the hotspot in Messina, waiting to be transferred to Albania and Ireland, the only two nations who have said they will take some of the Diciotti migrants.

The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has said the 100 will be shortly transferred to the many dioceses who have given their availability: Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Agrigento, Cassano all'Jonio, Rossano Calabro, among others.

The stand-off came after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini kept the migrants aboard saying they would not land until the EU agreed to take them.

Salvini is under investigation by an Agrigento prosecutor for alleged kidnapping, illegal arrest and abuse of office.

Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency.

Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 Eritrean migrants from the Diciotti after the standoff, Rama said "Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem".

"We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea". Migrants "should be drowned in the open sea", a doctor at Spoleto hospital said on her Facebook page recently, sources said Tuesday.

The doctor works in the ER ward at the Umbrian hospital.

Il Messaggero newspaper said she called migrants "n**gers with Nike shoes and full bellies" and said they had scabies because of the "violence they perpetrated".

The local health authority told ANSA it had started disciplinary proceedings against her.

The doctor made her remarks in a Facebook group with some 38,000 doctors on it.

Her profile had been deleted Tuesday morning.

Also on Wednesday, a European Commission spokesperson said migrants must consent when resettlement involves a transfer from an EU member like Italy to a third country like Albania.

Commenting on Rome's deal with Tirana to take 20 migrants from the Diciotti ship, the spokesperson said: "When it is a question of bilateral accords between a member State and a third country", the spokesperson said, "you have to ask them (the migrants) for details...there are several elements to take into consideration in assessing their legality".

"In particular there is the consent of the people" to making asylum claims in countries other than those they arrived in, the spokesperson said.

Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta will on Thursday propose to her EU colleagues a rotation of landing ports for the Sophia anti-human-trafficking mission so that not all migrants land in Italy, sources said Wednesday.

"Italy should not still be the only country to take on the problem, but also other member States," she will put to them. The Libyan coast guard says it has intercepted some 400 migrants heading for Europe in the last week, including dozens of women and children, off its coast.

Coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim explained that the migrants received humanitarian aid and medical care and were taken to refugee camps in the cities of Zawiya e Tajoura.

Italy has a deal with Libyan coast guards to pull back migrants heading for Italy. Two Ukrainian people traffickers have been arrested for bringing 44 Afghan migrants including 12 children to Italy on board a sailboat from Turkey, police said Wednesday.

The boat landed near Noto in Sicily on Monday, they said.

Yet again, in what is becoming virtually an annual visitation throughout the country, the wrath of nature has been compounded by human folly in Kerala. The state can blame the highest August rain in nearly 90 years, which is primarily responsible, but to put this in perspective, 771 mm in 20 days pales by comparison with the 944 mm which Mumbai received on July 26, 2005.

While most have blamed the intense rainfall for the floods, one can attribute widespread ecological illiteracy for the failure to take steps to prevent such calamities. The Western Ghats, and Kerala in particular, are one of two internationally recognised biodiversity hotspots in the country (along with the Northeast, Arunachal especially). These are highly environmentally-sensitive areas and deserve to be protected from reckless construction of buildings and infrastructure.

While the NDA government has rightly been accused of diluting environmental laws nationwide, in this case, the responsibility lies squarely with the UPA. It was in 2010 that it appointed a committee, headed by the eminent ecologist, Madhav Gadgil, to recommend how to protect the Western Ghats, down the entire coast.

The committee proposed that 1,30,000 sq km of the ghats be designated an ecological-sensitive zone, with varying degrees of protection needed for different areas. This included a ban on special economic zones, conversion of public to private lands and diversion of forest land, new dams and mining licences.

Expectedly, there was a political furore against the committees 2011 report, most vehemently from Kerala itself. The UPA caved in and appointed another committee, this time headed by ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, which in 2013 recommended that 60% of the ghats, an area widened to 1,64,000 sq km, would be open for settlements, farming and plantations, and only 30%, or 60,000 sq km would remain biologically rich. While some of the earlier bans were retained, construction projects up to 20,000 sq metres were permitted. It was only last year the Union environment ministry notified a slightly smaller ecologically sensitive area.

Such tinkering with what is one of the countrys prized ecological assets, with illegal encroachments and a free rein to builders on the ghat slopes and floodplains below, led to the disastrous landslides and flooding this year. There are an estimated 1,500 illegal crusher and quarrying units in Kerala, which function freely.

Gadgil, who also examined the environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports of Goas iron ore companies during his committees deliberations, has alleged that it may well be next to face such floods. While its ghats arent as high, the rampant illegal mining of iron ore  estimated to have touched Rs 35,000 crore by the Justice MB Shah committee appointed by the Centre  may play similar havoc. The streams in the floodplains dont find any mention in the EIA reports. Appropriately, a searing book by Hartman de Souza which exposes such rapacity has been titled Eat Dust.

As one travels northwards up the west coast, there is no paucity of examples of similar illiteracy. In 2005, Mumbai faced its unprecedented day of rainfall, which led to a surge of the Mithi river, which has becoming a dumping ground , and not just encroached upon but actually bent twice at right angles under the airport. Nature hit back and the airport of the countrys financial capital was closed for a couple of days, as Kochis is now.

Blissfully ignorant of these harsh lessons, the Maharashtra government is building the Navi Mumbai airport in the twin city across the harbour by razing hills to the ground and raising the height of the runways by 5.5 metres, since these are on floodplains. As Dutch experts whose advice has gone unheeded point out, its a no-brainer that water will inundate the neighbouring villages. Some, a mere 100 metres from the landfilling work, have been flooded for the very first time this June.

The earlier Congress state government should also explain its wisdom in proposing Mumbais Rs 15,000-crore coast road, not to mention the Shivaji statue in the sea off Marine Drive, both projects which the BJP coalition is pursuing enthusiastically. While torrential and prolonged downpours are the new normal, their impact will inevitably be accentuated by sea-level rise with climate change, swamping all such grandiose, hare-brained infrastructure schemes.

Darryl DMonte is Chairman Emeritus, Forum of Environmental Journalists in India (FEJI)

The views expressed are personalFilmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj today said he is in talks with actor Priyanka Chopra for a film which might go on floors sometime next year. Earlier, the director had expressed his desire to work with Priyanka on a project. It was reported that he would do a film based on Twelfth Night with the Quantico star.

When asked about it, Vishal told reporters, Priyanka also wants to work with me. And we are working with each other. Hopefully, we will start the film next year.

The duo previously collaborated on 7 Khoon Maaf which was an adaptation of the short story Susannas Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond and Kaminey.

The director is currently ready with his next project, Pataakha, a comedy-drama about two sisters, Badki and Chhutki and, is based on an acclaimed short-story by renowned writer Charan Singh Pathik.

Vishal, however, was supposed to begin a film with Irrfan earlier this year before the actor had to head to London for his treatment. The director ultimately put the film on hold.

When asked about it, he said, I dont know about the films status. I can tell you my hearts status and it is that we all are praying for him. Obviously Im missing him as a friend but also as an audience. I want to see him on screen again, whether its my film or someone elses.

Featuring Sanya Malhotra, Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover and Vijay Raaz Pataakha releases on September 28.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreThe countrys buffalo meat exports grew 3.88 per cent to $1.18 billion during April-July period of the ongoing financial year, according to the data of APEDA.

In volume terms, the exports increased to 3,84,096 tonne during the reported period as compared to 3,73,808 tonne in April-July, 2017-18.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) comes under the commerce ministry.

As per the data, exports of total livestock products, which include buffalo meat, sheep/goat meat and poultry items, grew 6.71 per cent to USD 1.4 billion during the period.

Basmati and non-basmati rice exports during the period rose 9.4 per cent and 3 per cent to $1.72 billion and USD 1.1 billion, respectively.

The country is one of the largest exporters of buffalo meat and rice globally.

As per the data, shipments of pulses grew 26 per cent to $ 113 million during April-July period.Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena, who on Monday was declared the east Delhi candidate for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled next year, has dropped her second name, Marlena, in all party records and campaign materials.

This, a party leader said, was done because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to polarise voters by suggesting that she was a foreigner and a Christian.

Atishi said she dropped her second name because she does not want to waste time in proving her identity.

Supporting her decision to just go by her first name, AAP general secretary Akshay Marathe said a progressive politician like Atishi who does not use her caste name to ask for votes, is being targeted for using only Atishi without Marlena.

The party said that her parents, Dr Tripta Wahi and Dr Vijay Singh, who were Leftists, gave her the title Marlena after combining the surnames of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

AAPs website has changed her name to Atishi, and her Twitter handle has also been changed from @AtishiMarlena to @AtishiAAP.

My actual surname is Singh and I come from a Punjabi Rajput family. Had I wanted to appease voters then I would have gladly used my real surname, she said.

In fact, my intention is contrary to what some people are claiming now. I do not want to waste time in proving my identity to people. I am going to fight this election solely on the basis of our work in the field of education, health and my vision for East Delhi, she added.

Party functionaries on condition of anonymity said that over the past one month, the BJP has been running a whisper campaign against Atishi by spreading rumours that she is a foreigner and a Christian.

East Delhi, from where she is going to contest the general elections, is an area dominated by Purvanchalis, who are Hindu migrants from Bihar and eastern UP.

It is estimated that due to migration over the past decades, Purvanchalis now constitute nearly one-third of the citys over 2 crore population. The East Delhi parliamentary seat alone has 18 lakh voters.

The Delhi BJP denied AAPs allegations, saying the party never uses religion to win votes. BJP never practises communal politics. Atishi and AAP are scared of being badly defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. This is an excuse which they have already started giving to the people of Delhi for their defeat, said Rajesh Bhatia, genreral secretary of Delhi BJP.

A former adviser to education minister Manish Sisodia, Atishi is the first candidate to be announced by AAP for the 2019 elections.

AAP joint secretary Akshay Marathe defended Atishi by calling her a progressive politician.

Atishi, who does now use her caste name Singh to ask for votes, is being targeted for using only Atishi without Marlena. Our discourse is around education and healthcare, not on identities of caste and religion, he said.Di Maio meets with Italian community in Cairo Says govt supports them, 'to continue asking about Regeni case'

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, AUGUST 29 - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Luigi Di Maio met late Wednesday evening with the Italian community in the embassy in the Egyptian capital.



He stressed that the government supports Italians abroad and that the case of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni's murder will be continually brought up to the Egyptian government until it is solved, some participants said. Di Maio, they said, underscored the importance of the ''Italian-Egyptian axis'' in the Mediterranean and the need to ''revitalize'' relations between the two countries. Most of those in attendance were from the Italian business community. Di Maio said that Egypt was ''important'' and the visit was meant to help strengthen relations with Cairo through resolving the Regeni case and not through just setting it aside, some participants said. ''The deputy prime minister arrived and humbly apologized for being late, since he had taken a regular commercial flight that had been cancelled'' and thus had been subject to ''what happens to all passengers'', said Alberto Borchiellini, consultant for Egypt and the Middle East of Aboca Erbe, an international company that produces medicine with natural complex molecules. Borchiellini called the official ''a normal person'' who spoke to all attendees and ''listened to all our problems''. ''He was very supportive of the Italian community, which has been living and working in Egypt for centuries,'' he added.



''Egypt is the ideal partner for Italy. We are brothers. They say in Arabic that 'we drink from the same sea'.''(ANSAmed).



The Delhi high court on Tuesday said Delhi chief secretary (CS) Anshu Prakash was no longer required to appear before the Delhi Legislative Assembly committee for breach of privilege proceedings. The order came after senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog informed the court that they did not require Prakash to appear before the committee at this stage.

Justice Vibhu Bhakru said Prakash was not required to appear before the committee till the next date of hearing. He also said the CS should be given minutes of the meetings of the previous proceedings of the panel. It is, nonetheless, clarified that the committee shall not call the petitioner (Prakash) for further hearing till the next date of hearing, the court said, fixing the matter for September 17.

In the hearing that took place in two parts, the bench expressed its displeasure for not completing its breach of privilege proceedings against the CS despite questioning him for over four hours.

He has admittedly appeared before you (committee of privileges) for four hours. What kind of proceedings are these? In four hours of questioning, you would have known what you have to do. If you have not completed your proceedings within this time, we will not allow it to go forward now, the court said.

Appearing for Prakash, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and advocate Vivek Chib told the court that they were not provided the verbatim records or the minutes of the meeting.

The plea, filed through advocates Asif Ahmed and Ruchira Goel, contended that they should be provided video recordings of the meetings. The plea said the CS had appeared before the panel thrice and that due to the non-availability of records, he was handicapped from effectively assisting the committee and defending himself.

Appearing for the committee, senior advocate Nandrajog said the verbatim records would be provided when authorised by the Speaker, expected to return to town on September 16. The HC directed the video recordings be given to the court within a week.A 45-year-old man who police said was the commander of Manipur-based banned terrorist outfit Kangleipak Communist Party  Peoples War Group (KCP-PWG) was arrested in Delhi on Tuesday. Police said he had threatened to kill Manipurs chief minister and his three cabinet ministers.

DCP (special cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said Oinam Lbochouba Singh alias Khoirangba had allegedly circulated an audio message on social media that contained threats to kill Manipur CM Nongthombam Biren Singh and three ministers.

Khoirangba was allegedly involved in several terrorist activities and extortions cases registered in Manipur, the special cell officers said.

DCP Yadav said the threat audio was circulated following agitations for the removal of Manipur University vice-chancellor, AP Pandey, by the varsity students union, the teachers association and other groups.

In the audio message, Khoirangba threatened that if the CM and his leadership failed to address certain local issues, he and his ministers will be killed, Yadav said.

A copy of the audio message, along with a threat letter written on KCPs letterhead and signed by Khoirangba, had reached the CMs office on August 11 after which the Manipur police registered a case and launched a manhunt to nab Khoirangba.

He had been hiding in Nepal for the last five years and was running the outfit from there, the DCP said.

On Tuesday, Yadav said, the special cell team received information that Khoirangba had arrived in Delhi to allegedly set up the outfits base here and carry out anti-national activities.

The team learnt that Khoirangba would reach south Delhis Kotla Mubarakpur to meet his associates on Tuesday.

Accordingly, a trap was laid and he was caught.

A mobile phone seized from Khoirangba contained the threatening audio message and other incriminating audios, videos and chats. Two rail tickets were also recovered, Yadav said.

Police said Khoirangba allegedly declared himself the chief of the outfit after its commander-in-chief Laishram Ranjit Meitei and his two his key aides were arrested by the Delhi Police last year.A six-year-old girl, attending a school for children with special needs, was allegedly molested by her school cab driver in southwest Delhi.

The incident took place last week and the cab driver was arrested on Monday after the childs mother lodged a police complaint.

According to the police, the child lives in a southwest Delhi neighbourhood and attends the school run by a group of doctors.

On Monday, the childs mother approached the police and said her daughter told her that the cab driver had touched her inappropriately.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Devender Arya said a case was registered under the Pocso Act and the driver, a 26-year-old man from Trilokpuri, was arrested.

The police are trying to establish the sequence of incidents as the driver said he had not driven the cab on August 23, the day of the crime.

A police officer, who was not authorised to speak to the media, said the school has very few children on rolls and only three cabs to pick and drop them every day.

One woman attendant is always present in the cabs. It has been found that the molestation did not happen in the cab. CCTV footage at the school was checked but nothing suspicious was spotted. But since the child has named the accused during counselling and to her mother, we have taken action, school authorities reportedly told investigators.

Police officials, meanwhile, said it cannot be denied that the alleged assault could have happened somewhere else.

DCP Arya said no criminal record was found against the suspect. Teachers from the school are being questioned and investigation is underway, he said.

Two more cases of alleged sexual assault by school employees had been reported this month.

A Sanskrit teacher with a government school in north Delhi was arrested last Friday for allegedly abusing a class 10 student during summer vacations in June this year at his house.

Earlier this month, on August 9, an electrician at a government girls school was arrested for allegedly raping a 6-year-old girl in the pump house of the school.

The school and its officials could not be contacted as of late Tuesday night.A meeting of the Prime Minister, the BJP president, some senior ministers, and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states on Tuesday discussed the possible contours of the partys campaign for 2019.

First, it was decided at the meeting that the BJP and the larger National Democratic Alliance, of which the party is a part, will fight 2019 under the leadership of Narendra Modi. This shouldnt surprise anyone but it is a reflection of Modis standing and stature, and also a rebuttal of any suggestion that there could be an alternative.

Second, the PM and the CMs also discussed the measures the government has taken to address the angst of key voter groups  farmers; people from the scheduled castes and tribes; and people from other backward classes. It is clear that the party will try and reach these constituencies with the message that it did something for them, just as it will try and highlight this governments welfare programmes, including its flagship health insurance scheme that is to be launched next month (these too were discussed at the meeting).

Also discussed were the upcoming elections in three key states currently ruled by the BJP: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

The BJP has been in election mode for some time now  this newspaper pointed out that party president Amit Shah has visited most of the states in the past few months  and the meeting on Tuesday should be seen in this context. Since 2013, it has also become evident that the party has a better campaign machine than the Opposition.

The Opposition, which is hoping to put up a united front in 2019, needs to work on these three dimensions. The first concerns leadership, and not just because everyone now sees large elections as mano-a-mano contests (but also because there is no indication that the opposition parties will be able to come up with a consensus candidate).

The second concerns the messaging. A campaign focusing on the shortcomings of the incumbent will work (as it did in 2014), but only if the latter is incapable of shaping an alternative narrative. The opposition would therefore do well to develop a message around what it will do to address specific issues if it comes to power.

The third is simply having the resources to launch a campaign that is as intense as the BJPs.A 26-year-old business strategist was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his rented apartment in DLF 5 early on Tuesday.

Mehul Priyadarshi, who belonged to Ranchi in Jharkhand, was an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, and did his Master of Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow .

He joined a global consulting firm in Cyber City in June this year and lived in a rented apartment on the sixth floor at Princeton Estate, DLF 5, with two roommates who were also his batch mates from IIM, said the police.

Police said his roommates, who are from Nagpur and Bhatinda, were away for Raksha Bandhan celebrations and returned to Gurgaon on Monday evening. They knocked on his room door but he did not respond, following which they went to their rooms and fell asleep. On Tuesday morning, they once gain knocked on his door. When he did not respond, they became suspicious. They alerted the security guards, who broke open the gate and found him hanging from the ceiling fan with the help of a bedsheet, Vikas Kaushik, inspector, Sector 53 police station said.

The security supervisor informed the police about the incident, and a team including the station house officer(SHO) reached the spot, the police said.

The police also said that though it appears Priyadarshi killed himself, but they have not found any suicide note in the apartment. His mobile phone and laptop were locked.

We are interacting with Priyadarshis roommates, and have also seized his laptop and mobile phone for clues. The parents might also share some details which would give some clarity regarding the suicide, Kaushik said.

Priyadarshis family in Ranchi has been informed. His elder brother works in a bank and lives in Aligarh. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination which will be conducted on Wednesday, the police said.A day after the city received its highest rainfall in a day in the last eight years, the underpass at Hero Honda Chowk remained flooded. Officials of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) said that it would remain unusable for another day.

GMDA officials said that the pumps installed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to drain the water did not work. During an inspection of the underpass on Wednesday, V Umashankar, the GMDAs chief executive officer (CEO), said that the pump sets installed at the underpass are supposed to automatically switch on when rainwater starts accumulating, but for reasons unknown, they did not do so on Tuesday.

He said that the pumps were functioning during a mock drill conducted by the GMDA in June, when the underpass was filled with 70,000 litres of water from nine fire tenders.

Furthermore, the pump sets installed by the NHAI in Sector 34, to ensure that water from the Badshahpur drain does not flow towards the junction also malfunctioned, which led to the underpass being inundated, Umashankar said.

He said that the GMDA would take over lighting and drainage from the NHAI, once it completes the construction of the underpass at IFFCO Chowk and fixes the deficiencies at the Hero Honda Chowk underpass identified after Tuesdays rain, to ensure that a single agency is responsible for the task. The only long-term solution to prevent waterlogging at the junction and Narsinghpur area is to construct a new drain along the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) and Dwarka Expressway, said Umashankar.

Officials of the NHAI, however, denied the claims.

Ashok Sharma, the project director of NHAI, said, The pumps were working, but there was a heavy inflow of rainwater from the Sector 10 side (heavier than the pump capacity) and the pumping was not effective as the panels got submerged in water.

The GMDA could not ensure connectivity of the drain on the Sector 10 side, despite assurances. The overflow of Badshahpur drain aggravated the problem. With the rate of inflow being higher than the outflow of the motor pumps, the underpass got flooded, said Sharma.

Sharma added that the GMDA, MCG and NHAI are collectively handling the situation and rainwater, up to a height of one-and-a-half metres, has accumulated there and seven fire tenders and five motor pumps are being used to drain out the water.

Around 3.30pm on Wednesday, Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh, deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh and mayor Madhu Azad visited the site and took stock of the situation.

Vinay Pratap Singh said, Authorities will try to drain rainwater by Thursday morning and ensure it is functional for commuters by the evening.

Rao Inderjit Singh, after inspecting the spot, recommended several measures to fix the problem.

He told officials to build check dams in the Aravallis to contain run-off rainwater.

When apprised by officials of the existing plan on similar lines, he directed them to expedite the process and divert rainwater to Sultanpur lake, as it could end waterlogging and also help recharge the groundwater table.

MG Road cave-in

A small portion of the road also caved in near the MG Road Metro station, just a few metres before the pedestrian bridge, around 7am. NHAI officials immediately cordoned off the spot and opened it up after filling it with bitumen by 11am. No mishap was reported.An estimated 300 villages in the north-western part of Uttar Pradesh have been cut off from their respective district headquarters due to rising river levels following heavy rain over the past few days.

Most of the these villages fall in districts Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit and areas of Lakhimpur Kheri bordering Nepal.

My house is submerged in nine feet of water. All our belongings have been destroyed. Somehow, we managed to leave the village, said Mansoor Khan of Khaddar area in Amroha -- among the worst hit districts. Mansoor said he and his family of five were staying with their relatives in Amroha city.

In Moradabad district at least 53 villages falling under Sadar area have been cut off from the district headquarters, as the connecting roads are flooded.

Some villages in Thakurdwar, Kanth and Bilari have been affected by the rising water level in river Ram Ganga that passes through the district, said Rakesh Kumar, district magistrate of Moradabad.

In Moradabad district at least 53 villages falling under Sadar area have been cut off from the district headquarters, as the connecting roads are flooded. (PTI)

Likewise, the swelling Sharda, which passes through parts of Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri, has caused flooding in low-lying areas. In Pilibhit, around 40 villages located in northern and eastern parts of the district have been isolated from the district headquarters.

The districts are also still to assess and compile the damage caused by flooding.

At least nine people have lost their lives in flood-related accidents. Flood waters have also submerged swathes of farmland, with several hectares of land near river banks being eroded due to the strong current.

To limit the damage, the respective district administrations have now sprung into action.

We have set up 14 flood relief posts in areas susceptible to flooding. These posts are coordinating with the district administration to provide relief to people in affected villages, said district magistrate of Pilibhit Dr Akhilesh Mishra.

The district administration is also setting up relief camps where inhabitants would be provided food, shelter and medical care, he said.

The state disaster management team has also been pressed into service for the relief work. Teams are working in tandem with other departments. Additional personnel can also be called in if the need is felt, but so far, the situation is being handled well by our staff, said the DM.

Major rivers flowing above danger mark

Major rivers, including Ganga, Ram Ganga, Sharda, Ghagra and Kuwano, were flowing above the danger mark on Tuesday, according to the Flood Management Information System Centre (FMISC).

River Sharda in Palia, Lakihmpur was recorded to be flowing 1.26m above the danger mark. Rivers Ghagra in Barabanki and Ram Ganga in Moradabad were recorded to be flowing 0.8m and 0.5m above the danger mark respectively. Water level in Ganga at Kachala in Badaun was recorded as 0.1m above the danger mark.At least four people were killed and 17 injured in two districts of West Bengal late on Tuesday in clashes that erupted over the formation of panchayat boards following the elections to the rural bodies in mid-May, taking the death toll to ten since August 25, officials said on Wednesday.

Three men died in North 24 Parganas Amdanga block, about 35km from Kolkata, in clashes which broke out allegedly between two parties. Nasib Halder, 25, and Kuddus Ghani, 33, were members of ruling Trinamool Congress and Mujaffar Ahmed, 31, was a Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker.

Trinamool Congress worker Khairul Haque, a resident of North Dinajpur district, was admitted to a hospital in Siliguris North Bengal Medical College on Tuesday with injuries and died later in the night.

CPI(M)-backed goons launched the attacks in Amdanga. I was told they even have assault rifles in their possession. We will ask the police to conduct searches in every house to unearth these weapons, alleged state food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick.

Police could not enter the villages for more than two hours. At least 16 to 17 persons were injured. They were admitted to hospitals and nursing homes in Barasat (headquarters of the district) and Kolkata, Mullick, who is also the party president of North 24 Parganas district, said.

Power connection was severed to take advantage of the darkness and mount the attacks, said the local MLA.

Mullick also alleged that CPI(M) workers are smuggling firearms into North 24 Parganas district from Bangladesh with the help of the BJP. The district shares a border with the country.

Police arrested more than half a dozen people, including CPI(M) district committee member Ahmed Khan, from the hospital premises in Barasat. Some locals claimed they left their homes after the clashes, which started at around 7pm, and spent the night in the fields.

Leaders of the CPI(M), however, alleged that the ruling partys supporters attacked them to prevent them from forming the board in Taraberia gram panchayat.

The formation of panchayat boards in Taraberia, Bodai and Maricha under Amdanga were postponed by the administration. Schools in the area remained closed on Wednesday.

A large number of policemen were deployed in the area on Wednesday and several crude bombs were recovered from the area in the morning.In one of the deadliest attacks on the police in the state in recent months, militants shot dead four policemen in Shopian district of south Kashmir hours after security forces killed Altaf Ahmad Dar, a top commander of the Hizbul Mujahedeen, and his associate, in neighbouring Anantnag. Thus far this year, 33 policemen have been killed by militants across the state.

The policemen were escorting a deputy superintendent of police when militants fired on them from an orchard near a fruit market in Bongam. The militants took away the rifles of three dead policemen.

A search-and-cordon operation was launched in the area immediately.

Earlier on Wednesday, two militants were killed when the army and police launched an operation in Munward village in south Kashmirs Anantnag district. Anantnag encounter completed, two bodies of militants along with two weapons recovered from the site. It was a clean operation with precision, said SP Vaid Jammu and Kashmirs director general of police.

According to a police spokesperson, militants fired on security forces in Anantnag. In the ensuing encounter two militants were killed who have been identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Kachroo alias Moin of Hawoora Mishipora and Umar Rashid Wani of Khudwani Kulgam.

Police said Dar was one of the most important commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen. The militant had a long history of criminal records since 2007, the spokesperson added.Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar said on Wednesday the arrest of five prominent activists and human rights lawyers for their alleged Maoists links was an attempt by Maharashtra police to deflect attention from the various cases involving the members of right-wing Sanatan Sanstha.

Ambedkar, the president of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, said the state police have found the role of Sanatan Sanstha in more sinister things such as the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in August 2013.

However to distract attention from its probe, police are trying to go after genuine activists, he said.

Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, civil rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers and activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested by Pune Police on Tuesday.

They were charged with criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between various groups, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests were part of an investigation into the violence that rocked Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1 during the bicentennial celebration of a British-era war.

The latest move by the government will turn counter-productive in the Lok Sabha elections. The government is already losing sympathy and these arrests will further dent its image, Ambedkar said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation recently arrested Sachin Andure for his alleged involvement in Dabholkars murder. The probe agency has said Andure was an active member of Sanatan Sanstha. Maharashtra polices anti-terrorism squad arrested five alleged members of Sanatan Sanstha earlier this month from Nalla Sopara, Pune and Jalna in connection with an arms case.

While the Sanstha has disassociated itself with all the five men, police say they are linked to the rightwing outfit.Three of the five prominent lawyers and activists arrested by Pune police for alleged Maoists links in raids across five states on Tuesday were brought to Pune on Wednesday while the transit remand of two others faced a legal challenge.

Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, civil rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers and activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between various groups, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests were part of an investigation into the violence that rocked Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1 during the bicentennial celebration of a British-era war.

One police team also searched the residence of Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi although he was not arrested in the absence of evidence, a senior official said.

We have arrested five persons today for their association with the Maoist movement and support to Elgar Parishad, which triggered violence the next day, said Pune joint commissioner of police Shivaji Bodkhe.

While Varavara Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves have been brought to Pune from Hyderabad, Thane and Mumbai, Navlakha and Bhardwaj approached the courts to oppose their transit remand.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday stayed Navlakhas transit remand for a day, ordering him to stay in his house with two guards posted outside. He was allowed to meet his lawyers.

Stopping the police from taking Navlakha to Pune before they heard the matter first thing on Wednesday, a bench of justice S Muralidhar and justice Vinod Goel said that the transit remand application was in Marathi and it was very difficult to make out the details of the case or understand the allegations.

There was drama in the case of Bhardwaj, who was arrested from her home in Faridabad, with her lawyer alleging that the Pune police of not following the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court.

Our transit bail application was dismissed. We had informed the chief judicial magistrate that the high court in Chandigarh intervened and passed an interim order that Pune police wont take her under custody and she will be under house arrest for three days, her advocate Sanjeev Choudhary said, reported ANI.

The matter will once again be taken up before the high court in Chandigarh after three days. Still, the Pune police arrested her. Its a complete violation of the order of the high court, he added.

Meanwhile, a relative of Varavara Rao accused Pune police of forcing him and his wife to sign a punchnama - a document prepared by police detailing the investigation scene and signed by respectable witnesses, in Marathi.

Both Rao and his wife Hemalatha dont know Marathi... they were forced to sign on the punchnama written in Marathi, journalist N. Venugopal, the son-in-law of Rao, told the media in New Delhi.

Without any search warrant, they (police) entered his house, snatched away cell phones. They also disconnected the land line phone and intercom and kept Rao incommunicado for eight hours, he alleged.

The near-simultaneous police raids, led by Pune (urban) police, began at 6 am in Hyderabad, Delhi, Faridabad, Mumbai, Thane and Ranchi and continued till afternoon. Police said the operation was part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017, when various activists and Dalit organisations came together.

The next day, violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon, about 40 km from Pune, as tens of thousands of Dalits celebrated the 200th anniversary of an 1818 war between the British army, manned mainly by Dalits, and the states Peshwa rulers, who were notorious for oppressive caste practices. Widespread stone pelting left one person dead and four injured. Protests swept Maharashtra over the next two days, bringing the state capital Mumbai to a virtual standstill.

The arrests were condemned by several opposition parties.

There is only place for one NGO in India and its called the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon, tweeted Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

No human rights activist should be arrested without a proper case. I defend the rights of everybody, more particularly human rights protestors. They are selfless NGOs, activists and obliged to fight in the enveloping darkness in dictatorial tendencies, Congress spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy said. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the police raids constituted a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties.

According to the police, the names of those arrested on Tuesday cropped up during the interrogation of five persons arrested in June for Maoist links as part of the same investigation. These five were activist Sudhir Dhawale, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Rona Wilson, former Prime Ministers rural development fellow Mahesh Raut, and retired professor Shoma Sen. They were arrested for allegedly having close Maoist links.

We have recovered some documents, laptop, pen drive, hard disk and other material. The scrutiny of the seized items is on, said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Interestingly, Pune (rural) police has charged two Hindu right-wing leaders, Milind Ekbote and Shambhaji Bhide, for the violence on January 1 in Bhima Koregaon. Ekbote is currently out on bail while Bhide has not yet been arrested. The investigation into the Elgar Parishad event on December 31, 2017 is being conducted by the Pune (urban) police.

The arrests were opposed by several activists. The arrests are a dangerous sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate and is falling into panic, author Arundhati Roy told PTI. Historian Ramachandra Guha called the action absolutely chilling and demanded the intervention of the Supreme Court to stop this persecution and harassment of independent voices.The Assam government on Wednesday extended application of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in the state for six more months with immediate effect.

The Act gives special rights and immunity to security forces in carrying out various operations in disturbed areas.

As per powers conferred under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, the Governor of Assam has declared the entire State of Assam as Disturbed Area upto 6 (six) months beyond 28th August 2018, unless withdrawn earlier, an official release said.

Many civil society groups and activists have been demanding withdrawal of the Act from Assam claiming violation of human rights by the armed forces.The arrest of five rights activists by the Pune police on alleged Maoist links is aimed at silencing dissent and instilling fear in the minds of the people, noted historian Romila Thapar and four other academicians told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The petition filed by the five intellectuals alleged that the Pune police action was the biggest attack on freedom and liberty of citizens by resorting to high-handedness without any credible evidence. It also alleged that no action was taken against right-wing workers, against whom FIRs were lodged as they were behind the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

While observing that the dissent was the safety valve of democracy, the apex court today kept the five human rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case under house arrest at their homes till September 6.

Besides Thapar, noted economist Prabhat Patnaik, Padma Bhushan awardee and noted economist Devaki Jain, Sociology professor in Delhi University Satish Deshpande and Maja Daruwala who is barrister by training and senior advisor with Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative have filed the petition in the SC challenging the arrests.

The petition sought to bring on record the gross abuse of police power in the country which intended to stifle, if not kill, independent voices and differing ideology from the party in power.

The entire exercise is to silence dissent, stop people from helping the downtrodden and marginalised people across the nation and to instill fear in minds of people, the petition said.

The timing of this action leaves much to be desired and appears to be motivated to deflect peoples attention from real issues, the petition said.

The petition alleged that the charges against the activists on the face of it appears to be indiscriminate, unwarranted and part of a campaign to threaten human rights defenders, independent journalist, writers and thinkers from criticising the government.

The use of the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act), meant for exceptional and violent activity, against such persons when there has been absolutely no evidence of acts of violence by these activists is deeply disconcerting and calls for an urgent intervention by the court, the plea said.

The plea by the academicians said the police had filed FIRs on January 4 this year against Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Shambhaji Rao Bhide based on eyewitness accounts that they and some fringe groups had incited the violence against the Dalit congregation.

They alleged that the Maharashtra government and its police did not take any purposeful and decisive action against the right-wing leaders who were behind the Koregaon-Bhima violence and instigated the attacks. The police instead embarked on a motivated process of arresting a large number of human rights activists, lawyers and journalist..., it said.Congress president Rahul Gandhi reiterated on Wednesday the Centre must provide more support and aid to flood-ravaged Kerala, where thousands of people are struggling to get back to their homes and rebuild them.

The extent of support that the central government has given should be more. This is owed to the people of Kerala. It is their right. I am sad that central government has not given as much aid as they should, Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI in Kochi.

I visited a large number of camps yesterday, people are worried. I spoke to Kerela CM too. It is important that the government gives a sense to the people that it is going to help rebuild the houses. Compensation promised should be delivered quickly, he added.

The Congress president is on a two-day visit to Kerala and met people in the districts hit hardest by the natural disaster which killed hundreds of people, left dozens missing and pushed about a million to relief camps.

I have come here as a support and not to politicise the situation. I will not comment on the nature of this crisis, he said when asked if Kerela floods was a man-made crisis.

His party had said last week the worst floods in a century to strike the state was a man-made disaster and sought a judicial probe into circumstances that led to it. Gandhi has been demanding that the Centre must declare the Kerala floods as a national disaster.

The death toll in the second spell of monsoon since August 8 which triggered disastrous landslides and floods in Kerala has risen to 302 till Sunday, the state government said. This has taken the overall toll in rain-related incidents to 474 since May 29, when the south-west monsoon had set in over the southern state.

Gandhi once again made a scathing attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and said it was threatening democracy in the country.

There are two different visions of India, one is a centralised vision and other is a decentralised vision. One respects only one ideology, based out of Nagpur and other respects all different ideas, cultures, different people in this country. That fight is on, he said.The Odisha Congress appears to be first off the block for next years assembly elections with the party deciding to announce candidates for one-third of seats by August end and appointing office-bearers at district and block level to strengthen the organization at the grass roots level.

The Congress in-charge for the state Jitender Singh last week said that the party would announce candidates for 50 of the 147-membered state assembly by August-end, which a senior party leader said was meant to send a message that Congress was no longer an indecisive party.

The Congress had taken weeks to decide on fielding the widow of sitting Congress legislator Subal Sahu as the party candidate in the bypoll to Bijepur Assembly constituency in western Odisha district of Bargarh in February this year. Sahus widow contested on Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket and won by a handsome margin of over 40,000 votes. The Congress last minute candidate Pranay Sahu lost his security deposit.

Also, the partys fortunes have been on a slide since 2000 when it lost power to the BJP and BJD alliance in the assembly polls. The worst came in 2017 panchayat polls when the Congress managed to get 18% of the total votes and was pushed to third position by the BJP which cornered 32% votes. The Congress has also seen high profile desertions including former union minister Chandrasekhar Sahoo joining BJD in recent years.

But, the Congress leaders in Odisha sense a chance of revival after the BJD supported the NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh in the election for deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha.

In the changed circumstances, BJP in Odisha may not go hammer and tongs against Naveen Patnaik as seriously as they were doing earlier. We would go to people with the message that BJD and BJP have an unholy nexus and only Congress can voice their grievances, said Satya Prakash Nayak, Congress spokesperson.

Taking an early call on its election strategy, the Congress has also decided that candidates who had lost their security deposits in 2014 assembly elections will not be given tickets. In the last assembly election, 40 of the partys 147 candidates had lost their security deposits.

Winnability and new faces will be our preference while selecting the candidates, said Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik, while claiming that the relentless journey to restore the pride of Congress has started.

The party has also announced presidents and working presidents of 33 organisational district committees and presidents of more than 90% zonal Congress committees. The party is also in the process of finalizing booth level workers and will run a campaign, my booth my pride, similar to the one in Rajasthan to strengthen organization at the village level.

The Congress has also become proactive on social media with the party leaders tweeting memes criticising the ruling BJD and the BJP. Last week Patnaik tweeted photographs of Bollywood actor Sunny Deol with the tagline --- Sirf scheme milti hain anjaam nahin, a take-off from Deols famous courtroom dialogue Sirf tareekh pe tareekh from the popular Hindi film Damini.

Political analysts, however, dont see prospects of Congress doing well in the assembly polls despite the party trying to set its house in order. The party is on a steady decline in Odisha and the 2017 zilla parishad polls proved that it no longer strikes a chord with rural electorate. Besides, its failure in rallying around opposition parties to form a Mahagathbandhan at Centre would have an impact in Odisha too, said Prof Brahmananda Satpathy, political science professor of Bhubaneswars Utkal University.

BJPs national secretary Suresh Pujari said Congress can choose to live in illusion of occupying the opposition space. Their vote base is shrinking rapidly over the years. I hope they are able to hold onto the 18% cent vote they got in the panchayat polls, he said.The Pune police said the arrest of five activists in raids across the country on Tuesday was part of a larger probe into banned outfits.

All these members arrested by the Pune police are ideologues associated with a banned outfit, Punes joint commissioner of police Shivaji Bodkhe said.

He added that the police were probing Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakhas role in an Elgar Parishad gathering on December 31, 2017.

The event preceded the violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune the next day when thousands of Dalits had gathered to observe the 200th anniversary of a battle between Peshwas and the British.

One person died and four others were injured amid widespread stone pelting by unidentified people. Two right-wing Hindu leaders, Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, were charged for the violence.

Police said their investigation is no longer restricted to the Elgar Parishad and now covers the role of the Maoist movement.

The banned Communist Party of India-Maoists central committee members had allegedly attended the meeting in December 2015. There is ample evidence in the form of documents and footage, said joint commissioner Ravindra Kadam, who was monitoring the Elgar Parishad probe. Raos name allegedly surfaced in one of the three letters found after five other activists Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, and Shoma Sen were arrested in June.

With the support of Gadling and comrade Varavara Rao, various activities could be possible in different parts of the country, one of the letters had reportedly said. The Pune police said another letter allegedly recovered from Wilsons house even suggested a strategy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

We are thinking along the lines of another Rajiv Gandhi-type incident. It sounds suicidal and there is a good chance that we might fail, but we feel that the party PB/CC must deliberate over our proposal. Targeting his road shows could be an effective strategy, the letter reportedly said. Former Supreme Court judge PB Sawant rubbished the police version. This is propaganda by the government and investigating agencies. Those working for human rights are being labelled extremist, Sawant said.

Historian Ramachandra Guha called the action absolutely chilling and demanded the Supreme Courts intervention to stop persecution and harassment of independent voices.The de-notification of about 830 acres acquired for the Dadupur Nalvi irrigation scheme, implying that the land will now be returned to the farmers, is well on course to become the proverbial albatross around the neck of Manohar Lal Khattar government. The BJP government has decided to return the land to farmers on grounds that the irrigation scheme was unfruitful and the acquired land unviable.

Will harm BJP politically

The Khattar cabinet had approved the de-notification of around 1,019 acres in 2017 despite not having a legal provision at that juncture. Even after getting an amendment incorporated in the new land acquisition law, the government will find it tough to successfully implement the decision to return the land.

The decision to make farmers shell out compensation amount along with the interest will also adversely impact BJPs prospects in at least three northern Haryana districts of Yamunanagar, Ambala and Kurukshetra. A policy being prepared by the state government to spell out the mode of return of land and the August 3 order to de-notify the land speaks of the interest to be levied on the farmers. CM Khattar had however said in his public statements that no interest would be charged on the compensation money to be paid by the farmers. Khattar had also said that government will not force the farmers to take back the acquired land.

However, the August 3 order does not have any room for making such exceptions.

AICC leader and Congress MLA from Kaithal Randeep Surjewala said that the decision to de-notify this land is a clear departure from the solemn promise made by Khattar that no one will be forced to take back the land and pay up compensation. No one gains from this return. The state exchequer and the farmers, both lose in the process. It is a decision which shows bankruptcy of mind of this government, Surjewala said.

On being asked as to how about 830 acres have been de-notified when the council of ministers had approved de-notification of about 1,019 acres, principal secretary, irrigation, Anurag Rastogi said that about 189 acres is viable land since everything stands settled with regards to it acquisition process.

Asking farmers to pay up legally unsound

Meanwhile, legal experts said that its a matter of time before the amendment made by the Haryana government to incorporate a provision in the right to fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement to return unviable land back to farmers, is challenged in a court and struck down.

The Supreme Court in Tata Singur case of West Bengal had clearly held that the compensation which has already been paid to the cultivators shall not be recoverable by the state government as they have been deprived of the occupation and enjoyment of their land for the last 10 years. The land acquisition for Dadupur-Nalvi irrigation scheme started as early as 1987 and the process continued till 2009.

Time consuming exercise

The process to return the land will be a time consuming exercise since the 830 acres notified by the irrigation and water resources department for return to the farmers is spread over four circles  Hathnikund barrage circle, Jagadhri, Sarasvati heritage circle, Kurukshetra, Shahbad Nalvi feeder and SYL WS circle, Ambala. It involves hundreds of land pockets of varied size in the ranging of 0.04 acre to 39 acres.

The government has also decided that about 5.90 acres acquired for Dadupur-Nalvi irrigation scheme land which was utilised for construction of a road to link Jagadhari-Chhachhrauli road with Jagadhari-Ambala road and inaugurated by assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal in May this year would be retained by the government. Many more such complicated situations may come up during the process of return of land, said an irrigation department official.The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday stopped Pune police from taking custody of five activists who were arrested a day before for alleged Maoist links, and placed them under house arrest in their respective homes until the case is heard again on September 6.

A three-judge SC bench headed by chief justice of India Dipak Misra also asked the Maharashtra government to file a response by September 5 to a petition by historian Romila Thapar and others that alleged the arrests were aimed at muzzling dissent.

Dissent is the safety valve of democracy, the pressure cooker will burst if you dont allow the safety valves, justice DY Chandrachud, a part of the bench with justice AM Khanwilkar, said.

The SC bench questioned the rationale behind the arrest nine months after violence on January 1 left one person dead and four others injured in Bhima Koregaon, where hundreds of thousands of Dalits were celebrating the bicentennial of a war between the British and the Peshwas.

There are wider issues raised by them (petitioners). Concern raised is that you are quelling dissent. Democracy is not safe if you quell dissent and that is what they are worried about, the court said.

In near-simultaneous Pune police raids across five states on Tuesday, lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj, poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between groups, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests were part of an investigation into the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Navlakhas transit remand from his house in Delhi to Pune was stayed by Delhi high court on Tuesday evening and he was put on house arrest, and following a late-night hearing, Bharadwajs transit warrant was also recalled by the local magistrate.

Rao, Gonsalves and Ferreira had been arrested from Hyderabad, Mumbai and Thane respectively, and taken to Pune. Late on Wednesday evening, the Pune district court ordered them to be sent back to their residences where they will be kept under house arrest. Arrangements will be made to send all the accused to their respective cities, said assistant commissioner of police Shivaji Pawar.

According to Pune Police, an event called Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017 in Pune, where various activists and Dalit organisations came together, was responsible for stoking the violence the next day. In June, the police arrested activist Sudhir Dhawale, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Rona Wilson, researcher Mahesh Raut and retired professor Shoma Sen for alleged Maoist ties. A separate probe by Pune (rural) police in the January 1 violence has named two Hindu right wing leaders, Milind Ekbote and Shambhaji Bhide.

The National Human Rights Commission served a notice to the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests. It said the arrests were made in violation of the laid down procedure and so amounted to human rights violation. It asked for a factual report on the matter within four weeks.

Union home ministry officials said the ministry has nothing to do with the arrests. Law-and-order and police are state subjects, said a home ministry spokesperson. A senior security official on the condition of anonymity said the Maharashtra police should have prepared its case better before acting against these individuals.

It seems that the state police acted in haste by going for arrests of these individuals. These suspects could have been called for questioning first. The option of arrest should have been exercised only if they had refused to cooperate with the probe. And I hope the state police has really solid piece of evidence against these individuals to prove the charge that they were involved in inciting violence, said the central security official.

In the Supreme Court, two additional solicitors general, Maninder Singh and Tushar Mehta, appeared for Maharashtra and questioned the locus standi of the petitioners. The petitioners were represented by senior advocate Abhishesk Manu Singhvi, who said the petition was filed in national interest. The FIR registered in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence does not mention the activists who, Singhvi submitted, were not even present at the site where the incident took place.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, also appearing for the petitioners, said the arrests showed how the liberty of citizens has been jeorpardised. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan called the arrests random. If this lady (Bharadwaj) gets arrested then I am the next, Dhawan added.

Even as the SC heard the petition, hearing into Navlakhas petition against his arrest continued in the Delhi high court. After almost three hours of hearing arguments, the court was halfway through dictating its order when it was informed of the apex courts decision. The matter will now be heard on Thursday.

In the Pune court, the city police defended the arrests, producing three letters purportedly recovered during the investigation.The police told the court that the arrested activists were allegedly part of the anti-fascist front of the Maoists, were involved in recruiting students and young people, had links with separatists in Kashmir and the North-east and were intending to strike high functionaries in the government. The police also submitted a letter reportedly detailing a plot to assassinate the prime minister.

The arrest of the five activists was condemned by public figures and opposition parties.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said the arrests were an attempt to divert the attention from the recent breakthrough in the killings of rationalists such as MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and Gauri Lankesh. They are activists. They are Leftists. Their ideology is Left. But I never heard they are associated with Naxalism. It is really unfortunate that the government thought of arresting them, he said.

The people who have been arrested yesterday hold responsible position in the society. Therefore, it is incumbent on the government to put in the public space the reasons for their arrest. This multi-city arrest is a witch-hunt, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for supporting the activists. Rahul Gandhi said he has no hate against the prime minister. He is now speaking in favour of those who are conspiring to eliminate the prime minister, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.Nandamuri Harikrishna, fourth son of legendary Telugu actor and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N T Rama Rao and a former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP, died in a road accident on Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway in Nalgonda district on Wednesday morning.

According to Nalgonda police, Harikrishna, 61, who was driving at a very high speed, lost control over the vehicle which rammed the road divider at Anaparthi village and hit another vehicle on the other side of the highway before overturning.

The TDP leader, who suffered severe head injuries, was immediately shifted to Kamineni super speciality hospital at Narketpalli, a few kilometres away, where he breathed his last at around 7.45 am.

Harikrishna started off from his Hyderabad residence to Nellore at around 4.30 am in the morning, his family members said.

His brother-in-law and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu left for the hospital in a helicopter along with his son Lokesh, soon after coming to know of the accident.

Harikrishnas elder son Janakiram was also killed in a similar road accident on the same highway three years ago. Another son Junior NTR, a popular Telugu actor, also met with an accident closer to the same highway while campaigning for the TDP during the 2009 elections.

Though Harikrishna was also an actor, he came into prominence by driving the Chaitanya Ratham (campaign vehicle) of his father N Rama Rao during the state-wide tour in 1982, when the TDP was founded. He later became an MLA from Hindupur and was a Rajya Sabha member twice till 2015.As the Centre and the state government prepare for holding the panchayat and local body elections in Jammu & Kashmir, militant outfit Hizbul Mujahedeen on Wednesday issued a strong warning to those planning to participate in the polls, asking them to get shrouds along with the elections forms.

Though militants had already been issuing warnings to people interested in participating in panchayat and local body elections, however, on Wednesday, the outfit has directly said that participants will be killed.

In an audio message released by Hizbul Mujahideen, its operational commander Riyaz Naikoo, who is based in south Kashmir, alleged that Indian forces have started harassing innocent people as they are prepare for holding the panchayat elections. Those people who are thinking about participating in the polls... They along with election forms should also get shrouds, he warned.

Read: 4 cops killed by militants in Kashmir after Hizbul commander gunned down

He said the militants have already got acid and those taking part in elections should remain prepare for that. Naikoo had earlier also warned political workers and others about participating in the elections, saying those who will take part will be blinded by pouring acid in their eyes so they will become burden on their families.

We are not afraid of forces, what we have to do, we will do that, he said adding that army used to lay an ambush outside the house of Shameema Bano of Koil, Pulwama who was involved in leaking information about militant Sameer Tiger to protect her . But how long did the forces manage to protect her, he asked, referring to her being shot dead earlier in August.

Naikoo said that militants can kill anybody at any place. We dont have personal animosity with anybody, but the people who will work against our struggle or sacrifice will be punished.

He also criticized media for not properly highlighting, what he called, the atrocities of forces and blamed them for working with media agencies. The news portraying militants in negative aspect gets prominence while houses of militants and other people which get ransacked find very small space in the inner pages.

The latest threat came at a time when government preparation for holding elections is in the final stages. The police have already deputed more than 16,000 central paramilitary force personnel, who were here for the Amarnath Yatra and asked to stay back, in various districts of the Kashmir Valley for the panchyat elections.Documentary 'Athens Blues' shows metamorphosis after crisis On RAI3, film on Greece's evolution

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 29 - A new documentary film shows Athens as the symbol of Greece and Greece as the symbol of the crisis, not only of the economic crisis, but of the entire model of the developed Western world. "Athens Blues," a documentary by Massimo Bongiorno for RAI DOC3 and ERT, touches on the true meaning of the verb crisis, from the Greek verb "krino": discern, stop, and reflect.



The documentary will be screened on Wednesday, September 5 at 18:30 at Rome's Casa del Cinema, and broadcast on Thursday, September 6 on RAI3 as part of the late-night lineup.



Over the past 10 years, Greece has become an enormous social laboratory.



"Athens Blues" is a journey in search of the country's most authentic soul, a country that is not only the cradle of Western civilization but also a hinge between the East and the West.



Athens rises as a symbol, and it is blues because the music of those marginalized by other crises more than a century ago, rebetiko, is authentic urban blues music that has made a modern-day comeback like never before.



The journalistic reporting-style approach of the film is accompanied by narrations of side stories.



Some of the main members of the Syriza government in power trace a picture of the challenges on the field.



A picture emerges of the constant attempt to break free from the diktat of the institutions.



At the same time, meetings with other significant figures on the Athenian literary, music, and artistic scene provide an unorthodox point of view, putting into focus both the depth of the roots of a millenary culture as well as its ability to find creative solutions to crisis.(ANSAmed)Barely a week after he returned from the US, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar will return there for treatment.

His family wishes that he should be checked by the doctors who treated him initially, which is why he is travelling to the US. Ive spoken to him and he has said that he is feeling fine. I do not expect that he will be away for too long, but we will see, the chief ministers press secretary said.

The decision to travel to the US was taken on Tuesday night and the state cabinet was informed on Wednesday morning.

Parrikar, who had returned to Goa from the US on August 22, was unexpectedly hospitalised at Mumbais Lilavati Hospital a day later after he went there for what the Chief Minister Office described as routine tests.

Initially he was expected to return to the state on August 25 which got delayed. Parrikar had left for the US for his second follow-up visit on August 10.

The chief minister underwent three-month-long treatment for a pancreatic ailment at a hospital in the United States.

Parrikar was first hospitalised on February 14 for what was reported to be a case of food poisoning. However, no sooner he was shifted to Mumbai, the state administration informed that the chief minister would be unavailable for next two days as he has to undergo a routine health check-up in Mumbai.

On February 16, the state government informed that the chief minister is well and under observation. He is likely to be discharged in a day or two. It is a case of mild pancreatitis.

The next day, however, it was reported that the chief minister was under monitoring for his inflamed pancreas with the assumption that his treatment would be longer than initially anticipated and the Goa assemblys budget session initially planned for three weeks was curtailed to only four days.

Parrikar travelled to the US at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York State for treatment on March 5 where he remained for a period of three months and returned on June 14 in time of the assemblys monsoon session.Twelve people have died and thousands displaced in incessant rains in some parts of Nagaland in the past one month with chief minister Neiphiu Rio seeking Central help on Wednesday even as several other north-eastern states have seen deficient rainfall this monsoon season.

The damage this year is unprecedented in the history, said Temjen Toy, Chief Secretary, Nagaland, the state that had contributed Rs one crore for Kerala flood relief earlier this month.

Starting late July, the hilly state has seen the rains wrecking havoc, which 12 people lost their lives and more than 3000 families have been displaced in around 400 villages, Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority said.

In an interim report to the Centre, the state government demanded Rs 219 crore as immediate help. The officials said the demand is likely to go up to Rs 400 crore even as the damage is pegged at around Rs 800 crore as of now.

#Nagaland needs your #help. Incessant rain has caused floods & landslides in several parts of the state & have affected many, said Rio in a tweet.

An Indian Air Force helicopter is loaded with relief material in Nagaland. (Handout photo)

Interestingly, the Northeast has seen a deficit rainfall this year. According to figures from the Regional Metrological Centre, Guwahati, up to August 29, Nagaland has seen a 26% deficit this season, while Assam has 30%, Meghalaya 43%, Manipur 68%, Arunachal Pradesh 46%, Tripura 17% and Mizoram 6%.

It is the nature of the rainfall which is disruptive. It pours 100 mm in one hour, said said Johnny Asin, officer on special duty, disaster management at the Nagaland government.

The flooding has primarily been caused because of rains in upper reaches of Nagaland leading to water level rising at the Doyang Hydro electric project in Wokha District. The release of additional water from the dam twice has resulted in flooding in the downstream areas including Golaghat district of Assam.

As many as three districts remain cut off even as the authorities have tried to divert through alternate routes. The state of affairs is so sad that the main Dimapur to Kohima national highway is blocked, Toy said. We are diverting traffic through rural roads, not allowing any truck with load of more than ten tonnes, said Johnny Asin.

Toy said all districts including Kohima and Dimapur have been affected. About 359 locations of roads have been totally cut-off sending the state into an emergency situation, Asin said explaining how it will take time to restore.

Kiphere, a district on the border with Myanmar is the worst affected. We are hoping that the seven smaller trucks with 1,500 bags of rice which are on their way from Dimapur will get here by tomorrow morning. But, that will depend on if it does not rain, said MA Shihab, the Deputy Commissioner, Kiphire.

Meanwhile, the state government is hoping for the Centre to lend a generous helping hand. The routine grant is not going to be sufficient, said Toy. The entire capital outlay of the state is Rs 500 crore. This damage alone is going to cost us more, he said, adding a inter-ministerial central team is expected to visit the state in first week of September.The Navy would undertake reconstruction work in two flood-hit areas in Ernakulam district, Navy chief admiral Sunil Lanba said in Kochi on Wednesday.

Admiral Lanba was addressing a gathering at flood ravaged Muttinakam village near here after reviewing relief and rehabilitation work, a Defence release said.

He also highlighted the pivotal role of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) here in shaping the career of naval personnel.

All including himself were connected with Kerala by an umbilical cord as they were all trained under the SNC prior to becoming full-fledged naval personnel, he said.

The Navy chief said he was closely monitoring the situation over the past several days and that the Navy had deployed its personnel and assets during the devastating floods.

The focus was now on relief activities, he said.

Lanba further said the Indian Navy has selected two villages based on inputs received from the local administration and visits by naval officials wherein rehabilitation initiatives were proposed to be undertaken to restore the area, the release said.

The shortlisted villages are Muttinakam in Varapuzha Panchayat and Cheriya Kadamakudi in Kadamakudi Panchayat in Ernakulam district, it said.

The activities in Muttinakam include reconstruction of a completely damaged house on the river bank and complete renovation of the Sub primary health centre (PHC) and Anganwadi along with furniture, equipment, play equipment and other essential equipment.

The activities in Cheriya Kadamakudi include reconstruction of three houses, renewal of roof of five other houses, construction of an Anganwadi and fitment of a 10 tonnes per day Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant to meet the drinking water requirements of the people in the region.

The RO plant has already been completed and operational for the public since yesterday, the release said.

Rehabilitation kits (800 for Muttinakam and 500 for Cheriya kadmakkudi) containing essential commodities such as clothing, cleaning gear and utensils etc., were distributed on the occasion.

Additionally, some other requirements including the construction of a bridge connecting Pizhala island to Cheriya Kadamakudi hamlet would also be considered and the feasibility explored, the release said.

The Navy chief has directed SNC to coordinate the rehabilitation activities on behalf of the Navy.

He would be meeting the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday to discuss any further support required from the Navy to overcome the situation.

Admiral Lanba would also be handing over a cheque of Rs 8.9 crore to CM Disaster Relief Fund as a voluntary contribution from the salaries of naval personnel. Admiral Lanba also interacted with MLAs V D Satheesan and S Sharma, the release said.

Relief materials worth about Rs 25 Lakh were handed over to the Local Self government officials by Reena Lanba, president of Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA).

The Navy had rescued nearly 17,000 people during its nearly fortnight-long Operation Madad, for assisting the state administration and undertaking disaster relief operations.Israel, which is expecting about 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018, is hopeful of attracting at least 3 lakh Indian visitors annually in the next three-four years by improving the air-connectivity between the two countries, an Israeli official said here on Wednesday.

Around 60,000 Indian tourists visited Israel in 2017 and we are expecting around 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018. I think within 3-4 years, we should reach at least the 3 lakh figure, Ministry of Tourism Director (India and Philippines), Hassan Madah said here on the sidelines of a roadshow.

In 2017, the country attracted 3 million international tourists, mostly from the US, Russia and western European countries.

Tourism is on the rise in Israel and inbound arrivals from India have appreciably increased in the last few years. With a half-yearly record growth of 82 per cent as compared to the same period in 2015, more than 44,000 Indian tourists have already visited the country from January to July, 2018, Madah said.

In March 2018, Air India launched its direct flight operations from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, the fastest non-stop flight connecting India with Israel, he said, adding that the airline is increasing flights in the route.

In addition to this, Israeli airline El Al currently has three weekly non-stop flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv.

Israeli carrier Arkia has also expressed interest to begin operations connecting the two countries, he said.

Madah said the opening of the Kolkata Israel Visa Application Centre for West Bengal and northeastern states would help increase interest among travellers from these regions of India.

The country is fast becoming the Middle-Easts newest business tourism destination, gaining popularity with the Indian corporate segment, he added.The Kochi international airport, the busiest of Keralas three airports, resumed operations on Wednesday, almost two weeks after it was shut down as its key areas were submerged in the worst floods to hit the state in a century.

The airport in Kochi, which was closed due to the floods, has commenced its operations, the Kerala chief ministers announced in a tweet. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan congratulated the officials and employees of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on making the airport functional in a short time, it added.

Closed for a few hours on August 9 after the torrential rains began on August 8, and then from August 18 after runaways and terminals were inundated, the airport was scheduled to reopen on August 26. However, the CIAL had extended the date by three days after both the airlines and ground handling agencies said they will be unable to mobilise manpower by that date.

The airlines were notified regarding the resumption of operations and asked to make sure the smooth functioning of the services as per the schedule. Their websites have already started facilitating the journey planner for passengers from and on August 29.

Private carriers Jet Airways and Indigo had announced said they will restart services to Kochi airport from Wednesday.

Jet Airways will resume its scheduled operations to Cochin International Airport (CIAL) from August 29. The airlines first flight to Kochi (9W 0403 from Mumbai) is scheduled to arrive at 15:50 hrs (3.50 pm), Jet Airways said in a statement.

Jet , which airlifted over 17 tonne of relief material free of cost, said it continues to aid relief operations in the state. It has also extended its waiver for passengers holding confirmed tickets and travelling into and out of the airport till Thursday and they can change dates up to September 15 from the original travel date, it added.

Budget carrier Indigo also said it will resume services from Kochi, the airline said in a tweet.

Ongoing flight services from naval air station INS Garuda, which was opened to airlines in wake of the closure, were suspended.

Following the inundation as water from the swollen Periyar river and its tributaries, which received an unprecedented amount of water released by major dams, entered the complex, CIAL had to rebuild the damaged infrastructure, including 2.5 km long airport wall that collapsed.

A CIAL official had said earlier the airport suffered an estimated loss of over Rs 220 crore in the floods. The runway, taxi bay, duty-free shops and other areas of international and domestic terminals were also submerged, causing damage to electrical equipment including runway lights, the official said.

He said the Rs 60-crore solar power system, billed as one of the biggest in an airport, also suffered damage in the floods.

The airport, the seventh busiest in the country, had handled 10 million passengers in fiscal 2017-18.RJD president and fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad is scheduled to surrender before a CBI court in Ranchi on Thursday, upon expiry of his provisional bail.

Prasad, who reached Ranchi from Patna on Wednesday, was directed by the Jharkhand high court to surrender before the CBI court by August 30.

After being sent to jail in December last year following conviction in fodder scam cases, Prasad spent a considerable time at the RIMS hospital in Ranchi and AIIMS, New Delhi, for treatment of various ailments.

He was also treated at a Mumbai hospital for three weeks and was discharged on August 25.

He was released on six weeks provisional bail on May 11 by the Jharkhand HC for medical treatment and was restrained from taking part in any public function, political activity or issuing statements to the media during the period.

The high court had extended the period of Prasads bail and on August 24 refused to extend it further. The former Bihar chief minister was ordered to surrender before August 30.Lynchings are bad for the reputation of India, Indian tourism minister KJ Alphons has said in Beijing, indicating that such cases have the potential to slacken the countrys pull among foreign tourists.

Well, it (lynchings) shouldnt happen. Simple. And, the PM (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has called them criminals. And, he told the states you have to take action because law and order is a state subject, he said. On whether cases of lynchings have had an impact on tourism, he said: Well, not on a big time basisnot really. But anything happening like that is bad for the reputation of the country. We wont say its good for the reputation of the country, he added.

Foreign tourist arrivals in India showed robust growth in 2017 despite its growing image as an unsafe and tourist-unfriendly country because of womens safety issues, several cases of mob lynching and a ban on beef in most states. Tourism is already doing very well. If you take 2017, our tourism grew by 14 percent (foreign tourist arrivals) and the revenue grew by 19.2 percent, Alphons said. The sector generated $27 billion in revenue and contributed about 7 percent to the GDP.

The ban on beef isnt impacting tourism either, he added.

Not really. You see, there are states like Kerala, Goa and the northeastthese (states) which are all beef eating states. These are all big tourism destinations. So people would go wherever they are comfortable, he said. I think we need to respect the sentiment of the people anywherethats so fundamental.

On womens safety, Alphons recalled foreign journalists asking him about the 2012 Nirbhaya case. If you are asking me today about an incident six years back, what does it mean? It means you dont have any other case to quote to me. That means my country is safe, he said

See, there is a massive unfairness in this whole reporting process. I was about to use another word. There is huge bias in reporting. I dont want to play with numbers. Things should improve anywhere in the world, he said. Alphons said maximum efforts were being made to ensure security of tourists which included helpline 1363 in 12 languages including Mandarin. Last year, the helpline received close to 2.75 lakh calls.

Alphons was talking to reporters in Beijing on Tuesday after leading a seminar on promoting tourism from China  the worlds largest outbound sector with 145 million going abroad last year  to India. In 2017, 2.4 lakh Chinese visited India and he termed the number miniscule. The number of Chinese tourists to India hasnt gone up because India has never marketed itself in China, the minister said.

We are the closest neighbours. We are just across the mountain. And, the time taken is four hours, five hoursshortest flight to go to any destination. We never marketed ourselves. So that is the whole problem, he said. We are starting the India tourism office in Beijing. We are going to appoint a strategy advisor for China and a PR agency for China, he said.

Alphons said it was surprising that India didnt have a dedicated tourism office in China. Well, yes, it is surprisingI was shocked when I heard China has got 144 million outbound. So, this is a neighbour, we should have concentrated on big time.

Among other steps, India is planning to increase the number of officially certified Chinese-speaking tour guides in India. The number currently is 38.Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday asked the Indian envoy in Spain to take necessary steps to send back an Indian girl who was abandoned by her foster parents in the country.

She was reacting to a recent media report according to which a Spanish couple had abandoned the 13-year-old girl they adopted from an agency in Madhya Pradesh after they were allegedly deceived about her age.

The couple was reportedly told that the girl was seven-year-old at the time of adoption earlier this year.

Noting that the ministry is in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the child care institution in Bhopal, Gandhi asked Indian Ambassador to Spain D B Venkatesh Varma to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to send her back to India.

While we are in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the Child Care Institution in Bhopal, I am worried about the state of the girl who is currently in foster care in some institution in Madrid, Gandhi said.

The Union minister said the girl, on her return, would be placed under care and protection in a local agency.

I also understand that the Centre Adoption Resource Agency is in touch with you. It has been ascertained that the girl wants to return to India. I request you to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to send her back to India where we will place her under care and protection of a suitable local agency, she added.Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday claimed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government negotiated hard to keep the price of Rafale jets down by at least 20% per aircraft in its 2016 deal, as compared with the United Progressive Alliances (UPA) deal of 2007.

Jaitley said in an interview to news agency ANI that these aircraft were coming to India fully loaded and the deal was between the two governments, without anyone in between.

Can you compare a basic aircrafts pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare a simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft, Jaitley asked.

If, in 2012, they had come to an agreement, the first (aircraft) would have been delivered in 2017. From 2007 to 2017, the escalations would have gone up, along with a foreign exchange variation... Is the Congress party aware that if you take the 2007 L1 offer and the escalation clause without the add-ons, the price negotiated in 2015-16 is cheaper? L1 is an abbreviation for the lowest bidder.

Shortly after Jaitleys interview was published, Rahul Gandhi hit back on social media.

Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting! he tweeted.

The NDAs decision to enter an $8.7 billion deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes made by Dassault was announced in April 2015, with an agreement signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous UPA governments decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

The deal has become controversial with the Opposition, led by the Congress, saying that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is R1,670 crore for each, three times the R526 crore initial bid by the company when the UPA administration was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also said that the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL.

Let us first come to the pricing. My question, therefore, is if you are fully aware -- Mr (AK) Antony fully read the file and abandoned the contract -- he would tell his party that the L1 offer of 2007 had a basic 2007 price, plus escalation, plus currency variation. In 2015 or 16, this would have been 9% costlier than what the basic aircraft price negotiated was Loaded to unloaded, you compare the price again. The 2016 price is 20% cheaper than the 2007 offer. So we got it cheaper, Jaitley said.

Dismissing Congress president Rahul Gandhis charge that the Rafale jet being purchased by the present government is more expensive, Jaitely said that every point made by the opposition party is factually false. He asserted that no rules were bypassed and the Cabinet Committee on Security approval was taken during the deal, and negotiations took about 14 months to complete.

The deal has also become controversial because one of the offset deals signed by Dassault is with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani. The Congress alleges the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this.

Jaitley, in turn, attacked the Congress for compromising the nations security through policy paralysis and not going ahead with a deal after the tendering process was completed.

Indias security was compromised. Was it policy paralysis or decision paralysis that you allow Indias security to be compromised by indefinitely not taking a decision or was there any collateral consideration which compelled you to just abandon it and put Indias security at risk, he asked

Jaitley challenged the Congress to produce evidence that the deal was not good for the country and attacked Gandhi for twisting the facts of the deal. Earlier in the day, Jaitley had also written a blog posing 15 questions to the Congress on the Rafale deal under three headers -- on delay, unsure of facts and on procedure.

Any responsible politician will know that government-to-government transactions are always clean. Governments dont pay kickbacks. Its a transaction between the Government of India and the Government of France -- publically made and publically declared terms that we will give you an offer better than 2007 and then enter into, Jaitley said in the interview.

Reacting to Jaitleys remarks, the Congress reiterated its demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe. If Modi government has nothing to hide, why cant they agree to the JPC probe? said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari. Demonetisation is this governments biggest failure, but the finance minister is talking about Rafale today. Why didnt he speak about Rafale in Parliament during the no-confidence motion, he added.

The NDA government has maintained that it cannot disclose the details of the price on two counts: a confidentiality agreement with France, and the strategic reason of not showing its hand to Indias enemies.Taking suo moto cognizance, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served a notice to the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests of five civil rights activists in a nationwide swoop by the Pune police on Tuesday.

The Commission has observed that it appears the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police, which may amount to violation of their human rights, the NHRC said in the notice to state DGP Datta Padsalgikar and the chief secretary.

The NHRC has asked them to file their replies within four weeks. It pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.

Following the arrests (in June), the NHRC had issued a similar notice to the state government on June 29, but the latter has not submitted its report yet.

Tuesdays arrests of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and poet-activist Varavara Rao from different parts of India, triggered a massive outcry.

As in June, the arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima, Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.

Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti LC, Father Stan Swami and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.

Officials described Tuesdays operations as a follow-up to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The next day, on January 1 (2018), caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of BR Ambedkar.(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 29 - The Venice Film Festival, which starts today and runs through September 8, this year will once again open a window onto the filmography of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.



The selections include feature-length films, shorts, and documentaries, above all in the Horizons section of the 75th edition of the festival, which will give space to directors from Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Greece, Iran and Serbia.



The screenings start with Turkish director Mahmut Fazil Coskun and his film Anons (The Announcement), on September 1.



Set in 1963, the film takes place across just one night, May 22, when a group of military officials unhappy with the social and political situation in Turkey plan a coup.



In Istanbul, the conspirators try to take over the national radio station to formally announce the coup, but nothing goes as planned.



"Anons is a story of a clash and a unity of two different parts - soldiers and civilians, who read and understand the world and life from two different perspectives," Coskun said. He said there's a Turkish saying that goes: "waiting in the East, moving in the West wins", and that "the chaos and tragicomedy of this statement have been evident in Turkey for years". The French-born Syrian director Soudade Kaadan places attention on Syria, now destroyed by seven years of war, with his "Yom Adaatou Zouli" (The Day I Lost My Shadow), on September 2.



The film turns back to 2012 during the coldest winter the country had ever known, when Sana, the film's heroine, dreams of nothing other than getting the propane gas she needs to prepare a meal for her son. When she decides to take a day off work to go looking for a propane tank, she unexpectedly finds herself stuck in the area under assault. That's when she discovers that, during war, people lose their own shadows, which director Kaadan says is "a traumatic experience".



"This film was written in a country where the idea of tomorrow is an unimaginable thought. What is tomorrow when you live under constant bombardment?" he said.



The film uses reality, dream, illusion, and a hyper-realistic universe to tell the story of a specific period in Damascus's history with precision.



Then there is the story of Salam, a charming 30-year-old Palestinian who lives in Jerusalem, where he works as an intern on the set of a famous Palestinian soap opera produced in Ramallah called Tel Aviv on Fire.



In the eponymous film by director Sameh Zoabi, Salam passes every day through an Israeli military checkpoint to reach the TV studio where he works.



That's where he meets Assi, a guard whose wife is a huge fan of the show.



To impress her, Assi involves himself in the soap opera's plot, and soon Salam realizes that Assi's ideas could earn him a promotion as a writer.



"With Tel Aviv on Fire, I decided to write a story dealing directly with the subject of conflicting perspectives," Zoabi said. "My central character is an aspiring writer who struggles to find his voice and inspiration in a politically charged reality," he said.



Greece is also given space in the Horizons section, among the 12 short films in competition, with Leoforos Patision (Patision Avenue) by director Thanasis Neofotistos.



An intimate film shot in the most controversial area of central Athens, it tells the story of the bond between the director and his mother.



Also in the short films competition is Serbian director Dusan Zoric's story of adolescents on the eve of the Yugoslav Wars, with Strano Telo (Foreign Body).



Out of competition in the non-fiction section is "A Letter to a Friend in Gaza" by the Israeli director Amos Gitai.



In the documentary film, the director pays tribute to Albert Camus and looks at the return to Palestinian villages, with interspersed texts by Izhar Smilansky, Emile Habibi, Mahmoud Darwish and Amira Hass.(ANSAmed).

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad, who is heading back to jail after medical treatment, on Wednesday condemned the arrest of five rights activists for their alleged Maoist links, claiming that India was heading towards becoming an autocracy and the way was being cleared to declare a state of emergency in the country.

Making a political remark for the first time after he was granted provisional bail for the treatment, the wheelchair-bound Prasad told media at the Patna Airport that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become wary of intellectuals and activists, who, he feels, are up to killing him.

It is strange that the Prime Minister of a country is insecure of intellectuals. People of the country have not liked it, said the former Bihar chief minister, who will appear in a Ranchi court on Thursday as the Jharkhand high court did not further extend his provisional bail.

Pune police had on Tuesday arrested lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardhwaj, poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, charging them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between various groups, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Speaking to media persons though a condition of his provisional bail was that he would not take part in any political activity, including issuing statements, Prasad, who has been convicted in multiple fodder scam cases, maintained that he trusts the judiciary and is hopeful of getting justice sooner or later. I have no interest in resting in hospitals. The court has been benevolent to me and ensured I get proper medical aid whenever I fell sick while in custody, he said.

Elections are around the corner. I am the national president of a political party. The government is wary of us and hence the cases and legal actions against my family and me are continuing. There is a deep-rooted political conspiracy behind it. They (the government) wants to keep us engaged in legal wrangles and under pressure. No matter how hard they try, justice will prevail at the end, said an emotional Prasad.

On what the opposition alleges is the worsening law and order in Bihar, he said that the state has plunged into deep anarchy under chief minister Nitish Kumars rule. Every day women are being raped. There is no day in Bihar when people are not being killed. Rome was burning and Nero was fiddling, he said, apparently referring to the chief minister allegedly turning a blind eyes to growing crime.Several opposition leaders and eminent persons and celebrities condemned the arrest of prominent Left-wing activists, with some of them terming it as a manifestation of autocracy.

The Maharashtra Police had yesterday raided the homes of the activists in several states and arrested five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

The five activists will not be sent to jail but be under house arrest until September 6, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, in a tweet, said he has no sympathy whatsoever for Maoism, but freedom of thought, belief and expression were fundamental rights in any democracy.

To arrest activists who have neither committed nor facilitated violence is to betray our democracy. This is not the India that Gandhiji fought to free, he said.

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram condemned the arrests of human rights activists, a lawyer and a poet.

I will strongly disagree with those who hold extreme left or extreme right views, but I will defend his right to hold that view. That is the essence of freedom, he said.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said those who defend human rights, raises concerns about atrocities against poor and condemn authoritarian regime is arrested in RSSs New India. Remember, Fascism will not last longer.

Dalit leader and Independent MLA from Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani said the move was nothing less than Emergency.

Had Gandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar and Sadar Patel been with us today, they would have surely appeared as lawyers for all these human rights activists who are arrested by Pune police dubbing them as Maoists, he tweeted.

Searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC section 153(A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the official.

Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala hit out at the government over the arrests, saying, I am the State is the loud cry that has been heard by the activists who were swooped, raided and arrested.

Cracking down on NGOs by the State due to ideological differences is the manifestation of Autocracy! Deeply disturbing for Democracy. Reprehensible & Deplorable! he said.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi termed the arrests as systematic harassment of civil rights activists.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha, in a tweet, said, They are silencing & persecuting all opposition before 2019. First they came for AAP and we were silent, they came for dissenting intellectuals we were silent, now theyve come for social activists and lawyers, how long can we remain silent, who is next?

Bravo to the lawyers who have moved the SC to stay the malafide arrests and raids till September 6, noted activist Kavita Krishnan said.

Actress and activist Swara Bhaskar condemned the arrests and raids, saying Indian jails were only for writers, human rights activists and academics... And doctors who saved the lives of children.

Freedom is not lost all at once, it is lost in units of one, one at a time, one activist, one lawyer, one writer till finally its each one of us.., author-producer Twinkle Khanna tweeted.

In a statement released by SAHMAT, several intellectuals and academics such as Irfan Habib, Mushirul Hasan and Amiya Kumar Bagchi, said, What is being conducted is a witch-hunt against those who dare to take up the cause of the downtrodden and who dare to criticize the government for trampling upon their rights.

Leftist economist Prabhat Patnaik said the incident was a sign of nervousness of the government as it was losing support of farmers, workers and among people at large.

Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, a human rights body, said they were nothing but a targeted crackdown and attack by the police and state on civil liberties and democratic rights activists across the country.

The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS-Rajasthan) also condemned the action as malafide allegations and the coercive use of state power.

The All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA) said it was repressive and arbitrary action as a part of the wider politics of silencing dissent and deterring activists, lawyers and intellectuals for raising their voicePolice did not produce a warrant before searching their house and took away computer hard disks besides mobile phones, Hemalatha, wife of Telugu poet Varavara Rao who was arrested for alleged links with Maoists, alleged on Wednesday.

She said about 20 police personnel, including two women officials, arrived yesterday.

They did not produce any warrant. They seized computer hard disks and mobile phones. They also disconnected the intercom system that connects with other flats.

He (Varavara Rao) was arrested several times earlier also and no case has been established against him... He wants to spread his ideology through the pen (writings), not the gun, Hemalatha told PTI.

She said they initially refused to allow the police to enter their flat at Gandhi Nagar, but they let them in after a local police official informed that they did not need a search or arrest warrant under the sections Rao was booked.

The Telegu poet was arrested by a police team from Pune. The team also conducted searches at the residences of Raos two daughters.

Hemalatha alleged that police even seized and took away her grandsons computer hard disk.

Rights activist and senior member of Telangana Civil Liberties Committee G Haragopal flayed Raos arrest.

Rao was imprisoned on various charges earlier also. His health is a cause of concern now as he has become old, the activist said.

The Maharashtra Police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Rao is a founder member of Virasam (revolutionary writerss association).

Over 20 activists of CPI (ML) New Democracy members were taken into custody in Hyderabad when they staged a protest condemning the poets arrest. Police said they were later released.

The outfit demanded Raos immediate release.A Pune sessions court ordered the city police on Wednesday evening to make arrangement to send back the activists, who were arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case, to their respective homes.

Sessions judge KD Vadanes order came at 7.15pm after the Supreme Court ruled that the five activists arrested for alleged Maoist links were to be kept under house arrest in their respective homes till September 6.

The judge also asked the police to file an affidavit by September 6, citing reasons for the arrest. The arrested persons were taken to the Faraskhana police station for the night with the police stating they would be taken to their respective cities on Thursday.

Three of the five activists arrested by Pune police on Tuesday  lawyers Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and poet Varavara Rao  were produced before the Pune court around 3pm. The prosecution argued the activists were part of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) group, which was trying to wage a war against country to overthrow the government.

The alleged plot came to light after police analysed the electronic devices, documents and other highly incriminating evidences seized from the five arrested persons, showing their links with the CPI (Maoist), said Pune deputy commissioner of police Shirish Sardeshpande.

They have shown intolerance to the present political system, and decided to target organisations and their officials and even the highest political functionaries, Sardesphande said.

Public prosecutor Ujjawala Pawar said an event held at Punes Shaniwarwada on December 31, 2017 called Elgar Parishad was organised by members of the CPI(Maoist), who were allegedly in the process of procuring arms from Nepal and Manipur. According to the Pune (urban) police, this event stoked the violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon the next day, killing one person and injuring four others.

The activists, according to the prosecution, had allegedly formed what was described as an anti-fascist front during a December 2015 meeting of the eastern bureau of the central committee of the CPI (maoist). The prosecution said the police recovered hard disk, lap top, pen drive, and documents from the arrested activists, which had been sent to forensic examination.

The prosecution produced a number of letters in court.

Pawar submitted to the court a purportedly seized letter with an alleged reference to poet P Varavara Rao. As per our conversation in April this year, I am in touch with our suppliers in Nepal. Our comrade from Manipur will also assist us. Only VV Rao has the authority to communicate with them for purchase of arms, the letter allegedly stated. The prosecution also showed a purported catalogue of weapons.

In yet another letter, submitted by Pawar, activist Arun Ferreira was allegedly given the responsibility of recruiting rebellious students from prominent organisations such as the Tata Institute of Social Studies to propagate Maoist ideology. Ferreira was given responsibility to recruit students and send them for training, said Pawar.

Prosecution said documents seized from arrested people also allegedly indicated their links with separatist elements in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-east.

Advocate Rohan Nahar, appearing for the arrested activists, said the police action was inappropriate and the sections related to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act were incorrect. He argued that there was no intent to incite violence in anything the activists said and questioned what the police meant by waging war against the state.

Now that the prosecution has claimed they have seized everything, what is the need for custodial interrogation, said Shahid Akhtar, a defence lawyer.Congress president Rahul Gandhi will leave on Friday for a 12-day pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar to fulfil a vow he took while campaigning in Karnataka during the assembly elections earlier this year.

Gandhi is leaving for Kathmandu (Nepal) on August 31 for onward journey to Kailash Mansarovar. He is expected to return on September 12, said a Congress functionary aware of his travel plan.

Addressing a Jan Aakrosh rally at Delhis Ramlila Maidan on April 29, the Congress president announced his intent to take a 15-day break from politics to enable him to go on the pilgrimage.

Gandhi then narrated the incident of a technical snag in a chartered aircraft that was carrying him to Karnataka. The incident happened during landing of the flight from New Delhi at Hubballi in north Karnataka on April 26.

Two-three days ago when I was going to Karnataka, the plane nosedived 8,000 feet and I thought its all over. As I thought that, it struck me that I wanted to go to Kailash Mansarovar, he told a gathering of Congress workers.

The polling in Karnataka was held on May 12 and the results were declared on May 15. The Congress is part of the JD(S)-led alliance that governs the state.

Kailash Mansarovar is a mountain peak located near Manasarovar lake in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China and is considered holy by the Hindus as the abode of Lord Shiva. It also holds religious significance for Jains and Buddhists. The Kailash Mansarovar yatra is undertaken by hundreds of pilgrims every year.

Soon after the incident of the plane, the Congress alleged intentional tampering and demanded a probe into the suspicious and faulty performance of the 10-seater Falcon 2000 aircraft. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already initiated a probe into the incident.

Hindustan Times learns that the ministry of external affairs has received Gandhis request for political clearance and that it is under process.The Maharashtra government has found that the five arrested in the explosives seizure case had links with Sanatan Sanstha sympathizers and would send details to the Centre to ban the radical Hindutva outfit, a police official said today.

The state government had sent a proposal to ban the Sanatan Sanstha to the Centre in 2015. It decided to send the details so that it can be added to the proposal, the official said.

The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) probing the recent seizure of explosives, has so far arrested five persons - Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Shrikant Pangarkar and Avinash Pawar.

During the investigation, it was found that all the arrested persons had links with right wing Hindutva organisations and also with the sympathisers of the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS), he said.

The social media accounts and online activities of the arrested also suggest these links, he added.

The proposal to ban Sanatan Sanstha was sent to the Union government by the state in 2015. We will now send the details of the current (explosives seizure) case to be added in the proposal, after which the criminal record of the group will be updated, a police official said.

The investigating agency is focusing on establishing the links of the arrested accused with the Sanatan Sanstha and we are gathering evidence in this regard, he said.

The ATS has booked the five persons under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), beides other terror charges

It is mandatory to inform the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about any case of UAPA within 24 hours of the action.

The ATS, accordingly, has sent a status report on the recent terror case made out by it under the UAPA against the arrested, the official said.

He said though the Sanatan Sanstha claims that the arrested are not their members, its offshoot organises rallies and marches in support of the accused.

The Sanstha has claimed that the people arrested in connection with the case from various parts of Maharashtra and those allegedly involved in the killing of rationalists are not its members.

Sanstha spokesperson Chetan Rajhans had earlier told reporters that a few people with progressive mindset, along with political parties such as the Congress and the Left block, were putting the Sanstha in the dock without providing any evidence of wrongdoing.

On August 10, the ATS had arrested Raut (40), who ran the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti, a little-known pro-cow protection outfit, at Nallasopara in Palghar district.

The ATS, after Rauts arrest, had nabbed Kalaskar (25) and Gondhalekar (39), following raids in Palghar and Pune districts. Pangarkar, a former Shiv Sena corporator from Jalna, was arrested on August 19, while last Saturday the ATS arrested Avinash Pawar from Ghatkopar in Mumbai.

The ATS has recovered a huge cache of explosives, arms and ammunition, including 7.65 mm pistols and material to prepare Improvised Electric Devices (IED), incriminating documents, notes, chits, laptops,mobiles, hard disks in the raid at various places, including Nallasopara, Pune, Aurangabad, Solapur and other parts of Maharashtra.Satya S Tripathi, an Indian development economist and lawyer, has been appointed assistant secretary general of the United Nations and will head the New York office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Tripathi has worked at the UN since 1998 in Europe, Asia and Africa on strategic assignments in sustainable development, human rights, democratic governance and legal affairs, the world body said in an announcement on Monday. Since 2017, he has been a senior adviser to the UNEP on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Tripathi is possibly the third-highest ranking Indian in the UN bureaucracy after Atul Khare, an under-secretary general who heads the department of operations, and Nikhil Seth, an assistant secretary general who headed the world bodys Geneva-based UN Institute for Training and Research in 2015.

Tripathi, who holds bachelors and masters degree from Berhampur University, was previously the director and executive head of the United Nations Office for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD)+ Coordination in Indonesia, as well as for the United Nations Recovery Coordinator for the US$ 7 billion post-tsunami and post-conflict recovery efforts in Aceh and Nias, according to the UN.

He was also chair of the committees on laws and treaties for the UN-mediated Cyprus unification talks in 2004.The Supreme Court will Wednesday hear a petition filed by academician Romila Thapar and four rights activists challenging the arrest of five prominent activists by Pune police for alleged Maoists links after raids across five states on Tuesday.

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra is likely to hear the petition filed by Thapar along with Devki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Daruwala.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising appeared before the CJI when he assembled with other judges for a constitution bench hearing. Singhvi said the extraordinary situation made it necessary for him to mention the matter before a constitution bench. Since the CJI could not take up any urgent matter while he heads a constitution bench, he asked Singhvi and others to come back at 3.45 pm before a three-judge bench.

The petitioners want the court to stay the arrest of the activists and hold an independent inquiry. They also urged the court seek explanation from Maharashtra for sweeping round of arrests in the case, reported PTI.

Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, civil rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers and activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between various groups, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests were part of an investigation into the violence that rocked Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1 during the bicentennial celebration of a British-era war.

A police team also searched the residence of Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi although he was not arrested in the absence of evidence, a senior official said.Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav on Wednesday announced the formation of the Samajwadi Secular Morcha, and invited all neglected leaders from the SP and other secular parties to join him, in a development that could rekindle the power tussle in the Yadav family.

I had been waiting for the last one-and-a-half years for some responsibility to be assigned to me by the party. I can no longer take this neglect, Shivpal said. The SP leader had decided to form a separate outfit in May last year after months of infighting in the family, compounded by a crushing electoral defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, but refrained from making any formal announcement.

Shivpal, who met SP patriarch and older brother Mulayam Singh Yadav in the morning before making the announcement, refused to comment whether he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections under the morcha. We have been working on this front for quite some time now. We will sit down and take a decision on this (contesting Lok Sabha elections) later, said Shivpal.

Reacting to the development, SP president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said more such reports will come to light as the elections draw closer. When asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a role to play in it, Akhilesh said, Though nothing definite can be said, keeping in view the developments in the last two days there is definitely something fishy going on.

Shivpal met UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath more than once in recent months. Though the meetings were described as personal visits, Shivpals decision to express his feelings soon after Mulayams no one respects me now statement on Saturday has assumed political significance.

Shivpal also met Om Prakash Rajbhar, a disgruntled minister in the Adityanath government, on Tuesday. Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh had on Tuesday criticised all the members of the Yadav family, except Shivpal. Singh said he had arranged a meeting between Shivpal and top leaders of the BJP but it did not take place.

I spoke to the top BJP leaders for Shivpal. The time of meeting was also fixed but he (Shivpal) backed out. Now, I have no political responsibility for him. I am not in touch with him, Singh added.

Amar Singh was in Lucknow on Wednesday to meet Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and Adityanath. He said he would meet the governor to demand the removal of SP leader Azam Khan from the post of chancellor of the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.Dozens of weddings in Kashmir scheduled for August 29,30 and 31 have either been scaled down or postponed as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a bunch of petitions against Article 35 A on Friday.

Separatists have called for a two-day shutdown on Thursday and Friday across the state blaming BJP and RSS of attempts to change the demography of the state through legal route.

The local newspapers in Kashmir are flooded with the messages informing the invitees about cancellation of wedding celebrations and feasts.

Due to prevailing situation in the Valley, the invitation extended for the marriage ceremony of my daughter scheduled for August 30 and 31 is accordingly cancelled. However, Nikah will be held as per the schedule with simplicity, Ghulam Rasool Zargar of south Kashmir informed in one of the most read newspapers in Kashmir.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a bunch of petitions on Friday against the Article 35 A of the Constitution, which empowers the Jammu and Kashmirs legislature to define permanent residents of the state and provide special rights and privileges to them. Earlier this month, the state government had moved an application in the court to defer the hearing citing upcoming panchayat and urban local body elections.

Srinagar resident Anees Ahmad, 28, and his family had planned for grand celebrations on his marriage on August 30 and 31 but now, it will be a simple affair with only close relatives and friends in attendance.

My parents were very excited about the wedding. We had already bought everything including spices for the meal. People had been invited for a grand feast but that has been cancelled now. Relatives called saying that they wont be able to come on the day. We are very disturbed. But what can be done, the situation is not very conducive, Ahmad, a businessman in central Srinagar, said.

Ahmad will now take a few of his friends and close relatives to bring his bride home.

Kashmiris cook a multi-cuisine feast called Wazwan on their marriages and invite traditional as well as modern musicians for the celebrations.

Father of a to-be-groom living in north Srinagar said there will be no Wazwan on his side or brides side. I told my son to go, have some Kehwah (a Kashmiri green tea) and bring his bride home. The situation will not be feasible for celebrations and feasts, he said.

Around 22 people were injured after protesters clashed with security forces even as many parts of Kashmir shut down spontaneously on Monday amid rumours that the top court was hearing petitions against Article 35 A.

Kashmir witnessed complete shutdown on August 5 and 6 coinciding with the last date of hearing in the Apex Court.

There are fears across Jammu and Kashmir that Article 370 and Article 35 A may be scrapped, which will allow outsiders to settle here. While Article 370 of the Constitution grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Article 35 A disallows people from the rest of India from buying or owning immovable property in the state, settle permanently, or get state government jobs.

Last time the strike was unprecedented. This time also, it will be tense. We dont want to take any chances, said Chasfeeda Shah, whose two brothers-in-law will go for a simple Nikah ceremony on August 31.Tunisian central bank may lend using foreign currency Reserves dropping alarmingly, 70 days import cover

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, AUGUST 29 - The Tunisian central bank is looking into the possibility of granting loans in foreign currency to Tunisians living abroad. The announcement was made by bank governor Marouane El Abassi during the Middle East Mediterranean (MEM) Summer Summit in Lugano, an event that ended on August 26 and at which Tunisia was the guest of honor. The plan aims to increase foreign currency reserves amid their constant decline. ''A committee has been set up inside the Tunisian central bank for the launch of loans in foreign currency to benefit the Tunisian community abroad and to propose savings plans for the same community,'' El-Abassi said. Tunisia's currency reserves have dropped in recent months and as of August 22 had only 70 days import cover.



Three months' import cover is typically seen as the lowest safe level.



On August 1, 2017 foreign currency reserves in the country had 92 days import cover. (ANSAmed).



Five prominent activists arrested by the police should be placed under house arrest till September 6 and not sent to jail, the Supreme Court ordered on Wednesday on a petition that asked the top court to order an independent probe into the Bhima Koregaon violence earlier this year.

Dissent is the safety valve of democracy... the pressure cooker will burst if you dont allow the safety valves, the court observed, questioning the arrest of the five activists nearly nine months after the violence.

The court has told the authorities to put the five activists under house arrest till it takes up the case again on September 6.

Pune police raided the residences of prominent lawyers and activists across five states on Tuesday and arrested five people for alleged Maoist links  a move that was condemned by opposition leaders and other public figures as an attack on civil rights.

Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between groups, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The arrests were part of an investigation into violence in Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1 during the bicentennial celebration of a British-era war.

Police said the operation was part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017, when various activists and Dalit organisations came together. The next day, violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon, about 40 km from Pune, as tens of thousands of Dalits celebrated the 200th anniversary of an 1818 war between the British army, manned mainly by Dalits, and the states Peshwa rulers.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by academician Romila Thapar and four rights activists challenging the arrest of five prominent activists by Pune police for alleged Maoists links after raids across five states a day before.

The petition filed by Thapar, along with Devki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Daruwala.

Earlier in the morning, senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising appeared before the CJI when he assembled with other judges for a constitution bench hearing.

Singhvi said the extraordinary situation made it necessary for him to mention the matter before a constitution bench. Since the CJI could not take up any urgent matter while he heads a constitution bench, he asked Singhvi and others to come back at 3.45 pm before a three-judge bench.

The petitioners want the court to stay the arrest of the activists and hold an independent inquiry. They also urged that the court seek explanation from Maharashtra for the sweeping round of arrests in the case, reported PTI.

A police team also searched the residence of Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi although he was not arrested in the absence of evidence, a senior official said.

While Varavara Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves have been brought to Pune from Hyderabad, Thane and Mumbai, Navlakha and Bhardwaj approached the courts to oppose their transit remand.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday stayed Navlakhas transit remand for a day, ordering him to stay in his house with two guards posted outside. He was allowed to meet his lawyers.

Stopping the police from taking Navlakha to Pune before they heard the matter first thing on Wednesday, a bench of justice S Muralidhar and justice Vinod Goel said that the transit remand application was in Marathi and it was very difficult to make out the details of the case or understand the allegations.

There was drama in the case of Bhardwaj, who was arrested from her home in Faridabad, with her lawyer alleging that the Pune police did not follow the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court.Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said he will try to resolve the differences between the Congress and its rival political parties for a broad-based alliance to remove the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in 2019.

In the next 15 days to one month, I will start reaching out to the leaders of these parties. I know there are some difficulties. It is not that simple. I think it is possible to resolve these differences, he said at a press conference.

He was responding to a question about the difficulties the Congress faced in building a grand alliance because of its differences with parties like Biju Janata Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The remarks came a day after Pawar backed state-specific tie-ups to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Pawar ruled out the possibility of the Opposition parties announcing a common prime ministerial candidate at this juncture. It is not a serious issue. Projecting A or B is not important at this stage, he said.

Twice in the past, I have seen similar situations. First, in 1976-77, there was no Janata Party before the elections and a leader was chosen only after the polls. Similarly, in 2004, we did not contest the elections under one leader or one group. We just sat together and decided to form an alternative government.

I am not taking lead but I am discussing with my friends in different political parties, Pawar said when asked if he would take the lead in stitching the grand alliance for the 2019 elections. I believe that the person, who is taking the initiative, should not be the candidate. I have no personal interest and it is easy for anybody with no personal interest to talk to other parties.

Pawar said there are apprehensions in the Opposition camp that the government might use different investigation agencies to threaten and prevent some parties from joining the anti-BJP front.

Earlier in the day, the NCP chief attacked the Modi government, saying the country was gearing up to overthrow communal forces in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

I am deeply concerned with the NDA governments policies and actions that are nothing but a divisive, destructive and disruptive propaganda and a looming threat to the integrity of the nation, he told a party convention in Delhi. We are a nation of diverse cultures, sects and religions and can only stay united with a secular thread of humanity. One religion, One nation theory is absurd, impracticable in Indias context.The Gujarat government has sought explanation from a school in Gandhinagar following allegations that one of its teachers forcibly removed rakhis tied on the wrists of students.

Some parents had complained to the education department that a teacher at Mount Carmel High School cut off, with scissors, the rakhis tied on the wrists of students in Class V, a day after Rakshabandhan.

Education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on Wednesday said a notice has been issued to the school.

The incident was unwarranted. We will not tolerate any act which hurts religious sentiments. My department has issued a notice to the school and sought explanation about who did it and who ordered it. We will take further decision after getting the reply, Chudasama told reporters.

Activists of BJPs student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested outside the school on Wednesday over the alleged incident.

ABVP leader Rishikesh Mandalia claimed that when the protesters confronted the school management, they denied that such an incident happened.

The school authorities were not available for comments.In a breakthrough, two Hizbul Mujahideen militants including its commander Altaf Ahmed Dar alias Altaf Kachroo, one of the oldest surviving terrorist, were killed on Wednesday in South Kashmirs Anantnag district, police said.

Giving details, a spokesman of the police said that based on a specific intelligence, Jammu and Kashmir police along with other security forces launched the search operation at Muniward village of Khanabal area in the district at the crack of the dawn.

During the searches, terrorists fired on the search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter and in the ensuing encounter two terrorists were eliminated. The killed terrorists were identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Ataf Kachroo alias Moin of Hawoora Mishipora and Omar Rashid Wani of Khudwani Kulgam, the spokesman said.

He said Dar, who also hails from Kulgam in South Kashmir, was currently operating as a one of the most important terrorist Commander of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and had a long history of criminal records since 2007.

It was a specific operation carried out swiftly by the security forces. In the action both terrorists, who were involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen, were eliminated, inspector general of police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said.

Considered as a long time surviving terrorist in the area, Dar was involved in series of terror crimes in the area which included attacks on the security forces and killings of civilians and policemen in South kashmir.

One of the police officials, who was involved in the operation, described him as a chief architect of attacks on policemen.

The police spokesman also said that Dar along with his associate Yasin Itoo played a major role in instigating people during 2016 unrest which was sparked after the death of Hizbul Mujahideens poster boy Burhan Wani.

The other militant killed in the encounter was Omar Rashid Wani, who had become active since last year.

The spokesman said he was involved in many civilian atrocities and attacks on security establishments.

Wani was also involved in killing of policemen at Anantnag and recently he carried an attack on CRPF in Srinagar and managed to give a slip during the recent Batmaloo encounter site.

The spokesman said though the two were part of the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group, they managed to keep close coordination with other outfit for unleashing terror.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)The Balasore district administration on Tuesday demolished a tall road sign set up by West Bengal government at Udaipur, saying it was illegally installed 20 metres inside Odishas territorial jurisdiction.

The sign, carrying Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees favourite Biswa Bangla logo that she designed in 2013, was set up in July at Udaipur near Digha, Bengals most popular seaside destination in East Midnapore district.

Though the Balasore district administration claimed that the spot in Udaipur where the sign was put up is located in Odisha, the claim was earlier questioned by Bengal officials. Administrative meetings also took place but the issue was not resolved.

Interestingly, this is the second time this month that a Biswa Bangla road sign, painted in blue and white, the official colours of the Bengal government, has triggered dispute between the state and its neighbours.

On August 3, BJP supporters in Jharkhand stopped labourers from Bengal from painting the Massanjore dam blue and white. They also defaced the road sign put up by the Bengal government near the dam which connects the two states. The Jharkhand administration said local people reacted because Bengal had no right to put up the sign or paint the dam since both were outside its territory.

On Tuesday, Balasore district officials used a crane to pull down the giant sign that welcomed travellers to Bengal. A huge contingent of Odisha police was present at the spot. We have demolished the unauthorised structure because it was erected on our land, said Nilu Mohapatra, Balasore district sub-collector.

Digha administrative officials rushed to Udaipur with some policemen to stop the demolition but could do nothing. The sign was bulldozed in their presence.

We requested Balasore district officials to settle the issue through discussion but they did not listen to us, said Rashmi Kamal, district magistrate, East Midnapore. We have informed the state administration, she added.

Udaipur is located less than a kilometer from Digha. It is frequented by tourists who visit Digha.

Tuesdays incident brought the Massanjore dam issue back into news since it had led to a political debate.

Sent by the Bengal government to the dam, a group of contract labourers were stopped and driven away by angry BJP workers who did not want the structure to be painted blue and white. The BJP workers also removed the Bengal governments official logo.

The incident raised a fresh controversy and triggered an exchange of words between BJP and Trinamool. leaders.

Commissioned in 1955, the hydro-electric power generation project on Mayurakshi river is located about 30 km from Suri town, the district headquarters of Birbhum district in Bengal. The Bengal irrigation department maintains the dam and monitors release of water during monsoon.

What BJP did was unwarranted, said Bengal irrigation minister Soumen Mahapatra.

The dam might be maintained by Bengal but it is situated in Jharkhand. The colour scheme was being changed purely for political reasons. Jharkhand residents objected to it. A river dam cannot be the subject of politics, Sayantan Basu, Bengal BJP general secretary, said at that time.A 16-year-old allegedly strangled his 19-year-old sister to death at Waliv, Vasai (East), on Monday, as he was angered by her habit of talking over the phone for long hours, which disturbed his sleep.

The Waliv police arrested the teenager and booked him under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code. The boy was produced in court on Tuesday and was sent to a remand home in Bhiwandi.

Inspector Bharat Jadhav from Waliv police station said the girl often talked to her friend after her mother left for work in the afternoon and late at night. The mother works as a domestic help in Borivli, while the womans husband was at their hometown in Jalgaon for the past two months.

Her long conversations annoyed the boy as it would disturb his sleep. The two would argue over it, often. On Monday afternoon, the boy strangled his sister to death in a fit of rage after her conversation disturbed his sleep. He then called four of his friends to help him dispose of the body, Jadhav said.

However, a neighbour decided to check what the commotion was about. When she peeped through the window, she saw the girls body lying on the bed and informed the police.

The Waliv police reached the spot and arrested the boy. They also recovered the dupatta he used to kill his sister. While the body was sent for post-mortem, the dupatta was sent for forensic analysis, the police said.Addressing a gathering at the Bucerius Summer School in Germany last week, Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, told his audience that his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, and he had forgiven Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, for ordering the assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991. The reason I wasnt happy was because I saw myself in his children. So I realised, him lying there actually means that there are kids like me who are crying, he said.

Rahul has often spoken of pain and has also been commended for being able to deal with the loss of a father who died a violent death. Yet, for someone who understands pain, it is surprising that he sought to absolve the Congress for the worst pogrom in which more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the Capital in riots that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Thirty four years have passed since Delhi burned. Several commissions of inquiry have named senior Congressmen for their involvement in the killing of Sikhs. Among the various commissions, the one headed by Justice GT Nanavati expressly named leaders including Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in 2005. The cases against them were reopened, after the report said there was credible evidence and Rahul, who was a Member of Parliament by then, must surely remember that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was forced to drop Tytler from his Cabinet.

Several leaders, including former home and finance minister P Chidambaram and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, have jumped to Rahuls defence, saying he was only a child, barely 13 or 14 years of age, in 1984. The Punjab CM, in fact, has made it worse by naming Congressmen and saying they may have acted in their personal capacity.

If I were Rahul Gandhi, I would be embarrassed by both arguments. Age does not absolve you of the fact that as the president of the grand old party, you ought to know your history. In this case, it is contemporary history. For example, lets refer to all the Japanese leaders who have had to apologise for the havoc their country wreaked on its neighbours during World War II. They too were children at the time but they apologised even though they had no personal role.

Nor, for that matter, did Manmohan Singh, but he made a forceful speech in Parliament after the Nanavati report was tabled. I have no hesitation in apologising to the Sikh community. I apologise not only to the Sikh community, but to the whole Indian nation because what took place in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our Constitution, he said. He went a step further, saying, I hang my head in shame.

Amarinders defence, too, crumbles quickly. It is naive of him to suggest that leaders such as Sajjan Kumar  he named him  acted in a personal capacity, when, for the past 34 years, he continues to be a part of the Congress. Kumar and Tytler were even named as Lok Sabha candidates, but their names were withdrawn after a huge uproar in 2009.

Of late, Rahul Gandhi has been particularly articulate. He has addressed burning issues, including those of hate and lynchings, and even went to the extent of hugging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament. In his favour, it must also be said, that he is willing to take live questions but in the current instance, he could hardly have been unprepared for a question relating to the 1984 violence. The question has dogged the party for 34 years and his mother, too, has apologised for the pain of the pogrom.

As he prepares for the big battle of 2019, Rahul Gandhi must reconsider what he said. Senior Congress leaders such as Tytler and Sajjan are still being adjudicated on in court. Instead of having Chidambaram and others defend him, he must show moral courage and clarity and own up that he perhaps made a mistake. That one step alone will go a long way. He may even be hailed for being a politician who is willing to correct himself.

Justice lies at the heart of the 1984 riots, which was not only about those who died, but is also about the living, who continue to fight. Rahul Gandhi can help them  and himself  by speaking up again.

harinder.baweja@hindustantimes.comComedian Kapil Sharma has confirmed that he is putting together a new season of The Kapil Sharma Show, which will also serve as his comeback to TV after many months spent under the radar. Kapil fell from grace after several public confrontations - once with his co-actor Sunil Grover, his ex-girlfriend Preeti Simoes, and a tabloid journalist that he abused on a leaked phone call. It was reported that Kapil also suffered from depression and alcoholism, which contributed to the last minute cancellation of his shows.

In a statement to PeepingMoon.com, Kapil said, I can assure my fans that I will be back soon with another season of The Kapil Sharma Show. The show has the same effect on the viewers and it would really love to take it forward. However, it is at a very initial stage.

Latest pic of @KapilSharmaK9 with his pet Cheeku 



isn't it cute ? #KapilSharma pic.twitter.com/1GT1Bdupee  Kapil Sharma FC (@KapilFans) July 31, 2018

Kapil has been spotted rarely since his previous show, Family Time with Kapil, was abruptly cancelled after several disruptions on set. He was photographed at an Amsterdam supermarket, and then on his return to Mumbai at the airport. A couple of his photos were also shared online. Kapil had quit Twitter following a public meltdown when he accused the press of being biased against him.

In each of the photos, he appeared heavier than usual, with some attributing his change in appearance to the treatment he said he was undergoing at a wellness clinic.

The comedian rose to fame with Comedy Nights on Kapil Sharma and its follow-up The Kapil Sharma Show. Each of his shows follow the same sketch comedy format and feature several supporting characters.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreTwo Indian nationals were among 19 people arrested on Monday by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency as they illegally crossed into the country from Mexico.

CBP said the 19 illegal immigrants were on a on a panga-style boat, which was spotted entering US waters from Mexico on Sunday night by a US border patrol aerial surveillance aircraft. The US coast guard intercepted the boat 24 km of the coast of Point Loma, California.

Those apprehended included two smugglers and 15 Mexican nationals. CBP said the smugglers may face human smuggling charges.

Indians are among the fastest growing groups of people crossing illegally into the United States  this fiscal year, 4,197 Indians were arrested by border patrol agents, according to data from Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, sourced by the Los Angeles Times.

Many of them will seek, or have already sought, asylum. Some petitioners will be accepted  483 Indians were granted asylum in 2014 and 2016, according to the most recent count made available by the United States. The rest will be deported to India.

The journey from India takes months and traverses through multiple countries, with the last few miles from Mexico into the US covered on foot, vehicles or as in the Monday arrest, on boat. Its a well organized human smuggling network and can cost upward of Rs 25 lakh per person, with no guarantees.

The number of Indians illegally in the United States was 430,000 in 2014, according to the department of homeland security. A large number of them came on temporary visas and overstayed.A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh was hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, media reports said on Wednesday.

Subarna Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private news channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, bdnews24.com reported.

She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 kms from Dhaka.

Suborna, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house at around 10:45 pm on Tuesday, it said.

When she answered the door, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna additional superintendent of police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, police said.

Some locals rushed her to hospital where she was declared brought dead.

Police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said.

Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON4 million refugee children not attending school, UNHCR Half a million more than a year ago

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 29 - Four million refugee children are not attending school in the world, half a million more than a year ago. The figure was included in the "Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis" report published on Wednesday by the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).



The report stressed that despite efforts by governments, the UNHCR and its partners, school enrolment is unable to keep pace with the growing population. At the end of 2017 there were an estimated over 25.4 million refugees in the world, of whom 19.9 million under the UNHCR's mandate.



Over half (52%) were minors, 7.4 million of whom school-age children. Only 61% of refugee children attend primary school, compared with 92% of children in the world. (ANSAmed).



A meeting of senior officials of Bimstec states in Kathmandu considered 14 reports on issues ranging from connectivity to counter-terrorism and agreed on the setting up of a new development fund to accelerate several projects.

Foreign secretaries of the member states joined the meeting that was chaired by Nepals foreign secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and concluded on Tuesday. The meet recommended measures for strengthening the Bimstec Secretariat in Dhaka that will be taken up at the ministerial meeting scheduled for Thursday.

Foreign ministers of all the member states have arrived in Kathmandu for the ministerial meeting.

A technical team will be formed to finalise the modalities of the Bimstec Development Fund while another team will draft the charter of the grouping.

The meeting (of senior officials) discussed the establishment of a Bimstec Development Fund, rationalising areas of cooperation, strengthening the secretariat and drafting of the Bimstec charter, said Bharat Raj Poudyal, spokesperson for Nepals foreign ministry.

The meeting also discussed trade and investment, transport and communications, technology, counter-terrorism and transnational crime, agriculture, poverty alleviation and public health.

Nepal is the current chair of the sub-regional body of seven countries surrounding the Bay of Bengal that was formed in June 1997 and will host the fourth summit during August 30-31.

The senior officials also recommended downsizing the number of priority areas and identifying focused agendas so that the grouping can execute various projects. They reviewed progress so far in the 14 priority areas determined by Bimstec, including trade, transport, energy, tourism, agriculture, counter-terrorism, public health, environment and climate change.

The officials also discussed reports prepared by a task force on customs cooperation, a report of the Bimstec transport connectivity task force, the report of first meeting on the Bimstec Coastal Shipping Agreement and the report of the first meeting of the task force on the Bimstec Motor Vehicles Agreement.

The upcoming meeting will discuss the task force on traditional medicines and the establishment of a permanent secretariat in Dhaka.The U.S. military signaled on Tuesday it would continue its assistance to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, even as it acknowledged U.S. support was not unconditional amid mounting concern about the wars toll on civilians. Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed alliance of Sunni Muslim Arab states trying to restore the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Iran-aligned Houthis in 2015.

The United States and other Western powers provide arms and intelligence to the alliance. Human rights groups have criticized them over coalition air strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians at hospitals, schools and markets.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike that hit a bus earlier this month killed dozens of children, sparking outrage from U.N. officials. Saudi Arabia has said it will investigate the attack.

Mattis dispatched a three-star general to Saudi Arabia after that incident, and told reporters on Tuesday the United States recognized such mistakes were tragic. But he added: We havent seen any callous disregard by the people were working with.

So, we will continue to work with them, reduce this tragedy, Mattis said.

The Pentagon believes that its assistance, which includes refueling coalition jets and training in targeting, helps reduce civilian casualties.

In Geneva, U.N. human rights experts said on Tuesday that air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in the war have caused heavy civilian casualties and that some may amount to war crimes.

The experts panel also said fighters of the rebel Houthi movement had fired missiles into Saudi Arabia and shelled the Yemeni city of Taiz.

Our conduct there is to try to keep the human cost of innocents being killed accidentally to the absolute minimum. That is our goal where we engage with the coalition, Mattis said.

Our goal is to reduce this tragedy and to get it to the U.N.- brokered table as quickly as possible.

The Yemen war is seen as a proxy conflict between the regions two main powers: Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Muslim Iran.Police in Calgary, Alberta, are investigating an alleged assault on an Indo-Canadian journalist by supporters of a candidate vying for a ticket to contest provincial assembly elections due next year.

The incident occurred during the Punjabi National Mela in the city on August 19. The journalist, Kumar Sharma, who hosts a radio show devoted to politics, alleged he was assaulted by a group of seven persons who he claimed were supporters of Hardyal Singh Happy Mann. Mann is among the candidates seeking the United Conservative Party (UCP) nomination for the assembly elections next year.

During a press conference, Sharma, who has worked as a journalist since 1995, said his alleged attackers were irate over a Facebook post that criticised their candidate. He said they threatened him with dire consequences.

The situation became so tense that I feared for my safety. Because of that, I deleted the Facebook post right on the spot, he said. As he was about the leave the venue where the open air concert or mela was being held, he was viciously attacked by the men. He was treated by paramedics and spent the next week recuperating at home.

This has had a very severe impact on my health, on my emotional well-being and on my family, he said.

The press conference was hosted by Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, who represents Calgary Forest Lawn in the Canadian House of Commons. Expressing his distress over the alleged assault, Obhrai said, When influential people like US President Donald Trump say journalists are enemies of the people, this creates a poisonous atmosphere towards journalism. The vicious attack on Mr Kumar Sharma is political violence towards a journalist. This is not only an attack on our freedom of speech, but on our democratic principles as well.

According to national broadcaster CBC, Mann has condemned violence of any sort. In a statement, he said, I wish Mr Sharma a full and fast recovery. However, I am very shocked and surprised to see Mr Sharma and his team to falsely accuse me of being involved in this incident.

Meanwhile, in a release, the UCP expressed the hope that Calgary Police quickly brings the perpetrators to justice. The statement also said the UCP was aware of the allegations linking the event to an aspiring nomination contestant and stressed that any individuals using violence such as this are not welcome in our party.Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday condemned a petrol bomb attack on the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sahib in Edinburgh, while the police arrested one man for what it called suspicious fire in the gurdwara established in 1964.

The building located in Leith was extensively damaged but there were no injuries. The Guru Granth Sahib was also not damaged, reports from Edinburgh said, as MPs and others urged the Theresa May government to include hate crime against Sikhs in its Hate Crime Action Plan.

Police Scotland did not name the man arrested but said he was 49, adding that investigations were continuing. Sturgeon, who heads the Scottish National Party government in Scotland, called the attack appalling.

Bhai Narinderjit Singh of the Sikh Federation (UK) said: This is not the first arson attack on a gurdwara. They often come in the aftermath of a terror attack and in what has popularly become known as mistaken identity as Sikhs have never been involved in terror attacks.

The Hate Crime Action Plan published in July 2016 was issued jointly by the then Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, and the then Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, who completely overlooked the existence of the Sikh community and hate crimes we have faced.It focused largely on Islamophobia and Antisemitism.

He added: We have had excuse after excuse by the Conservative government for the oversight and been promised an updated plan.We are still waiting two years later.In the meantime Sikhs and our religious institutions continue to be attacked.

Galab Singh, member of the gurdewara committee, told BBC: Im quite surprised at this attack, the Gurdwara Sahib enjoys a good relationship with the local community here, while Ravjeet Singh of Sikh Council UK noted that it was the second attack on the gurdwara in 2018.

Brown, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: How sad that a place of worship should be the target of such a hateful act. I am glad no one was injured and extend sympathy to the Sikh community in Edinburgh.

We recognise the actions of a small minority do not reflect the good relations that exist with your local community. There is no room in Scotland for intolerance.Chinese military personnel wont be stationed at the Beijing-funded counter-terrorism camp being built in Afghanistan, the Afghan envoy to China, Janan Mosazai, said on Wednesday.

The militaries of the two countries are working in close coordination on setting up a counter-terror mountain brigade in the northern Badakhshan region.

There will be no Chinese personnel under any circumstances, Mosazai said in a statement.

He was reacting to a report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

The report said the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is likely to send hundreds of military personnel to Afghanistans isolated Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan after they complete building a camp in the area.

If true, the development would have been worrying for India, which recently agreed to jointly implement a capacity-building project with China in Afghanistan.

It was agreed on by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during their informal summit at Wuhan in April.

Citing sources, the report said this would be the first time that China would have a military presence in the area, a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land extending about 350 km from the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan to Chinas Muslim region of Xinjiang.

Sources told the newspaper that the Afghanistan base would have a different role than the one in Djibouti  where China has deployed more engineers and builders than combatants  because the training camp is located close to Xinjiang, which Beijing sees as the main source of the three forces  separatism, terrorism and extremism  behind a series of violent attacks in the region in recent years.

Rejecting the SCMP report as false and baseless, Mosazai said: The Chinese side is providing assistance to Afghanistan so that we can set up a mountain brigade in the north of Afghanistan in order to enhance our counter-terrorism operations in the region.

There will be no Chinese military personnel of any kind involved in Afghan soil, said mosazai. China also denied the report.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ONNepal has put in place an extensive security blanket in its capital Kathmandu ahead of the fourth Bimstec Summit that begins on Thursday, deploying more 10,000 security personnel led by army soldiers.

Following an assessment of security threats, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina will be provided Z-plus security cover, a senior home ministry official said.

Another top official said the security assessment had included threats to the heads of state and government from Islamist militants, Rohingya groups and the LTTE of Sri Lanka.

The Nepal Army will lead the overall security deployments for the visiting dignitaries and at vital installations, and it will be supported by Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department. Army commandos have been mobilised to protect the heads of state and government during the two-day summit.

Separate security arrangements have been put in place for delegation members, including spouses and relatives of VIPs, foreign ministers and foreign secretaries.

According to local media reports, a team from Indias Special Protection Group (SPG) will accompany Modi throughout his stay in Kathmandu. The 27-member SPG team will provide round-the-clock security to him. A dozen SPG personnel arrived in Kathmandu some time ago and the rest will accompany Modi on Thursday.

Two bullet-proof vehicles have arrived from New Delhi to be used by Modi, officials said.

Nepalese security officials are keeping a close watch on Rohingya refugees living in Kathmandu. Nepal hosts around 400 Rohinghya refugees who live in various parts of the capital. Officials said they feared the refugees could organise a protest against leaders from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

So we are keeping our eyes open for such activities among these refugees that may become an irritant during the summit, especially if they come out on the streets and protest against the leaders of Myanmar and Bangladesh, said an official.

The Bangladeshi premier will be protected by special forces from her country and a Nepalese security team, said officials. The Sri Lankan President might be at threat from the LTTE, a security official who did not want to be named said.

Hundreds of security personnel have been deployed in the streets of Kathmandu and the road leading from Tribhuvan International Airport to Hotel Soaltee, where the visiting dignitaries will stay.

Kathmandu has also been beautified with several large welcome gates on the route from the airport to the hotel that feature images of leaders of Bimstec states.TUNIS - Clashes resumed on Tuesday afternoon between police and a group of Tunisian protestors calling for the reopening of the Ras Jedir border crossing with Libya, which has been closed to goods for over a month.



The district security chief suffered a head injury during the clashes when a stone was thrown at him. He has been taken to hospital. Six protestors were arrested by security forces, which once again used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Those demonstrating for days have been protesting delays in talks for the reopening of the border crossing with Libya due to economic damages they have suffered as a result. The entire economy of the area around Ben Guerdane, the last Tunisian city prior to the border with Libya, is based on trade with Libya and smuggling. The lasting nature of the situation is creating problems with getting fuel to distributors and pumping stations in the region.



The Zarzis port on Tuesday received a second oil tanker with 6,300 tonnes of Super Unleaded Fuel from Bulgaria to meet the urgent needs of the area. The first, from Italy, had arrived on August 22, with 9,800 tonnes. Another is expected to arrive within the next ten days, according to the local authorities.

T he cost of living close to one of Londons top-performing state senior schools has risen to more than 70,000, according to new research.

A new study has found that homes in the catchment area of the capitals best secondaries cost an average of 15 per cent more than those in the surrounding area  a hike of 70,676.

Across the south east, families pay an average of 13 per cent or 40,294 extra.

And families are increasingly willing to cheat or sacrifice in order to move close to their chosen school, Santander Mortgages found.

One in five said they had to downsize to afford the area, and one in six relocated to a location which they didnt otherwise like. A quarter took on extra hours at work to afford their new home, and one in four found themselves facing a longer commute to the office.

Research by the Evening Standard into Londons highest-ranked schools at GCSE level found that most are in far-flung boroughs, with three in Sutton, two in Barnet, and one apiece in Kingston upon Thames, Bromley, Bexley, Redbridge and Enfield.

Despite the downsides, three in ten parents with children aged between four and 18 said they are considering moving in the next two years to ensure they are in a top schools catchment area.

The top ten schools in London Tiffin Girls School, Kingston upon Thames Queen Elizabeths School, Barnet Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton Wallington County Grammar School, Sutton St Olaves and St Saviours Grammar School, Bromley Wilsons School, Sutton Ilford County High School, Redbridge St Michaels Catholic Grammar School, Barnet Townley Grammar School, Bexley The Latymer School, Enfield (Ranked by the Evening Standard on the percentage of pupils passing five GCSEs ;with good grades, including English and maths).

In North Finchley living on the right side of the High Road makes a huge difference in price, said Amar Malik, sales negotiator at Martyn Gerrard estate agents, as parents fight for a place at the highly sought after St Michaels Catholic Grammar School.

A typical three bedroom house west of the high road and close to the school would cost around 800,000. East of the High Road a similar property would cost around 700,000.

Parents want the best school for their children, and they will buy as close as they can to a school even though they cant guarantee a place, said Malik. The school is so popular that even people living on the surrounding streets cant get a place.

Where to buy new family homes near schools in London and beyond 1 /10 Where to buy new family homes near schools in London and beyond Commuter choice: Welwyn Sophie and Tom Wright, with their children Bertie and Betsie, moved into a lovely five-bedroom detached house on the outskirts of Welwyn village in Hertfordshire, buying in the catchment area of the local school. Zone 2: Bow Bow Garden Square in E3 consists of 83 homes above a new primary school, ranging from studios to three-bedroom flats and penthouse duplexes, all with private outside space. Zone 2: Bow One-bedroom flats at Bow Garden Square are priced from 390,000. Call 020 8023 8751. Zone 3: Greenwich Homes at Kidbrooke Village in Greenwich SE3, where the primary school is being expanded. berkeleyhomes2.visualbank.co.uk Zone 3: Greenwich Near Blackheath, the 1 billion Kidbrooke Village regeneration scheme is made up of four mini districts, 136 acres of open space and a new station. Zone 3: Greenwich Developer Berkeley Homes is expanding the existing primary school to three classes per year. Zone 3: Greenwich Prices range from 420,000 for a one-bedroom flat to 1,075,000 for three-bedroom townhouses. Call 020 8108 3977. Zone 5: Twickenham Near a cluster of outstanding schools, four- and five-bedroom villas, priced from 1.5 million, at Brewery Gate, a gated mews development near the station in Twickenham. Call 020 3813 5159. Zone 6: Barking Barking Riverside is getting 10,800 new homes and seven new schools, of which four, including a primary school, are already built and open. Commuter zone: Tunbridge Wells Family homes near good schools at Royal Wells Park, Tunbridge Wells. Call 01892 882138. berkeleyhomes2.visualbank.co.uk



Unsurprisingly, given the costs and upheaval involved, some parents attempt to cheat the catchment season. Techniques revealed by the study included moving children to stay temporarily with friends and relatives to be in a catchment area (13 per cent) or renting a second property in a desired catchment zone (nine per cent).

A tricky 13 per cent of parents have simply registered their child as living at an address within a catchment area, but not actually moved them.

And once a child has secured their school place many parents have no intention of staying. More than half admit they will sell up and move again once they have bagged a seat in class.

If families are looking to move into a catchment area specifically to boost their chances of getting into an elite school, they can expect to pay a hefty price, said Miguel Sard, managing director of mortgages at Santander UK.PARIS - Inhabitants of the XVIII arrondissement of Paris, not far from Montmartre, staged a protest on Wednesday morning about the opening of a migrant reception center without consulting them first. The center was scheduled to open in the Rue des Poissonniers in a former gym belonging to the transportation agency RATP and host around 100 migrants. The residents and the mayor of the arrondissement, Eric Lejoindre, say they had not been consulted or warned.

Lejoindre told Le Parisien that ''I agree with the initiative but there is the need to speak to the inhabitants and organizations'' of the area first.Now Open

29 August 2018

NewcrestImage has expanded its portfolio with the opening of a 94-room, 4-floor Tru by Hilton in western Amarillo.

It is the first property of a three-hotel, 300-room "hotel campus" located on a five-acre site at the intersection of I-40 frontage Road and South Soucy Road  an intersection that is among the city's busiest, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

"Our appeal is to travelers with a millennial mindset - tech-savvy, design-conscious, contemporary in spirit, and on a budget," explains Mehul Patel, Chairman and CEO of NewcrestImage. "It's a hotel that is a game-changer for the area's mid-scale category."

For example, the hotel's large central lobby features four different areas -

 for play, with a billiards table, large screen TV, and tiered stadium-style seating

 for lounging, with bar tables and mini-hammocks

 for working or relaxing, with noise-cancelling seating set into the walls, and

 for eating, with stations where guests can fix hot or cold breakfast; make a Greek yogurt parfait topped with one of 35 different offerings; or purchase snacks, meals, and beverages.

Guest rooms convey a sense of openness, with features such as an 8-foot window; a platform bed with space underneath for storing luggage; and a suspended bar instead of a closet for hanging clothes.

High-tech features include checking in remotely and getting a room key through smartphone app; a social media wall in the registration area to engage guests; 55-inch televisions in guest rooms with more than 100 channels; free high-speed broadband Wi-Fi throughout; and abundant electrical outlets.

"This hotel, like all our properties, has been carefully created and furnished to be a comfortable place of community - for the community," adds Patel.

The two other hotels in the complex are under construction - a 90-room Hyatt Place and a 90-room Aloft, which is a Marriott International brand. They are expected to open in 2019.

NewcrestImage owns and operates two other properties in downtown Amarillo: a 107-room, 10-floor Courtyard by Marriott that opened in 2011 in the city's historic Fisk Building, and a 226-room, 6-floor Embassy Suites that opened in December of last year and includes 18,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.Appointment

29 August 2018

Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia is pleased to announce the hire of new General Manager Patrick Brophy to oversee the property's teams and enhance guest experiences at the luxury Arizona oasis.

Working in hospitality since he was 18 years old, Brophy's knowledge and leadership has been a true champion of Omni's culture and core values, nurturing talent within his team to pioneer growth and recognition within the Omni family.

Brophy joins Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia after working within the Omni family for four years as general manager at Omni Severin Hotel, where under his leadership the hotel achieved its highest associate engagement scores.

Prior to Omni, the hospitality expert spent ten years in key leadership roles at various resort properties, such as the Don CeSar Beach Resort and the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island and multiple Hyatt Hotels. As hotel manager for the Don CeSar Beach Resort, a Loews Hotel, in St. Pete Beach, Brophy improved employee satisfaction scores each year, exceeding the company benchmark, and also directed the opening of its $11M, full service luxury Spa Oceana, which achieved the highest customer satisfaction core for the company. It was his work at St. Pete Beach that garnered Brophy with the 2012 GM Sales Leader of the Year by Hersha Hospitality Management. In each city that Brophy has resided, he is an active member of the community serving on multiple tourism and hospitality boards.

Brophy brings his wife Julie and son Carson to the Valley of the Sun and looks forward to the plethora of outdoor activities available including conquering the iconic Camelback Mountain which Montelucia is named after.Appointment

29 August 2018

Anderson Foote has joined The Talbott Hotel as General Manager, where he will oversee operations of the 178-room hotel in the historic Gold Coast neighborhood, recently named by Travel + Leisure as one of the top 10 Chicago hotels. Foote comes to The Talbott with more than 15 years of experience in hotel operations, most recently as the hotel manager of the Park Hyatt Chicago.

A Detroit native, Foote studied business and hospitality at Northwood University. He got his start with the hotel management company White Lodging, where he worked as a front office manager for two Marriott properties in the Detroit area.

Foote moved on to Hilton Hotels & Resorts before joining Hyatt in 2009. His tenure with Hyatt took him out of the Midwest and to some of the company's larger properties around the nation, including the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, where he was assistant director of rooms, and the Grand Hyatt San Antonio. He also spent time at Hyatt hotels in San Diego and Greenville, South Carolina.

Foote was director of operations for Hyatt Regency Jersey City for three years before moving to Chicago in 2015 to be the hotel manager for Park Hyatt Chicago.Performance

29 August 2018

GOPPAR at hotels in the Middle East & Africa dropped to a new low of $34.70 in July as temperatures in the region soared and demand levels lagged, according to the latest worldwide poll of full-service hotels from HotStats.

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The challenges for hotels in the Middle East & Africa continued in July, as profit levels foundered to a record low.

This was the fourth month in a row in which year-on-year profit levels at hotels in the region have fallen, a disappointment following a relatively positive first quarter of 2018.

GOPPAR has now dropped by almost 30% in the last 36 months to $73.08 in the 12 months to July 2018, from $94.53 in the 12 months to July 2015.

As in June, hotels in the Middle East & Africa successfully recorded an increase in RevPAR, which grew by 1.6% this month to $86.55. However, this was dampened by falling non-rooms revenues, as well as rising costs, which led to the drop in GOPPAR.

Non-rooms revenues accounted for 42.5% of all revenues this month and despite recording a drop in food & beverage (-0.9%) and conference & banqueting (-6.3%) revenue on a per available room basis, TrevPAR at hotels in the Middle East & Africa increased by 0.5% to $150.46.

However, rising costs, which included a 0.6-percentage-point increase in payroll to 35.2% of total revenue, as well as a 0.6-percentage-point uplift in overheads to 34.4% of total revenue, cancelled out the growth in total revenue.

As a result of the movement in revenue and costs this month, profit conversion at hotels in the Middle East & Africa was recorded at just 23.1% of total revenue and fell to less than half of the year-to-date 2018 GOPPAR figure at $70.31.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators - Middle East & Africa (in USD)

July 2018 v July 2017

RevPAR: +1.6% to $86.55

TrevPAR: +0.5% to $150.46

Payroll: +0.6 pts to 35.2%

GOPPAR: -2.2% to $34.70

Achieved average room rate remains a test for hotels in the region, falling by 2.6% this month to a new low of $138.03, which represented the eleventh consecutive month of year-on-year decline in this measure.

Although hotels in the Middle East & Africa successfully recorded a 1.0% increase in achieved rate in the group leisure segment this month, declines were recorded across all other segments, including Best Available Rate (-6.0%), corporate (-7.5%), residential conference (-0.4%) and individual leisure (-1.0%), suggesting this is a demand-wide issue.

The challenges in rate this month were in contrast to room occupancy, which increased by 2.5-percentage points to 62.7%, marking a sixth month of year-on-year volume growth so far in 2018.

"Whilst there have been some green shoots in top-line performance at hotels in the region in the last few months, much to the disappointment of owners and operators, this has not reached the bottom line," said Pablo Alonso, CEO of HotStats.

"This is understandable as the drop in profit levels at hotels in the Middle East & Africa has been unrelenting for such an extended time period that at this stage it is hard for management to cut any more costs whilst maintaining services and standards."

Hotels on the island of Mauritius shared a similar profit-and-loss fate as the wider Middle East & Africa region this month, suffering a 19.8% year-on-year decline in profit per room, in spite of recording a 3.9% increase in RevPAR.

Whilst achieved average room rate growth on the island shows no signs of slowing, having increased by 20.5% for year-to-date 2018 following the 10.7% increase in 2017, it's a different story for room occupancy, which has fallen by 2.1-percentage points so far in 2018 following a bumper period of volume growth in 2017, when room occupancy levels increased by 7.4-percentage points year-on-year.

For the month, the RevPAR uplift was a result of a 9.1% year-on-year increase in achieved average room rate to $200.66, which offset the 3.6-percentage-point decline in room occupancy, which fell to 74.1%.

And despite a decline in non-rooms revenues, which included a drop in food & beverage (-6.0%), conference & banqueting (-10.0%) and leisure (-9.2%), TRevPAR for hotels in Mauritius increased by +0.7% in July to $261.06.

However, in line with the region, escalating costs, which included a 1.6-percentage point increase in payroll to 31.9% of total revenue, cancelled out the growth in TRevPAR and led to year-on-year GOPPAR levels dropping to $46.71 this month.

Despite the decline in July, profit per room at hotels in Mauritius has increased by 9.8% for year-to-date 2018 to $90.73 and continued the profit growth recorded in 2016 (+13.2%) and 2017 (+26.5%).

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators - Mauritius (in USD)

July 2018 v July 2017

RevPAR: +3.9% to $148.69

TrevPAR: +0.7% to $261.06

Payroll: +1.6 pts to 31.9%

GOPPAR: -19.8% to $46.71

"Whilst room occupancy levels have declined in 2018, the ongoing growth in visitor numbers and current moratorium on development continues to drive growth in profit performance for hotels in Mauritius," added Alonso.

In contrast to the drop in profit at hotels across the region, properties in the leisure destination of Sharm El Sheikh recorded a positive month of GOPPAR growth in July, which contributed to the recovery in top- and bottom-line performance after the challenges of recent years.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators - Sharm El Sheikh (in USD)

July 2018 v July 2017

RevPAR: +17.9% to $30.23

TrevPAR: +15.8% to $48.23

Payroll: -0.1 pts to 20.5%

GOPPAR: +29.8% to $13.78

Growth in the Egyptian resort was led by a 17.9% year-on-year increase in RevPAR this month, which hit $30.32 and was a recent high, driven by growth in both room occupancy (+2.8-percentage points) and achieved average room rate (+13.1%) to $43.32.

The growth in rooms revenue was supported by increases in non-rooms revenue, which contributed to the 15.8% year-on-year increase in TRevPAR to $48.23.

In addition to the uplift in revenues, the 0.1-percentage-point saving in payroll, to 20.5% of total revenue, helped hotels in Sharm El Sheikh record a +29.8% in profit per room, albeit to a rather low $13.78 per available room.JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.



You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browserIts generally considered a nice thing when the walls come down in a relationship. But not literally. And not when it comes to the bathroom.

Excerpt from The Telegraph

Its generally considered a nice thing when the walls come down in a relationship. But not literally. And not when it comes to the bathroom.

You wont find open-plan bedroom-bathroom layouts in traditional, long-standing hotels, but for newer, edgier establishments, it has become something of a trend.

Whether that be a complete lack of partition between sleeping and bathing quarters, glass walls, or loos without doors, you can wave goodbye to your washroom privacy upon check-in - and who wants to do that?

Telegraph Travels review of The Lloyd Hotel and Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam, for example, mentions: Most bathrooms are very open-plan - you may even find a curtainless shower simply sticking out of the wall.

I guess it could be sort of mysterious and sexy in the right circumstances, but its definitely only awkward when youre sharing the room with your dad, a guest at the Hotel Le Germain in Toronto once told The New York Times, regarding the glass window that divided their room from the shower.

I can relate, having recently stayed with my father at a hotel in Cape Town, in a large (and beautiful) suite with an entirely open-plan bedroom-bathroom layout, and twin showers without curtains. The beds were separate, obviously, but when it came to shower time, one person was always banished to reception to sit in idle wait.

As for couples, some appear to have no issue taking their open-door policy away with them on holiday, while others find the prospect horrific.

Take the Sentido Aegean Pearl, a five-star hotel in Greece in which some of the en-suite bathrooms are open-plan. Comb through the (mostly very positive) TripAdvisor reviews and youll find plenty of mentions to this.

Okay for close couples so wasnt an issue for us but there was a severe lack of privacy, one noted, while another simply said the layout caused much amusement.

Others didnt quite see the funny side. I don't really understand why this room design exists - surely no one would want a bathroom to be like that?" one guest commented. The design is mad and made this unsuitable for me and my teenage daughter," another complained.

Click here to read complete article at The Telegraph.

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceUK Chain Hotels Market Review - July 2018

A 5.6% year-on-year increase helped hotels in the UK hit a historic TRevPAR high this month, propelled by a robust year-on-year increase in RevPAR and also supported by growth in non-rooms revenues, according to the latest worldwide poll of full-service hotels from HotStats.

At 162.48 per available room, TRevPAR at hotels in the UK in July was 0.8% above the previous high of 161.14 recorded in September 2017 and represented a second consecutive month of TRevPAR growth in what has otherwise been a fairly forgettable year of trading for hotels in the UK.

The growth in total revenue was driven by a 7.9% increase in RevPAR, which hit 114.34 this month, and was also a record, far exceeding the previous high of 107.14 achieved ten months earlier.

Hotels in the UK successfully recorded an increase in both room occupancy (+1.7-percentage points), to 87.1%, as well as a 5.7% increase in achieved average room rate, which soared to a high of 131.21 and was 4.4% ahead of the previous high.

The growth in rooms revenue in July was supported by a year-on-year increase in non-rooms revenues, including food & beverage (+0.4%) on a per available room basis. However, further TRevPAR growth was hampered by a 0.6% decline in conference & banqueting revenue.

In addition to the growth in revenue, hotels in the UK successfully recorded a 0.6-percentage-point saving in payroll, which fell to 24.8% of total revenue.

As a result of the movement in revenue and costs, profit per room at hotels in the UK increased by 7.2% year-on-year to 71.10. Whilst this was not a record, it did equal the profit performance of September 2017.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators  Total UK (in GBP)

July 2018 v July 2017

RevPAR: +7.9% to 114.34

TRevPAR: +5.6% to 162.48

Payroll: -0.6 pts to 24.8%

GOPPAR: +7.2% to 71.10

The robust demand levels were led by the leisure segment, which accounted for 36% of accommodated roomnights this month, well above the annual average of 31.9% for the 12 months to July 2018.

Growth was also supported by increases in the achieved rate in the commercial segment, including the corporate (+3.5%) and residential conference (+11.9%) sectors.

July is not historically a month during which UK hoteliers would expect to be achieving a TRevPAR high. However, soaring demand levels, which have primarily been led by the leisure segment have helped hotels to drive top line revenues in this month over the last couple of years, said Pablo Alonso, CEO of HotStats.

The strength of demand has been attributed to an uplift in staycations since the Brexit vote, as well as an increase in international visitors to the UK. The improvement will be to the delight of hotel owners and operators as July presents an opportunity to drive revenue and profit which previously did not exist.

The growth in top- and bottom-line performance for hotels in the UK in July was mirrored and exceeded by hotels in London, which recorded a 12.8% year-on-year increase in profit per room, which soared to a high of 115.00.

This was almost 45% above the GOPPAR level recorded at hotels in London for year-to-date 2018 at 79.52 and was well ahead of the previous high recorded in September 2017 at 107.64.

The year-on-year growth in profit per room was led by a 9.9% increase in TRevPAR, which grew to 226.79, as a 12.5% increase in RevPAR was supported by increases in non-rooms revenues, including food & beverage (+1.7%) and leisure (+0.6%) on a per available room basis.

In line with the total UK market, hotels in London recorded a year-on-year decline in revenue in the conference & banqueting department (-5.0%), further illustrating that accommodation demand this month was driven by the leisure segment.

In addition to the uplift in revenue, hotels in London recorded a 1.3-percentage-point saving in payroll, which fell to just 21.3% of total revenue and contributed to profit conversion climbing to a healthy 50.7% of total revenue.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators  London (in GBP)

July 2018 v July 2017

RevPAR: +12.5% to 178.57

TRevPAR: +9.9% to 226.79

Payroll: -1.3 pts to 21.3%

GOPPAR: +12.8% to 115.00

The growth in top- and bottom-line performance for hotels in London was led by volume, with room occupancy soaring by 4.7-percentage points to a lofty 92.1%. In addition, achieved average room rate increased by 6.7% year-on-year to hit a high of 193.90.

Wimbledon, the Hampton Court Flower Show, the Pride Parade and the British Summertime Festival in Hyde Park, coupled with buoyant domestic and international visitor numbers, helped drive record profit performance for hotels in London in July, said Alonso.

Hopefully, properties in the capital can maintain this positive performance to offset the GOPPAR decline so far this year.

Despite the overall increase in visitor numbers to the UK, hotels in leisure-led Stratford-upon-Avon continued to suffer a decline across all performance metrics in July, which was punctuated by a 10.9% decrease in profit per room, which fell to 42.54. This represented a sixth consecutive month of year-on-year profit decline for hotels in the town.

Whilst hotels in Stratford-upon-Avon successfully recorded an increase in volume this month, with room occupancy increasing by 1.8-percentage points, to 81.8%, this was cancelled out by a 2.4% decline in achieved average room rate, which fell to 92.24 and equated to a year-on-year RevPAR dip by -0.3% in July to 75.27.

In addition to the drop in rooms revenue, hotels in the birthplace of Shakespeare suffered a drop in non-rooms revenue, which contributed to the 6.7% decline in TRevPAR to 124.51.

Whilst a further increase in payroll levels to 31.6% of total revenue meant profit conversion at hotels in Stratford-upon-Avon fell to 34.2% of total revenue in July, this remained above the conversion for year-to-date 2018 at 27.5%.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators  Stratford-upon-Avon (in GBP)

July 2018 v July 2017

RevPAR: -0.3% to 75.27

TRevPAR: -6.7% to 124.51

Payroll: +1.3 pts to 31.6%

GOPPAR: -10.9% to 42.54

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceShelley Malil is an actor famous for playing Aziz in 40-Year-Old Virgin alongside Steve Carell. According to reports, Shelley is set to be released from prison after being sentenced for stabbing his girlfriend 23 times and nearly killing her in 2010. The 53-year-old will be released from the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, Calfornia after a reassessment of his case thinks he poses no risk of committing violence in the future.

The stabbing happened after Shelley came home and found his girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, having wine one the patio with another man. Kendra responded to the publication via text message saying she as "shocked" by the decision and calls the system "broken."

Today, these men had a chance to take real action showing that we, as a society, value women and will protect them, Kendra wrote. For this I am sad because of their inaction, I will continue to live in fear.

I am fully invested in my rehabilitation, and I never want to create another victim again, Shelley told the court, adding how he takes full responsibility for everything I did. He will be released in two weeks and remain on supervised parole for five years.UN says northwest Syria risks humanitarian crisis UN envoy in Damascus to coordinate aid

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 29 - UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs John Ging told the UN Security Council that the situation in northwest Syria, and particularly in the region of Idlib at the border with Turkey, has deteriorated and the population is at risk of a "humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis".



Ging said intense aerial bombardment and shelling reported in parts of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia governorates have resulted in the death and injury of civilians, and damage and destruction of civilian infrastructure including schools and hospitals.



He highlighted how humanitarian organisations on the ground are trying to meet the needs of population through cross-border aid.



"Some 680,000 people received food delivered from Turkey during the month of July alone, and 254,000 people received health assistance, again, during the same period," he said.



He said in the southwest the problem is the large-scale return of refugees, now that the Syrian government has regained control over the vast majority of Dara'a, Qunaitra and As-Sweida governorates.



The UN is working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other local organisations to provide food aid to more than 390,000 residents, he said.



"Humanitarian organizations are doing what they can to prepare for a possible further deterioration, but a worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis," he said.



The situation remains complex also in other parts of the country, such as the Syria-Jordan border, where 45,000 people have been taken in at a small refugee camp that isn't able to host them at acceptable conditions.



In Deir-ez-Zor, ongoing fighting has caused more than 20,000 people to be displaced to makeshift camps between July and the beginning of August.



The Emergency Relief Coordinator was in Damascus on Tuesday to engage with the government of Syria on how best to further scale up the collective humanitarian response across Syria.(ANSAmed).



Yung Miami is trying to hold it down while her running mate JT serves a prison sentence for credit card fraud, just as they were beginning to pick up steam. Regrettably Miami has problems of her own to resolve on her side of the picket fence. An old Tweet in which she ushered a threat with homophobic language was pulled from the ether. She said, "If I Ever See Any G*y Shit In My Son Imma Beat That Bo So Baddd."

Yung Miami has since apologized for her remarks in a handwritten note she scanned and posted on Instagram. Yung Miami demonstrated a dramatic change in perspective since the original Tweet in 2013, when she was merely 20 years old. Yung Miami insisted she meant not offense to the LGBTQ community then or now. She also addressed similarly offensive remarks she made about Haitians in which she referred to members of their community as "ugly and jealous." Again, Yung Miami expressed remorse for her hateful comments by setting the right accord.

Yung Miami also captioned the image with additional text for those lacking the focus to read the entire body oh her handwritten apology. Her message: "To everyone I may have offended I apologize. We are all one we are all equal I LOVE EVERYBODY. Lets move on Im older & wiser now lets focus on the future and leave the past behind us! Thank you."King Kamehameha, who had a much longer and more complicated indigenous name, was the first ruler to conquer and unite all the islands of Hawaii in the 1700's. The brown-skinned ruler was born into royalty, but had a steady climb to become ruler due to family disputes. The legends surrounding King Kamehameha shroud his actual history in myths and lore, but Dwayne Johnson looks to bring the true story of the fabled ruler to the big screen.

According to Variety, Johnson is set to play King Kamehameha in the upcoming film The King. The historical drama will be directed by Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis has a long history of crafting hit movies, such as Forrest Gump, the Back to the Future trilogy, Cast Away, Flight, and The Polar Express. Johnson, who has steadily been building his acting career, seems to be ready for a drama role on par with those portrayed in the aforementioned films. The serious tone of the historical drama is miles away from films like Tooth Fairy or Be Cool, two films that Johnson starred in earlier on. Filming for The King is set to begin in 2020, which means it may be three to four years before we get to see the movie in theaters.French Montana has found himself in some legal trouble that includes his dog, Zane. According to TMZ, the "Unforgettable" rapper hired Juan Lomeli to clean his pool and Juan had been working for French for all of six months and enjoying it. Zane had no problems with Juan until one day in May of 2017 when the German Sheppard started biting and viciously attacking Juan.

According to the publication, Juan's lawsuit states that he suffered serious injuries and was hurt so bad that he couldn't work for some time. Juan is suing French for loss of wages and his injuries.

In other French news, he recently announced that he's donating all money accumulated from his Famous" remix to an underfunded maternity and children's health clinic in Uganda. Me coming from Morocco in North Africa, I feel like it should be a soft spot for anyone that has a mother or a child. I think that's got to be one of the worst things, not having the right healthcare. When I went to Uganda I felt obligated to [help]. he said. "I feel like every woman and child deserves the right healthcare. It shouldn't be a privilege it should be a right," Montana said.Kanye West infamously dodged a question about President Donald Trump during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The rapper apparently froze when he was asked if he thought Trump cared about black people.

"You so famously, and so powerfully, said George Bush doesn't care about black people," Jimmy said to Kanye. "It makes me wonder, what makes you think that Donald Trump does, or any people at all?"



Yeezy finally answered the question during an interview with WGCI 107.5 Radio in Chicago. In Ye's opinion, Trump is concerned with the black community in terms of his popularity. His ego is at the center of this semblance of consideration, as opposed to equitability and integrity.

"I feel that he cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this." "He will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because he's got an ego like all the rest of us. He wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he can't be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community. So, it's something he's going to work towards, but we're gonna have to speak to him."

Later, he addressed his comments about slavery, which is said to have been made in a manic-like state.A sizable chunk of the student body at the University of Central Florida are trying to block Tekashi 6ix9ine from performing on school grounds at the CFE Arena on September 22nd. The petition being passed around cites his "controversial behavior" and "criminal record" as reason for the boycott. The document which has amassed well over 5,000 signatures thus far, has been unsuccessful in deterring organizers/school officials from holding the event. Students such as Noemi Teutsch hope to go ahead with planned protests. People are just as outraged as I am, if not more," she said. "Universities are supposed to be upholding certain moral standards and certain values."

In 2015, Tekashi was charged with a sex crime relating to an explicit video posted by a 13-year old girl on social media. He then subsequently copped a plea deal after agreeing to a guilty verdict officially labelled a "felony use of a child in a sexual performance." Representatives from UCF maintain that "Outside performers can rent the space," even if they don't personally endorse them. The statement also noted that campus safety is the utmost priority with any booking. The site is managed by Spectra Food Services and Hospitality, a catering company that also specializes in venue management.After a recent collaboration with Swedish brand Axel Arigato and Samsung, Teyana Taylor is onto the next since starring as a bold, confident woman for lingerie line Agent Provocateur. In a newly released video for the brand's Fall 2018 collection dubbed The Power of the Provocateur, Teyana shows off her toned figure while dancing in the intimates and moving her hips to Exiles I Want To Kiss You All Over.

The brand came to me in search of a strong talent, one who could not only be the face of the campaign, but also be involved in creating a new approach to female empowerment, Teyana told Vogue UK. I felt like it could be an opportunity for me to represent different types of women with regards to lingerie.

Dance wasnt the main agenda for the campaign, Sarah Shotton, creative director of Agent Provocateur, told the publication. The brand is all about strong women, curves and healthy bodies that are sexually liberated and free  we wanted to create something that represents the confidence our underwear gives the wearer.

Peep the spot below.Land and housing preservation is key to the Houston region becoming more resilient, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said Tuesday, on the heels of last weekends vote that approved a $2.5 billion flood infrastructure bond.

We need to not fight with nature, we need to live with nature and allow those areas to be green that need to be green, and frankly, allow those areas to be wet that need to be wet and not try and change that, Emmett said during a luncheon presentation to members of the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute.

Emmett specifically called for the Katy Prairie, a vast area encompassing much of western Harris and eastern Waller counties, to be maintained and expanded.

I think thats a very easy one for the federal government or the state to declare as a nature preserve and just set it aside and move on, he told the crowd of several hundred developers and real estate professionals in the ballroom of the Junior League of Houston.

He praised the publics overwhelming approval of the county bond measure, designed to protect the area in future storms. The measure, the largest bond Harris County voters have ever approved, had more than 85 percent of the vote.

In a presentation tailored to the real estate industry, Emmet also addressed one of the citys most pressing concerns: housing for all Houstonians regardless of their incomes.

Homes in flooded neighborhoods are having to be rebuilt to higher storm standards. Those who cant afford to rebuild are having to sell and find housing elsewhere.

There is a conversation going on about how many of those homes are being bought up by speculators and will be destroyed and then the lots consolidated. And you end up with McMansions in places where there might have been four lower to moderate-income houses before, Emmett said. Where are those people going to go live?

WHAT'S NEXT? Public engagement to continue as flood bond projects begin, according to HoustonChronicle.com report

The challenges brought by Harvey will give city and county leaders the opportunity to make positive changes as it recovers, he said.

One such improvement: a better system of urban governance.

If unincorporated Harris County was a city it would be the fifth largest in the U.S.

We cannot continue to do that, Emmett said. We have got to find a way for city for Houston and Harris County to come up with a new structure of urban governance. I view Harvey as kick-starting a lot of these conversations.House of Pies has a sweet deal for those looking to skip the long lines this holiday season.

The iconic 24-hour diner and bakery, which has pie fans waiting outside in long lines before Thanksgiving and Christmas, recently began selling its popular pies online through EZNeeds.com. The e-commerce website was founded by Nidal Ganim, whose family has owned the Houston restaurant chain since the late 1980s.

Im excited to be able to offer Houstons favorite pies outside of Houston, Ganim said.

The move brings House of Pies  started in 1965 by IHOP founder Al Lapin Jr.  into the age of Amazon. Its one way the 53-year-old restaurant chain is trying to stay relevant to its customers, Ganim said.

Times changing, Ganim, 29, said. I believe online is the future. We have to be on the forefront of technology.

House of Pies isnt abandoning its brick-and-mortar business, however. Under the leadership of Nidals brother, Chuck Ganim, the chain is expanding from its longtime locations off Westheimer and Kirby. House of Pies last year opened a third restaurant, off the Gulf Freeway and Fuqua, and will open a fourth in The Woodlands in September.

However, Nidal Ganim said he realized his familys businesses have to keep up with the times. Last May, he launched EZNeeds.com to help another family business, B&G Wholesale. The wholesaler was founded in the 1970s by Ganims parents after they immigrated to the U.S. from Israel.

Over the past year, EZNeeds has been selling nonperishable products from B&G Wholesale, such as pantry items, household goods and office supplies. Now, the Houston-based e-commerce company is looking to sell perishable goods, starting with House of Pies fruit and pecan pies.

House of Pies, in its first week on EZNeeds.com, has sold pies to about 50 customers with no marketing, Ganim said. About half of customers are Houston natives living in other states; the remainder are split between first-timers and locals purchasing them as gifts.

House of Pies is offering its apple, blueberry, peach, Dutch apple, cherry, sugar-free cherry, strawberry rhubarb, pecan and pecan fudge pies online. The company hopes to add other flavors, such as its popular Bayou Goo and cream pies, in the future.

A pie costs $14.95 online, 95 cents more than in the store. Shipping is free for orders over $49. EZNeeds partnered with FedEx to offer next-day shipping across Texas, and 2- to 3-day shipping across the lower 48 contiguous states.

Most online shoppers so far have ordered five or six pies at a time to save on shipping costs, Ganim said. Others order other goods sold on EZNeeds along with their pie.

Our vision is to offer the most convenience at a competitive cost, Ganim said. Say its Thanksgiving; you can get your favorite pie as well paper plates and trash bags.

Other Houston restaurants also offer pies for online order and shipment. For example, Goode Co. sells its Brazos Bottom Pecan Pie, which comes in a pine gift box, for $40 online.

EZNeeds, which has 10 employees, earlier launched an iOS and Android app to take online orders. The company is now working on an Amazon Alexa feature that would allow customers to order EZNeeds products through the e-commerce giants smart home devices.

My dream is for House of Pies to be the first pies sold on Alexa, Ganim said.

Despite the convenience of ordering pies online, he still expects long lines of House of Pie fans out the door at his familys restaurants.

Its become a family tradition, Ganim said. We dont want to take away from that.

paul.takahashi@chron.com

twitter.com/paultakahashiArranging the disposition of a loved ones remains can be heartbreaking, and perhaps nothing could make it worse than a funeral home mistakenly cremating a loved ones body.

Morticians, though, wrongfully cremate bodies with startling frequency, so often that a small, specialist legal industry has emerged. A typical settlement is around $1 million, according to American Funeral Director Magazine, which ran a story last year on how to avoid putting the wrong body in the incinerator.

Charles and Heather Hauboldt, the owners of Grace Funeral Home in Victoria, Texas, probably wish they had taken that advice about properly tagging and tracking bodies. Because the family of Roberta Salazar has hired a high-flying litigator, who is demanding $50 million.

Thats enough to buy the 50 most expensive homes in Victoria and still have plenty for property taxes.

RELATED: Effort begins to limit homeowners' ability to sue insurance companies

Attorney Willie Gary, though, likes to attract attention. The press release from Florida-based Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson & Gary demanding $50 million earned him television and newspaper interviews, and of course, a mention in this column.

I asked Gary, who has a track record of winning huge judgments, what makes him think this case is worth $50 million? Because frankly, this brand of litigation gives plaintiffs' attorney a bad name and encourages lawmakers to impose tort reform.

I think $50 million may not be enough, he told me. This is not an average case where they just made a mistake. We feel real strong about the potential for a major, blockbuster suit.

Roberta Salazar told her family that she wanted an open-casket funeral and to wear the dress her husband gave her for their 40th wedding anniversary. The family hired Grace Funeral Home to fulfill her wishes.

The family says a funeral director later informed them that Robertas body was too decomposed for an open casket service. Then another family informed the Salazars that someone from Grace had recently retrieved their urn from its burial plot because an employee said it held the wrong ashes.

Gary said that is how the Salazars learned that Grace had cremated Roberta. The lawsuit alleges that Grace tried to cover up the mistake, triggering punitive damages.

When they were saying that the body was decomposing, there was no body. That body was off with another family, Gary said. They really went overboard with their deception and their lying.

Attorneys for Grace Funeral Home declined to answer questions, but in a statement, they denied that Grace deceived the Salazars.

Grace Funeral Home deeply regrets the mistake in cremating Ms. Salazars body, it said. After it discovered what had happened, Grace Funeral Home promptly investigated, notified the family and apologized.

Grace Funeral Homes website says it is owned by the Hauboldts, which if true, would significantly diminish the odds of collecting $50 million. Gary said his team is investigating whether a national chain may own a portion of Grace and whether the funeral home has a pattern of negligent behavior.

Rather than them tagging bodies and labeling bodies, we have inside people who worked there who say they didnt do it, Gary said. Who knows  how many families buried ashes that were not their family member? How many were lied to and told to have a closed casket funeral because they screwed up?

Which reveals the real reason for the media splash: I wouldnt be surprised if you get a class-action lawsuit out of this, he added.

RELATED: United Airlines' wrongheaded fight against attendants sexual harassment claims

To launch a class action suit, the attorneys need to find more consumers who suffered from the same negligence. Attorneys make a lot of money from class action suits, even if the payout per individual is relatively small.

The amount of damages a lawyer seeks when filing a lawsuit could as easily be $5 million as $500 million. In many cases, it is a number that is calculated to make headlines, said Luke Gilman, a trial lawyer in the Houston office of Jackson Walker who is not involved in the case. A $50 million claim is hard to tie to any particular treatment or specific injury that the family suffered.

If you can find 50 people to join a class action lawsuit, then $50 million makes sense. The problem would be collecting that much from a small-town funeral home.

Filing the lawsuit, which does not mention the $50 million demand, opens the door for Gary to investigate. In Mississippi, he spent three years examining the records of the Loewen Group, a Canada-based operator of 700 funeral homes. A jury in 1996 agreed Loewen had committed widespread fraud.

The verdict: $500 million. Well see whether Gary is abusing the legal system, or if hes on to something.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business and economics.

chris.tomlinson@chron.com | twitter.com/cltomlinsonYemeni cholera cases down by 95% thanks to algorithm Outbreak forecasting system monitors rainfall

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 29 - Cholera cases in Yemen have dropped dramatically after the introduction of a system predicting where outbreaks will occur.



There were over 50,000 new cases being seen in just one week in 2017, a number that has dropped to 2,500 thanks to an algorithm. The system, developed by the British Department for International Development, monitors rainfall and is producing excellent results, reports the BBC. The department worked with the Met Office to develop a system that predicts where cholera will occur four weeks ahead of time.



Met Office produces a rainfall forecast for Yemen. Using its supercomputers, it is to determine the specific amount of rain that will fall and pinpoint the areas it will hit within a 10km (six-mile) radius. The forecasts are used in conjunction with a computer model developed by Prof Rita Colwell, at the University of Maryland, and Dr Antar Jutla, at West Virginia University.



It uses local information such as population density, access to clean water and seasonal temperature, enabling scientists to predict the areas most likely to experience an outbreak, up to four weeks in advance. ''The information is passed on to the UN's children's charity, Unicef, which uses it to deploy its limited resources on the ground,'' the BBC noted. ''It distributes hygiene kits, jerrycans and chlorine tablets to prevent the spread of disease.



Most importantly, it coordinates local health education campaigns. The information is simple sanitation advice, such as washing hands and drawing water from safe sources - but the early intervention has prevented tens of thousands of cases.'' (ANSAmed).



Christina Wells has finally shown the rest of America what Houston has known all along. That she's a diva.

Wells earned a standing ovation Tuesday night from all four "America's Got Talent" judges for her triumphant performance of "I am Changing" from the "Dreamgirls" musical. She looked every bit the star in a sparkling purple gown.

PREMIERE: Listen to the new 'mixtape' from 'America's Got Talent' diva Christina Wells

She was inspired by her mother, who raised Wells and her sister after their father died in a car accident. Wells was just three years old.

"There were times when the rest of the world didn't believe in me," Wells said. "There were times when I didn't believe in myself. But my mom has always believed in me.

"I wanna say, 'I did it, mama. I did it.'"

The judges heaped praise on Wells' regal performance. And the crowd roared.

"I can't believe there's gonna be more show tonight," said Howie Mandel. "That was like a grand finale."

"Your voice is sensational. Your range is just massive," said Mel B. "You made me cry. I was right there with you."

"Your confidence needed to catch up. And it finally did," Heidi Klum added.

Simon Cowell told Wells to expect Broadway producers to be calling soon and dubbed her "the diva I always believed that you were."

"You owned the stage," he said. "You owned the song."

After her performance, Wells thanked her mother, who was beaming from the crowd.

"It was such a struggle in the South, in the '70s, to have mixed children," Wells said. "You showed me what grace and dignity look like."

Wells finds out Wednesday if she made it through to the next round.

Someone remind us again why she wasn't cast in Theatre Under the Stars' 2017 production of "Dreamgirls?" No good reason? We thought so.

Wells released her debut mixtape, "Sing Christina," exclusively via the Chron. The seven-song EP is a smart collection of covers that hone in on what the public will likely want from Wells after seeing her on "AGT." It's available at all digital outlets.

Listen below.WASHINGTON  In remarks to evangelical ministers in the White House State Dining Room on Monday night, President Donald Trump spoke in high-minded tones about religious liberty, abortion and youth unemployment. He noted a John Adams quote carved into the rooms fireplace: I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house.

But once reporters and television cameras were ushered out of the room, Trump turned to the more pragmatic concerns of how evangelical leaders can use their pulpits to help Republicans win in the midterm elections, according to an audiotape of his remarks provided to The New York Times by someone who attended the event.

I just ask you to go out and make sure all of your people vote, Trump told the group of about 100 evangelical ministers. Because if they dont  its Nov. 6  if they dont vote were going to have a miserable two years and were going to have, frankly, a very hard period of time because then it just gets to be one election  youre one election away from losing everything youve got.

Trump spent most of his private remarks to the group bragging about having gotten rid of the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 provision of tax law that threatened religious organizations, like churches, with the loss of tax-exempt status if they endorse or oppose political candidates.

Now Playing: President Donald Trump speaks to evangelical ministers in the White House State Dining Room on Monday, August 27, 2108. Video: White House

Under that amendment, Trump said, religious leaders had been prevented from speaking their minds.

Maybe its why you are very plateaued. I hate to say it, if you were a stock, youd be like, youre very plateaued, Trump said, prompting laughter in the room. I really believe youre plateaued because you cant speak. They really have silenced you. But now youre not silenced anymore.

The president recalled when he first learned about the Johnson Amendment at a meeting during the 2016 campaign, when several dozen pastors and ministers came to see him at Trump Tower in New York City. He said he was pleased by the meeting because the religious leaders seemed to like him.

I know when people like me, Trump said. I know when people dont like me. You know, pretty good at that stuff. A lot of them like, and some dont and thats OK. But this group really liked me.

Trump also recalled on Monday night looking out the window during the Trump Tower meeting, though it was unclear why he chose to discuss it.

We were in the 68th floor of Trump Tower and we looked down on the sidewalks and there were thousands and thousands of people, he said. They looked like ants, little people going all over  boom, boom, boom  so little, cause when youre 68 floors, they look really small. But there were a lot of them.

Trump said he told the religious leaders at that campaign meeting that he would oppose the Johnson Amendment if he won the presidency and fight very hard to make sure that provision gets taken away.

In fact, the president has fallen short of that promise.

Eliminating the provision in the law would require Congress to act. Instead, Trump signed an executive order in May 2017 directing the Internal Revenue Service not to aggressively pursue cases where a church endorses a candidate or makes political donations.

Legal experts have said the IRS has very rarely pursued such cases against churches, and religious leaders have often been outspoken about politics even if they have had to stop short of officially endorsing a candidate.

Trump ignored that reality Monday night. He urged religious leaders to use what he described as their newfound freedom of speech to campaign from the pulpit on behalf of Republican candidates.

You have people that preach to almost 200 million people  150 to, close, depending on which Sunday we are talking about, and beyond Sunday, 100, 150 million people, he said.

Trump warned that if Republicans do not retain control of Congress, religious communities would lose all of the gains he had secured on their behalf.

They will end everything immediately, he said, apparently referring to Democrats. He added, again without being clear whom he was talking about: They will overturn everything that weve done and theyll do it quickly and violently. And violently. Theres violence. When you look at Antifa, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people.

Antifa is a term that describes some militant, leftist anti-fascist groups in the United States.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Houston Police Department

The Houston Police Department Vice Division released the mugshots of 69 suspects arrested and charged for allegedly engaging in human trafficking either as pimps or johns, according to a press release.

Charged with the suppression of "prostitution, illegal gambling, human trafficking, sexually oriented business enforcement, and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) code violations, the Vice Division worked through the summer to help diminish the sex trade business in Houston.The Harris County Attorneys office said Tuesday that the 4,000 voter registrations challenged by a county Republican Party official were invalid, and the voter registrar should not have sent suspension notices to more than 1,700 county voters.

The voter challenge they received was not in compliance with the law, Assistant County Attorney Douglas Ray said. If somebody doesnt respond to that notice, we advise (the registrar) not to place voters on the suspension list.

The development was the latest in the dispute over the registration challenges, which devolved last week into a political spat between Harris Countys Republican and Democratic parties. The Democrats alleged, without evidence, that the challenges sought to throw their voters off the rolls. Republicans chastised Ann Harris Bennett, the Democratic voter registrar, for mistakenly suspending registrations.

EARLIER: Harris County voter registrar mistakenly suspends 1,700 voter registrations

A review of the 4,037 challenges, provided to the Houston Chronicle by Bennett, shows they are spread across Harris County and do not appear to target any neighborhood or community.

Ray explained to Commissioners Court at its Tuesday meeting that to challenge a voters registration under state law, the challenger must have personal knowledge that the registration is inaccurate. Ray concluded that Alan Vera, the chairman of the Harris County Republican Partys Ballot Security Committee who brought the challenges in July, could not possibly know each of the 4,037 voters on his list. Therefore, the challenges cannot be considered, he said.

Vera said Tuesday afternoon he disagrees with that interpretation and will take follow-up actions.

Software glitch

He previously said he and volunteers had combed through the rolls looking for voters who had listed the locations of post offices, parcel stories or places of business as their address.

State law requires voters to register at the address where they live.

Bennett did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Bennett, who also is the county tax assessor-collector, told the court she failed to verify the challenges with the county attorneys office before sending letters asking voters to confirm their addresses. Bennett said a software glitch caused her office to place 1,735 voters on the countys suspension list but that the error has been corrected. She pledged to ensure each eligible voter can cast a ballot in the November elections.

Testy exchange

Under Texas law, voters whose registrations are in suspension still can vote after filling out address forms at the polls.

Commissioners Court members acknowledged that Bennett made a mistake in sending the letters and were satisfied with Rays explanation. However, Bennetts refusal to admit her office had erred led to a testy exchange with County Judge Ed Emmett. For four minutes, the pair squared off, at times speaking over each other.

Before you sent out the letters that scared all the voters, did you check with the county attorney? the judge asked.

No, sir. I followed the election code, Bennett said.

Well, evidently not, exactly, Emmett replied.

Court members appeared confused when Bennetts staff, unprompted, handed each of them rolled-up documents fastened with rubber bands. They included maps of the voter registration challenges and county Republican Party literature criticizing how Bennetts office handled the challenged registrations.

Emmett said it seemed Bennett was injecting partisanship into the discussion about the registrations. Bennett said she was simply defending her office against false charges it attempted to disenfranchise voters.

This put my office through a lot of turmoil, she said.Anna Donnelly has trusted the Catholic Church her entire life, but that trust was shaken after a Pennsylvania grand jury released a massive report detailing decades of clergy sex abuse and an institutional coverup in the state.

I think a lot of people throughout the world hold the church as this sort of light, Donnelly, a senior at Houston's University of St. Thomas, said after Mass this week at the Chapel of St. Basil on campus. So for there to be spots of darkness within the light is scary.

The report  which comes 16 years after the uncovering of widespread clergy sex abuse in Boston  has caused a rift within the Catholic community internationally and in the Houston area. Some members remain committed to and involved in the church, saying that the accused, at the end of the day, are simply human beings. Others have expressed dissatisfaction with how individual dioceses have addressed the scandals. Nevertheless, the same question has been asked repeatedly: What will the institution do to prevent abuse in the future, or will it do anything at all?

Last week, Pope Francis found his trip to Ireland overshadowed by a former Vatican officials accusation that the pontiff knew about past sexual misconduct by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick since 2013 and rehabilitated him despite sanctions imposed on McCarrick several years prior. Francis declined to comment on the claims by former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, which were published by two conservative Catholic news outlets. I will not say a word, he told journalists.

More for you What did Pope Francis know? [Opinion]

Francis accepted McCarricks resignation as cardinal last month after a church investigation found credible evidence that he had once molested a minor. And the pope issued a far-reaching apology Sunday for the churchs crimes in Ireland against women and children who suffered abuse over generations.

The Pennsylvania grand jury report, which was released two weeks ago, details allegations against more than 300 predator priests and says there were at least 1,000 child victims, and likely far more.

My first reaction was disgust, said Joseph Aquila, an alumnus of the University of St. Thomas. I remember growing up with the 2002 reports and realizing that was a reality, but never judging the priests.

Aquila said too many good priests have guided him in life for him to generalize and condemn the entire church.

I think its important to understand these individuals who commit these crimes, or allow this institution to be one which covers up these abuses, are still fundamentally human, he said.

Marea Quintero, an alumna and frequent attendee of Mass at St. Basils, also made the point that abusive priests are human beings, which she called a defect. And while the news upset her, she never thought to leave the Catholic Church.

She brought up a Scripture verse about Jesus asking his apostles, Are you also going to leave me?

And Peter said, Who would we go to? Quintero said. Thats how I also feel  who else would we go to?

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, who this month said the handling of the McCarrick case represented a grievous moral failure within the Church, released a statement Monday calling for conclusive answers in the matter.

(The plan of action) includes more detailed proposals to: seek out these answers, make reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops easier, and improve procedures for resolving complaints against bishops, he wrote.

Others arent so forgiving. They say the church should be fully transparent about the history of clergy abuse and be more cooperative with outside investigators

Michael Norris was molested by Father Joseph Hemmerle, a Roman Catholic priest, at a Kentucky summer camp in 1973. He reported the abuse to the Church in 2001, expecting them to do the right thing, he said. It took another 15 years  and another accuser from the camp coming forward  until Hemmerle was convicted.

I found quickly they werent going to do the right thing, which forced me to go to the police, Norris said of church officials. They protected the priest, they hired the best lawyer in town. Its probably the most disappointing thing in my life, how the Catholic Church reacted to my abuse.

Norris, who now leads the Houston chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, says the entire Catholic Church is corrupt.

Theres not a bishop, archbishop, cardinal in the world that doesnt have blood on their hands, he said. Theyve been covering this stuff up for years, and every time someone digs into a diocese they find this kind of filth.

In Houston alone there are three priests who have been credibly accused of abuse who are still in service, according to Bishop Accountability, a nonprofit group that works with SNAP to track clergy abuse and allegations.

Norris said its time for the Catholic Church to open their books up. He called on attorneys general nationwide to launch similar investigations into dioceses.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston serves more than 1.7 million Catholics, according to church figures. Nationally, about 1 in 5 U.S. adults identify as Catholic. However, church attendance has declined sharply since the 1950s, with a recent Gallup survey finding that only 2 in 5 Catholics reported attending Mass in the past seven days.

Mark Vallone, who attends St. Anthony of Padua in The Woodlands, found DiNardos letter to be more of the same, he wrote in an email.

I have not been impressed by the diocesan response, and I have a lot of questions regarding some of the priests that were investigated for very serious accusations that are still priests in Houston, Vallone wrote.

Back at the University of St. Thomas, the sunlight faded from the chapel with pure, white walls for a moment as Father Chris Valka offered a prayer in light of difficulties facing the Church and for all those who are suffering from abuse.

At the end of the homily, Donnelly stood firm in her commitment to the Catholic Church.

Its my responsibility to make sure this doesnt happen again, and the only way I can do that is by making sure I keep going to Mass, she said. Because I dont stay in the Church for bishops, I dont stay in the Church even for the pope, I stay in the Church for God.

Staff writer Robert Downen and the Associated Press contributed to this report.A Channelview man testified Tuesday he watched his close friend fatally shoot a transgender woman during a brawl on a Houston street that left two people dead.

The eyewitness, Rique Jackson, 24, said his testimony implicating his friend Tariq Lackings was motivated by a desire to set the record straight about the slaying of transgender woman Shante Thompson.

Lackings, 32, is on trial for the fatal shooting of Thompson on a corner street in Midtown Houston where two groups met to settle an earlier confrontation in a fast food restaurant.

But defense attorneys for Lackings quickly turned the tables on Jackson, accusing him of being a killer who was lying because he brought a knife to what he thought was a cocaine buy. Lackings was at one time also charged with killing 33-year old Willie Sims during the same street fight.

And, defense attorney Paul Morgan said, the drug deal went bad.

On April 10, 2016, you were the person who brought the knife werent you? Morgan shouted at Jackson. You cut Shante with a four-inch blade. Then Willie came at you with a tire iron and you cut him. He fell backwards and you stabbed him in the liver.

No, he responded.

The dramatic cross-examination of eyewitness Jackson added a new dimension to accounts of the slaying, painting it as mutual combat between two rival groups that bought and sold drugs among themselves. Morgan noted that Jackson had been facing a 10-year prison sentence for the felony offense of choking his mother, but after cooperating in Lackings prosecution he ended up serving six-months on a misdemeanor charge.

Prosecutors immediately countered that Lackings, who lives in Galena Park, sold crack cocaine for a living. If found guilty of murder, he faces in prison in the fatal shooting of Shante Thompson, a 34-year old transgender woman who is identified in court records as Robert Isaac.

Jackson told the jurors that Lackings was friends with a different transgender woman. The two apparently got into a confrontation with Thompson and her friends at a McDonalds days before the melee.

On the night of the brawl, Jackson testified that he was staying with Lackings who woke him up, then drove to pick up his friend, who is a transgender woman, and two men to try to settle the score with Thompson.

The found Thompson with Willie Sims, 33, at the intersection of Fannin and Dennis about 11:15 p.m. that night. Lackings and his four friends parked and got makeshift maces - boards with screws in them - and a crowbar out of the trunk, Jackson said.

Jackson told jurors they confronted Thompson and Sims, and Thompson threw a bottle at the group. Then someone in Jacksons group picked up a brick and Thompson and Sims were beaten.

They tried to fight back but there was no chance, Jackson said. He said Thompson was trying to get away from the beating. The person who got shot was trying to run away.

During a stiff cross-examination, Morgan tried to establish that Jackson had just been released from drug rehabilitation and was looking for cocaine.

You were needing a fix and fiending that night, Morgan asked. Jackson said he was not.

Earlier in the day, jurors were shown a string of text messages between Jackson and Lackings that appeared to show a grisly plan.

I wanna get powered up and cut (someones) finger off, read the phone message from Jackson to Lackings in the hours before the fight.

Jackson said he was just talking mess about a co-worker, indicating that it was just a joke.

Prosecutors Jennifer Meriwether and Aaron Chapman put on testimony about the string of text messages as a way to show that Lackings was at the brawl that erupted and knew there could be violence.

Attorney Morgan said the prosecution is mistaken about what happened and Houston police have charged the wrong man in the shooting.

In court, he pointed to the inflammatory text messages as proof that other people, not Lackings, were responsible.

Lackings was originally charged with capital murder for both deaths in the Midtown melee, but prosecutors later reduced the case to murder, for just the death of Thompson.

Since the crimes occurred, witnesses have told police that the two groups of people had a history of confrontations. Friends and family said the incident probably sprang from some sort of dispute between Thompson and one of her attackers, another transgender woman, over a man.

Lackings, who remains in the Harris County jail on $250,000 bail, is being tried in visiting state District Judge Reagan Clarks court. Closing arguments in the trial could happen Wednesday, according to the judge.

If Lackings is convicted, the punishment phase would take the rest of the week.A nurse at Texas Childrens Hospital has been fired after posting information on social media about a rare measles case in the city, hospital officials said Tuesday.

The hospital took the action four days after learning of the nurses posts on a Facebook page called Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children. Her posts concerned a boy, between 1 and 3 years old, currently receiving treatment at the hospitals west campus in the Energy Corridor. He acquired measles overseas, the Houston health department has confirmed.

We were made aware that one of our nurses posted protected health information regarding a patient on social media, Texas Childrens said in a statement. We take these matters very seriously as the privacy and well-being of our patients is always a top priority. After an internal investigation, this individual is no longer with the organization.

Citing federal privacy laws, Texas Children's and the health department would not provide information about where the boy's family traveled, his precise age or his condition.

A Texas Childrens spokesperson said the nurse was removed from patient care Friday, after hospital officials saw the posts and launched an investigation. The nurse, a self-described anti-vaxxer, posted to share how much worse (measles) was than what I expected based on the case.

The measles case is the first in Houston since 2013. The 2013 case involved a boy in the same age range who had not acquired the condition overseas.

Measles is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by a virus. It is particularly dangerous, capable of causing serious neurological disorders and death, in infants and the developing fetus in pregnant women.

It can cause a devastating set of conditions in the very young, said Dr. David Persse, health authority for the city of Houston. Thats why its so important to protect those at extremes of age, for everyone to be vaccinated.

The vaccine is given in two doses, the first at 12 to 15 months of age and the second at 4 through 6 years of age. The boy being treated at Texas Childrens hadnt yet received his first dose before the family left the country, said Persse. Family members had been vaccinated.

The nurse, who on Facebook listed her job at Texas Childrens as a pediatric ICU/ER nurse, described the rough experience seeing a child with measles for the first time.

I think its easy for us non-vaxxers to make assumptions, but most of us have never and will never see one of these diseases, she said in screenshots of the posts obtained by the Chronicle. By no means have I changed my vax stance, and I never will. But this poor kid was bad off and as a parent, I could see vaccinating out of fear.

She said shell continue along my little non-vax journey with no regrets, but Ill have definitely have compassion to those who vehemently vaccinate.

Texas Childrens said the dismissal was because the nurse posted protected health information, not because of her anti-vaccination views.

Over the past 10 years, Houston has averaged fewer than one reported case of measles per year, according to the health department. In Harris County overall, there have been four cases in the last five years, two each in 2013 and 2014.

Houstons MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rate for children under 2 is 94.5 percent, better than the national rate of 91.1 percent and the Texas rate of 89.8 percent.

Texas Childrens reported the case to the Houston health department Monday. It is still being treated as a suspected case of measles, pending verification from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Texas Childrens Hospital has contacted families of any other children who may have come in contact with the boy, according to a statement from the hospital.

Measles is spread through direct contact with discharge through the nose and mouth as well as coughing and sneezing. Common symptoms include fever, a runny nose, a hacking cough, red eyes with severe sensitivity to light and a distinctive rash.

In one of the posts, the nurse seemed to realize that she had overshared.

Sorry guys, I worked way too hard (and owe too much in student loans to jeopardize my license) so I deleted a lot of my responses, she wrote. I love my job, I love being in health care. I really want to keep info to a minimum and if/when this case makes news Ill elaborate. Keep strong in your beliefs! We are all on this journey for a reason!

The nurses Facebook page could not be found Tuesday.

samantha.ketterer@chron.comThousands of first-time college students are starting university this week with new sexual assault rules issued by the Trump administration.

The new guidelines, issued last fall, ask school officials for a higher standard of evidence when weighing sexual assault accusations. The new rules replaced Obama-era guidelines that suggested schools quickly take action in cases where evidence of sexual violence was more likely than not.

As students return or enter college for the first time, and as the new rules are battled in federal court, the way colleges handle upcoming cases of sexual violence is paramount especially during the start of the semester.

Now Playing: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that she is rescinding the Obama administration's guidelines for dealing with campus sexual assault, under the program known as Title IX. Ryan Sartor (@ryansartor) has that story. Video: Buzz 60

"More than 50 percent of college sexual assaults occur in either August, September, October, or November," according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

ICYMI: What it cost to go to college the year you were born

In addition, recent studies on the prevalence of sexual assault on campus also show the need to quickly straighten out any federal guidelines that aim to protect victims.

In 2015, a survey by the Association of American Universities reaching 150,000 college students found that 23 percent of undergraduate women reported being victims of non-consensual sexual contact compared to 5 percent of undergraduate men.

The same researchers noted that these incidents don't always get reported to school officials, possibly because students feel uncomfortable coming forward if colleges don't have adequate resources and training to support survivors.

To see how many of these incidents get reported at 20 of Texas' top colleges, Chron.com looked at the latest Department of Education data on sexual assault-related crimes, which includes non-consensual sexual contact and rape.

See which Texas colleges have reported the most incidents of sexual assault above.

Fernando Ramirez covers Texas news and politics. Read him on our breaking news site and on our subscriber site. | Fernando.ramirez@chron.com | @fernramirez93



Penalty if Italy doesn't pay budget quota - Oettinger Rome shdn't mix migrants with EU budget

(ANSAmed) - BERLIN, AUGUST 29 - Italy will incur a penalty if it doesn't pay its EU budget quota in a row over migrants, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Die Welt Wednesday.



"All EU States have assumed the obligation of paying their contributions within the established time," he said.



"All the rest would be a violation of the treaties which would entail penalties".



He said "Italy has won our support in tackling the migrant crisis and its consequences, I can only warn Rome about mixing the migrant issue with the EU budget".(ANSAmed).



Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine  an expert on international relations  made a joke: "Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of communism, it can return to its true historical path  fascism." Even at the time, his quip had a real edge.

And as of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all. What Freedom House calls illiberalism is on the rise across Eastern Europe. This includes Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead.

In both countries the ruling parties  Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary  have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future.

And it could all too easily happen here. There was a time, not long ago, when people used to say that our democratic norms, our proud history of freedom, would protect us from such a slide into tyranny. In fact, some people still say that. But believing such a thing today requires willful blindness. The fact is that the Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule.

Just look at what has been happening at the state level.

In North Carolina, after a Democrat won the governorship, Republicans used the incumbent's final days to pass legislation stripping the governor's office of much of its power.

In Georgia, Republicans tried to use transparently phony concerns about access for disabled voters to close most of the polling places in a mainly black district.

In West Virginia, Republican legislators exploited complaints about excessive spending to impeach the entire state Supreme Court and replace it with party loyalists.

And these are just the cases that have received national attention. There are surely scores if not hundreds of similar stories across the nation. What all of them reflect is the reality that the modern GOP feels no allegiance to democratic ideals; it will do whatever it thinks it can get away with to entrench its power.

What about developments at the national level? That's where things get really scary. We're sitting on a knife edge. If we fall off it in the wrong direction  specifically, if Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress in November  we will become another Poland or Hungary faster than you can imagine.

This week, Axios created a bit of a stir with a scoop about a spreadsheet circulating among Republicans in Congress, listing investigations they think Democrats are likely to carry out if they take the House. The thing about the list is that every item on it  starting with Donald Trump's tax returns  is something that obviously em>should/em> be investigated, and would have been investigated under any other president. But the people circulating the document simply take it for granted that Republicans won't address any of these issues: Party loyalty will prevail over constitutional responsibility.

Many Trump critics celebrated last week's legal developments, taking the Manafort conviction and the Cohen guilty plea as signs that the walls may finally be closing in on the lawbreaker in chief. But I felt a sense of deepened dread as I watched the Republican reaction: Faced with undeniable evidence of Trump's thuggishness, his party closed ranks around him more tightly than ever.

A year ago it seemed possible that there might be limits to the party's complicity, that there would come a point where at least a few representatives or senators would say, no more. Now it's clear that there are no limits: They'll do whatever it takes to defend Trump and consolidate power.

This goes even for politicians who once seemed to have some principles. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was a voice of independence in the health care debate; now she sees no problem with having a president who's an unindicted co-conspirator appoint a Supreme Court justice who believes that presidents are immune from prosecution. Sen. Lindsey Graham denounced Trump in 2016, and until recently seemed to be standing up against the idea of firing the attorney general to kill the Mueller investigation; now he's signaled that he's OK with such a firing.

But why is America, the birthplace of democracy, so close to following the lead of other countries that have recently destroyed it?

Don't tell me about "economic anxiety." That's not what happened in Poland, which grew steadily through the financial crisis and its aftermath. And it's not what happened here in 2016: Study after study has found that racial resentment, not economic distress, drove Trump voters.

The point is that we're suffering from the same disease  white nationalism run wild  that has already effectively killed democracy in some other Western nations. And we're very, very close to the point of no return.The training covered green behaviour the NZDF wanted to grow, orange behaviour it wanted to confront and talk about, and red behaviour which was completely unacceptable, said Hopkins.

It also challenged NZDFs people not to be bystanders by emphasising that every one of us, as an individual, has the power to prevent harmful sexual behaviour.

Participants were encouraged to speak to three people about what they had learned, meaning the initiative has impact and reach throughout the organisation and the community.

Moreover, the assistant chief defence human resources colonel Karl Cummins told the judges that NZDF is a reflection of society and is not immune to harmful behaviour. Indeed, historic cases and reviews into NZDF contributed to recognising the need to undertake prevention activity.

In particular, the judges were impressed by the progress made in a short time by an organisation with a hierarchical structure and a traditionally masculine culture, according to judging convener Neil Porteous.Lithuania mulls joining Latvia's legal fight over fishing in Norway's Svalbard

August 28,2018 | Source: Baltic Course

Lithuania is mulling joining Latvia in its legal fight with the European Commission over the dispute regarding the right to fishing in the waters of the Norwegian islands of Svalbard, reported LETA/BNS.



Lithuania's Vice Minister of Agriculture Darius Liutikas says Norway bars EU member states' crab fishing in Svalbard since 2016.



"The point is that Latvia is in a dispute with the Kingdom of Norway over fishing in Svalbard's waters. Based on the international agreements, both Latvia and Lithuania should have the possibility to fish there as they have such a right," Liutikas toldon Tuesday.



In his words, Latvia is unhappy with the fact that the European Commission has so far failed to resolve this dispute, and believes that the matter should go to court.



"The European Union backs the position of Latvia and other countries but has not made steps in resolving this issue in court. The issue has not been resolved through the exchange of diplomatic notes and negotiations," the vice minister said.



The Lithuanian government will discuss the possibility to back Latvia in court during its Wednesday meeting.



"Lithuania would also want to join this case as it has influence on Lithuanian businesses, competitiveness and lawful interests. We believe Norway's position is wrong," Liutikas said.



Norway and the EU differently interpret the 1920 Svalbard Treaty which recognizes the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Norway believes it has an exceptional right to crab fishing around the islands but the EU disagrees and issues licenses for fishing around Svalbard.



Some specialists believe the crab fishing dispute might have to do with oil and gas production in the waters of Svalbard.

 1996  2016 The Baltic Course

Theme(s): Others.Ghana to soon institute fisheries award scheme for traditional leaders, local assemblies, media

Ghana's Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture is working on an award scheme to reward traditional leaders, communities, Municipal District Assemblies and Media networks who promote effective fishing practices or educate the public on fisheries.



We will be rolling out awards to cover categories such as Most Proactive Chief Fishermen, Most Proactive Traditional Leader., Most Responsive Media projecting fisheries issues as well as Most responsive Municipal/District Assemblies very soon, sector Minister Elizabeth Afoley Quaye said.



She made the revelation during a grand durbar of the Kundum Festival at Lower Dixcove in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.



The Minister stressed the role of traditional leaders in fisheries management, and called for proper self-regulation as a more proactive way of dealing Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.



She added regulations are in place to punish any illegalities from the trawlers.



In the Ghanas fisheries co management, traditional leaders and the sector ministry are to work together to improve compliance, she indicated.



Her deputy, Kingsley Francis Ato Codjoe, lauded the supporting role civil society organisations in promoting effective fisheries management, especially in the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing.



He said that the Ministry will revisit the Fisheries Volunteer Programme to ensure strong community participation in enforcing regulations on IUU fishing.



He also acknowledged the contribution of the Far Ban Bo, a fisheries governance project supported by the European Union and others for their support in addressing issues of illegal fishing.



As part of the Projects activities to complement the Ministrys effort in combatting illegal fishing activities, the Far Ban Bo project has established an IUU Community Monitoring Groups (CMGs) in five fishing communities including Dixcove, Anomabo and James Town.



The Project Coordinator, Kwame Mensah, said the CMGs will capture and record evidence of IUU that they come across during their normal fishing activities. These evidences, he said, will be documented and forwarded to the fisheries enforcement unit for the necessary redress.



The Kundum festival presented an opportunity for the Far Ban Bo Project to engage the various stakeholders within the Fisheries sector.



Prior to the grand durbar of chiefs, people of Lower Dixcove and beyond, the Far Ban Bo Project facilitated a fisheries dialogue session for fishermen, the traditional leaders and the Minster for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development to discuss the role of traditional leaders in effective fisheries co- management.



The forum also presented a face to face platform for the community to interact with the Minister and the Fisheries Commission.



The Paramount Chief of Lower Dixcove, Nana Kwesi Agyeman IX used the occasion to encourage fishermen to embrace governments directive on Closed Season when it is introduced in 2019.



We need to embrace the closed season at some point as we are all witnessing very low catch these days. You are all aware Kundum was always celebrated with a lot of catch in the past. But that isnt the case anymore.



I know the Ministrys decision to introduce the closed season in August was based on research and we will support it next year. So, I expect total support and commitment from all of you when it is announced, Nana Kwasi Agyeman demanded.

 Media General

Theme(s): Others.Asia-Pacific to be broadly represented at Global Fishery Forum 2018

August 29,2018 | Source: TASS

The Asia-Pacific region will be broadly represented by delegations from East Asia and North America at the 2nd Global Fishery Forum (16+). Leaders and representatives of fishing industry ministries and institutions as well as various fishing and manufacturing companies from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Philippines will attend the event.



Fisheries have historically played an important role in Asia-Pacific nations. There is serious potential for increasing production volumes in the Pacific Ocean, and there are great investment prospects associated with this fact. Cooperation with countries of the Asia-Pacific region, exchanging experience, and working on joint projects are activities of significant mutually beneficial interest, Russian Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Director of the Federal Agency for Fishery Ilya Shestakov said.



Deputy Minister for Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea Seung-Hwan Cho and Director of the Resources Management Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan Koya Takashi are expected to take part in the Forum.



The event will also be attended by a delegation from the People's Republic of China that will include representatives of the Ocean and Fisheries Department of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance, and the Shanghai Economic Development Zone Administration of Changxing Island.



Director of the Philippines' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Philippines Eduardo Gongona has confirmed that he will take part in the Global Fishery Forum.



Representatives of Asian businesses and specialized organizations will be actively involved in discussions of topical fishing industry issues as part of business programme activities at the Global Fishery Forum 2018. Alibaba Group Director and President John Michael Evans will speak at the Resources roundtable, which focuses on forecasts of and opportunities for the catch of aquatic bioresources by 2050. Professor at Busan University and President of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) Suam Kim will take part in the international conference Issues in commercial straddling stocks fishing activities on the first day of the Forum. A representative from the Japanese company Nippon Suisan will give a presentation titled Trout breeding: Nippon Suisan aquaculture farming in Chile during the roundtable Aquaculture: 2050 breeding and development forecast.



At present, China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan are actively cooperating with Russia on fishery affairs. The countries have concluded a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements on the joint regulation and study of aquatic bioresources in the North Pacific, scientific and technical cooperation as well as combating illegal fishing.



These countries are important players on the global fish market and some of the largest producers, importers, and exporters of fish products as well as fishing and fish processing equipment and technologies. In addition, the region has a large population, an established culture of seafood consumption, and a large number of industry specialists. During the key event of the Forum  the plenary session Global fishing activities 2050: Resources, markets, technologies  experts will examine the long-term prospects for the development of the global fisheries industry in the context of population growth by 2050, which is estimated to reach 9.8 billion people.



The Seafood Expo will feature major commercial companies that specialize in the catch, production, and trade of fish and seafood, including Whittier Seafood (USA), Sea Yarn International Ltd (China), and Beijing Yinqicheng International Exhibition Co., Yanmar (Japan), Powertech Machinery (China), and other companies from the Asia-Pacific region.



Asia-Pacific nations are also engaged in a high level of business cooperation. At present, comfortable conditions have been created in advanced special economic zones and the Free Port of Vladivostok in Russias Far East to attract foreign business, including in the fishing industry. Asian companies have shown active interest in mariculture and fish processing as well as projects to create fish markets and hubs in the Far East. Prospects for business cooperation in the fisheries industry will also be one of the discussion topics at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok to be held on 1113 September.



The 2nd Global Fishery Forum and Seafood Expo will take place in St. Petersburg on 1315 September at the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event is being organized by the Federal Agency for Fishery, and the Roscongress Foundation is the operator of the forum.

 TASS

Theme(s): Others.Imperial Valley News Center

Socialism, Corporatism, and Destruction of Patient-Centered Medical Care

Tucson, Arizona - Medicare-for-all medicine is the ultimate goal of progressives or liberals, fully embraced by Democrat candidates in the midterms. Candidates claim single-payer government-run medicine will solve all the problems of Obamacare and our broken, purportedly free-market system.

Liberal proposals ignore or deny the massive cost burden to taxpayers of free healthcare, the long delays, and the limited treatment options that plague every taxpayer-funded (socialized) medical system in the world, from Canada and the UK, to Cuba and Venezuelaand increasingly to U.S Medicare and Medicaid. Some claim to have received fine medical care in such a system. But having been a patient and had a family member as a patient in several countries with socialized medical care, I can personally attest to the difficulty of getting proper care at all.

The U.S. system has similar problems because of the flip side of the same coin: the corporatization of medicine. High cost, long delays to see specialists, limited doctor networks, insurance (managed care) companies dictating clinical guidelines to be followed, pharmacy benefit mangers (PBMs) causing harm to patients by adding another layer of costs and restricting access to optimal medications, and a deluge of prior authorizations and other administrative barriers are keeping patients from the medical care their doctors would like to provide.

I see these problems daily in my own medical practice as I help coordinate care outside my field for patients from different parts of the U.S. as they struggle with getting insurance approval for the referrals, medications, and treatment they need, often from physicians treating only one organ system or body part without coordination with the patients other physicians. Even though I am independent of insurance contracts and able to focus on serving patients according to their individual needs, I am still restricted in testing and treatment options by what insurance plans and PBMs will pay for.

Two behemoths control medical care around the world: socialized medicine with government-run massive bureaucracies (in Canada, UK, Europe, etc.), and corporatism, with corporate bureaucracies (Think: AetnaAnthemCaremarkHumanaUnitedHealthcare) controlling most healthcare delivery in the U.S., including an increasing proportion of care funded by Medicare and Medicaid. The single-payer chorus has yet to acknowledge this, or to ask whether their proposal will affect it. (It wont.)

Neither socialism or corporatism is about serving individual patients. The collective or the corporation comes first. Healthcare is simply the pretext for bringing revenue into the system.

Physicians, on the other hand, have for 2,500 years stood on the foundation of the Oath of Hippocrates to use our best abilities and judgment for the benefit of the individual patient who seeks our help. Physicians cannot effectively serve two mastersthe corporate or government entity AND the patient. When inevitable conflicts arise, it is the patient who ultimately suffers.

Medicare for all is no solutionit just perpetuates and cements the flaws we already havewhile destroying the prospect for genuine reform.

The real answer is to get ALL the third parties out of the physician-patient relationship.

We need:

Patients spending their own money as they choose, as through Health Savings Accounts.

Price transparency to allow patients to make sound choices, through genuine patient value-based purchasing.

True risk-based catastrophic, reasonably priced medical insurance plans, formerly called major medical coverage, which were outlawed by the ironically named Affordable Care Act.

Competition in the pharmaceuticals market, and removal of safe harbors for kickbacks to PBMs.

Tort reform

These are the very hallmark features that Candidate Trump espoused that helped his election to President. Sadly, Congress, the FDA, and HHS have so far blocked these reforms that businessman Donald Trump proposed to cut costs and put decisions back into the hands of patients and physicians. Obstruction of true reform has been from both political parties, evidenced recently by the failure of the Republican-controlled Congress to successfully repeal costly Obamacare, a betrayal of their many campaign promises to undo damage inflicted by Democrats in 2010.

Free-market solutions have consistently worked best and served the most people at the lowest cost. Would-be reformers should be looking at places like Chile and Malaysia, which have thriving private sectors, rather than the tired, failing systems of Canada and the UK, for examples of excellent care at a fraction of U.S. prices.

Free markets in medicine have not been broken, as Democrats like to say. True free-market approaches have not been allowed to work since Congress started to Impose more and more regulations and restrictions in a futile attempt to rein in the soaring costs of Medicare soon after it was implemented in 1965.

More of the same socialist or corporate interference and control will have the same effect: outrageous costs and declining quality. To restore excellent affordable medical care, we must first restore medical freedom and unleash the competitive market forces that help all sectors of our economy thrive.Imperial Valley News Center

Strengthening the STEM Workforce Pipeline Through Outreach

Washington, DC - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) career outreach programs play a pivotal role in shaping the capabilities and makeup of the future workforce. Generally speaking, STEM outreach involves organizing events, both in and out of school, where we can encourage and inspire young people to consider pursuing careers in STEM by improving awareness and building STEM literacy. Attracting youth to STEM fields and retaining them, especially young women and minorities, requires the support of parents, teachers, role models (like me!) and professional organizations.

When Im doing outreach, students and parents often ask what made me decide to pursue a career in STEM. My answer is simple: I was exposed early on to the endless opportunities that having a STEM degree affords you. My parents, both of whom were nuclear engineers at Westinghouse, seized every opportunity they could find to get my siblings and I involved in STEM. They were determined to get at least one of their children to follow in their footsteps. From computer camps to science museums to participating in Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, we were constantly meeting STEM professionals and learning about different career paths.

While I ultimately ended up being the only one of my siblings to pursue a STEM career, I credit my passion for STEM education outreach to their efforts. Ive made it a personal goal to continue their tradition and inspire as many students as possible to go into STEM.

STEM outreach activities are a great way to get students excited and interested in subject areas that are often deemed challenging by making them relatable to real-life situations. One of the things I love most is seeing the light bulb turn on in students heads the moment they understand a concept through hands-on learning. Participating in outreach activities also allows me to tap into my creative side because it requires me to come up with innovative ways to explain complex topics. Since starting my career at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2011, Ive had the opportunity to participate in many STEM outreach activities, both at NIST and externally. While I came to NIST to work as a chemist, I have since become an academic program manager in the NIST International and Academic Affairs Office (IAAO). Over the past few years, Ive had the privilege to be an invited speaker and presenter at workshops and activities for students of all ages to explore the world of science.

One of the main highlights from the past year was being invited to speak at the Black Womens Agenda 40th Annual Symposium Workshop and Awards Luncheon. In 2014, the Black Women's Agenda, Inc., launched "Inform & Inspire"a series of workshops that give middle school girls a chance to explore STEM careers and meet African-American women working in these fields. I was asked to join a dynamic panel that featured Miss USA 2017 Kara McCullough, a former physical scientist at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Gwendolyn Boyd, a prominent mechanical engineer and civic leader. During a candid discussion about our different career paths, we encouraged the girls to embrace their uniqueness and gifts, set goals, and work hard to realize them. After our initial meeting, McCullough asked me to join forces with her to work on the launch of the nonprofit, Science Exploration for Kids (SE4K). SE4K offers a variety of interactive science-related programs for students in grades K-12. SE4Ks learning programs focus on teamwork, self-confidence and career development, all while having fun. In March 2018, we held our inaugural event, Take Flight with SE4K, in the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airports historic Terminal A in Arlington, Virginia. We welcomed over 75 students from across the region to participate in hands-on demos, raffles for prizes and science exploration stations.

In addition to my work with SE4K, I also had the wonderful opportunity to attend the 22nd annual Scifest Africa in South Africa. I began working with the organization in 2015 when I was selected as an Embassy Science Fellow. During my initial three-month stay, I worked as an Outreach and Logistics Officer for the Festival and coordinated more than 80 exhibitions and 600 events to be presented at the festival by 345 contributors from 100 participating organizations from 13 different countries.

Additionally, I led an outreach team that traveled to different local and rural regions to lead interactive workshops at several schools and the Nelson Mandela Bay Science and Technology Centre. During those trips, my team engaged with almost 6,000 students, educators and members of the public.

Since my time as a fellow, I have returned to the festival each year as a NIST ambassador and a guest speaker. This year, I developed three new hands-on workshops to be included in the program. These workshops reached over 500 students and focused on fundamentals of chemistry, engineering and biology. I also had the opportunity to speak with a group of teenage girls about how to overcome the barriers that they might face when pursuing a career in STEM. I even appeared on the ETV Sunrise Show, a South African morning news show, to help spread the word about the festival. This experience really solidified my passion to communicate the relevance of science and my commitment to mentor young people. I have truly enjoyed engaging with learners, educators and parents through Scifest Africa and look forward to continued collaboration with the organization.

Another recurring outreach project that I anticipate each year is with STEMversity, a nonprofit located in Milledgeville, Georgia, that offers training and educational programs for those preparing to enter college or the workforce, especially in areas that have historically lacked diversity. In 2016, NIST awarded STEMversity a three-year Measurement Science and Engineering Research grant to support the advancement of the program. In partnership with Baldwin County Schools, Georgia Technical College, Georgia College Early College, NIST, the Air Force Technical Applications Center, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Office of Forensic Science, STEMversity has created a platform to expose underserved and underrepresented middle and high school teachers and students to forensic science. Regina Easley from NISTs Chemical Science Division and I have attended and presented to the group four years in a row now. The students responses to the workshops have been overwhelmingly positive. Several of the repeat attendees told us how much they look forward to the new and interesting concepts we bring for them to learn.

One of the things I love most about NIST are the many ways for staff to participate in outreach. Two of our biggest events took place in April 2018: the 5th USA Science and Engineering Festival in downtown Washington, D.C., and the annual Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. I have worked at both events in the past, but this was my first year participating in the planning and coordination process. I was so impressed by the dedication and commitment of the staff members that spent hours behind the scenes to create these two high-quality events.

Another on-campus initiative that I am excited to be doing this year is S.T.E.A.M. Forward!, which I launched last year specifically for the kids at the NIST Child Care Center. It features weekly interactive, low-cost, hands-on activities that explore topics related to the different career paths at NIST. Over the course of five sessions, we focus on introducing the kids to topics such as separation science, chemical changes, engineering and building processes, pH and buffers, density, surface tension, polymers, and factors that impact the environment. We also do a few wow factor demonstrations like foam gnomes and Mentos geysers. Throughout the program, Ive heard several students saying, Science is so cool! and I wish we could do experiments every day! Overall, the children and staff at the Child Care Center thoroughly enjoyed the S.T.E.A.M. Forward! summer program and are happy that it has returned for a second year. One parent even mentioned how their child used one of the demos that they learned last year as the foundation for their science fair project. My hope is to continue to grow the program and make it available year-round.

Im strongly committed to the development of a diverse STEM workforce through continued engagement with students at every level of their academic career. Ive been able to use my interest in science communication to popularize science and help increase awareness about opportunities in the STEM field. If we are to maintain technological and scientific leadership, I believe its essential that we continue to make outreach a priority to attract and recruit highly qualified individuals for the STEM workforce.California releases new climate change assessment

Sacramento, California - Warning that two-thirds of Southern Californias beaches could completely disappear and the average area burned by wildfires could nearly double by 2100, the State of California has released Californias Fourth Climate Change Assessment, which details new science on the devastating impacts of climate change and provides planning tools to support the states response.

In California, facts and science still matter, said Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. These findings are profoundly serious and will continue to guide us as we confront the apocalyptic threat of irreversible climate change.

The compilation of original climate research includes 44 technical reports and 13 summary reports on climate change impacts to help ready the state for a future punctuated by severe wildfires, more frequent and longer droughts, rising sea levels, increased flooding, coastal erosion and extreme heat events. The peer-reviewed research translates global models into scaled-down, regionally relevant reports to fill information gaps and support decisions at the local, regional and state levels.

For agriculture, the report notes that many of Californias important crops, including fruit and nut trees, are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts like changing temperature regimes and water-induced stress. Adaptive decision-making and technological advancement may maintain the viability of California agriculture. However, studies show that viability of the sector overall may be at the expense of agricultural jobs and the dairy sector, and this report points out that additional research is needed on potential yield changes of crops under changing climate conditions, to provide growers the crops varieties that can thrive under warmer and drier conditions, and tools they can use to identify and implement adaptation options. Sustainably managing groundwater resources remains a crucial priority.

California has completed three prior Climate Change Assessments. Since the release of Californias Third Climate Change Assessment in 2012, the state has experienced several of the most extreme natural events in its recorded history, including a severe five-year drought, an unprecedented tree mortality crisis, damaging floods driven by atmospheric rivers, and increasingly large and destructive wildfires.

The Fourth Assessment suggests these events will worsen in the future. Among the key findings:

Wildfire: Climate change will make forests more susceptible to extreme wildfires. By the year 2100, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, one study found that the average area burned by wildfires would increase 77 percent and the frequency of extreme wildfires burning more than 25,000 acres would increase by nearly 50 percent. In the areas that have the highest fire risk, the cost of wildfire insurance is estimated to rise by 18 percent by 2055. Additionally, the percentage of property insured in California would decrease.

Sea-Level Rise: Under mid to high sea-level rise scenarios, up to 67 percent of Southern California beaches may completely erode by 2100 without large-scale human interventions. Statewide damages could reach nearly $17.9 billion from inundation of residential and commercial buildings if sea-level rise reaches 20 inches, which is within range of mid-century projections. A 100-year coastal flood, on top of this level of sea-level rise, would almost double the cost of damages. Updated modeling can help local planners analyze vulnerabilities in their area.

Energy: Higher temperatures will increase annual electricity demand for homes, primarily for use of air conditioning units. High demand is projected in inland regions and Southern California. More moderate increases are projected in cooler coastal areas. Increases in peak hourly demand during the hot months of the year could be more pronounced. This is a critical finding for Californias electric system, because generating capacity must match peak electricity demand.

Extreme Heat Events and Impacts on Public Health: Heat-related illnesses and deaths are projected to worsen drastically throughout the state. By mid-century, the Central Valley is projected to experience heat waves that average two weeks longer than those today, and the hot spells could occur four to 10 times more often in the Northern Sierra region. A new California Heat Assessment Tool (CHAT) could support public health departments as they work to reduce heat-related deaths and illnesses.

The latest reports also detail the unique and disproportionate climate threats to vulnerable communities and tribal communities, with a focus on working collaboratively with these communities on research and solutions for resilience.

In addition, a report set for release in early September will highlight how California can better integrate climate impacts in design processes for critical infrastructure. The report by a working group established by AB 2800 (Quirk) of 2016 reflects the expertise of multiple scientific and engineering disciplines to help design and construct infrastructure to withstand higher temperatures, more frequent and intense storms, drought, wildfires and sea-level rise.

To access Fourth Assessment technical reports, summary reports, online tools, climate projects and data, and other resources and information developed as part of Californias Fourth Climate Change Assessment, please visit www.ClimateAssessment.ca.gov.

California is a global leader in using, investing in, and advancing research to set proactive climate change policy. Its climate change assessments provide the scientific foundation for understanding climate-related vulnerability and how Californians may respond. The Climate Change Assessments directly inform State policies, plans, programs, and guidance to promote effective and integrated action to safeguard California from climate change.

California  which is playing a world-leading role in building strong coalitions of partners committed to curbing carbon pollution in both the United States and around the globe  will convene the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco next month. At the Summit, representatives from subnational governments, businesses and civil society will showcase the surge of climate action around the world, and make the case that even more must be done.Governor Brown Signs Legislation to Revamp California's Bail System, Protect Public Safety

Sacramento, California - Taking action to revamp Californias bail system, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed Senate Bill 10, the California Money Bail Reform Act, which preserves the rights of the accused, while prioritizing public safety.

The new law  which will take effect on January 1, 2020  establishes a new system for determining a defendants custody status while they await trial based on an assessment of risk to public safety and probability of missing a court date rather than their ability to pay cash bail.

Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly, said Governor Brown.

This action delivers on the commitment made last August by Governor Brown, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and the bills authors  Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Alameda)  to work together on long-needed reforms in the second year of the two-year legislative session.

This is a transformative day for our justice system. Our old system of money bail was outdated, unsafe, and unfair. It took a three-branch solution with Governor Brown, the Legislature led by Senator Hertzberg and Assemblymember Bonta, and the Judicial Councils Administrative Director Martin Hoshino working with judges in my Pretrial Detention Reform Work Group to bring about a fair and just solution for all Californians, said Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye.

Our path to a more just criminal justice system is not complete, but today it made a transformational shift away from valuing private wealth and toward protecting public safety. Thanks to the collaboration of the Governor, Chief Justice, and the Legislature, we are creating a system that is fairer for all Californians. Todays signing is historic, and California will continue to lead the way toward a safer and more equitable system, said Senator Hertzberg.

Today, California takes a transformational step forward to correct a fundamental injustice. Abolishing money bail and replacing it with a risk-based system will enhance justice and safety. For too long, our system has allowed the wealthy to purchase their freedom regardless of their risk, while the poor who pose no danger languish in jail. No more. Freedom and liberty should never be pay to play, said Assemblymember Bonta.

Wealth is not the measure of any woman or man. By eliminating cash bail, we are saying that those with the least ability to pay should not be released or incarcerated solely on the basis of their wealth or poverty. SB 10 is only one leg of the long journey toward perfecting our justice system, but it is an important one, said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.

Money bail has promoted a system of separate and unequal justice. SB 10 puts all Californians on equal footing before the law and makes public safety the only consideration in pre-trial detention. This critical reform is long overdue. Im grateful to the author and the broad coalition of advocates who worked tirelessly to make it happen, said Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins.

For full text of the bill signed today, visit http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

A broad coalition of elected officials, labor groups, probation officers and criminal justice reform advocates support this legislation signed today. Heres what they are saying:

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom:

A persons checking account balance should never determine how they are treated under the law. Cash bail criminalizes poverty and with Governor Browns signature today, California has opened the door to pursue and perfect a just pre-trial system."

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California Executive Board Member and Local 2015 President Laphonza Butler:

"Today is a turning point for justice in California, and SEIU members are proud to have helped lead the way in creating a safer state and moving California closer to our vision for restorative justice. By eliminating the discriminatory money bail system that preys on the poor and working people like SEIU members, SB 10 is a significant step forward in our movement for equality and civil rights. Governor Brown, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, Senator Hertzberg, Assemblymember Bonta, and the many organizations who shaped this bill, including the Western Center on Law and Poverty, Californians for Safety and Justice, and Anti-Recidivism Coalition, can all be proud that California has now done more than any state to eliminate money as a factor in deciding who is free and who is incarcerated. As we celebrate this milestone in our march toward justice, members of SEIU are more energized than ever to keep fighting for equality throughout our criminal justice system. With the momentum weve achieved, we are in a position to press for even more sweeping reforms in the coming years."

Chief Probation Officers of California President Jim Salio:

When the historical policy decision was made to remove cash bail from our criminal justice system we knew as experts in the field of risk assessment, public safety and rehabilitation, it was crucial to maintain the balance between public safety and civil rights by utilizing evidence-based risk assessments in the absence of a bail schedule. We believe SB 10 will maximize return to court, maximize public safety and enhance opportunities for low-risk offenders to maintain critical community support.

NextGen America Founder and President Tom Steyer:

Today, California made history by ending money bail and took a significant step towards amending the injustice at the heart of our criminal justice system. For decades, the money bail system has created a two-tiered system that prioritizes profit and penalizes poverty, and has been especially detrimental for communities of color. In America, your bank account must not determine your access to justice, and passing SB 10 is an important step towards creating a criminal justice system that is more just and equitable.

Californians for Safety and Justice Founder and Executive Director Lenore Anderson:

The signing of SB 10 is historic. California is now the first state in the nation to completely eliminate the predatory commercial bail industry and wealth-based determinations of who is held in jail. Now California can get to work: this is the beginning of building a fair and effective pretrial system on our state.

Western Center on Law and Poverty Policy Advocate Jessica Bartholow:

"We are proud to have co-sponsored this legislation and grateful for the Governor's signature. With its signature, California will end the unjust and discriminatory practice of denying liberty to someone before their trial because they are too poor to post bail. By enacting SB 10, we will also foreclose on the predatory, for-profit bail industry which has drained resources from overpoliced low-income communities of color and spent hundreds of thousands in political contributions to oppose important criminal justice reforms."

Anti-Recidivism Coalition:

The Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) supports SB 10. ARC members know all too well the traumas and difficulties created by spending even a single day in jail as a result of not being able to post bail. SB 10 is an important first step in the right direction towards reforming the current systema system that has negatively impacted Californians, especially people of color living in impoverished communities. ARC will remain committed to fighting alongside partners to end the cash bail system.Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

United Airlines is trying to be nicer and kinder.

It's hard not to be, the dry might snort, after you've become famous for mistreating a paying passenger, having him dragged down the aisle of a plane and bloodying his face.

Still, though, you have to wonder what being nice and kind really means to United.

The airline's president, Scott Kirby, just explained, in a moving interview to Skift.

In it, he addressed the fact that he's beginning to realize the importance of customer service.

Really.

It can't be seen on a spreadsheet, he said, but when a bad reputation spreads, goodness, your bottom line might be affected.

I fear, though, United's kindness will only go so far. It might also endure two or three stops along the way and require a replacement crew.

You see, Kirby spoke about the airline's new Preferred Economy seats.

These, as I wrote last week, are perfectly ordinary Economy Class seats. They are, though, a little bit nearer the front of the plane.

It used to be that anyone could book them.

Now, however, the airline will offer them to so-called Corporate Preferred customers -- those whose companies spend a lot of money with United.

If there aren't enough of these exalted corporatists on the flight, the airline will allow the elite-free, unwashed to have them.

For a fee, that is.

But what about families?, he was asked. The more United charges extra for seemingly every seat on the plane, the harder it'll be for families to sit together.

Kirby offered a painful response:

Look, when you go to a concert, do you think you should pay the same price to sit in the nosebleed seats or to sit up front?

Get thee to the back of the plane, families, and pray.

I worry about Kirby's logic.

When I go to a concert, I'm looking forward to it. When I get on a flight, I fear it'll be a painful experience from beginning to end.

When I go to a concert, I want it to last a long time. When I get on a flight, I want it to end as soon as possible.

Kirby, though, was adamant in his analogy that flying United is akin to watching Taylor Swift live:

I don't know why airlines are unique. Every other business that has something like that charges more for a better product. It's a better product. You know it's a better seat. I don't know why airlines would be unique by offering lower prices for a lesser product. That's what we do.

Oh, but sometimes you make people fly in decrepit old planes. Isn't that a lesser product? So why don't you charge less for it?

Sometimes, the seats are smaller and the legroom tinier. Oddly, you don't seem keen to charge less for that either.

I want to be charitable. Well, more charitable than Kirby.

I'm finding it hard.

It's bad enough that his airline and American Airlines are ripping out seatback screens, so that families are forced to bring a portable device for each member.

The concert analogy, oh, it keeps assaulting my head like a Black Sabbath cover band.

If you truly believe that your flights are like concerts, why do you charge for bags? After all, if I take a bag to a concert, no one asks me to pay extra.

Of course, the hard-headed business types will insist that Kirby's strategy is understandable. Laudable, even.

Airlines, after all, are trying to make every last dime out of every last thing that used to be free and it's not as if United is alone in this gouging strategy. Delta loves it too.

I fear, though, that his attitude lurches to a bitter end.

Personally, I'd rather sit at the back of the plane, if the seat next to me is empty, than I would nearer the front with some preferred corporate type typing in my ear and jabbing me with his ugly elbow.

What if I'm lucky enough to have that extra space?

Will the airline charge me post-flight for having secured myself extra comfort? It's become a better seat, hasn't it?

And what if I move to a seat at the back of the plane, because the one next to it is empty? Will trouble ensue?

After all, if I was at a concert and moved to a seat that had no one next to it, I might even get thrown out.No matter what you call it--United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, Nafta 2.0, or Halfta--the preliminary agreement reached this week between the U.S. and Mexico is loaded.

While it's not clear if Canada will sign on--it has until Friday to do so--the pact may well reshape the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement in meaningful ways. Given the significance of the accord--trade within the region soared to $1.1 trillion in 2016, from roughly $290 billion in 1993--even small changes to the pact will carry implications for U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs.

Parsing through how the new Nafta will impact U.S. businesses is a useful exercise, even at this early stage. Here are just five ways a new treaty could affect you.

1. Removes digital barriers

The new trade agreement includes a provision to limit a government's ability to force tech startups to disclose "proprietary computer source code and algorithms." It also includes a provision to ensure data can be transferred cross-border, and that limits on where it can be stored are minimized. The 1994 Nafta agreement did not offer any guidance on this topic.

2. Lowers import costs

Per the agreement, Mexico will double its "de minimis shipment value" to $100, which is a small victory for e-commerce retailers, says Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics. Essentially, shipments of goods up to this amount can enter the country without customs duties or taxes. Granted, it's a tiny amount compared with the U.S. $800 allowance, but it is still twice as much as previously allowed (it was capped at $50).

3. Strengthens intellectual property

The trade agreement includes a chapter to protect intellectual property and deter piracy or trademark infringements. It extends the minimum copyright term to 75 years for works including music, movies, and books. It also establishes a "safe harbor" for internet service providers (ISPs) that shields them from liability if they take down pirated content when notified. The chapter also grants 10 years of data protection for biologic drugs, a win for pharmaceutical companies.

4. Limits settlement options

In a call with reporters on Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the new agreement would put limits on ISDS provisions--the mechanism through which investment conflicts are resolved. The new treaty is expected to make it harder for companies and foreign investors to invoke them. Exceptions include industries that work closely with the government, Lighthizer clarified, which are oil and gas, infrastructure, energy, and telecom businesses. These will get the "old-fashioned ISDS."

5. Provides incentives to automakers

The new framework mandates that 75 percent of automobiles be manufactured in the U.S. or Mexico, up from the previous 62.5 percent requirement. The so-called rules of origin allow vehicles that meet these specifications to be imported into either country without duties. Currently, foreign car manufacturers have to pay a 2.5 percent tariff to bring their cars to the U.S., though Trump is mulling raising that to 25 percent, and asked the Department of Commerce to look into it.

The changes also call for 40 to 45 percent of an automobile to be produced by workers earning at least $16 per hour, which would give an advantage to the U.S. and Canada, where wages are higher. The new requirements could bring in more work for U.S. auto parts manufacturers. Some industry experts worry that it would also make vehicle prices skyrocket, making the vehicles less appealing for customers to buy.Are open-plan offices the optimal environment for team collaboration and innovation, or are they, in the words of my Inc.com colleague Geoffrey James, "the dumbest management fad of all time"? The answer depends on who you ask.

Tech giants and bean counters have long touted the advantages of knocking down office walls. Workers in desperate need of privacy and quiet have begged them to reconsider. Now, it seems, even scientists can't agree on the popular but controversial design concept.

While one much-chattered about recent study demolished the argument that open-plan boosts collaboration, new research also found that workers in open spaces move more and are less stressed. In short, open spaces may kill teamwork, but at least they don't seem to actually, physically kill you from sitting all day.

70 percent less collaborative, but 20 percent more active.

Both results come from studies that had denizens of open offices fit with activity tracking badges to get an unbiased read on how workers move and interact in divider-free spaces. The first, from a team out of Harvard, grabbed headlines with its negative conclusions.

The likes of Mark Zuckerberg might swear by airplane hangar-like offices, but the data showed employees forced to inhabit them speak to each other a whopping 70 percent less and send somewhere between 25 and 50 percent more email. When walls come down, so does the frequency of collaboration.

So should you run out and buy some cubicles? Not so fast, says dueling research out of the University of Arizona. The new study followed 231 workers, and found that those in open-plan offices were 20 percent more physically active than cube dwellers and 32 percent more active than those with private offices. They also were 14 percent less stressed.

Those aren't giant numbers, but they just might be enough to add years to your life. As we all know from recent media hectoring, sitting all day is surprisingly horrible for your physical and even mental health, raising the risk of a terrifying list of diseases from heart attacks to dementia. And hitting the gym after putting in long, unbroken hours at your desk doesn't seem to counteract the effects.

But getting up occasionally during the day does. So if open-plan offices nudge people to move more--even if it's just because they can't stand their annoying desk mates for one more second--the design trend is probably saving lives. "In terms of impact on health, this increase in physical activity is important," concludes study author Esther Sternberg. "It is well within the range that would have an impact on health."

Maybe it's time to admit there is no one ideal office type.

So, dear confused business owner, which of these studies should weigh more heavily in your mind? Is it more important to boost collaboration or keep your people moving? Perhaps the less-than-easy answer, as Workplace Insight points out, is that "this is a complex issue and no 'final word' is possible one way or another."

Not only do different companies and teams have different needs, but there isn't even a singular thing called an "open-plan office." Some are thoughtfully sprinkled with quiet spaces and sound reducers. Others are cavernous, cacophonous hellholes. The fact is, the problem is not any particular design trend but the idea that trends are worth following at all.

You almost certainly won't discover the best office design for your company by slavishly following what's hot in Silicon Valley or even the relevant scientific journals. Instead, if you want to sensibly weigh the trade-offs of each design approach, you need to (gasp!) talk to your people and observe their needs. And then find a space that matches those.Sankarshan Murthy has worked on some seriously starry products, including the Apple Watch and Tesla's Model Y electric vehicle. For other employers he has sought to revolutionize construction sites using drones and--in an audacious project that never gained traction--exoskeletons for laborers.

The inspiration for his first startup? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

The Disney Junior program was a favorite of Murthy's 18-month-old daughter when the family lived in uncomfortably close quarters in downtown Mountain View, California. In 2012 Murthy, an engineer, had answered Apple's siren call and relocated from Baltimore, where he'd been an innovation lead at a division of Black & Decker. Encountering the thumb-in-your-eye that is Bay Area real estate, Murthy was forced to downsize. He argued with his wife over what to consign to storage. (He wanted to keep his old product prototypes close. She didn't.) When his parents visited from India there was nowhere to put them.

Watching Mickey with his daughter, Murthy envied the clubhouse's shape-shifting features. "When Mickey wants to entertain friends it is in clubhouse mode," says Murthy. "If Goofy wants to cook it becomes a kitchen. There is a robot in the basement who runs around getting things."

If Murthy lived in such a place, his parents could sleep in a guestroom. When they weren't there it could be a game room for the kids. "I decided, I am going to build Mickey's Clubhouse," he says.

Square footage is so yesterday

What began as a garage hobby evolved into San Francisco-based Bumblebee Spaces, launched officially last year. Bumblebee makes a robotics and AI-based storage system that doubles-to-triples the usable space in a room by packing all the occupant's stuff into ceiling modules, then raising and lowering those modules on hoists as needed. At night, the occupant informs an app on her phone or an iPad in the wall that she wants to sleep. Down comes the bed. In the morning: bed up, yoga mat down. When it's time to work, mat up: desk down. Also, it's cold in here, Bumblebee. Can you fetch my gray cardigan? Think of it as just-in-time living.

"Instead of square feet you start looking at real estate in volume," says Murthy. "You are already paying for all this air and ceiling space you are not using. We unlock that for you."

The company's first market is real-estate owner-operators who can install the systems in new construction. While Bumblebee also is able to retrofit existing rooms, building developers will achieve a bigger buck-bang because they are able to eliminate closets, cabinets, and other storage on the ground.

The business has sold units to three customers for installation in a multi-family building, employee housing, and a co-living space. It will do short manufacturing runs while perfecting the engineering and design, Murthy says, and expand to mass-production by mid-2019.

Bumblebee has raised $4.3 million in seed money from several investors, including Loup Ventures, a Minneapolis-based VC firm specializing in artificial intelligence, robotics, and other technologies. Loup Managing Partner Gene Munster says Bumblebee needs to get a few hundred units into the marketplace as proof-of-concept for developers. Once that happens, "it can fundamentally change housing," he says. Over time, the robotic ceiling system "is going to be as standard as a closet. There is no reason why you would not want this."

From Apple to Tesla to a garage

Murthy started two businesses while a student in India. Beginning in high school he assembled and sold computers. In college he discovered web design was more lucrative. Distracted from school by those side hustles, Murthy had to repeat a semester, "which in India is a huge taboo," he says. But he used the time to prep for exams to study in the United States. In 2003 he moved here.

With degrees from the University of Maryland and Wharton, Murthy embarked on a corporate odyssey that groomed him for tech entrepreneurship. At the Dewalt Division of Black & Decker he learned gears and motors--but also onboarding and leadership development. At Apple, where he was assigned to the iPhone 5c before the watch, Murthy was indoctrinated into that culture's obsession with user experience and exhaustive attention to detail. Tesla's ability to roll myriad changes into an operational assembly line bowled him over while working on the Model 3 and Model Y. During a stint on a special projects team there, Murthy also absorbed Elon Musk's change-the-world ambition. "He would have these crazy ideas and say, 'is this even possible? Go find out,'" says Murthy.

Murthy started prototyping his robotic room system while still at Tesla. "Tesla is pretty life-consuming. This was like detox," he says. Co-founder Garrett Rayner, who is in charge of hardware at Bumblebee, also hails from the electric car company. The two bonded there over stories about astronomical home prices and grueling commutes.

Murthy had begun by noodling with walls that dropped down to create private spaces. "Then I realized home is these piles of stuff," he says. "If I could make my shoes disappear it becomes more spacious." The ceiling spoke to him. People mount water heaters in ceilings and hang chandeliers there. "As long as I stayed within the [building] codes I could pack it as densely as an Apple watch," he says.

Shoes, go away. Shoes, come back

But packing dense wasn't enough. Murthy and Rayner also had to pack smart. In Murthy's vision, when someone living in a Bumblebee room sent her brown polka-dot blouse up to the ceiling she could retrieve it by voice command. He needed a software version of the robot in Mickey's clubhouse. To create it, Murthy lured Prahlad Athreya, a friend from Wharton, who became Bumblebee's third founder.

Working with AI expert Aaron Licata, Athreya developed technology that directs the ceiling robots to move around modules and also acts like a library circulation desk. The system uses artificial intelligence to identify and tag each item when it is stored and log each time it is checked in or out. "It will say this red stapler was stored by Sankarshan on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. So next time I am looking for my stapler it comes down," says Murthy. Modules are customized to serve as book shelves, clothes drawers, toy bins, electronics containers--whatever the user needs.

And Bumblebee is making the system even smarter. Within an apartment building, for example, neighbors will have the option to share data about their possessions with one another to facilitate borrowing. Eventually users will be able to control modules by pointing rather than speaking. The modules also include safety sensors so they don't accidentally descend on a child or a pet.

Olson Kundig, a design firm in Seattle whose portfolio includes museums, high rises, and hotels around the world, is collaborating with Bumblebee on a private residence in Napa, California. The client was struggling with family members' competing needs, so Olson Kundig suggested that instead of a single house it design a series of small "camping huts," each outfitted by Bumblebee to increase its square footage. (For reasons unrelated to Bumblebee that project is temporarily on hold.)

"Traditionally we try to provide some flexibility, but this takes it to the extreme and allows people to customize their spaces as their families evolve and as their taste evolves," says Chris Gerrick, a principal at Olson Kundig. The firm also is talking to Bumblebee about non-residential applications and opportunities to serve different populations. "For example, storage units that are on a high shelf can be brought down dynamically to a usable height for somebody in a wheelchair," says Gerrick. "That is something we are eager to explore with them."

A dishwasher in the ceiling

Bumblebee, which employs eight people, operates out of 600 square feet of office and machine shop space in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. Murthy is on the market for a showroom, possibly near AT&T Stadium.

The company sources globally: sensors from Europe, machine parts from China, motor transmissions from Japan. Local contractors build furniture to Bumblebee's specs so it folds into spaces not much deeper than a foot. To date the business makes a bed, a dresser, and a prototype desk that latches to a wall. Later it may add appliances, which will require slightly deeper modules. "We are not doing couches or coffee tables because those are seen as home decor," says Murthy. "We are doing the things people want put away."

Once production ramps up, Murthy expects to earn new clients and expand sales to existing ones, who represent tens of thousands of apartments or condos. The price for the modules and furniture runs $6,000 to $10,000 per room, depending on size. Customers also pay Bumblebee between $199 and $399 a month for maintenance, software updates, and other services. At scale the business will outsource installation to contractors but perform its own quality assurance tests for each customer.

To date, Bumblebee has no direct competitors, and Munster believes its headstart will protect it for some time to come. However the company faces several obstacles: notably scaling the manufacturing of high-tech hardware in an era of trade tensions. Staffing is a challenge given the high salaries commanded by tech talent and scarcity of H1-B visas for startups. Then there's the learning curve peculiar to novel products. "When you first hear about it it sounds outlandish and contrarian to how people live today," Murthy says. "We have to overcome user behavior."

Murthy's grand vision for Bumblebee is that it helps sustain vitality in urban centers that are rapidly pricing out of the average person's reach. Given that about 12 million households spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing, "we must be able to optimize real estate," he says. Murthy argues that renters will benefit financially from having more options in the market: for example, one-bedroom apartments become two-bedroom Bumblebee units appropriate for families who might be unable to afford a traditional two-bedroom in the city. In addition, "we have been selecting partners who align with our mission on enhancing urban living and affordability," says Murthy.Steven Lawton/FilmMagicNicki Minaj's ex-boyfriend Safaree Samuels broke the Internet earlier this year with leaked photos of his manhood, and now hes breaking the bank with a million-dollar sex toy deal.

Samuels has signed a seven-figure contract with sex toy maker Doc Johnson, according to TMZ. The company will create a life-sized mold of his, um, assets. Pre-orders will start in December, and the toy will be available just in time for Valentines Day.

The former Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood cast member posted the news on his Instagram page with the comment, I work hard so I can get the last laugh. When y'all think I'm losing I'm not. Trust me!"

"Thank you to the biggest adult toy company in the world @docjohnsonusa for the opportunity and my team @britmo_inc & @therealkdmcnair for making this happen and to my fans and supporters who root for me, he continued. I love y'all !! Ladies I'm allll yours Jokes on you its a big deal."

Safaree ended his comment with a lyrical reference to Sir Mix-A-Lot's classic "Baby Got Back," which Nicki sampled for her 2014 hit "Anaconda": My anaconda don't want none if you ain't got buns hun.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.A portrait of Nigel Farage has gone unsold at one of Britains most prestigious art shows.

The painting shows the former Ukip leader standing with his arms crossed wearing his signature purple-striped tie.

Priced at 25,000, the work by David Griffiths failed to attract any interest at the Royal Academys summer exhibition, curated by the artist Grayson Perry.

But the artist said he was not disappointed the portrait had not been sold.

These things ebb and flow, he told The Sun. Prices of paintings like everything else, arent set in stone. It would certainly be gratifying if Nigels portrait were to find a good home.

He said the idea of painting Mr Farage had been suggested by a friend. He added: He is a major figure, whatever you think of him. Hes Mr Brexit isnt he.

Mr Griffiths has previously painted the Prince of Wales and the former prime minister, James Callaghan.

It comes after Mr Farage announced he would return to actively campaigning in British politics after he stepped down as Ukip leader in November 2016.

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments Show all 12 1 /12 Nigel Farage's most controversial moments Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he unveiled that 'breaking point' poster during the referendum Mr Farage was accused of deploying Nazi-style propaganda when he unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees travelling to Europe under the next Breaking point. Users on social media were quick to compare the advert to a Nazi propaganda film with similar visuals and featuring Jewish refugees. The poster was particularly controversial because it was unveiled the morning of the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox Rex Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said hed be concerned if his neighbours were Romanian In May 2014 Mr Farage was accused of a racial slur against Romanians after he suggested he would be concerned living next to a house of them. I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be, he told LBC radio during an interview. Asked whether he would also object to living next to German children, he said: You know the difference Bongarts/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the EU campaign was won 'without a bullet being fired' Nigel Farage has said the next Prime Minister has to be a Leave supporter AFP/Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he resigned as Ukip leader and came back days later After failing to win the seat of South Thanet at the general election, Nigel Farage stepped down as Ukip leader  as he had promised to do during the campaign. Days later on 11 May he un-resigned and said he would stay after being convinced by supporters within the party. Well see how long his resignation lasts this time AP/Matt Dunham Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he blamed immigrants for making him late Mr Farage turned up late to a 25-a-head meet the leader style event in Port Talbot, Wales in December 2014. Asked why he was late, he blamed immigrants. It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four, he said. That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he wanted to ban immigrants with HIV from Britain Mr Farage has used his platform as Ukip leader call for people with HIV to be banned from coming to Britain. Asked in an interview with Newsweek Europe in October 2014 who he thought should be allowed to come to the UK, he said: People who do not have HIV, to be frank. Thats a good start. And people with a skill. He also repeated similar comments in the 2015 general election leadership debates Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he defended the use of a racial slur against Chinese people Defending one of Ukips candidates, who used the word ch**ky to describe a Chinese person, Mr Farage said: If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you're going for?" When he was told by the presented that he honestly would not use the slur, Mr Farage replied: A lot would Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said parts of Britain were like a foreign land The Ukip leader used his 2014 conference speech to declare parts of Britain as being like a foreign land. He told his audience in Torquay that parts of the country were unrecognisable because of the number of foreigners there. Mr Farage has also previously said he felt uncomfortable when people spoke other language on a train Screengrab Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the British army should be deployed to France At the height of trouble at Britains Calais border Mr Farage proposed a novel solution. The Ukip leader called for the British army to be sent to France to put down a migrant rebellion. In all civil emergencies like this we have an army, we have a bit of a Territorial Army as well and we have a very, very overburdened police force and border agency, he said. If in a crisis to make sure weve actually got the manpower to check lorries coming in, to stop people illegally coming to Britain, if in those circumstances we can use the army or other forces then why not AFP/Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said breastfeeding women should sit in the corner Mr Farage sparked protests from mothers after he told women to sit on the corner if they wanted to breastfeed their children. I think that given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isnt too difficult to breastfeed a baby in a way that's not openly ostentatious, Mr Farage said. He added: "Or perhaps sit in the corner, or whatever it might be AFP/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the gender pay gap exists because women are worth less At a Q&A on the European Union in January 2014 Mr Farage said there was no discrimination against women causing the gender pay gap. Instead, he said, women were paid less because they were simply worth far less than many of their male counterparts. A woman who has a client base, has a child and takes two or three years off - she is worth far less to her employer when she comes back than when she went away because that client base won't be stuck as rigidly to her portfolio, he said Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said he actually couldnt guarantee 350m to the NHS after Brexit During the EU referendum campaign the Leave side pledged to spend 350 million a week on the National Health Service  claiming that this is what the UK sends to Brussels. Nigel Farage didnt speak out against this figure and also pledged to spend EU cash on the health service and other public services himself. Then the day of the election result he suddenly changed his tone, saying he couldnt guarantee the cash for the NHS and that to pledge to do so was a mistake Getty

A portrait of Mr Farages fellow-Brexiteer, Jacob Rees-Mogg, at the same exhibition sold for 450.Kanye West has finally answered a question about Donald Trump that rendered him speechless during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel earlier this month.

Appearing on 107.WGCI Chicago, the rapper, producer and fashion designer spoke about a range of issues including the US President, his recent tension with fellow artist Drake, and his controversial comment about slavery made during a TMZ appearance.

His interview with Kimmel was notable largely because the TV host asked him: You so famously and so powerfully said George Bush doesnt care about black people, it makes me wonder, what makes you think that Donald Trump does?. West took so long deliberating that Kimmel decided to call for an advertising break. West later denied being stumped by the question and claimed he wasnt given a chance to answer.

In the new interview, West finally answered the question after it was read back to him, saying: I feel that [Trump] cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this.

He added: [Trump] will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because hes got an ego like all the rest of us, and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he cant be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community. So its something hes gonna work towards, but were gonna have to speak to him.

Of his tension with Drake he said it hit him in a really sensitive place but said it was not a falling out: We all got love for Drake... and you know, well reconcile that one day because we got to, because we got work to do, and these voices is just too powerful.

'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes Show all 10 1 /10 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "I was the best new artist this year" Kanye asserted this after losing the New Artist of the Year award at the 2004 American Music Awards Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes I am the number one human being in music. That means any person that's living or breathing is number two. Kanye made this claim while appearing on the Wendy Williams show in 2007. He had recently released the album 'Graduation' to critical acclaim Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time! In arguably the most famous incident of his career, Kanye bravely stole the microphone from then 19 year old Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for the Female Music Video of the Year at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards REUTERS 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street and people look at me... like I'm Hitler" Kanye said this during a mid-set rant while on stage at the Big Chill festival in 2011. Despite releasing the acclaimed 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' in 2010, he was still widely disliked following the Taylor Swift incident PA Archive/PA Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "I am Picasso. I am Michelangelo. I am Basquiat. I am Walt Disney. I am Steve Jobs" Kanye compared himself to these visionaries in a mid-set rant on stage in Paris, 2013 AFP/Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live. In 2013, Kanye opened up to reveal more Kanye. His pain is understandable, considering such performances as his at the BRITs in 2015, where he came on stage with an entourage of flamethrower wielding grime artists (pictured) Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes I have to dress Kim everyday so she doesnt embarrass me. Kanye tweeted this in 2014, around the time that he was designing the first Yeezy range AFP/Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes By 50 percent [I am more influential than] Stanley Kubrick, Apostle Paul, Picasso f***ing Picasso and Escobar. By 50 per cent more influential than any other human being. Kanye made this claim backstage after appearing on Saturday Night Live in 2016, he did not show his working out Getty Images for Yeezy Season 3 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself." This quote followed Kanye's recent expression of love for Donald Trump on Twitter, in which he claimed that he and Trump were "dragon energy" Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "When you hear about slavery for 400 years... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice." Kanye made this comment in a May 2018 interview with TMZ. He later clarified that, in saying slavery was a choice, he meant "we can make our own reality" PA Wire/PA Images

West also apologised for claiming slavery was a choice in the TMZ interview, commenting: I never really approached or addressed the slavery comment fully. And its not something for me to overly intellectualise.

This is something about the fact that it hurt peoples feelings and the way I presented that piece of information. I could present in a more calm way, but I was ramped up. And I apologise. That happens sometimes when people are  Im not blaming mental health, but Im explaining mental health.

He continued: I dont know if I properly apologised for how the slavery comment made people feel. Im sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment, and Im sorry for people that felt let down by that moment. And I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk to you about the way I was thinking and what I was going through.Wild dolphins have learned how to walk on water by copying tricks developed by captive animals, a 30-year study found.

Scientists in Australia observed that dolphins in Adelaide learned tail-walking  when the animal rises vertically out of the water and moves forward or backwards across it  from a dolphin called Billie which had spent time in a dolphinarium.

Dolphins rarely do this in the wild but it is a standard part of the routine in almost all dolphinaria.

Billie learned tail-walking by observing the performing dolphins and, when released, began performing the trick regularly in the wild.

The behaviour then faded away after a number of years, with the most prolific tail-walker dying in 2014.

The study was led by Whale and Dolphin Conservation with the Universities of St Andrews and Exeter.

Dr Mike Bossley, of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, lead author of the paper, said it was only because he had been studying the Adelaide dolphins for more than 30 years that the significance of tail-walking was recognised.

"I knew Billie's history and was able to track her behaviour and that of the other dolphins in the community over an extended period.

"This enabled me to observe tail-walking spread through the community and then its eventual fade away."

 Rare dolphins seen off Welsh coast in stunning drone footage

Researchers said that if Billie was the only dolphin to perform the trick it would have been nothing more than an interesting example of individual social learning.

However, after she returned to the wild, other dolphins in the local community soon began performing the behaviour.

Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Show all 15 1 /15 Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan A bottlenose dolphin was seen floating on back before slaughter Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Fishermen hiding their culture and tradition Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Remaining pod swims just a few feet from the slaughter of their family Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Dolphin drive out to sea Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Lathered in blood, fishermen receive more transfers of dolphin carcasses Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Fishermen enter the cove just after sunrise Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan A juvenile Bottlenose barely surfaces during drive out. The chances of survival are slim after 5 tormenting days in the cove Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Cove Guardians Jac and Ian document the slaughter Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan SSCS Cove Guardian Leader Melissa Sehgal interviews for CNN Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Fishermen in wetsuits hunt dolphins at a cove in Taiji, western Japan; U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has expressed deep concern over the traditional dolphin hunt. Local fisherman corral dolphins in a secluded bay before killing many for meat Adrian Mylne/Reuters Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The selection process of dolphins, during the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji. With 250 dolphins, this was the largest round-up in years Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The agitated dolphins in the cove during the selection process. According to Sea Shepherd, Japanese fisherman rounded up more than 250 dolphins, including babies and juveniles Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan Japanese fisherman are shown in the cove. Taiji town claims the hunt is an important ritual dating back centuries Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan A rare albino calf swims close to his/her mother as the pod was herded into the cove. Dolphins captured in the cove are either sold into captivity, or slaughtered and sold for consumption, despite pleas from animal conservationists around the world against the event Sea Shepherd/EPA Annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan The process of selecting dolphins during the annual cull, which the mayor of the town defends 'on scientific grounds'

Early findings from the study were reported in 2008  but at that time it was suggested that it was confined to just a small group.

By 2011 nine dolphins had been observed tail-walking in the wild.

After 2011 the number of dolphins tail-walking in the wild declined, with the most prolific tail-walker dying in 2014, leaving only two remaining tail-walkers, both of whom performed the behaviour only sporadically.

University of St Andrews researcher Dr Luke Rendell, a co-author who specialises on researching whale and dolphin cultural behaviour, said: "Once again we see the power of being able to study cetaceans over extended periods that mean something given their lifespans.

"Dr Bossley's long-term commitment has afforded us a revealing insight into the potential social role of imitation in dolphin communities."

The research will be published in the Royal Society's Biology Letters in September.

Press AssociationPlans to build Britain's largest gas plant have been denounced as inconsistent with international climate goals by a group of 73 environmental groups including the Green Party and Friends of the Earth.

In an open letter they have urged the government not to support the project.

Addressing the Planning Inspectorate and energy secretary Greg Clark, they warned that the increased demand for gas would incentivise fracking, which is opposed by many.

Recommended Government drops fracking question from public opinion survey

Energy company Drax has submitted a planning application to replace its coal burning plants near Selby in North Yorkshire with gas-powered alternatives.

It is seeking government subsidies to support the project. Wednesday marked the final day of a public consultation about the plans.

The government has announced that coal burning will come to an end in 2025, but the signatories say the construction of even bigger gas infrastructure is counterproductive if it is serious about meeting the targets set by the Paris climate agreement.

Climate change is already here and its effects are devastating lives the world over, said Oliver Hayes, climate change campaigner at Friends of the Earth. Allowing the development of a gas power station of this scale risks locking the UK into a high carbon future totally incompatible with our international obligations.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Drax, which is currently the UKs biggest carbon dioxide emitter, has admitted its plans will represent a significant net increase in greenhouse gas emissions and have therefore negative climate impacts.

However, it offered the reassurance that the efficient technologies employed at the new station will offset other, dirtier power sources.

A spokesperson from the company said: Draxs highly efficient Gas Repower project will help deliver the governments commitment to remove coal from the UK grid and meet our climate change obligations while keeping costs low for UK consumers. The project utilises our existing infrastructure, and what could be one of the worlds largest batteries, to provide capacity, stability and essential grid services.

For the project to go ahead, it will need planning consent and government money in addition to the subsidies Drax already receives for burning wood.

 Police drag 85-year-old Green activist across road during anti-fracking protest

Repurposing the coal units to burn gas instead would mean the infrastructure remained in use into the 2030s.

Instead of providing support for new gas projects, the campaigners say the government should support renewable energy sources such as wind, tidal and solar power.

Among the letter's signatories were several local anti-fracking groups, who opposed the project on the grounds that greater reliance on gas would require either increased Russian imports or dependence on unconventional gas, especially fracking and horizontal drilling.

The recent decision by the government to bypass local authorities when giving the go ahead to new fracking operations has faced huge opposition, including from within the Conservative party.

Two fracking companies have recently been granted permission to search for shale gas in Lancashire and Derbyshire, despite local opposition.

If these plans go ahead, they could result in greater pressure to approve fracking applications across the north of England in order to provide feedstock for Drax, said Leigh Coghill from the Frack Free Ryedale activist group. "Fracking has no social licence in the UK, and will result in the industrialisation of our countryside, as well as driving further climate change. We therefore strongly oppose this planning application and ask that it be refused.

A spokesperson from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing planning application, but said the government is absolutely committed to tackling climate change.Great British Bake Off fans have expressed their fury over judge Prue Leiths frequent references to calories on the show, airing their grievances on social media.

The popular baking competition made its return on Channel 4 last night, with millions tuning in to watch this years contestants demonstrate their biscuit-making flair.

However, some comments made by Leith during the first episode have been leaving a bitter taste in some peoples mouths.

Recommended Great British Bake Off contestant Manon at centre of fix claims

While assessing Imelda McCarrons cherry and white chocolate oatmeal biscuits, fellow judge Paul Hollywood said that the taste feels healthy.

Leith then retorted, saying: No its not, but it is worth the calories.

Numerous viewers picked up on her remark, criticising the judge for placing emphasis on calories while taking part in a baking show.

Why is Prue so obsessed with calories? one person asked.

Will there ever be an episode of GBBO where Prue doesnt mention calories? Or is it too much to expect a wholesome feel-good baking show that doesnt talk about guilt and/or calories? another viewer said.

Leiths comments about food being worth the calories caused quite a stir last year when she made her first appearance as a new judge on Bake Off.

According to The Sunday Times, Leith originally had reservations about joining the show due to her strong beliefs regarding healthy eating.

I really thought twice about accepting Bake Off, she said.

Ive spent my life campaigning about children learning to cook and healthy meals in schools, but I reasoned that baking is the best way to get people into general cooking.

Recent research published in Obesity Reviews highlighted the fact that some types of calories can be more harmful than others, which is why being aware of the type of calories that you consume rather than the quantity can be more beneficial for your overall wellbeing.A notorious Wall Street broker has called bitcoin investors "brainwashed" despite sustained price gains for the cryptocurrency.

Jordan Belfort, whose crimes formed the plot of the Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street, said in a series of interviews with CNBC that bitcoin could be worthless by the end of the year, and that it will be "the bust heard around the world" when it happens.

"I was a scammer. I had it down to science, and it's exactly what's happening with bitcoin. The whole thing is so stupid, these kids have gotten themselves so brainwashed" Mr Belfort said.

"This thing is going to evaporate like a mirage. There's a lot of really honest people who are going to get slaughtered."

Leonardo DiCaprio depicted Jordan Belfort in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street (AP)

But despite such predictions, the price of the world's most valuable cryptocurrency continues to rally. On Tuesday, bitcoin broke above $7,000 for the first time since early August and continues to trade above that price point.

The gains have also come despite recent bad news surrounding the cryptocurrency, with the US Securities and Exchange commission (SEC) rejecting a ruling that could have a major impact on bitcoin's future.

The ruling relates to an application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would track bitcoin futures contracts. In making its decision, the SEC cited fraud and manipulation concerns of bitcoin markets.

Another proposal for a bitcoin ETF is set to be ruled on before 30 September, which could be why the price has not been impacted.

Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins  the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images

Cryptocurrency analysts said it was too soon to say whether the recent momentum is the start of a more prolonged price recovery, with one warning investors to "not get carried away".

Matthew Newton, who works as an analyst at the online investment platform eToro, said: "The reaction to the recent ETF rejection was more muted than many expected  which is obviously a positive. The fact that negative news didn't move the market lower suggests sellers may be running out of steam for now."

He added the climbing higher above $7,200 "remains challenging," due to an imbalance between short and long traders currently invested in the cryptocurrency market.Iran has unveiled plans to launch its own national cryptocurrency, partly in response to crippling economic sanctions imposed by the US.

The Central Bank of Iran revealed finalised details about the "indigenous cryptocurrency", according to Iranian news agency Ibena, which explained that it will be backed by Iranian rials.

The state-backed cryptocurrency will be similar to bitcoin in that transactions are carried out on an online ledger called a blockchain, however it will not be possible for people to mine it because the infrastructure will be private.

"The infrastructure is supposed to be as an ecosystem available for Iranian banks and active companies in cryptocurrencies area after being tested and reviewed," Ibena, which is affiliated with the Central Bank of Iran, reported.

Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins  the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images

The country's central bank has previously been dismissive of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, however it was forced to explore new ideas after the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal restored heavy economic sanctions.

A domestic digital currency is seen as a solution for the country being cut off from international payments networks, with the technology facilitating the transfer of funds around the world. If the test with banks and financial companies in the country is successful, the cryptocurrency could roll out publicly.

Iran Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday the country needed to do more to solve the economic problems it faces.

"With regards to the economy, there is need for full force, large-scale and proficient work," Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to Iran's state-sponsored Press TV.

"Authorities in charge of economic affairs must work hard day and night to resolve the problems."

Iran isn't the first country to make a foray into the world of digital currencies, with Venezuela recently announcing radical economic reforms that will see its own state-backed cryptocurrency tied to the country's official currency.

Venezuela's petro cryptocurrency is backed by the country's reserves of oil, gas, gold and diamonds, and is also designed to circumvent US sanctions and enable access to international financing.

Within a month of its launch, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ban Americans from investing in Venezuela's cryptocurrency.A Nasa astronaut-in-training has quit for the first time in 50 years.

The last time a trainee quit the prestigious programme was in 1968, the year man first arrived on the moon.

Nasa has not announced why the candidate left and says that it is unable to elaborate on the man's reasoning.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

Robb Kulin resigned halfway through his two years of training at Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

Nasa spokeswoman Brandi Dean said his departure is effective from Friday and that he is leaving for personal reasons that the space agency cannot discuss due to privacy laws.

Mr Kulin was among 12 new astronauts chosen last summer from a record 18,300 applicants.

Mr Kulin, 34, was working as a senior manager at SpaceX when selected and said at the time he was hoping to fly on a vehicle he helped design.

SpaceX and Boeing are developing Nasa's first commercial crew capsules, due to launch within the next year.

He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska and an ice driller in Antarctica.

The last time astronauts-in-training resigned from Nasa was in 1968.

Additional reporting by Associated PressGoogle is commemorating Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky  a man who, much like the search engine itself, catalogued distant lives and information and brought them back home.

Prokudin-Gorsky was an innovator not just in taking photographs but making them, too, and he would go on to become famous for both the technological and anthropological work he did to document the Russian empire.

But Prokudin-Gorsky's work was preserved with the help of a number of other people. He relied on the support of Tsar Nicholas II, who helped with the travel that allowed him to document such vast swathes of the country, and of the large number of archivists who have kept his pictures safe and available until the present day.

Taken together, the archive left by Prokudin-Gorsky amounts to a stunning document of early 20th century Russia, and the techniques that were used to take them.

Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Show all 7 1 /7 Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Peasant girls Produkin-Gorsky travelled around Tsar Nicholas II 's empire and documented its most remote lands and people Sergei Produkin-Gorsky Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Emir of Bukhara Produkin-Gorsky collected over 10,000 images, providing a record of life just before the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917 Sergei Produkin-Gorsky Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Saint Nil Stolbenskii Monastery, Lake Seliger Remarkably, until about 10 years ago, we were unable to see the pictures as printed objects Sergei Produkin-Gorsky Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Sart woman, Samarkand Produkin-Gorsky's technique was the three colour separation process, which entailed capturing images with three black-and-white photographs taken through different coloured filters Sergei Produkin-Gorsky Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Work at the Bakalskii mine in the Ural Mountains When the lenses were combined, the images could be seen in colour, but only as projections Sergei Produkin-Gorsky Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire Greek women in the Caucasus harvesting tea Developments in digital composition technique towards the end of the 20th century enabled us to develop prints and see what the images would have looked like when Produkin-Gorsky presented them to the Tsar Sergei Produkin-Gorsky Sergei Produkin-Gorsky's images of Tsar Nicholas II's empire AP Kalganov with son and granddaughter The new exhibition is at the Calvert 22 Gallery in London until 17 August Sergei Produkin-Gorsky

The pictures themselves mostly date from between 1909 and 1915. They show the rich diversity of the vast country  an area that at the time stretched 7,000 miles across, made up one-sixth of the land mass of the planet, covered 11 different time zones and was the biggest empire ever seen on Earth.

They depict the lives lived by the people who lived in Russia. It documents the various things that surround them: sacred architecture, important icons and religious objects, public works and infrastructure such as trains and bridges, agriculture, cities as well as the clothes the people wore and the lives they lived.

All of them are shown in vivid colour, preserved in albums and negatives that have survived until this day.

But the subjects tell only half the story. Prokudin-Gorsky's achievements were not only in the pictures he took but how he managed to take them.

He was skilled in the chemistry involved in photography, and used that to reflect colours in the vivid hues and clear sharpness that can be seen in the images. He took the photos using the latest technology  including techniques that he helped crafted himself.

He did so using his early training as a chemist, that blossomed into a lifelong commitment to photography. Born in Murom, which is near Moscow, he studied with scientists across Europe.

He used that knowledge to undertake original research, which included techniques and patents for producing rich colour film slides and projecting them in the same vivid hues.

Born in Murom, Russia (near Moscow), in 1863 and educated as a chemist, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii devoted his career to the advancement of photography. He studied with renowned scientists in St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris. His own original research yielded patents for producing color film slides and for projecting color motion pictures.

Sometime around 1907, he came upon the idea to use those technologies to painstakingly document the Russian Empire in which he lived. He did so using the most modern technology: he travelled in a specially equipped darkroom that was carried in a railroad car provided by Tsar Nicholas II, and was given permits that allowed him to access restricted areas throughout the empire.

He combined the technological insight with his studied of people and took the pictures on tour, giving lectures and using his studies to educate children and other citizens on the far and distant parts of the Russian empire.

Today, a huge number of the images are preserved in the US Library of Congress. Thanks to new techniques, those pictures have been digitised and added to the library's online collection  meaning that anyone can pick through the thousands of pictures that have been restored.The union representing nearly half a million UK nurses has written to Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and major party leaders asking them to agree to a Final Say on the terms of leaving the EU.

Failure to secure a deal poses an immediate threat to the publics health and will severely impact nurses and midwives ability to provide safe care, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said on Wednesday.

More than 715,000 people have already backed The Independents Final Say campaign calling on Theresa May to accept a second vote to ensure key issues are solved before leaving, and avoid crashing out without a deal.

The endorsement by the RCN today comes after its members voted in favour of a second referendum in May and the campaign has been backed by the doctors of the British Medical Association, and leading politicians of all stripes.

With more than 100,000 staff vacancies across the NHS, 40,000 of them nurses, the RCN has been vocal about the harms of a botched Brexit and the risk of making it more difficult to attract nurses.

It says a second referendum will ensure the public has the chance to make an informed decision on the terms of the UKs exit, two and a half years after it voted to leave.

Recommended Jeremy Corbyn should back a Final Say on the referendum

In the letter RCN chair of council Maria Trewern warns that as well as staff numbers Brexit has particular problems for the health service in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if it leads to a hard border being reintroduced.

Ms Trewern said: As the debate across our membership has made clear, the implications of Brexit for the health and care system will be numerous.

There are risks that, if not credibly addressed, may damage population health, as well as severely impact on our members ability to provide safe and effective care for their patients in both the short and the long term.

People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS

We have written to all political parties in these terms, as well as publicly shared the content of this letter.

The letter was also sent to Vince Cable, Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley; Ian Blackford, the SNPs Westminster leader; Plaid Cymrus Leanne Wood, the DUPs Arlene Foster, and Sinn Feins Michelle ONeil.

Ms Trewern added the union will step up its campaigning for a second referendum in the coming months.

However Theresa May has ruled out a second referendum, and a spokesperson for No 10 said today: The British public have voted to leave the European Union.

There is not going to be a second referendum under any circumstances.Earlier this month, a report warned that over 6 million workers in the UK fear losing their jobs as a result of developments in automation. The Bank of England has gone further: its own study in 2015 estimated that 15 million British jobs could be at risk; more recently Mark Carney, the banks governor, suggested job losses caused by the technological revolution could re-create conditions seen after the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The response to these warnings has been a flurry of comments in national newspapers, coloured by talk of catastrophe. But really now, robots taking over human jobs  never heard that one before? How is any of this news?

After all, such predictions have always been proven wrong in the past. Jobs lost to automation have unfailingly been substituted by alternative trades, as new types of economic activity come into existence or become more fashionable.

Recommended Bank of England economist warns thousands of jobs at risk from robots

When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), however, opinions are split. While some experts believe the cycle will repeat once more and new jobs will outnumber those lost, others point out how past technological advances only mechanised the body, whereas AI will render human work superfluous at an ever-increasing level of cognitive complexity.

Certainly, some people are scared. It is not only that the nature of work itself is changing. The fear is that work could disappear altogether. With some studies claiming automation and artificial intelligence could eliminate half of all jobs, calls to defend work as we know it rise up from across the globe.

But maybe its time to indulge in a refreshing take: work does not deserve our love. Like a failing marriage we do not or cannot walk away from, we are clinging to the memory of a golden age, rather than looking forward to a better reality. We long for (or imagine) a time when work ennobled us, gave us meaning, a reason to live  a passion, a fire.

Whether that memory is real or a delusion, we seem to collectively believe that the world is changing and we panic, sensing with fear the void created by a life without work. In abusive relationships between individuals we can, despite everything, dread the thought of losing our cruel, yet familiar caitiff. We should not do the same when it comes to our relationship with work. People change, and so did capitalism. After all, didnt Citizens United in their famous court case in the US aver corporations are people?

Put simply, work in its current form must die (as for our unfulfilling, personal relationships, please let us agree just to break up).

Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Show all 15 1 /15 Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Residents follow moves made by humanoid robot 'Pepper' during an afternoon exercise routine at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Funabashi Hiroshi from A Fun, repairs broken'AIBO's, pet dog robots, at his office in Kasama. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A caretaker wearing a 'HAL for care support' robot suit pushes a wheelchair at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Residents follow moves made by humanoid robot 'Pepper' during an afternoon exercise routine at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Yoichi Suzuki spends time with 'AIBO', a pet dog robot, which his father used for his rehabilitation at his house in Takahag.i Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A resident approaches humanoid robot 'Pepper' to pat its head during an afternoon exercise routine at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A caretaker, wearing walking rehabilitation equipment 'Tree', helps a resident with his walking training at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Yoichi Suzuki shows 'AIBO', a pet dog robot, to his bed-ridden mother at his house. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A broken'AIBO', a pet dog robot, waits for repair in A Fun's office in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A resident touches 'AIBO', a pet dog robot, at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A resident touches robot seal 'PARO' at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care Yoichi Suzuki and his wife take care of his bed-ridden mother as 'AIBO', a pet dog robot walks around at his house in Takahagi. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A caretaker wearing a motion assist equipment 'Muscle Suit' carries a resident from a bed to a wheelchair at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care 'AIBO', a pet dog robot, which Yoichi Suzuki's father used for his rehabilitation, is seen at Suzuki's house in Takahagi. Reuters Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elderly care A resident claps to call 'AIBO', a pet dog robot at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Reuters

At face value, the alarm over works demise seems premature. Working hours are increasing all over the western world. Universities and schools chant the mantra of employability. We are obsessed by to-do lists, promotions, performance reviews. We sacrifice parenthood at the altar of professional success. We hail tech companies generosity in offering egg freezing services to their employees. Thanks to the internet, work pervades our lives, and often, our sleep. Its power appears unassailable.

And yet, work is increasingly failing us. Wages are stagnant. Middle class jobs cannot guarantee home ownership. For legions of the working poor, full-time jobs are not enough to support a family. Gains in productivity  the value of what is produced per hour worked  are levelling off. Economists are in despair, claiming living standards cannot improve so long as productivity stagnates. Even then, any improvement in productivity would not benefit most workers.

Since the end of the Second World War, the cornerstone of social democratic capitalism has been that increasing productivity should translate into rising wages. For decades, the hallowed agreement was upheld. Now, the covenant has been broken. Inequality has reached unprecedented levels. Workers scuffle for an ever-shrinking share of the economic pie when, all the while, the richest 1 per cent own half of the worlds wealth.

So, what should we do? How do we fight against the degradation of work today? Many protest that technological changes which would put an end to existing jobs should not be allowed, and that we must prohibit AI development or excessive automation. That will be difficult. Technological progress is hard to slow down, let alone stop. But even if we were able to save work in its current form from fading away, ought we? And would we then mourn its passing?

Ahead of donning our funeral robes, consider what we are leaving behind: the meaning we derive from a nine-to-five office job, staring blankly at a computer screen; the self-realisation we gain from rummaging through the gig-economy, scavenging for scraps.

The reality is that most jobs in western societies are often regarded by the people doing them as subjectively pointless, yet they are objectively necessary to ensuring an ongoing flow of capital, the distribution of goods and services, and the realisation of profit. That is the ultimate point of production in capitalism: profit  the transformation of an initial pot of money into a larger one. The personal realisation and satisfaction of workers is not a primary concern; indeed, it is not a priority at all.

This has led us to what economist Guy Standing has dubbed the Precariat: the new social class of the 21st century, a collection of individuals  often highly educated  suffering from under-employment, and a life without predictability or security. They are Sren Kierkegaards evangelists, a living experiment set to determine whether freedom is truly worth existential anxiety.

 Amazons fleet of automated warehouse robots

It is easy for the intellectual or financial elites to exalt work. One derives pleasure from it; the other, riches. Both are safe and stable. But for most people work is about survival. Its about making it to the end of the month, its about feeding your family. Many glorified (and abused) hard-working families have no energy for abstract intellectual pursuits; no time for rest; no Wolf of Wall Street hedonistic exploits on 1,000 a month salary.

And yet many of us  in any occupation  still derive our identity from work, even idolise it. It reflects our yearning for success and recognition, and our drive to thrive and be prosperous. Capitalism is wildly successful because it is centred on this fundamental human characteristic. The communist experience on the other hand ended tragically, precisely because it failed to take into account our humanity, our ambition, our impatience, our anxiety.

If many of the jobs we do today are indeed to be lost as the worst projections predict, and if the era of mass employment were thus to come to an end, what would happen to our society without works moral framework? After all, we are arguably still recoiling from another loss. In 1882, Nietzsche heralded a world free of the moral constraints of Christianity in which we could forge our own beliefs, and our own values. Did we? Up to a point perhaps, yet no viable alternative has taken hold. Communism, Nazism and nationalism all tried  with devastating consequences.

After the Second World War capitalism seemed like the only option left. Work took over the void left by religion. Now it too is failing, murdered by neoliberalism, and the search for ever-increasing profit margins. The global workforce has been reduced to an alienated, lonely precariat obsessed with hyperindividualism, a twisted modern spin on human creativity.

What should we do then? Do we fight against the degradation of work? Or completely reassess how our societies are arranged? A few thinkers are embracing these changes as a sign that it is time for work to go altogether. The heretical idea of a world without work is not new. Starting with Karl Marx in 1845, progressives have long waged a battle to claw back free time from work. Since the financial crash of 2008-09, these voices have become louder. Now, Graeber, Frayne, and Hunnicutt respectively, condemn the gig economys bullshit jobs, warn us how automation will force the way society thinks about work to change, and call our present work-centred ideology an accident of history. Supporters of a post-work age call for a complete redesign of the way we organise society.

The most high-profile proposal is a universal basic income (UBI), a programme designed to pay a basic salary to every adult, guaranteeing our subsistence in an automated future without jobs. Everyone would receive a sum from the state, without any means-testing. Its guiding rationale is that if all were to benefit from the scheme, middle and high-income individuals would also support it. It is a lesson learned from the popularity of Medicare in the United States, and it is not so far-fetched: small-scale trials have been attempted in Canada, Finland, and the US  albeit with varying degrees of success.

Proponents argue a minimum income would allow jobseekers to eschew positions for which they are over-qualified, spend more time in work retraining schemes, and ultimately seek more fulfilling occupations, whilst strengthening the collective bargaining power of workers. Critics counter that people would stop looking for work altogether and become dependent on the state, although it is curious how the same concerns arent extended to rich people with inherited or financial wealth, many of whom are praised for their philanthropic and voluntary work. UBI would simply extend that luxury to everyone.

The alternative is to reform the current welfare state. As Cambridge University academic Dr Peter Sloman, who is researching the history of UBI, points out: Basic income campaigners can reasonably argue that the current system of low-paid work and benefit sanctions has become coercive and degrading. However, Sloman also notes that the infrastructure created for the much-criticised universal credit could be turned into a powerful anti-poverty tool without going as far as UBI  for instance, by improving benefit rates and reducing conditionality requirements. The government could also be doing much more to tackle in-work poverty by working with firms to create skilled jobs and investing in training programmes.

In the short term, perhaps we should attempt both.

We shouldnt discount fears about a dystopian, robot-dominated future; but AI can benefit humans if used wisely (Getty/iStockphoto) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Looking further afield, we are right to fear the possibility of a dystopian future divided between demigod AI comptrollers and a jobless humanity. However, if well implemented, automation and AI could allow us for the first time in history to imagine a world where work and survival are decoupled  where the assurance of a dignified existence allows everyone to focus on what they are most passionate about.

The issue is not the presence or absence of work, but its quality. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs (Marx) and  the pursuit of Happiness (US Declaration of Independence) could not seem further apart. And yet, their essence is one. Freedom to follow ones desires. The creation of meaning as individuals. A life of self-development. The rise of modern day Ubermenschen, social actors contributing their passions, whatever they may be, to society.

If we manage our technological development right, the Golden Age of work neednt be behind, but ahead of us. For this to happen, we might need to let work as we know it die and be reborn to reach its full potential. Then we will discover whether this 21st century phoenix can truly bring about utopia.

@gianmarcoraddiScientists fear the UKs population of Arctic skuas could become extinct due to food scarcity in the species' natural habitats.

A study of 33 colonies in Orkney, Shetland and Handa, off the coast of Sutherland, saw an 81 per cent decline in breeding pairs between 1992 and 2015  down from 1,061 to just 200.

The seabird could become extinct as a breeding species in the UK if the trend is not reversed, the RSPB's Centre for Conservation Science has warned.

It identified a reduction in availability of sandeels to Arctic skuas at crucial times of year they need to feed their young as a particular worry.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Show all 8 1 /8 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Winner  Pikin and Appolinaire Pikin, a lowland gorilla, had been captured and was going to be sold for bushmeat but was rescued by Ape Action Africa. Jo-Anne took this photograph as the gorilla was being moved from her former enclosure within a safe forest sanctuary in Cameroon to a new and larger one, along with a group of gorilla companions. She was first sedated, but during the transfer to the new enclosure she awoke. Luckily, she was not only very drowsy, but she was also in the arms of her caretaker, Appolinaire Ndohoudou, and so she remained calm for the duration of the bumpy drive Jo-Anne McArthur Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Finalist  Elegant Mother and Calf Every year from July to late October southern humpback whales migrate north from their Antarctic feeding grounds to give birth in the warm sheltered waters off Tonga. Ray encountered this humpback mother and calf peacefully floating in the plankton-filled water around the island group of Vavau, Tonga. After Ray gently approached them, the giants swam a bit closer to have a look at him. While they made this elegant turn, Ray took the shot. He later converted the image into black and white which he felt represented the simplicity of the scene Ray Chin/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Finalist  Warm Embrace When polar bear mothers and cubs emerge from their dens in the early spring, the cubs stay close to their mothers for warmth and protection. Once the cubs are strong and confident enough, they make the trek to the sea ice with their mother so that she can resume hunting for seals. Debra waited six days near the den of this family, in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada, before they finally emerged. In the most challenging conditions she has ever faced, temperatures ranged from -35C to -55C with high winds, making it almost impossible to avoid frostbite and keep her camera gear functioning properly Debra Garside/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Finalist  Roller Rider Lakshitha was on safari in MaasaiMara National Reserve, Kenya, when he spotted an unusual sight  a lilac-breasted roller riding a zebra. Normally they prefer to perch high up in the foliage, but his roller spent an hour or more riding around and enjoying the occasional insect meal. Lakshitha waited for the surrounding zebras to form the perfect background before taking this tight crop Lakshitha Karunarathna/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Finalist  Sloth Hanging Out Luciano had to climb the cecropia tree, in the protected Atlantic rainforest of southern Bahia, Brazil, to take an eye-level shot of this three-toed sloth. Sloths like to feed on the leaves of these trees,and so they are often seen high up in the canopy. Luciano Candisani/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Shortlisted  Reach for the Sky Steven was taking pictures of a small group of adult roseate spoonbills in a rookery in Tampa Bay, Florida, when he noticed a newcomer flying in from afar. With just enough time to back up a few steps, Steven photographed the bird landing exactly square to his camera with its wings in a stunning symmetrical U-shape Steve Blandin/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Shortlisted  Holding On This close-up captures the touching moment an infant lays its small hand in the big hand of its mother. Jami took this photograph while she was in Borneo working on a story about the effects of palm-oil agriculture on orangutan habitat. Loss of primary rainforest is a serious threat to this already critically endangered species Jami Tarris/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year Peoples Choice award Shortlisted  Blood Ivory In a protected area of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a rangers bloody hand rests on a heavily grained ivory tusk, also covered in the blood of an African elephant. The bull had to be destroyed due to a severe tusk infection that couldnt be treated.The tusks were removed to a place of safekeeping, where they were carefully catalogued in accordance with legislation Peter Chadwick/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Lack of food has been the biggest pressure for these birds and shows just how vulnerable our seabirds and marine life are, said Dr Allan Perkins, senior conservation scientist at RSBP Scotland and the study's lead author.

As sandeel numbers have declined around these key northeast areas in Scotland the whole food chain is impacted. If these sharp declines continue, it's possible that Arctic skuas will be lost as a breeding species in Scotland.

Arctic skuas are medium sized seabirds with pointed falcon-like wings and long, pointed tail feathers.

The colonies studied hold around a third of the UK's breeding population, all of which are found on Scottish islands and in the northernmost reaches of the Highlands.

 Wimbledon's Rufus the Hawk guards pub in Clapham - London Live

The total breeding population will be measured by the Seabirds Count census, a full survey of Britain and Ireland's seabirds being held between 2015 and 2019.

This study provides a shocking snapshot of how Scotland's Arctic skuas are doing, Peadar O'Connell, marine policy officer at RSPB Scotland added.

To protect Scottish seabirds, now and into the future, we need to ensure Scotland can provide safe places for them to breed, and secure protected areas for them at sea to feed.

One positive outcome would be for the Scottish government to formally classify the 15 currently proposed special protection areas for seabirds, including two sites for Arctic skuas.

Additional reporting by PAA man has been arrested after the doors to a Sikh temple were set alight in a deliberate attack.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Edinburgh suffered smoke damage in Tuesday's incident.

Police and fire crews were called to the temple in Sheriff Brae at around 5am. No one was injured.

Recommended Police investigate suspected arson attack on Sikh temple in Scotland

A Police Scotland statement said: Police in Edinburgh have arrested a 49-year-old man as part of their investigation into a suspicious fire at the Sikh temple in Sheriff Brae during the early hours of Tuesday 28th August.

Enquiries into this incident are continuing.

Members of the Sikh community condemned the suspected attack, and Scotland's Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he was saddened by the incident.

The gurdwara, situated in a former church, is the only Sikh centre in the Scottish capital, serving a community of more than 500 people.

PAThe government will struggle to fill low-paid jobs after Brexit while also protecting migrant workers from exploitation, a new report has warned.

Experts said one option being considered by the government would expose staff to the risk of being mistreated by unscrupulous bosses, while another could fail to ensure vital low-skilled jobs are filled.

With freedom of movement due to end when Britain leaves the EU, ministers are mulling how to ensure that employers reliant on foreign labour do not face severe problems after Brexit.

An estimated 500,000 people from EU countries were employed in low-wage jobs in the UK last year, including cleaners, waiters, and fruit pickers.

The report, by the University of Oxfords Migration Observatory, said there were two options for helping migrant workers enter Britain after Brexit: expanding an existing youth mobility scheme to include EU countries, or introducing a work permit system specifically for certain low-paid jobs in industries such as agriculture and healthcare.

However, it warned that either route would bring significant costs as well as benefits.

The authors said the work permit option could increase the risk that unscrupulous businesses will exploit vulnerable workers, because the employees right to stay in the country would be dependent on them keeping their job.

They said: The same feature that enables work permit schemes to target particular parts of the labour market  the fact that a worker is tied to a specific job  makes it harder for workers to leave exploitative employers in cases where the terms of participation in the scheme have not been successfully enforced."

They added: While this can be overcome by regulating the wages and conditions employers must offer, the rules must be enforced  a significant challenge, especially if the schemes admit a large number of workers.

People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS

The other option would involve expanding existing youth mobility schemes that allow 18-30 year olds from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada to enter the UK to work for up to two years. Ministers have already outlined plans to include EU nationals in the programme after Brexit.

However, the report said this would not ensure that workers coming to the UK are encouraged to take jobs in areas where employers have have traditionally struggled to attract British staff.

Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory, said: The two most likely ways that future demands for low-skilled labour could be met after Brexit are youth mobility and employer-sponsored visas.

Theres no guarantee that youth mobility can provide staff for unpalatable roles in out-of-the-way places. Thats because the scheme gives workers lots of options, and people with options often prefer to work in shops and bars rather than muddy fields or food processing plants."

 EU warns Brexit will cause disruption with or without a deal

She added: Employer-sponsored visas give government more control over the work that migrants do, but making sure the visas dont facilitate abuse is a real challenge. If workers cant leave a bad job, theres more responsibility on government to prevent exploitation.

"In theory this should be possible with careful monitoring and oversight, but enforcing labour standards is not an area where the UK has the best track record.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "After we leave the EU, we will have in place an immigration system which works in the best interests of the whole of the UK.

"This system will be based on evidence. The government has commissioned advice from the Migration Advisory Committee and we continue to engage with a range of stakeholders."Ministers will launch a major study to design an independent satellite programme, warning the UK could face costs spiralling to a billion pounds from major disruption to navigation systems.

The government will allocate 92m to design the alternative to the European Galileo system which Brussels has said the UK can no longer take part in after Brexit.

Ms May warned EU leaders that the UKs move to set up its own system was not an idle threat or negotiating tactic as the money was allocated on Tuesday.

She said the UK did want to remain involved in the EUs Galileo satellite programme but would not accept being shut out from security discussions and contracts as the EU is proposing.

She went on: So unless we receive assurance that we can collaborate on a close basis in the future  like the close security partners we aspire to be  we are clear that we will withdraw UK support for Galileo and pursue our own sovereign satellite system.

And this is not an idle threat to achieve our negotiating objectives.

Satellite navigation systems like GPS are increasingly important for commercial, military and other critical applications, from guiding aircraft, ships and emergency services to helping millions of people find their way on car journeys.

A recent study commissioned by the government estimated that sustained disruption to satellite navigation lasting five days would cost the UK economy more than 5bn over a five day period.

The 92m provided to UK firms to design a national alternative to Galileo, has been allocated from the 3bn Brexit readiness fund announced at last years budget and will be rolled out over the coming months.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

The UK Space Agency will lead the work with full support from the Ministry of Defence

The European Commission has started to exclude the UK and its firms from sensitive future work on Galileo with Brexit looming.

The EU has said Britain will be able to continue to use Galileos open signal, but that the UKs military could be denied access to the encrypted version when the satellite becomes operational.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: Our position on Galileo has been consistent and clear.

We have repeatedly highlighted the specialist expertise we bring to the project and the risks in time delays and cost increases that the European Commission is taking by excluding UK industry.David Lidington has warned EU leaders to accept the UK's Chequers plan or face the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Theresa May's de facto deputy said talks were at a "fork in the road" and that the only alternative to Britain crashing out of the bloc without an agreement was Brussels accepting the UK's proposals.

The Cabinet Office minister was speaking at a business conference in France, where he promised the UK would remain a "proud European nation" despite leaving the EU.

His speech marked part of a concerted effort by the UK government to persuade EU member states to back the Chequers plan despite opposition from officials in Brussels.

Speaking to the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF) conference, Mr Lidington said: "With exactly seven months until the end of Article 50 process and less than two months ahead of the October European Council, we face the choice between the pragmatic proposals we are discussing now with the European Commission, or no deal.

"The alternative models do not meet the level of ambition or the outcome we all want to see delivered.

"So, we need the EU to engage with us on our positive vision of the future relationship."

He added: I truly feel that we are at a fork in the road. There are trends on both sides of the Channel, both sides of the North Sea, and both sides of the Atlantic that could see us drift apart.

UK ministers have made several attempts to convince France to back the Chequers plan, including Ms May flying to French president Emmanuel Macron's holiday home earlier this month in a bid to win him round.

Mr Lidington told French business leaders that European countries must work together to overcome "dark political forces" that have re-emerged on the continent.

He said: "I believe that this is a time when Europe, Europe inside the EU and Europe outside the EU, needs to pull together to embrace the spirit of unity and co-operation that has been the cause of our success for more than half a century.

"Even in Europe, dark political forces, long banished to the very fringes of society and the ashes of history, are re-emerging - feeding on resentment over inequality, stalling standards of living and rapid social change."

People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS

He added: "My government has been clear throughout our discussions with our European partners on our future relationship: we want a deep and special partnership with the EU, we remain a proud European nation committed to European values, European security and European trade.

"We are indispensable partners in an unpredictable world. Now is the opportunity to cement that partnership and face the future together."

It came as Mr Lidington's cabinet colleague, Dominic Raab, insisted he remained confident of reaching a deal.

Appearing in front of the House of Lords EU committee, the Brexit Secretary said: "I'm confident that a deal is within our sights. We're bringing ambition, pragmatism, energy and if, and I expect it will be, and if it is matched, we get a deal."

 Dominic Raab: Government ready to deliver no-deal Brexit

However, he admitted that the October deadline for an agreement could slip, with reports suggesting both the UK and the EU see November as a more realistic timeframe.

He said: "I think it is important as we enter the final phase of the negotiations in the lead up to the October council and the possibility that it may creep beyond that, we want to see some renewed energy.

"We're bringing the ambition and the substance of our white paper on the future relationship and also I think some pragmatism to try and go the extra mile to get the deal that I think is in both sides interests. We need that to be matched obviously, it's a negotiation."

Mr Raab will travel to Brussels later this week to resume talks with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.Theresa May refused to say what she did to help secure the release of Nelson Mandela during an interview in which she was questioned over the Conservative Partys response to apartheid.

The prime minister, who is in South Africa as part of a three-day visit to the African continent, admitted she didnt go on protests in the 1970s or 80s against the countrys racial segregation laws.

But Ms May otherwise opted not to answer questions about any personal involvement in the anti-apartheid movement in Britain, in which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn played a prominent role.

What is important is the work that the United Kingdom government did to ensure that it was able to give support where that support was needed, she told Channel 4 News.

Ms May also failed to directly respond to a question over whether she agreed at the time with Margaret Thatchers assertion that Mr Mandela was a terrorist.

The interview came ahead of her visit to Robben Island, where Mr Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars.

Ms Thatcher described the African National Congress (ANC), of which Mr Mandela was leader, as a "typical terrorist organisation" and strongly opposed sanctions against South Africa during the apartheid regime.A man from Texas has said his company is selling blueprints for 3D-printed guns online despite a federal order barring his company from posting the designs online until a court case is resolved.

On Monday, US District Judge Robert Lasnik granted a preliminary injunction blocking Cody Wilsons company, Defense Distributed, from posting the prints online. Mr Lasnik had previously filed a temporary restraining order blocking the designs from being published.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Wilson called the judges preliminary injunction hysterical, arguing that the ruling had not stopped his ability to sell designs.

Recommended 3D printed guns seized by police during raid

I feel no way that weve been interrupted, he said. He added that its not a suspension of operations but instead an authorisation.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the US State Department after the federal government agency reached a settlement with Defense Distributed earlier this summer.

The states argued that online access to plastic guns, with no serial number to trace the gun, could be acquired by felons and terrorists and could pose a security risk.

Mr Lasnik wrote in the preliminary injunction that "it is the untraceable and undetectable nature of these small firearms that poses a unique danger".

The injunction continued: Promising to detect the undetectable while at the same time removing a significant regulatory hurdle to the proliferation of these weapons  both domestically and internationally  rings hollow and in no way ameliorates, much less avoids, the harms that are likely to befall the States if an injunction is not issued.

Mr Wilson has since argued that blocking him from posting prints online disregards his First Amendment rights.

On Twitter, he wrote FARCE along with a screenshot of a section of the preliminary injunction, including the following line: That right is currently abridged, but it has not been abrogated. Regulation under the AECA [Arms Export Control Act] meant that the files cannot be uploaded to the internet, but they can be emailed, mailed securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States.

 John Oliver pays tribute to students of Florida shooting fighting for gun control

Mr Wilson told reporters that he estimated he had already sold hundreds of designs by the time he attended his press conference on Tuesday.

Mr Wilsons lawyer, Josh Blackman, told the Texas Tribune that there was no prohibition on distributing the designs directly to people in the US.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who led the multi-state lawsuit, said he trusts the federal government will hold Mr Wilson "accountable" in a statement to The Independent:

What's the big deal with 3D printing? Show all 6 1 /6 What's the big deal with 3D printing? What's the big deal with 3D printing? pg-42-3d-printing-2.jpg What's the big deal with 3D printing? pg-42-3d-printing-3.jpg What's the big deal with 3D printing? pg-42-3d-printing-1.jpg What's the big deal with 3D printing? pg-42-3d-printing-4.jpg What's the big deal with 3D printing? pg-42-3d-printing-5.jpg What's the big deal with 3D printing? pg-42-3d-printing-6-alamy.jpg Alamy

Because of our lawsuit, it is once again illegal to post downloadable gun files to the internet, Mr Ferguson said. I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson, a self-described 'crypto-anarchist', accountable to that law. If they don't, President Trump will be responsible for anyone who is hurt or killed as a result of these weapons.

Mr Wilson has been in an multi-year legal battle with the federal government since 2013; he manufactured the first fully 3D-printed pistol that year.

During the press conference he said he had previously chosen not to sell designs as he considers himself an open source activist.The white Chicago police officer charged with murder over the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald has accused prosecutors of bowing to "political" pressure in bringing the case.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune  which the newspaper reports was tightly controlled by his defence team and a public relations strategist  Jason Van Dyke recounted the first moments returning home after shooting Mr McDonald 16 times on a street in Chicago.

The officer, who is currently suspended, said he is not a racist and that the image painted of him has been a great false narrative and political.

I think theres been a lot of external political pressures, he said. It just seems like politics has been involved with this since the beginning.

Mr Van Dykes interview comes days before a jury is set to be selected for his murder trial. He was charged with first-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.

Van Dyke was arrested in November 2015, a year after the shooting and on the same day that a video showing him shooting Mr McDonald 16 times was publicly released. The release of the dashcam video sparked widespread protests.

The city's police chief Garry McCarthy was fired in 2015 amid public backlash over the handling of the shooting.

 Video of Laquan McDonald Shooting Causes Huge Protests in Chicago

William Calloway, a local Chicago activist who worked with journalist Brandon Smith and attorney Craig Futterman to have the dashcam video released, told The Independent that he was disappointed about Mr Van Dykes new public interview released just days ahead of jury selection.

Everybody has a right to free speech, he said. He added: Im disappointed because this was an effort to gain public opinion to be on his side.

Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Show all 15 1 /15 Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Kandy Freeman participates in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower People participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Hawk Newsome, a Black Lives Matter activist, leads a protest outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Hawk Newsome (C) leads a chant during a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, US. January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower People participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower An NYPD officer speaks with a Black Lives Matter leaders during a protest in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Kandy Freeman participates in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower An NYPD officer speaks with a Black Lives Matter leaders during a protest in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Carol Garza, a Black Lives Matter supporter, protests outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower People participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower A Black Lives Matter supporter protests in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter activists march in front of Trump Tower on January 14, 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter activists march in front of Trump Tower on January 14, 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter supporters protest in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter Kandy Freeman marches in front of Trump Tower on January 14, 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty

The officer told the newspaper that the night of the shooting was his darkest day and that he would not have fired his gun unless he thought his or another citizen's life was in jeopardy. He claimed he had "never had to fire his weapon" in 15 years as a patrolman.

Mr Calloway and other Chicago activists are planning a peaceful demonstration outside the Chicago courtroom as jury selection is set to begin 5 September. The group, Justice 4 Laquan, will also use their social media presence to keep the public informed on the trial proceedings, he said.The official death toll from the hurricane that struck Puerto Rico in September last year has been increased from 64 to 2,975  a 50-times jump that has sparked a new wave of criticism for the government response to the disaster.

A new study ordered by the governor of the US territory recommended the revised toll for deaths that could be directly or indirectly attributed to Hurricane Maria and its aftermath, in a period spanning from September 2017 to mid-February of this year.

Maria was the most powerful storm to hit the Caribbean island for a century, and witnesses to the devastation said the previous official toll seemed a serious underestimate.

Nonetheless, the figure was used by Donald Trump's then acting homeland security secretary, Elaine Duke, who 12 days into the disaster characterised the federal response as "a really good news story" and spoke of a "limited number of deaths".

Mr Trump himself said in early October 2017 that he was happy with the federal response to Maria, saying it compared favourably with a "real catastrophe like Katrina".

For comparison, deaths blamed on Hurricane Katrina in 2005 range from about 1,200 to more than 1,800, with most along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Criticism of the federal response existed at the time: in a scathing reaction, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz appeared on CNN declaring, "Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story. This is a life or death story."

Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Show all 20 1 /20 Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Crew chief Kenney shelters under the blade of an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit preparing to take off during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, Puerto Rico, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico An HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit takes off behind Crew Chief Alexander Blake and his fellow soldiers during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Morovis, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Crew member Bynum stands in tropical rain as a HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit prepares to take off during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot Chris Greenway receives a hug from a woman thanking him for water as he works with the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Verde de Comerio, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico A man carries a case of water away from an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after soldiers working with 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit dropped off relief supplies during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Jayuya, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Crew chief Alexander Blake from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit loads water into a helicopter during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents wait for soldiers in UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade to deliver food and water during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in San Lorenzo Reuters Bringing aid to Puerto Rico An HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit lands in a field to avoid lightning during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Manati, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents hold their hands aloft to signal that they need water as UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade fly past during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, near Ciales, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Tropical rain splashes on a runway as HH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit wait for weather to clear during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Pilot Eldwin Bocanegra Torres speaks with residents isolated by landslides in the mountains after unloading water and food from a helicopter during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, near Utuado, October 10, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents stand in front of wind-damaged trees as they wait for soldiers in UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade to deliver food and water during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in San Lorenzo, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico The contents of a home are seen from the air during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria near Utuado, October 10, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Thomas looks out of the window of an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit, loaded with relief supplies, during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria in Isla Grande, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico A message written on the rooftop is seen from the air during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria near Humacao, October 10, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico A HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit lands in a field during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria in San Sebastian, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Sergeant First Class Eladio Tirado, who is from Puerto Rico, looks for a landing spot for a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade, during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria near Ciales, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Boys carry water away from an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after soldiers working with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit dropped off relief supplies during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Jayuya, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Sergeant First Class Eladio Tirado from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade, who is from Puerto Rico, speaks with residents as he helps during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in San Lorenzo, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents peek through a fence at helicopters from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit that had parked in a locked field during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Lares, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson

And US Representative Nydia Velazquez, a New York Democrat, said the study was "only the latest to underscore that the federal response to the hurricanes was disastrously inadequate, and as a result, thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives".

Researchers from George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health derived the latest figures by comparing predicted mortality under normal circumstances with the actually recorded mortality, revealing that deaths documented after the storm were 22 per cent higher than forecast.

They adjusted for various factors that could account for fluctuations in mortality, most notably the displacement of some 241,000 residents who fled the island in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

They also found that the poor and elderly were disproportionately hard hit in terms of risk of fatalities.

Speaking at a news conference in Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, governor Ricardo Rossello said his government was adopting the findings as the official account of human life lost in the disaster "even though it is an estimate".

"We will take the 2,975 number as the official estimate for the excess deaths as a product of the hurricane," he said.

Researchers attributed undercounting of storm-related deaths to poor communications and the lack of well-established guidelines and training for physicians on how to certify deaths in major disasters.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration supported "efforts to ensure a full accountability and transparency of fatalities" from the hurricane.

Additional reporting by ReutersDonald Trump has warned there will be "violence" if his Republican Party lose November's midterm elections.

Speaking to evangelical leaders in a private meeting, the US president called the vote, a referendum on free speech and religious freedoms, warning the rights of Americans were under threat from violent people.

Mid-term elections are seen as a key test of a presidents popularity. All 435 members of the House of Representatives and 35 seats in the 100-member Senate are up for election, along with 36 out of 50 state governors and numerous state and local government offices.

The result of this year's vote are keenly anticipated after Michael Cohen, Mr Trumps former lawyer, and Paul Manafort, his ex-campaign chairman, were convicted of financial crimes earlier this month.

This November 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, its a referendum on your religion, its a referendum on free speech and the first amendment. Its a referendum on so much, Mr Trump said in a speech leaked to US media.

Its not a question of like or dislike, its a question that they will overturn everything that weve done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa, these are violent people.

Antifa, or anti-fascists, regularly stage counter protests against white supremacists and neo-nazis when they march through American towns and cities.

Mr Trump has come under fire for blaming last year's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on both sides. The rally attracted national attention after 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed when a car ploughed through a crowd of counter-protesters. James Alex Fields has been charged in connection with her death.

President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media Show all 16 1 /16 President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "You are fake news!" Then President-elect Trump directed this insult to CNN's Jim Acosta while refusing him a question at a press conference on January 11 2017. The President-elect's anger was due to the publishing by Buzzfeed of unverified memos that implicated Michael Cohen in Russian collusion. CNN had reported on a briefing of Obama and Trump on the memos by US intelligence chiefs, but knowing the content to be unverified had not revealed it AFP/Getty President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth" President Trump said this of journalists during a visit to the CIA on the the day following his inauguration. His claim of having the largest crowd of any inauguration ceremony in history had been debunked and he clearly wasn't happy Reuters President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "Failing New York Times" President Trump commonly addresses the New York Times in this way, contrary to its increasing profit margins and expanding global readership. He is pictured here in the midtown Manhattan office of the paper Getty President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "Enemy of the American People" President Trump has since repeated the claim that such news outlets are the enemy of the people, often after they break negative stories about him President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "They have no sources" Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24 2017, President Trump suggested that a Washington Post article with 9 sources was "made up". The article in question exposed how then National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence over a phone call to a Russian ambassador. That the article was "made up", while highly doubtful at the time, seems even less likely since Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the same phone call Reuters President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media Access denied for major publications Protesters gathered outside of the New York Times office after Trump's White House barred a number of publications from attending a press briefing on February 24 2017. Just hours after the President had again denounced the media, then Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied access to news outlets such as CNN and the New York Times, while permitting Breitbart News, CBS, Fox and others AFP/Getty President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "#FNN" On July 2 2017, President Trump tweeted an edited clip from his Wrestlemania XXIII appearance in which the CNN logo had been imposed onto the face of his wrestling opponent Vince McMahon. CNN is a common target for President Trump and here he suggests that he is getting the better of the network through his repeated attacks President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "The most powerful TV show in America" On July 27 2017, President Trump quoted a New York Times article about Fox & Friends. The President is known to watch Fox & Friends every morning, often tweeting about matters discussed on the show, leading to speculation over its influence on his outlook and policies Getty President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "It's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write" In a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on October 11 2017, President Trump suggested that the press ought not to be allowed their constitutionally secured freedom. He added "people should look into it", suggesting that he also doesn't respect the protection of sources. At the time, he was angry at an NBC report claiming that the President had expressed a desire to return the size of the US' nuclear arsenal to its 1960s height, a claim that he and others in his administration dismissed as fake news AFP/Getty President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "negative (Fake)" In a tweet on 9 May 2018, President Trump conflated negative reporting about him with fake news President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "I didn't criticise the Prime Minister" In a press conference with the Prime Minister on his visit to Britain, President Trump disputed claims published in the Sun that he had criticised Mrs May's Brexit strategy Reuters President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "Horrible, horrendous people" At a Republican rally in Pennsylvania on August 3 2018, President Trump deemed all journalists in attendance "horrible, horrendous people". He later denounced the "fake, fake, disgusting news" for falsely reporting that he was late to his meeting with the Queen when visiting Britain AFP/Getty President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media Trump's rhetoric "very close to inciting violence" In an interview with the Guardian on 13 August 2018, the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein suggested that President Trump's attacks on the press are "very close to inciting violence". Zeid singles out the President's repeated claim that the fake news (negative coverage) media is the "enemy of the people" as dangerous Reuters President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "anonymous source" = fiction President Trump claimed that any report citing anonymous sources is fiction. The protection of sources is a vital matter of press freedom, without it a potential source's fear of repercussions could lead them to withhold important information President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "You are a rude, terrible person" At a press conference in the wake of the midterms, President Trump clashed with CNN's Jim Acosta when he asked about the President's use of language during the campaign Reuters President Trump's most shocking attacks on the media "I would never kill Journalists" For any journalists frightened by President Trump's attacks on the press, perhaps you can take solace in his words from a campaign rally in Grand Rapids on December 21 2015. Responding to remarks over Vladimir Putin's handling of journalists, Trump stated: "I hate some of these people, but I'd never kill them... I'll be honest - I would never kill them. Uhhh lets see.. no, I never would" Getty

The president continued by urging the religious leaders: You have tremendous power. You were saying, in this room, you have people who preach to almost 200 million people.

Some of those who were present at the meeting downplayed the remarks.

Jerry Falwell Jr told National Public Radio journalist Sarah McCammon: Nobody walked out of there thinking that the Democrats were going to shoot us all.

Activist Ralph Reed added that Mr Trump said "if the Democrats take the House there will be virulent opposition to his agenda. He said some of those groups on the left incite and advocate violence and mentioned Antifa.Justin Trudeau has said that Canada may be able to negotiate a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by Donald Trumps Friday deadline.

The Canadian prime minister said it is a possibility that Canada will reach an agreement by the end of the week, amid Mr Trumps recent announcement on Monday that the US and Mexico had reached a preliminary deal.

We recognise that there is a possibility of getting there by Friday, but it is only a possibility, because it will hinge on whether or not there is ultimately a good deal for Canada, Mr Trudeau said at a press conference. No NAFTA deal is better than a bad NAFTA deal.

Recommended Trump announces new Mexico trade agreement

Mr Trump had threatened that the US would move forward with its deal with Mexico alone, and impose tariffs on Canada should the nation not come on board with the revised trade negotiations.

However, Mr Trump sounded more upbeat speaking outside the White House on Wednesday.

They (Canada) want to be part of the deal, and we gave until Friday and I think we're probably on track. We'll see what happens, but in any event, things are working out very well, Mr Trump said.

The upbeat tone contrasted with Trump's harsh criticism of Canada in recent weeks, railing on Twitter against Canada's high dairy tariffs that he said were killing our Agriculture!

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada was optimistic about negotiations for the 24-year-old trilateral deal.

We are encouraged by the progress that the U.S. and Mexico made on some of their key bilateral issues, she said. On that basis we are optimistic about having some good productive discussions this week.

 Justin Trudeau to heckler: racism has no place in Canada

Canadas dairy protections for its farmers and the high tariffs imposed on imports could be a sticking point in US-Canada negotiations.

The preliminary agreement between the US and Mexico would require 75 per cent of car parts to be produced in the US, requiring that 40 to 45 per cent of auto content be made by workers who make $16 per hour.

The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Show all 14 1 /14 The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Time for a break-up? Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Sometimes simplicity works best. The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Theres no place for Trump's other policies in our society. Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Many were quick to point out that in the UK, Trump means 'fart'. Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Some people were looking out for The Queen Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests There's a Mean Girl's quote for every occasion Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests There were a lot of hair references at the march toupee. Sorry, today. Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Frack off. The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Try and read this out without singing it... Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests A message all Brits will understand. Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Simple, and to the point Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests We don't entirely understand this one, but we do rather like it Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests The Inbetweeners sends a hilariously petulant message Harriet Hall The best anti-Trump placards from the London protests Never underestimate Cher Horowitz Harriet Hall

Ms Freeland said Mexicos concessions are really going to be important for workers in Canada and the United States.

The US Congress has 90 days to review the deal after being notified by the Trump administration.The FBI has contradicted President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that China hacked into the emails of his former campaign rival, Hillary Clinton.

"Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China," Mr Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning. "Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps ... their credibility will be forever gone!

The president provided no evidence to back up his claim. On Wednesday, an FBI spokesperson told the Washington Post that the agency "has not found any evidence the servers were compromised".

Recommended Trump posts unsubstantiated 1am tweet on China hacking Clinton email

Mr Trump's early-morning tweet followed a report from the Daily Caller, which claimed that "nearly all" of Ms Clinton's emails had been accessed by a Chinese-owned company in Washington, DC during her time as secretary of state. The report was later covered by Fox News, a favourite news source for the president.

A spokesman for Ms Clinton pushed back on the report, telling the Daily Caller: "The FBI spent thousands of hours investigating, and found no evidence of intrusion. Thats a fact."

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

Ms Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state has been a frequent topic of conversation for Mr Trump and his supporters since 2015, when the FBI launched an investigation into her conduct.

The agency eventually found that Ms Clinton had been extremely careless in her use of the private email server, but did not recommend charges  a disappointing result for the crowds who chanted "Lock her up!" at Mr Trump's campaign rallies.

The president has since turned his ire against the FBI, accusing it of being biased in its investigation of Ms Clinton, and in its probe of possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia. In his first tweet about the alleged Chinese hacking, Mr Trump wrote: "Report just out: 'China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server.' Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)?"

 Photograph of Trump colouring in the American flag incorrectly goes viral

The tweet was met with condemnation by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which said they "firmly oppose and crack down on any forms of internet attacks and the stealing of secrets," according to Reuters.

Relations between the US and China have been strained since Mr Trump accused Beijing of predatory trade policies, and placed billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. China responded with matching tariffs on American imports, setting off a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

"China advocates that the international community jointly respond to cybersecurity threats through dialogue and cooperation, on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a briefing.Aung San Suu Kyi will not be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize despite a United Nations report which said Myanmars military carried out an act of genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

UN investigators said Myanmars military took part in mass killings and gang rapes and its top generals should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ms Suu Kyi, who leads the government of Myanmar and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy, has been criticised for failing to speak out against the military crackdown in Rakhine state.

But the Norwegian Nobel Committee said her prize would not be withdrawn.

Its important to remember that a Nobel Prize, whether in Physics, Literature or Peace, is awarded for some prize-worthy effort or achievement of the past, said Olav Njoelstad, the secretary of the committee.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for democracy and freedom up until 1991, the year she was awarded the prize, he said.

The rules regulating the Nobel Prizes do not allow for a prize to be withdrawn, he added.

 Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim crisis explained

Last year, the head of the committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, also said it would not strip the award after previous criticism of Ms Suu Kyis role in the Rohingya crisis.

We dont do it. Its not our task to oversee or censor what a laureate does after the prize has been won, she said in a television interview.

The prize winners themselves have to safeguard their own reputations.

Rohingya crisis in photos Show all 15 1 /15 Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya refugees are reflected in rain water along an embankment next to paddy fields after fleeing from Myanmar into Palang Khali, near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh November REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya refugees scramble for aid at a camp in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Betel leaves cover the face of 11-month-old Rohingya refugee Abdul Aziz whose wrapped body lay in his family shelter after he died battling high fever and severe cough at the Balukhali refugee camp near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, December REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos An exhausted Rohingya refugee fleeing violence in Myanmar cries for help from others crossing into Palang Khali, near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh November REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Mohammed Shoaib, 7, who was shot in his chest before crossing the border from Myanmar in August, is held by his father outside a medical centre near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya refugees try to take shelter from torrential rain as they are held by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) after illegally crossing the border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya refugee children fly improvised kites at the Kutupalong refugee camp near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Smoke is seen on the Myanmar border as Rohingya refugees walk on the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos People gather under heavy rain around bodies of Rohingya refugees after the boat they were using to flee violence in Myanmar capsized off Inani Beach near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos The remains of a burned Rohingya village is seen in this aerial photograph near Maungdaw, north of Rakhine State, Myanmar REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya refugees cross the Naf River with an improvised raft to reach to Bangladesh in Teknaf, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos A security officer attempts to control Rohingya refugees waiting to receive aid in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Hamida, a Rohingya refugee woman, weeps as she holds her 40-day-old son after he died as their boat capsized before arriving on shore in Shah Porir Dwip, Teknaf, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos Rohingya siblings fleeing violence hold one another as they cross the Naf River along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Palong Khali, near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh REUTERS Rohingya crisis in photos An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh September Reuters

Myanmar rejected the UN report and a government spokesman said it was flawed because investigators had not visited Rakhine state  yet it was the government itself that had denied them access.

The UN report was based on more than 870 interviews with Rohingya refugees, as well as satellite imagery and verified photos and videos of the massacres compiled over the past year.

It said Ms Suu Kyi has not used her de facto position as head of government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet a responsibility to protect the civilian population.The Telugu actor and politician Nandamuri Harikrishna has died in a car crash in Telangana state at the age of 61.

Mr Harikrishna was previously an MP Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and was also well known as being the son of a former legend of Telugu cinema, the ex-chief minister of Andhra Pradesh NT Rama Rao.

Leading figures from the spheres of both Telugu film and politics paid tribute to Mr Harikrishna after news of his death emerged on Wednesday morning.

The accident happened in Nalgonda, on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway. Police said Mr Harikrishnas SUV was being driven at speeds of up to 150kmh when it hit a divider and flipped, landing on its side.

Three others in the car with Mr Harikrishna were injured but survived, the Times of India reported.

Mr Harikrishnas political career began when he helped manage his fathers campaign in the 1980s. When NT Rama Rao became chief minister, he was given the role of state transport minister.

Before then, he had a successful spell as a child actor, and later returned to the screen in a series of performances that won him the Best Character Actor gong at the Nandi Awards - the highest annual accolades for Telugu cinema.

With more than 70m speakers, Telugu ranks above French as one of the most popular first languages in the world.

Political tributes to Mr Harikrishna were led by the vice president of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, who said he was deeply saddened by the death.

As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience, he said. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly. My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief.

Mohan Babu, a fellow actor in Telugu cinema, said he felt he had lost a brother. There is nothing I can say more. A great loss, he tweeted.

And Sudheer Babu, another actor, said it was terrible news to wake up to. My heart mourns. May his soul rest in peace and strength to Tarak, Kalyan & the entire family for the huge loss.Myanmar has rejected a new UN report that calls its crackdown on Rohingya Muslims an act of genocide, and wants top generals to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A government spokesman said the report was flawed because investigators had not visited the affected region in north of the country. Yet it was the government itself that denied them access. Thats why we dont agree and accept any resolutions made by the [UN] Human Rights Council, said government spokesman Zaw Htay.

Mondays report, produced by an independent team under the mandate of the Human Rights Council, recommended prosecutions be brought against Myanmars six most senior generals, including its commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, at the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was based on more than 870 interviews with Rohingya refugees, satellite imagery and verified photos and videos from the massacres compiled over the past year.

Recommended Meet the Rohingya who had parents gunned down before their eyes

The government, which shares power with the military in Myanmar, did not provide a response to the allegations despite being given early sight of the UN report. It is not a treaty member of the ICC, although it is among the 47 member-states of the Human Rights Council.

Giving a first interview on the matter, published in state media, spokesman Zaw Htay said the international community was making false accusations. Our stance is clear and I want to say sharply that we dont accept any resolutions conducted by the Human Rights Council, he said.

Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Show all 30 1 /30 Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women and children wait in line for a food distribution of super cereal at Action Against Hunger Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees gather near the fence in the "no man's land" zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh border AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women cry as they shout slogans during a protest rally to commemorate the first anniversary of Myanmar army's crackdown AP Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures A Rohingya Muslim child holding an umbrella while under the rain AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees cry as they pray during a gathering to commemorate the first anniversary of Myanmar army's crackdown which lead to a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh AP Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Police stand near the checkpoint at the Shwe Zar village in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures A group of Rohingya refugee children stand at a makeshift camp EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee Juhara, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, poses for a portrait at the Kutapalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh. Juhara passes her days carting water with difficulty to thirsty bricklayers working in a bustling corner of Cox's Bazar. She has just one hand - the other was cleaved off in a raid on her village after the August 25 clampdown started last year. Her husband and parents were killed. The 40-year-old said she ran for her life but was hunted down and savagely attacked AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees walk on a road along a makeshift camp in Kutubpalang EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees are seen outside of their makeshift tent in the Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Thousands of Rohingya refugees staged protests for "justice" on August 25 on the first anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown that forced them to flee to camps in Bangladesh AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures A Rohingya refugee child looks through a window at a makeshift camp in Teknuf EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee women hold placards as they take part in a protest at the Kutupalong refugee camp Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures A young Rohingya boy waits in line for a food Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees shout slogans during a protest march AFP/Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee girl with other children at a makeshift camp in Teknuf in Cox's Bazar EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women protest on the first anniversary of the Rohingya crisis Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women and children receive super cereal at Action Against Hunger Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya girls share a laugh in Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp housing the Rohingya Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees gather near the fence in the "no man's land" zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh border AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees attend a ceremony organised to remember the first anniversary of a military crackdown that prompted a massive exodus of people from Myanmar to Bangladesh AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rashida Begum, a Rohingya refugee woman walks on the Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures A Rohingya refugee bursts into tears as she shouts slogans during a protest march AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee baby Nur Sadek two years old undergoing treatment at a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Teknuf in Cox's Bazar EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees protest Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees perform prayers AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rashida Begum, a Rohingya refugee woman bathes her son in the Kutupalong camp Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees protest Getty Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees walk on a muddy road EPA Rohingya crisis one year on  Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women and children wait in line for a food distribution of super cereal at Action Against Hunger Getty

Zaw Htay said the country has zero tolerance to any human rights violation and had set up a Commission of Enquiry to respond to claims regarding the Rohingya made by the UN and other international communities.

If there is any case against human rights, just give us strong evidence, record and date so that we can take legal action against those who break the rules and regulations, Zaw Htay said.

The UN report was compiled by a team consisting of two Burmese and two international members  the Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo and Kenzo Oshima, Japans former ambassador to the UN  who were tasked with investigating human rights abuses in Rakhine state.

Their final report concluded that the Myanmar armys excuse for the crackdown  attacks by Rohingya militant groups on police outposts  did not justify killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages.

It said a conservative estimate had 10,000 people killed in the violence, which was made all the more shocking for the level of denial, normalcy and impunity attached to the armys actions.

Facebook suspended accounts belonging to senior Myanmar generals in the immediate wake of the release of Mondays report, accusing them of using its platform to spread hate and misinformation.

In the interview published on Tuesday, Zaw Htay said the government had not ordered the ban and was questioning Facebook about the action, saying it had caused mounting criticism and fear among the people.

Additional reporting by ReutersA bakery in Amsterdam named after Anne Frank has been forced to change its name as a result of public outcry.

The owner of the Anne & Frank bakery was castigated for the tasteless choice of name on Twitter.

A tweet from Drukke Toestand, an account which comments on news from Amsterdam, said: Even if the owners are called Anne and Frank, it is still shocking.

The owner of the bakery, who identified himself only as Roberto, told Dutch media it seemed like a nice name.

He said Anne Frank, who died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, is a heroine for many people and for me too.

He said: Because my business is close to the Anne Frank Huis, it seemed like a nice name. Shes obviously world famous.

The Anne Frank House was where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis during the Second World War.

Roberto told local media he had not decided on a new name for his bakery.

The Diary of Anne Frank has been translated into more than 60 languages and is considered to be among the most important books published in the 20th century.German police allegedly leaked details to a far-right group about an Iraqi man accused of carrying out a fatal stabbing, triggering violent anti-migrant protests.

Authorities in the state of Saxony have launched an investigation after the 22-year-old suspect's arrest warrant was apparently shared with Lutz Bachmann of the far-right movement Pegida.

The document revealed the Iraqi mans full name along with that of the second suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian man.

Details about the victim, a 35-year-old German identified only as Daniel H, witnesses and the judge were also contained in the document, which was posted online by Mr Bachmann.

Martin Dulig, Saxonys deputy prime minister, said it was a scandal that some police officers think they can leak things like this even though they know they're committing an offence.

Horst Seehofer, Germanys national interior minister, said the leak was "completely unacceptable".

An investigation has been launched by German police into whether official secrets rules were breached.

The stabbing in the town of Chemnitz provoked two days of protests, including clashes between far-right and left demonstrators.

The 35-year-old German man died in hospital following a 'dispute between several people of different nationalities', police said (Getty)

At least five people are facing charges for performing the Hitler salute, which is banned in Germany.

The stabbing and the protests have exposed deep divisions in German society over the influx of more than one million refugees and migrants since 2015.

Angela Merkel repeated her condemnation of both the stabbing and the protests on Tuesday. She said the scenes filmed on mobile phones of migrants being chased through the streets, were completely unacceptable in a state based on the rule of law.

Michael Kretschmer, the prime minister of Saxony and a close ally of Ms Merkel, vowed to deal firmly with extremists in his state which has long been a hotbed of support for far-right parties.

Pegida led calls for protests after the man's death (Getty)

The Chemnitz leak is the latest in a string of incidents that have given rise to claims of a far-right infiltration of police forces in Saxony.

Last week police in Dresden detained a film crew who were videoing a far-right protest against Ms Merkel.

The arrests were made after a protester  who it later emerged was a state police employee  claimed to have been verbally abused during a march in support of Pegida.

In 2016 an officer in Leipzig was revealed as having close connections with anti-Islam groups and that same year, police in the town of Clausnitz were filmed holding a refugee in a headlock.An Israeli soldier who was convicted of killing a wounded Palestinian attacker said he had no regrets in his first interview since he was released from prison.

Elor Azaria was 19 when he shot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head at point-blank range as he was lying on the ground in the West Bank city of Hebron in 2016.

He served nine months of his 14-month manslaughter sentence and was released three months ago.

Recommended Israeli soldier who was filmed killing wounded Palestinian is freed

The former Israel Defence Forces (IDF) combat medic told the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom if he could relive the shooting, I would act exactly the same, because thats how I needed to act.

Mr Azarias case sharply divided the Jewish nation.

While the military pushed for his prosecution, arguing he had violated its code of ethics, many Israelis, particularly those on the nationalist right, rallied to defend his actions.

In the interview, he accused the military of having abandoned him, echoing the sentiments of those who supported him.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator shouts Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli forces at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A wounded Palestinian is evacuated Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A female demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator with a slingshot looks on Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Israeli forces fire teargas canisters toward Palestinian demonstrators AFP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian medics evacuate a wounded protester AP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator moves a burning tire Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators during clashes with Israeli forces AFP/Getty

Mr Azaria was initially sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of manslaughter, but Israels military chief, Gadi Eisenkot, later reduced the sentence by four months.

His release was then brought forward by two days so he could attend his brothers wedding.

He told the newspaper that despite his manslaughter conviction, he would serve in the IDF reserve forces.Moroccan police have arrested 12 people over the alleged gang rape and torture of a teenage girl after her case sparked mass outrage and written appeals to King Mohammed VI for help.

Khadija Okkarou, 17, told local network Chouf TV last week that she had been kidnapped and held for two months by a gang of over a dozen men who raped, beat and forcibly tattooed her with swastikas.

In the shocking footage, the young girl showed her arms, legs and neck which are covered in crude tattoos as well as cigarette burns.

Okkarou said she had been snatched from outside a relatives home in Oulad Ayad town, in central Morocco.

"They held me for about two months, and raped and tortured me I will never forgive them. They have destroyed me," she said.

A Moroccan court official said that all the suspects are aged between 18 and 27 and are being investigated by a judge in the nearby city of Beni Mellal.

The main suspect, aged 20, is being held on suspicion of rape, torture, kidnapping, making death threats and forming a gang, the official added.

Ten others are facing similar charges, while the final suspect is under investigation for failing to report a crime and failing to help a person in danger.

Okkarou's plight sparked international uproar, with people taking to social media to demand justice under the hashtag We are all Khadija.

Meanwhile, over 25,000 people signed a petition urging King Mohammed VI to provide her with medical and psychological care, including help removing the tattoos.

Loubna el-Joud of women's rights group NSAT, which is providing Okkarou with support, said that she was still in shock, although she tries to remain strong.

"Her hands shake when she speaks Ms el-Joud said.

 Women shown how to hide signs of domestic violence by state TV in Morocco

Parents of the suspects have, however, hit back in interviews with local news networks, defending their sons and claiming that Okkarou had tattooed and burnt herself.

She has a bad reputation in Oulad Ayad, one mother told Soltana, news outlet, claiming the teenager led a depraved lifestyle.

She wanted this, the unnamed woman added.

Rape victims in Morocco are often subject to a double trauma as the conservative society blames them for their ordeal.

Sexual harassment, violence and abuse of women is often rife in Morocco. Last year Moroccan courts heard 1,600 cases of rape, twice as many as previous years. While nearly two-thirds of women have experienced some form of abuse, according to a 2009 national survey.

There has been public outcry over the treatment of women after two videos surfaced during last August and in March of this year, showing the brutal sexual assault of two young girls.

The state has worked to curb the violence. In February it ratified a new law criminalisng forms of domestic violence and establishing protection for victims of sexual assault.Russia has deployed at least a dozen vessels to waters off Syria ahead of the final regime offensive against rebels, in what is believed to be the largest Russian naval buildup in the Mediterranean since the nation entered the conflict in 2015.

Russian media reported at least two submarines and 10 warships were dispatched to the area this week. Lebanese daily Al-Masdar  which supports Syrian president Bashar al-Assad  said there were as many as 17 Russian vessels off the Syrian coast.

Frigates Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen, which are armed with Kalibr long-range cruise missiles, were photographed on Saturday moving through the Turkish straits connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

A day earlier, the Pytlivy frigate and landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov were also pictured taking the same route. The Vishny Volochek missile corvette passed through the Bosphorus this month.

The massive deployment came as President Assads forces, backed by Russian land, sea and air power, prepared to take Idlib, the rebels last major enclave in Syria.

Recommended Putin must stop killing Syrians before we pay to rebuild the country

The anticipated battle, in the north of the country, is expected to be the final showdown in the seven year conflict. Regime forces have successfully swept back into control of most the country since Russia intervened in 2015, turning the tide in President Assads favour.

The United Nations warned on Tuesday a large scale offensive in Idlib could spark a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen in the conflict.

The northwestern province, near the border with Turkey, is home to almost 3 million people. It has a considerable al-Qaeda and jihadist presence but is also a refuge for thousands of civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria.

John Ging, the UNs director of humanitarian operations, warned recent weeks had seen a significant deterioration in the humanitarian situation, amid intense bombing and shelling in parts of Idlib as well as Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces, resulting in civilian deaths and the destruction of schools and hospitals.

Many speculate the massive Russian naval presence near Syria is not only in preparation for the anticipated battle, but intended as a deterrent to the United States, the UK and its allies, if Assads troops use too much force, or even chemical weapons.

On Wednesday, Russia delivered a veiled warning to the West not to stand in the way of an anti-terror operation in Idlib.

At a press conference in Moscow with Saudi officials, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called fighters in Idlib a festering abscess. Russia, Assad and its Iranian and Lebanese allies dismiss the rebel forces in Idlib as jihadis and extremists.

I hope our Western partners will not give in to [rebel] provocations and will not obstruct an anti-terror operation... This abscess needs to be liquidated, Mr Lavrov said.

He added he was in contact with the US about the situation.

I hope our Western partners will not give in to [rebel] provocations and will not obstruct an anti-terror operation... This abscess needs to be liquidated Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister

A day earlier, US State Department officials and the UK warned Russia and Syria they would retaliate if chemical weapons were used on Idlib, or elsewhere in the country.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said US officials made it very clear to Damascus a response would be delivered in a swift and appropriate manner.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told Mr Lavrov last week Moscow would be held responsible, if chemical weapons were deployed.

In April Britain, the US and France launched military strikes in Syria to punish Assad for an apparent chlorine attack on civilians in the Damascus suburb of Douma. A year earlier, US president Donald Trump authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles in retaliation for the regimes alleged use of sarin gas against civilians in Khan Sheikhoun.Swimming has been banned at the beach at Landevennec in Brittany, France, after a dolphin in heat started displaying sexual behaviour towards people in the water.

The animal, nicknamed Zafar, is well known in the local area, having spent the summer in various beaches around the Bay of Brest.

Previously he was a welcome sight for tourists, approaching boats and sometimes letting swimmers hold onto his dorsal fin.

Recommended Dolphins filmed jumping for joy off Cornish coast

However, in recent weeks his behaviour has changed, becoming more sexually aggressive. There have been instances of Zafar trying to prevent swimmers from getting back to shore, and he even lifted one woman out of the water with his nose.

He has also been seen approaching boats and kayaks and rubbing up against them in a state of arousal.

As a result, Landevennec mayor Roger Lars has introduced a new bylaw to ensure peoples safety:

Swimming and diving are banned on the village shoreline whenever the presence of the dolphin is confirmed.

Approaching within 50 metres of the dolphin is also forbidden.

The mayor told the Ouest-France newspaper: Several swimmers were frightened. He even lifted up a woman swimmer last Thursday with his nose.

Its not the first time an animal has scuppered holidaymakers chances of taking a dip this summer

10ft shark in Mallorca

Police closed Mallorcas Cala Domingos beach on 2 August after a 10ft tintorera shark was seen swimming in the shallows.

The animal was caught on camera making its way towards the beach, causing swimmers to clear the water in alarm. Children could be heard screaming as the shark approached.

It turned out the creature had been stung by a ray, hence its close proximity to the shore, and was in pain and distress. Authorities eventually made the decision to euthanise the animal after it was found barely breathing on the sand.

Portuguese men o war in Benidorm

A number of beaches were closed in the seaside resort of Benidorm, Spain, in May after a swarm of Portuguese man o war jellyfish were spotted off the coast.

An 11-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being stung at La Marina beach near Elche on the Costa Blanca, and miles of coastline were subsequently closed between Denia and Torrevieja, a nearly 150km stretch that takes in Benidorm and the popular city of Alicante.

The creatures carry venomous tentacles which can grow up to 50m, with a sting powerful enough to kill fish and humans.

Seal in Melbourne

Brighton Beach in Melbourne was closed on 28 August after a seal was spotted sleeping on the sand.

The snoozing sea beast doesnt appear to be in any distress but beware, its an offence for people to go within 30m of a seal on land or to let a dog under your control go within 50m, Victoria Police said.

The large male leopard seal had woken up by lunchtime and headed back into the sea.

Whale calf on Bondi Beach

Sydneys Bondi Beach was shut off on 28 August due to a decapitated whale calf washing ashore. The carcass was removed from the northern end of the beach, which remained closed due to the increased risk of shark activity near the shore.

Sharks can often smell a dead animal thats been washed up, which attracts them closer to the shore and makes it dangerous for swimmers.The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a terrible reminder of the human cost of foreign policy. As we report today, the British Iranian charity worker was taken to the prison clinic when she blacked out after being returned to detention in Iran.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes medical crisis happened after her hopes, and those of her husband and supporters, were raised by a three-day release last week during which she was able to spend some time with her young daughter. After her lawyer expressed cautious optimism that her period of limited freedom might be extended, it may be that the disappointment of her return to prison provoked her collapse.

The Independent has been critical of Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, for his inept handling of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes case. A low point of his unimpressive tenure at the Foreign Office was his blunder in evidence to a select committee of MPs, in which he suggested that she might indeed have been training journalists in Iran  an accusation by the Iranian regime of conduct amounting to spying that Mr Johnson then had to insist was untrue.

To be fair to Mr Johnson, he did the right thing afterwards by apologising and by travelling to Tehran to make representations to the Iranian government. Nor should we lose sight of the fact that it is Irans rulers who are in the wrong by imprisoning Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe on trumped-up charges.

 One Night of Freedom: comedy in solidarity with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

It is the Iranian authorities who bear responsibility for the cruel and unjustified separation of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe from her four-year-old daughter. The dilemma for Jeremy Hunt, the new foreign secretary, is how to persuade Iranian leaders that it is in their interest to release Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe without somehow suggesting that they were entitled to lock her up for nearly two and a half years in the first place.

An optimist might suggest that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has taken two steps towards freedom and one step back. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, a dedicated campaigner, said this week that he felt Mr Hunt had prioritised Nazanins case more than Mr Johnson had.

And Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes three-day furlough was in itself a hopeful sign; perhaps not wholly negated by the Iranian authorities decision to return her to prison.

We can only hope, then, that the fresh attention from the new foreign secretary will prompt a new effort by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly called on the Iranian government to release Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and has condemned the flagrant violations of Irans obligations under international law.

Let Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes ill health prompt the world to renew its appeal to Iranian leaders to show some compassion.So then, six down and only 753 to go. Theresa Mays announcement that the UK has secured its first post-Brexit trade deal with six southern African nations should be, even for the sourest of her critics, good news.

Britain will certainly need such deals. The agreement, such as it is, replicates those nations existing trade relationships with the EU, rather than breaking any new ground. It has been estimated that there are some 759 such treaties and arrangements with third parties that the UK currently enjoys with various countries through its membership of the EU. Two years after the Brexit referendum, this is as far as the British government has come to renegotiating any of them. It is not so much that Britain is at the back or the front of the queue but rather that its scant international trading efforts havent quite made it to joining the queue at all.

Laudable as these African efforts are, the UKs free trade treaties with the far larger economies of the United States, China, Japan and India, so often mentioned in the rhetoric of buccaneering Brexiteers, remain as yet undrafted. Whether it is chlorinated chicken from America or visas for Indian and Chinese students, the British seem to want their cake and eat it just as much as they do with Europe. Maybe the Africans were more obliging.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries  nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union. Ms Jenkyns also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliaments influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of unbalanced reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commissions sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely. He went on to argue that the general direction of Ms Mays policies would leave the UK in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Daviss main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as courageous and principled by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on. Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn. PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10. PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form. Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

Once all part of the British empire, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and now of the Commonwealth, sentiment counts for relatively little with these independent states: these days money talks, and Germany, China, Japan, South Korea and others often outrank Britain in economic significance. The prime ministers visit to South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria certainly has an air of commercial bustle about it. It is also true that Africa has long held huge economic potential, as yet still mostly untapped, and some African economies are among the worlds fastest growing.

So there is promise and excitement in this British initiative. Some perspective, though, is required. Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, has a GDP about the size of Belgiums. The per capita GDP of a Kenyan is $3,500 or so; that of the poorest of the EU states, Bulgaria, stands at $21,000.

That is not to denigrate the economies of sub-Saharan Africa; there is no reason why they could not reach and exceed income levels seen in the developed world, as happened in east Asia after the Second World War. It is, however, to point out the scale of the challenge for Britain in trying to secure a prosperous future via a boost in trade with faraway poorer nations while making trade with prosperous neighbours more difficult.

The truth, as ever, is that the European Union represents the largest single market in the world, with some of its richest consumers, and, for all its troubles, is growing faster than the UK. It is also, on the whole, less prone to political and economic instability than most of the rest of the world.

Fairer trade with African nations would be a welcome evolution of their current relationship with the west. Trade is a more effective tool than aid. Overseas aid budgets are increasingly geared towards educational and technological help, rather than to subsidise the treasuries of developing economies. The British government now wishes to push this a stage further with the aim, as the prime minister puts it, of overseas aid being spent in the British national interest. This could lead to some imaginative new projects, encouraging private investors and companies to boost development efforts, say through joint ventures and operations led by British-based companies.

This is, broadly, the model followed by the Chinese, although they have much greater financial clout and more of a taste for acquiring land and property than the British have, or least since the end of the colonial era. Ms May seems to have been stung by French ambitions in the continent, in a way redolent of British imperialists in the Edwardian era. If the Africans find themselves courted by both countries, as well as China, it may be turned to their advantage.

There is, one suspects, a message in the prime ministers rhetoric to her hard right, including the former international development secretary Priti Patel: that British aid will be geared to help British business and, if the choice has to be made, their interests will rank ahead of those of the people of the country concerned. The 0.7 per cent of GDP target for overseas aid may be retained, but the purposes to which it is put will be radically altered, and not always in the interests of the recipients. Britains overseas aid effort will, in its way, become another casualty of Brexit.A minor political earthquake took place in Paris on Tuesday morning, when Frances environment minister, Nicolas Hulot, dramatically quit his position live on France Inter, which is sort of the French equivalent of Radio 4s Today programme.

Appearing to literally make the decision in an agonising pause between questions, he declared: I cant lie to myself anymore, I dont want my presence in government to give the illusion that we are on top of things. I therefore take the decision to leave the government. His line was clear: he did not want to legitimise a government that, in his eyes, was failing to live up to its environmental obligations.

Other government ministers reacted with shock upon hearing the news. The secretary of state for equality, Marlene Schiappa, asked incredulously whether it was a joke when she was informed of his resignation during a live TV interview. La Macronie  the term used to describe the political galaxy ruled by President Emmanuel Macron  is not accustomed to rebellion.

Yet Macrons government is one that, for many, is indeed not on top of things, whether it was Frances silly summer story of the presidents bodyguard moonlighting as a thug and beating up May Day protesters, or the more serious criticism in June from leading economist Jean Pisani-Ferry that Macrons government is not doing enough to tackle growing inequality.

Equally, the challenges that France will face in the months to come would be enough to give any government sleepless nights. Its push for a unified European finance policy has been rebuffed by the deadlocked Germans and the reluctant Dutch, while an Italian government led by a neo-fascist tears at the soul of Europe, refusing to cooperate on integration and threatening to block the next EU budget.

The time bomb at the heart of the European project is, of course, Britains scheduled exit next March. While Macron has held the official line with the EU on Brexit, saying on Tuesday that Europe must remain united at all costs, the reality is that France would be one of the worst afflicted countries if Britain were to crash out. The prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has begun contingency planning for a scenario that would see Frances GDP suffer a 2 per cent drop, with fishing and automobile industries in the north of the country decimated.

While Macron remains master of all he surveys, he appears powerless to push for European reform during twin economic and political crises. He stands in the eye of a perfect storm for multilateralism where his environment minister storms off for fear of failing to achieve goals set in Paris in 2015, where the American president rejects free trade with Europe and where xenophobic, populist governments threaten the heart of European idealism.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries  nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union. Ms Jenkyns also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliaments influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of unbalanced reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commissions sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely. He went on to argue that the general direction of Ms Mays policies would leave the UK in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Daviss main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as courageous and principled by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on. Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn. PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10. PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form. Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

Depending on perspective, the shock resignation of a popular environment minister is either the final nail in the coffin of a beleaguered uncompromising government, or merely another obstacle in the way of a dynamic president whose plan to reform France and Europe will soldier on.

As someone who worked on Macrons campaign, I remain confident that his challenges are not insurmountable. Friedrich Hegel once said that a great man is capable of defining his era. He is a leader who comes around once in a generation, like Franklin D Roosevelt or Helmut Kohl, whose energy and ideas inspire and enrage in equal measure.

France is already seeing the benefits of his leadership, with companies such as Uber and BlackRock expanding in the hexagon as a result of his "human capital" investment and business-friendly policies.

The picture of the "Sun King" president reciting Molieres Misanthrope, or defending his policies in person in front of angry factory workers, is enough in itself to make an American or a Brit weep with envy. Perhaps, as Alceste declared in Misanthrope, betrayed and wronged in everything, [they will] flee this bitter world where vice is king.

Nevertheless, the stakes could not be higher for the young president, or for the EU project. Macron will do all he can to ensure he does not end up with the title attributed to the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas. If he can prevent it, he will not be the last European.Two and a half years ago, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Khomeini Airport in Tehran following a routine visit to see her parents. Cruelly separated from her life in West Hampstead, she has gone through hell ever since.

Following the latest deterioration of her physical condition, I find myself compelled to speak out against the impossible conditions she faces and the cruelty of those jailing her. At the beginning of her imprisonment, Nazanin was subject to intense questioning and long periods of solitary confinement. There has never been a shred of evidence that Nazanin was in Iran for nefarious purposes, but the authorities continue to treat her as an enemy of the state. They have consistently failed to support their charges, instead choosing to channel spurious and incoherent accusations through the medium of Iranian state television. They have shown scant disregard for their humanitarian obligations every step of the way.

In private conversations with Nazanin, the authorities have been actively duplicitous. On some weeks they signal that she will be eligible for parole, as has long been her right in Iranian law. On other weeks, they recant on their promises, condemning my constituent to further imprisonment and insecurity.

The events of the past week best epitomise their duplicity and shed a clear light on the toll that it takes on Nazanins health. In the space of just a few days, the family have experienced the joys of Nazanins temporary release, before being confronted with the devastation of renewed separation. Barely had they processed the beautiful pictures of Nazanins reunion with her four-year-old daughter Gabriella before taking stock of the fact she has returned to prison.

 One Night of Freedom: comedy in solidarity with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

As her MP, I find the decision not to extend the temporary release to be unforgivable. In my conversations with her husband Richard, he mentioned that fellow prisoners  condemned to much longer sentences than Nazanin  had received extensions, but yet she had not. This pattern of arbitrary enforcement is not new in Nazanins case, nor new to that faced by other British citizens detained in Iran. However it had a dramatic impact on her physical wellbeing, prompting successive panic attacks and her hospitalisation.

I hope that these developments will jolt the conscience of those who continue to detain her, but I fear it will do no such thing. While the new foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has been far more proactive than his predecessor in demanding clarity from the Iranian authorities, in his own words, his conversations with Irans foreign minister Javad Zarif clearly werent enough to change Nazanins reality.

Given this current impasse, I think it is high time that the UK considered a bolder approach in bringing Nazanin home. Though each case is extremely sensitive and ultimately dependent on individual circumstances, Britain should not be tolerating any idea that we will accept the arbitrary detention of British citizens abroad.

In that vein, I continue to ask that the government offers Nazanin diplomatic protection. This would mean that any harm caused to Nazanin would be taken as harm to the British state. It would escalate the dispute to a higher status, and would encourage greater accountability from the Iranian authorities. It would hopefully force a swifter conclusion to this shocking case.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures 2018 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. Free Nazanin Campaign/AP Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Nazanin is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran's government. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures June 2016 Richard Ratcliffe's daughter Gabriella had her British passport confiscated and was stranded in Iran with her grandparents after her mother Nazanin was jailed. He left left a giant birthday card on the doorstep of the Iranian embassy in central London to mark her second birthday in June 2016. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin has spent some of her prison sentence in solitary confinement. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella. Family Handout Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures July 2016 Richard Ratcliffe delivering a letter of petition with his mother Barbara Ratcliffe and MP Tulip Siddiq, to 10, Downing Street on the 100th day of her detention, on July 12, 2016. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Supporters of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe held a vigil outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to mark her 707 days in captivity. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures January 2017 Richard Ratcliffe holds a '#Free Nazanin' sign and candle during a vigil for for wife on January 16, 2017. The vigil, being held outside the Iranian Embassy in London marks one year since the Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and other US-Iranian dual-nationals were released from prison in Iran. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin with her daughter Gabriella before they were detained by Iranian authorities. Change.org Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures September 2017 Gabriella, who is three-years-old in this picture, has now spent two years away from her mother. Richard Ratcliffe Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meets with Richard Ratcliffe over Nazanin's case. They meet just days after Johnson told a parliamentary committee that she was in Iran "training journalists". WPA Pool/Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 Actor Emma Thompson braved pneumonia to support Richard Ratcliffe in leading demonstrators before a march in support of Nazanin in November. Reuters Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 Richard Ratcliffe after the march said: 'It is profoundly moving to see so many people here.' REUTERS Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 A picture of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shown on Iranian state TV as part of a report that made fresh allegations against her. They said she had been recruiting for banned broadcast services, as well as 'opposition cyber teams'. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures December 2017 Iranian president Hassan Rouhani greets British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at the presidential office in Tehran, Iran. Johnson visited Tehran to discuss the fate of detained Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. EPA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures December 2017 Photos of Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on display at their home in north London. Mr Ratcliffe said he believed there was "still a chance" she may be released from an Iranian prison in time for a dream Christmas together. Unfortunately that didn't happen. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures February 2018 Richard Ratcliffe delivers a petition and a letter addressed to the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to demand her release, at the Iranian Embassy in London on February 21, 2018. He also left support letters for his spouse in the country's embassy, amid a visit by a deputy foreign minister. AFP/Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures August 2018 Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt meeting Richard Ratcliffe. Hunt has pledged to do everything possible to secure the release of a charity worker jailed in Iran Jeremy Hunt/PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures August 2018 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. PA

As a member of parliament, I am used to taking on difficult casework. At my advice surgeries, many constituents tell me of their extreme stress, often a result of immigration difficulties or cuts to welfare support. I therefore do not take this lightly when I say that I have experienced no case in which a constituent has been treated so disgracefully.

Human rights organisations, led by the charities Redress UK and Amnesty International, have said that Nazanins detention amounts to mental and physical torture. Following the events of the past week, who could possibly disagree?Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write  I agree with Pope Francis.

During a flight on his trip back to Rome from Ireland, Francis was asked what he would say to parents whose children were gay. He allegedly told journalists that "a lot can be done through psychiatry", suggesting that gay kids should be packed off to a doctor to have their head examined.

And he's inadvertently right. Most LGBT+ people would benefit from counselling or advice from a mental-health specialist  but it's nothing to do with their sexuality or their gender identity. It's because of people like Pope Francis continually regurgitating this toxic rhetoric that there's something wrong with us.

I was born in 1987  on the same day Pet Shop Boys' "It's a Sin" ominously went to number one, and just a few months before the introduction of Thatcher's homophobic Section 28, which banned the "promotion of the acceptability of homosexuality" in schools. I've spent the past 31 years being told by world leaders, politicians, musicians, actors, teachers, kids in playgrounds and strangers on the street  either directly or indirectly  that, by being gay, I'm suffering from an illness.

 Pope: 'The failure of the Church...remains a source of pain and shame'

But the illness I'm suffering from isn't my sexuality. To paraphrase the drag queen Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova, the illness I suffer from is the cacophony of demonic voices I'm bombarded with telling me I'm not good enough.

At some point or another, I've suffered from crippling self-esteem and body issues, insecurity and anxiety, and unhealthy relationships with drugs, alcohol and sex. These have manifested in ways that have regrettably pushed away the people I love and care about the most.

I take full responsibility for the things I've done in the past, of course. But I lay a lot of blame at the feet of people like our ol' pal Francis who still tell me on a daily basis that the life I live isn't natural.

I'm not saying all LGBT+ people would benefit from or even need counselling, but I know that I'm not alone. The Mental Health Foundation states that people identifying as LGBT+ are at higher risk of experiencing poor mental health and are more likely to face issues such as depression, suicidal thoughts, self-harm and substance misuse. The government's own national LGBT+ survey, published last month, found that 24 per cent of respondents had accessed mental health services in the 12 months preceding the survey, and we'll never know the true number of those who are suffering in silence.

Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis celebrates the Holy Mass at the Phoenix Park, in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis arrives at Phoenix Park for a Papal Mass of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin EPA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A vigil takes place at the site of the mass grave which contained the remains of 796 named babies from the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam. The vigil coincides with the Phoenix park mass which is taking place in Dublin held by Pope Francis. Excavations at the site in 2017 revealed underground structures which held babies bodies with ages ranging from 35 weeks to three years old with most of the dead buried in the 1950s when the facility was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order of nuns who received unmarried pregnant women to give birth Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Children queue for communion during Pope Francis' closing Mass PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures The Stand4Truth rally gathers outside a former Magdalene laundry in Dublin as part of the demonstrations against clerical sex abuse PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis leads the Holy Mass at Phoenix Park AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis arrives to celebrate the Holy Mass at the Phoenix Park AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures The names of the victims are read out as a vigil takes place at the site of the mass grave which contained the remains of 796 named babies from the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis leads the Holy Mass at Phoenix Park AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A member of the clergy carries a bowl of incense PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A vigil takes place at the site of the mass grave which contained the remains of 796 named babies Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Members of the public pray as they watch Pope Francis deliver a Papal Mass of the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park EPA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis passes by a banner of a protester as he leaves St Mary's Pro-Cathedral AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis speaks during his visit to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on Christchurch PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on College Green PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Members of the public wave at Pope Francis as he travels through the city Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis laughs as he leaves St Mary's Pro Cathedral during his visit to Dublin Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Two boys wave flags after climbing a post as they wait for Pope Francis Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pairs of baby shoes are hung from black ribbons on Gardiner Street in Dublin in memory of the children who died at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Crowds on O'Connell Street PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures WMOF2018/Maxwell Photography/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis memorabilia on sale on O'Connell Street PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis arrives at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral during his visit to Ireland to attend the 2018 World Meeting of Families AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on O'Connell Street PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis addresses the congragation at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Stephen O'Brien selling bottles of holy water from the St Mary's Pro Cathedral PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis prays inside St Mary's Pro Cathedral Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A man waves a rainbow flag behind a model of a pope which stands in the window above a bar Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures People hold a banner against Pope Francis on the way to St Mary's Pro-Cathedral AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Nuns wait by the side of the road for Pope Francis Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A model of a pope is placed in the window above a bar as crowds wait for Pope Francis to travel through the city Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Crowds on O'Connell Street, Dublin waiting to see Pope Francis as he travels in the Popemobile PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to wellwishers as he arrives at Dublin Airport Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures His visit, the first by a Pope since John Paul II's in 1979 is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of Catholics to a series of events in Dublin and Knock PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis talks to journalists aboard a plane flying from Fiumicino aiport to Dublin AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures LGBT protestors from Dublin Pride and We Are Church with flags and umbrellas on Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin to remember the victims of clerical sex abuse ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis disembarks from the aircraft as he arrives at Dublin Airport Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Woman wait for Pope Francis to drive past, in Dublin Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Taoiseach Leo Varadkar delivers a speech watched by Pope Francis in St. Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle WMOF2018/Maxwell Photography/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Protesters hold banners during a demonstration against clerical sex abuse, in Dublin Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis plants a tree during a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins, at Aras an Uachtarain PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis walks with the President of Ireland Michael Higgins at Aras an Uachtarain WMOF2018/Maxwell Photography/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis, center, is flanked by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, right, as they arrive to meet authorities, in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Protestors wearing baby shoes, to signify the children who died in mother and baby homes in Ireland, protest in Dublin ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Franci PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis speaks with President Michael D Higgins in his study during a visit to Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Navy band march prior to the arrival of Pope Francis at the Presidential residence in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Eddie McGuinness from Dublin LGBTQ Pride carries a rainbow flag across Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A message left by Pope Francis in the visitors book at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park PA

But I'm getting better. And to those who are suffering in silence, I want you to know that counselling has played a part in that, but so has simply talking about my problems with the people I care about. Despite the intention in the pontiff's alleged words, I urge anyone who's struggling  no matter how  to speak with someone: a health care professional, a loved one, or one of the charities who are there for the betterment of people like us. And if you're scared to talk in person, there are resources online and chat facilities, which means you can retain your anonymity. From someone who's lost a lot, even though it can be tough, the consequences of staying silent are just too dire.

There's nothing unnatural or wrong about loving someone of the same sex. The only thing that's wrong is believing that's a problem to be corrected.

If you have been affected by this article, you can contact London Friend, MindOut and Switchboard LGBT for support. Other mental health organisations you can contact include:

mind.org.uk

beateatingdisorders.org.uk

nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth

mentalhealth.org.uk

samaritans.orgYou've got to hand it to him: when Michael Crick is on form, theres no one better at administering the kind of torturous questioning that leaves senior politicians clammy and mumbling, and viewers peeking between fingers at an interview that more resembles the grisly aftermath of a medieval saints martyrdom.

And so it was during Theresa Mays much-vaunted trip to South Africa (which, aside from a rebadged EU trade deal and footage of the prime minister shuffling anxiously like someone whos misplaced all their mates at Creamfields, hasnt produced much) when the veteran political correspondent stepped up to question her. Specifically, he asked what she did personally in the 70s and 80s to secure Nelson Mandelas freedom, ahead of a visit to Robben Island prison, where the PM was granted rare access to the cell in which Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years.

What followed was an increasingly tetchy May admitting that she hadnt attended any protests or pickets against apartheid, and obdurately refusing to answer whether she had participated in either the goods or cultural boycott of South Africa  courses of action backed by such radical fringe organisations such as the United Nations General Assembly.

Instead the prime minister fell back on the repeated bleat that she supported the work that the United Kingdom government did to ensure that it did give support where that support was needed."

It's unclear what precisely Theresa May meant by this. She might have been referring to Ted Heaths pledge to end the arms embargo and resume sales of military equipment to the apartheid regime when the Conservatives won the 1970 election. Or it could have been Margaret Thatchers labelling of Nelson Mandela a terrorist, combined with her steadfast opposition to sanctions and the continuance of her husband Dennis Thatchers business interests in South Africa.

Maybe she was talking about former prime minister David Camerons 1989 visit to the country, paid for by an anti-sanctions lobbying firm. Perhaps it was the memory of the Federation of Conservative Students (former members including the speaker of the house John Bercow and Andrew dogwhistle Rosindell MP) printing posters and stickers calling for Nelson Mandela to be hanged that filled Theresa May with such pride.

Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Show all 39 1 /39 Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures British Prime Minister Theresa May reviews a military guard of honour at the State House in Nairobi. May wraps up a three day tour of Africa in Kenya as she seeks to drum up post-Brexit deals before quitting the European Union on a continent which has increasingly looked elsewhere for trade and investment AFP/Getty Images Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May in breaks into dance whilst meeting with scouts at the United Nations offices in Nairobi on the third day of her visit to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May in breaks into dance whilst meeting with scouts at the United Nations offices in Nairobi on the third day of her visit to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May in breaks into dance whilst meeting with scouts at the United Nations offices in Nairobi on the third day of her visit to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May dancing with students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets charity workers at a Salvation Army centre in Lagos, where modern slavery was discussed PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the State House in Nairobi to meet with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta welcomes Theresa May AP Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta address a press conference at the state house in Nairobi Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May with the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the State House in Nairobi, to meet the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, on the third day of her visit to Africa. PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets Nigerian President Buharia at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria, on day two of her trip to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria on day two of her trip to Africa Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria on day two of her trip to Africa Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Nigerian President Buhari and Theresa May watch as the Nigerian Budget and National Planning Minister and the British Trade Policy Minister sign a bilateral agreement on Nigerian trade development EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets South African president Cyril Ramaphosa at DeTuynhuys Presidential Palace in Cape Town PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May meets students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town, which is twinned with Whitby High School in Yorkshire PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures The two schools are part of a British Council funded teacher exchange scheme called 'Connected Classrooms' AP Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures The Prime Minister enters the cell in which Nelson Mandela was held on Robben Island Cape Town PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May meets South African president Cyril Ramaphosa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May dancing with students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa take part in the ceremony to hand over the bell of the SS Mendi AFP/Getty Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa shake hands PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May poses for a picture with school children Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa take part in the ceremony to hand over the bell of the SS Mendi AFP/Getty Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May dancing with students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May exits stage right following an address to business leaders at the offices of First National Bank in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures A group of school children at the ID Mkhize Secondary School, take a selfie with a phone with a Union Jack cover Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures The Prime Minister is on day one of her trip to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya on a trade mission designed to bolster the UK's post-Brexit fortunes PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May talks with students AP Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May speaks to business leaders at the offices of First National Bank in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets students and staff PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May is greeted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May speaks to staff at I.D. Mkize Secondary School PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May is greeted by schoolchildren waving British and South African flags AFP/Getty Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May speaks to students PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May walks with Nomvula Mokonyane - the South African Minister of Communications - as she arrives at Cape Town airport PA

Indeed, the Conservatives can hardly be said to have covered themselves in glory when it comes to having defended, aided and abetted the apartheid regime. But what is most telling about Theresa Mays comments to Michael Crick is her patently contemptuous attitude ("I think you know full well, Michael, that I didn't go on protests) towards the actions that actually had a hand in bringing down apartheid.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Britain  including Claudia Jones, the godmother of the Notting Hill Carnival, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, and the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn  heeded the call of the Anti-Apartheid Movement to picket South Africa House in London, campaigned for the release of South Africans detained without trial and even managed to save the lives of men condemned to hang like Solomon Mahlangu. By the mid-1980s, protesters and boycotters in Britain forced Barclays Bank to sell its subsidiaries in South Africa, as trade with Britain  which was once the market for 28 per cent of all of South Africas exports  plummeted.

You didnt have to be extraordinarily far-sighted not to be caught out on the wrong side of history on apartheid; in the words of Julius Nyerere: We are not asking you, the British people, for anything special. We are just asking you to withdraw your support from apartheid by not buying South African goods.

The Robben Island press hoopla is just another example of how the history of the British establishments complicity in the apartheid regime has been deliberately whitewashed since 1993. This isnt just about papering over the past, but restricting the political effectiveness of solidarity actions in the present. Its striking that the tactics  boycotts, divestment, and sanctions  which, when normalised as a political tactic, caused considerable disruption to the South African economy, have since come under fierce attack when applied to Israel by Palestinian solidarity activists in the UK, including an attempt in 2016 by David Camerons government to ban the boycott of settlement produced goods by UK public institutions.

In her interview with Michael Crick, Theresa May praised Nelson Mandelas calm and statesmanlike approach to fighting injustice  conveniently forgetting that it was Nelson Mandelas founding of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of a Nation), and his insistence that armed struggle was a legitimate tactic to bring an unjust and violent state to the negotiating table, which landed him in prison in the first place. But maybe that was the savvy political move. Party leaders have been called terrorist sympathisers for less.

Theresa Mays visit to Robben Island is an insult to everyone who participated in the movement against apartheid. Perhaps she should have stuck to dancing  in hindsight, its marginally less embarrassing than this excruciating display of a total lack of historical awareness or insight.Theresa May is enjoying some rare positive media coverage of her trade mission to Africa, but cannot escape the Brexit nightmare that will greet her on her return. Asked about the threat of a leadership challenge, she insisted: Im in this for the long term.

If she had said anything else, she would have provoked another wave of speculation about her departure. She has to pretend she is going on forever until she is not; when Tony Blair pre-announced his departure, his authority drained immediately.

But it is an open secret that May will not lead her party into another general election. Even her allies now admit it. If she survives moves by hardline Eurosceptics to depose her this autumn and takes the UK out of the EU next March, that would be a very dangerous moment for her. She would come under enormous pressure to disclose her departure timetable, and to pre-empt attempts to oust her by making a dignified exit.

The knowledge that a leadership contest to choose Mays successor is coming has prompted a campaign by Nigel Farages lieutenants to flood the Conservative Party. People who have been members for three months can vote in leadership elections. Tory MPs choose a shortlist of two in a series of ballots, from which Tory members would elect our next prime minister.

An increase on the most recent 124,000 membership figure is likely to be announced at next months Tory conference. Normally, that would be good news. While Tory HQ will doubtless claim the rise is due to its membership drive, the truth is probably more sinister. Realising that Ukip is a busted flush and has served its purpose, Ukippers are infiltrating the Tory party. Some Tories dont mind: they point out that many recruits are re-treads who left the Tories for Ukip and are now happy to return to the party of Brexit.

Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Show all 39 1 /39 Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures British Prime Minister Theresa May reviews a military guard of honour at the State House in Nairobi. May wraps up a three day tour of Africa in Kenya as she seeks to drum up post-Brexit deals before quitting the European Union on a continent which has increasingly looked elsewhere for trade and investment AFP/Getty Images Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May in breaks into dance whilst meeting with scouts at the United Nations offices in Nairobi on the third day of her visit to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May in breaks into dance whilst meeting with scouts at the United Nations offices in Nairobi on the third day of her visit to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May in breaks into dance whilst meeting with scouts at the United Nations offices in Nairobi on the third day of her visit to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May dancing with students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets charity workers at a Salvation Army centre in Lagos, where modern slavery was discussed PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the State House in Nairobi to meet with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta welcomes Theresa May AP Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta address a press conference at the state house in Nairobi Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May with the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the State House in Nairobi, to meet the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, on the third day of her visit to Africa. PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets Nigerian President Buharia at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria, on day two of her trip to Africa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria on day two of her trip to Africa Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria on day two of her trip to Africa Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Nigerian President Buhari and Theresa May watch as the Nigerian Budget and National Planning Minister and the British Trade Policy Minister sign a bilateral agreement on Nigerian trade development EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets South African president Cyril Ramaphosa at DeTuynhuys Presidential Palace in Cape Town PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May meets students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town, which is twinned with Whitby High School in Yorkshire PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures The two schools are part of a British Council funded teacher exchange scheme called 'Connected Classrooms' AP Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures The Prime Minister enters the cell in which Nelson Mandela was held on Robben Island Cape Town PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May meets South African president Cyril Ramaphosa PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May dancing with students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa take part in the ceremony to hand over the bell of the SS Mendi AFP/Getty Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa shake hands PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May poses for a picture with school children Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa take part in the ceremony to hand over the bell of the SS Mendi AFP/Getty Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May dancing with students and staff at ID Mkize Secondary School in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May exits stage right following an address to business leaders at the offices of First National Bank in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures A group of school children at the ID Mkhize Secondary School, take a selfie with a phone with a Union Jack cover Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures The Prime Minister is on day one of her trip to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya on a trade mission designed to bolster the UK's post-Brexit fortunes PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May talks with students AP Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May speaks to business leaders at the offices of First National Bank in Cape Town EPA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May meets students and staff PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May is greeted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Reuters Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May speaks to staff at I.D. Mkize Secondary School PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May is greeted by schoolchildren waving British and South African flags AFP/Getty Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Theresa May speaks to students PA Theresa May visits Africa on trade trip  in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May walks with Nomvula Mokonyane - the South African Minister of Communications - as she arrives at Cape Town airport PA

Although Arron Banks, co-founder of Leave.EU, and his adviser, Andy Wigmore, have had their Tory membership applications blocked, it will be impossible for the party to veto ordinary ex-Ukippers. Banks has urged Leave.EUs 90,000 members to join the Tories to unseat May and help install a true Brexiteer such as Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg to the top job. Pro-EU Tory MPs are rightly alarmed by Bankss pledge to recruit new members hopefully in areas where the party has extreme remain MPs. Some have already seen a membership surge in their constituency. The implied threat is that they could be deselected if they dont toe the line on Brexit.

The move, dubbed Blue Momentum, carries huge dangers for the Tories and could turn into the Purple Peril, as Ukip was once called. Of course parties must be open to new members, but the Tories hardly need an influx of more right-wing, Eurosceptic ageing men. Only 30 per cent of Tory members are women, down from 49 per cent in 1994. Ukips imbalance is even worse; women account for only 25 per cent of its members.

There is no future for the Tories as a party of power unless it appeals to the under-50s and ethnic minorities. Their support among these voters fell at last years general election; these groups are the future.

A study by the bright, new, modernising, centre-right think tank Onward calculates that the growing BAME population, and a 6 per cent fall in the white population by 2031, means the Tories will lose a swathe of seats unless they achieve a 2 per cent swing among white voters or 12 per cent swing among ethnic minorities. When the proportion of BAME voters grows to 10 per cent in a constituency, it is more likely to be Labour than Tory. Once the BAME vote reaches 30 per cent, the Tories cant win it, Onward warns.

Tory modernisers fear the party has a massive problem and are worried that David Camerons efforts to woo the ethnic minority vote have not been matched by May.

It was Cameron who memorably dubbed Ukip as a bunch of fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists mostly. This returned to haunt him as pressure from Ukip forced him to foolishly promise an EU referendum. But his quote is a reminder of the dangers of allowing the Ukip tail to wag the Tory dog. The new recruits will be more likely to elect a Europhobic, right-wing leader with a hard line on immigration, even though that issue has fallen down the list of the publics concerns since the 2016 referendum.

A Trump-like Little Englander party and a nationalism that flirts with racism might cheer the Tory members who welcomed Boris Johnsons inflammatory remarks about women who wear the burqa. But it would consign the Tories to the electoral wilderness.Minister for Health Simon Harris with Irish wolfhound Seodin, mascot to the Dublin fire brigade, at the launch of a new national day to recognise the unsung heroes from frontline and emergency services at Dublin Castle (Brian Lawless/PA)

Minister for Health Simon Harris celebrated front line emergency services on Wednesday while admitting the health sector had a staff retention problem.

The launch of a new national day to recognise the frontline and emergency services workers takes place on Saturday September 1.

The minister met with representatives from Ambulance, Gardai, RNLI, Civil Defence and a range of other services to celebrate the hard work carried out 365 days a year.

Speaking at the launch in Dublin Castle, the minister hailed the work of emergency services.

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Ive been working with colleagues here from emergency front line services since I became Minister for Health, and they have been arranging a parade where members of emergency front line services take part and showcase the excellent work that they do on a daily basis.

They came to me and the Taoiseach and asked that the Government recognise this as an official day where we commemorate and thank our emergency services, and its a request the Government is happy to attend.

Pressed on the issue that over 40,000 nurses have set a deadline for a pay rise, and could strike if their pay demands are not met in 2019, the minister said everyone should respect labour protocols.

Im a big believer in process and I think process is very important when it comes to industrial relations.

We have a process that the Government established in relation to the Public Services Pay Commission, specifically looking at recruitment and retention.

I am long on the record that when it comes to the retention of health care professionals we have a very challenging situation.

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In the two years I have been Health Minister, I have visited facilities and met with doctors and nurses, and we do have a retention challenge.

We asked the Public Sector Pay Commission to explore how best to address those challenges.

I havent seen the report yet, as its finalising its work, I would expect that my colleague Minister (Paschal) Donohoe will bring that report to government in September, when he receives it.

My understanding of the agreement is there would be four weeks for engagement between union movement and government after that.

So there is a way to go here in terms of working our way through process and the prudent thing for any minister and any union to do is to read the Public Sector Pay Commission report and see where that brings us.Avoiding a hard Border in Ireland is a "pivotal issue" for Germany, the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said.

The top ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a united voice among the uncertainty caused by Brexit negotiations.

Mr Maas was speaking at a press conference alongside Tanaiste Simon Coveney in Berlin after he addressed the annual conference of German foreign ambassadors.

Mr Maas told reporters: "Any insecurity or deterioration in relation to Northern Ireland must not happen as a consequence of Brexit and in this regard we need to stand united and need the united voice of the 27 partners of the EU.

"We stand by our position - we have to avoid a hard Border, it is a pivotal issue."

Mr Coveney warned that the formal Brexit date of March 29, 2019, was "not far away".

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He insisted that finding an agreement on the backstop was the most "difficult" issue.

Mr Coveney reinforced the Government position that the Irish Border was an "EU problem" and not just one facing Ireland.

He said: "It's not simply an Irish problem that needs to be resolved in these negotiations.

"The British government understands that."

UK Prime Minister Theresa May and her Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt have spent the last few weeks visiting European capitals in an apparent attempt to draw EU support for her government's Chequers plan on Brexit.

Several Brexit sources have accused the British of a 'divide and rule' approach, saying the visits were a plan to lure some member states away from the unity of the EU 27 under EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier.

Meanwhile, both ministers rebuffed claims by Mrs May saying a no-deal Brexit would "not be the end of the world".

Disorderly

Mr Maas said: "We do not want a no-deal Brexit, we want a deal. Brexit is difficult enough and if it takes place in a disorderly way, it would be detrimental to all stakeholders involved, which is why we are working towards forging an agreement."

He added there should be some success "in the coming weeks because time is pressing".

Mr Coveney said a no-deal Brexit would be "very bad news for Ireland and other EU countries". He said the "various statements" emerging in the press about 'no deal' were designed to affect the negotiations, but added he was confident that a deal could be brokered.

"We will hear various statements as these negotiations proceed in relation to a no-deal Brexit because it impacts on negotiation positions and so on. I don't believe that a no-deal Brexit is in anybody's interest and I believe that we have the capacity to ensure that deals are done," he said.

He also doubled-down on the need for the Irish backstop in the EU-UK Withdrawal Treaty, saying that matter would "not change".

"It is certainly necessary as a fall-back or insurance mechanism to reassure people they're not going to face the consequences of a physical border on the island of Ireland again."

Mrs May was asked about her comments while on official trade business to South Africa.

She said: "Whatever the outcome, we'll make a success of leaving the EU. We've put forward our proposal; it delivers on the Brexit vote, and ensures there is no Border in Northern Ireland."

Mrs May also dismissed an alarming forecast from chancellor Philip Hammond, who revealed leaving the EU without a deal could cost the UK 80bn in extra borrowing to 2033, saying it was "a work in progress at the time in January".Central banks holding sterling as part of their foreign exchange (forex) reserves could sell more than 100bn (109bn) of the currency should Britain crash out of the European Union without a trade deal, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) study showed yesterday.

The prospect of a no-deal Brexit is becoming increasingly feasible in the eyes of investors who are hedging against the risk of the currency tanking if Britain is left isolated from the EU, its largest trading partner.

Such a huge currency sell-off would likely drive down the value of the pound against key peers including the euro and the US dollar.

This in turn would make it less lucrative to sell into the UK market for Irish suppliers, and harder for industry here to compete on price with British producers.

Yesterday, British Prime Minister Theresa May, inset, unsettled markets when she said a so called no-deal Brexit "wouldn't be the end of the world".

Central bank selling could be a major catalyst for a significant sterling downturn should Britain prove unable to secure a deal before next March, BAML told clients, noting that global sterling reserves currently amount to nearly $500bn.

While International Monetary Fund data shows sterling comprising 4.5pc of total central bank reserves, BAML said sterling's average share of global reserves since 1995 was 3.6pc.

A one percentage point decline in sterling reserves equates to 100bn of selling, it calculates. "In a scenario that central banks adjust their sterling holdings back to the long-term average (3.6pc), this suggests that they could sell upwards of 100bn in sterling reserves on a no-deal scenario, all else being equal," the note said.

BAML still expects a "soft" Brexit in which Britain retains customs access to the EU, and said reserve managers would likely await confirmation of a no-deal scenario before making a portfolio shift.

"This [no-deal Brexit] is not our base case, but we think central bank flows are an important source of flow which could determine whether sterling succumbs to a more protracted current account crisis," the bank added.

Meanwhile, Britain's Treasury yesterday denied a newspaper report yesterday that the government had asked Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to stay on for an extra year beyond his scheduled departure in June 2019.

"We don't recognise their reporting at all," a Treasury spokeswoman said when asked about the article in the 'Evening Standard' newspaper.

A diary item in the newspaper said the ministry had "quietly approached" Mr Carney about staying another year to provide continuity as Britain leaves the European Union. "Our position is the same - we plan to start recruitment soon," the finance ministry spokeswoman said.

Spokesmen for Prime Minister Theresa May and the BoE declined to comment on the newspaper report.

The value of sterling has fallen sharply since April as investors worry about the lack of progress in Brexit talks.

Mr Carney agreed to serve five years, rather than the usual eight, as BoE governor when he moved from his native Canada to Britain in 2013. In 2016, shortly after British voters decided to leave the European Union, he agreed to stay an extra year, keeping him in the job until June 30, 2019.

Mr Carney said in July he does not intend to change that plan. The 'Evening Standard' said government officials were struggling to find a candidate strong enough to replace him.

The person most tipped to be his successor is Andrew Bailey, a regulator with 30 years of experience at the BoE. He is currently head of the Financial Conduct Authority, one of the country's main watchdogs for the financial services industry.

The 'Evening Standard' is edited by former Chancellor George Osborne who appointed Mr Carney to the BoE. (Reuters)U2 frontman Bono has made an impassioned plea to Germans to understand the value of the EU at a time when "the word patriotism been stolen from us by nationalists and extremists".

The rock band plans to kick off its tour in Berlin this week with what he is calling "one of our more provocative ideas: during the show we're going to wave a big, bright, blue EU flag".

Ahead of the concert, Bono wrote a piece for one of Germany's biggest newspapers, 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung', in which he seeks support for Ireland's place in a post-Brexit Europe.

"Ireland is a place with a special emotional connection to Europe, and the idea of it. Maybe it's because Ireland is a tiny rock in a big sea, eager to be part of something larger than ourselves (for most things are larger than ourselves)...Belonging to Europe enabled us to become a better, more confident version of ourselves. We stand a bit taller among friends," he wrote.The first shipment of baled Italian alfalfa grass to be imported by Dairygold is due in the country this week.

A spokesperson for Dairygold confirmed to the Farming Independent that consignments of the crop will start to come on stream over the next few days.

Dairygold has identified a 25pc deficit in winter feed stocks among its suppliers and the co-op said it was keeping the situation "under constant review".

"Our fodder clinics are still ongoing and from the feedback from our members, we will determine the levels of fodder required," the Dairygold spokesperson said.

Dairygold has insisted that it will sell the imported fodder at cost price, but did not give further details. However, it is reported that 8x4x4 bales of alfalfa grass are being sold in south Leinster for 208/bale.

Meanwhile, grass growth levels stalled across much of the south and east again this week, with localised drought conditions re-emerging in south Limerick, Tipperary, east Cork, large parts of Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth and Kilkenny.

George Ramsbottom of Teagasc said grass growth had fallen to 30-40kgs/ha/day in the worst affected areas.

He predicted that the overall fodder shortfall could be 15-20pc of requirements across the southern half of the country.

In other fodder news, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, welcomed positive signals from the European Commission regarding changes to the GLAS scheme for this year in response to the fodder shortages. The changes will allow silage production on 270,000ha of Low Input Permanent Pasture parcels between September and December.

In addition, it is proposed that off-takes be permitted on a once-off basis on ground included in the Environmental Management of Fallow Land measure under GLAS.

The GLAS amendments are expected to get the green light from Brussels next week.Parched pastures and crops in Western Canada are driving up cattle-feeding costs, and farmers and analysts expect the changing economics to stem a recent stampede of US cattle being brought over the border.

Canada imported 65,035 head of cattle from the US from January through June, nearly double the pace of a year earlier when imports of U.S. cattle were at their highest level in 16 years, according to Statistics Canada. Most were young cattle to be fattened on feedlots.

But dry Canadian conditions that have curtailed hay supplies are making it cheaper to fatten cattle in the United States. A drop-off in the supply of Canadian cattle would amplify concerns for feedlots and packers in Canada, where the countrys herd has declined steadily.

Canadian government data on cattle imports lags about two months, so a reduction in U.S. supplies may not be publicly reported until well into autumn.

Rainfall in the past two months has fallen well below normal on the Canadian Prairies, with southern Alberta collecting less than 40 percent of average amounts, according to the federal agriculture department.

With limited supplies of feed grains in Western Canada, and a big U.S. corn crop on the way, it will soon make more sense to fatten cattle in the United States, said Rick Paskal, president of Van Raay Paskal Farms in southern Alberta.

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Theres an old farmers tale, that you dont haul the feed to the cattle, you haul the cattle to the feed. Its going to be tough to hold these cattle in Canada.

Charlie Christie, who runs a 400-cow ranch and feedlot near Trochu, Alberta, said he expects dry conditions to curb numbers of US cattle being moved to Canada and also cause more Canadian calves to be sent to the US.

An early surge of Canadian calves sold to feedlots this fall, as ranchers limit exposure to soaring feed costs, may leave supplies ample for now, said Brian Perillat, senior analyst at Canfax, a market analysis firm. Some ranchers are also culling their herds more than usual, putting more cattle on the market this year.

But longer-term, the Canadian herds decline raises concerns about how to compete with the expanding United States numbers, Perillat said.

Canada, the sixth-largest beef exporter, had 11m head of beef cattle as of July 1, a number that fell for the 13th straight year, according to Statistics Canada. But Canada will likely slaughter the most cattle in eight years in 2018, Perillat said, as the larger numbers of US imports work through the supply chain.

A new plant, Harmony Beef, opened in Alberta last year, while Cargill Ltd and JBS USA operate larger plants.

Montana and Wyoming feedlots face similar high feed costs due to dry weather as Canada, so more cattle may end up further south in Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, said John Ginzel, analyst at The Linn Group in Chicago.

The US cattle herd will this year reach nearly 133m head, its largest level in 10 years, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.CityJet CEO Pat Byrne (left) and Aer Lingus CEO Stephen Kavanagh at the announcement of their partnership on the London route

The Aer Lingus brand will return to the Dublin-London City Airport route for the first time in more than a decade after the airline signed an agreement with CityJet.

The smaller airline will now operate a service on Aer Lingus's behalf on the route, meaning the CityJet brand will no longer be used in Europe, a first since its foundation in 1993.

The agreement also leaves Aer Lingus and sister company British Airways - both owned by IAG - as the only carriers on the Dublin-London City route.

Dublin-based CityJet will operate the service using two of its aging Avro RJ85 jets, which will be painted in Aer Lingus livery.

CityJet's newer Sukhoi aircraft are not yet certified to operate at London City Airport.

The service will be operated on an ACMI basis, where CityJet provides the aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance.

Aer Lingus shoulders the financial risk, however. That's unlike the franchise arrangement between Aer Lingus and Stobart Air, where the latter shoulders the risk and pays a fee to Aer Lingus.

The agreement is a significant coup for CityJet, founded and headed by Pat Byrne.

He has previously said that he's interested in pitching for the Aer Lingus Regional franchise contract when it eventually comes up for tender.

The deal will also mean CityJet will be able to retire its own booking engine, as all bookings will now be made through partner airlines' websites, including SAS, Air France, KLM and Brussels Airlines. That should result in significant savings at CityJet.

The airline might also generate other cost savings, as some other functions may also no longer be requied.

The Aer Lingus service operated by CityJet will commence on October 28. It will offer six return flights every week day, five on a Sunday and one return service on a Saturday.

"In recent years CityJet has transitioned from being an airline serving scheduled markets under its own brand to becoming a provider of capacity to customer airlines throughout Europe," the airline told passengers on its website yesterday. "Today CityJet announced that, effective from October 27, it will no longer operate scheduled services marketed under its own brand."

In July, CityJet agreed to merge with Spanish carrier Air Nostrum to create what they said will be Europe's biggest regional airline group.

The merged businesses will have a combined fleet of close to 100 aircraft, and annual revenues approaching 700m.

Air Nostrum is controlled by building materials group Nefinsa and Spanish bank Caja Duero. CityJet is controlled by aircraft leasing group Falko.Fiona Tansey with residents of Gurteen Co. Sligo, outside the local post office in Gurteen, Co. Sligo Photo: James Connolly

THE widespread closures of rural post offices will have a devastating economic and social impact on people, a shop owner has claimed.

Gurteen in Co Sligo is one of the many places that will see its post office shuttered following a deal struck between An Post and the Irish Postmasters Union.

Local business owner Fiona Tansey said she had spoken to elderly people reduced to tears at the news yesterday.

She explained: Ive had a woman come into the shop in tears begging us to do whatever we can.

This has even been their social outlet. They get dressed up on a Friday and they come in for a cup of tea and they meet people. Apart from the economic impact, the social impact will be huge.

As part of the agreement, An Post will not close any branches located in towns with a population of 500 people or more.

While Gurteen has a small population of less than 400 people, locals say the closure of the post office will affect those in surrounding areas who use the service regularly.

They claim the number in Gurteen is 390 people.

Half a kilometre out of that in a circle, theres 600 or 700 people.

They should be classed in the settlement too, said Ms Tansey.

Its not just a little village that youd blink and youd miss when you pass through. Thats why were so baffled that its being closed.

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The closest post office location will be 12km away when the postmistress retires and the local branch closes in October.

Enda Lennon, who opened his pharmacy near the post office in 2016, said the town had come back to life in recent years, leading him to open the business in that area.

When you take the whole hinterland into account, you see why we expanded in the town, he said.

It all ties in with the GP service, the pharmacy and the shops for pensioners, and its yet another knock for the village.An employee passes American oak barrels containing Jameson whiskey, produced by Irish Distillers, in Middleton

Jameson is the number one Irish whiskey in the world with sales of 7.3 million cases in the 12 months to 30 June.

The whiskey experienced 14pc value growth and 12pc volume growth during the year, according to the latest annual results from Irish Distillers.

The US and South Africa continue to be the biggest markets for Jameson, with emerging markets also starting to grow.

Yesterday the Irish Independent reported that Irish Distillers is understood to be planning a major new distillery to cope with the increasing worldwide demand for Jameson whiskey, with Waterford and Youghal tipped as potential sites for the new distillery.

Overall and innovation contributed to sustaining growth across Irish Distillers portfolio, with sales of Jameson Caskmates reaching 300,000 cases in 2017/2018, driven by the launch of Caskmates IPA Edition in the United States, the group said.

During the 12 month period the Irish Distillers Prestige range, including Redbreast and Midleton Very Rare, experienced 12.8pc volume growth.

Commenting on the results, Conor McQuaid, chairman and CEO of Irish Distillers, said that Irish whiskey is the fastest growing premium spirit in the world.

"Sales of Irish whiskey now account for more than one third of all Irish beverage exports, and we are immensely proud of the strong performance of our full portfolio of Irish whiskeys cementing our position as the makers of the worlds most enjoyed Irish whiskeys."

In 1988 Irish Distillers joined Pernod Ricard, which reported overall sales of 9bn in its financial year 2017. The companys brands include Absolute Vodka, Havana Club rum, and Beefeater gin.Smurfit Kappa has confirmed that the Venezuelan Government has taken control of its factory in the country for 90 days, in a move has raised fears that the facility could be nationalised, or Smurfit ordered out of the country.

The confirmation from Smurfit comes a week after the government occupied a factory and ordered the Irish company to cut prices.

In addition, the government of Venezuela late last week arrested two Smurfit Kappa managers.

The two arrested, who are understood to be local Venezuelan employees of the Irish firm, were arrested for allegedly engaging in what were described by authorities of the leftist and increasingly authoritarian regime as "crimes of speculation, boycott, extraction contraband, destabilising the economy, and corruption".

In a statement today Smurfit Kappa said that as a result of the Government action, it was "impossible" for the business to manage its affairs in a way that complies with is normal business standards.

"Consequently, as of 28 August 2018, Smurfit Kappa is not responsible for the use of its installations, machinery and equipment, its employees safety, that of its surrounding communities, any environmental impact, or the quality of the paper and packaging manufactured in the operations."

The company went on to say that it was making all possible efforts to secure the release of its two detained employees.

The Irish Independent understands that no Irish employees work at the factory.

Last week Venezuela's government ordered the temporary occupation of a Smurfit Kappa carton production unit in Carabobo state for alleged abuse of a dominant position.

Smurfit Kappa told the market last Thursday that it "entirely refutes" the allegations made against it.

"The group has operated in Venezuela since 1986 to the highest business and ethical standards," Smurfit Kappa said, adding that the Venezuelan subsidiary of which the factory is part represented less than 1pc of its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first half of 2018.

Nine of the ten company unions last week confirmed their support and desire to continue working with Smurfit Kappa.

(Additional reporting from Bloomberg)Measures guarding against unfounded defamation claims over court reports are being considered by the State's law reform body.

The move is being looked at as part of a wide-ranging examination of issues relating to defamation and the reporting of court proceedings.

Other issues being examined include whether legal protections that professional journalists have against defamation proceedings should also continue to be enjoyed by unregulated bloggers and so-called citizen journalists.

The commission will also consider whether a new defence of qualified privilege should be allowed in situations where a court reporter makes an honest mistake.

The examination is being conducted by the Law Reform Commission following a request from former Attorney General Maire Whelan, made prior to her appointment as a judge of the Court of Appeal last year.

The commission is today publishing an "issues paper" outlining potential reforms.

Members of the public will have until October 26 to make submissions and a report with recommendations will be sent to the Government for consideration soon afterwards.

Under the Defamation Act 2009, professional journalists, bloggers and citizen journalists enjoy the immunity of absolute privilege provided their report of court proceedings is fair and accurate.

The commission is to examine whether the current interpretation of what is fair and accurate is clear enough.

It is also looking at whether a new defence of qualified privilege should be introduced for court reports which fall short of being fair and accurate.

The commission suggests that in such instances, the privilege could only be defeated by proof there was malice involved.

The commission is also set to consider whether, as a means of guarding against unfounded defamation claims, it would be appropriate to require someone intending to sue over a court report to first get leave from a court before bringing the action and also to demonstrate in affidavits the malice alleged.

Many of the issues now being considered were raised by Ms Whelan in a speech in 2015 in which she called for a review of defamation laws to ensure better protection of court reporters.

During the speech, the then attorney general said court reporters perform an "important public service" and face one of the "most challenging assignments in journalism".

She said she believed reform of the defamation laws was necessary to avoid a "chilling" effect on the level and quality of court reporting.

Journalists, she said, should not have to fear a "simple oversight, omission or error" in reporting court proceedings would expose them to risks of litigation or claims for damages.

Commission member and law professor Donncha O'Connell said: "The essential question is are there excessive restrictions on those who do the regular professional court reporting in terms of the fair and accurate requirement, and can that requirement be made clearer?"

He said there was a broader question regarding the application of standards to professional journalists and citizen journalists. "If you include the latter, is there a need for some oversight in relation to that, because you have to be mindful of standards?" Prof O'Connell said.

The issues paper notes the Danish Press Council has included blogs and certain Twitter accounts as members.

Professor O'Connell said in making any recommendations the commission will have to strike a balance between freedom of expression and the right of a person to their good name.Ryanair planned to cut its Dublin fleet by six aircraft. Photo: REUTERS

Ryanair is set to lift its threat to cut more than 300 jobs if pilots back a deal to end a campaign of industrial action next week.

It is understood that management will withdraw its decision to put more than 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew on protective notice of potential redundancies from October 28.

Insiders said the pilots are likely to back the deal to resolve a row over their terms and conditions in a ballot due to end on Friday week.

They said the executive council of the Irish Airline Pilots Association has unanimously recommended the deal to its members. The document agreed at talks, chaired by mediator Kieran Mulvey, says the protective notice will be lifted if the deal is passed.

The low fare carrier's board signed off on a plan last month to cut its Dublin-based fleet from 30 to 24 aircraft during the winter and move at least six aircraft to its growing Polish charter airline.

It insisted this was a commercial decision. Unions claimed it was designed to penalise staff for going on strike.

Mr Mulvey said he has advised the parties not to comment until the ballot ends.

"I did request that both sides refrain from comment," he said.

"Previous interactions weren't conducive to a resolution to the dispute. This gives them time to consider the proposals."

Ryanair is trying to halt a campaign of strikes that blighted its flight schedule during peak season. It revealed yesterday that Italian pilots have voted in favour of a collective agreement - and it is going to meet unions in the UK, Germany and Spain shortly.

Irish-based pilots were looking for a more "transparent" method for allocating holidays, base transfers and promotion. They wanted those with the longest service to get priority.

Sources said they achieved a large number of their demands on the seniority issue - and their biggest compromises were on base transfers.

Ryanair negotiators insisted they would still need flexibility in moving crew between bases without dismantling the entire business model. The Dublin deal may have a domino effect and provide a template for agreements with pilots in bases abroad.

Although the airline is making strong headway in resolving the pilots' gripes, it may face further industrial action by European cabin crew. They have not announced their next move following hugely disruptive strikes last month.

Ryanair chief people officer Eddie Wilson welcomed the first collective agreement with Italian pilots and hoped it would be shortly followed by a similar agreement covering Irish pilots. A spokesperson would not confirm whether it would lift the threat.Stripe, the $9bn online payments firm founded by Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collison, has led an investment round of $8m (7m) in a Nigerian payments startup firm, Paystack.

The 'Series A' funding round is also being financed by Visa and the Chinese ecommerce giant Tencent.

Paystack has grown to process over 15pc of online payments in Nigeria, according to the firm.

It acts as a payment engine for tens of thousands of businesses in the West African country, which has Africa's largest population with almost 200 million people.

"The Paystack founders are highly technical, fanatically customer-oriented and unrelentingly impatient," said Stripe CEO Patrick Collison,. "We're excited to back such people in one of the world's fastest-growing regions."

The funding will be used to fuel Paystack's continental expansion, build out their payments infrastructure and grow their engineering team, according to company executives.

Using Paystack, developers can convert a few lines of code into creating custom checkout services and building automated recurring billing systems for subscription products. The technology can also be used to send bulk transfers to any bank account in Nigeria and to verify the identity of customers.

"As Paystack looks to expand rapidly across the continent, we're thrilled to have the benefit of the deep experience of Stripe, Visa, and Tencent," said Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack.

"Our ambition is to give African merchants the tools and services they need to go toe-to-toe with the best businesses in the world, and win."

Headquartered in Lagos, Paystack was the first Nigerian company to be accepted into the famous US startup accelerator programme, Y Combinator.Donald Trump greets Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, Mexicos economy minister, and, from left, foreign minister Luis Videgaray, and Jesus Seade, chief negotiator for president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House

A car can look like a fantastic bargain on the forecourt, only to reveal itself as a lemon when you drive it away.

It's not so different with trade agreements.

Take the deal hammered out on Monday between the US and Mexico on automotive imports, which the two countries hope to extend to Canada, the third member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).

The key elements certainly look dramatic: lifting rules-of- origin requirements to 75pc to avoid import tariffs, and a separate rule that 40pc to 45pc of content come from factories paying more than $16 an hour.

The wage rule in particular is about twice what Mexican assembly-line workers make, and four times the average at parts companies there.

When you take a look under the bonnet, though, there's a lot less than meets the eye.

Take those rules-of-origin requirements. These specify the share of a car's content that must be made within Nafta, and have been at 62.5pc for 16 years.

Usefully, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration already produces data on rules of origin so that US consumers can buy local, and these show which cars would be affected by the change.

Based on the NHTSA's data, there are just three models made in Mexico that are currently exempt but would attract tariffs under the new regime: Nissan's Versa, Audi's SQ5, and Fiat Chrysler's Fiat 500.

Of these, only the Versa sells more than a handful of models in the US, with 106,772 vehicles shipped in 2017.

The wage rules are likely to be tougher, though even there the devil is in the detail.

Almost all non-Nafta content in Mexican-made cars sold in the US comes from Germany, Japan or South Korea, where total compensation typically takes pay well above $16 an hour.

So unless the requirement relates solely to Nafta workers earning at least $16 an hour (full details haven't been released yet), the rules will only really affect vehicles that are at least 55pc made in Mexico. That's a similarly small group. Excluding Ford's Fusion and Fiesta, General Motors's Chevrolet City Express, and Mazda's Mazda2 - which are already off the US market or heading that way - they sold a collective 658,640 units in 2017, according to our calculations.

That compares with total imports from Mexico of about 2.44 million cars.

There's still likely to be some pain at the margins.

The impact of the rules on parts supply chains could reduce earnings at Mazda and Nissan by 5 billion yen (38m) and 15 billion yen (114m), respectively, or 4pc and 2pc of operating profits, according to Nomura's estimates.

With car manufacturers continuing to battle rising costs from President Donald Trump's other tariffs, any additional pressure won't help.

Still, the small list of affected vehicles chimes with the equanimity with which the agreement is being greeted in Mexico.

About 70pc of the country's light-vehicle exports to the US would be compliant under the new rules, with the remaining 30pc getting a five-year phase-in period running through 2024, said Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal.

Even those that fall short would only receive the usual tariff of 2.5pc for cars and 25pc for trucks - levels that Volkswagen, Hyundai, Kia and others consider worth paying on swathes of models in return for Mexico's drastically cheaper labour costs.

It's likely to be a similar story with Canada, which shouldn't be affected at all by the wage rules.

"Canada should find it relatively simple to join the US-Mexico consensus" and the agreement is a "fundamentally positive development" that should reduce perceptions of risks around Nafta, Brett House, deputy chief economist at Bank of Nova Scotia, wrote in a note after the announcement.

It shouldn't be all that surprising that this deal is more limited than it first appears.

Mexico is scarcely going to agree to devastate its domestic industry to please President Trump.

Indeed, its modest nature should be considered a virtue, and global equity markets are quite right to be rallying in relief that this element of uncertainty has been lifted.

If Washington can sell tweaks to existing treaties as historic victories that merit a ratcheting-down of global tensions, that's good news for the other seemingly intractable trade disputes rumbling around the world. (Bloomberg Opintion)A planned natural-gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics.

Nord Stream 2 worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has stirred the ire of US President Donald Trump and has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat.

Nord Stream 2 is a planned 1,230-km undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russia to the EU network at Germany's Baltic coast. It will double the capacity of an existing undersea route that opened in 2011.

Russia's Gazprom owns the project, with Shell and four other investors, including Germany's Uniper and Wintershall, providing half of the 9.5bn in cost.

How close is it to being built?

Dredging work has already started, and the company plans to begin putting sections of pipe on the seabed in the next few weeks. It's due to be completed in late 2019, a target that looks "optimistic", according to Bloomberg analysts.

What's the point?

Before Nord Stream, Russia was sending about two-thirds of its natural gas exports to Europe through pipelines in Ukraine, a nation with which it has had tense relations since the Soviet Union collapsed. The Nord Stream projects are just one part of Gazprom's decades-long efforts to diversify its export options to Europe.

What's the worry?

Countries that sit between Russia and Germany collect transit fees on the natural gas that flows through their territories. They're worried that they will lose revenue and that Nord Stream 2 gives Russia the ability to bypass them completely in times of political friction.

Why is the US involved?

A group of US senators said in March that Nord Stream 2 would make American allies "more susceptible to Moscow's coercion and malign influence". In July, US President Donald Trump said Germany had made itself "captive to Russia" by "getting so much of its energy" from there. After a subsequent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump vowed to compete for Europe's gas market. Nine days later, after striking a deal with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker over threatened tariffs, Mr Trump said the EU would become a "massive buyer" of US LNG.

Could the US really compete for the EU market?

That would be a stretch. Gas from the US must be chilled into a liquid and shipped in tankers at a great cost. Russia's supplies mostly arrive in Europe through a network of pipelines that have been in place for decades at a lower price. US gas is more likely to end up in Latin America, or in Asia, where prices are higher (though China's planned 25pc tariff on US LNG may close that avenue).

Does Germany rely on Russia's energy too much?

Russia supplied roughly 46pc of Germany's gas and 59pc of its oil in 2017, according to Bloomberg calculations. Mr Trump may be exaggerating when he says Germany could rely on Russia for up to 70pc of its energy once Nord Stream 2 is operational.

But he's right that Germany spends billions on Russia's energy - almost 18.7bn last year, according to Russian customs.

How do Russia and Germany respond to criticism?

Vladimir Putin has said Trump's complaints are motivated by his wish to promote "the interests of his business" to sell American LNG to Europe. Merkel has defended the "economic aspects" of Nord Stream 2 and says she's determined to make sure Ukraine isn't "fully cut off from transit traffic." (Bloomberg)28/08/'18 (Centre of Pic) Rachel Duggan, Clonskeagh, Dianne Best, Scotland and Aine McDermott from Cavan form part of a human aerial pyramid pictured this afternoon at a preview of Electric Picnic 2018, which takes place this coming weekend at Stradbally Co. Laois...Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

28/08/'18 Workers apply the finishing touches pictured this afternoon at a preview of Electric Picnic 2018, which takes place this coming weekend at Stradbally Co. Laois...Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

28/08/'18 Trenchtown pictured this afternoon at a preview of Electric Picnic 2018, which takes place this coming weekend at Stradbally Co. Laois...Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

28/08/'18 Benji Revelation from Cork at Trenchtown pictured this afternoon at a preview of Electric Picnic 2018, which takes place this coming weekend at Stradbally Co. Laois...Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

28/08/'18 Charlotte Cosby (6) and Rebecca smith (7) pictured with a Fairy from the Footsbarn Theatre Company at the 'Little Picnic' area pictured this afternoon at a preview of Electric Picnic 2018, which takes place this coming weekend at Stradbally Co. Laois...Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

Electric Picnic organisers have issued a warning to revellers heading to the festival this Friday to give themselves more time than usual to get there as a result of major roadworks.

Over 50,000 people are expected to descend on Stradbally, Co Laois over the weekend for the music and arts extravaganza - the highlight of the festival calendar for many.

While traffic congestion is always a given as huge crowds depart Dublin for the festival - particularly on Friday afternoon - this year bosses are especially concerned that on-going roadworks on the M7 will result in major traffic congestion.

The ongoing road works on the M7 have reduced junctions 8-11 to just two lanes with a 60km/hr speed limit on this stretch, resulting in a major bottle neck at peak times.

"We are urging everyone heading to Electric Picnic this Friday to give themselves plenty of time as roadworks are likely to considerably add to journey times," a spokesperson said.

"We would strongly recommend people to leave as early as possible and also to car pool if possible."

With just one day to go until EP kicks off, anticipation is building ahead of the stand out event of the summer.

Weather wise, revellers should expect mainly dry and warm with a mixture of sunshine and cloud, although there is a risk of some showers over the weekend, particularly on Sunday so do pack a rain coat.

Kendrick Lamar, Massive Attack and The Prodigy will headline the festival with other music starts including Dua Lipa and The Kooks also taking to the stage.

Comedy, art and the spoken word will also be a huge feature of the annual event.

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Festival boss Melvin Benn said this week that it's possible Electric Picnic will grow even bigger in coming years as he is always looking for ways to change it.

He also told people to "behave safely and behave well but come and have the craic".A senior fire officer has described the fire that gutted a Primark store in Belfast as one of the biggest they have battled in a number of years.

Flames and thick black smoke engulfed the five-story historic building in the city centre.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Flames from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire Fire and smoke from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire Fire and smoke from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire A firefighter trains a hose on a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire Firefighters tackle a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire A firefighter trains a hose on a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire Firefighters helping to tackle a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Flames from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire Flames from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire People watch outside the Primark store in Belfast city centre, where a fire has broken out. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. Social media posts show huge plumes of black smoke coming from the roof of the Bank Buildings which is home to the Primark store. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PSNI officers watch as flames from a major blaze engulf a Primark store in the historic five-storey Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Assistant Chief Fire and Rescue Officer from Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, Michael Graham, outside the Primark store in Belfast city centre where a major blaze broke out on Tuesday, following a press conference. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire Firefighters at the Primark store in Belfast city centre, where a major blaze broke out on Tuesday. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire The fire damaged shell of the Primark store in Belfast city centre, where a major blaze broke out on Tuesday. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday August 29, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Smoke continues to rise from the Primark store in Belfast city centre, where a major blaze broke out on Tuesday. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday August 29, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Fire hoses spray water to dampen burning embers inside the Primark store in the historic five-storey Bank Buildings in Belfast city centre, where a major blaze broke out on Tuesday. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday August 29, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Flames from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA Wire

More than 100 firefighters battled for over six hours as the major blaze ripped through the Bank Buildings yesterday.

This morning, around 40 firefighters remained at the scene as efforts to extinguish the fire are ongoing. A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue told Indepdendent.ie that he expected the fire to burn throughout the day.

Firefighters continue to tackle the blaze from the outside as they have yet to get the all-clear from structural engineers that it is safe to enter the building. A meeting between firefighters and engineers is due to take place this morning.

CEO of Primark Paul Marchant said he is deeply shocked and saddened by the fire and moved to reassure staff that have been gravely impacted by the blaze, saying he will ensure they are fully supported.

The building, which has been in the heart of Belfasts shopping district since 1787, had recently undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment.

Primark customers and staff were evacuated from the building at around 11am on Tuesday after smoke could be seen billowing from the roof.

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Flames reaching at least 50 feet could be seen right across Belfasts skyline.

The historic clock at the top of the building was engulfed in flames before the fire spread from the roof to the floor below.

Parts of the roof then collapsed as thick black smoke and fire ripped through the rest of the flagship store.

Large parts of Belfast City Centre remain closed this morning after the major fire at Primark yesterday. It could take several more hours for emergency services to finish at the scene. @NIFRSOFFICIAL @PoliceServiceNI @PSNIBelfast have asked people to avoid the area where possible pic.twitter.com/w7yG7qwRhC  David Hunter (@davidhunter7) August 29, 2018

The building has survived bombs and fires throughout its long history in the city.

Michael Graham, assistant chief fire and rescue officer, said they would continue to deal with the fire into the evening and potentially overnight.

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He said he did not know what caused it, nor whether there were fire alarms or sprinklers in place. Nobody was injured.

He expressed concerns over the structural integrity of the building, with part of it prone to collapse and said a 30-metre cordon had been established for that reason.

It was a difficult fire and a fire that has continued for approximately six hours, he said.

It has been a long and arduous six hours for them but we will continue to fight the fire until we extinguish it.

It is one of the biggest we have experienced in the last two to three years.

He said he was concerned about the front and the two sides of the structure.

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Crews are fighting the blaze on several fronts.

Last week, Primark announced a recruitment drive for more than 100 jobs as it is currently undergoing renovations to add 30,000 sq ft.

Work to complete the bigger store was to be finished by the end of the year.

The fire will have an impact on hundreds of jobs at Northern Irelands largest Primark store.

In a statement, Mr Marchant said: We are deeply shocked and saddened by the fire today at our Bank Buildings store in Belfast city centre.

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The safety and wellbeing of our customers, colleagues and construction team is of course the most important consideration and we are truly relieved that all were evacuated safely.

We would like to thank the emergency services for their swift response and ongoing actions.

Our store is housed in an iconic building and much loved by the people of Belfast.

We would like to reassure our customers, colleagues and the wider community in Belfast that we are committed to working with the authorities and our building contractors to establish the cause of the fire.

We are working closely with our team in Belfast to ensure they are fully supported during this challenging period.

We would like to thank everybody for their support during this difficult time.

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Hundreds of members of the public were removed from the area as they city went into lockdown with police closing roads and diverting traffic to allow firefighters to tackle the blaze.

Loud bangs could be heard coming from the fire, while large pieces of debris were seen falling from the building.

Joan McCoy, president of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA), said that these types of buildings give Belfast a unique identity and character.

The Bank Building is a very important part of the citys architectural heritage and is loved by many, she added.

This building has survived bombs and fire before. We can only hope that the damage is not too severe and that the building can be saved.Theresa McGahey was also handed a conditional discharge for causing unnecessary suffering to the dog

A woman who admitted letting her Staffordshire Bull Terrier starve to death in a rear yard has been banned from keeping animals for life.

Theresa McGahey - who Belfast Crown Court heard had "significant difficulties looking after herself, never mind animals" - was also handed a conditional discharge for causing unnecessary suffering to the dog.

When the emaciated remains of the dog were found the animal weighed just 7kg.

A vet later determined ulcers were found in its stomach, which compounded with starvation would have led to a "painful and miserable" death in "appalling conditions".

The remains of the dog were discovered on March 3 last year after McGahey, from Fort Street in Belfast, called the city council's cleansing department to ask that a dead dog be removed from the rear of her property.

Prosecuting barrister Michael Chambers said that when an animal welfare officer called at the property, McGahey claimed her dog had been poisoned.

When the officer was shown to the back of the property, one dead dog was lying in filthy conditions, with a second "extremely skinny" Staffordshire Bull Terrier lying on top of the carcass, alive but in a "poor state".

McGahey (35) was spoken to at the scene and when asked if she had been feeding the dog, she claimed she had, but said she noticed it had been unwell for a couple of days.

And when asked why she hadn't taken the dog to the vet, McGahey said she had no-one to take her and also she was under threat and couldn't leave her house.

McGahey also made the case that while she was responsible for the dead dog, her partner - who is now deceased - took care of the second dog, which was removed from the property by the council.

Mr Chambers said that the deceased animal should have weighed around 17kg, but was only 7kg when discovered.

Mr Chambers also revealed that the dog did not have any diseases and that death was a result of "starvation due to lack of food".

Pointing out McGahey's claims she had been feeding the dog was "clearly not the case", Mr Chambers said the dog died in "considerable distress" and in "filthy conditions".

He added that as well as starving the dog, McGahey had also failed to obtain medical treatment which amounted to "a criminal act that went on over a period of time" as it would have taken the dog "days if not weeks to starve".

The prosecutor concluded by saying it was accepted that McGahey had "difficulties looking after herself, never mind animals".

Defence barrister Declan Quinn said McGahey was a woman with personal limitations who was diagnosed with having special needs in her teens.

Citing an inability to care for herself, Mr Quinn spoke of a childhood peppered with violence and neglect, which resulted in psychological problems.

He also said McGahey would adhere to a lifetime ban on keeping animals.

Imposing the ban, Judge Gordon Kerr said that given her own incapabilities, McGahey was not suitable to own dogs, or any other animals.

A breach of this ban, Judge Kerr warned, could result in a prison sentence.'Heavy traffic' is reported on the northside of the capital as the Port Tunnel remains partially closed to motorists.

The tunnel, which connects Dublin Port with the north of the county and the M50, was originally closed in both directions due to an incident in the tunnel.

It has now reopened its southbound bore. It is understood the tunnel will not be fully reopened until a least 7pm.

Dublin Fire Brigade tweeted earlier that it is responding to an incident involving an "unsecured load on a HGV."

Emergency services attended the scene but it is understood there were no serious injuries.

We're responding to an incident in the Dublin Port Tunnel involving a unsecured load on a HGV. Northbound bore currently affected @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic #Dublin #fire #traffic pic.twitter.com/zbTLyofdb8  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) August 29, 2018

As a result of the incident, the five axle truck ban for the city centre has been lifted.

AA Roadwatch warned that tailbacks on some of our busiest roads could become even more common as they said today's collision highlights vulnerabilities in the road network.

Some of the 200,000 people who commute into the city every day poured off the motorway onto nearby smaller roads not capable of handling such large volumes.

There simply just is not the capacity to lose one of those major arteries and cope without these consequences, explains Conor Faughnan, Director of Consumer Affairs at AA Roadwatch.

As schools returned to normal this week and the busy Christmas season approaches, collisions like this will put particular strain on the infrastructure.

Between now and Christmas when the traffic is at its worst and as the evenings go in, Im certain there will be at least three or four more mornings when massive traffic congestion occurs and we wind up having these conversations, he said.

Mr Faughan said Ireland is in a "uniquely vulnerable situation" as "events that are shrugged away in Copenhagen or Amsterdam and places like that" cause chaos on Irish roads.

Sometimes it will be a crash, sometimes it will be traffic, often it will be weather.

It is understood there are no proposals to address the issue, while chair of Fingal County Councils Strategic Planning and Infrastructure SPC, Cllr David Healy said the committee have not looked at ways to alleviate congestions when incidents such as these occur.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for Transport Infrastructure Ireland said the only option in these situations is to wait it out while Gardai carry out examinations and clear the scene.Irish Water has extended the hosepipe ban until the end of next month across 16 counties.

The Water Conservation Order will now be in place until September 30, having previously been due to expire on Friday.

The utility company has also appealed to its customers to continue conserving water as raw supplies in lakes and rivers remain lower than usual.

The Water Conservation Order will remain in place for Dublin, Louth, Meath, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Carlow, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.

A spokesperson for the company said that it considered "detailed analysis" of drinking water sources, and that it will continue to safeguard water supplies.

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"Irish Water is continuing to manage scarce resources in these areas with the local authorities and specialist contractors doing everything practical to reduce leaks, manage demands and maintain continuity of supply.

"Emergency work on upgrading borehole pumping plants, introducing new boreholes in some areas and deploying temporary weirs at critical river intakes are helping to maximise water available in these southern counties," a spokesman for the water utility company said.

The current conservation order, due to expire on Friday, August 30, will be lifted in the north-west region which includes Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Longford, Cavan and Monaghan.Fire and smoke from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday August 28, 2018. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene. See PA story ULSTER Fire. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney /PA WireNicola Skehan pictured with her partner James and children Mikey (8 months) and Dylan (12)

A family watching a second child fight cancer have reminded everyone that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Nicola Skehan and her partner James Doran lost their five-year-old son Sean to neuroblastoma in February 2016.

Now they are keeping a vigil as the brother he never got to meet - Mikey - is treated in hospital. He is only eight-months'-old and undergoing intensive treatment for leukaemia.

"When Mikey was born he was tested for neuroblastoma, what Sean had," said Nicola.

"It came back clear, which we were happy to hear."

That was last December, but on February 18, when he was 10-weeks-old, Mikey was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at their local hospital in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

"We were in complete shock and disbelief," added Nicola.

Sean and Mikey's brother Dylan (12) is going into secondary school and is also living through having a second sibling deal with the disease.

Mikey is being treated at Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, where the staff are "amazing", according to his parents.

"I don't think we were fully aware at the time as to how critically ill Mikey was," said Nicola.

"He fought hard to stay with us and after 10 days in ICU was well enough to return to the St John's Ward."

The tot had four months of intensive chemotherapy before receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor, which means he has had to spend the past five weeks in isolation.

"Mikey will remain isolated for roughly 100 days post-transplant," said Nicola.

"It will be at least a year before we could say the transplant is a success, but this is Mikey's only possible chance of a cure.

"We believe Mikey has his own guardian angel, his big brother Sean, who will watch over him.

"No family should have to go through this once, let alone a second time. It's so cruel."

The couple decided to share their story "to help spread awareness of childhood cancer".THE number of children living in homeless accommodation has hit a record high.

Just a day after defending his record on housing to day Minister Eoghan Murphy has confirmed an additional 19 people have entered emergency accommodation, bring the total to 9,891.

That number includes 3,867 children.

Childrens charity Barnardos has hit out at the governments response to the housing crisis and warned the effects of the crisis on children affected will not be fully realised for years.

The impact of homelessness on a child cannot be overestimated and the long-term effects on this generation of children may not be fully apparent for decades to come, said June Tinsley, Head of Advocacy with the charity.

This is not just a Dublin issue  one in four children who are homeless are living outside of Dublin, she added.

The Government must wake up and accept their policies are not working. Too much time has been wasted papering over the cracks when what children need is decisive action with long term solutions.

The charity warned that the market cannot be left to correct itself.

Meanwhile, Merchants Quay Ireland termed the latest figures a national disgrace and a defining moment in Irish history.

The charity claimed that the true figure could exceed 10,000 based on the last rough sleeper count in Dublin city.

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The Minister needs to start delivering a sustained reduction in the number of homeless people. These are real people with nowhere to turn, nowhere to call home, people that this government has failed, CEO Tony Geoghegan said.

Mr Murphy said any increase in the number of people accessing emergency accommodation is unacceptable.

The numbers presenting to homeless services in the Dublin region remains a concern, despite significant progress in exiting individuals and families from emergency accommodation into independent tenancies, he said.DUP leader Arlene Foster speaks to the media as she unveils a banner saying 'Sinn Fein - End Your Boycott' outside Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast. Photo: PA

Northern Ireland's two largest parties once again blamed each other for Stormont's power-sharing impasse as the region passed an unwelcome milestone for non-governance.

Yesterday marked 589 days since the DUP and Sinn Fein-led power-sharing executive collapsed - passing Belgium for the world's longest peacetime period without a properly functioning government.

While Northern Ireland will avoid an embarrassing entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as it only relates to a devolved administration, angry members of the public protested to mark the day.

The DUP marked the milestone by unfurling a banner outside Stormont calling on Sinn Fein to end its "boycott" on governing.

Party leader Arlene Foster said she shared the frustration of the wider public. "There is only one problem party and let's call it out - that's Sinn Fein," she said. "And it needs to end its boycott here in Northern Ireland.

"I share the frustrations of many today that we don't have a government here taking decisions on education and on health, on infrastructure and on the future of this country itself. So it's time to get back into government - long past the time to get back into government."

Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy said the party was dedicated to getting institutions up and running on a "proper basis".

The republican party has accused the DUP of blocking "rights-based" concessions, such as protections for Irish language speakers, the introduction of same-sex marriage and the release of additional funds for historic inquests on killings carried out by the security forces.

"Those rights issues will continue to have to be addressed, they are still here, they are still part of the reason why this institution collapsed, they are going to have to be addressed," he said.Businessman Sean Gallagher has launched his second bid to become President of Ireland, claiming the role needs a "fresh approach".

The former 'Dragons' Den' investor, who finished runner-up to Michael D Higgins in 2011, confirmed today that he will run again.

He said: "Ireland is changing and the next President needs to provide a fresh approach at this important juncture for Ireland. We have as a people an opportunity to redefine the role of President in the context of a changing society, while cherishing all that is unique about Ireland."

In a statement he said the country is "confronted with many challenges" but there are also "emerging opportunities for Ireland to secure its position as a significant player within Europe and globally".

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"This must be matched by creating an inclusive, diverse and equal Ireland for all, where diversity is not just accepted, but celebrated."

He will pursue a nomination through the local authority system because he believes councillors are "the closest link to the electorate". Motions backing his campaign have already been submitted to 10 county councils.

It means Mr Gallagher and Michael D Higgins will take part in a fresh head-to-head battle that is likely to be even more intense than seven years ago.

Mr Gallagher was seen as the clear favourite to take the keys to Aras an Uachtarain - but his campaign was derailed by a bogus tweet read out on live television during the final debate.

Late last year RTE apologised for not verifying the claim on a fake Martin McGuinness account that a man who had given a 5,000 cheque to Mr Gallagher would appear at a press conference the next day. The broadcaster has paid Mr Gallagher "substantial damages".

Mr Gallagher is not taking part in any public events today to launch his campaign, but said: "My focus now is to meet and speak with Councillors to seek their support and to listen to their views about the type of leadership they wish to see from the Presidency over the next seven years.

"If I am honoured to be nominated as a candidate I will set out a clear and compelling vision for the people of Ireland to assess in the context of an engaging and energetic Presidential election campaign.

Already his fellow 'Dragon' Gavin Duffy is well on his way to get a local authority nomination, as it Senator and Pieta House founder Joan Freeman. Sinn Fein will wait another two weeks before announcing their candidate.

The Irish Independent also revealed today that a third 'Dragon', Peter Casey, is considering a bid.

Mr Gallagher secured some 505,000 first preference votes in the 2011, compared with 701,000 for Mr Higgins.

Sources have indicated that on this occasion he will be pushing heavily for transfers from other candidates.

Mr Duffy has issued a statement in which he notes the announcement from his reality TV colleague.

It is desirable that Councillors  and ultimately, the people  have a wide choice from which to select their nominee, he said.

The Constitutional provision for Councillors to nominate a candidate to contest the Presidency is a valuable cornerstone of our democracy.

I look forward in the coming weeks, now that the nomination period has been finally outlined, to meeting and making presentations with all candidates who have chosen to seek nominations through the County Council process. Councillors play a valuable role in local democracy and have been entrusted with the task also of assessing and evaluating potential Presidential candidates.

However, Mr Duffy, who has address five special council meetings, said he is taking nothing for granted.

I am setting out for the Councillors  and for the people - my ideas on how I can work as an innovative and dynamic President for the next seven years, while still recognising and fully respecting the constitutional limitations on the office of President, he said.

The election will take place on Friday, October 26.Attempts to find a consensus candidate who would get 20 Oireachtas nominations for the presidency have been described as "rubbish" by an Independent senator.

Marie-Louise O'Donnell says those trying to force the issue should "mind their own business".

In particular she singled out Michael Fitzmaurice, who has repeatedly written to Independent TDs and senators asking them to come together behind one candidate.

He has suggested they could use the PR system to pick one.

Ms O'Donnell told the Irish Independent: "I was fascinated although not surprised when Michael Fitzmaurice set himself as a kind of an abacus.

"My missile to Michael Fitzmaurice, since he sent so many my way, is mind your own business."

Ms O'Donnell added that if candidates want support they should ask privately "and you'll find out very quickly where you stand".

Mr Fitzmaurice has given Oireachtas members until September 5 to say whether they are interested in working together.

By way of response to the criticism, he asked: "Has she listened to what I said? If anyone thinks of a better way, I'm open to it."

He said some Independent colleagues needed to "cop on": "It's a great opportunity to show new politics to the big parties."Two men who were arrested yesterday after gardai seized a handgun in west Dublin have been released without charge.

Yesterday, gardai arrested the two men after the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau carried out a planned search of a house in the Woodavens area of Clondalkin.

During the search a handgun (subject to technical examination) was recovered.

The two males arrested, in their 30s and 40s, were detained at west Dublin Garda Stations under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Gardai confirmed this morning that the two men have been released without charge and a file will be prepared to the Director of Public Prosecutions.I have a confession, says Vishal Jain. I sold plastic for ten years. Reusable plastic items, but plastic nonetheless. Now, his latest venture, ViMi, a zero-waste lifestyle shop with a stall at Spitalfields Market  is among the first retailers in the UK to stock Biotrem, a range of party-perfect, edible plates made with wheat bran and invented in Poland by a farmer named Jerzy Wysocki.

While this may all feel a bit Willy Wonka, edible disposables are tipped to soon enter the mainstream. According to the UK Food and Drink Innovation Network, edible packaging will help to wean consumers worldwide off their plastic habit.

Recent development in the sector includes edible packaging created with apples produced by Samara State Technical University in Russia. Originally designed for astronauts, it decomposes just as fast as apples (whereas polyethylene wrap takes 500 years).

Disposable manufacturer Herald Plastic now sells edible straws in lemon, lime, strawberry, cinnamon, ginger, apple and chocolate flavours. While paper straws have less impact on the environment than plastic, these are even better.

And edible products are catching on fast: this month, Diageo, the world's largest producer of spirits, announced that they are to launch a range of edible straws in collaboration with online drinks retailer 31Dover.com, to be paired with popular pre-mixed drinks such as Baileys Iced Coffee (chocolate straw), Captain Morgan and cola, and Pimms and lemonade (strawberry straw).

A tin of Gordons gin and tonic will, of course, come with a lime-flavoured straw.

Meanwhile, food and drink 'futurologist' Dr. Morgaine Gaye envisages edible sugar wine bottles as the future of al fresco entertaining. Non-plastic glasses made from corn starch will come to the fore. The glass is fully-compostable, so festival-goers can drink on the go while doing their bit for the planet. Edible bottles will also help counteract packaging waste," explains Dr Morgaine.

"Wine can be bottled in an edible sugar substitute such as isomalt. The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, has started developing edible membranes from papaya, complementing wine tasting profiles with the flavour of the vessel itself, and bringing a whole new meaning to wine pairing."

Whether you eat it all or not, edible packaging is far faster to decompose than other options. The organic wheat bran plates and bowls that Vishal Jain sells on his stall are fully biodegradable via composting in 30 days (or presumably sooner, via the human digestive system  and theyre high in fibre, so they get a tick for nutritional value, too).

Paper plates, in contrast, will take around 180 days, he tells me. You can even bake them in the oven or put them in the microwave, and serve hot soup in them. In addition, they make use of a by-product we already have in abundance. Wheat bran is used to feed animals as fodder, but theres still plenty left over. Its a self-perpetuating cycle.

Jain is preaching to the converted: Biotrem caught my eye when videos of millennials scoffing them at festivals went viral on YouTube. Novelty aside, I wondered why no-one else had cottoned on to the idea of simply replacing disposable party kit and tableware with edible goodies.

It turns out they have: Do Eat, a French company, have started to produce edible verrines, sandwich rings, cupcake holders and food bags made with potato starch.

They come in plain white, but should you desire, they can be patterned with vegetable ink. Ideal for canapes and bowl food, they work well with both sweet and savoury morsels (I opted for cream cake and fruit).

While they taste a little bland, stale and papery, slightly waxy and oily from the cocoa butter content (and they do smell a bit like crayons, weirdly), theyre not quite as hideous as you might expect.

Your saliva breaks it down fairly quickly after the initially unusual sensation of eating a paper-like substance, and then they just taste like a mouthful of mash; they remind me of stale communion wafers.

In this case, I felt that a caramelised lattice would work just as well as a vessel  but if you were thinking of serving Buddha bowls in cardboard or burritos in paper, they'd decompose quicker even if your party guests didnt deign to eat them.

Like the wheat bran plates from ViMi (which are bland, just like bran flake cereal), Do Eats products end up being seasoned by whatever you eat on them, whether its chilli, ketchup, a salad dressing or just salt and pepper.

I can see them catching on at barbecues, childrens parties and street food stalls like wildfire. Biotrem is already doing exceptionally well in countries like Berlin, Belgium and Romania. England is late to the party, says Jain.

I have only one qualm: what about the packaging used to store the packaging itself? Hilariously, my sample box of Heralds edible straws arrive each individually wrapped in paper, and I have to carry my Biotrem wheat bran plates in a paper bag to stop them from getting grubby before dinner.

But this isnt so much about going plastic-free, as reducing waste as far as possible with tiny, almost unnoticeable tweaks. Far from being elitist, Jains mission at ViMi is to show how accessible and affordable sustainable lifestyle changes can be. Does Jain try to live a waste-free life himself, I wonder? Its a challenge; its not easy. Id say just do your best, he says.

With that in mind, if you fancy swapping out a few single-use disposables from your next summer soiree (or perhaps setting up a lab of your own), heres some of the latest innovations in edible food and drink packaging...

Ohhoo! Water pouches

Drunk your water? Soon, youll be able to eat the bottle in which it came. These Ooho water blobs from Skipping Rocks Lab, a London start-up, are designed to take the place of plastic water bottles; the edible spheres, made with plants and seaweed, can be used to carry water, soft drinks and spirits. If you dont eat them, they will biodegrade in four to six weeks like a piece of fruit, anyway.

An American brand founded by Chelsea Briganti and Leigh Ann Tucker, graduates of the Parsons School of Design in New York. Loliware make edible cups in flavours including yuzu citrus, tart cherry, matcha green tea, vanilla bean, and an unflavoured natural clear. Made with seaweed and organic sweeteners, the flavouring and colouring is derived from fruits and vegetables. They say that seaweed is a renewable resource which doesnt require land resources and actually absorbs CO2. They're currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter to launch a hypercompostible Lolistraw - so soon you'll be able to choose between vanilla and caramel straws to pair with your cold-brew coffee.

loliware.com

Evoware seaweed packaging

Evoware, based in Indonesia, also harnesses seaweed as a resource. Their food wraps for sandwiches and burgers and sachets for coffee and dry seasoning dissolve immediately in water (unlike paper or plastic), and are also safe to eat, with a 2-year shelf life. Tasteless, and odourless.

evoware.id

Bakeys sorghum spoons

Indian company Bakeys, founded by ecopreneur Narayana Peesapaty, uses 'agri-waste' (sorghum, millet, rice and wheat flours) kneaded with hot water and baked in moulds to make edible cutlery in sweet, plain and savoury.

bakeys.com

Herald Plastic edible straws

This UK wholesaler sells cinnamon, lemon, lime, strawberry, ginger, apple and chocolate flavoured straws. They taste a bit like sweets, and pair well with different drinks: each staw contains 27kcal and 7g of sugar, and they don't go as mushy as paper straws. Moreish.

heraldplastic.com

Do Eat edible food wraps and verrines

These wraps and containers from French company Do Eat are made with potato starch. For a crunchy texture, you can even put them directly in the grill. Gluten-free.

doeat.com

Biotrem edible wheat bran bowls and plates

Surprisingly sturdy, unlike flimsy paper or plastic. Oven-proof and microwaveable, they taste just like thick, bland bran flakes.

ecotableware.store, vimi.londonThe devastated partner of a mother-of-three who reportedly died after travelling to Turkey for cosmetic surgery has said her family are "still waiting for answers" over the tragedy.

Leah Cambridge, 29, is said to have died after undergoing a "Brazilian butt lift" at a clinic that boasts celebrity clientele.

The procedure, which reshapes the buttocks by transferring fat from areas including the stomach and back, has become an increasingly popular technique for achieving an hourglass figure.

Ms Cambridge, a beautician from Leeds, is reported to have travelled to a clinic in the city of Izmir for the 3,000 operation.

Her partner, Scott Franks, 31, said he had been left a "broken man" and warned others considering going under the knife to think about the risks.

"People need to be aware of situations that can happen with this treatment," he told The Sun.

"We are still waiting for answers and are also trying to get a flight to bring Leah home."

The huge popularity of curvier celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Nicki Minaj has seen some women go to extreme lengths to emulate their hourglass figures.

Advocates of the Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, say it achieves results quickly and recovery is usually fast.

However, experts have warned it carries a risk of serious complications.

Another British woman, Joy Williams, died following "buttock augmentation surgery" in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2014.

Her wounds became infected, and the 24-year-old, from London, later died under anaesthetic.

In 2011, 20-year-old Claudia Aderotimi, from Hackney, east London, died after having a "buttock-enhancement" procedure at an American hotel.Sales of new cars may not exactly be booming but some marques are still creating substantial numbers of jobs across the industry to meet high levels of demand for technical expertise.

Skoda is the latest to start a recruitment drive - it's the company's second in three years.

This time it is looking to take on 24 apprentice technicians to meet demand at several dealerships.

That is on the back of the brand reaching its highest market share in Ireland to date (7.2pc for the first half of the year).

The 24 apprentice technician openings are across 17 dealerships.

Skoda's increased sales and publicly declared target of becoming a top-five brand have helped generate the need for more staff. They are promising that successful candidates will have an "innovative, dynamic and rewarding career".

Back in 2016, Skoda created 30 jobs covering a variety of positions, across the network.

Meanwhile, the company says it has made history after providing the Pope with four special Rapid Spacebacks for his two-day visit here as part of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.This day last week my seven-year-old boy picked up the phone and saved his mummy.

When model and wellness speaker Alison Canavan posted these words yesterday on Instagram, alarmed fans rushed to wish her well.

The single mum was in the company of her son James (7) in London last week when she suddenly collapsed, and it turns out, was struck down by bacterial pneumonia, pleurisy and a mystery virus all at once.

Doctors suspect she contracted the virus on a long-haul flight from LA last month.

It has been an intense and scary week but I am now on the mend, she said.

Back in Ireland now, having finally been cleared medically to fly home for the Vitality Expo in the RDS, Alison told Independent.ie that her young son amazed her through the whole process.

James was astonishing. My words got mumbled when it happened and he rang my friend and said mummy needs help. My friend rang the doctor and he let the doctor up to the building. I lost consciousness and when I came through he was standing there talking to me, he was incredibly calm, the doctor was saying stay with us, stay with us, and he was calm throughout it all.

He needs a lot of cuddling and minding and reassurance that all is OK for him. Its not a nice thing for a child to go through.

Alison lost consciousness for ten minutes and was rushed to hospital, and she credits her healthy lifestyle with helping her to bounce back.

All I can say is thank God for mindfulness. I dont like needles and I focused on my practice.

When I was being put into a CT machine, the doctor said how did your heart rate settle so quickly? I said Im a medication teacher. He said thats extraordinary.

I dont even take a pill for a headache. Im really healthy, and I think how fit and healthy you are is a testament to how you respond to treatment. Because I never take antibiotics, the drugs kicked in straight away.

Alison and her family were in London for a 70th birthday celebration, but she never made it.

Myself and my son were at a West End show on Friday night, on the Saturday I was in hospital.

Its only when something like that happens to you that it sinks in, whos important, whats important. It was another level of learning for me.

The practices I do are what carried me through a really scary week. I journaled a lot of my feelings, I cried a lot of my feelings. I kept saying thank you for the lifestyle I live.

I feel very grounded and Im really looking forward to James first day of school now. The mums of the kids in his school have gotten his books, stationery, and offered to pick him up and drop him to school. I was blown away.

I feel so loved and not alone. Thats the power of community.

Alison, is currently studying at the Semel Institute in the University of California, Los Angeles this year, which will qualify her to write her own wellness and mindfulness courses and books.

She will speak at the Vitality Expo, which promises to be Irelands largest health and well-being show, taking place in Dublins RDS on September 8th and 9th.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London to attend a gala performance of the musical Hamilton, in support of Sentebale

The Duchess of Sussex arrives at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London to attend a gala performance of the musical Hamilton, in support of Sentebale

The Duke of Sussex arrive at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London to attend a gala performance of the musical Hamilton, in support of Sentebale

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a gala performance of "Hamilton" in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre on August 29, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Charity - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a gala performance of "Hamilton" in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre on August 29, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Charity - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (C), and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (2R) talk with US composer and writer Lin-Manuel Miranda (L) and other guests as they arrive to attend a gala performance of the musical 'Hamilton' in support of the charity Sentebale at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Dan Charity / POOL / AFP)DAN CHARITY/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) take their seats next to US composer and writer Lin-Manuel Miranda (R) at a gala performance of the musical 'Hamilton' in support of the charity Sentebale at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Dan CHARITY / POOL / AFP)DAN CHARITY/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L), and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (R) arrive to attend a gala performance of the musical 'Hamilton' in support of the charity Sentebale at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Dan CHARITY / POOL / AFP)DAN CHARITY/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L), and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (R) arrive to attend a gala performance of the musical 'Hamilton' in support of the charity Sentebale at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Dan CHARITY / POOL / AFP)DAN CHARITY/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are pictured arriving for a gala performance of the musical HAMILTON. Dan Charity/Pool via REUTERS

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are pictured arriving for a gala performance of the musical HAMILTON Dan Charity/Pool via REUTERS

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L), and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (R) arrive to attend a gala performance of the musical 'Hamilton' in support of the charity Sentebale at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Dan CHARITY / POOL / AFP)DAN CHARITY/AFP/Getty Images

Meghan Markle made a return to her pre-royal style in a tuxedo mini-dress for a night at the theatre with husband Prince Harry.

In contrast to her modest hemlines and overly coiffed hair, after a month away from the spotlight, it was back to the old Meghan - a loose, low bun, a Judith & Charles dress and a pair of black Paul Andrew stilettos, with, of course, a pair of flesh coloured tights.

Britain's Duchess of Sussex joined her other half for a performance of the sell-out show Hamilton at London's Victoria's Palace Theatre in support of mental health charity Sentebale. It was suitable homage to the early days of their relationship during which they enjoyed a low-key evening at the show, one minus the horde of photographers and royal reporters.

Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L), and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (R) arrive to attend a gala performance of the musical 'Hamilton' in support of the charity Sentebale at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Dan CHARITY / POOL / AFP)DAN CHARITY/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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The couple made their way to the venue for the special charity screening via the back entrance, avoiding greeting the waiting press or fans, who had gathered outside.

Meghan has had a number of weeks to herself and visited friends in Toronto on a scheduled trip without Harry, and was deemed particularly necessary for her as she is said to be "broken" by the never-ending drama involving her father Thomas and his insistence on giving multiple interviews to tabloids condemning his daughter and the royal family.

"Theres no way she can have a relationship with him or even reach out to him to stop him from speaking. She knows hell record the conversation and sell it. She has high anxiety wondering if this will go on forever," a source told Us Weekly.An image of a Pygmy hippopotamus in the water  (bunyarit/Getty Images)

If youre struggling to motivate yourself this week, perhaps this newborn pygmy hippo will inspire you to achieve your goals.

Pygmy hippos as a species are currently listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, so this arrival at Toronto Zoo is an important one.

The calf was born earlier in August, and despite its fight against the odds, its already overcoming the obstacles in front of it.

Pygmy Hippo Monday Motivation The little pygmy hippo that could #MondayMotivation #BabyPygmyDiaries Posted by The Toronto Zoo on Monday, August 27, 2018

This is just the seventh birth of a pygmy hippo in Toronto Zoos history, and the first 30 days are critical for both mum and calf.

But if this video is anything to go by, Toronto Zoo has got a fighter on its hands.Venezuelan migrants after crossing the border to Pacaraima, in Roraima state, Brazil (Edmar Barros/Futura Press via AP)

Brazilian President Michel Temer says authorities are considering limiting the number of Venezuelans entering Brazil each day.

The move comes as a border state struggles to deal with the flood of people fleeing political and economic turmoil.

Mr Temer told the Radio Jornal station on Wednesday that 700 to 800 Venezuelans are entering Brazil each day.

Expand Close Brazils president said he sent in the armed forces to restore security in Roraima (Eraldo Peres/AP) / Facebook

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Roraima state is their main point of entry. Authorities there say the federal government needs to do more to help them deal with the influx.

Many of the Venezuelans are hungry and sick and arriving with little or no money and belongings.

Mr Temer said one option would be limit the number of people entering each day to 100 to 200.

Roraima state has tried to temporarily shut the border, but the federal government has pushed to keep it open.Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has resigned his membership of the SNP amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Mr Salmond made the revelation in a video message posted on social media on Wednesday evening.

Two complaints were raised in January against the ex-SNP leader, who fiercely denies the allegations, and he was informed of an investigation in March.

Mr Salmond is taking court action against the Scottish Government to contest the complaints process activated against him, with papers lodged at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

Expand Close Alex Salmond, pictured while first minister in 2011, with his then deputy part leader Nicola Sturgeon. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA / Facebook

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In the message posted on Twitter, Mr Salmond said he has written to the party's national secretary to resign his membership.

He stated: "I have been a member of the Scottish National Party for 45 years, 20 of them as party leader and seven as first minister of Scotland.

"I hope I have done the party and the broader cause of independence some service.

"Apart from a political spat back in the 1980s, that has been a period of continuous membership.

"I truly love the SNP and the wider independence movement in Scotland. They have been the defining commitment of my life.

"But today I have written to the national secretary of the party resigning my membership."

Mr Salmond indicated that his resignation was to avoid potential divisions within the party.

He stated: "It seems obvious that (Scottish First Minister) Nicola (Sturgeon) feels under pressure from other political parties to suspend me from SNP membership, given recent party precedents...

"I did not come into politics to facilitate opposition attacks on the SNP and, with Parliament returning next week, I have tendered my resignation to remove this line of opposition attack.

"Most of all, I am conscious that if the party felt forced into suspending me it would cause substantial internal division."

He added that it is his "absolute intention to reapply for SNP membership "just as soon as I have had the opportunity to clear my name".

"In the meantime, I would urge no one else to relinquish their SNP membership," he added.A 10-year-old boy who needed hospital treatment after being beaten up by bullies refused to fight back because its not the Jedi way, his mother said.

Lizette Casanova said her son Aiden Vasquez felt it in his soul not to hit the kid back while being tormented by a classmate at his California school.

The Star Wars fans ordeal came to the attention of Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the film series, and said he was astonished by his wisdom and courage.

Police are investigating an allegation of assault after Ms Casanova lodged a criminal complaint over the bullying.

She also called for her sons school, Two Bunch Palms primary school in Desert Hot Springs, to take action.

This is the third year my son is bullied, she wrote on Facebook. Last year he had to get stitches on his face from getting pushed, losing his breath on the playground for getting thrown down.

She added: Now were making hospital visits and Im pressing charges.

Aiden needed stitches after suffering a three-inch cut during the latest incident on Monday morning, which began with a 10-year-old classmate taking his backpack, his mother said.

She posted a picture of him with a bloodied face and swollen eye on Facebook.

Ms Casanova said it was the second time he had needed hospital treatment because of bullies.

She wrote: Aiden wants me to let everyone know hes doing fine all stitched up and numb... he said he felt it in his soul not to hit the kid back. Its not the Jedi way!

After Aidens story was brought to the attention of Hamill on Twitter, the actor tweeted: Im astonished by his wisdom and courage [at] such a tender age.

I may be a fictional Jedi, but this boy is the real deal.

I hope he sees this message and knows how much I admire him.

Aidens uncle responded to the tweet with a picture of the 10-year-old giving a thumbs-up, writing: Hes right here and says THANK YOU!

Two Bunch Palms headteacher Joseph Scudder promised to investigate the bullying.

We wanted to reassure our families that the safety of our students is our number one priority, he said in a statement given to the Palm Springs Desert Sun. All incidents and complaints are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, and this incident is no exception.

Police confirmed to the newspaper they were investigating an allegation of assault.Riot police watch right-wing supporters who had gathered the day after a man was stabbed and died of his injuries on August 27, 2018 in Chemnitz, Germany. Photo: Getty Images

Right-wing anti-immigration vigilante groups are creating "civil war-like conditions" in Germany, a minister warned yesterday, after a second day of violent protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

An estimated 5,000 far-right protesters clashed with around 1,000 counter protesters on Monday night, as a Syrian (23) and an Iraqi (22) remained under arrest on suspicion of stabbing a man to death during a fight early on Sunday morning.

"There is a small right-wing mob in our country that will take every opportunity to enact its violent fantasies of civil war-like conditions on our streets," said Burkhard Lischka, an opposition SPD politician in the interior ministry.

Several people were injured during the disturbances on Monday as protesters on both sides hurled objects at each other, police said.

They are investigating alleged assaults on a Syrian, an Afghan and a Bulgarian that reportedly occurred during the unrest. Several protesters on Monday were filmed making the Nazi salute, which is illegal in Germany.

The protests, organised by far-right groups including the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which has seats in the German parliament, initially took off on Sunday afternoon, with videos emerging of rioters chasing and attacking people they believed to be migrants.

The unrest was sparked by a fight on Sunday between "a number of people of different nationalities", during which three men in their thirties were injured.

Unconfirmed rumours said the brawl may have kicked off after a woman was harassed in the street.

Police in Saxony, a stronghold for far-right sentiment, have been strongly criticised by German media for failing to control crowds quickly enough. Caught off-guard on Sunday, they were forced to call in backup from Leipzig and Dresden. On Monday night, water cannons were used to control crowds.

Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), which is in a governing coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, said yesterday "the police in Saxony are in a difficult situation". He added the federal government will support them if necessary.

Oliver Malchow, head of the German police union warned there could be more "vigilantes and self justice" in Germany in the future, as police are struggling to do their jobs due to staff shortages following cuts to public services. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Widow Cindy McCain and several of John McCains children led mourners at the first of two services for the statesman and former prisoner of war.

Mrs McCain pressed her face against the flag-draped coffin of the US senator and former nominee for the US presidency in the state he served, Arizona.

The private service at the Arizona Capitol marked the first appearance of Mr McCains family members since the senator died on Saturday of brain cancer.

It also began two days of official mourning in Mr McCains adopted state before his body is taken to Washington for his burial.

Expand Close Members of the public pay their respects (Matt York/AP) / Facebook

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During the service, Governor Doug Ducey remembered McCain as a senator and internationally known figure as well as a major figure in the history of Arizona.

While Barry Goldwater, who ran for the presidency in the 1960s, was an Arizona native, Mr McCain was Arizonas favourite adopted son, the governor said on what would have been the 82nd birthday of Mr McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served in the military.

Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon, Mr Ducey said.

Expand Close US Naval sea cadets walk past the coffin (Jae C. Hong/AP) / Facebook

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Former Arizona senator Jon Kyl said he has been with Mr McCain all around the world and he had better instincts on when to assert US power than anyone else he knew.

Mr Kyl said he would miss Mr McCain, whose greatest contribution was national security.

I will miss him as a friend, and a strong force for America, and the world, Mr Kyl said.

Senator Jeff Flake offered the benediction at the service.

Later in the afternoon, the Capitol will be opened to the public to pay their respects.

Expand Close Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain (Jae C. Hong/AP) / Facebook

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Arizona National Guard members carried the coffin into the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where Mr McCain lay in state.

Black curtains hung in the rotunda and US and Arizona flags encircled the room.

By the time the service ended and the rotunda was cleared, at least 100 people had already gathered outside to wait for the public viewing.

John McCain will always have our back. pic.twitter.com/3BmiN7HdsI  Doug Ducey (@dougducey) August 29, 2018

Some had travelled for hours from California and elsewhere.

They took shelter from the hot sun under tents erected by security teams while volunteers filled coolers with ice and water bottles.

Chasity Pullin, whose husband and father are military veterans, was among those in the queue.

She said she liked how Mr McCain did not act as though he was above others, and she praised all he did for veterans.

Expand Close Cindy McCain, widow of John McCain (Jae C. Hong/AP) / Facebook

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It feels like youre losing part of your family, as much as he did, she said.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture for their entire lives.

He took office in the state in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Mr Goldwater.

Thursday morning will feature a procession through Phoenix on the way to a memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church, with the public invited to line the route along Interstate 17.

The memorial service will include a tribute from former Vice President Joe Biden.

Musical choices include a recessional to My Way by Frank Sinatra.

From there, Mr McCain will depart Arizona from Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport.

Another viewing will be held at the US Capitol on Friday, with a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral.A statue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was installed at a German art festival has been taken down after authorities said it was becoming a security issue.

The dpa news agency reported that the four metre-tall golden sculpture depicting President Erdogan with a raised right arm, evoking the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled by American forces in Iraq, was removed just after midnight in the city of Wiesbaden.

Since its erection on Monday, authorities said it had become a magnet for pro- and anti-Erdogan speeches and provoked conflict.

Wiesbaden State Theatre director Uwe Eric Laufenberg defended the debate as being the installations purpose, saying: We displayed the statue in order to discuss Erdogan.

He added: In a democracy, one must tolerate all opinions.John McCains 106-year-old mother, Roberta, is expected to attend memorial services in Washington and his burial in Maryland later this week.

Roberta McCain once said the middle child she called Johnny liked to use her as an example of what he hopes his lifespan will be.

But she now mourns him instead of the other way around.

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The Vietnam prisoner of war, congressman, senator and two-time presidential candidate died of brain cancer last Saturday at his home in Arizona.

He was 81.

Following memorials in Arizona, Mr McCain will lie in state at the US Capitol on Friday.

He will be celebrated at a memorial service on Saturday at Washington National Cathedral before his burial on Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.Peru yesterday declared a health emergency at its northern border as thousands of Venezuelans, fleeing economic crisis and hunger at home, continued to stream into the country despite tightened entry requirements.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra declared a 60-day emergency in two provinces, citing "imminent danger" to health and sanitation due to immigration. It did not give more details on the risks.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a "crisis moment" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said.

Health authorities in Peru have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from the migrants, many of whom lacked access to basic medicine and healthcare in their homeland.

Brazil said earlier this month the migration wave had sparked measles outbreaks in neighbouring countries, including in Brazil, where the disease had been considered eradicated.

Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil have been meeting in Colombian capital Bogota for a two-day summit to discuss how to cope with the influx of migrants.A US judge overseeing the upcoming second trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has approved the prosecution's request to allow evidence about Manafort's lobbying activities in the 1980s but limited the scope of what it can show.

The ruling by Judge Amy Berman Jackson yesterday represents a partial win for Special Counsel Robert Mueller ahead of Manafort's second trial, which is set to begin next month in Jackson's federal courtroom in Washington.

Ms Jackson said she wanted to limit the scope of what the government introduces in order to avoid a "trial within a trial" that would involve reviewing reams of evidence.

The prosecution said it would like to introduce evidence to rebut the defence argument that Manafort did not know rules on foreign lobbying.

Notified

Ms Jackson ordered both sides to agree to a stipulation showing Manafort was notified of lobbying disclosure rules in the 1980s, which would be in place of the government submitting all of its proposed evidence to the jury.

Mr Mueller already scored a victory last week when a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted Manafort on eight counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to declare his foreign bank accounts, a verdict punishable by up to 80 years in prison.

The cases against Manafort resulted from Mr Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Manafort worked for Republican Donald Trump's successful campaign for several months, including serving as chairman.

Manafort now faces a seven-count indictment in the Washington trial.

The charges include allegations of money laundering, obstruction of justice and failing to register as a foreign agent for his lobbying on behalf of pro-Russian politicians from Ukraine.

Mr Mueller's prosecutors had argued to include evidence at trial that Manafort had been subject in the 1980s to Justice Department inspections related to his lobbying for foreign governments to show that he was aware of the disclosure requirements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The government says the 1980s inspections uncovered 18 instances of lobbying and public relations activities that should have been disclosed, a revelation that prompted Manafort to resign as director of a federal agency in 1986.

One government request seeks to show that Manafort for years falsely claimed tax deductions on a Trump Tower condo he bought in New York City in 2006 for $3.7m, by saying it was used solely for business purposes.

Prosecutors allege that in January 2015, Manafort sought to borrow on the unit and bolster his teetering finances by directing his tax preparer to tell the lender it was a personal residence.

Prosecutors also asked to introduce new evidence related to the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm, to which Manafort allegedly funneled $4m from offshore accounts he controlled in Cyprus.

Rival

The money in question, prosecutors say, was to pay for a 2012 report supporting the imprisonment by Manafort's client, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, of his political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Prosecutors want to argue that Manafort and others arranged for Skadden - where attorney Gregory B Craig, former Obama White House counsel, was leading the project - to appear to be retained for $12,000, instead of for millions, to circumvent Ukrainian contracting rules.

They also want to show that Manafort and subordinates structured what they say were "sham loans" between Cyprus entities they controlled to hide income from the US Treasury.

Finally, Mueller's office asked to submit evidence of undisclosed lobbying by Manafort dating to 1986 to show that he had an insider expert's knowledge of US reporting requirements for agents of foreign governments.White House counsel Don McGahn, whose time serving President Donald Trump has been marked by tension related to the investigation of Russian election interference, is set to leave the job in the coming weeks.

Trump made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday, ending widespread speculation about McGahn, who will be the latest in a long string of high-ranking advisers to leave Trumps side.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, Trump said on Twitter.

White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

McGahn did not know the tweet was coming, an administration official said, but had been planning to leave the White House in coming months because he felt he had achieved his goals in getting conservatives named to federal judgeships, rolling back regulations and reeling in the bureaucracy.

McGahn voluntarily cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team in a continuing investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas, indictments, cooperation deals and one conviction for several Trump insiders.

Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump frequently denounces he investigation as a witch hunt.

Trump has not settled on a replacement for McGahn, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. There has been speculation the job would go to Emmett Flood, a veteran Washington lawyer who joined the White House in May to help with the Russia probe, but Sanders said he had not been offered the job.

People like him, Sanders said of Flood. Hes super well-respected around the building but theres not a plan locked in place at this point.

McGahn could not be reached for comment.

McGahns departure had been widely expected but was met with dismay by Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, who wrote in a tweet addressed to Trump: I hope its not true McGahn is leaving White House Counsel. U cant let that happen.

George Hartmann, spokesman for the committee, said Grassley viewed McGahn as the lynchpin to Trumps push to fill judicial vacancies. While Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell praised McGahn as the most impressive White House Counsel during my time in Washington.

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INTERVIEWS WITH MUELLER TEAM

The relationship between Trump and McGahn, a Washington insider who was chief counsel for Trumps presidential run, has become strained by the pressures of Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, sources familiar with the situation have said.

The Washington Post said in his interviews with Muellers team, which also is investigating potential obstruction of justice regarding the Russian meddling, that McGahn was asked about Trumps actions in firing FBI Director James Comey in 2017.

Other topics included Trumps comments regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a frequent target of critical tweets from the president, and the possibility of firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the probe, the Post said.

Trump tweeted that he had given McGahn permission to talk with investigators and that he nothing to hide.

In one of the stormiest moments as White House lawyer, McGahn threatened to quit in June 2017 because he was fed up after Trump insisted he take steps to remove Mueller, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this year.

The source said Trump asked McGahn to raise what he said were Muellers conflicts with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because the president thought they were serious enough to remove Mueller.

McGahn did not discuss the issue with Rosenstein and threatened to quit when Trump continued to insist that he do so, the person said.

McGahn also was involved in the controversy surrounding Trumps firing of former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

In January 2017, then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informed McGahn that Flynn had misled the FBI about his discussions with former Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI.

As White House counsel, McGahn was charged with untangling a thicket of conflicts of interest between Trumps international business interests and his presidency.

The New Jersey native had been a partner at Jones Day, one of the worlds largest law firms. He was one of the first establishment Republicans to work with Trump, joining the New York businessman as counsel to his campaign. He specialized in campaign finance issues after serving on the Federal Election Commission from 2008 to 2013.

Trump named McGahn White House counsel in November 2016 shortly after winning the presidential election.

He led Trumps nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch through the Senate confirmation process in 2017, running murder boards in his office to bombard Gorsuch with questions he might face at his confirmation hearings.

In July, McGahn was chosen to reprise that role, overseeing Trumps selection of Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump say goodbye to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta after his visit to the White House in Washington, U.S., August 27, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump yesterday accused Google's search engine of promoting negative news articles and hiding "fair media" coverage of him, vowing to address the situation without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

Mr Trump's attack against the Alphabet Inc unit follows a string of grievances against technology companies, including Twitter and Facebook, which he has accused of silencing conservative voices, and Amazon.com Inc, which he has said is hurting small businesses and benefiting from a favourable deal with the US Postal Services.

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Google denied any political bias, saying in a statement that its search engine is "not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology".

Mr Trump said in several tweets yesterday that Google search results for "Trump News" were "rigged" against him because they showed only coverage from outlets like CNN and not conservative publications, suggesting the practice was illegal.

"I think Google is really taking advantage of our people," Mr Trump said in the Oval Office. "Google, and Twitter and Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory, and they have to be careful. It's not fair to large portions of the population."

Facebook declined to comment. Twitter did not comment when asked for a response. In congressional testimony, both companies have denied engaging in partisan censorship.

Neither Mr Trump nor the White House detailed how or under what legal justification they would probe Google.

Mr Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow later told reporters that the White House was "taking a look" at Google, saying the administration would do "some investigation and some analysis", without providing further details.

Earlier this summer, the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Joseph Simons, said the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet. In a previous investigation, the FTC decided that Google was likely justified in developing a search function that harmed other companies.

Congressional sources cautioned that it may be difficult for Mr Trump to find a way to probe Google about news search results, and that Congress is unlikely to pass any applicable laws. The Federal Communications Commission ceded jurisdiction over regulating online communications when it repealed its net neutrality rules.

US member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Mr Trump that such restrictions on Google would violate the US constitution: "If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond."

Shares of Alphabet fell 0.8pc to $1,245.86.

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known to be generated with a variety of factors measured by the company's algorithms.

The factors Google uses to determine which websites appear first in search results include how often that page is linked to on other sites, the use of keywords, the popularity and respectability of the news site, and personal browsing history of the person conducting the search.

Highly trafficked and cited websites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com, two of Mr Trump's most frequent targets, often appear first in search results.

Mr Trump's accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the US Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy-driven content and hate speech. Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

Some Republican US lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter's chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on September 5.

Earlier this month, YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.Supporters of Pakistani religious group during a march towards Islamabad (KM Chaudary/AP)

Thousands of Islamists in Pakistan have launched a march to protest over a far-right Dutch politicians plans to hold a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest later this year.

Pakistans newly elected government has denounced the contest, calling it an attempt to defame Islam.

Physical depictions of God or the prophet, even positive ones, are forbidden in Islam and considered deeply offensive.

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The protest was organised by Islamist groups that made surprising gains in Pakistans July elections.

An estimated 10,000 protesters took part in the march, chanting we will die to protect the honour of the prophet.

The protesters refused demands from authorities to confine their rally to the eastern city of Lahore, where it began. They are expected to reach Islamabad on Thursday.

The cartoon contest is being organised by Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician with a history of incendiary remarks about Islam. The Dutch government has distanced itself from the event while saying it is committed to free speech.

Pakistans new prime minister, Imran Khan, has largely sided with the protesters, vowing to take the matter to the United Nations.

His government has summoned the Dutch ambassador to lodge a formal protest, but has so far dismissed calls to expel the envoy.

Tehreek-i-Labaik, a hard-line Islamist group that helped organized the protests, supported Mr Khans bid to be prime minister.

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Tehreek-i-Labaik disrupted life in Islamabad with a three-week rally last year against an omitted reference to the prophet in a constitutional bill. Organisers say this time they will disperse after a day-long protest.

On Tuesday, Dutch news reports suggested that a man who was detained there on suspicion of threatening to attack Mr Wilders and parliament was a Pakistani national.

Police said they detained a 26-year-old suspect who is likely to be arraigned on Friday.

Mr Wilders has for years lived under round-the-clock security due to repeated death threats linked to his criticism of Islam.A Hong Kong university professor has been charged with his wifes murder, a day after her decomposing body was found inside a suitcase in his campus office, reports said.

Hong Kong University mechanical engineering associate professor Cheung Kie-chung was taken away by police on Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post and other news media.

Cheung, 53, had reported that his 52-year-old wife walked out after an argument on August 17.

She was believed to have been dead for several days when her body was found on Tuesday dressed only in her underwear with an electric wire around her neck suggesting strangulation, Singapores Straits Times newspaper reported.

The Post said a post-mortem examination was being conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Despite Cheungs claim, there was no security camera footage showing his wife, who was not named in the reports, leaving the dormitory where she lived with her husband and an adult daughter and son.

He was later seen leaving with a wooden box, the reports said, adding that the suitcase containing the body had been encased inside a sealed wooden box.

Cheungs arrest came days after the start of the trial in Hong Kong of an anaesthetist charged with killing his wife and daughter by placing a leaking yoga ball filled with deadly carbon monoxide in their car.

Malaysian citizen Khaw Kim-sun, 53, was allegedly having an affair and had become estranged from his wife and four children, although they continued to live together.

Khaw, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested in September.Venezuelas socialist government has seized control of packaging firm Smurfit Kappas operations in the country and detained two employees over allegations including price fixing and destabilising the economy.

Smurfit said in a stock market announcement that its subsidiary Smurfit Kappa Carton de Venezuela (SKCV) will be under government control for the next 90 days.

The list of charges the company faces includes price fixing, speculation, boycott, corruption and destabilising the nations economy, according to a Venezuelan government website.

In the event that the announced action continues, Smurfit Kappa Group is fully committed to protecting the interests of its stakeholdersSmurfit

It follows a two-day inspection of SKCV.

All the allegations are entirely refuted by Smurfit.

In the event that the announced action continues, Smurfit Kappa Group is fully committed to protecting the interests of its stakeholders, the company said.

SKCV represented less than 1% of the FTSE 100-listed packaging companys earnings in the first six months of 2018.

Smurfit said that it is impossible for SKCV to manage its affairs or guarantee business standards compliance from Tuesday onwards.

SKCV is not responsible for the use of its installations, machinery and equipment, its employees safety, that of its surrounding communities, any environmental impact, or the quality of the paper and packaging manufactured in the operations, said Smurfit.

Smurfit also said that it is making all possible efforts to secure the release of the two employees who have been detained by the government.

Shares in Smurfit Kappa were down 1.5% on Wednesday afternoon.India has agreed to attend trade talks under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) after giving the previous round a miss.

The decision to go ahead by Prime Minister Narendra Modis office (PMO) will see a small delegation led by Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu head to the Singapore Ministerial meeting on August 30-31.

It is expected that India will refuse to offer tariff liberalization above 86 percent of traded goods to non-FTA partners. RCEP members want India to increase tariff relaxations on 92 percent of traded goods.

There is growing opposition within the government and among local industries who fear opening Indias market to greater external competition, particularly from China.

What is the RCEP and why does it matter?

The 16-member grouping is a proposed trade pact between the 10 ASEAN member countries and Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, and India.

Together, the countries account for 25 to 30 percent of the worlds GDP, 30 percent of global trade, 26 percent of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, and 45 percent of the worlds population.

As the dispute between the US and its major trading partners  China, EU, Canada, Japan, among others  continues to escalate, the RCEP could serve as a significant boost to international trade.

Moreover, US President Trumps early decision to get out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) killed that deal in 2017  creating new space for RCEP negotiations.

The now defunct TPP was a proposed trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the US.

Its scope included the lowering of non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade among member countries and setting up an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.

Since the US withdrawal, the TPP has been revived as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP11). It will come into effect 60 days after being ratified by 50 percent of the participating states; only Mexico, Japan, and Singapore have signed on to it as of August 2018.

Meanwhile, talks to formalize the RCEP began in November 2012 as a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 ASEAN countries and the six Asia-Pacific states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs.

The RCEP aims to establish an integrated market among its member countries, and has a wide-ranging scope covering trade in goods and services, competition policy and investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property (IP), and dispute settlement.

Inevitably, several sticking points have emerged on many of these issues; critics point to weak IP safeguards and the pricing of Indias cheap generic drugs, among other concerns.

Indias bottom line on RCEP

As it stands, India is ready to offer tariff liberalization on 74 percent of goods to China, Australia, and New Zealand  countries with whom India has not signed a bilateral free trade agreement.

India will offer tariff relaxation on up to 86 percent of traded goods to ASEAN, Japan, and South Korea as these are countries with whom it has already signed free trade pacts.

While RCEP countries want greater market access in India, the latter wants concessions on the movement of skilled professionals and workers.

Here, India has referred to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA, which at least facilitates easier and transparent procedures for the temporary entry of natural persons engaged in the conduct of trade and investment.

Service exports are important to India as its domestic manufacturing sector comprises a much smaller component of the economy.

Employment visa curbs and other restrictions in several key markets, including the US, UK, and Australia mean that India will not give up its demand for greater market access for its professionals.

Yet, most RCEP countries remain non-committal in this area.

Negotiations towards finalizing the RCEP treaty were scheduled for the end of 2018  this may likely be extended to 2019.

Managing local industry concerns, trade liberalization

While India is gradually opening up its market through a combination of bilateral and multilateral FTAs and easing its FDI rules  it has not been returned the favor, especially in the case of China.

As the US, China trade war deepens, India is competing for better market access.

Chinas trade surplus with India increased from US$36 billion in 2013-14 to US$63 billion in 2017-18, pushing Indias trade deficit to unsustainable levels.

Chinas exports to India are almost six times that of Indias, with stiff tariff and non-tariff barriers blocking Indian imports and investment  be it pharmaceuticals, agro-based exports, or IT.

Further, China has excess capacity in its manufacturing sector financed by state-owned enterprises while India recently launched its Make in India program to increase its private sector manufacturing footprint.

Local producers fear that any further market opening  especially to China  will handicap Indias industrial growth.

Given this scenario  Indian industry and government officials are reluctant to be more flexible in their dealings with RCEP countries, despite the prospect of integrating its economy with established global supply chains.

The federal government has now set up an informal group of ministers (GoM) to lead Indias strategy for RCEP. It includes trade minister Suresh Prabhu, power minister Piyush Goyal, defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Puri.

(On November 4, 2019, India announced it was opting out of the RCEP. Read our latest report here.)A lot of Bollywood actors have spoken about pay parity and expressed their opinion. From Sonam Kapoor to Anushka Sharma, these actors have raised some valid points on why male and female actors should be paid equally.

Agencies

In a recent interaction with Economic Times, SRK did admit that the film industry a male-dominated one. He explained how one cant push the disparity under the carpet. Talking about the same, the actor was quoted as saying,

Agencies

A male actor and a female actor should get the same fees  why is it different, I dont know. But I would also add that no actor  male or female  should over-estimate their performance. No individual  be it director or actor  should burden the films expense by charging an amount that goes beyond the performance of the films opening weekend.

Not many know that Shah Rukh Khan has always focused on equality of men and women. He was one of the first actors who made sure that all the opening credits for his films have the name of female actors before his own.

Currently, Shah Rukh Khan is gearing up for the release of his home production Zero, which is all set to release in December 2018 release. Starring Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, the film is also helmed by Aanand L Rai.Punjabi songs are the life of wedding functions in India, arent they? Most of us at multiple times have grooved to songs like Ishq Tera Tadpave, havent we? These evergreen songs are the life of an Indian wedding. So, are celebrity weddings any different? Looks like they are not! At Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas engagement bash, their mothers Madhu Chopra and Denise Jonas danced together on a Punjabi song.

Nick Jonas parents had a blast at the Roka ceremony. And looks like they are still not over it. Nick Jonas mother Denise Jonas uploaded a video in which she can be seen shaking a leg along with Madhu Chopra. Take a look:

After playing hide-and-seek with their fans and media, Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra finally made their relationship official on Aug 18 after a Roka ceremony, which took place at PCs Juhu Bungalow. Post the ceremony, while Nick and family went back to the US, PC shot for Farhan Akhtar starrer The Sky Is Pink before going to the US. They were spotted enjoying their first Sunday brunch together.

Rumours are rife that they will also be attending a wedding in Italy together. But fans are waiting for them to get married soon. When is that happening? Well, only time will tell.

Also Read: Lovebirds Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas Reunite In The US, Enjoy Their First Sunday Brunch Post EngagementWhile most of us are well aware of the fact that a lack of sleep can play havoc with our health, recent research spreads light on the ill-effects of just how bad sleeping for less that six hours a day can be for your health.

Sleeping less than six hours or waking up several times in the night is associated with an increased risk of asymptomatic atherosclerosis, which silently hardens and narrows arteries, warns a study.

Livestrong/Representational Image

Atherosclerosis, the narrowing of arteries due to plaque build-up on the artery walls, was assessed in leg and neck arteries.

"Failure to get enough sleep and restlessness during the night should be considered risk factors for blocking or narrowing of the arteries," said study author Fernando Dominguez of the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid.

The researchers found that people with fragmented sleep were likelier to have multiple sections of arteries with atherosclerosis, in comparison to others. "Studies are needed to find out if sleeping well and long enough can prevent or reverse this effect on the arteries," Dominguez said.

/Representational Image

"In the meantime it seems sensible to take steps to get a good night's sleepsuch as having a physically active lifestyle and avoiding coffee and fatty foods before bedtime," Dominguez added.

The research also showed that people who had short or disrupted sleep were also more likely to have metabolic syndrome, which refers to the combination of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, and depicts an unhealthy lifestyle.

In fact, another recent study revealed that sleep deprivation is as damaging to your body as binge drinking!

Tecnocino/Representational Image

The study published researchers from a Quebec-based digital health company Medisys found that sleeping less than six hours every night increased your risk of obesity, depression, heart attacks and strokes.

Basically, theres mounting evidence that states staying up for 18 hours resulted in cognitive impairment that is equivalent to being intoxicated with alcohol, stated the researchers. Your brain becomes less stable when you are awake for long, diminishing your ability focus where it is needed.

They concluded that driving while sleep deprived was as dangerous as driving when drunk! A research published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicines seconded this fact.The Pune Police, on Tuesday, raided the homes of human rights lawyers, activists and academicians across the country and arrested five top activists, citing alleged links with a Maoists plot to assassinate prime minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The raids took place in a total of six cities and homes of nine activists were searched. Five of them were arrested.

A renowned Telugu poet, writer and an advocate of, Varavara Rao, social activist and trade unionist Vernon Gonsalves, lawyer and professor at National Law University, Delhi, Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights activists and lawyer Arun Ferriera, and human rights activists Gautam Navlakha were arrested yesterday.

Left: Vara Vara Rao, Right: Anand Teltumbde

The raids were carried out in Delhi, Faridabad, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Hyderabad.

Activists Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested from Thane and Mumbai. Sudha Bharadwaj was picked up from her home in Faridabad. Varavara Rao, activist and poet, was arrested in Hyderabad.

Vivek Agnihotri, a Bollywood film director, producer and screenwriter posted a call for bright young minds to make a list of those who are defending #UrbanNaxals on Twitter.

I want some bright young people to make a list of all those who are defending #UrbanNaxals Lets see where it leads. If you want to volunteer with commitment, pl DM me. @squintneon would you like to take the lead?  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 28, 2018

Amid crackdown over voices of dissent, people took to social media referring to the move as witch-hunt to suppress opposition.

Netizens, with much enthusiasm, helped Agnihotri with names tagging themselves as #MeTooUrbanNaxal.

Hey @vivekagnihotri, I volunteer to be on your list. Let's tag @vivekagnihotri with the hashtag #MeTooUrbanNaxal and help him build his list. We should all help this man in his noble endeavour. https://t.co/zY1Azarv8l  Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) August 29, 2018

Dear @vivekagnihotri,

I have a t-shirt for you - please send address so that i can send first one for inauguration 

Also please confirm size - XXXS I believe? #MeTooUrbanNaxal pic.twitter.com/AeUjBZwZpA  Akash Banerjee (@akashbanerjee) August 29, 2018

Tons of people are already using #MeTooUrbanNaxal on Twitter and Facebook. Let us destroy this new fascist wet dream of branding those who stand up for the underprivileged and marginalised sections of the society as Urban Naxals.  Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) August 29, 2018

Dear Mr. @vivekagnihotri

I don't know who you are but I just found out that you are making a list and i would like to tell you that I would be very much delighted if you could kindly put my name on that list as well because #MeTooUrbanNaxal .......  Tanuj Hooda (@tanuj0504) August 29, 2018

I am pretty sure if Bhagat Singh was alive today, he would be on that list too.#MeTooUrbanNaxal @vivekagnihotri  Akshay Gupta (@akshay_gupta01) August 29, 2018

If you think pens and thoughts are more dangerous than bombs then please count me as one. I am an urban naxal too#MeTooUrbanNaxal  Sanjukta Mallick (@Mallick_Saab) August 29, 2018

If asking the questions, or standing up for humanity and freedom of speech makes me an urban Naxal... then Im proud to be one #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Archana Bhardwaj  (@archieroolz) August 29, 2018

If asking questions and holding this Govt responsible for caste and religious violence makes us #UrbanNaxals then so be it. #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Shreyas Banthalpad (@banthalpad) August 29, 2018

If standing for Tribals & Dalit's is naxalism, #MetooUrbanNaxal

Arrest me....  Prasant Ku Ranasingh (@pkranasingh) August 29, 2018

Hi @vivekagnihotri

How's that list going? Have enough? If not, put my name on it #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) August 29, 2018

Folks, I am told Emergency has been imposed..

People are not allowed to speak.

You are not allowed to criticize the PM.

Not even allowed to say anything against Govt.

Freedom of expression has been murdered mercilessly.

And #MeTooUrbanNaxal is trending on Social Media.

OK.  Yashwant Deshmukh (@YRDeshmukh) August 29, 2018

Agnihotris tweet drew massive flak on Twitter. For Agnihotri, who also happens to be the author of Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam, many on Twitter saw his tweet to be a way of book promotion. In his 2017 essay written for right-wing magazine Swarajya, Agnihotri defined Urban Naxals urban intellectuals, influencers or activists of importance who are the invisible enemies of India.

I am a Congi, Commie, Sickular, Anti National, Anti Indian, Prestitute, Pidi and now Urban Naxal. #MeTooUrbanNaxal.

Ironically, I was none of these when I said anything against the corruption of congress 5 years ago.  S.B.S | .. | Urban Naxal (@yesbeeyes) August 29, 2018

If defending our constitution is what makes an #UrbanNaxal then #MeTooUrbanNaxal @vivekagnihotri  Chandan Achary (@acharychandan09) August 29, 2018

#UrbanNaxal is the new Anti-National

The word "Anti-national" became a big joke and lost its actual meaning after ministers & trolls started using it for anyone and everyone mindlessly.

Same thing is happening with Urban Naxal. That's why #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) August 29, 2018

If @Sudhabharadwaj is a naxal, I am a naxal too. Arrest me. #MetooUrbanNaxal  nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) August 29, 2018

Congratulations, BJP on the most successful recruitment drive for naxals in the history of urban India.#MeTooUrbanNaxal

People prefer being called naxal to being seen as agreeing or even inoffensive to you.

I imagine you won't be using the "lesser evil" argument for 2019.  Urban Naxal Vidyut (@Vidyut) August 29, 2018

I would be proud to be jailed with those arrested yesterday. They are all outstanding citizens of the country and if dissent is a crime #MeTooUrbanNaxal https://t.co/UGWHG9kMXN  Arpita Chatterjee (@arpitachatter) August 29, 2018

Hey douchebag Vivek, I am sure am on the list but here am officially in #MeTooUrbanNaxal

You cant stop me or my tribe!  Prabha Raj (@deepsealioness) August 29, 2018

I think. I debate. I read. I question. I dissent. I criticise. I emphatise. I protest. I probe. I exist. #MeTooUrbanNaxal  amrita madhukalya (@visually_kei) August 29, 2018Representational Image

The health ministry on Tuesday called for stopping the sales and imports of electronic cigarettes citing grave health hazards. It has also warned against the launch of heat-not-burn tobacco devices that companies like Philip Morris International Inc. Read more

Here's more top news of the day:





1) Amid Government Crackdown On Human Rights Lawyers, Activists, Netizens Say #MeTooUrbanNaxal

Left: Vara Vara Rao, Right: Anand Teltumbde





The Pune Police, on Tuesday, raided the homes of human rights lawyers, activists and academicians across the country and arrested five top activists, citing alleged links with a Maoists plot to assassinate prime minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Read more

2) New Engineless Train Will Now Help You To Reach Bhopal From Delhi In Just 5 Hours!

Representational Image





If you take the Shatabdi from Bhopal to Delhi next January, there's a good chance you will be on India's first engineless train. The Bond-style named 'Train 18' will run at 160km per hour, though railways would like to call it a 'semi-high speed' train, and cover the trip in five hours instead of eight. Read more

3) Being Forced By Teachers To Get A Rakhi Tied By Girlfriend, 18-Year-Old Jumps Off School Building

In a shocking incident, an 18-year-old student tried to commit suicide by jumping off his school building on being allegedly forced by his teachers to get a Rakhi tied on his wrist by a girl. The police said on Tuesday that the boy was critically injured. Read more

4) Members Of Sanathan Sanstha Wanted To Bomb Sunburn 2017 Because It's Against Hindu Culture

Members of Hindu-right wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha were planning to plant explosives at last years edition of Sunburn, an annual electronic dance music festival in Pune. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism squad (ATS) claimed in a special court that five recently arrested sympathisers of the Sanatan Sanstha were planning an explosion. Read more

5) LGBTQ Classes Are Now Mandatory For College Students In Gujarat

bccl





While the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ)-rights movement in India is coming into its own, the worlds first openly gay prince and LGBTQ rights activist, Manvendra Singh Gohil, has pioneered South Asias first academic module on LGBTQ community. Read moreMillennials in India want to remain independent, away from the gazes and instructions of their managers. They want to make their own career decisions without any bounds. They are using their energies to coin new business ideas and successfully running their start-ups based out of metropolitan cities across India.

Any time, I want to quit this fixed hour job and devote my full time for being an entrepreneur, but, I am waiting for appropriate time, says 25-year-old Rohit a software professional at Nokia, Bengaluru.

There is not even an iota of doubt that Indian youth is inclined more towards entrepreneurship. If a recent study is to be considered, a large number of employees here are seriously thinking of leaving their jobs to start their own businesses. The Indian average is more than any other country.

I am harbouring this dream to become an entrepreneur from very long time but multiple challenges pull me back, says Vasudha Shukla, 24, a management professional at ITC Infotech.

The aspiration to become an entrepreneur one day is not only confined to Rohit and Vasudha but this aspiration is prevalent among all age groups of working-class youngsters, cutting across all professions.

A survey conducted last year by Dutch multinational human consulting firm Randstad Workmonitor stated that 83 per cent of Indian workforce would like to leave their job and want to be entrepreneurs, much higher than the global average of 53 per cent.

It also revealed that the inclination towards entrepreneurship is highest among workers aged between 25 and 34 years.

Data from the successive rounds of nationally representative youth surveys conducted by the Lokniti research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) shows that the attraction of a Sarkari Naukri (government job) has not shown any signs of declining over the past decade. In fact, the share of youth who prefer a government job has grown slightly to 65% in 2016.

The share of youth who prefer a private job has nearly halved to 7% between the two rounds of the survey conducted in 2007 and 2016. The share of those wanting to start their own enterprises has risen marginally to 19% over the same period.

Ajay Tiwari, an entrepreneur, veteran HR professional and author, based out in Bangalore. He has interviewed more than ten thousand potential candidates personally and facilitated the hiring of more than a lakh employees. Happy Locate, a start-up started by two entrepreneurs Sainadh Duvvuru (an IIM graduate) and Ajay Tiwari. Transpiring the dream into a reality was not smooth for both of them as they had to quit their well-healed jobs. Now, after facing all the odds that came in their way this innovative idea of providing relocation services is doing quite good in market.

Tiwari is a quintessential example of how to grapple with multiple challenges that come your way and how to smash those challenges and emerge victoriously.

Leaving coveted job and following your dream to become an entrepreneur is not an easy road to take, that way is full of thorns. But you have to take those challenges head-on and you will see you will trounce all those odds, he says.

Throwing light on the challenges coupled with being an entrepreneur, Sainadh Duvvuru, broke into a statement that: Fear of failure is one of the prominent reasons that stop the desperate youngsters to become an entrepreneur.

Amway India Entrepreneurship Report (AIER) 2017, launched by Doug Devos, President, Amway at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, Hyderabad, also found in its survey that 71 per cent respondents cited fear of failure as one of the biggest obstacles in starting one's own business. According to this report, 60 per cent of the youngsters want to become an entrepreneur.

Tiwari, tracing his trajectory from an employee to an entrepreneur says: My story is similar to an ordinary youngster, in whose heads brilliant ideas pop up but unfortunately lack of financial funding stops one or more success story from being created

India is the third largest startup hub in the world according to Nasscom. Start-ups were originally seen as job creators and innovators who solve Indias problems. Suggesting the way forward for the nation that has phenomenal youth population Sainadh and Ajay say in chorus, In a country like ours, we need to nurture the culture of entrepreneurship where ideas are discussed at length and where avenues to transpire your ideas into reality are conveyed to youngsters.

Being nostalgic and recollecting his past memories from HR professional Ajay says: Having been to Indias premier B Schools for hiring, one thing got sorted in my head is that Indias youth is brimming with one C - that is creativity - but society lacks one C that is conduciveness.

Now time is ripe that amidst of innumerable half-hearted schemes put forward by the government to boost entrepreneurship in India, we have to knock off the fear instilled in young hearts and minds that is acting as a roadblock for India to emerge as start-up hub in the world, says Ajay Tiwari, a struggling entrepreneur.The health ministry on Tuesday called for stopping the sales and imports of electronic cigarettes citing grave health hazards. It has also warned against the launch of heat-not-burn tobacco devices that companies like Philip Morris International Inc.

According to World Health Organisation, there are 106 million adult smokers in the country, second only to China. India has stringent laws to curb the use of tobacco, which the government says kills more than 9,00,000 people every year.

In an advisory to state governments, the health ministry said such devices were a "great health risk" and it was possible that children and non-smokers using such products could switch to cigarettes once they get addicted to nicotine.

Representational Image

The government took a position on such products with tobacco giant Philip Morris planning to launch its iQOS smoking device in the country. Reuters reported in June that Philip Morris was working towards achieving iQOS's acceptability as a reduced risk product in the country.

Philip Morris says the sleek, pen-like iQOS heats but does not burn tobacco, producing a nicotine-containing vapour rather than smoke and making it less harmful than conventional cigarettes. The company wants to one day stop selling cigarettes altogether.

The health ministry asked states to "ensure" that electronic nicotine delivery systems including e-cigarettes - devices which use a nicotine-laced liquid - as well as heat-not-burn devices are not sold, manufactured, imported or advertised.

Such devices, the ministry said, "are a great health risk to public at large, especially to children, adolescents, pregnant women and women of reproductive age".

Philip Morris did not respond to Reuters queries. ITC, the country's leading cigarette maker which also sells e-cigarettes, also did not respond.

A senior health official said the government was "sending a strong message" about how such products were harmful for the public.

Representational Image

Last year, a New Delhi resident filed a plea in the Delhi High Court calling for regulation of e-cigarettes. The court last week asked the federal health ministry to say when it would announce regulatory measures for such devices.

"The case was filed to bring out the absolute absence of regulation. It is now critical that stringent implementation measures are taken," said Bhuvanesh Sehgal, a Delhi-based lawyer who argued in the case.

In recent years, the government has intensified its tobacco-control efforts, raising cigarette taxes, ordering companies to print bigger health warnings on packs and introducing a quit-smoking helpline.A blue tick on your social media handle can go a long way towards people taking you seriously. Or perhaps youd just want one as a sign of authenticity.

Either way, Instagram now lets you get the verification mark with a simple application from within the app.

As part of new security measures, Instagram is now letting anyone and everyone request a verification check, as long as they can prove their identity. If successful, your handle on the app will also show the blue check mark, no matter how big or small your following.

Its really easy to get done as well. Simply enter the settings menu in the app and look for the new tab called Request Verification. All you have to do there is enter your Instagram handle, name, and a photo ID proof. Supposedly even a business document like a tax filing form will do. Once Instagram has reviewed your request, youll receive a notification confirming or declining your request in the notifications tab.

Side note though, the option seems to be visible in iOS right now but not yet in Android, so give it some time to roll out. In addition, making it easier to apply doesnt mean its easier to get verified.

Another tool announced by the app is the new About page for accounts. This lists the date they joined Instagram, the country listed during registration, their former usernames, and so on. Its rolling out to major influencers through this month, but will follow to the rest of the global community soon after.If theres one thing about Tesla CEO Elon Musk its that hes prone to dramatic and spontaneous reactions. If theres another, its that he also has a very fragile ego.

Those two clearly do not mix well, as is evident in his recent tirade on Twitter.

Images courtesy: Reuters

It all started with an innocent tweet yesterday quoting a story by Riveter CEO Amy Nelson for Forbes. In it, she talked about Musks recent emotional interview with the New York Times, where she questioned how it would have been perceived if a female CEO had been as tearful as he was in an interview. Her (fairly accurate) take was that a powerful businesswoman or startup founder simply could not present themselves in such a vulnerable way without being taken for granted as the stereotypical weak woman not in control of her emotions.

Musk didnt like that though. Not the takeaway from the story, he was more concerned about insisting he didnt cry during said interview.

For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. Thats it. There were no tears.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018

However according to Jalopnik, who reached out to an NYT spokesperson, thats not fully true. Mr Musks emotion was audible, they insisted in the email. It is not true that his voice only cracked once. Of course, that little detail is beside the point. It doesnt matter if Musk cried. The toxic belief that men shouldnt cry is as absurd as the belief that women who do cry are therefore incapable. But what is important is that Musk just wouldnt have anyone believe he DID cry.

In response, another Twitter user sarcastically commented that the CEOs dedication to facts and truth should have been kept in mind when he indiscriminately called a rescue diver that helped save the trapped Thai boys a pedo.

one other thing, elon. your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time when you called someone a pedo.  drew olanoff (@yoda) August 28, 2018

Musks response? That of course Vern Unsworth is a pedophile because he hasnt yet attempted to sue the billionaire with massive legal funds that slandered him. On top of that, he insists that its really not his job to back up his wild claims, but the job of other random people to go out and investigate the insane stuff he spouts on Twitter everyday.

You dont think its strange he hasnt sued me? He was offered free legal services. And you call yourself @yoda   Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018

To be clear, this particular claim has nothing to back it. The only evidence of anything on Unsworth, when this was said, is that hes willing to help rescue 13 people trapped in a flooded cave, and that he thought Musks mini-submarine idea was stupid.

Also Read: Russians Are Trolling Elon Musk's Inventions On Twitter With Ridiculous Lifehack Memes

Arrogance and impulsiveness aside, it seems Elon Musk has learned nothing from his troubles the past few months. If anything, his flip flop on taking Tesla Private without disclosing to investors what (if any) funding he had secured should have taught him that its not great to try and get the last word when you really have nothing to say. And just in case youd forgotten, this is AFTER Musk made a weak non-apology to Unsworth on Twitter, one that was forced by pissed of investors.

If the man isnt careful, he might very well end up running himself off the board of his own companies in the future.This probably going to be the wildest thing you are going to hear today. There's a dolphin that's so horny that a French mayor has actually banned people from swimming in waters where it lives.

Reuters

That's right, the French coastal town Landevennec issued a swimming ban as a result of a sexually frustrated dolphin.

Elizabeth Hawkins, a lead researcher of Dolphin Research Australia, told The Washington Post that Zafar appears to be a "social solitary dolphin" left with an unfulfilled "yearning" for social contact.

Its been observed that dolphins and different whale species will rub themselves against objects with what appears to be some type of sexual satisfaction coming about, Hawkins told the Post. When a Dolphin gets aggressive, it has the potential to seriously hurt someone with its tail fin.

Picture for representation

According to local reports, one swimmer had to be rescued by a boat after the three-metre dolphin tried to stop her from getting out of the water and also lifted one woman into the air with his nose!

That's when Marine specialists knew that Zafar had gone too far and advised the Mayor to take quick action.Greek philosopher, Heraclitus once said, The only thing constant is change. Todays DevOps transformation is a prime example. The DevOps model aims at unifying software development (Dev) with software operations (Ops) so that everyone can better work together across the entire development lifecycle. As businesses search for the best ways to digitally transform, DevOps is at the center of it all  and its driving a constant state of change.

As organizations all over the world adjust to the DevOps movement, they look to industry experts for advice. For several years, I have been advising organizations on how to collaborate not just within IT, but also across the entire enterprise. These organizations span multiple geographies, technologies, cultural background, and skill sets. Through these experiences, I have learned a lot  mostly that transformations are hard and normally take much longer than anyone wants.

Below Ive detailed my 3-step approach to DevOps Transformation that I use with organizations that are on this journey. It is NOT a sequential step approach; it is an agile step approach  which means it is sometimes sequential, other times concurrent. Yet it is always aligned to the culture and capacity of the organization.

Step 1  Expand agile practices beyond IT

Too often DevOps is seen as the mandate solely of IT, and there is an assumption that the business, and in particular its C-level executives, dont take any interest in the software development function. Nor do executives understand words like agile and waterfall, never mind DevOps.

Lately, there has been a shift in the way software is being developed with the advent of agile DevOps that resembles the lean manufacturing shift in the 80s and 90s. Furthermore, it is a well understood fact that software is eating the world and most businesses need apps (both mobile and web apps) to sell their products. Any time you have an app, software development is seen as a critical part of the day-to-day business strategy. Hence, C-level executives are definitely taking a deeper interest in how these things can be delivered in an effective way

Other parts of an organization also must be part of a truly agile DevOps process. For example, customer feedback and effective operations are part of the process of breaking down silos and improving outcomes. All stakeholders in an organization across all disciplines must be involved with full support from its leadership and management.

Step 2  Shift Left within a Continuous Culture

Shifting left in terms of software and system testing is a phrase that means to test early in the lifecycle, thereby finding problems sooner  which can save time and money. Shifting left, when referring to customers, means giving them better access and resources to find answers to their questions. And a continuous culture promotes the idea of finding and eliminating waste in everything you do.

DevOps is based on the idea of shifting left in its testing approach, performing testing earlier in the software delivery lifecycle, which will inevitably eliminate long back-end dependencies and increase quality.

Step 3  Empower a culture of Fail Fast not Fail-Silently

When I first started my business work life, it was the norm to fail silently mask the failure, hope it does not get spotted, blame someone else, or simply ignore the issue. New ways of thinking by innovative companies focuses on the concept of fail fast & fail often. As long as employees can learn from their failures, this strategy can help the company grow in an agile way.

In order to succeed in a DevOps transformation, 4 types of failures are encouraged:

Fail Early The sooner the failure is spotted, the faster you learn, and the faster you can fix it.

Fail Fast Failing faster ensures you learn faster and can fix it.

Fail Often The more things you try, the more failures youll get  and the more you learn.

Fail Better Combine all of the above to maximize learning, leading to spectacular success!

Successful transformation involves more than just getting your teams within development and operations to work together. It involves the entire organization with a mindset focused on continual improvement, testing out ideas early, empowering the customer, and encouraging success through failure.

To learn more about DevOps and the HPE Developer Community, visit HPE DEV.

____________________________________________

About Mario Devargas

Mario Devargas is a CIO Advisor for HPE, consulting with organizations in the adoption of collaborative working processes  not just in IT, but across the entire enterprise.With over 30 years at an executive level, he is a passionate and visionary CIO with an extensive record of achievement across the private and public sectors within the corporate and commercial markets, banking, manufacturing and most recently public sector.

To read more articles by Devargas, visit HPEs Transforming IT blogsite. To read more about Digital Transformation, visit HPEs Shifting to Software-defined blogsite.Mayors take message of local action to UN summit AP - Tue Nov 2, 2:56AM CDT GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)  On a train hurtling toward Glasgow, the mayors of Seattle and Freetown, Sierra Leone, greeted each other like long lost sisters, bonded by years of Zoom calls and collaboration... $SPX : 4,613.67 (+0.18%) $DOWI : 35,913.84 (+0.26%) $IUXX : 15,905.28 (+0.35%)

Faith groups fight against climate change ahead of UN summit AP - Tue Nov 2, 2:35AM CDT POINTE-AUX-CHENES, Louisiana (AP)  On a boat ride along a bayou that shares the name of his Native American tribe, Donald Dardar points to a cross marking his ancestors south Louisiana burial ground... $SPX : 4,613.67 (+0.18%) $DOWI : 35,913.84 (+0.26%) $IUXX : 15,905.28 (+0.35%)

Track us capturing the move higher in Rates Peter Knight - Mon Nov 1, 9:24PM CDT U.S. inflation 5.40% 3 month deposit rates 0.20% Entry 0.20%, position value $125,000 Objective 1.20%, position value $625,000 GEY00 : N/A (unch) GEM22 : 99.5750 (+0.04%)

Oliver Sloup speaks with RFD TV 11.1.2021 Blue Line Futures - Mon Nov 1, 5:58PM CDT Fundamentals are shifting in the Live Stock markets, Grains are surging! What are the best trading times to catch the trend?

Hog Futures Firm on Monday Barchart - Mon Nov 1, 4:43PM CDT Lean hog futures were 7 cents to 55 cents stronger on the first day of the month. May 22 contracts were the exception, having given back 15 cents by the bell. USDAs National Average Afternoon Base... HEZ21 : 76.150s (+0.10%) HEJ22 : 82.375s (+0.40%) KMZ21 : 94.150s (+0.08%)The 2018 finalists are:

1. Amanda Morris  Arma Insurance Group

2. Fintan Magee  Network Insurance Group

3. James Dunk  Dunk Insurance

4. Kim Matthews  Rothbury Insurance Brokers Group

5. Rocco Pirrello  GSA Insurance Brokers

This years winner will receive a career-enhancing opportunity to experience first-hand how the London Market operates. The prize includes:

 Expenses-paid trip to London - business class air fares and accommodation

 An education experience tailored to the winners special interests

 Career enhancing meetings and networking with key underwriters and brokers

 Thorough familiarisation of Lloyds of London and meeting with senior managers

 $1,000 AUD spending money

The shortlisted applicants this year are going to present a great challenge to the judging panel, said Sheila Baker, managing director, Gold Seal.

All are dedicated insurance professionals and all are outstanding in their field. They are a collection of remarkable talent, Baker continued.

Finalists will be interviewed by the judging panel:

Chris Mackinnon, general representative, Lloyds Australia.

Jim Rudkin, representing the Steadfast Group.

Martin McAvenna, representing the AIMS Group.

Sheila Baker, managing director of Gold Seal.

Following the interviews, the judges will select a winner, who will be announced at a function to be held at Lloyds Australias premises on September 11.Queensland farmers may soon be able to insure their livelihoods against natural disasters, thanks to a range of insurance options being developed by the Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF), Willis Towers Watson, and the University of Southern Queensland.

Unlike traditional insurance that insures assets against damage, the Australian-first offering will allow property owners to nominate a dollar figure they would like to receive in the event of a severe weather hitting their area  money they could spend at their own discretion.Canopius has bolstered its underwriting support capability with the creation of a new underwriting counsel for its specialty division that focuses on credit and political risk, and has also announced the appointment of lawyer Sean Redden to the London-based role. He reports directly to Bernie de Haldevang, head of specialty.

I am delighted to welcome a legal mind of Seans calibre to our growing speciality team. Canopius is committed to offering a first class and comprehensive underwriting service to our clients and brokers, and Sean will play a vital role in delivering on that promise. Attracting an industry leader with a career as impressive as Seans is testament to the organisation we are building at Canopius and I am looking forward to working closely with him again, said de Haldevang.So far, the Donnell Fire has destroyed 54 major structures and 81 minor structures. An army of almost 700 personnel is tackling the disruptive blaze, including 15 hand crews, seven helicopters, 20 engines and five water tenders. After 28 days of burning, 63% of the fire has been contained.

For Camp Peaceful Pines, the Donnell Fire could have been catastrophic. Like many summer camps, its totally off-grid, surrounded by woodland, and full of old, primarily wooden structures. The word flammable would be an understatement.

But thanks to insurance, the camp survived. In fact, despite being surrounded by burning timber, the only damages Camp Peaceful Pines sustained was a minor problem with an irrigation line. All buildings were left standing thanks to the hard work of the emergency services and of the camps insurer, Church Mutual Insurance.

Garry Pearson, camp director and board chair of Camp Peaceful Pines, recounts: I was out in the back-country hiking when I got word of the Donnell Fire. I wasnt able to react but the camp property manager out of Fresno was on-hand. Church Mutual got in contact with us to reassure us they were being proactive in their response to the fire.

They provided a hedge of protection. They sent in a strike team that was strategically placed in the incident center at Dodge Ridge, who went to camp alongside the fire service and sprayed all of the buildings with fire retardant. Thanks to their hard work and proactivity, all of our buildings are still standing.

The church camp is participating in Church Mutuals innovative wildfire program, which offers a comprehensive approach to wildfire defense. The program includes access to 24/7 wildfire monitoring services, which sends emails or text message alerts to those in danger, as well as wildfire prevention advice and a fire mitigation service.

With the advice of its insurance agent through Church Mutual affiliated Church & Casualty Insurance Agency, Camp Peaceful Pines has been very proactive in managing [its] vegetative plan, Pearson added. The camp regularly clears flammable materials by raking pine needles and removing dead trees from the vicinity. In January this year, the team removed 10 truck-loads of highly-flammable lumber from camp grounds and the surrounding areas  an effort that might have made a huge impact when Donnell threatened.

We work with Church Mutual through an agent, who I must say, has been fantastic, Pearson told Insurance Business. Our agent was extremely proactive in contacting us exclusively and keeping us updated about the fire and what Church Mutual was doing. She also gave us advice about wildfire prevention, without which we could be facing more serious damages today.

What Church Mutual did was be proactive and give that little bit extra. Our camp buildings are about 60-years-old. Spending [X thousand dollars] to protect them with fire retardant, versus replacement costs of about $1.5 million or higher, was really proactive on their part. All of us at Camp Peaceful Pines are in awe of what they did. We have very high regards for our insurance agent and their strike team.

For the insurer, Camp Peaceful Pines is just one success story to arise out of its new wildfire solutions program. Tom Kluxdal, director of innovation at Church Mutual, commented: Our goal is to protect the greater good of our policyholders, their congregants, their employees and so forth. The situation at Camp Peaceful Pines looked very dire. When we got to the location, the fire had already consumed the area and was moving at a very fast rate.

We got in contact with Gary and the Camp Peaceful Pines team to alert them that the camp was in the line of the fire and then we sent our [partner] mitigation firm to provide a private fire fighting service. We deployed two fire engines with approximately six individuals, who stayed at the camp from August 08 through 12, putting out smokes day and night. Fortunately, because of their efforts and that of the fire service, they prevented the facility (of total insured value of about $1.4 million) from burning down. Our mission is to protect the greater good, and we achieved that in this case.Blue Cross struck back, and in May 16 filed a counterclaim alleging that LifeBrite was engaged in a billing fraud scheme. According to Blue Crosss counterclaim, LifeBrites lab billing spiked from August 2017 to May 2018, from an average of $37,400 per month to about $8.5 million per month.

This was done in spite of the fact that LifeBrite knew that the claims it submitted to Blue Cross NC were not payable, were fraudulent, were in violation of the contracts, and were otherwise unlawful, the countersuit read.

The insurer also alleged that most of the lab tests LifeBrite filed claims for were not even ordered by partner providers.

The vast majority of the patients were never present at LifeBrite, were never treated by LifeBrite-credentialed healthcare providers, and were located in areas not serviced by LifeBrite, Blue Crosss counterclaim stated. Their only connection to LifeBrite was that their urine testing was billed through LifeBrite in order to take advantage of LifeBrites participating status and favorable reimbursement rate with Blue Cross NC.

Blue Cross claimed that, since August 2017, LifeBrite has overbilled the insurer by over $76 million for testing.

To make its point even clearer, Blue Cross announced on May 17 that it had plans to drop LifeBrite Community Hospital of Stokes from its network. A spokesperson for the insurance company confirmed with Winston-Salem Journal that the hospital is now out of network for inpatient and/or outpatient care for all lines of business.

LifeBrite filed a motion to dismiss Blue Crosss counterclaim on August 20  the latest entry in the ongoing saga, Beckers Hospital Review reported. Blue Cross, in turn, argued that the contract between the parties limits LifeBrites right to reimbursement to medical testing performed by the hospital, at the hospital, and for hospital patients, adding that the healthcare providers actions were a $76 million health insurance swindle on a national scale.

Related stories:

Insurer hit with lawsuit over $42 million whistleblower settlement

Insurance giant accuses hospital of $13.5 million scamKingdom Trust, a Kentucky-based organization, is the recipient of its milestone policy. Originally launched in 2010, Kingdom Trust is an independent qualified custodian regulated by the South Dakota Division of Banking. It currently provides custody services for over 30 different assets, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Ripple and its recent additions of ZCash and Stellar Lumens. More are planned in the near future.

Due to its profit potential and prospective future use, many businesses are expressing an increased interest in storing their financial assets in cryptocurrency form, where regulations allow.

Qualified custody by a regulated, insured financial institution is a top priority and critical hurdle for institutions to invest in the digital asset markets, said Matt Jennings, CEO of Kingdom Trust. By adding another trusted specialist like Lloyds to our platform, were ensuring that current and future clients will have access to a highly-secure, complete safekeeping solution tailored to meet the challenges of institutional finance.

The decision to issue a policy comes on the back of previous statements from Lloyds on the topic. In July 2018, a Lloyds bulletin to its syndicates noted: In view of their novel nature and the absence of clear regulatory frameworks and precedents for cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets, Lloyds considers that managing agents should proceed with a level of caution that recognizes the risks associated with this class of asset.

Cryptocurrency presents a number of interesting challenges for insurers. There is little historical data which can be used to assess risk, making determining fair premiums difficult. The often-fluctuating value of cryptocurrencies can also present insurers with undue exposure.

Additionally, cryptocurrencies themselves have been surrounded with controversy in recent years. Their anonymous nature has attracted criticism from some quarters due to their potential use for illegal activities. Fraud has been a mainstay of the technology, with numerous high-profile hacks causing parties to lose their investments.

Kingdom Trust utilizes a number of different security technologies, one of the most notable being its use of cold storage in which a customers digital assets are stored offline and accessed only when necessary, presenting a much more difficult target for prospective fraudsters.

The specific underwriter of the Kingdom Trusts policy has not yet been publically identified.Consistent improvement in loss experience is the primary driver underlying the filing, the NCCI said.

The council also noted that the proposal is in line with rate trends observed in other states.

More specifically, the long-term decline in claim frequency has continued to more than offset moderate increases in claim severity. This has resulted in continued downward pressure on the overall average rate level need and is consistent with trends across most NCCI states.

National Federal of Independent Businesses executive director in Florida Bill Herrle commented on the proposal, calling it great news for the state.

Lower workers comp rates equal a direct reduction in small business owners expenses, which means big things for growth, Herrle said in a statement.

Herrle added that the rate cut would benefit small business outfits the most.

Small-business owners are reporting record high levels of optimism, according to NFIBs Small Business Optimism Index, and news like lower workers comp rates fuels their confidence, he said. Small-business owners are in the drivers seat, and Floridas economy can look forward to the results  increased job growth, increased wages and unprecedented expansion overall for the small business sector.

The Herald Tribune reported that the Office of Insurance Regulation will conduct a public rate hearing in October.

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How group captive solutions benefit the client AND the broker

Where is workforce expenditure in insurance being spent?After a two-year stint with Travelers, Semmer took a new job as an account executive at Spillman & Wotyla  the predecessor to Esser Hayes  where he worked his way up to become vice president and partner in 1985. Today, Semmer serves as executive vice president and partner at Esser Hayes Insurance Group, a large regional insurance agency headquartered in Naperville, IL.

The best part of my job at Esser Hayes is working with clients to structure complex insurance and risk management programs. I also enjoy solving coverage issues when they arise, Semmer told Insurance Business. One of the biggest lessons Ive learned throughout my career is that teamwork is critical to handling a large client base. You need a solid account management, risk management and claims management team to work together to provide best-in-class services and resources. I believe we do that well at Esser Hayes.

Alongside a successful career at Esser Hayes, Semmer has been giving back to the insurance industry in many ways. He was president of the IIAI from 1997 to 1998 and also served on the board of governors of the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors [CIC] for the National Alliance of Insurance and Education & Research from 1993 to 1999. In addition, he has conducted seminars for the Society of CIC and Illinois State Universitys Katie School of Insurance.

Helping the next generation get a foothold in insurance clearly means a lot to Semmer. He advises all new entrants to learn the business.

Insurance and risk management is a very complex field and our clients rely on us for our expertise, he said. In commercial insurance, I would advise people to pick a niche or a major and choose a few minors to become proficient in. Clients can really tell the difference between someone who knows their stuff and someone who doesnt.

Like many successful businessmen, success for Semmer has come with the correct balance of work and home life. Outside of work, he enjoys boating, fishing, traveling and a spot of wine tasting. In fact, if he wasnt working in insurance, Semmer says one of his dream jobs would be to own a winery in the Napa Valley. Well say cheers to that!Hiscox, an international specialist insurer, has appointed Tyler Peterson to miscellaneous professional liability product head in New York.

Peterson joined Hiscox in 2012 as a professional risks underwriter and most recently drove product development and expansion across Hiscox UKs Media Liability division.

Hiscox provides a variety of specialty risk solutions, including a range of errors and omissions, general liability, cyber and data security, media liability, management liability, crime, kidnap and ransom, terrorism and commercial property insurance products.

In addition to its U.S. headquarters in New York, N.Y., Hiscox has offices in Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Chesapeake, Va.; Dallas, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; San Francisco, Calif.; and White Plains, N.Y.

Source: Hiscox

Topics New York Professional LiabilityThe UK and the European Union still say in public they want a Brexit deal wrapped up in the next seven weeks. Behind the scenes, though, senior officials on both sides admit this is unlikely.

They now aim to finalize divorce terms by the middle of November at the latest, according to people familiar with the British and European positions, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the discussions are private.

The longer timeframe is another indication that negotiators are struggling to make headway, and the risk is that the closer talks run to the UKs exit on March 29, the greater the chance that there wont be a deal. The EU summit beginning Oct. 18 had been earmarked as the deadline, after earlier hopes of resolving the divorce by June faded away.

A November deadline would imply the EU calling an emergency summit during that month, though an EU official said there was no firm plan to do so yet. Leaders are due to discuss Brexit at a summit in Salzburg in the middle of September and then again at the October meeting in Brussels.

A gathering of center-right European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk and the blocs Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Helsinki in early November could provide an important opportunity to assess the situation shortly before the crunch.

United Stance

British Prime Minister Theresa Mays team also believes the EU will want to wrap up a Brexit deal in order to form a united front with the UK when leaders meet President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 nations summit at the end of November.

If the deadline is pushed back again into December or January, both sides would face perilous choices over whether to give ground or give up on talks.

As Parliament returns from its recess on Monday, Brexit is finally moving towards crunch point, Eurasia Groups Mujtaba Rahman said in a note on Wednesday. He said some British officials expect the deadline could slip even further  to the summit of EU leaders starting on December 13. There is now an acceptance in both Brussels and London that the target of reaching agreement by the 18-19 October EU leaders summit will definitely be missed.

Negotiations have been painfully slow since an agreement on a transitional period was reached in March. The two sides remain far apart on the thorniest subject: how to guarantee there will never be a hard border between the UK province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Even so, British officials insist theyre confident of getting a deal.

Were working to the October deadline, Mays spokesman, Greg Swift, told reporters in London on Tuesday. Both sides have agreed to increase the pace of negotiations. Thats what were doing.

Speaking after a meeting with UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab last week, Barnier wouldnt commit to October as the deadline for the completion of the accord. But he reiterated it couldnt be much later than that  well before the end of the year.

According to a report on Wednesday in the Guardian, Raab is growing frustrated with Barniers lack of availability for negotiations, despite the Frenchmans promise to be available 24-7 for talks.

UK diplomats complained that the commissions repeated claims, made again by a spokesman on Tuesday, that Barnier was available for high-level talks at any point, night or day, had proven to be hyperbole.

Achieving a divorce deal in the fall is seen as vital to allow enough time for the British and European parliaments to ratify the accord before Britain legally leaves the bloc. The lack of progress has weighed on the pound in recent weeks, amid warnings from senior ministers that Britain risks crashing out of the EU without any agreement.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Europe Uk BrexitOne-in-five consumers say they would use Amazon or Google for their home insurance, a J.D. Power survey released today shows.

And most of those who took the survey (80 percent) already have insurance with a large national carrier.

Both Google and Amazon have been previously pegged as potential insurance market entrants.

It was reported earlier this month that Amazon was feeling out Europes top insurance firms to see if they would contribute to a U.K. price comparison website for as-of-yet unnamed products.

Google has been-there done-that in a one-and-done flop. In a rare miss for the Mountain View, Calif-based firm, Googles partners found out in early 2016 that the tech giants much-ballyhooed foray into online comparison shopping for auto insurance wasnt going forward. The revelation came just over a year after Google made a big splash with news it was getting into the insurance business when a deal between Google and major partners Compare.com and CoverHound was made known to the public.

Tom Super, director of J.D. Powers property/casualty practice, was aware of Googles failure, but believes that wasnt the last of the firms efforts to get into the insurance business.

I dont think theyre done trying, Super said.

Neither Google nor Amazon spokespersons responded to requests for comment for this article.

The J.D. Power survey is far from the first time the word disruption and the insurance industry have been used together in studies, surveys or near-monthly announcements from insurtech startups. However its the words Google and Amazon that insurers should take note of, according to Super.

A J.D. Power survey in April showed that only 6 percent of consumers were aware of a few of the popular existing alternative technology-based insurance providers  Lemonade, Metromile, Trove and Sure.

Google and Amazon, on the other hand, already have ample brand awareness.

They may present a greater threat to home insurers if they decide to move into that space, Super said. Its Amazon and Google that are potentially a bigger threat if were thinking about outside disruptors.

He called the survey a wake-up call for carriers, which he says should make sure theyre prepared to enhance online offerings and engagement for consumers.

Alex Hageli, director of policy, research and international for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, believes insurers are already wide awake to the threat of disruption  and theyre all well aware of Googles failed effort to make a go of it in insurance.

If this is a wake-up call, this is now the second wake-up call for the insurance industry, he said of the Google experiment. They were gone before they even got started.

Its been over a decade since Amazon came in and disrupted the retail industry, so the insurance industry has had plenty of time to prepare for disruption, he said.

I feel like the insurance industry has fully embraced technology, Hageli said. Its on par with anyone else that would engage online. The industry is well-equipped to weather competition from other possible entries into the market. I feel that the insurance industry is much better prepared, much better prepared.

When it comes to name recognition and technology, one important generation of consumers seems primed to jump the ship of traditional insurance. The J.D. Power survey showed that Millennials have the highest interest in using either Google or Amazon to insure their homes: 33 percent for Amazon and 23 percent for Google.

Its not surprising that Millennials would appear to embrace the entrance of entities such as Google and Amazon into the insurance marketplace, said Christopher J. Boggs, executive director of the Big I Virtual University. After all, these are household names for them; and the name recognition alone, along with, to some extent, the trust this group has for these operations, makes an insurance relationship almost natural.

However, there may be a catch down the line.

These literally virtual relationships might be short-lived when consumers experience a loss that isnt covered because the proper questions werent asked, or if their insurance needs change during the course of a policy and they need an expert to speak with about their situation, Boggs noted.

Chatbots and service centers, which I think will be what is required to truly make the alternative sources of insurance marketable in the long-term, know nothing about me, he said. Yes, they may have some basic data about me and my family in their computer, but they know nothing about me like a live agent who lives and works in my community and truly understands my situation beyond pure data  on a human level.

Among consumers polled by J.D. Power, areas of their relationship with their home insurance provider they say need the greatest improvement are product options/coverages (20 percent), underwriting sophistication (15 percent) and claims (14 percent).

The majority of those polled (75.2 percent) are interested in home telematics to get discounts on insurance for proper home maintenance and security.

This may be a surprise due to an apparent lack of interest from consumers in telematics in the auto industry, but Super believes that the survey indicates a broad interest in telematics and that more auto insurance consumers will embrace it as manufacturers build telematics into vehicles and make adoption ever easier.

What were seeing is that as long as you make it easy on the end-consumer, theres a higher level in willingness to adopt the technology, he said. There tends to be a lot of untapped potential in this area and I think were at the initial stages in terms of technology and in what insurers can do in this space.

According to the survey, 34 percent of consumers would likely switch to a home insurer that offers smart home technology to take advantage of loss and protection options. Fifty-seven percent of Millennials would likely switch, the survey shows.

A majority of consumers (64 percent) polled reported having some sort of smart tech in their home, such as a smart thermostat, or a smart doorbell, while 46 percent of consumers would be willing to share information gathered by these smart technologies with insurers as long as they see a value in doing so, such as preventing loss or getting discounts on insurance.

Boggs acknowledged that insurtech is dramatically changing the industry, just not the need for people.

Insuretech is not about a relationship, its about datapoints, Boggs said. Ultimately, every seller of insurance is going to have to learn how to develop a human relationship; this means agents will continue to be necessary and can actually work in harmony with insurtech to make the insurance world better for all involved. And once all sides realize that, we can work towards that goal.

He added: When the newness of insurtech wears off, insurance will return to relationships. The carriers and intermediaries that are the best at allowing and having a personal relationship will be the most successful.

Related:

Topics Carriers InsurTech Tech Market Homeowners AmazonIAT Insurance Group has hired Ken Chapman as executive vice president, Surety, to lead IATs new surety business following IATs acquisition of IFIC Surety Group that is expected to close in the third quarter.

Chapman will join the companys leadership team and report to CEO Bill Cunningham.

The company said that Dave Smith, who had been serving as interim CEO for IFIC, remains part of the companys management team and will lead the companys bail operations.

Chapman joins IAT from Travelers Bond & Specialty Insurance where he was a member of the companys senior leadership team. He served as vice president and business unit head of Financial Institutions for the past eight years and was responsible for national strategy, operations and financial results of the unit. Prior to that role, Chapman was regional vice president at Travelers Bond & Specialty, responsible for strategy and financial results. He managed a staff of more than 50 across a six state region comprised of surety, management liability and property casualty businesses.

Prior to his 22-year career with Travelers Bond & Specialty/Reliance Surety Company (Bond), Chapman held positions as a surety underwriter (Northern California and Hawaii) for Continental Insurance Company/CNA and as a branch manager (New Mexico, Colorado and West Texas markets) for Insurance Company of the West. He began his surety career in Dallas with United States Fidelity & Guaranty.

North Carolina-based IAT announced in April that it had agreed to acquire IFIC Surety Group. New Jersey-based IFIC Surety Group includes International Fidelity Insurance Co. and its subsidiary Allegheny Casualty Co. The group has 220 employees and more than $150 million in gross written premiums.

IAT Insurance Group is a privately owned, specialty insurance company. Its offerings include commercial property, flood, trucking, auto dealers, moving and storage and various specialty excess and surplus lines.

Topics Mergers Excess SurplusTulsas market growth for cannabis-derived products without the high of THC was inevitable regardless of Oklahomas medical marijuana legalization, according to advocates.

Proponents of medical marijuana have fielded questions about whether entrepreneurs are opening cannabidiol, or CBD, shops with the intention of more easily transitioning to marijuana businesses since the June passage of State Question 788.

Isaac Caviness manages Tulsa CBD store Hemp Rx, which intends to acquire a medical marijuana business license to sell products with THC in addition to items without the intoxicating chemical. Caviness downplayed the notion that anticipating medical marijuana legalization compelled him to open his business. He told the Tulsa World that the store would succeed anyway because of CBDs health benefits.

CBD products are used to help alleviate chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety and some cancer-related symptoms.

With the products that we have  and Im sure all the stores feel the same  we have customers who talk about how much theyre helping them, Caviness said. So whether we have full access to the plant or not, it meant a lot to us to be able to have a good third-party-tested product that people could find relief with.

Caviness estimated nearly a dozen stores currently offer CBD products in northeast Oklahoma. Only two stores in the area supplied the products during this time last year.

The rising number of CBD stores can be attributed to how people are beginning to see CBDs potential and understand its effects, said Joshua Lewelling, co-founder of pro-marijuana activist group Green the Vote.

Ive been standing in CBD shops when a patient or client would come in and say their doctor had told them to come down and get educated, he said. Even the doctors are coming onto it as well.

Lewelling believes many of the CBD businesses dont intend to get medical marijuana licenses, which require stricter regulations.

CBD is legal to buy, sell or use in Oklahoma as long as it has no more than 0.3 percent THC.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cannabis OklahomaA.M. Best is expecting Hurricane Lane to be considered more of a flood event than a wind event.

As a result, the storm that buffeted Hawaii should bring a potential triggering of the National Flood Insurance Programs reinsurance program into consideration.

A.M. Bests briefing, Insurers Equipped to Handle Hurricane Lane Losses, states that most A.M. Best-rated Hawaiian insurers exposed to property catastrophe risk, based on direct premiums written in Hawaii, have diverse geographic footprints and possess risk-adjusted capitalization supportiv.

Therefore, A.M. Best does not anticipate significant decreases in policyholders surplus at affected rated companies, or any rating actions, the briefing states. However, rated entities that display any material deviations from expected results potentially could be the subject of negative rating action in the form of under reviews, outlook revisions or downgrades.

The NFIP has roughly 60,000 policies in force, according to FEMA. Should the beleaguered U.S. flood programs reinsurance layer pay out because of Hurricane Lane, along with other recent and prospective events, it would be the second-straight year the placement was triggered, according to A.M. Best.

Because of the flooding, which exceeded 50 inches in some parts of Hawaii. A.M. Best expects the storm generated comprehensive claims for auto insurers as well.

Related:

Topics Carriers Catastrophe Natural Disasters Flood Profit Loss Hurricane AM BestGeneral-purpose and private-label debit cards purchase value for goods and services totaled $3.019 trillion in 2017, the most recent figures available as of February 2020, according to the Nilson Report. While many consumers choose to use a debit card to avoid accumulating credit card debt, you may not be aware that you could lose more hard-earned money through debit card fraud than if you used a credit card for a purchase.

As you probably know, when you make a purchase with a debit card, the money is taken instantly from your checking account. If someone fraudulently uses your debit card number, you could be responsible for some or all of those charges.

Key Takeaways Check your bank statements on a regular basis and report any suspected fraudulent activity to the bank immediately.

The faster you report a problem, the more quickly you can cancel your debit card and prevent additional charges.

Only utilize ATMs that are associated with a bank; stay away from potential skimming locations such as gas stations and deli kiosks.

If you lose your card or suspect it has been stolen, report it immediately to your bank and cancel the missing card.

Change your personal identification number (PIN) and password every few months.

Unauthorized Charges on Your Debit Card

According to the National Consumer Law Center, if a consumers debit card has not been lost or stolen but there are unauthorized charges on the account, the consumer will be protected if they report those charges within 60 days of when the statement was sent.

When a physical card goes missing or is stolen, consumers have just two business days after learning about the loss to notify the card issuer. Those who do so will limit their losses to $50. Otherwise, they could lose up to $500. If they take months to notify the bank, they may not recoup any money at all.

Many banks have improved their debit card protections for their customers and will go beyond the above rules and not make consumers responsible for any charges deemed to be fraudulent. This is especially true if consumers report the unauthorized transactions as soon as possible.

Experts advise debit card holders not to make a financial transaction on an e-commerce site that doesnt have the s following http, as in https://. This symbol is an indication of a higher level of security.

8 Rules for Keeping Your Debit Card Safe

Take the time to follow these rules.

1. Check your bank statements often

As time is of the essence to receive full fraud protection from your bank, make it a habit to review your bank account online at least once a week or even daily.

2. Protect your PIN number

Dont give your personal identification number (PIN) to anyone who asks, and dont keep it written down anywhere in your purse or wallet. Dont use your PIN at the gas pump. Instead, use your card in the credit purchase function to avoid someone seeing it. In fact, using your debit card in credit card mode may offer you extra liability protection, depending on your bank.

3. Consider avoiding debit card use online

Some consumers choose to use only credit cards online, because a fraudulent credit card transaction takes more time for your bank to process and can become an item of dispute rather than an instant removal of cash from your checking account. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco recommends checking for a security symbol, such as an unbroken key or a padlock, on each website before you order anything because these symbols mean your information will be encrypted and therefore safer.

4. Only use ATMs at a bank

Automated teller machines (ATMs) located in convenience stores, subway stations, airports, and other places have a greater risk of having a skimming device attached by a thief, which could intercept and store your debit card data. This sometimes happens at banks, too, but it is easier to do in a place without surveillance cameras.

5. Dont use public wireless access for financial transactions

Make sure you are using a password-protected wireless signal to check your bank account balance, pay bills, and shop, so that hackers have less chance to capture your password and account information.

6. Report problems immediately

While you would certainly report it right away if your wallet were stolen and your credit and debit cards were missing, you should also report any unauthorized transactions immediately.

7. Consider filing a police report

If your debit card is stolen, you may want to contact the police and keep a copy of the police report, so that you have extra support when you want your bank to reimburse the charges.

8. Create your own security profile

As long as you remember the answers, you can make up anything you want for your security questions. Using a pets name or your mothers maiden name makes it too easy for cons to get into your account. The answers just have to be consistent; they dont have to be true.

The Bottom Line

While you may find constantly using a debit card to be a great convenience, it wont be so convenient if someone manages to drain your checking account. A little vigilance and some new habits can go a long way toward preventing a damaging debit card experience.If there's one factor almost sure to help increase your earnings, it's going back to school for a post-graduate degree. Those who obtain a master's degree typically see a significant bump in pay. These highest-paying jobs are ranked the best salaries starting with the highest.

For example, a worker with a bachelor's degree in business was expected to earn $58,869 in 2021. Their counterpart with a master's degree is expected to reach $75,461. Engineers with a bachelor's degree can expect to earn $71,088 in 2021not too shabby. But the same work with a master's is expected to pull down $80,320.

For some post-graduate programs, the increase in wages can be substantially higher. Below, we look at 10 careers that require advanced degrees and have some of the best salaries.

Key Takeaways Workers who earn an advanced degree can expect a significant bump in pay compared to those who hold just a bachelor's degree.

Even if a job doesn't need a degree, you may need special certification or an associate's degree.

A number of the top-paying careers are in healthcare, including doctors, nurse anesthetists, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners.

Law, business, and engineering are fields in which an advanced degree can also lead to a lucrative career.

Hourly minimum pay rates are highest on the coasts.



1. Physician

The average annual salary for family medicine physicians$240,000

The list of high-paying graduate degrees is crammed with healthcare jobs. Not surprisingly, physicians are at the top. The average starting salary for family medicine physicians is $240,000a level that has remained flat for three years due to reduced demand for primary care doctors.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of physicians and surgeons is projected to grow 4% from 2019 to 2029. This is approximately as fast "as the average for all occupations."

Doctors who specialize receive a significant pay increase. Average salaries for cardiologists are $409,000 (non-invasive) and $640,000 (invasive). Orthopedic surgeons make $626,000 on average, while urologists typically earn $477,000 per year.

Keep in mind that specialization adds extra years to an already long timeline of study. Medical school lasts four years, and residency takes at least three years, and generally, both come after four years of undergraduate college.

2. Nurse Anesthetist

The average annual salary for a nurse anesthetist$215,000

You dont need an M.D. after your name to earn a substantial paycheck in the medical field. Certified registered nurse anesthetists who help administer anesthesia to surgical patients earn an average of $215,000 per year.

To become one, you need to be a registered nurse and complete a specialized master's degree program and other requirements. At that point, you can sit for the exam to earn the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) designation.

The employment for all nurses, including nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners, is projected to grow 45% by 2029, meaning these jobs will be very much in demand.

3. Dentistry

The median annual salary for a dentist$164,010

The benefits of going into dentistry go beyond helping patients improve their smilesyou end up with a satisfying salary as well. As of May 2020, the median salary for a dentist was $164,010, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). With the aging of the U.S. population, job prospects are expected to stay strong over the next decade.

The median pay for orthodontists, prosthodontists, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons was $208,000 annually or more. The top-paying states for dentists were Rhode Island, Vermont, Alaska, Maine, and New Hampshire.

4. Information-Technology Management

The median annual salary for computer and IT managers$151,150

Companies increasingly need people who are capable of planning and executing their technology goals. That's why the median pay for jobs like information-technology managers and IT project managers was $151,150 as of May 2020, according to the BLS. However, at many organizations, significantly bigger corporations, you need at least a master's degree in the field to take on those roles.

5. Pharmacy

The median annual salary for a pharmacist$128,710

Becoming a pharmacist is no easy feat. You'll have to work toward a doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree, which includes challenging biology, chemistry, and pathology coursework. Afterward, graduates must pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX), which is required to practice in all 50 states.

Nevertheless, in the end, pharmacists are rewarded with a very respectable salary. Their median pay as of May 2020 was $128,710, according to BLS data.

6. Law

The median annual salary for a lawyer$126,930

Careers in law are still among the highest-paid in the country. To practice, you need to earn a Juris Doctor (JD) degreetypically a three-year post-graduate program for full-time students. Most states also require that you pass a bar exam. And considering the student loans needed to finance a degree, prospective law students must decide for themselves: is law school worth it?

The median salary for an attorney was $126,930 as of May 2020, according to BLS data. Of course, where you went to school and whether you work in public or private practice significantly impact pay. Lawyers graduating from Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, Cornell University, University of Chicago, and Yale University report being among the highest-paid.

7. Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner

Average starting salary: $112,000 for physician assistant and $126,000 for nurse practitioner

A shortage of physicians means that more hospitals and clinics turn to physician assistants and nurse practitioners to help manage patient care. Both careers require a master's degree as well as state licensure. Physician assistants earn an average starting salary of $112,000, while the average for nurse practitioners is $126,000. Physician assistants and nurse practitioners can also look forward to a signing bonus of $8,500.

The future looks sunny for those who want to enter these professions, with employment expected to increase well above average to 31% by 2029 over the next several years.

Computer sciences and engineering are also the top-paying specialties for those with a bachelor's degree, with average expected salaries of more than $71,000 for 2021.

8. Economics

The median annual salary for an economist$108,350

A post-graduate degree in economics unlocks several lucrative career possibilities that aren't as readily available to applicants with a bachelor's degree. Among them are working as a policy analyst, market researcher, or professor. Those who earn an advanced degree can do quite well. As of May 2020, the median pay for an economist was $108,350, according to BLS data.

Median wages were $129,060 for those working in finance and insurance. Economists working for the federal government (but not the post office) earned a median wage of $125,350. Those employed in scientific research and development pulled in a median salary of $122,220.

Overall, the future of jobs in economics is positive, and employment is projected by the BLS to grow 14% by 2029.

9. MBA

Median base starting salary for MBA graduates$105,000

A master's in business administration (MBA) is often a prerequisite to climbing the ladder in the corporate world. However, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has put a crimp in starting salaries for MBA grads. Before the pandemic, corporate recruiters planned to offer a median starting pay of $115,000 in 2020. That's been cut back to around $105,000 per year.

The highest starting salaries go to those working in consulting, finance, and technology. MBA grads also command significant salaries to get hired by a Fortune 100 company or a company employing more than 10,000 people.

Another option to consider is a business graduate degree. Before the pandemic, median starting pay for new hires holding a Master of Accounting or Master of Management degree was about $75,000 per year. A new hire with a Master of Finance could expect $80,000, while a Master of Data Analytics might earn $85,000 per year.

10. Engineering

The average annual salary for an engineer$80,320

Engineering continues to be one of the most in-demand careers in the United States, although employment prospects vary based on specialization. The average pay for those with a master's degree was expected to be $80,320 in 2021, up 3.9% from 2020. That compares to the $71,088 that engineers with just an undergrad degree were expected to make.

Highest Paying Jobs FAQs

What Are the Highest Paying Entry Level Jobs?

There are many high-paying entry-level jobs in multiple fields, these include paralegals, executive assistant positions, and various IT-related positions from marketing to data security.

What Are the Highest Paying Sales Jobs?

Real estate agents, pharmaceutical sales reps, and sales jobs related to technology can all be lucrative sales careers.

What Are the Highest Paying Truck Driving Jobs?

If you are comfortable driving a huge vehicle for long stretches, long-haul trucking can be a high-paying job. Ice road trucking, hazmat hauling, driving oversized loads, and luxury car hauling can net close to $100,000 annually if you have experience on the road.

What Are the Highest Paying Part-Time Jobs?

You may not get rich fast working these part-time jobs but warehouse workers, nannies, bank tellers, and skilled bookkeepers all make over $15 an hour and up, depending on company and experience.

What State Has the Highest Paying Jobs?

Massachusetts, California, and Washington D.C. offer the highest minimum wage for jobs. In terms of which state has the highest paying jobs, this is dependent on the type of job. Jobs in finance that pay high salaries tend to be situated in cities like New York and Boston, and in Washington and California, tech moguls are high earners.

What Are the Highest Paying Jobs Without a Degree?

Some of the highest-paying jobs you can get without a degree include work in the technology and medical and healthcare fields. For example, a diagnostic medical sonographer can earn a median wage of $59,100, and a computer support specialist can earn a median wage of $65,450 as of BLS figures for 2020 (the most recent data available).

The Bottom Line

A post-graduate degree is one of the surest ways to increase your earning potential. That's especially true for those who pursue a program in a high-demand field, including healthcare, information technology (IT), engineering, or law. However, keep in mind that certain bachelor's degree programs can also be worth considering if you're not prepared to put extra time and money into your education.What is the SDP (Sudanese Pound)

SDP (Sudanese Pound) was the national currency for Sudan between 1956 and 1992. The Sudanese pound subdivided into 100 piastres or qirush in Arabic. The Arabic name for the pound is junaih. Sudanese coins had denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 piastres, as well as a 1-pound coin. Pound banknotes had 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50-pound denominations.

Breaking Down SDP (Sudanese Pound)

In 1956, the SDP (Sudanese pound) replaced the Egyptian pound at par as the national currency and remained in use until the introduction of the dinar (SDD) in 1992. The dinar circulated between 1992 and 2007. Conversion was set at one dinar to 10 SDP.

Like many currency conversions, it was some time before the dinar entirely replaced the SDP. While the dinar was used extensively in northern Sudan, many merchants and businesses transacted in pounds in southern regions of the country. Other areas of Sudan used the Kenyan shilling.

The Central Bank of Sudan controls minting and circulation of the legal currency, as well as monetary policy and interest rates. The bank also fosters Islamic banking in the region.

History of the Sudanese Pound (SDP)

The history of the Sudanese Pound mirrors changes in the country's politics and governmental control. For example, the introduction of the second Sudanese Pound (SDG) followed a peace agreement between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The new Sudanese pound became legal tender in 2007, and was replaced with the third rendition of the pound in 2011. This 2011 change came as South Sudan seceded from the country. After the secession, the government issued new banknotes.

Sudan lies in Northeast Africa. In the late 1880s, the area experienced harsh Egyptian rule which led to revolts and the creation of a caliphate state. The British defeated the caliphate state and governed the region alongside Egypt. In the 1950s, Sudanese nationalism rose, and the country declared its independence in 1956. Following British rule, a series of brutal governments held power. In 1983, the government declared all of Sudan an Islamic state, which antagonized the south and led to a second civil war and South Sudan obtaining independence in 2011.

Succession left South Sudan with 75% of the area's oil reserves. As a result, Sudan has experienced stagflation: high unemployment and slow economic growth combined with inflation. According to 2017 World Bank data, Sudan registered 4.3% annual GDP growth with a staggering 32.9% yearly inflation deflator. Agriculture employs 80% of the Sudanese population. An estimated 9.6 million people are food insecure and the nation ranks as one of the lowest in the world for human development. 

Sudan is home to the Merowe Dam on the River Nile, the largest hydropower project in Africa and provider of most of the country's electricity. China is Sudan's primary trading partner.Here's all you need to know this morning.

GET INFORMED ...

IRELAND: President Michael D Higgins must reimburse taxpayers for using publicly funded services, including cars, offices, or staff at Aras an Uachtarain during his campaign for re-election, the States ethics watchdog has declared.

IRELAND: The Criminal Assets Bureau is endeavouring to identify properties, assets, and bank accounts controlled by the head of the Lithuanian crime gang operating a network of cannabis grow houses across the country.

IRELAND: Two gardai have been injured after their unmarked patrol car was rammed in Donegal.

VIEWS: The homeless figures are set to grow again as the pressure rises on the embattled housing minister, writes Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

WORLD: A white former US police officer has been found guilty of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager as he left a house party in a car full of teenagers.

SPORT: Why it was time for Rochford to move on

... SOME DISTRACTION

FEATURE: A couple of years out from its 150 anniversary, the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is still performing a duty to society.

CULTURE: A documentary on IRA bomber Dolours Price is based around a revealing interview she gave before her death

SHOWBIZ: Kathy Griffin has criticised Louis CKs attempted comeback after he admitted being guilty of sexual misconduct last year.By Eamon Quinn

The Government should avoid pumping too much into the economy in Octobers budget because the underlying economy is much more fragile than many people think, said economist Jim Power.

In his annual economic review for Friends First, Mr Power said, in a bout of electioneering, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe could be tempted to embrace populist measures for an economy that doesnt need more fiscal stimulus.

The Government should instead recognise that real debt levels are significantly high, at 111%, and the bulk of the budget day package of 3.4 billion was already spoken for.

Mr Power said Irish-owned firms are losing out in relation to multinationals, and in turn, Government has become dangerously dependent on the corporate tax revenues generated by foreign-owned firms.

We cannot ignore the fact that the top 10% of firms in Ireland account for 87% of value-added in manufacturing and 94% in services; a third of total exports are accounted for by just five firms and 39% of corporation tax is paid for by the top 10 companies.

Any shock to these firms or sectors would reverberate throughout our economy and undermine the positive growth achieved. In this context, it is essential that policymakers do as much as possible to support the rest of the economy, particularly the indigenous companies that make such a high value-added contribution to the Irish economy, he said.

Citing an unacceptable growth in house prices, he said Ireland is facing a crisis of competitiveness.

The Government should instead nurture business competitiveness. Nonetheless, the wider economy is showing few signs of overheating, with credit growth and consumer prices in general stable.

Consumers have resisted price increases  the retail market is struggling to achieve value growth, he said, and the number of jobs in the retail industry has fallen. Wage pressures will inevitably grow and labour become in short supply, applying a brake to potential growth.

He projects GDP will rise 5.5% this year and easily grow again, by 4.5%, in 2019. On Brexit, the economist sees the talks unfolding in a very unfavourable, if not alarming manner and sterling is under considerable pressure.

With the UK likely to grow at the slowest pace in Europe, budgetary policy should be guided by these realities and not by the temptation to pander to populist pressures, he said.

Given Irelands reliance on this key export market, the risks posed by a hard Brexit are evidenced by the drop of 7.2% in exports to the UK already this year, the economist said.Kieran Mulvey has been appointed as a non-executive director of Independent News and Media (INM) with effect from today.

Mr Mulvey was nominated to the board by Denis OBrien, the companys largest shareholder.

I would like to welcome Kieran to the INM board," said Murdoch MacLennan, chairman of INM.

"His wide-ranging industrial relations and business experience will add significantly to the calibre of our board as we face up to the many challenges that lie ahead."

The INM board determined that Mr Mulvey should not be considered to be independent on application of the independence criteria set by the UK Corporate Governance Code. INM is seeking a further candidate for appointment to the board to restore compliance with the board constituent provisions of the code.

Mr Mulvey was director general of the Workplace Relations Commission, and formerly chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, for over 25 years until his retirement in 2016.

He served on the governing boards of a number of public bodies including University College Dublin, the Independent Radio and Television Commission and the National Economic and Social Council.

He is currently a Director of Dublin City University DAC, Chairman of Adare Human Resources Ltd, Chairman of Sport Ireland and Trustee/Treasurer of the registered charity, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.A leading international expert has said that there is a new urgency around gender diversity in leadership roles, despite policies that should have eased the problem around the globe.

Carol Kulik, Research Professor of Human Resource Management at the University of South Australia Business School will be the keynote speaker at a Human Resources conference at UCC next week.

Professor Kulik has said progress may be levelling off and that visible increases in gender diversity at the top may be masking deeper, systemic gender inequality.

She said: The question today  in Ireland, as it is in many developed countries  is not whether women can or should work.

"The question is whether the work women do is valued as much as the work men do, and whether womens work is as likely as mens to lead to senior management roles.

Ahead of her appearance in Ireland, Professor Kulik also suggests that Article 41.2.1 of the Irish Constitution clearly does not reflect womens lived reality.

Article 41.2.1 of the Irish Constitution concerns womens role within the home, and states:

In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.

It is followed by Article 41.2.2 of the Irish Constitution, which reads:

The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.

Professor Kulik said: Today more than 60% of adult women in Ireland are in paid employment.

"Those women face significant challenges in the form of gender pay gaps, a lack of flexibility, and obstacles to career advancement.

Ronan Carbery of the HRRC said: Some countries are increasing regulatory requirements that monitor organisations gender diversity composition and practices.

"Organisations are under pressure to increase the representation of women in senior management roles and narrow gender salary gaps.

"It is these issues and many more that we will discuss at this conference in September.

The event at the Human Resources Research Centre (HRRC) at UCC takes place on Monday, September 3.A number of communities in rural parts of Cork and Kerry are set to lose their local post office after An Post announced 160 closures nationwide.

Among those most inconvenienced by the restructuring plan are people living in Allihies, West Cork, where customers will face a round trip of almost 22km to reach the nearest alternative in Eyeries.

The closure of Rockchapel in north Cork will mean a 20km round trip to Brosna.

In Kerry, the closure of Ballinskelligs will mean a round trip in excess of 25km to Waterville.

However, in Swanlinbar, Co Cavan, customers face a round trip of of almost 30km to reach Ballyconnell, the nearest post office.

The closures, which will take place over the next five months, are on foot of a voluntary retirement package, under which postmasters will receive an average payment in excess of 50,000.

An Post said closures are only taking place in areas with a population under 500 people, within 15km of the nearest alternative outlet, and where the volume of business is so small as to be unsustainable.

As many as 360 post offices met the criteria, but as the retirement package was voluntary, just 160 subscribed.

Business of post offices due to close will transfer to neighbouring post offices.

Arrangements for transfer of social welfare payments will be posted in each of the post offices listed for closure over the next two weeks.

An Post said it will also seek to ensure that PostPoint services (such as stamp sales, bill payment, and mobile top-up) are available from retailers in locations where existing post offices are closing.

The newly configured network will focus specifically on:

- E-commerce, offering the fullest range of parcel and mail services including out-of-hours collections, returns, tracking, and redirection;

- Community financial services, to include loans, credit cards, and more foreign exchange products; local banking in association with the major banks; and a full range of State savings products in more locations;

- Post offices becoming one-stop-shops for Government services, including licensing, payments for local authorities, fines, and planning applications; digital ID; and authorisations.

Debbie Byrne, managing director of An Post Retail, said it had done painstaking work combining business and demographic data with extensive local knowledge to produce a network plan which actively supports the future of rural Ireland.

She said it fully acknowledges the process will be difficult for some customers and communities but the end result will be a strengthened, viable post office network.

Timmy Dooley, the Fianna Fail spokesman on communications, said the radical closure of a significant section of the network fails to meet the States obligation to support rural dwellers.

I expect this matter to be addressed in full as part of Budget 2019 discussions with the minister for finance, and I will be further raising our partys great concern directly with [Communications Minister Denis] Naughten.

In May, the Irish Postmasters Union passed a ballot to support a new plan for the post office network.

The voluntary retirement package was included as part of it.

The closures will reduce the post office network from 1,111 outlets to about 950.

An Post is also planning to open five new outlets.

Here are the locations of the closing post offices:A group of protesters occupying an empty building in Dublin's north inner city have been served notice to quit.

The activists behind the recent Summerhill Occupation staged a second sit-in earlier this month, after they were ordered by the High Court to leave the Ballybough property.Baltimore RNLI assisted a fishing vessel in difficulty south of Kedge Island off the coast of Baltimore, West Cork this afternoon.

The lifeboat crew was requested by the Irish Coast Guard 2.12pm to assist the 8m fishing vessel, with two people on board, after it had become propped three miles off Kedge Island near Baltimore.The Forsa trade union has joined calls for a swift resolution to a row over certification of illness benefits which has meant an unknown number of people having their payments delayed.

It emerged that a dispute between GPs, who certify illness and injury benefit, and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection had resulted in a payments backlog, which the department said should be overcome by midweek.

It centres on the department introducing new forms in relation to injury and illness benefit and which GPs are required to fill out. The department intends to bring in an electronic format next year, but, in the meantime, introduced a new paper version.

The department said some GPs were persisting with older forms and that this could not continue. It apologised to customers whose payments have been delayed.

It said the changes were discussed with the Irish Medical Organisation in advance and that the new system is working efficiently. It said: The department can confirm that some GPs have continued to use the old forms after the changeover date. However, the department will not be in a position to accept the old forms indefinitely.

Payment delays will unfortunately continue for our customers where old forms are used by GPs for certification and these delays are entirely avoidable and unnecessary.

Dr Padraig McGarry, chairman of the Irish Medical Organisations GP committee, rejected claims that any delay in payments reaching patients is down to GPs not using new forms.

Speaking on Today with Miriam OCallaghan on RTE radio, Dr McGarry said: I think the problem has been the department rushed out the new forms without sufficient time for communication with GPs.

The National Association of General Practitioners went further, claiming the departments assertions regarding GPs using older forms was merely a tactic to bully GPs into changing work practice without mediation or negotiation.

It said it received written agreement from the department confirming entry into a process of mediation on August 17. It claimed that on August 23, however, the department withdrew its agreement to mediation without notice or explanation.

Chris Goodey of the National Association of General Practitioners said as well as additional workload there were data protection concerns around the new system. He said the group is concerned that there are as yet undefined ulterior motives in the departments secretive rush to install new software without consultation or elaboration of its purpose.

The Irish Medical Organisation is to meet the department today to discuss the issue.

Forsa called for urgent action to resolve delays to illness benefit payments.

Union official Des Fagan said the frustration of applicants, some waiting 90 minutes to have calls dealt with, is impacting on members.

Unfortunately this has led to our members being subject to aggressive and abusive calls, said Mr Fagan.The Criminal Assets Bureau is endeavouring to identify properties, assets, and bank accounts controlled by the head of the Lithuanian crime gang operating a network of cannabis grow houses across the country.

This gang is associated with a separate organised crime group from Lithuania that is heavily involved in the heroin trade and behind the violent intimidation of a garda investigating them.

The CAB investigation is part of a co-ordinated initiative involving the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau against Lithuanian gangs.

CAB, backed up by the Armed Response Unit, searched two houses in the Blanchardstown area of west Dublin on Monday.

In a statement, the bureau said: The CAB investigation relates to a Lithuanian organised crime gang involved in the sale and supply of drugs through a network of cannabis grow houses across the country.

A quantity of financial documents, electronic storage devices, and mobile telephones were seized.

Sources said the two Lithuanian gangs have links but operate in separate areas of the drug trade: one in the domestic cultivation and sale of cannabis, the other involved in the importation and sale of heroin and cocaine.

There are similarities in how they operate.

The gangs are highly organised and hierarchical, have a sizeable number of gang members, and operate across the country.

They sell directly to users, through Lithuanian street dealers specifically brought over to do the job.

Both gangs have to get their profits back to the overall bosses in Lithuania, who control operations from there.

The gang targeted by CAB on Monday has been hit before by the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, which uncovered a number of the grow houses it operates.

CAB examined bureau information and carried out its own investigation before the search operation.

Through searches, the bureau can get evidence in relation to property ownership and assets that it didnt previously know about, as they might be in the name of other people.

The main target is based in Lithuania, but there are other members of the hierarchy here that CAB is interested in.

Officers suspect that hundreds of thousands of euro may have been sent back to Lithuania, where they believe it is reinvested in the drugs trade.

A feature of the Lithuanian gangs is that they bring over what sources describe as young, vulnerable people who they consider to be also loyal to work for them in Ireland.

This includes working in the grow houses, as well as distributing and selling the drugs on the street.

By their closed nature, it is more difficult for gardai to infiltrate the networks.

The other heroin-dealing Lithuanian gang, based in north Dublin and operating nationally, has taken violent measures in response to efforts by gardai to thwart its operation.

As reported in thejournal.ie, these include an apparent acid-attack on a garda, who received facial injuries, a second incident involving criminal damage to the gardas home, and a third incident where two gang members turned up outside his childs school.

Sources said it shows that the gang was not going to let anyone, even police, stand in its way.

The heroin gang has been in operation since around 2012, and has commanded a chunk of the heroin trade in particular.

Its presence has been seen across the island, including in Belfast, Drogheda, Dublin, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Tralee, Limerick, and Galway.

The gang has to both import the drugs from abroad and find a way to send the money back to Lithuania.By Elaine Keogh

A family watching a second son fight cancer has pleaded with everyone to be aware that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month.

Nicola Skehan and partner James Doran lost their beloved son Sean at the age of five to neuroblastoma in February 2016.

The brother he never got to meet, Mikey, is just eight months old and undergoing an intensive treatment programme for leukaemia.

When Mikey was born he was tested for neuroblastoma, what Sean had, this test was a simple urine test which came back clear which we were happy to hear, Nicola said.

That was last December but in February, aged just 10 weeks old, he was diagnosed at their local hospital in Clonmel, Co Tipperary with ALL, a form of leukaemia.

Mikey had started to reduce on his feeds and was sleeping a lot. We also noticed his belly was swollen. They got him checked and, once his bloods were tested we were told the devastating news within hours that our baby had cancer.

We were in complete shock and disbelief. We were so angry as to why we again were the victims of childhood cancer especially after losing Sean.

The boys older brother, Dylan, 12, is going into secondary school.

Mikey is being treated on St Johns Ward in Our Ladys Childrens Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin. The couple said the staff there are amazing.

Mikey was very sick when we arrived in Crumlin, I dont think we were fully aware at the time as to how critically ill he was.

Nicola said he was at high risk of having a stroke and the staff wasted no time in getting him into an intensive care unit.

Mikey fought hard to stay with us and after 10 days in ICU was well enough to return to St Johns ward.

He has had four months of intense chemotherapy before receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor.

After five weeks in isolation, we are currently at home but Mikey will remain isolated for roughly 100 days post-transplant. We have to take every precaution to protect Mikey from any possible infections. It will be at least a year before we could say the transplant is a success but this is Mikeys only chance possible of a cure, Nicola said.

At times it is still hard to believe this is happening.

James and I often feel like these last few years have been one big bad dream but we have to come to reality and be as strong as possible for Mikey and Dylan and to give it our best shot of beating this disease.

"We believe Mikey has his own guardian angel that is his big brother Sean who will watch over him and get him through this battle, she said.

The couple decided to share their story to help spread awareness of childhood cancer.

It is not uncommon as we know from our experiences. Please everyone go gold in the month of September to help raise more awareness about childhood cancer, Nicola added.Gardai-in-training who allegedly found maggots and plasters in their food were threatened with disciplinary action when they complained.

According to the Daily Star, a number of class representatives approached management at Templemore College in Tipperary last week with concerns.Gardai are warning about a rise in online scams.

They say cybercriminals are also targeting people in more sophisticated ways, which makes the scams harder for people to spot.

A conference is being held in Dublin today to warn businesses about the dangers.

Detective Chief Superintendent Patrick Lordan says it is an issue that affects everyone.

"Whether you're a builder or whether you're a farmer, whether you're a businessman or a banker, they all look like a very convincing email that you'll get in from your supplier or clients," he said.

"It will ask you to change bank account details in a lot of the cases and once you change those bank account details and the next invoice comes in from that supplier or client, it goes to the wrong account.

Before you realise it, the money that you sent to your supplier is gone to a criminal's account.

Digital DeskAvoiding a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is a top priority for Germany and all EU countries, Germanys foreign minister has said.

Heiko Maas hosted Tanaiste Simon Coveney at a key meeting of Germanys ambassadors across the world in Berlin and emphasised that Europe stands united with Ireland.

Mr Coveney, speaking to the ambassadors, said Ireland has two main objectives in the crunch Brexit talks.

The first is to ensure the UKs departure does not endanger a still-fragile political settlement in Northern Ireland. The avoidance of a hard border in Ireland is, after all, also a priority for the Union as a whole. We are profoundly grateful for this unswerving support, he said.

Maintaining it has been, and remains, the overwhelming focus of our diplomatic efforts. But we could not succeed without the understanding and empathy of all our partners, not least Germany.

Irelands second objective is the closest possible relationship between the EU and the UK. This is profoundly in the economic, political, and security interests of both sides. But that relationship must respect the EUs core principles and achievements, including the Single Market and Customs Union.

If those essential elements can be safeguarded, then I think there is indeed scope for a unique future partnership.

Mr Coveney said it is a sad paradox of Brexit that no country has contributed more to the creation of the Single Market, and the promotion of free trade, than the UK. It is our largest single economic partner, though our exports to the rest of the EU are more than double those to Britain.

He said the greatest Irish diplomatic and political achievement of the last 50 years was to achieve peace in Northern Ireland and advance reconciliation. We did this working with the British government and with the Northern Ireland political parties, with support from friends across Europe and America. And, in the process, we helped to transform the British-Irish relationship.

Ireland will undoubtedly be more affected by Brexit than any other member state, said Mr Coveney.The government is being urged to make our immigration system more flexible for people from outside the EU.

It follows the latest CSO figures showing an influx of over 90,000 people in the year to the end of April.Ryanair has been warned that, while it has agreed a Collective Labour Agreement with its pilots in Italy to add to a tentative agreement here in Ireland, it still has a long way to go to achieve a network-wide agreement.

Ryanairs chief people officer Eddie Wilson confirmed that its Italian pilots had signed off on the new collective labour agreement (CLA). He said he hoped it would shortly be followed by a similar agreement covering its directly employed Irish cohort. They are being balloted with a recommendation to accept from their union, Forsa.President Michael D Higgins must reimburse taxpayers for using publicly funded services, including cars, offices, or staff at Aras an Uachtarain during his campaign for re-election, the States ethics watchdog has declared.

Mr Higgins must also clearly differentiate where public funds are used to carry out his duties as an office holder and where those resources are used for electoral purposes.

Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) guidelines for the presidential race, obtained by the Irish Examiner, will be published this week. They come into play after the starting gun was yesterday fired for the race by the Government.

So far some 11 hopefuls are trying to get on the ballot paper for the October 26 election, in addition to Mr Higgins. Sean Gallagher, the 2011 runner-up, will join the race today.

Strict rules set out by Sipo for the race include a maximum spending limit for candidates of 750,000. Donations and expense guidelines have been specifically tweaked to take account of Mr Higgins intentions to seek a second term as an office holder.

Rules which will specifically apply to the incumbent include:

- Where publicly funded property, services, or facilities are used for the election, the cost must be reimbursed. Examples could include offices, stationary, telephones, staff time, and cars;

- The use of facilities or offices for electoral purposes, such as at Aras an Uachtarain, is regarded as an election expense and will have to be reimbursed;

- Mr Higgins may be required to communicate with the electorate during the election period. Where costs are met from public funds, it is necessary to differentiate between the use of public resources in carrying out his duties and the use of public resources for electoral purposes;

- Where the Presidents staff, including assistants, advisers, drivers, or others, are engaged in electoral purposes, this is regarded as an election expense. Staff who take annual leave and work voluntarily on the campaign will not be regarded as an election expense.

Sources close to Mr Higgins expect him to shortly organise an election team, which may include staff working with him taking leave. This could include a special funding committee, to keep campaigning at arms length from his role as President.

Restrictions on where publicly funded services are used are likely to see him keep a strict distance between his campaigning role and that of President in the weeks ahead.

Mr Higgins may not formally enter campaigning mode until towards the end of September.

Sipo confirmed that its draft guidelines for presidential elections were tweaked to take account of the incumbent or any candidate holding public office. Now that the Government has moved the order to hold the election on October 26, Sipo will publish the guidelines this week.

Other restrictions include a ban on foreign donations and the need for candidates to identify online contributions. Individual donations will also be capped at 1,000 while cash donations cannot be more than 200.

Meanwhile, businessman Sean Gallagher will today join the crowded race.

Mr Gallagher, who won over 500,000 first-preference votes in 2011, is expected to explain why he is having a second run for the Park.

Councils are expected to consider his nomination in the coming days, including when six local authorities consider pitches for the presidency next Monday.

13 hopefuls: And the runners are:

-President Michael D Higgins: Incumbent.

- Sean Gallagher: 2011 candidate, businessman.

- Gavin Duffy: Dragon and businessman.

- Joan Freeman: Senator and Pieta House founder.

- Kevin Sharkey: Artist.

- Sinn Fein candidate: TBC.

- Padraig O Ceidigh: Independent Senator.

- Gemma ODoherty: journalist.

- Patrick Feeney: Former Aer Lingus employee.

- Marie Goretti Moylan: ex-civil servant.

- John Groarke Farmer.

- Jimmy Smyth: Musician.

- Sarah Louise Mulligan: Donald Trump supporter.Update - 6.53pm: The Dublin Port Tunnel has reopened after part of it was closed for much of the day.

Both bores were shut down for a time as emergency services dealt with a lorry with an "unsecured load".

The Port Tunnel is now fully re-open  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) August 29, 2018

It resulted in very heavy delays for routes heading north, into and out of the city.

The HGV ban in the city centre was lifted as crews worked to resolve the situation.

Update - 4.12pm The northbound lane of the Dublin Port Tunnel is due to re-open at 7pm this evening.

It was closed earlier following an incident involving an unsecured load on a lorry.

The HGV ban for the city has been lifted as a result.

Port Tunnel: One lane of Southbore Port Tunnel open  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) August 29, 2018

Earlier: The Dublin Port Tunnel is closed in both directions this afternoon following an incident involving an unsecured load on a lorry.

Emergency services and the Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene.

Traffic is heavy southbound from the M1/M50 Interchange on approach as a result.

The HGV ban for the city has been lifted.

The Port Tunnel is currently closed Northbound and Southbound due to an incident. Updates to follow. pic.twitter.com/PzcGlMjp0g  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) August 29, 2018

We're responding to an incident in the Dublin Port Tunnel involving a unsecured load on a HGV. Northbound bore currently affected @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic #Dublin #fire #traffic pic.twitter.com/zbTLyofdb8  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) August 29, 2018

The 5 axle truck ban is now lifted in the City Centre, following the closure of the Port Tunnel earlier due to an incident  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) August 29, 2018

Digital DeskBy Aodhan O Faolain and Ray Managh

A 23-year-old American man wanted in relation to a high-speed crash in Florida which claimed the life of a young woman, has been remanded in custody by the High Court after he was arrested in Cork.

Samuel Joseph Tucker was arrested in Mayfield on Monday on foot of an extradition warrant issued by the US authorities.

He is wanted to stand trial on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and a related manslaughter charge after the car he was allegedly driving, a 2017 Maserati Ghibli, crashed in the early hours of June 24, 2017, in Highland County, Florida.

The accident claimed the life of 22-year-old passenger Alyssa Kay Vice. The vehicle allegedly knocked over a power pole and overturned four times. It was alleged Mr Tuckers blood alcohol level was twice the legal Florida drink driving limit and that the car had been travelling at 140mph (225km/h).

Authorities claim Mr Tucker left the US soon after the incident and travelled here allegedly to avoid a trial.

Detective Sergeant Anthony Keane said Mr Tucker acknowledged being the person whose extradition was being sought.

When asked if he knew what the charge was about, Mr Tucker had replied yes to Detective Garda Keane. He did not speak during the brief hearing.

No application for bail was made but the court was told an application may be made at a future date.

Judge Quinn heard the State would be objecting to Mr Tucker being granted bail. He was remanded in custody and will next come before the Criminal Courts of Justice on September 12.By Aodhan O Faolain and Ray Managh

A mother of two, who has spent the last four months in prison for failing to comply with court orders to vacate a 1m property in south Dublin, walked free from the High Court yesterday after purging her contempt.

The woman, whose teenage children had resided at the property, was jailed by the High Court on April 27 over contempt of repossession orders granted to EBS Ltd in 2015, upheld on appeal but stayed until April 2017.

The property is one of six investment properties purchased by the womans estranged husband with EBS loans. His solicitors wrote to the lender in 2008 stating that none of the properties was a family home.

EBS got a 9.4m judgment against the man in 2011 over default of the loans secured on the properties.

Beltany Property Finance acquired the loans last year and retained Paul McCann, previously appointed by EBS as receiver over the properties, to deal with them.

The womans husband has been adjudicated bankrupt, was alleged to have been a party with the woman in breaking into some of the properties, and had been described by the receiver as a fugitive from efforts to serve contempt proceedings on him.

The woman contended she had obtained orders in family-law proceedings including a right of residence in one of the properties and claimed she would have been surrendering her family-law rights if she had vacated it.

Lawyers for the receiver denied it was a family home and said the High Court had previously determined any property rights she had were secondary to those of the receiver.

She had appealed the finding of contempt but those applications were rejected by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

In June, when dismissing the womans appeal over the High Courts order jailing her, the Court of Appeal said the woman had to face up to the reality of the situation as the law had determined it to be and purge her contempt.

Yesterday, lawyers representing the woman said that after spending more than 100 days in the Dochas Centre, she was now prepared to purge her contempt.

The woman told Mr Justice Michael Quinn she was sorry for her past breaches and gave an undertaking not to directly or indirectly interfere with the properties.

She said she would comply with the orders made by the court while conducting any negotiations with Beltany and in any legal proceedings concerning the properties. Lawyers for the receiver had expressed their concerns about the undertakings as they did not refer to the womans two children.

The children remained in the property while she was in prison, and were being looked after by a friend of their father.

Mr Justice Quinn said he was satisfied the woman had purged her contempt and she was released from custody. The judge accepted the undertakings meant the woman and her children must vacate the property.

He said that arrangements could be made between the woman and the receiver to remove their belongings from the property.By Edward Ademolu

A black Bond? Its an apparently unproblematic and straightforward question, right? Well, not quite. When suggested quite quizzically by a colleague, it sparked a series of reactionary positions in the staff room, especially from the 007 traditionalists.

In fact, whispers that the very suave  and yet indisputably black  actor Idris Elba could potentially play Bond have ignited social commentaries about race, filmic representation and literary integrity around the world.

The issue was shaken and stirred (sorry, I couldnt help myself) by a recent report in the Daily Star, in which director Antoine Fuqua recalled a discussion with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, who allegedly said it is time for a black actor to star as 007 and that she is confident it will happen eventually.

Interestingly, this little nugget sat at the top of a story about Fuqua launching his latest business venture  an app that allows people to listen to movies online with surround sound. But reporters know how to sell stories to their editors and so the headline, main picture and the first half dozen paragraphs were devoted to Elbas Bond prospects.

Despite the fact that Fuquas management subsequently insisted that the conversation was made-up stuff, the question of Elba as the new Bond dominated the comments below the story, which included one reader asking: What would be the outcry if Martin Luther King was played by a white bloke? What indeed?

Elba himself is keeping us guessing: My names Elba, Idris Elba he tweeted at 9am on August 12, followed three hours later with: Dont believe the hype.

Dont believe the HYPE...  Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 12, 2018

Elbas no mug. He knows how to fan the flames of speculation. And Im unashamedly going to fall into his trap. So is it time for a black James Bond? What the heck  why not?

Tall, dark and handsome

Is it beyond fictionalisation  or the limitations of our individual and cultural imagination  to comprehend a reality in which theres a devilishly handsome and sophisticated black Englishman with an MI6-approved licence to kill. It gives new  or should I say restores (in my humble opinion) the original  meaning to tall, dark and handsome, right? Everything that Bond is supposed to be.

Wouldnt it be more surprising, and perhaps unsettling, if such an imagining, even in fiction, couldnt withstand the assumed fragility of our liberal mindedness? Especially when we are supposed to live in a post-racial society where  ironically  inequalities, discrimination and oppression are nonexistent. If they are nonexistent in the material world, it seems they are alive and well in the figments of our imagination.

Cast your mind back to the medias preoccupation with Prince Harry and Meghan Markles racially progressive interracial union, or Frances international posturing as a bastion of ethno-racial equality, with its colourblind government prohibition on referencing the race and ethnicity of its citizens. Is that enough to convince you that we live in a multicoloured land of bliss where all is possible?

Rallying against this romanticism are traditionalists  or Bond literalists  who, in all their intransigent preoccupation with conserving the historically white purity and scriptural heritage of the Bond franchise, are irked at a blackened prospect. They offer a plethora of counter arguments, not least that in 1953 Casino Royale, the first in Ian Flemings 12-book Bond series, the secret agent is described as a white Englishman of part Scottish and Swiss heritage who was educated at Fettes College.

To which I submit: we arent in the 1950s. The films are no longer time-warped in black-and-white  they have changed and adapted to reflect the cultural zeitgeist of cinematic and contemporary public consciousness.

Its interesting to note that these purists are not all white  disproportionally so, yes  but not all. Some non-white Bond enthusiasts have also put in their own two cents worth, asking producers to stick to the script and insisting that being white is integral to Bonds character. But can we racialise character?

Others, meanwhile, have called for their own black, Walther PPK-wielding agent, in the manner of 007, to not only tell their own new or complimentary stories but also avoid falling prey to potential accusations of tokenism in film.

Colourblind casting

Meanwhile, JK Rowling decried critics of the casting of black actress Noma Dumezweni as the fictional Harry Potter character Hermione Granger, as a bunch of racists and that white skin was never specified, challenging normative assumptions that fictional characters are white, by default.

Supporters of Bonds racial metamorphosis urge for better ethnic minority filmic representation in the spy genre and stress that fiction is not exempt from transformation even in the context of race. Its a sentiment I share.

I realise that my openmindedness unlatches a Pandoras Box of Whatabout-me-isms. What about a polyamorous, gender-nonconforming, effeminate, anti-misogynist Gujarati Indian as Othello? Or, can I, as a Liverpudlian-accented, shaven-headed, transgendered lesbian, play Sherlock Holmes? Then again, what about a white Shaft? But wait wouldnt that be Whitesploitation? Lets not go there.

Would Elba make a fine Bond? Absolutely. Having seen 007 in all his white iterations, Im all for a representational shift towards a salt-and-peppered Afro-textured, mahoganied urbanite. Too far fetched? Surely not.

This article was written by Edward Ademolu of University of Manchester and was originally published on The Conversation Read the original article here.Timmy Murphy will lead the Munster team in the third All-Ireland series in Boston in October following his bowl of odds win over Micheal OSullivan in the Junior C final at Clondrohid.

OSullivan missed the first bend in three. Murphys third was right and only beat it by 40m. OSullivan lost ground with his fourth and Murphy reached the layby to raise a bowl. OSullivan knocked the bowl with a big sixth towards Tirbeg cross. Murphy pushed clear again with a super seventh to sight at the old house. He was close to a bowl ahead after 10 to the Bell Inn.

He raised a bowl with his next. OSullivan closed the gap with a brilliant bowl to Goffs lane. Murphy then missed light, but OSullivan didnt capitalise. Murphy regained almost a bowl after two more to the farm. He then played a big bowl that rubbed to light. OSullivan missed this to concede a bowl. It was all over when OSullivan missed the last bend.

OSullivans preparations were hampered by a delayed flight pushing his semi-final with Jordan OSullivan to Thursday, just 48 hours before the final. And then this was a battle to the death.

Jordan OSullivan went almost a bowl clear after two huge opening shots. It was still just under a bowl after four and five to the wire. Micheal gained his first lead with a perfectly played sixth. He pushed on with two more big bowls, raising a bowl and going almost two clear at the bottom of the hill.

Jordan brought it back to an even bowl at Dalys. He knocked the bowl at Blairs Cove and was back in contention after a great second last. Micheal denied him by playing a great bowl towards the line.

Darren Bowen beat Eoin Healy in the Munster Novice I final at Killumney. He raised almost a bowl with his his first and was two in front after his second. Healy settled with a good fifth which brought the lead back to a bowl. He increased the pressure with a big sixth, but Bowen held his odds.

Healy cut the lead to just 55m after nine. He lost momentum with his next and Bowen restored his bowl of odds with a big shot to the layby. He was almost two clear at Connies corner and held that in 12 to just short of the line.

The Munster Novice II final between Richard Murphy and Damien Healy is tonight at Timoleague. Healy had two wins in the past week to reach this decider.

In the semi-final he beat Mike White by a bowl at Togher Cross. They were locked together for most of the this score. Healy gained big odds with a good bowl of the bridge and led to the line. He raised a bowl approaching Cronins. He extended his lead over the next few shots, but White finished well to bring it back to a bowl.

In the quarter-final he beat Stephen OConnell at the Clubhouse. He raised a bowl with his second, but OConnell fought back to level it at Murrays pillars. Healy then got two great bowls to the garage to go well over a bowl clear. OConnell got a great bowl to sight at the school to cut the odds to 60m. He beat the line with his next, but it was not enough.

Colm Rafferty (36 points), Martin Coppinger (34), Killian Kingston (32) and Arthur McDonagh (29) have qualified for the knockout rounds of the Mick Barry Cup, with two places up for grabs in next months King of the Roads. After three rounds at Ballincurrig each player gets the benefit of his two best performances.

Rafferty, first cousin of Thomas Mackle and nephew of the great Michael Toal, got the maximum score of two full houses of 18 points, 15 for the best of the day and three for winning his individual score. Coppinger broke the course record on day two and on last Saturday Kingston got perhaps the longest first shot ever at Ballincurrig. In general the bowling was exceptional, helped by the warm summer keeping the verges hard and bare and bringing up the tar.

Rafferty was formidable at times in his win over Aidan Murphy on Saturday. He was way past the line in 15 shots, despite a dip in form from the no-play line.

Coppinger was always in command against Bryan OReilly, beating the line also in 15. Kingston beat the line in 15 too, ahead of Coppinger. McDonagh was breathing down his neck, he just missed the line in 15.After more than 500 days of stalemate, Northern Ireland has surpassed the record previously set by Belgium for the longest run in peacetime without a working government, writes Peter John McLoughlin.

The trigger for the collapse of Stormonts power-sharing institutions concerned a relative anodyne issue  the implication of the DUP leader Arlene Foster in a seriously flawed renewable energy scheme. However, there were a range of other factors which created a breakdown in trust between Fosters party and Sinn Fein. Among these were the DUPs opposition to Sinn Feins proposal of an act to help preserve and promote the Irish language and its refusal to countenance gay marriage. On top of these, there were issues relating to Northern Irelands past conflict.

Arguably, though, the key factor that continues to prevent an agreement to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland is the same issue that has destabilised politics right across the UK: Brexit. The day after the vote to leave the EU in 2016, Sinn Fein called for a vote on Irish unity. This was linked to the threat that Brexit could re-establish a hard border in Ireland, with serious economic implications for both parts of the island. Sinn Fein argues that this might change the attitudes even of many unionists in Northern Ireland, creating a momentum towards republicans long-standing goal of reunification.

The DUP naturally opposed such suggestions. And, indeed, it had backed the Leave campaign in the referendum. So, after the surprising loss of the Westminster majority for the Conservatives in 2017s election, it was much less surprising that the DUP came to their aid with a confidence-and-supply accord.

Having a say in the governance of the UK as a whole, and helping to deliver the claimed will of the British people on Brexit, has helped burnish the DUPs unionist credentials. Also, the Tory-DUP deal involved a commitment to increase public spending in Northern Ireland. This sold well with the DUPs supporters, who, for many years, have chafed at the changes of the peace process, interpreted as rewarding republicans. Conversely, republicans now chafe at the DUPs enhanced political influence. They note that a majority in Northern Ireland voted Remain, while support for the EU in the Irish Republic remains high.

Brexit has thus revived the ideologies of Irish nationalism and Ulster unionism, and reignited their most central dispute  continued union with Britain or unification with Ireland. Brexit has simply created a new arena for an age-old contest.

Over to you, Brussels

This underlying tension is arguably the real reason for the continued failure of efforts to resolve other disagreements between the DUP and Sinn Fein and restore power-sharing. Indeed, these other issues are far less challenging than those previously resolved through the peace process. This is not to downplay the importance of Irish speakers in Northern Ireland having the same protections enjoyed by those using other indigenous languages across the UK and Ireland, or the rights of the gay community to marriage equality as in any other part of these islands. However, issues like the decommissioning of IRA weapons, policing reform, or the release of paramilitary prisoners under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement proved far more controversial. Yet they were all delivered, and so established the basis for Sinn Fein and the DUP to work together in government for nearly a decade.

However, the peace process did not reconcile Sinn Fein and the DUP. It forced them to be friends. Specifically, the British and Irish governments made clear that they could only have power if they shared power. The unity of political purpose between London and Dublin, so evident and successful in the early years of the peace process, has been seriously damaged by Brexit. Though there are very particular implications for Northern Ireland and the Irish border, Brexit has created wider challenges for London and Dublin. Given the highly important all-Ireland and UK dimensions of Irish trade, and nearly half a century of British integration with Europe, the outcome of Brexit could have massively disruptive effects on either or both national economies.

This has often left London and Dublin at odds in the course of the Brexit negotiations. The DUPs role in supporting the Westminster government has only complicated matters further. While London and Dublin remain divided over the direction of Brexit, however, they cannot lead a co-ordinated effort to force the Northern Ireland parties to resolve their differences and restore power-sharing at Stormont.

This creates a Catch-22. Just as the issue of the Irish border remains the chief obstacle to an agreement on Brexit, so Brexit remains the chief obstacle to an agreement at Stormont. It seems then that a political deal in Belfast will only emerge as we near a political deal in Brussels. Northern Ireland may have taken the Belgian title for the longest period without governance, but ironically it is in the Belgian capital that any move to end that run will likely develop.

This article was written by Peter John McLoughlin, Lecturer in Politics, Queens University Belfast and was originally published on The Conversation.

Read the original article here.The Libyan coast guard says it has intercepted about 400 Europe-bound migrants off the Mediterranean coast.

Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said that a rubber boat carrying 84 passengers, including six women and five children, was stopped on Monday in the water off the town of al-Maya, 16 miles west of Tripoli.Advocate Nithya, appearing for Navlakha, said matter could be heard on Thursday. The court, however, said it will hear it at 2:15 pm.

Delhi HC had said that for the time being Navlakha will be confined to his residence in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it will hear at 2:15 pm the plea of rights activists Gautam Navlakha, arrested for alleged unlawful activities, after the Maharashtra Police submitted that translated documents of the case were not ready.

The court on Tuesday had directed that Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till it hears the matter as specific allegations against him were unclear as the documents were in Marathi.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel was informed by Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, appearing for Maharashtra Police, that the documents to be translated from Marathi to English will be provided to Navlakha's counsel positively by 12 pm.

Also Read: Activist Sudha Bhardwaj to be kept under house arrest till Aug 30

Advocate Nithya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, said the matter could be heard on Thursday. The court, however, said it will hear the matter at 2:15 pm.

It had said that for the time being Navlakha will be confined to his residence here under the guard of Delhi Police officers and he will be allowed to only meet or speak to his lawyers.

Navlakha was arrested on Tuesday following several raids after which his transit remand was secured from Saket district court to take him to Pune. This order, however, was stayed by the high court. The Maharashtra Police wanted to take Navlakha to Pune in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- 'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) -- held there on December 31 last year that triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village in the state.

Several penal provisions under the IPC, including promoting enmity between classes, as well as provisions of terrorist acts, conspiracy and being part of a terror group under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been invoked against Navlakha.

Left-wing activists, including Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj, were also arrested on Tuesday as the Maharashtra Police carried out searches at multiple places in several states, including Delhi, on the residences of people suspected to have Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune on December 31 last year.Maharashtra Police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states for their suspected Maoist links.

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday stayed the transit remand of activist Sudha Bhardwaj, who was arrested from Faridabad after the Maharashtra Police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states for their suspected Maoist links.

The courts ordered that she be kept under house arrest till August 30 and not be taken to Pune.

The Maharashtra Police on Tuesday arrested at least five Left-wing activists under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

Also Read: Multi-city raids over Bhima Koregaon caste violence nets 2

The counsels representing Bhardwaj pleaded that her client was a human rights activist and was taken into custody by the Maharashtra Police despite the court order. Bhardwaj was taken from her home at Badarpur border in Faridabad.

"Certain documents were given to the detenue, which are in Marathi language, that is not known to the detenue or even her counsel," advocate Ankit Agarwal said.

Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan heard the habeas corpus writ petition, advocate Agarwal said.

"It is directed that in case the detenue is produced before the Ilaqa Magistrate/Duty Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridabad, the orders granting transit remand will be passed after going through the contents of the FIR and recording a finding that the provision of Sections 41 and 50 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been compiled with," the high court said.

"Till then, the detenue, Sudha Bhardwaj, shall be kept at the place, that is her home at Badarpur in Haryana, from where she was arrested under the supervision of Police Station Surajkund," it said.

The next date of hearing has been fixed for August 30, Agarwal said.

It was also argued that on the basis of the same set of allegations involving activist Gautam Navalakha's arrest, the Delhi High Court ordered the police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday.Ambedkar said those raising voices against the government were NGOs and non-political organisations, but had their roots in the masses.

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar said, 'With these raids, the government is trying to silence the masses, but I doubt whether the NGOs will be silent.' (Photo: File)

Mumbai: Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar termed the arrests of Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links as an attempt to "silence" the masses.

He said those raising voices against the government were NGOs and non-political organisations, but had their roots in the masses. "With these raids, the government is trying to silence the masses, but I doubt whether the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will be silent. They will be more active in opposing the government because they do not have any stake," he said.

"They do not contest elections. Their only interest is to see that democracy and human rights are safeguarded in this country. That is their motive. They will be more aggressive now than earlier," the former Member of Parliament (MP) said.

Ambedkar claimed that when there were raids on right-wing outfit 'Sanatan Sanstha', he had said that similar action would be taken against others and that attempts would be made to show a link with 'Elgar Parishad'. The Elgar Parishad conclave was organised in Pune a day before the Koregaon-Bhima violence on January 1.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the Koregaon-Bhima violence masterminds had not been arrested and the investigation was still on to ascertain who were the brains behind it. "Arresting people by linking them to Maoists is creating an environment in the country. If attempts are made to politicise this situation, it is wrong," she said.

The Pune police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the Koregaon-Bhima violence after the Elgar Parishad event on December 31 last year.Condemning arrest of five activists, Lalu Yadav said, 'there is an emergency like situation in the country'.

Patna: RJD Chief Lalu Yadav who is to surrender before the special CBI court on Thursday in connection with the fodder scam case condemned the arrest of five activists and said that there is an emergency like situation in the country.

He gave the statement in Patna on Wednesday before leaving for Ranchi. This was his first political remark against the government after he was granted provisional bail on medical grounds in May this year.

My party strongly condemns the arrest of intellectuals and activists. The governments charge is that these activists were involved in hatching a plot to kill the Prime Minister but they have not given any proof against them. The country is heading towards dictatorship which is not right, Lalu Yadav said.

The Jharkhand High Court last week had cancelled the provisional bail granted to RJD Chief Lalu Yadav, convicted in four fodder scam cases and asked him to surrender before the court by August 30.

Sources said Lalu Yadav gave the statement a day ahead of his surrender because the condition of bail had barred him from taking part in any political activities.

I am not a person to surrender before anyone and nobody can stop me from speaking the truth. I am ready to sacrifice everything for social justice. Today my whole family has been implicated in false corruption charges but I know that sooner or later we will get justice. I have full faith in the judiciary, Lalu Yadav said.

On Wednesday when asked about his medical condition Lalu Yadav said that he was being treated for various serious ailments at Mumbai based Asian Heart Institute but he had to return after the court refused his petition for extension of bail.

Lalu Yadav said he was not fully cured and was suffering from Kidney infections. He also expressed his desire to be shifted to RIMS where he was being treated before Jharkhand High Court gave him provisional bail on medical grounds in May this year.

I need a regular checkup and I think I will be shifted to a hospital where I can be treated by a team of expert doctors. But the court will decide about these things after I surrender on Thursday, the RJD chief said.

Lalu Yadav has been serving jail term in four fodder scam related cases. The case pertains to illegal withdrawal of money from various treasuries when RJD was in power in Bihar.

The fodder scam case had surfaced in 1996 and a charge sheet against 38 people was filed by the CBI on October 27, 1997. Lalu Yadav was made one of the main accused in the case.

The fifth cases relating to illegal withdrawal of Rs 139.39 crores from Doranda treasury is still pending with the court. Five fodder scam cases were shifted to Jharkhand after the separation of the state in 2001 while the trial in one case related to Bhagalpur treasury is going on in Patna CBI court.Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter.

RegisterThe judge said the matter would be raised with the extradition requesting state, the US, before the start of the extradition trial.

London: Jabir Moti, the Pakistani national described as a top lieutenant of organised crime and terror network D-Company, was on Tuesday remanded in custody until September 25 by a UK court.

The 51-year-old, who appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court via live video link from Wandsworth prison in south-west London, is facing extradition to the US on money laundering and extortion charges, which allegedly link up with terrorism funding.

Moti, arrested by Scotland Yards Extradition Unit early this month, had been denied bail at his hearing last week as the judge deemed him to be a flight risk.

At this stage I am remanding you in custody on the same conditions, to appear before the court in four weeks time, Judge Mark Jabbitt told Moti on Tuesday, as he sat with his hands folded and dressed in his prison outfit during the video link.

Moti faces extradition to the US following an FBI investigation dating back to 2005. The UKs Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court at the last hearing that Moti faces allegations of conspiracy to launder money and extortion that link up to terrorist offences as well as charges of drug trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years behind bars.

His defence counsel Toby Cadman put on record for the court at Tuesdays hearing that his clients full name should be recorded as Jabir Siddiq, as on his Pakistani passport, instead of Jabir Motiwala, as on the provisional arrest warrant on which Scotland Yard had arrested him on August 17.

The judge said the matter would be raised with the extradition requesting state, the US, before the start of the extradition trial.

Cadman also told the court that while his client is not making a second application for bail at this stage, another bail application will be made in due course.Julie R. Smith , who thinks we can all do better, can be reached at widdleswife@aol.com.Reddit Email 135 Shares

Detroit (World Religion News )  Joseph Richard Preville, American Writer and Book Critic, interviews Juan Cole.

Joseph Richard Preville: What problems do historians face when writing about the life and times of Muhammad? What are the principal sources you consulted to write your book?

Juan Cole: The problem is that the Arabic biographical sources for the life of Muhammad ibn Abdullah (d. 632) are largely undated or dated 130 to 300 years and more after the death of the Prophet. The one primary source we have, which is contemporary with the Prophet, is the Qur'an, which Muslims believe God revealed through him. Carbon dating and paleography are proving that the Qur'an is early 7th century. If we want to do intellectual history, the Qur'an is a relatively large book and can tell us a lot about what the Prophet recited to his contemporaries. I think the Qur'an can also be set in context by Greek and Persian works of that time.

JRP: You write that Islam is, no less than Christianity, a Western religion that initially grew up in the Roman Empire and that Muhammad saw himself as an ally of the West. How does your theory challenge or support other major scholarly interpretations of early Islam?

JC: The Arab Muslim sources emphasize the origins of Islam in Arabia and downplay how integrated the Arabs of late antiquity were into the Eastern Roman Empire, but Roman sources, inscriptions, and Qur'an passages give strong evidence for the Arabs as Roman citizens or allies. As for Muhammad being allied with Constantinople, there is some evidence for it in early Arabic sources and the eminent Princeton classicist G. W. Bowersock has hinted at it in his recent work, but I have taken the bull by the horns and said it explicitly.

JRP: Many biographies portray Muhammad as illiterate and provincial. Would you agree?

JC: The Muslim tradition calls Muhammad "illiterate," I think in part to protect him from charges by polemicists that he learned things by reading the Bible or other works. But the tradition also says he was a successful long-distance merchant who regularly traded up to Damascus and Gaza in the Eastern Roman Empire. Long distance merchants are always literate, and I think Muhammad could read and write Arabic, Aramaic and possibly Greek. The Qur'an shows knowledge of the Bible, of Jewish tradition, and of classical Greek thought. It isn't provincial.

JRP: What was Muhammads role in the creation of the Constitution of Madinah? How revolutionary was this document for its time?

JC: The Constitution of Madinah was a treaty among groups in Madinah, to which the Meccan pagans expelled Muhammad in 622. Madinah had Muslims, Jews and pagans and possibly some Christians. The treaty pledged all these groups to defend the city militarily if it was attacked. It says that the Muslims have their religion and the Jews have theirs, so it recognizes freedom of conscience and is a political alliance. In the Roman Empire at that time, Jews were placed under disabilities and would not have been treated as equals this way.

JRP: How did medieval Muslim clerics slight or minimize the Qurans peace verses by a theory of abrogation?

JC: Peace-making and turning the other cheek are very important themes in the Qur'an. It allows going to war to defend yourself and innocents, but forbids aggressive, expansionist warfare. The text was very inconvenient for later aggressive Muslim empires. So ideologues developed a theory of "abrogation" where later verses invalidated earlier ones. They interpreted late verses on warfare as permitting aggression (they don't), and then alleged that all the peace verses were thus abrogated. It was an intellectual and spiritual travesty. Some Muslim thinkers, though, said only 5 verses were abrogated (not the peace verses), and rejected the procedure.

JRP: You have placed strong emphasis on Muhammad as a Prophet of Peace. How do you think your book will encourage and strengthen Islamic peace studies?

JC: The peace verses of the Qur'an have been there all along, and have been central, but scholarship has not focused on them. I'd like to see the kind of intersection of Peace Studies with Islam that exists with regard to Christianity. Christians have fought a lot of wars and even been involved in genocide, but we all also know about the Quakers and Mennonites. Only a few authors have written on the history of peace movements in Islam, which include the Murid Sufis of Senegal and the Gandhist Muslims in twentieth-century India.

JRP: Could you recommend a few biographies of Muhammad and books on early Islamic history by contemporary authors?

JC: A crucially important work is Fred Donner, Muhammad and the Believers (Harvard University Press, 2010). G. W. Bowersock's Crucible of Islam (Harvard University Press, 2017) is excellent on the context of early Islam in late antiquity. The same author's Throne of Adulis (Oxford, 2013) takes on the Ethiopian, Yemeni and Red Sea geopolitics of the Roman Empire as a background to the rise of Islam. It is a wonderful book. Carl Ernst's How to Read the Qur'an (University of North Carolina Press, 2011), is also essential.

Resources

Juan Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Sacred Space and Holy War (I.B. Taurus, 2002) Napoleons Egypt (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), and The New Arabs (Simon and Schuster, 2014). Cole has appeared as a guest on PBS NewsHour, ABC World News, the Today show, Anderson Cooper 360, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Colbert Report, Democracy Now!, Aljazeera America and many other programs. Coles popular blog, Informed Comment, averages 4.5 million page views per year.

Reprinted with Interviewers permission from World Religion News .Parrikar, 62, underwent treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June.

Parrikar was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health checkup on August 23, a day after he returned from the US, and was scheduled to return to Goa today. (Photo: File)

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently admitted at a private hospital in Mumbai, would fly to the US on Wednesday night for further medical treatment, his office said today.

Parrikar, 62, underwent treatment in the US for three months earlier this year for a pancreatic ailment and returned in June.

He went there again for a follow-up earlier this month. He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a review health checkup on August 23, a day after he returned from the US, and was scheduled to return to Goa today.

However, a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office said Parrikar will leave for USA from Mumbai in a flight tonight. The official refused to divulge any further details about the chief minister's health.

He said, "The official charge of the post of chief minister will remain with him (Parrikar). There is no need to hand over the charge to anyone."

Parrikar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 7 and sought his intervention to address the current crisis in the state's mining sector.Reddit Email 145 Shares

Tehran (AFP)  Irans parliament declared its dissatisfaction with President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday, voting to reject his answers after grilling him over the deteriorating economy.

It was the first time Rouhani had been summoned by parliament in his five years in power, and MPs demanded answers on unemployment, rising prices and the sharp depreciation of the rial, which has lost more than half of its value since April.

The lawmakers, who have already impeached his labour and economy ministers this month, were unimpressed.

In votes at the end of the session, they expressed dissatisfaction with Rouhanis responses to four of their five questions on the economy.

In the coming days, they will decide whether the governments failures on these issues amount to a breach of legal obligations and should be referred to the judiciary.

The economy has been battered by the return of US sanctions following President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Rouhani trod a difficult line, seeking to acknowledge the problems facing ordinary Iranians without admitting to a full-blown crisis.

It should not be said we are facing a crisis. There is no crisis. If we say there is, it will become a problem for society and then a threat, he told parliament.

 Afraid of our disagreements 

As usual, Rouhani offered no concrete policy proposals, instead saying the answer lay in showing a united front.



AFP / ATTA KENARE.

You may talk about employment, foreign currency, recession, smuggling I think the problem is in peoples view of the future, he said.

The people are not afraid of the United States, they are afraid of our disagreements. If the people see we are united, they will realise the problems will be resolved.

But Rouhanis government  which staked everything on its bid to attract foreign investment through a more moderate approach to relations with the West  has been badly weakened by the return of sanctions.

Most foreign firms have abandoned investment projects in Iran, and the next phase of renewed US sanctions in November will hit the crucial oil sector.

We will not allow a bunch of anti-Iranians who have gathered in the White House to conspire against us, Rouhani vowed.

 Palace of wishes 



AFP / ATTA KENARE. Iranian lawmakers gesture during President Hassan Rouhanis answers to the their questions in which he sought to shift the blame for the deteriorating economy to Washington even though most Iranians blame his government.

But most Iranians blame the government for failing to capitalise on the nuclear deal.

You created a palace of wishes called the JCPOA, said Mojtaba Zolnour, an MP for the religious centre of Qom, using the technical name for the nuclear deal.

With one kick from Trump, this palace was demolished, and you didnt have an alternative, he said.

Despite the impeachment of two of his ministers, Rouhani himself is protected by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said recently that removing the president would play into the hands of the enemy.

That may explain the soft line taken by several speakers, with one conservative MP, Hossein Naghavi-Hosseini, emphasising: We will stand by your government for the sake of protecting the system of the Islamic republic.

But when it came to the votes, lawmakers accepted only one of Rouhanis answers  related to international banking sanctions, which they agreed were beyond his governments control.

Rouhani has even lost support among reformists who had backed him as the best option after their own leaders were either locked up or barred from standing for office.

Leading reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, who has spent several years in jail for criticising the system, said Rouhanis parliament appearance was a missed opportunity.

By explaining the reasons for the countrys problems, Rouhani could have taken a big step towards increasing public awareness, he wrote on Twitter.

Parliaments negative votes shows that failing to disclose the facts will only embolden our rivals and disappoint the people.

The only previous time a president has been questioned was in 2012 when parliament summoned Rouhanis controversial predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose erratic, populist style had alienated him from the establishment and further damaged Irans international standing.

It was after that session that MPs decided they should vote on the presidents answers, deputy speaker Ali Motahari explained to ISNA news agency this week, because Ahmadinejads responses were so strange and unconvincing.

Featured Photo: AFP / ATTA KENARE. Irans parliament has expressed dissatisfaction with President Hassan Rouhanis answers to its questions over his handling of the deteriorating economy just two days after impeaching his economy minister.Reddit Email 228 Shares

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment)  A team of researchers at George Washington University has estimated that excess deaths of Americans in Puerto Rico during and after last years Hurricane Maria reached almost 3,000, a number accepted by the governor.

In his visit to the island after the hurricane struck, Trump was insufferable. He said that the death toll was low compared to Katrina at New Orleans in 2005, which killed 1400. (The new estimates mean that Maria killed twice as many Americans. Puerto Ricans are American citizens.) He also castigated the victims for messing up the US budget.

In the end, the GOP Congress did nothing special in the way of aid appropriations for Puerto Rico. So luckily Trump wasnt inconvenienced after all.

But the same GOP Congress found $1.5 trillion in tax cut giveaways to the billionaire class in February. Apparently slashing government revenue (which is equivalent to raising taxes for services on the non-billionaires) and embarrassing the budget that way is OK, as long as the super-rich are happy.

The intensity and longevity of Hurricane Maria was boosted by climate change. Putting billions of tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere every year causes the oceans to warm up. Hurricanes are caused by warm water, and the hotter the water the stronger and longer the storm. Increased water vapor in the air, associated with climate change, also causes the rains after landfall to be much heavier.

Americans experienced the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, DC, of September 11, 2001, as an act of war by a small guerrilla group of terrorists. The Bush administration parleyed public outrage into two major wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) and multiple small wars, all part of its Global War on Terror (GWOT). If you count the money well spend over their lifetimes to care for wounded veterans of this war, it probably cost $6 trillion.

But the climate catastrophe of Maria was not greeted in the same way. First, the Washington DC elite announced the death toll as unrealistically low. Presumably because Puerto Ricans are Spanish-speaking Americans, their deaths did not preoccupy our newspapers of record day after day the way the 9/11 victims did.

The US government announced no new initiative at all to tackle the problem of global heating, caused by humans burning gasoline, coal and natural gas. Indeed, the president of the United States and most senators and congressmen from his party deny that humans are causing climate change.

It would be as though the Bush administration announced that al-Qaeda only killed a handful of people on 9/11, and then sat back and did nothing, arguing that al-Qaeda does not really exist and no one can be sure they caused the Twin Towers to collapse.

French Environment minister Nicolas Hulot resigned Tuesday, saying that the planet earth is becoming a sauna and biodiversity is evaporating and yet there is no sense of urgency in the French government.

If Mr. Hulot thinks the French political elite is sanguine about climate change, he should try talking to American Republicans.

Apparently we can see a large US territory flattened and nearly 3000 citizens killed, and yawn and pretend it did not happen or we dont know why hurricanes are becoming more destructive.

We need a global war on climate change (GWCC). It turns out our elites vastly overestimated the importance of terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11, and put way more resources into combating it than can be justified by the actual danger (Americans are much more likely to die from falling in their bathtubs than from terrorism). In contrast, as our century wears on, the likelihood of them being killed or harmed by climate change is much greater.



Bonus video:

CBS News:

Puerto Rico suffered much higher death toll from Hurricane MariaReddit Email 40 Shares

By Nina LARSON | 

Geneva (AFP)  All sides in Yemens bloody conflict may have committed war crimes, UN investigators said Tuesday, highlighting deadly air strikes, rampant sexual violence, and the recruitment of young children as soldiers.

In their first report, a team of UN-mandated investigators said they had reasonable grounds to believe that the parties to the armed conflict in Yemen have committed a substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law.

Many of these violations may amount to war crimes, the report said, pointing to widespread arbitrary detention, rape, torture and the recruitment of children as young as eight to take part in hostilities.



AFP/File / STRINGER. Deadly strikes have killed dozens of children in rebel-held areas and sparked international outrage.

Kamel Jendoubi, who heads the UNs so-called Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts, said the investigators had identified a number of alleged perpetrators.

He told journalists in Geneva that a confidential list of these individuals would be presented Tuesday to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

 Worlds worst humanitarian crisis 

The devastating conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Huthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadis government.

The UN human rights office said Tuesday that some 6,660 civilians were among the dead, while more than 10,500 had been injured.

The UN has already described the situation in Yemen as worlds worst humanitarian crisis.



AFP/File / ESSA AHMED. The UN has described the situation in Yemen as worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN expert group, which was created by the UN Human Rights Council last September and which needs that bodys permission next month to continue its work, detailed a long line of abuses committed by all parties to the conflict.

There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimise civilian casualties, Jendoubi said.

The report concluded that coalition air strikes have caused most of the documented civilian casualties, pointing to a large number of strikes on residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and medical facilities.

The report said there were serious concerns about the targeting process applied by the coalition, pointing out that in many cases there were no apparent military targets in the vicinity of the attacks.

 Child soldiers 

The report covers the period from September 2014 to June 2018, and does not address the latest series of deadly strikes that have killed dozens of children in rebel-held areas and sparked international outrage.

The coalition has not confirmed or denied it carried out two air raids last Thursday that the UN said killed at least 26 children and four women south of the flashpoint rebel-held city of Hodeida.



AFP/File / STRINGER. Thousands of Yemenis vented anger against Riyadh and Washington at a mass funeral in the northern Yemeni city of Saada for children killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition early in August.

Those deaths came after a coalition attack on a bus in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada early this month killed 40 children, prompting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call for an independent investigation of attacks targeting civilians in the three-year war.

Children are the most vulnerable. Poverty, coupled with violence and insecurity render them defenceless and exposed to exploitation and abuse by parties to the conflict, Charles Garraway, a member of the expert group, told reporters.



AFP / Valentina Breschi. Map showing territorial control in Yemen.

The experts said they had received substantial information indicating that Yemens government, the coalition-backed forces and the rebels had all conscripted children, mainly aged 11 and up, but some as young as eight.

The report also spoke of the devastating impact a blockade imposed by the Saudi coalition on Yemens ports and the Sanaa airport had had on the civilian population.

Jendoubi urged an end to disproportionate restrictions on the safe and expeditious entry into Yemen of humanitarian supplies and other goods indispensable to the civilian population.

The experts did not delve into the complex web of countries supporting different parties to Yemens conflict, including the United States, Britain and Iran, but did call on all nations to stop selling arms that could be used in the war.

They also called on all sides to halt hostilities, and urged support for UN efforts to broker a peace deal.

UN-backed talks between Yemens government and the Huthis are to open in Geneva on September 6  a first step toward resuming peace negotiations that broke down two years ago.

This crisis has reached its peak with no apparent sight of light at the end of the tunnel, Garraway said.

Featured Photo: AFP/File / Mohammed HUWAIS. The devastating conflict in Yemen has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015.St. Johns, Newfoundland (FSCwire) - Sokoman Iron Corp. (Sokoman or the Company) (TSX-V: SIC) is pleased to announce that it has received assay results from the remaining 12 holes completed at the Moosehead Project in Central Newfoundland, with holes MH-18-07 and MH-18-08 intersecting near surface, high-grade visible gold veins highlighted by MH-18-08 intersecting two vein zones assaying 1.05 m @ 207.51 g/t Au from 8.50 m downhole, and 2.28 m @ 42.36 g/t Au from 33.07 m downhole.

Diamond drill holes MH-18-04 to MH-18-13 focused on the Western Trend (see attached drill plan) approximately 250 m west of the Eastern Trend. Eight of the 15 holes completed in Phase 1 reported visible gold-bearing quartz vein zones. Highlights of the remaining holes are shown in the following table, and a more detailed set of results can be found at the end of this news release including additional intercepts in MH-18-01.

DDH # Total Depth Target From (m) To (m) Core Length (m) Au (g/t) Visible Gold MH-18-04 103.00 m Western Trend 49.85 53.25 3.40 2.60 Y incl 51.82 53.00 1.18 5.06 MH-18-05 78.50 m Western Trend 47.35 48.50 1.15 3.13 Y incl 47.35 47.70 0.35 9.73 Y MH-18-06 100.00 m Western Trend 43.00 47.50 4.50 3.50 incl 43.00 44.00 1.00 10.62 MH-18-07 76.00 m Western Trend 7.00 9.25 2.25 6.19 Y incl 7.50 8.70 1.20 10.00 18.20 24.05 5.85 2.79 Y incl 18.20 19.00 0.80 14.66 MH-18-08 103.00 m Western Trend 8.50 9.55 1.05 207.51 Y incl 9.05 9.20 0.15 1,435.58 Y 33.07 35.35 2.28 42.36 Y incl 33.07 33.62 0.55 131.65 Y MH-18-13 247.00 m Western Trend 65.20 66.65 1.45 8.94 Y incl 65.20 65.50 0.30 37.33 Y

Note: Core length intercepts reported are 50 to 90% of true thickness.

Timothy Froude, P. Geo., President and CEO, states: Results from Phase 1 have surpassed our expectations and have given us great cause to be optimistic about the future. The recent financing has provided us with the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate the Moosehead property and to unlock its full potential. Like many structurally controlled gold deposits, this will entail a lot of drilling - likely, closely spaced. Phase 2 will focus on the Eastern Trends high-grade mineralization intersected in MH-18-01, and continue to build on open-ended zones of mineralization in the Western Trend as well as other areas of the property.

The results confirm and expand on historical results from the Western Trend area and are highlighted by holes MH-18-07 and MH-18-08 (collared 40 metres apart) which intersected high-grade (visible gold bearing) veins at or less than 1 metre vertically from the bedrock contact immediately below the overburden. MH-18-07 intersected mineralized quartz 1.00 metres down hole and MH-18-08 cut a mineralized quartz vein zone at a downhole depth of 1.05 metres. Both near surface veins are believed to be new veins, and both holes also intersected additional mineralized veins at shallow depths (15 to 25 metres vertically) that extend mineralization intersected in previously released holes MH-18-02 and MH-18-03 by 50 metres to the west and the mineralization remains open. MH-18-13, drilled 50 metres on section northeast of (beneath) MH-18-08, successfully extended the high-grade structure by 50 metres to the north, down dip of the high-grade intercept (2.28m @ 42.36 g/t Au core length) in MH-18-08. The current program did not test the zone any further to the west.

Drill hole MH-18-14 was collared to test for a possible southwest trend to historical hole MH-02-38 which reported 2.02 m @ 111 g/t Au (not verified by Sokoman), the hole did intersect a weakly mineralized structure not believed to be the same structure intersected by the historical hole. The Company is planning additional drilling in the vicinity of MH-02-38 based on knowledge gained from MH-18-14. MH-18-15 was a reconnaissance hole drilled to test a historical soil geochemical anomaly approximately 450 metres north of the Eastern Trend. The hole did intersect a weakly mineralized fault zone, but no significant results were obtained.

The Company has also received the results of the televiewer survey completed on selected holes from the Phase 1 Program, specifically MH-18-01, 02, 04 and 08. The results are being compiled and matched with the drill logs and will help formulate the next Phase of drilling expected to commence on or about October 1, 2018, pending receipt of all necessary permits. Sokoman will be seeking quotes for up to 10,000 metres of drilling in the coming days and expect site preparations to begin sometime after mid-September. The Company will provide a further update at that time.

QA/QC

A total of 495 samples, including duplicates, blanks and standards, have been submitted to Eastern Analytical Ltd. in Springdale, Newfoundland for gold and ICP analysis. Samples suspected of carrying visible gold were submitted for total pulp metallics and gravimetric finish. All other samples were analyzed by standard fire assay methods. Eastern Analytical is an accredited assay lab that conforms to requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. Total pulp metallic analysis is a result of a whole sample being crushed to -10 mesh and pulverized to 95% -150 mesh. The total sample is then weighed and screened 150 mesh. The +150 mesh fraction is fire assayed for Au, and a 30 g subsample of the -150 mesh fraction is fire assayed for Au. A calculated weighted average of total Au in the sample is reported as well. The Company included in the sample stream one blank and one industry approved standard for every ten samples submitted, as well as random duplicates of selected samples. This is in addition to the in-house standard and duplicate policy of Eastern Analytical.

Diamond drilling was carried out by Springdale Forest Resources, who provided superior drilling services while maintaining a stringent environmental policy. The Company would also like to thank the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for approving the Moosehead Program for 2018 JEA Funding.

QP

This news release has been reviewed and approved by Timothy Froude, P. Geo., a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 and President and CEO for Sokoman Iron Corp.

About Sokoman Iron Corp.

Sokoman Iron Corp. (TSX-V: SIC) is a discovery-focused company with projects in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. Sokomans primary focus is its portfolio of gold projects in Central Newfoundland. The Company also has interests in early-stage gold, base-metal and antimony projects in Newfoundland, as well as a 100% interest in the Iron Horse (Fe/V/REE) project in Western Labrador.

Contact:

Timothy Froude, P. Geo., President & CEO

Phone: 709-765-1726

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cathy Hume, Director

Phone: 416-868-1079

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.sokomaniron.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of the Corporation should be considered highly speculative. Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Sokoman Iron Corp. will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Sokoman Iron Corp.

Phase 1. Expanded Summary Table of Results  Moosehead Project, NLRIMOUSKI, Quebec, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Puma Exploration Inc. (PUMA-TSXV) (the Company or Puma) and Trevali Mining Corporation (TV-TSX) (Trevali) are pleased to release the drill results for the metallurgical drilling program conducted at the Murray Brook Deposit. The program successfully intersected the Massive Sulphide Deposit in each hole matching perfectly with the Resources Model and a potential internal mine design.

The metallurgical program consisted of 1,683 meters of drilling within seven (7) new holes collared on the Deposit. The locations, orientations and angles of the holes were defined according to a preliminarily mine design. The main targeted zones of the Deposit were the High-Grade Zinc Zone, the Low-Grade Zinc Zone and the High-Grade Copper Zone. The priority was to proceed with the High-Grade and Low-Grade Zinc Zones recovery tests and then evaluate any potential future benefit within the High-Grade Copper Zone, the Oxyde Zone and the Gold recovery of the Deposit. The recovery tests are currently in process at RPC Facility in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Highlights of the Metallurgical Drilling Program

1) A total of 898 meters of Massive Sulphide (MS) was intersected in the holes with continuous intersections of MS ranging from 36.60 meters to 209.75 meters; 2) High-Grade Zinc intercepts over significant thickness (see Table 2): a. MB18-05: 6.1% Zn, 2.1% Pb (8.3% Zn+Pb) over 120.9 meters;

including 13.1% Zn, 4.8% Pb (17.9% Zn+Pb) over 27 meters. b. MB18-06A: 3.8% Zn, 1.2% Pb (5.0% Zn+Pb) over 158.1 meters;

including 7.6% Zn, 2.8% Pb (10.4% Zn+Pb) over 24 meters. c. MB18-07: 6.9% Zn, 2.4% Pb (9.3% Zn+Pb) over 87.1 meters;

including 10.2% Zn, 3.1% Pb (13.3% Zn+Pb) over 21 meters. 3) High-Grade Copper Zones: d. MB18-01: 1.4% Cu over 36.6 meters including; 4.0% Cu over 9 meters; e. MB18-02: 2.1% Cu over 19.0 meters including; 4.3% Cu over 5 meters; f. MB18-03: 2.5% Cu over 24.0 meters including; 4.0% Cu over 6 meters; g. MB18-04: 0.85% Cu over 75.0 meters including; 1.0% Cu over 32 meters.

We are very happy with the initial drill results of the metallurgical drilling program. Those results represent well the continuity and the high-grade core of the Massive Sulphide Deposit which brings different potential mining scenarios at Murray Brook, notes Marcel Robillard, President of Puma Exploration.

The technical team is currently logging and sampling the drill holes of the geotechnical and exploration drill programs and are supervising the execution of Borehole geophysical surveys. The survey is aimed at localising new mineralised zones in proximity of the recent drill holes and characterizing the mineralization intersected in the holes.

Table 1: Metallurgical Drill holes at the Murray Brook Deposit

Drillhole Easting Northing Azimuth Dip Length (m) MB18-01 693363 5266826 185 -65 125 MB18-02 693192 5266696 350 -65 264 MB18-03 693192 5266696 180 -75 125 MB18-04 693197 5266798 60 -50 275 MB18-05 693190 5266852 240 -75 374 MB18-06A 693220 5266806 250 -63 242 MB18-07 693190 5266852 330 -80 278 1,683

Table 2: Significant Zinc drill results at the Murray Brook Deposit

DDH # From (m) To (m) Length Pb% Zn% Pb+Zn% Cu% Ag g/t MB-2018-01 46.7 101.0 54.4 0.57 1.23 1.80 1.16 37 including 48.0 54.0 6.0 0.83 1.71 2.54 2.00 51 including 64.4 101.0 36.6 0.63 1.38 2.01 1.35 41 inc. 86.0 100.0 14.0 0.46 1.17 1.63 2.97 42 inc. 91.0 100.0 9.0 0.26 0.68 0.94 4.00 36 MB-2018-02 19.0 228.0 209.0 0.84 2.83 3.67 0.38 33 including 19.0 88.0 69.0 1.07 3.71 4.78 0.79 31 inc. 53.0 63.0 10.0 2.23 6.23 8.46 0.17 41 including 133.0 178.0 45.0 1.13 3.72 4.85 0.12 48 inc. 136.0 140.0 4.0 2.24 6.01 8.25 0.02 58 including 168.0 177.0 9.0 1.78 6.02 7.80 0.09 74 inc. 169.0 174.0 5.0 2.70 8.33 11.03 0.06 97 including 212.0 215.0 3.0 2.42 5.49 7.91 0.15 51 MB-2018-03 11.4 110.0 98.6 0.48 2.51 2.99 0.79 29 inc. 26.0 42.0 16.0 0.75 3.70 4.45 1.01 32 inc. 26.0 34.0 8.0 1.09 5.06 6.15 1.57 39 inc. 63.0 66.0 3.0 0.28 6.77 7.05 0.15 28 Including 80.0 102.0 22.0 0.87 3.73 4.60 0.19 42 inc. 85.0 99.0 14.0 1.22 4.87 6.09 0.20 52 inc. 85.0 92.0 7.0 1.38 6.10 7.48 0.11 60 MB-2018-04 114.0 252.3 138.3 0.69 1.56 2.25 0.65 37 Including 199.0 228.0 29.0 1.16 3.08 4.24 0.22 63 inc. 218.0 228.0 10.0 1.21 3.95 5.16 0.41 65

MB-2018-05 109.4 230.3 120.9 2.05 6.11 8.16 0.11 70 Including 112.0 139.0 27.0 2.22 7.31 9.53 0.07 88 inc. 112.0 122.0 10.0 2.38 8.17 10.55 0.06 88 Including 179.0 230.3 51.3 3.07 8.54 11.61 0.13 93 inc. 182.0 217.0 35.0 3.84 10.72 14.56 0.15 117 inc. 190.0 217.0 27.0 4.80 13.09 17.89 0.11 142 inc. 198.0 210.0 12.0 7.38 17.25 24.63 0.12 196 inc. 204.0 207.0 3.0 8.17 20.10 28.27 0.15 207 MB-2018-06A 57.0 215.1 158.1 1.20 3.75 4.96 0.15 38 including 79.0 97.0 18.0 1.76 6.08 7.84 0.10 89 inc. 86.0 96.0 10.0 2.08 8.05 10.13 0.08 84 including 120.0 125.0 5.0 1.24 5.17 6.41 0.08 35 including 146.0 151.0 5.0 1.79 5.33 7.12 0.03 52 including 173.0 214.0 41.0 1.82 5.45 7.27 0.13 46 inc. 190.0 214.0 24.0 2.81 7.56 10.37 0.06 61 inc. 190.0 207.0 17.0 2.84 8.07 10.91 0.06 64 inc. 202.0 207.0 5.0 4.10 10.12 14.22 0.06 60 MB-2018-07 154.9 242.0 87.1 2.35 6.86 9.21 0.13 96 including 154.9 193.0 38.1 2.93 9.04 11.97 0.12 142 inc. 157.0 168.0 11.0 3.30 10.89 14.19 0.15 161 inc. 157.0 161.0 4.0 4.46 15.08 19.54 0.18 215 including 181.0 242.0 61.0 2.46 7.42 9.88 0.15 96 inc. 181.0 202.0 21.0 3.09 10.18 13.27 0.14 144 inc. 181.0 193.0 12.0 4.75 16.64 21.39 0.19 243 inc. 182.0 189.0 7.0 5.27 19.66 24.93 0.20 274 including 223.0 241.0 18.0 3.16 9.66 12.82 0.23 97 inc. 223.0 228.0 5.0 3.68 14.67 18.35 0.22 107

Note: the true thickness is ranging from 70%-90% of the core intercepts.

Table 3: Significant Copper drill results at the Murray Brook Deposit

DDH # From (m) To (m) Length Pb% Zn% Pb+Zn% Cu% Ag g/t MB-2018-01 48.0 54.0 6.0 0.83 1.71 2.54 2.00 51 MB-2018-01 64.4 101.0 36.6 0.63 1.38 2.01 1.35 41 including 80.0 101.0 21.0 0.65 1.46 2.11 2.18 45 inc. 91.0 100.0 9.0 0.26 0.68 0.94 4.00 36 inc. 93.0 99.0 6.0 0.18 0.53 0.71 5.13 41

MB-2018-02 19.0 38.0 19.0 0.61 1.85 2.46 2.11 31 including 20.0 29.0 9.0 0.70 1.99 2.69 3.12 37 inc. 21.0 26.0 5.0 0.84 2.25 3.09 4.29 40 MB-2018-02 220.0 224.0 4.0 0.15 0.25 0.40 2.20 26 MB-2018-03 12.0 36.0 24.0 0.63 3.19 3.82 2.53 41 including 12.0 26.0 14.0 0.43 2.75 3.18 3.12 42 inc. 12.0 18.0 6.0 0.61 2.84 3.45 4.00 63 MB-2018-04 114.0 189.0 75.0 0.67 1.30 1.97 0.85 33 including 114.0 128.0 14.0 0.22 0.48 0.70 1.03 20 inc. 141.0 173.0 32.0 0.68 1.41 2.09 1.01 33 MB-2018-04 240.0 252.3 12.3 0.37 0.92 1.29 1.196 13.7

Note: the true thickness is ranging from 70%-90% of the core intercepts.

QC/AC protocols

All sampling, drilling, testing and analysis are conducted using rigorous QA/QC procedures to ensure reliability and validity of results beyond basic regulatory guidelines. The driller is responsible for insuring that the core placed in boxes is in correct order and marking the length tags for each rod-length of core as well as the inside of the core boxes where the tag is located. This step is examined by the technician and supervised by the on-duty project geologist. The driller picks up core boxes from the drill site and takes them to the drill core logging facilities in Bathurst.

Boxes are then laid out on logging tables and checked to make sure that the core is continuous and in the right order in each box. Geological logging of core is conducted, and sample positions are marked to conform to lithological/alteration changes. Sample numbers are written inside of the core boxes corresponding to pre-printed sample tags. Chalk lines are marked down to identify the axis of core, and boxes for sampling are moved to cutting area. Diamond saw blade cutters are used to cut the core in half.

Core boxes are returned to their places in order on the logging tables. Strong plastic rock sample bags are labelled with samples number on the outside and the sample tags are inserted inside. Then, one half of the core is placed in its respective sample bag. The second half is kept at the Alliance warehouse for future reference.

The samples are shipped, stored and assayed at the laboratory of the Caribou Mine site held by Trevali Mining Corporation. Trevali has an option to acquire 75% interest in the Murray Brook Deposit from where the drilling program was conducted. The samples are crushed and pulverized at a range of 80 to 100 microns. The crusher and pulverizer are cleaned with pressurized air between each sample. The samples are assayed by Absorption Atomic for Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Silver (Ag) and Iron (Fe) content. For QA/QC, there are typically 8 standards runs for each batch of 25. A duplicate is done at least once every 50 samples, no blanks are run. Pulps are currently stored in the lab in labelled brown sealed bags which in turn are stored in organized labelled boxes. Coarse rejects are stored in labelled 18L pails on pallets inside the Alliance warehouse.

The Murray Brook Deposit

The Murray Brook Deposit, which is the essence of the Strategic Alliance between the companies, is located 10 kilometers west of Trevalis Caribou Mine and 10 kilometers east of Trevalis Restigouche Deposit in the Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick, Canada.

The deposit has a measured mineral resource of 3.68 million tonnes grading 5.57% Zn, 1.87% Pb, 0.36% Cu, 70.5 g/t Ag and 0.56 g/t Au, plus indicated mineral resources of 1.60 million tonnes grading 4.48% Zn, 1.63% Pb, 0.70% Cu, 65.3 g/t Ag and 0.88 g/t Au (for a combined measured and indicated resource of 5.28 million tonnes averaging 5.24% Zn, 1.80% Pb, 0.46% Cu, 68.9 g/t Ag and 0.65 g/t Au containing approximately 610 million pounds of Zinc, 209 million pounds of Lead and 11.7 million ounces of Silver, as of December 21, 2016.

The core of the mineral resource occurs in the West Zone (Zinc-Lead) which is 200 meters wide, extending from surface to 300 meters vertical and the true thickness of the Massive Sulphide body varies from 75 meters to 100 meters. The East Zone (Copper-Gold) is 100 meters wide, also extending from surface to 300 vertical meters and is mainly mineralized with Gold and Copper. On February 20th, 2017, a NI 43-101 report was filed on SEDAR.

The Caribou Mine

Trevalis Caribou mine is located approximately 10 kilometers east of the Murray Brook Deposit. It comprises an underground mine, a 3.000-tonne-per-day (tpd) processing mill, a flotation recovery plant, metallurgical and geochemical laboratories, as well as a tailings management facility.

About Puma Exploration Inc.

Puma Exploration is a Canadian mineral exploration company with advanced precious and base metals projects in Canada. The Company's major assets consist of an option to acquire 100% beneficial interest in the Murray Brook Property, the Turgeon Zinc-Copper Project and the Nicholas-Denys Project, all located in New Brunswick. Also, Puma owns an equity interest in BWR Resources, Manitoba. Pumas objective is to focus its exploration efforts in New Brunswick.

About Trevali Mining Corporation

Trevali is a Zinc-focused base metal company with four mines: the wholly-owned Santander mine in Peru, the wholly-owned Caribou mine in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick, its 90% owned Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia and its 90% owned Perkoa mine in Burkina Faso.

Qualified Persons

Technical information provided in this news release was prepared and reviewed by Marcel Robillard, P.Geo., President, and Dominique Gagne, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of Puma Exploration, qualified persons as defined by NI 43-101. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Mr. Robillard and Mr. Gagne are not independent of the Company, as both are officers and shareholders thereof.

Learn more by consulting www.pumaexploration.com for further information on Puma Exploration Inc.

Visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Marcel Robillard, President

Tel.: (418) 724-0901 | email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Puma Exploration Inc. to be materially different from actual future results and achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statements were made, except as required by law. Puma Exploration undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the quarterly and annual reports and in the documents submitted to the securities administration.

Images accompanying this announcement are available at:

MetProg-PlanView

MetProg-3DviewVANCOUVER, Aug. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Mirasol Resources Ltd. (TSXV: MRZ), (OTCPK: MRZLF) (the "Company" or "Mirasol") is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of Intent (the "LOI") for the Company's Indra epithermal precious metal project in Chile (the "Project"), with Hochschild Mining plc (LON: HOC) ("HOC"). The LOI gives HOC the right to acquire, in multiple stages, up to 70% of the Project by completing a series of exploration and development milestones and making staged option payments. Mirasol can elect to contribute its 30% of development expenditures or exercise an option for HOC to finance 100% of the development costs through to production, in this latter scenario, Mirasol would retain a 25% interest in the project and HOC's interest would be increased to 75%.

HOC is a leading precious metals producer focusing on high grade silver and gold deposits, with over 50 years of experience in the Americas. HOC has four operating mines and has extensive experience developing and operating underground epithermal vein mines.

Stephen Nano, CEO of Mirasol, stated: "We are very pleased to be partnering once again with Hochschild to explore and advance one of our projects. We look forward to concluding the binding agreement and starting an aggressive exploration program at the Project. Indra is an attractive conceptual epithermal gold  silver target located at low altitude in the Paleocene age belt, which allows for year-round work and will complement our seasonal exploration activities in the Mio-Pliocene belt of Chile and in the Santa Cruz region of Argentina."

Terms of the LOI

Option phase:

A US$50,000 cash payment upon signing the Agreement;

cash payment upon signing the Agreement; A minimum commitment for HOC to spend US$800,000 in the first 18-month exploration program and to drill a minimum 1,500m within 30 months of the date of the Agreement;

in the first 18-month exploration program and to drill a minimum within 30 months of the date of the Agreement; Mirasol will operate the Project during the Option phase and will receive a 10% management fee from exploration contracts with values of less than US$250,000 and 5% from contracts with values of more than US$250,000 ; and

and 5% from contracts with values of more than ; and At the end of the 18-month period, HOC will have the right to exercise the earn-in phase of the Agreement.

Earn-in phase:

Stage 1 : If HOC elects to exercise the option to earn-in, HOC will have the right to earn 51% of the Project over a 3-year period (total 4.5 years) by spending an additional US$5.2 million (total US$6 million ) and making two staged payments totalling US$675,000 ;

: If HOC elects to exercise the option to earn-in, HOC will have the right to earn 51% of the Project over a 3-year period (total 4.5 years) by spending an additional (total ) and making two staged payments totalling ; Stage 2 : If HOC elects to proceed to Stage 2 of the earn-in, HOC will have the right to earn 60% of the Project over an additional 3-year period (total 7.5 years), by funding the delivery of a positive preliminary economic assessment, in accordance with NI 43-101 on a resource of not less than 1,000,000 ounces of gold at a cut-off grade of 0.50 grams per tonne (g/t);

: If HOC elects to proceed to Stage 2 of the earn-in, HOC will have the right to earn 60% of the Project over an additional 3-year period (total 7.5 years), by funding the delivery of a positive preliminary economic assessment, in accordance with NI 43-101 on a resource of not less than 1,000,000 ounces of gold at a cut-off grade of 0.50 grams per tonne (g/t); Stage 3 : If HOC elects to proceed to Stage 3 of the earn-in, HOC will have the right to earn 70% of the Project over an additional 3-year period (total 10.5 years) by funding the delivery of a feasibility study, in accordance with NI 43-101;

: If HOC elects to proceed to Stage 3 of the earn-in, HOC will have the right to earn 70% of the Project over an additional 3-year period (total 10.5 years) by funding the delivery of a feasibility study, in accordance with NI 43-101; Stage 4: After completion of Stage 3, Mirasol can elect to contribute its proportionate share (30%) of further development expenditures or exercise a financing option requiring HOC to finance Mirasol's share of the development costs through to production in exchange for a further 5% interest in the Project. If Mirasol exercises the financing option Mirasol's interest will be reduced from 30% to 25% and HOC's interest will be increased from 70% to 75%.

The LOI contains other customary terms including extension rights to increase the duration of each stage 1, 2 or 3 for cash payments to Mirasol and 2% NSR dilution royalty, triggered upon dilution of a party's interest to 10% if the Agreement proceeds beyond 51% earn-in.

The LOI is subject to HOC completing its due diligence review and the parties settling the formal option agreement on or before September 14, 2018. Mirasol has granted an exclusivity period to HOC to complete these conditions.

The Indra Project

The Company's 100% owned 21,000 ha Indra epithermal precious metal project is located in the Paleocene Age Mineral Belt, 5 km south of the 1.37 Moz1 El Guanaco gold mine in northern Chile.

The Project was staked by Mirasol as an outcome of the Company's Atacama  Puna Generative program, encompassing what Mirasol interprets may be the upper levels of a large epithermal gold  silver system. The Project is characterized by a large carbonate  silica vein and breccia system with weakly anomalous gold - silver rock chip assays and strongly anomalous epithermal path finder geochemistry. The Indra vein-breccia outcrop shows geological characteristics in common with carbonate-silica veins know to be present overlying the ore zone in the HOC Arcata gold  silver mine in Peru. Mirasol has not identified any evidence of modern exploration at the Project despite its year-round access and its location adjacent to an operating mine. A news release providing a technical summary of the project will be issued in the near future.

About Mirasol Resources Ltd

Mirasol is a premier project generation company that is focused on the discovery and development of profitable precious metal and copper deposits. Mirasol employs an integrated generative and on-ground exploration approach, combining leading-edge technologies and experienced exploration geoscientists to maximize the potential for discovery. Mirasol is in a strong financial position and has a significant portfolio of exploration projects located within the Tertiary Age Mineral belts of Chile and the Jurassic age gold - silver district of Santa Cruz Province Argentina.

Stephen Nano, President and CEO of Mirasol, has approved the technical content of this news release. Mr Nano is a Charter Professional geologist and Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CP and FAusIMM) and is a Qualified Person under NI 43 -101.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control of the Indra exploration program: All exploration on the project was supervised by Mirasol CEO, Stephen C. Nano, who is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101.

Mirasol applies industry standard exploration sampling methodologies and techniques. All geochemical rock and drill samples are collected under the supervision of the company's geologists in accordance with industry practice. Geochemical assays are obtained and reported under a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program. Samples are dispatched to an ISO 9001:2008 accredited laboratory in Chile for analysis. Assay results from surface rock, channel, trench, and drill core samples may be higher, lower or similar to results obtained from surface samples due to surficial oxidation and enrichment processes or due to natural geological grade variations in the primary mineralization

Forward Looking Statements: The information in this news release contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding future exploration programs, operation plans, geological interpretations, mineral tenure issues and mineral recovery processes. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Mirasol disclaims any obligations to update or revise any forward looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.

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.Berlin will on Wednesday hand back human remains seized from Namibia a century ago after the slaughter of indigenous people under German colonial rule, but descendants are still waiting for an apology.

A Namibian government delegation will receive the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during a solemn church service in Berlin.

We want to help heal the wounds from the atrocities committed by Germans at the time, said Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry.

But representatives of descendants of the tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people massacred between 1904 and 1908 after rebelling against their colonial overlords have criticised the ceremony as insufficient.

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover would have been the perfect opportunity for Germany to officially apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

Is that asking too much? I dont think so, she told a Berlin press conference this week, describing the attitude of the German government as shocking.

 No reparations 

State Minister Muentefering told reporters on Monday that Germany still has a lot of catching up to do in coming to terms with our colonial heritage.

As part of ongoing talks with the Namibian government on addressing its brutal legacy in what was then South West Africa, the German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology.

But the negotiations aimed at coming up with a joint declaration on the massacres are still ongoing.

Although Berlin has acknowledged the horrors that occurred at the hands of German imperial troops, it has refused to pay direct reparations.

It has argued instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibias independence from South Africa in 1990 was for the benefit of all Namibians.

Angered by Berlins stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama people have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations.

They also want to be included in the discussions between Germany and Namibia.

Germany wants the lawsuit thrown out on the grounds of state immunity for prosecution.

The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit.

Namibian Culture Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, speaking alongside Muentefering in Berlin, said the two countries still have many problems to solve.

We must ensure that after weve reached agreements on damages, recognition and an apology, theres a future in which the German and Namibian nations join hands and move forward.

 Extermination order 

Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Hereros revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905.

Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious extermination order that would lead to the deaths of some 60,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people.

Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, rounded up in prison camps, died from hunger and exposure.

Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited scientific experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass.

Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Wednesdays handover proceedings mark the third time that Germany has repatriated human remains to Namibia, the previous occasions were in 2011 and 2014.

The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were often stolen brought to Germany without respect for human dignity, according to the German foreign ministry.

Herero activist Muinjangue said the homecoming of the bones was always very emotional.

Im looking at the skull of a Herero or Nama peasant. A peasant who could have been my great-grandmother or great-great grandmother or father.Congolese ex-warlord Bosco Ntaganda plied child soldiers in his rebel army with drugs and alcohol before sending them to murder his enemies, the International Criminal Court heard on Wednesday.

A lawyer representing 283 victims in the case said Ntaganda, now aged about 44, was directly involved in the recruitment of thousands of children in his forces, which conducted a reign of terror in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003.

Afterwards Ntaganda used them (child soldiers) to participate, under the spell of alcohol and drugs to kill, rape and pillage the enemy, said the lawyer, Sarah Pellet.

Judges at the Hague-based ICC are listening to a second day of closing statements in the case against the man nicknamed The Terminator.

Prosecutors say Ntagandas army ravaged the mineral-rich Ituri region more than 15 years ago.

Ntaganda faces 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict.

The alleged crimes include murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting children under the age of 15 to serve in his Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).

 Put the past behind them 

Pellet said Wednesday the victims were expecting justice even after 15 years.

It is time for the victims to put the past behind them and move forward and built their future. This will be by way of a guilty verdict, she said.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Ntaganda was central to planning operations for the Union of Congolese Patriots and its military wing, the FPLC.

Known as a charismatic commander with a penchant for cowboy hats and fine dining, prosecutors said Ntaganda used child soldiers younger than 15 years, coerced women soldiers into sexual slavery and attacked civilians on ethnic grounds.

Prosecutors, who showed shocking images of the disembowelled bodies of victims, who also had their throats slit, also asked for a guilty verdict.

At least 800 people were killed by the FPLC as it battled rival militias for control of the volatile area, prosecutors said.

But during his trial the soft-spoken Ntaganda during balked at the Terminator nickname and told judges he was a soldier, not a criminal.

The first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC, Ntaganda walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013 and asked to be sent to the court.

More than 60,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in Ituri in 1999, according to rights groups.

This weeks hearings will run until Thursday with Ntaganda expected to make a statement towards the end of the hearing.Monsoon rains caused a central Myanmar dam to overflow early Wednesday, inundating about 100 villages and blocking the countrys biggest highway, a government official said.

No casualties have been reported but thousands were displaced and took shelter in temporary camps.

Swar Chaung dams spillway structure, which regulates the release of water from the levee, broke due to heavy seasonal rainfall in Bago region, authorities said.

The water gushed into the rural flatland region as people fled their homes on foot, clutching bags of belongings, according to footage of the aftermath.

The weight of the floodwater also fractured part of a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway, which serves as an important artery between Myanmars two biggest cities.

We dont have exact data about the number of victims but the water has hit villages where more than 50,000 people live, Ministry of Social Welfare director Phyu Lae Lae Tun told AFP.

She added that a total of 12,000 households in some 100 villages are affected by the floods.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, under mounting international pressure to face international justice following a damning UN report this week on the Rohingya crisis, was quick to arrive at the scene.

We have to work together, he told local media. The spillway cannot be controlled currently and the water will not stop.

AFP journalists saw convoys of military trucks carrying boats headed to the scene.

Camps for the displaced were being set up while other people were taking refuge in monasteries, Phyu lae Lae Tun said.

But we dont have the details of how many people are displaced or how many people are still living in their respective villages, she added.

The torrent comes just weeks after heavy monsoon rains pummelled Myanmar, causing widespread flash floods that forced some 150,000 people to flee their homes.

Southeast Asia is often battered by weather during the annual monsoon season, which runs from around June to November.

Regional neighbour Laos was hit badly last month when heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a massive dam, an unprecedented disaster that left at least 35 dead and scores missing.

The Communist country is now facing intense scrutiny on its hydropower strategy as it plans to become the battery of Asia by damming rivers and selling its electricity to its neighbours.The lawyer for a Congolese ex-warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers told judges Wednesday his client was like a father to his troops and that his nickname Terminator was undeserved.

Bosco Ntaganda is accused of overseeing massacres of civilians by his rebel army in the Ituri region of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003.

After two days of closing arguments by the prosecution, Ntagandas lawyer Stephane Bourgon took the floor on Wednesday at the former commanders war crimes trial at the International Criminal Court.

Bourgon blamed what he called unfounded online rumours for Ntagandas bloody reputation. He said the defence would make arguments based on the evidence and not the internet.

We believe that Ntagandas reputation on the internet is wrong, Bourgon told the court in The Hague.

We heard that Bosco Ntaganda was nicknamed The Terminator because he was a notorious violent killer. This is entirely wrong.

Bourgon addressed claims that Ntaganda himself had referred to children in his forces.

The army was a family The children in the family does not mean that they are children, Bourgon told the court.

They are the members of the army and military commanders take care of their children.

 Raping and pillaging 

Now aged about 44, Ntaganda had a reputation as a charismatic commander with a penchant for cowboy hats and fine dining.

He faces 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity as commander of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).

The alleged crimes include murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting children under the age of 15.

Prosecutors have told the trial that Ntagandas fighters slaughtered civilians with machetes and disembowelled pregnant women.

A lawyer representing 283 victims in the case said Ntaganda was directly involved in the recruitment of thousands of children in his forces.

Ntaganda used them to participate, under the spell of alcohol and drugs to kill, rape and pillage the enemy, said the victims lawyer, Sarah Pellet, on Wednesday.

She said the victims were expecting justice even after 15 years.

It is time for the victims to put the past behind them and move forward and build their future. This will be by way of a guilty verdict.

 Soldier, not criminal 

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Ntaganda was central to planning operations for the Union of Congolese Patriots and its military wing, the FPLC.

Prosecutors said the FPLC killed at least 800 people as it battled rival militias for control of Ituri.

More than 60,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in the region in 1999, according to rights groups.

They showed images of victims who had been disembowelled and had their throats slit.

Ntaganda has been on trial at the ICC since 2015. The soft-spoken defendant has told judges he was a soldier, not a criminal.

Ntaganda was the first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC. He walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013 and asked to be sent to the court.

This weeks hearings will run until Thursday with Ntaganda expected to make a statement towards the end of the proceedings.Nandamuri Harikrishna, 62, was also the brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

N Harikrishna, 62, was a former parliamentarian and an actor (Photo: File)

Hyderabad: Former Rajya Sabha MP Nandamuri Harikrishna, the son of N T Rama Rao and brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Wednesday morning, police said.

The 62-year-old was going to Kavali in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a wedding when his car rammed into the divider on the Nalgonda Highway and flipped on the other side, a police official said.

It was hit by another car coming towards the city. A profusely bleeding Harikrishna was rushed to the Kamineni Hospital in Narkatpally where he breathed his last.

The overturned car of TDP leader Nandamuri Harikrishna on the Nalgonda Highway.

Harikrishna suffered severe head injuries. We also suspect internal bleeding. However, the exact cause of death is yet to be ascertained, Duty Medical Officer of Ameer Khan told PTI.

The official said they are yet to get a clear picture of the accident.

Harikrishna was an actor and had acted in several Telugu movies. His sons, Kalyanram and Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as Junior NTR are also famous Telugu stars.

Actor and politician N T Rama Rao served as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for three terms. Harikrishna had served as minister in Chandrababu Nadiu's cabinet in late 1990s.

In 2014, Harikrishna's another son Janakiram had died in a road accident in undivided Nalgonda district.

Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu said he was saddened by the tragic death of Harikrishna.

"As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience. As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly.My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief," he said in a tweet.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed his condolences on the untimely demise of Harikrishna, an official release said. The chief minister recalled the services of late Harikrishna in political and cinema fields.A major effort was under way to reach thousands of people trapped in their homes after a dam swollen by monsoon rain overflowed early Wednesday in central Myanmar, officials said.

A surge of water inundated the rural flatland in Bago region after the Swar Chaung dam spillway, which regulates the release of water, collapsed due to heavy seasonal rain.

AFP reporters in Kayin village described how some people waded through chest-deep water to get to higher ground.

Many others remained trapped in their half-submerged homes as rescuers worked into the night to try to ferry residents out.

No casualties have yet been reported but more than 12,600 people have taken shelter in about 30 temporary camps, Ministry of Social Welfare director Phyu Lae Lae Tun told AFP.

There are more than 14,000 households and some 63,000 people affected by the waters, she said.

The torrent also fractured part of a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway linking Myanmars two biggest cities.

Deputy Minister for Construction Kyaw Linn told reporters the bridges supporting towers were sinking.

We will get divers to go down and check after the water levels recede, he said.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, under mounting international pressure to face international justice following a damning UN report this week on the Rohingya crisis, was quick to arrive at the scene on Wednesday morning.

We have to work together, he said. The spillway will not be able to be controlled until the water flow stops.

The deluge comes just weeks after heavy monsoon rains pummelled Myanmar, causing widespread flash floods that forced some 150,000 people to flee their homes.

Southeast Asias annual monsoon season runs from around June to November.

Regional neighbour Laos was hit badly last month when heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a dam. At least 35 people were killed, scores went missing and thousands more languished in shelters.

The $1.2 billion Xe-Namnoy dam  a joint venture between South Korean, Thai and Laotian firms  collapsed on July 23 after heavy rains, unleashing a barrage of water that swept away entire villages in the countrys south.

The communist country has since suspended its hydropower strategy to become the battery of Asia by damming rivers and selling electricity to its neighbours.State to get additional forces before local body polls.

New Delhi: New governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, met Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday during which they held detailed discussions on the prevailing law and order situation in Valley particularly in the backdrop of local bodies elections which are expected to be held sometime next month.

Mr Malik had replaced N.N. Vohra as the J&K Governor last week. The State has been under Governors rule ever since BJP pulled out of the coalition government of Mehbooba Muftis PDP.

Home Ministry sources said providing foolproof security cover for the coming panchayat elections was a major priority for both the Centre as well as the state administration since terror groups are likely to ensure that the elections are not a success.

Polls are to be held to elect 4,130 sarpanch and 29,719 panch. Elections for local bodies in the State were last held in 2011 following a long gap. Though the elections were scheduled to be held in 2016 but were delayed to the prevailing security situation in the Valley.

One of the main reasons for the delay in holding these elections was the largescale disruption caused by terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen following the killing of one of its top commanders Burhan Wani in July last year. The newly appointed Governor of J&K had also met President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Though terror groups will try to disrupt the elections by intimidating both general public and the candidates, but Centre wants to send out a strong message by holding the local bodies elections to ensure that democratic process in the state remains intact,a senior Ministry official said.

The home ministry along with the state administration will soon finalise a detailed plan for deploying additional forces in J&K to ensure that election process is completed successfully.

Meanwhile, other newly appointed governors of Haryana, Uttarakhand and Bihar also met PM Modi on Tuesday. These newly appointed Governors include Satyadev Narayan Arya, Baby Rani Maurya and Lalji Tandon from Haryana, Uttarakhand and Bihar respectively.DA urges victims of domestic violence to contact BE SAFE In observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn is reminding residents that his office is a resource for victims of domestic violence, and will continue...

Ken-Ton school threat found not to be credible The Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District reported to district families Monday about the existence on social media of a non-specific and non-credible school threat. The school districts Oct. 25 message...

International Institute, community partners awarded $250,000 for Buffalo Refugee Careers Pathway Project Rep. Brian Higgins has announced that $250,000 in federal grant funding has been awarded to the International Institute of Buffalo and community partners through the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The...

Town resident arraigned on felony drug charges Town of Tonawanda resident Adriane D. Roman, 37, has been arraigned on multiple felony drug charges after Erie County Sheriffs deputies raided his residence and allegedly found 1.5 kilos of...

Man arraigned for exchanging sexually explicit messages, images with minor Town of Tonawanda resident Daniel Syracuse, 38, has been arraigned in Amherst Town Court on a felony charge of disseminating indecent material to minors, in connection with sexually explicit text...Indus treaty framework for resolving disagreements over water use.

She, however, warned that getting caught up in water-war rhetoric will be a mistake for the international community.

United Nations: The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived disputes between the two countries and provided a framework for resolving disagreements over water use, a top UN official has said.

UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed, addressing the High-Level Panel on Water Diplomacy in Stockholm on Monday, said that water can represent a source of cooperation, shared growth and mutual support.

She, however, warned that getting caught up in water-war rhetoric will be a mistake for the international community.

When we examine history, we see that cooperation over water can prevail over conflict over water. Through water diplomacy, sometimes known as hydrodiplomacy, neighbouring states can be reminded of the benefits of cooperating around water resources, she said, adding that water, if fairly shared, can become a confidence-building measure.

Such confidence-building measures are urgently needed in many of the current conflict areas, Mohammed said. The 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived disputes between the two countries, providing a framework for resolving disagreements over water use. In the Middle East, water use has been an area where cooperation has been possible between some countries. In Central Asia, the United Nations is collaborating closely with the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, she said.

Mohammed said that by 2050, the world population is projected to rise to 9 billion, who will be sharing a finite resource  water. One third of the worlds population already lives in countries with water stress, she said.

She stressed that water security encapsulates complex challenges and highlights waters centrality for achieving a larger sense of security and human well-being.Singh said that the process did not allow appointment of specialised doctors but only those who had passed MBBS.

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government, on Tuesday, admitted in the state assembly that there was still a shortage of 7,348 doctors even though the government had appointed 3,253 doctors through various procedures.

Replying to a question put up by Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Manoj Paras, minister for rural development Mahendra Singh said that there are 841 specialised doctors who have also been appointed by this government.

The SP members said that there was a shortage of doctors and medicines in government hospitals and patients were being forced to opt for private nursing homes for treatment.

Mr Singh said that the process did not allow appointment of specialised doctors but only those who had passed MBBS. However, he asserted that there was no shortage of medicines in government hospitals and the retirement of doctors had also been increased from 60 years to 62 years to cope with the shortage. Doctors were also being appointed on contractual basis.You cant always expect a miracle, but you can always hope for one

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I began practicing as an internist/nephrologist in the early 1960s. Having rented an office in Los Angeles, I introduced myself to the local medical community and set out to build a practice.

With a growing family, a mortgage and an office to support, I was hungry for patients. Hospital emergency rooms were good referral sources, so I took ER call at three different hospitals.

Late one Friday night, I got a call from one of these hospitals. A middle-aged engineer was in the ER complaining of chest pain. His electrocardiogram showed minor abnormalities, and he needed to be admitted for observation to rule out a heart attack. Back then, this meant several days of blood tests and repeated electrocardiograms. Uncomplicated heart attacks were treated with bed rest, sedation and blood thinners, followed by gradual ambulation and discharge.

Because the intensive care unit was full, my new patient, whose name was Sam, was admitted to a private room where his heart could be monitored electronically at the nursing station.

I examined Sam while his anxious family waited nearby. Then I went to them and explained that we needed to keep him under observation for a few days to rule out a heart attack.

Above all, Sam needs rest and quiet, I told them firmly. He should receive as few visitors and phone calls as possible. (Fortunately, at that time, mobile phones hadnt yet been invented!)

I made sure that Sam was comfortable, reviewed my orders with the nurses and finally went home, hoping for a few hours of sleep myself.

But this was not to be. Over the weekend, I was kept on the run answering calls from the other two hospitals. There were numerous emergencies, and many patients needed to be hospitalized. I spent Saturday and Sunday mornings rounding on those patients, carefully checking off their names in my pocket calendar.

On Monday morning, Id finished with rounds and was heading to my office. Suddenly, I remembered Sam  confined in the one hospital I hadnt visited that weekend. Id neglected to write his name in my calendar. I hadnt seen him since Friday!

Although no one had tried to reach me, that knowledge brought no comfort.

Sam and his family must have noticed my absence, I thought miserably. Ill be subject to disciplinary action by the hospital, and probably worse. There goes my career.

I hurried to the forgotten hospital and raced up to Sams floor. Before going to his room, I scanned his chart. It showed nothing unusual  except, of course, a complete lack of progress notes for the past two days.

I entered his room, expecting an angry reception.

Hello, Doctor Edelbaum, he said, smiling warmly.

Baffled, I muttered a greeting, then painstakingly examined him. He appeared to be in perfect health  obviously well rested  with no symptoms or complaints. My confusion grew.

Before I could figure out what to say, he spoke again.

Doc, before I was admitted, I was under a lot of pressure at work. I was drinking way too much coffee and smoking too many cigarettes; thats how I got into this mess. The peace and quiet you ordered was just what I needed. Im ready to go home.

Smiling, he added, Im especially grateful that you kept out all visitors except for the nurses.

His blood tests and other studies were normal, so I agreed that he could go home. Then I girded myself to speak with his family, waiting in the lounge.

They wont be nearly so grateful as Sam, I thought. Theyre probably ready to pounce on me.

Striding towards the lounge, I spotted them through the open doorway. With them, to my dismay, was the hospitals head nurse, Mrs. Patterson. A formidable woman, she insisted on the highest standards of patient care. Id always treated her with great respect, and until now wed been on friendly terms  a state of affairs I felt sure was about to end.

Then Sams wife Nancy ran over and embraced me.

God bless you, Doctor, she said, with tears in her eyes. Only a caring person like you could have understood how much my husband needed not to be disturbed. Im sure hes better because of the rest you gave him.

I blushed  whether for relief, joy or shame, I dont know. Sams family trooped off happily to take him home, and I was left alone with Head Nurse Patterson.

There was nothing to say: That amid my brutally busy weekend Id forgotten to log Sams name into my book was no excuse. I braced myself.

Then I noticed an amused expression on her face.

Sometimes its better to be lucky than smart, she murmured. Dont forget ever again.

With that, she left the room. She never again mentioned the incident, nor did she report me.

Feeling deeply relieved and severely chastened, I left.

Sometime later, I happened to read about Queen Elizabeth of Hungary  the wife of a thirteenth-century king, Ludwig of Marburg. Elizabeth, a devout Catholic, dedicated much of her life to good deeds.

One day, the story goes, her husband saw her leaving the castle, hiding under her cloak a basket filled with bread for the poor. When his courtiers suggested that Elizabeths basket might hold the royal jewels, King Ludwig insisted that she open her cloak. As she did, the onlookers saw not bread but a vision of red and white roses  miraculous proof that she was doing Gods work.

After Ludwigs death, Elizabeth regained her dowry and used it to build a hospital, where she herself served the sick. She was canonized shortly after her death by Pope Gregory IX.

Struck by the tale of St. Elizabeths miraculous delivery from guilt and blame, I kept turning it over in my mind. On some profound level, it resonated with my own reprieve, which had certainly felt like a miracle.

Not long after, while rounding at a Catholic hospital managed by the Sisters of Carondelet, I encountered the nursing supervisor  a sister universally loved and respected for her warmth and efficiency.

As we chatted, I said, Id like to ask a favor. Although Im not Catholic, Id like to light a candle in honor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

Curious, and a bit amused, she accompanied me to the chapel and helped me to light the candle. When I told her why I was doing this, she smiled and promised to guard my secret.

Im not sure what the moral of this particular tale is, but I did learn some important lessons. First: You cant always expect a miracle, but you can always hope for one. Second: If a miracle happens, be properly grateful. Third, on a humbler, more human level: Remember how easy it can be to make a mistake, and how awful it feels. And when someone else makes one, do your best to be kind.

David Edelbaum is a nephrologist. This piece was originally published in Pulse  voices from the heart of medicine.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comResidents of the Irish Wheelchair Associations (IWA) Claddagh Court facility in Kilkenny City have been moved out of their homes to new locations in the community, while respite services have been transferred to a local hotel.

The IWA says that a fire safety issue was identified at Claddagh Court, which is located on College Road, and following a building survey, significant building compliance concerns were discovered. The IWA says it is not in a financial position to fund the works required, and it is not considered value for money to restore the buildings there to compliance with building regulations.

The Kilkenny People understands the IWA is proposing that Claddagh Court be sold in the future.

However, local TD John McGuinness has raised concerns over the situation.

Claddagh Court is one of the IWAs regional centres, from which community support services, respite/holidays and independent living has been provided for nearly 20 years.

As of July, there were nine tenants in the IWA houses at Claddagh Court. The IWA says that, following consultation with them, alternative accommodation was sourced.

Some of this is short-term accommodation, and the organisation says it is in the final stages of purchasing five accessible apartments in Kilkenny with a view to ensuring they will have a permanent home in Kilkenny. The IWA also says the preferred option for its tenants is housing integrated into the community.

However, local TD John McGuinness says other solutions should have been explored. The Fianna Fail TD says a community had been built up around various people, volunteers from the association and the clients of the services there.

But then out of the blue, they were all asked to leave. And the IWA said it was a fire hazard. This is after 20 years, he said.

Youd imagine if there was fire safety issues, they would have applied for a grant and that they would have brought everything up to speed, but that didn't happen.

Deputy McGuinness also has concerns over the transferring of the respite service to a local hotel.

Surely there could be a plan put in place that would refurbish all those houses and bring them within the fire safety regulations, without having to break up a local community of residents, and volunteers, and supporters, he says.

Meanwhile, the IWA says that the respite move has been received positively by service users. Its statement says: Since July 2017, individuals wishing to avail of respite breaks in Kilkenny have had the opportunity to receive respite from a mainstream location within the community (fully wheelchair accessible rooms in a local hotel).

This transition of supported assistance and care has been extremely effective. Both individuals and their families have commented favourably to the new mainstream approach and wish to continue to receive IWA respite services in this manner, due to the community participation element and social inclusion opportunities this progression of service delivery brings.

The IWA says it is engaging with the council, the HSE and other key stakeholders to ensure minimum impact to services.Sinn Fein TD and Education spokesperson Kathleen Funchion says a St Vincent de Paul report on Back to School costs is the latest to show that the Government is not doing enough to support parents who are struggling to afford the costs of ensuring their children receive an education.

The Carlow-Kilkenny TD said: Sinn Fein recognises education as a fundamental human right. Children, regardless of economic or social background, should be able to access the education system.

SVP have reported a 20% increase in calls for Back to School assistance, it couldnt be clearer that the Government is failing families that are struggling to ensure their children receive a high quality education that is so essential.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul received a record number of calls in August, which included calls from more than 5,000 families seeking back-to-school help, the society confirmed.

SVP, Barnardos, and the Irish League of Credit Unions have all released reports this summer that lead to similar conclusions, said the Carlow Kilkenny TD.

The Government, far from addressing the ever spiralling costs of putting a child through school, is not even capable of ensuring that existing supports such as the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance are paid on time, which only causes further suffering to parents as school terms resume.

The school calendar is fixed. The Government knows exactly when families will need to receive these payments and they still fail to deliver.

Sinn Fein has consistently shown how the Clothing and Footwear Allowance could be improved, school capitation enhanced, and contribution levies eliminated through fully costed measures. The only conclusion that can be drawn from Government failures in these areas is that they simply do not value a childs right to an education.

SVP spokesperson Tricia Keilthy said: Back-to-school this week has been a really exciting time for lots of children and their parents. But for many low income and struggling households, the preparation for the new school year has been a huge source of stress and anxiety, with the prospect of further requests throughout the year for contributions for education, exam and extra- curricular expenses.

As well as the ordinary costs of school, some of the emerging issues that we see include the huge costs of Transition Year registration and trips and an increasing requirement for expensive digital devices.

SVP is calling on the Minister for Education to start to make free education a reality with proper funding for schools and additional supports for parents.

While the increase in the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance this year was welcome, says SVP, it remains significantly below 2011 levels.Rights panel says standard operating procedures not followed.

People from various organisations stage a protest in New Delhi on Wednesday agai-nst police raids at the premises of activists and their subsequent arrests. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi/Pune: Observing that dissent is the safety valve of democracy, without which the pressure cooker will burst, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the five activists arrested by the Maharashtra government in relation to Bhima-Koregaon violence be kept under house arrest till September 6.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud sought the response of Maharashtra government in the writ petition challenging the arrest of five activists  Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and P. Varavara Rao  for their alleged Maoists links.

The bench, which took up the matter at 4.30 pm as an urgent case, made it clear that the five activists will not be arrested in the meantime, but will be detained at their respective homes until the next hearing date, on September 6.

The petition, moved by Romila Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Pattnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maja Daruwala on behalf of the activists arrested from Delhi, Faridabad, Mumbai, Thane and Hyderabad, asked the top court to order an independent probe into the Bhima-Koregaon violence earlier this year.

The petition stated that the arrests and raids by Maharashtra police are an exercise to silence dissent, to stop people from helping the downtrodden and marginalised people across the nation and to instil fear in the minds of people. At the outset CJI Misra made it clear that the court will not look into technical objections.

Justice Chandrachud, directing Maharashtra to file a response by September 5, said, There are wider issues raised by them (petitioners). Concern raised is that you are quelling dissent. Democracy is not safe if you quell dissent and that is what they are worried about.

He also observed, Dissent is a safety valve for democracy. If you dont allow this safety valve, then the pressure cooker will burst. Look the people who are arrested... They are professors, lawyers and activists working for a cause.

Since the countrywide raids and arrests of human rights activists on Tuesday, including that of Ms Bharadwaj, a US citizen who gave up her citizenship to work as lawyer in India and had been teaching at NLU Delhi, outrage continues to grow.

Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor, said in a tweet on Wednesday, To arrest activists who have neither committed nor facilitated violence is to betray our democracy. This is not the India that Gandhiji fought to free.

Earlier on Wednesday, the National Human Rights Commission sought Maharashtras response while observing that it appears that the standard operating procedures were not followed by police in these arrests, which may amount to violation of their human rights.

According to the state government, the arrests were part of an investigation into violence in Bhima-Koregaon on January 1 this year during the bicentennial celebration by dalits of a British era war. Police said the operation was part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017.

Violence broke out the next day, when a Maratha group, objecting to celebrating a British victory, clashed with dalits. It spread across Maharashtra and led to one death.

The Pune police said the arrested activists are linked to Maoist groups and have shown intolerance to present political system.

There is conclusive proof that they have a nexus with other unlawful groups and deliberate involvement in larger conspiracy. The activists, the police said, were planning to recruit members from 35 colleges and launch attacks.

A battery of senior lawyers led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Indira Jaising, Raju Ramachandran, Dushyant Dave, and advocates Vrinda Grover and Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, sought the courts intervention and to consider the manner which the arrests were made nine months after the incident, though the names of the activists did not figure in the FIR. Mr Singhvi submitted that the arrests and raids were carried out without any basis.

Additional solicitor general Thushar Mehta, appearing for Maharashtra, opposed the petition saying it was filed by strangers and that none of the accused persons were present before the Supreme Court. The ASG also pointed out that high courts were already seized of the matter.

Following the Supreme Courts order, sessions court at Shivaji Nagar, Pune, directed the police to place under house arrest three of the alleged urban Maoists arrested on Tuesday.

Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsales and Varavara Rao were produced in the Pune court, where police sought 15-day custody for further interrogation. The police said they would be taken to their homes on Thursday.

In their petition, Romila Thapar and others said the arrest of activists without any credible material is the biggest attack on freedom and liberty of citizens. It also says that the timing of the arrest  nine months after the incident appears to be motivated to deflect peoples attention from real issues, and prayed for stay of the arrests and an independent probe.

Mr Singhvi argued in Supreme Court that the petition raised a larger issue regarding arbitrary use of arrest to stifle the fundamental liberties of citizens. He also submitted that only two persons  Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha  have approached high courts and their transit remand to be taken to Pune had been stayed. He suggested that all the five be kept in house arrest in their homes till the next date of hearing and the court accepted this.DMK leaders Stalin, Kanimozhi and some others had gone to Delhi to pay homage to Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Chennai: M. K. Stalin was on Tuesday elected, unanimously, as the president of the DMK, taking over the reins of the states main opposition party that his father M. Karunanidhi had led unchallenged for about five decades. Not a mention, not even a whisper, was heard in the packed general council session at the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, about the robust challenge thrown by his elder brother Alagiri to his leadership.

The elevation of Mr Stalin from the position of the partys working president, which was given to him by Karunanidhi early January last year when his health started its downslide, was announced by DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan, who said the election was unopposed as no one else had filed nomination. Same was the case in the election of party senior Durai Murugan as the treasurer.

In his acceptance speech, Stalin exhorted the party cadres to join him in to teach a lesson to the BJP government at the Centre, accusing it of saffronising the country. The Narendra Modi government is trying to paint the nation in saffron colour. Let us teach it a lesson, he said.

Mr Stalins attack on the BJP could well mean an end to the speculation if the DMK was cosying up to the saffron party and all those recent happenings that caused big excitement pointing to such alliance could well be just political courtesiesevents such as PM Modi flying down to pay last respects to Karunanidhi at Rajaji Hall on August 7 and earlier, President Ramnath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman visiting the hospital when DMK patriarch was critical.

DMK leaders Stalin, Kanimozhi and some others had gone to Delhi to pay homage to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Also, the Centre declaring national mourning as a mark of respect for Karunanidhi and according state funeral, besides adjournment of both Houses of Parliament were all seen as signs of the two rivals edging close.Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari also attended the meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is welcomed by BJP president Amit Shah during a day-long meeting of the BJP chief ministers in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: With an eye on Mission 2019, the BJP top brass including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah on Tuesday held a meeting of chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of party ruled states.

While the party exuded confidence that it will win the 2019 general elections with a bigger majority under Mr Modis leadership, the partys poll strategy will focus mainly on governments development initiatives along with its commitment towards social justice and the national security.

At the day long meeting, other than the Central and states schemes and their impact, BJP leaders also discussed National Register of Citizens, recently passed legislations regarding the SC/ST Act and constitutional status to the OBC Commission and the Citizenship amendment bill, issues which have more political impact.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, who briefed the media later said that the party leaders discussed various development works and people centric schemes of the Centre and the states and expressed confidence that the party will emerge victorious in 2019 with a bigger majority than 2014, under Mr Modis leadership.

The party also exuded confidence that it will retain power in three party-ruled states  Raj-asthan, MP and Chhatti-sgarh  where Assembly polls are scheduled by the end of this year.

Earlier in the day, Mr Shah inaugurated the day-long meeting in which it was decided to meet targets of the Swachchh Bharat scheme in a time-bound manner. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari also attended the meeting. Mr Modi joined the meeting later in the day.

The Prime Minister in his address spoke about laws passed by Parliament for welfare of Dalits, tribals and Other Backward Communities, besides measures such as hiking minimum support price for crops to benefit farmers. Mr Modi also asked CMs to focus on speedy execution of Swachh Bharat and Gram Swaraj projects and take it to the masses during elections.

The meeting also passed a condolence message commemorating former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. as a leader who brought to fruition the concept of goodGandhi has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the issue.

New Delhi: A war of words erupted between the BJP and Congress on Wednesday over the Rafale fighter jets purchase issue, with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley accusing the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi of peddling untruths and carrying out a false campaign on the Rafale deal.

Mr Gandhi has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the issue. The Congress rejected Mr Jaitleys contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies.

Posing 15 questions to Mr Gandhi in his Facebook post, Mr Jaitley said that the deal the NDA government had entered into with France on April 10, 2015, for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets was on better terms than the one entered into in 2007 under the UPA regime. In 2007, French manufacturer Dassault had offered to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft. Mr Jaitley questioned the Congress whether delay in decision making during its regime was based on collateral considerations like the ones witnessed in the purchase of Bofors guns.

Refusing to disclose details of the deal such as price of the aircraft due to constraints placed by the secrecy clause in the contract, the Union minister said that the Congress allegations that the NDA government had agreed to pay a higher price and was favouring a private industrialist were a complete falsehood

After Mr Jaitleys post on the issue, Mr Gandhi tweeted: Mr Jaitley, thanks for drawing the nations attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliam-entary Committee to sort it out? The problem is, your supreme leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check and revert in 24 hrs. Were waiting!

One of the questions Mr Jaitley posed to Mr Gandhi in his post was: Can Mr Gandhi and the Congress deny that the Indian government has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies? In fact, 36 of the Rafale aircraft with their Indian adaptations are going to be sent to India and there is no manufacturing of these aircraft in India.

I am asking these questions as Mr Gandhis misadventure is impairing national interest and I hope he and the Congress party will respond immediately, wrote Mr Jaitley. The Union minister termed it the Congress false campaign against the Rafale deal and said that the peddled untruth had been casting a cloud on the inter-governmental agreement and seriously compromising national security.Bangui, Aug 29 (AFP) Russia and Sudan have hosted talks in Khartoum among some of the Central African Republic's rival militias, CAR officials said today, while documents showed the groups had signed a preliminary agreement.

The meeting in the Sudanese capital yesterday unfolded in parallel to an official mediation effort in the troubled CAR led by the African Union (AU).

Russia and Sudan "took the step of holding a meeting in Khartoum with the heads of armed groups," Communications Minister Ange-Maxime Kazagui said in a statement read on national radio.

The CAR exploded into violence following the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize, a Christian, by majority-Muslim militias in a coalition called the Seleka.

France, the former colonial power, intervened to oust the Seleka and the UN deployed a peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, in 2014.

But President Faustin-Archange Touadera, elected in 2016, controls only a fraction of the country.

Most of the territory is overrun by armed groups, many of which claim to protect Christian or Muslim communities, and which often fight bloodily over resources.

Violence has led to thousands of deaths, while according to the UN, nearly 700,000 people have been internally displaced, 570,000 are refugees abroad and 2.5 million are in need of humanitarian aid.

Three Seleka groups and a nominally Christian militia leader signed a "declaration of understanding" in Khartoum on Tuesday, according to the document, which was obtained by AFP.

The three Seleka groups are the Popular Front for the Rebirth of the Central African Republic (FPRC), led by Noureddine Adam; the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), led by Ali Darassa; and the Central African Patriotic Movement (MPC), led by Mahamat Al-Khatim.

Maxime Mokom, who heads one of the biggest nominally Christian armed groups, also signed the document.

The initiative in Khartoum marks the latest sign of Russia's deepening involvement in the CAR, a country that is poor and fragile but strategically located and rich in gold, copper, iron ore and uranium.

Since the start of the year, Russia has supplied weapons to the CAR army after gaining UN authorisation to do so and provides close protection for Touadera, whose security advisor is Russian.

It has also sent five military officers and 170 civilians as "instructors" for CAR's armed forces, even though its troops are already being trained by the European Union.

On the diplomatic front, Russia has twice attempted to mediate among the militias in the past two months, but without success.

The CAR communique on Wednesday said the government "takes note of the declaration" signed in Khartoum but "supports the AU's initative for peace and reconciliation."

The AU, supported by the UN and the CAR's main partners, has been striving to set up negotiations between the militias and the government since July 2017 but progress has been scant.

An AU panel is scheduled to meet with the militias in the coming days in Bouar, western CAR, to "harmonise" 97 claims that the armed groups have set down ahead of any official agreement.

Seven peace agreements have been signed in the CAR over the past half-dozen years but none has had a lasting effect. (AFP) SCY

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)United Nations, Aug 29 (AFP) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned today that full-scale military operations in Syria's Idlib province could lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe" and cautioned against the use of chemical weapons.

Guterres's warning came amid fears the Syrian government is mobilizing for a military offensive to retake Idlib, the last province still held by the country's beleaguered rebels.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the growing risks of a humanitarian catastrophe in the event of a full-scale military operation in Idlib province in Syria," a UN statement said.

"The Secretary-General once again reaffirms that any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable." (AFP) SCY

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)The long-drawn issue of Female Genitial Circumcision has taken political and religious overtones, delaying its resolution.

On Monday, Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, argued in the Supreme Court that Female Genital Circumcision (FGC), practised by the Dawoodi Bohra community is an integral aspect of the religious practice and hence, the court cannot interfere with this faith. Female Genital Circumcision, also referred to as khatna or khafz has been practiced by the community for centuries, and while some women from the community have raised their voices against the brutality of this practice, there are many who continue to defend its existence. Given the fact that the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been considered to be a human rights violation by both, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and has been outlawed in most developed countries, those in favour of a law banning the practice find Singhvis argument absurd at best and rabble-rousing at worst.

Acts of faith

While believers of the custom point out that the purpose of both male and female circumcision is solely to do with taharat or religious purity, those fighting against the practice see it as a violation of human rights that calls for a law banning the practice. Aarefa Johari, co-founder of Sahiyo, an organisation that has been working towards ending the practice of FGC for the past three years says, FGC is an invasive procedure. It has happened to me and as a survivor, I definitely feel that my body was violated. Ive met several women who have undergone the ordeal and continue to experience lasting physical, emotional and mental trauma. Studies have revealed that the reason for khatna is not restricted to religion, faith, hygiene or purity, but is also a form of sexual control.

Apart from testimonies like this that point towards the abiding harmful impacts created by the custom, there are also those who question the relevance of the arguments surrounding religious freedoms. Though the latter is protected by the Constitution under Articles 25 and 26, activists such as Harsh Mander believe that it is the duty of the Supreme Court (SC) to intervene in matters that infringe on a persons rights. Religious freedom does not mean unlimited or unqualified freedom.

Masooma Ranalvi

The SC needs to intervene in matters that contradict constitutional morality, says Harsh. Masooma Ranalvi, an FGC survivor and founder of Speak Out  a platform that encourages women to share their FGC experiences  feels that the argument of FGC being an integral religious practice holds no ground. The Koran is the holiest book in Islam, and the book makes no mention of FGC, neither is it mentioned in any Hadith. The text being referred to is the Daim al-Islam, and it was written a long time back in Egypt, when these practices were prevalent. When new religions are formed, they adopt the customary practices of that time. Hence, this is a customary practice and has nothing to do with religion, insists Masooma and drives home her point with the question If it was an essential practice to Islam, why do 169 million Muslims not practice it and it is only practiced by 1 million Bohras?

Confict of interests

The sensitive angle of religious freedoms isnt the only obstacle in banning the practice. The issue, which is undoubtedly a delicate one, has quickly taken on political overtones since Abhishek Singhvi, the advocate arguing in favour of the practice on behalf of the Dawoodi Bohra Womens Association for Religious Freedom, is also a spokesperson of the Congress. If any lawyer is affiliated with a political party, his profession reflects the ideology shown by his party. Manu Singhvi belongs to the Congress. He is not justified in taking cases like this. It is anti-national and anti-women. Congress is showing a dual face.

On one side they are appeasing the Muslims and on the other side, they are asking for womens reservation in Parliament, says BJP Spokesperson Teena Sharma. But not everyone in the lawyers party supports his thoughts. Chief of the All India Mahila Congress and Lok Sabha MP, Sushmita Dev distances the partys beliefs from the advocates actions as she points out, As always, I am against all practices that are inhuman. A lawyer accepts briefs but that does not mean that it is the view of the party. Many a times, a lawyer accepts a brief for a fee even when he does not agree with a brief that he is arguing, but he does it as a professional lawyer.

For some, however, this argument - which pegs the professional responsibilities of a lawyer as being inviolable - does not make the cut. Senior Congress leader and lawyer Mr. Salman Khurshid gives voice to this view when he says, As lawyers, we all take different briefs, but when a lawyer is in public life, one acts differently. If a controversial brief comes along, the lawyer relies on his ideological moorings to reflect on the briefs that he or she takes.

Senior advocate Aspi Chinoy, however, pledges allegiance to the rigors of the profession. As a lawyer, you're appearing for someone else's case. So merely because you might have a pronounced point of you, either personally or as a spokesperson on a topic, that is no reason why you should not argue a case for a client. If, as a spokesperson, you have voiced very strong views on a topic, then it might be difficult or embarrassing for you to appear as a lawyer. But, merely because you're a spokesperson for the Congress doesn't in any way disqualify you from fulfilling your professional duties, he concludes.

(With inputs from Ashhar Khan, Sanjay Basak and Oishani Mojumder)Tripoli, Aug 28 (AFP) The US military said it carried out an air strike today in Libya, killing an Islamic State member described by a source as a former local leader of the jihadist group.

The US Africa Command said it "conducted a precision airstrike near Bani Walid, Libya, on August 28, killing one ISIS-Libya terrorist," referring to the Islamic State group.

The strike around 170 kilometres (105 miles) southeast of the capital Tripoli was coordinated with the UN-backed Government of National Accord, the US military said.

"At this time, we assess no civilians were injured or killed in this strike," the US African Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement.

A source within the Bani Walid security services said an "unidentified aircraft" targeted a pickup truck around four kilometres from the town.

The attack at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) killed the driver, Walid Hariba, who the source said was a former IS leader in the city of Sirte.

In June 2015 IS jihadists overran the city, 600 kilometres east of Tripoli, and Hariba reportedly fled when they were ousted the following December.

A hospital official in Bani Walid said they had received Hariba's remains which were later released to the family, confirming his identity.

Despite being driven from Sirte by government forces and allied militias, IS remains active in Libya.

The US military regularly carries out air strikes in the country, and on June 6 said it had killed four members of an IS affiliate near Bani Walid.

Just days later AFRICOM said one "terrorist" had been killed in another such attack 80 kilometres southeast of Bani Walid, in a June 14 operation targeting Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

In March US forces said they had killed Musa Abu Dawud, a high-ranking AQIM official, in an air strike in southern Libya. (AFP) SCY

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)Alia Bhatt is currently busy shooting her next project, Brahmastra, with boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor. While the unit was earlier in Bulgaria and later RK Jr and Amitabh Bachchan were seen in New York, the crew will shift back to the east European country to wrap its pending schedule. As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, Alia and Ranbir will shoot an extensive 15-day schedule in Bulgaria sans any other film members. Director Ayan Mukherjee only needed Alia and RK Jr to allot their dates to this new schedule as he plans to shoot all the high octane action sequences with them. While the Highway actress left the country last night, Ranbir is expected to fly tomorrow. Alia Bhatt CONFIRMS She Is Not Single, Check Out What Ranbir Kapoor's Brahmastra Co-Star Said

The latest couple in tinsel town was training rigorously to prep for action sequences since January this year. Israeli fitness trainer Ido Portal was hired to train the actors for the action sequences and the actress especially had to work hard on her body. A source from the Brahmastra team revealed how Alia wanted to be in a perfect shape before she starts filming those action sequences. She has worked hard on her fitness and has lost a lot of weight in the past few weeks. Viral Pic Alert! Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatts Romantic Selfie From the Sets of Brahmastra  Real or Fake?

Brahmastra is a fantasy-adventure trilogy and Ayan plans to shoot all the pivotal action scenes in Bulgaria. Post this, Alia and Ranbir will only start working on its second schedule in November this year with Amitabh, Nagarjuna, Dimple Kapadia and Mouni Roy. The makers want to wrap up the movie by January 2019. The film is expected to hit the screens on August 15, 2019.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 09:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Srinagar, Aug 29: Four personnel of Jammu and Kashmir police were shot dead by an unspecified number of terrorists in Arahama area of South Kashmir's Shopian district on Wednesday. Terrorists fired on cops when they were repairing their vehicle in the Bongam village. Four personal security officers lost their lives in the attack.

While two cops died on the spot, two sccumbed to injuries in a hospital. The slain policemen have been identified as constables Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Javed Ahmad Bhat, Mohammad Iqbal Mir and SPO Adil Manzoor Bhat. The area was cordoned off following the attack, and a manhunt was launched to arrest the attackers.

The terrorists fled with three weapons after attacking cops. The martyred cops were attached to a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Shopian. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) outfit took joint responsibility along with the Hizbul Mujahideen for the attack in Shopian. A caller identifying himself as a spokesman for JeM called a news agency GNS in Srinagar claiming responsibility for the attack.

The spokesman said four policemen were killed in the attack and three weapons of the slain policemen were taken away by the assailants. He said the attack was carried out jointly by JeM and the Hizbul Mujahideen.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 03:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Kochi, August 29: Flight operations have resumed at Kochi Airport, which was shut due to floods since August 14. The earlier date to resume operations was August 26 which was further extended till August 29. An IndiGo Airlines flight landed at 2 pm at the Cochin International Airport today.

The airport, the seventh busiest in the country, had been rendered non-functional since August 14 after the floods that devastated the state between August 8 and 22. The first commercial flight of Air India landed at INS Garuda Kochi Naval Air Station on August 20 as the Kochi Airport was shut completely. Other airlines like Vistara, Jet Airways, GoAir also sent special services to help those stranded in the devastating floods.

As water levels rose in Kerala during the floods, the runway, terminals as well as the large solar farm surrounding the airport were inundated completely. This forced the DGCA to ask airlines to divert Kochi bound flights to the other two airports in the state in Thiruvanathapuram or Kozhikode or Coimbatore in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Mangalore in Karnataka.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 03:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Singapore, Aug 29: Talks on a China-backed free-trade pact have reached a "critical stage", Singapore's leader said today as he urged regional economic ministers to seal the deal by the end of the year.

The 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which will be the world's biggest free-trade accord if it is agreed, has taken centre stage as Washington embarks on a unilateral, protectionist agenda.

Covering about half the world's population, the RCEP notably excludes the US, which had been leading another regional pact -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- until President Donald Trump abandoned it on coming to the office early last year.

"The RCEP negotiations have continued for some time, and have now reached a critical stage," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said as he opened a five-day meeting of economy ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Singapore meeting will be joined later in the week by top trade officials from ASEAN's main trading partners, including China, Japan, Australia and the US. "After a great deal of work, the possibility of substantively concluding the RCEP negotiations is finally in sight," he said.

Lee also warned about escalating tensions between the US and China -- who have been locked in a spiralling trade row -- and other major economies including the eurozone and Canada.

"The RCEP will be an important signal to the world that ASEAN members and our partners place a high value on free trade, regional integration and international cooperation," he said.

The pact will group the 10 ASEAN members plus China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, and will cover a third of the world's gross domestic product.

A diplomatic source said Singapore, this year's ASEAN chair, is pushing for an agreement on the RCEP before handing over the chairmanship to Thailand in 2019.

Another source involved in the talks said ASEAN leaders hope to announce the "substantial conclusion" of negotiations during a summit in November with their main trading partners, and they expect the pact to be implemented in 2020.

Beijing is keen to use Washington's rejection of the TPP to build enthusiasm for its own deal and increase influence in the region. RCEP is a more modest deal that prescribes lower and more limited regulatory standards. The 11 remaining TPP members signed a slimmed down version of the agreement in March.Beijing, Aug 29: China on Wednesday denied a media report that it is helping Afghanistan build a military base and eventually plans to deploy its military in the strife-torn country.

According to the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, Beijing has begun building a training camp for Afghan troops in a narrow corridor that connects the two countries.

The daily quoted a source as saying the Beijing was fully funding the base to help Kabul improve counterterrorism efforts. Once the camp was completed, the People's Liberation Army was likely to send hundreds of military personnel - at least one battalion worth - to Afghanistan's isolated Wakhan Corridor, the Post quoted another source as saying.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the report was "not true". Asked which part of the report Beijing was denying, Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "You know this report which talked about China planning to set up military training bases and send in troops. If setting up military bases is not true, then what comes next is also not true."

The corridor is a barren and inhospitable stretch of land that connects Afghanistan's province of Badakhshan to China's restive Xinjiang. China has launched a massive crackdown against Uyghur Muslims in Xingjiang who it suspects have separatist tendencies. Afghanistan has become increasingly important for China's own security as well as President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" trade and infrastructure plan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 03:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Dhaka, Aug 29: A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh has been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, media reports said today.

Subarna Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private news channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, bdnews24.com reported.

She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 km from here.

Suborna, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house at around 10:45 PM yesterday, it said. When she answered the door, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, police said. Some locals rushed her to the hospital where she was declared brought dead. Police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, Additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said. Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.Aug 28, 2018, 7:51pm ET

Uber confirms Toyota partnership

Uber will install its self-driving technology in Toyota Sienna minivans, which will be owned and operated by a third party.

Uber has confirmed the rumored partnership with Toyota to explore self-driving technology.

"Today, we're taking our relationship with Toyota Motor Corporation to new heights--and while this isn't our first automotive partnership, we're taking a new approach," says Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber's Advanced Technologies division.

Uber will supply its proprietary self-driving system to be installed in Toyota Sienna minivans. Notably, the vehicles will be owned an operated by a third party, representing "a new business model" for Uber.

It is unclear if the partnership is related to the fatal accident involving Uber's experimental fleet of autonomous Volvo XC90 crossovers. An investigation found that the prototype vehicle would likely have avoided the crash if the production car's automatic emergency braking system had not been deactivated by Uber's engineers.

Uber has not yet named the mystery third party that will operate the fleet of autonomous Sienna minivans.UPDATE:

Colonial Regional police are attempting to identify two women a detective says left a Lower Nazareth Township nail salon without paying.

The theft, valued at $124, took place Aug. 16 at Nails 4 U at 869 Nazareth Pike, Detective Gary Hammer said.

If anyone recognizes the people in the photo, call the police department at 610-861-4820 and ask for Sgt. John Harmon. Callers can remain anonymous.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.UPDATE: Synthetic pot exposure sickened Pennsylvania prison workers

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections locked down all its state prisons starting Wednesday, after multiple employees reported becoming sickened by unknown substances in recent weeks.

"The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern," state Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said in a statement announcing the immediate start to the lockdown. "Our state prisons, especially those in the western part of the state, have experienced recent incidents in which employees have been sickened and we need to get to the bottom of this issue now."

The lockdown includes these limitations and requirements, "effective immediately and indefinitely," according to the department:

All DOC mailrooms are closed to non-legal mail until further notice.

Use of personal protective equipment, especially gloves, is mandatory for all employees.

Training on situational awareness will be held immediately in all institutions.

All visits are suspended for the length of the lock down.

Staff also are advised to use extra caution when parole violators and new inmates are received into the prison system, according to Wednesday's announcement.

The department didn't say how long the lockdown will last.

The lockdown came a couple hours after the department reported that two guards and three nurses at Albion state prison reported feeling sick and required medical attention.

Albion is the fourth state prison where staffers have required treatment for exposure to an as-yet-unidentified substance descried as a liquid synthetic drug. The other three prisons are Greene, Fayette and Mercer.

"We will do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of our staff," Wetzel stated. "The steps taken today, in addition to those announced last week, demonstrate the Wolf Administration's commitment to the safety and security of all commonwealth employees.

"The state's Opioid Command Center is giving complete support to this action. And Corrections thanks all state agencies for their support, especially the Pennsylvania Department of Health, for providing additional gloves and personal protective equipment."

The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, representing more than 10,000 employees in the state's 26 corrections facilities, lauded the decision to lock down the prisons.

"The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association commends the Wolf administration for locking down all state correctional institutions," the union's president, Jason Bloom, said in a news release. "Simply too many of our officers are becoming sick due to contraband being illegally brought into these facilities. We're prepared to help our members who have been sickened -- but we must put this dangerous problem to an end. It's our hope the steps being taken today will do just that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.All the activists have been arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Mumbai: The Pune police on Tuesday conducted simultaneous countrywide raids and arrests in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence on January 1 in which Maratha groups objection to a commemorative event by dalits led to violent clashes that spread across Maharashtra, leading to one death.

The raids at the homes and offices of nine activists began at 6 am and went on till evening when the arrest of five were announced  lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad, rights activist Gautam Navlakha from Delhi, activist Vernon Gonsalves and lawyer-activist Arun Ferreira from Mumbai.

From Hyderabad, 78-year-old revolutionary writer P. Varavara Rao was arrested.

The raids and arrests, police said, were based on names that emerged during the investigation of five other activists they had arrested in June in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

While Pune police termed Tuesdays raids and arrests as a crackdown on urban Naxals who, they claimed were responsible for the violence, many reacted to the news with shock, describing the action as absolutely chilling and a virtual declaration of emergency.

The CPI(M) politburo called it a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties and demanded the withdrawal of the cases against the activists and their immediate release.

All the activists have been arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

While four have been arrested for their alleged Maoist links, 78-year-old Varavara Rao, police said, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The police has claimed that two letters exchanged by Maoist leaders recovered earlier indicated plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home minister Rajnath Singh.

While a 2016 letter suggested that there were deliberations among Naxals to kill the three BJP leaders, a 2017 letter referred to a plan to carry out a Rajiv Gandhi-type assassination attack on the PM during one of his roadshows, they claimed.

The second letter was addressed to a Comrade Prakash and was allegedly found from the residence of a Delhi-based activist Rona Wilson in June.

We could establish that they are members of core committee of banned Communist Party of India Maoist, a officer said about Tuesdays arrests on the condition of anonymity.

Arrests have been made and the arrested are being brought to Pune, said Shivajirao Bodke, joint commissioner of police, Pune.





However, Delhi high court directed that rights activist Gautam Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till further orders as police was not able to satisfactorily explain under what offence he had been arrested.

The raids and arrests of human and Dalit rights activists in June and on Tuesday mark a shift of focus away from the investigation of cases against Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, who have been accused of making provocative speeches that allegedly triggered the violence in Bhima-Koregaon in January.

Every year on January 1, lakhs of dalit citizens from across the country gather in Bhima-Koregaon, a village 30 km north-east of Pune, to commemorate the historic victory of lower-caste Mahar soldiers in the British Army over the Brahmin Peshwa-led Maratha Empire in 1818.

This year, to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, a coalition of 260 non-profit organisations had held an event called Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017, at Punes Shaniwar Wada. It featured speakers such as politicians Prakash Ambedkar and Jignesh Mewani and dalit rights activist Radhika Vemula.

The next day some people waving saffron flags pelted stones at cars heading towards Bhima-Koregaon. This escalated into violent clashes between dalit and Maratha groups that spread across the state.

On January 3, the Pune police filed cases against Milind Ekbote, head of the Hindu Ekta Manch, and Sambhaji Bhide, chief of the Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan for allegedly instigating the violence against dalits. However, while Ekbote was released on bail soon after being arrested in March, Bhide has not yet been arrested, despite a Supreme Court order demanding his arrest.

In June, Pune police arrested activist Rona Wilson who is associated with the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners, dalit activist and editor of Marathi magazine Vidrohi Sudhir Dhawale, Nagpur-based lawyer and dalit and tribal activist Surendra Gadling, a professor at Nagpur University Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut, a Prime Minister Rural Development fellow.This fire season California's wildfires have been blazing continuously on television screens with the media, politicians and green alarmists pushing global warming as the cause. They use descriptions like "record," "unprecedented," "never before seen." These fires are terrifying and our hearts go out to those suffering loss of property and loved ones.

California Gov. Jerry Brown can be seen frequently on television beating the drum blaming global warming and pushing his insane (and often unrelated) programs as the answer.

In reality, wildfires burned five times the acreage a century ago than currently. By comparison, fossil fuel use back then was trivial -- less than one tenth that of today. This is in no way a correlation/causation.

Recently, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke stepped forward to affirm that the severity of today's fires is the result of bungled forest management (pushed by green extremists), not from fossil fuel use. Forestry professionals have been telling us this for years. In recent decades fire suppression has taken priority over sound forest management, allowing fuel to accumulate on forest floors. Zinke has been directing increased funding for better forest management on federal lands.

Interestingly, after using the wildfire situation to make maximum political hay for his global warming programs, Brown is now quietly working with legislators to allow landowners to improve their forest management. This could be done for state lands with the stroke of a pen. But admit to government's bungled forest management? Never.

James M. Policelli

Plainfield TownshipPhillipsburg's political controversies will soon hit elected officials and at least one employee directly in their wallets.

Ongoing public disputes between the mayor and council have created a budget crunch that, unless action is taken soon, will cost the council, mayor and the mayor's aide their remaining paychecks for the year when funds for their salaries run out next month.

A memo dated Tuesday and sent to the elected officials from the town's chief financial officer says the source of the shortfall is the mayor's aide, Sherry Corcoran, who continued working and collecting full pay even after council removed her salary in the 2018 budget.

Mayor Stephen Ellis has said the council overstepped its bounds with what he claims is an illegal action, and recently confirmed he is planning to sue the council over it.

In the meantime, the budget line for the mayor and council salaries, which includes the aide, will run out Sept. 24 unless action is taken, CFO Robert Merlow said in the memo provided to lehighvalleylive.com. It does not appear other departments will be directly affected.

This is not the first time Corcoran has ended up in the middle of controversy. Last year, the current council majority was running for election and took aim at a raise she received earlier in the year. The council rescinded Corcoran's raise about a month after the new majority took office. Also, in the spring, her position was included in a list of what council alleged were patronage jobs awarded by the mayor following his 2015 election, though the investigation has yet to prove any wrongdoing.

In the 2018 budget, council set the mayor/council salary appropriations at $68,250, a $35,250 reduction from the previous year. Council members are paid $3,000 for the year, the council president gets $3,500 and the mayor draws a $65,000 annual salary.

In his memo, Merlow offered three options for the dwindling payroll funds:

Do nothing:

Siphon from another department:

Bill it to 2019:

The matter appears destined for discussion at the next council meeting, scheduled Sept. 4.

Council President Robert Fulper said he is OK with forfeiting council's remaining paychecks.

"We cannot expect the taxpayers to foot the bill for the Mayor's inability to acknowledge the municipal town charter and the law," he said, adding that earlier negotiations with Corcoran for a reduced salary failed.

Mayor Ellis -- who in the midst of this latest dispute is facing the second recall effort in as many years -- said responsibility for the shortcoming should fall to the council, which rejected his proposed budget that would have maintained Corcoran's salary.

"Council was informed by me numerous times prior to passing the budget that I would not terminate any administrative support staff in the mayor's office without cause," he said. "The mayor's office had and needs support staff to properly serve the people of Phillipsburg ... . Employees who come to work to serve the public must be compensated."

Corcoran's attorney, John McDonnell of Washington-based law firm McDonnell Artigliere, also said his client is an essential part of the mayor's office. McDonnell notably represents other Phillipsburg employees who have sued the town, claiming retaliation by the council for either speaking in support of the mayor or against council actions.

"I can't tell them how to operate their town," McDonnell said. "But if someone goes to work, it's my opinion that they should be paid. They should find a way to fund it. I don't know how you can expect someone to go to work for free."

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Laois women entrepreneurs in the early stages of business are invited to apply for a place on the ACORNS programme to help them develop companies, according to Laois TD and Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan.

Minister Flanagan said the intention is to provide up to 50 entrepreneurs, based in rural Ireland, with the knowledge, support and networking opportunities to meet and even exceed their current aspirations.

The ACORNS (Accelerating the Creation of Rural Nascent Start-ups programme will run from October 2018 until April 2019. Selected participants will be those who, on a competitive basis, best demonstrate their potential to advance their businesses and their commitment to fully engage in the initiative.

The deadline for application for this years cycle is the 21st September 2018.

Minister Flanagan said the ACORNS Programme is based on the principle that entrepreneurs learn best from each other.

The ACORNS initiative is focused on interactive round table sessions that are facilitated by female entrepreneurs who have started and successfully grown businesses in rural Ireland.

It is designed to help provide female entrepreneurs who are in the process of setting up a business, or have recently started one with the knowledge, support and networking opportunities to meet and even exceed their current aspirations.

The programme has proved very successful so far. Over 150 female entrepreneurs have taken part in ACORNS to date with many report increased sales, exports and job creation.

To be considered for ACORNS, applicants must:

 Have set up a new business , which has generated sales no earlier than the 27th of June 2016;or

 Be actively planning a new venture and have made good progress towards getting the new venture off the ground.

Indicators of actively planning a business would include organising the start-up team, sourcing equipment / facilities, money saved for the start-up, writing the business plan, etc.

 They must own or part-own the business which must be located in a rural area, that is in an area outside the administrative city boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford;

 They must commit to attending the Launch Forum over two days in October 2018 (15th/16th); the ACORNS Community Forum in April 2019 (date to be confirmed); the monthly meetings from November 2018 to March 2019; and give the required personal commitment to advancing their business ideas over the six-month programme duration;

 They must expect to become an employer within three years.

GO TO THE ACORNS WEBSITE HEREOver 16,000 has been raised online to help with the cost of transporting a seriously ill Portlaoise man home after a nightmare holiday accident in Tenerife.

A summer holiday in sunny Tenerife ended up in turmoil for young couple Daniel Wolski and Sara ukaszewska from Portlaoise.

Daniel Wolski has undergone serious spinal surgery and is now battling pneumonia since the fall on August 1, which caused instant paralysis in his legs.

The Polish native suffered a suspected 'infant epilepsy' which caused him to fall three metres off a wall.

Daniel was diagnosed with anemia, due to a huge blood loss and he was then diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer which was bleeding and needed urgent surgery.

The young man underwent two serious operations within five days.

His girlfriend, Sara, who was on holiday with him, spoke to the Leinster Express about Daniel's condition and the difficult days and weeks after the tragic fall.

It was one of the most difficult situations in my entire life. The minute he fell I ran down the stairs and it was a massive relief to see him alive.

When we were brought to an emergency unit it then hit me what has actually happened. His legs were paralysed. We were in a foreign country. Neither of us spoke Spanish. And it was just the two of us.

I rang my dad crying, I didn't know what to do. My dad got in touch with Daniels parents. [Aneta Wolska and Piotr Wolski].

They then transported him to a hospital on the other side of the island. I was told by the nurses to go back to the hotel, take a shower and bring all the necessary documents.

For the first few days I stayed in the hotel we were originally booked in which was about 70km away from Daniel's hospital.

I took a bus every morning to the hospital and stayed with Daniel for the whole day and got a bus back late at night.

The first few nights were sleepless and full of tears. I was so worried about him. Four days later Daniel's mother arrived to Tenerife. It was such a relief to not be alone. It was also a relief for Daniel, he was constantly worried about me as I was left on my own.

The first surgery was the longest four hours in my entire life. And at that time I thought nothing worse could happen. I kept telling myself that it can only get better. I wanted to stay strong for Daniel. I knew he needed support the most.

Daniels dad arrived in Tenerife a week after, it was my birthday and that evening we were hit again, with another surgery, his medical condition was critical. I was devastated, I didn't want to lose him.

All of us were thrilled to find out the surgery was successful. Since then there has been many ups and downs but we are here together, we reached out to Irish Consul in Tenerife, we have tried everything to get help with transporting Daniel home.

Unfortunately we were unsuccessful. Then I came up with an idea of setting up a gofundme page.

I didn't think we'd receive this much support. I am so thrilled. So happy there is so many good people out there. I just want him to be home, to start his rehabilitation to get good medical care. And of course I want to he home too with my family who are very worried and are extremely supportive, she said.

An amazing 10,500 was raised by 274 people in 21 hours on the online GoFundMe page and some 16,000 has been raised in 2 days.

Sara and Daniel's family are still appealing for people to donate, as they need to raise 30,000 to get Daniel home.

DONATE HERE.Independent Laois councillor James Kelly is among the seven backing businessman Sean Gallagher to run for President of Ireland.

The Laois councillor was among those to back the Cavan businessman priort to his announcment that he wants run as an Independent in the election. It is understood he has asked to 10 local authorities to nominate him.

Cllr Kelly, from Mountrath, wants a majority of 18 Laois County Council elected colleagues to back Gallagher.

He believes that the former Dragons Den participant, who came second in the 2011 election, is right for the job.

I would have voted for him. I thought he had an excellent campaign. Sinn Fein turned against him in the end but I dont think that should be held against him, he said.

Mr Gallagher took 28 percent of the vote in 2011, after he was accused of collecting money for Fianna Fail in a live RTE debate, based on a bogus Sinn Fein tweet. He later received an apology from RTE.

As a businessman 0f 30 years myself, I appreciate that his focus has been on Irish business, he is a great advocate for small businesses. That is important for the recovery of the country. He also has a history in working for communities and youth disability, Cllr Kelly said.

He wants his colleagues to set aside party politics.

There is cross party support for Sean Gallagher. I believe that would exist in Laois County Council as well.

The cost to taxpayers of an election rather than let President Higgins take a second term, is worth it he believes.

Michael D Higgins said he would only do one term. For a fully democratic process, there has to be other candidates. Anybody who thinks they have something to offer should be allowed to go forward, I say fair dues to them, Cllr Kelly said.

Cllr Kelly (below) expects the meeting to take place in mid September.

Mr Gallagher and the other Independent hopefuls face a difficult task in winning the Laois County Council nomination.

A Fine Gael Fianna Fail coalition, made up of 13 councillors, holds the balance of power on Laois County Council. Both parties are backing Michael D Higgins at a national level.

There are two Sinn Fein councillors who are likely to vouch for their party's candidate. Labour has one seat in Laois. There are just three Independents.

Candidates must have the backing of four councillors or 20 TDs and Senators to contest the vote which takes place on October 26, 2018.The closure of seven Post Officers in Laois/Offaly will have a devastating effect in rural communities according to a Laois TD.

Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley said the impact will be dreadful and the government is determined to strip rural Ireland of vital services.

The list of 159 post offices announced to close today by An Post will have a dreadful impact on the communities in Laois/Offaly that will be directly affected, and is also yet another blow, among many to rural communities.

Rural Ireland is losing jobs and losing basic services and much of rural Ireland is without basic modern communications with the National Broadband Plan is in a mess. These 159 closures will have a detrimental impact.

Some counties will be particularly hit hard with closures. Laois will face 2 post office closures, Ballybrittas and Ballinakill and Offaly has 5 closures Geashill, Moneygall, Mountlucas, Pullagh and Walsh Island announced today.

Whilst we understand this is a voluntary retirement scheme backed by the Irish Postmasters Union, Government has shown no interest in keeping our post office network alive and viable.

The Government and An Post should not be using retirement of Postmasters to close Post Offices by stealth.

Sinn Fein has previously put forward alternatives to revitalise our post office network.

On top of post offices becoming a hub in a community providing government and local services, we can introduce small scale banking such as used in New Zealand as an example.

But after a series of reports, reform of our post office network has been neglected by successive Governments. Closing post offices may suit short term ends but at the expense of a long term vision. This Government is determined to strip rural Ireland of vital services, Deputy Stanley said.The lack of certainty and clarity around the future of Portlaoise hospital was the greatest damage being done to it, the Sinn Fein leader, Mary Lou McDonald told the Leinster Express during her constsituency visit to Laois/Offaly on Wednesday.

Ms McDonald said there had been a "cat and mouse game played around hospitals" and that the least people could expect from the consultation process what that it would not "become a token or paper exercise."

"I think people are reasonable as regards hospital services and realise that you can't have every medical speciality replicated in every single hospital. However, no matter where you live you do have an entitlement to run of the mill medical services and that's what needs to guide the consultation."

She said that her role was to listen to the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee when she met the committee later in the day.

"We want absolute confirmation that basic services, the fundamental needs of the community are met in the hospital. The hospital needs to be adequately resourced because you need that to attract and maintain staff required to treat 40,000 emergency presentation a year."

Brian Stanley TD said that the fear is that the consultation process would be used as a delaying tactic.

"The Minister for Health, Simon Harris agreed to the process with myself, Sean Fleming and Charlie Flanagan when we met with him last December. He gave a commitment to press the pause button and by God did he do it. What we want is certainty around key services. If A & E goes then paediatric and maternity services will follow."

Rural and regional imbalance

The Sinn Fein leader also spoke about regional imbalances, saying there needed to be "a revolution in rural Ireland."

"Rural communities feel left behind, disregarded, and forgotten. People, groups and organisations are doing sterling work on the ground and are full of incredible and innovative ideas.

"I think they are now open for significant, and not just political but social change.

"We need to fix the regional imbalance and we are only going to do it if we approach our policy, policy making and governance in a completely new way. We have to start addressing imbalance in regard to social opportunity, services, the possibility to live a decent life, and decent earning levels.

How would Sinn Fein address this?

"What we can do is lead and be innovative. One of the things you see across the Irish system is that it is inflexible, in many cases inefficient, in many cases incapable of learning, changing or adapting, People have to adapt to the administration rather the administration meeting the needs of the people.

"We can lead from the front and bring the issues such as post office closures, broadband and roads, infrastructure and housing and to advocate at the highest levels.

"I do believe the capacity exists in rural communities. They have to be listened to and given the chance. It has to amount to more than politicians being cute, paying lip service before an election.

"In terms of what needs to happen, the building blocks are clear and they are centred around infrastructure, broadband, roads, housing. Also around services, such as Portlaoise hospital.

"There are issues in terms of services in every town and village for things like mental health, for children with disabilities, or older people with significant challenges.

"Another building block is around job opportunities and investment. We need to fundamentally reassess how we attract and hold inward investment and also how we foster enterprise and and entrepreneurial spirit on the ground.

"Rural communities are not being heard and not just at central government level. The relationship between local communities and county councils is an issue we've heard about today. Town Councils are very much missed."

Investment in Laois

As regards attracting investment to places like Laois, Ms McDonald pointed to the example of the North and targeting objective - "a framework to try and step outside the parish pump, political goodies system. "It is a more even handed and proportionate way to target resources that is more transparent and fair. I think we need that."

"In terms of investment it is completely disproportionate for Dublin to get everything and scraps on the table for everyone else. This is not fair or sustainable. Investment can come here.



Election and coalition options

"I don't know when the election will be. Fianna Fail engineered a situation to be in government and be in opposition. It is a very bad thing for politics, a deeply flawed and fundamentally dishonest approach.

"If Fianna Fail were worth anything they would pull the plug on their friends in Fine Gael. They have criticised the appalling record in housing, health and other areas, yet insist on keeping these people in government.

"We will take to everyone about coalition. After the last election we got criticised by our opponents who tried to create the impression we were inflexible and disinterested in government.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. We are very interested in government, in Sinn Fein being in government and leading government.

"We will fight our campaign, set out our stall, and maximise our vote. When the din of the election subsides, we will talk to everyone because that is what grown ups do."

As regards the Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan's expressed opposition to Sinn Fein at the recent Fine Gael selection convention, she said "he should calm down. It's not as if Sinn Feiners are weeping into their pillows thinking of coalition with Charlie Flanagan," she said.

"People ulimately decide the democratic balance of things and Sinn Fein voters votes are of equal value with everyone else."Over 300 people from Portlaoise parish travelled on buses to attend the Papal visit in Dublin at the weekend.

Portlaoise priest Fr Paddy Byrne attended the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park and the World Meeting of Families at Croke Park.

Speaking to the Leinster Express, he said there were 'lovely moments' and the communication of serious issues in the church to Pope Francis was 'to the fore'.

I will never forget this weekend and it has given me an injection of hope and energy that will help me to become a better priest.

To the fore of the visit was the serious nature of real issues that need to be addressed by the Church.

I think the highlight was the event in which Pope Francis was absolutely communicated the truth by those who were hurt by the official Church in many different ways.

I loved the gestures in the Phoenix Park to reach out to the broken from conflicts like in Northern Ireland.

I liked the fact that people from the LGBT community were included at the mass and the presence of that great lady who is living with cervical cancer, her family was acknowledged.

It was fantastic for me when Pope Francis went to Sean McDermott Street that he acknowledged Matt Talbot because addiction is a huge issue in our country, he said.

Fr Paddy said challenges face the Catholic Church 'to sing a new song' and become more inclusive.

We have contributions to make as priests we make them in parishes in key moments in peoples lives, we go to the hospital to visit the sick, we are chaplains in the prison, people go to us as well as we go to people and there is a relevance.

I think we need to be more relevant, particularly in relation to the challenging needs of people, to be a voice for those who lack the opportunities that so many may take for granted.

We need to sing a new song, that is quoting a psalm, how can we sing a new hymn?

A hymn that is inclusive, that celebrates Jesus Christ. Irish people are very strong in faith and we dont measure faith by those who turn up in our pews.

If we learn anything by the Popes visit it is not to abandon our hope or to dismiss the relevance of our spiritual lives, he said.

Fr Paddy said Pope Francis is an inspirational leader.

In the world, he is iconic in terms of he is the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics and I think as a human being he transcends the norm of what a Pope is supposed to be.

He is a very inspirational leader to the members of the Church here in Ireland," Fr Paddy added.Parents, principals, teachers unions, management bodies and department officials will detail the many challenges facing school system in Kildare and around the country at a special two-day sitting of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills.

Over the course of today and Thursday, 18 organisations and Government departments will make presentations and answer Members questions on the pressures that face primary and secondary schools reopening nationwide.

The three-part discussion begin at 10 amtoday in Committee Room 3 of Leinster House and will resume at 9:30 am on Thursday.

The first section focuses on whether Irelands school-building programme meets demand and, if not, what can be done to improve planning and delivery, including the development and retention of green spaces for play.

Todays second section explores the pressures that principals face as they manage overstretched school staffing and resources while, in many cases, they also conduct their own classes.

On Thursday, charities, parents associations and school management bodies will detail the rising private costs that parents must finance themselves as their children attend State-funded schools.

With the arrival of a new school year comes the need to focus on improving the States provision of educational services. All parties agree we can and should do more as a society. This week the Committee will seek to identify solutions and areas for needed reform with help from a comprehensive array of witnesses, said Kildare South TD Committee Chair Fiona OLoughlin TD.

The challenging circumstances that many parents, principals and school planning bodies face require our urgent understanding and assistance. Any shortfall in providing sufficient support to school facilities and staff ultimately denies schoolchildren the chance to achieve their full potential. Our hearings will serve to highlight these issues."

READ MORE: Building of Monasterevin school may begin earlier than expectedNoreen McGuire, originally from Mohill and a student at the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCoI) Centre of Excellence in Jewellery and Goldsmithing, has been selected to participate at major cultural exhibition Homo Faber which takes place in Venice, Italy next month.

The exhibition runs from September 14 to 30 and Noreen is one of 12 graduates and students from the DCCoI Centres of Excellence in Ceramics and in Jewellery and Goldsmithing chosen for the Young Ambassadors programme, a unique joint educational and cultural initiative as part of Homo Faber.

Ireland will have significant representation at the event with seven leading Irish designers and makers also having been selected to participate in this landmark exhibition.

Organised by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship, Homo Faber aims to put fine craftsmanship on the global map and increase recognition and visibility for master artisans.

The seven Irish craftspeople participating are: glass artist Roisin de Buitlear; basket maker Joe Hogan; ceramicist Jennifer Hickey; glass artist Alison Lowry; silversmith Cara Murphy; sculptor Nuala ODonovan; and artist and sculptural furniture maker Sasha Sykes. All are members of DCCoIs PORTFOLIO programme which actively works to grow the reputations and potential of designer-makers across all major disciplines of contemporary craft.

The exhibiting craftspeople were selected for Homo Faber by the Michelangelo Exhibitions Committee having been shortlisted for consideration by Jean Blanchaert, curator of the Best of Europe pavilion for Homo Faber. The Irish makers will be part of a group of 150 master craftspeople who will exhibit 300 works in the Best of Europe pavilion, one of a total of 13 pavilions on Cini Giorgio.

In addition to the exhibiting craftspeople, five recent graduates of the DCCoI Centre of Excellence in Ceramics and seven current students of the DCCoI Centre of Excellence in Jewellery and Goldsmithing have been selected to participate in the Young Ambassadors programme and will form the largest representation from a single educational institution at Homo Faber.

Following a rigorous selection process, 105 talented students of applied arts and design from 26 education institutions in 15 European countries were chosen to bring Homo Faber to life for visitors in the Young Ambassadors programme which is an initiative of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in partnership with the Michelangelo Foundation.

The Young Ambassadors will be present throughout Homo Faber to interact with visitors to exhibition spaces, explaining the many fascinating objects on display and imparting their own knowledge of the skills and techniques being used by master artisans right before their eyes. Participation in this one-of-a-kind programme offers the Young Ambassadors a unique opportunity to meet some of Europes finest artisans, designers, institutions and luxury houses, as well as to interact with their peers and to form a network to carry with them into their future careers.

Connections between DCCoI and the Michelangelo Foundation were developed through the World Karen Hennessy, Chief Executive of the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland, said: I congratulate all of the participants from Ireland who have been selected for such a unique and high-profile cultural exhibition. Homo Faber will showcase the finest of European craftsmanship across multiple sites in the glorious city of Venice, and it is testament to Irelands reputation and high standing among its peers in design and craft that such a large group has been chosen to take part. The selection of our graduates and students as Young Ambassadors is also a reflection of the enormous talent, skill and dedication of these young craftspeople as well as the highly respected reputation of the DCCoI Centres of Excellence in Europe.

She continued: To be chosen to partake in such a prestigious cultural event is a huge opportunity for both our established and emerging makers to not only demonstrate their abilities, innovation and imagination on a world stage, but to meet other creatives from all over Europe, make connections and soak up all that an important exhibition such as Homo Faber has to offer. We wish all participants well in their adventure.The Jayakwadi dam built on the Godavari river is located near Aurangabad city and is a key source of water for this arid region.

The official informed that a study in this regard was at an advanced stage at the Ujani dam while the Jayakwadi dam had been added later to the project. (Photo: Pixabay)

Mumbai: The Marathwada Statutory Development Corporation (MSDC), a state government body, has planned to install floating solar panels on the backwaters of two giant dams in the state to generate power. The dams in question Jayakwadi dam located in Aurangabad district of central Maharashtra and Ujani dam in Solapur district of western Maharashtra will be the solar power generation sites, informed an official on Tuesday.

The official informed that a study in this regard was at an advanced stage at the Ujani dam while the Jayakwadi dam had been added later to the project.

The Jayakwadi dam, like Ujani, has widespread backwaters, which can be used for installing floating solar panels for power generation. There is ample free space at the tail-end of the dam, which we are planning to use for solar panels, said Bhagwat Karad, chairman of MSDC.

The Jayakwadi dam built on the Godavari river is located near Aurangabad city and is a key source of water for this arid region.

The Ujani dam built on the Bhima river is located near Madha tehsil of Solapur district, and is the state's largest dam in terms of water storage capacity.

Mr Karad said, Ujani and Jayakwadi dams come under the corporations jurisdiction. We have decided to seriously pursue the concept and come up with practical plans for setting up solar panels.

A meeting with officials from the state water resources and electricity departments took place recently in Aurangabad to discuss the proposed project. We also held talks with some private companies which are willing to invest in this project and operate it, Mr Karad added.

Such projects would reduce the governments dependence on acquiring land, which is a long-drawn process, for setting up solar power plants, the official said.Hundreds of students will be starting school around the county this week, but in Ballinamore national school pupils will be moving into a newly renovated school building.



Intensive works have been ongoing at the old Meanscoil Fatima on the Carrick Road, Ballinamore over the Summer holidays to have it ready for the start of the new 2018-2019 school term.



It is understood doors of the renovated school will open next Monday as the finishing touches are finalised on the building.

The newly amalgamated Scoil Chlann Naofa merged Scoil Naomh Padraig and Scoil Brid Naofa. Previous to that there were three national school buildings, one for Junior and Senior Infants, one for the boys and one for the girls.

Principal Noel McKeon said, We are delighted to be under one roof, it will be great for the children. He said the old secondary school building has been transformed from a derelict building to a modern primary school. He said they have applied for CLAR funding for parking space also.



Parish Priest Fr Sean Mawn said they are all really pleased with the major renovations, which saw a new roof, rewiring, reconstruction works and decoration inside.



He told the paper they are now in negotiations with the Department of Education to move Ballinamore Childcare playschool and afterschool services into the now vacant St Patrick's Boys NS building. The infant school building may become a new pastoral centre for the town.

Also read: Leitrim to London cycle departs Ballinamore for cancer charitiesBallinamore woman Jane Gilheaney Barry's first novel Cailleach~Witch is set for release on Monday, September 17 and will be available to pre-order from Amazon from Monday, September 3.

Cailleach~Witch is a modern gothic, mystery novel, with a strong sense of atmosphere and place. It will appeal to fans of the Brontes, Daphne du Maurier, Alice Hoffman, and Kate Morton. It tells the story of the mysterious Cleary women. A family of Bean Feasa, wise women, witches, who live on the local mountain. Think 'Charmed' meets 'Practical Magic' but set in 60's to 90's Ireland.



Cailleach~Witch is a contemporary novel inspired by the landscape and ancient myths of Ireland, like that of the Cailleach, the spirit of winter. Jane has been working on Cailleach~Witch for five years while rearing a young family and building a successful lifestyle and creativity blog, That Curious Love of Green, with over 25,000 followers worldwide.

'I've always wanted to write a novel for as long as I can remember. I started writing with the blog, six years ago. That helped me create a regular writing habit and within a year I started writing Cailleach~Witch. I always knew I'd write a book about women, sisters, and a house. I'm over the moon to be launching my first book. I've dedicated it to my wonderful parents, John and Nora Gilheaney, said Jane.

"You have three dimensional characters, strong women who have flaws and imperfections."



'I think it's an excellent book. It's got a genuineness to it that resonates. You can feel the place and imagine it, and you have three dimensional characters, strong women who have flaws and imperfections. Readers who like a strong female protagonist and to feel connected to a more magical time will love this book.' - Sheryl Lee, Editor.

Cailleach~Witch will be available exclusively from Amazon, in paperback and as an eBook for kindle from September 3rd.

For more information you can follow Jane at That Curious Love of Green on facebook and/or sign up to her mailing list at www.thatcuriousloveofgreen.com For writing and creativity workshops, and press, email janebarry17@gmail.com For the second year running Jane will be hosting a writing workshop and taking part in an author panel at Ardagh Fright Fest, 27th - 31st of October. See Ardagh Fright Fest for booking details.



About the book - a little spooky, a little quirky, a whole lot of atmosphere and mystery...

Dara Cleary and her sisters are returning to their childhood home in the west of Ireland, where the aunts still live. Dara is seeking revenge for an incident that happened ten years earlier and was the reason for their leaving.

But when they arrive they find a far bigger story waiting for them.

They are Bean Feasa, witches, bound to the Cailleach, a paranormal landscape witch. Now is the time of reckoning, and Dara and her sisters must face formidable odds to complete their familys quest for freedom.

A beautifully lyrical and eerie tale, with touches of magic and an abiding sense of atmosphere and place.Jane Gilheaney Barry drives her cast of memorable women at lightning pace through the landscape and climate of Ireland's wild west.A CONFERENCE run in the spirit of sharing and learning from each other saw delegates from 110 universities and 30 organisations from around the world gather at the University of Limerick to discuss community empowerment for health.

The Network Towards Unity for Health conference at UL, led by the universitys Dr Khalifa Elmusharaf and Dr Anca Minescu, was a resounding success, according to its organisers.

The main outcome of the conference was a Limerick declaration on community empowerment, according to Dr Elmusharaf.

It declares that community empowerment goes beyond the traditional methods of listening, information sharing and consultation, Dr Elmush- araf said.

It involves a change in power relations and enabling people to have more control, and responsibility, for their own health.

This declaration is a call of action on educational institutes and organizations worldwide to lead the change process for community empowerment and social accountability, he added.

Delegates from a range of backgrounds gathered to discuss how to create opportunities for others within their communities, to become more informed by giving them the confidence, skills, resources, and power to shape and influence their own health.

The conference was run in the spirit of sharing and learning from each other, each others profession, according to Dr Anca Minescu, the assistant dean international at the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences.

This engagement resonates deeply with the ethos of the University of Limerick, where we prioritize being part of the city and region as well as working together with communities, she explained.

The conference saw delegates share their experiences through key- note speeches, interactive thematic sessions, mini- workshops and site visits and discussed how educational institutions could lead change.

UL Academic conference manager Deborah Tudge said her team was delighted to have worked with the Graduate Entry Medical School and Network Towards Unity for Health to host, organise and deliver a rich and diverse cultural experienceIRISH Water has extended the hosepipe ban across Limerick until the end of September.

The ban, which began in early July, aims to conserve water after a prolonged dry spell left the country in drought.

The ban on using a hose has been extended for a third month in a total of 16 counties, including Limerick. The ban will be lifted this weekend in Clare, due to increased rainfall further north of the country.

Irish Water said that it is appealing to customers to continue to save water, as raw supplies in rivers, lakes and groundwater remain lower than normal.

The conservation efforts that have been made in the last number of months are helping to restore the water supply, but further conservation is needed.

Irish Water is continuing to manage scarce resources in these areas with the local authorities and specialist contractors doing everything practical to reduce leaks, manage demands and maintain continuity of supply, said a spokesperson for Irish Water.

Emergency work on upgrading borehole pumping plants, introducing new boreholes in some areas and deploying temporary weirs at critical river intakes are helping to maximise water available in these southern counties.

This Monday, Irish Water appealed to Limerick customers to conserve water by taking these steps in the home.

It said that interruptions to the water service are to be expected in the coming weeks, as the water company works to bring new water supplies on stream.

And unprecedented ground conditions are causing ground shrinkage and leading to an increased frequency of pipe bursts, according to Irish Water.

Areas where water supplies are under pressure at this time include Hospital, Oola, Pallasgreen, Doon, Murroe and Knocklong in the eastern part of the county and Glin and Castlemahon in west Limerick.

We are also monitoring water levels in the Deel and the Feale which have been dropping. Areas supplied by these rivers and their tributaries include Newcastle West, Abbeyfeale and Askeaton.A LIMERICK native has been jailed in Boston after he doused his family home in petrol and set fire to the building, the day before he was due to hand over the keys as part of a divorce settlement.

Timothy Brosnan, originally from Mountcollins, has been jailed for at least four years after he pleaded guilty to starting the blaze at the house in Swampscott, Boston in 2016.

The fire caused 450,000 worth of damage to the home and sent a firefighter to the hospital with smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion.

According to The Irish Sun, the court heard that Mr Brosnan called a police-officer who arrived on the scene a buzzkill for not letting him watch the property burn.

A fireman also had to snatch a cigarette from his hand when he attempted to light it at the scene, the court heard.

In the process of arresting Timothy, he was laughing and making jokes, the police report stated.

He was staring into the house that was on fire and said Isnt this the most beautiful thing ever.

He would laugh out loud and say Yes, I did that.

At the time of the incident, the house, which Mr Brosnan was due to officially hand over to his former wife of 27 years the following day, was empty.

The court heard that Mr Brosnans former wife had requested that he be kept in custody, saying: It is the only way our two daughters and I can feel safe going forward.

Mr Brosnans lawyer described the fire as a single, out-of-character aberration, caused by his divorce, loss of family, alcohol abuse and untreated mental health issues.

Mr Brosnan was sentenced to four to five years in prison.Apr 27, 2021, 9 AM

Four individual Sparkling Holidays forever stamps will be issued Oct. 11 in a double-sided pane of 20.

This single-stamp Sparkling Holidays souvenir sheet will be issued along with a set of four forever stamps on Oct. 11.

By Michael Baadke

A souvenir sheet with a single stamp has been added to the Sparkling Holidays set planned by the United States Postal Service.

In an Aug. 28 press release, the Postal Service announced that along with the four stamps showing Santa Claus that were revealed last June, the set will include a single-stamp souvenir sheet with a scene showing Santa admiring a note addressed to him from a youngster named Jimmy. The note is held in place on the fireplace mantle by a full glass bottle of Coca-Cola.

The Coke bottle does not appear within the borders of the nondenominated (50) forever stamp, which features only Santas face from the scene.

The full scene by artist Haddon Sundblom (1899-1976) is one of many created for the Coca-Cola companys Christmas advertising from the 1930s into the 1960s.

The four forever stamps previously revealed are all derived from Haddons work, including another similarly cropped from the scene with Jimmys note to Santa.

Sundblom is the man credited with refining the modern image of Santa Claus, according to the Postal Service.

Describing the newly revealed souvenir sheet, the Postal Service wrote: A quatrefoil design element surrounded by a metallic gold background encloses the scene. The use of gold metallic ink, the flow of the type, and the organic shape of the border are intended to harken back to the graphic style of the first half of the 20th century. Art director Greg Breeding designed the souvenir sheet and the stamps.

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The stamps will be issued Oct. 11 with an 11:15 a.m. first-day ceremony at the Inn at Christmas Place, 119 Christmas Tree Lane, in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

The four stamps not in the souvenir sheet will be issued in a double-sided pane of 20, which the Postal Service describes as a booklet. The four stamps and the souvenir sheet will be available for preordering starting Sept. 14 at the USPS Postal Store.

The souvenir sheet will only be sold through usps.com or by calling 1-800-STAMP24, according to the Postal Service.The action was called politically motivated and an attempt to stifle voices of dissent.

The dog squad enters Gate no. 4 of Pune session's court, on Wednesday where three of the activists are likely to be produced. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: A day after the crackdown and arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence in January, the Pune police said that the accused had been under their surveillance for weeks before their arrest. The investigators stated that the accused were allegedly looking to recruit people for their alleged naxal activities and that it was part of a larger conspiracy to allegedly aid the naxal movement.

The Pune police issued a statement on Wednesday stating that there was a watertight case against all the arrested activists, and that the police took action only after they gathered all evidence of their allegedly anti-national activities.

We carried out searches at nine places and have seized laptops, SIM cards, pen drives and hard disks for scanning the data in them.

Several incriminating documents, including the minutes of the meeting held by them supporting our investigation, has also been seized, said Shirish Sardeshpande, deputy commissioner of police, Pune police.

Officials stated that this is part of a larger conspiracy to provide arms and other logistical support to the naxal movement in order to overthrow the government.

However, these claims have come under sharp criticism as there is no specific evidence, which has been shared by the police.

Urban maoist is a term coined by the RSS, what does it actually mean. People working for the displaced and adivasis are called naxals by the government. Pune police had seized letters following the first set of arrests in June. Why havent they submitted them before the court yet, said Susan Gonsalves, lawyer and wife of Vernon Gonsalves one of the five-arrested activist.

The civil society groups held a press conference on Wednesday to condemn what they called actions of reprisals against noted human rights activists and intellectuals. The action was called politically motivated and an attempt to stifle voices of dissent.The Vikings were a seafaring people from the late eighth to early 11th century who established a name for themselves as traders, explorers and warriors. They discovered the Americas long before Columbus and could be found as far east as the distant reaches of Russia.

While these people are often attributed as savages raiding the more civilized nations for treasure and women, the motives and culture of the Viking people are much more diverse. These raiders also facilitated many changes throughout the lands from economics to warfare.

The Viking Age

Many historians commonly associate the term "Viking" to the Scandinavian term vikingr, a word for "pirate." However, the term is meant to reference oversea expeditions, and was used as a verb by the Scandinavian people for when the men traditionally took time out of their summers to go "a Viking." While many would believe these expeditions entailed the raiding of monasteries and cities along the coast, many expeditions were actually with the goal of trade and enlisting as foreign mercenaries.

A group of Viking re-enactors charges the crowd at the Stotfold Steam Mill Country Fayre in England. Shutterstock.com) (Image credit: i4lcocl2

The Viking Age generally refers to the period from A.D. 800, a few years after the earliest recorded raid, until the 1050s, a few years before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, according to Angelo Forte, Richard D. Oram and Frederik Pedersen, authors of "Viking Empires" (Cambridge University Press, 2005). During this time, the reach of the Scandinavian people extended to all corners of northern Europe, and many other nations found Vikings raiding their coasts. The farthest reported records of Vikings were in Baghdad for the trading of goods like fur, tusks and seal fat.

A Viking raid on the monks of Lindisfarne, a small island located off the northeast coast of England, marked the start of the Viking migration from Scandinavia in 793. This location was a well-known abbey of learning, famous throughout the continent for the knowledgeable monks and its extensive library. During this raid, monks were killed, thrown into the sea or taken as slaves along with many treasures of the church, and the library itself razed. This single event set the stage for how Vikings would be perceived throughout the Viking Age: savage warriors with no respect for religion or appreciation for learning.

In the years that followed the initial raid, coastal villages, monasteries and even cities found themselves besieged by these sea-based foreign intruders. Due to the frequency of sea attacks, many developments were made in developing fortifications in the forms of walled-in harbors and sea-facing stone walls, defenses that proved to be quite effective at deterring raids.

The reason behind these attacks is a topic of debate among academics, though the reasons often stem from such things as the Christian persecution and forced baptism of pagans to reduced agricultural outputs in the Scandinavian region. Many more documented reasons might have prompted these people to leave their cold and harsh homes to seek out the means to survive elsewhere. Yet, despite how unforgiving their homeland may have been, most Vikings still returned to their homeland at the end of each season with treasure, slaves and goods to survive yet another winter.

The Viking ship

At the heart of the Viking culture lies the Viking ship. These extraordinary vessels  longships in particular  shaped the lives of the sea-faring Norse and changed the course of European history.

Honed for more than 10 centuries, the ship-building skills of the Norse led to a variety of vessels  from small fishing boats and big-bellied cargo vessels to the famous lightning-fast longships used for raiding. But no matter the size, most of the ships were designed to be narrow in shape with short drafts (vertical distance between waterline and bottom of ship), features that gave them high adaptability for use in the ocean and rivers.

The Vikings' ship-building craft reached a high point in the 7th century when they invented the keel, a structural beam that runs from the bow to the stern and sits lower than the main body of the ship. This feature increased speed and stability and prevented unwanted lateral movement, according to Yachting & Boating World. The keel, along with the addition of a large mast and sail, would ultimately allow the Norsemen to make long journeys across the North Atlantic. These vessels are now looked back upon as revolutionary in design and a technological miracle.

To begin the ship-building process, the Vikings would drive wedges into freshly-cut trees until the wood split along the grain. Up to 20 great oaks might be cut down for a ship. The wood was shaped and arranged so that the planks fit together perfectly in a clinker construction, overlapping like a fan. In clinker shipbuilding, the outside is started first, and then the frame is put inside it, according to the living history site Regia Anglorum. The ship was coated with a watertight mixture of tar-soaked animal hair, wool or moss and stabilized with iron rivets. The end result was an incredibly fast and flexible longship that nothing could catch.

The men rowed with a series of oars, supplemented with a large sail most likely made of wool. Rather than a rudder, the longships had a steerboard fastened to the right-hand side of the ship at the stern, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.

By the middle of the 9th century, the raids really picked up as word spread across the Norse region of Europe's removable wealth. Norse villages and communities came together to build ships with the intention of improving their lives through the business of raiding. In 842, Vikings ruthlessly attacked Nantes on the French coast, and because of their ability to maneuver up rivers, they went on to raid towns as far inland as Paris, Limoges, Orleans, Tours and Nimes, according to History.com.

The Vikings paid as much attention to art as to craft. The longships were usually adorned with carved dragon heads at the bow, which were believed to keep evil spirits away. The dragon head coupled with a large square, red-striped sail would come to be known as the signature of the Vikings. The sight would strike fear into the hearts of Europeans for three centuries.

A replica of a Viking ship sits at Pegwell Bay in Kent, England. Shutterstock) (Image credit: Alan Gordine

New World expeditions

The Vikings set up colonies on the west coast of Greenland during the 10th century. The Viking sagas tell of journeys they undertook from these Greenland colonies to the New World. They mention places named "Helluland" (widely believed to be Baffin Island), "Markland" (widely believed to be Labrador) and "Vinland" (a more mysterious location which some archaeologists believe could be Newfoundland).

At present the only confirmed Viking site in the New World is located at L'anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland. That site was excavated in the 1960s. Additionally there are three possible Viking sites that archaeologists have recently excavated in Canada. Two of the possible sites are located in Newfoundland while a third site is located on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic.

One possible Viking site is located at Point Rosee in southern Newfoundland; at the site, archaeologists found a possible bog iron roasting hearth beside a structure made with turf. Another possible Viking site is located at Sop's arm in Newfoundland and includes a series of "pitfalls" that would have been used to trap large animals such as caribou. These pitfalls are arranged in a straight line, and archaeologists believe that the Vikings could have driven the animals toward these pitfalls where the animals could have been trapped and killed. At the third possible Viking site, located at Nanook on Baffin Island, researchers found artifacts that may have been used in metal production and the remains of a structure that may have been built by the Vikings.

Viking myths

Many modern perceptions of Vikings found their origins through Catholic propaganda. Upon the sacking of multiple Christian facilities and the loss of countless relics and treasures, the Catholic ministry sought to dehumanize them. Until Queen Victoria's rule of Britain, the Vikings were still portrayed as a violent and barbaric people. During the 19th and 20th centuries, perceptions changed to the point where Vikings were glamorized as noble savages with horned helmets, a proud culture and a feared prowess in battle.

With regards to the more popular Viking myths created through these misperceptions, the following are proven to be clearly false according to historical record:

Vikings wore horned helmets Vikings traditionally went bareheaded or wore simple leather and metal-frame helmets with the occasional face guard. The idea behind horned helmets came about from the Viking revival during Victoria's reign. They were filthy and unkempt Archaeologists find evidence on a regular basis of combs, spoons and other grooming utensils that indicate the Viking people were very keen on maintaining personal hygiene.

While the living conditions in Scandinavian regions were certainly harsh and made a hard people, many Vikings suffered from the scarcity of resources and the people set up their homes over great distances with no real unified leadership. During the Viking Age, the Scandinavian people were able to make a stronger push to the outside worlds and create a reputation for themselves beyond simple barbarism. While some Vikings were driven with the lust for riches, many sought more peaceful economic relationships with the surrounding nations.

Indeed, as Forte et al wrote, there was no dramatic end to the Viking Age. The authors contend that the Scandinavian kingdoms were slowly acculturated and integrated into the "wider body politic of European Christendom."

Additional reporting by Traci Pedersen, Live Science contributor.Fossilized fly pupae are about as exciting to look at as a handful of dingy, stale Rice Krispies. But despite their humdrum appearance, fossil pupae can hold fascinating secrets inside; in some cases, they preserve deadly examples of insect parasitism.

Scientists recently investigated hundreds of fossil pupae  the inactive life stage between larva and adult  dating to the Paleogene period (about 65 million to 23 million years ago). They found unexpected stowaways inside: four new wasp species.

The wasps reproduced by parasitism, with females laying their eggs inside the bodies of pupating flies. Then, as the wasp larvae grew, they used the flies as a convenient, all-you-can-eat buffet. In most cases, the flies were entirely consumed, and the wasps died and became fossilized while still inside the flies' chrysalis shells. [The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites]

The researchers discovered the wasps by peering into pupae with X-ray scans, then reconstructing what they found inside with 3D computer modeling. They named the most common wasp Xenomorphia resurrecta  the first part of its name alludes to the terrifying, parasitic Xenomorph in the "Alien" sci-fi movies, while the second part of its name refers to the extinct species' "resurrection" through digital imaging, the scientists reported in a new study.

Many species of parasitic wasps are around today, targeting caterpillars, fly maggots, spiders and ladybugs as living meals for their ravenous young. One enterprising wasp species  named Euderus set, after the Egyptian god of evil and chaos  chooses targets that are in its own family, parasitizing other species of parasitic wasps.

But fossil evidence of parasitism in ancient wasps is exceptionally rare. Previously, the only example came from a single mineralized fly pupa from a site in Quercy, a region in southwestern France, dating to about 40 million to 30 million years ago, the researchers wrote.

Mineralized fly pupae held parasitic wasps inside them for more than 30 million years. (Image credit: Georg Oleschinski )

For the new study, the scientists examined 1,510 pupae, also from the Quercy site in France. They found 55 pupae that showed signs of being parasitized, and 52 pupae preserved the bodies of adult wasps. It's possible that the tough exoskeleton of adults was more resistant to decay than the softer tissues of their earlier developmental stages; this could explain why adult wasps were more abundant in the fossils, according to the study.

In addition to X. resurrecta, the scientists found more wasp species inside the fly pupae: Xenomorphia handschini, Coptera anka and Palaeortona quercyensis. Digital reconstruction of the fossilized wasps' delicate bodies pointed to subtle differences that defined the wasps as different species, and even hinted at the ecological niches they may have filled; the head and body shapes of C. anka and P. quercyensis suggested that they would have been better adapted to life on the ground than their Xenomorph-named cousins, the study authors reported.

The findings were published online today (Aug. 28) in the journal Nature Communications.

Original article on Live Science.Wildfires burn millions of acres every year, leaving death and destruction in their wake. While natural causes (and climate change) play a part, nearly all wildfires are caused by people. Also, the number of wildfires has increased in recent years, and they are burning longer.

Definition

The National Park Service uses several terms to describe fires.

A wildland fire is the overarching term describing any non-structure fire that occurs in vegetation and natural fuels. (Non-structure fires involve residential, commercial or industrial buildings.)

is the overarching term describing any non-structure fire that occurs in vegetation and natural fuels. (Non-structure fires involve residential, commercial or industrial buildings.) A prescribed fire is a planned fire intentionally set by park managers to meet management objectives.

is a planned fire intentionally set by park managers to meet management objectives. A wildfire is an unplanned fire sparked by natural causes, by human ignition or by an escaped prescribed fire.

U.S. wildfire losses during the past 10 years have totaled $5.1 billion, according to Verisk Analytics, a data-analytics provider that serves the insurance industry. About 4.5 million U.S. homes are at high or extreme risk of wildfires.

Size

In California, the Mendocino Complex Fire has become the state's largest wildfire in modern history, according to the Los Angeles Times. As of late August, the fire had burned 283,800 acres (115,000 hectares). It has also destroyed around 170 homes and other structures. Four out of California's five largest wildfires have occurred since 2012. [Related: Photos Show Horrifying Scenes from California Wildfires]

The biggest wildfire in history, however, occurred in Russia in 2003. The Siberian Taiga Fires burned 47 million acres (over 19 million hectares), according to World Atlas. The second largest wildfire was in Canada, in 2014. The Northwest Territories Fires ended up charring 8.4 million acres (over 3.3 million hectares).

Causes

Wildfires are on the rise, according to a 2006 study published in the journal Science. The authors compared the frequency and duration of fires between two periods. Between 1986 and 2003, wildfires occurred nearly four times as often, lasted about five times as long and burned more than six times the land area, compared with the period between 1970 and 1986. The change in frequency was "strongly" associated with regional spring and summer temperatures.

Discussions about the causes of wildfires often focus on whether land-use management practices or climate change is the primary cause. The authors of the Science study investigated 34 years of western U.S. wildfire history together with data on the hydroclimatic factors (how water affected the areas) to determine where the largest increases in wildfires have occurred and to evaluate how recent climatic trends may have been important causal factors.

They concluded that while land-use history and climate are often portrayed as competing factors, actually they may be complementary explanations in some cases. Past land uses  including allowing the accumulation of biomass  have probably made some forests more sensitive to changes in climate because more fuel is available. "Hence, an increased incidence of large, high severity fires may be due to a combination of extreme droughts and overabundant fuels in some forests," the authors wrote.

Over the long haul, though, climate may still be the primary driver of wildfire risks, they wrote. On a decadal scale, the amount of moisture shapes the character of the vegetation (allowing species that are more resistant to drought to thrive, for example, but making them less resistant to climate variability). On shorter time scales, climate variability affects the flammability of live and dead vegetation.

The human factor

While drought, heat and wind create the perfect conditions for a wildfire, most fires don't happen spontaneously. Lightning is a common natural igniter. In 2017, lightning set off nearly 8,000 wildfires, which burned 5.2 million acres (2.1 million hectares) in the United States, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

Most blazes are caused by humans, not lightning, though. According to the NIFC, there were 63,546 human-caused wildfires in 2017. About 4.8 million acres (1.9 million hectares) were burned.

There are many ways these fires start. For example:

A glass bottle thrown on the side of the road magnifies a ray of sunlight, igniting grass around it.

Kids playing with matches inadvertently start a fire.

A campfire is not properly extinguished and spreads.

Sparks from a train ignite grass around the tracks.

A controlled burn gets out of control.

Fireworks set a nearby tree on fire.

A cigarette isn't put out and catches a patch of dry grass on fire.

(Image credit: Posonskyi Andrey Shutterstock.com)

Fighting wildfires

Firefighters use an array of strategies to contain wildfires. One of the simpler strategies is using a "flapper." A flapper is a metal pole fitted with a flap of rubber on the end. A firefighter will use it to beat out small patches of fire (called hotspots) around the edges of the main fire to prevent it from spreading. Other members of the "hand crew" will clear out a line of brush to halt the spread of the fire. Hand-crew members often work 12-hour shifts. Sometimes tractors and bulldozers will be brought in to help the hand crew get rid of the area's vegetation faster.

Another tactic is to bring in water trucks and spray down the grass and trees in the predicted direction the fire will take. The wetter the area, the less likely it will be to catch fire. Sometimes the perimeter and roof of a home are thoroughly wetted to save it from an oncoming fire.

Large fires are combatted with planes or helicopters that scoop water from nearby lakes or other bodies of water using massive buckets (some hold up to 3,000 gallons, or 11,356 liters) attached to their undersides to dump on the fire from the air. Others have built-in tanks that are filled with water and flame-retardant chemicals to dump on the fire. Attacking fires from the air is called aerial firefighting.

When the fire can't be reached by vehicles, "smokejumpers" will be brought in. There were around 270 smokejumpers in the U.S. in 2017, according to Fire and Aviation Management. These firefighters parachute out of planes into the wildfire. Firefighting tools, food and water are dropped by parachute nearby  enough equipment to make them self-sufficient for 48 hours. The smokejumpers fight the fire using chainsaws and other tools to cut down vegetation that may be potential fuel for the fire.

Prevention

Fighting fires is not only dangerous, but very expensive. In 2014, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior spent $200 million more than the agencies budgeted to put out that year's fires.

Many of the world's wildfires can be prevented by human intervention. Firefighters and forestry services, for example, often start controlled burns to clear overgrown brush and forest areas so that if a wildfire does occur, it won't get out of hand.

Civilians can help to prevent forest fires in these ways:

Throw away trash, particularly glass items, in designated containers.

Never leave a fire unattended.

Don't throw cigarettes or other burning materials like matches out of a car window.

Don't start fires like barbecues, campfires or trash burns in windy weather or during fire bans.

Shoot off fireworks only in permitted areas.

Always have water and a shovel nearby when starting fires to put them out quickly if they get out of hand.

Additional resourcesShed skin belonging to an enormous python led experts in Poland on a lengthy pursuit of an elusive, non-native snake.

For nearly two months, a slippery fugitive has evaded capture in the Polish countryside. Nicknamed Bertha, she followed a serpentine path to escape her seekers' best efforts.

You might say that she slithered right through her would-be captors' hands.

Bertha is a rogue Indian python (Python molurus molurus), though few of those looking for her have actually seen her. Animal Rescue Poland (ARP) received reports on July 7 of shed snakeskin found near the Vistula River south of Warsaw that measured nearly 7 feet (2 meters). When ARP investigated the high grass closer to the river, they found a second piece of molted skin measuring about 16 feet (5 m), suggesting that the snake could be as long as 20 feet (6 m) from nose to tail tip, according to an ARP blog post. [Photos: Giant Pythons Invade Everglades]

ARP identified the snake as an Indian python  a species that is not native to Poland  describing it as an adult female that may have been released into the wild by an irresponsible breeder, ARP representatives wrote on Facebook. Having just molted, the snake was likely to be hungry and aggressive, and people should avoid walking or sleeping near the river while the snake search is underway, ARP warned.

On July 10, ARP shared a photo on Facebook showing a sinuous snake track in the mud, hinting at Bertha's passage, though the snake herself remained at large.

Since then, the ongoing quest for the elusive snake has captured the attention of people across Poland. Teams of experts combing the riverbanks include herpetologists, drone-deploying fire-brigade cadets, police officers and a drug-sniffing dog with the unlikely name of Cocaine, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday (Aug. 28).

A team of 80 people using four boats and four drones has been probing the area, capturing more than 2,000 photos that biologists are analyzing for clues about Bertha's whereabouts, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The length of Bertha's shed skin hinted that her body could measure 20 feet (6 m) long. (Image credit: Animal Rescue Poland)

Police also investigated a photo taken from a hang glider, showing two men putting a large snake in a car, according to the WSJ. But the car  and the snake  belonged to a photographer who specialized in erotic images of snake-wrapped women, and the missing Bertha was not among the snakes that officials found in the man's home, the WSJ reported.

Indian pythons feed on rodents and other mammals, typically ambushing and biting their prey, squeezing it until it suffocates, and then swallowing it whole.

It's possible that Bertha is already far away from the places where authorities are still searching, Radoslaw Ratajszczak, biologist and director of the Wrocaw Zoo in Poland, told the NZ Herald. Indian pythons are strong swimmers, and if Bertha dove into the river and rode the current, she could have traveled as far as 62 miles (100 kilometers), Ratajszczak said.

But even if Bertha manages to shake her many pursuers, her days roaming free in the Polish wilderness may be numbered, as she is unlikely to survive the cooler fall temperatures, Ratajszczak said.

Original article on Live Science.Opioids are the most effective pain-relieving drugs, but they are highly addictive. Researchers have found a promising alternative that worked well for nonhuman primates.

With the opioid epidemic raging across America, many scientists are in search of an alternative painkilling drug  one that could be used in place of opioids, without the deadly side effects.

Now, a team of researchers in the U.S. and Japan say they've developed a promising new synthetic drug that could be as effective as opioids in relieving pain but without posing the risk of addiction. In a new study, the drug, called AT-121, successfully relieved pain in rhesus monkeys without resulting in harmful side effects or causing the monkeys to become addicted. Still, more research is needed before the drug could be evaluated in humans.

"I think this is pretty interesting," said Dr. Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology and a physician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the study. "The results are really clear-cut, but there are a few things that still need to be done before it can ultimately go forward," he said.

Although the number of opioids prescribed in the U.S. has decreased since its peak in 2010, the levels remain high. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that there were more than 42,000 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016, up from 33,000 deaths in 2015, Live Science previously reported. [America's Opioid-Use Epidemic: 5 Startling Facts]

"It's a huge problem. I don't think anyone disagrees about that," Roth told Live Science.

AT-121 is considered a bifunctional drug, according to the study, which means it targets and prohibits the function of two specific opioid receptors in the brain that inhibit the sensation of pain: the mu-opioid peptide (MOP) receptor and the nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide (NOP) receptor. Similar drugs have been studied in experiments with mice, and although those medicines effectively relieved pain, they were found to be addictive and therefore were not viable alternatives to existing opioid painkillers.

"This is the first [painkiller drug] demonstrated in a nonhuman [primate] model to have such a promising profile," co-senior study author Mei-Chuan Ko, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, told Live Science.

The team tested the drug in 15 adult male and female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Through a series of experiments, the researchers determined that monkeys given AT-121 didn't feel pain and didn't experience the typical side effects associated with similar drugs.

"The pain relief that was observed in the [animal experiments] was similar to that of morphine, yet the dose of AT-121 that was used was 100-fold lower than that of morphine," said co-senior study author Nurulain Zaveri, the president and chief scientific officer at Astraea Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company involved with the study.

Not only did the drug relieve pain, but the monkeys also didn't become dependent on it. When the monkeys were given the ability to self-administer AT-121, by pressing a button, they repeatedly chose not to do so. This suggests that AT-121 doesn't produce a rewarding or reinforcing effect that would lead to addiction, at least in this short-term experiment.

The fact that the drug was studied in a primate model, rather than in a mouse model as is done in many similar studies, means that the effects of the drug are likely much closer to what scientists would expect to see in humans, Roth said. And the monkeys didn't experience any changes in respiratory health while taking AT-121, which suggests that an overdose would be unlikely to cause the harmful or fatal respiratory effects associated with an opioid overdose. "That would be a significant advance if that [result] is transferable to humans," Roth added.

One of the limitations of the study was that it didn't look at what's called "off-target activity," Roth said. This refers to interactions of the drug with other parts of the brain or areas outside the brain. "It's very important to find out  does [AT-121] interact with any other receptors or ion channels or transporters in the body?" Roth said. Such interactions could determine the potential for side effects outside of the ones examined in this study.

The scientists plan to continue their research by carrying out the safety and toxicology studies that are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before proceeding with human clinical trials. "We want to move as fast as possible, because our results are exciting," Zaveri told Live Science. The scientists are also researching other compounds that have a similar profile as AT-121, she added.

"If we can really come up with these new types of compounds, they can potentially reduce a lot of medical burden," Ko said. "I perceive this will have huge impact in our society and global community."

"This is one of several of these types of studies that have been published recently that suggest there may be hope for creating safe medications for treating pain," Roth said. "It gives me hope for the field that we may be turning a corner."

The researchers published their study today (Aug. 28) in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Original article on Live Science.BEIJING -Chinese officials are scrambling to stop a deadly African swine fever outbreak that could decimate the country's pig population.

Since early August, the virus has spread to four provinces about 745 miles apart. The budding epidemic could endanger the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of hog farmers and jeopardize China's enormous pork industry. There are about 700 million pigs in China, half the world's pig population. Pork is the country's primary protein source.

If China cannot quickly contain the virus, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned that it could jump to the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, creating a continent-wide crisis.

"It may be very, very difficult to control this epidemic in China," said Young S. Lyoo, a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Konkuk University. "And once it spreads to Asian countries, we could have big social chaos and instability."

African swine fever has no impact on humans. But it is extremely deadly in pigs - the most virulent strands of the virus kill nearly 100 percent of infected hogs. There is no vaccine or treatment, and the virus is tough to eradicate. The hardy virus can survive for several weeks in cold or warm weather, living in pork products, in slaughterhouses and on the back of trucks used to transport swine.

Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer of the U.N. agency, which is based in Rome, cautioned against panic, saying it was "too early to tell" how widely the virus had spread and what the impact would be. But he also urged Asia to "prepare for an incursion."

China's first African swine fever cases appeared in Liaoning province in early August. In the following weeks, officials said the disease had spread to three other provinces. In response, Chinese authorities have fanned out across the country. So far, they have culled an estimated 24,000 animals, according to the U.N. agency.

Local animal health officials have been tasked with communicating information about the disease with the country's pig farmers. The government has offered a subsidy of $117 for every pig infected by the virus.

But reaching hundreds of thousands of industry professionals is a major challenge. China's pig farms run the gamut from massive industrial processing plants to small family enterprises. Additionally, Chinese farmers do not have any experience with African swine fever, Lyoo said. So they may not notice troubling signs right away.

African swine fever has been endemic in Africa for a century. More recently, there have been outbreaks in Europe and South America. Russia has battled the epidemic for a decade, losing nearly a million pigs to the virus. Experts say the strain making its way around China is similar to the one found in Russia, Georgia and Estonia, according to the U.N. agency.

Already, pig prices have started to fall, especially in China's northeast.

"I think there is panic in the market, especially among the pig breeders as to when the outbreak can be stabilized," said Zhu Zengyong, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

But he said consumers are not likely to feel much of a pinch, at least for now. "The impact will be much smaller for consumers," he said. "Humans won't be infected with swine fever, while pork is still safe to eat as long as it is sterilized at a high temperature."

- - -

The Washington Post's Amber Wang contributed to this report.Arrested accused have connection with J&K separatists, say cops; Trying to recruit students.

Police also accused them of having connections with separatist elements in Jammu Kashmir.

Pune: The Pune police demanded 14 days of police custody for three of the five activists who were produced in court on Wednesday. Police also accused them of having connections with separatist elements in Jammu Kashmir.

But sessions court judge, K. D. Wadane, who heard the case, said that they should be taken back to their houses, as the Supreme Court has ordered their house arrest.

On Wednesday, three activists, P. Varavara Rao (Hyderabad), Arun Ferreira (Mumbai) and Vernon Gonsalves were produced in court. The trio was brought to Pune after taking a transit remand from local courts of their respective cities. However, the other two activists, Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bharadwaj, were kept under house arrest as per the high court order of their respective states.

Public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar told the court that all five of the activists were members of the banned Maoist party and the police need a remand for 14 days to establish their roles in carrying out the activities of the banned party.

She accused Farreira and Gonsalves of recruiting youth for the Maoists movement by engaging with students unions. They are trying to recruit students from Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. As per letters received by police, more students from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who are called professional revolutionaries, are going to join the movement, she said.

Rahul Deshmukh, who appeared for the activists Rao and Vernon, said that there was not sufficient proof of why the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was invoked as Supreme Court has said that mere membership of banned party is not enough for invoking UAPA. Farreira, who appeared for himself also opposed police custody, saying cops have all their electronic devices and they dont need activists.

Sequence of events

December

Dalit and Bahujan groups celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregoan battle, with the Elgar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada, near Pune on December 31.

January

Maratha groups reportedly opposed the celebrations. The clash between both turned violent. One person died and several others were injured in the violence. The CM ordered a probe into the incident, which was allegedly orchestrated by Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and followers of Sambhaji Bhide.

March

The Maharashtra government gave Bhide a clean chit while Ekbote was arrested for his alleged involvement in the violence and was granted

June

In June, during a joint operation by the Delhi and Maharshtra police, advocate Surendra Gadling, professor Shoma Sen and activists Mahesh Raut (Nagpur), Sudhir Dhawale (Mumbai) and Rona Wilson (Delhi) were arrested and charged under sections of the UAPA.

August

In another major crackdown, five activists, a lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Pereira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested.Maryland students made modest progress on the state's standardized tests for grades three through eight but lost ground on high school exams, according to data released Tuesday.

Overall, students continued to show a statewide passing rate below 50 percent during the 2017-2018 school year.

Nearly 42 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in English language arts on elementary and middle school exams in Maryland, and 34 percent reached that mark in math. Both numbers improved by about a percentage point compared with those from a year earlier.

"Our schools and our teachers and our administrators are making some important efforts to improve performance all across the state, but we recognize we have more work to do," said Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon.

Salmon and others noted that scores for black and Hispanic students were up in a number of areas, but achievement gaps remained largely unchanged, with white and Asian students continuing to fare significantly better.

The mixed picture extended to the Washington, D.C., suburbs, where officials in Maryland's Prince George's and Montgomery counties saw gains on English tests for students in elementary and middle schools but also saw scores dip in English 10 and Algebra 1.

The decline on the two high school exams appeared to be related to a spike in the number of test takers, according to state officials. Thousands of students statewide retook the tests in 2018 amid a new requirement for high school graduation.

Across Maryland, English 10 scores dropped by nearly seven points, with 42 percent passing, and Algebra 1 showed a five-point dip, to 31 percent.

Derek Turner, spokesman for the Montgomery County school system, said the district regarded the new state data as only one measure of student progress. Educators also pay close attention to the district assessments and classroom work.

"One test doesn't define a student's college or career readiness," he said.

In Montgomery, scores were better than the state average at almost every grade. English scores ranged from 48 to 54 percent in elementary and middle school.

Math scores were mostly lower than those in English - and wide-ranging. More than 90 percent passed the exam in geometry, while less than 5 percent did so in Math 8. In Montgomery, Math 8 is taken by students who struggle the most, Turner said.

He said the district's internal analysis of three years of data found English scores climbed more than five points and math scores nearly 11 points in elementary grades.

In Prince George's County, interim chief executive Monica Goldson noted strides in English and echoed the sentiment that the scores are "one of many sets of indicators" of student achievement.

A district analysis showed that 28 percent of students in third through fifth grades met English benchmarks, as did 31 percent of middle school students. Both numbers were up about two points compared with last year's.

Officials cited particular progress among English language learners in elementary grades.

In math, results were flat. About 20 percent of students were proficient in the subject in elementary grades and 13 percent in middle school.

"We will continue to focus on supporting teachers and students, while engaging parents to prepare children for success after high school," Goldson said in a statement.

Results were released at a meeting Tuesday of the Maryland State Board of Education, where several members voiced concern about lagging scores among children of color.

"We just have to do better than this," member Jean Halle said.

Board member Vermelle Greene said change is needed. "What we really need to do - and we're not going to be able to do it today or this year or whatever - but we have to break the mold," she said. "We can't keep doing the same thing the same way because it's not helping our children, our black and brown children especially."

Maryland's standardized tests - known as PARCC exams, for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers - are scored on a 5-point scale. Scores of 4 or 5 show students have met or exceeded expectations.

The tests were first given in 2015, as Maryland moved to Common Core state standards, which were designed to set a high bar for what students should learn in states across the nation.RICHMOND, Va. - An advisory board appointed by the governor has recommended that the state rescind permits for two natural gas pipeline projects, putting its members at odds with Gov. Ralph Northam, D, who maintains the regulatory process is working as it should.

The 15-member Advisory Council on Environmental Justice on Tuesday formally urged Northam to direct state agencies to suspend water and air quality permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, separate projects being built through mountainous and rural parts of the state.

Raising questions about the impact on health and the environment from the pipelines, the council said the governor should appoint an emergency task force "to ensure that predominately poor, indigenous, brown and/or black communities do not bear an unequal burden of environmental pollutants and life-altering disruptions."

The board, created last October by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D, has no authority over the process but is charged with providing "independent advice and recommendations to the Executive Branch" on matters of environmental justice, according to Executive Order 73, which established it.

Its members include faculty from several state universities, a representative of state Indian tribes and people from several environmental and social justice groups, such as the Virginia Poverty Law Center, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The council has met in recent weeks with the community of Union Hill in Buckingham County, an historic African-American area that is the planned site of a compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

That project will carry natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia through the central part of Virginia and into North Carolina. It's being built by a consortium of companies led by Dominion Energy.

The Union Hill compressor station faces a key state air quality permit hearing on Sept. 11, and the advisory council recommended that Northam suspend that process to give it deeper review.

A spokesman for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline said Dominion has gone to great lengths to accomodate the concerns of Union Hill residents. "We strongly disagree with the Advisory Council's recommendations," Aaron Ruby said via email.

Northam casts himself as an environmentalist, but has drawn criticism from other Democrats for failing to oppose the pipeline projects. He has countered that he is satisfied that state agencies are conducting a thorough review of the controversial projects.

The governor "was instrumental in the advisory council's formation precisely because he values [its] feedback," Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said via email. "The Governor and his staff will review the letter carefully and respond to the Council."

Work on both pipelines is currently suspended in Virginia after federal judges found that federal agencies had issued several permits without adequate scrutiny.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 300-mile project being built by a coalition of companies led by EQT Midstream Partners of Pittsburgh, is farther along because it had secured erosion and sediment control permits from the state. Those permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are still under review.

Last week, the state Water Control Board debated suspending permits for both pipelines and subjecting them to a more detailed analysis of each place where the projects cross a stream or river, but ultimately pulled back in a 3 to 4 vote. Instead, the board urged state regulators to apply the strictest oversight possible.The profanities flew in the classroom, and so did the hat.

Something about President Donald Trump's slogan incensed a California high school student on Monday. She yelled at a classmate in English class who was wearing a hat emblazoned with "Make America Great Again" and threw it to the ground, authorities said.

The teacher banished her from the class at Union Mine High School in El Dorado.

But she returned and snatched the hat a second time, and she slapped the teacher's arm away when he tried to keep her from the other student, authorities said. She appears to curse in cellphone video filmed by a student and published by local media.

The student was arrested on campus by a school resource officer and taken to a juvenile detention center, the El Dorado Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Authorities did not release her name, but CBS Sacramento identified the student as Jo-Anne Butler, a 17-year-old senior. She defended her actions in an interview with the station.

"That's a racist and hateful symbol," Butler, who has been suspended from her school for a week and faces potential battery charges, told CBS Sacramento about the hat. "Maybe just wake people up in some type of way, because it's not cool the environment our classroom is in."

Her father, Chris Butler, told the station that he did not approve of the disruption or the alleged actions of his daughter.

"But," he said, "as far as the issue being brought up, maybe this is something that needs to be brought up." The Washington Post could not reach him for further comment.

The El Dorado County district attorney's office said they only take action in cases with minors if they are referred by the county probation department. That agency can resolve allegations through means beyond prosecution, like anger management or substance abuse programs, assistant district attorney Joe Alexander told The Post.

His office has not received information about the incident from the department, he said.

The El Dorado Union High School District said in a statement that student and safety is their "highest priority" and that it is cooperating with authorities.

The red MAGA hats, and variations that come in all colors, have become political symbols and stand-ins for the praise and criticism of Trump. That has led to tensions and high-profile incidents across the country, and often on campus.

Some MAGA hat-clad white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a Unite the Right rally last August; counterprotester Heather Heyer was killed in violence surrounding that rally. About a week later, high school students wearing similar hats created a disruption on the campus of Washington's Howard University, a historically black school.

And in September, a Georgia teacher sent home two students wearing "Make America Great Again" T-shirts, mistakenly believing that political slogans were banned from the school. The school district later apologized and said the teacher "inappropriately" gave her political opinion in class.Celebrity chef Matthew Kenney is lauded worldwide for his accomplishments in the vegan food scene. The plant-based food entrepreneur operates 24 restaurants in cities worldwide, from New York City to Al Janabiyah, Bahrain. Hes the author of 13 cookbooks, the developer of online plant-based cooking courses all over the world and the recipient of two James Beard Award nominations.

But Kenney is no stranger to financial trouble -- hes faced liens and lawsuits in a host of states, including New York, California, Florida, Oklahoma and Maine.

Now, it seems that Kenneys financial and legal troubles extend to his inner circle. His former colleague Adam Zucker -- now CEO of PlantLab, a collection of culinary schools around the world formerly owned by Kenney -- is missing. No one from the company knows where he is or when hell be back, though no reports of a missing person have been filed under that name in 2018, according to the New York Police Department. The most pressing matter: Zucker controls the companys finances with complete autonomy and, it seems, no oversight whatsoever.

On Wednesday morning, PlantLabs admissions team sent an email to customers alerting them to Zuckers absence -- and the cancellation of their upcoming courses, some of which cost up to $6,000.

It is our regret to inform you that all courses at all locations are canceled until further notice, the company stated in the email, which was reviewed by Entrepreneur. The entire team of PlantLab has been unable to contact the CEO, Adam Zucker, since Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 at 11:15 a.m. PST. Adam Zucker is the sole owner of PlantLab and the only person solely responsible for all finances and location payments. Due to these factors, we are unable to continue holding classes.

One student-to-be in New York, who asked to remain anonymous, paid upwards of $4,500 for upcoming courses in Barcelona and Bali. Im disappointed to find out this way, and I hope that I can get my money back, she said.

Calls and emails on Wednesday to PlantLab and Zucker himself went unanswered. In Zuckers case, his mobile voicemail was full and could not accept new messages.

In an interview with Entrepreneur, Kenney said he licensed his intellectual property to Zucker via PlantLab more than a year ago. We have zero involvement, he said of the company. I have no clue where he is.

Matthew Kenney Cuisine said in a statement to Entrepreneur that the company had not been involved with the academy since its sale other than through a licensing agreement that PlantLab has now defaulted on. We are also facing losses due to PlantLabs issues and are exploring all of our options at this time, the company said. When we have a full understanding of the situation, we will take appropriate action. However, at this time, we have even less knowledge about this situation than the students whose classes are being cancelled and others who are affected by this.

On Wednesday, PlantLabs website showed no mention of the companys turmoil, but clicking sign up for a Kenney-branded online course resulted in a 404 error -- page not found. The companys social media accounts made no mention of Zuckers disappearance at time of writing.

This isnt the first time culinary students connected to one of Kenneys current or former businesses have been caught in the crossfire of financial and legal troubles.

In June 2017, Kenney sold assets of Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy -- part of his wide-ranging plant-based empire -- to his former COO and interim CEO, Zucker, who then transferred the culinary schools into a new company with a new name: PlantLab. During the sudden transition, students who had pre-paid up to $5,500 in tuition were notified that their upcoming course had been canceled. It affected about 30 students who were all refunded eventually, Kenney said in an interview with Entrepreneur.

About six months earlier, the future outlook for Kenney and his business was a little different.

In December 2016, a since-deleted Forbes article -- now only available on Matthew Kenneys website -- ran with the headline: Meet the Man Building a Billion-Dollar Plant-Based Empire. In the article, Zucker and Kenney claimed the brands restaurant and hospitality businesses would generate $15 million in revenue over the next 12 months, and Kenney said he expected to bring in $100 million in revenue by 2021. At that point, his culinary academy had graduated close to 6,000 students, Kenney told Entrepreneur.

Post-transition to Zucker, PlantLab scrubbed Kenneys name from the website except for a list of online cooking courses developed by the celebrity chef. In fact, in the leadership team section of the new companys website, only one individual is listed: CEO Adam Zucker. Even there, hes shrouded in mystery with only one phrase serving as a bio: From: New York.

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Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedOn Tuesday, the Pune cops had raided the homes of left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday defended the arrest of five left-wing activists in Tuesdays multi-state raids, stating that the action was based on proof about their links with the Naxal movement.

Minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar clarified, All procedures were followed before conducting the raids against the activists.

It is due to their links with the Naxal movement that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action. We have followed procedure before conducting raids against these Naxal activists, said Mr Kesarkar.

The Pune police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them - poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

The raids were conducted as part of the probe into the Elgar Parishad event held in Pune on December 31 last year which allegedly triggered violence between the dalits and upper caste groups at Bhima-Koregaon.

Mr Kesarkar said, The Naxals are fighting a war against India. It is not wrong to be left-wing but it is wrong to be a left-wing extremist.

Professor Saibaba from Delhi university arrested in 2014 for alleged links with Maoists is a classic example of intellectuals misusing their brains against the country. The Naxal movement is banned in the country and nobody should sympathise with it.

Mr Kesarkar said, We have also arrested right-wing leader, Milind Ekbote, for his alleged links to the violence at Bhima-Koregaon. We should not be criticised for targeting left-wing people alone.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is trying to reach an understanding with Moscow before a deadline for imposing sweeping new sanctions against Russia for allegedly poisoning a former Russian spy in Britain, said diplomats familiar with the efforts.

The outreach reflects a desire by President Donald Trump to open up a constructive dialogue with Moscow and break the cycle of tit-for-tat sanctions that the Kremlin has decried as ruinous to bilateral relations.

The prospect for rapprochement between the two adversaries remains slim as U.S. lawmakers demand strict enforcement of existing sanctions laws and deliberate a new package of even more punitive measures against Russia, limiting the Trump administration's maneuverability.

Pompeo's effort to find a way forward with Russia is supported by major European allies with economic ties to the United States and Russia, such as Germany and Italy, but has rattled some post-Soviet bloc countries wary of engagement with Moscow.

Under a 1991 law on the use of chemical weapons, the Trump administration is required to punish Russia if it doesn't take steps to account for the March attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter involving the nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury, England.

The first round of U.S. sanctions for the poisonings came into effect on Monday with a ban on the export of security-sensitive goods and technology.

The second round of more punishing sanctions, which are required to come into effect by November, could include banning flights to the United States by Russian airlines, downgrading or suspending diplomatic relations, and prohibiting U.S. bank loans to the Russian government.

Moscow denies responsibility for the poisoning and has vowed to retaliate against the sanctions by imposing its own.

To find a way forward on the sanctions dispute, Pompeo asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an Aug. 10 phone call to meet before the United States takes action, said U.S. and European diplomats. Pompeo underscored that he was asking for the meeting at the direction of the president of the United States. The diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive diplomatic discussions.

Lavrov agreed to meet Pompeo and requested that the two sides also discuss three other topics of interest to Moscow: arms control; the establishment of a business council to promote trade between the two countries; and an exchange of Russian and American scholars and think-tank fellows. Those initiatives have been longtime goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two men agreed, and said they would decide on a date after a meeting between national security adviser John Bolton and his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in Geneva last week.

A diplomat familiar with the planning said it was unclear if the Pompeo-Lavrov meeting would happen in Washington or in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in late September. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Tuesday that it was "quite probable" the two would meet at the U.N. event, according to Russian news agencies.

In a statement to The Washington Post, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "The secretary proposed a meeting to address issues that are important to our bilateral relationship." She stressed that no "off ramp" was discussed related to the pending Skripal sanctions.

Other U.S. officials, including Bolton, have also said the sanctions will remain in force until Russia changes its behavior.

But Trump has hinted that a deal with Moscow on sanctions relief could be possible if the Kremlin offers the U.S. concessions on Syria or Ukraine.

"I would consider it if they do something that would be good for us. But I wouldn't consider it without that," Trump told Reuters last week.

At the moment, the Trump administration is squeezed between the president's desire to foster a better relationship with Russia and a push in Congress to pile on additional sanctions in the hopes of deterring future Russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections.

The clashing of agendas has confused and irritated the Kremlin, analysts say.

"The Trump administration currently has a two-sided Russia policy: imposing even more punitive sanctions on Moscow at the direction of Congress and then reaching out for dialogue at the direction of President Trump," said Angela Stent, a Russia expert and former official in the George W. Bush administration.

"The Russians look at this and think everything is unpredictable. And they think that since Helsinki, they can't rely on things improving because the sanctions keep coming," she said, referring to Trump's summit with Putin last month.

On Monday, the Russian Embassy in Washington condemned the new Skripal sanctions and U.S. politicians for their "unhealthy craving for demolishing the fundamental basis of bilateral relations, on which rests the global security."

"Decisions are made with zero attempts to look into things, while ignoring our calls for dialogue, in absence of any real proof of 'Russia's guilt,'" the embassy said in a statement.

How Pompeo might come to terms with Lavrov over the sanctions decision remains unclear.

Under the law, the United States is required to impose new sanctions on Russia unless the president can certify in less than 90 days that Russia is no longer using chemical weapons, has provided assurances that it won't engage in such activities in the future and will allow on-site inspections by international observers to ensure that it is not engaging in such activities.

Russia is unlikely to comply with all three items given that it denies the very basis of Washington's allegations. "Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom nor any other country has such a single shred of evidence to support such assertions since the Salisbury incident," the Russian foreign ministry said immediately after Pompeo's call with Lavrov.

A diplomat familiar with the call said Lavrov repeatedly told Pompeo that the United States had been misled by Britain about the perpetrators of the attack and risked looking foolish.

If Russia refuses to account for the Skripal poisoning by November, the law requires the president to select three sanctions measures from a list of six spelled out in the bill.

Some of the moves the Trump administration could take against Russia are fairly benign, said Newell Highsmith, a former legal adviser at the State Department on nonproliferation issues. "The administration could just pick a few exports or imports to restrict," he said.

But other options, such as suspending the Russian airline Aeroflot's ability to fly to the United States, could prompt a strong reaction. Russia could halt export of RD-180 rocket engines, which the United States uses to launch government satellites. Moscow could also retaliate by charging U.S. airlines more to cross Russian airspace en route to Asia.

Trump could also waive the sanctions altogether, but he would need to certify that doing so is essential to U.S. national security and notify Congress 15 days before the waiver takes effect.

Diplomats said the wide discretion the Trump administration has in choosing the severity of the sanctions gives Pompeo room to negotiate, but he will eventually have to answer to Congress.

"If the Russians concede nothing in these discussions, the Hill is going to clamor for a tough second round of sanctions," said a GOP Senate aide.

- - -

The Washington Post's Anton Troianovski contributed to this report.WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump and Andrew Gillum, the surprise Democratic winner of Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary, exchanged barbs on Wednesday morning, underscoring the role the president is expected to play in a marquee race this fall.

In a morning tweet, Trump attacked Gillum as a "failed Socialist Mayor" and called him the "biggest dream" for Rep. Ron DeSantis, a Republican whose victory in Tuesday's GOP primary was propelled by Trump's endorsement over a more moderate opponent.

Trump alleged that Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, "has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city," adding: "This is not what Florida wants or needs!"

Gillum has embraced liberal policies, such as a "Medicare-for-all" health-care system, but he has not identified as a socialist. Overall crime was down in Tallahassee, Florida, last year but the city saw a spike in homicides.

Trump's tweet followed closely on the heels of a national television appearance by Gillum, in which he said he does not fear Trump's expected heavy involvement in the general election - and called for Trump's impeachment.

"Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are both scraping from the bottom of the barrel," Gillum said on CNN. "I actually believe that Florida and its rich diversity are going to be looking for a governor that's going to bring us together, not divide us, not misogynist, not racists, not bigots."

"They're going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state, who's going to talk about what it means to build a Florida that makes room for all of us and not just some of us," Gillum continued. "DeSantis can do the bidding of big business and big lobbyists and Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric. I'm going to be here to do the business of the people of the state of Florida."

During the interview, Gillum also said he "absolutely" believes Trump should be impeached.

"He's already incriminated himself by interfering with the Department of Justice," Gillum said.

During the interview, Gillum also downplayed an ongoing FBI investigation into possible corruption at Tallahassee City Hall that has not implicated him.

"Should there be individuals who did anything inappropriately, what we've said is they ought to be held fully accountable," Gillum said.

Gillum, who was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, became the second African American gubernatorial nominee in the South this year. Democrat Stacey Abrams won the party's nomination in Georgia in May.

After Trump's tweet posted on Wednesday, Gillum responded to him on Twitter, writing: "What our state and country needs is decency, hope, and leadership."

During a morning television interview, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said DeSantis had fully embraced Trump's endorsement.

"He took that endorsement from the president, and he wore it very proudly," she said on Fox News.

---

The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan and David Weigel contributed to this report.It may be advisable for the Government of India to tell foreign diplomats not to go too deep into Indias polity, society and economy.

It happened two years ago as well. The French consulate in Kolkata and its cultural wing, Alliance Francaise, had actively participated in the Durga Puja festivities in south Kolkata. In 2018, it appears to be the turn of the Chinese embassy. Earlier this month, it was announced that the Consulate-General of the Peoples Republic of China in Kolkata will for the first time be associated with a (Durga) puja organiser to promote the India-China relationship. It was also clarified further that a Chinese structure would be replicated at the pandal and Chinese artistes will perform dance, songs, and martial arts at Salt Lake, the sprawling upscale residential-cum-commercial hub of northeast Kolkata. There will also be a spread of Chinese cuisines for the peckish, the Chinese consul-general declared at a press conference, flanked by members of puja organising committee, to enhance China-India friendship and to build mutual trust.

That all sounds extremely positive, and certainly music to the ears of many, particularly to the much-maligned Nehruvians of the Hindi-Chini bhai bhai era of the 1950s. But the words mutual trust need to be explored carefully today. Things are certainly not as simple as they are often made out to be. In reality, a barrage of questions need to be answered. All the more because pre-1947 Bengal and post-independence West Bengal has been a laboratory for political experimentation by many interest groups, ranging from the British to the Muslim League to the Congress Party to Hindu leader-led Communists of various shapes, sizes and strengths. Moreover, being geographically adjacent to three nations  (Muslim) Bangladesh, (Buddhist) Bhutan and (Hindu-majority) Nepal  and a stones throw away from (Buddhist) Tibet and (atheist) China, even in the best of times, one simply cant take things easy in Bengal.

Lets try to see the bigger picture first. China outwardly has a Communist state structure but its psyche is outright capitalist, focused only on its economic self-interest, and seeking profits, pursuing commerce, creating employment for its people and exploring the market for the export of its goods, hankering after the Himalayas inexhaustible water resources and pushing for access to the Bay of Bengal (the Arabian Sea has already been accessed through Pakistan). Theres nothing wrong with any of that, so long as it is recognised for what it is. Now, in Bengal, it is hoping to use Durga Puja and Kali Puja (Diwali in North India) to ease its access to the consumer market of millions of Indians.

But Durga Puja is a Hindu socio-religious festival and Communist China is, officially at least, anti-religion! That too has a history, and one needs to look back to the 34-year-long Marxist rule in West Bengal, that ended only in 2011. And then go back to the predecessors of the Hindu Bengali Marxists  the Hindu Bengali Maoists! Remember the havoc they had wrought in West Bengal  destroying culture, education, the social fabric, polity, economy and industry. And their utter failure to stop illegal migration!

Have we forgotten it was the Communist China of Mao Zedong which had destroyed West Bengal through their strategy indirect approach? In which Hindu Bengali Naxalite leaders played the leading role as foot soldiers of Beijing in West Bengal? Who benefited from the destruction of industrial West Bengal and the crippling of the entire fabric thereof, beginning in 1967? Do we realise that whereas West Bengal, once seen as the Ruhr of India, is a thing of the past, it is Chinas industrial goods that are now exploring, and hankering after, new markets?

So one can only wonder at Chinas sudden love for Durga Puja in West Bengal. This is the same China that in its own backyard has declared a virtual war on the Tibetan Buddhists, the Muslims of Xinjiang and hinterland Christians over their religious beliefs, rites and rituals. Media reports have claimed that Beijings tough stand on religion and believers are already creating some internal turbulence. Have the Chinese decided to go soft on Hindus and Indians? Or have they got hold of the weakness of Hindu Bengalis and found the potential profitable knob of commerce and cash through food, festival, fun, fiesta and frolic of feisty times?

It may be advisable for the Government of India to tell foreign diplomats not to go too deep into Indias polity, society and economy. Of late too much activity has been seen by certain foreign diplomats across Indias interior. If this is not checked swiftly, such unrestricted diplomatic activity is bound to be counter-productive in the near future.

Since most Indians go ga-ga over foreigners, unlike the Chinese, we must realise that foreigners are here only to further their own national interest and not that of Indias. China considers itself as a benign superpower. If so, one must remember that no superpower thinks of anything except its own interests. West Bengal has a tradition of self-destruction. Should we forget that?

Just a few decades back, West Bengal had almost got destroyed between the late 1960s and 1970s. Do we recall the names of Nisith Bhattacharji, Kanu Sanyal, Souren Bose, Shyamal Ghosh, Sadhan Sarkar or Charu Majumdar? All of them had come under the influence of the Chinese Communists and their chairman, Mao Zedong, and who almost set West Bengal on fire after the 1962 Sino-Indian war? Just go back to a classic, Maoist Spring Thunder (published 2007), written by a brilliant West Bengal IPS officer, A.P. Mukherjee. In which Charu Majumdar stated: In 1968 the Chinese Embassy in Nepal sent a sum of Rs 10,000 in Nepalese currency. This came through Dipak Biswas, who personally approached the Chinese embassy in Nepal. The Chinese saga in India continued when subsequently Souren Bose and Dipak Biswas visited the Chinese embassy in Nepal and apprised it of the revolutionary conditions in India.

Our countrymen and women need to be extremely watchful, and not get taken in by the dragons charm offensive. What has China failed to do via chaos, confrontation and civil war-type situations in the Northeast and in West Bengal five decades ago will be tried in future through cash, commerce, consumer goods, culture and now Durga Puja!

Beijings hope is to sow internal dissension and doubts and to create a powerful Chinese lobby deep within India. The gravity of the Chinese involvement deep inside India was narrated by Naxalite leader Souren Bose, who met Zhou Enlai in Beijing on October 29, 1972 to brief the Chinese leadership on the Indian revolution. New Delhi must ensure we dont go down that path once again and that Beijings representatives in this country remain within their proper boundaries.A man caught in a summer prostitution sting in Houston is connected to a local church and Lone Star College.

Arnold Eledge, 77, was among 69 suspects arrested on sex trade charges for the months of June and July 2018, according to the Houston Police Department. He is charged with soliciting prostitution.

According to documents filed with the state, Eledge, is the former secretary and director at Helmers Street Baptist Church. A request for comment was left with the church.

SPEAKING OUT: McConaughey appears in ad with AG Ken Paxton to fight human trafficking

Eledge is listed on Lone Star College website as an adjunct math professor at the North Harris facility. A representative at the college confirmed he has classes in the 2018 fall semester. An official statement from his supervisor is expected.

The sting, conducted by the Houston Police Department Vice Division from June 1 through July 30, 2018, brought in 68 other men who were either charged with compelling prostitution or soliciting prostitution.

In a press release, HPD Vice Division Captain James Dale stated, "We hope by publishing these suspects' photos we will raise awareness of the issue that is human trafficking and put the community on notice that we will no longer tolerate these crimes in our neighborhoods."

Daniela Sternitzky- Di Napoli is a digital producer covering Texas news and pop culture. | Daniela.DiNapoli@chron.com | @Dani_DiNapoliThe U.S. Senate has confirmed former Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau as the new U.S. marshal for the San Antonio-based Western District of Texas.

The unanimous consent voice vote of the lawmakers late Tuesday made Pamerleau the first woman to run the Marshals Service in the local district, according to its website, which lists the 32 previous marshals since the district was created 173 years ago.

Pamerleau, 72, replaces a now-retired interim marshal who filled the post after the last politically appointed marshal, Robert Almonte, stepped down in 2016.

I am really honored to serve my nation in this new role, Pamerleau said Wednesday. It really continues a legacy of service I got from my parents, serving in the military, the residents of Bexar County and now on the federal level with the Department of Justice.

President Donald Trump announced her nomination in May. She begins her new role in mid-September after Trump signs her commission, Pamerleau said.

She plans no immediate changes to the office and said that over the course of her career, shes learned to observe an organization first to see if any are needed. She recognized the deputy marshals and civilian staff for their great team effort in the operation of the office.

In a statement, Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia said: The judges of the Western District of Texas are grateful to the U.S. Senate in confirming a marshal for our district. Marshal-designee Pamerleau is most fortunate to inherit a fine marshals service and management team already in place.

The Marshals Service, an arm of the Justice Department, is the countrys oldest federal law enforcement agency. Its duties include judicial and courthouse security, fugitive apprehensions and asset forfeiture. The Western District of Texas was formed in 1845 and is one of the busiest in the country. Besides San Antonio, it includes Austin, Waco, Del Rio, Alpine, Midland/Odessa, Pecos and El Paso. In terms of land mass, it is the second largest of the 94 judicial districts in the country.

Pamerleau raised her public persona in Bexar County after defeating then-Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz, a Democrat, in the 2012 election to win the law enforcement seat. She was the first woman to be elected to serve as Bexar County sheriff.

After a top-to-bottom review of the office, she implemented policies to modernize the office and ran it more like a corporation, making improvements that included digital record-keeping, vests for jail guards that could withstand stabbings, and improved communications within the jail, according to newspaper reports.

But her policies and practices riled some of the rank and file. In spring 2016, the Bexar County Sheriffs Association called for a vote of no confidence. Of the 1,600 deputies in the sheriffs office, 219 voted no confidence. And in the November election that year, Pamerleau narrowly lost to current Sheriff Javier Salazar, another Democrat.

Pamerleau served 32 years in the Air Force and retired in 2000 as the director of Personnel Force Management at the Air Forces headquarters at the Pentagon. From 2001 to 2007, Pamerleau served as vice president and senior vice president for USAA. Pamerleau currently serves on the board of directors for Government Personnel Mutual Life Insurance Company and on the boards of several nonprofit agencies in the area.

Pamerleau holds a masters degree in public administration from Golden Gate University, a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of Wyoming and is a graduate of the FBIs National Executive Institute.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal court and immigration news in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedlandThe two candidates vying for the 21st Congressional District seat sparred about the economy, regulation and immigration in their first debate Wednesday.

Democrat Joseph Kopser, an Army combat veteran and entrepreneur, and Republican Chip Roy, a longtime staffer for several Texas politicians, are looking to replace U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, who is retiring after serving 16 terms in the district that includes parts of San Antonio, Austin and the Hill Country.

Kopser touted his military and business history and positioned himself as a centrist problem-solver.

I see a new problem and that is our government, our politics are so divided, Kopser said. But I promise you, just as I crossed the oceans and crossed deserts in service to this country, I can cross the aisle when needed.

Roy pitched his candidacy as a bid to rein in the federal government so Texas could find solutions that work for itself, instead of what he said was a one-size-fits-all solution from Washington, D.C.

Let Texas be Texas. Let California be California, Roy said. Let us decide how to live and then watch the country reunite again and prosper again.

On the heels of President Donald Trumps announcement that he had reached a preliminary deal with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, both candidates agreed the 24-year-old pact has been vital for the Texas economy. Kopser said Trump was creating uncertainty in the business community by upending NAFTA.

I want to fix and improve NAFTA, not throw it out, he said.

Roy argued the president is just doing his job by negotiating, but he said he preferred a trilateral agreement with both Mexico and Canada. Trump has said he could impose tariffs on Canada if the countries cant agree to terms.

This is going to come through Congress, and its going to be up to Congress to exercise, importantly, its Article I function to check the president, he said.

The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce hosted the debate at the Pearl Studio; board chair Shaun Kennedy was the moderator.

A second debate is scheduled for October in Austin.

Dylan McGuinness covers county government and local politics for the Express-News. Reach him at dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net and follow him on Twitter at @DylMcGuinness.A photo of accused killer and viral rapper Tay-K posing in his Tarrant County jail cell was posted to social media on Tuesday, weeks after officials said the teen was caught by guards with a cell phone.

In the photo, Tay-K, whose real name is Taymor McIntyre, is shown laying on the jail cell floor next to a toilet, pointing air guns at the camera while decked out in his jail garb: a Gumby green jumpsuit and neon orange slippers.

McIntyre is accused in two killings, including one in San Antonio.

"Live From the Gates of Hell #freeme," the jail cell picture is captioned. It's unclear who posted the photo and when it was taken.

RELATED: Rapper Tay-K was triggerman in slaying of 23-year-old in San Antonio, wrongful death suit says

The penal portrait was posted the same day the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that McIntyre, 18, was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of possession of a prohibited item in a correctional facility for allegedly having a cell phone in jail.

Guards discovered the phone in July during a pat down when deputies were preparing to move the teen rapper to a maximum security center after he got into a fight with another inmate, authorities said.

A Tarrant County sheriff's official told the Star-Telegram deputies found the phone stuffed in a sock in McIntyre's underwear. McIntyre then tried to toss the phone in a toilet, and a scuffle with a guard followed, the official said.

The indictment adds a new charge to the list of McIntyre's alleged crimes. He also faces two murder charges related to the shootings of Ethan Walker in Mansfield, Texas, and Mark Saldivar in San Antonio.

RELATED: Tay-K 47, who rapped about life on the lam, charged in fatal shooting at San Antonio Chick-fil-A

Saldivar's mother, Lucia, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against McIntyre, in which she claims he was the triggerman. The suit claims more than $1 million in damages.

He also faces an aggravated robbery charge for allegedly assaulting and robbing a 65-year-old man in Arlington, Texas, according to the Star-Telegram.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdownsLight is an important cue for orientation used by many animals and also influences their diurnal rhythms.

Warning lights such as these lure migrating bats precisely towards the danger which the lights help people to avoid. (Photo: ANI)

While focusing on conventional forms of pollution, we tend to pay less attention to the night time light pollution and how that affects nature. Turns out, this kind of pollution affects bats during their seasonal migration.

In the latest study, scientists tested the response of European bats to red and white light sources during their seasonal migration and according to the research, Soprano pipistrelles and Nathusius' pipistrelles (types of bats) were recorded more frequently near red LED light, indicating that the animals might be attracted to red light during their migration. In contrast, the scientists did not observe such behaviour near-white LED lights.

The wavelength of the experimental red LED lights was similar to that of red safety lights used for indicating the presence of wind turbines or tall buildings to aircraft pilots.

Warning lights such as these lure migrating bats precisely towards the danger which the lights help people to avoid, leading to bat collisions and casualties. Scientists suggest that deploying on-demand lighting, which only turns on if an aeroplane approaches, would most likely reduce the problem.

Each year, light pollution increases by around six per cent worldwide. In particular, energy efficient and cheap LEDs are used more and more. Light is an important cue for orientation used by many animals and also influences their diurnal rhythms and behaviour. It is well established that bats are sensitive to light while hunting at night.

During late summer, thousands of bats migrate along the coastline of the Baltic Sea in Latvia, through Pape Nature Reserve. Nights are starlit and largely devoid of light pollution as there are only a few human settlements in the area. Here, the scientists installed an eight-meter-high pole near the shoreline. A plastic board fixed to the pole was lit-up in 10-minute intervals alternating with darkness.

The LED lights illuminating the board switched between red or white LED light. By using ultrasonic microphones the scientists recorded the echolocation calls of bats coming close in order to identify both the species and the number of bats passing by the unlit or lit experimental site.

Soprano pipistrelles and Nathusius' pipistrelles were recorded more frequently at the experimental site during the red light phase than during darkness.

Oliver Lindecke, co-author of the study explained, "Bats are at a higher collision risk at wind power stations during their autumn migration. Our study indicates that the use of red light signals could have fatal consequences for them as this appears to attract them to operating wind turbines"

Oliver also suggested that existing light signals could easily be replaced by bat-friendly alternatives or context-dependent illumination could be deployed which is only activated if planes or helicopters are approaching a wind power plant.

Exactly why bats are attracted to red light sources is unclear. According to the researchers, bats have excellent eyesight and can even detect wavelengths invisible to us. Some red light sources might potentially blind and disorient them. "Many bat species already struggle in our current anthropogenic landscapes characterised by intensive agriculture and high densities of wind turbines. Light pollution is likely to increase pressure on them even further," explained Christian Voigt, one of the researchers.

The full findings are present in the journal- Ecology and Evolution.

(Source)I am very upset at the horrific news that came out of the Pennsylvania grand-jury report, and at the recent sexual assaults in other parishes. And all the pope could say was that he felt shame and sorrow, penance and prayer, shame and repentance, at the atrocities committed by Catholic priests.

How about the pope excommunicating and defrocking all those priests, dead or alive. After all, they committed a very serious crime. And, if the pope does not take drastic action, and not just utter mere words, then, he is also just as guilty as those perverted priests. (One allegation is that the pope knew of a specific cardinals transgressions and didnt act).

Catholics should stop giving money to the church until the pope takes serious steps to punish those priests, and any other priests, bishops, etc., from other states, who are all involved in this heinous crime against innocent children.

I graduated from St. Augustine High School in 1965. I received a bachelors degree in American history and a masters degree in the same field from St. Marys University in San Antonio. I also received a second masters degree in school administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

For my masters degree in American history, I wrote a thesis on Father Carmelo A. Tranchese, a Jesuit priest who was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Antonios Mexican-American community during the 1930s through the 1950s. My thesis was based on his personal papers and oral interviews I conducted with some of the parishioners who remembered him with fondest memories.

The eminent journalist George Sessions Perry wrote an expository essay about Father Tranchese in the Saturday Evening Post on Aug. 21, 1948, titled, Rumpled Angel of the Slums. If Father Tranchese were alive today, he would be totally shocked at the way the church has covered up for all these degenerate priests and the hierarchy for committing a most despicable crime all these years.

There is no doubt in peoples mind that this is a dark chapter in the history of the Catholic Church. But the pope needs to punish those sick perpetrators who are still alive, and that includes the bishops and higher-ups who covered up. Moreover, the pope needs to take immediate action and cleanse the church of these rotten priests, bishops, etc., and more important, he needs to restore our faith in the Catholic Church once again.

In my senior years, my Catholic faith has never left me and I still pray every day, but my trust in the Catholic Church is zero.

The pope is asking for forgiveness? His pedophile priests and him by association  for looking the other way  committed a crime, not a sin!

J. Gilberto Quezada is an author, writer, historian, poet, and a retired public school educator with 31 years experience.Next weekend promises to be a very special one for Granard and the whole county with the revival of the historic and much loved Granard Harp Festival.

The Festival programme, running from Friday evening to Sunday, has something for everyone and includes concerts, workshops, talks, a walking tour of the town and a family day.

The official opening of the Festival will take place on Friday evening, August 31 at 7pm in Granard Community Library, originally the Market House, home to the very first harp festival which was held in in the 1780s.

The opening will be attended by some of the original Trustees of the Harp Festival and the evening will move to the beautiful surroundings of St Patricks Church at 8pm for a concert showcasing the traditional music talent in the county, and of course the beautiful sound of the harp.

It will also include a special performance of the poem Our Town, written by local poet Noel Monahan and presented by Sr Maeve Brady and members of the community in Granard. Booking for this event is essential, so contact Granard Library on (043) 6686164 where tickets can be purchased for 5.

Meanwhile, there is a full programme of activities planned for Saturday.

There will be workshops in the harp by Kim Fleming; the fiddle by Conor Ward and Sean Nos singing by Fionnuala Reilly Maxwell, running from 10am to 1pm.

All events are free but it is important to remember that workshops must be pre-booked! Jimmy Donoghue, local historian and one of the leading members of the Harp Festival in the 1980s will lead a walking tour of the town at 10:30 on Saturday morning which will include a visit to the Granard Country Market at the Buttermarket.

On Saturday afternoon, there will be a busking competition for children and young people with two categories: 8-13 and 14-18 years - already there is lots of interest in this!

Registration for the competition is essential so please contact Granard Library by phone or call into the branch for more details.

Later that day two very interesting talks will take place.

At 2:30 pm, Brendan Fagan will speak on John Dungan - the Granard Harp Festivals first patron.

The talk is entitled John Dungan: A Man of Wealth and Taste and promises to be a very interesting event indeed.

Meanwhile, distinguished local poet Noel Monahan will speak on William Carleton and the Granard connection: a poets view of Longfords literary past at 4 pm.

The days proceedings will conclude with a concert hosted by the John Dungan branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in the library at 7pm where a host of talented musicians from the three branches of Comhaltas in the county will entertain the masses in the Market House.

On Sunday, Fr Simon Cadam PP will celebrate 11:30am Mass in St Marys Church as part of the Festival. To round-off the weekends activities, there will be an open air concert and family day at the Motte Visitors Centre from 3-5pm, and again everyone is welcome to come along and join in the fun.

The Motte Centre will be officially opened on the weekend of September 9 with the exciting Knights and Conquests Exhibition.

Speaking to the Leader Jimmy Donoghue who has been associated with many harp festivals said how delighted Granard is to have the Harp Festival taking place once again this year after a break of a number of years.

He also warmly welcomed everyone to Granard for the weekend.

It is a very important cultural festival for Granard and Longford and it is being revived now under the auspices of Creative Ireland, the national programme for the promotion of culture, creativity and heritage, he added, before pointing to the fact that it was, and is, a very important event for the town.

Mary Carleton Reynolds, Longford County Coordinator for Creative Ireland paid tribute to the great community spirit there is in Granard and the wealth of talented traditional musicians and harpers in the County.

She also paid special tribute to the John Dungan branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and the Edgeworthstown and Longford branch of Comhaltas who are the hosts for the Granard Harp Festival.

Granard is rightly claiming back one of its unique cultural festivals and the town will be the place to be for all traditional music lovers for the weekend, she concluded.

To book workshop places, register for the busking competition or obtain further information on the Festival, please ring 043-6686164, call into Granard Library or e-mail creativeireland@longfordcoco.ie.Local News, Crime, Press Releases, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: August 29 2018

Settlement Requires Nonprofit to Pay $200,000 Penalty, Conduct a Comprehensive Risk Assessment, and Review Its Policies and Procedures.

New York, NY - August 29, 2018 - Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood today announced a settlement with The Arc of Erie County, a Buffalo-based nonprofit that provides services to people with developmental disabilities and their families, after finding that the company exposed clients sensitive personal information on the internet for years. The settlement requires The Arc of Erie County to conduct a thorough risk analysis of security risks and vulnerabilities of all electronic equipment and data systems, review its policies and procedures, and pay a $200,000 penalty.

The Arc of Erie Countys work serves our most vulnerable New Yorkers  and that comes with the responsibility to protect them and their sensitive personal information, said Attorney General Underwood. This settlement should provide a model to all charities in protecting their communities personal information online.

The Arc of Erie County, formerly known as Heritage Centers, is a chapter of The Arc New York  a national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual developmental disabilities. The company maintains a principal business address in Buffalo, and serves clients throughout the Western New York area.

In early February 2018, The Arc of Erie County received a tip from the public that its clients personal information was exposed on its website  including full names, social security numbers, gender, race, primary diagnosis codes, IQs, insurance information, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and ages.

In a subsequent report, a forensic investigator found that the information was publically available on the internet from July 2015 to February 2018 and affected 3,751 clients residing in New York. The report confirmed that, upon searching the internet with any search engine, a results page would include links to spreadsheets with clients sensitive information. The open webpage was intended only for internal use and was supposed to be protected by a log-in requirement. The report also found that unknown individuals outside the country accessed the links with the sensitive information on many occasions. There was no evidence of malware or other malicious software on the system or any ongoing communications with outside IP addresses.

On or about March 9, 2018, The Arc of Erie County formally notified affected clients in New York that the organization had inadvertently disclosed their sensitive information. It also provided the aggrieved clients with a free one-year subscription to LifeLock to protect themselves from identity theft. The organization also posted a link to information regarding the breach on its website and a notice in the Buffalo News on March 14, 2018.

Pursuant to the federal Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HIPAA), The Arc of Erie County is required to safeguard patients protected health information, including social security numbers, and utilize appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.

The settlement requires The Arc of Erie County to implement a Corrective Action Plan that includes a thorough risk analysis of security risks and vulnerabilities of all electronic equipment and data systems and submit a report of those findings to the Attorney Generals Office within 180 days of the settlement. The organization must also review and revise its policies and procedures based on the results of the assessment and notify the Attorney Generals Office of any action it takes. If no action is taken, the company must provide a written detailed explanation of why no action is necessary. Finally, the organization will pay a $200,000 penalty to the State.Local News, Crime, Health & Wellness, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: August 29 2018

Defendant Sentenced to 1  to 3 Years in State Prison

Queens, NY - August 29, 2018 - Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood today announced the sentencing of Alex Adderly, also known as Uruhu Adderley, 45 of Manhattan, for defrauding Medicaid by soliciting and bribing Medicaid recipients in order to persuade them to undergo a battery of unnecessary and improperly administered medical tests at a Queens clinic. Adderly was sentenced today in Queens County Criminal Court before Judge Suzanne Melendez to 1  to 3 years in state prison.

My office will continue to hold individuals accountable who exploit the state Medicaid program for their own personal gain, said Attorney General Underwood. Disregarding the wellbeing of our most vulnerable New Yorkers will not be tolerated.

Following complaints, undercover agents observed Adderly recruiting Medicaid recipients outside of a soup kitchen in Manhattan on multiple dates in 2016 and 2017. On each occasion, Adderly approached the undercover agents and offered them cash if they underwent a physical and had active health insurance coverage through Medicaid. On each date, the undercover agents observed Adderly recruit over a dozen other patients in the same manner.

Adderly arranged for each recruited patient to be transported from Manhattan to a purported medical clinic in Queens. Adderly told each recruited patient that in order to receive the promised cash bribe, they must report certain specified ailments to the clinic staff regardless of the truth of those statements. Upon entering the clinic, each patient was given a form with a list of tests they were required to complete before receiving the promised cash bribe. These tests, including alleged cardiologic and neurologic tests, were identical for each patient and bore no relationship to the medical history or needs of each individual patient. Upon completing the tests, Adderly paid each patient in cash. Notably, none of the patients were scheduled for follow-up appointments and none of the undercover agents were contacted regarding the results of their tests.

Adderly caused over $10,000 in fraudulent claims for reimbursement to be billed to Medicaid through patients visits to the purported Queens clinic.

On August 14th, 2018, Adderly pleaded guilty before the Honorable Toko Serita in Queens County Criminal Court to Health Care Fraud in the Fourth Degree, Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, and Prohibited Practices for Persons Acting in Concert with a Medical Assistance Provider, all class E felonies.

If you suspect exploitation of Medicaid beneficiaries, call the Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at 800-771-7755 or file a complaint online

Throughout the investigation, the Attorney Generals Office worked closely with various city and federal agencies. The Attorney General would like to thank the New York City Human Resources Administration and the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The investigation was conducted by Investigator David Ryan and Supervising Investigator Michael Cassado, with the assistance of Deputy Chief Investigator Kenneth Morgan. Senior Auditor Investigator Kizzy-Ann Waldropt conducted the financial analysis, with the assistance of Regional Chief Auditor Thomasina Smith. Medical Analyst Wynsum Thompson provided expertise on the various medical tests allegedly performed at the clinic.Local News, Crime, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: August 29 2018

A man attempting to deliver Chinese food was approached by two male blacks who began assaulting him in North Valley Stream, officials say.

North Valley Stream, NY - August 29, 2018 - Major Case Bureau detectives from the Robbery Squad report the details of an incident that occurred on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 9:35 pm in Major Case Bureau detectives from the Robbery Squad report the details of an incident that occurred on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 9:35 pm in North Valley Stream

According to detectives, while attempting to deliver Chinese food from the Taste of China Kitchen to a Warner Road residence, the 45 year old male was approached by two male blacks who began assaulting him. After obtaining an undetermined amount of money as well as his cell phone, the subjects then entered the victims 2016 Toyota Rav4 and were last seen traveling eastbound on Dutch Broadway.

The victim, who suffered minor injuries, further described the subjects as being 16-20 years old, 58 to 6 tall with slight builds.

Detectives request anyone with information regarding this incident to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.An unidentified plane bombed a forested area on the border killing eight Taliban. The strike follows a clash that left two Tajiks dead. Both Russia and Tajikistan have denied any involvement. Although clashes are rate on the Afghan-Tajik border, the security situation has worsened with dozens of checkpoints attacked and a dozen police officers killed over the past month

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The Tajik-Afghan border had become a battleground. An unknown aircraft, possibly Russian or Tajik, carried out an air strike in Afghanistans Darqad District, Takbar Province, killing eight Taliban and wounding another six, Afghan officials said.

This follows an incident on Sunday in which at least two Tajik border guards were allegedly killed by the Taliban trying to smuggle drugs into Tajikistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, confirmed the attack, saying that an aircraft bombed a forested area used by smugglers who had clashed with Tajik forest guards. However, both Russia and Tajikistan have denied any military involvement in Afghanistan.

We do not have the right to bomb the territory of another state. If such necessity arises, the staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation will be convened at first to consider an air strike, Tajikistans National Security Committee said in a statement.

On the other hand, Tajik authorities noted that a car carrying three Tajik citizens was attacked and two killed.

Unlike the Afghan-Pakistan border, clashes have been rare along Afghanistan's 1,400-kilometer border with Tajikistan. However, security in some Afghan border provinces has deteriorated over the past few months and regular clashes have broken out between Afghan security forces and militant groups, including the Taliban.

The Taliban have carried out dozens of attacks against check posts in recent weeks in the concerned province. Earlier this month reports indicated that the Taliban had killed at least 12 border police officers in an attack on a border town in the Dasht-e-Qala District, Takhar Province.

This is not happening in a vacuum. In recent months, Islamic extremists have become more active in the region. Likewise, after its defeat in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State group appears to be regrouping in Central Asia.For years, the culture ministers of the three countries meet to promote cooperation. Each year, each country chooses their own East Asian Culture City. For South Koreas Culture Minister, working together allows the three to melt the last piece of ice of the Cold War left on the Korean Peninsula and open a new way toward contributing to peace and coexistence in Northeast Asia".

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Culture ministers from South Korea, China and Japan began a three-day annual meeting in Harbin, China, aimed at sharing culture and promoting peace in the region.

Under an agreement reached during the fourth culture ministers' talks in 2012, the three countries each designate one of their cities as an East Asian Culture City every year. This year, South Korea's second largest city of Busan shares the title with Harbin and Kanazawa of Japan.

Culture ministers Do Jong-whan of South Korea, Luo Shugang of China and Yoshimasa Hayashi of Japan will discuss ways to expand trilateral cultural exchanges and cooperation and announce a declaration for this on Thursday.

In the pre-release version of the declaration, Mr Do vowed to push for the development of the common brand of the East Asian Culture City programme and for greater cooperation among cultural and artistic organisations of the three countries.

To this end, the three countries agreed to establish an executive office of the East Asian Culture City project in each country.

In tomorrows meeting, Do is expected to emphasise the need for greater cultural cooperation between the three countries and North Korea as a way to promote peace and expand cultural exchanges in the region.

In his address, the South Korean minister stressed the need for the three major East Asian countries "to melt the last piece of ice of the Cold War left on the Korean Peninsula and open a new way toward contributing to peace and coexistence in Northeast Asia".So it begins.

Captains' practice is still a few days away -- and the start of Bruins training camp a few weeks after that -- but whispers of a goalie controversy are already starting to circulate when it comes to the Black and Gold.

Of course, Tuukka Rask is locked in as the starting netminder for the Bruins in 2018-19, no question. But the addition of veteran Jaroslav Halak does make for a bit of a different dynamic this season, especially when it comes to usage.

Halak, 33, has seen plenty of action during his time in the NHL, averaging 42 starts over his last five seasons -- and getting the starting nod 434 times in his career. Add in the $2.75 million annual cap hit that Halak brings off of his two-year deal, and it seems like the Bruins are expecting Halak to step in and ease some of the burden between the pipes for Rask.

But getting potentially fewer reps doesn't seem to bother Rask.

"It's good," Rask said Tuesday during the Bruins' announcement of a three-year, $1 million partnership with Special Olympics Massachusetts. "Competition is good in pro sports. I think that's the situation you want. It's going to make everyone play at their best and push each other every day, so I think it's good. It's not going to change my mindset, no."

@tuukkarask talks about the new partnership between the Boston Bruins Foundation and @SpOlympicsMA and looks ahead to training camp: pic.twitter.com/ymE9WJe14a  Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) August 28, 2018

"I've met him a couple times," Rask said of Halak. "I saw him today, he was working out. He's a European kid, so we always get along."

Since the closing weeks of last season, Rask has harped on the benefit of fewer starts and appearances has on his overall performance, noting at the end of the 2017-18 regular season that he felt "fresh" after only making 54 starts.

In total, 54 starts marked the fewest starts for Rask since the strike-shortened 2013 campaign, with the veteran goalie rebounding off a dreadful start (3-8-2, .899 save percentage over 13 games) to close out the regular season with a record of 31-6-3 down the stretch with a .923 save percentage.

"I felt great the whole season," Rask said during the team's breakup day back on May 9. "I think it was a great luxury we had this year, playing time with (Anton Khudobin), he had a great year. You know, I felt good, so it was probably the best I've felt."SPRINGFIELD -- With its rounded top and the two crescent-shaped handles at its side, the electric vehicle charging station on display Wednesday bears an odd resemblance to an old-fashioned gas pump.

But the charger, which will be installed permanently in the Union Station parking garage in the next few weeks, is more the future than the past, said Jim Hunt, Eversource senior vice president and chief communications officer.

Hunt hosted a news conference with Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who pointed to the charger's retro look, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and others.

Over the next five years, Eversource will spent $45 million to install more than 400 charging sites across Massachusetts as part of its Grid Modernization plan.

Hunt said Eversource has made great progress in switching from dirty coal to cleaner fuels like natural gas, offshore wind, hydroelectricity and solar power.

But 40 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions come in the transportation sector, Hunt said.

"The trick is getting those clean fuels into the cars," Hunt said.

Eversource and private providers including Tesla already have chargers throughout the region. The Springfield Parking Authority has six of them in its garages. Big Y has them at some locations.

But Hunt said working with customers to add chargers means they aren't always in the best, high-traffic locations. This $45 million program, approved by the state last year, will be targeted.

He said it'll let electric car owners know they can always recharge.

"Range anxiety is a real limiting factor," Hunt said, referring to the fear of being stuck someplace without a charging station to get home.

He said a four-hour charge will boost most electric car batteries to 80 percent of their capacity.

Electric cars on the market today can travel anywhere from about 60 miles to more than 300 miles for top-end Tesla models on a fully charged battery. Ranges are increasing for more readily available electric cars such as the Chevrolet Bolt (238 miles) and Nissan Leaf (151 miles).

Many hybrid electric cars have gas engines that see limited use but can be engaged to recharge when a charging station is not available.

Neal said Eversource shows its commitment to clean energy with solar power projects like those in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield.

"Science is directing the path on climate change," he said.

He also talked about how federal tax credits make a lot of clean energy projects possible. And political support for wind in particular is driven by geography, with conservative House members and senators from wind-rich places like Texas and Oklahoma joining more liberal coastal politicians with offshore projects.

Hunt said some stations are pay-as-you go, either with a credit card or a membership plan. Many parking areas or businesses offer the charges for free as an enticement to business.

Christopher J. Moskal, executive director of the Springfield Redevelopment Authority, which owns and manages Union Station, said the Union Station charger will be free.

Union Station already has giant overhead chargers for Pioneer Valley Transit Authority electric buses.CHICOPEE - Helena Bala, author of the online series "Craigslist Confessional," is speaker for Elms College opening convocation ceremony Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. in Berchmans Hall's Veritas Auditorium.

Bala started her series four years ago after placing an ad on Craigslist for people willing to anonymously share life stories.

The New York City resident has said her hope is that "by listening to strangers' stories, I can give the people I meet some perspective and catharsis."

Recent strangers' stories she retells deal with a 30-year-old woman sharing a broken relationship built on a lie, memories of a woman in her 50s being abused and neglected as a child, and a 40-year-old man recounting his journey to acceptance as a homosexual.

A graduate of George Washington University Law School as well as its Elliott School of International Affairs, Bala was born in Albania. She came to this country shortly before 9/11 and speaks Italian and Spanish in addition to English and Albanian.

Some of her series stories also appear as a column on Quartz.

Walter C. Breau, the college's vice president of academic affairs, said in a statement that Bala's selection as speaker fits with what first-year students will study and read - including "Walking to Listen: Walking to Listen 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time" by Andrew Forsthoefel - around the theme of solidarity.

"This year's focus on the Catholic Social Teaching theme of solidarity stresses the importance of valuing and respecting each person we meet as a unique individual," Breau said.

"Ms. Bala's project is directly aligned with the Solidarity theme, reminding us that we need to listen to each other deeply, to break through the generalities and assumptions that we can make so quickly, and to truly understand each person as a full human."

Breau added that Bala, who has written about her mother, a doctor in Albania, having to work cleaning houses here, "came to this country as a refugee, along with her parents who were seeking political asylum."

"Her experience of going from a life of relative privilege to that of a refugee here in the U.S. gave her a special perspective on how people may differ from our initial perceptions," he said.Massachusetts State Police are investigating after several bullet holes were found on a building and a van parked on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.

MIT police were first called to a building on Memorial Drive at 1:15 a.m. Tuesday after its residents heard gunshots. The officers did not find "evidence of a shooting" at that point, according to Dave Procopio, a spokesman for the state police.

At about 10 a.m. Tuesday state police troopers responded to the home and found several shell casings. They found that bullets hit two windows, a tree, and a parked SUV along that stretch of the school's campus.

State troopers collected the bullet casings and photographed the affected buildings. They also interviewed several potential witnesses and the owner of the SUV. The officers also reviewed security camera footage.

Detectives are following up on that information, Procopio said.

"Facts and circumstances of the shooting, including potential suspects and motive, remain under active investigation," Procopio said.

No further information was immediately available.The man police say hit and killed an 80-year-old man while driving on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston and later admitted to the crime on television was held on cash bail at his arraignment in superior court.

Phocian Fitts, 23, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation and leaving the scene of a collision on August 15.

On Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court, he pleaded not guilty to those charges. Fitts' lawyer requested he be arraigned while standing in the stairwell, and he shouted his plea from behind a door.

Fitts pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal crash and motor vehicle homicide at his arraignment in Brighton Municipal Court in June. He was held on $10,000 cash bail. The magistrate imposed the same bail on Wednesday.

In an interview shortly following the crash Fitts, told Boston 25 that he was "not worried" about it because "accidents happen."

"I'm not a stone-cold killer, I didn't do nothing on purpose," Fitts told the television station. "People hit and run people all the time."

Fitts also said he was driving fast and listening to music when he approached the crosswalk where the man was walking.

"As the guy was walking, the light is green, I'm driving and pressing the horn, pressing the horn, 'beep beep beep beep' -- it was either I was going to die and crash into a pole when it came down to it," Fitts said.

Police identified Theodore Schwalb as the victim. Friends said he had a "zest for life" and was a fixture in the South End.

Prosecutors cited the television interview in Wednesday's hearing.

The trial for Fitts is scheduled for May 29, 2019.NORTHAMPTON -- What would the world be like if cryptocurrency millionaires could share some of their wealth with impoverished villages in Nigeria?

Jim Flynn, a Northampton resident and lifelong innovator, wants to find out.

An entrepreneur in residence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Flynn has been working on an ambitious project to employ data science to create a free and open system of distribution for a universal basic income -- UBI.

How does one do that, exactly? And what is a UBI, again?

A UBI is a concept that social theorists, tech firms and politicians have increasingly discussed as a solution to poverty. The Basic Income Earth Network -- an advocacy group for UBI -- defines it as a "periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement."

With a team of the school's brightest computer science students, Flynn has spent this summer investigating how data science might be employed in the service of distributing such a payment to those who need it.

"There's 700 million people that live on less than $1.90 a day -- and more than half of those are children," Flynn said in a recent interview with The Republican.

The entrepreneur wants to use cryptocurrency and blockchain to create an independent and open source model for redistributing wealth to the world's most impoverished nations.

"In a population of 700 million ... there's going to be a lot of Michaelangelos who will never realize their potential," he said. "The loss in having those people live in severe poverty ... they're never going to solve climate change and they're never going to cure cancer if they're spending their entire lives worrying about where their next meal is going to come from."

The impediments to adequate redistribution in many of these countries are stark, Flynn said. "They're run by dictators, there's wars going on," he said. "How do you deliver a basic income to someone in that situation? How do you get it by the sticky fingers of the dictator or the finance minister, or the corrupt banking system in that country?"

Cryptocurrency presents a loophole to this problem, the entrepreneur said. Because it's a private, global form of currency, it can skirt around bureaucratic dysfunction.

Having spent much of his career working with digital start-ups and media companies, Flynn recently founded The Kuwa Foundation to assist with the pursuit of this goal. Over the past few months, it has worked in collaboration with the UMass Center for Data Science on the project.

Carlos Daniel Mondragon Chapa, a Fulbright scholar and Master of Science candidate at UMass, has spent the last few months working with four other graduate students in an attempt to develop a functional model for Flynn's concept.

"Basically what we wanted to do is have some sort of proof of concept," Chapa said. "Something working that we can put out there and that anyone can access."

In the working model, an ID system -- a digital network that could identify people living in a certain geographical area, like a town or village -- would be set up. Individuals in need of a UBI can register profiles in this network that then become vectors for UBI deposits, kind of like a bank account but for Bitcoin. Payments themselves would likely come from wealthy benefactors and institutions.

It's a complicated idea, and Flynn said he wants to make the system "resistant to corruption or capture by malevolent actors," implementing safeguards that can identify and block fraud and criminality within it.

He also wants to make the model free and accessible to the public. The Kuwa Foundation will publish the project's findings online by the end of August.

This issue of redistribution is a universal one, Flynn said. It's relevant not only to countries like Uganda and Ghana, but to the United States, as well.

A UBI, many believe, may present a solution to the prospect of cataclysmic labor displacement that is projected to occur in advanced western societies as corporations use automation and robots to replace workers.

A report by the MIT Technology Review summarizes projections for worker displacement in the decades to come -- with some assessments predicting the loss of as many as 80 million U.S. jobs over the next 20 years.

"If you have a job where you drive a truck at some point the trucks are going to drive themselves," Flynn said. "In fact, they already are. Similarly, if you go into a decent-sized town and you go into a McDonald's there (in the future), there's going to be one part-time employee just to maintain the robot," he said.

Flynn sees the prospect of a UBI as an opportunity for authentic self-realization instead of a privatized welfare payment. "There are so many people who are employed that don't want to be there, that watch the clock," Flynn said. "You know, let them do something that inspires them."

Whatever the future looks like, Flynn says he wants to try to make the world a better place.

"I've gotten to the point in my life where I've realized I'm going to work hard on whatever I do," Flynn said. "So I might as well work hard on something where -- if I'm successful -- it'll make a big difference."EASTHAMPTON -- Time constraints and a "delay in communications" led to gaps in compliance with a binding agreement to improve the race and diversity climate at Easthampton High School, officials said at an Aug. 21 School Committee meeting.

The committee, along with new superintendent Allison LeClair, discussed a July 23 letter from the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. The letter said certain reforms the Easthampton Public School District agreed to in August of 2017 were still not completed.

The district made progress, but still must enact some policies at the high school, and must conduct specific training for all high school students on bullying and harassment, the letter from assistant AG Jon Burke states.

The letter reminded the district that all policy revisions must be pre-approved by the attorney general's office -- something that didn't happen last year. For example, the district during 2017-2018 did not gain prior approval for its new agreement with Easthampton police for use of school resource officers, or SROs.

School Committee member Marissa Carrere, chair of the policy subcommittee, noted that an agreement with police was actually completed last October. However, Healey's office wanted a revision, and the final policy was actually signed by the full committee in June and submitted after July 1, said LeClair.

"There was a delay in communications," observed chairwoman Cynthia Kwiecinski.

Former superintendent Nancy Follansbee, who retired on June 30 and was in charge during the apparent communication lapses, was not mentioned by name.

"As you pointed out, all these things happened last year, but they didn't get the word out ahead of time," said LeClair, who started July 1. She said that some things didn't get done because of time. "We ran out of time because there so many things we were addressing," she said.

LeClair said a bullying policy will see final revisions, and that a separate bullying prevention plan will be developed. She said all high school students will receive anti-bias training by the Anti-Defamation League, and that school administrators on Aug. 20 received training by the school district's attorney.

LeClair said she worked with high school principal Kevin Burke and curriculum director Julie Anne Levin on a "compliance grid" to map out all tasks and identify who is responsible. She said the grid was submitted to Healey's office, and that updates will be provided.

The July 23 letter was supportive of LeClair, and said the AG's office "is confident" that she and the district will "promptly address" any outstanding issues heading in to the 2018-2019 school year.

"After meeting with (LeClair), we are encouraged by her commitment to take the steps required to foster an environment that is positive, welcoming, and inclusive for all students," Burke's letter states.

LeClair said that an annual discipline audit was forwarded to Healey's office on July 31. The attorney general had previously identified disparities in discipline at the high school based on race, and required ongoing reports on the district's practices.

At the Aug. 21 meeting, Kwiecinski noted that the School Department did not immediately provide her with the July 23 letter, which was mailed to the city office building and addressed to Kwiecinski as the School Committee chair. The letter was also copied to district lawyer Russell Dupere.

"The way I got this letter was not direct," said Kwiecinski. "I got it on a time lapse delay, even though it was supposed to be for me."

"I know," said LeClair, without further explanation.

LeClair said that she has submitted much documentation to Healey's office, had yet to hear back, and that a conference call was set for Aug. 28.

On Sept. 11, the School Committee will be shown recommendations from a stakeholder advisory group that was formed to help the district transform its climate and culture. The group was led by the Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton, and a final report is being written by Levin, the curriculum director.

School Committee member Shannon Dunham asked LeClair to provide them with a copy of the stakeholder report before the meeting, and LeClair agreed to share it.

The turbulent 2016-2017 school year was marked by documented race and bias incidents and capped by a civil rights investigation. Healey's office issued a scathing report, and the School Committee signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, to forestall civil rights enforcement.

Follansbee at the time promoted her "10-point action plan" to "identify and eradicate bias," and worked with the district to implement it. However, the action plan was not the same thing as the legally binding agreement with Healey's office.

Carrere, reached by telephone, said that moving forward, her subcommittee will communicate directly with the attorney general's office to ensure timely review of policy documents before they are brought to the full School Committee for a vote.

LeClair did not immediately respond to a reporter's telephone message on Wednesday, and Kwiecinski was not available for comment.

Mass AGO to EPSD re MOA compliance by Mary Serreze on ScribdSOUTHWICK -- Dozens of law enforcement officers, fire personnel and members of the public paid their respects Tuesday at the VCA Southwick Animal Hospital to Southwick's retired K-9 Jax, who died last week after a short illness.

"It was an honor to see so many K-9 departments represented today from throughout Western Massachusetts, but what really impressed me was the amount of town citizens that came out for encouragement to Sgt. (Thomas) Krutka," said Southwick Police Chief Kevin Bishop.

Krutka was Jax's handler from 2007 to 2017 and kept Jax as a beloved family pet following the dog's retirement.

"While we are here today to pay respects to Jax, we must also not forget the great team of Sgt. Krutka and Jax -- they were both a great asset to the Southwick Police Department over the 10 years they were together," Bishop said.

Southwick resident Stefanie Davignon was driving by the ceremony when she stopped after noticing all the K-9 units.

"I felt I needed to stop, get out of my car and show my respect," she said. "He is a police officer and he should be shown respect -- he served the Town of Southwick."

Southwick K-9 Officer Michael Westcott organized the ceremony and put out a call on the regional K-9 Facebook page. He said the response was tremendous.

"I have been to several of these ceremonies, and this was by far the biggest for a retired K-9," said Westcott, who along with K-9 General took over when Jax retired.

Westcott said at least 30 cruisers from across the region came to the ceremony, including several Hampden County Sheriff units and police units from Longmeadow, Pittsfield, Easthampton, Montague, Wilbraham, Ware, Westfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and Suffield, Connecticut. Retired Police Chief David Ricardi and the Southwick Fire Department and Granville Police Department also paid their respects.

Westcott said Jax was loved.

"The number of police and fire and general public who came out today is a testament to the activities of Sgt. Krutka and Jax," Westcott said. "Everyone said I have big shoes to fill. He was a good dog who did a lot of community service."

Krutka publicly thanked everyone who paid their respects via the Southwick Police Department Facebook page.

"So today I brought my partner home," Krutka wrote on Facebook. "I cannot even begin to thank everybody that came out today to support Jax and I; what an awesome show of support and respect! To all of my fellow K-9 Officers that came out to honor Jax....thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart! Stay safe and may God watch over each and every one of you!!!"

Krutka thanked the VCA Southwick Animal Hospital, police and the community for their support.

"To everybody at the Southwick Police Department, Jax was not just our canine, he was our brother officer and part of our family. Thank you all for all the support over this past week. K-9 Officer Mike Westcott who has been by my side throughout this whole terrible ordeal ... thank you so much," he wrote. "To everybody at Town Hall and all the citizens of the Southwick community, I cannot thank you enough for the support over the years. Without your support, we would not be able to have programs such as this one. Now it's time to move forward. I will miss my Jax forever and ever!"BOSTON (AP) -- A convicted killer is suing the Massachusetts prisons commissioner in her latest legal effort to receive a sex change operation at taxpayer expense.

The Boston Herald reported Wednesday that Michelle Kosilek filed the lawsuit against Correction Commissioner Thomas Turco in federal court in Boston last week.

The lawsuit asks a judge to order Turco to immediately transfer Kosilek from a men's prison in Norfolk to the state's women's prison in Framingham, and to have the Correction Department's medical provider schedule her for "gender-affirming" surgery.

A state prisons spokesman declined to comment.

Kosilek was known as Robert Kosilek when she was convicted in 1990 of murdering her wife, Cheryl.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 declined to hear Kosilek's appeal of a lower court ruling that rejected the requested surgery.National and provincial growth data do not ad up. In an authoritarian system there is definitely an incentive for statistics officials to publish data that will please the government, says an economist. Growth figures do not consider the devaluation of the yuan.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies)  More and more economists and experts are warning that the statistical data about Chinas economic growth simply do not add up. The figures provided by the countrys National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) appear inaccurate.

In July, profits from industrial enterprises with more than 20 million yuan (US.9 million) in revenues rose 16.2 per cent year-on-year, this according to NBS.

But following the devaluation of the Chinese currency to cope with the trade war with the United States, the yuan was down this year (6.6247 per dollar in June) over last.

As a result, cumulatively, profits grew 17.1 per cent year-on-year in the first seven months, according to the official data, but fell 8.1 per cent in absolute terms.

It is very likely the NBS lowered last years base figures to make this years profit growth rate from industrial firms higher in percentage terms, an economist said.

The NBS analyses samples of firms. For some critics, the samples used are favour better performing firms, and the revisions in the samples used are not made public.

The "rigged" numbers concern large industrial firms, retail sales, electricity consumption and coal output.

One of the most notorious examples is the long-standing problem with the countrys gross domestic product figures, where the combined provincial figures do not tally with the NBSs national total.

The statistical system is target-driven, so if consumer spending is targeted to grow at 10 per cent, say, then the statistics collectors make adjustments in order to reach 10 per cent, said Anne Stevenson-Yang, co-founder of J Capital Research.

That might [cause the NBS to] change the number of companies being sampled, change the standards for inclusion in the samples," she told the South China Morning Post.

In an authoritarian system there is definitely an incentive for statistics officials to publish data that will please the government, said Carsten Holz, professor of economics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

At the same time, however, economic policy that is based on unreliable data can only be deficient and thus leads to outcomes that will not please the government.State and local police say a man with an extensive criminal history who ran from police following a motor vehicle chase over a sticker violation in Haverhill Wednesday morning has been apprehended.

The suspect, 27-year-old Elias Sudler fled in the area of Route 97 near the Interstate 495 area. Sudler has a Boston address.

Officers attempted to stop the 1996 Chevrolet S pickup truck, in which Sudler was a passenger, because of an inspection sticker violation.

The driver fled and eventually pulled over at a CVS. While the driver, a 35-year-old Quincy man, was arrested, Sudler ran from the scene, attempting to grab a backpack in the truck.

Officers found a gun in the backpack. It's not known if Sudler had any additional guns.

Sudler was eventually flushed out of the woods near Carleton Street by an air wing. A K-9 unit took Sudler down.

He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and will be booked afterwards.

In addition to the charges he will face from Wednesday's events, State Police say Sudler is wanted on warrants for stalking, sexual assault, and witness intimidation out of Suffolk County.DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) -- A former professional boxer from Massachusetts has been sentenced to six years in prison for an assault that left his girlfriend unconscious.

The Patriot Ledger reported Tuesday that 39-year-old former cruiserweight Christopher McInerney, of Weymouth, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges including attempted murder and kidnapping.

McInerney's girlfriend told police he beat her after they got into an argument while leaving a bar in May 2017.

She told authorities he punched her and choked her for several hours. She eventually escaped and went to a neighbor's house for help.

McInerney has been given 282 days credit for time served since he turned himself in two days after the assault.

___

Information from: The (Quincy, Mass.) Patriot Ledger, http://www.patriotledger.comSPRINGFIELD - A Chicopee man who allegedly posed as a police officer, raped his housekeeper and attempted to extort $10,000 from her is too dangerous to be released on bail, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Jose Rodriguez, 54, will be held without right to bail at the Hampden County Correctional Center for 120 days under an order issued by Judge Bethzaida Sanabria-Vega.

"There is no way I'm releasing him," the judge said following a detention hearing in Chicopee District Court.

Rodriguez was arrested by Chicopee police on Aug. 13, six days after a 20-year-old housekeeper claimed she was raped after going to clean his home at 30 Old Lyman Road.

He pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, extortion by threat of injury, indecent assault and battery of a person over 14, assault with intent to rape and impersonating a police officer.

Rodriguez was held for a detention hearing Tuesday after a prosecutor said he posed too great a risk to the alleged victim or the public to be released on bail.

During Tuesday's hearing, Assistant District Attorney Tyson Fung said the housekeeper, a 20-year-old immigrant, was the victim of an "intricate, very well thought-out" scheme that began with Rodriguez asking her to clean his house.

The victim and her mother had cleaned the defendant's home on several years ago, and Rodriguez and his wife contacted her recently to start cleaning it again, Fung said.

When the victim arrived around 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 13, Rodriguez was home alone. He was wearing a badge, and his wife had previously told the victim that he was a police officer, the prosecutor said.

After claiming the housekeeper's mother was being investigated for theft, Rodrgiuez offered to use his position with the police department to make the case "go away" for $15,000 to $20,000, Fung said.

When the housekeeper said she had no money, Rodriguez agreed to lower the figure to $10,000 in she would have sex with him and one of his friends, the prosecutor said.

When she refused, Rodriguez raped her anyhow, then forced her to turn over about $9,000 in jewelry as a down payment on her debt, Fung said.

Police later found a badge, handcuffs, a police baton, a BB gun in a holster and military-style patches at Rodriguez's home, and the victim described a vertical scar on his stomach and other details of his anatomy, Fung said.

Rodriguez also allegedly flashed a badge during a traffic dispute with another motorist in 2015, according to the prosecutor, who said no charges were filed in that incident.

"This is the second time he is alleged to have used a badge," Fung said.

In addition to having family ties to New York, Florida and Brazil, Rodriguez told his lawyer he has access to $10,000 in cash. Those factors, plus the potentially long prison sentence Rodriguez faces if convicted, make him a high risk to flee before trial, the prosecutor said.

Defense lawyer Nicholas Horgan said his client denies the charges, and said any sexual contact was consensual.

"There are two polar opposite stories" about what happened at Rodriguez's house, Horgan said.

Rodriguez has no criminal record, works full-time at a staffing agency, is married with four children and has lived in Chicopee for 17 years, Horgan said.

He also cooperated with police and gave a videotaped statement at the station, the lawyer said.

Horgan asked for Rodriguez to be released on $5,000 bail, with any restrictions the judge considered necessary.

The judge, however, granted the prosecutor's request, and ordered Rodriguez held without bail for 120 days. When the order expires, prosecutors can seek to renew it for another 120 days.

Sanabria-Vega said she reviewed videotaped statements that the housekeeper and Rodriguez gave to police, and found the woman's "to be very credible."

The badge, handcuffs, police baton and other items collected at the defendant's house support the victim's account, along with the earlier allegation that Rodriguez flashed a badge during a traffic dispute, Sanabria-Vega said.

Rodriguez is due back in court on Sept. 28.SPRINGFIELD -- The last of four suspects charged in connection with a robbery attempt that ended in the victim's death was sentenced Wednesday to probation.

Doris Pessolano, 36, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to armed assault with intent to rob and carrying a firearm without a license.

Hampden Superior Court Judge Karen Goodwin sentenced her to two years probation on one charge and time served on another. She served 820 days in jail before being released on bail.

Pessolano and three other suspects were initially charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Demarcus Johnson four years ago.

The murder charges against her and two co-defendants were dropped in October after a state high court ruling redefining the concept of felony murder. The fourth suspect later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, involuntary manslaughter.

Goodwin adopted the sentence recommended by prosecution and defense in the case. Assistant District Attorney Max Bennett asked to state his reasons for the recommendation at the judge's sidebar, out of the public's hearing, with defense lawyer Daniel D. Kelly.

Three people previously pleaded guilty in the case.

Nathaniel Ramos, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as a youthful offender, was sentenced to 20 to 22 years. He was 15 years old at the time of the shooting.

The first part of his sentence will be served as a commitment to the state Department of Youth Services, and at age 21 custody will be transferred to the state Department of Corrections.

Radames Llanos was sentenced to the custody of the state Department of Youth Services until he turns 21. He pleaded guilty as a youthful offender to armed assault with intent to rob and illegal possession of a firearm.

Shacolby Merriman pleaded guilty to two counts of intimidation of a witness. He was sentenced to time served and two years probation.

Johnson, 38, of East Hartford, Connecticut, was found with a gunshot wound to his head shortly before 5 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2014, near the corner of Overlook Drive and Island Pond Road in Springfield's East Forest Park neighborhood. He died two days later in Baystate Medical Center.

According to Bennett, Ramos and Pessolano arranged to meet at a gas station. There they decided to try to set up for a robbery a man who had pulled into the station.

Pessolano convinced Johnson to drive to a more isolated spot, where Ramos and Llanos tried to rob him. During the attempted robbery Ramos' gun went off and he unintentionally shot and killed Johnson, Bennett said.

Goodwin said to Pessolano, "I'm hopeful this will give you an opportunity to get your life back on track."

Kelly said Pessolano is "extremely remorseful" about Johnson's death.Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she cast a vote in favor of legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts when the proposal was on the November 2016 ballot.

"I supported it because I just thought it made sense," the Cambridge Democrat told Rolling Stone in an interview published this week.

That puts her on a short list of Massachusetts politicians, including Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse and the Boston City Council's president at the time, Michelle Wu, who voted for the ballot initiative, then known as Question 4.

Warren also told Rolling Stone she has not ever personally smoked marijuana.

Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level as Massachusetts regulators are overseeing the expected openings of retail pot shops.

In last week's sit-down with Rolling Stone in her D.C. office, Warren said she had endorsed the 2016 ballot initiative.

But Rolling Stone and the news site Marijuana Moment noted that Warren had not actually endorsed Question 4.

"She meant she voted for the 2016 ballot initiative," a Warren spokesperson said in an email to MassLive.

The 2016 ballot question drew bipartisan opposition, from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to the Democratic mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh. Massachusetts voters backed legalization, 54 percent to 46 percent.

The five-member Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, created under the 2016 law and expanded under the subsequent legislative rewrite signed by Baker, has just one member, Shaleen Title, who voted for the question.

Earlier this year, Warren unveiled a bill she is co-sponsoring with Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, aimed at protecting states' marijuana votes and rights from interference by federal law enforcement.

The bill, which has Gov. Baker's support, would also allow marijuana businesses to more easily access the banking industry.

While appearing on the MSNBC show "Morning Joe" with Sen. Gardner in June 2018 to promote their bill, Warren said she supported legalization in her state and noted that Massachusetts voters had already signed off on marijuana for medical use and decriminalized the controversial substance in previous election cycles.

Months before voters went to the polls in 2016, Warren was asked by MassLive about the ballot question. The senator said she was "open" to legalization.

Asked whether she would vote "yes" on the ballot question, Warren said, "What I just said is that I would be open to it because I think that the problem we've got right now in Massachusetts is that we've decriminalized it which makes marijuana available but there's no regulation over it for safety."

At the time, Warren's comment that she was "open" to legalization cheered marijuana activists who were pushing the ballot question.SOUTH HADLEY - A pedestrian hit by a car near the Village Commons and Mount Holyoke College Wednesday morning has died.

The pedestrian was hit by a car at 10:15 a.m. near 29 College St., said Mary Carey, spokeswoman for Northwest District Attorney David E. Sullivan.

The driver of the car remained on the scene and is cooperating with police, she said.

The pedestrian was taken to the hospital with serious injuries after the crash and later died, fire officials said.

The name of the victim will not be released until family can be notified. Carey did not release any information about the driver.

South Hadley Police, Massachusetts State Police attached to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office and the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section are investigating the crash. No charges were filed immediately, she said.Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski said he is both shocked and saddened by a former Vatican official's call for the resignation of Pope Francis in an accusatory letter released Sunday to a conservative Catholic media outlet.

He called the letter that has made global headlines in its accusations about what Francis knew about a former cardinal and allegations of sexual abuse against him as highlighting a time when "those of us entrusted with the responsibility of leadership must atone for the church's past failures, correct our ways and chart a course for future reforms."

"We owe the victims of abuse nothing less," said Rozanski in his statement.

He said he also supports the call by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to review how now former Washington, D.C. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was allowed to continue in ministry in the wake allegations of sexual abuse.

"Like so many others, I was shocked when I first learned of Archbishop Vigano's letter, not only by the nature of the allegations he raised, but also by the deliberate timing of the release of the 11-page letter to coincide with the Papal Mass in Dublin," said Rozanski in his statement about the letter that accuses the pope of knowingly allowing McCarrick to continue in ministry and not continuing what it says were sanctions imposed by Francis' predecessor.

"We now know that key elements of the letter have been called into doubt, which in turn calls into question the true motivation and reliability of the entire letter."

He added, "Nonetheless, the issues raised are serious enough to warrant further review,"

"I strongly support USCCB President Cardinal Daniel DiNardo's request for a papal audience to discuss this matter, along with a plan to deal more forthrightly and openly with abuse allegations, especially those involving church leadership," Rozanski said.

"I also support the National Review Board's recommendations to add language to the Charter to Protect Children and Young People which would provide greater clarity with regard to responding to allegations involving bishops. "

Of the contents of the letter that also makes accusations about the role of some American bishops appointed by Francis, Rozanski added, "What saddens me the most is that the legitimate needs of victims and their families, along with the serious issues raised in recent weeks, are being hijacked by some in the pursuit of ideological agendas."

"This is a time that the church must come together, both in prayer and necessary action, and not be divided. Those of us entrusted with the responsibility of leadership must atone for the church's past failures, correct our ways and chart a course for future reforms," Rozanski said.

The 11-page letter was written by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano and released for publication Aug. 26 to the National Catholic Register.

Vigano was Vatican ambassador in Washington D.C. from 2011 to 2016, and in that role attended Rozanski's August 2014 installation here.

His letter accuses numerous top church officials of a cover-up surrounding sexual abuse allegations against McCarrick, who has denied the charges, and calls for the resignation of Francis.

Some of the named cardinals have disputed the claims but at least one bishop not involved - the Most Rev. Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas - said in a letter that he directed to be read at all parish Masses Aug. 26 that he found the cover-up allegations "to be credible."

Francis has so far declined to respond to the allegations, telling an inquiring journalist, "I will not say one word on this. I think the statement speaks for itself and you have sufficient journalistic capacity to reach your own conclusions."

Prior to the letter's publication, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had said the USCCB would ask for a full Vatican investigation into questions surrounding McCarrick, and also said there was a need to "make reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops easier."

Following Vigano's letter, DiNardo said he was "eager for an audience" with Francis to discuss these plans.

Vigano's letter coincided with the conclusion of Francis' participation in the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, a country that in recent years has ended government bands on same-sex marriage, abortion and unhinged the Catholic Church's hold on society as the extent of clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up became known.

While Francis has adhered to Catholic doctrine in this areas, his pastoral approach has divided lay and clergy and his papacy has not resolved the intransigence of the Church in addressing the role of its hierarchy in the cover-up of allegations of sexual abuse by its members over decades and how they should be held accountable.

Back in 2010, a Springfield priest was one of two who called for then Pope Benedict's resignation over the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

Vigano claims the pope allowed McCarrick to continue in ministry despite being aware of those allegations and of what Vigano said were restrictions imposed on McCarrick by Francis' predecessor.

No proof of such sanctions is offered in what is referred to as Vigano's testimony but may have been sought in its released in the National Catholic Register.

The Register is owned by the Eternal Word Television Network.

According to the New York Times, Vigano met with Timothy Busch, who sits on the board of governors of EWTN, prior to the letter's publication though Busch is quoted as saying he did not know in advance the letter would be released to the Register.

Another NYT story says Vigano was helped in writing the letter by an Italian journalist who was the one who distributed it.

A former Springfield resident - Michael P. Warsaw - is chief executive officer of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, and chairs its board of governors.

He also serves as a consultant to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communication.

Warsaw is a 1982 graduate of former Cathedral High School that, together with Holyoke Catholic, merged to form Pope Francis Preparatory School which opens in its new $54.5 million building this fall.SPRINGFIELD -- The City Council gave first-step approval on Tuesday to a zoning ordinance that will allow up to 15 recreational marijuana retail stores in Springfield culminating many hours of deliberation and debate and some sharp objections by members.

The vote was 7-3 in favor of the marijuana regulations following a second consecutive meeting lasting nearly four hours.

One of the opponents, Councilor Michael Fenton, vowed to "fight it with everything I got."

The ordinance is now forwarded to the Planning Board, and will be considered for final approval by the City Council at a hearing scheduled Sept. 25.

Council President Orlando Ramos was among councilors praising the regulations that will require marijuana shops to be located only in Business and Industrial zones. In those zones, the shops will only be allowed on approximately 60 streets listed by the council, but can be adjacent to, or across the street from residences and buildings containing apartments.

Councilors in favor of the ordinance said there is no need for a buffer between the businesses and homes in business districts, similar to many liquor stores being adjacent to homes. Any proposed shop will need a public hearing and approval of a special permit from the City Council, under the proposed ordinance.

"This is a good, common-sense piece of legislation," Ramos said. "I am thankful to residents for their patience and thankful to my colleagues for their hard work. Marijuana legislation is not a one-size- fits all legislation."

The ordinance allows marijuana retail, cultivation, manufacture and laboratory facilities, subject to approved special permits and host community agreements negotiated with the mayor.

There is a requirement for a 500-foot buffer between any retail shop and any public or private school. There is also a requirement that retail shops cannot be within 300 feet of another shop, and no retail shop can be inside a building that has residential units.

In addition, there is a 250-foot buffer between marijuana "cultivation centers" and residences.

For the retail stores, the shops can only operate from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., under the proposed ordinance.

Councilors who voted in favor of the ordinance were Marcus Williams, Adam Gomez, Kateri Walsh, Melvin Edwards, Justin Hurst, Timothy Ryan, and Ramos.

Councilors opposed to the ordinance were Jesse Lederman, Timothy Allen and Fenton.

Councilors absent from the meeting were Thomas Ashe, E. Henry Twiggs and Kenneth Shea.

When the ordinance returns for council consideration, it will need at least nine votes of approval, (two-thirds majority) of the 13-member council for final passage.

Fenton said the ordinance is a "travesty" after multiple proposed amendments, including buffers, were rejected by the council majority.

"No required setbacks from residences, no setbacks from childcare facilities, no parking requirements, no neighborhood council participation, and no common sense," Fenton said. "It is a travesty. All of Springfield's neighborhoods should be very concerned."

Ramos, Gomez, Hurst and Walsh traveled to Denver, Colorado in June to meet with officials and marijuana advocates there, and visit marijuana facilities in Denver to help evaluate regulations in Springfield.

Councilors who favored the ordinance said that a proposal by Fenton for a 100-foot buffer for residences in business zones and industrial zones was not necessary, as people will be buying marijuana at the shops just like buying alcohol, and are not permitted by law to smoke inside or outside the store.

Ramos said the ordinance was "probably one of the most complex pieces of legislation that I've helped author since elected."

"We cannot take a zoning ordinance from another community and implement it here because the challenges we face here are different than some of the surrounding communities particularly when it comes to zoning," Ramos said. "Which is why it was a fairly complex and fairly lengthy process, but I'm glad we got it done."WEST SPRINGFIELD - There were no comments or questions from the public during the School Committee meeting Tuesday on a proposal to renovate or replace the Phillip G. Coburn School.

That was the last opportunity for the public to weigh in on the four options under consideration by officials.

Building and Other Facilities Planning and Construction Committee member David J. Partridge, project manager William Cunniff of NV5 and Ryszard Szczypek of TSKP Studio architects presented the four options Tuesday.

The town is collaborating with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on a feasibility study for possible construction of a new Coburn School at the site of the current building at 115 Southworth St. The School Building Authority is a quasi-independent government authority that partially funds construction and renovation projects for public schools across the state.

Szczypek said the building committee preferred the option known as Alternative F, which calls for a three-story new building. This option includes pre-kindergarten, which Szczypek said is not typically covered by the School Building Authority.

The total cost of Alternative F is $66.5 million. Szczypek said the town's share of the cost would be less than that after reimbursement from the School Building Authority.

Once a preferred option is finalized by the building committee, it will be sent to the School Building Authority for approval and consideration of including the preschool costs in the scope of work. If the School Building Authority approves funding the preschool portion of the project, the town would incur costs anywhere from $25 million to nearly $40 million depending on which option is selected.

Szczypek said Alternative F includes various flexible classrooms and support spaces and pre-kindergarten on the first floor. The second floor includes six kindergarten and six first-grade classrooms, along with more support spaces, Applied Behavior Analysis rooms, reading and media rooms and art space. The third floor would have an additional media room and support space as well as four classrooms each for grades three, four and five.

Szczypek said Alternatives E and F were very similar, but E did not include a third floor, giving it a larger footprint.

"The biggest impact is in the square footage of the footprint," he said. "It would compromise the drop-off space and playing fields."

Alternative F would allow for two drop-off areas and would not impact the size of the fields.

Szczypek said the other two options - Alternative A and Alternative D1 - were not optimal. D1 was a renovation of the current school that did not meet educational goals and A, a renovation of the existing school with an addition, would take too long.

"This type of project can be done," said Szczypek, "but it takes longer to do and can be disruptive."

A brand-new building could be built with few disruptions to the current school. The biggest concern would be temporary restrictions on the playing fields during construction.

The building committee is scheduled to send its preferred option to the School Building Authority in September. A tentative meeting with the School Building Authority is set for Oct. 31. Szczypek said if all goes as planned, a new school would open its doors in the fall of 2022.SPRINGFIELD - A 54-year-old city woman, who crashed into a utility pole in the Forest Park neighborhood early Wednesday afternoon, was taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment of possible injuries.

The crash occurred on Harkness Avenue about 12:30 p.m., said Ryan Walsh, spokesman for Springfield police. She was cited for driving with a revoked license.by Vladimir Rozanskij

The subject is the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and that of Macedonia. But uncertainties remain that the meeting will take place after contradictory signals from the Moscow Patriarchate.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Orthodox world is waiting with bated breath for confirmation of the announced visit of the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundjaev) to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew (Archontonis), scheduled for August 31 in Istanbul. The meeting should clarify the question of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which will be officially discussed at the Synod of the Church of Constantinople in early October.

However, contradictory signals are clouding the skies above environments close to the patriarchate of Moscow and therefore there are still uncertainties about the effective realization of this meeting. Istanbul also fears a last minute cancellation by the Russian delegation, as was the case at the 2016 Pan-Orthodox Synod of Crete.

Kirill's visit would be part of an intense synod program at the Phanar, Bartholomews headquarters in the Turkish metropolis: on August 30th the Synod will meet in extraordinary session, and on September 1st the plenary assembly (Megale Sinaxis) will take place, to examine the requests of autocephaly of Macedonia and Ukraine, but also to evaluate the positions of the Russians.

In one of the previous meetings in Montenegro in 2013, Bartholomew and Kirill agreed on the rules of inter-Orthodox collaboration and mutual relations between Moscow and the Phanar, but the unexpected refusal to participate in the Council of Crete then brought the relationship back to a state of continuous tension. In Crete, 10 Orthodox Churches out of 14 participated, and the absence of the Russians avoided the possibility of mentioning the question of Ukrainian autonomy, a question already in the air long before the Maidan revolts in Kiev the following year.

The tension has become even more acute in recent months, due to the clumsy attempts of some Moscow emissaries, in the diplomatic and business world, to instigate the Church of Greece against the ecumenical patriarchate, relying also on the great influence of the Russians on the monasteries of the Mount Athos. The maneuvers did not produce the desired result, indeed they provoked the irritation of Athens against Moscow, despite the historical problems of the Greeks with the patriarchal headquarters in Turkey.

Further tensions were felt last month, when Patriarch Kirill expressed his disappointment at not being able to participate in the celebrations in Kiev for the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. In that case it was Bartholomew who cancelled at the last minute, sending the metropolitan of Gallia, Emanuele (Adamakis), exarch of Constantinople in France in his place.

He intervened at the solemnities of Kiev stating that the ecumenical patriarchate "will not leave his Ukrainian sons and daughters defenseless and at the mercy of destiny. The ecumenical patriarch cannot remain blind and silent in the face of the heartfelt demands that have been addressed to him for over a quarter of a century," a nod to the condition of Ukraine since the end of Soviet dependency. The metropolitan has thus almost explicitly announced his leaning toward the Tomos of autocephaly: "The faithful of the Ukrainian Church and its leaders have the right to their place among the Orthodox Churches".

The Orthodox panorama would therefore not be favorable to Moscow, and the fears of a failure could therefore push Kirill to renounce the meeting. Its realization would instead be a remarkable fete, should they be able find a formula to satisfy all the parties. The Tomos could be granted to Macedonia, which has been waiting for it since the end of Yugoslavia with problems similar to Ukraine regarding the Serb and Greek neighbors, providing a possible model for the definitive solution of the ecclesiastical crisis in Ukraine.When it comes to a planned deal to bring the Boston Red Sox's Triple-A affiliate team and a massive ballpark development to Worcester, a local group is working to ensure that the project leads to community development and living-wage jobs.

The Worcester Community Labor Coalition, backed by more than 40 local organizations, is asking the City Manager and Worcester Red Sox to agree to a Community Benefits Agreement that would ensure responsible contracting, environmental protection, local jobs, hiring equity and livable wages that support the community.

The coalition has also asked that the city and team adopt Worcester's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Policy for all projects in the development. The policy outlines 27 guidelines that developers must follow in order to be eligible for economic development incentives. They include a commitment to pay workers at least $15 per hour or 125 percent above the state minimum wage, whichever is greater; a focus on hiring city residents; and non-discriminatory practices, among other requirements.

Coalition spokesman Frank Kartheiser said that even though not all projects in the development will get tax breaks, the development will be subsidized by taxpayer dollars and should therefore be subject to requirements outlined under the policy.

"We have enough lousy jobs out there, we have to make sure if it's our tax money, these are real jobs with real opportunities," he said, adding, "The benefits we're talking are a little bit more bread and butter around what kind of jobs, who gets the jobs - the short-term construction jobs as well as the long-term."

Kartheiser said the coalition is looking forward to the project, but doesn't want to see a lot of New Hampshire, Connecticut or Rhode Island license plates at the job site.

The $240 million project plans to bring 18 acres of development in the city's Canal District and Green Island neighborhood.

The proposed development will include a 10,000-person capacity stadium estimated to cost between $86 and $90 million; a 150-room hotel; a 100-room boutique hotel overlooking the ballpark; 250 market rate apartments; and 65,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; as well as the complete reconstruction of the notorious Kelley Square intersection.

As part of negotiations with developer Madison Downtown Holdings LLC, the city and state have offered tax incentives to expand the size of the development and speed up the process. City incentives include a Tax Increment Exemption (TIE) for the WG South apartments and a TIF for the WG South hotel. The state has agreed to provide Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) tax credits for the WG South apartments. The city has also agreed to waive certain development fees.

The project is expected to create more than 500 full-time and 2,000 part-time jobs. The city previously said in a letter to councilors that hiring preference will be given to Worcester residents, particularly women and minorities.

Kartheiser said Worcester Community Labor Coalition's first step is to get the city and team to agree to a Community Benefits Agreement. From there, he said specifics would be negotiated.

He added that Worcester's city manager has assured the coalition that the TIF Policy will be followed for all projects, but Kartheiser said it's still important to make sure the city is held accountable.

"Where the city is weak is compliance," he said, adding that someone needs to be in charge of following up to make sure that guidelines in the TIF Policy and any future Community Benefits Agreement are being followed - especially several years down the line.

He explained the need for the TIF Policy, saying it helps ensure living-wage jobs for residents, minorities and women, among other benefits.

"The coalition does apprenticeship work to recruit people and then get them into job training programs in the building trades, and this TIF Policy is the pull. We provide the push getting people trained and ready. The pull now is it's required that there be 50 percent residents, 15 percent people of color, 7 percent women," he said. "That's how we start to create the opportunity for people, but also the need that they be employed on these projects"

Kartheiser noted that the Worcester Community Labor Coalition is excited about the project but wants to make sure it will be carried out in a socially and financially responsible way. He said the group has already been in touch with city officials about the requests.

"They've got these things on the fast track and so we're on the fast track, we want to get it done yesterday," he said. "Speed kills and I don't like doing it this way because it doesn't make for the best project, but we've seen more and more in this arena, they kind of speed it up and often times it leads to not having a voice, so our goal is to pedal as fast as they do to make sure our community has a say in what happens."Presently, Massachusetts has no seat at the table in Washington D.C. We have two senators who won't even try to do their jobs. The worst of whom is the self-described "rock thrower" who spends most of her time wandering around this country (on the Massachusetts taxpayers' dime) on her mission of self-promotion.

The Commonwealth is being left in the dust and our tax dollars are going to other projects that won't benefit the state. We deserve better and that is why I'm supporting Beth Lindstrom for U.S. Senator.

Beth Lindstrom is a small business owner. She knows the ups and downs of having your own business. She signs the front of the check every two weeks to meet payroll. Unlike Warren, who's only signed the back of her checks her entire life.

We need someone who understands that tax cuts can only help Massachusetts. A 20 percent cut for business and 80 percent cut for middle class Massachusetts families. We've seen what tax cuts have done for the economy and individuals. Warren's simple-minded answer is to raise taxes in November.



It is long past the time to change the direction of the Commonwealth and we need your support - vote for Beth Lindstrom this fall!



Bob Horacek, SouthwickPolitical operatives closely tied to former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick are launching a new federal political action committee, also known as a PAC.

The PAC, called a "Reason to Believe," carries the same title as his 240-page book published in 2011.

But Doug Rubin, who worked for Patrick in the governor's office and on the campaign trail, said Patrick is not personally involved in the PAC, even though the PAC's website and social media make extensive use of images of Patrick. When the PAC launched Wednesday, its materials did not prominently note Patrick's lack of official involvement.

The creation of the PAC comes as Patrick's name is included in the mix of possible presidential candidates who could run in 2020.

"The PAC is not affiliated with any candidate, not affiliated with Deval Patrick," Rubin told MassLive. The PAC was launched to support federal candidates for public office who share the former governor's desire of "bringing people together," he added.

The PAC's goals include "[d]eveloping and promoting a positive agenda for Democrats in 2018 and beyond," according to its website.

John Walsh, Patrick's former gubernatorial campaign manager and the former chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, is listed as the PAC's treasurer. Walsh did not immediately respond to a message left on his cell phone.

Patrick served as governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He previously created a political action committee that focused on federal races called Together PAC.

A Chicago native, Patrick is a close friend of former President Barack Obama.

The PAC's listed address is the same as that of Northwind Strategies, the public affairs firm headed by Rubin. Rubin has also advised Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is also mentioned among pundits as a potential 2020 presidential candidate.

The PAC will support "federal candidates who share Governor Patrick's commitment to the grassroots and to bringing Democratic ideals to every region of the country," the website said.

Appearing on CNN in early August, Patrick told Jake Tapper, "Don't interview me for 2020 yet: I'm not ready to be a candidate for 2020."

Since leaving the governor's office in 2015, Patrick has worked at Bain Capital as a managing director at the private investment firm.

The new PAC also launched a Facebook page, saying the approaching midterm election in November means it's "all hands on deck to win in 2018."

"We need to be willing to compete everywhere," the Facebook post said. "We need to show up and organize the grassroots, listening for good ideas from wherever they come. Over the next few months we'll be doing just that, standing with Deval Patrick and Democrats across the country who are fighting to take back the Senate and House of Representatives."

This post was updated with additional information. This post was corrected at 5:09 p.m. with comments from Doug Rubin, who said former Patrick aides launched the PAC, not former Gov. Deval Patrick himself.Massachusetts is increasingly becoming the biotech hub of the United States, according to a report released Wednesday by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

"Massachusetts is very lucky in the fact that we have all of the pieces really necessary for a dominant industry," said Elizabeth Steele, vice president of programs and global affairs for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. "We have the hospitals, the universities ... We have a helpful government ... and we also have an investment community here that knows the industry well."

The industry snapshot looks at 2017 and the first half of 2018.

It found that Massachusetts biopharma companies received $3.1 billion in venture capital investment in 2017 - representing 37 percent of all biopharma venture capital investments in the U.S.

Twelve Massachusetts biopharma companies went public in 2017, representing nearly half of all U.S.-based biotech initial public offerings. That trend has continued into 2018, with 15 IPOs, or 39 percent of all U.S.-based biotech IPOs, coming from companies based in Massachusetts.

The dominance of the Massachusetts biotech sector means a significant boost for the state economy.

The report found that jobs in Massachusetts biopharma grew by 28 percent over the last decade, from 54,280 jobs in 2008 to 69,941 jobs in 2017. The biggest biopharma employer in the state is Sanofi, followed by Shire, Biogen, Novartis and Pfizer.

The average annual wage for someone who works for a biotech company in Massachusetts is $145,731.

The industry also helps Massachusetts get public funding. Massachusetts organizations received the second-most NIH funding in 2017, after California. Massachusetts hospitals got more than half (57 percent) of all NIH funding given to independent hospitals.

Under former Gov. Deval Patrick and Gov. Charlie Baker, state government has made an effort to attract life sciences businesses. Steele said state efforts, such as tax incentives and infrastructure grants, have helped the industry grow, along with having a state government and Legislature that generally listens to and supports the industry.

The biotech sector is based around the Cambridge and Boston area, which has more than 500 biotech companies. Venture capital investment and IPOs were both heavily concentrated in Cambridge.

Steele said she anticipates that the industry will continue to expand, because institutions like universities and hospitals will continue conducting research. "I definitely think the industry will continue to grow, mainly because the science we have is strong," she said.BOSTON -- One day after a controversial Instagram post from 2013 re-surfaced, Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez addressed the post at Fenway Park on Tuesday.

"It was one of those things where I was really touched at the time," Martinez said. "I saw it and I posted it. It had no intent to offend anyone. It was mostly just to state a political point at the time that I believed in."

Back on Jan. 10, 2013, Martinez posted a picture of Adolf Hitler next to the quote, "To conquer a nation, First disarm its citizens." Martinez, arguing against gun control, commented, "This is why I always stay strapped! #thetruth".

"It was one of those things where I saw the quote and I saw the meme and it was terrible," Martinez said. "When I read that, it kind of threw me back [to thinking of Cuban relatives]. I posted it. That's one thing. I love my country. I love this country and I stand by the Constitution. I stand by the Second Amendment. It's something that I take pride in and something I'll back up."

Martinez said that he didn't mean to offend anyone with the post.

"Everyone here has the right to their own political beliefs and everyone has the right to stand by what they believe in," he said. "That's what makes us American. We're not all gonna agree on the same things. That's what makes this country so great.

"I didn't mean any harm by the picture. It was more of a picture just showing what my stand is on the Second Amendment."

Martinez is the latest athlete to have old controversial posts re-surface this year, joining young major-leaguers Josh Hader, Trea Turner and Sean Newcomb, who had racist and homophobic tweets in their past. The incidents led the Red Sox to remind their players about the dangers of social media, including having informal talks with major-league players and asking minor-league managers to tell players to be careful.

"He expressed a political view," manager Alex Cora said. "People use their social media the way they want to. Obviously, we talk to players, not only at the big-league level but throughout the organization about their use of social media. At the end, they decide how to do it. He expressed that a few years ago, in the way I use mine to express a few things I want to express. I'll leave it at that."

Martinez, whose family hails from Cuba, said that seeing the purported quote from Hitler make him think of relatives who lived under the regime of Fidel Castro. That struck a chord that led to his post.

"I understand, but like I said, I had no intent to hurt anybody by it," he said. "If you read it and kind of understand it, I can, in a sense, relate to it. My family still talks about family members back in Cuba that I'll never get to meet and it sucks. I love this country. This is the greatest country in the world. I would never choose to leave this country. At the time, it was something I read and said, 'wow.' And that's why I did it."BOSTON -- Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez worked with Nathan Eovaldi here at Fenway Park on Tuesday.

Eovaldi hurled 15 scoreless innings in his first two starts after the Red Sox traded for him July 25. But he has a 7.41 ERA and 2.24 WHIP in four starts since then.

He has allowed 21 runs, 14 earned, 35 hits (two homers) and three walks while striking out 12.

Martinez called Red Sox manager Alex Cora on the phone a few days ago to speak about Eovaldi.

"He said he noticed something in Nate and he wants to help out," Cora said. "He did it in spring training with all the guys."

Martinez worked diligently with all Red Sox pitchers for the first few weeks of spring training camp.

"The fact that he's paying attention to what's going on, it means a lot," Cora said. "And he's not the only guy that played for us and is paying attention. You get a text or a call from David (Ortiz). You get a call from Mikey (Lowell). They know what's going on, how special this group is. And whatever they can do from afar to help this team out or to show up here and help out is great."

Cora mentioned how Tim Wakefield also continues to work with knuckleballer Steven Wright.

"And I appreciate that," Cora added.by Nirmala Carvalho

Sister Arina Gonsalves is a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. In her view, there is a connection between sexual abuse, abuse of power and abuse of conscience. In Ireland, Pope Francis gave an example of what must be done.

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  Sister Arina Gonsalves is a member of the congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary (RJM). She spoke to AsiaNews about the sex abuse scandal involving members of the clergy in Ireland, which Pope Francis referred to during his recent visit to Dublin for the World Meeting of Families and also in today's general audience.

For her, in India "we need to change the culture of silence in relation to sexual abuse of the minors and vulnerable adults. The pontiff, she notes, "clearly expressed sorrow and accepted responsibility for the abuses that had happened in the past years.

Pope Francis appointed the Indian nun as a new member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. She has a long history of personal commitment in the Archdiocese of Bombay (Mumbai) to the protection of children.

The Holy Fathers repeated apology in Ireland shows that he is sincerely concerned about the victims of child abuse in the past. This also shows his great humility and he takes personal responsibility for what had happened in the Church in the past.

Francis, she adds, has clearly expressed a connection between sexual abuse, abuse of power and abuse of conscience. The response of asking for pardon and seeking reparation will help but we need to take preventive steps in the future. ".

According to Sister Arina, a "step forward would be asking for a radical change of culture where the safety of the children will be top priority ". At the same time, she admits that The clergy alone will not be able to bring about such radical change. But we have to ask for and receive help from the whole community. We need to create a culture of accountability so that justice will be administered.

In her view, the way forward entails three steps: Encourage a culture that prevents sexual abuse as well as the abuse of power that allows to cover up; provide fitting institutions that allow the victims of sexual abuse and those who cover up to report, to be heard and for justice to be administered; see to it that the accused get just and transparent trial.

To this end, we need to study the above-mentioned suggestions with the help of expertise, ask their advice, propose changes and implement them.At the general audience, Francis retraces the highlights of his recent visit to Ireland. The families present at the IX World Meeting "an eloquent sign of the beauty of the dream of God for the entire human family". "Deeply marked by the meeting with some survivors: there were eight; and on several occasions I asked the Lord for forgiveness for these sins, for the scandal and the sense of betrayal [they] have procured".

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Last weekends visit to Ireland was an opportunity for Pope Francis to reaffirm the value of the family and its unity, bearer of peace, but also to "take responsibility for the pain and bitterness for the suffering caused in that country by various forms of abuse" even within the Church. The value of the family and the pain of abuse were the central points of the visit to Ireland in the Popes reflections on the journey at today's general audience.

Speaking to the twenty thousand people present in Saint Peter's Square, Francis first addressed the reasons for the visit, the conclusion of the IX World Meeting of Families. "The thousands of families - spouses, grandparents, children - gathered in Dublin, with all the variety of their languages, cultures and experiences, were eloquent signs of the beauty of God's dream for the entire human family. We know: God's dream is unity, harmony and peace, for the family and for the world, the fruit of fidelity, forgiveness and reconciliation that he has given us in Christ. In the mystery of His love, He calls families to participate in this dream and make the world a home where nobody is alone, unwanted or excluded ".

"The real and apt 'high points' of these days were testimonies of conjugal love given by couples of all ages. Their stories have reminded us that the love of marriage is a special gift from God, to be cultivated every day in the 'domestic church' that is the family. How greatly this world is in need of a revolution of love, of a revolution of tenderness to overcome the culture of the provisional". "They also showed us how faith takes place in daily life, 'around the home table, and spreads its beauty in the great community of the Church and of society".

"The highlight of my visit was the big festival with the families, Saturday night, in the Dublin stadium, followed Sunday by Mass in the Phoenix Park. During the Vigil we heard very touching testimonies of families who suffered from wars, families renewed by forgiveness, families where love saved from the spiral of addictions, families who learned to use mobile phones and tablets well and give priority to the time spent together . And the value of communication between generations and the specific role of grandparents in consolidating family ties and transmitting the treasure of faith were stressed ". Francis went on to reaffirm the central role of grandparents in this. But "today it seems that grandparents are a disturbance". "In this culture of waste, grandparents are 'discarded', they are distanced", but "grandparents are wisdom, they are the memory of a people, the memory of families." "Please do not discard your grandparents."

"This visit to Ireland, in addition to great joy, also had to take on the pain and bitterness for the suffering caused in that country by various forms of abuse, even by members of the Church, and the fact that in the past the ecclesiastical authorities were not always able to adequately deal with these crimes. [I was ] deeply marked by the meeting with some survivors: there were eight; and on several occasions I asked the Lord for forgiveness for these sins, for the scandal and the sense of betrayal [they] have procured. I implored Our Lady to intercede for the healing of the victims and to give us the strength to firmly pursue truth and justice. The Irish Bishops have undertaken a serious path of purification and reconciliation with those who have suffered abuse, and with the help of national authorities have established a series of strict rules to ensure the safety of young people. In my meeting with the Bishops, I encouraged them in their efforts to remedy the failures of the past with honesty and courage, trusting in the Lord's promises and counting on the profound faith of the Irish people, to inaugurate a season of renewal of the Church in Ireland ".

"In Ireland there is faith, there is a great faith, but you know there are few vocations to the priesthood. We must pray for vocations in Ireland. We will do it with a Hail Mary dedicated to Our Lady of Knock ".

"The World Meeting of Families in Dublin was a prophetic, comforting experience of many families engaged in the Gospel way of marriage and family life; families disciples and missionaries, leaven of goodness, holiness, justice and peace. We forget so many families that carry on all this ". But, Francis said, today it is fashionable to indicate separations and divorces. "I respect everyone, we must respect people, but the ideal is not divorce, the ideal is not separation, it is not the destruction of the family. The ideal is the united family. So forward: this is the ideal ".

And in the greeting to the Arabs, the Pope invited pilgrims to pray "for all the families who are in difficulty to rediscover the greatness of the love that united them and the strength of faith capable of healing their wounds".

Finally, at the end of the general audience, the Pope recalled that next Saturday is the fourth World Day of Prayer for the care of creation, "which - he said - we celebrate in union with our Orthodox brothers and sisters and with the adhesion of other Churches and Christian Communities ".

"In this year's Message, I would like to draw attention to the question of water, a primary asset to be protected and made available to all. I am grateful for the various initiatives that in various places the particular Churches, Institutes of consecrated life and ecclesial aggregations have prepared. I invite everyone to join in prayer, Saturday, for our common home, for the care of our common home ".Like Facebook and other top social networks, Twitter continues to crack down on accounts that engage in what it calls coordinated manipulation.

A week after suspending 284 such accounts, the company just banned another 486 bad actors.

Since our initial suspensions last Tuesday, we have continued our investigation, further building our understanding of these networks, Twitter revealed on Monday.

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While its investigation remains ongoing, Twitter said last week that many of the offending accounts appear to have originated from Iran. Fewer than 100 of the 770 suspended accounts claimed to be located in the U.S.  and many of these were sharing divisive social commentary, Twitter said on Monday.

On average, the 100 accounts in question tweeted 867 times, and were followed by 1,268 other accounts. In addition, Twitter found that the majority were less than a year old.

Many of the tweets were of a political nature. They appear to be part of a larger effort by foreign governments to sow political discord among U.S. voters.

Twitter said it identified one advertiser from the newly suspended set, which ran just $30 in ads in 2017. Those particular ads did not target the U.S., and the billing address was located outside of Iran, according to Twitter.

The company says it continues to work with law enforcement and its peer companies to reduce coordinated disinformation campaigns.

Along with Twitter, both Facebook and Google deleted hundreds of accounts with suspected ties to the Iranian and Russian governments last week.

With the help of cybersecurity firm FireEye, Facebook reported removing 652 Pages, groups and accounts, which targeted users on Facebook and Instagram.

In addition, Microsoft recently foiled another attempt by the Russian government to meddle in the U.S. electoral process. On the news, Brad Smith, Microsoft's president-chief legal officer, suggested that the problem of foreign actors attempting to meddle with its network is getting worse.The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Katrougalos, represented Greece at the informal meeting of Prime Ministers of the Western Balkans (WB6), in Durres, Albania.

The subject of the meeting was promotion of regional economic integration. In his remarks, Mr. Katrougalos referred to Greeces longstanding positions in favour of the European perspective of the Balkan countries, with special emphasis on the recent initiatives for promoting political stability and economic cooperation in the region. A salient example of this policy was the Prespes agreement, but Greece has systematically developed bilateral and multilateral relations with all of the countries of the region and has concluded agreements on transfer of know-how and support with all of the Balkan countries in the process of joining the European Union. In the economic sector, Greece is firmly supporting and promoting integration and connectivity policies, particularly in the transport and energy sectors.

Mr. Katrougalos also argued that, in parallel with the economic dimension of development, special emphasis must be put on the social dimension. The peoples of the region will not benefit from becoming a pool of cheap labour for the other European countries. Conversely, they need to endeavour to promote their strategic comparative advantages in the improvement of productivity, through investments in human capital and policies for strengthening the social state and the rights and skills of their workers.The occasion is the 70th anniversary of relations between the two countries. The announcement came during a meeting at the North Korean embassy with diplomats and representatives of the North Korean Orthodox Committee. As Church, we would also be ready to develop and strengthen humanitarian ties, Kirill said.

Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The Leader of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Patriarch Kirill is ready to send a delegation to Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th anniversary of relations between the two countries.

Kirill himself made the announcement two days ago during a meeting with members of the Orthodox Committee of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) in Moscow.

On this occasion, the patriarch thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for his personal "attention" to the ROC presence in Pyongyang, i.e. the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity. He also invited Kim to visit the building.

North Korean Ambassador Kim Hyun-jun and other North Korean diplomats were present at the meeting.

In his address, Kirill called for greater involvement of Russia in the Korean peace talks, adding for our part, as the Church, we would also be ready to develop and strengthen humanitarian ties, including expanding contacts between believers of our countries.

Kirill praised North Korea for their participation in the Church, specifically for sending young people to study at the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary.

I believe that with the advent of the Orthodox clergy in North Korea, the needs of Orthodox believers there will be met, he explained.

Kirill had previously travelled to Pyongyang when he was a metropolitan bishop to celebrate the opening of the church building in south Pyongyang in 2006.

The Church of the Life-Giving Trinity was built with assistance from the ROC after a 2002 trip to Moscow by the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

Kirill is not the first religious leader to seek a relationship with believers in North Korea. After the meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, Card Andrea Yeom Soo-jung expressed his wish to travel to Pyongyang as soon as possible.

In addition to the Orthodox Church, North Korea has three Protestant churches (Bongsu, Chilgol and Jeil) and one Catholic (Jangchung Cathedral).

However, critics note these are a mere " pretence" for outsiders. In fact, although the Constitution recognises religious freedom, people caught handing out sacred texts or involved in the network of underground Churches are arrested or executed.Russias Defence Minister notes that reconstruction is ongoing, and security points [. . .] can begin accepting refugees. The UN special envoy for Syria has scheduled a meeting to discuss Syrias constitutional issues.

Damascus (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Syria is ready for the return of a million refugees, thanks to an improved situation on the ground and the reconstruction work started in collaboration with Moscow.

"[M]ore than one million people have returned home," Sergei Shoigu is quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. And "Now every opportunity has been created for the return of roughly one million (more) refugees," he told journalists, he added.

The exodus of millions of desperate people, who sought refuge in the region (Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan), Europe, North America and Australia, is one of the most serious consequences of the war that has torn Syria apart for seven bloody years.

Things have apparently improved on the ground and this has favoured the return of some refugees. In this respect, "Huge infrastructure reconstruction work is ongoing, the rebuilding of transport routes and security points so that Syria can begin accepting refugees, Shoigu said.

Russia is one of Syrias key allies along with Iran. Its military intervention against jihadist groups and extremist militias proved essential for the victory of Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. At present, only Idlib province remains in rebel hands.

For Russias Defence Minister, as the situation gets better, the country could move towards a slow but gradual stabilisation.

Meanwhile, efforts to breath new life in the peace process continue. Following a three-way meeting between Russia, Turkey and Iran, a UN-sponsored summit is set for 14 September centred, among other things, on constitutional issues.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who will meet with senior Western and Mideast representatives, will coordinate the work.

The meeting will focus on "the way ahead on the political process" for Syria in order to set up a constitutional committee", UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said.

The latter should be in place before world leaders meet at the General Assembly in New York in late September.Contributed photo /

ESSEX  Talk Like A Pirate Cruise: an adults only adventure, is being held Wednesday, Sept. 19 at the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat, 1 Railroad Avenue, Essex.

Theres no better place to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day than aboard the famed Becky Thatcher Riverboat. Arrive dressed in your best pirate garb for a chance to win a prize. Boarding begins at 5:45 p.m. with departure at 6 p.m. After a train ride to Deep River Landing, guests board the Becky Thatcher for a two-hour cruise down the Connecticut River, then returning to Essex Station by train by approximately 9 p.m.Contributed photo /

OLD SAYBROOK, CT - The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center welcomes On the Serious Side, bringing the music of Tower of Power on Friday, Sept. 7 at 8 p.m.

On the Serious Side is New Englands premier Tower of Power Tribute band. Created by drummer Gene Zwicharowski and named after one of Tower of Powers most complicated and syncopated songs, On the Serious Sides shows are all about the "live versions" of classic Tower of Power songs. Featured selections include "What is Hip, We Came to Play, Soul With a Capital S, and Ain't Nothing Stopping us Now.HIGGANUM  A snake spotted by a resident in Higganum on Wednesday is not dangerous, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protections Wildlife Division said.

The resident shared a photo of what appeared to be a small, or baby, snake on Twitter and wondered what kind of snake it was, fearing that where theres a baby there must be a mother close by. The snake was seen in the Village of Higganum.When a Utah firefighter named Patrick came to California to help the legion of men and women fighting the Mendocino-area wildfires, he probably didn't imagine he'd find a four-legged best friend.

But when Draper City firefighter Patrick, whose last name was not given, was fighting fires with a group of his colleagues recently, they happened upon a scared German Shepherd "huddled under a tree," according to a Facebook post by the Mendocino County Animal Shelter.MIDDLETOWN  The Polish Falcons Nest 519 welcomes members of the U.S. Veterans Rowing & Kayakings newest division on Friday at The Pavilion at Crystal Lake, Middletown.

The event begins at 10 a.m. Founder Paul Varszegi, and secretary Jerry Augustine will be there to coordinate the events.The rush is on for Canada to get a Nafta deal, though a key stumbling block remains.

As analysts began parsing summaries of a partial U.S.-Mexico deal announced Monday, most details didn't jump out as deal-breakers for the other partner in the 24-year-old continental trade pact. The problems instead lie in a series of Nafta fights always seen as squarely between Canada and the U.S., chief among them the pact's dispute resolution systems.

"It seems like a set of things that are very easy for Canada to come in on," Brett House, deputy chief economist at Bank of Nova Scotia, said in an interview about what the U.S. and Mexico agreed to. "We're really just back to where we always were."

Markets appear unconcerned, with Canadian auto-parts makers Linamar Corp. and Magna International extending gains Tuesday -- signaling a bet Canada will make the cut on a final deal and that the Mexico problems were the biggest ones that needed fixing. "I am not concerned right now for Canada's position," Bruce Heyman, a U.S. ambassador to Canada under Barack Obama, told BNN Bloomberg television.

But the clock is ticking on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives in Washington for talks Tuesday, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wants to notify Congress of a deal by Friday. It would be a lot easier to do so with Canada, since U.S. lawmakers might fight the Trump administration if it tries to push ahead with only Mexico.

The following are issues that need to be resolved to preserve a trilateral deal:

--Dispute Panels

Nafta's Chapter 19 allows for anti-dumping panels to resolve disputes. Justin Trudeau's Liberal government considers it a red line, and has regularly said so, and it was a potential deal-breaker in U.S.-Canada trade talks a generation ago. Support for the prime minister crosses party lines in the current negotiations. Rona Ambrose, who once led the Conservatives after Trudeau's election in 2015, urged him to dig in on the issue. "Canada has to stand strong on the dispute resolution mechanism," she told BNN Bloomberg television on Monday.

But Lighthizer wants to kill it, a point he repeated Monday, and Mexico doesn't feel strongly. The two-country pact waters down a related mechanism, Chapter 11's investor-state dispute settlement panels, that Canada may also squirm over. But Chapter 19 is bigger -- either Canada or the U.S. will have to blink.

--Supply Management

It isn't in Nafta now but it's a big irritant for one key stakeholder: Donald Trump. The U.S. president often rails against Canada's system of dairy quotas and tariffs, known as supply management. Domestic politics are a complicating factor. Quebec, the French-speaking Canadian province in which the system is considered sacred, is in the middle of an election campaign.

Trudeau regularly says he won't dismantle supply management, but has left the door open to giving the U.S. a cut of the market. Most analysts expect that since Canada did the same in both the Trans Pacific Partnership and its free-trade deal with the European Union. "Every time we've negotiated a big trade agreement, we've essentially provided some additional access in return for compensation for farmers," House said.

--Sunset Clause

An American demand for a sunset clause that would have killed Nafta after five years unless the countries agreed to renew it was another deal-breaker for Canada. The U.S.-Mexico agreement stipulates a 16-year Nafta that would be reviewed and possibly extended every six years. That opens a door for Canada to agree.

"They gave on the sunset clause, which continues to be a red line for Canada and Mexico," Ambrose said. "Now it's time for Canada to come to the table and for Canada to give something too."

--U.S. Tariffs

One big question after Monday's announcement is when, if ever, the U.S. will lift tariffs on Mexican aluminum and steel. The same tariffs were applied to Canada -- the top foreign source of both metals to the U.S. -- and Trudeau's team will be looking for an exemption as part of any deal. Canada has taken steps to beef up protections against being a back-door for foreign steel in a bid to curry favor with the U.S.

--Government Procurement

The U.S. wants to limit the value of government contracts available to Canadian firms. Trudeau's negotiators pushed back strongly against this at first but has been more quiet lately. There's little signal they see it as a red line.

--Online Sales

Mexico agreed to raise its so-called de minimis level -- the threshold above which you pay taxes on a cross-border shipments -- to $100, from $50. That will, in effect, exclude a larger number of shipments from the U.S. to Mexico from paying customs duties. Canada's de minimis level remains low at just C$20 ($15.50), but the government hasn't stuck particularly closely to that figure. Many analysts see this as a bargaining chip Canada has at its disposal.

So it's things like Chapter 19 that will decide Nafta's fate. "Mexico wants a deal, Trump needs a deal. This is a good time for Canada to re-enter talks with a mandate to close and conclude," said Adam Taylor, a former trade official under the Conservatives who is now a principal with Export Action Global, an Ottawa-based consultancy. "It's time to shelve our 'nice to haves' and advance and protect our 'must haves.'"CENTERBROOK - Community Music School recently launched a new curriculum for early childhood music education, First Notes; Musical Beginnings for Young Children. The program offers classes for children ages 6 months up through 5 years with progressively involved musical offerings. The final level offers an introduction to instrument study, basic note reading skills, and prepares children for private musical study. First Notes will begin Sept. 12 at CMSs Centerbrook location at 90 Main Street. The following classes are available within this curriculum:

Sparrows: Lap babies and crawlers, 6 to 12 months (with caregiver), held Wednesdays, 11-11:45 a.m. for 16 weeks; Tuition: $175 This class will center on learning to play musically with your child through bounces, wiggles, tickles, simple songs, and lullabies. Caregivers and babies will explore simple rhythm instruments and engage in circle games and dances but with plenty of time for "at your own pace" musical exploration and social interaction.

Bluebirds: Walkers, 12 to 24 months (with caregiver), held Wednesdays, 10-10:45 a.m., 16 weeks; Tuition: $175 Walkers are full of energy and love expressing themselves with their whole bodies! Action songs, games, and dances will be at the center of this class along with opportunities to explore sound by manipulating a wide variety of rhythm instruments and learning to sing simple songs.

Robins: Toddlers, 2 and 3 year olds (with caregiver), Wednesdays, 9-9:45 a.m., 16 weeks; Tuition: $175. Two and three year olds are ready for greater variety of movement and song and love to express themselves musically and in dramatic ways. We will begin to make music as a group, learning to interact with others, listen carefully, and follow simple instructions. Fundamental musical concepts of rhythm and pitch will be introduced, and social aspects of music making -playing and dancing as a group, mimicking sound patterns, etc. will be at the center of our class.

Eagles: 4 and 5 year olds (without caregiver), Wednesdays, 1-1:45 p.m., 16 weeks; Tuition: $350. Eagles is a part of the CMS First Notes curriculum for 4-5 year olds, and is designed to prepare young children to begin private music lessons. Using glockenspiels and recorders, this instrumental group class will focus on pre-note reading skills, listening and self-control using games and group activities.

For additional information and to register for the program, visit www.community-music-school.org/programs or call CMS at 860-767-0026.

Free Preview Week coming to CMS

CENTERBROOK & EAST LYME - Community Music School, located at 90 Main Street in Centerbrook and 179 Flanders Road in East Lyme, welcomes the general public to enjoy a variety of music programming during Free Preview Week Sept.10-14. Children and adults are invited to schedule a free 30-minute preview lesson, and sample a vast array of programs for all ages including private and group lessons, Suzuki violin, adult cabaret, senior band, string ensembles, music therapy, early childhood classes, and more.

The public is welcome to observe any group class or ensemble during Free Preview Week. Those interested in a 30-minute preview lesson can schedule by calling 860-767-0026 or emailing info@community-music-school.org. Musical instruction is available for all ages, all abilities, and all genres. For additional information, visit www.community-music-school.org, call 860-767-0026, or email info@community-music-school.org.

Kidney donation program set at Russell Library

MIDDLETOWN  The Russell Library, Middletown, will hold an educational event about kidney donation, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome; no registration. For information, call 860-347-2528.

Middletown Mayor Dan Drew donated a kidney to a stranger in 2016. Come hear about his experience and the experiences of other donors and recipients, and learn all about organ donation from those in-the-know. Representatives from BeTheMatch, Donate Life Connecticut, New England Donor Services, the transplant unit at Hartford Hospital, and others will speak at this event, with time for questions and answers as well. Refreshments and information on all aspects of donation will be available.

Boobstock music fest returns for 6th year

DEEP RIVER  The 6th Annual Boobstock, a mini music fest to raise money for special programs and services for Breast Cancer Patients at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven (Boutique) and Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center (Comprehensive Breast Center), will be held Sept. 15, 1-6 p.m. at the John (Jan) III Sobieski Club, 10 Woodland Road, Deep River, at 860-526-5211.

Tickets are $25 for ages 12-64 and $15 for ages 5-11 or over 65, ages 4 under are free. Tickets include several great bands who donate their time and talents and picnic food. Dozens of prizes, tee shirts and bandanas, coosies and bumperstickers will be given away. All profits will be split equally between the two hospitals.

BOOBSTOCK was founded in 2013 by Margaret Rohner to Pay it Forward after her breast cancer diagnosis and cure through an early detection program at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven in 2012. Also in 2012, Nell Johnson gradually succumbed to breast cancer after a valiant four year battle. Margaret died 3 months after the first Boobstock.

Last year the event raised more than $8,600 through attendance, merchandise sales, raffles, an auction, and several generous corporate, business and individual donations. The goal is to double that amount this year. Visit boobstock.com or on Facebook for details about this years exciting auction items.

Donations should be made payable to Boobstock and can be either mailed c/o Patricia Unan, 72 Bokum Road, Deep River CT 06417 or they can be dropped off at, or mailed to any Liberty Bank. Donors will receive thank you letters for tax purposes. For more information, contact Patricia Unan, BOOBSTOCK Administrator, at 860-227-6232 or dram2006@gmail.com

Wildcat reunion is Sept. 8

MIDDLETOWN  The Woodrow Wilson Wildcat 40th Reunion of the Class of 1978 is being held on Sept. 8, 8 p.m. at the Shuttle Meadow Country Club in Berlin. Members are also inviting alumni from 1977, 1979 and 1980 to join in the celebration.

The final deadline for payment is Aug. 28.Violence against civilians, blocks on humanitarian aid, torture, child soldiers. None of the parties tried to minimize civilian deaths. The official figure of the dead is 6.660, but the real number would be much higher.

Geneva (AsiaNews) - Indiscriminate violence against civilians, blocks on humanitarian aid, torture, eight-year-old children forced to fight and sexual violence: all the parties involved in the conflict in Yemen have perpetrated - and continue to perpetrate - war crimes. This is the harsh accusation by the UN human rights group in Yemen, collected in a 41-page document, published yesterday.

The report covers the period between September 2014 and June 2018, analysing the main patterns of violations and abuses of human rights, humanitarian law and international criminal law. Experts say they have identified a list of leaders, who have been forwarded to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. These are individuals from the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition - which also involves the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - and the "de facto authorities" [i.e. the Houti rebels, ed.).

The report points out that the air strikes conducted by the coalition caused the majority of direct deaths among civilians. The raids hit residential areas, markets, funeral and wedding ceremonies, detention centres, civilian transport and even medical facilities.

According to the editors, the perpetrators have violated the principle of distinction, proportionality and precaution, and have been guilty of war crimes. "There is little evidence - says Kamel Jendoubi, head of the group of experts - that the parties involved in the conflict have tried to minimize the number of civilian deaths".

The group also criticizes the harsh naval and air restrictions imposed on the country since March 2015. In addition, UN experts accuse all parties of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners detained without charge and without access to a defense.

The report also denounces the recruitment of child soldiers: the majority of children between the ages of 11 and 17, to which are added significant numbers of children of only eight years. Finally, the personnel of the Emirates and Cordone security forces are responsible for sexual violence against the most vulnerable categories, such as refugees.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, at least 6,660 civilians died between March 2015 and 23 August 2018. According to the authors, the figure would be far greater. The Yemeni government has "primary legal responsibility" to prosecute the crimes committed by its citizens and armed forces.When David Carrasco got to the funeral home on Monday morning, he wasn't sure what he would find. But he wanted to pay his respects to the man who had represented Arizona in the Senate for 31 years, and who had fought in the same faraway Vietnam War he had, decades earlier: Sen. John McCain.

He saw the flags, and the McCain campaign signs, and the letters that well-wishers had left in front of the building. He heard the woman softly singing "God Bless America," and felt the hot August wind blowing through the three flags he and his friend brought - an American flag, a U.S. Navy flag and a POW-themed flag.

But he didn't expect McCain's wife, Cindy, to walk out of the funeral home and start talking to him.

"I gave her a medallion that was presented to me over two years ago, during Operation Freedom Bird," Carrasco said. "When she came out, that was the first thought that came to me. I wanted to give her something that related to her husband's service."

McCain died Saturday after fighting brain cancer for more than a year. He will lie in state at the Arizona State Capitol on Wednesday before being flown to Washington and, ultimately, will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Carrasco said he plans to stand vigil until McCain is moved on Wednesday. But Monday was quiet. Just a few people were outside when Cindy McCain came out.

Carrasco gave her a medallion, with a yellow and red ribbon and an American flag on one side.

"This was given to me at one of the ceremonies for Vietnam veterans," Carrasco said, his voice shaking. "It would be my honor to present this to you on our behalf."

John McCain was perhaps one of America's most famous - and politically successful - Vietnam veterans, having survived 5 1/2years in a Hanoi prison. He was known throughout his political career as a fierce advocate for veterans and was described by several of his former Senate colleagues as a "rock star" among members of the U.S. military.

So when Cindy McCain walked out of the funeral home, Carrasco decided not just to say thanks, but to give her a medal that signified the service he shared with her husband, and the bond.

"I couldn't help but get somewhat emotional. I didn't think I would get emotional, but," he trailed off. "To know that someone from his era was here, it probably meant a lot to her. Even though her husband isn't here, we're here."The new government body will be operational next April. The 2020 Olympics will need workers. Catholic migrants provide an opportunity for the Catholic Church to reshape its role in Japanese society.

Tokyo (AsiaNews)  Japan plans to set up a new agency to manage and increase the flows of migrant workers who will enter Japan in the coming years, government sources announced.

Fr Ignacio Martinez, a Guadalupe missionary and head of the Social Affairs Department of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, warns against the "selfish" view that sees migrants as "means" for the country, without consideration for their well-being.

The new agency will be active starting in April 2018. Foreign workers will be granted a new residency status, details of which will be defined in the coming months. Thus, Japan will be open to hundreds of thousands of workers in different sectors.

As the countrys demographic crisis got worse and the labour force shrank, the number of economic migrants has been rising exponentially, doubling in five years: from 680,000 in 2012 to 1.28 million in October 2017. Of these, the largest group is made up of Chinese (370,000), followed by Vietnamese and Filipinos.

Fr Martinez notes that Japan needs workers of all kinds, especially as it prepares for the 2020 Olympic Games. Blue collar workers are needed to build stadiums, but skilled workers are required to accommodate the expected millions of tourists.

Japan wants to show itself as an "open and friendly country", but this contrasts with the negative experiences of many migrants, whose rights are not protected. "One problem that stands out is that of communication. Immigrants do not speak the language, they do not know the culture. This is why they are often reprimanded by their superiors. They are far from their families, from their countries and they feel alone.

Then there are the "brokers", those who contact workers in their countries of origin, putting them in contact with Japanese companies and paying for their flight to Japan. Thus, migrants find themselves in debt, which they cannot repay because of low wages. "Sometimes, brokers take their passports, so they cannot go anywhere. It is a new form of slavery."

For the missionary, there is an additional issue. Many families are separated, because the husband has a work permit, but his family cannot stay, even if the children are born and raised in Japan. "This is not only a migration problem, but a humanitarian one as well.

Japans small Catholic Church cares about the fate of these families, many of whom are Catholic. "Many Vietnamese and almost all Filipinos are Catholics. If you go to any church in Japan, you will see them at Mass, praying or even taking refuge because they feel safe there.

Their presence is an opportunity for the Church to redefine its role in society. We must integrate people who come from other countries to build a single, multicultural and intercultural community."

In order to best meet this challenge, the Committee for Migrants, Refugees and Itinerant People, which is presided by bishop of Nagoya Mgr Michael Goro Matsuura, will meet and define the "strategic plan" for 2019-2021.By Fabian Dawson

Mata Press Service

The holy month of Ramadan is a time for Muslims to reflect on their faith in God and their trust in humanity.

In the summer of 2011, when Ramadan was being observed in Turkey, Vancouver entrepreneur, Altaf Nazerali, was chastising himself for neglecting to spend more time cherishing these values, after a hectic bout of investor meetings in Istanbul.

I was hoping for some quiet time to reflect in the waiting lounge, when the call came, said Nazerali.

By the time the call ended, Nazeralis belief in both God and humanity were shaken.

The voice on the other end had berated him for not coming clean about his past, which apparently included connections with narco-traffickers, terrorists and Mafia organisations.

The phone call ended abruptly indicating that the proposed deal with one of Turkeys top industrialists was dead.

Google yourself, said the voice, before hanging up.

At 30,000 feet, a confused and shocked Nazerali was trying to figure out what why he was being punished, what he did to deserve this and who were his accusers.

During transit enroute to British Columbia, the full force of the fake articles on the Internet, horrified him.

By the time he got to his home in Vancouvers North Shore Mountains, the phone had rung several times as business associates called him with unflattering questions.

It was the beginning of Nazeralis seven-year battle to combat a ruthless campaign of lies orchestrated by American conspiracy theorist, Patrick M. Byrne, and Mark Mitchell, his employee with dubious journalistic credentials.

   

Born in Kenya, after his grandparents migrated from India, Nazerali was raised in an environment which preferred conversation and consultation to conflict and conflagration.

Granted an MBA from Columbia University at age 20, the serial entrepreneur, who is now based in Vancouver, has financed numerous companies focused primarily on natural resources, software, telecommunications and emerging technologies located in Japan, North America and Europe.

He has also led of a number of large scale communications and engineering projects throughout Africa and the Middle East and commodity-based financing enterprises.

A firm believer in the philosophy of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the worlds Ismaili community, Nazeralis many acts of philanthropy, include a full-scale medical facility attached to the Aga Khan University - Pakistans leading medical Institution.

Never one to forget his roots, Nazerali is also a patron of a boarding school for vocational training of girls in Bhuj, India from where his family originated.

It was in the spirit of consultation to correct a wrong that Nazerali began trying to find out who was behind a number of fake articles about him on a website called deepcapture.com.

The articles were written by Mark Mitchell, a self-styled investigative journalist who was unceremoniously dumped by the Columbia Journalism Review, and published on a website owned by Patrick M. Byrne, who was also the editor and owner.

The articles contained sensational allegations that Nazerali obtained his start as an arms dealer to the mujahedeen, that he has been a Pakistani intelligence asset, that he served as an important financial advisor to the Iranian regime, that he was an important figure in a massive criminal enterprise in the 1970s and 1980s, that he did business with such unsavoury organizations as the Italian mafia, the Russian mafia and Colombian drug cartels, and that he has controlled organizations that have manipulated U.S. markets from their base in the Netherlands.

The articles also linked Nazerali to attempts to sell enriched uranium to Al-Qaeda, to Russian intelligence operators and arms dealers, to the godfather of the Kremlin, various mafia organizations in Italy and an impressive number of securities traders who are also narco-traffickers.

I was horrified reading this, so were my family, friends and business associates, Nazerali told the South Asian Post.

On September 6, 2011, Nazerali reached out to Mitchell via email to point out some of the falsehoods stating in the interest of setting the record straight, and to give you the opportunity to re-examine your sources for the various events you relate, I would like to speak to you.

Mitchell replied the next day, saying he was agreeable to speak with Nazerali and would like to meet with him.

In part Mitchell wrote:

Please note, though, that I mentioned in the story that the descriptions of the meetings (Aruba, Cala di Volpe), were composites of multiple meetings, with true locations disguised to hide the identity of sources. So whether you traveled to those places is not necessarily important.

In any case, nothing in the story is written in stone, so if I find that there are errors, I will be happy to make revisions. If there is other verifiable information that you can direct me to, and that information makes the story better, I might consider rewriting it altogether.

Indeed, I might do so anyway, not because I think the facts are wrong (though, again, if there are factual errors, I will, in any case, correct them), but because in the time since I wrote that story, I have undergone a rather major transformation of my worldview. That is, the facts being what they are, my opinions about them have changed.

Three days later, Nazerali called Mitchell and recorded the conversation.

In a following email, Mitchell offered to remove Nazeralis name from his articles saying I do not reveal the names of my sources, so if you were to become a source, I would be obliged to remove all previous mentions of your name on DeepCapture.

Like I said, some facts are more interesting than others, and Id gladly take your name out of the story altogether in exchange for having you as a source. Let me know what you thinkAs I say, Ill consider removing your name from the story entirely if it means having you as a quality source of information.

Nazerali said he was outraged by this offer.

Mitchell's offer to recruit me as a source was coupled with a threat that if I did not agree, the false and defamatory words would remain on the website, said Nazerali.

No part of the website was changed in substance as a result of the email exchanges and the telephone conversation.

Unable to correct or remove the falsehoods about him on the website, Nazerali filed suit against Mitchell and Byrne, the following month.

Byrne for his part wrote on his blog that Nazerali was attempting to silence DeepCapture.com.

Despite boasting that he was willing to go a few rounds with Nazerali, Byrne did not appear in court.

Instead, he sent Vancouver lawyer Roger McConchie to argue that the Canadian courts cant do anything about these writings because it has no jurisdiction on the matter.

It was a failed attempt to run for the border.

   

Patrick M. Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com, claims to have a photographic memory.

But when total recall doesnt fit his narrative, the controversial Utah-based tycoon resorts to making things up, as recent Canadian court rulings against him show.

His targets include Wall Street firms, brokers, research outfits and journalists who dare say anything negative about him or Overstock.com, which specialises in liquidating excess inventory through the Internet. It now claims to be a leader in blockchain and cryptocurrencies  technologies which rely on trust and security

However, why he used his considerable resources to target Nazerali, is still shrouded in mystery.

That is still unclear to me, said Nazerali.

But what the lies did was cause me and my family considerable pain, devastate my business and disturb my healthIts the cruelest form of undeserved punishment one human could inflict on another, said Nazerali.

 Falsehoods published on the Internet can persist forever thanks to search engines.

This month, seven years later, almost to the day since the fake news appeared on Deepcature.com, Canadas top court said it did not want to hear anything more from Byrne, forcing him to pay over $1 million for tarnishing the reputation of Nazerali.

The recent Supreme Court of Canadas ruling was the final avenue of appeal for Byrne, who was challenging the original scathing 2016 verdict by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Affleck.

Justice Affleck in his 102-page ruling said: "Mitchell, Byrne and Deep Capture LLC engaged in a calculated and ruthless campaign to inflict as much damage on Mr. Nazerali's reputation as they could achieve.

"It is clear on the evidence that their intention was to conduct a vendetta in which the truth about Mr. Nazerali himself was of no consequence." Affleck slammed Mitchell and Byrne for demonstrating "an indecent and pitiless desire to wound."

Justice Affleck went on to say, "not only are the defamatory words pleaded by the plaintiff damaging to his reputation, these defendants, instead of choosing to tone down their extravagant language once they were sued, chose to pile on the abuse with a narrative of multiple allegations of serious misconduct."

The penalties against Byrne reflect the callousness and utter disregard for the truth by the defendants, said Dan Burnett, Canadas leading lawyer in the areas of freedom of expression and media law, who represented Nazerali.

They battled every which way to defend their lies, said Burnett, who systematically destroyed the arguments by Byrnes lawyer, McConchie, a veteran media lawyer.

In addition to failing to have the case tossed over jurisdictional rights, McConchie pleaded his clients right to free speech and that the lies were essentially responsible communication.

The judge ruled the defences argument about free speech was irrelevant and the responsible communication theory was devoid of merit.

McConchie told local media that the recent Supreme Court of Canadas refusal to hear the appeal means that some issues he had hoped to raise about the case wont be.

They weaponised the internet and used it as a playground for their fantasies to do serious harm to my client and the courts in Canada have said they will treat fake news on the internet like they treat libel in traditional media, said Burnett.

The damages granted my client speaks volumes to that issue and there is really nothing left to argue, added Burnett.

   

In an era where fake news is undermining the integrity of journalists everywhere, especially in Donald Trumps America, the judgement stands as the largest ever defamation award in British Columbia and one of the largest in Canadian legal history.

This is a lesson that fake news has real consequences in Canada, said Harbinder Singh, a Vancouver-based newspaper publisher, who has been recognised locally and internationally as an innovator in the ethnic press.

Fake news threatens Canadas democratic institutions at a time when traditional news outlets are facing cutbacksthis case clearly illustrates the fake news problem, he said, adding Canadas media outlets need to do more to publicly identify fake news especially on social media channels.

Research by the University of British Columbias Sauder School of Business found that businessmen and

companies that spread fake news against their competitors ultimately experience the brunt of negative publicity and reputational damage.

Its a lesson we all learned in kindergarten: dont tell a lie, said the studys co-author Ho Kim, assistant professor of digital and social media marketing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis

Its not surprising, but a lot of people spread fake news. When its uncovered as fake news, it brings lasting reputational damage for the offender, he said in a statement.

But Byrne, who has evolved from e-retailer to cryptocurrency prophet, seems unperturbed by this.

His American media darling status, which he has developed with threats and promises, doesnt seem to have been impacted by the Canadian courts labelling him a fake-newsmonger.

Wired has heralded him as a "Bitcoin messiah" in an industry where trust underpins all transactions and more recently he headlined a conference in San Francisco on the blockchain industry.

There is no mention in the financial media covering Byrnes blockchain boasts about the fake news he peddled about Nazerali.

Maybe the reason for that lies in a New York Times column by Joe Nocera that described Byrne as a "menace, saying "he bullies and taunts and goads the small handful of reporters who dare to write about Overstock, making it clear that there will be a price to be paid for tackling the company or its chief executive."

Its ironic. Byrne is more like the pioneer of fake news, said Gary Weiss, the author of Wall Street Versus America: A Muckraking Look at the Thieves, Fakers, and Charlatans Who Are Ripping You Off.

This is the most contemporary and important ruling involving fake news but it is not getting any coverage in America, said Weiss.

Veteran Canadian journalist, Stewart Muir, said Nazeralis defamation award may give encouragement to other businesses and industries that are the subject of routine "fake news" attacks from critics and competitors.

"In Canada, we are seeing growing discontent with false claims made to the public about trade goods and commodities that the country is heavily reliant on," said Muir, head of the Vancouver-based think tank Resource Works.

"In the end, it is ordinary Canadians who suffer most when these dishonest tactics are used. Maybe Mr. Nazerali's success will embolden others who have been unfairly targeted."

As Nazerali consigns this sordid saga to a bad period in his life, he has these words of caution; If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.Still undetermined is whether the impact caused the October leak, or if the line was hit by something else at a later date.The U.S. Army's top official pledged Wednesday to eradicate chipping and peeling lead paint in roughly 40,000 base homes -- a health hazard that is particularly dangerous to young children.

"This is a troubling situation of great concern for me and the other Army leaders," Army Secretary Mark Esper told a group of reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. "The safety of our soldiers and their families is paramount, so our immediate task right now is to address the problem."

The service launched an "immediate action plan" after Reuters published an investigation into the problem, revealing that more than 1,000 small children had tested "high for lead" levels, according to the Aug. 16 report.

"Their results often weren't being reported to state health authorities as required," the news agency reported.

The plan to address the lead problem was first reported by Reuters.

"As you know, this affects roughly 40,000 homes, some of which are owned by the Army, some of which are leased by the Army," Esper said. "They are all our Army families, and we intend to take care of them the best we can, particularly the children, because the biggest concern is the ingestion of lead by children."

The service quickly formed a "crisis action team" to come up with ways to address the problem, Esper said. "The immediate action plan is to get the word out to everybody ... if you have chipping or peeling paint in your home, immediately notify the garrison, and we will get somebody out there that day, as soon as possible, and we will address the issue."

Inspecting homes built before 1978 for sources of lead is slated to cost up to $386 million, Reuters reported.

Part of the plan involves searching for other sources of lead in Army homes, Esper added.

"The Army is also going above and beyond, I think," he said. "We are going to look at, for example, water at the tap in all homes to make sure we don't have an issue with lead pipes, and we want to look at runoff into the soil from exterior paint.

"At some point, we will go back and look at procedures and try to understand what happened and why some of these homes got to the point that they did," he added.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

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Navy officials are looking into what caused a helicopter to make a hard landing during a recent training event at an Air Force base.

An MH-60S Seahawk assigned to Virginia-based Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 made a hard landing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, on Aug. 16. Five air crew members were on board at the time of the mishap, but there were no injuries, said Cmdr. Ron Flanders, a spokesman for the commander of Naval Air Forces.

"The cause of the mishap is under investigation," he added.

The hard landing occurred "in FARP prior to refueling operations," according to a report from the Naval Safety Center. That means the landing occurred at a location set up on the ground as a Forward Arming and Refueling Point.

The hard landing was classified as a Class-A mishap, which means there was loss of life or the aircraft suffered at least $2 million in damages.

The Seahawk's hard landing marked the Navy's 14th Class-A aviation mishap in fiscal 2018, according to Naval Safety Center data. The fiscal year started Oct. 1. At least eight service members have been killed in those accidents and two more injured.

It's not immediately clear whether the Seahawk helicopter was damaged beyond repair in the incident, or if it'll be fixed and returned to the fleet.

Lawmakers have called on military leaders to address the high rates of training accidents, which have killed more troops than combat over the last several years.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ginaaharkins.Sailors have a new top enlisted leader after the master chief petty officer of the Navy abruptly stepped down in June amid reports of toxic leadership.

Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith will serve as the Navy's 15th MCPON, leaders announced Wednesday. Smith has been serving as acting MCPON, the senior adviser to the chief of naval operations, since June.

In a video message posted on Facebook from the Washington Navy Yard on Wednesday morning, Smith said he was humbled and awed at his selection to serve as MCPON.

"Even though I had a couple minutes' heads up, I'm still kind of speechless," he said. "But frankly, I can't imagine how tough the choice was because of the quality of the master chiefs that we have in our Navy, and I'm just excited to take this advocacy for sailors and for all of us to the next level."

Smith pledged not to let the Navy down.

CNO Adm. John Richardson said in the video that Smith embodies professionalism, expertise and humility in leadership.

"And I know you're going to make that spread throughout the whole [chiefs] Mess," Richardson added.

Smith's selection was part of a thorough and deliberate review process, Richardson said. The former fleet master chief for manpower, personnel, training and education had stepped into the role of acting MCPON earlier this summer after Master Chief Steven Giordano put in his retirement request.

Giordano had served as the top enlisted sailor since September 2016, but was under investigation for allegedly mistreating subordinates. After Giordano left the position, Smith immediately began touring the Navy to talk with and get input from sailors and their families.

Smith joined the Navy in 1988 and has deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and counter-piracy missions in the Horn of Africa.

He was a weapons technician for three years before converting to be an intelligence specialist in 1993. From there, Smith served with Navy SEAL Team 4 and with the U.S. defense attache office in Russia.

He served aboard the carriers Abraham Lincoln and Vinson. He also served as the senior enlisted leader aboard the guided-missile destroyer Momsen after being selected for the command master chief program in 2007.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ginaaharkins.Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie pledged Wednesday to usher in a new era of "customer service" at the government's second-largest bureaucracy that will give veterans the care they've earned without having to resort to a "cauldron of lawyers."

In an address to the 100th national convention of the two-million-member American Legion, Wilkie also said he has the commitment of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to work together on developing a new electronic "patient-centered health care system" to allow for smooth transitions from active-duty to veteran status.

To stress the point on electronic records, Wilkie, an Air Force Reserve colonel who was sworn into office July 30, referred, as he frequently does, to the experience of his late father, retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Leon Wilkie Sr., who was severely wounded in the U.S. operation in Cambodia in 1970.

His father was 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds before he was wounded, Wilkie said, and came home weighing 115 pounds. For treatment at the VA, the second-largest government department after the Pentagon, his father had to carry around 800 pages of medical records to ensure care, he added.

Wilkie, the former assistant secretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon, said he received a final order from Mattis, a retired Marine general, when he left the Pentagon to go to the VA: "From here on out, the Defense Department and the VA will be joined at the hip" on electronic records.

In his 21-minute address to the Legion in Minneapolis, Wilkie said the VA provides excellent care. The problem is "just getting our veterans through the door to get that care."

"The VA is about serving veterans. Our responsibility is to serve you well and honorably. My prime directive is customer service," he said, and it should not be up to the veteran "to employ a cauldron of lawyers to get the VA to say 'Yes.' It's up to the VA to say 'Yes' to them. That is where the VA must go."

In that effort, "I pledge to you that this is a bottom-up organization, that the Legion has a seat at the table, that you have an open door to the 10th floor," where his office is located at VA headquarters, he added.

Wilkie said customer service should improve under the VA Mission Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in June and is aimed at giving veterans improved access to private-sector care when it is in their best interests.

He said increased funding under the act should alleviate many of the problems associated with the previous Choice Program, although Congress has yet to appropriate funding. The Mission Act is projected to cost more than $50 billion over five years.

Wilkie also repeated assurances he made at his Senate confirmation hearing that improved access to private care is not a smokescreen for the "privatization" of the VA health care system at more than 1,200 facilities nationwide.

Veterans need care from providers who can speak "in the language of veterans" and who "know what you've been through," he said, adding that that is "not an option that the private sector can provide."

The private sector also "cannot replicate" what the VA does on spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, prosthetics, services for the blind, and suicide prevention, Wilkie said.

His electronic health records (EHR) pledge has been met with skepticism in the House, where a new oversight subcommittee has been set up to check on the $10 billion-plus contract he signed as acting VA secretary with Cerner Corp of Kansas City, Missouri.

The VA is undertaking the largest transition to EHR ever attempted in the U.S., requiring oversight from the new Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tennessee, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement last month.

"As the department embarks on the nation's largest overhaul, it is critical that we ensure veterans and taxpayers are protected throughout the transition," he said in a statement Thursday.

Roe, a physician, said, "I have personally gone through a transition to a new health record system when I was in private practice, and I know how much potential there is for a project like this to be a costly disruption. Congress has a duty to conduct rigorous oversight every step of the way."

He named Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, a former Navy Reserve supply officer and Afghanistan veteran, to head the new subcommittee.

"Service members and veterans deserve a seamless, lifetime medical record and an electronic health record system that supports the highest quality care," Banks said. "However, I have no illusions about the challenge confronting VA in this monumental undertaking."

At the beginning of his remarks, Wilkie paid tribute to the passing of Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who died Aug. 25 after a year-long battle against glioblastoma, a terminal form of brain cancer.

"A few days ago, we lost one of America's great warriors, a man whose lifetime of selfless service reminds all of us why we do what we do. I want to thank the American Legion for honoring Sen. John McCain," he said.

Wilkie made no mention of the action of Denise Rohan, the Legion's national commander, in joining with AMVETS in charging that Trump had failed to show "proper respect" for McCain by having the rooftop flag of the White House returned to full staff Monday morning.

Trump later issued a proclamation returning the flag atop the White House and on all public federal buildings and military bases to half-staff until McCain's interment this weekend at the U.S. Naval Academy cemetery.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com."Is that an actual emergency?" an air traffic controller at Midland Airport, Texas, asks an Air Force B-1B Lancer crew experiencing an engine fire.

After someone interjects a quick "Yes," the voice replies, "Actual emergency. Alright, Bravo go."

The conversation is part of a recently released audio clip between the control tower and a Dyess Air Force Base-based bomber that had to make an emergency landing in May after an ejection seat didn't work following an engine fire. The audio was obtained and published by Military Times.

As the B-1, call sign Hawk 91, approaches the airport, air traffic control asks how many people and how much fuel is onboard. The response is four airmen and enough fuel for roughly four hours of flight time.

The B-1 is then assigned a runway.

Related content:

"Approach, Hawk Nine-One, airfield in sight, cancel IFR [instrument flight rules], we are going to be making a long, straight-in approach," one of the crew says. IFR is a set of Federal Aviation Administration rules requiring civil aircraft to use instrument approach procedures for civil airports. Approach procedures are different for military pilots and aircraft.

The tower tells the crew to maintain visual flight rules (VFR) instead. Once the B-1 lands, the crew tells the control tower it will be "emergency ground egressing."

In July, then-Air Force Global Strike Command commander Gen. Robin Rand awarded Distinguished Flying Cross medals to the crew, including Maj. Christopher Duhon, Air Force Strategic-Operations Division chief of future operations at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, and an instructor pilot with the 28th Bomb Squadron; Capt. Matthew Sutton, 28th BS weapons system officer instructor; 1st Lt. Joseph Welch, student pilot with the 28th; and 1st Lt. Thomas Ahearn, a weapons system officer assigned to the 37th Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.

"Thank you for showing us how to be extraordinary. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifice. I have never been prouder to wear this uniform than I am today because of you four," Rand said during a July 13 ceremony honoring the airmen.

Officials said in a release that it was the first-ever successful landing of a B-1B experiencing this type of ejection seat mishap.

Weeks preceding the ceremony, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson confirmed speculation that the Dyess B-1 had to make an emergency landing over an ejection seat malfunction.

The B-1 crew "were out training," she said during a June 18 speech at the Defense Communities summit in Washington, D.C.

When the crew tried to eject, "the cover comes off, and nothing else happens," she said, referring to the weapons systems officer's ejection hatch. "The seat doesn't fire. Within two seconds of knowing that that had happened, the aircraft commander says, 'Cease ejection, we'll try to land.' "

The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. May 1. Local media reported at the time the non-nuclear B-1B was not carrying weapons when it requested to land.

Images surfaced on Facebook purporting to show a burnt-out engine from the incident. Photos from The Associated Press and Midland Reporter-Telegram also showed the B-1B, tail number 86-0109, was missing a ceiling hatch, leading to speculation an in-flight ejection was attempted.

Following the mishap, Air Force Global Strike Command grounded the fleet for nearly two weeks over safety concerns related to the Lancer's ejection seats.

While the B-1s returned to normal flying operations, both Foreign Policy and The Drive reported that the ejection seat issue may be more widespread than previously disclosed.

"While specific numbers will not be released, not all B-1Bs were affected by these egress system component deficiencies," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Military.com in a statement on July 19 following the news reports.

"The Air Force has 62 B-1Bs in the fleet. All B-1Bs are cleared for normal flight operations. We always apply risk management measures for flights based on the aircraft, the flight profiles, and crew experience," Stefanek said.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- One of World War Is most heroic battlefield story features a bookish lawyer, a millionaire who charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt, a carrier pigeon thats now in the Smithsonian, and draftee Soldiers from New York City who served in the 77th Division.

One hundred years later, the story of the 550 men of the Lost Battalion American Soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne forest still resonates.

Its been the subject of countless books, a 2001 TV movie, and a 2016 song by the Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton.

But the Lost Battalion wasnt actually lost, nor was it even a battalion.

Major Charles Whittlesey, the commander, knew right where his men were located. It was their higher headquarters who werent sure where they were.

And Whittlesey was only the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 308th Infantry Regiment. The regiments 2nd Battalion was also present, along with a company from the 307th Infantry Regiment. But as senior officer, Whittlesey took charge.

The regiments were part of the 77th Division. The division was a National Army division made up of drafted men who were not in the Regular Army and not part of the National Guard.

Soldiers from the 308th Infantry Regiment of the 77th Division, a unit made up of New York City draftees, who had been part of the "Lost Battalion" in October 1918 in Hoboken, New Jersey on April 29, 1919 after returning from France. 540 members of the unit were trapped behind German lines from October 2 to October 8. 1918 and 170 died. (U.S. Army Signal Corps)

77th Division Soldiers were mostly from New York City, and the division was nicknamed the Metropolitan Division or Times Square Division because of that.

By October of 1918 the 77th Division had seen its share of action and taken casualties. A lot of casualties. New Yorkers had been replaced by Soldiers from Midwestern farms who had little training.

The American First Army had kicked off its offensive in Frances Meuse-Argonne region with a goal of reaching the city of Sedan and cutting the railroad which supplied German armies in France.

The American offensivethe largest battle in American historyinvolved 1.2 million Soldiers and kicked off on Sept. 26, 1918.

On October 2, 1918, Whittlesey and his battalion were to attack north into the dense Argonne Forest with the 2nd Battalion of the 308th in support. Both units should have had about 800 men each at full strength, but now they barely had 800 men together.

They were to attack regardless of whether or not they lost contact with units on their left or right.

The 2nd Battalion was led by Capt. George McMurtry. McMurtry, a Harvard graduate was a Wall Street lawyer like Whittlesey as well. But McMurtry had combat experience. Hed served in the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry  known more familiarly as the Rough Ridersduring the Spanish American War and had fought in the Battle of San Juan Hill.

Both men thought the mission was too much for two understrength battalions. But they were told to attack no matter what.

All right. Ill attack, but whether youll hear from me again I dont know, Whittlesey told his regimental commander.

The attack commenced at 6:30 a.m. in foggy and wet weather of that cool October morning.

Whittlesey and McMurtrywith Whittlesey just behind the lead Soldiers -- led their men north. They encountered enemy fire and went to ground.

But a position called Hill 198 on their maps appeared to be undermanned. The two battalionsthree companies eachoverran the German defenders.

They drove north to their objective on high ground beyond the Charlevaux. Whittlesey sent back word that they had broken through the German lines.

In 1918 communicating meant laying a telephone line behind advancing troopsnot practical in heavy woods like the Argonneor sending back a Soldier with a message.

Troops were also equipped with carrier pigeons to fly back to headquarters with a message wrapped on their leg. Whittleseys command had eight pigeons.

Whittlesey sent a runner back to let his commander know he had reached his objective and needed reinforcements. Two of the eight understrength companies that had begun the attack had gotten separated from the 1st and 2nd battalions.

The French unit on their right flank had been stopped and the 77th Division regiment on their left had also been stopped.

At nightfall on October 2, the two battalions of the 308th  about 450 menwere set up in an oval position three hundred yards long and 60 yards wide. They had no additional ammunition, and no extra food and water.

A battalion from the 307th Infantry Regiment was ordered forward to reinforce Whittleseys position, but only Company K from the 3rd Battalion managed to find the 308th Infantry battalions.

Two Soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division. The divison was made up of Soldiers drafted from New York City and was known as the Metropolitan Division. In October 1918, 540 of the division's Soldiers were cut off behind German lines and became known as the Lost Battalion. (Library of Congress)

Throughout the following day, October 3rd, the men waited for reinforcements. A platoon sent to find the missing two companies of the 308th got ambushed. Germans reoccupied Hill 198 taken the previous day.

The 77th Division men were now surrounded. With German fire pouring in from all four sides of their perimeter, men were shot, wounded and killed in greater numbers each passing hour.

Whittlesey sent a carrier pigeon with his position and asked for help. 77th Division troops were attacking to reach the men but made no progress. More carrier pigeons were sent.

On Friday, October 4, an American plane flew over their position. The officers hoped that supplies would be airdropped to them. But the pilot thought he was looking at German troops. American artillery began landing on Whittleseys men. Americans were now being killed by American fire.

Pvt. Omar Richards, the pigeon handler of the unit, was down to two birds. He took one, a pigeon he had nicknamed Cher Ami French for Dear Friend and prepared to release it.

Whittlesey wrote a note  We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heavens sake stop it  to be attached to the pigeons leg.

Richards released the bird. It flew around and landed on a tree opposite Richards and Whittlesey. The two men yelled and screamed at it. Finally the bird flew away. Twenty-five minutes later the pigeon landed at headquarters. The firing stopped.

Along the way, Cher Ami had been hit by German fire. She had been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, and her right leg was hanging by a tendon.

On October 5, American Airmen began dropping supplies to Whittleseys men. DH-4 two seater planes from the 50th Aero Squadron flew four missions over the lines dropping rations and ammunition in what the Air Force now lists as the first American aerial resupply mission.

Unfortunately, most of the supplies missed.

On October 6 the 50th Aero Squadron flew 13 more missions to drop supplies. More importantly, one crew determined a way to pin down the location of Whittleseys command.

Pilot 1st Lieutenant Harold Goettler and 2nd Lt. Erwin Bleckley, his backseat observer; flew over the area at 300 feet. They came back to base shot up, but convinced they could pinpoint the location of Whittleseys men by drawing enemy fire.

The two men flew back over the area at treetop level. The Germans started shooting. Then they turned around and made another pass.

German machine guns on the high ridges were actually shooting down at the American plane. Goettler was hit, but before he died he turned toward allied lines. The plane crashed and Bleckley was thrown out and died.

But a French patrol found the plane and found the map on which Bleckley noted the American positions. Now American guns could hit the Germans without hitting Whittleseys men.

Also that day, the Germans attacked with flame throwers. The Americans fought them off, exploding some of the flame throwers on the backs of the Germans carrying them.

On October 7 a team of Americans searching for supplies were ambushed by the Germans. One man, Pvt. Lowell R. Hollingshead was sent back into the pocket with a message urging the Americans to surrender.

The American commanders read the note and looked at each. Theyre begging us to quit. Theyre more worried than we are, McMurtry said.

But the Americans were almost out of ammunition and the men were so weak they could no longer bury the dead.

At 7 p.m. on the night of October 7, 1918 a patrol from the 77th Divisions 307th Infantry Regiment walked into the pocket without meeting any Germans. The attacks against the German lines by the American Army had forced them to fall back.

On October 8, the 190 remaining men of the Lost Battalion walked back to American lines. Another 260 were carried out. 107 men were dead and 63 missing.

They had become heroes. American newspapers had coined the term Lost Battalion and men and women across the country had followed the battle in their local papers.

Cher Ami, the carrier pigeon, became the mascot of the 77th Division. She was treated for her wounds and a little wooden leg was carved to replace the one she lost in battle. She died in 1919 and her body was stuffed and today is on exhibit in the Smithsonian Institute.

Major Charles Whittlesey was promoted and awarded the Medal of Honor. He was asked to speak at various patriotic events and chair events after the war.

Lt. Col. Charles Whittlesey, the New York lawyer originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who led the "Lost Battalion" of the 77th Division in October 1918, receives the Medal of Honor from General Clarence Edwards during a ceremony on Boston Common on Dec. 30. 1918. Whittlesey, the commander of the 1st Battalion,308th Infantry Regiment took command of his unit and elements of the 2nd Battalion 308th Infantry when they were cut off by German troops in October, 1918. He refused repeated surrender demands and the troops held out for five days. (National Archives)

He was part of the select group who escorted the body of Americas World War I Unknown Soldier back to Arlington National Cemetery in 1921.

He headed the Red Cross Roll Call in New York City and as a result, continually met Soldiers suffering and dying from their wounds along with their families. But this work made things worse for Whittlesey.

Raking over the ashes like this revives all the horrific memories. Ill hear the wounded screaming again. I have nightmares about them. I cant remember when Ive had a good nights sleep, he told a fellow diner after a Red Cross Dinner.

On Nov. 24, 1921, the 37-year old Whittlesey boarded the passenger ship S.S. Toloa heading for Cuba. After dinner on Nov. 26 he stayed up late before returning to his cabin. He was never seen again. Inside on the cabin bunk he left nine letters for friends and family.

George McMurtry, on the other hand, lived until age 82. The volunteer Soldier turned lawyer turned Soldier again made millions in the stock market and paid for Lost Battalion reunion events out of his own pocket until he died on Nov. 22, 1958.

During the World War I centennial observance the Division of Military and Naval Affairs will be issuing press releases noting key dates which impacted New Yorkers based on information provided by the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. More than 400,000 New Yorkers served in the military during World War I, more than any other state.U.S. Army advisers with the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) in Afghanistan have learned they may want to focus more on training Afghan forces how to fight with mortars.

That's one of the findings on SFAB operations the service is starting to compile, said Army Secretary Mark Esper, who recently visited SFAB teams in Afghanistan.

"I traveled over to Afghanistan this summer and spent a lot of time with the SFAB," he told reporters Wednesday at a Defense Writers Group breakfast.

Esper added that the Army is "very satisfied with the performance of the SFAB [units]; they were doing exactly what they were expected to do and performing well."

The 1st SFAB -- stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia -- deployed to Afghanistan in March. In February 2017, the Army announced its plan to stand up six of these specialized brigades to take over advise-and-assist missions with friendly nations so combat brigades in the operational force could focus on preparing for war.

"What I was actually surprised by is that we got as much right as we did in terms of the equipping, training, etc.," Esper said. "I think what the teams told me is, they probably next time need to deploy forward in that environment more knowledge of the employment and use of mortars. We sent people with artillery backgrounds, but mortars are much more commonly used by the Afghans, and so the ability to advise on the employment of mortars is one thing."

Logistics operations have proven to be "one of the highest payoff areas" in Afghanistan, he added. "The Afghan logistics and maintenance base is not as robust as it should be to support their operations. We have logistics teams out there now, but I think another lesson learned is we need probably more teams to go and assist the Afghans."

Esper stressed that these lessons learned apply only to Afghanistan.

"There are a number of things like that. Nothing was a showstopper, but I think they were good lessons learned in the context of the Afghanistan working with the Afghans," he said. "In a different scenario, with a different force we are supporting, it may be different."

In addition to the 1st SFAB, the 2nd SFAB is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Army has also announced that the 3rd SFAB will be stationed at Fort Hood, Texas; the 4th SFAB at Fort Carson, Colorado; and the 5th SFAB at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.HOWELL, MI - A man charged for the deaths of five people in an alcohol-related crash in Livingston County a year ago pleaded no contest to 19 felonies last week.

Matthew J. Carrier, 21, of Fenton, pleaded no contest Friday, Aug. 24, to five counts of second-degree murder and 14 other felony charges for his actions in the May 9, 2017, crash in Livingston County that killed five and injured two others, court records show.

Carrier had a blood alcohol content of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit, and was driving 103 mph southbound on Argentine Road in Oceola Township, prosecutors said.

Carrier ran the stop sign at M-59 and struck another vehicle carrying people returning home from the Michigan Department of Corrections' 2017 Parole/Probation Agent of the Year banquet, prosecutors said.

Probation Agent of the Year Candice Lynn Dunn, 35, of Oakland County, died in the crash along with her mother, Linda K. Hurley, 69, of Macomb County, and Hurley's boyfriend, Jerome Joseph Tortomasi, 73, of Macomb County.

Dunn's boyfriend, Albert Boswell, 39, of Oakland County, was driving the vehicle that was struck by Carrier and survived.

Two of Carrier's passengers - Justin Andrew-Humberto Henderson, 18, and Preston Taylor Wetzel, 24, both of Fenton - were also killed in the crash. Another passenger, Kyle Eugene Lixie, 23, was critically injured.

Carrier did not have a valid driver's license at the time of the incident and prosecutors previously said that, prior to the crash, he'd been questioned about whether he was too drunk to drive.

He was arrested and charged with five counts of second-degree murder, five counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, two counts of operating while intoxicated casing serious injury, five counts of driving while license suspended causing death, and two counts of driving while license suspended causing serious injury.

He is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 12, before Livingston County Circuit Judge Michael Hatty. Second-degree murder is punishable by up to life.YPSILANTI, MI - A man walked into a bank in downtown Ypsilanti in the middle of the afternoon Tuesday and walked out with money that didn't belong to him, police say.

Police are investigating the bank robbery that occurred at about 2 p.m., Aug. 28, at Citizens Bank, 123 W. Michigan Ave., in the heart of downtown Ypsilanti, Lt. Brent Yuchasz said.

The man entered the bank and handed a teller a note implying he had a weapon and to hand over cash, Yuchasz said. He was given an undisclosed amount of money and left the scene on foot in an unknown direction.

No arrests have been made and suspect information is unavailable at this time.

Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to contact the Ypsilanti Police Department at 734-483-9510.BAY CITY, MI - The Bay County Health Department is warning residents to stay away from the Saginaw River after water samples collected have exceeded the state's water quality standard.

A news release sent out by the department said to avoid full or partial body contact with the river water for recreational activities. The advisory will be lifted when bacteriological levels comply with the state's water quality standards.

The warning comes after soaking rains have swept through Michigan over the past few days.A "very remorseful" Detroit police K9 handler could face criminal charges for leaving his K9 companion, Vito, in a hot police vehicle without proper air conditioning for at least 40 minutes on July 26, says Detroit Deputy Chief Elvin Barren.

The police K9 died the following day.

While the death occurred over a month ago, the department didn't publicly acknowledge the death of the German shepherd until news reports surfaced this week.

Barren says, however, an ongoing investigation commenced as soon as the death occurred. The results of the investigation will be submitted to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for a review of possible criminal charges.

The officer, whose name the department hasn't released, has been reassigned to another division.

Members of the Detroit Police Department update media recent events. Posted by Detroit Police Department on Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Barren said early reports provided to media by Police Commander Darin Szilagy, who said the handler left the animal in a running, air-conditioned vehicle when he left his vehicle, were inaccurate.

The handler, a 10-year veteran, was "gone about 40 minutes and during that time the vehicle had shut off and the heat safety alarm system, which normally activates when the vehicle turn 95 degrees, failed to operate," Szilagy initially told WJBK-TV, Fox 2 News.

"That is not accurate," Barren said. "K9 Vito's death is the result of, again, the practice that has been established of monitoring our K9s every 30 minutes.

" ... The vehicle and its features operated as they are intended and are designed to operate."

Barren didn't address why the erroneous information was provided to the public.

The department plans to add kennels and has created a stricter policy requiring K9 handlers to now check on their animals every 15 minutes when they are not in their vehicles, Barren said.

Vito and the police K9 handler had been partnered together for more than three months prior to the dog's death.

There is currently proposed legislation, Senate Bill 496, which if passed, would make leaving a pet in a vehicle under conditions of extreme heat or cold a misdemeanor punishable by up to 45 days in jail, a $350 fine or both.

Michigan currently has anti-cruelty laws that make it a misdemeanor punishable by no more than 93 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both, for mistreatment and neglect of an animal.MONTROSE, MI -- A boil water advisory has been lifted for all Montrose residents.

The city of Montrose announced Wednesday morning the boil advisory issued Monday, Aug. 27 following a drop in pressure in a water main along M-57 has expired.

Pressure has been restored and testing over the last 48 hours "shows water in the affected area continues to meet normal established parameters for safe drinking water," per the city's announcement.

Sam Spence, the city's Department of Public Works director, said a pressure relief valve in the master pit feeding the city closed sometimes between 11:30 p.m. Sunday night and 12:30 a.m. Monday morning.

"The master pit is the underground vault where the meter is located for the inlet line from Genesee County that feeds the city of Montrose," said Spence.

He noted the valve was in the process of being repaired by the Genesee County Drain Commissioner, Division of Water & Water Services who thought the valve was open, but it shut and caused the city to lose pressure.

Complicating the situation was a lightning strike during a thunderstorm over the weekend to a power box that controls a supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, system to monitor pressure.

As a workaround, Montrose DPW employees installed a gauge on a hydrant and took on three-hour shifts to monitor the pressure, Spence said.

It was a friend of Spence that lives 10 houses down from the master pit that noticed "very low pressure" early Monday morning.

Spence responded around 12:45 a.m. Aug. 27 and opened a bypass valve to allow the system to regulate pressure.

The pressure gauge was reading 17 pounds at the master pit, Spence noted. The typical pressure at the pit is 52 pounds.

"Therefore I felt it was in our residents' best interest to issue the boil advisory until I could properly sample the drinking water," said Spence in an Aug. 28 email to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials. "At this time the valve has since been fixed and the system is running properly. Hydrant flushing and testing on the system has begun."

Testing over a 48-hour period met normal parameters for safe drinking water that led to the advisory being lifted. Spence said the pressure relief valve and monitoring system also have been repaired and replaced.

Anyone seeking additional information on the issue may contact Spence at 810-275-5331 or email dpwdirector@cityofmontrose.us.FLINT, MI -- A man charged with providing the dose of heroin that killed his 19-year-old girlfriend was sentenced to jail time served, five years of probation and must attend a residential treatment center for drug addiction.

Devan Grasso, 21, was sentenced on Monday, Aug. 27, by Genesee Circuit Judge Richard Yuille to complete the Odyssey House Program and be on a tether with the Michigan Department of Corrections for five years, according to court records.

He also was sentenced to a year in jail, with credit for 397 days served, as part of a plea agreement reached with the judge.

If Grasso has any probation violations, according to court records, he will get a prison sentence.

He pleaded no contest in July to manslaughter in connection with the April 24, 2017, death of Autumn Monette.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but it is treated as such during sentencing.

He was initially charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance causing death.

Grasso had no prior criminal history, his attorney Nicholas Robinson said.

"He was asked by his girlfriend to get her heroin and she died as a result of that," Robinson said of Grasso. "This case is a sad example of the dangers that heroin poses to anybody that comes in contact with it. The family asked that you respect their privacy during this period of mourning."

Monette and a friend -- both of whom had escaped from a Waterford Township drug treatment facility earlier in the day -- hitchhiked to Flint and met Grasso.

Grasso then used a hypodermic needle to inject Monette with heroin.

Observing "something was wrong" with his girlfriend, Grasso drove Monette to Hurley Medical Center, where police said security camera footage showed Grasso and the friend pulling an unconscious Monette from the car and leaving her on the hospital's lawn, police previously told MLive-The Flint Journal.

Police observed the friend on hospital security footage running back to the vehicle and driving away with Grasso. Hurley Public Safety and medical staff arrived on the scene a short while after and began treatment on Monette, the report said.

Monette was declared dead on May 1. An autopsy revealed her cause of death to be from an opiate abuse incident, and a toxicology report found norfentanyl -- a metabolite of powerful opiate painkiller fentanyl -- in her urine, according to the police report.FLINT, MI -- A former division director at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says she advocated for the best available science during the Flint water crisis -- not to protect Gov. Rick Snyder.

Linda Dykema, who retired in 2016 as director of the Division of Environmental Health at DHHS, made the comments online in response to a story published by MLive.com on Monday, Aug. 28.

Her attorney, Rick Zambon, confirmed the posting came from Dykema.

The story concerned a May 2015 state report, of which Dykema was the principal investigator, that showed rising levels of PFAS contamination in the Flint River at two points downstream of the city's water plant.

Two samples, one in the Montrose area and another at M-13 in Saginaw County, each registered over the current federal health advisory level for drinking water of 70 parts per billion of PFAS contaminants but below advisory levels at the time.

Although Dykema's report was published online, it was apparently not otherwise publicized and may never have been shared with emergency managers, city officials or residents in Flint, who continued to drink river water an additional five months after the final draft of the report was published.

Dykema, who was an important figure in state government's response to water problems in Flint, initially declined to comment on her report or who it was shared with.

But in her online comments, she said she referred questions about it to current state employees "because I do not have the most current information" and because any follow-up to recommendations in the report would have taken place since her retirement.

Dykema was aware of water quality and safety issues in Flint as well as the potential that further problems could harm Snyder and others, but she said she wants to "dispel the idea that I sought to protect the Governor's Office."

"Any person working for government knows that they may anger the governor and legislators. While serving the state as an environmental scientist, I often received that anger when I pushed for the best available science to protect the public health and the environment," she said.



"I was not worried that the Governor might be embarrassed; I was concerned that the political situation could affect the on-going investigation."

DHHS officials, including Dykema, were investigating Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in Genesee County while the Flint River was used as the city's water source.

Although the state never agreed with university studies that identified the river as the likely trigger of the outbreaks, DHHS officials worked on the issue for more than a year before the public was told of the threat of Legionnaires' until Snyder himself revealed it in January 2016.

Dykema testified at the preliminary examination for Dr. Eden Wells, the state's chief medical executive, at the end of May, saying she had discussions with another DHHS official about Flint water issues in January 2015 and the potential for them to be "embarrassing" or "a difficult situation" for Snyder.

That same day, Dykema warned employees in her division of a "political situation that we don't want to stumble into" should the department get calls on a public health hotline from Flint residents about their water.

Dykema directed those same employees to send any call about Flint water directly to her to handle.

"It may make the governor look bad ... That's where your mind was, correct?" special prosecutor Todd Flood asked Dykema about her conversation with Corinne Miller, a retired state epidemiologist.

"Yes," she answered.

Dykema said she alerted her staff to the politics surrounding the Flint water crisis to help protect them.

"If the Governor's Office was angry with anyone, I would rather it were me, not my staff," she said in Tuesday's online comment. "I had and continue to have no interest in protecting the Governor's Office."

Dykema said an email she wrote about U.S. Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower Miguel Del Toral was based on information she received from the DEQ.

The email called Del Toral's report "a result of his own research" and said it had not been reviewed or approved by EPA management.

"My own inquiries and analysis took me to very different conclusions about lead in Flint's drinking water that I later conveyed to my supervisors," she said in the online comment of her disagreement with the DEQ.FLINT, MI -- A new attorney added to the criminal defense team for Michigan's top public health official says she expects her work on the case to be minimal even though a contract allows her firm to be paid up to $400,000.

Mary Chartier, a partner in Chartier & Nyamfukudza of East Lansing, said her firm has billed the state less than $5,000 in the three months the contract has been in place and expects total invoices to be less than $10,000.

"We are not appearing in court for him or writing any briefs," Chartier said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal. "There is a common issue related to the public health code, and that is why our firm provided minimal services for Mr. Lyon."

Spending to date on Lyon's Flint water crisis legal team has already surpassed $1.6 million -- more than Genesee County spent on court-appointed attorneys for every indigent defendant in the county in the last fiscal year.

Chartier already represents Robert Scott, another DHHS official accused of Flint water crimes in Genesee District Court.

Chartier & Nyamfukudza is the third law firm hired by the state to assist in the defense of Lyon, whose case was bound over for jury trial in Genesee Circuit Court on Aug. 20.

Lyon is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty for his role as DHHS director during the water crisis, particularly during outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease while the city used the Flint River as its water source.

Prosecutors claim he knew of the outbreaks, attempted to suppress evidence they were tied to river water, and never shared what he knew with the public or Gov. Rick Snyder, resulting in at least 12 deaths.

Lyon's attorneys have said he is not guilty of the charges against him and vowed to appeal Judge David Goggins' bindover decision.

John Bursch, an attorney for the director has predicted Genesee "Circuit Court and if not there, the Court of Appeals, are going to look at this and they are going to reverse so fast it will make your head spin."

Michigan taxpayers have been charged more than $25 million to represent current and former state employees charged or questioned in relation to Flint water.LAPEER, MI -- A 17-year-old Attica Township resident found dead in the Flint River at a Lapeer park has been identified by police.

Officers with the Lapeer Police Department responded around 4:45 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, for a body spotted in the river at Rotary Park near Saginaw and Nepessing streets.

That's where they discovered Jared Alexander Bristol face down in the middle of the river, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy performed by the Lapeer County Medical Examiner's Office has determined the cause of death to be drowning. The investigation by Lapeer police remains open.

Deputies with the Lapeer County Sherriff's Department also assisted with the initial investigation.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Lapeer police Detective Sgt. Craig Gormley at 810-664-0833.FLINT, MI -- Elevated levels of PFAS found in two areas of the Flint River in 2013 don't mean the contaminants were ever present in drinking water here, the state Department of Environmental Quality says.

Scott Dean, a spokesman for the DEQ, issued a statement Monday, Aug. 27, in response to an MLive-The Flint Journal story about the discovery of per- and plyfluoroalkyl substances in the testing of Flint River surface water downstream of the city in 2013.

The results of that testing, published in a 2015 report by the state of Michigan, showed samples registered concentrations of PFAS at 87.1 and 72.1 parts per trillion -- above the current federal advisory threshold for drinking water of 70 ppt and more than six times higher than the state's current standard for surface water quality.

Before 2016, EPA's lifetime health advisory threshold was higher --400 ppt for perfluorooctanoic acid -- or PFOA -- and 200 ppt for perfluorooctane sulfonate -- or PFOS.

Dean said testing of finished Flint drinking water in January, April and October 2014 were listed as non-detect for PFOS and PFOA, two contaminants that are among a larger family of man-made contaminants known as PFAS.

"It's hard to see how raw surface water data collected downstream of the city's intakes would have been relevant to the response given the EPA testing data for finished drinking water that consistently showed no detections for PFOS and PFOA."

The MLive story Monday included comments from the nonprofit Environmental Work Group, which noted Flint drinking water test results from 2014 may be misleading because they were collected at a time that any reading of fewer than 20 ppt for PFOA and 40 ppt for PFOS were counted as zero.

Two of the tests cited by Dean were taken at a time when Flint was still connected to the Great Lakes Water Authority -- not the Flint River.

The third test, taken in October 2014, came before the city of Flint added granulated activated carbon filters, which may have helped to reduce PFAS in finished water after they were installed in summer 2015, according to Rob Bincsik, Flint DPW director.

Dean said raw surface water data collected 26 miles downstream of the city's intakes in 2013 would not have been relevant to the state's response to the Flint water crisis.

In addition to the non-detect finished water test in October 2014, 2016 testing of river water upstream of Flint's drinking water intakes were much lower than tests further north -- 14 ppt for PFOS and 16 ppt for PFOA, Dean said.

"There remains no evidence that Flint's drinking water ever had PFOA or PFOS present -- and even if it was -- it would have had to have been present at greater than 400 ppt to exceed EPA's provisional advisory for an unregulated contaminant," Dean said in an email to MLive. "Therefore it would have been irrelevant to the 2014-15 response."

The city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager when its water source was changed in April 2014 in a cost-saving move.

After the switch from pre-treated Lake Huron water, Flint's river water showed elevated levels of lead and total trihalomethanes. Outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease occurred while the river water was in use, and residents helped build the case for federal recognition of a man-made health emergency here.

The 2015 PFAS report was published online by the state Department of Health and Human Services while the river was still the city's water source.

DHHS apparently never issued a news release to alert the public about the report and may not have shared it with decision-making emergency managers or elected officials here.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Grand Rapids attorney says he's worried about a "breakdown" in jail procedures after Kent County Jail staff copied a murder suspect's confidential letter to him.

The letter was transferred to Wyoming police.

The officers quickly realized the letter was confidential, then sealed it in an envelope and sent it to Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker with a note about the mistake.

The letter was from Lovily Johnson, accused in the neglect death of her 6-month-old son, and intended for attorney Jonathan Schildgen.

During a hearing Tuesday, Aug. 28, Schildgen said he's concerned the copied letter was not an isolated incident.

"I'm not saying the prosecutor's office is up to no good, I'm saying there is some breakdown in what the jail is doing," Schildgen said.

Schildgen said he has suspicions that correspondence from another of his clients, murder suspect Quinn James, also was illegally copied.

Kent County Undersheriff Michelle Young said there is no indication that other privileged letters were copied. She acknowledged that a property room clerk made a mistake in copying the letter intended for Schildgen.

The clerks typically do copy hundreds of other non-privileged letters in outgoing mail from jail inmates, but are instructed not to copy letters to an inmate's attorney.

"This is a violation of our policy," Young said of the Johnson letter.

She said that since it happened, a new procedure is in place that requires a command-level review of every copied letter. The procedure is intended to get a second set of eyes on the process.

"It is really important to us that citizens understand that we do take violations like this very seriously," she said.

During Tuesday's court hearing, Judge Mark Trusock said he planned to issue an order to the sheriff's department, advising jail staff they could be held in contempt of court if any confidential letters are copied in the future.

"We're going to make sure we get to the bottom of this and that this does not happen again," Trusock said.

Trusock also said any evidence that police may have gleaned from the letter cannot be used at trial.

Johnson has been offered the following plea deal: plead guilty to second-degree murder with a sentencing guideline range of 15-25 years.

In exchange, prosecutors would dismiss charges of felony murder and first-degree child abuse.KENT COUNTY, MI -As a pracharak, or outreach minister, for West Michigan Hindu Temple, Fred Stella wasn't surprised that a burglar broke into his house of prayer.

No place is sacred to a thief, he said.

"Obviously, if you have no respect for religion, then a church or a temple or a synagogue is just another building for you," Stella said.

A burglar broke into the Ada Township temple on Monday, Aug. 27, after it closed from 1:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. The $4,000 contained in a box, the size of a small trunk, was gone.

On Tuesday, Stella said, Kent County sheriff's deputies arrested a Detroit woman in connection with the theft. She had about $3,000 on her. She was also suspected of trying to break another temple, he said.

The back window of Stella's temple was broken out at the temple at 4870 Whitneyville Ave. SE

Stella said the thief knew the temple's schedule, which isn't hard to find, and figured it kept its offerings, which are used to pay staff and cover other costs, until the end of the month. The box, in the middle of the temple sanctuary, had always been been safe, Stella said.

"Either they just lucked out, or they knew something," he said.

Now, the temple will have to take steps - frequent deposits and probably adding surveillance cameras - to prevent such thefts in the future.

Stella said the locked box acts as a collection plate, with visitors putting cash or checks through a slot during services.

He said that most of the donations, maybe two-thirds, were made in cash.

Stella, a friend to other religious leaders in the Grand Rapids area, said many holy places have been targeted for theft or vandalism over the years.CASCADE TOWNSHIP, MI -- A 46-year-old man police say stabbed another man out of jealousy involving a relationship has been charged with attempted murder.

Police had been looking for Pietro Earnest Mapp since Aug. 24 when a stabbing occurred at California Closets near the Gerald R. Ford Airport.

He turned himself into Grand Rapids police on Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Mapp is accused of stabbing another man who was taking a work break. Kent County sheriff's deputies said they believe Mapp was jealous of a perceived relationship between his girlfriend and the victim, who were co-workers.

The victim was stabbed multiple times but is expected to recover.

Mapp fled the scene after the stabbing.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The Grand Rapids Police Department is looking for 25 high school students to advise the police chief on current police issues from a young adult's perspective.

For the second year, Police Chief David Rahinsky will form a youth advisory council known as IMPACT. This year's group will be made up of 25 students -- an increase from last year's 17-member council.

Applications will be accepted until Monday, Oct. 1. They're available on the city's website.

"It goes without question that today's young adults are resilient visionaries - founded in family and community. They are eager to be heard," Rahinsky said in a statement.

"This opportunity is a platform for mutual education, leadership and cultural awareness. It is my goal that we share with each other our experiences, frustrations and visions for a more collaborative community-police relationship. We gain a better understanding through dialogue that surrounds trending law enforcement-related issues."

Members of IMPACT will meet monthly with the police chief to discuss their experiences with law enforcement and how they view trending law enforcement issues.

To be eligible for the free program, teens must be a current high school student and a resident of Grand Rapids. Participants don't have to have interest in pursuing a career in law enforcement.

The council will meet once a month throughout the school year, beginning Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the police department, 1 Monroe Center St. NW. The meetings are held from 4-5:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month. Dinner will be provided at the final meeting.

Transportation will be provided by the police department, if needed, in the form of a bus pass. The department will also validate parking for the meetings.GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Meteorologists suspect that straight-line winds, rather than a tornado, damaged structures and knocked down trees and power lines along the U.S. 10 corridor in Mason County.

The line of the most serious damage roughly extended from Ludington to Gladwin.

"We have quite a mess," Rachel Bendele, whose family lives in Mason County's Custer Township.

They stayed in a hotel after the storm broke windows, knocked down trees, tore the steel roof from a barn and damaged outbuildings.

The thunderstorms on Tuesday, Aug. 28, brought strong winds and heavy rain to some areas. Gusts of 90 mph were reported in Otsego County, and 70 mph in Antrim County.

Winds were estimated at 75 to 90 mph in a stretch from Paris to Big Rapids to Stanwood in Mecosta County.

The National Weather Service in Gaylord is investigating after radar showed a possible tornado in Antrim County.

"There's always a lot of people saying, 'It looks like a tornado went through here,'" Cort Scholten, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, said Wednesday.

"But straight-line winds can really cause damage over a much larger area than a tornado does. In many ways, straight-line winds are more dangerous, on average, than tornadoes."

Bendele, whose family of five was forced out of their home, was at a daughter's volleyball game when she got word that a tree fell in their yard. It was worse than that.

Windows were broken out of their house. The swimming pool went down. So did several trees. Others lost huge limbs with only the trunk left. A stand of pine trees in back was knocked down.

One outbuilding was "gone," while another was lifted from its foundation. The steel roof on a barn hung from power lines. The horse fence was knocked down but their horse stayed inside until the fence was fixed.

The siding of the house was damaged. So was a camper.

Bendele said it was fortunate no one was home when the storm hit. Someone might have gone outside to check on the property.

She wasn't prepared for the extent of damage when she got home.

"It was a little overwhelming," she said. "It was kind of, 'Holy cow, what are we going to do now?'"

They have a lot of work ahead of them but she said she was just glad no one was hurt.

Across the street, Seth Earl, the president of Mason County Farm Bureau, visited a hog farm where the barn was lifted off the ground then collapsed. He said that the farmer has been overwhelmed by offers of help from other farmers.

His hogs are being moved to other farms.

"People are willing to step up and help in his time of need," Earl said.

The National Weather Service recorded gusts of 54 mph in Baldwin, 51 mph in Mason County, 48 mph in Muskegon and 43 in Grand Rapids. Cadillac, in a hard-hit Wexford County, had gusts of 47 mph.

The storm took down over 1,400 power lines across the state. Consumers Energy said that anyone who happens upon a downed wire should call 911 and Consumers at 800-477-5050.

"If you see a downed wire, assume it is energized and contact us and local public safety," Tim Sparks, vice president of electric grid integration, said in a statement.

"We cannot emphasize enough the importance of staying safe with the widespread damage we're seeing across Michigan."

In all, 215,000 Consumers customers have lost power after three days of thunderstorms.

The storms ended drought-like conditions in some places, including the Grand Rapids and Muskegon areas. Five to seven inches of rain have fallen in the Grand Rapids area, while north of Muskegon has seen eight or nine inches, Scholten, the meteorologist, said.

"If we were in a pattern where we had a much-wetter-than-normal summer leading up to this event, that would've caused significant flooding," he said.A Michigan man recently caught an "extremely rare" fish on the Muskegon River.

It was Saturday, Aug. 25 when Paul Gillis caught the unique specimen during a fishing trip with his brother and daughter.

"We were catching a ton of smallmouth, walleye, trout and suckers," he said. "We decided to hit a hole we were fishing earlier. As I was about to set anchor my brother David said 'Hey Paul, what is that? Is that a fish?' I said that's a fish and grabbed my pole, thinking someone let a goldfish free in the river."

But this was no goldfish, but rather a rarely-seen, orange-colored smallmouth bass. Kevin Wehrly, Ph.D, fisheries wildlife biologist for the Department of Natural Resources identified the fish on Wednesday, Aug. 29.

According to Wehrly, the fish is exhibiting a genetic condition known as Xanthism in which yellow pigments are expressed more than usual.

Xanthism is known to naturally occur in several fish families as well as in birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals although it is more common in the pet trade where they are selectively bred and highly sought after.

Bright orange goldfish you see in the pet store are a good example, as are domesticated yellow parrots, frogs, and snakes, Wehrly said.

"In the wild, Xanthic individuals rarely occur because they are created by a rare genetic combination, and because brightly-colored individuals are easy targets for predators," Wehrly added. "Although we can't say that this gold Smallmouth Bass is a one-in-a-billion catch, we do know that it is extremely rare."

Nicknamed "Sharktooth" by Gillis' daughter Anna, the fish was released back into the river unharmed. It's a fishing experience they won't soon forget.

I've caught a bunch of muskies," Gillis said. "But this fish tops them all."LANSING, MI -- Plans for a Michigan public forum on toxic water contamination led by the Environmental Protection Agency have been scuttled amid apparent disagreements over location and meeting format between the state and federal government.

This week, the EPA announced that Kansas will be the last stop on its "community engagement" series, which the agency has taken around the country this summer to states grappling with drinking water contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

The meetings, which featured conference-style expert presentations and lengthy public feedback sessions, have been held in four states since the forum tour was announced in May during a summit on PFAS contamination at EPA headquarters.

Michigan was announced as one of the first two stops on the outreach effort, which is meant to help guide creation of a national management plan for PFAS that may involve new drinking water standards and chemical regulation under federal toxic cleanup law.

The EPA has been criticized for allowing the so-called "forever chemicals" to fester on the unregulated contaminant list, causing some states to develop their own regulations as testing finds the pollutants in ever greater amounts and sites nationwide.

Hundreds of people have attended the meetings, many of whom have called on the EPA to take a stronger hand in regulating PFAS chemicals as a class, not just individually.

Both EPA and state officials say there's still the possibility of a PFAS meeting in Michigan yet this fall, but that it may not look like the others, which featured extended "listening sessions" for the public to share personal experiences, offer input and suggestions.

Statements from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality indicate the state would rather see a small gathering of community representatives rather than a public townhall.

Environmental activists expressed frustration that Michigan -- which sits atop the national list of states with PFAS contamination sites -- won't get a public meeting like other states.

"I'm disappointed that the community engagement meetings have been completed and Michigan has been shut out," said Tony Spaniola, a Troy attorney who owns property in Oscoda, where PFAS from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base has contaminated Van Etten Lake, the Au Sable River and nearby drinking water supplies.

"A full-blown public engagement event is exactly what we need here," he said. "There are a lot of people with lots of concerns who need to be able to express them in an open public session."

Expectations were that EPA would visit Michigan in short order after the state was afforded a substantial role in the national PFAS summit on May 22-23. Michigan DEQ director Heidi Grether spoke and former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt praised the state for "leadership."

That was 14 weeks ago. In the meantime, EPA has held forum events in Exeter, N.H. on June 25-26; Horsham, Penn. on July 25; Colorado Springs, Colo., on Aug. 7-8 and Fayetteville, N.C. on Aug. 14. The final stop is Sept. 5 in Leavenworth, Kan.

If the EPA does hold a PFAS event in Michigan, it says the format may not include a public listening component or feature certain national staff who have been at other meetings.

The listening sessions in other states have been long affairs -- sometimes four to five hours. In North Carolina, it was 3 to 8 p.m. In Kansas, the scheduled session is almost four hours.

"Throughout the summer, EPA worked to balance the need to take action with the agency's desire to hear from as many communities as possible," said EPA spokeswoman Molly Block.

Scott Dean, spokesman for Michigan DEQ, said the agency has held "numerous discussions" with EPA related to location and format for a PFAS forum over the summer.

"We're happy to host any type of meeting that EPA would like to have," he said, but noting that DEQ is interested in doing so in a "productive and manageable format."

Because Michigan has been actively searching for and discovering contamination sites, Dean said it has "a number of interested constituencies" statewide. Communities like Oscoda, Rockford and Parchment are among those where high levels of contamination have been found in drinking water from past PFAS use or disposal by private industry or the military.

"There may be interest in bringing together key representatives from many constituencies in one location," Dean said, for a meeting which could be more roundtable and less townhall.

Dean called suggestions that Michigan is not interested in hearing from its citizens "false," citing the multiple meetings DEQ or other state agencies under the state's PFAS team, MPART, have hosted or presented at related to contamination in Michigan.

Block said that whether or not EPA does any meeting in Michigan, state residents can still submit input via EPA's non-regulatory docket. (Click here, enter Docket ID No. EPA-OW-2018-0270).

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, issued a statement criticizing the EPA for failing to keep Michigan on the tour list, which he said "shows their lack of seriousness about actually fixing this problem"

"For months, the EPA has claimed they want to address this issue, but has time and time again failed to show up and put in the work," Kildee said. "Michiganders are struggling with the serious effects of PFAS chemical contamination. The Trump Administration needs to get serious about addressing this urgent issue."

Spaniola is taking a wait-and-see approach.

"I'm certainly interested to see what they have in store, but the summer is now passed," he said. "I'm interested to see what Michigan's so-called 'leadership' has gotten for us."

"It doesn't look like much."U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was in Michigan Wednesday for the second time this month, this time to headline a campaign event for Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James.

Pence, who also spoke at a GOP unity rally the day after Michigan's primary election, told a crowd of about 120 people at the Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield that he was back because James is "a special man with a special story."

"I'm here for one reason, and one reason only - Michigan and America need John James in the U.S. Senate," Pence said. "He has a unique ability to bring leadership and a renewed vision to the U.S. Senate."

Pence commended James on his record of military service, his faith and his success as a businessperson. He said he believes James was called to the position and would be a servant leader in Washington.

"He's a doer, he's a builder, but he's also a man with foundation of faith and family," Pence said.

Both Pence and President Donald Trump endorsed James shortly before the U.S. Senate primary election, where James defeated businessman Sandy Pensler for the nomination.

Pence said Trump believes James is "the real deal" and said having Republicans like James in Congress would help continue the administration's work.

"For all that we have done, the truth is, Michigan, we're just getting started," he said.

Prior to the vice president's speech, James told the audience Pence's presence "sends a clear message across the country" that Stabenow is vulnerable, and that Michigan is an important state to watch at the national level.

James said in November, voters have a chance "not only to flip the seat, but to flip the script," adding that he can appeal to millennial and minority voters better than anyone else in the race.

In the private event's audience Wednesday were Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette, U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, Michigan Republican Party Chair Ron Weiser and other party officials, candidates and supporters.

James is running against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who was first elected to the position in 2000. Both candidates recently agreed to two back-to-back October debates, although James has asked Stabenow for six debates.IRON MOUNTAIN, MI - Police have identified a crime spree suspect who died Monday after a shootout with police in the western Upper Peninsula.

Riley Starnes, 20, of Norway, Mi., died at Dickinson County Healthcare System after Monday's shooting, according to WLUC.

Police were first alerted to a problem when Starnes was reported to be driving a truck recklessly near the Boss snow plow plant in Iron Mountain. Officers soon learned that truck and a handgun had been stolen from a garage in town.

After allegedly stealing a second vehicle, the suspect then tried to rob a woman at gunpoint in East Kingsford, authorities said.

Police spotted his vehicle and gave chase. Starnes' vehicle crashed a minute later, and he exchanged gunfire with an Iron Mountain police officer.

Starnes was taken to the hospital, where he later died. The officer was treated for a head wound and released from the hospital. His name has not been released.

The television station talked to Starnes' mother, who said her son struggled with drug addiction.

The officer remains on paid administrative leave while the shooting incident is investigated by the Michigan State Police.U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow is willing to participate in two debates with Republican challenger John James prior to the November 2018 general election, her campaign announced Tuesday.

Jason Ellenburg, Stabenow's campaign manager, said in a statement the campaign agreed to back-to-back debates in West Michigan at WGVU-TV in West Michigan on Oct. 14 and at the Detroit Economic Club on Oct. 15.

"Senator Stabenow looks forward to debating the important issues that matter most to Michigan families and Michigan communities," Ellenburg said.

James, who defeated Sandy Pensler in the August primary election to earn the Republican nomination for this year's U.S. Senate race, had previously called for six debates prior to the election.

On Tuesday, James' campaign shared a list of several debate invites they'd accepted and argued Stabenow should accept more. Campaign Manager Tori Sachs said in a statement the campaign expects Stabenow to keep her word on the debates she says she'll accept.

"John James will continue to accept debates all over the state and expects a veterans-focused debate because Michigan veterans deserve it," Sachs said.

Stabenow was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and was last up for reelection in 2012. She did not debate then-challenger Pete Hoekstra during that election cycle.

James is a 2004 graduate of West Point and served as a U.S. Army captain in the Iraq War. After eight years in the Army, James returned to Michigan to work in the family business, James Group International.LANSING, MI - A group trying to get a voting rights proposal on the November ballot is suing state election workers for not validating the initiative despite the group having the necessary number of signatures.

Promote the Vote filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Eastern District Court Tuesday claiming Michigan's Secretary of State, Board of Canvassers and Bureau of Elections has violated the Constitution by not yet authorizing their ballot proposal, which would allow citizens to register on Election Day and allow no-reason absentee voting.

The suit claims the state agencies are in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment.

The group collected 432,124 signatures during its petition drive, more than the 315,654 signatures necessary to get a proposal on the ballot, according to the suit. The Bureau of Elections, however, determined that there were insufficient valid signatures when it examined a sample of 500.

Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan - one of the organizations backing the plan - said the lawsuit takes issue with the state's process.

"The fear is that the process is insufficient, that it's inconsistent with what other initiatives have received, and that it's standard-less," Moss said.

Promote the Vote tracked down 13 people out of the 24 signatures deemed invalid from the sample of 500 and had them sign affidavits, but that wasn't enough to get the proposal over the necessary hurdles and onto the ballot, according to Moss.

And time is running out as the Bureau of Elections sorts through a much larger, 5,000-signature sample.

"If the Bureau continues to use the same standard-less and subjective practice in reviewing petition signatures in the second sample, it will continue to reject genuine valid signatures as it did in the canvass of the first sample," the suit claims.

The Board of Canvassers is set to meet Friday on the matter, but Moss would like to see action sooner rather than later because the last day a proposal can be placed on the November ballot, Sept. 7, is looming.

Moss hopes the federal lawsuit, which seeks immediate action, will speed the process along.

"I think it could potentially expedite it," she said. "We believe they should have certified on the first sample, which they can still do."

Fred Woodhams, spokesman for the Secretary of State, said the lawsuit could have the opposite effect.

"We are surprised that this lawsuit was filed given how the Bureau of Elections has used the same process for reviewing petition signatures for decades," he said. "The lawsuit will only delay work completing the larger sample and issuing a staff report, which is expected Friday. I would note that a larger sample also was taken for the Protecting Michigan Taxpayers petition earlier this year the same way as was done for the Promote the Vote petition. All petitions are treated equally."

Promote the Vote is a coalition that also includes the League of Women Voters and both the Detroit and statewide branches of the NAACP.WOW air, the budget Icelandic airline that started operating out of Detroit in April, is offering $199 one-way flights to New Delhi, India between December and March 2019.

The airline says the first flight out of Detroit Metropolitan International Airport will take off on Dec. 5 of this year. Other than Detroit, WOW will offer the $199 one-way flights to India out of Boston, Washington D.C./Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco via Iceland. As with the airline's promotions, a return flight must be booked to receive the $199 price.

"We are very excited to start flying to New Delhi in December. I am very happy with the feedback and demand we have gotten so far on our India flight and it's clear that there is a great need for affordable travel between North America and Delhi," Skuli Mogensen, founder and CEO of WOW, said in the release.

"Our mission is to enable everybody to fly by offering very reasonable prices to all our destinations and as a result hopefully more people will have the opportunity to see the world."

WOW says flights from Detroit to New Delhi -- via Iceland -- will take place aboard its brand-new Airbus A330neo aircraft which comes with the airline's "premium" seats and 37 inches of legroom.

This offering from the budget airline comes after it recently announced it would offer $129 one-way flights out of Detroit to 11 European cities between September and December of this year.

The Icelandic airline first started operating out of Detroit Metro Airport back in April of this year when it was offering $69 one-way trips to Iceland.

WOW first expanded into the U.S. Midwest when it started offering the $69 one-way trips to Reykjavik out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport. After taking off from the Windy City, Wow added service in New York, Miami, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and, of course, Detroit.

WOW says it now connects 39 U.S. and European cities with the Icelandic capital, and that it enjoyed a 69 percent increase in passengers to the tune of 2.8 million people in 2017.Jerry D. Roe

JACKSON, MI - The former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party will be remembered for his dedication to preserving Jackson as the Grand Old Party's birthplace.

Jerry D. Roe died Sunday, Aug. 26. He was 82.

Born in Montana in 1936, Roe was described as the "P.T. Barnum of Michigan Politics" and was known for saying "blue skies and happy trails," according to his obituary.

Roe, the Michigan Republican Party executive director from 1969-79, was also a state co-chairman for Sen. John McCain's victory in the 2000 Michigan GOP primary over George W. Bush. McCain died of brain cancer one day before Roe.

A known historian, Roe was named a Detroit News "Michiganian of the Year" in 1986. He also taught government at Lansing Community College for more than 30 years.

While Roe had a career in politics and as a professor, he also had an impact in helping Jackson be known nationally as "the Birthplace of the Republican Party."

Roe and fellow Republican Mike Dively purchased the property "under the oaks" on the corner of Second and Franklin streets, said former Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Barton, a Republican historian.

That is the location where the first meeting of the party is known to have taken place on July 6, 1854. The small sliver of land has been designated as the Under the Oaks Park, 418 Second Street.

"I think the Jackson County Republican Party and the entire Republican Party owes a debt to Jerry Roe and Mike Dively," Barton said.

In 1910, President William Howard Taft had a plaque made indicating the site was where the Republican Party had been born.

Despite a long-running debate with Ripon, Wis. about the birthplace of the Republican Party, the first meeting in Jackson was a "mammoth" convention that drew at least 3,000 people, Barton said.

"Jackson really got it off the ground," he said.

In 2011, Roe expressed his dismay with the Republican National Convention no longer listing Jackson as the birthplace of the Republican Party.

"Do they have some blessed authority that lets them do that?" Roe said at the time. "The birth of the party is the birth of the party. We started our history on July 6, 1854. You can't start in 1856."

The GOP website lists Jackson as the place where the first statewide candidates would be selected for what would be known as the Republican Party.

Wood from the oaks were made into gavels, Barton said. In 1972, Roe brought one of those gavels to Miami for the Republican National Convention and it has been used at each convention since, according to Jackson Citizen Patriot archives.

In 1974, lightning struck the last original oaks and Roe salvaged the wood. Roe said he made those into gavels and had some secure in storage.

State Sen. Mike Shirkey said in a statement he first met with Roe at a pancake breakfast and they "hit it off famously within (five) minutes." Roe will be missed, Shirkey said.

"His experience, his wit, his connections, and that ever present twinkle in his eye.... served the Michigan Republican Party well for decades," Shirkey said.

"Tireless and equally passionate, Jerry was a spark plug in every party endeavor he engaged in or led. He has left an indelible mark on everyone he helped....and that list is long."VICKSBURG, MI -- The man charged with open murder in the shooting death of his roommate in Vicksburg told police his thumb slipped while handling his handgun.

Thomas Wyatt, 25, was arraigned on a charge of open murder after his roommate, William Bolton, 28, was shot and killed overnight Saturday, Aug. 25.

Deputies from the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office responded to the report of a shooting about 12:45 a.m. Saturday at a home in the 13000 block of West Tremblay Drive in Schoolcraft Township.

Wyatt told dispatchers during the 911 call that Bolton had been shot in the shoulder, Sgt. Stephen Beers told Kalamazoo County District Court Judge Tiffany Ankley during a probable cause hearing.

Wyatt told police he attempted life-saving measures on Bolton, Beers said.

When deputies arrived at the home, Wyatt admitted to consuming about five drinks of alcohol, Beers said, and said he was cleaning his gun to go shooting the next day.

Wyatt told deputies the gun fired when his thumb slipped on the trigger while attempting to disengage the semi-automatic pistol, Beers told the judge.

"The hammer of the semi-automatic pistol was back in locked position," Beers said. "He attempted to de-cock the 9 mm weapon by depressing the trigger and slowly moving the hammer back down to the slide."

Emergency personnel attempted life-saving measures on Bolton, Beers said, but he was pronounced dead about an hour later at 1:42 a.m.

Wyatt was arraigned on a charge of open murder Tuesday, Aug. 28, in Kalamazoo County 8th District Court. He could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Wyatt told Ankley during his arraignment he was not guilty, though no formal plea was entered. He said he and Bolton had been renting a home together for the last year and that Bolton's family was like his own.

"They love me as their own," Wyatt said during the arraignment. "I would never run out on them."

Ankley denied bond for Wyatt, who is originally from Arkansas, citing both a potential threat to the community and a risk he could flee the state.

Wyatt is expected back in court for a probable cause conference 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5.

Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said police are continuing to investigate the incident.MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI - Muskegon Heights schools could be on their way to complete local control if not for a large deficit in 2017-18 and the purchase of gift cards for contracted employees.

Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System ended the 2017-18 school year with a $954,399 deficit for the year, according to unaudited financial reports. In the same year, the academy spent $25,000 on gift cards for contract employees, which state officials say could be a violation of state law.

Considering these issues, the state-appointed oversight board -- a Receivership Transition Advisory Board -- postponed resolutions to begin the process to dissolve itself, according to meeting minutes. Dissolution of that board would return Muskegon Heights schools to local control.

The Receivership Transition Advisory Board (RTAB) is appointed by the Michigan Department of Treasury to oversee the financials of Muskegon Heights Public Schools and the Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System. The academy is a charter school authorized by the public school district.

Muskegon Heights Public Schools was under emergency management from 2012-2016 due to nearly $12 million of debt. Its first emergency manager established the charter school system to take over running the schools while the public district focused on paying off its debt.

Following several emergency managers, the RTAB was appointed in 2016.

The charter system took more than 10 percent of the money it spent during 2017-18 from its fund balance, which was depleted to less than 3 percent of annual expenditures. The state guideline requires 5 percent or more.

Total revenue for 2017-18 was $8,180,810, while total expenditures came to $9,135,209, resulting in the deficit of $954,399. The deficit was covered by drawing from the fund balance, which now has $270,848.

When asked on Aug. 20 if the state had shown any concern about the less than 5 percent fund balance, charter academy Superintendent Rane Garcia said, "No."

But the "system budget" was cited as a reason to postpone the dissolution of the RTAB, along with a "matter to be discussed later in the meeting," according to meeting minutes. Later, RTAB Chair Michael Wrobel read aloud a letter from Garcia regarding the expenditure of $25,000 on gift cards.

"Chair Wrobel reported the actions described in the letter were a violation of school code which is enforced by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE)," according to the minutes. "Both the System and MDE have been notified to resolve the issue."

The MDE is "considering next steps" regarding the gift cards, Martin Ackley, director of the Office of Public and Governmental Affairs in the education department, said previously.

RTAB member Dale Nesbary, president of Muskegon Community College, agreed that the RTAB should not be dissolved while the gift card issue is outstanding, according to the minutes.

Still, the RTAB could consider whether or not to return the district to local control in the coming months.

"At this time, there is no timetable for when the Muskegon Heights school district will be released from receivership," Ron Leix, deputy public information officer for the treasury department, said in an email to MLive. "When that time does come, the RTAB provides a recommendation to the governor to release the school district from receivership."

The district's audited financials, which will be available later this year, will have a bearing on the RTAB's decision to seek dissolution or not, he added.

At a meeting on Monday, Aug. 27, the Muskegon Heights Public Schools Board of Education approved a resolution condemning the academy board for not suspending Garcia. The resolution listed the deficit and gift cards as reasons to suspend her.

Garcia is a first-time superintendent. She was promoted to the job on July 1, 2017, after serving as assistant superintendent for the academy. Her contract was renewed by the academy board on May 31. In 2016-17, her salary was $115,000, according to transparency reporting.MUSKEGON, MI - Merritt Lamb was many things: a poet, beloved Boy Scouts of America leader, Eagle Scout and a venerable hero who died behind enemy lines during World War I.

But most of all, he was a proud champion for the city of Muskegon, and a household name for those who are privy to the city's history.

On Tuesday, Lamb, who died in 1918 at the age of 26, was honored for his bravery and his many contributions to Muskegon in a small ceremony at Hackley Park. The day marked the 100th anniversary of his death in northern France, where he was killed surveilling a German-occupied town as an intelligence officer during WWI.

The poet-soldier also helped organize some of the first West Michigan Boy Scout troops, including the first Muskegon troop in 1912, according to information shared at the ceremony. Before his death, he was named Michigan's first Eagle Scout and the 13th Eagle Scout in the nation.

Around noon, members of the Boy Scouts and the American Legion Post 9 gathered near a longstanding memorial plaque dedicated to Lamb at the west end of Hackley Park. The ceremony was organized by Dave Paulson, a Scout leader with Muskegon's Troop 1053.

There, the cadre of Scouts and veterans retold stories of Lamb's life -- of his roots in Rockford and his love of Muskegon; of his time in the war and the heroic circumstances in which he died.

The ceremony ended with a three-volley salute to Lamb from the honor guard of American Legion Post 9, an organization which bears Lamb's name.

Lamb's story reads like a lost American tall tale, or a missing page from Daniel Wallace's novel "Big Fish." It is a lesson in bravery and perseverance, not just for Scouts, but for anyone who believes one person can make a difference.

Unwavering dedication to the scouts, and Muskegon

According to legend, Lamb grew up in Rockford on a farm with several siblings in a family of "Puritan stock." It was there that he learned the value of hard work and dedication, all while forging an affinity for nature.

Lamb would turn his love of the outdoors into poems that would later be published in his book of essays titled, "My Scout, and Other Poems." One of those poems is titled "Muskegon, My Muskegon."

During his youth, he joined the Boys' Brigade, an organization that loosely resembled the Boy Scouts before it was founded in 1910. As a teenager, Lamb would tinker with fledgling electronics, devising makeshift wireless telegraphy systems that caught the awe of his friends and family.

His proficiency in that field led to a job with a local railroad company while he continued his love of scouting.

At the age of 18, Lamb led a coup of sorts, convincing his compatriots in the Boys' Brigade to join the budding Boy Scouts of America instead. Lamb helped found the Rockford Troop 1, and later, Muskegon Troop 1.

In 1913, he was named an Eagle Scout, achieving the group's highest honor. A year later, Lamb received the BSA Bronze Cross for Lifesaving for his rescue of a drowning Scout in his care at a troop outing. The boy, Loyal Plough, would later become a detective sergeant with the Muskegon Police Department.

Lamb wrote later that he had been presented with a choice as he watched his brethren struggle in the water - a choice that he would later face on the battlefield.

"Inside me, there was the battle between the two greatest instincts," Lamb wrote. "On one side was the beast with its instinct for self-preservation. On the other side was the man with the conviction that he is his brother's keeper ... human will declared him the victor.

"He must fight and win, or die in the attempt."

Lamb did all this while serving in the National Guard starting in 1910 and was soon promoted to the rank of corporal, then second lieutenant. He was deployed to the Mexican border to support the failed Pancho Villa Expedition led by U.S. Gen. John Pershing.

Lamb formed a Scout troop during his time in Texas, too.

An untimely end

With the United States' entry into the Great War, Lamb helped train soldiers in first aid and woodcraft, receiving yet another commendation for his service. He was promoted one last time to the rank of captain and was deployed to northern France in 1917.

During the Battle of Juvigny, Lamb was on a mission to surveil a town held by the German army. Lamb was working off information that the Germans had retreated. When he arrived, he saw that the Germans were not only still there, but gaining reinforcements.

On his journey back, Lamb was killed by artillery fire, but his information made it back to his unit, saving hundreds of lives in the process.

By all accounts, Lamb's abilities were instinctive to his character, and that instinct vexed him to write one final letter to his Muskegon troop just 18 days before he was killed. The letter was published in the Muskegon Chronicle.

A portion of his message recalled the Scouts' guiding principles, and how they helped sharpen his grit.

"The campaign in which we are now engaged has proven to me and proven to many others interested in the subject the tremendous importance of the training which you, as scouts, are receiving," Lamb wrote. "You are learning ... things which of necessity the modern soldier must be able to do if he is to live and progress. You are being guided in your lives by the greatest moral code that was ever written, the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

"That oath and those laws were not the creation of one man," he continued. "They were moral principles which have evolved themselves in the progress of civilization ... You must make that oath and those laws a part of your daily life.

"That is you must not only know them by heart, but you must also know them in your soul."

A lasting legacy

Laura Fitzpatrick, community health improvement manager with the Mercy Health Project, said Lamb's words have special meaning for her family. Fitzpatrick's sons belong to Muskegon's Troop 1053, a group that would have not been possible without Lamb's influence.

She called him a "rock star" in the realm of scouting, and a prime role model for Millennials and Generation Z because of all that he accomplished at such a young age.

"If you look at some of the world's best leaders, many of them were around Merritt Lamb's age," Fitzpatrick said. "I don't think a lot of people realize that. I believe in legacies, even if they were from men who lived 100 years ago.

"(Lamb's legacy) is an important legacy to teach these growing leaders of tomorrow."

Paulson agreed, who said Lamb possessed a "Da Vinci-like or Jeffersonian intellect."

"His self-taught hobby in electricity, college studies, and work as a telegraph operator denote a solid career progression in what we would call STEM careers today," Paulson said. "But Lamb was also a natural leader of people, an organizer, a cheerful people person, great with youth, a fitness enthusiast and ambassador, a naturalist, and, of course, a writer of verse and prose -- prose ranging from reporting to original fiction, cultural anthropology to Scouting doctrine, and even a forthcoming text entitled 'Efficient Leadership.'"

"Given that enormous range of talent, it becomes evident why he was elevated to BSA's National Council by age 24."SAGINAW, MI -- A Saginaw man is accused of abusing an infant and assaulting the child's mother.

Police allege the incident happened about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 3 at a residence in the 2400 block of Lowell Avenue in Saginaw. A domestic dispute was taking place between the female resident and her 25-year-old boyfriend, Michael D. Southward, prosecutors allege.

The disagreement turned violent and the woman tried running away, only for Southward to throw her to the ground and start choking her, prosecutors allege. The woman was holding her 8-month-old daughter in her arms, prosecutors allege.

The mother eventually let the baby go. Southward then picked up the child and started swinging her around, threatening to slam her into a wall, prosecutors allege.

Southward left the residence when his girlfriend said she was calling police.

Prosecutors did not state if the child was injured.

Authorities issued a warrant for Southward on Aug. 21. Police located and arrested him on Monday, Aug. 27.

Southward appeared in Saginaw County District Court for arraignment on single counts of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm via strangulation, second-degree child abuse, and domestic violence. The first two charges are 10-year felonies, while the third is a 93-day misdemeanor.

Michigan law states a person is guilty of second-degree child abuse if he or she "knowingly or intentionally causes physical harm to a child" by "an act that under the circumstances poses an unreasonable risk of harm or injury to a child, and the act results in physical harm to a child."

The arraigning judge set Southward's bond at $50,000 cash-surety or 10 percent. The judge ordered Southward have no contact with his girlfriend or her child. The girlfriend, though requested the judge allow her to have peaceable contact, a request the judge denied.

The judge also instructed the girlfriend to attend classes at the Underground Railroad, a provider of "emergency shelter, services, leadership and programs to end domestic and sexual violence." The judge will review the girlfriend's request once she's completed those classes.

Southward is to appear for a preliminary examination before District Judge Terry L. Clark on Sept. 18.SAGINAW, MI -- A new work space to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into a business is coming to downtown Saginaw.

Central Michigan University Research Corp. offered a sneak peek of its new location to media, stakeholders and community leaders on Tuesday, Aug. 28.

The office center is located at SVRC Marketplace, 203 S. Washington Ave., and features an open floor plan for offices, coworking space and conference rooms available to entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations. The office space on the second floor is the former newsroom of The Saginaw News.

The Saginaw Riverfront office is the business incubator's third location. CMURC, which is headquartered in Mount Pleasant, opened its second location in the Uptown Bay City development last year.

"CMURC is a nonprofit, regional co-working space with accelerator programs focused on strategic development for entrepreneurs to positively impact the Great Lakes Bay Region," said Erin Strang, CMURC president and CEO.

The Saginaw location has a 10,000-square-foot space featuring modern designs and decor, several office/desks layouts and "interview booths" for meetings. Nestled at one end of the office is an exercise area equipped with two treadmills and an under the desk exercise bike that allows you to work, while working out. Another highlight is a bar, which will be the welcoming space for entrepreneurs to pick each other's brains for new ideas.

More private offices pay homage to Saginaw with signage that displays history such as "Beans", "Newsroom", "Old Town" and "I-675."

Bringing the co-working space to Saginaw is one of strategic goals to spark economic development in the city, said Dean Emerson, CEO for SVRC industries.

In 2017, the organization served over 300 companies, which helped to create 39 companies and 174 new jobs and $4,659,101 in investments, according to a 2017 CMURC impact report.

The addition joins nearly 40 other businesses in the Marketplace including eateries, craft vendors, Spence Brothers Construction, Miller's Tap Room and Wine Bar and a Frankenmuth Credit Union branch.

Entrepreneurs can get involved with a monthly membership. A basic membership that provides 24/7 access to at one location runs $150 per month. A regional membership for the traveling entrepreneur offers a dedicated desk, mailbox and storage at one location and 24/7 access at all locations. The private membership is $500 and it comes with a lockable office, mailbox and storage at one location and 24/7 access to all locations. A day pass is also available for $15.

The organization also offers "community perks", designed to help brainstorm ideas, network with other entrepreneurs and unwind. One of the most popular community perks is beer:30, which takes place on Thursdays. Participants bring a beer or drink of their choice to share and connect in an informal setting.

CMURC in Saginaw is slated to open to the public Tuesday, Sept. 4, pending final inspections.China rules rainbow trout can be sold as salmon





BLOG: ON August 6, 2018, CAPPMA (China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance) issued a rather controversial draft standard about Salmon for raw consumption.

The draft is aimed at regulating definition, requirements, inspection methods, inspection principles, label, indications, packaging, transportation and storage for raw salmon.

CAPPMA is a non-profit industry association gathering Chinese aquaculture industries. This standard shall be applicable to raw salmon products that are processed directly from fresh and frozen salmon.

The controversial part of this standard is its article 3.1, whereby it defines   salmon as a general denomination for the varieties of salmonidae, which includes Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar)rainbow trout, silver salmon, chinhook salmon, sockeye salmon, chum salmon, humpback salmon etc..

Find the intruder. Got it, the rainbow trout!

How can the rainbow trout be labelled and sold as salmon? This has indeed astonished readers worldwide, following a very well-read article by the Guardian as well as several other websites and newspapers.

Very fishy: China rules rainbow trout can be sold as salmon https://t.co/6EugvV1GAZ  The Guardian (@guardian) August 14, 2018

It all happened just few weeks after media reported the interesting news whereby most of Norwegian Salmon sold in China is actually domestically-produced rainbow-trout.

In this scenario, on social media and food-expert websites, the main comment was: is China actually legalising some kind of food-fraud?

We analysed the standard (still at draft level, so not effective yet) as well the official statement published by the CAPPMA on its website (please find herein our unofficial translation).

CAPPMA briefly explains that the Chinese term  (pronounciation: Sanwenyu) is not a scientific name  but rather a commercial common name for some kinds of fish.

In origin, it comes from a translation of the English term salmon in HK and Macao. In origin, sanwenyu was used only for farmed Atlantic salmon [Salmo Salar].

Also in Australian Food News

Later on, the domestic trout farming began to develop. Some restaurants in the vicinity of the trout farms sold the trout under the name of the sanwenyu since several decades.

Because sanwenyu is a common name and has no scientific definition, it has been used until now.

The reason why people are controversial about the term sanwenyu is that some people still believe that sanwenyu is only Atlantic salmon (Salmo Salar). Others believe that sanwenyu is a common name for several salmons and trouts, and debate arise.

Briefly, if we read carefully CAPPMA statement, we understand that CAPPMA aims at regulating what it deems a language issue, which has created vagueness amongst consumers.

In the amazing richness of Chinese language, we in fact can see that:

 Salmon is officially/scientifically translated as (pron: Gui);

 trout is officially/scientifically translated as  (pron: Zun);

 Salmonidae (the family to which both salmon and trout belong to) is officially/scientifically translated as  (pron: Gui ke);

 Salmoninae (the subfamily to which both salmon and trout belong to) is officially/scientifically translated as  (pron: Gui ya ke)

From this perspective, it shall be agreed that the term sanwenyu although widely used is in fact not a scientific term.

In practice, however, in real daily life, sanwenyu is the most used term by Chiense consumers to refer to salmon, and as a Mandarin-speaking foreigner in China since more than a decade I have to admit that I only knew sanwenyu as translation for salmon.

Yet, some linguistic researches eventually made me realise that sanwenyu is indeed also used in practice to refer also to trouts (if you want to test your Chinese capabilities, please refer to this link, amongst others). On some  even major  Chinese dictionary, the term sanwenyu does not feature.

WHAT NEXT?

First of all, it remains to be seen whether the current draft standard will enter into effect or whether modifications will be input.

Secondly, we shall notice that the current standard requires quite clear (article 7.1) labeling requirements, whereby beside the generic product name as sanwenyu, it shall be specified the actual fish species (whether rainbow trout, or Salmo Salar, etc).

If we assume that sanwenyu is actually in practice a vague term, at least this draft standard is aiming at regulating its use  even by acknowledging/including the existing vagueness.

Freshwater rainbow trout should not be eaten raw. But it has been passed off as seawater salmon in China for a while Posted by Mothership.sg on Thursday, 23 August 2018

SOME CONCLUSIONS

CAPPMA is intervening on a non-regulated term  yet widely used amongst consumers: sanwenyu. Briefly, it is acknowledging the vagueness of the term and  in a way  is making this vagueness becoming official  redefining in an extensive ways its meaning.

Most negative comments coming from non-Chinese sources stressed the fact that CAPPMA standard had been adopted on the main reasons that CAPPMA considers trout very similar to salmon from biological/taxonomy perspective.

The message was: China allows trouts to be called salmon because trouts are considered similar to salmon.

Technically, by analysing the draft standard and the supporting explanation by CAPPMA, this does not seem to be the main point, in our opinion.

What is true is that China is now (if the draft standard will enter into force as such) allowing trouts to be called sanwenyu, which is a term usually referring to salmon, but not only (at least according to some/several persons in China).

If we carefully read CAPPMA explanation, the species similarity from taxonomic perspective is only a part of their grounds, while the fundamental part remains the claim  by CAPPMA  that sanwenyu is not the scientific translation of salmon and actually has become a vaguely-comprehensive term. So CAPPMA seems mainly to address a linguistic issue  which has of course business implications.

Of course, the use of English term salmon within the text of the draft standard as suggested translation of sanwenyu is incorrect and contributes to the chaos and disputes.

Questionable as it is  and I do believe that many Chinese consumer consider that the term sanwenyu is not vague and clearly defines only salmon)  in any way it seems that what is being done by CAPPMA is definitely not legalization of some food fraud  at least as long as the labeling requirement under article 7.1 will be strictly implemented and enforced.

The name of food on the label shall (according to article 4.1.2.1. of GB 7718) shall clearly indicate the true nature of the food.

For now, we can ask ourselves whether this was just an attempt to give legality to existing practices in the industry and to protect Chinese local aquaculture industry?

Will the labeling requirements set by article 7.1 of the draft standard be enough not to mislead Chinese consumers? What will their reaction be  from both market behavior and claims against food operators? Will trout sales (and prices) soar?

Lets sit by the river and wait for fish to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mr Nicola Aporti is Head of Corporate and Food Regulatory at law firm HFG Law and Intellectual Property, Shanghai. His blog is republished here with his kind permission.Court rejects ACCC casting Heinz as villain





THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission overreached in its prosecution of Heinz over its Shredz healthy snacks, failing to characterise the food giant as egregious.

The courts fine fell well short of the $10million deterrent sought by the consumer watchdog.

Heinz was hit with a $2.25 million fine after misleading consumers by claiming its Shredz snack, marketed for toddlers, was beneficial for young children.

The company was also ordered to set up a consumer protection law compliance program and maintain that program for three years.

But Federal Court Justice Richard White in his judgement said Heinz had no record of any prior contraventions, which is to its credit, especially given the large number of products it markets.

Justice White said the ACCCs submission that Heinzs conduct was egregious involves a degree of overreach.

The elements of flagrancy, deliberate exploitation of the vulnerable, ruthlessness or indifference which are seen in some matters which come before the Court, and which do warrant the epithet egregious, are not present in this case.

Heinzs contraventions of s 29(1)(g) are to be viewed seriously but not with the additional characterisation for which the ACCC contended.

The Shredz products were a dehydrated snack made from 99 per cent fruit and vegetable ingredients and did not contain any preservatives, artificial colours or flavours but had a high sugar content.

The court found prominent statements on the packaging conjured impressions of nutritiousness and health.

More than one million were sold before the products were pulled from shelves in May 2016.

I am satisfied that each of the Heinz nutritionists ought to have known that a representation that a product containing approximately two-thirds sugar was beneficial to the health of children aged one to three years was misleading, Justice White said.

Justice White rejected the ACCCs submission that Heinz has a corporate culture marked by a lack of concern for compliance.

Instead, the evidence suggests that the contraventions occurred by reason of Heinzs failure to appreciate that the Healthy Foods Representations were conveyed by its packaging and that those representations were, in respect of each product, false or misleading, he said.

Interestingly and with possible effect on future prosecutions, Justice White also rejected ACCC submissions emphasising the size of Heinz, its membership of the global Kraft Heinz Food Company, and its capacity to pay a substantial penalty.

The size of a contravener is a relevant matter to the imposition of penalties, although it is not a reason, by itself, for the imposition of a higher penalty than would otherwise be appropriate, Justice White said.

The ACCC wants corporate fines upped from $10 million to $100 million specifically to hurt large companies, because it argues they can easily cop smaller fines as simply a potential cost, an acceptable risk, of doing business

But Justice White rejected that Heinz had regarded the possible imposition of sanctions with respect to its marketing of the Shredz products as a cost of doing business.

Also in Australian Food News

Heinz provided evidence to the court of its financial position as at 31 December 2016.

Revenue from continuing profit $448,255,000

Total comprehensive profit $31,415,000

Total assets $701,843,000

Heinz at an earlier hearing had asked for a fine of $400,000, saying $10 million would be oppressive.

Justice White said in 2016 Heinz achieved global net sales of $US26.5 billion in 40 countries.

The submission made on behalf of Heinz that the penalty of $10 million sought by the ACCC would be oppressive to it cannot be accepted, he said.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Justice White refused requests from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to have Heinz publish corrections to its misleading material.

ACCC chair Rod Sims said the organisation would continue to advocate for stronger penalties to deter large companies from contravening consumer laws.

The ACCC wants to ensure that penalties for breaches of the consumer law are large enough to get the attention of the financial markets, boards and senior management, Ms Sims said.

Heinz said it respects the decision that has been made in regard to penalty.

It said the company remained committed to providing high-quality food products to consumers.

The Obesity Policy Coalition in 2015 made the initial complaint about Shredz to the ACCC.

Dont leave our childrens health in the hands of the food industry. Self-regulation doesn't work. Protect kids from junk food marketing. Stop letting the food industry regulate themselves: its time for the government to step in and take action. #overbrandedunderprotected pic.twitter.com/F4TaBvUOAd  Obesity Coalition (@OPCAustralia) July 26, 2018

Coalition executive manager Jane Martin said some food companies continue to misrepresent their products as the healthy option for children.

Clearly labelling added sugar on the packaging will help parents cut through the marketing spin when theyre choosing healthy snacks for their children, Ms Martin said.

She said the coalition wants to see the Health Star Rating System recognise that sugar sourced from fruit is still sugar, and rate products accordingly.

The World Health Organization recommends limiting foods containing added sugar, including fruit juice concentrate, to 10 per cent of a persons daily energy intake, and ideally no more than 5 per cent (or 6 teaspoons per day) for the biggest health benefit.

MORE: Read Justice Whites judgement

MORE: Heinz in line for next big company fineStrawberry glut: Farmers urge shoppers to buy-up





ITS peak strawberry season at the moment, with the fruit being sold for as low as $1 a punnet in some supermarkets.

Although this is great for consumers, it has been terrible for farmers.

Queensland strawberry growers are now struggling to survive what they say is the worst glut in the industrys history.

Last week one of the states iconic strawberry farms shut its doors  and theres concern more farms will follow.

Growers are calling for an inquiry into the role of the major supermarkets in driving down prices.

Despite being a win for consumers, it has forced supermarkets to reject more strawberries from farmers, meaning that thousands are going to waste.

Queensland Strawberry Growers Association president Luigi Coco said it was Australians short-term grocery shopping habits that was causing the problem.

A lot of people tend to point the finger at the big two supermarkets when it comes to food wastage, its something we hear about all the time as farmers, he said.

However, its Australias short-term grocery shopping habits that are really hitting Aussie farmers where it hurts.

Also in Australian Food News

Queensland Strawberries are calling on consumers to spend $10 on strawberries to help reduce wastage.

For just 10 bucks per household, Australians can turn the tide on the war on waste, Mr Coco said.

Youll be helping out our farmers, the environment and jump-starting change in the way the Australian produce market functions  and all the while, you and the family will be enjoying quality strawberries for months to come.

He said consumers could freeze their strawberries to save them from going to waste or to make oven-dried strawberry chips.Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved USD 620 million loan to boost irrigation projects in Madhya Pradesh and supply clean water in West Bengal.

ADB inked USD 375 million loan agreement with the Madhya Pradesh government that will be used to contribute to double farming income by expanding irrigation networks and system efficiency, the multi-lateral funding agency said in a release.

Separately, the board of directors of ADB approved a financing package of USD 245 million to provide safe, sustainable, and inclusive drinking water service in West Bengal.

This is expected to benefit about 1.65 million people in three districts of West Bengal affected by arsenic, fluoride and salinity.

The Madhya Pradesh Irrigation Efficiency Improvement Project will develop 1,25,000 hectares (ha) of new, highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks, and improve water use efficiency in more than 400 villages, benefiting over 8 lakh people in the state, ADB said.

Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Ministry of Finance, and Sabyasachi Mitra, Deputy Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission, have signed the loan agreement.

A separate project agreement was signed by A K Upmanyu, Project Director, on behalf of the Madya Pradesh government.

"The ADB funds will be used to develop a large-scale pressurised and automated irrigation system for boosting irrigation efficiency," said Mitra.

The project will help Madhya Pradesh sustain its extraordinary growth in the agriculture sector through support to the state government's irrigation expansion and modernisation plan by maximising irrigation efficiency and water productivity, Khare said.

On West Bengal loan, ADB said more than 90 per cent of the rural population relies on groundwater, making it home to about 72 per cent of India's population at risk from arsenic and 5 per cent of the population at risk from fluoride contamination.

The project will provide continuous potable water through metered connections to about 3,90,000 individual households in Bankura, North 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur.

"High arsenic and fluoride levels in drinking water are a threat to public health in India, where West Bengal is by far the worst affected state," said ADB Principal Urban Development Specialist Neeta Pokhrel.

Through efficient use of surface water and a shift to piped water schemes, the ADB project will reduce the burden of disease from arsenic and fluoride, while preserving groundwater and enhancing climate resilience, she said.

The total project cost is USD 349 million, for which ADB will provide a loan of USD 240 million and grant of USD 3 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.

The West Bengal government will provide USD 106 million funding. ADB will also administer a USD 2 million grant from the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund.

The project is due for completion in June 2024.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the 'Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries' on the sideline of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, Fujian province,

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today approved the signing of an MoU between India and Bulgaria for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism.

The main objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, exchanging information and data related to tourism and encouraging cooperation between tourism stakeholders, including hotels and tour operators.

The countries will also cooperate in establishing an exchange programme for human resource development, and tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of tourism.

The programme also aims to promote exchange of experiences in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management, a statement from the government said.

It will also foster bilateral cooperation through film tourism for promoting the two countries as attractive tourism destinations, it said.

India and Bulgaria had previously signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism on May 25, 1994. Bulgaria is a potential tourism market for India. India received approximately 5,288 tourists from Bulgaria in 2017, according to the statement.

The signing of the MoU with Bulgaria will be instrumental in increasing arrival from this important source market, it said.The Centre has sanctioned Rs 730 crore in grant and a long-term loan of Rs 1484.39 crore for building the canal network for the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat, deputy Chief Minister Saurabh Patel said today.

Though the construction of one of the biggest dams in the country on the Narmada river had already been completed, the work on its canal network for distribution of water is still pending.

"The Centre has sanctioned a grant of Rs 730 crore for building the canal network for the Sardar Sarovar dam for year 2018-19 under an irrigation scheme," Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar.

He said the Centre had also sanctioned a long-term loan of Rs 1484.39 crore at the rate of six per cent from the Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF), which has been created to finance 99 priority irrigation schemes in the country.

"This will help in early completion of building the canal network for the dam," Patel said.

Besides irrigation, the water will be used for drinking purpose, he said.

The water level of the dam has reached 120 metres so far this monsoon, 18 metres short of its entire height.The GST Council is expected to deliberate on a special tax or cess to raise additional resources aimed at meeting the cost of reconstruction in Kerala in the aftermath of floods. This is the first time after the implementation of the GST in July 2014 that a State has sought additional resources through a higher tax rate.

A Finance Ministry official told The Hindu BusinessLine that the law has provisions for the introduction of both a special tax as well as a cess. The council is undecided on which route to take in order to meet the states demand for aid.

The centre and states have pooled their sovereignty on matters regarding indirect taxation after the advent of the GST. However, the final call on the introduction of an additional tax will be taken by the centre.

Kerala, which witnessed the worst natural disaster in almost a century, will need additional resources to rehabilitate the displaced, and rebuild public infrastructure damaged in the floods. The states finance minister T M Thomas Issac told the news daily that the Kerala government was going to approach the GST Council for the levying of a cess to meet the additional requirement for funds.

In a cabinet meeting held on August 21, the Kerala government approved a proposal for a 10 per cent cess. The permissible limit for taxes, as established under the federal laws enshrined in the GST, is 40 percent. This is not inclusive of cess. The current maximum rate is 28 percent.

Article 279 A of the tax law was changed after a constitutional amendment to allow special rate or rates for a specified period to raise additional resources during any natural calamity or disaster.

The GST Act, 2017, sets a ceiling of 15 percent on the imposition of cess. There is as yet no clarity on the imposition of a cess for purposes other than compensating states for a shortfall in revenue arising out of the transition to the GST regime.

Similarly, a cess was touted to meet the liabilities of sugarcane farmers, but decision-making in this regard reached an impasse. The Solicitor General (SG) is yet to present his views. In the case of Kerala, the SGs opinion will be key in the realization of either a tax or cess, over and above the prevailing GST rates.

The introduction of a calamity tax could be introduced as a temporary provision. Experts are of the opinion that the GST architecture should not be tampered with, as it will lead to demands from other states as well, increasing the tax burden and complicating the existing norms.

A hike in tax, and ancillary cess could impact the tourism industry, a mainstay of Keralas economy. Moreover, a calamity tax would create the precedent for the same product taxed differently across states. This would be seen as regressing from the gains accrued under the GST in simplification of the tax structure across the country.

The contrarian view is that the charging additional cess under new heads is allowed as per the constitution. In exceptional circumstances, governments are allowed to levy extra cess to tide over the difficult financial situation.

A purpose-driven cess, as proposed by the Kerala government, is valid according to the prevailing laws. Without being in contravention to the GST, a cess could help raise money for rebuilding infrastructure in the wake of one of the worst natural calamities to hit the state in recent years.India will not completely halt Iranian oil imports and will finalise its strategy on crude purchases from Tehran after a meeting with top US officials next week, a senior government official said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will hold high-level talks with India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on September 6, in what is known as a 2+2 dialogue.

"Definitely we are not going to zero" (purchases), said the official, who has direct knowledge of India's oil purchase policy and did not wish to be identified.

When asked if more clarity on India's Iranian oil purchases would emerge after the dialogue, the official said "yes, that is the highest level of meeting we will have with the US"

The United States is pushing all countries to halt oil imports from Iran after President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers and ordered a re-imposition of sanctions on Tehran.

India, Iran's top oil buyer after China, has so far not decided on the size of any cut to Iranian imports and continues to seek a waiver from the United States. Trump has threatened that anyone trading with Iran will not do business with America.

US sanctions on Iran's energy sector are set to be re-imposed after a 180-day "wind-down period" ending on November 4.

Several countries that were involved in the 2015 nuclear deal had attempted to lessen the blow of fresh sanctions on Iran, and urged their firms not to pull out. But that has proven difficult: several European companies have cut ties with Iran, arguing they cannot risk losing their U.S. business as the sanctions deadline approaches.

India has already asked its refiners to prepare for a drastic reduction in imports of crude from Tehran from November, sources told Reuters in June.

New Delhi has so far not committed to complying fully with the new US sanctions, but is prepared to cut Iran oil imports to protect its wider exposure to the U.S. financial system.

During the previous round of sanctions, India was one of the few countries that continued to buy Iranian oil, although it had to reduce imports as shipping, insurance and banking channels were choked off due to the European and US sanctions.A box with vacuum-sealed beef meat is pictured at the Biernacki Meat Plant slaughterhouse in Golina near Jarocin, western Poland July 17, 2013. The abattoir in this small town in western Poland has a special dormitory to house the more than 30 Jewish men designated by Israel's chief rabbi to oversee the production of kosher beef there. Poland exports 90 percent of its beef, a third of which was kosher or halal worth some 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion). But this booming industry has ground to a halt because, after a campaign by animal rights activists who say the method of slaughter is cruel, Poland's constitutional court banned the practice and this month its parliament rejected an amendment that would have allowed the slaughter to resume. Picture taken July 17, 2013. Photo: REUTERS.

India's buffalo meat exports between April and July rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier to 384,096 tonnes on robust demand from Indonesia and Malaysia, a government body said on Wednesday.

The country's rice exports during the period edged up 1 percent from a year ago to 4.15 million tonnes on upbeat demand from Senegal, Benin and Iran, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority said.

India is the world's biggest exporter of buffalo meat and rice. The country's exports of pulses more than doubled during the period to 124,465 tonnes, while dairy exports jumped 33 percent to 42,193 tonnes, the agency said.The Reserve Bank has been invited to attend the meeting of the empowered committee for resolution of stressed power assets to be held on August 31, Union minister R K Singh said today.

The government last month set up the committee chaired by Cabinet Secretary with representatives from ministries of railways, finance, power, and coal, and lenders having major exposure to the power sector.

On RBI's role in resolution process, the Union power minister said, "RBI has been called to attend this meeting on August 31."

Stressed power assets worth around Rs 1.74 lakh crore are feared to undergo bankruptcy proceedings after the Allahabad High Court on Monday refused to give any interim-relief to private power companies from the RBI's February 12 circular on new NPA framework.

The high court also suggested that the power ministry should invite a senior representative of the RBI as a member of the empowered committee. It has asked the panel to submit report in two months from the date of formation.

The Reserve Bank in its February 12 circular had said if a resolution was not found by August 27, NPA accounts should be sent to bankruptcy courts.

The minister, however, pointed that he does not see stress to spread in the power sector. "The committee will deliberate on it (NPA resolution). I don't see stress cascading or anything like that. Good thing is that demand is increasing. So there is more space to generate extra (electricity)."

The RBI's new framework provides that lenders have to provide for resolution plan within 180 days in case of large account of Rs 2,000 crore and above even at the default of a day.

In the absence of resolution plan the project would go to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

When asked if the government would invoke Section 7 of the RBI Act, as suggested the high court, the minister said that the finance ministry can answer that question. About resolution of stressed assets without going to the NCLT, the minister said, "By and large this is something for the lenders to decide and they have to decide according to the Acts and Regulations laid down by the RBI.

"So they will decide. There are some mechanisms which have been moved. One is Samadhan and other is Parivartan. So we will see how it works out."

A senior official present on the occasion said, "For resolution of the stressed assets without initiating bankruptcy proceeding, the lenders should come on board.live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

In a bid to strengthen the banking system laden with bad debt, the government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to prepare a list of public sector banks that can be merged, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The finance ministry has also asked the central bank to suggest a timeframe for the consolidation, the report suggests. The move is aimed at creating better capitalised and fewer lenders and improving regulatory oversight.

Government-controlled lenders are estimated to be holding 90 percent of the non-performing loans and 11 out of the 21 PSBs are operating under an emergency programme overseen by the central bank, the report adds.

The report cites Ravi Venkatesan, outgoing chairman of Bank of Baroda, as saying that state-owned lenders need to consolidate to avoid losing more market share to competitors in the private sector.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

After Italy, India reportedly has the highest bad debt ratio among the worlds top 10 economies.

In an interview to CNBC TV18 in February 2017, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said he was confident that State Bank of India (SBI) stands to gain a lot under the government's public sector consolidation framework.

In March 2016, SBI had announced its merger with its five associate or subsidiary banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) after the government gave its green light for the merger.

On April 1, 2017, SBI merged with five of its associate banks  State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and State Bank of Patiala (SBP).The ministry of road transport and highways has invited bids from private companies to hand over eight projects of National Highways Authority of India under the toll-operate-transfer mechanism. The projects collectively carry a base price of Rs 5,362 crore and cover a stretch of 586.55 km. The bids have to be submitted by November 5.

This is the second round of the scheme. The first, under which the government auctioned nine roads covering 681 km, fetched the government Rs 9,681 crore, 1.5 times the base price. The ministry has so far identified 75 highways for monetization.

Of the eight projects on offer in round 2, two are in Rajasthan, one in Gujarat, one shared between Rajasthan and Gujarat, one in Bihar and three in West Bengal.

Under the scheme, the government gets a lump-sum upfront while the private concessionaire gets an-already operating asset for 30 years. It has to fulfil the operation and maintenance obligations but is free from the hassle of any capacity expansion that may be needed later  a job that will be executed by NHAI.

A long-term concession period of 30 years and an operating asset were the twin factors that attracted Macquarie, Suresh Goyal, its India Head and Senior Managing Director told Moneycontrol. He said the bank had an appetite for more such projects as well as other infrastructure assets in India.

The 9-road bundle under the first round has been handed to a consortium of Macquarie-Ashoka Buildcon-Yes Bank. Macquarie has invested Rs 4,181 crore as equity in the project. The investment by the Australian bank has come through its Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund II, a $3.3 billion fund that invests in roads, airports and other infrastructure projects.

Yes Bank is the lead arranger and has committed Rs 5,500 crore to the projects. It also did the pre-bid underwriting and may downsell some exposure to other banks at a later date, Vinod Bahety, Group President and National Head of Corporate Finance Infrastructure Banking at the Rana Kapoor-promoted bank told Moneycontrol.Global oil markets could tighten towards the end of this year due to strong demand and uncertainty of production in some oil producing nations, the head of the International Energy Agency said.

"Definitely there are some worries that oil markets can tighten towards the end of this year and as major oil importing countries India and other countries need to be ready," IEA's Fatih Birol said on Wednesday after a meeting with India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

He said oil markets could tighten due to "very strong demand growth and a major problem is that Venezuelan production is collapsing".

Venezuelan production has halved in the last two years, he said, adding there was also "fragility of production" in countries including those in the Middle East.

Birol on Monday said that Venezuela's oil production was expected to slide further after falling by half in recent years.live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Indian markets hit a fresh record high on Tuesday supported by positive global cues. The Nifty50 hit a fresh record high of 11,760.

In fact world stocks on Tuesday hit a six-month high lifted by receding fears of trade wars.

On the economic front, the US will releases the second version of Q2 GDP on Wednesday.

Growth is expected to be revised lower to 4 percent, down from the initial reading of 4.1 percent.

However, that would continue to mark the fastest rate of growth in four years, media reports suggest.

Coming to Indian markets, 11768 is a crucial resistance to watch out for Nifty, and any level above 11768 could extend the rally towards 12000.

As far as support is concerned 11,620 is a level to watch out for| A stop loss for all long positions can be kept at 11,700 levels

Indian rupee ended up 6 paise at 70.10 against dollar, recovers from record closing low.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 161 crore and domestic institutional investors also sold Rs 199 crore in the Indian equity market on Tuesday, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Big News:

Nifty rejig happening in September

The National Stock Exchange (NSE), on August 28, announced the exclusion of Lupin from the Nifty index.

The scrip will be replaced with that of JSW Steel on the benchmark 50-share index.

These changes shall come effective from September 28, 2018

The index provider also announced that it will be replacing nine stocks in the Nifty Midcap 100 index.

The Nifty Midcap 50 index also underwent some changes as Adani Power, Biocon, Engineers India, IDFC and PC Jeweller will be replaced with Cummins India, Jubilant Foodworks, Power Finance Corporation, Punjab National Bank and Rural Electrification Corporation.

In the Nifty 500 index, 25 companies witnessed exclusions as well.

To name a few, Aban Offshore, Bhushan Steel, DB Realty, HDIL, Kesoram Industries and Marksans Pharma, among others will no longer be a part of this index.

These shall be replaced by names such as Bandhan Bank, Galaxy Surfactants, ICICI Securities, HAL, HDFC Standard Life, Lemon Tree Hotels, and Reliance Nippon Life AMC, among others.

Technical View:

Nifty forms a Doji candle on daily charts

A Doji usually means indecisiveness among the bulls as well as bears, but the momentum still remains strong which could take the index towards 11800 levels; hence, investors should remain long with a stop loss below 11,700 levels, suggest experts.

Three levels: 11700, 11770, 12000

Max Call OI: 11800, 11700

Max Put OI: 11500, 11700

Technical Recommendations:

We spoke to Guiness Securities and heres what they have to recommend:

Vedanta: BUY | Close: Rs 230.30 | Target: Rs 255| Stop loss: Rs 217 | Return: 10.73%

Kotak Mahindra Bank: BUY | Close: Rs 1285.10 | Target: Rs 1330 | Stop loss: Rs 1250 | Return: 3.5%

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.August 29, 2018 / 03:35 PM IST

Market at Close: A sharp selloff in the last hour of trade weighed on equity benchmarks on Wednesday, with the Nifty giving up 11,700-mark. Weakness among giant index names such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and Infosys, among others, dragged the market lower as well.

Banks had a negative impact on the market, along with energy stocks, infra, IT and pharmaceutical names. However, PSU banks and metals tried to offset the losses, but bulls had the tide in their favour.

However, there was a strong upmove in the broader markets, with the Nifty Midcap index ending just around half a percent higher. The index had managed to soar a percent during the days trade.

Rise in crude oil prices due to withholding of supply by Iran as well as a depreciating rupee too added to the negative sentiment. The Indian currency managed to fall to a fresh record low of 70.57 per US dollar. Analysts that Moneycontrol spoke to attributed this to the month-end dollar demand by oil companies.

As such, all other factors are supportive of the currency. It could see appreciation after one or two days once this demand is out of the market, Rushabh Maru, Research Analyst at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers told Moneycontrol. For the very short term, he expects support to be around 70.20/USD and resistance around 70.75/USD.

At the close of market hours, the Sensex closed 173.70 points or 0.45% lower at 38722.93, while the Nifty fell 46.60 points or 0.40% at 11691.90. The market breadth is negative as 1,275 shares advanced, 1,415 shares declined, while 172 shares were unchanged.

ONGC, SBI, Bajaj Finance and UPL are the top gainers, while Coal India, RIL and Power Grid have lost the most.Considering the recent rally, most experts believe the market is in an overbought zone. But, Gautam Shah, Associate Director & Technical Analyst, JM Financial believes there is lot more room for gains. He sees the Sensex at 40,000 soon.

"Investors should be prepared for 12,700 which is the new working target for the Nifty and can be seen in around next 6 months," Shah told CNBC-TV18.

Most global markets which did not participate given the US-China trade war concerns are now joining the run, he feels. In fact in India, politics is at much better shape now, which should help Nifty hit its target of 12,000 after 11,800, Shah said.

"The market sentiment got better now and is still not over the top. In fact, India became the poster boy in global markets and wherein India can not be ignored," Shah said.

The Nifty 50 hit fresh record high of 11,760 on August 28 after rising nearly 10 percent in last two months from around 10,700 levels. The rally was driven by select names in banks and index heavyweights.

"It (market) enjoys lot more leadership, rally has been broadbased and midcaps & smallcaps are also participating," he said.

He expects resistance for the Nifty at 11,800 and consolidation between 11,500-11,800 levels.

Midcap index

The Nifty Midcap index also participated in the rally over the last two months, rising more than 8 percent from around 18,200 levels to 19,800.

Given the Midcap index has already recovered over 10 percent from 2018 lows, Shah said a possible bottom has already formed. He expects the index to add another 600-odd points in couple of months to near 20,400 with more sectors participating before heading for consolidation.

Bank Nifty

Nifty Bank, according to Shah, is at a much stronger level. "Three weeks ago it was actually underperforming but currently it has been laying foundation at around 28,400 levels and then will be running for a medium term target of 30,000, which could be doable in the next couple of months."

Sectors that could lead Nifty

Autos have taken a backseat after leading the 2017 rally. IT sector and the index heavyweights are the new leaders according to Shah.

Pharma also has a phenomenal set up. After a three and half year downtrend, the index lost 40 percent in value and now it has formed base around 10,000 levels, he said. With leaders in the pharma pack already rallying the Pharma index could hit 12,000 in next six months, he said.

Pharma, IT and Banks are, therefore, his top picks in the current rally.

Metals

Metals also has been in a recovery mode but in this space, it is more of a stock specific play, he said.

PSU Banks

The setup of private banks is much cleaner than PSBs in terms of charts. PSU banks could see a relief rally of 5-10 percent but this can be looked at as a trading play from time to time.Domino's Pizza

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Moneycontrol News

Shares of Jubilant Foodworks, the operator of Domino's Pizza in India, fell before rising one-third of a percent as traders cheered inclusion of the stock in Nifty Midcap index.

The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 1,565.00 and an intraday low of Rs 1,550.00.

The NSE on Tuesday announced changes to its benchmark indices. Among the announcements, Nifty Midcap too underwent some changes. Adani Power, Biocon, Engineers India, IDFC and PC Jeweller will be replaced with Cummins India, Jubilant Foodworks, Power Finance Corporation, Punjab National Bank and Rural Electrification Corporation.

Global research firm UBS upgraded the stock to a neutral rating from sell. It raised the target price to Rs 1,750 from Rs 950.

Further, it observed that the revenue and same store sales growth by the firm can be maintained. It also does not see the company losing battle against competitors in the long run. The brokerage sees limited upside in the stock till return on invested capital improvements begin to show.

At 10:19 hrs Jubilant Foodworks was quoting at Rs 1,559.50, up Rs 0.30, or 0.02 percent, on the BSE.

The above report is compiled from information available on public platforms. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.live bse live

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5nance.com

The Indian equity market continued its winning streak with a gain of about 0.75 percent on a week-to-week basis and managed to sustain its upward rally ahead of tomorrows August F&O expiry. Ahead of this expiry session, the Nifty on Tuesday registered a fresh high of 11,760, despite a negative market breadth, and ended the session at a record close of 11,738.

Regardless of a drag on select banks and FMCG, the buying regime in energy and IT space assisted the index to break out to uncharted price levels. After forming a small bullish candlestick pattern on daily chart in the previous session, the index made a Doji kind of a pattern as it managed to rebound near its opening level after profit-booking at higher levels.

The daily relative strength index stood at 75 indicating a positive divergence while the moving average convergence divergence continued to trade above the signal line. The index is likely to face resistance at 11,835-11,768 levels as per pivot point, while support level is placed at 11,570.

However, with the internal advance-decline ratio indicating a negative stance, the profit-booking regime is expected to halt the momentum which was visible in the current session. We advise investors to remain stock specific with a strict stop-loss on longs. We expect the Nifty to trade around 11,810 on upside and 11,670 on the downside on a weekly basis.

Here is a list of top three ideas which could return 4-12 percent in the next 1 month:

Welspun Corp Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 187 | Stop-Loss: Rs 152 | Return 12%

The Welspun Corp formed a two lower base of 131-104 levels on its six-month price chart from a higher level of Rs 190-170. Recently, the scrip witnessed a reversal trend favoring upward trajectory where it managed to breakout from the long-term average level of 141 which was critical resistance and also witnessed a significant volume growth (above daily average).

The weekly RSI level at 63 has shown a positive price divergence while MACD recently witnessed a bullish crossover. We have a BUY recommendation for Welspun Corp. which is currently trading at Rs. 166.70

TVS Motor Company Ltd: Buy | Target: Rs. 605| Stop-Loss: Rs. 553 | Return 6%

During the last six months, TVS Motor consolidated from Rs 680 levels towards a low of Rs 512 forming multiple lower bottom. However, during a recent period, it resumed upward rally, taking a strong support at Rs 512 levels.

It also managed to breakout from 100-days moving average level placed at 549 and formed a substantial volume growth.

The momentum indicator indicated a positive trend with RSI at 62 levels, while MACD is likely to make a bullish crossover in the next few sessions. We have a BUY recommendation for TVS Motor which is currently trading at Rs. 569.50

New India Assurance: Sell | Target: Rs. 235 | Stop-Loss: Rs. 265 | Downside: 4%

Despite witnessing a false breakout during the opening session this week, New India Assurance continued to consolidate over the last six-month period from the highs of Rs 373 levels.

It further slipped below 200-days moving average level placed at Rs 329 levels, indicating a negative trajectory for the scrip.

The volume growth remained subdued throughout the session as momentum indicator continued to indicate consolidation phase. We have a sell recommendation for New India Assurance which is currently trading at Rs 244.75

The author is Founder & CEO, 5nance.com. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.live bse live

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Share price of Vedanta rose 3.3 percent intraday Wednesday as company won 41 oil blocks.

The company has bagged 41 out of 55 oil and gas exploration blocks offered in India's maiden open acreage auction, upstream regulator DGH said today.

State-owned Oil India Ltd won nine blocks, while Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) managed to win just two.

State gas utility GAIL, upstream arm of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Oil Exploration Co (HOEC) received one block each, DGH said giving out list of winners of Open Acreage licensing Policy (OALP) round-1.

Vedanta, which had put in bids for all the 55 blocks, won right to explore and produce oil and gas in 41 of them.

At 11:24 hrs Vedanta was quoting at Rs 235.25, up Rs 4.85, or 2.11 percent.

With inputs from PTIHousing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) has been brought in to resolve issues faced by homebuyers.

Speaking at the real estate conference organised by CII and CBRE in the capital on August 29, Puri said that the Centre was committed towards regulating the real estate sector and protecting the interests of homebuyers.

"My view is that once RERA is established and takes off, it is logical that at some stage all projects will come under the purview RERA, he said

"We have to resolve the problems of the homebuyersit is legitimate for people to say that we have been waiting for 10 years. RERA will ensure that in future buyers will not sign one sided contracts. RERA authority can deal with that. There has been some attempts at tweaking RERA so far as ongoing projects are concerned. But I think that's coming to the naught because as RERA mechanism are being established in states, all projects will get covered by the RERA. So I think, its going in that direction," he pointed out.

"This is a responsive government. We do not shy away from the problems...we are totally committed to resolve the problems of home buyers and the sector," Puri said.

He stated that the high-powered committee constituted under secretaryof the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to examine issues and propose some viable solutions to the problem being faced by homebuyers in Uttar Pradesh, had sent its report to the state government.

Similar problems are being faced by homebuyers in Gurugram. "The Government of Haryana has also approached my ministry to suggest a solution by constituting a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of the secretary, housing and urban affairs," he said.

State-owned construction firm NBCC will soon submit its report to the Supreme Court regarding the feasibility of completing the incomplete projects of Amrapali where thousands of homebuyers are stuck, the minister added.

The matter of the affected homebuyers is being heard by the Supreme Court and it had asked the governments construction arm NBCC, to look into the feasibility of completing all pending projects by embattled real estate developer Amrapali.

"Though NBCC prayed for 45 days time, the Hon'ble Supreme Court granted 30 days time to NBCC to undertake a study and work-out the detailed plan for early implementation of incomplete housing projects of Amrapali. NBCC is in the process of finalising the detailed report as directed by the apex court before the next date of hearing, which has been fixed for September 4, 2018," Puri said.

Meanwhile, CBRE Chairman (India and South East Asia) Anshuman Magazine said the RERA will drive demand for housing as the new legislation would boost consumer confidence. He said the technology would be a big disruptor and game changer going forward in the real estate.

DLF's CEO Rajeev Talwar said that the Centre has already reduced GST on affordable housing to 8 per cent and is also providing interest subsidy to home buyers. "There should be no stamp duty on apartments up to 60 square meters."

Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) Chairman Getamber Anand said that there is lot of action on the ground in affordable housing segment where margins are low but huge scope for volumes.

Tata Housing MD & CEO Sanjay Dutt said for the company "living up to brand was important, sustaining it is also important". He said that reforms like RERA (Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act) would bring lot of discipline among developed but it will take 10-15 years for sector to become organised.

vandana.ramnani@nw18.comlive bse live

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Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani today expressed keenness to invest in telecom, organic farming and hospitality sectors in Uttarakhand, an official release said.

Discussing the possibilities of investment in Uttarakhand with Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat at a roadshow in Mumbai, Ambani said he was keen to provide internet connectivity in state schools and health centres besides expressing his willingness to offer support in creating storage facility for organic products.

The operations of the Reliance Foundation will be expanded in the state, an official release quoting Ambani here said.

There is great potential for organic vegetables and herbal products in Uttarakhand and we are willing to offer support in developing a back end chain for this, he said.

On the request of the Chief Minister he spoke of extending support in the development of Badrinath on the lines of Kedarnath.

Ambani also expressed his desire to invest in the field of tourism and hospitality, the release said.

Rawat is holding roadshows in different cities to invite business leaders to a large-scale investors' summit to be held in Dehradun on October 7-8. He has already held roadshows in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Mumbai to meet business leaders in those cities in the run up to the event which is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Representative Image.

The three-year long legal battle between Fabindia and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is all set to continue.

While KVIC claimed that Fabindia had given an undertaking to the Bombay High Court to not use the 'Khadi' mark, the William Bissell company calls it a mere statement. This tussle is only going to escalate as the Commission promises to have the vigil enhanced and take strict action against those seen violating copyright. The government body has sent over 200 notices to companies that wrongly endorse or use Khadi.

It began in July 2015, when the KVIC had noticed that Fabindia was using 'Khadi' tag and selling products bearing the impugned mark 'KHADI', which was identical to KVICs registered KHADI trademark.

According to lab tests reports  seen by Moneycontrol  the samples drawn by KVIC from Fabindia showed that they were not Khadi products, but instead factory-made cotton garments in the name of Khadi.

On August 13, 2015, KVIC issued a notice to Fabindia notifying the violation of the KVIC Act caused by the brand and called upon the retailer to immediately stop sale and advertisement of apparel tagged as Khadi.

Again in January 2016, the KVIC found that Fabindia continued to use the Khadi tag on its products, despite its undertaking of not using it, "which was a blatant violation of KVICs statutory and proprietary rights in the Khadi trademarks".

Fabindia, in its letter dated August 16, 2016, informed KVIC that they had stopped advertisement campaigns in all media and had also sent internal directions to stop selling the cloth with reference to Khadi.

But notices were again sent to the Indian retail chain brand in February 2017. Later that month, Fabindia acknowledged receipt of that notice and requested a meeting with KVIC officials. In the meeting, Fabindia officials were categorically informed that their unauthorized use of Khadi mark and sale of fake Khadi products had not only violated the provisions of the regulation, it had also caused loss of opportunity and earnings to Khadi artisans.

"But Fabindia failed to obtain bona fide certification for sale of Khadi products despite KVIC's repeated assurances. They also didnt pay any monetary compensation for the loss caused by them," said sources.

Finally, earlier this year, KVIC filed a case against Fabindia on June 13, 2018 at the Bombay High Court and categorically asked Fabindia to pay KVIC monetary damages.

KVIC asked to be paid Rs 525 crores as damages, which is 25 percent of Fabindias average annual profits over the last three years.

Clearing their stand on the issue, a representative from Fabindia said, The interim application taken out by KVIC against Fabindia in the Hon'ble Bombay High Court came up for hearing on August 27, 2018. Janak Dwarkadas, senior advocate instructed by us appeared for Fabindia. He informed the Court that Fabindia is presently not using the word Khadi. If Fabindia intends to use the word Khadi in future, it will give four weeks advance notice to KVIC before such use. The Court after considering the above submissions disposed of the interim application filed by KVIC. The Court has also given Fabindia four weeks time to file its written statement in the suit.

So far KVIC has provided Khadi Mark Certificate to 2,238 entities and issued legal notice to 222 organizations in the last three years asking them to refrain from selling non Khadi items as Khadi.AirAsia India today announced the induction of 19th aircraft in its fleet and said it will add two new routes in its flight network from October.

With the induction of the latest Airbus A320, the Tata Sons AirAsia group joint venture airline is now just one plane short of the mandatory 20 aircraft for starting international operations by a domestic carrier.

The 19th aircraft will be based at AirAsia's Kolkata hub and will be deployed for operating daily flights on Hyderabad-Kolkata and Hyderabad-Indore routes, which are being launched from October 1, the airline said in a statement.

The bookings for new routes are open from today.

"The airline is focused on expanding its presence in tierII/III cities, providing affordable airfares and improved services for flyers," the budget carrier said.

The new aircraft will also help the airline enhance the frequency of flights between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, it said, adding in addition, guests can travel from Indore to Kolkata through Hyderabad as well.

The Bengaluru-based airline currently flies to 21 destinations, from its three hubs - Bengaluru, New Delhi and Kolkata - covering Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Indore, Surat, Amritsar and Chennai.The Cabinet approved additional 2 percent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), a move that will benefit about 1.1 crore central government employees and pensioners, an official release said.

The impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 6,112.20 crore per annum and Rs 4,074.80 crore in the financial year 2018-19 (8 months from July, 2018 to February, 2019).

The hike will be effected from July 1, 2018, the release said.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Union Cabinet...has approved to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. July 01, 2018 representing an increase of 2 percent over the existing rate of 7 percent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise," it said.

The hike will benefit about 48.41 lakh central government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners.

As per the release, the increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that any anti-BJP party with maximum seats can stake claim for the post of Prime Minister, the Congress today said it would strive to ensure that party president Rahul Gandhi becomes the PM.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said there was no formal proposal from the NCP yet about a 50:50 seat-sharing formula in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Maharashtra has 48 parliamentary constituencies. Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge also made a pitch for the like-minded parties to put up a united show to stop the BJP from forming a government and said there should be "no ego" in that.

"What Pawar said is his opinion. I am the general secretary of my party. We are trying to ensure our party gets maximum seats and Rahul ji becomes the prime minister...we want our party to come back to power and our leader becomes the PM," Kharge was quoted as saying in a party statement.

He made the remarks after nearly five-hour-long meeting here with the party's Maharashtra district chiefs in view of the next year's general elections. He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of implementing the ideology of the RSS. "We are fighting against the ideology which is vicious from the country's point of view," he added.

MPCC chief Ashok Chavan said, "The Congress is positive towards forging an alliance with the like-minded parties in Maharashtra. Discussions are on over forming a grand alliance with NCP, BSP, PWP, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, RPI (Kawade), RPI (Gawai), Left parties and other like-minded parties."

"There is no formal proposal from the NCP about 50:50 seat sharing. The alliance would be formed respectably," he said.

According to the party sources, Congress' rank and file welcomed Pawar's remarks at the meeting chaired by Kharge given the probability that the Congress would emerge as the "single largest party from among the opposition parties" in the election.

"It is implied that the Congress would emerge as the single largest party and can stake claim for the prime minister's post," a leader said, requesting anonymity. The leader said that opinions of the party's district presidents were heard in view of the election and also forging alliance with the NCP for the polls.

"The party would also work out its policies for the urban and rural areas in the coming few days," the source said. The party is all set to fan parts of the state region-wise beginning its drive in Western Maharashtra's Kolhapur on August 31 to tell people about the "failures" of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state.

Expressing happiness that Gandhi has made it clear he was not driven by prime ministerial ambitions, Pawar had yesterday said the aim should be to vote out the BJP and added that any party in the Opposition getting maximum seats after the 2019 polls could claim the top post.

The Congress president had two days ago said he was not driven by an ambition to become the prime minister.

"I don't have these visions. I view myself as fighting an ideological battle and this change has come in me after 2014. I realised that there's a risk to Indian state, to Indian way of doing things and I'm defending that," Gandhi had said.Delhi High Court

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The Delhi High Court today directed interim release of Bhushan Steel's ex-promoter Neeraj Singal, arrested by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for allegedly siphoning off Rs 20 billion funds. A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel declined SFIO's oral plea for stay of its interim order.

The court granted Singal interim relief on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of Rs 2 lakh each.

Singal, represented by advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, was arrested on August 8 in relation to an SFIO investigation into the affairs of Bhushan Steel Ltd and Bhushan Steel and Power Ltd, pursuant to a May 2016 order of the Centre under the Companies Act.

He was the first person ever to be arrested by SFIO which was given this power only in August last year.

A habeas corpus petition, filed through advocates Ranjana Roy Gawai, Arshdeep Singh and Hemant Shah, has also challenged certain provisions of the Companies Act on grant of bail to persons arrested under the Act, claiming that they were violative of fundamental rights as they imposed "unreasonable restrictions".

The plea has claimed that his arrest was illegal as no grounds for arrest were communicated to him orally or in writing by the probe agency at the time of arrest.Representational image

After two years of dilly dallying over the modalities of a legislative framework for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), colloquially known as drones, the government seems to have taken a balanced approach to iron out the security and operational issues that has kept the nascent market from taking off in a big way.

On August 27, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced its policy for remotely-piloted aircraft or drones that will come into force from December 1. The new policy categorizes UAVs and lays down guidelines for aircraft maintenance, how they can be flown and also where they cannot be used.

The aviation sector regulator has previously blown hot and cold on its policy towards unmanned aircraft, vacillating between being an advocate of drone adoption to a privacy hawk eager to clip its wings on misgivings regarding security. A stable policy framework will give all stakeholders an opportunity to work within the contours of the law to leverage the emerging technology for gainful use, especially in the logistics sector.

Civilian drones have gained popularity in many parts of the world, but they have run into turbulence in Indian skies. Operating a drone, even as a hobby, was until recently an offence punishable with jail time. In 2016, three people were arrested in Mumbais Charkop region for shooting sequences for a film without obtaining requisite permission. This is not an isolated case. Such incidents have been reported in other parts of the country.

Common clauses of the law used for booking individuals dabbling with drone technology without approvals include Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery), and 188 (disobedience to orders duly promulgated by public servant).

However, for entities that go by the rule book, the new policy will be a boon, as it allows commercial operation of drones within a specified range and height. Drone-to-home delivery may be a reality very soon, but challenges persist. The policy insists that drones can be operated only within the line of sight of the person operating it. This is aimed at ensuring that remotely operated drones will not become unidentified flying objects.

Licensing

Source: DGCA

The document classifies remotely-piloted aircraft (RPAs) into five different subsets on the basis of maximum-all-up-weight, which is inclusive of the payload. Nano drones are those which weigh less than 250g, while those which come under the large category weigh upwards of 150kg. The mass of the payload that can be dispatched via drone depends on the body weight of the aircraft.

Civil aviation requirements (CAR) will be applicable to RPAs, and the method of getting one registered is different depending on its make and country of origin.

For entities looking to import drones operating at de-licensed frequency bands, equipment type approval from the wireless planning and coordination wing (WPC) of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is mandatory. Moreover, for those aircraft belonging to the nano category, import clearance is to be obtained from the DGCA and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Upon receipt of import license, the applicant can proceed to getting an operator permit and a unique identification number (UIN) for the drone.

The same procedure is to be followed for registering drones purchased in India. Applications for drones manufactured domestically will be processed on a case-to-case basis through the Digital Sky Platform.

To obtain an identification number for a drone, one has to be a citizen of India. The ownership pattern and management of companies come into play if drones are to be acquired for commercial use by organizations. The government requires that the primary place of business of such entities should be India, and also its chairman and two-thirds of board members must be Indian nationals. Without mentioning a cursory sum, the policy mandates that substantial ownership and effective control is vested in Indian nationals. The onus will be on compliance for individuals and groups that already own and operate RPAs in the country.

The flock

According to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent global conflict-research institute, India was the biggest importer of UAVs in the world, accounting for 22.5 percent of the worlds imports between 1985 and 2014.

A total of 1,574 UAVs changed hands between countries in the three decades after 1985. The figures are also inclusive of armed variants which find use in military operations. However, these represent a miniscule fraction of the total transfer of major weapons.

Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

At 22.5 percent of the overall trade, India has been the biggest recipient of UAVs, followed by the United Kingdom at 20.5 percent, and France, a distant third with 9.8 percent of the market share. India has been a late bloomer in this sector, importing its first drone in 1998 from Israel. But it has made amends in recent years, outdoing peers to acquire a substantial fleet of remotely controlled aircraft. However, the ownership of these vehicles continue to be concentrated in the hands of the government and affiliated research institutes. With falling costs, toy drones have flooded the market, increasing the pressure on authorities to regulate their use.

Israel has been the country of origin for over 60 percent of drone imports into India, while one in four foreign-made UAVs plying on Indian airspace are manufactured in the United States. Armed UAVs are a relatively new phenomenon. The UK imported two MQ-9 Reapers from the United States in 2007. They were employed in the protracted war in Afghanistan. China has emerged as a net exporter of such hardware, having recently sold five drones to the Nigerian government to help it fight Boko Haram militants.

Image credit: Reuters

High altitude surveillance drones also enhance a country's military capabilities. India is no stranger to such hardware. In May, the government arrived at a consensus with the US over the sale of Predator-B drones to be used by the armed forces.

While states use sophisticated hardware for reconnaissance and surveillance, the motives of corporations and drone enthusiasts are different. For businesses engaged in supply-chain logistics or in the delivery of goods, UAVs will be a boon as it will help them sidestep highly congested roadways in urban spaces, saving both cost and time.

Commercial use

While the governments drone policy is not opposed to the use of UAVs for commercial use, companies will have to navigate through a bureaucratic maze to get the requisite clearances. In addition to approvals from the ministries for trade, telecommunications and civil aviation, companies will have to get security clearances from the home ministry.

Entities seeking unique identification numbers will have to furnish valid PAN cards and GST identification (GSTIN) numbers. Weight of the payload and the purpose of use will have to be clearly mentioned, as will the exact specifications and make of the aircraft. The progress of regulatory clearances can be tracked on the Digital Sky Platform.

Nano drones intended for low altitude flights (less than 50 feet) will be exempt from getting a UIN number. However, the law also states that this relaxation is applicable only if the flight is to happen in uncontrolled airspace or enclosed premises for commercial or recreational use only. Uncontrolled airspace is that where the supervision of air traffic control is not necessary for practical reasons.

No-fly zones

A sign at a downtown city park informs people the area is a no drone zone in San Diego, California. Image credit: Reuters

The draft policy has delineated certain geographies over which RPAs cannot be flown. Drones cannot be operated within a distance of 5km from the perimeter wall of airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. For other civil, private, and defence airports, the buffer area is 3km.

Drones are also not allowed to fly over installations and facilities of strategic interest, the list of which is specified in the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP). To avoid interfering with the flight plan of passenger airlines, RPAs are not allowed above the Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) of an operational aerodrome. The Civil Aviation Ministry has defined the permissible height below which foreign objects could pose a threat to aircraft.

RPAs are not allowed in border areas to safeguard national security interests. Moreover, they are not allowed within a 3 km radius of military installations in all parts of the country. Drones are prohibited within 5km of Vijay Chowk in New Delhi, the seat of administrative power and a stones throw away from Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard running through India Gate and Raisina Hill.

Special permits are needed to operate RPAs over ecologically sensitive areas such as wildlife sanctuaries and natural parks. Researchers who use drones from geospatial mapping in biodiversity studies will have to apply for permission to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Regulatory headwinds

Certain operational bottlenecks have not been resolved in the governments drone policy. The standard operational altitude for micro, mini, and heavier drones continue to be 200 feet above ground level, as opposed to 400 feet in countries such as the United States, China, and Australia. By setting a virtual ceiling for RPAs, the government could be effectively thwarting their use in commercial applications. Empirical evidence from countries which have a more evolved ecosystem for RPAs show that 200 feet is too little a distance to stay clear of obstacles, especially in densely populated urban centres.

Even for academic purposes like geo-mapping, aerial photography for land surveying, and the monitoring of power lines, the 200-feet limit is inadequate for obtaining optimal results. The overtly cautious approach adopted by the government may be unwarranted. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the body which sets global standard in the aviation sector, has set the limit for RPAs at 400 feet.

The regulatory policy is also silent on the use of autonomous drones. RPAs can also be operated with minimal human intervention if equipped with sophisticated software that allows for obstacles in its field of vision to be mapped and circumvented. These autonomous variants are more powerful and handy in emergency situations such as search-and-rescue operations. They also find applications in agriculture and environment preservation.

Moreover, if a large number of commercial drones were to take to the skies, it would also necessitate the creation of a dedicated air traffic control (ATC) unit for tracking their movement. Some of the tasks would include charting out flight maps, setting up regular routes, notifying all participants of moving obstacles, and ensuring that collisions are avoided.

To help RPAs take off in a big way, the DGCA has identified 23 sites spread over 11 states that can be used for testing drones. However, their location can pose a problem to companies based out of cities like Mumbai and New Delhi. For example, Mumbai-based companies will have to test their RPAs in either of the five designated test sites in Maharashtra  Surendranagar, Shirpur Airport, Amravati, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Satara.

Companies based out of Delhi will have to travel up to 270km to Sakkhanpur Farm for trial runs of drone prototypes. A possible alternative to this quandary would be to include open tracts of land on the outskirts of major cities to the list of test sites of RPAs.

The policy document mandates that radio frequency identification (RFID), as well as GSM (global system for mobile) have to be used for tracking drones. This could pose a security risk as third parties could wrest control of their usage.

The requirement that drones be fitted with secondary surveillance radar (SSR) and automatic dependent surveillancebroadcast (ADSB) transponders could prove to be infeasible on account of their weight. SSR transponders are used in air traffic control systems to establish the identity, altitude and position of aircraft. This requirement could be the undoing of small sized drones for commercial use as the weight cap used for classification will include that of SSR as body weight, exclusive of that of the payload.

Drones have also been involved in notable misadventures. In January 2015, a drone crash landed on the lawn of the White House. Despite being a heavily fortified area, the drone penetrated the security cordon, highlighting how difficult they are to detect.

It is also hard to trace people who are flying drones without seeking requisite authorization. This raises the possibility that they may be subverted for use in illicit activities. A drone which crashed near the US-Mexico border in January 2015 was found to be carrying over six pounds of methamphetamine, a banned drug also known as crystal meth. The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) says drones are increasingly becoming popular as a carrier of drugs across the border.

Despite multiple government ministries being involved in the formulation of Indias drone policy, other departments will have to come on board to ensure that unmanned aerial vehicles do not exceed their brief and are driven by miscreants whose motives are suspect.Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashutosh said the party had used his caste surname, even after he protested, during his introduction to party workers as a candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

His statement gains significance after senior AAP leader Atishi Marlena dropped her last name from all official records, which was given to her by her Leftist parents as a combination of stalwarts Marx and Lenin.



In 23 years of my journalism, no one asked my caste, surname. Was known by my name. But as I was introduced to party workers as LOKSABHA candidate in 2014 my surname was promptly mentioned despite my protest. Later I was told -    ,        

 ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) August 29, 2018

Ashutosh in a tweet said AAP expected him to win votes of people who belonged to his caste. He has never used his surname all through his journalistic career of 23 years.

After his tweet caused a stir online and on news channels, Ashutosh wrote again that this should not be taken as an attack on AAP and that his message had been grossly manipulated. I am not a member of the anti-AAP brigade, he said.

Surname politics

Reports suggested that the party had forced Atishi to drop her last name because it was too Christian sounding. An AAP leader reportedly said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started spreading rumours about Atishi and her religion even though she is originally from a Punjabi Rajput family.

The party has refuted claims that her surname was dropped to avoid attacks from the BJP during election campaigning.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi also hit out at the party, saying this shows the reality of Indian electoral politics. To get elected, one cannot have a name which sounds Christian/Muslim. This is why we have only four percent Muslims in Lok Sabha, he said.



A progressive politician like @AtishiAAP who DOES NOT use her caste name 'Singh' to ask for votes, is being targeted for using only Atishi without 'Marlena'

Our discourse is around education and healthcare, not on identities of caste and religion.  Akshay Marathe (@AkshayMarathe) August 28, 2018

AAP leader Akshay Marathe has denied that the party has forced Atishi to drop her surname. He said the party functions on discourse about education and healthcare, not identities of caste and religion.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the 'Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries' on the sideline of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, Fujian province,

The government today approved a trade cooperation framework between India and Rwanda to facilitate better economic relations between the two countries.

The framework was signed on July 23 this year during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the east African nation.

"The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for the trade cooperation framework between India and Rwanda," an official statement said.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today discussed bilateral, multilateral and key international issues with her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn, and the two countries signed two agreements to step up cooperation.

Swaraj, who is in Cambodia on the concluding leg of her four day two nation tour, discussed with Sokhonn bilateral, multilateral and important international issues at delegation level talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

"The two ministers discussed bilateral, multilateral and important International issues today at delegation level talks," the Embassy of India here said in a tweet.

She will also call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of the Senate Say Chhum.

Swaraj reached here yesterday from Vietnam where she held wide-ranging talks with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh and discussed steps to boost bilateral trade, investment, maritime and defence cooperation.

The first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is on the restoration and preservation of the world heritage site of a temple of Lord Shiva in Cambodia's Preah Vihear.

The 'Temple of Preah Vihear' dates back to the first half of the 11th century AD. Situated on the edge of a plateau that dominates the plain of Cambodia, it is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The second MoU is on cooperation between India's Foreign Service Institute (FSI) and Cambodia's National Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations (NIDIR).

The FSI was established in 1986 primarily to cater to the professional training needs of the Indian Foreign Service and the Ministry of External Affairs. The NIDIR was set up by the Cambodian government with aim to build more qualified human resources in the field of diplomacy.

India's ties are on an upswing with Vietnam and Cambodia the two major countries in the powerful Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping.

India and Cambodia have enjoyed friendly relations for a long time. Both the countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1952. In 2000, Cambodia vowed its full support for India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.Meeting co-chairperson Shri V.K. Singh, India's Minister of State for External Affairs, speaks to other representatives of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) during the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings in Manila, Philippines August 6, 2017. REUTERS/Rolex Dela Pena/Pool - RC1564471830

India today emphasised its "sincere and abiding" commitment to work with the BIMSTEC member states to make the region safer, stronger and prosperous, ahead of a summit of the regional bloc here tomorrow.

This was stated by Minister of State for External Affairs Gen V K Singh in his address at the 16th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting here in the Nepalese capital.

Singh, who led the Indian delegation during the meeting, said New Delhi accords utmost priority to BIMSTEC as it fulfils India's foreign policy priority of "Neighbourhood First" and "Act East".

With completion of 21 years, BIMSTEC is at a critical juncture and in that regard, Singh reiterated India's sincere and abiding commitment to work with all BIMSTEC member states for a safe, strong and prosperous Bay of Bengal region.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional grouping comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

"BIMSTEC bringing the region together! In his address at the 16th Ministerial meeting, MoS Gen VK Singh emphasised on India's sincere and abiding commitment to work with BIMSTEC Member States to make the region safer, stronger and prosperous," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

The two-day BIMSTEC summit will begin tomorrow in Kathmandu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among the leaders who will attend the fourth BIMSTEC Summit whose theme is 'Towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region'.

Today's BIMSTEC ministerial meeting was inaugurated by Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali who also chaired the meet.

Gyawali said peace and stability is crucial for development of the region and it is not free from the menace of terrorism and other transnational organised crimes.

He underlined the need for working together to defeat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and combat other transnational crimes.

He said the recent global economic outlook is bright with emerging Asia having strong growth prospects, and BIMSTEC nations individually remain at the forefront of the economic dynamism, adding that collective regional economic framework certainly enables BIMSTEC to perform better on the economic front.

The meeting is expected to see the presentation of reports by the Secretary General of BIMSTEC and reports of the Special and Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM).

The meeting will also discuss preparations for the summit, and finalise the BIMSTEC Convention/MoU ready to be signed as well as the draft of the Kathmandu Declaration of the summit.

Apart from Singh, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Union Minister of International Cooperation of Myanmar Kyaw Tin, Sri Lankan State Minister of Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayake, Thailand Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, and Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Sonam Tshong are leading the delegations from their respective countries in the meeting.

Yesterday, foreign secretaries of BIMSTEC member states reviewed the progress achieved so far in the areas of cooperation and provided guidance to the future works of the regional grouping.

During the 19th Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) of BIMSTEC, the foreign secretaries discussed as to how cooperation between the member states could be made more effective and business-like.

The grouping accounts for 22 percent of the global population, and has a combined gross domestic product of $2.8 trillion.

The first BIMSTEC summit was held in Thailand in 1997, second in 2008 in India and third in 2014 in Myanmar. Nepal has assumed the chairmanship of BIMSTEC since 2014.Setting aside protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu at New Delhi airport. (Reuters)

Israel is expecting 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018-19, up from 60,000 who visited it in 2017-18, a top Israel tourism ministry official said today.

The Israel tourism ministry is hopeful that the number could reach 2-3 lakh in next two-three years, Director of Tourism (India and Philippines) Israel Ministry of Tourism Hassan Madah said.

"Of the 3 million foreign tourists who visited Israel in 2017-18 only 60,000 were Indians. We are hopeful with the rise in number of flights and more people to people contact in recent years, the figure could be 90,000 by 2018-19," Madah told reporters on the sidelines of a roadshow by the Israel Ministry of Tourism here.

Asked about the reason behind lesser number of Indian tourists visiting Israel in the past, Madah said that the the media had not properly projected the safety and security image of the country and there were not many travel agents to promote Israel tourism.

"Now the scenario is poised for change. We have more AI flights connecting Tel Aviv and Delhi and there are talks of direct flights between the southern Indian states and Tel Aviv by Arkia Israel Airlines by the end of this year. These will help the number of tourists to rise," he said.

In addition to AI, Israeli airline E1 A1 is already operating non-stop flights between Mumbai and Tel Aviv while Arkia has expressed interest to start operations at the end of this year.

"While the direct AI flight, introduced since March this year, are always full, the greater number of Christians living in southern states have always been willing to visit the Holy Land. We want to tap that segment and the response has been quite encouraging," he said.

He said besides Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea were among the major tourist highlights offered by Israel.

Madah said the opening of the Israel visa application centre in the city for West Bengal and north eastern states will foster interest among travellers from eastern part of India to his country. "We want to have people to people contact in a bigger way."

He said of the total foreign students in Israel, around 10 percent were Indians. "There are lots of start-ups and new companies coming up in Israel and there are several collaborations between companies in this sector. India has an important role in this regard," Madah said.

He said there are one lakh India-born people living in Israel for ages and a large number of them hail from the Jewish community.

"A section of that Jewish community hail from Kolkata and this shows our ties run through deeply," Madah added.Representative Image

NDA constituent Shiv Sena feels that the assembly elections will be held in Maharashtra along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Shiv Sena, a ruling partner in the BJP-led Maharashtra and Central governments, is of the view that assembly and Lok Sabha polls will be held together in the country, a minister said on August 28.

"In all probability, the BJP will go for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra along with the assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," he said.

Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are due later this year, while in Maharashtra in October--November 2019. The minister claimed that the BJP was sending "feelers" to the Sena for a pre-poll alliance. He hinted that Sena would set stiff conditions, including staking claim to the post of Chief Minister, in lieu of helping the BJP in Lok Sabha polls.

"The BJP is sending us feelers for alliance. They want us to support them for retaining power in New Delhi and leaving Maharashtra to us. We will stake claim for the CM's post and stick to the old seat-sharing formula," he said.

The minister said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has directed the party cadres to be ready to contest the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2019 solo. He said Thackeray has already begun taking Lok Sabha constituency-wise review meetings at the Sena Bhavan in Mumbai. Thackeray today took review of Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency.

Sena sources said the party is likely to finalise the names of its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls before the start of the Ganesh festival next month.

The party is most likely to renominate 18 sitting MPs, sources said, adding that the Sena is also short-listing potential candidates for other 30 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, the minister said the political scenario for the BJP has turned hostile, following which the party has realised the need for allies.

He claimed that BJP president Amit Shah is now in constant touch with Thackeray. Addressing the Sena national executive earlier this year, Thackeray had announced that his party would contest all future elections on its own.

Meanwhile, a senior BJP leader expressed hope that his party and the Shiv Sena will be able to forge a pre-poll alliance on the issue of Hindutva. "Alliance or not, the end result will be that the opposition Congress and NCP will suffer a setback," he said.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Sena is most likely to renominate its three sitting MPs Arvind Sawant (Mumbai South), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai South-Central) and Gajanan Kirtikar (Mumbai North-West), sources said.

The Sena has also short-listed the names of Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and Health Minister Deepak Sawant to take on Mumbai North-Central MP Poonam Mahajan of the BJP. The Sena has short-listed the name of its former mayor Shubha Raul who is likely to contest against Mumbai North MP Gopal Shetty of the BJP.

In Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha constituency, the Sena has short-listed names of former MLA Shishir Shinde and MLC Neelam Gorhe against BJP's Kirit Somaiya, source added.Former Rajya Sabha MP Nandamuri Harikrishna, the son of N T Rama Rao and brother-in-law of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district today, the police said. The 62-year-old was going to Kavali in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a wedding when his car rammed into the divider on the Nalgonda Highway and flipped on the other side, a police official said.

"Harikrishna suffered severe head injury. Also we suspect internal bleeding. However, exact cause of the death is yet to be ascertained," Duty Medical Officer of Kamineni Hospitals at Narkatpally, Ameer Khan said. However, the official said they are yet to get a clear picture as to what exactly happened. Harikrishna was an actor and had acted in several Telugu movies. His sons, Kalyanram and Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as Junior NTR are also famous Telugu stars.

Actor and politician N T Rama Rao served as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for three terms.

Harikrishna had served as minister in Chandrababu Nadiu's cabinet in late 1990s. In 2014, Harikrishna's another son Janakiram had died in a road accident in undivided Nalgonda district.

Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu said he was saddened by the tragic death of Harikrishna. "As a popular actor he has entertained the Telugu audience.

As a parliamentarian, he was very upright and expressed his opinions frankly.My condolences to his family, well wishers and followers at this time of grief," he said in a tweet. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed his condolences on the untimely demise of Harikrishna, an official release said.

The chief minister recalled the services of late Harikrishna in political and cinema fields.Congress President Rahul Gandhi today accused the Centre of not providing adequate assistance to flood-hit Kerala, saying he was "sad" about the BJP-led NDA government's approach on the issue.

Gandhi also said that the was in favour of accepting foreign aid from countries like the UAE for rebuilding the flood-ravaged southern state.

"Central government support is the right of the flood-affected people of Kerala but I am sad that the Centre hasn't given as much aid to the state," Gandhi told reporters here.

When asked about the central government's stand of refuting aid offer from foreign nations, he said, "If somebody is giving unconditional money to reduce the pain of the people of Kerala, I myself will take it". He said it was his take on the matter.

Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to flood affected regions of Kerala, said he was not here for "politicising the situation." He said he had spoken to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday on the flood situation in the state.

Gandhi said the sense he had got from the relief camps he visited in various districts in the state yesterday was that the assistance promised by the state government should be delivered speedily.

"I think it is very important that the government gives the sense to the people that it is going to build houses, give a sense of potential timeline for doing that, I think there is need for counselling.

"I also think that the compensation that has been promised, Rs 10,000 should be given speedily. There is a feeling in the camps that that has not been done yet," he said.

Noting that Kerala has suffered a "tremendous tragedy," the Congress president said his role was to be with the people of the state. Gandhi cancelled his visit to rain-hit Wayanad in view of bad weather and left for Idukki district to visit the flood affected areas there.

He had assured the flood-affected people yesterday that his party would bring pressure on the central and state governments to provide compensation which they 'owe' to the affected people.

Visiting the flood-ravaged areas of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts yesterday, he had also urged party workers to actively participate in relief and rehabilitation operations and help the people to make their ravaged houses liveable.

Arriving in Kerala yesterday morning, Gandhi spoke to people at relief camps, days after the deadliest deluge in the last 100 years left a trail of destruction and claimed 474 lives in rain-related incidents since May 29 when the monsoon set in over the state.Kolkata: MP and Congress observer for West Bengal Gaurav Gogoi (L) with Pradesh Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (R) during celebration of 65th aniversary of Chatra Parishad, in Kolkata on Tuesday, Aug 28, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI8_28_2018_000212B)

The West Bengal Congress on August 28 asked the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) to spell out if it would support the BJP after the next Lok Sabha elections. A clear cut announcement on part of the TMC was needed as the party has been differentiating between leaders of the BJP, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, while addressing the foundation day programme of the Chhatra Parishad, the student's wing of Congress in West Bengal.

"We have to defeat the BJP at the Centre and the TMC at the state in the next election. The TMC is talking against the BJP but is not saying clearly whether it will support the BJP in the post-poll scenario," Chowdhury said.

He said, "For the TMC, L K Advani is good but (Narendra) Modi is bad. Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj are good but Amit Shah is bad. We don't believe in such differentiation."

The Congress thinks that the BJP as a whole represents one single ideology which is against the basic ethos of the country and its diversity, Chowdhury said.

"(TMC supremo) Mamata Banerjee should clarify whether her party would support Sushma Swaraj or Rajnath Singh if they are made prime ministerial candidate of the BJP instead of Narendra Modi," he said.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, who was present at the programme, said the party's focus is to strengthen the organisation in the state and assured state leaders that the high command stands by its workers who are being attacked by the ruling TMC in Bengal.

During the programme, infighting in West Bengal Congress unit came out in the open after leaders of party's students' wing exchanged blows with each other in front of senior leaders.

A quarrel broke out between two groups over who would take seat on the dais. Following this, supporters of both groups hurled abuses and clashed with each other, witnesses said.Representative Image

The Supreme Court will hear the petition filed against the arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon protests at 3:45 pm on August 29, news agency ANI has reported.

The petition against the arrest of the activists was filed by Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and others, while eminent lawyers such as Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising, Prashant Bhushan and Raju Ramachandran and Vrinda Grover brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Justice of India, media reports said.

Last night, Maharashtra police had raided the homes of prominent activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

Activists Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested from Thane and Mumbai. Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was picked up from her home in Faridabad. Gautam Navlakha's transit remand to Pune is also on hold, the Delhi High Court said. He will stay at home under police guard and can meet only his lawyers, according to NDTV. Activist and poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Security officials had claimed that two letters recovered over the past few months, indicating Maoist plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were also a reason for the raids.



There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain.

Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 28, 2018



As a biographer of Gandhi, I have no doubt that if the Mahatma was alive today, he would don his lawyer's robes and defend Sudha Bharadwaj in court; that is assuming the Modi Sarkar hadn't yet detained and arrested him too

 Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 28, 2018

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has condemned the incident in a tweet:The arrests have also drawn flak from academicians including Arundhati Roy and Ramachandra Guha, and rights activists who have termed the incident "virtual declaration of Emergency".On a day when finance minister Arun Jaitley and Congress president Rahul Gandhi traded fresh charges on the Rafale deal, Anil Ambani, who has won the controversial contract from the French firm, today said truth will prevail.

Terming the allegations as "baseless, ill-informed and unfortunate," Ambani said, "truth alone will prevail" as the charges are driven by "malicious vested interests and corporate rivals."

Ambani was responding to a question from the media as to why he chose to exclude the Congress president in the Rs 5,000-crore defamation case filed by his company on the Rafale deal.

"I have personally written to Gandhi stating that the Congress has been misinformed, misdirected and misled on the Rafale deal by malicious vested interest and corporate rivals," he told reporters after announcing completion of the sale of RInfra's power business in Mumbai to the Adani group for Rs 18,800-crore.

Parrying another question whether if need be would he file a defamation case against Gandhi as well in the case, he said "all the allegations are as baseless, ill-informed and unfortunate."

In a series of exchanges between, Jaitley and Gandhi accused each other with the former calling the latter as "peddling in untruth", and the latter responding by terming it as "the great robbery".

It all started with Jaitley, in a Facebook blog, posting a set of 15 questions for Gandhi in response to Congress posers on the multi-billion dollar deal.

He said the 36 Rafale fighter jets which the BJP-led government is purchasing are 20 per cent cheaper than the ones the UPA government had received.

Charging Congress with carrying out a "false campaign", he sought Gandhi's response on questions varying from delays in finalising the fighter jet order to procedural knowledge and foreign supplier being allowed freedom to choose private partner to meet offset requirement.

Gandhi responded by calling the deal "the great Rafale robbery" and alluded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to protect his business friend.

"Mr. Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your supreme leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. We're waiting!," Gandhi tweeted.The war of words between the Congress and the government over Rafale deal intensified today as the opposition party rejected Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said vendors have to disclose how the offset contracts would be discharged under the defence procurement policy.

"For him (Jaitley) to say that offset is not part of the contract is wrong," he said and demanded a probe alleging that Anil Ambani's Reliance Group had prior information that PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would not get the offset contract.

The Congress' reaction came after Jaitley accused the opposition party and its leader Rahul Gandhi of "peddling untruth" on the deal and seriously compromising national security.

In a Facebook blog, Jaitley today refuted Congress' allegation that the government had benefited Anil Ambani's Reliance group, saying "Government of India has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies".

He said any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) under the offset policy of the UPA can select any number of Indian partners, both from the private sector and the public for offset supplies.

"This has nothing to do with the Government of India and, therefore, any private industry having benefitted from the Government of India is a complete lie," he said.

Anil Ambani's Reliance group, which has slapped "Cease and Desist" notices on many Congress leaders asking them not to make false and defamatory statements on the deal, had also earlier asserted that Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets, choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and the Defence Ministry has no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.

The company has also rejected allegations that Reliance Defence was incorporated days before announcement of the Rafale deal, saying three companies were incorporated in December 2014 and Reliance Group's entry into defence sector was announced at Aero India in February 2015.

But the Congress today rejected Jaitley's assertions. Sharma said that under the defence procurement policy it is very clear that the vendor has to notify how the offset liability will be discharged.

"You left out HAL, violated the Official Secrets Act, did not seek the mandate of CCS and conducted no price determination for reducing the aircraft purchase from 126 to 36 aircraft. So there should be a probe into this. They may deny whatever, but the truth will come out," the Congress leader told reporters.

He also said that the defence procurement policy makes it clear that the offset contract has to go to a defence PSU with experience in the sector.

"Only the prime minister knew that the offset contracts would not be given to HAL and he violated the oath of secrecy taken on the position he holds," he said, adding "the Official Secrets Act says such things are not to be disclosed. How did Anil Ambani know that HAL will not get the contract and he set up his company 10 days before?"

He said under the UPA, offset was 50 per cent of the contract and HAL did not get the contract or transfer of technology. "The finance minister has not talked about it."

"When the prime minister went abroad, did he take the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding cancellation of the earlier contract," he asked.

Countering Jaitley's charge that national security was compromised by the Congress, Sharma said, "Does national security say that there should be corruption and a wrong decision."

On Jaitley's allegation that the UPA delayed the procurement procedure for over one decade "on account of the incompetence and indecisiveness of the UPA Government", Sharma said negotiations were being held in a transparent manner through a global tender and it takes times as trials are held.

But the price is three times more under the new deal than the earlier price, he claimed and asked, "What is the government hiding here?"

He said as per the defence procurement policy, it is written in the contract what percentage is offset contracts and Dassault will have to disclose as to how it intends to discharge the offset liability.

"Probably the finance minister does not know of this," Sharma said.

Sharma said on October 27, 2017, French minister for armed forces had come to India and met Indian defence minister in the morning in Delhi and then went on in a chartered plane to Mehan in Nagpur in the afternoon, to attend the foundation laying function of Reliance Infrastructure where Union minister Nitin Gadkari was alo present.

"Questions are raised as it involves contracts worth Rs 30,000 crore and to say the government has no information, is wrong. How did a private company knew before the decision that the offset contracts would be taken away from public-sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)," he asked.The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre should clarify the "doubts and suspicions" over the India's deal with French aviation company Dassault for the supply of 36 fighter aircraft, Punjab minister and Congress leader Manpreet Singh Badal said today.

"The people of the country want answers from the government and the BJP on the issues related to the Rafale deal. Compared to the deal negotiated by the UPA, the present deal causes a loss of Rs 41,000 crore of the people's money," the Punjab finance minister alleged while speaking to reporters here.

Badal claimed the circumstances in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi finalised the deal during his France visit raised questions.

"Just two days before the PM's visit to France, (then) Foreign secretary said that the aircraft deal will not be discussed or finalised. But Modiji goes to France and without consulting anyone placed the order for 36 aircraft," he said.

The Congress leader claimed that two months before the deal was finalised by the prime minister, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said the negotiations between Dassault Aviation and the HAL were going on satisfactorily.

Badal also raised question over the offset contract and life cycle maintenance contract related to the Rafale deal which, he claimed "was taken away from a public sector undertaking and given to Reliance Defence Limited".

The Anil Ambani-led group has already rubbished the allegations that Congress leaders have been levelling against it.

Our reservations are that the procedure for defence purchases was not followed, the Punjab minister said.

"The government defended claiming there was an urgent need for the aircraft. However, according to the schedule of delivery, the first aircraft will be delivered in 2019 and (the entire delivery of planes) completed by 2022. So, there was no emergency," Badal claimed adding the deal negotiated by UPA included immediate delivery of 18 aircraft.

Badal said while the defence minister, replying to a question in Parliament, said the price per aircraft cannot be disclosed as it pertained to national security but Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence reflected the price in their annual balance sheet reports.

He asked why the government did not seek a fresh bid from Dassault after Eurofighter "offered to slash its price" for the Typhoon aircraft.

The Congress has been on the offensive on the Rafale issue but the government and the BJP have dismissed by the charges levelled by the opposition party. Anil Ambani's Reliance group has also trashed the allegations levelled against it.

The group, which has slapped "Cease and Desist" notices on many Congress leaders asking them not to make 'false and defamatory' statements on the deal, had also asserted that Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale jets, choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and that the Defence Ministry has no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.

The company has also rejected allegations that Reliance Defence was incorporated days before announcement of the Rafale deal, saying three companies were incorporated in December 2014 and Reliance Group's entry into defence sector was announced at Aero India in February 2015.rahul gandhi

After his "new India" barb targeting the RSS, Congress President Rahul Gandhi today accused the BJP of respecting only one ideology "based on Nagpur", a veiled reference to the saffron fountainhead, and said the opposition was united in fighting the "undemocratic" actions.

Hitting out at the government over the arrest of prominent Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links, Gandhi had yesterday tweeted that in the "new India", there was place for only one NGO the RSS.

In a brief interaction with media during his visit to flood-hit areas, the Congress chief today dubbed as 'undemocratic' 'certain' actions taken at the national level, apparently referring to the arrests of the activists.

"I think there are certain action that has been taken at national level which are undemocratic and we are fighting that battle. The opposition is united in fighting that battle," he said.

Gandhi said there were two different visions of India one was centralised and the other decentralised. "One respects only one ideology based on Nagpur and the other respects all the different states, all the different ideas, all the different cultures and all the different people of this country. That fight is on and I assure you that we are fighting that battle," Gandhi said.

The Maharashtra Police had yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them. This was as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

"There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India," Gandhi had said in his tweet yesterday with the hashtag Bhima Koregaon.

He was reacting to the arrests of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.

The arrests have drawn condemnation from several opposition leaders and people from different walks of life, with some of them terming it as a "manifestation of autocracy".Nearly two years after being sacked as a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, and further getting sidelined from the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), Shivpal Yadav on Wednesday announced the formation of Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM).

During the new fronts launch, Shivpal said he would try to unite smaller parties under it.

Shivpal did not answer questions on if his newly formed front would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"I have formed Samajwadi Secular Morcha. I was neglected in the Samajwadi Party and waited for two years. I was neither informed nor invited in party programmes and no responsibility was given to me," Shivpal said in Lucknow on Wednesday.

"There are many neglected workers in SP. They will be assigned responsibilities and asked to strengthen our Morcha. I will also try to unite smaller parties under the Morcha," he added.

The announcement comes a day after expelled SP leader Amar Singh said that he had arranged a meeting between Shivpal with top BJP leaders. However, he added that Shivpal did not attend the scheduled meeting.

"I have spoken to top BJP leaders for Shivpal. The time (of meeting) was also fixed but he did not turn up. Now, I have no political responsibility for him. I am not in touch with him," he said at a press conference.

In a sharp attack against his nephew Akhilesh, Shivpal had earlier questioned how long he should be waiting in the wings before he is assigned a "responsibility".

"I want that we should contest the coming Lok Sabha elections together. For the past one and half years, I am waiting for some responsibility to be assigned to me, but so far the party has not assigned any responsibility. How long can I be neglected?" Shivpal had asked.

Mulayam Singhs role remains unclear

It remains unclear if SP founder and brother Mulayam Singh Yadav would be part of the Morcha. When asked about the same, Shivpal said, "We will give him due honour and ask others also to do the same."

On August 25, Mulayam Singh Yadav had said nobody respects him now and hoped people will honour him after his death, seemingly taking a jibe at his son and SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

Shivpal, who is still a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from SP, reportedly has the support a number of SP MLAs. The Shivpal camp is also said to have voted for NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the presidential election in 2017.

During the Rajya Sabha election earlier this year, there was a scare in the SP that the Shivpal camp would not follow the party whip of voting for the BSP candidate.

Impact on 2019 Lok Sabha polls

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner Apna Dal had clinched 73 out of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. SP was reduced to five seats in the lower house, Congress won two while the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) failed to win a single seat.

NDA repeated its performance in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, bagging 325 seats while the SP and the Congress alliance had been reduced to 54 seats in a 403-member assembly. The BSP had managed to win only 19 seats.

Following electoral success in the Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana Lok Sabha bypolls, arch rivals SP, BSP and the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have announced that they will be contesting the 2019 general election together. The opposition alliance is also likely to accommodate the Congress in the arrangement. A seat-sharing formula is currently being worked out.

By doing so, the alliance is hoping to make sure that the anti-BJP vote does not split amongst themselves.

Now, with Shivpals Samajwadi Secular Morcha, observers feel, the anti-BJP votes could get split to some extent. Shivpal may also drive a significant percentage of the crucial Yadav caste votes away from SP, thus denting the opposition alliances chances in some seats.

(With PTI inputs)Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge today said "there is no question" of Rahul Gandhi or anybody from the party attending an RSS event. "Let the letter (of invitation) come first. This (invitation) is all in view of elections," Kharge said, when asked about the RSS' reported plan to invite the Congress president to a lecture series next month.

Kharge was talking to reporters here after meeting party workers from Maharashtra and Mumbai units ahead of the 2019 polls.

The Congress is engaged in an ideological battle with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the party even gave up the chief minister's post in Karnataka to keep the BJP and the saffron outfit away from power, he said.

"In Karnataka, a small regional party (Janata Dal-Secular) has 37 MLAs and we have 80. But we gave up the chief minister's post to that party to strengthen secular forces. So there is no question of (Gandhi or any other Congress leader) going to the RSS headquarters," Kharge added.

He termed the RSS ideology as a "poison" for the country and for Dalits and other oppressed classes.

"If Rahul sahab asks me about going there (to the RSS event), I will tell him that there is no question of going there. That there is no intention of joining such people," Kharge said.

RSS sources had claimed two days ago that it could invite Gandhi to a three-day lecture series by Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi next month.

The idea was to invite people from different ideologies and the list may even include CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, sources had claimed.live bse live

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Bajaj Auto motorcycles will get dearer next month by at least Rs 3,000 as a result of an increase in minimum insurance term hike to five years by insurance regulator IRDAI.

This is in line with Supreme Court decision that the third-party insurance cover for two-wheelers should mandatorily be for a period of five years. As a result price of insurance on the Pulsar NS160, for instance, would go up by Rs 8,000 and Rs 4,800 on the Platina.

On-road prices for new purchases shall go up by at least Rs 3,000 for due to the IRDA notice which makes five-year third-party insurance mandatory as against the current coverage of one year, Bajaj Auto said in a statement.

Bajaj Auto said its dealerships shall remain open till 11 pm on 30 and 31 August to enable customers to avail an offer wherein it is offering one year free insurance on the Platina, Discover, Pulsar 150, Pulsar NS 160 and V range of motorcycles. The company will withdraw the scheme on Friday.live bse live

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has responded to Mahindra and Mahindra's (M&M) claim in the ongoing tussle between the two giants over the Indian company's Roxor vehicle.

Fiat has said that it expects the district court in Michigan to disagree with Mahindras claims in a design copyright infringement case that seeks to disallow the Indian company from selling the off-road vehicle in the US.

M&M had filed a complaint in a federal court last week where it quoted a 2009 agreement with Fiat that allows the Anand Mahindra-led company to use the copyrighted designs. Mahindra sought an injunction against Fiat from proceeding with its complaint related to the sale of the off-road vehicle developed in the US.

"FCA expects the district court to disagree with Mahindra on its contract claims. But even if it did not the district court should nevertheless decline to enjoin FCA from pursuing its Section 337 claims before the Commission. This presents another basis to deny Mahindras request," FCA responded on Monday to M&Ms claims.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has accused the Mumbai-based auto giant of copying its designs, particularly the front grille of the Willys Jeep, on the Roxor, developed and sold by M&M in the US.

Earlier this month, Fiat had approached the US International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act, 1930 seeking a ban on sale of Roxor in the US.

"We are asking the court to block Fiat from participating in the ITC claim - an injunction - because of the fact that they agreed in 2009 to never bring such claims if we use a grille that they approved. The Roxor uses that grille. We are also arguing that Fiat is using the ITC case to harm our Roxor business by creating negative publicity, damaging our reputation and our stature in the marketplace," M&M said in a court filing last week.

M&M manufactures the Roxor in India and exports it to US as knocked down kits which are then assembled at its Michigan plant. M&M recently secured funding assistance for Roxor through a tie up which would help customers buy the vehicle on easy finance schemes.

"The Roxor is a vehicle that was always intended only as off-road vehicle. It does not compete with Fiat vehicles and is manufactured and assembled in Michigan. It was the result of more than three years of research and development and categorically reject the notion that the Roxor is an imported low quality 'knock-off' kit car," M&M said in a court filing.

FCA claims that marketing activities used by M&M to promote the Roxor will cause confusion and deceive a potential customer into believing that the Roxor is a product associated with Willys Jeep.

Since the Commission has not put a stop to the marketing and sales of the Roxor FCA has sought expediting its investigation in the case stating that any delay will harm the brand and goodwill of FCA.In the wake of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) filing a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban Mahindra's Roxor in the US market, the Indian car manufacturer and its subsidiary Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) has finally responded with a suit of their own against FCA for breach of contract in the US District Court in Michigan.

According to a NDTV report, the Fiat Chrysler group filed a complaint with ITC earlier this month alleging that the latest offering from Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is 'nearly identical' to its iconic Jeep design. Jeep is a subsidiary of FCA. They accused M&M of modelling Roxor off-road vehicle that was launched in March after the original Willys Jeep.

The iconic 7-slat grilles has been a trademark of the Jeep brand since inception and features seven vertical slats combined with two round headlamps and two round fog lamps. In comparison, the Roxor uses the 4.5 slat grille combined with round headlamps

M&M refuted the claim by stating that the grille design used on the Roxor is not liable to any copyright infringement as it uses a 4.5 spoke grille instead of the traditional 7-spoke grille used in Jeep vehicles.

In 2009, the two automakers signed a contract which permitted M&M to use the 4.5 slat grille design known internally as 'approved grille design' in its vehicles in the US. The same design has also been used on the Roxor off-road.

The contract as signed by former President of Jeep and current President of FCA Michael Manley when Jeep was still a part of the independent Chrysler Corporation stated the company would not assert "any claim for infringement of Chrysler's trade dress, trademark, or other intellectual property rights in the United States based on: (1) A grille having the approved grille design; or (2) A vehicle containing or using the approved grille design against M&M or its affiliates."

In its complaint to the ITC, Fiat Chrysler said: "The Roxor imports threaten it with substantial injury as they are underselling Jeeps. Mahindra capitalises on the cost advantages of manufacturing their products in India and then importing knocked-down kits to the US, where they are assembled in the Detroit area."

To this, M&M countered stating that the Roxor grille is manufactured in Michigan by a third party vendor and was designed in the same state at its facility.

In its complaint, M&M stated that FCA's breach of contract has caused monetary as well as intangible harm to the company including harm to reputation, loss of goodwill and fair competition and competitive advantage. It has appealed to the court to find that the contract signed in 2009 is valid and that FCA's conduct constitutes a breach of contract.

M&M has requested the court to declare that the Mahindra Roxor design does not breach Fiat's design in terms of the grille and is also seeking damages in the form of equitable monetary relief and attorney fees.American technology company Oculus co-founder has thrashed the recently launched mixed reality headset Magic Leap One, calling it a tragedy in the classical sense.

Palmer Luckey even prompted Magic Leaps CEO to respond with an extended Avatar: The Last Airbender analogy.

Mixed reality company Magic Leap released its headset, Magic Leap One, which has incited some mixed reactions, however, Luckey's words in a blog post, come across as one of the harshest criticism for the ambitious product.

Luckey in his post justifies his claims by pointing out the bad design decisions, and has called the headset interface basically an Android Wear watch menu that floats in front of you.

Luckey states that even as the software can be fixed, Magic Leaps magnetic controller tracking is compromised. It is less of a functional developer kit and more of a flashy hype vehicle that almost nobody can actually use in a meaningful way, writes Luckey.

Referring to Magic Leaps hype campaign, Luckey stated that it "sucked all the air out of the room for other companies. Luckey even argues that of the estimated 3,000 headsets sold, most buyers are enthusiasts, not creators.



I really loved the series Avatar:The Last Airbender https://t.co/0Avoz7PxgD

 Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) August 27, 2018

Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap co-founder, and CEO, participated in the conversation, tweeting references to Luckey's airbender comments.

However, after putting up a series of Avatar tweets, Abovitz made a call for peace, claiming there are enough rifts in our society.Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as China's President Xi Jinping walks behind them at a signing ceremony during Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China June 10, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song - RC1190282820

Harsh V Pant

As Nepal gets ready to host the 4th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit on Thursday and Friday (August 30 and 31), this seven-nation regional grouping is hoping to get a new lease of life with a revival of Indian interest. The BIMSTEC was set up in 1997 and it now covers 1.6 billion people in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

So far there is little to show in terms of substantive outcomes, but New Delhi has galvanised this organisation to set out a forward-looking agenda in the areas of regional connectivity, coastal shipping, space, energy, transport and tourism. The Narendra Modi government is keen to underscore BIMSTEC's centrality in its outreach to its neighbours and had invited members of this grouping to a BRICS outreach forum in Goa in 2016. New Delhi is planning to host war games involving BIMSTEC member states next month.

As one examines India's neighbourhood at the end of four years of the Modi government, a similar refrain has once again emerged one that argues that India has lost the plot in its immediate vicinity.

In Sri Lanka, domestic political developments are turning against India and in the Maldives, India has found its diminishing clout being publicly flogged. A vocal critic of India has assumed power in Nepal with a massive political mandate and in the Seychelles, India is struggling to operationalise a pact to build a military facility. China's clout, meanwhile, is growing markedly around India's periphery, further constraining India's ability to push its regional agenda.

In many ways, there is nothing new in today's lament about India's declining regional clout. This lamentation is part of the Indian discourse and comes to the fore every few years with singular constancy.

Contrary to what many suggest, there was never a golden age of Indian predominance in South Asia and the wider Indian Ocean region. Smaller states in the region always had enough agency to chart their own foreign policy pathways  at times they converged with that of India and at times, they significantly diverged. There have always been 'extra regional' powers who came to the aid of India's neighbours, often to India's discomfiture.

After Independence, India has never encountered anything like China in its vicinity whose intent and capabilities pose the kind of challenge to Indian interests that New Delhi finds difficult to manage. China's entry into the South Asian region, while of concern to India, has opened up new avenues for India's smaller neighbours, which can be leveraged in dealings with New Delhi.

As a result, the very idea of what South Asian geography means is undergoing a change. Thus, it is not without reason that the idea of BIMSTEC has gained currency in India's policy-making circles. It can potentially allow India to break through the straightjacket of South Asia's traditional confines and leverage its Bay of Bengal identity to link up with the wider Southeast Asia. In that sense, it is about re-imagining Indias strategic geography altogether.

But the underlying factors that have traditionally framed India's difficulties in getting its neighbourhood policy right remain as potent as ever. India's structural dominance of South Asia makes it a natural target of resentment and suspicion, which New Delhi has found difficult to overcome. India is also part of the domestic politics of most regional states where anti-India sentiment is often used to bolster the nationalist credentials of various political formations.

State identity in South Asia often gets linked to oppositional politics vis-a-vis India. South Asian states remain politically fragile and as a result, the economic project in the region has failed to take off. This means that New Delhi's room to manoeuvre in the region is severely limited despite what many in New Delhi and outside would like to believe.

Successive Indian governments have struggled to get a grip on India's neighbourhood. Initially, the struggle with Pakistan sucked a large part of India's diplomatic capital. Today, there seems to be a clear recognition that India's Pakistan policy is merely a subset of India's China policy and as Beijing's economic and political engagement in India's periphery has grown, New Delhi is coming to terms with the reality of a new South Asia.

India will not only have to more creatively re-imagine its strategic geography but also evolve new terms of engagement with its neighbours  terms which reflect the reality of our times in which both India and its neighbours can have a stake in each others success.

Revitalising BIMSTEC should, therefore, be a key priority of New Delhi.

(The author is professor, Kings College London, and distinguished fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. The views expressed here are personal.)Faridabad: Human rights advocate Sudha Bharadwaj (L) after she was arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, in Faridabad on Tuesday, Aug 28, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI8_28_2018_000222B)

Maharashtra police on August 28 raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Security officials said two letters recovered over the past few months, indicating Maoist plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, were also a reason for the raids.

The arrests are "a dangerous sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate and is falling into panic. That lawyers, poets, writers, Dalit rights activists and intellectuals are being arrested on ludicrous charges... tells us very clearly where India is headed," award-winning author Arundhati Roy told PTI.

Near simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi, a senior police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the official.

Some other sections of the IPC were also pressed against those arrested, along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their "alleged naxal activities," said the police official, without elaborating. The premises of Father Stan Swamy, a tribal leader in Jharkhand, too were searched but he was not detained, the official said.

In New Delhi, soon after Navalakha's arrest, the Delhi High Court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until tomorrow. The High Court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Navalakha by his advocate Warisha Farasat after he was picked up from his Delhi home this afternoon by the Maharashtra police.

Similarly, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered that Sudha Bhardwaj should be kept at her own home until Maharashtra Police obtain transit remand for her. According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided are Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula and Anand Teltumbde in Goa.

Koregaon-Bhima occupies a central place in Dalit history -- it witnessed a major battle in which the Peshwa rulers were defeated on January 1, 1818 by the British army, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers. Every year, the anniversary of the battle is marked by Dalits assembling in Pune and marching to Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

Police say the speeches made at the conclave on December 31, a day before the 200th anniversary of the battle, were one of the triggers for the violence.

Today's events mirrored raids conducted in June when five activists were arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence.

"While arresting them, we had seized some documents, and while scrutinising these documents the connection of these five people surfaced," said the police official. "Their exact role in the case is part of the investigation."

Rao's name had figured in a letter which the Pune police claimed to have seized during searches at the premises of one of the five people arrested in June in connection with the Elgar Parishad. They were accused of having close Maoist links, according to an FIR registered then at the Vishrambaug Police Station.

Rao was arrested from his residence at Gandhi Nagar in Hyderabad by a Pune police team, which earlier searched the residences of his two daughters. "Pune police sought our assistance. We have provided them with local force to assist in conducting searches and making the arrest. He (Rao)... will be produced in a court and taken to Pune on transit warrant," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) Viswa Prasad said.

In June, Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale was arrested from his home in Mumbai, while lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Rona Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in simultaneous raids.

"During our investigation in connection with the Elgar Parishad event, some evidence came to light about members of a proscribed organisation, following which the police carried out raids in Chhattisgarh, Mumbai and Hyderabad" today, the police official said.

The searches were conducted at homes of people having Maoist links and those directly or indirectly connected with the five arrested people, the official said. The police claimed to have recovered "some incriminating documents" during the searches and were also checking their financial transactions and modes of communication.

However, outgoing joint commissioner of Pune police Ravindra Kadam had said on August 2 that no Maoist links were found in the Koregaon-Bhima violence. Today's arrests were condemned widely. "Fascist fangs are now openly bared," tweeted lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

"It is a clear declaration of emergency. They are going after anyone who has spoken against the government on rights issues. They are against any dissent," Bhushan said.Tripuras Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb made himself a laughing stock with a series of asinine statements transcending logic and facts in 2018. Whether it was claiming the existence of Internet in Mahabharat that was used by Sanjay to narrate episodes of war to Dhritarashtra or suggesting youths to rear cows instead of running after government jobs, the BJP CM gave series of chances to laugh.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, who has stoked plenty of controversies in the past with his gaffes, is in news again for saying that ducks raise oxygen level in water bodies when they swim.

While inaugurating a boat race at Rudrasagar, an artificial lake in western Tripura, Deb said, "When ducks swim, they recycle water automatically and fish get more oxygen. Fish also benefit from bird droppings. This will help pisciculture and fish grow faster, and that too in a completely organic way."

In line with his statement, Deb announced that the state government will distribute 50,000 white ducklings to people living around the lake.

He said that not only will the move enhance the aesthetic beauty of the place, but will also increase the level of dissolved oxygen in water and also recycle water.

Mihir Lal Roy of the Tripura Vigyan Mancha told The Indian Express that the chief minister's comments on oxygen levels rising was "loose talk" and didn't have any scientific basis.

The Tripura Vigyan Mancha, which has been operational in the state since 2010, works for the propagation of scientific thought.

However, the chief minister's statement was backed by A Debbarma, who is a scientist with Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education.

He told ANI that duck-fish farming is integrated farming, and that ducks are natural aerators that help in increasing oxygen levels in water bodies. "This has been proved through studies," Debbarma added.

The chief minister was not available for comment as he had flown to New Delhi to attend a meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers of all BJP ruled states.

Since Deb took charge as the Chief Minister of Tripura in February this year, he has drawn flak for several of his remarks  from saying that Diana Hayden wasn't appropriate for the Miss India title to saying that internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata.

He also drew heavy criticism for saying that civil engineers were best equipped to be in civil services.K Yhome

In a significant development concerning Myanmars Rohingya Muslims minority in Rakhine, the United Nations has charged Myanmar of genocidal intent, the strongest condemnation from the international community so far.

The background and UNHRCs report

Violence in northern Rakhine displaced several hundred thousand Rohingyas within Myanmar and driven out some 700,000 of them to neighbouring Bangladesh after the military launched a bloody crackdown triggered by militant attacks on security forces in late August 2017.

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)-appointed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in its report called for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to set up an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects or refer them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and subject its officials to targeted sanctions and travel bans.

Myanmar has consistently rejected UN reports on human rights violations in Rakhine and its likely to do so this time around. In fact, when the UN fact-finding mission issued an interim report in March, Myanmar rejected it and accused its members as biased and one-sided. Myanmar also refused access and cooperation in the UN investigation.

Why international pressure fails to work

The question is where would the UN three-member penal report go from here. Much will depend on whether the permanent members of the UNSC want to pursue the allegations. The veto-wielding members have often found themselves divided on Myanmar with China and Russia protecting it from any harsh action.

The report has yet again brought into focus the gravity of the issue before the international community. However, it also raises the question if international pressure on Myanmar would be effective in finding a lasting resolution. The UN mission hinges its recommendations largely on the threat of legal action. In a divided UNSC, such an action looks distant.

On the other hand, the wider societal challenge in Myanmar forms the other side of the problem that needs urgent attention.

Punishing the guilty needs to go hand-in-hand with finding ways in resolving the deep-rooted ethnic and religious animosities in the country. As the international community takes measures to punish the perpetrators of violence, it is equally important to help build social co-existence as a long-term guarantee to avoid renewed conflicts.

Little achieved from economic sanctions

In the past, blanket economic sanctions by western countries on Myanmar had little impact in inducing a behavioural change among Myanmar military ruling elites. Last year, the United States re-imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar, the effectiveness of which remains to be seen. The UN report recommends travel bans and targeted sanctions against Myanmars military generals. Such measures may have symbolic significance, particularly if they come from the UN.

The UN report has charged Myanmars top military brass of the gravest crimes and blamed the countrys de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to use her moral authority to protect civilians. With the top military and civilian leadership under the scanner, both may work in unison to minimise the impact of the report.

This means the countrys internal politics may not be adversely affected by the report. However, if the calls for Myanmars military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to step down emerge as a rallying point in the days to come, it will have repercussions on the internal power dynamics within the armed forces and in ties with political parties.

India-Myanmar ties

Delhi has long opposed unilateral actions against Myanmar, although it has supported UN initiatives. India was part of a UNSC delegation that visited Myanmar in May along with three other neighbours  China, Laos, and Thailand.

When the UNHRC passed the resolution extending the mandate of this fact-finding mission on Myanmar in September 2017, India did not openly disassociated itself from the resolution, even as it argued for constructive engagement as a preferred approach to protect and promote human rights.

The UN report may not change Indias official position on Myanmar and Delhi would continue its constructive engagement with the country. Even so, given the magnitude of the allegations made by the UN report, external pressures on India in its bilateral dealings with Myanmar and when the issue comes up in UN bodies cannot be ruled out.Former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (Image: Reuters)

Pakistan's Supreme Court today rejected the affidavits submitted by former presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Pervez Musharraf regarding their assets and ordered them to submit within three weeks the details of properties and bank accounts owned by them in the past 10 years.

A three-member bench hearing a petition regarding the 2007 National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), passed by Musharraf in 2007, also directed the two leaders to disclose the details of assets of their spouses and children both in Pakistan as well as abroad, Dawn reported.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar ordered Zardari, Musharraf and former attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum to submit complete details of their assets and bank accounts held inside and outside the country in the past 10 years within three weeks, the paper said.

Zardari, 63, served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 while Musharraf, 75, took power in 1999 by toppling the government of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ruled until 2008 when he was forced to step down.

The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

The case was launched in 2013 and Musharraf was subsequently indicted but he left for Dubai on March 2016 for medical treatment.

During today's hearing, Zardari's counsel Farooq Naek said the PPP co-chairman had spent nine years in jail but "nothing could be proven" against him. He said Zardari should get some sort of compensation for the nine-year prison sentence.

Chief Justice Nisar responded that Zardari could only achieve the reward in the form of clearance by the apex court and that the prison sentence did not translate into an exemption from disclosing his assets, the paper said.

The court asked Naek whether Zardari ever held bank accounts in his name, or in the names of his wife slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto - or children, in Switzerland. Naek replied that he would respond to the question after consulting Zardari, according to the paper.

Rejecting the affidavit submitted by the former president, Chief Justice Nisar then ordered Zardari to submit details of all his local and foreign assets since 2007, including whether he owns or is the beneficial owner of any trust, or is the direct or indirect owner or shareholder of any bank account, the paper said.

In his affidavit submitted yesterday, Zardari had affirmed that he owns neither moveable or immovable property nor any bank account outside Pakistan.

Musharraf's lawyer Akhtar Shah informed the court that the only property the former ruler owned abroad is an apartment in Downtown Dubai worth 5.4 million dirhams, the paper said.

A statement of assets and liabilities submitted by Musharraf to the court stated that he owns three vehicles, including a 2015 model Mercedes. He has three foreign bank accounts holding 92,100 dirhams, 21,550 pounds and 268,653 dirhams.

Justice Nisar wondered whether Musharraf could purchase the Dubai flat from "even the salary of his entire life". He said Musharraf should appear before the court in person and explain his assets, the paper reported.

Shah maintained that Musharraf's foreign assets are from his days after stepping down as the president. Chief Justice Nisar then asked the lawyer whether one could make so much money from giving lectures, which Musharraf is seen occasionally delivering.

"Why don't I start giving lectures after retirement as well?" he wondered, tongue-in-cheek.

The top judge then asked who owned the farmhouse in the Islamabad suburb of Chak Shahzad, to which the counsel responded that it was owned by Musharraf. The bench then ordered the counsel to submit details of assets held by Musharraf and his wife in Pakistan within three weeks.Japanese paper manufacturer Daishowa Paper's product Jyuni Hitoe - a box of colourful tissue papers - has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive box of facial tissues.

A single box costs 10,000 Japanese Yen or Rs 6,300!

Each box comes with 144 pairs (288 sheets) of tissues which have been described as vibrantly dyed, soft, delicate, with a quality feel, as only Daishowa First can do justice to.

The box of tissues comes in 12 different colours. These 12 colours are not random creative selections - they represent the 12-layer kimono - an attire Japanese women have been wearing since the 10th century.

The colours include pink), scarlet, sappanwood red, mandarin orange, mustard, verdant green, seedling green, evergreen, wasurenagusa (forget-me-not flower), lapis lazuli, Japanese bellflower, and wisteria.

The company has added the texture of a traditional Washi paper to the tissue box, wrapping it in a purple cloth to give a luxurious feel.

The Guinness World Records website quotes a Daishowa Paper Products representative explaining it in detail. The concept was for people to feel as if they are pulling out a kimono from a traditional Japanese drawer. It's not just the colours, but there's also touch and fragrance," said the representative adding that they think that everything, from the point of opening the package to using the tissues, can be a "unique experience".The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it is "frightening" to read the data collected by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), according to which out of 2,874 children's homes surveyed till now, only 54 have received "positive reviews".

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta also said that court is "helpless" since "if we do anything we will be accused of judicial activism".

"What do we do? We are helpless... Apart from judicial activism, tell us what's to be done," asked the bench, while saying it has to face "criticism" for "judicial activism" if it makes any observation.

At the Independence Day celebration in the Supreme Court, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had made certain statements about separation of powers between judiciary and the executive while maintaining that the governance should be left to the government and courts should not do it.

During the hearing, the bench asked advocate R. Bala Subramanian, appearing for the Centre, if he has seen the social audit report of NCPCR and whether it shocked him or not.

"Have you seen the report of NCPCR? It's frightening. What are you doing about it?" asked the bench from Subramanium.

When the counsel told the court that the Centre has to rely on state government for data and there are six committees under Juvenile Justice Act to deal with offences related to children, the bench told him: "It's very easy to blame someone else but difficult to take responsibility."

The court had earlier proposed setting up national-level and state-level committees for better monitoring and oversight of these children's homes.

But the Subramanian told the court that the existing mechanisms are adequate and that there is no need for one more committee and that strengthening of the existing institutions is required.

At this, Justice Lokur shot back saying: "Who will do that? Obviously we can't do anything because if we do something, we will be accused of judicial activism."

"If nothing is wrong or working, whose job is to make it right? They don't want to do anything so what do we do? We are criticised for our activism," Justice Lokur added.

Amicus curiae Aparna Bhat, assisting the court on issue relating to conditions on child care institutions in the country, asked him to "ignore the criticism".

The bench then replied that it has been repeatedly being reminded about the "separation of powers recently".

Taking the report of NCPCR on record, the bench asked why the social audit is not done by talking to children and remarked: "I don't know what kind of social audit is this."

As per the NCPCR latest data of child care institutes, out of 2874 children's home studies till now, only 54 institutions have received positive reviews from all six committees.

Similarly, out of 185 shelter homes audited till now, only 19 institutions have all 14 records of a child that they are supposed to maintain.

With regard to Special Adoption Agencies, 203 have been audited and only eight have received positive reviews from the six committees, the data collected up to July 31, 2018 revealed.

The social audit by NCPCR will be completed by October, the report said.

The Joint Secretary of Women and Child Ministry, present in court, told the court that it could consider setting up of Central and state-level committee, as suggested by the bench.

The official said a letter has been issued to the Chief Secretaries of all the states and Union Territories to conduct inspection of all the childcare homes in states with the help of inspection committee and District Magistrate and the report will be submitted by September 15.

Thereafter, a meeting will be held on September 18 with all the states' and Union Territories' representatives.

The bench then sought the minutes of the meeting and posted the matter for hearing on September 20.

It also asked amicus to prepare the terms of reference for the proposed committee and asked all states to respond to it.

Earlier, the bench had said it wanted a committees be set up at the Central level and in each states and Union Territories. These can be headed by a retired apex court or high court judges to monitor the incidents that come to light such as the ones in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.

The court is hearing a PIL filed on the basis of a 2007 newspaper report on sexual abuse of children in orphanages and childcare institutes.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this articleTo bring transparency in donations to political parties, the government came up with electoral bonds (EBs) in February 2017 and notified them in January 2018.

The State Bank of India (SBI) is the only bank authorised by the government to sell EBs.

Since then, EBs have been sold through various SBI branches in three phases - in March, April and Mayof 2018. Information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that, cumulatively, SBI is has sold 776 EBs worth Rs333.48 crore during first two phases five out of the 11 notified branches. However, SBI has refused to divulge identity and other details of buyers under RTI.

SK Thakur, central public information officer (CPIO) of SBI has not provided information, saying that compiling such information would lead to disproportionate diversion of the Bank's resources. He also decided that all reports sent to the Central government about the sale and purchase of EBs were in fiduciary capacity and could not be disclosed under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act.

Venkatesh Nayak, research scholar and coordinator of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), who filed the RTI application, seeking information on buyers and denominations of EBs that they have purchased, has been denied most of the information.

In the part information that was given to him, the CPIO provided only denomination-wise figures of the sale of EBs through the designated branches. States Mr Nayak, Even this data did not match with the data the same CPIO had earlier supplied to Mr Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, founder of Factly.in and one of my fellow co-convenors of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI). So, I filed a first appeal with SBI's first appellate authority (FAA) in July 2018. The SBI's FAA has now admitted that the CPIO, SBI, goofed up while providing the EB sale data against (sic) my RTI application. In his latest communication following the FAA's order, the CPIO has stated that the EB sale data he provided for the Gandhinagar Branch earlier actually belonged to Bengaluru branch of SBI!

Mr Nayak is filing a second appeal with the Central Information Commission.

Information Sought under the RTI Application: (i) The denomination-wise total number of electoral bonds sold by each of your authorised branches in March and April 2018 along with the total number of buyers of each denomination; (ii) The total number of buyers of electoral bonds in each category, namely, individuals, HUF, company, firm, charitable trust and others who purchased electoral bonds from each of your authorised branches in March and April 2018; (iii) A clear photocopy of all application forms received by your authorised branches against which electoral bonds were sold in March and April 2018; (iv) A clear photocopy of all redemption slips received and accepted by your authorised branches from every political party in relation to electoral bonds till date; (v) The methodology applied by your Bank to ascertain whether or not a political party redeeming electoral bonds with any of your authorised branches had secured at least 1% of the votes polled during the last round of general elections to Parliament or the state legislatures, till date; (vi) A clear photocopy of all declarations of beneficial ownership received from companies purchasing electoral bonds in March and April 2018. (vii) A clear photocopy of all returns or reports, by whatever name called, submitted by your Bank to the Government of India regarding the sale and encashment of electoral bonds till date; and (viii) A clear photocopy of all returns or reports, by whatever name called, submitted by your Bank to the Reserve Bank of India regarding the sale and encashment of electoral bonds till date."

The Trend of EB Donations: 1) Cumulatively, SBI is said to have sold 776 EBs worth Rs333.48 crore (INR3.33 billion) during the two phases through five out of 11 notified branches. 2) SBI's Mumbai branch recorded the highest sale of EBs (both phases included) at a little more than Rs173 crore (INR1.73 billion+) followed by the Kolkata branch a little more than Rs70 crore (INR700 million+), the New Delhi brancha little more than Rs63 crore (INR630 million+) and the Gandhinagar - a little more than Rs19 crore (INR190 million+). Chennai's SBI branch sold the least- a little more than Rs18 crore (INR180 million+) 3) The most number of EBs of the highest denomination Rs1 crore (INR10 million) were sold through the Mumbai SBI branch (166 nos.) followed by New Delhi branch (62 nos.), Kolkata branch (40 nos.), Chennai branch (14 nos.) and Gandhinagar branch (9 nos.) 4) In terms of absolute numbers, EBs of Rs10 lakh denomination were sold the most, netting Rs45.80 crore (INR458 million). However, EBs of Rs1 crore denomination were sold to the tune of Rs291 crores (INR2.9 billion) through multiple branches of the Bank. 5) Only 17 EBs of Rs1,000 denomination and 10 of Rs1,00,000 (INR100,000) were sold during this period. 6) Even though the EB Scheme provides for issuance of bonds of Rs10,000 denomination, it appears that there were no buyers of EBs of this denomination. The data about the implementation of the EB scheme obtained from SBI under the RTI Act clearly indicates that it is serving the super-rich and somewhat less rich donors more than the rest of the citizenry. The data about the implementation of the EB scheme obtained from SBI under the RTI Act clearly indicates that it is serving the super-rich and somewhat less rich donors more than the rest of the citizenry.

What Are Electoral Bonds? SBI The EB scheme allows any person (including HUF), company, firm, charitable trust or unincorporated body of individuals to buy EBs from the designated branches ofduring each window of sale that the government announces from time to time. EBs are in the nature of promissory notes and carry no rate of interest. The identity of the buyer is not recorded on the EB. So the political party will have no formal mechanism to know who the actual donor through EB is. A buyer could send EBs through his/her chauffeur to be delivered at the office of a political party. EBs have a validity of 15 days only. There is no limit on how many, or how much worth of EBs any person can buy. The recipient political parties have to redeem the EBs within this period using an SBI account. The value of EBs will not be credited to any other bank where the political party may have an account. If they miss the 15-day deadline, neither the buyer nor the recipient political party gets the money back. Instead, it will be deposited in the Prime Minister Relief Fund as per the Gazette notification for the EB Scheme.Recently the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to a retired state information commissioner who allegedly sat over a judgement for more than three years. The matter pertained to an appeal seeking information under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) from Chaudhary Devi Lal University at Sirsa.

This is not a one-off case. Information sought under the RTI Act is invariably delayed on one pretext or the other, often, in blatant violation of the RTI Act.

Sometimes, a denial could expose something far more critical: that the information provided even to the highest functionaries in the government is not thoroughly scrutinised.

Proceedings in the Lok Sabha

Poonam Mahajan and Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, members of Parliament (MP) had in 2017, raised certain questions in the Lok Sabha. One specific query of the MPs was whether the Government has taken cognizance of several instances of violations by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and its partner firms over the last ten years that pose serious threats to public interest and national security.

Arjun Meghwal, minister of state, ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), answered the question in the Lok Sabha on 11 August 2017 and stated Prosecutions under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, have been filed against the partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in nine companies.

The minister did not name the nine companies. An RTI query, dated 17 April 2018 by this author sought, from the central public information officer (CPIO), MCA, details of the companies involved, names of the partners involved, amount of violations, Sections of Companies Act, 1956, and any other laws that were violated.

Expectedly, no reply was received even after the expiry of 30 days, the maximum time allowed for disposal of request under Section 7 of the RTI Act. Two e-mails, dated 30th May and 5 June 2018, sent to the under secretary, MCA, to expedite the information, failed to elicit any response.

The applicant (author) then filed the first appeal, on 14 June 2018, under the RTI Act. The reply dated 12 July 2018 was even more callous:

It directed the applicant (author) to make applications to different registrars of companies who had filed the prosecutions against PwC.

Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005, has in such cases put the onus on the public authority to transfer, under intimation to the applicant, the application or appropriate part of it to the concerned public authority within a period of five days from the date of receipt of the application.

Besides being in blatant violation of this provision, the response of the CPIO raised a more fundamental question.

Was the Minister Fed Insufficient Information?

The above-mentioned responses suggest, rather alarmingly, that the MCA and, therefore, the CPIO did not have complete, correct and relevant details when the minister gave the reply in the Lok Sabha. That too in respect of the information originating from their own ministry! This could have far-reaching consequences. It is also highly unlikely that the minister would have taken the information at face value. Searching questions must have been asked by him.

This, therefore, exposes one of the worst kept secrets: Information is available, but is not provided, in blatant violation of the RTI Act.

Famous Nine, Should Have Been Ten At Least

While complete information is still to be received, further prodding has revealed the names of the nine companies with respect to which prosecution has been launched against the partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). These are:

Graphite India, Karam Chand Thapar & Bros, Kesoram Industries Ltd, Usha Martin Ltd, Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, Global Trust Bank, Xerox India Ltd and Religare Finvest Ltd.

Surprisingly DSQ Software, one the first companies to be investigated by the serious frauds investigation office (SFIO) does not figure in this list! Lovelock & Lewes, network firm of PwC, was the auditor of DSQ Software.

SFIO had found DSQ guilty of manipulating share prices and falsification of accounts. The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had barred DSQ and its promoters for seven years. Did the MCA not find enough grounds to launch prosecution against PwC in this case, despite SEBIs and SFIOs findings? Is this yet another case where MCA does not take SFIO seriously?

RTI Act in Danger

Multiple attempts are being made to weaken the RTI Act. The least that can be done is to ruthlessly enforce the existing provisions. The order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court referred to above has come as a shot in the arm. Delinquent officers must be taken to task and heavy monetary penalties should be imposed on them.

Getting information under the RTI Act is just the beginning of a meaningful exercise. Unnecessary delays can derail the whole objective.There's been no shortage of rumours surrounding a Spice Girls reunion, but if the latest one is to be believed the girlband will be getting back together next year... Minus one member!

According to The Sun, the band's former manager Simon Fuller is leading the charge on the reunion.

"After much toing and froing, a deal has been signed, and an official announcement will be made soon." an insider says.

"The girls cant wait to go back on tour, perform to the fans and sing some of their greatest hits."

So far all of the members are set to appear except for Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice, which probably won't come as much of a surprise to some fans.

Simon Fuller told Global News 2 years ago that Victoria "always felt uncomfortable" when she was in the group.

"Even in the Spice Girls  it was great fun, she was in the worlds biggest group for two or three years  but she didnt feel comfortable."



The reunion tour will reportedly only consist of 13 concerts across the UK, so if you want to see them in action you'll need to check your passport is up to date!Companies' management teams tend to take their commitment to return cash to shareholders pretty seriously. Dividend cuts or eliminations are often severely punished by the market because they indicate financial distress ( General Electric (GE) is a recent case in point). Therefore, companies that have a history of paying (or increasing) their dividends tend to be the types of businesses that investors like to own: Many are competitively well-positioned, steady cash-generating businesses.

To find companies with a history of dividend growth--and the ability to sustain it--the Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index uses several screens. First, we cull the U.S. equity market for securities that pay qualified dividends. (This excludes real estate investment trusts.) Index constituents must exhibit a five-year history of increasing their dividend payments. To gauge the sustainability of dividend growth, eligible constituents must display positive consensus earnings forecasts from the analyst community. As a safeguard against dividend cuts and financial distress, stocks with indicated dividend yield in the top 10% of the universe are excluded. Finally, existing constituents are allowed to remain if they have recently bought back shares and have not decreased their dividend payment.A slowdown in domestic mortgages currently impacting the Canadian banking industry has pushed Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal to look for ways to improve their efficiencies.

Among the banks main objectives are to streamline and incorporate technologies that would help bring down the costs associated with accommodating Canadians increasing preference for online and mobile transactions.

We spent over $3.1 billion on technology last year. The number this year will be even higher than that, Scotiabank CEO Brian Porter said in an earnings discussion earlier this week, as quoted by Bloomberg.Its almost too common for mortgage professionals to come from the banking world, but that isnt the case for Hali Strandlund. One of the most recognizable faces in the Canadian mortgage industry, Strandlund began her career as a realtor who had a background in property management, investing, land development, and construction.

Strandlunds father is Wayne Strandland, who founded Fisgard Asset Managementwhere shes the senior vice president of mortgage broker relationsinspired her to pursue careers throughout real estate. She credits captivating dinner table conversations about the mortgage industry for beckoning her to a true calling.

He told me to be involved with the dirtwhether Im developing it, building it, financing it, finding a way to rent it out, or appraising itto be involved somehow in the dirty and I will always have employment and opportunity, and hes right, we live on a planet with billions of people who need someplace to live. So my family has always been involved in real estate in one way or another.A top official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has resigned in protest, accusing Acting Director Mick Mulvaney of using the agency to favor Americas most powerful financial companies, The Associated Press has reported.

In a letter obtained by the publication, Seth Frotman notified Mulvaney of his resignation as assistant director and student loan ombudsman effective September 1. Frotman has been with the agency since its establishment in 2011, holding the student loan position since 2016.

Frotman cited sweeping changes to the bureau made in recent months as reasons for his resignation. He accused bureau leadership of undercutting enforcement of the law, undermining the CFPBs independence, and shielding bad actors from scrutiny.Midlander Micah Bigby is two years closer to becoming a doctor through the Primary Care Pathway (PCP) Program.

The accelerated medical program is a partnership between Midland College, Midland Health, the University of North Texas and UNT Health Science Center's Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Students spend two years at MC, one year at UNT Denton and four years studying at the college of osteopathic medicine. They also perform clinical internships with Midland Health.

Bigby has completed his two years at MC and will begin his coursework at UNT Denton this semester. He already has been accepted into medical school at TCOM.

His family has long Midland roots; they all worked in the oil business, so this career path is uncharted territory.

"I grew up hearing stories about steam-powered oil derricks," he said. "When I was 16 years old, I fell in love with manual labor. I became a machinist and worked in the oilfield for 10 years but was laid off. I had several job offers, but none excited me."

A recent family medical crisis sparked his interest in health care.

"My wife's stepdad needed a kidney, and I donated it to him," Bigby said. "Making a difference in his health made me want to go into nursing, but soon after starting at Midland College I was recruited for the PCP Program."

Funding for school was going to be difficult.

"When I decided to go back to school, I looked at my savings and thought 'Nursing programs are two years, and then I will be working again -- I have enough savings.' I did not have the financial plan to pay for seven years of school, but Midland College came through with scholarships."

During his time at MC, Bigby received scholarships from the PCP Program, and he has received other scholarships to help finance the rest of his education.

"I was blown away by the resources at Midland College," Bigby said. "Every person I meet wants to invest in my life and do good things for me and my family. I cannot wait to come back to Midland as a doctor and do more investing in the community. After what so many people have done for me, I want to pay it forward."

Bigby said that every day he runs through the same cycle of emotions.

"At some point I am scared, and I think, 'This is too much information.' Then I question myself, 'I signed up for five more years of school and at least four more years of residency. What am I doing? What am I dragging my family through?' But then I think about those who have invested in me, and I know wherever I fall short someone will help me figure out how to close the gap and grow in the way I need to for the next challenge. I have felt every emotion I can put into words since getting my medical school acceptance letter, and I do not think it is going to change. I think something this big should be this scary."

"Micah came to the PCP Program filled with self-doubts and second guesses about everything from his age, his long-absence from the classroom, time management and funding," said Ann Smith, PCP Coordinator for UNT Health Science Center TCOM. "But he has an insatiable hunger for knowledge and skills allowing him to serve others. He is the embodiment of the program."

"It is a strange, expensive, complicated, competitive thing to get into medical school," Bigby said. "You need to be smart, hardworking and insanely lucky. Just by being a Midlander with access to this program, students already have the lucky part down. It is amazing what Midland College and this program have done for my life. If you think you want to go into medicine, you need to go through it this way."

Stacey Hewitt is part-time coordinator for the Institutional Advancement department at Midland College.Carl Bernstein is no stranger to anonymous sources and big scoops. The former Washington Post reporter became a journalistic legend more than four decades ago by relying on unnamed sources when he and Post colleague Bob Woodward were breaking stories about the Watergate scandal.

But Bernstein's latest blockbuster story has come under heavy fire, beset by a troubling question: Was it accurate?

Bernstein, now with CNN, was one of three reporters for the network who broke what seemed like a bombshell on July 26. Citing "sources with knowledge," Bernstein and Co. reported that Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer, claimed that he was prepared to tell special counsel Robert Mueller about Trump's involvement in a fateful meeting at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The June meeting involved Trump's senior campaign advisers, including his son, Donald Jr., and Russian representatives who were purportedly bearing damaging information about Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent. Cohen, according to CNN, was prepared to tell Mueller that Trump knew in advance about the meeting and had approved it.

If true, such a statement would directly implicate Trump in a conspiracy with Russian agents to sway the 2016 election. Trump and his son have repeatedly denied that Trump had any foreknowledge of the meeting.

One big problem with the story: Since its publication in July, one of the story's sources - Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis - has recanted. Contrary to his original comments, Davis told CNN and The Washington Post earlier this week that he's no long sure that Cohen knew about Trump's involvement or that Cohen is ready to talk about it with the government's investigators.

"I made a mistake and I have to take the hit," Davis said in an interview late Tuesday. "I should have been much clearer [in his original interview with CNN]. I should have said. 'I can't answer that question. Don't depend on me. I'm not confident'" about his statements about Cohen. "I don't blame Bernstein or [his co-writers]. I blame me."

Despite Davis' walk-back, CNN continues to stand by its July story. A spokeswoman, Allison Gollust, said Bernstein and co-writers Jim Sciutto and Marshall Cohen had "more than one source" on their original story and the organization is "confident in our reporting of it."

Bernstein did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

CNN's insistence on the story's accuracy appears to turn on a subtle point: The network's reporters faithfully reported what their sources, including Davis, told them at the time, making the story accurate in the moment. Although one of these sources (Davis) has now bolted, another source (who remains unnamed) has stood firm, enabling CNN to stand behind its reporting.

Davis said in an interview Tuesday he doesn't know who Bernstein's and CNN's other sources might be, but he ruled out Cohen. "Michael Cohen says it wasn't him," Davis said.

The Post relied on Davis alone for a story on July 27 that followed CNN's report. It attached an editor's note to that story on Sunday noting that "Davis agreed to reveal his identity as the source of that information and said he is no longer confident that it is true."

People at the network speculated - anonymously - that Davis changed his story after he realized that it didn't square with testimony Cohen gave last year to two congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Cohen reportedly made no mention of Trump's supposed advance knowledge of the Trump Tower when he testified under oath before the House and Senate panels last year. If he were to tell Mueller something different now, it could put Cohen in potential legal jeopardy, people at the network said.

Sciutto and Bernstein fired back at Davis on CNN.com Tuesday afternoon, writing that he "has repeatedly changed his account of what Cohen knew" about Trump and "has offered many variations of his client's knowledge" of the controversial meeting.

They also noted that Davis remained silent about CNN's July story for three weeks, raising no issues about the account until Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, including campaign-finance violations tied to his hush-money payments to women who alleged affairs with Trump.

Davis at first maintained that he wasn't a source for CNN's story. He told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper last week, "I think the reporting of the story got mixed up in the course of a criminal investigation. We were not the source of the story."

But he began backing off last week. He told Cooper in a subsequent interview that Cohen had no information that Trump knew about the meeting ahead of time.

The original CNN story has come in for denials and withering criticism from Trump, Trump Jr. and among some news organizations, particularly those supportive of Trump. Trump tweeted his objections to CNN's reporting on Saturday, without mentioning CNN specifically.

"Michaels [sic] Cohen's attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!). The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!"

CNN may have special sensitivity to claims of publishing an inaccurate story, especially one about Trump, who has repeatedly singled out CNN as "fake news." The network last year fired three of its journalists after they reported that a Senate committee was investigating alleged ties between a Russian-government investment fund and people associated with Trump's presidential campaign, including then-adviser Anthony Scaramucci.

CNN never acknowledged that the story - based on a single source - was inaccurate. But after a brief investigation, it retracted it and took the extraordinary step of dismissing the reporter and editors responsible for it. In its only official comment, it said the story "did not meet CNN's editorial standards."

The network has no plans to investigate Bernstein's story, people at CNN said.In states like South Carolina and Montana, elected officials are moonlighting as the fashion police. As if the social pressures to look presentable are not enough of a hassle, some government officials keep working to add restrictions to the way we dress, in the form of fines and even jail time.

While statewide restrictions have been rejected, some towns have already passed variations of these regulations. One such law calls for as much as a $600 fine after two warnings for individuals who wear pants, trousers or shorts such that the known undergarments are intentional [sic] displayed/exposed to the public.

Before its repeal, Ocala, Florida, residents could face as much as six months in jail for the same offense.

Obviously, such laws and their punishments are highly questionable. For starters, the ability to see undergarments is hardly a sign of indecency. In fact, it merely suggests that the underwear in question is functioning precisely as designed.

Kidding aside, the most commonly cited justifications for these attempts to police fashion choices are public decency or violations of expected clothing standards.

However, such laws merely represent an astounding level of government paternalism through regulation of acceptable dress.

Whether we look to Rep. Joe Jeffersons, statement that hes looking out for the benefit of men, or Councilman LeRoy Blackshears comment that (sagging) had become a nuisance to me and most of the citizens of the county, the message is clear: law-abiding citizens will be penalized if they fail to conform to these mens arbitrary standards.

However, irrespective of their level of public support, in the United States of America personal preferences are just that: personal. And thus, they are not the business of the state. No one has the right to dictate what others must wear or to force another individual to change. Like it or not, the tradeoff for living in a free society is that others are free to do things we may not like or approve.

While many have rightfully attacked such laws on these grounds, few have touched upon the far more insidious implications that lie at their heart. While on the surface these dressing laws may seem harmless enough, they work to increase police intervention into otherwise law-abiding society, forcing law enforcement to police that over which they arguably have no legal right.

Secondly, since many of the offensive styles of dress are those that have been traditionally associated with the black community, these laws act as vehicles merely to lock up more black men  for doing nothing. And, in an age where individual liberties and freedoms are increasingly being attacked and jails are already packed full of non-violent offenders, any call for more unnecessary regulation only exacerbates such problems.

Beyond being entirely unnecessary, these proposals highlight a long-standing tradition within American politics; an over-reliance on laws and, by extension, the police to resolve perceived social nuisances. More than just addressing minor inconveniences, these slight modifications in policing powers compound into an ever-expanding list of police responsibilities and new methods of social control.

Instead of explicitly stating their opinions and the purpose of the policies, politicians rely on emotionally driven, vaguely defined rhetorical devices like public decency standards to codify personal attitudes in law. This allows officials to further entrench narratives of police necessity and to perpetuate the normalization of law enforcement involvement in minor aspects of daily life.

It is this expansion of micro-policing that has allowed our criminal justice infrastructure to expand into a system that far outpaces those of other countries. Accordingly, the Terrebonne, Louisiana, NAACP (one of the jurisdictions that banned sagging pants) was completely correct in stating that this is not a black issue, this is not a white issue, this is a people issue. And not because it will impact every group equally but because of the larger trend toward codifying civil rights violations that bans like these represent.

Are sagging pants aesthetically pleasing? Perhaps not. Should people who fail to meet the particular fashion standards of others be fined or jailed? Absolutely not. With over 10.6 million jail admissions in 2016 alone, the last thing we need to do is expand the population of incarcerated individuals in the United States.

It is no exaggeration to say that even seemingly small debates over clothing thread into discussions of the fabric of our society. Our laws should seek to protect our founding principles, not to solidify some peoples preferences to the detriment of others and, most often, to the most vulnerable segments of our population.

Put simply, government power should not be used to regulate fashion, and certainly not by the generation that donned fanny packs and leisure suits. As a society, we must be more cautious and deliberate whenever we employ police and, by extension, state power.

Laws regulating individual choice  even sagging pants  should be left where they belong, behind us.

SteVon Felton is a criminal justice policy associate at the R Street Institute. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.Tuolumne County Summer 2.0 Tourism Campaign logo View Photos

Sonora, CA  Summertime, usually peak tourist season for the Mother Lode and most parts of California, got smoked out of about $28 million, officials say, a significant impact they are now working to reduce with a Summer 2.0 tourism push to entice more visitors here through the fall.

We have been amping up our advertisingit is definitely targeting the Bay Area/Tri Valley and Central Valley and we have tons of events coming up for Labor Day  so we think that the tourism for [the holiday weekend] should be good, confides Katie Kirkland, Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau (TCVB) communications and tourism manager.

Summer started out really great and we definitely saw a little wilt due to the [Ferguson and Donnell] fires andour highways closing, but we are definitely working to bring tourism back, she continues. She adds that her office anticipates tourism number increases this holiday weekend through November, weather and fire conditions permitting.

Out And About Over The Labor Day Holiday

Among the highlights this weekend are the Strawberry Music Festival at Westside Pavilion, the Twain Harte Concerts in the Pines and Harte Rod Car Show. Horseback riding is ongoing both at Aspen and Kennedy Meadows. For more ideas, click here.

To help fuel more outside interest, she says that TCVBs advertising outreach has included more marketing in the form of banner ads on the Visit California and Sunset (magazine) websites as well as increasing Facebook ads. On the public relations side, efforts have focused on working with media, particularly social media influencers, in ways that visually share what various areas of the county are looking like right now.

Related recent activities involving influencers like travel bloggers, who have been allowed to do a social takeover of TCVBs Instagram channel, have resulted in more than doubling user views. Kirkland reports that it has also triggered queries such as wow, where is this place? demonstrating kindled interest.

Locally, Kirkland and her colleagues encourage locals to embrace opportunities to be hometown travelers. After all, by checking out parts of the county never before or seldom enjoyed, residents can play a part in revitalizing local business while at the same time reawakening an appreciation for the region we get to call home.The McDonald Observatory is beginning construction on a new scientific facility. The McDonald Geodetic Observatory will help scientists better understand Earth and could help minimize the effects of geohazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sea-level changes and landslides, a UT Austin news release stated.

NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center and the University of Texas' Center for Space Research are funding the facility with a contract of $4.25 million, according to a press release. UT is funding infrastructure and additional equipment, while NASA is furnishing the major scientific systems, the release stated.

The facility, scheduled to begin operations in 2022, will focus on geodesy: the science of the Earth's shape, gravity and rotation -- studying how these factors change over time, the release stated.

"It is gratifying that the foundation of almost 50 years of geodetic observations from McDonald Observatory has attracted a new NASA-funded facility to enable more precise and rich geodetic observations from West Texas," said Taft Armandroff, director of McDonald Observatory.

The McDonald Geodetic Observatory will be part of NASA'S Space Geodesy Project. NASA's geodesy program is part of a worldwide effort to create a "terrestrial reference frame" for scientists. There will be a network of about 30 locations and the McDonald site is one of three NASA is funding in the U.S., according to the release.

More than a dozen stations at various locations will be built at the observatory. The two largest stations will be built on Mount Fowlkes and will have a laser ranging telescope along with a 12-meter radio telescope dish at the base of Mount Locke. The laser telescope and radio dish are set to arrive at McDonald Observatory in January, the release stated.

McDonald Observatory has no nearby tectonic activity or large variations in annual rainfall making it a stable site for geodetic science. McDonald Observatory started measuring the Earth-moon distance with great precision throughout the 1970s to early 1980s. The McDonald Laser Ranging Station (MLRS) was built in the mid-1980s and was the dedicated telescope to measuring Earth-moon distance. The MLRS is expected to operate alongside the new facility for at least a year, according to the release.Layoffs at a Comal County company rank among the most around Texas so far this year.

The San Antonio-area oil and gas giant, Baker Hughes in Comal County, is laying off 266 employees, with a bulk of them starting in September, according to a letter sent to the Texas Workforce Commission.

The TWC maintains the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires businesses to provide notice 60 days in advance of plant closures or mass layoffs.

Baker Hughes is just one of several companies in Texas hit with layoffs this year.

Click through the gallery above to see which Texas offices have laid off the most people so far this year.

In Houston, Sears announced Monday it will layoff 100 employees as its Memorial City Mall location prepares to close.

The layoffs will happen on or around Nov. 25 after the retailer announced the store was closing.

Over the past decade, Sears has laid off roughly 175,000 workers around the country and closed many stores, including the Park North location in San Antonio this past summer. Sears has three other San Antonio stores at South Park Mall on the South Side, Ingram Park Mall on the Northwest Side and Rollings Oaks Mall on the Northeast Side.

RETAIL WOES: Sears closure at Memorial City will claim 100 jobs

Sears stock was trading at $1.21 Tuesday morning. Around the same time in 2013, it was trading at $33.

In Harris County, the Sears layoffs were the tenth most this year, right behind AT&T which announced it was laying off 117 people, according to analysis of data from the Texas Workforce Commission. The Sears layoffs did not rank among the top 20 in Texas.

The top two Texas companies to shed the most employees so far this year laid off more than 950 people each.

Fernando Alfonso III covers everything from crime to weird internet trends. Read him on the breaking news site chron.com and the subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | fernando.alfonso@chron.comOn Tuesday, the explanation came spilling out in a public exchange of accusations between Parneros and the company  including that Parneros had been fired in part because of claims of sexual harassment by an employee.

The fight began when Parneros filed a lawsuit claiming defamation and breach of contract. He said he had been fired without warning after a deal to sell the company fell through. Casting himself as a well-respected retail executive, he claimed that the bookseller had enabled rumors that he was let go because of serious sexual misconduct.

He described Barnes & Noble as a financially troubled business that is in turmoil and disarray, with a volatile chairman who refuses to relinquish control. He said he was owed severance of $4 million in cash, plus equity and damages.

In response, Barnes & Nobles board said in a statement that Parneros had been terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behavior and other violations of company policies. Until Tuesday, the company had said only that he was terminated for violating policies, without further explanation except to say they were not related to financial matters.

In his lawsuit, Parneros referenced the alleged misconduct, revealing details that Barnes & Noble had not disclosed.

He played down his interactions with an executive assistant who had made an internal complaint against him as simply an innocuous, less than five-minute conversation about vacationing in Quebec. Another impetus for his firing, he said, was his purported mistreatment of Allen Lindstrom, the companys chief financial officer.

Lindstrom is one of three executives sharing chief executive duties until Parneros successor is found.

In the filing Parneros saved his harshest condemnation for Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Nobles chairman and largest shareholder, citing his erratic and unprofessional behavior. Barnes & Noble said the allegations about Riggio are replete with lies and mischaracterizations and an example of Parneros being someone who, instead of accepting responsibility for blatantly inappropriate behavior, is lashing out against a former employer.

In the spring of 2017, Riggio brought Parneros on as the companys leader, the fourth non-interim chief executive in four years to try to bolster the booksellers flagging fortunes, according to the lawsuit. Parneros had worked for nearly three decades in various roles at the office supply chain Staples.

Riggio, who bought the company in 1971 when it was an ailing Manhattan bookstore and turned it into a national fleet of superstores, had planned to retire in 2016. But he stepped in as acting chief executive after Barnes & Noble fired Ronald Boire, who had served as chief executive for less than a year.

Publishers and investors have grown increasingly worried about the companys future. Some industry analysts argue that Riggio has been too heavy-handed in steering the company and lacks the vision to guide its recovery at a tumultuous moment.

In his lawsuit, Parneros said that Riggio had said that he had to run the company and could not be a spectator.

The allegations lobbed in the suit are likely to make it even more difficult for Barnes & Noble to recruit its next chief executive, at a moment when the company desperately needs stable leadership.

Barnes & Nobles stock price has fallen 60 percent over the last three years, and the chain has struggled to reverse years of declining sales and foot traffic. In the last decade, the company has closed more than 150 stores, leaving it with a base of 633. It waged a losing battle with Amazon, losing more than $1 billion on its Nook e-book business.

Even as independent bookstores have bounced back and Amazon has expanded into brick-and-mortar retail, Barnes & Noble has still failed to recover ground.

But Parneros said that he was lavished with praise by Riggio, the Barnes & Noble board, investors and publishers as he helped fill empty executive roles and introduce new store prototypes and sales categories.

In November, activist investor Sandell Asset Management offered to buy the chain, an overture that Barnes & Noble refused. In the spring, a book retailer made a bid, which Barnes & Noble also declined, according to Parneros.

In June, after conducting due diligence, the book retailer withdrew its purchase offer, leaving Riggio extremely upset because he no longer had a graceful exit from the company, according to Parneros lawsuit.

At that point, Riggio turned against Parneros, stopped returning his calls and texts, and fabricated reasons to remove him, according to the lawsuit. On July 2, Parneros was dismissed, without the millions of dollars in severance payments that his predecessors had received, he said.

In a news release in July announcing his departure, Barnes & Noble said that Parneros had violated company policy, a move that he said the company knew would lead to speculation that he had engaged in sexual misconduct.

Parneros said in his complaint that he had always conducted himself in a professional manner and that his reputation has been damaged. He was forced to resign from the board of KeyBank after more than four years as a member, and references to an honorary degree bestowed upon him by a Massachusetts college were removed from its website, he said.

Barnes & Noble said in its statement that the board unanimously agreed to fire Parneros following an investigation that revealed multiple examples of significant misconduct.

In his lawsuit, Parneros said he was called into Riggios office weeks before his firing and told about complaints from an executive assistant.

According to the lawsuit, the assistant had said that, during a conversation about her vacation to Canada, Parneros had characterized a hotel he had visited with his wife as the kind of place where you would put out. Parneros said he disputed the claim, saying that he had described the hotel as charming and romantic.

He also countered a complaint from the assistant that, during a conversation about which person was taller, he had stood back to back with her. He said that they had only stood side to side, with no inappropriate touching.

Riggio had indicated that he did not consider the incidents to be too serious, according to the lawsuit. But Parneros said he wanted to apologize, and brought a company representative with him to meet with the assistant.

According to the suit, all parties, including Riggio, agreed that the meeting went well, and the assistant said she did not want to make a big deal out of the situation and did not want to transfer to a different position.

Parneros also said he had treated Lindstrom, the chief financial officer, appropriately given what he described as Lindstroms poor performance. Lindstrom did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Parneros lawsuit, Riggio was disparaging toward Lindstrom, and created an abusive corporate culture that involved personal attacks focused on the mental health, appearance and other attributes of several employees.

In its statement, Barnes & Noble said that Riggio is widely known for his impeccable reputation and as an individual and leader that upholds the highest standards of integrity and decency.The United States and Canada are moving closer to resolving their trade differences and could reach a deal by the end of the week that keeps the three-country North American Free Trade Agreement intact.

Both countries are under pressure to find a way to keep NAFTA intact and to avoid the United States and Mexico from moving ahead without Canada, as President Donald Trump has threatened. Republican lawmakers are warning the White House that a bilateral agreement will not pass congressional muster, while industry groups said a NAFTA without Canada would take a significant economic toll.

In an appearance in front of reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said that he was optimistic that the Canadians would soon become a part of an expanded deal made earlier in the week with Mexico.

Right now we call it the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement and well see whether or not Canada get its into it, the president said. I think its probably not going to be good at all if they dont.

In what he said was a hint to the countrys willingness to join into new trade deal, Trump said he had spoken to Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, by phone the night before. Hey, he called me, the president said. I didnt call him.

On Wednesday, Chrystia Freeland, Canadas foreign minister, expressed optimism that the talks were moving in a positive direction and said that Canadian and American officials were working intensely to try and resolve remaining differences.

Mexico has made some significant concessions which will be really good for Canadian workers, Freeland told reporters outside the office of the U.S. trade representative. On that basis, we are optimistic about having some really good productive conversations this week.

Asked if the negotiations were nearing completion, Freeland said: Youre tempting me to say something Churchillian  is this the end of the beginning, is this the beginning of the end? Let me just say a lot has been accomplished.

The agreement appears to be giving the United States much of what it has been demanding over the past year, particularly related to automobiles. Mexican officials have essentially agreed to limit imports of cars and car parts into the United States by accepting a deal that would impose punitive tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports that exceed a certain threshold, according to officials.

Mexican exports of cars and SUVs in excess of 2.4 million could be subject to the auto tariffs that Trump has threatened to impose as a matter of national security. The deal would also impose tariffs on Mexican exports of auto parts that exceed $90 billion. Both figures are higher than Mexicos shipments to the United States last year, giving Mexico some ability to boost its exports. The quotas would apply to all Mexican cars and car parts.

Mexican officials insisted Wednesday that the pact would offer their industry important protection from the threat of Trumps auto tariffs by carving out an exemption for a large volume of autos and car parts.

Ildefonso Guajardo, the Mexican economy secretary, described the auto provisions as a win for Mexican carmakers, saying that around 70 percent of Mexican automotive exports will qualify for free trade under NAFTA and that the side agreement would help ensure that any impact from Trumps proposed auto tariffs would be limited.

It respects our existing capacity, it respects the new plants that are being developed, and it provides room for growth, Guajardo said.

But auto industry executives said such an agreement could ultimately limit the number of imports from Mexico, push production outside of North America and raise prices for vehicles.

If we run up against these quotas, we are going to make manufacturing more expensive in the United States. Period, said Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association.

Freeland has called Mexicos concessions on cars significant, indicating that Canada is comfortable with the agreement the United States has reached. She met with Mexican officials to discuss the trade agreement they reached with the United States. She described those talks as productive.

The intense negotiations come as relations between Canada and the United States have declined to their lowest point in recent memory. In June, Trump berated Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as very dishonest and weak following a contentious Group of Seven summit. Later that month, Freeland angered some in the White House when she suggested in a speech that the United States under the Trump administration was turning its back on the democratic values that it once championed.

But the Trump administration may be more willing to strike a deal with Canada given blowback from Congress  which has the ultimate legal authority over trade agreements  over the potential for a NAFTA that includes just Mexico.

White House officials have been attempting to sell the agreement it reached with Mexico as one that Canada cannot refuse, but several issues still remain to be worked out between the United States and its Northern neighbor  including Canadas dairy tariffs and a legal framework for settling trade disputes.

Were extremely hopeful that Canada will join, Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said on Fox Business Network. Its a great deal. Its really an historic deal that the president has designed with Mexico. And so they should be up for it.

Pressing ahead with a bilateral agreement could tip the economic rules governing the North American economy into a mess of uncertainty.

Legal experts remain divided about what would happen to the U.S.-Canada trading relationship if they are no longer knit together through NAFTA. Relations between Canada and Mexico would likely be governed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the countries are likely to approve early next year. But that pact excludes the United States and the relationship could wind up reverting to the rules of an earlier U.S.-Canada free trade agreement.

Also unclear is whether the United States can move forward with a bilateral deal with Mexico without terminating NAFTA and restarting the process of notifying Congress about the administrations intentions.

White House officials have said publicly that they think that a bilateral deal with Mexico can be done if Canada declines to participate, but privately they have expressed doubts about the legal implications of casting Canada aside.

The administration has received Congress approval to renegotiate NAFTA under fast-track authority, which creates a streamlined process for passing the trade agreement into law. But some Republicans have been skeptical whether an agreement that shuts out Canada meets the terms of that agreement.

To use Trade Promotion Authoritys fast-track procedures, the administration must also reach an agreement with Canada, Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., said in a statement. NAFTA was a tri-party agreement only made operative with legislation enacted by Congress. Any change, such as NAFTAs termination, would require additional legislation from Congress.

Because of these limitations, many Canadians have interpreted Trumps threats to move ahead with a bilateral deal without them as bluster.

Its rhetoric, said Debra Steger, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who is a former senior trade negotiator for Canada and a onetime official at the World Trade Organization. Its just a negotiating tactic that sounds good if you dont understand the law and the rules.

From my perspective its not clear to me how the administration comes and says that a bilateral agreement with Mexico was properly notified to the Congress, said Jennifer Hillman, a professor at Georgetown Law Center.

However, she conceded, that point probably doesnt matter unless members of Congress are willing to fight the administration. Although members of Congress have objected loudly to the presidents past trade policies, they have not yet rallied behind legislation that would actually stay his hand on trade. With midterm elections approach, Republicans have been wary of speaking out too much against the president.

The Trump administration seems prepared to test Congress if the United States and Canada cannot come to an agreement. Lighthizer insisted Monday that a deal with Mexico would still meet Congress prerequisites.

Ideally well have the Canadians involved. If we dont have the Canada involved, we will notify that we have a bilateral agreement that Canada is welcome to join, he said, referring to the process of notifying Congress of their intent to sign a deal. We think that satisfies our requirements, the requirements of the statute.

Some legal experts argue that the Trump administration has several weeks yet to finalize a deal. The White House needs to notify Congress of its intent to sign a trade deal by the end of August for the deal to be signed before the current Mexican administration leaves office Dec. 1.

But some lawyers say the language of that notification can be vague and the administration has another 30 days before it must present the actual text of the trade agreement to Congress.

The question now, said Jeffrey J. Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, is whether the countries can come close enough to a deal with Canada that they can include Canada in the notification and work out a deal in the next couple weeks.

Even with Canada on board, however, a revised NAFTA deal could face a long road to approval in Congress.

Democrats have long criticized NAFTA for sending U.S. jobs abroad and they have pushed Trump to include tougher protections for workers in the deal. Republicans have been critical of some of the administrations proposals they see as disadvantaging business, including the sunset clause and limitations to companies ability to sue foreign governments.

Many members of Congress also seem likely to stand up for Canadas inclusion. Canada is the largest export destination for 36 states.

On Tuesday, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., sent a letter to Trump saying that Canada must be included in any revised NAFTA.

Any new agreement that excludes Canada would unfortunately be a significant step in the wrong direction compared to the trilateral agreement in place today, he wrote.WASHINGTON  In a victory for the American newspaper industry, the U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday blocked tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on imported newsprint, finding that American producers werent harmed by imports from Canadian paper mills.

The newspaper industry had complained that the rising cost of newsprint, typically their second-biggest expense, made it harder to operate.

In July, lawmakers testified before the ITC that the tariffs were hurting the very paper industry they were supposed to protect. Thats because publishers were responding to the additional costs by reducing the number of pages in their newspapers, thus dampening demand for newsprint, the paper used to make newspapers, books and advertising inserts. Others testified that the higher cost of newsprint had led newspapers to cut staffing and the number of local events that they cover.

These tariffs were extremely harmful to our regional papers-the lifeblood of our local communities, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted. ITC made exactly the right decision to completely eliminate them. I will remain vigilant to make sure that they never return.

The Commerce Department had imposed the tariffs in response to a complaint from a hedge-fund-owned paper producer in Washington state that argued that its Canadian competitors took advantage of government subsidies to sell their product at unfairly low prices.

The department had revised the tariffs lower in a decision earlier this month, though newsprint buyers still would have been hit with an anti-dumping levy of up to 16.88 percent and anti-subsidy duties of up to 9.81 percent.

But under U.S. law, the two-part process for making the tariffs permanent also requires the ITC to find that the U.S. paper industry was harmed or threatened by the imports from Canada. The commission unanimously determined that no injury is occurring.

Members of a coalition of printers and publishers hailed the ruling, calling it a great day for American journalism.

The ITCs decision will help to preserve the vitality of local newspapers and prevent additional job losses in the printing and publishing sectors, said David Chavern, president and CEO of the News Media Alliance.

The North Pacific Paper Company had petitioned the federal government for tariffs to offset subsidies provided to Canadian paper mills. The company had told the ITC that prices had dropped so low for its paper that it could not justify keeping all three of its machines running. But since the imposition of the tariffs in January 2018, prices have recovered to the extent that it was able to hire back 60 employees and restore pay and benefit cuts made in 2017.

The company can appeal the commissions ruling.

We are very disappointed in the USITCs negative determination, given that the record clearly shows that the domestic industry has been materially injured by dumped and subsidized imports from Canada, said company CEO Craig Anneberg. We intend to review the USITCs written determination when it is issued in a few weeks, and we will assess our options at that time.

Canadian officials had criticized the Trump administrations decision to move forward with the tariffs earlier this month. The decision Wednesday comes as the Trump administration seeks to renegotiate a trade deal with its neighbors and with President Donald Trump threatening to slap taxes on Canadian auto imports.If it seems like Texas shark fishers have been pulling in impressive catches more frequently this year than normal, there's a reason.

The Texas coast is typically known for murky water, but this year has had a number of days with clear water  the type preferred by both beachgoers and sharks such as the Tiger and Hammerhead.

The increasing number of catches both shark fishers and experts have reported hearing about is a likely result.

Click through the slideshow above to view some of those sharks caught off the Texas coast.

In May, a group of fishermen hooked and then released an 11-foot tiger shark at Padre Island National Seashore. In July, Poco Cedillo, of Corpus Christi, told mySA.com he and his friends made the catch of "multiple lifetimes" when they caught a 14-foot hammerhead, though the shark died before they could release it. In August, a South Texas man reeled in a 12-foot tiger shark, calling it a "once-in-a-lifetime catch."

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Shark Biologist Jonathan Davis said the agency doesn't track recreational fishing catches, but, anecdotally, he's noticed an increase in the number of shark catches he's heard about this year.

Davis said there is always a stream of clear water in the Gulf of Mexico, but it's usually further from shore. This year, storms and other weather movement pushed the clear water closer to the coast, bringing different types of fish and sharks with it.

RELATED: Massive shark catch off the coast of Texas wins fisherman $5,000

The clear water movement is a naturally occurring phenomenon that happens every few years, though Davis said it hasn't occurred near Texas for at least the last four or five years.

"Every time it happens, people think it's a crazy freak accident and the world's coming to the end," Davis said.

He speculated that an increase in the number of people fishing could also have contributed to more catches and said conservation efforts have helped rebound some species of sharks, increasing the number available to be caught.

Earlier this month, Matthew Zuniga, the South Texas man who reeled in the "once-in-a-lifetime catch," told mySA.com he'd seen an increase in both the size and number of sharks he and others had caught on the Texas coast in recent months. In addition to the 12-foot tiger shark, he also caught a 7-foot, 5-inch spinner shark and a 9-foot, 5-inch bull shark this year.

"It really shows that the conservation effort is starting to pick up along here," Zuniga said.

S. M. Chavey is a staff writer for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here. | sarah.chavey@express-news.net | 210-250-3122 | Twitter: @smchaveyMonday is Labor Day, which, for most people, signals the unofficial end of summer. Its also a time when people opt to have one last big hurrah in the great outdoors. However, such fun events as cookouts and family vacations can have safety hazards.

The American Red Cross has steps everyone can take to help stay safe over the long holiday weekend.

Travel safety

Many families will hit the road some time over the three-day holiday weekend for one last vacation together. But the Red Cross cautions that travelers need to prepare carefully. First, find out what disasters may occur where you are traveling and how you would get information in the event of a disaster (local radio systems, emergency alert systems). Also, pay attention to the weather forecast for your destination. Will it be hot? Are storms expected? Plan accordingly.

Also, drive safely. Observe speed limits and other traffic laws. Use caution in work zones. Buckle up, slow down, and dont drink and drive. Designate a driver who wont drink.

Be well rested and alert; give your full attention to the road. Make frequent stops to rest.

Clean your vehicles lights and windows to help you see, especially at night. Turn your headlights on as dusk approaches, or during inclement weather, and dont overdrive your headlights.

If you have car trouble, pull as far as possible off the highway.

Let someone know your destination, your route, and when you expect to arrive. If your car gets stuck along the way, help can be sent along your predetermined route.

Rip currents

If a trip to the beach is part of your weekend plans, remember the possibility of dangerous rip currents, which are responsible for deaths on our nations beaches every year, and for most of the rescues performed by lifeguards.

If you are caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the current. Once you are free, turn and swim toward shore. If you can't swim to the shore, float or tread water until you are free of the rip current and then head toward shore.

Stay at least 100 feet away from piers and jetties. Permanent rip currents often exist near these structures.

Grilling safety

Perhaps your plans include an old-fashioned barbecue at home. The Red Cross recommends that you always supervise a barbecue grill when in use. Make sure everyone, including the pets, stays away from the grill.

Also, never grill indoors - not in your house, camper, tent, or any enclosed area. Keep the grill out in the open, away from the house, the deck, tree branches, or anything that could catch fire.

Use the long-handled tools especially made for cooking on the grill to help keep the chef safe. Never add charcoal starter fluid when coals have already been ignited. Always follow the manufacturers instructions when using grills.

For more information on how to be safe this Labor Day, visit redcross.org/prepare.DARIEN  The towns Boy Scouts are looking to build a new home.

Jay Shutts, president of the Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust, said when the current cabin was built 20 years ago there was one troop and about 60 boys. Over the last 20 years this has grown to 140 boys. The trust, which owns and operates the cabin and property, decided to renovate the cabin due to the rapid growth in the number of Scouts.

The purpose of the Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust is to support any boy in town, Shutts said.

In July 26, 2018 the Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust acquired 138 West Ave. property for $575,000. The plan is to demolish the cabin on 140 West Ave. and the house at 138 West Ave. The proposal is currently under review by the Environmental Protection Commission.

Once the demolition is done a new two-story, 8,000-square-foot cabin will be established, Shutts said.

An estimated cost for the new structure is not yet known. The Scouts are accepting donations for the new facility and recently were gifted $200,000 by the Darien Foundation.

This cabin will have more program space for scouting activities, Shutts said. We hope to start construction June 2020.

Shutts said the current house at 138 West Ave. will be rented for now because its going to take some years to get all the building plans and approvals for the new scout cabin.

Since 1902 Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust has owned and operated the cabin at 140 West Ave. The organization had their 46th Giant Tag Sale in May, a well-known community event. The annual sale allows the community to donate reusable items that will be recycled and used by another family. The money from the sale also helps to raise money to support the Boy Scouts in the community.

The current cabin is basically a two-room building, said Shutts. The new building would include more meeting space and more storage space for troops.

When you have scout meetings you need to have breakout sessions to teach different skills, he said. More meeting rooms will give more program space to teach.

The location of the new building will not only offer more outdoor space for Scouting related activities, but it will also provide more opportunities for educational experiences.

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said she supported the organizations efforts to build a better facility.

The relationship between the town of Darien and Scouting in general is a wonderful and long standing relationship, she said. The town is very grateful for all the work that the scouts do in the town of Darien.

The building proposal is currently being considered by the Environmental Protection Commission because of its proximity to wetlands.

Eric Joosten, chairman of the Environmental Protection Commission, declined to comment because the hearing remains open.

The new cabin will be closer to the east side of the property and closer to the street. There will also be 27 parking spaces, an increase from the current 22.

The wetland watercourse areas are proposed to be protected and conserved throughout the construction. Shutts said they will need a new location for scout meetings to take place once the construction begins.

The cabin will be discussed at the next Environmental Protection Commission on Sept. 5.

dj.simmons@

hearstmediact.com, 203-842-2568WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump tangled on Twitter early Wednesday with retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., asserting that the Republican nominee to replace him had turned down Flake's endorsement - a claim that Flake quickly disputed.

Trump's post-midnight tweet came after Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., was declared the winner in a hard-fought GOP primary to replace Flake, a frequent Trump critic who decided not to seek reelection this year amid lackluster polling numbers.

"Martha McSally, running in the Arizona Primary for U.S. Senate, was endorsed by rejected Senator Jeff Flake....and turned it down - a first!" Trump wrote on Twitter. "Now Martha, a great U.S. Military fighter jet pilot and highly respected member of Congress, WINS BIG. Congratulations, and on to November!"

Without wasting much time, Flake replied to Trump on Twitter, saying his claim about an attempted endorsement was false.

"Sorry, @realDonaldTrump. I made no endorsement in this race," Flake wrote. "I think the last endorsement I made was in the Alabama race."

Flake's tweet included a photo of a $100 check that he and his wife wrote to Doug Jones, the Democrat who prevailed in the Alabama special election, over Republican Roy Moore. Moore, who was backed by Trump, faced accusations of pursuing teenage girls when he was in his 30s.

The memo line in Flake's check to Jones read: "Country over Party."

Trump, who made no official endorsement in the Arizona Senate primary, has repeatedly denigrated Flake in the past, calling him a "flake" on Twitter in June.

Flake stoked speculation about a 2020 challenge to Trump in March, when he traveled to New Hampshire, the nation's first primary state, to deliver an address to a crowd of business leaders and political activists. In his speech, he decried the "degradation of the United States and her values" by the current occupant of the White House.

In a tweet later Wednesday morning, Trump offered his "total and complete Endorsement" in the Arizona race to McSally, calling her "an extraordinary woman" whose agenda aligns with his.

In a tweet later Wednesday, Flake congratulated both McSally and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic nominee.

"Whether it's a Democrat or a Republican representing Arizona, it's going to be the first female senator in Arizona's history," Flake said subsequently on MSNBC. "That's a wonderful thing. We all ought to celebrate that. . . . I hope that we can get away from the vitriol that usually accompanies these kinds of contests and celebrate the fact that we're going to have a change. . . . I wish them both well."The Houston Police Department Vice Division released the mugshots of 69 suspects arrested and charged for allegedly engaging in human trafficking either as pimps or johns, according to a press release.

Charged with the suppression of "prostitution, illegal gambling, human trafficking, sexually oriented business enforcement, and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) code violations, the Vice Division worked through the summer to help diminish the sex trade business in Houston.His nickname was Terror and his alleged crime was brutal.

But now the MS-13 gang member could be headed for death row after District Attorney Kim Ogg formally gave notice that her office has decided to seek a death sentence against a Salvadoran immigrant accused in the retaliatory group killing of a teenage Houston police informant.

In an expansive case with seven men charged, Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez is now the second person facing the possibility of the states harshest punishment for the 2016 murder in a Fort Bend park.

BACKGROUND: MS-13 gang member extradited to Houston on two murder charges

We will not tolerate this behavior, said prosecutor Lisa Collins, who is handling all seven of the capital murder cases connected to the teens death. The criminal element has to take prosecution seriously and I think thats what we do by being consistent and making sure that each case is held to the highest standards.

The decision comes amid a changing landscape for capital punishment in the place historically most fond of it. Though earlier this month Harris County sent its first man to death row in four years, Ogg has overseen taking four killers off the row and decided to stop seeking the ultimate punishment in a handful of cases once possibly headed there.

"Part of it is an indication that her administration is taking a more progressive view of criminal justice issues," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, "but part of it is a significant national decline and whatever administration was in would be pursuing the death penalty less frequently and settling more cases."

The accused killer's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

On the night of June 13, 2016, Herrera-Hernandez and four of his associates allegedly lured 16-year-old Estuar Quinonez to Buffalo Run Park in Missouri City. Some of the men hid in the bushes, lying in wait as the others led the teen down a gravel trail.

Estuar and one of his eventual killers were sitting on a bench trying to smoke pot out of a plastic bottle around 11 p.m. when another member of the crew fired the first shot, according to court records.

READ ALSO: New details in alleged MS-13 'satanic' killing of teen girl in Houston

One by one, they all shot the teen, continuing to fire until he stopped moving, records show.

The next morning, a jogger was the first to spot the boys body, lying in the trail. Initially, she thought hed collapsed from the heat - and then she saw the puddle of blood around his head.

Police quickly realized the teen might be a gang member, and a few calls later they found his contact at Houston police, a sergeant who showed up and identified Estuar as an informant.

The killing, the sergeant said according to court filings, looked like a hit in retaliation for helping police with an MS-13 case. A suspected local gang leader, Omar Torres, had allegedly ordered the murder from inside the county jail - where he was facing another murder charge for the brutal killing of Noe Mendez four months earlier.

After the hit on the teen, Torres was facing another charge: capital murder. Six others were targeted with the same charge, including five men who are accused of shooting the teen, and one accused of delivering the deadly orders.

When police began making arrests, most of charges were brought in Fort Bend County. There, prosecutors had not yet decided whether to seek death sentences when they opted to transfer the proceedings to Harris County in the interest of continuity. By trying the cases in the same county, one prosecutor could handle them all.

It was just about efficiency and consolidation, said Fort Bend County prosecutor Matt Banister.

After the switch to Harris, a committee of prosecutors here decided to seek a death sentence against Torres.

He was already in jail for murdering a guy; it was an MS-13 gang shooting, Assistant District Attorney Colleen Barnett said in May. He arranged to have that witness killed and we believe that was just a really bad act that he committed.

A few weeks later, the district attorneys office decided to seek the same punishment for Herrera-Hernandez, who was also accused in another killing. It was the additional murders that made those two cases stand out; its less likely prosecutors will seek death sentences for the others accused in Estuars killing, Collins said. Two of the others charged arent eligible for capital punishment because they were under 18 at the time of the crime.

Though the committees decision in Herrera-Hernandezs case marks the district attorneys second move to seek the death penalty in a new case this year, Oggs record on capital punishment is more mixed. In the 20 months shes been in office, the state has taken four killers - Duane Buck, Calvin Hunter, Michael Norris, and Robert Campbell- off death row. Last year, for the first time in more than three decades, no Harris County killers were executed and no new death sentences doled out.

At the same time, Oggs office has decided to no longer pursue a death sentence in at least nine cases, including some men who were sent back from death row for retrials.

But despite a more progressive approach overall, Ogg hasnt entirely eschewed capital punishment. Her office is still pursuing death sentences in a handful of other cases that are grisly holdovers from previous administrations. Two serial killers - Danny Bible and Anthony Shore - have been put to death under her watch, and a man convicted of killing a Houston police officer is now scheduled for execution next year.Lawyers for the mother of a Guatemalan toddler who died after the pair were released from a South Texas immigrant detention center have filed the first civil claim over the matter, seeking $40 million for alleged wrongful death.

The claim was filed Tuesday against an Arizona town that holds a contract with the federal government to operate the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, which is about 75 miles south of San Antonio.

The 2,400-bed facility is actually operated for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by Nashville-based CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America, via a contract that ICE has had with Eloy, Arizona, for another immigration detention facility there since about 2006. A modification to the contract in 2014 led to the opening of the Dilley center.

Tuesday's claim was filed by Washington, D.C.-based Arnold & Porter on behalf of the child's mother, Yazmin Juarez, and is the first of several claims expected against entities involved in the operation and management of the Dilley facility.

The claim was sent to the City of Eloy, Arizona, which serves as the federal governments prime contractor for the operation of the Dilley facility, where Mariee Juarez and her mother were held for 20 days in March.

Those responsible for providing safe, sanitary conditions and proper medical care failed this little girl, and it caused her to die a painful death, said lawyer R. Stanton Jones, a partner at Arnold & Porter. Mariee Juarez entered Dilley a healthy baby girl and 20 days later was discharged a gravely ill child with a life-threatening respiratory infection. Mariee died just months before her second birthday because ICE, the City of Eloy and others charged with her medical care neglected to provide the most basic standard of care as her condition rapidly deteriorated, and her mother Yazmin pleaded for help.

Juarezs legal team, which is handling the case on a pro bono basis, intends to also pursue litigation against ICE and the private jail company for Mariees death.

The child died six weeks after she and her mother were discharged from Dilley, the multi-page claim said. The firm said Mariee spent those six seeks in New Jersey and Philadelphia hospitals where doctors and specialists tried, to no avail, to save the baby whose lungs had collapsed from a respiratory infection.

Texas child welfare officials opened an investigation, which remains pending.

On Monday, the firm identified the child and her mother for the first timeand provided a timeline stating that the child was healthy when she arrived at Dilley but her health deteriorated after contacting an illness, possibly from another sick child inside the facility.

The firm said that within a week of entering Dilley, Mariee was running a 104-degree fever, suffering from a cough, congestion, diarrhea, and vomiting. They claim that the medical staff who discharged her weeks later noted none of those conditions and cleared her for travel without even seeing Mariee, conducting any kind of examination or taking her vitals, according to the multi-page suit.

After reviewing the medical records from Mariees treatment at the Dilley detention facility, it is clear that ICE medical staff failed to meet the most basic standard of care and engaged in some troubling practices such as providing pediatric care over a long period of time by non-physicians without supervision, said Dr. Bernard Dreyer, the former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician at New York University Langone Health, who looked at the case for the firm.

If signs of persistent and severe illness are present in a young child, the standard of care is to seek emergency care, Dreyer said. ICE staff did not seek emergency care for Mariee, nor did they arrange for intravenous antibiotics when Mariee was unable to keep oral antibiotics down. These are just a few of the alarming examples of how ICE medical staff failed to provide proper medical treatment to this little girl.

In a statement Monday, ICE, which does not normally comment on pending litigation, said that comprehensive medical care is provided to all individuals in the agencys custody.

Staffing includes registered nurses and licensed practical nurses, licensed mental health providers, mid-level providers that include a physicians assistant and nurse practitioner, a physician, dental care, and access to 24-hour emergency care, the statement said.

ICE also said that it spends more than $250,000,000 annually on the spectrum of health-care services provided to those in our care.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal court and immigration news in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedlandA former teacher charged with child pornography crimes lost his bid for bail Wednesday as prosecutors told a judge he had thousands of explicit images involving kids forced into bondage and bestiality.

Mark Anthony Rodriguez, 52, resigned from teaching at Losoya Intermediate in the Southside School District in December, after agents served a search warrant at his home and reported finding child porn. He was indicted Aug. 8 on federal charges of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

Homeland Security Investigations special agent Joel Juvette testified that Rodriguez told investigators during the December raid that he was previously a principal and knew of a teacher arrested in the same district.

RELATED: SAPD: Man fathered child with 15-year-old girl he sexually assaulted for years

Juvette did not name the school district, but the San Antonio Express-News confirmed that Rodriguez was a principal at a South San middle school. He was not employed at South San when a computer teacher was arrested in 2013.

That did not raise a red flag with him, an Oh, my gosh, I shouldnt be doing this, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson told U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer about Rodriguez.

South San ISD spokeswoman Laurie Salazar said Rodriguez worked for South San from 1991 and resigned in 2011, two years before the previous investigation.

Salazar said Rodriguez had various educational jobs at South San ISD, including principal, but he was an instructional technology specialist when he resigned, not a principal.

Juvette testified that Rodriguez came under the crosshairs of his agency last year during an operation in Washington, D.C., that was investigating images of child pornography posted by various users, or accessed, via a computer application.

Using subpoenas, agents pinpointed one of the users to Rodriguezs home and served a search warrant there, seizing his cellphones computers and other devices. A search of the devices turned up 4,700 images and more than 380 videos of child porn, Thompson said.

RELATED: 69 arrested in Texas prostitution sting

Agents reported finding more child pornography in Rodriguezs Dropbox and personal email accounts. None was found on his school computers at Southside, Thompson said.

Juvette said Rodriguez had been accessing child pornography since at least June 2016 and told agents he had gone through a rough period when his wife died of brain cancer a few years ago.

He admitted that to deal with the depression, he would view and possess child pornography, Juvette testified.

The prosecution also alleged that Rodriguez had conversations with others he shared child porn with about having sex with children.

Rodriguezs lead lawyer, George Aristotelidis, asked Farrer to release his client on bail to the custody of Rodriguezs mother and to impose house arrest with electronic monitoring. He said the federal jail is not a suitable place for Rodriguez, who he said has back problems and weighs more than 400 pounds.

RELATED: Data reveals Texas colleges with the most sex assault reports

The judge declined but was amenable to granting bail if conditions changed. Farrer said he was concerned, in part, with children who lived near the home of Rodriguezs parents.

At Southsides Losoya school, Rodriguez taught biology to fifth- and sixth-graders, from December 2015 until December 2017, according to that school district. Previously, he worked at Southside High School as a special education aide and later in student support services from September 2012 to June 2014.

Rodriguezs last day in the classroom was Dec. 1. On Dec. 5, he submitted a letter of resignation after he was placed on administrative leave when Homeland Security Investigations informed Southside police that its agents were investigating Rodriguez.

There is a great danger in that this is a man who views child porn at night and then went into a classroom full of children roughly the same age as those he told others he wanted to have sex with, Thompson said, urging the judge to keep Rodriguez in jail. His career is over.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal court and immigration news in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedlandKin Man Hui, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

A video of a joyride in a fire truck posted on social media resulted in a 10-day suspension for a San Antonio firefighter in July, according to records obtained by mySA.com.

Firefighter Jason Persyn agreed to give up 89 hours of vacation in lieu of serving the suspension, the records showed.A white former police officer in a Dallas suburb was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday of fatally shooting an unarmed black high school freshman with a high-powered rifle in April 2017.

The former officer, Roy D. Oliver II, was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department after he shot and killed Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old high school freshman, as Jordan and four other teenagers drove away from a house party. Oliver fired into the vehicle, hitting Jordan in the head as he sat in the front passenger seat.

Last week, Oliver testified he had decided to fire at the car when he saw it moving toward his partner, Officer Tyler Gross, endangering him. But Gross told the court that he had not feared for his life.

The jury returned its verdict on the second day of deliberations. Oliver, 38, was found not guilty on two counts of aggravated assault, but he faces at least five years or up to life in prison on the murder conviction.

There were gasps in the courtroom as the verdict was read, with the Edwards family hugging prosecutors amid their tears. I just want to say Im happy, very happy, Jordans father, Odell Edwards, said outside the courtroom. Its been a long time, hard year. Just really happy.

After the verdict was announced, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted this comment: White Texas police officer found guilty of murder for fatally shooting black teen in car. This life should never have been lost.

Since Michael Brown, 18, was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, four years ago this month, cases in which African-Americans were shot by police officers or died in police custody have risen to national prominence, increasing racial tensions.

But despite the attention, officers are rarely convicted of using deadly force, said Ronal Serpas, a former police chief in Nashville, Tennessee, and New Orleans and a co-chairman of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, a group of police chiefs and prosecutors.

A lawyer for Jordans family said Tuesdays verdict held great significance in the effort to seek justice for black victims.

Its about Tamir Rice. Its about Walter Scott. Its about Alton Sterling, said Daryl Washington, the lawyer. Its about every, every African-American, unarmed African-American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice.

Oliver had been an officer in Balch Springs, a working-class suburb of 24,000, since 2011. He joined the force after serving as an infantryman in the Army and being deployed to Iraq twice.

He was charged with murder one week after shooting Jordan and was fired by the towns police chief, who said Oliver had violated department policies.

Linda Oliver, the officers mother, said tearfully in an interview that she was just stunned by the verdict. Asked whether she had thought the jury would convict her son, she said, Absolutely not.

I dont think the testimony supported it, Linda Oliver said. I think what hurt him the most was that the other officer didnt think he was in danger.

The trial immediately entered the penalty phase on Tuesday, with many of Jordans teachers being called to the stand.

Jordan was a great kid, said Robert Howig, a physical education teacher at Mesquite High School. Respectful, polite, it was just a pleasure to teach him.

A math teacher, Anna Polk said, I would love to have a classroom of Jordans. It would make teaching so easy.The owner of a Georgetown home where authorities found more than a dozen dead animals and several others that had been severely neglected has been arrested, according to Williamson County officials.

Jeffery Dollard faces 15 charges of cruelty to a non-livestock animal. He was booked into the Williamson County Jail on a $30,000 bond, according to online jail records.

RELATED: Homeowner facing charges after authorities seize dead, neglected animals in Central Texas

Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody said on July 24, just after the discovery, that a relative of Dollard's found more than 50 animals, 14 of whom were dead, on the property in the 600 block of Private Road 914.

The neglected animals included dogs, cats, chickens and a peacock, among others, Chody said.

A hazmat unit was called to the scene because the stench of the rotting animals was so strong, officials said.

RELATED: Accused killer and TX rapper Tay-K shown in jail cell photo after phone allegedly confiscated

"The house was in disarray and just horrible conditions for anybody or any animal to live in," Chody said.

Several of the pets were locked in cages and in advanced stages of decomposition, he said.

Thirty-eight animals were rescued from Dollard's home and transferred to the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, where they received appropriate care.

Dollard was in the hospital at the time of the discovery and was not immediately arrested. According to online jail records, Dollard was booked into the jail on August 15, but Chody announced his arrest on Wednesday.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdownsJuror No. 0302 may not have sought fame, but Paula Duncan will long be remembered in connection with Paul Manafort, whom she and 11 others convicted on eight counts of financial crime.

What makes Duncan memorable, besides her being the only juror to speak out since the trial ended, is that shes a die-hard, MAGA-cap-wearing President Donald Trump supporter. She agrees with Trumps assessment that the special counsel investigation into Russian collusion is a witch hunt. She says shell vote for Trump again in 2020.

And she wanted Manafort, Donald Trumps former campaign manager, to be innocent, but the evidence and the boxes of documents convinced her otherwise.

Finding Mr. Manafort guilty was hard for me, she said during a recent Fox News interview. I really wanted him to be innocent, but he wasnt. Thats the part of a juror; you have to have due diligence and deliberate and look at the evidence and come up with an informed and intelligent decision, which I did.

But for one holdout juror, Manafort would have been convicted of 10 other counts, Duncan said. The 12th juror couldnt get beyond a reasonable doubt on the other counts, according to Duncan, which contributed to four days of tense, emotional deliberations.

In other revelations during various media stops, Duncan was scornful of prosecuting attorneys, who, she said, seemed bored and appeared to catnap during the trial. She was disgusted by the prosecutions star witness, Rick Gates, Manaforts former business partner who entered a plea deal in which he agreed to testify against Manafort. She echoed Trumps opinion about turncoats, saying that Gates deserves a special place in hell. Trump himself recently said that flipping almost ought to be illegal.

Duncan said she and the other jurors ignored Gates testimony as not credible and focused instead on the paperwork, reading boxes of documents. Pause here for a round of applause for jurors for their hard work and commitment to an unbiased verdict.

However.

Even an ideal juror can be blind to facts beyond the courtroom. In what seemed a reflexive nod to Trumpism, Duncan couldnt end her media tour without tipping her hand and taking a jab at special counsel Robert Mueller.

Certainly Mr. Manafort got caught breaking the law, but he wouldnt have gotten caught if they werent after President Trump, she said.

Translation: This is all Muellers fault.

If not for the witch hunt, in other words, everything would have rocked along in its usual fashion. No special counsel, no probe, no trials, juries or guilty verdicts. Nothing but high-fives in Trump world. But, of course, things turned as they did not because of Mueller but because of Trump, who seems to surround himself with people of poor character and criminal minds  notable exceptions notwithstanding.

And why would this be so? Because Trumps first reflexive inclination in any given situation is to cover up, lie, bully, silence, pay off and deny, deny, deny.

Contrary to Trumps fleeting moment of compassion, Manafort is not a very good person. Hes a crook in a $15,000 suit. So is Gates, who not only conspired with Manafort to rob others but also stole from Manafort. And so is Trumps former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws when arranging payments to two women (a porn star and a former Playboy model) who claimed to have had an affair with pre-President Trump years ago so theyd keep quiet during the election.

In court, Cohen, a man who looks like hes being hunted, told the judge that he made these payments in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.  I participated in this conduct, which on my part took place in Manhattan, for the principal purpose of influencing the election.

Mueller, meanwhile, muddles on as one dastardly deed-doer after another flips for immunity.

It would seem, therefore, that the witch hunt may be nearing a close. Regardless of whether Mueller can establish Russian collusion, he has contributed significantly to the health of the republic by doing what Trump couldnt. Hes draining the swamp.

Surely, Duncan wouldnt prefer people like Manafort and Cohen to continue their criminal activities? Or would she prefer the Trump fantasy that all these miscreants attached themselves to Trumps good name for nefarious purposes and turned tail when the going got rough?

As in the Manafort case, the evidence  of campaign corruption, if not more  is piling up.

kathleenparker@washpost.comThe presidency held by a cruel bigot. Many evangelical leaders parasitic on his power. The current and previous pope, along with a generation of bishops, implicated in the cover-up of sexual abuse. Moral authority pulverized into dust.

This is the cynics finest hour.

The unlikely symbol of this spiritual collapse is former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whom I knew through a Catholic/Evangelical dialogue hosted by Georgetown University. For a nonCatholic like me, he was the model of a priest  at least the affable, humorous, ethnic priest from a 1940s movie. Think Bing Crosby in Going My Way  but revealed as a sexual predator.

I am often (probably too often) moved to outrage. But here it is tinged with despair. Does every example, every icon, really need to fall? Does idealism, already prone and bleeding, really require this extra kick in the head?

It is hard to imagine the compounded horror of being exploited and violated by someone in spiritual authority. It is a betrayal at the deepest level  a form of cruelty compounded by blasphemy. It is the closest I can imagine to an unforgivable sin.

The Catholic Church, in many places, is in a scandal of insufficient outrage. Some of its leaders have lost the ability to distinguish between a foible and an abomination. It is also a scandal of lost purpose. It shows what happens when an institution serves itself rather than its defining mission. This is the surest way to destroy what you seek to defend.

The 11-page letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano that sparked the current Catholic crisis reveals the complexity of Vatican politics, which puts Washington D.C. to shame. Clearly Vigano is on one side of a global power struggle, and his tone often dips into tirade. But his accusations are simple: that the pope knew of credible charges against McCarrick as of June 2013 and did nothing, and that many church leaders knew of the charges much earlier and did little.

What penalty for those who conspired against justice and protected the guilty? It will be difficult to determine, because there doesnt seem to be any universally respected source of authority left in the Catholic Church from which all would accept a verdict. And the judgment of a pope, by definition, is self-judgment.

But here is some unsolicited advice for pastors and prelates facing similar situations. The most powerful reform that could be made is to involve lay women in every level of examination and judgment. The Catholic Church may retain an all-male clergy, but, clearly, an all-male clergy cannot be trusted to regulate and police itself. Can you imagine a meeting including parish mothers and women leaders in which the protection of a predator priest was proposed? I cant either.

Whether the Vatican and other religious authorities realize it or not, the #MeToo movement may prove the most influential social trend of our time. Institutions that treat women with dignity and welcome them as equals are ultimately more humane and just for everyone. And there is no religious exemption.

When religious institutions are corrupt, there are at least two paths of reform.

The first is the way of St. Francis of Assisi. He reacted to the ecclesiastical and social corruption of his time by renouncing his fathers wealth, stripping off his clothes and living a life of poverty and service. He touched lepers, cared for animals, tried to mediate a crusade and introduced gentleness and love into the harsh 13th century. At one personal turning point, he heard God saying, Francis, seest thou not that my house is in ruins? Go and restore it for me. And he did, by returning to the example of Christianitys founder, but staying within the established church.

Another path of reform is the way of Martin Luther. He was a monk who decried the horrible clerical abuses of the 16th century, translated the Bible into German, married a former nun, insisted that Gods grace did not require the mediation of priests, and eventually followed his beliefs outside of the boundaries of the established church. Luther was supremely arrogant, badly Anti-Semitic and essentially created the modern idea of personal conscience.

Francis or Luther? In either case, Christian reformers start with an advantage. The founder of their faith was also a radical religious reformer  an opponent of complacent religious leaders, a tough critic of hypocrisy and a defender of children. And he calls his followers to restore a house in ruins.

michaelgerson@washpost.comThe summer of 1969 was big for Merle Haggard, who was starting to enjoy the first successes of his career in country music. He was playing honky-tonk bars up and down Central California, and had recorded nine studio albums in five yearsfour of which had hit No. 1 on the country music charts.

That year, he made the first major purchase of his career, buying a new five-bedroom, ranch-style home just a few doors down from the Bakersfield Country Club in Bakersfield, CA. It was a big move up for the 32-year-old, who grew up in a converted boxcar in the impoverished neighborhood of Oildale, committing a string of increasingly serious crimes as a young man.

Talk about culture shock, Haggards daughter Kelli Haggard Patterson recently told the Bakersfield Californian. From Oildale to Bakersfield Country Club. We literally moved to the other side of the tracks.

Now on the market for $359,000, the 3,600-square-foot house was a welcome respite for the Haggard family, who were able to live under the same roof for the first time. Merle moved into the house with his second wife, country musician Bonnie Owens, and brought along his four children from his first marriage, Dana, Marty, Kelli, and Noel, and his mother, Flossie.

We were very impressed with it, Haggard Patterson recalled. She was 7 when the family moved in. It had a [second-floor] laundry chute and I remember trying to put our [youngest] brother Noel into it. It had a huge driveway, and we almost killed ourselves on our bikes riding down it. Of course everything is bigger when you're a kid.

It was in this house that Haggard penned his first true hit, Okie From Muskogee, an anthem for politically conservative people like him who couldnt understand the hippies protesting the Vietnam War across the country.

As for the home, it embodies California, cookie-cutter luxury from the 1960s, with a stone facade and long, low design that attempted to pack as much living area as possible on the first floor. Much of the interior remains largely originalwood paneling, popcorn ceilings, and all.

In 1973, Haggard and his family posed in front of the homes stone fireplace for the cover of his 18th studio album, Merle Haggards Christmas Present.

The homes formal dining room is enveloped in warm wood paneling, with a pass-through to the kitchen. Outside, theres a covered patio running the length of the house, and a free-form, in-ground pool as well as a pool house.

Haggard continued to crank out albums at a furious pace, releasing one, two, and sometimes more albums per year until the late 1980s. He was an active musician until his death in 2016 at the age of 79.

His attitude toward the counterculture considerably softened with age. In 2010 he told American Songwriter magazine that he sang Okie From Muskogee seriously in 1969, but ironically later in his life.

It was the photograph that I took of the way things looked through the eyes of a fool, he told the magazine. I was just as dumb as a rock at about that time, and most of America was under the same assumptions I was. ... Ive learned the truth since I wrote that song. I play it now with a different projection. Its a different song now. Im different now. I still believed in America then. I dont know that I do [believe] now.

The post Merle Haggard's 'Okie From Muskogee' Home in Bakersfield Is Listed for $359K appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.THE MDC-T led by Dr Thokozani Khupe says it will soon take MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa to court claiming $1,8 million he received under the Political Parties Finance Act for the 2018 campaign.

Dr Khupes party claims it is the legitimate MDC-T and that Mr Chamisa illegitimately received the funds because he contested the poll using a different name.

Under the Political Parties Finance Act, only serious political parties who would have garnered at least five percent of the total vote were eligible for the funding.

MDC-T, which was led by Mr Tsvangirai, in terms of the Act, is the one entitled to the funding.

However, after the demise of the former party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai in February, a leadership wrangle ensued between Mr Chamisa and Dr Khupe.

Ultimately, Dr Khupe registered to contest in this years election under MDC-T while Mr Chamisa chickened out and opted to participate as leader of the MDC Alliance.

Under unclear circumstances, Mr Chamisas MDC received $1,8 million funding from Government despite the fact that it was no longer part of the MDC-T.

In an interview, MDC-T deputy president Mr Obert Gutu told our Harare Bureau that his party had since instructed Professor Lovemore Madhuku to sue the MDC over the $1,8 million fraud.

We have since instructed our lawyer Professor Madhuku to file a claim for the $1,8 million.

The money was wrongly disbursed to Mr Chamisas MDC when it was meant for the MDC-T which participated in the 2013 election.

I am yet to meet Prof Madhuku and we map the way forward, he said.

Meanwhile, Zanu-PF lawyers said they also intend to sue Mr Chamisas party over legal costs in the hyped presidential petition which was dismissed by the Constitutional Court on Friday with costs.

Mr Chamisa sought to overturn President-elect Cde Emmerson Mnangagwas July 30 election victory, but the ConCourt unanimously dismissed his challenge.

Speaking to our Harare Bureau on Saturday, Zanu-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Cde Paul Mangwana said the ruling partys lawyers were quantifying the exact amount due to them, but they had indicated an approximate bill of $3 million.

That figure excludes the Zimbabwe Electoral Commissions legal bill.

Cde Mangwana said the final bill required approval of the Registrar of the Court.

He said in the event Mr Chamisa failed to pay, the opposition leader risked losing his personal property.

Meanwhile, the cash-strapped opposition MDC Alliance has once again sent begging bowls to raise $3 million to foot the legal costs for their Constitutional Court electoral petition and is seeking more money to fund its case at the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR).

The judgement handed by the Constitutional Court carried a punitive condition requiring Mr Chamisa to pay the legal costs of everyone involved.

In bid to raise this money, the party launched an I donate to protect our vote campaign on the Gofundme website on Sunday, appealing to both Diaspora and local supporters to donate for a good cause.

The Alliance, which has hit hard times, survived the election period from hand-outs from well-wishers who funded its campaign.

The MDCs situation has been worsened by donor fatigue and a series of blunders over the years, its poor performance in the inclusive government that ran between 2009 and 2013 key among them.

In a Facebook post, MDC National Deputy Treasurer Mr Chalton Hwende said people can send their donations via EcoCash or make their donations online at gofundme.com

He has also appealed to well wishers across the world to support it with the costs of suit at the Constitutional Court and African Union appeal, whose bill is not yet known.

MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa has taken his fight to overturn President Emmerson Mnangagwas recent electoral victory to the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights following the dismissal of his petition last Friday.

After the declaration of Cde Mnangagwas victory by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on August 3, Mr Chamisa filed a ConCourt application challenging the victory, arguing that the whole electoral process had been marred by irregularities and massive poll fraud.

But his petition was dismissed with costs by the full bench of the ConCourt led by Chief Justice Luke Malaba on grounds that he failed to provide sufficient primary evidence to prove the alleged irregularities.

But in a statement that goes against the $3 million appeal, the Alliance has said the estimated figure is too high and the legal costs cant exceed $20 000.

The costs are taxed and allowed by the Registrar of the court, taking into account the exact hours spent. It cant even go up to $20 000. Besides, the costs awarded are not on a higher scale. Its just costs on an ordinary scale. People like Paul Mangwana must stop inciting our people, said Mr Hwende on social media.

The MDC Alliance said they will meet tomorrow (Wednesday) to plot a way forward. The party has rejected the call by President Mnangagwa to put differences aside and move forward together as a nation.

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Related Zimbabwe Latest News- The Federal High Court, in Abuja has warned against forceful removal of Senate president Saraki

- Recall that some PDP senators had earlier dragged the AGF, IGP and the SSS to court in a bid to restrain them from removing Saraki

- The court, however, adjourned till September 6, 2018, for accelerated hearing of the case

The Federal High Court, in Abuja, on Tuesday, August 28, warned against any unlawful move to remove Senate president Bukola Saraki from office, pending the determination of a suit filed by some senators in that regards.

Recall that Senator Rafiu Adebayo (Kwara South) and Senator Isa Misau (Bauchi Central) had dragged the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, the inspector general of police and the State Security Services (SSS) to court in a bid to restrain them from aiding the forceful removal or impeachment of the Senate president from office.

Cited as defendants in the matter were the Senate, the Senate president, deputy Senate president, Senator Ahmed Lawal (Senate Leader), Senator Bala Ibn Nallah (Deputy Senate Leader), Senator Emma Buacha (Deputy Minority Leader), Clerk of the Senate, Deputy Clerk of the Senate, the Attorney General of the Federation, Inspector General of Police and the State Security Service (SSS), Nigerian Tribune reports.

READ ALSO: Europe-based pollster reveals winners of 2019 governorship, presidential elections

Legit.ng gathered that when the matter came up on Monday, August 27, plaintiffs counsel Emeka Etiaba (SAN) informed the court that he had a motion exparte dated August 27, 2018, and filed same day.

Etiaba said the exparte motion basically sought an order of interim injunction (in reliefs 1, 2, and 3), restraining the defendants from taking any untoward action or move to forcefully remove or impeach the Senate president from office and reliefs 4 and 5 prayed the court for an order of substituted service of court processes on the defendants.

Etiaba told the court that, in the event, the court was constrained to grant reliefs 1, 2, and 3, Our alternative prayer is for the court to make preservatory orders in order to protect the res (subject matter) of the suit.

In a short ruling, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba held that, in respect of reliefs 1, 2, and 3, which are orders of interim injunction: I believe the proper order to make is an order of accelerated hearing of the suit so that the court can consider and determine the merits of the substantive case expeditiously.

Even though reliefs 1, 2, and 3, are not granted, needless to say, parties have been enjoined to respect the authority of the court and the integrity of the judicial process and should not take steps that will render the matter nugatory.

The court granted reliefs 4 and 5, and directed substituted service of court processes, the originating summons and motion for injunction on the 1st to 8th defendants through the clerk of the National Assembly and also ordered substituted service on the 10th to 12th defendants by courier service.

The court adjourned till September 6, 2018, for accelerated hearing of the originating summon.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Saraki on Saturday, August 25, declared that he was not losing sleep over the plot to impeach him by the All Progressives Congress (APC) following his defection from the ruling party.

The Senate president disclosed this to newsmen in Asaba after a closed-door meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

Saraki also claimed that it was a lie that the Senate did reconvene due to fear of his impeachment.

Nigeria Election 2019: What are Bukola Sarakis chances against President Buhari | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- A prophecy by Apostle Johnson Suleiman has reportedly come to pass

- The prophecy concerns the recently intercepted Nigerian-bound Russian ship with explosives

- The general overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries was said to have predicted its outcome

A report by Vanguard has revealed how the General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, prophesied about the recently intercepted Nigerian-bound Russian ship with explosives.

The revelation, according to the report, was contained in a rebroadcast of the video clips of Sunday service on the churches television channel Celebration TV where the fiery preacher made the prophetic declaration.

He said he had urged faithful and Nigerians as a whole to fast and pray for the country to avert danger against the nation.

READ ALSO: Court warns against illegal removal of Saraki

He declared the Tuesday, August 21 and Wednesday, August 22 fasting and prayers days for Nigeria, saying the aim was to avert possible threat to the nation.

On Thursday, August 23, a Nigerian-bound Russian ship with dangerous explosives was intercepted in South Africa.

Recall that Legit.ng had reported that the South African police said they intercepted a Russian-registered cargo ship allegedly carrying illegal weapons and explosives en route to Lagos, Nigeria.

The vessel, named Lada, had reportedly left Madagascar before stopping at Ngqura port outside the eastern city of Port Elizabeth, where it was detained after a security check on Sunday.

We are aware that she has dangerous cargo- explosives and weapons-on board, Olwethu Mdabula, spokeswoman for the Transnet state transport company told AFP.

In a video released on Tuesday, August 28, the Omega Ministries replayed a clip of the earlier prophesy showing Apostle Suleiman asking the church to pray and fast to avert a possible danger to the nation.

According to the Apostle in the video, When I give instructions, it may not be sensible but it is spiritual. Tuesday, Wednesday, everybody fast. Pray for yourself and the whole Nigeria.

Actually, it will start on Tuesday, enter Wednesday. Full manifestation, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You will see it. Tuesday, Wednesday, we fast to arrest Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You will read it on paper.

Apostle Suleiman, in the prophesy, urged Nigerians to turn to pages of spiritual sensitivity and be security conscious in order that we may be delivered from inexcusable ignorance.

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Two months ago, Apostle Suleiman said he finds it hard to keep mute and pretend, or even look away on national issues.

I reiterate my position today, that I shall not stop talking about it, calling on the government to rise to its responsibility of protecting lives and property of the Nigerian people. Neither will I stop condemning the state of insecurity in Nigeria and the unabated spate of killings of innocent citizens of our land, he said in a statement.

Nigerians protest against xenophobia - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- The coalition of Coalition of Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned the shut down of the Eagle Square for Rabiu Kwankwaso's presidential declaration

- CUPP said President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and the ruling party is scared of Kwankwaso

- The coalition warned against plunging Nigeria into chaos and lawlessness

Barely 24 hours after a former governor of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, was barred from using the Eagle Square for the official declaration of his 2019 presidential ambition, the Coalition of Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned the federal government for the action.

The coalition alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is scared of Kwankwaso's popularity.

Vanguard reports that the spokesperson for the CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, August 28, urged the President Buhari-led administration not to plunge the nation into chaos and lawlessness.

Ugochinyere also accused the presidency of growing culture of intolerance of the opposition in the past three years.

He said: This is not the first time they are doing this. They stopped him ( Kwankwaso) from being received in Kano. They want to stop him because the President is scared of the popularity of the aspirant."

"This is part of a plot to institute a full-blown dictatorship in Nigeria if the Nigerian people make the mistake of allowing him (Buhari) to be there in 2019.

Kwankwaso is declaring on the platform of the PDP, which is one of the coalition partners in the CUPP.

"We want to inform Nigerians that this act of growing culture of impunity and intimidation has gotten to a very dangerous level with the decision of the Police to seal the venue of a venue of somebody who wants to be president."

According to him, the Eagle Square was built for such events and people who want to use it pay for it.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Kwankwaso was denied access to Abujas Eagle Square for the declaration of his presidential bid.

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Facility manager of the Abuja International Conference Centre and the Eagles Square, Usman Raji, said the decision to deny him the Eagle Square was to avoid disruption of work flow at the federal secretariat.

The manager in a letter in which the former governor was denied access to the venue was referenced in a statement made available to them by the Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation.

Nigeria News Today: Even Atiku Knows He Cannot Spend Only a Term in Office On Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- President Muhammadu Buhari meets with the APC caucus at Aso Rock ahead of the 2019 general elections

- One of the newest faces at the meeting was Emmanuel Uduaghan, a former PDP governor of Delta state who is vying for the Senate

- The discussions at the meeting reportedly centred on the type of primaries that the party should adopt

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 28, met with caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Aso Rock, Abuja, with former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, making a surprise appearance.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Uduaghan, a two-term governor of the oil rich state, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2007 and 2015, had been speculated to be planning to switch to the APC.

The report said the meeting was attended by the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, and members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC led by its chairman, Adams Oshiohmole.

READ ALSO: Buharis group replies Trump, declares president fit to rule beyond 2019

Others who attended the meeting are APC governors of Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Adamawa, Ondo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Osun, Yobe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Imo, and Lagos.

Also at the meeting were former governor of Ekiti state, Engineer Segun Oni, majority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, former Ebonyi governor, Martin Elechi; former Borno state governor, Ali Sheriff; former Lagos governor, Buba Marwa, General Lawrence Onoja, Jim Nwobodo and Sen Kabiru Gaya.

Others are former APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun; former Enugu state governor, Sylva Chime, former Edo governor, Oserheimen Osunbor.

Also in attendance were the former Senate president, Ken Nnamani, former Ekiti state governor, Niyi Adebayo, former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, former Bayelsa governor, Sylva Timipre, former petroleum minister, Don Etiebet, and the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Some members of the National Assembly from both the Senate and the House of Representatives were also in attendance

It was learnt that the meeting held behind closed doors partly centred on discussing socio-political issues including the forthcoming APC party primaries.

The meeting of the APC caucus also deliberated on whether to adopt direct primaries being advocated by Oshiohmole or an indirect primaries, through delegate system.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in January, 2018, released the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections.

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The timetable covered the presidential, National and state Assembly, governorship and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council elections.

Legit.ng earlier reported that Emmanuel Uduaghan reported to have officially declared for the All Progressives Congress (APC) as he was unveiled at the meeting.

Election 2019: Can Saraki be the Next President of Nigeria? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng News- The Abakaliki Rice Mill in Ebonyi state has been shutdown

- The mill was closed following reports of poisoned and adulterated rice, the state government said

- The state government also said that the closure was with immediate effect

The Ebonyi state government on Tuesday, August 28, sealed the Abakaliki Rice Mill Limited over the alleged infiltration of poisoned and adulterated rice in the mill.

Kenneth Ugbala, the governors senior special assistant on internal security, who announced the state governments decision at a news briefing, said that the closure was with immediate effect.

Ugbala noted that the state executive council had received the news of the poisoned and adulterated rice with shock and deliberated extensively on it to save lives of citizens.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Former Plateau governor declares interest to run for 2019 presidency

The EXCO subsequently directed the concerned Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of health, agriculture, commerce and industry and internal security to seal the rice mill for full investigations to be carried out.

The ministry of environment, which firstly received the report, informed us that the products are not fit for human consumption.

The primary aim of every government is to protect the lives of its citizens as we want to prevent unsuspecting citizens from purchasing such products," he said.

Commenting further on the situation, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, states commissioner for information and orientation, noted that the government did not know the source from which the products infiltrated the market and the type of poison involved.

We do not know whether they are rat or other type of poisons but the commissioner for environment quickly dispatched a team to the mill on receiving the news of the infiltration. The team confiscated some samples of the product and they had labels of not fit for human consumption boldly written on them.

READ ALSO: Suspected cultists kill former chief security officer of Ibadan Polytechnic

We will not go into the semantics of such labels but any responsible government should take precautionary measures immediately such development is discovered.

This government being a responsible one took the normal, precautionary step to safeguard its peoples lives, he said.

The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SSA on Internal Security and other authorities involved in the sealing left the EXCO chambers immediately to enforce the directive.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government says it will shut down the land border between Nigeria and a neigbouring country to avoid smuggling of foreign rice into the country.

Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture and rural development, said shutting the borders had become necessary to encourage local production and sustain the economy of the country. Nigeria shares borders with Niger, Chad, Benin and Cameroon.

Market Survey: Check out prices of goods after President Buhari's 'return' to London - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths organisation wants President Muhammadu Buhari to speak up on whether he has a 2023 pact with Bola Tinubu

- The group says this explanation is important to help it decide on where to direct the votes of its members

- The group also argues that the Igbos have made sacrifices to unite the country and should be given a chance

A recent statement by the Senate president accusing the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, of eyeing the presidency in 2023, has spurred Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths to demand for clarifications from President Muhammadu Buhari.

The youths said they want Buhari to speak up concerning the allegation that he had a pact with Tinubu for 2023.

READ ALSO: 2019: Europe-based pollster declares Buhari, some governors winners

Vanguard reports that a statement by the acting national leader of the group, Kingsley Dozie, and the deputy publicity secretary, Okey Nwachukwu, urged President Buhari to come out clean and explain to Nigerians if he has a pact with Bola Ahmed Tinubu concerning the 2023.

The statement said this was important ahead of campaigns and the 2019 elections and would help to make them decide on where to direct their votes.

The group said it they would want the response from the president till September 1, 2018.

If the duo of Senator Bola Tinubu and President Buhari are actually sensitive to the plights of Ndigbo, they will not be silent at such a provocative and dangerous ploy to throw away equity and deny Ndigbo of their turn to pilot the affairs of this nation come 2023.

More so, if the APC leaders actually believe in one cohesive, indivisible and indissoluble Nigeria, they will not be contemplating returning power to the Yoruba at the expense of Ndigbo taking into account all the sacrifices Ndigbo have made to keep Nigerian unity unbroken.

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For the records, Igbo youths will not support any presidential candidate that toils with the unity of Nigeria by deliberately failing to restructure this country as demanded by majority of Nigerians which is the only hope of rescuing this country from its pitiable condition, the statement said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Monday, August 20, replied the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saying the latter was accommodating inadequacies in the party because of his presidential ambition for 2023.

Saraki said this in response to a letter reportedly written by Tinubu giving reasons why the Senate president and others left the APC.

Nigeria Latest News: 2019 Presidency - 'Why Nigerians Must Vote For Atiku' | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Former Bauchi governor, Isa Yuguda, has revealed why he lost the race for Bauchi South senatorial by-election

- Yuguda claimed election irregularities were perpetrated by the authorities

-The former governor who contested the election on the platform of the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) came third in the contest

The immediate past governor of Bauchi state, Alhaji Isa Yuguda, has described the loss of the recent Bauchi South Senatorial by-election, his former home base as election irregularities perpetrated by the authorities, Vanguard reports.

Legit.ng gathered that Yuguda contested the election on the platform of the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) and came third in the contest after the winner, Lawal Gumua, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Ladan Saliu.

Yuguda speaking through his campaign manager, Alhaji Abdulmumini Mohammed Kundak, disclosed that the election was marred with a lot of electoral malpractice.

READ ALSO: It is direct primaries - Buhari, APC NEC finally takes strong decision ahead of 2019

The former governor further alleged that the state government connived with the electoral body and security agents in perpetrating the election malpractices.

He said: There were reported cases of vote-buying, ballot snatching and cancellation of votes in some of the local governments where it was suspected that Yuguda might have the upper hand.

These were the factors that counted against Yuguda. Again, just for a senatorial bye-election, the president, three governors, including the governor of the state held a mega rally campaign for their candidate.

"Again, two days before the election, four other governors were in Bauchi to campaign for this same candidate.

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Legit.ng previously reported that the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Yahaya Gumau won the Bauchi South senatorial election held on Saturday, August 11.

The results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shows the APC won in six of the seven local governments in the senatorial district where election was conducted.

The opposing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) only won in Bogoro local government area, the council of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

Lets Talk About Salaries of Nigerian Senators - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, revealed why he left PDP for APC

- Uduaghan listed the activities of President Buhari in Niger Delta as one of the reasons for joining APC

- Some of the activities listed include the opening of a Maritime University, plan for a deep sea port, dredging of the Escravos-Warri River and the opening of the railway line to Delta Steel Company

Former governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan, during a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, has revealed why he left the Peoples Demoratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Uduaghan made the revelation in a speech entitled "Moving on to the Bigger Playing Field", which he gave at a meeting of the APC national caucus held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by leaders of the party including national officers, state governors, former state governors, ministers and National Assembly members.

READ ALSO: Just in: Ebonyi government seals Abakaliki rice mill over alleged poison

The full statement read:

The toughest challenge for any leader in the Niger Delta since 1997 has been the issue of Peace and Security. For over 12 years, I was deeply involved in the management of the issues of the region, first as Secretary to State Government, SSG, and then as Governor of Delta State for 8 years. Strategically, we had ENGAGEMENT as our major tool. This involved government officials, with me in the forefront (sometimes personally going into the creeks without security at nocturnal hours), community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our youths, retired military officers, activists, etc. Of course, ensuring that Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, was active was also part of the engagement process.

Since the inception of the current All Progressives Congress, APC, administration at the federal level, there has been an encouraging interest and activities by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis.

This has pointed in a direction that is at once progressive and developmental. Topmost in these activities are the ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES. Rather than using the military to harass our people, the Buhari administration has embarked on various engagement processes that have led to agreements and brought hope to the people of the Niger Delta. In the last years, Mr. President has personally engaged several regional leaders and youths. Senior officials of his administration also engaged many Niger Delta leaders and youths. Very significant is that Mr. President mandated the Vice President Prof Yemi Osibajo SAN, to visit virtually all the oil producing states, engaging various stakeholders.

READ ALSO: Why FG barred Kwankwaso from using Eagle Square - CUPP

This is unprecedented in the history of the region. Such engagement processes have brought some measure of peace in the Niger Delta. Things can only get better. Beyond the engagement processes, however, the Buhari administration has embarked on some infrastructural and human capital development activities in the region.

In Delta state, the opening of a Maritime University; the setting up of a steering committee for the EPZ (GAS CITY), the plan for a deep sea port, the dredging of the Escravos-Warri River; the opening of the railway line to Delta Steel Company, the soon to be flagged off, by Mr. President, the Omadino-Escravos Road that will pass through many riverine communities; the various road construction works by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the various TCN projects across the State are some of the positive activities in the region.

There are also various human capital development programmes especially the school feeding and the social security net that is making 5,000 Naira available to the poor, the continuation of the YouWin programme, the various SME programmes, and several other projects across the region have brought hope to the people.

Indeed, once Mr. President was able to set his priorities pursuant to creating an environment for peace in the region, it became incumbent on every well-meaning Niger Deltan and Nigerian to assist the process of building an economically prosperous nation. In this era of partisan politics, it is necessary for the people of the Niger Delta, and Delta state in particular, to identify more with the federal government led by the APC. By so doing, we can push some of the agreements between our leaders and the federal government through, and also engage the government to do more. Politics is about interests.

The Niger Delta is a major area of interest for me, because I staked my life going into the creeks severally without security and sometimes coming back at night negotiating peace. I will, therefore, give the strongest support to any President that shows commitment in the affairs of the Niger Delta.

I call on, and enjoin, other well-meaning leaders in the region, who have very useful contributions to make, to come on board and join hands in helping this Federal Government to pursue a robust development agenda that would uplift our people. Whatever milestone that appears not to have been achieved yet is not for lack of efforts. Joining hands with and supporting the process will lead to a faster delivery on expectations.

It is in the pursuit of this noble objective that Im offering myself to help drive a process that would give the lives of our people in the Niger Delta more meaning. President Muhammadu Buhari needs people who will join hands with him to uplift our people. From my political experience, you have to be well represented and actively so at the board room when decisions are being taken.

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Delta state must be well represented. Niger Delta must be well represented. It is noteworthy to state that some organisations have been deeply involved in efforts to develop the Niger Delta and can always be relied on to collaborate with our President. It is also noteworthy to add that some previous administrations made significant efforts to develop the region. The current administration made such a significant impact in spite of the fact that apart from Edo State, President Buhari did not score the required 25% in the entire Niger Delta in the election that brought him into government in 2015. This speak volumes of his genuineness to uplift the Niger Delta. Such an administration should be encouraged by the people of the Niger Delta.

We can never be sure of the genuiness of another person who becomes the President. I have, therefore, after series of consultations and prayers, taken the decision to leave the PDP and join the APC. In doing this, I want to thank the numerous leaders, supporters and interest groups that have been urging me to remain in PDP. I am happy that after explaining some of the deeper issues to you, some of you that are politicians have agreed to join the APC in the near future. So I am going into APC as John the Baptist to the numerous Deltans that are coming in, soon  very soon.

Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported Uduaghan confirmed his decision to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The former governor who disclosed this through phone call on Thursday evening, August 23, said there was pressure on him to come to APC, but it was not an affair of the national chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

The next president of Nigeria. Who will win the 2019 elections? | - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Former military head of state, General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd), has revealed how ex-president Goodluck Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat in 2015

- He said that the beginning of Africas political problems was the attitude of its leaders who want to remain in power at all cost

- Abdusalami said those leaders have the tendencies to manipulate very vital democratic organs

Former military head of state, General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd), has narrated how former President Goodluck Jonathan was persuaded to concede defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari after the result of the 2015 presidential election was released.

Nigerian Tribune reports that Abubakar, who spoke at the 2018 annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), noted that the beginning of Africas political problems was the attitude of its leaders who do all they can to amend the constitution in order to sit-tight in government.

Legit.ng gathered that he said those leaders have the tendencies to manipulate very vital democratic organs, particularly the legislature and even sometimes, the judiciary to suppress any dissenting voice.

READ ALSO: We will be neutral in Nigeria's 2019 general elections - US

The former military head of state, who delivered a keynote address on Political transitions in Africa: Lessons to learn gave credit to former President Jonathan for not only conceding defeat but for congratulating President Buhari who was a candidate of the opposition party.

He said: All analysis of political trends in the run-up to Nigerias 2015 national election pointed to above scenario playing out. Very early on, I teamed up with some well-meaning non- partisan stakeholders and elder statesmen to engage the key contestants and party leaders with a view to forestalling such a scenario.

Under the auspices of a peace initiative, we brokered the acceptance by leading contestants of some form of a Memorandum of Understanding with them to agree to accept the outcome of the elections, preach cordiality in relations and conduct peaceful campaigns.

It is gratifying to note that, courtesy of our humble effort and the goodwill extended to it by the contestants and the Nigerian public, the 2015 national elections were conducted peacefully.

To his eternal credit, the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost the polls had the magnanimity to concede defeat and congratulate the candidate of the opposition party. In the end, peace and political stability prevailed in the land, he said.

Abubakar further narrated that when he was appointed to lead the country in 1998; it was observed that there was political apathy and that the political class was already fatigued, with some voices wanting a return of the country to parliamentary system.

Also, speaking at the conference, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, stressed that while strong leaders and institutions are important for political transition, emphasis should not be placed on the strength of the leader at the detriment of the leaders competence and disposition.

To my mind, we need strong institutions, we need strong leadership; but, it is not just the strength of the leader that we require. What we require most is the competence and the capacity of that leader to take decisions and to be assertive in ensuring that those decisions are actually implemented.

So we have to be very careful in thinking that strong leaders can really help. Just as a weak leader can wreck an institution, a strong leader who has just that power and courage, if he lacks capacity, ability and competence to lead, he could also wreck strong institutions. So, it is very important that we recognize this important aspect of the leadership that we require, he said.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the south-south league of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Goodluck Jonathan, former president of Nigeria, is not interested in the 2019 election.

Nigeria Election 2019: What are Bukola Sarakis chances against President Buhari | - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- A report indicates that Adams Oshiomhole's NEC of the APC may have decided against any automatic tickets for non-performing governors

- The report claims that some of the state governors include those of Kaduna, Kogi and Bauchi

- The report indicates that the direct primaries may not be used in states having serious security issues

Ahead of the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), reports indicate that the partys leadership, headed by Adams Oshiomhole, may have shut its doors on automatic tickets against non-performing governors on its platform.

Legit.ng reports that at a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party held on Tuesday, August 28, the members reportedly adopted the direct primaries as against the delegate system.

Daily Independent reports that some of the governors that may fall into the category are those of Kogi, Bauchi and Kaduna states adding that they are considered to have performed below expectations.

READ ALSO: 2019: Europe-based pollster declares Buhari, some governors winners

It quoted top party members at its national secretariat of releasing the hint that Oshiomhole rebuffed pressures to drop his insistence on performance as the yardstick for the endorsement of the party ahead of 2019.

One of the sources said this was the reason Oshiomhole is pushing for the adoption of direct primaries to pick candidates ahead of the 2019 elections.

Yes it is true, the national chairman is not backing some governors because of their poor performance.

He has said repeatedly that the party cannot guarantee automatic ticket for some aspirants, especially governors whose performance fall far short of expectations.

That is the reason he is pushing for direct primaries, because if direct primaries are used, some of the governors will not have a chance, and they know this.

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That is why they are kicking against it. But one thing is certain, direct primaries will be used in the south west. They have adopted that.

The only zone that direct primaries may not be used may be some states of north east because of the fragile security situation there, but as for other zones, it may be used. But lets wait and see what happens later today," the source said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 28, met with caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Aso Rock, Abuja, with former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, making a surprise appearance.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Uduaghan, a two-term governor of the oil rich state, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2007 and 2015, had been speculated to be planning to switch to the APC.

Fashola EXCLUSIVE Interview: How Nigeria Can Have Uninterrupted Power Supply| Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- Peter Ozo-Esan, general secretary of the NLC, said payment of the reviewed minimum wage will be approved by next month, September

- Ozo-Esan explained that it was delayed due to the recent Sallah break observed by Nigerians

- The NLC secretary-general said he believed that the National Assembly will play its part

Peter Ozo-Esan, general secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday, August 28, assured Nigerians workers of the payment of the reviewed minimum wage before the end of 2018.

Ozo-Esan made this assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He in spite of the delay caused by the Sallah break, the tripartite committee involved with the review of the wage will conclude its work on Sept. 4th and 5th.

READ ALSO: Former Plateau governor declares interest to run for 2019 presidency

According to him, We believe that the initial expectation that by September a new minimum wage should come on board, we think that the government still should be able to deliver that to Nigerians.

Nigerian workers will continue to demand that from the government and as soon as this report is submitted government should do the needful before the National Assembly because that is the process.

We expect that the National Assembly will play its part in speedily considering the bill that will be placed before it and do everything possible for Nigerian workers to have a new minimum wage.

On the concerns raised by state governors, Ozo-Esan stressed that it was not for them to determine what to pay, but that as employers they must comply with the minimum wage as approved by law.

According him, Minimum wage is not fixed for government, it is fixed for employers across the economy whether government or private employer, the law will require you to pay the minimum wage.

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What state governments want does not matter, because this is not a political matter; the minimum wage is the barest minimum that any worker must earn and no employer can go below that.

The NLC secretary-general stressed that state governments mismanaging their funds have no excuse not to pay salaries, adding that Nigerian must start demanding for dividends of democracy from their leaders.

He added: We urge our members to get their voter cards and vote out governors who have shown incapacity to govern.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the minister for labour and productivity, Chris Ngige, assured Nigerian workers that implementation of a new minimum wage in the country would be done.

He said the committee set up for that purpose by the federal government had already started work.

Ngige gave the assurance while speaking with journalists shortly after witnessing the swearing in of newly-elected chairmen of the 18 local government councils in Edo at the Government House, Benin. Council elections were conducted in the state on Saturday, and the ruling APC won all the positions.

Who should get higher salary - doctors or teachers? - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng- An Imo state high court has ordered the EFCC to pay Chief Mike Ikenna Ahamba the sum of N5 million as damages

- Justice Eze Fred Njemanze granted an injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, servants and officials from further detention of the applicant

- He said a perusal of the facts show that the respondents did not deny detaining the applicant for six days and seizing his international passport

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been ordered by an Imo state High Court to pay Chief Mike Ikenna Ahamba, SAN, the sum of N5 million as damages and compensation for the violation of his fundamental rights, Vanguard reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the case presided over by Justice Eze Fred Njemanze, delivering judgement in suit number HOW/908/2017, which lasted for about one hour, 30 minutes, ordered the EFCC and the chairman of the anti-graft agency, to pay a cost fixed at N100,000 in favour of the Applicant (Ahamba).

In conclusion, this fundamental right proceeding succeeds as it is meritorious and deserving to be granted. Injunction is granted restraining the Respondents, their agents, servants, officials and all those acting through or under them, from further detention of the Applicant (Ahamba) or further inviting him, save for him to appear before a court of competent jurisdiction over the allegation for trial or for the purpose of issuing a clearance certificate to the Applicant," Justice Njemanze said.

READ ALSO: Kwankwaso declares for presidency in Abuja after reported denial to use Eagles Square

According to the judge, a perusal of the facts adumbrated by the parties in this matter, show that the Respondents did not deny detaining the Applicant for six days, from November 22 to 28, 2017.

Justice Njemanze also said that the respondents did not deny seizure of the applicants international passport, adding that they did not equally deny searching his house with armed guards, like a common criminal, in the full glare of neighbours.

Legit.ng previously reported that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to unconditionally unfreeze the accounts of Senator Abdullaziz Nyako and a company linked to him without further delay.

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Nengiofori Jumbo, Senator Abdullaziz Nyako and Blue Opal Nigeria Ltd (Applicants) had in June 2015, dragged the EFCC to court over the freezing of their accounts and sealing of the Hillview Estate, Abuja, owned by the senator.

According to a statement sent to Legit.ng by Senator Nyako, the suit was filed under the fundamental rights enforcement rules 2009, made by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, pursuant to section 46(3) of the 1999 constitution as well as sections 36, 43 and 44 of the constitution and Oder 11 Rule 1of the FREP rules 2009.

The EFCC stage a walk against corruption on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit- Honourable Aliyu Wadada has declared his interest to emerge as Nasarawa state governor in 2019

- Wadada made the declaration recently after rumours surfaced that he plans to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC)

- He also denied rumours that he intends to run for the Nasarawa West senatorial seat under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)

A former two time House of Representatives member, Honourable Aliyu Wadada, has declared his interest to emerge as Nasarawa state governor in 2019.

Wadada, who represented Keffi, Kokona, Karu federal constituency between 2003-2011, made the declaration recently after rumours surfaced that he plans to leave the APC for the APGA.

He also denied rumours that he intends to run for the Nasarawa west senatorial seat under APGA in the 2019 polls.

READ ALSO: APC primaries: Why we must respect INEC guidelines - Oshiohmole

Speaking at the declaration, Wadada said: We shall join hands with the people of Nasarawa to make our dearly beloved state a befitting one where there would be the dignity of life. I bring to the good people of Nasarawa state a credible, dynamic, and contemporary opportunity to improve our commonwealth as a state.

Our government will be innovation-driven based on contemporary public service approach. Our commitments as outlined in our manifesto.

He said he will focus on public service accountability and good governance; sustainable human capital development; security, law and social order, reformation of land administration and related investments and infrastructure for economic growth and prosperity.

Our vision is a Nasarawa state that life will be worth living for the citizens, he added.

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Similarly, Chief Musa Muhammed Maikaya, a leading governorship aspirant in Nasarawa under the APC has revealed his plans to provide access a minimum of N1 billion every year for entrepreneurial ventures across the state, specifically for unemployed youths.

Maikaya made the disclosure recently during an interaction with select journalists over his ambition to lead the state in 2019.

Dishing out his plans of fighting unemployment in the state, Maikaya said he would establish the Nasarawa State Employment Trust Fund to cater for the unemployed youths in the state, and the fund would provide access a minimum of N1billion every year.

Nigerias agricultural revolution kick-starts in Nasarawa state on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Bolivian woman Julia Flores Colque is thought to be the world's oldest person with a recorded age of almost 118

- Colque's national identity card says she was born in a mining camp on October 26, 1900

- In her long life, she has witnessed two world wars and revolutions in her native Bolivia

A Bolivian woman identified as Julia Flores Colque is said to be the world's oldest person, aged 118. Flores national identity card states she was born on October 26, 1900, making her a witness of two world wars and revolution in her native Bolivia.

In a recent interview, the aged woman revealed details about her love for cakes, singing folk songs and playing with her chickens. Interestingly, she also has a cat and strums a tiny Andean guitar known as the charango at her home in the rural town of Sacaba.

Growing up in her native, she has gotten used to watching the town grow from a population of about 3,000 to a bustling city of 30,000 people.

READ ALSO: Serena Williams wont celebrate daughters first birthday due to Jehovahs Witness beliefs

Being aged 118, she's most likely the world's oldest person although she's isn't recorded as such in the Guinness Book of world records. Colque also doesn't care to be a part of the book and just lives her life as she deems fit.

Bolivian woman may be world's oldest person at nearly 118

Source: Depositphotos

For her age, Colque is full of life and loves singing to folkloric songs in Quechua when she receives guests who visit the dirt-floor adobe home she shares with her 65-year-old grand-niece, Agustina Berna.

Bolivian woman may be world's oldest person at nearly 118

Source: Depositphotos

READ ALSO: Davido stuns as groomsman at friend's wedding ceremony

Bolivian woman may be world's oldest person at nearly 118

Source: Depositphotos

Bolivian woman may be world's oldest person at nearly 118

Source: Depositphotos

Interestingly, the Bolivian woman has never been married or has children. She is, however, very content with her life and survives on selling fruits and vegetables.

Bolivian woman may be world's oldest person at nearly 118

Source: Depositphotos

Birth certificates did not exist in Bolivia until 1940, and births previously were registered with baptism certificates provided by Roman Catholic priests. Colque's national identity card, however, has been certified by the Bolivian government.

Bolivian woman may be world's oldest person at nearly 118

Source: Depositphotos

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What do you think will happen if women rule the world? (Nigerian Street Interview) on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit- Ondo state Council of Obas urged the federal government not to renew licence of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company

- Hundreds of communities being serviced by the electricity company including Okitipupa, Irele and Ilaje have been without electricity for over 5 to 10 years

- The council of Obas declared that activities of BEDC were antithetical to the purpose of which it was established

Nigeria's federal government has been urged by the Ondo state Council of Obas not to renew the working licence of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company over the persistent joy of the company in making life miserable for the people of Ondo state, especially the entire Ondo south and some parts of the state's northern senatorial district.

Okitipupa, Ilaje, Irele and other communities in the the state have been without electricity for the past five years as a result of what people described as the inefficiency and outright neglect of Benin Electricity Distribution Company.

READ ALSO: Kwankwaso declares for presidency in Abuja after reported denial to use Eagles Square

Also, some other communities in the state are said to have been without electricity for the past ten years.

Legit.ng gathered that in a statement signed by the chairman of the Ondo State Council of Obas, the Olukare of Ikareland, Oba Akadiri Momoh after the monthly meeting of the council said activities of the BEDC were antithetical to the purpose of which it was established.

The council also declared that the electricity company had fallen short of the hope and expectations of the consumers in the state.

All the efforts of the people of the southern senatorial district and major stakeholders to make the BEDC see reason and shift grounds had proved abortive.

In the northern senatorial district, reports indicate that the BEDC only supply electricity to selected communities only when bills are to be served on consumers.

At the meeting state council of Obas, it discussed extensively the poor service and ineffectiveness of the BEDC, which have taken a toll on the social, cultural and economic lives of the people.

The council, therefore, resolved to pass a vote of no confidence on the Benin Electricity Distribution Company.

Ondo state Council of Obas hereby calls on the Federal Government not to renew the license of operation of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC.

According to Punch, the kings urged the Federal government to consider a better option for good and efficient service delivery rather than renewing the license of the BEDC.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Recall that Legit.ng had reported that residents of Ondo and Edo states kicked against renewal of operating licence of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over what they described as inefficiency and outright disobedience of constituted authority.

The efficiency of the company was also questioned by Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, according to a report by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Can Nigeria solve its power problems? Top engineers offer solutions on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- A man identified to be a Nigerian from Niger state has died in Mecca

- He met his death while trying to use the elevator and fell into the elevator's pit

- It was reported that the elevator was at fault and under maintenance

A Nigerian pilgrim from Niger state has been reported dead after mistakenly falling into an elevator's pit.

This is contained in a report by the News Agency of Nigeria. According to NAN, the deceased 2018 Hajj candidate stepped into the elevator under repair, leading to his fall and death.

READ MORE: APC points accusing finger at PDP over attempted attack on Akpabio

Legit.ng gathers that all the attempts by the rescue workers mobilised by the national medical team of NAHCON to save the victim from the jugular of death proved abortive as he eventually gave up the ghost.

The medical team leader, Dr Ibrahim Kana said: Following the tragedy that occurred this morning in house number 3 of Niger state, men of the national medical team were there for the rescue.

He further maintained that the CCTV footage of the incident will be reviewed to get details to what happened.

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This incident brings to seven the number of pilgrims from Nigeria who have lost their lives in the 2018 Hajj process.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that no fewer than two million pilgrims converged on Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Monday, August 20, to mark the climax of the 2018 pilgrimage.

The event at Mount Arafat features pilgrims supplication for Allahs guidance and forgiveness. It also involves staying at Arafat from sunrise until sunset as a major rite of the pilgrimage.

Which country would you leave Nigeria for? Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- The immediate past head of states of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is said to be holding a meeting with the Senate president, Bukola Saraki

- The said meeting between both key personalities is reportedly being held in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja

- So far, the purpose of the meeting has not been disclosed to newsmen

The president of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who recently hinted on his ambition to run for the presidency come 2019 presidential polls, is said to be holding a meeting with the former head of states, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in Abuja.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Kwankwaso declares for presidency in Abuja after reported denial to use Eagles Square

Senator Bukola Saraki having a handshake with ex-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (Photo credit: Twitter)

Source: Depositphotos

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So far, details of the meeting is not known, neither the purpose for which it is being held.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Saraki was said to be considering running against President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections.

Legit.ng gathered that Saraki, in an interview at his residence in Abuja, said: "I am consulting and actively considering it. I believe I can make the change.

The PDP has learnt its lesson from the loss in 2015, and I think unfortunately the APC did not learn from their victory.

"We have the opportunity with the right kind of presidential candidate and president to provide the leadership for the party. The party has a good opportunity to lead the country in the right direction.

Election 2019: Can Saraki be the Next President of Nigeria? | Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitLegit.ng had earlier reported that the prime minster of the United Kingdom Theresa May visited Nigeria for a one day working visit.

Her visit has been applauded by many. What was not known is that PM May was dressed in a clothing designed by a Nigerian.

Her jacket was made by Nigerian fashion house Emmy Kasbit. The labels official Instagram account made this known via a post they shared on August 29, 2018.

They thanked May for sporting their design and all the local women who spent hours crafting the material. See their post below:

READ ALSO: Breaking: UK Prime Minister arrives Lagos Airport (photos)

Emmy Kasbit was launched in January 2014 by Emmanuel Okoro. The brand was birthed out of his passion to clothe the unconventional man and woman who likes to think outside the box and who are willing to defend their outfit as being deliberate and not accidental.

See more photos of PM May in the beautiful jacket below:

UK Prime minister Theresa May alongside President Buhari (Image courtesy Femi Adesina Facebook)

Source: Facebook

UK Prime minister Theresa May introducing British officials to President Buhari (Image courtesy Femi Adesina Facebook)

Source: Facebook

UK Prime minister Theresa May and President Buhari watching their ministers sign a bilateral agreement (Image courtesy Femi Adesina Facebook)

Source: Facebook

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria

Election 2019: President Buhari Proves He is Fit to Run in 2019 | Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitThere has been a huge outcry against men/women of God who go about asking church goers for special seeds in order to receive special blessings from God.

However, some pastors are speaking up against this act saying it is not written anywhere in the bible that churchgoers need to donate a certain sum to be blessed.

One of such pastors is Abel Damina, senior pastor of Power City International in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, who was seen in a recent video saying any preacher that asks people to give money in order for God to multiply it is a thief.

See his post below:

"Any preacher who says gimme money God will multiply it is a thief. What you see is a thief, quote me anywhere.

God doesn't multiply money. If God multiplies money, I will lock all the doors and keep you here,' he tells his congregation. "Whatever you have in your pocket you will drop and no one will go out for one year," he said.

READ ALSO: UK Prime minister shines in jacket designed by Nigerian fashion house

Controversial OAP and bible teacher Daddy Freeze who shared the video mocked Pastors Biodun Fatoyinbo and Funke Adejumo both of whom have been seen asking for special seeds.

This is coming after veteran comedian Ali Baba via a lengthy post on his Instagram page asked pastors to stop causing disunity in the church.

See excerpts of his post below:

Did the bible say places of worship must have air conditioning? Did the bible say offerings can be collected with POS? Did the bible say many things that are being practised today as many churches do?

Where was the verse that converted the farm produce, that was tithes, to cash? How many of the the pastors use a donkey? Since that was what Jesus used.

How many still read from scrolls? Or write on leather or papyrus paper? Men of God should stop causing disunity in the church.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria

Why pastors don't want some comedians performing in their church  Kenny Blaq on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng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. GP article archive here. Originally published at DownWithTyranny

Trump Impeached; Pence Pleased (source)

In a piece called Do Democrats Want an Impeachment Fight? Pat Buchanan asks two key questions for people not focused on the story behind the story, the story of which the story were watching is just a part. Those question are:

Will Trump resign?

Will House Democrats impeach him?

Yes, I know this is Pat Buchanan were going to quote, or Pat F-ing Buchanan to use the name hes known by on the left. Still, hes been doing some decent work lately  like a stopped clock thats still managed to be right more than twice a day.

(In the era of Trump, does time circle back on itself? Thats probably more true than not. We do seem to be caught in a Groundhog Day loop of real problems like climate, Trump tweets about lawyers, and dollar-driven media focus on just the tweets.)

Heres Buchanan on each of these questions. I think his analysis is pretty spot on (with one proviso, which Ill offer at the end). First, part of Buchanans intro (my emphasis throughout):

Would a Democratic House, assuming we get one, really impeach a president for paying hush money to old girlfriends? Hence the high-fives among never-Trumpers are premature. But if Cohens guilty plea and Tuesdays conviction of campaign manager Paul Manafort do not imperil Trump today, what they portend is ominous. For Cohen handled Trumps dealings for more than a decade and has pledged full cooperation with prosecutors from both the Southern District of New York and the Robert Mueller investigation. Nothing that comes of this collaboration will be helpful to Trump.

Keep in mind Muellers ability to keep Cohen, Manafort and many others singing as you read on. Now our two questions.

Will Trump resign? Buchanan on that:

Trump is not going to resign. To do so would open him up to grand jury subpoenas, federal charges and civil suits for the rest of his life. To resign would be to give up his sword and shield, and all of his immunity. He would be crazy to leave himself naked to his enemies. No, given his belief that he is under attack by people who hate him and believe he is an illegitimate president, and seek to bring him down, he will use all the powers of the presidency in his fight for survival. And as he has shown, these powers are considerable: the power to rally his emotional following, to challenge courts, to fire Justice officials and FBI executives, to pull security clearances, to pardon the convicted.

Second, will House Democrats attempt to impeach him? Buchanan again:

Democrats who have grown giddy about taking the House should consider what a campaign to bring down a president, who is supported by a huge swath of the nation and has fighting allies in the [rightwing] press, would be like. Why do it? Especially if they knew in advance the Senate would not convict. That America has no desire for a political struggle to the death over impeachment is evident. Recognition of this reality is why the Democratic Party is assuring America that impeachment is not what they have in mind. Today, it is Republicans leaders who are under pressure to break with Trump, denounce him, and call for new investigations into alleged collusion with the Russians. But if Democrats capture the House, then they will be the ones under intolerable pressure from their own media auxiliaries to pursue impeachment. Taking the House would put newly elected Democrats under fire from the right for forming a lynch mob, and from the mainstream media for not doing their duty and moving immediately to impeach Trump. Democrats have been laboring for two years to win back the House. But if they discover that the first duty demanded of them, by their own rabid followers, is to impeach President Trump, they may wonder why they were so eager to win it.

Dont be shocked if House Democrats under Nancy Pelosi or any other Speaker take impeachment off the table. Some will call that Democratic cowardice, but Buchanan is right about the other factors as well. Right now its Republicans who are under pressure. If Democrats take the House, the pressure will shift to them  and the country will split even further and more violently.

Are Democratic leaders ready to fight that war? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. Well just have to wait and see. Regardless of whats moral and right though, there are no good near-term political choices.

I agree with Buchanan that either way, were in for a hellish year.

How Mueller Can Remove Trump Without Congress

If youve read this space before, you wont be surprised at the next suggestion. There is a way for Mueller to remove Trump from office. Lets go back to Buchanans explanation of why Trump cant resign:

Trump is not going to resign. To do so would open him up to grand jury subpoenas, federal charges and civil suits for the rest of his life. To resign would be to give up his sword and shield, and all of his immunity. He would be crazy to leave himself naked to his enemies.Using state of the art CGI and the latest underwater technology and working alongside divers, wreck investigators and archaeologists, Ocean Wreck Investigation tells the stories of the final moments of ships and those on board.

Thursdays from 9:30pm AEDT.On 29 and 30 August 2018, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Rose Gottemoeller, will travel to Vienna, Austria.

The Deputy Secretary General will participate in an Informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers.

The Deputy Secretary General will also meet with OSCE Ambassadors as well as OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger.

There will be no media opportunity. Still images of the meeting will be available on the NATO website after the event.(Natural News) Like it or not, social media is the communication form of the future  not just in the U.S., but worldwide. Just Facebook and Twitter combined reach 1.8 billion people. More than two-thirds of all Americans (68 percent) use Facebook. YouTube is pushing out TV as the most popular place to watch video. Google is the No. 1 search engine in both the U.S. and the world.

(Article by Ashley Rae Goldenberg and Dan Gainor republished from NewsBusters.org)

War is being declared on the conservative movement in this space and conservatives are losing  badly. If the right is silenced, billions of people will be cut off from conservative ideas and conservative media.

Its the new battleground of media bias. But its worse. That bias is not a war of ideas. Its a war against ideas. Its a clear effort to censor the conservative worldview from the public conversation.

The Media Research Center has undertaken an extensive study of the problem at major tech companies  Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube  and the results are far more troubling than most conservatives realize. Here are some of the key findings:

Twitter Leads in Censorship: Project Veritas recently had caught Twitter staffers admitting on hidden camera that they had been censoring conservatives through a technique known as shadow banning, where users think their content is getting seen widely, but its not. The staffers had justified it by claiming the accounts had been automated if they had words such as America and God. In 2016, Twitter had attempted to manipulate election-related tweets using the hashtags #PodestaEmails and #DNCLeak. The site also restricts pro-life ads from Live Action and even Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), but allows Planned Parenthood advertisements.

Project Veritas recently had caught Twitter staffers admitting on hidden camera that they had been censoring conservatives through a technique known as shadow banning, where users think their content is getting seen widely, but its not. The staffers had justified it by claiming the accounts had been automated if they had words such as America and God. In 2016, Twitter had attempted to manipulate election-related tweets using the hashtags #PodestaEmails and #DNCLeak. The site also restricts pro-life ads from Live Action and even Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), but allows Planned Parenthood advertisements.

Facebooks Trending Feed Has Been Hiding Conservative Topics: A 2016 Gizmodo story had warned of Facebooks bias. It had detailed claims by former employees that Facebooks news curators had been instructed to hide conservative content from the trending section, which supposedly only features news users find compelling. Topics that had been blacklisted included Mitt Romney, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and Rand Paul. On the other hand, the term Black Lives Matter had also been placed into the trending section even though it was not actually trending. Facebook had also banned at least one far right European organization but had not released information on any specific statements made by the group that warranted the ban.

A 2016 Gizmodo story had warned of Facebooks bias. It had detailed claims by former employees that Facebooks news curators had been instructed to hide conservative content from the trending section, which supposedly only features news users find compelling. Topics that had been blacklisted included Mitt Romney, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and Rand Paul. On the other hand, the term Black Lives Matter had also been placed into the trending section even though it was not actually trending. Facebook had also banned at least one far right European organization but had not released information on any specific statements made by the group that warranted the ban.

Google Search Aids Democrats: Google and YouTubes corporate chairman Eric Schmidt had assisted Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. The companys search engine had deployed a similar bias in favor of Democrats. One study had found 2016 campaign searches were biased in favor of Hillary Clinton. Even the liberal website Slate had revealed the search engines results had favored both Clinton and Democratic candidates. Google also had fired engineer James Damore for criticizing the companys Ideological Echo Chamber. The company had claimed he had been fired for advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace. Damore is suing Google, saying it mistreats whites, males and conservatives.

Google and YouTubes corporate chairman Eric Schmidt had assisted Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. The companys search engine had deployed a similar bias in favor of Democrats. One study had found 2016 campaign searches were biased in favor of Hillary Clinton. Even the liberal website Slate had revealed the search engines results had favored both Clinton and Democratic candidates. Google also had fired engineer James Damore for criticizing the companys Ideological Echo Chamber. The company had claimed he had been fired for advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace. Damore is suing Google, saying it mistreats whites, males and conservatives.

YouTube Is Shutting Down Conservative Videos: Googles YouTube site had created its own problems with conservative content. YouTube moderators must take their cues from the rest of Google  from shutting down entire conservative channels by mistake to removing videos that promote right-wing political views. YouTubes special Creators for Change section is devoted to people using their voices for social change and even highlights the work of a 9/11 truther. The sites very own YouTube page and Twitter account celebrate progressive attitudes, including uploading videos about inspiring gay and trans people and sharing the platforms support for DACA.

Googles YouTube site had created its own problems with conservative content. YouTube moderators must take their cues from the rest of Google  from shutting down entire conservative channels by mistake to removing videos that promote right-wing political views. YouTubes special Creators for Change section is devoted to people using their voices for social change and even highlights the work of a 9/11 truther. The sites very own YouTube page and Twitter account celebrate progressive attitudes, including uploading videos about inspiring gay and trans people and sharing the platforms support for DACA.

Tech Firms Are Relying on Groups That Hate Conservatives: Top tech firms like Google, YouTube and Twitter partner with leftist groups attempting to censor conservatives. These include the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Both groups claim to combat hate, but treat standard conservative beliefs in faith and family as examples of that hatred. George Soros-funded ProPublica is using information from both radical leftist organizations to attack conservative groups such as Jihad Watch and ACT for America, bullying PayPal and other services to shut down their funding sources. The SPLCs anti-LGBT list had also been used to prevent organizations from partnering with AmazonSmile to raise funds.

Top tech firms like Google, YouTube and Twitter partner with leftist groups attempting to censor conservatives. These include the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Both groups claim to combat hate, but treat standard conservative beliefs in faith and family as examples of that hatred. George Soros-funded ProPublica is using information from both radical leftist organizations to attack conservative groups such as Jihad Watch and ACT for America, bullying PayPal and other services to shut down their funding sources. The SPLCs anti-LGBT list had also been used to prevent organizations from partnering with AmazonSmile to raise funds.

Liberal Twitter Advisors Outnumber Conservatives 12-to-1: Twelve of the 25 U.S. members of Twitters Trust and Safety Council  which helps guide its policies  are liberal, and only one is conservative. Anti-conservative groups like GLAAD and the ADL are part of the board. There is no well-known conservative group represented.

Twelve of the 25 U.S. members of Twitters Trust and Safety Council  which helps guide its policies  are liberal, and only one is conservative. Anti-conservative groups like GLAAD and the ADL are part of the board. There is no well-known conservative group represented.

Tech Companies Rely on Anti-Conservative Fact-Checkers: Facebook and Google both had partnered with fact-checking organizations in order to combat fake news. Facebooks short-lived disputed flagger program had allowed Snopes, PolitiFact and ABC News to discern what is and is not real news. Googles fact-checkers had accused conservative sources of making claims that did not appear in their articles and disproportionately fact-checked conservative sources. On Facebook, a satire site, the Babylon Bee, had been flagged by Snopes for its article clearly mocking CNN for its bias. YouTube also had announced a partnership with Wikipedia in order to debunk videos deemed to be conspiracy theories, even though Wikipedia has been criticized for its liberal bias.

Recommendations For The Tech Companies:

People Are Policy: Tech companies like Google and Facebook are making a nominal effort to hire conservatives, but that doesnt address the core problems within those organizations. Companies need to eliminate policies and biases that discriminate against conservatives. They also need to protect employees ability to disagree with the pervasive liberal groupthink that dominates the industry.

Tech companies like Google and Facebook are making a nominal effort to hire conservatives, but that doesnt address the core problems within those organizations. Companies need to eliminate policies and biases that discriminate against conservatives. They also need to protect employees ability to disagree with the pervasive liberal groupthink that dominates the industry.

Tech Companies Must Provide Transparency: People and organizations have their posts and videos either restricted or deleted on all major platforms. If those companies expect their users to trust them, they must make this system transparent. They must show at least when posts of organizations and public figures are deleted and when they arent. That would give users a baseline of what speech is allowed on a platform, not just whatever the companies choose to delete.

People and organizations have their posts and videos either restricted or deleted on all major platforms. If those companies expect their users to trust them, they must make this system transparent. They must show at least when posts of organizations and public figures are deleted and when they arent. That would give users a baseline of what speech is allowed on a platform, not just whatever the companies choose to delete.

Expect Regulation At This Pace: Tech companies are facing calls for regulation from left and right. The firms should address this by setting rules about how they will treat both conservative and liberal organizations and information fairly. This means clear, published guidelines must be established that support free speech online. Algorithms, content guidelines and ad policies must be designed that dont target political speech. Firms must stop pretending disagreement is equivalent to hate speech. Fairness and transparency are equally essential.

Tech companies are facing calls for regulation from left and right. The firms should address this by setting rules about how they will treat both conservative and liberal organizations and information fairly. This means clear, published guidelines must be established that support free speech online. Algorithms, content guidelines and ad policies must be designed that dont target political speech. Firms must stop pretending disagreement is equivalent to hate speech. Fairness and transparency are equally essential.

Avoid Partnering With Bad Actors: Twitter, YouTube and others had tried to establish policies that prevent so-called hate speech on their platforms. But those policies are being enforced by organizations that spew hate against the conservative movement and cant pretend to be neutral players. Groups like the SPLC and ADL label core conservative values as hate or bigotry. Tech companies cant expect conservatives to trust a system that is so blatantly one-sided.

Twitter, YouTube and others had tried to establish policies that prevent so-called hate speech on their platforms. But those policies are being enforced by organizations that spew hate against the conservative movement and cant pretend to be neutral players. Groups like the SPLC and ADL label core conservative values as hate or bigotry. Tech companies cant expect conservatives to trust a system that is so blatantly one-sided.

Modify Flagging Systems: One of the worst problems tech companies grapple with is the abuse of their flagging and reporting systems. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, in particular, succumb to liberal activists who game their systems and constantly report conservative content. These services must determine a better way to handle alerts that do not allow coordinated campaigns against the right.

One of the worst problems tech companies grapple with is the abuse of their flagging and reporting systems. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, in particular, succumb to liberal activists who game their systems and constantly report conservative content. These services must determine a better way to handle alerts that do not allow coordinated campaigns against the right.

Use Neutral Fact-Checkers: If social media sites are going to attempt to be the arbiters of what is real news, they must rely on fact-checking sources that are neutral and fair toward stories on both sides of the aisle. Relying on sites like Snopes, which has a clear liberal bias, raises concerns over whether the tech giants are trying to promote a liberal political narrative.

Read more at: NewsBusters.org(Natural News) Illegal immigration has been a hot-button issue for decades and is now reaching its boiling point  largely at the behest of corrupt and disingenuous Democrat politicians. The Left is on a phony human rights crusade, denigrating anyone who dares to stand up for the rights of American citizens as a xenophobic racist, or a white supremacist. The irony of pretending to care about the needs and rights for all people, while our countrys own citizens are being murdered by criminal migrants would almost be funny, if it wasnt so tragic. Democrats arent just the party that supports illegal immigration  they are the party that supports the total upending of the United States.

When former President Obama said he wanted to fundamentally change America, he wasnt joking: Destroying what makes America great is the underlying message of the Lefts most popular talking points. Whether theyre promoting illegal immigration, or demanding that the First and Second Amendments be dismantled, the call for fundamental change has become a party-wide platform for the Left. The preservation of liberty as we know it is on the line.

Democrats give criminal illegals a pass

The notion that the Left is putting illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens is not a foreign one; its a sentiment that many people share for good reason. The recent murders of Mollie Tibbetts and Kate Steinle drives this point home  especially given that Steinles murderer was ultimately acquitted by California courts.

Illegal immigrant Jose Garcia-Zarate was released by California law enforcement a few months prior to Steinles murder, even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement had requested that he be detained for deportation. State officials released him anyway, and Zarate went on to kill an innocent woman. Had the authorities in San Francisco done their jobs, instead of instituting a ridiculous sanctuary city policy, this tragedy never would have happened.

Perhaps we should start holding liberal politicians accountable for the deaths that are ultimately on their hands  at the very least, by not continuing to vote for them.

Left-wing dogma persists

Instead of at least acknowledging that local law enforcement officers should comply with ICE detainment requests, Democrats are doubling down on their sanctimonious sanctuary city policies. Not only are there more than 400 counties that have enacted similar sanctuary legislation this year, sources report that over 200 jurisdictions refused to comply with ICE requests in a single week. These requests for detainment were reportedly made against people who were charged or convicted of serious crimes.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has even claimed that sanctuary status helps public safety. The only people who seem to be safer, however, are illegal aliens. The fact that so-called sanctuary cities are refusing to cooperate with ICE  even when the illegal immigrant in question is guilty of a serious crime  is a major red flag that these politicians care more about appearances and agenda than they do about the American people.

As the National Review reports:

Americans know that no population is perfect. We know that a certain number of legal immigrants will commit crimes, just as a certain number of native-born Americans will commit crimes. But there is a difference between doing due diligence and no diligence at all. In fact, while its difficult to get precise data on the extent or rate of illegal-immigrant crime in this country, information from even the most illegal-immigrant-friendly sources shows that legal immigrants commit homicide at lower rates than illegal immigrants. Screening makes a difference.

Facts like this are maligned by the liberal media as hate speech. Americans are tired of being put on the back-burner while liberal politicians ignore real data and continue to promote their agenda. Elected officials are choosing to not enforce existing laws designed to protect American citizens  and liberals denigrate anyone who dares suggest these laws be enforced as a racist or a white supremacist.

As they say, When someone shows you who they really are, believe them. Democrat politicians have shown us they do not care about the United States, its people, or our laws  whether through advocating illegal immigration, the demands to terminate our Second Amendment rights, or the infringement of freedom of speech for conservatives.

The Left has shown what they really stand for  and in the upcoming election cycle, you can show them where you stand, too.

Sources for this article include:

TownHall.com

NationalReview.com

GOP.com

FoxNews.com(Natural News) The Deep State corruption surrounding the illicit spying into POTUS Donald Trumps 2016 campaign continues to be exposed, with a North Carolina Republican now providing new details on the scandal.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows tweeted overnight Tuesday that his office had obtained evidence indicating that the FBI purposefully  and illegally  leaked information to the Left-wing establishment media then used those stories to justify obtaining FISA court warrants.

Weve learned NEW information suggesting our suspicions are true: FBI/DOJ have previously leaked info to the press, then used those same press stories as a separate source to justify FISAs, he wrote.

Meadows then also referenced demoted DoJ official Bruce Ohrs testimony to the House Government Oversight Committee, which took place behind closed doors later Tuesday morning. Ohr and his wife Nellie, who worked for Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired former British spy Christopher Steele to produce the bogus Russia dossier, are never mentioned in the FISA applications, either, though the dossier was also used as justification for the FISA warrants.

We've learned NEW information suggesting our suspicions are true: FBI/DOJ have previously leaked info to the press, and then used those same press stories as a separate source to justify FISA's Unreal. Tomorrow's Bruce Ohr interview is even more critical. Did he ever do this?  Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) August 28, 2018

Meadows claim came in part from closed-door testimony from FBI intelligence analyst Jonathan Moffa on Friday, though what he told the Oversight and House Judiciary Committees in a joint hearing is not known, Fox News reported, citing an anonymous source.

The network added:

A source with knowledge of the testimony initially told Fox News that Moffa said FBI personnel would use media reports based on information they leaked to justify applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants, echoing Meadows. The source said Moffa, who worked with controversial former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, acknowledged this had been a practice in the past.

But an FBI official pushed back, telling Fox News the initial claims about Moffas testimony were incorrect.

The FBI does this all the time

The source clarified that Moffa told lawmakers the bureau often includes media reports to corroborate their work product and surveillance requests but that he never said directly we utilize FBI leaks for FISAs. (Related: Swamp creatures Comey and Mueller leveraged their govt. positions to enrich themselves: Watchdog.)

That said, the source nevertheless noted further that there is a culture of leaking for their own gain at the FBI, which then uses media reporting to support their objectives.

Theres quite a bit of evidence raising concerns that the FBI engages in this without Moffa saying it, the source told the network.

For months Republicans have been seeking answers to questions about whether leaks played a role in the FBI illicitly obtaining FISA warrants to spy on Trump campaign figure Carter Page  spying that continued well after POTUS Trump won the November 2016 election. Upon his transition into office in January 2017, the president was told about the bogus dossier but not that his campaign had come under surveillance  or wiretapped as he tweeted in March of last year.

Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

But Meadows stood by his claim  regarding Moffa and the charge the FBI purposefully leaked to the fake news media, so it could use those bogus reports to get surveillance warrants.

Jonathan Moffa made it clear to the committee the FBI routinely uses media reports to corroborate analytic work product. We have emails and texts plainly showing the FBI leaks to the media, raising major red flags. If FBI executives want the American people to believe they havent used leaks to their advantage, they are not being honest, said Meadows, Fox News reported.

He added: We know that some people at the Department of Justice and the FBI actually gave information to the media, then the stories were reported. Then they used those reports to justify further investigations. You know, thats like saying, were going to incriminate on one hand, and be the jury on the other. It just doesnt work that way.

Except that so far it has worked that way. Where is Jeff Sessions  or anyone at the Justice Department who is still honest enough to bring charges, even if it means charging some of their colleagues?

Read more about the Deep State corruption under Obama at DeepState.news.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com

TheNationalSentinel.com(Natural News) Based on the findings of a recent study, the accelerated growth of human activity around the world is gradually making wildlife more nocturnal.

Earlier research has already proven that animals will change their spatial patterns to avoid humans, whom they fear. However, the study, titled, The Influence of Human Disturbance on Wildlife Nocturnality, presumes that one day, animals may decide to live apart from humans.

The study, which was published in the journal Science, was a joint project that involved researchers from Boise State University and the University of California, Berkley (UC Berkeley).

Animals evade humans by being nocturnal

This study is the first to try and measure the global effects of human activities on the temporal activity patterns of wildlife.

Neil Carter, a Boise State assistant professor in human environment systems, said that scientists are discovering more species, such as bears, elk, and mountain lions, that are becoming more active at night to evade human interaction.

He added that the researchers wished to confirm if the shifts were happening around the globe and if they were affected by human activities such as hunting or recreation. (Related: Evolutionary biologist says that the rapid growth of cities has forced animals to evolve at unprecedented speeds.)

For the study, Carter also worked with lead author Kaitlyn Gaynor, Justin Brashares, and Cheryl Hojnowski from UC Berkeley.

The scientists examined the anthropogenic impacts on mammal activity patterns via the meta-analysis of 76 studies of 62 species from six continents. According to the findings of the global study, human presence had a significant impact on wildlife activity. In fact, the nocturnality of animals increased by an average factor of 1.36 due to human disturbance.

By way of illustration, an animal that often split its activity 50/50 between day and night would react to human disturbance by increasing its nocturnal activity to a whopping 68 percent of its total activity.

The meta-analysis confirmed that about 83 percent of animals reacted to humans this way, regardless of the lethal activities they were involved in, e.g., hunting, or nonlethal activities that took place, like hiking. Animals also tended to be wary of interacting with human infrastructure.

This posits that there is a considerable increase in nocturnality among mammals that coexisted with humans. The researcher noted that this finding was consistent across continents, habitats, taxa, and human activities.

Carter warned that the results were shocking and that they point firmly to the prevalence of these shifts. He concluded, Because an animals interaction with its environment, like finding mates or food, is largely shaped by the times of day that it is active, becoming more nocturnal to avoid humans has profound implications on wildlife communities and ecosystem services. As the human footprint expands, understanding the consequences of these shifts on animal populations and their evolution is vital.

Tips to minimize your impact on the environment and on wildlife

Here are some tips to help you minimize human activity, and reduce the disruption of wildlife which could be making the animals around you more nocturnal:

Never touch wildlife or disturb habitats at the coast, on land, or underwater.

Take vacations during the off-peak period to avoid over-straining resources. This is also a good way to avoid crowds.

Read up on the locations youre about to visit. If youre touring an environmentally sensitive area, be careful and follow footpaths and signs.

Throw away your garbage properly so it doesnt endanger the animals.

If youre using boats or jet-skis (or other loud machines), remember that they create noise and chemical pollution that can disturb wildlife. Turn off the engine when youre not using these recreational vehicles.

Read more articles with tips on how you can help minimize the impact of human activity on wildlife at Environ.news.

Sources include:

Newswise.com

Panda.org(Natural News) President Trump lashed out at the far left Tech Giants on Tuesday accusing them of bias against conservative Americans.

CNBC reported:

(Article by Jim Hoft republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)

Trump accused Google of altering search results to prioritize negative coverage and left-leaning outlets and warned that the issue will be addressed.

Trump said in a tweet that the tech giants search engine had rigged news story results to show mostly bad stories about him and other conservatives.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media, the president said.

In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out.(Natural News) Earlier in February, a group of German scientists warned locals about the presence of bacteria immune to antibiotics in several lakes, rivers, and streams in the country.

According to a report by Northern German Broadcasting (NDR), the deadly pathogens, which are resistant to different kinds of antibiotics, were discovered in 12 locations in the northern German state of Lower Saxony last month.

The scientists gathered sediment and water samples from the different sites. The samples were then sent to the Dresden University of Technology and the German Center for Infection Research in Giessen for testing.

Data from the NDR-commissioned study identified multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDRGN bacteria) for all 12 locations, along with strains that are resistant to critical reserve antibiotics known as last resort drugs.

Tim Eckmanns, from the Robert Koch Institute, expressed his alarm at the discovery during an interview with NDR. He noted that the pathogens seem to have shown up in the environment on an unprecedented scale. He added, The danger is that theyll spread and then strike back against humans.

Per the NDR, even though resistant pathogens live and even thrive in the environment, they are not systematically monitored during water pollution tests. (Related: Antibiotic overuse kills thousands each year: Authorities urge people to just stay home and rest when ill.)

Scientists are worried because dangerous MDRGN pathogens can cause serious illness and they are resistant to antibiotics. Although individuals who are in the pink of health are safe from these pathogens, they can still carry and transmit the germs to more susceptible people.

The transmission of these lethal pathogens can cause life-threatening infections such as pneumonia, sepsis, or urinary tract infections (UTI). Those at risk involve both the elderly and newborns, who have weaker immune systems.

Thomas Berendonk, a water scientist at Dresden, commented that the findings were a cause for concern since it would be very difficult to treat individuals infected by the bacteria.

The scientists also expressed their unease over the discovery of a gene called MCR-1 at five of the 12 waterways. A bacteria with this gene will be resistant to colistin, a last resort drug that is only administered after other antibiotics have failed during a life-threatening situation.

The German researchers posit that the resistance gene can be traced back to farms, where animals are often fattened using colistin. Its possible that the colistin enters the environment through manure, insects, rats, dogs, and birds.

Germanys Environment Ministry stressed the need for further study concerning the possible spread of the resistant bacteria. The ministry urged, There is a need for action, for example, when it comes to bathing water. The scientists took samples from two swimming spots: Thulfelder dam and Lake Zwischenahner. Other sites included streams by farms, a nursing home, and a sewer beneath a clinic.

However, local authorities in Lower Saxony commented that the health risk from the bacteria in the environment was relatively low and that updating existing regulations was unnecessary. Every year, thousands of people in Germany die from diseases caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Foods that can boost your immune system

Try to consume more of the foods listed below to help boost your immune system and to prevent possible infections:

Almonds  Vitamin E can help keep your immune system healthy. A fat-soluble vitamin, it requires fat before it can be absorbed properly. Nuts like almonds are full of vitamin E and healthy fats.

 Vitamin E can help keep your immune system healthy. A fat-soluble vitamin, it requires fat before it can be absorbed properly. Nuts like almonds are full of vitamin E and healthy fats. Green tea  Both green and black teas are rich in a type of antioxidants called flavonoids. Green tea also has high levels of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), another powerful antioxidant. EGCG helps enhance immune function. Green tea also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that can help in the production of the germ-fighting compounds in T-cells.

 Both green and black teas are rich in a type of antioxidants called flavonoids. Green tea also has high levels of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), another powerful antioxidant. EGCG helps enhance immune function. Green tea also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that can help in the production of the germ-fighting compounds in T-cells. Kiwi  Kiwis are rich in essential nutrients like folate, potassium, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Vitamin C boosts white blood cells to protect your body from infections, and kiwis other nutrients keep the rest of your body working properly.

 Kiwis are rich in essential nutrients like folate, potassium, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Vitamin C boosts white blood cells to protect your body from infections, and kiwis other nutrients keep the rest of your body working properly. Turmeric  This bright yellow and bitter spice is an anti-inflammatory that helps treat both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Turmeric also has high concentrations of curcumin, which may help decrease muscle damage caused by exercise.

 This bright yellow and bitter spice is an anti-inflammatory that helps treat both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Turmeric also has high concentrations of curcumin, which may help decrease muscle damage caused by exercise. Yogurt  Yogurts with live and active cultures, such as Greek yogurt, can stimulate the immune system to help fight diseases.

You can read more articles about water safety and how to avoid pathogen-infested waters at Cleanwater.news.

Sources include:

DW.com

Healthline.comThe Walls of Puerto Vallarta Bring People Together

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - A wall that does not divide, but brings together, this is what you will find in Puerto Vallarta. In 2012, we watched Natasha Moraga, fondly referred to as "Nat," begin her mission. A plain unattractive wall where the streets of Pino Suarez and Basilio Badillo meet in Old Town came to life under her creative hand.

A magical transformation began in our city that has now graced other walls, plus benches, stairs, sidewalks and anyplace Nat can find to toss her plaster and shape her sparkling, colorful tiles into a story that is different to each beholder.

Pulling in the community of locals, residents and savvy tourists who want to contribute to this beautification, Nat donates her time and materials to most of the murals you will see about town. Her passion is to paint Puerto Vallarta with tiles - and she is finding a way to make it happen.

The art of tile work is a tradition of Mexican culture that reaches back to the mid-sixteenth century. Though there are many styles and methods, color seems to be the delightful foundation that enhances other media, as well, such as the native art of the Huichol and rich embroidered Otomi of many native groups of Central Mexico.





Natasha Moraga calls her work "Mosayko Vallarta" and it's found around unexpected corners in Puerto Vallarta, as well as the first thing you see as you enter from the north - our city's name spelled out in large letters.

What Nat has done with her reverent benches in the once drab entrance that leads to the pier in Old Town is amazingly enchanting. It has turned an unremarkable area into one of charm and appeal. She gives new meaning to "taking a sow's ear and turning it into a silk purse," and anyone can be a part of the thrilling action of Mosayko Vallarta, Nat's vision of beauty for Puerto Vallarta.

Earlier this year, in celebration of Puerto Vallarta's 100th anniversary, Natasha began her dream project with her brother Daniel Moraga, creating another internationally recognized icon in Puerto Vallarta: El Parque de los Azulejos / Tile Park PV. The huge undertaking of reshaping and transforming Lazaro Cardenas Park is Mosayko Vallarta's largest project to date - and the effort continues every day.

Last season, Nat got the community involved by offering workshops that taught participants how to design and make their own mosaic as part of the project. Many of the students were in the park for days and weeks prior to the workshop studying each and every pillar and coming up with their own unique designs.

Today, all of the pillars in El Parque de los Azulejos have been completed - and they look amazing! - but there is still plenty of work to do, so the workshops will be returning in November for the Fall 2018-Spring season. For more information and workshop dates, visit parqueazulejospv.com.

Sponsorship tiles are also available, and this is a good way to support Nat's dream and to make your mark in Puerto Vallarta - without getting your hands dirty!

This public art installation is all about community and everyone is welcome to be a part of it. To learn more about Tile Park PV, and how you can help, visit parqueazulejospv.com, or send an email to nancy(at)tileparkpv.com

Que es como es.

Timothy Real Estate Group has been the number one selling and listing agency in the greater Bay of Banderas region since 2011. If you are looking to sell or purchase a property, please contact one of the Timothy Real Estate Group agents for the best experience in Puerto Vallarta real estate. With 5 sales offices around the bay TREG agents know the local neighborhood markets and can ensure your experience is the best that it can be. For more information, visit TimothyRealEstateGroup.com.(Natural News) The old adage of mind over matter is true, according to the results of a Hungarian study. Their findings proposed that most attention-related body sensations take their cues from psychological stimuli from the central nervous system (CNS) rather than from the peripheral nervous system (PNS.)

The researchers reported that cognitive processes are responsible for body sensations such as numbness, pulse, tingling, and warmth. So, anything that adjusts ones state of mind  such as meditative contemplation or mindful practices  can also alter these common sensations that were formerly attributed to autonomic processes.

Researchers from ELTE Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary conducted the groundbreaking study. They published their results in Physiology International in 2017. (Related: Dont sweat the exam: Another study confirms mindfulness reduces stress.)

The mind controls attention-driven body sensations

The study began by noting the importance of attention-driven body sensations during subjective evaluations of a persons physical health. During the course of a diagnosis, health professionals often ask their patients if they feel sensations such as tingling and warmth in their bodies.

These sensations appear to be affected by developments in the peripheral nervous system  the nerves that connect the CNS with the rest of the body  and the somatic nervous system, which controls the skeletal muscles responsible for voluntary movement of the body.

However, body sensations are also linked to mental processes such as attention and emotions. They are known to manifest if a body part receives sufficient attention.

The researchers decided to find what exactly exerted a greater effect on attention-driven body sensations: Autonomic and somatomotor physiological processes, or the psychological traits attributed to the cognitive processes of the brain.

The study did not find any close connection between most attention-related body sensations and physiological changes related to automatic body movements. The sensation of warmth was the sole exception, as researchers traced its origin to the relaxation of formerly-tense muscles.

Instead, they found a sizable correlation between overall intensity of the tingling sensation and body awareness, a persons internal perception of the location of his or her body. Body awareness lets people direct and move themselves through their environments, and tingling is apparently connected to this.

Researchers also found a similarly-sized correlation with mind-and-body practices such as meditation, relaxation techniques, and yoga that encourage conscious change in ones thought processes. Meditation, in particular, encourages a process called gyrification, where the outer layer of the brain develops more folds that seem to increase its ability to process information.

In sum, the researchers concluded that attention-driven body sensations respond more often to top-down functions associated with the central nervous system rather than peripheral nervous processes responsible for autonomic and external processes.

Possible validation of body-mind practices

The researchers believed their research opened the door for further investigations into the full extent of the deep relationship between the conscious mind and body.

For example, the strong connection between cognitive process and body sensations suggests the soundness of body-mind practices. These myriad practices emphasize harmonious interactions between the brain, mind, body, and behavior to enhance the practitioners mental health and emotional state.

One way to refine control of attention-related body sensations is through meditation. A 2012 study funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) believed regular meditation can encourage activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that handles emotions.

Emotions also happen to be one of the mental processes strongly connected with body sensations. Increasing emotional control would logically lead to a better grasp of emotion-related body sensations, which could lead to better direct control of those sensations.

Sources include:

Science.News

NSPT4kids.com

NCCIH.NIH.gov(Natural News) Theres still a contingent of hardline prohibitionists in this country that worry about how ending state and federal bans on plants like cannabis (marijuana) will impact our nations youth. But a new study has revealed that the most prolific threat to childrens health may, in fact, be legally-sanctioned pharmaceutical drugs that are peddled as medicine.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicagos College of Pharmacy say that pharmaceutical drug use among minors  all prescribed by their doctors, of course  is now so out-of-control that many children are experiencing serious drug interactions that threaten to prematurely end their lives.

Dima Qato, an assistant professor at the school, investigated how childrens use of multiple pharmaceutical medications can lead to a very serious health condition known as arrhythmias, which in many cases can lead to sudden cardiac arrest, and sometimes death. The disease is most prominent among young girls, Qatos research uncovered, but young boys are also at risk.

Arrhythmias are most common among young people who are prescribed long-term antidepressants, or SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), alongside short-term medications like non-opioid pain pills (i.e. aspirin or ibuprofen), antibiotics, or anti-nausea drugs.

Antidepressant use among U.S. children is on the rise, its important to note, and many of these youth also regularly take one or more of the aforementioned drugs while on SSRIs, putting them at serious risk of health complications.

We found that about 1 in 12 kids using two or more medications together were potentially at risk for a major drug interaction, says Qato, noting that even this statistic likely falls short in capturing the true number of children who are at risk.

We actually likely underestimate the prevalence of this problem because its limited to prescription drugs. Many short-term medications like naproxen [such as Aleve] are available over the counter.

At least 20 percent of all U.S. children take pharmaceutical drugs

For her research, Qato looked at federal survey data on more than 23,000 children aged 19 and younger who take pharma pills. The most commonly prescribed drugs, she found, are asthma medications, antidepressants (SSRIs), and various stimulants aimed at treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

According to the data, some 7.5 percent of all children take two or more prescription medications at the same time, and about eight percent of these are at serious risk of suffering a drug interactions. All in all, 1 in 5 American kids, or 20 percent, take one or more prescription medications  the highest usage rates being teen girls at 28 percent, followed by boys aged 6-12 at 26.5 percent.

Teenage girls are the highest risk demographic for taking multiple pharmaceutical medications three times as likely as boys, in fact. Thats because girls take the most antidepressants in combination with other chemical pills like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), anti-nausea medications, and asthma prescriptions.

Extrapolating these data to the population at large, the message is that nearly 1 of every 100 children in the U.S. is potentially exposed to dangerous combinations of prescription drugs, says Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded research facility in New Haven, Connecticut.

In Qatos view, Americas highly medicalized culture is largely responsible for this massive increase in pharmaceutical use among children. And what makes it even worse is the fact that other options are preferable, and readily available.

As the opioid crisis so vividly indicates, our society relies routinely on potentially dangerous drugs for many conditions  mental and physical  better treated by other means, she says.

For more news about how antidepressants and SSRIs are destroying the minds and health of Americas youth, check out SSRI.news.

Sources for this article include:

Consumer.HealthDay.com

NaturalNews.com(Natural News) Longtime Arizona Senator John McCain passed away on Saturday at age 81. Although his cause of death was said to be an aggressive form of brain cancer, some people believe that Big Pharmas questionable practices had a hand in his passing.

However, the same can be said for many peoples deaths  especially when cancer is involved. Big Pharma, like many businesses, is concerned about its bottom line above all else. The difference between the pharmaceutical industry and other businesses, however, is that lives are on the line and this blind pursuit of profit comes at a very real and devastating expense.

So how could Big Pharma be responsible for McCains death? After all, he was a man with a deadly disease who also happened to be of an advanced age. However, it could be that a combination of their actions and inaction tipped the odds against him.

Is Big Pharma keeping valuable treatments from being publicized?

Glioblastoma, the highly malignant type of brain cancer that McCain had, may be very difficult to treat, but its inaccurate to say that nothing can help, according to All News Pipeline. They point out that studies going back to 2007 show that eating raw garlic releases organic compounds that kill brain tumors. In fact, a study reported by the National Health Service in the U.K. showed that consuming raw garlic successfully killed glioblastoma.

This was followed by an article in the U.S. National Institutes of Health that was published in July 2014 about a study that discovered that a compound derived from garlic could successfully fight glioblastoma.

Unfortunately, few people are aware that raw garlic can help with this type of cancer. While doctors are quick to recommend highly invasive surgery and chemotherapy, very few mention garlics potential to their patients. Those who are unwilling to undergo traditional cancer treatment for whatever reason have little to lose by trying it.

According to Healthline, overheating garlic will kill the beneficial compounds. The best way to get garlics health benefits is by ensuring it is chopped or broken down beforehand and consumed raw. Its a good idea to let it sit for around 15 minutes after crushing it so the alliinase enzyme can be released; this is what causes the brain-protecting organic sulfur compounds to form.

Pushing dangerous and profitable treatments on cancer patients

As you can see, there isnt really a way for Big Pharma to make a lot of money off of garlic, which is why dangerous pills and surgery are pushed on cancer patients instead. There is a growing body of evidence that chemotherapy drugs can cause cancer and make it worse in those who already have it, yet doctors continue to recommend it people. Chemotherapy drugs can spur tumor growth, multiplying cancers and leading to quicker death.

McCain underwent chemotherapy as well as radiation treatment at the Mayo Clinic, but his family announced shortly before his death that he had decided to end his medical treatment 13 months after being diagnosed. Unfortunately, when glioblastomas have been treated conventionally, they may stop temporarily, but they nearly always come back eventually  and when they do, they are stronger and have adapted to the first-line treatments.

Sadly, a lot of people are victims of Big Pharma. Whether its those who have died due to the efforts of pharmaceutical companies to keep natural treatments out of the limelight that could have helped them or those who are alive but damaging their bodies with dangerous medications every day, its a growing problem that seems unlikely to subside as long as these big-money companies are allowed to call the shots with regulators.

Sources for this article include:

AllNewsPipeline.com

NHS.uk

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

AZCentral.com(Natural News) A team of archaeologists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany recently discovered images of dogs engraved in rocks, which appear to be the earliest depiction of how domesticated dogs have been employed by ancient humans. The cave drawings at the Shuwaymis and Jubbah sites in northwestern Saudi Arabia depict people surrounded by a pack of dogs on leashes.

The drawings showed both people and dogs are hunting horse-like creatures. According to the researchers, the cave drawings potentially date back as early as Holocene period in the eighth millennium B.C. The experts also noted that the etchings found in the cave are reminiscent of the modern Canaan dog. Study co-author Michael Petraglia said the recent discovery marks the first time that a cave painting has portrayed an image of a dog with a leash.

We can now say about 9,000 years ago people already controlled their dogs and had them on leashes and used them for really complex hunting strategies. The elaborate depictions of such sizeable hunting dog groups on the Arabian Peninsula, up to 21 animals in some panels, suggests a sustained, and perhaps managed, breeding population, instead of one-off-traded individuals, lead author Maria Guagnin tells The Independent online.

Dog domestication may have started earlier than previously thought

A team of researchers at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, Sweden has purported that ancient humans may have domesticated dogs much earlier than what was previously believed. According to the experts, the domestication might have started when wolves split from their older counterparts that have since gone extinct. (Related: Dogs proven to recognize themselves through precise sense of smell.)

As part of the study, the scientists examined a small wolf bone found by lead researcher Dr. Love Dalen on the Taimyr Peninsula in northern Siberia. The research team noted that the bone specimen was radiocarbon-dated to be 35,000 years old. The experts then examined the specimens DNA make up and found that its genetic code resembled a cross between a wolfs and a dogs. Dr. Dalen noted that this might have been due to the evolutionary split between the species, which branched into the modern wolves and the wild ancestors of modern dogs.

One scenario is that wolves started following humans around and domesticated themselves. Another is that early humans simply caught wolf cubs and kept them as pets and this gradually led to these wild wolves being domesticated. If this model is correct then dogs were domesticated by hunter-gatherers that led a fairly nomadic lifestyle. We think the simplest explanation is that dogs were domesticated at the time of the split. That the split between dogs and wolves happened around 30,000 years ago seems fairly definitive, Dr. Dalen reports in a BBC article.

However, other scientists remain skeptical. Renowned archaeologist Dr. Greger Larson argues that results are biased as the ancient dogs might not have looked exactly the same as their modern counterparts, and may have only evolved into one only recently. However, the expert acknowledged that the dogs facial evolution is a continuous process.

It probably started with an unconscious phase where wolves were gradually getting used to human populations, following them around and eating their waste products. The changes that we now ascribe that differentiate dogs and wolves may not have emerged for a very long time. There were probably small changes in many genes which makes it much more difficult to pin down, Dr. Larson says.

Sources include:

Independent.co.uk

BBC.com(Natural News) The gross mistreatment and unlawful abuse of independent journalist Tommy Robinson by the government of the United Kingdom represents a perfect example of why many of our nations forefathers sacrificed their lives in order to break free from the chains of this tyrannical monarchy across the pond.

In case you missed it, Robinson was illicitly arrested and imprisoned back in May for attempting to cover the trial of a Muslim sexual grooming gang that was being tried for gang-raping up to 100 underage children. For the simple act of publicly reading a BBC article outside the courthouse, Robinson was whisked away to prison where he spent several months in solitary confinement.

During a recent interview with Fox News Tucker Carlson, available for viewing at Brighteon.com, Robinson explains how he was unjustly detained and forced to endure extreme, Guantanamo Bay-style torture at the hands of British authorities who clearly have no respect for the law or freedom of speech.

Watch below as Robinson tells of how he was intentionally put into the U.K. prison with the highest population of Muslim criminals  his solitary confinement cell placed right across from the prisons mosque. It was here that he endured having human excrement, spit, and obscenities thrown at him while he endured extreme heat.

For me behind bars, the way I was treated, I was taken to a prison with quite a low Muslim population, what Im known for is criticizing Islam, so theres been many planned attempts to murder me and kill me in this country.

I was  put in solitary confinement where I spent two months not seeing or speaking to anybody, and they used the reason that I was in danger,' Robinson reveals. I was purposely taken there to be put in danger so then that reason could be used to put me in solitary confinement.

Highest UK judge declares Tommy Robinsons persecution unlawful and illegal

Robinson eventually won his appeal and was let out on bail, but all the while his reputation was being tarnished by the globalist media, which painted him as a criminal deserving of prison  when, in fact, he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

It took months before I got the opportunity to go before a judge, and once the judge heard what had happened in the trial, we found so many illegal and wrongdoings within this kangaroo court that it took another two weeks before I was freed. This whole encounter  Ive lost nearly 40 pounds in prison, Robinson says.

I was supposed to be in Her Majestys Prison Service, not Guantanamo Bay. I couldnt open my windows because I was having excrement and spit put through them. The mosque for the prison was directly opposite my cells. We had huge heat waves. This goes against every human right and every law.

Free speech is dead in Great Britain, and liberals are celebrating

Keep in mind that Robinson broke no laws, nor was he even told why he was being arrested and imprisoned  a requirement under British law.

I was taken, they said, for a breach of the police,' he says.

They transported me to a police custody, and then a solicitor contacted the police custody, then they emailed my solicitor  saying I was being released. Then they took me in a van back to the court through the back door. They put me up before a judge, and media reports have said that I plead guilty. At no point was I even asked whether I was guilty or not guilty. I still to this point now, have not been told, and do not know, what it is I have been deemed to have done wrong.

British law requires a fair trial for every defendant, which includes informing defendants as to their charges. But for Robinson, he was never afforded this right. He says hes fully aware of how the law is supposed to work, was careful with his words outside the courthouse on that fateful day, and knows that hes completely innocent.

I know the law, the judges have no power to issue reporting restrictions on anybody, or any information thats already in the public domain. I was taken and whisked away, and what weve seen this week, is the highest judge in the country has completely condemned this as fraud, completely criticized the handling of this case, the kangaroo court-style it was to imprison me, says Robinson.

The minute you mention or criticize Islam, you are demeaned and attacked by everybody.

The full segment is available for viewing at Brighteon.com.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

Brighteon.comWhat makes humans unique from other animals? Scientists may have found one of the possible answers: a new type of brain cell in humans.

The newly discovered neuron is still largely a mystery, but its absence in mice and other rodents highlight the unique nature of the human brain.

Discovering A New Brain Cell

In the study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, a team of scientists introduce a new type of human brain cell. They call it the "rosehip neuron" due to the distinctly rose-like shape of the axon around the center.

The breakthrough discovery is the result of two teams  the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, United States and the University of Szeged in Szeged, Hungary  independently coming across the mysterious neuron and collaborating.

So far, it's a neuron that's only been found in humans and the authors have confirmed that it's not present in mice and other laboratory animals. Further research could explore its presence or absence in other animals.

"We really don't understand what makes the human brain special," Ed Lein, Ph.D., coauthor and an investigator at the Allen Institute, says in a statement. "Studying the differences at the level of cells and circuits is a good place to start, and now we have new tools to do just that."

Rosehip Neuron: What We Know

According to Live Science, scientists took so long to discover rosehip neurons likely due to the cells' rarity. It makes up around 10 percent of the first layer of the neocortex, which is linked to sight and hearing. This new type of neurons attach to pyramidal cells, an excitatory neuron.

Rosehip neurons join a class known as inhibitory neurons, which functions by stopping other neurons' activity in the brain. It's still unknown how exactly it affects the pyramidal cells or brain behavior, but the researchers found that rosehip neurons only attach to one specific part of their cellular partner. This suggests a very specialized manner of control.

"This particular cell type  or car type  can stop at places other cell types cannot stop," Gabor Tamas, Ph.D., coauthor and a neuroscientist at the University of Szeged, explains. "The car or cell types participating in the traffic of a rodent brain cannot stop in these places."

Implications In Medicine, Science

What they do know is that the rosehip neuron is not present in mice and other laboratory animals' brains. Even if it's not exclusive to people, it could be one of the very few cells that may exist only in the brains of humans or primates in general.

Tamas points out that rosehip neuron's absence in mice brain underlines how challenging it is to model human brain diseases in laboratory animals.

"Many of our organs can be reasonably modeled in an animal model," he says. "But what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is the capacity and the output of our brain. That makes us human. So it turns out humanity is very difficult to model in an animal system."

Tamas' team is already planning to examine postmortem brain samples of people with neuropsychiatric conditions to check if rosehip neurons are altered with diseases.The father of a San Francisco public utility worker is suing the tow truck company responsible for her death and a major insurance carrier for hiring the troubled towing outfit.

The lawsuit, filed last week in San Francisco County Superior Court, accuses State Farm of negligence for selecting, retaining or referring Irvine Auto Towing, despite the tow companys lack of a valid motor carrier permit to tow cars.

Our redesigned local news and weather app is live! Download it for iOS or Android  and sign up for alerts.

I want these guys off the street, companies like that have no business being on the street, Jose Preciado told NBC Bay Area.

In June, Lilianna Preciado was repairing a leaky water main on 28th Street in San Francisco when the 34-year-old was struck by a runaway Buick that detached from an Irvine Auto Towing truck. The owner of the Buick told police investigators she needed the inoperable car towed and called State Farm insurance, who sent Irvine Auto Towing to do the job.

Lilianna Preciado celebrating her daughter's first birthday party.

PRECIADO FAMILY

Jose is now raising his 2-year-old granddaughter Alina.

Shes missing her mom. Shes a very, very smart girl and its hard to explain, Jose said. I told her that her mom went to bed and woke up in heaven. She wants to go to heaven.

Jose said Liliannas loss left a gaping hole in their tight knit family.

My wifes not doing too good. Her and Lilianna were really tight, so its tough just walking in the house. Everything reminds me of her, Jose said. She was actually the spark of the family. The one that would organize all the reunions, our trips, we just had to take a trip to Disneyland for my granddaughter that [Lilianna] planned. She was always trying to get the family together.

Jose and Lilianna Preciado at a family communion in 2016.

UNLICENSED AND UNPERMITTED

After the accident, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit found that Irvine Auto Towing, which also uses the names Stride, Pride, and Modestow, racked up millions of dollars in fines and safety violations prior to Liliannas death.

In April, state regulators suspended Irvine Auto Towings motor carrier permit after a string of violations that include hiring unlicensed drivers, towing cars without safety restraints, and failing to carry workers comp insurance.

Preciado family attorney Chuck Geerhart believes State Farm should have known about Irvine Auto Towings permit status and safety history before hiring the company and sending its trucks out to State Farm customers.

Insurance companies like State Farm have access to all kinds of databases. They can tell you in a minute whether a driver has any blemishes, they would certainly know, in the exercise of due care, whether [Irvine Auto Towing], had performance problems, Geerhart said.

NBC Bay Area reached out to State Farm to ask whether the company still uses Irvine Auto Towing and whether its aware of the companys safety record.

A spokesperson said in a statement While we do not comment on pending litigation State Farm does not have any direct business relationships with towing providers and that is true regarding the tow operators named in this lawsuit.

STILL ON THE ROAD

After NBC Bay Area started asking questions, officers with the California Highway Patrol inspected Irvine Auto Towings offices in Oakland and Anaheim. CHP officers cited Irvine Auto Towing for operating without a permit, failure to carry insurance, and failure to inspect vehicles among other violations. Both locations also received an unsatisfactory rating.

Despite the most recent round of violations, records show that Irvine Auto Towings permit was renewed on July 24th after the company purchased an insurance policy. This allows the company to continue to operate while they work to address their other violations.

NBC Bay Area reached out to Andi and Noel Yaco, the owners of Irvine Auto Towing, but they did not return calls for comment.

Jose Preciado hopes his lawsuit will help prevent another death.

Jose Preciado said the loss of his daughter Lilianna has been tough on the entire family.

I want justice. We already lost one life, we dont want to lose more lives, Jose said.

CHP is scheduled to conduct a follow up inspection at Irvine Auto Towing later this fall. If the company receives another unsatisfactory rating, the state could permanently revoke its permit.

If you have a tip for Vicky Nguyen about this or any other story, you can email her directly at vicky@nbcbayarea.com or you can email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.

Follow Vicky Nguyen on Twitter www.twitter.com/VickyNguyenTV and Facebookwww.facebook.com/VickyNguyenTV

 Click here to submit tips onlineSeveral California members of Congress, including Bay Area representatives, have called for an investigation into Verizon's throttling of fire department data during a deadly and destructive Northern California fire last month.

In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, the contingency demands that the agency protect consumers, especially public safety entities, from any deceptive practices by communications companies such as Verizon Wireless.

The letter is signed by 13 Congress members, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"It is unacceptable for communications providers to deceive their customers. But when the consumer in question is a government entity tasked with fire and emergency services, we can't afford to wait a moment longer," the letter states. "The FTC must investigate whether Verizon and other communications companies are being unfair or deceptive in the services they're offering to public safety entities, and if so, to determine what remedies are appropriate to ensure our first responders have adequate service when lives are on the line."

After it was accused of throttling the Santa Clara County Fire Department's internet connection during the Mendocino Complex Fire, Verizon admitted it made a mistake. The fire department's chief accused the company of slowing the data plan down to one-two-hundredths of normal speed.

Days after Verizon admitted its mistake in throttling the data, the company announced multiple policy changes, including removing all speed caps on first responders.

The letter was signed by Reps. Pelosi, Anna Eshoo (CA 18th District), Mike Thompson (CA 5th), John Garamendi (CA 3rd), Jared Huffman (CA 2nd), Ro Khanna (CA 17th), Barbara Lee (CA 13th), Jackie Speier (CA 14th), Zoe Lofgren (CA 19th), Mark DeSaulnier (CA 11th) and Doris Matsui (CA 6th).The body of a woman who was found behind a Concord business last Wednesday has been identified as 58-year-old resident Debbie Shandrew, police said.

Rickie Keefer, a 58-year-old transient was arrested Thursday when police found him sleeping in a vehicle, police said. A surveillance-camera footage led police to his arrest.

Shandrew was found by a security guard Wednesday night during his regular rounds at a business in the 2700 block of Clayton Road, near Oakland Avenue, police said. Her body was on the ground in a fenced-in enclosure near a dumpster behind the business.

The guard called police who determined Shandrew was dead and was the apparent victim of a homicide. Video from several security cameras in the area provided investigators with clear images of Keefer, "coming and going from the crime scene," police said.

The following day, Concord police officer on patrol spotted Keefer's car. Keefer was found sleeping inside and was taken into custody.

Keefer's last address was in Antioch, but it appeared he was living out of his car, police said. He has previous convictions in Illinois for robbery and burglary, and in California for burglary, theft and narcotics-related crimes, police said.

Anyone with information about the slaying is asked to contact Detective Phalen at (925) 603-5858, or call the anonymous tip line at (925) 603-5836.San Francisco International Airport is cracking down on cabbies for urinating and defecating in the airport's taxi parking lot.

The airport is adding patrols to crack down on what they say is a growing problem, and on Tuesday, SFO issued a memo to taxi drivers, telling them the problem is so bad, it's become a health hazard.

Taxi drivers on Tuesday say they are being unfairly targeted.

Passengers agree it's a problem.

"It's ridiculous to think people are peeing and pooping out there when there are bathrooms everywhere and to the fact the airport had to issue a memo," said Tim Buskard of Livermore.

Culley Maxwell of Merced said: "It's just stupid they'd have to do that; that's crazy."

SFO Transportation Manager Seth Morgan sent an email to San Francisco cabbies, saying the problem creates a highly unsanitary situation. He warned them that additional police patrols will be cracking down on violators.

Cabbies said they're offended by the accusations.

"We don't do that," taxi driver Jeffrey Htung said.

Kamaljit Singh added: "I look at the email and say there is no way anybody is doing that. I've been driving here 26 years."

Cabbies admit they often wait 2-3 hours to pick up one fare at SFO. An app showed there were 393 taxis in line Tuesday at noon. But despite the long waits, drivers say they use the designated bathrooms.

Airport maintenance staff said they often find urine in the parking lot and sometimes have to clean up feces.

In the email to taxi drivers, the airport said those caught doing their business outside the bathroom could face suspension, fines and even arrest. An SFO spokesman confirmed the airport did send out the email to cabbies but declined further comment.New Police Units Reinforce Security in Riviera Nayarit

Riviera Nayarit, Mexico - Six new patrol units were assigned to the State Tourism Police based in the Riviera Nayarit on Friday, thanks to an investment of $4 million pesos derived from the 3% Hospitality Tax and administered by the Nayarit State Tourism Promotion Trust (Fiprotur).

The former was obtained thanks to a formal request to the state government from the Riviera Nayarit business guild in response to the need for reinforcing security to prevent future criminal acts in the destination, which encompasses the municipalities of Bahia de Banderas, Compostela & San Blas.





Antonio Echeverria Garcia, governor of the state of Nayarit; Javier Herrera Valle, secretary of the Department of Public Safety; and Jaime Alonso Cuevas, Bahia de Banderas' municipal president; were present on August 24 on the grounds of the Bahia de Banderas Tourism Trust Beach Club to hand over the keys to the agents who will be driving the patrol units, with representatives from the local business sector standing by. Afterwards, a starter flag signaled the activation of the new patrol cars.

Prevention Maintains Peace

In his comments, Antonio Echevarria Garcia reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the actions needed to maintain the Nayarit tourism area as an unparalleled destination for tourism investment and enjoyment and thanked the business owners for their combined efforts.

"Maintaining positive action is key within the tourist zone, because the more we keep the peace the more investment we will attract; we need to protect that which generates development and employment for the people of Nayarit; we must take care of our tourism areas," he reiterated.

Jose Antonio Ayala Medina Mora, treasurer for the AHMBB, acted as spokesperson for the Bahia de Banderas hotel guild and stated that preventative action is the best way to maintain security and ensure it is both felt and perceived.

"With these actions we can activate the strategies that the inhabitants of our municipality, its residents, and its visitors to have a better perception of the area's safety. And this was all possible thanks to the proper administration of the resources from the Hospitality Tax via the Tourism Promotion Trust."

Ayala Medina also spoke about the goal of Fiprotur, which is to invest and manage the resources it receives for use in marketing and promotions both on a national and an international level, which has allowed it to contribute to the enhancement and consolidation of the state's tourism activity. The growth of the latter has, in turn, positioned the Riviera Nayarit on the international stage as a top tourism destination.

Among those present at the handing over of the patrol units were Ana Cecilia Llanos, tourism secretary for the state of Nayarit, in her first public event in Bahia de Banderas since she took office on August 10th; as well as Jesus Carmona, president of the Bahia de Banderas Hotel and Motel Association (AHMBB); Jose Antonio Ayala Medina, AHMBB's treasurer; Marc Murphy, managing director of the CVB and the AHMBB; and Raul Ibarra Rodriguez, director of Fiprotur.

Other witnesses included Gerardo Infante Guizar, president of the Fraccionamiento Nautico Turistico Nuevo Vallarta Homeowner's Association; Georgina Rodriguez, director of the Bahia de Banderas Businessmen's Association (AEBBA); Mario Nasser, president of the Riviera Nayarit Restaurant Association; and Lupita Bayardi, president of Puerto Vallarta's Mexican Association of Ex Business Presidents (Amexe).

The six new patrol units (double-cabin Chevrolet pickups) are in addition to the 12 units already on the force for a total of 18 patrol units now in service along the tourism corridor.Illinois prison officials say they can't disclose information about the death of an inmate that led to the suspension of several staff members because the department didn't maintain a copy of the records before sending them to federal investigators.

Former federal prosecutors and detectives were surprised by the Illinois Department of Corrections' response to an open records request by The Associated Press. Officials have provided no information about the May 17 incident at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling, 250 miles southwest of Chicago, except that an injured inmate was airlifted to a regional hospital and later died.

IDOC said "several" staff members are on leave and confirmed the FBI investigation, but has declined further comment. So did Brad Ware, spokesman for the FBI in Springfield.

"Turning over everything without keeping a copy? That sounds a little strange," said Thomas Raftery III of Linwood, New Jersey, a global business-security consultant who spent 22 years as an FBI agent. "I never heard of that. They may not want to give to it you, but why not just come out and say that?"

Disposing of all records means the public has no information about how prisons are run under Gov. Bruce Rauner, how the incident occurred or IDOC's response to it. Experts say it also could leave the state more susceptible to losing a civil lawsuit over the matter because juries are instructed to look unfavorably on a defendant who disposed of relevant information.

"What a jury is told is the defendant had them, the defendant got rid of them, and from that, to make an adverse inference," said Phillip Turner, a Chicago defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. "Hearing that, you're dead in the water."

When the AP first requested documents about the incident the department denied disclosure under exceptions to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act dealing with protecting ongoing criminal investigations and inmate privacy. When the AP appealed in late July, IDOC told the Illinois Attorney General's public access counselor that it gave everything to the FBI.

"I find it highly implausible," Turner said. "Maybe they don't have them on paper, but who uses paper these days?"

Last week came a new response. Instead of commenting when the AP asked why it turned over all its original records to the FBI, it responded with a letter to the public access counselor saying that it had found 100 additional documents, some previously supplied to the FBI, and all exempt from disclosure.

Whether documents are surrendered voluntarily or under subpoena, Raftery said the FBI generally allows an agency to make copies. An exception might be if it suspects a cover-up by higher-level officials, he said. And copies might be prohibited initially if records are confiscated by search warrant  for example, if the FBI takes a computer server. But such scenarios are rare.

"The FBI is cognizant of the fact that these guys gotta run a jail," Raftery said. "They can't be without records."

IDOC's claim that it cannot disclose what it doesn't have also runs counter to Illinois case law. In 2017, the 2nd District Appellate Court ruled in favor of the Chicago Tribune when the College of DuPage argued it couldn't hand over a subpoena because it no longer had it. The court ruled that disclosure is "not limited to those public records that the public body has present possession or control of ... that obligation continues even if such records are transferred."At least three GoFundMe campaigns raised several thousands of dollars in a matter of days after 10 children were killed in Chicago's deadliest fire in more than a decade.

One started by the community group La Villita Chi had raised more than $25,000 of a $50,000 goal by Wednesday morning, aimed at covering funeral and hospital costs for the three families impacted.

A second campaign by Enlace Chicago raised more than $22,000 by Wednesday morning. Both organizations said they were accepting donations, both of funds as well as home goods, food and clothes, at various locations.

A 14-year-old boy died Tuesday, becoming the tenth person to die in a tragic house fire on Chicago's West Side that claimed the lives of three other teens and six young children.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said Adrian Hernandez was pronounced dead at 11:12 a.m. Tuesday at Stroger Hospital, where family members said he had been on life support since the deadly fire.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said the fire is Chicago's deadliest blaze since at least 2000 and may be its deadliest since 1993, when 19 people were killed by a fire that swept through the Paxton Hotel, a single-room occupancy residential hotel.

The medical examiner's office on Monday publicly identified three of the children who were killed as 3-month-old Amaya Almaraz, 10-year-old Giovanni Monarrez and 16-year-old Victor Mendoza. All three were listed as residents of the block where the fire occurred but, per office policy, their exact addresses were not listed.

Family members identifed the other victims as Ariel Garcia, 5; Xavier Contreras, 11; and Nathan Contreras, 13. A 3-year-old and a 5-year-old who also died in the fire have not yet been identified by authorities.

On Monday night, the medical examiner also said that 14-year-old Cesar Contreras had also died.

The children who died were a close-knit group of siblings, cousins and family friends, family members said.

A third GoFundMe campaign for Victor Mendoza had raised more than $2,000 of a $5,000 goal by Wednesday morning, saying the teen "meant the world" to his relatives and his death "left an empty feeling in their lives that will never be replaced."

Autopsies were conducted on the remains of all the victims but the medical examiner's office said it would not release the cause and manner of death until the Fire Department completes its investigation.

Investigators seeking the cause of the fire were searching the porch area where the blaze started for evidence of fireworks, cigarettes or other smoking materials, a fire official said Monday.

Langford said children had been known to have set off fireworks from the porch of the Southwest Side apartment that caught fire before dawn on Sunday. People had also used the spot to smoke cigarettes, he said.

Although investigators haven't determined what caused the fire, they don't think it was deliberately set and they have ruled out any problems with the building's electrical wiring, Langford said. He also said it quickly became clear that the lack of any working smoke detectors turned the fire deadly.

"Because of where it started, (on the rear porch of a rear building), if they had at least one smoke detector, they would have woken up and walked out the front door," Langford said. "They could have grabbed everyone and made it out a stairway and outside (because) they had a clear shot at the front door."

Investigators believe some of the kids who were killed in the fire were at the home for a sleepover, he said.As students head back to school there is growing concern of vaping and the use of e-cigarettes among teenagers on school grounds.

Growing in popularity is an e-cigarette trend, known as juuling.

Juul e-cigarettes look like a flash drive that can store documents and data. Juul is odorless and can be smoked.

"It was a big issue, for them to shut down all the bathrooms. We didnt really know what was going on until the principal announced on the speaker theres too much vaping in the bathrooms," a student at Hall High School told NBC Connecticut.

Four bathrooms at West Hartford's Hall High School shut down in January of 2018 after the principal Dan Zittoun emailed students a message:

We have received numerous complaints from students how uncomfortable it is to go into a bathroom where students are vaping. Zittoun wrote. "We will be closing four bathrooms (two boys and two girls, C wing 1st floor, and 2nd floor between B and C wing) starting Thursday, January 4 so that security and administration can more effectively monitor bathrooms in hopes of minimizing the occurrences of vaping on school grounds."

Similar vaping concerns shared in a January letter to Westminster School Parents about the growing trend of e-cigarettes including juuling among teens.

"Studies suggest that, although teen cigarette smoking is down, the use of other nicotine delivery systems such as e-cigarettes, vaporizer pens, or Juul pods (see links below for images) has significantly increased," wrote Westminster Dr. Davis Smith the Director of Health Services.

A 17-year-old who did not want her name used starts her senior year at Hall tomorrow and said shes seen juuling happen in school.

Some have issues about it but theyre afraid to speak out about it, she said.

And while Connecticut law says teens under the age of 18 are prohibited from purchasing such products, they are still making their way into schools, and many say the concern is still there at the start of a new school year.

Particularly in our schools we are seeing an increased use. We have some statistics that show kids are now turning towards that instead of using the normal tobacco products, said Capt. Mike Perruccio of the West Hartford police.

School resource officers in West Hartford were asked to meet with members of the community about the rise in teen vaping last spring.

Now, were hoping kids get the word the product is bad for you and harmful for you, Perruccio said.

Juul Labs, based in San Francisco, makes their e-cigs look like a portable USB drive. And despite signs they are adult only products on their website, students say Juul is a way to appear unsuspicious as school.

Its sort of the new fad, kids love to do things they can be sneaky about and conceal and these are very small discreet devices that look like a flash drive. Parents might not know its anything not related to school, explained Dr. Tregony Simoneau.

Simoneau, a pulmonologist at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center, said theyre seeing a rise in teen use.

Juuling in particular has a higher level of nicotine in the early years, particularly in the adolescent window, theyre more susceptible to addiction, Simoneau told NBC Connecticut.

Steve Boyle is a former school counselor in West Hartford who works closely with students in his private businesses to keep them healthy and active. He said he interacts with kids who use Juul products regularly, and said he sees it as a marketing issue.

Its a global health crisis thats only going to lead to more activity. we have to be able to communicate with kids the danger. But you know with young people the danger is attractive. And so we have to make sure marketing alternative healthy activity, Boyle said.

This is a partnership between the schools, the parents and community and we need to work together to help educate our students about their choices," Principal Zittoun said.

Juul Labs sent NBC Connecticut this statement:

"Cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. In the United States alone, more than 480,000 people die each year from smoking-related illnesses. JUUL is intended for current adult smokers only. We cannot be more emphatic on this point: no minor or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL. Our packaging includes a prominent nicotine label and clearly states for adult smokers.

"We are working closely with Attorney General Tom Miller and the group of tobacco control experts and public health officials he has assembled to help advise us on efforts to keep JUUL out of the hands of young people. We are investing $30 million over the next three years dedicated to independent research, youth and parent education and community engagement efforts. In addition, our other initiatives include:

Our e-commerce platform utilizes unique ID match and age verification technology to make sure minors are not able to access and purchase our products online.

We market our products responsibly, following strict guidelines to have material directed toward adult smokers and not to youth audiences. (Please read our Marketing & Social Media Code)

We support effective legislation and regulation to prevent the purchase and use of our products by minors.

We have reseller terms that include monitoring and penalties for noncompliance with underage restrictions.

We actively monitor the internet and process thousands of enforcement actions per month. Our goal is to ensure only authorized retailers who are subject to our youth prevention controls are selling JUUL products.

We support federal and state initiatives to raise the purchase age to 21+ to purchase tobacco products.

"We want to partner and engage with policymakers, lawmakers, educators and parents to combat underage use. We stand committed to working with those who want to keep JUUL out of the hands of young people.

The Connecticut office of Attorney General says they are working with other states on a number of concerns with Juul, including marketing practices and young people.Your kids are likely going onto one of thousands of buses this week as they head back to school.

NBC Connecticut went to the DMV to find out what the inspection process for all of those buses is like.

David D'Ancicco is one of several DMV inspectors tasked to inspect approximately 10,000 yellow and black school buses statewide.

"We'll look at the tires. We look at the inside to make sure that the breaks are functioning properly," he said.

He follows the standards outlined in state laws.

"Should any one of these systems fail, even if it's in the middle of a trip with children on board, the bus is to be brought to the safest place from that spot where it can be park, and another bus will come out. They can't even operate with a headlight out," D'Ancicco said.

They're checked from top to bottom.

"Once opened. It should lock in place, should the bus be on its side, so the door will not prevent anybody from getting out," he said.

"When we board the bus that the stairs are clear. It's free of trip hazards. We make sure that the emergency escape routes are operational. We test each and every one to make sure they function smoothly," he added.

On top of the annual DMV inspections, each bus sees a mechanic every 90 days. Bus drivers inspect them twice a day: once when the bus leaves the yard and then once when it's back.

If anything breaks, the company has 15 days to repair it and if they continue operating with a safety issue, then the company risks getting an out of service violation. About 1,000 tickets were issued last year. The DMV says they only have some spare buses to use if one gets pulled.

"We also regulate the drivers to make sure they have the proper credentials. Ultimately, the goal is these kids are safe and that's all we want," he said.A North Branford man was sentenced to eight months in prison Wednesday for his role in a phishing scheme that involved hacking into more than 250 iCloud accounts of Hollywood stars and other people, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.

George Garofano was one of four men arrested in the 2014 celebgate hacking scandal that led to private photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton and others being made public.

According to court documents, Garofano admitted to sending emails to victims that appeared to be from security accounts of Apple, asking the victims to send usernames and passwords, or enter them on a third-party website. Garofano would then use the information to access the victims iCloud accounts and steal personal information, including private photos and videos. In some cases, he traded the usernames or other personal information with other people.

Some of the victims were celebrities in California, but many non-celebrities from Connecticut were also victims.

The case began when the FBI conducted an investigation into leaked photographs of multiple female celebrities in September 2014. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California filed the charges, and the case was transferred to the district of Connecticut.

Garofano pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. He was sentenced to eight months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to perform 60 hours of community service.A white ex-police officer was convicted of murder Tuesday for fatally shooting a black, unarmed 15-year-old boy while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas, marking a rare guilty verdict in a police shooting case.

Dallas County jurors were not swayed by Roy Oliver's claim that he feared for his partner's life when he fired into the vehicle as it drove away from a large house party in Balch Springs in April 2017. The gunfire killed Jordan Edwards, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

Gasps echoed around the courtroom as the verdict was read. Edwards' relatives sobbed and hugged prosecutors, waved their hands in the air and proclaimed "Thank you, Jesus!" after the jury left.

His father, Odell Edwards, briefly spoke outside the courtroom before heading back in to begin listening to the sentencing phase of the trial. He said he was thankful for the decision of the jury  which featured two black members out of 12 jurors and two alternates  and felt like jumping for joy.

"I just want to say I'm happy, very happy," he said, adding that it's "been a long time" since he felt that way.

Oliver faces between five and 99 years in prison, according to an Edwards family attorney.

Oliver and his partner were responding to a report of underage drinking at the house party. Police initially said the vehicle backed up toward officers "in an aggressive manner," but later said that bodycam video showed the vehicle was moving forward as officers approached. Oliver was fired just days after the shooting.

Oliver testified during the trial that he opened fire after seeing the car move toward his partner. But his partner told jurors he didn't fear for his life.

It's extremely rare for police officers to be tried and convicted of murder for shootings that occurred while they were on duty. Only six non-federal police officers have now been convicted of murder in such cases  and four of those were overturned  since 2005, according to data compiled by criminologist and Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson.

Stinson, who tracks such cases nationwide, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that to secure a murder conviction against an officer, the facts of a case have to be "so over the top and bizarre" that the officer's actions cannot be rationally explained.

Experts also say that securing a conviction against an officer is often a challenge because jurors are inclined to believe police testimony and criminal culpability in such cases is subjective.

Oliver was found not guilty on two lesser charges of aggravated assault stemming from the shooting. Jurors deliberated for two days before reaching the verdicts. The sentencing phase stretched into the evening Tuesday before jurors recessed for the day. Testimony will resume Wednesday.

"This was a long fought battle," said Daryl Washington, an attorney representing Odell Edwards in a civil lawsuit filed in the death. "We are just happy ... that Roy Oliver is gonna have to do his time for taking Jordan's life. What he did on that night should have never happened."

Washington said black children and teenagers across the country can now walk around a little safer because officers know they will be held accountable.

In closing arguments, defense attorneys told jurors they needed to evaluate the circumstances from Oliver's viewpoint and from what the former officer knew at the time.

But prosecutors described Oliver as out of control and looking for a reason to kill. They argued that his firing into the car wasn't reasonable.

The shooting came after Oliver and his partner, Tyler Gross, had broken up the party. Both officers were inside the residence when they heard gunfire outside and responded. Authorities later determined the shots were fired near a nursing home in the area.

Oliver retrieved his rifle and went toward Gross, who was ordering the car carrying Edwards to stop. Oliver testified that he saw the car back up and stop for a second before moving forward and going toward Gross.

Testifying in his own defense, Oliver told the jury the car was about to hit his partner. Oliver said he felt he had no other option but to fire. Gross, however, testified that he did not fear for his life and never felt the need to fire his weapon. He also said he didn't feel like the vehicle was trying to hit him.

Prosecutors said Oliver fired after the vehicle passed Gross. Investigators also said no guns were found in the teens' vehicle.The father of a 3-year-old boy found dead in a filthy New Mexico compound and his partner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of child abuse resulting in death after lesser charges were dismissed against them and other members of their extended family as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors.

The dead boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and his partner Jany Leveille remained silent as pleas were entered by a judge on their behalf. The charges could carry life sentences in the death of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj.

Their pleas came after a judge dismissed child neglect charges filed against them earlier this month. Another judge made the same decision involving three other defendants earlier in the day.

District Judge Jeff McElroy criticized the office of Taos District Attorney Donald Gallegos for how the charges have been handled, citing a "complete failure to follow procedures in prosecuting the case." Defense attorneys had pointed out that prosecutors failed to schedule a preliminary hearing within 10 days of the arrests.

"It's difficult I'm sure for the public to understand why this has to happen this way," he said. "It's not the court making this decision, it's the decision of the district attorney to not seek a hearing in the time required by the rule."

The Taos County Sheriff's Office confirmed the three were allowed to leave jail late Wednesday afternoon.

All five were arrested at a remote desert compound where 11 children were found living in filth. A subsequent search led to the discovery of the dead 3-year-old boy.

Authorities say Wahhaj and Leveille denied the boy proper medicine and health care before he died in December 2017 during a religious ritual aimed at casting out demonic spirits. The exact cause and manner of death has not been determined.

Prosecutors had pressed to keep all five behind bars and planned to present new evidence of an anti-government plot and talk of jihad and martyrdom among some members of the extended Muslim family.

Defense attorneys say their clients have no record of criminal convictions and pose no risk to the public. Federal immigration authorities say Leveille, a native of Haiti, has been in the United States unlawfully for 20 years after overstaying a visitor visa.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille will remain jailed at least until a hearing next week.

Prosecutor John Lovelace declined to comment on how the district attorney's office will proceed on the three who were released. Prosecutors have other options for pursuing charges, including seeking indictments from a grand jury.

Prosecutors said in court filings they discovered a hand-written document called "Phases of a Terrorist Attack" that was seized from the compound and includes vague instructions for "the one-time terrorist" and mentioned an unnamed place called "the ideal attack site."

Prosecutors wrote in court filings that new interviews with some of the children removed from the compound revealed that one of the adults, Lucas Morton, stated he wished to die in jihad as a martyr and that Leveille and Subhannah Wahhaj joked about dying in jihad. Morton, as well as Subhannah and Hujrah Wahhaj, had their charges dismissed Wednesday.

The upgraded charges of child abuse resulting in death against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille are tied to an extensive account of Abdul-ghani's death in a journal that prosecutors attribute to Leveille.

Thomas Clark, the attorney for Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, said court filings against his client have unfairly delved into accusations unrelated to charges of child abuse or neglect.

"It's ancillary, inflammatory information that has no bearing on whether or not my client either intentionally or recklessly allowed this child to die from lack of medication," Clark said.

In court filings submitted Wednesday immediately before the hearings, Taos-based District Attorney Donald Gallegos renewed accusations that Wahhaj and Leveille represented a danger to the public and requested they be jailed without bail pending trial. The filings describe the couple's involvement in "bizarre cult practices" and described evidence that compound residents were conducting firearms training "to conduct future acts of violence against individuals and civic institutions."

Judge Jeff McElroy took the unusual step of urging the general public to wait for the court to vet accusations from law enforcement and prosecutors before reacting, saying he was disturbed by threats of violence against another state judge who previously agreed to release the five defendants on house arrest.

"I urge everyone not to react to solely the information contained within the warrants that were filed but rather to the evidence as it gets developed in this case," he said.

The boy's mother initially reported him missing last year from Jonesboro, Georgia, after Siraj Ibn Wahhaj said he was taking the child to a park and didn't return. Forensic medical investigators have not yet identified the cause and manner of the boy's death.A white ex-police officer was convicted of murder Tuesday for fatally shooting a black, unarmed 15-year-old boy while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas, marking a rare guilty verdict in a police shooting case.

Dallas County jurors were not swayed by Roy Oliver's claim that he feared for his partner's life when he fired into the vehicle as it drove away from a large house party in Balch Springs in April 2017. The gunfire killed Jordan Edwards, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

Gasps echoed around the courtroom as the verdict was read. Edwards' relatives sobbed and hugged prosecutors, waved their hands in the air and proclaimed "Thank you, Jesus!" after the jury left.

His father, Odell Edwards, briefly spoke outside the courtroom before heading back in to begin listening to the sentencing phase of the trial. He said he was thankful for the decision of the jury  which featured two black members out of 12 jurors and two alternates  and felt like jumping for joy.

"I just want to say I'm happy, very happy," he said, adding that it's "been a long time" since he felt that way.

Oliver faces between five and 99 years in prison, according to an Edwards family attorney.

Roy Oliver Trial - Curated tweets by NBCDFW

Oliver and his partner were responding to a report of underage drinking at the house party. Police initially said the vehicle backed up toward officers "in an aggressive manner," but later said that bodycam video showed the vehicle was moving forward as officers approached. Oliver was fired just days after the shooting.

Oliver testified during the trial that he opened fire after seeing the car move toward his partner. But his partner told jurors he didn't fear for his life.

Roy Oliver Trial - Curated tweets by NBCDFW

It's extremely rare for police officers to be tried and convicted of murder for shootings that occurred while they were on duty. Only six non-federal police officers have now been convicted of murder in such cases  and four of those were overturned  since 2005, according to data compiled by criminologist and Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson.

Stinson, who tracks such cases nationwide, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that to secure a murder conviction against an officer, the facts of a case have to be "so over the top and bizarre" that the officer's actions cannot be rationally explained.

Experts also say that securing a conviction against an officer is often a challenge because jurors are inclined to believe police testimony and criminal culpability in such cases is subjective.

Oliver was found not guilty on two lesser charges of aggravated assault stemming from the shooting. Jurors deliberated for two days before reaching the verdicts. The sentencing phase stretched into the evening Tuesday before jurors recessed for the day. Testimony will resume Wednesday.

"This was a long fought battle," said Daryl Washington, an attorney representing Odell Edwards in a civil lawsuit filed in the death. "We are just happy ... that Roy Oliver is gonna have to do his time for taking Jordan's life. What he did on that night should have never happened."

Washington said black children and teenagers across the country can now walk around a little safer because officers know they will be held accountable.

In closing arguments, defense attorneys told jurors they needed to evaluate the circumstances from Oliver's viewpoint and from what the former officer knew at the time.

But prosecutors described Oliver as out of control and looking for a reason to kill. They argued that his firing into the car wasn't reasonable.

The shooting came after Oliver and his partner, Tyler Gross, had broken up the party. Both officers were inside the residence when they heard gunfire outside and responded. Authorities later determined the shots were fired near a nursing home in the area.

Oliver retrieved his rifle and went toward Gross, who was ordering the car carrying Edwards to stop. Oliver testified that he saw the car back up and stop for a second before moving forward and going toward Gross.

Testifying in his own defense, Oliver told the jury the car was about to hit his partner. Oliver said he felt he had no other option but to fire. Gross, however, testified that he did not fear for his life and never felt the need to fire his weapon. He also said he didn't feel like the vehicle was trying to hit him.

Prosecutors said Oliver fired after the vehicle passed Gross. Investigators also said no guns were found in the teens' vehicle.The school board of a North Texas school district voted unanimously Monday to allow employees to carry a gun on campus.

Employees of Paradise ISD -- northwest of Eagle Mountain Lake -- will be allowed to carry firearms following the Monday vote, district superintendent Dr. Paul Uttle said.[[491942461, R]]

Uttle said for an employee to carry a gun on campus, he or she would already need to possess a concealed carry license and then pass the district's training program.

"It's a decision we wish we did not have to make, but in light of recent activities across the country, the board thought it was necessary to protect our students and staff," Uttle said.

Uttle added that guns must be concealed when an employee is on campus.

As the debate to arm teachers in classrooms continues, NBC 5 heads to a Texas school that's already been arming school employees for more than a decade.Catholic bishops, tiny Albania and Ireland agreed to take the 140 migrants blocked aboard an Italian coast guard vessel, Premier Giuseppe Conte said Saturday, announcing the end of 10-day standoff over the asylum-seekers but making clear an angry Italy could avenge a perceived lack of overall European Union solidarity by refusing to approve the bloc's next multi-year budget.

"Italy must take note that the 'spirit of solidarity is struggling to translate into concrete acts," Conte said in a statement. Conte referred to declarations made at an EU summit in late June promising to help Italy and other Mediterranean countries deal with the burden of migrants rescued from human traffickers' unseaworthy boats.

In his role as head of a nearly three-month-old populist coalition government, Conte said Italy under current conditions "doesn't consider it possible to express adhesion to a proposed budget that underpins a policy so incoherent on the social level."

Earlier in the week, some in the government threatened to withhold nearly 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in contributions to the EU if member nations didn't volunteer to take the last group of rescued migrants reaching Italy. Brussels sharply reminded Italy it was legally obliged to pay.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who leads the anti-migrant League party, refused to let the migrants off the coast guard vessel Diciotti until other EU nations pledged to take the asylum-seekers, most of them young men from Eritrea.

Just before Conte announced the drama's resolution, Salvini told party supporters at a rally in northern Italy that a Sicily-based prosecutor, Luigi Patronaggio, had put him under investigation for suspected abduction for refusing to let the migrants disembark.

If the prosecutor "wants to interrogate me or even arrest me because I defend the borders and security of my country, I'm proud of it," Salvini tweeted. Many of his supporters blame migrants for crime.

Earlier in the week, the government's rights office for detained persons concluded this week that the migrants were being unjustly held by the government.

Salvini took credit for convincing bishops to take many of the migrants. The bishops agreed to "open up their doors, heart and wallet," he told the rally.

Fifty others of the 190 people rescued at sea on Aug. 16 by the Italian coast guard were previously allowed off the ship, including all the minors and ailing adults.

A few hours before Conte's announcement, Italian Red Cross ambulances waiting at dockside took away six ill men, suspected of having tuberculosis, pneumonia or other infections, and seven of the 11 women who were still aboard.

Authorities had said the women recounted how they had been raped while in Libya for months, awaiting the opportunity to leave in migrant smugglers' boats.

Four other women chose not to leave the ship because their husbands were blocked aboard.

The standoff had prompted an impassioned appeal at the height of the standoff Saturday by the U.N. refugee agency's chief, who asked Italy to let the migrants disembark and urged EU countries to take responsibility for the asylum-seekers.

In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said it's time to end a "race to the bottom on who can take the least responsibility for people rescued at sea." He urged European countries "to do the right thing and offer places of asylum for people rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in their time of need."

Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi expressed appreciation for Albania's "sign of great solidarity and friendship," his ministry said.

Albania, which isn't in the European Union, saw thousands of its citizens flee to Italy across the Adriatic Sea aboard dramatically overcrowded rickety ferries and fishing boats in hopes of a better life in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, Sicily-based prosecutors took their investigation of the migrant standoff to Rome. Prosecutor Patronaggio left without speaking to reporters after questioning two Interior Ministry officials at the Italian capital's prosecutors' office, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

Prosecutors would have to seek permission from a special panel to question Salvini. As a lawmaker, Salvini also holds immunity from prosecution that could only be lifted by fellow lawmakers.

Italian Red Cross official Stefano Principato in Catania told reporters that Italy's health minister had ordered an inspection of sanitary conditions for the migrants, who have been sleeping on the ship's deck and coping with a baking sun and limited toilet facilities.

Doctors have said many of the migrants on the ship have scabies but "more than a health emergency, it would be better to speak of a psychological emergency," Principato said.President Donald Trump got his man in battleground Florida, but he watched a prominent immigration ally fall in Arizona in what was another eventful night in the 2018 midterm season.

Arizona and Florida held primaries Tuesday, both of which tested Trump's influence. There were also new signs of diversity on the Democratic side.

Takeaways from one of the final rounds of voting ahead of midterm elections:

FLORIDA ESTABLISHMENT FAIL

The political establishment in both parties had a bad night in Florida's high-profile race for governor.

On the Republican side, Trump got his man, Republican congressman Ron DeSantis, who beat out the establishment favorite, state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Despite Trump's support, DeSantis was not the strongest general election candidate in the race, operatives in both parties suggest.

The three-term Republican congressman who makes frequent Fox News appearances is known as an immigration hard-liner in a state where Hispanic voters hold outsized sway. And lest there be any question about his allegiance to Trump's divisive immigration policies, DeSantis encourages his toddler to "build the wall" with blocks in one campaign ad.

That's a message that may play well among a general electorate in West Virginia, where Trump won by more than 40 percentage points in 2016, but Trump carried Florida by only a single percentage point.

On the Democratic side, liberal champion Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, bested a crowded field that included establishment favorite Gwen Graham, the former congresswoman and daughter of Florida political icon Bob Graham.

Graham, who was considered a centrist, was viewed as a more attractive general election candidate in the purple state. Gillum is more liberal, having earned the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire Tom Steyer.

To win the governor's office for the first time since 1999, Democrats will have to come together quickly.

The results on both sides underscore the outsized influence of each party's most passionate voters in lower-turnout off-year elections.

McSALLY'S CHALLENGE

Martha McSally won the GOP nomination for Arizona Senate, but the results show how divided the party is and the challenge that lies ahead.

A significant number of Republicans backed former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and fellow immigration hard-liner Kelli Ward.

Now McSally has to bring together the party  including some of Trump's most devoted supporters  going into the fall against Democrat Krysten Sinema, who is widely considered well-positioned. The race gives Democrats one of their best pickup opportunities in the nation.

Meanwhile, it would be wrong to assume that McSally's win is a repudiation of the tough rhetoric of her challengers, who essentially split the conservative vote.

The 86-year-old man known nationwide as Sheriff Joe, who personifies the tough immigration policies that define the modern-day Republican Party, may never serve in public office again after his loss Tuesday.

(For those who forget, Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt last year for ignoring a judge's order to stop detaining immigrants in the country illegally. Trump later pardoned him.)

MISSING: BLUE WAVE IN FLORIDA

If a Democratic wave is coming to Florida, it may have to be supplied by independents.

With just a handful of precincts left to count, Republicans cast more than 1.6 million Florida ballots, while registered Democrats were on track to fall just below 1.5 million. Beyond the raw vote totals, the GOP count also was a larger share of its last presidential election turnout.

That measure is a useful way to assess which party is more excited about a midterm election, and it's particularly useful in Florida because the state limits primaries only to voters registered by party.

The GOP total came to almost 35 percent of what Trump won in Florida in 2016. The Democrats' total was about 33 percent of Hillary Clinton's 2016 turnout.

Of course, it doesn't mean Republicans are guaranteed big wins in Florida this fall. But it does show the GOP base in Florida is anything but depressed, turning out in solid numbers to nominate DeSantis after he was endorsed by Trump.

The scenario cuts against the grain of a midterm election cycle that's been defined by energy on the left in other states, and it puts an added burden on Florida Democratic candidates to attract voters who didn't participate in Tuesday's primaries.

FLORIDA MONEY PIT

There was less drama on the Senate side in battleground Florida, but the stage is now set for what will likely be the nation's most expensive midterm contest.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott easily captured the Republican nomination in the GOP's bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. At 75 and seeking his fourth term, Nelson is considered particularly vulnerable as voters continue to show disdain for candidates with deep ties to the establishment.

Scott, an independently wealthy businessman, has already spent more $27 million on the race compared to Nelson's $6 million. The conservative Koch network has identified the Senate seat as a top target, and outside groups on both sides are expected to dump millions more in the contest.

The extraordinary price tag of running a statewide campaign in Florida, which features 10 media markets, will test each side's resolve and resources  particularly on the Democratic side.

Republicans know Scott can and will dump millions more of his own personal wealth into his campaign. Democrats aren't so lucky.

National Democrats are already weighing how best to invest their limited dollars considering their challenges in other states where their incumbents are on the defensive. Yet if Democrats lose Nelson's seat in Florida, their already narrow path to the Senate majority becomes virtually nonexistent.

DIVERSITY WAVE GROWS

In his upset victory, Gillum joins two other African-American gubernatorial nominees on the November ballot, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams and Maryland Democrat Ben Jealous, in what may be the party's most diverse midterm class in history.

No state is currently represented by a black governor.

The nominations, of course, do not mean the candidates will continue to re-write history.

Republicans have cast Gillum, like the other black nominees, as part of their party's far-left fringe. Indeed, in all three cases, the candidates were backed by Sanders. Progressive billionaires Steyer and George Soros invested heavily in Gillum's primary campaign as well.

Diversity may help win Democratic primaries in 2018, but it's unclear if it'll help Democrats pick up seats among a broader general election audience.

Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.In a closed-door meeting with evangelical leaders Monday night, President Donald Trump repeated his debunked claim that he had gotten "rid of" a law forbidding churches and charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates, according to recorded excerpts reviewed by NBC News.

In fact, the law remains on the books, after efforts to kill it in Congress last year failed.

But Trump cited this alleged accomplishment as one in a series of gains he has made for his conservative Christian supporters, as he warned "You're one election away from losing everything that you've got," and said their opponents were "violent people" who would overturn these gains "violently."What to Know Man living in Big Bear area accused of sexually molesting a child.

He is to be extradited to Arizona.

He was being held in the West Valley Detention Center.

A Big Bear man accused of molesting a child in Arizona was to be extradited back to the state to face charges, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.

Shawn Evans, 44, was taken into custody Monday in the 39000 Block of North Shore Drive in Fawnskin, as authorities investigated a report that he had allegedly sexually molested a child 10 years ago in Arizona.

Deputies said they believed there may be more victims in the Big Bear area.

It wasn't the victim who reported Evans to the sheriff's department, but a person he allegedly confessed to, investigators said.

"It's been reported that the sexual molestation happened in Arizona where the suspect and the victim lived at the time," sheriff's spokeswoman Tiffany Swantek said.

It's suspected the crime took place in Tucson. Evans has lived in the small community of Fawnskin for three years. Investigators said he may have come into contact with children through his computer repair business.

"It's important for people to come forward as quickly as possible to stop that victimization...to stop the hurt and let the healing process begin," Swantek said.

Evans was booked on a fugitive felony warrant without bail, pending extradition back to Arizona.

Anyone with information on the case was asked to contact the Big Bear Sheriffs Station at (909) 866-0100.A 45-year-old man accused of taking financial advantage of women he met on dating sites by taking them to dinner and dashing out without paying his share of the bill pleaded not guilty Monday to extortion, grand theft and related charges.

Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, dubbed the alleged "dine-and-dash dater," faces seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft, all felonies, as well as two misdemeanor counts each of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft.

He was ordered back to court Sept. 7 for a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.

Before leaving a restaurant without paying any of the bill, he allegedly told his dates he was headed to the men's room or out to retrieve his phone charger from a car, among other excuses.

Eight women ended up paying the bills themselves, one in the belief that the defendant was going to pay her back. In two other instances, the restaurants picked up the check after Gonzales allegedly left without paying anything, according to Deputy District Attorney Michael Fern of the Cyber Crime Division.

According to the criminal complaint, Gonzales defrauded eight victims out of more than $950 in alleged crimes that took place from May 2016 through April of this year in Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank and Los Angeles.

The defendant also allegedly received services from a hair salon and left without paying.

Gonzales faces a possible maximum penalty of 13 years in prison if convicted as charged. The case remains under investigation by the Pasadena Police Department.The city of Los Angeles voted to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard, according to a tweet from Mayor Eric Garcetti Tuesday night.

Garcetti tweeted, "We're thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A."

Rodeo Road is a small stretch of road that runs for about four miles in the Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Leimert Park and Jefferson Park areas of Los Angeles, south of the 10 Freeway. It's not to be confused with Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

When he was a candidate for president in 2007, Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Recreation Center on Rodeo Road. It is part of what Councilman Herb Wesson called "president's row," a series of streets named after U.S. presidents, such as Washington, Adams and Jefferson boulevards.

Obama made 26 visits to Los Angeles and Orange counties as president.

Also named in honor of Obama are the portion of the 134 Freeway between Pasadena and Glendale and a charter school in the unincorporated Willowbrook area.

Details of when the change would be made official and whether there will be a ceremony to honor the change were not immediately available.The owner of a Los Angeles skin care clinic is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges that she illegally impersonated a nurse, practiced nursing without a license and used a falsified state license.

Bok Soon "Linda" Choi, 57, is facing one misdemeanor count each of practicing nursing without a license, impersonating a nurse and falsifying a state license.

Choi allegedly identified herself as the owner of Soho Skin Care at 300 S. Hobart Blvd. and as a registered nurse with more than 30 years experience while speaking to an undercover state investigator who was posing as a potential patient seeking Botox and skin filler treatments. Other state investigators stopped Choi just as she was about to inject Botox into an investigator's face and lips, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

The undercover operation by investigators from the California Department of Consumer Affairs stemmed from an anonymous complaint received by the Board of Registered Nursing that nurses were performing laser, ultrasound and other invasive procedures without physician supervision at the clinic, according to the City Attorney's Office.

Under state law, physicians may inject Botox or they may direct registered nurses or physician assistants to perform the injection under their supervision, according to the City Attorney's Office.A liberal Florida Democrat pulled off an upset victory Tuesday in the state's primary for governor while President Donald Trump's favored candidate cruised to victory for the GOP, setting up a fierce fall showdown in the nation's largest political battleground. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who would be the state's first black governor, and Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, both defeated more moderate opponents aligned with their parties' establishment.

In Arizona, Rep. Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to carry the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. That race was shadowed by the death of John McCain, a towering figure who represented Arizona in the Senate for six terms. Gov. Doug Ducey will name McCain's replacement after the senator's funeral.

Florida and Arizona are both closely watched states, featuring growing minority populations that have bolstered Democratic candidates and Republican electorates that have grown older and more conservative. The fall face-offs could well signal how they'll swing in the 2020 presidential election.

In Florida, DeSantis gave Trump credit for his victory, saying that with one supportive tweet, the president "kind of put me on the map."

Gillum thanked supporters who embraced "our plan for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us."

The results immediately transformed the Florida race into one of the key gubernatorial campaigns in the country. Gillum's primary victory could help Democrats boost enthusiasm among minorities who often don't vote in large numbers in years when a presidential candidate isn't on the ballot. Meanwhile, DeSantis will test Trump's grip on a crucial state he won in 2016 and wants to keep in his column in 2020.

DeSantis was one of several Republicans running in contests Tuesday in Florida and Arizona  another closely watched political battleground  who hoped that cozying up to the president would be rewarded by voters. Trump has thrust himself into the forefront of the midterm campaign in hopes of motivating his supporters and offsetting Democratic enthusiasm.

In Arizona, primary contests were shadowed by the death of McCain.

Though McCain has received praise from far and wide this week, the three Republican candidates running to replace his retiring seat-mate, Flake  including establishment favorite McSally  aligned themselves more with the president than the longtime senator.

Election Day in Arizona began with delayed openings at dozens of polling locations in the state's largest county. Leaders in Maricopa County rejected calls to try to keep polls open later, saying it might confuse voters and delay returns. No problems were reported elsewhere in the state.

Elsewhere Tuesday, GOP voters in reliably Republican Oklahoma backed mortgage company owner Kevin Stitt in a runoff for the gubernatorial nomination. Stitt won in part by criticizing his opponent as insufficiently supportive of Trump.

Trump surprised Florida Republicans late last year with his endorsement of DeSantis, and frequently tweeted about the lawmaker, one of his staunchest supporters in Washington. His backing helped push DeSantis past Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who has held elected office in Florida since 1996, quickly built up establishment support and raised millions of dollars.

Gillum came from behind in a crowded and diverse Democratic field. Former Rep. Gwen Graham, whose father, Bob Graham, served as governor, had hoped to position herself to become the state's first female governor.

Gillum, a favorite of progressives, spent the least of the five major Democratic candidates and had the smallest television presence. He often said he was the only candidate in the race who wasn't a millionaire or billionaire, and won the endorsement of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The winner of the Florida governor's race will give his party an advantage heading into the 2020 presidential campaign.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is vacating the governor's mansion to run for Senate. He easily won his primary, setting up a showdown with Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson that is expected to be one of the nation's most competitive races.

Democrats also eyed congressional pickup opportunities in Florida as they try to flip control of the U.S. House. One of their best chances is in South Florida, where Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is retiring in a district that should favor Democrats.

Donna Shalala, who served as President Bill Clinton's Health and Human Services secretary, claimed the Democratic nomination in Ros-Lehtinen's district.

The contests in both Florida and Arizona were being watched for signs of how the states might tilt in the 2020 presidential election.

McCain's death has highlighted anew the shift in the Republican Party since he captured the GOP nomination for president in 2008. With his consistently conservative voting record, Arizonans elected McCain to the Senate six times, including in 2016. But his more moderate stance on immigration and his deciding vote last year against Trump's efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law turned off many GOP voters.

A CNN survey in June found that 67 percent of Democrats had a favorable opinion of McCain, while just 33 percent of Republicans did.

Among those on the Arizona ballot was former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat McCain in 2016. When McCain's family said last week that he was discontinuing medical treatment, Ward speculated in a later-deleted Facebook post that the announcement was intended to hurt her campaign for Flake's seat.

Ward apologized Monday, saying she was bemoaning media coverage rather than the family's announcement.

"I do understand how many could have misconstrued my comments as insensitive, and for this I apologize," Ward said.

Also running for the Senate nomination was former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the controversial immigration hardliner. Trump spared Arpaio a possible jail sentence last year by pardoning his federal conviction stemming from immigration patrols.

McSally, a fighter pilot turned congresswoman in the McCain mold, will face Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who easily won her race. Sinema announced that she was pausing her campaign Wednesday and Thursday, when McCain's body will lie in Arizona's Capitol.

Sinema's and McSally's Senate runs also have created House openings in Arizona, a fast-growing and increasingly diverse state where Democrats are eager to gain a foothold. McSally's district in particular is expected to be one of the most competitive House races in November's general election.

Associated Press writers Joe Reedy, Nicholas Riccardi, Sean Murphy, AP polling editor Emily Swanson, Kelli Kennedy and Freida Frisaro contributed to this report.Thousands of people paid their respects to U.S. Sen. John McCain on Wednesday, standing for hours in the broiling Arizona sun before filing past the flag-draped casket that his tearful wife, Cindy, lovingly pressed her face against after a ceremony for the former North Vietnam prisoner of war who represented Arizona for decades.

Former military members in shorts and T-shirts stopped and saluted the closed casket flanked by National Guard members at the Arizona Capitol. Families with small children came by, and several people placed their hand over their heart or bowed, including Vietnamese-born residents who traveled from Southern California.

The private service held earlier marked the first appearance of McCain's family since the Republican senator died Saturday of brain cancer. It also began two days of official mourning in Arizona before his body is taken to Washington for a viewing at the U.S. Capitol, followed by burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

At the emotional private ceremony in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain as an internationally known figure and "Arizona's favorite adopted son" on what would have been his 82nd birthday. He was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father, who went on to become an admiral, served in the military.

"Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon," Ducey said.

Former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said he had been with McCain across the world and he had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.

"I will miss him as a friend, and a strong force for America and the world," Kyl said.

Sen. Jeff Flake offered the benediction, expressing gratitude "for his life and for his sacrifice" and "that John made Arizona his home."

By the time the ceremony ended, crowds gathered for the public viewing of McCain's closed casket, seeking shelter from Phoenix's summer heat under tents stocked with coolers filled with ice and water.

Several heat injuries occurred late in the afternoon as the temperature reached a high of 104 degrees, and two people were taken to the hospital, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.

The line snaked down streets even as a continuous flow of people flowed past the casket. The visitation was to continue as long as people waited in line, said Rick Davis, McCain's former presidential campaign manager.

By the time government offices closed for the day, more than 7,500 people filed by, and that number was expected to grow, DPS spokesman Bart Graves said.

Some people traveled for hours, including a group of Vietnamese-born residents of Orange County, California, who arrived on two buses and wore yellow T-shirts reading, "We salute our hero Senator John McCain."

McCain was beloved among many Vietnamese-Americans for his history of fighting alongside the South Vietnamese and for supporting the families of political detainees, said Derrick Nguyen, who was with the group.

Nguyen said that in the 1990s, McCain pushed an amendment to a law that allowed for unmarried, adult children of political detainees to come to the U.S.

"Many, many of the families that wouldn't have made it to America made it here," he said. "And they have become U.S. citizens and good Americans."

Ray Riordan, an 87-year-old Navy veteran who fought in the Korean War, came from Payson, Arizona.

"I grew up where a handshake was a contract and your word was your bond," Riordan said. "He represented the last of that as far as I'm concerned."

Kassandra Morales, 44, stood in line with her sons, 8 and 2. The Democrat brought a bouquet of flowers and said she had always looked up to McCain and voted for him.

"Yesterday I asked my son who his hero was. He gave me a rapper's name," Morales said. "I brought my children here to show them what a real hero was."

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture their entire lives. He took office in the state in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator.

Phil Hubbard, a health care recruiter who lives in Scottsdale, held a cold water bottle in each hand as he waited for a chance to pay his respects.

"He believed in something," Hubbard said. "That's what he did, and that's what a lot of people need to do in this country. If you believe in something, stand up for it, whether it's popular or not."

On Thursday morning, a procession through Phoenix will bring the casket to a memorial service at a Baptist church, with the public invited to line the route along a highway. Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak.

McCain will then depart Arizona for another viewing Friday at the U.S. Capitol, with a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, followed by burial at the academy.

Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, Jacques Billeaud and Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report.Miami is getting high marks in the city's quest to become the home to Amazon's second headquarters.

A new CNBC report card gives the Magic City a B+, higher than New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., which all received a B-.

In fact, Miami only trails Austin and Dallas among the 20 finalist cities, according to a video from CNBC's Scott Cohn. The two Texas cities received an A-.

Cohn cited Miami's low costs, access to transportation, position as a gateway to Latin America and "relatively friendly regulations." Michael Finney, with the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, also touted the city's diverse talent pool in the video.

Another potential selling point: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is familiar with the area having attended Miami Palmetto High School.

A final decision on the company's second headquarters was expected by the end of the year.Florida's governor's race will largely be a referendum on President Donald Trump as his hand-picked Republican nominee faces off against his political opposite, a young, black mayor who stunned a crowded Democratic field by reaching out to the far left of the party in a campaign that relied on true believers rather than big money and television ads.

The race between U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum will be unlike any Florida has seen, between candidates who defied old-school political thinking and won, in an era when Trump inspires both sides of the political spectrum in different ways.

DeSantis came from behind with the help of Trump to beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who campaigned longer, raised more money and built the support of the party establishment.

Gillum, who could become the state's first black governor, upset a field of five that included former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who was hoping to become the state's first female governor and win the office once held by her father, Bob Graham.

Gillum spent the least of the major candidates and barely mounted a television campaign, but he won the hearts of groups that call themselves progressives and was given a late boost by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Gillum and DeSantis are competing for the office held by Rick Scott, who can't run for re-election because of term limits and is instead challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. After an easy win in Tuesday's GOP primary, Scott now joins a bitter  and expensive  showdown with Nelson that could play a decisive role in determining whether Republicans maintain control of the Senate.

The governor's race, in a state sure to be a battleground in the 2020 presidential election, will essentially be a referendum on Trump.

"We're going to make clear to the rest of the world that the dark days that we've been under coming out of Washington, that the derision and the division that have been coming out of our White House, that right here in the state of Florida that we are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way," Gillum told his cheering supporters.

DeSantis came out fighting after his victory, criticizing Gillum as "way, way, way too liberal for the state of Florida."

"That is not what Floridians want," DeSantis told reporters. "I think it's going to be a great contrast and we will make sure we take it to him."

DeSantis based nearly his entire campaign around the president, and acknowledged after the victory that Trump's endorsement was the key.

"With one tweet, that kind of put me on the map," DeSantis said.

DeSantis entered the race a month after Trump's December tweet that he would make "a GREAT governor." Later Trump held a rally for him in Tampa. Suddenly, he was considered the favorite over Putnam, who seemingly spent his entire adult life building toward the run for governor.

DeSantis' television ads were Trump-focused, including one where his toddler stacks bricks while DeSantis exclaims, "Build the wall!"

For some voters, the endorsement was all that mattered.

Don Govan, an 86-year-old retiree from Fort Lauderdale and ardent Trump supporter, walked into the polling station with a folded piece of paper in his hand that listed who to vote for based on Trump's recommendations. He said it was the only reason he voted for DeSantis.

"I don't even know (DeSantis) ... but as long as Trump says so," he said.

DeSantis, who turns 40 next month, is a former Navy lawyer who won his seat in 2012 running as a Washington outsider. He ran for Senate in 2016 but dropped out when Republican Sen. Marco Rubio shut down his presidential campaign and ran for re-election.

Gillum relied on a grassroots campaign and the support of the left wing of the party.

"I think it's what Florida's been needing," said supporter Lauren Durchslag, 34, of Orlando. "Everyone kept trying to vote for someone middle of the ground, someone who they thought would win. But I don't think middle of the ground wins anymore. I think being a progressive and being on the right side of history is going to make a difference."

In addition to Graham, Gillum beat former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who poured $29 million of his personal wealth into the race and saturated the state with 30 different campaign ads. Also in the race was billionaire Jeff Greene, who spent about $38 million of his own money on the race. Orlando-area businessman Chris King finished last.

Gillum was a 23-year-old Florida A&M student when he became the youngest person elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in 2003. He was elected mayor in 2014.

Gillum is a gifted public speaker and did well in debates, often receiving the most applause, but the FBI is investigating Tallahassee city hall for corruption. Gillum has said he's not a target.

The differences between the candidates are pronounced.

DeSantis is pro-gun, and anti-tax; Gillum boasts about beating the National Rifle Association in a lawsuit and is calling for an increase in corporate taxes.

While he didn't make race an issue, Gillum said during a recent interview that it would be "big" to be Florida's first black governor.

"I have been really slow to try to think on it because it's too big," he said. "There will absolutely be a part of this that I can't even put words to around what it might mean for my children and other people's kids. Especially growing up for them in the age of Donald Trump."Greg Furstenwerth thinks of himself as a Tesla fan. But after months of waiting on parts and appointments for his out of warranty Model S, he decided to take repairs into his own hands.

Furstenwerth pre-ordered the Model S, and in 2013 became one of the first people to get the car in the state of Hawaii, he says. He later drove the electric vehicle across the United States before there was a Supercharger network. He did this, he said, to shut down the electric car haters who ceaselessly griped about range anxiety.

"Tesla used to call me," he remembers. "They'd tell me, 'hey we noticed that there's something going wrong with your car.' Or when I had my flat they did their courtesy roadside service. They really took care of me, actually, as an original preorder. But as soon as I exceeded my warranty, the interactions all went away. I was treated like I didn't really own a Tesla."

As an early Model S owner, Furstenworth is among the first to deal with service needs for this luxury electric car out of warranty. The company recommends all repairs go through its own service centers or authorized providers. But there can be long waits to get an appointment at a Tesla service center or get new replacement parts.

Because he lives on an island outside of Seattle, Furstenwerth getting into a Tesla service center required a long drive. He wouldn't always be guaranteed to have a loaner car to get him back home, either. Tesla did not offer its Tesla Rangers service, a kind of mobile mechanic that comes to an owners' house, where he lived.

So he looked to independents. He found, unfortunately, a dearth of professional mechanics willing and able to work on his Model S.

That's because Tesla doesn't make spare parts, diagnostic tools and even repair manuals readily available. After market parts aren't abundant, either. No major player manufactures these today.

The few who can fix a Model S, and even fewer who can fix a Roadster, are left to buy "parts cars," and salvage parts from used Tesla vehicles. Some reverse engineer and make these parts with 3-D printers.

Furstenwerth, who says he has always been good at figuring out how to fix things himself, learned how to diagnose and fix his Model S by taking it apart and putting it together several times. While he has taken part in some online forums where Tesla owners discuss their issues and fixes, mostly he was on his own, with no car schematics or manuals from Tesla.

He found parts were available from some small suppliers online. But he had to track them down individually. Among his issues were leaking tail lights, failing door handles, a passenger window behind the driver that fell out of place and faulty wiring in his driver's side door.

He says if he had been able to get a timely appointment, he was looking at a minimum of $14,000 in costs. At one point, he even considered destroying the car.

"I was infuriated beyond belief because everyone told me that it was an impossible car to work on" he said.

They were wrong.

"When I opened it up, I find out that it's the easiest car I've ever worked on. Easiest device I've ever worked on. They built a Lego car. It's like putting together Legos, taking apart Legos. If you can put together Legos you can put together a Tesla Model S."

Now, Furstenwerth is thinking about how to help other out-of-warranty Model S owners fix their cars on their own, too.

"I want to see Tesla wildly succeed," he says. "I have no problem with them being vertically integrated, and running things the way they do for cars that are in warranty. But if they want to get in the mass market, unless they're gonna run every single service center in every single small town, there's no way it's acceptable to have people for minor issues drive and kill an entire day to go to the service center, just for some free Keurig coffee."

Since he fixed his Model S, he's put more than 2,000 miles on it, driving it from Seattle to Detroit, Michigan, he says.

This story first appeared on CNBC.com. More from CNBC:What to Know A New York mother is demanding answers after her 10-year-old daughter was badly hurt by a wire fence at a camp in Putnam Valley

The girl said a counselor took her group to an abandoned building outside sanctioned activity area, where she ended up gashed by the fence

Camp officials say first aid protocol was followed and there was a thorough investigation; it received a violation for not reporting injury

A 10-year-old girl was wounded after playing outside an abandoned building at her New York day camp -- and it was her counselor who took her there, the I-Team has learned.

Micaela Aguero says it was Friday, July 13 when a counselor took her group at Putnam Valley's Camp Combe to an abandoned building 100 yards from the camp activity the girls had been engaged in.

"When we have that activity, weve been to that house before, Aguero said, but she said that day was different. "It looked abandoned and scary and it was Friday the 13th."

Aguero says she was playing hide-and-seek with her friends outside the house when she ran past rolled up wire fence and cut her leg. The gash across her thigh was several inches long and she began to bleed.

"I was screaming and my friends came and said, 'Oh my God, what happened?'" the 10-year-old recalled. "It felt like a needle was slicing my leg."

Aguero says she was first brought to the nurses office and then to the main office, where she waited for her parents to pick her up.

"She was in a lot of pain, crying and scared," said her mother Lourdes Delgado. "How could they just let her sit in an office with an open cut like that?"

The president of YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester, who owns the camp, told the I-Team that first aid protocol was followed.



"The camper was seen by an EMT and registered nurse on staff," the statement said. "The office called the campers parents to report the injury. Our medical team suggested the camper be further assessed by a physician."

At the hospital, Aguero needed 17 stitches to close up the wound and will likely need a plastic surgeon to help with the scar.

How could they let kids play there? her mother said. I could not believe what I was seeing.

The I-Team has learned camp officials did not report the injury to the state health department as required by law, and the camp received a violation as a result. An incident report from the county confirms a counselor took the campers to an unauthorized area and that the camper was not protected from unreasonable risk and injury.

The I-Team asked the camp why the injury was not reported. The camp referred only to the original statement and said the incident has been thoroughly investigated. The counselors were also disciplined and re-trained on the hazardous areas of the camp, camp officials said. The Putnam Valley buildings department has ordered the abandoned structure be taken down in 90 days.

Delgado stopped sending her daughter to camp after the injury, but she hopes her story will let other parents know what happened and prevent future injuries.

"I cant go back in that place again, it was too painful, Aguero said through tears. "It hurts too much."What to Know A new citywide advertising campaign for Google Maps is causing controversy in some Brooklyn neighborhoods

Some residents of Bedford Stuyvesant say posters saying "You Don't Know Bed-Stuy (yet)" are "tone-deaf" to gentrification issues

But Google says the ads aim to inspire both long-time New Yorkers and newcomers to keep exploring their city

A new poster campaign from Google that proclaims "You don't know New York (yet)" is causing controversy in Brooklyn, with some blasting the ads as "tone-deaf."

The outdoor ad campaign, which launched across New York City in August, promotes a new Google Maps feature. But localized versions of the ad like the one that reads "You don't know Bed-Stuy (yet)" have been criticized by some who say they are blind to gentrification issues in the neighborhood.

"Please write to Google and ask them to remove these offensively tone-deaf posters heralding the colonization of Bed Stuy," Gabriel Mendes wrote on a post in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community Facebook group that prompted more than 120 comments.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmb

Mendes posted a photo of the message he himself sent to Google. "The only message one can read from this is that they're directed to all the new gentrifiers arriving in this beautifully historic black neighborhood. Please remove them now!"

"I wonder who this ad is for? #gentrification #beckywiththeroomates #googlemapsfail," Chenezza Graham posted to Instagram from another Brooklyn neighborhood, with a photo of an identical poster that reads "You don't know Crown Heights (yet)."

Asked about the controversy, a Google spokesperson did not directly address accusations that it was being "tone-deaf" to gentrification issues, but said the ads were created to inspire people to step out of their daily routines.

"We intentionally sought diverse perspectives when developing the campaign, speaking in depth with both long time New Yorkers and newcomers alike," a spokesperson said. "No matter how long youve lived somewhere, we believe that theres value in continuing to explore your city."

Google's campaign was launched to promote new features on Google Maps that help people find new things to do and places to eat in their neighborhoods. The ads can be seen on bus shelters, subway tunnels and on walls around the city. "You don't know Central Park (yet)," one reads. Many have more generic copy like "You don't know salad (yet)" or "You don't know modern art (yet)."

But the posters took on new meaning in areas affected by gentrification, Brooklyn resident Dupe Ajayi said.

"After seeing the post, I started to notice them in other locations. This poster on the upper West Side is not viewed the same because people who live there aren't being displaced," she said. "There's so much change happening in Bed-Stuy with little regard for those who have grown up and lived there most, if not all of their lives."

Gentrification in Bedford-Stuyvesant is well documented. A 2017 report on the changing economics of the neighborhood found its population had surged in the past 15 years, mainly due to newcomers. "Gentrification has brought economic growth and new opportunities to Bedford-Stuyvesant, but the benefits have not been shared by all residents," state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli wrote.

He noted a large income gap between newcomers and long-time residents: in 2015, new residents had a median income of $50,200 while long-term residents' median income was $28,000.

While many in the Bedford-Stuyvesant Facebook group said they were offended by Google's ads, some said they were just glad the neighborhood and its businesses had been included in the campaign.

These Are the Laziest States in America, New Study Says

Marketing website The Drum reported it was Google Maps' first outdoor advertising campaign in the United States. "The company had to do something bold and attention-grabbing, so they told New Yorkers that they dont know New York, or anything in it yet," it said.

The Department of Transportation said any complaints about the ad should be directed to outdoor advertising company JCDeaux. JCDeaux has been contacted for comment. The agency behind the campaign, Anomaly, did not respond to a request for comment.

New York Ranks Worst State in America for Retirement, Study FindsWhat to Know Family, friends and constituents will gather at Arizona's Capitol to pay respects to Sen. John McCain, the first of two days of services

Nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were diagnosed in the U.S. last year, far more than the STD record set in 2016

Cardi B has apologized to the daughter of MLK Jr. for portraying the civil rights leader's wife, Coretta Scott King, in a comedy skit

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here.

Final Farewells to Sen. John McCain Begin at Arizona Capitol

Family, friends and constituents will gather at Arizona's Capitol to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain, the first of two days of services here before he departs the state he has represented since the 1980s. A private ceremony will be held at the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where McCain will lie in state. That ceremony will include remarks from Gov. Doug Ducey and former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, plus a benediction from Sen. Jeff Flake. It will also mark the first appearance of McCain's family members since the longtime Arizona senator died of brain cancer at age 81. Later that afternoon, the Capitol will be open to members of the public who want to pay their respects. The viewing will go on as long as people are waiting in line, Rick Davis, McCain's former presidential campaign manager, said. For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture in the state for their entire lives. He took office in Arizona in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Andrew Gillum Upsets Democratic Field in Florida Governor's Race

A liberal Florida Democrat pulled off an upset victory in the state's primary for governor while President Trump's favored candidate cruised to victory for the GOP, setting up a fierce fall showdown in the nation's largest political battleground. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who would be the state's first black governor, and Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, both defeated more moderate opponents aligned with their parties' establishment. In Arizona, Rep. Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to carry the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. That race was shadowed by the death of John McCain, a towering figure who represented Arizona in the Senate for six terms. Gov. Doug Ducey will name McCain's replacement after the senator's funeral. Gillum thanked supporters who embraced "our plan for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us."

Pope Laments Abuse in 1st Post-Bombshell Vatican Appearance

Pope Francis has lamented how Irish church authorities failed to respond to the crimes of sexual abuse, speaking during his first public appearance at the Vatican after bombshell accusations that he himself covered up for an American cardinal's misdeeds. Francis dedicated his general audience to his weekend trip to Ireland. The final day of the trip was overshadowed by release of a devastating document from a retired Holy See diplomat accusing Vatican authorities, including Francis, of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite knowing for years that he slept with seminarians. Francis omitted from his remarks a line in his prepared text noting how he had prayed in Ireland for the Virgin Mary to intervene to give the church strength to "firmly pursue truth and justice" to help victims heal.

STDs Set New Record, Continuing Rapid Rise in US, CDC Says

Nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were diagnosed in the United States last year, far more than the STD record set in 2016, NBC News reported. The new data come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said the number of cases in 2017 surpassed the previous record by more than 200,000. There have been recent increases in STDs among heterosexual men and women and among pregnant women and their babies, said Dr. Gail Bolan, head of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention. "Usually there are ebbs and flows, but this sustained increase is very concerning," Bolan said. She and others suspect that newer drugs that made HIV less lethal and infectious may have contributed to declining condom use.

50 Adult Meds Added to National Recall With 32 Kids' Items

King Bio has announced it is pulling all of its water-based products across all brands, amounting to more than 50 products intended to treat virtually every ailment from migraines to allergies, amid a national recall over concerns about possible purity issues. The company's founder, Frank King, announced the expanded recall in a statement on the website. Nearly three dozen children's medicines have already been recalled over the microbial contamination fears. King Bio, a North Carolina-based company that makes homeopathic drugs, first said last week that a small percentage of its products produced between Aug. 1, 2017 and April 2018 tested positive for the microbial contamination. The company said use of the medicines could result in increased or life-threatening infections. There have been no reports of illnesses.

Cardi B Sorry for Real Housewives' of Civil Rights Parody

Cardi B has apologized to the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. for portraying the civil rights leader's wife, Coretta Scott King, in a comedy skit. News outlets report the Bronx rapper was featured in "The Real Housewives of Civil Rights," a two-minute parody that surfaced on TMZ. Tuesday was the 55th anniversary of the March on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The sketch from comedian Rip Michaels' new series "Off the Rip" portrays pettiness between Coretta Scott King and Malcolm X's wife, Betty Shabazz, and ends with a joke about Dr. King sleeping with "The Iggy Azalea of the Civil Rights Movement." But Bernice King later thanked Cardi B on Twitter for reaching out and apologizing, and said she looked forward to talking with her.

Louis CK Returns to Stage After Admitting Sexual Misconduct

Comedian Louis C.K. has returned to the stage for apparently the first time after he admitted to engaging in sexual misconduct. He made an unannounced appearance at the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village. The club's owner, Noam Dworman, told The New York Times he watched a video of the appearance. He says the 50-year-old was "very relaxed" and was greeted by an ovation from the audience. He says he performed "typical Louis C.K. stuff." Five women last November accused the comedian of inappropriate behavior. He released a statement in which he said the stories were true and he expressed remorse for his actions. The actions resulted in the end of a production deal with FX Networks and the cancellation of a movie release.

Eddie Murphy Is Going to Be a Dad for the 10th Time. His Rep Says

Eddie Murphy, the 57-year-old actor, is going to be a dad times 10 this year as his girlfriend Paige Butcher is expecting their second child together. "Eddie Murphy and longtime girlfriend Paige Butcher are pleased to announce that they are expecting their second child in December," a rep for Murphy confirmed in a statement to People. The announcement comes on the heels of recent sightings of Butcher with a visible baby bump. In 2016, the longtime couple welcomed their first child together, daughter Izzy Oona Murphy. She was also the first child for Butcher. Murphy is no stranger to fatherhood. He is a dad to five kids with his ex-wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy. They share four daughters--Bria, 28, Shayne, 23, Zola, 18, Bella, 16--and son Miles, 25.What to Know The woman whose body parts have been found in parks in recent days has been identified as 25-year-old Lisa Velasquez

Police say they've arrested 31-year-old Daquan Wheeler and 30-year-old Ciara Martinez in the case; a motive isn't clear

It's the second tragedy for the family; in 2006, Velasquez's mother was murdered in front of her and her siblings

UPDATE: Impossible Tragedy Clouded Life of 25-Year-Old NYC Woman

The woman whose body parts were found scattered around two Bronx parks in recent days had rushed out of her house last week, telling family members she had to go help a friend in danger, according to relatives, as police announced the arrests of two suspects in the killing.

Lisa Marie Velasquez, 25, ran out of her Melrose apartment on Aug. 21, her last words to her family ominous.

"The last thing my mother remembers is her coming and grabbing her bag, and being in a rush saying that she had to go help a friend who was in danger, and she ran out of the house," said her aunt, Jacqueline Perez.

Police had released a sketch of the woman after two bags of her body parts were initially found at Crotona Park last Thursday. Then on Tuesday, police found two more bags of human remains believed to be linked to Velasquez, this time at Barretto Point Park in Hunts Point, about three miles from Crotona Park.

Authorities Wednesday identified the body parts as those of Velasquez. The medical examiner determined she died of blows to the head, which caused skull fractures, in a homicide. Law enforcement sources said the head blows were from a hammer.

Two feet and two hands were found in separate bags at one park, while unspecified remains were found at the other location.

"The way she was tortured, for Christ's sake, she didn't deserve that," said the distraught Perez. "Who in their right minds would do something like this?"

"She's my niece... she didn't deserve this."

Police said late Wednesday they've arrested two people in the case: 31-year-old Daquan Wheeler of the Bronx has been charged with murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.

A second suspect, 30-year-old Ciara Martinez, has been charged with murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon. She was heard saying "She was my friend, I loved her" as she was being led out of an NYPD station house in the Bronx.

Information on their lawyers wasn't immediately available.

Wheeler and Martinez were boyfriend and girlfriend and Martinez was a friend of Velasquez, according to police, who added she is the one Velasquez went to go help the night she was last seen alive.

This is the second grisly tragedy for the victim's family in just over a decade: in 2006, Velasquez's mother was murdered in front of her and her siblings. Police said the pregnant mother was beaten, stabbed and strangled by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who was arrested in the killing.

"In this lifetime, I never thought we would go through this again," said Perez.

"This is the second episode... the type of animal that would do something like this to a human being," she said.What to Know Paul Manafort's one-time banker, David Fallarino, had his Manhattan home burglarized; a briefcase, iPad and sneakers were stolen

Fallarino, who works for Citizens Bank, told cops he left the terrace door open before he went to bed and awoke after 1 a.m. to a noise

The loan officer was one of three key figures not called to testify at the trial of Manafort, who was found guilty of eight felony counts

UPDATE: NYPD Releases Video of Suspect in Break-in of Ex-Manafort Banker's Home

Paul Manafort's one-time banker had his Manhattan penthouse burglarized overnight, a mysterious break-in that saw a briefcase, iPad and sneakers stolen from the residence, law enforcement sources familiar with the case tell News 4.



David Fallarino, dubbed Manafort's "front office banker" at Citizens Bank by the Huffington Post, told authorities he left the terrace door of his West 58th Street home open before he went to sleep Monday, the sources say. The building is nine floors, city records show.



Fallarino, 38, said he heard a noise around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and went out to find a crow bar on the terrace, the sources say. There were no apparent signs of forced entry, the sources say, but Fallarino reported his wine cabinet was open and there was a bottle of wine on the floor. The briefcase, iPad and sneakers were the only items missing; the contents of the first two were unknown.

The sources did not have any information on a possible suspect or suspects, who apparently entered from the balcony and left via the front door. Police are checking the building for potential surveillance video.

Repeated attempts to reach Fallarino were unsuccessful; an assistant at Citizens Bank said he was on vacation and declined to comment. Citizens Bank also declined corporate comment, referring questions to the NYPD.



Fallarino was one of three so-called key figures not called by Robert Mueller's office to testify at the trial of the ex-Trump campaign chief, who was convicted on eight felony fraud-related counts earlier this month. A mistrial was declared on 10 other counts. Two of Fallarino's assistants testified at the trial, the first public test of Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the election, regarding emails the banker had sent and received.



One of those assistants was Melinda James, a mortgage loan assistant at Citizens Bank who served as the loan assistant to Manafort when he applied for a cash-out refinance loan -- a loan that allows the owner to take the equity out as cash  on his property at 29 Howard Street, gathering all the requisite initial documentation. Manafort was required to list his monthly debts as part of that process; when he listed his other properties, he said he owned a home at 377 Union Street in Brooklyn "free and clear." Prosecutors said that wasn't true.



Prior to the Howard Street property appraisal, James found the property listed for rent online and relayed that to her supervisor, Fallarino, but testified that she did not know what he did after that.



Fallarino has not been charged with any crime. Also at trial, a vice president at Citizens Bank testified Manafort would not have received a $3.4 million loan against a condo had the bank been aware it was an investment property rather than a second residence, according to trade magazine American Banker.



Separately, the trade magazine reported another Citizens worker testified she found $1 million in loans outstanding on a property in Brooklyn that Manafort had not disclosed. Citizens Bank said in a statement prior to the start of the trial that said, "We believe the evidence will clearly show that Citizens Bank did not engage in any wrongdoing and that we followed appropriate procedures."



Citizens Bank's website lists Fallarino as a loan officer. His LinkedIn page describes him as a producing lending manager who got started in the mortgage banking business in 2003 as a loan officer and quickly moved up the ranks.Corrections authorities in Ohio and Pennsylvania on Wednesday investigated inmate and staff exposure to drugs and chemicals in what appeared to be unrelated incidents that nevertheless underscored the continuing issue of contraband drugs inside the nation's prisons and jails.

In Pennsylvania, the state prisons were on a lockdown precipitated by 29 employees at 10 prisons requiring treatment in recent weeks from exposure to a yet-unidentified substance described in some cases as a liquid synthetic drug.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced the step Wednesday, the same day that about a half-dozen staff at Somerset and Albion state prisons reported feeling ill. Symptoms include dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea and skin tingling.

In Ohio, prison guards, nurses and inmates were among the nearly 30 people treated for possible drug exposure inside Ross Correctional Institution. The incident began around 9 a.m. Wednesday when an inmate showed signs of a possible drug overdose, said patrol spokesman Lt. Robert Sellers.

As officers and medical responders arrived, a total of 28 individuals, including 23 guards, four nurses and an inmate, were treated through the administration of naloxone, a drug used to combat overdoses caused by opioids such as heroin or fentanyl, Sellers said. They were taken to Adena Regional Medical Center in Chillicothe for evaluation.

At the hospital, Dr. Kirk Tucker said the symptoms were consistent with exposure to fentanyl. He said an inmate was unconscious and not breathing on his own when he was admitted to the hospital Wednesday but was expected to be fine.

Most other patients experienced nausea, sweating, numbness, and drowsiness. Tucker said the sickest individuals were those who responded to the inmate's bedside.

One Ohio inmate was treated at the scene and not transported. Sellers said the patrol made 300 doses of naloxone available if needed. The prison is about 44 miles (71 kilometers) south of Columbus. Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration were among those investigating with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said DEA spokesman Wade Sparks.

A mixture of heroin and fentanyl was identified as the substance in the Ohio jail, troopers said.

Fentanyl is considered several times more powerful than heroin, and has been linked to thousands of overdose deaths nationwide, sometimes on its own, but often mixed with heroin. Law enforcement officers routinely now put on gloves when responding to overdoses to avoid possible exposure.

On Thursday, the DEA plans to release a new training video covering protections that first responders should take when the presence of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid, is suspected. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was to announce the video, "Fentanyl: The Real Deal," at a Washington news conference.

A total of 31 inmates were evacuated from the unit where the Ohio prison exposure occurred, and a hazmat team from the Columbus fire department was summoned to clean up the affected area.

In Ohio, contraband drugs including opioids are an ongoing issue for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and county jails.

In May, a former milk deliveryman was accused of hiding marijuana, tobacco and cellphones inside milk cartons and smuggling them into a prison in southwest Ohio. He was sentenced to house arrest.

In September 2017, the Richland County Jail in Mansfield started operating a body scanner to detect drugs. Officials there monitored 26 opioid-related withdrawals in July 2017.

In February 2017, four inmates overdosed in two days at Pickaway Correctional Institution south of Columbus, requiring the use of CPR and doses of an anti-overdose drug as guards scrambled to revive the men.

Associated Press writer Marc Levy contributed to this report.Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked Wednesday to move his upcoming trial out of the nation's capital, with his lawyers citing "intensely negative news coverage" and potential juror bias against him.

"While federal courts often address issues of pretrial publicity in high-profile cases, it is difficult to conceive of a matter that has received media attention of the same magnitude as the prosecution of Mr. Manafort," the lawyers wrote in asking to relocate the trial to Roanoke, Virginia.

The request is similar to one from last month that preceded a separate trial for Manafort in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort's lawyers had also asked for that case to be moved to Roanoke, but the judge refused. Manafort was found guilty of eight counts last week, and the jury deadlocked on 10 others.

Jury selection is to start Sept. 17 in a trial related to Manafort's Ukrainian lobbying and political consulting work.

In a new court filing, Manafort's lawyers argued that media coverage of the case had been "sensationalized" and overwhelmingly negative and would make it hard for the former Trump aide to get a fair trial in Washington.

Although neither the Virginia case nor the D.C. case focuses on Russian election interference, the defense lawyers say news coverage of Manafort has frequently mentioned his relationship with Konstantin Kilimnik, a man who U.S. authorities say has ties to Russian intelligence.

They suggested President Donald Trump himself had exemplified the problem with an inaccurate tweet  when Manafort was taken into custody before trial for violating the terms of his home confinement  that may have contributed to the misperception that he had been sentenced for committing a crime.

The lawyers also argued that potential jurors in Washington are far more likely to be familiar with the allegations in the case than those in Roanoke, saying the D.C. region ranks first in the country in households with internet access and computers. Roanoke, by contrast, is the 70th-largest media market in the U.S., they said.

"Nowhere in the country is the bias against Mr. Manafort more apparent than here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area," they wrote. "The phrase 'inside-the-beltway' was coined to capture the area's preoccupation with all things political."What to Know The probe into whether the Manhattan DA mishandled 2015 allegations of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein has been put on temporary hold.

The investigation was suspended for 6 months by Gov. Cuomo to avoid interfering with DA Cyrus Vance's ongoing prosecution of Weinstein.

Cuomo had directed the attorney general in March to investigate Vance's decision not to prosecute Weinstein on the 2015 charges.

The New York state attorney general's office has suspended its probe into whether the Manhattan district attorney mishandled 2015 allegations of sexual misconduct by movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

A spokeswoman for Acting Attorney General Barbara Underwood confirmed on Wednesday that the investigation was put on temporary hold this summer on the orders of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, says the investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s handling of the Weinstein case was suspended to avoid interfering with Vance's ongoing prosecution of Weinstein.

Cuomo's office says the probe was postponed for six months starting in June given Weinstein's recent indictment.

Cuomo had directed the attorney general in March to investigate Vance's decision not to prosecute Weinstein on the 2015 charges.What to Know An arrest has been made in the murder of a former model in the Main Line.

Jonathan Harris, 30, faces murder charges in the death of Christina Carlin-Kraft.

Kraft was found strangled inside her Main Line condominium back on Aug. 22. No motive has been given for the killing.

A man accused of beating and strangling a former model inside her Main Line apartment is back in the Philadelphia suburbs to face a judge after allegedly trying to flee the state.

Jonathan Harris, 30, was arrested Wednesday in the death of Christina Carlin-Kraft, 36. Harris is charged with first-, second and third-degree murder as well as robbery. Officials also say he could face additional charges as they continue to investigate.

Harris, who hails from Johnstown, was taken into custody Wednesday after getting off a bus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, investigators said. He was allegedly trying to leave Pennsylvania.

He was initially taken the Allegheny County Prison. Lower Merion police then accompanied Harris back to the Philadelphia area overnight, NBC10's Deanna Durante learned.

Harris, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and holding a copy of his criminal complaint, was arraigned via video from the Montgomery County Prison in Eagleville Thursday morning. Harris' only words were "yes sir" or "no sir" as Magisterial District Judge Michael Quinn read out the charges.

Since Harris is accused of murder, Quinn ordered that Harris be held without bail ahead of a September preliminary hearing.

Kraft, a former model who posed for Playboy, was found strangled inside her upscale condominium near the popular Suburban Square shopping center on Pennsylvania's Main Line back on Aug. 22.

During the early morning hours of Aug. 22, Kraft left her apartment on Sibley Avenue in Ardmore and was dropped off by a Lyft driver on the 1400 block of Chestnut Street in Center City.

Kraft then met Harris near South Broad and 13th streets and the two entered a vehicle a short time later, investigators said.

Kraft and Harris then returned to her Ardmore building shortly after 3 a.m., according to officials. Records indicate the front door of the apartment opened at 3:08 a.m. while the back door leading to the terrace was closed at 5:19 a.m.

At some point that morning, a violent struggle occurred in the apartment in which Kraft was badly beaten and her nose was broken, investigators said. She then died from strangulation.

Police later found Kraft's body inside her bedroom around 9 that night during a wellness check. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Detectives combed Kraft's Ardmore unit and the complex for evidence. They collected surveillance video from nearby businesses. The complex sits adjacent to the Ardmore Farmers Market and Suburban Square.

Police later released surveillance video showing Kraft walking with a man in both Center City and the Main Line.

Surveillance images released by Montgomery County detectives

On Aug. 28, a concerned citizen contacted police and identified Harris as the man in the surveillance video, investigators said. Police searched through the person's phone and found a text from Harris. The text, which was sent on Aug. 22, at 2:39 a.m., reads "I just met this sexy a** white b**** I'm at her crib in ardmore," according to the affidavit.

The surveillance video and evidence gathered during the investigation led officials to issue a warrant for Harris' arrest.

Investigators say Harris had been released from state prison on July 15. He has an extensive criminal record including assault, theft and drug charges, according to online records.

Officials have not revealed whether Harris and Kraft knew each other prior to Aug. 22 or if it was a chance encounter.

"I can't get into all of that," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said during an afternoon news conference. "I have not seen any indication that there was any previous relationship or anything along those lines."

Harris faces life in prison for the murder charges. No decision has been made, at this point, if Harris will face the death penalty. He also faces robbery and theft charges that could land him in jail for up to 50 year after police say he stole Kraft's purse.

Police are also searching for a man who they say is not connected to Kraft's murder but instead burglarized her apartment several days before her death.

An arrest warrant was issued for Andre Melton, 31, of Southwest Philadelphia. Police say Melton stole from Kraft's condo on Sibley Avenue and they continue to search for him. He is not considered a suspect or person of interest in her murder, however.

AP

Kraft's modeling credits included Playboy, Maxim, David Yurman and MAC Cosmetics, according to a profile on a modeling website. In 2016, she was charged with assault in New York City for striking a restaurant staffer. The charges were later dropped.

Family remembered Kraft as "more than a Playboy model."

"She was the sweetest girl, loving and kind and generous and thoughtful," Kraft's aunt, Angelique Carlin, said. "Those are the things I will miss about my niece."

Harris' arrest occurred the same day as Kraft's funeral.

"I want to know what my poor niece was thinking, when he did this to her," Angelique Carlin said while in tears. "I want to know what her words were. I want to know what they are."

Only NBC10 talked to family members of a former model found murdered in her Mainline condo.What to Know Ex-Pennsylvania treasurer, Rob McCord, was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in federal prison for trying to squeeze campaign cash.

McCord, a venture capitalist once seen as a rising star in Democratic political circles, cooperated with investigators and resigned in 2015.

Rob McCord admitted breaking the law and apologized to the public, his colleagues and others.

A former elected Pennsylvania state treasurer was sentenced Tuesday to 2 years in federal prison for trying to squeeze campaign cash from a law firm and a property management firm during his failed 2014 bid for governor.

Rob McCord, a venture capitalist once seen as a rising star in Democratic political circles, cooperated with investigators and resigned in January 2015 after being confronted by the FBI with secretly-recorded audiotapes. He pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted extortion and testified last year against an investment adviser in a bribery case that ultimately got thrown out of court.

U.S. District Court Judge John Jones told McCord he "suffered a precipitous fall from grace" as a result of criminal acts the judge described as "an overt and even brazen effort by Mr. McCord to essentially shake down businesses and individuals to donate to his campaign."

"When an individual's ambition trumps his or her good judgment and their otherwise decent character, that's when crimes happen," Jones said.

He also imposed $5,200 in fines and fees and a year of probation. McCord is scheduled to report to prison in late October.

McCord, 59, divorced and now living with a brother in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is studying to become a marriage and family counselor and works occasionally as a yoga instructor.

In court Tuesday, he admitted breaking the law and apologized to the public, his colleagues and others.

"I will spend the rest of my life trying to make amends," McCord said.

One count involved his contacts with the managing partner of a law firm that did contract work for the Treasury Department and other entities in state government. Jones' sentencing memorandum issued last month said McCord in spring 2014 "threatened economic harm" against the firm unless it boosted its campaign donations.

The victim in the other count was a property management firm that did state business. Jones wrote last month that McCord told a campaign donation "bundler" to warn the company about the potential "economic harm that could be inflicted" by McCord in his role as treasurer, to which he was elected in 2008.

McCord finished third in a four-person Democratic Party field in 2014, getting 17 percent of the vote. Tom Wolf won with 58 percent, beat incumbent GOP Gov. Tom Corbett in the fall and is currently seeking re-election.

Federal prosecutor Michael Consiglio told Jones he was concerned that McCord did not seem to accept the impact that his campaign contribution pressure played on his decisions as state treasurer.

"These were corrupt actions that affected official acts," Consiglio said.

Jones also presided at the trial last year of suburban Philadelphia investment adviser Richard Ireland, who had been charged with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy. McCord was considered a key witness against Ireland, taking the stand for four days, but weakness in his testimony was a main reason Jones threw out the case in the middle of trial.

Jones said at the time he dismissed the case that there was a lack of evidence that Ireland was providing money in return for official favors, and McCord did not provide it during his testimony.

Ireland had been accused of trying to bribe McCord with more than $500,000 in campaign contributions in what was called a yearslong scheme to land lucrative contracts to invest taxpayer dollars. Prosecutors claimed Ireland funneled the cash for six years to McCord's campaigns through friends, family members and employees of his business.

McCord's defense attorney, Robert E. Welsh Jr., told the judge that McCord has suffered the "complete ruination" of his career, a divorce and several years of being "basically on ice" while helping with other investigations.

Jones said he thought McCord approached fundraising like he had handled private business, as a deal making process. That seemed to become more pronounced "as the race began to get away from you," Jones said.What to Know An arrest has been made in the hit-and-run death of a man who was crossing the street after getting ice cream in Bucks County.

Anthony Woods was arrested and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday.

Woods allegedly struck and killed Emmanuel Weintraub before fleeing the scene in Levittown, Pennsylvania, back on Aug. 21.

An arrest has been made in the hit-and-run death of a man who was crossing the street after getting ice cream in Bucks County.

Anthony Woods, 41, of Fallsington, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with murder, accidents involving death or personal injury, homicide by vehicle and other related offenses.

Woods allegedly struck and killed Emmanuel Weintraub before fleeing the scene in Levittown, Pennsylvania, back on Aug. 21.

Weintraub, 70, was using a cane to cross New Falls Road near Amelia Drive in the crosswalk as heavy rain fell just after 9 p.m. As he was walking, a 2007 gray Nissan Altima that went around a stopped car, slammed into him, sending him flying more than 20 feet in the air, Falls Township police said.

The driver kept going, leaving Weintraub for dead, according to investigators. The victims cane and shoes were left behind.

Weintraub, a retired postal worker, was a regular customer at JoJos Ice Cream & Water Ice, the ice cream shop said on Facebook. Weintraub had just gotten ice cream after a fundraising event ended and was leaving moments before he was struck by the vehicle.

Investigators obtained surveillance images of the hit-and-run vehicle which led to Woods' arrest on Tuesday.

While being interviewed, Woods allegedly told investigators he was driving on New Falls Road back on Aug. 21 when a car in front of him slowed down near the intersection. Woods then admitted he drove around the vehicle in front of him and struck Weintraub in the crosswalk, according to the affidavit.

Woods allegedly told police he knew he had just struck a person but thought he had hit a child, not an adult. Woods told police he was unsure if the person was dead but fled the scene because he believed he had drugs in his system, investigators said. He then allegedly admitted to getting his windshield fixed at an auto glass shop in Trenton, New Jersey.

He told the shop's owner not to speak with investigators and initially told police he broke the windshield while "copping drugs" in Philadelphia, according to the affidavit. The affidavit also states Woods admitted to shooting up heroin while driving.

He was arraigned Tuesday.

"I cried when I found out that there was an arrest made," Katie Holford, a witness who works at the ice cream shop Weintraub visited before his death, told NBC10. "I was so relieved."

Prior to the hit-and-run, Woods was arrested for two DUIs in Bucks County and Philadelphia, according to court records.

Weintraub died only days before his wedding anniversary. His neighbor, Marie DiSalvo, told NBC10 Weintraub's wife later found the gift and card he left behind.

"He wrote a special, 'I love you. You're the best thing in my life,'" DiSalvo said. "Something very comforting for her."

Both neighbors and staff at the ice cream shop took up donations for Weintraub's family.What to Know Towne Point Elementary School in Dover, Delaware is closed Wednesday after a deadly shooting on school grounds overnight.

Teachers and students weren't at the school at the time. Superintendent Dr. Dan Shelton called the shooting a "domestic incident."

We have no reason to believe that there is currently any potential threat against any of our students or staff," Shelton said.

Out of an abundance of caution, a Delaware elementary school closed Wednesday after a man was shot and killed there overnight.

Dover officers found Derrick Combs dead of multiple gunshot wounds on the grounds of Towne Point Elementary School on Buckson Drive shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Dover police said.

Investigators found no threat to the school, calling the deadly shooting, not a random act.

The Capital School District decided to close the school In the spirit of utmost caution, superintendent Dr. Dan Shelton said in a statement posted to the districts website.

Teachers and students were gone for the day and never in danger in what Shelton called a domestic incident.

Dover Police Department works very closely with the Capital School District in incidents involving our schools, Shelton said. We have no reason to believe that there is currently any potential threat against any of our students or staff. This is an ongoing investigation by the Dover Police Department.

Students and staff should expect an increased Dover police presence when classes resume Thursday, Shelton said.

As you know, the Capital School District takes student and staff safety very seriously and are saddened by the unfortunate events that may take place in our neighborhoods, Shelton said.

Police didnt reveal a motive for the shooting but said they do have a person of interest in the case.Pennsylvania's governor is heading to Puerto Rico to examine damage from last year's Hurricane Maria and to develop cultural and business ties.

Gov. Tom Wolf is paying his own airfare and accommodations for the two-day trip that will end Friday morning.

Pennsylvania is home to more than 350,000 people who are from Puerto Rico or descendants of Puerto Ricans. The state has hosted people displaced by Maria.

The visit comes as the territory's governor increased its death toll from the September hurricane from 64 to nearly 3,000, based on an independent study.



A tanker truck filled with liquid hydrogen caught fire Wednesday in an El Cajon business park, Heartland Fire & Rescue officials confirmed.

Firefighters were called to Veridiam, a manufacturing plant located at 1717 Cuyamaca Street just after 8 a.m. for a report of an explosion.

They found a tanker truck known to be carrying between 1,500 to 2,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen on fire.

"It felt like a really small earthquake," Kyle Feliberty said. He works at a business near Veridiam. "The walls kind of shook a little bit, loud crash, but it didn't last long like a normal earthquake would."

Hazmat crew members were making entry into the area just before 10 a.m.

The product is being burnt off as its venting so there is no hazmat issue that residents should be concerned about. If youre sheltered in place, you should be OK at this time, said acting Battalion Chief Chris Case.

Images: Schools Evacuated Due to Fire on Hydrogen-Filled Tanker Truck

The venting process was part of an automatic safety feature on the truck, Case said. It began while crews were offloading the truck's product.

The fire was contained to the truck and there did not appear to be evidence that the truck exploded, Case said.

Case said he was not told what started the fire.

"The product is flammable and when it's exhausted from a vent there are a number of things could spark a flame," Case said.

It was not clear what the liquid hydrogen was being used for at Veridian. The tanker was delivering it there.

Approximately 150 students from IDEA Center, Chaparral and Merit Academy were moved to Grossmont High School.

Busses pulled into one of the campuses to load the students for the drive to Grossmont HS located at 1100 Murray Drive. By 9:30 p.m., a district spokesperson said all students were removed from the area.

Fire officials warned nearby businesses and residents to avoid the area for four hours.

El Cajon police officers were also called to help handle traffic.

San Diego Metropolitan Systems said the Sycuan Green Line was rerouted at Arnele Station and the Orange Line was rerouted at El Cajon Transit Center. Commuters using these trolley lines should expect delays.

The business park is located south of Gillespie Field, east of Cuyamaca Street and north of Fletcher Parkway. It is situated directly across the street from Idea Center High School and a block from Chaparral High School.

Ed. Note: Heartland Fire-Rescue officials initially reported the explosion at a different address. The correct address is listed in this version of the article.The City Attorneys office confirmed criminal charges have been filed against 10 demonstrators arrested in July at a Free Our Future protest in downtown San Diego.

A spokeswoman confirmed the City Attorney filed misdemeanor trespassing charges Monday against all the defendants.

During the rally, the group draped a banner from the side of the Westin hotel that read Free Our Families Now to speak out against President Donald Trump and his administrations zero-tolerance immigration policies.

Police said the group illegally went onto the roof of the Westin and some of them rappelled down the side of the building to display the banner. Others in the group blocked police from accessing the others by blocking a stairwell to the roof.

All 10 defendants entered the Westin with the intent of trespassing on Westin property, blocking people from going on to their roof, and rappelling off the side of their building without permission, said Director of Communications Hilary Nemchik.

Five defendants went to the roof. Three defendants appeared to be "spotting" the two defendants who rappelled off the side of the hotel, a spokeswoman confirmed.

Five other defendants blocked and delayed hotel and police from accessing the roof, some by chaining themselves inside a stairwell, according to the City Attorneys office.

Those five defendants also face an additional misdemeanor charge of resisting, obstructing or delaying a police officer, according to her office.

A spokesperson for the City Attorneys office confirmed nearly all of those arrested July 2 were wearing shirts that read: ABOLISH POL(I.C.E.) FREE ALL PEOPLE FROM CAGES!

Mijente, one of the groups that organize the protest events, called for all charges against protesters to be dropped.

The attacks our communities are facing from the Trump administration require that we fight back in every way, sometimes putting our bodies on the line for what we believe is right, said Mijente Director Marisa Franco.

City Attorney Mara W. Elliot released a statement explaining her decision to follow through with filing charges against the protesters.

I sympathize with the protesters message that families should not be torn apart, but do not condone their tactics, Elliott said. Their actions required a robust public safety response. Police officers were pulled from our streets and placed in a potentially dangerous situation. So were hotel security personnel and members of the public. Thousands peacefully protested in San Diego this summer without breaking laws or putting others in harms way. These 10 made a different choice, and will be held accountable.

During the rally, other demonstrators temporarily locked arms and blocked the entrance of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building on Broadway. The demonstrators who locked arms in front of the federal building eventually moved before they were arrested.

These are places where we have seen the criminalization of our community, said Mijente member Mara Mora, about why the group chose the federal building to protest.

The group began at Chicano Park where hundreds gathered before marching downtown calling for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion peacefully without interference, a spokeswoman for ICE responded.

Once the crowd reached downtown, the activists hung the sign from the Westin building while the crowd cheered.

Mijente organized a legal fund to help with the defense of those arrested, which can be found here.

NBC 7 obtained the names of the defendants: Ethan Buckner, Katherine Wines, Brianna Gibson, Avery Sinclair, Brittany Baker, Kevin Pang, Jaque Fragua, Nora Leccese, Roberta Capobianco and Nora Rasman.

None of the defendants live in San Diego.

A spokeswoman for the City Attorneys office said the defendants do not need to attend their arraignment, but will need to appear for trial.A new poll released by Telemundo suggests Hispanic voters in San Diego are more conservative when it comes to issues like immigration, separating families at the border and building a wall.

When asked about the Trump administrations handling of U.S. immigration policy, 63 percent of Hispanic voters in San Diego metro disapprove with 27 percent approving how the White House is handling issues involving immigration. That is 10 points above the approval ratings found in San Francisco, Central Valley and Los Angeles metro.

When asked about the presidents efforts to secure the border, in part by building a border wall, the majority of Hispanic voters in San Diego metro disapprove of the plan. However, 32 percent of those surveyed say they approve of the plan compared to 21 percent in the Bay Area, 22 percent in the Central Valley and 27 percent in Los Angeles metro.

The majority of San Diego metro Hispanic voters surveyed say they support so-called sanctuary cities. Fifty-six percent support it, 36 percent oppose it and 8 percent were undecided.

Extending the DACA program received overwhelming support with 83 percent of the Hispanic voters surveyed in San Diego approving the program.

Most Hispanic voters in San Diego oppose separating immigrant families that cross the border illegally. However, the 22 percent who support the policy is six points higher than those in the Central Valley and nine points higher than the Bay Area.

In order of importance, the voters listed the following as the most important issues facing California today: Jobs and wages, quality of public education, crime, public safety and school safety and immigration. Affordable housing ranked seventh on the list with protecting the environment appearing last.

This poll was conducted for Telemundo by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida from August 20 through August 22, 2018. A total of 625 registered Hispanic voters were interviewed statewide by telephone in California.

Ten percent of the voters surveyed were from San Diego County to reflect Hispanic voter registration by county.A group of parents whose sons died from or were affected by fraternity hazing incidents have banded together to strengthen laws and policies and to appeal directly to fraternity members to stop the potentially dangerous practice, NBC News reported.

The first goal of the Anti-Hazing Coalition is to pass legislation in Pennsylvania named for Tim Piazza that would punish hazing with prison time. Piazza, 19, died after fracturing his skull in an alcohol-fueled Penn State University hazing ritual.

His parents, Evelyn and Jim Piazza, told their sobering story to a group of 500 fraternity brothers at a gathering in Phoenix this month, the first time they spoke together to stop the kinds of incidents that killed their son. They called their talk, which touched on the moment they said goodbye to an unconscious Tim, "Love, Mom and Dad."

"I'm a big momma's boy, and hearing moms talk about their sons being hazed to death broke my heart," recalled Spencer Bradbury, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, after the event.

Matt Breida was clocked as the fastest ball-carrier in the NFL during the 2018 regular season, according to NFL Next Gen stats. We found out how that data was generated.

The group of parents have already gotten a law passed in Louisiana  named for Max Gruver, who died after a forced-drinking ritual at Louisiana State University  and have set their eyes on Georgia.What to Know A planned visit to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was delayed Friday

Pompeo's spokeswoman declined to comment on reports that a tough-worded letter from an aide to Kim Jong Un led to the delay

She said the US will be ready to engage when North Korea is ready to deliver on its commitment to denuclearize

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that there's no reason to spend a lot of money on military wargames with South Korea, but warned he could "instantly" relaunch the exercises again and they would be "far bigger than ever before."

Trump made the comment in a series of tweets that primarily took aim at China, blaming it for lack of progress on getting North Korea to end its nuclear program, following the president's landmark summit with Kim Jong Un in June.

But there was also a loaded message for Kim: mixing an expression of goodwill to the North Korean autocrat with an implicit military threat that will add to speculation over the direction of Trump's attempted rapprochement with a long-time adversary.

"The president believes that his relationship with Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games," Trump said, citing what was presented as a White House statement. "Besides, the president can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before."

Trump caught military leaders by surprise in June when he announced the suspension with the South, "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should." He called the drills costly and provocative.

The cancellation was an olive branch to Pyongyang, which has long complained that the exercises were invasion preparations. Often the North has reacted to the exercises with its own demonstrations of military might, including firing a new intermediate-range missile over Japan last year as a countermeasure to the drills.

There was some hope that the gesture of shelving the fall exercises would foster goodwill and help nudge the North in the denuclearization talks. But beyond returning the potential remains of about 55 U.S. troops missing from the Korean War, and its continuing suspension in its missile and nuclear tests, there has been little movement from the North.

As a result, the U.S. last week shelved a planned trip to Pyongyang by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing lack of progress on denuclearization, but remaining open to future talks.

As doubts grow in Washington and beyond over Kim's willingness to relinquish his nukes, Trump has been heaping blame on China, which is North Korea's traditional ally and main trading partner. On Wednesday the president accused Beijing of pressuring the North because of current tensions in U.S.-China trade relations, and also of providing North Korea money, fuel, fertilizer and other commodities, which he said was not helpful.

China cooperated with the U.S. last year in adopting tough international sanctions against North Korea and maintains it is still enforcing the restrictions adopted by the U.N. Security Council.

But in his tweets, Trump also signaled that the U.S. has its own military means of exerting pressure on Pyongyang. His remarks compounded confusing messages from the Pentagon over the past two days that have revived speculation over the drills.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters the U.S. might carry out drills with South Korea next spring after having cancelled a major exercise this summer. He said no decision has been made on when to resume military exercises, but his statements suggested the recent cancellation might not be repeated.

Several U.S. officials acknowledged Wednesday that planning is going forward for the spring exercises, which require months of preparation.

"Routine planning continues for major U.S.-ROK exercises on the peninsula in accordance with the normal exercise program planning cycle," said Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referring to the acronym for South's official name, the Republic of Korea.

Other U.S. officials also said preliminary work on the drills has begun, noting that it is much easier to cancel an exercise than it is to slap one together quickly. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the initial planning for the exercises can begin a year in advance, including the funding, scheduling and movement of forces and units that will participate. As time goes on, planners would nail down the war game scenario and other details.

"We continue to plan for exercises, but we can stop them on a dime," said Maxwell, a retired Army colonel who served five tours in Korea. "We can't restart them on a dime."

He said the risk of a continued halt in the major drills would be a diminishing of skills and institutional memory between South Korean forces and the more than 28,000 U.S. troops based there. "The longer we go without exercises, the more risk there is that we will suffer significant challenges if there is a war," Maxwell said.

U.S. officials said Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces in Korea, has taken steps to mitigate any loss of training by scheduling smaller exercises and staff drills.

A key challenge in Korea is that the bulk of the U.S. forces deploy for just a year, so they rely on the summer exercise to get familiar with the South Korean military and the ways allied troops coordinate and operate with them. The spring Foal Eagle drill is more expansive and includes fighter jets, maritime maneuvers, amphibious assault tactics and computer-simulated scenarios.Maryland's prisons are not allowing any visitors Wednesday after dozens of staff and inmates fell ill in Pennsylvania and Ohio from possible drug exposure.

The state's corrections department said in a release that prison visits were suspended until further notice. Prisons are accepting mail, but staff are not opening or distributing mail and they have been advised to use protective equipment, according to the release.

We are taking precautions to ensure the safety and security of our employees and inmates, Stephen T. Moyer, secretary for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said in the release.

In Pennsylvania, 29 employees at 10 prisons required treatment in recent weeks from exposure to a yet-unidentified substance described in some cases as a liquid synthetic drug. The illnesses prompted a statewide lockdown.

Prison guards, nurses and inmates were among the nearly 30 people treated for possible drug exposure inside Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, Ohio. The incident stared Wednesday morning when an inmate showed signs of a possible drug overdose, patrol spokesman Lt. Robert Sellers said.

As officers and medical responders arrived, 28 people, including 23 guards, four nurses and an inmate, were treated with naloxone, a drug used to combat overdoses caused by opioids such as heroin or fentanyl, Sellers said.

Officials don't believe the incidents in Ohio and Pennsylvania are related.

There have been no incidents in Maryland, the state's release said.

Maryland officials said they hope to resume visits by the weekend.Shoppers at a Target in Forestville, Maryland, saw a suspect stab a man before holding a woman at knifepoint outside the store Wednesday, police say.

Prince George's County Police Officer Irving Estime said he was inside the store on Donnell Drive when he saw a man with a knife who had just stabbed another man about 12 p.m.

The suspect then threatened a woman with the knife outside the store and held the weapon to her throat.

Estime ordered the suspect to drop the knife and let go of her.

"It was very hard. The backdrop, the customers, the people who were all around," Estime told News4.

As more officers rushed to the scene, the officer continued to keep the suspect's attention, which allowed the other officers to use a Taser on the suspect, police said.

"We just wanted to try to end the situation safely without anybody being harmed. Just communication was the biggest thing. Making sure I kept contact with him telling him, 'Hey, man. Drop the weapon you don't want to do this,' to let her go, and it helped. It worked," Estime said.

Police arrested the suspect and said the woman was not hurt. The man stabbed inside the store was stable, police said.

The suspect and the victims all knew each other, according to police.

Police are asking anyone who saw the incident to call 301-772-4433.While she should be attending freshman week at college, a teenager is testifying that her former teacher sexually assaulted her when she was 14.

The survivor, who is now 18 and an incoming freshman at a Virginia university, said she viewed their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Timothy Threlkeld, a former vocational education teacher of the year in Reston, surrendered his teaching license years ago when the inappropriate relationship was revealed. On Tuesday, he had his 42nd birthday.

The teen was visibly uncomfortable as she answered the prosecutor's questions about how the intimate contact began. She said it started with kissing but escalated.

The prosecutor asked, "Did he ever touch any of your private parts?"

"Yes," she responded. "My breast, my vagina and my butt."

In the closet of the shop classroom, she said, Threlkeld also made her touch him.

"He said that as a graduation gift, he would take my virginity away," she said.

A thick black binder containing 600 pages of texts sent over a few weeks in 2014 was introduced as evidence. According to the texts, Threlkeld had a pet name for the girl: Brat.

The improper relationship was discovered in late June 2014, when the teen's older sister caught her with Threlkeld on a planned movie date at Reston Town Center.

Police and school officials were alerted, but the girl told them they had only kissed. No charges were filed.

Threlkeld resigned from his position as a shop teacher at Langston Hughes Middle School in 2015, police said. He surrendered his teaching license when confronted by FCPS officials and moved away from the area.

In 2017, the teen came forward with new allegations, which resulted in charges: four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.

The prosecutor asked in court Tuesday, "Why did you not reveal all the details of what happened?"

"Because I was ashamed that it happened and scared," the teen testified.

On cross-examination in court, Threlkeld's attorney suggested that the teen had a crush on her teacher, pointing to a long message she allegedly wrote in Threlkeld's yearbook. The attorney also said the teen had embellished at least one incident in her diary.

The defense attorney also questioned whether two people would have fit in the closet were the alleged inappropriate acts occurred because it was packed with boxes.

It's unclear if the former teacher will take the stand on the third day of trial on Wednesday as the defense makes their case.The National Review Board overseeing priest sex abuse allegations for the American bishops has called for a lay-led investigation "into all allegations of sexual misconduct within the Church."

In a statement, which the NRB said comes in response to the release of the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report and recent allegations against the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, the organization said it supports strengthening a charter aimed at protecting young people established in 2002.

"While the policies and procedures that have been implemented by the Church since 2002 to address the sexual abuse of minors by the clergy have resulted in a significant decrease of such abuse, the revelations of horrific incidents of abuse in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, along with the abuse perpetrated by Archbishop McCarrick point to a systemic problem within the Church that can no longer be ignored or tolerated by the episcopacy in the United States," the statement reads.

It goes on to say, "The National Review Board has for several years expressed its concern that bishops not become complacent in their response to sexual abuse by the clergy. The recent revelations make it clear that the problem is much deeper."

The damning, years-long grand jury report implicates hundreds of Catholic clergy members in six of Pennsylvanias dioceses of sexually abusing thousands of young victims over many decades, court records revealed. On the heels of the scandal, Pope Francis decried the abuse and met with victims on his visit to Ireland over the weekend.

And during Francis' trip, an 11-page letter released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano alleged that Francis knew about sexual misconduct allegations against McCarrick, but rehabilitated him anyway. He declined to confirm or deny the allegation.

The grand jury report has brought investigations across the country. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked to meet with Catholic officials in all six Illinois dioceses. Madigan has identified seven priests who served in Illinois from the Pennsylvania report. Cardinal Blase Cupich said Monday he spoke with Madigan and pledged to cooperate as her office launches the investigation.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also this week asked for a meeting with the pope to discuss the crisis.

The National Review Board statement notes:

a systemic problem within the Church that can no longer be ignored or tolerated

what needs to happen is a genuine change in the Churchs culture, specifically among the bishops themselves

loss of moral leadership and an abuse of power

independent review into the actions of the bishop when an allegation comes to light

Dennis M. Doyle, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio and a Catholic theologian, said the National Review Board's call would be a notable shift in the church's history of a hierarchical authority.

The call for a lay-led investigation, he said, "is an acknowledgment that the people in power can't be in charge of investigating themselves."

The NRB said it supports revising the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, approved in Dallas in 2002, noting it did not include guidelines for bishops. The board was formed in 2002 in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal that started in the Boston Archdiocese and rocked the church globally.A young Massachusetts woman is dead and eight other people were taken to hospitals after a crash Tuesday in Gilford, New Hampshire.

Police say a Toyota Tundra with New Hampshire plates was seen driving westbound erratically on Route 11 around 4 p.m. Minutes later, police received multiple 911 calls about a serious crash on the same route, where the Toyota had crossed the center line and hit a Nissan Murano carrying five Massachusetts residents head-on.

A 20-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Nissan was taken to Lakes Region General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Nissan's driver, a 20-year-old man, was taken to that hospital, as well, before being airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchock Medical Center. A 45-year-old woman who was in the back seat was taken straight to Laconia Airport, where a helicopter also picked her up and took her to Dartmouth-Hitchock. Neither of those patients' conditions was known to police.

A 1-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl were also in child seats in the Nissan. Both were taken to Lakes Region General Hospital in stable condition.

The driver of the Toyota, a 47-year-old man, was taken by ambulance to Lakes Region General Hospital. The extent of his injuries was not known.

Police say a woman and two boys, relatives of the family in the Nissan, were in a Honda Element that was riding behind it. The driver pulled over immediately after the crash. After she got out, police say the Honda rolled backward and crashed into a fence.

None of the people in the Honda were injured, but all were taken to Lakes Region General Hospital for evaluation. Police said it was not known if the driver had forgotten to put the vehicle in park as she ran out to help her family members.

Route 11 remained closed in the area Tuesday night. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont says several towns across the state should repeal anti-panhandling ordinances.

The Vermont ACLU sent a letter this week asking Rutland Town, Barre City, Montpelier, Bennington, Brattleboro and Winooski to repeal their ordinances. The Times Argus reports the letter is in conjunction with a larger campaign with the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

ACLU staff attorney Jay Diaz says the organization is not currently planning legal challenges to the state ordinances but says a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision has resulted in the overturning of dozens of anti-panhandling ordinances.

Officials in many of the towns and cities say they don't think panhandling is a pervasive issue, but will discuss it at upcoming meetings.Police in Providence, Rhode Island, are investigating a late night stabbing that landed a man in the hospital.

A witness told police that two men and woman were involved in an altercation in front of a Doyle Avenue home at about 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Police say one of the people had a wooden masonry stake in his hands during the dispute.

A man and the woman later fled in a dark sedan, while the victim walked to a nearby supermarket with a stab wound to his back. Two officers gave the victim first aid before he was taken to Rhode Island Hospital.

No name or condition was immediately released and no arrests were announced.Authorities are asking the public to help find a missing New Hampshire woman.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office says 26-year-old Trish Haynes was last seen in the area of Grafton and Danbury in late June or early July.

Haynes is described as being about 5'6 and 110 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call 603-271-3636.Authorities in New Hampshire say the death of a woman at a home police visited for a welfare check was likely due to a medical issue.

Police went to the home in Salem earlier this month after getting a concerned call from a pizza shop. A man at the house had been ordering food from the business on a regular basis, but a deliveryman said he would only accept it through a window. The deliveryman also noticed blood on the man.

Police said the scene inside the house was one of the worst hoarding situations they had seen. They found the body of 87-year-old Florence Cotter.

The attorney general's office said Tuesday an autopsy showed her death was likely due to a medical issue, and not the result of criminal activity.Authorities say a man who fled a pickup truck following a police chase in Haverhill, Massachusetts, Wednesday morning is in custody.

The suspect has been identified as 27-year-old Boston resident Elias Sudler. He was charged with possession of a firearm without an FID, possession of ammunition without an FID, resisting arrest, possession of firearm in a felony, carrying a loaded firearm, arrestee furnishing false name/Social security number, assault & battery on police officer, and conspiracy to commit crime.

State police said Sudler, who has an extensive criminal history, was "flushed out" of a wooded area in the vicinity of Carleton Street in Haverhill by a police air wing and a K9 crew. He was taken into custody and then to an area hospital for treatment before being taken to the state police barracks in Newbury to be booked.

The search was frightening for area residents.

"It was scary. It was very scary," said Haverhill resident Janice Carmichael. "Several police cars and unmarked cars come running in here."

"First I saw probably about 3 or 4 helicopters circling up above," added Haverhill resident Chris Del Gaizo.

Authorities said in addition to Wednesday's charges, Sudler was the subject of a July 10 indictment out of Suffolk County charging him with stalking, sexual assault, and witness intimidation in connection to a romantic partner. Police said since then, Sudler had been the target of an arrest warrant.

Massachusetts Probation Service said Sudler was placed on probation back in 2016 for kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charges out of New Bedford District Court. In January, officials say, he was sentenced to probation in Boston for resisting arrest. While that Boston term was scheduled to end in March of 2019, a warrant was issued for violating probation in New Bedford when he allegedly failed to appear in court this April.

Police said Wednesday's pursuit of Sudler began when a trooper tried to stop a 1996 Chevrolet S pickup truck in which Sudler was a passenger for an inspection sticker violation. The driver, Ishap Abdul-Shafi, 35, of Quincy, didn't stop, which launched a police chase, according to authorities.

The pickup truck eventually stopped at a CVS on Route 97 near Interstate 495 in Haverhill, and Abdul-Shafi was taken into custody. He faces charges of failure to stop for police, negligent operation, conspiracy to commit a crime, and no inspection sticker.

When the vehicle stopped, state police say Sudler tried to grab a backpack that was in the car before running away without it, and that troopers found a firearm when they looked inside of it.

It's unclear if Sudler was armed during the pursuit.

Haverhill Public Schools announced on social media that dismissal for students at Haverhill High School will be held until the nearby situation is "100% contained," but added that students may be picked up by parents.

Sudler will be arraigned in Haverhill District Court.While officials continue investigating a call of shots fired at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, state police revealed new details into the case.

State police responded to the university Tuesday morning after campus police reported finding shell casings near the Phi Beta Epsilon house.

MIT police revisited the area after they received a call of shots fired at approximately 1:15 a.m. Tuesday. Officials responded to the scene after the initial call, but did not find any evidence, according to state police.

State Troopers and MIT police found several other casings and determined that two windows, a tree and an unoccupied car were struck by the rounds.

Officials interviewed several potential witnesses, the owner of the car struck and also reviewed surveillance footage. They checked nearby hospitals to see if any victims were that of shooting, but to no avail.

Students were surprised to wake up to the investigation Tuesday morning.

"It doesnt seem like the place people would really target... especially MIT in general. It's usually very safe, MIT Police always around," MIT junior Anthony Cheng told NBC10 Boston.

Officials are continuing the investigation. Anyone with information is encouraged to call MIT police at 617-253-2996.Two New Hampshire sisters are accused of breaking into a home in Manchester, with one also accused of assaulting a police officer.

A home invasion in the city's quiet North End neighborhood is unusual, and the owners of the North Adams Street home tell NBC10 Boston they're just grateful it didn't turn violent before police showed up.

It was just before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when the 66-year-old homeowner woke up to the sound of shattering glass. Police say the man went downstairs to investigate and was confronted by two women inside his home. He called 911 right away.

When officers arrived, the homeowner was out front, and the two intruders were still inside his house. Police say Sierra Harrison-Francis was covered in blood from breaking through the glass on the back door. Officers say when they tried to escort her out of the house, she started fighting back, smearing blood on them and kicking officers while they tried to cuff her.

One officer deployed his stun gun and got Francis under control.

Police say Francis broke into the house with her sister, Jajara Harrison-Francis, who they also arrested.

The homeowners didn't want to talk on camera, but they say they didn't recognize the women.

Sierra Harrison-Francis is facing multiple charges, including assaulting a police officer. Her sister is charged with hindering apprehension because she tried to prevent officers from arresting Sierra.

They were both arraigned Tuesday afternoon.Graduate students at Brandeis University in Massachusetts have reached their first labor deal with the school's administration.

A tentative three-year contract announced Tuesday would increase pay for graduate teaching assistants by up to 56 percent over the life of the agreement.

It's believed to be the first labor contract for graduate students at a private university since federal officials gave them the right to unionize in 2016.

Brandeis graduate student Ben Kreider says student workers are now "being recognized for the valuable work that we do."

School officials say they're pleased to have a tentative deal "after one year of hard work."

The agreement still must be approved by the union.

Harvard University announced in May that it will negotiate with its newly unionized graduate students. Columbia University's administration has said it will not.Norm Needleman is the president of the leading manufacturer of effervescent products in the United States, Tower Laboratories.

The company makes products for major brands like Alka Seltzer and generics that fizz.

If it fizzes, we make it, Needleman said Tuesday.

Needleman is currently running for State Senate as a Democrat against Republican Melissa Ziobron. The district includes Clinton where his company is located.

Since the Trump administration slapped tariffs on a host of products and materials, Needleman says hes nearing the point where he will have to raise prices, which means customers will see higher prices when they go to the store.

You cant have a worse way to execute tariff, trade policy than what hes doing because the end result is that the consumer pays more.

Specifically, the tariff on aluminum thats imported into the United States has led to retaliation by other countries, leading to prices hikes of 25 percent from Needlemans supplier. Combine that increase with a higher cost for stock for packaging from Canada as a result of another tariff, Needleman says hes already identified $800,000 in higher costs for his business.

Overall, the tariffs administered by the president have an impact of $174 million on goods and services, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest business advocacy groups in the United States.

The biggest pain is felt when it comes to exports to Canada and China with possible losses of $68 million and $67 million, respectively, as a result of the tariffs being enforced. Both countries have already retaliated with levies on goods coming from the United States.

A lot of things are humming and the last thing you want is something that puts a bump in the road, said Joe Brennan, the President of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the states largest business group.

Brennan says hes heard from large and small manufacturers and said more than half of the CBIAs membership is concerned with the impact the tariffs may have on their business. To many, Brennan says, the tariffs came out of nowhere.

Stability and predictability are really really important concepts and what this has done is run turmoil, if not chaos into some markets.

In the meantime, there is nothing Connecticut can do to change the course of the Trump administration, which has said publicly that while some employers and workers may be upset now, there is long-term growth that will follow as a result of the tariffs.

Brennan says no one knows that for sure, but said in state like Connecticut with a fragile state of economic affairs, the tariffs did not do anything to ease tensions of the state or the country falling back into a malaise.

As manufacturing is finally gaining some traction, companies are moving back to the US, now were imposing tariffs that are adding higher costs that make it more difficult for them to be competitive so the timing of this in some ways couldnt be worse, particularly in a state like Connecticut that relies so heavily on advanced manufacturing.The Vermont GOP met Wednesday night to pick new candidates for the November ballot after one man won six different races in the state Republican primary, then withdrew his nominations in five of those contests.

Republicans selected Lawrence Zupan to face Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent, for one of Vermont's U.S. Senate seats, and chose Anya Tynio to vie for Vermont's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, currently held by Democrat Peter Welch.

Vermont's Republican Party also selected Janssen Willhoit as its candidate for attorney general, to face incumbent Democrat T.J. Donovan. Rick Morton was nominated by Republicans in the race for treasurer, to face incumbent Democrat Beth Pearce.

Additionally, at its meeting Wednesday night, the state GOP chose Rick Kenyon as its nominee for auditor of accounts, an office currently held by Democrat Doug Hoffer.

The GOP nominees each replace H. Brooke Paige in their respective races, after the perennial candidate withdrew his candidacy in the five contests to focus on the sixth he wonthe nomination for secretary of state.

"People have become discouraged by the process," said Paige, who won the six political nominations on the same ballot in this month's Vermont state Republican primary.

Some politicians speculated that Paige's name being on the ballot so many times may be an indication of how tough it can be to convince people to run for office in today's climate.

Paige said he took the unusual step of pursuing so many offices just to ensure a Republican would make it on the ballot in each of those races in November's general election. He explained he feared if no one ran in the primary, it could mean incumbent Democrats could go uncontested this fall.

"I think it was better than having the communist slate where only one person is running for office," Paige told necn Wednesday.

But why weren't there more candidates in the primary?

Paige said he knows there are plenty of Republicans, even in a state with a liberal reputation, so he said he believes the time and cost of running for office is what's keeping people away: the need for would-be candidates to be working instead of campaigning.

"People are working themselves to death just trying to cover the bills, keep the mortgage payment paidget the taxes paid so their house doesn't go into arrears with the town assessor," Paige theorized. "And part of this [political] disengagement has been out of necessity to just try to keep their own lives and their own families afloat."

"People aren't stepping up the way they used to," observed Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont.

When asked about the situation at his weekly news conference Tuesday, Gov. Scott said he has noticed races from local school boards to legislative seats going uncontested, and wondered if the sometimes nasty tone in politics these days is to blame.

"I'm not sure that that bodes well, at times, for people to participate," Scott said of often-polarizing politics around the country.

Democrat Jim Condos is Vermont's current secretary of state, whom Paige will try to unseat.

"Uncontested races are not good for democracy," Condos said. "It's a great feeling to not have an opponent, but the reality is that it's always a better situation when you have a contested race  because you have the issues being dealt with, being discussed, being debated."

Condos said he is encouraged by the numbers of teens, college students, and people in their 20s he sees registering to vote, adding that he hopes some of them will one day want to enter politics themselves.WASHINGTON  The agriscience academy will most likely advance to the next phase of the project this week, pending state approval.

The long-discussed program is set to open next fall. It will focus on agriculture and STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and math. It is expected to include 35,750 square feet of new construction at Shepaug Valley School, while also using unused space within the school.

Project and Region 12 school officials were meeting with state Department of Administrative Services on Tuesday to go over the final checklist. Officials believed the state would give them the go-ahead to put the construction out to bid to build based on earlier conversations.

This is really just making sure weve done everything that needs to be done and I think weve done that, said Greg Cava, chairman for the Region 12 building committee.

The project could go out to bid this week, with responses expected back around the end of September. Those bids will then be brought to the committee for the Oct. 29 meeting with an expected construction start date in mid-November, said Lorel Purcell, of O & G Industries, the company serving as the construction manager.

Purcell expects 50 to 60 contractors to attend the prebid walk-through in mid-September.

We dont know what the bidding climate is like until we put our project out on the street, she said. Hopefully, well get some good turnout.

Purcell said it helps that the contractors busy season is winding down, which was a problem in the spring, when O&G bid for phase one  the demolition of the science wing and asbestos areas.

That phase wrapped up this summer with the fan remaining the major outstanding item. School officials shared concerns Monday that the temporary fan in place was not sustainable for the year of construction because it was too loud and didnt have a damper, which allows fresh air to enter the building, but not the frigid temperatures in the winter.

Don OLeary, Region 12 facilities manager, said they will have to retest the noise with the added sheetrock wall, adding they can spend five weeks without the damper, but a decision on how to handle that would need to be made at the next meeting when the architects and O&G representatives have more information.

Cava also questioned if fixing the fan was meant to be included in phase two and is now being pushed up to phase one or if it was poorly designed and is now an extra cost.

We are desperately unhappy with how that turned out and desperately unhappy that the mechanical engineers ignored Mr. OLearys protestations for months, Cava said.

The project is expected to cost $29.9 million, with the state paying nearly $24 million. The state awarded an additional $1.5 million to the district in the spring to purchase furniture and fixtures for the project. The school is renovating the science labs, bringing the total cost to about $34.4 million.

Now that the physical work has started, the committee will receive monthly reports describing the work, costs and progress photos.

Its really a snapshot of the construction, said Mark Jeffko, of O&G Industries.

Some of the project details include adding a greenhouse, an agricultural mechanics facility and animal facilities.

The program will serve 139 students from Region 12, Danbury, Brookfield, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown and Sherman. Bethel has not committed to joining the program.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345To the Editor:

I would like to express my thoughts of appreciation to the Honorable New Milford Mayor Pete Bass who gave a marvelous proclamation on Lt. Robert Peagler who served in World War II.

On June 24, 1945, two days after the Japanese had surrounded Okinawa, Peagler and his platoon were pinned down on a tiny island of Keise Shima, where the Japanese commander had left behind 1,000 fighting men to destroy remaining American troops.

Peagler at this time was killed by a sniper bullet pointing to the enemy.

We will continue to work hard to see that a medal of honor is awarded to Peagler posthumously.

An Army commissioned study in 1993 determined that racial consideration had resulted in African-Americans being passed over for the Medal of Honor.

The reality is that African lives do matter, most specifically when you give your life for your country.

Fran Smith

New MilfordThe Shepaug Valley School Class of 2020 will play host a Junk in the Trunk event Sept. 8 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Washington Primary School on School Street.

A rain date of Sept. 18 is planned.

Interested vendors can reserve one space - one parking space - for $25 by emailing Shepaug2020@gmail.com.

Forms/information will be emailed to vendors, and payment is due when paperwork is submitted.

Advertising will take place over the summer months.A study comparing two breathing tubes used by paramedics during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest shows that the King laryngeal tube was superior to the more commonly used endotracheal tube. Findings of the Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial, led by investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Alabama Resuscitation Center and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, show that the King LT was quicker and easier for EMS crews to insert than the traditional endotracheal tube, or ETI.

"Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a major public health problem in this country, with some 424,000 cases per year," said Shannon Stephens, EMTP, a researcher in the UAB Department of Emergency Medicine in the School of Medicine and the national project director for PART. "Only about 10 percent survive, and airway management during cardiac arrest is an extremely important aspect of treatment."

Paramedics often care for patients with cardiac arrest by inserting a plastic endotracheal tube into the lungs to assist with breathing. The King LT is a newer device. The study examined the performance of the two devices to see whether either produced higher 72-hour survival rates in adults with cardiac arrest treated by EMS responders.

Both breathing tubes are approved by the FDA and are not considered investigational devices. The two devices had not been compared to each other to determine whether one works better than the other until now.

Twenty-seven EMS agencies from five metropolitan areas in the United States participated in the PART study. A total of 3,004 subjects were enrolled, with 1,505 assigned to initial King LT and 1,499 assigned to initial ETI. Patient demographics and arrest characteristics were similar in both groups. Henry Wang, M.D., formerly the vice chair for research in the UAB Department of Emergency Medicine and now in a similar role at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, was the national primary investigator of the study.

"The elapsed time from first EMS arrival to airway start was shorter for King LT than ETI by more than two and a half minutes," Wang said. "EMS crews successfully inserted the King LT tube on their first try 90 percent of the time, while the ETI group had an initial success rate of just 51 percent. The ETI group was more likely to require more than three insertion attempts, about 19 percent of the time, while the King LT group needed more than three attempts under 5 percent of the time."

The main outcome of the study, 72-hour survival, was significantly higher for King LT than for ETI, (18.3 percent vs. 15.4 percent). Secondary outcomes were also better for King LT than ETI, including survival to hospital discharge (10.8 percent vs. 8.1 percent), and favorable neurological status at discharge (7.1 percent vs. 5.0 percent).

"If all EMS systems across the country were to shift to King LT as the primary advanced airway for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients and experienced similar survival rates, more than 10,000 extra lives would be saved each year," Stephens said.

Source: http://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9714-uab-led-study-new-breathing-tube-used-during-cardiac-arrest-could-save-thousandsLed by the University of Sydney researchers and published today in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, this is the first population-based cohort study to assess both adult fertility and cancer risk after surgical correction (orchidopexy) for undescended testes in early childhood. The procedure moves an undescended testicle into the scrotum and permanently fixes it there.

"In addition to an increased risk of testicular cancer, we found that boys with undescended testes had decreased paternity and increased use of assisted reproductive technologies for infertility in later life," said the University of Sydney's Professor Natasha Nassar, the study's senior author.

"The study provides new evidence to support international guidelines recommending surgery before 18 months for boys with undescended testes to reduce the risk of both testicular cancer and infertility later in life."

But compliance with these guidelines remains poor with almost half of all boys with undescended testes in Australia and more than three-quarters worldwide being operated on after 18 months, say the research team from the University of Sydney, Curtin University and the Telethon Kids Institute.

"Before this study, there was no evidence-based information on the impact of early surgery on the future risk of testicular cancer and infertility in adult males," said study leader, Dr Francisco Schneuer of the University of Sydney.

"Early diagnosis, ongoing examination and monitoring by parents and health practitioners and timely referral to surgery of boys with undescended testes is important to ensure adherence with guidelines.

"Early surgery can reduce the risk of malignancy and male infertility, and ultimately has the potential to reduce future adult male reproductive disorders."

Study details

This is a population-based cohort study of 350,835 boys born in Western Australia between 1970 and 1999. The cohort was followed until 2016 by linking to data registries for hospital admissions, birth defects, cancer, and assisted reproductive technologies.

Key findings

+ Boys with undescended testes had 2.4 times the risk of adult testicular cancer compared to unaffected boys

+ The risk of testicular cancer increased by 6 percent with each 6-month increase in age at time of surgery (orchidopexy)

+ Boys with undescended testes had a 20 percent lower chance of paternity in adulthood compared to unaffected boys, and were more than twice as likely to use assisted reproductive technology for infertility as adults.

Male reproductive disorders increasing worldwide

+ Undescended testes is the most common reproductive birth defect in infant boys. One in 100 boys are affected and will require surgery

+ Testicular cancer affects young men aged 20-40 years, is the second most common cancer in young men and while rare, has increased by 50 percent in the last 30 years

+ Male infertility is a major challenge, with 5-10 percent of men worldwide being infertile.When paramedics resuscitated cardiac arrest patients with a new type of breathing tube, their patients were more likely to survive, according to a University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth)-led study in today's JAMA.

"Based upon these results, use of the newer, more flexible laryngeal breathing tube could result in thousands of saved lives every year," said lead author Henry E. Wang, M.D., M.S., professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.

"This is one of the first randomized trials to show that a paramedic airway intervention can improve cardiac arrest survival," said Wang, who described the study as a multicenter head-to-head comparison between the newer intubation tube and a traditional one.

Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the study is the largest of its kind to test oxygen delivery methods used by firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics.

"For over three decades, emergency medical services personnel in the U.S. have performed intubation to deliver oxygen into the lungs of cardiac arrest victims. While identical to techniques used by doctors in the hospital, intubation in the prehospital setting is very difficult and fraught with errors," Wang said. "Our trial showed that cardiac arrest patients treated using the newer and easier laryngeal tube device may have a higher survival rate."

Sudden cardiac arrest, or loss of mechanical activity of the heart, is usually caused by a heart attack. More than 400,000 individuals are treated for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year, with the vast majority occurring at home, according to the American Heart Association. Studies show that only about 10 percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive. Delivery of oxygen to the lungs is a critical part of reviving a patient from cardiac arrest.

The research study - Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial - compared survival rates among 3,000 adults with cardiac arrest treated by paramedic crews from 27 emergency medical services (EMS) agencies from December 2015 to November 2016. Approximately half received the newer laryngeal tube airway, while the other half received traditional endotracheal intubation.

The study (NHLBI grant UH2/UH3-HL125163) was conducted by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium research network and included the Birmingham, Dallas-Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Portland communities.

Overall, survival was higher in the new tube device group than the standard intubation group. With the new tube, 18.3 percent survived three days in the hospital, while in the intubation group, 15.4 percent survived three days. A total of 10.8 percent in the new tube group survived to leave the hospital, while 8.1 percent in the intubation group survived to leave the hospital. The proportion of patients surviving with good brain function was also higher for the new device than standard intubation.

While additional research is needed to support the study's findings, the researchers believe that the benefits of the newer airway device are due to its easier technique, leading to better blood flow and oxygen delivery. They are continuing to analyze the data to gain additional insight into the study results.Nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans died as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria last year, a number that dwarfs the government's initial tally of 64, according to a report commissioned by Puerto Rican officials and released Tuesday.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello, who asked for the research following criticism of the American territory's low death count, said his government accepts the new numbers and wants to learn from the crisis.

"The magnitude of the catastrophe was without precedent in Puerto Rico and there was certainly disagreement with the total number," Rossello said at a press conference. The report was completed by researchers at the George Washington Universitys Milken Institute School of Public Health who examined death records for six months after the storm and attributed 2,975 deaths to the disaster.

In comparison, Hurricane Katrina, which is one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history, killed more than 1,800 people.

Hurricane Maria barreled into Puerto Rico Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm. Destruction was widespread, severely crippling the island. Both the electrical and water systems were knocked out in some areas for months. Hospitals and other public health services were damaged, doctors' offices lost power and often remained closed and medical supplies were difficult to find.

Health advocates scoffed at the government's initial death toll and said many people died after the storm because they lacked medicine, couldn't get adequate medical treatment or had chronic diseases that were aggravated by the post-storm conditions.

The official government estimate of 64 deaths was low because it counted only those directly attributable to the storm, such as drowning deaths or injuries caused when buildings collapsed, according to the report. The George Washington researchers instead inspected death certificates and other records, and they calculated the excess deaths by comparing historical death rates to the actual number of people who perished.

In addition, the GW researchers analyzed death statistics for age groups, gender and geography.

"I would say this is a study that can provide everybody a sense of security that, yes, this is a number that you can use as a reference for the future," said Carlos Santos-Burgoa, principal investigator and professor of global health at GW's school of public health.

According to the study, the number of excess deaths is 22 percent higher than what would be expected had the hurricane not hit the island. The risk of dying for men over the age of 65 was 35 percent higher than the baseline, and it remained elevated through the end of the study. And people living in poorer areas were 45 percent more likely to die.

Santos-Burgoa said the risk people in poorer municipalities faced is a "major concern" because it shows the level of inequity on the island before the hurricane hit and was exacerbated in the aftermath.

"It's a very strong message in Puerto Rico and people addressing natural disasters all over the world: Don't treat people as homogenous groups," Santos-Burgoa said.

At a briefing for reporters in San Juan, Rossello discussed several initiatives to bolster the island's disaster preparedness, including counting vulnerable populations like the chronically ill and creating a commission to handle recommendations to improve the island's emergency response systems.

"This is a time for Puerto Ricans to bind together, to mourn, to reflect on the things that were done properly and things that were mistakes," he said. "And have the firm commitment to identify those mistakes and make sure that moving forward toward the future, those mistakes aren't committed."

The report is the latest in a series of analyses done by universities and one newspaper to answer the question of how many perished in the storm.

A survey published in May in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated more than 4,600 excess deaths occurred from the day the hurricane made landfall to the end of the year. A separate investigation by The New York Times found 1,052 lives lost. A research letter published in JAMA in August estimated more than 1,100 deaths.

Earlier this summer, Puerto Rican officials quietly released data that dramatically upgraded its official death toll to 1,427.

The researchers also examined Puerto Rico's crisis communications and death certification process in place during Hurricane Maria. Interviews at the governor's central communications office revealed there was no written plan in case of a disaster. Government officials said they had no knowledge of a coordinated plan between the health department and public safety department to report deaths.

Instructional materials about death certification did not tell providers how to handle deaths in the event of a disaster. And so many deaths that were related to the damage from the hurricane were not recorded as storm-related, complicating efforts by officials to identify Maria's death total.

John Mutter, a professor at Columbia University who researches disaster management, said death certificates are "critical" to determining what is attributable to the hurricane. Mutter, who was not involved in the GW study, said specific death information can help researchers identify who died as a result of the disaster and who were the most vulnerable populations.

"It is the way we scale tragedy," he said, noting that he believes the GW study is a good estimate.

The report offered recommendations on how Puerto Rico can improve its response systems, including updating communications plans and enhancing training for public health professionals. Those investments could prove tricky for the island, however, because its finances are controlled by a federally appointed fiscal control board.A new mathematical model for malaria shows how competition between parasite strains within a human host reduces the odds of drug resistance developing in a high-transmission setting. But if a drug-resistant strain does become established, that same competition drives the spread of resistance faster, under strong selection from antimalarial drug use.

"It's basically a numbers game," says Mary Bushman, who developed the model for her PhD thesis in Emory University's Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution Graduate Program. "When you already have multiple strains of malaria within a population, and a drug-resistant strain comes along, it will usually go extinct simply because it's a late-comer. Whichever strain is there first has the advantage."

PLOS Biology published the findings, a computational framework that modeled a malaria epidemic across multiple scales: Transmission of parasites from mosquitos to humans, and the dynamics of parasites competing to infect blood cells while they also battle the immune system of a human host.

After creating the model, Bushman ran simulations tracking malaria in a population for roughly 14 years. The simulations included 400 theoretical people who were randomly bitten by 12,000 mosquitos that were infected with malaria parasites classified as either drug resistant or drug susceptible. Various levels of treatment with antimalarial drugs were also part of the simulations.

"Our model holds strong relevance for infectious diseases beyond malaria," says Jaap de Roode, an evolutionary biologist at Emory and senior author of the paper. "We hope this research gives others a method to look at disease dynamics across scales of biological organisms to learn how drug resistance develops in a range of pathogens."

The study's authors also include Emory biologist Rustom Antia (a specialist in infectious disease modeling) and Venkatachalam Udhayakumar, a malaria expert from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria.

The researchers are now working to develop their specific model for malaria into a generalized software tool for infectious diseases. "Computer models can sometimes give you insights that would be too difficult to get in a real-world setting," says Bushman, who is now a post-doctoral fellow in the Antia lab.

Malaria occurs in poor, tropical and subtropical areas of the world, although most of the global death toll consists of children from sub-Saharan Africa. People infected in this high-transmission area often have multiple strains of the parasite and, by the time they have reached adulthood, they have usually developed partial immunity.

"It's a baffling disease," Bushman says. "Malaria has been studied for more than 100 years, much longer than most diseases, but there is still a lot that we don't understand about it.

Malaria is caused by several species of Plasmodium parasites that are transmitted to humans by mosquitos. Plasmodium falciparum, the most common malaria parasite on the continent of Africa, is the one responsible for the most malaria-related deaths globally.

P. falciparum has developed resistance to former first-line therapies chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Resistance has also emerged in Southeast Asia to the third and last available treatment, artemisinin combination therapy, or ACT.

One of the mysteries about malaria is why drug-resistant strains tend to emerge first in low-transmission areas, like Southeast Asia, and not appear until much later in Africa, where transmission is high.

Previous research led by de Roode and Bushman showed that when people are co-infected with drug-resistant and drug-sensitive strains of malaria, both strains are competitively suppressed.

For the current paper, the researchers wanted to get a more detailed understanding of these dynamics. Some evidence had shown that within-host competition could suppress resistance, while other studies showed that it could ramp resistance up.

"It was a little bit of a puzzle, why the findings were conflicting," Bushman says.

The new model, driven by evidence for how malaria parasites work within the immune system and the blood cells they infect, provided a solution to the puzzle.

"Some previous models were based on the assumption that when you put two strains of malaria into a host, they split 50-50," Bushman says. "But our model showed that the system is asymmetrical. When you put two strains in a host they virtually never split 50-50."

The late-comer will usually go extinct, which explains why in high-transmission areas drug resistant strains are at a big disadvantage. But in low transmission areas, such as Southeast Asia, a drug resistant strain has a better chance of arriving first in a host and getting established.

The new model also showed how once a drug-resistant strain becomes established in a high transmission area, it will spread much faster than it would in a low transmission area.

"The distinction between establishment and spread just jumped out of the data," Bushman says. "Our model validated both sides of the argument -- that within-host dynamics of competing parasites could both repress and accelerate the spread of resistance. The phenomena are occurring at different stages of the process so they both can happen."

The results offer a new explanation for why chloroquine resistance arrived relatively late in Africa, appearing in Kenya and Tanzania in 1978, but then spread rapidly across the continent.Cancer researchers struggle to identify tumor cells that are interspersed within nonmalignant tissues because tumor cells exploit the tissue environment and monopolize available resources to continue growing. Researchers attribute cancer cell's ability to use cell signaling and metabolic pathways that override normal cell growth restrictions to complicated chemical exchanges between tissue and tumor cells. A new approach shows promise to begin analyzing cell-to-cell interactions in this complex environment.

Researchers at the University of Washington have demonstrated a new technique for mapping the flow of biomolecules in and around solid tumors. In a special issue of Biointerphases, an AVS journal from AIP Publishing, that is highlighting women in the field of biointerface science, the group uses time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to observe how molecules move and how tumors send signals to their microenvironment and sap local tissue of resources.

"People are going to see that this TOF-SIMS technique, when combined with knowledge of tumor cell behavior, will allow researchers to understand what's happening on the chemical molecular level," said Lara Gamble, an author on the paper. "Are there certain molecules, lipids or fuels that tumors suck away from regular tissues to help them grow?"

Tumor cells can draw in lipids from neighboring cells to help build bigger membranes and provide energy for bloated tumor cells. Blood vessels can become disrupted, leaving "blood lakes" inside tumors that some researchers believe feed the growing tumor.

Various methods have been developed for identifying where a tumor is and how it utilizes connective tissue like blood vessels to sustain its growth, but, until recently, little has been understood about what kinds of signals tumors use to achieve this. To address this question, Gamble and her colleagues use TOF-SIMS to blast nanoscale regions of a tumor so parts leave the sample and enter a mass spectrometer. This device then separates and counts molecules based on their molecular weight.

Scanning areas of 800 nanometers or less, the approach generates a map for where any particular molecule is present in a tumor sample. One square millimeter is reported to take about an hour and a half to map.

The group tested their technique on an inducible mouse model of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumorigenesis that is well-established as a model for studying the interaction between oncogenes and tumor suppressors, which together generate highly aggressive cancers.

When mapped, the mouse tumor microenvironments showed significant changes in metabolism. The ToF-SIMS technique was able to identify alterations to the normal flow of a wide variety of molecules ranging from larger lipids and nucleotides down to single ions.

Next, Gamble and her group plan to use their technique on earlier time-points of tumor induction in an attempt to chart out a series of chemical signals that tell the story of pancreatic tumor growth.

"We're also looking to see if the there's cross-talk between tumors," Gamble said. "We would like to identify the molecules that could both initiate and maintain tumor growth."Patients living with bipolar disorder and depression will soon be able to use a unique wearable sensor to safely monitor their lithium drug levels.

In a study published by the journal ACS Sensors, researchers from the University of Surrey detail how they produced what is believed to be the world's first fiber-based sensors which are ready-to-use to test lithium levels after production. Unlike current sensors on the market that are not wearable, there is no need for pre-conditioning of the sensor in solution for hours beforehand or on a daily-basis.

Lithium is an antipsychotic drug used to treat mood conditions such as bipolar disorder and depression. The drug must be carefully monitored when given to patients, as the wrong dose could prove to be highly toxic. Lithium levels initially need to be checked five to seven days after the first dose, followed by weekly checks until levels stabilize between two doses - after which levels are typically monitored every three months.

The new miniature sensors were shown to quickly and accurately detect lithium concentration levels - from clinically effective, to toxic concentration limits. The sensor is able to detect lithium concentration in the blood even if there is a high concentration of sodium.

Dr Carol Crean, Senior Lecturer in Physical and Material Chemistry at the University of Surrey, said: "We believe that our new sensors will help many people across the world living with mood disorders, such as bipolar and depression. Our sensors will give those who are receiving treatment the opportunity to monitor their lithium levels with a stable and easy to use wearable sensor. They will give people a real alternative to the currently available invasive blood samples, making monitoring their lithium levels as easy as putting on a t-shirt."

According to the Mental Health Foundation, there were four million cases in the UK of mood disorders, including bipolar and depression, and major depression is thought to be the leading cause of disability worldwide.A self-powered sensor developed at the University of Waterloo could allow doctors to remotely monitor the recovery of surgical patients.

The small, tube-like device is designed to be fitted to braces after joint surgery to wirelessly send information to computers, smartphones or smartwatches to track range of motion and other indicators of improvement.

That data would be continuously collected, so it would be as though the physician or physiotherapist was always there, always observing the patient, said Hassan Askari, an engineering doctoral candidate at Waterloo.

The same sensor could also be used in a variety of other ways, including in the tires of autonomous vehicles to detect and respond to icy roads.

A prototype built and tested by the researchers combines electromagnetism and triboelectricity, a relatively new energy harvesting technique that involves bringing different materials together to produce current.

When bent or twisted, the device generates enough electricity for sensing and powering electronic circuits for processing and wireless signal transmission. The aim was to develop a sensor that works without having a battery attached to it, said Askari. It is its own power source.

That makes the device well-suited for applications that put a premium on reliability and where it would be difficult or expensive to replace worn-out batteries. Askari estimated the sensors  about six centimeters long and one centimeter wide - could be commercially manufactured for $5 to $10 each.

Research is now focused on making them smaller and more sensitive using triboelectricity alone. The software is also being developed to process signals for the tire application.

When attached to the inside of tires, they could sense changing road conditions and instantly send information to control systems to enable self-driving vehicles to make adjustments.

Based on the forces, the interaction between the road and the tires, we could actually detect ice or rain, said Askari. That is extremely important information for autonomous driving.The European MACUSTAR consortium is conducting a multi-country clinical study on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) coordinated by the University of Bonn. The clinical study focuses on the intermediate stage of the disease, in which a person's vision under low-light and low-contrast conditions is impaired. Throughout Europe, a total of 20 study centers will recruit and follow-up with 750 patients. The study rationale and protocol has recently been published in the journal Opthalmologica.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is associated with a progressive loss of photoreceptor cells at the point of sharpest vision. People older than 60 years are most affected, corresponding to around 2.5 million people in the European Union. The number of persons affected by AMD is expected to rise due to increasing life expectancy. Disease progress from an early stage to an intermediate stage is typically associated with low-light and low-contrast vision problems. Late stage AMD usually leads to irreversible central vision loss.

Currently, clinical tests available are good at diagnosing the loss of vision in late stage AMD. However, they are not sensitive to changes in vision in earlier stages of the disease, thus, hampering the testing of treatment methods to prevent or delay progression of early AMD stages. Therefore, MACUSTAR is developing novel tests to assess earlier stages of AMD.

20 Study Centers Examine 750 Patients in Europe

The core of the MACUSTAR project is a three-year observational study of 750 patients who have intermediate and other stages of AMD. They will be recruited by 20 participating clinical trial centers in seven European countries. Aim of the investigation is to find variables that provide reliable information on disease progression or stability, which could then be further developed into clinical tests.

The article published in the peer-reviewed journal Ophthalmologica summarizes the methods used to assess AMD and its impact on function and quality of life. For example, high-resolution imaging techniques will provide information on anatomical changes in the retina. Besides conventional visual function tests, vision under low-light conditions and contrast vision will be determined. Researchers will also capture the light sensitivity of the macula, the duration of dark adaptation, and reading speed and visual path navigation under low-light conditions. In addition, questionnaires will provide information on how visual impairment is perceived by the study participants. The MACUSTAR consortium aims to identify the best method or combination of methods that indicate if a novel therapeutic approach can stop AMD progression in the future.

The Consortium

Besides the University of Bonn and GRADE Reading Center Bonn, Moorfields Eye Hospital London (MBRC), University College London (UCL), City University of London (City), Fondation Voir et Entendre (FVE) Paris, Association for Innovation and Biomedical Research on Light and Image (AIBILI) Coimbra, Radbound University Medical Center (RUMC) Nijmegen, University of Sheffield and the European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN) Paris as well as the companies Bayer AG, Novartis Pharma AG, Carl Zeiss-Meditec and F. Hoffmann La-Roche are involved.

The MACUSTAR consortium received a 16 million grant from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (IMI2 JU) supported by the Horizon 2020 European Union Research and Innovation Framework Program and EFPIA.Scientists at The University of Texas at El Paso have received nearly $6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to improve treatment and develop new diagnostic tools to assess post-therapeutic outcomes for patients with Chagas disease.

Igor Almeida, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences, is the principal investigator (PI) of the award -- a five-year grant worth $5,713,730 -- from NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Almeida will work with Katja Michael, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and one of the grant's co-PIs, and several other investigators from the U.S., Bolivia and Spain. They will conduct a phase II clinical trial in Bolivia with new regimens of the drugs benznidazole and nifurtimox, and new biomarkers for the chemotherapy follow-up. This is the first clinical trial with UTEP as the leading institution.

The drugs for Chagas disease are toxic and have low efficacy in the treatment of chronic infection. Almeida, Michael and colleagues hope to improve their safety and efficacy by testing new regimens and biomarkers that will provide a more efficient measure of disease state and treatment outcomes.

"This is an important validation of the work being conducted in the College of Science and at The University of Texas at El Paso," said Robert Kirken, Ph.D., College of Science dean. "This grant was awarded based on the merits of the science, of the work being conducted by Dr. Almeida and Dr. Michael to combat one of the world's most widespread parasitic infections that has been targeted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for public health action."

Chagas is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to animals and people by insect vectors, popularly known as kissing bugs, and by blood transfusion, organ transplant, congenitally, and by contaminated foods and juices. The disease has been endemic to Latin America, affecting 6 million to 7 million people, but it is rapidly spreading through the United States, Europe and other nonendemic regions as a result of globalization. Yet, there is no fully effective drug and no clinical vaccine, although there have been several experimental efforts throughout the years.

"We are, of course, very excited and grateful to receive this highly competitive award from NIH," Almeida said. "Developing new therapeutic approaches for Chagas disease is something we have been working on diligently for some time. This grant will allow us to move forward with those efforts with the hope of ultimately improving the efficacy and safety of treatment that can change the course of Chagas disease treatment worldwide."

Almeida began work on Chagas disease 28 years ago. In recent years, he began collaborating with Michael to further develop new therapeutic approaches and diagnostic tools, based on synthetic parasite sugars.

"We look forward to furthering our work on this potentially life-saving venture," Michael said. "This is a testament to the quality of research that is conducted here at UTEP. We are grateful to be able to continue our work and offer students a chance to take part in research that could impact the world."Scientists have built a model that predicts how temperature affects the spread of Ross River virus, a common mosquito-borne virus in Australia, according to a report in the journal eLife.

The research demonstrates the importance of using temperature to predict epidemics of mosquito-borne diseases and could help public health bodies prepare for the impact of climate change on the spread of tropical diseases worldwide.

"Scientists are realizing that warmer temperatures mean longer mosquito seasons and mosquitoes entering new regions where it was previously too cold for them to survive," says senior author Erin Mordecai, Assistant Professor in Biology at Stanford University's School of Humanities and Sciences, US. "Warm temperatures also speed up the biological processes that help mosquitoes spread viruses. But working out the precise effect of temperature on different stages of mosquito growth and spread of viruses is tricky, because so many factors are involved."

Australia and the Ross River virus (RRV) offer an ideal opportunity to study the effects of temperature on disease transmission. RRV infects between 2,000-9,000 people each year in Australia and causes long-term joint pain and disability. Most people live in cities ranging in latitude from the north to the south of the country. Each season, as the temperature rises, RRV epidemics move from the subtropical north to temperate south.

The team used two species of mosquito most responsible for RRV outbreaks in Australia to build a model using laboratory data on traits such as mosquito growth, survival, bite rate and infectiousness in response to different temperatures. "Our model correctly predicted that RRV is endemic across tropical Northern Australia year-round, and is seasonally epidemic in the cooler regions of Southern Australia," explains Sadie Ryan, Associate Professor of Medical Geography at the University of Florida, US, and second author of the study. "When human population data was added into the model, its prediction of seasonal patterns matched recorded human cases of RRV."

The model determined that the optimal temperature for RRV spread was 26C (80F) and transmission would be limited at temperatures below 17C (63F) and above 32C (89F), which matches current patterns of disease. Mosquito lifespan was the most important temperature-dependent factor limiting transmission, and fertility and survival were prohibiting factors at temperatures that were too low or high for transmission. As transmission is limited by temperatures that are too cold and too hot, it may increase in some locations as a result of climate warming, while decreasing in others.

"Our study provides strong evidence that temperature drives infection patterns at the continent-wide and seasonal levels," says first author Marta Shocket, Postdoctoral Scientist in Stanford's Biology Department. "In the short term, our work will help researchers build better statistical models for RRV which can be used to make more specific predictions based on climate change. In the long term, it should help mosquito control agencies better plan for the future and may provide further evidence of the need to combat climate change."The Sinister Six: Learn the comic book history of Spider-Man's greatest foes before No Way Home

What do Marvel comic books tell us about the Sinister Six in the MCU?Canberra : Members of newly-appointed Australian prime Minister Scott Morrison's cabinet were sworn in on Tuesday after an internal dispute of the ruling Liberal Party that led to a change in its leadership and the head of the government.

The ceremony took place in the presence of Morrison before Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Australia's Head of State, reports Efe news.

Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg already took office on August 24, a few hours after being elected as leader and deputy leader of the Liberal Party in a vote that ended the leadership and government of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was sworn in on Monday.

Dutton, who tried to unseat Turnbull, was re-appointed as home affairs minister, a post he previously held during the Turnbull administration, but without the portfolios of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, which were taken over by David Coleman.

Other members of the new Cabinet include Marise Payne, who left her post as Defence Minister to take the Foreign Affairs portfolio in the new cabinet.

Christopher Pyne will replace Payne in defence, while Steve Ciobo will become the new Defence Industry Minister and leave his trade portfolio for Simon Birmingham.

The Ministry of Energy and Environment will be divided in two different portfolios, with Angus Taylor, known for his opposition to renewable energies, assuming the first and Melissa Price taking the latter.

Dan Tehan will become the new education minister while Mathias Cormann remains in charge of Finance in the new conservative-leaning cabinet with numerous Dutton allies.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, considered the main figure fomenting the party opposition against Turnbull, however, did not receive any promotions but it is possible that he will be appointed as a special envoy for Indigenous Affairs.

Turnbull, who took office in 2015 after snatching the seat from Abbott in a similar party dispute, announced that he will leave the parliament this week after being cut off from the government, which was seen as very inclined to the left by the more conservative section of the Liberal Party.

Australia will hold a general election in 2019.

Internal power struggles and leadership changes have become frequent in Australia for nearly a decade, both during the governments of the Liberal-National coalition and the Labour Party.

Not a single Australian Prime Minister has managed to complete a full term since 2007.Kathmandu : A meeting of senior officials of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) member states kicked off here on Tuesday.

In the meeting chaired by Nepali Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi, foreign secretaries from the members countries held talks on trade and investment, transport and communications, technology, counter-terrorism and transnational crime, agriculture, poverty alleviation and public health.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the fourth Bimstec summit on August 30-31. During his visit, his Nepali counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli is expected to hold talks with him, the Kathmandu Post reported.

On Tuesday, the foreign secretaries were also expected to prepare the agenda for the main summit. Bimstec Foreign Ministers will meet on Wednesday to discuss the Kathmandu Declaration.

Nepal serves as the current chair of the sub regional body formed in June 1997. It comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Nepali officials said preparations for the main summit were complete. According to the itinerary, after two back-to-back meetings of the senior officials and foreign ministers, formal opening of the summit will take place on Thursday. The heads of government will start arriving in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

Before the opening session of the summit, Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari will meet Bimstec leaders and will host a luncheon in honour of the visiting delegates.

Later, all the heads of state/government will make their opening remarks during a programme chaired by Oli. He will then hold talks with the leaders in the evening.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bhutanese Chief of interim government Lyongpo Tshering Wangchuk, Myanmar's President Win Minta, Sri Lankan President Maitripala Sirisena, and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan O Chale will take part in the summit.Beijing : China on Wednesday denied a media report that it is helping Afghanistan build a military base and eventually plans to deploy its military in the strife-torn country.



According to the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, Beijing has begun building a training camp for Afghan troops in a narrow corridor that connects the two countries.

The daily quoted a source as saying the Beijing was fully funding the base to help Kabul improve counterterrorism efforts.

Once the camp was completed, the People's Liberation Army was likely to send hundreds of military personnel - at least one battalion worth - to Afghanistan's isolated Wakhan Corridor, the Post quoted another source as saying.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the report was "not true".

Asked which part of the report Beijing was denying, Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "You know this report which talked about China planning to set up military training bases and send in troops. If setting up military bases is not true, then what comes next is also not true."

The corridor is a barren and inhospitable stretch of land that connects Afghanistan's province of Badakhshan to China's restive Xinjiang.

China has launched a massive crackdown against Ugyhur Muslims in Xingjiang who it suspects have separatist tendencies.

Afghanistan has become increasingly important for China's own security as well as President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" trade and infrastructure plan.New Delhi : Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday asked the Indian Ambassador in Spain to send back the adopted girl who was abandoned by her foster parents in the country.

She was reacting to a recent media report according to which a Spanish couple had abandoned the 13-year-old girl they adopted from an agency in Madhya Pradesh after they were allegedly deceived about her age.

The couple was reportedly told that the girl was seven-year-old at the time of adoption earlier this year.

"It is very unfortunate that the adopted girl has been abandoned in Spain. I have requested our Ambassador in Spain D. B. Venkatesh Varma to immediately send her back to India where we will ensure her rehabilitation and safe custody," the Minister said.

Gandhi also expressed her concern for the girl who is currently in foster care in some institution in Madrid and added that the Ministry is in the process of fixing the responsibility for the lapses which happened on the part of the Child Care Institution in Bhopal.San Francisco : After suspending 284 accounts originating in Iran and Russia, Twitter on Tuesday announced it has cracked down on additional 486 such accounts that were designed to mislead people in the Middle East, Latin America, Britain and the US.

"Since our initial suspensions last week, we have continued our investigation, further building our understanding of these networks.

"In addition, we have suspended an additional 486 accounts for violating the policies outlined last week. This brings the total to 770," Twitter said in a statement.

Fewer than 100 of the 770 suspended accounts claimed to be located in the US and many of these were sharing divisive social commentary.

"On average, these 100 Tweeted 867 times, were followed by 1,268 accounts, and were less than a year old," said Twitter Safety in a tweet.

Last week, Facebook and Twitter removed hundreds of accounts that were originated in Iran and Russia.

Facebook removed 652 pages, groups and accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behaviour".

Facebook acted on these accounts after FireEye, a global cybersecurity firm, gave it information in July about "Liberty Front Press", a network of Facebook Pages as well as accounts on other online services.

Based on FireEye's tip, Facebook started an investigation into "Liberty Front Press" and identified additional accounts and Pages from their network.

"We are able to link this network to Iranian state media through publicly available website registration information, as well as the use of related IP addresses and Facebook Pages sharing the same admins," Facebook informed.

Twitter suspended more than 70 million fake accounts in May and June in a massive drive to clear out bots and trolls on the platform.

Facebook recently deleted 32 Pages and accounts attempting to influence the US mid-term elections.Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionBROOKFIELD  Kristan Dunkelberger was on the 52nd floor of the North Tower on the morning of Sept. 11 when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center.

The Brookfield High School graduate fought her way through smoke and falling debris to make it outside before the tower collapsed.

That day, Sean Hanley, a New York firefighter whose niece lived in Brookfield, rushed to the World Trade Center, where he later died.

Dunkelberger and Hanleys stories are among those highlighted in an exhibit opening this weekend at the Brookfield Museum.

The annual exhibit honors four people with connections to Brookfield who died during the attacks and recognizes other former and current residents who survived the day. A memorial wreath and a cross made with materials from the World Trade Center will be displayed.

Its an interesting and moving exhibit, said Gene Roberts, publicity director for the Brookfield Historical Society.

Visitors will learn about Judith Hoffmiller, a 53-year-old Brookfield resident who died during the attacks. Hoffmiller worked as a senior software consultant at Marsh and McLennan, dreamed of living in New York City and loved spending time with her family, according to a tribute written by her niece.

The exhibit also features Paul Fiori, whose in-laws lived in Brookfield, and Christopher Orgielewicz, a Brookfield high school graduate. Both were killed working in the World Trade Center.

We have a tradition in this town of really honoring fallen heroes, Roberts said.

The museum has held programs in honor of World War I and Memorial Day, among other events.

Roberts said the museum borrowed some of the testimonials from local residents that were included in the Connecticut Historical Societys traveling 9/11 exhibit. This exhibit, Connecticut Responds and Reflects, came to Brookfield in 2009 and featured photos and mementos of the 152 victims from the state.

These testimonials include one from resident Matt Grimes, who worked five blocks from the World Trade Center and witnessed the planes hit the buildings. Another Brookfield resident, Gerry Rajcula Zimmerman, was meant to be on the plane that crashed into the North Tower, but took a flight to Florida instead.

Also on display will be a photo of the graffiti bridge at Route 133 and Junction Road taken in the days after the attacks. The bridge was decorated with an American flag and messages of love for the victims.

The exhibit also includes a section on the Brookfield volunteer firefighters who drove to New York City after the attacks to dig the six-story-high pile of debris.

The exhibit opens from noon to 4 p.m. this Saturday and Sept. 8 at the Brookfield Museum on Whisconier Road.DANBURY  An alien robot named Rockboldic is coming to Main Street this fall, but 8-year-old Sophie OConnell says no one needs to worry  hes very happy.

Rockboldic is the brainchild of the young artist and one of nine new art installations being applied to the otherwise drab, gray traffic control boxes that dot intersections around downtown Danbury.

OConnell is by far the youngest of the seven artists whose work was selected for the city project and she beamed when Mayor Mark Boughton helped her cut the ceremonial red ribbon on one of the installations Wednesday morning.

One day I just made it up and thought it looks like an alien and a robot, so I decided it must be an alien robot, she said. The idea took a little while. I drew it on an iPad in about a day.

OConnells piece will be installed in the coming weeks to the box outside the Danbury Innovation Center at the library but several others were installed on boxes, which control the traffic signals at intersections, along Main Street and on the Danbury Green this week.

The gray metal boxes used to be a magnet for graffiti, Boughton said. But other cities  like Stamford and Bridgeport  have opened up applications for street art on the utility closets, so Danbury opened an application to try to bring more color and vibrancy to downtown, he said.

Now theyve become a place where people can express themselves through art, Boughton said.

Rockboldic is hardly OConnells first street art. Her art has been featured in Worcester, Mass., and shes already a member of a Brooklyn art collective for her mural work  when shes not studying at Mill Ridge Primary School, at least.

Her work will appear alongside established mural artist Toni Miraldi, a Newtown painter whose work will beautify three of the traffic boxes.

I love color, Miraldi said. Im a big fan of public art and getting it out into the community.

Other boxes will feature the work of Tracy Biagiarelli, a Redding graphic designer, and Joseph Scinto, an artist and high school art teacher on Long Island, who each played on themes from Danburys history for their submissions. Annette Womack, Debra Burger and Helga Ruopp each also submitted winning drawings, though not all have been installed yet.

Each artist won a $200 prize and city staff hope to host another round of submissions in the coming months to add art to other city traffic boxes.

Boughton hopes the new installations are the first in a wave of new public art for downtown, including his ongoing efforts to buy back the gigantic Uncle Sam statue that once stood at the Danbury Fair. That piece, several other artifacts from the fair and a massive mural on a downtown building in the style of the old fairgrounds posters could add a new pop to the area, he said.

I want it big, you know Boughton goes big, he said.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.comNEW MILFORD  Officials are making a last-ditch effort to get federal funding to help deal with the aftermath of the deadly tornadoes and macrobursts that hit the state May 15.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency ruled town governments in Fairfield and New Haven counties will get up to 70 percent reimbursement for cleanup costs related to the storms, while New Milford, Roxbury and Bridgewater in Litchfield County would not. FEMA also announced individual homeowners wouldnt get assistance.

That decision is being appealed, it was announced Wednesday.

They have an obligation to the whole state, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, following a morning meeting with New Milford officials. Denial of this relief is unfair and inexplicable.

The entire Connecticut congressional delegation is joining forces to advocate for the additional money for the Litchfield County towns and for individual assistance, Blumenthal said. He and other members are gathering evidence to appeal before FEMA.

New Milford and other towns are also sending letters to appeal the decision. New Fairfield First Selectwoman Patricia Del Monaco sent a letter to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Monday asking for help getting individual assistance.

Though New Milford was hit by the same storm that tore through the Danbury area and touched down again in Hamden and Southbury, New Milford is in Litchfield County and so its damage is calculated separately.

The storm didnt know the difference between Fairfield and Litchfield counties when it hit us, New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said.

Litchfield County had to hit a threshold of $698,000 to qualify for public assistance, according to the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

So far, New Milfords town expenses come to nearly $254,000, with bids still out to determine the cost to grind up and remove the debris stored at Century Brass. This includes overtime for public works and police officers, as well as reimbursement for the volunteer fire departments, insurance deductible, debris removal and the generators, said Brian Ohmen, New Milfords emergency management director.

It's a large amount of money wed rather use on infrastructure improvements or things we need, Bass said, adding the high school roof needs to be replaced.

Based on initial filings, Bridgewater had about $139,000 in damage and Roxbury had $26,000. The state as a whole had $13.2 million.

The damage from this event was significant in each of the designated areas, Jeff Byard, associate administrator of the office of response and recovery at FEMA, wrote in a letter last week. However, based on our review of all the information available ... it has been determined that the impact to the individuals and households from this event was not of such severity and magnitude to warrant the designation of individual assistance ...

Blumenthal said this was unfair and he was moved by the graphic photos hes seen of roofs torn off, trees blocking roads and downed wires from the storm. He said the pictures of the devastation are the same images as other places hit in Connecticut and theres no reason New Milford, Bridgewater and Roxbury should be excluded.

He said home owners should also get financial assistance.

A family whose home has been destroyed deserves that relief, regardless of where they live, Blumenthal said.

Both Bass and Blumenthal are optimistic, though no timeline has been released.

I'm hoping FEMA will respect the merits and the facts of our appeal, Blumenthal said.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345The U.S. saw a record number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases in 2017, marking the fourth straight year of sharp increases in gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The trend is exacerbated by the fact that gonorrhea could soon become resistant to antibiotic treatment, the CDC said in a statement Tuesday. Prevention efforts have also stagnated, and people are using condoms less frequently, said one expert.

"We are sliding backward," Jonathan Mermin, director of the agency's national STD center, said in a statement. "It is evident the systems that identify, treat and ultimately prevent STDs are strained to near-breaking point."

Since 2013, syphilis cases have risen 76 percent to 30,644, while gonorrhea diagnoses have increased 67 percent to 555,608. Chlamydia is the most commonly reported STD with almost 1.7 million cases in 2017, up from just over 1.4 million in 2013. Almost half of chlamydia cases were in girls and women ages 15 to 24.

Most STDs go undiagnosed and untreated, the CDC said, which can cause infertility, stillbirth and an increased risk of HIV. The diseases can be treated with antibiotics, but gonorrhea has become resistant to nearly every class of antibiotics except ceftriaxone. Doctors typically prescribe a single shot of ceftriaxone that's followed by an oral dose of a different antibiotic, azithromycin.

More than 4 percent of gonorrhea samples were resistant to azithromycin in 2017, up from 1 percent in 2013. The CDC is concerned that such resistance could eventually extend to ceftriaxone, which would make the disease untreatable by any current antibiotic.

"We expect gonorrhea will eventually wear down our last highly effective antibiotic, and additional treatment options are urgently needed," said Gail Bolan, director of CDC's Division of STD Prevention.

Gonorrhea cases in men nearly doubled to 322,169 in 2017 compared with 2013, the CDC said. Among women, gonorrhea diagnoses rose almost 18 percent to 232,587. The disease reached a high point in the late 1970s with more than a million cases annually. The figure had gradually declined until the past four years, according to CDC data.

David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, said the rise is due to stagnant federal funding for prevention efforts, a lack of screening and a decrease in condom use. He cited a lack of awareness that some methods used to prevent other sexually related conditions -- such as IUDs and a pill to reduce the risk of HIV -- don't protect against common STDs.

CDC funding for prevention efforts has hovered around $157 million for the past 18 years, Harvey said.

"The field desperately needs new resources," he said.Syacuse, N.Y. -- The rates of people seeking medical treatment at the New York State Fair infirmary spiked as temperatures climbed this week.

On Tuesday, when the temperature in Syracuse hit 91 degrees, nearly eight out of every 10,000 fairgoers sought medical treatment at the infirmary, run by Upstate Medical University. That's about double the rate of Saturday, when the high was 81 degrees.

Another hot day is in store today. The temperature in Syracuse at 11 a.m. was already 87, and the heat index, a measure of how hot the air feels to human skin, is 95 degrees.

"I expect we'll see 65 to 70 people today," said Stan Goettel, a paramedic and manager of the infirmary, which sits behind the Horticulture Building. "It's the last hot day, thank God."

Oppressive humidity this week make it feel much hotter than the temperature. The heat index peaked at 99 degrees Tuesday.

Those official measurements are taken at Hancock International Airport. At the fairgrounds, temperatures on the pavement are likely several degrees hotter, said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Nicosia.

The infirmary saw 50 patients on Saturday, and 53 on Tuesday. While that's not a big jump in numbers, Saturday's crowd was nearly double Tuesday's. Attendance Saturday was a record-breaking 127,394, while Tuesday's attendance was 69,316.

More half of patients seen Monday and Tuesday had some symptoms of heat-related illness, such as dizziness, headache, nausea and weakness.

Monday and Tuesday were also the fair's Senior Days, when anyone 60 or older gets free admission. Goettel said older people are more likely to suffer heat illnesses. That's partly a function of age and also of medications common among senior citizens that can affect the body's ability to cool off, he said.

The heat will break today as a cold front sweeps across Upstate New York, possibly bringing some severe thunderstorms. Thursday's high will be in the low 70s, with much lower humidity.

Goettel said a few people have been transported to the hospital, but most were fine after getting out of the heat and drinking some water. The waiting room at the infirmary is kept at a chilly 64 degrees.

On Tuesday and today, Centro put a bus outside the infirmary for people to sit inside and cool off. The bus will be there there until 5 p.m. today.

"It's the coolest bus at the fair," said Matt Portnoy, with Upstate's police department.

NYS Fair infirmary visit rates

Day High temp Visits Attendance Rate per 10,000 Saturday 81 50 127,394 4 Sunday 82 28 101,590 2.8 Monday 84 41 90,244 4.5 Tuesday 91 53 69,316 7.6

Source: National Weather Service, Upstate Medical UniversityABC/Adam TaylorAs a member of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl has been a part of many historical moments in music. Last month, he was a part of another one: pop star Shawn Mendes' "most embarrassing moment."

As Mendes tells Variety, he was performing at a festival in Quebec in July when he fell down on stage in front of a crowd of 80,000 people. To make matters worse, Grohl saw the whole thing.

"I was excited and I didn't see how high I was jumping from, and Dave Grohl was on the side of the stage, watching," Mendes remembers.

However, Grohl was actually impressed by Mendes. When Foo Fighters played the same festival the next night, Grohl called Mendes a "bad motherf***er."

"You know why Shawn Mendes is a bad motherf***er?" Grohl asked the crowd. "'Cause he touched the people."

Mendes admits that he's watched the video of Grohl's speech "about a million times."

"It's the coolest thing anyone's ever going to say about me," he says.

Perhaps Mendes will pop up during Foo Fighters' upcoming fall tour, which begins September 1 in Seattle.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The iconic Oktoberfest in Germany kicks off its more than two-week celebration this year on September 22.

The yearly celebration began in 1810, with the wedding of King Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on Oct. 12. The event was marked with a city-wide celebration and horse races, which continued the next year and brought rise to annual celebrations. Now, Oktoberfest is known as the largest festival in the world. The event is attended millions of people each year.DERBY  The Ansonia-Derby school regionalization committee is ready to hire a consultant to lead it through a process that could take up to four years.

The 10-member committee voted unanimously to have Derby schools Superintendent Matthew Conway solicit proposals from consultants.

The next step, however, has sparked debate. Some committee members want the consultant to create a regionalization plan. Others want public input before a consultant begins work.

Ronald Luneau, one of Derbys representatives on the committee, suggested sending a survey out to taxpayers now to determine what they would like to see the committee do.

I travel a lot between both cities, said Luneau. Theres a ton of opinions out there. If I know the vast majority may be against it, (regionalizing the two school systems) it would change our outlook.

But John Izzo, his committee co-chair Jim Gildea and committee member Tara Hyder said they believe it is too early to get public input since the committee has not even begun studying the issues.

Bart Flaherty, who was among several Ansonia residents including former Town/City Clerk Beth Lynch, Alderman Frank DeLibro and Board of Education Member Chris Phipps attending the meeting, agreed with the trio.

Its way to early, he said. Its premature to go to the public until you have something concrete.

The committee is looking for a consultant with experience developing and performing evaluations like crafting a single school district from separate entities, has a professional staff it can commit to the work and can meet the projects deadlines. Among the more important aspects are creating a detailed five-year educational and budget plan projection on enrollment, staffing needs, transportation and special education needs.

The consultant also would be responsible for assisting the committee in determining the pros and cons of establishing a regional school district, the grades included, the buildings used and the size and representation of a regional board of education. They also should recommend a process and procedure to negotiate union contracts as well as name the new district.

There are probably only a handful of companies who do this type of work, Izzo said.

The committee is working with a $168,000 state grant: $37,500 for professional/regional consolidation services based on the state mandatory limit of $10 per student; $69,500 for professional delivery of services/efficiency services; $30,000 for architectural services/facility programming, and $31,000 for administration and public involvement, which includes the costs of referendums in both cities.

The committee set a 3 p.m. Sept. 14 deadline for submissions, with plans for a special meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 17 in the cafeteria at Derby Middle School, 73 Chatfield St., to decide what questions they would ask interested consultants.

The committee will then interview best contenders at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 during its meeting at the middle school.

I believe we will be in a position to make a decision that day, Gildea said. My hope is once a consultant is selected, we will be able to agree upon a contract within 14 days. That would make them available to start working at our Oct. 22 meeting at Ansonia High School.

The final consultant report and recommendation to the committee is not the end game. It will then be up to voters in both cities to approve or deny the recommendations.

The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments will be the intermediary with the state Office Of Policy Management, will pay bills, seek reimbursement and ensure the final study is completed and the results submitted to the State Board of Education and the Ansonia and Derby town clerks office.

Companies interested in submitting bids should send them to Conway at the Derby Public Schools Central office, 35 Fifth St., Derby, CT 06418.NEW HAVEN  Nearly a year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and devastated the island, more than 200 student evacuees are likely to enroll in city schools this year.

Recently, an independent investigation found the death toll from the storm was estimated at 2,975 people  a much larger number than the previous official estimate of 64. Much of Puerto Ricos infrastructure was destroyed, and people who live in the islands mountains atop narrow dirt roads found themselves without power and resources for months.

Two evacuees told a New Haven aldermanic committee in February that having an independent generator on the island made households vulnerable to robbery and violence.

Click through the slideshow above for before and after photos of Puerto Rico six months after Hurricane Maria

Evacuee Adrian Colon, who had been a small business owner on the island, told alders he feared federal funds running out for housing evacuees, as his special needs daughter needs continuity of services that are only available in America, as schools were shuttered in Puerto Rico after the storm.

Julynette Quiles, an administrative assistant at JUNTA For Progressive Action, which is the only active disaster recovery center in the state for the evacuees, said earlier this week that the organization has 425 active families, comprising more than 1,000 individuals with approximately 350 students. Not everyone served by JUNTA lives in New Haven.

Students are definitely in need of school supplies, clothes and coats for the winter. Many are in need of school uniforms, Cheila Serrano, a JUNTA program manager, said in an email.

Danny Diaz, the school districts parent advocate who has also overseen the response to evacuees, that there were about 215 evacuee students at the conclusion of the 2017-18 school year, although it fluctuates. Although officials expected a number of evacuees would graduate last spring and others would enroll in pre-K this fall, Diaz said there is an element of unpredictability because many of the evacuees are transient.

Were getting people who maybe went first to Florida or Pennsylvania, so they didnt come directly from Puerto Rico. Were in that triangle, he said.

In addition to Puerto Rican evacuees, he said, there are students from Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Venezuela. Those students in particular often have higher academic needs, he said, as many do not have experience with a formal education system.

Earlier this year, Gov. Dannel Malloys office allocated extra money through the Education Cost Sharing grant, the largest state education funding grant, as many evacuees enrolled in the district after Oct. 1, when districts finalized their enrollment totals.

Diaz said evacuees will continue to receive bilingual services and assistance under the a federal grant and with partner organizations such as JUNTA. He said he could not speak specifically as to whether the Board of Educations decision to lay off more than 20 employees, including school counselors, would create any disruption in service for evacuees receiving assistance.

The protocols we put in place remain with respect to placement and delivery of supports. Specifically we place based on the needs of the student and available space. We adjust resources as needed to accommodate, Will Clark, the districts COO, said in an emailed statement. We also continue to collaborate with community partners for support. I just helped coordinate a delivery of clothing from a local church into the hands of needy families through one of our support partners for example.

Rick Fontana, the citys director of emergency operations, said a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that has housed some evacuees in local hotels is in effect until Sept. 1.

Case workers are ensuring that those with medical conditions may still be in the program awaiting long term housing, he said.

Fontana said officials would learn whether that Transitional Shelter Assistance grant is extended by close of business Thursday. The grant has already been extended twice.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.comNEW HAVEN  A man on Sherman Avenue opened his door Wednesday to see a group of strangers outside.

Nervously, he began to shut the door  until Dania Torres began speaking to him in Spanish.

Torres, a dropout specialist for the New Haven Public Schools, was one of about two dozen school employees canvassing the community Wednesday, knocking on the doors of families with rising kindergarten, first grade or ninth grade students. She said a large number of the people answering the door on Sherman and Winthrop avenues were Hispanic, playing to her strengths as a native Spanish speaker.

Its important that were reaching out to the community, said Gemma Joseph Lumpkin, chief of Youth, Family and Community Engagement, that were welcoming them and encouraging them.

Research has linked high attendance rates to strong academic outcomes. According to a study by national non-profit Attendance Works, only 17 percent of students who miss 18 days or more of school in kindergarten and first grade could read at grade level, whereas 64 percent of students who miss nine days or fewer in both grades could read at grade level.

Joseph Lumpkin has said attendance work traditionally targets students who are undergoing transition periods, such as to middle school or high school, as it is a time when students may slip through the cracks.

Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks, who begins her first academic year as a superintendent Thursday, said she wants to emphasize that the district must partner with families.

She said, after canvassing in a morning session, that she had met students who will attend Edgewood, Hillhouse and New Haven Academy this year. On Thursday, she will ride a school bus to Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School.

Its been a long time since the superintendent has been on the school bus, she said.

Besides meeting with the families of students, Birks said she spoke with individuals who were sitting on their porches and stoops, encouraging them to tell any school-aged child they see to take attendance seriously.

She said one home had three students at home who were surprised to see her on their doorstep, as until then they had only seen her on television.

Its up to us to demand full participation in New Haven Public Schools, said Mayor Toni Harp at a press event amidst the days canvassing.

Harp said parental engagement  parent-teacher conferences, report card monitoring and homework help  is an important element of community engagement and student attendance.

Several dropout prevention specialists also told the press about the work they do year round. Torres said she corresponded with one boy at Fair Haven School daily, checking for tardiness and speaking with his mother about his attendance. Over the course of the year, she said, his failing and barely-passing grades turned into high honors.

Dropout prevention specialist Aaron Moody said the preliminary chronic absenteeism numbers at Wexler-Grant dropped by 15 points last year. According to state data, the rate of chronically absent students  or students missing more than 10 percent of instructional days  was 30.8 percent in 2016-17.

They key is you have to attend school, Joseph Lumpkin said.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.comA man wanted for murder in the Pennsylvania strangulation death of a model from South Jersey was arrested Wednesday after being identified from security camera footage, authorities said.

Jonathan Wesley Harris was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Christina Carlin-Kraft, who was found dead in her condo in an upscale Philadelphia suburb the night of Aug. 22.

"The defendant was apprehended this afternoon in Pittsburgh after fleeing the Philadelphia area," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Merion Township Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath said in a statement.

U.S. Marshals made the arrest the day after investigators released surveillance images of Harris and urged the public to help identify the killer, according to authorities. A "concerned citizen" recognized Harris and alerted police.

Authorities also revealed new details in the chain of events that began when Carlin-Kraft took a Lyft into Philadelphia around 1 a.m. and encountered her accused killer.

Surveillance video showed Carlin-Kraft meet Harris near South Broad and 13th streets in Philadelphia, according to the district attorney's office. The pair soon appeared to get in a vehicle before they arrived at the 36-year-old model's Ardmore apartment around 3 a.m.

Jonathan Harris of Johnstown arrested this afternoon for the killing of former Playboy model Christina Carlin Kraft at her upscale Ardmore Condo. Investigators say she was beaten and strangled. He was caught getting off a bus in Pittsburgh. @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/ProwhfRm4u  Aaron Baskerville (@ABaskerville10) August 29, 2018

Detectives recovered records showing her apartment front door was opened shortly after 3 a.m., while the back door to a terrace was closed around 5:20 a.m., according to officials.

"During this time a violent struggle occurred in the apartment where Ms. Kraft was beaten, her nose was broken and she was strangled to death," the district attorney said.

There was no sign she knew her attacker before her death, Steele told reporters at a news conference.

Police discovered Carlin-Kraft dead in her bed after her boyfriend asked officers to check on her when she couldn't be reached the night of Aug. 22, authorities said. Her iPhone, keys and clothing were apparently stolen.

"In addition, the pillows, sheets and comforter surrounding her body, as well as areas of the bedroom carpet and walls were significantly bloodstained," according to affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Records show Harris, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was released from state prison in July after being sentenced to a three-year term for robbery. It was not immediately clear if he had attorney to comment on the allegations.

Police were also seeking another man for a burglary at Carlin-Kraft's home the prior weekend, but it was not yet clear if the two crimes were somehow linked, according to Steele.

Remembered as a "small town girl," Carlin-Kraft has modeled for Playboy, Vanity Fair, L'Oreal, Maxim Magazine and other publications.

"Christina's death brought expressions of grief from family members, friends and former design and fashion colleagues from Manhattan to Los Angeles and residents of her hometown, Margate, New Jersey," an obituary published in the Press of Atlantic City said.

"Whether spending time with loved ones, caring for animals or lending her talents to design, Christina carried herself with warmth and grace," the obituary stated.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Cape May County was awarded a $3 million grant to build a 20,000-square-foot drone facility, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.

The multi-tenant building will be located at the Cape May County Airport and will be used by companies in the growing unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, industry.

Drones are known in the industry as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.

"President Trump and the entire Trump Administration are working diligently to empower innovators who help fuel job creation in communities across the nation," Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement. "This project will allow in one of the most advanced sectors with the tools they need to grow and thrive."

The project is expected to create 130 jobs and $1.9 million in private investments are projected, officials touted.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez called the project a "testament to the power of public-private partnerships."

"Building the new 'tech village' right at Cape May County Airport will not only immediately create goo-paying jobs, the final training facility will empower entrepreneurs and businesses in the fast-growing field of unmanned aerial vehicles."

Companies in the facility will each be given 5,000 square-feet of space that will house offices and manufacturing areas.

The planning for the project was spearheaded by the South Jersey Economic Development District which aimed to bring private and public sectors together to improve the economy and create jobs, the release stated.

The department of commerce did not say when the project will begin or when the facility is expected to be completed.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.Vineland has agreed to pay one of its police officers $425,000 to settle allegations that he faced years of retaliation for claiming a colleague was a dirty cop.

Richard Burke, a 21-year department veteran, claimed that a detective, Shane Harris, hindered an investigation in 2010 by warning a few fugitives that police were closing in on them.

Burke was working undercover with Harris when he "gathered evidence" that Harris described the officers' cars to the fugitives and advised them to refuse a search of their residence when police came knocking, according to the lawsuit Burke filed in Superior Court in 2015.

Burke goes on to state that Harris' daughter was dating one of the fugitives and that her vehicle was used to flee from cops during that incident. As they fled, the driver allegedly tried to hit a police sergeant with the vehicle. He goes on to claim that the boyfriend hid out from cops at the detective's mother's house.

When Burke reported his allegations to supervisors, no action was taken, he said.

Detective Harris said Burke was "out to get family members," according to the suit, and Harris allegedly began harassing Burke.

As an example, Burke said Harris told someone under arrest to sign a citizen's complaint against Burke in exchange for a lesser charge.

When Burke reported this behavior to Captain Tom Ulrich, now retired from the department, he claimed Ulrich "threatened to suspend plaintiff if he continued to complain about Harris' conduct."

Between 2010 and late 2014, Burke said he repeatedly raised concerns within and outside of the department, and was interviewed by a county prosecutor's office detective regarding the allegations.

In return, Burke said he was demoted, denied overtime, denied use of sick time and personal days, was written up, had his paycheck docked, was denied a transfer, had his work car taken from him and had his work schedule changed to interfere with the custody and care of his three kids.

Burke sued the city in Superior Court in 2015, accusing officials of violating the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act and seeking damages.

As part of the confidential settlement between the city and Burke, which was signed Aug. 20, he agreed to retire in good standing from the department on Aug. 31 because of a "work-related disability injury."

Open public records advocate John Paff first reported the settlement.

City officials and Burke's attorney did not respond to requests for comment about the agreement.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips.HOBOKEN -- The nearly 25-year relationship between the city and Suez, the company operating the city's water system, took an ugly turn Tuesday when Mayor Ravi Bhalla said he intends to sue the company and seek a new operator following a rash of water main breaks.

Bhalla, during a 10 a.m. press conference outside City Hall, declared a city-wide emergency after a string of water main breaks that the city has "never before seen."

"In our view, there can only be one explanation: Suez has mismanaged our system," Bhalla said.

Suez has been contracted with the city since 1994. City officials said Tuesday there have been 14 water main breaks over a 64-day period, an "anomaly" in the summer months.

"Needless to say, decisive action is appropriate and necessary to address the spike in water main breaks," he said, adding that the water remains safe to drink.

Bhalla said the city intends to file a lawsuit against Suez "if, as we suspect, our professionals confirm that the cause of the water main breaks is the result of Suez's mismanagement of our water main system."

He will seek authorization from the City Council during the body's regular meeting on Sept. 5 to retain legal counsel for the litigation. Bhalla said his administration will also seek council approval to rebid the city's water management.

But during its own press conference at 11 a.m., the water company defended itself against accusations of mismanagement and refuted the city's claims.

Rich Henning, a senior vice president of Suez, said that for the past 17 years, the city has averaged 12 water main breaks during the months of July and August -- on par with what the city cast as an anomaly.

Annually, the city has averaged 111 water main breaks, about one break every three days, Henning added.

"One-hundred-year-old pipes have outlasted their usefulness and, truthfully, it is time for the city to finance and get ready to (install) infrastructure that meets the greatness of this city," Henning said.

"A threat of legal action illustrates how wrong this mayor is. You're taking money that could be put into this infrastructure and you're handing it to lawyers for what really is a senseless case," he added.

Not all in City Hall approved of Bhalla's plan.

Councilman Michael DeFusco, a rival of Bhalla, said in a statement that the city's water system is at a "breaking point," but cautioned against hasty legal action.

"This 'emergency' isn't a new phenomenon that suddenly appeared this week -- it's a problem that's been going on in Hoboken for the last decade," he said. "It's time we start finding holistic solutions through comprehensive planning, and I do not believe that getting the city tied up in another costly lawsuit is necessarily the right approach."

The catalyst for the recent "anomaly," Bhalla said, was the start of a meter chamber project in the southwest part of the city, which, when completed, will help improve the system's water pressure regulator.

The city in August 2016 approved the project when it issued more than $5 million in bonds to fund various improvement projects, including 10 other immediate projects intended to replace aged infrastructure.

Construction began on June 23 and has since led to pesky traffic jams and has "undoubtedly stressed our system beyond its breaking point," the first-term mayor added.

The city said that it has invested more than $7 million in the last two years toward replacing water mains on Washington Street, and has also approved of more than $10 million in bonding for the replacement of 2.5 miles of additional water mains.

But in the long term, this does little to solve the problem, Henning said.

"You have about a quarter of the system, roughly 20 to 25 percent of the piping system, that was put in in the late 19th century," he said in an interview with The Jersey Journal. "And then you probably have closer to 50 or 60 percent of the pipelines that are more than 100 years old, so the early 1900s."

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.JERSEY CITY  The Jersey City school board is scheduled to vote Thursday to hire a law firm to challenge the state's new school funding law.

The law (S-2) slashes state aid to the 29,000-student school district over time by $175 million, an amount that represents nearly 30 percent of its total 2018-19 budget. Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas told The Jersey Journal the cuts "will decimate Jersey City" and said the state is forcing the school board to take legal action.

"The New Jersey state constitution guarantees (a) thorough and efficient education and these cuts (S-2) are draconian and anti-constitution," Thomas said. "This is a civil rights issue."

The state aid cuts amounted to at least $3.5 million for the 2018-19 school year. Next year they will top $20 million.

The measure up for approval on Thursday would award a contract to Newark law firm Genova Burns to represent the school board. The amount of the contract is not specified on the meeting agenda.

A request for comment from Gov. Phil Murphy's office was referred to a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, which declined to comment.

Murphy signed S-2 into law on July 24. It eliminated a form of state school funding called adjustment aid in stages between now and 2025. Proponents of the change, led by state Sen. President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, argued that state educational aid should be redistributed, saying there are school districts statewide that receive millions less in state aid than they are supposed to receive. Jersey City's neighbor to the south, Bayonne, will see a $47 million increase in state aid over the next seven years because of S-2.

A separate law intended to help Jersey City recover from the aid cuts would allow the City Council to implement a payroll tax, estimated to bring between $40 million and $80 million to the school district annually. Thomas, who supported the payroll tax bill, on Wednesday called it "a moving target" that will "force the district to calibrate our plans every year based on payroll tax collection, which again goes against the constitutional guarantees for thorough and efficient educations."

Jennifer Cavallaro-Fromm is a school board member with the Kingsway Regional School District and founder and co-chair of the Fair Funding Action Committee, which advocated for S-2. Cavallaro-Fromm noted the state says the city's local school tax levy of $124 million is far less than the amount local taxpayers can afford to shoulder.

"No one district deserves to operate with $175 million dollars more than they are legally entitled to under the law while taxing at an almost .45 school tax rate and only 31 percent of their property tax local fair share," she said. "Mr. Thomas cites 'civil rights violations' surrounding S-2. Our position is that the civil rights of the actual 990,202 under-aided New Jersey public school children and their families have been egregiously violated for a decade because politics allowed adjustment aid to remain in place longer than intended."

A request for comment from the school district's spokeswoman was not immediately returned. The school board meets Thursday at 6 p.m. at Snyder High School, 239 Bergen Ave.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.JERSEY CITY  Mayor Steve Fulop sees a victory for Jersey City in Attorney General Gurbir Grewal's decision Wednesday to tell municipal prosecutors statewide they can use their discretion on marijuana prosecutions "to ensure that individual justice is done in individual cases."

Grewal's decision, explained in a nine-page memo, was the culmination of a monthlong effort to specify what municipal prosecutors can and can't do when faced with pot cases in this state that may be on the cusp of legalizing marijuana. It isn't exactly the result Fulop had been expecting last month, when he issued a statement saying Grewal intended to issue a directive that would "achieve the same aims of decriminalization." But, reached by phone, Fulop said "we landed where we said we wanted to land."

"Our position all along was that we know we can't change law, it would have to come from Trenton, we were fully aware of that, but we were also aware that we have discretion and we were going to use that discretion," he said.

Grewal's memo was sparked by the announcement in July by Fulop and Jersey City's new municipal prosecutor, Jake Hudnut, that the city would stop prosecuting certain low-level marijuana offenses. The news was cheered by proponents of marijuana legalization, but Grewal stepped in almost immediately to say the city had no power to do that. The attorney general convened a committee to study the issue and make recommendations. The memo released Wednesday represents "the broad consensus" of the committee, Grewal said in a conference call with reporters.

The memo includes a series of guidelines for municipal prosecutors, with the first one aimed squarely at Jersey City: "A municipal prosecutor may not adopt a categorical policy or practice of refusing to seek convictions for statutory offenses related to marijuana." But, the memo says, prosecutors can use their discretion on a case-by-case basis, considering a defendant's age, prior criminal record, immigration consequences, adverse educational consequences and more.

"Municipalities cannot decriminalize conduct that the Legislature has criminalized," Grewal said. "They can and should strive to ensure that individual justice is done in individual cases."

That's what gives Jersey City officials confidence that they can proceed largely as they wanted to when Fulop and Hudnut announced their marijuana policy in July.

"When the mayor and I set down this road to address the problems of racially disparate and costly marijuana possession prosecution, we didn't imagine that our efforts would have a positive statewide impact," Hudnut said. "So we're very proud for Jersey City."

When Grewal announced in July that he would convene a committee to study marijuana prosecutions, he put a hold on municipal pot cases until Sept. 4. He said Wednesday those cases will resume on schedule.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.A priest has stepped away from his Jersey City parish while the Newark archdiocese investigates a new allegation of decades-old abuse, a spokesman for the archdiocese said.

The Rev. Gerard Sudol, who faced similar accusations 15 years ago that were a part of a million-dollar settlement -- was a priest "in residence" at Our Lady of Czestochowa Downtown. He had been at the church since July 2015.

A woman who answered the phone at OLC referred all questions to the archdiocese. Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness made the distinction that Sudol was in residence at OLC and not assigned there as a parochial vicar.

"He was living there and assisting with Masses and celebrating Mass when necessary," Goodness said.

He was accused of sexual misconduct last week by Ed Hanratty, who was a student at St. Francis of Assisi School in Ridgefield Park in the late 1980s when Sudol was a priest there.

Goodness said that Sudol has "stepped aside voluntarily while we undertake a review of earlier allegations, based on some possible new information. He has taken this action for the benefit of the parish, for the Church, and for himself."

In an article on the Daily Voice website and a first-person blog post, Hanratty, 41 and now living in West Milford, said the abuse occurred between 1987 and 1989. It entailed kissing the young Hanratty with an open mouth; and on one occasion, rubbing up against Hanratty in the Hanratty family's pool.

Sudol, who served at St. Francis of Assisi from 1986 to 1994 and as a hospital chaplain at St. Francis Community Health Center in Jersey City from 1995 to 2002, did not respond to requests for comment.

Sudol was one of nine priests whose accusers settled with the Newark archdiocese for $1.07 million in 2004, the Newark Star-Ledger reported at the time.

Hanratty said he came forward publicly now -- he says he previously confided in close friends and his wife -- after news that the Catholic church in Pennsylvania covered up years of sex abuse by priests there.

The Our Lady of Czestochowa parish includes a grammar school, and Hanratty is appalled that Sudol was placed there.

Ed Hanratty, 41, of West Milford, stepped forward Wednesday morning in a Daily Voice article about Rev. Gerard J. Sudol's alleged sexual abuse. (Photo Courtesy of Ed Hanratty)

"I am beyond shocked that this man was assigned to a parish with a school attached," Hanratty said. "I have my own opinions on where he belongs, but couldn't you find some assignment for him that didn't put him in such a close proximity of children, knowing what you obviously knew?"

OLC school Principal Anna Mae Stefanelli declined to comment, referring all questions regarding Sudol to Goodness.

Sudol previously was accused of sexual abuse, stemming from his time at St. Francis, and he was removed from ministering.

After the archdiocese settlement, Sudol was acquitted in a canonical trial in 2005 and he was assigned to work at a hospice, records show. Goodness said on Wednesday that between 2005 and 2015 Sudol assisted in different parishes and was never assigned as a parochial vicar.

Rev. Bryan E. Page, the OLC parish administrator, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Goodness, the archdiocese spokesman, last week said Sudol has no interaction with the students at OLC because he "wouldn't have any reason to." On Wednesday, Goodness reiterated that Sudol "had no relationship with the school."

"My primary hope is that he is never within a country mile of a minor again," Hanratty said.

Managing Editor Ron Zeitlinger contributed to this report.A person walking along an island in the Delaware River made an unexpected discovery Tuesday -- skeletal human remains.

The person found the remains on a "flood-susceptible island" and reported their finding to the Frenchtown Police Department, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns said in a statement Wednesday.

Investigators from the prosecutor's office, the New Jersey State Police, Hunterdon County Medical Examiner's Office and the State Park Police are working to identify the remains and determine a cause of death, the office said.

The prosecutor's office did not say exactly where the remains were found, but there are at least two small islands just south of the Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge which connects the two towns.

"I want to reassure the community that we have no reason to believe there is a safety risk to the public," Frenchtown Mayor Brad Myhre said on the Frenchtown, NJ Facebook page.

No other details were divulged Wednesday night, but the prosecutor's office said more information would be released "when available."

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.EDITOR'S NOTE: Interested in the marijuana business industry? NJ Cannabis Insider is a new premium intelligence briefing that features exclusive weekly content geared toward entrepreneurs, lawyers and Realtors. View a sample issue.

The prosecution of marijuana possession in New Jersey will soon resume as the state's attorney general on Wednesday called off a temporary adjournment of such cases.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced Wednesday that instead of seeking to decriminalize marijuana possession, municipal prosecutors should use their discretion on each case. He called for the adjournment more than a month after Jersey City moved to unilaterally decriminalize marijuana. NJ Advance Media last week reported what Grewal was intending to announce.

"Municipalities cannot decriminalize conduct that the Legislature has criminalized," Grewal said. "They can and should strive to ensure that individual justice is done in individual cases."

Grewal added that each municipal prosecutor should consider several factors when deciding how to proceed with marijuana possession cases. Those include how a conviction would affect a person's employment, housing and schooling, among other things.

"Attorney General Grewal's convening of this discussion signaled an important moment for New Jersey, and the guidance issued today represents one step further," said Amol Sinha, executive director of the Jersey arm of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Municipal prosecutors - like county prosecutors - have immense power to change the course of a person's life for the better by using their discretion. In this guidance, the Attorney General urges municipal prosecutors to use that discretion to balance the scales of justice.

Grewal's announcement comes after he advised municipal prosecutors to adjourn marijuana cases while he convened a working group to determine how to proceed with marijuana convictions. That announcement was catalyzed by Jersey City moving to decriminalize marijuana possession in mid-July.

Most immediately, this means that marijuana possession cases at the local level will soon resume.

"I do know there are a number of cases in municipal court and they can't be stayed indefinitely," Grewal said.

But Wednesday's announcement is not a directive to ramp up marijuana prosecutions. Grewal stressed the importance of prosecutorial discretion in considering these marijuana cases. It's possible that some towns, like Jersey City, will opt not to prosecute such cases.

"This was an argument of 'may not' vs. 'shall not' (prosecute)," Reed Gusciora said last week. Gusciora is the mayor of Trenton, a former municipal prosecutor and, until last year, the Assembly's prime sponsor of a recreational marijuana bill.

"And while I was pushing for 'shall not,' this is a victory, of sorts, in that it will give prosecutors discretion without making a blanket policy," Gusciora said.

This all comes just days before the state Legislature is set to resume debates over marijuana legalization, with some supporters optimistically saying they could pass it by the end of September.

If a recreational marijuana bill is signed by the governor, the possession of a personal amount of marijuana would no longer be a crime and people with such charges will almost certainly be eligible to have those charges expunged, based on what is known about the impending marijuana bills.

That raises questions about whether local prosecutors will opt to continue prosecutions of an activity that could soon be legal and that a person could apply to have cleared from their record.

Gusciora indicated last week that he thought the attorney general would allow marijuana prosecutions to resume because legalization appeared imminent.

Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider.

Payton Guion may be reached at PGuion@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Emanuel Weintraub was 70 and walked with a cane.

The retired postal employee had just bought his favorite ice cream treat at Jo-Jo's Ice Cream and Water Ice in Falls, Pennsylvania last Tuesday evening when he started to cross New Falls Road on foot. His car was parked across the street.

Emanuel "Manny" Weintraub, courtesy photo

A passing car stopped for him.

He entered the crosswalk.

Anthony Woods, 41, lived off the road a little farther north. He was driving north that night, and had just bought heroin in Philadelphia. He later told police he'd immediately started shooting heroin as he drove home.

As Woods approached the crosswalk, he saw the car in front of him stop, but he swerved around it.

He knew he'd hit somebody - Woods later told a detective he thought it was "a kid" - but he kept driving. He knew he'd have drugs in his system.

Anthony Woods

Weintraub, a Bucks County native and regular at Jo-Jo's who went by Manny, died not an hour later at a hospital.

The next day, Woods drove to a Trenton auto glass shop and had his broken windshield replaced. He knew cops would be looking for his banged-up car too.

Woods surrendered to Falls police Tuesday and was charged with third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle and numerous related charges for the death of Weintraub on Aug 21.

He appeared in district court later in the day and a judge ordered him held without bail.

Falls police said the criminal complaint against Woods speaks for itself.

In the document, written by Detective Stephanie Metterle, she says police have the entire crash on tape from a local surveillance system, plus multiple witnesses who watched in horror as a car struck Weintraub - including the driver who stopped for him.

Metterle also spoke to the Trenton shop, Nick's Auto Glass. The complaint says Woods, right after talking with Falls police earlier in the investigation, had called the shop and asked them to tear up his receipt.

Metterle learned this when she contacted the shop just after she talked to Woods, and moments after Woods hung up with the shop.

During a search of Woods' home Monday, police found the glass receipt, dated Aug. 22, as well as empty bags of heroin scattered about. Woods' parents told police their son had confessed to them that he'd struck a pedestrian, and they urged him to surrender.

He did, the next day. Woods was formally interviewed Tuesday and confessed to being the driver that fatally struck Weintraub, and driving away due to his drug use, the complaint says.

Weintraub's wife and daughter last week described him as a loving man who never missed church. "He was loved and would never say a bad word about anyone," daughter Jeanette Riker told LevittownNow.com.

In his obituary, Weintraub's remembered this way: "He enjoyed the simple things in life, like doing Sudoku puzzles, reading his newspaper, and eating ice cream, but there was nothing he liked better than going out to support a local event. He went to every fundraiser, senior event, and church outing."

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Miguel Hernandez, a native of Puerto Rico, has a life-long history of service, including 40 years as a teacher.

Tuesday, however, he was honored for his military service from decades ago.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., presented the Korean War veteran with five service medals during a surprise lunchtime visit to Active Day Adult Day Health Center, in Hamilton.

Smith, along with other officials, praised and honored Hernandez, who served with the U.S. Army's 65th Infantry Regiment, based in Puerto Rico.

Hernandez served in the unit - known as the Borinqueneers (an original name of the island) - from Feb. 1952 to March 1954, and then as a reservist for seven years.

The 65th was one of the last segregated units in the military.

Smith called the Borinqueneers, "a group of Puerto Rican warriors who fought tenaciously, so much so the General MacArthur singled out the 65th and said how brave and how magnificently you performed in the Korean War."

"We have nothing but admiration and respect for you," Smith said.

Puerto Rican veteran of Korean War gets 5 medals 11 Gallery: Puerto Rican veteran of Korean War gets 5 medals

Family members in attendance included Hernandez' two daughters, Elena Hernandez and Hilda Alverado, his granddaughter Melissa DeJesus and her twin boys Dominic and Isiah Rivera, 8, and daughter Jalissa Rivera ,6.

He also got a Facetime call from his son, Miguel Hernandez, Jr. who lives on the west coast and is himself a veteran, having served in the Marines for two years and in the Army for 10, and served in Grenada and the Gulf War.

"And this man in front of you? He's the greatest. My dad! He makes me a proud Puerto Rican and overall a very proud American," Hernandez Jr. said, speaking through a microphone held to the phone's speaker.

The medals conferred were: the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal and two state medals - The NJ Korean Service Medal and The NJ Distinguished Service Medal.

Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @michaelmancusoA Middlesex County man was accused Tuesday of masterminding a million-dollar fraud from 26 investors in an online gambling company he started with his family.

But instead of putting the $1.3 million from those investors -- all New Jersey residents -- into the company, Sandy Masselli Jr. used it for personal expenses, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and the state Bureau of Securities announced in a statement.

Masselli, of Old Bridge, is accused of using the money on restaurant and hotel bills, vehicle leases, his son's George Washington University tuition and a $93,000 payment to a law firm that defended Masselli in a criminal case. (The criminal case, filed late last year in federal court, is ongoing.)

Also yesterday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a parallel action against Masselli in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, alleging his dealings violated several federal securities laws.

In the state filing, Masselli and associate Joseph Picco, of Colts Neck, sold the 26 investors shares of the companies Carlyle Gaming and Carlyle Ltd. between July 2012 and December 2017, the AG's office said.

The investors were told to send their payments to accounts for Masselli's related companies -- accounts that he controlled.

"Masselli held himself out to investors as a savvy businessman with a long and successful track record in the online gambling industry," Grewal said. "Today's allegations make clear that this was nothing more than a million-dollar fraud, and that Masselli used investors' hard-earned money to finance his own extravagant lifestyle."

Grewal's office is seeking restitution for the allegedly defrauded investors.

Christopher W. Gerold, the Bureau of Securities chief, said Masselli and his associates' conduct was "a pure scam."

"They made untrue statements and omitted material facts in dealings with investors to defraud investors," he said. "Our action today sends a message that those who financially prey on New Jersey investors face serious consequences."

The Bureau encourages anyone exploring an investment opportunity to check this form. Anyone with issues or complaints about New Jersey financial professionals or investments can contact 1-866-466-8378 within the state or 973-504-3600 if calling from outside the state.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsTwo New Jersey priests have left their parishes in Hudson and Bergen counties while Catholic Church officials investigate separate sexual misconduct allegations that date back decades, an archdiocese official said.

The Rev. Gerard Sudol, priest in residence at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Jersey City, stepped down from his post last week, said James Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark. Sudol was accused of sexually abusing an altar boy while he was assigned to a church in Ridgefield Park in the 1980s and 1990s.

Sudol faced similar accusations in the 1990s but was permitted to return to working in parishes, church officials said.

The Rev. Jim Weiner, the new pastor of St. Andrew's Church in Westwood, will also step aside from his post, Goodness said. Weiner was accused of the sexual assault of a seminarian in the 1980s.

Weiner's accuser said he reached a settlement with the church in 2004, but the priest was permitted to continue his ministry.

Sudol and Weiner both recently agreed to leave while they await the results of new investigations into the claims, Goodness said. Neither was formally removed from the parishes by church officials.

"Both of them have voluntarily stepped aside while the inquiries are being done. Sudol stepped aside last week, and Weiner was planning on announcing it to his parish this week," Goodness said.

Neither priest could be reached for comment.

Last Sunday's parish bulletin at St. Andrew's Parish hinted that Weiner would be leaving, at least temporarily.

"The installation of Fr. Jim as the pastor of St. Andrew's Parish originally scheduled for Saturday, September 15 has been cancelled. New date is to be determined," the bulletin said, with no additional explanation.

The sexual misconduct investigations come as the Archdiocese of Newark is beginning an audit of its personnel files to look into previous accusations of abuse.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, head of the Archdiocese of Newark, called for the audit after the resignation of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former head of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen.

McCarrick has been accused of decades of sexual abuse of young boys and sexual misconduct with priests and seminarians while fellow church officials allowed him to rise to the top ranks of the church hierarchy. He is awaiting a church trial.

The recent report by a Pennsylvania grand jury detailing the alleged church cover-up of the abuse of more than 1,000 children by more than 300 priests in that state has led to a renewed focus on how the Catholic Church handles sexual misconduct and abuse claims.

Earlier this month, freelance journalist Ed Hanratty wrote a column inspired by the Pennsylvania grand jury report in which he detailed his alleged abuse by Sudol, the priest in Jersey City, while he was assigned to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Ridgefield Park in the 1980s and 1990s.

Hanratty alleged Sudol would hug and kiss altar boys on the mouth. The priest later sexually abused Hanratty in his family's pool when he was invited over for dinner, the journalist alleged.

"Following the Pennsylvania report and the public outcry, I felt that now was the time to tell my story. Not because I was stunned by the events in the Keystone State, but because I wasn't. Because I STILL don't think we've even scratched the surface on this scandal," Hanratty wrote in his column.

Sudol has been previously accused of sexual misconduct in the 1990s, but no criminal charges were filed against him, and he was permitted to return to the ministry, Goodness said.

Weiner, the priest in Westwood, is accused of sexually abusing a young seminarian in 1988 at St. Benedict's Parish in Newark.

The Rev. Desmond Rossi, a priest in the Diocese of Albany, said he was a seminarian when he was thrown on a bed and sexually assaulted after a night of drinking by Weiner, then a transitional deacon, and another priest, who has since died.

Rossi said he filed a complaint with the archdiocese's review board and his allegations were deemed "credible," but they could not be substantiated. He agreed to a settlement with the archdiocese in 2004, for about $35,000, to cover the cost of counseling, he said.

After the allegations against McCarrick, Rossi asked the church to reopen his case against Weiner.

"I decided I just can no longer stay quiet and afraid," Rossi said earlier this month.

Staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.A homeless veteran filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the New Jersey couple that raised over $400,000 for him through an ultra-successful fundraising campaign after he said he has not been given full access to the funds.

Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless veteran who spent his last $20 to help Kate McClure when she ran out of gas on Route 95 in Philadelphia last Thanksgiving, is claiming she and her partner Mark D'Amico used money from the GoFundMe fundraiser for their own personal use, Philly.com reported.

The injunction application, aimed at stopping the couple from accessing money raised on his behalf, claims that D'Amico and McClure mismanaged the funds and committed fraud and conspiracy. The suit alleges they deposited the money into personal accounts and did not allow Bobbitt to access them.

"The defendants have expended more than half of the monies raised, and they continue to deprive [Bobbitt] access to the funds that were raised for him," according to the lawsuit, filed by his lawyers from the firm Cozen O'Connor.

Bobbitt's attorneys could not be reached for comment on Tuesday night.

The Burlington County couple appeared on NBC News' Megyn Kelly TODAY on Monday morning and denied allegations that they pocketed a large chunk of the funds meant to get Bobbitt off the street.

They said they were protecting Bobbitt's, and the over 14,000 donors', best interests by putting the money into their own accounts to stop him from doing drugs again after he admitted to doing so in an article on Philly.com.

However, now they said they have been receiving death threats for doing so.

"It's so hard to deal with when we know we did a good thing," McClure said, tearing up. "I would do it all over again. I would do it all over again for him."

In the lawsuit, Bobbitt said the couple is using the money from the fundraising campaign as their "personal piggy bank to fund a lifestyle that they could not otherwise afford."

In an interview with the Inquirer and Daily News earlier, Bobbitt questioned how the couple paid for a BMW and several vacations.

He has asked McClure and D'Amico for an accounting of the monies raised but has not yet been provided one, according to the suit.

D'Amico told both Today and Philly.com that he once took $500 from the funds but paid it back and denied spending the money for personal benefit.

They couple said they bought Bobbitt a trailer and parked it on their property and left their door open so he could come as he pleased.

They also opened an account for Bobbitt and gave him $25,000, because they said they felt uneasy about giving him the full $350,000, the amount remaining after GoFundMe fees were paid. They said Bobbitt spent the $25,000 in just 13 days.

Other than the trailer and the $25,000 put into Bobbitt's account they said Monday that the money raised on GoFundMe has been used to pay for an SUV, legal fees, as gifts to other members of Bobbitt's family, on clothes and food, and the $25,000 put into his bank account. They added that Bobbitt has more than $150,000 left, and that they are working with an attorney of their own to set up a trust.

A GoFundMe spokesman told NJ Advance Media last week that the company was investigating the issue and would cooperate with law enforcement.

"When there is a dispute, we work with all parties involved to ensure funds go to the right place," the spokesman said. "We will work to ensure that Johnny receives the help he deserves and the donor intentions are honored."

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.Just two weeks ago, doctors amputated both of Angel Perez's forearms.

Now Perez, 60, of Millville, has had both of his legs removed because of the flesh-eating disease he has batted since contracting a rare bacteria in Maurice River waters last month, according to his daughter, Dilena Perez-Dilan.

Doctors amputated both of Perez's legs at Cooper University Hospital on Wednesday because of the gangrene that had been aggressively eating away at his flesh for nearly two months, she told NJ Advance Media shortly after the surgery.

"Everything went well," she said in an interview. "His vital signs are good."

She added that one of the doctors said, "Angel wants to be here a little longer."

Perez-Dilan said earlier this month that it was likely her father would eventually need his legs amputated, but that doctors were waiting and monitoring them.

Surgeons removed Perez's legs a little below the kneecaps, Perez-Dilan said, and the right leg was amputated slightly higher than the left.

A few weeks ago doctors thought Perez's life might be at risk from the bacterial infection -- Vibrio necrotizing fasciitis -- which he contracted July 2 while crabbing in waters off Matts Landing in Maurice River.

Perez underwent his first amputations Aug. 15. He had most of his forearms amputated, also because of gangrene that had been spreading.

He had also been on dialysis because his kidneys were not functioning properly. However, Perez-Dilan said Wednesday that his kidneys "are definitely looking better," and they are hopeful he'll be taken off dialysis soon.

Though Perez-Dilan said the latest surgery went well, it's still unclear when Perez might be discharged from the hospital and home with his family.

"I'm just grateful for everyone's support, everyone's prayers, just all the rally, everyone rallying around us," she said.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have information about this story or something else we should be covering? Tell us. nj.com/tipsThere could be just as many bear hunters in the woods as in 2017, and maybe more, even though state land this time is off-limits.

The N.J. Department of Environmental Protection is offering 11,000 bear hunting permits for sale starting Sept. 10, four weeks before the hunt will begin.

Gov. Phil Murphy on Aug. 20 issued an executive order barring the hunt from state land, where just over four out of every 10 bears killed during the last eight hunts were located.

Hunters bought 8,790 permits for the 2017 hunt. That year, 409 bears were killed in 16 days.

The price, $2 per permit, is unchanged from 2017.

This year's hunt is scheduled from Oct. 8-13, and Dec. 3-8 in eight northern counties. Advocates both for - and against - the hunt are predicting additional hunting on private land, county parks and other locations unaffected by Murphy's executive order.

Murphy, who took office in January, campaigned on a pledge to end the hunts that occurred annually under former Gov. Chris Christie through approvals by the N.J. Fish and Game Council.

He said he he subsequently determined that banning hunting on state land was the "greatest extent" of his authority.

New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel, who says Murphy could cancel the hunt if he wants, questioned the effectiveness of the executive order, and said it might not result in fewer bears being killed.

"I think it's almost going to be impossible to enforce," Tittel said.

"If someone shoots a bear on Hamburg Mountain and says they got it in the Newark Watershed, who's going to know the difference," added Tittel, referring to the state-owned mountain that borders municipal-owned property.

Phil Brodhecker, a Fish and Game Council member who supports the hunt, said he hopes someone will challenge Murphy's executive order.

"Hunting is the only way to reduce the population," said Brodhecker, adding that farmers are concerned about property damage.

Murphy has urged the Democrat-controlled Legislature to take action to stop the hunt, though a proposed five-year moratorium on bear hunting has lingered in Trenton for nearly two years without a vote.

The day after issuing his executive order, Murphy, during his television call-in show, said it is "frustrating" that he cannot do more, and referenced the Fish and Game Council, which approved the 2018 hunt as part of a five-year bear management plan adopted three years ago.

"Bless their hearts, they're not with me on this one," Murphy said of the council during "Ask the Governor" on News 12 New Jersey. "And they had done, legally, the right thing. They had submitted a five-year plan. I didn't have the legal authority to override that five-year plan."

"So we did the next-best thing," Murphy added, referring to banning the hunt on state land.

Of the 3,429 bears killed in the eight consecutive hunts starting in 2010, a total of 1,376, or 40.1 percent, were killed on state land.

The state's bear management plan is currently being challenged in court by animal rights activists. Doris Lin, attorney for the plaintiffs, said a hearing is scheduled Sept. 27 before a state Appellate Division panel.

Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.With a pen stroke, Gov. Murphy could have imposed a 5-cent fee for plastic bags. Then he could have grabbed that money to wallpaper the cracks in his budget, just as legislative leadership had planned in the bill he vetoed Monday.

He also could have told all cities and towns with ordinances that ban bags entirely that they were out of luck - they'd have to do it the state's way now.

But the governor didn't go there. He rejected the bag fee because when it comes to environmental stewardship, he knows that half-measures are no longer adequate - especially as the federal government wages war on the planet - and that New Jersey needs a more "robust and comprehensive method" of reducing the ubiquitous scourge of plastic.

That leaves one option: Impose an outright ban of plastic bags and their straw-shaped cousins.

Given that our state goes through 4.4 billion bags annually, the logic is unassailable. They fill landfills, contaminate food chains, poison birds and marine life, threaten human health, choke storm drains, and decompose over centuries. All that from a product that is used once and almost never recycled.

So Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, is going for broke. The bill he has introduced prohibits stores and food outlets from providing plastic carryout bags, polystyrene foam, and plastic straws (except for the disabled), making it the most ambitious legislation ever attempted out of the 13 failed measures floated since 2007.

Hearings next month will help shape the bill. But after hosting a joint meeting of the environmental committees Thursday in Toms River, where he heard from environmentalists, scientists, and industry reps, Smith favors the hybrid model used in California: ban plastic, and put a fee on paper bags.

Now we find out whether other lawmakers are ready to follow the science, because it tells a dire story.

"The public believes that the worst aspect of plastic is that there are continents of plastic in the middle of our oceans, killing wildlife," Smith said. "And that's a terrible reality. But the real problem is this stuff is going to kill you. These bags break down into microplastic particles, they're eaten by marine life, and they enter the human food chain. And our filtration and waste water systems aren't designed to remove it. So it's time to be proactive."

California and Hawaii have statewide bans. New York and others are likely to follow. Cities throughout the U.S. have their own policies.

It is appropriate that New Jersey stay ahead of the curve, because the groundswell is undeniable: As the fee-structure bill sat on the governor's desk for two months, towns rushed to adopt bans, fearing they would be preempted. The towns that currently have bans cover the spectrum, from blue bastions of Jersey City and Hoboken to red shore communities of Stone Harbor and Harvey Cedars.

A fee model works in many places, and we applaud that effort. But evidence is emerging that its effects are temporary - that after a plunge in bag circulation, people get comfortable with paying the nickel or dime.

"Towns learn that fees don't always change behavior," said Doug O'Malley of Environment New Jersey. "And since fees create a piggy bank that the state can raid, it's an incentive to not move toward a ban."

Here's all the incentive we need: Global annual plastics production was 311 million tons in 2015, and that number will quadruple by 2050, according to Dr. Serpil Guran of Rutgers. Up to 12 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year. By 2050, the plastic in the world's oceans will exceed the mass of fish.

Put another way, we're past the tipping point. We need an immediate, authentic cultural change - not a piecemeal effort with a money grab attached - and it takes a Legislature with a spine to enforce it.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.President Donald Trump accused Google and others of rigging results against him and other conservatives yesterday in a series of tweets Tuesday.

He accused the company of prioritizing "fake news" in its search results, something the company denies.

"Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," the Mountain View, California-based company said. "Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries."

"Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media," he said. "In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of results on "Trump News" are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.

"Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed," he added.

Trump did not provide any evidence to back up his accusations.

The president has also threatened to probe allegations of Twitter's "shadowbanning" conservative accounts, making it more difficult for their profiles to be discovered in the search engine.

Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a user's query, even before he or she finishes typing. The answers that appear first are the ones Google's formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant.

Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well it's designed and more.

Do think search engines are biased and "rigged"?

Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.By Tom Malinowski

My most vivid memory of John McCain was forged in, of all places, a prison in Libya.

After the fall of Muammar Qaddafi's dictatorship, I informed him that the new government was imprisoning African migrants in awful conditions. He got on a plane to see for himself.

In the dank prison on the outskirts of Tripoli, he walked from cell to cell, with several other bemused senators and terrified U.S. embassy staff trailing behind him, hearing out the inmates, addressing a room crammed with over a hundred imprisoned women, and finally jabbing his finger in the warden's chest, demanding to know "are you using electricity here?!" (since one prisoner had said he'd been tortured by electric shock).

U.S. Sen. John McCain had supported American intervention in Libya, and so he felt responsible. (Photo courtesy of Tom Malinowski)

There was no press to witness this, no votes to be gained back home. But John had supported American intervention in Libya, and so he felt responsible. Every time I saw him for the next two years, he asked me what had happened to the women in that prison.

I first met John when, as an advocate for Human Rights Watch, I was looking for a senator to sponsor legislation to stop our own government from torturing prisoners after 9/11.

He had the right profile: a former POW and war hero who'd have unquestioned authority with Republican legislators. But I had no idea how magnificent he would be in the ten year struggle to come: as he took on Dick Cheney to get the first torture ban passed in 2005, protected young soldiers in Iraq who'd blown the whistle on detainee abuse, and steered the release in 2014 of the Senate report detailing what the CIA had actually done to prisoners, which even some Obama administration officials opposed.

One day, I learned that in a negotiation with Cheney's staff, he replied to a proposal they made: "I'd like to do that, but I've got this guy at Human Rights Watch, and he says I can't." He didn't need my permission for anything! But he knew it would torment them to say that, and tormenting bullies was what he did for fun.

McCain poses for a photo in 2011 with Tom Malinowski and his daughter, Emily. (Photo courtesy of Tom Malinowksi)

Just as some Republicans despise John McCain for calling out Donald Trump, some Democrats could never accept him unless he became one of us. And he wasn't: he voted with the NRA; supported the Iraq War; elevated Sarah Palin. Once, after I'd said some kind words to him, he replied: "You think I'm such a good guy, well, see what a jerk I actually am!" - and passed me a copy of that morning's New York Times, featuring a Paul Krugman column calling him a fake moderate.

But the outpouring of affection for John today -- on what would have been his 82nd birthday -- suggests a widespread craving for the deeper virtues he exemplified. He believed that America is the hope of the world, while honestly admitting and fiercely confronting our country's shortcomings.

He hated dogma and changed his mind when common decency and facts demanded it. He fought anyone, including in his party, who sought scapegoats, not solutions, for our problems. The more lost and honorable and thankless the cause (like when he met those imprisoned women in Libya), the more he wanted to be its champion.

In his final statement, John asked us: "Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America."

He was right. Our founders gave us a government designed to survive the "difficulties" he was alluding to, so long as our legislative and judicial institutions do their jobs, and those of us who still believe in the decency and democracy that make America great do our part. That's how we will honor him -- by fighting our hearts out for the country he loved, and for the ideals that make it worth fighting for.

Tom Malinowski, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state under President Obama, is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.Gov. Phil Murphy inherited a fiscal crisis that threatens to hobble his progressive agenda, and he's done almost nothing to solve it so far.

So, it was surprising and encouraging to see him use his veto power this week to scale back a Legislative plan to borrow $1 billion for capital improvements in public schools and community colleges. Murphy cut the sum in half, to $500 million, which voters will be asked to approve in the Nov. 6 election.

The governor's reasoning was compelling: We can't afford it.

It's too bad he stopped halfway, because we can't afford half of it either. Until this fiscal crisis is addressed, New Jersey has no business borrowing another dime without new taxes or fees to cover the cost. To pile on more unfunded debt is to repeat the mistake that created this crisis. If this is the best our leaders can do, the only answer is for voters to reject this bonding in November.

You might think the fiscal crisis is an abstract problem. But it's the reason NJ Transit has been underfunded for years. It's the reason schools have struggled with flat funding for most of the last decade. It's the reason we can't reduce property taxes, build affordable housing, or provide drug treatment to more heroin addicts. These things all cost money.

In his veto message, Murphy described the fiscal crisis with statistics that landed like hammer blows.

New Jersey carries the nation's fifth highest debt load, at $33 billion, and servicing that debt costs $4.1 billion in this year's budget. That's an enormous sum, more than enough to cover Murphy's progressive ambitions and cut property taxes at the same time. Instead, we pay it to bondholders.

And that staggering debt, as Murphy pointed out, is the least of it. The state's unfunded pension and health obligations to retirees comes to more than $180 billion. You can see why New Jersey has the nation's second-lowest bond rating, behind Illinois.

Voters will hear a good deal about the worthy causes that could be funded by this new debt, assuming the programs are well-designed. Some is earmarked for job training at vocation schools and community colleges, answering a need for skilled manufacturing workers. Some is earmarked for school security, and some to revamp water systems in schools to protect kids from lead poisoning.

Those are all good causes. And since the benefits of these programs will last for years, it's sensible accounting to spread the costs into the future by bonding, under normal circumstances.

But New Jersey is not in a normal circumstance. If we want to spend the money on these good causes, we need to cover the cost with new fees or taxes. That's not a liberal view, or a conservative view. It is about facing facts.

Sen. Steve Oroho, R-Sussex, is a leading fiscal conservative and a co-sponsor of this bill. He sees the problem, but says the answer is to contain spending on pension and health benefits, as recommended recently by a task force convened by Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

"If we did the cost reductions, then these are the kind of things we can afford to invest in," Oroho says.

True. Reducing those costs has to be part of the solution. But so far, the Legislature and governor have not mustered the political will to do so. And until that happens, this is just the kind of smart investment New Jersey can't afford to make. Count that as another cost of the fiscal crisis.

Murphy pointed us in the right direction when he cut this borrowing in half. But until the state manages to correct its course on spending, even half is too much.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.As the state's children gear up for their fall semester over the next days and weeks, one of the most important changes they'll encounter will take place before they even set foot in the classroom.

On Saturday, Gov. Phil Murphy traveled to Paramus Borough Hall to sign a bill requiring all New Jersey school buses to have lap and shoulder seat belts.

The choice of venue for the signing was no coincidence. The measure, which moved through both houses of the Legislature with uncommon urgency, was motivated by a horrific school bus accident which took the lives of a fifth-grader and a middle-school teacher in a Paramus school, and left scores of passengers injured.

The driver, Hudy Muldrow Sr., faces two second-degree counts of vehicular homicide. Police say he had passed an exit on Interstate 80 and had tried to make an illegal U-turn through a break in the median when his bus and a dump truck collided.

The youngsters and their chaperones were headed to Waterloo Village, a restored 19th Century town, for a class trip.

In the aftermath of the crash, Peter Caminiti III, one of the injured youngsters, posed a question to his father while he was still recuperating in the hospital: Why are the seat belts in our cars different from the ones in our school buses?

Why indeed? wondered his father, Peter Jr. So did state Sen. Joseph Lagana (D-Bergen) and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez (D-Middlesex).

The two lawmakers responded to the Caminitis' reasonable query with a measure requiring all school buses to be equipped with three-point harnesses at each seat, rather than the simple lap belts they now carry.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has urged parents to work with their local school districts to make this change with new school buses, a position also taken by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services.

In 2015, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reversing the agency's longtime stance, issued a statement saying that "NHTSA's policy is that every school bus should have a three-point seat belt."

Mark Rosekind added that his agency would use "All the tools at our disposal to help achieve that goal."

The deaths of fifth-grader Miranda Vargas and teacher Jennifer Williamson left their families and their communities in deep mourning. The bill Murphy signed last week won't change that.

But we are grateful to the governor and the Legislature for taking this important step to prevent other families and other communities from sharing the same sad fate.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.New Jersey has dumped its small holding in a private prison contractor that runs family detention centers amid increased scrutiny of the Trump administration's immigration policy.

The $78.6 billion public worker pension fund last week sold its $1.3 million investment in Florida-based Geo Group, one of the U.S.'s largest private prison contractors.

"Our Division of Investment reviewed the investment merits, including consideration of environmental, social and governance issues, and consistent with its fiduciary responsibility elected to sell the security and the transaction was completed last Thursday," Treasury Department spokeswoman Jennifer Sciortino said in a statement Wednesday. The holding was sold on Aug. 23.

The move follows a call from the American Federation of Teachers for public pension funds to root out their investments in these companies, or when possible, to use their leverage to "demand that they adopt policies to ensure just and humane treatment of detainees, which necessarily includes canceling any contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

The Trump administration came under fire when under its "zero tolerance" police for adults crossing the border began separation parents and children. Audio recordings of young children calling for their mothers and fathers fueled backlash over the new policy. The administration has been ordered by a federal court judge to reunite separated families.

"The family separation crisis is not only a humanitarian issue but an investment issue, to which public pension fund trustees should give careful consideration," the AFT said in its report.

The pension fund still owns $156 million in equity and fixed income investments in defense contractor General Dynamics, which has said it has "no role in the family separation policy, nor a role in the construction or operation of detention facilities."

"General Dynamics Information Technology has provided support to unaccompanied minors through its work with the Office of Refugee Resettlement," the contractor said in a statement. "This includes casework support services to help ensure special needs of unaccompanied children are met."

It was reported by documentedny.com last week that New Jersey's much smaller employee deferred compensation plan purchased nearly $1 million in stock in Geo Group and CoreCivic, another ICE contractor. Tennessee-based CoreCivic runs the Elizabeth Detention Center, an ICE facility in Elizabeth.

CoreCivic says it does not house unaccompanied children in its facilities.

"We also do not enforce immigration laws or policies or have any say whatsoever in an individual's deportation or release," the company said in a statement.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com . Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.The Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library in Washington Township will host two Civil War-themed programs in September.

Several New Jersey's Civil War-era photographers will be featured during "'Ere the Shadows Fade" on Thursday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. The Civil War boosted the photographic trade in New Jersey as both soldiers and families demanded more images of loved ones. Archivist, educator and photographer Gary D. Saretzky will present several notable examples of these photographers.

"'Ere the Shadows Fade" is presented in partnership with the Washington Township Historic Preservation Commission and is funded by the Public Scholars Project, an offering of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Charlie Zahm will offer a "A Musical Tribute to the Irish Brigade" at Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library on Sept. 13.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m., musician Charlie Zahm will take listeners on a musical journey through the history of the Irish Brigade in the Civil War in "A Music Tribute to the Irish Brigade."

The programs are free. Advance online or phone registration is required. Go to Programs and Events at www.hegganlibrary.org or call 856-589-3334 to register.

The Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library is located at 606 Delsea Drive.The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery. Today: developer and philanthropist Roger Ogden.

The icon: Roger Ogden.

The legacy: Roger Ogden's legacy can be found all over south Louisiana, in the dozens of shopping centers and hotels he helped develop; at Louisiana State University, to which he has donated millions; and -- perhaps most conspicuously -- the museum bearing his surname in New Orleans' Warehouse District. Throughout Ogden's life, art has been an abiding passion, and as he became successful, he was able not only to buy more art but also to share it through the museum, which is still a work in progress, and one in which Ogden remains deeply involved. (His gift of about 600 paintings and sculptures makes up the core of the collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, which now boasts more than 5,000 pieces.) Gregory O'Brien, who approached Ogden with the idea of donating some of his art when O'Brien was the University of New Orleans' chancellor, said Ogden possesses "enormous energy and a kind of laser focus" and "an enthusiasm that makes people want to help him."

The artist: Gabriel Flores.

The quote: "All over the state and the South, you'll meet people who'll tell you things about Roger's generosity." -- Bradley Sumrall, curator, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in a 2017 interview with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Explore more of Flores' work online at WhereYart.net and in person at the Where Y'Art gallery, 1901 Royal St.

When Ogden was young, he thought of running for governor, but Ann Wait, whom he married, said she didn't like the prospect of living in the spotlight.

By John Pope, contributing writer

Source: The Times-Picayune archives; staff research

More on 300 for 300:Story by Robert Rhoden and Maria Clark, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

An investigation begun a year ago in New Orleans has led to the dismantling of an international fentanyl supplier, the prosecution of 21 people in China and the seizure of more than 20 million U.S.-bound doses of the synthetic opioid drug, American and Chinese authorities announced Wednesday (Aug. 29).

U.S. agents are now investigating 35 American shipping addresses to which the organization delivered or tried to deliver drugs, officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and Chinese narcotics authorities said at a joint news conference at the U.S. Customs House in New Orleans.

This week officials are meeting in New Orleans to discuss the ongoing investigation as the focus turns onto the 35 addresses identified throughout the United States.

"This is the first case of its kind with the U.S. and Chinese law enforcement working together," said Shawn Harwood, the attache for Homeland Security Investigations in Guangzho, China.

"American communities are being ravaged by a steady influx of illegal and deadly narcotics; chief amongst them heroin and the synthetic opioid fentanyl," said Homeland Security Investigations' (HSI) New Orleans Deputy Special Agent in Charge Thomas M. Annello in a statement. "We are firmly committed to targeting the illegal import and sale of opioids, following the money trails and leveraging our international and local partnerships to stop these opioid smuggling rings and prevent the crisis from spreading further."

According to a news release, the New Orleans office of HSI obtained information in August 2017 about a China-based narcotics supplier known as "Diana" exporting fentanyl to the United States. The HSI office in Guangzhou, China, discussed the case with the Chinese Narcotics Control Bureau and a joint investigation was agreed upon.

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Chinese authorities formed a special task force of more than 100 elite Chinese police officers, which conducted an investigation of the crime group across several different provinces. They identified the ring's members and operations and ultimately broke up a clandestine chemical lab that had been producing fentanyl for multiple drug trafficking organizations, authorities said.

From November 2017 to January of this year, the task force arrested 21 people, seized significant quantities of pure fentanyl, fentanyl-containing products and fentanyl precursors and $115,000 in criminal proceeds, the news release said. Prosecution of the suspects is continuing in China.

"The success of this case has potentially stopped the delivery of nearly 20 million lethal doses of fentanyl to the United States," Annello said.

Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to authorities. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 20,000 Americans are killed by fentanyl and fentanyl analogues each year, the release said.

"Narcotics is a public enemy to humanity and a public hazard to the world," said Chinese Ministry of Public Security/Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Deputy Director Xiao Yingxia.

"Fighting narcotics crimes has no borders."

He said the case was the first successful joint effort between China and the U.S. on fentanyl trafficking and that its success has demonstrated full determination to crack down on fentanyl crimes by law enforcement agencies from both countries. It also opens a new chapter on law enforcement cooperation fighting narcotics crimes, Yingxia said.New Orleans Police are asking for the public's help in finding Willie "Six" Andrews, who they described as a "person of interest" in an Aug. 5 shooting in the Lower 9th Ward.

In that shooting, a 20-year-old man was shot in the jaw and upper chest by someone in a passing car in the 1800 block of Tennessee Street, police said.

Police said Andrews is not wanted as the perpetrator in the shooting, but investigators believe he was with the 20-year-old man who was shot. Police believe Andrews returned fire.

"Andrews has not cooperated with the investigation," police said in a news release. "Detectives feel he may have knowledge of information pertinent to the investigation."

A warrant also has been issued for Andrews' arrest for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Anyone with additional information on the shooting or information on Andrews' whereabouts is asked to contact NOPD 5th District detectives at 504-658-6050 or call anonymously to Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP.It's been about two weeks since LSU Ag Center and GB Sciences got the final go-ahead to start planting Louisiana's first legal crop of medical marijuana in their Baton Rouge facility. The announcement has been long awaited by the different players in the state's burgeoning industry.

On Tuesday (Aug. 28), construction was ongoing throughout the facility, which will eventually house four large pods used to grow the plants in four separate stages. The facility will also include research space for scientists at the LSU AgCenter who will study the medicinal properties of cannabis and its use in treating the variety of medical conditions covered under Louisiana's law.

John Davis, the president of GB Sciences Louisiana, led a walk-through of the facility on Tuesday as he explained how the program will eventually work.

The LSU AgCenter is one of two licensed growers of medical cannabis under Louisiana law. Southern AgCenter is the second designated grower. GB Sciences, a bio-pharmaceutical company based in Las Vegas, was selected by the LSU AgCenter to help grow and extract the compounds out of the plant to make the medicine that will be sold later this year at nine licensed dispensaries located in different regions across the state.

Patients who have a qualifying medical condition including post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic and intractable pain, epilepsy, Crohn's disease, HIV/AIDS, muscular dystrophy, wasting disease, Parkinson's Disease, symptoms associated with severe autism, and glaucoma would qualify to access medical marijuana in Louisiana. However, as Davis pointed out, they would have to be assessed and get a recommendation from a licensed medical provider to buy the medicine.

The list of providers who have been licensed can be found through the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiner's website.

Since marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug under federal law, it is not considered a medicine, therefore doctors are not allowed to prescribe it. The language in Louisiana law states however, that doctors with a therapeutic marijuana license can "recommend" it.

Davis said Tuesday that demand driven by patients, doctors, and dispensary owners prompted GB Sciences to build an exterior "grow pod" that encompasses all four stages of the growth process of the plant, from start to harvest and extraction.

The team has already planted 143 plants in the exterior pod at the facility. The structure is under tight security and is fenced in by barbed wire fencing. A Louisiana state trooper was stationed by the pod to guard it on Tuesday.

Davis said that they are on schedule to have product ready for all of the dispensaries by the first week of November.

Maria Clark writes about immigration, health, doctors, patients and health care in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1 .According to the National Hurricane Center, 1,577 people died in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, about 1,300 of them of causes directly related to flooding or wind. In Mississippi, another 238 people died. There were 14 related deaths in Florida and two related deaths each in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio and one in Kentucky. That's a U.S. death toll of 1,836 from one monster storm.

Even before Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico Sept. 20, 2017, it should have been clear that people on the American island would die in huge numbers. But it wasn't until Tuesday that we were given a realistic account of how big that number is: almost 3,000 people between the time of the storm's landfall and mid-February 2018.

That new number, reported by the territory's governor after he called for a study was derived, in part, by comparing the island's mortality rate in normal conditions before the storm and the mortality rate in the months that followed.

"Even though it is an estimate, we are officially changing, we are putting an official number to the death toll," Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said. "We will take the 2,975 number as the official estimate for the excess deaths as a product of the hurricane."

Previously, Maria's death toll had stood at 64.

There will likely be some resistance to this new, exponentially higher number, especially within the Donald Trump administration. When asked almost a month after Maria to give his administration's response a letter grade, Trump said, "I give ourselves a 10." He had Rosello sitting next to him in the Oval Office and put him on the spot. "Did the United States, did our government, when we came in, did we do a great job?"

"You responded immediately, sir," Rosello said, giving an answer that wasn't exactly a yes.

Trump had said during an October 3 visit to the island, when the death toll was an unbelievable 16, that officials there should be proud that Maria didn't wasn't "a real catastrophe like Katrina."

So there's been a whole lot riding on Maria's death toll being kept low. But this new number properly honors the power of 155-mph winds and properly honors those who wouldn't have died if that storm hadn't come ripping through.

The original death toll was developed using a method that seemed guaranteed to lead to an undercount. It's a method that suggests that an undercount was the goal. Karixia Ortiz, press officer for Puerto Rico's Department of Public Safety, told The Huffington Post for an October report that in order for a body to be included in Maria's death toll, it had to be brought to the Institute of Forensic Science in San Juan or a medical examiner had to be dispatched to the body to verify the death.

But even when the island's official death toll got multiplied a few times, there was still no reason to trust its accuracy. John Mutter, a Columbia University disaster researcher who studied the death toll following Hurricane Katrina, told Vox.com for an Oct. 11 report, "When I first started hearing the deaths were only 16, and then 34, I thought there was something wrong. Maria was bigger than the two previous storms, Harvey and Irma. And there's no way to evacuate an island. All those people are still there. And then you look at damage and it's profound. And now they're saying only 45 people died, you're saying come on, it couldn't be."

In order to have believed that only 64 people died, you'd have to believe that fewer people died from a Category 4 storm on a 3,500 square mile island than died in some New Orleans neighborhoods when Hurricane Katrina hit nearby as a Category 2. Granted, Katrina's storm surge was more like a Category 5. Still, it was never made sense that Maria's death toll would be a mere fraction of Katrina's.

It also didn't make sense that Trump brought up Katrina during his visit to the island. It was an unnecessary comparison to make, one that suggested that there was something wrong with us given that so many people died.

For the last 13 years, Katrina has been lifted up as an example of something being wrong with us. When catastrophes befall other parts of the United States, you can count on somebody or some Internet meme claiming that their people are stronger, more resilient, more self-reliant and less demanding of government aid than the people in New Orleans.

It's a slander, and it needs to stop.

None of us is stronger than the weather. None of us is stronger than the water unleashed by a shoddy floodwall. None of us deserves scorn for asking that American tax dollars be spent helping Americans recover from such catastrophes.

Those of us who suffered during Katrina deserve compassion. So, too, do those who suffered during Maria. As the news of Maria's revised toll was published the day before a Katrina anniversary, we might use this anniversary to remember our irreplaceable losses - and Puerto Rico's.

Jarvis DeBerry is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Latitude is a place to share opinions about the challenges facing Louisiana. Follow @LatitudeNOLA on Facebook and Twitter. Write Jarvis at jdeberry@nola.com.The exercise is as old as the Republic, but the first thing you need to understand about redistricting is that hot-water cornbread is as ubiquitous in north Louisiana as etouffee is in the south, says Rick Gallot, the Ruston Democratic representat

Viewed of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Hurricane Marias toll: The first official outside evaluation put the number of deaths in Puerto Rico at nearly 3,000 more than originally estimated. The governments initial and widely disputed toll was 64. [The New York Times]

 Nicolas Hulot, Frances environment minister, resigned abruptly on live radio, saying the government was not doing enough to tackle pressing environmental issues. [The New York Times]

 A U.N. panel found evidence of torture, rape and other war crimes in Yemen, singling out Saudi and Emirati airstrikes as causing the most civilian casualties but also suggesting that Houthi rebels were at fault. [The New York Times]

 The police in eastern Germany said several people had been treated for injuries after clashes between members of the German far right and counterprotesters in Chemnitz. They said 10 people were being investigated for giving the Hitler salute. [The New York Times]

 Insults, rocks and smoke bombs: French fishermen faced off against their British counterparts in a nasty fight over scallops in the English Channel. [BBC]

 A rain forest in rural Wales? A new restoration project between the Welsh government and the E.U. aims to protect a section of the British countryside threatened by invasive species. [The Guardian]AUSTIN, Tex.  The day after he was blocked by a federal judge from posting free blueprints for 3-D printed guns online, a man who describes himself as a crypto-anarchist said he would instead send the plans to buyers for whatever theyre willing to pay.

The seller, Cody Wilson, has fought for years to offer his downloadable blueprints. But on Tuesday he said he had begun selling the plans on his website, offering to mail buyers flash drives loaded with the files.

Everyone is going to continue to get these files, Mr. Wilson told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. Im happy now at this point to become the iTunes of downloadable guns if I cant be the Napster.

Mr. Wilson said that he had already received nearly 400 orders. So far, he said, customers have offered between $1 and $15 for plans to make the plastic guns using a 3-D printer.Unemployment rates across Africa are too high, but tech startups are coming up with more and more innovative ways of connecting jobseekers with opportunities.

Filling vital gaps

Great value in job boards

Investors looking for niche solutions

Job boards in Africa evolving

While the numbers of jobless people are most concerning in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Namibia, which have unemployment rates of 46.1% and 34% respectively, the scourge is present in even the most developed economies.South Africas unemployment rate is above 27%, while 18.8% of Nigerians and 11.5% of Kenyans are out of work. But, as in other sectors, tech startups are taking up the challenge.According to the recently-released Future of Work: Exploring the African Digital Work Landscape 2018 report by Disrupt Africa, 180 tech startups across the continent have developed solutions helping users find work, be it full time or project-based. They are filling vital gaps.Unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing African countries and the traditional solutions that exist cannot satisfy the fast-growing job market, said Edward Vaisberg, chief operating officer (COO) of Kenyan recruitment startup Fuzu The benefits are clear for both jobseekers and employers, offering both a large selection of opportunities and access to broad talent pools.Unlike traditional approaches of finding jobs through social connections or other informal networks, which tend to disproportionately favour wealthy or well-connected individuals, job boards allow widespread access to job opportunities and therefore encourage equality within the employment process, said Chris Kwekowe, co-founder of Nigerias Slatecube As a result, they can help to increase employment rates among marginalised groups who normally wouldnt even know where and how to find such opportunities.Anish Shivdasani, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of South African jobs platform Giraffe , agrees there is great value in job boards in terms of tackling frictional unemployment.They help reduce the information disconnect that exists between employers and job seekers. It is an obvious truth that companies cannot employ candidates they are unaware of and job seekers cannot apply for jobs that they do not know exist, he said.As a result, there has been significant interest from investors in the job matching and recruitment space in Africa. Fuzu and Giraffe are two of the most successful fundraisers in the space, though there are a significant number of others.Kwekowe said African countries are now being recognised as both growth engines and leading sources of dynamic talent.This leaves immense opportunity for investors to play integral roles in driving recruitment solutions around the world. The online recruitment space has already become saturated with investors both looking to achieve outstanding returns, as well as contribute to the social and economic development of Africa, he said.Vaisberg agreed investors are very keen on the human capital space.Given the massive scope of the growing unemployment challenge, many companies are trying to tackle the space through different angles, he said.However, he said traditional job boards and recruitment solutions are not getting much attention, but rather concepts that are tackling the challenge in a more comprehensive and scalable way. This is echoed by Basil Fateen, founder and CEO of Egyptian startup HireHunt , who says investors are looking at niche solutions that solve specific recruitment problems.Job boards may have been a step forward years ago when no digital recruitment solutions existed, however they are quickly becoming much less effective for both jobseekers and employers, he said. Traditional job boards need to be replaced with smarter solutions in order to handle the massive amounts of unemployed and unfilled positions.HireHunt, for example, has introduced artificial intelligence and online gamified assessments to remove hiring bias and speed up the whole process, while Fuzu is helping jobseekers marry career planning with learning. Vaisberg said job boards in Africa have over the years continued to evolve and are no longer purely meant for job postings.Most of them provide additional products that jobseekers need, such as employability courses for personal and professional growth, employment-related blog posts, personality tests and, in more advanced platforms like Fuzu, offer jobseekers feedback for the applications they make to various organisations, he said.Providing such needed services that enable jobseekers to understand the full scope of the job market and what they need to do to stand out, while giving them an opportunity to be found by hiring managers, has had a positive impact on African jobseekers.LOS ANGELES  California took some of the most aggressive steps yet to counter the effects of climate change as legislators voted Tuesday to require that 100 percent of the states electricity come from carbon-free sources.

The bill gives the state until 2045 to meet the goal. California had already imposed a mandate to generate 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030; the bill increased the amount to 60 percent.

The move highlights Californias determination to be a leader on climate issues. In May, state regulators revised the building code to require newly built homes to be equipped for solar power.

The states aggressiveness comes as the Trump administration is moving to loosen or abandon environmental regulations and promoting a revival of the coal industry. And it follows a year in which catastrophic wildfires that many attribute to climate change have been responsible for dozens of deaths in the state, destroyed homes and businesses and cost billions of dollars.New cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis rose sharply for the fourth consecutive year in 2017, to a record high of nearly 2.3 million, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That number surpassed the previous record, which was set in 2016, by more than 200,000 cases. The statistics are an alarming sign that the systems to prevent and treat sexually transmitted diseases are strained to near-breaking point, said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, a top C.D.C. official.

Using condoms can reduce the risk of transmitting all three diseases, which are among the most common S.T.D.s and can be cured with antibiotics. But many cases go undiagnosed, and the diseases can cause serious problems down the line, including infertility and increased H.I.V. risk.

Most people with these S.T.D.s do not know they are infected, said Dr. Gail Bolan, director of the C.D.C.s division of sexually transmitted disease prevention. They dont realize that these diseases are spreading silently through the country.For the second time in a week, two bags containing what appear to be human remains have been found in or near a park in the Bronx, the police said on Tuesday.

A passer-by called 911 at 7:21 p.m. Tuesday after making the gruesome discovery near the water that surrounds part of Barretto Point Park and summoned officers to the corner of Tiffany Street and Viele Avenue in Hunts Point.

The announcement came just four days after a seasonal Parks Department worker found a garbage bag outside Crotona Park  about three miles north of Barretto Point Park. The police have said the garbage bag was one of two black trash bags containing the dismembered remains of at least one unidentified woman.A burglar broke into a Manhattan penthouse early Tuesday and made off with a briefcase and an iPad belonging to a banker who once did work for President Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, the police said.

The homeowner, David Fallarino, 38, is a loan officer at Citizens Bank who handled loan paperwork for Mr. Manafort, who was convicted last week on federal financial fraud charges related to his overseas lobbying work.

Mr. Fallarino, who was not implicated in wrongdoing, called the police around 3 a.m. on Tuesday after discovering the break-in at his apartment on West 58th Street near Central Park, the police said. He told investigators that he was awakened two hours earlier by the sound of his front door slamming, the police said.

Mr. Fallarino told investigators he found a crowbar on his private terrace and discovered that the briefcase, the iPad and a pair of sneakers were missing from the living room, the police said. There were no signs of forced entry; Mr. Fallarino said he had left the terrace door open, the police said.SAN FRANCISCO  The post went up quietly on Facebooks internal message board last week. Titled We Have a Problem With Political Diversity, it quickly took off inside the social network.

We are a political monoculture thats intolerant of different views, Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the post, which was obtained by The New York Times. We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack  often in mobs  anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.

Since the post went up, more than 100 Facebook employees have joined Mr. Amerige to form an online group called FBers for Political Diversity, according to two people who viewed the groups page and who were not authorized to speak publicly. The aim of the initiative, according to Mr. Ameriges memo, is to create a space for ideological diversity within the company.

The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who said its online posts were offensive to minorities. One engineer, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, said several people had lodged complaints with their managers about FBers for Political Diversity and were told that it had not broken any company rules.SAN FRANCISCO  California on Tuesday became the first state to fully abolish cash bail, a step that backers said would create a more equitable criminal justice system, one less dependent on a persons wealth.

Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly, said Gov. Jerry Brown, who signed the California Money Bail Reform Act into law on Tuesday.

The driving principle of the law is that a suspect will be evaluated on the basis of risk to public safety and the likelihood of not appearing in court, rather than on his or her ability to post a certain bail amount. Those evaluations would help determine if the suspect would be held while awaiting trial or released.

The California law is part of a wave of criminal justice reforms taking place across the country. A number of states, including New Jersey, New Mexico and Kentucky, have sharply curtailed their cash bail system, but California is the first to completely dismantle it.WASHINGTON  As the Archdiocese of Washington celebrated the opening of school with a special Mass on Tuesday, a group of teachers instead marked the occasion by calling for the removal of the capitals embattled archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

The cardinal is among several American Catholic leaders implicated in the growing sex abuse scandal enveloping the church. This month, Cardinal Wuerls name appeared in a Pennsylvania grand jury report, which cited cases when the cardinal, then the bishop of Pittsburgh, allowed abusive priests back into the ministry. Then over the weekend, Cardinal Wuerl was accused by a former Vatican diplomat of knowing about the sexual misconduct of his predecessor in the Washington diocese, Theodore E. McCarrick.

A statement that garnered about 50 signatures from Washington diocese teachers announced that they were boycotting the Mass on Tuesday, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, as an act of solidarity against the injustices condoned by Cardinal Wuerl and the greater hierarchy of the Church. They held a brief prayer service themselves outside the basilica to pray for the survivors and victims.

The reason we do this is because kids are important to us and their education is important to us, said Jack Devlin, 27, a local teacher who stood with several colleagues on the outskirts of the basilica under a nearby tree, holding signs emblazoned with Bible verses about justice. We care. This is personal.MIAMI  Andrew Gillums campaign bus was running late, tied up in rain and traffic on Interstate 95, so his relatives waiting to catch a glimpse of the final days of his surging candidacy had a few minutes to reminisce about the politician as a young boy.

Hes always been a kid that was different from all the rest, George Jackson, his 71-year-old uncle, said of Mr. Gillum, the son of a bus driver and a construction laborer who grew up in the southern end of Miami-Dade County. Always had a book up to his head. His grandmother always told him that he was special.

Grandma, it seems, was right.

On Tuesday, Mr. Gillum, 39, became the first black nominee for Florida governor, achieving a stunning and improbable come-from-behind win over four wealthy Democratic challengers whose personal fortunes proved no match for Mr. Gillums compelling life story and progressive message.

Were going to unite this state, Mr. Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, told a crowd of supporters on Tuesday night. Whats going to bring us together is our common and shared belief that regardless of where you come from, regardless of what your mother or your father did for their profession, regardless of what side of the tracks you live on that, that every single Floridian ought to have their equal and fair shot at the American dream.DURHAM, N.C.  The federal court ruling on Monday declaring that North Carolinas congressional district map was unfair to Democrats  and might have to be redrawn soon  threw the states politics into confusion bordering on chaos. Candidates like Linda Coleman were left struggling to understand what would come next, and how the fast-approaching midterm elections would now be conducted.

The court left open a host of possibilities. Ms. Coleman might have to run in a new Democratic primary, in a newly drawn district with voters who do not know her. Or she might find herself in an open, multicandidate election with no primary at all.

Then again, the old map and her current district, including part of Raleigh and some surrounding communities, might be left just as it is for one last election this fall.

And she may not know the answers for weeks.

Im very anxious about this, because we are 70 days out from the election, Ms. Coleman said Tuesday. We have been meeting with voters, communicating with them, getting messages out, spending money targeting specific voters we want to go after. That really puts a strain on the direction that you had charted.Were going to make clear to the rest of the world that the dark days that weve been under, coming out of Washington, that the derision and the division that has been coming out of our White House, that right here in the state of Florida we are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way, Mr. Gillum told jubilant supporters in Tallahassee.

In Arizona, Republican primary voters chose the establishment favorite, Representative Martha McSally, to replace Mr. Trumps most outspoken G.O.P. critic in the Senate, Jeff Flake, in a contest that evolved into a test of which candidate could embrace Mr. Trump most snugly. In the Arizona governors primary, Democrats again chose an outspoken progressive over a pragmatist.

[Read key takeaways from Tuesday nights results.]

Lifted by a June endorsement from Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis overwhelmed Adam Putnam, the state agriculture commissioner and one-time favorite for the nomination, taking 57 percent of the vote to Mr. Putnams 37 percent with all precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

But the surprise of the night was Mr. Gillums victory over Ms. Graham, the daughter of governor-turned-senator Bob Graham. Propelled by an endorsement from Senator Bernie Sanders and financing from Tom Steyer, George Soros and Collective PAC, a group dedicated to electing African-Americans, the 39-year-old mayor surged at the end of the campaign to upset Ms. Graham, the establishment pick.Serviceplan France's joint chief creative officer Fabien Teichner will join the jury for The One Club for Creativity and The 3% Movement's new initiative, the Next Creative Leaders programme.

Serviceplan Frances joint chief creative officer Fabien Teichner.

Perspective of diversity

Diversity, mentoring and advocacy

He will be joined by prominent creative directors from around the world including; Martin Agency CCO Karen Costello; Joaquin Molla, founder of The Community US; Ogilvy New York associate creative director Sakshi Choudhary; and Apple Group creative director Arem Duplessis.Developed collaboratively by the organisations in 2015, Next Creative Leaders identifies and celebrates talented creative women around the world who are making their mark with both great work and a workplace perspective on diversity that helps change the industry for the better.The 10 Women nominees for Next Creative Leaders will be revealed at The 3% Conference in New York, 8-9 November 2018, with some of them in attendance to speak. Winners will be profiled on The One Club for Creativity website and The 3% Movement blog and the news will be promoted through the two organisations social media channels. Honourees will also be invited to serve as judges for next years programme and may be asked to speak at future events sponsored by the two organisations.The One Club for Creativity has a long-standing commitment to providing programming that helps solve the industry's diversity problem as opposed to just talking about it, said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. We created our own Inclusion and Diversity Department a decade ago, and support programs like Next Creative Leaders that identify, elevate and give voice to those who are making a real difference. They are the ones who are opening the door and inspiring the next generation of women who follow in their footsteps.Were so impressed by the 30 talented women who have been named Next Creative Leaders in the past three years  theyre all producing amazing creative work that actually makes a difference, said Kat Gordon, founder, The 3% Movement And to see this initiative grow into a global program  with six of last years 10 winners hailing from outside the US  thats been so exciting. Its really become a global showcase for modern creative leadership.To make Next Creative Leaders as open and accessible as possible, there is no cost to enter the competition. Entrants are judged on four-to-six pieces of creative work, their background and information about how they  and their work  are pushing the industry forward and making a positive contribution in terms of diversity, mentoring and advocacy. Winners will be selected by a jury of top creatives, including past Next Creative Leaders winners.Entries highlighting a candidates creativity, leadership and point of view can be submitted here . Deadline is 17 August 2018. There is no fee to enter.Then, on Sunday, The Mercury News of San Jose wrote about it. Afterward, Bishop McGrath heard from many, he said in a statement on Monday. He announced that he had changed his mind about moving into the house.

I erred in judgment, he said in the statement. I failed to consider adequately the housing crisis in this valley and the struggles of so many families and communities in light of that crisis.

He added, I have decided that I will not move into this house.

Priests are encouraged to live a simple life, and the Bible generally preaches against excess.

So how did Bishop McGrath come to select a home in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose that, according to The Mercury News, was described by real estate websites as a Tuscan estate boasting a grand-sized chefs kitchen, soaring ceilings and 3,269 square feet of space?

Essentially, Bishop McGrath said, the diocese had previously sold another bishops condominium  a diocese spokeswoman said she did not have any information about it  at the point when that bishops health was failing and he was no longer able to live in it. Bishop McGrath said the Willow Glen home was bought primarily with the money from the sale of that condo  funds that he and other officials said had been designated for the sole purpose of paying for a bishops housing when he retires, which is a policy requirement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.The report, published Monday by the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, identified six generals, including the commander in chief of Myanmars army, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, whom the mission said should be singled out for investigation and prosecution. It also accused the countrys civilian leader, the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, of abetting the crimes by failing to speak out against them.

The international system provides few tools for punishing the perpetrators of even the most egregious crimes against humanity. Swedens ambassador, Carl Skau, reiterated calls to refer perpetrators to the International Criminal Court. The United States, European Union and Canada have imposed sanctions against specific officials.

But any action in the Security Council is likely to be blocked by Russia and China, permanent members with veto power, that have consistently impeded efforts to punish Myanmar as they have sought to cultivate relations with the countrys military leaders.

General Min Aung Hlaing, who at the height of the violence last year spoke of taking great care in solving the Rohingya problem, was in Moscow this month for a weapons exposition. He later thanked the Kremlin for its support in solving the problems in northern Rakhine State, the epicenter of last years violence.

At the Security Council on Tuesday, the ambassadors from Russia and China offered no criticism of the Myanmar authorities and all but called on other countries to back off. The crisis, they said, should be solved by Myanmar and its neighbor Bangladesh, where most of the nearly 725,000 Rohingya refugees fled after the violence.Rain Dove Dubilewski, the gender-nonconforming model whose texts with the Italian actress Asia Argento have emerged as evidence in a potential criminal case against Ms. Argento, said Wednesday that they  Rain Dove  turned the messages over to the Los Angeles police because they believed that Ms. Argento was not being truthful. (Rain Dove prefers nongendered pronouns.)

I turned in materials that may contribute to an honest investigation, the model said in a statement.

In a subsequent interview with The New York Times, Rain Dove said the text exchange began when Ms. Argento reached out to them on Aug. 18, a day before The Times published an article detailing how Ms. Argento, a leading voice in the #MeToo movement, had quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to Jimmy Bennett, a young actor who said the two had had sex in a California hotel room when she was 37 and he was 17. The age of consent in that state is 18.

They said, Someone has some dirt on me, Rain Dove, 28, recalled, referring to Ms. Argento. Im in really, really big trouble.New York is home to more than 7,600 bodies of fresh water. It also borders two of the Great Lakes, the Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.

In a nod to the role that water has played in the state, six museums around New York will host Water/Ways, a traveling Smithsonian exhibition that explores waters effects on migration and settlement, and the relationship between water and politics, economics and culture.

As we celebrate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, the Water/Ways exhibition will enable host sites to tell the story of how their communities helped New York become the Empire State, Erika Sanger, the executive director of the Museum Association of New York, said in a statement about the show, adding that water also connects New York to other states, and our oceanfront communities connect us to our nation and peoples around the globe.

The exhibition will tour the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse; the Aurora Masonic Center in Aurora; the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village; the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls; the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston; and the East Hampton Historical Society, from June 2019 to April 2020, as part of the Smithsonians Museum on Main Street. The six institutions will also organize related exhibitions and host public events and educational programs.BERLIN  Controversial plans by the Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard and the renowned architecture firm Snohetta to build a U.F.O-like home in the suburbs of Oslo have been rejected by the local authorities.

The project, which was generally known as A House to Die In and represented an ambitious attempt to turn expressive sketches by Mr. Melgaard into architecture, had aroused condemnation because of its location, near the former winter studio of Edvard Munch. Artists and preservationists had spoken out against the project, arguing that it represents a threat to the legacy of Munch, Norways best-known artist and the painter of The Scream.

The project had already been approved by local and national preservation authorities, but on Aug. 20, municipal lawmakers from several parties announced they would support a proposal to scuttle the plans, effectively dooming the project. A final vote by the Oslo City Council will be held next Wednesday. In a joint statement, the officials stated that they would prioritize the needs of nearby residents, that the planned site for the house would remain a green area, and suggested that Mr. Melgaard find a new location for the house.

Mr. Melgaard is no stranger to controversy. Often described as Norways most provocative artist, he has often explored sexual and drug themes in his art. A 2015 Oslo exhibition juxtaposing his works with those of Munchs spurred condemnation from some critics.No pop career should ever have a terrorist attack as a milestone. The bombing right after Ariana Grandes concert in Manchester, England, in May 2017 is one inevitable backdrop to her fourth studio album, Sweetener. Released on Aug. 17, the album zoomed to No. 1.

Sweetener begins with the brief, mournful, a cappella Raindrops (An Angel Cried): a verse of the Four Seasons song An Angel Cried. And it ends with vocal harmonies in Get Well Soon, a compendium of sympathy and 21st-century advice  Unfollow fear and just say you are blocked  that also promises, Ill be right there just to hug you. The length of the track, including a long silence at the end, is 5:22, memorializing the day of the attack.

But Ms. Grande, 25, wont let sorrow take over her pop-star narrative. Album by album, she has constructed a persona of cheerful female empowerment. Shes not a woman battling her way forward. Shes simply commandeering what she has always deserved and fully expects, including authority, devotion and pleasure.Just as Gordon is shooing the intruder away, Lola suddenly comes at him with a knife. In the ensuing struggle, Lola accidentally nicks her own jugular, killing her almost instantly. Then a snooping Jackie appears out of nowhere and does her best impression of her uncle Jack by burying an ax in Gordons skull.

I hate seeing Gordon and Lola die so suddenly; it would have been interesting to see them try to make a go of it in Castle Rock, marketing the town to ghouls. That said, theres something refreshingly definitive about their arc. They had trouble in Des Moines, they moved to Maine, they opened a weird business, they slaughtered a couple of customers, and they were killed. By the time they bled out, we knew everything about them we needed to know.

By contrast, much of the rest of Past Perfect deals with Henry and Molly and their respective relationships with the Kid, in scenes filled with frustratingly vague insinuations.

We learn that Henry used to have the nickname the Black Death  a dig at both his race and at the way that calamity seems drawn to him. We also learn that the Kid and Henry made some kind of pact 27 years ago. But instead of explaining that pact, the Kid moves on from Henry to Molly, saying to her, You can help me, because you know me. He then goes on to describe how she used to watch TV with her parents, and how she would paint her nails with Wite-Out, and how she would sit by her bedroom window and shine her flashlight up the hill. He says he could see all this from out there in the woods  where you died.

For all of its unsatisfactory teases of bigger revelations to come, Past Perfect is still effective as an hour of horror. The old-fashioned grisliness of Gordon and Lolas murder museum is something to see. And in the closing minutes  right around the time that Wendell is deciding not to leave town because his ears have begun ringing, just like his dads  the minimalist drone and scrape of the score combines with impressionistic editing to create an atmosphere of unease.

There is also a strong and potentially significant theme here, tied to a remark made in the opening scene by a colleague of Gordons from Iowa  the man who slept with Gordons wife. Fetishizing cultural memory is both dangerous and foolhardy, he says. Moments later, Gordon clobbers him upside the head.Ron Carlson, a writer and director of the postgraduate fiction program at University of California Irvine, has resigned his position after a report prepared for a Connecticut boarding school, where he taught in the 1970s, cited him as someone who had been accused of sexual misconduct by a former student there, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Carlson was one of seven former faculty members named in the report prepared by Locke Lord for the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., about accusations of sexual misconduct by staff members with students.

The report, released Aug. 17, characterized the allegations against Mr. Carlson and the other men named as substantiated. It said that during his time as a dorm parent, Mr. Carlson, then in his middle to late 20s, invited an unnamed female student, who was in the Hotchkiss equivalent of the 10th grade, to his dormitory apartment where he kissed her.

Citing the students account, the report said that Mr. Carlson continued to kiss and inappropriately fondle her for the remainder of the school year when they were alone.Merve Emres new book begins like a true-crime thriller, with the tantalizing suggestion that a number of unsettling revelations are in store. Early in The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing, she recalls the low-level paranoia she started to feel as she researched her subject: Files disappear. Tapes are erased. People begin to watch you. Archival gatekeepers were by turns controlling and evasive, acting like furtive trustees of terrible secrets. What, she wanted to know, were they trying to hide?

It takes a while to realize that Emre has gotten you hooked under arguably false pretenses, but what she finally pulls off is so inventive and beguiling you can hardly begrudge her for it. The revelations she uncovers are less scandalous than they are affecting and occasionally (and delightfully) bizarre. Emre, a professor of English at Oxford, wrote a previous book on the surge of readers in postwar America, and she knows that a story is inextricable from how its told. The Personality Brokers is history that reads like biography that reads like a novel  a fluid narrative that defies expectations and plays against type.

Considering her subject matter, Emres heterodox approach is appropriately perverse. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (M.B.T.I.), for the uninitiated few, is an instrument  the word test is verboten by the center that distributes it  designed to assess personality in terms of four dichotomies: extraversion (E) or introversion (I); sensing (S) or intuition (N); thinking (T) or feeling (F); and judging (J) or perceiving (P). Corporations use it for personnel management; colleges use it for guidance counseling; individuals use it for self-help.

Books like Annie Murphy Pauls The Cult of Personality (2004) have examined the M.B.T.I.s insidious social effects, but in The Personality Brokers, its more like a MacGuffin, the device that sets the plot in motion. Emre doesnt trust it; nor does she trash it. It is, she suggests, as idiosyncratic and as fallible as we all are.British Prime Minister Theresa May says the United Kingdom has for some time supported land reform in South Africa - as it is a process carried out in a legal, transparent and democratic manner.

President Cyril Ramaphosa held a bilateral meeting with the UK Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year. Image source: Flickr

Conditional support

The prime minister said this in response to a question by the SABC at a business forum event in Cape Town ahead of meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Presidential headquarters in Tuynhuys on Tuesday, 28 August.Her remarks come not long after US President Donald Trump posted a tweet over South Africas land reform programme last week, a tweet that the Department of International Relations and Cooperation has since described as unfortunate.The UK has for some time now supported land reform. Land reform that is legal, that is transparent, that is generated through a democratic process, May said.She went on to say that SAs land reform programme is an issue that I raised and discussed with President Ramaphosa when he was in London earlier this year. Ill be talking about it with him later today.The prime minister said that during those discussions, President Ramaphosa had further briefed her about South Africas approach to the talks, which she welcomed. She reportedly went on to say that the support was on condition that there will be no land grabs during the process.Her remarks come after international relations minister Lindiwe Sisulu said at a media briefing on Monday that the department had decided not to sit back and allow lobby groups to go around the world spreading false information about SAs land reform.We indicated to thethat what they had reported was unfortunate and it was based on information that was not verified, she said during the media briefing, adding that she wished they had contacted South Africa first to clarify the information.Dead Girls is one of the latest entries in a welcome genre: coming-of-age stories about struggling to be seen in a culture that refuses to see you, at least not as a living, breathing person. The story that typically gets told instead  the Dead Girl Show  Bolin perceives as a modern-day fairy tale, with shadowy woods and an idyllic, small-town setting colored by worshipful covetousness and violent rage directed at the highest sacrifice, the virgin martyr. The dead girl is usually not a girl but a young woman, and her death is usually not natural but intentional and violent. Her exemplar is Laura Palmer, of Twin Peaks, an idea of a girl unconnected to reality. As Bolin observes, Everyone loves the Dead Girl, but, of course, thats why we love her: because shes dead, and her death is the catalyst for the fun of sleuthing. Shes a blank slate onto which a male protagonist can project his fantasies, mostly about himself.

Image

Week after week, on episode after episode of Dateline and Forensic Files, a male protagonist grapples with the meaning of the Dead Girls death, and his identity becomes organized around hers  with none of her personality or perspective left to get in the way. The question of authority hovers over these essays  white, patriarchal authority. In the Dead Girl Show, the husband and the father loom large and dangerous. Its a given that the culprit in the killing is a male relative. At the same time, Bolin notes, the narrative (and the law) tend to favor him, making it easier for him to get away with it.

Of course, the Dead Girls status as the perfect victim has a way of effacing the deaths of leagues of nonwhite or poor or ugly or disabled or immigrant or drug-addicted or gay or trans victims, and it does not escape Bolins notice that the Dead Girl could be her, the very face of white female complicity. Bolin began to write her book shortly after publishing a well-received essay about the series True Detective  a show about a troubled detective and a photogenically arranged female murder victim  and soon after moving from small-town Idaho to Los Angeles, where she knew almost nobody and had few prospects.

Her real-life move, which at first seems disconnected from the themes of the book, turns out to be integral to them. A naive young woman escapes her hometown  in the Northwest, a region renowned for its serial killers, she notes  for a big, indifferent city, where she soon loses her illusions (along with her wallet). This girl, who is not dead (though she might be a little bit dead inside), comes to the city in search of her missing self and finds only more anomie. Its a seductive story line that Bolin calls the Hello to All That, after Joan Didion. Her favorite narratives in this genre also include Rachel Kushners The Flamethrowers and Eileen Myless Chelsea Girls, both of which feature narrators who arrive in a city from nowhere and try to assert themselves as artists, despite all appearances.

Its easy to romanticize this plotline, Bolin writes, but the sentimental education is hardly an innocuous trope, particularly when white American women, from the heroines of Henry James to the narrator of The Flamethrowers, stand in for the innocence of their young country  one in which the symbol of the Dead (white) Girl is often used to justify violence against others, to uphold a racist status quo.1. The outcome of primaries in Florida and Arizona threw the themes of the coming midterms into stark relief.

Its a good year for many (though not all) female office seekers, and a breakthrough year for black candidates: Andrew Gillum, above, a 39-year-old African-American, became Floridas Democratic nominee for governor.

And Trump loyalists are proving resilient  and sometimes controversial. One, Ron DeSantis, the Republican chosen to face Mr. Gillum, was accused of using a racist dog whistle after warning voters not to monkey this up by electing his rival.WASHINGTON  The United States and Canada are aiming to reach a deal by the end of the week that keeps the three-country North American Free Trade Agreement intact, as President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada expressed optimism that the two countries could resolve their differences.

I think Canada very much wants to make a deal, Mr. Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday, sounding far more optimistic than just days before, when he announced a deal with Mexico and threatened to leave Canada behind.

Right now we call it the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement and well see whether or not Canada gets into it, the president said. I think its probably not going to be good at all if they dont.

Mr. Trump, who has had frosty relations with Mr. Trudeau since a falling-out in June, said the two had spoken by phone. Hey, he called me, Mr. Trump said. I didnt call him.Now, that proposed rollback is going to the American public  that could mean you, dear reader  for a period of public comment.

But do public comments make a difference? And how exactly do you get involved?

One former official with broad experience of the rule-making process, Margo T. Oge, who led the transportation and air quality office at the Environmental Protection Agency, said that hearings can leave a lasting impression on officials. Thats because they give the public a chance to interact with representatives from industry and other groups, like environmental organizations.

Ms. Oge recalled a public hearing that included the mother of a child with severe asthma sitting next to an oil executive. The proposal in question was to reduce sulfur in diesel oil, a measure designed to prevent respiratory and other illnesses, especially asthma in children.

The oil executive spoke first, and complained about the costs of meeting the standards.

Then the mother stepped up to speak. She recounted how many times a year the child ended up at the hospital with asthma attacks, and was unable to play outdoors when air pollution was high, Ms. Oge said. You could see how uncomfortable the executive became.

The government is legally required to respond to what it hears from the public  if not to individual comments, then to the main issues raised in them.Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up for our Climate Fwd: newsletter.

WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is reviewing a major Obama-era clean air regulation on the emission of mercury  a pollutant linked with damage to the brain, to the nervous system and to fetal development  with the intent of proposing a replacement rule, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

The E.P.A.s review of the 2011 mercury rule comes amid a string of initiatives by the Trump administration to roll back or weaken many environmental regulations put forth by the Obama administration. After reviewing the rule, a process which typically takes 60 to 90 days, the E.P.A. will issue a proposed replacement rule, the agency spokeswoman, Molly Block, said in an email.

The mercury regulation under review chiefly affects pollution from coal-fired power plants. The move comes as President Trump has pressed forward on numerous fronts in an attempt to meet his campaign pledge to revive the nations coal industry, despite economic analyses showing that the decline in demand for coal is largely driven by market forces rather than regulations.

Last week, the E.P.A. proposed a new rule designed to replace the Clean Power Plan, another major Obama-era regulation governing coal-fired power plants. That rule would have restricted coal plants emission of a different pollutant: carbon dioxide, one of the chief causes of global warming.The Japanese businessmen may be among the trade wars first economic victims. But the shift of manufacturing away from China is not a new phenomenon. Over the past few years, as wages in Chinese factories have risen sharply, many companies, foreign and Chinese alike, have begun moving at least some of their operations to Southeast Asia to take advantage of lower production costs. In Vietnam, where wages are barely a third of those in China, Adidas now makes twice as many shoes as it does in China, and Intel and Samsung Electronics have made billion-dollar investments there. The countrys export-led growth depends on attracting foreign investment, and now American and Chinese policies may be hastening its arrival. For many companies, the trade conflict is a catalyst to explore changes they hadnt contemplated before, says Jon Cowley, a tax-and-trade partner at the law firm Baker McKenzie in Hong Kong. For others, its an accelerant to a process theyd already started. The trade conflict is just pushing them over the finish line.

It is still early in the trade war, only two months in, so many of these corporate moves are just taking shape. Still, the race is on to secure excess manufacturing capacity all around the region  in Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere. In late July, Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese producer of Apple power components, approved a $2.14 billion buyout of its Thai affiliate to cope with the growing trade risks. Also this summer, Hong Kongs Techtronic Industries (T.T.I.), the maker of Hoover vacuum cleaners and Milwaukee power tools, opened a new plant in Vietnam and another, its sixth, in the United States. Some 76 percent of T.T.I.s revenue comes from North America. We have always said we wont want all our eggs in one basket, the companys chief executive, Joseph Galli, said in August, stressing the importance of a flexible supply chain.

Supply chains, innocuous as they sound, are a locus of collateral pain in this trade war. The American exports that China is hitting with retaliatory tariffs are mostly simple goods sourced close to home: pork, soybeans, whiskey. But Chinas exports to the United States, especially in high-tech, are complex products assembled in China from a staggering array of foreign components and raw materials. A Made in China laptop shipped to America, for example, may have a South Korean screen, a Japanese hard drive and a memory chip from Taiwan. A tariff hurts every part of this international supply chain. Asias most advanced economies, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, are so globalized that they can easily get caught in this protectionist crossfire.

Taiwan may stand to lose the most. It supplies 18 percent of Chinas total imports of intermediate goods, or nearly 14 percent of Taiwans gross domestic product, according to the Stimson Center in Washington. As Tsai Ming-fang, an economist at Taipeis Tamkang University, told Bloomberg: Trumps tariffs are giving Taiwanese companies further incentives to move to Southeast Asia.

The dust kicked up by the trade war obscures the fact that Asia is the worlds most dynamic trading region. According to the World Trade Organization, Asia in 2017 had the worlds fastest growth in trade volume for both imports and exports, 9.6 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively. Eighteen months ago, the leaders of Vietnam and 10 other Pacific Rim nations believed the economic outlook would be enhanced even further by the creation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The agreement, which included the United States and Japan but not China, also offered the chance to push back, as a group, against Beijings unfair trade practices like intellectual-property theft and forcing companies that do business in China to share their technology.In the United States, womens wartime contributions were largely forgotten after the war, but not without a certain amount of quiet debate. Their military service was intended to be temporary. In 1948, the year that women were first accepted as regular members of the armed forces, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower testified before the House Armed Services Committee that he was initially horror struck by the idea of women in the military but changed his mind after he saw them in action. During the war, Gen. George C. Marshall commissioned a study to measure the effectiveness of mixed-gender combat units. He and his staff were stunned by the finding that they performed better than all-male units. As the historian DAnn Campbell discovered in 1993, the study was buried, because the general staff was concerned that the American public and Congresswere opposed to expanding womens roles in the armed forces. This debate had nothing to do with what women were capable of, let alone what they wanted. It was a matter of men being bothered by changing roles, Rendell observed. When women were brought in to do jobs traditionally done by men, men had a big problem with it. It affected their own sense of what masculinity was.

The museum doesnt take positions on current debates, Rendell said; even so, its impossible to not see parallels with contemporary issues. When I joined the military in 2009, ground combat jobs were still closed to women by Department of Defense policy. But the sprawling post-9/11 conflicts had no definite front lines and no end in sight, and operational realities led commanders to exploit every loophole possible to deploy women in combat roles, even if it wasnt reflected in their official job titles. I spent three years in a special-operations unit whose primary mission was to deploy alongside Navy SEALs and Green Berets. Womens presence was seen as a necessary inconvenience: These units needed intelligence, medical and logistical support, and often the best person for the job was female. In some cases, women were specifically recruited in order to work with the local population. In the United States war efforts, special operations have been gender-integrated from their beginnings under the direction of the secretive Office of Strategic Services during World War II. When all roles were officially opened to women, in 2016, it was a case of policy formally recognizing what had been practiced for decades. The commander of United States Special Operations Command at the time, Gen. Joseph Votel, released a video message supporting the policy, citing the role of women in World War II.Which brings us to the next item 

Will the governor mansplain?

Mr. Cuomo, 60, has several rhetorical tics: He likes to answer questions with questions; he likes the phrase writ large and the number 57; and he is sometimes prone to condescension, including a cringe-worthy moment in December when he told a female journalist that she did a disservice to women for asking the governor a question about sexual harassment.

Look for the issue of gender to play a role in the debate as Ms. Nixon  trying to become the states first female governor  has blasted Mr. Cuomos propensity for mansplaining as well as other embarrassing interactions and comments about women. If, as expected, Ms. Nixon prods the governor on those issues, watch for Mr. Cuomos comments on such issues to be closely parsed.

Can Nixon master the minutiae?

Ms. Nixon, a first-time candidate with no prior experience in state government, has been tripped up by the details on occasion during the campaign, most notably in mid-August when she was pressed for details about her plan for universal rent control. In an appearance last week in Albany, Ms. Nixon flexed her comprehensive knowledge of education policy, but look for Mr. Cuomo  who has spent nearly 40 years in state politics  to try to trip up the newcomer with the ins and outs of New Yorks labyrinthine government.

For Ms. Nixon, the debate represents her best chance to convince voters she is ready and capable of being governor. This will be a huge introduction to lots and lots of New Yorkers, said Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities for Change, which is backing Ms. Nixon. The governor has spent millions on TV ads promoting himself.

Can Nixon be more than an anti-Cuomo?

Four years ago, Zephyr Teachout emerged out of virtually nowhere to win more than 34 percent of the vote in her primary challenge against Mr. Cuomo. So far this year, Ms. Nixon has yet to crack that number in any public polls, an indication perhaps that she has yet to broaden the base of supporters that just dont like the governor.

She has her own distinctive platform  on schools, marijuana, the subways  but as an insurgent trying to tackle an entrenched incumbent, much of the focus of her campaign has been on Mr. Cuomo. Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist who is supporting the governor, said, She has still to move outside that anti-Cuomo base because its not going to win her the primary.The City of Hoboken filed a lawsuit against SUEZ that said the construction of the chamber was the main cause of the water main breaks and SUEZ needed to turn over all of their internal documents related to Hobokens water infrastructure.

In response to the lawsuit, SUEZ said in a statement, This legal action is a waste of time, money and energy that could be better used for solving the real problem causing water main breaks in Hoboken  the age of the system and its pipelines.

Mr. Bhalla said, This has now become a regional issue. He pointed to the proximity of Wednesdays break to the PATH terminal. That train station is the most important mass transit hub for the state and one of the most important mass transit hubs in the country.

While water never made it on to the tracks, a couple inches did flood the PATH station. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the PATH trains, brought sandbags to the station, and left them lined up as a precautionary measure, in case another break happens, according to Cheryl Albiez, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority.

The mayor also blamed the citys contract with SUEZ, a 30-year contract that the company signed in 1994 that required little to no investment on the part of SUEZ into the Hoboken system. It wasnt until the previous mayor, Dawn Zimmer, began investing in new water infrastructure that any major upgrades were made in the past few decades. Combined, Mr. Bhalla and Ms. Zimmer have made $17.2 million in investments in the water infrastructure.Ms. Hochul said that Mr. Williams was denigrating her role. Im sorry, she said, when a ribbon is cut, that means something good and new is happening.

Under questioning from the debate moderator, Ben Max, the executive editor of Gotham Gazette, Ms. Hochul was unable to point to any occasion when she opposed a policy or proposal supported by the governor and changed his mind. Their conversations, she said, were private.

Mr. Max pressed her: So no issue that youd say that you changed his mind on at this time? Ms. Hochul shook her head.

The debate was videotaped by the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, a public access cable network that can be viewed by 600,000 cable subscribers in Manhattan. It will be aired on the network at 6 p.m. Thursday and can also be viewed online beginning at that time. It is the only scheduled debate between the two candidates.

Mr. Cuomo is also running for re-election and is strongly favored in the polls ahead of the Sept. 13 primary. But the ballot is filled with Democrats challenging his authority from his left: Ms. Nixon, his direct challenger; Mr. Williams; and Zephyr Teachout, whose campaign for attorney general is based partly on her assertion that she would be more independent than Mr. Cuomos favored candidate, the New York City public advocate, Letitia James.

Earlier this year, Mr. Cuomo even tried to get Ms. Hochul, 60, to stand aside and run again for the seat she once held in Congress, against Representative Chris Collins, a Republican who has since been indicted  perhaps hoping to find a different lieutenant governor candidate who might better guard his flank against challengers like Mr. Williams, 42. One name that was briefly floated as a replacement was Lovely Warren, the mayor of Rochester, who, like Mr. Williams, is black.

A Siena College poll conducted in late July, showed that 30 percent of likely Democratic Party primary voters said they would vote for Ms. Hochul while 21 percent favored Mr. Williams. Half of those polled said that they were undecided. Mr. Williams held an advantage in New York City and among black and Hispanic voters, while Ms. Hochul, who is white, did much better among upstate and suburban voters and among white voters.#WomensMonth: The women who build our cars

The automotive industry has always been known to be a male-dominated industry, yet we often forget to think or talk about the millions of women who work tirelessly around the clock for us to enjoy a nice ride behind the wheel of our car.



Makgotso Pelo, supervisor: production control at Nissan South Africa

Pelo is one of the many women who work at Nissan, more particularly in the Nissan South Africa manufacturing plant.



Pelo started her career in early 2012 at Standard Bank as a field consultant. She then joined the Nissan family as a student in a learnership programme in 2012. After a one-year learnership agreement, Makgotso was appointed to line feeder at the Nissan manufacturing plant in 2013.



In 2015, she then went through team leader training at the plant, becoming a team leader for production control. In 2017, she was privileged to be one of the candidates to be selected to go to the Nissan UK plant for the six weeks supervisory development training.



This



Could you describe a typical day in your job? Could you describe a typical day in your job? Among those unsung heroes, who we often don't pay attention to, or even honour, is Makgotso Pelo who works at the Nissan South Africa plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria.Pelo is one of the many women who work at Nissan, more particularly in the Nissan South Africa manufacturing plant.Pelo started her career in early 2012 at Standard Bank as a field consultant. She then joined the Nissan family as a student in a learnership programme in 2012. After a one-year learnership agreement, Makgotso was appointed to line feeder at the Nissan manufacturing plant in 2013.In 2015, she then went through team leader training at the plant, becoming a team leader for production control. In 2017, she was privileged to be one of the candidates to be selected to go to the Nissan UK plant for the six weeks supervisory development training.This Women's Month , we chat to Pelo and learn more about the strides that she is making in the automotive industry.

What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you want to be when you grew up?

How did you get into the automotive space? How did you get into the automotive space?

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?

The best advice I got was that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it.

What advice do you have for the future generation of women wanting to get into the automotive space? What advice do you have for the future generation of women wanting to get into the automotive space?

Who or what is your biggest motivation? Who or what is your biggest motivation?

Are South African women getting enough of a chance to shine in the automotive industry? Are South African women getting enough of a chance to shine in the automotive industry?

Whats the least and most exciting aspect of your workday? Whats the least and most exciting aspect of your workday?

Women are considered to be natural problem solvers. Why do you think this is perfect in the automotive industry? Women are considered to be natural problem solvers. Why do you think this is perfect in the automotive industry?

Could you list a few, if any, specific challenges females face in this industry? Could you list a few, if any, specific challenges females face in this industry?

What is your advice in overcoming these challenges? What is your advice in overcoming these challenges?

What trends do you predict in the automotive industry in the coming years? What trends do you predict in the automotive industry in the coming years?

Evan-Lee Courie's articles About Evan-Lee Courie Editor: Marketing & Media; Head of Content for Entrepreneurship

Editor: Marketing & Media; Head of Content for Entrepreneurship

My day typically consists of preparing counter measures for any issues in line stoppage and identifying any defects. As much as I try to anticipate or prevent potential issues, I dont always get it right, which can be quite frustrating. Some days are more challenging than others, but I love what I do.My dream growing up was to be a mechanical engineer. This wasnt seen as a typical career for a girl when I was growing up, but I never pictured myself wearing high heels at work. I am the sort of person who has always enjoyed getting my hands dirty.I joined the automotive industry completely by chance. I saw a post about learnership opportunities at Nissan South Africa and took a chance by posting my CV on the database for job seekers. I really did not know much about the Nissan brand at all. I was so excited to receive a call from HR to invite me for an interview. The interview went very well and thereafter, I was offered a contract as a learnership student. I had no idea what I was in for but I was prepared for the challenge.As women, we are capable, we are doing it! The biggest enemy to our own success is fear.My 14-year-old daughter, having to wake up each morning and choose to be strong for my child, that is my biggest motivation. Additionally, I dont believe in the impossible, everything you set your mind to, you can achieve.There are not enough opportunities for women in the automotive industry to shine. Yes, this industry is currently undergoing transformation and employing a lot of women, but how many of them do we know about? At Nissan, we are flying the torch high and make it a point to continuously communicate about and celebrate the women who make this organisation successful.What I find exciting about my job is that it constantly keeps me going. Anything can happen at any given time and you need to continuously ensure that you are adaptable and able to deal with what comes your way. I appreciate the fact that every day presents a new opportunity to learn.Sometimes our work is very challenging so we end up using our feminine touch to solve the problems. We are able to listen, we are constantly learning and empowering ourselves and we are willing to mentor those in need. My biggest wish is to one day have a shop floor which is led by women from manager to team leader.Sometimes it is difficult having to lead a team of men, as there are cases of insubordination. However, I must acknowledge the men at Nissan because I do not have any of these problems. There is perfect harmony and everyone is respected for their role in the value chain.Stand your ground. Always have the organisations best interests in mind and you will not go wrong with any decisions you make.In the coming years, I see more women joining the automotive industry. Not only on the corporate side, but getting their hands dirty in manufacturing. We are headed towards Industry 4.0 and are excited to see how mechanisation will affect the manufacturing value chain. At Nissan, we are already upskilling a pool of talent in preparation for this.As New York Citys middle schools emerge as the focus of desegregation attempts, a report released Wednesday highlights just how much work there is to be done.

About a third of the citys roughly 600 middle schools serve overwhelmingly poor students, and more than half of the citys low-income adolescents are clustered in just a quarter of middle schools, according to the study from the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Low levels of academic achievement in schools with highly concentrated poverty have long plagued urban school districts, and decades of interventions have not produced clear solutions. Studies have shown that breaking up those clusters of poverty could help improve schools across the board.

Over the last year in particular, parents, activists and city officials have pointed to segregation in middle schools as a contributor to the persistent achievement gap between white, Asian and middle class students and their poorer peers, who are often black and Hispanic.Ms. Velasquez, who went by the nickname Izzy, was raised during her teen years by her grandmother in a 14th-floor apartment in the Melrose Houses, a housing project on Courtlandt Avenue in the South Bronx known for gang conflicts, relatives and neighbors said.

Image Lisa Velasquez, 25, in a photo from her Facebook profile.

Her short life had been marked by violence. Her mother, Marilyn Ginel, nine months pregnant, was stabbed and strangled in 2006 by a romantic partner, who was later convicted of murder, her relatives said. Ms. Velasquez and her two younger siblings witnessed their mothers death. She was 12.

An aunt, Jacqueline Perez, said Ms. Velasquez had moved out of her grandmothers apartment a couple of years ago, but still visited frequently. The family last saw her on Aug. 21, when she dropped by to pick up a bag. She left in a rush and said she had to help a friend in danger, her aunt said. Her relatives did not know who she meant or where she had been living.

Its really heartbreaking the way she was tortured, her aunt said. For Christs sake, she didnt deserve that.

Three passers-by, two women in their 30s and a 63-year-old man, discovered the bags containing Ms. Velasquezs limbs on Tuesday shortly after 7 p.m. on the Barretto Point Park shoreline.

The victims left foot was jutting out of a bag that also contained her left arm and was found underneath the Tiffany Street Pier; a second bag was empty; an unopened third bag contained her right arm and leg, the police said.

The toenails on her left foot were painted, and a womans shirt was also found near the remains, the police said.Lindsay Kemp, a boundary-pushing British dancer, choreographer and mime who taught David Bowie and Kate Bush how to move, died on Friday at his home in Livorno, Italy. He was 80.

The cause was heart and lung failure, David Haughton, a friend and longtime collaborator, said.

Ms. Bush, in a statement posted on her website, said: To call him a mime artist is like calling Mozart a pianist. He was very brave, very funny and, above all, astonishingly inspirational.

Mr. Kemp may have been an inspiration to two of the most important musicians of the 1970s, as well as to countless dancers, but his work  often filled with sex and blood, and with clear nods to its inspirations  was received less favorably by some critics.

The Broadway theater has not previously seen such realistic simulations of masturbation and sodomy, and the reader is hereby either warned or informed, Clive Barnes wrote in a New York Times review in 1974 of Flowers, Mr. Kemps most renowned work. It was based on Jean Genets Our Lady of the Flowers, a sexually explicit novel narrated by a prisoner telling tales to help him masturbate.Since 1851, obituaries in The New York Times have been dominated by white men. With Overlooked, were adding the stories of remarkable people whose deaths went unreported in The Times.

Every so often our sun emits an invisible burst of energy.

This energy ripples through space as electromagnetic waves and then crashes into planets and meteors and space debris and one another, causing a great cacophony above and around us.

A cacophony that was inaudible, until Ruby Payne-Scott entered a laboratory.

In the 1940s, Payne-Scott helped lay the foundation for a new field of science called radio astronomy. Her work led to the discovery of deep-space phenomena like black holes and pulsars and later helped astronauts understand how solar storms disrupt weather in space and electrical grids on Earth.Ted Achilles, a retired businessman who helped found an innovative boarding school for girls in Kabul, a potentially dangerous undertaking in a country still rife with Taliban militants violently opposed to teaching girls, died on Aug. 21 at a hospice in Portland, Ore. He was 82.

The cause was complications of prostate cancer, his son Todd said.

Mr. Achilles moved to Afghanistan soon after the United States invaded in 2001. He wanted to help Afghans, and he came to believe that the best way to do so was through education, an area in which the country sorely needed to improve.

Afghanistans educational system faced, and continues to face, serious challenges, including just getting children into a classroom. A Unicef report in June estimated that 3.7 million Afghan children, nearly 44 percent of the school-age population, do not attend school.

Mr. Achilles spent more than a decade working to improve the situation. In 2004 he became the Afghanistan director of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study program, which is funded by the State Department and operates around the world.It was the fall of my first year of law school, in 2005, and I was headed to my first interview for a legal internship. I wore my only interview outfit, a conservative navy skirt suit and a cream blouse. A classmate complimented me on the look. Then she added, But youll never look really professional with your hair in dreadlocks.

I was reminded of that day as I watched video footage of a black student in Gretna, La., crying as she was forced to leave school because school officials objected to her hair. They claimed her box braids violated a dress code prohibition against unnatural hair styles because the braids included hair extensions. Extensions are sometimes used in black hairstyles, like braids, that dont require the use of damaging chemical straighteners. The student and a classmate sent home for the same reason were not allowed to return until a judge issued a temporary restraining order against the school after both girls had missed several days of classes.In Floridas 15th, a suburban district, The Tampa Bay Times said that Kristen Carlson, a former prosecutor, was the best fit, and she won the nomination. In Arizonas 6th, outside Phoenix, a nurse practitioner named Heather Ross, who favors expanding Medicare, will face David Schweikert, a Republican incumbent who tried to repeal Obamacare  and who has ethical problems. (Primary ballots are still being counted, and the Democrat in second place, Anita Malik, is also a strong candidate.)

None of this guarantees that Democrats will retake the House in November. The party will need to continue running a strong campaign and, in all likelihood, an unusually strong turnout for a midterm. But as primary season comes to a close, it has mostly helped the Democrats chances.

Arguably, the most complicated result for Democrats last night was the one that received the most attention. In the Florida governor's primary, Andrew Gillum  the mayor of Tallahassee, endorsed by Bernie Sanders  won a victory many progressives are celebrating. Yet some political analysts think a losing candidate  Gwen Graham, a former congresswoman  had a better chance of winning the general election this fall. Even if those analysts are right, though, I think the congressional races are more important than any governors race.

Only if Democrats retake Congress will Trump face any serious accountability for the damage he is doing, as my colleague Michelle Goldberg explained this week.

Elsewhere: Ella Nilson of Vox and Benjamin Wallace-Wells of The New Yorker profile Gillum and explain why he has excited so many people on the left.

You can join me on Twitter (@DLeonhardt) and Facebook. I am also writing a daily email newsletter and invite you to subscribe.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion).To the Editor:

Re Critic of Pope in Open Revolt vs. the Vatican (front page, Aug. 27):

As a clerical abuse survivor, I have waited a half-century to hear what Pope Francis just proclaimed in Ireland on behalf of the church: How difficult it is always to forgive those who hurt us. So true. From my darkness, this is what brings healing.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganos unsubstantiated criticism falls flat. He is a disgruntled man who represents anti-gay sentiment rather than compassion for victims.

Now is the time, more than ever, to support the bishop of Rome for his courage to rid the church of predators, regardless of level.

Mark Joseph Williams

Far Hills, N.J.

To the Editor:

Pope Francis may say we abandoned them when speaking about the decades of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, but abandonment is quite the opposite of what the clergy did.We spend so little energy thinking about justice for victims and so much energy thinking about the men who perpetrate sexual harassment and violence. We worry about what will become of them in the wake of their mistakes. We dont worry as much about those who have suffered at their hands. It is easier, for far too many people, to empathize with predators than it is to empathize with prey.

I have to believe there is a path to redemption for people who have done wrong, but nine months of self-imposed exile in financial comfort is not a point along that path. It is far too soon for any of the men who have faced the marginal consequences born of the #MeToo movement to think about redemption. People love a comeback narrative, and all too often they yearn for this narrative at the expense of victims who are only beginning to reconcile with their suffering.

Take Louis C.K. Not only did he expose himself to and masturbate in front of female comics; the actions of people in his employ reportedly worked to impede his victims careers. Still, he has remained in control of the narrative. He gets to break the rules, and then he gets to establish rules of his own when he must answer for his misdeeds.

How long should a man like Louis C.K. pay for what he did? At least as long as he worked to silence the women he assaulted and at least as long as he allowed them to doubt themselves and suffer in the wake of his predation and at least as long as the comedy world protected him even though there were very loud whispers about his behavior for decades.

He should pay until he demonstrates some measure of understanding of what he has done wrong and the extent of the harm he has caused. He should attempt to financially compensate his victims for all the work they did not get to do because of his efforts to silence them. He should facilitate their getting the professional opportunities they should have been able to take advantage of all these years. He should finance their mental health care as long as they may need it. He should donate to nonprofit organizations that work with sexual harassment and assault victims. He should publicly admit what he did and why it was wrong without excuses and legalese and deflection. Every perpetrator of sexual harassment and violence should follow suit.

We need to figure out what justice looks like in the court of public opinion, not for the sake of the offenders, but for the sake of victims. It is painful to know Louis C.K. simply strolled into a comedy club and did a set as if he hadnt admitted to masturbating in front of women, as if for sport.

It is painful to witness the familiar narrative of transgressions coming to light, the perpetrator maybe facing opprobrium and before long, plotting a comeback where all is seemingly forgiven. It is painful that these men think they are so vital to the culture that the public wants them to come back. Whatever private acts of contrition these men, and a few women, might make to their victims demands a corresponding public act of contrition, one offered genuinely, rather than to save face or appease the crowd. Until then, they dont deserve restorative justice or redemption. That is the price they must pay for the wrong they have done.

Roxane Gay, an associate professor at Purdue University, is the author of Hunger, and a contributing opinion writer.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.It was no secret that Mr. Arpaios methods often crossed the line into the not-so-legal. In 2011, a federal district judge ordered the sheriff to end his practice of stopping and detaining people on no other grounds than suspecting them of being undocumented immigrants. Mr. Arpaio declined to oblige, secure in the rightness of his own judgment. The legal battle dragged on until last summer , when he was found guilty of criminal contempt of court for blatantly thumbing his nose at the law.

Such unwillingness to bow to an uppity judiciary surely impressed Mr. Trump, who sees his own judgment as superior to any moral or legal precept. In this way, Mr. Arpaio was arguably the perfect pick to be the very first person pardoned by this president. The two men are brothers in arms, fighting the good fight against the invading hordes of immigrants  and their liberal enablers, of course. And if that requires dismissing the Constitution and destroying the rule of law, so be it. What true patriot would object to a few tent cities or human rights violations when the American way of life is in mortal peril?

In announcing the pardon last August, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Arpaio as an American patriot. The official statement by the White House gushed: Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his lifes work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration. To Mr. Trumps fans, this was another welcome sign of the presidents commitment to keeping them safe from The Other.

Not everyone in the presidents party was pleased. Members of his administration reportedly advised against the pardon as too controversial. It was widely noted that the announcement was made in the hours right before Hurricane Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast, presumably with an eye toward minimizing the negative media coverage of the pardon while journalists were busy reporting on the storm. (For his part, Mr. Trump later claimed that the pardon actually had been timed to take advantage of the higher ratings generated by Harvey watchers.)

Even so, John McCain, the Arizona senator and frequent Trump critic who passed away on Saturday, made his dismay known. The president has the authority to make this pardon, he said in a statement , but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law, as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions.

Certainly, Mr. Arpaio showed little sign of remorse on the campaign trail. In a recent interview with The Times, he rambled about all the Mexican rapists and murderers who filled his jails back in the day, and he said the answer to the debate over Dreamers was simple: Deport all 700,000 of them back to their home countries.

The former sheriff also made clear that, despite all the legal drama swirling around the president, his loyalty to Mr. Trump was steadfast. You cant support people just because theyre convicted? he asked rhetorically. No matter what hes convicted of, Im still going to call it a witch hunt, so of course Ill stand by him.A bogus tax practitioner was one of two people sentenced to a combined 26 years direct imprisonment for defrauding the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

Sars employee

Cornelius Johannes Kriek (42) from the East Rand pleaded guilty to 29 fraud charges, 21 money laundering charges and one charge of corrupting a public official.Kriek was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment at the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Johannesburg.Meanwhile, the Cape Town Magistrates Court sentenced Thomas Bloemeris Fortuin (66) to six years direct imprisonment. He pleaded guilty to 236 charges of fraud and forgery relating to the tax affairs of close corporations belonging to members of his family.He pleaded guilty to all the charges put to him in terms of a plea bargain agreement reached with the state. Magistrate W van der Merwe handed down an additional 12 months imprisonment to Fortuin for failure to submit two income tax returns.Three of the six year imprisonment sentence and the one year jail sentence for failure to submit outstanding returns were suspended conditionally for five years.Sars said Kriek presented himself as a bookkeeper to unsuspecting value added tax (VAT) vendors, offering swift and corrective action by submitting VAT201 returns on their behalf.Suspicion was raised by a legitimate tax practitioner, who discovered that a large refund had been paid into the account of her former client within a short while after the client had switched his account to Kriek.The 42 year old was also sentenced to 84 years imprisonment, suspended wholly, but conditionally for money laundering and 10-years imprisonment for corrupting a public official.Five of the 10 years is to be served concurrently with sentences for other charges.It is alleged that a former Sars VAT auditor for 35 years experience, assisted Kriek to commit the fraud. The cases against the two accused were recently separated after Kriek pleaded guilty. The case against the former Sars employee continues on 23 October 2018, said the revenue service.The fraudulent refunds were divided between the vendors, Kriek and the Sars employee. A total of 18 companies were involved in the VAT refund scheme, which created an actual loss of just over R32.9m to the fiscus.In Fortuins case, two other accused were also sentenced, namely his son Tom Ross and bookkeeper Ivor Carlo Carolissen, who assisted the family to commit the crimes.The two also entered into a plea bargain with the state and they were both sentenced to four years imprisonment, suspended for five years and 18 months correctional supervision, which includes house arrest and community service.Fortuin was found guilty of 79 charges of fraud, while Carolissen was found guilty on 167 charges of fraud.Mr Fortuin (junior) was ordered to pay Sars back an amount of R615,592, representing the full capital amount of money stolen from Sars through the scams perpetuated by the accused. This money had to be paid in full before the sentencing procedure, and has been received by Sars."He was also sentenced to 12 months, suspended for five years, for failure to submit three income tax returns.The sentences follow an investigation by Sars criminal investigators, which revealed that the individuals submitted fraudulent VAT refund claims to Sars, based on fictitious transactions between the familys four close corporations.Group executive for criminal investigations at Sars, Neo Tsholanku, welcomed the sentences, adding that the revenue service is committed to the fight against corruption.Tsholanku said the sentences also show that the courts are increasingly taking a stance against failure to submit tax returns to Sars.The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has prosecuted 29 cases since April 2018, maintaining a conviction rate of 97%. More than 400 other cases dealing with tax crimes are currently on trial.To understand just how lopsided the process is, look at the tariffs imposed by the Commerce Department in March on Canadian newsprint paper. An American company, North Pacific Paper Company, complained to the Commerce Department that Canadian manufacturers were harming their business by selling newsprint at noncompetitively low prices. The reality is that the general shift to digital platforms is the main cause of declining demand for newsprint.

That case in now before the I.T.C. (which will render its decision today). Unfortunately, in making their decision about whether to uphold the tariffs to protect the 34 employees of North Pacific Paper, the commissioners are not allowed to consider the damage that this domestic trade remedy would wreak on the 600,000 people employed throughout the American publishing industry. The law forbids it. And that, simply put, is crazy.

The good news is that theres an easy fix: Change the statutes so that commissioners are required to consider the effects of trade restrictions on downstream industries and consumers.

The bad news is that the same steel special interests that nudged the administration to impose these punishing steel tariffs on millions of American consumers are protecting the biased I.T.C. process. Trade commission data shows that over 52 percent of anti-dumping duty and countervailing-duty cases that have landed before the I.T.C. are steel related, and most resulted in a duty on imports  which means higher costs for American producers that need steel.

Today, steel executives have an iron grip on the White House thanks to the deep ties of the presidents advisers to the industry. Mr. Ross made his fortune buying and selling steel companies and was sitting on a steel companys board until his confirmation as commerce secretary. Robert Lighthizer, a private lawyer who represented the steel industry for years, is now the United States trade representative. The upper levels of both the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the Commerce Department have predictably been populated by other individuals with close ties to Big Steel. And the trade adviser Peter Navarros 2012 documentary, Death by China, was funded by one of the top beneficiaries of these tariffs  the steel producer Nucor.

This cronyism explains how the steel industry is directly involved in deciding which companies do or dont receive exemptions from the steel tariffs and why so few exemptions have been granted.

The bias of Trump administration personnel alone makes it unlikely we will soon reform our trade-remedy system to weigh the interest of downstream consumers before imposing trade sanctions. But such reform isnt so far-fetched. The European Union and Australia have national economic interest requirements built into their trade remedy processes. They take different forms, but they are meant to limit the imposition of tariffs to protect one industry at the expense of everyone else.

Less known is the fact that at the time of Chinas admission to the World Trade Organization, the United States implemented a transitional safeguard measure allowing the president to provide import relief for any industry of concern as long as the provision of such relief was in the national economic interest of the United States. As a result  to the great benefit of the American people  trade restrictions were imposed only once during the nine years the provision was in place: President Barack Obamas tire tariffs, which unsurprisingly proved to be an unmitigated failure.

Veronique de Rugy (@veroderugy) is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.Trump is the same man who said during the campaign, Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. He also said during the campaign, Islam hates us.

He constantly whips up panic about the Salvadoran-American gang MS-13. In May, in a meeting at the White House, a California sheriff lamented that she couldnt notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement if a known MS-13 member was jailed for a minor crime.

Trump responded:

We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in  and were stopping a lot of them  but were taking people out of the country. You wouldnt believe how bad these people are. These arent people. These are animals. And were taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate thats never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. Its crazy.

Last August, when the debate about Confederate monuments was hottest, Trump appealed to the fear of white erasure, whining: Theyre trying to take away our culture. Theyre trying to take away our history.

At the height of outrage over his family separation policy and the locking of children in cages, Trump offered a fear-mongering counterpoint by hosting at the White House the families of people killed by undocumented immigrants, and encouraged those relatives to share their painful tales of loss.

Last week Trump told Fox News, If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.

On Monday, according to The Times, Trump warned evangelical leaders that if Democrats gain control of Congress in the midterm elections, they will overturn everything that weve done and theyll do it quickly and violently.When an accusation is made against a priest or church official, why isnt the first call to the police? The church is not above the law.  Bill Dunne, Portland, Ore.

Work to End the Statute of Limitations

In the end I just want to see the Pope get angry about the situation and come down hard on these violators. Hes the leader of the Catholic Church after all! Excommunicate these child molesters and lobby the Pennsylvania legislature to eliminate the statute of limitations, so that thousands of victims who are suffering can have some sense of justice. Even Jesus got angry over injustice.  D. Smith, Dublin, Ohio

Show Survivors You Care

Too little too late. I was hoping he would do something symbolic to show the world his determination to make the changes necessary in order for the church to survive  perhaps prostrating himself encircled by survivors and asking for their prayers and forgiveness.  John Kroll, Ocala, Fla.

Get Rid of Bad Apples

A very small percentage of priests did wrong, but a very high percentage of bishops knew and did nothing. The bishops dont get it. They are the problem.  Don, Cape Cod, Mass.

Pope Francis, it seems you need to defrock as many as 1,000 priests, bishops and cardinals worldwide. Only you can protect your flock from the top. With prayers for your strength and Gods guidance.  Neil Collins, Newton, Mass.

Anyone, including the Pope and bishops and anyone else, who knew about these abuses and did not report them to civil authorities should resign.  Alexander DeAngelis, Pawleys Island, S.C.

End Celibacy

My family and I have been Catholic for generations. It is time for my son to take first communion classes as a 1st grader. I am saddened that my first thought was that I could not leave him alone with my priest and my second was that I have to have a talk with him about inappropriate touching. If more is not actually and concretely done to combat and stop covering up and preventing abuse, then we will go and I will not look back. I am fine with priests getting married and having families. Singular devotion to God via celibacy doesnt seem to work with natural desire for sex by men. Lets move the church past vows of celibacy and refocus on faith, prayer, healing and good works.  Michelle M., San FranciscoA Five-Bedroom House on the Coast of Anguilla

$4.4 MILLION

This Mediterranean-style house, known as Villa Amarilla, was built by its owners in 2008 on a rocky foreshore of the 35-square-mile Caribbean island of Anguilla. The five-bedroom house, which has five full and two half bathrooms, is on a half-acre lot, with a separate cottage and a pool terrace.

Italian influences are evident in the yellow stucco walls and red tile roof. A bougainvillea-draped pergola shades the wrought-iron-and-glass double front door, with the sea visible beyond the entrance hall, through three sets of floor-to-ceiling French doors along the back wall of the living room.

You can see the view even before you enter the house, said Leslie el-Effendi, one of the homes eight owners. Numerous French and sliding doors, terraces and a terra-cotta-tiled balcony stretching across the back of the two-story house also offer panoramic vistas.

Inside, the house has a Moroccan flair, Ms. el-Effendi said. Beneath the entry halls vaulted ceiling, squares of bright blue porcelain tile on the floor are crisscrossed with wood-grained ceramic planks, a motif that extends to the living room, which has a coffered ceiling with exposed beams.She was not a typical student. Before going into law, shed gotten a Ph.D. in biology. And as a patent lawyer, she specialized in biotechnology inventions, often working with companies that were innovating in molecular biology. Originally from New Zealand, shed first moved to the United States with her ex-husband, J. Craig Venter, the geneticist who would become known for his work sequencing the human genome.

S oon after completing the course, she began teaching it.

Although she insists that she still considers genetic genealogy a hobby, shes now talking to various law enforcement agencies about 50 cases involving homicide and unidentified victims.

How did she get involved in criminal cases?

In 2015, Ms. Rae-Venter assisted a detective who was trying to figure out the identity of a woman named Lisa who had been kidnapped as a baby.

Now in her 30s, Lisa had spent most of her life thinking that the man who had abused and then abandoned her was her father. That man had later been convicted of murder. In the course of that investigation, detectives had discovered that her DNA did not match his. So who were her parents? Where had she come from? The man refused to answer questions about her origins.

It took 20,000 hours and the assistance of more than 100 volunteers. But ultimately Ms. Rae-Venter used her techniques find the womans birth name, Dawn, and connected her with her grandfather, who was her closest living relative interested in a connection.

Ms. Rae-Venter was able to narrow Lisa's likely father down to a grouping of brothers. All had been married at the time of her birth and those that could be located refused DNA testing. Still Lisa had gone from knowing nothing about who she was to holding a family tree containing thousands of people.

Mr. Holes learned about Ms. Rae-Venters work on that case in 2017. If she had been able to figure out this girls identity with so few clues, couldnt she also identify someone using well-preserved semen?In 19 years of piloting his boat around Lake Superior, Jody Estain had never observed the water change as it has this summer. The lake has been unusually balmy and cloudy, with thick mats of algae blanketing the shoreline.

I have never seen it that warm, said Mr. Estain, a former Coast Guard member who guides fishing, cave and kayak tours year-round. Everybody was talking about it.

But it was not just recreational observers along the shores of the lake who noticed the changes with concern. Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes with more than 2,700 miles of shoreline, is the latest body of water to come under increased scrutiny by scientists after the appearance this summer of the largest mass of green, oozing algae ever detected on the lake.

From the Gulf Coast to the northernmost shores of the United States, scientists and government officials are working to decipher algae blooms to help them interpret the causes of the blooms, changes to their climates, and the effects the blooms have on public health and regional environments.NASAs New Horizons spacecraft still has 100 million miles to go, but it has taken its first snapshot of the space rock that will be its date for New Years Day 2019.

Mission scientists said they were a bit surprised that the camera on New Horizons was able to make out the tiny object, no more than 20 miles wide, so soon and from so far away.

The image shows a dim dot amid a background of distant stars. Over the coming months, the dot, which has the designation 2014 MU69, will become brighter and larger as New Horizons approaches.

Calculations originally indicated that the spacecraft would not be able to reliably spot the target until at least mid-September.Its a message the company plans to magnify via a national advertising campaign encompassing radio, television, print and social media. A half-dozen years ago, around the time freezing technology had advanced to the point that the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (A.S.R.M.) no longer deemed the procedure experimental, clinics like Prelude, Pacific NW Fertility in Seattle, Shady Grove in Washington and Ova in Chicago began reminding their youngest target customers that fertility is finite and begins to wane as early as ones 20s. Those clinics once catered almost exclusively to women at the older end of their childbearing years.

Their messaging, generally friendly and fact based but in some cases alarmist in tone, varies from Ovas invitations to freeze for your future, to Extends more urgent eggs are a nonrenewable resource. The exhortations are underscored by cheery images variously showing gaggles of young women gathered over drinks or ambling arm in arm down a city street.

To provide intelligence to consumers, and presumably whip up business, some clinics are hosts to lets chill egg-freezing parties, inviting guests to take in facts and figures along with Champagne and canapes.

Others glamorize the procedure in Instagram posts that feature women like Kaitlyn Bristowe, a lead on The Bachelorette, who have tweeted independently about their own freezing experiences. Kindbody, a clinic in New York, takes an even more aggressive approach, inviting potential clients to hop aboard a pop-up van to have their hormone levels tested.

Clinics have further eased barriers with significant price drops. Once as high as $19,000 for the cost of a single cycle, fees today can vary from about $4,000 to $7,000 for a procedure that entails one to two weeks of birth control pills to turn off natural hormones, nine or 10 days of hormone injections to stimulate egg production, followed, once the eggs have matured, by retrieval and freezing. (Initial consultation and storage are not generally included.)Huang Jieli, who ran a Chinese ride-sharing business called Hitch, was invited to a wedding in March. One of her drivers was getting married to a woman who had once been his passenger. Thanks, the invitation said, for getting them hitched.

Didi Chuxing, Hitchs corporate parent and one of the worlds most successful and valuable start-ups, once cheered these stories of young love. Like so many other Chinese internet companies, Didi explored all kinds of ways to bring in new users, including social networking.

So through suggestive ads hinting at hookups through driving, Didi pushed Hitchs romantic possibilities. In a 2015 interview with the Chinese online portal NetEase, Ms. Huang compared Hitch cars to cafes and bars.

Its a very futuristic and very sexy scenario, she told NetEase.

Today, that attitude looks careless and incompetent. Two female Hitch passengers in the past three months have been raped and killed by their Hitch drivers, according to the police. Now Ms. Huang is out of a job, Didi is pledging to overhaul its business, Chinese consumers are calling for a boycott and the internet industry is getting a much-needed reminder of the consequences of its actions.Every summer, the most popular European destinations get stuffed to the gills with tourists, who outnumber locals by many multiples, turning hot spots into sweaty, selfie-stick-clogged, Disneyfied towns. They offer a taste of a growing global threat: Across the world, thanks in part to rising affluence, travel is becoming a more widely shared pastime. International trips were up 6 percent in the first half of the year, surpassing experts forecasts, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

This growth might once have been considered unambiguously good news. But the worlds most popular destinations cannot expand to accommodate an infinite flood of visitors. Advocates of curbing tourism say too many visitors are altering the character of historic cities, and making travel terrible, too.

Its a level of tourism which is degrading the enjoyment that residents have, but its also degrading the tourist experience, because the tourist who is endlessly queuing behind backpacks of hundreds of other tourists is not discovering the real or the authentic place, said Justin Francis, the chief executive of Responsible Travel, a company that arranges sustainable travel for customers.

Whats to blame? In addition to broad prosperity, theres technology, defined very broadly.

Over the last few decades, innovations in aviation  wider, more efficient jets and the rise of low-cost airlines  significantly reduced the cost of flying. Bigger cruise ships capable of holding many thousands of passengers now take entire floating cities to coastal ports (which is why Venice recently banned these). Then there are the many splendors enabled by the internet, among them online booking, local reviews, smartphone mapping, and ride-hailing and home-sharing, which have collectively democratized pretty much every step involved in travel.

Finally, as in almost every other issue these days, there is the influence of social media.

You cant talk about overtourism without mentioning Instagram and Facebook  I think theyre big drivers of this trend, Mr. Francis said. Seventy-five years ago, tourism was about experience seeking. Now its about using photography and social media to build a personal brand. In a sense, for a lot of people, the photos you take on a trip become more important than the experience.With currently 800 South Africans doing time in foreign jails, International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has urged travellers to familiarise themselves with foreign laws and desist from illegal activity.

Sisulu expressed concern about the high number of South Africans detained abroad on a variety of charges, predominantly drug-related. The department once again calls on South Africans travelling abroad to familiarise themselves with the legal and cultural practices of the countries they are visiting. South Africans are warned against taking part in any unlawful activities, she said.The ministers call follows a death sentence handed down to a South African man in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Tuesday.The man was arrested and charged with drug smuggling in 2016. An official from the South African mission in Vietnam was in court when the sentence was handed down.The family of the man has been informed of the latest developments, and the department is rendering consular support to them.The department will continue to monitor the case and will take the lead from the concerned citizen with regard to the possibility of appealing the sentence, said the minister.The 340B program may produce the results intended at some hospitals, said Sayeh Nikpay, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and a co-author on the study. But as the program grew, it benefited many hospitals with less need for assistance in serving low-income populations.

Image A protest in San Diego in February to protect the 340B program. Credit... Denis Poroy/Associated Press

Other research corroborates that hospitals arent using the 340B program as intended. A study in The New England Journal of Medicine was unable to find any evidence that profits from 340B have led to more access to care for low-income patients, or reductions in mortality rates among them. Another study in Health Affairs found that 340B hospitals have increasingly expanded into more affluent communities with higher rates of insurance.

The 340B program may have also inadvertently raised costs  for example, by encouraging care in 340B-eligible hospitals that could have been provided less expensively elsewhere. A study in Health Services Research found that hospital participation in 340B is associated with a shift of cancer care from lower-cost physician offices to higher-cost hospital settings.

The program may also encourage providers to use more expensive drugs. The more hospitals can charge insurers and public programs for a drug  relative to how much they have to pay for it under the program  the greater the revenue they receive. They also receive more revenue when the drugs are prescribed more often.

In January, Medicare lowered the prices it pays for 340B drugs by 27 percent. Although this move chips away at how much hospitals can benefit financially, it does little to address how much insurers and individuals pay for prescription drugs or the value they obtain from them. In addition, the move does nothing to increase hospital spending that could help the poor.

It may even harm some health care organizations, leading to lower-quality care at those institutions that are helping the poor. Studies have shown that, by and large, when hospitals lose financial resources, they make cuts that could harm some patients.

This can happen if cuts lead to reductions in workers who perform important clinical functions. A study in Health Services Research found that hospitals cut nursing staff in response to Medicare payment cuts in the late 1990s. Heart attack mortality rates improved less at hospitals that had larger cuts.It appears to be the same person, said Ben Elkins, a major crimes detective with the Thurston County Sheriffs Office.

The killer has not been seen on video anywhere. The only slip-up was a surgical glove that was found near a cat called Tubby in Olympia, and potentially some DNA from Ollie, a fluffy white cat that was killed at the beginning of August in West Olympia.

Ollie had fought back, and her nails are being tested.

The results have not been disclosed, and Ollies owner, Rhiannon Stockert, is struggling to deal with the loss of her pet.

Ollie, a slightly overweight and cross-eyed cat that liked to sleep indoors, was discovered with her spine ripped out and displayed not far from home. Ms. Stockert has struggled to sleep since the killing. She eyes people who walk past warily and has had security cameras installed.

Shes family, said Ms. Stockert, breaking into tears during a phone interview. The episode has made her fearful that the killer may return, she said. Its definitely a creepy feeling to know that this person has that type of evil in them.

With each new case, a growing fear and fervor have taken hold in the community. At least 150 tips have flowed in to the local authorities. In these uncertain times, stroking the neighborhood cat has become cause for suspicion, and walking around with a can of open sardines is reason enough to turn neighbor on neighbor. A Facebook group is dedicated to bringing justice to the killer.

Washington isnt the only place that has dealt with a potential grisly cat killer. The deaths of hundreds of cats in south London prompted a yearslong search for the so-called Croydon Cat Killer, who has not been caught. A man was arrested in Saudi Arabia for posting on social media a video of him killing several cats.PHOENIX  Military veterans lined both sides of the Capitol Plaza here on Wednesday as a black hearse delivered the coffin carrying Senator John S. McCain to the rotunda, where constituents began saying farewell to the war veteran who became a towering political figure in this part of the West.

As Mr. McCain was lying in state, his immediate family and Arizona political leaders paid tribute to the naval aviator, who endured torture as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. They remembered him as an example of a statesman striving to unite Americans regardless of their political beliefs.

Its our job to show our respect, said Robbie Campbell, 59, a statewide captain of the Patriot Guard Riders, an organization composed largely of motorcyclists who attend the funerals of United States military service members and first responders. We dont want anybody that serves to protect our freedoms to not know that the whole nation cares.

Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona embraced Mr. McCains wife, Cindy McCain, as she arrived for a short private ceremony on the morning of what would have been her husbands 82nd birthday.A historic upset overturned Democratic politics in Florida, as Andrew Gillum, the liberal 39-year-old mayor of Tallahassee, overcame several aggressive opponents to become the first black nominee for governor in the states history. He campaigned on a bluntly liberal message, calling for a single-payer-style health care system at the state level, and he earned Bernie Sanders endorsement and crucial financial support from mega-donors on the left like Tom Steyer and George Soros.

His victory caps a season of breakthroughs for African-American Democrats running for powerful governorships, including next door in Georgia, where Stacey Abrams could become the countrys first black female governor, and in Maryland, where Democrats nominated Ben Jealous, a former president of the N.A.A.C.P.

Mr. Gillum is likely to face a difficult fight in the general election against Representative Ron DeSantis, the G.O.P. nominee who is a vocal ally of President Trump, and Republicans have already signaled that they intend to brand Mr. Gillum as outside the political mainstream of his traditionally moderate state.

And in what may be a painful irony for some Democrats, Mr. Gillums win was also a stinging loss for Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress who had hoped to become Floridas first female governor. Though she was seen as the front-runner going into the primary, Ms. Graham finished second, ahead of three wealthy male opponents but about 3 percentage points behind Mr. Gillum.Representative Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee for governor in Florida, drew accusations of using a racist dog whistle on Wednesday after saying in a television interview that voters should not monkey this up by electing his opponent, Andrew Gillum, who would be the states first black governor.

Mr. Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, won the primary election in an upset on Tuesday night, handing a major victory to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

In the interview with Fox News on the first day of the general election campaign, Mr. DeSantis, 39, who has President Trumps support, attacked Mr. Gillums candidacy by painting him as a far-left socialist.

[Read more about some things to know about Mr. DeSantis]

The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state, he said. That is not going to work. Thats not going to be good for Florida.WASHINGTON  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing new policies on campus sexual misconduct that would bolster the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, reduce liability for institutions of higher education and encourage schools to provide more support for victims.

The proposed rules, obtained by The New York Times, narrow the definition of sexual harassment, holding schools accountable only for formal complaints filed through proper authorities and for conduct said to have occurred on their campuses. They would also establish a higher legal standard to determine whether schools improperly addressed complaints.

The new rules would come at a particularly sensitive time, as major institutions such as Ohio State University, the University of Southern California and Michigan State University deal with explosive charges that members of their faculty and staff have perpetrated serious sexual misconduct. But for several years, higher education administrators have maintained that sexual misconduct rules pressed by the Obama administration unnecessarily burdened them with bureaucratic mandates that had little to do with assault or harassment, and mens rights groups have said the accused have had little recourse.

Unlike the Obama administrations guidance documents, the Trump administrations new rules will have the force of law and can go into force without an act of Congress, after a public comment period.The Florida governors race is shaping up to be a ferocious showdown after Tuesday nights primary victories by Representative Ron DeSantis, the Republican endorsed by President Trump, and Mayor Andrew Gillum of Tallahassee, a progressive Democrat endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The two hard-charging politicians, both 39, represent a rejection of centrist politics in the countrys largest swing state.

On Wednesday, Mr. DeSantis drew accusations of using a racist dog whistle after saying in a Fox News interview that voters should not monkey this up by electing Mr. Gillum, who, if he prevails, would be Floridas first black governor. (Read more about that incident here.)

A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis denied that the candidates comments had a racial undertone, while a spokesman for Mr. Gillum referred to remarks by a state party official, who called the comments disgusting.Initially, Mr. Trump offered the civil division job to George T. Conway III, a well-known litigator and the husband of the presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, but he turned it down.

Mr. Hunts trajectory also suggests that the administration has found civil servants to elevate to the highest echelons of government, despite Mr. Trumps assertion that the government is controlled by a so-called deep state that is out to get him.

Mr. Hunts nearly 20-year tenure at the Justice Department foreshadowed him taking on this highly political role atop the civil division, where he will defend the president and his policies, a review of court records and interviews with 10 of his current and former colleagues shows.

On numerous occasions during the Obama administration, Mr. Hunt challenged his political bosses, the colleagues said, and at one point removed his name from a contentious legal brief just hours before it was set to be filed, irking some of them. When pushing back against Obama-era policies, he would repeat a favorite phrase: This is not how Ashcroft would have done it, referring to John Ashcroft, President George W. Bushs first attorney general.

The Justice Department declined to make Mr. Hunt available for an interview.

Once Mr. Sessions was sworn in as Mr. Trumps attorney general, he selected Mr. Hunt as his chief of staff, a role that gave him a front-row seat to the early days of the Russia investigation and the firing of Mr. Comey. Mr. Hunt personally drafted Mr. Sessionss recusal from the investigation  that recusal is now a flash point with the president  and witnessed a now-famous meeting in which Mr. Comey complained to Mr. Sessions about being forced into private discussions with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Hunt was the Attorney Generals top aide on some of his most controversial actions in 2017, from his recommendation to fire James Comey, to ending the DACA program, and the DOJs defense of Trumps travel bans, Senator Richard J. Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said in a statement explaining his opposition to Mr. Hunt.

The nomination of Mr. Hunt, known as Jody, comes as personal politics have become an issue for the Justice Department. Mr. Trump has assailed senior officials involved in the Russia investigation for ties to Democrats, a line of attack that was once unthinkable in a department where it is understood that career professionals can hold political beliefs without impairing their judgment.That aside, parents who use location tracking to try to catch misbehaving teenagers ought to weigh the harm they feel they are preventing against the harm such surveillance may do to their relationship with their child. When done collaboratively, however, location tracking can contribute to adolescent safety.

For example, parents might come to an agreement with their young driver that they will check her location if shes running late, rather than texting or calling her if shes likely to be behind the wheel. And Mr. Curtis has told his own children, with whom he does use location tracking apps, that if they ever have an urgent need to be picked up they, dont have to even call, but can send him a text reading 911  the agreed-upon family code  and hell be on his way.

In a similar vein, John Shoemaker, a 16-year-old who lives in Coronado, Calif., suffers from a severe nut allergy. He carries an EpiPen and an inhaler, but has a plan with his parents that they are to find him by his iPhone if he doesnt check in or respond as expected. I see it as a safety net, he explained. If something were to happen, its nice to know that somebody would have the capability to know where I am.

Appreciate the Limitations of Location Tracking

Parents who know where their teenagers are should not make assumptions about what they are doing. Ive cared for an adolescent in my practice who got in trouble with her folks for swinging by a banned home to help a friend retrieve a lost item. And Ive known teenagers who were doing all the wrong things, in the exact place where they were supposed to be. When it comes to knowing what is going on with a teenager, having their location cannot take the place of having a sturdy, working relationship.

Treat It as Temporary

For many families, an adolescents wish for increased autonomy outpaces the parents readiness to grant it. At these times, location tracking can be used to establish trust that leads to greater freedom. Parents might help their tween or teenager move toward independence by saying, We expect you to tell us where youll be, to let us know if your plans change and to respond if we reach out. Well confirm your location by phone for a while, but once we feel that youre on top of things, well stop looking over your shoulder.

Tracking can also be used to rebuild trust that has been broken. After their teenage son drank himself into the emergency room, a family in my practice grounded the boy for two months, then tracked his location  with his full agreement  for several weekends until they felt they could, again, count on their son to look after himself.

And though teenagers and young adults routinely location-track their friends, parents should not assume that they enjoy an open-ended tracking arrangement. Its one thing for your roommate to know that you are spending the night at your girlfriends dorm and quite another for your dad to have that same information.GENEVA  The Nicaraguan authorities and paramilitary groups working with them have killed, tortured, raped and forcibly disappeared anti-government protesters, creating a climate of fear that is driving thousands of people to flee the country, the United Nations said Wednesday.

Repression and retaliation against protesters continues in Nicaragua as the world looks away, said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, in a statement.

Around 300 people have died and more than 2,000 have been injured as the authorities resort to multiple forms of repression  including extrajudicial killings, widespread arbitrary detentions and the ferocious intimidation of critics  to curb protests in the past five months, according to a report released by the rights agency.

In one of his last official appearances before stepping down as high commissioner for human rights, Mr. al-Hussein called for action by the United Nations Human Rights Council and the international community to prevent the country from plunging into deeper social and political turmoil.Image source: Annie Spratt, Unsplash

Synchronicity

Shared administration

Reduced spend

Industry expertise

While these growing numbers are undeniably impressive, the fact remains that many entrepreneurs lack the appropriate funding and necessary business skills to truly realise their full potential. Impeded by administrative hassles and limited investment opportunities, many business owners are now required to work remotely in an attempt to reduce overheads and maximise cashflow.The foray into the virtual world is not necessarily a bad thing, but these small business owners run the risk of foregoing important networking opportunities, connecting with like-minded individuals and delivering the types of innovation that only teamwork can produce.Luckily, cost-effective solutions for entrepreneurs that are unable to invest in increasingly expensive office space are beginning to emerge, with a spate of co-working spaces cropping up countrywide, offering up all the benefits of an office without the associated price tag.Not only do these collaborative spaces expose entrepreneurs to exciting opportunities, but they also afford them a much needed opportunity to seek assistance in facing the types of challenges commonly faced in the industry. Co-working spaces like The Workspace, which features branches nationwide, enable entrepreneurs to feed off one anothers energy, discuss and find solutions to administrative issues and share resources so as to preserve that all-important cash flow.Given the ongoing absence of any significant SME investment, could this new way of working become the new normal for emerging entrepreneurs? Here are a few key reasons why co-working might be the key to kick-starting new businesses in South Africa:Staying tucked away in a makeshift office that doubles up as a living area, might cater to certain personality types, but the fact is that isolation is always bad for business  limiting growth and networking opportunities. Co-working spaces enable entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries to connect and identify potential synergies, furthering growth potential and ultimately exposing business owners to connections that could never be made from the comfort of their living rooms.Paperwork is perhaps one of the biggest obstacles for any emerging entrepreneur, consuming countless hours and creating significant stress, particularly for those unfamiliar with the plentiful procedural nightmares associated with the set-up of an SME. To combat this, many co-working spaces offer shared administrative centres, reception staff, WiFi and numerous other services included in the price. In the case of more complex tasks like managing compliance issues, theres always someone to turn to in a collaborative environment and perhaps even the potential to split costs in certain cases.Office rental does not come cheap, especially in the big cities, where a small space can set a business back many thousands of rands every month. Throw in furniture, decor, internet wiring and the various other hard costs required and you are in the red before you have even started. For entrepreneurs looking for a fully equipped space, but without the resources to invest in owned space, co-working spaces make perfect sense, requiring rental only for the number of desks occupied. Additionally, the majority have multiple meeting rooms, which means entrepreneurs can still gather their teams and entertain their clients without having to make a significant dent in those all-important profit margins.Over and above the financial and collaborative benefits of co-working, many shared spaces now offer a curated programme of industry events, many of which are presented and attended by various luminaries from the business world. Not only do these sessions offer further opportunities for networking, but also present the potential for training, education and mentorship  still lacking in the world of SMEs. By connecting with captains of industry, business owners are better positioned to seek out expert advice and to overcome the obstacles that face them on a daily basis.HONG KONG  A professor at the University of Hong Kong was charged with murder Wednesday after the body of his wife was found inside a suitcase at his office, the police said.

The arrest of the professor, whose name was not released by the police, comes as Hong Kong is transfixed by the trial of another professor accused of killing his wife and daughter with a carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball.

In the latest case, security footage showed the suspect hauling a box apparently with his wifes remains out of a student dormitory, where he lived as a faculty warden with his wife and children, the police said.

The professor had filed a missing persons report more than a week ago, saying that his wife had gone missing the morning of Aug. 17 after a family dispute overnight. But the police grew suspicious when they did not find footage of his wife leaving their building.SEOUL, South Korea  President Moon Jae-in of South Korea sees a more urgent need to travel to North Korea next month and meet with its leader, Kim Jong-un, now that Secretary of State Mike Pompeos planned trip there this week has been canceled, Mr. Moons office said on Wednesday.

North and South Korea had earlier agreed to hold a third summit meeting in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, next month. But Mr. Moon had hoped that Mr. Pompeo would break a logjam in talks over denuclearizing the North, making it easier for him to push his agenda of increasing economic and other inter-Korean ties when he sat down with Mr. Kim.

Mr. Moons plan was cast into doubt after President Trump last Friday abruptly canceled Mr. Pompeos trip.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Moons office said he was intent on working as a mediator between Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump, just as he helped broker their first meeting in June.On posters distributed to medical facilities across Australia, large type over an image of a pregnant woman read: Its safest not to drink while pregnant.

Good so far.

It was the next line, in smaller type, that alarmed medical professionals: Its not known if alcohol is safe to drink when you are pregnant.

Public health groups responded with resounding protests  drinking alcohol while pregnant is very definitively known to be unsafe, they said. Creating doubt around the science could confuse pregnant women and encourage them to ignore warnings, they feared.

The organization that made the posters, DrinkWise, describes its focus as promoting a healthier and safer drinking culture in Australia, but is funded largely by the alcohol industry. It withdrew the 2,400 posters after hearing complaints and substituted new text.LONDON  Its been called the scallop war  a simmering rivalry that spilled out into the open again this week when French and British vessels clashed in the English Channel, French fishermen tossed what appeared to be smoke bombs at their rivals, and the British called on the Royal Navy for protection.

Video footage on French state television and on social media showed about 35 small French fishing boats menacing five larger British vessels early Tuesday morning in a stretch of international waters that separates Britain from the rest of Europe, just off the northwest coast of France.

At least one French boat slammed into the side of a Scottish vessel.

A French official said no one had been injured in the clash, but called the encounter extremely dangerous.

The French argue that British fishing vessels have an unfair advantage. The French government does not allow fishing for scallops to begin until October, in order to preserve the stock.Criticizing the conviction last year, Mr. Freeh said the decision against Mr. Popoviciu was not supported by either the facts or the law.

In a statement to The New York Times in response to questions about Mr. Giulianis letter, a representative of the United States Embassy in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, said that the government did not comment on the views or conclusions of private American citizens.

The representative also pointed to a June 28 statement issued by the embassy, along with the embassies of 11 other countries, which highlighted Romanias considerable progress in combating corruption and in building an effective rule of law. The statement, which came at a time when contentious alterations to the criminal code were moving through Parliament, also called on all parties involved to avoid changes that would weaken the rule of law or Romanias ability to fight crime or corruption.

Starting in January 2017, the government pushed through measures that many fear will weaken the rule of law. Critics of the anticorruption drive accuse those involved of using it for political purposes and of relying heavily on the use of court-approved wiretaps, while its defenders say that the effort was under fire because of its success in going after vested interests and powerful individuals.

Last month, Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate, was fired after accusations of overstepping her authority and damaging Romanias image abroad. The tensions have led to major protests, the most recent of which, on Aug. 10, resulted in violent clashes in Bucharest that left more than 400 people wounded.

Mr. Giulianis letter was well received by some in Romania. Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the leftist Social Democratic Party, the biggest party in the Romanian Parliament, wrote on Facebook that Mr. Giuliani puts his finger on the wound.

Mr. Dragnea was sentenced in June to three-and-a-half years in prison after Romanias highest court found him guilty of abuse of office related to the fictitious hiring of two of his partys employees at a public institution. He is appealing the verdict. In a separate case in 2015, Mr. Dragnea was convicted of electoral fraud and received a suspended sentence.LONDON  Scotland has become the first country to provide free sanitary products to students at schools, colleges and universities, an effort to banish period poverty, in which girls and women miss out on their studies because they cannot afford protection.

The government last week announced a program costing 5.2 million pounds, or about $6.4 million, to supply 395,000 students with essential sanitary products every month, beginning in September.

In a country as rich as Scotland, its unacceptable that anyone should struggle to buy basic sanitary products, Aileen Campbell, the communities secretary, said in a statement on Friday.

She said the investment would provide these essential products to those who need them in a sensitive and dignified way, which will make it easier for students to fully focus on their studies.Why Are Puffins Vanishing? The Hunt for Clues Goes Deep (Into Their Burrows)

Overfishing, hunting and pollution are putting pressure on the birds, but climate change may prove to be the biggest challenge.

GRIMSEY ISLAND, Iceland  Puffins are in trouble.

The birds have been in precipitous decline, especially since the 2000s, both in Iceland and across many of their Atlantic habitats. The potential culprits are many: fickle prey, overfishing, pollution. Scientists say that climate change is another underlying factor that is diminishing food supplies and is likely to become more important over time. And the fact that puffins are tasty, and thus hunted as game here, hardly helps.

Annette Fayet is trying to solve the mystery of the dwindling Atlantic puffins, and that is why she was reaching shoulder deep into a burrow here last month. She gently drew a puffin out, having snagged its leg with a thick wire she had curved into a shepherds crook. As she brought the croaking seabird into the light, it defecated copiously on her pants, which were, thanks to her long experience with birds, waterproof.

Wow, science! she said, and smiled. Ideally, this bird, with its tuxedo-like black-and-white plumage and clownish orange beak, would have voided its bowels into a stainless steel bowl she calls the puffin toilet. She took a flat wooden spoon out of its wrapper, scraped the mess up and placed it in a vial for analysis; she wants to know what these birds have been eating.

A puffin colony on the coast of Borgarfjardarhofn, Iceland.

Though some puffin colonies are prospering, in Iceland, where the largest population of Atlantic puffins is found, their numbers have dropped from roughly seven million individuals to about 5.4 million. Since 2015, the birds have been listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, meaning they face a high risk of extinction in the wild.

The birds are cherished by Icelanders as part of their history, culture and tourist trade  and, for some, their cuisine. The puffin is the most common bird in Iceland, said Erpur Snaer Hansen, acting director of the South Iceland Nature Research Center. Its also the most hunted one.

[Read more: In Iceland, Vikings razed the forests long ago. Can the country regrow them?]

Hunters with long nets can be seen tooling around Grimsey Island in the summer, leaving behind piles of bird carcasses, the breast meat stripped away. Iceland has restricted the annual harvest, but hunting is accelerating the decline, Dr. Hansen said.

Dr. Hansen is working with Dr. Fayet, a junior research fellow at the University of Oxford who is from France, on her project to monitor the activities of four puffin colonies, two in Iceland and others in Wales and Norway. Since 2010, he also has conducted a census, a twice-yearly puffin rally in which he travels more than 3,100 miles around Iceland, visiting some 700 marked burrows in 12 colonies, counting eggs and chicks.

During a recent stop at Lundey Island, Iceland, Dr. Hansen encountered jovial hunters who had killed hundreds of the birds and were carrying them toward their boats to be sold to restaurants that mainly serve the meat to curious tourists.

Hedinn Jonasson, a hunter, with his catch of puffins on Lundley Island.

Dr. Hansen maintains an amicable relationship with hunters and uses data from 138 years of hunting club records in his research. He convinced these hunters to let his assistant photograph the head of every puffin; the bands on their beaks can be counted to determine the birds age.

Dead puffins taken by hunters that Dr. Hansen encountered on Lundey Island. Hunters use nets to catch the birds on Lundey Island.

On Grimsey, a northern island that pokes above the Arctic Circle, gulls and arctic terns swirled in the cloudy sky and the wind at the cliffs blew at 40 miles per hour or more as Dr. Fayet and Dr. Hansen did their work. Dr. Fayet wears contact lenses, and the grit was a torment. There were ticks, so many ticks. Wow, science.

There were also counterbalancing pleasures; Dr. Hansen, a gifted cook, roasted a leg of lamb for dinner with garlic and thyme, and he brought along a couple of bottles of excellent single-malt whiskey, one of his non-avian fascinations.

After dinner, the two scientists worked into the bright Arctic night, ultimately catching, examining and releasing a dozen birds in their two-day stay on this island. Between captures, Dr. Fayet leaned on a rock, staring intently at a cliff face. Suddenly she leapt up and ran at startling speed across the uneven soil some 150 feet to the cliff, crouching in front of the one hole among many that she saw a bird jet into.

Dr. Hansen moved from burrow to burrow, looking a little like a spaceman with his white visor clamped over his eyes. He snaked a camera on a flexible stalk inside for a look around. Oh, yeah, he said, having spotted a live, downy chick.

Dr. Hansen with a puffin chick pulled out of its burrow. Puffins with beaks full of sand eels to bring back to their young.

After extracting a bird, they slid it into a plastic tube that oddly enough kept it calm, and weighed it. Dr. Hansen attached a steel identifying band to the birds leg. Then they removed it from the tube and attached a tiny GPS tracker to its back, between the wings, with marine tape.

Dr. Hansen, center, and his team of researchers on Icelands tiny Papey Island.

In the week until the lightweight devices drop off, they show how far the birds fly for their food and how deep they dive for it. Each tracker costs more than $800, which means the case containing them was worth more than the battered truck the researchers were driving.

Dr. Fayet plucked five feathers for later DNA analysis to determine the birds sex. For identification from afar, she used a marker to put a stroke of blue on its breast and white correction fluid to put a dot atop the black feathers on its head. Sorry, baby, she said softly, and returned the puffin to its burrow, where it will no doubt retell the story for years to come about its abduction by aliens during the summer of the tags and tape.

Around Iceland, the puffins have suffered because of the decline of their favorite food, silvery sand eels, which dangle from the parents beaks as they bring them to their young. That collapse correlates to a rise in sea surface temperatures that Dr. Hansen has been monitoring for years.

The temperature of waters around the country is governed by long-term cycles of what is known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, with periods of colder water alternating with warmer. Between the 1965-1995 cold cycle and the current warm cycle, Dr. Hansen said, winter temperature records show about one degree Celsius of additional warming  a seemingly small amount, but disastrous for the sand eels. His theory, he said, is this: If you increase temperatures one degree, youre changing their growth rates and their ability to survive the winter, he said.

Aevar Petersen, an Icelandic ornithologist not involved with the project, said an increase in sea temperature brought about by climate change was the key environmental factor behind the sand eels decline.

A puffin colony in Voladalstorfa, Iceland.

The picture is complicated; the natural cycles make it difficult to disentangle the influence of climate change. That influence is much weaker in the subpolar North Atlantic, especially near Iceland, said Rong Zhang, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.

Still, climate changes imprint is increasingly evident, said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University. There will come a time when climate change is vastly greater than internal variability, he said.

Without as many sand eels in the water, the birds have to fly farther to find food for themselves and their chicks. So the data from the GPS loggers, however briefly transmitted, is of great interest. As Dr. Fayet sat at her computer on Grimsey, her colleagues in Norway sent the first data from their work the week before, and her screen filled with looping paths of foraging birds. Because this is the first time this is being done, we have no expectations, she said. Everything we get is exciting.

Taking a break while hauling equipment on Icelands southeastern coast.

Even thrilling data can contain a sad message. Everywhere, they are going further than we thought, she said. The colonies decline suggests these birds are working too hard for their supper. Flying, for puffins, is very demanding, she said. It is a big energy cost for them.

Dr. Hansens puffin rallies show that 40 percent of the population of Icelandic puffin chicks is losing body mass over time, another bad sign.

When the adults cant catch enough to feed themselves and the chicks, they make an instinctive Malthusian choice; the chicks starve. Dr. Fayet called her quest heartbreaking: You put your hand in the burrow and feel with your hand a little ball on the floor, but then you realize its cold, and not moving.

There are still millions of Atlantic puffins, but their plentiful colonies are deceiving, Dr. Hansen said. These birds are long lived, so you dont just see them plummeting down, he said. In the long run, he warned, Its not sustainable.

Puffins around their colony near Svarthamar, Iceland.

Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter.

For more news on climate and the environment, follow @NYTClimate on Twitter.Everything around us is for sale, from the airwaves that we listen to, to the TV programmes that we watch - even movies on the big screen have products snuck into them to subliminally drive our brand preferences. Our social media spaces are dotted with influencers who endorse products that they are paid to promote in a 'non-intrusive manner' - whether we're aware of the brand affiliation or not.

Social media celebrities have become increasingly industrious

Lack of transparency

Hashtags

#sponsored

#ad/#advertising

#affiliate

#promotion/#promo

Links and handles

Links to brand websites need to be fully visible without being shortened, and need to contain the brand name in any accompanying descriptions.

Brand @handles need to be included

Videos and YouTube

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of South Africa denotes that all sponsored content needs to be disclosed to viewers in both the text and the start of each video.

When uploading videos, influencers are compelled to notify YouTube of sponsorship elements under a content clause/declaration.

Advertising needs to be disabled if the influencer feels this may clash with their sponsorship deal.

In the words of the FTC, a hyperlink is not enough, nor is a brief mention of a brand.

Live streams need to have endorsement information clearly displayed throughout.

Rules and guidelines

Online influencers are a complex market, especially in the social media space where boundaries between public and private domains have become blurred and where we have perceived closer access to celebrities and role models that we have idolized since our teen years.We can interact with these stars at the click of a button, and the choices they make inspire the choices that we make.If social media trends are not on your radar, you might not have become aware of the influx of celebrities suddenly letting us into their lives and sharing with us their latest secrets to their brightest smile, or the smallest waist, or the longest hair. Social media celebrities have become increasingly industrious, and its hard to tell when theyre endorsing a product, or letting us into their personal lives.Ingenious managers (or in the case of the Kardashian/Jenner clan  momagers) have negotiated clauses into contracts that have managed to bypass the protection of consumers  you didnt really think Kim and her clan whitened their own teeth, did you?Consumers are rushing to buy products trusted (read: endorsed) by their favourite celebrities, increasing the revenue of both the product and the celebrity, with absolutely no regard for authenticity, trust or transparency.Advertising, marketing and competition authorities have cottoned on to this lack of transparency, and have started taking influencers to task for being duty-free brand marketers. The onus has now been placed on the influencers to protect their integrity and authenticity when it comes to brand endorsement to their audiences. Although creating sponsored branded content allows them all kinds of creativity, influencers now need to comply with the law of disclosure, and the initial approach to online influencer endorsement no longer has the legs it used to.Following in the wake of highly debatable and controversial rules and regulations of sponsored content set out by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that were put into place in South Africa, online influencers need to disclose any sponsored brand content  for the protection of themselves and the brands they endorse, as well as ours.This places a large amount of responsibility in the hands of influencers, and those who dont pay attention to the regulations run the risk of loss of credibility, as well as being heftily fined. After all, if youre going to be the face of a product as well as an inspiration to many, you need to do so responsibly and be aware of industry best practice.As a consumer, this might not soothe the taste buds as well as those endorsed detox teas do, so heres a breakdown of a few best practice guidelines on all platforms, which we can now hold our influencers accountable for:All sponsored content needs to be clearly labelled. If the influencers themselves cannot tell that the posts are sponsored, chances are that we cant either  so hiding them in a blur of words wont be considered as full disclosure. The following hashtags have been approved on all platforms  from Facebook to Instagram, Twitter and blogs:*(The FTC has made a point of noting that hashtags that are not easily identifiable as sponsored content, simply dont count. Sorry Kim  but your very cryptic #sp, #spon, and #spons just dont make the cut anymore.)Although these rules may seem excessive at first, they are necessary to avoid the repercussions of not abiding by them. Not following these guidelines could result in permanent bans from social platforms  and no influencer can afford for their social platforms to be negatively affected.In case you need a few pointers on whether your influencers are behaving, the FTC has laid out this helpful set of guidelines so that you can hold them accountable for their endorsements.The IAB UK has weighed in with their guide to best native online advertising disclosure practice, too  both guides are enforceable to the influencer market, and will help you as a brand, to protect yourself.#WomensMonth: Jandri Van Zyl on building a Cape Town cake empire

Jandri Van Zyl's sweet dreams of building a crowd-pleasing cake-haven have steadily been realised since her business The Velvet Cake Co. launched in 2012 to public acclaim.

Fast forward to present day and Van Zyl is readying to open the doors to her fourth store in Cape Town, located in Tyger Valley Centre, which follows shortly after the introduction of the Canal Walk branch earlier this month.



These new additions  which complement the company's thriving online business  provide the ultimate "cake-on-the-go" experience, catering to the busy mall environment where customers can pop in, grab treats, and satiate their sweet tooth while they shop.





A glance at The Velvet Cake Co.'s whimsical offerings is all that's needed to understand how it's built up a loyal fan base in a relatively short space of time. From classic cake iterations that we all know and love, to naked nakes, colourful drip cakes and even a milktart-cupcake hybrid, the company's creations are instant palate pleasers and mood boosters.



It's been important for Van Zyl that her baked goods exude a Candyland-like character, a theme that evidently extends to the ambiance within her stores. With its lighthearted approach to baking and retailing, The Velvet Cake Co. is becoming one of Cape Town's most recognised and celebrated cake brands.



In the spirit of Bizcommunity.



Jandri Van Zyl Where did your love for baking begin and what inspired you to start your own business? Where did your love for baking begin and what inspired you to start your own business? Fast forward to present day and Van Zyl is readying to open the doors to her fourth store in Cape Town, located in Tyger Valley Centre, which follows shortly after the introduction of the Canal Walk branch earlier this month.These new additions  which complement the company's thriving online business  provide the ultimate "cake-on-the-go" experience, catering to the busy mall environment where customers can pop in, grab treats, and satiate their sweet tooth while they shop.A glance at The Velvet Cake Co.'s whimsical offerings is all that's needed to understand how it's built up a loyal fan base in a relatively short space of time. From classic cake iterations that we all know and love, to naked nakes, colourful drip cakes and even a milktart-cupcake hybrid, the company's creations are instant palate pleasers and mood boosters.It's been important for Van Zyl that her baked goods exude a Candyland-like character, a theme that evidently extends to the ambiance within her stores. With its lighthearted approach to baking and retailing, The Velvet Cake Co. is becoming one of Cape Town's most recognised and celebrated cake brands.In the spirit of Women's Month , the accomplished patisserie chef, baker and business owner shares her growth journey with

Could you describe a typical day in your job? Could you describe a typical day in your job?

Can you share a bit about The Velvet Cake Co.s humble beginnings and how its grown since? Can you share a bit about The Velvet Cake Co.s humble beginnings and how its grown since?

Congrats on your new Canal Walk store. Since you trade both online and in physical stores, which is no easy feat, what would you say are the opportunities and challenges of doing both? Congrats on your new Canal Walk store. Since you trade both online and in physical stores, which is no easy feat, what would you say are the opportunities and challenges of doing both?

What does Womens Month mean to you? What does Womens Month mean to you?

Are there any women in your field you have a particular admiration for? Are there any women in your field you have a particular admiration for?

What advice do you have for other budding female entrepreneurs? What advice do you have for other budding female entrepreneurs?

Looking ahead, what is your ultimate vision for The Velvet Cake Co? Looking ahead, what is your ultimate vision for The Velvet Cake Co?

Lauren Hartzenberg's articles About Lauren Hartzenberg Managing editor and retail editor at Bizcommunity.com. Cape Town apologist. Dog mom. Get in touch: lauren@bizcommunity.com Managing editor and retail editor at Bizcommunity.com. Cape Town apologist. Dog mom. Get in touch: lauren@bizcommunity.com

After studying to become a patisserie chef in 2009, I worked very hard to pursue my dream to create my own cake-haven. After chopping and changing between a few creative things like photography and fashion, I decided to pursue what came easily and naturally to me  baking.With my grandmother being a master baker and being given my very first cookbook at the age of 10, I realised that baking is definitely in my blood.I spend most of my days driving between our three, and soon to be four locations, running the day to day business operations and interacting with my staff members and customers. Being the CEO of this crazy and fun cake emporium, no day is ever the same!What started off in 2010 as a charming patisserie known as Treat, in the Northern Suburbs, and quickly evolved into The Velvet Cake Co. a mere two years later. The Velvet Cake Co. prides itself in only using the finest ingredients and creating a fun experience that overwhelms customers with joy.The idea was to create a kind of 'Candyland' orfeeling, but with cake. I also wanted to create a large variety of cakes so that everyone can enjoy their favourite slice of cake  from cheesecake to chocolate cake.This spring 2018, we are opening not one, but two new stores allowing more cake lovers across the Western Cape to enjoy their fix of the freshest and finest ingredients.In addition to the Loop Street and Bella Rosa stores, we opened our doors in Canal Walk Shopping Centre on 1 August and will be opening in Tyger Valley Centre on 1 September 2018 as the ultimate cake-on-the-go experience, catering to the busy mall environment where customers can pop in, grab treats, and indulge while they shop.Thank you! Our store in Canal Walk has been doing incredibly well, which has been amazing. With the new store at Canal Walk and soon, Tyger Valley, we are able to cater to a slightly different market by providing a more convenient grab-and-go experience for shoppers cruising the mall.Womens Month to me means continuing to empower the women in our country and celebrating our strengths and achievements.At The Velvet Cake Co. we employ mostly women, and it is still one of the proudest aspects of my job that I have been able to watch most of these ladies, who started with very little to no baking experience and have grown to be accomplished bakers and decorators.There are actually a few: gourmet and food writer Nigella Lawson; Australian food stylist, author and magazine editor, Donna Hay; pastry chef and judge, Candace Nelson; and Australian baker Katherine Sabbath.Surround yourself with a supportive team  the faster you learn to delegate, the better. And always remember to take things one day at a time, and let them grow naturally.Creating a household brand that customers love and trust.Andile Dlamini to fill Matt Gennrich's role at VWSA

Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) has appointed Andile Dlamini as its new head of group communications. He replaces Matt Gennrich, who is retiring on 1 September 2018.



Dlamini has 15 years' experience in public relations and communications in the automotive industry. He joined VWSA in 2008 as Volkswagen's product PR manager followed by a stint as a personal assistant to the chairman and managing director.Among the 33 other Ugandans accused of treason together with Bobi Wine and three other MPs are three women.

Their names are at the bottom of the charge sheet. For most of the last two weeks their fate was not known since they were last seen being helped to limp into court.

Now out on bail, they narrated their ordeals to lawyers:

One of the tortured suspects being helped prison and police officers unto a waiting vehicle earlier. Photo: courtesy

1. Night Asara, 38, district councilor for Arua Hill Division, and mother of three told of her violent arrest. A senior police officer kicked, stomped and used the gun butt of an assault rifle to repeatedly hit her multiple times in the torso.

Night was with a group that was bundled onto police vehicles, driven at break-neck speed to Gulu. In Gulu, she and other female detainees report that they were threatened with rape and death by police officers including a commander.

Night who had C-Section during delivery of one of her children has a delicate scar. She was in severe pain especially in the pelvic area and torso. For days she was passing blood in her urine as result of torture.

2. Caroline Nalubowa, 28, a resident of Arua. At 7pm Nalubowa had gone to buy a drink at Hotel Royal. She had just left the bar counter with her drink when a hail of bullets thundered outside.

Shortly after a soldier grabbed Nalubowa, threw her drink away and assaulted her viciously. She was dragged outside and told to lie down with the rest.

Soldiers stomped on her back and kicked her repeatedly. She was later transferred to Gulu Police Station.

3: Akira Maida, 23, works as a cashier. Shes a mother of a one year and three months old baby. She was a bystander who had left the baby at the hotel with someone. When the chaos ensued, Akira started running towards the hotel to get her baby but she didnt make it. A group of armed men caught and roughed her up severely.

Consequently, she was injured in her abdomen and now passes blood whenever she urinates. The minder Akira had left with her baby also run for her life, leaving the baby behind. Akira was later told that her baby was picked up by a good Samaritan.

4. Jane Abola, 31, was a guest at Hotel Pacific when the Special Forces Command soldiers and police raided. She is a resident of Kampala. She was not part of the electoral campaign in Arua or any related activities. Abola is a mother of three.

Abola was woken up by loud gunfire. It wasnt long before loud bangs on her door and demands that she opens the room door which she did immediately. Armed men in military uniform descended on her, slapping and kicking her.

Abola told lawyers that the men asked her to reveal the whereabouts of Bobi Wine. When Abola said she didnt know, this further infuriated them. Led by a man she identified as the Regional Police Commander, they hit her multiple times with a gun butt and kicked her repeatedly all over the body.

Abola was taken to Arua Police Station, thrown into a packed room. At 2.00am she was bundled onto a vehicle driven to Gulu Police Station. Her children are aged 9 years, 5 years and three months whom she had left in Kampala.

Throughout these sad narrations, the name of Regional Police Commander Jonathan Musinguzi and Gulu District Police Commander Emmanuel Mafundo come up as having been central to the torture of those arrested.

Interviewed for a comment yesterday, Army spokesperson Richard Karemire said the army has launched an inquiry to ascertain what exactly happened in Arua and hold the errant security operatives to account.Shortly after he was granted bail yesterday by the General Court Martial, Gen Edward Kale Kayihura, said he was relieved he had not been charged with the murder of his former deputy, AIGP Felix Andrew Kaweesi.

Speaking through one of his lawyers Jet Tumwebaze, the former police chief said that for the 76 days he has been incarcerated in Makindye Military barracks, he was haunted by the 19 accusations against him.

Initial investigations by Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) had pointed at possible treason and murder charges being preferred.

Gen Kale Kayihura on arrival at the General Court Martial

We were happy that out of the 19 charges maliciously paraded by some army officials, only three were brought to court and the rest were thrown in the dust bin. They were told to hunt an elephant and they came back with a rabbit; they have been on trial with their malicious accusations, said Tumwebaze.

Kayihura was on Friday charged with three counts: two counts of failure to protect war materials, and aiding and abetting kidnap and illegal repatriation of Rwandese exiles. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Another member of the defence, Joseph Matsiko, presented four grounds for his bail application. The right to bail, long period he has spent in jail, the need to have medical checkup abroad and the three substantial sureties presented.

The sureties were Generals James Mugira and Samuel Kavuma plus Entebbe Municipality MP Rosemary Tumusiime. Kavuma is the deputy commander of the armys land forces.

Matsiko said that Kayihura at 62 years is of advanced age and has never been convicted of any criminal offence. He said his clients health is worrying hence the need for him to be flown out of Uganda for medical examination.

Maj Raphael Mugisha opposed the application, saying the accused is an influential figure who is likely to interfere with ongoing investigations.

In his ruling after an hours adjournment, court chairman Lt Gen Andrew Gutti granted Kayihura bail on six conditions.

The conditions included Kayihura executing a Shs 10 million bond, not cash, each of his sureties executing Shs 5m bond not cash, to restrict his movements to only Kampala and Wakiso districts, report to the court once a month, report to court whenever he is required and not to travel outside the country without courts permission.

Tumusiime said: By the time Kaweesi was murdered on March 17, 2017, Kayihuras contract had already been renewed causing no reason to kill him just for a job. Over one million Ugandans were capable of doing that job, would Kayihura kill all of them just for the job? The investigators in our clients framed charges are themselves on trial but time will tell that Kayihura never killed Kaweesi.

lubwamasiraje@gmail.comA letter from the British High Commission to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcing a withdrawal from a charity run in Kampala ruffled feathers at the ministry.

Some wondered why the British High Commission was getting concerned about the continued detention of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, and how it has anything to do with the cancer run which was held last weekend.



Kyagulanyi a.k.a Bobi Wine was brutally arrested two weeks ago in the West Nile town of Arua where he had gone to campaign for the Arua Municipality MP-elect Kassiano Wadri.

Wadri himself has been in jail with at least 30 others plus MPs; Paul Mwiru (Jinja Municipality East), Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality) and former Makindye East MP Michael Mabikke. Their Mityana Municipality colleague Francis Zaake Butebi is hospitalised at Lubaga hospital in critical condition.

Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kahamba Kutesa

The arrests resulted into demonstrations in different parts of the country, which claimed the lives of at least four people who were shot by security forces. Bobi Wine, fellow MPs and others were released on bail on Monday.

The British threat came after the US embassy and the European Union had issued strong statements, urging the government to show the world that the country respects its Constitution and the human rights of all its citizens.



We are deeply concerned by recent events in Arua, Kampala, and Gulu, and disturbed by reports of brutal treatment of Members of Parliament, journalists, and others at the hands of security forces, the statement by the US embassy partly reads.

The embassies were joined by international human rights organisations in condemning the actions of state security agencies in brutalizing MPs, journalists and opposition supporters. For instance, Amnesty International, a UK-based human rights organisation, demanded for answers on how Bobi Wines driver, Yasin Kawuma was shot and killed.

The international condemnation was followed by protests around the world and an international appeal spearheaded by Amsterdam & Partners LLP, an international law firm based in London UK and Washington DC in the USA.



Last week, Simon Wolfe, a senior associate with the law firm told BBCs Focus on Africa programme that Amsterdam & Partners LLP is preparing international law suits against the government of Uganda as well as petitioning the international community to slap sanctions against key individuals in government.



On Twitter, Wolfe launched an appeal to raise funds to offer legal representation for the Kyadondo East legislator.

Please help Bobi and #freebobiwine from State oppression, torture and denial of basic human rights. Uganda wants to take that away from him, his family and his friends. We will not rest until hes free, Wolfe tweeted.



Wolfes partner, Robert Amsterdam on the other hand authored an article which was published by The Guardian under a title, Ugandas brutal treatment of MPs is enabled by global indifference.



The article angered the Ugandan authorities so much that Amsterdam was denied entry into the country.

I have already been banned entry [into] Uganda over #FreeBobiWine but our role in terms of international advocacy shall continue as before, Amsterdam tweeted on Monday.



Wolfe responded in a tweet What a petulant response from a frightened government. It wont affect our work in the slightest.



Govt position

Rattled, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kahamba Kutesa on August 24 convened a meeting with foreign envoys in Kampala to protest what he called unfair criticism based on media reports.



They were unnecessarily harsh on government, they never bother to investigate what the cause of all this is; they were quoting social media pictures which can easily be manipulated, government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told The Observer on August 25.

According to Opondo, government believes that the demos around the world were facilitated by western governments.



We think that the demonstrations around the world have some elements of foreign sponsorship but for those who think that we do things for the sake of a good international image are mistaken, Opondo said.

On August 24, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kagada was welcomed by similar protests in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she had gone to preside over the second Uganda-Netherlands business convention.

Ugandas ambassador to Belgium and Netherlands Mirjam Blaak organised a meeting for Kadaga to speak to the agitated Ugandans.



We [Parliament] are monitoring the situation, Kadaga told the meeting, Hon [Medard Lubega] Sseggona is leading the legal team from Parliament to ensure that the members are well represented.



Discontent



Kadaga admitted that there was widespread discontentment over the manner in which MPs were arrested and handled. She also said that she had spoken to Bobi Wine on phone from Botswana to strengthen him.

Away from the global and local demos, President Museveni in his more than three decades rule had not received any direct condemnation from the Catholic Church and Buganda Kingdom over the arrest of politicians.

To the surprise of political analysts, the church on August 22 held a solidarity prayer mass for Bobi Wine and his colleagues less than a week after Buganda Katikkiro (Prime Minister) Charles Peter Mayiga issued a strong statement against the arrest and torture of the MPs and others.

sadabkk@observer.ugFormer Works and Transport minister Abraham Byandala has been acquitted of all charges levelled against him in the infamous Mukono-Katosi road scam that cost the country up to Shs 24.7 billion in losses.

Byandala was facing 16 counts of abuse of office, disobedience of lawful orders, influence peddling, causing financial loss, corruption, theft, obtaining money by false pretense, uttering false documents and conspiracy to defraud the government.



The charges stem from an investigation for his role in the illegal award of a contract to Eutaw, a fictitious road construction company that was contracted to construct the Mukono-Katosi road.



Byandala was accused of using his office as Transport minister to influence the issuance of the contract in which, Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) awarded the Shs 165 billion project to Eutaw, before completion of the due diligence process.

Abraham Byandala has been acquitted (file photo)

A report by the Inspector General of Government (IGG) pinned Byandala for forcing Unra to sign and advance Shs 24.7 billion to the firm. It was later discovered that Eutaw did not have relations to the firm in the United States that it used as its parent company.



Today, Anti-Corruption court judge Lawrence Gidudu acquitted Byandala of the charges on grounds that the prosecution failed to furnish court with substantial evidence to prove the case. The prosecution team was from the Office of Inspector General of Government.



Gidudu dismissed the prosecution evidence, which depended on a letter that Byandala authored directing Unra to sign a contract with Eutaw. Gidudu said that in writing the letter dated November 14, 2014, Byandala was not abusing the law because he was authorized under the law to give guidance to Unra, which, at the time, did not have board of directors.



Gidudu said prosecution did not prove that in directing Unra to sign the contract, Byandala was aware that the contract was going to be awarded to a fictitious company. Gidudu added that the law allows signing of the contract before due diligence is completed.



The judge further dismissed prosecution arguments that Byandala directed his then junior minister Eng John Byabagambi to formalize a sub contract that Eutaw issued to Chongqing international construction company contrary to the IGG's earlier directives. Gidudu said the letter was an internal ministry memo and prosecution did not prove that it was formalized.People Power, Our Power is a slogan that has in the recent weeks gained more public traction and recognition.

It identifies what Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi a.k.a Bobi Wine, represents; a transition from pop star to the new poster child of regime change. The slogan has been adopted as the rallying cry by a movement spearheaded by young professionals, with the help of some mainstream opposition political actors, to create political change.

People in the know reveal that a few months ago, a group of young professionals started meeting to plan on how they can influence Ugandas politics.

These meetings are impromptu and are attended voluntarily but are intended to mobilise the young people to influence the political direction of Uganda since we have the numerical strength, one member said.

Robert Kyagulanyi (L) addressing the media

There are young lawyers, IT specialists, artists, student leaders, journalists and youthful businessmen meeting because it has dawned on them that if they organise the demographics are in their favour.

As you can see, we have just started and there is no concrete structure that is in existence yet everyone has felt us. We have the numbers and energy, one of the participants, a former guild president of Makerere University, said.

According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics, close to 65 percent of Ugandas 39 million people, is between 15 and 30 years. That translates to over 70 percent of eligible voters in 2021.

Prof Sabiti Makara, a lecturer of political science and public administration at Makerere University, observed that they speak to the aspirations of the voters in 2021; it shows that the issues will be employment and not NRM transitional politics like it has been the case in recent elections.

Makara has written books about Ugandas last three elections. His view is that 1996 election was about multi-party elections while 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 revolved around transition within the NRM revolution.

It is to that effect that the major players, including Dr Kizza Besigye and [former premier] Amama Mbabazi, are people identified with the NRM revolution, Makara said.

The rhetoric of the revolution is no more you are now dealing with people who are unemployed, yearning for better standards of living, want to compete in the global market and are interested in issues like free speech, good governance and rule of law. So, any person, like Bobi Wine who blends well with the youths because of age and his music, if he provides leadership to this desperate group, they can be a big threat to the status quo.

NRMs Lwemiyaga MP, Theodore Ssekikubo, a critical voice within the NRM seeking transition, says this debate should be traced to the failure by the ruling party to allow a smooth transfer of power from one generation to another.

There was no deliberate effort by those in the senior leadership of the party to think about these questions and now it is with us. How are they going to respond to these issues? Ssekikubo asked.

Towards the close of the 1990s, some insiders within President Musevenis government learnt of Musevenis scheme to scrap term limits. From Besigyes perspective, this was a betrayal of the revolution.

But some of his senior colleagues, including, Amanya Mushega, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, Miria Matembe and Dan Wandera Ogalo, gave Museveni the benefit of the doubt  that he would respect the institutional safeguards he had helped put in place.

At the time, Museveni had been in power for only 13 years and was only three years into his first constitutionally provided term as a president of Uganda.

Besigye failed to convince some of the senior NRM-historicals to join him. Some of the youthful leaders of the NRM who convened under the Young Parliamentary Association, who thought they were being groomed to take over from the old guard, actually scorned Besigye. They included Maj. John Kazoora, Salaam Musumba, et al.

They thought he was being impetuous but they have since joined him to form the Forum for Democratic Change, when into dawned on them that Museveni had very long term designs on power.

VACUUM

Bugiri municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa, who became part of People Power movement during the by-election through which he joined parliament, says that since 2001 he has been an activist for change but they had not paid attention to the demographics.

We who were the young people then were not power hungry or were not looking for posts. Instead, our seniors concentrated on fighting for positions of dominance. Now, see this movement has come and it is serious, Basalirwa said.

At the beginning of 2000 when discussions about transition started gathering steam people like Bobi Wine were ambivalent. His hit songs Akagoma, Funtula, Sirimba, Mwekume, Dembe, Nakazzi, Nalumansi, Kadingo et al, may have been socially conscious but still largely apolitical in the strict sense.

While at a seminar organised at the Makerere Institute of Social Research on August 25, 2017, Bobi Wine said that as you grow up and become a father you begin nurturing new thoughts and ideas. You start seeing the world around you differently and look at some things more critically than you used to.

It is after the 2006 election, that Bobi Wine started to seriously reflect on Ugandas political direction. Basalirwa says that if you listen to his music, he started to mobilise with us around that timebut eventually he gave up on his career to join the front line when things seemed not to be happening.

In 2017, when a by-election was declared in Kyadondo East, it presented an opportunity for Bobi Wine. Unfortunately, at the time Bobi Wine made the decision to stand, there was no formidable political formation under which he would stand, except the Forum for Democratic Change.

However, FDC disappointed him after party authorities invoked a precedent  which is ironically against an entrenched provision of the party constitution that provides that any position must be competed for  by requiring that the former flag bearer, Apollo Katinti would retain the flag.

Bobi decided to stand as an independent. A few days later, a group of the Uganda Young Democrats, a subsidiary of the Democratic Party, convened a press briefing addressed by former presidential candidate, Samuel Walter Lubega Mukaku, and vowed to support him.

Other individual politicians like FDCs Ibrahim Kasozi, who is the Makindye East MP, also joined and developed Bobi Wines message.

Hon Kyagulanyi was disparaged by colleagues within the party as a muyaye. But, me at an individual level, joined other colleagues who believed that he has good ideas. You see in politics there is no popular person or party. What is important are ideas and how those ideas are packaged. Hon Kyagulanyi had ideas, which were well packaged through a medium that is accessible to all. What we did as a team was to develop on what he had to see that he became a member of parliament, Kasozi said.

Kyagulanyi (C) with Wadri (L) and Zaake (R) during the Arua campaigns

Whereas different accounts claim that Bobis campaign was supported by civil society and even the ruling party, Kasozi says those are falsehoods intended to damage Hon Kyagulanyis reputation as someone funded by foreigners or government insiders to deflate Dr Besigye.

The truth is that we collected that money from within our camp and I know where I got that money.

Bobi quite sensationally won in Kyadondo East, defying the odds and returning a shock landslide victory. Then the presidential age limit constitutional amendment debate started just as Bobi was learning the ropes in the House.

As expected, he would stand with those who rejected Musevenis latest designs to remain in power for life. He composed and produced a song titled Freedom to mobilise public opinion.

Journalist Gaaki Kigambo points out that Freedom has a faint echo to Redemption Song by Bob Marley  a huge influence on Bobi Wines life. It opens bemoaning the reversal of thefundamental change in the politics of our country Museveni promised in 1986 when he captured powerrebellion. It castigates his dogged efforts to remove presidential age limits in order to extend his 35-year rule beyond 2021 when the next general elections are expected. It rounds off with a clarion call to all young people to rise up and take active roles in building the better country they would like to live in.

Bobi went on countrywide tours with UYD strategists, making quite an impression. Soon, the government had seen enough and banned his concerts-cum-rallies.

It is around this time that youth groups, including the aforementioned professionals started to conceive the idea of mobilising under his umbrella.

It is at this time when things started to be real. We started to receive attacks from within the opposition and the NRM, said one of the youths who coordinates the digital influencers in movement.

PUSH BACK FROM FDC

It emerged that the FDC group led by Besigye was concerned about Bobis rising popularity. But because the Besigyes were distracted by FDCs other internal contradictions and leadership wrangles, their concerns about Bobi remained quiet until the Jinja East by-election.

The current Jinja East MP, Paul Mwiru, who was FDCs flag bearer, reached out to his former colleagues in UYD, who not only convinced the DP leadership not to have a candidate but they also placed their infrastructure at his disposal.

The UYD team thought this would allow Bobi become head of Mwirus campaigns but the FDC group objected. Indeed, a few days to the election, this group petitioned the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi complaining about the involvement of the DP in the campaigns.

Consequently, Ssemujju was made the head of the Mwiru taskforce deputised by DPs Samuel Walter Lubega. Other DP members were also involved, including Kenneth Kakande, Derrick Mutema, John Mary Ssebuwufu, former MPs Joseph Mutebi Balikuddembe and Dr Lulume Bayiga.

However, Mwiru, personally invited Bobi to be with him for almost a week. Insiders within the movement say that this resistance from FDC-Besigye faction continued, even during the Rukungiri by-election.

All along the People Power group was willing to operate within a united opposition, including the Besigye factioneven when the latter was pushing back against a united front, except if led by Dr Besigye.

Insiders say that it is during the Bugiri by-election in July in which FDC refused to withdraw its candidate in favour of Basalirwa who was more popular, that Bobi gravitated towards forging other ties. The faction of FDC led by former party leader, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, united to campaign for Basalirwa.

It is during this election that the lines were drawn. In fact, when I won some people were penalised by being reshuffled from the parliament leadership. However, this was a blessing in disguise because it is during this very period that the real pact binding us opposition who detest individual dominance of political space that we became effective, Basalirwa said.

Before the Bugiri by-election, the People Power movement had identified Robert Ejiku who run in the Arua Municipality by-election as its candidate because of being youthful and part of their movement. However out of pragmatism, Bobi was convinced to switch to the Arua Municipality MP-elect, Kassiano Ezati Wadri.

Kasozi says that the Muntu group argued that we unite behind Hon Kassiano because his win will be a punch against not only the NRM but FDC as well. So, it is against that background that the unity has grown.

NOT YET STRUCTURED

By the time of his arrest and subsequent indictment for treason, the People Power idea had not yet crystallised into a proper structure as most of it operated in patches.

We are waiting for the developments in the FDC. If the Muntu group leaves and we are joined by other forces like UYD, civil society members working for political change and other forces that believe in a united front , said a member.

Given the current political tensions, members are not willing to be named in print for now. And especially since even with the movement not yet formally structured, that government has started to hunt it down.

For instance, during the Bugiri by-election 13 members, including two females, belonging to the group, were arrested and released after nine days in detention without any formal criminal charge. They included Ramanthan Lukwago, Andrew Nabimanya, Patience Kemigisha and Roy Ssemboga.

Ssemboga, who is a former guild president at Makerere University, told us that several of their colleagues have been intimidated.

Before the current crackdown they have been threatening; making phone calls. But we shall not give up because most of the members are volunteers and remain anonymous, except a few of us who are exposed by the fact that we are leaders in our own right, he said.

It is instructive that the overwhelming international response to Bobis arrest is partly attributed to Rikki Stein, the former manager of Fela Kuti (the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and noted musical superstar who died in 1997). Stein activated his international networks to generate most of the responses that came from international figures.

We are just doing to help Bobi. I met him in Kampala when I came for the 25th coronation anniversary of the Kabaka of Buganda and I was fascinated by his ideas as someone who cares about others, Stein told The Observer.

And that is the attraction the idea being weaved around Bobi has; the caring for community so as to ultimately empower the people

skakaire@observer.ugA lot has happened since the arrest and detention of Hon Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu aka Bobi Wine and 32 others on August 15, 2018.

Bobi Wine was arrested by the military and charged in the General Court Martial. The charges were unlawful possession of fire arms and ammunition, which are a monopoly of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF).

The relevant question to ask is, whether Bobi Wine as a civilian, can lawfully be tried by the General Court Martial. Parliament is mandated under Article 210 of the Constitution to make laws regulating the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF).

In fulfilling this mandate, Parliament enacted the UPDF Act 2005. It is this law that creates the General Court Martial under S. 197.

If Parliament made this law to also cover civilians, it would be exceeding its constitutional mandate as far as the UPDF Act is concerned. S. 119 (1) (h) of the UPDF Act 2005 states that every person found in unlawful possession of fire arms, ammunition or equipment ordinarily being a monopoly of the defense forces is subject to military law.

The constitutionality of this provision was challenged in the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Uganda.

The Constitutional Court, in resolving the issue whether the General Court Martial had jurisdiction to try civilians, stated in the case of Uganda Law Society v Attorney General (Const Petition No.18 of 2005), that the General Court Martial under the UPDF Act 2005 has no jurisdiction to try civilians.

In Uganda Law Society V Attorney General court affirmed that trying civilians in the Court Martial would be contravening Articles 210 and 126 of the Constitution. Court went further to state that the General Court Martial had no jurisdiction to try civilians because it was created to regulate the UPDF.

A court without jurisdiction over a matter is incompetent and incapable of offering one a fair trial within the meaning of Article 28(1) of the constitution.

The Supreme Court pronounced itself on the same matter in the case of Attorney General v Uganda Law Society (constitutional Appeal No. 1 of 2006).

In that case, Justice Mulenga JSC emphasized the Constitutional Courts position, that trying civilians in the General Court Martial contravened Article 28(1) and Article 44(c) of the Constitution. These provisions protect the right to a fair trial.

For there to be a fair trial, it must be before a court with the requisite jurisdiction. Court asserted that court without jurisdiction isnt a competent court.

The Supreme Court accentuated that there cant be a trial at all let alone a fair one, if the court before which it is, is incompetent or has no jurisdiction. According to Article 2 of the Constitution, any law or provision that contravenes the constitution is null and void and is of no effect.

The UPDF Act 2005 creates many offences over which the General Court Martial has indisputable jurisdiction. They are referred to as service offences.

The statutory definition of a service offence is an offence under the Act committed by a person while subject to military law. The offence of unlawful possession of firearms can be tried under the Fire Arms Act cap 299.

The supreme court in Attorney General v Uganda Law Society further states that For an offence under an Act other than the UPDF Act to be within the Jurisdiction of the General Court Martial, it must have been committed by a person subject to military law (emphasis is added).

Bobi Wine as a civilian isnt subject to military law. It would be, therefore, unlawful to try him in the General Court Martial.

awabwezi@gmail.com

The author is a lawyerIm a product of Universal Primary Education (UPE). In fact, I was part of the pioneering lot in 1997 when I joined primary one at Shimoni Demonstration School.

Back then, nearly everything to do with school was free; lunch, books, porridge at break time...education was actually free. We only heard it in rumours that in the past, pupils would be chased away from school due to lack of school fees.

There was never a dull moment at this beautiful scenery filled with trees and a short distance away from features we used to study about such as parliament, Crested Towers (then the tallest building in Uganda) and the National theatre.

At school, I always looked out for the nice lady that used to serve us porridge, the friendly literacy teacher and, of course, the excitement of playing on the swings. The seven years at Shimoni stand out in my life because there is hardly anything negative I can recall.

But just like all good things, Shimoni literally came to an end in 2007 and had to leave the city to pave way for a more serious project of a five-star hotel. Ironically, the masterminds behind the schools demolition were the same people who sold us the idea of free education under UPE.

It had served its purpose, so we were told, in spite of UPE statistics pointing to the opposite direction. Need I mention what became of the vast land that facilitated more than 5,000 learners, including the Shimoni Teachers training college?

Currently, Kitikifumba village in Kira municipality plays home to the remains of my UPE Primary school. It is simply a shell with minimal attachment to ethos that made Shimoni a standout in academics and co-curricular activities.

Almost 11 years on, the Shimoni situation has turned into a mockery. One may wonder; whats stirring up this pile of repressed memories? It is obviously the current state of political energy in the country.

Events over the last few weeks in the country have created a new narrative that pits the youth Bazzukulu (youth) against the political establishment to the extent that President Museveni has come out with a series of statements on social media platforms he once dismissed as convergences for lugambo (gossip).

The brutalization of youthful politicians such as Robert Kyagulangi Bobi Wine and Francis Zaake, among others, has created a wave of global criticism never before seen. Many others have lost their lives supposedly from stray bullets.

The major force behind this wave of discontent is the youth, who are armed with nothing but their votes and phones to expose their displeasure. Many youth associate with the emergence of the new People Power because it is part of their life.

On that backdrop, a counter narrative has surfaced. The Bazzukulu are becoming extreme with their [perceived anti-government] stance, ungrateful of the sacrifices from the five-year bush war and misguided by frustrated opposition politicians. It goes on: they are lazy, preoccupied with loose talk and have done little to promote the positives of their country.

First of all, it is an open secret that Uganda has one of the fastest-growing youthful populations in the world. Incidentally, that age bracket is also the most unemployed; so, it is not easy to directly connect them to the bush war.

What many grew up seeing was a relatively stable country full of life with a citizenry that lived in harmony. A policeman was treated with utmost respect. Merit superseded connections. A corruption scandal was big news and impunity was almost unheard of.

Thats the Uganda I experienced first-hand while growing up but that is not the case anymore. Thanks to social media, the Bazzukulu are now very informed about the goings-on in the country and there is little anyone can do to curtail that in this fast-changing digital age. They no longer need elders for guidance on what to think or believe.

So, when the Bazzukulu express displeasure at the deteriorating state of affairs, they are well-informed, yet I find many of our leaders out of touch with reality. As a Muzzukulu, I see a clear disconnect when Bazzukulu are constantly fed on bush war rhetoric.

So, the same way I mourn Shimoni, many other Bazzukulu have their dissatisfactions with the way the country is moving. And this wave can only grow bigger with time.

inamubiru0@gmail.comGongbang is the name of a growing live-streaming trend in South Korea, where people broadcast themselves studying in almost total silence for hours on end to dozens, sometimes hundreds of viewers who love nothing more than to watch them do it.

Ask most popular streamers and theyll tell you that the keys to a successful live-streaming career are providing entertaining and exciting content, and viewer engagement. Thats what makes the Gongbang live-streaming trend, which has been growing in the Asian country over the last decade, so fascinating. Gongbang streamers almost never connect with their audience, and as for providing exciting content, the most excitement they offer is turning a page every once in a while. They simply broadcast themselves studying for many hours at a time, and, for some reason, people love watching them do it.

Photo: Terre ASMR/YouTube screengrab

A couple of months ago, we wrote about Bot-No-Jam, a South Korean streamer who found success on YouTube by broadcasting himself studying for up to 7 hours at a time. Many people attributed his success  342,000 subscribers and millions of views on YouTube  to his good looks, but it turns out that he is just one of many successful Gongbang streamers whose dedication to studying have earned them legions of fans online.

So what makes people tune in and watch an average joe studying for hours on end? Or, better yet, how did Gongbang streamers come up with this idea of broadcasting what most people would consider incredibly boring content? Well, it turns out that some of them did it as a way to prove to their parents that they were studying, instead of wasting their time, while others decided to use it as a self-motivation tool, as one is less likely to become distracted when he/she knows they are being watched.

But we would probably not be writing about Gongbang streams if people didnt watch them. The popularity of these seemingly boring streams is closely tied to South Korean culture. Studying is not a joke in this Asian country, with some students studying for up to 18 hours a day for important exams, like university admission. Some of them just leave Gongbang streams open while they study themselves, as motivation. Every time they get distracted, the dedicated streamer reminds them that they need to get back to work.

While Gongbang streams differ from channel to channel, they all share the same general concept  a streamer who studies diligently for several hours at a time, with a timer showing how much they have been studying for always appearing on screen. Some show their faces, while others choose to only show their hands, and some play music, while other prefer white noise to help viewers concentrate.

In an era where social media, mobile phones and the internet in general provides countless distractions for students, Gongbag streams have become a sort of online support platforms that keep students motivated and focused on their studies, but also prevents them from feeling lonely.

Solo test-takers constantly battle against the feeling of loneliness while studying alone, Gongbang streamer Man Sitting Next to Me told The Korea Herald. By watching Gongbang and engaging in real-time chatting, people can stay motivated and feel a sense of belonging. They can also share their study tips and test information through the comments.

I feel a sense of rivalry when I see streamers sitting down and reading books for a long time. Whenever I feel like giving up on studying, I watch gongbang and recharge my motivation, Yoon Min-young, a 23-year-old college student recently told the Korean newspaper. At the same time, I feel relieved especially when I see those live videos on quiet, lonely nights. They make me feel Im not the only one who stays up all night for studying. Ive never met the Gongbang streamers in person, but they have already become my good study buddies and pacemakers.

Would Gongbang streams ever work in the western world? You would think not, as we dont take studying so seriously as students in South Korea do. We also dont feel the same pressure from or families and peers to get into the best universities and earn a great position in todays competitive job market. However, there are a few western Gongbang channels on YouTube, with Study Vibes being the most popular Ive found.

Over 4,000 South Korean Gongbang videos have been uploaded to YouTube this year alone, and their number continues to grow. That doesnt include the broadcasts on Korean live-streaming platform Afreeca TV.Despite the amazing scientific advances we have made in the last century, there are still many medical cases that cant be fully explained. Vanishing Bones Syndrome sounds like something straight out of an episode of House MD, but doctors at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland encountered a case of this bizarre condition in a 44-year-old woman.

Also known as Gorham-Stout disease, this extremely rare condition causes the sufferer to experience progressive bone loss. The disease is so uncommon that there has only ever been 64 recorded cases in medical literature since it was first described in 1838. In a healthy person, bones are constantly rebuilding themselves to help maintain their strength, and Gorham-Stout disease is believed to be a malfunction of this process; the bone breaks itself down faster than it can repair itself.

Photo: rawpixel/Pixabay

Because the condition is so rare, it can be very difficult to diagnose. In the case of the woman in Edinburgh, she first went to the doctor complaining of pain in her left shoulder. An X-ray was performed, revealing a lesion on her humerus bone. This led doctors to believe that she might have cancer; however, her biopsy results proved to be inconclusive.

Over the next year and a half, her symptoms got progressively worse, but doctors were still stumped and unable to provide a concrete diagnosis. The woman experienced pain and swelling in her arm, and even so much as a minor bump could result in an agonizing fracture.

After 18 long months, doctors were finally able to provide some answers. By carefully looking at her X-rays, doctors noticed that both her humerus and ulnar bone were becoming progressively fainter after each scan. Additional testing confirmed that her bones were literally disappearing; strangely enough, blood vessel growths were replacing her bone tissue.

Photo: BMJ Case Reports

However, the long road to this womans diagnosis wasnt down to incompetence; this rare disease is incredibly difficult for doctors to detect. Our current, limited understanding of the condition is that it can affect any bone in patients of any age or gender. To make matters worse, we still have no idea what causes the disease.

Due to its rarity, there is no standardized treatment for Gorham-Stout disease. Doctors may choose to take a surgical approach by either removing the affected areas of bone or by grafting new bone to help encourage it to repair itself. Other treatment options include radiation therapy or drug prescription.

Despite the terrifying nature of this affliction, there is some good news: Not only is the condition incredibly unlikely to afflict you, but it is also usually benign. The disease is only fatal if it spreads to the vertebra.



Strange conditions such as Gorham-Stout disease highlight just how little we actually understand about the human body and disease. Sure, we can cure previously lethal illness with a single pill, but there is still so much that we dont grasp. IBM estimates that there are over 12,000 different diseases out there, and so far, we have only been able to eliminate one of thosesmallpox. Future generations will likely look back on 21st century medical practices with amusement, just as we do when looking at the techniques and presumptions of the past.

Reese McGillie

Weber Shandwick has made three senior hires to serve client needs across data & analytics, planning and integrated media. Reese McGillie joins as senior VP and head of analytics in the West, based out of Seattle. In San Francisco, Kristin Marlow joins as executive VP, digital innovation lead and co-lead, integrated media, and Liz Keller joins as executive VP and lead of planning and insights. In addition to their regional roles, all three will be part of The X Practice, Weber Shandwicks new tech-focused agency model. McGillie was most recently head of experience analytics at Merkle. She will have oversight of all data & analytics innovation and solutions for clients out of the firms West region. Marlow was most recently the media practice lead at SapientRazorfish. At Weber Shandwick, she will lead digital innovation with oversight of integrated media across San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Los Angeles. Keller was most recently head of strategy for Flipside, a Weber Shandwick company based in London, UK



Holly Spring

ReviveHealth has brought on Holly Spring as senior VP and PR department lead in its new Boston office. Victoria Gavaza is joining the office as VP and Dave Levy is coming aboard as client experience director. Spring joins ReviveHealth from Athenahealth, where she was executive director, PR, social and brand. She has also held executive positions at Nuance Communicatsion and Lewis PR. Gavaza also comes to the firm from Athenahealth, where she served as senior manger, corporate communications. Before that, she spent six years as a manager in Burson-Marstellers tech practice. Levy was previously an account director at Torch Communications. ReviveHealth, a Weber Shandwick subsidiary, also has offices in Nashville, Minneapolis and Santa Barbara.



Danielle Hale Scott

Hawkins International Public Relations has hired Danielle Hale Scott as vice president, and has promoted Catherine Colford and Jamie Goldstein to vice president after five years at the firm. Scott was most recently vice president at Creative Media Marketing, overseeing accounts including Henkel Beauty Hair, Goody, Frederic Fekkai and Live Clean. Goldstein most recently served as an account director at Hawkins, managing many of the firms west coast clients. Colford joined the firm five years ago to lead and develop what has grown into Hawkins Media Intelligence team.The closure of seven Post Offices in Laois/Offaly will have a devastating effect in rural communities according to a Laois TD and future Laois/Offaly election candidate.

Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley said the impact will be dreadful and the government is determined to strip rural Ireland of vital services.

The list of 159 post offices announced to close on Tuesday by An Post will have a dreadful impact on the communities in Laois/Offaly that will be directly affected, and is also yet another blow, among many to rural communities.

Rural Ireland is losing jobs and losing basic services and much of rural Ireland is without basic modern communications with the National Broadband Plan is in a mess. These 159 closures will have a detrimental impact.

Some counties will be particularly hit hard with closures. Laois will face 2 post office closures, Ballybrittas and Ballinakill and Offaly has 5 closures Geashill, Moneygall, Mountlucas, Pullagh and Walsh Island announced today.

Whilst we understand this is a voluntary retirement scheme backed by the Irish Postmasters Union, Government has shown no interest in keeping our post office network alive and viable," Brian said.

The Government and An Post should not be using retirement of Postmasters to close Post Offices by stealth.

Sinn Fein has previously put forward alternatives to revitalise our post office network.

On top of post offices becoming a hub in a community providing government and local services, we can introduce small-scale banking such as used in New Zealand as an example.

But after a series of reports, reform of our post office network has been neglected by successive Governments. Closing post offices may suit short-term ends but at the expense of a long-term vision. This Government is determined to strip rural Ireland of vital services, Deputy Stanley said.William Gorry, originally from Daingean, Co. Offaly, has said he is considering revoking his baptism with the Catholic Church following the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland last weekend.

William is an abuse survivor from the Mount Carmel Industrial School in Moate, Co. Westmeath, run by the Sisters of Mercy, in the 1970s.

William was subjected to physical, sexual and mental abuse by priests, nuns and lay staff at the school having been placed in the institution as a young boy. His brother Thomas was also abused as a child and died in Lourdes in 1983.

William was disappointed with the Pope's visit and said, "it was not a rock concert we [abuse survivors] wanted; it was a meaningful apology and action against the perpetrators of abuse."

"It is my strong conviction that given the role of the Church in this shameful chapter of recent Irish history, it must play a practical role in addressing the hurt, distress and the awful damage it has caused and this was not done through the Papal visit," William remarked to the Offaly Express.

"The visit of Pope Francis opened wounds for survivors, families, friends and their supporters as they had to listen to the toll of distress and hurt of the past," he added.

William was unhappy with the nature of the visit and criticised the Taoiseach for not going far enough in his speech at Dublin Castle, and organisers for not inviting survivors to speak openly or even attend events, especially the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park on Sunday afternoon.

"Pope Francis came to Dublin, met with the President, Taoiseach and many high-profile people in the open, however, he met eight survivors behind closed doors and walls. Where was the openness and transparency here?" William questioned.

"Pope Francis met with Minister for Children Katherine Zappone and she spoke of the mass graves of children in Tuam. This news was met with widespread disgust both in Ireland and abroad. Ms. Zappone asked the Vatican to contribute up to 2.5m as part of reparation for its role in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home," he added.

William questioned the Church on their reaction to such request and also blasted the exclusion of many groups from across the social spectrum.

"Survivors of the different institutions and the LGBT community were not represented equally and their voices were not heard. The Pope met with families and couples, but the LGBT couples and their families were dismissed," William said. This was an issue that profoundly affected William as a gay man in Ireland.

He went on to say, "the Pope spoke of faith, baptism, the Church and forgiveness. I did not hear ab open apology; I did not hear a commitment to zero tolerance to perpetrators or the removal of them from the Church," William fumed.

"He should have said he would support all survivors of abuse by their voices being heard. I have not heard him saying to LGBT community, you are welcome to the house of God and you will be treated equally." William also took issue with comments from the Pope claiming, "there is a lot that can be done through psychiatry" if parents think their children are gay.

As CEO of the Residential Institutional Survivors Network, William says he has "received many calls from survivors over the extent of what last weekend brought upon them; the hurt, upset and recalling of past is horrific and very heart-touching."

"My own personal moment and memory will be a hell of a weekend. The Church now seems to disown me. I just felt we were lost in emotional turmoil and not part of the Papal Visit. It has worsened things for survivors and I am very conscious and concerned for those survivors who are not able to cope with it and may be pushed over the line," William continued.

"I find that I have more difficulties and barriers with the Church that I ever had and that causes added hurt and pain that I should not have to endure. It leads to many questions within me including that of revoking my baptism certificate from the Church."

"That is something very likely now for me, but again, a decision like that may cause more hurt with family and friends," William concluded.Pictured: Dr. Susan DeWoody (left), vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. David W. Whitlock (right), OBU president, congratulate Dr. David Gambo (center) upon his installation. OBU photo by Heather Horner.

Gambo Installed as Hughes Chair of Christian Ministry August 29, 2018

Dr. David Gambo, assistant professor of Christian ministry, was installed as the second recipient of the Reverend A.E. and Dora Hughes Chair of Christian Ministry during Oklahoma Baptist Universitys Convocation held Wednesday, Aug. 29. The event took place in Raley Chapels Potter Auditorium on the OBU campus in Shawnee .

Gambo joined the Herschel H. Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry this semester. He earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of Jos in Nigeria. He later earned both a Master of Divinity in preaching and biblical languages as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in preaching and pastoral ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He has spent several years serving in Nigeria as both an instructor and minister. Before coming to Bison Hill, he served as associate pastor at the First African Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas; as the church planting resident at Omni Fellowship in Cedar Hill, Texas; and as an adjunct professor of homiletics at Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written two books, both focusing on Christian discipleship .

At OBU, endowed chairs and professorships are awarded to select professors who are outstanding teachers and who have demonstrated exceptional ability in their academic disciplines. The gift which provides an endowed academic position is invested in the University's permanent endowment fund, and the annual earnings are used to assist with compensation.

OBU alumna Alta Faye Hughes Van Sickle provided an endowment gift in honor of her parents, the Reverend A.E. and Dora Johnson Hughes, to support an endowed chair in Christian ministry. Born in Tillman County, Oklahoma, in 1897, Alter Eli Hughes was a Southern Baptist pastor and missions leader in Oklahoma and Texas. He attended Decatur Baptist College (now Dallas Baptist University) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1917, he married Dora Johnson in Elbert, Texas. After his death in 1958, Mrs. Hughes returned to Oklahoma and was a longtime member of First Baptist Church of Frederick .

Van Sickle attended OBU as a member of the Class of 1947 and also attended the University of Hawaii. She fulfilled her goal of becoming a licensed private pilot and was employed by General Dynamics as an aircraft design engineer for 20 years. She was married to Colonel Charles T. Moreland until his death in 1980. In 1987, she married Major General Neil Van Sickle. She died in Kalispell, Montana, Jan. 13, 2010, at the age of 85.

Dr. Heath Thomas, dean of the College of Theology and Ministry, is thrilled to welcome Gambo to the faculty of the Hobbs College.7th Pay Commission: Good news for these employees, CG employees still in limbo

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: The August 15 address was a major disappointment for Central Government employees awaiting good news regarding the 7th Pay Commission.

However these employees have some reason to cheer after they threatened to go on strike. A section of the teachers who were planning to go on strike over the various demands relating to the 7th Pay Commission have been assured that their grievances would be looked into.

7th Pay Commission latest news today: This big announcement coming in January 2019

Bihar's deputy chief minister, Sushil Modi had assured both the teaching and non-teaching staff would get the revised pay as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. He also said that the state government had constituted a 3 member pay committee to look into the matter.

It may be recalled that HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar also said that the ministry's budget was increased to Rs 1.10 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 63,000 crore in 2013-14, an increase of 70 per cent. The minister assured that money would be no bar if Patna University submits a proposal for its overall development.

7th Pay Commission jobs: Check vacancies pay scale and how to apply

Meanwhile there is still no concrete news on the 7th Pay Commission relating to the Central Government employees. There were talks that were held after Arun Jaitley returned as the Finance Minister, but they remained inconclusive. Sources say that unless the financial implications are not gauged, no decision can be taken. The government is trying its best to make some announcement regarding the 7th Pay Commission by January.7th Pay Commission latest news today: Good news, DA hiked by another 2 pc for CG employees

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: There is some good news on the 7th Pay Commission. The Union Cabinet has approved an additional 2 per cent hike in dearness allowances for Central Government employees.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting that was held on Wednesday. The government says that the hike in DA would be effective from July 1 2018.

7th Pay Commission: Good news for these employees, CG employees still in limbo

Meanwhile, a section of the teachers who were planning to go on strike over the various demands relating to the 7th Pay Commission have been assured that their grievances would be looked into.

Bihar's deputy chief minister, Sushil Modi had assured both the teaching and non-teaching staff would get the revised pay as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. He also said that the state government had constituted a 3 member pay committee to look into the matter.

It may be recalled that HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar also said that the ministry's budget was increased to Rs 1.10 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 63,000 crore in 2013-14, an increase of 70 per cent. The minister assured that money would be no bar if Patna University submits a proposal for its overall development.

7th Pay Commission latest news today: This big announcement coming in January 2019

Meanwhile there is still no concrete news on the 7th Pay Commission relating to the Central Government employees. There were talks that were held after Arun Jaitley returned as the Finance Minister, but they remained inconclusive. Sources say that unless the financial implications are not gauged, no decision can be taken. The government is trying its best to make some announcement regarding the 7th Pay Commission by January.ABVP to take on urban naxals across the country in a big way

India

oi-Vinod

By Vinod

To tap the young minds of the country, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - has chalked out a plan to reach out to them as much as possible through the university, colleges, engineering and many other institution campuses including private universities.

Actually the ABVP is planning to take up issues of the national importance with youths which is the strength of the country. The first issue that the organization is planning to take up is the issue of nationalism in which slew of other matters will be dealt with. ABVP joint organising secretary Srinivas said that nationalism will include not only what the ABVP thinks about it but how urban naxalism, NOTA and negative politics is harming the national interest. All these issues are part of the negative politics and they will be told the students. Srinivas said that the ABVP had taken up the issue of urban naxals in 1990 and ever since the organisation was trying to tell people about its danger.

Seeds sown in 2000, urban naxalism is a fact: This Govindan Kutty document tells us the real story

The ABVP is not only concerned but sensitive about issues concerning women but not pseudo feminist as the organisation has always been accused of alienating women. The ABVP wants girls to join its programme under 'Mission Sahsi' which it is organising from the very long time. All these issues will be to take out negative image from the minds of girl students. Swayamsidhdha is another activities that will be taken forward. Around 10,000 girls will participate in the programme in October. Around one lakh girl students will participate in Mission Sahsi on October 30.

Srinivas said that the third and important issue was that students would be given social internship to connect with the society. By this initiative students will be made to understand pulse of the society. Students will visit localities and surveys will be conducted. The ABVP will take on all urban naxal organisations that are spread everywhere including university and college campuses.

The ABVP will also work in the social media as social media is playing very crucial role in the social awakening. Besides that the issue of National Register for Citizenship (NRC) will also be taken up with young minds as it is not a matter of Hindu and Muslim, it is also not a matter of Assamia or Bangla but a clear issue of Indian and foreigners. Five lakh dedicated workers of the ABVP will be involved in all these exercise. Moreover, the ABVP deputed 30 people for 45 central universities. The issue of SC/ST reservation in Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia Islamia will be taken up by the ABVP, however, the organisation is spreading its presence in these universities.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 18:16 [IST]Bhima Koregaon probe: Place all activists under house arrest for now says SC

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: The Supreme Court while refusing to stay the arrests of the five activists arrested on charges of being sympathetic towards naxals has issued notices to the government of Maharashtra.

The court however said that all the persons would be under house arrest for now. This is an interim order and all contentions would be kept alive, the court also said,

The court said that the notices would be returnable by Tuesday. Hearing on the matter would resume on Thursday next. During the hearing, the court said that dissent is the safety value of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the safety valve will burst.

Raids on naxal sympathisers: Who are the five persons to be arrested

The petition was moved by five eminent persons questioning the action by the Pune police, which carried out raids across the nation on Tuesday. During the course of the hearing, the Centre told the court that this petition is not maintainable and has been filed by strangers. The petitioners however contended that the arrests were conducted randomly and hence are illegal and arbitrary in nature.

The petition was mentioned before the Bench by Abhishek Manu Singvi. The petition moved by Romila Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Maya Daruwala and Satish Deshpande have sought an independent probe into the arrests made by the police.

They further said that the arrest and slapping roof the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an attempt to muzzle the voice of dissent. They sought the immediate stay of the arrests and release of the five persons. Further they have asked the SC to seek an explanation from the Maharashtra government. The petitioners also urged the SC to scrutinise and investigate the charges slapped against the five persons.

Following a nation wide raid, the Pune police arrested five alleged naxal sympathisers from different parts of the country. The five arrested include Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and Gautam Navlakha.

Pune's joint commissioner of police, Shivaji Bodkhe said that the five persons were arrested on the basis of incriminating evidence. The fresh arrests were made following the investigation and evidence collected post the other five arrests that were made on June 6, he also said. He further said that the police are probing the organising and funding of the Elgar Parishad during which provocative speeches were made, following which violence broke out. This had contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence.Bhima Koregaon Raids: Arrests of Maoist sympathisers is government terror, says Mayawati

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Lucknow, Aug 29: Outraged over nation wide raids by Maharashtra police on homes of several prominent activists and subsequent arrests, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday slammed Narendra Modi government in the Centre.

"This is government-sponsored terror and height of misuse of government agencies," the Bahujan Samaj Party chief said.

The violence that followed the Bhima-Koregaon celebration was a conspiracy to instil fear among Dalits and supporters of Dalit activists. "Bhima-Koregaon celebration exhibits Dalit pride," she said.

Also Read | Raids on naxal sympathisers: Details of the 5 arrested persons

She alleged that the government is trying to create a sense of fear in the minds of people. The government was trying to intimidate poets, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates, professors and intellectuals. The BSP chief even termed the arrests as a tactic to divert attention from the failures of the government

"Instead of following the legal procedure against people who were named in the FIR regarding the Bheema-Koregaon violence, the NDA government was victimizing Dalit leaders whose lives were open books," she said.

Also Read | Urban naxals provide the pipeline for arms, money to reach jungles: Ex- Spl Secy, R&AW

The Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.Lalu returns to Patna and minutes later son storms out of mothers home

Bihar By-polls: Lalu Yadav to campaign for RJD candidates on Wednesday to ensure 'visarjan' of Nitish Kumar

He can get me shot, cant do anything else: Nitish on Lalus visarjan claim

Bhima Koregaon Raids: Country heading towards dictatorship, says Lalu Prasad

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Patna, Aug 29: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said the country was heading towards dictatorship. He was reacting to the arrest of five human rights activists and alleged Maoist sympathisers, including Left ideologue Varavara Rao, in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima riots in Maharashtra.

The raids took place at 10 places in Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Haryana.

Bhima Koregaon probe: Place all activists under house arrest for now says SC

"The arrest of five intellectuals and activists on the charge of hatching a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not good...the country is heading towards dictatorship," Prasad said at the Patna airport before leaving for Ranchi to appear before the Jharkhand High Court, which had given him provisional bail for medical treatment.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress and the CPM, have lashed out at the government over the arrest of activists and raids by police at their residences across five states.

Raids on naxal sympathisers: Details of the 5 arrested persons

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave interim relief to the activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, saying they can be kept only under house arrest till the next hearing of the case.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 17:38 [IST]Mamata to join hands with BJP again in case of hung assembly in Bengal: Sitaram Yechury

Yechury raises suspicion over EC decision to put on hold poll to RS seats in Kerala

Decision to bring in new faces in LDF cabinet taken in CPI(M)'s long term interest: Sitaram Yechury

This is daylight highway robbery of national assets, Sitaram Yechury on Air India returning to Tatas

Bhima Koregaon Raids: Left to lead protest at Jantar Mantar tomorrow

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

New Delhi, Aug 29: General secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury has announced that the Left parties will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, against the "unethical crackdown" on the five activists.

"There will be a protest at Jantar Mantar tomorrow by the Left and all progressive groups against the unethical crackdown," Yechury told news agency ANI.

The CPI(M) politburo on Tuesday protested against the country-wide raids and subsequent arrests of left-wing activists, suspected to have Maoist links, calling it a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties.

NHRC issues notice to Maharashtra govt, DGP over arrest of 5 activists

The CPI(M) demanded the withdrawal of the cases against the activists and their immediate release.

"The polit bureau of CPI(M) strongly protests the raids conducted by police authorities on the homes of various civil rights and human rights activists and Left intellectuals," a statement said.

Maharashtra Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

Raids on naxal sympathisers: Details of the 5 arrested persons

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year, which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 15:56 [IST]BJP at the moment losing in 3 election bound states, but situation not beyond recovery

India

oi-Vinod

By Vinod

New Delhi, Aug 29: Will the Gujarat model come to the rescue of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) once again but this time in the Assembly elections in three important states of the country that may happen in November-December, 2018. Actually national agencies have given their report saying that the BJP is loosing all the three states - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan - where it is in the government at the moment.

Sources said that national agencies monitoring these states have reached to the conclusion in their reports that people in these states are not happy with the BJP and now want to replace it with anyone. But it is also said in the report that they are not happy with the Congress either but there is no other alternative anywhere except former chief minister Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh. But he is too is the leader of a particular pocket not of the entire state. So he too is ruled out.

BJP ready to face polls in Telangana anytime: Laxman

The most interesting observation has been in the report that the matter could be salvaged if the issue is handled properly as it was done in the case of Gujarat elections last year.

Sources said that the situation in Gujarat was more or less the same and people wanted to replace the BJP as they were not happy with the state leadership of Gujarat after Prime Minister took over reigns in Delhi. However, efforts made by the Prime Minister and man-to-man marking strategy of BJP president Amit Shah did the trick and the BJP has been able to clinch the victory in Gujarat polls albeit with a slender margin.

The BJP is in the government in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the three consecutive terms after Congress chief minister Digvijay Singh was ousted by Uma Bharati in Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh too ousted the Congress government in the state. So the BJP may plan to devise some strategy in the similar manner with the party having advantage of facing divided leadership in these states.

Next Lok Sabha elections to be contested under Modi; party announces its decisions

Apparently the Congress is not united in Madhya Pradesh with several big leaders like state Congress president Kamal Nath, election in-charge Jyotiraditya Sciendhia, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and the family of former Union HRD minister Arjun Singh. Similarly the spate between the workers of Sachin Pilot and former chief minister Ashok Gehlote was also detrimental to the Rajasthan BJP which is visible quite often ultimately damaging the Congress and helping the BJP to regain. As far as Chhattisgarh is concerned, the Congress does not have any leader to pose threat to Raman Singh and even Ajit Jogi is helping the BJP indirectly.

Despite the Congress having favorable situation like this, its leadership has failed to capitalize on it so far. The Congress has to utilize the resentment and anger of people against the BJP government in these states. One thing is also clear if the BJP aggressively campaigns in these states, there is a possibility of a big section returning to the BJP fold, as the sources added.There is only place for one NGO in India- RSS: Rahul

On Tuesday, Gandhi took a dig at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and questioned the arrest of five activists by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case.

"There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon," the Gandhi scion tweeted.

This is not the India that Gandhiji fought to free, says Tharoor

Condemning the police raids on prominent Left-wing activists in several states, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wedesday said that freedom of thought, belief and expression are fundamental rights must be protected in any democracy.

Taking to twitter Tharoor wrote: " I have no sympathy whatsoever for Maoism but freedom of thought, belief and expression are fundamental rights in any democracy. To arrest activists who have neither committed nor facilitated violence is to betray our democracy."

"This is not the India that Gandhiji fought to free," he added.

Chidambaram condemns Bhima Koregaon raids

Taking to twitter, Senior Congress leader Chidambaram wrote: "I will strongly disagree with those who hold extreme left or extreme right views, but I will defend his right to hold that view. That is the essence of freedom."

"Anyone holding extreme views is punishable only if he indulges in violence or incites violence or aids and abets violence in support of his ideology," he added.

"I condemn the arrests of human rights activists,"he further said.

They would have arrested Gandhi: Ramachandra Guha

Meanwhile, Author and historian Ramachandra Guha has lashed out at the government over the arrest of several activists across the country.

"As a biographer of Gandhi, I have no doubt that if the Mahatma was alive today, he would don his lawyer's robes and defend Sudha Bharadwaj in court; that is assuming the Modi Sarkar hadn't yet detained and arrested him too," said Guha in a tweet.

Multiple arrests in Bhima-Koregaon case

Maharashtra police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Faridabad and other places and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively and Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi.

The violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.Three more Rafale jets to land in India from France in non-stop flight

Congress trains gun on govt over the offset clause in Rafale deal

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Aug 29: The Congress on Wednesday (August 29) lashed out at the government over the offset clause in the Rafale deal. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier said that the offset clause in the deal to buy fighter jets from French manufacturer only mandates them to partner with an Indian firm.

Jaitley had said that the clause does not dictate who the manufacturer should colloborate with for offset purpose.

Reacting to this, Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said details as to how the offset would discharged must be the part of the clause.

"For him to say offset is not part of contract is wrong. Defence procurement policy is very clear. Vendor has to notify how offset liability will be discharged. DPP says it has to be defence PSU with experience in the sector, so only HAL had that," Sharma told news agency ANI.

[Jaitley likens Rahul's allegation on Rafale deal to a 'kindergarten debate']

Jaitley had, in an interview to ANI, slammed the Congress for levelling 'false' allegations against the Centre over the Rafale deal. He said every fact quoted by the Congress while speaking on Rafale deal issue was false, adding that Rahul Gandhi had little understanding of the issue.

Jaitley made it clear that governments only deal with governments and the offset has nothing to do with the contract.

[Jaitley poses 15 questions to 'expose Congress party's falsehood' on Rafale deal]

"Let's be clear, this is a government to government arrangement. Offset has nothing to do with this contract. There are 100s of offsets in India. Government will purchase 36 fully-loaded aircrafts coming all the way from France, manufactured in France, no private party involved. Government of India's role ends there," he said in the interview.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 16:31 [IST]How do naxals procure sophisticated weapons: It was the LTTE which aided them

Abducted CoBRA jawan Rakeshwar Singh Manhas released by Naxals after six days of captivity

AK-47s stolen from COD Jabalpur supplied to naxals, criminals says NIA in chargesheet

Naxals from Telangana were in the process of making grenade launchers, IEDs: NIA

Delhi HC puts hearing on Gautam Navlakha case on hold in light of SC order

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

New Delhi, Aug 29: In the light of the Supreme Court order staying the transit remand for Gautam Navlakha and others, the Delhi High Court said that it was not appropriate to proceed forward with the order.

While hearing the plea, the Delhi High Court questioned Maharashtra Police's counsel why the arrest memo of Gautam Navlakha was in Marathi.

Justice Muralidhar J, said, "This is a very practical aspect of the matter. If the grounds of arrest are in Marathi, how will the person understand the reasons for his arrest."

Also, the court questioned the credibility of the witnesses to Gautam Navlakha arrest.

"A witness should either be family members or respectable members of the locality.. it can't be someone who accompanies the police, said the court.

Urban naxals provide the pipeline for arms, money to reach jungles: Ex- Spl Secy, R&AW

However, ASG Aman Lekhi, counsel for Maharashtra Police, said, "All efforts were made to let Gautam Navlakha understand the reason behind his arrest."

"Every minute that a person spends in custody is a matter of concern", said the court.

The Maharashtra Police submitted that translated documents of the case were not ready. The court had asked the counsel for police to file the documents till 12 noon today.

Gautam Navlakha was arrested on Tuesday for alleged unlawful activities.

The court had directed that Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till it hears the matter as specific allegations against him were unclear as the documents were in Marathi.

Raids on urban naxals: The two incriminating letters that talk about a big hit and guiding Maoists

Meanwhile, heavy security was deployed outside activist Navlakha's residence following the Delhi High Court order. The Nehru Enclave residence of the activist has been heavily barricaded with no outsider being allowed inside the premises.

Navlakha is engaged in the longstanding activism by the People's Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi as a veteran activist. He is also an editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW).

(With PTI inputs)DMK did nothing to resolve Cauvery issue: TN CM Palaniswami

India

pti-PTI

Chennai, Aug 29: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today lashed out at opposition DMK over the Cauvery issue, saying it had done nothing on the matter despite being part of various central governments for 14 years. He also said if the DMK wanted, the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) could have been constituted in 2007.

"In the past, the DMK was at the Centre for 14 years. What schemes did they bring? They could not even solve the Cauvery issue. They were at the Centre and in power state in 2007 when the final award of the Cauvery Disputes Tribunal was given," he said.

"If it (DMK) had wanted, the CMB could have been constituted in 2007 itself following the final award of the tribunal," he told reporters here in Cuddalore district. Palaniswami, also the Joint Coordinator of the ruling AIADMK, DMK's arch rival, said late chief minister J Jayalalithaa later moved the Supreme Court over the matter.

The Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government had earlier moved the court to secure a favourable verdict to direct the Centre to publish the final award of the Tribunal in a Central gazette in 2013. Palaniswami said the rights of Tamil Nadu farmers' on Cauvery was assured only following Jayalalithaa's efforts. "DMK did not make the tiniest of efforts to resolve the Cauvery issue. If the CMB and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee had been constituted then itself (in 2007), we would have got our due share of water then," Palaniswami said.

"They (DMK) did not approach the issue properly and were keen on holding on to power at the Centre. They were not concerned about the people of Tamil Nadu and did not take any efforts. "So, we had to move the court and Amma (Jayalalithaa) ensured farmers' rights," he added. To a question on criticism that his government was supporting the Centre on many issues, the chief minister said, "We will oppose that which has to be opposed". "We don't support everything," Palaniswami said without elaborating.

PTIEC, Centre at loggerheads over decriminalisation of politics

India

oi-Madhuri

New Delhi, Aug 29: The Election Commission and the Centre were at loggerheads in the Supreme Court on the aspect of judicial intervention to ensure decriminalisation of politics.

While the poll panel exhorted a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra to issue directions on issues such as disqualification of lawmakers even before conviction, the Centre, through attorney general KK Venugopal, asked the court to keep off.

The top court is dealing with the question whether a legislator facing criminal trial can be disqualified at the stage framing of charges in a case. Presently, lawmakers are barred at the time of conviction.

Constitutional amendment a must for 'One Nation, One Poll', law panel to tell govt

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the poll panel, referred to the reports of the Election Commission and the Law Commission on decriminalisation of politics and said these were out way back in 1998 and 1999 respectively, but no action was taken by the government.

"It is very clear that political parties are fielding candidates with criminal antecedents and the court should pass directions," the lawyer said, adding, "if Parliament is stonewalling this, then the court has to step in".

The poll panel, in its report, had referred to section 8 of the Representation of the People Act and said it dealt with disqualification of lawmakers on conviction for certain offences.

"The Election Commission proposed in its set of proposals of 1998 and 2004 that Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act should be amended to disqualify those persons from contesting election who are accused of an offence punishable by an imprisonment of 5 years or more even when trial is pending, given that the Court has framed charges against the person," the report of the poll panel had said.

It had said some safety measures may be devised to prevent misuse of the provision by the ruling party and suggested "a compromise where only cases led prior to six months before an election would lead to disqualification of a candidate."

The Law Commission, in its report, had suggested various measures including expeditious trials involving a sitting MP and MLA on a day-to-day basis with an outer limit of completing it within one year.

70 percent parties want to go back to ballot paper voting: Congress

Arora exhorted the court to issue direction in the matter besides asking Parliament to make the suitable law.

"We cannot comment on Parliament," the bench said while reserving the verdict on the PILs filed by NGO 'Public Interest Foundation' and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay.

On the other hand, Venugopal opposed the observation of the bench that the poll panel can be asked to direct political parties to ensure that tainted persons do not contest elections on their ticket and symbols.

He said the judiciary should not venture into the legislative arena by creating a pre-condition which would adversely affect the right to contest of the candidates.

"The intention of the Lordships is laudable. But the question is whether the court can do it. The answer is 'no'," the top law officer said.

He was responding to the suggestion of the bench that the persons, facing criminal charges, would be free to contest, but they cannot do so on party ticket using party's election symbol.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 5:49 [IST]Bhima-Koregaon: NIA seeks transfer of all case records from Pune to Mumbai

NBWs issued against Khalistani terrorist for dropping arms in Punjab via drones

Two from Bengal get six years in jail for peddling fake currency

Four NDFB terrorists convicted in Assam firing case

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: A Special NIA court has convicted four NDFB terrorists. The sentencing would take place on September 7.

The charge against the four persons was that they had fired indiscriminately upon the villagers of Santipur village, in Assam. 6 had died on the spot while 2 others had sustained injuries.

Waging war against state: Deputy superintendent of police arrested in Kashmir

The four persons to be convicted at Saju Bordoloi, Vishnu, Ahoy Basumutary, and Nitul Daimary. All of them belong to the proscribed organisation National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).'Healthcare must be affordable', says Modi in his address to party workers in Varanasi

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Aug 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed the Karyakartas (party workers) of Varanasi over the NaMo app. The Prime Minister, while asserting on the importance of preventive healthcare, said that it must also be affordable.

"Our focus is on preventive healthcare. This helps the poor and middle-class people the most. Along with this, healthcare must also be affordable," PM Modi said while speaking to BJP Karyakartas in Varanasi.

Prime Minister Modi has been holding meetings with the BJP workers in Varanasi since Monday via video-conferencing. As per reports, the Prime Minister wants to take stock of the ground realities in Varanasi which is his Lok Sabha constituency.

['Mann Ki Baat': 'India stands shoulder to shoulder with people of Kerala']

In 2014, Modi won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, defeating Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal by a thumping margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

The meetings held on Monday and Tuesday were closed-door affairs, said reports.

[PM Modi upset over no response to his 'Namaste' on NaMo app]

PM Modi uses various unconventional channels of communication to deliver his message to the party workers as well as the masses. The Prime Minister extensively uses the NaMo app, which has over 50 lakh downloads, to convey his message

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 10:35 [IST]TS EAMCET Result 2021 to be declared today: How to check

Jyotiraditya Scindia, KTR launch first-of-its-kind 'Medicine from the Sky' project in Telangana

Rains lash several parts of T'gana, IMD issues red alert to 14 districts; Schools, colleges to remain closed

IAF chopper makes emergency landing in Telangana

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Hyderabad, Aug 29: Indian Air Force (IAF)'s Chetak helicopter made an emergency landing in Telengana's Siddipet area on Wednesday following a technical snag.

The chopper had taken off from Hakimpet base of Hyderabad for a routine training exercise, said reports.

In July, an Air Commodore was killed after a Jaguar fighter jet crashed in Gujarat. Air commodore Sanjai Chauhan's aircraft had taken off from Jamnagar air-base for a routine training mission. The IAF had ordered a court of inquiry in that incident.

[Himachal Pradesh: IAF's MiG-21 jet crashes in Kangra, pilot killed]

Again in July this year, Indian Air Force's MiG-21 fighter jet had crashed in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.

[Assam: Two IAF pilots killed in Microlight aircraft crash]

In March, an Indian Army helicopter made a crash landing in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu due to a technical glitch. HAL Rudra-I fighter helicopter was flying from Bengaluru to Chennai when it made an emergency landing in Kulidigai village near Madhanur.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 14:53 [IST]Balkanisation of India: Lt. Gen would look to further bolster Operation Tupac in Kashmir

Terrorist who was going to kill shopkeeper in J&K gunned down

J&K: Terrorists attack a police party in Shopian, four cops martyred

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Srinagar, Aug 29: In a major attack on a police party by the terrorists, four cops were killed on Wednesday in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian region, said reports. The attack took place in Shopian's Arahama area. As per reports, three AK-47s of the martyred policemen were also taken away by the terrorists.

While two policemen died on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries in a hospital. The incident happened near Arahama fruit mandi in the district.

Earlier today, security forces killed two terrorists belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district. Altaf Kachru, one of the oldest Hizbul Mujahideen militants operating in the Kashmir Valley was killed in the operation. He was involved in many cases including killing of policemen. The second one has been identified as Umar Rashid Wani.

[J&K: 2 Hizbul terrorists killed in Anantnag encounter, internet services suspended]

The terrorists on Tuesday (August 28) shot at a civilian in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

[J&K: Four terrorists arrested after gunfight with security forces in Kupwara]

On August 26, four terrorists were arrested after a brief gunfight with security forces in Kupwara district's Handwara in Jammu and Kashmir. Arms and ammunition were also seized from the arrested terrorists.Jaitley likens Rahul's allegation on Rafale deal to a 'kindergarten debate'

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Aug 29: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley downplayed the Congress's allegation on Rafale deal and said Rahul Gandhi's has little understanding of the issue. Jaitley said that every fact quoted by the Congress while speaking on Rafale deal issue was false.

In an interview to news agency ANI, the Finance Minister, who was is a former defence minister, said 'Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the 2007 Rafale offer'.

"This (allegations on Rafale deal) is like a kindergarten or primary school debate, "Well, I was paying 500 something and you've paid 1600 something". That's the argument being given, it shows how little understanding (Rahul Gandhi) he has," he said.

[What is the Rafale deal? An explainer and the controversy around it]

Jaitley asked if it is possible compare a basic aircraft's pricing with that of a loaded aircraft.

"What was negotiated from 2015 to 2016 and finally executed in 2016, with the escalations and the currency variations, the basic aircraft price turns out to be 9% cheaper. Is the Congress party aware of this?" he added.

[Rafale deal: Now, Rahul alleges Modi govt gave billion benefits to Reliance Defence]

The minister further refused to compare Rafale with Bofors deal, saying that in case of Rafale there is no third party involved like was the case in Bofors deal.

"Quantum in defence is always large. Therefore, quantum doesn't mean anything. Please produce a shred of evidence that Government of India has anything to do with any of the offset suppliers for any contract, whether under UPA or NDA," he told ANI.

He lashed out at the Congress for compromising with the national security by levelling impertinent allegations.

"Any responsible politician will know that government to government transactions are always clean. Governments don't pay kickbacks. It's a transaction between Government of India and Government of France, publically made and publically declared terms that we will give you an offer better than 2007 and then enter into," he said.Karnataka govt will collapse in next 15 days: Sadananada Gowda

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Mangalore, Aug 29: Union Minister, D V Sadananda Gowda said that the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka would collapse in the next 15 days. Speaking to reporters he said that former chief minister, Siddaramaiah had decided to pull down the government and it is just a matter of time before the coalition collapses.

Gowda however added that even if Siddaramaiah pulls down the government, he could never become the CM as the BJP would never back him.

Karnataka: Rumblings in coalition are more about who gets the better pie in 2019

On the heavy rain and landslides in some districts, he said the government must immediately compensate those who had suffered as a result of the natural disaster.

Will Karnataka have a new CM in September?

"When I was the Chief Minister we had provided compensation to the areca growers affected by the fruit rot disease," he recalled, assuring that the Centre was ready to help if the state government wanted it to.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 6:19 [IST]Rahul Gandhi meets party leaders from Gujarat, asks them to be prepared for assembly polls

Rahul has lunch at roadside eatery in Goa, rides pillion on two-wheeler taxi for few kms

Modi govt following 'Nagpur ideology': Rahul sharpens attack on BJP-Sangh

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Kochi, Aug 29: Congress president Rahul Gandhi continued his attack against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and said that the Modi government was following a 'centralised vision' that respects only one ideology which is based in Nagpur.

Addressing the media persons in Kochi, Rahul Gandhi said India is witnessing a fight between 'centralised' and 'decentralised' visions.

"There are two different visions of India, one is a centralised vision and other is decentralised vision. One respects only one ideology, based out of Nagpur and other respects all different ideas, cultures, different people in this country. That fight is on," Rahul Gandhi said.

Kerala Floods: Rahul visits relief camps, felicitates fishermen

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged the central government to release more relief fund for Kerala and help re-build the state.

"I have visited a large number of camps yesterday, people are worried. I spoke to Kerela CM too. It is important that the govt gives a sense to the people that it is going to help re-build the houses. Compensation promised should be delivered quickly," Rahul Said.

"The extent of support that the central govt has given should be more. This is owed to the people of Kerala. It is their right. I am sad that central govt has not given as much aid as they should," he added.

"I have come here as a support and not to politicize the situation. I will not comment on the nature of this crisis," he said on being asked if Kerela floods is a man-made crisis.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day visit of flood-hit Kerala. He reached the flood-ravaged state on Tuesday morning and will take stock of the situation in the Wayanad district on Wednesday.

He promised people living in the camp that Congress leaders would put pressure on the government for compensation.With terror, naxal cases on the rise, NIA sets up branch at Ranchi

Ten-year-old tiger dies in Ranchi zoo after fever, samples sent for testing after Covid ruled out

Fodder scam: Lalu set to surrender after court refuses to extend bail

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Patna, Aug 29: RJD president and fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad on Wednesday left from Patna to Ranchi after being treated at a hospital for three weeks, and would surrender before the CBI court at Ranchi as per the Jharkhand High Court order.

The high court had on August 24 refused to extend the provisional bail of the former Bihar chief minister and asked him to surrender by August 30 before the CBI court.

The court had on August 10 extended the provisional bail till August 20 on medical grounds and again on August 17 extended it till August 27. It had on May 11 granted six weeks provisional bail to Prasad on medical grounds and again extended it till August 14.

The cases relate to illegal withdrawal of money from government treasuries in different districts for the animal husbandry department in undivided Bihar in the 1990s when the Rashtriya Janata Dal was in power in the state.

On September 30, 2013, he was convicted in the first fodder scam case related to the Chaibasa Treasury.

The former Bihar chief minister was again convicted in another case related to the Chaibasa Treasury on January 24, 2018. On February 23 and March 19, he was convicted in cases related to the Deoghar Treasury and the Dumka Treasury respectively.'Act against those foisting false cases': Opposition leaders write to President after Stan Swamy's death

MeTooUrbanNaxal: Twitterati protest arrests of activists

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

New Delhi, Aug 29: As civil society at large expresses widespread condemnation at the arrests of intellectuals the #MeTooUrbanNaxal is currently trending on Twitter.

The term was first coined by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who has written a book with the name- Urban Naxals: The making of Budha in a traffic jam.

Vivek Agnihotri on Tuesday tweeted, "I want some bright young people to make a list of all those who are defending #UrbanNaxals Let's see where it leads."

Also Read | Bhima Koregaon probe: Place all activists under house arrest for now says SC

In response to his tweet, which many users accused of being a "hitlist", many users responded to Agnihotri with #MeTooUrbanNaxal. Not surprisingly, Agnihotri picked up spats with several such handles.

I want some bright young people to make a list of all those who are defending #UrbanNaxals Lets see where it leads. If you want to volunteer with commitment, pl DM me. @squintneon would you like to take the lead?  Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 28, 2018

#MeTooUrbanNaxal trending at number 1 on Twitter now. pic.twitter.com/pVg74OVmNQ  Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) August 29, 2018

#UrbanNaxal is the new Anti-National



The word "Anti-national" became a big joke and lost its actual meaning after ministers & trolls started using it for anyone and everyone mindlessly.



Same thing is happening with Urban Naxal. That's why #MeTooUrbanNaxal  Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) August 29, 2018

On Tuesday, the Pune Police carried out raids in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi, and Thane, with informed sources telling ANI that Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were the five activists arrested in connection with the violence which broke out in January.

The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted across Maharashtra while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.How do naxals procure sophisticated weapons: It was the LTTE which aided them

Naxals from Telangana were in the process of making grenade launchers, IEDs: NIA

NHRC issues notice to Maharashtra govt, DGP over arrest of 5 activists

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

New Delhi, Aug 29: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu the cognizance of media reports about the arrest of five activists by the police from different cities on Tuesday in connection with the investigations in the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

The NHRC has observed that it appears, the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to the violation of their human rights.

Raids on urban naxals: The two incriminating letters that talk about a big hit and guiding Maoists

The commission issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the state's police chief, saying standard operating procedure was not properly followed in the arrests of five activists.

The Maharashtra chief secretary and the director general of police have been asked to submit a 'factual report' in the matter within four weeks.

Seeds sown in 2000, urban naxalism is a fact: This Govindan Kutty document tells us the real story

Pune Police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them - poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.Operation All Out: Forces take down Category A++ terrorist Altaf Kachroo

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Aug 29: The security forces achieved major success, when they gunned down two terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir today. Both the terrorists to be gunned down were from the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Waging war against state: Deputy superintendent of police arrested in Kashmir

One of the terrorists who was gunned down was a close associate of Burhan Wani. The terrorist has been identified as Altaf Dar alias Altaf Kachroo. He was a district commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Kulgam. He was recruited in 2006 and was a resident of Hawara in Kulgam. He was classified as a Category A++ terrorist.

The killing of Dar alias Kachroo is an important one. He was extremely dangerous and was leading the Hizbul Mujahideen. He had managed to recruit several youth into the outfit. In fact following the death of Wani, he was seen as a successor to him.

J&K: Civilian shot at by terrorists in Pulwama

Sources tell OneIndia that they have been on the look out for this person for nearly two years now. It was important to take him down as he had enforced a lot of recruitments into the Hizbul over the past two years.Pune police operation to arrest Varavara Rao 'illegal', alleges family

India

oi-PTI

Hyderabad, Aug 29: The arrest of Left-leaning poet and writer Varavara Rao and searches in his two daughters residences were "illegal", claimed a family member. N Venugopal alleged that the Pune Police did not produce arrest and search warrants against his maternal uncle Rao.

The activist was arrested from his residence here yesterday by a Pune police team for his alleged links with Maoists.

The team conducted searches at the residences of Rao's two daughters and a journalist before arresting him.

[Also Read: Raids on urban naxals: The two incriminating letters that talk about a big hit and guiding Maoists]

"At the end of the whole operation, they (Pune police) gave a 'panchnama' but that's most untenable and illegal document," Venugopal said today. He claimed that the seven page Panchnama report was written in Marathi.

"First thing in law is if any seizure is done in any house, it should be given in a language understood by the people whose house is searched. So, this seven-page document is illegal. Even digits were in Marathi. So, no body knows what's there," Venugopal said. The police also brought their own staff witnesses from Pune, he alleged. In any Panchnama report, local respectable citizens have to be witnesses.

Raids on naxal sympathisers: Who are the five persons to be arrested

"So, this also an illegal attempt." On each page of the Panchnama report, these two witnesses and police officer signed but Varavara Rao's and his wife Hemalatha's signatures were taken only on the seventh page, he alleged.

"That means in the first six pages they (police) can concoct, they can cook up, they can write whatever, we don't know it's in Marathi, we don't know if they wrote 'we got bombs, we got pistols and whatever.'

Whole operation was illegal", Venugopal told PTI. Varavara Rao's wife is the elder sister of Venugopal, who is also son of the activist's sister.

"Original case is Bhima-Koregaon. They (Pune police) are now claiming that as part of the investigation, they have found some letter; in that letter they found something else and on (Narendra) Modi's assassination attempt. This is a byproduct of the original case", he said.

The raids and arrests were carried out as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village following an event called 'Elgar Parishad' (conclave) held in Pune last year.

In June, five people were arrested for having close Maoist links after they allegedly made "provocative" speeches at the event, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Rao's name had cropped up in a letter seized by police during searches at the premises of one of the five people arrested in June in connection with the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017 to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle in 1818.

Maharashtra Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year, which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 15:20 [IST]Rahul Gandhi meets party leaders from Gujarat, asks them to be prepared for assembly polls

Rahul has lunch at roadside eatery in Goa, rides pillion on two-wheeler taxi for few kms

Rahul Gandhi likely to leave for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this week

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Aug 29: Congress president Rahul Gandhi may leave for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this week as he had promised earlier this year, said reports.

There are two routes for the Mansarovar Yatra, one is via Nepal while the other is through China. Rahul Gandhi will reportedly take the China route.

The yatra is considered a holy pilgrimage by worshippers of Lord Shiva. Rahul had claimed during the campaigning for Gujarat elections that he was a Shiv Bhakt (a devotee of Lord Shiva).

Even during the campaigning for Karnataka elections, Rahul had said that he would go for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra after his plane plummeted thousands of feet due to a technical glitch.

[Kailash Manasarovar yatra: Over 1,500 pilgrims stranded in Nepal due to bad weather conditions]

Some reports say that he may leave on August 31. The yatra concludes on September 8 after which the routes are closed for the winter.

The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, which is being held between June 8 and September 8 this year, is organised by Ministry of External Affairs. The Yatra is organised on two routes - via Uttarakhand and via Sikkim.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 14:17 [IST]Raids on naxal sympathisers: Details of the 5 arrested persons

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: Following a nation wide raid, the Pune police arrested five alleged naxal sympathisers from different parts of the country.

The five arrested include Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and Gautam Navlakha. Who are these five persons. Take a look below.

Sudha Bharadwaj: Known as a trade union leader, she has been living in Chattisgarh for the past 30 years. An American citizen by birth, she came to India at the age of 11. She gave up her US citizenship at the age of 18 and studied at the IIT-Kanpur. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh, People's Union for Civil Liberties.

Also Read | Bhima Koregaon violence: Nation wide raids led to arrest of these persons

Varavara Rao: He is a poet and journalist, known to propagate Maoist ideology. He hails from Andhra Pradesh and has been arrested several times in the past under charges of conspiring to destabilise the government. He also founded 'Virasam', Revolutionary Writers' Association which was later banned by the Andhra Pradesh Government.

Vernon Gonsalves: In 2007, he had been arrested for being part of the banned CPI (Maoist). The 60 year old was accused of planning terror acts. In April 2014, he was convicted under the Arms Act and after being found guilty of possessing arms. He was sentenced to three years in jail.

Also Read | Plot to kill Modi: Nation wide raids reveal huge naxal-urban naxal conspiracy

Arun Ferreira: He was arrested in 2007 and charged for propaganda. He was also booked in ten different cases including sedition and waging war against the country. In 2015, he got his licence from the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa and is a practising lawyer in Mumbai.

Gautam Navlakha: He has been associated with the People's Union for Democratic Rights and is also a Delhi based journalist. He is also an editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly. He had demanded the repeal of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He has also been a frequent visitor to Kashmir and has written about the human rights violations there.Raids on urban naxals: The two incriminating letters that talk about a big hit and guiding Maoists

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: Centric to the probe on the alleged naxalite sympathisers is a letter written by a Maoist leader. The Pune police on Tuesday conducted raids at several places across the country and arrested at least 5 persons believed to be helping naxalites.

One such letter speaks about the role played by Varavara Rao. The letter written by a Maoist leaders hails the role played by him in guiding various naxalite activities across the country.

This letter was seized along with several other documents by the Pune police. This letter is written by one comrade called Milind.

Also Read | After analysing 25,000 GB data and raiding urban naxals, police unearth 'Break India conspiracy'

While referring to Rao as a senior comrade, he praises him for guiding naxal activities. Similar praises are also showered on Surendra Gadling an advocate. "In the last few months, due to the guidance by senior comrade Varavara Rao and our legal advisor Comrade adv Surendra Gadling in various activities, we received good publicity at the national level," the letter states.

Further the letter also speaks about an event to be held at Nagpur in which both Rao and Gadling were supposed to speak. The Pune police is also in possession of another letter which speaks about a plan to assassinate, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Home Minister, Rajnath Singh and BJP president, Amit Shah.

On June 8, the Pune police had told a court that they had found a letter at the residence of naxal sympathiser, Rona Wilson. The letter speaks about the requirement of Rs 8 crore to purchase an M-4 rifle and four lakh rounds. The letter said that the assassinations would a Rajiv Gandhi like incident.

Incriminating evidence:

Pune's joint commissioner of police, Shivaji Bodkhe said that the five persons were arrested on the basis of incriminating evidence. The fresh arrests were made following the investigation and evidence collected post the other five arrests that were made on June 6, he also said.

Also Read | Plot to kill Modi: Nation wide raids reveal huge naxal-urban naxal conspiracy

He further said that the police are probing the organising and funding of the Elgar Parishad during which provocative speeches were made, following which violence broke out. This had contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence.Seeds sown in 2000, urban naxalism is a fact: This Govindan Kutty document tells us the real story

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: There has been plenty of debate, following the arrests of five persons for their alleged links with naxalites. The allegation is that these persons very often referred to as urban naxalites are helping their friends in the jungles. They help keep the idea alive, as a result of which the cadres are being built.

The seeds of urban naxalism were sown in the early 2000s and a lengthy document running into 53 pages was published by Govindan Kutty. The document is titled, " CPI (Maoist)-Urban Perspective. It over all deals with the political mobilisation of the urban masses.

The document discusses in detail the role of urban work within the military strategy. It goes on to say, " thus it is clear that the armed struggle and the movement in the rural areas will play the primary role, and the work in the cities will play a secondary role, complementary to the rural work. However, while giving first priority to the rural work, we must also give due importance to the urban struggle. Without a strong urban revolutionary movement, the ongoing people's war faces difficulties; further, without the participation of the urban masses it is impossible to achieve countrywide victory. "

Raids on naxal sympathisers: Who are the five persons to be arrested

The objectives of urban work:

The document lists three tasks as the objectives of urban work.

Mobilise and organise the basic masses and build the Party on that basis: This is the main activity of the Party. It is the Party's task to organise the working class, as well as other classes and sections like the semi-proletariat, students, middle class employees, intellectuals, etc. It also has the task of dealing with the problems of special social groups like women, dalits, and religious minorities and mobilizing them for the revolutionary movement. It is on this basis that the masses are politicized and the advanced sections consolidated into the Party.

Build the United Front: This involves the task of unifying the working class, building worker-peasant solidarity and alliance, uniting with other classes in the cities, building the fronts against globalization, against Hindu fascism, against repression, etc. This is a very important aspect of the work of the Party in the city.

Military Tasks: While the PGA and PLA in the countryside perform the main military tasks, the urban movement too performs tasks complementary to the rural armed struggle. These involve the sending of cadre to the countryside, infiltration of enemy ranks, organizing in key industries, sabotage actions in coordination with the rural armed struggle, logistical support, etc.

Party-Building

Mass struggles and mass organisations are absolutely necessary for preparing the masses for revolution. They however are not sufficient by themselves without the conscious consolidation and development of the vanguard - the Party.

Thus the best elements that emerge through the struggles should go through a process of politicisation in struggle, ideological and political education in activist groups, study circles and political schools, and consolidation into candidate and party cells. This process is relatively a slow painstaking process as compared to the spontaneous sweeping element of the mass movement.

Consolidation cannot emerge by itself spontaneously without a conscious programme for it and consistent monitoring and implementation at all levels. In urban areas the Party cell is the crucial body for systematic and serious Party building. However all higher bodies must constantly follow-up and pay attention to this task

In the urban areas the main concentration has to be on the consolidation of the vanguard elements from the industrial proletariat class. This is doubly important considering the present weak working class composition of our Party. We have to thus concentrate on the struggles and organisations of the working class, both at the work place and in the bastis, and have a target of drawing the largest numbers of the best members of the working class into the party.

Besides the working class, we should give importance to the consolidation from the semi proletariat, the students, the intellectuals and other sections of the petty bourgeoisie.

United Front Against Hindu Fascist Forces

An important call of the Ninth Congress is to build a broad UF of all secular forces and persecuted religious minorities such as Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs against the Hindu fascist forces. Since a large proportion of the minorities are urbanized and since the attacks of the Hindu fascists are as yet mostly concentrated in the cities, this UF has basically been the responsibility of the urban organisation. This task has appeared in our documents now from many years, but very little has as yet been done. One of the explanations for this failure is the weakness of our urban organisations, but the other more important reason is our neglect of work among the minorities.

The above UF cannot be built merely by uniting some secular individuals on the basis of a political programme. In order to be effective it has to involve the masses, particularly the masses from the minorities. This therefore means that we must have substantial grassroots work among the minorities, particularly the Muslim masses who are the most numerous and the worst victims of the Hindu fascists' atrocities.

Raids on urban naxals: The two incriminating letters that talk about a big hit and guiding Maoists

However due to extreme ghettoisation in almost all Indian cities, this is only possible if we take a conscious decision to shift out at least some forces from Hindu dominated areas and base them in the slums and localities inhabited by the Muslim poor. This would be the first step to building any united front..

The actual UF organisations would generally be in the form of legal democratic bodies uniting various genuine secular forces as well as organisations of the persecuted minorities. Such organisations should have a programme basically targeting the Hindu fascist organisations and aiming to unite the masses of all communities. We should on this basis conduct propaganda and agitation among both minority and majority sections and attempt to unite the many to isolate and defeat the few Hindu fascist diehards.

Booklets and other propaganda aids explaining the organisations' stands and exposing the fascist organizations' positions should be used. In areas with a history of communal conflicts, genuine peace committees, mohalla committees, and all- community protection teams should be set up.

Issue based joint front organizations can also be built. These could be to fight for the punishment of the perpetrators of pogroms on the minorities, to oppose Hindu communal legislation, to fight against the saffronisation of education, etc. These fronts too should have a mass approach and attempt to widely mobilize secular sections, as well as those most affected.

As the Hindu fascists push ahead with their agenda, the task of building this UF becomes all the more urgent. All urban organisations should plan concretely to bring this into practice.

Local intelligence and helping the rural armed struggle:

Intelligence is a much-neglected function in our Party. Very often we suffer severe losses, or lose good opportunities due to the absence of proper intelligence. In the urban areas intelligence is also very necessary to protect and preserve the urban Party as well as the mass movement. Thus the task of information collection and analysis should be taken up from the beginning itself and responsibility should be allocated accordingly. As the organization grows this task and responsibility should exist at all levels and should be integrated into the functioning of the organisation.

Helping the Rural Armed Struggle:

There are numerous ways through which the urban movement can assist the rural armed struggle and particularly, the base areas and the guerilla zones. Some involve direct and immediate help in terms of materials and personnel; others involve the long-term preparation for the decisive battles in the later stages of the peoples' war.

Infiltration into the Enemy Camp:

It is very important to penetrate into the military, para-military forces, police, and higher levels of the administrative machinery of the state. It is necessary to obtain information regarding the enemy, to build support for the revolution within these organs, and even to incite revolt when the time is ripe. Other types of technical help are also possible.

Sending Cadre to the Rural Areas:

A steady supply of urban cadre is necessary to fulfill the needs of the rural movement and the people's war. This is necessary for providing working class leadership, as well as technical skills to the people's war.

This then is the responsibility of the whole urban Party organization, from the cell upwards, which should inspire comrades to be prepared to take up rural responsibilities. The task of generating new cadre for the rural movement should always be before the various Party forums, which should send up such proposals for transfer of suitable cadre.

It is the higher-level bodies, particularly the State Committees, which will however take the decision in this regard. Decisions of transfer of cadre should take a balanced account of the needs of the movement and organization in both rural as well as the urban areas.

Though the countryside is the main area of operations of the People's Army, there are certain military objectives that need to be performed through operations in the urban areas. This even requires the setting up of permanent structures of the PGA/PLA in the cities and towns.

Cyber warfare:

We should, to the extent possible, make use of computers and the Internet network to further the military objectives of the revolution. Though we are today quite distant from this possibility, we should have the perspective of setting up units with the task of damaging the military and other important networks of the enemy. The possibility of setting up such a structure however depends primarily on the development of the urban mass movement and the ability of the urban Party organization to draw in and consolidate comrades with the required skills for such work.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 12:45 [IST]IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who shot to fame during Kerala floods, resigns over restrictions

Rahul writes to Centre seeking help for flood relief works in Kerala

The loss due to Kerala floods could be well over Rs 20,000 crore

India

oi-Madhuri

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29: The loss and damage to Kerala due to the devastating deluge would be much more than the primary estimate of Rs 20,000 crore, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Rescue operations were over and the thrust now is on rehabilitation and rebuilding the state ravaged by the rain fury that claimed 322 lives since August 8, Vijayan told reporters after holding a meeting here to review the post-flood situation.

"Rehabilitation process of the displaced is progressing in the right direction," he said.

Centre according step-motherly treatment to Kerala: BSP

The chief minister rejected the Congress-led UDF opposition charge that the LDF government has not utilised the Ockhi cyclone relief fund.

The cyclone hit the state's coast in November last year causing massive damage and claimed more than 100 lives, mostly of fishermen.

"I fail to understand why opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is coming out with such a charge now at a time when all people are extending support.

When people are contributing towards the chief minister's disaster relief fund, why is he (Chennithala) making statements suggesting do not pay?" Vijayan asked.

The chief minister also gave details of the amount spent from the Ockhi relief fund and said government has not diverted any amount for other purposes.

On the opposition demand to have a separate account for the relief amount received for the present calamity, Vijayan said "it will come as part of procedure. There is no need for any concern over such issues."

On the rehabilitation process, he said with more and more people returning home, the number of people in relief camps have come down to 1.97 lakh.

There were more than 14.50 lakh people in relief camps on August 21. "This shows that nearly 12.53 lakh people have returned home after rehabilitation began," he said.

Rebuilding the state is one of the difficult tasks before the government. Only by integrating various factors such as finance, rebuilding policy and ensuring livelihood for the affected people, could it be fulfilled, Vijayan said.

The state would come out with a action plan for rebuilding the state, he said.

Certain environmental issues have come to the fore in the light of the recent floods, he said.

The main issue before the government is whether to rehabilitate people in the same areas which were prone to flood and landslides, he said, adding "government has already started thinking on this matter."

Kerala Floods: Pinarayi Vijayan urges Malayalis to donate one month's salary to help rebuild state

The state assembly, which has been convened for a day on August 30 to discuss the post flood situation, would discuss all issues and government would finalise the action plan, he said.

Vijayan said steps would be taken to remove any hurdles to ensure that the flood-affected people get their insurance amount for their vehicles and electronic equipment, damaged in the rains, without delay.

Another meeting of heads of Insurance companies would be called by state chief secretary Tom Jose, he said.

People across the country and abroad were extending co-operation and support towards the government's rebuilding and rehabilitation exercise, Vijayan said.

Support from the Centre was also generous, he added.

Vijayan appealed to all employed Keralities to donate one month's salary to the CMDRF and asked businessmen and traders to earmark a portion of their income for relief work.

"Government is of the view that the state would be able to overcome the shortage of funds for rebuilding with mobilisation of our own resources and support extended from different quarters," Vijayan said.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 5:55 [IST]UPA prepared list of 128 naxal friendly outfits, arrested sympathisers were part of it: Report

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: The Centre will strongly back the action taken by the Maharashtra Police which arrested five persons on the charge that they were helping naxalites. The police say that the fresh arrests were made on the basis of solid evidence and there was a major conspiracy in the making.

Officials in the Home Ministry say that the arrested persons had been providing both financial and logistic support to the naxalites. Further the officials also say that there were attempts on to forge alliances with terror groups.

NHRC issues notice to Maharashtra govt, DGP over arrest of 5 activists

The official also added that alliances were being forged with groups unconnected with the naxal or leftist ideology. Officials however added that they will make out a strong case in court and provide all the evidence there to back their case.

In its report to the Centre, the Pune police said that the UPA had in December 2012 identified 128 organisations linked to the naxals and written to all states asking them to take action against those people involved with with such organisations. Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Mahesh Raut are part of organisations that are on the list of 128, the police also said.

Bhima Koregaon probe: Place all activists under house arrest for now says SC

Further the police said that the CPI (Maoist) in a bid to achieve their ultimate goal through protracted peoples war, attaches immense importance to the 'Urban Movement' which works towards creation of a United Front in support of their movement.

The urban movement is the main source of providing leadership and resources to the CPI(Maoists). The urban centres are responsible for the supply of technologies, expertise, information and other logistic support.Urban naxals provide the pipeline for arms, money to reach jungles: Ex- Spl Secy, R&AW

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: The arrest of five persons alleged to be naxalite sympathisers has led to a major debate.

The Pune police arrested five alleged naxal sympathisers from different parts of the country.

The five arrested include Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and Gautam Navlakha.

Also Read | Raids on naxal sympathisers: Who are the five persons to be arrested

Pune's joint commissioner of police, Shivaji Bodkhe said that the five persons were arrested on the basis of incriminating evidence.

He further said that the police are probing the organising and funding of the Elgar Parishad during which provocative speeches were made, following which violence broke out. This had contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence.

Over the years, the security agencies have often warned about the strength of the naxal movement in India. Although currently the movement is on the decline, security officials say that it is being kept alive by their friends and well-wishers in the urban areas.

OneIndia caught up with Amar Bhushan, the former special secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing to discuss the issue.

Also Read | Raids on urban naxals: The two incriminating letters that talk about a big hit and guiding Maoists

Creating a pipe-line for arms:Bhushan says all along he felt that when the movement initially began there were idealists who were part of it. Lately what has happened is that there is no ideology left anymore. There are a few on the top, but a major chunk of them today are nothing but criminals. The naxal movement has become a good business and is being organised by the local dons in states such as Jharkhand.

Now coming to those in the urban areas, Bhushan says that getting arms is not easy. Contrary to what is spoken that most of the arms are looted, the fact is that there is a proper channel from abroad. This is when the persons in the urban areas come into the picture. They are the ones who build the pipeline so that both arms and funds reach the naxals safely. These are the same persons who have helped institutionalise the extortion in the rural areas.

Various agencies have for long said that these persons in the urban areas are providing support to the naxalites. They help in channelising the funds from abroad and keep India on the boil. I have no doubt when I say that the movement to a large extent is being funded by external forces and those who are interested in destabilising the nation. These persons in the urban areas are in turn promoting a political culture that is violent which in my view is a sinister plan, Bhushan also says.

Why urban naxals are more dangerous:

Bhushan also adds that these urban naxals are more dangerous than the naxalites themselves. They keep an idea alive. The cadres in the jungles can either be killed or acted upon. But these persons working under the cover of NGOs, universities keep an idea alive. They keep creating a cadre and once the idea is alive, it is only a question of getting it organised. This is why I feel that there is a need for a strong government. Once a weak government is in place such ideas get translated.

Also Read | Bhima Koregaon violence: Nation wide raids led to arrest of these persons

There is a need to constantly monitor such persons. Such a movement cannot be sustained without money and weapons. Their economy is based on black money in the form or loot and extortion, while 40 per cent of the funding comes from abroad, Bhushan says. It is this syndicate in the urban areas that gets in the money through hawala channels and provides it to those in the jungles.

To sum it up, there is a hue and cry over these arrests because the idea of 'right' is catching up. This is what has left every one rattled, Bhushan also says.Waging war against state: Deputy superintendent of police arrested in Kashmir

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 29: The National Investigation Agency has arrested two persons including a deputy jail superintendent in connection with a case where an attempt to wage war against the state was made.

The arrested persons include Ishaq Palla a resident of Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir and Feroze Ahmad Lone of Budgam, who was posted as a deputy jail superintendent at the Amphalla prison, Jammu.

NIA recovers 9 pistols stolen from 2nd MR Battalion, Manipur

The case pertains to an attempt by Suhail Ahmad Bhat and Danish Ghulam Lone arrested earlier to travel to Pakistan occupied Kashmir for arms training. They were motivated by Ishaq Palla.

At the time of incident, Ishaq Palla was lodged in Central prison Srinagar in a different case and he was instrumental in hatching the conspiracy from jail. In this conspiracy, he was actively assisted by Feroze Ahmad Lone, who was posted as Deputy Jail Superintendent Central Jail Srinagar at that time. The conspiracy meeting at the central prison Srinagar was held on 25 October 2017. Accused persons were in contact with each other through blackberry messenger.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 6:31 [IST]China vows no compromise or concessions on Taiwan after US Prez Biden comments

Top US general says China hypersonic missile test is 'very concerning'

China denies Donald Trump's claim it hacked Hillary Clinton's emails

International

pti-PTI

Beijing, Aug 29: China has denied an accusation by US President Donald Trump that it hacked the emails of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing today that "We are firmly opposed to all forms of cyberattacks and espionage."

Trump tweeted shortly after midnight that China had hacked Clinton's emails, without offering any evidence, and suggested that the FBI and Department of Justice should investigate. US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of involvement in the hacking of Democratic emails during the election campaign.

PTINawaz Sharif's passport will be cancelled on Feb 16, says Pak minister

Imran Khan, military generals to be responsible if anything happens to Maryam: Nawaz Sharif

Former Pak PM, Nawaz Sharif again appears in court win graft cases

International

oi-Madhuri

Islamabad, Aug 29: Pakistan's imprisoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif again appeared before an anti-corruption court in the remaining two graft cases against him and his family, a media report said.

The 68-year-old PML-N leader appeared before the court as accountability court II Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik resumed hearing of Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment cases, Geo news reported.

Pak: Anti graft body seeks Interpol help to bring back Nawaz Sharif's sons

Sharif's counsel Khawaja Harris cross-questioned Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head and prosecution's witness Wajid Zia, the report said.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered the accountability court to conclude the remaining two corruption cases against deposed prime minister Sharif and his family within the next six weeks.

Judge Malik had submitted a written request to the Supreme Court seeking an extension to conclude the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment cases.

The court also directed accountability judge Malik to submit a progress report of the case to the apex court on a weekly basis.

Sharif, along with his daughter Maryam, 44 and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, 54, are already serving jail terms of 10-years, seven years and one year respectively in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, after the accountability court convicted them on July 6 over the family's ownership of four luxury flats in London through illegal means.

The pending corruption cases against Sharif and his two sons were transferred by the Islamabad High Court on August 7 on the application of Sharif to another accountability court headed by judge Malik.

On Asiya Andrabi's contact list, Hamid Gul, Hafiz Saeed, Nawaz Sharif and several others

Three corruption cases were filed against Sharif and family last year following a decision by Supreme Court on July 28 of the same year.

Apart from Sharif, his two sons -Hassan and Hussian - are also co-accused in all the three corruption cases.

The court has declared Sharif's sons as absconders due to their persistent failure to appear before it. They have been blacklisted, barring them from travelling on their Pakistani passports.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 6:26 [IST]Could not say no to Pulwama terrorists, they were armed and dangerous

Further breakthroughs in Pulwama attack case as NIA nabs two more

Suicide bomber blows up vehicle, kills 11 in Iraq

International

pti-PTI

Ramadi, Aug 29: A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle in the town of Al-Qaim in western Iraq today, killing at least 11 people, five of them security personnel, police said.

The town, on the Syrian border, 340 kilometres from Baghdad, was one of the last in Iraq to be recaptured from the Islamic State group in November last year. The 9 am bombing also wounded 16 people -- 11 civilians and five security personnel, police Captain Mahmud Jassem said.

PTIUnidentified assailants hack woman journalist to death in Dhaka

International

pti-PTI

Dhaka, Aug 29: A woman journalist of a television channel in Bangladesh has been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon by some unidentified assailants at her home, today (Aug 29).

Subarna Nodi, 32, was a correspondent of private news channel Ananda TV and also worked for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, bdnews24.com reported. She lived in Radhanagar area of Pabna district, some 150 kms from Dhaka.

Suborna, who is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said. The assailants, said to be around 10 to 12, came riding motorcycles and rang the doorbell of her house at around 10:45 PM yesterday, it said. When she answered the door, they indiscriminately hacked her and fled the spot, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police Ibne Mizan said.

The assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack her, police said. Some locals rushed her to hospital where she was declared brought dead. Police have launched several teams to nab the culprits, Additional SP Gautam Kumar Biswas said. Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.

PTITeen kills sister for disturbing sleep in Mumbai

Mumbai

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Mumbai, Aug 29: A minor boy, in a fit of rage, strangled his 19-year-old sister to death in Mumbai for allegedly disturbing his sleep, said reports. The 16-year-old boy was taken into custody on Monday and produced before the court the next day after which he was sent to a remand home in Bhiwandi.

The had been getting into arguments with his sister over her habit of talking over the phone for long hours which used to disturb his sleep. According to police, the girl would often talk on phone after her mother left for work which used to infuriate the boy, reported HT.

On Monday (August 27), the girl's conversation disturbed the boy's sleep and in fit of rage he strangled her to death. The incident took place at their home in Vasai (East) area of Mumbai.

The boy then allegedly called his friends to dispose off the body. Hearing the commotion, a neighbour peeped through the window, saw girl's body on the floor and informed the police.

[Five year old girl raped in Maharashtra]

The has also recovered the dupatta that was used to kill the girl. It has been sent for forensic analysis, said police, as per the HT report.

[Man arrested for killing daughter and attacking family]

The mother of the boy and the girl works as a domestic help in Borivli, while their father was at their hometown in Jalgaon for the past two months.

For more Mumbai related news, click here

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 11:42 [IST]Finnish Youth Movement not so Fine, nor is Malta Operators Payment System

Its just a casinohow can a youth in Finland exploit an offshore casinos payment system to reroute funds to his bank accounts?

A new case in Finland shows that not only do online casinos need to protect minors, but sometimes they need to be protected from minors--as well as parents!

Quarter Refork

Reports out of Finland reveal that a teen who found a software loophole in a Malta online casino managed to bilk 250,000 worth from clients' accounts.

Vulnerability Found

The Forssa resident who was charged with aggravated fraud found his way into the casino system by registering a fake date of birth to exploit the casinos cancel return of funds option.

Discovering a bug in a system to provide clients with the option to reroute winnings directly to online client wallets or client bank accounts, the youth rerouted a grand total of over 252,000 among his 417 total transfers across April and May of 2017.

The Route

The money trail stretched all the way to his mother and fathers accounts.

Investigators reportedly discovered 14,000 of stolen funds in the fathers bank account and 2,300 in the mothers account along with a 5,000 motorcycle purchaseresulting in money laundering charges for both and aggravated money laundering for the father.

Penalties

The case prosecutor seeks 20 months in prison for the youth, a five month suspended sentence for the father and more lenient suspended sentence for the mother, in the case which was originally detected by an employee of the unnamed casino in 2017.

A Central District Court decision is expected on the case September 3rd.

The Spin

This is certainly a hiccup if not a black eye for the island region, where the Malta Gaming Act took effect on August 1 to launch a new era establishing Malta as a hub for gaming and technology.

Misguided Competition

While some bugs are to be expected, this seems a rather unnecessary technical breakdown, and a harbinger of added risk variables which come from casinos competing by enhancing casino payment systems to link physical fund movement between external systems.

The Contradiction

If this is an online casino, why worry about enhanced payment or transfer options, or anything beyond core provision of gaming engagement?

The Rub

If online casinos continue to attempt to compete by offering players payment services for anything above and beyond real-time return of funds to the customers ledger at games end, bilking player winnings may prove out to be as easy as, well, stealing candy from a baby.Global Acetone Cyanohydrin Market Future 2018-2025 Asahi Kasei,Formosa Plastics ,BASF ,Mitsubishi Rayon ,

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The base year considered for the study is 2017, and the market size is projected from 2018 to 2023.Request For sample Report @By Market Players:Aviation American Gin, Beefeater, Lucas Bols, The Botanist, Blackwoods, Bombay Sapphire, Boodles British Gin, Booths Gin, Brokers Gin, Catoctin Creek, Citadelle Gin, Damrak, Beam Suntory, Gilpins Gin, Irish Distillers Limited, Ginebra San Miguel, Gordons Gin, Greenalls Gin, Hayman Distillers, Hendricks Gin, Nicholsons, Plymouth Gin, Pickerings Gin, Sacred Spirits Company, Seagrams Gin, Sipsmith, South Gin, St. George Spirits, Tanqueray, Whitley Neill GinBy TypePot Distilled Gin, Column Distilled Gin, Compound Gin, OtherBy ApplicationCommercial Use, Home UseComplete Report Details @Table of ContentsFigure Product PictureFigure Major Classification Market ShareFigure 2012-2017 Sales Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Sales Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Sales Volume and Growth RateFigure Major Application Market ShareFigure 2012-2017 Sales Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Sales Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Sales Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Consumption Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Consumption Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Consumption Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Consumption Volume and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Consumption Volume and Growth RateTable 2012-2017 Capacity, Production, Capacity Utilization Rate, Ex-Factory Price, Revenue, Cost, Gross and Gross MarginFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Capacity Utilization RateFigure 2012-2017 Revenue and Growth RateTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity and Total CapacityTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production and Total ProductionTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue and Total RevenueTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Regional Market Capacity and Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Regional Market Production and Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Regional Market Revenue and Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Capacity, Production, Capacity Utilization Rate, Ex-Factory Price, Revenue, Cost, Gross and Gross MarginFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Capacity Utilization RateFigure 2012-2017 Revenue and Growth RateTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity and Total CapacityTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production and Total ProductionTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue and Total RevenueTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Capacity, Production, Capacity Utilization Rate, Ex-Factory Price, Revenue, Cost, Gross and Gross MarginFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Capacity Utilization RateFigure 2012-2017 Revenue and Growth RateTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity and Total CapacityTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production and Total ProductionTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue and Total RevenueTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Capacity, Production, Capacity Utilization Rate, Ex-Factory Price, Revenue, Cost, Gross and Gross MarginFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2017 Capacity, Production and Capacity Utilization RateFigure 2012-2017 Revenue and Growth RateTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity and Total CapacityTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Capacity Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production and Total ProductionTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Production Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue and Total RevenueTable 2012-2017 Major Manufacturers Revenue Market ShareTable 2012-2017 Capacity, Production, Capacity Utilization Rate, Ex-Factory Price, Revenue, Cost, Gross and Gross MarginContinued.About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers PreHNYum Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.Solar Street Lighting Market 2018: Global Industry Analysis by Top Manufacturers Philips, Solar Lighting International, Leadsun, Urja, SOKOYO, Bridgelux, Bisol, Greenshine, Zhuhai Bomin, Su-Kam, Omega

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The Solar Street Lighting market dynamics, forces, companies and trends have been determined after conducting a detailed study of the industry for this newly released research report now available with Market Study Report.Solar Street Lighting Market is expected to surpass USD 5 billion by 2024. Government norms to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions across the key economic sectors will drive industry growth. Favorable measures toward development of sustainable technologies along with minimal environmental impact will further enhance the product penetration. In 2016, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed Paris Climate agreement to reduce GHG emissions.Request a sample of this premium report at:Technological innovation in solar panel and battery design to reduce the product cost will propel the solar street lighting Market. Growing economies of scale, increasing demand for clean electricity and introduction of government subsidies are some of predominant features which will boost product demand. For instance, in 2017, the prices of solar PV module decreased by more than 80% from 2010.Increasing demand for clean electricity across developing countries along with growing Purchasing Power Parity will stimulate the solar street lighting Market. Lack of grid connectivity, increasing demand for grid electricity and growing energy demand will further complement the solar street lighting market.Long life span, ecological operation, low emission rate and energy efficiency are some of the key factors which will fuel the demand for Light Emitting Diode solar street lighting Market. Favorable measures to eliminate the harmful effects of Mercury coupled with declining product prices will further complement the industry outlook.Standalone solar street lighting market is anticipated to witness significant growth owing to growing product penetration across the off-grid areas. Introduction of several government plans to promote the adoption of renewable technologies across the Asia-Pacific and Africa will augment the business growth. Increasing investment toward the electrification of remote and off grid areas will further boost product penetration.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:India solar street lighting market is anticipated to witness growth over 8% by 2024. Favorable measures to promote the adoption of sustainable technologies along with growing spending toward modernization of street lighting infrastructure will propel the industry growth. For instance, in 2016, according to International Energy Agency, around 200 million people have lack of electricity access.Major players across the solar street lighting market include Solar Lighting International, Leadsun, Jinhua SunMaster, Urja, Sol, Philips, SOKOYO, Bridgelux, Bisol, Greenshine, Zhuhai Bomin, Su-Kam, Exide, Omega, Anhui Longvolt, Covimed, Solux, Dragons Breath, Shenzhen Spark Optoelectronics, Sunna, Orion, SEPCO, Solar G and Solar Street Lights USA.Table of Content:Chapter 3 Solar Street Lighting Industry Insights3.1 Industry segmentation3.2 Industry landscape, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis3.3.1 Vendor matrix3.4 Innovation & sustainability3.5 Regulatory landscape3.5.1 U.S3.5.2 India3.5.3 South Africa3.5.3.1 Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement programme (REIPPP)3.5.3.2 National Development Plan (NDP)3.5.4 Kenya3.5.4.1 One Million Solar Streetlight Project3.5.5 China3.5.5.1 The Renewable Energy Law3.5.5.2 1000 Villages Solar LED Lighting Program3.5.5.3 China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015)3.6 Price trend analysis, by component3.6.1 Solar panels3.6.2 Battery trend3.6.3 Luminaries price trend3.7 Comparative analysis3.7.1 LED3.7.2 CFL3.8 Cost structure analysis3.8.1 Solar panel3.8.2 Battery3.8.3 Pole3.8.2 Lamp3.8.3 Other component3.9 Industry impact forces3.9.1 Growth drivers3.9.1.1 Increasing demand for clean energy3.9.1.2 Growing electricity demand3.9.1.3 Increasing off grid electricity demand3.9.1.4 Decreasing solar lighting component cost3.9.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges3.9.2.1 High initial cost and lack of customer awareness3.10 Growth potential analysis3.11 Customer requirement3.12 Customer group requirment3.13 Porter's Analysis3.14 Competitive landscape, 20173.14.1 Strategy dashboard3.14.1.1 Philips Lighting Holding B.V.3.14.1.2 Exide Industries3.14.1.3 Sunna Design3.14.1.4 Bridgelux, Inc.3.14.2 Competitive advantage3.1.4 Company market share3.15 PESTEL AnalysisFor more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Reports: -United States Solar Street Lighting Market Report 2018In this report, the United States Solar Street Lighting market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:Global RFID Reader-writer Market: Industry Size, Growth, Analysis and Forecast of 2023

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Global RFID Reader-writer IndustryNew Study On 2018-2023 RFID Reader-writer Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast Added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseThis report mainly introduces volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in RFID Reader-writer industry.This report splits RFID Reader-writer market by Connector Type, by Detection Distance, which covers the history data information from 2013 to 2017 and forecast from 2018 to 2023.Try Sample Report @This report focuses Global market, it covers details as following:Major CompaniesAtmelBALLUFFCOMITRONIC - BTICONTRINEXiDTRONIC GmbHifm electronicINTERMECLENORD + BAUERLeuze electronic GmbH + Co. KGLS Industrial SystemsNORDIC IDPepperl+Fuchs GmbHSICKSiemens Identification Systems RFIDSTIDTURCKWeber MarkingMain RegionsNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaLatin AmericaMexicoBrazilArgentinaOthersEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaNetherlandOthersAsia & PacificChinaJapanIndiaKoreaAustraliaSoutheast AsiaIndonesiaThailandPhilippinesVietnamSingaporeMalaysiaOthersAfrica & Middle EastSouth AfricaEgyptTurkeySaudi ArabiaIranOthersMain Product TypeRFID Reader-writer Market, by Connector TypePC InterfaceUSBBluetoothWirelessEthernetRFID Reader-writer Market, by Detection Distance< 100cm101 - 200cm201 - 400cm401 - 600cm> 601cmMain ApplicationsRetailTransportationLogisticsManufacturingFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @Some Major Points from Table of content:Global RFID Reader-writer Detailed Analysis Report 2018-2023Chapter One RFID Reader-writer Market Overview1.1 Global RFID Reader-writer Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2013-20231.2 RFID Reader-writer, by Connector Type 2013-20231.2.1 Global RFID Reader-writer Sales Market Share by Connector Type 2013-20231.2.2 Global RFID Reader-writer Revenue Market Share by Connector Type 2013-20231.2.3 Global RFID Reader-writer Price by Connector Type 2013-20231.2.4 PC Interface1.2.5 USB1.2.6 Bluetooth1.2.7 Wireless1.2.8 Ethernet1.3 RFID Reader-writer, by Detection Distance 2013-20231.3.1 Global RFID Reader-writer Sales Market Share by Detection Distance 2013-20231.3.2 Global RFID Reader-writer Revenue Market Share by Detection Distance 2013-20231.3.3 Global RFID Reader-writer Price by Detection Distance 2013-20231.3.4 < 100cm1.3.5 101 - 200cm1.3.6 201 - 400cm1.3.7 401 - 600cm1.3.8 > 601cmChapter Two RFID Reader-writer by Regions 2013-20182.1 Global RFID Reader-writer Sales Market Share by Regions 2013-20182.2 Global RFID Reader-writer Revenue Market Share by Regions 2013-20182.3 Global RFID Reader-writer Price by Regions 2013-20182.4 North America2.4.1 United States2.4.2 Canada2.5 Latin America2.5.1 Mexico2.5.2 Brazil2.5.3 Argentina2.5.4 Others in Latin America2.6 Europe2.6.1 Germany2.6.2 United Kingdom2.6.3 France2.6.4 Italy2.6.5 Spain2.6.6 Russia2.6.7 Netherland2.6.8 Others in Europe2.7 Asia & Pacific2.7.1 China2.7.2 Japan2.7.3 India2.7.4 Korea2.7.5 Australia2.7.6 Southeast Asia2.7.6.1 Indonesia2.7.6.2 Thailand2.7.6.3 Philippines2.7.6.4 Vietnam2.7.6.5 Singapore2.7.6.6 Malaysia2.7.6.7 Others in Southeast Asia2.8 Africa & Middle East2.8.1 South Africa2.8.2 Egypt2.8.3 Turkey2.8.4 Saudi Arabia2.8.5 Iran2.8.6 Others in Africa & Middle EastChapter Three RFID Reader-writer by Players 2013-20183.1 Global RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Market Share by Players 2013-20183.2 Global RFID Reader-writer Revenue Share by Players 2013-20183.3 Global Top Players RFID Reader-writer Key Product Model and Market Performance3.4 Global Top Players RFID Reader-writer Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Four RFID Reader-writer by Consumer 2013-20184.1 Global RFID Reader-writer Sales Market Share by Consumer 2013-20184.2 Retail4.3 Transportation4.4 Logistics4.5 Manufacturing4.6 Consuming Habit and PreferenceChapter Five Global Top Players Profile5.1 Atmel5.1.1 Atmel Company Details and Competitors5.1.2 Atmel Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.1.3 Atmel RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.1.4 Atmel RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.2 BALLUFF5.2.1 BALLUFF Company Details and Competitors5.2.2 BALLUFF Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.2.3 BALLUFF RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.2.4 BALLUFF RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.3 COMITRONIC - BTI5.3.1 COMITRONIC - BTI Company Details and Competitors5.3.2 COMITRONIC - BTI Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.3.3 COMITRONIC - BTI RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.3.4 COMITRONIC - BTI RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.4 CONTRINEX5.4.1 CONTRINEX Company Details and Competitors5.4.2 CONTRINEX Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.4.3 CONTRINEX RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.4.4 CONTRINEX RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.5 iDTRONIC GmbH5.5.1 iDTRONIC GmbH Company Details and Competitors5.5.2 iDTRONIC GmbH Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.5.3 iDTRONIC GmbH RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.5.4 iDTRONIC GmbH RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.6 ifm electronic5.6.1 ifm electronic Company Details and Competitors5.6.2 ifm electronic Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.6.3 ifm electronic RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.6.4 ifm electronic RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.7 INTERMEC5.7.1 INTERMEC Company Details and Competitors5.7.2 INTERMEC Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.7.3 INTERMEC RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.7.4 INTERMEC RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.8 LENORD + BAUER5.8.1 LENORD + BAUER Company Details and Competitors5.8.2 LENORD + BAUER Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.8.3 LENORD + BAUER RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.8.4 LENORD + BAUER RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.9 Leuze electronic GmbH + Co. KG5.9.1 Leuze electronic GmbH + Co. KG Company Details and Competitors5.9.2 Leuze electronic GmbH + Co. KG Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.9.3 Leuze electronic GmbH + Co. KG RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.9.4 Leuze electronic GmbH + Co. KG RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.10 LS Industrial Systems5.10.1 LS Industrial Systems Company Details and Competitors5.10.2 LS Industrial Systems Key RFID Reader-writer Models and Performance5.10.3 LS Industrial Systems RFID Reader-writer Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.10.4 LS Industrial Systems RFID Reader-writer Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.11 NORDIC ID5.12 Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH5.13 SICK5.14 Siemens Identification Systems RFID5.15 STID5.16 TURCK5.17 Weber MarkingContinued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn:Global Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market Product Development Overview, Main Region Analysis, Raw Materials Analysis, Classification Share Analysis, Price Cost Production Value

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The report firstly introduced the Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on.Download Sample Copy @Historical year  2013Base year  2018Forecast period  2018 to 2022Then it analyzed the worlds main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Report by Material, Application, and Geography  Global Forecast to 2022 is a professional and in-depth research report on the worlds major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).Make Enquiry @The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) Basic Information;2.) Asia Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market;3.) North American Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market;4.) European Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market;5.) Market Entry and Investment Feasibility;6.) Report Conclusion.Complete report on Global Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Industry 2017 Market Research Report is spread across 149 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and landscape details in this niche sector.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem landscape analysis, and major regions' development status. The report focuses on Global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What's more, the Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed...Download Direct Copy @Table of ContentsPart I Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Industry OverviewChapter One Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Industry Overview1.1 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Definition1.2 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Classification Analysis1.2.1 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Application Analysis1.3.1 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Product Market Development Overview1.6 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Global Market Development Trend AnalysisChapter Two Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis2.1.1 Down Stream Market Analysis2.2.2 Down Stream Demand Analysis2.2.3 Down Stream Market Trend AnalysisPart II Asia Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Industry (The Report Company Including the Below Listed But Not All)Chapter Three Asia Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market Analysis3.1 Asia Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Product Development History3.2 Asia Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Competitive Landscape Analysis3.3 Asia Bitcoin Payments Ecosystem Market Development TrendAbout Us:Research Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwideContact us for your special interest needs and we will get in touch within 24hrs to help you find the market research report you need.With our expertise and research offerings, we ensure we deliver on all your requirements, whether youre looking for industry analysis or market trends or anything else, first time and every time!Email us sales@researchreportsinc.comCall: US / Canada Toll Free: +18554192424, UK : +4403308087757New Report on Cancer Supportive Care Market 2018 Global Analysis By Key Players  Amgen, Helsinn Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, F. Hoffmann-La Roche

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Cancer Supportive Care Industry research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period.UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Cancer Supportive Care Market Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 101 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Cancer Supportive Care Industry research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Cancer Supportive Care Industry global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  2025.Get Exclusive FREE PDF Sample Copy of This ReportThe scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Cancer Supportive Care market analysis & forecast 2018-2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region-wise Analysis Global Cancer Supportive Care Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The Major players reported in the market include: Amgen Helsinn Healthcare Johnson &Johnson Merck F. Hoffmann-La RocheFor More Information, Please VisitGlobal Cancer Supportive Care Market: Application Segment Analysis: Lung Cancer Breast Cancer Prostate Cancer Liver Cancer Bladder CancerGlobal Cancer Supportive Care Market: Key Stakeholders: Cancer Supportive Care Manufacturers Cancer Supportive Care Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Cancer Supportive Care Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Cancer Supportive Care are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025The Report covers in-depth analysis as follows: 1 Industry Overview of Cancer Supportive Care 2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Cancer Supportive Care 3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Agricultural Machinery DieselEngines 4 Global Cancer Supportive Care Overall Market Overview 5 Cancer Supportive Care Regional Market Analysis 6 Global 2013-2018E Cancer Supportive Care Segment Market Analysis(by Type) 7 Global 2013-2018E Cancer Supportive Care Segment Market Analysis (by Application) 8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Cancer Supportive Care 9 Development Trend of Analysis of Cancer Supportive Care Market 10 Cancer Supportive Care Marketing Type Analysis 11 Consumers Analysis of Cancer Supportive Care 12 Conclusion of the Global Cancer Supportive Care Market Professional Survey Report 2017Buy Cancer Supportive Care Market analysis & forecast 2018-2025 Report along with complete TOC @Cancer Supportive Care Market Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market-driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real-time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real-time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Cancer Supportive Care Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Cancer Supportive Care market analysis and forecast 2018-2025.Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500, East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States.Anti-Fraud Management System Market 2018 Global Analysis, Opportunities, Growth Forecast To 2025

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This report researches the worldwide Anti-Fraud Management System market size (value, capacity, production and consumption) in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (China, Japan) and other regions.This study categorizes the global Anti-Fraud Management System breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.SAS Fraud Management uses industry-leading data analytics and machine learning to monitor payments and nonmonetary transactions, as well as events, enabling you to identify and respond to unwanted and suspicious behavior in real time.Global Anti-Fraud Management System market size will increase to xx Million US$ by 2025, from xx Million US$ in 2017, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2017 has been considered as the base year and 2018 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Anti-Fraud Management System.This report focuses on the top manufacturers' Anti-Fraud Management System capacity, production, value, price and market share of Anti-Fraud Management System in global market. The following manufacturers are covered in this report:SAP SECapgeminiSAS InstituteBAE Systems IncFiserv IncIBM CorporationOracle CorporationFair Isaac CorporationComputer Sciences CorporationACI WorldwideThreatmetrixRequest a Sample Report @Anti-Fraud Management System Breakdown Data by TypeInsurance claimsElectronic paymentAnti-Fraud Management System Breakdown Data by ApplicationRetailGovernment/public sectorReal estateAnti-Fraud Management System Production Breakdown Data by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther RegionsAnti-Fraud Management System Consumption Breakdown Data by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaThe study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Anti-Fraud Management System capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast;To focus on the key Anti-Fraud Management System manufacturers and study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in next few years.To focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Table of ContentsGlobal Anti-Fraud Management System Market Research Report 2018-2025, by Manufacturers, Regions, Types and Applications1 Study Coverage1.1 Anti-Fraud Management System Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Insurance claims1.4.3 Electronic payment1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Retail1.5.3 Government/public sector1.5.4 Real estate1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Production2.1.1 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Revenue 2013-20252.1.2 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Production 2013-20252.1.3 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Capacity 2013-20252.1.4 Global Anti-Fraud Management System Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 Anti-Fraud Management System Growth Rate (CAGR) 2018-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key Anti-Fraud Management System Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: Evolution3 Market Size by Manufacturers3.1 Anti-Fraud Management System Production by Manufacturers3.1.1 Anti-Fraud Management System Production by Manufacturers3.1.2 Anti-Fraud Management System Production Market Share by Manufacturers3.2 Anti-Fraud Management System Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Anti-Fraud Management System Revenue by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.2.2 Anti-Fraud Management System Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.3 Anti-Fraud Management System Price by Manufacturers3.4 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans...........8 Manufacturers Profiles8.1 SAP SE8.1.1 SAP SE Company Details8.1.2 Company Description8.1.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.1.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.1.5 SWOT Analysis8.2 Capgemini8.2.1 Capgemini Company Details8.2.2 Company Description8.2.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.2.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.2.5 SWOT Analysis8.3 SAS Institute8.3.1 SAS Institute Company Details8.3.2 Company Description8.3.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.3.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.3.5 SWOT Analysis8.4 BAE Systems Inc8.4.1 BAE Systems Inc Company Details8.4.2 Company Description8.4.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.4.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.4.5 SWOT Analysis8.5 Fiserv Inc8.5.1 Fiserv Inc Company Details8.5.2 Company Description8.5.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.5.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.5.5 SWOT Analysis8.6 IBM Corporation8.6.1 IBM Corporation Company Details8.6.2 Company Description8.6.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.6.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.6.5 SWOT Analysis8.7 Oracle Corporation8.7.1 Oracle Corporation Company Details8.7.2 Company Description8.7.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.7.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.7.5 SWOT Analysis8.8 Fair Isaac Corporation8.8.1 Fair Isaac Corporation Company Details8.8.2 Company Description8.8.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.8.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.8.5 SWOT Analysis8.9 Computer Sciences Corporation8.9.1 Computer Sciences Corporation Company Details8.9.2 Company Description8.9.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.9.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.9.5 SWOT Analysis8.10 ACI Worldwide8.10.1 ACI Worldwide Company Details8.10.2 Company Description8.10.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Anti-Fraud Management System8.10.4 Anti-Fraud Management System Product Description8.10.5 SWOT Analysis8.11 ThreatmetrixContinuedAccess Complete Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaHuman Resource (HR) Management Services Market Segmentation,Parameters and Prospects 2018 to 2025 Market Research Report

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Human Resource (HR) Management Services Market Segmentation,Parameters and Prospects 2018 to 2025 Market Research Report.Description:-This report focuses on the global Human Resource (HR) Management Services status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Human Resource (HR) Management Services development in United States, Europe and China.A Human Resource Management System or HRIS (Human Resource Information System) is a form of HR software that combines a number of systems and processes to ensure the easy management of human resources, business processes and data. Human Resources Software is used by businesses to combine a number of necessary HR functions, such as storing employee data, managing payrolls, recruitment processes, benefits administration and keeping track of attendance records. It ensures everyday Human Resources processes are manageable and easy to access. It merges human resources as a discipline and, in particular, its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field, whereas the programming of data processing systems evolved into standardized routines and packages of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. On the whole, these ERP systems have their origin from software that integrates information from different applications into one universal database. The linkage of its financial and human resource modules through one database is the most important distinction to the individually and proprietarily developed predecessors, which makes this software application both rigid and flexible.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comIn 2017, the global Human Resource (HR) Management Services market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.The key players covered in this studyADP LLCWorkday, Inc.Oracle CorporationKronos, Inc.Ultimate SoftwareSAP SE.IBM...Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoIntegration & DeploymentSupport & MaintenanceTraining & ConsultingMarket segment by Application, split intoAcademiaBFSIGovernmentHealthcareIT & TelecomManufacturingRetailOthersMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South AmericaComplete Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1 Report Overview1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Players Covered1.4 Market Analysis by Type1.4.1 Global Human Resource (HR) Management Services Market Size Growth Rate by Type (2013-2025)1.4.2 Integration & Deployment1.4.3 Support & Maintenance1.4.4 Training & Consulting1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Human Resource (HR) Management Services Market Share by Application (2013-2025)1.5.2 Academia1.5.3 BFSI1.5.4 Government1.5.5 Healthcare1.5.6 IT & Telecom1.5.7 Manufacturing1.5.8 Retail1.5.9 Others1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Global Growth Trends2.1 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Market Size2.2 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Growth Trends by Regions2.2.1 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Market Size by Regions (2013-2025)2.2.2 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)2.3 Industry Trends2.3.1 Market Top Trends2.3.2 Market Drivers2.3.3 Market Opportunities.12 International Players Profiles12.1 ADP LLC12.1.1 ADP LLC Company Details12.1.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.1.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.1.4 ADP LLC Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.1.5 ADP LLC Recent Development12.2 Workday, Inc.12.2.1 Workday, Inc. Company Details12.2.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.2.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.2.4 Workday, Inc. Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.2.5 Workday, Inc. Recent Development12.3 Oracle Corporation12.3.1 Oracle Corporation Company Details12.3.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.3.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.3.4 Oracle Corporation Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.3.5 Oracle Corporation Recent Development12.4 Kronos, Inc.12.4.1 Kronos, Inc. Company Details12.4.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.4.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.4.4 Kronos, Inc. Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.4.5 Kronos, Inc. Recent Development12.5 Ultimate Software12.5.1 Ultimate Software Company Details12.5.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.5.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.5.4 Ultimate Software Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.5.5 Ultimate Software Recent Development12.6 SAP SE.12.6.1 SAP SE. Company Details12.6.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.6.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.6.4 SAP SE. Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.6.5 SAP SE. Recent Development12.7 IBM12.7.1 IBM Company Details12.7.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.7.3 Human Resource (HR) Management Services Introduction12.7.4 IBM Revenue in Human Resource (HR) Management Services Business (2013-2018)12.7.5 IBM Recent DevelopmentContinuedFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.Global Learning Management Market, Size, Industry Player (Docebo Oracle, SAP, Instructure, Pearson Key County Analysis (United States, Europe, China, Japan, India), Segmentation, Analysis and Forecast till 2018-2025

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The market for Learning Management System is growing with the expansion of this Industry Sector Worldwide. Market Research Hub (MRH) has added a new report titled Global Learning Management System (LMS) Market Size, Status and Forecast 2018-2025 which offer details about the current trends and analysis, as well as scope for the near future. This research study also covers information about the production, consumption and market share based on different active regions. Furthermore, an anticipated growth at a double-digit CAGR for the Learning Management System sector is highlighted in the report which indicates a prosperous future.Request Free Sample Report@@This report focuses on the global Learning Management System (LMS) status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Learning Management System (LMS) development in United States, Europe and China.A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of educationalcourses or training programs. Learning management system is a concept emerging directly from e-Learning.Learning management systems help the instructor deliver material to the students, administer tests and other assignments, track student progress, and manage record-keeping. LMSs are focused on online learning delivery but support a range of uses, acting as a platform for fully online courses, as well as several hybrid forms, such as blended learning and flipped classrooms. LMSs can be complemented by other learning technologies such as a training management system to manage instructor-led training or a Learning Record Store to store and track learning data.In 2017, the global Learning Management System (LMS) market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.The key players covered in this studyBlackboardCornerstone OnDemandDesire2LearnDoceboOracleSAPInstructurePearsonSchoologySkillsoftMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoCloudOn-PremiseMarket segment by Application, split intoCorporateHigher educationK-12Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South AmericaThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Learning Management System (LMS) status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Learning Management System (LMS) development in United States, Europe and China.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies.To define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Learning Management System (LMS) are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Browse Full Report with TOC@Table of Contents1 Study Coverage1.1 Leather and Allied Products Product1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Leather and Allied Products Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Top-grain leather1.4.3 Split leather1.4.4 Patent leather1.4.5 Bonded leather1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Leather and Allied Products Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Automotive1.5.3 Furniture1.5.4 Consumer Goods1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Leather and Allied Products Market Size2.1.1 Global Leather and Allied Products Revenue 2016-20252.1.2 Global Leather and Allied Products Sales 2016-20252.2 Leather and Allied Products Growth Rate by Regions2.2.1 Global Leather and Allied Products Sales by Regions2.2.2 Global Leather and Allied Products Revenue by Regions3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers3.1 Leather and Allied Products Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 Leather and Allied Products Sales by Manufacturers3.1.2 Leather and Allied Products Sales Market Share by Manufacturers3.1.3 Global Leather and Allied Products Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)3.2 Leather and Allied Products Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Leather and Allied Products Revenue by Manufacturers (2016-2018)3.2.2 Leather and Allied Products Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2016-2018)3.3 Leather and Allied Products Price by Manufacturers3.4 Leather and Allied Products Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types3.4.1 Leather and Allied Products Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters3.4.2 Manufacturers Leather and Allied Products Product Category3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Leather and Allied Products Market3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion PlansContinue...@@$Enquire about this Report -About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email : press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite :Rising Global Consumption of Gluten-free Products to Bode Well for Global Functional Flours Market

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Functional flours refer to a variety of flours made from grains and non-grain products, modified so as to enhance the qualitative features of their individual components and for the flours to possess functional properties suitable to the specific application. Grains and non-grain products are treated through technologies such as hydro-thermal treating, extrusion, blending, roller drying, or further processing to impact them the special characteristics, which play a key role in granting indulgent textures and flavours to a variety of dairy and bakery items.Download PDF Brochure @According to Transparency Market Research, the global market for functional flours will exhibit an impressive 6.8% CAGR over the period between 2017 and 2025, rising from a valuation of $70.4 bn in 2016 to a revenue opportunity of US$126.8 bn by 2025.Listed below are some of the key trends associated with the market in the past few years:Rapidly Changing Food Habits across Developing Economies: Over the past few years, emerging countries across regions such as Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa have witnessed a notable shift in consumption habits of the populace, with increased adoption rates seen for non-conventional bakery and on-the-go foods staple to the Western world. Rising disposable incomes and a steadily rising consumption of bakery products such as biscuits, breads, and cakes are providing promising growth avenues to the functional flours market in these region. Moreover, the increased preference to healthy foods and the consecutive rise in inclusion of functional flours such as rye flour, oat flour, and soy flour in everyday meals is also playing a key role in the positive development of the global functional flours market.Read Report Overview @Rising Demand for Gluten-free Foods Globally: The massive global rise in demand, production, and consumption of gluten-free or low gluten food products in the past few years has also been a key decisive factor for the overall positive development that the global functional flours market has witnessed. This can be chiefly associated with the rising awareness among the global population regarding celiac diseases and the consecutive rise in increased diagnosis of gluten sensitivity conditions affecting hundreds of thousands across the globe, which often go unnoticed as common symptoms can have many other triggers.The rising consumption of gluten-free foods globally has provided a steady stream of revenue to the global functional flour market and is likely to continue to do so in the next few years as well; according to another market research report by TMR, the global market for gluten-free foods will exhibit a promising 7.7% CAGR from 2015 to 2021, possessing a revenue opportunity of S$4.8 bn by 2021.Low Profit Margins Dissuading Manufacturers from Expanding Production Capacities: While the global functional flours market has mostly promising growth avenues and a vast set of new application areas, volatile costs of grains, legumes, and other products used to make functional flours is having a negative impact on profits for millers. This has remained one of the leading factors for a declining interest of millers towards the expansion of their production capacities of functional flours. The factor, however, fails to dissuade new players from entering the worldwide market for functional flours and a number of regional players can also be seen trying their luck and vying for a larger share in lucrative regional markets such as Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa.Get more Information:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Smartwatches Market: Lucrative Opportunites across Globe

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A smartwatch is a wrist-worn type of wearable device providing various functionalities to its user and acting as a companion device with smartphones. Smartwatches are mostly need to be paired with a smartphone using any connecting technology such as near-field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth. Smartwatches provide notifications to its user and can also be used to track health parameters such as heart rate, distance traveled, etc. Moreover, smartwatches can also be used as a GPS device. Smartwatch provide high degree of connectivity to its users and are useful for the group that aims health related purposes and fitness tracking. Global smartphone shipments are expected to increase continuously in the coming years due to developing network infrastructure and increasing internet penetration. The global smartwatch market was valued at US$ 701.2 Mn in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 53.6% during the forecast period 2014  2020.On the basis of price range, the global smartwatches market is segmented into high-end smartwatches, mid-end smartwatches, and low-end smartwatches. Smartwatches with price above US$ 250 are considered under high-end smartwatches segment. High-end smartwatches segment is anticipated to witness strong growth in next few years (2015 - 2017) due to number of large smartphone manufacturers such as Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Inc., and Sony Corporation focusing on the development and launch of their high-end smartwatch models. However, unwillingness to pay above US$ 250 for a smartwatch and low awareness pertaining to wearable technology and products is the major concern for the growth of smartwatches market. Furthermore, limited battery life and its effect on overall performance are expected to restrain the global smartwatch market. Currently, the companies offering high-end smartwatches overrun the global smartwatch market. However, growing commercialization activities, and research and development is anticipated to result in significant number of mid-end and low-end smartwatch models over the forecast period.Request PDF Brochure:In 2013, North America was the largest market for smartwatches in terms of revenue. The region has experienced significant adoption of high-end smartwatches due the presence of tech-savvy and health conscious users in this region. Fitness and health are expected to remain the major applications of smartwatches over the forecast period. This is attributed mainly to the high smartphone penetration in the North American region. Furthermore, awareness among end-users and higher purchasing power is anticipated to drive the regional market over the forecast period 2014  2020. Europe and Asia Pacific are anticipated to witness healthy growth over the forecast period. Demand from countries such as China, India, Japan, and Australia is anticipated to drive the Asia Pacific market in the next few coming years. Mass adoption of mid-end and low-end smartwatches in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Eastern Europe is expected to drive the demand for this market over the forecast period.The global smartwatches market is led by players such as Pebble Technology Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Apple Inc., Nike Inc., Garmin Ltd., Sony Electronics Inc., Fitbit Inc., Martian Watches, ConnecteDevice Ltd., Qualcomm Incorporated and others.Report TOC:About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Intelligent Vending Machine Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013  2019

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MarketResearchReports.Biz has recently announced the Latest industry research report on: Intelligent Vending Machine Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013  2019.The new age intelligent vending machine includes a touch screen interface, increased security for transaction, mobile payments option, speech processing, anti-theft or anti-vandal cameras, multiple modes to transact, cashless system and remote management. Thus, improved user interface of intelligent vending machines is one of the key factors for its growth. By using a phones near-field communication technology, payments can be done faster. Increased regulations such as government mandated nutrition labeling in North America and improved energy efficiency in Asia Pacific are strong drivers for intelligent vending machines market. The nutrition labeling helps a consumer identify nutritional features about a given product. On the other hand, increasing energy efficiency of all electrical and electronic products is of prime importance. With the use of Intel Audience Impression Metrics Suite for anonymous facial recognition is expected to trigger demand for intelligent vending machines in the near future.On the contrary, growing regulations prohibiting junk food sales in schools and tobacco usage in public hamper the growth of intelligent vending machines market. Increasing diagnoses of cancer and other health hazards have alarmed the government to ban junk foods in schools and tobacco usage in public. Thus, such regulations hamper the growth of intelligent vending machines market. Return on investment (ROI) concerns, low operating margins and escalating rental space costs are hindering companies from investing in intelligent vending machines market. Building intelligent vending machines for blind people can be a future opportunity for manufacturers.Request Sample Copy of the Report @In EMEA, Western European countries continue to be the hotbed for intelligent vending machines market. North America, Asia Pacific and ROW continue to be the potential markets for intelligent vending machines industry. Security threats and vandalism are expected to remain a major threat to the growth of intelligent vending machines market is lesser countries such as Poland and South Africa. Key vendors of intelligent vending machines include Cantaloupe Systems Inc., MEI Inc., USA Technologies Inc., and Coin Acceptors Inc.Enquiry Before buy @This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsThis report is a complete study of current trends in the market, industry growth drivers, and restraints. It provides market projections for the coming years. It includes analysis of recent developments in technology, Porters five force model analysis and detailed profiles of top industry players. The report also includes a review of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a technological growth map over time to understand the industry growth rateIt provides a seven-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsIt provides distinctive graphics and exemplified SWOT analysis of major market segmentsAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.bizJuvenile Macular Degeneration Treatment Market 2018: Global Industry Top Key Players are Astellas Pharma, Ferrer, IRIS PHARMA, Sanofi and Acucela Inc.

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Global Juvenile Macular Degeneration Treatment Market is rapidly changing due the moves by dominating players which are developments, product launches, joint ventures, merges and accusations.The report aims to provide an overview of Juvenile Macular Degeneration Treatment industry along with detailed segmentation of market by component, device, application, and major global geographical regions. The global market is expected to witness growth during the forecast period due to growing demand at end user level.This report gives an edge to not just compete but to outmatch the competition. The report provides with CAGR value fluctuation during the forecast period of 2018-2025 for the juvenile macular degeneration treatment market. This report also contains all the drivers and restrains with the help of SWOT analysis for the global market.Get Free Sample Copy of Report here@This report focuses on the Juvenile Macular Degeneration Treatment In Global Market, especially in North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa). This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.KEY COMPANIES Acucela Inc. Alkeus Pharmaceuticals Inc Astellas Pharma Inc Copernicus Therapeutics Inc Grupo Ferrer Internacional SA Iris Pharma SanofiAccess Report Summary with Detailed TOC@This research report categorizes the global juvenile macular degeneration treatment market by top players/brands, region, type and end user. This report also studies the global juvenile macular degeneration treatment market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels and distributors.This report focuses on the global juvenile macular degeneration treatment status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the global industry development in United States, Europe and China.MARKET BY TYPE Avacincaptad Pegol Sodium Echothiophate Iodide Emixustat Hydrochloride FAB-111 OthersMARKET BY APPLICATION Clinic Hospital HomecareREPORT SNAPSHOTKey Content of Chapters (Including and can be customized, report is a semi-finished version, and it takes 48-72 hours to upgrade)Part 1:Terminology Definition, Industry Chain, Industry Dynamics & Regulations and Global Market OverviewPart 2:Upstream (Raw Materials / Components) & Manufacturing (Procurement Methods & Channels and Cost) , Major Regional Production Overview and Trade FlowPart 3:Product Segment Overview and Market StatusPart 4:Application / End-User Segment Overview and Market StatusPart 5:Region Segment Overview and Market StatusPart 6:Product & Application Segment Production & Demand by RegionPart 7:Market Forecast by Product, Application & RegionPart 8:Company information, Products & Services and Business Operation (Sales, Cost, Margin etc.)Part 9:Market Competition and Environment for New EntrantsPart 10:ConclusionBuy This Report with Full Copy@Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Research for Markets:Research for Markets indulges in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.comSingle-Use Medical Device Reprocessing Market Opportunity Analysis, 2018-2026

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Single-use medical device reprocessing is the concept of sterilizing, repackaging, testing, and manufacturing a used product. There is no clear definition for the term single-use device and it is entirely based upon the end user perception. Reprocessing of single-use device is acceptable, if the device is properly sterilized while keeping its physical and technological functionalities intact. Single-use medical device reprocessing is done in two ways: third party processing and in-hospital processing. Third party processing is considered to be a better option, as regulatory authorities are able to impose strict regulations for validation and quality assurance purpose.Request Sample Copy of this Business Report @Single-use medical device reprocessing is gaining popularity as it helps to reduce hospital waste and allows for major cost savings. For instance, Kaiser Permanente, which is an integrated delivery network based in U.S., saved US$ 11 million on an annual basis by reprocessing of single-use devices. Reprocessing enables the hospitals to purchase the same device at a lower price in comparison to the cost of original equipment, which eventually leads to cost savings. Practice Green Health, an NGO providing environmental solutions to the healthcare sector, quoted that single-use medical device reprocessing prevented the entry of 10,000 tons of medical waste during 19972007, by processing an estimated 50 million devices. Single-use medical device reprocessing market is poised to grow significantly, as hospitals realize potential cost savings and its ability to reduce environmental hazards.Cost constraints for Hospitals and positive environmental impact will drive growth of the single-use medical device reprocessing marketHospitals across the globe are facing cost pressures due to rise in price of original medical equipment. In the U.S., Obamacare and its associated guidelines might get repealed with the change in government. This could lead to low third-party reimbursement for hospitals, in turn influencing them to adopt cost saving initiatives such as single-use medical device reprocessing. The biggest advantage is that hospitals can reduce the cost associated with medical device to 50%, which becomes a crucial factor when dealing with expensive devices such as catheter and cardiac ablation devices. At present, 250 medical devices are already being processed with 10% of medical devices eligible for single-use medical device reprocessing. In terms of environmental protection, hospitals are able to reduce the medical waste to an estimated 50% by the use of single-use medical device reprocessing. Medical waste treatment not only puts enormous cost pressure on hospitals, but in countries such as U.S., China and Japan, it has become a full-fledged industry. For instance, Ascent, a subsidiary of Stryker Corporation, was able to eliminate 1,684 tons of medical waste from landfills during 2007, with the help of reprocessing. The market penetration for single-use medical device processing is poised to increase in small and mid-sized hospitals due to environmental sustainability and immense cost savings related to reprocessing.North America is estimated to be the growth pocket for single-use medical device reprocessing marketU.S. has the biggest healthcare system in the world with government spending an estimated 30% of annual budget on healthcare. U.S. is also home to large-sized hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Johns Hopkins Hospital. These hospitals are subject to meeting sustainability goals and contain costs at the back of recession. For instance, in 2007, 45% of U.S. hospitals entered into an agreement with third-party processing companies and this number increased to 70% in 2008 due to severe economic crisis. Single-use medical device reprocessing is subject to FDA and required third-party processing companies to maintain quality standards in accordance with the original equipment. FDA formulated stringent regulation to create standardization and avoid infections related to the reuse of single-use devices. FDA has set up a grievance mechanism for reporting of adverse events related to use of single-use device which in turn reinforces accountability.In regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe and South America, there is a lack of regulatory standards is a restraining factor for the growth of single-use medical device reprocessing market. European Union has not mandated guidelines regarding the reprocessing. Individual countries such as Spain, England and France are not in favor of reprocessing. With respect to Asia Pacific, the reuse of single-use medical devices is prevalent with no set of regulations. In countries such as India, Japan and South Korea, there are no government regulations pertaining to single-use medical device reprocessing.Access Table of Content (TOC) Of the Report @Single-use medical device reprocessing market is in nascent stage with few players dominating the marketThe key players in the single-use medical device reprocessing market are Stryker Corporation, Medline ReNewal, Centurion Medical Products Corporation, Midwest Reprocessing Center, SterilMed Inc., Vanguard AG and Hygia Health Services Inc, among others. These players have successfully demonstrated the impact of single-use medical device reprocessing on cost savings and environmental protection. These companies will benefit in a large manner as the regulatory scenario becomes established in Europe and Asia Pacific.Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comLiDAR for Cars and Light Trucks Market 2018 Global Analysis By Key Players  Pioneer, Valeo, Continental, Velodyne, 3DEO, MIT Lincoln Lab

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  LiDAR for Cars and Light Trucks Market 2018 Global Analysis By Key Players  Pioneer, Valeo, Continental, Velodyne, 3DEO, MIT Lincoln Lab.Description:-Worldwide markets are poised to achieve significant growth as LiDAR sensors for cars and light trucks permit users to implement automated driving. Fleet vehicles from Uber, Google and similar users are likely to be the early adopter groups, creating vehicles that do package delivery and ride sharing. Tesla, Mercedes, and Audi are among the vendors with a leadership position in the personal luxury vehicle artificial intelligence LiDAR car markets. These cars provide performance and cater to individual preference in feature function packages and styling.LIDAR stands for light detection and ranging which is remote sensing. LIDAR does not require electromagnetic radiation but it requires laser pulses that strike the object and return back to the sensor. The laser pulse measures the distance from the sensor to the object by determining the time between the release to reception of the reflected pulse.3D scanning market and imaging are expected to propel growth. Major technological developments include emergence of optically extended MEMS scanning mirror for low-altitude and light weight flying platforms. Long term reliability of number of key laser components drive the LiDAR market. Key components include optical coatings, optics, and diodes in vacuum and radiation environment of space.Every car maker seeks to participate in this Artificial Intelligence (AI) personal vehicle market leveraging LiDAR. The ability to do so depends on implementing next generation technology that is very expensive to get working. Vendors ae seeking to work together to set standards and develop shared modules that provide basic functionality. Cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence software, and LiDAR are among the modules being developed.Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to institute major change in personal mobility. Autonomous cars are the next generation of manual cars, poised to provide thrust for a large replacement market. Autonomous vehicles are the base for building personal car services, particularly in large cities. Carmakers and Silicon Valley companies bring different skills to the task of building a Artificial Intelligence (AI) car. LiDAR is a significant sensor that supports autonomous operations. Autonomous vehicles transform the personal transport industry..Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCompanies ProfiledMarket Leaders Pioneer Valeo Continental Velodyne 3DEO MIT Lincoln LabMarket Participants 3d Laser Mapping Specialists, Airborne Lidar And Imagery Avent Lidar Technology AImotive Alphabet, Waymo: Google Google / Intel Target Driverless Cars with LiDAR Waymo Deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Alps Electric Argo AI Autoliv Beijing Beike Technology Co., Ltd (isurestar) (China) BMW Bosch Group Continental Daimler AG/Mercedes-Benz Delphi Automotive Denso DigitalWorld Mapping Eaton ECA LiDAR Faro Technologies Firmatek Llc Fiat Chrysler Ford Ford Argo AI Artificial Intelligence Company General Motors GM Investment in Lyft Geniarp Group Geniarp Group / Mosaic 3d Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. (GSSI) GMR Group / Geokno India Pvt. Ltd. (India) Harris Here Honda Hyundai Infineon Technologies AG Intel Corporation Intel Buys Mobileye Intermap Technologies Knorr-Bremse Group Mesa LiDAR MIT Lincoln Lab MIT Agreement with Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. (GSSI) Mitsubishi Nissan NVIDIA NXP Pix4D Pioneer Qualcomm Quantum SpatialContinuedComplete Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1. LiDAR for Cars and Light Trucks Market Definition and Market Dynamics 501.1 Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) 501.2 LiDAR in Cars 521.1.1 Airplanes Utilize Radar to Land Themselves 541.3 Advanced Technology 571.3.1 LiDAR Adaptive Cruise Control 581.3.2 Automatic Braking Technologies 601.3.3 Automatic Brakes 611.3.4 Driver-Assist Technologies 621.3.5 Ford TAP Auto Control System 621.4 Car Self-Driving Enabling Technologies 651.4.1 Sensor Processing 651.4.2 Advanced Autonomous Car Software 681.4.3 Autonomous Vehicle Software Areas That Need Improvement 691.4.4 Collision Detection Machine Vision 701.5 LiDAR Car and Truck Challenges 751.5.1 Electric Car Ownership Stimulates Customized Speeds and Performance in Autonomous Cars 79.4. LiDAR Cars and Light Trucks Technology 3484.1 High Resolution Digital Cameras 3484.2 Vehicle To Vehicle Communication (V2V) Safety 3484.2.1 Euro NCAPs Rating Scheme 3514.2.2 In the US, Rear-Visibility Requirements 3514.3 IoT Standards Ecosystem Growth 3514.3.1 Unified Communication Standards 3524.4 Standards 3534.4.1 SAE International 3534.4.2 U.S. Department of Transportation 3534.4.3 European Union and European Commission LiDAR Standards 3544.5 Self-Driving Car Test Facility in UK 3544.6 MIT Demonstrates Swarm Of Modular Cars That Self-Assemble Into Larger Shapes 3554.7 LiDAR Single-Photon-Sensitive Imagers 3554.7.1 Geiger-Mode LiDAR Technology Offers Accurate Data 3594.7.2 Geiger-Mode LiDAR Technology 3594.7.3 Geiger-Mode LiDAR 3594.7.4 3deo builds upon US Department of Defense investments in Geiger-Mode LiDAR 3614.7.5 Harris Geiger LiDAR 3614.7.6 MIT Lincoln Lab Geiger LiDAR Technology 3634.8 LiDAR Car Fish-Inspired Technology 3644.9 Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) 3664.9.1 Distance Measured By A Small Radar Unit 3674.9.2 ACC Technology 3674.9.3 Adaptive Cruise Control 3684.9.4 Lexus_IS250_ACC Adaptive Cruise Control 3694.10 Advanced LiDAR Technology: Navigation, Mobility, And Manipulation 3714.10.1 LiDAR Intelligence Systems 3714.10.2 Real-World, Dynamic Sensing 3724.11 User-Friendly Interfaces 3724.11.1 Tightly-Integrated, Electromechanical LiDAR Design 3734.11.2 Modular LiDAR Structure And Control 3734.11.3 Lattice Architectures 3744.11.4 Chain / Tree Architectures 3744.11.5 Deterministic Reconfiguration 3744.11.6 Stochastic Reconfiguration 3754.11.7 Modular LiDAR Systems 3754.12 Network of LiDAR Software and Sensors 3764.12.1 Sensor Networks Part Of Research Agenda 3774.12.2 Light Sensing 3784.12.3 Acceleration Sensing 3784.12.4 Chemical Sensing 3784.13 Self-Driving Car Software Technology Functions 3794.14 Intel Integrated Circuit Evidence-Based Innovation 3804.14.1 Open Control Software 3815. LiDAR Cars and Trucks Company Descriptions 3855.1 3d Laser Mapping Specialists, Airborne Lidar And Imagery 3855.2 Avent Lidar Technology 3855.3 AImotive 3875.3.1 AImotive Location Engine 3885.3.2 AImotive Recognition Engine 3885.3.3 AImotive Motion Engine 3895.3.4 AImotive Control Engine 3895.3.5 Aimotive 3895.4 Alphabet, Waymo: Google 3905.4.1 Google / Intel Target Driverless Cars with LiDAR 3915.4.2 Alphabet Google Positioning 3955.4.3 Alphabet / Google 3965.4.4 Alphabet Revenue 3995.4.5 Google Revenue 4005.4.6 Alphabet / Waymo 4015.4.7 Alphabet Waymo LiDAR Car Fleet 4015.4.8 Waymo Deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles 4035.4.9 Google 4065.4.10 Google Search Technology 4065.4.11 Google Recognizes World Is Increasingly Mobile 4075.4.12 Google LiDAR Car 4075.4.13 Google Cars Address Vast Majority Of Vehicle Accidents Due To Human Error 4105.4.14 Google Business 4115.4.15 Google Corporate 4125.4.16 Google Search 413ContinuedFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.Solar Photovoltaic Material Global Market 2016 - 2024 : Key Players Analysis- LDK Solar Co. Ltd., Okmetic, Wacker Chemie AG , Applied Materials, Inc

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Solar Photovoltaic Material Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market: OverviewSolar photovoltaic materials are the materials that are used in manufacturing of solar panels or modules which are installed for generating electricity. Solar photovoltaic materials are basically of two types crystalline and thin film. Crystalline is further divided into polycrystalline and gallium arsenide whereas thin film is of three types namely amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium diselenide. Out of all the solar photovoltaic materials, polycrystalline is the most dominant material because of its good efficiency and easy manufacturing process. Thin film materials like cadmium telluride and copper indium diselenide is expected to grow in the near future.The report estimates and forecasts the solar photovoltaic material market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the solar photovoltaic material market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the solar photovoltaic material market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitute analysis of solar photovoltaic material and global average price trend analysis.Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market: SegmentationThe study provides comprehensive view of the solar photovoltaic material market by dividing it into end-user and geography. The solar photovoltaic material market has been segmented into crystalline, polycrystalline, cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide and others. End-user segments residential, commercial, and industrial have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for solar photovoltaic material in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for end-user segments. Key countries such as the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, the U.K., China, India, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual end-users in all the regions and countries.The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the solar photovoltaic material market. It comprises qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. The report comprises price trend analysis for solar photovoltaic material between 2016 and 2024.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market: Competitive AnalysisThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Major players profiled in the report include BASF SE, Mitsubishi Material Corporation, Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation LLC, LDK Solar Co. Ltd., Okmetic, Wacker Chemie AG , Applied Materials, Inc, Shin-Etsu Chemicals Co., Ltd., Atecom Technology Co., Ltd., Topsil GlobalWafers A/S, Silicor Materials, Inc., Targray Technology International, Inc. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report. In-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Browse Report @Table of Content1. Preface1.1 Research Highlights2. Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1 Assumptions and Acronyms Used3. Executive Summary3.1 Solar Photovoltaic Material Market4. Market Overview4.1 Product Overview4.2 Market Indicators5. Market Dynamics5.1 Drivers5.2 Restraints5.3 Opportunity Analysis5.4 Porters Analysis5.5 Value Chain AnalysisAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at:Life Science Instrumentation Market 2023 - Danaher Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

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The global life science instrumentation market is growing due to the technological advancements, increase in funding for life science research, and increasing food safety concerns. Moreover, the increasing research and development activities in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries are supporting the growth of the global market. Among the various technologies, next-generation sequencing segment would witness the fastest growth during the forecast period.Explore report sample at:The increasing demand for analytical instruments, growing research proteomics research activities, and high growth in emerging economies offer ample growth opportunities in life science instrumentation market. Major analytical instrument manufacturers are focusing for the development of miniaturized instruments, which is the key trend witnessed in the global market. Increasing compliance for hyphenated technologies and increasing collaborations between analytical instrument manufacturers and academic and research institutes are other trends witnessed in the global life science instrumentation market. However, dearth of skilled professionals and high cost of analytical instruments would hinder the growth of the global market to some extent.Geographically, North America accounted for the largest share in the global life science instrumentation market in 2015. Some of the major factors driving the North American market are; presence of a large number of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies, increasing number of research and development activities, and high compliance for advanced analytical instruments. The U.S. contributed largest revenue to the North American as well as global life science instrumentation market. The country is expected to remain the largest market for life science instrumentation globally during the forecast period.Browse report at:The key players operating in the global life science instrumentation market are Danaher Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., PerkinElmer Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Bruker Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. and Waters Corporation.About P&S IntelligenceP&S Intelligence, a brand of P&S Market Research, is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.Contact:P&S IntelligenceToll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)International: +1-347-960-6455Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Agricultural Packaging Market 2018: Global Industry Top Key Players are Amcor, Bemis Company, Inc., Sonoco, Mondi Group, Packaging Corporation of America and Greif, Inc.

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There are several recent developments, product launches, joint ventures, merges and accusations by the key market players and brands which will be driving the Agricultural Packaging Market and hence Packaging Industry in the forecast years 2018 to 2025. The CAGR levels are also expected to fluctuate during this forecast period for Agricultural Packaging industry.Asia Pacific is estimated to account for the largest market share in 2018, followed by North America in the agricultural packaging market over the next five years. The growing trade opportunities of agrochemicals across the globe, especially in countries such as China, India, the US, Canada are the major factors contributing to the high growth opportunities in these regions.Agricultural packaging for fertilizers is expected to boost the growth rate in Europe as the growth in the region has been highly hampered by the growing regulations on chemical pesticide usage and maximum residue limit.Get Free Sample Copy of Report here@This study categorizes the global Agricultural Packaging breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.This report focuses on the top manufacturers' Agricultural Packaging capacity, production, value, price and market share of Agricultural Packaging in global market. The following manufacturers are covered in this report: Amcor Bemis Company Sonoco Products Mondi Group Packaging Corporation of America Greif NNZ Group LC Packaging International Silgan Holdings Proampac Flex-Pack Purity Flexpack Epac Holdings Kenvos Biotech Parakh GroupAccess Report Summary with Detailed TOC@This report researches the worldwide Agricultural Packaging market size (value, capacity, production and consumption) in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (China, Japan) and other regions.AGRICULTURAL PACKAGING BREAKDOWN DATA BY TYPEBy Material Plastic Metal Paper & paperboards Composite materials OthersBy Product Pouches & bags Drums Bottles & cans OthersAGRICULTURAL PACKAGING BREAKDOWN DATA BY APPLICATION Chemical Pesticides Chemical Fertilizers BiologicalsOVERVIEW: TABLE OF CONTENTS1 Study Coverage2 Executive Summary3 Market Size by Manufacturers4 Agricultural Packaging Production by Regions5 Agricultural Packaging Consumption by Regions6 Market Size by Type7 Market Size by Application8 Manufacturers Profiles9 Production Forecasts10 Consumption Forecast11 Upstream, Industry Chain and Downstream Customers Analysis12 Opportunities & Challenges, Threat and Affecting Factors13 Key Findings14 AppendixBuy This Report with Full Copy@Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Research for Markets:Research for Markets indulges in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.comGlobal Mobile Banking Software Solutions Market Analysis, Opportunities, Dynamics, Competitive Strategies, and Worldwide Demand During 2018-2023 - CR2, SAB Group, Fiserv Inc, Temenos Group AG, Infosys Limited

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Mobile banking software solutions allow the banking institutions to build customized mobile banking applications according to the requirement. Mobile banking software serves as a self-service banking platform. Mobile banking software enables customers to do financial transactions and manage their financials by accessing their bank account through mobiles or tablets. By using mobile banking software banking institutions, credit unions, and financial institutions can send targeted push messages to the customers. Mobile banking software solutions provide personalized customer experience using various mobile channels like Mobile App, Mobile Browser, SMS, and USSD.Get Sample Copy of this Report:Top Key Players Profiled in the report are:CR2, SAB Group, Fiserv Inc, Temenos Group AG, Infosys Limited, Neptune Software Group B.V.I, Apex Softwares, Capital Banking Solutions group, EBANQ Holdings BV, Dais SoftwareWith the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, we are leading the market for mobile banking software solutions. Mobile banking software solutions enable customers to access their accounts from remote locations. With mobile banking software solutions, organizations can develop native or hybrid applications for their convenience. Mobile banking software solutions reduce the costs associated with in-house infrastructures when deployed through the cloud.The major policies adopted by established players for a better penetration in the global Mobile Banking Software Solutions market also form a key section of this study. However, these strategies can be employed by the upcoming vendors for a better penetration in the market. The global market on Mobile Banking Software Solutions has also been examined in terms of income. The impact analysis helps in gathering information on the future development of the market. Vendors are also analyzed based on attributes such as their product profile, product introductions, and contact information.The best thing about this measurable survey report is the importance and expression of this market. In addition, several market essentialists and procurement standards were supported by the report. Thus, this measurable review report is an amazing breath of fresh cues to categorize your efforts and come up with ways to address the market patterns of the mobile banking software solutions market.Get the best Discount in the market here:The market for mobile banking software solutions in North America and Western Europe is significantly mature compared to other regional markets. The speed of technology adoption is fast. The mobile banking software solutions market in Asia Pacific excluding Japan and Japan is expected to have the greatest potential during the forecast period. The mobile banking software solutions market in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa is also expected to see positive growth over the forecast period.Table of ContentsGlobal Mobile Banking Software Solutions Market Research Report.Chapter 1 Mobile Banking Software Solutions Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market ForecastContinuedKnow More About Mobile Banking Software Solutions Market at:About USOur research will change the way you think about problems. We provide global consulting that can transform businesses and give you an experience of innovative solutions and outcomes.Research N Reports helps clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. We have successfully guided businesses throughout the world with our market research reports. We are uniquely positioned to lead digital transformation s, thus creating greater value for clients by presenting growth opportunities in the global market.Our profound experience provides a clear and confident vision to help clients navigate the future. Research N Reports techniques encompasses both qualitative and quantitative modes to provide customized and highly flexible tailored research studies so that you get information that is just the best-fit to make informed strategic organizational decisions. Research N Reports helps clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative.U.S. AddressSunny Denis10916, Gold Point, Dr,Houston, TX - 77064sales@researchnreports.com+1 888-631-6977Chatbots Market 2018 Global Key Country Analysis: Anboto, SRI International, Babylon, Varo Energy B.V., WeChat, Poncho, Baidu, Dialogflow, 24/7 Customer, Artificial Solutions, eGain, Nuance Communications, IBM

Chatbots Market

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CAGR values are jumping for the good in the Chatbots Market which in turn is making the sales, import, export and revenue grow. The report provides with a thorough analysis on what the conditions are for the Semiconductors and Electronics industry because of the Chatbots Market.The report is also a detailed analysis on what the market definition, classifications, applications and market trends are along with these it also provides with the markets drivers and restrains by using the help of SWOT analysis.The Chatbots Market is highly dependent on the top players and brands this report provides with detailed company profiles of those players and brands and showing what their moves are when it comes to developments, product launches, joint ventures, merges and accusations, all the while also providing with figures for the forecast years of 2018-2025.Download PDF Sample Copy of Report @Market Segmentation: Global Chatbots Market The global chatbots market is segmented into type, industry vertical, usage, deployment type, end user and by geography. Based on type, the global chatbots market is segmented into software and services. Services are further segmented into professional services and managed services. On the basis of usage, the global chatbots market is segmented into websites, contact centres, social media, and mobile platform. On the basis of industry vertical, the global chatbots market is segmented into financial services, healthcare, communication, retail, travel and hospitality, government, education, utilities and others. On the basis of deployment type, the global chatbots market is segmented into on-premises and on-cloud. On the basis of end user, the global chatbots market is segmented into small and medium enterprises, large enterprises. Based on geography, the global chatbots market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies namely north America & south America, Europe, Asia-Pacific And, Middle East & Africa. Some of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and, Brazil among others.Market Definition: Global Chatbots MarketThis market report defines the market trends and forecast the upcoming opportunities and threats of the chatbots market in the next 8 years. Chatbots is a computer program designed to simulate chat with human users, over the Internet. It conducts conversation via auditing and textual messages. These are the computer programs that imitate conversation with people using artificial intelligence. The chatbot ecosystem includes several cross-linking features that enable enhanced performance of chatbots in various applications. Many companies prefer in-built chatbots on their websites as they facilitate companies in providing immediate customer interaction. Mostly slack and twitter messaging platforms are preferred by businesses. Chatbots allows companies to engross in continuous communication with their customers. Chatbots installed by the companies offer information related to product and brand, which helps the company to increase brand awareness, and inspire customers to sign up for the companys account. There is a huge growth for chatbots because large enterprises widely employ chatbot for digital marketing applications and for easy communication. The Kik Bot Store is going to launch chatbot with 16 bots, which will include the Weather Channel, H&M, Vine and Funny or Die.Market Analysis: Global Chatbots MarketThe Global Chatbots Market is expected to reach USD 4125.3 Million by 2025, from USD 750.3 Million in 2017 growing at a CAGR of 36.5% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2014 & 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.To Inquire Regarding This Report @Major Market Drivers and Restraints: Acceptance of cloud-based technology Increasing demand for automated patient management tools in the healthcare industry Penetration of websites and mobile applications are increased. Lack of awareness due to early presence in tech-adoption life cycle High deployment cost and system integration complexitiesCompetitive Analysis: Global Chatbots MarketThe global chatbots market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of chatbots market for global, Europe, North America, Asia pacific and South America.Major Market Competitors/Players: Global Chatbots MarketIBM,Nuance Communications, Inc.,eGain Corporation.,Creative Virtual Ltd.,Artificial Solutions,Next IT Corp.,[24]7.ai, Inc.,CX Company,Speaktoit, Inc.,iDAvatars,Baidu, Inc,Poncho, Kik.,WeChat.,Varo,Babylon,ReplyYes,SRI International,Inbenta Technologies Inc.,Anboto,Among othersDownload Detailed TOC @About Us:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comReal Time Clock Market Estimated with Key Players AMS, Texas Instruments, Epson, Abracon, Microchip Technology during the Forecast Period 2018-2025

Real Time Clock Market Estimated with Key Players AMS, Texas Instruments, Epson, Abracon, Microchip Technology during the Forec

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UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Real Time Clock Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 111 pages which highly exhibits on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Real Time Clock global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018 - 2025.Get FREE Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Report @Real Time Clock market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Real Time Clock market industry analysis & forecast 2018-2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region-wise Analysis Global Real Time Clock Market covers: North America Europe China Japan Southeast Asia IndiaThe major manufacturers covered in this report AMS Texas Instruments Epson Abracon Microchip Technology NXP Seiko Instruments STMicroelectronics Intersil Maxim Cymbet NJR Pericom IDT.Waveform Generator Breakdown Data by Type I2C SPI OtherWaveform Generator Breakdown Data by Application Consumer Goods Industrial Utilizations OtherIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Real Time Clock are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For more information, Visit:The Report covers in-depth analysis as follows:1 Industry Overview of Real Time Clock2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Real Time Clock3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Real Time Clock4 Global Real Time Clock Overall Market Overview5 Real Time Clock Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2013-2018E Real Time Clock Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2013-2018E Real Time Clock Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Real Time Clock9 Development Trend of Analysis of Real Time Clock Market10 Real Time Clock Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Real Time ClockBuy report @Global Real Time Clock Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market-driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real-time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real-time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Real Time Clock Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 and its commercial landscape Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations To understand the future outlook and prospects for Real Time Clock market industry analysis and forecast 2018-2025.Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United StatesDye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) Market See Worldwide Major Growth by Leading Key Players: 3GSolar Photovoltaics, Dyesol, Exeger Sweden AB, Fujikura Ltd., G24i Power Ltd

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Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are cost effective thin film photovoltaic cells. The global dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) market is gaining from the growing awareness among consumers about the adverse environmental impacts of fossil fuels, coupled with the increasing demand for energy from renewable sources. DSSC are easy to manufacture using roll-pointing techniques, is semi-flexible, semi-transparent, and is not applicable to photovoltaic system. The increasing focus on reducing carbon emission levels and growing demand for building integrated photovoltaic system (BIPV) would contribute to the growth of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), during the forecast period. The good price-to-performance ratio of these solar cells is expected to positively impact the growth of dye-sensitized solar cells market, worldwide.Get Report Sample and Customization @The key players operating in the global dye-sensitized solar cells market are 3GSolar Photovoltaics, Dyesol, Exeger Sweden AB, Fujikura Ltd., G24i Power Ltd., Konica Minolta Sensing Europe B.V., Merck KGaA, Oxford Photovoltaics.The report titled Global Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Market Report, 2025 has been recently added to the Research N Reports repository. The report study is based on the semiconductors and electronics industry providing an exhaustive review of the market trends, restrains and pitfalls, competitive scenario, and futuristic opportunities.The report authors, after conducting their extensive research have discovered a significant rise in the net worth of the market share from 2018 and is expected to witness further growth by 2025. The analysts have professionally drafted the information gathered, marking the business strategies of the key players.These solar cells are termed as next generation counterparts of dye-sensitized solar cells. Various R&D activities are being carried out to further enhance the limits of perovskite solar cells performance and increasing their efficiency by 20%.For get Effective Discount @The report divides the Global Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Market on the basis of its applications, in the industries of security, automotive, robotics, aerospace and defense, hospitals, and consumer electronics. For each application subdivision, the report provides important details relating to their market shares in income and volume, growth rate, and current and anticipated future trends.The demographics and the other statistics are provided to map the global concentration of consumers and simply target marketing. In terms of regional analysis, the regions mentioned focuses on North America, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. For each key area, the report discloses significant information, for example, income streams, consumption proportions, production rates, market shares, and expected patterns in the future.List of Chapters:1 Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) Market Overview2 Global Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application3 United States Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4 China Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5 Europe Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6 Japan Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7 Southeast Asia Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8 India Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)9 Global Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data10 Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) Manufacturing Cost Analysis11 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers12 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Global Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) Market Forecast (2018-2025)15 Research Findings and Conclusion16 AppendixFor more information about this report visit @Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently, we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.comOral Spray Market Size by Key Manufacturers and Application 2018 with Share, Demand, Analysis and Forecast

Oral Spray

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The production of Daily Oral Care Spray was 159919K Units in 2014, of which 33.66% is produced in US, 23.02% is produced in Europe. The production of Drug Oral Spray was 153542K Units in 2014, of which 49.68% % is produced in US, 33.48% % is produced in EuropeThe research covers the current market size of the Global Oral Spray Market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers. The in-depth information by segments of Oral Spray Market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth.The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies and the changing structure of the Global Oral Spray Market.Oral Spray is a product sprayed into the mouth for the purpose of eliminating (or at least covering up) halitosis or treat diseases like cold, cough, stomatitis and some others. The common flavors include cinnamon, spearmint and peppermint. With a handy pocket-sized spray bottle, the oral spray is convenient to use.Click Here For More Details @This research report categorizes the global Oral Spray market by players/brands, region, type and application. This report also studies the global market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.US and Europe are the major Daily Oral Care Spray and Drug Oral Spray sales markets, with global market share of 30.07% and 21.13% in 2014 inDaily Oral Care Spray and 55.16% and 32.03% in 2014 with Drug Oral Spray. China is a potential market; the market share is gradually increased year by year. But Chinese local brands accounted for very little, consumer acceptance of local brands in the China is quite low.The Major players reported in the market include: Johnson & Johnson Sunstar Lion Corporation Dr. Fresh, Inc GlaxoSmithKline Periproducts Hello Products LLC OraLabs Melaleuca, Inc and MoreRequest for Sample Copy of this Report @Market size split by Region North America United States Canada Mexico Asia-Pacific China India Japan South Korea and MoreObjectives of this Report are: To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks). Focuses on the key global Oral Spray manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years. To analyze the Oral Spray with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market. To project the value and volume of Oral Spray submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries). To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyzetheir growth strategies and MoreClick here to get Discount @Table of Content:1 Study Coverage1.1 Oral Spray Product1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Oral Spray Market Size2.1.1 Global Oral Spray Revenue 2016-20252.1.2 Global Oral Spray Sales 2016-20252.2 Oral Spray Growth Rate by Regions2.2.1 Global Oral Spray Sales by Regions2.2.2 Global Oral Spray Revenue by Regions3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers3.1 Oral Spray Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 Oral Spray Sales by Manufacturers3.1.2 Oral Spray Sales Market Share by Manufacturers3.1.3 Global Oral Spray Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)4 Breakdown Data by Type4.1 Global Oral Spray Sales by Type4.2 Global Oral Spray Revenue by Type4.3 Oral Spray Price by Type5 Breakdown Data by Application5.1 Overview5.2 Global Oral Spray Breakdown Data by Application and More..Tables and Figures: Figure Picture of Oral Spray Figure Global Oral Spray Production (MT) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2013-2025) Figure Global Oral Spray Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2017 Figure Daily Oral Care Spray Product Picture Table Major Manufacturers of Daily Oral Care Spray Figure Drug Oral Spray Product Picture Table Major Manufacturers of Drug Oral Spray Figure Others Product Picture and MoreAbout Us:We have a strong network of high powered and experienced global consultants who have about 10+ years of experience in the specific industry to deliver quality research and analysis. Having such an experienced network, our services not only cater to the client who wants the basic reference of market numbers and related high growth areas in the demand side, but also we provide detailed and granular information using which the client can definitely plan the strategies with respect to both supply and demand side.302-20 Misssisauga Valley, Missisauga, L5A 3S1, TorontoThe report offers complete insights of Nail Polish Market based on historical study and evaluates future projections for the period 2017-2024. Further, the report covers current market share, growth, trends and forecast for the involved market segments along with the impact of drivers & restraints and potential opportunities for these segments. The report also analyses the competitive profiling of major players including their company overview, financials, product portfolio and recent By Jeff Baker | For The Oregonian/OregonLive

John Larison lives with his family on 25 acres in Bellfountain, one of the first places in the Willamette Valley to be settled by the pioneers who came across the Oregon Trail. He built a writing cabin behind the house and his morning commute is a 50-yard walk across a field.

It feels like home because it is home; Larison grew up "two ridges north" in a house where his parents still live. They were filmmakers for National Geographic who traveled the world and took their two sons with them but the roots run deep. Larison studied creative writing at Oregon State University and worked as a fishing guide while developing as a writer. His third novel, "Whiskey When We're Dry," is set in 1885 and follows a 17-year-old girl across the West as she searches for her outlaw brother. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: When did you first get into fishing?

A: My dad turned me on to it. He worked a lot so the times that we did fun things together that weren't work-related really stood out. One of the things we did was go fly-fishing on the South Santiam River. At the end of the fishing trip my dad gave me the fishing rod and said you can get better at this and practice in the yard. I got really into it after that. We didn't live on water so I started reading about fishing. I was absolutely not a reader before I started fishing. I hated reading and my teachers were worried about my reading. Once I started fly-fishing and reading fishing books is when I became a reader.

Q: And how did you become a fishing guide?

A: I guided before I was a student but not while I was attending school. Once we had kids, we needed more money than I could make teaching. I had my own business and had a lot of international clients. It paralleled perfectly the rise of international interest in Oregon steelhead streams, which made it quite easy to build a client list.

Q: "Whiskey When We're Dry" is your third novel but your first for a big publisher.

A: My two earlier novels, I thought of as practice novels. I was writing to a fishing audience and in writing that second one I realized that what I was exploring with the characters might be more interesting to a larger audience. I started to aspire to write a bigger novel. A lot of novelists want to shake up the culture and I started to feel that with my second novel, which was written as a vacation from the early drafts of "Whiskey."

Q: In your first two novels, the main character is a fishing guide. In "Whiskey When We're Dry," the main character is a girl passing as a boy. It's a period novel, and it's a quest novel in that she's on a mission and moving through open country.

A: My early work was rebelling against the road novel tradition because I really was thinking that one of the problems with American culture was this compulsion among young adults to move away from home and reinvent themselves, and then maybe move again and move again. That kind of disassociation with place and legacy of place was something I was grappling with in those early novels.

With "Whiskey" I shifted my concern to tackling the cowboy myth because I took such great offense when I saw George W. Bush argue for the impenetrable border wall while wearing the appropriated style of a Mexican laborer. That argument with myself grew into a desire to tackle the western because the basic structure of the western is so black and white, and some of our leaders want us to have a black-and-white view of America. Writing a book that grew from that argument led to a book that challenged a lot of the fundamental myths about American identity. ... A core premise for me was to write about communities that hadn't been featured in other westerns.

Q: For instance?

A: Some of the first people across the Oregon Trail were Orthodox Jews seeking a better life. Some of the earliest explorers in Oregon were from Hawaii. The Owyhee River in eastern Oregon is named after three Hawaiians who died exploring it. The true history of the American West is much more fascinating than the simplistic retelling we see in even some of the novels that are trying to challenge the western myth.

***

John Larison

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7

Where: Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St.Protesters briefly brought a school board meeting in the whitest major city in America to a standstill Tuesday with an emotional rendition of a song considered the black national anthem.

The crowd of families who sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" had come to advocate that Portland Public Schools not evict a charter school that caters to black students. But frustration over the treatment of KairosPDX school became a public reckoning over the district's long history of failing black students.

The gravity of the situation was evident in a statement school board chair Rita Moore read Tuesday evening that began, "We all decry the undeniable fact that this district has for many generations failed many students, including students of color and particularly black students."

Why has the plight of a school that enrolls 170 children become about so much more than a landlord-tenant dispute?

Kairos has rented space in the shuttered Humboldt Elementary School building only since 2016. But the school sits in a neighborhood of historic significance for the children it aims to serve. The Albina neighborhood was the heart of the state's black community until urban renewal in the 1960s and '70s and gentrification in the 1990s and 2000s displaced thousands of its black residents. The history of forced displacement has made the issue of forcing out Kairos more emotional.

From district leaders' perspective, Kairos' lease was always temporary, the needs of other district students must be taken into account and the uproar is unfair. Moore previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive that charter schools, according to policy, are required come up with their own facilities, but the district temporarily bent the rules for Kairos because of its noble mission so the school could have a home until it found a permanent space. Kairos leaders argued that while they signed a one-year lease, they always wanted to stay longer and the district shouldn't harm the only school focused on black student achievement so it can house a district program in the space.

This isn't the first time Kairos' lease has become an uncomfortable political spectacle for Oregon's largest school district. This time last year, the district also tried to force out Kairos so that it could move Access Academy, a program for highly-gifted students into the building. Access had to vacate its prior building as part of a series of moves to allow the district to open two new middle schools this year as part of an effort to reduce inequities in the district. District leaders pointed toward the schools' opening this week as a sign the district is remaking its reputation as an institution that breaks promises, but it remains to be seen if those schools will get the supports they need and be a success.

The optics of displacing a school focused on children of color for a majority white school came with blowback from powerful leaders around the city and beyond. The board quickly caved and spent the year angering other parents as district officials tried to house Access in other spaces. In the end, Access was split across two schools, a solution that made many unhappy.

Moore's message Tuesday to the packed house of protesters in "Black Kids Matter" shirts was that the district is committed to defying history by doing better for children of color. Her first piece of evidence was the hire of Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero, who joined the district last October. Moore said he was hired because of his commitment to serve children the district has persistently failed.

Hours earlier, Guerrero had jumped into the political fray after pressure from Kairos through a press conference that included several prominent black leaders. In response, he sent out a statement that Portland, like many other places, had unacceptably failed black students. He said families are "right to raise attention to this serious and urgent matter."

"I am committed to disrupting these racial inequities and ensuring the success of all students. This new administration's commitment is to proceed in this work in a deliberate and thoughtful manner," he said. "Over time, it is my expectation that our actions will demonstrate urgency and a tangible commitment to providing opportunities, supports and interventions to support students of color, whose full potential has not yet been realized."

The statement said he had tasked a recently hired equity adviser to work with Kairos.

At the meeting, Guerrero was silenced by song. Once protesters finished "Lift Every Voice and Sing," Guerrero thanked them.

 Bethany Barnes

Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.comBy ROBERT HARRIS

Nationwide about 60% of all voters, and 71% of millennials want a third party, according to recent polls conducted by Gallup and NBC News. But the reality is we'll have a two-party system unless we change our election process to allow ranked-choice voting or adopt other reforms that help level the playing field for nontraditional candidates.

So why should people join a third party or vote for third-party candidates who can't win? Why should Oregon's third major-party candidate be invited to participate in Oregon's gubernatorial debate?

To answer these questions, one needs to consider the historic role of third parties in a two-party system.

New ideas are introduced: Third parties devise new policies and government practices. In the early 20th century it was the Populist Party that introduced ideas that eventually influenced some economic policies of the New Deal.

Popular but ignored issues are placed on the agenda: Third parties can force the two dominant parties to address potentially divisive problems. In 1992, neither Bill Clinton nor George H. W. Bush talked much about the budget deficit until independent candidate Ross Perot emphasized it in his campaign. Based largely on that core issue, Perot was invited to the presidential debates where the issue gained more attention.

Keeping the major parties honest: Third-party candidates can speak more frankly than Democratic or Republican candidates. They can address issues and uncomfortable facts that candidates for the two dominant parties may prefer to ignore because proposing tough solutions to tough problems seldom wins many votes.

Being a "spoiler" can make major parties change: This factor is important to strategic voters who want our politics to evolve. If voters believe a third-party candidate is the only one addressing a critical issue, they may cast their vote for that candidate, potentially pulling enough votes to cause the favored candidate to lose an election. Such protest votes punshing a candidate for ignoring an issue can be the most effective strategy for eventually seeing that policy enacted into law.

How does Oregon's third major party, Independent Party of Oregon, fulfill the role of the issue-oriented third party?

Introducing new ideas: Republican gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler recently revealed his education plan featuring an idea that the Independent Party developed three years ago: an ROTC program for new teachers. Buehler and Democrats also recently endorsed proposals to make banking services accessible to Oregon's growing cannabis industry. The Independent Party has championed the proposal previously because it was unafraid of alienating bankers, federal regulators or conservative law enforcement.

Putting ignored issues on the agenda: Patrick Starnes is the Independent Party candidate for governor. He is running primarily on the issues of campaign finance reform and reducing the influence of big money on government policy decisions. He says that as long as big money drives legislation, Oregon will never solve its biggest problems - and neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are willing to tackle the big money issue.

Most voters agree with him, yet this issue is ignored by the Republican and Democratic leadership.

Keeping the parties honest: Oregon Democrats refuse to enact meaningful public-employee benefit reform because their donor base won't allow it. Oregon Republicans refuse to reform corporate or real property taxes to make them more fair and modestly boost revenues because they fear their anti-tax base. The Independent Party has publicly and often proposed that the path to state government fiscal health is to enact a package that includes some public-employee benefit reforms, some spending restraints as well as corporate and property tax reform that is fair, keeps Oregon competitive and raises new revenue.

The spoiler effect and political evolution. Democrats have held the governor's office in Oregon for 32 years. But the latest polling shows Knute Buehler and Kate Brown tied at 43%. Mr. Buehler promises to take ideas from "Democrats, Republicans and Independents," and he has. Governor Brown and the Democratic Party are focused on their traditional strategy of turning out their base. If Independent voters swing towards Mr. Buehler or vote for Mr. Starnes in numbers that cause Ms. Brown to lose, that should make Democrats rethink their strategy in future elections and cause Republican office seekers to embrace trans partisan bridge building.

Perhaps voter dissatisfaction with the two major parties is partly because political pundits, professional political operatives and the media have ignored or misunderstood the important role of third parties in holding the two parties to account. The first step in correcting that failure could be to Include Mr. Starnes on the public stage with Mr. Buehler and Ms. Brown. A robust third-party presence in elections doesn't damage the two-party system, it helps complete it.

Robert Harris is co-chairman of the Independent Party of Oregon and an attorney. He lives in Hillsboro.Investigators are still piecing together what happened before a coastal California crash that killed Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their adopted children in March.

As they wait for closure, the parents of the two mothers filed paperwork to sort out their estates and get approval to sell the rural Woodland property where the couple lived with their six children.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart died with their children when their SUV plunged off an oceanside cliff. A passerby discovered the wreckage March 26. A child welfare worker had come to their Woodland home three days earlier to investigate reports the children were being neglected. Jennifer Hart, who was driving, was found to be under the influence of alcohol when the crash occurred.

Four of the children, Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, Abigail, 14, and Sierra, 12, were found near the crash site. Two of the children, Hannah, 16, and Devonte, 15, have never been found.

Detectives hope to finish their investigation into what led to their deaths by early 2019, Lt. Shannon Barney, a spokesman for the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, said Tuesday. They are waiting for results from toxicology tests and forensic reviews of the family's cell phones, he said.

Barney said law enforcement officials hope to conclude their investigation as quickly as possible, partly in the interest of transparency into the high-profile case.

"There's really no secrets," he said. "It will be full matter of public record at one point, and we're pushing to get there."

The family's new court filings acknowledge the continued uncertainty. The outcome of the investigation could affect the way their estates are divided, the documents say. California officials have said at times that it appeared to them that Jennifer Hart intentionally drove off the cliff. The women's parents are listed as their heirs, as well as their two missing children, "presumed deceased."

The court filings say the relatives believe Hannah's remains "have been discovered." Stefan Wolf, the Portland attorney representing both estates, said that refers to a partial human foot, shoe and pants leg that washed ashore near the crash site in May.

Barney confirmed that nothing has been found since then. Scientists compared DNA from the remains to samples from Hannah's biological siblings, Markis and Abigail. The results were inconclusive.

"They can't rule her out," he said, "but can't with any definitiveness say it's her."

The sheriff's office appealed for DNA from biological relatives, but no parent has stepped forward. Barney said the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which placed for the children in foster care before their adoption, doesn't have records that could identify the parents. The sheriff's office now plans to petition a Colorado County, Texas, judge to unseal their adoption case to identify Hannah's birth mother and, possibly, her father.

The Hart's three other children were also biological siblings adopted from Texas foster care.

The recent court filings say the families have petitioned for a death certificate for Devonte and that it's unlikely his body will ever be found. Barney said the sheriff's office has no plans to resume searching for the siblings unless they receive a new tip.

Devonte gained international attention in 2014 when a photo of him embracing a Portland police officer went viral. At the time, the Harts lived West Linn. They had moved to Oregon from Minnesota. The women grew up in South Dakota, moved to Minnesota after college and, while there, adopted six children from the Texas foster care system.

A history of child welfare investigations followed the family from Minnesota to Oregon to the rural Woodland homestead they purchased last year.

The California Highway Patrol is leading the criminal side of the investigation, Barney said.

He said Clark County deputies have also been helped out since they were dispatched to the home to check for the three missing children after the crash. The body of Sierra was ultimately discovered at the California coast days later. The court filings, as well as the girl's obituary, use the spelling Ciera, though Jennifer Hart spelled it Sierra in her prolific postings online.

The estate cases include death certificates for both women, with their causes of death as "pending investigation."

Barney, who also acts as the county's chief deputy coroner, signed off on the certificates five days before Sarah Hart would have turned 39.

The certificates show that autopsies were performed on both women. A contract pathologist performs autopsies and determines medical causes of death, Barney said. Investigators determine the manner of death, such as suicide or accident.

Barney said a pathologist is not done analyzing all the toxicology results. Their death certificates will be amended pending the outcome of the investigation, he said.

Mendocino County deputies have previously said toxicology tests showed Sarah Hart and at least two of their children had diphenhydramine, an active ingredient in Benadryl, in their blood. Jennifer Hart had a blood alcohol level of .102, above the legal limit of .08.

Sarah Hart's occupation is listed as retail manager on her death certificate. Her wife's occupation is listed as homemaker.

The court filings for their estates say the mortgage is not being paid on their Woodland home, valued at $380,000. The families would like to get it on the market as soon as possible, Wolf said. Sarah Hart's father, Alan Gengler, is handling the estates.

-- Molly Young

myoung@oregonian.com

@mollykyoungAn Illinois legal nonprofit has sent cease and desist letters to state and local officials threatening to sue the state of Oregon, the City of Portland and Portland Public Schools if they don't stop collecting union dues and agency fees from workers' paychecks.

The Liberty Justice Center is a conservative nonprofit that helped represent Illinois child support worker Mark Janus in his landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled in late June that public employees cannot be required to pay unions dues or fees if they opt out of membership.

The decision ended a provision in Oregon and 21 other states that required public employees to pay what's known as "fair share" or "agency" fees as a condition of their employment, even if they opted out of union membership. The fees are supposed to cover bargaining and contract administration, including handling grievances.

Lawyers from the Liberty Justice Center are now pressing their case.

The groups maintain that the court's decision means that public employers should stop collecting all union dues until employees have consented to the deduction and their membership in the union. That consent, they contend, must have been given in the time since the ruling.

"Any previous authorizations for the deduction of dues or fees that employees made before the Janus decision were based on a choice the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional: become a member and pay dues, or pay fees to a union as a nonmember," the letter read, in part. "Any 'consent' based upon that unconstitutional choice was made under duress, not freely given, and is invalid because it does not satisfy the 'clear and affirmative' consent standard established by the Supreme Court in Janus."

That interpretation flies in the face of advice that Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has been providing to state agencies.

Her office sent out an advisory after the court decision that said public employers could no longer deduct agency fees from a nonmember's wages without the employee's affirmative consent, but that employees paying the agency fees may choose to become members.

Otherwise, the advisory said, the Janus decision "does not impact any agreements to pay union dues between a union and its members to pay union dues. Existing membership cards or other agreements by union members to pay dues should continue to be honored."

The interpretation is clearly a big deal for unions. According to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, unions collected nearly $21 million in dues from 25,000 state employees who are union members, and another $5 million in fair share fees from 6,000 state workers who opted out of union membership. The state has stopped deducting fair share fees from non-members' paychecks.

"Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has been clear that 'The Janus decision does not impact any agreements to pay union dues between a union and its members," said Melissa Unger, executive director of the Service Employees International Union Local 503, which represents about 17,000 state workers.

"Anti-worker groups like the Liberty Justice Center and the Freedom Foundation will continue to target SEIU 503 and other labor unions in Oregon because they know our members have strength in numbers, and through that strength, will continue to work toward a just and vibrant society."

The nonprofit group ended its letter: "If you do not comply with this request, we are prepared to pursue litigation both to cease collection of union dues and fees and to recover dues and fees wrongfully taken from workers."

- Ted Sickinger

503-221-8505; @tedsickingerWASHINGTON  White House Counsel Don McGahn, who has led the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the judiciary while confronting turmoil in the West Wing surrounding the ongoing special counsel probe, has decided to leave the White House, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

"White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump wrote on Twitter. "I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!"

The exit of McGahn  a low-key, 50-year-old lawyer who has been a presence at Trump's side since the early days of the 2016 presidential campaign  comes at a fragile moment inside the White House amid escalating tensions between the president and the Department of Justice in recent weeks.

McGahn, who counts deep ties within Washington's legal community, has long functioned as Trump's liaison to Justice officials and Congress. He has frequently played the informal role of peacemaker, as special counsel Robert Mueller and his team have pursued interviews and documents from White House officials as part of their investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump's announcement of McGahn's departure came as a surprise, including to McGahn.

He was not aware that Trump planned to send the tweet before it posted, according to a person close to McGahn who was not authorized to speak publicly.

"He was surprised," this person said. While it had been an open secret inside the White House that McGahn planned to leave after Kavanaugh's confirmation process concludes, he had not discussed his plans directly with Trump, according to this person.

McGahn, who has told many friends that he has wearily endured countless political and legal battles, saw Trump's tweet as abrupt but typical of how the president acts - and it did not make him angry, according to two people familiar with his reaction. His reaction was, "Of course it happened this way," one person said.

McGahn's coming departure is widely seen within Trump's circle as the culmination of frustrations that have come with each new crisis that he has been forced to handle since Trump took office, from a scandal over then-national security adviser Michael Flynn's disclosure of contacts with Russian officials to the many times the president has lashed out about Mueller's probe.

Still, McGahn has often expressed a sense of accomplishment to allies despite the controversies and turbulence. As evidence of conservative success, he has pointed in particular to his efforts last year around the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and other judicial nominees later approved by the Republican-controlled Senate, as well as his work to curb federal regulations.

But McGahn's tenure has nonetheless been dominated by pressure-filled flash points that have obligated him to respond to the president's demands and deal with Trump's anger over what the president has called a "witch hunt." His decision to leave could prompt concerns among Republicans leaders about who will now be a calming and seasoned legal figure inside the Oval Office.

Since April, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has been serving as the president's lead outside attorney focused on the Russia investigation and has been combative and public in his efforts as McGahn has stayed out of sight.

McGahn, especially during the beginning of Trump's term, cautioned him about contacting Justice Department officials and even told associates he was concerned that Trump was doing so without his knowledge. The two men would have "spectacular" fights, according to a person who witnessed some of them.

When Trump sought the firing of Mueller in June 2017, McGahn threatened to resign over the proposed move, according to two people familiar with the exchange. McGahn's warning to the president was first reported by the New York Times and denied by Trump, who called it "fake news."

Republican Rep. Charlie Dent, Pennsylvania, said in an interview then that McGahn "prevented an Archibald Cox moment," referring to the special prosecutor ordered fired by President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate investigation.

In another showdown in March 2017, McGahn urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Russia probe. And last April, Trump asked McGahn to persuade then-FBI Director James Comey to announce that Trump was not personally under investigation, but Comey rejected McGahn's entreaties.

In recent months, as he has worked on the Kavanaugh confirmation, McGahn's challenges have only mounted.

Sessions has been repeatedly belittled by the president, and in the spring, the Justice Department chief told the White House he might have to leave his job if Trump fired Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation, according to people familiar with the exchange.

Sessions made his position known in a phone call with McGahn, as Trump's fury at Rosenstein peaked after the deputy attorney general approved the FBI's April 9 raid on the president's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Along with other current and former Trump aides, McGahn has met on multiple occasions with Mueller's team, for dozens of hours. Throughout that process, McGahn has had tense clashes with Trump's outside attorneys on Russia  as well as former White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who coordinated the White House's interaction with Mueller's team  questioning their cooperative strategy in the case.

As the White House Counsel's Office prepares for a revamp, Trump's outside legal team for the Russia probe is being led by Giuliani and lawyer Jay Sekulow and two former federal prosecutors. John Dowd, a veteran lawyer, resigned in March as Trump's lead attorney for the Russia investigation.

Led by Giuliani, Trump's latest legal team is taking a more antagonistic approach to the Russia investigation.

McGahn's struggles in the West Wing have not solely been related to Trump's conduct, but his own.

Earlier in the year, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and McGahn faced scrutiny over how they handled allegations of spousal abuse against Rob Porter, who resigned as staff secretary on Feb. 7.

Kelly, in a five-page memo directed to McGahn and others, later ordered changes to how security clearances are granted as part of the White House's response to continued questions about Porter, who had access to highly classified material months after the claims by his two ex-wives were reported to the FBI.

Within an administration that has had a strained relationship with the GOP, McGahn has been known on Capitol Hill and elsewhere as a totem of conservatism who was eager to remake the federal judiciary  veering each week from managing political and legal eruptions around Trump to private confabs with conservative allies and attorneys to talk through policy and nominees.

McGahn advised Trump to pick Gorsuch, then a Colorado federal appeals court judge, to fill the Supreme Court opening the new president inherited, and oversaw his confirmation. Trump came close to breaking the record for a new president having a nominee on the court so close to his inauguration.

McGahn also took a lead role in the administration's effort to transform the lower federal courts. Trump has seen 60 of his nominees already confirmed, outdistancing the totals for other presidents at similar points in their tenure. Twenty-six of Trump's confirmed nominees have been to the influential regional courts of appeals, far more than President Barack Obama was able to get confirmed early in his term. Some of those confirmed are on the list of those Trump said he will consider for the next Supreme Court opening.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has been a ready partner and has pushed aside some of the stumbling blocks available to the minority party in the Senate. McConnell said he was ready to redouble his efforts for confirmation before the midterm elections.

Trump's nominees have been overwhelmingly white and male, and critics claim it is the least diverse collection of nominees since President Ronald Reagan. But they have fit the mold favored by the conservative legal establishment: relatively young and with a strong track record of judging or legal experience that provides comfort for predicting their futures.

McGahn has worked with the conservative Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation to select the nominees. He told the Federalist Society last fall that the Trump administration would not waste the opportunity to stock the federal judiciary with judges who take an "originalist" approach to constitutional interpretation that closely follows the text of statutes and looks at the context of the law at the time when decisions were made.

"This administration's mandate on judicial selections is crystal clear: Choose judges in the mold of Justice [Antonin] Scalia, Justice [Clarence] Thomas and now Justice Gorsuch," McGahn said.

Long before Trump was seen as a viable presidential contender, McGahn, a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, became the Trump campaign's attorney, in part due to his family's ties to Trump. His uncle, Atlantic City lawyer Patrick McGahn, had represented Trump for years.

And before joining the White House, McGahn practiced law at Patton Boggs LLP and later at Jones Day and was counsel to the National Republican Congressional Committee. President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the FEC.

McGahn's personal views - known for leaning hard to the right - aligned him during the administration's first few months with then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and then-chief strategist Steve Bannon, working with them on projects to overhaul federal regulations and nominate conservatives.

When Priebus and Bannon left the White House, McGahn became close with Kelly, who has relied on McGahn for advice as he has tried to bring order to a chaotic environment.

The Washington PostIn a sedate federal courtroom Wednesday, debate swirled on whether an exterminator breached its contract with an upscale Portland restaurant and was negligent by not responding last summer to rid the establishment of spiders or had no obligation to act.

The general manager of McCormick & Schmick's Harborside Restaurant was bitten in the leg by a venomous brown recluse spider as he cleared out webs himself in August 2017, sending him to the hospital for three days due to fever and nausea. He's seeking $999,999 in damages.

Scott E. Clement claims Ecolab was at fault because it didn't respond to his calls in the summer of 2017 to address his concerns about spiders in the entry areas, awnings and outside columns and didn't send a technician to the restaurant in August as requested. He said he was injured when he tried to clear webs himself.

Ecolab countered that spiders were not the central pest it contracted to kill, was not bound to respond and doesn't guarantee that customers would never see another spider even if it had.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papak initially said he wasn't sure what defined a pest, but then agreed that spiders fit the bill.

"I don't know what constitutes a pest  a racoon might be a pest, a bear might not be,'' Papak said.

Clement's lawyer argued there was no question the company that owns the restaurant, Landry's Inc, had a contract with the Minnesota-based exterminator to attack the spiders each month during the height of Oregon's spider season in July, August and into September, starting in 2017.

Attorney John Spencer Stewart held up invoices from the monthly payments Ecolab charged the restaurant's owner for the spider treatment two months before Clement's spider bite, and during the three months this summer. He argued there was a contract in place that was violated.

"They charged extra, and we paid extra and they signed it,'' Stewart argued. "Of course it's a contract signed by both parties.''

The judge noted that the fees paid for the spider eradication services were above the monthly service fees set out in the original contract. Does that really constitute a new contract, Papak asked, "or is it just an extra?''

Stewart argued that the original contract provides for the customer to call a 1-800 Ecolab number for "other pests,'' beyond the list of "covered pests.''

"During the height of spider season, they didn't show up,'' Stewart told the court.

Ecolab's lawyer Nathan J. Marcusen said the spraying of spiders was an extra service provided beyond the contract's provisions, which identified its pest elimination services for cockroaches, mice, rats, ants and fruit flies.

For uncovered pests such as spiders, the company would receive a call and if appropriate or a technician was available, a visit to the restaurant would be made.

"Ecolab's position is that it is no different than any pest company you can find in Portland's yellow pages,'' Marcusen said. "It was not obligated to respond.''

Ecolab has asked the court to throw out the case.

"May a professional services provider be held liable in tort for not performing a professional service that it neither offered nor agreed to perform? The answer of course is no, and consequently, plaintiff's claims fail as a matter of law,'' Ecolab's lawyers wrote in their motion.

Clement's lawyer held the contract referred to any "new pests,'' and spiders became the restaurant's "target pest.''

The fact that the restaurant requested the exterminator return each month in the summer to attack the spider problem suggests that they couldn't rid the pests completely, Papak said.

"Who's to say coming last August would have made a difference?'' Papak asked. "Nobody eradicates all spiders in one month.''

The restaurant was relying on its experts to come up with a program to address its spider problem, Stewart said.

Yet Ecolab's lawyer picked up on the judge's remarks.

Even if the spider extermination was part of the restaurant's contract, "Ecolab's guarantees are not that customers will never see another pest because pests are transitory and can come in on packaging.''

The judge said he'd take the matter under advisement and issue a ruling in the near future as to whether the case can move forward.

"It's a pesty question,'' Papak noted, and the court was adjourned.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonianOregon State Police have suspended the law-enforcement credentials of the Oregon Humane Society's animal-abuse officers, pending an investigation into "serious allegations" that at least one officer mishandled evidence and used improper investigative techniques in cases involving animal abuse and neglect.

If the allegations are found to be true, its possible that scores of criminal cases against animal owners could be potentially thrown out.

In past years, the nonprofit society has employed two "special agents" -- dubbed by the organization as "animal cops" who hold all powers of full-fledged police officers. They have undergone training like other officers at the state's Department of Public Safety Standards and Training and have the authority to issues citations, arrest suspects, lodge them into jail and act as witnesses in their prosecutions.

The special agents positions have been funded entirely by donations to the Portland-based organization.

The agency currently employs one agent, said society spokeswoman Laura Klink.

The details of the allegations werent immediately available. An Aug. 10 letter from Oregon State Police to the Humane Society states only that the nonprofits employees are under investigation for alleged mishandling and improper storage of evidence and alleged improper investigative techniques.

(I)t is clear that an investigation into the law-enforcement practices of Oregon Humane Society personnel is necessary, wrote Travis Hampton, state police superintendent.

Hampton gave any special agents at the Humane Society a deadline of Wednesday to turn over their law-enforcement credentials.

Read Hampton's letter here.

The society issued this statement Wednesday:

"At the Oregon Humane Society, our Board of Directors and leadership team take concerns and complaints very seriously. Our highest priority is fostering an environment of compassion, respect and integrity. We are committed to conducting a thorough review of any complaint with the highest level of objectivity and transparency. We remain focused on our mission and continuing the life-saving work that has been part of our legacy for 150 years."

Over the years, the nonprofit's special agents have investigated an assortment of cases: dozens of cats or dogs crowded into feces-laden homes, breeders overwhelmed by the duties of caring for scores of animals, emaciated horses that have lost hundreds of pounds, animals caged and forgotten, and yet others left with untreated open sores or pus-filled masses.

According to the Humane Society, it served as a lead investigatory agency in 990 cases in 2017.

-- Aimee GreenBy Alex Pulaski | Special to The Washington Post

I didn't realize it at the time, but for one frantic, exhilarating, exhausting September minute, I impersonated an Oregon winemaker.

With a newfound friend's arms bracing me, and my wife and daughter madly clearing stems and gathering fruit below, my stomping feet released a purple rivulet of grape juice. Granted, our neophyte grape-stomping team's results proved to be predictably poor, but that fleeting sense of creation lodged its seed in my memory.

That same palpable feeling, on a much grander scale, seems to hang in the air around the fall harvest in Oregon's scenic Willamette Valley. Fulfillment and trepidation battle for ascendancy as winemakers keep one eye on the sky and another firmly fixed on the grape.

Weighty questions keep asserting themselves. How soon will it rain? When should we pick? And the biggest of all: Will this be one of those years to remember (a.k.a. lucrative seasons), especially for the region's prized pinot noirs?

The final answer - that message in a bottle - begins to reveal itself on sorting tables, in fermenting vats and engorged oak barrels. Veronique Boss-Drouhin, who has overseen three decades of Domaine Drouhin winemaking on two continents, seemed hopeful.

"Put your ear here," Drouhin gently commanded, pointing to a chardonnay barrel whose fruit had been picked nine days before.

Stopper out, head tilted, an insistent low whisper of bubbles in my ear.

"That sound?" she said. "That's life."

- - -

Oregon's wines remain far from undiscovered - a Wine Spectator cover story declared the state "an American home" for pinot noir as far back as 2012. Yet compared with the better-known wine regions further south in California - Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara - the Willamette Valley remains relatively uncrowded and unhurried.

At harvest, those two "un" words ofttimes translate to a third - unfettered access to the winemakers themselves. Interspersed with some romantic and memorable meals (such as those at the mushroom-centric Joel Palmer House in Dayton), every opened bottle tells a different story about its authors and when and how their work was captured.

On a September Saturday morning, as the sun fought past a misty rain, my wife and I took the winding drive up Parrett Mountain to the J.K. Carriere winery. Exiting our car, we immediately found owner and winemaker Jim Prosser whistling, walking and toting a shotgun.

"Robins can eat six times their weight a day in grapes," Prosser announced, answering our unasked shotgun question. He wields it to frighten the birds, nothing more.

Prosser qualifies as one of Oregon's most entertaining and talented winemakers. Open a spigot of conversation, whether in front sampling a 2015 Vespidae pinot noir or out back where the 2017 harvest has just begun to ferment, and Prosser's words flow nonstop:

"The picking decision is the single biggest decision a winemaker makes. Once you cut the grapes they don't ripen any more.

"What a vineyard represents is potential. It's not celebrity that makes a great wine - it's how close you can get to the grapes' potential.

"What you get from small wineries is a distillation in a glass of what they believe about the world."

Ask winemakers about their beliefs, their goals, their fluctuating levels of tension and relief at harvest time, and variations on the same refrain emerge.

At Domaine Roy & Fils, winemaker Jared Etzel appeared calm overseeing a production area where that day's grapes were being sorted, but said, "I always get amped for harvest."

"The first harvest day is very nerve-racking - it's like going on a first date," he said. "You don't sleep well."

At Kramer Vineyards, owner Trudy Kramer lent a hand moving tables, chairs and table settings under a veranda after the sky opened scant minutes before guests were to arrive for a harvest dinner.

"Oregon is one of the hardest places in the world to make wine because of the variability of the weather," she said. "We've picked as early as Aug. 23 to as late as Oct. 19. We just never know what is coming."

During harvest, her daughter and winemaker Kim Kramer says, "I might be kind of a perfectionist psycho but it's necessary."

Sharing the harvest with visitors, she says, completes the arc from grape to glass and sometimes creates lifelong fans.

"They come to me three years later and they want to buy that wine because they had the harvest experience," she said. "There's only so many weeks in the year when they can come and see that.

"And even though it's exhausting, we're giddy."

A few years ago, Oregon winemaker Anna Matzinger dabbled in a bit of pinot noir psychoanalysis at my behest, trying to explain to me a grapevine's motivations and how a winemaker has to anticipate and manipulate (my word, not hers) them.

Essentially, the vine's primary purpose is to propagate itself. It does so by making its fruit as rosy and sweet and aromatic as it can, to attract birds. The birds - recall Prosser's warning about robins' appetites - consume the grapes, seeds and all, and may travel miles away while the seed is moving through the digestive tract, awaiting deposit in the soil.

At harvest, while the grapes are struggling to start their own journey, wine-lovers, like the birds, descend on Oregon vineyards from all over. A harvest luncheon we attended drew visitors from as far away as Brazil, and over breakfast at the sumptuous Black Walnut Inn I found myself listening to Pedro Parra, a wine terroir consultant from Chile.

At Roco Winery, as forklifts buzzed behind grape-laden semis, I ran into Samantha Withall, beverage director at the Hamilton, a restaurant in the District. She was in the middle of a two-week harvest vacation.

"You read about winemaking, and you learn all these terms," she said. "But actually seeing all the different steps is totally different - it's a beautiful thing to watch."

There is, perhaps, no better Oregon wine country vantage point than from a second-floor balcony at the Black Walnut Inn & Vineyard. In the early morning and late afternoon, the vineyard rows and nearby Douglas firs cast long shadows over rolling hills that yield to mowed hayfields in the distance.

Time it right and you will see pickers scurrying up and down the rows. We stopped one morning at a neighboring vineyard to observe them snipping bunches, filling their plastic buckets and dumping them into bins. Speed equals money, as they are paid by the bucketful rather than by the hour.

The pace remains quick at the winery crush pads, where the grapes are unloaded, usually de-stemmed mechanically and passed along sorting tables where workers manually remove damaged fruit. But as the grapes ferment in giant vats, a waiting game begins, punctuated by persistent checks of sugar level, temperature, color, acidity - a constant vigilance against something going wrong.

During vat fermenting, workers wield what looks like an oversized plunger to punch down the dense top layer of grape skins. The skins lend the wine its color and character: Take them out and instead of a deep ruby the same pinot noir grapes produce a clear pinot gris.

A handful of wineries have stuck with the old ways for the task of punching down. That means literal legwork.

"The foot is softer than a piece of metal or plastic," Etzel of Domaine Roy & Fils told me. "Plus, you feel the temperature differences."

I can relate to that, mostly, based on the event that inaugurated our harvest experience last fall. After a couple of alternating rounds of tacos and wine at the Carlton Crush Harvest Festival, our grape-stomping team made its pedestrian debut.

Afterward, a hose stood at the ready to rinse our tired, grape-skin-littered toes. Every now and then, when I peel back my socks, I search in vain for that tinge of purple that would have labeled these as the feet of a real winemaker.

--Alex Pulaski/The Washington Post

- - -

IF YOU GO

Where to stay

Black Walnut Inn & Vineyard

9600 NE Worden Hill Rd., Dundee

866-429-4114

This recently renovated inn, surrounded by its own working vineyard, epitomizes romance and comfort. Nine rooms, each with a balcony, and many with spectacular views of vines and the Willamette Valley. Rooms from $170.

Stoller Family Estate

16161 NE McDougall Rd., Dayton

503-864-3404

Three guesthouses, from a cozy cottage to a rambling farmhouse that accommodates up to 12, put you right in the middle of a working winery and nearby farm fields. The just-renovated Wine Farm House that we stayed in blends century-old craftsman style with modern conveniences such as flat-screen TVs and a tiny wine refrigerator stocked with wines. Rates from $277 (two-night minimum, no children under 14).

Where to eat

The Joel Palmer House

600 Ferry St., Dayton

503-864-2995

Chef and owner Christopher Czarnecki's artistic creations showcase mushrooms, truffles and other seasonal Oregon fare in an elegant, romantic country house. The Oregon-centric wine list runs 600 wide and a quarter-century deep. Three courses for $59, or five for $85.

Red Hills Market

155 SW Seventh St., Dundee

971-832-8414

The word "market" doesn't really convey the wood-fired goodness - bread, pizza, sandwiches - on display in a casual, comfy but deservedly crowded setting. Plenty of craft beer, wine and cured meats and cheeses as well. Appetizers from $5, main dishes from $9.

What to do

Winemaker Dinner: Harvest Celebration

Kramer Vineyards

26830 NW Olson Rd., Gaston

503-662-4545

The caterer changes periodically, but not the lovely hilltop patio setting amid the vines. Winemaker Kim Kramer and other family members mingle with guests sampling the breadth of the winery's cellar, including library offerings such as a 2016 Cardiac Hill pinot noir. Sept. 8, 2018; cost: $125.

Winderlea Harvest Luncheon

Winderlea Vineyard and Winery

8905 NE Worden Hill Rd., Dundee

503-554-5900

Owners Bill Sweat and Donna Morris answer questions in an intimate gathering with spectacular views of the Willamette Valley. Sept. 28, 2018; cost: $65.

Carlton Crush Harvest Festival

Lower Wennerberg Park, Carlton

Wine, craft beers, food, a kids' watermelon-eating contest, live music and four-person teams stomping grapes - what could be more fun? Sept. 8, 2018. Entry and parking are free; tasting fees vary; grape stomp entry fee is $100 for a team of four.

J.K. Carriere

9995 NE Parrett Mountain Rd., Newberg

503-554-0721

Winemaker/owner Jim Prosser is simply a delight, as are his high-acid and food-friendly pinots. Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays or Monday through Thursday by appointment. Tasting flights are $10 or $20, depending on vintage.

Stoller Family Estate

16161 NE McDougall Rd., Dayton

503-864-3404

Magnificent hilltop setting cannot be beat on a sunny afternoon; emerging Chardonnays, accessible pinots and more. Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Tasting fee of $20 is waived with a two-bottle purchase.

Domaine Drouhin Oregon

6750 N.E. Breyman Orchards Rd., Dayton

503-864-2700

One of the timeless classics on the Oregon wine scene; elegant pinots and Chardonnays and a viewing deck to match. Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Tastings are $20.

Matzinger Davies

Winemaker Anna Matzinger made her bones at Archery Summit and since 2006 has reigned over a tiny winery with big expectations. Tastings are by appointment only, but wines can be purchased at the Rex Hill winery tasting room (30835 N. Hwy. 99W, Newberg), open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Archer Vineyard

32230 NE Old Parrett Mountain Rd., Newberg

503-702-0537

Old vines and bold wines, and about as close as you can get to wine country from Portland. Owner Saj Jivanjee, an architect by trade, says he wants his wines to connect people. Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Wednesdays. Tastings are $15, waived with a two-bottle purchase.

Domaine Roy & Fils

8351 NE Worden Hill Rd., Dundee

503-687-2600

Beautiful Dundee Hills location and an impeccable winemaking pedigree, from the sons of the founders of the Beaux Freres winery. Tasting room open daily by appointment. Tastings are $25, waived with a one-bottle purchase.

Roco Winery

13260 NE Red Hills Rd., Newberg

503-538-7625

The dynamic winemaking duo of Rollin (Argyle Winery's founding winemaker) and Corby (former co-owner of Panther Creek) Soles have melded their first names and talents into Roco, home to distinctive sparkling wine, chardonnay and pinot noir. Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Tastings are $15 or $20, based on the vintage, and waived with a three-bottle purchase.

L'Angolo Estate

18830 NE Williamson Rd., Newberg

503-538-7953

Upstart family-run operation brought its first harvest in during 2015, but if that pinot noir is any indication, expect big happenings on the horizon. Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday-Monday or by appointment. Tastings are $20, waived with a two-bottle purchase.

InformationITC will be conducting its semi-annual aerial patrols of high-voltage transmission towers and lines in east Michigan from about Thursday to Sept. 7, weather permitting.

The helicopter patrols are conducted to provide an overall status of the overhead transmission system that is operated by ITC's Michigan operating entities, ITCTransmission and Michigan Electric Transmission Co. LLC.The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation Business and Education Partnership will host its annual Business and Education Fall Forum on Sept. 18. Roger Curtis, director of Michigan's Talent and Economic Development, will be the featured speaker. The event will be held at Saginaw Valley State University with registration at 11 a.m. and the program at 11:30 p.m., including lunch.

"The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce is excited to welcome Roger Curtis," said Lindsay Rotarius, Bay Area Chamber of Commerce's director of education. "We feel his realization that collaborative needs between business and education is crucial to filling the talent gaps our community is currently facing."The Great Lakes Bay Caregivers Retreat will host a free retreat for family caregivers from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at Bay Valley Christian Church, 2535 Wilder Road in Bay City.

Sign-in begins at 8 a.m. The free retreat seeks to honor those who provide compassionate care to a loved one or friend. Attendees will enjoy complimentary breakfast and lunch as well as guest speaker Becky Barror, make and take sessions, and an array of local vendors. Complimentary respite will be provided for the day by Bayfield Assisted Living.Runners and walkers of all skill levels are invited to participate in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics on Sept. 13 in Midland.

This community event will start at 5:30 p.m. and is not a race, but a leisurely run or walk. The purpose is to bring people together for the purpose of raising funds and awareness for the more than 27,000 Special Olympics athletes in Michigan.Ooma Office is a solid business-class voice over IP (VoIP) that starts at $19.95 per user per month. It's very easy to use and even includes support for old-style analog telephone handsets along with most of the other features you'd expect from a cloud-enabled PBX. However, it does have some feature skips and there are some setup idiosyncrasies as well, which is what keep it behind our Editors' Choice winners in this category, RingCentral Office and Intermedia Unite. Still, for small businesses who want to get up and running fast, Ooma is well worth a close look.

Overview and Pricing

In this latest round of testing, we found that Ooma Office is trying to step up their game to appeal to more than just small businesses. Even so, they still represent one of the better options for the small to midsized business (SMB) audience. An important aspect of this focus is when you receive a phone from Ooma and plug it in it just works -- but you need to receive that phone pre-configured from Ooma for that experience. Still, while the company prefers that you get your phone from Ooma, it does now have a process for using other VoIP phones should you want to do that. We chose the optimal experience route and received a Yealink T48S from Ooma, which is a full-featured handset that, as promised, simply worked the first time we powered it up.

On the downside, we found the Ooma Office product noticeably lacking in features when compared to most of the other products, even including other small business-focused players, like 8X8 X Series and DialPad. The Microsoft Windows 10 desktop client is still pretty basic with only the ability to make and receive calls or listen to voicemail. However, like any tech company, Ooma is constantly adding to its feature set. Since we reviewed it here, Ooma Office has enabled SMS messaging, and also has capabilities like a video conferencing feature, called Meetings, though we weren't able to test it as part of this review.

Pricing for the basic Ooma service starts out at $19.95 per user per month with no contract required. The next level up is called Ooma Office Pro and costs $24.95 per user per month. Ooma Enterprise costs $24.99 per month per user and adds instant messaging with presence, the above-mentioned video conferencing, application integration, and service level agreements on top of the Office Pro offering. Full call center functionality will run you $74.99 per user per month for a fully PCI compliant system.

User Experience

Basic calling is the primary focus of the current Ooma Office offering. Making a call from the desktop or mobile app looks essentially the same. On a mobile device you have direct access to your personal contacts stored on the phone. Unlike 8x8, Dialpad, or Vonage Business Cloud, contacts on the desktop do not currently sync with any external system such as Google G Suite or Microsoft Outlook. This feature is planned for a release in early next year.

Ooma supports calling over Wi-Fi and includes a Wi-Fi adapter that the company provided for the handset we tested. This feature should appeal both to smaller offices with a heavy dependency on wireless networking as well as all the home offices being created due to the pandemic, most of which run exclusively over Wi-Fi. Additionally, Ooma was also the only product we tested with a way to use existing analog handsets. This requires an analog adapter which connects the analog phone to an Ooma Base Station. The number of base stations you can have running has been expanded since our last review and now has no limit. The Ooma Phone Business Starter Pack comes with a single Ooma Office base station plus two wireless extensions for $129.97.

One noteworthy feature of Ooma Office is the DECT 6.0 wireless radio built into the Ooma Base Station. The company offers a package with two Ooma Linx devices that have analog standard RJ-11 ports or you can buy the base station without Linx if you have no plans to use them. By plugging the Ooma Linx peripherals into any power outlet, customers can connect one analog phone or even cordless phone systems that support multiple phones connecting to that line.

Another worthwhile mention from a user experience perspective is that Ooma supports the ability to flip a call from one supported end point to another. Flipping a call to another device is as simple as dialing *44 on the device you are currently using. all other devices sharing the same Ooma phone number will then ring. Answer on another device and your conversation will be switched. This feature is supported on all Ooma-compatible devices. including both analog and VoIP phones plus the Ooma Office mobile app, which supports either Apple iOS or Google Android.

System Administration

Oomas administration features provide that same basic experience found in the desktop app. The administrators dashboard shows call and virtual fax logs plus a few buttons for quick access functions. Ooma has gone the extra mile when it comes to blocking spam calls. An arrangement with NoMoRobo blocks known spam robo callers before you even get a ring. The system can also be configured to block anonymous calls or any number on the company block list.

A Virtual Receptionist feature makes it possible to configure a simplified interactive voice response system. The Virtual Receptionist is a bit synthetic-sounding but adequate, and offers you the choice of a male or female voice. Remember to include commas for pauses in your script for a more natural greeting. If you prefer that your callers are greeted with a human voice, then you can prerecord and upload it. In either case, the Virtual Receptionist greeting is easy to set up and change at any time.

An automated setup process walks you through the steps required to get this working the first time. Ooma Office supports a multi-level capability where incoming calls can be directed to a second level with further instructions pertinent to a specific department. The setup process also walks you through the actions required to configure company work hours and default actions based on time of day plus weekends and holidays.

Reporting features are also limited. Ooma Office will give you a list of calls and virtual faxes in a tabular list which can be filtered by internal calls or by a specific date range. Thats about it when it comes to reporting. Additional reporting capabilities are scheduled to be released in early 2021. This could be an issue for larger organizations looking to glean more information from their calling data.

Key Features

In addition to the features already noted, Ooma Office offers on-hold music, call transfer, extension-by-extension dialing, call reports, and the ability to create call routing rules based on defined business hours. Despite lacking the extra features that its rivals offeroften at a higher pricethe limited options appear to be translating into fewer potential issues to rattle customers. Perhaps that's why Ooma Office regularly tops PCMag's Business Choice Awards.

Ooma offers a service called Ooma Connect to provide a wireless hotspot for small remote offices that might not otherwise have that capability. This add-on functions over an LTE Advanced network with up to 600 Mbps in optimal conditions.

The If-This-Then-That (ifttt.com) website does have a section for integration with many Ooma functions such as getting notifications of an incoming call on an Apple Watch or Android Wear device. A number of other integrations were specifically created for the Ooma home-oriented product, but should work with Ooma Office as well.

A Good Choice If It Fulfills Your Needs

Overall, while Ooma Office does have some appealing features and capabilities, it lacks many others found in most every other product in this roundup. The no-contract feature could appeal to some customers, but the price significantly different from even the basic Vonage package. What this means is that you should evaluate both your voice-related workflows and Ooma's capabilities carefully before making a final choice. If the two match up, this can be a very cost-effective and easy path to VoIP communications.

Ooma Office 3.5 Check Price Pros Flexible product with no fixed contract

Basic mobile and desktop apps

Support for existing analog phones

Easy to use View More Cons Limited reporting capabilities

Phones must be configured by Ooma The Bottom Line Many small businesses will be attracted to Ooma Office because it's available without a contract and has most of the features you'll need out of a business phone system. Just be aware that you may outgrow its capabilities fairly quickly.Merrill's Marauder's Reunion

Memorabilia from the famed WWII Army unit Merrill's Marauders is is displayed on a table during a gathering of remaining members, family and history buffs, in New Orleans, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018.

(AP Photo / Gerald Herbert)

NEW ORLEANS -- It's the last reunion for members of the famed U.S. Army jungle fighters called "Merrill's Marauders ." Three thousand volunteered for a dangerous secret mission during World War II -- a mission so secret they weren't told even where they were going.

They hacked their way through nearly 1,000 miles (1600 kilometers) of jungle behind enemy lines in Myanmar, then called Burma, fighting in five major and 30 minor actions against veteran Japanese troops.

"This is the last of the outfit," said David Allen of Rock Hill, South Carolina.

He's among 13 of the original volunteers still alive. Five are in New Orleans this week, along with three men who joined the unit as replacements or were at its final battle to take an airfield held by the Japanese.

Gilbert Howland, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, one of the few remaining members of the famed WWII Army unit Merrill's Marauders, poses for a portrait with a plaque bearing a photo of his younger self, during a gathering of remaining members, family and history buffs, in New Orleans, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018.

With the veterans are more than 90 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

They filled a meeting room Tuesday at a New Orleans hotel, gathering at round tables to reminisce and look at small black-and-white photos, articles about the campaign and their old reunions. Children and other descendants were collecting autographs and listening to memories.

It was the first reunion for Ethan Glen Byrne, 15, of Hamilton, Alabama, and his grandfather Rick Lowe, whose father was a Marauder.

Lowe was in his teens when his father, Delbert P. Lowe, died. He began researching Merrill's Marauders several years ago and learned about the reunions.

He came because it was the last. "I wanted to honor my dad," he said.

The unit won a Presidential Unit Citation, six Distinguished Service Crosses, four Legions of Merit, 44 Silver Stars and a Bronze Star for every man in the regiment.

Their shoulder patch was adopted by the 1st Battalion of the 75th Infantry Ranger Regiment. And their families are pushing a pair of bills to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Merrill's Marauders.

A war correspondent created the nickname, after Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill, because the formal name was a mouthful, according to the 2013 history "Merrill's Marauders: The Untold Story of Unit Galahad and the Toughest Special Forces Mission of World War II."

The men of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) were a thoroughly mixed bag. Some were seasoned jungle fighters. Others were city boys without much service. Still others, some of them joining when the unit was training in India, were like the "Dirty Dozen," leaving the stockade for danger and a pardon. Allen said he was a "college playboy" when he was drafted.

READ MORE: Son wasn't writing from WWII, so mom tattled to Eleanor Roosevelt: Snapshots of Heroes

Robert "Bob" Passanisi, 94, of Lindenhurst, New York, said patriotism and family solidarity were his reasons for volunteering. He had two brothers serving in Europe.

"I somehow felt that me doing my part would relieve my brothers," he said Tuesday.

Gilbert H. Howland, 95, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, said he was among 124 volunteers out of 500 gathered in a Puerto Rico stadium. "These guys were my buddies," he said. "I didn't want to be with any strange unit."

Marcos M. Barelas, 96, then a private and a machine-gun operator, was pragmatic: "If I had to go, I may as well go now."

With mules and horses to carry 70-pound (32-kilogram) radios and airdropped supplies, they also had muleskinners and others to care for the animals. Lester Hollenbeck, 96, of Deltona, Florida, shod them. "Mules sometimes were ornery," he said. "We sometimes had to throw 'em down on their side to put shoes on them."

He signed autographs Tuesday with a pen made from a 50-caliber bullet.

During the six-month campaign in 1944, malaria, amoebic dysentery and other tropical diseases took down five times as many members as bullets and shrapnel, which wounded 293 and killed 93. When they reached the airfield at Myitkyina (MITCH-ih-nuh), fewer than 500 were in shape to fight.

Howland and Passanisi both said they were hospitalized -- Howland with shrapnel wounds and Passanisi with malaria -- when the Marauders took the airport, but were shipped back with other just-discharged "walking wounded" to help hold it.

The reunions may be over, but not the closeness, said Linda Rose Burchett of Hampton, Virginia. She said her father, who died in 2003, attended every reunion from 1949 through 2003. Burchett and her daughter, Lara Watson, 32, of Rockville, Virginia, also have attended steadily, starting as babies.

"These men have seen me grow up," she said. "They are my family. Absolutely. They were my dad's family. Absolutely. But through social media now we're all going to remain connected to honor our fathers."

--

Janet McConnaughey of the Associated Press wrote this story.Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

With only two, confirmed debates on the books for this November's closely watched U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey is taking fire for refusing to debate GOP challenger Lou Barletta on their shared home turf in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Because of an abbreviated August recess and a busy fall voting schedule, Casey, of Scranton, agreed to just a pair of televised debates in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia this fall, taking a pass on debate invites in central Pa. and the great northeast.

In an email,

Barletta's

spokesman,

Matthew Beynon

, criticized

Casey

for the debate dodge-em, saying he could "

understand why Casey would not want to put his record to scrutiny in Scranton in particular.

"The Casey family is proudly known for being stalwart pro-life champions, yet Bob Casey has a 100 percent pro-choice record. Northeast Pennsylvania is the home to hardworking blue-collar families, yet Bob Casey, Jr. has abandoned American workers by supporting massive tax increases

and defending sanctuary cities,

" Beynon said.

It didn't end there.

In an email blast to political reporters, the state Republican Party piled on, whacking Casey for the shortened debate schedule, accusing him of "hiding" from Barletta this fall.

"The fact that Bob Casey is hiding from a debate in his hometown market of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is even more telling since he has turned his back on the region's values and people by voting in lock-step with the liberal-progressive leaders in Washington," Jason Gottesman, a spokesman for the state party, said. "Why is Casey afraid to face his friends and neighbors?"

Casey's spokesman, Max Steele, fired back by calling out Barletta, a GOP congressman from northeastern Pennsylvania's 11th District, for refusing to debate his spring primary challenger, state Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver.

"The same Congressman Barletta who refused to debate his primary opponent is now whining that two statewide debates are not enough," Steele said. "The Casey campaign intends to follow precedent and participate in two debates that will be televised statewide -- one in Pittsburgh and one in Philadelphia. We look forward to the opportunity to discuss what is at stake for Pennsylvania families in this election and the clear contrast between the candidates."

As a matter of full disclosure, Casey declined a debate invitation from PennLive/The Patriot-News and our broadcast partner CBS-21 in Harrisburg for an event in Harrisburg this fall. And, citing the heavy Senate schedule, Casey's campaign also turned down an invitation from WVIA-TV in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market.

But Casey isn't the only Democratic incumbent with a light debate schedule this fall.

Gov. Tom Wolf's re-election campaign has agreed to just one debate in Hershey this fall. The debate between Wolf and GOP challenger Scott Wagner, will be held during the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's fall dinner and it'll be moderated by "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek.

We'll take "Softball Questions" for $500, please.

As a matter of additional full disclosure, Wolf's campaign similarly declined a debate invitation from PennLive/The Patriot-News and CBS-21 for an event in Harrisburg this fall.

Unlike Casey, who's at least keeping with tradition, Wolf is breaking from a longtime precedent of a debate in each of the state's three, major media markets.

And our own interests aside, that's more than a little ridiculous. And the hyperbolic salvoes between the warring Senate and gubernatorial campaigns also mask a deeper truth, one that Beynon touched on in his own statement.

And that's this: Voters in each of the state's major media markets deserve to see their elected officials debate the issues of the day. And thanks to such cable outlets as PCN and streaming options on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, it's possible for voters who live outside the Big Three to see them in action as well.

Three debates doesn't seem like a whole lot to ask of the Democratic incumbents. They owe the voters that much. And there's still enough time left before Election Day for them to bend their schedules to make it work.

And they should make that happen.

The rest of the day's news starts now.

Former state Treasurer Rob McCord was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison on Tuesday in connection for shaking down donors to his 2014 gubernatorial campaign. The Inquirer is among those who have the story.

In a CNN interview, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the Vatican knew about the Pa. cover-up of abusive priests.

Gov. Tom Wolf is set to visit Puerto Rico to survey storm damage and to build ties with the U.S. territory, PennLive's Jan Murphy reports.

Federal prosecutors will drop five of 47 charges against former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski for insufficient evidence ahead of his sentencing, The Morning Call reports.

City officials in Pittsburgh are investigating an incident between a city police officer and shooting survivor Leon Ford, The Incline reports.

Here's your #Harrisburg Instagram of the Day:

PlanPhilly brings you a day in the life of Philadelphia - and the people who make it go.

Local governments aren't waiting for states to raise the smoking age, Stateline.org reports.

One way or another, Arizona will send its first woman to the U.S. Senate this fall, Politico reports.

Republican Ron DeSantis, who has the backing of President Donald Trump, won Florida's GOP gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, Roll Call reports.

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition).

5 p.m.: Reception for 10th CD candidate George Scott.

5:30 p.m.: Reception for Pa. House candidate Natalie Mihalek.

Ride the circuit, give at the max, and you're out a mere $4,500 today.

Heavy Rotation.

Here's a lovely tune from the great Chris Isaak to get your day rolling.

And now you're up to date.The deaths Sunday of a married couple in northern Pennsylvania has been confirmed by police as a violent, bloody murder-suicide.

As WNEP reports, Daniel Arangio, 58, of Exeter Township, Luzerne County, killed his wife, Valerie Arangio, 47, by striking her in the head with an ax, police say.

He then killed himself, dying of what police say was a self-inflicted stab wound.

However, police did not specify any motive in the violent case.

The couple's bloodied bodies were discovered inside their home around 2 p.m. Sunday, shocking neighbors.

Those neighbors tell WNEP the couple stayed to themselves, and nobody in the neighborhood seemed to know them all that well. For more details or video on the story, go here.It's a whodunit with a particularly scaly twist: A pet shop in Wilkes-Barre was burglarized this week and now a bevy of educational alligators and rare lizards are missing after the break-in.

"Stealing my alligators really makes me upset," pet store owner Cameron English told the Citizens Voice. "I've been rescuing 'gators and crocodiles for quite a few years now. I've never paid for one, and I use them for educational purposes. So I get very, very close to them."

In all, three 18-month American alligators; a marbled gecko; a Nile monitor; two savannah monitors; and a 4-foot-long Argentine black and white tegu named Max are missing from the store, CDE Exotics.

The break-in was discovered shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday. The store's glass front door had been smashed.

As English frantically checked on his cold-blooded creatures, he thought an emerald tree monitor and a red-footed tortoise named Boulder were among those prized reptiles taken. Alas, they were later found safe, the Citizens Voice reports:

"Boulder was found, thank God," English told the newspaper. "Boulder was just hiding in a really good spot."

Anyone with information on the break-in is asked to call police at 570-825-1254.A Wegmans shopper in Pittsford, N.Y., got a slithery surprise in her shopping cart Monday as a snake somehow got tangled up in the produce.

As our sister website, Syracuse.com reports, shopper Laura Walitsky wrote on Facebook that her daughter suddenly noticed the reptile in their shopping cart as they perused the produce section for broccoli, grapes and peaches.

"Uh, Mom, there's a snake on the cart," her daughter suddenly remarked, according to the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper, which first reported the story:

Walitsky, who lives in Pittsford, told the Rochester newspaper that the small reptile had wrapped itself around the bottom of her shopping cart. She calmly took the cart outside the store and asked her daughter to tell customer service about the issue; a Helping Hands employee in the parking lot also quickly ran to get manager.

It's unclear how the snake ended up in the store or Walitsky's cart.

The cold-blooded creature was identified as a milk snake (perhaps it should have been in the dairy aisle then.) They are one of the most common species in New York. They're non-venomous and non-aggressive, and can found be near barns and other buildings as they prefer to eat mice.

Wegmans spokesperson Valerie Fox told the D&C that it "was an isolated incident." A store employee removed the snake from the cart and placed it in a wooded area near the store.Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in the early morning hours of Aug. 29, 2005.

Katrina, a category 3 storm when it landed in Louisiana, was 400 miles wide and had winds of 100 mph to 140 mph.

The damage was extensive - 85 percent of New Orleans, La., was under water after the levee system failed.

The day before the storm arrived, the mayor of New Orleans had issued the city's first-ever mandatory evacuation order. The Superdome was designated as a "shelter of last resort." More than 10,000 people sought shelter there.

Still, tens of thousands of people chose to remain in their homes.

Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed and more than 1,800 people died.

Katrina also did substantial damage in Mississippi and Alabama.

Hundreds of thousands of people who had been evacuated scattered around the United States to resettle and never returned.

The damage estimate from the storm topped $100 billion. According to FEMA, Katrina was "the costliest hurricane in U.S. history."Officials are working to identify a body found in the Corodus Creek Tuesday afternoon, according to multiple media reports.

A canoeing family came across the body in the creek in the Starview area of East Mancaster Township, the York Dispatch reported.

The Northeastern Regional Police Chief told media at the scene including the York Daily Record that the call came in around 1 p.m. Tuesday. He also said an autopsy must be done to determine the person's identity and the cause of death due to the amount of decomposition.

Anyone who may have information about the body or incident are asked to call Northeastern Regional Police at 717-266-6195, or call 911.Four environmental groups have notified the owners of an area coal-fired power plant of their intent to sue over what they say are toxic pollutants leaking into the Susquehanna River.

The Washington D.C. based Environmental Integrity Project made the announcement today, saying these pollutants are leaking from the Brunner Island Power Plant's coal ash landfills and into the waterways.

The plant is located on an island in the Susquehanna River in York Haven, about 20 miles southeast of Harrisburg.

"The Susquehanna River is critically important to the people of Pennsylvania -- for drinking water, fishing and boating, and for agriculture -- and the owners of the Brunner Island plant need to stop contaminating this public resource," said Ted Evgeniadis of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, another group involved with the intent to sue. "They must be held accountable to clean up these coal ash basins not sometime in the future, but right now."

Along with Waterkeeper Alliance and PennEnvironment, the four groups notified Talen Energy Corporation today of their intent to sue for violations of the federal Clean Water Act at Brunner Island.

They say a sampling of ground and surface water around the plant showed high levels of toxic metals and other pollutants that could only be explained by leakage from the coal ash dumps.

The groups state the plant's industrial waste ponds are not lined to prevent leaking and its coal waste landfill liner is not working. If there's a breach, it could mean three million tons of ash going into the river.

"The pollution released by coal plants such as the Brunner Island power plant has real consequences for communities, both in terms of their health and their ability to use their waterways," said Larissa Liebmann, staff attorney for Waterkeeper Alliance. "People have a right to drink their water and fish and swim in their river without fear of dangerous coal ash contamination."

The groups state Talen Energy will have 60 days to address the violations it is accused of in the notice, after which point, they will file a lawsuit.

Brunner Island was fined $25,000 earlier this year for a discharge that killed 12,000 fish.Today is move-in day for more than 630 first-year students at Dickinson College in Carlisle.

Upper-level students, including resident advisors, first-year mentors and athletes assist students with moving belongings to their residence halls.

The class of 2022 students are residents of 29 states, the District of Columbia and 24 foreign countries.

Volunteers also showcased the college's focus on sustainability by helping families sort packaging and items from the move-in that can be reused, recycled or composted in an attempt to divert as much waste as possible from landfills.Update

The Wolf Administration has imposed a lockdown at all of its state prisons in the wake of a series of incidents - including one today in neighboring Ohio - that have left numerous staff members sickened this summer.

State Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said the lockdown - including a suspension of all inmate visits - will apply immediately to all state correctional institutions.

Corrections Department mailrooms will be closed to the processing of all "non-legal" mail, and all prison staffers will be required to use gloves and other personal protective equipment.

Wetzel announced the measure in the wake of news accounts Wednesday that about 20 staffers and inmates at a prison in Ohio were being treated for overdose-type and other symptoms.

Since the beginning of August, 18 staff members at three Pennsylvania institutions in western Pennsylvania were similarly sickened by exposure to an unknown substance.

Pennsylvania State Police is currently conducting testing on samples of the substances to determine their identity.

"The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern," Secretary Wetzel said.

"Our state prisons, especially those in the western part of the state, have experienced recent incidents in which employees have been sickened and we need to get to the bottom of this issue now."A New Jersey man's attempt to drive into two troopers justified the troopers shooting at him, Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman announced Tuesday.

John Anderson, 55, was in the middle of a lengthy police chase during the early morning hours of April 27 when police said he drove at two troopers, who responded by shooting at Anderson. Anderson was not hit in the shooting, but eventually crashed before being taken into custody.

The incident began with Manheim Township Police around 11:56 p.m. on April 27, because Anderson failed to stop when police activated their lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop, police said.

MTPD ended their pursuit for safety reasons, but shortly after Anderson's vehicle was seen driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

West Lampeter Township police attempted to stop Anderson, but he fled at a high speed and a second pursuit ensued around 12:24 a.m., police said.

Southern Regional Police and Pennsylvania State Police assisting in following Anders for miles, including into the area of Route 324 to West View Road, then Bridge Valley Road, according to police.

Troopers were partially blocking the road with their cruiser on Bridge Valley Road because they wanted to lay down stop sticks, police said.

Instead, Anderson arrived before they could, so Troopers Chad Dohner and Nicholas Ciatto entered the road to make contact with him because he appeared to be slowing down, police said.

The troopers could clearly see Anderson, and when Anderson "presumably" saw the troopers, he accelerated his vehicle at a high speed toward them, police said.

Both troopers were in danger and in fear for their lives, as well as the lives of civilians in the area, police said. They fired their weapons and hit the vehicle several times.

Anderson was not hit and was able to evade capture, traveling onto River Road where he eventually crashed.

Anderson was not injured in the crash, police said, but he was detained.

DA Stedman said Tuesday that the troopers were justified in shooting at Anderson because Anderson attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon and run into two troopers as they were trying to use nonlethal methods to end the pursuit.

He also said Anderson engaged in two high speed chases in multiple jurisdictions before the troopers fired any shots.

Stedman and investigators believe Anderson would have continued if he had not crashed.

Anderson was charged with misdemeanor fleeing and eluding and reckless endangerment, felony aggravated assault and fleeing and eluding and multiple traffic offenses.Guest commentary: Keep your eyes on the water

How community members can aid Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council in identifying water quality issues in the area6.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Hoping to deflect from todays incredible news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a grand jury to look into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia, the president whined about Hillary Clintons emails during a rally in West Virginia.

During the good old fashioned Trump tantrum, the president called the Russia investigation a fabrication, apparently missing todays stunning development.

Video:

Pres. Trump: What the prosecutors should be looking at are Hillary Clintons 33,000 deleted emails. https://t.co/rGBQ4UvDI6 pic.twitter.com/VjGB2Spk4H  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 3, 2017

Trump whined:

The Russia story is a total fabrication. Its just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics, thats all it is. It just makes them feel better when they have nothing else to talk about. What the prosecutors should be looking at are Hillary Clintons 33,000 deleted emails.

The president can shove his head in the sand and surround himself by his die-hard supporters all he wants, but the Russia story is not a fabrication and nobody cares about Hillary Clintons emails.

What Americans do care about is the fact that the man occupying the Oval Office may have coordinated with a foreign adversary to undermine Americas democratic process  and now he and his administration are working tirelessly to cover it up and throw as many wrenches as possible into the investigation.

Not to mention the fact that grand juries arent just assembled on a whim. Robert Mueller isnt impaneling one for his own amusement, as Congressman Ted Lieu tweeted on Thursday.

You dont impanel a grand jury if you only have smoke. Mueller must be seeing fire. @realDonaldTrump and/or his associates in bigly trouble. https://t.co/psPwRKK4q6  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 3, 2017

It was clear by Trumps performance on Thursday that he is panicking and desperate to change the subject. Its no surprise that he chose to do that in West Virginia, one of the few remaining places in the country that believes the lies Trump repeatedly spews.

In the real world, though, Trump is fully engulfed in the blaze of the increasingly explosive Russia investigation, and all he has are some worn out campaign talking points.- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."441 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters)  Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump have asked a federal judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by adult film actress Stormy Daniels, calling it an attempt to suppress the presidents free speech.

In a motion filed on Monday in Los Angeles federal court, Trumps lawyers also said that Daniels, who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and was threatened to keep quiet about it, had actually benefited from the attention brought by her dispute with the president.

Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, called the motion baseless and desperate.

Daniels lawsuit, filed on April 30, centers on her account of being accosted by a man in a Las Vegas parking lot soon after she had agreed in May 2011 to talk about her alleged encounter with Trump to In Touch magazine.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said the man told her to leave Trump alone and, after looking at her infant daughter, said: Thats a beautiful little girl. Itd be a shame if something happened to her mom.

On April 17, Avenatti released a composite sketch purporting to depict the man.

Trump, who has denied having an affair with Daniels, responded the next day on Twitter: A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!

Daniels said the tweet was defamatory.

In Mondays motion, Trumps lawyers said the lawsuit was designed to chill the presidents free speech rights on matters of public concern. They cited a law in Daniels home state of Texas requiring that such a lawsuit be dismissed unless Daniels could provide clear and specific evidence for her claims, which they said she had failed to do.

They also said that Daniels had not been harmed, and had instead capitalized on the dispute with a nationwide tour of strip clubs for which she admittedly is being paid at least four times her normal appearance fee.

Trumps longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty last week to violating federal election law by paying Daniels $130,000 not to disclose information that would be harmful to Trump.

The White House denied any wrongdoing by the president after the plea, and Trump said on Twitter that Cohen made up stories to get a deal with prosecutors.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)By Steve Gorman

(Reuters)  The official death toll on Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, the most powerful storm to strike the Caribbean island in almost a century, was raised on Tuesday from just 64 to nearly 3,000, based on a study ordered by the governor of the U.S. territory.

The report found that an estimated 2,975 deaths could be attributed directly or indirectly to Maria from the time it struck in September 2017 to mid-February of this year. The figure was derived from comparisons between predicted mortality under normal circumstances and deaths documented after the storm. (Study: https://bit.ly/2wwqEqF)

The emergency response to Maria became highly politicized as the Trump administration was criticized as being slow to recognize the gravity of the devastation and too sluggish in providing disaster relief to Puerto Rico, an island of more than 3 million residents.

The study, conducted by George Washington Universitys Milken Institute School of Public Health and released Tuesday, also found that the risk of death from the hurricane was substantially higher for poor people and elderly men.

Researchers said they adjusted for various factors that could account for fluctuations in mortality, most notably the population flux from some 241,000 residents who fled the island in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

The second phase of the study will examine causes and contributing factors behind the deaths, said Carlos Santos-Burgoa, a professor of global health who was the lead investigator of the study.

Nevertheless, Santos-Burgoa said the high death toll, ranking Maria among the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, was evidence that we lack a culture of preparedness. He also said that financial instability and a fragile infrastructure made Puerto Rico especially vulnerable to such calamities.

The report was conducted in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Health and was commissioned by Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello.

Speaking at a news conference from in Puerto Ricos capital, San Juan, Rossello said his government was adopting the findings as the official account of human life lost in the disaster.

Even though it is an estimate, we are officially changing, we are putting an official number to the death toll, he said. We will take the 2,975 number as the official estimate for the excess deaths as a product of the hurricane.

A study in May from a Harvard University-led research team estimated 4,645 lives were lost from Maria on Puerto Rico, and a Pennsylvania State University study put the number at 1,085.

The Harvard study was based on extrapolations from random surveys of about 3,300 households, with a wide margin of error.

Penn State researchers used a methodology similar to the GW University study but made comparisons with a smaller set of historical data and did not account for demographic and populations changes in the same way, Santos-Burgoa told Reuters.

The storm made landfall on Puerto Rico with winds close to 150 miles per hour (241 km per hour) on Sept. 17 and plowed a path of destruction across the island, causing property damage estimated at $90 billion and leaving much of the island without electricity for months.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York and Karen Piergo in Chicago; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)9.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Rachel Maddow dove deep into the Russian organized crime element to the Russia scandal and showed how Trump and Congressional Republicans are targeting law enforcement officials who battle Russian organized crime.

Video:

Rachel Maddow dove deep into the Russian organized crime element to the Russia scandal and showed how Trump and Congressional Republicans are targeting law enforcement officials who battle Russian organized crime. https://t.co/lsO1WQub7w #Maddow pic.twitter.com/t3ImTPXKPq  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 29, 2018

Maddow said:

It has a Russian organized crime element to it. And now the president mulls pardoning Paul Manafort. As the president openly mulls firing the attorney general of the United States in the midst of the Manafort prosecution as a way to make the Russia investigation all go away, today, Republicans in Congress spent the entire day going after that justice department official Ive been talking about. That specific official who started with the El Feo case and the drug gangs in the Bronx. Who rose to become the head of organized crime and racketeering at the justice department. Who became the Justice Departments expert on Russian organized crime.

The guy who indicted the head of the Russian mafia. The guy who became the Justice Departments lead counsel for transnational organized crime and international affairs. The guy who had been part of the team banned Paul Manaforts patron and business partner, Oleg Deripaska from doing business with the United States on his alleged ties to organized crime in Russia. That justice department official. That guy. Is named Bruce Ohr. And he is the object of conspiracy theories and condemnation on right-wing media on a 24-hour loop.

And today, pro trump Republican members of Congress summoned Bruce Ohr to testify behind closed doors before two Republican-led committees and then they immediately went out to the cameras to talk to report betters how Bruce Ohr was a liar and to accuse him of being the rot at the heart of the Mueller investigation and the Russia scandal more broadly. The New York Times this weekend profiled his long history in leading American law enforcement efforts against Russian organized crime. There is a Russian organized crime element to the Russia scandal. Today House Republicans literally came back early from summer vacation to spend the day trying to destroy Bruce Ohr. And today they are trying the take out one of Americas top experts on organized crime.

And I dont know exactly what these targeted attacks by the White House and Congressional Republicans will ultimately do to the capabilities of the justice department and the FBI when it comes to fighting things like Russian intelligence operations in the United States and Russian organized crime and Russian money laundering through American real estate. But you can imagine how satisfying a day like today must have been for Semion Mogilevich. You can imagine how delightful that was for the Russian mafia. You can imagine how nice a day it must have been when viewed from the perspective of the Kremlin.

Russian Organized Crime Is In The Shadows Of The Trump Scandal

A group of American criminals who couldnt get banks in the United States to loan them money, including the current president, somehow were able to get funds from Russia. One of the great underexplored questions that are slowly unfolding through investigations and trials is where the money came from, and what is being publicly exposed is that the cash came from sources with ties to Russian organized crime.

Congressional Republicans have been making trips to Russia, and now they are targeting US Russian organized crime fighters

It could all be a big coincidence that Congressional Republicans have been blazing a trail to Moscow, and now they are targeting US experts and Russian organized crime fighters. It could all be an aligning of the stars, but nothing in American politics happens by coincidence.

Whats going on here is no accident, and Rachel Maddow has only scratched the surface of what is likely yet to come.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.5.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

The White House tried to invite Donald Trumps New York friends to hold an intervention because they are worried about the out of control president destroying himself.

Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair reported, After Michael Cohens plea deal last week, Donald Trump spiraled out of control, firing wildly in all directions. He railed against flippers in a rambling Fox & Friends interview, and lashed out on Twitter at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department, and Robert Mueller. In the wake of his outbursts, White House officials have discussed whether Trump would listen to his closest New York City friends in an effort to rein him in. Two sources briefed on the matter told me that senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trumps New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an intervention last week. It was supposed to be a war council, one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting.

Trump has come totally unglued

All of the scandals have gotten to Trump. He has rejected any sane advice and is using the power of the presidency to nurse his grievances and take action against his imagined enemies. Trump isnt listening to anyone. He is a one-man band of a presidency, and his decisionmaking, which was never good, is getting worse by the day.

Trump is campaigning for Jeff Sessions to resign as attorney general so that he can appoint someone who will shut down the Mueller investigation. He has refused to acknowledge and hush money payments because he is afraid of his wife, and he is so consumed by all of his various scandals that he isnt even trying to govern, which raises the question, is anyone running the United States of America right now?

Donald Trump has been in over his head, since the day that he announced his presidential campaign. The presidency is the worst that could have ever happened to Trump, his family, his associates, and the American people. Trump isnt two years into his term, but this feels like the beginning of the end.

Trump is a three outcome president. He is going to be impeached, resign, or run out of office after a single failed term.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.225 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

By Liz Hampton

HOUSTON (Reuters)  The U.S. Commerce Department recently granted a tariff exemption to oil major Chevron for its imports of 4.5-inch Japanese steel tubes for oil exploration.

But the department rejected a similar request from Borusan Mannesmann Pipe to exclude 4.5-inch steel pipes imported from Turkey for casing used to line new oil wells.

The reason: multiple U.S. steelmakers objected to Borusans application, arguing they could supply the product, according to the department. Chevron drew no such objections.

When U.S. President Donald Trump slapped a 25 percent tariff on imported steel this spring, his administration allowed companies to apply for exemptions if needed metals were not available in sufficient quality, quantity or in a reasonable time.

But the process for seeking relief is proving slow and controversial as a deluge of applications has buried the small staff initially assigned to the task, prompting the department to hire dozens of extra contract workers. The limited number of decisions made so far are drawing protests from rejected applicants and sparking disputes between U.S. steel mills and importers of products from their foreign competitors.

Commerce has received more than 37,000 exemption requests, far more than it planned to handle. Although 130 employees and contractors are now evaluating the applications, the agency had only ruled on 2,871 of those requests as of August 20.

The department has so far approved 1,780 of the applications and denied 1,091. Separately, the department turned back more than 6,000 requests for what it called filing errors by applicants, who can fix and resubmit their requests.

Rejected applicants have criticized the department for taking sometimes misleading objections by domestic suppliers at face value and for not allowing importers a chance to rebut their arguments.

The Commerce Department is now hard-pressed to spend more than a few minutes reviewing each application, said Bernd Janzen, a partner in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, which is working with companies pursuing tariff exclusions.

Commerce acknowledged its staffing issues and said it has requested permission from Congress to reallocate $5 million of its own funds to accelerate the review process. Congress has so far only approved a reallocation of $2 million, the agency said.

We will continue to run behind unless we are allowed to divert more Commerce resources to the process, the department said in a statement to Reuters.

The agency is also revising its evaluation process.

The Department fully acknowledges that the information provided in an objection may not be correct, the agency said.

Twenty exemptions have been approved over the objections from U.S. steelmakers, a sign that its process is balanced, fair and transparent, the department said.

SUPPLIER OBJECTIONS

Companies seeking exemptions have complained that Commerce provides little detail on the rationale for denying applications beyond boilerplate language that the product a company wants to import is available from a U.S. supplier.

Joel Johnson, chief executive of Borusan Mannesmann Pipe, a U.S. subsidiary of a Turkish steelmaker, said the department did not explain how it came to reject its application.

We dont know for sure why they denied us, but we did have objections from our competitors who also make pipe, said Johnson, adding that letters of support from its suppliers did not appear to influence the decision.

Borusan expects to see its operating cost climb by $25 million to $35 million annually as a result of the tariffs.

Borusans parent company will supply steel for Kinder Morgan Incs Gulf Coast Express pipeline, a $1.75 billion project to move natural gas from West Texas to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Kinder, the second-largest North American pipeline operator, has submitted its own request to avoid the tariff on the Borusan order but has not yet received a ruling.

The Trump administration recently said it would double tariffs on steel from Turkey, adding between $60 million to $80 million to the cost of Kinder Morgans pipeline, analysts for Tudor Pickering Holt & Co wrote this month.

U.S. Steel, which objected to Borusans request, said it only commented on requests for products it can make.

We stand ready to assist both new and longstanding customers who are hit by tariffs, spokeswoman Meghan Cox said in a written statement.

$40 MILLION TAX

After another pipeline operator, Plains All American, had its application denied, the company asked Commerce for an analysis from the International Trade Administration to explain the decision. None has been provided, incoming Chief Executive Officer Willie Chiang said at a congressional hearing called by Washington state Representative Dave Reichert last month.

The Commerce Department said it does not disclose such internal analyses because they are predecisional.

Chiang called the rejection a $40 million tax on its Texas oil pipeline project, which is anticipated to cost about $1.1 billion. Steel pipe makes up about 20 percent of the cost of a pipeline.

Last month, Chiang pressed the issue before a U.S. House of Representatives panel, calling the reviews flawed because they rely heavily on steel-industry objections that arent given enough scrutiny. His company also had scant time to counter objections filed by steelmakers, he said, which are sometimes filed at the last minute.

Only three steel mills in the world can make the pipe Plains will use for its 550-mile Cactus pipeline, the company has said. Berg Steel, which filed an objection to Plains application, said it could make alternate products to meet Plains needs.

Berg did not respond to a request for comment.

Plains said the pipe U.S. manufacturers suggested using is created through a different process that in some cases would either double the number of girth welds or increase the welding seams by 30 percent. Additional welding seems could raise the likelihood of cracks or failures.

Decisions on product specifications should be made by companies, not government trade officials, he said.

Plains All American has resubmitted its request for an exclusion.

Heat Transfer Tubular Products  a Conroe, Texas-based private company that supplies steel tubing for oil-refinery equipment  had several applications rejected based on what vice president of sales Janese Sokulski called faulty objections from other U.S. companies.

Webco Industries Inc, a competitor of Heat Transfers, argued in its written objection that it could make similar products in the United States. Webco did not respond to a request for comment.

Even if Webco were to make the products, Sokulski said, she would not be able to buy them because the company is a competitor.

They would never sell it to us, she said.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton; Editing by Gary McWilliams and Brian Thevenot)1.8k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

The Trump-supporting Republican Congressman who blamed his wife for mishandling their campaign finances is now telling the press to leave his wife out of their reports about the scandal. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), said in an interview on Tuesday that his wife should not be a target.

Indicted GOP lawmaker says to leave my wife out of it after blaming her for the charges

Indicted GOP lawmaker says to "leave my wife out of it" after blaming her for the charges https://t.co/5QnLrPsoHh pic.twitter.com/eJd1tD956e  The Hill (@thehill) August 29, 2018

Hunter, a very early congressional backer of Donald Trumps, was the subject of a federal indictment last week where he was charged with using his campaign funds illegally to pay for personal expenses for him and his family. The indictment went into great detail about how the Hunters used $250,000 of campaign funds for fancy vacations, meals in expensive restaurants, ski trips and even monthly household expenses. In some cases Mrs. Hunter, who kept the accounting records for the Hunter campaign fund, made false entries in her journal, saying the expenses were for charitable donations to veterans group.

Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it, Hunter told San Diego news channel KGTV in a brief interview on Tuesday. Its me theyre after anyway. Theyre not after my wife; they want to take me down, thats what theyre up to. So lets get this in the arena and have this settled.

But Hunter, who said the people prosecuting him and his wife were on a witch hunt, just five days earlier had sung a different tune about Mrs. Hunters involvement in the case when doing a Fox News interview.

When I went to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave her power of attorney, and she handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress, Hunter said in the interview, making reference to his wife. She was also the campaign manager so whatever she did, thatll be looked at too, Im sure. But I didnt do it. I didnt spend any money illegally.1.8k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

In a shocking political upset yesterday in the Florida primary, a young African American mayor named Andrew Gillum beat a crowded field of wealthy establishment figures to win the Democratic nomination for governor of the Sunshine State.

His opponent will be Congressman Ron DeSantis who won the GOP primary after advertising his closeness to Donald Trump and then being strongly endorsed by the president.

Gillum has also won endorsements, but from the other side of the political spectrum. His upset victory came about because of the enthusiastic involvement of such liberal groups as Indivisible and the Bernie Sanders-affiliated group called OurRevolution.

Gillum was the only Democratic Party candidate to embrace such liberal ideas as Medicare for All and his positions are very closely aligned with those of Sanders.

Democrats hope that Gillums victory will inspire the so-called Obama Coalition which includes such groups as minority voters, single women and young voters. If he has any chance of victory it will depend on massive turnout from these groups.

Republicans claim that Gillums liberal positions will lead to an easy victory for DeSantis in November.

In fact the president himself weighed in on Twitter this morning, not only congratulating DeSantis and taking credit for his victory, but also attacking Gillum.

Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream.a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!

Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream.a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

Clearly Trump has decided to play a role in this years Florida governors race.

And clearly Gillum has decided to come out swinging whenever he is attacked by the president.

After Trumps tweet, Gillum responded quickly, writing:

What our state and country needs is decency, hope, and leadership. If you agree, join us at http://AndrewGillum.com . Also, @ me next time, @realDonaldTrump.

What our state and country needs is decency, hope, and leadership. If you agree, join us at https://t.co/fm0ODFFGWU. Also, @ me next time, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/59dQy8RLsm  Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) August 29, 2018

Gillum also retweeted a message posted by Bernie Sanders, making clear that this election will be a contest between the progressive ideas of Sanders and the right-wing views of Trumpism.

Sanders tweeted:

Congratulations to @AndrewGillum on his victory. Tonight, Floridians joined Andrew in standing up and demanding real change and showed our nation what is possible when we stand together. Lets make history this November and make Andrew Gillum the next Governor of Florida.

Congratulations to @AndrewGillum on his victory. Tonight, Floridians joined Andrew in standing up and demanding real change and showed our nation what is possible when we stand together. Let's make history this November and make Andrew Gillum the next Governor of Florida.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 29, 2018

Gillum appeared this morning on the MSNBC show Morning Joe where co-host Joe Scarborough had some interesting insights into the upcoming governor races in both Florida and Georgia.

In Georgia, another African American, Stacey Abrams, is facing the pro-Trump GOP candidate Brian Kemp, who, like DeSantis, has been strongly endorsed by the president.

This is cliff diving for both Democrats and Republicans, Scarborough said. We could have the first two black governors elected in Deep South states.

DeSantis has tied himself very closely to Trump and made his campaign explicitly pro-Trump, including a TV ad that shows him reading The Art of the Deal to his children and talking to them about building a wall out of toy blocks. Gillum has embraced every liberal and progressive idea and program available, which has endeared him to young people, minority voters, and Sanders supporters.

You could have a massive victory for Donald Trump in both of those states, Scarborough said, where, again, two people that totally bought in to the Trump personality cult, address dressing their babies in Make America Great Again T-shirts and bragging about it, and whispering build that wall to their young infants. I mean, thats about as stark a contrast as you can get.2k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

A day after Trump attacked Google, Google Maps changed the name of the Senate office building to honor the late Sen. John McCain.

On Monday, Trump claimed that the search engines were rigged against him and called for Google to be regulated.

Here is what Google Maps looked like on Tuesday morning:

Google has already renamed Russell as the McCain Senate Office Building: pic.twitter.com/KKmR3vcrKn  Eric Wilson (@ericwilson) August 29, 2018

The map:

Google is a giant of a company, so it could have just been somebody trying to get ahead of the curve, as the Senate is certain to pass a resolution renaming the Russell Building after McCain, but it is still fun to think that someone at Google wasnt impressed with Trumps threat.

Trump doesnt use the Internet. He doesnt understand the Internet and has absolutely no idea what he is talking about when he discusses Google. His administration is trying to pull the authoritarian stunt of manipulating and controlling what people see in their news. This is a goal that Kellyanne Conway stated that Trump holds.

At the heart of Trumps beef with Google is his desire for the American people to only see positive coverage of him. Trump wants state-controlled Internet and media. The presidents attack on Google was a political stunt to distract and play on the myth of liberal bias, but its underpinnings were an assault on the free flow of information.

Google was right. John McCain will have a Senate building named after him, while the only government structure that might carry Trumps name is a federal prison.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.863 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Of all of the pressing issues facing the country, Republicans in the U.S. Senate have focused on one issue that is most important to them. They are asking that the new U.S. senator appointed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey help them by supporting legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA, or Obamacare.

If there was any doubt as to the priorities of the GOP Congress, comments made by several senators after John McCain passed away have dispelled those doubts.

In an election year when healthcare concerns are shown to be the top issue on the minds of voters, Republicans have decided to intensify their efforts to do away with the law that extended health insurance and Medicaid coverage to nearly 40 million uninsured Americans.

Several senate Republicans have told Ducey they want him to appoint a successor to McCain who will not do what he did in supporting Obamacare. Last year it was McCain who cast the deciding vote in the senate to avoid repealing the increasingly popular healthcare law.

GOP lawmakers admit they dont have the time this year to have another vote to repeal the law, but have promised to try again next year if they are able to keep their Senate and House majorities.

In fact, they are appealing to voters on this very issue, saying that if Republicans stay in power they will get rid of the law which they hate so much. Since Obamacare is more popular than ever, it is doubtful that using its repeal as a major campaign issue will lead to electoral success.

But yet, they are undaunted.

If we re-engage in that discussion in some point in the future, it would be nice to have members who enable us to pass it, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.) said when asked about repealing ObamaCare in the next Congress.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he hopes the next senator from Arizona will be a strong ally who recognizes that ObamaCare is not a proper solution.

It hasnt worked, its created a lot of harm and damage to real people, he added.

A senior Senate GOP aide said the chamber would absolutely vote again to repeal ObamaCare if we keep the House.

McCain was personally conservative but ideologically inconsistent, the aide said. I think Ducey is going to pick someone more like himself. Hes a more reliable conservative.

Republican senators also said they want the new Arizona senator to have a better working relationship with President Trump.

I think it would serve a useful purpose to get along with the president, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said. By having a sincere appreciation, admiration and respect, you can get a lot more done than [by being] adversarial.

Its hard to imagine Ducey could pick anyone more antagonistic, quipped a GOP senator who asked to remain anonymous.1k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

President Donald Trump is really getting desperate to distract attention away from Russian involvement in his 2016 presidential election victory.

On Wednesday morning he tweeted early that the email server of his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was hacked by the Chinese government. He also said Clintons emails were obtained illegally by China and called upon the U.S. Justice Department to launch an investigation into the matter in order to keep its credibility.

Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!

Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

Usually in situations like this Trump will send a tweet about some unsubstantiated claim or rumor or false report that he has seen on Fox News. That does not seem to be the case here, but in his tweet he did not cite any evidence for the claim.

One possible source for Trumps misinformed tweet is an article on the right-wing website The Daily Caller. That article quoted unnamed intelligence sources who said that Clintons private email server was compromised by the Chinese. It says that this fact was discovered in 2015.

One unnamed intelligence source told the news outlet that Clintons email server was compromised by a public company acting as a front for the Chinese government. The source said the company put a line of code into the email server which caused a courtesy copy of every Clinton email to be sent to Chinese intelligence agents.

The unnamed source told the Daily Caller that:

When [the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General] did a very deep dive, they found in the actual metadata  the data which is at the header and footer of all the emails  that a copy, a courtesy copy, was being sent to a third party and that third party was a known Chinese public company that was involved in collecting intelligence for China.

This information has not been confirmed by any U.S. intelligence officials. From Trumps tweet it is impossible to determine if he was making his claim based on additional information he received that was not reported in the Daily Caller story.

China, as expected, immediately denied the report in a statement, saying it firmly oppose[s] cyberattacks and the theft of state secrets.

This isnt the first time weve heard similar kinds of allegations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing.

China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity. We firmly oppose and crack down on any forms of internet attacks and the stealing of secrets, she added.Get the SC business stories that matter.

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free.Quentin Williams, an attorney, former FBI agent and federal prosecutor is the founder of Dedication to Community, a nonprofit that works to build relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Photo provided.Do customers have any recourse when their rejected appetizer is given to another table?Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors.Michael Majchrowicz is a reporter covering crime and public safety. He previously wrote about courts for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts. A Hoosier native, he graduated from Indiana University with a degree in journalism.Assistant Columbia bureau chief

Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill.Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune.Gov. Henry McMaster visited Miracle Hill Ministries in Greenville on Monday, Aug. 27 to award CEO Reid Lehman with the Order of the Palmetto. McMaster has worked in recent months to ensure Miracle Hill can continue denying foster care services to same-sex couples and non-Christian families. Jamie Lovegrove/StaffDo you remember heading back to school? It was the beginning of cooler evenings and colder mornings. It was a unique feeling that I cant describe, but I remember that September brought a certain emotion.

I loved my small town high school, and college was a remarkable time in my life. Getting back to friends, activities and yes, even classes, are good memories.

Kids in Rochester and throughout our area have headed back to school. Young adults have headed to college, some for the first time. For students, parents and teachers, I doubt that the emotions have changed much. There is excitement and there are tears.

Boomers can identify either as a student of 50 some years ago, as a parent and now as a grandparent. We now witness these emotions from the sidelines.

I thought I would check in with a couple of friends and a family member and see what they remember about going off to college.

The book is in your court

Fellow boomer Craig reflected that he was raised to be pretty self-reliant. This made his transition to college fairly easy.

He was too busy to feel overwhelmed as he hit the campus running; working fulltime and carrying a full load of credits. Craig remembered that in college its totally up to you to get your coursework done, or even to show up for class. If you didnt get the work done, you got a lousy grade. It really did prepare you for life.

Both Craig and I remember that the state of society had issues back then, too. Each fall events going on in our country included the sadness and fallout from assassinations, the Vietnam War, civil rights, the resignation of a president, equality for women, burning of draft cards, protests and conscientious objectors.

Craig enjoyed the learning, the exposure to different perspectives and meeting new and diverse people. He liked the increased self-reliance and independence.

Craig got engaged as a freshman in college and was married a couple of years later. He and his wife, Dawn, have three kids and now are watching as all seven grandkids are heading back to school.

There is indeed some emotion as they watch their grandkids head to grad school, college, high school, middle and elementary school. Thats a lot of back-to-school shopping.

There is value in knowledge

I decided to venture into a professors world. My niece, Dr. Felicia Else, professor of art history and chairwoman of the Department of Art and Art History at Gettysburg College said that as a student she loved heading back to school.

Her field of study was her passion  art, history, languages and culture. Now as a professor, back to school means her summer recharge is over, although during this time she does research and class preparation.

Dr. Else said that once she gets back into that classroom, she loves it. Every fall she loves the opportunity to teach and mentor new and returning students.

If she was to give a message for making the best of each "back to school" year, it is to be open-minded, organized and, most importantly, to pursue what you love, even if it seems unpractical or "nerdy."

My niece, whom I am extremely proud of, said there is value in all branches of knowledge and experience, and you need to learn about the world around you to help learn about who you are.

Heading to college in 2018

Lets move to the here and now. A young man who attends my church has headed to college for his freshman year. Matthew is smart, talented and kind, and I have no doubt he will be successful in his life.

Matthew headed to North Dakota State University a week earlier than most students to attend band camp. Matthew said he wasnt sure what to think or do right away after his parents dropped him off and departed. Its a unique emotion.

Even if we feel we are ready, its still a moment that will stand out in our life. Its an early crossroads, where we separate from parents and head out on the path that we choose.

Matthew said each day he gained confidence and quickly made friends. As an advanced placement student in high school, Matthew can immediately jump into tougher courses in college.

He was glad to get underway in his coursework. His current plan is a major in computer science and he is considering a minor or additional major in music. He is off and running.

This back-to-school thing has always been part of our life. Its an emotion that transforms. We are a kid, a student, a parent, a teacher and a grandparent. Its a feeling I just cant describe."Farmer of the Year,"which was filmed in Tyler, Minn., was written and directed by Kathy Swanson and Vince OConnell. Swanson is a native of Tyler, and the film was shot largely on the farm on which she was reared.

The movie stars Barry Corbin as a widowed 83-year-old farmer who decides to take a road trip to a military reunion in California. He is accompanied by his granddaughter Ashley. Swanson describes her movie as a "coming of aging" story.

"Farmer of the Year" will be shown six times daily this Labor Day weekend at Marcus theater.Two weeks ago Professor Lisa Littman of Brown Universitys department of behaviorial and social sciences published an article on PLoS One, a well-regarded, peer-reviewed online scientific journal, with the title Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. Before proceeding, know that Prof. Littman is not tenured at Brown.

Ill post immediately below the abstract and conclusion (and the whole study is availableno paywall or subscription requirement if you want to look at the whole thing), but Ill reduce the main finding of this study to one sentence: evidence suggests that the recent sharp rise in the number of young adolescents declaring themselves to be transgender appears to be correlated with peer group enthusiasm along with intense social media activity. To be blunt, it is a fad, like eating Tide pods.

Abstract Purpose In on-line forums, parents have been reporting that their children are experiencing what is described here as rapid-onset gender dysphoria, appearing for the first time during puberty or even after its completion. The onset of gender dysphoria seemed to occur in the context of belonging to a peer group where one, multiple, or even all of the friends have become gender dysphoric and transgender-identified during the same timeframe. Parents also report that their children exhibited an increase in social media/internet use prior to disclosure of a transgender identity. The purpose of this study was to document and explore these observations and describe the resulting presentation of gender dysphoria, which is inconsistent with existing research literature. . . Conclusion Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) describes a phenomenon where the development of gender dysphoria is observed to begin suddenly during or after puberty in an adolescent or young adult who would not have met criteria for gender dysphoria in childhood. ROGD appears to represent an entity that is distinct from the gender dysphoria observed in individuals who have previously been described as transgender. The worsening of mental well-being and parent-child relationships and behaviors that isolate AYAs from their parents, families, non-transgender friends and mainstream sources of information are particularly concerning. More research is needed to better understand this phenomenon, its implications and scope.

Indeed, the sharp rise in the reported number of young people identifying as transgender has a logistic growth curve that in any other phenomenon would be described as an epidemic. One table put together at a British research unit looks like this:

Brown Universitys public relations department sent out a press release promoting the article for the sensible reason that a PLoS One is a serious journal. They obviously didnt recognize that Prof. Littman had stepped on the academic equivalent of a third rail: touch this subject and you die, because it threatens to undermine the authenticity of gender identity politics, though there is considerable incoherence about this whole matter, since gender is said to be arbitrary and up to you to determine for yourself.

It is important to note that Prof. Littman is not saying that gender dysphoria is phony or wrong. (I know a handful of transgender and transexual individuals whose experience I regard as entirely authentic.) Prof. Littman is merely saying that there appears to be a social component to the trend that may be unrelated to underlying, inherent biological or psychological realities. In other words, in some cases, transgender identity is indeed socially constructed, which makes you wonder why someone should object to her article, since social construction is all the rage for the postmodern left.

But object they did, of course. The predictable thing has happened: following an angry response from the transgender community, Brown University has withdrawn their press release and issued an abject apology for transgressing transgender orthodoxy. PLoS One is also going to conduct a post-publication review of the article (even though it went through their peer review process) because of the avalanche of protests it has received.

From Browns statement:

Dear Members of the Public Health and Brown Community, As you may be aware, Brown late last week posted a news announcement regarding research on gender dysphoria published by a faculty member in the School of Public Health. In light of questions raised about research design and data collection related to the study on rapid onset gender dysphoria, the University determined that removing the article from news distribution is the most responsible course of action.

This statement is pure rear-end covering B.S. If you look at the whole study, it is based on a relatively smallbut not trivialsample, and Prof. Littmans conclusion is provisional and includes the call for further research. A perfectly ordinary first step entirely consistent with the mandate of academics to research new ideas and stimulate others to take up the issue. Lots of accepted claims of scientific certainty (like the 97 percent of scientists believe in climate change talking point) are based on samples smaller than Prof. Littmans. But there should be no doubletalk here: the ideological identity politics camp doesnt want further research: it wants research like Prof. Littmans suppressed and repudiated. Shut up, they explained. Youre oppressing us! And just a guess here, but I imagine Prof. Littmans road to tenure at Brown just got a lot steeper, and very few academics will want to look into this issue going forward.

Brown Universitys contemptible retreat is another vindication of Charles Peguys famous axiom, It will never be known what acts of cowardice have been committed for fear of not looking sufficiently progressive. Actually, we know perfectly well, because the evidence is all around us at places like Brown.

P.S. There is a petition in support of Prof. Littman circulating that is very much worth reading. This comment to the petition is especially heart-rending, and dramatizes the stakes:

I have a 14yo. Daughter, who never showed symptoms of any gender dysphoria until finding the internet, tumblr and YouTube told her she was trans., bc she hated her breast & periods. Now, shes denamed her female self and thinks testosterone-mastectomy-hysterectomy-phallaplasty is her only solution. As a family we have seen, depression-anxiety-possibly autism behavior. Though now brainwashed into this ideology she wont cooperate to look for underlying issues. SILENCE IS CHILD ABUSE, PLEASE RESEARCH, FOR OUR DEVASTATED FAMILY! Its one thing to eat a Tide Pod and throw up for a few hours. Its another thing to decide to mutilate your body permanently because of an enthusiasm you picked up on social media and from an ecstatic peer group. My second prediction (after Prof. Littman being denied tenure and leaving Brown in short order) is that 20 or 25 years from now there is going to be a lot of data coming out about the number of suicides among people who regretted their chemical/surgical alterations of their identity. It will make the enthusiasm for eugenics a century ago look like a benign picnic by comparison.Last night, as I discussed at the end of a long post on Tuesdays primaries, Rep. Martha McSally won the Republican nomination to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake. Her opponent is Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

It figures to be a tight race, as both congresswomen are fairly popular. Sinema has a radical past, but has positioned herself as a centrist in recent years, presumably with an eye on that Senate seat. McSally is a center-right Republican who has moved closer to President Trump this political season.

McSally is a war hero. She was the first woman to fly a fighter jet in combat and led air strikes against the Taliban. Sinema was an anti-war protester during that time.

Theres no disgrace in protesting wars, but the contrast between the backgrounds of the two candidates is stark. It doesnt favor Sinema, especially at a time when Arizona is mourning the death of another fighter pilot war hero.

McSally is doing a great job of highlighting the contrast. She calls the race a choice between a doer and a talker, a patriot and a protester, an aviator and bloviator.

McSally best shot comes in a campaign ad that features Sinema protesting war in a pink tutu. In case you missed it, here is the ad:



The conventional wisdom, with which I dont quarrel, is that McSally gives the GOP a much better chance of holding the Arizona seat than her main rival, Kelli Ward, would have. But it wont be clear skies for McSally. Her appeal to moderates vastly exceeds that of Dr. Ward, but she will need strong support from the Trumpian base.

President Trump has just endorsed McSally, but will probably need to campaign with her in order to generate the kind of support from his base she requires. And she must generate that support without alienating moderates in a state that Trump carried, but with less than 50 percent of the vote.

Stay tuned.Minnesota will be the eye of the hurricane in November, with two Senate races, at least four competitive House races, and the governorship at stake. The Democrats nominated their strongest candidate for governor, 1st District Congressman Tim Walz. But if Republicans have their way, Walz and all other Democrats on the ballot will be tarred by association with Walzs de facto running mate, Keith Ellison.

The national press is beginning to notice. Politico headlines: Minnesota Democrats scalded by Ellison allegations. Politico predictably refers to Republicans pouncing and piling on Ellison. Its story has some significant omissions: it describes only the second of two domestic abuse allegations against Ellison. The first one comes complete with a 911 call by the victim, of which the record has been made public. The Democrats (in this case, Politico) are doggedly trying to ignore the first recorded abuse allegation against Ellison.

Politico also fails to mention Ellisons other problems: his extreme leftism, which will not play with voters outside the Twin Cities; his desire to make Minnesota a sanctuary state; and his longstanding advocacy on behalf of cop-killers. The local press, too, is maintaining a discreet silence on all of these issues. Politico accurately describes the strategy that Minnesota Republicans will pursue:

Last week, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing House Republicans, launched ads attacking Democrats in four House races for refusing to rebuke Ellison. The conservative Minnesota Jobs Coalition posted video of a tracker confronting the minority leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives in a parking lot over the issue. In a rare reminder of the accusations against Ellison in Chicago, a conservative tracker confronted DNC Chairman Tom Perez over the issue, as well. We see it as a game changer in terms of keeping pressure on the Democrats, said Ben Golnik, a Republican strategist in St. Paul. I think it puts [Democrats] really in a bind.

There is much more to come. The Minnesota press may not want to tell voters that Ellison is far-left, pro-illegal immigration, and, based on his record, pro-murder of police officers. But Minnesota Republicans will try to ensure that come November, every voter knows the truth about Ellison. Can an advocate for cop-killers possibly be elected Attorney General? I wont believe it until I see it. Will Democrats who refuse to disassociate themselves from Ellison pay a price? Ask me on November 7.China Underground Mining Equipment Market

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According to Goldstein Research, China underground mining equipment market is expected to reach USD 17.2 billion by the end of 2024 from USD 10.0 billion in 2016, growing at a CAGR of 7.0%. Growing industrialization, an adaptation of advanced technology and government regulations over mining are the dring factors in the growth of underground mining equipment market. China underground mining equipment market segmentation has been done on the basis of mining method and application. Coal mining witnessed the maximum application of underground mining equipment, as China holds a leading position in the production and supply of coal. China underground mining equipment market has been growing at a decent rate as the mining equipment suppliers have leveled up their capacities and adapted the advanced technologies. But the mine safety issue still persists and requires immediate attention.Browse Full Report:Market SegmentationOn the basis of our in-depth analysis, China Underground Mining Equipment Market can be segmented as follows:By Mining Method Longwall Mining Block Caving Sublevel Caving Room and Pillar Mining Cut and Fill Mining Shrinkage Stoping OthersBy Application Coal Mining Metal Mining Mineral MiningChina Underground mining equipment Market Outlook 2024 contains a detailed overview of the China underground mining equipment market. On the basis of our in-depth analysis, the market can be segmented in terms of market segmentation by mining method, application and geography.Get Some More Information AboutThe ChinaUnderground mining equipment Market Report highlights the in-depth analysis of the underground mining equipment market report that will help the clients to assess their business strategies as per the competitive environment in the market space. The competitive outlook of major China players discussed in the China underground mining equipment market report includes the business strategies, revenue distribution, financial analysis, product portfolio, R&D activities and investments.Download Exclusive Sample Report:Major players of the China underground mining equipment market discussed in the report are: Caterpillar Inc, Komatsu Mining Corp (Joy China), Atlas Copco, Metso Corporation, Sandvik AB, Hitachi Construction Machinery Ltd, etc.Further, ChinaUnderground mining equipment Market Report encompasses the major trends & opportunities, market dynamics and other growth factors of the market. The Underground mining equipment Market outlook also comprises of key challenges, risk analysis, BPS analysis, SWOT Analysis and Market Attractiveness. The report also highlights the expert analysis to provide a complete overview of the market including the PESTLE analysis of each region and country.Browse Similar Report:PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 15:00:54

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Duran Ventures Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - Duran Ventures Inc. (TSX Venture:DRV). has issued a press release with the following headline:Duran Ventures Announces Name Change to Peruvian Metals Corp. and Provides Corporate UpdateTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Duran Ventures Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Duran Ventures Inc.Source: Duran Ventures Inc. (TSX Venture: DRV, OTC Bulletin Board: DUVNF, FWB: 6D71, WKN: A2AJ0J, ISIN: CA26636P2008)Date: August 29, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Duran Ventures Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)According to the research report on material handling equipment market published by Goldstein research, The booming e-commerce industry has significantly augmented the material handling equipment market size owing to escalating need for faster deliveries to better cater to the consumers demand in the competitive landscape

Global Material Handling Equipment Market

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According to the research report on material handling equipment market published by Goldstein research, The booming e-commerce industry has significantly augmented the material handling equipment market size owing to escalating need for faster deliveries to better cater to the consumers demand in the competitive landscape. Many major players in the e-commerce industry are installing warehouse management system (WMS) for real-time monitoring of inventory levels and to categorize the stock locations. Moreover, with the introduction of automated equipments and IoT, the global material handling equipment industry is likely to witness demand for novel products and services over the forecast period. Global material handling equipment market outlook also includes new business models, product developments and capital investment as the key strategies adopted by the major players for significant expansion of business in developed and as well as in developing countries across the globe. Global material handling equipment industry report also recognizes chain analysis, Y-O-Y growth analysis, to understand the cost differentiation to provide the competitive advantage to the existing and new entry players.Browse Full Report:Market SegmentationOn the basis of our in-depth analysis, global material handling equipment market can be segmented as follows:By Product Type Storage Equipment Conveyor systems Robotic delivery systems Automatic guided vehicles (AGV) Industrial Trucks & LiftsBy Applications Type Storage and Retrieval Transportation Assembly Packaging DistributionBy Services Software and Hardware (Installation and Up-gradations) Training Support and MaintenanceBy End Users Marine and Air Ports Manufacturing Sector Transportation and Logistics Construction Industry E-commerceBy Geography North America (US, Canada) {Market Share (%), Market Size (USD Billion)} Europe (UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Sweden, Russia, Poland and Rest of Europe) {Market Share (%), Market Size (USD Billion)} Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, North Africa, South Africa and Rest of Middle East & Africa) {Market Share (%), Market Size (USD Billion) } Latin America (Brazil, Mexico and Rest of Latin America) {Market Share (%), Market Size (USD Billion) } Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Rest of Asia-Pacific) {Market Share (%), Market Size (USD Billion) }Global Material handling equipment Market Outlook 2024 contains detailed overview of the global material handling equipment market. On the basis of our in-depth analysis, market can be segmented in terms of market segmentation by product, by application, by services and by end users.Download Exclusive Sample Report:The Material Handling EquipmentMarket Analysis encompasses the industry growth drivers, market challenges, new strategies adopted by leading players, Y-O-Y growth rate, analysis, risk analysis, market attractiveness, BPS, product portfolio, analysis, Porters five force model, detailed segmentation, and SWOT analysis. This market report also includes competitive outlook of some of the major players profiling of companies such as Daifuku Co., Ltd., SSI Schaefer, Hyster-Yale Material Handling, Inc., Jungheinrich AG, KION Group AG, Toyota Industries Corporation etc. The company profiles include business strategy, geographical revenue distribution, major information of the companies which encompasses business outlook, products, services and industries catered, financial analysis of the company and recent developments. Overall, the market report provides a snapshot of the global material handling equipment market trends, restraints, demands along with market forecast that will help industry consultants, technology providers, existing players searching for expansion opportunities, new players searching possibilities.Key questions answered in this global material handling equipment Report What is the material handling equipment market Size by 2024 ? What is the total revenue per segment and region in 2015-16 and what would be the expected revenue per segment and region over the forecast period? What are the material handling equipment market trends? What are the factors which are driving this industry? What are the major barriers to material handling equipment industry growth? Who are the key vendors in this industry space? What are the industry opportunities for the existing and entry level players? What are the recent developments and business strategy of the key players?Browse Similar Report:PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 15:00:43

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for International Cannabrands Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - International Cannabrands Inc. (CSE: JUJU.A) . has issued a press release with the following headline:International Cannabrands Closes On a Strategic Investment In Riotus LLCTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on International Cannabrands Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/International Cannabrands Inc.Source: International Cannabrands Inc. (CSE: JUJU.A, OTC Bulletin Board: GEATF)Date: August 29, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of International Cannabrands Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 17:31:20

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Miranda Gold Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, BC (FSCWire) - Miranda Gold Corp. (TSX Venture:MAD). has issued a press release with the following headline:Miranda to Carry Out $1.5 Million Private PlacementTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Miranda Gold Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Miranda Gold Corp.Source: Miranda Gold Corp. (TSX Venture: MAD, OTC Pink: MRDDF, FWB: MRG, ISIN: 900 519, WKN: CA6046731031)Date: August 29, 2018Time: 11:31 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Miranda Gold Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 08:00:46

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Rambler Metals and Mining plc--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Baie Verte, Newfoundland and Labrador (FSCWire) - Rambler Metals and Mining plc (TSX Venture:RAB). has issued a press release with the following headline:Rambler Metals Mining PLC announces Interim ResultsTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Rambler Metals and Mining plc, or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Rambler Metals and Mining plcSource: Rambler Metals and Mining plc (TSX Venture: RAB, AIM: RMM, OTC Pink: RBMTF, FWB: 51R, WKN: A0EQZZ)Date: August 29, 2018Time: 2:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Rambler Metals and Mining plc and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 07:33:02

RFG and Franchise Arabia Partner for MENA Expansion

For further information, interviews or images contact:

Retail Food Group

Richard Forbes, +61427270687

richard.forbes@rfg.com.au

Retail Food Group (RFG)(ASX:RFG) is pleased to announce they have partnered with Franchise Arabia to increase their growth potential in India and the Middle East North African (MENA) region. The partnership highlights RFGs focus on bringing world class brands to consumers who value quality and convenience.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180828005

Nicholas Brill, Divisional Director International, RFG and right Omar Alhaza'a, Founder & CEO, Franchise Arabia. (Photo: Business Wire)

Nicholas Brill, Divisional Director International at RFG said We at Retail Food Group are particularly excited by this partnership with Franchise Arabia because of their reputation across the MENA region. It enables us to increase the footprint of our brands in the Middle East North Africa region, one of our key target markets. We believe brands like Donut King, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar and Michels Patisserie are ripe for expansion in this area.

RFG already has over 200 outlets in the MENA region through its successful Gloria Jeans Coffee Brand and the Its a Grind brand.

Omar Alhazaa, Founder & CEO of Franchise Arabia reinforced their commitment to the RFG partnership saying, The MENA region is experiencing growth across a range of related industries  franchising, restaurants, F&B and hospitality, so RFG is well positioned to leverage its global capabilities and work closely with Franchise Arabia to build a strong foundation for growth. Were excited about this partnership with a world-class powerhouse such as RFG and are looking forward to introducing the RFG brands to investors and consumers across the region.

This agreement coincides with other recent Retail Food Group announcements through Gloria Jeans Coffees Master Franchise Agreements in the United Kingdom, the State of Palestine and Uzbekistan and Donut King moving into the UK, Swedish and Myanmar markets.

To find out more about RFG, visit www.rfgbrands.com.

About Retail Food Group Limited:

RFG is a global food and beverage company, multi-brand retail food franchise owner, a roaster and supplier of high quality coffee products, and an emerging leader in the foodservice, dairy processing and wholesale bakery sectors.

About Franchise Arabia:

Franchise Arabia is known as The voice of Franchising in the MENA region. The group offers multiple franchise related services with its portal as the main marketing engine. It is the leading most comprehensive MENA-wide directory for finding the best franchise opportunities for sale. For more information, please go to www.franchisearabia.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180828005This will eventually propel the adoption of optometry equipment over the forecast period.

Optometry Equipment Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 13:55:49

Press Information

Coherent Market Insights

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CEO

2067016702

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http://www.coherentmarketinsights.com





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1001 4th AveCEO2067016702

Optometry equipment are usually operated by optometrist or ophthalmologist to examine, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases and disorders of the visual system, the eye, and deformities associated with eye structures as well as diagnose eye related systemic disorders. Optometry equipment include set of equipment used for cornea and cataract examination, retina and glaucoma examination and for general examination purposes. These optometry instruments include retinoscopes, visual field analyzers, fundus cameras, autorefractors and keratometers, ophthalmoscopes, specular microscopes, wavefront aberrometers, and among others.Increasing incidences of eye disease and vision loss have led to introduction of new technologies and methods by optometry instrument manufactures. In January 2016, Birmingham Optical launched the NIDEK Tonoref III, a device which combines the functionality of an auto-refractometer, auto-keratometer, non-contact tonometer, and non-contact pachymeter into one device. These user-friendly device is designed to offer a high measurement accuracy and is able to conduct all clinically essential eye detection functions. This will eventually propel the adoption of optometry equipment over the forecast period.Get The Holistic SAMPLE Of This Business Report:The global optometry equipment market size is estimated to be valued at US$ 2,451.4 million in 2018, and is expected to witness a CAGR of 6.4% over the forecast period (2018  2026).Rising prevalence of most common eye disease such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy are major driving factor for growth of the optometry equipment market. For instance, according to the data published in the Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) in October 2017, glaucoma accounts for around 10 million visits to physicians annually. Furthermore, in terms of health care expenditure, glaucoma cost around US$ 1.5 billion to the U.S. government, annually.According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), more than 5.7 million people are suffering from sight-threatening eye conditions in the U.K. Moreover, 2 million individuals were suffering from sight loss in 2016, which is expected to rise by registering more than 2.7 million individuals by 2030. Moreover, according to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) data findings, in 2014, around 350,000 people were registered as blind or partially sighted, which includes 291,100 individuals from England, 34,500 in Scotland, 16,939 in Wales and around 8000 in Northern Ireland.Increasing healthcare expenditures for treatment of sight loss, blindness, and sight-threating conditions are expected to propel demand for optometry equipment over the forecast period. According to the RNIB- Eye Health 2016 report, in the U.K., during 2016, sight loss, blindness and sight-threating conditions accounted for US$ 2.03 million, US$ 0.27 million, and US$ 5.7 million healthcare expenditures, respectively.Click To Reading More On Optometry Equipment MarketAbout Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.PR-Inside.com: 2018-08-29 12:47:01

The project funded by the European Commission will award the best projects in additive manufacturing, CPS, IoT, robotics, HPC or laser technologies

The I4MS Initiative Launches the First Disruptor Awards Contest for the Best Experiments Featuring Digital Transformation

Silvia Valcarcel

Communication Executive of Mobile World Capital Barcelona

svalcarcel@mobileworldcapital.com

The European Commissions Initiative I4MS has created the Disruptors Awards contest, a competition that aims to award the most innovative experiments and best cases in additive manufacturing, CPS, IoT, robotics, HPC or laser technologies. The Disruptors Awards Call will select the best cases illustrating a company's ability to innovate and implement ICT technologies to meet its business needs, bring radical innovation to their sector and capacity of achieving national or international scale.

This Call is available to SMEs that have received technological and financial support from the Innovation Actions that are part of the I4MS initiative (Fortissimo, Cloudflow, CloudSMEs, LASHARE, INTEFIX, EuRoC, Appolo, ReconCell, BeinCPPS, Fortissimo2, HORSE, MIDIH, Cloudifacturing, L4MS and AMable) since its foundation.

The best proposal will win the following prize package:

A Plane ticket and the accommodation of 1 representative of the winning experiment to participate in the Disruptors Awards Ceremony

A specially designed offline and online visibility during the Mobile World Congress and 2 exhibition tickets (access to selected seminars and courses are included).

A free booth or space to showcase the experiment during the FIWARE Summit Fall 2018

A tailor-made workshop with Danish Technological Institute and MADE about technological and innovation support in the realization process of the winning project.

A ticket for the I4MS Bootcamp, where a small group of SMEs will receive a brief training on pitching, fundraising and tips to connect with corporates and private investors.

The winning project will be also awarded with the I4MS visibility package which includes the promotion of the experiment and the winning SMEs or midcap via the I4MS online community, website, social networks, blog and I4MS newsletter as the best digital transformation case.

All applications must be in English and submitted before the 5th of September 2018 at 17:00 (CET). The results will be published in October 2018 at i4ms.eu.

More information on http://i4ms.eu/about/disruptor-awards

I4MS is funded under the Factories of Future Program and H2020, and coordinated by Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, FundingBox Accelerator, Foreningen MADE, Danish Technological Institute, FIWARE Foundation EV and Axencia Galega de Innovacion.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005

.@I4MS_Europe is looking for the most innovative experiments in digital #innovation. If you participated in an #I4MS project, apply by 5 September! bit.ly/2smDhmN #ICT, #3Dprinting, #IoT, #Robotics & #HPC #laserAdvocates of a reformed oil and gas sector in Nigeria have criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for refusing to sign the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill.

A financial consultant, Bayo Rotimi, said the decision sent the wrong signal to the international investors.

Mr Rotimi was speaking on a Channels TV programme on Tuesday following reports President Buhari withheld the much anticipated assent to the PIGB.

On June 8, the Senate had sent to the President the harmonised copy of the draft Bill earlier approved by the House of Representatives.

Presidency confirms

But, the presidential aide on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday the president withheld assent to the draft law over certain provisions he was not comfortable with.

Although the presidential aide who did not say what the controversial provisions were, he promised to issue a formal statement later.

I can confirm to you that president has declined assent to the PIGB, Mr Enang said in a telephone chat from Abuja.

He has stated the reasons he was doing so in his separate communications to the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives about a month ago, around 28 or 29 of July. I hope to issue a formal statement on the reasons the president gave later.

The Cable first reported Wednesday that the president frowned at the provision of the draft law which sought to whittle down the controlling power of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and vests same in the hands of technocrats.

Besides, the president was said to have been uncomfortable that there were no provisions that covered the fiscal content of the draft.

Lead director, Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), Eze Onyekpere, condemned the presidents decision to withhold assent to the Bill. He said it will worsen the already declining economy.

Investors were waiting for this law to see if the environment will improve for them to make critical investment decisions. With the refusal of the President to give assent to the Bill, it has removed the last opportunity to turn the economy around, Mr Onyekpere lamented.

PIGB: The Background

The PIGB is one of four parts of the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which seeks to update and replace the outdated provisions with a more comprehensive and current petroleum industry law that aligns with global standards.

Also, the PIB seeks to empower institutions and not individuals, take away bad governance which leads to inefficiency, ineffectiveness, rent-seeking tendencies, inequity, secrecy and corruption in the countrys petroleum industry.

The Bill proposes to reform the governing institutional framework of the Nigerian petroleum industry by setting up an independent regulatory agency, unbundling the NNPC into two limited liability companies and setting specific policy roles for the Minister of Petroleum Resources, amongst others.

The other parts of the draft law, which are still pending consideration by the National Assembly, include the Petroleum Industry Administration Bill (PIAB), Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill (PIFB) and Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Bill (PHICB).

The PIAB focuses on establishing a transparent and efficient management of exploration and production operations, while the PIFB deals with fiscal terms, in term of tax regimes and contractual terms to help realize full value in line with global standards.

The PHICB takes care of the rights and opportunities for local benefits, in terms of restitution for environmental and social costs of resource extraction activities.

NBS Report & PIGB

On Monday, the NBS said the countrys economic growth declined by 0.45 per cent points, from about 1.95 per cent in the first quarter, to about 1.5 per cent in the second quarter.

Of significance was the statistics agency report that the oil sector GDP contracted to -3.95 per cent, from about 14.77 per cent in the first quarter, and a growth of about 3.53 per cent in the corresponding period in 2017.

In his review, Mr Rotimi, a financial consultant, said it was a matter for serious concern to Nigerians that at a period crude oil price was rising at the international oil market, the countrys oil and gas industry was reporting a decline.

Besides, he said it should be even more worrisome to policy and decision makers that at a time the country was facing less disruptions in oil operations as a result of attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta, oil production and exports were dropping.

If the oil sector, which from all indications still remains the principal driver of the economy is struggling, amid rising crude oil price at the international oil market, it should be obvious the production elements in the industry were yet to be sorted out, he noted.

What the statistics show is that our economy is still over-dependent on oil. Between the first and second quarters, oil sector GDP growth declined by 18.71 per cent as a result of a drop in crude oil production from two million barrels to 1.64 million barrels per day.

At a time of increasing crude oil price at the international oil market, the loss translates to about $1.1 billion on the average.

Mr Rotimi blamed the decline in growth in the sector on the uncertain atmosphere over the regulatory framework in the industry, with the PIGB still pending assent by the president.

Recently, the international oil companies (IOCs) said new investments in the oil and gas sector would wait till the uncertainties associated with the absence of acceptable financial and operational terms were sorted out.

Consequently, the consultant said getting the policies and politics right was critical for the situation to turn around.

The critical actors in the political space have to forgo their selfish interests and think about the nation. The present political tension and confusion are not helping anybody.

The PIGB needs to be assented to immediately, to send the right signal to the IOCs that the country was ready for business. With all the issues sorted out, oil production will increase and export will drive up, to recover lost capacity at a time of rising crude oil prices, he said.

At a recent roundtable on PIGB organized by the Nigerian Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), a non-governmental group focused on mobilizing support for the quick passage of the PIGB, a former Director. Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR), Osten Olorunsola, highlighted the negative impact of the delay in passing the law.

Apart from a loss of about $15 trillion in fresh investment that could have come to the country through the existing IOCs, Mr Olorunsola said new investors that would have wanted to do business with Nigeria were diverting elsewhere due to the uncertainty in the industry.

The roundtable was organised in conjunction with the Media Initiative on Transparency in Extractive Industries (MITEI), a media advocacy coalition on the PIB.British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has arrived at FMDQ Security Exchange building, Victoria Island, Lagos, for a meeting with the Nigerian business community.

The prime minister, accompanied by members of her trade delegation, arrived the venue at 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and Tony Elumelu, among others, had earlier assembled at the venue.

The meeting, expected to last for 40 minutes, would provide an opportunity for forging more bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Ms May had earlier on Wednesday afternoon arrived the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Ikeja, in Lagos after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

She is billed to spend time with victims of modern slavery during her brief stay in the nations commercial hub.

The prime ministers visit to Lagos comes barely eight weeks after the French President, Emmanuel Macron, visited the African Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, accompanied by his deputy, among other state officials, received the prime minister at the airport.

After the reception, Ms May drove out of the airport to attend to her engagements in the state.

After Ms Mays meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria and Britain signed agreements on defence and security partnership, among others.

Ms Mays visit to Nigeria is part of her tour of three African countries.

(NAN)Skulls and other remains of massacred tribes of people used in the colonial era for experiments to push claims of European racial superiority were handed over by Germany to Namibia at a church ceremony in Berlin.

In what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century, soldiers of German Kaiser Wilhelm slaughtered some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama tribes of people in a 1904-08 campaign after a revolt against land seizures by German colonists.

At Wednesdays ceremony, a Namibian delegation received the skulls and bones from German Foreign Ministry representatives.

They will be taken to the Namibian capital Windhoek on August 31 where rituals will be carried out.

Today, we want to do what should have been done many years ago, to give back to their descendents the remains of people, who became victims of the first genocide of the 20th century, said Petra Bosse-Huber, a German Protestant bishop.

Namibian Education Minister, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, said that the government would create a group to decide whether to bury or display the repatriated skulls that had been kept in German museums.

Germany has acknowledged moral responsibility for the killings but to avoid compensation claims, has avoided making an official apology for the massacres.

Esther Muinjangue, the chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover ceremony would have been the perfect opportunity for Germany to officially apologise.

Is that asking too much? I dont think so, she said in Berlin.

Ignored for decades, Germanys colonial history is drawing increasing attention. A couple of years ago, the German Historical Museum held a big exhibition on the subject.

Germany, which lost all its colonial territories after World War 1, was the third biggest colonial power after Britain and France, which lost theirs after World War 2.

During its 1904-08 campaign in what was then German South West Africa, the German Reich sent reinforcements to put down an uprising by tribes people over their expulsion from their land and recruitment into forced labour.

The Hereros had killed 123 German traders, settlers and soldiers.

In addition to the slaughter, thousands of Hereros were driven into the desert and died of thirst and starvation, and the rest were sent to concentration camps.

Legal representatives for the Herero and Nama people have brought a lawsuit against Germany in New York over genocide and property seizure carried out by German colonists.

The German government has entered negotiations with the Namibian government over possible reparations for the genocide but the lawsuit argues that Germany violated international law on the rights of indigenous peoples. (Reuters/NAN)Lola Owoade spends about N1,500 monthly on sachet water. This is because she is not sure if the water in her residence is safe for drinking. Mrs Owoades house has a borehole.

On Arab Road in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, where she lives, most houses do not have public water supply and depend on private boreholes, wells or water vendors known as Mai ruwa.

We use electric pump for our borehole. Though the water runs round the clock daily, we are not sure it is clean enough for drinking so I buy pure water (sachet water). We use the water from the borehole only for cooking, bathing and other house chores, she said.

Ms Owoade only patronises Mai-ruwa, when their borehole is faulty.

Victoria Fasadare, who lives in the same neighbourhood, said her family too has a borehole but also do not drink it because they cannot attest that its water is safe for drinking.

I use the (borehole) water for washing and cooking. We drink only bottled and sachet water, though Im not sure if that is clean either. Once it does not smell and does not have sediment, I can drink the water.

Water Vendors

Unlike the Owoades and Fasadares, Emmanuela Njoku in Jikwoyi, another suburb of Abuja, said she entirely relies on water vendors.

According to Mrs Njoku, she spends about N6,500 monthly on water from the water vendors for other uses and sachet water for drinking.

There is no borehole or well in my house, I rely on Mai-ruwa. I have a big drum and they supply me water every two days. I do not drink their water because I dont trust the source and how clean the jerrycans they use are. Though the vendors say they buy their water from boreholes, one cannot be too sure.

It is pure water or dispenser water we buy for drinking. I prefer pure water and to cut cost, I buy directly from suppliers, she said.

Lamenting her ordeal at times when the water vendors fail her or she is short of money for their services, Mrs Njoku said she walks about 100 metres to a mosques in her area to fetch water.

This, you have to do very early in the morning around 5 a.m. because neighbours with boreholes do not allow others access to them, she said.

In Nigeria, potable water supply is a familiar challenge of households. For the capital, Abuja, the challenge would have been expected to be minimal. Unfortunately, that is not the case especially in the suburbs.

Messrs Owoade and Fasadare are few of the residents of Kubwa with private source of water where they live. Most of their neighbours rely on Mai-ruwa.

Water vendors are ubiquitous, often seen pushing carts with 10 to 12 kegs, seeking buyers. A keg of water costs between N25 and N50.

Mai Ruwa with carts on a major high way. [PHOTO CREDIT: Youtube]

Aminat Attah said water for household use is one of the major challenges facing residents of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State in North-central Nigeria. Ironically, the town is located at the bank of the confluence of Niger and Benue, the two major rivers in Nigeria.

If you are not lucky to live in a place where they have boreholes or wells, you buy water or find somewhere to fetch it yourself. I am used to fetching water, it is something I do every morning, she said.

Global Concern

Lack of access to potable water is a global concern. About 2.1 billion people worldwide, according to World Bank statistics, do not have access to safe drinking water services and 4.5 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation.

This week, the world is celebrating the World Water Week, which started August 26, at Stockholm with the aim to find a new solution to pressing water issues globally.

The theme for this years World Water Week annual celebration is Water, Ecosystem and Human Development.

Many civil society organisations have taken to twitter to join the celebration and raise awareness on the need to provide access to potable water to most people across the globe.

Unless we shift to more pragmatic WASH investment addressing peoples complex needs, many will still be drinking dirty water in 2030. @Wateraid tweeted.

Annually, girls and women spend 73 billion hours fetching water. Accelerating access to water can help give them this time back. Investing in #WASH resources improves the health, education and livelihood of girls and women everywhere, @WowenDeliver also tweeted.

Tackling Water Challenge In Nigeria

Nigerian households mainly depend on external sources for their drinking water as most homes do not have potable water within their premises, the Multiple Indicator Cluster survey 2017 indicated.

This has put the quality of water Nigerians drink into question, reflected in the incessant outbreak of cholera in the country.

A report by the World Bank in 2017 said Nigeria provided clean water to fewer than 10 per cent of its city dwellers in 2015.This represented a four per cent fall from 1990.

The 2017 MICS survey stated that 68 per cent of Nigerians buy or source water from locations outside their homes. Most of the water they drink is from sachet, bottle water, taps, wells and boreholes, depending on the location.

According to the survey, women constitute the highest per cent (40 per cent) of persons who go out looking for water.

This situation is far worse in the Northeastern part of the country as 83 per cent of homes have no drinking water on their premises. This is followed by the South-south with 71 per cent and the North-central with 70 per cent with drinking water burden.

The burden is also heavier on the rural areas with 74 per cent, compared to 59 per cent in the urban areas. In most cases, those who go looking for water spend about 30 minutes away from their homes.

Solving The Problem

Nigeria needs to invest about $8 billion in providing potable water for the country to achieve Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

SDG Goal 6 aims at ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

An official of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), Zaid Jurgi, in March said over 60 million Nigerians still lack access to potable water and more funds must be invested to ensure the access.

He said if the country continues at the present rate of development in the water sector, only about 72 per cent of Nigerians will have access to potable water supply by 2030.

Mr Jurgi said access to safe water can save most of the under five children who die from preventable diseases, as most of the diseases are caused by poor access to water.

He noted that about 88 per cent of diarrhoea cases in Nigeria come from states that do not meet the WASH standard.

Implications Of Unsafe Water

According to the World Health Organisation, water safety and quality are fundamental to human development and well-being. This is because health risk may arise from consumption of water contaminated with infectious agents, toxic chemicals, and radiological hazards. Also, improving access to safe drinking water can result in tangible improvements to health.

WHO said providing access to safe water is one of the most effective instruments in promoting health and reducing poverty.

According to the international health agency, the quality of drinking water is a powerful environmental determinant of health.

Drinking-water quality management has been a key foundation for the prevention and control of waterborne diseases. Water is essential for life, but it can and does transmit disease in countries in all continents  from the poorest to the wealthiest.

The most predominant waterborne disease, diarrhoea, has an estimated annual incidence of 4.6 billion episodes and causes 2.2 million deaths every year, it stated in a report on drinking water quality on its website.

The agency explained that there are several variants of the faecal-oral pathway of water-borne disease transmission. These include contamination of drinking-water catchments (e.g. by human or animal faeces), water within the distribution system (e.g. through leaky pipes or obsolete infrastructure) or of stored household water as a result of unhygienic handling.A week before Rabiu Kwankwaso was denied the use of the Eagle Square in Abuja for his presidential declaration, the same venue had been approved for him, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

Mr Kwankwaso, who recently defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had announced Wednesday as the day for of his formal declaration.

The senators presidential declaration had been widely expected. He was Kano Governor when President Muhammadu Buhari secured his largest votes in Kano State in the 2015 presidential election. Mr Kwankwaso also came second to Mr Buhari in the APC presidential primaries then before declaring support for the latter who won the general election to become president.

The ex-Kano governor has boasted that he, of all PDP presidential aspirants, has the best chance to defeat Mr Buhari in 2019.

So when on Sunday, his campaign committee announced he would declare his presidential ambition formally in Abuja at the Eagle Square, not a few Nigerians paid attention to it. His aide also told PREMIUM TIMES that Abuja was chosen, rather than Kano where he enjoys massive support, for easy access to attendees from across the country.

THE APPROVAL

On August 20, three days after he applied to use the Eagle Square for his declaration, the management of the venue approved his request.

The Integrated Facility Management Services Limited, the firm saddled by the Abuja administration to manage the Eagle Square wrote to Rasy International and Properties Limited, the private firm through which Mr Kwankwaso applied for use of the venue.

Letter of approval allowing Kwankwaso to use the Eagles Square for his presidential declaration.

The approval letter, titled RE APPLICATION FOR THE USE OF EAGLE SQUARE was signed by Usman Mukhtar Raji, for the management. It informed the applicants that their application to use the facility on August 29 had been approved.

Further to your letter on the above subject matter, we hereby write to inform you of the management approval for the use of the Eagle Square halls Mr Raji said in the letter.

The applicants were asked to pay a total sum of N2.2 million (N2,217,000) for the use of the venue.

However, three days before the formal notification of the approval, the organisers had been advised to quickly make the payment in order to have an edge over others who may want to use the facility.

The payment was thus made on August 17 and a receipt issued by the facility managers.

Receipt of payment made by Kwankwaso for the use of the Eagles Square in Abuja.

Receipt of payment made by Kwankwaso for the use of the Eagles Square in Abuja.

The applicants were further directed to make a bank draft payment of N393,000, a refundable caution fee in case of damages to the venue during the event. That was made on August 18, two days before the formal approval.

Upon receiving the formal approval, therefore, the organisers felt satisfied all requirements had been met.

They were happy to announce to the public on Sunday, in a statement, that Mr Kwankwasos formal declaration would hold at the Eagle Square today (Wednesday).

He is declaring in Abuja because it is the nations capital, and this is a national event, the former governors spokesperson, Binta Sipikin, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday morning.

We are considering people from various parts of the country who may want to come, but could find a meeting in Abuja easier than in Kano.

THE REJECTION

A day after the public announcement, however, the management of Eagle Square made a U-turn.

Exactly a week after he wrote granting approval for the use of the venue, the same person who signed the approval letter, signed the new rejection letter.

Letter of rejection preventing Kwankwaso from using the Eagle Square for his presidential declaration.

We are sorry to inform you that the event can no longer hold on the said date because it is a political event and the 29th of August, 2018 happens to be a work day, as it would disrupt the usual work flow of the Federal Secretariat, Mr Raji wrote.

We apologise for the oversight on our part to note the date in relation to the nature of the event. We regret every inconvenience caused by this.

Aides of Mr Kwankwaso and many other politicians in Abuja believe the move was made to stifle the senators presidential declaration.

The Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation said it sees the development as a handiwork of the government in power who will not see anything good in growing our fledgling democracy as no level playing field has been created to allow for viable opposition in the country.

When contacted, the Abuja minister, Mohammed Bello, who has oversight over the management of the venue, did not deny any political undertone to the action. Through his spokesperson, Abubakar Sani, Mr Bello simply referred all enquiries to Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd, the firm which manages the Eagle Square and which made the controversial U-turn.

BASELESS EXCUSE

Investigations by this newspaper reveal that the excuse of August 29 being a work day provided by the Eagle Square management is baseless. The same venue has in the past been released for other political activities on weekdays.

The most recent event was the rally to support President Buhari in the 2019 general election under the aegis of Buhari Youth Organization. That rally, attended by hundreds of people, held on Tuesday, July 10, at the Eagles Square, a work day.

Also similar to Mr. Kwankwaso, then candidate Muhammadu Buhari on October 14, 2014 (a Wednesday, work day) officially declared his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the same venue.

President Muhammadu Buhari at Eagle Square in Abuja, FCT. [PHOTO CREDIT: Pulse.ng]

On another working day, December 10, 2014, a Wednesday, the same facility managers released the Eagle Square to the then ruling party, PDP, for a convention that ratified the endorsement of Goodluck Jonathan and former chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu.

WE REMAIN UNDETTERED

Despite the refusal for them to use their preferred venue, Mr Kwankwasos campaign team say they remain undeterred.

The above development will in no way dampen our morale to go ahead with the declaration or chicken-out as it will only embolden us to legally pursue our fundamental right to freedom of movement and association.

A member of the planning committee, Ikenga Ugochinyere, told PREMIUM TIMES that despite the setback, the event will still hold as scheduled but at a different venue.

Well go ahead as earlier planned but will communicate a new venue, he said.

Ms Sipikin later told this newspaper that Cheda hotel, a private hotel in Abuja, would be the new venue of the declaration.

THE STRUGGLE FOR PDP TICKET

Despite deciding to proceed with his declaration, Mr Kwankwaso faces a major hurdle in securing the ticket of the PDP for next years presidential election.

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar

Other major PDP aspirants are Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, and ex-governors Sule Lamido and Attahiru Bafarawa.

Mr Kwankwasos experience as a former governor of the most populous state in Northern Nigeria is expected to be his major selling point.

He often claims credit for helping Mr Buhari secure 1.9 million votes in the state in 2015. Although the president had always been popular in Kano where he enjoys massive support, he never got that much votes in the state until 2015.

Mr Kwankwaso also helped Umar Ganduje, then his deputy while he was governor, to power in the 2015 elections. Both men have since fallen out with Mr Ganduje vowing to ensure President Buhari wins Kano overwhelmingly in 2019.

Mr Kwankwaso served as defence minister and elected Kano governor on the platform of the PDP, but joined then-newly-formed APC in 2013 as part of the renegade newPDP bloc.

He is one of the most influential politicians to defect from the APC since Atiku Abubakar left the party last November. Perhaps in recognition of his popularity, President Buhari held a meeting with Mr Kwankwaso a day before senator defected to the PDP, in a last minute attempt to persuade him to remain in the ruling party. Should Mr Kwankwaso secure the PDP ticket, that meeting with the president could turn the last both men would hold as political allies.An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Tuesday rejected an application seeking to suspend plans by some senators to remove the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

Following his defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in July, some senators and other members of Mr Sarakis former party intensified calls for his resignation and warned of a possible removal if the senate president failed to resign willingly.

In an application brought before the court by two senators, Isa Misau and Rafiu Adebayo, the applicants asked the court to allow a motion ex-parte compelling the National Assembly members to maintain status-quo, pending the determination of their substantive application in court.

The senators, represented by their lawyers Emeka Etiaba and Mahmoud Magaji, presented their motion on Tuesday on behalf of the plaintiffs. Their main request is for the court to determine whether Mr Sarakis defection amounts to a reason for his removal under the law.

Mr Etiaba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told the court that their motion dated August 27, included five reliefs sought from the court.

The first three requests were intended to secure an order restraining the 4th to 11th respondents from further actions, either by themselves or their proxies, in an attempt to ensure the removal of the senate president, pending the determination of the main application.

The last two applications, however, bordered on securing an alternative means of serving the respondents with the originating summons.

Ruling on the applications, the presiding judge, Nnamdi Dimgba, granted the last two applications but opted to ensure an accelerated hearing of the main application, rather than allowing the motion ex-parte requested by the plaintiffs.

I believe the proper order to make is an order of accelerated hearing of the suit so that the court can consider and determine the merits of the substantive case expeditiously.

Even though reliefs 1, 2, and 3, are not granted, needless to say, parties have been enjoined to respect the authority of the court and not take steps that will render the matter nugatory, Mr Dimgba said.

The court, however, allowed the application for substituted service of the documents to the respondents.

Mr Dimgba ruled that the plaintiff served the first to eighth respondent through the Clerk of the National Assembly, while the ninth to eleventh respondents were to be served through courier.

The judge adjourned the matter to September 6 for further hearing.

Another application filed by Mr Adebayo was also adjourned till September 13, by the same court.

Mr Adebayos additional application however had one more respondent, making them 12 in all.

The respondents in the suits include the Senate, the Senate President, his deputy, the Senate Leader, his deputy, and the Minority Leader.

Others are: the Clerk of the Senate, the Deputy Senate Clerk, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Inspector General of Police and the State Security Service.

The APC has insisted Mr Saraki would be removed if he does not resign. However, the party has only a slight majority in the 109-member Senate where two-third is required to remove a senate president.The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has arrived the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ms May, who alighted from her official grey SUV with registration number 138 CMD just after 1:00 p.m. was received by President Muhammadu Buhari and other officials of government.

She shook hands with Mr Buhari and took photographs before stepping in to the office at 1.06 p.m.

This is Ms Mays first official visit to Nigeria. It is part of her trip to select sub-Saharan African countries, her first as British PM.

Ms May was in South Africa on Tuesday where she met with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Details later.Senate President Bukola Saraki has condemned the last minute cancellation of the approval granted Rabiu Kwankwaso to use the Eagle Square for his 2019 presidential declaration.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Mr Saraki stated that the Eagle Square belongs to all Nigerians.

He added that the cancellation sends a wrong message about the tolerance level in our politics.

The refusal to allow Senator Kwankwaso to utilize the Eagle Square for his Presidential declaration, despite an earlier approval, sends a wrong message about our democracy, particularly the tolerance level in our politics.

That square belongs to all Nigerians because it was built with public funds. We hope this is not what we will be seeing as we approach the 2019 General Elections, the Senate President was quoted as saying.

The management of Eagles Square on Tuesday wrote Mr Kwankwaso to inform him of their decision to revoke an initial approval granting the venue for his presidential declaration slated for Wednesday.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the approval was initially granted and payment made before the controversial revocation.

Mr Kwankwaso, a former Kano governor, consequently moved his formal declaration to the Chida hotel in Abuja.One of the contenders for the presidential ticket under Nigerias main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, on Wednesday declared to run for the number one political seat.

The event which held at Chida hotel in Utako, Abuja, witnessed a massive turnout by his supporters from across the country.

The venue, which was filled to capacity was announced after the ex-Kano State governor was denied access to Abujas Eagle Square after earlier approval by the authorities.

The facility managers of the Abuja International Conference Centre & Eagles Square, had in a letter on Monday said their reason for denying him the venue was to avoid disruption of work flow at the federal secretariat, a major hub of civil servants.

However, the massive turnout crippled a lot of economic activities around the Utako district of Abuja.

Many of the attendees at the event wore red caps in solidarity with Mr Kwankwaso who is known for wearing a red cap on white attire.

Prominent amongst those at the event were former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion; national chairman of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), Buba Galadima; former Kano State deputy governor who recently resigned, Hafiz Abubakar, and Members of the National Assembly loyal to Kwankwaso.

Mr Kwankwaso told the tumultuous crowd the reason for the gathering.

Today, I declare that I am going to vie for the office of President Federal Republic of Nigeria under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Senator said as he received cheers from his supporters.

I stand on my honour to offer a paradigm shift in leadership. There is no gainsaying that all is not well with the polity. It is also clear that the same mindset that created and escalated the problems cannot be used in resolving the ongoing crises in our nationhood and national development, he added.

In his declaration speech, the former governor listed some critical aspects he intends to tackle, if elected.

Crowd as Rabiu Kwankwaso declaring to run for President

These include security, economy, social challenges, infrastructure, human capital development and global competitiveness, education, research and innovation.

Other areas he listed are agribusiness, healthcare delivery, international relations, youth and women empowerment, national unity, cohesion and restructuring.

I intend to offer positive change. Change has again become inevitable. To live is to witness changes because change is an inseparable part of living. Come May 2019, the narrative of helplessness, buck- passing, division, poverty, insecurity, and hopelessness must change to turn to a new dawn of confidence in building a one well restructured Nigeria.

I assure you that while I do not have the prophetic power to predict the future, we certainly have in us the ability to create the future that we want.

On this day, as I stand before you, I offer you a value-based leadership anchored on our national ethics as outlined in Chapter 2 of Section 23 of our Constitution.

We will provide a leadership where everybody is free and equal; where Nigerians see themselves as Nigerians first and as Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw, Ibibio, Fulani, etc second; where citizens are self-assured and self-assertive; where they are confident and competent; where they want to do what is right no matter whose ox is gored. I want to lead a Nigeria where people are educated and exposed beyond the confines of their tribe, religion, linguistic group or place of birth.

Crowd as Rabiu Kwankwaso declaring to run for President

I want to lead a Nigeria where citizens respect their leaders, and leaders lead and forge a team to promote and protect the interest of all Nigerians.

I want to lead a Nigeria where all are comfortable anywhere and on any positive issue can compete fairly with their peers without favour or discrimination. That is the kind of Nigeria we envision. We will abandon the failed relics of the past. We have all it takes to make Nigeria good and relevant for all, he noted.

Apart from Mr Kwankwaso, other major PDP aspirants are ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, and ex-governors Sule Lamido and Attahiru Bafarawa.

Mr Kwankwasos experience as a former governor of the most populous state in Northern Nigeria is expected to be his major selling point.

He often claims credit for helping Mr Buhari secure 1.9 million votes in the state in 2015. Although the president had always been popular in Kano where he enjoys massive support, he never got that much votes in the state until 2015.

Crowd as Rabiu Kwankwaso declaring to run for President

Mr Kwankwaso also helped Umar Ganduje, then his deputy while he was governor, to power in the 2015 elections. Both men have since fallen out with Mr Ganduje, now governor, vowing to ensure President Buhari wins Kano overwhelmingly in 2019.

Mr Kwankwaso once served as defence minister and was elected Kano governor on the platform of the PDP, but joined then-newly-formed APC in 2013 as part of the renegade newPDP bloc.

He is one of the most influential politicians to defect from the APC since Mr Abubakar left the party last November.

Perhaps in recognition of his popularity, President Buhari held a meeting with Mr Kwankwaso a day before the senator defected to the PDP, in a last minute attempt to persuade him to remain in the ruling party. This however failed.

If Mr Kwankwaso eventually secures the PDP ticket, that meeting with the president could turn to be the last time both men would be seen as political allies as Mr Buhari is also expected to slug it out with a growing list of candidates who want his job in 2019.Some senators are threatening to leave the ruling All Progressives Congress should the party fail to adopt direct primaries for the 2019 elections, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

Some of the lawmakers who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES warned that the party will experience mass defection if it fails to adopt the direct primaries.

They alleged that some governors are applying pressure on the national leadership of the party to adopt indirect primaries to choose candidates for the 2019 elections.

If the party adopts the usual indirect primary, the senators said, the party will lose its majority status at the Senate. For them, the only way to reclaim leadership of the senate is an assurance of direct primaries by the party.

Direct primaries involves the participation of all party members in the selection of party candidates while indirect primaries involves use of delegates, often party leaders at local levels and political appointees as well as elected officials, to elect party candidates.

The APC used the direct primaries to elect its governorship candidate in Osun for next months governorship election. Prior to that, it often used the indirect primaries system.

The ruling party will on Thursday hold its first National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting since Senate President Bukola Saraki left the party.

The meeting is expected to deliberate on the partys preparation for the 2019 elections especially its primaries.

APC NEC, the second highest organ of the ruling party, comprises the president, vice president, governors elected under the platform of the party as well as chairpersons of the party in the 36 states.

DIRECT OR INDIRECT PRIMARIES

Controversy over the choice of primaries for the party started in July when the chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, declared the party will adopt direct primary method in Osun State in choosing a candidate ahead of the states governorship election.

Mr Oshiomhole said the method remains the most democratic way of handling the primary.

National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, (APC), Adams Oshiomhole 03946/23/7/18/Ismaila Ibrahim/NAN

The party went ahead employing the method to choose its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, but the process did not go down well with some of the aspirants.

Prominent among the voices against the method was the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf, who was runner up in the primary.

Yusuf Lasun, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives.

I did not accept the outcome of the primary election. Why would I accept that kind of primary, where a direct primary was conducted in my state, one week after another form of primary was conducted in another state.

And I hope the chairman will wake up. That chairman is going to destroy that party. The chairman of that party is going to destroy it, the lawmaker said.

However, many lawmakers, especially those who fell out with their governors in the last state congresses, wants the party to adopt direct primaries to choose candidates for the 2019 election.

MASS DEFECTION AWAITS  LAWMAKERS

Three senators who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES expressed fears over the possibility of deploying indirect primaries for the APC primaries.

They alleged that some governors are laying pressure on the party leadership to deploy indirect primaries in order to replace them come 2019.

One of the lawmakers who spoke on condition of anonymity said the party should brace itself for mass defection if the NEC resolves to adopt indirect primaries.

I am aware the National Chairman and members of the NWC are under pressure from state governors to adopt indirect primaries. Most of us suffered injustice during the Congress. Till this moment, the leadership is yet to resolve the issues. We will not tolerate injustice again.

For me, the next NEC meeting is a make or mar meeting for our party. The APC has assured us of justice through direct primaries. If the party bows to governors, we will have no option than to leave the party. It will be mass exodus, the senator said.

In July, 14 APC senators left the party with at least 12 joining the major opposition, PDP.

Few weeks after their defection, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, also announced his defection to PDP.

Bukola Saraki, Senate President

Following his announcement, some senators and leaders of the APC have continued to mount pressure on Mr Saraki to relinquish his position since his party does not have majority at the senate.

Another senator who prefers not to be named said the party will lose its majority status at the Senate if the governors have their way.

The senator said the governors are ready to replace up to 90 per cent of the federal lawmakers if the party allows delegates to choose candidates for the party.

With the war that exist between the party and Saraki, the party has confidentially resolved to return the senators because it is dangerous to come back on 25th when some people dont have assurances.

The governors have their individual agenda because the people whom they want cannot win election by direct primaries. If you cannot win by direct primary, it means that you are unpopular and the party cannot bring people who cannot win election.

The party will be heading into trouble because it will be the Senate Presidency that will be at stake at the National Assembly. The point is that if you have an indirect primary election, the governors will replace up to 90 per cent of existing federal legislatures. Now, that will be playing into the hands of the PDP, the lawmaker said.

The senator said the party risks losing at least 20 senators if it tolls the line of indirect primary.

The moment the Senate resumes, the conflicting figure we have now is that PDP are saying they are the majority, APC are saying they are the majority, what do you take for consideration? We have up 20, 30 APC senators without a ticket and they have nothing to lose (if they leave the party).

Let us get there first, because we were kept in the party on the promise that it is going to be a direct primaries. If the party says Saraki must go, who is going to remove Saraki, is it the governors? We are in a tango. The governors must concede, they must keep their heads down.

Well see what happens but I can tell you that the Saraki group are waiting for those eliminated in the APC to join them.

Another senator, Shehu Sani, expressed his dislike for indirect primary in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.

The former senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani

Indirect Primaries is a boulevard to corruption. Its a seed to imposition, manipulation and systematic desecration of the anti-corruption crusade of the government and the party.

Indirect Primaries is a bidding process, a slave market and an auction house where price tag is placed to honour, he noted.

Urging all members of the party to reject the method, Mr Sani described it as a final step to consolidate a fraudulent congresses.

APC At Liberty To Choose  Ambode

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, has said that the party is at liberty to employ either direct or indirect primary in choosing its candidates.

Former Lagos Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state [Photo credit: Instagram  akinwunmiambode]

He said this while responding to questions from journalists after an APC caucus meeting on Wednesday.

The fact remains that the constitution of our party allows us to carry out our primaries and elections using direct or indirect primaries.

We cannot disagree with the constitution so either direct or indirect primaries, you are at liberty to justify the choice you want to pick, once it suits your purpose and in line with constitution as the state determines.

The whole essence is for us to deepen democracy and also allow our members to participate in this whole process. The idea is once you have party members that are able to take decisions on who should represent them, I think we would have gone a step higher and better than other parties, that makes us a better party, he said.

DECISION WILL BE MADE THURSDAY  APC

When contacted, the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Yekini Nabena, said the party will take a position on the issue on Thursday.

Well know the position of the party after tomorrows NEC meeting. The party has already made a proposal, its going to be either direct or indirect primary, he said.Gunmen on Wednesday morning stormed two villages in Plateau State killing at least eight people, the police have said.

The attacks occurred in Abonong and Zayit villages of Foron District in Barikin Ladi Local Government Area of the state.

Tyopev Terna, the state police spokesperson, said the incident occurred at about 6 a.m.

At about 6: A.M., the Plateau State Police Command, Jos received an information that some communities in Foron District of Barkin Ladi LGA namely; Abonong and Zayit were under attack by unknown gunmen, the spokesperson said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

The command quickly mobilised to the communities. While the police were approaching the areas, the attackers sighted them from afar and ran away from the scene of crime.

As a result of the attack, Eight (8) persons lost their lives, three (3) people were injured, ninety five (95) houses were burnt down and three hundred and ten (310) Cattle were stolen.

The incident is coming barely a day after the Northern Chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) held a two-day conference in Jos on how to find solutions to the crises bedevilling the region, especially the farmers/herders conflict.

Although the police did not provide any identity of the attackers, Jatau Gyang, a Berom community spokesperson, accused armed Fulani herdsmen of launching the attack.

Prior the attack there were evidences that the Fulani would launch the attack. This has been their usual way attacking people, he said.

Until decisive action is taken by Nigerian government, against killer herdsmen to stop the ethnic cleansing and land grabbing, the government shall one be held accountable for crime against humanity, Mr Gyang said.

He appealed to all parties to eschew violence and remain calm.

In response, the Chairman of Miyyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in the state, Nura Abdullahi, denied the allegation herders were responsible for the attack.

This allegations are put forward to justify the attacks being taken by Berom against Fulani in the state. It has been an attempt to cleanse the entire Fulani in the state.

Fulani in Plateau has become a bush meat. Wherever he is seen, he is attacked and killed. It is on the records of police, DSS and Operation Safe Heaven in the state that Fulani have lost over 27 people in this month and five hundreds cows were stolen by Berom, Mr Abdullahi said.

In his statement, the police spokesperson said during the attack, properties and food were stolen and destroyed.

He said the police have mobilised more personnel to the area to prevent further violence, and that investigations are ongoing to apprehend the attackers.

Plateau is one of the states mostly affected by the herders-farmers violence that has caused the deaths of thousands of people. Other states affected by similar violence are Benue and Taraba.A final year student of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Fisayo Olorunfemi, has been killed by a mob at Oloki junction in Ede, Osun State.

Mr. Olorunfemi was killed after he reportedly hit a motorcycle with his Toyota Camry car with registration number AAA 463 DV on Monday.

The passenger on the motorcycle, identified as Islamat Bello, 18, died immediately after the accident.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that residents of the community who were angered by the death of Ms. Bello mobbed Mr. Olorunfemi to death.

A witness, Kazeem Olusegun, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Olorunfemi drove recklessly without considering the speed limit of the community.

Residents got annoyed and mobbed him to death.

Confirming the incident, Osun State police spokesperson, Folashade Odoro, said the corpses of the student and the motorcycle passenger have been deposited at the mortuary of the General Hospital Ede. The motorcycle has also been taken to the police station.

She also said law and order had been restored in the area.Security has been beefed up at the Murtala Muhammed Airports, Ikeja, ahead of the British Prime Minister, Theresa Mays visit to Lagos on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that security agencies including the Police, the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps and the Nigerian Army are at strategic locations within the precincts of the airport.

Also deployed are officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency to ensure smooth human and vehicular movement.

An official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) told NAN that the facility has been secured with the deployment of the security personnel for Mrs Mays arrival.

NAN reports that Akinwunmi Ambode, the governor of Lagos State is expected to receive the prime minister and her entourage later today at the airport.

Ms May is on a trade mission in an attempt to bolster Britains post-Brexit fortunes. This is her first visit to Africa since she became prime minister in 2016.

She will be accompanied by a 30-man business delegation as part of her efforts to deepen and strengthen partnerships around the world as the UK prepares to leave the European Union (EU) next year.

Former prime minister, David Cameron had in 2013, visited Africa for Nelson Mandelas memorial service.

(NAN)A 69-year-old woman, Munirat Alao, and her son, Yusuf, were on Wednesday brought before an Ikeja Magistrates Court for allegedly damaging a fence, valued at N81,000.

The accused, who both reside at No. 3 Gbenga Alamu St., Ajasa Command in Alimosho, near Lagos, are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and wilful damage.

The prosecution alleged that the accused conspired and damaged a fence of thirty blocks, property of one Akeem Oloyede.

Police Sgt. Michael Unah told the court that the accused committed the offences on August 3 at 11.00 p.m. at Ajasa Command.

Mr Unah said the duo, who also allegedly stole 30 pieces of blocks, had been committing the offence since 2017.

He said the accused wanted the complainant to use where the fence was built as a pathway but he refused.

The complainant rebuilt the fence each time and the accused always damaged it, the prosecutor said.

The duo, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Chief Magistrate, A. A. Fashola, granted the accused bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Mr Fashola said the sureties must be gainfully employed with evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government and should have their addresses verified by the court.

He said the sureties must also reside within the courts jurisdiction.

The offences contravened Sections 350 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 350 prescribes two years for willful damage while 411 provides two years for conspiracy.

The magistrate adjourned the case until September 3 for mention.

(NAN)Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, says senators who recently left the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his state were merely playing to the gallery.

Addressing journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, Mr Abubakar said the defection will not affect the fortunes of the party in 2019.

He added that the senators and their parties will lose in the 2019 elections just as they did in the recently held by-election in the state.

Senators Isa Misau (Bauchi Central) and Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North) both left the party for PDP in July.

Mr Abubakar said even though the defectors spent a lot of money in order to defeat the APC in the Bauchi South Senatorial by-election, the party came out victorious.

I dont want to boast but you know election is local. Some people want to come to Abuja and play to the gallery, and I am talking about the defectors. My answer is the congresses in Bauchi State along with other states in the APC and in many states that parallel congresses were conducted, because some members of the party were in opposition to the governors who were strong enough to conduct these parallel congresses.

In Bauchi State, there was no single parallel congress that was conducted. Secondly, the 11th August election took place and the APC won resoundingly. Let me tell you that all of those people who decamped, including these two senators, rallied round and spent a lot of money in order to defeat the APC in the election but the results like I said is out in the public and we have won resoundingly, so I am sure the results of 2019 elections are not going to be any different.

Mr Abubakar stated that the purpose of his visit was to brief President Buhari, who was out of the country on vacation during the by-election.

As part of what he discussed with Mr President, he said the party has more work to do to avert high rate of vote cancellation as experienced during the by-election.

This is the first opportunity I have had since the election of 11th August to brief Mr. President because when the election took place, the President was away on short leave abroad and I just came in today to brief him adequately about what transpired in Bauchi.

The results are out in the public and the APC won resoundingly in the election and I have told him that we have learnt a lot of lessons from the the election. For example, close to 200,000 votes were cancelled. This is an eye opener for us that we have to work very very hard and train agents very well to be able to safeguard this kind of situation, he said.The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Wednesday blamed the scarcity of local rice in Nigerian markets to disconnect between integrated rice millers and the supply chain.

Fatimah Aliyu, a Deputy Director, Rice Value Chain in the ministry, stated this in Abuja.

Mrs Aliyu spoke at the 2nd National Congress, Policy Dialogue and Inauguration of the Board of Trustees of Rice Assured Advocacy Forum (RAAF), facilitated by John A. Kufuor Foundation (JAKF).

She said though there was a huge market for local rice, integrated millers were reluctant to push out their products for fear of price competition with imported rice.

Mrs Aliyu was responding to complaints by representatives of some rice millers who claimed that most Nigerians preferred imported rice to local rice because of its cheap price.

The millers blamed the high price of local rice on production cost, resulting from poor power supply, high transport fare and smuggling of foreign rice.

There is market for Nigerian rice. There are people willing to pay the high price for it because of its high nutritional value, but they cannot get it to buy. There is that market disconnect that has to be looked into, Mrs Aliyu said.

She urged stakeholders in the rice value chain under the RAAFs platform to brainstorm on the issue and come out with suggestions on how to tackle the problem.

We are open to all those suggestions because it is part of policy advocacy.

Once you, the stakeholders, give us those suggestions, the government is going to look at them because the situation is also a problem to the government.

Integrated millers have invested so much in the business, and even government has also invested so much in it. So, it is of importance that integrated millers succeed, she said.

The first National Deputy President of RAAF, Rafau Lawal, called for a policy to encourage consumption of Nigerian rice as is done in Tanzania and other countries.

Mr Lawal said that one of the policy measures being looked at was the branding of Nigerian shops for local rice.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that RAAF is a national dialogue platform, aimed at harmonising rice value chain actors in Nigeria to advocate for better policies in the sector.

It was set up during the first phase of the Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI), between June 2014 and June 2018.

The platforms are currently operating in 17 states in the country. (NAN)The current conditions in which journalism is operated in Nigeria has raised several concerns among practitioners.

This primed the tone for discussion at the Journalism Welfare campaign organised on Tuesday by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism in Abuja.

Issues ranging from adequate remuneration to security concerns as well as adherence to the journalism code of ethics by media houses and journalists, were thoroughly discussed.

At the event attended by journalists from various branches (print, broadcast, online, etc), many suggestions on how to improve the welfare of journalists in Nigeria were proposed.

On the issue of media business economics, suggestions on how to explore more options of profit making aside advertisements and circulation were made.

Dapo Olorunyomi, PREMIUM TIMES publisher, said one of the major problems of the media was the business model through which most media houses are run.

He said business models based on advertising can no longer work in the country. He suggested that media owners come up with innovative ways to make money based on the platforms they operate in order to sustain the business.

He also said sustaining democracy is largely dependent on an effective media and an effective media is largely dependent on adequate remuneration.

The president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Waheed Odusile, added that more than half of the media houses in the country do not pay their staff when due.

The discussions also revealed that there were attempts by the NUJ to address the conditions of service for journalists in 1986 and 2007.

On the issue of having people from different fields like engineering or medicine becoming practicing journalists, resolutions that there should be professional accreditation for such were made.

In the course of the discussion, journalists also shared their personal experiences of situations where they were not properly remunerated for the work they do.

A representative of Reboot, Chioma Chuka, also discussed with journalists on messaging and communication design to aid journalism welfare.

After mapping out the problems which include security, inadequate or no remuneration for service, no benefits and unsustainable media business models among others; there were discussions around the goal for adequate welfare for journalists.

Dapo Olorunyomi, The Publisher of Premium Times speaking at #JournalistsWelfareMatter The National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abdulwaheed Odusile speaking at #JournalistWelfareMatter Chioma Chuka of Reboot speaking at #JournalistsWelfareMatter

Salary payments when due, pension, insurance, transport, airtime and data allowances, among many others were highlighted as things that need to be put in place to attain the goal of journalism welfare.

For security, Adeboro Odunlami from Paradigm Initiative gave tips on how journalists can stay safe online. She added that access to more tips is possible through safeonline.ng

She added that one could also access help if hacked by sending a mail to help@safeonline.ngIsrael on Wednesday pledged to assist Nigeria in tackling cyber crime and Homeland Security (HLS) using modern technology.

Nadav Goren, Head of Mission, made this known at the one-day seminar on Israels HLS and cyber 2018 organised by the Embassy of Israel to Nigeria in Abuja.

Mr Goren said as a leader in the area of technology, I believe we have to assist and help other countries and it is a social change of win-win situation.

Israel technology can confidently be exported to other countries like to Nigerian industries and companies and enable the nations to leverage on that and enhance capability of their work force.

Security threats have become more complex and hard to keep ahead of it alone; the threats we had 20 years ago cannot be compared to the ones we have today.

Nigeria has to be ahead; must have the best technology, knowledge and that is what we want to come and teach and Nigeria will benefit from this.

So, HLS and cyber technology are areas where we can build a bridge and both sides will benefit from it.

He said that plans were being made to organise a four-day international conference in Israel on HLS and cyber on todays technology, to further promote best practices in beefing-up security globally.

The conference which would hold from November 12 to 15 is designed for stakeholders in the security sector.

Speaking, Bala Sanga, Commissioner for Justice in Adamawa, gave account of the Nigerian perspective on financial and cyber technology, noting that the call for collaboration is apt.

Mr Sanga, former Chief of Staff of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said that measures had been put-up to correct such negative impression about Nigeria in the outside world.

According to him, although Nigeria is seen as place where 419, act of obtaining by false pretense, thrived, it is not a proper representation.

I have not liked that fact that we are described as people who invented 419, which is basis for cybercriminal activities.

We do have a reputation for it and it is something that Nigerian as a country has worked on significantly.

There are many areas we could collaborate on, such as border security to tackle smuggling and bunkering.

In separate video presentations on Israels innovation on HLS and cyber technology, some experts said that partnership between Nigeria and Israel would help both countries achieve their target.

Marco Aviad, Senior Director, Business Development and Marketing of Israels Airspace Industry (IAI) said that cyber technology could pose security threats if not well managed.

According to him, cyber system of technology has become dangerous, because anyone can steal your identity and even project as you when he or she is not.

It can be controlled when you have the right people that are well trained on cyber technology.

What makes cyber complex is because the information is immense and everything is based on internet connection and the operators are key to find solution, Mr Aviad said.

(NAN)The Bank of Agriculture (BoA) on Wednesday disclosed that the federal government has saved about $800 million by encouraging local production of rice in the country.

Niyi Akenzua, the Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management, BoA, said at a media briefing in Lagos ahead of the Meet the Farmers Conference (MTFC) 2018 scheduled for October 10 in the nations commercial hub.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference, which is organised by Crenov8 Consulting, is aimed at exposing African farmers to the opportunities in agro-export, especially to Dubai and other Middle-East countries.

Mr Akenzua commended the initiative of the government to diversify the economy with special focus on agriculture, urging Nigerians to key into the programmes because of their all-round benefits.

He said the government restructured the BoA in 2016 to enable it render critical assistance to the agricultural sector in terms of food security and increased export of agro-products to boost the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Central Bank of Nigeria facilitated a N250 billion intervention fund for the BoA which is being disbursed through the Anchor Borrowers Programme.

In 2017, we disbursed about N100 billion to farmers and we have also disbursed about N50 billion so far in 2018, Akenzua said.

He said rice production had increased to a level that people could ever imagined and that the government was targeting early 2019 to fully stop importation of rice.

Akenzua said emphasis was being placed on standardising and packaging of agricultural products from Nigeria to make them acceptable to the export market.

Earlier, Mrs Bola Oyedele , a representative of Crenov8 Consulting, said Dubai imported over 100 billion dollars worth of food in 2017 from Africa and it is expected to rise to about 400 billion dollars in the next eight years.

Oyedele urged Nigeria and other African countries to tap into the huge opportunities that exist to export various agricultural products such as cocoa, rice, gum arabic, palm oil, wheat, maize among others to Dubai particularly and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

She said participants at the conference will be exposed to a wide range of topics such as agro commodity trading in Dubai and GCC, import and exports requirements, laws and policies, financing, shipping and insurance among others. (NAN)Nigerias ruling party has spoken on the decision of the management of the Eagle Square, a public square in Abuja, to deny an opposition politician use of the facility.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the facility managers denied Rabiu Kwankwasos request to use the venue despite initially granting approval.

The Eagle Square management said their turnaround was because they relalised the politician had sought to use the venue on a work day (today). This is despite the fact that several other politicians including President Muhammadu Buhari had been allowed to use the venue for political events on work days without any problems.

Mr Kwankwaso, a former Kano governor, who recently defected to the PDP from teh APC, had planned to use the venue for his official presidential declaration. He later moved the declaration to a private hotel in Abuja.

Many Nigerians including Mr Kwankwasos supporters believe he was denied the use of the venue for political reasons.

The APC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Yekini Nabena, however says it is not to blame.

We frown at mischievous attempts in some quarters to blame the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the inability of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential contestant to secure the Eagles Square for his declaration, Mr Nabena said.

The party read in the media reasons given by the facility managers of the Abuja International Conference Centre and Eagles Square not to allow campaigns in its facility on Wednesday to avoid disruption of work flow at the federal secretariat, the main hub of civil servants in Abuja. Hence the allegation is unnecessary and misplaced. We should not be dragged into a private transaction involving entities we have no business with.

In any case, the 2019 elections will not be won by cheap campaign ground antics but actual votes from the Nigerian electorate who are wise and know who is working in their interest. Never again will we return governance of our dear country to the hands of those that selfishly have held us back for years.The Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar, says German Chancellor Angela Merkels visit to Nigeria on Thursday will focus on enhancement of economic relations and security between the two countries.

Mr Tuggar said at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday that Ms Merkel would be coming with a business delegation to explore investment opportunities in Nigeria.

She is coming with a business delegation which is very important. We have strong economic relations with Germany over the years.

But one of the major challenges in recent times has been how to attract German medium-size businesses to invest in Nigeria.

The backbone of the German economy is essentially made up of medium-size, family-owned businesses. There are quite concerns about how to de-risk their investments, he said

According to him, this sort of step requires cooperation and support by both governments to facilitate the investment and minimise risk.

This, of course, fits into Nigerias Economic Recovery and Growth Plan and the Presidential Enabling Business Council.

On the German side, they know the importance of these medium-size companies and they try to support them and see that they take an increasing role in a globalised world.

At the moment, the German Government is also doing everything to push out their small and medium- scale businesses to take their place in an increasingly globalised world, he said.

The ambassador said that some business persons on Ms Merkels entourage would sign agreements with some Nigerian companies.

Nigeria wants to take advantage of the areas Germany has comparative advantage.

Some German companies are interested in Nigerian agriculture sector. This is about how to strengthen our agricultural sector to create prosperity for Nigerians, especially, for young people.

Mr Tuggar further said that security, particularly in the Northeast, would feature in discussions between the leaders of the two countries.

We need support to address security issues, particularly in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

As people are returning to their villages and towns and begin to normalise their means of livelihood, which is mostly farming and trading, there is a need for global support to rebuild communities.

After this visit, Oslo 2 will follow. This is about how to mobilise global support for rehabilitation process in the Nigerian Northeast.

He said the Oslo `2` conference, aimed at raising funds to address the humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, would take place in Germany in September.

Germany has been a very significant Nigerias partner and there is still a lot we can do with Germany, he said.

(NAN)Akure, the capital of Ondo State, erupted in a violent protest on Wednesday following the death of a commercial motorcyclist who was knocked down by an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

Thousands of Okada riders began a protest in the city bearing the corpse of their colleague and attempted to match to the office of the NSCDC located at Alagbaka area of the capital, but were dispersed by a combined effort of the police and the NSCDC personnel.

In the course of the protest and efforts by security to dispersed the protesters, a woman, said to be a sibling of the dead Okada rider, was hit by a stray bullet. The woman died.

The double tragedy escalated the already charged atmosphere as the protesters vowed to kill any official of the NSCDC in revenge.

The protest was later taken to the Oba Adesida Road where demonstrators disrupted vehicular movement and set up bonfires on the expressway.

It was gathered that the NSCDC official who is yet to be identified, had a collision with a motorcycle carrying two passengers on Tuesday evening causing injuries to those on the bike.

The official was said to have taken the injured to the state hospital for treatment, but the rider of the motor bike did not survive the accident.

Women and commercial motorcyclists in the course of the protest, hijacked a vehicle belonging to the Ondo State task force with which they used in conveying the two corpses to the governors office at Alagbaka-Akure.

Police Public Relations Officer, Femi Joseph, said the police was investigating the matter and would ensure justice was done.

He however said the woman was shot dead by a stray bullet at the office of the NSCDC.

But the NSCDC has denied that any of its official fired the shot that killed the woman.

The corpss spokesman, Oladipo Samuel, told PREMIUM TIMES that the protest was not allowed to proceed to the corpss office and so the shooting could not have taken place at its office.

One of our official was involved in an accident with an okada rider carrying passengers on Tuesday evening. He took them to the hospital, but the okada rider died, Mr Samuel said.

While we were making efforts to reach the deceaseds family and begin a discussion with them, the okada riders hijacked the whole thing and started a protest.

He said the official was not attached to the Akure command of the NSCDC but works in Abuja.

We know of the okada man that died, we do not know how the other person was shot and killed, Mr Samuel added.

He also noted that the official involved in the accident was not riding an official vehicle but was in his private vehicle and was in Akure to take an exam.

The situation in the city was however brought under control following the intervention of the state government and the deployment of soldiers.The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it has powers to prosecute allegations of vote buying by both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the recently concluded governorship election in Ekiti State but lacks the powers to arrest and investigate suspects.

INEC said this in response to the open letter by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to the commissions Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, requesting the electoral commission to promptly, thoroughly and effectively investigate allegations of vote buying, and to collaborate with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in any such investigation.

The organisation also urged INEC to prosecute anyone suspected to be involved and/or complicit in the alleged vote buying, if there is relevant and sufficient admissible evidence of electoral bribery and abuse of the electoral and democratic process against them.

But INEC in a letter signed by its Acting Secretary, Okechukwu Ndeche, said that while the commissions legal officers or any legal practitioner appointed by it can prosecute alleged vote buying, other agencies must first arrest and investigate suspects before the commission can prosecute. The commission however said that it would partner with other agencies to prosecute electoral offenders.

The INEC response dated August 20, 2018 but received yesterday by SERAP read in part: We refer to your letter dated 17th July 2018 wherein you requested that the Commission investigate and prosecute alleged vote buying in the recently concluded governorship election in Ekiti State.

The Commission wishes to inform SERAP of the constraints posed by extant statutory provisions against your well-intended request.

You may also wish to note that it is not part of the constitutional duties of the Commission to arrest and investigate suspects found to have contravened provisions of the Electoral Act or any other Law for the time being in force. Section 150(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) only confers powers on Legal Officers of the Commission or any other Legal Practitioner appointed by it to undertake prosecution of offences disclosed under the Act.

We wish to assure you that the Commission will continue to partner with relevant security agencies to prosecute electoral offenders.

Reacting, SERAP said: We note the response by INEC. We will be in court this Friday to seek orders to compel the commission to work with other agencies to ensure the immediate arrest, investigation and prosecution of all suspects allegedly involved in vote buying in Ekiti State,Anambra State, Edo State and Ondo State.

It would be recalled that SERAP had earlier given Mr Yakubu 14 days to prosecute suspects failing which SERAP will institute legal proceedings to compel you and the INEC to discharge your constitutional and statutory responsibilities in the public interest.

SERAPs letter copied to both the ICPC and the EFCC read in part: It is the responsibility of INEC as an independent body to take meaningful steps and action to minimise electoral bribery by politicians, ensure political equality and prevent unfair electoral competition. No body politic worthy of being called a democracy entrusts the selection of leaders to a process of auction or barter.

Vote buying amounts to undue influence and improper electoral influence. When politicians buy votes, they reinforce social subjugation and do long-term damage to poor voters, as vote buying impairs voters already limited political power and participation in governance. Offering and giving poor people money to buy their votes is the hallmark of political disrespect, as it implies that politicians perceive voters as lacking autonomy.

Investigating the allegations and prosecuting all those suspected to be involved would indicate your agencies willingness to exert your authorities and act as a deterrent against breaches of the electoral process, Nigerias anti-corruption legislation and international standards.

SERAP therefore urges you to carry out investigation and prosecution of vote buying in Ekiti election but also in the elections in Anambra State, Edo State and Ondo State, in collaboration with the ICPC and EFCC of the allegations of vote buying, as highlighted above, and to send a strong message to politicians that INEC under your leadership would not tolerate any infringement of the electoral process ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Turnout of poor voters may decrease if they view a wealth-driven electoral system increasingly stacked against their interests. It is inconsistent and incompatible with the principles of democracy, the rule of law, transparency and accountability for politicians to use vote buying to perpetuate systems of regular patronage, knowing that such acts would purchase them sympathy and support, especially from socially and economically vulnerable communities.

Vote buying amounts to undue interference in the free exercise of the right to vote, as it implicitly aims at influencing or attempting to influence a voter not to vote or to vote in a particular manner. Specifically, the alleged giving of N3,000 or N5,000 to voters during the Ekiti election or payment into the bank accounts of voters is corruptly intended, and clearly aimed to influence their choice of candidates and voting intention. This practice seriously undermines the right of voters to freely vote according to their convictions.

Further, vote buying gives wealthy politicians an advantage in election campaigns and outcome greater than what they already possess, and it biases political decisions in favor of the wealthy. Our democracy cannot be sustainable when the electoral system inordinately prioritises the rights of political parties and their candidates in elections over and above those of the ordinary voter.

When politicians buy votes from the poor, political equality will suffer. If voters choose candidates for public office at least in part based on the voters economic interests, and these economic interests vary depending upon ones wealth, candidates chosen in elections where the wealthy buy the votes of the poor more likely will reflect the views of the wealthy. Thus, economic disparities will translate into political disparities in the election of candidates.

According to reports, agents of the APC and the PDP allegedly openly engaged in vote buying in some polling units during Ekiti Governorship election. Many voters were videoed moving in numbers to cash collection points in lieu of their votes. Others received credit alerts on their mobile phones.

We consider allegations of vote buying as political corruption, because it is the promising or giving of value in the form of money, in return for a promise of a vote. We are concerned that the failure of INEC to rein in electoral bribery is illustrated by the fact that the body has failed and/or neglected to investigate and prosecute similar incidents of vote buying in places like Edo State; Anambra State and Ondo State.

SERAP is seriously concerned that vote buying undermines the ability of INEC to discharge its responsibilities under Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and paragraph 15(a) of the third schedule of the Constitution, the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and under theUN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.The Presidency on Tuesday distanced itself from the comments made by Itse Sagay, chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) on allegations of certificate forgery leveled against the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.

Femi Adesina, spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, made the clarification while appearing on Channels Television breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, Tuesday. More than 50 days after the scandal broke out, Mr Adesina also claimed that the Nigerian government is not silent on the allegations.

In July, PREMIUM TIMES exposed how Mrs Adeosun skipped the mandatory national service for all Nigerians who graduated from universities or equivalent institutions at less than 30 years of age. The investigation also revealed that Mrs Adeosun presented a fake exemption certificate to cover her track.

In addition to being a requirement for government and private sector jobs in Nigeria, the enabling law prescribes punishment for anyone who absconds from the scheme or forges its certificates. Eligible Nigerians who skipped the service are liable to be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and/or N2,000 fine, according to Section 13 of the NYSC law. Section 13 (3) of the law also prescribes three-year jail term or option of N5,000 fine for anyone who contravenes provision of the law as Mrs Adeosun has done.

The revelation elicited a public outrage from Nigerians, with the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, a nongovernmental organisation, petitioning the police inspector general demanding an investigation into the claims against the minister.

More than 50 days after the scandal broke, neither Mrs Adeosun nor the Nigerian government has reacted to the development.

But Itse Sagay, chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) had on August 9 said the minister should not be sacked because she is damn good. Although he clarified that the position was entirely his, Mr Sagay, a law professor, also said it is irrelevant if Mrs Adeosun didnt observe the mandatory youth service.

Itse Sagay

Im telling you now. If you ask me  If I were President Buhari, I would never, ever touch that woman because shes damn good, he said. The enemies of this government want to reduce his capacity to provide good governance by engaging in social media attacks and trying to get rid of her. It will not work.

But Mr Adesina, speaking on Tuesday, explained that Mr Sagays comments were his personal opinion and not the stance of the president.

It was a personal comment, that is not the position of the Government and Professor Sagay has a right to his opinion, Mr Adesina said. No, no It will not be down the alley of Professor Sagay to advise on that matter because it is not a corruption matter, so to speak.

The presidential aide also argued that the Nigerian government is not silent on the issue.

He said: Then to the second part of your question: you used the word silence; that cant be right. Silence means you say nothing. Hasnt government spoken a couple of times?

Of course, NYSC has spoken, its an agency of government, saying it is investigating. The minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has spoken a couple of times on this matter. So I wouldnt call that silence.

When probed on why it is taking the government and its agency, the NYSC, that long to come out with a position on the issue, he said, (It is) Not how long but how well, and that wouldnt qualify as silence I am sure NYSC also has a spokesperson that you can follow up with.

Mr Adesinas comment is coming more than a month after the scandal broke without any definite reaction from the Nigerian government. It is unclear why the government, which prides itself as anti-graft, has not done anything over the matter. Similarly, it is also not clear why the NYSC has remained mute over the issue.

The corps only response was a terse statement on July 9 saying that it would investigate the claims. Nothing has been heard of the matter ever since.

Lai Mohammed, Nigerias Minister of Information, told reporters in July that he would not add anything to the terse response given by the NYSC.

Two weeks ago, a civic group, the Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) sued the NYSC over its failure to disclose details of the certificate paraded by the minister. The group had earlier made a freedom of information request to the NYSC which the agency refused to honour.

Last Sunday, exactly 50 days after the scandal broke, many Nigerians took to their social media platforms to condemn the silence of the minister, the Nigerian government and other affected parties.

Yemi Adamolekun, executive director of Nigerian civic group, Enough Is Enough, said they are trying to ensure that the story doesnt go away by making sure it remains on the front burner.

50 days later, theres been no response either from the minister or the government, which basically means you either get over it or you forget it, Ms Adamolekun told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.

The main thing is the impunity of it, that government had been asked to address the fact that a serving minister did not fulfill the requirement to be a minister of the country and there has been no response.A Nigerian Muslim pilgrim has been reported dead following a lift accident in his hotel accommodation in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

The head of Nigerias National Medical Team (NMT), Ibrahim Kana, who confirmed the death of the pilgrim said details of the tragedy would be released later.

He however, confirmed that the victim hailed from Niger state.

The latest fatality brings to four, the number of Nigerian pilgrims who have died in the course of 2018 Hajj.The APC governments style of fighting corruption and poverty is what attracted former Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio to the party, the lawmaker says.

Describing the two as twins, Mr Akpabio, after an APC caucus meeting late Tuesday night, praised President Muhammadu Buharis leadership style in tackling corruption and poverty..

The first thing you need to know about the APC, from the point of view of leadership, I am quite impressed. The president has kept his integrity intact. He has been able to improve the image of Nigeria and restore a lot of respect to Nigeria from the international community. I can assure you that he alone can attract millions of people, he is that infectious. Of course his stance on corruption and that Nigerians have food on their table is something is applauded all over the world. I have also advocated that he also fights the twin brother of corruption, that is poverty.

I am joining the APC as a government to stabilise the government and to assist the government to create employment opportunities for Nigerians so that we can fight the twin brother to corruption, which is poverty. Poverty creates corruption and corruption deepens poverty, so we need to fight the two together. And that is one of the things I find attractive with the APC and believe me with my people in Akwa Ibom State, with my presence in the APC my people in South South have now seen the light and they say APC is the party to vote for come 2019.

On what was discussed, Mr Akpabio said the meeting deliberated on topical issues in the interest of the country.

The meeting went very well and a lot of topical issues were discussed bothering on the interests of the Nation. The resolutions are fantastic and I believe that resolutions will not only move the party forward but will help to alleviate the situation in the country today and Nigerians will be happy for it.

Mr Akpabio left the opposition party, PDP, to join the ruling APC last month.The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, on Wednesday afternoon arrived the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Ikeja, as part of her visit to Lagos State, where she is billed to spend time with victims of modern slavery during her brief stay in the nations commercial hub.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UK prime minister arrived at exactly 4.18 p.m. at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, aboard an aircraft of the Royal Air Force.

NAN reports that the prime ministers visit to Lagos comes barely eight weeks after the French President, Emmanuel Macron, visited the African Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, accompanied by his deputy, among other state officials, had earlier arrived at the presidential lounge, MMA to receive the prime minister.

Also on ground at the airport were the top echelon of the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service.

Mrs May had earlier arrived in the country and met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the New Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja.

Nigeria and Britain also signed two agreements on Defence and Security partnership as well as Economic Development Forum before she headed to Lagos.

Mrs Mays visit to Nigeria is part of her tour of some Africa countries.

The Prime Minister on Thursday is expected in Nairobi, where she will meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and see British soldiers training troops from Kenya and other African countries in the techniques needed to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices before they go to fight Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The prime minister is on a trade mission in an attempt to bolster Britains post-Brexit fortunes. This is her first visit to Africa since she became Prime Minister in 2016.

She is accompanied by a 30-man business delegation as part of her efforts to deepen and strengthen partnerships around the world as the UK prepares to leave the European Union (EU) next year.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron had in 2013 visited Africa for Nelson Mandelas memorial service. (NAN)President Muhammadu Buhari withheld assent to the harmonised Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) for constitutional and legal reasons, the presidential aide on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, said on Wednesday.

On June 8, the Senate sent to the president for final assent into law the harmonised draft Bill earlier approved by the House of Representatives in January this year.

But, the president declined assent to the draft law initiated to update the outdated Petroleum Act and replace its provisions with a more comprehensive and current legal framework that aligned with global standards.

Confirming the presidents decision to decline assent, Mr Enang in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, said the decision was conveyed in separate presidential communications delivered to the leadership of the two Chambers of the National Assembly on July 29, 2018.

By Presidential communication of July 29, 2018 (one month ago) addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives, Mr President did communicate decline of assent to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, 2018 for constitutional and legal reasons stated therein, the statement said.

Although Mr Enang said by convention, it is inappropriate to speak on the content of Executive communication addressed to the Legislature until same has been read on the floor in plenary, he urged the legislature to understand the peculiar circumstance under which the clarification was issued.

He blamed it on the misrepresentation of the communication in the media to the public domain apparently with a deliberate intent to blackmail the executive, and if not promptly handled, may set the two arms of government against the public and the international investment community.

None of the reasons for withholding assent by Mr President adduced by the media is true, Mr Enang said.

The reports, first broken by The Cable on Tuesday, said the President withheld assent to the proposed law because he felt there were some sections that sought to whittle down the power of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and vest same in some technocrats.

Besides, the report said the President equally felt uncomfortable that there were no provisions that covered the Fiscal content of the draft law.

Also, the report said some key ministers the President consulted over the issue, including the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, refused to support his (Buhari) assent.

But, the aide in his statement said he was disclosing very limited of the rationale communicated to the legislature, in deference to the National Assembly.

He said the provision of the Bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain as much as 10 per cent of the revenue generated unduly increases the funds accruing to the Commission to the detriment of the revenue available to the Federal, States and Local governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

Besides, he said the President felt that expanding the scope of Petroleum Equalisation Fund made some provisions of the draft law to be in divergence from his administrations policy and indeed conflicted with provisions on the Fund.

Also, he said there were some legislative drafting concerns which, the President felt if assented to in the form presented, would create ambiguity and conflict in interpretation of the final law.

Apart from these issues, Mr Enang said there other issues in the draft Bill that required further attention. He did not identify the controversial sections or issues.

The PIGB is one of four parts of the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which seeks to update and replace the outdated provisions with a more comprehensive and current petroleum industry law that aligns with global standards.

Also, the PIB seeks to empower institutions and not individuals, remove bad governance which leads to inefficiency, ineffectiveness, rent-seeking tendencies, inequity, secrecy and corruption in the countrys petroleum industry.

The Bill proposes to reform the governing institutional framework of the Nigerian petroleum industry by setting up an independent regulatory agency, unbundling the NNPC into two limited liability companies and setting specific policy roles for the Minister of Petroleum Resources, amongst others.

The other parts of the draft law, which are still pending consideration by the National Assembly, include the Petroleum Industry Administration Bill (PIAB), Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill (PIFB) and Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Bill (PHICB).

The PIAB focuses on establishing a transparent and efficient management of exploration and production operations, while the PIFB deals with financiall terms, in terms of tax regimes and contractual terms to help realise full value in line with global standards.

The PHICB takes care of the rights and opportunities for local benefits, in terms of restitution for environmental and social costs of resource extraction activities.

Meanwhile, a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday appealed to Mr Buhari to reconsider his position on the bill.

In a statement issued by his media office, the presidential aspirant said it was unfortunate that President Buhari rejected the bill which the National Assembly in conjunction with the oil majors and host communities put in so much work to come up with.

I am of the opinion that this is a monumental mistake, Mr Abubakar said.

He also criticised the president for losing touch with global realities.

The reason given by the President for rejecting the bill also betrays the fact that the current administration is out of tandem with global best practices. Saying that the Bill will whittle down the Presidents powers is most unfortunate.

A leader must be secure in himself before he can secure his or her people. A President is not powerful because he holds the Presidency. Neither is he only powerful because laws confer powers on him. In truth, a secure leader brings power and influence to the office he occupies instead of taking power from that office. He also gives laws the force of power by obeying and implementing them, Mr Abubakar said.

He also said the PIGB will be a great catalyst for Nigerias oil and gas sector.

In recent months, Nigeria became the world headquarters for extreme poverty, having overtaken India as the nation with the most people living under $2 a day (81 million people). If we are to change the situation and bring our people out of poverty, we must support legislation such as the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill.

As the late great President Ronald Reagan once said, the greatest leader gets the people to do the greatest things. The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill will help Nigeria to do great things and I urge President Buhari to put aside his insecurities over the loss of his power and let the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill be, Mr Abubakar added.A former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday commended Senate President Bukola Saraki for the kind of leadership he has provided for the National Assembly.

Mr Jonathan spoke when the senate president paid him a courtesy visit at his Maitama Office in Abuja.

He said the tremendous support being enjoyed by Mr Saraki from lawmakers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives testifies to his leadership ability.

Senate President, let me use this opportunity to commend your leadership abilities. Looking at what is happening in the country, if not for your strong leadership, probably the National Assembly would have been in chaos and if the National Assembly is in tatters, then of course, democracy is gone.

I am quite pleased with the kind of relationship you have with the House of Representatives members and how you have been able to hold the National Assembly together because on the day that the parliament was invaded, though the target was the Senate, the House of Representatives members were as active as, if not more active, than the senators; and that cannot happen by chance.

What we know is that if there is an assault on the Senate. Then it is also seen as an assault on the House of Representatives. If they (House of Representatives members) dont believe in you, I dont think some of them would have taken that kind of risk. That commitment shows that they believe in your leadership, he was quoted as saying in a statement by Mr Sarakis Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu.

Earlier, Mr Saraki said his visit was to pay his respect to the ex-president and also to inform him of his formal return to the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said that the present realities in the country show that all those that love the country must work together to return the country to the path of growth, fairness, equity and justice.The UK Government has announced a new 70-million programme to create 100,000 jobs in Nigeria, says the Minister of State for Africa, Harriett Baldwin.

Baldwin said this during a business event as part of the activities for Prime Minister Theresa Mays visit to Nigeria on Wednesday.

Baldwin, who led a business delegation to the event, said that the programme would raise the income of three million people from the poorest parts of Nigeria.

We are here today to talk about technology links between the UK Fintech (financial technology) sector and the Nigerian Fintech sector and will bring inward investment in terms of this important sector of technology.

Today, it is all about celebrating those links through technology and I am very excited that the Prime Minister is announcing today a new 70 million programme that will create some 100,000 jobs in Nigeria and will also raise the income of three million people from the poorest parts of Nigeria.

The minister said that the event was celebrating the role of growing businesses and entrepreneurs and also highlighted the partnerships of both countries in the area of technological development.

She added that the delegation consisted of various UK businesses were willing to invest the kind of capital that creates jobs.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Ministers of Finance and Power, Works and Housing, Kemi Adeosun and Babatunde Fashola respectively, attended the event.

Mr Osinbajo said that the federal government was keen on driving technology development in the country in support of the governments economic growth plan.

The vice president said there was the need to create the right environment for technology companies to thrive and further gave an assurance of the governments commitment to support innovation in the country.

I think just looking at some of the start-ups that we see today, many of them started while the recession was on and they proved, by just a number of jobs, value and wealth created, that this is the future starting today.

This is why we have started up first with the creativity and technology advisory group; many of these start-ups are members of this group where they help to formulate policies with federal government policy makers especially in fintech, which are some of the new areas we need to formulate policies.

NAN also reports that the event, held at Ventures Park, an innovation hub and co-working space for entrepreneurs, showcased a number products from start-up entrepreneurs.

The founder of Ventures Park, Kola Aina, said that the governments `ease of doing business policy had been relatively helpful to the growth of small and medium-scale business in the country.

There is also a lot of talk about incentives like the pioneer start-ups programmes that we are looking to see how start-ups can begin to benefit from.

More than ever before, we are starting to see a lot of support from the government.

The event simultaneously held a panel discussion highlighting opportunities for doing business among businessmen of both countries.

The panel included Messrs Fashola, Adeosun and other key government representatives.

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Charles Bowman, was also part of the discussions alongside several other UK businessmen.

Ms Mays visit to Nigeria is part of her tour of some African countries.

She is expected in Nairobi on Thursday, where she will meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and see British soldiers from Kenya and other African countries on the techniques needed to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices before they go to fight Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The prime minister is on a trade mission in an attempt to bolster Britains post-Brexit fortunes. This is her first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since she became prime minister in 2016.

She is accompanied by a 30-member business delegation as part of her efforts to deepen and strengthen partnerships around the world as the UK prepares to leave the European Union next year.

(NAN)The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) has said 24,148 candidates have gained admission into various higher institutions in Nigeria as at August 29.

The JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, also dismissed as baseless agitations in some quarters that registration fee for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidates should be reduced.

About 1,662,762 candidates wrote the 2018 UTME between March 9 and 19.

The spokesperson of the board, Fabian Benjamin, provided information on the admitted candidates in a phone interview with PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday.

Also according to the reports by Vanguard and a few other dailies, Mr Oloyede told journalists in Abuja after a computer-based promotion exam for JAMBs staff, that the agencys fee is one of the lowest in the world.

According to him, JAMB sold its UTME application form for N5,000 while it remitted N7.8 billion to the Federal Government at the end of the examinations.

Why are they not asking WAEC (to reduce fee)? Why are they not asking NECO? Why are they not asking NABTEB? Why JAMB? We charge the least and you are saying reduce. The issue is because we have a means of managing the resources properly and we now have what you can call surplus and because we are open enough to return the surplus to the government, you now say we should crash the cost, he said.

He said the exam body would only follow a directive from the appropriate quarters on the cost of UTME.

What should be the basis of crashing the cost assuming the method we are using now is no longer available and we have to use the old method, Mr Oloyede said.

If the government feels we should adjust, we will adjust and not as a result of unqualified, baseless requests, Mr Oloyede said.

On the staff promotion exam, the registrar said the exercise was to ensure the boards readiness to always conduct seamless examinations.

He said the new software used in the exam which cost N6 million will now be deployed for third party clients exams to avoid issues that trailed the ones conducted for Police Service Commission (PSC).

One of the last ones we did is the PSC and we saw that because we are trying to save money, some mischievous people wanted to embarrass us.

The software we were using before has some inbuilt mechanism that it must carry 180 questions that if not complete it will not move. So you can tell people to write exam from question 1 to 120 but dont do anything below.

In such an instance, some mischievous people decided to see what is below and started saying they were setting Arabic and so on. We saw that was capable of generating unnecessary ill-feelings, Mr Oloyede said.The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said it killed three Boko Haram insurgents when it dislodged an ambush staged by the terrorists in Gulumba-Gana Area in Dikwa Local Government Area of Borno.

Onyema Nwachukwu, Deputy Director of Public Relations, Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole, disclosed this in a statement in Maiduguri.

Mr Nwachukwu said the insurgents staged an ambush but were repelled and neutralised by troops of 81 Division Task Force Battalion deployed in Operation Lafiya Dole.

Shortly before the ambush, the troops who were on a fighting patrol had uncovered two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) buried in the ground by the terrorists along the road.

While the troops carried out counter IED actions to disarm the explosives, the insurgents sprang from the ambush but met with fierce resistance by the troops, who swiftly countered the ambush, killing three of the insurgents, while others fled with gunshot wounds, he said.

He explained that the troops also recovered two AK 47 rifles; one Light Machine Gun and an empty magazine from the terrorists.

Mr Nwachukwu said one of the troops who unfortunately sustained an injury during the encounter was receiving medical attention in a medical facility.

In a separate operation, Mr Nwachukwu said that the troops of 3 Battalion, had successfully staged an ambush against Boko Haram insurgents traversing a crossing point behind Ngala town, Borno on Tuesday.

He said the troops neutralised one Boko Haram insurgent and recovered one AK 47 rifle and seven rounds of 7.62 MM ammunition during the ambush.

Following the escape of some insurgents with gunshot wounds during encounters with troops, members of the public are enjoined to report persons seen with gunshot wounds seeking medical attention, to security agencies, he said. (NAN)The Abuja division of the federal high court will on October 8 decide on an application challenging the legality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions investigation into allegations of fraud in Benue State.

The court gave the date on Wednesday, after taking arguments from counsels.

Following the freezing of the Benue State account on August 8 by the EFCC, the State Government filed a suit in court challenging the commissions powers to investigate its financial operations.

Speaking during the opening of the session in court on Wednesday, the federal governments counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, responded to the application by the state.

Also, the counsel to the Benue State government, Emeka Etiaba (SAN), said the provisions of section 128 of the constitution has specifically made it clear that it only the House of Assembly in a state can directly carry out such an investigation.

According to Mr Etiaba, sections 6 and 7 of the EFCC Act does not empower it to investigate state finances.

After listening to both counsels, the judge, Nnamdi Dimgba adjourned the matter till October 8.

The EFCC recently lifted restrictions on the bank accounts run by the state and that Akwa Ibom, which also suffered a similar fate.

Authorities in Benue and Akwa Ibom States had raised alarm that their accounts had been frozen, trapping workers salaries, pensions and crippling public activities.

But while Benue officials confirmed unblocking of all the accounts affected, Akwa Ibom was only able to confirm a partial relaxing of limited access imposed on its accounts in commercial banks.

Governor Samuel Ortom, who recently defected from the ruling APC to the opposition PDP, also confirmed in a statement that the states accounts are now fully active.

The state had raised an alarm that its bank accounts were frozen without any explanation.Sule Lamido, a former Governor of Jigawa and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said he will not leave the party even if he loses primaries for the presidential race.

Mr Lamido said this in an interview with journalists at the residence of Jeremiah Useni, during a solidarity visit in Jos on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Lamido had earlier paid a visit to the Plateau PDP secretariat where he declared his intention to run for presidency in 2019.

All of us vying for presidency in PDP are equal and are capable of ruling Nigeria as president.

2019 presidency is not just about me, we are all working for a just and a common goal to salvage the country. So if Im not made candidate of our great party, I will support whoever emerges as flag bearer for PDP.

The presidential aspirant assured that the party would reclaim its mandate.

Mr Lamido debunked rumours making rounds that he was being sponsored for the presidential race by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said that he did not have any godfather in politics and was on his own and was vying for the number one seat in the country.

I was in PDP before former President Olusegun Obasanjo became president, I do not have a godfather, but I respect everyone in our party; we have the same aspiration as PDP members, he said.

The presidential aspirant said if voted into power, his administration would tackle security issues head on and try to find a lasting solution to the herders/farmers clashes being experienced in some parts of the country.

Earlier, the partys state Chairman, Damishi Sango, promised the aspirant of the state partys support while urging him to strive towards making a difference if he emerged as the partys candidate.

(NAN)The immediate past governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has formally announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr. Uduaghan, a founding member of the PDP and Delta South Senatorial aspirant in 2019, confirmed his defection at a meeting of the APC national caucus held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by leaders of the party including national officers, state governors, former state governors, ministers and National Assembly members.

Speaking on reasons for his defection, Mr. Uduaghan in a statement entitled Moving on to the Bigger Playing Field, and sent to this newspaper by his spokesperson, said with his desire to attract development and bring permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis, the APC is the only platform on which he can achieve his aims for the region.

He praised the leadership style of the president, Muhammadu Buhari, describing it as progressive.

Read Dr. Uduaghans full statement below:

The toughest challenge for any leader in the Niger Delta since 1997 has been the issue of Peace and Security. For over 12 years, I was deeply involved in the management of the issues of the region, first as Secretary to State Government, SSG, and then as Governor of Delta State for 8 years. Strategically, we had ENGAGEMENT as our major tool. This involved government officials, with me in the forefront (sometimes personally going into the creeks without security at nocturnal hours), community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our youths, retired military officers, activists, etc. Of course, ensuring that Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, was active was also part of the engagement process.

Encouraging Interests, Activities

Since the inception of the current All Progressives Congress, APC, administration at the federal level, there has been an encouraging interest and activities by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis. This has pointed in a direction that is at once progressive and developmental.

Topmost in these activities are the ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES. Rather than using the military to harass our people, the Buhari administration has embarked on various engagement processes that have led to agreements and brought hope to the people of the Niger Delta.

In the last years, Mr. President has personally engaged several regional leaders and youths. Senior officials of his administration also engaged many Niger Delta leaders and youths. Very significant is that Mr. President mandated the Vice President Prof Yemi Osibajo SAN, to visit virtually all the oil producing states, engaging various stakeholders. This is unprecedented in the history of the region. Such engagement processes have brought some measure of peace in the Niger Delta. Things can only get better.

Beyond the engagement processes, however, the Buhari administration has embarked on some infrastructural and human capital development activities in the region. In Delta State, the opening of a Maritime University; the setting up of a steering committee for the EPZ (GAS CITY), the plan for a deep sea port, the dredging of the Escravos-Warri River; the opening of the railway line to Delta Steel Company, the soon to be flagged off, by Mr. President, the Omadino-Escravos Road that will pass through many riverine communities; the various road construction works by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the various TCN projects across the State are some of the positive activities in the region.

There are also various human capital development programmes especially the school feeding and the social security net that is making 5,000 Naira available to the poor, the continuation of the YouWin programme, the various SME programmes, and several other projects across the region have brought hope to the people.

Indeed, once Mr. President was able to set his priorities pursuant to creating an environment for peace in the region, it became incumbent on every well-meaning Niger Deltan and Nigerian to assist the process of building an economically prosperous nation.

In this era of partisan politics, it is necessary for the people of the Niger Delta, and Delta State in particular, to identify more with the Federal Government led by the APC. By so doing, we can push some of the agreements between our leaders and the Federal Government through, and also engage the government to do more. Politics is about interests.

The Niger Delta is a major area of interest for me, because I staked my life going into the creeks severally without security and sometimes coming back at night negotiating peace. I will, therefore, give the strongest support to any President that shows commitment in the affairs of the Niger Delta. I call on, and enjoin, other well-meaning leaders in the region, who have very useful contributions to make, to come on board and join hands in helping this Federal Government to pursue a robust development agenda that would uplift our people. Whatever milestone that appears not to have been achieved yet is not for lack of efforts. Joining hands with and supporting the process will lead to a faster delivery on expectations.

It is in the pursuit of this noble objective that Im offering myself to help drive a process that would give the lives of our people in the Niger Delta more meaning. President Muhammadu Buhari needs people who will join hands with him to uplift our people. From my political experience, you have to be well represented and actively so at the board room when decisions are being taken. Delta State must be well represented. Niger Delta must be well represented.

It is noteworthy to state that some organisations have been deeply involved in efforts to develop the Niger Delta and can always be relied on to collaborate with our President. It is also noteworthy to add that some previous administrations made significant efforts to develop the region. The current administration made such a significant impact in spite of the fact that apart from Edo State, President Buhari did not score the required 25% in the entire Niger Delta in the election that brought him into government in 2015. This speak volumes of his genuineness to uplift the Niger Delta. Such an administration should be encouraged by the people of the Niger Delta. We can never be sure of the genuiness of another person who becomes the President.

I have, therefore, after series of consultations and prayers, taken the decision to leave the PDP and join the APC. In doing this, I want to thank the numerous leaders, supporters and interest groups that have been urging me to remain in PDP. I am happy that after explaining some of the deeper issues to you, some of you that are politicians have agreed to join the APC in the near future. So I am going into APC as John the Baptist to the numerous Deltans that are coming in, soon  very soon.

God bless you all.No fewer than 2500 beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme are to be trained in the fishing sector in line with the federal governments Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) to restore growth in the economy, an official said.

Towards this end, 100 fishing trawlers are to be built in Burutu, Delta State, for the training programme which is expected to commence soon, at the end of which 2000 of the beneficiaries would be employed.

Inaugurating an implementation committee comprising five subcommittees for the project under a National Development Programme through Industrial Fishing and Associated Seafood Production, Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Charles Dokubo, expressed conviction that the training will open a vista of opportunities for beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme, especially those interested in sea faring and fishing.

He said the project was in fulfillment of his vision to drive the reintegration component of the Amnesty Programme in such a way that it would positively impact on beneficiaries and communities in the Niger Delta.

When this concept was brought to me, about the availability of training, retraining and also employing our delegates, it was time specific and fitted into what Im doing for the Amnesty Programme. I am really overjoyed, and I believe that the commitment of this meeting today will move this concept forward. Removing a chunk of beneficiaries from our database for me, is a thing of joy. If a chunk of these people is taken out, we can also do for those in the impacted communities, Mr Dokubo noted.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Concept Amadeus Limited, the lead partner for the project, commended Mr Dokubo for his commitment and passion towards ensuring its success.

He said the inauguration of the implementation committees for the smooth take-off of the project underscored Mr Dokubos understanding of the areas vital for training and empowerment of beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme.

I am proud of the Amnesty Office, especially the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, who has taken this project so dear to his heart. His commitment to this project has been unwavering and it is proven today with the setting up of this implementation unit. It shows a lot of vision and understanding of the needs of the Amnesty Programme and our delegates in particular.

Most of us know that the biggest problem we have in the amnesty programme is that we train people and they come back in the system and stay in the system and we just carry over the same loads over and over again. This particular project is to ensure that the boys who are trained will be employed full-time and to ensure they get out of the stipend mentality and get jobs that will improve their lives.

The project which is driven under a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) has the Presidential Amnesty Office, Concept Amadeus Limited, Akewa Global Services Limited (AGS) and four Greek companies as partners. The foreign firms include Fintrilis S.A, Tel of Western Greece; Kreta Mare, and Theoman Limited.

While Concept Amadeus Limited is the lead consulting firm, Akewa Global Services Limited (AGS) owns the Burutu fishing terminal located at the base of the River Niger in Delta State. Burutu has a 450metre berth space capable of accommodating 10 small vessels at a time; four Dockyard facilities, and 17 warehouses, among other facilities vital for the project.

Officials of the partnering foreign firms are expected in Nigeria on Saturday, this week, for a 10-day visit preparatory to the official launch of the project tentatively scheduled for October.The All Progressives Congress (APC) is at liberty to employ either direct or indirect primary in choosing its candidates, Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, has said.

He said the party will comply with provisions of its constitution in the process.

Mr Ambode said this while responding to questions from journalists after an APC caucus meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

The fact remains that the constitution of our party allows us to carry out our primaries and elections using direct or indirect primaries.

We cannot disagree with the constitution so either direct or indirect primaries, you are at liberty to justify the choice you want to pick, once it suits your purpose and in line with constitution as the state determines.

The whole essence is for us to deepen democracy and also allow our members to participate in this whole process. The idea is once you have party members that are able to take decisions on who should represent them, I think we would have gone a step higher and better than other parties, that makes us a better party, he said.

APC Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, in July said the party would adopt direct primary method in Osun State in choosing a candidate ahead of the states governorship election.

Mr Oshiomole said the method remains the most democratic way of handling the primary.

The party went ahead employing the method to choose its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.A 42-year-old self-professed prophet, Olusola Akindele of Lion of Judah Church of Christ, Robiyan community in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, has been arrested for allegedly beheading his mistress for money rituals.

The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, who led his men to the house of the cleric located in the community said the suspect was arrested following a report by the community head. The leader said a headless decomposing body a woman was found in an uncompleted building within the community.

He said upon receiving the report, the Divisional Police Officer of Agbado Headquarters, embarked on technical intelligence which led to the apprehension of the suspect.

The commissioner said the suspect confessed that the victim was his mistress, whom he simply identified as Iya Anu. They had been in an amorous relationship for over two years.

On that fateful day, the deceased came to visit him and as usual after they made love, the woman was relaxing. He surreptitiously brought out a pestle-like wood with which he smashed the womans head and later cut off her head and two hands before he threw the remains into the uncompleted building behind his residence, the commissioner told journalists

He said the severed body parts were buried at the back of the church situated at number 13, Robiyan Avenue.

He added that two other accomplices were arrested in connection with the killing.

Mr Iliyasu assured that the suspects will be arraigned after investigations are concluded.

Meanwhile, the police boss has ordered the DPO to liaise with the Chairman of the Local Government in order to demolish the property of the suspect.The Ekiti State governor-elect. Kayode Fayemi, on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, filed his defence before the Election Tribunal against the petition by the e candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kolapo Olusola challenging his victory at the July 14 polls.

Mr Fayemi was declared winner of the election after scoring 197, 459 votes to defeat Mr Olusola, who scored 178, 223.

Mr Olusola, who is also the Ekiti Stste deputy governor, had earlier filed his petition, with the claims that he won the election and the he should be declared the rightful winner of the election.

The PDP candidate had accused the APC of using the federal might to muzzle opposition, while also accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of falsifying results in Mr Fayemis favour.

But Mr Fayemi, while countering the claims of his opponent, stated in his 2,558-page defence with over 3,000 documents as exhibits, declared that he won the gubernatorial election of July 14, 2018 and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition of Mr Olusola for lacking in merit.

Mr Fayemis legal team led by three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Hakeem Afolani, Yomi Aliyu and Kayode Olatoke, also would be calling 1,009 witnesses to brace their defence.

Mr Olatoke told journalists after the submitting the documents, that the petition field by the PDP candidate was a waste of time as it lacked substance and it was sure to be dismissed by the tribunal.

He said Mr Fayemi won in 12 out of the 16 local governments areas of the state, while Mr Olusola won in four of the States.

Mr Olatoke also dismissed the PDP claims of over voting in some polling units, describing them as frivolous and baseless.

He argued that Mr Olusolas first ground in his petition was based on Mr Fayemis phantom indictment, which had been nullified and set aside by a competent court.

The second ground of Elekas petition is alleged over voting, which is another false claim. In any case, the petition in itself is self defeating, he said.

The third ground is on deliberate voiding of votes as alleged by Eleka but in actual fact, majority of the voided ballots were votes meant for Fayemi, while the fourth ground is on vote buying which is baseless as it was, Elekas sponsor, Fayose that was guilty of this.

Fayemi won convincingly based on his popularity.

Other senior lawyers in the team representing Mr Fayemi and the APC are: Lateef Fagbemi, John Baiyeshea, Akin Olujimi, Jelili Owonikoko, and Segun Ajibola.

Hearing date is yet to be fixed.For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.



LONDON, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Ghazi Abu Nahl, founder and Chairman of Nest Investments offers his thoughts on family business

Entrepreneurs must not be tempted to make their business a dynasty if they want long-term success, self-made insurance magnate Ghazi Abu Nahl has warned.

In an interview with CampdenFB, Mr Abu Nahl, founder and CEO of global business group Nest Investments (Holdings), highlighted the importance of professionalism in developing a family business.

"Entrepreneurs bring a unique DNA and set the tone of the organisation, but a world-class business needs world-class processes and professionals onboard," Mr Abu Nahl explained. According to him, businesses run the risk of stagnating if they rely on the founding family alone. Fresh blood is needed, both for new ideas and to avoid a sense of entitlement in future generations.

The story of his business is a case in point. Founded by a family of Palestinian refugees in 1989, Nest Investments has a turnover of over US 660 million with a presence in the insurance, reinsurance, banking and real estate sectors. Although still family-owned, Nest employs over 1,500 people across its global operations and is eager to continue benefiting from external perspectives and expertise.

Ghazi Abu Nahl has focused on professionalism and training with his own children, who sit on the Nest board today. His three sons and two daughters each began their involvement with the Group around the time of their 15th birthdays. At first, they were simply to shadow his board, and encouraged to debate processes and decisions at the dining table as they steadily continued to get to know the business. They continued with formal education before taking permanent positions at Nest Investments.

For future generations, steps have been taken to separate the Nest Group from the Abu Nahl family in all management matters as the business has been split into two the family office, and the independent Nest Investments. The structure means family members can limit future involvement in the business and pursue other interests.

"It is no secret that most family businesses do not survive past the third generation. We need to do something about that. The cultures that run through family businesses - fostering security, loyalty and long-term thinking - are just what our economies need in today's volatile world," Ghazi Abu Nahl concluded.

About Nest Investments

Nest Investments is a diversified international business group operating across more than 20 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Founded in 1989, Nest Investments was one of the pioneers of insurance in the Gulf region and has become a regional leader in the space, as well as developing significant expertise in other areas, notably real estate and banking. The Group holds assets of over $5 billion today, with annual turnover in 2016 in excess of $600 million.

For further information, please visit http://www.nestco.org/

SOURCE Nest InvestmentsCHICAGO, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Labor Day has become synonymous with discounts and deals for car buyers, but if you're in the market for a new vehicle, keep in mind this holiday celebrates U.S. workers  and finding a vehicle that's "Made in America" and supports the local economy is more complicated than it seems. The Cars.com (NYSE: CARS) American-Made Index ranks cars based on five factors: assembly location, domestic-parts content, U.S. factory employment, engine sourcing and transmission sourcing. Just in time for one of the busiest car-shopping times of the year, the index helps car shoppers determine the "most American" vehicles of 2018 that have the greatest impact on the U.S. economy.

"Cars.com analyzed more than 100 U.S.-built vehicles to arrive at the top 10. We looked at which cars are manufactured in America, have the most American parts and support the most American factory jobs," said Joe Wiesenfelder, Cars.com's executive editor.

According to a recent Cars.com survey, 82 percent of Americans believe that buying American-made vehicles will create more jobs in the U.S.1 The survey also revealed many U.S. consumers want to support their neighbors and buy American cars, trucks and SUVs. Notably, 28 percent of respondents would only consider an American manufacturer when purchasing a vehicle, and 19 percent of survey respondents believe it is unpatriotic to buy vehicles that are not American-made.

The top 10 vehicles on the 2018 Cars.com American-Made Index are:

Rank Make/Model U.S. Assembly Plant Location(s) 1 Jeep Cherokee Belvidere, Ill. 2 Honda Odyssey Lincoln, Ala. 3 Honda Ridgeline Lincoln, Ala. 4 Ford Taurus Chicago 5 Chevrolet Volt Detroit 6 Honda Pilot Lincoln, Ala. 7 Acura MDX (excludes MDX Sport Hybrid) East Liberty, Ohio 8 Ford Explorer Chicago 9 Ford F-150 Claycomo, Mo., and Dearborn, Mich. 10 Chevrolet Corvette Bowling Green, Ky.

"This Labor Day, we're also expecting cash deals to be more prominent, especially among small SUVs. We've identified significant potential savings this holiday with two of the vehicles on the Cars.com American-Made Index  the Jeep Cherokee and the Ford F-150," added Wiesenfelder.

The Jeep Cherokee SUV is Illinois-built, though Jeep is a division of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), an Italian corporation headquartered in London. Through Sept. 4, Jeep is offering $3,000 to $3,500 off the 2019 Cherokee, depending on trim level and region. In some areas, customers who secure standard financing through Chrysler Capital  Jeep's financing arm  can get another $500. Alternately, qualified shoppers can get zero percent financing for up to 60 months plus $1,000.

Additionally, now through Oct. 1, Ford is offering $3,750 to $4,250 off the 2018 F-150 pickup truck's mainstream XLT trim level; the range depends on region. Incentives on other trim levels are considerably lower, but the XLT accounts for nearly half of new F-150 inventory on Cars.com. Alternately, qualified shoppers can get 3.9 percent financing for up to 84 months.

For more information on the 2018 Cars.com American-Made Index, including a deeper dive into the data and methodology, visit www.cars.com/american-made-index.

1Cars.com internal data. The 2018 American-Made Index surveyed more than 1,000 participants from an independent, third-party provider. The survey was conducted on May 23, 2018.

ABOUT CARS.COM

Cars.com is a leading two-sided digital automotive marketplace that creates meaningful connections between buyers and sellers. Launched in 1998 and headquartered in Chicago, the company empowers consumers with resources and information to make informed buying decisions around The 4Ps of Automotive Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Person, by connecting advertising partners with in-market car shoppers and providing data-driven intelligence to increase inventory turn and gain market share. A pioneer in online automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting thousands of local dealers across the country with millions of consumers. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile features and intelligence, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of pricing and research tools, and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com is transforming the car shopping experience.

Cars.com properties include DealerRater, Dealer Inspire, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. For more information, visit www.Cars.com.



SOURCE Cars.com Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cars.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Oakworth Capital Bank has been named to American Banker's 2018 Best Banks to Work For, ranking first nationally. The ranking, which began in 2013, is a project of American Banker and Best Companies Group to recognize and honor the best banks to work for in the nation. This is Oakworth's second consecutive year to make the list.

"We are honored to be recognized by the American Banker in this prestigious ranking," said CEO Scott Reed. "Our vision of 'Redefining Financial Services' begins with our associates. If we take care of our associates, they will provide our clients the best possible experience. Our people are Oakworth's most valuable asset, so this recognition is tangible evidence that Oakworth is a world-class environment in which to build a career."

Oakworth moved from a number 18 ranking in 2017 to the number 1 ranking in 2018. Reasons cited include Oakworth's comprehensive wellness program, OakWell, as well as the opportunities for all associates to own equity in the Company. These initiatives are consistent with Oakworth's core purpose of Helping People Succeed.

Determining the Best Banks to Work For involves both extensive employee surveys and reviews of employer reports on benefits and policies. This survey and recognition program is dedicated to identifying and recognizing the best employers in the banking industry. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process, analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final ranking. Full results of this year's program are available at American Banker.com.

About Oakworth Capital Bank

Oakworth Capital Bank provides commercial banking, wealth management, and private banking services to successful businesses, families, and individuals. The Bank serves its valued clients across the United States from its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama as well as offices located in Montgomery and Mobile. For more information about Oakworth Capital Bank and its unique approach, please visit the company website at www.oakworthcapital.com or call us at (205) 263-4700.

For more information contact:

Lindsey Krausen

Phone: 205-278-2736

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Oakworth Capital Bank

Related Links

http://www.oakworthcapital.com

"My father started in this industry almost 50 years ago," stated Darren DeRosa, the Company CEO, referring to his father Angelo DeRosa, a US army veteran and company Chairman. "I grew up in this business and learned the ropes from a young age. My first job was in packaging and I was underpaid," he recalls with a smile, "I think I was around 10 years old."

"But while there are many distributors like us around the country, with similar histories, most don't have a second generation willing or able to take over the responsibilities," he said.

"I don't know of any that have vision he has," said Angelo, referring to his son. "I think, to succeed in this business, the next generation needs to utilize new technology. This business started without computers, but we always tried to incorporate new tech into our processes. There are many inefficiencies in this industry and that's why technology like blockchain needs to be embraced," he said.

Darren, along with company CFO, Scott Chichester, are spearheading the implementation of the DiMO Token while Angelo is at the forefront of the acquisition strategy. "We are targeting 400 potential acquisitions throughout the USA. These owners are aging and have poor exit strategies. We want to add their $2M to $5M revenue to Sterling, as well as streamline processes to increase the bottom line."

"Since 2012 we've made two acquisitions and successfully integrated them into Sterling," said Darren. "We improved the process and are ready for more. Our next goal is to get to $20M in sales. I feel we can integrate acquisitions quite easily and maximize economies of scale."

With the upcoming Reg A which includes the DiMO Token as a dividend, Sterling is allocating up to 50% for acquisitions, and between $850k to $10M towards the release of the cryptocurrency DiMO Token.

For more information on the DiMO Token, consolidation strategy, Reg A filing and company history, visit: http://investor.sterlingconsolidated.com

About Sterling Consolidated Corp.

Sterling Consolidated Corp., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sterling Seal and Supply is a leading supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic seals to the automotive and industrial marketplace for almost 50 years as well as an approved supplier to Amazon and Walmart. The Company has 5 locations throughout the USA, and plans to acquire more through its ongoing acquisition strategy. The Company is also the creator of the DiMO, a blockchain based cryptocurrency, that they hope brings an edge to the industry and improves overall profits and efficiencies through the use of smart contracts.

Investor & Media Contact:

Scott Chichester, CFO - [email protected]

Source: Sterling Consolidated Corp - http://www.sterlingconsolidated.com

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements appear in a number of places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the Company's financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the Company's financial condition or results of operations; (iii) the Company's growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends. The words "may" "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Legal Disclaimer

No money or other consideration is being solicited for our Regulation A+ offering at this time and if sent in to Sterling Consolidated Corp. will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities in a Regulation A+ offering of Sterling can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until Sterling's offering statement is qualified with the SEC. Any such offer to buy securities may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of its acceptance given after the qualification date. Any indications of interest in Sterling's offering involves no obligation or commitment of any kind.

For additional information on Sterling, the offering and any other related topics, please review the Form 1-A offering circular that can be found at the following location: http://rega.sterlingconsolidated.com

[1] Source https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/gaskets-and-seals-market

SOURCE Sterling Consolidated Corp.

Related Links

http://www.sterlingconsolidated.com

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridge Street Market opened today on the corner of Bridge St. and Seward Ave., bringing a mix of fresh, local and convenient food at low prices to customers on Grand Rapids' West Side.

The neighborhood grocery store, which is owned by Meijer, is a first of its kind in the region, Store Manager Ken Bair said.

"We are very excited to debut our new, local grocery store with the community," Bair said. "Bridge Street Market is unique, and while it's smaller than a traditional Meijer, we've worked diligently to ensure we have the best products on our shelves to meet the community's needs."

The market's first day of business featured a ribbon-cutting event with comments from Bair, Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Guillermo Cisneros and Meijer leadership. The market also demonstrated its commitment to the community by awarding $5,000 donations to five community organizations: Other Way Ministries, West Side Collaborative, Steepletown Neighborhood Services, Oasis of Hope and the West Grand Neighborhood Association.

The 37,000-square-foot store offers a unique shopping experience, featuring a full assortment of fresh and prepared foods, including bakery items, fresh meat and deli offerings; an estimated 2,000 local, artisan groceries; and Meijer and national brand products. It hosts a Mayan Buzz Cafe coffee shop, an expansive beer, wine and liquor counter and basic cleaning, health and beauty care products.

Bridge Street Market features open air elements with 22-foot ceilings and a pedestrian-friendly design with three garage-style doors that open onto the sidewalk along Bridge St., and dedicated parking on the main level of a connected parking deck.

It anchors a development spanning a city block located amidst the city's current hub of collaboration and mixed-use development, residing alongside apartments named The Hendrik, and an office and retail building.

"We are excited about what Bridge Street Market means for the community, this West Side development and for Meijer," Meijer President & CEO Rick Keyes said. "This is new territory for us, but we believe this is not only a smart business move and addresses the need for new ways to serve our changing customers, but it also positively impacts our community."

About Bridge Street Market

Bridge Street Market is a new neighborhood market focused on bringing fresh food and value to customers in a market-like setting. As the anchor of a unique mixed-use development on Grand Rapids, Mich.'s west side, Bridge Street Market will serve as a model for future neighborhood-friendly development in the area while providing residents and businesses alike access to fresh food and easily accessible convenience items in a one-of-a-kind store.

SOURCE Bridge Street MarketOrganised by UBM Asia, the JNA Awards is one of the most prestigious awards programmes in the international jewellery and gemstone industry. The Awards is set out to promote and encourage innovation, excellence and best business practices within the trade and has since then recognised a diverse range of companies from the global jewellery community for their achievements.

Out of 36 Honourees companies from 12 countries and regions this year, 16 of them are from China, covering eight categories. The participation level and quality of Chinese companies joining the Awards have been on the rise impressively since the inaugural edition, which only saw one Honouree from China. The Award Recipients and Honourees will be feted at a gala celebration on Sunday, 16 September, at the InterContinental Hong Kong.

The shortlisted companies and their respective Award categories are:

1. Beijing Ying Yan Network Technology Co Ltd

Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Age 40 and below) (YANG Lian Guang)

2. China Precious Gold Holdings Limited

Industry Innovation of the Year - Product Development

3. HIERSUN

Retailer of the Year (501 outlets and above)

4. ISMOND Jewelry Technology Co Ltd

Industry Innovation of the Year - Technology

5. Mokingran Gold Jewelry Group Co Ltd

Retailer of the Year (501 outlets and above)

6. Shenzhen Darry Jewelry Co Ltd

Brand of the Year - Retail

Retailer of the Year (500 outlets and below)

7. Shenzhen HengFuYingJia Gold Co Ltd

Industry Innovation of the Year - Business Model

8. Shenzhen Ideal Jewellery Co Ltd

Retailer of the Year (501 outlets and above)

9. Shenzhen Kingli Jewellery Co Ltd

Manufacturer of the Year - Jewellery

10. Shenzhen Lingchengben Technology Corporation Limited

Industry Innovation of the Year - Technology

11. Shenzhen MingFeng Jewellery Co Ltd

Outstanding Enterprise of the Year - Greater China

12. Shenzhen MOVER Jewellery Co Ltd

Industry Innovation of the Year - Business Model

13. Shenzhen Perfect Love Diamond Co Ltd

Brand of the Year - Retail

14. Shenzhen Sunfeel Jewelry Co Ltd

Brand of the Year - Retail

Outstanding Enterprise of the Year  Greater China

15. Zbird / Shanghai Wisdom Jewelry Trading Co Ltd

eSupplier of the Year

Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Age 40 and below) (XU Xiao)

16. Zhuge-to-store, Fubillion (Fujia Financial Information Service Co Ltd)

eSupplier of the Year

Letitia Chow, Chairperson of the JNA Awards, Founder of JNA, and Director of Business Development -- Jewellery Group at UBM Asia, said, "The Chinese jewellery and gemstone sector has been keen and innovative in meeting the challenges in different areas and aspects of the industry. Their efforts and hard work have certainly paid off by being recognised as Honourees of the Awards.

"Based in one of the largest jewellery markets in the world, quite a number of Chinese enterprises have made it to the Honourees list despite keen competition this year. I sincerely hope that these leading enterprises would inspire more companies in the trade, not only in mainland China but around the world, to achieve excellence and success."

The 2018 independent judging panel consists of industry experts, namely, Albert Cheng, Advisor to the World Gold Council (WGC) and former Managing Director, Far East (WGC); James Courage, former Chief Executive Officer of Platinum Guild International (PGI) and former Chairman of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC); Lin Qiang, President and Managing Director of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE); Mark Lee, Research Director of Asia Pacific Institute for Strategy (APIFS); Nirupa Bhatt, Managing Director of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in India and the Middle East; and Yasukazu Suwa, Chairman of Suwa & Son, Inc.

JNA Awards 2018 is supported by Headline Partners Chow Tai Fook (CTF), the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE), and the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (DANAT) together with Honoured Partners KGK Group, Guangdong Gems & Jade Exchange, and Guangdong Land Holdings Limited (GDLAND).

The JNA Awards is a ticketed event. Book your tickets for the prestigious Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner now at http://www.JNAAwards.com/

For more information, visit www.JNAAwards.com or contact:

JNA Awards Marketing

UBM Asia (Hong Kong)

+852 2516-2184

[email protected]



Notes for Editors:

1. About the Headline Partner

1.1 Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited (www.chowtaifook.com)

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited (the "Group"; SEHK stock code: 1929) was listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in December 2011.

Founded in 1929, the Group's iconic brand "Chow Tai Fook" has been widely recognised for its trustworthiness and authenticity, and is renowned for its product design, quality and value. The success of the Group and its iconic brand is rooted in innovation, craftsmanship and heritage. The Group also holds other jewellery brands including CHOW TAI FOOK T MARK, Hearts On Fire, MONOLOGUE and SOINLOVE, which are the first examples of a long term multi-brand strategy rollout.

The Group's commitment to sustainable growth is anchored in its "Smart+" strategy, which is in place to promote long term innovation in the business, in people and in culture. Another asset underpinning sustainable growth is a sophisticated vertically integrated business model. This supports the Group by fostering excellence and extending opportunities along the entire value chain to communities and industry partners.

With an extensive retail network in Greater China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States, and a fast-growing e-commerce business, the Group is implementing effective online-to-offline ("O2O") strategies to succeed in today's omni-channel retail environment.

1.2 Shanghai Diamond Exchange (www.cnsde.com)

Authorised by the State Council, the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) is the only diamond exchange in China and provides diamond dealers a fair and safe transaction venue under close supervision. It also enjoys a favourable taxation policy and is operated in accordance with international best practices of the diamond industry.

Established in 2000, the SDE is a non-profit, self-regulating membership organisation and a member of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.

1.3 Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones -- DANAT (http://www.danat.bh)

The Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (DANAT) was established in 2017, at the instigation of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain. DANAT was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom. As an organisation, DANAT has evolved from the Pearl & Gem Testing Laboratory of Bahrain (the first laboratory of its kind in the region), which was established in 1990. DANAT was formed to expand upon and enhance the excellent work of the laboratory, with the vision of becoming the world's preferred institute for natural pearl and gemstone third-party verification services and scientific research.

DANAT plays a vital role in protecting and enhancing the public trust in pearls, gemstones and jewellery. With its offices located at the iconic Bahrain World Trade Center, DANAT aims to establish itself as the window into international markets, serving local and global clients and bolstering the reputation of the Kingdom as a leading centre for pearl and gemstone expertise. DANAT is an authority on industry standards, scientific knowledge and education, and is committed to the highest standards of professional and personal ethics. It is dedicated to supporting the pearl and gemstone industry and offers training programmes locally, regionally and internationally to a new generation of gemmologists, industry professionals and gemmology enthusiasts.

2. About the Honoured Partners

2.1 KGK Group (www.kgkgroup.com)

The KGK Group was founded in 1905 by Kesrimal Kothari and Ghisilal Kothari of Jaipur (India), with the humble task of trading gemstones between India and Burma. With a global presence across 19 countries today, the privately held group has evolved into one of the most preferred brands in the gemstone and jewellery industry, with a vertically integrated operation that spans the entire supply chain from mines to brands. KGK is one of the few conglomerates covering the entire spectrum of mining, sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of coloured gemstones, diamonds and jewellery for over a century. KGK Group has a resilient team of 12,000 employees with operations and offices in Asia, Australia, North and South America, Europe and Africa. Having achieved an impeccable reputation in the gemstone, diamond and jewellery trade, the group has recently diversified into real estate.

2.2 The Guangdong Gems & Jade Exchange (http://en.gdgje.com/)

Founded in February 2016, the Guangdong Gems & Jade Exchange is one of two provincial jewellery trading platforms authorised by the People's Government of Guangdong Province.

Aggregating resources from key industrial hubs across Guangdong including Guangzhou, Pingzhou of Foshan, Yangmei of Jieyang and Sihui of Zhaoqing, the Guangdong Gems & Jade Exchange joins hands with world-renowned jewellery brands in setting up an international supply chain integrated service platform that offers a secure and convenient trading experience for domestic and overseas jewellers.

The Guangdong Gems & Jade Exchange is set to benefit China's jewellery industry in a variety of areas, such as the promotion of a healthier and more balanced international division of labour, foreign trade development, cross-border resource management and consumer market growth. As part of this effort, it will take full advantage of the base and influence of Guangdong's jewellery industry and the benefits stemming from the Belt and Road Initiative to establish linkages with national and global gemstone and jewellery markets.

2.3 The Guangdong Land Holdings Limited (www.gdland.com.hk)

The Guangdong Land Holdings Limited (GDLAND), with its headquarters in Hong Kong, is listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, and is a subsidiary of GDH Limited, which is Guangdong Province's largest conglomerate operating outside Mainland China.

The principal business of GDLAND is property development and investment, including but not limited to the development and operational management of the innovative commercial real estate, urban complex and industrial business complex. As the strategic arm of GDH Limited, GDLAND engages in the business development of commercial real estate, as well as urban and industrial complex projects.

GDLAND's flagship project, namely the "Buxin Project," is planned to become the biggest and most advanced jewellery mart in the world, including a large-scale jewellery trading and exhibition centre along with other facilities, with a lot size of over 87,000 square metres and a construction scale (floor area) that is projected to exceed 700,000 square metres. The Buxin Project, which is located in the Buxin area of Luohu district in Central Shenzhen, close to the Shuibei Gold and Jewellery Base, is expected to develop the area into one of the most influential gold and jewellery trading and exchange platforms in China and around the world.

3. About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)

UBM Asia recently became part of Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organiser in the world. Please visit www.ubm.com/asia for more information about our presence in Asia.

4. About Responsible Jewellery Council (https://www.responsiblejewellery.com/)

The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit standards and certification organisation. It has more than 1,100 member companies that span the jewellery supply chain from mine to retail. RJC Members commit to and are independently audited against the RJC Code of Practices -- an international standard on responsible business practices for diamonds, gold and platinum group metals. The Code of Practices addresses human rights, labour rights, environmental impact, mining practices, product disclosure and many more important topics in the jewellery supply chain. RJC also works with multi-stakeholder initiatives on responsible sourcing and supply chain due diligence. The RJC's Chain-of-Custody Certification for precious metals supports these initiatives and can be used as a tool to deliver broader Member and stakeholder benefit.

The RJC is a Full Member of the ISEAL Alliance -- the global association for sustainability standards. For more information on RJC Members, Certification, and Standards please visit www.responsiblejewellery.com

SOURCE UBM AsiaBIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TriAltus Bioscience, LLC today announced that scientists at Hubei University in China successfully co-expressed and purified ribonucleoprotein complexesincluding Cas9 and Cas12a CRISPR-associated proteinsfrom E. coli in a single step using the company's licensed CL-7 purification technology. The Hubei scientists published the results of their work in late July.

"This team's success with CRISPR proteins independently validates our CL-7 purification system as a way to efficiently purify some of the most important proteins being used in therapeutic research," said Bob Shufflebarger, CEO and co-founder of TriAltus Bioscience. "We believe this technology will enhance scientific research, resolve some of the challenges of working with genetically-engineered proteins, and ultimately help reduce industry costs associated with biopharmaceutical production."

In their paper, the Hubei scientists wrote: "By harnessing the ultra-high-affinity CL7/Im7 purification system, we achieved one-step purification of pure Cas RNP with profound nuclease activity in vitro and in vivo, indicating that the method has great potential to prepare CRISPR-associated nucleases at large-scale, low cost and short time. [This] method is convenient, cost-effective, and applicable to prepare other CRISPR associated nucleases."

CRISPRan acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeatsis a gene editing tool that effectively and specifically changes genes within organisms. CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins such as Cas9 and Cas12a are requisite components of the CRISPR system, which researchers are increasingly using to find potential treatments for diseases like cancer, HIV, and sickle cell disease.

TriAltus Bioscience co-founder, Dmitry Vassylyev, Ph.D., professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UAB, led the team that invented the CL-7 technology.The work was published in 2017 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

ABOUT TRIALTUS BIOSCIENCE

Trialtus Bioscience, LLC (www.trialtusbioscience.com) provides life scientists with tools for production and purification of genetically engineered proteins. Our novel affinity tag system delivers proteins with ultra-high purity and yield in a single step. The CL-7 affinity tag protein purification system was licensed by TriAltus Bioscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and is now commercially available. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 1-800-417-7688.

CONTACT:

Rhonda Melancon, Vice President of Marketing, 504-427-7535, [email protected]

SOURCE TriAltus Bioscience

Related Links

http://www.trialtusbioscience.com

DUBLIN, Aug 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Colorectal Cancer Therapeutics in Asia-Pacific Markets to 2024 - Launch of Premium Targeted Therapies and Increasing Prevalence to Drive the Market" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The report "Colorectal Cancer Therapeutics in Asia-Pacific Markets to 2024 - Launch of Premium Targeted Therapies and Increasing Prevalence to Drive the Market" details the key points (etiology, epidemiology, current treatment, products currently marketed and in pipeline, market drivers and barriers) driving the Colorectal Cancer (CRC) market in the five Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets: India, China, Australia, South Korea and Japan.

Many countries are facing the challenge of an aging population, and there will be an increased number of people aged 50 and over, a high-risk age range for Colorectal Cancer (CRC). Over half of the incident cases of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) are diagnosed in patients over the age of 50. Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally, accounting for 0.77 million deaths in 2015.

The five-year prevalence population for Colorectal Cancer (CRC) in Asia-Pacific was 1.7 million in 2017. This figure has been gradually rising with the growing elderly population and increasingly Westernized lifestyles. However, growing awareness of the disease and associated risk factors together with the availability of free testing services for Colorectal Cancer (CRC) patients will increase early diagnosis and the treatment-receiving population, including targeted treatment, driving demand and contributing to market growth. Increasing affordability and healthcare access in India and China are also likely to contribute to the growth of the treatment-receiving pool significantly.

On the other hand, the poor prognosis, particularly for patients with advanced disease, has created a pressing need for improved therapeutic options. The Colorectal Cancer (CRC) market is therefore shifting from a focus on generic chemotherapy regimens to a complex treatment landscape based on the presence of various molecular aberrations. The marketed products landscape comprises a wide range of treatment options, including EGFR-targeted therapies, angiogenesis inhibitors, multiple kinase inhibitors and new chemotherapies.



Scope

The CRC Asia-Pacific market will be valued at $7.9 billion in 2024, growing from $5.3 billion in 2017 at a CAGR of 6%.

in 2024, growing from in 2017 at a CAGR of 6%. How will immune checkpoint inhibitors such as Keytruda and Opdivo contribute to growth?

What effect will patent expirations of currently branded therapies have on market value?

The CRC pipeline is large and diverse, with a strong presence of mAbs and targeted therapies.

What are the common targets and mechanisms of action of pipeline therapies?

Will the pipeline address unmet needs such as the lack of targeted therapies available for BRAF-mutant CRC patients?

What implications will the increased focus on targeted therapies have on the future of CRC treatment?

Numerous late-stage pipeline therapies with a strong clinical record have the potential to enter the market over the forecast period.

How have the late-stage therapies performed in clinical trials?

How would the approval of encorafenib plus binimetinib to treat BRAF-mutant patients affect the competitive landscape, with no targeted therapy currently available to address this patient subset?

The market forecasts indicate that Japan will contribute the most to the Asia-Pacific market value due to the emergence of novel therapies.

will contribute the most to the market value due to the emergence of novel therapies. How will the annual cost of therapy and market size vary between the five assessed Asia-Pacific markets?

markets? How could changes in risk factors such as population age, obesity and lifestyle influence the market?

Licensing deals are the most common form of strategic alliance in CRC, with total deal values ranging from under $10m to over $1 billion .

to over . How do deal frequency and value compare between target families and molecule types?

What were the terms and conditions of key licensing deals?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Tables & Figures



2 Introduction

2.1 Disease Introduction

2.2 Epidemiology

2.3 Symptoms

2.4 Etiology and Pathophysiology

2.4.1 Etiology

2.4.2 Pathophysiology

2.4.3 Biomarkers/Targets of Interest

2.5 Diagnosis

2.5.1 Digital Rectal Examination

2.5.2 Fecal Occult Blood Test

2.5.3 Flexible Sigmoidoscopy

2.5.4 Colonoscopy

2.5.5 Virtual Colonoscopy

2.5.6 Double Contrast Barium Enema

2.6 Disease Stages

2.7 Prognosis

2.8 Treatment Guidelines and Options

2.8.1 Surgery and Radiation Therapy

2.8.2 Chemotherapy

2.8.3 Targeted Therapies

2.8.4 Resistance to Pharmacological Therapies

2.8.5 Treatment Algorithm



3 Marketed Products



3.1 Overview

3.2 Chemotherapies

3.2.1 Lonsurf (Trifluridine plus Tipiracil) - Taiho Pharma

3.2.2 TS-1 (Tegafur plus Gimeracil plus Oteracil) - Taiho Pharma

3.2.3 UFT (tegafur plus uracil) - Merck KGaA

3.3 Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Targeted Therapies

3.3.1 Erbitux (cetuximab) - Eli Lilly/Merck KGaA

3.3.2 Vectibix (panitumumab) - Amgen/Takeda

3.4 Anti-angiogenesis Therapies

3.4.1 Avastin (bevacizumab) - Roche

3.4.2 Cyramza (ramucirumab) - Eli Lilly

3.4.3 Zaltrap (Ziv-Aflibercept) - Sanofi/Regeneron

3.5 Kinase Inhibitors

3.5.1 Stivarga (regorafenib) - Bayer/Onyx

3.6 Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Marketed Products



4 Pipeline Analysis



4.1 Overview

4.2 Pipeline by Stage of Development, Molecule Type, Route of Administration and Program Type

4.3 Pipeline by Molecular Target

4.4 Promising Pipeline Candidates

4.4.1 Keytruda (pembrolizumab) - Merck & Co.

4.4.2 Opdivo (nivolumab) - Bristol-Myers Squib

4.4.3 Napabucasin (BBI-608) - Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma

4.4.4 Encorafenib plus binimetinib (LGX-818/MEK-162) - Array BioPharma

4.4.5 Fruquintinib (HMPL-013) - Hutchison MediPharma

4.4.6 Famitinib (SHR-1020) - Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine

4.4.7 Anlotinib (AL-3818) - Jiangsu Chia-Tai Tianqing

4.4.8 Donafenib (CM-4307) - Suzhou Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals

4.5 Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Pipeline Products

4.6 Product Competitiveness Framework

5 Clinical Trial Analysis



5.1 Failure Rate

5.1.1 Overall Failure Rate

5.1.2 Failure Rate by Phase and Molecule Type

5.1.3 Failure Rate by Phase and Molecular Target

5.2 Clinical Trial Size

5.2.1 Patient Enrollment per Product by Molecule Type and Stage of Development

5.2.2 Patient Enrollment per Product by Molecular Target and Stage of Development

5.2.3 Patient Enrollment per Trial by Molecule Type and Stage of Development

5.2.4 Patient Enrollment per Trial by Molecular Target and Stage of Development

5.3 Clinical Trial Duration

5.3.1 Trial Duration by Molecule Type and Stage of Development

5.3.2 Trial Duration by Molecular Target and Stage of Development

5.4 Summary of Clinical Trial Metrics



6 Multi-scenario Forecast



6.1 Overview

6.2 Asia-Pacific Market

6.3 India

6.4 China

6.5 Australia

6.6 South Korea

6.7 Japan



7 Drivers and Barriers



7.1 Drivers

7.1.1 Increasing Elderly Population and Incidence of CRC

7.1.2 Increasing Screening Programs and Approval of New Screening Tests for CRC to Drive Early Diagnosis Rate

7.1.3 Increase in Mutation Testing to Drive Market Growth

7.1.4 Availability of Novel First-, Second- and Third-Line Therapy Options in Pipeline

7.1.5 Diversified Healthcare Reform to Boost Market Growth

7.1.6 Diversified Health Insurance System to Help Nurture Growth

7.2 Barriers

7.2.1 Patent Expiration of Branded Therapies to Affect CRC Market Growth

7.2.2 High Prices of Therapeutics to Slow Down Market Growth

7.2.3 Limited Incorporation of Immunotherapies in the CRC Treatment Algorithm

7.2.4 Lack of Development of Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Pipeline Products

7.2.5 Lack of Reimbursement and Penetration of Generic Drugs to Hinder Market Growth in China and India

7.2.6 Drug Pricing Reforms

8 Deals and Strategic Consolidations



8.1 Licensing Deals

8.1.1 Deals by Region and Value

8.1.2 Number of Disclosed and Undisclosed Deals by Year, Aggregate Deal Value

8.1.3 Deal Value by Stage of Development, Molecule Type, and Molecular Target

8.1.4 Key Licensing Deals

8.2 Co-development Deals

8.2.1 Deals by Region and Value

8.2.2 Number of Disclosed and Undisclosed Deals by Year, Aggregate Deal Value

8.2.3 Deal Value by Stage of Development, Molecule Type, and Molecular Target

8.2.4 Key Co-development Deals



9 Appendix



Companies Mentioned



Taiho Pharma

Merck KGaA

Amgen

Takeda

Roche

Eli Lilly

Sanofi

Regeneron

Bayer

Onyx

Bristol-Myers Squib

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma

Array BioPharma

Hutchison MediPharma

Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine

Jiangsu Chia-Tai Tianqing

Suzhou Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/368ckn/colorectal_cancer?w=5

Did you know that we also offer Custom Research? Visit our Custom Research page to learn more and schedule a meeting with our Custom Research Manager.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

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[email protected]



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BERLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IFA 2018

News summary

New Inspiron 2-in-1s elevate brand portfolio with performance and design at incredible value

First Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1 combines upscale design and premium features with the simplicity of Chrome OS

XPS 13 2-in-1 with new 8th Generation Intel Core processors and updated XPS 13 with i3, continue to deliver outstanding computing experiences

New Vostro 5000 laptops combine power, security and design for small businesses

Dell Mobile Connect now offers seamless integration of phone and PC for Android and iOS apps, texts and calls

New Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin monitor shines with beautiful aesthetic and functional attributes

Full story

Straight off the heels of Gamescom 2018, where Dell announced their new gaming monitors and the refresh of their Alienware desktops, the excitement continues at IFA 2018. Dell is unveiling a new suite of innovative devices that elevate the computing experience for the everyday consumer, mobile professional and fast-paced small business owner. The enhanced Inspiron, XPS and Vostro portfolio is built with a combination of beautiful design, superior materials and top performance dedicated to deliver a device for every function and user. In addition, Dell is expanding its monitor leadership with a stunning new Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor built with beauty and function.

Dell's commitment to thoughtful design and truly immersive cinematic experiences on the PC continues with this generation of new products. Launched at CES 2018, Dell Cinema is the combination of several cutting-edge technologies all working in concert to give the viewer an immersive, captivating experience on their PCs. Dell Cinema is available across the XPS portfolio and new Inspiron products starting this autumn.

Every Dell Consumer and Small Business PC also comes with Dell Mobile Connect2, which allows users wireless access to their smartphones on their Dell PCs. More than 10 million phone calls and text messages have been made using Dell Mobile Connect since January 2018 and beginning this autumn, the software will bring a new level of iPhone-to-PC integration beyond text and calls. Integration with iOS apps notifications, such as WhatsApp messages, calendar reminders, and more, will be shown on a Dell PC through Dell Mobile Connect.

"We are excited to be at IFA again this year to showcase our technology innovations that continue to enhance the computing experience," said Ray Wah, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer and Small Business at Dell. "We've invested in redesigning our portfolio of mainstream laptops and 2-in-1s with beautiful designs, premium materials and thoughtful features, illustrating our ongoing dedication to deliver quality devices every user is proud to carry."

Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s combine performance and premium design

The new Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 family delivers sophistication with a cool brushed aluminum exterior with a smooth feel and sleek design. Available in 13-, 15- and 17-inch sizes, the 2-in-1s leverage premium features, including Intel 8th Generation U Series processors, optional 4K UHD screens, and a thermal flow to move hot air out through hidden vents, providing top performance and a comfortable experience during extended computing sessions. The 13- and the 15-inch versions have three-sided narrow borders thanks to a new 2.7mm miniaturized webcam that offers greater performance in low light with Temporal Noise Reduction - the first PC-integrated USB camera to use this technology3. Plus, the 15- and 17-inch versions offer optional NVIDIA GeForce MX150 to boost graphics quality, as well optional Intel OptaneTM Memory to increase single-drive performance. Dell Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s are Alexa-ready4 so PC so users can create lists, set reminders, ask for the weather, play music, manage appointments and more  all with their voice. Alexa support will be available this autumn.

Inspiron 5000 2-in-1s - flexibility and function at incredible value

The Inspiron 14 5000 2-in-1 boasts many of the top line enhancements of the 7000 series, including thermal routing and narrow borders. The two versions of the Inspiron 14 5000 2-in-1, 5481 and 5482, offer new Intel 8th Generation U Series processors, choice, flexibility and value to fit the varied needs of today's consumers. The 5482 2-in-1 includes a USB Type-C port with power delivery and display support, for the first time standard in the Inspiron 5000 series, and an optional NVIDIA GeForce MX130 discrete graphics card. Concurrently, the 5481 2-in-1 delivers reliable features at a fantastic value. It includes a full-size HDMI port, a full-size SD card reader, two USB 3.1 Generation 1 ports, one USB 2.0 port for easy connectivity and the option of Windows 10 in S mode in select regions.

Dell's first premium consumer Chromebook

Dell is enhancing the Inspiron lineup with its first premium Chromebook, the Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1. It's built for customers who want a premium 2-in-1 convertible, upscale features, thoughtful design, roomy 14-inch FHD IPS display and seamless integration with Google applications and ecosystem. An aluminum, narrow side-bezel design delivers sleek looks and a compact footprint that bolsters mobility with to up to 15 hours6 of battery life. The 8th Generation Intel Core i3-8130U CPU and up to 128GB of onboard eMMC storage ensures quick, responsive performance, while the USB Type-C ports, standard backlit keyboard and standard EMR pen with its own garage bay in the system base deliver the latest in convenience. Combined with speed, simplicity, security of Chrome OS and access to millions of Android apps on Google Play, the new Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1 is built with style and power, delivering flexibility and productivity for today's mobile consumer.

XPS 13 family updates

Dell's flagship XPS 13, the smallest 13-inch laptop7 and the most powerful in its class8, now offers the new Intel 8th Generation i3 processor, delivering a more affordable option for consumers. And the XPS 13 Developer Edition is available now with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (long-term support), an update that provides support for up to five years.

In addition, the XPS 13 2-in-1, the smallest 13-inch 2-in-1 on the planet9 now offers Intel's latest 8th Generation processors. The 2-in-1 comes with Dynamic Power Mode to extract maximum performance from the processor, as well as up to 15 hours10 of battery life and a stunning viewing experience with UltraSharp QHD+ InfinityEdge touch display.

Vostro 14 and 15 5000 laptops for the growing small business

Dell has never left behind its small business roots. Founded in Michael Dell's dorm room more than 30 years ago, Dell is committed to providing the right technology for small businesses and offers dedicated, free small business advisors.

Dell continues to expand the Vostro line with new Vostro 14 and 15 5000 laptops, focused on providing productivity and security features small businesses demand. The laptops include 8th Generation Intel Core processors, USB Type-C port that provides power delivery and display support, optional Single-Sign-On fingerprint reader and two-sided narrow border that helps focus on the screen and therefore the task at hand. Built on the needs of this audience, the new Vostro laptops also offer hardware TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0, which provides commercial-grade protection and storage for encryption keys to verify a device, and Bitlocker to configure security settings. Combined with Peak Shift, which reduces power consumption by automatically switching the system to battery power during certain times of the day, these simple but crucial features help small businesses operate efficiently and smoothly.

Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor perfection from every angle



Continuing to lead the industry in displays, Dell is unveiling the newest member of its Ultrathin family and the world's brightest 27-inch USB-C ultrathin monitor in its class11. Featuring up to 600 nits peak brightness, the Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin (S2719DC) is a premium HDR monitor with VESA-certified DisplayHDR 600 and integrated with Corning Iris Glass light-guide plate (LGP) technology. It is equipped with a USB Type-C connector that transmits video, data and power, all from one single source offering a fuss-free single cable solution. The cutting edge design is remarkably thin from every angle with its thinnest profile at 5.5mm making it a perfect fit for workspace or home setup to create a beautiful aesthetic. With a minimalist and InfinityEdge design in a seamless chassis of silver satin finish, the S2719DC lends a timeless and premium feel. Enjoy strikingly realistic images on this ultrathin beauty through remarkable clarity, vivid contrast and wide color gamut.

Dell also is introducing a new line of SE Monitors with essential features for everyday computing. The new FHD monitors (SE2219H, SE2419H and SE2719H) come with thin bezels and are available in 21.5-inch, 23.8-inch and 27-inch screen sizes. Built with IPS panel, enjoy color consistency and accuracy across wide viewing angles. Each of the SE monitor also comes a flicker-free, low-haze screen atop a compact, space-saving base. With this new line, Dell now has a full refreshed range of consumer monitors.

"One challenge for the PC industry has been creating a product that marries innovation with quality form factors, materials and features at a price point for every audience. To thrive in a competitive PC landscape, a company needs to deliver premium design as well as innovation for a mainstream audience," said Maribel Lopez, founder and principal analyst at Maribel Research. "Dell's expanding consumer portfolio revealed at IFA this year highlights how the company continues to support a vision of developing devices that fit the needs of every user."

Legacy of Good

Dell believes technology has a critical role in driving human progress. Technology and expertise can be put to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. As part of that commitment, Dell is using "Circular Economy" principles, designing out inefficiencies and turning "waste" into valuable resources.

In India, air pollution can be extreme, and in 2017, air quality in the city of Delhi in November 2017 was so poor that it was akin to smoking 50 cigarettes12 per day. To combat this, Dell partnered with a small India-based start-up, Chakr Innovation, to capture soot from diesel generators and transform it into ink for printing on packaging. Dell has since shipped approximately 150,000 boxes printed with pollution ink.

As part of Dell's Legacy of Good commitment to achieve 100% sustainable packaging by 2020, majority of its XPS portfolio now ships with ocean-bound plastics packaging, with plans to expand this across other product lines. At the same time, the company is reducing use of single-use plastics by going strawless at global facilities. Dell is committed to applying its expertise, technology and resources toward addressing global challenges like the ocean plastic pollution crisis, which is featured at IFA this year.

Join Dell at IFA 2018

Dell is hosting an interactive art-gallery showcasing its new innovative consumer, gaming and small business PCs and beautiful displays. Experience Dell Cinema via a living orchestra of laptops, a light installation and dramatic color experience. Check out a recyclable plastics installation demonstrating Dell's work to reduce single use plastics. Visit the Dell Small Business Cafe for coffee art and tech advice. And for the ultimate gaming and VR experience, test your skills in a McLaren race car simulator, Beat Saber VR and Dauntless all powered by Alienware and Dell G Series.

The #DellExperience is located in Stand 101 in Hall 16 and is open to press and analysts on Aug. 29- 30 and to all IFA badgeholders Aug. 31  Sept. 5 from 10 a.m.  5 p.m. Berlin time.

Follow the Dell news and updates from IFA at #IFA18 and #DellExperience.

U.S. Availability

XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is available now starting at $949.99 .

. XPS 13 with i3 will be available Aug. 28 in U.S. starting at $899.99 .

in U.S. starting at . XPS 13 2-in-1 with Intel 8th Generation processors will be available Sept. 11 starting at $999.99 .

starting at . Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor will be available Sept. 20 starting at $549.99 .

starting at . Dell 22/24/27 SE Monitors will be available Sept. 25 starting at $169.99 (22-inch), $199.99 (24-inch) and $249.99 (27-inch).

starting at (22-inch), (24-inch) and (27-inch). Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s will be available on Oct. 2 starting at $879.99 (13-inch), $849.99 (15-inch) and $1,099.99 (17-inch).

starting at (13-inch), (15-inch) and (17-inch). Inspiron 5000 2-in-1 (5482) will be available on Oct. 2 starting at $599.99 .

starting at . Inspiron 5000 2-in-1 (5481) will be available on Oct. 2 starting at $459.99 .

starting at . Inspiron Chromebook 14 2-in-1 will be available on Oct. 23 starting at $599 .

starting at . Vostro 5581 will be available Nov. 9 starting at $579 .

starting at . The Dell Mobile Connect update will be available for free in autumn on all consumer Windows 10 XPS, Inspiron, Vostro, and Alienware PC purchased after January 2018 .

. Vostro 5481 will be available on Jan. 2, 2019 starting at $669 .

Additional resources

Connect with Dell via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn

Online Press Kit: http://bit.ly/Dell_IFA18

Follow the latest news on Twitter from @Dell

About Dell

With award-winning desktops, laptops, 2-in-1s and thin clients, powerful workstations and rugged devices made for specialized environments, monitors, endpoint security solutions and services, Dell gives today's workforce what they need to securely connect, produce, and collaborate from anywhere at any time. Dell, a part of Dell Technologies, services customers from consumers to organizations of all sizes across 180 countries.

Copyright  2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

1 Based on Dell internal analysis, August 2018

2 Available on Dell consumer XPS, Inspiron, Vostro, and Alienware PCs with Bluetooth purchased in January 2018 or later. PCs purchased before January 2018 are not supported to ensure the highest level of quality you expect from Dell. Expanding to machines purchased before January 2018 is under investigation. The companion mobile app is compatible with iOS 10 and above and Android 5 and above.

3 Based on Dell internal analysis, July 2018

4 To enable Alexa Ready devices, download the Microsoft update and Amazon package via Support.Dell.com, available this autumn; only available on Inspiron models 7386, 7586, 7786, 5482

5 System memory may be used to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors.

6 Battery life is based on Google Chrome Power LoadTest available at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-testing . Test results are for comparative purposes only. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time.

7 Based on an April 2018 Principled Technologies Report sponsored by Dell, "Comparison of 13-inch-class laptops". Full report: http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/XPS_13_comparison_0418.pdf

8 Based on Principled Technologies Report commissioned by Dell, December 2017, using the Cinebench multi-core CPU benchmark test comparing the Dell XPS 13 against competitive products with similar configurations. Actual performance will vary based on usage, configuration, and manufacturing variability. See report here: http://facts.pt/Vm8PAx

9 Based on an April 2018 Principled Technologies Report sponsored by Dell, "Comparison of 13-inch-class 2-in-1 laptops". Full report: http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/XPS_13_2in1_comparison_0418.pdf

10 MobileMark 2014 battery benchmark: XPS 13 2-in-1 tested with 7th Gen Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD and FHD display. Based on testing using the Mobile Mark 2014 battery life benchmark test. For more information about this benchmark test, visit www.bapco.com. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time.

11 Source: April 2018 internal analysis comparing brightness (cd/m) on competitive 27-inch QHD USB-C monitors.

12 Based on these articles: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi and https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/guess-how-it-feels-like-smoking-over-50-cigarettes-a-day-inhale-delhi-s-air-and-you-ll-know-it-333213.html

SOURCE DellCOSTA MESA, Calif., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Experian today announced that Steve Pulley will join the company as executive vice president and general manager of Global Identity & Fraud Solutions. In his new role, Pulley will oversee Experian's identity and fraud business  more than 300 fraud experts around the world working to protect people's identities and fight fraud for businesses across multiple sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, retail/ecommerce, insurance, government and healthcare. He also will lead continued expansion of Experian's award-winning CrossCore platform, the industry's first open platform for fraud and identity services.

"Businesses everywhere are grappling with the challenges of how to identify customers with more ease and confidence," said Steve Wagner, global managing director of Decision Analytics for Experian. "Steve is a great addition to the team, and I'm confident his leadership will help drive the business forward and allow us to help more companies better identify their customers, deliver a great customer experience and fight fraud."

Most recently, Pulley was with Thomson Reuters, where he was a managing director in their Financial & Risk business unit responsible for setting strategy and driving transformation of all customer-facing propositions. In his previous role, he led the division providing data, analytics, software and managed services helping the world's largest financial institutions, governments and corporates conduct "Know Your Customer" due diligence, enabling them to better understand with whom they do business. Prior to that, he held global responsibility for all of the firm's partnerships.

"I'm thrilled to join Experian and manage its leading global identity and fraud solutions business," said Pulley. "There couldn't be a more important time than in today's digital landscape to help companies be able to accurately identify and understand who their customers are, enabling them to fight and prevent fraud."

According to recent research from Experian's Global Fraud and Identity Report, businesses need to identify their customers better to help combat online fraud. In fact, 84 percent of businesses say the need for fraud risk mitigation could be reduced if they were certain about customers' identity.

Experian was recently included as a Representative Vendor in Gartner's 2018 Market Guide for Identity Proofing and Corroboration as one of only three vendors that met all the capabilities criteria recommend by Gartner. It also was cited as the most used vendor for identity verification based on a survey of global network security decision-makers in Forrester's Top Trends Shaping Identity Verification (IDV) in 2018 report. Experian offers identity verification capabilities specifically designed to deliver comprehensive online fraud management that can be deployed quickly so companies can identify fraudsters better and stop fraud attacks before they happen. All our fraud and identity services are available through the Experian CrossCore platform.

About Experian

Experian is the world's leading global information services company. During life's big moments  from buying a home or a car, to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting with new customers  we empower consumers and our clients to manage their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organizations to prevent identity fraud and crime.

We have 16,500 people operating across 39 countries and every day we're investing in new technologies, talented people and innovation to help all our clients maximize every opportunity. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Learn more at www.experianplc.com or visit our global content hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from the Group.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts:





Kristie Galvani Scott Anderson Rubenstein Public Relations Experian Public Relations 1 212 805 3005 1 714 830 3185 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Experian

Related Links

http://www.experianplc.com

LONDON, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Asset management firm Capitalium Advisors has gained global recognition for its work by Business Worldwide Magazine (BWM). The Geneva based company has been named the outright winner in its category, being crowned 'Most Innovative Firm | Swiss Wealth Management Industry'.

The 2018 Global Corporate Excellence Awards seek to identify and honour the most respected companies and their C-level executives, rewarding outstanding performance, innovation and ethics across international business and finance communities. Business Worldwide features the successes of these organisations, highlighting their exemplary accomplishments and inspiring others to follow their example.

Since the banking crisis of 2008, the industry has had its fair share of negative press. Faith in the sector has significantly declined, with investors actively seeking new ways of looking after their money. This shift in attitude has called for an innovative approach, where customers feel they have more choice and technology helps them to achieve the best possible outcomes. Fintech is the new frontier of disruptive innovation in finance, and Capitalium Advisors is harnessing that power to offer a new way of doing finance.

The company describes itself as an independent wealth management company regulated by the ASG (Swiss Association of Wealth Managers). Established in 2016, in two short years it has joined Switzerland's largest 10% asset management firms. Together with its sister company, Schoeb Frote in Neuchatel, Capitalium Advisors manages over CHF 1bn.

Alain Zell, Managing Partner and CEO, puts Capitalium' success down to its innovative approach to investing. While many financial institutions still focus on cost cutting, this company invests in totally new solutions. Refreshingly, the approach is a client-centred one, with services and financial solutions carefully tailored to meet the specific needs of individual clients. It's not connected to any financial establishment, giving the team freedom to break down barriers and explore truly innovative ways of doing things.

The company offers three different services. CASA Invest manages discretionary mandates, consultancies and supervisory services and covers all aspects of asset management. CASA Nexgen is the non-financial branch of Capitalium and is targeted primarily at families, helping them tackle challenges relating to the transmission of patrimony. The company is dedicated to engaging with the millennial generation, so much so that it has appointed a 19-year-old bio-engineering student to the board of directors. Finally, CASA Advice is an independent advice service that helps clients maintain total control over their private affairs.

This is a company that places common sense, hard work, boldness, enthusiasm, innovation and customer service at the heart of everything it does. The BWM judging panel was greatly impressed by its innovative spirit and clear commitment to helping customers achieve their financial goals in a way they can trust.

More information can be found at the company website, http://www.capitaliumadvisors.ch/

An article on the company can be found on the BWM website: https://www.bwmonline.com/2018/08/20/disruptive-fintech-in-asset-management/

For details of the Business Worldwide Magazine Awards visit https://www.bwmonline.com/awards/

About Business Worldwide Magazine

Business Worldwide Magazine is the leading source of business and dealmaker intelligence throughout the world. Our quarterly magazine and online news portal enables an established audience of corporate dealmakers to track the latest news, stories and developments affecting the international markets, corporate finance, business strategy and changes in legislation. This readership includes of CEO/CFO - Banks, Corporate Lawyers and Venture Capital/Private Equity Companies to name a few.

www.bwmonline.com

Contact

David Jones

Awards Department

E: [email protected]



W: www.bwmonline.com

SOURCE Business Worldwide MagazineSolar Decathlon (SD) is an international collegiate competition that challenges student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. With technologies and innovations from world-leading R&D and design teams, SD aims to integrate solar energy, energy conservation and architecture design in a new way so as to design and build comfortable, livable, sustainable and fully functional solar houses.

The SDC2018 Competition was staged by Dezhou Municipal Government, with the concept of 'Green Growth, Green Life'. 19 teams consisting of 34 schools from 8 countries and regions were required to build a 120-200m2 one- or two-storey solar house that can be put to permanent use. Each house was to be equipped with all essential household appliances such as TV, refrigerator, washing machine, and computer that could be fully powered by solar energy equipment.

The students' designs provided valuable references to the rural revitalization strategy and they delivered solutions for pressing social issues such as future urban development and the aging effect.

Team SEU-TUBS (Southeast University / Technical University of Braunschweig) mixed crop stalks into the bricks used for their house (crop stalk content of 65%), which was harder yet lighter than ordinary house bricks; Team THU (Tsinghua University) incorporated a water collection and self-cleaning system, to efficiently convert rainwater into potable water; the (S)LOW House designed by Team B&R (The University of Hong Kong / Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture) aimed to bring people back to nature and a simple life; Generations designed by Team XJTU-WNEU-POLIMI (Xi'an Jiaotong University / Western New England University / Politecnico di Milano) focused on designing a villa community for the elderly and a smart home.

SOURCE Dezhou Municipal GovernmentPITTSBURGH, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- An inventor from Hendersonville, N.C., has developed the CONSOLE-EXTENSION, a cup holder device that has the capability of offering space for beverages when using a front, third-seat section of a vehicle console. A prototype is available.

"I frequently travel with my small dog. When I lift up the center console so my dog can sit, I lose any place for my cups and papers," said the inventor. The patent pending CONSOLE-EXTENSION provides a means to hold various liquid containers. This may stop drinks from spilling in an automotive vehicle, which will then prevent stains and messy cleanups. This device will not interfere with other shapes or objects within the vehicle interior. It is highly functional and easy to use. In addition, it is producible in different materials, colors and sizes to enhance any vehicle interior.

The original design was submitted to the Charlotte office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 17-CNfC-291, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

SOURCE InventHelp

Related Links

http://www.inventhelp.com

BERLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2017, the majority shareholders of the analog instant photography company the Impossible Project (Impossible GmbH) acquired PLR IP Holdings, LLC, the owner of the Polaroid brand. A few months later, the Impossible Project rebranded as Polaroid Originals and proudly launched the Polaroid OneStep 2, the first analog instant camera for the original 3x4" format from the iconic Polaroid brand in over a decade. At the upcoming IFA trade show in Berlin, the company will introduce the next generation of instant photography products: the Bluetooth-connected analog instant Polaroid OneStep+ camera with the accompanying Polaroid Originals app, and the most portable Polaroid camera to date, the Polaroid Mint 2-in-1 instant digital camera and printer, as well as the Polaroid Mint instant digital pocket printer.

Today, the company is announcing the establishment of its new global headquarters in Amsterdam. As of September 1st, Polaroid BV will operate out of the Amsterdam HQ, with Oskar Smolokowski at the helm, fostering more direct access and a more streamlined relationship between the Polaroid Originals team and Polaroid Originals factory in Enschede, the Netherlands.

Polaroid BV, the newly-formed parent organization into which the Polaroid Originals and Polaroid business units will report, will develop and implement a united, global vision for the Polaroid group of companies.

April Lunde, who succeeded Scott Hardy as CEO of Polaroid earlier this year, will continue as CEO and General Counsel. Her responsibilities will include oversight and direction of Polaroid's global licensing business, as well as Polaroid Originals operations in North America. Additionally, Smolokowski and Lunde are leading a team of Polaroid executives in refining the company's portfolio of licensed products, intensifying the focus on product design and quality, and bringing the business unit in line with Polaroid's long-term vision for the brand. The Polaroid business unit will continue to operate out of its Minnetonka, Minnesota location.



Pierre Darnton, who served as Head of Global Sales for the Impossible Project, will take over as the CEO of Polaroid Originals. Darnton was a driving force behind the introduction of the Polaroid Originals brand into the global consumer market. His depth of experience with the Impossible Project and Polaroid Originals makes him ideally suited to reinforce analog instant photography as a future-facing product. Starting in October 2018, the Polaroid Originals operation in Berlin will close down and transition over to Amsterdam.

"I'm very excited about the new developments at Polaroid," Smolokowski says. "Uniting the brand and core product with the launch of Polaroid Originals was just the beginning. Now we're aligning under a common vision and mission, to build a forward-thinking and innovative future for this beloved brand."



Notes to Editors // About Polaroid and Polaroid Originals:

Polaroid is one of the world's most respected and recognizable brands, with a rich history of innovation and engineering prowess built primarily on Polaroid instant cameras and film. Founded by Edwin Land in 1937, Polaroid created instant photography as we know it today with the launch of the breakthrough Polaroid SX-70 camera in 1972. This was followed by landmark releases such as the original Polaroid OneStep, color instant film, and the Polaroid 600 and Spectra cameras and film formats. Artists including Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Maripol, Keith Haring and Guy Bourdin used and were inspired by Polaroid, raising it to the status of a cultural icon.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the swift rise of digital technology eclipsed instant photography and Polaroid announced the end of instant film production in 2008. Subsequently, the company reorganized from a vertical manufacturing structure to a licensing model, partnering with select manufacturers to deliver a range of consumer electronics products in markets around the world. This range, which included the leading portable digital instant camera, was designed to deliver the fun, instant gratification and creative freedom for which the brand has long stood.

During that time, a dedicated group of instant photography fans called the Impossible Project stepped in to buy the last remaining Polaroid factory and since then have been the only people in the world making film for vintage Polaroid cameras. The acquisition of the Polaroid brand by the Impossible Project's largest shareholder in the spring of 2017 created the opportunity for Polaroid to return to analog instant photography and for the Impossible Project to declare mission accomplished.

Polaroid Originals is now the brand dedicated to reinventing analog instant photography for the modern era. The brand's launch on September 13th, 2017 marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of Polaroid. Both Polaroid Originals and Polaroid are now organized as business units under the parent organization Polaroid BV.

Polaroid, Polaroid Originals & Design, Polaroid OneStep, Polaroid SX-70, Polaroid 600, and Polaroid Spectra are trademarks of PLR IP Holdings, LLC.

SOURCE PolaroidBETHESDA, Md., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced today that it structured $19,491,400 in financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of Dandridge Towers. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, a city and metropolitan area seeing rapid population growth, the 153-unit, senior-living apartment community provides an important affordable housing option for older residents of the city.

Led by Vice President Rob Rotach, Walker & Dunlop secured a 40-year, fixed rate, fully amortizing loan for LHP Capital, LLC, the developer and manager of Dandridge Towers. The acquisition and rehabilitation of the property was financed through Section 221(d)(4) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Substantial Rehabilitation program, which insures mortgage loans to facilitate the new construction or substantial rehabilitation of multifamily rental or cooperative housing for moderate-income families, elderly, and the handicapped. Additionally, the Dandridge Towers property qualified for reduced HUD Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIP) due to its affordability.

The property was financed in conjunction with 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, designated for affordable properties. In addition to unit upgrades and accessibility enhancements, the renovations will feature a number of water- and energy-related green improvements.

Mr. Rotach stated, "With Nashville's continued growth, it is more important than ever to ensure affordable housing remains an option for long-time residents of the city. The rehabilitation done on Dandridge Towers will provide Nashville's senior residents with an updated, environmentally-friendly place to call home."

Dandridge Towers, situated just outside downtown Nashville, is in one of the fastest growing metro areas in the nation. Nashville has seen an influx of residents in recent years, particularly younger ones, due to its relatively low cost of living, and growth in industries such as healthcare and manufacturing. The region is expected to experience population growth of over 9% in the coming years, putting it on track to reach over two million residents by the year 20201.

While Nashville's recent population growth has generated an expansion of urban housing, the need to preserve affordable housing options for the city's residents is increasing. Originally constructed in 1983, Dandridge Towers has provided affordable housing to elderly residents for nearly four decades. The rehabilitation of the building will enable it to house seniors for decades to come.

In 2017, Walker & Dunlop closed over $1.4 billion in HUD origination volume, a 54 percent increase over 2016, and it was ranked the 4th largest HUD lender and the largest HUD servicer in the country2. Learn more about Walker & Dunlop's ability to lend on senior living properties:

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate services and finance companies in the United States providing financing and investment sales to owners of multifamily and commercial properties. Walker & Dunlop, which is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, has over 650 professionals in 29 offices across the nation with an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

1 Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee (2017)

2 MBA 2017 Year-End Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Servicer Rankings

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.walkerdunlop.com

OCEAN CITY, N.J., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Labor Day traditionally bookmarks summer fun on the east coast for young surfers heading back to school, but for the bodacious bad girl of the surf dog world, it just starts her summer charity surfing. Starting Labor Day weekend, in Ocean City it paws forward into Sea Bright, Margate, Brigantine, and finally back to Ocean City, NJ.

Everybody can watch Booker D. team up with The Heart of Surfing for some one of a kind water therapy. Tonya Smith, a Heart of Surfing Board of Director says, "It's great to have Booker & Onyx back surfing. It's been a nail biter winter, not knowing if Booker was going to be cancer positive. But she is cancer free, and I'm glad that she can be here with us and the big Dean Randazzo event."

For Booker's trained human, Pops Steinberg, this summer is a poignant intersection of unbelievable moments in Bookers life, defined by a lifestyle of charity, action and adventure. "Team Surfdog started their Labor Day tradition with the National Kidney Foundation in 2012. It's just amazing to be here surfing today, with the Jersey Devil himself, helping out at the Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation. It seems, all of Bookers' waves, break toward an endless supply of BBQ, and I'm going to keep that in mind while we are out in the waves sharing the stoke, with the next generation of surfer."

Booker will be taking her show to Sea Bright, September 5th, to surf with the Clean Ocean Action, on September 5th. Allison Meyerhoff, communications director for COA says, "Clean Ocean Action goal is to improve the water quality off the New Jersey and New York coast. You can make a difference by picking up after your pet and all litter on the beach while walking your dog. Join the Clean Ocean Action at one of our dog friendly events and lets make sure we enact and enforce measures which will clean up and protect our oceans."

The Fun Starts in Ocean City 57th St. September 1st and 15th, 9 to 11:30.

In Margate, September 8th, at the Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation Surf Event.

In Brigantine, on 16th St, September 9th at 9 to 11:30.

Media Contact : Cindy Fertsch 609-705-5323

SOURCE Booker D. Surfdog

Related Links

http://www.bookerdsurfdog.com

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Federation of Government Employees today announced its endorsement of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick for reelection to Congress representing Pennsylvania's new First Congressional District.

"Congressman Fitzpatrick has been in office for only two years, but in that time he has already proven to be a strong advocate for federal workers and the services we deliver to the American public," AFGE District 3 National Vice President Philip Glover said.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, has endorsed Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick for reelection to Congress representing Pennsylvanias new First Congressional District.

"As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Fitzpatrick fought to preserve federal employees' workplace rights and protections. He met with federal correctional officers and advocates to discuss needed prison safety reforms. He co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to restore due process and whistleblower rights to 360,000 working people across the Department of Veterans Affairs. He led a coalition of 21 House Republicans who called on President Trump to rescind three executive orders, since ruled illegal, that seek to gut federal employees' collective bargaining rights. And he has helped amplify our issues and concerns with members of Congress who we might not reach otherwise," Glover said.

"Public-sector employees are America's workforce, and our issues and concerns affect everyone regardless of which political party you belong to," Glover said. "Congressman Fitzpatrick is a friend of federal workers, and AFGE is proud to support his reelection this November."

More than 97,400 federal employees live in Pennsylvania  caring for veterans, supporting the military, ensuring our food is safe to eat, and getting Social Security recipients their benefits accurately and on time.

AFGE is the largest federal employee union in the country, representing 700,000 federal and D.C. government workers in all functions of government. District 3 represents about 32,000 employees in Delaware and Pennsylvania.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

For the latest AFGE news and information, visit the AFGE Media Center. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees

Related Links

http://www.afge.org

"Alaska Airlines continues to connect the West Coast with exciting new destinations across the country," said John Kirby, vice president of capacity planning and alliances at Alaska Airlines. "This new service to Columbus represents Alaska's first destination in the Buckeye State, and our commitment to offer the most nonstop destinations from our hometown of Seattle."

Effective Date City Pair Departs Arrives Frequency Aircraft March 7, 2019 Seattle  Columbus 9:45 a.m. 5:15 p.m. Daily A320 March 7, 2019 Columbus  Seattle 6:15 p.m. 8:25 p.m. Daily A320

Flight times based on local time zones.

"Columbus is thrilled to welcome Alaska Airlines to John Glenn International," said Joseph R. Nardone, President & CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. "With nonstop flights to Seattle, our business and leisure travelers gain even more access to the West Coast. We greatly appreciate Alaska's investment in Ohio's capital city and we look forward to welcoming their arrival in March."

Columbus is the largest city in Ohio and the 14th largest city in the nation. It's also home to The Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in the country and home of the Buckeyes.

Alaska currently operates an average of 31 daily flights from the West Coast to 10 Midwest cities, which includes Chicago; Detroit; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Minneapolis; Oklahoma City; Omaha, Nebraska; St. Louis; and Wichita, Kansas.

From Alaska's main hub in Seattle, guests can travel nonstop to 89 destinations. Columbus becomes the 90th nonstop destination this spring.

Alaska Airlines' guests can earn and redeem miles with Alaska's highly-acclaimed Mileage Plan program, with award travel that starts at only 5,000 miles. With Alaska and its Global Partners, members can travel to more than 900 destinations around the world.

Tickets for the new Seattle-Columbus service go on sale today. To purchase, visit www.alaskaair.com or call 1-800-ALASKAAIR (800-252-7522 for Hearing & Speech Impaired (TTY): Dial 711 for Relay Services).

Alaska Airlines and its regional partners fly 44 million guests a year to more than 115 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica. With Alaska and Alaska Global Partners, guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900 destinations worldwide. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America" in the J.D. Power North America Airline Satisfaction Study for 11 consecutive years from 2008 to 2018. Learn about Alaska's award-winning service at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).

SOURCE Alaska Airlines

Related Links

http://www.alaskaair.com

CAMBRIDGE, England, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

- Blighter Surveillance Systems is partnering with in-country security systems integrator Linc Polska at international defence exhibition MSPO, in Kielce, Poland from 4-7 September 2018 (Stand G55 and Stand D43)



Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd (www.blighter.com), a British designer and manufacturer of electronic-scanning (E-scan) radars and surveillance solutions, will showcase its range of e-scan micro-Doppler ground radars and the military grade counter-UAV AUDS system at MSPO 2018, an international defence industry exhibition which takes place in Kielce, Poland from 4-7 September 2018.

Blighter Surveillance Systems is partnering at MSPO with its in-country security systems integrator Linc Polska to highlight its range of maintenance free solid-state passive electronically scanned array (PESA) radars. Blighter radars are already deployed in 35 countries to deliver round the clock all-weather protection along borders, for coastal facilities, at military bases, and to guard critical national infrastructure such as airports, oil and gas facilities and palaces.

The Blighter B202 Mk 2 man-portable battery-operated radar will be on display at MSPO on stand G55. It is designed for rapid deployment (wide area detection can be up and running in a matter of minutes) from transport backpacks by foot patrol or from a vehicle for use in remote border surveillance, temporary camp protection, forward reconnaissance and other covert operations.

This radar provides rapid detection and location of moving targets. For example, it can detect a crawler at 1.5 km (0.9 miles) and a moving vehicle at 8 km (5 miles). The radar is tripod mounted, integrates seamlessly with infra-red sensors to automatically cue a camera to enable the operator to identify any target. For fully covert operation, the radar is also available as part of Blighter Explorer Nexus with an integrated visible and infra-red thermal imaging camera system, a Windows HMI, covert eyepieces and optional rugged laptop.

Blighter's air security and drone detection capabilities will also be on display at MSPO on stand D43 as the Blighter A400 series radar is an integral part of the AUDS system, the world's leading fully integrated military grade detect-track-identify-defeat counter drone solution.

The AUDS system, already successfully deployed by several governments, including US forces, was developed in 2015 by a consortium of UK defence companies including Blighter Surveillance Systems, Chess Dynamics and Enterprise Control Systems. The AUDS system has an intuitive interface, is operable by a single user, and can detect, track, identify and defeat a drone in approximately 15 seconds at a range of up to 10 km or six miles.

Mark Radford, CEO, Blighter Surveillance Systems, said: "MSPO provides an opportunity for Blighter to showcase our products to tens of thousands of visitors from 27 different countries and to support Linc Polska, our in-country partner. We are also presenting a paper at the event on the advantages of electronic scanning surveillance radar for ground and air security applications."

Blighter radar solutions are used by the U.S. military and the British Army for force protection, and in numerous asset protection and border security applications, including monitoring the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), a buffer zone which runs 250 km across the Korean peninsula and separates North and South Korea, on the US Southern border, and in several Middle Eastern countries.

Blighter Surveillance Systems delivers an integrated multi-sensor package to system integrators comprising the Blighter radars plus cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Its ITAR-free systems are used worldwide in commercial, government and defence markets in area and asset protection for national border security, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection such as oil and gas facilities, coastal surveillance, and in military applications.

Blighter Surveillance Systems is partnering with in-country security systems integrator Linc Polska (www.linc.pl) at international defence exhibition MSPO, in Kielce, Poland from 4-7 September 2018. The company will be on stand G55 with Linc and on stand D43 as part of the AUDS consortium (www.auds.com ).

For more information about Blighter products, please visit www.blighter.com, telephone +44-1223-491122 or email [email protected].

Media photos:

Counter-UAV AUDS system

http://www.blighter.com/images/images/pr/2017/auds-360-field-mast-system-high-res.jpg

http://www.blighter.com/images/images/pr/auds-counter-drone-system-without-stamp-high-res.jpg

The Blighter B202 Mk 2 man-portable battery-operated radar http://www.blighter.com/images/images/pr/2017/blighter-explorer-nexus-system-high-res.jpg

About Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd (www.blighter.com)

Blighter Surveillance Systems is a world leading designer and manufacturer of electronic-scanning radars and surveillance solutions. Its maintenance free solid-state micro Doppler radars are deployed in 35 countries to deliver round the clock all-weather protection along borders, for coastal facilities, at military bases, and to guard critical national infrastructure such as airports, oil and gas facilities and palaces. The radar products include the Blighter A400 series for air security/drone detection, the Blighter B400 series for ground surveillance, the Blighter C400 series for coastal security, the Blighter B202 Mk 2 man-portable radar system for rapid, mobile deployment and the Blighter Revolution 360 radar system for vehicle mounted solutions. Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd. is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England.

SOURCE Blighter Surveillance SystemsSAO PAULO, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) and GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (NYSE: GOL and B3: GOLL4) today celebrated the unveiling of the carrier's newly outfitted 737 MAX 8 during a celebration in Sao Paulo. The leading Brazilian carrier also announced plans to fly the more fuel-efficient and longer-range 737 airplane on international routes.

"Today is an exciting day for the entire GOL team, we are happy to welcome the 737 MAX 8. We can further improve our operational efficiency by flying a young, modern and safe fleet, while also lowering the cost of air travel and expanding our network to new international destinations," said Paulo Kakinoff, Chief Executive Officer of GOL.

The Brazilian airline took delivery of its first 737 MAX 8 this year and has been improving onboard products and services, such as adding wireless internet to the popular Boeing Sky Interior cabin. The airline is now outfitting its second 737 MAX airplane  which it received last week  with the same cabin amenities.

As part of its strategic fleet renewal program, GOL has placed multiple orders for the 737 MAX, including a new order last month at the Farnborough International Airshow. In all, GOL is on track to become the largest MAX operator in Latin America with a fleet of 135 MAX airplanes.

The first MAX airplanes arriving at GOL are the MAX 8 variant, which seats up to 186 passengers in GOL's configuration. The airplane will reduce GOL's fuel use and emissions by 15 percent compared to today's single-aisle airplanes, and can fly farther than its predecessor. With the additional range, GOL said it will begin regular service from Brazil's capital Brasilia and Fortaleza to Miami and Orlando. GOL also plans new international routes to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, with the MAX.

Thirty of GOL's new airplanes will be for the larger MAX 10, which will enable GOL to comfortably serve more than 30 additional passengers. GOL and more than 20 customers have placed over 500 orders and commitments for the MAX 10, which will offer operators the lowest cost per seat mile of any commercial aircraft in service. In all, the 737 MAX family has attracted more than 100 customers and nearly 4,700 orders. For more information and feature content, visit www.boeing.com/commercial/737max.

"GOL is a pioneer in bringing affordable fares to Latin America since its inception. We are honored to have such a great partner officially join the Boeing 737 MAX family and serve as one of its ambassadors in the region," said Ricardo Cavero, vice president of Commercial Sales in Latin America for The Boeing Company. "We are confident the 737 MAX will help GOL continue bringing great fares and service to its customers, especially with the new 737 MAX 10 that will arrive in the future."

GOL also uses Boeing Global Services to improve its operational efficiency through products and services such as Airplane Health Management for its 737 MAX fleet, Maintenance Performance Toolbox and the Engine Fleet Planning and Costing (EFPAC) tool.

Contact:

Joe Loeffler

Boeing Communications

+1 (425) 306-2145

[email protected]

SOURCE Boeing

Related Links

http://www.boeing.com

NEW YORK, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association and Markets Group will host the ALTSTX Annual Investor Forum on October 9th for leading investors in the alternative investment industry.

Held at Union Station in Dallas, Texas, the forum is a one-day meeting that will provide participants with an educationally focused agenda covering private equity, venture capital, real estate, hedge funds, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and other sectors of the alternative investment market.

To download an agenda click here: alts-tx.com

Confirmed speakers include:

David Bonderman , Chairman and Founding Partner, TPG

Chairman and Founding Partner, Boaz Weinstein , Founder, Saba Capital Management

Founder, Toby Loftin , Founder, Managing Principal, BP Capital Fund Advisors

Founder, Managing Principal, Steve Westly , Founder & Managing Partner, The Westly Group

Founder & Managing Partner, Michelle McCloskey , President of Americas, Man Group

President of Americas, Graeme Daykin , Partner, President, Magnitude Capital

Partner, President, Dixon Doll , Co-Founder & General Partner, Impact VC & DCM

Co-Founder & General Partner, Adil Abdulali , President, Chief Science Officer, Protege Partners/Mov 37

President, Chief Science Officer, Mark Yusko , Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, Morgan Creek Capital

Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, Mark Okada , Co-Founder, Chief Investment Officer, Highland Capital Management

Co-Founder, Chief Investment Officer, Bill Kelly , Chief Executive Officer, CAIA Association

ALTSTX is developed for institutional investors, financial advisors, family offices, asset managers, investment consultants, plan trustees, portfolio managers, and research analysts.

Ticket prices will increase after this Friday, August 31st!

For further information about the conference program or how your team can get involved, please contact Paul Hamann, 347-308-7792, or [email protected].

About Markets Group:

Markets Group is an executive forum organizer with a track record of 300+ conferences in over 20 countries. Founded in 2009 in New York, Markets Group has grown into one of the largest and most successful conference organizers in the financial services sector, with over 75 professionals operating out of the US and Europe. We have successfully executed events in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Additionally, Markets Group was recently named one of America's 500 fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine and distinguished us as the #1 conference organizer and #1 financial services firm based in NYC.

SOURCE Markets GroupDES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Titan International, Inc. ("Titan") is pleased to announce recent testing conducted in partnership with Van Wall Equipment, Inc., has demonstrated that Goodyear LSW1400/30R46 super single tires offer comparable field performance and reduced soil compaction at a much lower cost than tracks. These results, along with input from two of the Midwest's largest equipment dealers and their customers, indicate a considerable market shift toward wheeled 4WD tractors over tracked 4WD tractors in the coming years.

Soil compaction test: pressure mapping GOODYEAR Farm Tires

"Until recently, there hasn't been a viable alternative to tracks on the market," says Scott Sloan, ag product manager for Titan and Goodyear Farm Tires. "With continued pressure on margins, growers are evaluating their equipment investments with a more critical eye. We're entering a key replacement cycle for machinery, and farmers are ready to buy, but they are looking for a better value. That's why Titan is putting such a heavy emphasis on developing flotation options, and why we've partnered with key equipment dealers to ensure their viability as a replacement to tracks."

John Deere field test: tires versus tracks

Don Van Houweling, owner of Van Wall Equipment, Inc. (Van Wall)  one of the largest John Deere dealer groups in the country  partnered with Titan to test a John Deere 9620R equipped with the Goodyear OPTITRAC LSW1400/30R46 head-to-head against a John Deere 9RX track machine. The results showed comparable traction, slip and speed between the two machines conducting tillage, but the wheeled machine consumed approximately 15 percent less fuel.

"With current market conditions, I wanted to find a more cost-effective option to tracks for my customers. I took interest in the LSW1400s but didn't feel comfortable recommending them to my customers without proof that they could keep up with tracks. That's why we were interested in the testing," says Van Houweling. "The tests showed that in normal field conditions, they perform equally as well as tracks, if not better, and offer a much more desirable transport experience  all at a $40,000 cost savings. This is a valuable proposal for my customers, who are always watching their bottom lines."

Watch the field test results.



Soil compaction test: tires versus tracks

The second test compared the ground-bearing pressure of the LSW1400 tires on a John Deere 9620R versus a John Deere 9RX track machine, using Tekscan pressure mapping technology to record more than 100,000 data points on the two machines. Titan found the ground-bearing pressure with the LSW1400s was an average of 16 percent lower than tracks, with the tire's maximum recorded pressure being 38 percent lower than the maximum pressure of tracks. The data shows the tires' viability as a competitor to tracks, but ultimately, growers are also looking for buy-in from the OEMs.

"The performance and potential cost savings demonstrated through this testing should provide both OEMs and growers all the proof they need to shift to super single tires," says Sloan.

Case IH shift toward wheeled machines

As one of the Midwest's largest Case IH dealers, Chad Colby, general manager at Central Illinois Ag, sells primarily track machines to his customers. Yet, he expects to see a lot more growers switch from tracks to wheeled machines soon, simply because of the viable alternatives now offered from Titan. Wheeled machines also tend to have a higher resale value because tires don't wear as quickly as tracks.

"With growers looking for ways to save money, the timing is ripe for the market to start shifting toward wheeled machines. And we've got the right tire to do it with Goodyear LSW super singles," says Colby. "I tour farms every year to do product demos. This year, the machine I take will be a Steiger equipped with LSW1400s. I'll be targeting a lot of my long-time track customers and discussing why they should consider the switch to a wheeled machine  that's how confident I am in the tires' ability to compete with tracks."

Case IH has recognized the market potential of super single tires and has recently added the Goodyear OPTITRAC LSW1250/35R46 as a price book option for the Steiger series. As an alternative to tracks or conventional dual configurations on large 4WD tractors  its section width offers the ultimate combination of flotation, traction and ride quality.

Competitors agree

Van Houweling and Colby say that, in addition to wanting to get their customers the high-performing, cost-effective solution they believe super single tires offer, they also want to remain competitive. With both suggesting a market opportunity with wheeled machines, they want to be in a good position to compete, and they believe adoption of super singles is a way to do that. Visit titan-intl.com/TiresVsTracks for more information.

Watch a recap from our Farm Progress Show press event to hear directly from Don Van Houweling and Chad Colby.

Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is a leading global manufacturer of off-highway wheels, tires, assemblies and undercarriage products. Headquartered in Quincy, Illinois, the company produces a broad range of products to meet the specifications of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket customers in the agricultural, earthmoving/construction, and consumer markets. In the United States, the company produces two distinct tire brands  Goodyear Farm Tires and Titan Tires.

 2018 Titan International, Inc. TWI, Quincy, IL.

All Rights Reserved.

Please send all reader and sales inquiries to: [email protected]

SOURCE Titan International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.titan-intl.com

FORT MYERS, Fla., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Reported second quarter EPS of $0.13 per diluted share

Maintained strong cash flow

Reaffirms full-year fiscal 2018 outlook

Chico's FAS, Inc. (NYSE: CHS) (the "Company") today announced its financial results for the fiscal 2018 second quarter ended August 4, 2018.

For the thirteen weeks ended August 4, 2018 (the "second quarter"), the Company reported net income of $16.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to net income of $22.7 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, for the thirteen weeks ended July 29, 2017 ("last year's second quarter").

For the twenty-six weeks ended August 4, 2018, the Company reported net income of $45.8 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, compared to net income of $56.3 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, for the twenty-six weeks ended July 29, 2017.

"Second quarter results were in-line with our expectations, reflecting momentum on our top-line initiatives," said Shelley Broader, CEO and President of the Company. "New merchandise assortments are resonating with customers, and innovative advancements to our robust omni-channel platform are driving increased customer awareness and reactivation. We remain confident in the opportunities across our brands for profitable growth and value creation."

Second Quarter Business Highlights:

The Company's growth initiatives drove improved comparable sales trends across all brands and fueled a double-digit increase in its digital sales in the second quarter.



The Company made considerable progress toward becoming a fully integrated omni-channel retailer. All front-line stores have been converted to the new "Locate" tool, enhancing the ability to ship an in-store order directly to the customer. In addition, the Company made substantial progress in its roll out of the "Endless Aisle" tool, which leverages shared inventory for purchase on-line and ship from store.



Soma, the Company's intimate apparel brand, successfully launched Enbliss  , a new innovative bra that offers superior soft comfort and support. The collection is the latest addition to the Soma bra wardrobe and has exceeded expectations with healthy sales, increased customer traffic and reactivation.

Net Sales

For the second quarter, net sales were $544.7 million compared to $578.6 million in last year's second quarter. This decrease of 5.9% primarily reflects a comparable sales decline of 3.2%, the unfavorable impact of the calendar shift due to the 53rd week in fiscal 2017, as well as the impact of 42 net store closures since last year's second quarter. The comparable sales decline was primarily driven by a decline in transaction count partially offset by higher average dollar sales.

Comparable Sales





Thirteen Weeks Ended

Twenty-Six Weeks Ended



August 4, 2018 (1)

July 29, 2017

August 4, 2018 (1)

July 29, 2017 Chico's

(3.8)%

(9.0)%

(4.7)%

(9.4)% White House Black Market

(3.5)%

(10.6)%

(5.1)%

(10.1)% Soma

(0.9)%

(1.8)%

(3.2)%

(0.8)% Total Company

(3.2)%

(8.4)%

(4.6)%

(8.4)%



(1) Comparable sales for the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended have been adjusted to eliminate the impact of the calendar shift due to the

53rd week in fiscal 2017. Fiscal 2018 comparable sales represent sales for the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended August 4, 2018 compared

to sales for the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended August 5, 2017.

Gross Margin

For the second quarter, gross margin was $196.9 million, or 36.1% of net sales, compared to $209.1 million, or 36.1% of net sales, in last year's second quarter. Gross margin rate as a percent of net sales was primarily driven by a 100 basis point improvement in maintained margin, offset by costs related to continued expansion of our omni-channel fulfillment programs and deleverage of store occupancy costs.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

For the second quarter, selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses were $174.1 million, or 31.9% of net sales, compared to $173.6 million, or 30.0% of net sales, for last year's second quarter. This 190 basis point increase primarily reflects investments in marketing and technology as well as deleverage of store operating expenses.

Income Tax Expense

For the second quarter, the effective tax rate was 25.4% compared to 35.1% for last year's second quarter. The 9.7% reduction in the effective tax rate for the second quarter was primarily the result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which reduced the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. This reduction was partially offset by a 240 basis point increase related to prior year favorable income tax settlements.

Cash and Marketable Securities

At the end of the second quarter, cash and marketable securities totaled $239.4 million compared to $186.2 million at the end of last year's second quarter. This $53.2 million increase primarily reflects cash generated from operating activities, partially offset by cash utilized for capital expenditures, shareholder dividends and share repurchases.

Inventories

At the end of the second quarter, inventories totaled $224.2 million compared to $235.2 million at the end of last year's second quarter. This $10.9 million decrease, or 4.6%, primarily reflects a continued focus on inventory management and the Company's ability to align inventory with sales.

Share Repurchase Program

During the second quarter, under its $300.0 million share repurchase program announced in November 2015, the Company repurchased 3.5 million shares for $30.8 million, at a weighted average of $8.70 per share. There is $105.4 million remaining for future share repurchases under the program.

Fiscal 2018 Full-Year and Third Quarter Outlook

The Company is reaffirming its full-year fiscal 2018 outlook as provided previously in the first quarter earnings press release on May 30, 2018.

For full-year fiscal 2018, the Company continues to anticipate a mid-single digit decline in net sales and a low-to-mid single digit decline in consolidated comparable sales. The Company expects gross margin rate expansion of approximately 50 basis points over fiscal 2017, which is within the Company's previously provided range of an expansion of 50 to 70 basis points. The Company anticipates SG&A expenses to be approximately flat compared to fiscal 2017.

The Company estimates a fiscal 2018 tax rate in the range of 26% to 28%. In addition, the Company anticipates fiscal 2018 capital expenditures to be $60 million to $70 million, primarily driven by store reinvestments and technology enhancements.

For the third quarter fiscal 2018, both net sales and comparable sales are expected to decline low-single digits compared to third quarter fiscal 2017.

The Company expects gross margin rate as a percent of net sales to increase approximately 50 basis points compared to third quarter fiscal 2017. The Company also anticipates SG&A expenses to increase in the range of $8 million to $10 million compared to third quarter fiscal 2017 due to continued investment in technology and marketing.

Fiscal 2017 Third Quarter Hurricane Impact

As a reminder, in the third quarter of fiscal 2017, the Company was impacted by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (collectively, the "Hurricanes"), resulting in reduced operating hours or the temporary closure of more than 300 stores as well as a decline in direct to consumer sales. The business interruption of the Hurricanes had a significant impact on the Company's operations. The impact to income from operations due to lower net sales, impairment charges and other incremental Hurricane related expenses was approximately $10 million. On an after-tax basis, the Hurricane related impact to net income was $5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share.

Conference Call Information

The Company is hosting a live conference call on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 beginning at 8:30 a.m. EDT to review the operating results for the second quarter. The conference call is being webcast live over the Internet, which you may access in the Investors section of the Chico's FAS, Inc. corporate website, www.chicosfas.com. A replay of the webcast will remain available online for one year at http://chicosfas.com/investors/events-and-presentations.

The phone number for the call is 1-877-883-0383. International callers should use 1-412-902-6506. The Elite Entry number, 7706918, is required to join the conference call. Interested participants should call 10-15 minutes prior to the 8:30 a.m. start to be placed in queue.

ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.

The Company, through its brands  Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma, is a leading omni-channel specialty retailer of women's private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates and complementary accessories.

As of August 4, 2018, the Company operated 1,440 stores in the US and Canada and sold merchandise through 77 franchise locations in Mexico. The Company's merchandise is also available at www.chicos.com, www.chicosofftherack.com, www.whbm.com and www.soma.com as well as through third party channels. For more detailed information on Chico's FAS, Inc., please go to our corporate website at www.chicosfas.com. The information on our corporate website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this press release or incorporated into our federal securities law filings.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which reflect our current views with respect to certain events that could have an effect on our future financial performance. These statements, including without limitation statements made in Ms. Broader's quotes and in the section entitled "Fiscal 2018 Full-Year and Third Quarter Outlook," relate to expectations concerning matters that are not historical fact and may include the words or phrases such as "will," "should," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "estimates," "approximately," "our planning assumptions," "future outlook," and similar expressions. Except for historical information, matters discussed in such statements are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based largely on information currently available to our management and on our current expectations, assumptions, plans, estimates, judgments and projections about our business and our industry, and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those currently anticipated. Although we believe our expectations are based on reasonable estimates and assumptions, we cannot guarantee their accuracy or our future performance, and there are a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies, and other factors (many of which are outside our control) that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, there is no assurance that our expectations will, in fact, occur or that our estimates or assumptions will be correct, and we caution investors and all others not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, changes in the general economic and business environment, including the expected impact of U.S. tax reform; changes in the general or specialty retail or apparel industries; the availability of quality store sites; the ability to successfully execute and achieve the expected results of our business strategies and particular strategic initiatives, sales initiatives and multi-channel strategies; customer traffic; our ability to leverage inventory management and targeted promotions; the successful integration of the new members of our senior management team; changes in the political environment that create consumer uncertainty; significant changes to product import and distribution costs (such as unexpected consolidation in the freight carrier industry, and the ability to remain competitive with customer shipping terms and costs pertaining to product deliveries and returns); new or increased taxes or tariffs (particularly with respect to China) that could impact, among other things, our sourcing from foreign suppliers; significant shifts in consumer behavior; and those other factors described in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" and in the "Forward-Looking Statements" disclosure in Item 7. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of our latest annual report on Form 10-K and in Part II, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" and the "Forward-Looking Statements" disclosure in Part I, Item 2. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation" of our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and in other reports we file with or furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that the actual future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements will occur. All forward-looking statements that are made or attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that projected results expressed or implied in such statements will not be realized.

(Financial Tables Follow)

Executive Contact:

Julie Lorigan

Vice President  Investor Relations,

Public Relations and Corporate Communications

Chico's FAS, Inc.

(239) 346-4199

Chico's FAS, Inc.  11215 Metro Parkway  Fort Myers, Florida 33966  (239) 277-6200

Chico's FAS, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Unaudited) (in thousands, except per share amounts)



Thirteen Weeks Ended

Twenty-Six Weeks Ended

August 4, 2018

July 29, 2017

August 4, 2018

July 29, 2017

Amount

% of

Sales

Amount

% of

Sales

Amount

% of

Sales

Amount

% of

Sales Net Sales:



































Chico's $ 286,808

52.7 %

$ 302,217

52.2 %

$ 587,744

53.1 %

$ 612,344

52.7 % White House Black Market 168,938

31.0



184,396

31.9



351,586

31.8



377,728

32.5

Soma 88,974

16.3



91,968

15.9



167,205

15.1



172,237

14.8

Total Net Sales 544,720

100.0



578,581

100.0



1,106,535

100.0



1,162,309

100.0

Cost of goods sold 347,853

63.9



369,480

63.9



682,800

61.7



715,795

61.6

Gross Margin 196,867

36.1



209,101

36.1



423,735

38.3



446,514

38.4

Selling, general and administrative

expenses 174,089

31.9



173,642

30.0



360,508

32.6



356,181

30.6

Income from Operations 22,778

4.2



35,459

6.1



63,227

5.7



90,333

7.8

Interest expense, net (310)

(0.1)



(443)

0.0



(555)

0.0



(898)

(0.1)

Income before Income Taxes 22,468

4.1



35,016

6.1



62,672

5.7



89,435

7.7

Income tax provision 5,700

1.0



12,300

2.2



16,900

1.6



33,100

2.9

Net Income $ 16,768

3.1 %

$ 22,716

3.9 %

$ 45,772

4.1 %

$ 56,335

4.8 % Per Share Data:



































Net income per common share-basic $ 0.13





$ 0.18





$ 0.36





$ 0.44



Net income per common and common

equivalent sharediluted $ 0.13





$ 0.18





$ 0.36





$ 0.44



Weighted average common shares

outstandingbasic 124,730





125,643





125,003





125,847



Weighted average common and common

equivalent shares outstandingdiluted 124,774





125,677





125,054





125,890



Dividends declared per share $ 0.0850





$ 0.0825





$ 0.2550





$ 0.2475





Chico's FAS, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (in thousands)



August 4, 2018

February 3, 2018

July 29, 2017 ASSETS









Current Assets:









Cash and cash equivalents $ 177,641

$ 160,071

$ 135,324 Marketable securities, at fair value 61,727

60,060

50,878 Inventories 224,233

233,726

235,167 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 57,301

60,668

49,381 Total Current Assets 520,902

514,525

470,750 Property and Equipment, net 393,525

421,038

443,833 Other Assets:









Goodwill 96,774

96,774

96,774 Other intangible assets, net 38,930

38,930

38,930 Other assets, net 13,327

16,338

16,745 Total Other Assets 149,031

152,042

152,449

$ 1,063,458

$ 1,087,605

$ 1,067,032











LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY









Current Liabilities:









Accounts payable $ 139,604

$ 118,253

$ 125,945 Current debt 

15,000

15,000 Other current and deferred liabilities 119,497

133,715

123,137 Total Current Liabilities 259,101

266,968

264,082 Noncurrent Liabilities:









Long-term debt 61,250

53,601

61,068 Other noncurrent and deferred liabilities 97,454

103,282

112,218 Deferred taxes 4,640

7,372

11,222 Total Noncurrent Liabilities 163,344

164,255

184,508 Commitments and Contingencies









Shareholders' Equity:









Preferred stock 



 Common stock 1,257

1,275

1,283 Additional paid-in capital 476,480

468,806

458,172 Treasury stock, at cost (444,252)

(413,465)

(406,776) Retained earnings 607,643

599,810

565,650 Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income (115)

(44)

113 Total Shareholders' Equity 641,013

656,382

618,442

$ 1,063,458

$ 1,087,605

$ 1,067,032

Chico's FAS, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Cash Flow Statements (Unaudited) (in thousands)



Twenty-Six Weeks Ended

August 4, 2018

July 29, 2017 Cash Flows from Operating Activities:





Net income $ 45,772

$ 56,335 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:





Depreciation and amortization 45,870

50,012 Loss on disposal and impairment of property and equipment 1,778

1,183 Deferred income taxes (2,600)

1,653 Share-based compensation expense 10,238

10,232 Deferred rent and lease credits (10,101)

(9,345) Changes in assets and liabilities:





Inventories 8,669

(2,804) Prepaid expenses and other current assets 5,864

5,022 Accounts payable 10,440

(903) Accrued and other liabilities (16,329)

(44,076) Net cash provided by operating activities 99,601

67,309 Cash Flows from Investing Activities:





Purchases of marketable securities (17,315)

(14,264) Proceeds from sale of marketable securities 15,718

13,794 Purchases of property and equipment (19,844)

(18,040) Net cash used in investing activities (21,441)

(18,510) Cash Flows from Financing Activities:





Proceeds from borrowings 61,250

 Payments on borrowings (68,750)

(8,750) Proceeds from issuance of common stock 679

1,095 Dividends paid (22,012)

(21,467) Repurchase of common stock (28,443)

(20,700) Payments of tax withholdings related to share-based awards (3,226)

(5,897) Net cash used in financing activities (60,502)

(55,719)







Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (88)

109 Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 17,570

(6,811) Cash and Cash Equivalents, Beginning of period 160,071

142,135 Cash and Cash Equivalents, End of period $ 177,641

$ 135,324

Supplemental Detail on Net Income Per Share Calculation

In accordance with accounting guidance, unvested share-based payment awards that include non-forfeitable rights to dividends, whether paid or unpaid, are considered participating securities. As a result, such awards are required to be included in the calculation of earnings per common share pursuant to the "two-class" method. For the Company, participating securities are comprised entirely of unvested restricted stock awards and performance-based restricted stock units ("PSUs") that have met their relevant performance criteria.

Net income per share is determined using the two-class method when it is more dilutive than the treasury stock method. Basic net income per share is computed by dividing net income available to common shareholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, including participating securities. Diluted net income per share reflects the dilutive effect of potential common shares from non-participating securities such as stock options, PSUs and restricted stock units. For the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended August 4, 2018 and July 29, 2017, potential common shares were excluded from the computation of diluted EPS to the extent they were antidilutive.

The following unaudited table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted net income per share shown on the face of the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of income (in thousands, except per share amounts):





Thirteen Weeks Ended

Twenty-Six Weeks Ended



August 4, 2018

July 29, 2017

August 4, 2018

July 29, 2017 Numerator















Net income

$ 16,768

$ 22,716

$ 45,772

$ 56,335 Net income and dividends declared allocated to

participating securities

(444)

(537)

(1,169)

(1,286) Net income available to common shareholders

$ 16,324

$ 22,179

$ 44,603

$ 55,049

















Denominator















Weighted average common shares outstanding 

basic

124,730

125,643

125,003

125,847 Dilutive effect of non-participating securities

44

34

51

43 Weighted average common and common equivalent

shares outstanding  diluted

124,774

125,677

125,054

125,890

















Net Income per Share:















Basic

$ 0.13

$ 0.18

$ 0.36

$ 0.44 Diluted

$ 0.13

$ 0.18

$ 0.36

$ 0.44

Chico's FAS, Inc. and Subsidiaries Store Count and Square Footage Thirteen Weeks Ended August 4, 2018 (Unaudited)





















May 5, 2018

New Stores

Closures

August 4, 2018



Store Count:

















Chico's frontline boutiques 564



(3)

561



Chico's outlets 120





120



Chico's Canada 4





4



WHBM frontline boutiques 403



(5)

398



WHBM outlets 69



(2)

67



WHBM Canada 6





6



Soma frontline boutiques 266



(1)

265



Soma outlets 19





19



Total Chico's FAS, Inc. 1,451



(11)

1,440













































May 5, 2018

New Stores

Closures

Other Changes in SSF

August 4, 2018 Net Selling Square Footage (SSF):

















Chico's frontline boutiques 1,542,609



(8,446)

(4,926)

1,529,237 Chico's outlets 302,088





237

302,325 Chico's Canada 9,695







9,695 WHBM frontline boutiques 937,931



(10,604)



927,327 WHBM outlets 143,963



(3,614)



140,349 WHBM Canada 14,891







14,891 Soma frontline boutiques 504,654



(2,174)



502,480 Soma outlets 35,541





233

35,774 Total Chico's FAS, Inc. 3,491,372



(24,838)

(4,456)

3,462,078





































































As of August 4, 2018, the Company also sold merchandise through 77 international franchise locations.

Chico's FAS, Inc. and Subsidiaries Store Count and Square Footage Twenty-Six Weeks Ended August 4, 2018 (Unaudited)





















February 3, 2018

New Stores

Closures

August 4, 2018



Store Count:

















Chico's frontline boutiques 568



(7)

561



Chico's outlets 120





120



Chico's Canada 4





4



WHBM frontline boutiques 404



(6)

398



WHBM outlets 69



(2)

67



WHBM Canada 6





6



Soma frontline boutiques 270



(5)

265



Soma outlets 19





19



Total Chico's FAS, Inc. 1,460



(20)

1,440













































February 3, 2018

New Stores

Closures

Other Changes in SSF

August 4, 2018 Net Selling Square Footage (SSF):

















Chico's frontline boutiques 1,555,671



(19,904)

(6,530)

1,529,237 Chico's outlets 302,088





237

302,325 Chico's Canada 9,695







9,695 WHBM frontline boutiques 939,606



(12,949)

670

927,327 WHBM outlets 143,963



(3,614)



140,349 WHBM Canada 14,891







14,891 Soma frontline boutiques 511,989



(9,509)



502,480 Soma outlets 35,541





233

35,774 Total Chico's FAS, Inc. 3,513,444



(45,976)

(5,390)

3,462,078





































































As of August 4, 2018, the Company also sold merchandise through 77 international franchise locations.

SOURCE Chico's FAS, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.chicos.com

DETROIT, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market by Product Type (Frac Plugs and Frac Balls), by Resin Type (Epoxy Composites, Phenolic Composites, and Other Composites), by Manufacturing Process Type (Injection Molding, Filament Winding, and Others), by Sales Channel Type (Direct Sales and Distributors), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660595/Stratview_Research_Logo.jpg )



This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the composite frac plugs and frag balls market over the trend period of 2012 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.

Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market: Highlights

Composite frac plugs and frac balls are designed to provide zonal isolation of a wellbore between multistage stimulation treatments during a hydraulic fracturing. These composite balls and plugs are made from glass fiber and epoxy or phenolic resin and are easier to mill out than metal plugs and balls. They can withstand higher pressure and temperature than traditional plastic and dissolvable salt balls.

Frac plugs are generally in the range from 4.5 to 5.5 inches in diameter and 22 to 30 inches in length, whereas frac balls typically measure from 1.0 to 5.75 inches in diameter. A single wellbore requires 10 to 40 multi-part frac plugs to pressurize and perforate multiple oil and gas producing layers, also known as stages. The volatility in crude oil prices adversely impacted the demand for composite frac plugs and frac balls. Many oil & gas explorations have been shut down due to the decreased oil prices.

As per Stratview Research, the global composite frac plugs and frac balls market offers a healthy growth opportunity during the forecast period of 2018 to 2023. Recovery of oil & gas exploration activities, mammoth shale gas reserve in different parts of the world, especially in the USA, and superior performance of composite frac plugs and balls over their rivals are the major factors burgeoning the growth of the market. Both, composite frac plugs and frac balls, are expected to experience similar growth in the next five years, driven by increasing use of composite frac balls and plugs in the onshore oil & gas application.

Despite the short-term fluctuation in demand of composite frac plugs and frac balls in North America caused by dropping new shale oil & gas rig activities (because of the decreasing crude oil prices), the long-term business outlook seems promising with good growth potential in the foreseen future.

Register Here for a Free Sample of the Report

The supply chain of this market comprises raw material manufacturers, composite frac plug and frac ball manufacturers, drilling contractors, EPC contractors and operators (oil & gas companies). The key oil & gas service companies are Baker Hughes, Halliburton (Houston), Schlumberger (Houston) and Weatherford International (Zug, Switzerland). The key oil & gas companies are British Petroleum, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

The key composite frac plug and ball manufacturers are Baker Hughes, Magnum Oil Tools, The Gund Co, Team Oil Tools, and Downhole Composites. New product development, collaboration with customers, and regional expansion are the key strategies adopted by the major players to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors.

This report studies the global composite frac plugs and frac balls market and has segmented the market in five ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The following are the five ways in which the market is segmented:

Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market by Product Type:

Frac Plugs (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Frac Balls (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market by Resin Type:

Epoxy Resin (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Phenolic Resin (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Other Resins (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market by Manufacturing Process Type:

Injection Molding (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Filament Winding (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Other Processes (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market by Sales Channel Type:

Direct Sales (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Distributors (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , The Middle East , and RoW)

Composite Frac Plugs and Frac Balls Market by Region:

North America

Europe

The Middle East

Rest of the World

Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the automotive industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Advanced Materials Industry

Related premium market reports in the advanced materials and oil & gas industries are:

Spoolable Pipe Market by Reinforcement Type, by Product Type, by Application Type, by Diameter Type, by User Type, by Sales Channel Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023

Global Epoxy Resin Market in the Oil & Gas Industry by Operation Type, by Application Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018 - 2023

About Stratview Research

Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas.

We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies.

Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.

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SOURCE Stratview ResearchBEIJING, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited ("Concord Medical" or the "Company") (NYSE: CCM), a leading cancer hospital operations management solutions provider and operator of a network of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging centers in China, today announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2018[1].

2018 First Half Highlights

Total net revenue was RMB105.1 million ($15.9 million) in the first half of 2018, representing a 49.0% decrease from total net revenue of RMB206.2 million in the same period last year. Total net revenue included net revenue from the network business of RMB79.4 million ($12.0 million) and net revenue from the hospital business of RMB25.7 million ($3.9 million).

Gross profit was RMB23.9 million ($3.6 million) in the first half of 2018, representing a 66.5% decrease from RMB71.3 million in the first half of 2017. The gross profit margin for the first half of 2018 was 22.8%, compared to 34.6% for the same period last year.

Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders in the first half of 2018 was RMB128.1 million ($19.4 million), compared to RMB101.8 million in the same period last year.

Both basic and diluted loss per American Depositary Share ("ADS")[2] in the first half of 2018 were both RMB2.95 ($0.45), compared to RMB2.34 in the same period last year.

Non-GAAP net loss in the first half of 2018 was RMB121.5 million ($18.4 million), compared to non-GAAP net loss of RMB100.1 million in the same period last year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted loss per ADS in the first half of 2018 were both RMB2.81 ($0.42).

Adjusted EBITDA[3] (non-GAAP) was negative RMB73.3 million ($11.1 million) in the first half of 2018, compared to negative RMB3.9 million in the same period last year.

Dr. Jianyu Yang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Concord Medical, commented, "Changes in the policies regarding the hospital partners have further led to the closure of our centers, which put pressure on our operating income in the first half of 2018 and presented us with challenges. Nevertheless, our network business still has new demands. Within the past six months, we developed new centers with reliable partners in suitable locations, including the co-established cooperative radiotherapy center at PKU Healthcare Zibo Hospital and the comprehensive management cooperative center for the departments of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine at PKU International Hospital. Based on our extensive experiences in radiotherapy and imaging diagnosis over years, we believe our network business would continue to provide Chinese cancer patients with high-quality diagnosis and treatment services."

"Although the revenue from the network business shrinks, our self-operating independent cancer hospital business is steadily growing and developing. The revenue from the hospital business in the first half of 2018 had a year-on-year increase of 160%, while its percentage of the Company's total revenue increased from 5% last year to 25% this year."

"The cumulative number of patient visits within the first half of 2018 at our independent cancer center in Shanghai had a good increase, compared with the number of the first half of 2017. Shanghai Concord Cancer Center is an outpatient department that integrates imaging diagnosis, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. At present this center has started to develop joint consultation with MD Anderson Cancer Center in the United States and our Concord International Hospital in Singapore, offering international diagnosis and treatment plans for patients with certain demands."

"The revenue of the Concord International Hospital in Singapore in the first half of 2018 had a dramatical increase of 118%, compared with that of the same period in the last year, while the net loss had also decreased by 41%, compared with that in last year. As for operational data, the number of patients visits in surgery, radiotherapy, and internal medicine has been improved in Concord International Hospital in Singapore. Among them, the number of surgical patient visits was 359 in the first half of 2018, a 122% increase from 162 in the first half of 2017."

"In general, 2018 is the start of a full upgrade of the Company's business. Our new business mode that is focusing on self-established and operating cancer hospitals is steadily growing and developing, which relieves the influence of adverse impacts on one hand, and lays a solid foundation for our future development on the other. We have high hopes and firmly believe that we can provide good-quality and efficient medical services for more cancer patients in the future."

2018 First Half Financial Results

Network Business

Net revenue from the network business was RMB79.4 million ($12.0 million), representing a 59.6% decrease from net revenue of RMB196.4 million in the first half of 2017, primarily attributable to the closure of certain centers in our network of centers. With one center closed in the first half of 2018, the Company operated a network of 30 centers in 21 cities in China as of June 30, 2018.

Cost of revenue of the network business was RMB42.9 million ($6.5 million), representing a 60.8% decrease from RMB109.5 million in the first half of 2017.

Gross profit from the network business was RMB36.5 million ($5.5 million), representing a 57.9% decrease from RMB86.8 million in the first half of 2017. The gross profit margin for the first half of 2018 was 46.0%, compared to 44.2% for the same period last year.

Selling expenses of the network business were RMB9.9 million ($1.5 million), representing a 67.3% decrease from RMB30.3 million in the first half of 2017. Selling expenses as a percentage of net revenue was 12.5% in the first half of 2018, compared to 15.4% in the first half of 2017. The decrease in selling expenses of the network business was mainly due to reduced marketing, conference, office and travel expenses.

General and administrative expenses of the network business were RMB82.6 million ($12.5 million), representing a 12.1% decrease from RMB94.0 million in the first half of 2017. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of net revenue was 104.0% in the first half of 2018, compared to 47.9% in the same period last year. The increase in general and administrative expenses as a percentage of net revenue was mainly due to the counsel fee and travel expense related to the closure of certain centers.

Compared to RMB11.1 million in the same period last year, capital expenditures were RMB4.8 million ($0.7 million) in the first half of 2018.

Accounts receivable were RMB105.9 million ($16.0 million) as of June 30, 2018, compared to RMB127.2 million as of December 31, 2017. The average period of sales outstanding for accounts receivable ("Days Sales Outstanding") was 263 days in the first half of 2018.

As of June 30, 2018, the Company had bank loan totaling RMB592.6 million ($89.6 million).

During the first half of 2018, the Company handled 5,354 patient treatment cases and 70,562 patient diagnostic cases, representing a 37.9% decrease and a 38.7% decrease from the same period last year, respectively, mainly due to the closure of certain centers during the past year and first half of 2018.

Hospital Business

Hospital business includes Singapore Concord International Hospital, Datong Meizhong Jiahe Cancer Hospital, Shanghai Concord Cancer Hospital and Guangzhou Concord Cancer Hospital.

Net revenue from the hospital business was RMB25.7 million ($3.9 million) in the first half of 2018, representing a 160.0% increase from net revenue of RMB9.9 million in the first half of 2017, mainly due to the increased revenue from Singapore Concord International Hospital.

Cost of service of the hospital business in the first half of 2018 was RMB38.3 million ($5.8 million), a 50.2% increase from cost of service of RMB25.5 million in the first half of 2017, mainly because of the increased revenue of Singapore Concord International Hospital.

Gross loss from the hospital business was RMB12.6 million ($1.9 million) in the first half of 2018, a 19.2% decrease from RMB15.6 million in the same period last year, mainly due to the increased revenue of Singapore Concord International Hospital.

Selling expenses of the hospital business were RMB0.7 million ($0.1 million) in the first half of 2018. The selling expenses of the hospital business were RMB0.2 million in the first half of 2017.

General and administrative expenses of the hospital business were RMB31.8 million ($4.8 million) in the first half of 2018, of which employee benefit expenses were RMB10.8 million ($1.6 million). In the same period of last year, general and administrative expenses of the hospital business were RMB21.9 million.

Compared to RMB72.6 million in the first half of 2017, capital expenditures of the hospital were RMB282.1 million ($42.6 million) in the first half of 2018, which was mainly related to the construction fees and medical equipment payment for Shanghai Concord Cancer Hospital and Guangzhou Concord Cancer Hospital.

As of June 30, 2018, accounts receivable from hospital business is RMB5.7 million ($0.9 million), representing a 21.3% increase from accounts receivable of RMB4.7 million as of December 31, 2017. The number of Days Sales Outstanding was 44 days in the first half of 2018.

Recent Developments

Concord Medical and the investment institutions led by CICC Capital Management Company Limited ("CICC Capital"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China International Capital Corporation Limited ("CICC"), jointly made a strategic investment in Concord Medical's subsidiary, Beijing Meizhong Jiahe Hospital Management Co., Ltd. ("Meizhong Jiahe"). The total investment was RMB 1.5 billion. After completion of the investment, the total shares held by the institutions led by CICC Capital accounted for 37.5% of the equity interests of Meizhong Jiahe.

Shanghai Concord Medical Imaging Diagnostic Center ("Imaging Center"), the first independent imaging diagnostic center of Concord Medical, obtained an independent imaging diagnostic license. The Imaging Center is expected to introduce world-class diagnostic technology and management services, cover the Medical Center and the Yangtze River Delta region through a remote sharing consultation platform, and provide a full range of imaging diagnosis and high-quality services for domestic and foreign commercial insurance patients.

Notes: [1] This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations of RMB into U.S. dollars are made at a rate of RMB6.6171 to $1.00, the noon buying rate in New York City for cable transfers payable in RMB, as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on June 30, 2018. [2] Each ADS represents three Class A ordinary shares of the Company. [3] Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation expenses, and other adjustments. Other adjustments include foreign exchange gain, gain from disposal of property, plant and equipment and other income.

About Concord Medical



Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited is a leading specialty hospital management solution provider and operator of the largest network of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging centers in China. As of June 30, 2018, the Company operated a network of 30 centers with 21 hospital partners that spanned 21 cities and 14 provinces and administrative regions in China. Under long-term arrangements with top-tier hospitals in China, the Company provides radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging equipment and manages the daily operations of these centers, which are located on the premises of its hospital partners. The Company also provides ongoing training to doctors and other medical professionals in its network of centers to ensure a high level of clinical care for patients. For more information, please see http://ir.ccm.cn.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to uncertainties and contingencies beyond the Company's control and based upon premises with respect to future business decisions, which are subject to change. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement the consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), Concord Medical uses certain non-GAAP measures. The Company presents certain of its financial information that is adjusted from results based on GAAP to exclude the impact of share-based compensation expense. The Company believes excluding share-based compensation expense from its GAAP financial measures is useful for its management and investors to assess and analyze the Company's core operating results, as such expense is not directly attributable to the underlying performance of the Company's business operations and do not impact its current cash earnings. Concord Medical also believes these non-GAAP measures excluding share-based compensation expense are important in helping investors to understand the Company's current financial performance and future prospects and to compare business trends among different reporting periods on a consistent basis. In addition, Concord Medical also presents the non-GAAP measure of Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined in this announcement as net income plus interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and share-based compensation expenses and other adjustments. Other adjustments include foreign exchange gain, gain from disposal of property, plant and equipment and other income. Furthermore, Adjusted EBITDA eliminates the impact of items that the Company does not consider to be indicative of the performance of the network business and hospital business. The Company believes investors will similarly use Adjusted EBITDA as one of the key metrics to evaluate its financial performance and to compare its current operating results with corresponding historical periods and with other companies in the healthcare services industry. The presentation of these additional measures should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results or as being comparable to results reported or forecasted by other companies. The non-GAAP measures have been reconciled to GAAP measures in the attached financial information.

Concord Medical Services Holdings Co., Ltd. Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands)



December 31, 2017 June 30, 2018

RMB RMB US$

(audited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) ASSETS





Current assets





Cash and cash equivalents 98,191 459,968 69,512 Restricted cash, current portion 563,986 211,727 31,997 Accounts receivable 131,952 111,592 16,864 Inventories 6,284 5,195 785 Prepayments and other current assets 264,723 299,275 45,228 Non-current assets held for sale 27,100 5,048 763 Net investments in direct financing leases, current portion 18,900 23,646 3,573 Total current assets 1,111,136 1,116,451 168,722







Non-current assets





Property, plant and equipment, net 793,571 815,698 123,272 Intangible assets, net 7,799 6,946 1,050 Deposits for non-current assets 266,180 462,947 69,962 Net investments in direct financing leases, non-current portion 54,052 46,891 7,086 Equity method investments 732,167 740,286 111,875 Cost method investment 22,160 22,160 3,349 Other non-current assets 30,392 31,223 4,719 Prepaid land lease payments 447,933 443,351 67,001 Prepayment for long term investment - 480,688 72,643 Total non-current assets 2,354,254 3,050,190 460,957







Total assets 3,465,390 4,166,641 629,679















LIABILITIES AND EQUITY





Current liabilities





Short-term bank borrowings 512,222 480,870 72,671 Long-term bank borrowings, current portion 197,139 110,364 16,679 Accounts payable 4,563 5,536 837 Accrued expenses and other liabilities 385,919 408,765 61,774 Income tax payable 5,990 5,512 833 Dividend payable 2,338 2,378 359 Total current liabilities 1,108,171 1,013,425 153,153







Non-current liabilities





Long-term bank borrowings, non-current portion 284,584 1,375 208 Deferred tax liabilities, non-current portion 73,577 70,970 10,725 Long-term secured borrowings 163,498 123,711 18,696 Other long term liabilities 73,392 77,751 11,750 Redeemable noncontrolling interest 396,281 403,279 60,945 Amount due to related parties, non-current portion 350,969 344,725 52,096 Total non-current liabilities 1,342,301 1,021,811 154,420







Total liabilities 2,450,472 2,035,236 307,573















EQUITY





Ordinary shares 105 105 16 Treasuary stock (8) (8) (1) Additional paid-in capital 1,860,763 1,860,763 281,205 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (47,418) (52,191) (7,887) Accumulated deficit (879,393) (1,007,519) (152,260) Total Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited

shareholders' equity 934,049 801,150 121,073 Noncontrolling interests 80,869 1,330,255 201,033







Total equity 1,014,918 2,131,405 322,106







Total liabilities and equity 3,465,390 4,166,641 629,679

Concord Medical Services Holdings Co., Ltd. Consolidated Profit & Loss (in thousands, except for number of ADS and per ADS data)



June 30, 2017 June 30, 2018

RMB RMB US$

(Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) Revenues, net of business tax , value-added tax and

related surcharges:





Network 196,350 79,393 11,998 Hospital 9,893 25,722 3,887 Total net revenues 206,243 105,115 15,885







Cost of revenues:





Network (109,512) (42,882) (6,481) Hospital (25,458) (38,287) (5,786) Total cost of revenues (134,970) (81,169) (12,267)







Gross profit 71,273 23,946 3,618







Operating expenses:





Selling expenses (30,513) (10,621) (1,605) General and administrative expenses (115,802) (114,351) (17,281) Impairment of long-lived assets (28) - -







Operating loss (75,070) (101,026) (15,268) Interest expense (37,809) (33,381) (5,045) Foreign exhange gain 9,636 10,693 1,616 Gain (loss) from disposal of property, plant and equipment 973 (2,060) (311) Interest income 6,728 5,129 775 Equity pick up of equity investee 3,967 (3,438) (520) Other income 3,002 2,161 327







Loss before income tax (88,573) (121,922) (18,426) Income tax expenses (15,847) (5,949) (899) Net loss (104,420) (127,871) (19,325)







Net (loss) gain attributable to noncontrolling interests (2,641) 255 39







Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders (101,779) (128,126) (19,364)







Loss per ADS





Basic (2.34) (2.95) (0.45) Diluted (2.34) (2.95) (0.45)







Weighted average number of ADS outstanding:





Basic 43,543,956 43,363,992 43,363,992 Diluted 43,543,956 43,363,992 43,363,992







Other comprehensive income, net of tax





Foreign currency translation 3,041 4,773 721 Total other comprehensive income, net of tax 3,041 4,773 721 Comprehensive loss (101,379) (123,098) (18,604) Comprehensive loss attributable to noncontrolling interests (931) (614) (92) Comprehensive loss attributable to Concord Medical

Services Holdings Limited's shareholders (100,448) (122,484) (18,512)

Reconciliations of non-GAAP results of operations measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measures (*) (in RMB thousands, except ADS data, unaudited)

















For the six months ended June 30, 2017

For the six months ended June 30, 2018

GAAP Measure Adjustment Non-GAAP Measure

GAAP Measure Adjustment Non-GAAP Measure Operating loss (75,070) 4,272 (70,798)

(101,026) 6,341 (94,685) Net loss (104,420) 4,272 (100,148)

(127,871) 6,341 (121,530) Basic loss per ADS (2.34) 0.10 (2.24)

(2.95) 0.15 (2.81) Diluted loss per ADS (2.34) 0.10 (2.24)

(2.95) 0.15 (2.81)















(*) The only adjustment is share-based compensation.











Reconciliation from net loss to adjusted EBITDA(*) (in RMB thousands, unaudited)













For the six months ended For the six months ended

June 30, 2017 June 30, 2018 Net loss (104,420) (127,871) Interest expenses, net 31,081 28,252 Income tax expenses 15,847 5,949 Depreciation and amortization 62,901 24,835 Share-based compensation 4,272 6,341 Other adjustments (13,611) (10,794) Adjusted EBITDA (3,930) (73,288) EBITDA margin -2% -92% (*) Definition of adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation expenses

and other adjustments. Other adjustments include foreign exchange gain, gain (loss) from disposal of property, plant and equipment and other income.

SOURCE Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited

Related Links

http://ir.ccm.cn

BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cooper Tea Company today announced the launch of B.W. Cooper's Organic Cold Brew Tea 11:1 Concentrate, becoming the first company to release a cold brew tea concentrate designed specifically for restaurants, coffeeshops, and other commercial foodservice applications.

B.W. Cooper's Organic Cold Brew Tea 11:1 Concentrate "Mini-Jug"

"Once the cold brew phenomenon moved beyond coffee and into tea, we started getting requests," said Colleen Norwine, Cooper Tea executive director of sales and marketing. "Everyone loved the taste of cold brewed tea and wanted to capitalize on the higher price point it commands; but there wasn't a practical way for high-volume restaurants to serve it. We're excited to be the first to provide a solution."

B.W. Cooper's Cold Brew Tea Concentrate (CBTC) offers operators a simple way to add cold brew tea to the menu without burdening staff with a time-consuming preparation process. The commercial concentrate requires no onsite brewing or extracting equipment. Cooper Tea steeps the tea for hours in cold water at their Colorado microbrewery. This time-intensive process removes bitterness and produces a "cold brewed tea" with a superior, uniquely smooth and refreshing taste profile. Restaurants can create signature and seasonal flavors by adding flavor syrups, fresh fruit or botanicals.

For easy storage, the concentrates are packed in shelf-stable, 32oz miniature milk jugs. Each "mini-jug" of concentrate makes 3 gallons of cold brew tea when mixed with water. Batches of tea can be made based on demand  1 gallon, 2 gallons, or a full 3-gallon batch. This reduces the amount of stale tea thrown out, conserves water, and improves environmental sustainability in local communities.

The product is USDA-certified organic and has just 2 ingredients: organic black tea and water. International Tea Master and company founder Barry W. Cooper selected the organic black tea used in the proprietary blend. Cooper has over 50 years of experience cupping, blending and brewing teas.

ABOUT COOPER TEA

A leader in premium iced teas since 2003, Cooper Tea Company is known for its signature B.W. Cooper's Iced Brew Teas, which have no artificial flavors, colors or high fructose corn syrup. Find out more online at CooperTea.com.

Media Contact:

Colleen Norwine, Executive Director, Sales & Mktg., Cooper Tea

303.527.1700 ext. 126; [email protected]

SOURCE Cooper Tea Company

Related Links

http://www.coopertea.com

PLANO, Texas, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Critical Start, a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions, today announced that it increased year-over-year (YoY) revenue 87% in the first seven months of 2018. This rapid growth is driven by mid-size firms and enterprises looking for assistance to combat today's complex and rapidly evolving human and machine-generated security threats. In addition, the company's Managed Detection & Response (MDR) business has grown 300% YTD in 2018 when compared to all of 2017.

To support the significant growth in its overall business, Critical Start increased its workforce by 62% in the last year. In the coming months, the company plans to add approximately 20 new positions covering a wide range of expertise, including security analysts, software developers, penetration testers, solution architects, sales and marketing. To meet the needs of its growing workforce, expand its operations and support future growth, Critical Start recently moved into a new 15,000 square-foot facility in Plano, Texas. The new headquarters includes a state-of-the art Cybersecurity Operations Center (CyberSOC) and corporate offices. This is a 500% increase from its previous 3,000 square-foot facility.

By offering a powerful combination of professional services, strategic product fulfillment, and MDR services, Critical Start is well positioned to protect important customer data and customer brands. Critical Start currently works with hundreds of mid-size and enterprise customers across a variety of industries.

Additional milestones from the first half of 2018 include:

Completed Strategic Acquisition  In March 2018 , Critical Start acquired Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA), a next-generation security analytics platform. The combination of Critical Start's CyberSOC, expert security analysts and the ATA platform allows the company to provide managed security services delivered in a completely transparent process using a mobile-first, Zero-Trust platform.



 In , Critical Start acquired Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA), a next-generation security analytics platform. The combination of Critical Start's CyberSOC, expert security analysts and the ATA platform allows the company to provide managed security services delivered in a completely transparent process using a mobile-first, Zero-Trust platform. Recognized in Several Industry Rankings  CRN named Critical Start to its 2018 Managed Service Provider (MSP) list in the security category. The company was also named to CRN's 2017 Solution Provider 500 List, which is the publication's annual ranking of the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in North America by revenue. In addition, CRN ranked Critical Start #10 on its 2017 Fast Growth 150 list, based on its 234.13% two-year growth rate. Finally, in November 2017 the company was selected as one of the Dallas 100 by Southern Methodist University for its significant growth over the past three years.



 CRN named Critical Start to its 2018 Managed Service Provider (MSP) list in the security category. The company was also named to CRN's 2017 Solution Provider 500 List, which is the publication's annual ranking of the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in by revenue. In addition, CRN ranked Critical Start #10 on its 2017 Fast Growth 150 list, based on its 234.13% two-year growth rate. Finally, in the company was selected as one of the 100 by for its significant growth over the past three years. Named a Palo Alto CPSP  Critical Start was named a Palo Alto Networks  Certified Professional Services Provider (CPSP). The program was developed to enable, recognize and promote qualified partners who have demonstrated world-class, proven professional services capabilities and cybersecurity expertise. Critical Start has been a platinum partner in the Palo Alto Networks NextWave Partner Program since 2014, having grown its Palo Alto Networks business by more than 30% year-over-year.



 Critical Start was named a Palo Alto Networks Certified Professional Services Provider (CPSP). The program was developed to enable, recognize and promote qualified partners who have demonstrated world-class, proven professional services capabilities and cybersecurity expertise. Critical Start has been a platinum partner in the Palo Alto Networks NextWave Partner Program since 2014, having grown its Palo Alto Networks business by more than 30% year-over-year. Earned SOC Type 2 Certification  Critical Start achieved the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Compliance Certification, a standard defined by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA). SOC 2 defines criteria for managing customer data based on five "trust service principles"security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. Earning SOC 2 certification reflects Critical Start's commitment to security best practices throughout the organization.

"Critical Start is experiencing explosive growth in 2018, and I believe this is a direct result of doing the right thing for our customers and attracting the most talented employees in the industry," said Rob Davis, CEO at Critical Start. "Our software development team has built a tremendous Zero-Trust platform for MDR services, which combined with our Mobile SOC applications make us unique in the industry. Our strategic product fulfillment and professional service business lines are perfect gateways to our MDR services. None of this is possible without our fantastic customer base. We will continue to listen to them and customize our offerings to meet their needs."

About Critical Start

Critical Start is the fastest-growing cybersecurity integrator in North America. Our mission is simple: protect your brand and reduce business risk. We help organizations of all sizes determine their security readiness condition using our proven framework, the Defendable Network. Critical Start provides managed security services, incident response, professional services, and product fulfillment. Visit www.criticalstart.com for more information.

SOURCE Critical Start

Related Links

http://www.criticalstart.com

EDISON, N.J., Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cross Country Infrastructure Services, Inc. ("Cross Country"), a leading equipment and supplies provider to the construction industry, announced today that it has acquired Rain2Day, Inc. ("Rain2Day"). With the addition of Rain2Day, Cross Country has grown their reach in the Western United States market. Rain2Day is a rental provider of pumps and tanks primarily supporting the growing market in Las Vegas and the surrounding Nevada area. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Rain2Day was launched in 2002, to provide their customers temporary water solutions such as; liquid storage, irrigation, clear water transmission lines, dewatering and sewer by-passes.

Gerry Plescia, CEO of Cross Country, states "We are excited about the addition of Rain2Day to the Cross Country family. The acquisition is an important strategic initiative as we continue to grow our North American capabilities by expanding our reach in the Western region. Also, the addition of this outstanding operation will enable us to serve an important market with quality equipment and an experienced staff. We are pleased to welcome Ines Esquivel and the talented Rain2Day team, to Cross Country and look forward to working together to build a first-class equipment rental and supply sales company."

Rain2Day was launched in 2002, to provide their customers temporary water solutions such as; liquid storage, irrigation, clear water transmission lines, dewatering and sewer by-passes. The company has always been dedicated to employee growth and training in new technology and advancements to better assist their clientele.

Over the past five years, Cross Country has acquired several companies with industry specialties that strengthened and diversified the company's services and products. These acquisitions include Power Associates International in 2013, Sideline Specialty Equipment in 2015, N2, Stone Pump & Trench, and PWI Supply in 2016.

Media Contact:

Greg Orlando

973-600-2222

[email protected]

http://crosscountryis.com/

SOURCE Cross Country Infrastructure Services Inc.

Related Links

http://crosscountryis.com

DUBLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Fixed services in developed Asia-Pacific: trends and forecasts 2018-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report examines the key trends and drivers, and provides telecoms market forecasts for fixed communication services in the developed Asia-Pacific region. It includes worldwide context and commentary on seven key countries: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

This report provides:

A 5-year forecast of 44 fixed KPIs for the developed Asia-Pacific region and for seven key countries

region and for seven key countries An in-depth analysis of the trends, drivers and forecast assumptions for each type of fixed service, and for key countries

An overview of operator strategies and country-specific topics, which highlights similarities and differences between countries

A summary of results, key implications and recommendations for fixed operators.

Countries modelled individually

Australia

Hong Kong

Japan

New Zealand

Singapore

South Korea

Taiwan

Data coverage

Fixed connections

Voice, broadband, IPTV, dial-up

Narrowband voice, VoBB

DSL, FTTP/B, cable, BFWA, other

Fixed revenue

Service revenue, retail revenue

Voice, broadband, IPTV, dial-up, BNS

DSL, FTTP/B, cable, BFWA, other

Fixed voice traffic

Outgoing minutes, MoU

Key Topics Covered:



Executive summary



Worldwide trends

Worldwide: next-generation access broadband services and mobile handset data will drive telecoms retail revenue growth worldwide

Regional trends



DVAP: saturated broadband markets and a fall in broadband ASPU will contribute to a decline in total fixed revenue

Fixed: the vast majority of households in DVAP will use NGA broadband connections by 2023

Fixed: increasing competition in New Zealand will result in a rapid increase in fixed broadband household penetration and will contribute to ASPU declines

will result in a rapid increase in fixed broadband household penetration and will contribute to ASPU declines Fixed: the fixed market in DVAP is very competitive and operators will focus on consumer experience and churn reduction

Country-level trends



Australia : competition in the fixed segment will intensify, resulting in a slight decline in revenue by 2023

: competition in the fixed segment will intensify, resulting in a slight decline in revenue by 2023 Hong Kong : competition in the fixed broadband segment has declined recently

: competition in the fixed broadband segment has declined recently Japan : the number of fixed broadband (FBB) connections will increase due to continued fibre take-up; FBB revenue will grow at a CAGR of 2% to 2023

: the number of fixed broadband (FBB) connections will increase due to continued fibre take-up; FBB revenue will grow at a CAGR of 2% to 2023 New Zealand : fixed services revenue will remain almost flat due to strong competition in the FBB market

: fixed services revenue will remain almost flat due to strong competition in the FBB market Singapore : DSL and cable connection numbers will drop to 0 by 2020

: DSL and cable connection numbers will drop to 0 by 2020 South Korea : the number of FBB connections will decline over the forecast period as the market shows signs of saturation

: the number of FBB connections will decline over the forecast period as the market shows signs of saturation Taiwan : fixed revenue will see a mild decline due to saturated markets and stiff competition

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/chpzb5/developed?w=5

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

Sue Kolupar is the owner of Dressed in Time and her small business success story began in the early 2000's. Back then, Sue had a busy job at a Milwaukee-area medical practice and one of her daughters was in a local dance group. Formal dresses were always on Sue's mind as her daughter attended recitals, formal balls and later, school dances and proms. Luckily for the Kolupar family, there was a formal wear store in the local mall that fulfilled all their dress needs. Until it was gone.

In 2006, Sue's daughter returned home from California on college break needing a dress. Sadly, the formal wear shop owner had passed away and the store was out of business. When Sue called the mall to see if they had any dresses available, the mall owner suggested she buy the store.

"I went looking for a dress and ended up buying a business," said Sue. "Luckily, I was at a point in my career then where I could explore a side business. I knew there was a demand for dresses and formal wear in the Milwaukee area. After discussing it over with my husband, we jumped in with both feet and bought the shop."

The first year was a bumpy one for Sue as she learned the ins and outs of the formal wear business which is almost entirely driven by seasonal demand. With hard work and a new found appreciation for local marketing strategies and social media, Sue was able to tap into the demand for wedding dresses, pageant outfits and prom wear. As the business grew, Sue sought out financing to coincide with opportunities to stock up on the latest fashions. Her research led her to OnDeck.

"I sell a chunk of inventory January through May, and a little bit through August," said Sue. "Then demand drops, but with each new season, I still need cash on hand to purchase inventory and replace older stock. Until I found OnDeck, we had to draw from savings to maintain our purchasing flexibility."

Sue received her first loan from OnDeck in 2016. She has qualified and obtained additional financing from the company several times over the last few years.

"The financing process with OnDeck is fast, customer service is excellent and I always feel like they value my business for what it is," says Sue. "OnDeck treats me like I'm the most important business in the world. Every time I have a question or need something, they are there. That's very important to me and it defines my own business philosophy. You don't get that personal touch with online and department stores, and for that matter, banks, nowadays."

Dressed In Time is on track for its twelfth consecutive year of growth and among the store's many loyal customers are Sue's two daughters.

"My daughters were the real reason I'm now a proud small business owner," says Sue. "I love creating the same happy and fulfilling atmosphere that my daughters had growing up for my customers today. It's incredibly rewarding to watch the smiles and hear the laughter that results from the perfect dress. I guess all those years of shopping for my girls has brought me to where I was meant to be."

"OnDeck is delighted to recognize the achievement of Sue Kolupar in growing her unique dress and formal wear shop," said Andrea Gellert, Chief Revenue Officer, OnDeck. "Working with small business owners like Sue is incredibly fulfilling and we are committed to delivering great customer experiences that benefit small business owners across the United States."

For more information on Dressed In Time, visit: www.dressedintime.com

The Small Business Spotlight series from OnDeck is designed to highlight and reinforce the vital importance of small businesses. Every month, OnDeck spotlights the achievements of its small business customers and how they are thriving as a result of receiving capital from OnDeck. To learn more about Sue Kolupar's small business journey visit: http://www.ondeck.com/smallbusinessspotlight

About OnDeck

OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) is the proven leader in transparent and responsible online lending to small business. Founded in 2006, the company pioneered the use of data analytics and technology to make real-time lending decisions and deliver capital rapidly to small businesses. Today, OnDeck offers a wide range of online term loans and lines of credit customized for the needs of small business owners. It also offers a comprehensive technology and services platform that facilitates online lending to small business customers at some of the world's largest banks. OnDeck has provided over $9 billion in loans to customers in 700 different industries across the United States, Canada and Australia. The company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is rated 5 stars by Trustpilot. For more information, visit www.ondeck.com

OnDeck, the OnDeck logo, OnDeck Score and OnDeck Marketplace are trademarks of On Deck Capital, Inc.

SOURCE On Deck Capital, Inc.CLEVELAND, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 16th, Armstrong World Industries acquired Steel Ceilings, an Ohio-based manufacturer of standard and custom aluminum and stainless metal ceilings.

"Armstrong is by far the largest supplier of ceiling products in the US," says Matt Hurley, an industry analyst at the Freedonia Group. "This purchase was made as part of the company's strategy of maintaining its industry leadership position through acquisitions."

The transaction also demonstrates Armstrong's commitment to expanding its presence in the fast growing specialty ceiling products market. Earlier this year, Armstrong purchased Plasterform, a Canadian manufacturer of custom cast ceilings, columns, facades, moldings, and walls.

"Both acquisitions also support Armstrong's strategy of focusing on the profitable US and Canadian ceiling markets," says Hurley.

In late 2017, the company announced plans to sell its ceiling operations in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim to the German firm Knauf. The transaction was initially expected to close in mid-2018, but is now expected to be completed by the end of the year because of delays in receiving needed clearances from the European Union, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Knauf is not currently active in the US ceilings market, but it will become a formidable competitor to Armstrong when Knauf completes its earlier announced acquisition of USG, the second largest ceiling products supplier in the US, in a deal expected to close in early 2019.

CertainTeed, another important ceiling supplier in the US, has also been working to boost the size of its operations through acquisitions. Earlier this month, the company purchased Hunter Douglas's North American ceilings business, whose product portfolio includes specialty metal ceilings, felt ceiling and wall systems, and large format acoustical panels.

According to Hurley, "The recent flurry of acquisition activity centered on the US demonstrates the growth opportunities that exist in the country's large ceilings market." Information on the current size and expected growth of the US ceiling products market is available in the Freedonia study, Ceilings Market in the US.

https://www.freedoniagroup.com/Ceilings.html

About The Freedonia Group  The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, and market share information. Studies can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.684.9600

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group

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DUBLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "The Global Industrial Gas Business" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This study presents data on supply of and demand for industrial gases by type, technology and application in current U.S. dollars for the major global regions. The report starts with an overview describing the importance of the industrial gas industry in relation to the overall global economy. Major products and applications are then reviewed.

The next section contains a detailed description of current and emerging technologies for the production, distribution and end use of industrial gases. The government environmental and energy regulation scene is discussed as it applies to industrial gases, and there are descriptions of environmental regulation changes and the agencies involved.

The core of the report is an analysis of the industrial gas market's size and segmentation from 2017 through 2023. The market is segmented by product type, end-user type, application, production technology, purity grade, region, distribution channel and supply mode (e.g., pipeline and cylinder).

The report concludes with an analysis of the structure of the industrial gas industry, including its major players, market shares, and merger and acquisition trends. Patents relating to industrial gases are analyzed, and another chapter contains profiles of companies involved in the industrial gas business.

This Report Includes:

27 tables

An overview of the industrial gas business that includes data on supply and demand for industrial gases by type, technology, and application in the global market

Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2017, estimates for 2018, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023

Detailed analyses of the importance of the industrial gas industry to the overall global economy

Discussion of major product reviews and their applications

Overview of current and emerging technologies for the production, distribution, and end use of industrial gases

Coverage of government environmental and energy regulations, and descriptions of environmental regulation changes and the agencies involved

Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the market, including Atlas Copco, TechnipFMC Plc, Diversified Energy Corp., ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG and Siemens AG

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Introduction

Study Goals and Objectives

Reasons for Doing This Study

Scope of Report

Information Sources

Methodology

Geographic Breakdown

Analyst's Credentials

Related Reports

Chapter 2 Summary and Highlights



Chapter 3 Market and Technology Background

Importance of Industrial Gases

Principal Industrial Gas Types and Their Applications

Carbon Dioxide

Hydrogen

Helium

Nitrogen

Oxygen

Industrial Gas Production Technologies

Reforming

Noncatalytic Partial Oxidation

Shift-Conversion and Methanation Technology

Air Separation

New Production Technologies

Distribution Technologies

Oxygen-Producing Vacuum Pressure Swing Systems

Nitrogen Membrane Systems

On-Site Industrial Gas Production Technology

Bulk Liquid Delivery and Storage

Microbulk Gas Delivery System

High-Pressure Gas Delivery and Storage Technology

Nitrogen Pumping Units

Pipelines

Industrial Gas Storage Technology

Liquefaction Technology

Compression Technology

Above-Ground Storage Technology

Underground Storage Technology

Transportation and Storage Technologies

End-User Technologies

Petroleum Production and Refining Technology

Primary Metals Production and Fabrication Technology

Chemical Production Technology

Electronics Manufacturing Technology

Laser Technology

Fuel Cells

Internal Combustion Engine

Hydrogen Sensors

Chapter 4 Market by Product Type, Application and End-User

Summary

Industrial Gas Market by End-Use Segment

Refining and Chemical Processing

Metal Manufacturing and Fabrication

Medical

Food and Beverage

Electronics

Pulp and Paper

Other End-Use Market Segments

Industrial Gas Market by Product Type

Oxygen

Nitrogen

Specialty Gases

Argon

Hydrogen

Carbon Dioxide

Rare Gases

Acetylene

Helium

Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Synthesis Gas

Other

Industrial Gas Market by Application

Nitrogen

Oxygen

Hydrogen

Argon

Carbon Dioxide

Synthesis Gas

Acetylene

Helium

Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Specialty Industrial Gases

Rare Gases

Industrial Gas Market by Production Technology

Cryogenic Air Separation

Vacuum Pressure-Swing Adsorption

Membrane Technology

Reforming

Gasification

Manufacturing Byproducts

Other Technologies

Industrial Gas Market by Purity Grade

Research Grade

Ultra-High Purity and Instrument Grade

High-Purity and Process Grade

Chapter 5 Market by Region, Distribution Channel and Supply Mode

Market by Region

Europe

North America

Asia-Pacific

Industrial Gas Market by Distribution Channel and Supply Mode

Distribution Channels

Gas Supply Modes

Package Cylinders

Bulk Shipments

On-Site Plants and Pipelines

Marketing

Support Services

Chapter 6 Role of Government

U.S.

Federal Initiatives

European Union

EU Programs

EU Framework Program

Carbon Dioxide Emission Restrictions

EU Member States

Japan

China

India

Other Countries

Australia

Canada

Iceland

South Korea

Russia

Intergovernmental Programs

U.S.-EU Collaboration

International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy

International Energy Agency Hydrogen Coordination Group

Chapter 7 Industrial Gas Health and Safety Issues

Overview

Industrial Gas Training Courses for Industrial Sectors

Safety

Occupational Health and Hygiene

Environment

Quality

Chapter 8 Industry Structure

Industry Structure and Characteristics

Number and Size of Firms

Leading Firms

Ownership Trends

Chapter 9 Patent Review



Chapter 10 Company Profiles

Component and Equipment Manufacturers

Atlas Copco

Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. N.V.

Fabrication And Construction

Technipfmc

Enabling Technologies Providers

Xebec Adsorption Inc.

Licensors, Contactors And Operators

Diversified Energy Corp.

Haldor Topsoe A/S

Mlea Inc.

Siemens Ag

Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions

Universal Industrial Gases Inc.

Producers And Distributors

Air Liquide America Specialty Gases Llc.

Air Products And Chemicals Inc.

Air Water Inc.

Airgas Inc.

Alexander Chemical Corp.

American Gas Group

Carburos Metalicos S.A.

Amec Foster Wheeler Corp.

L'air Liquide Sa

Linde Ag

Messer Group Gmbh

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co.

Nuco2 Inc.

Ozono Electronica Internationale Srl

Praxair Inc.

Rego Products

Scottish Chemical Industries

Servomex Group Ltd.

Showa Denko Gas Products Co. Ltd.

Special Gas Services Inc.

Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp.

Taiyo Toyo Sanso Co. Ltd.

Toll Gas And Welding Supply

Uttam Air Products Pvt. Ltd.

Voltaix Inc.

Manufacturers Of Fuel Cells And Components

Ballard Power Systems

Fuel Cell Energy Inc.

Hydrogenics Corp.

Plug Power Llc

Proton Onsite



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2bbl2h/global_industrial?w=5

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

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SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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PORTLAND, Oregon, August 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Conventional NPWT devices will remain the preferred choice of treatment among medical practitioners and would continue to garner the highest market share in the global NPWT devices market through 2025 owing to their application in the treatment of multiple wound categories.

Allied Market Research published a report, titled, Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) Devices Market by Product (Single-use NPWT Device and Conventional NPWT Device), Wound Type (Chronic Wound and Acute Wound), and End User (Hospital & Clinic, Ambulatory Surgical Center, and Home Care Setting): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2025. The report offers a detailed analysis of the key investment pockets, market share & forecast, drivers & opportunities, and business performances of key players. According to the report, the global negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) devices market garnered $2.2 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $2.9 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 3.5% from 2018 to 2025.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg )



Increase in incidence of chronic diseases such as obesity & diabetes, upsurge in number of casualties caused by accidents & trauma, and increase in awareness about NPWT devices are the key factors responsible for boosting the growth of the global NPWT devices market. Moreover, rise in geriatric population and technological advancements for developing cost-effective devices supplement the growth of the industry. However, overlooked complications of NPWT such as injuries occurring from infections and dearth of trained healthcare professionals hinder the growth of the market. On the other hand, growing focus on advancements in treatment protocols and potential in market potential in untapped emerging countries would present new opportunities in the market.

Request Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/434

Conventional NPWT devices to prevail

The report segments the market based on product type into single-use NPWT device and conventional NPWT devices. The latter segment covered three-fourth share of the market in 2017 and is projected to maintain its lion's share by 2025. In terms of growth rate, the former segment is estimated to grow rapidly, registering a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period.

Chronic wound segment to be lucrative by 2025

The wound types analyzed in the study are chronic wounds and acute wounds. The chronic wound segment contributed nearly two-thirds share of the total market in 2017 and would continue to grow at the fastest CAGR of 3.7%, making it a lucrative area for industry stakeholders.

Hospitals & clinics to contribute nearly half of market share

The end users discussed in the report include hospitals & clinics, ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), and home care settings. The hospitals & clinics segment contributed nearly half of the total market share in 2017, and is expected to maintain its position by the end of study period. However, home care settings will be the fastest growing segment, registering a CAGR of 5.3% from 2018 to 2025.

For Purchase Enquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/434

North America Dominant, Asia-Pacific Fastest-Growing

Geographically, the report analyzes the market into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, Middle East and Africa (LAMEA). North America region contributed more than one-third share of the total market in 2017, and is expected to maintain its position throughout the forecast period. However, Asia-Pacific region would become the fastest growing region, registering a CAGR of 4.8% from 2018 to 2025.

Frontrunners of the global industry

The market players analyzed in the study include Acelity L.P., Inc., ConvaTec Group plc, Smith & Nephew plc, Cardinal Health, Molnlycke Health Care AB, Devon International Group (Devon Medical Products), Medela AG, Talley Group Ltd., ATMOS MedizinTechnik GmbH & Co. KG, and DeRoyal Industries, Inc. Furthermore, the report includes strategies, such as partnerships, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, collaborations, and others, which have been adopted by market players to gain stronghold in the industry.

Access KNOWLEDGE TREE (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/knowledgetree

Knowledge tree is a cloud-based intelligence platform that offers more than 2,000 selective, off-the-shelf reports on niche markets to enable our clients gain deep insights on the latest trends, dynamic technologies, and emerging application areas.

Similar Reports:

IVF Devices and Consumables Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025

Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2024

About Us

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We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market ResearchDUBLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Global Precision Agriculture Market: Focus on Solution (Hardware System, Software, and Service) and Application (Irrigation, Field Monitoring, Spraying, Fertilization, Planting, and Data Management) - Analysis and Forecast, 2018-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



To address the escalating demand for food from the limited farmlands and labor, established agriculture machinery developers and technology vendors are introducing innovative solutions to the farming arena. These solutions are focused on helping farmers close the supply-demand gap, by ensuring high yields, profitability, and protection of the environment.



Wide-scale adoption of precision agriculture technologies is expected to enhance the potential Return on Investments (ROI) to farmers. Rising awareness coupled with the increased governmental support for sustainable farming technologies are expected to propel the market growth of precision agriculture. These solutions positively impact the agricultural value chain and create various disruptive business opportunities for companies such as agricultural machinery manufacturers, instrument developers, cloud service providers, and agri-input suppliers.



High growth in the market is expected to be driven by the need to apply site-specific farming solutions to manage raw materials and resources as per requirements effectively. Deployment of automation, control and sensing systems to steer the application of agricultural inputs is expected to augment the growth of the market. In emerging countries, growth of the market is expected to be driven by rising awareness among governments of different countries about the need to elevate farm produce while taking care of the environment.



Presently, North America is at the forefront of the global precision agriculture market, with high market penetration rate in the U.S. Mexico and other emerging countries in the North American region, such as Cuba, Panama, Honduras, and Jamaica, among others, are expected to display robust market growth in the coming five years.



The European market for precision agriculture technologies is quite developed with major growth opportunities arising from countries in the Eastern European region. Farmers' increasing adaptability of modern technologies and the positive support from the government is also expected to augment the growth in the region. The fastest growth is expected from the Asia-Pacific and South America region. Presence of key agricultural producing countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Argentina in this region is estimated to boost the market for advanced farming techniques.



The competitive landscape for the precision agriculture market demonstrates an inclination toward companies adopting strategies such as partnerships and collaborations along with new product launches to introduce new technologies or develop further on the existing product portfolio. Moreover, acquisition activities have increased in the market during the last five years. Presently, the big four agricultural companies, namely Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, and BASF are constantly increasing their investment for the digitization of the farming sector, by acquiring or collaborating with the data sciences company.



Rising interest in IoT amongst the agricultural machinery vendors, such as AGCO Corporation, Deere & Company, CLAAS, Kubota Corporation, and CNH Industrial, has been a significant trend in the market.



Moreover, players including agri-input giants, such as DuPont, Syngenta, Monsanto (acquired by Bayer in June 2018), ICL Ltd., and BASF, are also focusing on incorporating data analytics and farm management systems in their product offerings.



The major precision agriculture technology vendors are Trimble Inc., Raven Industries, Topcon Positioning Systems, Hexagon Agriculture, AG Leader Technology, and DICKEY John Corporation, among others.



Report Highlights

In May 2018, ICL Ltd. partnered with CropX, to invest and develop advanced solutions for the agricultural sector, providing farmers with advanced soil sensor technologies and cloud-based analytics. In February 2018, Syngenta completed its acquisition of FarmShots Inc., a North Carolina-based innovator of high-resolution satellite imagery, to further develop its solutions for farm management and decision-making tools.



With the increasing growth in the global market, companies operating in this industry are compelled to come up with collaborative strategies in order to sustain in the intensely competitive market. For instance, in February 2018, CNH Industrial partnered with Climate Corporation to extend and develop a portfolio of data sharing capabilities enabling farmers with real-time agronomic visualization and decision-making solutions.

Key Topics Covered



Executive Summary

1 Market Dynamics

1.1 Market Drivers

1.1.1 Increasing Concerns over Global Food Insecurity

1.1.2 Cost-Effective Farming Solutions

1.1.3 Favorable Government Initiatives and Investments

1.1.4 Growing Market Penetration of ICT in Farming

1.2 Market Restraints

1.2.1 High Initial Investment

1.2.2 Lack of Awareness and Infrastructure in Emerging Economies

1.3 Market Opportunities

1.3.1 Increasing Growth Opportunities in the Developing Countries

1.3.2 Advent of Agricultural Drones

1.3.3 Farm Data Management Using Big Data Analytics



2 Competitive Insights

2.1 Key Market Developments and Strategies

2.2 Market Share Analysis

2.2.1 Market Share Analysis of Global Precision Technology Vendors

2.2.2 Market Share Analysis of Global Precision Agriculture-based Equipment Manufacturers



3 Industry Analysis

3.1 Precision Agriculture Market Ecosystem

3.2 Supply Chain Analysis

3.3 Key Venture Capital Investments

3.4 Upcoming Trends in the Precision Agriculture Market

3.4.1 Driverless Tractors

3.4.2 Nanotechnology-based Precision Agriculture

3.4.3 Securing the Agriculture Value Chain with Blockchain

3.5 Industry Attractiveness



4 Global Precision Agriculture Market (by Solution)

4.1 Assumptions for Analysis and Forecast of the Global Precision Agriculture Market

4.2 Limitations for Analysis and Forecast of the Global Precision Agriculture Market

4.3 Market Overview

4.4 Hardware Systems

4.4.1 Robotics and Automation Systems

4.4.2 Sensing, Monitoring, and Navigation Systems

4.4.3 Other Systems

4.5 Software

4.5.1 On-Cloud Delivery Model

4.5.2 On-Premise Delivery Model

4.6 Services

4.6.1 Integration and Deployment

4.6.2 Maintenance and Support

4.6.3 Other Services



5 Global Precision Agriculture Market (by Application)

5.1 Precision Irrigation

5.2 Field Monitoring

5.3 Precision Spraying

5.4 Precision Fertilization

5.5 Precision Planting

5.6 Data Management

5.7 Others



6 Global Precision Agriculture Market (by Region)



7 Company Profiles



AGCO Corporation

AGJunction

CNH Industrial

Deere & Company

DICKEY-john

DJI Innovations

Hexagon Agriculture

Raven Industries

Lindsay Corporation

Topcon Positioning Systems

Trimble Inc.

Valmont Industries Inc.

AG Leader Technology

Conservis Corporation

Farmers Edge

The Climate Corporation

FarmLogs

Iteris Inc.

365FarmNet GmbH

Agrivi

Agroptima S.L.

Granular Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dsj579/global_precision?w=5

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

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Related Links

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DUBLIN, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Sterilization Global Market - Forecast To 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The sterilization global market is poised to grow at a high single digit CAGR to reach $8,438.2 million by 2024.

The process of completely eliminating any surface or object from bacteria or other pathogenic agents is referred as sterilization. The preference for a particular method of sterilization depends on many aspects such as constituents of the sterilizing object, type of application, microbial load, classification and suitability of sterilization method. Sterilization is given at most importance in the medical field to prevent the buildup of disease causing pathogens and to spread of diseases.

Rise in incidences of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and number of surgeries performed are driving sterilization market growth. In addition, use of e-beam radiation sterilization, through contract sterilization industry, advancements in technologies such as use of gas plasma, use of NO2, peracetic acid sterilization, e-beam technology, supercritical CO2 and improving healthcare infrastructure are providing new opportunities for growth to sterilization market.

However, high cost of sterilization technology and capital expenditure for setup of new facility and issues with handling of ethylene oxide are restraining market expansion. Stringent regulations for ensuring sterilization and validation of sterile filtration methods and increasing popularity of single-use products in healthcare, pharma and bio-pharma industries is threatening the market growth.



The Sterilization global market by products is segmented as equipments, consumables and services. Equipments market commanded the largest revenue and is projected to grow at high single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024. Services market is projected to grow with strong CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due to increase in outsourcing of sterilization process to professional organizations. Equipments market is further segmented based on products into heat, low-temperature, filtration and radiation sterilizers.



Heat sterilization commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and is projected to grow at high single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 this is because heat sterilization is the safest, cheapest and most widely used sterilization method. However, low-temperature sterilization is projected to grow at strong high single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due to complexity of device designs and non-suitability of these devices for heat Sterilization.



Heat sterilizers are further sub-segmented into Wet/Moist heat sterilization and dry heat sterilization based on method. Moist heat sterilization commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and is projected to reach $1,781.5 million by 2024. Based on sterilizer type heat sterilization is segmented into Vertical horizontal and portable sterilizers. Vertical sterilizers commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and portable sterilizers are projected to grow at double digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024.



Low temperature sterilization is subdivided into ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization, Hydrogen Peroxide, Vapour Hydrogen Peroxide, Formaldehyde sterilization Peracetic acid and others. Ethylene oxide was the fastest and largest segment in 2017 and is projected to grow at double digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024. The radiation sterilization market by technology is further segmented into Ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is expected to grow at mid single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due to increasing acceptance of radiation sterilization and popularity of e-beam technology.



The sterilization global market by consumables is further segmented into sterility monitors, sterile pouches & rolls, sterilization wraps and others. The sterilization monitors commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and it is projected to grow at mid single digit CAGR of from 2017 to 2024.



The sterility monitors are further segmented into biological and chemical indicators where chemical indicators commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and this market is projected to grow at high single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due to mandatory requirement to ensure sterility of medical devices after sterilization process. The sterilization market by services is divided based on type of service into In-house sterilization services and Contract Sterilization services.



Contract sterilization service commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and is projected to be the fastest growing segment with double digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due emerging popularity of outsourcing of sterilization processes by hospitals, medical device companies and also as cost saving strategies.



The Sterilization market by end-users is divided into Pharma & Biotech, Medical devices, Hospitals and Others. Hospital commanded the largest revenue in 2017 and is project to grow at mid single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due to increasing concern of hospital acquired infections and emerging diseases. However, medical devices is projected to be the fastest growing segment at high single digit CAGR from 2017 to 2024 due to stringent regulatory requirements and increasing number of surgeries.



The Sterilization global market is a highly fragmented, and all the existing players in this market are involved in developing new and advanced products to maintain their market shares.

Factors Influencing Market



Drivers And Opportunities



Rising Occurrence Of Hospital Acquired Infections (Hais)

Increase In Number Of Surgeries Performed

Rise In Trend For E-Beam Radiation Sterilization Through Service Sterilization Industry

Technological Advancements

Improving Healthcare Infrastructure

Restraints & Threats



High Cost Of The Sterilization Technology And Capital Expenditure For Setup Of New Facilities

Issues With Handling Of Ethylene Oxide.

Stringent Regulations For Ensuring Sterilization And Validation Of Sterile Filtration Methods

Popularity Of Single-Use Or Disposable Products In Healthcare, Pharma And Bio-Pharma Industries Impacting Sterilization Market.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary



2 Introduction



3 Market Analysis



4 Sterilization Global Market, By Product



5 Sterilization Global Market, By End-Users



6 Regional Analysis



7 Sterilizers Global Install Base



8 Competitive Landscape



9 Major Companies



3M Company

Company Cantel Medical Corporation

Fortissimo Capital (Tuttnauer)

Getinge Group

Halyard Health Inc. (Owens And Minor)

Johnson & Johnson (Advanced Sterilization Products)

Matachana Group

Metall Zug (Belimed)

Shinva Medical Instrument

Sotera (Sterigenics International, Inc.)

Steris Corporation

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cjv2w8/global?w=5

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

Now in its third year, the 2018 Granicus Benchmark Report analyzed 1.6 million emails, activity from 185 million citizen subscribers, and visitor behavior on over 400,000 web pages over a one-year period (June 2017- June 2018).

"In today's data-rich environment, public sector communicators are turning to digital platforms that generate real-time performance metrics and deliver insights that can enhance their approach to citizen engagement," said Granicus CEO Mark Hynes. "Measured across 4,000 organizations, the Granicus Benchmark Report provides industry metrics for engagement metrics so that communicators can iterate on the strategies that are working in the public sector. Better engagement translates into better outcomes for organizations and their priorities such as program adoption, participation in public meetings, or voter turnout."

Key findings in this year's Benchmark Report include:

Government Email Leads the Way: Emails sent by the public sector regularly meet or exceed private and nonprofit sector benchmark metrics. Granicus found an overall open rate for government emails of 21 percent, a rate that has remained constant over the past three years. That compares to approximately 18 percent for the private sector and 16 percent for the nonprofit sector.

Emails sent by the public sector regularly meet or exceed private and nonprofit sector benchmark metrics. Granicus found an overall open rate for government emails of 21 percent, a rate that has remained constant over the past three years. That compares to approximately 18 percent for the private sector and 16 percent for the nonprofit sector. Email Engagement is Trending Upward: The median engagement rate increased slightly to 47 percent this year, compared to 45 percent in 2017, meaning that government communications teams are better targeting and accurately messaging to citizens needs.

The median engagement rate increased slightly to 47 percent this year, compared to 45 percent in 2017, meaning that government communications teams are better targeting and accurately messaging to citizens needs. Twitter Gets Shared Most Often, YouTube Gets Clicked: Government agencies have realized the power of social media to convey messages and deliver customer service. Granicus research finds that links to Twitter were the most likely to be shared in government emails, however, YouTube links were the most likely to be clicked, clearly demonstrating the power of video.

Government agencies have realized the power of social media to convey messages and deliver customer service. Granicus research finds that links to Twitter were the most likely to be shared in government emails, however, YouTube links were the most likely to be clicked, clearly demonstrating the power of video. The Future is Mobile: The 2018 analysis revealed that half of all traffic to government websites comes from mobile devices, a number that has increased nearly 10 percent since 2016 is only expected to grow in the future; yet, most government websites are not mobile enabled.

The 2018 analysis revealed that half of all traffic to government websites comes from mobile devices, a number that has increased nearly 10 percent since 2016 is only expected to grow in the future; yet, most government websites are not mobile enabled. Strong SEO is Critically Important: Sixty percent of traffic comes from organic search, so the continued emphasis on search engine optimization is vital.

Included with the Granicus 2018 findings are tips for improving each metric and an example of an organization that is performing well in that area. Granicus drew on the best practices of the current clients including the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (overlay impact), Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (email subscription per subscriber) and Calcasieu Parish, La. (mobile-responsive website design).

"As our client base grows, so does the level of insight we have into the alternatives to expensive traditional marketing methods. Using email campaigns, mobile-enabled websites and social strategically can improve citizen reach and drive better connections between government and the people they serve," added Hynes.

Methodology

The metrics in 2018 Benchmark Report are based on annual data of the 4,000 federal, state, and local, and U.K. organizations that use Granicus' solutions.

About Granicus

Granicus provides technology that empowers government organizations to create better lives for the people they serve. By offering the industry's leading cloud-based solutions for communications, meeting and agenda management, and digital services to more than 4,000 public sector organizations, Granicus helps turn government missions into quantifiable realities. Granicus products connect more than 185 million people, creating a powerful network to enhance government transparency and citizen engagement. By optimizing decision-making processes, Granicus strives to help government realize better outcomes and have a great impact for the citizens they serve. Learn more at granicus.com.

Media Contact:

Lynette Viviani

(973) 534-1004

[email protected]

SOURCE Granicus

Related Links

http://granicus.com

NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- J.Crew Group, Inc. (the "Company") today announced financial results for the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2018.

Second Quarter highlights:

Total revenues increased 3% to $587.6 million . Comparable company sales increased 5% following a decrease of 5% in the second quarter last year.

. Comparable company sales increased 5% following a decrease of 5% in the second quarter last year. J.Crew sales decreased 5% to $428.9 million . J.Crew comparable sales increased 1% following a decrease of 8% in the second quarter last year.

. J.Crew comparable sales increased 1% following a decrease of 8% in the second quarter last year. Madewell sales increased 29% to $121.7 million . Madewell comparable sales increased 28% following an increase of 12% in the second quarter last year.

. Madewell comparable sales increased 28% following an increase of 12% in the second quarter last year. Gross margin increased to 38.5% from 38.2% in the second quarter last year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $192.7 million , or 32.8% of revenues, compared to $209.1 million , or 36.6% of revenues in the second quarter last year. This year and last year include transformation, transaction and severance costs of $1.8 million and $27.7 million , respectively. This year also includes a $7.3 million benefit related to the lease termination payment in connection with our corporate office relocation. Excluding these items, selling, general and administrative expenses were $198.2 million , or 33.7% of revenues, compared to $181.4 million , or 31.8% of revenues in the second quarter last year.

, or 32.8% of revenues, compared to , or 36.6% of revenues in the second quarter last year. This year and last year include transformation, transaction and severance costs of and , respectively. This year also includes a benefit related to the lease termination payment in connection with our corporate office relocation. Excluding these items, selling, general and administrative expenses were , or 33.7% of revenues, compared to , or 31.8% of revenues in the second quarter last year. Operating income was $33.3 million compared to $4.8 million in the second quarter last year. The second quarter this year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment and transformation costs. The second quarter last year reflects the impact of transformation costs, transaction costs and non-cash impairment charges.

compared to in the second quarter last year. The second quarter this year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment and transformation costs. The second quarter last year reflects the impact of transformation costs, transaction costs and non-cash impairment charges. Net loss was $6.1 million compared to $18.5 million in the second quarter last year. The second quarter this year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment and transformation costs. The second quarter last year reflects the impact of transformation costs, transaction costs and non-cash impairment charges.

compared to in the second quarter last year. The second quarter this year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment and transformation costs. The second quarter last year reflects the impact of transformation costs, transaction costs and non-cash impairment charges. Adjusted EBITDA was $54.2 million compared to $65.3 million in the second quarter last year. An explanation of the manner in which the Company uses Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures are included in Exhibit (3).

Jim Brett, Chief Executive Officer, remarked, "As we report an acceleration in comparable sales growth for the Company to 5%, we also celebrate a watershed moment as we return to positive comparable growth in our J.Crew brand for the first time in four years and continued stellar performance at Madewell with 28% comparable sales growth  which we believe puts Madewell solidly on a path to becoming a $1 billion brand. Achieving these results prior to our September 10th planned launch of the New Crew is a reflection of the foundation that has been built over the last year. Our financial results reflect revenue growth, continued expansion in gross margin and a marked shift in expense from significant costs last year that were needed to restructure our business, to planned investments this year in support of our aggressive strategic growth agenda  which we expect will allow us to scale the business and return to bottom line net profitability in the coming year. The third quarter will reflect the next evolution of our products, brands, experiences and culture, designed to reflect today's America."

First Half highlights:

Total revenues increased 3% to $1,128.0 million . Comparable company sales increased 3% following a decrease of 7% in the first half last year.

. Comparable company sales increased 3% following a decrease of 7% in the first half last year. J.Crew sales decreased 6% to $820.7 million . J.Crew comparable sales decreased 3% following a decrease of 10% in the first half last year.

. J.Crew comparable sales decreased 3% following a decrease of 10% in the first half last year. Madewell sales increased 34% to $237.5 million . Madewell comparable sales increased 29% following an increase of 12% in the first half last year.

. Madewell comparable sales increased 29% following an increase of 12% in the first half last year. Gross margin increased to 38.4% from 37.2% in the first half last year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $393.5 million , or 34.9% of revenues, compared to $419.6 million , or 38.3% of revenues in the first half last year. This year and last year include transformation, transaction and severance costs of $8.3 million and $46.5 million , respectively. This year also includes a $7.3 million benefit related to the lease termination payment. Excluding these items, selling, general and administrative expenses were $392.5 million , or 34.8% of revenues, compared to $373.1 million , or 34.0% of revenues in the first half last year.

, or 34.9% of revenues, compared to , or 38.3% of revenues in the first half last year. This year and last year include transformation, transaction and severance costs of and , respectively. This year also includes a benefit related to the lease termination payment. Excluding these items, selling, general and administrative expenses were , or 34.8% of revenues, compared to , or 34.0% of revenues in the first half last year. Operating income was $32.4 million compared with operating loss of $146.3 million in the first half last year. Operating income this year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment, non-cash impairment charges and transformation costs. Operating loss last year reflects the impact of non-cash impairment charges, transformation costs, transaction costs and severance costs.

compared with operating loss of in the first half last year. Operating income this year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment, non-cash impairment charges and transformation costs. Operating loss last year reflects the impact of non-cash impairment charges, transformation costs, transaction costs and severance costs. Net loss was $40.0 million compared to $139.5 million in the first half last year. This year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment, non-cash impairment charges and transformation costs. Last year reflects the impact of non-cash impairment charges, transformation costs, transaction costs and severance costs.

compared to in the first half last year. This year reflects the impact of the benefit related to the lease termination payment, non-cash impairment charges and transformation costs. Last year reflects the impact of non-cash impairment charges, transformation costs, transaction costs and severance costs. Adjusted EBITDA was $91.1 million compared to $94.2 million in the first half last year. An explanation of the manner in which the Company uses Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures are included in Exhibit (3).

Balance Sheet highlights:

Cash and cash equivalents were $34.7 million compared to $62.4 million at the end of the second quarter last year.

compared to at the end of the second quarter last year. Inventories increased 38% to $412.9 million from $299.8 million at the end of the second quarter last year.

from at the end of the second quarter last year. Total debt, net of discount and deferred financing costs, was $1,709 million compared to $1,721 million at the end of the second quarter last year. Additionally, there were $25 million of outstanding borrowings under the ABL Facility, with excess availability of $215 million , at the end of the second quarter this year. As of the date of this release, there were outstanding borrowings of approximately $67 million under the ABL Facility, with excess availability of approximately $225 million .

Debt Exchange and Refinancing

On July 13, 2017, the Company completed the following interrelated liability management transactions:

Private Exchange Offer. An exchange offer in which $565.7 million principal outstanding of 7.75%/8.50% Senior PIK Toggle Notes due 2019 issued by the Company's parent were exchanged for (i) $249.6 million of 13% Senior Secured Notes due 2021 (the "Exchange Notes") and (ii) shares of preferred and common stock of the Company's parent.

An exchange offer in which principal outstanding of 7.75%/8.50% Senior PIK Toggle Notes due 2019 issued by the Company's parent were exchanged for (i) of 13% Senior Secured Notes due 2021 (the "Exchange Notes") and (ii) shares of preferred and common stock of the Company's parent. Term Loan Amendment. An amendment of the Company's term loan credit facility (the "Term Loan Facility") to, among other things, facilitate the following related transactions:

An amendment of the Company's term loan credit facility (the "Term Loan Facility") to, among other things, facilitate the following related transactions: the repayment of $150.5 million principal amount then outstanding under the Term Loan Facility;

principal amount then outstanding under the Term Loan Facility;

the transfer of the remaining undivided ownership interest in the U.S. intellectual property rights of the J.Crew brand to a subsidiary of the Company which, together with the undivided ownership interest transferred in December 2016 , represent 100% of the U.S. intellectual property rights of the J.Crew brand, and the execution of related license agreements;

, represent 100% of the U.S. intellectual property rights of the J.Crew brand, and the execution of related license agreements;

the issuance of $97.0 million principal amount of an additional series of 13% Senior Secured Notes due 2021, subject to the same terms and conditions as the Exchange Notes, for cash at a 3% discount, the proceeds of which were loaned to the Company and were applied, in part, to finance the repayment of the $150.5 million principal amount of term loans referenced above; and

principal amount of an additional series of 13% Senior Secured Notes due 2021, subject to the same terms and conditions as the Exchange Notes, for cash at a 3% discount, the proceeds of which were loaned to the Company and were applied, in part, to finance the repayment of the principal amount of term loans referenced above; and

the raising of additional borrowings under the Term Loan Facility of $30.0 million , for cash at a 2% discount, provided by the Company's sponsors, the net proceeds of which were also applied, in part, to finance the repayment of the $150.5 million principal amount of term loans referenced above.

For more information on the Private Exchange Offer and Term Loan Amendment, see the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended August 4, 2018.

Revenue Recognition

At the beginning of fiscal 2018, the Company adopted a pronouncement that clarified the principles of revenue recognition and standardized a comprehensive model for recognizing revenue arising from contracts with customers. The adoption was applied retrospectively to each prior period presented, with the cumulative effect of all fiscal years prior to those periods presented recorded to retained earnings. For more information on the adoption of the pronouncement, see the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended August 4, 2018.

How the Company Assesses the Performance of its Business

In assessing the performance of its business, the Company considers a variety of performance and financial measures. A key measure used in its evaluation is comparable company sales, which includes (i) net sales from stores that have been open for at least 12 months, (ii) e-commerce net sales, and (iii) shipping and handling fees. Due to the 53rd week in fiscal 2017, when calculating comparable company sales for fiscal 2018, the Company realigned the weeks of last year to be consistent with the current year retail calendar.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This announcement includes certain non-GAAP financial measures. An explanation of the manner in which the Company uses Adjusted EBITDA and an associated reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures is included in Exhibit (3).

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss second quarter results is scheduled for today, August 28, 2018, at 4:30 PM Eastern Time. Investors and analysts interested in listening to the call are invited to dial (877) 407-3982 approximately ten minutes prior to the start of the call. The conference call will also be simultaneously webcast at www.jcrew.com. A replay of this call will be available until September 4, 2018 and can be accessed by dialing (844) 512-2921 and entering conference ID number 13682056.

About J.Crew Group, Inc.

J.Crew Group, Inc. is an internationally recognized omni-channel retailer of women's, men's and children's apparel, shoes and accessories. As of August 28, 2018, the Company operates 229 J.Crew retail stores, 122 Madewell stores, jcrew.com, jcrewfactory.com, madewell.com, and 175 factory stores (including 42 J.Crew Mercantile stores). Certain product, press release and SEC filing information concerning the Company are available at the Company's website www.jcrew.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements herein are "forward-looking statements" made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectations or beliefs concerning future events, and actual results of operations may differ materially from historical results or current expectations. Any such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including the Company's substantial indebtedness, its substantial lease obligations, its ability to anticipate and timely respond to changes in trends and consumer preferences, the strength of the global economy, competitive market conditions, its ability to attract and retain key personnel, its ability to successfully develop, launch and grow its newer concepts and execute on strategic initiatives, product offerings, sales channels and businesses, its ability to implement its growth strategy, material disruption to its information systems, its ability to implement its real estate strategy, changes in demographic patterns, adverse or unseasonable weather or other interruptions in its foreign sourcing operations and other factors which are set forth in the section entitled "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and in all filings with the SEC made subsequent to the filing of the Form 10-K. Because of the factors described above and the inherent uncertainty of predicting future events, the Company cautions you against relying on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

















Exhibit (1) J.Crew Group, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited)















(in thousands, except percentages) Second

Quarter Fiscal 2018

Second

Quarter Fiscal 2017

First Half Fiscal 2018

First Half Fiscal 2017 Net sales:







(As adjusted)









(As adjusted) J.Crew $ 428,891



$ 450,726



$ 820,756



$ 872,202

Madewell

121,650





94,177





237,491





177,557

Other

37,032





25,760





69,776





46,671

Total revenues

587,573





570,663





1,128,023





1,096,430

Cost of goods sold, including buying and occupancy costs

361,572





352,880





695,214





688,048

Gross profit

226,001





217,783





432,809





408,382

As a percent of revenues

38.5 %



38.2 %



38.4 %



37.2 % Selling, general and administrative expenses

192,659





209,111





393,495





419,594

As a percent of revenues

32.8 %



36.6 %



34.9 %



38.3 % Impairment losses







3,898





6,866





135,055

Operating income (loss)

33,342





4,774





32,448





(146,267)

As a percent of revenues

5.7 %



0.8 %



2.9 %



(13.3) % Interest expense, net

34,400





22,818





67,382





43,254

Loss before income taxes

(1,058)





(18,044)





(34,934)





(189,521)

Provision (benefit) for income taxes

5,036





434





5,085





(50,050)

Net loss $ (6,094)



$ (18,478)



$ (40,019)



$ (139,471)













Exhibit (2) J.Crew Group, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited)











(in thousands) August 4, 2018

February 3, 2018

July 29, 2017 Assets





(As adjusted)

(As adjusted) Current assets:















Cash and cash equivalents $ 34,742

$ 107,066

$ 62,426 Inventories

412,862



292,489



299,796 Prepaid expenses and other current assets

107,855



92,348



57,298 Refundable income taxes

6,761



1,622



4,495 Total current assets

562,220



493,525



424,015 Property and equipment, net

256,313



289,441



330,006 Intangible assets, net

305,025



308,702



313,161 Goodwill

107,900



107,900



107,900 Other assets

7,222



6,374



7,321 Total assets $ 1,238,680

$ 1,205,942

$ 1,182,403

















Liabilities and Stockholders' Deficit















Current liabilities:















Accounts payable $ 297,505

$ 232,480

$ 188,297 Other current liabilities

161,228



177,206



156,577 Due to Parent

39,771



38,210



20,959 Borrowings under the ABL Facility

25,300







 Interest payable

22,632



21,914



6,769 Current portion of long-term debt

29,039



15,670



19,588 Total current liabilities

575,475



485,480



392,190 Long-term debt, net

1,680,371



1,697,812



1,701,887 Lease-related deferred credits, net

109,166



117,688



129,228 Deferred income taxes, net

35,584



27,752



94,853 Other liabilities

27,841



30,168



40,101 Stockholders' deficit

(1,189,757)



(1,152,958)



(1,175,856) Total liabilities and stockholders' deficit $ 1,238,680

$ 1,205,942

$ 1,182,403

Exhibit (3)

J.Crew Group, Inc.

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

(unaudited)

The following table reconciles net loss reflected on the Company's condensed consolidated statements of operations to: (i) Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure), (ii) cash flows from operating activities (measured in accordance with GAAP) and (iii) cash and cash equivalents as reflected on the condensed consolidated balance sheet (measured in accordance with GAAP).



(in millions) Second Quarter Fiscal 2018

Second Quarter Fiscal 2017

First Half Fiscal 2018

First Half Fiscal 2017







(As adjusted)







(As adjusted) Net loss $ (6.1)

$ (18.5)

$ (40.0)

$ (139.5) Provision (benefit) for income taxes

5.0



0.4



5.1



(50.1) Interest expense

34.4



22.8



67.4



43.3 Depreciation and amortization (including intangible assets)

25.5



26.9



48.9



54.3 EBITDA

58.8



31.6



81.4



(92.0) Impairment losses





3.9



6.9



135.1 Transformation costs

3.7



14.0



6.1



19.6 Monitoring fees

2.5



2.3



5.0



4.7 Charges related to workforce reductions

(0.9)







2.8



10.7 Share-based compensation

0.1



0.2



0.1



0.4 Transaction costs

(1.0)



13.7



(0.6)



16.2 Amortization of lease commitments

(1.7)



(0.4)



(3.3)



(0.5) Lease termination payment

(7.3)







(7.3)



 Adjusted EBITDA

54.2



65.3



91.1



94.2 Taxes paid

(0.8)



(0.8)



(0.8)



(0.8) Interest paid

(21.0)



(19.6)



(63.1)



(41.5) Changes in working capital

(1.4)



(43.2)



(97.2)



(61.5) Cash flows from operating activities

31.0



1.7



(70.0)



(9.6) Cash flows from investing activities

(11.9)



(11.9)



(19.1)



(20.2) Cash flows from financing activities

(20.1)



(32.7)



17.5



(40.5) Effect of changes in foreign exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents

(0.3)



0.7



(0.8)



0.5 Decrease in cash

(1.3)



(42.2)



(72.4)



(69.8) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning

36.0



104.6



107.1



132.2 Cash and cash equivalents, ending $ 34.7

$ 62.4

$ 34.7

$ 62.4

The Company presents Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, because it uses such measure to: (i) monitor the performance of its business, (ii) evaluate its liquidity, and (iii) determine levels of incentive compensation. The Company believes the presentation of this measure will enhance the ability of its investors to analyze trends in its business, evaluate its performance relative to other companies in the industry, and evaluate its ability to service debt.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a presentation made in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and therefore, differences may exist in the manner in which other companies calculate this measure. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered an alternative to (i) net income, as a measure of operating performance, or (ii) cash flows, as a measure of liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA has important limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation to, or as a substitute for, analysis of the Company's results as measured in accordance with GAAP.

SOURCE J.Crew Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.jcrew.com

FRESH MEADOWS, N.Y., Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Jodi Debra Tanzman, OBT is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in the field of Healthcare in recognition of her role as a Nurse LPN at North Shore University Hospital.

A nationally acclaimed healthcare organization that has served patients for decades North Shore University Hospital has committed its practice to the health and wellness of their clients utilizing the latest advancements in medical technology. North Shore's primary focus is to provide, "the full continuum of diagnosis, treatment and after-care services to all those we serve." With care, excellence, integrity and innovation at the forefront of the company's values, the university ensures that their patient's needs and concerns are the focal point of everything that they do. A leader in the medical industry, the hospital is persistent in providing an "exceptional work environment," while trying, "to improve the human condition by advancing disease-oriented, basic scientific and clinical research."

Having gathered over twenty eight years of experience in the medical profession under her belt, Jodi Tanzman is well-regarded for her exceptional contributions to the industry. A venerated professional within her field, throughout her illustrious career Jodi attained extensive expertise within the areas of providing superior, compassionate nursing services and patient care. Inspired at a young age to go into the nursing field, Jodi says that, "I love my job of being a nurse."

When asked her counsel to newcomers within the industry, Jodi's advice is to, "continue your education and have compassion for people." She stresses the importance of people coming together to understand the importance of being compassionate in nature.

While pursuing her educational endeavors, Jodi attended Queensborough Community College where she obtained her LPN. Thereafter, Jodi would then go on to complete her OBTech training at North Shore. Later, Jodi went onto attend Salem University where she is actively pursuing her Healthcare Administrative degree which is to be conferred in the next three years.

Jodi dedicates this recognition to her children Elliot, Joshua, Lauren and Hayley thanking them for their love and being her "life support."

For more information, please visit https://www.northwell.edu/about-northwell-health

Contact: Katherine Green , 516-825-5634 [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com

Wisner divulged that because of the expediency of the case--Johnson has only a few months to live--"only 10% of what we've got" has been brought to light.

"We've got hundreds of documents, far more damning than these, showing absolutely definitive misconduct" of Monsanto hiding Roundup's risk to the public, Wisner told Bigtree. "The longer this case goes on, the stronger it will get. If we won here, we're going to win everywhere."

The open-ended format of "The HighWire" means Wisner and Kennedy were able to relate key facts and newly disclosed information that swayed the jury, in more detail than any evening newscast brief or cable news segment.

"Emails divulged at the trial proved 'independent reports' claiming Glyphosate is safe were ghostwritten by Monsanto employees, while Monsanto repeatedly ignored safety concerns expressed by genuinely independent scientists," Wisner said. "Other emails confirmed Johnson called Monsanto twice to ask if Roundup could be contributing to his aggressive cancer diagnosis. His situation was discussed and ignored."

U.S. Department of Interior confirmed in 2011 Glyphosate is found in "significant levels" in Americans' air and water. Traces of glyphosate in certain popular breakfast cereals and snack bars were reported shortly after the jury's decision.

"In today's soundbyte news media, there are important subjects that deserve a deep dive, and the ongoing series of lawsuits against Monsanto and Roundup is one of them," says series host Del Bigtree, Emmy Award-winner for "The Doctors and founder of the non-profit Informed Consent Action Network, which seeks to eradicate man-made disease. "We strive to make 'The HighWire' essential viewing for people who want an unbiased, unvarnished look at the hard but critical truths society must face in order to improve our lives and world."

One of the world's fastest growing alternative news channels, "The HighWire with Del Bigtree" airs live every Thursday at 11am PST on YouTube and Facebook. It has garnered more than 33 million total views since its April 2017 launch.

Contact:

Thomas Siebert

[email protected]

SOURCE The HighWire with Del BigtreeDETROIT, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardhat, the world's leading Internet of Things (IoT) industrial safety technology developer specialized in developing wearables, infrastructure and software platforms to provide a safer and more productive work environment, today announced the continued expansion of its operations with the move of its headquarters to downtown Detroit. The Detroit location will oversee all global Guardhat operations, including its satellite offices in Boulder, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Bangalore, India; and Paris, France.

"Detroit continues to be a leading driver of innovation and technology, making it the ideal place to coordinate our business operations as we continue to scale," said Saikat Dey, CEO of Guardhat. "Detroit's established manufacturing industry and developing tech community provide the perfect backdrop for Guardhat, as represented by the city's adept manufacturing identity and intelligent software ingenuity. We couldn't be more excited to play our part in the city's continued growth and revitalization."

Guardhat will move its entire executive management and software development team from the company's Southfield, Michigan offices to the Bedrock-operated 1520 Woodward Avenue Building  adding to the hundreds of businesses already operating in Detroit's fintech, mobility, marketing and tech-development ecosystem.

"By taking the unique approach of combining traditional safety equipment with the future of IoT software development, Guardhat has propelled industrial technology in ways never before thought possible," said Dan Gilbert, Founder and Chairman of Bedrock and Quicken Loans. "Guardhat will join Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Detroit Labs, LinkedIn, StockX, Rocket Fiber and many other tech giants, further adding to the momentum taking place in Detroit."

Founded in 2014, Guardhat developed groundbreaking, high tech, intelligent software initially designed to enhance the traditional hard hat. By combining cutting-edge, wearable technology and intelligent proprietary software, Guardhat is able to proactively alert industrial workers of potential workplace hazards by actively monitoring their health and environment. While safety is the focus of the product, its features also provide productivity enhancing elements to get the job done more efficiently.

"The Guardhat team is dedicated to developing advanced technologies focused on saving lives and protecting the health of industrial workers," said Mark Schlander, Global VP of Sales, Alliances and Marketing at Guardhat. "Our team members play a crucial role in developing the software necessary for preventing the millions of injuries that occur on the job each year, all the while being a part of one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the Midwest. We look forward to growing our team, and moved to Detroit because we knew it was a magnet for these kind of talented individuals to be drawn to."

Guardhat has raised more than $21 million in financing over the past year and secured partnerships with leading industrial and technology companies, making it one of the fastest-growing IoT safety providers in the world. Guardhat holds 8 patents on Connected Worker, Real Time Location Systems and Wearable Solutions.

For more information, visit: www.guardhat.com

To view open positions, visit: www.guardhat.com/careers

About Guardhat

Detroit-based Guardhat is a leading Industrial IoT technology company specialized in developing wearables, infrastructure and software platforms to provide a safer and more productive work environment for frontline industrial workers in heavy manufacturing industries. Founded in October 2014 by industry veterans and former steel & mining CEO Saikat Dey, Guardhat's mission is to modernize safety and enhance last mile connectivity in the industrial workplace. By combining cutting-edge, wearable technology with advanced proprietary software, Guardhat is able to proactively monitor a user's location, health and work environment. The software platform collects and analyzes on-the-job data which is used to enhance industrial worker safety and productivity programs. Based out of its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, Guardhat operates globally with offices in Boulder, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Bangalore, India; and Paris, France. Guardhat holds 8 patents across areas of Connected Worker, Real Time Location Systems and Wearable Solutions. For more information, visit: www.guardhat.com.

About Bedrock

Detroit-based Bedrock is a full-service real estate firm specializing in acquiring, developing, leasing, financing, and managing commercial and residential buildings. Since its founding in 2011, Bedrock and its affiliates have invested and committed more than $5.6 billion to acquiring and developing more than 100 properties, including new construction of ground up developments in downtown Detroit and Cleveland totaling more than 18 million square feet.

Bedrock's real estate portfolio consists of more than 330 office and retail tenants in Detroit's technology-centric downtown. Additionally, Bedrock is dedicated to creating jobs and investing in job training. Over the last year, the company has invested in both the Randolph Technical Center and the Breithaupt Career and Technical Center in Detroit to build a pipeline of talent for Detroit's growing economy. For more information, visit bedrockdetroit.com or engage with us on Twitter @BedrockDetroit and Facebook.

SOURCE BedrockSAN DIEGO, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Manscaped, Inc. announces details of an exciting partnership with YouTube sensation and professional model, Brett Caprioni. Known for his effortless good looks and useful health and hygiene advice, Caprioni is an obvious choice for the Manscaped movement. This partnership not only illustrates the importance of proper male grooming and hygiene to the body-conscious market, but also exhibits Manscaped's ability to secure key celebrity relationships within the highly desirable Los Angeles market. Manscaped continues to strategically align their brand with opportunities for growth and new market penetration.

Brett Caprioni, social media influencer and aspiring actor, partners with Manscaped. Manscaped precision engineered tools and pH balanced formulations.

"We approached Brett with very unique opportunity to collaborate with our brand. After meeting with him, it was very clear that his passion and commitment to men's health was perfectly aligned with Manscaped. We're thrilled to leverage Brett's unique ability to educate men on the importance of male hygiene," explains Ryan Fiore, Vice President of Manscaped, Inc. "We're equally excited to participate in Brett Caprioni's career trajectory as part of this amazing opportunity."

"Manscaped's company vision and marketing objectives resonated with me so well that I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. Partnering with the passionate team at Manscaped felt the most natural out of any brand engagement I've had in my career," says Caprioni.

The Manscaped movement is made up of refined gentlemen for whom appearance and hygiene is of utmost importance. Not only does being properly manscaped positively affect your health, it also does wonders for your self-esteem and social life. With supporters like Caprioni, this movement is spreading far and wide!

About Brett Caprioni:

Brett Caprioni is a national YouTube celebrity, fitness guru, and professional model. Originally based in New Jersey, Brett currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He offers his subscribers valuable, easy-to-follow fitness and health advice, in addition to giving them a glimpse into his personal life. Brett is a dedicated advocate for eating clean and living a healthy lifestyle. Many fans know Brett by his social media handle, Brett Cap. Connect with Brett Caprioni on social media on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.

About Manscaped:

Manscaped's product line was created specifically for a man's distinctive grooming needs. Featuring American made, specially formulated products to cleanse, moisturize, and deodorize, as well as tools engineered to give a man a close, refined appearance, Manscaped equips men with the right tools for the right job, in a complete manscaping system that is easy, powerful, and satisfying. All Manscaped formulations feature Active pH Control, essential ingredients for helping the refined gentleman stay, clean, dry, and healthy. To experience their unique products, visit Manscaped.com today.

Contact:

Steve King

Chief Executive Officer

Manscaped, Inc.

[email protected]

(858) 761-6062



SOURCE Manscaped, Inc.

Related Links

http://Manscaped.com

SSL to unlock benefit of space station reuse as manufacturing facility of the future, contributes to vision of vibrant future space economy

PALO ALTO, CA, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - SSL, a Maxar Technologies company (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.) (NYSE: MAXR; TSX: MAXR), and a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, announced today it has been selected by NASA to perform a study exploring the use of commercial habitats in space as satellite manufacturing facilities. In support of NASA's vision of a vibrant space economy, and expanded opportunities for American industry, SSL will study the feasibility of habitable space platforms for building commercial satellites and how they might unlock new capabilities and business paradigms.

SSL brings its decades of experience in satellite manufacturing and space-based robotics to developing new architectures that dramatically improve the value, performance, flexibility, and responsiveness of spacecraft services. Transferring spacecraft manufacturing to space eliminates the constraints of launch vehicle volumes and schedules and the need for spacecraft to withstand the harsh conditions of launch. It allows for more simple and capable system designs that can be fielded more rapidly and economically.

"Today's focus on commercial activity in space is undoubtedly accelerating innovation," said Richard White, president of SSL Government Systems. "At SSL, we work closely with NASA to explore concepts that implement next-generation business models to stimulate private demand for commercial human spaceflight. Bringing commercial and government innovation together will be a powerful driver of capabilities."

A Maxar Technologies company, SSL focused on unlocking new capabilities to solve problems in space. Reusing habitable platforms such as the International Space Station or free-flying private sector stations to reinvent satellite manufacturing has the potential to benefit humanity with better, more cost-effective satellite communications and many more opportunities to bring the benefits of insights from space to solve problems on Earth.

SSL's advanced in-orbit servicing and assembly capabilities are contributing to a variety of NASA studies and missions including the robotic conversion of rocket upper stages into commercial habitats and the Dragonfly on-orbit satellite assembly program, which was demonstrated on the ground last year.

About SSL

SSL, based in Palo Alto, California, is a leading provider of advanced spacecraft systems, with broad expertise to support commercial and government satellite operators and innovative space missions. The company designs and manufactures spacecraft for services such as direct-to-home television, video content distribution, broadband internet, mobile communications, in-orbit servicing, space exploration, and Earth observation. As a Silicon Valley innovator for 60 years, SSL's advanced product line includes state-of-the-art small satellites, and sophisticated robotics and autonomous solutions for remote operations. SSL is a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR; TSX: MAXR). For more information, visit www.sslmda.com.

About Maxar Technologies

As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically-integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,500 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com.

Contact

Wendy Lewis | SSL Media Contact | 1-650-852-5188 | [email protected]

Jason Gursky | Maxar Investor Relations | 1-303-684-2207

[email protected]

Nancy Coleman | Maxar Media Contact | 1-303-684-1674

[email protected]

SOURCE Maxar Technologies Ltd.

Related Links

www.maxar.com

NORTHFIELD, Ill., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medline today announced an expanded distribution partnership with BioDerm, Inc. that provides the company with exclusive rights to three additional products under BioDerm's portfolio of urinary management, securement, and skin protection devices. This agreement demonstrates Medline's dedication to providing clinically proven urological products that help enhance patient outcomes and experiences while driving best practice among clinicians.

Under the terms of the agreement, Medline has exclusive marketing and distribution rights to acute care facilities in the United States and its protectorates for the following products:

CathGrip  : This universal securement device is made from proprietary hydrocolloid that is hypoallergenic and latex free, and the skin-friendly adhesive helps prevent skin tearing and irritation while the patent pending soft straps are designed to reduce pressure injuries.

: This universal securement device is made from proprietary hydrocolloid that is hypoallergenic and latex free, and the skin-friendly adhesive helps prevent skin tearing and irritation while the patent pending soft straps are designed to reduce pressure injuries. Freederm : Formulated to instantly remove hydrocolloid, tapes, and bandages, FreeDerm is BioDerm's trademark proprietary adhesive remover, and is available in spray or ampoule form.

: Formulated to instantly remove hydrocolloid, tapes, and bandages, FreeDerm is BioDerm's trademark proprietary adhesive remover, and is available in spray or ampoule form. BioPlus+: The proprietary skin prep wipes provide a barrier film layer directly on the skin to improve the adhesion of hydrocolloids, appliances, tapes, and bandages.

Under Medline's partnership with BioDerm that began in January of this year, the company also exclusively markets and distributes the Men's Liberty Acute, a male external catheter designed as a means of avoiding Foley catheter and condom catheter use by men within the appropriate patient diagnosis segment.

"We couldn't be more pleased with Medline and our partnership with the Urology division. What started as a single product arrangement has now expanded quickly to our other securement and skin protection lines due to their superior performance and clinical benefits," says Gaet Tyranski, president of BioDerm.

For more information on Medline's comprehensive portfolio of urology products, visit https://www.medline.com/category/Urology/cat330003.

About Medline

Medline is a global manufacturer and distributor serving the healthcare industry with medical supplies and clinical solutions that help customers achieve both clinical and financial success. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., the company offers 550,000+ medical devices and support services through more than 1,600 direct sales representatives who are dedicated points of contact for customers across the continuum of care. For more information on Medline, go to www.medline.com or http://www.medline.com/social-media to connect with Medline on its social media channels.

About BioDerm

BioDerm, Inc. is one of the nation's leading manufacturers of proprietary hydrocolloid products for urinary management, securement, infection control and skin protection. Based in Largo, FL, a predominance of Bioderm's products are manufactured locally. The company challenges accepted inferior standards of care by creating products that reduce infection rates, add comfort and reliability, and improve quality of life. BioDerm's products are sold in over 20 countries worldwide. For more information on BioDerm's line of products, visit www.Bioderminc.com or www.MensLiberty.com.

SOURCE Medline

Related Links

http://www.medline.com

DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MultiCam a U.S.A. based CNC machine manufacturer will be hosting an Open House for MFG Day at their Dallas, TX Headquarters on September 20th, 2018.

MultiCam welcomes students, educators, and professionals to celebrate MFG Day. The MultiCam team will provide free educational workshops, tours of their 108,000 sq. ft. facility, and interactive CNC machine demonstrations to raise visibility of local manufacturing.

"We're excited to open our doors and welcome our community to come learn about local manufacturing and our product offerings. MultiCam is unique in that we design and build all our machines here in the USA and guests will have the opportunity to see that process from start to finish," says Director of Global Sales and Marketing, Philip Fassnacht.

Attendees will have the opportunity to see MultiCam's manufacturing processes as well as learn about some of their most advanced CNC Routers, Digital Finishing, and Fabrication systems. In addition, attendees will be able to network with some of MultiCam's Application Engineers, Product Managers, and Technical Support personnel as well as discuss how MultiCam machinery helps businesses maximize their production capabilities.

Tickets are free, click on the link below to RSVP!

MultiCam Dallas, TX Open House 9/20/2018

ABOUT MULTICAM INC .

Since 1989, MultiCam Inc., has manufactured over 13,000 CNC (computer numerical control) cutting solutions for various industries around the world. The innovative company integrates advanced technology and value into highly productive systems that are easy-to-use and built to last. MultiCam manufactures CNC Router, Laser, Plasma, Waterjet, and Knife cutting machines at its 108,000-square-foot facility in North Texas. A global network of experts supports MultiCam, which includes 60 locations worldwide with 20 Technology Centers across North America.

SOURCE MultiCam Inc.

Related Links

http://www.multicam.com

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Humantech, Inc., a VelocityEHS company, is pleased to announce that Parker Hannifin's recordable incident rate has dropped by 22 percent in one year since implementing The Humantech System, an all-in-one Software as a Service for managing workplace ergonomics. More than 1,400 users across 440 Parker locations have completed over 2,800 ergonomics assessments, and nearly 800 improvements have been implemented, with many more in the works.

Parker Hannifin is a Fortune 250 global leader in motion and control technologies, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of industrial and aerospace markets. With locations in 50 countries and over 300 manufacturing sites globally, one of the company's primary goals is to achieve zero injuries across the organization. In an enterprise-wide effort, Parker team members recognized an opportunity to increase safety performance with better ergonomics. "Implementing ergonomics improvements creates a better daily experience for our team members. It also engages them to address risk across the company," says Martha Connell, Director, Environmental, Health & Safety.

Employee engagement in ergonomics begins with an investment from leadership; providing ergonomics training to its employees was Parker's first strategy. When employees know what is expected of them and understand how to perform their jobs well, they are more confident when collaborating with others to achieve a common goal. As a result, both individual and business performance improve.

In 2012, the company began its movement to drive down injuries with training led by Humantech's board-certified ergonomists. Parker team members from around the world traveled to nearby facilities in Europe, Asia, Mexico, and the United States to learn how to implement ergonomics initiatives correctly. Through classroom instruction and hands-on, shop-floor workshops, teams learned how to identify and prioritize jobs that posed a high risk of musculoskeletal disorders, quantify risks using Humantech tools, and make quick job improvements.

When the company transitioned to The Humantech System in 2017, the leadership team took advantage of the built-in online training modules and required that they be completed by employees outside of traditional "ergonomics" roles. The modular structure of the curriculum enabled Parker to provide role-specific training and create cross-functional ergonomics teams, which included members from safety and engineering to maintenance and shop-floor employees. Since implementing The Humantech System, the company has trained over 700 employees in ergonomics through the online courses.

To read the full story, visit the Humantech blog.

About VelocityEHS | Humantech

For nearly 40 years, global companies have relied on Humantech's software and services for workplace improvements. By combining experienced, board-certified ergonomists with our proprietary assessment tools and comprehensive software, we deliver integrated solutions that impact safety, quality, and productivity. At VelocityEHS | Humantech, we're helping companies do ergonomics right.

Contact: Jennifer Sinkwitts

Tel: 734.663.3330 ext. 132

[email protected]

SOURCE Humantech

Related Links

http://www.humantech.com

Honoring Over Fifty Years of Coffee First Peet's invites coffeebar guests to put Coffee First with the return of its limited-edition, medium roast, Vine & Walnut Blend in honor of the very first Peet's coffeebar established in Berkeley, California in 1966. The blend brings together exquisite coffees from Ethiopia, Burundi and Sumatra to create a fall blend flecked with forest aromatics, dry notes of mocca, and deep, syrupy plum.

Available starting 8/29/2018 and while supplies last, coffee enthusiasts can purchase the blend at participating Peet's coffeebars, as well as at www.peets.com, for $18.95 USD per pound.

Peet's Coffee: Discover Enchanting Spices

The following 2018 fall beverages, all handcrafted with hand-pulled espresso shots, are available across Peet's coffeebars from 8/29/2018 to 11/1/2018:

Vanilla Cardamom Latte ( $4.40 - $5.70 USD ): vanilla meets cardamom, the queen of spices, with hand-pulled espresso and freshly steamed milk.

( - ): vanilla meets cardamom, the queen of spices, with hand-pulled espresso and freshly steamed milk. Pumpkin Latte ( $3.90 - $5.20 USD ): hand-pulled espresso and steamed milk meet the indulgent richness of pumpkin pie, topped with a sprinkling of baking spices

( - ): hand-pulled espresso and steamed milk meet the indulgent richness of pumpkin pie, topped with a sprinkling of baking spices Pumpkin Chai ( $4.05 - $5.35 USD ): a fresh take on a fall classic with sweet, rich pumpkin and aromatic, spiced chai, topped with a sprinkling of baking spices

"We prize craft above all else at Peet's, and we are always exploring unique ways to pull forward complex flavors from our coffee," said Patrick Main, Senior R&D Manager, Peet's Coffee. "The Vanilla Cardamom Latte presents a warm but intensely aromatic taste that evokes fall in a surprising way. And, since the first Peet's coffeebars also sold spices, we value any chance to honor our founder by integrating remarkable ingredients he once sold behind the register."

About Peet's Coffee:

Peet's Coffee is a U.S. specialty coffee company founded by Alfred Peet in 1966 in Berkeley, California. Mr. Peet grew up in the coffee trade and moved to America from Holland after World War II. His coffee style was unlike anything Americans had ever tasted beforesmall batches, fresh beans and a superior quality roast that is rich and complex. Mr. Peet's influence on the artisan coffee movement inspired a new generation of coffee entrepreneurs, including the founders of Starbucks. Today, Peet's upholds its commitment to delivering a premium product by continuing to source the world's best beans, hand-roast in small batches, and craft every beverage by hand. Peet's also asserts a strict standard of freshness to ensure optimum flavor with a team that personally vets the freshness date on every bag and on every ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee available at over 15,000 grocery locations. Peet's is dedicated to growing its business through its retail, grocery, wholesale and e-commerce channels while maintaining the superior quality of its coffee and RTD beverages. Peet's is also proud of its status as the first LEED Gold certified roastery in the United States. For more information, visit www.peets.com. Stay connected to Peet's: @peetscoffee on Twitter and Instagram and facebook.com/peets.

SOURCE Peet's Coffee

Related Links

https://www.peets.com

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Master Brewers Association of the Americas has recognized Pennsylvania College of Technology's brewing and fermentation science degree as one of only 12 approved programs nationwide  and the only one approved in the Northeast United States.

Established in 1887, Master Brewers is a nonprofit, professional, scientific organization dedicated to advancing brewing, fermentation and related industries. A globally recognized authority on brewing, the international association has more than 4,000 members in more than 50 countries.

Ryan J. Hampton, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is one of several students enrolled in the brewing and fermentation science degree at Pennsylvania College of Technology, which is one of 12 approved programs nationwide and the only one approved in the Northeast United States by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas.

"The Master Brewers Association of the Americas is the standard bearer for the 'success through knowledge' foundation on which we have built Penn College's brewing and fermentation science program," said Timothy L. Yarrington, instructor of brewing and fermentation science. "It is extremely gratifying to have our efforts validated by such a venerable and esteemed association of professional brewers and brewing scientists. As we continue to grow and develop this program, I look forward to helping ensure that our work aligns with the MBAA's high standards."

Yarrington, a national award-winning brewer and expert on brewery construction and operations, has served as founding brewer, head of brewing operations and brewmaster at Elk Creek Cafe + Ale Works in Millheim, Pennsylvania. During his 10 years at the popular destination microbrewery, he has crafted more than 40 unique beers. His connection to Elk Creek was forged through his freelance brewery consulting business, Brewstructure Consulting, LLC.

Previously, Yarrington worked in Manhattan as a brewmaster at Times Square Brewery Restaurant II. He began his brewing career at The Long Valley Pub & Brewery in Long Valley, New Jersey. During his time at Long Valley, he captured one gold and two bronze medals at the renowned Great American Beer Festival, held in Denver, Colorado.

Penn College's brewing and fermentation science major launched in Fall 2017, with classes and labs held in an industry-standard instructional space in the Hager Lifelong Education Center on the college's main campus.

A response to the craft brewing industry's need for skilled employees, the major combines the science, technology and management skills required to meet the growing consumer demand for unique craft beers.

Graduates of Penn College's brewing and fermentation science program may find career opportunities in the food and hospitality industry, as well as technical positions within various types of breweries ranging from small craft brewers to large commercial enterprises. The science and technology that students are taught relate to other fermentation processes such as wine-making. Graduates are prepared for positions in production and process operations, safety and sanitation, and finishing and packaging. Other potential careers include positions within public health sector organizations, government regulators and small business owners.

"To be recognized by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas in only our second year speaks to the quality of our brewing and fermentation science program and is quite an honor," said Michael J. Reed, dean of Penn College's School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications. "I am proud of our faculty and humbled by this recognition. Mr. Yarrington and Dr. Ingram (Justin M. Ingram, assistant professor of biology) routinely put forth extensive effort to work collaboratively with industry experts to ensure our students are prepared for this dynamic and fast-growing, $23.5 billion field."

Through its higher education initiative, Master Brewers promotes and supports high quality in brewing and fermentation science two- and four-year programs through the development of stringent curriculum standards and learning outcomes. It formally recognizes educational programs that meet those criteria.

Other approved MBAA programs are in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, as well as British Columbia, Canada.

As part of Penn College's Master Brewers recognition, students enrolled in the brewing and fermentation science Associate of Applied Science degree major receive a complimentary student membership in the association, providing them with additional resources and contacts to support their learning and growth.

To learn more about Penn College's brewing and fermentation science degree, visit www.pct.edu/brewing. For more about the college, visit www.pct.edu, email [email protected] or call toll-free 800-367-9222.

Media Contact:

Joe Yoder

570.320.2400 x. 7218

[email protected]

Pennsylvania College of Technology (Penn College), is a special mission affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University and a national leader in applied technology education. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Penn College enrolls nearly 5,500 students in more than 100 bachelors, associate and certificate majors in a diverse range of career fields. Business and industry connections, small class sizes, industry-standard equipment and faculty with real-world work experience lead to a 96 percent overall graduate-placement rate. A full college experience includes on-campus housing, Greek Life, student organizations and NCAA Division III athletics.

Related Links

Penn College

Penn College Brewing Major

SOURCE Pennsylvania College of TechnologySAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- rfxcel announces it has been awarded a contract with the Minnesota Multistate Contracting Alliance for Pharmacy (MMCAP) for FDA Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) Compliance Solutions.

rfxcel's dynamic traceability platform enables companies to protect patients, comply with regulatory mandates, e.g., DSCSA, and gain visibility into their supply chain. rfxcel's commitment to customer success and continuous innovation ensures that companies can meet today's requirements and tomorrow's challenges.

The Minnesota Multistate Contracting Alliance for Pharmacy (MMCAP) is a free, voluntary group purchasing organization for government facilities that provide healthcare services. MMCAP has been delivering pharmacy and healthcare value to members since 1985. MMCAP's membership extends across nearly every state in the nation, delivering volume buying power. Members receive access to a full range of pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products and services, such as medical supplies, influenza vaccine, dental supplies, drug testing, wholesaler invoice auditing, and returned goods processing.

"We are honored to be selected by MMCAP to help their members become and stay compliant with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). The end goal of the DSCSA is to ensure the safety of patients and consumers. This is an exciting time of change in the industry and we look forward to helping MMCAP members meet this goal," said Glenn Abood, rfxcel's Chief Executive Officer.

About rfxcel

Founded in 2003 by Glenn Abood and Jack Tarkoff, rfxcel is the first company to focus on the safety of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and bring advanced track and trace software to manufacturers, repackagers, wholesalers, distributors, and dispensers. rfxcel's mission is to be the thought leader in traceability technology, and to enable customers to better manage their business today and deliver value tomorrow.

To learn more about rfxcel please contact us at https://www.rfxcel.com/contact-rfxcel/.

SOURCE rfxcel

Related Links

https://www.rfxcel.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial solutions provider Swiss Global has hired a new Head of Marketing and Communications as it ramps up operations in response to market demand for Swiss-grade financial solutions in the Middle East.

Swiss Global

Kate Francis has joined the team at the firm's Dubai offices, bringing with her years of experience in strategic brand management advertising and digital marketing. Prior to joining Swiss Global, she has served as Brand and Advertising Manager for the Qatar Financial Centre, where she was responsible for managing the brand, advertising, social media and digital marketing globally and regionally.

Her new role sees her bring a digital focus to Swiss Global's operations while helping make the brand more accessible and responsive to audiences worldwide.

"I am thrilled to be joining Swiss Global at an incredibly exciting time as the brand marches towards global expansion. Swiss Global has a track record of world-class financial solution provision, and I very much look forward to amplifying brand reach with a digital focus. As always, customers remain at the centre of our operations and communications as we serve our global clientele with advice and key services. Swiss Global is working towards a bolder, stronger, and more digitally-focused presence all over the world," said Francis.

Francis's recruitment comes as Swiss Global is pursuing ambitious expansion plans globally to keep pace with the demand for world-class financial solution provision. Apart from pursuing organic growth and bolstering local teams with exceptional talent, the firm is also eyeing potential merger and acquisition opportunities through the GCC, Middle East and East and Southeast Asia.

"I am delighted to welcome Kate Francis as our new Head of Marketing & Communications. We are confident that her experience and drive will help cement Swiss Global's reputation as one of the world's most dynamic financial solutions brands. Kate brings a wealth of experience in setting brand outreach strategy. She also understands how brands must respond with agility on social and digital channels to stay relevant to changing audiences. We look forward to her playing a key role in Swiss Global's success story," said Mike Coady, Group Managing Director for the Swiss Global.

About Swiss Global

Swiss Global is an international financial services and solutions provider headquartered in Geneva Switzerland, and with offices in Zurich, Basel, Dubai and other global financial capitals. The firm delivers expert asset management, tax and financial planning, investment management and bespoke financial solution provision to a global clientele. With Swiss-grade excellence and expertise, Swiss Global has created a track record of trust, transparency, customer centricity and excellence. Rising demand for its services has prompted a rapid international push, with the Middle East a key area of focus. Swiss Global's Dubai offices in Media City serve as the regional epicentre of brand operations. Apart from organic growth, Swiss Global is eyeing merger and acquisition opportunities across the GCC and Southeast and East Asia.

Contact

Kate Francis

Head of Marketing and Communications

E: [email protected]

T: + 971 4 427 3292

Related Links

Website

SOURCE Swiss GlobalBOONE, Iowa, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Bayer, announced the advancement of a new predictive seed selection and placement technology to pre-commercial testing. This fall, approximately 50 seed dealers will be testing Seed Advisor, a data science-driven tool that provides dealers with a ranked hybrid recommendation by field and optimal seeding rate recommendation to help their farmer customers manage risk and maximize yield. This technology empowers dealers with a predictive model that combines the industry's largest, proprietary seed genetics library with regional seed performance data to predict the best performing hybrid for the unique agronomic conditions of each field.

"Next generation digital farming technologies like Seed Advisor are on the horizon, and they're powered by deep datasets and expansive field trial research, but most importantly, they work," said Sam Eathington, chief science officer for The Climate Corporation. "This pre-commercial testing phase with dealers and farmers is part of a rigorous development process we employ before introducing new, data-driven tools to the market that includes model validation against real-world field data and on-farm field testing."

The Climate Corporation has invested heavily in research and development to ensure its predictive models and digital tools provide significant value for farmers when they are deployed commercially.

Bringing Digital Farming Products to Market

Build It: The Climate Corporation applied machine learning techniques to build the Seed Advisor model using the most comprehensive seed genetics library in the world.

The Climate Corporation applied machine learning techniques to build the Seed Advisor model using the most comprehensive seed genetics library in the world. Validate It : As the leading digital farming provider, The Climate Corporation has the unique ability to validate the Seed Advisor model against real-world seed performance data. The model was validated against more than 4 million acres of historical, real farm performance data in the Climate FieldView platform.

: As the leading digital farming provider, The Climate Corporation has the unique ability to validate the Seed Advisor model against real-world seed performance data. The model was validated against more than 4 million acres of historical, real farm performance data in the Climate FieldView platform. Test It: In 2017, Seed Advisor demonstrated an average advantage of 6 bushels per acre with a nearly 80 percent win rate in farmer field trials. 2018 testing is underway on more than 100,000 acres, with expanded pre-commercial testing planned for the 2019 growing season. The pre-commercial test, called the Climate FieldView Innovators program, is targeting approximately 200 farmer participants.

After model validation against real-world data and extensive in-field testing, The Climate Corporation is targeting a launch of Seed Advisor for fall of 2019 across the U.S., pending the results of the 2019 season's FieldView Innovators program.

Seed dealers participating in the FieldView Innovators pre-commercial test are playing a crucial role of delivering this innovative technology. "Seed Advisor is bringing vast data sets together that provide new insights about our customers' fields," said Greg Deim, Channel Seed Dealer and farmer. "We've always made hybrid mix recommendations based on the best available information. This new technology is taking our seed recommendations to the next level and helping our farmer customers maximize yield potential while balancing risk."

The Climate Corporation is committed to leading the digital ag industry with the most comprehensive R&D. Building momentum across all areas of focus, key innovation highlights include progress in disease identification and risk management, variable-rate fertility, and sensor-enabled agronomics. The company announced an expansion of its disease identification technology to include 12 corn and soybean diseases and significant progress in applying machine learning techniques to predict disease risk in fields before emergence.

First launched in the United States in 2015, the Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform is targeted to be on more than 50 million paid acres across the United States, Canada, Brazil and Europe. It has quickly become the most broadly connected platform in the industry and plans to expand into new global regions over the next few years.

About The Climate Corporation

The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Bayer, aims to help all the world's farmers sustainably increase their productivity through the use of digital tools. The integrated Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform provides farmers with a comprehensive, connected suite of digital tools. Bringing together seamless field data collection, advanced agronomic modeling and local weather monitoring into simple mobile and web software solutions, the Climate FieldView platform gives farmers a deeper understanding of their fields so they can make more informed operating decisions to optimize yields, maximize efficiency and reduce risk. For more information, please visit www.climate.com and follow the company on Twitter @climatecorp.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of healthcare and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2017, the Group employed around 99,800 people and had sales of EUR 35.0 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.4 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.5 billion. For more information, go to www.bayer.us.

For more information, contact:

Chelsea Shepherd

[email protected]

(314) 258-0438

SOURCE Bayer

Related Links

http://www.bayer.us

Under the Poland Nevada International Trade Agreement formed in October 2017 by Governor Brian Sandoval and the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED), NIAS was called upon to create a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relationship with the 90-year veteran Institute of Aviation, Warsaw (ILOT).

A year ago, JSW Innovation SA was created to innovate throughout the JSW mining company's portfolio of plants and deep shaft mines with autonomous systems. JSW Innovation also engineers aerial drones, sponsors Mars Rover vehicle projects, and is advancing the Polish Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) System within the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA).

During its follow-up visit to Poland the week of August 20, 2018, NIAS was given keys to the JSW operational mining sites and observed the internal coke production and observed how JSW is innovating in the field of autonomous systems with senior JSW Innovation staff. The culmination of this visit was a collaboration Letter of Intent signing ceremony signaling a major step in bringing NIAS into the Polish and global Autonomous Systems Industry as a leading partner.

"This dynamic collaboration between JSW SA and NIAS is an example of Poland and Nevada's continued dedication to be leaders in the Unmanned Aerial Systems Industry," said Paul Anderson, Executive Director of the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development.

"For Polish mining to be competitive, it should invest in the most innovative technologies," said Daniel Ozon, President of the JSW SA Management Board. "JSW is open to cooperation with global companies that offer modern technological solutions. That is why I am very pleased that we have begun a cooperation with NIAS, which is a global leader in this field."

"We are very impressed with JSW Innovation and their technological advancements this past year," said Dr. Chris Walach, Executive/Senior Director of NIAS. "We agreed to do what no other global location is doing, which is to create the first Center of Excellence (COE) focused on mining safety, public safety, and technology that could have the duel-purpose to conduct mining operations on the Moon, Mars, or on a nearby asteroid. This means we are creating the first joint Autonomous Systems Test Center in both Nevada and Poland that will advance earth-based and intergalactic autonomous vehicle mining technology. This is a first for the State of Nevada and we hope to attract NASA, Nevada Mining, and commercial space companies to partner with us."

This was the first high-level signing between the President of the JSW SA Management Board and an external U.S. entity (NIAS) in its 25-year history. The cooperation intent letter focuses on autonomous systems, exchange of experience in the field of concepts, projects, technological solutions, direct cooperation to implement unmanned aerial systems into the National Airspace System and advancing autonomous mining technology.

About the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development: Created during the 2011 session of the Nevada Legislature, the Governor's Office of Economic Development is the result of a collaborative effort between the Nevada Legislature and Governor Brian Sandoval to restructure economic development in the state. GOED's role is to promote a robust, diversified and prosperous economy in Nevada, to stimulate business expansion and retention, encourage entrepreneurial enterprise, attract new businesses and facilitate community development. Learn more at www.diversifynevada.com

About the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS): The Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) and FAA-designated Nevada Unmanned Aviation Test Site leads the growth of the Nevada Unmanned Aviation Systems (UAS) Industry through business teaming relationships, collaborating with primary research institutions on UAS research and development, and enhancing the Nevada UAS Industry knowledge base to attract new and permanent business and create jobs in the State of Nevada. Learn more at www.nias-uas.com

About JSW SA: The JSW Group is the largest producer of high-quality hard (type 35) coking coal and a major producer of coke in the European Union. JSW's coking coal is used predominantly in the production of coke which, in addition to iron ore, is an essential component of feedstock for the production of steel. In its coking plants, the JSW Group processes approximately 50% of the coking coal it produces, thus enabling the Group to offer a final product that is more processed and of a greater value. The Company is also a producer of steam coal, sold mainly to power plants and CHP plants. Learn more at: https://www.jsw.pl/en/

About JSW Innovation SA: JSW Innovation was established in 2017 to conduct Research & Development activities in the JSW Capital Group. The company develops breakthrough technologies and systems in the area of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), virtual reality (VR), ecological solutions, eco fuels, predictive maintenance, robotics and other. Learn more at: https://www.jswinnowacje.pl/en/

SOURCE Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS)NEW YORK, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TransRe has acquired the exclusive renewal quotation rights to all of Maiden Re's U.S. treaty customers from their diversified business (which does not include reinsurance assumed from AmTrust) and has hired the U.S. treaty team from Maiden Re.. TransRe will immediately offer renewal quotations on this treaty book of business, which is focused on regional property and casualty, accident and health and personal auto insurers. These are markets in which TransRe has demonstrated leadership and a proven underwriting track record.

To ensure a successful transition for customers and brokers, Tom Highet, previously President of Maiden Reinsurance North America, and a team of underwriters, actuaries and claims personnel will join TransRe and operate from new offices in Mt Laurel, New Jersey. Mr. Highet, who was with Maiden Re (previously GMAC Re) for thirty years, has been appointed Executive Vice President and will report to Ken Brandt, President of TransRe North America.

Ken Brandt commented "We are delighted to welcome Maiden's accomplished team and believe the move to be an excellent strategic and cultural fit for customers and us. During the past 30 years Tom and his team have built a strong and respected franchise, with excellent customer and broker relationships. We know these lines of business well, and together with our new colleagues we are well positioned to serve the needs of all our customers and brokers."

Tom Highet said "We believe that TransRe offers our customers an ideal fit for continuity of approach, appetite and service going forward. With TransRe's A+ balance sheet, additional product range and great underwriting culture, we look forward to maintaining and strengthening our customer and broker relationships."

About TransRe

TransRe is the brand name for Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (including Transatlantic Reinsurance Company). TransRe, wholly owned by Alleghany Corporation (NYSE-Y), is a reinsurance organization headquartered in New York with operations worldwide. Since 1977, TransRe has offered its clients the capacity, expertise and creativity necessary to structure programs across the full spectrum of property and casualty risks. Visit www.transre.com for additional information.

About Maiden Re

Maiden Reinsurance North America (Maiden Re) is a subsidiary of Maiden Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based holding company formed in 2007. Maiden Re is focused on providing non-catastrophic, customized reinsurance products and services to small and mid-size insurance companies in the United States.

SOURCE TransRe

Related Links

http://www.transre.com

CLEVELAND, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- US demand for small kitchen appliances is forecast to rise 2.1% per annum through 2022, according to Small Kitchen Appliances: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Suppliers will benefit from growth in disposable personal income levels and the number of households, as well as the ongoing interest in high-end products, including appliances that can connect to the internet, smart home hubs, and virtual assistants.

More information about the report is available at:

https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com/Small-Kitchen-Appliances-United-States-FF90029/

Demand for coffee and tea makers  the largest segment  is projected to rise through 2022. Despite the fact that the US represents a highly saturated market (the vast majority of coffee-drinking households in the US already own a coffeemaker), suppliers will continue to benefit from the increasing popularity of pricier and/or smart appliances that offer customers greater control over their brewing experience.

These and other key insights are featured in Small Kitchen Appliances: United States. This report forecasts to 2022 US small kitchen appliances demand and shipments in nominal US dollars at the manufacturer level. Total demand is segmented by product in terms of:

coffee and tea makers

mixers and blenders

toaster ovens

small cooking appliances such as electric griddles, grills, hot plates, rice cookers, roasters, and sandwich makers

grinders and processors

toasters

juicers

other small kitchen appliances such as bread makers, electric can openers, slow cookers (or crock pots), and pressure cookers, as well as parts

To illustrate historical trends, total demand, total shipments, the various segments, and trade are provided in annual series from 2007 to 2017.

About Freedonia Focus Reports

Each month, The Freedonia Group  a division of MarketResearch.com  publishes over 20 new or updated Freedonia Focus Reports, providing fresh, unbiased analysis on a wide variety of markets and industries. Published in 20-30 pages, Focus Report coverage ranges from raw materials to finished manufactured goods and related services such as freight and construction. Additional Consumer Goods reports can be purchased at Freedonia Focus Reports or MarketResearch.com.

Analysis is intended to guide the busy reader through pertinent topics in rapid succession, including:

total historical market size and industry output

segmentation by products and markets

identification of market drivers, constraints, and key indicators

segment-by-segment outlook in five-year forecasts

a survey of the supply base

suggested resources for further study

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.684.9600

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group

Related Links

http://www.freedoniafocusreports.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- White Castle, America's first fast-food restaurant and slider pioneer since 1921, today announced the addition of new, limited-time $3 Bacon Threesomes  $3 value meals including three options of bacon-loaded sliders with a side and a small drink. Like all White Castle menu items, these deals will be available all day, every day through October 31, 2018 and will offer Cravers the opportunity to pick their perfect bacon threesome. And on International Bacon Day, September 1, 2018, White Castle will have a truly steamy offer  "Bacons" eat free.

The Bacon Classic 3 Meal

The new $3 Bacon Threesomes present three options to choose from, including the Bacon Classic 3  a Bacon Cheese Slider, small french fries and a small soft drink; the Bacon Breakfast 3  a Bacon Breakfast Slider with egg and cheese, small Hash Brown Nibblers and a small coffee; or the Bacon Waffle 3  a Bacon Belgian Waffle Slider with egg and cheese, small Hash Brown Nibblers and a small coffee. And for those who can't get enough hickory-smoked crispiness, Cravers can get a sack of six mouthwatering Bacon Cheese Sliders for just $6.99.

"At White Castle, we're constantly working to develop the next best sliders for our many Cravers around the world," said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. "Although we've continued to innovate with delicious and diverse menu items, it's no secret that bacon makes everything better. That's why we're confident our Cravers will be bacon for more after trying these new threesome deals."

On International Bacon Day, September 1, 2018, White Castle will be treating any customer whose name includes bacon, or has bacon in their address or other component of their identification card to a free $3 Bacon Threesome with the use of a coupon distributed through social media leading up to the holiday. You heard that right, Kevin Bacon, White Castle is waiting for you.

"What better way to show our appreciation for the extra smoky flavor that bacon adds to our delicious sliders, than to acknowledge the Cravers out there that live with bacon every day," said Richardson.

Cravers ordering through White Castle's mobile app or online can also get a sack of six Breakfast Sliders, with choices of either sausage, egg and cheese or bacon, egg and cheese, for just $7.99.

Visit whitecastle.com for more information about White Castle's newest menu items or to find a location near you.

About White Castle

White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain based in Columbus, Ohio, has been making Bold Moves as a family-owned business for 97 years. The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921, serving The Original Slider, made from 100 percent USDA inspected beef. Today White Castle owns and operates nearly 400 restaurants in 13 states. The pioneering original slider, Time Magazine's most influential burger of all time, is served alongside a menu of creatively crafted sliders and other tasty food options. White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants and bakeries as well as three frozen food processing plants. The retail division markets White Castle's famous fare in grocery, club stores, convenience stores, vending operations and concessions across the United States and in a growing number of international locations, including military base exchanges around the world.

Cravers on-the-go can access sweet deals and place a pick-up order any time in the official White Castle app. Download the app today from the iTunes App Store or Google Play. For more information on White Castle visit whitecastle.com.

SOURCE White Castle

Related Links

http://www.whitecastle.com

Washington, Aug 29 : US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that Mexico will pay for the border wall he wants to build to halt illegal migration, once again putting on the table the issue that has most soured relations between the two countries one day after a friendly telephone call with his Mexican counterpart, Enrique PeAa Nieto.

"Yeah. The wall will be paid for very easily, by Mexico. It will ultimately be paid for by Mexico," Efe quoted Trump as saying in response to his plans for the border wall at the White House after meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The President offered no further explanation of his remark.

That declaration resurrects an issue that Trump and PeAa Nieto sidestepped during their Monday telephone call, which took place before television cameras and which focused on hailing the preliminary agreement to revamp the two countries' trade relationship, creating a pact that could replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, in place since 1994 but which Trump has repeatedly called a job-killing "disaster" for the US.

Immediately after Trump made his comment about the wall, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray responded to the US leader's words on Twitter in both Spanish and English.

"We just reached a trade understanding with the US, and the outlook for the relationship between our two countries is very positive. We will NEVER pay for a wall, however. That has been absolutely clear from the very beginning," tweeted Videgaray, who has been integrally involved in the trade negotiations.

The differences over paying for the wall have been the major irritant in relations between the US and Mexico since Trump took office, and PeAa Nieto has cancelled two scheduled visits to Washington because of the ongoing friction.

In a phone conversation last February, PeAa Nieto asked Trump to state publicly that Mexico would not pay for the wall, something that the US leader categorically refused to do.

The US and Mexico announced on Monday a preliminary trade agreement, saying that "They used to call it NAFTA, we are going to call it the US-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we will get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA."

The pact, which must be ratified by both the US and Mexican congresses and signed before it can go into effect, would have a minimum duration of 16 years and would affect several sectors, including the automotive sector.

Under the new deal, automobiles manufactured in both the US and Mexico would have to have at least 75 percent of their parts made in the US and 40 percent of that production would have to be by workers earning more than $16/hour.Tehran, Aug 29 : Iran on Tuesday inaugurated its largest wind farm as part of its efforts to increase production of electricity from renewable sources.

The 18-turbine wind farm, located in Tarom county in northern Iran, has a nominal capacity of generating 61 megawatt hours of power annually, Xinhua reported.

The wind farm, built with latest technologies at a cost of around $101 million, was financed by the National Development Fund of Iran, the country's sovereign-wealth fund.

Iran has a comprehensive plan to harness renewable energy and streamline the country's energy mix which mainly relies on fossil fuel power stations.Washington, Aug 29 : The Pentagon repeated on Tuesday that the presence of US troops in Afghanistan will not last much longer, but stressed the importance of their deployment in the region to avoid further attacks on the US like those on September 11, 2001.

"We are there in order to ensure that America's security - and just think back to 9/11 and this building - that America's security is not threatened out of that location again," Efe quoted Defense Secretary James Mattis as saying in an unusual press conference at the Pentagon.

The head of the Defense Department was joined in his appearance before the media by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, who also noted that the presence of US troops in Afghanistan is not an enduring commitment.

"I certainly don't expect that the current forces that we have in Afghanistan represents an enduring large military commitment," Dunford said, adding that he did expect Washington's long-term commitment to the Asian nation to continue in the form of "a permanent diplomatic mission".

Mattis, in any case, maintained that when the US government reviewed its strategy for the region in August of last year, he was aware that to achieve that objective would take time.

At the beginning of this year, US President Donald Trump announced his intention to remove US troops from Afghanistan soon.

The defense secretary, who noted the importance of the fact that in recent months there have two cease-fires between the Taliban and the local government, expressed his optimism about reaching a political solution to the conflict.

Mattis, however, linked the definitive departure of US troops from countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq to their compliance with two conditions: first, the Islamic state must be destroyed, and secondly, the training of local troops.

In the case of Syria he added a third step - that the negotiating process in Geneva start showing positive results.Hyderabad, Aug 29 : Telugu Desam Party founder N.T. Rama Rao's son N. Harkrishna was critically injured in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Wednesday morning, police said.

Two others were also injured in the accident which occurred when the car in which they were travelling overturned near Anneparthi.

The actor-politician and son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister was on his way to Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a marriage.

He was admitted to Kamineni Hospital on the outskirts of Hyderabad, where his condition is stated to be critical. Further details are awaited.New York, Aug 29 : Twenty-three pioneering cities and regions have committed to significantly cut the amount of waste they generate, accelerating them on the path toward zero waste.

By signing C40's Advancing Towards Zero Waste Declaration on Tuesday, these cities and regions have pledged to cut the amount of waste generated by each citizen 15 per cent by 2030, reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incineration by 50 per cent and increase the diversion rate to 70 per cent by 2030.

This bold commitment announced in the run-up to the Global Climate Action Summit going to be held in San Francisco from September 12-14.

The signatory cities and regions to the zero waste declaration include Auckland, Catalonia, Copenhagen, Dubai, London, Milan, Montreal, Navarra, New York City, Newburyport, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rotterdam, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington D.C.

The 150 million citizens that live in the 23 cities and regions are accelerating the transition to a zero-waste future and will avoid the disposal of at least 87 million tons of waste by 2030.

Such bold commitments are essential steps in delivering on the highest goals of the Paris Agreement and keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Worldwide waste generation is increasing faster than any other environmental pollutant, and action in this sector can have a much faster and greater impact in combating climate change.

For instance, the 1.3 billion tonnes of annual worldwide food scraps sent to landfills each year decomposes into methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 and already accounts for 25 per cent of current global warming.

Transforming solid waste and material management systems globally could reduce global emissions by 20 per cent.

That is why mayors of the world's urban centres are accelerating the transition towards a zero-waste future. Mayors have committed to taking ambitious, measurable and inclusive actions to reduce municipal solid waste generation and improve materials management in their cities, both key to making the urban centres cleaner, healthier, more resilient and inclusive.

Better waste management can also create jobs and economic opportunities for social entrepreneurs and vulnerable communities.

Specifically, signatory cities will implement bold actions, including reduce food losses and wasting of food at the retail and consumer levels by decreasing losses along production and supply chains, minimizing the production of surplus food, and facilitating safe food donation and by-products for feed production.

Implement source separated collection for food scraps and other organics and treatment infrastructure that recovers nutrients, energy and contributes to the restoration of carbon storage capacity in soils.

Leading up to the Global Climate Action Summit, C40 urged cities to step up their climate action and ambition.Washington, Aug 29 : Puerto Rican officials now say 2,975 people died following Hurricane Maria -- a devastating storm that struck the US island territory in September 2017. The White House concurred.

The revised death toll is nearly 50 times the previous estimate of 64. The latest findings were made in a report by experts from George Washington University, which Governor Ricardo Rossello commissioned.

The long-awaited independent investigation findings have been "accepted", the BBC reported.

"I'm giving an order to update the official number of deaths to 2,975," Rossello said at a press conference on Tuesday. "Although this is an estimate, it has a scientific basis."

In a statement, the White House said the federal government supported the governor's efforts to "ensure a full accountability and transparency of fatalities" in the 2017 hurricane.

When asked why his government was unable to recognise a higher death toll at the time, Rossello replied: "I am not perfect. I make mistakes. Now, hindsight tends to be 20-20."

He echoed one finding in the report that doctors "lacked awareness" on how to appropriately certify deaths attributed to natural disasters.

"The responsibility for adjudicating the cause of deaths rested with the doctors," Rossello told El Nuevo Dia, the island's most circulated paper. "But unfortunately there was no formal process to prepare them for this kind of devastation.

"At that moment, (64) that was the number (of deceased) that we had and today we have the evidence which indicates the number was definitely higher."

The government's initial number was arrived at by counting those crushed by collapsing structures, drowned and hit by flying debris. Although some experts estimated it to be as many as 4,600 deaths in the wake of the disaster.

Puerto Rico has struggled to repair its infrastructure and power grid since the storm, and is asking US Congress for $139bn in recovery funds.

President Donald Trump was criticised for praising the federal response to the hurricane-ravaged island in the weeks following the storm.

Critics accused him of showing more concern for residents in Texas and Florida after they were hit by hurricanes.

The authorities have faced nearly a year of criticism for underreporting the true toll of Maria -- the most powerful storm to hit the region in nearly 90 years, the BBC said.Mumbai, Aug 29 : The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) on Wednesday opened on a positive note during the morning session of the trade.

The Sensex of the BSE after opening at 38,989.65 points which was also the high point, touched a low of 38,842.79 points.

On Tuesday the Sensex closed at 37,896.63 points.

The Sensex is trading at 38,948.05 points up by 51.42 points or 0.13 per cent.

On the other hand, the broader 51-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 11,744.95 points after closing at 11,738.50 points.

The Nifty is trading at 11,734.35 points in the morning.: Hyderabad: TDP founder NTR's son and actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district, on Aug 29, 2018. He was 61. (Image Source: IANS). Image Source: IANS

Hyderabad, Aug 29 : TDP founder NTR's son and actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a road accident in Telangana's Nalgonda district early on Wednesday, doctors said. He was 61.

Harikrishna, a former Rajya Sabha member and a former Andhra Pradesh minister, sustained critical head injuries when the car in which he was travelling along with two others overturned near Anneparthi.

The vehicle, being driven by Harikrishna, hit the divider while overtaking a vehicle and collided with another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

He was shifted to Kamineni Hospital at Narketpally, where he succumbed. Two others accompanying him were injured.

Harikrishna, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, was on his way to Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a marriage.

He was a member of the TDP politburo and brother-in-law of TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

He is survived by two wives Lakshmi and Shalini, two sons Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram, both actors, and daughter Suhasini.

His eldest son Janki Ram was also killed in road accident in 2014 in the same district. In 2009, Junior NTR had escaped with injuries in a road accident, also in Nalgonda district.

Born on September 2, 1956 at Nimmakur in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Harikrishna, fourth son of NTR, began his film career as a child artist in 1960s.

He debut in 1967 was in "Shri Krishnavataram" featuring his father NTR, who was the most popular actor of his times.

"Talla Pellamma" (1970), "Tatamma Kala" (1974), "Ram Raheem" (1974), "Daana Veera Shura Karna" (1977), "Sri Ramulayya" (1998) and "Seetharama Raju" (1999) were some of his other films.

Harikrishna was the 'sarathi' (charioteer) of NTR's famous Chaitanya Ratham (chariot of awakening) in 1980s.

He had backed Naidu when the latter staged a revolt against NTR in 1995. Following the death of NTR in 1996, he was elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly from Hindupur, a constituency represented by his legendary father.

He served as Minister for Transport in Naidu's cabinet and was also the president of youth wing of the TDP.

In 1999, he quit TDP accusing Naidu of deviation from the ideals of NTR and formed a new party called Anna TDP, which failed to make a mark.

In 2006, he rejoined TDP and was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2008. Harkrishna, resigned from Rajya Sabha in 2013 in protest over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Though he continued as TDP politburo member, Harikrishna had openly expressed his displeasure over Naidu promoting his son Nara Lokesh as his successor.

He was reportedly keen to see his son Junior NTR, a popular actor, taking reins of the party founded by NTR in 1982.Jammu, Aug 29 : The NIA will seek the remand of Jammu jail's deputy superintendent arrested a day ago for his role in a conspiracy to motivate a youth to cross over to Pakistan.

Feroze Ahmad Lone will be produced before the special National Investigation Agency court in Jammu later on Wednesday to seek his police remand.

He was arrested by the central investigation agency from Amphalla jail here on Tuesday following disclosures by an arrested militant, Ishaq Palla.

"Palla said that Lone, then posted in Srinagar Central Jail, was part of the conspiracy to motivate the youth to cross over to Pakistan for obtaining training in handling firearms.

"Palla, belonging to Shopian district has already been taken on a 10-day remand by the NIA," the sources said.Srinagar, Aug 29 : A top Hizbul Mujahideen commander and his associate were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district, police said.

The two were killed in the Khanabal area gun battle. Sources identified the top Hizbul commander as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Altaf Kachroo and his associate as Umar Rashid.

The gunfight started earlier in the day after the security forces surrounded Binpora village following information about the presence of the militants there.

"As the joint forces of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), special operations group (SOG) of state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) approached the house, the holed up militants fired upon them triggering the encounter," a police officer had said.

"Firing exchanges have now stopped. The bodies of the slain militants and their weapons have been recovered," the officer said.

Kachroo belonging to Redwani village of Kulgam district carried a reward of Rs 15 lakh on his head. His killing is being seen as a major success in the anti-militancy operations in the south Kashmir area.

Curfew has been announced in Anantnag town to maintain law and order.

Clashes between stone pelting youth and the security forces are now going on in the area.

Authorities suspended train services between Baramulla and Bannihil towns immediately after the gunfight started.

Mobile Internet services have also been suspended as a precautionary measure in Anantnag and Kulgam districts.Mumbai, Aug 29 : Mumbai-based incubator thinQbate has partnered with data-driven venture capital firm Hatcher+ to gain additional capital and AI-based platforms to assist in assessing candidates and tracking performance.

Accordingly, thinQbate and Hatcher+ will invest in 20 start-ups over the next three years.

Besides additional capital for its portfolio companies, the Mumbai-based incubator is expected to gain access to Hatcher+'s extensive network, enabling it to have a "soft landing" across different geographies.

"Hatcher+ is a notable player in the global market and we are thrilled to be their first partners in India. Working with Hatcher+ will exponentially increase the infrastructure and network we can bring to our portfolio companies, as well as significantly add to the size of our capital contribution," thinQbate Founding Partner Pranav Marwah was quoted as saying in a statement.

"thinQbate's investment ethos has always been about bringing strategic value to our portfolio companies, rather than only capital, and our partnership with Hatcher+ will help us further this goal."

According to Sauvik Banerjjee (CTO, TATACLiQ and VP Digital Initiatives at Tata Industries), who acts as an advisor to the thinQbate founding team: "The cornerstone of thinQbate's model is to encourage sustainable growth, and the organisation has made tremendous progress since its inception just two short years ago."

"I am excited by the opportunities a partnership with Hatcher will bring for the young and dynamic team at thinQbate."

Wissam Otkay, partner at Hatcher+ commented: "They (thinQbate) are, in our view, one of the leading early stage investment and incubation programs in India."

The Mumbai-based incubator was founded in 2016, and is based on a community centric, entrepreneur-first approach to angel investment and incubation.

It aims to help annual cohorts of fresh ideas and minds thrive through capital investment, as well as offer value-added benefits.

Currently, thinQbate is moving into its second cohort, where it is looking to invest up to $50,000 in six to eight portfolio companies.Kochi, Aug 29 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that any unconditional financial support from anywhere should be accepted, as it will bring solace to flood-hit Kerala.

Gandhi made the remark while speaking to reporters before beginning his second day trip to the flood-ravaged areas of the state.

He was responding to a question on India's 'rejection' of funds to the tune of $100 million offered by the UAE government for flood relief work.

"My personal opinion is any unconditional offer of funds to reduce pain and sufferings should be taken," said Gandhi.

On the question of the support from the Centre to the state, he said that it was sad that the Centre had not really supported the way Kerala wanted.

"This is Kerala's right and they should give more," said Gandhi. He said he was in the state to express his solidarity with the people who were suffering and not to do politics.

Gandhi arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday and visited half a dozen camps in the southern districts of the state, where the flood had hit hard.

Gandhi was scheduled to travel to the hilly district of Wayanad in north Kerala. However, due to bad weather it was cancelled and instead he opted to go to Idukki.The annual UK-China Joint Economic Trade Committee met in Beijing last week.

Whilst the official press release has not yet been circulated there was some good news for the UK's dairy industry and Scottish exporters of seed potatoes:

1.) International Trade Secretary secures major deal for UK dairy in China -https://www.gov.uk/government/news/international-trade-secretary-secures-major-deal-for-uk-dairy-in-china

2.) International Trade Secretary signs major deal allowing export of UK seed potatoes to China -

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/international-trade-secretary-signs-major-deal-allowing-export-of-uk-seed-potatoes-to-chinaNew Delhi, Aug 29 : Emma Lahana feels a lot of people in the US either don't want to address the issue of racism or prefer to live in denial. The actress says it is important to "shine light on what is going on" and she is happy to do it with her show "Marvel's Cloak & Dagger".

With a gamut of issues like exploration of race, class, gender, sexual assault and substance abuse driving the narrative of the series, the actress is glad that "Marvel's Cloak & Dagger" is in touch with reality. She says they will explore some more "real issues" in the forthcoming second season.

"It is really wonderful that we are starting an important conversation. Things are really divided right now in America and a lot of people don't want to address things like racism or they want to deny that is happening which is even more insulting to the people who are victim of it," Lahana told IANS in an interview over phone from London.

"I really hope that with the show, the people who are involved in these issues feel that they are seen and heard. I hope that we are kind of giving them a voice and shine a light on what is going on," she added.

A modern take on a story which first originated from comic "Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man" in 1982, "Marvel's Cloak & Dagger" follows life of Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson ( Aubrey Joseph) who come from different backgrounds but find themselves burdened by a superpower which are linked to one another.

It is a story of how they find their way with the powers and how they get a hold of their life. The show is streaming on Amazon Prime Videos.

The teen superhero drama will return with a 10-episode second season in 2019.

Lahana -- who essays the role of a police officer Brigid O'Reilly whose life intersects with the lives of the two main leads -- is excited about the Asecond chapter of the show.

"I am very excited about the second season. I don't know much about the story line. But what Joe Pokaski (creator) has told me, I am excited about it.

"We will continue to talk about real issues that are going on and needs addressing as well as being entertaining. We did a good job in terms of character development in season one. Now, audience can be more invested in what is going on and get emotionally connected."

Lahana is best known for her roles as Jennifer Mason in "Haven" and for playing the Yellow Dino Ranger in "Power Rangers Dino Thunder". She took a break from acting in 2013, and made a comeback with the Marvel show.

"Honestly there couldn't have been (any other) perfect comeback," she said, adding that it is a dream job.

On her comeback decision, she said: "What attracted me to this show was how well written my character was. We don't always get that as a female actress... Most of the characters are one dimensional. As soon as I read the breakdown in the auditions, I was instantly in. She was so layered.

"The makers wanted her to be a complicated female. They wanted her to be feminine as a cop but still good at her job. So I liked this fact that she wasn't stereotyped."

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)Mumbai, Aug 29 : Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he finds it better to donate personally rather than being part of a campaign.

The cine icon opened up about paying off farmers' loans and aiding martyrs' families at a press conference of iconic television game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" here.

"While there are a lot of issues that have touched my hearts, the farmers' suicide shocked me. Several years ago, when I was shooting in Vizag, I got to know that the farmers were taking their lives, not being able to pay off loans of some thousands. It felt terrible," Big B said.

"I got a list of around 50 families and paid off their loans. Recently also, through my bank, I got a list of 200 farmers and we have cleared their loans amounting to Rs 1.25 crore. It also really pains me to see so many soldiers are losing their lives. I want to thank the Chief Minister's office that helped us collate a list of 44 families. We have drafted 112 drafts of some crores towards them already."

The actor added: "Campaigns take a long time to fructify as there are a lot of formalities and legalities involved. When you take charge, it happens much faster."Mumbai, Aug 29 : The Indian Navy helped a Norwegian ship manned by an all Indian crew, to retrieve its cable chain and port anchor that had slipped into the Arabian Sea in the piracy infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, an official said here on Wednesday.

Some three days ago, on getting a distress call from the Combined Task Force aircraft for assistance, the INS Teg, a warship of Western Naval Command was despatched to the spot to help retrieve M.V. Vela's 330 metres long cable chain and port anchor weighing a staggering 42 tonnes that had slipped into the sea.

Following the slip, the ship was severely disabled -- with her speed restricted to five-six knots, making her vulnerable to attacks by pirates in that region. Besides it also posed a serious navigational hazard to itself and other vessels in the dense commercial shipping corridor.

As soon as the distress call was received, the INS Teg mobilised its specialists team which quickly assessed the situation and launched a massive operation to recover the hanging anchor and chain cable of the M.V. Vela, owned by Seven Sea SA, Norway and Fleet Management Ltd. Hong Kong.

Led by the vessel's Engineering Officer, Seamanship Instructor, Anchor Chain Cable Specialist and Machinery Specialist among others, the team took more than three days to safely recover the entire cable and the hanging port anchor.

After this, M.V. Vela resumed its onward voyage, subsequently through the constricted waters of Red Sea and Suez Canal, and also managed to avert huge financial losses.

The Norwegian owners of the vessel gratefully acknowledged Indian Navy's help and contribution in the operations, terming it as "conforming to the best maritime traditions, worth emulating by other mariners".Mumbai, Aug 29 : Over 99 per cent of the Rs 15.3 lakh crore taken out of circulation through demonetisation in November 2016 has returned to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank announced on Wednesday.

The RBI's annual report 2017-18 said that on completion of the process of verification of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it is found that the total value of the demonetised currency returned to the banks now stands at Rs 15.3 lakh crore, which amounts to 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth of such notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.

"The total value of SBNs (specified banknotes) returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion," the report said.

"The total value of SBNs in circulation as on November 8, 2016, post verification and reconciliation, was Rs 15,417.93 billion."

The RBI also said the value of banknotes in circulation stands at 18 lakh crore till the end of the last fiscal.

"The value of banknotes in circulation increased by 37.7 per cent over the year to Rs 18,037 billion at March-end 2018," it said.

Besides, notes issued by the RBI in the one-year period between June 2017 and June 2018 increased by nearly 27 per cent.

"The notes issued increased by 26.93 per cent from Rs 15,063.31 billion as on June 30, 2017 to Rs 19,119.60 billion as on June 30, 2018," the report said.

"The increase is on account of the continued efforts of the Reserve Bank to supply adequate quantity of banknotes to meet the transactional needs of the public," it added.Lamu (Kenya), Aug 29 : At least five Kenyan soldiers were killed and 10 seriously injured in a blast in Kenya's Lamu region early on Wednesday, officials said.

Kenya Defence Force (KDF) spokesman Paul Njuguna confirmed the incident which took place at around 8 a.m.

The incident took place after the soldiers, who were on a humanitarian civil assignment to fetch and distribute water to the residents, hit an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in the Lamu area, Xinhua quoted Njuguna as saying.

The IED is suspected to have been planted by al-Shabab militants, a Somali militant group which continues to wreak havoc in the region.New Delhi, Aug 29 : Journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested by Pune Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riots of January, on Wednesday said that the entire case was a political ploy against political dissent by this "vindictive and cowardly government".

In a statement, he said the government was bent upon shielding the real culprits of the Bhima-Koregaon violence in Maharashtra and thus divert attention from its own "scams and failures which stretch from Kashmir to Kerala.

"A political trial must be fought politically and I welcome this opportunity. I have to do nothing. It is for the Maharashtra Police, working at the best of their political masters, to prove their case against me and my comrades who too have been arrested.

"We, in PUDR (People's Union for Democratic Rights), have collectively and fearlessly fought for more than 40 years for the cause of democratic rights and I, as part of PUDR, have covered many such trials. Now I myself will be a witness to a political trial with a ringside view," Navlakha said.

Navlakha and four other alleged Maoist sympathisers, including revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, were arrested in raids across various cities by the Pune Police in connection with a public meeting held in Pune on December 31 last year, a day before the violence in Koregaon Bhima, 60 km from Pune.

Meanwhile, there was drama on Tuesday night when Sudha Bharadwaj, another arrested activitst, was brought to the house of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Sector 15 A in Faridabad in Haryana, bordering Delhi.

"The roads in the area are very dark and dimly lit and her counsel was asked to make a presentation in the driveway of the CJM's house," an associate of Bharadwaj said.

Senior lawyer Vrinda Grover urged the CJM to allow her to make a proper presentation as it was impossible for her to show any documents in the driveway.

The CJM then invited the counsels inside his residence where she said some applications needed to be presented.

The Magistrate said that he was informed that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had passed some orders in the case of Bhardwaj and the hearing went on till late in the night.

Bharadwaj was detained in a vehicle outside the Magistrate's residence even as the hearing was on.Lucknow, Aug 29 : BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday slammed the Modi government for the arrest of Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and human rights activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves and said this was yet another attempt of the BJP government to "terrorize the civil society".

"This is government-sponsored terror and height of misuse of government agencies," the Bahujan Samaj Party leader said in a statement.

She said the government was trying to intimidate poets, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates, professors and intellectuals.

The arrests, on charges that they were Maoist supporters, was a ploy to hoodwink the people and divert their attention from the failures of the BJP governments, the Dalit leader said.

She also alleged that instead of following the legal procedure against people who were named in the FIR regarding the Bheema-Koregaon violence, the NDA government was victimizing Dalit leaders whose lives were open books.

"The government is trying to arm twist, terrorize people running NGOs, social workers and it is indeed the height of misuse of government machinery," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister alleged.Mumbai, Aug 29 : Taking suo moto cognizance, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served a notice on the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests of five civil rights activists in a nationwide swoop by the Pune police on Tuesday.

"The Commission has observed that it appears the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police, which may amount to violation of their human rights," the NHRC said in the notice to state DGP Datta Padsalgikar and the Chief Secretary.

The NHRC has asked them to file their replies within four weeks.

It pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.

Following the arrests (in June), the NHRC had issued a similar notice to the state government on June 29, but the latter has not submitted its report yet.

Tuesday's arrests of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and poet-activist Varavara Rao from different parts of India, triggered a massive outcry.

As in June, the arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima, Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.

Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti L.C., Fr. Stan Swami, and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.

Officials described Tuesday's operations as a 'follow-up' to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The next day, on January 1 (2018), caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.Seoul, Aug 29 : South Korea's Unification Ministry on Wednesday said that talks with North Korea are underway to open a joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong.

Unification Ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a press briefing that talks are currently underway between the two Koreas about the opening of the inter-Korean liaison office though no specific progress has been made yet, Xinhua news agency reported.

The launch of the joint liaison office was agreed upon by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit on April 27 in Panmunjom.

The spokesman said inter-Korean talks are underway through various channels to determine the date of the third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas.New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved an agreement between the insurance regulators of India and the US for information exchange, research assistance and international standard-setting activities.

"The Union cabinet... has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Federal Insurance Office, US," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The MoU provides a framework for cooperation and coordination, including for the exchange of information and research assistance with respect to each authority's overview and other lawful responsibilities, the statement said.

Under the agreement, both countries will share their experiences on various regulatory functions and will provide mutual assistance including training activities, it said.

"India and the US have also agreed to continue to facilitate cooperation on international standard-setting activities, financial stability and the development and implementation of consumer protection through sound prudential regulation of the insurance sector."

India and the US have strong business relations and various institutional mechanisms are in place to strengthen bi-lateral cooperation on wide ranging multi-sectoral issues between the two countries, the Ministry said.

The US is a major contributor of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India and there are many joint ventures between companies from the two countries in the insurance sector.

"With increase in foreign investment cap to 49 per cent, there is further scope for foreign investments in Indian insurance sector particularly from the US-based companies. Hence, the bilateral MoU between IRDAI and FIO, the US holds lot of potential for the two countries," it added.Patna, Aug 29 : The Patna High Court on Wednesday again pulled up the CBI for giving an unsatisfactory explanation for the transfer of a CBI officer probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

The court has also directed the probe agency to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) for the case.

A division bench of Chief Justice M.R. Shah, while hearing the case, has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director to monitor the case.

The court also asked the agency to speed up the probe in the case.

"The court has pulled up the CBI again over its unsatisfactory reply on the transfer of CBI Superintendent of Police J.P. Mishra probing the case," a government lawyer said.

The court also directed the Bihar government to submit details of all shelter homes run by the NGOs in the next hearing of the case on September 17.

Last week, the court had expressed unhappiness over the CBI's failure to submit a progress report in the court in connection with the mass rapes at the Muzaffarpur shelter home and explain the sudden transfer of the CBI official probing the case.

Mishra, who was transferred to Patna barely two months ago, was sent out on August 21 as the Superintendent in the office of the Deputy Inspector General (Patna Range).

The Patna High Court is monitoring the CBI probe into the case.

Among those arrested and jailed for the multiple rapes is journalist Brajesh Thakur. Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma had to resign after it became known that her husband was in close touch with Thakur.

The Muzaffarpur horror came to light when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.Chandigarh, Aug 29 : The US on Wednesday appreciated the Haryana government for measures to curb vehicular and crop burning residual pollution especially in the National Capital Region (NCR) and offered all technological expertise to effectively deal with toxic air.

US Ambassador to India Kenneth I. Juster, who called on Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here, said both Haryana and the US could work together on this issue of great importance which would go a long way in making the entire state pollution free.

This would be a great achievement, said Kenneth, adding that he is confident that Haryana would emerge as a leader in this area.

He also commended the state for declaring Haryana as a kerosene-free and Open Defecation Free (ODF) state.

Khattar said the state is quite serious on the issue of air pollution and has taken several steps in this direction. The thermal power plants are being converted into green energy plants and much is being done in the area of stubble burning.

"We are soon going to launch a fleet of 200 buses of clean fuel in Gurugram under the city bus service scheme," a statement quoting the Chief Minister said.

He said the state is also promoting CNG filling stations.

It was also said that a global city is being developed in Gurugram, adjacent to Delhi over 1,200 acres of land. In addition, five cities on different themes are proposed to be developed along with the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway.Shimla, Aug 29 : The Himachal government will showcase the history of Shimla over the years as the once tiny village metamorphosed to become the summer capital of the British Raj in India, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the Assembly on Wednesday.

The government will showcase Shimla's history spanning many decades through a laser light-and-sound show for the benefit of tourists, said Thakur, who also holds the tourism portfolio.

Known as the 'Queen of Hills', Shimla was the summer capital of the British rulers between 1864 and 1939.

"A similar show at the Cellular Jail (at Port Blair) in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which I once witnessed, makes huge impact on the audience and is a tourist attraction. On similar lines, we will showcase Shimla's history and culture through the light-and-sound show," Thakur said while replying to a debate on the state's tourism policy.

"Shimla's history goes beyond The Mall. We propose to introduce the show so that people who visit Shimla also know its history."

Mahatma Gandhi visited Shimla several times in the days leading to the country's independence in 1947. On some occasions, freedom fighters like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Lala Lajpat Rai accompanied him.

Thakur said that poor connectivity was a stumbling block in the promotion of tourism in Himachal.

The Chief Minister said that tourists visiting the hill state complained about poor roads and road connectivity. "I am sure new highways and four-laned roads in Himachal will help solve this problem from tourism point of view," he said.

He said that since problems were faced in the expansion of state's three airports at Shimla, Kangra and Kullu, the Himachal government had taken up with the Centre the issue of developing a bigger airport at a suitable place.New Delhi, Aug 29 : In a huge relief, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that the five human rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon incident in Maharashtra will be kept under house arrest.Kolkata, Aug 29 : Following expansion of product categories in the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), procurement through the portal is expected to reach Rs 40,000 crore by the end of current financial year, an official said on Wednesday.

"In the last two years of operation of the GeM portal, the total size of procurement in value terms was about Rs 11,000 crore. We are trying to reach Rs 40,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal," GeM Additional CEO A.K. Kamra said here.

The online national public procurement portal was launched in August 2016 to facilitate online procurement of common use goods and services required by various government departments, organisation and public sector units.

The objective was to cut down the delays and transaction cost and bring transparency in the procurement process, he said.

Kamra said now there are 1,900 different product categories and over 4 lakh products available in the portal.

He also said a transaction fee of 0.5 per cent to the sellers was introduced very recently.

As many as 25 states signed memorandums of understanding with the GeM to procure products from the portal, Kamra said at the MSME Conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

As per the public procurement policy, 358 product categories have been reserved for small and medium enterprises, he said, adding that over 44 lakh units have registered with the portal.

"We are trying to bring all the product categories reserved for the SMEs in the portal. Some of them have already been included. We have requested the Ministry of MSMEs to provide specifications of the reserved product categories," he added.Ranchi, Aug 29 : Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pushing the country towards Emergency, RJD leader Lalu Prasad on Wednesday alleged that the government had a plan to jail all non-BJP leaders before the next Lok Sabha election.

Arriving here by a private flight to surrender before a court, the former Bihar Chief Minister came down heavily on the Modi government.

"Narendra Modi is pushing the country towards Emergency. The opposition leaders are being targeted and implicated in false cases and sent to jail. There is a game plan to jail the non- BJP leaders before (the Lok Sabha) election," he told reporters.

Lalu Yadav was granted six weeks provisional bail for treatment in May which was later extended by the court. He was in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in December 2017 in the fodder scam.

The Jharkhand High Court on September 24 directed him to surrender by August 30.

Asked about opposition unity, Lalu Prasad there was no row over the issue of Prime Ministerial candidate. "We will select our Prime Minister at the right time."

Earlier, speaking in Patna, he accused the Modi of paving the way for the imposition of Emergency.

"Modi is afraid that he will be murdered. It hardly sounds good as he is the Prime Minister. Some rights activists have been arrested for suspected threat to Modi. It is an attack on people's rights," Lalu Prasad told the media.

The RJD leader alleged that there was "total collapse of law and order" in Bihar.

"There is no law and order. It is total anarchy. Hardly a day passes without reports of murder, rape, loot, extortion and kidnapping in the state."New Delhi, Aug 29 : A member of an outlawed Manipuri outfit has been arrested here, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

"Working on specific inputs, Oinam Ibochouba Singh, 45, of the Kangleipak Communist Party-People's War Group (KCP-PWG), was taken into custody on Tuesday evening from south Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

"A resident of Bishnupur district of Manipur, Oinam Ibochouba Singh was described as a commander of the KCP-PWG. He was planning to revive his banned outfit base in many places in India. On August 11, he issued a life threat message to Manipur Chief Minister and his cabinet ministers," Yadav said.

"He later made that message viral on various channels of social media via audio and video formats as well as a hand written message on a letter head so that it could reach the Chief Minister," the DCP said.

"He threatened the Chief Minister to resolve the disputed issue of Manipur University's Vice Chancellor (VC) appointment and also resolve the Naga's agreement issue of pillar post in the Indo-Myanmar border area.

"There were strikes by locals in Manipur over both the issues. He threatened that if the Chief Minister fails to sort out the issues, he would attack him and his cabinet ministers. A case was registered against him in Manipur in this regard," he said.

"He was earlier arrested by Manipur Police in 2010. After his release from jail, he set up his terror base in Nepal for five years. He took the helm of the KCP-PWG after its head Ranjeet Singh was arrested by Delhi Police in January 2017," the officer added.

"We have recovered a few mobile phones and SIMs activated in Nepal and other states. The SIM cards have lists of his accomplices, video and audio messages that were earlier used by the outfit for threatening and extorting money from various Manipur based businessmen, contractors, government officers, politicians and others," he said.

"We have also found some suspected names of his accomplices active in Delhi that the central intelligence agencies are verifying with Manipur Police. He used to visit Delhi at regular intervals to meet his contacts. His further interrogation is on to establish his hidden criminal plans," he added.Kolkata, Aug 29 : Three persons were killed and at least 15 injured in West Bengal as violent political clashes over the formation of the state Panchayat boards continued, police said on Wednesday.

Armed clashes took place between groups allegedly belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga block late on Tuesday night.

"The clash erupted over the Gram Panchayat board formation in a number of villages in the block," an officer from Amdanga police station said.

According to local residents, two of the deceased were Trinamool Congress activists while the third person belonged to the CPI-M.

Police have arrested 12 people including CPI-M district committee member Ahmed Khan, for inciting unrest in the area that was found littered with crude bombs, splinters, cartridges on Wednesday morning.

South Bengal's IGP Niraj Kumar Singh said arms were seized from the village and investigations were going on to find out whether the arms were imported or manufactured locally.

Political parties blamed each other for the clash and claimed their members were stopped from forming the boards.

"We were keeping a close watch on Amdanga as the CPI-M was importing arms and ammunition from Bangladesh. Police earlier conducted raids and they hid these arms before the search operations. The attack on our party activists was a conspiracy to restrain us from forming the panchayat board," Trinamool leader and Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said.

CPI-M leader and MP Mohammad Salim alleged that "it was the consequence of Trinamool's attempts to make panchayats without opposition. They want to form boards at any cost."

Ten people have allegedly been killed since August 25 in political clashes over the Panchayat boards formation in different Bengal districts.

The situation in several districts has been tense over the last few days over the Panchayat boards formation after the Supreme Court permitted the notification of the results of 20,159 un-contested seats in the state Panchayat polls.Tripoli, Aug 29 : Fresh clashes erupted on Wednesday in Libya's capital city of Tripoli between UN-backed government forces and armed militias.

Our forces used heavy weapons and attacked a number of sites on the outskirts of Tripoli, Xinhua quoted a source from the joint security chamber as saying.

The clashes have continued since morning, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) warned against military action in the capital city.

Tripoli has been witnessing violent clashes between government forces and armed militias over the past few days, which have killed at least five people and injured 33 others, according to the Ministry of Health.

Interior Minister Abdulsalam Ashour told a regional TV channel on Monday that a ceasefire agreement in Tripoli had been reached.

Witnesses, however, said gun shots could still be heard occasionally even after the ceasefire announcement.New Delhi, Aug 29 : Notwithstanding the push for simultaneous polls, the BJP appears to be in no hurry to go for parliamentary elections along with a round of Assembly elections due this year end.

The party is said to be preparing for Lok Sabha elections to be held on schedule in the summer of next year, reliable sources in BJP told IANS.

The party's current strategy on the Lok Sabha polls assumes significance in the context of speculation that the Lok Sabha polls could be advanced to be held along with the elections to the assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and Mizoram this year end.

They said that at their meeting held here on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah asked Chief Ministers of states ruled by the BJP to be ready by February-end on the government and organisational fronts for the Lok Sabha polls next summer.

They also said that Chief Ministers had been told to achieve the new targets regarding implementation of major welfare schemes of the central and the state governments by February 2019.

Amit Shah has directed the Chief Ministers to hold a conferences of beneficiaries across their state from mandal to district level.

At such conferences, the beneficiaries of Centre's and state government schemes would be invited and the focus would be to make them BJP voters. Shah has also given a 22-point agenda for implementation at the booth level.

The meeting was attended by 14 BJP Chief Ministers and seven Deputy Chief Ministers including those of Bihar, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.

The meeting resolved to make Modi the Prime Minister again in 2019 by getting a bigger majority than achieved in the 2014 elections.

Several union ministers including Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj attended the meeting.

A senior BJP leader present at the meeting said the Chief Ministers were asked to come for the Tuesday meeting with a road map for the Lok Sabha elections.

The Chief Ministers presented a report card about targets achieved against goals set and their plans to set new targets to be achieved by February 2019 in implementing Centre's six major welfare schemes including Ujjawala, Aawas Yojana, Swachha Bharat Abhiyan and Ayushmaan Bharat.

The Prime Minister and the BJP President have asked the BJP Chief Ministers to get ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls at a time when there is an ongoing discussion on holding simultaneous polls to Parliament and state Assemblies.

Simultaneous elections from panchayat to Parliament was the main theme during the last meeting of the BJP Chief Ministers' Council meeting held in Delhi in February 2018. The issue did not come up on Tuesday.

According to sources, the Chief Ministers have also been asked to be in touch with smaller regional parties in their states so that the possibility of alliances could be explored for the elections.

In 2014, the Election Commission announced the poll dates on March 5. Balloting took place in nine phases between April 7 and May 12. The vote count took place on May 16.Cairo, Aug 29 : The Egyptian Army on Wednesday said that 20 militants have been killed over the past few days in anti-terror raids in Sinai province and the Western Desert region.

In Sinai, the forces have killed 13 militants, destroyed 18 hideouts and captured 18 wanted suspects, according to Egyptian military spokesman Tamer al-Refai.

The forces have also defused 41 explosive devices and destroyed 49 vehicles used by militants and smugglers, Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying.

The raids are part of the "Sinai 2018" comprehensive anti-terror operation, which has killed more than 400 militants since its launch in February, with more than 30 soldiers losing their lives during the confrontations.Panaji, Aug 29 : BJP's North Goa MP and Union Minister Shripad Naik on Wednesday did not rule out a return to state politics, saying that as disciplined soldiers the partymen took up any responsibility entrusted by the party.

"We are disciplined soldiers of the party. Whatever work the party gives us, we do it. The party will take a decision. After that things will move ahead," the Union Minister of State for AYUSH told the media here.

In the wake of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's prolonged illness, he said, he along with South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar, state BJP President and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar and state BJP General Secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavade will visit Delhi to meet party chief Amit Shah to resolve the leadership crisis and find an "alternate arrangement" in the absence of an ailing Parrikar.

"We will apprise them (party high command) about the situation in Goa," Naik said.

About the possibility of Parrikar stepping down, Naik said: "That is his prerogative. He has not said it yet. I do not know about it." He said that the BJP's priority was to see Parrikar healthy again.

Parrikar, earlier admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, is scheduled to leave late Wednesday evening for the US for the third time in six months for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

Naik maintained that Parrikar had suffered a "minor complication" during his treatment at the Mumbai hospital. "As per our information, he has been referred back to the US because of some minor complication. We have been told that he will be back in eight days," he said.

Asked about the alternate arrangement in the absence of Parrikar and three of his Cabinet Ministers, the BJP leader said: "Yes, there should be some arrangement. It should be done as soon as possible. The party will decide at the earliest."

The Minister said that he was aware of the negative public perception about the BJP-led government in Goa on this count.Pune, Aug 29 : A day after five civil rights activists were arrested in a nationwide swoop, the Pune Police claimed on Wednesday that it had unearthed a "Maoist conspiracy hatched to overthrow the elected government".

The alleged plot came to light after the police analysed the electronic devices, documents and other "highly incriminating evidences" seized from the arrested persons showing their links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), said Pune Deputy Commissioner of Police Shirish Sardeshpande.

The CPI (Maoist) was also engaged in raising funds to incite civil unrest against the administration as part of the larger conspiracy to topple the government, Sardesphande added.

He said that the outlawed organization had funded the Elgar Parishad held in Pune on December 31, 2017 on the eve of the January 1, 2018 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima.

This is the first official reaction from the Pune Police justifying Tuesday's arrests of lawyer-activist Sudhar Bharadwaj and civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and P. Varavara Rao from different parts of India, triggering a massive outcry.Kolkata, Aug 29 : Israel, which is expecting about 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018, is hopeful of attracting at least 3 lakh Indian visitors annually in the next three-four years by improving the air-connectivity between the two countries, an Israeli official said here on Wednesday.

"Around 60,000 Indian tourists visited Israel in 2017 and we are expecting around 90,000 Indian tourists in 2018. I think within 3-4 years, we should reach at least the 3 lakh figure," Ministry of Tourism Director (India and Philippines), Hassan Madah said here on the sidelines of a roadshow.

In 2017, the country attracted 3 million international tourists, mostly from the US, Russia and western European countries.

"Tourism is on the rise in Israel and inbound arrivals from India have appreciably increased in the last few years. With a half-yearly record growth of 82 per cent as compared to the same period in 2015, more than 44,000 Indian tourists have already visited the country from January to July, 2018," Madah said.

In March 2018, Air India launched its direct flight operations from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, the fastest non-stop flight connecting India with Israel, he said, adding that the airline is increasing flights in the route.

In addition to this, Israeli airline El Al currently has three weekly non-stop flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv.

Israeli carrier Arkia has also expressed interest to begin operations connecting the two countries, he said.

Madah said the opening of the Kolkata Israel Visa Application Centre for West Bengal and northeastern states would help increase interest among travellers from these regions of India.

The country is fast becoming the Middle-East's newest business tourism destination, gaining popularity with the Indian corporate segment, he added.New Delhi, Aug 29 : In the wake of an advisory issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare asking states to ban e-cigarettes, an organisation that represents e-cigarette users has questioned the motive behind the proposed move.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Association of Vapers India (AVI) asked why the government is not banning tobacco cigarettes if it is so concerned about nicotine -- an ingredient that can lead to addiction.

The advisory issued on Tuesday said: "States/Union Territories are advised in larger public health interest, and in order to prevent the initiation of ENDS by non-smokers and youth, with special attention to vulnerable groups, to ensure that any Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) including e-Cigarettes, Heat Not-Burn devices, Vape, e-Sheesha, e-Nicotine Flavoured Hookah... are not sold (including online sale)."

The government contented that vaping will increase smoking rates among teenagers. However, a survey of 60,000 adolescents conducted by Public Health England -- a government agency for preventing ill health -- has showed otherwise, the organisation said.

"This claim is bogus as smoking rates among youth are declining in all countries that have allowed vaping. In fact, after vaping was introduced, overall smoking rates have declined at a historical rate, which clearly points to the tremendous harm-reduction potential of vaping," said Samrat Chowdhery, Director at the AVI.

The organisation also contested the government's claim that e-vapour has a significant presence of metals.

"Extensive studies have been done on presence of metals in e-vapour and it has been consistently found that their presence is too minuscule to cause harm. The smoke released from tobacco cigarettes has much higher levels of metals compared to e-vapour," Chowdhery said.

All major scientific institutions from the Royal College of Physicians, American Cancer Society, National Academies for Sciences and Engineering, as well as the US Food and Drug Administration, have acknowledged that e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than combustible cigarettes.

Chowdhery also slammed the government for presenting a wrong picture by selectively citing the World Health Organisation (WHO) data saying that 30 countries have banned e-cigarettes.

The same data also demonstrates that 65 nations, including the EU, the UK, the US, Canada and New Zealand, have allowed and regulated e-cigarettes, an information that the government has withheld, he noted.

Conversely, the countries that have banned, barring outlier Australia, are small nations and those with dubious records in public health, he argued.New Delhi, Aug 29 : Describing dissent as a safety valve, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that the five human rights activists arrested by Pune Police should be kept under house arrest until the next date of hearing on September 6.

In a huge relief to the activists, an apex court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Lhanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachiu ordered the house arrest on a petition filed by well-known historian Romila Thapar as well as Devika Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maja Dharuwala challenging the Tuesday arrests.

Taking a dim view of the crackdown, Justice Chandrachud said: "Dissent is a safety valve of democracy. If it is not allowed, the pressure cooker will burst."

Those arrested on Tuesday included Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Gautam Navlakha in Delhi, Sudha Bharadwaj in Haryana and Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonzalves in Maharashtra.

Chandrachud noted that the arrests had taken place nine months after the activists were linked to the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Maharashtra.

Visibly peeved over the action of the Pune Police, the judge said: "Nine months after Koregoan incident you go and arrest these people."

"Nomenclature of the petition does not matter," Chief Justice Misra said as Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned the maintainability of the petition by Romila Thapar and others, saying "strangers" can't seek relief for the arrested activists who had already approached the High Court.

Telling Mehta that they will hear the matter, Justice Chandrachud said: "It is a larger issue as their concern is that you are quelling dissent."

The court issued notice seeking a response from the Centre, Maharashtra and Haryana to the petition by Thapar and other activists and directed the next hearing on September 6.

Noting the submission by senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi that in pursuance of the High Court Navlakha and Bharadwaj have been kept under house arrest and his suggestion that as an interim measure Varavara Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves, if arrested, too be kept under house arrest at their own home, the court said, "We order accordingly."

The bench clarified: "Needless to say, an interim order is an interim order and all contentions are kept open."

Describing the matter as a "serious issue", senior counsel Singhvi, appearing for Thapar and others told the court that those who have been arrested were not even named in the FIR lodged after the Bhima-Koregoann incident.

Senior counsel Dushyant Dave told the court that the arrested activists had no criminal antecedents.

Another senior counsel, Rajeev Dhavan, told the court that one of the arrested lawyers was working in an organisation funded by him and expressed the apprehension that by that measure he too could also be arrested.

Indira Jaising said that five lawyers working with her were arrested in June and she may be the next.

They were to have been taken to Pune but would now be sent home and put under house arrest.New Delhi, Aug 29 : Police investigation into the January 26 communal rioting that left one person dead in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj district is riddled with "gaping holes" and is biased in favour of a particular group, says an independent probe released here on Wednesday.

"The Truth of Kasganj: Sham Police Probe..." alleges that the police investigation into the violence had been "grossly compromised in a blatant attempt to protect" members of a Hindutva group.

The report said the police have effected "the fraud" by registering two First Information Reports (FIR) as "a single FIR would have made it difficult to pin the blame for the homicide of Chandan Gupta "on the Muslims alone" because "Hindus, too, fired guns".

It also details the sequence of events that took place on January 26 this year before and after the communal violence broke out in Kasganj, 220 km east of here.

The violence left Chandan Gupta dead and property worth several crore of rupees destroyed in firing, arson and vandalism.

According to police, the violence began after a group of Muslims obstructed a group of Hindus taking out a motorcycle procession - Tiranga Yatra - to mark the Republic Day.

The procession was organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is allied to the ruling BJP in the state, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The police named 28 men, including the one who allegedly fired the fatal shot. Most were arrested over two weeks after the incident.

But the report claiming that the police probe had been shoddy said the first FIR by Ripudaman Singh, SHO Kasganj Kotwali Police Station, "riddled with falsehoods, its account varying widely from the sequence of events as borne by the statements of policemen, witnesses and the accused".

The most understated part of the three-month investigation is that Kasganj Muslims had gathered to celebrate the Republic Day with a flag-hoisting 400 metres from Bilram Gate crossing at the Abdul Hameed Chowk. The crossing is named after the soldier who died fighting in Kashmir in 1948.

The report said witnesses reported that the conflict began when the Hindus gate-crashed that programme which the Muslims have held annually for years with their motorcycles and began forcibly removing the chairs placed in the alley to pass through, chanting "Vande Matram" and "Jai Shri Ram".

"The CCTV footage of the incident has been available to the police. And yet, they have refused to include this footage as evidence in either of the two charge-sheets in the case," the report reads.

It also said there were gaping holes in the sequence of events listed in the first and the second FIRs.

"The second FIR said news of Chandan's death reached the police station at 12.17 a.m. on January 27. But a General Diary entry at 1.15 p.m. on January 26 showed a ward boy had already brought to the police station a hospital memo reporting his death.

"As information of Chandan's death had been received in the day, the first FIR should have covered it. No explanation was given why the second FIR was needed," it added.

The report was launched by a number of number of social activists including Sandeep Pandey, Teesta Setalvad, Mohammad Shoaib and Retired Uttar Pradesh IPS officer S.R. Darapuri.

Shoaib, a Lucknow-based senior lawyer who has helped several young men to get acquitted from terror cases, said that he will file a PIL based on the report and demand a fresh investigation.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh, who was not physically present in the launch but sent a video, said: "Police supporting Hindutva is dangerous."

The social activists raised the issue during their speeches that in the past four years, the country was facing a new kind of issue. "Holding a flag is now a passport to do anything in this country," Pandey said.

Darapuri, on the other hand, said the police were following the orders issued from Lucknow.

The report by freelance journalist Ajit Sahi has been endorsed by Alliance for Justice and Accountability, New York; Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai; Indian American Muslim Council, Washington; Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, New Delhi; Rihaee Manch, Lucknow; South Asia Solidarity Group, London, and United Against Hate, New Delhi.

Speaking to IANS, Sahi said: "I have not introduced any fact myself. I have just examined the investigation done by the police."New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned a lower court order to allow Maharashtra Police to take rights activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha to Pune, given the fact that all documents, except a remand application, were in the Marathi language.

A bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel took strong exception to the fact that the magistrate concerned understood the charges levelled against Navlakha, who was arrested on Tuesday, when all documents presented in the lower court were in Marathi and it had not even bothered to check the case diary.

The High Court was of the opinion that the lower court should be cautious while granting transit remand.

When informed by Maharashtra Police's counsel and Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi that the Supreme Court had stayed the transit remand and ordered house arrest of Navlakha and four other arrested rights activists till September 6, the High Court listed the matter for Thursday.

The bench said that it will hear the matter after going through the top court's order.

Lekhi had contended in the High Court that the accused were connected to a conspiracy and there was sufficient evidence against them.

Navlakha was arrested from his residence in south Delhi's Nehru Enclave by Pune police on Tuesday and presented before the magistrate who allowed for presenting him before a court in Pune.

The High Court had on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra Police not to take Navlakha out of Delhi till Wednesday and to keep him under house arrest till further orders.

The court was hearing a habeas corpus on Navlakha's whereabouts filed by his counsel Nitya Ramakrishnan and Warisha Farasat.

For the second time in five months, the Pune police on Tuesday raided alleged Maoist sympathisers across the country and arrested five of them.

The raids were carried out in Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Haryana in connection with the Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017, and caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima the next day.Tehran, Aug 29 : Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday warned that Iran will quit the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal if the interests of his country are not secured.

Iran and six world powers, namely China, Germany, France, Russia, the UK, and the US had struck a landmark agreement over Iran's nuclear programme in 2015, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Xinhua news agency reported.

However, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the deal on May 8 and reimposed sanctions, including an oil embargo, on Iran.

"If we come to the conclusion that JCPOA cannot serve the national interests, we will leave it," Khamenei said during a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his administration.

Through his official website, the Iranian leader also expressed dismay over the EU, saying the Islamic republic "pins no hope on Europeans over JCPOA and economic issues".

Iran has incessantly urged Europe to take "practical and tangible measures" to protect Iranian interests since the US pullout.New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Congress on Wednesday attacked the government over demonetisation, saying that a RBI report proved again that it was a "disaster of epic proportions" and asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will apologise for "lying" on the issue.

"The RBI report again proves that demonetisation was Modi-made disaster of epic proportions! 99.30 per cent of demonetised money returns! Modi, in his 2017 Independence Day speech, made tall claims of Rs 3 lakh crore coming back to the system! Modiji, will you apologise for that lie now?" Congress Communications Incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.

The RBI announced on Wednesday that as per its report for 2017-18, on completion of the process of verification of scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it was found that Rs 15.31 lakh crore of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore -- or 99.3 per cent -- in demonetised currency in circulation at the time of demonetisation on November 8, 2016, had come back to the banking system.New Delhi, Aug 29 : A large number of activists, writers and representatives of Left-affiliated organisations on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for "intimidating and crushing" the voices of dissent.

Converging at Maharastra Sadan here to protest under the banner of "Citizens Protest" against the police raids and "illegal arrests" of human rights activists, the activists demanded that all five be released immediately.

Historian Shamsul Islam said: "This BJP government first branded the dissenting people as anti-national, next terrorists...and now they have coined a nonsense term called 'urban Naxal', only to intimidate and crush the voices of dissent."

The Pune police on Tuesday said it had arrested five human rights activists and alleged that Maoist sympathisers, including Telugu poet Varavara Rao, were directly linked to the Bhima Koregaon riots in Maharashtra on January 1.

Hero Honda Theka Mazdoor Sangathan vice-president Rakhi Sehgal said that despite court order, the Pune police tried to take away trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj on Tuesday from Uttar Pradesh.

"More than 15 police personnel came to arrest a woman... The investigating officer in the court was just reading the sections, instead of proving the allegations on her," Sehgal added.

Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan general secretary Poonam Kaushik said that Milind Eknote and Sambhaji Bhide, who allegedly provoked violence in Bhima Koregaon, wre roaming scot-free.

"Sunil Bharadwaj and four other activists are arrested because they opposed earlier arrests of activists Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut, who were defending the arrests of innocent Dalits," said Kaushik.

National Campaign for People's Right to Information co-convenor Anjali Bharadwaj said "this attempt is to send a clear signal to spread fear that if you raise inconvenient questions to the government, you will be targeted".Mumbai, Aug 29 : The amount of banned currency notes that did not return to the system post demonetisation stands at Rs 10,700 crore, or 0.7 per cent of the old lot of notes, an RBI data showed on Wednesday.

This amount has been arrived at based on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) annual report for 2017-18, after deducting the amount of Rs 15.31 lakh crore of high-value currency notes that returned to the banks, from the Rs 15.42 lakh crore worth such notes in circulation before the demonetisation of November 8, 2016.

A partial explanation for the missing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is provided by the report that out of the total fake notes detected at the RBI, their share during 2017-18 was higher at 36.1 per cent, compared with 4.3 per cent during 2016-17.

This was because of processing of a large volume of specified banknotes (SBNs) withdrawn from circulation by demonetisation, the report said.

IANS

bc/vmNew Delhi, Aug 29 : The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission Exercise focused on anti-terror operations culminated on Wednesday after days of joint training amongst multinational forces of eight SCO nations.

In the joint multinational exercise which began on August 24, the SCO nations conducted training focused on combating terrorism.

After intense military training, the joint exercise concluded with multinational forces exhibiting their combat power and dominance over the extremist groups in simulated realistic situation.

The closing ceremony was conducted at the drill ground of 255th Inter Services Firing Ranges, Chebarkul, Russia.

"In this fifth edition of SCO Peace Mission Exercise where India participated for the first time, the focus was on conduct of counter terrorist operations in a multinational joint service environment. The senior officials expressed great satisfaction with high standards achieved in the exercise," an official release said.

"The exercise provided an opportunity to armies of all nations for greater cultural understanding, sharing experiences and strengthening mutual trust and cooperation. Overall, SCO Peace Mission Exercise will contribute immensely in developing mutual understanding and respect amongst SCO member nations in future," it added.

The SCO consists of India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its regular members.New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the issue of transfers and postings in the city administration should be kept with it.

A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan was told by senior Congress leaders and advocates Kapil Sibal and P. Chidambaram, appearing for the Delhi government, that barring three issues of public order, police and land, the Delhi government had the power to legislate and govern on other issues.

Other than public order, police and land, the Centre had no role over Delhi, Sibal contended.

"Lt Governor is the executive head of Delhi. Executive power in respect to Delhi is confined to three service only," he added.

Sibal argued that Delhi had a legislative Assembly and executive power of the Centre "cannot infringe" the power of legislative.

He further said that Lt Governor cannot use his discretion in each and every matter.

Chidambaram contended that legislative power lies with the Delhi government and the Lt Governor cannot control transfer and posting of bureaucrats.

"We are not concerned with IAS and IPS officers. But officer belong to DANICS and DANIPS, when posted in Delhi, they are under the rule of Delhi. The officers are transferred here (Delhi), but once they work here they are under Delhi's control," Chidambaram argued.

The Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) and Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Police) Services (DANIPS) provide officers to administer the civil and police administration respectively of the Union Territories (UT) segments. DANICS and DANIPS officers are liable to be transferred from one UT to another.

Earlier, the Delhi government had told the top court that the government was paralysed because it could not transfer or post bureaucrats.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government had been at loggerheads with Lt Governor Anil Baijal accusing him of preventing the functioning of his government at the behest of the Centre.

The court was hearing appeals filed by the Delhi government on the scope of its powers in view of the recent verdict by a Constitution bench.

The three-judge Constitution Bench of chief justice Misra and justice A.M. Khanwilkar and justice D.Y. Chandrachud on July 4 ruled that the Lt Governor was bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

After the Supreme Court ruling, the Arvind Kejriwal government had sent Baijal files recommending transfer and posting of officials. But the Lt Governor stonewalled it, saying the issue involving "Services" was yet to be decided.

Baijal said the Union Home Ministry had advised him to keep exercising powers over "Services" because the May 21, 2015 notification remained valid until a regular bench of the apex court decided on it.New Delhi, Aug 29 : On a day when the Indian rupee plunged to a record low of 70.65 to a US dollar, the government on Wednesday said it was expected to remain in the range of 68 to 70 during the year.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg told the media that the depreciation in the rupee was due to some small mismatch in the demand and supply, which may go either way depending on the view taken by the operators.

He said while foreign portfolio investors took some USD nine billion from the country during the first three months of the current fiscal, net flow was at an equilibrium in July.

"This month there has been so far a positive inflow of over one billion dollars. That suggests the sentimental change about the view on rupee (and) that the current levels are fairly stable," Garg said.

"Therefore, that gives me some confidence that where we are today, there may not be much variation. So I retain the same view that between 68 to 70 is the level where the rupee would mostly remain.

"Considering fundamental supply of dollars and the demand, it should be fair to assume that that might be the level on which it will stay during the year," he added.

Earlier, after hitting an all-time low 70.65 per dollar, the rupee settled at 70.59 per dollar, depreciating by 49 paise from its previous close of 70.10 per dollar.Kolkata, Aug 29 : Criticising the Central government's demonetisation move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wondered whether the note ban was imposed to allow some black money holders to quietly convert it into white.

Incidentally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that over 99 per cent of the Rs 15.3 lakh crore taken out of circulation through demonetisation in November 2016 has returned to the apex bank.

"My first question now is "where has the black money gone?....My second question -- was this scheme hatched to allow some black money holders to quietly convert their black money into white?" she asked in her social media post.

The RBI's annual report 2017-18 said that on completion of the process of verification of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it is found that the total value of the demonetised currency returned to the banks now stands at Rs 15.3 lakh crore, which amounts to 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth of such notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.

Banerjee also said she sensed by intuition that this is a big anti-people measure after "the draconian demonetisation" was announced.

She also reiterated that it would severely affect the common people of the country, especially farmers, the unorganised sector, small entrepreneurs and the hard working middle class.

She added: "Today, the RBI in its annual report for 2017-18 has vindicated our apprehension. What a tragedy and what a shame!!!"Geneva, Aug 29 : Barely three fifths of child refugees are receiving a primary school education and the number who do not attend school has jumped by 500,000 in the past year to reach four million, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

"Education is a way to help children heal, but it is also key to rebuilding their countries," said Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR. "Without education, the future of these children and their communities will be irrevocably damaged."

Only 61 per cent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to 92 per cent of children globally, according to the UN's new report 'Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis'.

And as children get older, this gap in opportunities between refugee children and their non-refugee peers widens, the report showed.

Just 23 per cent of refugee children are attending secondary school against 84 per cent worldwide. And only one per cent were enrolled in higher education, compared with 37 per cent globally.

This figure has remained unchanged for the past three years, the report said, calling the gap at tertiary level "a chasm".

Despite the efforts of governments, UNHCR and its partners, enrolment of refugee children in school was failing to keep pace with the growing refugee population, the report warns.

Children made up over half (52 per cent) of the 25.4 million refugees registered worldwide by the end of 2017, and 7.4 million among them were of school age, the report said.

"Based on current patterns, unless urgent investment is undertaken, hundreds of thousands more children will join these disturbing statistics," Grandi stated.

Attending school also played a vital role in helping refugee children find respite from the trauma of conflict and forced displacement and to re-adjust from this, Grandi underlined.

"School is the first place in months or even years where refugee children find any normality," Grandi said.

Education must be considered fundamental in responding to refugee emergencies, the report said.

It called on host countries to enrol refugee children in national education systems all the way through primary and secondary school, so they gain recognised qualifications enabling them to enrol in university or higher vocational training.

Almost all school-age refugees (92 per cent) were living in countries in developing regions, the report noted, urging greater financial support from nations as well as action to ensure all child refugees get "the quality of education they deserve".

The report called for stronger partnerships with the private sector, humanitarian and development organisations and governments to increase "sustainable solutions for refugee education".New Delhi, Aug 29 : Ahead of his departure for Nepal to attend in the Fourth Bimstec Summit on Kathmandu on August 30-31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that his participation in the event symbolises the priority India accords to deepening ties with India's extended neighbourhood in Southeast Asia.

"My participation in the Summit symbolises India's highest priority to our neighbourhood and our strong commitment to continue deepening our relationship with the extended neighbourhood in Southeast Asia," Modi said in a pre-departure statement here.

"During the Summit, I will have interactions with all the leaders of Bimstec ( Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) to further enrich our regional cooperation, enhance our trade ties and advance our collective efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal region," he said.

"The Summit theme, 'Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region' will enable us to shape a collective response to our common aspirations and challenges."

Bimstec came into existence on June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.

It comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The bloc brings together 1.5 billion people, or 21 per cent of the world's population, and has a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion.

The main objective of Bimstec is technical and economic cooperation among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries along the rim of the Bay of Bengal.

With the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) virtually rendered ineffective as a bloc, largely due to non-cooperation on the part of Pakistan on issues like connectivity and counter-terrorism, India has been giving more importance to Bimstec in recent times.

India is the lead country for cooperation in four priority areas: counter-terrorism and transnational crime, transport and communication, tourism and environment, and disaster management.

In his statement, Modi expressed confidence that the Kathmandu Summit will further consolidate the progress made thus far under Bimstec , and will chart the course for building a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal Region.

"On the margins of the Bimstec Summit, I will have the opportunity to interact with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand," he said.

"I also look forward to meeting Prime Minister of Nepal K.P. Sharma Oli and reviewing the progress we have made in our bilateral ties since my last visit to Nepal in May 2018."

Modi said that he and Oli will also inaugurate the Nepal Bharat Maitri Dharmashala at the Pashupatinath temple complex.

At a media briefing here last week, Preeti Saran, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry said that significant progress has been made in cooperation within the regional bloc since the Bimstec Outreach Summit held on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit in Goa in 2016 in the areas of security, counter-terrorism, transport and connectivity, tourism, environment and disaster management, and people-to-people contacts.

"Bimstec is growing economically and strategically," she said.

"The strength of the group is in responding collectively in the face of adversity."

Saran said that Bimstec is important for India in terms of New Delhi's Act East Policy and Neighbourhood First Policy, with northeastern India acting as a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia.

A Bimstec free trade agreement (FTA) is under negotiation as also a customs cooperation agreement and a motor vehicles agreement.New Delhi, Aug 29 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reviewed the progress in resolution of grievances related to income tax and said that various initiatives taken for the benefit of people should be communicated to all taxpayers suitably.

Modi, who chaired his 28th interaction through PRAGTI -- the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation -- also reviewed the progress made towards the rollout of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, under Ayushman Bharat programme.

An official release said that Modi was briefed by Finance Ministry officials on the progress made in resolution of grievances related to income tax.

The Prime Minister reiterated that all systems should be made technology-driven and human interface should be reduced to the minimum.

He noted the progress made in bringing corrupt officials to book.

"The Prime Minister said that the various initiatives and measures taken by the Income Tax Department to facilitate the people should be communicated to all taxpayers suitably," the release said.

It said that 27 PRAGATI meetings have so far seen a cumulative review of projects with a total investment of over Rs 11.5 lakh crore. Resolution of public grievances has also been reviewed across a range of sectors.

At Wednesday's meeting, Modi also reviewed the progress of nine important infrastructure projects in the railways, road and petroleum sectors. These projects are spread over a number of states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

He also reviewed the progress made in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.New Delhi, Aug 29 : A committee of secretaries, formed to deliberate and make recommendations for a separate law to deal with the incidents of lynching, has submitted its report to Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, officials said on Wednesday.

The panel headed by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba consulted a cross-section of society and other stakeholders before submitting the report to the GoM, a Home Ministry official requesting anonymity said.

The GoM, which includes External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, will examine the recommendations and submit its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The committee was formed by the government post a Supreme Court verdict in mid-July to examine ways to crack down on rising incidents of lynchings and mob violence across the country. The apex court had said it is the "responsibility of the government to protect the citizens".

The apex court had asked the government to examine bringing out a separate law to crack down on such offences so that it can instil a sense of fear in the perpetrators.

The details of the report have not been made public since the GoM is yet to consider it, the official said, adding the panel has explored the possibility of treating lynchings as a separate offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or making a separate law for the same.

In separate discussions with the Home Ministry earlier this week, the Law Ministry had examined the matter and felt that treating the offence under a separate section in the IPC, which would define mob lynching, could be an immediate step to begin with.

"A final decision on the new law will be taken at the level of the Prime Minister once the GoM forwards its suggestions to him," the official said.

The panel, which includes secretaries of the departments of Justice, Legal Affairs, and Social Justice and Empowerment as its members, was formed by the Union Home Ministry in the wake of lynchings that claimed over 35 lives in nine states in the past one year.

In July, the Home Ministry issued advisories to states and Union territories following the Supreme Court's directive to check incidents of lynching.

The Centre asked the states to appoint an officer in each district at the level of Superintendent of Police, set up a special task force to gather intelligence, and closely monitor social media contents to prevent mob attacks on suspicion of being child-lifters or cattle smugglers.New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday a plea by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) against grant of interim bail to Bhushan Steel's erstwhile promoter Neeraj Singal in the alleged siphoning of around Rs 2,500 crore in loans raised by the company.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday decided on the Thursday morning hearing when Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta made a strong plea for the reversal of the Delhi High Court's interim bail.

This was opposed by senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, C.A. Sundram and Siddharth Luthra, who contended that Singal has been granted interim bail subject to stringent conditions.

A bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel of the High Court earlier in the day granted interim bail to Singal on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of Rs 2 lakh each.

The court had directed Singal not to meet any of the witnesses whose statements may have been recorded by the SFIO. Also, he should not in any manner, directly or indirectly, seek to tamper with the course of investigation or the evidence gathered.

On August 8, the SFIO had arrested Neeraj Singal, a former Managing Director of Bhushan Steel, accusing him of involvement in a series of corporate frauds punishable under the Companies Act, 2013.

Even as Singhvi and Sundram told the court that Bhushan Steel had been taken over by Tata Group following proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Mehta told the bench that he had floated nearly 85 shell companies through which he used to circulate the money which eventually ended up with him.

Singhvi told the court that the matter related to 2016 and the High Court had granted him interim bail after taking into account all factors.

However, Mehta told the court that a fraud that stood at Rs 2,500 crore may touch Rs 10,000 crore and if Singal is set free all investigation which is at a critical stage would get defeated.

Initially hesitant to interfere with the bail order, the court said that it would take up the SFIO's plea as a first item on Thursday, telling the lawyers for Singal that no prejudice would be caused to him as he is to be released on Thursday only.

When Mehta said that the High Court was slated to hear at 4.30 p.m. Singal's plea for release on Wednesday itself, Justice Chandrachud said that he could inform the High Court of the apex court hearing on Thursday morning.

A probe had allegedly found that the erstwhile promoters of the company used a multitude of complex and fraudulent manoeuvres to divert thousands of crores raised from public sector banks using several associate companies.Patna, Aug 29 : A Buddhist monk was detained on Wednesday after minor children in Bodh Gaya in Bihar alleged he had sexually abused them, officials said.

The monk, Bhante Sanghpriya, was detained for interrogation after 15 minor children, from Prasanna Joyti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre in Mastipur near Buddhist holy shrine in Bodh Gaya, complained about him, district police official Anil Kumar said.

The residential Buddhist school-cum-meditation centre is run by the accused Buddhist monk, who had reportedly forced some minor children for unnatural sex, it was mentioned in the police complaint by the children.

All the victims, aged between 6 to 12, belong to Assam.Kolkata, Aug 29 : West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Wednesday hailed former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as one of the greatest national leaders who symbolised peace and transparency but never hesitated to take a strong step whenever the nation was under threat.

"I have seen Vajpayee-ji in various roles. We have seen him as a poet, a politician and also as one of the best national leaders of the country. He was a messenger of peace who helped India grow economically and spiritually during his reign as the prime minister," Tripathi said at the state BJP organised all party condolence meet for Vajpayee here.

"But whenever there was any threat to the country, he never fumbled to take strong actions. The Kargil war was a bright example. The way he took key decisions at the time of crisis and inspired the Indian army to fight the war that history was created in the battlefield," he noted.

The meeting, organised at central Kolkata's Mahajati's Sadan, was attended by the West Bengal Minister of State for Information & Cultural Affairs and Tourism Indranil Sen, Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, senior diplomats from Japan, Denmark and Nepal as well as senior state BJP leaders.

However, none of the leaders from other major political outfits from Bengal including the ruling Trinamool Congress, Congress and the left parties turned up at the programme despite the saffron outfit's invitation.

Referring to the BJP coalition government's defeat in a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha in 1999 by falling short of a single vote due to the withdrawal of one of the government's coalition partners AIADMK, Tripathi said Vajpayee was a symbol of transparency and never encourage horse trading.

Roy hailed Vajpayee for his role in the country's first underground nuclear weapon detonation in Rajasthan's Pokhran in 1998 and said conducting the tests successfully despite adverse pressures from foreign countries proved the leader's determination and elevated the country's image as a super power.

Stating Vajpayee's depth as a politician as well as a human being was immeasurable, West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi is his true successor as he is working with the same philosophy to finish Vajpayee's unfinished works.

"Narendra Modi is the true successor of Vajpayee ji. He is working in the path shown by the great leader and has even succeeded to surpass him in certain aspects. In the Kargil war, Vajpayee ji took the fight to the enemy till the border but Modi ji conducted operation inside the enemy territory," Ghosh said referring to Indian army's surgical strike inside the Pakistan territory in 2017.

BJP National General Secretary and party's observer for West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya termed Vajpayee as a politician, unparalleled in the nation's history. He said Vajpayee shared unique personal bonds even with general party activists that made him equally popular and acceptable among all.Pune, Aug 29 : A Pune court on Wednesday put under house arrest three of the five rights activists arrested a day earlier, hours after the Supreme Court orders in this regard.

They are poet-activist P. Varavara Rao, civil rights activist-lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

The Supreme Court had directed that all five arrested activists be placed under house arrest till the next hearing of the matter on September 6.

Rao was arrested from Hyderabad while the two others were held from Thane and Mumbai respectively on Tuesday by Pune police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riot on January 1.

"You shall be sent home and kept under house arrest," Shivajinagar Additional Sessions Judge K.D. Vadane ordered when the three were presented by police for remand this evening.

Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar had sought the police custody for all three.

Pune Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivajirao Pawar later said that pursuant to court orders, arrangements will be made for the three accused to be sent to their respective homes.

"We had pleaded to put them under house arrest at a government facility. However, since there are specific directives of the Supreme Court, they will be sent to their places of residence," he added.

The police claimed, among other things, that the five arrested activists -- the three along with lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha -- were Maoist supporters.New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the revised air services agreement to be signed between India and Morocco.

"The Air Services Agreement signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and Morocco and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges between the two countries," an official statement said.

"It will provide enabling environment for enhanced and seamless connectivity while providing commercial opportunities to the carriers of both sides ensuring greater safety and security."Mumbai, Aug 29 : Jet Airways on Wednesday said that it will introduce 28 new flights in the coming month.

"Being a network carrier, Jet Airways' new services -- including industry firsts as well as a mix of non-stop and one-stop flights -- will strengthen the airline's footprint, enabling it to meet the rising demand for domestic and international air travel in emerging cities," the airline said in a statement.

"The new services will also help connect guests with other cities including metros as well as the airline's global network via its hubs in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru."

According to the airline, it will introduce daily flights from Indore to Jodhpur as well as to Vadodara.

"In other notable firsts, Jet Airways is also set to commence flight operations between Chandigarh and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Jodhpur as well as Vadodara and Jaipur," the statement said.

"Jet Airways will be the only airline in the country operating these routes which will improve connectivity between north India and central as well as western India."New Delhi, Aug 29 : Calling the arrest of five rights activists as "unfortunate", NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that he knew some of them "personally" and they cannot be associated with Naxalism or Maoism.

"I know some of them personally. And they are activists or leftists. But I never heard they are associated with Naxalism," Pawar told reporters here, adding he would meet their family members.

The Nationalist Congress Party leader said that the arrested people may have "a sort of left or Maoist thinking" but it did not make them Naxalites.

"It is very unfortunate that the government and police arrested them in the name of their association with Naxalism ... they are not the people who take the extreme step of assassinating 'X' or 'Y'," he said.

Police on Tuesday arrested Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha on charges of being Maoist sympathisers.New Delhi, Aug 30 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for his demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe Rafale deal and accused him of lying over the issue.

"Your lies to fool the nation are self-evident when Rafale price you quote vary in Delhi, Karnataka, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Parliament. But the nation's IQ is higher than yours!" Shah said in a tweet.

His remarks came hours after Rahul Gandhi alleged that the government was trying to cover up a "scandal with scandal" and asked why it was "scared" of a JPC probe.

Responding to Gandhi's charge and demand, the BJP chief said: "Why wait 24 hours when you already have your JPC - Jhoothi Party Congress?"

Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a blog post termed the Congress charges on the Rafale deal as "complete falsehood."

Hitting back, Gandhi said the government should then accept a JPC probe.Chennai, Aug 30 : Diversified engineering company Greaves Cotton Ltd on Wednesday said it will acquire 80 per cent stake in electric vehicles (EV) company Ampere Vehicles Pvt Ltd for Rs 152.50 crore in two stages.

In a regulatory filing in BSE, Greaves Cotton said it will acquire 67 per cent stake in Ampere for Rs 77 crore in the first phase to be completed by December 2018.

Greaves Cotton can acquire an additional 13 per cent stake in Ampere for Rs 75.5 crore in a span of three years.

As to the rationale for acquiring Ampere, Greaves Cotton said it is to accelerate development of clean energy technology solutions for last-mile mobility and to address wider range of customer segments with clean energy mobility solutions.

Ampere has posted a revenue of Rs 16 crore during April-July 2018.

The Board of Directors of Greaves Cotton approved the acquisition on Wednesday.

"With this strategic acquisition, we will be able to address a wider range of customer segments with clean energy mobility solutions. Greaves and Ampere will be a synergistic combination of our excellence in frugal engineering and manufacturing with a new age electric mobility solutions company," Nagesh Basavanhalli, MD & CEO, Greaves Cotton Ltd, was quoted as saying in a statement.Jaipur, Aug 30 : As the diesel price in Rajasthan hit Rs 74.23 per litre on Wednesday, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urged the state government to reduce taxes on fuel so that farmers can breathe it easy.

He said that farmers are quite worried looking at the escalating price of diesel as they have been using the fuel not only for driving vehicles but also for ploughing their fields with tractors.

They also use diesel for irrigation using pump sets, he said, adding that most of the farmers of the country rely on diesel for their basic farming needs.

"Tax on diesel has increased substantially and it is in the government's hand to reduce it," he said.

However, both the Central and the state governments are sitting like mute spectators, busy collecting a high rate of tax on the base value of fuel, which is leading to the increase in diesel price.

He has urged the state government to reduce the taxes on diesel to give farmers a respite from the burden of paying heavy price for fuel.Jussi Rouhento has been appointed Managing Director at Catella Asset Management Finland. He will start his position on January 2, 2019 and will replace Eero Syvaniemi who retires in February 2019. Rouhento has been head of Northern Horizon Capitals Finnish business and Fund Manager of their Healthcare funds. Rouhento has

[]At the end of H1 2018, there was more than 2.13 million sqm of warehouse and industrial space under construction across Poland with Central Poland accounting for more than one-fourth of the development pipeline, says Occupier Insight: Industrial and Warehouse Market in H1 2018, a report prepared by Cresa.

[]Local developer Century Group Aus has secured Australias first hotel under the renowned luxury St. Regis Hotels & Resorts brand to open at Flinders bank in the CBD.

The 168 hotel rooms with interiors from world-leading hotel design studio Chada will overlook either the Yarra River of the city skyline.

There will be a number of speciality suites, supposedly fit for presidents, sheiks and other VVIPs (a very very important person!)

It is set for completion in 2022, with construction to begin next year.

St. Regis, owned by Marriott International, is one of the worlds most revered and prestigious hotel brands and is known for the legendary St. Regis butler service, which provides each guest with highly attentive personal service, and for its refined food and beverage experiences.

It was born out of New York City where St. Regis pioneered the Bloody Mary.

St. Regis operates luxury getaways in some of the worlds most enticing locations including Bora Bora, Bali, Mauritius and the Maldives.

The St. Regis Melbourne will offer the best in guest experiences, which can include anything from drinks upon arrival to unpacking services.

It will feature in Tower Two of the $800 million triple tower Flinders bank project, which will transform the citys former Convention Centre site into a luxury destination, comprising 650 apartments, 168 five-star hotel rooms and 2,100 sqm of retail.

Designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, it will also have a pedestrian precinct and plaza to Siddeley Street, to feature art elements, contributing to the citys established cultural scene.

Richard Crawford, Mariott's senior director of hotel development in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, said luxury hotel demand in Melbourne was strong.

This signing is an indication of the investment communitys confidence in the Australian market, where we are seeing a growing demand for premium lodgings, he said.

The St. Regis Melbourne will be an outstanding addition to our strong and growing footprint in the region, where we are on track to boast the largest portfolio of upper upscale and luxury hotels and resorts, with two-thirds of the new supply pipeline.

The projects first two towers have commenced selling, with strong interest among owner occupiers drawn to Flinders banks never-to-be-built-out views that overlook the Yarra River and the view down to Port Phillip Bay.

Century Group Aus executive director Connie Wu said that the fact St. Regis had selected Melbourne as its first Australian location was testament to its status as the worlds most liveable city.

We are honoured that Flinders bank will be the address for one of the most exceptional hotel and hospitality experiences in Australia, through The St. Regis Melbourne, she said.

Flinders bank will offer the pinnacle of luxury experiences for guests as well as residents. With its breathtaking views of the Yarra River, resort style amenity and landmark architecture, Flinders bank will be a fitting gateway into the worlds most liveable city.Property NSW, on behalf of Family and Community Services, has sold the final two apartment blocks on Dalgety Road as part of the Millers Point sales program.

The two-storey federation style apartment blocks, featuring a mix of two and three bedroom units, were sold via auction by Sydneys Sothebys International Realty and Savills Australia.

27-29A sold for $4.35 million and 31-33A sold for $4.325 million.

Also sold at auction on Saturday, was 117 Kent Street. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom terrace split over four levels achieved a sale price of $2.55 million.

There are four properties left to sell as part of the Millers Point sales program. A total of 187 sales have been managed by Property NSW in Millers Point since 2014.

Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) endorsed by the NSW Heritage Council are included in contracts for sale for all heritage listed properties. These contracts ensure new property owners are fully informed of their obligations and responsibilities when purchasing a heritage listed property.

Proceeds from the Millers Point sales program have delivered over $603 million for investment in social housing developments in NSW.

As of July 2018, a total of 1,101 units have been completed and 280 units are currently under construction using proceeds from the Millers Point sales.

Developments are occurring in areas of identified need for social housing, including Bankstown, Canterbury, Liverpool, Fairfield, the Sutherland Shire and Wollongong areas. New social housing is also under construction in Coffs Harbour and North Richmond.Immigrants are underpinning Australia's largest house and land market, Oliver Hume research suggests.

"Any cut to immigration would have a negative momentum in the market," Oliver Hume head of research George Bougias has said.

Oliver Hume's latest national land market report shows that Melbourne's rising prices are encouraging a larger proportion of Indian-born Australians, who have been overwhelmingly based in Melbourne, to go to Queensland.

"What we're seeing now is that 10 per cent of our buyers in Queensland are Indian-born," Mr Bougias said.After several years of investors achieving easy growth in our two biggest cities, the national real estate landscape has changed.

Investors need to look elsewhere to find the upwardly-mobile markets, and its not so easy to find them because mainstream media is writing about the Sydney-Melbourne downturn and generally ignoring the rising markets in other parts of the nation.

Hotspottings new Top 10 Best Buys reports highlights the new growth markets, which are occurring in our smaller cities and the regions.

Here are five possibilities, many of them places you might not have thought of 

Belconnen District, ACT

Ive often referred to Canberra as the Goldilocks of Australian real estate - not too hot, not too cold, just right. It continues to show a high level of consistency, especially with sales activity.

But, amid that familiar consistency, there is evidence of recent uplift. The Winter 2018 survey for The Price Predictor Index identifies an increasing number of Canberra suburbs with growth trajectories.

That quarterly survey also shows that the Belconnen District is the clear market leader in Canberra, by a considerable margin. It has seven rising suburbs  including Bruce, Florey, Flynn, Holt and Macgregor - and others with steady sales performance.

The strong sales data reflects other statistics depicting a strong Canberra market. Vacancies remain below 1 percent (only Hobart has lower vacancies among the capital cities), rents are rising strongly and there is evidence of solid price growth, notably in the Top End suburbs with median prices above $1 million.

Some forecasters predict Canberra will lead the capital cities on price increases in the next few years, with Belconnen suburbs likely to be at the forefront of the growth.

Port Adelaide precinct, South Australia

Port Adelaide may have missed out on the AFL finals, but its real estate market looks like a winner.

The Port Adelaide Enfield LGA is now one of the busiest markets in the SA capital, with a number of its suburbs attracting rising demand.

Defence Force contracts totalling $89 billion and other government initiatives are set to launch Port Adelaide into a new stratosphere.

The Osborne Naval Shipyard is undergoing a $535 million upgrade to accommodate the building of 40 new Defence craft; 500 public servants are being moved into the precinct; and a new rail spur will link the Ports commercial centre and the Dock One residential precinct to the Adelaide CBD.

These and several smaller projects are creating much-needed jobs, turning historic Port Adelaide into a thriving residential, commercial and tourist destination.

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo (pictured top) has long been one of Victorias key regional centres, with growth thanks to its steady local economy, proximity to Melbourne and good transport links to the capital  especially now the $5 billion Regional Rail Link has been completed.

Its economic prospects have improved with the $630 million re-development of Bendigos hospital, private sector plans to develop the citys first master-planned residential community, and the awarding of a $1.3 billion Defence contract to a Bendigo-based business.

Bendigo benefits economically from a number of major companies which are based locally but perform nationally  including Thales, the company that received the Defence contract recently.

It has had steady long-term price growth (averaging around 5% per year) in its housing market but it remains affordable, with solid rental yields available for investors (most suburbs have median yields between 4.5 and 5.5 percent).

And recently, sales activity has increased, boosted by both home-buyers and investors out of Melbourne seeking affordability and growth. Most of Bendigos suburbs have median house prices between $250,000 and $380,000  and prices are now starting to rise.

Stirling LGA, WA

The Stirling LGA is one of four precincts in the Perth metropolitan area leading the recovery in the Perth property market, following the citys four-year real estate downturn.

Properties across this precinct maintained a steadier performance than most Perth locations throughout the recent economic downturn - and now 10 of its suburbs have rising markets, including Carine, Doubleview, Gwelup, Innaloo, Joondanna and Tuart Hill..

The City of Stirling offers a leisurely seaside lifestyle, being home to the internationally renowned Scarborough Beach. Trendy bars and cafes impart a youthful vibrancy, attracting a steady stream of 2040-year-olds.

Further adding to the regions appeal are the shopping and education facilities, coupled with good transport links to the Perth CBD.

The Stirling LGA has some affordable suburbs with medians in the $300,000s, but most suburbs are middle-market areas with typical prices in the $600,000s and $700,000s.

Queanbeyan, NSW

The proximity of Queanbeyan (now part of the newly-formed Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council area) to the nations capital is paying dividends for local property markets.

The region is experiencing strong population growth, unemployment is low, new housing estates are under construction and there are plans for the nearby Canberra International Airport to become a 24-hour freight hub.

But the most appealing aspect of Queanbeyan is its affordability relative to Canberra, with median prices for both houses and units below those in the national capital. Its also helped by NSW incentives for first-home buyers.

Property sales activity in Queanbeyan increased in 2016, leading it to become a standout region for growth, and the uplift continued in 2017 and into 2018.

With Canberra forecast to be one of the nations leading cities for price growth in the next few years, Queanbeyans links to the capital are expected to boost the local market.

Good rental yields are another attraction, with several suburbs having median yields around 45% for houses and 5.5% for units.

Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au

[email protected]

twitter.com/hotspottingThese professorships will help the computer science department continue to push forward and thrive, across all frontiers of computation.

The University of Marylands College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) will receive $1 million from the states Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative (MEI) to match a private donation establishing two Brin Family Endowed Professorships in Theoretical Computer Science.

The Brin family is extremely grateful to the state of Maryland for this match, said Samuel Brin (B.S. 09, computer science), who spearheaded the effort on behalf of his family. Our family is committed to Prince Georges County and the University of Maryland, our home for many years. These professorships will help the computer science department continue to push forward and thrive, across all frontiers of computation.

In addition to Samuel, the Brin family includes his brother and Google co-founder, Sergey Brin (B.S. 93, mathematics and computer science); his father, UMD Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Michael Brin; and his mother Eugenia Brin, a retired NASA scientist who worked on issues related to climate and weather forecasting.

The MEI, which launched in 2015, is designed to spur private donations to universities in the state for applied research in scientific and technical fields by matching such donations. UMD has received over $8 million from MEImore than any other institution in the state.

This strong public-private partnership will help generate the knowledge that powers high-tech innovation in the state, said UMD President Wallace D. Loh. Together, the Maryland Department of Commerce and the Brin family will enable us to recruit two more world-class scientists to our growing computer science hub. We appreciate this important support.

CMNS has received $7.3 million from the program to establish six new endowed professorships in computer science and four new endowed chairs in computer science, the life sciences and mathematics. The endowed chair in mathematics was created in 2015 thanks to a donation from Michael and Eugenia Brin that was matched by the state. The Michael and Eugenia Brin E-Nnovate Endowed Chair in Mathematics is currently held by Visiting Professor Michael Rapoport.

These endowed faculty positions allow us to expand our colleges innovation ecosystem by recruiting new faculty members and providing them with the critical resources they need to enhance the regional and state economy through their research endeavors and the students they teach and mentor, said CMNS Dean Amitabh Varshney.

The new Brin Family Endowed Professorships will be held by computer science faculty members who work in the area of theoretical computer science. By applying rigorously developed theory and algorithms, computer scientists are solving practical problems arising in networks, computer graphics, image processing, architecture, social networks and epidemiology. Theoretical computer science also provides the foundation for research priorities such as cryptography, data science and machine learning, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

Theoretical computer science continues to make important contributions to computing by laying the foundational building blocks for the technologies of today and the future, said Ming Lin, chair of the UMD Department of Computer Science and holder of the Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe Endowed E-Nnovate Chair. With the support of the Brin Family Professorships, the Department of Computer Science at Maryland can further solidify its global status and reputation in these important research areas.

In addition to the Brin Family Endowed Professorships in Theoretical Computer Science, the computer science MEI endowments include:



The Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe Endowed E-Nnovate Chair, held by Lin since January 2018, which was funded by Elizabeth Iribe and funds from the state.

The Paul Chrisman Iribe Endowed E-Nnovate Professorship, held by Dinesh Manocha since May 2018, which was funded by Elizabeth Iribe and an equal match from the state. It honors Elizabeths brother.

The Reginald Allan Hahne Endowed E-Nnovate Professor in virtual reality, held by Matthias Zwicker since March 2017, which was funded by Elizabeth Iribe and an equal match from the state. It was named for her son Brendan Iribes high school computer science teacher.

One Capital One Endowed E-Nnovate Chair and two Capital One Endowed E-Nnovate Professors in machine learning, data science and cybersecurity, funded by Capital One and an equal match from the state.

My heartfelt thanks to the Brin and Iribe families, as well as Capital One, Lin said. If they didnt have the vision and desire to give back, none of this would have been possible. The students are the biggest beneficiaries of these gifts, which also help elevate the department to the next level.

As the Department of Computer Science searches for candidates to fill the Brin Family Professorships and the Capital One Chair and Professorships, construction continues on the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation. A cutting-edge research, education and entrepreneurship facility for computer science at UMD, the facility is expected to open in 2019. The new building became a reality thanks to a $31 million gift from alumnus Brendan Iribe, co-founder of the virtual reality company Oculus.

These generous gifts support Fearless Ideas: The Campaign for Maryland, UMDs $1.5 billion fundraising campaign focused on elevating and expanding the universitys mission of service, enhancing academic distinction and bolstering UMDs leading-edge research enterprise.

The support for a new building and endowed faculty positions is transforming the university, the region and the state, as our students graduate and go on to develop technological innovations that impact society and drive the economic growth for the state of Maryland, Lin said.Echelon's Mirage porcelain veneers create beautiful interior design accents. The Architizer Award program recognizes manufacturers pushing the envelope and advancing modern design  its a tremendous honor and validation of the direction our Echelon brand is forging in the marketplace. --Ken O'Neill, EVP, National Group, Oldcastle APG

Echelon Veneers by Mirage was recently announced as a Top 5 finalist in the 2018 Architizer A+ Awards Building Products-Building Envelopes & Cladding category. The porcelain veneers are ideal for vertical applications such as outdoor walls and wall coverings. The consolidated masonry brand of Oldcastle APG, Echelons InsulTech was honored in 2016 as a Top 5 Finalist for its InsulTech Concrete Masonry System (ICMS).

Since launching in 2016, Echelon has set the standard for modern masonry applications  from our advanced wall systems to working with partners that embrace a similar philosophy. Mirage Porcelain Veneers are a bold, yet functional, cladding solution that really elevates our Artisan veneers portfolio for design professionals seeking beauty and performance, said Ken ONeill, EVP, National Group for Oldcastle APG. The Architizer Award program recognizes manufacturers pushing the envelope and advancing modern design  its a tremendous honor and validation of the direction our Echelon brand is forging in the marketplace.

This years 6th annual Architizer A+ Awards received entries from 100 countries for 98 different categories. Each year the Architizer A+ Awards recognizes the best architecture and products, with more than 400 renowned judges reviewing the entries, selecting a final five and overall winner for each category. With over 3 million monthly views, Architizer.com is noted as one of the largest and most influential online community of architects.

The exquisite craftsmanship of Italian artisans along with rugged durability, ease of maintenance and endless design aesthetics  Echelon Veneers by Mirage set a new standard for modern masonry design. Mirage goes above and beyond typical porcelain with strength and durability. Features such as high density and an ultra-low absorption rate help create a tight surface, allowing the veneers to fend off surface mold, moss, dirt and other types of stains found in exterior applications.

Mirage is available in three bold color collections: Quarziti in five colors that reflect the landscape and quartz stones; Ardesie with the look of natural elements and Noon, which features the look of distressed or fresh wood --perfect to today's Modern Farmhouse trend. The new also line coordinates with several items in the Belgard porcelain paver collection, which is Echelons sister brand.

To view the Top 5 Finalists in the Architizer A+ Building Envelope/Cladding category, visit the Architizer A+ Awards at http://bit.ly/2Mj1S8c For more information and to check availability, contact your local Echelon Masonry representative by visiting http://www.EchelonMasonry.com/about/contact-us

About Echelon Masonry

Echelon is the consolidated brand for all masonry products and services of Oldcastle APG including Trenwyth Architectural Masonry, Artisan Masonry Stone Veneers, Quik-Brik Concrete Masonry Units, Amerimix Bagged Goods and a complete portfolio of Performance Upgrades. As a single source masonry portfolio solution, Echelon delivers consistent, reliable product manufactured locally at more than 170 locations and delivered by an unrivaled logistics network. For more information, visit EchelonMasonry.com.AltiumLive 2018 will provide a unique opportunity for thought leaders and practitioners in PCB design, manufacturing, and component supply chain to connect and collaborate on how the electronics industry can establish a more connected design to realization experience.

Altium today announced that its 2nd annual PCB Design Summit will take place in San Diego on October 4-5, 2018. AltiumLive 2018 will build upon last years successful user event to provide PCB design professionals with a host of opportunities to expand their engineering knowledge and design skills through live workshops, professional development courses, industry keynote speakers, and previews of new Altium products. Additionally, AltiumLive 2018 will provide a unique opportunity for thought leaders and practitioners in PCB design, manufacturing, and component supply chain to connect and collaborate on how the electronics industry can establish a more connected design to realization experience.

One of the biggest challenges in the electronics industry is product realization  the process of getting from an idea to a physical printed circuit board  in large part because component availability and manufacturing line capabilities are only discovered after a design is complete, said Ted Pawela, Chief Operating Officer at Altium. Our intent with AltiumLive, and with our software, is to improve electronics product design and realization by better connecting the design, manufacturing, and supply chain domains.

This years 2-day summit will feature keynote presentations from industry leaders, including Eric Bogatin, Rick Hartley, Bil Herd, and Jeremy Blum, professional development courses offering immersive training and in-depth industry insights, and ample opportunity to network with peers and supply chain providers. Altium will also unveil key product launches including Altium Designer 19, and the latest release of Altium NEXUS. In addition, this years conference will feature an optional University Day filled with hands-on training in Altium Designer, and a parallel full-day course in high-speed design taught by leading authority, Lee Ritchey.

Theres just so much content here, the content is very relevant, and its well done, said Tara Dunn, President of Omni PCB about last years AltiumLive PCB design conference. Theres high energy in the event, its fast paced, and everyone was saying what a great value its been. Added Happy Holden, the Father of HDI, I havent attended a designer conference like this in a long time.

The AltiumLive: Annual PCB Design Summit in North America and Europe was inspired by and designed specifically for the electronics design community. Altium seeks to create a platform where PCB designers and members of the entire electronics value chain can come together to collaborate on industry trends, best practices, and practical solutions to their challenges.

Join the conversation at AltiumLive 2018 in San Diego

Registration is now open for AltiumLive 2018: Annual PCB Design Summit in North America. The event will take place at the Loews Coronado Bay Hotel in San Diego on October 4th and 5th, with the optional educational day on October 3rd. Early registration is encouraged, as space for this event is limited.

For more information or to register for AltiumLive 2018: Annual PCB Design Summit in North America, please visit the event website.K4Connect The recent advancements of K4Community will not only empower older adults to live more independent and healthier lives, but will enable senior living communities to provide state-of-the-art care to their residents while lowering costs.

K4Connect, a mission-centered technology company that creates technology solutions that serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, today announced a number of enhancements to its flagship solution, K4Community. The latest updates to this state-of-the-art solution expand on previous versions with a special focus on streamlining staff workflows and reducing rework.

Built specifically for the senior living industry, K4Community is a single system that serves the needs of residents, their families and friends, staff, and community operators. Leveraging K4Connects patented K4LifePlatform, K4Community, brings together all aspects of a senior living community  from menus and event calendars, to smart home automation, community management and analytics  into a singular application that can be accessed via mobile device, tablets or desktop computers.

K4Community 2.1 is the companys third major release of 2018, highlighting the value of an open platform. Advanced product integrations and new user enhancements including:



Create and Publish in a Single Application  Gone are the days of switching between various tools to create community assets (calendars, menus, flyers, etc.), duplicating data entry through multiple tools, or having out of sync information across all your content systems (web, print, digital tv, etc.). With K4Community 2.1, community staff are able to create, print and digitally share community content and assets across multiple systems including digital signage, resident TVs, print, smart phones, laptops and tablets using a single solution designed specifically for senior living. This solution introduces the power of branded templates to speedup creation and improves consistency, and powerful scheduling technology which allows creators to set it and forget it. K4Communitys new Content Creation and Publishing tool introduces a whole new way of creating and publishing content: one that is fun, creative, flexible and collaborative.

Save Time With Automated Morning Check In  The latest version of K4Community allows senior living teams to automate the morning check in process, augmenting a timely, error prone, and manual process while providing increased independence for older adults in senior living communities. K4Communitys Automated Morning Check-in provides a passive morning check-in functionality leveraging smart home technology.

Smart Scales and Blood Pressure Cuffs Enhance Resident Wellness  Building on K4Communitys fitness and sleep tracking solutions, Version 2.1 expands the connected wellness capabilities to include smart blood pressure cuffs and smart scales. These new products along with existing solutions provide the industrys most comprehensive, integrated connected wellness solution allowing residents to stay active while managing their health.

Were excited to introduce the latest version of K4Community, and to continue our mission of providing our nations older adults with technology built specifically for them, said F. Scott Moody, Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Member Advocate of K4Connect. The recent advancements of K4Community will not only empower older adults to live more independent and healthier lives, but will enable senior living communities to provide state-of-the-art care to their residents while lowering costs.

K4Community 2.1 is currently being deployed to thousands of senior living residents and their families across the United States.

About K4Connect

K4Connect is a mission-centered technology company creating connected-life solutions that serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, and those that support them. K4Connects products encourage simpler, healthier and happier lives by integrating the latest technologies, enabling more independent and healthier lives, while fostering social connection. The Companys first product, K4Community, is specifically designed for the residents, staff and operators of senior living communities and currently serves thousands across the U.S. For more information, please visit

http://www.k4connect.com.Astro Pak at the Top of the Pack in Orange County Businesses

Astro Pak headquarters in Costa Mesa, California earned a top position in the 2018 Best Places to Work in Orange County. The annual county-wide program is conducted by the regional business news outlet, Orange County Business Journal.

The competition is a two-part process that includes looking at business organizations workplace policies, demographics and practices followed by an anonymous survey of its employees. The award contest is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Orange County according to its official statement. It ranks for-profits, non-profits and government entities along with privately and publicly held companies. The only limitations are that the organization have 15 or more employees and been open for longer than a year.

The survey portion is an in-depth examination of employee engagement and satisfaction where respondents rank various aspects on a five-point scale. A pair of open-ended questions allow the employees to offer more insight into aspects of their company. While the company policies section accounts for 25% of the business score, the employee survey portion provides the 75%. The data is then analyzed and ranked with the top winners being selected in a number of categories based on size. The winners will be announced in a special segment of the Orange County Business Journals issue in late July.

Astro Pak considers inclusion in this award to be a great honor and believes that it is due to the great people who are dedicated to ensuring the excellence of the service provided to our clients. The passion for going above and beyond is at all levels, from the crew members who work to exceed our clients expectations to leadership that values employees as part of an extended family and supporting a number of non-profits. The commitment to industry leadership, whether sharing knowledge on industry standards committees or becoming the preferred service provider for overseas projects reflects the companys rich culture of respect, loyalty, continued learning along with personal and professional fulfillment that endures as we continue to grow while sticking close to our roots.

Once again, Astro Pak congratulates its Orange County team on this esteemed milestone and achievement.

About Astro Pak

Astro Pak has been the leading provider of passivation, high purity and precision cleaning services in North America since 1959. Astro Pak meets the critical cleaning and surface conditioning requirements for a myriad of industries such as biopharmaceutical and aerospace via our on-site services, as well as our state-of-the-art cleanroom and shop facilities. Astro Pak is privately held with headquarters in Costa Mesa, CA. For more information, please visit astropak.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Mary Cheng

Astro Pak Corporation

Tel: 949.270.0854

Email: mcheng(at)astropak.comBack to The Basics: The Expected Family: a call to return to the body of Christ. Back to The Basics: The Expected Family is the creation of published author, Gloria Williams. Gloria resides in Jacksonville, Florida. She has been married to her husband, James, for 29 years of the 40 years she has known him. She is the mother of six children. In October of 1991, her son Fredrick passed away at the age of 29. In June of 1998, her son Glenroy passed away at the age of 25. She has four daughters whose ages range from 50 to 55 years old. All of them live in Jacksonville. She enjoys her eleven grown grandchildren and twenty-six great grandchildren. She learned at an early age to believe and trust in the Lord and to stand strong on the promises of God. She was raised by her mother and grand, who passed away six months apart in 1971. She is the oldest of eight children. She helped take care of her sisters and brother, which taught her the value of as for me, and my house, will serve the Lord. She became a widow at the age of 31 when her first husband died at the age of 36.

I believe in this season of time; the Lord is speaking to the church. The church worldwide in which; he is the head Shepard to return back to our first love. --Gloria Williams

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Gloria Williamss new book appeals to the righteousness inside all men.

Every living being consists of two spirits. One is of righteousness and the other one is of darkness. Throughout the journey of life, there will always be trials and tribulations to overcome. During these moments, the two spirits will fight for control. One must understand the only control man has is the power to accept change and march toward the good that is in the world. Man must choose to hold fast to the Holy Spirit. Man much choose to embrace the righteous spirit over the dark spirit.

In Back to The Basics: The Expected Family, author Gloria Williams returns to the body of Christ. To return to the body of Christ means to believe in the words of the Bible. It offers life to those who read it. It gives them the strength to stand and the faith they need to hold firm in dark times. The faithful must take the unconditional love and forgiveness of God back to their family through Gods grace and mercy. He holds faithful Christians responsible. They are to set a good example as mature sons and daughters of God, so others can also make the right choices.

View a synopsis of Back to The Basics: The Expected Family on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Back to The Basics: The Expected Family at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Back to The Basics: The Expected Family, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.Amazing things happen when you take the time to get everyone aligned around a clear vision, and then get out of their way!

Avalution Consulting  the leading provider of business continuity, IT disaster recovery, and information security consulting and software solutions  announced today that ERC has named the firm one of the Top 99 places to work in Northeast Ohio for the second consecutive year through the NorthCoast 99 program.

We are humbled to once again be recognized as one of the top workplaces in Northeast Ohio, stated Brian Zawada, Avalutions Managing Director and Chief Visionary Officer. What separates us from other organizations is our culture. Our team members stay with us and grow rapidly because we have created an environment where collaboration, input, and feedback are strongly encouraged, and success, creativity, and continual improvement are celebrated. Avalution is a place where you can bring new ideas forward, grow your career, and find meaningful work experiences. Receiving this award confirms that were headed in the right direction with our culture, and we look forward to continuing to develop that culture with our employees.

Additionally, Avalution was recognized as the 2018 winner of the 'Challenging, Meaningful Work & Professional Development' special category, which is awarded to an organization when their employees view their work as challenging and meaningful, understand how their contributions impact the organizations success, and are provided opportunities for learning, growth, and development.

Im incredibly honored to come to work every day with a group of people that I love to work with; who enjoy solving problems and helping our clients achieve more, stated Rob Giffin, Avalutions Managing Director and President. Amazing things happen when you take the time to get everyone aligned around a clear vision, and then get out of their way!

NorthCoast 99 is in its 20th year of recognizing great places to work for top performing people that drive results, provide competitive advantages, and allow businesses to innovate and grow. Applicants are evaluated based on policies and practices related to the attraction and retention of top performers, as well as data collected from employee surveys.

Were extremely honored to recognize the 2018 NorthCoast 99 winners. These organizations have earned the right to call themselves a great workplace by their dedication to attracting, supporting, retaining, and motivating their Top Performers. ERC developed the NorthCoast 99 program with the hopes of inspiring local leaders to promote the great workplace movement, comments Kelly Keefe, President of ERC.

About NorthCoast 99

NorthCoast 99 is an annual recognition program that honors 99 great workplaces for top talent in Northeast Ohio. The program is presented by ERC (http://www.yourerc.com). ERC helps organizations create great workplaces by providing HR resources, training, and consulting services. Sponsors of the NorthCoast 99 program include: Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, CareerCurve, Cleveland Magazine, Corporate Screening, ERChealth, Ginos Awards, iHeart Media, Mark Wayner Photography and Videography, Meyers, Roman, Friedburg, & Lewis, Oswald Companies, Staffing Solutions Enterprises, and Ultimate Software.

About Avalution

Avalution is the leading provider of business continuity consulting, information security consulting, and related software solutions. Avalution also assists in preparing organizations for ISO 22301 certification, as well as assessing readiness for the certification process. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio (USA), Avalution is an ISO 22301-certified firm.

Avalution also offers Catalyst business continuity software. Catalyst makes business continuity and IT disaster recovery planning easy and repeatable for every organization  regardless of size, industry, or geography.

+1.866.533.0575 | avalution.comBoulder iQ Logo Boulder iQ understands the ever-changing regulatory environments, particularly with clinical evaluation reports.

Boulder iQ has named Carrie Hetrick, D.D.S., vice president of regulatory and clinical affairs.

Hetrick will lead the consulting firms regulatory work for the medical device and in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) industries, within the United States and internationally. She brings more than 18 years of expertise in quality management systems and business process improvement/management, complex regulatory submissions, and quality and regulatory compliance consulting to Boulder iQ. Hetricks experience includes U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) premarket notifications, premarket amendments, OUS regulatory submissions, clinical evaluation reports, clinical studies, regulatory audits and implementation of quality systems. She has helped hundreds of companies navigate the 510(k) and CE Mark clearance and approval processes.

Before joining Boulder iQ, Hetrick held executive-level regulatory positions at publicly held medical device companies as well as small start-up manufacturers. She has a wide range of experience with multiple medtech industries, clients, and products from her position as a senior consultant/trainer for Oriel STAT A MATRIX (Union, New Jersey), and as a senior global regulatory consultant at Emergo Global Consulting, LLC (Austin, Texas).

Hetrick holds a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Colorado Health Science Center, and Bachelor of Science degree from Pacific Lutheran University. She currently is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Advanced Biotechnology, concentrating in regulatory science, from Johns Hopkins University.

Business Sweden speaking engagements, Sept. 5 and 6

Hetrick will travel to Sweden in September to present Strategies for success: The FDA in 2018  An update and guide to navigating the FDA as a life science, medtech, or digital health company. She will present at a Medicon Village event in Lund Sept. 5, and at the Stockholm Science City seminar Sept. 6. Her presentation will provide an overview of the FDAs regulations, and a regulatory strategy and roadmap for life science, biologic, medical device and digital health companies looking to sell in the United States and prevent costly delays.

Boulder iQ specializes in assisting medical device companies with clearances and approvals for both the United States and European markets. The firm understands the everchanging regulatory environments, explains Hetrick. Regulatory agencies are focusing more and more on risk and hazard analysis, she says. Boulder iQ aids companies in navigating the legal and regulatory requirements and standards needed to obtain marketing application approvals and postmarket activities.

Jim Kasic, president and CEO of Boulder iQ, adds that the process of getting medical devices through the 510(k) process and obtaining the CE Mark is more straightforward now than in the past. However, the new Medical Device Regulation (MDR) 2017/745 in Europe has imposed significantly more scrutiny on the clinical evaluation reports (CERs), he says. In fact, to meet the May 26, 2020, transition deadline, manufacturers who sell their devices in the EU will be required to meet the MDR and the new quality system requirements, classification rules, technical documentation, Unique Device Identification (UDI), Postmarket Surveillance (PMS), and Post Clinical Follow-Up (PCFU). This ultimately will create a huge bottleneck in the industry.

About Boulder iQ (http://www.boulderiq.com)

Boulder iQ is an expert contract consulting firm for medical and non-medical product development. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Boulder iQ offers design engineering for consumer and industrial products, and complete quality and regulatory services for the medical device and in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) industries.

(end)Bryan Lindsey has solidified an agreement to invest an undisclosed amount of funding in ChromoCare, a leading genetics-testing firm that has developed a proprietary test and multifactorial algorithm related to medication compatibility within 24 genes in the human body. This investment makes Lindsey the single largest outside investor in ChromoCare in North America.

ChromoCare's leading product is The GAP Test. The test is able to identify when a patient will not benefit from 350+ medications, including opiates, due to their genetic inability to metabolize the drug. ChromoCares next product, ChromoALERT, is a platform that enables the patient and physician insight into the individuals genetic based susceptibility to addiction. These two factors can now be utilized to inform treatment decisions and provide safer pain management treatment.

The GAP Test is a genetic medication-compatibility test that brings added insight, reduces adverse events and the need for repeat office visits or ER visits, due to incompatible drug or dosage issues. Saving lives, saving time and saving money.

ChromoCare is proving that patients who use the GAP Test will save thousands of dollars on both pharmacy and medical-claims costs for their employers.

"I am so excited to partner with ChromoCare! ChromoCare is positioned to create significant category disruption in the $3 Trillion healthcare industry in the U.S. alone. I have invested in several domestic and international companies; however, I am the most excited about this stake in ChromoCare," states Lindsey.

"The Pharmaceutical industry generates over $1 Trillion dollars globally and costs employees and employers hundreds of billions of dollars per year. We have proven that with ChromoCare we will reduce these costs to both employees and employers and solidify our category leading position in this space. We anticipate we will generate significant revenue for ChromoCare while simultaneously saving lives, time and billions of dollars for hard-working Americans and business owners," Lindsey continued.

Founded in 2013 by Jeff Garshon, president, the company is led by Chairman & CEO Hugh Cathey, Garshon, and COO Jodie Fortine. Cathey is a proven leader in the healthcare space and others, including telecommunications companies where he has served as the senior executive in both public and private companies.

ChromoCare is a growing company quickly in its industry. Their innovation in Precision Medicine and Pharmacognetics (PGx) leverages the latest technology and has been instrumental in driving the companys growth.

Chairman and CEO Hugh Cathey said, We are very excited that Lindsey has decided to invest with ChromoCare. He has a proven track record of successful investments globally and we are looking forward to his involvement in assisting us to continue our mission of creating a category changing role in the Pharmacogenetics space."

Cathey explains, "ChromoCare has established a leadership position in this space with its customers (large employer groups), unique culture, and relentless focus on patient delivery. We are excited to partner with Lindsey and the existing management team to continue our path of being a leading company in this category. With access to this capital, as well as our many years of experience in this space, we are confident that this investment will significantly accelerate the companys growth trajectory."

The transaction has closed and ChromoCare is definitely excited about our enhanced direction and focus.

About ChromoCare

Founded in Ohio in 2013, ChromoCare is in a leading position to positively impact the healthcare outcomes and costs of medical claims in the world of self-insured Employer Groups, who make up 65% of all companies in the United States.

About Bryan Lindsey:

Bryan is a multifaceted investor, business owner, seasoned hospitality leader and philanthropist. One of his most notable partnerships is with Tuff-N-Uff MMA, the largest amateur mixed martial arts organization in the world and developer of the future stars of MMA, such as superstar Ronda Rousey. The senior level executive had spent nearly 20 years with Station Casinos, now named Red Rock Resorts Inc. (RRR) and recently left his position post the RRR initial public offering, which resulted in the company raising $531.4 million. He held numerous positions, both at the property level at resorts such as Green Valley Ranch in Henderson and Red Rock Resort in Summerlin, as well as at the Corporate Headquarters. Bryan is very active in the Las Vegas Valley community. He is a Commissioner for the City of Henderson, Board Member and Vice President of the Board of the United States Congressional Awards of Nevada, Board Member for the Henderson Chamber of Commerce, Board Member & member of the Executive Board for the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada, Former Chairman of the American Heart Association, Top Fundraiser in the State of NV and Top 10 in the Nation for the American Cancer Society REAL MEN WEAR PINK campaign, as well as Board Member of CEOs against Cancer. He and his family enjoy participating in Noah's Animal House fundraising events. Bryan is married and lives with his wife and two daughters in Henderson.BigMike Straumietis

BigMike Straumietis, founder and CEO of Advanced Nutrients the No. 1-selling cannabis brand in the world  reveals the top 10 medical uses for cannabis.

Unfortunately, the stigma attached to cannabis and cannabis consumers still lingers today, even with the overwhelming scientific evidence in support of its medicinal properties, BigMike contends. This is the reason why we must continue to advocate for cannabis and educate those who still hold tight to outdated, debunked, downright wrong notions about this plant.

Although the use of cannabis as a medicine can be traced back millennia  with evidence of usage in many cultures, including ancient China, Egypt and India  our modern cultural relationship with cannabis has been clouded by misinformation, defamation and propaganda.

In fact, there is a whole spectrum of active compounds contained in marijuana that researchers have shown to have medical applications. Two of the most well-known are cannabidiol (CBD), which has shown promising therapeutic effects on brain conditions without the patient experiencing an inebriating high, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which has pain-relieving properties and is largely responsible for the high, BigMike explains.

Changing the stigma associated with consuming medical cannabis is important, because clinical studies indicate that for certain conditions, cannabis offers a fast and effective relief. Here are the to 10 medical uses for cannabis.

1. Cannabis For Pain Relief

THC activates pathways in the bodys central nervous system that work to block pain signals being sent to the brain. Cannabis has also been shown to be especially effective against neuropathic pain, otherwise known as nerve-related pain.

2. Cannabis For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The active psychoactive compound THC can also temporarily relieve the anxiety and persistent traumatic memories that are often associated with PTSD.

3. Cannabis For Nausea And Vomiting

Currently, there are Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmaceuticals on the market that contain THC to treat nausea and vomiting, including Marinol, a pill containing synthetic THC, the first of its kind approved by the FDA. These medications have proven very helpful for cancer patients.

4. Cannabis Helps With Appetite Stimulation

Medical marijuana helps patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy by boosting their appetites. Cannabis also helps others at risk of significant weight loss or malnutrition by encouraging them to eat.

5. Medical Cannabis For Asthma

THC has the ability to improve breathing in people living with asthma.

6. Cannabis For Glaucoma

THC helps relieve eye pressure in patients living with the debilitating group of eye conditions known as glaucoma, which can often result in vision impairment or blindness.

7. Cannabis As A Sleep Aid

THC and CBD oil, both properties of the cannabis plant, help induce sleep and reduce sleep interruptions.

8. Cannabis For Cancer

Over the past several years, dozens of studies point to the effectiveness of cannabis in managing the unpleasant side effects of different types of cancer, including brain, breast, prostate, lung, thyroid, colon, pituitary, melanoma and leukemia.

9. Cannabis To Manage Epilepsy

Charlottes Web is a strain of cannabis that helps reduce seizures in children living with severe forms of epilepsy.

10. Cannabis For Concussion

Israeli researchers are exploring cannabis as a potential treatment for traumatic brain injury.

In addition to CBD and THC, there are another 400 or so chemical compounds, more than 60 of which are cannabinoids. Many of these could have amazing medical uses, BigMike concludes.

In light of a mounting scientific evidence, the World Health Organization has called for an inquiry that examines the legality of cannabis worldwide. One can only hope patients will soon have unfettered access to medically effective, clean cannabis to alleviate their symptoms.Live Call data  Car Wars latest addition to the companys increasing list of cutting-edge features  is fairly simple: agents and managers can view call data in real-time via the upcoming Call Box platform. The feature displays caller information such as name, gender, upcoming Service appointments and caller history.

But dont underestimate the features simplicity; its value is huge for the average dealer.

Customers are more likely to purchase a vehicle from an agent who cares about establishing a relationship. Live Call data is a resource for your agents to create and maintain those relationships through information. Ongoing updates and live results work to eliminate the possibility of ever forgetting customers and details about their past conversations.

In order to continue revolutionizing the customer phone experience, were using Live Call data to ensure every single lead is logged in CRM, Car Wars Vice President of Automotive, Mike Haeg, said. Now, agents are able to claim their leads through Live Calls and establish long-term customer relationships. In six or seven years when the customer is ready to buy another car, hell return to the dealer he trusts. The Live Calls feature and accompanying data is the tool to cultivate return customers every time.

Not only does the feature improve customer relations, Live Call data also holds agents more accountable. Managers have access to call information in order to monitor agents' phone performance.

Car Wars' Live Call feature is helping dealerships form better relationships with customers, while also holding agents more accountable through managerial viewing access. This combination will take dealerships to the next level.

More features are coming soon from Car Wars, so stay tuned. For more information, go to http://www.carwars.com.

About Car Wars

Car Wars combines artificial and human intelligence to listen to and categorize every inbound and outbound call at the dealership. This data provides managers insight into how every call is handled, alerts them when an opportunity needs attention, and actively improves phone performance in sales and service.

Car Wars uses competition and transparent accountability to create a high-powered phone culture that converts more phone calls into booked appointments.SweetLeaf-logo.jpg Were thrilled that Victoria Beckham mentioned Sweet Drops, which is one of our most popular products, said Carol May, CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands, maker of SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener.

Every company enjoys hearing organic word-of-mouth praise from consumers, but when unexpected accolades come from an international music and fashion icon, its news. Publications from Ireland to South Africa picked up word that Victoria Beckham favors SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia Sweet Drops in the convenient 50ml bottles after she posted about them on Instagram.

I am totally into these Sweet Drops, the 44-year-old mother of four/former pop star/fashion influencer posted to her 21.8 million Instagram followers recently. Turns out Beckhams nutritionist, Amelia Freer, recommends Sweet Drops as does weight-loss guru Louise Parker, whose celebrity clients include Britains Duchess of Cambridge.

Were thrilled that Victoria Beckham mentioned Sweet Drops, which is one of our most popular products, said Carol May, CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands, maker of SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener. Just as millions of consumers around the world have discovered, Sweet Drops are a delicious way to add flavor and sweetness to foods, drinks, and recipes with zero calories, no added sugars, no artificial sweeteners, and a non-glycemic response.

After the post went viral on social media, Great Britains DailyMail.com wrote about how Beckham uses Sweet Drops as part of her healthy routine and secret of eternal slenderness to its 53.14M website visitors and 1.4M newspaper readers. Soon, the story was picked up by Topix.com (1.93M visits/month) and ExpressDigest.com (11.95K visits/month) in the United States, MyStyleNews.com in the United Kingdom, Scottish Daily Mail (114K daily), Irish Daily Mail (64K daily) and IOL.co.za (1.86M visits/month) in South Africa.

Available in Caramel, Vanilla, Chocolate, Coconut, and SteviaClear, Sweet Drops are available in a convenient, user-friendly BPA-free 50ml bottle. The sugar-free drops are kosher, gluten-free, and Non-GMO Project Verified. Sweet Drops also are sold in 2-oz. glass bottles in 16 flavors.

SweetLeaf is currently in select retailers in the UK, including Harrods Pharmacy, as well as Amazon.com and other online retailers.

For more information about SweetLeaf, visit SweetLeaf.com. For interviews with company leadership, please contact the names listed at the bottom of the release.

###

About WISDOM NATURAL BRANDS

Wisdom Natural Brands, based in Gilbert, Ariz., has been the leading stevia expert and industry pioneer with its SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener brand for more than 35 years. SweetLeaf is the only stevia brand winning 32 awards for taste and innovation. Wisdom introduced herbal beverages made from Yerba Mate through its Wisdom of the Ancients brand, one of the most respected herbal beverage lines in the natural industry.

SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener has zero calories, a non-glycemic response, no sugars, and no artificial ingredients. SweetLeaf is sold in boxes containing 35 or 70 packets and shaker jars for easy home usewith SweetLeaf Organics for a high-quality choiceand SweetLeaf SteviaTabs dissolvable tablets for on-the-go use. SweetLeaf SugarLeaf bonds stevia and cane sugar for a low-calorie alternative perfect for baking and cooking with two-thirds fewer calories than sugar. SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia Sweet Drops (2-oz and 50ml) add flavor without calories, or artificial ingredients to foods and beverages. SweetLeaf Water Drops add delicious flavor to still or sparkling water. SweetLeaf Stevia Syrup, with the natural sweetness of stevia and monk fruit, comes in three popular flavors.

Wisdom of the Ancients herbal beverages are available in bags and loose leaves. Organic Yerba Mate brings more than 250 unique nutrients and provides more antioxidants than green tea. Yerba Mate Royale, a blend sweetened with stevia, has more than 350 nutrients to nourish the body. Organic Yerba Mate Hibiscus, Yerba Mate Tulsi, Yerba Mate Masala and Yerba Mate Pau DArco add exotic flavors along with many nutrients.

SweetLeaf and Wisdom of the Ancients products are available at health food stores, natural stores, supermarkets, and online retailers.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Barbara McFadden

McFadden/Gavender

O: (520) 882-6262

M: (520) 990-6040

barbara@mcfaddengavender.com

David A. Bowers

McFadden/Gavender

O: (520) 882-6262

M: (480) 232-0425

David@mcfaddengavender.comCustody has been a big issue for digital asset funds, we are excited to be part of the emerging solution

After two successful events, the CoinAlts Fund Symposium is excited to announce its third symposium will take place in San Francisco on September 20, 2018 at the St. Regis Hotel. Headlined by keynote speaker Tim Draper, founder of Draper Associates and the Draper Venture Network, additional speakers include crypto industry veterans as well as digital asset fund managers. The all-day conference will address legal and operational concerns germane to the digital asset industry, as well as emerging trends in operations and raising capital from institutional investors.

We are excited to present a program that will focus on the institutionalization of the digital asset space, specifically: what is happening with custody of digital assets, said conference co-chair Bart Mallon of the law firm Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP. Lewis Chong of Harneys, another conference co-chair, echoed those sentiments noting that, clients are keenly aware of the various ways that custody is emerging and evolving to meet investor desire for the safety of digital assets.

Sam McIngvale, the product lead at Coinbase Custody and a conference panelist, said, custody has been a big issue for digital asset funds, we are excited to be part of the emerging solution set and to talk about the other trends we are seeing with this asset class.

Registration is now open on the CoinAlts Fund Symposium website  current early bird pricing for investment managers is $300 per person and $950 per person for service providers. Early bird pricing ends on August 31, 2018, after which the price will be $500 and $1,200 respectively.

The Symposium together with Coinbase is also hosting a networking event exclusively for women in the digital asset community: Women in Crypto which will be held on September 19, 2018 at Rooftop, Hotel VIA.

About the CoinAlts Fund Symposium

The CoinAlts Fund Symposium was established by four firms with practices significantly devoted to fund managers in the cryptocurrency and digital asset space. Cohen & Company specializes in the investment industry and advises cryptocurrency funds on important tax, audit and operational matters. MG Stover & Co. is a full service fund administration firm built by former auditors and fund operators to deliver world class solutions to the global alternative investment industry. Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP is a premier boutique investment management law firm, providing top-tier, responsive and cost-effective legal solutions for cryptocurrency fund managers. Harneys is a leading international offshore law firm that acts for both issuers of digital assets and investment funds who invest in them. Members of our team are members of a number of the leading industry working groups in the BVI, Cayman Islands and the United States who are contributing to the thought leadership and industry insight in these areas.Constantine Limberakis | SpendHQ In the age of big data, SpendHQ is playing a pivotal role in procurements transformation by providing real spend visibility to accelerate savings identification and improve spend compliance.

SpendHQ, the leading SaaS spend analysis solution for procurement and sourcing leaders, announced today that it has hired industry veteran Constantine Limberakis as product marketing director.

In this new role, Constantine will be responsible for delivering market guidance and go-to-market strategies for SpendHQ. Bringing over 20 years of experience in the sourcing and procurement industry, he has played numerous roles in product marketing, business development, and market research, consistently being recognized as an industry thought leader.

Constantine is one of the best people I have ever had the pleasure to work with and will provide unparalleled thought leadership to our efforts at SpendHQ, said David Bush, chief revenue officer of SpendHQ. Hiring Constantine is a clear indication of our organizations commitment to the procurement industry to deliver best-in-class content.

Throughout his career, Constantine focused on researching and analyzing technology trends in supply management by authoring numerous white papers, leading webinars, accepting speaking engagements and writing research briefs. Most recently, he served as a senior research director at the Hackett Group, where he focused his research efforts on digital procurement transformation and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and robotic process automation (RPA).

To be competitive today, you need to have the right combination of tools and services for delivering actionable insights, said Constantine Limberakis, product marketing director of SpendHQ. In the age of big data, SpendHQ is playing a pivotal role in procurements transformation by providing real spend visibility to accelerate savings identification and improve spend compliance. Im thrilled to be a part of a dynamic organization that offers innovative technology coupled with deep procurement expertise and knowledge.

SpendHQ is an award-winning SaaS spend analysis solution created by the procurement leaders at Insight Sourcing Group, one of the largest boutique consulting firms in North America focused exclusively on strategic sourcing, spend analytics and procurement process transformation. Recognized for innovation and industry impact in the procurement space, SpendHQ was named the best Big Data Reporting & Analytics Solution and best Data Visualization Technology solution at the 2018 Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Awards.

Constantine Limberakis Biography

Constantine Limberakis is a subject matter expert in the field of procurement, contract management and supply management providing a unique mix of market research and business experience. Prior to the appointment to his new role at SpendHQ, Mr. Limberakis advised and led senior procurement and business leaders as the senior research director at the Hackett Group. Prior to Hackett, Constantine guided product marketing efforts Determine (formerly Iasta and Selectica) and HICX Solutions, and directed research as a senior research analyst at the Aberdeen group. Constantine was also foundational in helping start two boutique consulting firms, The Shelby Group and CCP Global, engaging in various roles including business development, product management, and technology consulting.

Recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine as one of its Pros to Know in 2013 and 2015, Constantines education includes a BA in History from the University of Illinois, and an MBA / Masters in Public and International Relations from the University of Pittsburgh. A native to the Chicago area, he lives with his wife Elizabeth, and two daughters live in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

About SpendHQ

SpendHQ is a spend analysis solution that provides rapid, accurate and detailed visibility into enterprise spend data. This full-service SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) spend analytics solution delivers actionable insight for sourcing and procurement professionals. With SpendHQ as your command center, you give procurement leaders inside your organization the power to impact the bottom line.

Recognized for innovation and industry impact in the procurement space, SpendHQ was named to the 2015 Red Herring Global 100 list and named the best Best Big Data Reporting & Analytics Solution and Data Visualization Technology solution in the 2018 SIIA CODiE Awards. With SpendHQ at their fingertips, clients ranging from Fortune 500s to mid-market companies are finally able to see their enterprise spend clearly and drive savings confidently.

As a subsidiary of Insight Sourcing Group, SpendHQ is built by industry leaders with unmatched sourcing knowledge. Inc. Magazine has ranked Insight Sourcing Group among the fastest-growing private companies in America every year since 2008. In 2017, Insight Sourcing Group was also named the #1 Boutique Consulting Firm in the U.S. by Vault.com. To learn more about SpendHQs spend analysis solution and start taking control of enterprise spend data, request a custom spend analytics demo today.

Stay up to date with all things procurement by visiting SpendHQs procurement blog and by following on LinkedIn.The ability for us to leverage the 60Ghz band with its speed and interference advantages has been a game changer

IgniteNets MetroLinq 60GHz mmwave equipment was chosen to provide wireless connectivity during Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The Festival is a four-day event, held at the Great Stage Park on a 700-acre (2.8 km) farm in Manchester, Tennessee, USA. The Bonnaroo Festival site has the same telecommunications requirements of any large metro area: voice services, life safety data transmission, individual business who need internet access for payment processing, public wifi, and finally, office buildings with their compliment of devices including access control, laptops, printers, and handhelds. The stakes were high this year: 65.000+ guests, 4000+ supporting staff, 150+ vendor connections, 25+ media connections, and 8000+ connected devices like scanners and lights.

Every aspect of festival requires rock solid and fast network connectivity. For the last 14 years, festival promoters have chosen Yellow Dog Interactive Media, Inc. to serve as the technical producers of all aspects of the site network and for the last 2 years, Yellow Dog has chosen Ignitenets MetroLinq product line to support network operations. We utilize mixed media transport topology including fiber and wireless backhaul, said Thomas Porter, president of Yellow Dog. The ability for us to leverage the 60Ghz band with its speed and interference advantages has been a game changer.

Events like the Bonnaroo Festival require temporary setups that can be installed easily and rapidly, are interference-free, fast, reliable, and have high capacity. Pure fiber is too expensive and cumbersome to deploy, so 60 GHz equipment is a perfect solution. MetroLinq devices are very easy to deploy rapidly with minimal network planning which allows operators to rollout multi-gigabit networks on demand. All devices come with an integrated 5GHz radio which may be used as a failover if the 60GHz connection is temporarily impeded due to adverse weather conditions. The innovative, tri-band radio design of the MetroLinq base-station gives operators the ultimate tool for building multi-purpose networks which integrate backhaul, fixed access as well as Wi-Fi access using the same equipment. Additionally, the MetroLinq platform is cloud-enabled, greatly simplifying configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting of the network from any location.

MetroLinq 10G Omnis passed more than 2.5 TB of data throughout the show. The 60GHz wireless backhaul part of the network was responsible for 40%+ of the total traffic generated during Bonnaroo festival, The MetroLinq performance was very extraordinary considering that the 60 GHz network was sitting outside the fiber-based core of the network. If a guest was using public Wi-Fi, there was a 50% probability that the traffic was going through the 60 GHz mmwave wireless backhaul, said Thomas Porter.

IgniteNet MetroLinq equipment is field-proven to be a perfect solution for temporary setups that require high reliability, high capacity, and also simplicity when deploying the network. The products are a great fit not only for events but also for disaster recovery scenarios where mission-critical data needs to be transmitted.

About Yellow Dog Interactive Media

YDIM, Inc provides IT services to the events industry. Based in Chicago, Il it operates all over North America. For more information, please visit http://www.ydim.com

About IgniteNet

Headquartered in Irvine, CA, IgniteNet is a wholly owned subsidiary of SMC Networks, Inc. IgniteNet has a proven track record of producing powerful, reliable, easy to deploy, and innovative cloud managed wireless solutions and the industry's lowest cost 60 GHz wireless technology through channel partners worldwide, focusing on Enterprises and Service Providers. For more information, please visit http://www.ignitenet.comDellann Elliott Mydland, Co-Founder & President, The EndBrainCancer Initiative I am honored to serve on the NRG Oncology committees. I look forward to working both with other patient advocates in diverse cancer areas as well as brain cancer experts from all parts of the U.S. in advancing research and benefitting patients. -Dellann Elliott Mydland, EBCI President

Dellann Elliott Mydland, President and co-founder of the EndBrainCancer Initiative (EBCI), formerly known as the Chris Elliott Fund, has been invited to serve on two national committees of NRG Oncology. Mydland is now a member of the NRG Patient Advocacy (link) and Brain Tumor Disease Site (link) committees. In these capacities as a patient advocate, she will be part of a team reviewing clinical trial proposals and making approval recommendations to NRG as a whole and ultimately to the National Cancer Institute (NCI - http://www.cancer.gov), the overarching funding and regulatory agency. NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

I am honored to be asked to serve in this way, Mydland commented. As an organization, EBCI supports NCI's growing emphasis on including the patient voice in formulating and conducting research. I look forward to working both with other patient advocates in diverse cancer areas as well as brain cancer experts from all parts of the U.S. in advancing research and benefitting patients.

NRG Oncology develops trials that are part of the National Clinical Trial Network (NCTN). NCTN was formed to optimize and accelerate cancer clinical trials. In 2014, NRG Oncology was formed by combining three previous legacy research groups into one. Under the auspices of NCI, NRG works collaboratively with other NCTN research groups and academic institutions to conduct multi-institutional phase II and phase III clinical trials. The purpose of the clinical trials is to help establish new standards of care (SOC), set the stage for approval of new therapies, test new treatment approaches, and validate new biomarkers. The network is designed organizationally to screen large numbers of patients to find ones whose tumors exhibit molecular features that can be matched to appropriate clinical trials.

Mydland added, What patients want and need is immediate access to specialists, Centers of Excellence (COE), promising treatments, and clinical trials that could have potential for their specific profile of cancer. At EBCI, we advocate for genomic profiling for all brain cancer patients and to allow for these tests and reports to inform the treatment. We are also working towards incorporating this diagnostic into Standard of Care. Every day we work with patients and families to help them get properly connected and navigate the dire challenges of brain cancer. I welcome the opportunity to share the patient viewpoint and our learnings to influence clinical trial formulation and updates to Standard of Care.

Through the years, the EndBrainCancer Initiative has placed hundreds of brain cancer patients in clinical trials around the nation. Its "Direct Connect" Patient Services program educates and "pre-qualifies" brain cancer patients for clinical trials, and directly connects them to the Principal Investigator (PI) or Medical Center hosting this trial within the patients geography. Mydlands work with EBCI as a national patient advocate was once again recognized in 2016 when she was nominated via the national GBM Heros Campaign presented by the CURE Media Group and Novocure during the Society of Neuro-Oncology (SNO) annual meeting.

NRG Oncology patient advocate committee members bring a patient-oriented, disease-specific perspective to the research process. They improve clinical research feasibility by providing experiential knowledge and input focused on patient priorities, benefits, and outcomes. Advocates evaluate and provide perspective on research proposals and ongoing research activities in five critical ways:

1) Provide feedback that frames trial questions important to patients and support a balanced portfolio of research.

2) Assess actual recruitment feasibility as well as inclusion and exclusion criteria for maximizing patient participation.

3) Collaborate on protocol development and informed consent and guide development of communication and patient-friendly communications.

4) Provide input on actual recruitment strategies during implementation and offer support.

5) Share study results with patient and advocacy groups through interviews, presentations, publications and social media channels.

Patient inclusion and input is becoming both increasingly recognized as valuable to research as well as actually mandated as a prerequisite by many funding organizations. In a recent article, "Models of Engagement: Patients as Partners" in Applied Clinical Trials Magazine, the authors concluded, Once regarded as 'subjects' who had research performed on them, patients are now contributing across the spectrum of clinical development, including in the design and planning of research protocols, selection of outcomes and endpoints, development of recruitment and retention strategies, and dissemination of research results. The unique perspectives afforded by patients lived experiences can inform researchers approaches and help identify knowledge gaps. By sharing their experiences of the daily burden of disease and their perspectives regarding unmet needs and the types of research questions most important to them, patient partners can transform the clinical development process from one directed by sponsors and investigators to one driven by the needs of patients and their caregivers.

The general mission of the EndBrainCancer Initiative is fueling research and clinical trial enrollment. Recently, EBCI has assumed a larger profile in its contribution to research both representing the patient voice and extending into research directly. With the support of a board of expert advisors, EBCI has made its goal to increase clinical trial enrollment among brain cancer patients from the current 3% to 15% by 2025. EBCI recently attained CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) certification and became the first brain tumor advocacy organization to be listed as a national recruiting site on clinicaltrials.gov (An Exploratory Study of Caregiver Burden Among Family Caregivers of Patients With CancerClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03069105). Currently, in addition to its recruitment for this new study, EBCI serves as the patient voice in development of two clinical trials around the needs of patients and caregivers in the Pacific Northwest as well as SPORE Clinical Projects at the Thomas K. Hearn, Jr. Brain Tumor Research Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center in Winston-Salem, NC.

NRG Oncology describes its ultimate goal to reduce significantly the time it takes for new approaches to move out of trials and be translated into clinical practice. At present it is estimated that the average time that translation takes is 20 years.

This is the focus of EBCI in catalyzing translational research. Mydland concluded, Our goal at the EBCI has always been immediate access to advanced treatments/clinical trials and the acceleration of advanced treatments/clinical trials into translational medicine and ultimately, into FDA approved treatments that are covered by health insurance and are reimbursable treatment options to the treatment/trial sponsor and clinical trial organizations (CROs). In these new positions I hope to support that goal of accelerating NRG research breakthroughs into the clinical environment and into changes of standards of care. That is truly what patients wanthope and options now, and advancing the quest for cure in the future.

About the EndBrainCancer Initiative

The EndBrainCancer Initiative (EBCI, formerly the Chris Elliott Fund) is a national brain cancer and brain tumor patient advocacy and services organization and 501(c) 3 social enterprise with offices in Redmond, Washington. Established in 2002 and now celebrating 16 years of service, EBCI is committed to finding a cure for brain cancer and bringing HOPE to the lives of patients and their families through its three programs:



Direct Connect Patient Support and Services Program Connecting Patients to Specialists and Clinical Trials

Brain Tumor Disease Education, Awareness, and Outreach Program

Brain Tumor Patient Advocacy and Access

Since its founding, EBCI has helped thousands of patients, caregivers, and their families and has become a credible and trusted resource at all levels in the brain cancer treatment community from patients to research institutions to pharmaceutical and regulatory entities advocating on the National and State level for the approval and reimbursement of new therapies for cancer patients. EBCI also participates as the Patient Voice in clinical trial design, an example can be seen in CNS Oncology (Link to Article).

EBCI supports about 900+ patients, caregivers and families, free of charge annually through its Direct Connect Program, and provides Education/Awareness/Outreach to over 8.7 million annually, including members of the Brain Tumor Community. EBCI is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO), American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, American Association for Cancer Research, and Life Sciences Washington, among other organizations.

EBCI Mission

Enhancing patient outcomes by expanding FDA-approved treatment modalities and fueling research in the pharma/bio/life sciences, device & diagnostic industries and by closing the existing GAP from initial diagnosis to IMMEDIATE AND EXPANDED ACCESS to specialists, researchers, advanced & innovative treatments, clinical trials and critical care with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes through updating and improving WHO & NCCN Guidelines and clinical practices related to Standard of Care for brain cancer patients.

If we can help, please contact us at WeCare@EndBrainCancer.org or 425.444.2215. To support EBCIs efforts, programs, and services, provide a gift today at http://www.endbraincancer.org

Follow us on Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EndBrainCancer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EndBrainCancer/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ChrisElliottfundOrg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chris-elliott-fund/Students are applying to nearly twice as many colleges and universities, on average, than they did a decade ago. In the zero-sum game of traditional undergraduate student recruitment, this creates an increasingly competitive landscape.

The National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA), an educational data science and research organization that was recently acquired by ACT, today announced findings from its Eduventures Research division. Available in the Eduventures app on the Encoura Data Lab platform, the inaugural Student Sentiment Survey explores the key areas of college search behavior and communication preferences to help higher education enrollment officers create more effective outreach strategies. Designed as a compliment to Eduventures Prospective Student Survey, which measures brand perceptions of college-bound high-school students, and the Survey of Admitted Students, which examines the enrollment decision and helps traditional institutions improve yield, this latest survey answers one of the most burning questions facing enrollment offices today: Now that Ive identified my prospective students and crafted my message, how do I get it out?

Key findings from the survey include:

Six Prospective Student Search Strategies that reinforce that students are not a homogenous group, but rather they are individuals with unique preferences and behaviors. These include:



Let Me Talk to Someone (15%)

Dont Find Me, Ill Find You (25%)

Excuse Me, Do I Know You? (14%)

I Already Know You (16%)

Whatever You Say (17%)

Give Me All You Got (14%)

Analysis of the most used vs. most trusted marketing channels that highlights the influence of email (most used and trusted), social media (less used and very little-trusted), and third-party sources (often used and trusted).

The influence of search stage that illustrates how more than 80% of all studentssophomores, juniors, and seniorsactively engage in college search, their communication preferences change as their searches progress. In particular, it highlights the increased use of mobile for college search among younger students (39% of sophomores vs. 30% of seniors).

As growth in the number of high school students has stalled in recent years, the composition of those students has evolved, said Johanna Trovato, Senior Analyst and primary author of this study. More first generation, underrepresented minority, and low income students are placing a wholly different set of pressures on recruiting efforts. Students are applying to nearly twice as many colleges and universities, on average, than they did a decade ago. In the zero-sum game of traditional undergraduate student recruitment, this creates an increasingly competitive landscape.

As generations change and traditional undergraduate student recruiting becomes more complex, a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy is not sufficient. This report highlights an outreach strategy that will help institutions attract, engage, and convert best-fit students.

About ACT

ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, ACT is trusted as the nations leader in college and career readiness, providing high-quality achievement assessments grounded in more than 50 years of research and experience. ACT offers a uniquely integrated set of solutions that help people succeed from elementary school through career, providing insights that unlock potential. To learn more about ACT, visit http://www.act.org.

About ACT | NRCCUA

Now part of ACT, The National Research Center for College and University Admissions is an educational data science and research organization serving over 1,800 member institutions comprised of public and private colleges and universities across the nation. For 45 years, NRCCUA has been a leading provider of data, technology, and programs serving students, high school educators, colleges and universities from its offices in Lees Summit, MO, Boston, MA, New York, NY, and Austin, TX. These solutions represent the link between students making important life decisions and those providing the resources and information they need to succeed in their post-secondary educations and careers. With the launch of Encoura Data Lab, the company now combines data science, advanced analytics, research, predictive modeling and omnichannel enrollment services in one platform to enable institutions to make real-time strategic and operational decisions to meet their unique enrollment goals and create the highest probability of student success. For more information, visit https://encoura.org.

Members of the media who would like to speak to the author of this study or obtain the full report can contact Ellen Slaby at eslaby(at)eduventures(dot)com.This year marks our fifth year in business and with 12 branches open and more to come, we remain committed to our philosophy of being a locally-owned distributor that provides a customized customer experience and a comprehensive line of quality roofing materials.

Elite Roofing Supply, a locally owned, independent distributor of roofing materials and supplies, recently added branches in Monroe and Bossier City, LA; Tucson and Mesa, AZ; and Denver, CO to its list of branch locations and is scheduled to open Lynwood, CA on September 1, 2018. Founded in 2013, Elites mission is to provide roofers with an independent distributor that is knowledgeable in both commercial and residential roofing and committed to being good stewards in the industry and serving the professional roofing contractor community.

Recognizing the Louisiana market was underserved, Elite opened two strategically-placed locations in Bossier City and Monroe. The Bossier City branch with its 11 team members and fleet of three trucks, serves the surrounding Shreveport area and is operated by Managing Partner, Robert McCalman. Robert is from Bossier City and has been in the construction industry for 25 years, 14 of which have been in roofing distribution. The Monroe, LA location serves customers within a 100-mile radius of its location. Managing Partner and Branch Manager, Doug Norman, a Louisiana native, has a long history in the industry having worked in building product distribution as an owner and manager for over 35 years. He oversees a team of 12 highly skilled people and a fleet of four trucks to serve the area.

With its roots in Arizona, Elites growth with its Mesa and Tucson branches expands its opportunity to service this important market. The Tucson location is led by Managing Partner, Rick DAlessio, a seasoned professional with over 30 years in the roofing and construction industry. This branch employs 11 people and operates four vehicles in its fleet. Paul LeFevre is the managing partner of the Mesa branch, overseeing a team of 14 people and a fleet of four vehicles. Paul has more than 30 years of industry experience starting in 1986 as a truck driver and quickly moving into an inside sales position. He ascended the ranks holding different positions such as Purchasing Manager, Manager of Procurement and Regional Manager for one of the larger distributors.

The Lynwood, CA branch is placed at a key location close to where I-105 meets I-710 to serve the South Los Angeles area. Managing Partner and Branch Manager, Rick Sasseen has been in the building products distribution industry for over 30 years. Working in various roles including driver, crane operator, inside sales, operations and management, Rick knows the business inside and out. A native Californian, Rick will oversee a team of 15 people at this location with its five trucks and looks forward to opening their doors in September.

Elites CEO and Chairman of the Board, Brian Torry says, We open branches in markets where we find synergies with the right people who have expressed interest in joining the Elite family. Our goal is clear - to be the preeminent independent distributor west of the Mississippi, and our expansion plans are determined by the strong partners who wish to be part of our independent distribution culture.

Elite offers a unique value proposition to our customers, commented Chief Operating Officer, Sarah Weiss. Each branchs managing partner has long-lasting relationships in their markets, understands the challenges of the business and is empowered to partner with customers and vendors to create winning scenarios for all involved. This year marks our fifth year in business and with 12 branches open and more to come, we remain committed to our philosophy of being a locally-owned distributor that provides a customized customer experience and a comprehensive line of quality roofing materials.

About Elite: Elite Roofing Supply is a locally owned, independent distributor of roofing materials and supplies currently serving Arizona, California, Colorado, and Louisiana with a fleet of over 55 trucks to ensure timely deliveries for its customers. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Glendale, AZ, Elites mission is to provide roofers with a knowledgeable independent distributor that is focused on making the experience of buying their roofing supplies as easy as possible. Managing partners of each branch make pricing and inventory decisions allowing for faster turnaround and a catered experience for its customers. The founders and managing partners of Elite have decades of experience in the construction industry and serve as leaders in their communities and in the industry.

Elite is also committed to giving back to the communities in which they serve. This includes donating materials and services to organizations like the Boy Scouts and local womens shelters, creating an educational scholarship fund in an industry association and ensuring all employees have ample school supplies each year for their children. Elite is invested in its employees and communities and that commitment is demonstrated by the caliber of its team members and the quality of inventoried roofing materials by its vendor partners.

For more information, visit http://www.eliteroofingsupply.com and follow them on social channels Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.Since 1970, the number of disasters worldwide has more than quadrupled to around 400 a year as evident by the recent compelling articles in top publications: Weather-Related Disasters are Increasing (Economist 8/18); The World Battles Extreme Weather (Financial Times, 7/18).

September is National Preparedness Month, and disaster expert Christian Schauf is well poised to empower people with the proper gear and education to guide them back to safety in an unanticipated event. As the founder of Uncharted Supply Company and the creator of the Seventy2 Survival System, he is both an athlete and adventurer who has spent his lifetime helping to make the world a better and safer place to live. He has traveled 40 times with troops to Iraq and to some of the most dangerous places on earth. Sir Richard Branson refers to him as a very brave guy. He has raised tens of thousands of dollars for charities as a philanthropist and continues to empower people to be prepared in any disaster: hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, man-made disasters, terrorist acts.

With such recent events like powerful Hurricane Lane in Hawaii, America is bracing themselves for even more destructive natural forces in the months to come during hurricane, flood, and tornado season as the public seeks guidance from experts who can help them to be prepared should a disaster occur in their area. Statistics tell us that 95% of unexpected emergency situations are resolved in 72 hours. What you do with them is what counts.

In an emergency, a few simple tools can change a potentially deadly situation into a life-saving one, said Schauf. Profiled in Entrepreneur Magazine, he adds, We designed the Seventy2 to be the worlds best survival system. While the Seventy2 is a fully functional earthquake or hurricane go bag, its also an extremely useful tool day-to-day.

Schauf is available for interviews during National Preparedness Month and is armed with a unique insight on emergency preparedness for the everyday person.

Hear his podcast(The weekly series focuses on guests who have forged unique paths to success and how they prepare for the unexpected. These stories are told through the voices and real-life stories of pro athletes, visionaries, military personnel, business leaders, and authorities in a variety of industries.

Experience the 72 Survival System

Our Story

MEDIA CONTACT: Jordan Wilsted, Verde Brand Communications, Jordan(at)verdepr.com, 970-259-3555 x122It is a privilege to be one of the areas largest employers, and we are thankful to be a part of the vibrant business community here in Tarrant County, said Neil Randel, CEO.

During an awards ceremony and luncheon held today at the Fort Worth Club, Fort Worth Business Press editor Bob Francis recognized First American Payment Systems as a Top 100 honoree.

The distinction honors Tarrant Countys largest private and public companies, as measured by annual business volume and total number of locally-based employees.

As one of the 20 largest merchant acquirers in the United States, First American has expanded its operations not only at its Fort Worth headquarters, but also throughout the Americas, Europe, and Australia.

What began here in Fort Worth as a small acquiring business with five associates and a big vision has become a technology-driven payments family nearly 900 strong, said Neil Randel, CEO. It is a privilege to be one of the areas largest employers, and we are thankful to be a part of the vibrant business community here in Tarrant County.

About First American Payment Systems  Technology Driven Payments

First American Payment Systems, L.P., headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a global payment technology company providing leading integrated payment solutions to more than 220,000 merchants throughout the Americas, Europe, and Australia. First American provides partner and merchant payment solutions that include a robust set of in-store, online and mobile payment solutions paired with the latest in payment security, across a wide range of verticals. Backed by award-winning customer service, merchants and partners have access to our U.S. based Customer Call Center 24/7/365. For more information, visit http://www.first-american.net.In our working partnership with the trustee, we have been able to utilize our records management experience to assist in the most practical manner of handling student and discovery requests.

GRM Information Management, a leader in enterprise content management and records management, has been awarded a contract to handle records related to the bankruptcy settlement of ITT Educational Services, Inc.

ITT, a for-profit college comprising 40,000 students and roughly 8,000 employees, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2016. At the time of filing, the Carmel, Indiana-based business had 137 locations in 38 states  each contained student and business records.

GRM won the contract after a competitive bid process conducted by the government-appointed trustee, Deborah Caruso of the Indianapolis firm Rubin & Levin P.C.

Since winning the bid, more than 77,000 boxes filled with student and business records have been moved to GRMs secure, state-of-the-art storage facility in Indianapolis. The records include student transcripts and loan information, as well as employee records, and files pertaining to pension benefits and 401(k) retirement funds.

Because of the urgency involved in a bankruptcy case of this scale, the records had to be secured, processed and stored quickly. GRM employees worked around the clock to ensure the timely processing of each box.

And, due to the confidential nature of these documents, it was critically important that all of GRMs processes were in compliance with the guidelines and procedures required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1947 (FERPA). GRM adheres to FERPA requirements while also respecting and preserving the chain of custody as this is ongoing bankruptcy litigation.

GRM works with a multitude of large legal and business clients across the country and is known for its ability to accommodate clients specific needs. As such, they had no trouble fulfilling this projects unique requirements.

At GRM, we are committed to providing the highest level of customer service and support to every client, says Avner Schneur, President and CEO of GRM. This project, while unique in scale and timing, is an opportunity for us to demonstrate this commitment.

The breadth of GRMs experience managing highly regulated and confidential information positioned GRM to consult effectively with the trustee regarding the most efficient and compliant way to manage the records.

In our working partnership with the trustee, we have been able to utilize our records management experience to assist in the most practical manner of handling student and discovery requests, says GRM Digital Sales Executive Bob Hudson. Weve done this while also being mindful of the estates fiduciary responsibilities.

Adding to the scope of the project, for the past 15 months GRM has handled transcript requests from former ITT students. While these requests have involved paper transcripts, moving forward GRM will digitize these records for 19 of the states where ITT had campuses, and send them to the respective state departments of education.

About GRM

GRM Information Management is a leading provider of information management systems. GRM's robust, cloud-based enterprise content management platform (ECM) serves as the centerpiece of the digital solutions that GRM provides its clients. Serving a diverse base of industries such as healthcare, government, legal, finance and human resources, GRM delivers its clients services such as digital conversion, advanced data capture solutions, document management systems, workflow automation, legacy data archiving, compliance and governance, business process management and advanced analytics capabilities, as well as a full suite of physical records management services.

GRM maintains offices in 15 major metros across the U.S., including Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey/New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. GRM is currently the largest records management company in China, and has facilities in Lima, Peru; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Bogota, Columbia. For more information, visit GRM Document Management.

Press Contact:

Mike Aaron

GRM Information Management

Phone: 201-798-7100 x637

maaron@grmdocument.comHarbor Transit Multi-Modal Transit System Joins MITN Purchasing Group We think the bid library will really help us save time in drafting more effective bids and accessing specifications.

Today, the Harbor Transit Multi-Modal Transit System announces it has joined the MITN Purchasing Group, a regional purchasing community by BidNet. Local government agencies throughout Michigan utilize the MITN Purchasing Group for bid and vendor management. Harbor Transit, which serves the City of Grand Haven, Grand Haven Township, City of Ferrysburg, Village of Spring Lake, and Spring Lake Township invites all potential vendors to register online with the MITN Purchasing Group to access its upcoming solicitations by visiting http://www.bidnetdirect.com/mitn.

Harbor Transit joins the MITN Purchasing Group and the community of over 200 participating local government agencies located throughout Michigan. Along with a variety of bid and vendor management solutions, Harbor Transit gains access to a bid library to help with bid creation, a shared pool of vendors, and association with like-minded purchasing professionals in the area.

Collaboration is important to us, says Tiffany Bowman, Transportation Director of Harbor Transit. We think the bid library will really help us save time in drafting more effective bids and accessing specifications, Ms. Bowman continued. Plus it makes it easier for our vendors to access our bids.

Vendors interested in doing business with Harbor Transit and other nearby government agencies are encouraged to register at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/mitn. Benefits of joining the MITN Purchasing Group include:



Centralized location for bids from all 204 participating agencies

Bid alerts customized to the vendors products or services

Reliable and timely delivery of notifications, addendums and documents

Advanced notice of Term Contract expiration

E-Bid and E-Quote Submission

The MITN Purchasing Group is one of BidNets regional purchasing groups throughout the country. It provides Harbor Transit a bid and vendor management solution, document and addendum distribution, and tracking of all activity throughout their procurement process.

About Harbor Transit:

Harbor Transit provides transit services to the City of Grand Haven, Grand Haven Township, City of Ferrysburg, Village of Spring Lake and Spring Lake Township. Last year Harbor Transit provided over 250,000 trips for passengers in the community. The transit service area covers more than 55 square miles and is served by a fleet of 27 vehicles that are all wheelchair accessible. We are very grateful for the support of our community and the friendly passengers we serve, says Tiffany Bowman, the Transportation Director for Harbor Transit. The Harbor Transit team is a terrific group of safe, caring Drivers, Dispatchers and Administrative Staff.

About the MITN Purchasing Group:

The MITN Purchasing Group is a part of BidNets regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. With years of input from procurement professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs 30 regional purchasing groups used by over 1,300 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyersPathways Mayors Proclamation Angie Martinez Tangela Manuel Pathways Memory Care at Villa Toscana is honored to be recognized by proclamation for outstanding service by Mayor Sylvester Turner's office of Houston.

National Senior Citizens Day took on special meaning for the award-winning Pathways Memory Care at Villa Toscana when the facility was recognized for outstanding service by a proclamation from the office of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. The proclamation was presented during an August 21st ceremony by United Healthcares Angie Martinez, who nominated Pathways Memory Care for the honor.

It was a privilege to nominate Pathways Memory Care at Villa Toscanas memory care programs and their dedication to senior well-being, said Angie Martinez, United Healthcare patient advocate. Recognizing this achievement on National Senior Citizens Day is a fitting celebration of the Pathways Memory Care team and its commitment to patient care.

National Senior Citizens Day is an important moment to look at the quality of care the seniors in our community receive, said Tangela Manuel, Administrator at Pathways Memory Care at Villa Toscana. Being honored by Mayor Turners office during this moment of national recognition for seniors reinforces that putting our older citizens first is a true priority.

The presentation included refreshments for those in attendance and commemorative photos taken of the participants. Pathways Memory Care at VillaToscana is a certified dementia capable care distinguished provider and part of the StoneGate Senior Living network of senior care and housing facilities.

For more information, please visit: http://www.pathwaysmemorycare.com.

About Pathways Memory Care at Villa Toscana:

Pathways Memory Care at Villa Toscana is a state-of-the-art, luxury memory care community dedicated to providing highly personalized, unsurpassed care in a therapeutic environment that honors the dignity and individuality of each unique resident. At Pathways, we realize that each resident who requires dementia or Alzheimer's care has a unique story, background and set of needs. Pathways recently added unisex (all-female & all-male) secured units to the memory care facility. Our team members provide personalized care daily so that changes in a resident's health or behavior are detected early, ensuring the best quality of life and health for each individual resident.

About StoneGate Senior Living:

StoneGate Senior Living is an award-winning, full-spectrum senior care and housing company with 46 properties across Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. Recently ranked as the nation's 31st largest transitional and long-term care company by Provider magazine, StoneGate is a fully-integrated, post-acute health care company, with service lines and business units that offer transitional care, long-term care, assisted living, memory care, rehabilitation, wellness, pharmacy, care navigation and post-acute analytical services. For more information, please visit http://www.stonegatesl.com.We consider this leap of 857 positions up in Inc. 5000 a remarkable achievement, but it did not come as a surprise

Intellectsoft has significantly improved its position in the recently updated Inc. 5000, the most recognized annual rating of the fastest-growing private companies in the US. According to Inc. Magazine, Intellectsoft has demonstrated a solid 80%+ annual revenue growth over the last three years, rooting the company in the first thousand of the list of the top-performing businesses in the country.

Since 1982, the Inc. 5000 list has honored the extraordinary journeys of the fastest-growing companies in America. Many of the past honorees have grown into such iconic brands as Microsoft, Timberland, Chobani, and Oracle. Collectively, the companies on this years list amassed $206.2 billion in revenue in 2017, a 158 percent increase from 2014s $79.8 billion.

We consider this leap of 857 positions up in Inc. 5000 a remarkable achievement, but it did not come as a surprise, noted Michael Minkevich, the recently appointed new CEO of Intellectsoft. We continue executing our vision of Intellectsoft as a high-end technology consulting boutique as our investments are paying back, and we are glad to see more global industry leaders entrusting us with mission-critical Digital Transformation projects. Our next milestone is to break into Inc 500.

Following that strategy, over the past twelve months Intellectsoft has successfully launched AR and Blockchain Labs, serving as hubs for IP and technical expertise related to mixed reality (MR) applications and distributed ledger technologies (DLT), respectively. The company has also added more than 30 new customers to its global portfolio.

About Intellectsoft

Intellectsoft, Inc. is a boutique IT solution provider with headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. The companys mission is to help global organizations overcome technology challenges of Digital Transformation with the focus on new and emerging technologies, such as Cognitive Computing, Decentralized Applications, Internet of Things, and Augmented Reality. The companys service portfolio includes strategic IT consulting, CX design, development and full lifecycle management of custom products and applications, as well as system integration. Established in 2007, Intellectsoft operates in multiple offices and engineering centers in the US, the UK, the Nordic region, and Eastern Europe.

https://www.intellectsoft.netJoe Just, a hobby fisherman, writer and native of the New York Finger Lakes region who resides in Washington State with his wife, Virginia, has completed his book The Immigrante: an engagingly fictionalized biographical novel that draws a vivid portrait of proud new Americans and the eagerness with which they volunteered to serve their country. This book is debatably one of the best recounts of World War 1 to date.

Faced with a risk of a vendetta after her husband is murdered, Rose must find a way to immigrate to America, only to fall into another type of brutality that has the young family suffering physical abuse. When he can no longer stand the fear and beating, the older son runs away and finds himself in a new and different culture. Eventually the younger brother also leaves to seek his own path to becoming an American.

Both have joined the Army in 1917 during the peak of American involvement in the war in Europe. The older boy discovers the friendship of another immigrant, this one from Ireland, and eventually all three men arrive in France at one of the changing point battles of the war. Not all of the men come home.

The Immigrante is a story of undying love, sacrifice and couragefrom trying to find a way to escape their sometimes-horrible lives to the honor and sacrifice of everyone in the story as they seek to become Americans. Anyone reading The Immigrante with relatives who have come to America will find characters with many similarities to members of their own family.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Joe Justs book is a stirring reminder of the patriotism of a bygone era and the true nature of what it means to be American.

Readers who wish to experience this compelling work can purchase The Immigrante at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not overwhelmed with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.Kauai Teachers Federal Credit Union's new website Our new website looks great and the feedback from our members has all been positive. The process was fast, easy and straightforward. I fully recommend OMNICOMMANDER to anyone looking to update their website! - Conrad Rualizo

OMNICOMMANDER, the award winning, leading financial technology firm specializing in ADA compliant website design, social media, branding and marketing for credit unions; announced today that Kauai Teachers Federal Credit Union has successfully launched its new website, designed and hosted by OMNICOMMANDER.

OMNICOMMANDER has clients in 40 different states, but Kauai Teachers Federal Credit Union is the financial technology firms first Hawaiian Credit Union. With two other Hawaiian websites set to go live in the next month, Kauai Teachers FCU is the start of a loving relationship with Hawaiian Credit Unions.

OMNICOMMANDER Founder and CEO Eric Isham said, I am thrilled to announce that our first Hawaii credit union is now live. Working with Conrad was a breeze. He was extremely laid back and knew exactly what he wanted during the entire process. I really feel like weve captured the spirit of what the credit union was looking to accomplish and it is certainly a one of a kind, Hawaiian website. Weve experienced an incredibly warm reception from several of the Hawaiian credit unions and Im personally looking forward to many more going live.

Kauai Teachers Federal Credit Union CEO Conrad Rualizo said We were in need of a new website and when I found out about OMNICOMMANDER and the work they are doing for credit unions, I was 100% in. Our new website looks great and the feedback from our members has all been positive. The process was fast, easy and straightforward. I fully recommend OMNICOMMANDER to anyone looking to update their website!

About OMNICOMMANDER

OMNICOMMANDER is a veteran owned and operated credit union website design, social media and marketing firm. With a focus on member experience, the company ensures every touchpoint has the exact same user interface. Along with incredible design, OMNICOMMANDER creates sites with built-in mobile responsiveness, SSL encryption while observing ADA guidelines on accessibility for disabled members.

For more information, visit OMNICOMMANDER on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About Kauai Teachers Federal Credit Union

Kauai Teachers Federal Credit Union is a member-owned, non-profit financial cooperative whose members are owners and savers, as well as potential borrowers. Demonstrating the philosophy of People Helping People, members pool their money by purchasing shares, thus making low-cost loans and other financial benefits available to all members. Interest received from loans go back to members in the form of dividends and other beneficial services. The mission of Kauai Teachers Federal Union is to Serve, Create and Maintain for our members favorable and competitive financial services. Teachers and employees of County of Kauai Schools and their immediate family members are eligible for membership.Zhenzhou Chen, MD, PhD Associate professor Department of Neurosurgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University

A new study recently published in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine demonstrates the long-term safety of laboratory-expanded endothelial progenitor cells for treating ischemic stroke. This could be good news for the 15 million people who, according to to the World Stroke Organization, suffer from this dangerous condition each year.

Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke, affecting nearly 90 percent of all cases. It is caused by a blocked blood vessel in the brain. In the normal central nervous system, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an active role in building blood vessels. This has led researchers to wonder whether EPCs circulating in the blood could be recruited after a stroke to assist in repairing damaged vessels in the brain. However, there is one major problem with this idea: The number of circulating EPCs is too low to provide much regenerative capacity  a number that further decreases in the aging or in those with heart problems.

This makes ex vivo (lab) expanded EPCs an attractive alternative.

Transplantation of EPCs was already determined in animal experiments to be a safe and effective method for treating ischemic stroke. However, their safety and efficacy had yet to be determined in humans, said Zhenzhou Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, and a corresponding author on the study. In our trial, we tested the safety and feasibility of transplanting an acute ischemic stroke patient with his or her own (autologous) ex vivo expanded EPCs.

Eighteen patients were recruited for the randomized, single-blinded study. Each received conventional treatment after their stroke then, seven days after symptom onset, underwent a bone marrow aspiration to collect EPCs and bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) for expansion in the lab. The patients were divided into three groups and, beginning at week four after the aspiration, one group was intravenously infused with their own EPCs, while the other two groups received either their own BMSCs or a saline placebo as the controls.

Each patient was then monitored for 48 months. Study co-author Xiaodan Jiang, M.D., Ph.D., also from Southern Medical University, explained, We watched for mortality of any cause, adverse events and any new-onset diseases or conditions. Changes in neurological deficits were also assessed at different time points.

In the end the researchers found no toxicity events nor did they see any infusional or allergic reactions in any of the patients. The EPC group had less serious adverse events compared to the placebo-controlled group, although there were no statistical differences in mortality among the three groups, Dr. Chen reported. Ex vivo expansion always raises concerns that it may cause instability in the chromosomes or maybe lead to tumors. However, in our long-term study we observed no increased tumorigenicity. This safety indicator was also confirmed by many animal studies and other trials using expanded bone marrow-derived stem cells for treatment of ischemic stroke.

The researchers did note limitations in their study, including lack of patient-centered quality of life outcomes. Moreover, because of the small size of the cohorts involved, we could neither identify the neurological or functional benefits of EPCs on ischemic stroke, nor determine the pros and cons between EPCs and BMSCs for stroke treatment, Dr. Jiang said. Thus, we believe a larger phase 2 trial is warranted.

"This is a promising line of cell therapy research using a novel treatment method that is simple and non-invasive, said Anthony Atala, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. We look forward to larger phase 2 trial results.

The full article, Autologous endothelial progenitor cells transplantation for acute ischemic stroke: A four-year follow-up study, can be accessed at http://www.stemcellstm.com.

About STEM CELLS Translational Medicine: STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM), published by AlphaMed Press, is a monthly peer-reviewed publication dedicated to significantly advancing the clinical utilization of stem cell molecular and cellular biology. By bridging stem cell research and clinical trials, SCTM will help move applications of these critical investigations closer to accepted best practices. SCTM is the official journal partner of Regenerative Medicine Foundation.

About AlphaMed Press: Established in 1983, AlphaMed Press with offices in Durham, NC, San Francisco, CA, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, publishes two other internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals: STEM CELLS (http://www.StemCells.com), celebrating its 36th year, is the world's first journal devoted to this fast paced field of research. The Oncologist (http://www.TheOncologist.com), also a monthly peer-reviewed publication, entering its 23rd year, is devoted to community and hospital-based oncologists and physicians entrusted with cancer patient care. All three journals are premier periodicals with globally recognized editorial boards dedicated to advancing knowledge and education in their focused disciplines.

About Wiley: Wiley, a global company, helps people and organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Our online scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, combined with our digital learning, assessment and certification solutions, help universities, learned societies, businesses, governments and individuals increase the academic and professional impact of their work. For more than 200 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.

About Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF): The non-profit Regenerative Medicine Foundation fosters strategic collaborations to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine to improve health and deliver cures. RMF pursues its mission by producing its flagship World Stem Cell Summit, honouring leaders through the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Action Awards, and promoting educational initiatives.Los Cucos Announces New location in Katy, Texas We were extremely excited to celebrate National Fajita Day as we are famous for our fajitas and margaritas, said Sergio Cabrera Jr., an owner of the Los Cucos chain. It also gave us a chance to highlight all of our locations throughout the country, including locations in Las Vegas and Waco, Texas.

Los Cucos Mexican Cafe recently celebrated National Fajita Day on Saturday, August 18th, with a special appearance on KPRC NBC Channel 2 News. Besides their television appearance, the restaurant also invited bloggers from around the country to try their famous fajitas and award-winning margaritas on the house.

We were extremely excited to celebrate National Fajita Day as we are famous for our fajitas and margaritas, said Sergio Cabrera Jr., an owner of the Los Cucos chain. It also gave us a chance to highlight all of our locations throughout the country, including locations in Las Vegas, Nevada and Waco, Texas that both opened this past year. Los Cucos was equally excited to share the excitement of National Fajita Day with local food influencers, who were able to try their famous fajitas and margaritas, and share in the fun with their followers on social media.

With locations in Houston (and surrounding areas), Waco, Bryan/College Station, Las Vegas, and Sandy, Utah, Los Cucos looks forward to their continued growth on the back of a successful National Fajita Day. Were excited to announce our newest location coming soon to the District West Shopping Center, Cabrera Jr. noted. Los Cucos has recently signed a lease for a new location in Katy, TX, located in the new District West Shopping Center that was just contracted this year.

District West is one of Katys newest developments, and is located on the Southwest Corner of Peet Rd. and Westpark Tollway. The center includes over 500,000 square feet of retail, office, healthcare, hospitality, and restaurant businesses, including the newest Los Cucos Mexican Cafe location. There they will be joining other businesses such as Gauchos Do Sul, Vida Mariscos, Whiskey River, Star Cinema Grill, and more. Los Cucos is excited to continue their growth, and looks forward to an even bigger celebration for National Fajita Day next year.

About Los Cucos

Since 1991, Los Cucos Mexican Cafe has served authentic Mexican cuisine and popular dishes in a fun environment. Founded by brothers Sergio and Manuel Cabrera in Houston, Texas, Los Cucos now has more than 20 locations in Texas, Utah, and Nevada. For more information, visit http://www.loscucos.com.

###M.E. Shao, founder of How the World Should Work, a nonprofit created to bridge the gap between other nonprofits and willing volunteers, has completed his book Continuity: Coalescence: a riveting tale of pre-apocalyptic chaos and a small group of dedicated soldiers and scientists fighting to save humanity from dangers foreign and domestic.

In wake of the sudden collapse of society, the world is in unrest as an asteroid known as the Catalyst barrels toward Earth. Less than three years away, the United Nations solution of deflecting the rock has been sabotaged by young energy tycoon Yuri Antonov and his henchwoman Viktoriya Markovicwho see the asteroid as an opportunity for Yuris alternative-energy mining operation.

Political and social elite have retreated to massive underground bunkers, hoping to wait out the impending doom that the Catalyst is sure to bring. Meanwhile, a sinister plan to inoculate the survivors is being cooked up by United States president Bernard OHare and his cronies, who are bent on controlling humanity via the chemical balances in their brains.

Carson Baxter and Brody Jenkinss attempt to signal an extraterrestrial civilization to garner help in thwarting the asteroid has been a success, leading to the reception of a bizarre message neither can interpret. NASA astrophysicist Dr. Jennifer McPherson has joined the pair, having recently been subjected to the traumatizing loss of her mother, Nina, in the midst of Earths societal collapse. The trio is now well on their way toward their own bunker in Atlanta, Georgia, led by exspecial forces operatives Jacob Sellars and Brent Smithwho have launched a resistance to combat OHares evil regime.

Chaos and rampage has penetrated every corner of the world, and humanitys only hope rests upon an unknown marketing consultant who is crazy enough to dream up the most unlikely of solutions. Will these ETs be friendly? What will happen as mankind continues the fight for continuity? Only time will tell.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, M.E. Shaos book is a spellbinding fantasy with a unifying message for all of humanity.

Readers who wish to experience this compelling work can purchase Continuity: Coalescence at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not overwhelmed with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.If a school facility experiences damage during a storm, MaintenX technicians are trained and ready to help.

Hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30. This means students are well into the school year before the threat of storms diminishes. Fortunately, MaintenX is on call throughout the hurricane season to help school facility managers prepare and recover from storms, no matter the severity.

After years of relatively quiet hurricane seasons, 2017 saw widespread damage from hurricanes across the southern United States and Puerto Rico. From electrical outages to structural damage and impassable roads, hurricanes can take a toll on everyone, disrupting all facets of normal life, including schools.

Before the school year begins, MaintenX can inspect school facilities for anything that needs touching up or repairing. Theyll take a close look from curb to roof and can perform any necessary fixes. These small repairs and replacements can help schools reduce the severity of damage that a storm can cause. For example, a broken shingle may not seem like much, but could lead to severe water damage inside the building should the shingle allow a roof leak. Additionally, MaintenX can provide services like window boarding or sandbag placement in the event a storm is imminent.

If a school facility experiences damage during a storm, MaintenX technicians are trained and ready to help. From roof repair and sandbag removal to emergency power generation and electrical support, MaintenX technicians can work with facility managers to address maintenance needs.

For more regular support, MaintenX can perform preventative maintenance, which is pre-scheduled inspections and small fixes to make sure that nothing big goes wrong suddenly. This not only keeps school facilities in excellent working order, it also gives peace of mind, prevents disruptions, and allows administrators to budget more effectively.

MaintenXs expert technicians have the experience to keep schools safe and functional for the entire academic year. For more information on MaintenX and the storm support they provide, visit http://www.MaintenX.com.

ABOUT MAINTENX INTERNATIONAL:

MaintenX International is a fully-licensed, facilities repair company. They are one of the largest national self-performing facility maintenance and repair companies in the U.S. MaintenX has created a network of knowledgeable and professional technicians throughout the country. With their team of well-trained technicians, MaintenX self-performs and manages facility maintenance for clients. In the event there is not a MaintenX technician in the area, the company has fostered a network of preferred vendor partners throughout the country to provide superior service for their clients. For more than 35 years, MaintenX has been expertly serving multi-location retail stores, restaurant chains, and Fortune 500 companies nationwide.The Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) and Marcum LLP announced the 2018 Marcum Tech Top 40, the annual recognition of the fastest growing technology companies in Connecticut. This years group of top-ranked companies will be honored at the new ConnectiTECH Awards event at the Connecticut Convention Center on October 3. Marlin will be honored with 39 other companies and two accelerator award-winners as the class of 2018.

The Marcum Tech Top 40 has honored over 400 Connecticut-based technology and tech-enabled companies since 2008. The awards recognize technology leaders in six industry sectors: Advanced Manufacturing; Energy and Environmental; Life Sciences; New Media, Internet, and Telecom; IT Services; and Software. Marlin has been named a Tech Top 40 in the Software category. Marlin is a recipient of this award due to strong revenue growth of at least $3 million in annual revenue as well growth in each of the preceding four years.

2018s honorees are a diverse set of businesses from around the state. Eleven companies are publicly traded, and eight have over than $1 billion in annual revenue. Two younger companies, Farmingtons Diameter Health and Stamfords Link AKC will be honored at the Tech Top 40 as Accelerators, a classification reserved for companies that successfully scaled to $3 million in revenue in fewer than three years.

Marlin is proud to be named as one of the Marcum Tech Top 40, said Frank Kenna III, CEO. This is a result of a lot of hard work culminating in a successful transition from a print publishing company to a digital services company. While Connecticut has received a lot of bad press in recent years, this award is evidence that innovation is alive and well in our state. We have a very talented team of employees creating new digital technologies for workplace communication, and providing solutions to companies throughout North America. Marlin has aggressive growth plans and is actively hiring. Its exciting to have a part in building Connecticuts technology future.

Marcum is extremely proud to partner with the Connecticut Technology Council to present the Marcum Tech Top 40 Awards which honor some of Connecticuts most innovative companies, said Michael K. Brooder, CPA, Marcums office managing partner in Hartford, Connecticut. This annual program over the past 11 years has allowed us a fascinating glimpse into the forward thinking that keeps Connecticut on the forefront of technology innovation and business leadership. We heartily congratulate this years class of winners and look forward to watching their continuing contributions to Connecticuts business environment.

Bruce Carlson, CTCs President and CEO added, Growth in Connecticut must and does come from the technology sector, and these Marcum Tech Top 40 companies are exemplary of the achievements within the industry we represent in the state. As part of the ConnectiTECH Awards, the Marcum Tech Top 40 lauds the leaders in tech in Connecticut, and inspires more to follow suit.

To date, this years event sponsors include: Marcum LLP and Shipman & Goodwin LLC, with support from Webster Bank. The media sponsor is WFSB.

The October 3 awards program will include the presentation of the Marcum Tech Top 40 Awards, as well as two new honors: the Most Disruptive Technology and Coolest Tech Workplace Awards. These awards are designed to stimulate the celebration of rising tech businesses and innovators and showcase the culture of technology in

Connecticut in conjunction with the Marcum Tech Top 40. For more information on the Marcum Tech Top 40 and the ConnectiTECH Awards, as well as registration for this and other events, visit http://www.ct.org.

About Marlin

Marlin, a global leader in workplace digital signage, helps managers reach employees using the latest SaaS-based technology solutions to deliver visual communication. Designed specifically for the workplace, Marlins patented digital signage products are known for their ease of use, robust content options and flexibility. For 105 years, Marlin has developed and delivered visual communication programs that engage, inform and motivate employees. Learn more about Marlins digital signage products and services at http://www.themarlincompany.com.

About the Connecticut Technology Council

The Connecticut Technology Council is a statewide association of technology oriented companies and institutions, providing leadership in areas of policy advocacy, community building and assistance for growing companies. Speaking for 2,500 companies that employ some 200,000 residents, the mission of the Connecticut Technology Council is to spark innovation, cultivate tech talent, foster business growth, advocate for industry-beneficial law and policy, expand the scope of industry networking and professional development, and celebrate industry achievements in the state. The CTC seeks to serve Connecticuts technology ecosystem by providing leadership, support, mentoring, and advocacy to companies across every industry and at every stage of growth. For more information, visit http://www.ct.org.

About Marcum LLP

Marcum LLP is one of the largest independent public accounting and advisory services firms in the nation, with offices in major business markets throughout the U.S., Grand Cayman and China. Headquartered in New York City, Marcum provides a full spectrum of traditional tax, accounting and assurance services; advisory, valuation and litigation support; and an extensive range of specialty and niche industry practices. The Firm serves both privately held and publicly traded companies, as well as high net worth individuals, private equity and hedge funds, with a focus on middle-market companies and closely held family businesses. Marcum is a member of the Marcum Group, an organization providing a comprehensive array of professional services. For more information, visit http://www.marcumllp.com.

CONTACT:

Courtney King

Marketing & Communications Manager

Connecticut Technology Council

cking@ct.org

860-289-0878 x338Mid-America Careers, The Midwests Career Network, today announced the availability of the Google Cloud Talent Solution feature on its job site that allows US military service members and veterans to enter their military occupational specialty code (MOS, AFSC, NEC) and find relevant civilian jobs that require similar skills to those used in their military roles.

An estimated 250,000 military members enter civilian life each year. By creating a feature for transitioning service personnel and veterans to use their MOS codes to find civilian jobs, Mid-America Careers and Google are helping to ensure that the skills they acquired in the military transfer to their new profession.

How Mid-America Careers Military Search Functionality Works

Veterans can now enter their MOS, AFSC, or NEC code directly into the search bar on the Mid-America Careers homepage and see the relevant civilian jobs available in their area.

Military ranks codes are supported in the system. For example both 11A for Infantry Officer and 11B Infantryman are supported.

Mid-America Careers has always been passionate about helping our military veterans find meaningful careers as they transition to the private sector,  said Nick J. Murphy, CEO of Mid-America Careers. By collaborating with the team at Google Cloud, were able to remove a lot of friction and confusion from the search experience and get veterans in front of relevant career opportunities for them based on their experience and skills.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Americas service members and were committed to helping them thrive in civilian life,  said Tarquin Clark, Director of Partnerships & GTM, Google Cloud. By working with industry leaders like Mid-America Careers, we can help service members transition from the military to relevant, impactful civilian jobs.

Learn more at https://insights.midamericacareers.com/blog/military-veterans

###

Mid-America Careers is the Midwests only dedicated Career Network. Mid-America Careers leverages modern technology, deep local knowledge, and relationships with the Midwests fastest growing and most established employers to empower millions of Midwestern job seekers to unlock new career opportunities they never knew existed. For more information on Mid-America Careers, please contact the team at admin@midamericacareers.comAnne Tulek My goal is to bring our excellent technical, creative, and governance skills to help Morae Global clients find ways to make better business decisions, increase profit margins and reduce legal risk.

Morae Global Corporation, the full-service, technology-enabled, integrated solution provider for the legal and compliance function, today announced Anne Tulek has been named a Managing Director and Stacy Burgess has been named a Senior Director.

In keeping with our commitment to building a world-class team and maintaining a thriving information management practice, I am thrilled to announce that Anne Tulek has joined Morae Global, said Shahzad Bashir, President & CEO of Morae Global. Anne will lead our newly named Intelligence and Information Governance practice, reporting to Kevin Blodgett, President of Legal and Compliance Consulting Solutions. Im also pleased to welcome Stacy Burgess who is joining us with Anne in the Houston office.

Anne Tulek is the former CEO of Abundiant, an information and technology consulting firm. As a senior executive, she brings more than 25 years of experience in the information and content services space with expertise in process optimization and technology enablement. She started her career at Accenture and later served as President and CEO of Access Sciences, a business content-centric consulting firm. In her new role, Tulek will be responsible for Morae Globals delivery of innovative information governance solutions to legal, compliance and information professionals around the world.

Stacy Burgess has nearly 30 years of experience solving information and business process challenges with technology, most recently as a consultant with Abundiant, and earlier leading information and technology initiatives for a global transportation company. Her skills include program management, software development, information management and change management.

I am proud to join the Morae Global team, says Tulek. My goal is to bring our excellent technical, creative, and governance skills to help Morae Global clients find ways to make better business decisions, increase profit margins and reduce legal risk.

Morae Global is headquartered in Houston and has offices in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., London, Bangalore, Zurich, and Hong Kong. For more information about Morae Globals solutions, visit http://www.moraeglobal.com.

About Morae Global Corporation

Morae Global Corporation provides end-to-end legal and compliance solutions to General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officers. Moraes team of experts is comprised of some of the most seasoned and knowledgeable professionals in the legal industry who are trusted to transform legal and compliance departments worldwide. Core service lines include CLUTCH Information Management & eDiscovery; Legal & Compliance Consulting Solutions; and Alternative Legal Services. Using performance-based management consulting and technology-enabled information, discovery, and on-demand legal services, Morae Global is redefining the business of law. Morae Global

has offices throughout the United States, including in Houston, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., and internationally in London, Bangalore, Zurich and Hong Kong. For more information about Morae Globals legal solutions, visit http://www.moraeglobal.com.Donors for sale is not something one sees at every Brahman cattle sale.

Moreno Ranches, a top producer of Brahman cattle for sale in Texas, is honored to announce something new to their upcoming Catalyst 6 sale: Brahman donors, backed by the M-check brand. Most sales do not have "donors" for sale, so this is something highly unusual and anticipated at this year's event. The availability begins at the upcoming Catalyst 6 sale to be held on September 1, 2018, in Texas. Catalogs and advanced registration are available at the website at http://www.morenoranches.com/.

"During our September sale, we have a belief that its our time of the year to share our herd with other producers," explained Kelvin Moreno, Proprietor of Moreno Ranches. He continued, "One of the things that sets us apart from other large producers and high-end quality Brahman producers in the country is that we give our customers the opportunity to buy our proven genetics and proven donors. As you see in our upcoming Catalyst 6 Sale, we have a set of proven donors that were offering up, and weve gotten a lot of calls asking us why were selling these cows. Its simple- in the spirit of sharing the herd, we want to, one, give our customers the opportunity to buy into some of these elite genetics and, two, these donors have been proven by us so we would have retained a heifer or a replacement out of them."Brahman Cattle for Sale

In summary, the Ranch wants to give someone else the opportunity while theres still a lot of life left in these cows to be able to improve their herds with them. The great thing is that the Ranch has used these cows, they know how they work, and they have a lot of information on them, so dont hesitate to give Moreno Ranches a call and ask about any of them. The Ranch will share what Brahman bulls (http://www.morenoranches.com/brahman-bulls-for-sale/) theyve worked well with, how they do on IVF, and what kind of cows they are. Anyone with questions leading up to the sale, is urged to visit the website and reach out.

UPCOMING CATALYST 6 SALE

The Catalyst 6 sale is a yearly event now in its sixth year. It is highly anticipated in the Brahman cattle industry, not just in Texas, but throughout the United States. It will occur September 1, 2018, beginning at 1 pm at the Texas A&M University Beef Center in College Station, Texas. Young people are invited to show up and participate as Moreno Ranches is a firm supporter of "Brahman Juniors." Moreno Ranches has been 199 years in the making and is six generations strong. The Ranch realizes the value of a firm handshake, reliable word of mouth, and honest customer relations. This integrity with which the Ranch lives every day is what has kept it going strong for nearly two centuries. Moreno Ranches believes the youth are the future, and the Ranch strives to build the Brahman breed one junior at a time. Through scholarships, show sponsorships, and donations to the agricultural youth organizations, support efforts for the juniors in recent years have totaled over $100,000. Moreno Ranches believes that through strong support of the youth and their families, the industry can help build a stronger tomorrow for the Brahman breed.

Moreno Ranches understands the value of purebred Brahman genetics. The Ranch emphasizes performance, soundness, fertility and beef production in its Brahman herds. People often come to Moreno Ranches searching for the best Brahman bulls for sale, for their own breeding purposes or to cross-breed and create superior F1 cattle with other largely European breeds. In fact, people looking for Brahman bulls for sale in Florida, Texas or Louisiana often find Moreno Ranch's superior genetic Brahman bulls in Florida worth the trip. Indeed, there are even buyers looking for Brahman bulls for export or Brahman show bulls, visiting the Ranches in Florida and Texas, or using the Internet to view our quality bulls (as well as heifers and calves).

Indeed, with both a "real world" and "online" version, the Catalyst 6 Sale is certainly an event not to be missed in the Brahman Cattle industry. The fact that Brahman donors are being offered for sale makes this year's event even more dramatic.

ABOUT MORENO RANCHES

Moreno Ranches is a top producer of Brahman cattle in Texas. Customers come to the company for genetically superior Brahman bulls for sale and Brahman semen (seed stock) as well as Brahman embryos. The company produces both Brahman heifers and calves for sale, including for use as show cattle or to produce Brahman F1 hybrids. Visit the company's website to browse stock. The company is a trusted source of Brahman cattle in Texas, Florida, or Louisiana - Latin America, or anywhere in the world.

Web. http://www.morenoranches.com/

Tel. 863 444 8745Attorney Jeffrey M. Heller No man should ever die this way, said Heller. This was preventable. The family deserves the vindication from the jurys verdict that what the hospital did was wrong.

On August 10, 2018, an Erie County jury comprised of five women and three men awarded a Sandusky family $300,000 in a medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit against Firelands Regional Medical Center. The case centered around the familys father, Peter Porter, who was admitted to the Firelands hospital just four days prior to his death. The lawsuit alleged that the nurses at Firelands failed to adhere to the hospitals medication administration policies and procedures. Over the course of several days, specifically November 11 and 12, 2015, the hospitals nurses allegedly failed to timely provide medication to Peter Porter, who suffered from Parkinson's Disease.

The jury found that the Parkinsons Disease led to Peter Porter becoming dysphagic, meaning he often times had difficulty swallowing. The medication Peter Porter was prescribed was critical in preventing his swallowing difficulties and because of this, the hospitals doctors ordered Mr. Porters medication to be administered at specific times. The hospital also had policies in place to ensure the medication was administered timely. The testimony at trial also showed that because the nurses failed to administer the medication timely, and sometimes not at all, Peter Porter became completely unable to swallow. On the morning of November 12, due to a lack of communication between Peter Porters nurses, as well as improper documentation in their nursing records, a Firelands nurse orally administered 10 medications to Peter Porter.

Court documents showed that due to his swallowing difficulties, he was not able to handle all of the medication and he aspirated one of the medication capsules. Over the course of several hours, Mr. Porters body attempted to fight off the capsule, which became lodged in his trachea, or windpipe. Mr. Porters body was not able to dislodge the capsule and he ultimately died of asphyxiation (Case #238710 - Erie County Common Pleas Court).

"This was an absolutely horrible way to die," said Jeff Heller of the Nurenberg Paris law firm, who represented the family. "The hospital had appropriate and reasonable policies in place to prevent something like this from happening, the nurses just failed to follow them," said Heller.

Peter Porter's family testified at trial and described a hard-working man who missed five days of work in 30 years at the Lorain Ford plant in Lorain, Ohio. "My dad was an A-plus man," said Mr. Porter's son, James. "He said to always respect those around you and never take advantage of a man when he's down. He told me to '[a]lways pick people up.'"

Jeff Heller is a trial attorney for the Nurenberg Paris law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Nurenberg Paris is celebrating its 90th Anniversary this year fighting for the rights of injured people.Online school announces Career & Technical Education Program This new CTE program is another example of how Oregon Connections Academy can personalize learning to fit each students learning needs and career interests.

The states leading tuition-free virtual public school, Oregon Connections Academy (ORCA), is launching a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) program for the 2018-19 school year called ASCEND, the Academy of Specialized Career Exploration Navigation and Direction.

Ascend is a great way Oregon Connections Academy can bring school to life for students, offering hands-on opportunities to explore careers in the community and interactive virtual classes to learn about various occupations from top experts across the state.

This new CTE program is another example of how Oregon Connections Academy can personalize learning to fit each students learning needs and career interests, said Oregon Connections Academy High School Success Administrator John Meyer. The online education environment is perfect for career and technical programs like this because students have so much flexibility to schedule on-the-job experiences, like a job shadow, into a typical school day.

In addition to the core graduation requirements, high school freshman through juniors enrolling in Ascend will complete a career-focused program to prepare them for the workforce in three of the highest-growth job fields in Oregon: Health Science, Business/Marketing and Computer Science.

With the start of the Ascend Health Science pathway ORCA becomes the first statewide full-time virtual public school to offer students the opportunity to become a certified medical assistant upon graduation from high school. For students who meet eligibility requirements, the medical assistant study materials will be paid for by the school and credentialed by the National Healthcareers Association.

"Bringing a certified medical assistant program to Oregon's education system in a virtual environment is a wonderful opportunity for Oregon's future health care professionals!" said Shelly Kinnunen, State Advisor for Oregon HOSA-Future Health Professionals. Oregon Connections Academy will also form a HOSA chapter, offering students in the Ascend Health Science pathway additional support and professional growth.

According to the Oregon Employment Department, medical assistant positions will increase nearly 29% over the next ten years. Business sector jobs are also expected to grow by 28%, and technical/computer systems employment opportunities will increase by 29%.

Students taking Ascends Business/Marketing pathway will learn major elements such as accounting and starting their own business. ORCA will also create a school chapter of DECA, a business-oriented non-profit organization, to support students.

The student model that ORCA has arranged, with flexibility and independence, empowers students to be self-functioning. Align this with a program like DECA, and youre developing well-rounded individuals ready for the real world, said Ed Trang, State Director for Oregon DECA. The skillsets gained through DECA prepare emerging leaders for careers in marketing, entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality, and management. Were excited to have Oregon Connections Academy offering CTE pathways through an online medium.

The Computer Science pathway in Ascend fits right into what were all about as an online public school, noted Meyer. Many of our students are naturally drawn to our tech courses such as Java Programming and Game Design, so I wont be surprised to see a large number of students express an interest in this pathway.

In each Ascend pathway students will have opportunities for real-world learning through internships, externships, or other work-site partnerships during their senior year. Industry certifications or free college credits may also be a goal for students depending on the Ascend courses.

A large percent of high school students have plans for higher education, a significant number want to get started on their career, others want both, added Meyer. This new program has a strong focus on career-readiness, yet still provides a strong academic foundation so a student can leave their options open for college at the same time.

Career and Technical Education will help me get a better understanding of the medical field while also allowing me to get a job after high school to pay for my college education, explained 16-year old Mikayla Wood from Scio, a junior with both parents working in local hospitals. I would love to acquire the medical assistant certification offered by ORCA as a starting point for hands-on experience and an actual job as I jump into future career choices. My parents have definitely influenced me to work hard for what I want, however my main motivation for working towards a career in the medical field is to work with kids and help make a difference like so many did for me when I was younger.

ORCAs Career and Technical Education program was funded in part by Measure 98, the High School Graduation and College and Career Readiness Act, which was adopted by voters two years ago. Graduation rates for students in CTE programs are shown to be 15% higher than the state average, according to the State Department of Education.

Enrollment for the 2018-19 school year continues at Oregon Connections Academy. For more information on upcoming events or how to enroll, please visit: http://www.OregonConnectionsAcademy.com or call (800) 3826010.

About Oregon Connections Academy

Oregon Connections Academy (ORCA) is a tuition-free, high-quality, highly accountable statewide online charter school that serves students in grades K12. The school is authorized by the Santiam Canyon School District. All Oregon Connections Academy students participate in the award-winning national Connections Academy program that combines high-quality resources from leading publishers with cutting-edge yet easy-to-use technology and hands-on materials. Oregon Connections Academy provides students with the flexibility to learn from anywhere there is an Internet connection and with an innovative online school curriculum that meets rigorous state education standards. The combination of Oregon-certified teachers, a proven curriculum, unique electives, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families and children who want an individualized approach to education. Oregon Connections Academy is accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), an accrediting division of AdvancED. For more information, call 800-382-6010, or visit http://www.OregonConnectionsAcademy.comParker University President William E. Morgan, DC & Oliver Bud Smith, Jr., DC, Chairman I can speak on behalf of the entire board when I say that we couldnt be happier with the direction Dr. Bill Morgan has charted and his plans to lead Parker University and Seminars into the future. - Oliver Bud Smith, Jr., DC

On August 9, 2018, elections were held for the Parker University Board of Trustees Executive Committee, where positions were either re-elected or a new Trustee was named. The Board of Trustees also voted to extend President Morgans contract to June 2024.

Executive Committee Members Elected are:

Oliver Bud Smith, Jr., DC, Chairman  Texas

Steven Brooks, DC, Vice Chairman  Texas

Vincent Scheffler, DC, CCSP, SCS, Secretary  Michigan

George R. Linscott, Treasurer  Oregon

John Huston, Asst. Treasurer  Florida

Amy Wood, DC, Chair of the Trustees Committee  Texas

Gery Hochanadel, Ph.D., Appointee to the Executive Committee  Kansas

At Large Board Members are:

Jack Donovan, DC, DHum (Hon)  Member  Iowa

Raymund C. King, MD, JD, FICS  Member  Texas

Stacey Olson, DC, - Member  Arizona

Robert E. Rosenbaum, MD, FAANS, FACS  Member  Maryland

Charlene Conner, DBA, MBA  Member  Texas

Patrick S. Mahaffey  Member  California

Jarrett Browning, DC  Alumni Member - Texas

Oliver Bud Smith, Jr., DC, long-term board member says, It has been a privilege to be on Parker Universitys Board of Trustees over the last several years. I am on the board with some of the best and brightest in the field of Chiropractic and health and wellness. Each of them has a vested interest in not only the continued growth of the university but to the excellence in education that helps set Parker University apart. He continues, I can speak on behalf of the entire board when I say that we couldnt be happier with the direction Dr. Bill Morgan has charted and his plans to lead Parker University and Seminars into the future.

Additionally, under the direction of the Board of Trustees, President Bill Morgan and his Cabinet presented to the Board a five-year strategic plan for Parker University that was unanimously approved. Parker Universitys College of Chiropractic program anticipates that the DC class starting in September will be one of the largest in the Universitys history. Also, students enrolled in Parker Universitys Business of Health/Technology and Health Sciences Colleges have doubled since the inception of those programs.

The combination of high level talent, vision, and leadership has poised Parker University to continue to grow in prominence, proportion, and excellence. Our five-year strategic plan has created a roadmap for an inspirational journey into the future, states Bill Morgan, DC, president of Parker University. We intend to challenge the current definitions and beliefs of healthcare leaders and to prepare the next generation of Parker graduates with the tools they will need for the future they will help to create.

For information about Parker University, or any of the Health and Wellness degrees offered, visit http://www.parker.edu. today.

About Parker University

Dallas-based Parker University is one of the worlds leading educators of healthcare professionals. Founded in 1982, this private, nonprofit, educational institution prepares men and women for an exciting career in several healthcare fields. Parker University awards wellness-focused degrees including a Doctor of Chiropractic degree, Bachelors, Associates, and certificates in a variety of healthcare programs as well as continuing education specializations and certifications. Parker University also includes Parker Research Institute, which provides sound, scientific evidence-supporting health and wellness; two chiropractic wellness clinics in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex; Parker Seminars, the largest chiropractic seminar organization in the world, and Parker SHARE Products that provide innovative, high quality products, and current information on chiropractic and healthcare wellness. For additional information about Parker University, visit the website at http://www.parker.edu.Photo by Somi Benson-Jaja NAfME provides avenues for communication, debate, and discussion about the key issues facing music education and the best strategies to help teachers and programs succeed.

At its 2018 National Leadership Assembly, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) recognized two academic journal editors who recently completed long and distinguished service to the organization. The presentation of the 2018 Exceptional Editorial Service Awards by NAfME President Kathleen D. Sanz took place on Friday, June 29, at the Tysons Sheraton in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

Patrick K. Freer of Georgia State University in Atlanta spent more than twelve years on the editorial team, culminating in service as the Academic Editor, of Music Educators Journal.

Shelly Cooper of the University of Nebraska Omaha served for seven-and-a-half years as the Academic Editor of General Music Today.

NAfME serves the field in many ways, said Mike Blakeslee, NAfME Executive Director and CEO. Notably, we provide avenues for communication, debate, and discussion about the key issues facing music education and the best strategies to help teachers and programs succeed. Our journals continue to be an essential element in this, and individuals who work on those journals continue to make significant contributions to the profession of music education.

The NAfME academic journals are among the 111-year-old organizations most valued member benefits. NAfME recognizes Patrick Freers and Shelly Coopers exemplary service and thanks them for their contributions to the music education profession.

###

National Association for Music Education, among the worlds largest arts education organizations, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. NAfME advocates at the local, state, and national levels; provides resources for teachers, parents, and administrators; hosts professional development events; and offers a variety of opportunities for students and teachers. The Association orchestrates success for millions of students nationwide and has supported music educators at all teaching levels for more than a century. With more than 60,000 members, the organization is the national voice of music education in the United States.

Follow NAfME on Twitter (twitter.com/nafme) and on Facebook (facebook.com/nafme).

For additional information, contact Ella Wilcox at EllaW@nafme.org or 571-323-3396.Matt Yearling, CEO of PINC, the leader in robotics, drones, and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for the supply chain and logistics industry, has been accepted into the Forbes San Francisco Business Council, an invitation-only community for business leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Forbes San Francisco Business Council has its own criteria for acceptance, which includes business growth metrics (such as annual revenue) and the members personal achievements and track record (such as business awards and community recognition). In addition, an application review process ensures that only the highest caliber professionals are accepted.

Matt Yearling is a seasoned executive and joined PINC as Chief Executive Officer in 2013. Matt has an extensive executive track record of developing market leading ERP, CRM, Supply Chain, and Security solutions for companies including Oracle, Symantec and Sage. Yearling holds a H.N.D. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Plymouth, England, and a M.S. in Technology Management from Pepperdine University.

I am flattered by this invitation by the Forbes San Francisco Business Council, said Matt Yearling, CEO of PINC. We are living in exciting times because drones, robotics and artificial intelligence are reaching mainstream adoption enabling products to get faster to consumers. I am really looking forward to contributing to the community with original and thought provoking ideas.

Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, We are honored to welcome Matt Yearling into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world.

For more information about Forbes San Francisco Business Council, visit forbessanfranciscocouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

For more information about PINC, visit pinc.com.Sarah Marion Sarah is dedicated to real estate and will be a great addition to our group

REALTOR Sarah Marion, a native of South Carolina, has joined The Cassina Group. She will be based in the companys Mount Pleasant office on Coleman Boulevard.

Sarah grew up in Columbia where she attended Hammond School and the University of South Carolina. Upon graduating, she worked in the fashion industry for both Vera Wang and Cynthia Rowley. She also started a private home decorating business before transitioning into real estate. Sarah loves to assist her clients in finding the perfect home for their style and enjoys using her design talents to stage her listings.

We are excited to have Sarah as part of The Cassina Group, said Owen Tyler, Managing Broker and Broker-in-Charge. She is dedicated to real estate and will be a great addition to our group.

The Cassina Group is known as Charlestons innovation-driven real estate firm, with a proven reputation for delivering stronger results though leading-edge technology and building lasting relationships. The company has thirty-six agents with three area offices and they continue to be a leader in the luxury home market.

I wanted to join The Cassina Group for a variety of reasons. The support, outreach, marketing and unparalleled group of individuals made Cassina the perfect fit for me and my clients, said Sarah. The response from my clients confirmed that my choice to join The Cassina Group was the right decision and I look forward to assisting buyers and sellers throughout the Charleston area.

For more information on The Cassina Group, please visit http://www.TheCassinaGroup.com.

About The Cassina Group

The Cassina Group is a boutique real estate brokerage with offices in Mount Pleasant, SC and Charleston, SC. Recent awards include top honors from Charleston Magazine, Inc. 5000 and SC Biz News. They are also a member of Whos Who in Luxury Real Estate, a worldwide collection of top brokers representing the finest luxury properties across the globe. For more information, visit http://www.TheCassinaGroup.com or call 843.628.0008"By educating nurses, staff, and parents, in most cases, you can prevent an infant abduction before it happens. Infant abductions from hospitals are rare, but its important for staff in any facility caring for infants to always be aware of the threat. Director of Hospital Sales, Josh Lutzke

First in the industry with an RFID-based security system for hospital Labor & Delivery units, RF Technologies (RFT) is celebrating its 25th year protecting infants with its SAFE PLACE infant & pediatric security system. Founded in 1987 by current owner and CEO, Glen F. Jonas with the goal of providing life safety and security products for healthcare markets using RF technology and wireless monitoring and controls, the companys initial focus was on providing wander management solutions for senior living, with its CODE ALERT product line. The first such system was installed at LASATA Nursing Home in Cedarburg, WI in 1988; the system, which sends out a coded signal that activates an audible alarm if a resident wearing a transponder wanders through a monitored area, or lingers too long near a monitored exit, continues to be a mainstay of the companys product lineup.

In 1993, several years after the launch of its CODE ALERT product line, inspired by industry demand for tighter hospital infant security measures, the company introduced its SAFE PLACE Infant Security Solution, again based on RFID technology. Designed and developed with input from nurse clinicians, and customizable for individual hospitals varied security requirements, SAFE PLACE protects infants and children without interfering with everyday workflow. According to Jonas, during the companys first 10-15 years, product ideas were mainly driven by customer demandsuch was the case with SAFE PLACE. Says Jonas, I received a call from a hospital in California where wed installed a CODE ALERT wander system in the rehab unit. They asked if such a system could be adapted to protect babies while they were away from the nursery in the mothers room. I still have the internal memo I wrote asking our engineers whether we could meet the need. That is the origin of SAFE PLACE.

Keeping newborns safe is critical for parents, and a reputation for providing a secure, welcoming environment is key to attracting new patients in a competitive healthcare market. RFTs SAFE PLACE protects the smallest patients, gives families peace of mind and reduces the risk of abduction, while at the same time reducing institutional liability. With SAFE PLACE, a patented transmitter is worn on an infants ankle, secured with soft banding, safe for delicate skin; the transmitter is in constant communication with Alarming Band Receivers and antennas installed throughout the secured area. BABY CHECK, an optional add-on to the SAFE PLACE system, provides an additional layer of security, enabling automatic verification that an infant is being presented to the correct room and mother. BABY CHECK uses wall-mounted transmitters that correlate with an infants SAFE PLACE transmitter to confirm a correct mother-baby match, prior to entering the mothers room. When a baby is brought within 15 inches of the door, hospital personnel press a button; a green light confirms a match, while a red light would immediately flash to warn of a mismatch (a rare, but potentially devastating event).

While the potential for in-hospital infant mismatches and abductions is a very real concern, especially for new parents, the good news is that hospitals and maternity units have generally tightened up security over the years and, in reality, the likelihood of such an occurrence is very slim. That said, recent high profile incidents have shed light on the need for such security systemsto prevent both intentional and inadvertent mishaps. As recently as April of this year, hospitals in North Carolina and South Carolina were put on high alert when it was believed a woman was plotting to abduct infants from hospitals within the region. Part of a regional alert system, hospitals received a bulletin warning about suspect Linda Mae Everett's alleged attempts to steal a baby from a New Hanover, NC hospital. In June, a new mom in a West Virginia hospital was shocked to learn her baby was with another familyin the hospital room next door. In that case, the babies shared the same name and hospital staff mistakenly presented the baby to the wrong room. Fortunately, the error was discovered within a matter of an hour or two (accounts vary as to the incident's duration) and no harm came to the child. RFTs Director of Hospital Sales, Josh Lutzke, adds, In terms of hospital security, there is no substitute for human vigilance. By educating nurses, staff, and parents, in most cases, you can prevent an infant abduction before it happens. Infant abductions from hospitals are rare, but its important for staff in any facility caring for infants to always be aware of the threat.

More information on infant security systems, featuring RFTs SAFE PLACE in the Labor & Delivery setting:

https://www.wnct.com/news/local-news/infant-abduction-prevention-measures-taken-at-area-hospital/1199491751

Recent in-hospital infant security incidents:

https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-carolina-news/warning-woman-may-be-trying-to-abduct-babies-from-nc-sc-hospitals-officials-say/1137299484

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/06/20/hospital-baby-mixup-west-virginia-mxp.hln/video/playlists/most-popular-domestic/

About RF Technologies

RF Technologies (RFT) is a leading provider of safety and security solutions for senior living, healthcare, hospitality, and education, leveraging radio frequency identification (RFID) and real-time locating system (RTLS) technologies. The RFT brand family includes CODE ALERT call and wander management systems, SAFE PLACE patient security systems, SENSATEC fall management products, HELP ALERT staff duress systems, and EXACTRACK equipment location systems. With more than 10,000 installations, RFT was the first in the industry to offer remote monitoring, RF consulting, 24/7 technical support by internal staff specialists, and a nationwide service team. Backed by 30+ years of experience in senior living, RFT solutions are UL-certified to meet todays life safety standards, and can be integrated with other systems for an improved total cost of ownership. For more information visit: http://www.rft.comRocky Mountain Barber Company gives customers free razor blades when they order men's grooming products off their website. Its simple. Customers now get free razor blades when they purchase any of our products, such as Shaving Creams, Aftershaves, Beard Oils, or Face Washes, on our website.

Rocky Mountain Barber Company, a Canadian mens grooming company that produces high-quality shaving, beard, skin and hair care products, has launched North Americas first free razor program, providing exceptional value to Americans and Canadians shopping for everyday grooming products online.

Its simple. Customers now get free razor blades when they purchase any of our products, such as Shaving Creams, Aftershaves, Beard Oils, or Face Washes, on our website, says the companys Co-Founder Gabriel Marchionda.

The company creates products that are Paraben and SLS free and incorporate naturally-derived ingredients like essential oils, beeswax and shea butter.

We see this as a way to reward existing customers, but also to introduce our brand to millions of people wanting access to quality grooming products at an affordable price.

The triple-blade razors are made in North America from high-quality materials, contain a lubricating strip for comfort, and perform just as well as expensive blades. There is no additional cost to the customer or commitment required, and the blades arrive in the same box along with other items purchased.

We believe customers should be able to spend their money on amazing products that last for months instead of blades that are ultimately thrown out after a few uses.

All of the companys consumable products are made in Canada. Their products are sold primarily online but are also available in independent barbershops, salons and retailers across North America.

Customers can get their free razor blades along with their orders by visiting RockyMountainBarber.com in the US or RockyMountainBarber.ca in Canada.

About Rocky Mountain Barber Company

Founded in 2015, Rocky Mountain Barber Company produces over thirty shaving, beard, skin and hair care products including Beard Oils, Beard Balms, Shaving Creams, Face Washes, Moisturizers and Pomades. In 2017 and 2018, the company was selected as one of forty up-and-coming brands to exhibit in the coveted Discover Beauty Spotlight section at Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas, one of the worlds largest beauty shows.

Additional Information

USA

Full Details: https://rockymountainbarber.com/pages/free-razors

Press Kit: https://rockymountainbarber.com/pages/media

Canada

Full Details: https://rockymountainbarber.ca/pages/free-razors

Press Kit: https://rockymountainbarber.ca/pages/mediaMore than half of American workers report seeing fellow workers leave restrooms without washing hands. For employees  and the general public  the condition of restrooms is a litmus test for businesses and establishments, said Jon Dommisse, director of global marketing and strategic development at Bradley Corp.

Maybe theyre in a rush or have something else to do but, for whatever the reason, a survey reveals that 56% of workers say they frequently or occasionally see colleagues leave the restroom without washing up. With this issue, gender seems to come into play since 63% of men frequently or occasionally observe non-washing behavior compared to 49% of women.

Its not an inviting thought, especially when you consider how frequently co-workers shake hands and the multitude of public surfaces they touch throughout the day.

For those who need a reminder, good, thorough hand washing includes soap, vigorous scrubbing for at least 20 seconds, as well as running water to wash away the bacteria, germs and dirt that accumulate on hands.

The findings are based on an annual survey by Bradley Corporation, a leading manufacturer of commercial washroom, emergency safety and industrial solutions. The company has conducted its Healthy Hand Washing Survey since 2009.

In addition to hand washing, the survey explored workplace restrooms and what might be done to improve them. It found that air freshener is the #1 amenity workers would like to have added, followed by touchless fixtures and hand sanitizer.

Those items stand to reason since 42% say theyve had unpleasant experiences in their workplace restroom. What have they encountered? Workers most often cite clogged and unflushed toilets, unpleasant smells, paper towels on the floor and restrooms that are old, dirty and unkempt.

Another workplace topic is how to avoid a sick colleagues germs. 81% say they take conscious steps to evade a co-worker whos ill. To mitigate their exposure, they steer clear of the sick individual, wash their hands more frequently and refrain from shaking that persons hand.

As the cold and flu season approaches, hand washing continues to be Americans first defense against illness. 61% say they wash their hands more frequently to remove germs they may have come in contact with or to avoid passing them along to others. 56% stay home and 50% sneeze into the crook of their elbow.

Survey respondents also identified germy encounters that they feel necessitate hand washing. Its a must after coughing, handling a sick child and sneezing.

For employees  and the general public  the condition of restrooms is a litmus test for businesses and establishments, said Jon Dommisse, director of global marketing and strategic development at Bradley Corp. Over the years, our survey has consistently shown that the vast majority of Americans believe the condition of workplace restrooms is one indicator of how a company values its workforce. Whats more, 84% expect a business that provides high quality products or services to also have restrooms that provide a high quality experience.

The annual hand washing survey queried 1,035 American adults online Jan. 2-5, 2018, about their hand washing habits in public restrooms and the workplace as well as their concerns about germs, colds and the flu. Participants were from around the country, were 18 years and older, and were fairly evenly split between men and women (49 and 51 percent).

For over 95 years, Bradley has created the most complete and advanced commercial washrooms and comprehensive solutions that make industrial environments safe. Bradley is the industry's leading source for multi-function hand washing and drying fixtures, accessories, partitions, solid plastic lockers, as well as emergency safety fixtures and electric tankless heaters for industrial applications. Headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wis., USA, Bradley serves commercial, institutional and industrial building markets worldwide. For more information visit https://www.bradleycorp.com.I have no doubts that selecting WorkJam has been one of the best decisions our company has ever made.

WorkJam, the global leader in Digital Workplace technology, announced that its customer, Target Australia, has won the prestigious Innovation Champion of the Year Award at the National Retail Association Awards hosted in Melbourne, Australia. The award recognizes the retailer that has achieved the greatest innovation over the last 12 months.

We are thrilled to accept this award which recognizes Targets commitment to support a digital retail landscape. We have actively been working on leading edge technology in our Supply Chain and store infrastructure, but couldnt pass up the opportunity to better engage with our greatest asset, our people, said Stewart MacDonald, Head of Simpler Stores at Target Australia. Our collaboration with WorkJam has enabled us to become more effective in our communication, build a more engaged team across our store fleet and has opened the door for further innovation that will mean Target is an employer of choice for the future.

WorkJam has been transformative for Target Australia which is the reason Targets innovation is being recognized by the retail community. From increasing knowledge-transfer across teams to improving collaboration, communication, and productivity, employees are now more engaged than ever before, which is helping the organization drive down costs and drive up sales.

The all-in-one technology from WorkJam provided everything we needed in a single app that our team could access from their mobile devices, said Andrew Myers, Chief Operating Officer at Target Australia. Using WorkJam, we immediately cut-costs while achieving full connectivity across our entire workforce. I have no doubts that selecting WorkJam has been one of the best decisions our company has ever made.

We are proud that Target Australia has won this prestigious award and to be an integral part of their success story, said Will Eadie, VP of sales and strategy at WorkJam. WorkJams Digital Workplace platform has brought a new level of collaboration, efficiency and cost savings to Target and will continue to help create a better employee experience and a more efficient workplace for Target and their people.

WorkJam has released a new case study featuring Target Australia. The success story provides an in-depth look at how the retailer is using the WorkJam Digital Workplace platform to unleash the potential of its workforce through agile scheduling, experiential learning, tailored recognition, optimal communication, and much more.

To read the full Target Australia case study, please visit: https://www.workjam.com/portfolio-items/download-a-culture-shift-target-australia-case-study

To request a free demo of WorkJam, please visit: https://www.workjam.com/

About WorkJam

The WorkJam Digital Workplace unleashes the potential of your enterprise workforce through agile scheduling, transformative communication, experiential learning, and tailored recognition.

WorkJam increases sales conversion, drives down labor costs, lowers absenteeism and attrition rates, improves compliance, optimizes labor in relation to demand, and improves the customer experience through a more motivated and engaged workforce. For employees, WorkJam delivers more control over their schedule, providing work-life balance, as well as the opportunity to develop skills, improve sales acumen, and maximize their earnings to advance their economic well-being. Learn more at workjam.com.I am very excited to join the cell and gene industry leaders and shed some light on how strong partnerships can be instrumental in taking research from the lab to the clinic, said Dr. Gincel.

TEDCO, Marylands economic engine for technology companies, announced its participation in this years Biotech Week Boston. The event is dedicated to accelerating the business of biotechnology through new ideas, science, technology and partnerships. Dr. Dan Gincel, executive director of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, will be a speaker at the events Cell & Gene Therapy Bioprocessing & Commercialization session on September 4 at 2:30 p.m.

The four-day festival will take place at the Hynes Convention Center from Tuesday, September 4 to Friday, September 7. The conference offers leading events spanning the drug development value chain, providing access to the most inventive scientific minds and business leaders in Boston and around the world. This years event promises more than 500 keynotes, presentations and case studieswith more than 12 leading events, over 5,000 qualified attendees and over 37 countries represented.

I am very excited to join the cell and gene industry leaders and shed some light on how strong partnerships can be instrumental in taking research from the lab to the clinic, said Dr. Gincel. I invite everyone to join our session on Public/Private Partnerships and learn more about our funding.

Biotech Week Boston is dedicated to accelerating the business of biotechnology to make a positive impact on patient health. Guests can expect thought leaders and potential partners from several industries including financing, manufacturing and clinical trialsoffering the opportunity to network with those who help shape the futures of these industries.

Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) was established by the governor and the Maryland General Assembly under the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006. The purpose of the fund is to promote state-funded human stem cell research and medical treatments through grants to public and private entities in the state. For more information, please contact mscrfinfo(at)tedco.md to schedule a one-on-one, or visit http://www.mscrf.org.

Media Contact

Tammi Thomas

Vice President for Marketing, TEDCO

tthomas(at)tedco(dot)md

410.715.4162Digitizing this antiquated manual system, used by millions of commercial fleet companies, empowers drivers to perform their responsibilities more efficiently while reducing the time and effort required to complete these daily routine monitoring tasks, said Austin Conti, CEO and Founder of Tenna.

TENNA, the technology company that empowers companies to find more value across their inventory of equipment, vehicles and physical assets, today announced it has launched its new Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) solution for Apple iOS platform. Now available for millions of commercial vehicle drivers, Tennas solution eliminates the daily manual chore of filling in DVIR forms by hand as part of pre-or post-trip inspection requirements mandated for compliance by the Federal government.

A DVIR needs to be completed by drivers for any commercial vehicle they operate, as specified by Federal Law.

Digitizing this antiquated manual system, used by millions of commercial fleet companies, empowers drivers to perform their responsibilities more efficiently while reducing the time and effort required to complete these daily routine monitoring tasks, said Austin Conti, CEO and Founder of Tenna.

DVIRs, commonly included in effective asset management programs, are supported by the latest IoT technology used to optimize vehicle performance with digital maintenance reports. Drivers can complete and submit daily DVIRs via their smartphone. The app electronically details pre-trip and post-trip inspections, sends reports directly to fleet managers and stores reports for audits and record keeping. As mandated logs from the Department of Transportation (DOT), DVIRs are important for companies to identify vehicle operation and safety issues in real time. Now they can be submitted digitally and therefore faster, without wasting paper.

DVIRs are completed using Tennas mobile app which scans a series of QR codes associated to the vehicle and linked to the users database on Tennas system. The report fields include mandatory inspection areas that force drivers to physically inspect the vehicle and generate a thorough and accurate report using QR codes placed around the vehicle, rather than using a paper form that could be lost or lack enough detail to count as a complete record.

Non-commercial vehicles that are not regularly inspected by the DOT can apply Tennas DVIR system as well. While these vehicles may not require regular inspection reports by law, owners can benefit from the inspection results to optimize their vehicle health, reduce insurance premiums ,reduce accidents or breakdowns caused by unsafe vehicle conditions, and improve safe operations for their drivers. These benefits have positive long-term cost and productivity impacts.

Implementation of a digital DVIR solution for commercial vehicle operators is a long overdue and much needed necessity. Advantages of Tennas solution include:



Faster inspections Digitize quicker, eliminating the manual process of completing forms on paper and the risk of losing or damaging a hard copy record. No special hardware or inspection tools are required; drivers simply install the app on their mobile device and complete the electronic form. QR codes are scanned for the visual inspection, and the report signed off with a digital signature.

Better accuracy - Both drivers and back-office teams need to be able to read the DVIR; drivers to complete and sign off on the last report and back office to review, pass on to maintenance when necessary and file. Digital reports minimize errors that occur with handwritten reports and manual filing and decrease the risks of incomplete reports with missing information.

Easier reporting - The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires that at least three months of DVIRs be available on request for reviews and audits. With the FMCSA putting more effort into reviewing safety related issues, all fleets should be well-prepared for a review with complete digital records that are easily accessible.

Quicker turnaround on repairs - Defect reports are instantly routed to the service department for attention and repair. This is imperative for safety-related faults to minimize downtime. Its not just about replacing one system with another - its about taking advantage of recent technology advancements to stay competitive and keep drivers safe in a rapidly changing industry. The DVIR system also helps with process and visibility.

Tennas DVIR system was recently released on the Android platform and is now available in the Apple stores and online. The DVIR module is offered as a premium fleet tracking functionality on an annual subscription basis. Interested parties may visit Tennas website, email support@tenna.com or call (833) 50-TENNA.

About TENNA

Tenna, http://www.tenna.com, is an Internet of Things (IoT) technology company that helps industrial organizations find more value from their current equipment and physical assets. Tenna delivers comprehensive industrial asset tracking and analytics to clients in construction, equipment rental, logistics, transportation and utilities who seek to control and optimize their business. Clients rely on Tenna solutions to track and manage inventories of critical equipment, vehicles and materials and gain increased control and maximum efficiency of their physical assets. Follow us on Twitter. Join the discussion on the Tenna blog and connect with Tenna on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.The Rocky Mountain ADA Center (RMADAC), a member of the National Network of ADA Centers, along with research partners the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities and University of Montana, Missoula, is pleased to make available its latest 2018 Rapid Response Research Project outlining criteria for Vacation Rental Properties (VRPs) businesses.

According to the report: Based on the review of current legal policy, any Place of Lodging, as well as Hotel-like Accommodations and Transient Lodging intended or designed to be used as a public accommodation, is subject to ADA accessibility and enforcement guidelines. However, lodging exempt from the ADA is the five-room exemption defined as place of lodging that contains no more than five rooms for rent and is occupied by the proprietor of the establishment as a resident.

To access the research, click here. To access RMADACs sharable infographic highlighting the groups research findings, click here.

With the growing demand for VRPs among consumers, our team decided it is critical for the entire nation to better understand how the ADA and VRPs are intertwined when it comes to meeting the laws enforcement guidelines, said Dana Barton, director of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center. We made this delineation due to the amount of technical assistance calls the RMADAC team has fielded on nearly a daily basis on this topic over the past few years. We are hopeful this research and its designations will assist the marketplace in meeting accessibility guidelines while also providing consumers with tools to understand their rights.

The research team offer these quick definitions:



Places of Lodging: Under the law, a Place of Lodging is any inn, hotel, motel, or facility that provides guest rooms for short-term sleeping stays with no right of return after the conclusion of the stay, and provides amenities, such as management and reservation services, rooms available on a walkup or call-in basis.

Hotel-like Accommodations: VRP hosts who offer Hotel-like Accommodations are liable under the ADA if their VRP is a timeshare, condominium hotel, or other mixed-use corporate hotel facilities intended to be used as a public accommodation on a VRP platform.

Transient Lodging: Transient Lodging is any building or facility, excluding medical care facilities and residential facilities, that contains sleeping accommodations. Examples of Transient Lodging include, but is not limited to, resorts, group homes, hotels, motels, and dormitories classified as a public accommodation and is covered under the ADA.

Service Animals: VRP hosts should expect to accommodate service animals. VRP hosts can ask two questions regarding a service animal: 1) Is the service animal required because of a disability? 2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

We are pleased by actions taken by some in the VRP industry to meet accessibility standards, such as in 2017 when Airbnb acquired Accommable, an accessible vacation rental startup, to better accommodate individuals with disabilities. I am hopeful other organizations with similar offerings consider tools to increase their accessibility to meet federal guidelines, but more importantly to be great hosts to those seeking vacation accommodations," added Barton.

To review past rapid response research projects spearheaded by RMADAC, click here.

About the Rocky Mountain ADA Center: The Rocky Mountain ADA Center provides information on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to individuals and organizations throughout Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The Rocky Mountain ADA Center is a member of the National Network of ADA Centers and is funded by National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90DP0094-01-00). Our center is powered by and a project of Meeting the Challenge, Inc. located in Colorado Springs, CO. http://www.rockymountainada.org/. The centers staff members represent a diverse and dynamic group of individuals who are dedicated to the driving spirit of the ADA as well as the complex standards behind the law. To connect with the Rocky Mountain ADA Center on social media, click here.

The Rocky Mountain ADA Center is available to assist with any of the following areas:If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.In a lawsuit filed August 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, former Barnes & Noble CEO Demos Parneros has charged the retailer with breach of contract and defamation of character. The suit contains numerous unflattering revelations about the inner workings of B&N, and includes the bombshell news that a deal to sell the company to another "book retailer fell through in June.

Parneros was abruptly fired from B&N on July 3, for unspecified violations of company policy. He was let go without severance. In his suit, Parneros claims that the nature of his firing, coupled with the current employment environment, left the public to assume he was guilty of sexual harassment. He denies, however, that this was the case.

Claims in Parneros's suit indicate that his relationship with B&N chairman Len Riggio began to sour after an unnamed book retailer withdrew its offer to buy the company in June. According to the complaint, the retailer withdrew its offer after completing due diligence.

Following the collapse of the deal, Riggio, according to Parneros's complaint, felt he no longer had a graceful exit from the company. Riggio also believed, per the complaint, that the only way B&N could survive is if he stayed on, and ran the company. After the deal fell through, Riggio became hostile to Parneros, the complaint states, adding that after the deal fell through Riggio stopped communicating with Parneros and began giving direct orders to other members B&N's executive team.

At a July 2 meeting with Riggio and Scott Barshay, an attorney with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Parneros was told he was being fired for violations of the companys sexual harassment policy for interactions with an executive assistant, as well as his mistreatment of CFO Allen Lindstrom. Parneros said the incident with the executive assistant was an innocuous, less than five-minute conversation about vacationing in Quebec. And as for his mistreatment of Lindstrom, he said he had treated the CFO the same as Riggio and that the board agreed Lindstrom was performing poorly.

In the complaint, Parneros accuses Riggio of engineering the firing without cause, so Riggio could maintain control of B&N. Parneros claims, furthermore, that the nature of the firing left him, as a headhunter called Parneros, "unhirable. and that he was forced to resign from the Key Bank board, a post he held since 2014.

The lawsuit takes particular aim at Riggios management style, alleging that he set an unprofessional tone at B&N. The complaint includes a long list of disparaging comments Riggio allegedly made toward other executives. In addition to blasting Lindstrom as not being "a real CFO," the complaint alleges that Riggio called a former chief merchant flawed and potentially schizophrenic. The president of a B&N division was allegedly described as a head case by Riggio, and dead wood." Parneros said that given the abusive corporate culture created by Riggio the bogus nature of the allegations of cause for firing Parneros are even more obvious.

The complaint demands that B&N pay Parneros the severance (over $4 million) he is due for being dismissed without cause, as well damages for loss of potential earnings, mental anguish and other punitive damages. The suit also seeks to make B&N clear Parneros' name.

In response to Parneros's suit, the B&N board issued a statement vehemently rejecting all the charges in it. B&N called the suit nothing but an attempt to extort money from the Company by a CEO who was terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behavior and other violations of company policies after being in the role for approximately one year.

The statement went on to defend Riggios conduct, calling the allegations contained in the complaint replete with lies and mischaracterizations." It goes on to call Parneros "someone who, instead of accepting responsibility for blatantly inappropriate behavior, is lashing out against a former employer.

The statement repeated that, advised by legal counsel, the board unanimously terminated Mr. Parneros employment following a thorough investigation that revealed multiple examples of significant misconduct. Mr. Parneros not only violated his employment agreement, but also compromised the trust and respect that we strive to foster throughout our organization.On Wednesday, the High Court stopped criminal proceedings against her and lawyer Stanley Kiima both of whom are facing graft charges in relations to corruption and tax evasion charges surrounding the collapsed Imperial Bank.

High Court Judge Chacha Mwita suspended the criminal charges against the Deputy Chief Justice saying the petition raises constitutional issues that need to be addressed first.

He held that the charges Mwilu faces arose out of a commercial dispute, hence the court needs time to determine whether a commercial dispute can amount to a criminal charge.

The Deputy CJ has been directed to serve both the petition and application to the Director of Public Prosecutor, Director of Criminal Investigations, and Attorney General.

Judge Mwilu had moved to the High Court to block her prosecution in the Sh12 million graft case.

She filed the case through her lawyers on Wednesday seeking orders to stop her from taking a plea.

Lawyers Nelson Havi, Harun Ndubi, Okong'o Omogeni, John Khaminwa, and others argued the petition before Jude Mwita.

Judge Mwilu was arrested on Tuesday and taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for questioning.Rodeo Road, a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of pavement in Los Angeles, will be renamed Obama Boulevard, in honor of the former President Barack Obama.

The Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of the change Tuesday night.

In February 2007, Obama held a rally at Rancho Cienega Park, between Rodeo Road and Exposition Boulevard, about four miles west of the University of Southern California, in a largely African-American neighborhood.

It was his first visit to Los Angeles as a presidential candidate, happening just over a week after he formally announced his first run for the White House.

LA City Council president Herb Wesson first proposed the name change in June 2017.

Rodeo Road is not to be confused with Rodeo Drive, the iconic street that runs through a high-end retail district in Beverly Hills.

Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has recently stirred rumors he may seek the White House in 2020, applauded the city council's vote. Were thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President Barack Obama when traveling across L.A., the city's mayor, Eric Garcetti wrote on Twitter.

The Los Angeles Times notes that multiple schools in California already bear Obama's name, and he has another street, Obama Way, named after him in the Northern California beach town of Seaside.Harriett Baldwin, Minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, stated this during her visit to Ghana on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

She said the UKs 20 million Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) Programme will help create over 15,000 jobs for Ghanaians and is expected to facilitate over 50 million of additional private sector investment.

The minister discussed the UKs continued support for the President Nana Akufo-Addo's ambition to move Ghana beyond aid and to a modern partnership with the UK.

She also met Ghanas Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, to discuss diversification and industrialisation in the economy and how the UK and Ghana can best work together to deliver prosperity and long-term growth for both countries.

UK-Ghana Investment Summit 2018

Minister Baldwin also announced a three-day UK-Ghana Investment Summit which will be held in Accra this October.

In a statement by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British authority said more than 50 British companies and major investors will be brought together to explore new commercial opportunities in sectors such as financial and legal services, agriculture, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

The United Kingdom believes the summit will open up further opportunities between the two countries.

UK- Ghana relations

Minister Baldwin said the UK and Ghana have a long-standing friendship based on shared values, Commonwealth ties, and strong links between both countries people.

The Minister visited the Blue Skies factory. The Blue Skies is a British business founded in Ghana that works with small agricultural producers to export fruit and fruit products to the UK and elsewhere. The factory now employs over 3,500 Ghanaians and supports many small businesses through its supply chain.Attorney General Jeff Sessions never stopped being a thorn in President Donald Trump's side, and Trump has not stopped talking about firing him, sources told The Washington Post in a story published Tuesday.

Trump had those conversations with his lawyers and advisers at least twice this month, White House sources reportedly said.

Sessions, who was one of Trump's earliest backers, recused himself from the Russia probe in March 2017 after it was revealed that he had met with Russian diplomats during the 2016 election. That move angered Trump then, and still angers him now, according to numerous statements Trump has made on the matter.

"This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further," Trump said in a tweet on August 1. "Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!"

Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, confirmed that he and the president discussed the possibility of replacing Sessions, but added that any decision would come after Mueller's investigation.

"If there is any action taken, the president agrees with us that it shouldn't be taken until after the investigation is concluded," he said.

Trump's feud with Sessions goes beyond his recusal, according to some Republican lawmakers.

"Trump doesn't like him," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said to reporters, according to The Post. "This relationship has soured, and I'm not blaming Jeff. It can't go on like this."

"It's a pretty deep breach," Graham added.

Other Republicans chimed in to support the attorney general, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who said he had "total confidence" in Sessions.

"I think he should stay exactly where he is," McConnell said.

But some lawmakers appeared to come to terms with the possibility that Sessions may be replaced, perhaps after the November midterm elections.

"We wish the best for him, but as any administration would show, Cabinet members seldom last the entire administration, and this is clearly not an exception," Sen. Roy Blunt of Montana said in The Post.

"At the end of the first two years, changes happen because people are ready to leave, sometimes because their boss is ready for them to leave," Blunt added.

Firing Sessions poses a challenge for Trump amid Mueller's investigation. Replacing the nation's top law enforcement official could be interpreted as obstructing justice for Trump, who is already under scrutiny for dismissing FBI director James Comey in 2017.Tech leader Siemens used data from the cities of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg and wove it into unique fabrics which tell a story about each city. Three iconic African fashion designers then used the fabrics to create one-of-kind outfits, which are as stylish as they are smart!

FABRIC - launched in Johannesburg on August 23, 2018 - showcases how digitalization of the industrial world is fast becoming the biggest transformation of our time, and highlights how data combined with smart technology will ensure that tomorrows cities are more connected, efficient and powered.

Three iconic African fashion designers were brought on board to create 12 extraordinary outfits from vast amounts of data extracted from the cities of Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg. The intricate garments by John Kaveke (Kenyan), Zizi Cardow (Nigerian) and Palesa Mokubung (South African) outline a variety of patterns from power grids, shipping and tonnage to population densities, transport and areas of connectivity. Data from each of these sectors tell a powerful story about each city and how digitalization can transform them. All of this is told through the universal language of fashion and design.

This is how we thought to express the aspect of digitalization. As urbanization rapidly increases, cities need to start preparing for the effects it will have on infrastructure, energy, water and transportation systems, said Keshin Govender, Group Communications Head for Siemens South Africa.

Data gives greater insight on what makes each city tick, helping us make calculated decisions and improve service delivery to the people. Through the FABRIC project, it was evident that the challenge is not what to do with the avalanche of data but rather accessing reliable and recent data.

This project has highlighted the need for access to data in order to make sound urban planning decisions, explained Govender.

Siemens is well positioned in automation, electrification and digitalization to find solutions to the various challenges of today. It is uniquely positioned to unlock the potential of digitalization through its combination of digital expertise, domain know-how and understanding of hardware in order to leverage digital technologies and optimize operations.

While there is a growing adoption of intelligent machines within certain sectors like the automotive industry, the real opportunity for Africa lies in sectors where it has not yet been explored like manufacturing, energy and transportation. This is a remarkable opportunity for Africa which will result in the establishment of new industries and new jobs, while exponentially increasing skills development and contributing to GDP.

Notes from designers:

Johannesburg-based Palesa Mokubung said this project had transformed her thinking. It opened so many new elements of inspiration, its like I am only truly experiencing Johannesburg right now. I see Johannesburg as more dynamic with hidden opportunities underneath highways, pipes and houses. Im forever changed when it comes to what I do and how I see the city.

Nairobi-born John Kaveke said there was no better way to tell the story than through fashion. Fashion and technology are a universal language and the two combined create a formidable team, he said.

Lagos-based Zizi Cardow said: Its time Africa equipped itself with information. Africa is often overlooked in terms of technology and science so pushing forward on these incredibly important aspects is the next step to propel the continent. Having more data about Africa means understanding our nations better and equipping ourselves to solve the problems we face.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the worlds largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. With its publicly listed subsidiary Siemens Healthineers AG, the company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment  such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems  and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of 83.0 billion and net income of 6.2 billion.According to him, producers of the movie contacted him to make the payment after some of his songs were sang by characters in the film.

Beasts of No Nation became one of the most talked about movies across the continent following its release in 2015.

The war drama film featured star names like Idris Elba, as well as a Ghanaian cast including Ama K. Abebrese, David Dontoh and Abraham Attah.

Speaking on Zylofon FMs Showbiz Agenda, Shatta Wale said he initially rejected the royalties from the movie producers because the $500 they offered was disrespectful.

The Gringo hit maker added that they later returned with an improved offer of $15, 000 which he accepted.

They proposed an amount of between $200 and $500 for each of us. But I declined, because I felt the amount they were paying did not measure up to our status. I felt they were taking us for granted, so i did not accept the amount they proposed, he said.

"From a reliable source my other colleagues ended up taking a mere $500 and I believe that was disrespectful. Hence, after a period they (directors) called me and handed me an amount of $15,000. And this is how much I believe, we deserved and should have bargained for.The Management of Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG) has taken notice of reports in the media about massive lay-os to be eected by the bank, as part of eorts to implement the Purchase and Assumption transaction it undertook following the recent distress of five (5) banks.

READ ALSO: Customers worried about inaccessibility of cash at Beige bank

CBG informs the general public that it has established an integration roadmap with the objective of rightsizing the branch network and rationalizing headcount amongst others. Whilst this may involve some reduction in headcount, management is taking steps to ensure that this does not impose an undue hardship on its sta.

On August 1, 2018, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of 5 struggling banks and merged them into one and named it Consolidated bank Ghana limited.

Subsequently, Consolidated Bank as part of staff rationalization fired about 1,700 out of 3,700 of the workers it inherited from the five collapsed banks.

The affected workers include 700 mobile bankers of the erstwhile BEIGE Bank, while 1,000 are former employees of the Royal Bank, the Construction Bank, uniBank and the Sovereign Bank.

Most of the workers who are still at post are living in fear since they do not know their fate because of the staff rationalization drive.

The statement added that CBG is organising career training programs for all staff who may be fired. They are also finalizing a plan for aected sta to transition to other economic models which will enable them to provide essential outsourced services to the bank where appropriate.

Read the full statement below

CBG ADDRESSES MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT HUMAN CAPITAL CHANGES

The Management of Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG) has taken notice of reports in the media about massive lay-os to be eected by the bank, as part of eorts to implement the Purchase and Assumption transaction it undertook following the recent distress of five (5) banks.

CBG informs the general public that it has established an integration roadmap with the objective of rightsizing the branch network and rationalizing headcount amongst others. Whilst this may involve some reduction in headcount, management is taking steps to ensure that this does not impose an undue hardship on its sta.

A core part of this integration and rationalization exercise is career training programs for all sta who may be exited as a result. CBG is also finalizing a plan for aected sta to transition to other economic models which will enable them to provide essential outsourced services to the bank where appropriate.In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the former staff said the employees were shocked by the huge margin that had been slashed from their allowances.

Our salaries were paid. We were paid last Friday, but we were paid less. We had about 60 to 70 percent reduction. No explanations were given as to why our salaries were reduced.

In BEIGE bank we had our basic salary, and we also had our allowances comprising of a number of things. Now about 60% of our allowances were reduced and then the remaining 40% added to our basic [salary], taxed and paid, she lamented.

On August 1, 2018, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of 5 struggling banks and merged them into one and named it Consolidated bank Ghana limited.

The affected banks included uniBank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank, Royal Bank, and Beige Bank.

Subsequently, Consolidated Bank as part of staff rationalization fired about 1,700 out of 3,700 of the workers it inherited from the five collapsed banks.

The affected workers include 700 mobile bankers of the erstwhile BEIGE Bank, while 1,000 are former employees of the Royal Bank, the Construction Bank, uniBank and the Sovereign Bank.

READ ALSO: BoG makes major changes at top management level

Most of the workers who are still at post are living in fear since they do not know their fate because of the staff rationalization drive.

Its been exasperating, its been full of anxiety, tearful and you dont want to be in our shoes right now. About 700 of the micro banking team were sent away last Friday. They are in the process of handing over assets belonging to the bank and say goodbye.Agyapong Appiah started receiving treatment for his kidney failure at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital in Accra. He later relocated to the USA for advanced treatment after McOttley failed to pay back his investment.

Meanwhile, Appiah's sister, Nana Adwoa, has been given the power of attorney to receive the money on behalf of her brother.

Nana Adwoa told Accra-based Starr FM that they have visited the Dzorwulu office of McOttley several times but she only received GHC22,000 out of the large sum of GHC90,000. She said an official of the company told her they have a difficulty accessing cash as a result of the Central Banks action in the financial sector lately.

My brother is dying and they dont seem to get it. I have been to their office on numerous occasions and all they give me is one excuse to the other. They say it is difficult to have access to money because of what the Central bank is doing in the banking sector."

But I dont understand it because this is my brothers money and we are not even asking for the interest they promised him, we just want the capital that he invested so we can take care of my brother. He is on dialysis and its expensive out there. We need help to get our money from them, she added.

READ ALSO: Customers worried about inaccessibility of cash at Beige bank

Nana Adwoa who sounded worried about the last email the company sent to her brother said that they can only discuss a payment plan with him at the end of September 2018.

Meanwhile, a senior marketing executive of McOttley Capital said they have not paid the full amount because they have cash flow challenges.This will be the fifth stopover of the 2018 training campaign for 123 cadets of the Naval Academy 2nd class, who will have the opportunity to further develop their professional growth, along an educational path begun last year on-board training ship Amerigo Vespucci.

This is for the cadets the first actually operational experience onboard, which is primarily aimed at acquiring skills and capabilities for future duties and assignments, while infusing and consolidating in them the Italian Navys core values.

ITS Durand de la Penne has been conducting her 2018 training campaign as part of a training activity, while performing functions of presence, surveillance and naval diplomacy in areas of unusual gravitation for the units of the Italian Navy, such as, for instance, the Gulf of Guinea.

The ship departed from Taranto last 23 July, and after leaving the Ghanaian port of visit, will sail towards Casablanca (Morocco).

A number of events are planned during port calls, in order to promote a mutual deeper knowledge between the crew and cadets with representatives of local authorities and armed forces.

On 31 August, at 10.00, the ship commanding officer, Captain Armando Simi, will hold a press conference onboard to present the ship and the activities which will be conducted during the 2018 training campaign.

ITS Durand de la Pennewaslaunched on 20 October 1989 and delivered to the Italian Navy on 18 March 1993. Classified as Guided Missile Destroyer, ITS Luigi Durand de la Penne is a multipurpose platform mainly designed for blue water operations.The construction of the 5000-seater National Cathedral has caused public outcry among judges in the country.

Reports indicated that about 9 Judges of the Court of Appeal including many other residents within the earmarked area, were being evicted to enable construction works to begin.

The government has earmarked the Ridge Roundabout area in Accra where the judges live for the construction of the 5000-seater capacity church which is being supported by the clergy in the country.

It has also been reported that the structures within the area will be demolished.

The Coalition of Muslim Organisations has objected to the project and said Christians in Ghana are capable of building a cathedral without government's sponsorship.

The Coalition claimed just as Muslims, Traditionalists, Hindus have their cathedral or temple, Christians are capable of putting up its own cathedral.

In a statement, it said "COMOG has no objection to the building of a cathedral. Christians in Ghana are capable of building a cathedral without governments involvement or sponsorship. Just as the Government of Ghana has not been involved in the construction of religious edifices for Muslims, Traditionalists, Hindus etc., it should not be involved in the efforts by Christians to build themselves a cathedral."

The organisation has also criticised the government for proceeding with preparations to put up the cathedral before a suit challenging the process at the Supreme Court is heard.

According to COMOG, the haste by the government to construct the massive edifice, even before the Supreme Court pronounces judgement on the suit represents an utter misplacement of our priorities as a nation.

On Monday, deputy minister for Lands and Natural resources Benito Bio said judges are not being asked to vacate their premises.

But acting Chief Justice at the time, Justice Julius Ansah, apologized to the affected judges for not being given ample time to vacate the place.A year ago, the government declared a national war on illegal mining and went ahead to place a ban on all small-scale mining activities as part of the measures to save the situation.

However, the ban is set to be lifted in the coming weeks, with a detailed roadmap on how miners should operate also to be released.

The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners believe they must also do their part to ensure that illegal mining is a thing of the past.

According to the Associations General Secretary, Godwin Armah, they will leave no stone unturned and will go as far as exposing politicians who involve themselves in illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey.

Everyone has the capacity to expose. You shouldnt sit on the fence, the law is clear, if you want to do mining, get the required licenses then you operate. So if you are a politician and you go in illegally it is not because you are a politician the law will be different. The association will ensure that we expose any politician or traditional leader who operates illegally or support illegality in the mining space, he said.

The warning comes after the Association announced steps it has put in place to streamline their operations ahead of governments announcement of the lifting of the ban on small-scale mining.

The steps include coordination mechanisms, use of technology to monitor compliance and signing of a compliance blueprint with the Minerals Commission.

In the past, certain political figures have been accused of owning mine concessions and engaging in illegal mining activities.

Recently, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the ruling NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, was accused of being involved in galamsey activities by a group calling itself the Concerned Small-scale Miners Union of Ghana.

The Minority in Parliament also called for a probe into the dealings of the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, after alleging that he is involved in illegal mining activities.Lavrov also said that there is "full political understanding" between Russia and Turkey, who support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war but are currently in intense negotiations to ensure Idlib does not become a breaking point in their alliance.

"It is necessary to disassociate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists and at the same time prepare an operation against them while minimising risks for the civilian population," Lavrov said.

"This abscess needs to be liquidated."

Lavrov went on to accuse the West of "actively heating up" the idea of a "so-called planned chemical attack by the (Syrian) government."

Over the last week, Moscow has accused Syrian rebels of planning to stage a chemical attack in the northwestern province that would "provoke" Western strikes on its ally Damascus.

It also accused British secret services of being "actively involved" in the plot.

Moscow's accusations came after US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said Washington will respond "very strongly" if Syrian regime forces used chemical weapons to retake Idlib.

This week Russian media reported Moscow is reinforcing its military presence in the Mediterranean near Syria.

In April, the US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma that left scores of people dead.

Russian stuck by its ally Syria and angrily insisted the Douma attack was staged by the White Helmets volunteer rescue service.

Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, launched a military intervention in 2015 to support the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a move that changed the course of the war.

Damascus still holds the southeastern tip of Idlib, a strategically important province adjacent to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast that is home to Assad's clan.According to him, the actual declaration of Ghanas independence was done a day later on March 6, 1957 in Parliament with the support of Dr. K.A. Busia.

He explained that when Dr. Nkrumah declared that At long last, the battle has ended, Ghana is free forever, it was only a teaser at a Convention Peoples Partys (CPP) rally, which preceded the actual Independence Day declaration.

Addressing a gathering at the 40th anniversary lecture of Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia held at the Accra International Conference Centre on Tuesday, the Speaker said Dr. Busia was the main supporter of the motion moved for independence.

That was a CPP rally and Nkrumah was entitled to let his supporters know that the struggle was in fact ended. Independence was declared hours later in Parliament, Prof. Ocquaye said.

In this connection, let me say categorically that Nkrumah did not declare independence at the Old Polo Grounds. The motion for independence was supported by Busia and was carried and the Duchess of Kent declared Ghana independent at the National Assembly by the authority of Queen Elizabeth II.

He added that it is totally erroneous for Ghanaian students to be taught in schools that Dr. Nkrumah declared the countrys independence at the Old Polo Ground on March 5, 1957.\

No Ghanaian child should be taught that Nkrumah declared independence at the Old Polo Ground, the Speaker cautioned.

Prof. Ocquare further showered praise on Dr. Busia, who he described as a Parliamentary prophet.

He said never in Busias life was he not supportive of Ghanas independence, adding that the former Prime Minister always spoke against anti-democratic methods adopted by Nkrumah and the CPP.

I want to use this occasion to remind Ghanaians that when Nkrumah moved the motion of destiny in the National Assembly for independence, it was Busia who seconded it and it was unanimously carried.The bank also slammed a huge N5.8 billion fine on the banks for allegedly aiding MTN in the illegal capital repatriation.

The regulatory authority said the bank issued irregular certificates of capital importation (CCIs) on behalf of some offshore investors of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.

The affected banks and their fines are Standard Chartered Bank (N2.4 billion), Stanbic IBTC (N1.8bn), Citibank (N1.2bn) and Diamond bank with N0.25 billion.

Isaac Okoroafor, CBN's spokesperson, said the fine was necessary after allegations of remittance of foreign exchange with irregular certificates of capital importation issued on behalf of some offshore investors of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited and subsequent investigations carried out by the apex bank in March 2018.

Okoroafor said the investigations indicated that the sum of $3,448,119,321.72 was repatriated by Standard Chartered Bank on the basis of the illegally issued CCIs.

Similarly, he said Stanbic IBTC Nigeria, Citibank Nigeria and Diamond Bank Plc, repatriated the sums of $2,632,005,623.78, $1,766,263,212.75 and $348,914,501.30 between 2007 and 2015.

He said the CBN had directed the affected banks to immediately refund the respective sums.

How MTN 'moved' half of Nigeria's external reserves out of the economy

In 2016, Nigerian lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, (Kogi West) alerted the National Assembly on how MTN repatriated about $12 billion out of the country over a 10-year period.

In a motion raised at the plenary, Melaye said, My respected colleagues, MTN Nigeria paid a sum of $284.9 million on the 6th of February, 2001, to purchase their licence of operations in this country.

Between 2006 and 2016, through four Nigerian banks and a serving minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, MTN moved over 12 billion dollars out of Nigeria.

That is about half of our external reserves. If I get the nod of the Senate I will want to bring a substantive motion on the next legislative day with substantiated facts to buttress this position, he had said.

The motion generated reactions from every quarter, less than a year after the telecoms giant was slammed a record fine of $5.2 billion for failing to deactivate unregistered sims.

Standard Chartered Bank's role

The Bank had also in 2016 assured regulators that it will fully cooperate into the alleged illegal repatriation of funds by MTN.

MTN Nigeria denies repatriation of funds

In the same year, MTN denied involvement in any wrongdoing.

There have been no comments from the banks and the telecommunication giant as at the time of publishing this report.This improvement has been attributed to passenger numbers which increased by 6.6 percent to 2.3 million, while cargo uplift increased by 13 percent to 31,973 tonnes over the same period last year.

The cabin factor increased by 2.8 points to 75.9 percent. Revenue increased by 3.1 percent due to increased passenger traffic and overall yield improvement. The direct operating costs increased by 13.9 percent due to increased pressure on global fuel prices.

The fleet costs reduced by 2.2 percent attributed to the fleet rationalisation completed in November 2017.

The business has remained resilient and is focused on delivering solid results. We continue to optimize the network to create more connections through our hub in Nairobi and in turn increase efficiency in order to reduce overall costs and return to profitability, said Michael Joseph, Chairman Kenya Airways.

The Airline is focusing on the expansion of its network in a bid to cater for the growing needs of passengers and to strengthen its footprint in Africa.

During the period, Kenya Airways launched flights to Mauritius and non-stop flights to Cape Town, South Africa. The airline is in final preparations for its maiden non-stop flights to New York on October 28, 2018.

During the Investors briefing held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, the Chairman said that Kenya Airways was committed to enhancing its service delivery across all touch points with the aim of making it more authentic and true to its brand proposition.Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!In 2017, the West African country adopted the policy under the new consolidated World Health Organisation (WHO)s HIV prevention, care, treatment and support strategy.

Under the new policy guidelines, a person is immediately put on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) as soon as they test positive.

The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) says the waiting period before putting on medication gives room for some persons diagnosed with the virus to either escape the treatment or go hiding and only come back with serious implications.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the West African AIDS Foundation, Dr Naa Ashley Vanderpuye, the programme will help reduce the rate of infection in unborn babies.

She noted that 20,000 new infections were recorded among pregnant women every year while the total new infections rate increased by 21 percent across all ages in 2016.

The test and treat policy recommends that all HIV-infected individuals are eligible for antiretroviral treatment at diagnosis, regardless of their disease stage and CD4 cell count.

This approach replaces the existing HIV treatment guidelines that recommended only infected persons with advanced-opportunistic secondary infections of tuberculosis and with low CD4 cell count for ARV drugs.British Prime Minister, Theresa May, stated this on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, as she visits President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock villa in Abuja, as part of her 3-day tour to African nations.

The British leader lamented the state of the country's economy which has the highest number of poor people in the world.

In her remarks, May canvassed for more economic ties with Nigeria following the exit of the UK from the European Union.

She pledged that the United Kingdom would assist Nigeria in the fight against terrorists as well as human trafficking.

Earlier, President Muhammadu Buhari lauded the British government for its assistance to Nigeria in the fight against terrorism and pledged Nigerias readiness to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

The Nigerian leader said Africa's populous nation is studying the developments about Brexit.

I also thank you very much for the improvement in trade relationship between us since you assumed office.

We are nervously watching developments about Brexit because we know that relationship has been on since 1938 and people are here looking at the opportunities in education, businesses, and so on.

Let me assure you that we will take the necessary steps to improve on the trade relationship between our two countries, he said

Nigeria, UK signs two agreements

During the visit, Nigeria and the United Kingdom signed two bilateral agreements on Defence and Security partnership, as well as Economic Development Forum.

The latest agreements between the two countries come as UK Prime Minister Theresa May visits President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock villa in Abuja, as part of her 3-day tour to African nations.

Details of the agreements

Under the new agreement, Britain is expected to provide logistics and training for the Nigerian military to tackle insurgency as both countries are also expected to consolidate and open new areas of cooperation to boost their trade relationship.The deal will enable instant money transfers from 23 countries in Europe to any customer in Nigeria - Azimos biggest market.

Michael Kent, Founder and CEO of Azimo, said, A huge and rapidly growing population coupled with the explosion of smartphone ownership mean that Africa and in particular Nigeria is one of the most exciting fintech markets on the planet.

We look forward to working with fintech leader Interswitch to build new digital low-cost financial services that drive inclusion and transform the financial lives of our customers in both the UK and Africa.

Digital money transfers play a significant role in the growth of Nigerias economy  the largest in Africa. Remittances to the nation were worth $22 billion in 2017 - the equivalent of 5.6% of Nigerias GDP and higher than the countrys oil revenues.

Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director and CEO of Interswitch, commented, We formed this partnership with Azimo as they are a global leader in cross-border payments with great tech capability and a strong knowledge of our core markets. This agreement is a key milestone in our common strategy to better serve the Nigerians where ever they are located around the world.

In the longer term, the deal will see the two companies build new mobile-based financial services for Interswitchs rapidly expanding customer base of over 25 million people in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Azimo is part of a business delegation with UK Prime Minister Theresa May to tour three African countries. The firm will use the opportunity to promote FinTech innovation in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.In a recent Facebook video, a Christian speaker, author and apologist named Frank Turek argues that atheists are stealing their reasoning from God.

He explains that the common arguments used by unbelievers are all based on things created by God, adding that this proves that they fundamentally wrong.

Proof of God's existence

Turek goes on to use a simple acronym: CRIMES to make his case. C stands for Casualty, R for Reason, I represents Information and Intentionality, M is for Morality, E for Evil while S stands for Science.

Starting with Casualty, he asks, "Why is the universe so orderly, if there is no God, no mind out there ordering all this? Why are the natural laws and forces so consistent? Because there is a mind behind them. When atheists use this to try and disprove God, they are actually stealing from God to argue against him."

Referring to Reason, the apologist explains that this alone is proof that atheists are wrong and God is real.

"If we are just molecules in motion, and there is no immaterial realm, how does reason exist? We're just reacting. We're nothing by moist robots," he says. "So, ironically, atheists who claim to be beacons of reason have made reason impossible by their worldview of materialism."

Turek continues until he gets to the last one - Science. Referring to the popular claim made by atheists who say humans are 'the champions of science,' he notes that this is actually "impossible if atheism is true."

He further explains that human beings have "no warrant to believe anything we learn from science," if atheists are right. He adds, "You know what makes science possible? God. So, when they are doing science, they are actually stealing from God in order to argue against him."

These points are further explained in his book, "Stealing From God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case."The OAP and the convenor of the Free Nation in Christ Online Nation has reacted by blaming the situation on religion.

His post was captioned, "According to Karl Marx: "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."

"Most times, religion is the taproot through which poverty draws its nutrients. Good quality education is one of the keys ways of escaping poverty, but as long as Churches build schools with church funds and church members cannot atte@d for free, poverty will continue to blossom unhindered!"

ALSO READ: Daddy Freeze accuses Pastor Fatoyinbo of weaponizing poverty

In other Freeze news

Meanwhile, the controversial personality has called money the Christianity's greatest enemy!

He shared his thoughts in a recently uploaded Youtube video titled, 'Money.'

Watch the full video below.

Fast Facts on Daddy Freeze

The controversial OAP is the leader of the Free Nation in Christ Online Church aka free the sheeple. He recently unveiled the official logo for his church.

Recently, his church held its first outreach program in London. It was done without the physical presence of their convenor - Freeze, who handled things from Nigeria.The entire religious organization is in chaos following fresh evidence of some of the worst abuse of minors by clergymen. The church has also been hit with claims that the pontiff may be guilty of knowing about at least one "serial predator" and doing nothing about it.

Sex abuse scandal rocks Catholic Church

After years of numerous claims of clergy sexual abuse, things recently got worse with the arrival of a recent grand jury report. It accuses 300 priests from six different Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania of sexually abusing at least 1,000 children. The report added that this has probably lasted for over seven decades.

"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades," the grand jury wrote in its 800-page report which took two years to compile.

Pope Francis responded with a 2,000-word first of its kind letter, according to the Vatican. In it, the Holy Father dwells on the sufferings of thousands of children whose trust in the Church has been abused.

Concerning this little ones, he wrote, "We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them."

To the readers, he said, "With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives."

Things from bad to worse for the Catholic church

Shortly after this scandal hit the church, an archbishop wrote an 11-page letter, published in The National Catholic Register, accusing Pope Francis of covering up a sex abuse scandal.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican's ambassador to the United States, is asking the pontiff to step down for not doing anything about the many cases of clergy sexual abuse including Cardinal , who resigned in July 2018, following several accusations.

"He knew from at least June 23, 2013, that McCarrick was a serial predator. In this extremely dramatic moment for the universal Church, he must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick's abuses and resign along with all of them," he wrote.

Asked about the archbishop's claims, Pope Francis refused to deny or confirm them saying, "I will not say a single word about this. I believe the statement speaks for itself. And you have the sufficient journalistic ability to make your conclusions. It's an act of trust."

Reactions to sex abuse scandal

Meanwhile, a well-known atheist group is asking American Catholics to abandon the church because of its inability to protect children.

In a full-page ad in The New York Times titled: "It's time to consider quitting the Catholic Church," the Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote:

"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. Six dioceses, three hundred predatory priests, staggering 1,000-plus victims. No bishops indicted. The pope's response? All words, no action - except, insultingly, to call on the faithful to 'pray and fast.'"

"As an early church whistleblower put it, the Catholic Church appears to be an 'organization preaching morality while providing sanctuary to perverts,' a church where shepherds routinely prey on their flock. Three decades of praying priests, church complicity, collusion and cover-up going all the way to the top. Anyone who continues to support this morally bankrupt global syndicate is complicit. This institutional betrayal of trust epitomizes the dangers of blind faith and obedience to religious authority," it continued.The villian character is not one that will be completely erased out of the MCU anytime soon, as there may be a new threat lurking, waiting to take his place. That character is Baron Mordo played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Mordo, who serves as a mentor to Dr. Strange plays a familair role to the character of Loki and Thor, two 'brothers' who find themselves in a circle of deceit and hatred.

Marvel always had a long term plan for Baron Mordo's character

According to Robert C Cargill, the script-writer for Doctor Strange, there is long term plan for Baron Mordo beyond the Dr Strange series.

''For those of you who have ever read the comics, you know that Baron Mordo has a very particluar arc, and that is something we discussed with Chiwetel while working on the first movie.

And part of the reason Chiwetel wanted to play Mordo was because he has a definitive ending as a character and it's such a fascinating ending.

And I do know that whether we are attached or not, that Marvel plans on working towards that ending and fully realizing Mordo as more than just a cardboard cutout villain, but actually taking him to kind of Loki levels of awesomeness. That's the goal with him.''

With Loki gone, it sounds like the next step is to replace his character with Mordo, as the MCU gains a new charismatic villain that everyone kind of roots for in spite of his inherent evil.A select line up of vocal titans such as Waje, Classiq, Bimbo, and music icon 2Baba, will thrill fans with soul-stirring and mind-blowing performances, with award-winning disc jockey, DJNeptune, spinning his magic on his wheels of steel, at the illustrious gathering. The event will be anchored by one of Nigerias gifted MC, FCT-based MC Amana.

As witnessed in previous editions held in Abuja, Lagos and Jos, fans of diverse music tastes, genres and generations will be treated to a unique and unforgettable experience through pleasant surprises and the rendition of classic tunes with fresh twists.

Expected to grace the event with his presence is his Excellency Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai, Governor Kaduna State. He will be joined by his family, State executive council members and all top government functionaries.

Buckwyld Media Network, the producers of Eargasm Concert series, is partnering with Fusion International, Kaduna, to give music lovers in Kaduna, a musical experience to savour.

The event is supported by Kaduna State Media Corporation, Invicta FM, and Liberty FM and will kick off with a red carpet at 4pm.

Distinguished guest his Excellency Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai would be attending this wonderful event. State executive council members and all top government functionaries will attend.In a report by Punch, the bricklayer committed the criminal act earlier in August 2018 in his home situated in Itoki area of Ifo Local Government Area, Ogun state.

It was also reported that Akindele's lover, who is known as Iya Anu, was murdered before her body parts were ripped apart by the bricklayer.

The Ogun State Police Command under the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has described the act as a conspiracy, murder and ritual.

How the bricklayer carried out the act

The Ogun state police command alleged that Akindele invited the late Iya Anu to his rented apartment, where he had sex with her before allegedly killing her.

ALSO READ: Suspected killer in a hurry to bury deceased due to her stench

The bricklayer reportedly used a pestle-like wood to smash his lover's head until she died.

Akindele allegedly went further to cut off his lover's head and hands, cut her open to also remove her intestines.

He reportedly dumped the remains of Iya Anu after her body had been decapitated in an uncompleted property close to the scene of crime.

The decomposing body has since been recovered by the Police and the men of Vigilante Group of Nigeria.

Bricklayer was assisted by church founder

The Ogun police command also alleged that Akindele was assisted in the crime by a church founder.

It was also reported that the bricklayer allegedly took the intestines of his murdered lover to Ayodele Bamiduro, the founder of Lion of Judah Church of Christ.

In a corner of Bamiduros church lies the severed head, hands and the intestines of Akindele's murdered lover buried.

Police arrest bricklayer and church founder for prosecution

Akindele and Bamiduro have been arrested as suspects in the murder case.

Describing Akindele's act as a conspiracy, murder and ritual, the Ogun state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, said Akindele confessed that the deceased was his lover and that they had dated for two years before he killed her.

Ilyasu also noted that on August 10, 2018, the Baale of Igbore Robiyan reported the discovery of a decomposing headless body in an uncompleted building to Agbado Divisional Police headquarters.Dressed casually, he stands by the roadside as if to give a warning concerning the dangerous choice he will be making next year.

On Tuesday, August 28, 2018, the Linda Ikeji's Blog (LIB) shares a post containing an image of the man planning a suicide.

"If President Muhammadu Buhari do not win election in 2019, I will kill myself," the text on the banner reads.

The love and confidence he has invested in Buhari is not shared by former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso who says he regrets supporting him at the 2015 General Election.The Times of India confirms that he was apprehended on Tuesday, August 28, 2018. According to reports, he committed the act with his bare hands.

Chetan has been charged with attempted murder and voluntarily causing harm, says a report.

ALSO READ: Poly student beaten to death after killing 5 persons with his car

A police statement quoted by the Times of India confirms that the suspect felt neglected by his 66-year-old dad.

He always kept me at a distance, even during festivals and family get-togethers," alleges Abhishek Chetan.

His mother reportedly passed away a month before the incident which meant for him access to the possessions of the deceased.The Nation News confirmed this in an interview with the victim who boarded an unpainted taxi expected to take her from Egbatedo to Pen Cinema, Agege.

Emeka Okeke, the driver of the vehicle confirmed to Omoniyi his intention to kill her in order to meet the demands of a customer in need of human parts.

The lady was to be taken to Ibadan where her breast and other body organs will be removed in order to supply a buyer.

It was only the driver and a woman that were in when I joined. Few metres away, two others entered the vehicle pretending to be passengers.

"I knew I entered a wrong vehicle immediately the driver, Emeka Okeke, started telling the female passenger (Blessing Nwaeze) that she did not lock his boot properly."He said the woman did not tell him she had dollars in the boot and for that reason, everyone in the car would share it. As soon as I heard that, I told myself these were fraudsters and I asked them to drop me. But they refused.

"The next thing, the woman held me and the old man (Monday Onwuka) started fondling my breast. The driver brought out a simcard and put inside a phone and called someone that they were on their way with the items."They told me they will cut off my breasts and other parts and that a customer was already waiting for us at Ibadan. The old man said I will die today that no matter how I screamed, no one will hear my voice."Fortunately, there was a man that has been observing what was happening. The driver got to a busy spot and raised the alarm. He said he has been hearing my voice and it seemed I was shouting for help."He asked them who I was and the woman immediately said I was her younger sister and that our parents said they should bring me home.

"I told the man I do not know them and that I had entered the vehicle thinking it was a taxi."That was when people gathered and started beating them. They were four but one was able to escape while the other three were beaten and handed over to the police," Abidemi Omoniyi told The Nation.

Lady dies after meeting Facebook boyfriend

Kind prayers have welcomed the death of young lady who reportedly died after meeting a Facebook boyfriend.

This was captured in a social media post by a user, Nancy Oluwadarasimi Nancy, who offered a note of advice to her audience while trying to come to terms with the passing of the deceased.

Her key warning bothered on paying attention to safety while meeting new acquaintances.

"I m deeply shocked at the suddeness of ur demise, take hearts Mr debemu..

"This girl died after meeting her Facebook boyfriend yesterday,***praying that the Almighty God forgive should forgive all her transgressions and accept her into his kingdom. Amen.

"Pls girls be careful of who you mingle with, this world is very wicked ... Still can't believe this

"May your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Rip Sochi," reads a post by Nancy.Imarigbe explains in a Punch News report that Ogidi came to her orphanage in the company of her father. She identifies the dad as Mr. Chukwuma.

On July 8, at about 6pm, a man came to my orphanage and brought a girl, saying that he was the father of the child. I said adducted.

When I looked at the child, she was looking tattered and was smelling. As a God-fearing person, I could not reject the child; I accepted her.

I told him that if he was the owner of the child, he should come back at 9am the next day to do some documentation. The man came to the orphanage at exactly 8.30am and put down his phone number and address.

I asked him what the name of the girl was and he said her name was Sweet. The child was not feeling fine; so, we treated her for malaria.

Mr Chukwuma usually came to visit the child. About two weeks ago, he came; even when the child was sick, he came to the orphanage and gave me N1,000 to buy drugs for the girl.

He (Chukwuma) said he and the wife had a misunderstanding. He told me that his wife was in Libya.

Ogidi reconnected with her real family on Saturday, August 25, 2018. This is after seven weeks of fervent commitment to finding her.The incident happens on Monday 27 August, 2018, when suspected hoodlums visited the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to confront Okoya-Thomas.

According to lifestyle magazine, The Elites, the political thugs were led to the venue of the chaos by a woman named Chief (Mrs.) Kemi Nelson.

ALSO READ: Poly student beaten to death after killing 5 persons with his car

Both women are reportedly experiencing an intense rivalry.

The thugs then went outside the office where they sighted the Personal Assistant of Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, Alhaja Abiodun and engaged her in a serious fight that caused the PA serious body injury to the extent that she lost a lot of blood in the process.

Alhaja Abiodun had to be rushed to a nearby hospital, else she would have lost her life over unnecessary jealousy and envy.

Only God knows what Kemi Nelson wants after she has been elevated from the state Women Leader to the position of South West Women Leader of the party apart from being an appointee of President Muhammadu Buhari as a board member of NSITF," a private source tells The Elite.You are welcome to join this quest to find what makes Johnnie Walker worlds number 1 scotch whisky.

During the four-day tour, RMD and DonJazzy will be immersed in the process of selection of the 29 single malt whiskies that are blended into the full flavour that defines Johnnie Walker.

RMD & Don Jazzy will tour the worlds largest private whisky collection, property of Diageo, and the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. They will additionally visit Cardhu Distillery and Dalwhinie Distillery, homes of two of the 29 single malt whiskies that are crafted into the Johnnie Walker blended whisky.

Dinner will include a traditional Scottish indulgence at an undisclosed location, and fine dining at the exclusive Kitchin.

Universally recognized for its iconic Striding Man logo and trademark smooth smoky finish, Johnnie Walker speaks craftsmanship in every bottle and perfection in each drop.

18+. Drink Responsibly.Rain as a natural occurrence hinders movement and plans. It is not the most ideal weather condition to go out and have a party.

Mankind has always wanted control of his environment including the weather most especially rain. It is at this point that the men known as rainmakers step in.

We have all heard the stories, a select group of men who have the mystical powers to stop rain from falling no matter how grey the skies are.

According to legend, rainmakers can make your party or venue of your event dry as the Sahara while it rains cats and dogs in your neighbour's house.

Father's experience with rainmakers

In November 2008, a certain my late father Mr. Alake prepared to bury mother in Ikoro-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

He was approached by supposed amojo (rainmakers) who wanted to help him prevent rain from affecting the events of that set dates.

He released NGN10,000 for his older brother to pay them, but his older brother paid those rainmakers half of that amount.

It didnt rain much during the service of songs, but it rained heavily throughout the owanbe  thank God for wonderful canopies.

How they work

Basically, my mother, a seasoned Yoruba doctrine and laguage professional, Mrs. Alake, told Pulse how this business of rainmaking works; she said the key ingredients are, a large banana leaf, a powder-like substance and palm oil.

The aim is to make those sacrifices to appease the gods, custodians of rain and warp the elements that make up rain by spraying the powder substance on the leaf before putting palm oil on the powder substance on the still fresh leaf before setting fire to the leaf with the oil and powder on it.

The aim is that since fresh leaf (ewe tutu) doesnt burn like dry leaves, as long as the fresh leaves remain alive, and the palm oil runs, it burns slow and the keep igniting the fire when it goes out.

The belief is that as long as the fresh leaves burn, it keeps the rain at bay through the heat being created.

A few of them like getting paid upon assurance that their expertise has actually worked.

Does it work?

My mother that her now late husband told her that when his older brother, Chief Michael Alake was constructing his home at Temidire Street in Ikoro-Ekiti in the 1955 from August-September, they encountered the need for rainmakers.

The house is a duplex and they needed the deck (decking) to dry up  that ordinarily takes an average of 7 weeks. Then again, when they need to construct the roofing, the needed clear skies.

They contracted rainmakers in Ikoro-Ekiti who performed the aforementioned rites. Lo and behold, it didnt rain through the day they needed  roughly 7 days.

Can rainmakers actually control rain?

You cannot believe what you have not seen and these days, there are far more frauds than legitimate people who can metaphysically control things. It is a reality that does not exist in this woke world.

Nonetheless, you cannot unsee what you have seen and that is; in several parts of Nigeria, where the sanctity of the Ifa religion actually holds water and retains some authenticity, people control rain.

In truth, it beguiles logic, reason and pragmatism, but so does the Buddhist powers that have created some crazy hypnosis and hypnotists that have tested theories.

But then, until people actually see that rainmakers can actually do things, or see what happens outside of the ordinary, they wouldnt know just how real metaphysics is.

But doubters also have soft landing. There are a crazy amount of scammers around, but know this; just as not all scientific theories work and drugs have side effects, nothing is perfect or absolute.

Something might not have worked before you, but it doesnt mean it doesnt work.On a recent trip to Lagos for Arise Fashion Week, supermodel During the course of the conversation has urged Conde Nast to launch an African edition of Vogue. Naomi Campbell who was recently appointed the contributing editor of Vogue by new Editor Edward Enninful, explained that she believes the launch of an African edition of the style bible would be an appropriate way to recognise the continents contribution to the global fashion industry.

There should be a Vogue Africa, she told Reuters. "We just had Vogue Arabia, it is the next progression. It has to be, she said. She continued, "Africa has never had the opportunity to be out there and their fabrics and their materials and their designs be accepted on the global platform, it shouldn't be that way. People have come to realise it is not about the colour of your skin to define if you can do the job or not.

We have noticed a huge shift towards inclusion and representation in the fashion world with lots of black figures taking up prominent positions within the industry. Virgil Abloh was recently named the new head of menswear at Louis Vuitton, Balmain's creative director Olivier Rousteing is mixed race and British Vogue hired Edward Enninful to take the helm Vogue Africa would be a giant step but would it be a sincere step towards telling the African story or yet another chance to corner a market by hopping on a bandwagon?

Telling Our Own Stories

Whilst Vogue Africa would create a wealth of jobs in a variety of departments; creative and technical. Are we admitting that we are not able, as a continent to produce something ourselves that is entirely ours and tells our unique story? Whilst Naomi's sentiments are understandable, we as Africans are allowing an international publication to come in and tell our fashion story on our behalf.

The Nigerian creative scene is experiencing a renaissance right now with international publications turning their eyes towards US. Young photographer such as Stephen Tayo, models like Mayowa Nicholas, designers like Lisa Folawiyo and Maki Oh are making waves globally and it seems that all that work would only be validated if we finally got our own version of Vogue.

Why crave acceptance from a Western publication when we can break ranks and start something of our own. Something that is wholly, uniquely and profoundly African. Created by, run by and celebrating our very own.

A United Front

Another reason a continent-wide Vogue would not be feasible is that as a continent, we are not united enough to put together a cohesive monthly publication. Africa is a such a big place and unfortunately we do not know enough about what is going on in each country to produce a magazine that is properly representative.

Thanks to the creators of platform Industrie Africa, we are making steps towards changing that narrative. Industrie Africa is the digital answer to a traditional showroom, housing over 80 designers from 24 nations across Africa created by Nisha Kanabar and Georgia Bobley.

In an interview with Vogue magazine, Industrie Africa sat down to discuss exactly why they thought such a platform was long-overdue. Vogue writes:

You dont have to look too far to know that theres more to African fashion than wax print motifs. And yet even the savviest industry insiders often have trouble thinking beyond the old cliches. Its something Nisha Kanabar and Georgia Bobley are hoping to change with a new online platform that showcases the full breadth and depth of design on the continent. The industry here is so fractured. People in Nigeria know little about whats happening in Kenya or Mozambique, for example, says Kanabar, a native Tanzanian, who cut her teeth as a fashion marketer working for the likes of both Indian and American Vogue. Our question was: How do we connect the dots between the different countries?

Nisha Kanabar continued by saying, "People often view African fashion as a trend that comes in waves and its so much more than that. We want to show that theres a diversity of talent here that defies all expectations.

Africa: The Goldmine

Whilst it's clear that there is a huge push towards Africa and we have caught the attention of the international community in terms of our creative capabilities, does this mean that we give in our continue to do what makes Africans so great by disrupting the status quo and doing something for ourselves?

According to We Are Africa Travel:

International brands are waking up to the fact that Africa is a potential goldmine. The Nigerian economy is one of the fastest growing in the world  and as an estimated 70 per cent of the population is under 30, it is an easy target for any youth-focused fashion label. In South Africa, the local luxury sector generated a revenue of approximately US$2.2 billion last year, and the ready-to-wear designer slice of the market is estimated to be worth $600 million.

Those are huge numbers and it's clear why everyone else is closing in on Africa. Whilst African Vogue is a novel idea and nice in theory, the reality is that with a bit more collaborative work, Africa as a continent could take on the whole of the Western fashion world.Mr Femi Adesina, the Presidents Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, in a statement, said Buhari gave the assurance during a bilateral meeting with the visiting Prime Minister at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari welcomed UKs support toward strengthening democratic institutions in the country.

I assure you that Im all out for free, fair and credible elections.

Im very pleased that my party is doing very well. The High Commissioner will brief you more.

The recent successes in polls in Katsina, Bauchi, and Kogi have boosted our morale greatly.

Nigeria has accepted multiparty democracy and that is putting politicians on their toes, forcing them to work harder.

On the anti-corruption campaign, the President applauded Britains support to the country, noting that the success of the fight was very important to ordinary people in the country.

He recalled that Nigeria had great opportunities and resources between 1999 and 2014 due to high oil prices.

But when we came in 2015, oil prices plunged to as low as 37 dollars per barrel.

What we have been doing since 2015 is to focus on infrastructure development, despite low earnings. Work is ongoing on roads, rail, power, and many others, he said.

On Brexit, Buhari noted that it provided an opportunity to strengthen the historic ties between Nigeria and the UK.

We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time.

I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries.

The president also thanked the UK government for the support on security and the fight against insurgency in the North-East, as well as the improved trade relations between both countries.

I am very grateful to the British government under you leadership for the help in security, particularly your training team that is in our institution in Kaduna, he said.

Earlier in a remark before the bilateral meeting, Buhari underscored the need for UK support toward reviving Lake Chad, which is a source of livelihood for millions of people.

The president told the visiting prime minister that Europe and China were already conducting an indepth study on recharging the Lake through inter-basin transfer from the Central African Republic.

In her remarks, Prime Minister May said she was pleased to be in Abuja to continue the excellent discussions she started with Buhari in London in April, particularly on security, trade, asset recovery and the fight against corruption.

May welcomed the assurance by the Nigerian government on credible elections in 2019.

Security and defence cooperation are very important steps to address Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa, May said.

On asset recovery, the prime minister said:We do not want to hold anything that belongs to Nigerian people; but we follow the judicial process which can be slow.

She appealed to Buhari to use his position as ECOWAS Chair to keep the issue of human trafficking on the front burner in the sub-region.The National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, gave the assurance when he spoke to State House correspondents at the end of the APC Caucus meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday night.

He confirmed that the meeting discussed the upcoming party primaries based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 general elections as released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in January.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the timetable covered the Presidential, National and State Assembly, Governorship and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council elections.

The timetable, which was issued by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud, in Abuja, indicated that party primaries for the Presidential, Governorship, Federal and State Elections would begin on Aug. 18 to end on Oct. 7, 2018.

The Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections would commence on Sept. 4 to end on Oct. 27.

According to Oshiohmole, the APC is obliged to comply with the INEC guidelines because the rules are derived from the provisions of the nations Electoral Act.

The meeting just had a conversation around the forthcoming primaries.

As you know, based on INEC timetable on primaries, this is the season from the President down to House of Assembly and the exercise must end on Oct. 7 according to INEC guidelines.

We are obliged to comply with the guidelines because the guidelines are derived from the provisions of the Electoral Act.

So, we basically discussed how to ensure full compliance with the INEC guidelines and also ensure that that we observe all the principles of internal democracy, participation, ensuring fairness and justice.

I think those are the issues basically, he said.

The chairman maintained that APC as the governing party had since resolved to respect the electoral act and the APCs constitution while conducting its activities to ensure justice for all members.

He announced that the resolutions at the APC Caucus meeting would be tabled at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party fixed for Thursday for deliberation and possible endorsement.

By Thursday we will go to NEC where the formal decisions will be rectified and once they are rectified there will be no problem; they are not being kept because every member of the party and indeed Nigerian are entitled to know how we agreed about the exercise.

But I think everybody has confidence that we will do very credible primaries to ensure that those who fly the flag of the party have the mandate of their various constituencies, Oshiomhole said.

The meeting was attended by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and members of the National Executive Committee of the APC led by its chairman.

Others at the meeting were APC governors of Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Adamawa, Ondo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Osun, Yobe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Imo and Lagos States.

Also at the meeting were former governor of Ekiti state, Mr Segun Oni; Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila; former Ebonyi governor, Mr Martin Elechi; former Borno governor Ali Sheriff; former Lagos state military administrator Buba Marwa; retired Gen. Lawrence Onoja; Chief Jim Nwobodo, and Sen. Kabiru Gaya.

Former APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; former Enugu state governor Sullivan Chime, and former Edo governor Oserheimen Osunbor also attended the meeting.

Others that attended were the former President of the Senate Ken Nnamani; former Ekiti state governor Niyi Adebayo; former Akwa Ibom governor Godswill Akpabio; former Bayelsa governor Timipre Sylva; former Petroleum Minister Don Etiebet, and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, Deputy Director of Public Relations, Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole, disclosed this in a statement in Maiduguri.

Nwachukwu said the insurgents staged an ambush but were repelled and neutralised by troops of 81 Division Task Force Battalion deployed in Operation Lafiya Dole.

Shortly before the ambush, the troops who were on a fighting patrol had uncovered two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) buried in the ground by the terrorists along the road.

While the troops carried out counter IED actions to disarm the explosives, the insurgents sprang from the ambush but met with fierce resistance by the troops, who swiftly countered the ambush, killing three of the insurgents,while others fled with gunshot wounds,he said.

He explained that the troops also recovered two AK 47 rifles; one Light Machine Gun and an empty magazine from the terrorists.

Nwachukwu said one of the troops who unfortunately sustained injury during the encounter was receiving medical attention in a medical facility.

In a separate operation, Nwachukwu said that the troops of 3 Battalion, had successfully staged an ambush against Boko Haram insurgents traversing a crossing point behind Ngala town, Borno on Tuesday.

He said the troops neutralised one Boko Haram insurgent and recovered one AK 47 rifle and seven rounds of 7.62 MM ammunition during the ambush.The minister said this while hosting a former minister and Ekiti State governor-elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who paid him a courtesy visit, according to a report by The Punch.

While distinguishing the ideals of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), Fashola said Buhari's government has carried out infrastructural projects without any political bias. According to him, this is why the current government has done more for Nigerians despite operating with fewer resources than were available in the past.

He said, "Our developmental initiatives are party blind, they are people focused, they are Nigeria centred. The housing project, federal secretariat project, transmission projects are all projects that were initiated while the opposition party governed the state (Ekiti). I went there on a tour to ensure that these projects were going on and what this visit does is just to bring that into sharper focus now.

"People say, in my view wrongly, that there is no difference between us and them (opposition). There are lots of differences and these can be seen in our attitude to development, spending, the type of infrastructure that President Buhari believes in, real infrastructure, not stomach infrastructure.

"There are fundamental ideological differences about how an economy and a government should be run. I think people must focus on those differences about how this government is doing more with fewer resources."

Fayemi seeks Fashola's help to develop Ekiti

During his visit, Fayemi said he hopes to prevail on Fashola to ask for the help of his ministry to implement developmental works in the state.

He said, "This is more of a private courtesy call on the minister and I am delighted to be here. Ive come to solicit for assistance, his (Fasholas) ministry is very crucial to the success of our state, particularly with regards to the developmental works around infrastructure such as power, housing and works."

Fashola told the governor-elect that his experience should serve him well in executing his duties for the good of the people of the state.

"I don't envy you because this is not an easy time to be a leader. However, I am sure that your previous experience in the state and at the national level will ultimately serve the interest of Ekiti people," he said.

Fayemi defeated the PDP candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, aka Eleka, in the July 14 gubernatorial election as he won 197,459 votes to his opponent's 178,121 votes.Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr Femi Otedola and Mr Tony Elumelu, among others, had earlier assembled at the venue.

The meeting, expected to last for 40 minutes, would provide an opportunity for forging more bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

May had earlier on Wednesday afternoon arrived the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Ikeja, in Lagos after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

She is billed to spend time with victims of modern slavery during her brief stay in the nations commercial hub.

The prime ministers visit to Lagos comes barely eight weeks after the French President, Mr Emmanuel Macron, visited the African Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos.

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, accompanied by his deputy, among other state officials, received the prime minister at the airport.

After the reception, May was driven out of the airport to attend to her engagements in the state.

After Mays meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria and Britain signed agreements on Defence and Security partnership, among others.Reuters reports that the government is sending internally displaced persons to unsafe areas ravaged by the insurgency, just so they can vote in the forthcoming elections.

Pushing these people back just to make a point when the security situation remains tenuous, is a terrible idea, one diplomat told Reuters.

Threat of starvation

Internally displaced persons who spoke to Reuters say they have been told that if they remain in the camps, they are going to be denied food and starved to death.

They said, If you refuse to return, you are on your own, the government will not help you anymore, said Hassan, who, like other returnees, asked to be identified by his first name for fear of reprisals, Reuters writes.

Return to an unsafe city

The report adds that in June, government officials told some 2,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in Bakasi camp in the cityof Maiduguri to go back to a town in the Guzamala region.

Guzamala is viewed by the United Nations and aid organisations as inaccessible, dangerous and hard to reach.

In early August, Boko Haram killed at least 19 people, and possibly as many as 63, in an attack on a village in Guzamala.

IDPs are wondering why they are being asked to return to a Guzamala that is unsafe.

We were deceived, Reuters quotes Modu, a returnee as saying. There is nothing in Guzamala other than suffering.

IDPs who were forced to return to Guzamala, found their town in ruins.

Many buildings were burned or collapsed, returnees told Reuters. There were so few houses that people took shelter in a school where rain had caved in the roof.

Pictures of the town seen by Reuters, showed shattered structures and blackened streets littered with burnt-out debris, the report reads.

Aid officials and Western diplomats told Reuters that the governments return programme is geared towards elections.

'The government lied to us'

One soldier in Guzamala told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the place was not ready for the survival of people because there is no food, water is scarce.

It is not only Guzamala that is in terrible state, but the whole of northern Borno - Boko Haram ruined the place and they are still there. Ordinarily, IDPs are not supposed just want to make it look as if things are okay there.

Another Guzamala returnee told Reuters that; We expected the government to provide us with food, but nothing was done. It is better to return back to Maiduguri than to die of hunger. The government lied to us.

Denial

Bashir Garga Idris, northeast Nigeria coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, denied that people were being coerced to return to Boko Harams bomb and bullets.

Idris also said he did not know about the reported threats because he was outside Nigeria at the time.

Four returnees who spoke with Reuters said government officials ordered them to Guzamala. Three said those officials threatened to cut off their aid if they refused to return.

Interviewees identified Sugun Mai Meleh, the commissioner of land and survey for Borno state, and Lawan Umara Zanna, the chairman for Guzamala, as the officials who made the threats.

They also said Borno State House of Assembly Speaker Abdulkarim Lawan was also present.

Lawan told Reuters that he was at the meeting returnees had described, but he was not aware of any forced returns and no threats were made. That is not true, he said.

The presidency wasnt immediately available for comments when Pulse reached out.

Why elections?

Nigeria holds presidential, national assembly and governorship elections in February of 2019. Internally displaced persons wont be able to vote until they return to neighborhoods where they registered to vote.

Borno is a stronghold for the governing APC and the State handed a chunk of its votes to candidate Buhari in 2015.Jonathan said this when Saraki paid him a courtesy visitat his Maitama Office in Abuja.

The former President said the tremendous support being enjoyed by Saraki from lawmakers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives testifies to his leadership ability.

He thanked Saraki and members of his entourage for the visit, noting that most of the leaders that came to his house with the President of the Senate had at one time or the other, played key roles in his political hostory and development.

Jonathan said: Senate President, let me use this opportunity to commend your leadership abilities. Looking at what is happening in the country, if not for your strong leadership, probably the National Assembly would have been in chaos and if the National Assembly is in tatters, then of course, democracy is gone.

I am quite pleased with the kind of relationship you have with the House of Representatives members and how you have been able to hold the National Assembly together because on the day that the parliament was invaded, though the target was the Senate, the House of Representatives members were as active as, if not more active than, the Senators and that cannot happen by chance.

What we know is that if there is an assault on the Senate. Then it is also seen as an assault on the House of Representatives. If they (House of Representatives members) dont believe in you, I dont think some of them would have taken that kind of risk. That commitment shows that they believe in your leadership."

Earlier, Saraki said his visit was to pay his respect to the ex-president and also to inform him of his formal return to the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).The Senator, who recently defected to the APC, said this after the party's caucus meeting which was held on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

According to Premium Times, Akpabio praised the Presidents leadership style, adding that he is respected around the world.

He said The first thing you need to know about the APC, from the point of view of leadership, I am quite impressed. The president has kept his integrity intact. He has been able to improve the image of Nigeria and restore a lot of respect to Nigeria from the international community. I can assure you that he alone can attract millions of people, he is that infectious. Of course his stance on corruption and that Nigerians have food on their table is something is applauded all over the world. I have also advocated that he also fights the twin brother of corruption, that is poverty.

I am joining the APC as a government to stabilise the government and to assist the government to create employment opportunities for Nigerians so that we can fight the twin brother to corruption, which is poverty. Poverty creates corruption and corruption deepens poverty, so we need to fight the two together. And that is one of the things I find attractive with the APC and believe me with my people in Akwa Ibom State, with my presence in the APC my people in South South have now seen the light and they say APC is the party to vote for come 2019.

Uduaghan dumps PDP, hails Buharis leadership style

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), former Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghanattended Tuesdays caucus meeting of the APC in Abuja.

Uduaghan also announced that he has left the People's Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC).Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, while answering questions on efforts to secure Leahs release during an interview on Channels TV, said only God knowswhen she will return.

Ezekwesili reacts

The BBOG co-founder said Who else listened to the Presidents media aide Femi Adesina find anything worthy to laugh about while speaking about abducted children & their parents?

A Spokesperson that never has FACTS on Hot Button Issues  I believe I expect, some agency not Presidency. Na REAL waa.

I forced myself to listen to a Media Aide to the President who seems to blame Nigerians for not seeing the imaginary great things that have been done.

Totally TONE DEAF and lacking the capacity to LEARN from perennial failures of the administration he communicates. BIG SHAME.

Sharibu was among over 100 girls abducted by Boko Haram from a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe state.

She was held back when they released her mates because she refused to denounce Christianity.

Leah Sharibu begs Buhari

The Cable recently published an audio message of Leah Sharibu begging President Buhari to help secure her release.

She said "I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation.

"I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother and relatives. Kindly help me out of my predicament. I am begging you to treat me with compassion, I am calling on the government, particularly, the president to pity me and get me out of this serious situation. Thank you."The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, made the fact known to State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday.

He maintained that none of the reasons for the president withholding his assent adduced by the media was true.

Enang said the president had since communicated why he declined assent to the bill although the communication had yet to be read in the two chambers of the National Assembly

By Presidential communication of July 29, 2018 (one month ago) addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives, Mr President did communicate decline of assent to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, 2018, for constitutional and legal reasons stated therein.

By convention, it is inappropriate to speak on the content of Executive Communication addressed to the Legislature until same has been read on the floor in plenary.

But I plead for the understanding of the legislature that due to the misrepresentations in the public domain and apparent deliberate blackmail which if not promptly addressed may set both the executive and the legislature against the public and even the international investment community, this be excused, he said.

Enang said some of the issues raised related to provision of the bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain 10 per cent of the revenue generated.

He said such provision unduly would increase the funds accruing to the Commission to the detriment of the revenue available to the federal, states and local governments as well as Federal Capital Territory.

The presidential aide also said that there were some legislative drafting concerns, which if assented to in the form presented will create ambiguity and conflict in interpretation.

In deference to the National Assembly, I please state very limited of the rationale communicated to the legislature, to wit:

a) That the provision of the Bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain as much as 10 per cent of the revenue generated unduly increases the funds accruing to the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to the detriment of the revenue available to the Federal, States, Federal capital Territory and Local governments in the country

`b) Expanding the scope of Petroleum Equalisation Fund and some provisions in divergence from this administrations policy and indeed conflicting provisions on independent petroleum equalisation fund

c) Some legislative drafting concerns which if Assented to in the form presented will create ambiguity and conflict in interpretation.The two leaders proceeded to a meeting behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa after May arrived in a gray vehicle marked 138 CMD around 1 pm.

May's central message during her visit will be focused on a renewed partnership between the UK and Africa, which will seek to maximise shared opportunities and tackle common challenges.

She's also expected to use her visit to announce further support to tackle instability across Africa. Nigeria has been dealing with the insurgency of terrorist group, Boko Haram, for nine years.After arrival formalities, Buhari and May disappeared behind the Aso Rock doors for a meeting which lasted a few minutes.

Buhari and May signed agreements on Defence and Security partnership. The other agreement was on Economic Development Forum.

Speaking briefly before signing the agreements, Buhari told May that: I welcome you most sincerely to Nigeria and I am very grateful to the British government under your leadership for the help you are giving us in the area of security.

The training team that goes to our institutions in Kaduna and observe the operations in the North-East mainly, we thank you very much for that.

I also thank you very much for the improvement in trade relationship between us since you assumed office.

We are nervously watching developments on Brexit, because we know that relationship has been on since 1938 and people are here looking at the opportunities in education, businesses, and so on.

Let me assure you that we will take the necessary steps to improve on the trade relationship between our two countries".

'Good discussions'

Buhari expressed Nigerias satisfaction with the removal of barriers by the British government for veterans of the World Wars, and numerous assistance to tackle human trafficking as well as climate change.

The Nigerian leader also narrated the effects of the drying up of the Lake Chad and the need to resuscitate it, in order to boost farming and fishing activities within the Chad basin.

May told Buhari that Im delighted to be able to continue the very good discussions we had when you were in London in April.

As you said, we already have very good cooperation between the UK and Nigeria, which include education, defence, security and trade relations.

We are ready to cooperate together on global and regional issues; to strengthen that cooperation and partnership.

I have with me a business delegation, as we look to enhance our ties in future and explore more trading opportunities.

We will also be looking to work together to step up efforts against security threats from Boko Haram, human trafficking and the likes.

And, of course, also cooperate to fight corruption and lifting people out of poverty.

May left Abuja for Lagos after the meeting. Shell be off to Kenya as soon as shes done having a meeting with business leaders in Lagos.Uduaghan was a two-term governor of the oil rich state, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party between 2007 and 2015.

In recent times, there have been unconfirmed reports of his switch to the APC.

The meeting was being attended by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and members of the National Executive Committee of the APC led by its chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiohmole.

Others attending the meeting were APC governors of Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Adamawa, Ondo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Osun, Yobe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Imo, and Lagos.

Also at the meeting were former governor of Ekiti state, Engineer Segun Oni, Majority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, former Ebonyi governor, Mr Martin Elechi; former Borno State Governor, Ali Sheriff; former Lagos State Governor, Buba Marwa, General Lawrence Onoja, Jim Nwobodo and Sen. Kabiru Gaya.

Others are former APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun; former Enugu State Governor, Sylva Chime, former Edo Governor, Oserheimen Osunbor.

Also in attendance were the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, former Ekiti State governor, Niyi Adebayo, former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, former Bayelsa governor, Mr Sylva Timipre, former petroleum minister, Don Etiebet, and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Some members of the National Assembly from both Senate and the House of Representatives are also in attendance

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reliably learnt that the meeting being held behind closed doors would be discussing socio-political issues including the forthcoming APC party primaries.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in January released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 general elections.

The timetable covered the Presidential, National and State Assembly, Governorship and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council elections.

The timetable, which was issued by the INEC chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud in Abuja, indicated that party primaries for the Presidential, Governorship, Federal and State Elections would begin on Aug. 18 to end on Oct. 7, 2018.

The Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections would commence on Sept. 4 to end on Oct. 27.Lamido debunked the rumour while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lamido was in Jos to solicit votes from the partys delegates in Plateau, ahead of the PDP National Convention slated to hold in October.

I have no political godfather; the presidency is for matured minds and I am one.

I hear people say Obasanjo is the one sponsoring my presidential ambition. That is not true.

I was in PDP before Obasanjo became president, but I respect him as my leader and elder statesman. I also respect every aspirant contesting on the PDP platform.

He said that his goal was to salvage Nigeria from poverty, underdevelopment and economic stagnation, adding that he was not desperate for the partys ticket.

I am not desperate for the ticket. The Presidency is not just about me because all the aspirants in our party are working for a common goal.

If Im not made candidate of our great party, I will support whoever emerges as our flag bearer, he said.

The aspirant promised to tackle the incessant herder/farmer clashes and other security challenges in the country if he was elected president in 2019.Former Governor of Kano, Kwankwaso, had applied for the use of the Eagle Square days ahead of his presidential declaration billed for Wednesday, August 29.

That application was duly granted.

However, on August 27, the Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd which manages the Square reversed its approval decision because"29th August, 2018, happens to be a work day, as it would disrupt the usual work flow of the Federal Secretariat".

In a letter signed by Usman Mukhtar Raji, the managers of the square apologized "for the oversight on our part to note the date in relation to the nature of the event. We regret every inconvenience caused by this."

'Handiwork of government in power'

In a press statement issued afterwards, the Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation said it saw the development as the "handiwork of the government in power who will not see anything good in growing our fledgling democracy, as no level playing field has been created to allow for viable opposition in the country".

Saraki has also condemned the last minute cancellation of the approval granted to Kwankwaso to "utilize the Eagle Square for his 2019 presidential declaration".

Saraki blows hot

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said the Eagle Square belongs to all Nigerians.

The refusal to allow Senator Kwankwaso to utilize the Eagle Square for his Presidential declaration, despite an earlier approval, sends a wrong message about our democracy, particularly the tolerance level in our politics.

That square belongs to all Nigerians because it was built with public funds. We hope this is not what we will be seeing as we approach the 2019 General Elections, the senate president said.

Kwankwaso is one of a slew of big name politicians in the PDP eyeing the party's presidential ticket. Others are Ibrahim Dankwambo, Sule Lamido, Ahmed Makarfi, Atiku Abubakar and Bukola Saraki.The meeting was disclosed by Saraki's media aide, Olu Onemola, on his Twitter account (@OnemolaOlu) with the Senate President smiling with the former president.

Saraki's meeting with Jonathan is bound to add more fuel to the expectations that the former Kwara State governor will declare to run for president in the 2019 presidential election any time soon.

Even though he dismissed such reports when he met earlier with former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and former military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, the senate president admitted two weeks ago that he was considering joining the race for president.

ALSO READ: Saraki to declare for president very soonUduaghan announced his defection at a meeting of the APC's national caucus, also attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.

In his official speech, titled "Moving on to the Bigger Playing Field", Uduaghan said his decision was informed by Buhari's progressive leadership style, especially in the area of bringing a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis.

He said the Buhari-led government's diplomatic engagement processes have brought some measure of peace to the Niger Delta region and hopes to help build on it. He said the president's infrastructural and human capital development activities in the Niger Delta region is an indication of his commitment to the region.

He further disclosed that his defection to the APC will pave the way for more Niger Deltans to join the party as they realise that working with Buhari's goverment is the way to bring lasting peace and stability to the region.

Read his full statement below:

"The toughest challenge for any leader in the Niger Delta since 1997 has been the issue of Peace and Security. For over 12 years, I was deeply involved in the management of the issues of the region, first as Secretary to State Government, SSG, and then as Governor of Delta State for 8 years. Strategically, we had ENGAGEMENT as our major tool.

"This involved government officials, with me in the forefront (sometimes personally going into the creeks without security at nocturnal hours), community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our youths, retired military officers, activists, etc. Of course, ensuring that Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, was active was also part of the engagement process.

"Since the inception of the current All Progressives Congress, APC, administration at the federal level, there has been an encouraging interest and activities by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis. This has pointed in a direction that is at once progressive and developmental.

"Topmost in these activities are the ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES. Rather than using the military to harass our people, the Buhari administration has embarked on various engagement processes that have led to agreements and brought hope to the people of the Niger Delta.

"In the last years, Mr. President has personally engaged several regional leaders and youths. Senior officials of his administration also engaged many Niger Delta leaders and youths. Very significant is that Mr. President mandated the Vice President Prof Yemi Osibajo SAN, to visit virtually all the oil producing states, engaging various stakeholders. This is unprecedented in the history of the region. Such engagement processes have brought some measure of peace in the Niger Delta. Things can only get better.

"Beyond the engagement processes, however, the Buhari administration has embarked on some infrastructural and human capital development activities in the region. In Delta State, the opening of a Maritime University; the setting up of a steering committee for the EPZ (GAS CITY), the plan for a deep sea port, the dredging of the Escravos-Warri River; the opening of the railway line to Delta Steel Company, the soon to be flagged off, by Mr. President, the Omadino-Escravos Road that will pass through many riverine communities; the various road construction works by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the various TCN projects across the State are some of the positive activities in the region.

"There are also various human capital development programmes especially the school feeding and the "social security net" that is making 5,000 Naira available to the poor, the continuation of the YouWin programme, the various SME programmes, and several other projects across the region have brought hope to the people.

"Indeed, once Mr. President was able to set his priorities pursuant to creating an environment for peace in the region, it became incumbent on every well-meaning Niger Deltan and Nigerian to assist the process of building an economically prosperous nation.

"In this era of partisan politics, it is necessary for the people of the Niger Delta, and Delta State in particular, to identify more with the Federal Government led by the APC. By so doing, we can push some of the agreements between our leaders and the Federal Government through, and also engage the government to do more. Politics is about interests.

"The Niger Delta is a major area of interest for me, because I staked my life going into the creeks severally without security and sometimes coming back at night negotiating peace. I will, therefore, give the strongest support to any President that shows commitment in the affairs of the Niger Delta. I call on, and enjoin, other well-meaning leaders in the region, who have very useful contributions to make, to come on board and join hands in helping this Federal Government to pursue a robust development agenda that would uplift our people. Whatever milestone that appears not to have been achieved yet is not for lack of efforts. Joining hands with and supporting the process will lead to a faster delivery on expectations.

"It is in the pursuit of this noble objective that I'm offering myself to help drive a process that would give the lives of our people in the Niger Delta more meaning. President Muhammadu Buhari needs people who will join hands with him to uplift our people. From my political experience, you have to be well represented and actively so at the "board room" when decisions are being taken. Delta State must be well represented. Niger Delta must be well represented.

"It is noteworthy to state that some organisations have been deeply involved in efforts to develop the Niger Delta and can always be relied on to collaborate with our President. It is also noteworthy to add that some previous administrations made significant efforts to develop the region. The current administration made such a significant impact in spite of the fact that apart from Edo State, President Buhari did not score the required 25% in the entire Niger Delta in the election that brought him into government in 2015. This speak volumes of his genuineness to uplift the Niger Delta. Such an administration should be encouraged by the people of the Niger Delta. We can never be sure of the genuiness of another person who becomes the President.

"I have, therefore, after series of consultations and prayers, taken the decision to leave the PDP and join the APC. In doing this, I want to thank the numerous leaders, supporters and interest groups that have been urging me to remain in PDP. I am happy that after explaining some of the deeper issues to you, some of you that are politicians have agreed to join the APC in the near future. So I am going into APC as "John the Baptist" to the numerous Deltans that are coming in, soon - very soon."Like every other politician who recently defected from one camp to the other, there's nothing altruistic about what Uduaghan just did.

But it also shows that the APC, which embarrassingly but predictably lost the South-South and Southeast geopolitical zones to the PDP in 2015, is gradually making inroads into a region of the country where it is most despised; and gradually chipping at the opposition's base.

Last weekend, the last PDP senator in Rivers State made the switch to the APC. At the time of writing this piece, all senators representing Rivers in the upper legislative chamber, have become card carrying members of the APC.

The APC can also point to the capture of Senator Godswill Akpabio in Akwa Ibom, as a decent piece of transfer business this political window. Akpabio is arguably the most formidable politician in his State, warts and all.

However, the grassroot often answers to the all-powerful state governor who decides how patronage is dispensed across local governments and councils. No governor in the South-South has defected from the PDP and the South-South states of Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta are still under the control of the PDP. This is where the APC comes up short and where its moves to annex the South-South will meet a brick wall.

In the ideology and value deficit brand of politics that Nigeria runs, Uduaghans defectionwill be sweet music to the ears of the APC nonetheless, even though he arrives the camp of the governing party with a stench. Uduaghan owes his rise in politics to Chief James Ibori, the money-bag godfather who had to serve jail time in the UK for stealing Delta dry during his stint as governor. Uduaghan still answers to Ibori and he probably had Iboris blessings to make the switch to the APC. The people of Delta regard Uduaghan as one of their worst governors in recent memory.

But the APC wouldnt mind one bit. Uduaghan's defection essentially means the APC is carving its own pathway into the politics of Delta State and the South-South; and gradually weakening the PDP in its famed stronghold.Speaking during an interview on BBC, Mr. Kenyatta was put on the spot to explain whether Trump was a President he could conduct business with after the derogative comment that caused uproar.

President Kenyatta divulged that he chose not focus on the past instead extensively explained to Mr. Trump what Africa was all about.

"I think what we need to do is basically create a better understanding of the situation and I think I had a good opportunity to do that.

"I will not say he is not a man who is not willing to listen, he did listen. We exchanged on a wide variety of issues and I think he has a much better understanding of Africa, and Kenya after our session," he said.

Kenyatta went on to describe the US President as a man who wants to do deals by partnering with other countries.

"I think he now has a better understanding and that is how I would look at the issue. I wouldnt look at it in terms of the past," he said.

The Head of State insisted that during their talks he made it bluntly clear that Africa was no longer seeking handouts from the First World countries.

"There has been dramatic change across the African continent where people are beginning to get a better understanding of themselves, who they are and where they want to be.Kombewa Police Station OCS, Senior Sergeant Kennedy Saina was arrested on Tuesday evening for allegedly demanding a Sh20, 000 bribe to free a suspect in custody for defilement.

A report by the Daily Nation said that the suspects brother had complained of interference with investigations into the sex crime.

EACC

According to Western Region EACC boss Ben Murei, who confirmed the arrest, a report was made to his office and his officers set a trap for the OCS.

A report was made and my officers set a trap and arrested the officer using treated money worth Sh10, 000, said Murei.

Mr Murei disclosed that the suspect was booked at Kisumu Central Police Station before he was released on cash bail.Speaking on Wednesday night during Citizen TV's JKLive, Waiguru said Kabura was just a pawn and she knew exactly who used Kabura, the NYS 1 chief suspect who has been behind her woes for the past few years.

In 2016, Kabura swore an affidavit linking Ms Waiguru, the then Devolution Cabinet secretary, to the alleged loss of Sh791 million at the NYS.

Non-committal

However when pressed by Citizen TV news anchor Jeff Koinange to disclose the identity of the person who used Kabura, the Kirinyaga Governor was non-committal to reveal the name on national television.

"Kabura was a pawn, somebody used her. I know who it is. I will not answer whether it is a politician or not. We have a new Director of Public Prosecution in town and we expect that he will do the right thing," Waiguru stated.

The Kirinyaga County boss at the same time refused to point out who was to blame for the NYS 1 scam saying that she could not because that was exactly what happened to her when the scandal broke out.

Ultimatum

Earlier this week, Waiguru gave the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) seven days to make public the findings of investigations into Kabura's affidavit.

Through her lawyer Mansur Issa, Waiguru wrote to the anti-corruption agency to release the outcome of the investigations and forward the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions within seven days.

Our client has written severally requesting for information on the outcome of the investigation but the commission inexplicably has not been forthcoming. We look forward to receiving a copy of the report by early return and in any event within the next seven days," Waiguru wrote.By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our privacy policy unless you have disabled them. You can change your cookie settings at any time but parts of our site will not function correctly without them. [Close]Media services provider Globecast has named Gerry McAree as VP of sales, East Region, to lead the sales efforts, promote client relationships and further drive revenue and growth priorities in the country.





McAree brings 18 years of sales experience to his new role, having worked at major broadcasters and content owners, including for satellite operators PanAmSat and Intelsat. Most recently in the media industry, he served as director, North America Media Sales for Intelsat, based in Washington DC.He joins Globecast directly from his position as vice president of sales for Arena, a software-as-a-service company based in Maryland.Gerrys leadership skills and ability to drive creative solutions in c ompetitive markets will be a huge asset to the already strong salesforce we have in the Americas for Globecast , said Tim Jackson, SVP of sales and marketing at Globecast Americas. He has the background necessary to help our customers understand the changing nature of this dynamic market, especially as we see a shift toward IP, virtualisation and cloud services. Were delighted to welcome Gerry to our growing team.McAree commented: Globecast has a proven track record in content delivery, and its an honour to be working with such a dynamic company. Im looking forward to building upon the success in the US and working closely with our customers, so they can maximise the monetisation of their content.Part 4 in a series

Democrats eying a potential White House run in 2020 have been eager to lend their star power to party candidates up and down the ballot in this years midterm elections. The nominal goal is to strip Republicans of their majority on Capitol Hill, but the clear secondary goal is to help these likely presidential contenders build up their own profiles and establish networks ahead of an Oval Office bid.

Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey arent on the ballot this year, but they have been busy on the 2018 campaign trail stumping and raising money for Democratic candidates. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are managing their own relatively easy re-election races while traveling around the country on behalf of federal and local candidates.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has also waded into the fray, and is planning to campaign this fall in swing states crucial to winning the presidency. Maryland Rep. John Delaney, who announced his long-shot presidential campaign last year, endorsed 22 candidates for office in Iowa this month and backed 20 New Hampshire candidates in July.

Delaney lacks the name recognition of his better-known colleagues, and so endorsements can serve as a way to establish a presence and make connections in the early-voting states. As for the others, activity on the midterm campaign trail is a demonstration of their fundraising prowess and ability to build a constituency around key issues and ideas.

"Creating a network matters more than winning or losing, says New York Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. Candidates know that people don't forget who was with them at the time of their greatest need.

Such campaign activity also is an audition of sorts, demonstrating the level of seriousness with which potential candidates are approaching presidential bids, and sending signals to party power brokers and voters about their viability.

The top 2020 Democratic contenders have an opportunity during the midterms to demonstrate what type of coattail effect they can have at the top of a ticket in two years, says party strategist Joel Payne. The organizing grassroots of the Democratic Party will be looking at these 2020 contenders between now and November 2018 to determine who has organizing and fundraising muscle, who can turn out big crowd and register voters, who can challenge President Trump and excite the base with the greatest impact.

The midterms also provide opportunities for 2020 candidates to identify with up-and-comers in the party. Stacy Abrams of Georgia, for example, could become the nations first black female governor if elected in November, and has earned the endorsement of several potential presidential contenders.

Abrams is one of over 20 candidates Harris has backed, a list that includes Senate colleagues but also aspirants for local offices. Harris has raised over $5 million for candidates and has traveled to more than a dozen states to campaign. Other notable candidates shes backed include former NAACP president and Maryland gubernatorial hopeful Ben Jealous, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

Warren, who included Abrams in a list of over 60 candidate endorsements, has campaigned in seven states and given $5,000 to each of the 50 state parties. Warren has also contributed $210,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and given maximum contributions to the House campaign arm and the DNC. In addition, the Massachusetts senator has focused her campaign contributions on redistricting efforts, giving to nine targeted state campaigns as well as the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Last week, Warren unveiled a government reform bill that hits on anti-corruption themes critical to the partys midterm messaging.

Gillibrand has focused her midterm efforts on female candidates. Her Off the Sidelines PAC has endorsed over 50 women running for office, and the New York lawmaker has taken risks to endorse candidates in contested primaries -- with a great degree of success.

Sanders has an expansive grassroots network from his presidential run, but his track record in primaries has been lackluster, raising questions about his continued influence. But the senator and his supporters argue that ideas he has long championed  including Medicare-for-all and a $15 minimum wage  have become mainstream in Democratic politics. And on Tuesday, the candidate he backed in the Florida governors race, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, pulled off an upset win for the Democratic nomination. (If victorious over Rep. Ron DeSantis in November, he would become the states first African-American governor.)

"The pre-[presidential] primary period is tricky one; you want to be encouraging enthusiasm for a run while not openly soliciting it. Democratic strategist Erik Smith

As one of the few old-guard members of the party who still resonates with portions of the electorate, Biden has been a vaunted surrogate on the midterm campaign trail. The former vice president has endorsed nearly 30 candidates this cycle, including key party recruits and rising stars such as Rep. Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania and congressional hopefuls Brendan Kelly in Illinois and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey. Bidens midterm campaign schedule is expected to look more like a presidential campaign swing, hitting key states such as Florida, Nevada, and Michigan, according to The Hill.

Most candidates don't want to get out ahead to the cycle and need to figure out how to build relationships and goodwill in early primary states to ensure they have every advantage, says Democratic strategist Erik Smith, an Obama campaign veteran. The pre-[presidential] primary period is tricky one; you want to be encouraging enthusiasm for a run while not openly soliciting it.

While campaigning for candidates in the midterms is a tradition among presidential hopefuls, Smith says this cycle is uncovering new power centers in the party.

This year is creating stars that didn't exist before, says Smith, referring to candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York or Beto ORourke in Texas. There are House and Senate candidates who will be bigger celebrities than those candidates [preparing a presidential run]. Winning their support may be more important.

Democratic operatives argue that Donald Trumps presidency has helped to bolster opposition activists and candidates, thus expanding the network White House hopefuls can tap. Even if [rising stars] lose, they are bound to be involved in politics for a while, says Smith. Those relationships matter a lot. Making investments in those relationships will have payback decades down the road.TEL AVIV  In mid-July, by a vote of 62-55, with two abstentions, the Knesset passed the Basic Law on Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. The legislation  Basic Laws in Israel enjoy constitutional status although only a simple parliamentary majority is needed to pass or repeal them  reaffirmed principles set forth in the countrys May 1948 Declaration of Independence. Nevertheless, the nation-state law has occasioned bitter controversy here. With a nationalist-infused populism roiling the United States, Britain, and Europe, the Israeli debate over the aspiration, inscribed in the countrys founding, to combine nationalism and liberal democracy has implications that transcend the Jewish state.

On Aug. 13, Haaretz contributor Uzi Baram excoriated the new law and its architects. The nation-state law is not only an unnecessary law, it is an abhorrent law, he stated, speaking for many on the left. It was the product of an ultranationalist government, led by the religious right, and was intended to divide the public, exclude minorities and undermine the Arabic language.

On Aug. 16 in Haaretz, Haim Ramon, a man of the center-left, published a sharp reply that gave expression to a Zionist sensibility that extends beyond Israels center-right. A former vice prime minister and minister of justice, he emphasized that Israels 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty granted equal rights to every person in the state of Israel in the spirit of Israels values as a Jewish and democratic state. But it was incomplete: whereas the law on human dignity and liberty elaborated the individuals rights in a democratic state, it did not elaborate the practical significance of the states Jewish character. The nation-state law remedies that deficiency. It does not come to bury the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty but to complete it.

Whatever the actual legislative intentions and legal implications, the new Basic Law aggravated a sense of second-class citizenship among Israels minorities. This month Arabs, who constitute a little over 20 percent of the citizenry and who rarely serve in the army, and Druze, who represent about 1.5 percent and generally serve, attracted tens of thousands of protesters (pictured) to separate political rallies in downtown Tel Avivs Rabin Square  the countrys premier venue for demonstrations to decry the law.

The tiny Druze minority accepts Israel as a Jewish nation-state but condemned the nation-state law for undercutting equality. They were supported at their rally by many Jewish citizens devoted to Israel as both a Jewish and democratic state. In contrast, according to Member of Knesset for the Zionist Union Tzipi Livni (who joined the Druze gathering in Rabin Square but not the Arabs) many organizers of the Arab rally opposed the very idea of Israel as a Jewish nation-state. Their attack on the new law seemed to imply the injustice not merely of Jewish nationalism, but of nationalism itself.

Israeli scholar and political commentator Yoram Hazony could not disagree more. In The Virtue of Nationalism, which will be published on Sept. 4, he argues that the independent national state surpasses all rivals in securing justice. Throughout, he criticizes the educated elites who indiscriminately accuse nationalism of underpinning a primitive politics composed of war-mongering and racism, and who instead aspire to unite all countries under a single liberal-internationalist regime. To the contrary, argues Hazony: the best political order known to mankind is, in fact, an order of independent national states.

Hazony finds in nationalism the most fertile soil for virtually all political goods. Knit together by citizens shared history, religion, language, and sense of political destiny, the national state is rooted, according to Hazony, in the irreducible human realities of family, clan, tribe, and the bonds of mutual loyalty nurtured by these traditional associations. Despite an ambiguous historical record, nationalism, Hazony optimistically argues, creates a protected space in which peace and prosperity can take hold. It also inculcates an aversion to adventures of conquest in distant lands, and supplies the state with the only known basis for the development of free institutions and individual liberties.

In a discordant echo of democratic-peace arguments associated with the liberal internationalism he rejects, Hazony asserts that independent national states have an interest in promoting an international order of independent national states. Such an order, he insists, offers the greatest possibility for the collective self-determination and establishes a life of productive competition among nations, each striving to attain the maximal development of its abilities and those of its individual members. But Hazony has little to say about the alignments, legal arrangements, and political institutions that would undergird it. And he declines to examine the circumstances under which national competition turns counterproductive, vicious, and indeed a threat to life on the planet.

By promoting awareness of differences among nations, the virtue of nationalism nurtures other virtues, maintains Hazony. These include a healthy humility, skepticism, and toleration. Depending on the traditions to which it is devoted, of course, nationalism could beget arrogance, self-righteousness, and belligerence just as easily as it could beget the generally liberal virtues Hazony credits it with cultivating.

President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem and director of the John Templeton Foundations Project in Jewish Philosophical Theology, Hazony traces nationalism back to the Hebrew Bibles account of Jewish nationhood and sees the early-modern Protestant recovery of biblical nationalism as a model for today. Despite his tendency to idealize nationalisms virtues and downplay its vices, his historical reconstruction of nationalisms moral and sociological premises and his analysis of its practical implications are subtle and instructive. They represent a genuine contribution to contemporary debates about citizenship, government, and relations among states.

In contrast to his generous reading of biblically based nationalism, Hazony again adopts an adversarial approach toward John Lockes liberalism and the modern tradition of freedom it helped launch. To depict them as nationalisms inveterate enemy, he exaggerates liberalisms vices and obscures its virtues. His caricature ill-serves his salutary defense of nationalism.

On the assumption underlying liberal democracy that human beings are by nature free and equal, Locke argues that consent makes political power legitimate. Since the largest viable political unit to which citizens can plausibly consent  even tacitly  is a state characterized by shared traditions, language, and political hopes, the modern tradition of freedom reinforces the case for nationalism.

While providing a welcome corrective to the educated elites who deplore nationalist pride in Israel, the United States and other countries determined to preserve their independence and chart their own course, Hazony introduces a one-sidedness of his own. He unwittingly perpetuates the progressive error of equating the modern tradition of freedom with the dream of global government. This impels him to reject liberalism in the large sense as a species of world-conquering imperialism and to rely solely on the biblical tradition as a guide to contemporary politics. To vindicate the nationalism and freedom Hazony cherishes, however, the wisdom embodied in the biblical tradition and the wisdom embodied in the modern tradition of freedom must be woven together.

The two traditions converged in Israels founding, as they did in the founding of the United States. Israels dual heritage illuminates the countrys public interest.

For example, the Jewish traditions imperative to treat neighbors and strangers justly and the liberal and democratic dedication to individual freedom for all often reinforce one another. Together, they commit Israel to fulfilling the states promise of equal opportunity for its minority populations, which would enhance bonds of mutual loyalty. The Jewish state could take an excellent next step by directing additional state resources to the renovation of physical infrastructure in Arab and Druze communities and to the improvement of their educational systems.

The best hope for the countrys minorities  as for its Jewish majority  is for Israel to honor the mix of principles inscribed in its Declaration of Independence and reaffirmed through the Basic Laws on human dignity and liberty and on Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Correction: An earlier version of this article inaccurately characterized the views of those at the Rabin Square protests of the nation-state law.PHOENIX (AP)  Rep. Martha McSally won the Republican nomination for Arizonas U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, setting up a November contest with Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

Republicans picked the candidate backed by the party establishment and seen by analysts as the GOPs best chance at holding the open seat in what is shaping up to be a difficult election for the party.

McSally, a former Air Force colonel who represents a Tucson-area swing district and was the first woman to fly a jet in combat, defeated former State Senator Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Barb Ruguone, 78, cast her ballot Tuesday for McSally at a Phoenix library. She seems like shed be the most upfront, the most forward. It seems like she wouldnt be intimidated, Ruguone said.

McSally and Sinema both want the seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake, who is retiring.

The primary happened in the shadow of the death of Arizonas senior senator, John McCain, whose body will lie at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday. Both nominees have pledged not to campaign then or Thursday in his honor.

In a statement, Sinema mentioned McCain, who was known for bucking his party. Its up to all of us to follow his lead of always putting country over party, the Democrat said.

McSally began her victory speech with a moment of silence for McCain. Its difficult to celebrate anything this week, she said.

But much of McSallys speech was a lacerating attack on Sinema. This is how I see this campaign, McSally said. Its a choice between a doer and a talker. Between a patriot and a protester.

Arpaio, a former six-term sheriff of Maricopa County whod never lost a GOP primary, was in third place. In a low-key event at a Greek restaurant near his home, he said hed dedicate himself to ensuring President Donald Trump gets re-elected in 2020.

Also in Tuesdays primary, Republicans nominated Gov. Doug Ducey for a second term and Democrats selected education professor David Garcia to challenge him. In the states 9th Congressional District, Steve Ferrara, the former Navy chief medical officer, won the GOP nomination to face Greg Stanton, Phoenixs Democratic former mayor.

Arizona has an open Senate seat this cycle after Flake decided to leave office. The seat is considered a key pickup for Democrats in their bid to take control of the chamber, meaning the general election will be among the closest-watched Senate races in the nation between now and November. Television ads have already bombarded Arizona residents throughout the summer months, and a competitive general election is likely to draw in millions of dollars in outside spending for television ads and other campaigning.

Sinema was long favored to win the primary and is seen as a competitive Democratic candidate in a general election that could hinge on how voters feel about Trump and his policies. While her centrist approach and Blue Dog Democrat status may not appeal to the states voters who are far to the left, her willingness to be bipartisan could curry favor among the states large crop of independent voters. If shes victorious, Democrats could pick up an Arizona Senate seat for the first time since Dennis DiConcini left office in 1995.

In a state whose electoral votes went to Trump, the Republican nominee could use voters support for the president to their advantage. McSally, Ward and Arpaio all campaigned on their various connections to Trump during the primary. In mid-August, McSallys campaign boasted about the president calling her terrific while introducing her at an event. Meanwhile, Ward was endorsed by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and Arpaio noted his early support for Trumps presidential run.

The Republican candidates also distanced themselves from the ailing McCain, who died after most ballots had already been cast by early voters. McSally drew criticism from McCains family when she did not mention his name in the signing of the recent defense bill, which was named after McCain. Hours before McCain died on Saturday, Ward suggested in a since-deleted Facebook post that his family had announced he was ending medical treatment to hurt her campaign. After McCains death, Sinema and Ward suspended their campaigns for Wednesday and Thursday.

A Democratic victory in the Senate race could suggest the state could be up for grabs in 2020. Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Arizona in 1996.Last May, Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia, a doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, flew to Malta for a week to learn Maltese. He had a hefty grammar book in his backpack, but he didn't plan to open it unless he had to. We'll do this as I would in the Amazon, he told me, referring to his fieldwork as a linguist. Our plan was for me to observe how he went about learning a new language, starting with hello and thank you.Overwhelmed by grief when a bus struck and killed two high schoolers, students took the streets in Bangladeshs capital of Dhaka last month to demand improved road safety. The government heard the students and responded with a resounding yes. It promised to bolster enforcement of traffic laws and increase the penalty for reckless driving. The protests, in short, succeeded.

But leaders of the countrys main opposition party saw a chance to exploit the moment for political gain. Members of the Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) infiltrated student groups, sometimes donning student uniforms, and stirred things up. Peaceful protests quickly turned violent. Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam was among those responsible for this terrible turn. He was arrested for inciting violence, which, because of his celebrity and despite the facts, led to an international outcry on his behalf.

Bangladesh has seen this kind of political exploitation  and violence  before. The BNP has repeatedly used disruptive tactics to bully and intimidate voters. Instead of contesting the national elections in 2014, it instigated nationwide strikes. BNP leaders and their collaborators also set fire to thousands of homes, cars, buildings, and businesses. They ransacked and demolished power stations, killed 20 law enforcement officers, and torched government buildings. On election day, they firebombed polling booths. In all, the BNP-backed attacks killed 231 people and injured 1,180 others.

During the recent student protests, the BNPs instigation didnt go that far, but it did lead to multiple injuries that could have been avoided. Mr. Alam chose to play along with the BNP and was appropriately arrested. He used both social and traditional media outlets to spread false claims about students deaths. That, in turn, initiated violence and an attack on the governing partys headquarters. Numerous people were injured because of his false and provocative assertions. One member of the governing Awami League was permanently blinded in the attack.

For more than a decade, Mr. Alam has freely voiced his political dissent. At times, he has expressed support for Bangladeshs government; at other times, he has been a harsh critic. But in every case, the government has protected his right to free speech, a right that all Bangladeshis have. The nation is also proud to have a free press. It has 300 newspapers, 30 privately owned news networks and 220 independently run news websites, many of which offer pointed criticisms of the government.

Police arrested Mr. Alam not because he held a contrary view but because his latest pronouncements caused real harm. Mr. Alams words helped transformed a peaceful protest into lawless violence. For reasons of his own, Mr. Alam directed protesters to lash out, and some did, bringing Dhaka to a standstill.

The government acted in the interest of public safety when it arrested Mr. Alam. Indeed, the governments actions were necessary. Mr. Alam isnt a victim. His actions harmed a lot of people

In the U.S., it is illegal to yell fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire. Mr. Alam did the equivalent in Bangladesh and was correctly charged with a crime.

This is a national election year in Bangladesh. So, no one should be surprised that the opposition wants to divert attention from the governments accomplishments, including lifting 30 million people out of poverty and doubling the countrys per capita income. Nor is it surprising that the BNP again resorted to violence. But both are unacceptable. No one  not a political party, a celebrity photographer, or anyone else  can be permitted to harm other people.

Hijacking a protest by young students and endangering their lives, along with many other Bangladeshis, is not politics, its terrorism. Media outlets should not fall for the BNPs charade of victimhood. Bangladesh was not censoring political opponents. It was protecting innocent lives.Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

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Search Real EstateIn the shadow of an escalating trade war, momentum is picking up to protect the World Trade Organization from turning irrelevant.

The European Union will host trade ministers from the U.S. and Japan next month in Brussels, according to two officials with knowledge of the meeting. The gathering will be part of an effort to address China's trade practices in a way that doesn't marginalize the WTO, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because preparations are private. The meeting will precede about 10 high-level confabs around the globe over the next year aimed at calming trade tensions.

The push to reform the Geneva-based WTO has gained urgency since Donald Trump became president, with his administration showing open disdain for the multilateral trade body and Trump himself saying "The WTO is unfair to U.S." The EU is working on a proposal to amend the composition of the WTO as well as address about a half dozen American complaints.

"The situation is serious," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told reporters last month in Geneva. "There are many leaders in the world that already understand that we need to have negotiations, that we need to sit down and talk, that we need to find solutions."

The Trump administration, arguing that the WTO is incapable of addressing the problems created by China's rapid economic ascent, has resorted to unilateral tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. Beijing has retaliated in kind with duties on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods and pledged to respond if Trump follows through with his threat of levies on an additional $200 billion of Chinese products. Washington's decision to side-step the WTO has raised concern that the trade body could slide into obsolescence if steps aren't taken to shore it up.

In May -- a day after President Emmanuel Macron proposed negotiations to reform the WTO -- the U.S., the EU and Japan met in Paris and reiterated their concern with some non-market-oriented measure of some partners. The trilateral group issued a joint statement citing the need to address "the trade-distorting policies of third countries."

In addition to the Brussels meeting next month, the EU will soon unveil a plan to reform the WTO, seeking to make negotiations more flexible, reduce trade costs, make the dispute-settlement system more transparent, and to strengthen the trade body itself, according to a draft proposal seen by Bloomberg.

Reforming the WTO as well as addressing Chinese trade abuses will be discussed at a host of meetings around the world over the next year, including an October gathering in Ottawa of about a dozen trade ministers. The topics will also be raised at a high-level Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Papua New Guinea in November; in December, leaders from the Group of 20 economies will bring up reform in Buenos Aires; French President Emmanuel Macron proposed discussions this fall in Paris; and there will be a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The United States is gratified that an increasing number of WTO members appear to be heeding our call on the urgent need to make the WTO work better," Dennis Shea, the U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, said in an emailed statement.

Sooner the Better

The push comes as Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. would terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and sign a new trade accord with Mexico. The move could potentially leave Canada out of the trading bloc.

As tensions between the U.S. and China escalate, threats to the WTO are growing larger, making it difficult for its members to delay reforms any longer.

Since August 2017, the U.S. has blocked nominees to the WTO's appellate body saying it has overstepped its mandate. In October, the seven-member panel will operate with only three remaining members, which is the minimum number of panelists required to sign off on appeals cases. If the U.S. continues its hold, the body will be paralyzed in late 2019 because it won't have the three panelists required to sign off on rulings.

"We don't necessarily have a due date but we all know that we need to get the process right," Mexico's Undersecretary of Foreign Trade Juan Carlos Baker told Bloomberg Law during a press briefing in Geneva. "And for that the sooner we start the better."

- - -

Bloomberg's Shawn Donnan contributed.NEW FAIRFIELD  When David Packer worried he would lose his family home on Squantz Pond to rising property taxes, he decided to follow the path his father had in the 1960s and 70s  renting it to guests.

His method, Airbnbs online rental service, was of course different than his fathers had been, Packer said, but the economic benefit proved to be largely the same.

For me, as it has for others who list their property, (Airbnb) has been an economic life preserver allowing us to keep our home, Packer said, adding that hes even earned enough to make overdue improvements to his property. As for the guests, theyre spending money right here in New Fairfield at our stores and restaurants...and theyre paying a 15 percent tax to the state of Connecticut for their stay.

He and other Airbnb hosts, including Sweet Dottis Cottage owner Rob White, contended in a public hearing last week that the website has provided responsible guests to stay in their homes, all while creating an added source of income.

But others in the crowd told horror stories of other Airbnb hosts squeezing large groups into small houses by counting couches, air mattresses and even hammocks as beds.

The arguments echo an ongoing debate around the country as states and municipalities take different approaches to ensuring the online rental system doesnt disturb neighborhoods, the housing market or the hospitality industry.

Some, like New York City, have created a 30-day minimum for rentals, while others limit the times per year owners can rent or require a registry for hosts. In Connecticut, the state legislature has not yet taken action on the rentals, except to become one of the states that partners with Airbnb to collect the 15 percent lodging tax from renters.

The hearing in New Fairfield, the first step in its efforts to regulate the rentals, is the first time the debate has reached the small town. Zoning officials scheduled it after at least a dozen Airbnb properties popped up this year, mostly around the lake.

The lakeside residents seemed to agree that some sort of regulation or enforcement is necessary to protect neighborhoods from absentee owners.

Neighbors said in those cases renters have left behind trash, created parking hazards, strained septic systems, used neighbors docks and at one home, are going to the bathroom outside.

We have had college frat parties, weve had people show up running around naked, its not a good thing, one Candlewood Isle resident said. We need to maintain our homes and our properties for our familiesOur neighborhood is a home private community, not a resort.

But owners like White and Packer, and other supportive residents, claim that the irresponsible hosts shouldnt mean the town should shut down all Airbnbs, which can help homeowners, the towns economy and provide hospitality options.

Weve had now more than 100 rentals in three years and weve had almost no problems at all, White said.

Local laws

One of the first steps for New Fairfield officials will be exploring how other Connecticut towns have dealt with the issue. Because the state hasnt come down on either side of the debate, towns and cities can take different approaches with how to regulate the rentals locally.

At least in New Haven and Stamford, the top two spots in Connecticut for Airbnb according to the companys data, officials have already begun looking at how to regulate the rentals. Both cities started examining their options at different times last year, when, as in New Fairfield, residents complained of homes that began operating with hotel-like turnover.

But for the Danbury area, it seems the issue hasnt come to the forefront in other towns the way it has for New Fairfield.

I know theyre in town, Ive heard of them, but I think theyre relatively low-key, said George Benson, Newtowns director of planning. I havent had any complaints about them in town that I know of...Its something we eventually (will have to address).

Officials in Brookfield and Bridgewater also said there are no specific Airbnb regulations on the books.

But Benson added that for Newtown at least, the town likely wont have to add anything new to its regulations to shut down problematic Airbnbs should the issue pop up. The short-term rental isnt specifically listed in the regulations, but because it isnt on the list of what residents can do, it means its not allowed.

This approach is similar to how Ridgefield handled things when several Airbnbs created problems in town about four years ago. Planning and Zoning Director Richard Baldelli said it wasnt difficult to address the issue because bed and breakfasts, though not specifically Airbnbs, are already regulated in the zoning laws.

To us, Airbnb is just a method of advertising, Baldelli said. If you are going to rent a room in your home to someone on a transient-type basis for compensation, youre a bed and breakfast, whether you do it through Airbnb, through your newspaper, or any other method.

The short-term rentals were creating similar problems for neighbors in Ridgefield as they were in New Fairfield, Baldelli said, though on a smaller scale, likely because Ridgefield isnt a lakeside vacation community. One of the most problematic situations, though, was near one of the towns lakes, where renters were throwing frat-like parties at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, he said.

Officials shut down the Airbnbs, but offered each of the hosts the option of applying for a special permit, as is required for bed and breakfasts to run the rentals legally, Baldelli said. So far, no former Airbnb hosts have gone through with process and to his knowledge there arent any operating in town, he added.

There have been some residents, though, that have recently expressed interest in opening a bed and breakfast due to a Planning and Zoning Commission effort to increase hospitality options.

Looking forward

In New Fairfield, zoning officials said they will need to balance any regulations with the towns tradition of renting lakeside properties.

The commission agreed to begin discussing points brought up at the hearing at next months meeting. So far, ideas brought up by residents include requiring properties to register, creating a contact list for hosts, adding guidelines to zoning rules or passing regulations through a town ordinance.

We have made no decisions for or against, Zoning Chair John Moran said. I would anticipate it will probably take us four or five months, maybe less, to come up with a recommendation, or no recommendation. Thats always possible.

aquinn@newstimes.comThe U.S. doesn't plan to suspend more joint military drills with South Korean forces, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, as diplomatic progress on North Korea's denuclearization appears to have stalled.

"We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday, adding that the Defense Department hasn't made decisions about major annual drills expected next year. "We'll make decisions on that in consultation with State."

Mattis said he's working in coordination with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's diplomatic efforts -- "it's all riding on Secretary Pompeo's shoulders," he said -- but he also signaled that smaller-scale exercises are going ahead. In an apparent response to more routine training efforts, North Korea has stepped up criticism recently, saying American forces are conducting covert military rehearsals for an invasion.

President Donald Trump in June suspended what he called "war games" with Seoul, saying he believed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "wants to get it done" on denuclearization. He added, "I do trust him." The U.S. decision was "a good-faith measure" to boost diplomatic efforts, Mattis said Tuesday.

In the months since Trump and Kim met in Singapore, the U.S. has struggled to show signs of progress in its bid to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. Pompeo conceded before the Senate recently that Kim's regime continues producing fissile material and has provided no inventory of its nuclear program and facilities.

Pompeo had planned to visit Pyongyang for talks this week, but Trump announced Friday that the trip was canceled because of a lack of "sufficient progress" by North Korea.

The U.S. has conducted military exercises on the Korean peninsula since the mid-1950s and holds a handful of joint operations with South Korea every year, which the Pentagon calls a means of ensuring the two forces are able to work together in the event of an attack. The annual drills, separate from regular training programs, have long angered North Korea's leaders.

In his first press conference at the Pentagon since April, Mattis also took questions on U.S. military policy toward Yemen, Turkey and Iran.

Mattis said he spoke with Turkey's defense minister this week and that the two had a "very candid" discussion. With the NATO allies in a standoff over tariffs, sanctions and a detained American pastor, Congress has suspended planned deliveries of next-generation F-35 jets until the Pentagon produces a report within 90 days on U.S.-Turkey relations.

But Mattis signaled that ties are stronger at the military level, saying the countries are working toward undertaking combined patrols in northern Syria and have already made progress in improving coordination and communication between their forces in the contested region. The U.S. relies on the Turkish military base at Incirlik to launch strikes against Islamic State in Syria.

Asked about reports that Syria's government is moving chemical weapons into place to stage an assault on the last rebel stronghold around the northwestern province of Idlib, Mattis signaled the U.S. is ready to respond again after twice launching attacks on Bashar Assad's regime, which has retaken most of the country with Russian and Iranian support.

"You have seen our administration act twice on the use of chemical weapons," Mattis said. "I will assure you the Department of State has been in recent, active communication with Russia to enlist them to preventing this."

With 2,000 U.S. military personnel in Syria, Mattis also laid out the requirements to withdraw American forces, a goal Trump announced in April when he said he wanted it to happen "very soon." Mattis suggested a longer timeline, saying that would come after Islamic State is destroyed, "local troops who can take over" are fully trained and a United Nations-led peace initiative stalled years ago begins "making traction." He added that some drawdowns of U.S. forces could occur as progress is made on those issues.

Mattis said the U.S. continues to support the coalition led by Saudi Arabia that's fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen. But he acknowledged repeated cases of air attacks that left heavy civilian casualties and prompted international condemnation for possible war crimes.

The U.S. is working closely with the Saudi coalition to "determine what went wrong with errant bombing attacks and how to prevent recurrences," he said.

On the passing of Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war who led the Armed Services Committee and was both a champion and sometime-critic of Pentagon weapons programs, Mattis said, "Our nation has lost a great patriot." He said that "in all he did, Senator McCain never lost sight of our shared purpose in defense of freedom."

The U.S. has conducted military exercises on the Korean peninsula since the mid-1950s and holds a handful of joint operations with South Korea every year, which the Pentagon calls a means of ensuring the two forces are able to work together in the event of an attack. The annual drills, separate from regular training programs, have long angered North Korea's leaders.WINCHESTER  A home often is a familys biggest investment, so changes in a neighborhood can be worrisome.

According to Winchesters Planning & Zoning Commission, some property owners on Highland Lake think the growing number of homes being rented to summer visitors is a problem. Blocked streets, trespassing and loud parties are the result, they say.

In response to the concerns, a subcommittee of the commission, called the Short-term Rental Review Committee, has studied whether new regulations should be adopted, which would require property owners to apply for a special permit before they rent out their homes.

Commission member Jerry Martinez, a member of the subcommittee, said vacation rentals are an issue facing nearly every town in Connecticut.

We want to get ahead of it for northwest Connecticut, he said.

If a home is rented every weekend, and new people come in each time, when does a short-term rental turn into a hotel? Martinez asked hypothetically, adding that traditional bed-and-breakfast rentals already are regulated by the city, but short-term rentals on Highland Lake are not.

A first draft of a document on rental regulation was submitted Monday night to the full commission. It has not yet been released to the public, said Town Planner Steve Sadlowski.

At a subcommittee meeting in July, a number of homeowners who use their property for short-term rentals told the members a new regulation is unnecessary. Five out of the six property owners who spoke at the meeting were against the plan, according to the minutes.

John Herman of 800 E. Wakefield Blvd. on Highland Lake said he hasnt had a problem renting his cottage to summer visitors. He noted that its long been an expectation that property owners on the lake could rent out their homes.

To change this practice would be a monumental change, he said, according to the minutes.

Joanne and Matt Smith of 665 East Wakefield Blvd. submitted a letter to the subcommittee in support of renting property on the lake. The couple rents out four properties, they said, and believe there is no need for additional policies or ordinances, according to the minutes.

The costs to rent a vacation get-away on Highland Lake, based on information from the website Vacation Rentals By Owner, vary from a low of $86 per night for an apartment in a house, to $400 a night for a five-bedroom, historic home built in 1890.

The lone property owner at the July meeting who supported a short-term rental regulation was Keith Becker, of 523 East Wakefield Blvd. He told the subcommittee that he lives next to a rental property that has new tenants nearly every night. Becker said the renters parked on his property. I had different folks walking by my home, he said, according to the minutes.

Owners have had good experiences, neighbors have not, said Martinez. Its very close quarters there. Some lots are only 50 feet wide.

One of the biggest problems arises, Martinez said, from owners who arent on site to act as hosts.

They are churning people through the weekend. Having property that is unhosted is when the problems happen, he said.

It could take months before a decision is made on whether to adopt the short-term rental regulations, Sadlowski said.

We are looking into regulations, from other municipalities, he said. We certainly want to address the concerns folks had.TORRINGTON  Its cool to go to school, unless a near-record high temperature is looming.

With that excessive heat warning in place, the Torrington and Winchester school districts opted to have the first day of school on Wednesday be a half day of school.

All Winchester schools dismissed at 1 p.m., while Torrington schools followed a staggered dismissal schedule beginning just after noon for Torrington High School students.

But even the students who were able to leave early had to arrive on time.

Small groups of parents and students began to gather at Winchesters Pearson School at 2 Wetmore Ave. about 8 a.m. Colorful balloons with back-to-school themes lined the entry way.

Pearson School Principal Barbara Silverio said the the third floor classrooms have window air conditioners. Well be OK with the heat, she said. The school enrolls students in third through sixth grade.

Inside the school, fellow teachers and staff members met in the main office and along the corridors. Assistant Principal Kim Roy moved through the hallways greeting her co-workers with a friendly whoo hoo!

A new playground will be built this year, Roy said, on the side of the building near Elm Street.

Theyre so excited, she said about the students. Theyll be able to watch the excavation.

More for you Yale reports record number of sexual misconduct complaints

The school has an enrollment of 300 students, Silverio said, up slightly from last year. A new fourth grade teacher, Kristen Zander has joined the faculty and Nicollette Kovacs is the schools new speech pathologist.

At Torringtons Vogel-Wetmore School at 68 Church St., students in kindergarten through third grade arrived about 8:30 a.m.

A unique tradition at the school allows a kindergartner to get a ride to school in a fire truck from the Torrington Fire Department.

Thomas and Jennifer Flinn,the parents of Carter Flinn, 4, entered him in a drawing for the fire truck ride during kindergarten registration day in March. Soon after they learned Carter would be able to join the firefighters in the cab of their truck.

They didnt tell their son until about two weeks ago, his dad said. Carters favorite sentence these days, Thomas Flinn said, is Im going to school on a fire truck.

And sure enough, Carter did. Wednesday morning, a two-person crew driving the TAC 9 truck, picked Carter up at his house. The tradition began about five years ago, according to the department.

Carter was a bit shy about the attention. So were some of the other kindergartners who arrived by bus, or with parents. They were a bit unsure of their new surroundings. A few tears were shed.

The school was also a new experience for some older students. A number of the first through third graders had been transferred from the East School, which closed this summer. The decision to close the East School was made by the Torrington Board of Education last November.

Vogel Principal Peter Michelson stood by the school entrance as students lined up to be guided to their new classrooms. He is beginning his second year at Vogel. In a letter to parents on the schools website, he noted For many of you, the upcoming year will be our first time teaming up to educate your child.

Michelson didnt directly address the redistricting changes, but he did write about broader decisions. Each year, a great deal of time and consideration is put into class placements for each of our students. This year the process was conducted with input from teachers across the district.LITCHFIELD  The Agriscience program at Wamogo Regional High School, part of the Region 6 school district, was named a 2018 Outstanding Secondary Ag Education Program by the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE), according to a press release issued by the school Tuesday.

The AgSci progam at Wamogo has developed into and been recognized as one of the best progams in this nation, said Board of Education chairperson Heather Connor. This award is the result of hard work by students, parents, staff, and our communities. Everyday our students and staff are going above and beyond for this program. As a board, as a district, we could not be prouder of their accomplishments.Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday vowed to keep opposition chief Kem Sokha behind bars despite a recent spate of clemency for members of his now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and others held on politically motivated charges and convictions.



Speaking to a crowd of more than 10,000 factory workers in the capital Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said the charges of treason facing Kem Sokha are extremely serious, and that he would not stop until the opposition leader was punished for his crimes.



This is a treason case, so in my capacity as the head of the government I will absolutely keep pressing the lawsuit [against him], Hun Sen said.



Kem Sokha was arrested in September for plotting to overthrow the government and the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP two months later over its alleged role in the scheme, paving the way for Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) to sweep an election last month that was widely dismissed as unfree and unfair without the participation of the main opposition party.



The opposition chief has been held for nearly a year in pre-trial detention in Tra Peang Thlong prison in remote Tboung Khmum province and was denied bail for the sixth time last week, despite concerns that he is suffering from medical complications.



Hun Sen, who secured another five-year term to add to his 33 years in office after official election results were announced on Aug. 15, has made a practice of heavy-handed crackdowns on his critics, followed by a relaxation of restrictions after facing international condemnation.



The U.S. recently announced an expansion of visa bans on individuals seen as limiting democracy in the country, as part of a series of concrete steps aimed at pressuring Cambodia to reverse course that included a decision to withdraw funding for last months elections.



The European Union, which was the second biggest trade partner of Cambodia in 2017, also withdrew support ahead of the ballot and is currently reviewing a preferential trade scheme for Cambodian exports based on the countrys election environment.



On Tuesday, King Norodom Sihamoni granted a royal pardon at Hun Sens behest to 14 jailed CNRP activists who were serving long sentences for insurrection in connection with anti-government street protests in 2014 that turned into violent clashes with police and security forces.



Their release followed the freeing by royal decree earlier this month of Tep Vannya prominent land activistand three other campaigners convicted for their roles in a protest over a land grab, as well as the granting of bail to two former RFA reporters who are facing charges of espionage.



Social commentator Kim Sok was also freed in August after completing an 18-month sentence for defamation related to his suggestion that the CPP orchestrated the July 2016 murder of popular political pundit Kem Ley, although he still faces another defamation charge following a complaint filed by Hun Sen in January.



Amid speculation that Kem Sokha could be freed after a pre-trial detention hearing at his prison set for Thursday, CNRP supporters have said they plan to travel to Tboung Khmum to welcome him on his release.



But Hun Sen on Wednesday called Kem Sokhas supporters crazed over rumors and urged authorities to prevent them from going, while also warning that those who do could be handcuffed and thrown into Tra Peang Thlong prison.



Despite the threats, one of Kem Sokhas lawyers, Meng Sopheary, expressed hope that her client will be set free following his hearing.



In the spirit of national reconciliation and unity, I hope that Samdech [honorific] Hun Sen will intervene to have Kem Sokha released from the prison so that he can enjoy his freedom, she told RFAs Khmer Service.



Threat of rearrest



Also on Wednesday, Hun Sen warned Kim Sok that he would be rearrested and thrown back into prison if he fails to pay hefty fines both to him and to the government as part of the sentence he was handed for defamation in August 2017, and demanded that the social commentator stop criticizing how he runs the country. The court ordered him to pay 800 million riels (U.S. $200,000) to Hun Sen and 8 million riels (U.S. $2,000) to the state.



Lawyers of the ruling CPP must continue to demand this fine payment, Hun Sen said.



Dont be so insolent [Kim Sok], the jail is waiting for you. Dont say I use my mouth to make up my own laws. What I say is based on the rule of law.



The prime minister added that if Kim Sok continues to talk down to me  I will take you back to jail.



Immediately after his release, Kim Sok criticized Julys election as being unfree and unfair.



He also questioned the National Election Committees (NEC) claim that more than 80 percent of voters had cast ballots and suggested the number was actually less than 40 percent, amid a call by the CNRP to boycott the vote in protest of its dissolution by the Supreme Court.



Kim Sok on Wednesday told RFA that he has no money, only a kind heart for the nation, and suggested that Hun Sen instead order the CPP-controlled parliament to adopt a new law to take my heart away.



I have no plan to raise this money to make Hun Sen feel good, as paying the fine for my unjust case would be equivalent to encouraging the abuser of power to continue to violate the law, he said.



If I had the money, I would use it to help poor elderly people and orphans instead.



Kim Sok said he believes Hun Sens plan is to test me following his release to see whether he will continue to criticize his governance.



I wont change my plan and my goal is to promote the spirit of democracy, he said.



Am Sam Ath, the head of investigations for local rights group Licadho, told RFA that threat of Kim Sok being returned to jail is real, despite provisions in Cambodias law that protect his right to criticize the government.



Cambodias Constitution and other laws protect freedom of expression, but the implementation and the interpretation of the laws is not clear, meaning that political analysts are subject to accusations of crimes such as incitement, defamation, and insulting a public official, he said.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum and Vanrith Chrea. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.Buddhist monks raise the red flag of the People's Republic of China at the Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan province, Aug. 27, 2018.

Authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan flew the red flag of the People's Republic of China over the Shaolin Temple, for the first time in the temple's 1,500-year history.

Overseen by officials of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, which is campaigning for religious groups to show their "patriotism," monks at the temple raised the red flag with its five gold stars at a "grand" ceremony on Monday.

Shi Yongxin, abbot of the prestigious Zen Buddhist and martial arts institution, was present, along with top officials in charge of religious affairs, the government-backed Buddhist Association and "foreign disciples," the temple said in a statement on its website.

The move came after a high-ranking political meeting on July 31 launched a nationwide campaign to have religious groups "raise the national flag at religious sites."

Shi had "taken the lead" and ordered the flag-raising ceremony in front of the main gate of the temple on Monday, it said.

However, a monk who answered the phone at the temple in Henan's Dengshan on Tuesday said the authorities had basically ordered the ceremony.

"It has already been reported in the news and on social media that this was a state policy," the monk said. "That has already been made clear, right?"

The monk said the ceremony wouldn't be carried out every day from now on, however.

"It won't be happening every day, only on religious festivals," he said. "The temple agreed to the raising of the national flag, with a view to fully implementing the government's patriotic education program."

A Buddhist nun, who gave only her religious name Guoshi, said the entire topic of patriotic education has become a sensitive one among Buddhists.

"I don't think that there is much option to have an opinion, because there's no safe way to speak out about it; the risks are too high," she said.

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to make comments on this matter right now," she added.

In April, the ruling party asserted its control over all religious practices among its citizens.

"Religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to the socialist society," reads a white paper on religious affairs published this week.

Religious believers must "be subordinate to and serve the overall interests of the nation and the Chinese people ... and support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party," the white paper said, which includes "integrat[ing] religious teachings and rules with Chinese culture."

Sending a message

Senior theology lecturer Sze Chi Chan of Hong Kong's Baptist University said the Shaolin Temple is being used as an example of the kind of patriotic behavior expected under President Xi Jinping.

"They need some Buddhists to show as an example, so naturally the Shaolin Temple is the best choice, because it's so famous for its fighting monks," Chan told RFA.

"They are using it to send out the message that if even the Shaolin Temple is willing to kowtow, with the best martial artists around, then other temples will have to follow suit," he said.

"If they can get the whole lot of them to fly the flags, then the Chinese Catholic Church will have to fly them too," Chan said.

Shaolin abbot Shi Yongxin holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and seems far from the stereotypical image of a retiring Buddhist monk concerned with achieving release from worldly cycles of cause and effect.

His critics have previously said he has led the temple too far from its Buddhist founding principles of poverty and simplicity, instead turning it into a cash cow as a location for kung fu filmmakers and training international kung fu students.

In 2015, an accuser claiming to be a former Shaolin monk and identified only by the pseudonym Shi Zhengyi posted allegations online that Shi was an embezzler and womanizer with illegitimate children, the official Xinhua news agency reported at the time.

The accusations were accompanied by a number of documents claiming to show that Shi had previously been expelled from the prestigious Zen Buddhist and martial arts institution for stealing, it said.

Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.Defying U.N. sanctions prohibiting seafood exports, North Korea has set up off-shore farms for growing scallops, which it then plans to smuggle to neighboring countries, North Korean sources say.



The farms were established in June in waters off the port districts of South Hamgyong provinces Hamhung city, a source in South Hamgyong told RFAs Korean Service.



Scallop farming began in July, and the scallops will be ready for export early next year, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



The company that operates the scallop farms is under the control of the military, which obtained permission from the Central Committee to operate the farms and sell the scallops to raise money for the military, he said.



The export of seafood from North Korea is banned under international sanctions punishing the nuclear-armed country for its illicit nuclear weapon and missile programs.



Despite the ban, North Korean scallops remain popular in foreign markets, RFAs source said, adding that the farms Chinese partner has provided infant scallops, or seeds, under an agreement that allows the Chinese firm to take 30 percent of the cultivated product.



The scallops will be from 7 to 10 centimeters big, large enough to be exported, by February next year, the source said.



About 1,000 tons of scallops will be collected, with plans to export one ton of the 7-centimeter scallops at $4,000 per ton and one ton of the 10-centimeter scallops at $6,000 per ton to China, the source said.



But the trading company calculates that they can earn double this amount if they export the scallops to South Korea or other countries instead of China.



Trade workers from the North Korean military now in China are secretly looking for a South Korean company that wants North Korean scallops, he said.



Encouraging export for foreign cash



Also speaking to RFA, a source in North Hamgyong province, bordering China, said that the number of North Korean shellfish farms continues to grow, with farms now operating in North Hamgyongs coastal city of Chongjin and in South Hamgyongs Hongwon and Riwon counties.



As the U.S. continues to push for stricter economic sanctions, the Central Committee tries to develop the fishing industry and encourages the export of seafood for foreign cash.



Unlike Hungnam port, where large cargo ships enter, Seoho is known as a port where fishing vessels of a marine product management office and fishermen smuggle seafood to China, the source said, also speaking on condition he not be named.



However, as more fishing companies are established by the military trading companies, ordinary fishermen have no chance to fish in waters close to shore, he said.



Instead, they travel farther away to fish, and they often lose their lives in accidents, he said.



Reported by Hyemin Son for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Richard Finney.A group of Rohingya refugees are trapped behind a barbed wire fence in no-mans land along the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar, Aug. 27, 2018.

The Bangladesh government is distributing aid to Rohingya refugees trapped in a no-mans land along the countrys border with Myanmar, ignoring calls from Naypyidaw to cut off humanitarian supplies as a precondition for those people to repatriate, officials told BenarNews.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.H.M. Ali led a 16-member delegation on a visit to Myanmar earlier this month, during which Myanmar proposed calling on humanitarian organizations to carry out the task of distributing aid.

In fact, Bangladesh didnt respond to Myanmars undue demand for the sake of humanity, an official at the Bangladeshi Disaster Management and Relief Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

In addition, Bangladeshs government has not made an official decision on aid for the Rohingya, Md. Abul Kalam Azad, the commissioner for refugee relief and repatriation, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

That is why Rohingya staying at no-mans land are still getting relief, he said.

Data from the U.N. refugee agency (UNCHR ) shows that 1,300 Rohingya families are living in the section along the Tambru border crossing.

Some of the Rohingya said they had enough food, but lacked pure drinking water and enough toilets. They have only one well and three toilets for 1,000 families, and none of the toilets are fit for women, refugees said.

They said their biggest issue had nothing to do with aid.

Our main problem is we cant go back to our home. We want justice from the world leaders, Rohingya leader Dil Mohammad told BenarNews. The home he fled is only about six kilometers (four miles) from the border.

Fellow refugee Hafej Omar Sultan said that he and the other Rohingya were living uncomfortably in the no-mans land.

We used to live in our homes with dignity. We had work, business and we had been living peacefully. But, the conditions here are not favorable, he said.

Mohammad Faruq, who lived in Maungdaw in Myanmars Rakhine state, settled in the no-mans land with 20 family members.

Though Myanmar asked Bangladesh government to stop food aid, Bangladesh didnt listen to that, he said. They are saving the tortured population by distributing relief.

Myanmar is not willing to take us back. Rather, they proposed such conditions to bring more suffering in our lives.

Previously, Myanmar had agreed unconditionally to take back the Rohingya stuck in the no-mans land.

Its really challenging to negotiate with a country like Myanmar. It seems Myanmar is consistently not cooperating with Bangladesh, Delwar Hossain , the director of the East Asia Center and Center for Genocide Studies at the University of Dhaka, told BenarNews.

Border Guard Police

Dil Mohammad, the refugee, said Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) were taking actions to drive the Rohingya from their settlement, including firing weapons and calling out on loudspeakers.

They insist we leave the place every day, he said.

They say taking shelter at the zero line is illegal and you must abide by the law, Mohammad said. But, they never suggest any substitute shelter for us.

A BenarNews reporter who went near no mans land on Sunday saw a new guard post by a barbed wire fence. A BGP member pointed a rifle at the Rohingya and another monitored the area through binoculars. Since then, the area has been off declared limits to reporters.

A Myanmar government spokesman previously justified actions by BGP members, claiming they had information that Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents had taken position there.

ARSA is blamed for a series of attacks on border guard and army posts in Rakhine in late August 2017. The raids provoked a brutal crackdown by Myanmar security forces that drove more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.Nearly 20 U.S. lawmakers have penned a letter to Washingtons top diplomat and Treasury Secretary, urging them to level sanctions against officials and entities in China deemed responsible for abusing the rights of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).



Beginning in April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect ideas have been jailed or detained in political re-education camps throughout the XUAR, where members of the ethnic group have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule.



In a letter dated Aug. 28, and obtained by RFAs Uyghur Service on Wednesday, Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smithco-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)and 15 other bipartisan lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin raising concerns over what they called a human rights crisis in the XUAR.



Muslim ethnic minorities [in the XUAR] are being subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, egregious restrictions on religious practice and culture, and a digitized surveillance system so pervasive that every aspect of daily life is monitored, the letter said.



Given the gravity of the situation, and the severity and scope of the rights abuses being perpetrated, we urge you to apply Global Magnitsky sanctions, and consider additional measures, against senior Chinese Government and Communist Party officials who oversee these repressive policies.



The lawmakers identified for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act Communist Party secretary Chen Quanguo, who has implemented a litany of harsh policies attacking the rights and freedoms of ethnic Uyghur Muslim residents of the XUAR since he was appointed to run the region in August 2016.



Under Chens watch, Chinas government is creating a high-tech police state in the XUAR, the letter said, noting that in a CECC hearing in Washington last month, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Kelley Currie had characterized the scope of the campaign as truly breathtaking.



The detention of as many as a million or more Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in political reeducation centers or camps requires a tough, targeted, and global response, the lawmakers wrote.



No Chinese official or business complicit in what is happening in the XUAR should profit from access to the United States or the U.S. financial system.



List of targets



In addition to recommending Global Magnitsky sanctions against Chen, the letter also highlighted six other XUAR officials complicit in human rights abuses.



Among the six were Hu Lianhe, the deputy director general of the Ninth Bureau of the United Front Work Department; Sun Jinlong, the deputy party secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC); Peng Jiarui, XPCC commander and deputy party secretary; and Zhu Hailun, the head of the Xinjiang Politics and Law Commission.



The list also included two ethnic Uyghur officialsShohret Zakir, deputy party secretary and regional government chairman (XUAR), and Shawket Imin, head of the regional United Front Work Department (XUAR).



The lawmakers also urged consideration of sanctions targeting entities assisting XUAR officials in mass detentions and surveillance of ethnic minorities.



They specifically mentioned Chinese companies Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd., which they said have profited greatly from the surge in security spending in the region, winning government contracts worth some U.S. $1.2 billion for large scale surveillance projects.



We therefore urge the Departments of State and Treasury to swiftly act to sanction those individuals and entities complicit in and directing human rights violations in the XUAR, the letter said.



At a time when the Chinese government is seeking to expand its influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, the last thing Chinas leaders want is international condemnation of their poor and abusive treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.



Exile community reacts



Dolkun Isa, the head of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), told RFAs Uyghur Service he is extremely pleased that members of Congress had called for sanctions against Chinese officials who he said are committing crimes against humanity by detaining Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in concentration camps in the XUAR.



The WUC is profoundly grateful to the leadership of Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Chris Smith for this positive effort, he said.



Im confident that other Western leaders will soon follow Americas example in this matter and take global actions against Chinas brutal persecution of the peaceful Uyghur people.



Nury Turkel, the chairman of the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), applauded the decision to draw attention to one of the worst human rights crises of the 21st century.



The joint letter clearly shows that Chinas extrajudicial detention of one million Uyghurs has become a bipartisan issue at the U.S. Congress, he said.



This is particularly important when other Muslim and world leaders are unwilling to speak up about this issue of global concern.



Camp network



China's central government authorities have rarely acknowledged the existence of political re-education camps in the XUAR, and the number of inmates kept in each facility remains a closely guarded secret. But local officials in many parts of the region have in RFA telephone interviews forthrightly described sending significant numbers of Uyghurs to the camps and even described overcrowding in some facilities.



Adrian Zenz, a lecturer in social research methods at the Germany-based European School of Culture and Theology, has said some 1.1 million people are or have been detained in the re-education camps, which equates to 10-11 percent of the adult Muslim population of the region.



Earlier this month, a delegate from China present for the countrys review at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination admitted the existence of "resettlement or re-education programs," but said the suggestion that some 1 million Uyghurs were held in the camps was completely untrue. He refused to provide information about how many are detained in the facilities.



Ahead of the review, China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) and a partner NGO, Equal Rights Initiative, said they had found through interviews with people in the region that up to 3 million residents of the XUAR, especially ethnic Uyghurs, may have been detained in the political re-education camps or forced to attend education sessions for de-radicalization as of June this year.



Growing condemnation



A growing number of top U.S. officials have raised the issues of rights violations and mass detentions in the XUAR in recent weeks.



In July, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Rubio spoke at separate events in Washington decrying re-education camps in the XUAR and calling on China to end its religious persecution of the Uyghurs, in a rare example of U.S. officials at such senior levels concertedly drawing attention to the issue.



Earlier last month, Pompeo told Voice of America in an interview that China should refrain from using the guise of a counter terrorism investigation to persecute religious freedom and condemned Beijings draconian policies in the XUAR.



Reported and translated by Alim Seytoff for RFAs Uyghur Service, with additional reporting by Joshua Lipes. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.Most people we spoke to on the streets of Yekaterinburg were not impressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's concessions on pension reform plans. Putin suggested raising the state pension age by five years to 60 years for women, instead of the earlier proposed eight-year hike.BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's Social Democratic Party (SDPK) has blasted government policies as "short-sighted," indicating a growing tension between former President Almazbek Atambaev and the countrys current leader, Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

In an August 28 statement, the SDPK criticized the authorities' "short-sighted policies, persecution of political opponents, questionable appointments, weak economic policies," and claimed it was generating "an increasing protest mood in the country."

The SDPK party, which is part of the ruling coalition, is led by Atambaev.

The SDPK statement also accused the authorities of spreading "gossip" about Atambaev's alleged plans to illegally seize power, saying they should instead "start working on the real strengthening of the people's unity and mending the economy."

SDPK spokeswoman Kunduz Joldubaeva told RFE/RL that "some people in power have a vested interest in spreading rumors," insisting that Atambaev has no plans to seize power.

President Jeenbekov's office said it wont issue an official response to the SDPK's accusations.

Jeenbekov, an ex-prime minister who was tapped by Atambaev as his favored successor in Kyrgyzstan's October 2017 presidential election, has been at odds with his former boss in recent months.

Two of Atambaev's close allies, former prime ministers Sapar Isakov and Jantoro Satybaldiev, who served during his presidency, were arrested in June on corruption charges.

In April, Jeenbekov sacked several other Atambaev allies, including Prosecutor-General Indira Joldubaeva and security service (UKMK) head Abdil Segizbaev, who had been criticized for a crackdown on opposition politicians and independent journalists.

Tajik journalist Khairullo Mirsaidov says he's "determined" to continue writing about his country's problems after being released from prison. In a case widely seen as politically motivated, Mirsaidov had been sentenced to 12 years in prison after writing about government corruption. Mirsaidov told RFE/RL's Tajik Service, the charges against him were "baseless" and called on all Tajiks to fight for a "normal country."Security forces have arrested "tens of spies" working in Iran's governmental bodies as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals, the countrys intelligence minister has said.

"Financially and through other means, our enemies try to get information on our country," Mahmud Alavi said in an interview on state television late on August 28.

Alavi did not say when the arrests were made or which countries the spies allegedly were working for, but indicated that many of those arrested were dual nationals.

Iran does not recognize dual nationality and does not routinely announce arrests of or charges against dual nationals.

The Reuters news agency reported in 2017 that Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had arrested at least 30 dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.

Alavi's latest comments come as tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since May when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers and started reimposing earlier this month U.S. sanctions that had been lifted under the accord.

Dual nationals working in official positions must be identified and rooted out, according to Alavi.

"If you know anyone, tell us about them," the minister said.

Alavi also said several plots to bomb metro stations and universities had been foiled, without making any of the incidents public at the time.

He also said that Iranian security forces arrested a member of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in southern Iran this month, and disbanded a "terrorist cell" in the country's north.

In June 2017, terrorist attacks claimed by the Sunni Muslim group killed 18 people at the parliament building in Tehran and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's mausoleum south of the capital.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that the country could abandon its nuclear deal with world powers if the agreement does not serve its interests.

Khamenei made the comments on August 29 after the United States withdrew from the 2015 agreement in May and earlier this month started reimposing U.S. economic sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the accord in exchange for curbs on Tehrans nuclear program.

European countries have been working to salvage the accord to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

But Khameneis official website quoted him as saying that Iran should "give up hope" of European powers salvaging the nuclear agreement.

"The nuclear accord is a means, not the goal, and if we come to this conclusion that it does not serve our national interests, we can abandon it," Khamenei said in a meeting with President Hassan Rohani and his cabinet.

The U.S. sanctions that were revived this month target Iran's car industry, trade in gold and other precious metals, as well as purchases of U.S. dollars crucial to support its oil exports and other global trade.

Further sanctions are due to go into effect in early November specifically targeting Iran's banking sector and oil industry, which drives growth in the Iranian economy.

However, Khamenei reiterated that Tehran will not negotiate with the "indecent" U.S. officials at any level to reach a new agreement on its nuclear program.

The supreme leader also urged the Iranian government to work "day and night" to resolve the country's growing economic difficulties.

"We need to be strong in the economic field ... The officials should work hard day and night to resolve the problems," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Rising prices and economic hardship, combined with a dramatic decline in the value Iran;s currency, the rial, have triggered protests across the country in recent weeks.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and APIran will maintain its military presence in Syria despite demands from the United States and Israel that it withdraw, Iran's military attache in Damascus has said.

"The continued presence of Iranian advisers in Syria was part of this military cooperation agreement between Tehran and Damascus" that was signed by the two nations' defense ministers over the weekend, Brigadier-General Abolqasem Alinejad said on August 28, according to Iranian news agencies.

"Iran will help Syria in clearing minefields in different parts of the country... Iran will help Syria to rebuild the military factories that were damaged in the war," Alinejad said.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has sent weapons and thousands of fighters to Syria to help shore up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during his seven-year-long civil war with Sunni Muslim rebels.

Iranian Defense Minister Amar Hatami visited Damascus over the weekend and signed a deal for military cooperation at a time when both Israel and the United States have been demanding that Iran withdraw its advisers and fighters as part of any final settlement of the Syrian war.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton last week repeated Washington's call for Iran to remove all its forces from Syria.

The United States is reimposing economic sanctions against Iran partly over its involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen as well as over its nuclear and missile programs.

Israel has also been adamant that Iran should withdraw from Syria, and has been particularly wary of Iran's involvement in building factories for weapons that Tel Aviv fears will be used against the Jewish state.

"The pact between Syria and Iran for rehabilitating the Assad army is an excuse and a facade meant to grant legitimacy to the Iranian forces remaining in the area," Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Ynet TV on August 28.

"But as far as we are concerned, no machinations keeping the Iranians in the area will be acceptable," he said.

A senior Israeli official told reporters that Israel's military, which has staged deadly air raids against Iranian positions and facilities in Syria, "will continue to act with full determination against attempts by Iran to transfer military forces and weapons systems to Syria."

More than 1,000 Iranians, including senior members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, have been killed in the air raids and in battlefield action in Syria since 2012.

The guards initially kept quiet about their role in Syria. But in recent years as casualties have mounted, they have been more outspoken, framing their engagement as a struggle against Sunni Muslim fighters of the Islamic State who regard the Shi'a who form Iran's majority as apostates and have staged a growing number of attacks against them.

With reporting by AFP and ReutersIran's foreign minister is being mocked after saying on state TV that Iranians are responsible for choosing the country's path.

Mohammad Javad Zarif was responding to a question about economic hardships facing Iranians in the context of recently reimposed U.S. sanctions and a plunging national currency that has increased the cost of many goods.

Iran has seen sporadic protests since late last year over rising prices, unemployment, and frustration with the country's clerically dominated leadership.

Maybe our young generation tells themselves that there are so many countries in the world that enjoy good ties with other countries and [think those countries'] people don't face pressure," the moderator asked Zarif in an apparent allusion to sanctions, saying he was asking questions on behalf of young people, on August 26. But when it comes to Iran, the moderator added, the country's foreign ministers frequently cite "international pressure."

Zarif, who played a key role in negotiating Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, responded by suggesting that the reason is that "we have ourselves chosen to live in a different way."

The comments prompted a flurry of angry reactions by Iranians, who listed issues ranging from a sluggish economy, to sanctions, the so-called hijab law that requires women to cover their hair and body in public, and a lack of freedom to express their frustration at life in Iran.

Using the hashtags #I_didnt_choose and #We_didnt_choose, some Iranians challenged Zarifs interpretation of life in Iran.

Unfortunately, #I_didnt_choose this way of life wherein for years others like Zarif have been talking, thinking, and deciding on my behalf, tweeted Iran-based Banafsheh Jamali. I dare say that 97 percent of the way I live today has not been my choice. Religion, my type of clothing, my way of life, and many other things. And I really hate this way of life."

Echoing such criticism, Tehran-based Shima Tadrisi listed some of the institutionalized discrimination against women in Iran, including regarding divorce and inheritance or prohibitions on women traveling abroad without the permission of a male relative.

As a woman #I_didnt_choose to be involved in only 16 percent of my countrys economic participation, to be [considered a] second sex, wear the hijab, not be able to stand as a candidate in presidential elections, [be banned] from stadiums, Tadrisi tweeted.

She added that she didnt choose to spend the best years of her life or to die under the clerically dominated republic's backward rules.

Mr. Zarif, we aren't even allowed to choose our clothing. One month per year, we are not allowed to drink water in public. What choice? Shahin Milani tweeted, in references to the dress code and the compulsory observation of strict Islamic practice during the month of Ramadan, when even Iranians who dont fast can be punished for eating or drinking in public.

Iran has spent decades under U.S. and UN sanctions over issues that include its rights record, alleged support for international terrorism, its missile program, and its disputed efforts to build a nuclear weapons capacity.

U.S. President Donald Trump's recent decision to walk away from the 3-year-old nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), and punish international companies that continue to do business with Iran, has forced many companies to pull out of Iran.

But Tehran-based journalist Masud Kazemi blamed the Iranian establishment for the countrys economic troubles.

Mr. Islamic Republic, the current economic situation that you have created for the people through your choices is deplorable. These economic conditions have put my personal life on the verge of collapse. Thank you for this 40-year-achievement," Kazemi said, adding that shame is a virtue.

Believe me, #I_didnt_choose international isolation and humiliation of my countrymen waiting in the lines of embassies [for visas], said reform-minded researcher Hassan Assadi Zeidabadi, who spent several years in prison in Iran in connection with her human rights activities.

Some used the occasion to highlight official discrimination against religious minorities like the Bahais, who are persecuted because of their faith, which is not recognized in Irans Islamic constitution.

Bahais living in Iran have frequently been banned from higher education, seen their businesses shut down, or otherwise been pressured over their religious beliefs.

I did not choose to face pressure from your establishment, I did not choose to be expelled from university, I didnt choose to be deprived from my most basic rights, my father didnt choose it either, neither did my friends," Atish said via Twitter. "This life has been imposed on us by you and the Islamic establishment."

One user challenged the authorities to hold a referendum on the direction of the country, whose elections are characterized by strict vetting of candidates and other tactics to exclude perceived dissidents.

I didnt choose, [and] my father who did expressed regret a hundred times a day. If you dont agree, organize a referendum [on the future of the Islamic Republic]," user Mori said.

Zarif has been criticized in the past for defending Iran's strict dress code and claiming that Iran does not jail people for their opinions.

President Hassan Rohani earlier this week appeared before parliament to defend his government's economic policies.

A longtime senior member of the ruling establishment, Rohani won the presidency in 2013 and was reelected in 2017 on pledges of reforms that include improved rights for women and an easing of censorship, in addition to more open trade and political relations with the outside world based in part on hopes of relaxed sanctions once a nuclear deal was in place.

Critics recently unseated two members of Rohani's cabinet, the ministers of economy and labor, citing concern over the economy, and are said to be gunning for more ministers.

Conservatives dominate virtually all elected and unelected branches of Iran's government, and hard-line Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say in all political and religious matters.

Khamenei met with Rohani and his cabinet on August 29, according to Reuters, which quoted Iranian state media as urging officials to "work hard day and night to resolve the problems" and make the country "strong in the economic field."Israel has accused an Israeli drone maker of bombing ethnic Armenian soldiers in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region at the request of Azerbaijani clients during a sales demonstration, government and local media reported.

The accusation by Israels Justice Ministry on August 29 did not specifically mention Azerbaijan or Nagorno-Karabakh in its statement. But Israeli media said a complaint filed with the Defense Ministry, which promoted an investigation, made it clear that Azerbaijani officials and ethnic Armenian soldiers were involved.

The Defense Ministry complaint was leaked to the Maariv newspaper, which first reported the incident.

It was unclear who exactly filed the complaint.

In its statement on August 29, the Justice Ministry said it plans to indict the chief executive, deputy CEO, and other officials and employees of Aeronautics Defense Systems for the incident, which it said occurred in 2017.

"Aeronautics and 10 of its employees were informed that they were set to be charged, pending a hearing," the Justice Ministry said, according to The Times of Israel.

The Aeronautics team was suspected of "fraudulently obtaining something under aggravated circumstances," along with violations of Israel's security export control law, the newspaper reported.

In response, the Yavneh-based firm said it is convinced that after we first present our position at the hearing, the State Prosecutors Office will reach an informed decision that there is no reason to put the company or any of its officers in court and will order the case closed.

An official at Azerbaijans embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to comment to RFE/RL on an Israeli legal proceeding, saying he did not want to interfere in another countrys internal matters.

No one was immediately available at the Armenian Embassy, and the Israeli Embassy said it could not immediately comment.

Maariv and The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the incident occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani territory that was seized in the early 1990s by Armenian-backed forces after a war that killed more than 30,000 people.

The reports said Aeronautics officials in 2017 were working on a potential $20 million deal with Baku, when Azerbaijani officials asked them to demonstrate their Orbiter 1K armed drone on Armenian soldiers.

The reports said two employees refused to carry out the attack before two higher-ranking executives eventually agreed to do it. They said the drone did not directly hit their targets, but two soldiers were injured in the attack.

The Times of Israel quoted Army Colonel Armen Gyozalian as confirming that two soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident.

Israel suspended Aeronautics' export license after the complaint was filed with the Defense Ministry, the report said.

Sporadic fighting continues in Nagorno-Karabakh, despite three decades of diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.

Azerbaijan is one of the largest importers of Israeli military equipment. In 2016, an Israeli-made drone dove into a bus carrying seven Armenians, an incident that was captured partially on video.

The Times of Israel reported that that drone was made by another Israeli firm, Aerospace Industries.

With reporting by AFP, The Times of Israel, and MaarivLech Walesa, the former Polish president and Nobel laureate, said he has nominated Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is imprisoned in Russia, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Walesa told RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service that he sees similarities between Sentsovs situation and his own in the 1980s, when he was imprisoned by Polish authorities for his work as the leader of the Solidarity trade union.

I was also in a difficult situation, Walesa said in an interview published on August 29. I also struggled. This award (Nobel Peace Prize) helped me, as well as Poland, in regaining freedom.

For this reason, support is needed. First of all, thanking him for fighting. Secondly, encouraging him to continue his peaceful struggle.

A filmmaker who was a vocal opponent of Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea, Sentsov was arrested in Crimea that year and convicted the following year by a Russian court of planning to commit terrorist acts. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

His plight has drawn international support and calls from Western governments for him to be released.

He has been on hunger strike in a remote Russian prison since May 14.

Walesa, who was awarded the Peace Prize in 1983, said he would tell Sentsov that you are on the right side.

It is good that there are people like you. It gives us hope that the world will improve -- so persevere, no matter what wrongs meet you, persevere, because you give the world an example of the right way to fight, Walesa said.

Walesa also said the West was not doing enough to help defend Ukraines sovereignty against Russia.

Europe and the world are lacking in solidarity. We did not have plans for these times. This disunity, this discord in Europe and in the world, all this causes us to not address issues such as Ukraine, he said.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee each year receives several hundred nominations for the Peace Prize. Generally, the names of nominees are not released to the public for 50 years after their submission.The URL has been copied to your clipboard

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Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been frequently accused by international groups for human rights abuses. After recent threats against activists and other incidents, three organizations have called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to rein in Kadyrov.Russian President Vladimir Putin reserved the weightiest of his cautious concessions on a controversial pension-reform plan for Russian women, who outnumber their male counterparts by 10 million and live -- and vote -- considerably longer.

Citing what he called a "caring" attitude toward women in Russia, Putin on August 29 proposed reducing a planned increase in the retirement age for the country's female population and allowing women with at least three children to retire earlier.

Putin made the announcement in a televised address carried on state television, an unusual response to expressions of civic discontent by the Russian president, who is widely seen as being loath to cave to the type of public pressure that followed the proposed reforms initial approval by parliament in July.

That legislation, which sought to raise the retirement age by eight years to 63 for women and by five years to 65 for men, triggered protests in Russia, and polls have shown a dent in Putin's popularity since the planned reform was announced.

Putin on August 29 proposed several measures that would dilute the bill passed by lawmakers in its first reading, the most significant of which would reduce the increase in the retirement age for women by three years -- from 63 to 60.

"We have a special, caring attitude toward women in our country," Putin said. "We understand that not only do they go to work, the entire household is typically also on their shoulders -- caring for the family, raising children, taking care of grandchildren."

Putin said it would be "wrong" to raise the retirement age for women by eight years while raising it to five years for men.

Putin also proposed allowing mothers with three children to retire at age 57, those with four children at age 56, and those with five or more -- as the law currently allows -- at age 50.

Women are a crucial electoral demographic in Russia, making up 54 percent of the population in the country of 146.9 million, according to official government data as of June 14.

They also live significantly longer, with a life expectancy of 77 compared to 66 for men, and are active voters. An exit poll by the state-run VTsIOM pollster found women constituted 55.4 percent of the voters in the March 18 presidential election that handed Putin a fresh six-year term.

"The main takeaway from Putin's speech: Authorities fear women more than men. And they're right to do so, of course," Ivan Davydov, a Russian journalist and political consultant, wrote in an August 29 Facebook post.

Putin's proposals will all but certainly be included in the pension-reform legislation when it comes up for a crucial second reading in parliament, where the the Kremlin-loyal United Russia party controls both houses.

The legislation would then have to be approved in a routine third reading and in the upper house of parliament before being sent to the Kremlin for Putins signature.

Pro-Kremlin lawmakers on August 29 echoed Putin's portrayal of his proposals for women in the reform bill as a win for fairness.

"What made me happier than anything else...is that the president offered to lower the [proposed] retirement age for women from 63 to 60," Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, said on state television, the state-run TASS news agency reported. "It is fair and justified."

Putin's proposal, of course, would still increase the retirement age by five years for both men and women. Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who is organizing planned September protests against pension reform in numerous cities, said Putin's proposals mean Russians will have "a little bit less stolen" from their pensions.

A poll conducted by the research firm Romir in May found that 92 percent of Russians did not support raising the retirement age for women to 63 and to 65 for men.

Putin, who had kept his public distance from the issue for months, said in his August 29 address that Russia risks catastrophic financial consequences if the retirement age is not raised.

Putin also made his pitch by highlighting several other proposed measures he said were aimed at minimizing the pain under the planned reform, including an extension of various benefits.

But Aleksandr Kynev, a political scientist at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, told RFE/RL that a reduction of the increase in the retirement age for women was the only "substantial" proposal Putin made.

"These measures look very modest," he said in a telephone interview.

Kynev added that he doesn't believe Putin's proposal will do much to assuage public concerns on the issue.

"I don't think people will be satisfied," he said.Russias foreign minister called on the West not to interfere in efforts to wipe out what he called terrorists in Syrias Idlib Province.

Sergei Lavrovs comments to reporters in Moscow on August 29 came amid reports that Syrian government forces are gearing up for a massive offensive in Idlib, the last main stronghold for rebels.

Moscow has deployed more warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in what Russian media called the largest naval buildup since Russia entered the Syrian civil war in 2015.

Idlib is a "festering abscess" that needed to be liquidated, Lavrov was quoted as saying.

"I hope our Western partners will not give in to [rebel] provocations and will not obstruct an antiterror operation," he said. Russia often refers to any armed opponents of the Syrian government as "terrorists."

The United States has backed opposition forces fighting against Assads government in the seven-year civil war that has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions. Turkey has also backed rebels, but not always the same ones as Washington has backed.

Lavrov also said Moscow was in contact with Turkey and the United States on the situation in Idlib. He said there was a "full political understanding" between Moscow and Ankara, without providing details.

The United States, Britain, and France this week repeated warnings to Syria not to use chemical weapons in an assault on Idlib, saying it would result in Western retaliation.

Moscow, meanwhile, has accused Syrian rebels of planning to stage a chemical attack in Idlib to "provoke" Western strikes.

In Brussels, NATO confirmed the Russian naval buildup and called on Moscow to exercise restraint. Alliance spokeswoman Oana Lungescu also said that several of the Russian ships are equipped with cruise missiles.

"We will not speculate on the intention of the Russian fleet, but it is important that all actors in the region exercise restraint and refrain from worsening an already disastrous humanitarian situation in Syria," Lungescu said.

With reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and AFPU.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's attorneys said on August 28 that they will ask to move his second trial from Washington to another location because of pretrial publicity that they said could bias the jury.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that jury selection in Manafort's trial in the District of Columbia will begin as scheduled on September 17, but opening statements will be delayed until the following week.

Manafort's attorneys have said they needed more time to sort through the more than 1,600 pieces of evidence that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team intends to introduce at trial related to Manafort's lobbying and political consulting work for Ukraine.

Manafort, a longtime lobbyist, faces charges of failing to register as a foreign agent for his work on behalf of pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, among other criminal charges.

Manafort attorneys said they will request the trial be moved out of Washington despite an unsuccessful attempt to move Manafort's first trial in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, to a location more distant from the U.S. capital.

Jackson said the court in Washington has seen plenty of high-profile cases and has been able to select juries that were impartial. She also noted that Manafort's case has attracted national and international publicity, making it difficult to argue that other locations would be more suitable because people there were less exposed to publicity about Manafort.

The second trial will come about a month after a jury in Virginia convicted Manafort on eight felony counts of filing false tax returns, failing to report offshore bank accounts, and bank fraud. The jury deadlocked on 10 other counts.

Manafort's second trial will likely take a few weeks, with prosecutors saying they need 10 to 12 days to present their case.

Based on reporting by AP and ReutersIranian courts have sentenced more than 200 members of a Sufi order to prison terms and other punishments over the past four months in one of the largest crackdowns against a religious minority in Iran in a decade, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

In a statement on August 29, the New York-based group said the sentencing of at least 208 members of the dervish community since May "in violation of their fair trial rights is the latest reminder of the way the Iranian authorities' repressive security apparatus preys on their own citizens every day."

HRW said the sentences handed down by revolutionary courts against followers of the Nemattolah Gonabadi order, known as dervishes, included prison terms ranging from four months to 26 years, flogging, internal exile, travel bans, and a ban on membership in social and political groups.

Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, is not illegal in Iran but rights groups accuse the Iranian government of harassment and discrimination against its followers.

The authorities also detained more than 300 dervishes following protests in January and February that included violent clashes between dervishes and security forces in the capital, Tehran.

"Authorities have used the February protests as an excuse to intimidate this vulnerable group and silence another segment of Iranian society demanding basic rights from a repressive security state, according to Sarah Leah Whiston, Middle East director at HRW.

Dozens of community members gathered in Tehrans Pasdaran neighborhood in January and February to protect the residence of their spiritual leader, Nurali Tabandeh, whom they feared police planned to arrest.

On February 19-20, media and witnesses reported that clashes between security forces and protesters left several dozen dervishes injured and four law enforcement agents dead, including three who were struck by a bus.

During trials that lasted as short as 15 minutes, judges insulted the accused and focused their questions on their faith as opposed to any recognizable crime, HRW quoted informed sources as saying.

The charges and evidence against the defendants have not been publicly available.

But several verdicts made public by family members indicate judges used what HRW called "vaguely defined" national security charges to prosecute "largely peaceful activism."

Mohammad Reza Salas, a dervish was executed in June for allegedly killing three police officers by driving a bus into a crowd of security officers during the February clashes in Tehran.

He had been convicted in March after a trial which HRW said raised "serious concerns about its fairness" and allegations that he was tortured while in detention.

Amnesty International has also condemned Salass execution, calling it "a travesty of justice that is abhorrent and unconscionable."

The U.S. State Department said Salas's "rushed execution is the latest example of the Iranian regimes disregard for the human rights of its citizens."

Vasil Belmach sensed something wasn't right when he went to purchase a prosthesis at a hospital in the Belarusian capital of Minsk two years ago.

Versed in the law from his days working as an assistant to the Belarusian military prosecutor, Belmach said the device provided by Minsk Hospital No. 6 was way overpriced and lacked required documentation.

Like others in Belarus, Belmach was depressingly aware that graft and cronyism were part of life in the Eastern European state of 9.5 million that has been ruled by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka since 1994.

But this seemed beyond the pale, even for Belarus.

Fed up, he decided to act, collecting proof of what he claims was corruption and its cover-up at the highest levels of the Belarusian Health Ministry.

"I have documents that attest to the illegal actions of the Health Ministry, the Prosecutor-General's Office, and the court. These are things that contradict the tenets of the law," Belmach told RFE/RL's Belarus Service in a recent interview.

For a year and a half, Belmach became a gadfly to Belarusian authorities, providing a raft of documents he said exposed graft within the Health Ministry.

His whistle-blowing apparently worked. Belmach's efforts are widely credited with sparking the exposure of what is being called one of the biggest corruption scandals to rock Belarus since the breakup of the Soviet Union. It has had fallout at high levels, including the dismissal -- widely believed to be over the scandal -- of a deputy prime minister as part of a bigger cabinet reshuffle.

KGB Roundup

Beginning in June, the State Intelligence Service of Belarus, the KGB, began rounding up public officials and others linked to a sophisticated scheme in the Health Ministry.

Those charged are accused of wheeling and dealing in medicines and medical equipment, arranging for their purchase at bargain-basement prices, and selling them on to the state at a hefty markup. Bribery and tax evasion are among the main charges they face. All told, 33 public officials -- including former Deputy Health Minister Ihar Lasitski -- and others were detained by the KGB as cases involving more than 50 people were launched. Stacks of cash, including $500,000 hidden in one official's garage, were uncovered. Earlier this month, three former hospital officials were convicted, receiving hefty prison sentences of up to seven years.

Deputy Prime Minister Vasik Zharko was one of several officials sacked in a major cabinet reshuffle on August 18, including the firing of Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakov.

Addressing Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas and the other cabinet ministers on August 20, Lukashenka warned that officials guilty of corruption would end up in prison, according to the presidential press office.

Lukashenka said that he had no choice but to dismiss Zharko, former head of the Health Ministry between 2006 and 2016, over corruption in the health sector.

"I had warned him three times: Look around, sort things out. And things collapsed there. How can I work with such a person?" he said.

Who And What Are The Charges?

According to the KGB, officials received bribes ranging from $10,000 to $450,000 in exchange for contracts on procuring medical equipment and medicines.

In televised comments in July, KGB Director Valery Vakulchik denounced what he termed a massive system of procurement of drugs and medical equipment at inflated prices.

Prices were habitually hiked by up to 60 percent, and in some cases even doubled, he said in comments quoted by the AFP news agency.

Vakulchik also took aim at the rigid, centralized, bureaucracy in Belarus, accusing it of promoting corruption.

"The existing system of procuring medical equipment and drugs created the conditions for corrupt practices," he said.

Those detained in the scandal include Deputy Health Minister Ihar Lositskiy, doctors at reputed clinics, and leading business figures involved in producing and importing medicines.

According to the Belta state news agency, a search at the home of Alyaksandr Byaletski, a medical center director in Minsk, uncovered $500,000 in cash.

Indeed, it is the biggest corruption case in the Belarusian government since Belarus independence. More than 40 people are under investigation and about 30 of them are arrested."

In another case, officers found $620,000 in the garage of Alyaksandr Sharak, the director of Belmedtechniki, a public enterprise importing medical equipment.

One of those arrested was Syahey Shakutin, owner of Iskamed, another leading Belarusian pharmaceutical importer. He is also a brother of senator and prominent businessman Alyaksandr Shakutin.

Experts estimate that 10 private companies control some 75 percent of all drug imports to Belarus. Many of these companies are owned by or have connections to the ruling elite, as in the case of Shakutin.

Alyaksandr Papko, a research analyst at the EAST (Eurasian States in Transition) Center in Warsaw, said the scandal is unprecedented in post-Soviet Belarus history.

"Indeed, it is the biggest corruption case in the Belarusian government since Belarus independence. More than 40 people are under investigation and about 30 of them are arrested," Papko explained to RFE/RL in a recent telephone interview.

While massive, Papko explains, many in Belarus are doubtful the crackdown will bring change to the country's authoritarian system.

"All of this corruption investigation is under the control of the government. And the actions of the authoritarian government in Belarus are not clear. This case will not change the system. They now imprison some of those for corruption, but this corruption is produced by the system," Papko adds.

Amid such reservations, justice, Belarusian-style, has been meted out, with three officials already receiving hefty prison sentences.

On August 21, Arkadz Patapau, the deputy chief doctor at a Minsk children's hospital, became the first to be sentenced, receiving a six-year prison term.

On August 27, two more convictions were handed down.

The scandal comes amid a rise in the reported number of graft cases in Belarus, as reported by the independent Warsaw-based Belsat TV, in January 2018.

Last year, 1,922 cases of bribery were officially recorded in Belarus. This is 1 1/2 times more than a year earlier. In 2016, the Internal Affairs Ministry noted a 12.8 percent rise in corruption crimes.

However, Freedom House has suggested that the rise in reported corruption could be due to more concerted efforts to crack down on graft.

In its 2018 report on Belarus, Freedom House said the country's corruption rating had actually improved "due to the cumulative effect of improvements in this sphere. Additionally, efforts to combat corruption brought a considerable increase in the number of criminal charges against low and mid-level officials, while none of these cases was recognized as politically motivated."

And the numbers crunched by Transparency International are not glowing but not atrocious either.

According to the global corruption watchdog's Corruption Perceptions Index 2017, Belarus ranks 68 out of 180 surveyed countries.

For the retired Belmach, the authorities' actions are welcome and long overdue.

"This action was taken much too late. Everyone knew that corruption in health care exists and thrives," Belmach explains.

Balmach is convinced that, for average Belarusians struggling to get by on a few hundred dollars a mont, the arrests at least offer a bit of justice.

"Go into any store and listen to what the people are talking about. This is the most popular topic. In average polyclinics and hospitals, the staff applaud and welcome these detentions. After all, we know what a nurse earns. And here they find $500,000."

Written by Tony Wesolowsky based on reporting by Ales Dashchynski and other reports by RFE/RL's Belarusian ServiceRussia has deployed several more warships to the Mediterranean Sea, in what Russian media are calling the largest naval buildup since Russia entered the Syrian civil war in 2015.

The reinforcement comes as Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is believed to be preparing an assault on the last major enclave held by rebels, Syria's northern Idlib province, and the UN's humanitarian director warned on August 28 that a large-scale government offensive there "has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen" in Syria's seven-year conflict.

It also comes as the United States, Britain, and France at a meeting of the UN Security Council on August 28 repeated their warning to Syria, whose army has been backed by Russian air power, not to use chemical weapons in an assault on Idlib, and said any use of such illegal weapons would result in Western retaliation.

Russia has cited the warning from Western powers in recent days in accusing the United States of building up its own forces in the Middle East in preparation for a possible strike on Syrian government forces -- something the Pentagon has denied.

The Russian accusations come even as media are reporting a major buildup of Russia's naval fleet in the Mediterranean. Reuters reported that on August 25, shipping records and photos show Russia's Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen frigates sailed through Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait towards the Mediterranean.

It said the day before, the Pytlivy frigate and landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov were also pictured sailing through the Turkish straits that connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. The Vishny Volochek missile corvette passed through earlier this month.

The pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper said Russia is gathering its largest naval presence in the Mediterranean since it intervened in Syria in 2015, turning the tide in Assad's favor in a war that has killed over 400,000 people and displaced millions more.

Potential 'Humanitarian Emergency'

The Russian naval force in the Mediterranean now includes 10 vessels, most of them armed with long-range Kalibr cruise missiles, Izvestia said, adding that more are on the way, and that two submarines have also been deployed.

At the United Nations, humanitarian director John Ging called on members of the UN Security Council "to do all they can to ensure that we avoid" a humanitarian crisis in Idlib, the Syrian province on the border with Turkey which is home to nearly 3 million people, including most remaining Syrian Sunni rebel fighters and their families.

Ging said recent weeks have seen "a further serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation," with intense bombing and shelling reported in parts of Idlib.

He said that "a worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities" of aid organizations, and "has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis."

Russian media quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying on August 28 that the Russian military is trying to negotiate what he called a "peaceful settlement" with "moderate" rebel groups in Idlib like the one reached with rebel groups this year in eastern Ghouta outside Damascus, which would give them assurances of safety in exchange for the surrender of their weapons.

'Extraordinary Allegation'

At the UN meeting, Russia again accused the extremist rebel group, the Al-Qaeda-linked Levant Liberation Committee, of preparing a chemical attack in Idlib, which Moscow says the West will use to justify a strike against Syrian forces.

Russia also claims British special forces are helping the rebels, including by possibly supplying chlorine gas, an illegal chemical weapon, prompting a sharp denial from Britain's UN Ambassador Karen Pierce.

"Even by the egregious standards of Russian propaganda, this is an extraordinary allegation," Pierce said. "It is wholly untrue."

She called the claim "fake news" and said it could be "a smoke screen for a possible impending [chemical] attack by the Syrian regime, once again against its own people, in Idlib."

"I repeat the statement that I, the French, and the Americans made earlier about responding appropriately," she said.

Pierce later told reporters "it's very clear to us and our partners that this is an effort to distract from an imminent attack on Idlib."

Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Syrian armed forces have no chemical weapons and there is no military need for them.

"People in their right minds will not use means that are useless from a military point of view in order to trigger reprisals by three major powers," he said.

"Thank you for this warning of your response," Nebenzya added. "We want to also warn you that we are absolutely aware of your unsavory plans. We strongly suggest that you refrain from them. Carrying out these plans will further deliver a strike against a peaceful resolution in Syria."

Pierce, who currently is presiding as president of the security council, said Russia is blocking attempts to form a consensus on the council to respond to Ging's plea for action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Idlib.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, Izvestia, and Interfax

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Security officials in Russia-annexed Crimea have searched the home of a local Ukrainian activist on suspicion of having ties to terrorist organizations in Ukraine.

The activist, Olha Pavlenko, told RFE/RL on August 29 that agents from the Federal Security Service confiscated her mobile phone, flash-memory cards, and notebooks that contained poems.

Pavlenko, a member of the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Crimea, said the search of her home in Crimeas capital, Simferopol, lasted three hours.

"After my lawyer arrived, I allowed [the FSB officers] to enter and they showed me a warrant saying that I am suspected of having ties with terrorist organizations based in Ukraine proper," Pavlenko said.

She added that she was ordered to go to the Investigative Committee for questioning and that she will discuss with her lawyers when to report.

There was no confirmation of the search by authorities.

The Ukrainian Culture Center in Crimea is a group promoting Ukrainian culture and language in the region. Its activists have been under pressure since Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014.

One of the center's leaders, Leonid Kuzmin, fled Crimea in 2017 after he received threats from unknown people and was pressured by police.

Russia has prosecuted and imprisoned several Ukrainians on what rights activists say are trumped up, politically motivated charges since Moscow seized the Black Sea region.

In March 2017, the European Parliament called on Russia to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who were in prison or subject to other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea, and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

Russia seized Crimea after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power by massive street protests in February 2014.

Russia also fomented fighting in eastern Ukraine, where more than 10,300 people have been killed since April 2014.A U.S. Justice Department attorney who has drawn President Donald Trump's ire has been grilled for more than seven hours by congressional Republicans over his role in aiding the department's investigation of Russian ties with Trump's 2016 election campaign.

Bruce Ohr was grilled behind closed doors on August 28 by two Republican-led committees of the House of Representatives that are looking into what triggered the department's investigation in the months before the November presidential election.

Ohr has been the target of Republican suspicion and anger because of his relationship with Christopher Steele, a former British spy whose opposition research on Trump's Russia ties was compiled in a dossier that Ohr turned over to the FBI before the election.

Trump and some House Republicans say Steele's controversial dossier -- which contained a number of unproven allegations -- created a tainted pretext for the investigation, though department officials have said the probe began weeks before the bureau received Steele's documents.

Ohr did not respond to reporters' questions after his testimony on Capitol Hill on August 28. But several Republican representatives afterwards gave their version of what was said at the hearing, which was not attended by any Democratic members of Congress.

Representative Matt Gaetz said Ohr's testimony confirmed Republican suspicions that the Russia investigation started with an "excessive reliance" on the Steele dossier before it was turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller a year ago.

"And if the dossier truly is the rotten foundation upon which the Mueller church is built, I think that's an important revelation," Gaetz said.

Representative Darrel Issa told Fox News that Ohr showed he "has a poor memory."

"He seems to not remember a lot of details and, you know, poor memories are often claimed by people who want to stick to what they can say and not be caught in perjury," he said.

Democrats say Republicans are focusing on Ohr and his connections with Steele in an attempt to undermine the Russia investigation.

Interest In Russian Organized Crime

A Harvard-educated lawyer who was a U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan in the 1990s, Ohr at the time of the 2016 election was a high-ranking official in the deputy attorney general's office.

Ohr had met Steele a decade earlier, discovered they had a common interest in Russian organized crime, and developed a friendly relationship with the former British operative. Ohr for several years led a division of the department pursuing Russian organized crime figures,

Though Ohr did not handle national security or counterintelligence at the department, he nonetheless became a point of contact for Steele for sharing information in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Ohr has said he passed along tidbits he learned from Steele to the FBI after it started its Russia investigation.

Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, the political research firm that was paid by Democrats and hired Steele to compile the dossier on Trump, told lawmakers last year that he also met with Ohr at Steele's behest amid what he said was anxiety that the FBI was not taking seriously enough evidence of Russian interference in the presidential election, including some of the information that Steele had compiled.

Ohr also had a personal connection with Fusion, where his wife Nellie worked as a Russia specialist -- a connection Trump and his allies have seized on as they have alleged anti-Trump bias in the Russia investigation.

Ohr remains with the Justice Department, but amid the GOP criticism, he was demoted from his job in the deputy attorney general's office. But there are no signs of any effort by the department's leadership to punish him in the ways advocated by the president.

Trump has called for Ohr's firing and has threatened to strip him of his top-secret security clearance, which enables him to keep working at the department.

I think that Bruce Ohr is a disgrace with his wife Nellie. For him to be in the Justice Department and doing what he is doing is a disgrace, Trump told reporters this month.

"Will Bruce Ohr, whose family received big money for helping to create the phony, dirty and discredited Dossier, ever be fired?" Trump asked on Twitter on August 20.

With reporting by AP, CNN, and Fox News

August in Sarajevo is dominated by that city's now-famous film festival -- a defiant child of the Bosnian war and since then arguably the most important cultural event in the country.

But while the festival showcases new movies and talent, at least some of the limelight this year has been stolen by a tribute to a film made nearly half a century ago, in a country that no longer exists.

A new multimedia museum dedicated to the cult movie Walter Defends Sarajevo is due to open later this year, and organizers hope it draws a good number of tourists -- especially from China.

The movie, released in 1972, paid homage to the Yugoslav partisan resistance to the Nazi occupation of the city during World War II, coordinated by the eponymous Walter, the code name of Vladimir Peric.

Inspired by real events -- the historical Walter (Peric) was killed during the liberation of the city on April 6, 1945 -- the film has a "mythic power," according to filmmaker Jasmin Durakovic, director of the Sarajevo film center. It was a triumph of Yugoslav and Bosnian filmmaking, Durakovic told RFE/RL.

'Das Ist Walter!'

The promotional event for the new museum took place in Park Princeva (Princes' Park), an elevated spot on the outskirts that affords a spectacular view of the city. Durakovic said it was chosen because it was the setting for the movie's iconic final scene.

The Germans had been unable to destroy the underground resistance in Sarajevo, or to identify and capture its leader, the elusive Walter. As the movie closes, it is spring 1945 and the commanding Nazi officer is taking his leave. He meets his successor at what is now Park Princeva and announces that he has finally solved the mystery of Walter's identity: "I have spent the war hunting Walter, but it is only now, as I depart, that I finally know who he is." The other man impatiently demands to be told, but the officer says he can do better: "I will show him to you!" He then points at the cityscape spread out before them and explains: "Do you see this city? Das ist Walter! (That is Walter!)"

"[Park Princeva] is a legendary place, and we have already designated it as the 'Das ist Walter' location," said Durakovic.

The promotional event was well attended, and it was announced that the museum dedicated to the movie will be open to the public by the end of the year. Near the end of the event, recounted Durakovic, a Chinese woman ran up to him and asked breathlessly if she could bring her husband and children. She had been passing by and recognized the face of the movie's protagonist, actor Bata Zivojinovic (Walter), on one of the original posters (which will be among the exhibits in the new museum) and wanted her family -- tourists in the city -- to see the promotion.

The film's apparent popularity in China has undoubtedly contributed to its cult status. It is thanks to its Chinese audience since its release in the 1970s that Walter Defends Sarajevo is the most-watched Yugoslav movie of all time.

Pioneering Foreign Film

In the late 1970s the movie was screened not only in Chinese movie theaters but also appeared frequently on Chinese television. Walter was first screened in China in 1976, as the country emerged from the Cultural Revolution and its resultant social and cultural desolation.

Bosnian director Hajrudin Krvavac's war movie was a pioneering foreign film in China at that time, so for millions of Chinese it represented a rare glimpse into an unfamiliar world.

Now, decades later, Chinese visitors to Europe are signing up for guided tours of Belgrade and Sarajevo that include locations where Walter Defends Sarajevo was filmed in the Bosnian capital, the Belgrade house in which actor Zivojinovic lived, and museums in both Serbia and Bosnia linked to World War II and the partisan struggle.

Apart from Walter, there is a recent agreement of a mutual visa-free regime between China and Bosnia.

By at least one estimate, more than 50,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit Bosnia in 2018, and next year that number could rise to 70,000.

So Belgrade and Sarajevo, on opposite sides of a conflict in the 1990s, are seemingly brought together again thanks to their shared historical and artistic legacy -- preserved in Chinese popular culture.

A Chinese beer brand called "Walter" featured the face of Zivojinovic, who passed away two years ago and whose widow was a guest of honor during the Chinese president's visit to Belgrade in 2016.

Lu Fei, the actor who dubbed Walter's voice in Chinese, touted his "love for this story," according to the China Daily a few years ago. "Every time I was introduced to others, I was called 'Walter,' and people were always amazed," he added.

Potent Myth

Krvavac died during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, although he lived to see the slogan "We are all Walter!" chanted by peace protesters on the eve of another war in Bosnia: The first shots were fired just as the city was about to mark the 47th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi occupation on April 6, also the day of the real Walter's death.

Citizens were gathering that April in defense of the multiethnic makeup of the city. But more than banners and slogans were required to defeat the mostly Serb forces encircling the city.

Walter, as embodied by the city's population -- as the German officer in the movie implied -- could not triumph again, and Bosnia is today a country ethnically divided for the first time in its history.

But the myth of Walter remains potent, not least among the Chinese. There is speculation that a remake of Walter Defends Sarajevo is in the works, with a Chinese director and a Bosnian and Serbian cast; but the original film's appeal endures.

With Chinese tourists arriving by the tens of thousands, Walter (both real and fictional) is once again doing his bit for Sarajevo -- this time by boosting tourism in a country whose economy has yet to recover fully from conflict.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.

Two Americans arrested at Cancun airport US deputies

Cancun, Q.R.  The two Americans arrested at the Cancun International Airport August 24 for entering the country with weapons, are reported to be US deputies.

According to Cordele Dispatch, the man and woman, who are married, are active deputies with the Crisp County Sheriffs Office in Georgia and have been identified as Martelle and Shawana Davis.

Sheriff Billy Hancock said they were arrested when they tried to enter the country with their service handguns.

Photo: Policia Federal de Quintana Roo

The two allegedly packed their service weapons and ammunition in their luggage, however, unless the correct paperwork has been established, Mexico prohibits visitors from entering with firearms. This includes certified police officers.

Sheriff Hancock said he did not know why they carried their weapons, but that it was not with his permission. He added I cant tell you exactly why they took their weapons, [but] given recent events in Cancun they were worried [about safety].

Regarding safety, the Cordele Dispatch went on to say The U.S. State Department on Aug. 22 issued a level-2 travel warning for U.S. residents visiting Cancun, Mexico, which was shown to be a false Cancun travel warning started by several large-scale media outlets.

The two deputies were flown back to Georgia Monday. A tremendous amount of people came together to get these people back home, Hancock added.

Even though its another country that has arrested them, they have violated that countrys laws and were going to take that seriously. Were going to look at that as an agency.

We will have an internal investigation and well determine what disciplinary action, if any, should be taken, Hancock explained.

Hancock said he has reported the incident to the Peace Officers Standards and Training Council, which will investigate any possible wrongdoing by the Davises, while Mexico says it will move forward with an internal investigation.Stock image courtesy of The Children's Society

MORE than 1,500 girls and nearly 700 boys self-harmed in South Yorkshire in just a year, according to a new report by The Childrens Society.

The self-harm statistics follow new analysis included in the charitys annual Good Childhood Report, which examines the state of childrens well-being in the UK. The report looks at the reasons behind the unhappiness which increases the risk of children self-harming.

Nationally, the report said nearly a quarter of girls aged 14 (22 per cent) said they had self-harmed in just a year.

One in six (16 per cent) of more than 11,000 children surveyed reported self-harming at 14, including nearly one in ten boys (nine per cent).

Based on these figures, The Childrens Society estimates that across South Yorkshire 670 boys and 1,560 girls aged 14  which could equate to more than 120 boys and almost 300 girls of this age in Rotherham  may have self-harmed during the same 12-month period.

Almost half of 14-year-olds who said they had been attracted to people of the same gender or both genders said they had self-harmed (46 per cent).

Four in ten of these children had shown signs of depression (39 per cent) and three in ten had low well-being (30 per cent)  both compared with 11 per cent of all children.

Matthew Reed, chief executive at The Childrens Society, said: It is deeply worrying that so many children are unhappy to the extent that they are self-harming.

Worries about how they look are a big issue, especially for girls, but this report shows other factors such as how they feel about their sexuality and gender stereotypes may be linked to their unhappiness.

This seventh Good Childhood Report  produced in partnership with the University of York  gives the latest national picture of childrens subjective well-being and trends over a number of years.

Mr Reed said childrens happiness with their lives had risen steadily in the 15 years from 1995 to 2010. But this progress has now been reversed, he added, and childrens well-being was now as low as it was two decades ago

The Childrens Societys new Good Childhood survey of 10-17-year-old children and their parents across 2,000 households, which is also part of the report, found children were least happy with school and their appearance.

It asked children about their experiences of school. Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) said they heard jokes or comments about other peoples bodies or looks all of the time, while more than a fifth (22 per cent) of those in secondary school said jokes or comments were often made about peoples sexual activity.

Both made girls feel much worse about their appearance and less happy with their life as a whole, but this pattern did not apply to boys.

The research also suggests both boys and girls can be harmed by gender stereotypes and pressure to live up to these expectations.

Children felt under pressure from friends to be good looking but those who felt boys should be tough and girls should have nice clothes were least happy with life.

The report suggests that happiness with family relationships could be the best protection for children because it has the biggest positive influence on their overall well-being.

Matthew Reed added: Its vital that childrens well-being is taken more seriously and that much more is done to tackle the root causes of their unhappiness and support their mental health.

Schools can play an important part in this and that is why we want the Government to make it a requirement for all secondary schools to offer access to a counsellor, regularly monitor childrens well-being and have their mental health provision assessed as part of Ofsted inspections.

Issues like appearance, gender stereotypes and sexuality should be included in the new Relationships and Sex Education curriculum.

However, early support for vulnerable children and families in the community, which can help prevent mental health problems from developing, is also vital, and ministers must urgently address the 2bn funding shortfall facing council childrens services departments by 2020.

The Childrens Society Report draws on four different surveys, for more information visit https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/good-childhood-report.Shocking new entrant to the seizure of spurious products

Adding to the unabated haul of spurious milk and milk products is Soya Paneer, a shocking new entrant to the seizure of spurious products. In a raid by Food Safety Team Ludhiana, two wholesale paneer sellers in New Sabzi Mandi, Delhi Road, were found selling paneer at Rs. 200 per kg and sealed soya paneer without any date of manufacture or expiry. The batch number and the address of the manufacturer were also missing on the packets of Soya Paneer. Sardar Paneer House was also found selling soya champ coming from Delhi.

Raid by Food Safety Team Ludhiana

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Samples were taken and the entire stock comprising of 70 kg of paneer, 40 packets (each of half kg )of soya paneer and 20 kg soya champ was seized. The Ludhiana food safety team also intercepted a vehicle coming from Sangrur having 1050 litres of milk. Milk vendor admitted having added hydrogen peroxide to it.

Catch of the day...After Paneer, it is Soya Paneer

In a raid conducted early morning at around 2:15am at Garg Chilling Center, Goniana Road, Bathinda, 315 kg of suspected paneer and 150 kg of skimmed milk powder was seized by the food safety team.

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Skimmed milk powder was seized by the food safety team

Samples of Paneer, Dahi, skimmed milk powder and milk were taken and sent for analysis. The Patiala team along with dairy development team and the police at 8.00 am raided GSK Milk Chilling Centre at village Dhindsa Kharaud in Nabha tehsil of Patiala.

Milk was taken and sent for analysis

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1200 litres of milk along with 3 bags of suspected material without any label, number or date of manufacture/ expiry was found. 1(5kg)bag of zmax glucose powder, 5empty bags of glucose powder and 6 empty tins of refined oil were also found on the spot.

Chemicals and material suspected to be used as an adulterant

32 bottles of 5 litre each of chemical without any label and 9 such empty bottles were spotted. Samples of milk, glucose powder and suspected adulterants were taken. Chemicals and material suspected to be used as adulterant were taken into custody by police.

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Desi Ghee was seized

In Fazilka, 80 packets weighing 200 gms each, 32 packets of 500gms each and 15 packets of 1 kg each( total 47 kg) of cooking medium sold in the garb of Desi Ghee were seized from village Himmat pura on Punjab Rajasthan border in Abhor tehsil of district Fazilka. Samples of cooking medium were taken for analysis and the stock was seized.Sadhu Singh Dharamsot

The Social Justice, Empowerment and Minority Affairs Minister, Punjab, Mr. Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has exhorted the students belonging to minority category studying in various institutions across the State to avail the benefits entailed in the scholarship schemes. The minister while disclosing this said that the students belonging to Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi and Jain categories can apply online for availing the merit cum means based scholarship. He also said that during the academic session 2018-19, the students can submit online applications for new/renewal of scholarships till 30th September 2018.

Mr. Dharamsot further added that the students studying in the Government, Private and Aided colleges & Universities can submit applications in online mode through scholarship portal www.scholarships.gov.in. He also elaborated that this scheme is 100 percent centrally sponsored and the maintenance allowance (For 10 months in a year) would be Rs. 10000 for the hostlers, Rs. 5000 for the Day Scholars annually while for the course fees it would be Rs. 20000 annually.

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Detailing more, the minister said that those students would be eligible for applying for availing the merit cum means based scholarship whose family income would be up to Rs. 2.50 lakh annually, Student being a permanent resident of Punjab, A regular student and must have secured at least 50 percent marks in the previous examination. He also informed that more than 2 students from a family cannot avail the benefits of the scheme and the student availing this scheme would not be eligible for availing similar benefit under any scheme of the Union Government or Punjab Government.CM Endorses Us Envoys Views on Importance of Privatisation to Boost Development

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday favored privatization as a tool for development, saying the states new industrialization and business policy was playing a key role in bringing in private investment, with a whopping Rs.20,000 crore already committed by investors since his government took over. Talking to US Ambassador Kenneth Ian Juster, who called on him this afternoon, the Chief Minister agreed with the former on the need to empower the private sector and have them fulfill their CSR responsibilities. Punjabs new industrial policy, said Captain Amarinder Singh, was structured towards this end.

The Chief Minister told the visiting delegate that as the State Agriculture Minister way back in 1985, he had prevailed upon the PepsiCo, an American multinational food, snack, and beverage company, to set up a potato chips plant in district Sangrur, which was probably the first ever MNC in Punjab. He said the new industrial policy was aimed at providing lucrative incentives and benefits to the investors and entrepreneurs who were keen to set up their ventures in the state. Captain Amarinder Singh expressed the confidence that Punjab would soon emerge as the most favoured investment destination in the country due to its investor friendly industrial policy, including uninterrupted power at Rs. 5 per unit for the industry, along with other incentives. He assured Juster that the state government would provide all possible support and cooperation to the American investors who wish to set up their industrial units in the state.

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Congress was definitely set to gain as the BJP was fast losing ground: CM

Expectations of the people in Punjab were extremely high, and his government was committed to meeting them, said the Chief Minister, pointing out that the exodus of industry which the state had seen during the days of terrorism was now reversing. Asserting that his government had a great relationship with the Centre, which had been very helpful, the Chief Minister pointed to Indias diversity to underline the importance of communal harmony. Extremism of any kind could not work here, he said, adding that his government had brought the Bill to make sacrilege offence punishable with life imprisonment to ensure this.

While the results of the 2019 parliamentary elections would depend on how alliances are stitched ahead of the polls, the Congress was definitely set to gain as the BJP was fast losing ground, Captain Amarinder Singh said. The Chief Minister pointed out that Punjab is predominantly an agrarian state having mere two percent of land but contributing over 40 percent of its share in countrys food basket. It is now the time for us to shift from agrarian economy to high-tech industry as our conventional agriculture has already reached a plateau, he said. Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting were Media Advisor to Chief Minister Raveen Thukral, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Suresh Kumar and Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gurkirat Kirpal Singh.Writing in advance of the September 15 issue of Neural Computation, Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, says publicly reported symptoms and experiences of a "mystery illness" afflicting American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and China strongly match known effects of pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic (RF/MW) radiation.

Her conclusions, she said, may aid in the treatment of the diplomats (and affected family members) and assist U.S. government agencies seeking to determine the precise cause. More broadly, Golomb said her research draws attention to a larger population of people who are affected by similar health problems.

"I looked at what's known about pulsed RF/MW in relation to diplomats' experiences," said Golomb. "Everything fits. The specifics of the varied sounds that the diplomats reported hearing during the apparent inciting episodes, such as chirping, ringing and buzzing, cohere in detail with known properties of so-called 'microwave hearing,' also known as the Frey effect.

"And the symptoms that emerged fit, including the dominance of sleep problems, headaches and cognitive issues, as well as the distinctive prominence of auditory symptoms. Even objective findings reported on brain imaging fit with what has been reported for persons affected by RF/MW radiation."

Beginning in 2016, personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba (as well as Canadian diplomats and family members) described hearing strange sounds, followed by development of an array of symptoms. The source of the health problems has not been determined. Though some officials and media have described the events as "sonic attacks," some experts on sound have rejected this explanation. In May of this year, the State Department reported that U.S. government employees in Guangzhou, China had also experienced similar sounds and health problems.

Affected diplomats and family members from both locations were medically evacuated to the U.S. for treatment, but despite multiple government investigations, an official explanation of events and subsequent illnesses has not been announced. At least two early published studies examining available data were inconclusive.

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In her paper, scheduled to be published September 15 in Neural Computation, Golomb compared rates of described symptoms among diplomats with a published 2012 study of symptoms reported by people affected by electromagnetic radiation in Japan. By and large, she said the cited symptoms -- headache, cognitive problems, sleep issues, irritability, nervousness or anxiety, dizziness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) -- occurred at strikingly similar rates.

Some diplomats reported hearing loss. That symptom was not assessed in both studies so rates could not be compared, but Golomb said it is widely reported in both conditions. She also noted that previous brain imaging research in persons affected by RF/ EMR "showed evidence of traumatic brain injury, paralleling reports in diplomats."

David O. Carpenter, MD, is director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, part of the State University of New York. He was not involved in Golomb's study. He said evidence cited by Golomb illustrates "microwave hearing," which results "from heating induced in tissue, which causes 'waves' in the ear and results in clicks and other sounds." Reported symptoms, he said, characterize the syndrome of electrohypersensitivity (EHS), in which unusual exposure to radiofrequency radiation can trigger symptoms in vulnerable persons that may be permanent and disabling.

"We have seen this before when the Soviets irradiated the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in the days of the Cold War," he said.

Golomb, whose undergraduate degree was in physics, conducts research investigating the relationship of oxidative stress and mitochondrial function -- mechanisms shown to be involved with RF/EMR injury -- to health, aging, behavior and illness. Her work is wide-ranging, with published studies on Gulf War illness, statins, antibiotic toxicity, ALS, autism and the health effects of chocolate and trans fats, with a secondary interest in research methods, including placebos.

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Golomb said an analysis of 100 studies examining whether low-level RF produced oxidative injury found that 93 studies concluded that it did. Oxidative injury or stress arises when there is an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and the body's detoxifying antioxidant defenses. Oxidative stress has been linked to a range of diseases and conditions, from Alzheimer's disease, autism and depression to cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as toxic effects linked to certain drugs and chemicals. More to the point, Golomb said, oxidative injury has been linked to the symptoms and conditions reported in diplomats.

The health consequences of RF/MW exposure is a matter of on-going debate. Some government agencies, such as the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute, publicly assert that low- to mid-frequency, non-ionizing radiation like those from microwaves and RF is generally harmless. They cite studies that have found no conclusive link between exposure and harm.

But others, including researchers like Golomb, dispute that conclusion, noting that many of the no-harm studies were funded by vested industries or had other conflicts of interest. She said independent studies over decades have reported biological effects and harms to health from nonionizing radiation, specifically RF/MW radiation, including via oxidative stress and downstream mechanisms, such as inflammation, autoimmune activation and mitochondrial injury.

Golomb compared the situation to persons with peanut allergies: Most people do not experience any adverse effect from peanut exposure, but for a vulnerable subgroup, exposure produces negative, even life-threatening, consequences.

In her analysis, Golomb concludes that "of hypotheses tendered to date, (RF/MW exposure) alone fits the facts, including the peculiar ones" regarding events in Cuba and China. She said her findings advocate for more robust attention to pulsed RF/MW and associated adverse health effects.

"The focus must be on research by parties free from ties to vested interests. Such research is needed not only to explain and address the symptoms in diplomats, but also for the benefit of the small fraction -- but large number -- of persons outside the diplomatic corps, who are beset by similar problems."Ian Marius Peters, now an MIT research scientist, was working on solar energy research in Singapore in 2013 when he encountered an extraordinary cloud of pollution. The city was suddenly engulfed in a foul-smelling cloud of haze so thick that from one side of a street you couldn't see the buildings on the other side, and the air had the acrid smell of burning. The event, triggered by forest fires in Indonesia and concentrated by unusual wind patterns, lasted two weeks, quickly causing stores to run out of face masks as citizens snapped them up to aid their breathing.

While others were addressing the public health issues of the thick air pollution, Peters' co-worker Andre Nobre from Cleantech Energy Corp., whose field is also solar energy, wondered about what impact such hazes might have on the output of solar panels in the area. That led to a years-long project to try to quantify just how urban-based solar installations are affected by hazes, which tend to be concentrated in dense cities.

Now, the results of that research have just been published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, and the findings show that these effects are indeed substantial. In some cases it can mean the difference between a successful solar power installation and one that ends up failing to meet expected production levels -- and possibly operates at a loss.

After initially collecting data on both the amount of solar radiation reaching the ground, and the amount of particulate matter in the air as measured by other instruments, Peters worked with MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering Tonio Buonassisi and three others to find a way to calculate the amount of sunlight that was being absorbed or scattered by haze before reaching the solar panels. Finding the necessary data to determine that level of absorption proved to be surprisingly difficult.

Eventually, they were able to collect data in Delhi, India, providing measures of insolation and of pollution over a two-year period -- and confirmed significant reductions in the solar-panel output. But unlike Singapore, what they found was that "in Delhi it's constant. There's never a day without pollution," Peters says. There, they found the annual average level of attenuation of the solar panel output was about 12 percent.

While that might not sound like such a large amount, Peters points out that it is larger than the profit margins for some solar installations, and thus could literally be enough to make the difference between a successful project and one that fails -- not only impacting that project, but also potentially causing a ripple effect by deterring others from investing in solar projects. If the size of an installation is based on expected levels of sunlight reaching the ground in that area, without considering the effects of haze, it will instead fall short of meeting its intended output and its expected revenues.

"When you're doing project planning, if you haven't considered air pollution, you're going to undersize, and get a wrong estimate of your return on investment," Peters says

After their detailed Delhi study, the team examined preliminary data from 16 other cities around the world, and found impacts ranging from 2 percent for Singapore to over 9 percent for Beijing, Dakha, Ulan Bator, and Kolkata. In addition, they looked at how the different types of solar cells -- gallium arsenide, cadmium telluride, and perovskite -- are affected by the hazes, because of their different spectral responses. All of them were affected even more strongly than the standard silicon panels they initially studied, with perovskite, a highly promising newer solar cell material, being affected the most (with over 17 percent attenuation in Delhi).

Many countries around the world have been moving toward greater installation of urban solar panels, with India aiming for 40 gigawatts (GW) of rooftop solar installations, while China already has 22 GW of them. Most of these are in urban areas. So the impact of these reductions in output could be quite severe, the researchers say.

In Delhi alone, the lost revenue from power generation could amount to as much as $20 million annually; for Kolkata about $16 million; and for Beijing and Shanghai it's about $10 million annually each, the team estimates. Planned installations in Los Angeles could lose between $6 million and $9 million.

Overall, they project, the potential losses "could easily amount to hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars annually." And if systems are under-designed because of a failure to take hazes into account, that could also affect overall system reliability, they say.

Peters says that the major health benefits related to reducing levels of air pollution should be motivation enough for nations to take strong measures, but this study "hopefully is another small piece of showing that we really should improve air quality in cities, and showing that it really matters."Re: Roy Exum: This Could Be You

Hey Roy, you sound like one of them socialist liberals that only want the laws enforced that you think are good for us and the others are something that can be ignored. Whats up with that?

You were doing 82 in a 55; pay your fine, take your points and dont speed. Leave five minutes earlier and if you get caught again you deserve to lose your driving privileges that are granted to you by the great state of Tennessee.

Al Hargis

* * *

In Roy's defense, I bet he was going that fast to keep from being run over by other drivers.

To quote Roy, "the average speed was 73 miles at the very spot where I was written up yesterday..."

Jim Rosenbloom

* * *

The real sporting dash is down either side of Monteagle Mountain, avoiding brake meltdown while avoiding being run over by the trucks while avoiding going over 85 mph.

Hutch Smith

Signal MountainThe SEC announced today that on August 28, 2018, the Honorable John Z. Lee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a partial judgment against defendants Jerome Cohen and Shaun Cohen.

The partial judgment imposes a permanent injunction against future violations by Jerome Cohen and Shaun Cohen of the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act. The partial judgment also prohibits Jerome and Shaun Cohen from soliciting any new investors for the remaining duration of the litigation.

Jerome and Shaun Cohen also consented to the previously entered order appointing a receiver to continue until the final disposition of the case. Kevin B. Duff, of the law firm Rachlis Duff Adler Peel & Kaplan, LLC, has been appointed as a receiver over defendants Equitybuild, Inc., Equitybuild Finance, LLC as well as a number of other related entities. He has been directed by the Court to secure real estate and other assets obtained with investor funds for the benefit of defrauded investors.

Under the partial judgment, the amount of disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties to be imposed against the defendants will be decided by the Court at a later time. For the purposes of determining the amount of disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, Jerome and Shaun Cohen will not contest the facts alleged in the SEC's complaint.

The SEC's complaint, which was filed on August 15, 2018, alleged that the defendants sold at least $135 million in unregistered promissory notes to at least 900 investors throughout the country.

The SEC's investigation, which is continuing, was conducted by Timothy Stockwell, Ariella Guardi, and Ann Tushaus and supervised by C.J. Kerstetter. The SEC's litigation is being led by Benjamin Hanauer.What draws more than 12 million guests to Montana each year? Why has Missoula County grown in population by almost 50 percent since 1990? Why has the outdoor recreation industry grown to be our states largest industry? Why is Missoula County so appealing to residents and guests? My guess it is not the traffic on Reserve Street that appeals to folks. All indications are it is our open and wild spaces that generate the Montana magic that draws people to Missoula County.

Our open and wild spaces require attention and appreciation if they are to remain. If they disappear under pavement they are gone forever. If we lose our open places we lose the very reason we love living here. As the population and number of guests increase, the demand for open space grows as well.

As important as open spaces are today, ask your mind to look 20 years into the future. If you look thoughtfully into the future, I believe you will see our open spaces becoming more valuable as time passes. Will Missoula County be a vibrant area with ample open places 30 years from now?

The answer to that question depends partly on the action you take this November. By voting YES for the Open Space bond you will help guarantee outdoor opportunities will remain a part of living in Missoula County.

It will cost you about $1.50 per month to help ensure we have open space treasures in our future. Thats a pretty small investment to make sure future generations have outdoor opportunities similar to what we enjoy today.

Vote YES for the Open Space bond in this Novembers election.Charles Gain, one of the most controversial police chiefs in San Franciscos history, has died at 94.

He died Aug. 21 of respiratory failure at his daughters home in Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo County), his family said.

Gain was appointed chief of police by Mayor George Moscone in 1976 and served for four turbulent years. He viewed himself as a reformer, but earned the enmity of the powerful Police Officers Association, which viewed him as an outsider who refused to follow the departments long-standing traditions.

Gain seldom wore his uniform, ordered police cars painted baby blue instead of black and white, escorted a former prostitute to a Hookers Ball, recruited gays to join the force and otherwise turned the department on its head.

He had come to San Francisco after a 25-year career in Oakland, where he had risen from patrolman to chief. Hed also been public safety administrator in St. Petersburg, Fla., and acting police chief in Seattle.

Gain was the first San Francisco police chief in 50 years who had never served in the SFPD before his appointment.

He said Moscone told him to straighten out the Police Department and Gain wasted no time.

At first, the Police Officers Association praised his reputation for fair play, but the organization soon turned on him, partly because he was an unconventional chief, and partly because he served in a time of change and turmoil. When Gain became chief, the Police Department was mostly white and male.

The San Francisco Police Department was 25 years behind the times, Gain said later. It was clannish, laissez-faire and politicized.

Moscone called Gain a maverick and praised his role as an outsider. He is not an I was born and raised Star of the Sea typical policeman, the mayor said.

But rank-and-file officers, who had spent years in the system, felt disrespected by Gain, and soon their anger turned to scorn.

They circulated pictures behind the chiefs back of Gain and Margo St. James, who headed a sex workers organization, at the Hookers Ball and made fun of him because he wore a hairpiece.

Gain was chief during some of the most turbulent years in the citys history. A big demographic shift had taken place in the city as longtime residents moved out, and minorities and a large gay population replaced them.

In 1978, two years after Gain took over the Police Department, cult leader Jim Jones, founder of Peoples Temple, led hundreds of his followers to their deaths in the jungles of Guyana, Only a few days later, Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot and killed in City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White.

White was convicted of manslaughter, a lenient verdict that sparked the White Night riots that included burning police cars and a physical attack on City Hall. Gain was criticized for a weak police response, and was forced out not long afterward by new Mayor Dianne Feinstein.

Gain said he was proud of his record, particularly in recruiting gays into the force. I feel a police department should be reflective of its people and, in San Francisco, we have a very large number of gay persons, he said.

Gain never worked in law enforcement again. He retired to the San Joaquin Valley, where he owned and operated a mobile home community in the Kings County town of Lemoore. He sold the community a few years ago, but continued to live there until two years ago when his health began to fail.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

He then moved to Morro Bay to live with his his daughter, Crisan Pilnik.

Charles R. Gain was born in Roxton, Texas, in 1923, and moved to Oakland as a child. He attended Castlemont High School and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

He was an Army medic, said his son, Greg Gain, He was in the D-Day invasion and won four bronze star medals.

Gain joined the Oakland Police Department in 1946 as a patrol officer, moving up through the ranks to become deputy chief in 1963 and chief in 1967. It was a time of change in Oakland, an era that included riots against the military draft and the rise of the Black Panther Party.

Gain had a reputation as a by-the-book disciplinarian when he was chief in Oakland, and the Oakland Police Officers Association voted no confidence in the chief by a 3-to-1 margin in 1971.

When Gain left Oakland, City Manager Jerry Keithley praised his sound judgment, wisdom and integrity.

Among other jobs, Gain served briefly as acting police chief in Seattle and a year as head of public safety in St. Petersburg, Fla., before returning to the Bay Area. San Francisco Sheriff Richard Hongisto appointed him undersheriff in 1975.

Gain is survived by his daughter, Crisan, of Morro Bay; his son, Greg, of Blackfoot, Idaho; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is pending.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesfTen trees at Washington Square Park in San Franciscos North Beach neighborhood will have to be ripped out and replaced after a contractor hired by the city damaged their root systems, creating a potential safety hazard.

In late June, while digging a trench for benches as part of the ongoing construction of a playground at the park, the contractor, Treaty Construction, cut the trees roots, compromising their health and leaving them dangerously destabilized, city officials said.

The prospect of losing the trees  nine Canary Island pines and an olive tree  has dismayed some of the parks biggest supporters, some of whom have called on the city to do a better job of supervising the contractors it does business with.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

According to the Public Works Department, which is acting as the construction manager on the playground project, Treaty hit a single root with the excavator before resorting to hand-digging in an attempt to avoid further damage. Once the trench was opened, and after consulting with its own arborist, Treaty cut the exposed roots before refilling the trench.

Mike Clancy of Treaty said the arborist his company hired indicated the roots could be safely cut.

But Public Works was never informed of the contractors decision to cut the roots, according to department spokeswoman Rachel Gordon. In an effort to protect the trees, the contractor was supposed to alert the city  and wait for written direction  before cutting any tree roots greater than 2 inches in diameter. By cutting the roots, Gordon said, Treaty violated the terms of its work order with the city.

Clancy said he didnt submit a notice to Public Works or the park department because some level of damage to the tree roots would be inevitable given the scope of the project.

We didnt see the need (to give notice), when the project drawings were quite evident that roots were going to be impacted, he said.

It was really unfortunate that these trees were damaged, Gordon said. Despite the safeguards in the work order mandating hand-digging around the trees, protocol was not followed, she said.

In a July 13 letter sent to Treaty, Public Works said it was assessing the value of the trees and intended to have the contractor pay for the damage it caused.

Washington Square Park is where, in 2016, a 100-pound branch cracked off of a Canary Island pine tree and struck Emma Zhou, paralyzing her from the waist down. The city reached a tentative $14.5 million settlement with Zhou this month.

An arborist hired by the city to assess the condition of the pine and olive trees in connection with Zhous lawsuit observed in late June that roots, bark and wood on a number of roots had been ripped, shredded or shattered. The trench work had compromised the health and stability of these trees, the arborist wrote in a July 25 summary.

The arborist, Larry Costello, recommended removing the pine trees as soon as can be facilitated to avoid consequences associated with whole tree failure.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Sarah Madland, a spokeswoman for the Recreation and Park Department, said the trees would be removed next week over a span of three to five days. Mature trees will replace those removed, Madland said, and the community will have the chance to help select the species.

Removing and replacing the trees is not expected to delay the playground construction project, which is about six weeks from completion.

This is a really unfortunate incident, but were investing over $6.5 million in the park, and were confident the results are going to please and serve the neighborhood, Madland said. The department also has recently built a restroom and is planning an overhaul of the parks irrigation system beginning in January.

The most tragic part of all this is that it was unnecessary. Theres no reason why those trees needed to be destroyed, said Ken Maley, a founding member of the Friends of Washington Square. Its a real concern for us ... that the lack of oversight and implementation of guidelines was not implemented nor observed.

Maley has asked the park department to investigate the incident, and said his groups confidence in Public Works and Rec and Park has been seriously undermined.

How is the park going to be protected on such a large scale if we cant even protect 10 trees? he asked.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassaThe states judicial disciplinary agency has harshly criticized former Contra Costa County Judge Bruce Mills for misconduct in two cases  and his shifting explanations for his conduct  and barred him from future judicial service.

Mills, a judge since 1995, retired from the Superior Court on May 31 while his disciplinary case was pending. The Commission on Judicial Performance said Tuesday it was imposing the most severe sanction available for a retired judge, a public censure and permanent disqualification from judicial employment in California. The commission could have ordered him removed from the bench had he not retired.

Noting that Mills had been been disciplined several times in the past, the commission said it found a strong likelihood that he would commit further misconduct if he returned to the bench as a judge or lower-level judicial officer.

Mills lawyer, James A. Murphy, was unavailable for conduct. He had previously accused the commission of a conflict of interest because one of the recent cases involved a defendant, Joseph Sweeney, who had publicly accused the commission of covering up judicial misconduct.

The commission rejected Murphys argument last year, and the state Supreme Court in December denied Murphys attempt to halt the disciplinary proceedings. Mills could appeal Tuesdays order to the states high court.

Mills, a former prosecutor, was appointed to the bench by Gov. Pete Wilson and later was elected by county voters to a succession of six-year terms, most recently in 2014.

The commission privately reprimanded him in 2001 for ignoring a defendants request for a lawyer and trying to coerce the defendant to plead guilty. It publicly reprimanded him in 2006 for making discourteous and demeaning comments to people appearing in his court, and again in 2013 for contacting a juvenile court judge who was hearing a case against Mills son.

In Tuesdays order, the commission said Mills sentenced Sweeney, who had been found in contempt of court by another judge in a family-law case, to 25 days in jail in August 2016 but told him he could get the sentence cut in half for good behavior.

But Mills imposed the sentence without half-time credits, told the sheriffs office not to reduce Sweeneys term, and relented only when Sweeneys lawyer contacted him nine days later, the commission said.

When the commission first asked why he had changed his mind, Mills cited Sweeneys history of filing appeals, and complaints against the commission, and said he wanted to avoid a constitutional crisis. Later, he claimed he had followed the advice of his supervising judge that Sweeney was eligible for the reduction, the commission said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Mills evolving explanations and defenses concerning the Sweeney matter portrayed a lack of candor and honesty, the commission concluded.

In the other recent case, the commission said, while a jury was deliberating drunken-driving cases in March 2016, Mills met privately with the prosecutor, talked about his own experience in prosecuting such cases, and mentioned data that might be used to help the prosecution.

The jury deadlocked, but Mills did not remove himself from the case until the district attorneys office disclosed the private conversation, the commission said. Mills told a disciplinary panel that he had simply been sharing a war story with the prosecutor, but the commission said he had violated a prohibition against private conversations with an interested party about issues related to the case.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelkoRepublican candidate Steven Bailey is facing nearly a dozen charges of judicial misconduct for allegedly having misused his post as an El Dorado County Superior Court judge prior to stepping down last August to run for state attorney general.

Allegations of wrongdoing range from Bailey launching his campaign for AG while still on the bench to placing DUI defendants in a private, alcohol monitoring program where his son works.

Bailey is due to appear before the state Commission on Judicial Performance next week to answer to the charges, which could result in a formal censure  though it wouldnt impact his serving as attorney general.

The case was filed in February, well before Baileys second-place primary showing set the stage for a November showdown against Democratic Attorney Xavier Becerra. Still his attorney, James Murphy, questioned whether next weeks hearing was politically motivated or a brazen attempt to sabotage Judge Bailey's campaign.

Complaints against Bailey include:

That he raised money and campaigned for attorney general, including speaking at events in Southern California, while still on the bench.

That he improperly allowed his photo (in his judicial robe) to be used by a political polling firm and that he once commented about gay men having good taste in how to dress.

That he accepted event tickets as gifts outside of ethics guidelines and failed to report in a timely manner covered payments for lodging, meals and honoraria at a judicial conference.

And, more seriously, that he ordered criminal defendants to use the services of CHI Monitoring, a private company that provides alcohol monitoring bracelets to the countys probation department, without disclosing that his son worked for the firm.

Murphy said Bailey had followed the rules, citing an April 2009 opinion by the California Judges Association that he was not required to disclose his sons employment at CHI unless the son was called to testify before the judge.

This is such garbage, Murphy said this week when we questioned him about the conflict allegation.

Six members of the Commission on Judicial Performance are appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic-controlled legislative leadership, with three others appointed by the state Supreme Court.

Greg Dresser, the commissions director and chief counsel, denied the case against Bailey was in any way politically motivated. He said the charges were filed on a good-faith basis, and I think we can prove all the charges by clear and convincing evidence.

Theres certainly no question that Baileys politics run counter to most Democrats in Sacramento  the South Lake Tahoe Republican, for example, has blasted Becerras move to defend Californias sanctuary city law and blames progressive Democratic policies for seeking to empty the prisons, decriminalize crime at the expense of public safety.

Baileys attorney claims the case was instigated by El Dorado Superior Court Presiding Judge Suzanne Kingsbury, who had a falling out with Bailey several years ago after he raised questions about her 18-year tenure as presiding judge  a job that in other jurisdictions is typically rotated.

According to one recent commission filing by Murphy, Kingsbury and her staff were so determined to get rid of Bailey that they tracked his movement and conducted searches of his activities on the internet without his knowledge.

Kingsbury, who lists no party preference on her voter record, did not respond to our request for comment.

One thing is for sure  both sides say the fight has been both costly and time-consuming, with thousands of pages of documents submitted.

We think the charges are serious, commission boss Dresser said.

Prior to running for attorney general, Bailey spent 8 years on the bench.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

If the charges are upheld, not only might he face a public censure, but he could be barred from serving on the bench again or even being assigned to cases as a retired judge.

The case will be heard before a special three-member panel of judges in Sacramento starting Sept. 4, but it will likely be several months  and well after the November election  before it makes a recommendation to the commission. Even then, the commission wont issue a final ruling until hearing further arguments from both sides.

In any case, not the best way to start the final race to be the states top lawman.

Garbage go round: Mayor London Breed, who issued a call Tuesday for other cities to join San Francisco in reducing their garbage output, might want to take a look in her own backyard.

Breed is urging cities to cut their solid waste generation by 15 percent by 2030  and cut their landfill hauls by 50 percent by 2050.

We all need to work together ... to save our planet for generations to come, Breed said in a statement announcing the challenge.

Goals are goals  but, according the recent city controllers report, San Francisco is not meeting its own targets.

The average amount of refuse sent to the citys primary landfill has increased slightly but steadily since a low of 1,222 tons per workday in December 2013.

In the most recent count, the average workday haul had risen to 1,582 tons in June 2018  an increase of about 360 tons a day, or nearly 23 percent.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandrossPaul Buckowski / Albany Times Union

California is one step closer to becoming the first state to mandate that women be included in corporate boardrooms with the passage of SB826 through the Assembly today.

The bill requires that publicly traded California companies instate at least one woman on their boards of directors by the end of 2019. By 2021, this requirement expands to two women for five-member boards and three women for boards of six or more members.A Los Angeles investor appears poised to buy the Huntington Hotel atop San Franciscos Nob Hill, in what would be his firms fourth hotel acquisition in the neighborhood, according to state records.

The potential buyer, Woodridge Capital Partners, previously purchased three of Nob Hills largest hotels  the Fairmont, Mark Hopkins and Stanford Court  which have more than 1,300 rooms combined. Woodridge, founded and run by Michael Rosenfeld, sold the Fairmont in 2015 and Mark Hopkins in 2017 for a hefty profit.

A corporation called Mason Palms Ltd. applied last week for a state restaurant license at the 135-room Huntington. Rick Arambulo is listed as an officer of Mason Palms and is also president of Woodridge.

Mason Palms previously applied for similar licenses for the Fairmont, Stanford Court and hotels in Southern California that Woodridge has purchased, strongly suggesting Woodridge is close to acquiring the Huntington as well.

The Huntingtons owner, Grace International of Singapore, is currently in contract to sell the building, said a person familiar with the property who was not authorized to speak publicly about the transaction and requested anonymity. A sale hasnt closed, according to property records.

Nob Hill has been one San Franciscos gilded neighborhoods since the 1850s, when it was named after the four wealthy nabobs who led Central Pacific Railroad and built mansions atop the hill: Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker.

Huntington and Hopkins now have hotels named after them, while Stanford lent the name he shared with his son to a university. The Huntington Hotel also has a restaurant named Big 4 in homage to the railroad barons.

In recent years, San Franciscos energy has shifted south, as new projects have sprouted up around the newly expanded Moscone Center and the new transit center in the Transbay district. The north side of Market Street has remained relatively static, though the hotels atop Nob Hill have undergone renovations.

Woodridge didnt respond to requests for comment.

Nob Hill has been the crown jewel since the start of the century, and it still is, Woodridge CEO Rosenfeld told The Chronicle in 2014, after he bought the Stanford Court. It will never go out of vogue, because of its irreplaceable position  and its views  in the center of the city.

Photos by Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Photos by Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

More business travelers are now gravitating toward South of Market hotels, but many tourists still seek out Nob Hill, said Mark Fraioli, a hotel broker with JLL who isnt involved in the Huntington.

For people who want the classic San Francisco experience, its attractive. Its taken on more of a cultural and leisure character as the commercial center has shifted south, Fraioli said.

Nob Hill hotels, along with the rest of the San Francisco, will benefit from the opening of Moscone Centers new wing next year, said Fraioli. The San Francisco metro areas revenue per available hotel room dropped 2.4 percent last year, but has rebounded from January through July with a 4.7 percent increase, he said.

The San Francisco market has generally been attractive to investors because of its very low supply dynamics, and now Moscone is coming back online as a very attractive convention center, Fraioli said.

Grace International paid $42 million for the Huntington in 2011, according to property records. The Cope family was the seller.

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Grace spent $15 million to renovate the hotel with a modern Asian design and renamed it the Scarlet Huntington, sharing a brand name with Graces Singapore hotel. Grace declined to comment.

The Huntingtons current asking price isnt clear. In early 2017, the hotel was being marketed with an asking price of $70 million, said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, a hotel brokerage firm.

Reay, whose firm isnt involved with the Huntington, said that the 1920s hotels historic brick structure would be impossible to build today, boosting its value.

You obviously cant duplicate that property. You cant duplicate the location, said Reay. However, the hotel is smaller than the three other hotels that Woodridge has purchased. Since Grace has already invested in renovations, it isnt clear how Woodridge would boost the hotels value further, Reay said.

More large hotel deals could be on the way in San Francisco. Chinese insurance giant Anbang is selling the nearly 1,200-room Westin St. Francis as part of a $5.5 billion portfolio.

Theres huge, huge buyer demand, Reay said. Prices have gone up consistently in the past decade.

Top of the market? Nob Hill hotels have been hot properties: The Scarlet Huntington Address: 1075 California St. Potential buyer: Woodridge Capital Owner: Singapore's Grace International bought the hotel for $42 million in 2011 from the Cope family Rooms: 135 Fairmont San Francisco Address: 950 Mason St. Owner: South Korea's Mirae Asset Global Investments bought the Fairmont for $450 million in 2015 from a partnership that included Woodridge Capital. The sellers paid $200 million in 2012. Rooms: 591 InterContinental Mark Hopkins Address: 999 California St. Owner: Hong Kong's Leadwell Global Partners bought the Mark Hopkins from Woodridge for $206 million in 2017. Woodridge paid $120 million in 2014. Rooms: 383 Stanford Court Hotel Address: 905 California St. Owner: Woodridge Capital, which bought the hotel in 2014. Rooms: 393 Source: Property records, Chronicle research See More Collapse

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisfFacing wildfire lawsuits that could cost it $17 billion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. may soon be given a bankruptcy stress test by California regulators to determine just how big a financial blow the utility can survive.

The test is a piece of draft legislation approved by a conference committee Tuesday night in Sacramento that would let utility companies pass on to their customers costs arising from wildfires sparked by power lines, provided the companies acted reasonably in maintaining their equipment. If they didnt act reasonably, the companies and their shareholders would have to swallow the costs.

But the draft, which was publicly released Tuesday afternoon with just four days left in the legislative session, contains a big exception.

Before forcing a utility to cover the costs of settling wildfire suits, regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission would first have to decide how much the company could afford to pay before materially impacting its ability to provide adequate and safe service. Anything above that amount would be passed on to customers.

The co-chairman of the committee, Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa, said that the proposed legislation, hammered out during weeks of intense negotiations, was far from perfect. But with its provisions to increase the removal of drought-killed trees from forests and its tougher penalties for utilities that break state rules, it represented the most progress the committee could make before the current legislative session ends Friday. The proposal now faces votes in the Senate and Assembly.

We ran out the clock, said Dodd, shortly before the committee approved the language, which will be incorporated into his bill, SB901. I think what we have before us is the best we can do today.

The new language did nothing to assuage PG&E critics who have already accused state legislators of trying to bail out the utility.

California fire investigators have so far blamed PG&Es equipment for sparking 16 of the fires that tore across Northern California in October. In 11 of those cases, investigators said they found evidence that PG&E violated state safety laws.

Consumer advocates insist that any costs arising from the companys negligence be paid by PG&E and its shareholders, not customers. More than 200 lawsuits have been filed against the company following the fires.

This is a bailout in sheeps clothing, said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network consumer group, in a press release Tuesday. Consumers are looking to the Legislature to protect them from utility-caused wildfires, and make sure they are not left holding the bag for billions in liabilities. The conference committees legislation doesnt do either.

Officials at PG&E, Californias largest utility, said Tuesday they were studying the language, which may still change.

This issue is critical to our customers, the state and PG&E, company spokesman James Noonan wrote in an email. PG&E appreciates the committees consideration of legislation to address these proposals.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

PG&E and the states other utility companies have for months pushed Sacramento to change the states liability rules, which hold utilities responsible for any financial damages from fires started by their equipment. The committee gave up on the idea this month, saying there wasnt enough time left in the legislative session to resolve such a complex and contentious issue.

Concerned that wildfire suits could push PG&E back into bankruptcy, however, the committee proposed allowing utilities to issue bonds to pay off lawsuit settlements, with the bonds paid back slowly over time by the companies customers. PG&E estimates that a typical residential customer would pay an extra $5 per year for every $1 billion in wildfire recovery bonds issued.

Under the language issued Tuesday, the Public Utilities Commission could authorize use of the bonds if it determined that a company acted reasonably in maintaining its equipment.

The commission would take into account such factors as whether the utility adequately anticipated and addressed wildfire risk, whether circumstances beyond the companys control contributed to the damage, and whether weather conditions helped start the fire or fed its intensity. Octobers fires erupted during a fierce windstorm that blasted much of Northern California.

PG&E plunged into bankruptcy once before, during Californias electricity crisis of 2000-01, when rampant manipulation of the states recently restructured electricity market drove up wholesale power costs. The company emerged from bankruptcy three years later.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSFWelcome back to Tech Chronicle, our fully leveraged platform for content synergies. Boost our engagement metrics by getting a friend to subscribe, why dont you?

Silicon Valley wanted to be a player; now its paying the price

Be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it, sang those prophetic sirens, the Pussycat Dolls. The year was 2008, and internet election interference looked like teens posting memes of Shepard Faireys Barack Obama Hope poster on 4chan.

Even then, when it was a pipsqueak social network of less than 100 million people, Facebook had grand ambitions of being a force in politics, teaming up with ABC to cover the 2008 election.

That same year, spurred in part by a group that formed on Facebook, Colombians began marching against the FARC rebels, a development that ultimately led to a peace process and disarmament. Mark Zuckerberg more or less took credit for the South American countrys political transformation.

The Colombia thing is a very early indicator that governance is changing  powerful political organizations can form, he told David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect. These things can really affect peoples liberties and freedom, which is kind of the point of government.

Fernando Vergara / Associated Press

Contrast that effusive optimism, the natural overconfidence that blossoms in Silicon Valley, with Zuckerbergs 2016 denial that fake news on Facebook had an impact on the election. His declaration rang false not just because, well, it was false, but because he had spent many incautious years in Facebooks youth saying the exact opposite. Of course social media would eventually swing an election and overturn governments. Remember when Facebook and Twitter fought to take credit for the Arab Spring?

This is what tech has wanted all along: to have influence, to be a player. To change the world, not just the shelves of Best Buy.

Can you blame President Trump for speculating that Google tinkers with search results? Its not true, but its what he would do if he ran it.

Big tech is finding itself increasingly friendless in Washington. Democrats, once natural allies of Silicon Valley, want to rein in the data hoarders of Menlo Park and Mountain View. Republicans who would normally be against regulating businesses are charging the operators of social networks with quietly quashing conservative views.

Thats why Im skeptical of the internet industrys push to get friendly privacy regulations passed. After seeing tight protections for consumers data become law in Europe and California, Google and Facebook are attempting to get loose federal regulations passed that would override their home states rules.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

I think theyre misjudging the mood in Washington. Zuckerberg heard it first-hand when he went to the Capitol in April for two days of congressional hearings.

Congress is good at doing two things: doing nothing and overreacting, Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., told him. Were getting ready to overreact.

Trumps demand that Google serve him ego-pleasing web pages is going to go exactly nowhere: He can King-Canute the tide of online criticism all he likes, but the First Amendment says that a private company like Google can serve the search results it wants without government interference.

But complaints like this, and the charges of anti-conservative bias in content moderation, are just more fuel for a blaze of discontent. And where those flames are likely to burn are the billions of dollars Facebook, Google and Twitter make from advertising. Advertising is commerce, which Congress can regulate; and the government likewise has a strong basis in promulgating privacy regulations.

Zuckerberg told Congress in April that some regulation of social networks might make sense.

Be careful what you wish for, Mark.

 Owen Thomas (othomas@sfchronicle.com)

Quote of the week

If you say, Why doesnt it say use your judgment? We A/B tested that.  Former Facebook content-policy director Dave Willner, explaining to Vices tech news site Motherboard why the social network uses a big rulebook rather than human discretion in moderating

Coming up

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In San Francisco, Salesforce reports second-quarter earnings. This is the first quarter to include results from Mulesoft, another local software company Salesforce bought this year, Wallace Witkowski of MarketWatch notes. Of interest: Salesforce was already on its way to becoming San Franciscos largest private employer before the deal further boosted its local ranks.

What Im listening to

Sign up for the newsletter Want to get the latest on Silicon Valley in your inbox? Subscribe to Tech Chronicle. See More Collapse

Episode 59 of Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast, in which Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino share a particularly zany take on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Its a sign of how much tech has penetrated pop culture.

What Im reading

Waymo, Alphabets self-driving car division, is having trouble with its vehicles stopping abruptly and making some maneuvers. (The Information)

Its like a San Francisco game of Monopoly: Roland Li reports on a real estate investor who is making his fourth purchase of a Nob Hill hotel. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Netflix and Hulu are starting a full-fledged war for animation talent. (Washington Post)

Memes have a good side: They model correct behavior and enforce societal norms. (The Verge)

Twitter co-founder Ev Williams shares his rules for internet use. (No clear ruling on whether Ramona the Love Terrier should have her own iPawed.) (CBS News)

Tech Chronicle is a thrice-weekly newsletter from Owen Thomas, The Chronicles business editor, and the rest of the tech team. Follow along on Twitter: @techchronicle and Instagram: @techchronicleA rash of shootings in East Oakland left four people dead in less than 48 hours, forcing police to storm the area Tuesday in an effort to put residents at ease.

At least a dozen Oakland officers, including some of the departments brass, surrounded a department-branded recreational vehicle parked on International Boulevard at 72nd Avenue, an area where two separate slayings occurred within steps of each other in the past two days.

If you live here, it has to be jarring to have this level of violence happen in your community in such a short period of time, Oakland Police Acting Chief LeRonne Armstrong said. Weve seen this be effective; weve seen the community appreciate seeing the additional presence.

Police believe the two homicides are connected and stemmed from a street-level narcotics deal, Capt. Roland Holmgren said Tuesday. The other two shootings, which occurred early Sunday morning in other parts of the city, do not appear to be related, he said.

At least four others were injured in those incidents, police said.

Lisa Mihsill and Gwen Jones, both of Oakland, were waiting at the bus stop near the departments command post Tuesday afternoon, and both said they were concerned about the recent spate of violence but appreciated the police presence.

Theyre not just riding by, theyre outside of their patrol car, and theyre actually standing in the street where we are, Mihsill said.

Theyre trying to do their jobs, you know, Jones added.

Mondays killing marked Oaklands 46th homicide of 2018, a slight uptick from the 42 tallied at this time last year. There were 45 by this date in 2016.

Holmgren said none of the shootings appeared to be tied to gang violence.

For the most part, they seem to be acts where some sort of disturbance, some of sort of conflict between a group occurred, and unfortunately a person decided to utilize a gun to solve differences, he said.

The latest string of gunfire began just after 1 a.m. Sunday, following a conflict between two groups at a party near the 9500 block of E Street, Holmgren said. Some of these people left the party, Holmgren said, but a short time after there was a vehicle drove by and discharged a firearm fatally.

Polo Demetrio Pablocalmo, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene and a second man was taken to the hospital and is expected to live.

Another shooting was reported about an hour and a half later and several miles to the northwest, on the 1100 block of International Boulevard near Franklin Elementary School. Holmgren described this shooting as a dispute between a group that left 31-year-old Xin Hoang of Union City dead and injured another man and woman.

Then at 7 p.m. Sunday, police responded to more shots fired at the 1300 block of 72nd Avenue, which was less than 2 miles from the E Street attack. One man was pronounced dead at the scene, and a woman was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

A fourth round of gunfire came the next afternoon at 4:10 p.m. on the 7100 block of International Avenue. Upon arrival, officers found one man identified as 36-year-old Oakland resident Mario Thomas suffering from fatal gunshot wounds.

Holmgren said police believe both of the last two shootings were the result of some street-level drug dealing thats going on in the area.

The violence comes a week after Mayor Libby Schaaf and the Police Department touted figures that showed a decrease in violent crime and held up Ceasefire, a community outreach program, as key to a drop in crime since 2013.

Armstrong on Tuesday said Ceasefire will remain the departments primary strategy in preventing violent crime; officers will additionally flood the area with a greater presence. This means more officers on foot, in patrol cars and working later, he said.

Residents are also being encouraged to report crimes or information to police in the mobile command unit.

I want to say that this level of violence is unacceptable, and that we take it very seriously, Holmgren said. We plan to work as hard as we can to bring those responsible for this violence to justice.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidyNearly nine years after their 6-year-old daughter, Lisa Xavier, was killed by a street racer who ran a red light and slammed a Mustang into the family sedan, Charles Suresh and Shiji Varghese finally know who police believe was behind the wheel.

What the couple didnt know until Tuesday night, though, was authorities took the suspect into custody almost two years ago in Guatemala and an extended extradition fight has played out behind the scenes.

Two Menlo Park police detectives drove to the couples San Jose home and told them that Shannon Steven Fox, 33, had been arrested in 2016 and arrived Tuesday at San Francisco International Airport, escorted by FBI agents. He was handed over to Menlo Park police and booked into San Mateo County Jail, where hes being held on $500,000 bail.

Fox is scheduled for arraignment Thursday.

Im obviously glad that the Menlo Park Police Department has been tenacious and followed through with catching the suspect, Suresh said Wednesday morning, standing in his driveway. I assumed he would get away with it, so its a surprise.

Beyond that, Suresh and Varghese declined to comment on the case or to say much about the fact that Fox had been arrested and in custody for nearly two years without their knowledge.

The wheels of justice have been slow, but they have been turning, Suresh said. They got him.

Menlo Park Police Chief Dave Bertini said Wednesday at a news conference that no information about Foxs arrest was disclosed, not even to the family, out of fear of jeopardizing the case and the extradition.

We didnt want to get the familys hopes up, Bertini said. (Tuesday), when we had confirmation he was on the flight, we notified the family.

Bertini, who joined the Menlo Park force seven years ago and was named chief earlier this year, credited the dogged persistence of his department and the FBI with Foxs arrest. He bristled at reports of Xaviers killing as a cold case, a term used when police halt an investigation of a crime.

This case was not a cold case, Bertini said. It was never cold. We were getting updates on this every week. We never let this get cold.

Lisa Xavier died in the back seat of the familys Toyota Corolla on Nov. 12, 2009, on Willow Road at the Bayfront Expressway with her dad behind the wheel and her mom in the passenger seat, police said.

Fox was allegedly racing his Mustang with a Honda Prelude at speeds up to 80 mph when they plowed into the familys car. Fox climbed into the other car and fled the scene, police said.

Within days, Bertini said, authorities singled out Fox, who had been living in East Palo Alto. That determination was made based on physical evidence, including Foxs car, and information from witnesses. When they learned in 2010 that he had fled the country into Mexico and was bound for Central America, Bertini said, police contacted the FBI, which obtained a no-bail warrant allowing for Foxs extradition.

About that same time, the criminal grand jury in San Mateo County issued an indictment against Fox, ensuring the statute of limitations wouldnt expire.

The FBI, meanwhile, continued to track Fox as he settled in an unnamed city in Guatemala and began living what Bertini called a normal life.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

He had a residence and a job, the chief said, adding that Fox may have been assisted by relatives living in Guatemala.

Fox was arrested in December 2016 on the FBI warrant, Bertini said, but he and his attorneys fought extradition through the Guatemalan courts until April, when the nations high court rejected his appeal. Since then, officials have been arranging Foxs extradition.

Police interviewed Fox after his arrival Tuesday night, but Bertini declined to offer details of the discussion.

Fox has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter, fleeing the scene and engaging in street racing that leads to injury or death, said Steve Wagstaffe, San Mateo Countys district attorney. If found guilty, Fox could face up to 12 years in state prison.

Rest assured, my office will take it to the finish line, said Wagstaffe, a Menlo Park resident. (Police and the FBI) have passed the baton to us and we will take it across the finish line.

Suresh said he is eager to see that outcome.

Eventually, I just need to see justice done for my little girl, he said.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuanConcord Police Department /

A woman who was found dead by a security guard at a Concord shopping center was identified Wednesday as a 58-year-old city resident, authorities said.

Debbie Shandrews body was discovered Aug. 22 near a dumpster behind a retail store on the 2700 block of Clayton Road near Oakland Avenue, according to the Concord Police Department.Two San Francisco schools have new names Tuesday after the school board voted to honor former Mayor Ed Lee and labor leader Dolores Huerta with district namesakes.

After unanimous votes late Monday night, Fairmount Elementary became Dolores Huerta Elementary, honoring the co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, while the Chinese Education Center was changed to Edwin and Anita Lee Newcomer School, after the late mayor and his wife.

The new names acknowledge the impact of both women and people of color on California and San Francisco, something that isnt often apparent on public buildings, monuments or street signs, said school board President Hydra Mendoza.

For example, just 10 out of more than 100 schools in the district are named after women.

Our school district is 150 years old, and when we were naming schools, we were naming them after prominent leaders of the time, she said. The idea that in 2018 were starting to name our schools after prominent leaders and they are people of color is both sad and amazing.

Edwin and Anita Lee Elementary opened as the Chinese Education Center in 1969 and is an elementary school in the Financial District near Chinatown serving newcomer students who are recent immigrants and English learners.

They will now go to a school named after the first Chinese mayor of San Francisco, and his wife, who was an immigrant and English learner, too  offering two role models exemplifying whats possible for the students, Mendoza said.

Ed Lee died suddenly of cardiac arrest in December.

Mayor Ed Lee was my friend and colleague for many years, and now his name along with Anitas will continue to serve as a symbol for our newest residents that they are welcome here, Mendoza said.

COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California.

Dolores Huerta Elementary, which opened as Fairmount Elementary in 1864, offers a Spanish dual-immersion language program and serves about 400 English learners, bilingual students and English-proficient students.

The school in the Fairmount neighborhood, between Glen Park and Noe Valley, is the fifth in California named after Huerta, 88.

Our school is where we want to teach students the power of voice, the power of presence, the power of being, the power of standing up for dignity and fighting for equity, embodying the life lessons and activism of someone like Dolores Huerta, said Principal Luis Rodriguez. By adopting the name of a strong Latina leader, we also would like to send a message of empowerment to all our female students, particularly our female students of color.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltuckerMichael Macor / The Chronicle

Balboa Cafe will close its Mill Valley outpost at the end of the month, ending a 10-year run for the restaurant that opened as the sister project to San Franciscos own century-old Balboa Cafe. The San Francisco location will remain open.

The reason behind the shuttering is a familiar one in todays industry: a dispute with the landlord.San Francisco Symphony Classical

The San Francisco Symphonys new digital-only release of Bernsteins song cycle Arias and Barcarolles  recorded in Davies Symphony Hall just under a year ago at the start of the composers centennial celebrations and now released to coincide with his actual 100th birthday  isnt going to change any minds one way or another about his last major composition. Michael Tilson Thomas was in on the pieces creation, playing alongside the composer at the premiere of the original version with accompaniment for piano four hands, and for him it recaptures the heady atmosphere of Bernsteins antic genius. A less personally involved listener is just as apt to be struck by the vein of self-indulgence, particularly the banality of Bernsteins original texts and the look-at-me gimcrackery that affects some of the music. Still, this performance makes the best possible case for Arias and Barcarolles, from the vivacious, tender vocal contributions of Isabel Leonard and Ryan McKinny to the sharply colorful orchestral playing. It may not sell you on the piece, but not for lack of trying.  Joshua KosmanIn two years, China will be ahead of the United States in AI (artificial intelligence), states Denis Barrier, CEO of global venture firm Cathay Innovation. Others say the same. If so, China will largely determine how this technology transforms the world. Todays contest is more than a race for dominance in a new technology  its one between authoritarianism and democracy.

AI is the worlds next big inflection point, says Ajeet Singh, CEO of ThoughtSpot in Palo Alto. Artificial intelligence is machine learning, which self-learns programmed tasks, using data, and the more it gets, the more learned it becomes. It drives cars, recognizes individuals, diagnoses diseases and more. Like past transformational technologies, artificial intelligence will convey advantages to the nation that leads its use  accelerating research, increasing productivity and enabling dominant military capabilities.

Hence, Chinas race to dominate the technology.

In the United States, companies and agencies are pursuing artificial intelligence development in a decentralized manner. In China, the government has a focused national effort, following Googles DeepMind artificial intelligence defeating the worlds top Go players in 2016-17. That defeat was Chinas Sputnik moment, (the moment that a technological achievement by a rival galvanized American political resolve to invest in space technology)  one the U.S. has yet to have with artificial intelligence. And, unlike the United States, China has a national strategy for artificial intelligence, setting milestones, accelerating Chinas pursuit of the technology:

2020: Be equal to the United States

2025: Surpass the United States

2030: Lead the world as an artificial-intelligence innovation center

Research institutes, universities, private companies and the government all working together ... I havent seen anything like it, said Steven White, an associate professor at Tsinghua University, Chinas MIT. In the race for artificial intelligence dominance, the U.S. will lose because they dont have the resources, said White.

But, needs are driving China, too. Its artificial intelligence strategy addresses:

Its shrinking labor force  A national crisis, says the National Committee of Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, which predicts Chinas working population will drop from 631 million in 2020, to 523 million in 2035, and 424 million in 2050. China must also care for a growing elderly population. The United Nations estimates Chinas over-65-age group will increase from about 160 million in 2020, to 360 million in 2050.

How to remain an economic power  China seeks to operate almost a million robots and produce 150,000 industrial ones in 2020.

Growing health care needs  China seeks a rapid, accurate intelligent medical system, including artificial intelligence-scanning imagery for cancer, robots providing medical references for doctors, and artificial intelligence-powered online consultations.

Military dominance of the East and South China seas, which allows access for Chinas export-driven economy. Chinas government seeks a civil-military fusion of artificial intelligence, enabling faster military decision-making, robotic submarines and large drone swarms that could overwhelm opposing forces.

Control by the Communist Party over Chinas population. Internal unrest  coastal rich vs. interior poor; ethnically different regions like Tibet; an anxious middle class; and pro-democracy efforts  has long concerned authorities. China is using artificial intelligence to build an Orwellian state. Smart cities track peoples movements. China, netted with millions of cameras and facial and vehicle recognition systems, can rapidly identify individuals. Police wear facial recognition glasses that do the same. Biometric data provide even better identification. And people get social credit scores, which determine eligibility for loans, travel and more. This artificial-intelligence-enabled system enables political repression and strengthens autocratic rule.

Today, a divided America needs to get [its] act together as a country regarding artificial intelligence said former Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt. If it doesnt, Americas greatness will pass, and so will hope for a free world order.

Thomas C. Linn is a U.S. Naval War College professor, a U.S. Army War College instructor, author of Think and Write for Your Life  or Be Replaced by a Robot and a retired U.S. Marine. The views expressed are his own.THURSDAY

Steve Israel: Former New York congressman, House Democrats chief political strategist from 2011-15, speaks at the Commonwealth Club. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

SATURDAY

Political realignment: Peace and Freedom Party sponsors a discussion, Are we seeing a major political realignment in the 2018 elections? Free. 2-4:30 p.m., Starry Plough pub, 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. More information is here.

SEPT. 6

Climate politics: Environmental justice advocate Mustafa Ali, scientist and former House candidate Jess Phoenix and Mother Jones reporter Rebecca Leber discuss climate politics and the possibilities for grassroots action. Sponsored by Ben & Jerrys and FreeSpeechTV. $25. Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco. More information is here.

New citizen voting: Register new U.S. citizens to vote after they take oath of allegiance. Organized by Democracy Action. Two sessions, 10 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m., Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here.

SEPT. 7

Rent control: Organizing meeting in favor of Proposition 10, which would lift state rent-control restrictions on cities. Sponsored by the San Francisco Party for Socialism and Liberation. 7 p.m., 2969 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SEPT. 8

Climate day of action: Rallies, town halls and community forums to call for action on climate change. San Francisco rally at 10 a.m. at Embarcadero Plaza. More information about that and other events is here.

SEPT. 9

Oakland Pride Festival: Oaklands Pride Parade and Festival is celebrated. Parade begins at 10:30 a.m. at 14th Street and heads up Broadway to 20th Street. Festival is held from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at 20th and Broadway. More information is here.

SEPT. 10

LGBTQ and the high court: A discussion on the future of LGBTQ rights under a changing U.S. Supreme Court. Panelists include Elizabeth Gill, senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, and Joel Engardio of the San Francisco Examiner. Sponsored by United Democratic Club. 6:30-8 p.m., San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market St. More information is here.

SEPT. 11

Climate forums: UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy hosts a series of forums on climate change issues. $15 per symposium. 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m., 555 Market St., San Francisco. More information is here.

Trump forum: San Francisco State University faculty members discuss America in the age of President Trump. Free. 3-5 p.m., Room 270 of the Science Building at San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave. More information is here.

SEPT. 13

Climate damage: How countries, states and companies are using climate damage estimates to inform their decision-making. Panel discussion hosted by Institute for Policy Integrity. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; venue to be announced. More information is here.

Latin America and climate: An interactive session to discuss how networks of Latin American and Caribbean non-state actors are helping to raise raise climate ambition. 8:30-11:30 a.m. Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy St., San Francisco. More information is here.

Tales of the City: University of Wisconsin English Professor Ramzi Fawaz discusses his oral history project on how Armistead Maupins Tales of the City serial in The Chronicle affected gay politics. $5. GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SEPT. 15

Schools chief election forum: Candidates for state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond and Marshall Tuck, take part in a forum sponsored by Sistallect, California Black Media and Black Women Organized for Political Action. 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. More information is here.

SEPT. 17-18

Constitution conference: Two-day conference on the 231st anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, focusing on the past, present and future of constitutional rights, freedoms, citizenship, democracy, equality and justice. Free. 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. both days at the Paul Leonard Library and Cesar Chavez Student Center at San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave. More information is here.

SEPT. 18

DeRay Mckesson: Black Lives Matter activist and Pod Save the People podcast host talks about his new book, On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope. $35 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $10 for students. 6:30-7:45 p.m., Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SEPT. 20

Albany candidates: League of Women Voters sponsors a forum for Albany candidates for public office. 7-9 p.m., 1000 San Pablo Ave., Albany. More information is here.

Midterm run: Run 4 All Women sponsors a 4K run/walk to raise money and awareness for candidates trying to flip Congress. 6-8 p.m. at the Assembly, 449 14th St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SEPT. 22

Race and medicine: Panel discussion on the impact of race in medicine. Sponsored by the African American Community Health Advisory Committee and the African American Library Advisory Committee. 2-4 p.m., San Mateo Public Library, 55 West Third Ave. More information is here.

SEPT. 25

Get out the vote: Register to vote, learn about legislation affecting local communities and network with social justice advocates. Sponsored by Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. More information is here.

Truth decay: RAND Corp. CEO Michael Rich discusses truth decay  the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life, at the Commonwealth Club. $35 nonmembers, $10 students. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

SEPT. 26

Berkeley rent board: Candidates for Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board take part in a forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 7-9 p.m., Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St. More information is here.

SEPT. 27

Iran and Trump: Covering Iran in the age of Trump: a conversation with reporters Melissa Etehad of the Los Angeles Times and Jason Rezaian of the Washington Post, moderated by San Francisco State journalism Professor Venise Wagner. 12:30-2 p.m., Room 587 of the Humanities Building, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave. More information is here.

SEPT. 29

Tech politics: Candidates for statewide and Bay Area offices invited to discuss issues of importance to Silicon Valley and the technology industry. Sponsored by Royce Law LLC. Noon-4 p.m., Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF, 1675 Owens St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SEPT. 30

Preventing nuclear war: Free forum marking 50th anniversary of Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty features ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern and anti-nuclear activists Jacqueline Cabasso and Marylia Kelley. Sponsored by San Francisco Public Library and Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament. 1 p.m., Main Public Librarys Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. More information is here.

OCT. 2

Assembly candidates forum: Jovanka Beckles and Buffy Wicks, candidates in Assembly District 15 in the East Bay, participate in a League of Women Voters forum. 7-8:30 p.m., Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St. More information is here.

The Browns and California: Journalist Miriam Pawel, author of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, discusses Pat Brown, Jerry Brown and the modern history of the state, at the Commonwealth Club. $20 for nonmembers, $7 for students. 6-7:15 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

OCT. 4

Francis Fukuyama: Political scientist and author Francis Fukuyama discusses identity politics. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. $25 for nonmembers, $10 for students. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

OCT. 5

Barbara Lee: Forum with Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, celebrating her 20th anniversary in Congress. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

OCT. 16

D4 supervisor forum: Candidates for San Francisco supervisorial District Four participate in a forum sponsored by the Outer Sunset/Parkside Residents Association. 6-8:30 p.m., Ortega Branch Library, 3223 Ortega St., San Francisco. More information is here.

OCT. 18

Hacking politics: Keynote address for weekend conference on how the political system is being hacked. Sponsored by UC Berkeley Center for New Media, SFMOMAs Public Knowledge Initiative, the UC Berkeley School of Journalism and Boalt School of Law. Free. 6 p.m., Phyllis Wattis Theater, SFMOMA, 151 Third St., San Francisco. More information is here. Symposium runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 19 at 310 Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley. More information is here.

OCT. 20

Race and politics: Panel discussion on the impact of race in politics. Sponsored by the African American Community Health Advisory Committee and the African American Library Advisory Committee. 2-4 p.m., San Mateo Public Library, 55 West Third Ave. More information is here.

To list an event, email Politics Editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicleSACRAMENTO  California lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday that would allow co-workers and school personnel to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from someone they believe poses a danger.

AB2888 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, would expand the list of people who can ask a court for a gun violence restraining order, a little-known process under which a judge can bar a person from possessing a gun for as long as a year.

The law can now be used only by immediate family members, roommates and law enforcement. Under Tings bill, teachers, principals, co-workers and employers could also ask for a gun restraining order for people they fear are a threat to themselves or others.

The bill passed the Senate, 25-12, on Tuesday and now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown, who vetoed a similar proposal in 2016. He has not indicated whether he will sign the latest bill.

This is about getting guns out of the hands of the wrong people, Ting said Tuesday.

Currently, if a judge grants a restraining order, the gun owner is required to surrender his or her firearms for 21 days while awaiting a hearing on whether the order will be extended for a year. During that time, the person is barred from buying firearms or ammunition.

Gun rights advocates complain that the current law allows judges to remove weapons first and ask questions later. They said expanding the law is likely to lead to abuses.

I view this as another attack on our Second Amendment rights, said Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber (Tehama County).

The law has seldom been used since Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, authored it in response to a shooting rampage near UC Santa Barbara in 2014 that left six people dead, along with the killer. The law went into effect in 2016.

Statewide, 189 petitions for gun violence restraining orders were granted in 2016 and 2017, state Justice Department figures show. Family members accounted for just 12 of those  the rest of the requests came from law enforcement.

In the nine Bay Area counties, 29 orders were issued, all at the request of police. None was issued during 2016 or 2017 in San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma and Napa counties.

Ting said those numbers show the law is not being abused. He said his bill recognizes that in some cases, co-workers and teachers are in a better position to see that a person is a danger to themselves or others.

Ting authored a bill similar to AB2888 in 2016 but it was vetoed by Brown, who argued that it was too soon to expand the law.

The Legislature also sent Brown a bill Tuesday that would bar a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing a gun for life, beginning in January. AB3129 by Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park (Los Angeles County), would replace a law that slaps a 10-year gun ban on people convicted of such crimes.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrezLt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told Bay Area business leaders Tuesday that boosting the amount San Francisco spends on homeless programs by hundreds of millions of dollars would only exacerbate the problem.

Put another $400 million in the homeless problem and I promise you this: Your problem is going to get a lot worse, the Democratic candidate for governor said.

Newsom later explained that he was making a pitch for a regional approach to solving problems.

Youre not going to solve this homeless problem in San Francisco, he said. Its not a San Francisco issue; its a regional issue.

Speaking to reporters after his hour-long discussion with about Bay Area Council members, Newsom said he wasnt opposed to San Francisco increasing its spending on homelessness, but that the city cant solve the problem by itself.

The homeless population is not static, he said, and most of the people on the streets are not San Francisco residents. Many, he said, are not even Californians.

Asked if he thought San Franciscos spending on programs attracted more homeless people, Newsom noted that when BART was shut down by strikes twice in 2013, the number of panhandlers in the city declined noticeably.

Newsom made addressing homelessness a centerpiece of his 2003 campaign for San Francisco mayor. He said Tuesday that the Care Not Cash program that he sponsored while on the Board of Supervisors, which substituted housing and services for monthly case payments, provided very relevant examples of homeless people being lured to San Francisco because San Francisco was doing something no one else was.

Newsom said his statement about the futility of vast increases in spending shouldnt be seen as an indictment of those who want San Francisco to spend more fighting homelessness. Instead, he said, it demonstrated his support for a regional, or even statewide, approach.

San Francisco needs some support, he said, and other cities and the state need to step up their game.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuanA San Mateo high school student died in a single-car crash Monday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Blake Bottarini, a 17-year-old senior at Serra High School, was headed to school in his Toyota Tacoma truck on the morning of Aug. 27 when he veered off Highway 35 and hit a tree, authorities said. The truck fell 45 feet down an embankment and came to rest on one side, where a San Mateo County Sheriffs deputy located the vehicle and notified CHP.

Emergency responders pronounced Bottarini dead at the scene.

Lars Lund and Barry Thornton, the president and principal of Serra High School, respectively, sent a letter to parents on Tuesday morning expressing their condolences.

He will always be remembered as a caring, wonderful young man, the pair wrote about Bottarini. In a note posted to social media, the school officials reminded students and parents that grief counselors and campus ministry staff members are available for support.

Students set up a GoFundMe for the Bottarini family, which had raised more than $25,000 as of Wednesday morning. Bottarinis twin brother, Evan, is also a student at the Catholic boys school.

The school held a prayer service Wednesday morning for Bottarini and a vigil service and funeral mass will take place this week at St. Pius Church in Redwood City.

CHP is investigating the crash and officers do not suspect alcohol or drugs were a factor. CHP encourages any witnesses to contact officer Erick Parra at 650-369-6261.

Ashley McBride is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ashley.mcbride@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ashleynmcbBARTs new fare inspection program aims to scare scofflaws who sneak a free ride on the system into paying. But chances are most fare cheats wont get caught.

Six community service officers will work as fare inspectors across a system that runs 20 hours daily carrying an average of 420,000 passengers into and out of 46 stations on up to 62 trains.

My gut feeling is that its not enough, but were just starting out, said BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas. Well see what progress we can make. Wed like to get voluntary compliance, but we know there are people who wont pay their fair share.

Fare inspectors likely will work in teams of two. Where and when theyll be deployed hasnt been determined but theyll be required to go from one person to the next in the areas they work, skipping no one and recording every encounter on a body camera. Sworn police officers wont be part of the regular fare inspection squads, Rojas said, though theyll have the authority to act on their own to demand passengers prove theyve paid.

Fare inspections are one piece of BARTs three-part strategy to reduce an out-of-control fare evasion problem estimated to cost the agency $25 million a year. In addition to ticket inspections, BART police are conducting targeted enforcement campaigns at the fare gates of troublesome stations. Officials also are making physical changes to make it more difficult to sneak into stations: building higher barriers, moving elevator access inside gated areas and closing some swinging gates.

Although the board just approved the so-called proof-of-payment system, it had authorized hiring seven employees  six community service officers and a police administrative specialist  to staff the program in its June budget.

The workers will cost the district $740,748 a year. The electronic fare readers theyll use to check Clipper cards and paper tickets, and other equipment, will cost about $50,000.

Critics, including director Debora Allen, question whether BART is getting its moneys worth. She voted for the fare inspections but said she was disappointed that the enforcement strategy didnt have a little more teeth.

Ordinances adopted by the board Thursday call for BART police and community service officers to issue two civil citations  similar to parking tickets  to adult evaders during a rolling 12-month period. Any subsequent citations within that time frame will be considered criminal violations. Youths aged 5 to 17 will receive only civil citations in keeping with a state law that took effect this year.

Initially, the fines will be $75 for adults and $55 for youth. The ordinances, however, allow fines as high as $120 for adults and $60 for minors.

Under California law, community service officers can write the civil citations, but only police officers can write criminal citations, so fare inspectors would need to summon a police officer to ticket a serial offender.

Allen expressed skepticism that the fare inspections would have a significant impact on fare evasion. She speculated that some occasional cheats could be prompted to pay rather than risk a ticket, but chronic fare evaders, its not going to affect them.

She said the money would be better spent on replacing the all-too permeable fare gates with something tougher to sneak through.

Some riders also doubted the cost-effectiveness of the approach.

Randomly questioning or checking riders for proof of payment and fining the evaders seems unlikely, potentially contentious, and, well, ridiculous, wrote Robert OBrien, in an email to The Chronicle. Fining someone $100-200 for evading $40 a week of fares for years  really?

But Rojas said the program is not about cost recovery.

Its really about everyone paying their fair share, he said, so we can make BART as clean and safe as possible.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:

mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @ctuanMost riders know that eating and drinking are not allowed on BART trains or in "paid areas" of stations. Same goes for smoking.

The penalties can be stiff. Violators might have to fork up $250 or work off 48 hours of community service.

But a penalty is only a deterrence if it is enforced. And BART does not enforce all its rules equally.

Nobody cares if you sip on a water bottle while riding BART. If, however, you bite into sloppy tuna salad sandwich, or open a pungent carton of kimchee or splash a milkshake over a seat, you might get some angry stares or harsh words. But a citation is highly unlikely.

In 2016, BART users took 128.5 million rides on the system. Only 11 eating/drinking citations were issued between April and December. We don't know how many were handed out in the first three months of the year because BART did not record that data due to a computer upgrade. But extrapolating for January through March at the same rate of citations would result in an additional three or four.

Of course, only a fraction of BART's overall ridership eat or drink on trains or in prohibited areas of stations. There are no data on what percentage of the total ridership these light-rail snackers constitute.

But comparing the total number of rides to citations provides a yardstick to gauge enforcement of various rules across the BART system.

Last year, an eating or drinking citation was issued about once every 8,062,500 rides.

Asked how high a priority enforcement of the no eating/no drinking rule is for BART, agency media relations manager Jim Allison said it was necessary to look at the big picture.

"It's important to view enforcement of any infraction within the larger context of daily activities on BART and not just in isolation," Allison said in an email. "As calls come in about possible violations, BART police prioritize them on the basis of the relative threat to public safety and the resources available. I think you would find this form of 'triage' a common practice among law enforcement agencies."

Fare cheats cost BART a lot more than spilled food  up to $25 million annually  and the agency beefed up enforcement in 2016, ramping up citations and warnings for gate jumpers and other fare evaders in the second half of the year. That trend continued until late February of this year when it suddenly reversed itself, kicking off nearly five months of declines. In recent weeks, the numbers are again on the rise.

In 2016, a fare cheat was cited, warned or arrested only once for every 30,299 rides on the system. It's little wonder new BART police Chief Carlos Rojas has made curbing fare evasion a priority.

BART is retrofitting some stations with higher barriers and other physical barriers to discourage gate hopping. A video-surveillance pilot program is also planned.

What about other BART rule breakers? How often were they cited in 2016? Check out the slideshow.

More Information 6778 See More Collapse

Note "citations" includes citations, citation/arrests and warning citations. The latter is a citation that is not processed through the courts. BART officers also give verbal warnings, of course, but they are not documented.

The easiest way to get cited by BART is to not pay for parking or to park in an illegal space. Most of the 12 million cars left at BART stations in 2016 were legally parked, but of those that weren't, nearly 90,000 were ticketed. In January the fine for parking in daily spots without paying increased to $55 from last year's $35 penalty.

Drivers parking in spaces that require parking permits faced $75 fines, up from $40 last year.Michael Macor/The Chronicle

A 71-year-old employee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has been reported missing, San Francisco police said.

Margaret Kendrick was reported missing Aug. 19. Police currently do not have a record of where Kendrick was last seen.Every Wednesday morning, SFGATE finds the biggest headlines in local (and sometimes national) beer. Check back here weekly for news, events, and information about special releases from your favorite local breweries.

SFGATE has a biweekly beer newsletter! Called the Taploid, it contains key stories from this column, as well as other, more nationally-spanning industry news. To sign up, head here, enter your email at the top, and check the box marked "Taploid."

The time is apparently ripe for investing in new San Francisco taprooms. Fort Point, which had previously announced plans for one Mission District location, pivoted and instead re-set their sights on another nearby space formerly home to Brasserie St. James and Abbot's Cellar. Now, they're headed to 742 Valencia Street, where they'll create a restaurant and taproom (no brewery) slated to open in early 2019.

Over in North Beach, Holy Craft  which has thus far been without a space to call their own  will open their first taproom at 787 Broadway, in a space previously occupied by Sip Bar & Lounge in a property owned by his family (Sip relocated to Westfield Mall). The brewery recently secured distribution in BevMo and other large retailers, and felt the time was appropriate for a flagship location.

Meanwhile, Berkeley's Gilman Brewing is looking south for their expansion. The brewery announced on Instagram late last week that they're officially planning to open a second taproom in Daly City. They're not yet sure when it will open  "it may be the fall"  but they're planning for food, growler fills, and cans to-go.

After a hiatus spent moving and renovating, City Beer Store will reopen this week at 1148 Mission Street between 7th and 8th Streets in SoMa, just a couple blocks away from their previous location. The soft opening is planned for August 30.

Woodfour Brewing Company in Sebastopol is celebrating their big 5-year anniversary with a serious invitational brew fest. At the event, called the "Fellowship of Farmhouse & Funky Friends," the brewers will welcome Claimstake, Firestone-Walker's Barrelworks, Pure Project, Yeast of Eden and others to pour at their September 1 event. Tickets for the charity event (100 percent profits go to the a youth organization called the B-Rad Foundation) are on sale now for $25.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

In 1992, on a dusty Friday afternoon in Black Rock Desert, Terbo Ted prepared to play music for no one.

The setup for the first-ever DJ set on the deep playa was famously jury-rigged; the speakers, leftovers from a dissolved punk band, blew out within minutes. It was a historic moment  the beginning of electronic music at Burning Man. But to some, it was also an ending.

Ted was 24 years old at the time, and a few of his friends who were active in Oakland's underground rave scene had discovered Burning Man through analog serendipity  a print ad in a local New Age magazine. The message was austere, but cryptic: "An experience in the desert." After calling the number listed, they met Larry Harvey, Burning Man's co-founder. He invited them to bring their music and speaker system to the desert.

After hours of driving, the group spotted the camp's only marker: a pole, with a red blinking light. The landscape looked like they'd left Earth.

It was still the early days of Burning Man, just two years after what had started as a solstice ritual at Baker Beach in 1986 made its way into the vast Nevada desert. It would be years before it became an event home to more than 70,000 globetrotters, and a makeshift city with police and a medical clinic.

But even in the event's nascent stage, there was tension.

Members of San Francisco's Cacophony Society, an underground group of pranksters were the ones who brought Burning Man to the Black Rock Desert. This constellation of DIY-minded artists weren't excited about the idea of sharing the desert with starry-eyed ravers in their 20s, Ted told SFGATE.

"The pranksters blamed us for everything," Ted said. "For us to bring dance music culture out there  they thought we were bringing consumer trash. They hated what we were doing."

"When we first started going out there, there was no definition of what being a burner was," Ted said. "Going out there was like going to Mars, or the Moon."

Ted, now 50, considers himself an 'elder.' He's attended the event on and off for the last 25 years. When he goes, he regales new burners with tales of the event before it became a studied experience and an aesthetic  before the hot springs were banned, before there were fences, and the year  1996  when hell came to life.

And as an informal historian, he's also obligated to tell them the truth: He ruined Burning Man.

The event wasn't appealing to the public in 1992, Ted said, so he and his friends proselytized it into the ground. Around a decade later, it went viral  it was codified, memefied and rendered into the collective consciousness.

Anyone who came in contact with the event acquired a Midas-like touch, but it wasn't gold  it was the ability to destroy it.

For as long as Burning Man's existed, it's been ruined. The ravers ruined it for the welders. The collective-minded hippies ruined it for the anarchist ravers. Tech bros displaced the bohemians.

The list of acts that destroyed Burning Man is limitless. There are the extravagant camps run by sherpas, a sub-industry of event butlers. The 1996 Wired expose article. Kids below the age of five running in the desert. High-speed Internet. Lobsters FedExed and delivered to Burning Man.

In a cheeky 2016 article for the Burning Man blog, Benjamin Wachs outlined a history of who ruined Burning Man. Its self-destruction apparently occurred at its birth:

"In 1986, at the very first Burn, a crowd of complete strangers gathered around the Man once it was lit it [sic] on fire. Nobody had invited them. They didn't know anything about the 10 Principles, or understood what The Man was about. They just saw something cool and wanted to participate. They had no gifts. Strangers ruined Burning Man."

Burning Man, Wachs wrote, has been ruined 27 out of 30 times. "On two occasions, it was ruined twice in the same year. In total, 12 different groups (that we know of) have done the ruining. It's easy to get paranoid about something you love."

It seems useful to consider the event's conditions; Burning Man is an exercise in ephemerality. Like a city, it doesn't emit its own essence. It's a vessel, a container for whoever, or whatever resides in its limits.

That sense of impermanence feels central to Burning Man, where desert whiteouts and dust storms have the power to blow entire campsites away, and meticulously assembled projects dematerialize after the week's end. Its very nature precludes its shackling.

Besides, Ted said, that's what makes it interesting. He's careful not to lament the changes as of late  the increasing police presence and proliferation of Plug 'n' Play camps, among other things.

"I accept it. It's going to be different every year," he said. "That it even happens is amazing, and it's the most modern city in the world. The culture's bigger than Larry. It's bigger than me; it's bigger than any one person. So you can't say anyone really owns it."

But there is one thing he undoubtedly misses.

"When we first started going out there, there was no definition of what being a burner was," Ted said. "Going out there was like going to Mars, or the Moon. Larry [Harvey] used to say, When you go out there, you have no choice, in this void of nothing, to have whatever your inner soul or spirit was to shine out of you. Whatever you was, would come into view because there was nothing else to measure it against."

Now, it can be hard to locate that sense of discovery  of blankness  in all the noise. This year, Ted opted to skip Burning Man, which is fine, he says, because he's already missed it 20 times. Instead, he'll be hosting a 2 hour-long live electronic set and light show in Mill Valley on Sept 1. He and the other DJs will be streaming the burn through a live feed.

The event is open to the public, Ted said. It could be for people who wanted to attend the event but couldn't, for whatever reason. Or, it's an option for people who've grown similarly disillusioned with how the event has changed. Like a blank canvas, it's for anyone.

Read Annie Vainshtein's latest stories here. Send her news tips at avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievainMarking another phase in his education agenda, Bill Gates is now taking a more refined approach to help struggling schools.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is now funding groups working directly with clusters of public schools in some of the most impoverished regions of the country. Many of those third-party groups already had relationships with the worlds largest philanthropy, and some of the grants went straight to a school district and charter schools organization.

The foundation announced Tuesday that it would give nearly $100 million to 19 programs for middle and high schools in poor communities across 13 states. Gates pledged $460 million over the next five years to fund networks of school programs that help low-income and minority students get to college.

The grants will address the whole scope of what it takes to get those students to college  from academic skills like math and English proficiency, to existential pitfalls like middle school suspensions and the college application process.

Its also another indication that the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist is trying to be less prescriptive with top-down ideas that have rankled some educators. Critics have said the foundations work over the past decade has included trial-and-error programs that havent accomplished as much as hoped to help vulnerable children succeed in school.

Were not inventing anything in this strategy. Were taking what we learned from research and experience, said Bob Hughes, who leads Gates K-12 education program.

Letting local and regional forces take the lead marks a departure from the national or system-wide education initiatives that Gates previously supported, including majorly consequential directives over academic standards, teacher evaluations and school sizes.

Here are some programs the Gates Foundation has funded during the past two decades:

School improvement: Since 2018: $460 million.

Gates is granting money for specific proposals submitted by various groups, public school districts and charter school networks to support and expand programming ideas aimed at helping low-income children.

Among the recipients is San Diegos High Tech High Graduate School of Education. The programs provost, Ben Daley, said the school will use the money to help students navigate what can be an overwhelming college admissions process that includes trying to get financial aid, transferring credits and following up on college acceptance letters.

Daley said that work will be more nuanced than layering more programming on top of whats already offered, so that it can be a simple, engaging and positive resource for kids across 30 public, charter and alternative high schools in his region.

We know if its just like more. Thats not going to work, Daley said.

College scholarships: 1999-2018: $1.6 billion.

The most enduring Gates Foundation program was the Gates Millennium Scholars.

Gates wanted to foster diversity in science-related fields with college scholarship money. More than half of the 20,000 scholarships went to lower-income minority students whose parents hadnt gone to college. Gates also supported recipients when many went on to graduate school with hopes to diversify leadership in those fields.

That program officially ended in 2018, though the scholarship model lives on as the new Gates Scholars program, which is limited to undergraduate studies.

Common Core: 2008-17: $280 million.

Gates used his money and celebrity to support the Common Core State Standards because he believed it ensured all kids got an equally good education.

The academic standards determined what kids should learn, but doesnt set the curriculum or determine how kids learn.

His success was evident when nearly all states initially adopted it, but President Barack Obamas support became politically problematic.

Obamas administration created incentives benefiting Common Cores roll-out, which critics slammed as tantamount to federal overreach. The teachers and parents who also soured on the standards claimed a formulaic approach to education was confusing and detrimental to the learning process.

Teacher quality and evaluations: 2009-15: $257 million.

Gates set out to quantify what it takes to be a good teacher and partially funded school districts that were piloting ways to measure and improve teaching. But the idea to tie student test scores to teacher evaluations upset some teachers.

The program ended poorly. An independent Rand Corporation report commissioned by Gates said the endeavor failed to substantially improve the learning process for either teachers or students. Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Florida was left scrambling financially after the Gates money disappeared.

Small schools: 2001-09: $345 million.

Convinced that smaller schools with specific interests could foster better, more motivated learning for the most at-risk students, Gates spent millions testing how to break up the large comprehensive high school model.

But schools struggled with the logistics of multiple academies under the same roof and communities felt disconnected by the changes. The academic gains were in some cases impressive but limited in scope. Gates chalked it up to the financial and political cost of changing traditional schools.

Library technology: 1999-2007: $325 million.

Bill and Melinda Gates first major charitable effort was to install personal computers and internet access in libraries.

Then known as the Gates Library Foundation, the organization was eventually absorbed into their namesake, Seattle foundation that is the worlds largest private nonprofit.

The man who led the computing revolution and his wife  a former computer programmer and Microsoft manager  gave money for computers, internet and librarian training.

The library program ensured 10,000 libraries  or 99 percent of all public libraries at the time  across the country had access to the new technology, particularly in low-income communities.

Sally Ho is an Associated Press writer.Teslas Elon Musk is infamous for bold forecasts that pan out late or dont pan out at all. But in dismissing a shareholder lawsuit Tuesday, a federal judge ruled they dont constitute fraud.

Federal securities laws do not punish companies for failing to achieve their targets, said U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, granting Teslas motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The class-action suit was filed by the Rosen Law Firm of Los Angeles on behalf of lead plaintiff and Tesla investor Gregory Wochos.

The judge said safe harbor rules shield executives from liability for making forward-looking statements that turn out wrong when accompanied by meaningful qualifications.

The boldest claim highlighted in the suit: Musks repeated assertion that Tesla would produce 500,000 cars in 2017, including 400,000 copies of its new Model 3. As it turned out, just over 100,000 cars were manufactured in total, only 2,685 of them Model 3s.

The class action covered investors who held Tesla shares between May 4, 2016, and Oct. 6, 2017. On Oct. 6, the stock was trading at $356.88. As Model 3 production problems became apparent, the stock began to sink, as low as $266.18 in March. On Tuesday, Tesla stock closed at $311.86.

Safe-harbor provisions were part of a 1995 bill passed by Congress to address complaints that mushrooming class-action lawsuits hobbled start-ups and other public companies.

Congress was convinced that if, say, I were a CEO, I cant control the future, but Id be afraid of making a projection without risking a lawsuit, said Robert Bartlett at the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy. Meaningful qualifications are key, he said.

The judge listed several statements he identified as meaningful qualifications, attributed to Tesla reports or to Musk himself:

Our ability to achieve these plans will depend on a number of factors.

I would certainly urge people to not get too caught up in what exactly falls within the exact boundaries of a quarter.

The assembly line can only go as fast as the slowest item.

Its schedule whack-a-mole.

The year 2017 will be complicated and bumpy and dealing with a lot of unexpected issues.

The plaintiffs offered evidence that several Tesla executives warned Musk that his forecasts were impossible to meet. But the judge said those warnings were not hard facts, but conclusions based on assumptions.

The dismissal is unrelated to Musks tweet that reportedly sparked a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. On Aug. 7, Musk tweeted that he had funding secured for a go-private deal at $420 a share. The tweet included no qualifications. Musk and Tesla dropped the plan Thursday.

From the start, Breyer made sure to distinguish Wochos lawsuit from the Twitter matter. The first line in his ruling calls it a non-Twitter-related securities action.

That was unusual, said Jim Rosener, an attorney at Pepper Hamilton. Usually the courts dont extemporize like that. I think he didnt want to prejudice new cases based on Musks tweet.

Russ Mitchell is a Los Angeles Times writer.Google CEO Sundar Pichai was in San Diego this week to announce a partnership with the USO that includes enhanced job search features on Google search and an IT training initiative for transitioning military members and active duty spouses.

Now, typing jobs for veterans in the Google search bar results in an additional search box for a military occupation code, which leads to local civilian job postings that match the skills and training of those military jobs.

Pichai said at a Monday news conference that Google is in a unique position to offer tools to ease a post-military job search, and that military skills are often lost in translation when transferring them to a civilian job.

This is an area where Googles ability to organize information can help, he said. There are 10,000 military job codes out there, yet we lack a way to help recruiters match a veterans experience with a civilian need for their skills.

Google is also making the new military job search function available to job boards, employers and staffing agencies, Pichai said, and a badge will be added on search results and on Google Maps to veteran-owned businesses.

Pichai also announced a new $2.5 million grant to the USO to train active duty members and their spouses for entry level jobs in information technology.

The Google IT Support Professional Certificate can be earned in about eight months, Pichai said, with about eight to 10 hours of work per week.

It equips you with the skills you need to start a career in IT support in about eight months  no prior experience of college degree necessary, he said. We are making all these services available to the spouses of current service members, too. Spouses make it possible for members of the military to do their important work.

USO President J.D. Crouch II said the organizations mission is to keep service members connected when in uniform, but that it is also to help their transition.

Weve been around for 77 years, and weve been waiting for this partnership with Google, he said. This program will provide transitioning service members with in-demand technical skills and transferrable soft skills to kick-start their private sector careers and after their military service concludes.

Kassandra Kristoff, who works in internal communications at Google, served six years in the Navy as a surface warfare officer. She said the she and her husband  who was also in the military  struggled when they were searching for civilian jobs.

This job search function  I wish that was around when I was transitioning out, she said. This is game-changing for a lot of folks that are transitioning today.

Kristoff said working in tech is similar to the military in that the work environment is fast-paced and requires people to think on their feet. She said there are opportunities for service members, but added that transitioning can be difficult.

Its going to be a long, hard process, but continue to have that work ethic  because you never know where that could lead, she said. Just keep at it, and eventually youll land somewhere you really love.

Andrew Dyer is a San Diego Union-Tribune writer.Pfizers pipeline may finally be delivering.

A new study shows that patients with a rare condition that can lead to heart failure lowered their risk of dying by 30 percent after being treated with Pfizers tafamidis. The finding could give the biggest U.S. drugmaker another potential blockbuster medicine and challenge a biotech startup marketing its groundbreaking treatment for the same disease.

Pfizer estimates that as many as 500,000 patients worldwide have the disease known as transthyretin cardiomyopathy but that less than 1 percent have been diagnosed. Doctors also say the condition is more prevalent than whats been reported. Pfizer said there are about 50 centers nationwide that are equipped with diagnostics to identify patients.

Tafamidis is expected to be the first of more than a dozen medicines the New York company has vowed to release that could generate more than $1 billion in annual sales. Some analysts project that tafamidis will cross that threshold within five years, possibly sooner if more patients with transthyretin cardiomyopathy are identified.

Its very, very exciting, said Irina Sobol, director of the advanced heart failure fellowship program at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian, who wasnt involved in the trial. I fully expect it would change the standard of care. It will make physicians be more excited, it will lead us all to look for patients with this disease because now there are clear paradigms for treatment.

Pfizer said on a conference call with analysts this week that it wont immediately pursue approval for the same condition that regulators recently granted to a treatment from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Transthyretin cardiomyopathy is a progressive, fatal disease caused by a protein that circulates naturally in the blood but becomes unstable and misfolds, building up in the heart and causing it to thicken and stiffen. The disease can be caused by a flawed gene, but a nonhereditary form also exists.

The data from the study, presented at the European Society of Cardiologys annual conference in Munich and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, could position Pfizers drug as a surprise rival to one marketed by Alnylam of Cambridge, Mass. That drug, Onpattro, recently became the first medicine based on RNA interference approved in the U.S. Carrying a $450,000 annual price tag, Onpattro temporarily blocks, or silences, the messages carried by the defective genes.

Alnylams drug doesnt have a proven survival benefit, and its approval was based on a study of patients who inherited the disease. The study of tafamidis, by contrast, included the nonhereditary form as well, which is more common in men over 60, according to Pfizer.

An increase in patient awareness and diagnosis of the disease could be lucrative for Pfizer. Greg Gilbert, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimates that the drug will be commercially available in 2020 and sell more than $1 billion by its fifth year.

Such fortunes would validate the companys expectations to potentially have between 25 and 30 drug approvals by 2022, with up to half having the potential to sell more than $1 billion annually. CEO Ian Read has said Pfizer is prepared to grow on the strength of its pipeline and doesnt need a large merger or acquisition to grow.

Pfizer surprised investors and doctors in March when it said the tafamidis study was successful, because in 2012 the drug was rejected by regulators for approval to treat a different disease. (Some foreign countries approved Pfizers drug, marketed abroad as Vyndaquel.)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate, Akcea Therapeutics, are also hoping for U.S. approval this year of a drug to treat the disease. The medicine, Tegsedi, is approved in Europe and operates similarly to Alnylams Onpattro, though both are delivered via injection. Pfizers drug is a chemical compound taken orally.

Once diagnosed with transthyretin cardiomyopathy, patients live between two and six years, according to researchers. Improvements in diagnostics, such as imaging and testing, have helped identify more patients, but a lack of treatments has discouraged physicians from searching for signs of the disease, Sobol said.

Some people felt, why look for something that we cannot treat? she said.

In a late-stage study of 441 patients diagnosed with transthyretin cardiomyopathy, those treated over 30 months with tafamidis saw their risk of dying during the trial reduced by 30 percent  with a 32 percent reduction in hospitalizations  compared with patients given a placebo, according to the Pfizer-sponsored study.

This is the first step in the right direction, said Milind Desai, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who wasnt involved in the study. Its sort of like you see potential and the guy ... hits a home run in his first at-bat.

While tafamidis showed a significant benefit to patients in the nonhereditary form, it didnt reach statistical significance for patients with the hereditary form of the disease, according to the data.

Jared S. Hopkins and Bailey Lipschultz are Bloomberg writers. Email: jhopkins38@bloomberg.net, blipschultz@bloomberg.netThis week, WOW Air rolled out a "$199 fare" from the U.S. to India. It made headlines across the internet on major travel and news sites, and I'm sure snagged thousands of clicks.

But if you are thinking that $199 to India sounds too good to be true, you'd be right. As a matter of fact, if you wanted to fly from the Bay Area to India and back on WOW Air, you'd pay almost 400 percent more.

Wait. What?

Here's a lesson on what to look for when you see a fare that seems too good to be true, using this $199 to India fare as an example. Below are questions you need to ask yourself to determine whether the fare is indeed a good deal. For this post, we are pricing a hypothetical round-trip, one-stop itinerary from San Francisco to Delhi for late January 2019. NOTE: WOW Air ceased operations in 2019

Which airline is offering it? When the airline is among the ultra-low-cost carriers, you should know that you'll pay significantly more than the fare you see in the headline, banner or press release. Ultra-low cost carriers use these loss-leader fares for publicity -- and obviously it works. On transatlantic routes, these include: WOW Air, Norwegian Air, Level and any of the larger airlines offering "basic economy" fares. Domestically, you'll find these misleading fares from the likes of Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant. In Europe, Ryanair and EasyJet pull the same kind of malarkey.

What's the roundtrip fare? Well, you might be able to find a few $199 fares between the U.S. and India on the WOW Air site, but you'll only find one-way fares. If you want to come back, return fares are much higher. In the case of the $199 fare to India, you'll pay a minimum of $429 to fly back from Delhi, which brings the round trip fare up to $628.99, which I'll round to $630.

When/where do I have to fly to get the deal? In the WOW Air to India case, these fares don't go into effect until this winter. Overall, you'll frequently find that the cheapest sale fares are only available on certain days of the week- for example, this recent $39 fare sale from Southwest sounded great, but it only offered deals on Tuesday and Wednesday. Similarly, you need to check to see if the "deal" is for nonstop flights or not. For example, many ultra-low fares from the Bay Area to Hawaii or Mexico frequently require a stop in Los Angeles.

What's the bag fee? Some low-fare airlines now charge for carry-on bags, as well as checked bags. WOW Air is one of those. If you can squeeze everything into a carry-on bag, you'll pay $50 each way or $100 round trip on SFO-Delhi flights. If you check a bag, you'll pay $70 per leg, or $140 round trip. For the purposes of this post, let's say you go the carry-on route. Now your roundtrip fare is up to $730.

Where will I sit? A one-stop flight to India can take about 25 hours, so you'll want to pay to reserve a window or aisle seat, right? On WOW Air, you'll pay an additional $20 each leg for a window or aisle seat, which adds another $80 to your round-trip fare, which now totals about $810. That's a lot more than $199.

How much are other airlines charging? Is $810 round trip between SFO and India a great deal? It's okay, but there are plenty of other airlines offering similar fares on the highly competitive route. You can easily check this using a meta-search site like Google Flights or Skyscanner.

Have you flown to India before or do you go there regularly? What do you consider a "good deal" on a flight to India? Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.A woman who was found dead by a security guard at a Concord shopping center was identified Wednesday as a 58-year-old city resident, authorities said.

Debbie Shandrews body was discovered Aug. 22 near a dumpster behind a retail store on the 2700 block of Clayton Road near Oakland Avenue, according to the Concord Police Department.San Francisco not only has the most expensive rents in the country, according to a new analysis, it also has the highest cost of child care.

The median rent in San Francisco is $3,455, while the average monthly cost of child care for one child is $1,955, per a HotPads study released Wednesday. The company, a rental search platform owned by Zillow, uses census data and from Care.com's annual Care Index which calculates the cost of child care assuming care is provided for 40 hours per week for 52 weeks annually.

ALSO READ: Why SF women have children later than anywhere in the U.S.

To put the numbers into perspective, New Yorkers spend an average of $2,855 on rent monthly, and $1,630 on child care. In Chicago, the median rent is $1,785 while child care averages $1,500 per month. Nationally, the median rent payment is $1,500  $115 more than the monthly cost of child care.

HotPads economist Joshua Clark thinks the high cost of rents and child care are correlated, as the cost of living is rising annually.

"Rent appreciation has slowed from recent highs, but as the economic recovery matures, child care costs will likely continue to rise," Clark said in a press release. "For renters with young children in child care, that means any potential savings from softer rent appreciation could quickly be eroded by higher child care expenses."

Having children also requires more space and, as HotPads notes, rent for two and three-bedroom homes is rising faster than one-bedroom rentals.

WHERE HAVE THE CHILDREN GONE: SF has lowest percentage of kids of any major U.S. city

The reality of raising kids in a pricey city like San Francisco has obvious demographic impacts. San Francisco women become first-time mothers later than anywhere else in the country, a recent New York Times investigation found. The Times previously reported that San Francisco has fewer children per capita than any other U.S. city.

College, the report found, is a stronger indication of later entry into motherhood than geography or home prices. Then again, these things are linked.

More than 43 percent of San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont residents held college degrees in 2010, according to data from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The SF-Oakland-Fremont area placed fourth on Brookings' ranking of cities with the most college-educated residents. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara came in second.

Between child care costs and the high price of real estate, there is a high barrier of entry to comfortably start a family in many parts of the Bay Area.

WHY PEOPLE MOVE: It's not just housing costs pushing people out of the Bay Area

Women who wait to have children may spend that time attending college or graduate school and advancing in their careers. And with the wage gap what it is, establishing career stability can lead to greater financial payoff in the long run, even after a woman has given birth.

All of these factors help drive social inequality, Heather Rackin, a sociologist at Louisiana State University, told the Times. After all, children of college-educated parents are more likely to attend college themselves.

"Lower-socioeconomic-status people might not have as many opportunity costs  and motherhood has these benefits of emotional fulfillment, status in their community and a path to becoming an adult," Rackin said.

Even with its surfeit of college-educated residents and high-paying jobs, San Francisco may be simply too expensive for some families.

A New York Times piece published in 2017 reported San Francisco has the lowest percentage of children of any major U.S. city. Only 13 percent of the city's population is under 18 years old, compared to 21 percent in New York and 23 percent in Chicago.

"As a mother of three kids in San Francisco, I'm familiar with this trend because my years of parenting have been filled with heartbreak over saying goodbye to fleeing families we grew close to through playgroups, preschool, the neighborhood," wrote SFGATE producer Amy Graff of the Times report.

"My heart eventually numbed to the the mass exodus and I now approach new friendships in the way an Army brat might at her third high school," she continued. "I'm eager to meet new people but hesitant to get too close to protect myself from future partings."

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news.DALLAS  A white ex-police officer was convicted of murder Tuesday for fatally shooting an unarmed, black 15-year-old boy while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas, marking a rare guilty verdict in a police shooting case.

Dallas County jurors were not swayed by Roy Olivers claim that he feared for his partners life when he fired into the vehicle as it drove away from a large house party. The gunfire killed Jordan Edwards, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

Gasps echoed around the courtroom as the verdict was read. Edwards relatives sobbed and hugged prosecutors, and waved their hands in the air and proclaimed Thank you, Jesus! after the jury left.

His father, Odell Edwards, briefly spoke outside the courtroom before heading back in to begin listening to the sentencing phase of the trial. He said he was thankful for the jurys decision and felt like jumping for joy but was able to restrain himself.

I just want to say Im happy, very happy, he said, adding that its been a long time since he felt that way.

Oliver and his partner were responding to a report of underage drinking at a house party when the shooting occurred in April 2017. Oliver was fired days later from the Balch Springs Police Department.

Oliver testified during the trial that he opened fire after seeing the car move toward his partner, but his partner told jurors he didnt fear for his life.

Its extremely rare for police officers to be tried and convicted of murder for shootings that occurred while they were on duty. Not including Oliver, only five non-federal police officers had been convicted of murder  and four of those were overturned  since 2005, according to data compiled by criminologist and Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson.

Ahead of the trial, experts noted that securing convictions against officers were challenging, in part because criminal culpability in on-duty shootings is subjective and jurors are more inclined to believe police testimony.

Oliver also was found not guilty on two lesser charges Tuesday stemming from the shooting: aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon. Jurors deliberated over two days before reaching the verdict.

This was a long fought battle, said Daryl Washington, an attorney representing Edwards family in a civil lawsuit theyve filed in his death. We are just happy ... that Roy Oliver is gonna have to do his time for taking Jordans life. What he did on that night should have never happened.Chuck Burton / Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.  It wasnt surprising when a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolinas congressional map, saying Republican state legislators went too far using political data to preserve GOP-held seats. But their suggested timetable to fix the problem was startling.

The judges this week raised the possibility of redrawing the districts by mid-September so they could be used in November elections, or at least before the next session of Congress is seated in January. Late congressional elections could bring huge attention to these races if the party that controls the U.S. House hasnt been settled.CINCINNATI  Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has frequently supported giving the U.S. government wide latitude in the name of national security, including the secret collection of personal data from Americans.

Its a subject Democrats plan to grill Kavanaugh about during his confirmation hearings scheduled to begin next Tuesday. Beyond his writings as an appeals court judge, some senators suspect Kavanaugh was more involved in crafting counterterrorism policies during the George W. Bush administration than he has let on.

Kavanaugh stated in past congressional testimony that he wasnt involved in such provocative matters as warrantless surveillance and the treatment of enemy combatants in the years immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But legal experts say he could shift the court on national security issues, if he is confirmed to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor whose expertise includes national security and counterterrorism, cites opinions he says show Kavanaugh is a lot less willing (than Kennedy) to look at international law as a relevant source of authority and constraint. He said on matters such as Guantanamo detention, Kavanaugh is much more deferential to the executive branch in this context than Kennedy would have been.

Democrats facing an uphill battle in blocking Kavanaughs nomination have focused less on his judicial counterterrorism record than whether he misled senators about his role in Bush policies while testifying in 2006 confirmation hearings.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy are among Democrats who want to see more records from Kavanaughs White House days, saying news media accounts after he was seated on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia raised new questions.

Kavanaughs confirmation got past a potential obstacle when libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., endorsed him last month.

Paul had cited Kavanaughs 2015 defense of the National Security Agencys widescale secret collection of telephone metadata  records of callers and recipients phone numbers and times and durations of the calls. But after meeting with Kavanaugh, Paul said hes confident Kavanaugh will carefully adhere to the Constitution and will take his job to protect individual liberty seriously.

Dan Sewell is an Associated Press writer.TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  Racism immediately became an issue in the Florida governor race Wednesday as both nominees made predictions: The Democrat said voters arent looking for a misogynist, racist or bigot, while the Republican said voters shouldnt monkey this up by choosing his African American opponent.

Only hours after their primary election victories, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis made clear the race is going to be a nasty contest between two candidates who couldnt be more opposed politically.

Asked if hes afraid of President Trumps support for DeSantis, Gillum told CNN that his race is about uniting the state.

I actually believe that Florida and its rich diversity are going to be looking for a governor whos going to bring us together, not divide us. Not misogynist, not racist, not bigots, theyre going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state, Gillum said. DeSantis can do the bidding of big business and big lobbyists and Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric.

Meanwhile, on Fox News, DeSantis called Gillum an articulate candidate, but said the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting this state. That is not going to work.

Democrats immediately decried DeSantis comment as racist.

That was more than a dog-whistle, said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a West Palm Beach Democrat. That was absolutely a racist, disgusting statement. I dont think theres any other way to interpret it.

The DeSantis campaign clarified that his comments were directed at Gillums policies, not the candidate himself. To characterize it as anything else is absurd, his spokesman Stephen Lawson said.

DeSantis came from behind with the help of Trump to beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who campaigned longer, raised more money and built party establishment support.

Gillum upset a field of five that included former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who was hoping to become the states first female governor and win the office once held by her father, Bob Graham. Gillum spent the least of the major candidates, but won the hearts of those who consider themselves progressives, and got a late boost from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Theyre seeking to succeed Gov. Rick Scott, who cant run for re-election because of term limits and is instead challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Brendan Farrington is an Associated Press writer.PHOENIX  Cindy McCain pressed her face against the flag-draped casket of her husband, U.S. Sen. John McCain, on Wednesday and several of his children sobbed during the first of two services for the statesman and former prisoner of war before he is taken for the last time from the state he has represented since the 1980s.

The private service at the Arizona Capitol marked the first appearance of McCains family members since the senator died Saturday of brain cancer. It also began two days of official mourning in McCains adopted state before his body is taken to Washington for his burial.

During the service, Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain as a senator and internationally known figure as well as a major figure in the history of Arizona.

While Barry Goldwater was an Arizona native, McCain was Arizonas favorite adopted son, the governor said on what would have been the 82nd birthday of McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served in the military.

Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon, Ducey said.

Former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said he has been with McCain all around the world and he had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.

Kyl said he would miss McCain, whose greatest contribution was national security.

I will miss him as a friend, and a strong force for America, and the world, Kyle said.

Sen. Jeff Flake offered the benediction at the service.

Later in the afternoon, the Capitol opened to the public to pay their respects.

Arizona National Guard members carried the casket into the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where McCain will lie in state. Black curtains hung in the rotunda. U.S. and Arizona flags encircled the room.

By the time the service ended and the rotunda was cleared, at least 100 people had already gathered outside to wait for the public viewing. Some had traveled for hours from California and elsewhere.

They took shelter from the hot sun under tents erected by security teams while volunteers filled coolers with ice and water bottles.

Chasity Pullin, whose husband and father are military veterans, was among those in line.

It feels like youre losing part of your family, as much as he did, she said.

For some Arizona residents, McCain has been a political fixture for their entire lives. He took office in the state in the early 1980s, first as a congressman and then as a senator in the seat once held by Goldwater.

Another viewing will be held at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, with a final memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral.

Melissa Daniels and Terry Tang are Associated Press writers.WASHINGTON  Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said her meeting Tuesday with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was a very good, constructive conversation about how to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Freeland told reporters after the meeting she and her team plan to work this week in a full-steam effort and said both parties will start diving into specific issues Wednesday.

Freeland hurried to Washington a day after the Trump administration reached a preliminary deal Monday with Mexico to replace NFTA.

Freeland is facing a tight deadline to keep the three nations that formed NAFTA 24 years ago together in a trade pact. Lighthizer intends to formally notify Congress of the deal with Mexico on Friday.

Freeland said both parties are set for an important and constructive week but also warned that we are prepared for all scenarios.

She said significant concessions from Mexico in the areas of labor and rules of origin on cars really paved the way for what Canada believes will be a good week.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Mexico had agreed to ensure that 75 percent of automotive content be produced within the trade bloc (up from a current 62.5 percent) to receive duty-free benefits and that 40 percent to 45 percent be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour. Those changes are meant to encourage more auto production in the United States.

President Trump was quick to proclaim the agreement a triumph, pointing to Mondays surge in the stock market, which was fueled in part by the apparent breakthrough with Mexico.

Trump suggested that he might leave Canada out of a new agreement. He said he wanted to call the revamped trade pact the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement because, in his view, NAFTA has earned a reputation for being harmful to American workers.

But first, he said, he would give Canada a chance to get back in  if theyd like to negotiate fairly. To intensify the pressure on Ottawa to agree to his terms, the president threatened to impose new taxes on Canadian auto imports.

Talking to reporters, the top White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, urged Canada to make a great deal like we just made with Mexico. If not, the U.S.A. may have to take action.

Critics denounced the prospect of cutting Canada out a North American trade pact, in part because of the risks it could pose for companies involved in international trade. Many manufacturers have built vital supply systems that depend on freely crossing all NAFTA borders.

Luis Alonso Lugo is an Associated Press writer.WASHINGTON  White House counsel Don McGahn will leave the administration this fall, President Trump tweeted Wednesday, leaving the presidents side just as the sprawling investigation into Russian election interference reaches a crescendo.

In addition to stripping the White House of another top official, McGahns departure may fuel concerns about how the president has interacted with witnesses and potential witnesses in the Russia inquiry. McGahn is a key witness to whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation, and has cooperated extensively in the investigation.

The departure of the top lawyer in the White House has been rumored for months. In his tweet, Trump said that McGahn would leave after the Senate votes on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court later this fall, the culmination of a quiet but intensive effort he directed to remake the federal courts by installing scores of conservative judges.

I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service! Trump said in the Twitter post.

But the relationship between the president and McGahn has been rocky since he failed to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself a year ago from the Justice Department investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. At the time, Trump exploded at McGahn and said he needed an attorney general who would protect him.

The president also asked McGahn in June 2017 to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump ultimately backed down after McGahn threatened to resign rather than carry out the presidents directive.

McGahn had laid the groundwork for his own resignation, persuading Trump to hire Emmet Flood to position Flood to succeed him in the counsel post, according to people close to the discussions.

Still, some Republicans reacted to the news with alarm. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was concerned about McGahns impending departure, pleading with Trump on Twitter not to let him leave the White House.

But some members of conservative legal circles in which McGahn has worked suggested that he had grown weary of serving as the top lawyer in a White House that has drawn more than the usual share of legal scrutiny.

Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman and Michael D. Shear are New York Times writers.The Motor City's calling for two Houston-area parents landed them behind bars Monday after they allegedly left their 11-year-old daughter home alone to travel cross-country for a concert.

The parents, John Guerrero, 48, and Virginia Yearnd, 39, were arrested Monday after they arrived back in Houston after seeing English rock band Godflesh, according to the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office.

Guerrero and Yearnd left their Spring home Wednesday for the concert that night, according to court documents.

MYSTERY: Barefoot woman seen in security video sparks mystery

Deputies found out the girl was home alone only after her great aunt called police to report the incident Thursday, according to court documents. The woman called the young girl and learned she had been home alone since the previous morning.

Deputies called the parents several times to try and talk with them but couldn't get through for hours, police said. They eventually got a hold of Yearnd, who initially told them they were in Louisiana, court documents state.

She later came clean with deputies about her and Guerrero taking the trip to Detroit to see the English rock group live, deputies said.

FAMILY AFFAIR: Mom and teen son among 3 charged in fatal shooting

When deputies got to the home to check on the girl, they found her trying to cook. The mother had told deputies that she asked her sister to check in on the child, but the girl told deputies no one came by. It is unclear when deputies got to the home to check on the girl.

The parents were arrested Monday on second-degree felony child endangerment charges.

In Texas, a parent - or anyone else who has custody or cares over a child under 15 - can be charged with child endangerment if he or she "intentionally abandons the child in any place under circumstances that expose the child to an unreasonable risk of harm," according to the Texas Penal Code.

They were booked in to the Harris County Jail with no bond, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman. They are facing up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.

Child Protective Services is looking into the incident, deputies said.

Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.comThe Catholic archbishop of San Francisco proclaimed on Wednesday that statements made by a fellow archbishop who has called for the resignation of Pope Francis must be taken seriously.

In a letter to the archdiocese published on its website, the Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone said that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano  a former Vatican leader whose recent criticisms of the pope and the popes handling of the clerical sexual abuse scandal have rocked the church  is a man of selfless dedication with integrity and sincere love of the Church.